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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #50710 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50710)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, Cassell's History of England, Vol. II (of 8),
-by Anonymous
-
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-
-Title: Cassell's History of England, Vol. II (of 8)
-       From the Wars of the Roses to the Great Rebellion
-
-
-Author: Anonymous
-
-
-
-Release Date: December 17, 2015  [eBook #50710]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASSELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, VOL.
-II (OF 8)***
-
-
-E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Jane Robins, and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
-available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
-
-
-
-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
-      file which includes the numerous original illustrations.
-      See 50710-h.htm or 50710-h.zip:
-      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50710/50710-h/50710-h.htm)
-      or
-      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50710/50710-h.zip)
-
-
-      Images of the original pages are available through
-      Internet Archive. See
-      https://archive.org/details/cassellshistoryo02londuoft
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-
-
-
-
-CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND
-
-
-CASSELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND
-
-From the Wars of the Roses to the Great Rebellion
-
-With Numerous Illustrations, Including Coloured and Rembrandt Plates
-
-VOL. II
-
-The King's Edition
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Cassell and Company, Limited
-London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
-MCMIX
-
-All Rights Reserved
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-     CHAPTER I.
-
-     WARS OF THE ROSES.                                            PAGE
-
-     Cade's Rebellion--York comes over from Ireland--His Claims
-     and the Unpopularity of the Reigning Line--His First
-     Appearance in Arms--Birth of the Prince of Wales--York made
-     Protector--Recovery of the King--Battle of St. Albans--York's
-     second Protectorate--Brief Reconciliation of Parties--Battle of
-     Blore Heath--Flight of the Yorkists--Battle of Northampton--York
-     Claims the Crown--The Lords Attempt a Compromise--Death of York
-     at Wakefield--Second Battle of St. Albans--The Young Duke of York
-     Marches on London--His Triumphant Entry                         1
-
-
-     CHAPTER II.
-
-     REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
-
-     The Battle of Towton--Edward's Coronation--Henry escapes to
-     Scotland--The Queen seeks aid in France--Battle of Hexham--Henry
-     made Prisoner--Confined in the Tower--Edward marries Lady
-     Elizabeth Grey--Advancement of her Relations--Attacks on the
-     Family of the Nevilles--Warwick negotiates with France--Marriage
-     of Margaret, the King's Sister, to the Duke of Burgundy--Marriage
-     of the Duke of Clarence with a Daughter of Warwick--Battle of
-     Banbury--Rupture between the King and his Brother--Rebellion of
-     Clarence and Warwick--Clarence and Warwick flee to France--Warwick
-     proposes to restore Henry VI.--Marries Edward, Prince of Wales,
-     to his Daughter, Lady Ann Neville--Edward IV.'s reckless
-     Dissipation--Warwick and Clarence invade England--Edward
-     expelled--His return to England--Battle of Barnet--Battle
-     of Tewkesbury, and ruin of the Lancastrian Cause--Rivalry
-     of Clarence and Gloucester--Edward's Futile Intervention in
-     Foreign Politics--Becomes a Pensioner of France--Death of
-     Clarence--Expedition to Scotland--Death and Character of the King
-                                                                    17
-
-
-     CHAPTER III.
-
-     EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.
-
-     Edward V. proclaimed--The Two Parties of the Queen and of
-     Gloucester--Struggle in the Council--Gloucester's Plans--The Earl
-     Rivers and his Friends imprisoned--Gloucester secures the King and
-     conducts him to London--Indignities to the young King--Execution
-     of Lord Hastings--A Base Sermon at St. Paul's Cross--Gloucester
-     pronounces the two young Princes illegitimate--The Farce at
-     the Guildhall--Gloucester seizes the Crown--Richard crowned
-     in London and again at York--Buckingham revolts against
-     him--Murder of the two Princes--Henry of Richmond--Failure
-     of Buckingham's Rising--Buckingham beheaded--Richards title
-     confirmed by Parliament--Queen Dowager and her Daughters quit the
-     Sanctuary--Death of Richard's Son and Heir--Proposes to Marry his
-     Niece, Elizabeth of York--Richmond lands at Milford Haven--His
-     Progress--The Troubles of Richard--The Battle of Bosworth--The
-     Fallen Tyrant--End of the Wars of the Roses                    46
-
-
-     CHAPTER IV.
-
-     PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
-
-     The Study of Latin and Greek--Invention of Printing--Caxton--New
-     Schools and Colleges--Architecture, Military, Ecclesiastical,
-     and Domestic--Sculpture, Painting, and Gilding--The Art of
-     War--Commerce and Shipping--Coinage                            64
-
-
-     CHAPTER V.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VII.
-
-     Henry's Defective Title--Imprisonment of the Earl of Warwick--The
-     King's Title to the Throne--His Marriage--Love Rising--Lambert
-     Simnel--Henry's prompt Action--Failure of the Rebellion--The
-     Queen's Coronation--The Act of Maintenance--Henry's Ingratitude
-     to the Duke of Brittany--Discontent in England--Expedition to
-     France and its Results--Henry's Second Invasion--Treaty of
-     Étaples--Perkin Warbeck--His Adventures in Ireland, France,
-     and Burgundy--Henry's Measures--Descent on Kent--Warbeck in
-     Scotland--Invasion of England--The Cornish Rising--Warbeck
-     quits Scotland--He lands in Cornwall--Failure of the
-     Rebellion--Imprisonment of Warbeck and his subsequent
-     Execution--European Affairs--Marriages of Henry's Daughter and
-     Son--Betrothal of Catherine and Prince Henry--Henry's Matrimonial
-     Schemes--Royal Exactions--A Lucky Capture--Henry proposes for
-     Joanna--His Death                                              76
-
-
-     CHAPTER VI.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
-
-     The King's Accession--State of Europe--Henry and Julius
-     II.--Treaty between England and Spain--Henry is duped by
-     Ferdinand--New Combinations--Execution of Suffolk--Invasion of
-     France--Battle of Spurs--Invasion of England by the Scots--Flodden
-     Field--Death of James of Scotland--Louis breaks up the Holy
-     League--Peace with France--Marriage and Death of Louis XII.--Rise
-     of Wolsey--Affairs in Scotland--Francis I. in Italy--Death of
-     Maximilian--Henry a Candidate for the Empire--Election of
-     Charles--Field of the Cloth of Gold--Wolsey's Diplomacy--Failure
-     of his Candidature for the Papacy--The Emperor in London      102
-
-
-     CHAPTER VII.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_continued_).
-
-     The War with France--The Earl of Surrey Invades that Country--Sir
-     Thomas More elected Speaker--Henry and Parliament--Revolt
-     of the Duke of Bourbon--Pope Adrian VI. dies--Clement VII.
-     elected--Francis I. taken Prisoner at the Battle of Pavia--Growing
-     Unpopularity of Wolsey--Change of Feeling at the English
-     Court--Treaty with France--Francis I. regains his liberty--Italian
-     League, including France and England, established against the
-     Emperor--Fall of the Duke of Bourbon at the Siege of Rome--Sacking
-     of Rome, and Capture of the Pope--Appearance of Luther--Henry
-     writes against the German Reformer--Henry receives from the
-     Pope the style and Designation of "Defender of the Faith"--Anne
-     Boleyn--Henry applies to the Pope for a Divorce from the
-     Queen--The Pope's Dilemma--War declared against Spain--Cardinal
-     Campeggio arrives in England to decide the Legality of Henry's
-     Marriage with Catherine--Trial of the Queen--Henry's Discontent
-     with Wolsey--Fall of Wolsey--His Banishment from Court and
-     Death--Cranmer's advice regarding the Divorce--Cromwell cuts the
-     Gordian Knot--Dismay of the Clergy--The King declared Head of the
-     Church in England--The King's Marriage with Anne Boleyn--Cranmer
-     made Archbishop--The Pope Reverses the Divorce--Separation of
-     England from Rome                                             130
-
-
-     CHAPTER VIII.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_continued_).
-
-     The Maid of Kent and Her Accomplices--Act of Supremacy and
-     Consequent Persecutions--The "Bloody Statute"--Deaths of Fisher
-     and More--Suppression of the Smaller Monasteries--Trial and Death
-     of Anne Boleyn--Henry Marries Jane Seymour--Divisions in the
-     Church--The Pilgrimage of Grace--Birth of Prince Edward--Death
-     of Queen Jane--Suppression of the Larger Monasteries--The
-     Six Articles--Judicial Murders--Persecution of Cardinal
-     Pole--Cromwell's Marriage Scheme--Its Failure and his Fall    158
-
-
-     CHAPTER IX.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_concluded_).
-
-     Divorce of Anne of Cleves--Catherine Howard's Marriage and
-     Death--Fresh Persecutions--Welsh Affairs--The Irish Insurrection
-     and its Suppression--Scottish Affairs--Catholic Opposition
-     to Henry--Outbreak of War--Battle of Solway Moss--French and
-     English Parties in Scotland--Escape of Beaton--Triumph of the
-     French Party--Treaty between England and Germany--Henry's Sixth
-     Marriage--Campaign in France--Expedition against Scotland--Capture
-     of Edinburgh--Fresh Attempt on England--Cardinal Beaton and
-     Wishart--Death of the Cardinal--Struggle between the two Parties
-     in England--Death of Henry                                    183
-
-
-     CHAPTER X.
-
-     REIGN OF EDWARD VI.
-
-     Accession of Edward VI.--Hertford's Intrigues--He becomes Duke
-     of Somerset and Lord Protector--War with Scotland--Battle of
-     Pinkie--Reversal of Henry's Policy--Religious Reforms--Ambition
-     of Lord Seymour of Sudeley--He marries Catherine Parr--His
-     Arrest and Death--Popular Discontents--Rebellion in
-     Devonshire and Cornwall--Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk--Warwick
-     Suppresses it--Opposition to Somerset--His Rapacity--Fall
-     of Somerset--Disgraceful Peace with France--Persecution of
-     Romanists--Somerset's Efforts to regain Power--His Trial and
-     Execution--New Treason Law--Northumberland's Schemes for Changing
-     the Succession--Death of Edward                               204
-
-
-     CHAPTER XI.
-
-     REIGN OF MARY.
-
-     Proclamation of Lady Jane Grey--Mary's
-     Resistance--Northumberland's Failure--Mary is Proclaimed--The
-     Advice of Charles V.--Execution of Northumberland--Restoration
-     of the Roman Church--Proposed Marriage with Philip of
-     Spain--Consequent Risings throughout England--Wyatt's
-     Rebellion--Execution of Lady Jane Grey--Imprisonment of
-     Elizabeth--Marriage of Philip and Mary--England Accepts the Papal
-     Absolution--Persecuting Statutes Re-enacted--Martyrdom of Rogers,
-     Hooper, and Taylor--Di Castro's Sermon--Sickness of Mary--Trials
-     of Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer--Martyrdom of Ridley and
-     Latimer--Confession and Death of Cranmer--Departure of Philip--The
-     Dudley Conspiracy--Return of Philip--War with France--Battle of
-     St. Quentin--Loss of Calais--Death of Mary                    221
-
-
-     CHAPTER XII.
-
-     REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
-
-     Accession of Elizabeth--Sir William Cecil--The Coronation--Opening
-     of Parliament--Ecclesiastical Legislation--Consecration of
-     Parker--Elizabeth and Philip--Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis--Affairs
-     in Scotland--The First Covenant--Attitude of Mary of Guise--Riot
-     at Perth--Outbreak of Hostilities--The Lords of the Congregation
-     apply to England--Elizabeth hesitates--Siege of Leith--Treaty
-     of Edinburgh--Return of Mary to Scotland--Murray's Influence
-     over her--Beginning of the Religious Wars in France--Elizabeth
-     sends Help to the Huguenots--Peace of Amboise--English Disaster
-     at Havre--Peace with France--The Earl of Leicester--Project of
-     his Marriage with Mary--Lord Darnley--Murder of Rizzio--Birth
-     of Mary's Son--Murder of Darnley--Mary and Bothwell--Carberry
-     Hill--Mary in Lochleven--Abdicates in favour of her Infant
-     Son--Mary's Escape from Lochleven--Defeated at Langside--Her
-     Escape into England                                           246
-
-
-     CHAPTER XIII.
-
-     REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_continued_).
-
-     Elizabeth Determines to Imprison Mary--The Conference at
-     York--It is Moved to London--The Casket Letters--Mary is sent
-     Southwards--Remonstrances of the European Sovereigns--Affairs
-     in the Netherlands--Alva is sent Thither--Elizabeth Aids the
-     Insurgents--Proposed Marriage between Mary and Norfolk--The
-     Plot is Discovered--Rising in the North--Its Suppression--Death
-     of the Regent Murray--Its Consequences in Scotland--Religious
-     Persecutions--Execution of Norfolk--Massacre of St.
-     Bartholomew--Siege of Edinburgh Castle--War in France--Splendid
-     Defence of La Rochelle--Death of Charles IX.--Religious War in the
-     Netherlands--Rule of Don John--The Anjou Marriage--Deaths of Anjou
-     and of William the Silent                                     274
-
-
-     CHAPTER XIV.
-
-     REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_continued_).
-
-     Affairs of Ireland: Shane O'Neil's Rebellion--Plantation of
-     Ulster--Spanish Descent on Ireland--Desmond's Rebellion--Religious
-     Conformity--Campian and Parsons--The Anabaptists--Affairs
-     of Scotland--Death of Morton--Success of the Catholics in
-     Scotland--The Raid of Ruthven--Elizabeth's Position--Throgmorton's
-     Plot--Association to Protect Elizabeth--Mary removed
-     to Tutbury--Support of the Protestant Cause on the
-     Continent--Leicester in the Netherlands--Babington's Plot--Trial
-     of Mary--Her Condemnation--Hesitation of Elizabeth--Execution of
-     Mary                                                          295
-
-
-     CHAPTER XV.
-
-     REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_concluded_).
-
-     State of Europe on the Death of Mary--Preparations of Philip
-     of Spain--Exploits of English Sailors--Drake Singes the King
-     of Spain's Beard--Preparations against the Armada--Loyalty of
-     the Roman Catholics--Arrival of the Armada in the Channel--Its
-     Disastrous Course and Complete Destruction--Elizabeth at
-     Tilbury--Death of Leicester--Persecution of the Puritans and
-     Catholics--Renewed Expeditions against Spain--Accession of Henry
-     of Navarre to the French Throne--He is helped by Elizabeth--Essex
-     takes Cadiz--His Quarrels with the Cecils--His Second Expedition
-     and Rupture with the Queen--Troubles in Ireland--Essex appointed
-     Lord-Deputy--His Failure--The Essex Rising--Execution of
-     Essex--Mountjoy in Ireland--The Debate on Monopolies--Victory of
-     Mountjoy--Weakness of Elizabeth--Her last Illness and Death   313
-
-
-     CHAPTER XVI.
-
-     THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
-
-     The Tudors and the Nation--The Church--Population and
-     Wealth--Royal Prerogative--Legislation of Henry VIII.--The Star
-     Chamber--Beneficial Legislation--Treason Laws--Legislation
-     of Edward and Mary--Elizabeth's Policy--Religion and
-     the Church--Sketch of Ecclesiastical History under the
-     Tudors--Literature, Science, and Art--Greatness of the
-     Period--Foundation of Colleges and Schools--Revival of
-     Learning--Its Temporary Decay--Prose Writers of the Period--The
-     Poets--Scottish Bards--Music--Architecture--Painting and
-     Sculpture--Furniture and Decorations--Arms and Armour--Costumes,
-     Coins, and Coinage--Ships, Commerce, Colonies, and
-     Manufactures--Manners and Customs--Condition of the People    342
-
-
-     CHAPTER XVII.
-
-     REIGN OF JAMES I.
-
-     The Stuart Dynasty--Hopes and Fears caused by the Accession of
-     James--The King enters England--His Progress to London--Lavish
-     Creation of Peers and Knights--The Royal Entrance into the
-     Metropolis--The Coronation--Popularity of Queen Anne--Ravages
-     of the Plague--The King Receives Foreign Embassies--Rivalry
-     of the Diplomatists of France and Spain--Discontent of
-     Raleigh, Northumberland, and Cobham--Conspiracies against
-     James--"The Main" and "The Bye"--Trials of the Conspirators--The
-     Sentences--Conference with Puritans--Parliament of
-     1604--Persecution of Catholics and Puritans--Gunpowder
-     Plot--Admission of Fresh Members--Delays and Devices--The
-     Letter to Lord Mounteagle--Discovery of the Plot--Flight of the
-     Conspirators--Their Capture and Execution--New Penal Code--James's
-     Correspondence with Bellarmine--Cecil's attempts to get
-     Money--Project of Union between England and Scotland--The King's
-     Collisions with Parliament--Insurrection of the Levellers--Royal
-     Extravagance and Impecuniosity--Fresh Disputes with Parliament and
-     Assertions of the Prerogative--Death of Cecil--Story of Arabella
-     Stuart--Death of Prince Henry                                 404
-
-
-     CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-     REIGN OF JAMES I (_concluded_).
-
-     Reign of Favourites--Robert Carr--His Marriage--Death of
-     Overbury--Venality at Court--The Addled Parliament--George
-     Villiers--Fall of Somerset--Disgrace of Coke--Bacon becomes
-     Lord Chancellor--Position of England Abroad--The Scottish
-     Church--Introduction of Episcopacy--Andrew Melville--Visit
-     of James to Scotland--The Book of Sports--Persecution of the
-     Irish Catholics--Examination into Titles--Rebellion of the
-     Chiefs--Plantation of Ulster--Fresh Confiscations--Quarrel
-     between Bacon and Coke--Prosperity of Buckingham--Raleigh's
-     Last Voyage--His Execution--Beginning of the Thirty Years'
-     War--Indecision of James--Despatch of Troops to the
-     Palatinate--Parliament of 1621--Impeachment of Bacon--His
-     Fall--Floyd's Case--James's Proceedings during the
-     Recess--Dissolution of Parliament--Reasons for the Spanish
-     Match--Charles and Buckingham go to Spain--The Match is Broken
-     Off--Punishment of Bristol--Popularity of Buckingham--Change of
-     Foreign Policy--Marriage of Charles and Henrietta Maria--Death
-     of James                                                      448
-
-
-     CHAPTER XIX.
-
-     REIGN OF CHARLES I.
-
-     Accession of Charles--His Marriage--Meeting of Parliament--Loan
-     of Ships to Richelieu--Dissolution of Parliament--Failure of
-     the Spanish Expedition--Persecution of the Catholics--The
-     Second Parliament--It appoints three Committees--Impeachment
-     of Buckingham--Parliament dissolved to save him--Illegal
-     Government--High Church Doctrines--Rupture with France--Disastrous
-     Expedition to Rhé--The Third Parliament--The Petition of
-     Right--Resistance and Final Surrender of Charles--Parliament
-     Prorogued--Assassination of Buckingham--Fall of La
-     Rochelle--Parliament Reassembles and is Dissolved--Imprisonment
-     of Offending Members--Government without Parliament--Peace
-     with France and Spain--Gustavus Adolphus in Germany--Despotic
-     Proceedings of Charles and Laud                               508
-
-
-     CHAPTER XX.
-
-     Reign of Charles I (_continued_).
-
-     Visit of Charles to Scotland--Laud and the Papal See--His
-     Ecclesiastical Measures--Punishment of Prynne, Bastwick, and
-     Burton--Disgrace of Williams--Ship-money--Resistance of John
-     Hampden--Wentworth in the North--Recall of Falkland from
-     Ireland--Wentworth's Measures--Inquiry into Titles--Prelacy
-     Riots in Edinburgh--Jenny Geddes's Stool--The Tables--Renewal
-     of the Covenant--Charles makes Concessions--The General
-     Assembly--Preparations for War--Charles at York--Leslie at
-     Dunse Hill--A Conference held--Treaty of Berwick--Arrest of
-     Loudon--Insult from the Dutch--Wentworth in England--The Short
-     Parliament--Riots in London--Preparations of the Scots--Mutiny in
-     the English Army--Invasion of England--Treaty of Ripon--Meeting of
-     the Long Parliament--Impeachment of Strafford--His Trial--He is
-     abandoned by Charles--His Execution--The King's Visit to
-     Scotland                                                      550
-
-[Illustration: DANDY OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I.
-
-(_From a Broadside, dated 1646._)]
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
-                                                                PAGE
-
-    Dandy of the Time of Charles I.                               IX
-
-    Eltham Palace, from the North-east                             1
-
-    The Duke of York Challenged to Mortal Combat                   5
-
-    View in Lübeck: The Church of St. Ægidius                      9
-
-    Clifford's Tower: York Castle                                 12
-
-    Rutland beseeching Clifford to spare his Life                 13
-
-    The Quarrel in the Temple Gardens                             17
-
-    Edward IV.                                                    20
-
-    Dunstanburgh Castle                                           21
-
-    Great Seal of Edward IV.                                      25
-
-    Gold Rose Noble of Edward IV.                                 28
-
-    Preaching at St. Paul's Cross                                 29
-
-    Battle of Barnet: Death of the King-maker                     33
-
-    Burial of King Henry                                          37
-
-    Louis XI. and the Herald                                      41
-
-    St. Andrews, from the Pier                                    45
-
-    Great Seal of Edward V.                                       48
-
-    Edward V.                                                     49
-
-    The Tower of London: Bloody and Wakefield Towers              52
-
-    Great Seal of Richard III.                                    53
-
-    The Princes in the Tower                                      56
-
-    Richard III.                                                  57
-
-    Richard III. at the Battle of Bosworth                        61
-
-    Facsimile of Caxton's Printing in the "Dictes and Sayings
-      of Philosophers," (1477)                                    65
-
-    Earl Rivers Presenting Caxton to Edward IV.                   65
-
-    The Quadrangle, Eton College                                  68
-
-    Interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge                  69
-
-    Street in London in the Fifteenth Century                     73
-
-    Cannon of the End of the Fifteenth Century                    75
-
-    Great Seal of Henry VII.                                      77
-
-    Henry VII.                                                    80
-
-    The Last Stand of Schwarz and his Germans                     81
-
-    Penny of Henry VII. Angel of Henry VII. Noble of Henry VII.
-      Sovereign of Henry VII.                                     85
-
-    Stirling Castle                                               89
-
-    St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall                                 92
-
-    Lady Catherine Gordon before Henry VII.                       93
-
-    The Byward Tower, Tower of London                             97
-
-    King Henry's Departure from Henningham Castle                100
-
-    Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey                       101
-
-    Great Seal of Henry VIII.                                    105
-
-    Meeting of Henry and the Emperor Maximilian                  108
-
-    Henry and the captured French Officers                       109
-
-    Edinburgh after Flodden                                      113
-
-    Archbishop Warham                                            117
-
-    Hampton Court Palace                                         121
-
-    Henry VIII.                                                  125
-
-    Great Ship of Henry VIII.                                    129
-
-    Stirling, from the Abbey Craig                               132
-
-    Cardinal Wolsey                                              133
-
-    Silver Groat of Henry VIII. Gold Crown of Henry VIII.
-      George Noble of Henry VIII.                                136
-
-    Pound Sovereign of Henry VIII. Double Sovereign of
-      Henry VIII.                                                137
-
-    Surrender of Francis on the Battle-field of Pavia            141
-
-    Martin Luther                                                145
-
-    The Trial of Queen Catherine                                 149
-
-    The Dismissal of Wolsey                                      153
-
-    The Tower of London: Sketch in the Gardens                   157
-
-    Sir Thomas More                                              160
-
-    The Parting of Sir Thomas More and his Daughter              161
-
-    Anne Boleyn                                                  165
-
-    Anne Boleyn's Last Farewell of her Ladies                    168
-
-    St. Peter's Chapel, Tower Green, London, where Anne
-      Boleyn was Buried                                          169
-
-    The Pilgrimage of Grace                                      173
-
-    Gateway of Kirkham Priory                                    176
-
-    Beauchamp Tower, and Place of Execution within the
-      Tower of London                                            177
-
-    Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex                               181
-
-    Catherine Howard being conveyed to the Tower                 185
-
-    Capture of the Fitzgeralds                                   188
-
-    The First Levee of Mary Queen of Scots                       192
-
-    View in St. Andrews: North Street                            193
-
-    Francis I.                                                   197
-
-    The Assassination of Cardinal Beaton                         201
-
-    Edward VI.                                                   205
-
-    Great Seal of Edward VI.                                     209
-
-    The Royal Herald in Ket's Camp                               212
-
-    Old Somerset House, London                                   213
-
-    The Duke of Somerset                                         217
-
-    Silver Crown of Edward VI.                                   219
-
-    Sixpence of Edward VI. Shilling of Edward VI. Pound
-      Sovereign of Edward VI. Triple Sovereign of Edward VI.     220
-
-    Queen Mary and the State Prisoners in the Tower              221
-
-    Great Seal of Philip and Mary                                224
-
-    View from the Constable's Garden, Tower of London            225
-
-    Old London Bridge, with Nonsuch Palace                       229
-
-    Lady Jane Grey on her way to the Scaffold                    233
-
-    Archbishop Cranmer                                           237
-
-    The Place of Martyrdom, Old Smithfield                       240
-
-    Mary I.                                                      241
-
-    The Hôtel de Ville and Old Lighthouse, Calais                244
-
-    Shilling of Philip and Mary. Real of Mary I.                 245
-
-    Elizabeth's Public Entry into London                         249
-
-    Elizabeth                                                    252
-
-    Autograph of Elizabeth                                       253
-
-    Mar's Work, Stirling                                         257
-
-    Great Seal of Elizabeth                                      260
-
-    Mary, Queen of Scots                                         261
-
-    The Murder of Rizzio                                         265
-
-    Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh                                   269
-
-    Mary Signing the Deed of Abdication in Lochleven Castle      273
-
-    Lord Burleigh                                                276
-
-    Farthing of Elizabeth. Halfpenny of Elizabeth. Penny
-      of Elizabeth. Twopence of Elizabeth. Half-crown
-      of Elizabeth. Half-sovereign of Elizabeth                  277
-
-    The Duke of Norfolk's Interview with Elizabeth               281
-
-    The Regent Murray                                            284
-
-    High Street, Linlithgow                                      285
-
-    Kenilworth Castle                                            289
-
-    The House of the English Ambassador during the Massacre
-      of St. Bartholomew                                         293
-
-    Murder of the Earl of Desmond                                297
-
-    The Earl of Arran accusing Morton of the Murder of Darnley   300
-
-    Dumbarton Rock, with view of Castle                          301
-
-    The Earl of Leicester                                        305
-
-    Trial of Mary Queen of Scots in Fotheringay Castle           309
-
-    Mary Queen of Scots receiving Intimation of her Doom         312
-
-    Sir Francis Drake                                            317
-
-    The Hoe, Plymouth                                            320
-
-    The Armada in Sight                                          321
-
-    Philip II.                                                   325
-
-    Beauchamp Tower, Warders' Houses, and Yeoman Gaolers'
-      Lodgings: Tower of London                                  329
-
-    The Quarrel between Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex          332
-
-    The Earl of Essex                                            333
-
-    Lord Grey and his Followers Attacking the Earl of
-      Southampton                                                337
-
-    Elizabeth's Promenade on Richmond Green                      340
-
-    Richmond Palace                                              341
-
-    Town and Country Folk of Elizabeth's Reign                   345
-
-    State Trial in Westminster Hall in the Time of Elizabeth     349
-
-    John Knox                                                    353
-
-    Reduced Facsimile of the Title-page of the Great Bible,
-      also called Cromwell's Bible                               357
-
-    Christ's Hospital, London                                    361
-
-    Latimer Preaching before Edward VI.                          364
-
-    Roger Ascham's Visit to Lady Jane Grey                       365
-
-    Edmund Spenser                                               369
-
-    The House at Stratford-on-Avon in which Shakespeare was Born 373
-
-    Shakespeare                                                  376
-
-    The Acting of one of Shakespeare's Plays in the Time of
-      Queen Elizabeth                                            377
-
-    Queen Elizabeth's Cither and Music-book                      379
-
-    Holland House, Kensington                                    380
-
-    The Great Court of Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire              381
-
-    Entrance from the Courtyard of Burleigh House, Stamford      383
-
-    Elizabeth's Drawing-room, Penshurst Place                    384
-
-    Soldiers of the Tudor Period                                 385
-
-    The Wedding of Jack of Newbury: The Bride's Procession       389
-
-    Ships of Elizabeth's Time                                    393
-
-    The First Royal Exchange, London (Founded by Sir Thomas
-      Gresham)                                                   396
-
-    Sir Thomas Gresham                                           397
-
-    The Frolic of My Lord of Misrule                             401
-
-    Punishment of the Stocks                                     403
-
-    James I.                                                     405
-
-    St. Thomas's Tower and Traitor's Gate, Tower of London       409
-
-    Sir Walter Raleigh                                           412
-
-    The Dissenting Divines Presenting their Petition to James    413
-
-    The Old Palace, Westminster, in the time of Charles I.       417
-
-    Great Seal of James I.                                       420
-
-    Guy Fawkes's Cellar under Parliament House                   421
-
-    Lord Monteagle and the Warning Letter about the Gunpowder
-      Plot                                                       425
-
-    Arrest of Guy Fawkes                                         428
-
-    Pound Sovereign of James I. Unit or Laurel of James I.
-      (Gold). Spur Rial of James I. (Gold).
-      Thistle Crown of James I. (Gold)                           432
-
-    Sir Robert Cecil, afterwards Earl of Salisbury               433
-
-    Shilling of James I. Crown of James I.                       436
-
-    James and his Courtiers setting out for the Hunt             437
-
-    The Star Chamber                                             441
-
-    Flight of the Lady Arabella Stuart                           444
-
-    Notre Dame, Caudebec                                         445
-
-    Sir Francis Bacon (Viscount St. Albans)                      449
-
-    The Banqueting House, Whitehall                              452
-
-    Greenwich Palace in the time of James I.                     456
-
-    Sir Edward Coke                                              457
-
-    Andrew Melville before the Scottish Privy Council            461
-
-    Keeping Sunday, according to King James's Book of Sports     465
-
-    Parliament House, Dublin, in the Seventeenth Century         469
-
-    Sir Francis Bacon waiting an Audience of Buckingham          472
-
-    Arrest of Sir Walter Raleigh                                 476
-
-    Sir Walter Raleigh before the Judges                         477
-
-    The Franzensring, Vienna                                     481
-
-    Interview between Bacon and the Deputation from the Lords    484
-
-    George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham                          485
-
-    The Fleet Prison                                             489
-
-    Public Reception of Prince Charles in Madrid                 493
-
-    Prince Charles's Farewell of the Infanta                     497
-
-    The Royal Palace, Madrid                                     500
-
-    The Ladies of the French Court and the Portrait of
-      Prince Charles                                             504
-
-    Henrietta Maria                                              505
-
-    Great Seal of Charles I.                                     509
-
-    Charles welcoming his Queen to England                       512
-
-    Charles I.                                                   513
-
-    Reception of Viscount Wimbledon at Plymouth                  516
-
-    York House (The Duke of Buckingham's Mansion)                517
-
-    Trial of Buckingham                                          521
-
-    Interior of the Banqueting House, Whitehall                  525
-
-    Sir John Eliot                                               529
-
-    Assassination of the Duke of Buckingham                      533
-
-    Tyburn in the time of Charles I.                             537
-
-    Three Pound Piece of Charles I. Broad of Charles I.
-      Briot Shilling of Charles I.                               540
-
-    John Selden                                                  541
-
-    Scene in the House of Commons: The Speaker Coerced           545
-
-    Interior of Old St. Paul's                                   549
-
-    Dunblane                                                     552
-
-    Archbishop Laud                                              553
-
-    John Lilburne on the Pillory                                 557
-
-    The Birmingham Tower, Dublin Castle                          561
-
-    Sir Thomas Wentworth (Earl of Strafford)                     564
-
-    The People Signing the Covenant in St. Giles's Church,
-      Edinburgh                                                  568
-
-    St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, in the 17th Century           569
-
-    The Old College, Glasgow, in the 17th Century                573
-
-    Charles and the Scottish Commissioners                       577
-
-    John Hampden                                                 581
-
-    Guildhall, London, in the time of Charles I.                 585
-
-    Advance of the Covenanters across the Border into England    589
-
-    John Pym                                                     592
-
-    Arrest of the Earl of Strafford                              593
-
-    Westminster Hall and Palace Yard in the time of Charles I.   597
-
-    Charles Signing the Commission of Assent to Strafford's
-      Attainder                                                  601
-
-    The Old Parliament House, Edinburgh                          604
-
-    The Marquis of Montrose                                      605
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF PLATES
-
-
-    DEPARTURE OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO
-      CHASTISE THE BARBARY CORSAIRS.
-     (_From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum_)     _Frontispiece_
-
-    THE CROWN OF ENGLAND BEING OFFERED TO RICHARD, DUKE OF
-      GLOUCESTER, AT BAYNARD'S CASTLE, IN 1483.
-      (_By Sigismund Goetze_)                            _To face p._ 50
-
-    CAXTON SHOWING THE FIRST SPECIMEN OF HIS PRINTING TO KING
-      EDWARD IV., AT THE ALMONRY, WESTMINSTER.
-      (_By Daniel Maclise, R.A._)                               "     64
-
-    THE GRAND ASSAULT UPON THE TOWN OF AFRICA BY THE ENGLISH
-      AND FRENCH. (_From the Froissart MS.
-      in the British Museum_)                                   "     72
-
-    FROISSART PRESENTING HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS TO RICHARD II.,
-      IN 1395.--THE LANDING OF THE LADY DE COUCY AT BOULOGNE.
-      (_From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum_)          "     74
-
-    CARDINAL WOLSEY GOING IN PROCESSION TO WESTMINSTER HALL.
-      (_By Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S._)                   "    118
-
-    CARDINAL WOLSEY AT LEICESTER ABBEY. (_By Sir John Gilbert,
-      R.A., P.R.W.S._)                                          "    154
-
-    SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES. (MOSS-TROOPERS RETURNING FROM A
-      FORAY.) (_By S. E. Waller_)                               "    190
-
-    LADY JANE GREY'S RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT THE CROWN OF ENGLAND.
-      (_By C. R. Leslie, R.A._)                                 "    222
-
-    CRANMER AT TRAITORS' GATE. (_By F. Goodall, R.A._)          "    226
-
-    QUEEN ELIZABETH. (_By F. Zucchero_)                         "    246
-
-    THE PREACHING OF JOHN KNOX BEFORE THE LORDS OF THE
-      CONGREGATION, 10TH JUNE, 1559. (_By Sir David Wilkie,
-      R.A._)                                                    "    256
-
-    THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. (_By Albert Goodwin, R.W.S._)        "    312
-
-    "THE SURRENDER": AN INCIDENT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
-      (_By Seymour Lucas, R.A._)                                "    322
-
-    A STORY OF THE SPANISH MAIN. (_By Seymour Lucas, R.A._)     "    338
-
-    WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. (_From the Painting known as the
-      Chandos Portrait, and attributed to Richard Burbage,
-      in the National Portrait Gallery_)                        "    374
-
-    MAP OF THE WORLD AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY,
-      SHOWING THE DISCOVERIES OF BRITISH AND OTHER EXPLORERS    "    394
-
-    THE DEPARTURE OF THE "MAYFLOWER." (_By A. W. Bayes_)        "    474
-
-    ILLUMINATED PAGE, WITH BORDERING. (_From the Froissart MS.
-      in the British Museum_)                                   "    512
-
-    VISIT OF CHARLES I. TO THE GUILDHALL.
-      (_By Solomon J. Solomon, R.A._)                           "    582
-
-    STRAFFORD GOING TO EXECUTION. (_By Paul Delaroche_)         "    604
-
-[Illustration:
-
-    _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-    _Reproduced by André & Sleigh, Ld., Buskey, Herts._
-
-DEPARTURE OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO CHASTISE THE
-BARBARY CORSAIRS.
-
-THE PERSONAGE IN THE PLACE OF HONOUR IN THE ROWING-BOAT IS BELIEVED TO
-BE THE DUKE OF BOURBON. THE VESSEL IN THE CENTRE CONTAINS SEVERAL FRENCH
-KNIGHTS: IN THAT ON THE LEFT IS HENRY DE BEAUFORT (A NATURAL SON OF THE
-DUKE OF LANCASTER), WITH ENGLISH KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: ELTHAM PALACE, FROM THE NORTH-EAST. (_After an Engraving
-published in 1735._)]
-
-CASSELL'S
-
-ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE WARS OF THE ROSES.
-
-     Cade's Rebellion--York comes over from Ireland--His Claims
-     and the Unpopularity of the Reigning Line--His First
-     Appearance in Arms--Birth of the Prince of Wales--York made
-     Protector--Recovery of the King--Battle of St. Albans--York's
-     second Protectorate--Brief Reconciliation of Parties--Battle of
-     Blore Heath--Flight of the Yorkists--Battle of Northampton--York
-     Claims the Crown--The Lords Attempt a Compromise--Death of York
-     at Wakefield--Second Battle of St. Albans--The Young Duke of York
-     Marches on London--His Triumphant Entry.
-
-
-Henry the Sixth and his queen were plunged into grief and consternation
-at the extraordinary death of Suffolk in 1450. They saw that a powerful
-party was engaged in thus defeating their attempt to rescue Suffolk
-from his enemies by a slight term of exile; and they strongly suspected
-that the Duke of York, though absent in his government of Ireland, was
-at the bottom of it. It was more than conjectured that he entertained
-serious designs of profiting by the unpopularity of the Government to
-assert his claims to the crown. This ought to have made the king and
-queen especially circumspect, but, so far from this being the case,
-Henry announced his resolve to punish the people of Kent for the murder
-of Suffolk, which had been perpetrated on their coast. The queen was
-furious in her vows of vengeance. These unwise demonstrations incurred
-the anger of the people, and especially irritated the inhabitants of
-Kent. To add to the popular discontent, Somerset, who had lost by his
-imbecility the French territories, was made minister in the place of
-Suffolk, and invested with all the favour of the court. The people in
-several counties threatened to rise and reform the Government; and the
-opportunity was seized by a bold adventurer of the name of John Cade,
-an Irishman, to attempt a revolution. He selected Kent as the quarter
-more pre-eminently in a state of excitement against the prevailing
-misrule, and declaring that he belonged to the royal line of Mortimer,
-and was cousin to the Duke of York, he gave himself out to be the son of
-Sir John Mortimer, who, on a charge of high treason, had been executed
-in the beginning of this reign, without trial or evidence. The lenity
-which Henry V. had always shown to the Mortimers--their title being
-superior to his own, their position near the throne was of course an
-element of danger--had not been imitated by Bedford and Gloucester, the
-infant king's uncles, and their neglect of the forms of a regular trial
-had only strengthened the opinions of the people as to the Mortimer
-rights. No sooner, therefore, did Jack Cade assume this popular name,
-than the people, burning with the anger of the hour against the unlucky
-dynasty, flocked, to the number of 20,000, to his standard, and advanced
-to Blackheath. Emissaries were sent into London to stir up the people
-there, and induce them to open their gates and join the movement. As the
-Government, taken by surprise, was destitute of the necessary troops on
-the spot to repel so formidable a body of insurgents, it put on the same
-air of moderation which Richard II. had done in Tyler's rebellion, and
-many messages passed between the king and the pretended Mortimer, or, as
-he also called himself, John Amend-all.
-
-In reply to the king's inquiry as to the cause of this assembly, Cade
-sent in "The Complaints of the Commons of Kent, and the Causes of the
-Assembly on Blackheath." These documents were ably and artfully drawn.
-They professed the most affectionate attachment to the king, and demanded
-the redress of what were universally known to be real and enormous
-grievances. The wrongs were those under which the kingdom had long been
-smarting--the loss of the territories in France, and the loss of the
-national honour with them, through the treason and mal-administration of
-the ministers; the usurpation of the Crown lands by the greedy courtiers,
-and the consequent shifting of the royal expenditure to the shoulders of
-the people, with the scandals, offences, and robberies of purveyance.
-The "Complaints" asserted that the people of Kent had been especially
-victimised and ill-used by the sheriffs and tax-gatherers, and that the
-free elections of their knights of the shire had been prevented. They
-declared, moreover, that corrupt men were employed at court, and the
-princes of the blood and honest men kept out of power.
-
-Government undertook to examine into these causes of complaint, and
-promised an answer; but the people soon were aware that this was only
-a pretence to gain time, and that the answer would be presented at the
-point of the sword. Jack Cade, therefore, sent out what he called "The
-Requests of the Captain of the Great Assembly in Kent." These "Requests"
-were based directly on the previous complaints, and were that the king
-should renew the grants of the Crown, and so enable himself to live on
-his own income, without fleecing the people; that he should dismiss all
-corrupt councillors, and all the progeny of the Duke of Suffolk, and
-take into his service his right trusty cousins and noble peers, the
-Duke of York, now banished to Ireland, the Dukes of Exeter, Buckingham,
-and Norfolk. This looked assuredly as if those who drew up those papers
-for Cade were in the interest of the York party, and the more so as the
-document went on to denounce the traitors who had compassed the death of
-that excellent prince the Duke of Gloucester, and of their holy father
-the cardinal, and who had so shamefully caused the loss of Maine, Anjou,
-Normandy, and our other lands in France. The assumed murder of the
-cardinal, who had died almost in public, and surrounded by the ceremonies
-of the Church, was too ridiculous, and was probably thrown in to hide the
-actual party at work. The "Requests" then demanded summary execution on
-the detested collectors and extortioners, Crowmer, Lisle, Este, and Sleg.
-
-The court had now a force ready equal to that of the insurgents, and
-sent it under Sir Humphrey Stafford to answer the "Requests" by cannon
-and matchlock. Cade retreated to Sevenoaks, where, taking advantage of
-Stafford's too hasty pursuit, with only part of his forces, he fell upon
-his troops, put them to flight, killed Stafford, and, arraying himself
-in the slain man's armour, advanced again to his former position on
-Blackheath.
-
-This unexpected success threw the court into a panic. The soldiers
-who had gone to Sevenoaks had gone unwillingly; and those left on
-Blackheath now declared that they knew not why they should fight their
-fellow-countrymen for only asking redress of undoubted grievances.
-The nobles, who were at heart adverse to the present ministers, found
-this quite reasonable, and the court was obliged to assume an air of
-concession. The Lord Say, who had been one of Suffolk's most obsequious
-instruments, and was regarded by the people as a prime agent in the
-making over of Maine and Anjou, was sent to the Tower with some inferior
-officers. The king was advised to disband his army, and retire to
-Kenilworth; and Lord Scales, with a thousand men, undertook to defend the
-Tower. Cade advanced from Blackheath, took possession of Southwark, and
-demanded entrance into the city of London.
-
-The lord mayor summoned a council, in which the proposal was debated;
-and it was concluded to offer no resistance. On the 3rd of July Cade
-marched over the bridge, and took up his quarters in the heart of the
-capital. He took the precaution to cut the ropes of the drawbridge with
-his sword as he passed, to prevent his being caught, as in a trap; and,
-maintaining strict discipline amongst his followers, he led them back
-into the Borough in the evening. The next day he reappeared in the same
-circumspect and orderly manner; and, compelling the lord mayor and
-the judges to sit in Guildhall, he brought Lord Say before them, and
-arraigned him on a charge of high treason. Say demanded to be tried by
-his peers; but he was hurried away to the standard in Cheapside, and
-beheaded. His son-in-law, Crowmer, sheriff of Kent, was served in the
-same manner. The Duchess of Suffolk, the Bishop of Salisbury, Thomas
-Daniel, and others, were accused of the like high crimes, but, luckily,
-were not to be found. The bishop had already fallen at the hands of his
-own tenants at Edington, in Wiltshire.
-
-On the third day Cade's followers plundered some of the houses of the
-citizens; and the Londoners, calling in Lord Scales with his 1,000 men to
-aid them, resolved that Cade should be prevented from again entering the
-city. Cade received notice of this from some of his partisans, and rushed
-to the bridge in the night to secure it. He found it already in the
-possession of the citizens. There was a bloody battle, which lasted for
-six hours, when the insurgents drew off, and left the Londoners masters
-of the bridge.
-
-On receiving this news, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, who were
-in the Tower, determined to try the ruse which had succeeded with the
-followers of Wat Tyler. They therefore sent the Bishop of Winchester to
-promise redress of grievances, and a full pardon under the great seal,
-for every one who should at once return to their homes. After some demur,
-the terms were gratefully accepted; Cade himself embraced the offered
-grace, according to the subsequent proclamation against him, dated the
-10th of July; but quickly repenting of his credulity, he once more
-unfurled his banner, and found a number of men ready to rejoin it. This
-mere remnant of the insurgent host, however, was utterly incapable of
-effecting anything against the city; they retired to Deptford, and thence
-to Rochester, hoping to gather a fresh army. But the people had now
-cooled; the rioters began to divide their plunder and to quarrel over it;
-and Cade, seeing all was lost, and fearing that he should be seized for
-the reward of 1,000 marks offered for his head, fled on horseback towards
-Lewes. Disguising himself, he lurked about in secret places, till, being
-discovered in a garden at Heathfield, in Kent, by Alexander Iden, the
-new sheriff; he was, after a short battle, killed by Iden, and his body
-carried to London.
-
-That the party of the Duke of York had some concern in Cade's rebellion,
-the Government not only suspected, but several of Cade's followers when
-brought to execution, are said to have confessed as much. But stronger
-evidence of the fact is, that there was an immediate rumour that the duke
-himself was preparing to cross over to England. The court at once issued
-orders in the king's name, to forbid his coming, and to oppose any armed
-attempt on his part. The duke defeated this scheme by appearing without
-any retinue whatever, trusting to the good-will of the people. His
-confidence in thus coming at once to the very court put the Government,
-which had shown such suspicion of him, completely in the wrong in the eye
-of the public.
-
-We are now on the eve of that contest for the possession of the crown,
-which figures so eminently in history as the Wars of the Roses. The
-accession of Henry IV., productive of very bloody consequences at the
-time, had nearly been forgotten through the brilliant successes of his
-son, Henry V.; but still the heirs of the true line, according to the
-doctrine of lineal descent, were in existence. The Mortimers, Earls of
-March, had been spared by the usurping family; and Richard, Duke of
-York, was now the representative of that line. To understand clearly
-how the Mortimers, and from them Richard, Duke of York, took precedence
-of Henry VI., according to lineal descent, we must recollect that Henry
-IV. was the son of John of Gaunt, who was the fourth son of Edward III.
-On the deposition of Richard II., who was the son of the Black Prince,
-the eldest son of Edward III., there was living the Earl of March, the
-grandson of Lionel, the _third_ son of Edward III., who had clearly the
-right to precede Henry. This right had been, moreover, recognised by
-Parliament. But Henry of Lancaster, disregarding this claim, seized on
-the crown by force, yet took no care to destroy the true claimant. Now,
-the Duke of York, who was paternally descended from Edmund of Langley,
-the fifth son of Edward III., was also maternally the lineal descendant
-of Lionel, the third son through the daughter and heiress of Mortimer,
-the Earl of March. By this descent he preceded the descendants of Henry
-IV., and was by right of heirship the undoubted claimant of the English
-crown.
-
-The Marches had shown no disposition whatever to assert that right, and
-this had proved their safety. They had been for several generations a
-particularly modest and unambitious race; and so long as the descendants
-of Henry IV. had proved able or popular monarchs, their claim would
-have lain in abeyance. But they were never forgotten; and now that the
-imbecility and long minority of Henry VI. had created strong factions,
-and disgusted the people, this claim was zealously revived. Henry IV. had
-but one real and indefeasible claim to the throne--namely, that of the
-election of the people, had he chosen to accept it; but this he proudly
-rejected, and took his stand on his lineal descent from Edward III.,
-where the heirs of his uncle Lionel had entirely the advantage of him.
-
-The people who had favoured, and would have adopted Henry IV., had now
-become alienated from the house of Lancaster, through the incapacity
-of the present king, by which they had lost the whole of their ancient
-possessions, as well as their conquests in France. Nothing remained but
-heavy taxation and national exhaustion, as the net result of all the
-wars in that kingdom. In this respect the very glory of Henry V. became
-the ruin of his son. While the people complained of their poverty and
-oppression in consequence of those wars, they were doubly harassed by the
-factious quarrels of the king's relatives. They had attached themselves
-to the Duke of Gloucester, and he had been murdered by these cliques,
-and, as was generally believed, at the instigation of the queen. Queen
-Margaret, indeed, completed the alienation of the people from the house
-of Lancaster. She was not only French--a nation now in the worst odour
-with the people of England--but through her they had lost Maine and Anjou.
-
-These circumstances now drew the hearts of the people as strongly
-towards the Duke of York, as they had formerly been attracted to the
-house of Lancaster. They began to regard him with interest, as a person
-whose rights to the throne had been unjustly overlooked. He was a man
-who seemed to possess much of the modest and amiable character of the
-Marches. He had been recalled from France, where he was ably conducting
-himself, by the influence of the queen, as was believed, and sent as
-governor into Ireland, as a sort of honourable banishment. But though
-treated in a manner calculated to provoke him, he had retained the
-unassuming moderation of his demeanour. He had yet made no public
-pretensions to the crown, and though circumstances seemed to invite him,
-showed no haste to seize it. There were many circumstances, indeed,
-which tended to make all parties hesitate to proceed to extremities.
-True, the queen was highly unpopular, but Henry, though weak, was so
-amiable, pious, and just, that the people, although groaning under the
-consequences of his weakness, yet retained much affection for him. There
-were also numbers of nobles of great influence who had benefited by the
-long minority of the king, and who, much as they disliked the queen's
-party, were afraid of being called on, in case another dynasty was
-established, to yield up the valuable grants which they had obtained.
-
-Thus the kingdom was divided into three parties: those who took part with
-Somerset and the queen, those who inclined to the Duke of York, and those
-who, having benefited by the long reign of corruption, were afraid of any
-change, and endeavoured to hold the balance betwixt the extreme parties.
-Almost all the nobles of the North of England were zealous supporters of
-the house of Lancaster, and with them went the Earl of Westmoreland, the
-head of the house of Neville, though the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick,
-the most influential members of the family, were the chief champions of
-the cause of York. With the Duke of Somerset also followed, in support of
-the crown, Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, Stafford, Duke of Buckingham,
-the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the Lords Clifford, Dudley, Scales, Audley,
-and other noblemen. With the Duke of York, besides the Earls of Salisbury
-and Warwick, went many of the southern houses.
-
-[Illustration: THE DUKE OF YORK CHALLENGED TO MORTAL COMBAT. (_See p._
-6.)]
-
-Such was the state of public feeling and the position of parties when
-the insurrection of Cade occurred. The Duke of York had made himself
-additionally popular by his conduct in Ireland. He had shown great
-prudence and ability in suppressing the insurrections of the natives;
-and thus made fast friends of all the English who had connections in
-that island. No doubt the members of his own party used every argument
-to incite the duke to assert his right to the throne, and so to free the
-country from the dominance of the queen and her favourites. That it was
-the general opinion that the Cade conspiracy was a direct feeler on the
-part of the Yorkists, is clear from Shakespeare, who wrote so much nearer
-to that day. But when York appeared upon the scene, Cade had already paid
-the penalty of his outbreak. On his way to town, York, passing through
-Northamptonshire, sent for William Tresham, the late Speaker of the House
-of Commons, who had taken an active part in the prosecution of Suffolk.
-But, on his way to the duke, Tresham was fallen upon by the men of Lord
-Grey de Ruthin, and murdered. York proceeded to London, as related, and
-appeared before the king, where he demanded of him to summon a Parliament
-for the settlement of the disturbed affairs of the realm. Henry promised,
-and York meanwhile retired to his castle at Fotheringay.
-
-Scarcely had York retired when Somerset arrived from France, and the
-queen and Henry hailed him as a champion sent in the moment of need
-to sustain the court party against the power and designs of York. But
-Somerset came from the loss of France, and, therefore, loaded with an
-awful weight of public odium; and with her vindictive disregard of
-appearances, Queen Margaret immediately transferred to him all her old
-predilection for Suffolk. When the Parliament met, the temper of the
-public mind was very soon apparent. Out of doors the life of Somerset
-was threatened by the mob, and his house was pillaged. In the Commons,
-Young, one of the representatives of Bristol, moved that, as Henry had
-no children, York should be declared his successor. This proposal seemed
-to take the house by surprise, and Young was committed to the Tower. But
-a bill was carried to attaint the memory of the Duke of Suffolk, and
-another to remove from about the king the Duchess of Suffolk, the Duke
-of Somerset, and almost all the party in power. Henry refused to accede
-to these measures, any further than promising to withdraw a number of
-inferior persons from the court for twelve months, during which time
-their conduct might be inquired into. On this the Duchess of Suffolk
-and the other persons indicted of high treason during the insurrection,
-demanded to be heard in their defence, and were acquitted.
-
-The spirit of the opposite factions ran very high; the party of Somerset
-accusing that of York of treasonable designs, and that of York declaring
-that the court was plotting to destroy the duke as they had destroyed
-Gloucester. York retired to his castle of Ludlow, in Shropshire, where
-he was in the very centre of the Mortimer interest, and under plea
-of securing himself against Somerset, he actively employed himself
-in raising forces, at the same time issuing a proclamation of the
-most devoted loyalty, and offering to swear fealty to the king on the
-sacrament before the Bishop of Hereford and the Earl of Shrewsbury. The
-court paid no attention to his professions, but an army was led by the
-king against him. York, instead of awaiting the blow, took another road,
-and endeavoured to reach and obtain possession of London in the king's
-absence. On approaching the capital, he received a message that its gates
-would be shut against him, and he then turned aside to Dartford, probably
-hoping for support from the same population which had followed Cade.
-The king pursued him, and encamping on Blackheath, sent the Bishops of
-Ely and Winchester to demand why he was in arms. York replied that he
-was in arms from no disloyal design, but merely to protect himself from
-his enemies. The king told him his movements had been watched since the
-murder of the Bishop of Chichester by men supposed to be in his interest,
-and still more since his partisans had openly boasted of his right to
-the crown; but for his own part, he himself believed him to be a loyal
-subject, and his own well-beloved cousin.
-
-York demanded that all persons "noised or indicted of treason" should be
-apprehended, committed to the Tower, and brought to trial. All this the
-king, or his advisers, promised, and as Somerset was one of the persons
-chiefly aimed at by York, the king gave an instant order for the arrest
-and committal of Somerset, and assured York that a new council should
-be summoned, in which he himself should be included, and all matters
-decided by a majority. At these frank promises York expressed himself
-entirely satisfied, disbanded his army, and came bareheaded to the king's
-tent. What occurred, however, was by no means in accordance with the
-honourable character of the king, and savoured more of the councils of
-the queen. No sooner did York present himself before Henry, and begin to
-enter upon the causes of complaint, than Somerset stepped from behind a
-curtain, denied the assertions of York, and defied him to mortal combat.
-So flagrant a breach of faith showed York that he had been betrayed. He
-turned to depart in indignant resentment, but he was informed that he was
-a prisoner. Somerset was urgent for his trial and execution, as the only
-means of securing the permanent peace of the realm. Henry had a horror
-of spilling blood; but in this instance York is said to have owed his
-safety rather to the fears of the ministers than any act of grace of the
-king, who was probably in no condition of mind to be capable of thinking
-upon the subject. There was already a report that York's son, the Earl
-of March, was on the way towards London with a strong army of Welshmen,
-to liberate his father. This so alarmed the queen and council that they
-agreed to set free the duke, on condition that he swore to be faithful to
-the king, which he did at St. Paul's, Henry and his chief nobility being
-present. York then retired to his castle of Wigmore.
-
-In the autumn of 1453 the queen was delivered of a son, who was called
-Edward. There was a cry in the country that this was no son of the
-king--a cry zealously promoted by the partisans of York--but it did not
-prevent the young prince from being recognised as the heir-apparent, and
-created Prince of Wales, Earl of Cornwall and Chester. But the king had
-now fallen into such a state of imbecility, with periods of absolute
-insanity, that those who had denied the legitimacy of his mother, Queen
-Catherine, might well change their opinion; for Henry's malady seemed
-to be precisely that of his reputed grandfather, Charles VI. of France.
-Such was his condition, that Parliament would no longer consent to leave
-him in the hands of the queen and Somerset. In the autumn the influence
-of Parliament compelled the recall of York to the council; and this, as
-might have been expected, was immediately followed by the committal of
-Somerset to the Tower. In February Parliament recommenced its sittings,
-and York appeared as lieutenant or commissioner for the king, who was
-incapable of opening it in person. It had been the policy of the queen to
-keep concealed the real condition of the king, but with York at the head
-of affairs, this was no longer possible. The House of Lords appointed a
-deputation to wait on Henry at Windsor. The Archbishop of Canterbury,
-who was also Lord Chancellor, was dead; and the Lords seized upon the
-occasion as the plea for a personal interview, according to ancient
-custom, with the king. Twelve peers accordingly proceeded to Windsor,
-and would not return without seeing the monarch. They found him in such
-a state of mental alienation that, though they saw him three times,
-they could perceive no mark of attention from him. They reported him
-utterly incapable of transacting any business; and the Duke of York was
-thereupon appointed protector, with a yearly salary of 2,000 marks. The
-Lancastrian party, however, took care to define the duties and the powers
-of this office, so as to maintain the rights of the king. The title of
-protector was to give no authority, but merely precedence in the council,
-and the command of the army in time of rebellion or invasion. It was
-to be revocable at the will of the king, should he at any time recover
-soundness of mind; and, in case that he remained so long incapacitated
-for Government, the protectorate was to pass to the prince Edward on his
-coming of age. The command at sea was entrusted to five noblemen, chosen
-from the two parties; and the Government of Calais, a most important
-post, was taken from Somerset, and given to York.
-
-With all this change, the session of Parliament appears to have been
-stormy. The Duke of York had instituted an action for trespass against
-Thorpe, the Speaker of the Commons, and one of the Barons of the
-Exchequer, and obtained a verdict with damages to the amount of £1,000,
-and Thorpe was committed to prison till he gave security for that sum,
-and an equal fine to the Crown. In vain did the Commons petition for the
-release of the Speaker. The Lords refused; and they were compelled to
-elect a new one. Many of the Lords, not feeling themselves safe, absented
-themselves from the House, and were compelled to attend only by heavy
-fines. The Duke of Exeter was taken into custody, and bound to keep
-the peace; and the Earl of Devonshire, a Yorkist, was accused of high
-treason and tried, but acquitted. So strong was the opposition of the
-court party, that even York himself was compelled to stand up and defend
-himself.
-
-These angry commotions were but the prelude to a more decisive act.
-The king was found something better, and the fact was instantly seized
-on by the queen and her party to hurl York from power, and reinstate
-Somerset. About Christmas the king demanded from York the resignation
-of the protectorate, and immediately liberated Somerset. This was not
-done without Somerset being at first held to bail for his appearance
-at Westminster to answer the charges against him. But he appealed to
-the council, on the ground that he had been committed without any
-lawful cause; and the court party being now in the ascendant, he was
-at once freed from his recognisances. The king himself seemed anxious
-to reconcile the two dukes, a circumstance more convincing of his good
-nature than of his sound sense--for it was an impossibility. He would not
-restore the government of Calais to the Duke of Somerset, but he took it
-from York and retained it in his own hands. York perceived that he had
-been regularly defeated by the queen, and he retired again to his castle
-of Ludlow to plan more serious measures.
-
-The Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Salisbury and his son, the celebrated
-Earl of Warwick, destined to acquire the name of the "King-maker,"
-hastened there at his summons, and it was resolved to attempt the
-suppression of the court party by force of arms. They were quickly at the
-head of a large force, with which they hoped to surprise the royalists.
-But no sooner did the news of this approaching force reach the court,
-than the king was carried forth at the head of a body of troops equal
-to those of York, and a march was commenced against him. The royal army
-had reached St. Albans, and on the morning of the 22nd of May, 1455, as
-it was about to resume its progress, the hills bordering on the high
-road were covered with the troops of York. This army marching under
-the banners of the house of York, now for the first time displayed in
-resistance to the sovereign, halted in a field near the town, and sent
-forward a herald announcing that the three noblemen were come in all
-loyalty and attachment to the king; but with a determination to remove
-the Duke of Somerset from his councils, and demanding that he and his
-pernicious associates should be at once delivered up to them. The
-Yorkists declared that they felt this to be so absolutely necessary, that
-they were resolved to destroy those enemies to the peace of the country,
-or to perish themselves. An answer was returned by or for the king, "that
-he would not abandon any of the lords who were faithful to him, but
-rather would do battle upon it, at the peril of life and crown."
-
-It would have appeared that the royal army had a most decided advantage
-by being in possession of the town, which was well fortified, and where
-a stout resistance might have been made in the narrow streets; but,
-spite of this, the superior spirit of the commanders on the side of
-York triumphed over the royalists. York himself made a desperate attack
-on the barriers at the entrance of the town, while Warwick, searching
-the outskirts of the place, found, or was directed by some favouring
-persons to a weak spot. He made his way across some gardens, burst into
-the city, and came upon the royal forces where he was little expected.
-Aided by this diversion, York redoubled his attack on the barriers,
-and, notwithstanding their resolute defence by Lord Clifford forced an
-entrance. Between the cries of "A York! a York!" "A Warwick! a Warwick!"
-confusion spread amongst the king's forces, they gave way, and fled out
-of the town in utter rout. The slaughter among the leaders of the royal
-army was terrible. The Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland, and
-Lord Clifford were slain; the king himself was wounded in the neck, the
-Duke of Buckingham and Lord Dudley in the face, and the Earl of Stafford
-in the arm. All these were arrow wounds, and it was plain that here again
-the archers had won the day. The fall or wounds of the leaders, indeed,
-settled the business, and saved the common soldiers; for though Hall
-reports that 8,000, Stowe that 5,000 men fell, yet Crane, in a letter to
-his cousin, John Paston, written at the time, declares that there were
-only six-score, and Sir William Stonor states that only forty-eight were
-buried in St. Albans.
-
-The king was found concealed in the house of a tanner; and there York
-visited him, on his knees renewed his vows of loyal affection, and
-congratulated Henry on the fall of the traitor Somerset. He then led the
-king to the shrine of St. Albans, and afterwards to his apartment in the
-abbey. It might have been supposed that the fallen king, being now in the
-hands of York and his party, the claims of York to the crown would have
-been asserted. But at this time York either had not really determined
-on seizing the throne, or did not deem the public fully prepared for so
-great a change. On the meeting of Parliament it was reported that York
-and his friends sought only to free the king from the unpopular ministers
-who surrounded him, and to redress the grievances of the nation. That
-party complained--with what truth does not appear--that, on the very
-morning of the battle, they had sought to explain these views and
-intentions in letters, which the Duke of Somerset and Thorpe, the late
-Speaker of the Commons, had withheld from his grace. The king acquitted
-York, Salisbury, and Warwick of all evil intention, pronounced them good
-and loyal subjects, granting them a full pardon. The peers renewed their
-fealty, and Parliament was prorogued till the 12th of November. Thus
-the first blood in these civil wars had been drawn at the battle of St.
-Albans and all appeared restored to peace. But it was a deceitful calm;
-rivers of blood were yet to flow.
-
-Scarcely had Parliament reassembled when it was announced that the king
-had relapsed into his former condition. Both Lords and Commons refused
-to proceed with business till this matter was ascertained and settled.
-The Lords then requested York once more to resume the protectorate for
-the good of the nation; but this time he was not to be caught in his
-former snare. He professed his insufficiency for the onerous office, and
-begged of them to lay its responsibilities on some more able person. He
-was quite safe in this course, for he had now acquired a majority in the
-council, and the office of chancellor and the Governorship of Calais
-were in the hands of his two stout friends, Salisbury and Warwick. Of
-course, the reply was that no one was so capable or suitable as he; and
-then he expressed his willingness to accept the protectorate, but only
-on condition that its revocation should not lie in the mere will of
-the king, but in the king with the consent of the Lords spiritual and
-temporal in Parliament assembled. The protectorate was to devolve, as
-before, on the Prince of Wales, in case the malady of the king continued
-so long.
-
-York might think that he was now secure from the machinations of the
-queen, but he was deceived. This never-resting lady was at that very
-moment actively preparing for his defeat; and no sooner did Parliament
-meet after the Christmas recess than Henry again presented himself
-in person, announcing his restoration to health, and dissolved the
-protectorate. The Duke of York resigned his authority with apparent
-good-will. Calais and the chancellorship passed from Salisbury and
-Warwick to the friends of the queen; the whole Government was again on
-its old footing. Two years passed on in apparent peace to the nation, but
-in the most bitter party warfare at court. The queen and her associates
-could never rest while the Duke of York and his friends were permitted to
-escape punishment for the late outbreak. The relatives of Somerset and
-the Earl of Northumberland, and of the other nobles slain at St. Albans,
-were encouraged to demand with eagerness vengeance on the Yorkists.
-Both parties surrounded themselves more and more with armed retainers,
-and everything portended fresh acts of bloodshed and discord. The king
-endeavoured to avert this by summoning a great council at Coventry in
-1457. There the Duke of Buckingham made a formal rehearsal of all the
-offences committed by York and his party; at the conclusion of which the
-peers fell on their knees and entreated the king to make a declaration
-that he would never more show grace to the Duke of York, or any other
-person who should oppose the power of the crown or endanger the peace
-of the kingdom. To this the king consented; and then the Duke of York,
-Salisbury, and Warwick renewed their oaths of fealty, and all the lords
-bound themselves never for the future to seek redress by arms, but only
-from the justice of the sovereign.
-
-[Illustration: VIEW IN LÜBECK: THE CHURCH OF ST. ÆGIDIUS.]
-
-At the close of this council, the Duke of York retired to Wigmore,
-Salisbury to Middleham, and Warwick to Calais. It was soon found that,
-notwithstanding all these oaths and these royal endeavours, the same
-animosity was alive in the two hostile parties, and the king tried still
-further the hopeless experiment of reconciliation. He prevailed on the
-leaders to meet him in London. On the 26th of January, 1458, the leaders
-of the York and Lancaster factions appeared in the metropolis, but they
-came attended by armed retainers--the Duke of York with 140 horse, the
-now Duke of Somerset with 200, and Salisbury with 400, besides fourscore
-knights and esquires. York and his friends were admitted into the city,
-probably as being more under the control of the authorities; for the lord
-mayor, at the head of 5,000 armed citizens, undertook to maintain the
-peace. The Lancastrian lords were lodged in the suburbs. Every day the
-Yorkists met at the Blackfriars and the Lancastrians at the Whitefriars,
-and after communicating with each other, the result was sent to the king,
-who lay at Berkhampstead with several of the judges. The result of their
-deliberations was this:--The king, as umpire, awarded that the Duke of
-York, and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, should, within two years,
-found a chantry for the good of the souls of the three lords slain in
-battle at St. Albans, that both those who slew, and those who were slain
-at that battle should be reputed faithful subjects; that the Duke of York
-should pay to the dowager Duchess of Somerset and her children the sum
-of 5,000, and the Earl of Warwick to the Lord Clifford 1,000 marks; and
-that the Earl of Salisbury should release to Percy Lord Egremont all the
-damages he had obtained against him for an assault, on condition that the
-said Lord Egremont should bind himself to keep the peace for ten years.
-
-The next day, March 25th, the king came to town, and went to St. Paul's
-in procession, followed by the whole court, the queen conducted by the
-Duke of York, and the lords of each party walking arm-in-arm before
-them, in token of perfect reconciliation. But real reconciliation was as
-distant as ever. The causes of contention lay too deep for the efforts
-of the simple and well-intentioned king, or even for the subtlest acts
-of diplomacy. It was the settled strife for a crown; and swords, not
-oaths, could alone decide it. The whole show was a mocking pageant.
-The slightest spark might any day light up a flame which would rage
-through the whole kingdom; and in a little more than a month such a
-spark fell into the combustible mass. News arrived that a large fleet of
-merchantmen from Lübeck had been attacked by Warwick as it passed down
-the Channel, and five sail of them captured after a severe contest, and
-carried into Calais. As Lübeck was a town of the Hanseatic League, that
-powerful association--which was in amity with England--speedily sent
-commissioners to London demanding redress. Warwick was summoned to appear
-before the council; and, whilst in attendance, a quarrel arose betwixt
-his followers and those of the court. Warwick believed, or feigned--to
-escape out of the scrape into which he had fallen--that there was a
-design upon his life. He fled to his father, Salisbury, and York, and
-they resolved that their only safety lay in arms. There was a story
-circulated, and thoroughly believed in by the Yorkist party, that the
-queen, who never forgot or forgave an enemy, kept a register, written in
-blood, of all the Yorkist chiefs, and had vowed never to rest till they
-were exterminated. In fact, both parties were arrived at that pitch of
-rancour which nothing could appease but the blood of their opponents. The
-feud was no longer confined to the nobles and their immediate retainers;
-the leaven of discord had pervaded the whole mass of the nation. The
-conflicting claims had been discussed till they had penetrated into every
-village, every family, into the convents of the monks, and the cottages
-of the poor. One party asserted that the Duke of York was an injured
-prince, driven from his hereditary right by a usurping family, and now
-marked to be destroyed by them. The other contended that, though Henry
-IV. had deposed Richard II., he had been the choice of the nation; that
-his son had made the name of England glorious; that more than sixty
-years' possession of the crown was itself sufficient warrant for its
-retention; that the Duke of York had, over and over again, sworn eternal
-fealty to Henry VI., which was in itself a renunciation of any claim he
-might previously possess; and that, in seeking now to deprive the king of
-his throne, he was a perjured and worthless man. One party argued that
-York owed his life to the clemency of the king; and the other replied
-that the king equally owed his to that of York, who had him in his power
-at St. Albans.
-
-While the nation was thus heating its blood in these disputes, the heads
-of the different factions were busy preparing to meet each other in the
-field. The three lords spent the winter in arousing their partisans.
-Warwick called around him at Calais the veterans who had fought in
-Normandy and Guienne. On the other hand, the court distributed in
-profusion collars of white swans, the badge of the young prince; and the
-friends of the king were invited by letters, under the privy seal, to
-meet him in arms at Leicester. The spring and summer had come and gone,
-however, before the rival parties proceeded to actual extremities. The
-finances of the court impeded its proceedings; and the Yorkist party
-still averred that it had no object but its own defence and the rescue of
-the Government from traitors.
-
-At length, on the 23rd of September, 1459, the Earl of Salisbury marched
-forth from his castle of Middleham, in Yorkshire, to form a junction with
-York on the borders of Wales. Lord Audley, with a force of 10,000 men,
-far exceeding that of Salisbury, sought to intercept his progress at
-Blore Heath in Staffordshire; but the veteran Salisbury was too subtle
-for his antagonist. He pretended to fly at the sight of such unequal
-numbers; and having thus seduced Audley to pass a deep glen and torrent,
-he fell upon his troops when part only were over, and, throwing them into
-confusion, made a dreadful slaughter of them. Some writers contend that
-Salisbury had only 500 men with him; but this appears incredible, for
-they left Lord Audley with 2,000 of his men dead on the field, and took
-prisoner Lord Dudley, with many knights and esquires. The earl pursued
-his way unmolested to Ludlow, where York lay, and where they were joined
-in a few days by Warwick with his large reinforcement of veterans under
-Sir John Blount and Sir Andrew Trollop.
-
-The king, queen, and lords of their party had assembled an army of 60,000
-men. With these they advanced to within half a mile of Ludiford, the
-camp of York, near Ludlow, on the 10th of October; and Henry, after all
-his experience, had the goodness, or the weakness, once more to renew
-his offers of pardon and reconciliation on condition that his opponents
-should submit within six days. York and his colleagues replied that they
-had no reliance on his promises because those about him did not observe
-them, and that the Earl of Warwick, trusting to them last year, nearly
-lost his life. Yet they still protested that nothing but their own
-security caused them to arm, and that they had determined not to draw
-the sword against their sovereign unless they were compelled. It was
-concluded by the royal party to give battle on the 13th, but they found
-York posted with consummate military skill. His camp was defended by
-several batteries of cannon, which played effectively on the royal ranks
-as they attempted to advance. The royalists, therefore, deferred the
-engagement till the next morning, and were relieved from that necessity
-by Sir Andrew Trollop, who was marshal of the Yorkist army, going over
-in the night with all his Calais auxiliaries to the king. Trollop had
-hitherto believed the assurances of the Yorkist leaders that they sought
-only Government redress, and not subversion of the throne; but something
-had now opened his eyes, and, as he was a staunch royalist, he acted
-accordingly. This event struck terror and confusion through the Yorkist
-army. Every man was doubtful of his fellow; the confederate lords made a
-hasty retreat into Wales, whence York and one of his sons passed over to
-Ireland, and the rest followed Warwick, who hastened to Devonshire, and
-thence escaped again to Calais.
-
-Nothing shows so strikingly the feeble councils of the royal camp as that
-these formidable foes should have been permitted to decamp without any
-pursuit. A vigorous blow at the now panic-struck enemy might for ever
-have rid the king of his mortal antagonists. But Henry, always averse
-from shedding blood, was, no doubt, glad of this unexpected escape from
-it, and his generals were weak enough to acquiesce. The court returned
-to London, and satisfied themselves with passing an act of attainder
-against the Duke and Duchess of York, and their sons, the Earls of March
-and Rutland, against the Earl and Countess of Salisbury, and their son
-the Earl of Warwick, the Lord Clinton, and various knights and esquires.
-Even this was painful to the morbidly tender mind of Henry. He reserved
-to himself the right to reverse the attainder, if he thought proper, and
-refused to permit the confiscation of the property of Lord Powis, and two
-others who had thrown themselves on his clemency.
-
-Meanwhile the insurgent chiefs, though dispersed, were not crushed. York
-had great popularity in Ireland; Warwick had a strong retreat in Calais.
-To deprive him of this, the Duke of Somerset was appointed governor, and,
-encouraged by the conduct of the Calais veterans at Ludiford, set out to
-drive Warwick from that city. But he met with a very different reception
-to that which he had calculated upon. He was assailed by a severe fire
-from the batteries, and compelled to stand out. On making an attempt to
-reach Calais from Guisnes, he found himself deserted by his sailors, who
-carried his fleet into Calais, and surrendered it to their favourite
-commander. Warwick stationed a sufficient force to watch Somerset in
-Guisnes, and, so little did he care for him, set out with his fleet,
-and dispersed two successive armaments sent to the relief of Somerset
-from the ports of Kent. When this had been done, he sailed to Dublin, to
-concert measures with York, and returned in safety to Calais, having met
-the high-admiral, the Duke of Exeter, who at sight of him escaped into
-Dartmouth.
-
-In the spring of 1460 the Yorkists, who had fled so rapidly from the
-royal army at Ludiford, and had seemed to vanish as a mist, were again
-on foot, and in a threatening attitude. They had sedulously scattered
-proclamations throughout the country, still protesting that they had no
-designs on the crown; that the king was so well assured of it that he
-refused to ratify the act of attainder, but that he was in the hands
-of the enemies of the nation. These documents concluded by saying that
-the maligned lords were resolved now to prove their loyalty in the
-presence of the sovereign. Following up this, Warwick landed in June, in
-Kent--next to the marches of Wales the great stronghold of the house of
-York. He had brought only 1,500 men with him, but he was accompanied by
-Coppini, the Pope's legate, who had been sent indeed to Henry, but was
-gained over by Warwick. In Kent they were joined by the Lord Cobham with
-400 men; by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had received his preferment
-from York during his protectorate; and by a large number of knights and
-gentlemen of the county. As he advanced towards the capital, people
-flocked to him from all sides till his army amounted to 30,000, some say
-40,000, men. He entered London on the 2nd of July, and, proceeding to the
-convocation, prevailed on no less than five bishops to accompany him to
-an interview with the king, who was lying at Coventry. The legate issued
-a letter to the clergy, informing them that he had laid it before the
-king; that the Yorkists demanded nothing but personal security, peaceable
-enjoyment of their property, and the removal of evil counsellors. All
-this was calculated to turn the credulous, or to prevent them from
-swelling the forces of the court.
-
-[Illustration: CLIFFORD'S TOWER: YORK CASTLE.
-
-(_From a photograph by Frith and Co., Reigate._)]
-
-Henry advanced to Northampton, where he entrenched himself in a strong
-camp. On arriving before it, Warwick made three successive attempts
-to obtain an interview with the king, but finding it unavailing, the
-legate excommunicated the royal party, and set up the papal banner in
-the Yorkist camp. For this he was afterwards recalled by the Pope,
-imprisoned, and degraded; but for the time it had its effect. Warwick
-gave the king notice that, as he would not listen to any overtures, he
-must prepare for battle at two in the afternoon on the 10th of July,
-1460. The royal party made themselves certain of victory, but were this
-time confounded by Lord Grey of Ruthin going over to the enemy, as Sir
-Andrew Trollop had deserted the other party at Ludlow. Grey introduced
-the Yorkists into the very heart of Henry's camp, and the contest was
-speedily decided. Warwick ordered his followers to spare the common
-soldiers, and direct their attacks against the leaders; and accordingly
-of these there were slain 300 knights and gentlemen, including the
-Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the Lords Beaumont and
-Egremont. A second time Henry fell into the hands of his rebellious
-subjects, but they treated him with all respect. The queen and her son
-escaped into Wales, and thence into Scotland, after having been plundered
-on the way by their own servants.
-
-[Illustration: RUTLAND BESEECHING CLIFFORD TO SPARE HIS LIFE. (_See p._
-15.)]
-
-The victors then marched back to London, carrying the king along with
-them a captive, but with studied appearance of being still at the head of
-his loving subjects. He entered the city, as in triumph, Warwick riding
-bareheaded before him, carrying the sword. Writs were issued in his name,
-applauding the loyalty of the very man who had made war on and seized
-his person, and a Parliament was summoned for the redress of grievances,
-the chief of these being the acts issued last year in the Parliament
-at Coventry, attainting the Yorkist leaders, which, of course, were
-abolished. This had scarcely been effected when the Duke of York arrived
-from Ireland, at the head of 500 horse. He rode into Westminster, entered
-the House of Lords, and advancing to the throne laid his hand on the gold
-cloth, and seemed to wait as in expectance that he should be invited to
-seat himself there. But no such invitation was given. To do so would
-have been to act in opposition, on the part of the peers, to all the
-assurances that from first to last had been made by York and his friends,
-that he sought no such thing. It was now, however, the intention of York
-to throw off the mask, and openly lay claim to the crown. The manner
-in which the public, both aristocracy and people, had flocked to the
-standard of Warwick, led him to believe that it was now safe to declare
-himself; but he had himself defeated, in a great measure, his own object.
-His constant assertions that he sought only reform, not the subversion
-of the royal authority, his repeated oaths of fealty, had convinced all
-parties, except that of his own private friends, that he was sincere in
-his declarations, and they esteemed him for his honourable conduct to
-the gentle and inoffensive king. When, therefore, he did declare his
-intention of seizing the crown, the astonishment and disapprobation were
-proportionate.
-
-As all remained silent when he laid his hand on the throne, he turned and
-looked, as if for help, towards the assembled nobles. The Archbishop of
-Canterbury, to put an end to the embarrassing dilemma, asked him if he
-would not pay his respects to the king, who was in the queen's apartment.
-York replied that he knew no one to whom he owed that title; that he was
-subject to no man in that realm, but, under God, was himself entitled to
-the sovereignty. The peers preserved a profound and discouraging silence;
-and York, not finding that response which he had hoped, left the house.
-It was, however, only to take possession of the palace as his hereditary
-right. Thence he sent to the peers a written demand of the crown, tracing
-his descent, showing its priority to that of the line of Lancaster, and
-that, by every plea of right, law, and custom, the possession of the
-throne centred in him. To this he requested an immediate answer. This
-demand was carried by the lords to the king, who, on hearing it, said,
-"My father was king: his father also was king. I have worn the crown
-forty years from my cradle; you have all sworn fealty to me as your
-sovereign; and your fathers have done the same to my fathers; how, then,
-can my right be disputed?"
-
-The Lords resolved to take the matter into consideration, as if it
-were a thing to be decided by evidence, without any heat or violence.
-They called upon the judges to defend, to the best of their ability,
-the claims of the king. But the judges objected that they were judges,
-not advocates; that it was their business not to produce arguments,
-but merely to decide on such as were advanced. They declared this to
-be a case above the law, and only to be decided by the high court
-of Parliament. The Lords then called upon the king's serjeants and
-attorneys, who also endeavoured to escape from the dangerous task, but
-were not permitted, their office being, in reality, to give advice to the
-Crown.
-
-The Peers then proceeded to the discussion of this great question. They
-objected to York's claims, that he had really renounced any right given
-him by descent, by repeatedly swearing fealty to Henry; that the many
-Acts of Parliament passed to sanction the right of the house of Lancaster
-themselves were sufficient, and had authority to defeat any measure of
-title; that the duke bore the arms of Edmund, the fifth son of Edward
-III., and not those of Lionel, the third son, from whom he claimed,
-showing that he himself held that to be his true descent. York replied
-to all these arguments, but especially to that wherein he knew the main
-force to lie, the effect of his own oaths. This he declared nugatory,
-inasmuch as those oaths were of necessity and constraint, and, therefore,
-acknowledged by all men in all ages to be utterly void.
-
-The result was that the Lords came to the conclusion which the power
-of outward circumstances rather than their real convictions, dictated.
-They attempted a compromise, which, had Henry had no issue, might have
-succeeded, but which, as it went to disinherit the son of Henry, and much
-more the son of Margaret, was certain to produce fresh conflicts. The
-queen, whose resolute spirit would have been worthy of all admiration had
-it been accompanied by a spirit of liberality and conciliation, was sure
-never to acquiesce in the rejection of her own son while she could move a
-limb, or raise a soldier. The verdict of the Lords was that York's claim
-was just, but should not take effect during the lifetime of the present
-king. The decision of the Peers was accepted by York and his two sons,
-March and Rutland, who swore not to molest the king, but to maintain him
-on his throne; and, on the other hand, Henry gave his assent to the Bill,
-declared any attempt on the duke high treason, and settled estates on him
-and his sons as the succeeding royal line.
-
-But Margaret of Anjou never for a moment conceded this repudiation of the
-rights of her son. She upbraided Henry for his unnatural conduct, and
-quitting her retreat in Scotland, appeared in the midst of her northern
-friends, calling on them by every argument of loyalty to the throne, and
-security to themselves, to take the field against the traitor York. The
-Earl of Northumberland, the Lords Dacre, Clifford, and Neville were soon
-in arms. They assembled at York; and Margaret, roused to the highest
-state of indignation by the disinheriting of her son, put forth all
-her powers to attach adherents to her standard. She assumed the most
-fascinating affability, and lavished her caresses and her promises on all
-whom she came near. She excited the jealousy of the northern barons by
-depicting the bold assumption of the southern nobles, who had presumed to
-give away the crown as if it were their own; and she promised to every
-one unlimited plunder of the estates and property of the people south of
-the Trent. These arts and allurements speedily brought 30,000 men to her
-standard, which was now joined by the Earls of Somerset and Devon.
-
-York and Salisbury set out in haste from London to oppose this growing
-force. They seem not to have been duly informed of its real strength, for
-they pushed forward with only 5,000 men. They received a rude admonitory
-attack at Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, on the 21st of December; but,
-still advancing, York threw himself, before Christmas, into the strong
-castle of Sandall. Here it was the evident policy of York to await the
-arrival of his son, the Earl of March, who was collecting forces in the
-marches of Wales; but either he was straitened for provisions, or was
-weak enough to be influenced by the taunts of the queen, who sent him
-word that it did not become the future king of England to coop himself
-up in a fortress, but to dare to meet those whom he dared to depose. He
-issued into the open country, in defiance of the warnings of Salisbury
-and Sir David Hall, and gave battle, on the 30th of December, to the
-queen's troops near Wakefield. The Duke of Somerset commanded the queen's
-army. He led the main body himself, and gave the command of one wing to
-the Earl of Wiltshire, and the other to Lord Clifford, ordering them to
-keep concealed till the action had commenced, and then to close in upon
-York. This was done with such success that York, who fell with great fury
-on Somerset, found himself instantly surrounded. Two thousand of his men
-were speedily slain, and the greater part of the remainder compelled
-to surrender. He himself, with most of his commanders, was left dead
-upon the field; the veteran Salisbury was taken, conveyed to Pontefract
-Castle, with several knights and gentlemen, and there beheaded.
-
-When the body of York was found, his head was cut off and carried to
-Queen Margaret, who rejoiced excessively at the sight, uttered most
-unfeminine reproaches upon it, and ordered it to be crowned with a paper
-crown in mockery, and placed upon the walls of York. Whethamstede, a
-cotemporary, says that the duke was taken alive, and beheaded on the
-field. At all events, Lord Clifford brought the head to the queen, stuck
-upon a spear; and this ferocious nobleman, whose father was killed at the
-battle of St. Albans, not satisfied with this revenge, perpetrated the
-murder of York's son, Rutland, with a fell barbarity which has covered
-his name with infamy. This youth, who was but about seventeen years of
-age, handsome and amiable, was met by Clifford as he was endeavouring
-to escape across the bridge of Wakefield in the care of his tutor, Sir
-Robert Aspall. The poor boy, seeing the bloody Clifford, fell on his
-knees, and entreated for mercy. The savage demanded who he was; and
-Aspall, thinking to save him by the avowal, said it was the younger
-son of York. Then swore Clifford--"As thy father slew mine, so will I
-slay thee, and all thy kin;" and plunging the dagger into his heart,
-ruthlessly bade the tutor go and tell his mother what he had done.
-
-The spirit of the "she-wolf of France" seemed to animate all her army
-on this occasion. There was nothing but butchery, and exultation in it.
-Margaret thought she had now removed the danger in destroying York.
-"At this deadly blood-supping," says Hall, "there was much joy and
-great rejoicing: but many laughed then that sore lamented after--as the
-queen herself and her son; and many were glad of other men's deaths,
-not knowing that their own were near at hand, as the Lord Clifford and
-others."
-
-The revenge soon came. The Earl of March, York's eldest son, was
-advancing to prove that York was still alive in the new possessor of
-the title. Yet, before his blow of vengeance fell, Margaret had one
-more triumph. She had pursued her march on London after the battle of
-Wakefield, and had reached St. Albans. But there she came in contact
-with the army of Warwick. Flushed with victory, her forces fell upon the
-enemy. Warwick had posted himself on the low hills to the south-east of
-the town. The royalists penetrated to the very town cross, where they
-were repulsed by a strong body of archers. But they soon made their way
-by another street through the town, and the battle raged on the heaths
-lying betwixt St. Albans and Barnet. The last troops which made a stand
-were a body of Kentish men, who, maintaining the conflict till night,
-enabled the Yorkists to retreat from the victorious van, and disperse.
-The king was found in his tent, under the care of Lord Montague, his
-chamberlain, where he was visited by Margaret and his son, whom he
-received with the liveliest joy. The Yorkists in this second battle of
-St. Albans, fought February 17th, 1461, lost about 2,000 men. Edward,
-called "the late Earl of March," was proclaimed a traitor, and rewards
-offered for his apprehension. But the success of this action was defeated
-by the insubordination of the troops. They were chiefly borderers, who
-had been led on by hopes of plunder, and had been freely promised it by
-Margaret and her allies. Nothing could induce them to advance farther.
-They were only bent on ravaging the neighbourhood, and the citizens of
-London closed their gates against them and held out for York.
-
-Edward was rapidly marching to the capital. He was at Gloucester when the
-news of the fall of his father and the atrocious murder of his brother
-reached him; and the intelligence arousing the Welsh borderers, they
-flocked to his standard, breathing vengeance. His march was harassed
-by a party of royalists--consisting chiefly of Welsh and Irish--under
-Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, the king's half-brother. To free himself
-of them, Edward turned upon them, on the 2nd of February, at Mortimer's
-Cross, near Hereford. A dreadful battle ensued, in which Edward gained
-a complete victory, slaying nearly 4,000 of the royalists. Jasper Tudor
-escaped; but his father Owen Tudor, the second husband of Catherine of
-Valois, and ancestor of the Tudor line of sovereigns, was taken prisoner,
-and with Throgmorton and seven other captains, was beheaded at Hereford,
-in retaliation for those who had been similarly put to death after the
-battle of Wakefield. The news of this butchery reaching Margaret before
-the battle of St. Albans, instigated her to reply with the execution
-of Lord Bonville and Sir Thomas Kyriel, who had so much distinguished
-himself in France. The spirit of deadly malice was now raging betwixt the
-contending parties, and one deed of cruelty provoked another.
-
-Edward found no further obstacle on his march towards London. The
-terrible chastisement of the royalists made a deep impression. His force
-grew as he advanced. He soon joined Warwick, and collected his dispersed
-troops. Once united, they were more than a match for the royalists. When
-Edward approached London, he was welcomed as a deliverer. The lawless
-army of the queen had carried terror, wherever they came. The queen
-was as impolitic as her soldiers. She sent from Barnet into the city
-demanding supplies; and though the lord mayor was inclined to comply, the
-people stoutly refused to let any provisions pass. A party of 400 horse
-were sent to enforce the demand; they plundered the northern suburbs,
-and would have continued their depredations in London itself, but the
-people fell upon them, and drove them out. Such was the situation of
-affairs when Edward and Warwick appeared. The gates were joyfully thrown
-open, and Edward rode in triumph into the city. He was still but in his
-nineteenth year, of a remarkably handsome person, of a gay and affable
-disposition, and reputed to be highly accomplished. The fate of his
-father and brother, and the recent conduct of the queen, added greatly
-to the interest which he excited. While Lord Falconbridge reviewed a
-body of troops in the fields of Clerkenwell, Neville, the Bishop of
-Exeter, seized the opportunity to harangue the crowded spectators. He
-drew a miserable picture of the imbecility of the king, of the haughty
-and bloody spirit of the queen, and of the calamities which had resulted
-from both; and maintained that Henry, by joining the queen's forces, had
-forfeited the crown. He then demanded whether they would still have him
-for king. They shouted--"No, no!" He then asked whether they would have
-Edward for king, and they cried--"Yes, yes! long live King Edward!"
-
-The popular feeling being thus ascertained, a great council was convoked
-by the Yorkists, on the 3rd of March, 1461, which confirmed the verdict
-of the public, declared Henry to have justly forfeited the crown by
-breaking his oath and joining in proceedings against the Duke of York,
-who had thus been slain; and on the 4th Edward rode in procession to
-Westminster Hall, where he mounted the throne, and made a speech to the
-thronging thousands, detailing the just claims of his family, according
-to hereditary succession. He then adjourned to the abbey church, where he
-repeated the same harangue to the same consenting audience, and was duly
-proclaimed by the style and title of King Edward IV.
-
-[Illustration: THE QUARREL IN THE TEMPLE GARDENS. (_See p._ 18.)]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
-
-     The Battle of Towton--Edward's Coronation--Henry escapes to
-     Scotland--The Queen seeks aid in France--Battle of Hexham--Henry
-     made Prisoner--Confined in the Tower--Edward marries Lady
-     Elizabeth Grey--Advancement of her Relations--Attacks on the
-     Family of the Nevilles--Warwick negotiates with France--Marriage
-     of Margaret, the King's Sister, to the Duke of Burgundy--Marriage
-     of the Duke of Clarence with a Daughter of Warwick--Battle of
-     Banbury--Rupture between the King and his Brother--Rebellion of
-     Clarence and Warwick--Clarence and Warwick flee to France--Warwick
-     proposes to restore Henry VI.--Marries Edward, Prince of Wales,
-     to his Daughter, Lady Ann Neville--Edward IV.'s reckless
-     Dissipation--Warwick and Clarence invade England--Edward
-     expelled--His return to England--Battle of Barnet--Battle
-     of Tewkesbury, and ruin of the Lancastrian Cause--Rivalry
-     of Clarence and Gloucester--Edward's Futile Intervention in
-     Foreign Politics--Becomes a Pensioner of France--Death of
-     Clarence--Expedition to Scotland--Death and Character of the King.
-
-
-Edward IV., at this period of his great success, and his acknowledgment
-by the people of London and the council as king, was only in his
-twentieth year. Handsome of person and of popular manners, he was not
-restrained by any such conscientious scruples as guided his father, but
-was bold and impetuous. He was fond of pleasure, addicted to gallantry,
-and at the same time as ready to shed blood as he was to make love
-and revel in courtly pageants. The reluctant approaches to sanguinary
-measures which had marked the earlier proceedings of his father, had
-long since vanished in the heated progress of the strife, and Edward
-might be regarded as the representative of the leaders now on both sides,
-with the exception of the gentle and forgiving Henry. But on this side
-Queen Margaret was as energetic as she was ambitious, and as resolute as
-her husband was the contrary. The circumstances into which she had been
-thrown had roused in her the spirit of a tigress fighting for its young.
-
-Margaret, on the warm reception of Edward by the Londoners, had retired
-northward with her marauding soldiers, who had so fatally damaged her
-cause by their outrages. Three days after his reception in London, Edward
-despatched Warwick, the chief bulwark of his cause, in pursuit of her,
-and on the 12th of March, only five days afterwards, he followed himself.
-On reaching the Earl of Warwick, their combined troops amounted to
-40,000. The queen was exerting all her activity and eloquence amongst her
-northern friends, and lay at York with 60,000 men. Everything denoted the
-eve of a bloody conflict.
-
-This civil war was now known all over the world as the War of the Roses,
-a name said to be derived from a circumstance which took place in a
-dispute in the Temple Gardens betwixt Warwick and Somerset, at an early
-period of the rival factions. Somerset, in order to collect the suffrages
-of those on the side of Lancaster, is said to have plucked a red rose
-from a bush, and called upon every man who held with him to do the like.
-Warwick, for York, plucked a white rose, and thus the partisans were
-distinguishable by these differing badges.
-
-The vanguard of the two armies met at Ferrybridge, the passage of the
-river Aire. The Duke of Somerset was commander-in-chief of the royal
-army. The king, queen, and prince remained at York. Lord Clifford led
-the vanguard, and was opposed by Lord Fitzwalter on the part of the
-Yorkists. The battle at the bridge was furious; Fitzwalter was killed.
-Lord Falconbridge was instantly sent forward to replace him, and instead
-of opposing Clifford in front in his strong position, allowing the troops
-there to hold him in play, he himself crossed the Aire, some miles above
-Ferrybridge, and falling unexpectedly on the rear of Clifford, routed his
-force, and revenged the death of Fitzwalter by that of Clifford himself.
-The Yorkists poured over the bridge, took possession of the town, and
-advanced towards Towton. Meantime, Warwick, excited by the temporary
-repulse at the bridge under Fitzwalter, had called for his horse, stabbed
-him in sight of the whole army, and kissing the hilt of his bloody
-sword, swore that he would fight on foot, and share every fatigue and
-disadvantage with the common soldiers.
-
-With minds inflamed to the utmost pitch of animosity, the two armies met
-on the morning of Palm Sunday, March 29th, in the fields betwixt the
-villages of Saxton and Towton, about ten miles south of York. Edward
-issued orders that no quarter should be given, no prisoners taken. The
-action began at nine o'clock in the morning, under circumstances most
-unfortunate for the Lancastrians. A snowstorm was blowing full in their
-faces; and Lord Falconbridge seized at once on this circumstance by an
-adroit stratagem. He ordered the archers to advance, discharge their
-arrows, and again retire out of the reach of those of the enemy. The
-Lancastrians, believing themselves within bow-shot of the enemy, whose
-arrows did great execution amongst them, returned the compliment without
-being able to see where their arrows reached for the snowflakes. The
-Yorkist archers were now out of their range, and they fell useless. Again
-the Yorkists advanced, and poured in a fresh flight with such effect that
-the Lancastrians, probably doubting of the success of their own arrows,
-rushed forward and came hand to hand with their opponents. It was now one
-terrible clash of swords, battle-axes, and spears, amid the thick-falling
-and blinding storm; and thus the two infuriated armies continued fighting
-desperately for nearly five hours. Towards evening the Lancastrians,
-disheartened by the fall of their principal commanders, broke and fled.
-They were pursued as far as Tadcaster with the fiercest impetuosity, and
-fearful slaughter. It was one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in
-Britain. According to a contemporary historian, those who were employed
-to number and bury the dead, declared them to be 38,000.
-
-After celebrating the feast of Easter at York, Edward marched to
-Newcastle, and, leaving Warwick there to keep the north in order,
-returned to London on the 26th of June.
-
-On reaching Scotland, Margaret placed Henry in a secure retreat at
-Kirkcudbright, and then hastened to Edinburgh, to try what could be
-done towards renewing the contest, which no dispersion of her friends
-and forces could ever teach her to relinquish. There she found a
-boy sovereign, a divided court, and a country which had suffered by
-factions almost as deadly as her own. James I., who had seemed to
-return to his kingdom after his long captivity under such auspicious
-circumstances--full of intelligence and plans for the improvement of his
-country, married to the woman of his affections, and courted by both
-England and France,--was soon murdered by the rude and lawless nobles
-whom he endeavoured to reduce to some degree of order and subordination.
-His son, James II., when arrived at years of maturity, endeavoured to
-recover from distracted England some of the places it had reft from
-Scotland formerly, but in besieging Roxburgh in 1460, he was killed by
-the bursting of a cannon. His son was at this time a child of only eight
-years old, and the kingdom was governed by a council of regency; but the
-care of the king's person was committed to the queen-mother, Mary of
-Guelders, who was ambitious of engrossing not only that duty, but the
-actual powers of the government. In this she was opposed by the powerful
-family of Douglas.
-
-Margaret had no willing listeners amongst parties who were occupied with
-their own schemes and feuds. She had the difficult task of appealing to
-their various interests; and she found no one thing capable of fixing
-their attention till she hit on the idea of proposing the surrender of
-Berwick as the price of Scotland's assistance. That key of the northern
-frontiers of England, for the possession of which so much blood had been
-spilled from age to age, was an object the proposed recovery of which at
-once gave her the command of the ears of the whole court. In addition to
-this, she offered a marriage betwixt her son, Edward, Prince of Wales,
-and the eldest sister of the young King of Scotland. These treaties were
-carried into effect, and Berwick was put into the hands of the Scots on
-the 25th of April, 1461.
-
-Edward, on his return to London, was crowned on the 29th of June. He then
-summoned a Parliament to meet at Westminster on the 6th of July, but
-an invasion appearing not improbable, he prorogued it till the 4th of
-November. The sword and the scaffold had already so thinned the nobility
-that only one duke, four earls, one viscount, and twenty-nine barons
-were summoned to this Parliament. The great battle of Towton, which had
-laid so many of them low, had rendered the rest very submissive. There
-was no longer any hesitating betwixt the two families, or seeking of
-those compromises which, in the end, only produced more discord. Whatever
-Edward dictated was accepted as law and constitution. Of course Henry
-IV. was declared to have been an arrant usurper; and his posterity were
-held incapable, not only of wearing the crown, but of enjoying any estate
-or dignity in any portion of the British dominions for ever. Henry VI.,
-Margaret, Edward, called Prince of Wales, the Dukes of Somerset and
-Exeter, the Earls of Northumberland, Devonshire, and Pembroke, and a
-vast number of lords, knights, and gentlemen, were attainted. Edward IV.
-was proclaimed to be the only rightful king; and all those of the York
-party who had been declared traitors by the Lancaster party when it was
-uppermost, and expelled from honours and estates, were restored.
-
-Meanwhile, nothing daunted, Margaret was exerting her ingenuity to
-rouse a party in Scotland. She pleaded to deaf ears. Her surrender of
-Berwick brought her no real assistance; and she now sent over Somerset
-to endeavour to obtain succour from France. All these efforts were
-equally vain. Charles VII. died in 1461, and his successor, Louis
-XI., was immovable. Somerset, her ambassador, returned completely
-unsuccessful. He and his attendants had, indeed, been arrested by Louis
-when they attempted to escape in the guise of merchants, for fear of
-the despicable king giving them up to Edward to propitiate his favour.
-It was only through the earnest intercession of the Count of Charolais,
-the son of the Duke of Burgundy, that they were liberated. Louis XI. was
-cousin-german to both Margaret and Henry VI.; but such relationships
-weigh nothing with selfish men, in comparison to their own immediate
-interests. While this unwelcome news was arriving, Margaret was rendered
-the more uneasy and unsafe by the appearance of Warwick at the court
-of Scotland, proposing a marriage betwixt the Scottish queen and the
-victorious Edward of England. Under these circumstances, neither Margaret
-nor Henry was safe. She resolved, therefore, to make one more effort
-with Louis of France, and a personal one. By means of a French merchant,
-who owed her some kindness for past benefit, she managed to get over to
-France, where she threw herself at the feet of Louis, who was at Chinon
-in Normandy. She was only able to reach his court by the assistance of
-the Duke of Brittany, who gave her 12,000 crowns.
-
-Margaret agreed to surrender the rights of the crown in Calais, and
-that Henry should do the same. And what was to be the price of this
-sacrifice--this sacrifice of this proud stronghold of England, this
-sacrifice of her own honour, and this last remaining fragment of her
-good fame in Britain? The paltry sum of 20,000 livres! That was all she
-could squeeze from the miserable French king for this intensely desired
-object. True, he had it still to win, for it was not in the possession
-of Margaret or her husband; but the acknowledged purchase from the
-Lancastrian king would give him great weight in any attempts to compel
-the surrender, and if Henry did again recover his throne, Calais must be
-made over to him at once.
-
-[Illustration: EDWARD IV.]
-
-With her 20,000 livres Margaret was enabled to engage the services
-of Pierre de Brézé, the seneschal of Normandy. He had been an old
-admirer of Margaret's, and now offered to follow her with 2,000 men.
-With this force, after an absence of five months, she set sail for
-England, and attempted to land at Tynemouth, in October, 1462, but was
-repelled by the garrison. The fleet was now attacked by a terrible
-storm; the very elements seemed to fight against her. Many of her
-ships ran ashore near Bamborough. Yet, spite of all her difficulties,
-Margaret effected a landing, and gained possession of the castles of
-Bamborough, Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick. She sent for Henry from his safe
-hiding-place at Harlech Castle in Merionethshire, where she had left him
-while she went to France, and was gathering some considerable forces
-of Scots and French when Warwick drew near with 20,000 men, and news
-was received that Edward was approaching with an equal number. Edward
-halted at Newcastle, but Warwick advancing, divided his forces into three
-bodies, and simultaneously invested the three strongholds. Somerset
-surrendered Bamborough on condition that himself and Sir Ralph Percy,
-and others, should be allowed to take the oath of fealty to Edward, and
-be restored to all their honours and estates; and that the rest of the
-two garrisons, with the Earl of Pembroke, and some others, whose lands
-had been conferred on Edward's friends, and could not, therefore, be
-now restored, should be conveyed in safety to Scotland. This defection
-of her chief supporters was a dreadful blow to the queen, and, to add
-to her misfortunes, 500 of her French followers, who had established
-themselves in Holy Island were attacked and cut to pieces by Sir Robert
-Ogle. Alnwick Castle still held out in the hands of the brave De Brézé
-and Lord Hungerford; but the Earl of Angus coming up with a party of
-relief, the besieged took the opportunity to make a sally and escape from
-the castle to their friends. Bamborough and Dunstanburgh were restored by
-the king to Lord Percy; but Alnwick he gave to Sir John Ashley, to the
-great offence of Sir Ralph Grey, who had formerly won it for Edward, and
-now expected to have had it.
-
-[Illustration: DUNSTANBURGH CASTLE.]
-
-It might have been supposed that all hope of ever restoring the
-Lancastrian cause was now at an end. But in the soul of Margaret hope
-never seemed to die. With an admirable and indomitable resolution, she
-again turned her efforts to reconstruct a fresh army. She traversed
-Scotland, drew together her scattered friends, joined them to her French
-auxiliaries, whom she again mustered on the Continent: and by the spring
-of 1464 was in a condition once more to march into England. For some time
-her affairs wore a promising aspect. She retook the castles of Alnwick,
-Bamborough, and Dunstanburgh. Somerset, Sir Ralph Percy, and the rest who
-had made their peace with Edward, hearing of her successes, again flew to
-her standard. Sir Ralph Grey, who resented the preference given to Sir
-John Ashley by Edward in the disposal of Alnwick, came over to her, and
-was made commander of Bamborough.
-
-Edward, on the news of these reverses, dispatched the Lord Montague,
-the brother of Warwick, into the north to raise his forces there, and
-make head against the never-resting queen. He met with Sir Ralph Percy
-on Hedgeley Moor, near Wooler, on the 25th of April, defeated his
-forces, and killed Sir Ralph. Having received fresh reinforcements from
-the south, he advanced towards Margaret's main army, and encamped on a
-plain, called the Levels, near Hexham. There, on the 15th of May, the two
-armies came to a general action, and after a long and bloody conflict the
-Lancastrians were again completely routed. Poor King Henry fled for his
-life, and this time managed not to be left in the hands of his enemies.
-
-Margaret and her son, with a few attendants, were meanwhile flying
-wildly through the neighbouring forests from the tender mercies of
-this sanguinary young king. She was endeavouring to reach the Scottish
-borders, when they were met by a party of marauders, with whom the Border
-country abounded. The queen on her knees implored mercy, and avowed who
-she was; but the villains who had hold of her, seeing their associates
-busy dividing the rich booty, turned to them, and she seized the
-opportunity, while they were quarrelling over it, to fly with her son.
-The fugitives rushed onward, not knowing whither they were going, till
-night overtook them. Nearly fainting with terror, fatigue, and hunger,
-as the moon broke through the clouds they beheld a huge man, armed, and
-with threatening gestures hastening towards them. Imagining it was one
-of the band that had robbed them who had now overtaken her, she expected
-nothing but death; but, mustering her characteristic resolution, she bade
-the man see that if he hoped for booty it was useless, for she and her
-child had been stripped even of their upper garments for their value.
-The man appeared to be one of the numerous outlaws harboured in that
-locality, and many of whom had seen better days. He was touched by her
-appeal, and Margaret, perceiving it, said, "Here, my friend, save the
-son of your king! I charge thee to preserve from violence that innocent
-royal blood. Take him, and conceal him from those who seek his life. Give
-him a refuge in thine obscure hiding-place, and he will one day give
-thee free access to his royal chamber, and make thee one of his barons."
-The man, struck by the majestic presence of the queen, the pleading
-innocence of the prince, and the words of Margaret, knelt, and vowed he
-would rather die a thousand deaths than injure or betray them. He carried
-the young prince in his arms to his cave, on the south bank of a little
-stream which runs at the foot of Blockhill, and, from this circumstance,
-still called "Queen Margaret's cave." There the man's wife made them
-right welcome, and, after two days' concealment, the outlaw succeeded in
-meeting with De Brézé, and his followers soon afterwards discovered the
-Duke of Exeter and Edward Beaufort--from the execution of his brother now
-Duke of Somerset; and with them Margaret escaped to Scotland, and, after
-many adventures, reached France. There Margaret received the melancholy
-news of the capture and imprisonment of her husband. For about twelve
-months the unfortunate monarch had contrived to elude the eager quest
-of his enemies. He went from place to place amongst the friends of the
-house of Lancaster in Westmoreland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. At the
-various halls and castles where he sojourned, tradition has to this day
-retained the memory of his presence. He was at length betrayed by a monk
-of Abingdon, and he was taken by the servants of Sir John Harrington,
-as he sat at dinner at Waddington Hall. He was treated with the utmost
-indignity on his way to London. He was mounted on a miserable hack, his
-legs being tied to his stirrups, and an insulting placard fixed on his
-back. At Islington Warwick met the fallen king, and disgraced himself by
-commanding the thronging spectators to show no respect to him. To enforce
-his command by his own example, he led the unhappy man three times round
-the pillory, as if he had been a common felon, crying, "Treason! treason!
-Behold the traitor!"
-
-Edward, now freed from his enemies, considered himself as established
-on the throne beyond all doubt. He created Lord Montacute Earl of
-Northumberland for his services at Hexham, and Lord Herbert Earl of
-Pembroke. He issued a long list of attainders to exhaust the resources
-of his opponents and increase those of his adherents. He then passed an
-Act for the resumption of the Crown lands to supply a royal income; but
-this was clogged by so many exceptions that it proved fruitless. He then
-gave himself up to mirth and jollity, and in the pursuit of his pleasures
-made himself so affable and agreeable, especially with the Londoners,
-that, in spite of his free gallantries, he was very popular. So strongly
-did he now seem to be grounded in the affections of his subjects, that he
-ventured to make known a private marriage, which he had contracted some
-time before, though he knew that it would give deep offence in several
-quarters.
-
-It is a curious circumstance that in the early part of the reign of Henry
-VI., two ladies of royal lineage, and one of them of royal rank, had
-condescended to marry private gentlemen, to the great scandal of their
-high-born connections. One of these was Catherine of Valois, the widow of
-Henry V., and mother of Henry VI., who married Owen Tudor. The other was
-Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the widow of the great Duke of Bedford, Regent
-of France, who married Sir Richard Woodville. Both Tudor and Woodville
-were men of remarkable beauty; and both were imprisoned and persecuted
-for the offence of marrying, without permission of the Crown, princesses
-who chose to fall in love with them. Woodville regained his liberty by
-the payment of a fine of 1,000 crowns. Tudor's persecutions were more
-severe and prolonged. Yet, from these two scandalous _mésalliances_, as
-they were regarded by the Court and high nobility, sprang a line of the
-most remarkable princes that ever sat upon the English throne. The blood
-of both these ladies mingled in the burly body of Henry VIII. and his
-descendants. We have seen how Tudor became the grandfather of Henry VII.;
-we have now to observe how Woodville became the grandfather of Henry's
-wife, Elizabeth of York.
-
-Jacquetta had several children by Sir Richard Woodville, one of whom,
-Elizabeth, was a woman of much beauty and great accomplishments. She had
-been married to Sir John Grey of Groby, a Lancastrian, who fell at the
-second battle of St. Albans. His estate was consequently confiscated;
-his widow, with seven children, returned to her father, and was living
-at his seat at Grafton, in Northamptonshire. Edward being out on a
-hunting party in the neighbourhood, took the opportunity to call on the
-Duchess of Bedford. There he saw and was greatly struck with the beauty
-of the Lady Grey. She, on her part, seized the occasion to endeavour to
-secure some restitution of their property for her children. The whole
-of her subsequent life showed that she was not a woman to neglect such
-opportunities. She threw herself at the feet of the gay monarch, and
-with many tears besought him to restore to her innocent children their
-father's patrimony.
-
-Lady Grey made more impression than she probably intended. Edward was
-perfectly fascinated by her beauty and spirit. He raised her from her
-suppliant posture, and promised her his favour. He soon communicated to
-her the terms on which he would grant the restitution of her property;
-but he found in Elizabeth Woodville, or Grey, a very different person to
-those he had been accustomed to meet. She firmly refused every concession
-inconsistent with her honour, and the king, piqued by the resistance he
-encountered, became more and more enamoured.
-
-On the 1st of May, 1464, he married her at Grafton, in the presence
-only of the priest, the clerk, the Duchess of Bedford, and two female
-attendants. Within a few days after the marriage he set out to meet the
-Lancastrians in the north; but the battles of Hedgeley Moor and Hexham
-were fought before his arrival; and on his return he became anxious to
-open the matter to his council, and to obtain its sanction. Accordingly,
-at Michaelmas, he summoned a general council of the peers at the abbey
-of Reading, where he announced this important event. Amongst the Peers
-present were Edward's brother the Duke of Clarence, and the great
-king-maker, Warwick. To neither of these individuals was the transaction
-agreeable. To Clarence it appeared too inferior a choice for the King of
-England, though Elizabeth Grey, by her mother's side, was of princely
-blood. But to Warwick there was offence in it, personal and deep. He had
-been commissioned by Edward to solicit for him the hand of Bona of Savoy,
-the sister of the Queen of France. The proposal had been accepted; the
-King of France had given his consent; the treaty of marriage was actually
-drawn; and there lacked nothing but the ratification of the terms agreed
-upon, and the bringing over of the princess to England. At this moment
-came the order to pause in the proceedings, and the mystery was soon
-cleared up by the confident rumour of this sudden matrimonial caprice of
-the king. Warwick returned in high dudgeon; from Edward he did not try
-to conceal it; but the time for revenge of his injured honour was not
-yet come; and therefore, after the royal announcement in the council,
-Clarence and Warwick took Elizabeth by the hand, and introduced her to
-the rest of the peers. A second council was held at Westminster, in
-December, and the income of the new queen was settled at 4,000 marks a
-year.
-
-It was not to be expected that this sudden elevation of a simple knight's
-daughter to the throne would pass without murmuring and discontent,
-which was probably the more fully expressed as it was shared by the
-all-powerful Warwick and the king's brothers. There were busy rumours
-that the politic old duchess, Jacquetta, and her daughter, had practised
-magical arts upon the king, and administered philtres; and that,
-recovering from their effect, he had grievously repented, and endeavoured
-to free himself. But Edward's whole conduct towards the queen showed the
-falsity of this jealous gossip; and to make it obvious that she was of no
-mean parentage, he invited to the coronation her mother's brother, John
-of Luxembourg, with a retinue of a hundred knights and gentlemen.
-
-But if the king had made apparent her noble birth and his continued
-affection for her, it became speedily as apparent that the marriage of a
-subject was to be followed by all its inconveniences. Elizabeth, though
-raised to the throne, might still be said to be on her knees, imploring
-the favour of the king. There was nothing which she thought too much for
-her numerous relations, and the king displayed a marvellous facility in
-complying with her requests. Her father was created Earl Rivers, and soon
-after the Lord Mountjoy, a partisan of the Nevilles, was removed to make
-way for him as Treasurer of England; and again, on the resignation of
-the Earl of Worcester, the office of Lord High Constable was conferred
-on him. That was very well for a beginning, but it was nothing to what
-followed; every branch of the queen's family must be aggrandised without
-delay. She had five sisters, and each of them was married to one of the
-highest noblemen in the realm: one to the Duke of Buckingham; one to the
-heir of the Earl of Essex; a third to the Earl of Arundel; a fourth to
-Lord Grey de Ruthin, who was made Earl of Kent; and the fifth to Lord
-William Herbert, created Earl of Huntingdon. Her brother Anthony was
-married to the heiress of the late Lord Scales, and endowed with her
-estate and title. Her younger brother John, in his twentieth year, was
-married to the wealthy old dowager Duchess of Norfolk, in her eightieth
-year; such was the shameless greed of this family. The queen's son,
-Thomas Grey, was married to the king's niece, the daughter and heiress
-of the Duke of Exeter. The Nevilles looked on all these extraordinary
-proceedings with ominous gloom.
-
-Fresh cause of disunion arose between the king and Warwick. A marriage
-had for some time been in agitation between Margaret, the king's sister,
-and the Count of Charolais, son and heir of the Duke of Burgundy. The
-count was sprung from the house of Lancaster, and even when his father
-showed the most settled coolness towards Henry VI. and Margaret, had
-displayed a warm sympathy for them. It was a good stroke of policy,
-therefore, to win him over by this marriage to the reigning dynasty.
-But Warwick, who in his former intercourse with Burgundy in France had
-conceived a deep dislike to him, opposed this match, and represented
-one with a son of Louis XI. as far more advantageous. To Warwick's
-arguments was opposed the evident policy of maintaining our commercial
-intercourse with the Netherlands, and of possessing so efficient an
-ally on the borders of France against the deep and selfish schemes of
-Louis. But in the end Warwick prevailed. He was sent over to France to
-negotiate the affair with Louis. Warwick went attended with a princely
-train, and with all the magnificence which distinguished him at home,
-more like that of a great sovereign than of a subject. Louis, who never
-lost an opportunity of sowing jealousies amongst his enemies, even while
-he appeared to be honouring them, met Warwick at Rouen, attended by the
-queen and princesses. The inhabitants, obeying royal orders, went out and
-escorted Warwick into the city with banners and processions of priests,
-who conducted the earl to the cathedral, and then to the lodgings
-prepared for him at the Jacobins. There also Louis and the court took up
-their quarters, and for twelve days, during which the conference lasted,
-Louis used to visit the earl in private, passing through a side door into
-his apartments. With all this secret and familiar intercourse, no pains
-were taken to conceal its existence; and the consequence was such as the
-astute and mischievous Louis intended. Reports were forwarded to Edward
-from those whom he had placed in Warwick's train, which roused his ever
-uncalculating anger. He hastened to the house of Warwick's brother--the
-Archbishop of York and Chancellor of the kingdom--demanded the instant
-surrender of the seals; and, enforcing the act of resumption of Crown
-lands lately passed, deprived the archbishop of two manors formerly
-belonging to the Crown.
-
-Warwick returned, as may be supposed, in no very good humour, but still
-with every prospect of success in his mission. The court of France was
-agreeable to the match. And on the heels of the earl came the Archbishop
-of Narbonne and the Bastard of Bourbon to complete the arrangements. They
-were prepared to offer an annual pension to Edward from Louis, and to
-pledge the king to submit to the Pope Edward's demand for the restoration
-of Normandy and Aquitaine, which should be decided within four years.
-But the importance of these propositions, and the evident prudence of at
-least appearing to listen to the terms of a monarch like that of France,
-had no weight with Edward, who was far more distinguished for petulance
-and rashness than for policy. He treated the French ambassadors with the
-most insulting coldness; and unceremoniously quitted the capital, leaving
-his ministers to deal with the ambassadors, and, in fact, to get rid of
-them. His resentment against Warwick made him not only thus forget the
-courtesy due to the envoys of a great foreign prince--conduct sure to
-create its own punishment,--but he gave all the more favour to the suit
-of the Count of Charolais from the same cause.
-
-The count had sent over his relative, the Bastard of Burgundy, ostensibly
-to hold a tournament with Lord Scales, the queen's brother, but really to
-press forward the match with the English princess. The Duke of Burgundy
-dying at this juncture, all difficulties vanished. The princess was
-affianced to the new Duke of Burgundy.
-
-This completed the resentment of Warwick. The open insult offered to the
-court of France, and the rejection of the alliance which he had effected,
-sunk deep into his proud mind. He retired to his castle of Middleham, in
-Yorkshire; and occasion was taken of his absence from court to accuse
-him, on the evidence of one of Queen Margaret's emissaries taken in
-Wales, of being a secret partisan of the Lancastrian faction. The charge
-failed; but Edward, resolved to mortify and humiliate the man to whom
-he owed his throne, affected still to believe him a secret ally of the
-Lancastrians, and that his own safety was threatened by him. He therefore
-summoned a body-guard of 200 archers, without whose attendance he never
-stirred abroad. He expelled the Nevilles from court, and took every means
-to express his dislike and suspicion of that house. On the other hand,
-the Nevilles repaid the hatred of the upstart family of Woodville with
-interest; and from this moment, whatever might be the outward seeming,
-the feud betwixt these rival families was settled, deadly, and never
-terminated till it had completed the ruin of all parties.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD IV.]
-
-At present the Archbishop of York, though suffering under the immediate
-severity of the king, was too wise to give way to his resentment. He
-justly feared the influence of the Woodvilles with the king, and that it
-might prove most injurious to his own family. He therefore stood forth as
-a peacemaker. He volunteered a visit to Earl Rivers, the queen's father;
-met him at Nottingham, and agreed on terms of reconciliation between
-the families. The king, queen, and court were keeping the Christmas of
-1467 at Coventry. The archbishop hastened to his brother at Middleham,
-and prevailed upon him to accompany him to Coventry, where he was
-graciously received by Edward; all subjects of offence betwixt him and
-the relatives of the queen--especially her brothers-in-law, the Lords
-Herbert, Stafford, and Audley--were arranged; and the king expressed
-himself so much pleased with the conduct of the archbishop, that he
-restored to him his two manors. This pacific state of things lasted for
-little more than a year. On the 18th of June, 1468, the king's sister set
-out on her journey to meet her husband in Flanders. The king accompanied
-her to the coast; and, as a proof that Warwick at this moment held his
-old position of honour at court, the princess rode behind him through
-the streets of London. A conspiracy having been discovered, or supposed,
-of several gentlemen with Queen Margaret, Warwick and his brother, the
-Earl of Northumberland, were joined with the king's brothers, Clarence
-and Gloucester, in a commission to try them; and the two Nevilles
-certainly executed their part of the trust with a zeal which looked like
-anything but disaffection. Very arbitrary measures were used towards the
-prisoners, several of whom were condemned and executed.
-
-This calm was soon broken. The Duke of Clarence had from the first
-shown as deep a dislike to the ascendency of the Woodvilles as the
-Nevilles themselves. This drew him into closer intimacy with Warwick.
-He frequently withdrew for long periods from court, and was generally
-to be found at one of the residences of Warwick. It soon came out that
-there was a cause still more influential than his dislike of the queen's
-relations; it was his admiration of the Earl's eldest daughter, Isabella,
-who was co-heiress of his vast estates. Warwick was delighted with the
-prospect of this alliance, for as yet the king, having no male heir, and
-his only daughter being but four years old, Clarence stood as the next
-male heir to his brother. Edward, on the contrary, beheld this proposed
-connection with the utmost alarm. The Nevilles were already too powerful;
-and should Warwick succeed, through Clarence, in placing his descendants
-so near the throne, it might produce the most dangerous consequences
-to his own line. He therefore did all in his power to frustrate the
-marriage, but in vain. Clarence and Warwick retired to Calais, of which
-Warwick remained the governor; and there the marriage was celebrated, in
-the Church of St. Nicholas, on the 11th of July, 1469.
-
-With the exception of this annoying event, at this moment Edward appeared
-so firmly seated on his throne, and so well secured by foreign treaties
-with almost all the European powers, and especially with the Dukes of
-Burgundy and Brittany, the latter of whom had recently become his ally,
-that he actually contemplated the enterprise of recovering by his arms
-the territories which his weak predecessor had lost in France. His hatred
-of the cold-blooded Louis XI., who in political cunning was infinitely
-Edward's superior, probably urged him to this idea. To draw off the
-attention of the different factions at home, and find some common medium
-of uniting them in action abroad, might be another. The most remarkable
-circumstance of all was, that Parliament, after its experience of the
-drain which these French wars had been to the blood and resources of the
-nation, received the king's proposal with cordial approbation.
-
-But these dreams of martial glory were very quickly swept from the brain
-of the king by domestic troubles. At first these troubles appeared to
-originate in private and local causes, but there was such food for
-combustion existing throughout the kingdom, that the farther they went,
-the wider they opened, and at every step onwards assumed more and more
-the aspect of a Warwick and Clarence conspiracy. Nothing could be farther
-removed from such an appearance than the opening occurrence.
-
-The hospital of St. Leonard, near York, had possessed, from the reign of
-King Athelstan, a right of levying a thrave of corn (twenty-four sheaves)
-from every ploughland in the county. There had long been complaints that
-this grant was grossly abused, and instead of benefiting the poor, as
-it was intended, was converted to the emolument of the managers. During
-the last reign many had refused in consequence to yield the stipulated
-thrave, and Parliament had passed an act to compel the delivery. Now
-again the refusal to pay the demand was become general. The vassals
-had their goods distrained, and were themselves thrown into prison.
-This raised the peasantry, who were all of the old Lancastrian party,
-and regarded the present dynasty as usurpers and oppressors. They flew
-to arms, under the leadership of one Robert Hilyard, called by the
-insurgents Robin of Redesdale, and vowed that they would march south and
-reform the Government. Lord Montague, Earl of Northumberland, brother
-of Warwick, marched out against them, forming as they now did a body of
-15,000 men, and menacing the city of York. He defeated them, seized their
-leader Hilyard, and executed him on the field of battle.
-
-So far there appeared certainly no hand of the Nevilles in this movement.
-Northumberland did his best to crush it, and Warwick and Clarence
-were away at Calais, thinking, apparently, not of rebellion, but of
-matrimonial festivities. But the very next move revealed a startling fact.
-
-The insurgents, though dispersed, were by no means subdued. They had lost
-their peasant head, but they reappeared in still greater forces, with two
-heads, and those no other than the Lords Fitzhugh and Latimer, the nephew
-and the cousin-german of Warwick. Northumberland contented himself with
-protecting the city of York. He made no attempt to pursue this still more
-menacing body, who, dropping their cry of the hospital and the thrave of
-corn, declared that their object was to meet the Earl of Warwick, and by
-his aid and advice to remove from the councils of the king the swarm of
-Woodvilles, whom they charged with being the authors of the oppressive
-taxes, and of all the calamities of the nation. The young noblemen who
-headed the insurrection were assisted by the military abilities of an old
-and experienced officer, Sir William Conyers. At the name of Warwick,
-his tenants came streaming from every quarter, and in a few days, the
-insurgent army numbered 60,000 men.
-
-Edward, on the news of this formidable movement, called together what
-troops he could, and fixed his headquarters at the castle of Fotheringay.
-Towards this place the insurgent army marched, growing, as they
-proceeded, in numbers and boldness. The whole outcry resolved itself into
-a capital charge against the Woodvilles, and the movement being headed
-by the Nevilles, there could not be much mystery about the matter. Yet
-Edward, after advancing as far as Newark, and becoming intimidated by the
-spirit of disaffection which everywhere prevailed, wrote imploringly to
-Warwick and Clarence to hasten from Calais to his assistance. The result
-was such as might have been expected. Warwick and Clarence, instead of
-complying with the king's urgent entreaty, summoned their friends to meet
-them at Canterbury, on the following Sunday, to proceed with them to the
-king to lay before him the petitions of the Commons.
-
-In this alarming extremity, Edward looked with impatience for the arrival
-of the Earls of Devonshire and Pembroke, who had been mustering forces
-for his assistance. Devon was at the head of a strong body of archers,
-and Pembroke of 10,000 Welshmen. They met at Banbury, where the demon of
-discord divided them in their quest of quarters, and made them forget
-the critical situation of their sovereign. Pembroke, leaving Devon in
-possession, advanced to Edgecote. There he came in contact with the
-insurgents, who, falling upon him, deprived as he was of the assistance
-of Devon's archers, easily routed him. In this engagement 2,000 of his
-soldiers are said to have perished, and Pembroke and his brother were
-taken and put to death, with ten other gentlemen, on the field. Devon
-made no attempt to restore the fortunes of his party.
-
-This fatal defeat completely annihilated the hopes of Edward. At the news
-of it, all his troops stole away from their colours, and his favourites
-fled for concealment. But the queen's father, Earl Rivers, was discovered
-in the Forest of Dean, with his son, Sir John Woodville; and the Earl
-of Devon, late Earl Stafford, the queen's brother-in-law, abandoned by
-his soldiers, was taken at Bridgewater. The whole of them were executed,
-Rivers and his son Woodville being conveyed to their own neighbourhood,
-and beheaded at Northampton.
-
-Warwick, Clarence, and Northumberland, who had, no doubt, conducted all
-these movements from a distance, now appeared as principals on the scene.
-They marched forward from Canterbury at the head of a powerful force, and
-overtook Edward at Olney, plunged in despair at the sudden ruin which had
-surrounded him. They approached him with an air of sympathy and loyal
-obeisance; and Edward, imposed upon by this, with his usual unguarded
-anger, upbraided them with being the real authors of his troubles. He
-very soon perceived his folly, for he found himself, not their commander,
-but their captive. Warwick dismissed the insurgent army to their homes,
-who retired laden with booty, and sensible that they had executed all
-that was expected of them. Under protection of their Kentish troops,
-they then conducted Edward to Warwick Castle, and thence, for greater
-security, to Middleham.
-
-Thus England had at the same time two kings, and both of them captive;
-Henry in the Tower of London, Edward at Middleham, in Yorkshire. Men now
-expected nothing less than that Warwick would proclaim Clarence as king,
-but probably the measures of Warwick and Clarence were deranged by a
-fresh insurrection which broke out. This time it was the Lancastrians,
-who seized the opportunity to raise again the banner of Henry. They
-appeared in the marches of Scotland, under Sir Humphrey Neville, one of
-the fugitives from the battle of Hexham. Warwick advanced against him in
-the king's name, but he found that the soldiers refused to fight until
-they were assured of the king's safety. Warwick was therefore compelled
-to produce Edward to the army at York. After that they followed him
-against the Lancastrians, whom they defeated, and taking their leader,
-brought him to the king, who ordered his instant execution.
-
-Edward was now permitted to return to London, accompanied by several
-leaders of the party. There a council of peers was summoned, and then
-it appeared that though Warwick's faction had probably not accomplished
-all they had intended, they bound the king to terms which, while they
-neutralised the hopes of Clarence in some degree, still were calculated
-to add to the greatness of the house of Neville. The king announced that
-he had proposed to give his daughter, yet only four years old, to George,
-the son of the Earl of Northumberland, and presumptive heir of all the
-Nevilles. The council gave its unanimous approbation of the measure,
-and the young nobleman, to raise his name to a level with his affianced
-bride, was created Duke of Bedford.
-
-Outwardly everything was so harmonious, that not only was a general
-pardon granted to all who had been in any way concerned in the late
-disturbances, but the king and his reconciled friends were again
-proposing to invade France in concert with the Duke of Burgundy. The
-French court was so convinced of the reality of this invasion that it
-commanded a general muster of troops for the 1st of May, 1470.
-
-But the designs of the Nevilles lay nearer home in reality. The
-Archbishop of York invited the king to meet Clarence and Warwick at
-his seat--the Moor--in Hertfordshire. As Edward was washing his hands
-preparatory to supper, John Ratcliff, afterwards Lord Fitzwalter,
-whispered in his ear that 100 armed men were on the watch to seize him
-and convey him to prison. Edward, having been once before trepanned by
-his loving friends, gave instant credence to the information, stole out,
-mounted a horse, and rode off to Windsor. This open confession of his
-opinion of the Nevilles produced a fresh scene of discord, which, with
-some difficulty, was appeased by the king's mother, the Duchess of York,
-and the parties were reconciled with just the same sincerity as before.
-
-[Illustration: GOLD ROSE NOBLE OF EDWARD IV.]
-
-The Nevilles were now in too critical a position to pause. They or the
-king must fall. At any hour some stratagem might surprise them, and
-give the advantage to their injured and deadly enemies, the Woodvilles.
-Insurrection, therefore, was not long in showing itself again. This time
-it broke out in Lincolnshire, and, as in the case of the hospital of St.
-Leonard, appeared to have nothing whatever to do with Warwick or his
-party. Its ostensible cause was the old grievance of purveyance, and Sir
-Robert Burgh, one of the purveyors, was attacked, his house burnt down,
-and himself chased out of the county. Had the cause been really local,
-there the mischief would have ended; but now again stepped forward a
-partisan of Warwick, Sir Robert Wells, who encouraged the rioters to keep
-together, and proceed to redress, not the evils of one county, but of the
-nation. He put himself at their head, and they soon amounted to 30,000
-men. The king required a number of nobles to raise troops with all speed,
-and so well did Warwick and Clarence feign loyalty that they were amongst
-this number.
-
-Edward summoned Lord Wells, the father of the insurgent chief, and Sir
-Thomas Dymoke, the Champion, both Lincolnshire men, to the council, in
-order to obtain information of the extent of the insurrection, and to
-engage them to exert their influence to check it. Both these gentlemen,
-as if conscious of guilt, fled to sanctuary, but, on a promise of pardon,
-repaired to court. Edward insisted that Lord Wells should command his
-son to lay down his arms, and disperse his followers, with which order
-Lord Wells complied; but Sir Robert Wells received at the same time
-letters from Warwick and Clarence, encouraging him to hold out, assuring
-him that they were on the march to support him. When Edward reached
-Stamford, bearing Lord Wells and Dymoke with him, he found Sir Robert
-still in arms, and in his anger he wreaked his vengeance on his father,
-Lord Wells, and on Dymoke, beheading them in direct violation of his
-promise. He then sent a second order to Sir Robert to lay down his arms,
-but he replied that he scorned to surrender to a man destitute of honour,
-who had murdered his father. Edward then fell upon the insurgents at
-Empingham, in Rutlandshire, and made a terrible slaughter of them. The
-leaders, Wells and Sir Thomas Delalaunde, were taken and immediately
-executed. The inferior prisoners, as dupes to the designs of others, were
-dismissed.
-
-Warwick and Clarence made for Calais. But there Warwick's lieutenant,
-Vauclerc, a Gascon knight, to whom he had entrusted the care of the city,
-refused to admit them. When they attempted to enter, the batteries were
-opened upon them; and when they remonstrated on this strange conduct,
-Vauclerc sent secretly to inform Warwick that the garrison, aware of what
-had taken place in England, were ill affected, and would certainly seize
-him if he entered; that his only chance of preserving the place for him
-was to appear at present hostile; and he prayed him to retire till a more
-favourable opportunity. To Edward, however, Vauclerc sent word that he
-would hold the town for him as his sovereign against all attempts--for
-which Edward rewarded him with the government of the place, and the Duke
-of Burgundy added a pension of a thousand crowns. Warwick and Clarence,
-enraged at this unexpected repulse, sailed along the coast towards
-Normandy, seizing every Flemish merchantman that fell in their way in
-revenge against Burgundy, and entered Harfleur, where they were received
-with all honour by the admiral of France.
-
-[Illustration: PREACHING AT ST. PAUL'S CROSS. (_See p._ 50.)]
-
-Low as were now the fortunes of Warwick and Clarence, decided as had
-been the failure of their attempts against Edward IV., Louis of France
-thought he had, in the possession of these great leaders, a means of
-consolidating a formidable party against Edward, who had treated his
-alliance with such contempt, and who entered into the closest relations
-with his most formidable opponent, the Duke of Burgundy. He therefore
-received them at Amboise, where he was holding his court, with the most
-marked honours, and ordered them and their ladies to have the best
-accommodations that could be procured in the neighbourhood. He proposed
-to these two chiefs to coalesce with the Lancastrian party, by which
-means they would be sure to gain the instant support of all that faction.
-He sent for Queen Margaret, who was then at Angers, and assured her that
-Providence had at length prepared the certain means of the restoration of
-King Henry and his family.
-
-Warwick engaged, by the assistance of Louis and of the Lancastrians, to
-replace Henry again upon the throne. By this means Warwick was to depose,
-and if possible to destroy, Edward of York. But Warwick never forgot the
-suggestions of his ambition. He must, if possible, sit on the throne
-of England in the persons of his descendants. For this he had married
-one daughter to Clarence. When the success of Edward had enfeebled his
-chance, he had succeeded in affiancing his nephew to the daughter of
-Edward, so that if not a Warwick at least a Neville might reign. He
-now sacrificed both these hopes to that of placing another daughter on
-the throne, as the queen of Margaret's son, the Prince of Wales. This
-alliance was the price of Warwick's assistance, and, however bitter might
-be the necessity, Margaret submitted to it, and the young Prince of
-Wales was forthwith married to Anne, the daughter of Warwick. Warwick
-then acknowledged Henry VI. as the rightful sovereign of England, and at
-the same time entered into solemn engagements to exert all his power to
-reinstate and maintain him on the throne. Margaret on her part swore on
-the holy Gospels never to reproach Warwick with the past, but to esteem
-him as a loyal and faithful subject. The French king, on the completion
-of this reconciliation, engaged to furnish the means necessary for the
-expedition.
-
-Edward, on hearing of the extraordinary meeting and negotiations of
-Warwick and Margaret, of the active agency of the French king, and the
-proposed marriage of Edward, Prince of Wales, and Anne of Warwick, sent
-off a lady of pre-eminent art and address, who belonged to the train of
-the Duchess of Clarence, but who had somehow been left behind. The clever
-dame no sooner reached the court of Clarence than she expressed to him
-and the duchess her amazement at their permitting such a coalition as
-the present; that in every point of view it was destructive to their own
-hopes, and even security; that the continued adhesion of Warwick and
-Margaret was impossible. Their mutual antipathies were too deeply rooted
-ever to be eradicated.
-
-Clarence was only one-and-twenty years of age. He was of a slender
-capacity, easily guided or misguided, and he agreed, on the first
-favourable opportunity, to abandon Warwick and go over to the king.
-
-On the other hand, Warwick was as actively and secretly engaged in
-preparing the defection of partisans of the king in England. His
-brother, Montague, though he had not deemed it prudent to join Warwick
-and Clarence in their unfortunate attempt to raise the country against
-Edward, had been suspected by him, and stripped of the earldom of
-Northumberland. He was still an ostensible adherent of the king, but
-he was watched. Warwick apprised him of the new and wonderful turn of
-affairs, and engaged him to keep up a zealous show of loyalty that his
-defection at an important moment might tell with the more disastrous
-effect on the Yorkist cause.
-
-Edward, satisfied with having detached Clarence from Warwick's interests,
-continued as careless as ever. The Duke of Burgundy, more sagacious
-than his brother-in-law, the King of England, did all that he could to
-arouse him to a sense of his danger, and to obstruct the progress of the
-expedition. He sent ambassadors to Paris to complain of the reception
-given to the enemies of his brother and ally. He menaced Louis with
-instant war if he did not desist from aiding and protecting the English
-traitors. He sent spies to watch the proceedings of Vauclerc, in Calais,
-and dispatched a squadron to make reprisals on the French merchantmen for
-the seizures made by Warwick, and to blockade the mouth of the Seine.
-Edward laughed at the fears and precautions of Burgundy. He bade him take
-no pains to guard the Channel, for that he should enjoy nothing better
-than to see Warwick venture to set foot in England.
-
-He was not long without that pleasure. A tempest dispersed the Burgundian
-fleet, and the fleet of Warwick and Clarence, seizing the opportunity,
-put to sea, crossed the Channel, and landed on the 13th of September,
-1470, without opposition, at Portsmouth and Dartmouth. Warwick had
-prepared his own way very skilfully. Edward was deluded by a ruse on the
-part of Lord Fitzwalter, the brother-in-law of Warwick, who appeared
-in arms in Northumberland, as if meditating an insurrection; by which
-means the unwary king was induced to march towards the north, leaving
-the southern counties exposed to the invaders. This was the object of
-Warwick, and, as soon as it was effected, Fitzwalter retreated into
-Scotland. Meantime, the real danger was growing rapidly in the south. The
-men of Kent rose in arms; London was thrown into a ferment by Dr. Goddard
-preaching at St. Paul's Cross in favour of Henry VI.; and from every
-quarter people hastened to the standard of Warwick with such eagerness
-that he speedily found himself at the head of 60,000 men.
-
-As London and the southern counties appeared safe, Warwick proclaimed
-Henry, and set out to encounter Edward without delay. He advanced towards
-Nottingham. Edward, who had taken up his headquarters at Doncaster, had
-issued his orders for all who could bear arms to join his banner. They
-came in slowly; and Edward, who had ridiculed the idea of the return
-of Warwick, saying Burgundy would take care that he did not cross the
-sea, was now rudely aroused from his fancied security. He was compelled
-with unequal forces to advance against Warwick. A great battle appeared
-imminent in the neighbourhood of Nottingham; but the rapid defection
-of Edward's adherents rendered that unnecessary. The speedy movements
-of Warwick, and the general demonstration in favour of Henry, had not
-permitted Clarence to carry into effect his intended transit from
-Warwick to Edward, when a startling act of desertion occurred to the
-king's side, which completed Edward's ruin. Before Edward could reach
-Nottingham, and while lying near the river Welland, in Lincolnshire,
-Montague, Warwick's brother, from whom Edward had taken the earldom of
-Northumberland, now revenged himself by suddenly marching from York at
-the head of 6,000 men, and in the night, and in full concert with his
-officers, advancing upon Edward's quarters, his men wearing the red rose
-instead of the white, and with loud cries of "God bless King Henry!"
-
-Edward commanded his troops to be put in array to meet the traitor; but
-Lord Hastings told him that he had not a regiment that he could rely
-upon; that nothing was to be thought of but his personal safety, and that
-on the instant. Accordingly, he took horse with the Duke of Gloucester,
-the Earl Rivers, seven or eight other noblemen, and a small troop of the
-most reliable followers, with whom he rode away. A guard was posted on a
-neighbouring bridge to prevent the crossing of Warwick, for he also was
-within a day's march of him; and with all haste Edward and his little
-band rode at full speed till he reached Lynn, in Norfolk. It is probable
-that the royal party had made for this small port on the Wash, knowing
-that some vessels which had brought provisions for the troops still lay
-there. They found, indeed, a small English ship, and two Dutch vessels,
-on board of which they hurried, and put to sea. Edward, on starting from
-his quarters, had recommended his army to declare at once for Warwick, as
-the best means of saving themselves, and of again rejoining his standard
-when opportunity should offer.
-
-The fugitives made sail for the coast of Holland, but no sooner had the
-king escaped from his enemies on land than he fell amongst fresh ones
-at sea. These were the Easterlings, or mariners of Ostend, who were now
-at war with both France and England. The Easterlings were at this time
-as terrible at sea as the pirates of Algiers were afterwards. They had
-committed great ravages on the English coast, while the nation was thus
-engaged in suicidal intestine warfare, and no sooner did they perceive
-this little fleet than they immediately gave chase. There were eight
-vessels to Edward's three, and to escape the unequal contest, he ran his
-vessels aground on the coast of Friesland, near Alkmaar. To ascertain
-how Vauclerc, the Governor of Calais, was disposed, in case Warwick
-resolved to attack the duke in his own territories, he sent an envoy
-to him to sound him. The envoy found all the garrison wearing the red
-rose. This discovery added to the alarm and chagrin of Burgundy, and,
-while he conceded to Edward a place of refuge, he publicly declared
-himself the ally, not of this power or that, but of England, and avowed
-himself adverse to Edward's designs, who was to expect no aid from him in
-endeavouring to recover his crown.
-
-On the other hand Louis of France was thrown into ecstasies of delight.
-He sent for Queen Margaret and her son, the Prince of Wales, who had
-been living for years totally neglected, and almost forgotten in their
-poverty, and received her in Paris with the most splendid and expensive
-pageants and rejoicings. He at the same time despatched a splendid
-embassy to Henry at London, and immediately concluded with him a treaty
-of peace and commerce for fifteen years.
-
-Warwick and Clarence made their triumphal entry into London on the 6th
-of October, 1470. Warwick proceeded to the Tower, and brought forth
-King Henry, who had lain there as a captive for five years. Henry was
-proclaimed lawful king, and conducted with great pomp through the streets
-of London to the bishop's palace, where he resided till the 13th, when
-he walked in solemn procession, with the crown upon his head, attended
-by his prelates, nobles, and great officers, to St. Paul's, where solemn
-thanksgivings were offered up for his restoration.
-
-All this time Clarence was looking on, an immediate spectator of
-proceedings which pushed him farther from the throne. To keep him quiet,
-Warwick heaped every favour but the actual possession of the kingdom upon
-him. He joined him with himself in the regency which was to continue
-till the majority of the Prince of Wales; he made him Lord-Lieutenant of
-Ireland, and conferred upon him all the estates of the house of York.
-Warwick retained himself the offices of Chamberlain of England, Governor
-of Calais, High Admiral of the seas; his brother, the archbishop, was
-continued Chancellor; and his other brother, Montague, returned to the
-Wardenship of the Marches.
-
-Warwick summoned a Parliament, which, surrounded by his troops and his
-partisans, of course passed whatever acts he pleased. The crown was
-settled on Edward, the Prince of Wales, and his issue; but that failing,
-it was to devolve upon Clarence.
-
-Queen Margaret might have been expected, from her characteristic energy
-and rapidity of action, to have been in London nearly as soon as Warwick;
-but this was not the case. In the first place, she was in want of the
-necessary funds. Louis, who was chary of his money, probably thought he
-had done sufficient in enabling the victorious armament of Warwick to
-reach England; and poor King Réné, Margaret's father, was in no condition
-to assist her. In the meantime all the exiled Lancastrians flocked to
-her; and all were destitute. In February, 1471, she set sail to cross
-the Channel, but was driven back by tempests. Three times did she make
-the daring attempt to cross, though warned against it by the seamen of
-Harfleur; and every time she was driven back with such fury and damage,
-that many declared it was the will of Heaven she should not pass over;
-nor was she able to do so till the following month. Till that time
-Warwick held England in the name of Henry, and appeared established, if
-not exactly on the throne, in the seat of supreme and settled power.
-
-The mock restoration of Henry VI. was not destined to be of long
-continuance. The ups and downs of royalty at this period were as rapid
-and strange as the shifting scenes of a theatre. There is no part of
-our history where we are left so much in the dark as to the real moving
-causes. It is difficult to see how Warwick, with his vast popularity,
-should, in the course of a single winter, become so unpopular as to
-render his fall and the success of Edward so easy. It must be remembered,
-however, that there was a secret schism in his party. Clarence was only
-waiting to seize a good opportunity to overthrow his father-in-law,
-Warwick, and climb the throne himself. Though he was by no means
-high-principled, Clarence was not so weak as to build any hopes on
-Warwick's having given him the succession in case of the issue of the
-Prince of Wales failing. Warwick had married another of his daughters to
-the prince, and it was his strongest interest to maintain that line on
-the throne.
-
-All these causes undoubtedly co-operated to produce what soon followed.
-Burgundy determined to assist Edward to regain his throne, and thus
-destroy the ascendency of Warwick. While, therefore, issuing a
-proclamation forbidding any of his subjects to follow Edward in his
-expedition, he privately sent to him the cross of St. Andrew; and a gift
-of 50,000 florins furnished him with four large ships, which were fitted
-up and stored for him at Vere, in Walcheren. Besides these, he hired for
-him fourteen ships from the merchants of the Hanse Towns, to transport
-his troops from Flushing to England. These transactions could leave no
-question in the minds of the subjects of Burgundy which way lay the real
-feelings of their sovereign. But the number of troops embarking with
-Edward was not such as to give to the enterprise a Burgundian appearance.
-The soldiers furnished him were only 2,000. Edward undoubtedly relied on
-information sent him from England as to the forces there ready to join
-him.
-
-The fleet of Edward steered for the Suffolk coast. It was in the south
-that the Yorkist influence lay, and Clarence was posted in that quarter
-at the head of a considerable force. But Warwick's preparations were too
-strong in that quarter; an active body of troops, under a brother of
-the Earl of Oxford, deterred the invaders from any attempt at landing.
-They proceeded northward, finding no opportunity of successfully
-getting on shore till they reached the little port of Ravenspur, in
-Yorkshire--singularly enough, the very place where Henry IV. landed when
-he deposed Richard II. From this same port now issued the force which was
-to terminate his line.
-
-At first, however, the undertaking wore anything but a promising
-aspect. The north was the very stronghold of the Lancastrian faction,
-and openly was displayed the hostility of the inhabitants towards the
-returned Yorkist monarch. But Edward, with that ready dishonesty which
-is considered defensible in the strife for crowns, solemnly declared
-that he had abandoned for himself all claims on the throne; that he saw
-and acknowledged the right of Henry VI. and his line, and for himself
-only desired the happy security of a private station. His real and
-most patriotic design, he gave out, was to put down the turbulent and
-overbearing power of Warwick, and thus give permanent tranquillity to the
-country, which never could exist so long as Warwick lived. He exhibited
-a forged safe-conduct from the Earl of Northumberland; he declared that
-he sought for himself nothing but the possessions of the Duke of York,
-his father; he mounted in his bonnet an ostrich feather, the device of
-the Prince of Wales, and ordered his followers to shout "Long live King
-Henry!" in every place through which they passed.
-
-These exhibitions of his untruth were too barefaced to deceive any one.
-The people still stood aloof, and, on reaching the gates of York, Edward
-found them closed against him. But by the boldest use of the same lying
-policy, Edward managed to prevail on the mayor and aldermen to admit
-him. He swore the most solemn oath that he abjured the crown for ever,
-and would do all in his power to maintain Henry and his issue upon it.
-Not satisfied with this, the clergy demanded that he should repeat this
-oath most emphatically before the high altar in the cathedral. Edward
-assented with alacrity, and would undoubtedly have sworn anything and any
-number of oaths to the same effect. He then marched in with that bold
-precipitance which was the secret of his success, and which, as in the
-case of the great Napoleon, always threw his enemies into consternation
-and confusion. At Pontefract lay the Marquis of Montague, Warwick's
-brother, with a force superior to that of Edward, and all the world
-looked to see him throw himself across the path of the invader, and to
-set battle against him. Nothing of the kind; Montague lay still in the
-fortress, and Edward, marching within four miles of this commander, went
-on his way without any check from him.
-
-[Illustration: BATTLE OF BARNET: DEATH OF THE KING-MAKER. (_See p._ 34.)]
-
-As Edward approached the midland counties, and especially when he had
-crossed the Trent, the scene changed rapidly in his favour. He had
-left the Lancastrian districts behind, and reached those where Yorkism
-prevailed. People now flocked to his standard. At Nottingham the Lord
-Stanley, Sir Thomas Parr, Sir James Harrington, Sir Thomas Montgomery,
-and several other gentlemen, came in with reinforcements. Edward felt
-himself strong enough to throw off the mask: he assumed the title of
-king, and marched towards Coventry, where lay Warwick and Clarence with a
-force sufficient to punish this odious perjury. But a fresh turn of the
-royal kaleidoscope was here to astonish the public. Edward challenged
-the united army of Warwick and Clarence on the 29th of March, 1471. In
-the night, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, paid a visit to his brother
-Clarence. The two brothers flew into each other's arms with a transport
-which, if not that of genuine affection, was at least that of successful
-conspiracy. The morning beheld the army of Clarence, amounting to 12,000
-men, arrayed, not on the part of Warwick, but of Edward, the soldiers
-wearing, not the red, but the white rose over their gorgets.
-
-Here, then, was fully disclosed the secret which had induced Edward to
-march on so confidently through hostile districts, and people standing
-aloof from his banners. Clarence, whether in weak simplicity, or under
-the influence of others, sent to Warwick to apologise for his breach of
-his most solemn oaths, and offered to become mediator betwixt him, his
-father-in-law, and Edward his brother. Warwick rejected the offer with
-disdain, refusing all further intercourse with the perjured Clarence;
-but he was now too weak to engage him and Edward, and the Yorkist king
-then boldly advanced towards the capital. The gates of the city, like
-those of York, he found closed against him, but he possessed sufficient
-means to unlock the one as he had done the other. There were upwards
-of 2,000 persons of rank and influence, including no less than 400
-knights and gentlemen, crowded into the various sanctuaries of London
-and Westminster, who were ready not only to declare, but to act in his
-favour. The ladies, who were charmed with the gay and gallant disposition
-of Edward, were avowedly his zealous friends; and perhaps still more
-persuasive was the fact that the jovial monarch owed large sums to the
-merchants, who saw in his return their only chance of payment. Edward
-even succeeded in securing the Archbishop of York, who was, in his
-brother Warwick's absence, the custodian of the city and the person
-of King Henry. All regard to oaths, and all fidelity to principle or
-party, seemed to have disappeared at this epoch. By permission of the
-archbishop, Edward was admitted on Thursday, April 2nd, by a postern into
-the bishop's palace, where he found the poor and helpless King Henry, and
-immediately sent him to the Tower.
-
-So confident now was Edward of victory, that he disdained to shelter
-himself any longer within the walls of the city, but marched out against
-the enemy. It was late on Easter eve when the two armies met on Barnet
-Common. Both had made long marches, Edward having left London that day.
-The Earl of Warwick, being first on the ground, had chosen his position.
-Edward, who came later, had to make his arrangements in the dark, the
-consequence of which was, that he committed a great error. His right
-wing, instead of confronting the left wing of Warwick, was opposed to his
-centre, and the left wing of Edward consequently had no opponents, but
-stretched far away to the west. Daylight must have discovered this error,
-and most probably fatally for Edward; but day--the 14th of April--came
-accompanied by a dense fog, believed to have been raised by a celebrated
-magician, Friar Bungy. The left wing of each army, advancing through the
-obscurity of the fog, and finding no enemy, wheeled in the direction of
-the main body. By this movement the left wing of Warwick trampled down
-the right wing of Edward, and defeating it, pursued the flying Yorkists
-through Barnet on the way to London.
-
-Meantime, the left wing of the Yorkists, instead of encountering the
-right of the Lancastrians, came up so as to strengthen their own centre,
-where Edward and Warwick were contending with all their might against
-each other. Both chiefs were in the very front of the battle, which was
-raging with the utmost fury. Warwick, contrary to his custom, had been
-persuaded by his brother Montague to dismount, send away his horse, and
-fight on foot.
-
-The battle commenced at four o'clock in the morning, and lasted till
-ten. The rage of the combatants was terrible, and the slaughter was
-proportionate, for Edward, exasperated at the commons, who had shown such
-favour to Warwick on all occasions, had, contrary to his usual custom,
-issued orders to spare none of them, and to kill all the leaders if
-possible. The conflict was terminated by a singular mistake. The device
-of the Earl of Oxford, who was fighting for Warwick, was a star with
-rays, emblazoned both on the front and back of his soldiers' coats. The
-device of Edward's own soldiers on this occasion was a sun with rays.
-Oxford had beaten his opponents in the field, and was returning to assist
-Warwick, when Warwick's troops, mistaking through the mist the stars of
-Oxford for the sun of Edward, fell upon Oxford's followers, supposing
-them to be Yorkists, and put them to flight. Oxford fled with 800 of
-his soldiers, supposing himself the object of some fatal treachery,
-while, on the other hand, Warwick, weakened by the apparent defection of
-Oxford, and his troops thrown into confusion, rushed desperately into the
-thickest of the enemy, trusting thus to revive the courage of his troops,
-and was thus slain, fighting.
-
-No sooner was the body of Warwick, stripped of its armour and covered
-with wounds, discovered on the field, than his forces gave way, and fled
-amain. Thus fell the great "king-maker," who so long had kept alive the
-spirit of contention, placing the crown first on one head and then on
-another. With him perished the power of his faction and the prosperity of
-his family. On the field with him lay all the chief lords who fought on
-his side, except the Earl of Oxford and the Duke of Somerset, who escaped
-into Wales, and joined Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, who was in
-arms for Henry. The Duke of Exeter was taken up for dead, but being found
-to be alive, he was conveyed by his servants secretly to the sanctuary
-at Westminster; but the holiness of the sanctuary does not appear to
-have proved any defence against the lawless vengeance of Edward, for,
-some months after, his dead body was found floating in the sea near
-Dover. On the side of Edward fell the Lords Say and Cromwell, Sir John
-Lisle, the son of Lord Berners, and many other squires and gentlemen.
-The soldiers who fell on both sides have been variously stated at from
-1,000 to 10,000; the number more commonly credited is about 1,500. The
-dead were buried where they fell, and a chapel was erected near the spot
-for the repose of their souls. The battle-field is now marked by a stone
-obelisk. The bodies of Warwick and Montague were exposed for three days,
-naked, on the floor of St. Paul's Church, as a striking warning against
-subjects interfering with kings and crowns. They were then conveyed to
-the burial-place of their family in the abbey of Bilsam, in Berkshire.
-
-In the fall of Warwick Edward might justly suppose that he saw the only
-real obstacle to the permanency of his own power; but Margaret was still
-alive. She was no longer, however, the elastic and indomitable Margaret
-who had led her forces up to the battles of St. Albans, Northampton,
-Wakefield, Towton, and Hexham. On the day that she landed at Weymouth,
-imagining she had now nothing to do but to march in triumph to London,
-and resume with her husband their vacant throne, the fatal battle of
-Barnet was fought. The first news she received was of the total overthrow
-of her party and the death of Warwick. The life of the great king-maker
-might have caused her future trouble; his fall was her total ruin.
-Confounded by the tidings, her once lofty spirit abandoned her, and she
-sank on the ground in a swoon.
-
-It was the plan of her generals to hasten to Pembroke; and, having
-effected a junction with him, to proceed to Cheshire, to render the army
-effective by a good body of archers. But Edward, always rapid in his
-movements, allowed them no time for so formidable a combination. He left
-London on the 19th of April, and reached Tewkesbury on the 3rd of May.
-Margaret and her company set out from Bath, and prepared to cross the
-Severn at Gloucester, to join Pembroke and Jasper Tudor. But the people
-of Gloucester had fortified the bridge, and neither threats nor bribes
-could induce them to let her pass. She then marched on to Tewkesbury,
-near which they found Edward already awaiting them.
-
-The troops being worn down by the fatigue of a long and fearful march,
-Margaret was in the utmost anxiety to avoid an engagement, and to press
-on to their friends in Wales. But Somerset represented that such a thing
-was utterly impossible. For a night and a day the foot-soldiers had been
-plunging along for six-and-thirty miles through a foul country--all
-lanes, and stony ways, betwixt woods, and having no proper refreshment.
-To move farther in the face of the enemy was out of the question. He must
-pitch his camp in the park, and take such fortune as God should send.
-
-The queen, as well as the most experienced officers of the army, were
-much averse from this, but the duke either could not or would not move,
-and Edward presented himself in readiness for battle. Thus compelled to
-give up the cheering hope of a junction with the Welsh army, Margaret and
-her son did all in their power to inspire the soldiers with courage for
-this most eventful conflict. The next morning, being the 4th of May, the
-forces were drawn out in order. The Duke of Somerset took the charge of
-the main body. The Prince of Wales commanded the second division under
-the direction of Lord Wenlock and the Prior of St. John's. The Earl of
-Devonshire brought up the rear. The Lancastrian army was entrenched
-in a particularly strong position on the banks of the Severn; having,
-both in front and on the flanks, a country so deeply intersected with
-lanes, hedges, and ditches, that there was scarcely any approaching it.
-This grand advantage, however, was completely lost by the folly and
-impetuosity of the Duke of Somerset, who, not content to defend himself
-against the superior forces and heavier artillery of Edward, rushed
-out beyond the entrenchments, where he was speedily taken in flank by
-a body of 200 spearsmen, and thrown into confusion. The Lancastrians
-were utterly defeated, and the Prince of Wales fell on the field, or,
-according to other accounts, was put to death immediately after the
-battle. Somerset was condemned and beheaded.
-
-No fate can be conceived more consummately wretched than that of
-Margaret now--her cause utterly ruined, her only son slain, her husband
-and herself the captives of their haughty enemies. They who had thus
-barbarously shed the blood of the prince might, with a little cunning,
-shed that of her husband and herself. No such good fortune awaited
-Margaret. She was doomed to hear of the death of her imprisoned consort,
-and to be left to long years of grief over the utter wreck of crown,
-husband, child, and friends--a great and distinguished band.
-
-Edward returned to London triumphant over all his enemies, and the next
-morning Henry VI. was found dead in the Tower. It was given out that he
-died of grief and melancholy, but nobody at that day doubted that he was
-murdered, and it was generally attributed to Richard of Gloucester, but
-probably without reason. The continuator of the chronicles of Croyland
-prays that the doer of the deed, whoever he was, may have time for
-repentance, and declares that it was done by "an agent of the tyrant" and
-a subject of the murdered king. Who was this? The chronicler in Leland
-points it out plainly. "That night," he says, "King Henry was put to
-death in the Tower, the Duke of Gloucester and divers of his men being
-there." Fabyan, also a contemporary, says, "Divers tales were told, but
-the most common fame went that he was sticked with a dagger by the hands
-of the Duke Gloucester."
-
-To satisfy the people the same means were resorted to as in the case of
-Richard II. The body of the unfortunate king was conveyed on a bier, with
-the face exposed, from the Tower through Cheapside to St. Paul's. Four
-of the principal chroniclers of the day assert that the fresh blood from
-his wounds "welled upon the pavement," giving certain evidence of the
-manner of his death; and the same thing occurred when he was removed to
-Blackfriars. To get rid of so unsatisfactory a proof of Henry's natural
-death the body was the same day put into a barge with a guard of soldiers
-from Calais, and thus, says the Croyland chronicler, "without singing or
-saying, he was conveyed up the dark waters of the Thames at midnight, to
-his silent interment at Chertsey Abbey, where it was long pretended that
-miracles were performed at his tomb."
-
-Henry's reputation for holiness during his life, and his tragical death,
-occasioned such a resort to his tomb, that Gloucester, on mounting
-the throne as Richard III., caused the remains of the poor king to be
-removed, it was said, to Windsor. Afterwards, when Henry VII. wished
-to convey them to Westminster, they could not be found, having been
-carefully concealed from public attention.
-
-Margaret, who was conveyed to the Tower the very night on which her
-husband was murdered there, was at first rigorously treated. There
-had been an attempt on the part of the Bastard of Falconberg, who was
-vice-admiral under Warwick, to liberate Henry, during the absence
-of Edward and Gloucester, at the battle of Tewkesbury. He landed at
-Blackwall with a body of marines, and, calling on the people of Essex and
-Kent to aid him, made two desperate attempts to penetrate to the Tower,
-burning Bishopsgate, but was repulsed, and on the approach of Edward,
-retreated. To prevent any similar attempt in favour of Margaret she was
-successively removed to Windsor, and lastly to Wallingford. She remained
-a prisoner for five years, when at the entreaty of King Réné, she was
-ransomed by Louis of France, and retired to the castle of Reculé, near
-Angers. She died at the château of Dampierre, near Saumur, in 1482, in
-the fifty-third year of her age.
-
-The two brothers, Clarence and Gloucester, came now, on the first return
-of peace, to quarrel at the very foot of the throne for the vast property
-of Warwick. Edward would fain have forgotten everything else in his
-pleasures. The blood upon his own hands gave him no concern; he was only
-anxious to devote his leisure hours to Jane Shore, the silversmith's
-wife, whom he had, like numbers of other ladies, seduced from her duty.
-But Clarence and Gloucester broke through his gaieties with their
-wranglings and mutual menaces.
-
-The fact was, that Clarence having, as we have seen, married Isabella,
-the eldest daughter, was determined, if possible, to monopolise all the
-property of Warwick, as if the eldest daughter were sole heiress. But
-Gloucester, who was always on the look out for his own aggrandisement,
-now cast his eyes on Anne, the other daughter, who had been married to
-the Prince of Wales. Clarence, aware that he should have a daring and a
-lawless rival in Gloucester, in regard to the property, opposed the match
-with all his might. On this point they rose to high words and much heat.
-Clarence declared at length that Richard might marry Anne if he pleased,
-but that he should have no share whatever in the property; but only let
-Richard get the lady, and he would soon possess himself of the lands.
-The question was debated by the two brothers with such fury before the
-council, that civil war was anticipated.
-
-All this time the property was rightfully that of the widow of Warwick,
-the mother of the two young ladies. Anne, the Countess of Warwick,
-was the sole heiress of the vast estates of the Despensers and the
-Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick. To all the great court party, who had
-once been her friends--as the world calls friendship--and many of them
-her humble flatterers and admirers, she applied from her sanctuary at
-Beaulieu, in the most moving terms, for their kind aid in obtaining a
-modicum of freedom and support out of her own lands, the most wealthy
-in England. But it was not her that the two princes courted, it was her
-property; and nobody dared or cared to move a finger in favour of the
-once great Anne of Warwick. The daughter, Anne, so far from desiring to
-marry Richard of Gloucester, detested him. Cooperating, therefore, with
-the wishes and interests of Clarence, she, by his assistance, escaped
-out of the sanctuary of Beaulieu, where she had been with the countess,
-her mother, and disappeared. For some time no trace of her could be
-discovered; but Gloucester had his spies and emissaries everywhere; and,
-at length, the daughter of Warwick, and the future queen of England, was
-found in the guise of a cookmaid in London. Gloucester removed her to the
-sanctuary of St. Martin's-le-Grand. Afterwards she was allowed to visit
-her uncle, the Archbishop of York, before his disgrace, and the Queen
-Margaret in the Tower. All this was probably conceded by Gloucester in
-order to win Anne's favour; but Anne still repelling with disgust his
-addresses, he refused her these solaces, and procuring the removal of her
-mother from Beaulieu, sent her, under the escort of Sir John Tyrrell,
-into the north, where he is said to have kept her confined till his own
-death, even while she was his mother-in-law. Anne was at length compelled
-to marry the hated Gloucester; and her hatred appeared to increase from
-nearer acquaintance, for she was soon after praying for a divorce.
-
-[Illustration: BURIAL OF KING HENRY. (_See p._ 36.)]
-
-The king was compelled to award to Gloucester a large share of Warwick's
-property; and the servile Parliament passed an act in 1474, embodying the
-disgraceful commands of these most unnatural and unprincipled princes.
-The two daughters were to succeed to the Warwick property, as though
-their mother, the possessor in her own right, were dead. If either of
-them should die before her husband, he should continue to retain her
-estates during his natural life. If a divorce should take place between
-Richard and Anne, for which Anne was striving, Richard was still to
-retain her property, provided he married or did his best to marry her to
-some one else. Thus, by this most iniquitous arrangement, while Richard
-kept his wife's property, they made it a motive with her to force her
-into some other alliance, if not so hateful, perhaps more degrading. It
-is impossible to conceive the tyranny of vice and selfishness carried
-farther than in these odious transactions. But this was not all. There
-was living a son of the Marquis of Montague, Warwick's brother; and to
-prevent any claim from him as next heir male, all such lands as he might
-become the claimant of were tied upon Clarence and Gloucester, and their
-heirs, so long as there should remain any heirs male of the marquis. By
-these means did these amiable brothers imagine that they had stepped into
-the full and perpetual possession of the enormous wealth of the great
-Warwick. Edward, having rather smoothed over than appeased the jealousies
-of his brothers, now turned his ambition to foreign conquest.
-
-In all his contests at home, Edward had shown great military talents.
-He had fought ten battles, and never lost one; for at the time of the
-treason of Lord Montague in 1470, he had not fought at all, but, deserted
-by his army, had fled to Flanders. He had always entertained a flattering
-idea that he could emulate the martial glory of the Edwards and of Henry
-V., and once more recover the lost territories of France, and the lost
-prestige of the British arms on the Continent. His relations with France
-and Burgundy were such as encouraged this roseate notion. Louis XI. had
-supported the claims of Henry, and accomplishing the alliance of Margaret
-and his most formidable enemy Warwick, had sent them to push him from his
-throne. The time appeared to be arrived for inflicting full retribution.
-Burgundy was his brother-in-law, and had aided him in recovering his
-crown. True, the assistance of Burgundy had not been prompted by love to
-him, but by enmity to Warwick and Louis; nor had his reception of him in
-his distress been such as to merit much gratitude, but he did not care to
-probe too deeply into the motives of the prince; the great matter was,
-that Burgundy was the antagonist of Louis, and their interests were,
-therefore, the same.
-
-The Duke of Burgundy, formerly Count of Charolais--called Charles le
-Téméraire, or the Bold--was no match for the cold and politic Louis XI.
-He and his ally, the Duke of Brittany, fancied themselves incapable of
-standing their ground against Louis, and now made an offer of mutual
-alliance to Edward, for the purpose of enforcing their common claims
-in France. Nothing could accord more with the desires of Edward than
-this proposition. He had employed 1473 in settling his disputes with
-the Hanse Towns, in confirming the truce with Scotland, and renewing
-his alliances with Portugal and Denmark. His Parliament had granted
-him large supplies. They voted him a tenth of rents, or two shillings
-in the pound, calculated to produce at that day £31,460, equal to more
-than £300,000 of our present money. They then added to this a whole
-fifteenth, and three-quarters of another. But when Edward entered into
-the scheme of Burgundy and Brittany for the French conquest, they
-granted him permission to raise any further moneys by what were called
-_benevolences_, or free gifts--a kind of exaction perhaps more irksome
-than any other, because it was vague, arbitrary, and put the advances of
-the subjects on the basis of loyalty. Such a mode of fleecing the people
-had been resorted to under Henry III. and Richard II. Now there was added
-a clause to the Act of Parliament, providing that the proceeds of the
-fifteenth should be deposited in religious houses, and, if the French
-campaign should not take place, should be refunded to the people: as if
-any one had ever heard of taxes, once obtained, ever being refunded to
-the payers!
-
-All being in readiness, Edward passed over from Sandwich to Calais, where
-he landed on the 22nd of June, 1475. He had with him 1,500 men-at-arms,
-and 15,000 archers, an army with which the former Edwards would have
-made Louis tremble on his throne. He dispatched Garter-king-at-arms with
-a letter of defiance to Louis, demanding nothing less than the crown of
-France. The position of Louis was to all appearance most critical. If
-Burgundy, Brittany, and the Count of St. Pol, the Constable of France,
-who had entered into the league against him, had acted wisely and
-faithfully together, the war must have been as dreadful, and the losses
-of France as severe, as in the past days. But probably Louis was well
-satisfied of the crumbling character of the coalition. Comines, who was
-at the time in the service of Louis, has left us ample accounts of these
-transactions and, according to them, the conduct of the French king was
-masterly in the extreme. Instead of firing with resentment at the proud
-demands of the letter, he took the herald politely into his private
-closet, and there, in the most courteous and familiar manner, told him
-he was sorry for this misunderstanding with the King of England; that,
-for his part, he had the highest respect for Edward, and desired to be
-on amicable terms with him, but that he knew very well that all this was
-stirred up by the Duke of Burgundy and the Constable St. Pol, who would
-be the very first to abandon Edward, if any difficulty arose, or after
-they had got their own turn served. He put it to the herald how much
-better it would be for England and France to be on good terms, and gave
-the greatest weight to his arguments by smilingly placing in Garter's
-hand a purse of 300 crowns, assuring him that if he used his endeavours
-effectually to preserve the peace between the two kingdoms, he would add
-to it a thousand more.
-
-The herald was so completely captivated by the suavity, the sound
-reasons, and the money of Louis, that he promised to do everything in his
-power to promote a peace, and advised the king to open a correspondence
-with the Lords Howard and Stanley, noblemen not only high in the favour
-of Edward, but secretly adverse to this expedition. This being settled,
-Louis committed Garter-king-at-arms to the care of Philip de Comines,
-telling him to give the herald publicly a piece of crimson velvet thirty
-ells in length, as though it were the only present, and to get him away
-as soon as he could, with all courtesy, without allowing him to hold any
-communication with the courtiers. This being done, Louis summoned his
-great barons and the rest of the courtiers around him, and ordered the
-letter of defiance to be read aloud, all the time sitting with a look of
-the greatest tranquillity, for he was himself much assured by what he had
-heard from the herald.
-
-The words of Louis came rapidly to pass as regarded Edward's allies.
-Nothing could equal the folly of Burgundy and the treachery of the
-others. Charles the Rash, instead of coming up punctually with his
-promised forces, and in his usual wild way, led them to avenge some
-affront from the Duke of Lorraine, and the princes of Germany, far away
-from the really important scene of action. When the duke appeared in
-Edward's camp, with only a small retinue instead of a large army, and
-there was no prospect of his rendering any effective aid that summer,
-Edward was highly chagrined. All his officers were eager for the
-campaign, promising themselves a renewal of the fame and booty which
-their fathers had won. But when Edward advanced from Péronne, where he
-lay, to St. Quentin, on the assurances of Burgundy that St. Pol, who held
-it, would open its gates to him, and when, instead of such surrender, St.
-Pol fired on his troops from the walls, the king's wrath knew no bounds;
-he upbraided the duke with his conduct in thus deceiving and making a
-laughing-stock of him, and Burgundy retired in haste from the English
-camp. To add to Edward's disgust, Burgundy and his subjects had from the
-first landing of the English betrayed the utmost reluctance to admit the
-British forces into any of their towns. Artois and Picardy were shut
-against them, as if they came, not as allies, but as intending conquerors.
-
-Precisely at this juncture, the herald returned with his narrative of
-his kind reception, and the amiable disposition of Louis. This was by
-no means unwelcome in the present temper of Edward. It gave him the
-most direct prospect of punishing his perfidious allies. On the heels
-of Garter-king-at-arms arrived heralds from Louis, confirming all he
-had stated, and offering every means of pacification. The king called a
-council in the camp of Péronne, in which it was resolved to negotiate a
-peace with France on three grounds--the approach of winter, the absence
-of all supplies for the army, and the failure of assistance from the
-allies. For two months, while the terms of this treaty were being
-discussed, the agents and money of Louis were freely circulating amongst
-the courtiers and ministers of Edward.
-
-The plenipotentiaries found all their labours wonderfully smoothed by the
-desire of Louis to see the soil of France as soon as possible clear of
-the English army. The French King agreed to almost everything proposed,
-never intending to fulfil a tithe of his contracts. A truce for seven
-years was concluded at Amiens. The King of France agreed to pay the
-King of England 75,000 crowns within the next fifteen days; and 50,000
-crowns a year during their joint lives, to be paid in London. Apparently
-prodigal of his money, it was at this time that Louis paid 50,000 crowns
-for the ransom of Queen Margaret. To bind the alliance still more firmly,
-Edward proposed that the dauphin should marry his eldest daughter,
-Elizabeth, which was readily assented to. To testify his great joy in the
-termination of this treaty, Louis sent 300 cart-loads of the best wines
-of France into the English camp, and proposed, in order to increase the
-feeling of friendship between the two monarchs, that they should have a
-personal interview before Edward's departure.
-
-The treaty being signed, Gloucester and some others of the chief nobility
-who were averse from the peace, and therefore would not attend the
-meeting of the kings, now rode into Amiens to pay their court to him, and
-Louis received them with that air of pleasure which he could so easily
-put on, entertained them luxuriously, and presented them with rich gifts
-of plate and horses.
-
-Thus was this singular treaty concluded, and each monarch thought most
-advantageously to himself. Edward had paid off the Duke of Burgundy for
-neglecting to fulfil his agreement as to the campaign, and he now sent
-the duke word, patronisingly, that if he wished, he would get a similar
-truce for him; to which Burgundy sent an indignant answer. Edward had,
-moreover, got a good round sum of money to pay his army, and a yearly
-income of 50,000 crowns for life. Like Charles II. afterwards, he did
-not trouble himself about the disgrace and disadvantage of having made
-himself a pensioner of France. Besides this, he had arranged to set his
-eldest daughter on the French throne after Louis' decease.
-
-The people were very much of the French king's opinion, that their own
-monarch had been sadly over-reached. The army, which on its return was
-disbanded, promoted this feeling everywhere. The soldiers came back
-disappointed of the plunder of France, and accordingly vented their
-chagrin on the king and his courtiers, who for their private emolument
-had sold, they said, the honour of the nation. As to the general terms of
-the peace, the people had good cause to be satisfied. It was much better
-for the nation to be left at liberty to pursue its profitable trade than
-to be year after year drained of its substance to carry on a useless war.
-But the real cause of discontent was the annual bribe, which bound the
-king and his court to wink at any proceedings of France on the Continent
-against our allies and commercial connections, and even to suffer
-intrusions on our own trade, rather than incur the danger of losing the
-pay of the French king.
-
-Edward endeavoured to silence these murmurs by severity. He sent amongst
-the people spies who reported any obnoxious language, and he punished
-offenders without mercy. At the same time, he extended an equally stern
-hand towards all disturbers of the peace; the disbanded soldiers having
-collected into hordes, and spread murder and rapine through several of
-the counties. Seeing, however, that the general discontent was such
-that, should some Wat Tyler or Jack Cade arise, the consequences might
-be terrible, he determined to ease the burdens of the people at the
-expense of the higher classes. He therefore ordered a rigorous exaction
-of the customs; laid frequent tenths on the clergy; resumed many of the
-estates of the Crown; and compelled the holders of estates to compound by
-heavy fines for the omission of any of their duties as feudal tenants.
-He moreover entered boldly into trade. Instead of permitting his ships
-to lie rotting in port--since he had no occasion for them as transport
-vessels,--he sent out in them wool, tin, cloth, and other merchandise,
-and brought back from the ports of the Levant the produce of the East.
-By these means Edward became the wealthiest monarch of Europe, and while
-he soon grew popular with the people, who felt the weight of taxation
-annually decreasing, he became equally formidable to those who had more
-reason to complain.
-
-But however generally prosperous was the remainder of Edward's reign,
-it was to himself filled with the deepest causes of grief and remorse.
-The part which his brother Clarence had taken, his allying himself
-to Warwick, with the design to depose Edward and secure the crown to
-himself, could never be forgotten. He had been named the successor to
-the Prince of Wales, the son of Henry VI., and, should anything happen
-to Edward, might assert that claim to the prejudice of his own son.
-Still further, Clarence had given mortal offence to the queen. Her
-father and her brother had been put to death in Clarence's name. Her
-brother Anthony, afterwards, had narrowly escaped the same fate from
-the orders of Clarence. He had been forward in the charge of sorcery
-against her mother, the Duchess Jacquetta. Scarcely less had he incensed
-his brother Richard of Gloucester, the vindictive and never forgiving,
-by his opposition to his marriage with Anne of Warwick, and to sharing
-any of Warwick's property with him. Clarence was immensely rich, from
-the possession of the bulk of Warwick's vast estates, and he seems to
-have borne himself haughtily, as if he were another Warwick. He was at
-the head of a large party of malcontents, those who hated and envied the
-queen's family, and those who had been made to yield up their valuable
-grants from the crown under Henry VI. Clarence himself was one of the
-reluctant parties thus forced to disgorge some of his lands, under the
-act of resumption, on Edward's return from France. While brooding over
-this offence, his wife Isabella of Warwick died, on the 22nd of December,
-1476, just after the birth of her third child. Clarence, who was so
-extremely attached to her that he was almost beside himself at the loss,
-accused, brought to trial, and procured the condemnation of one of her
-attendants, on the charge of having poisoned her.
-
-Directly after this, January 5th, 1477, the Duke of Burgundy fell at
-the battle of Nancy, in his vain struggle against the Duke of Lorraine,
-backed by the valiant Swiss. His splendid domains fell to his only
-daughter, Mary, who immediately became the object of the most eager
-desire to numerous princes. Louis of France disdained to sue for her
-hand for the Dauphin, but attacked her territories, and hoped to secure
-both them and her by conquest. There had been some treaty for her by the
-Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, for his son during the late duke's life;
-but now Clarence aroused himself from his grief for the loss of his wife,
-and made zealous court, on his own account, to this great heiress. Her
-mother, Margaret, the sister of Clarence, favoured his suit warmly, but
-the idea of such an alliance struck Edward with dismay. Clarence already
-was far too powerful. Should he succeed in placing himself at the head
-of one of the most powerful states on the Continent, and with his avowed
-claims on the English crown, and his undisguised enmity to Edward's queen
-and family, the mischief he might do was incalculable.
-
-[Illustration: LOUIS XI. AND THE HERALD. (_See p._ 38.)]
-
-Edward, therefore, lost no time in putting in his most decided
-opposition. In this cause he was zealously seconded by Gloucester. But if
-ever there was a choice of a rival most unfortunate, and even insulting,
-it was that put forward by Edward against Clarence, in the person of
-Lord Rivers, the queen's brother. This match was rejected by the court
-of Burgundy with disdain, and only heightened the hatred of the queen in
-England--an odium which fell heavily on her in after years. She was now
-regarded as a woman who, not content with filling all the chief houses of
-England with her kin, aimed at filling the highest Continental thrones
-with them. The result was that Edward succeeded in defeating Clarence
-without gaining his own, or rather his wife's, object.
-
-From this moment Clarence became at deadly feud with Edward and all his
-family. The king, the queen, and Gloucester, united in a league against
-him, which, where such men were concerned--men never scrupling to destroy
-those who opposed them--boded him little good. The conduct of Clarence
-was calculated to exasperate this enmity, and to expose him to its
-attacks. He vented his wrath against all the parties who had thwarted
-him, king, queen, and Gloucester, in the bitterest and most public
-manner; and on the other side, occasions were found to stimulate him to
-more disloyal conduct. They began with attacking his friends and members
-of his household. John Stacey, a priest in his service, was charged with
-having practised sorcery to procure the death of Lord Beauchamp, and
-being put to the torture was brought to confess that Thomas Burdett,
-a gentleman of Arrow, in Warwickshire, also a gentleman of the duke's
-household, and greatly beloved by Clarence, was an accomplice. It was
-well understood why this confession was wrung from the poor priest.
-Thomas Burdett had a fine white stag in his park, on which he set great
-value. Edward in hunting had shot this stag, and Burdett, in his anger at
-the deed, had been reported to have said that he wished the horns of the
-deer were in the stomach of the person who had advised the king to insult
-him by killing it. This speech, real or imaginary, had been carefully
-conveyed to the king, and he thus took his revenge. Thomas Burdett was
-accused of high treason, tried, and, by the servile judges and jury,
-condemned, and beheaded at Tyburn.
-
-Clarence had exerted himself to save the lives of both these persons
-in vain. They both died protesting their innocence, and the next day
-Clarence entered the council, bringing Dr. Goddard, a clergyman, who
-appeared on various occasions in those times as a popular agitator.
-Goddard attested the dying declarations of the sufferers; and Clarence,
-with an honourable but imprudent zeal, warmly denounced the destruction
-of his innocent friends. Edward and the court were at Windsor, and these
-proceedings were duly carried thither by the enemies of Clarence. Soon
-it was reported that, having for many days sat sullenly silent at the
-council-board, with folded arms, he had started up and uttered the most
-disloyal words, accusing the queen of sorcery, which she had learned of
-her mother, and even implicating the king in the accusation.
-
-The fate of Clarence was sealed. The queen and Gloucester were vehement
-against him. Edward hurried to Westminster; Clarence was arrested and
-conducted by the king himself to the Tower. On the 16th of January a
-Parliament was assembled, and Edward himself appeared as the accuser
-of his brother at the bar of the Lords. He charged him with a design
-to dethrone and destroy him and his family. He retorted upon him the
-charge of sorcery, and of dealing with masters of the black art for
-this treasonable purpose; that to raise a rebellion he had supplied his
-servants with vast quantities of money, wine, venison, and provisions, to
-feast the people, and to fill their minds at such feasts with the belief
-that Burdett and Stacey had been wrongfully put to death; that Clarence
-had engaged numbers of people to swear to stand by him and his heirs as
-rightful claimants of the throne--asserting that Edward was, in truth, a
-bastard, and had no right whatever to the crown; that to gain the throne,
-and support himself upon it, he had had constant application to the arts
-for which his queen and her mother were famous, and had not hesitated
-to poison and destroy in secret. As for himself--Clarence--he pledged
-himself to restore all the lands and honours of the Lancastrians, when he
-gained his own royal rights.
-
-To these monstrous charges Clarence made a vehement reply, but posterity
-has no means of judging of the truth or force of what he said, for the
-whole of his defence was omitted in the rolls of Parliament. Not a soul
-dared to say a word on his behalf. Edward brought forward witnesses to
-swear to everything he alleged; the duke was condemned to death; and the
-Commons being summoned to attend, confirmed the sentence. No attempt was
-made to put the sentence into execution, but about ten days later it was
-announced that Clarence had died in the Tower. The precise mode of his
-death has never been clearly ascertained. The generally received account
-is that of Fabyan, a cotemporary, who says that he was drowned in a butt
-of Malmsey wine.
-
-Edward now again gave himself up to his pleasures, and would have been
-glad, in the midst of his amorous intrigues, to have forgotten public
-affairs altogether. But for this the times were too much out of joint.
-It was not in England alone that the elements of faction had been in
-agitation. Nearly the whole of Europe had witnessed the contentions of
-overgrown nobles and vassal princes by which almost every crown had
-been endangered, and the regal authority in many cases brought into
-contempt. The changes consequent on the accession of Henry IV. we have
-fully detailed; those storms which raged around the throne of France we
-have partially seen; but similar dissensions betwixt the Electors of
-Germany and the Emperor Sigismund prevailed; the Netherlands were divided
-against each other; and Spain was equally disturbed by the conspiracies
-of the nobles against the crown. Edward of England, as if sensible of the
-weakness of his position, strove anxiously to strengthen it by foreign
-alliances. Though his children were far too young to contract actual
-marriages, he made treaties which should place his daughters on a number
-of the chief thrones. Some of these contracts were entered into almost
-as soon as those concerned in them were born. Elizabeth, the eldest,
-was affianced to the Dauphin of France; Cecilia, the second, to the
-eldest son and heir of the King of Scotland; Anne, to the infant son
-of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, and husband of Mary of Burgundy;
-Catherine, to the heir of the King of Spain. His eldest son was engaged
-to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Brittany. On the other hand, all
-these royal negotiators appear to have been equally impressed with the
-precarious character of Edward's power, and were ready at the first
-moment to annul the contracts.
-
-That subtle monarch, Louis of France, never from the first moment
-seriously meant to adhere to his engagement; and in a very few years all
-these anxiously-planned marriages were blown away like summer clouds.
-Edward was not long in suspecting the hollowness of the conduct of
-Louis XI. Though repeatedly reminded that the time was come to fetch
-the Princess of England, in order to complete her education in France,
-preparatory to her occupying the station assigned to her there, Louis
-took no measures for this purpose; and when Edward remonstrated on
-the subject, threatened to withdraw the payment of the annual 50,000
-crowns. Edward boiled with indignation, and vowed, amongst his immediate
-courtiers that he would hunt up the old fox in his own cover if he did
-not mind. But that wily prince was not so easily dealt with. He saw
-with chagrin the proposed alliances betwixt Edward and his dangerous
-neighbours, the Duke of Brittany and Maximilian of Austria, now, through
-his wife, the ruler of Burgundy. Edward, in his resentment at the threat
-of Louis to withdraw his annual payment, made offers of closer union
-with Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy, and engaged, on condition that they
-should pay him the 50,000 crowns which he now had from Louis, to assist
-them against that monarch. But Louis was not to be out-manoeuvred in
-this manner; he was a profounder master in all the arts of diplomatic
-stratagem than Edward. He, therefore, made secret and tempting advances
-to Maximilian and Mary, one article of which devoted the Dauphin to their
-infant daughter, despite of her engagement to the English heir. At the
-same time he stirred up sufficient trouble in Scotland to occupy Edward
-for some time.
-
-The circumstances of Scotland were at this time very favourable to the
-mischievous interference of Louis. James III. was a monarch far beyond
-his age. He was of a pacific and philosophic turn. Surrounded by a rude
-and ignorant nobility, he conceived an infinite contempt for them, and
-was not politic enough to conceal it. They were received at court with
-coldness and neglect, while they saw men of science and letters admitted
-to the king's most intimate conversation. To avenge their slighted
-dignity, they stirred up the king's two brothers, the Duke of Albany,
-and the Earl of Mar, to rebellion. James, however, showed that, though
-pacifically disposed, he did not lack energy. He seized Mar and Albany,
-and confined them--Mar in Craigmillar Castle, and Albany in that of
-Edinburgh. Albany managed to escape, and made his way, by means of a
-French vessel, to France. Mar, who was of a vehement temper, was seized
-in his prison with fever and delirium. He was, therefore, removed from
-Craigmillar to a house in the Canongate, at Edinburgh, where, having
-been bled, he is said on a return of the paroxysm to have torn off his
-bandages while in a warm bath, and died from loss of blood. The incident
-was suspicious; but public opinion, for the most part, exonerated the
-king from the charge of any criminal intention; and even when he was
-afterwards deposed, no such charge was preferred against him by the
-hostile faction.
-
-It was at this crisis that Edward--roused to indignation by the conduct
-of the French king, who neglected to fetch the Princess of England,
-and withdrew his annual payment of the 50,000 crowns, and still more
-by tracing Louis' hand in Scottish affairs--invited over Albany from
-Paris, promising to set him on the throne of Scotland. Albany, smarting
-with his brother's treatment, was but too ready to accept the proposal.
-Edward launched reproaches against the King of Scotland for his perfidy
-in listening to Louis of France, whilst under the closest engagements
-with himself. Three years' payments of the dowry of Edward's daughter,
-Cecilia, had already been paid to the Scottish monarch, and yet he had
-thrown constant obstacles in the way of a marriage agreed upon between
-the sister of James and the Earl Rivers, the brother-in-law of Edward. In
-reply to Edward's reproaches, James flung at him the epeithet of reiver,
-or robber, alluding to his seizure of the English crown.
-
-Edward despatched an army to the borders of Scotland, under his brother
-Gloucester and Albany. He engaged to place Albany on the throne of James,
-and, in return, Albany, who was believed already to have two wives, was
-to marry one of Edward's daughters. With upwards of 22,000 men Gloucester
-and Albany reached Berwick, which speedily surrendered, though the castle
-held out.
-
-James, to meet this formidable attack, summoned the whole force of his
-kingdom to meet him on the Burghmuir, near Edinburgh, and at the head of
-50,000 men advanced first to Soutra, and thence to Lauder. But sedition
-was in his camp. Edward and Albany had opened communications with the
-discontented nobles. Albany, at the treaty of Fotheringay, where the
-Scottish scheme was made matter of compact, had assumed the title of
-Alexander, King of Scotland, and the adhesion of the principal chiefs
-of Scotland was confirmed by the impolicy of James, who had not only
-given to his favourite Cochrane, the architect, the bulk of the estates,
-along with the title of the Earl of Mar, but now placed him in command
-of the artillery, and permitted him to excite the envy and indignation
-of the great barons by the splendour of his appointments. Cochrane was,
-therefore, put to death by a band of conspirators, headed by Archibald
-Douglas, Earl of Angus, known, therefore, as Archibald "Bell-the-Cat."
-
-Albany and Gloucester quickly followed the conspirators to the Scottish
-capital, and there appeared now every prospect of the crown being placed
-on the head of Albany; but this was suddenly prevented by a new movement.
-The whole body of the Scottish nobles had joined in the destruction of
-the favourites, but there was a strong party of them who contemplated
-nothing further. The loyalty of this section of the aristocracy being
-well known to Angus and his friends, they had not ventured to communicate
-to them their design of deposing James. The moment that this became
-known to them, they quitted Edinburgh, collected an army, and planted
-themselves near Haddington, determined to keep in check any proceedings
-against the king. At the head of this loyal party were the Archbishop
-of St. Andrews, the Bishop of Dunkeld, the Earl of Argyll, and Lord
-Evandale. They called on all loyal Scots to gather to their standard,
-and, being posted betwixt Edinburgh and the English border, threw
-Gloucester and his adherents into considerable anxiety as to their
-position. Albany, Gloucester, and the insurgent lords were glad to come
-to an accommodation. It was agreed that James should retain the crown;
-that Albany should receive a pardon and the restoration of his rank and
-estates; that the money paid by Edward as part of the dowry of Cecilia
-should be repaid by the citizens of Edinburgh, and that Berwick and its
-castle should be ceded to England. Gloucester thereupon marched homeward,
-and Albany laid siege to the castle of Edinburgh, where the Earls of
-Atholl and Buchan still detained the king. He soon compelled them to
-capitulate, and James being now in the hands of Albany, the two brothers,
-in sign of perfect reconciliation, rode together on the same horse to the
-palace of Holyrood, and slept together in the same bed. The treason of
-Albany, however, only hid itself in his bosom for a season.
-
-The Scottish difficulty being settled, Edward now turned his attention
-to Louis of France. Whilst the Scottish campaign had been proceeding,
-an occurrence had taken place which raised Edward's wrath to its pitch.
-Mary of Burgundy had one day gone out hawking in the neighbourhood of
-Bruges, when her horse, in leaping a dyke, broke his girths, and threw
-her violently against a tree. She died in consequence, leaving three
-infant children, one of whom, Margaret, was a little girl two years
-old. Mary herself was only twenty-five at the time of her death. No
-sooner did Louis hear of this, than he immediately demanded the infant
-Margaret for his son the Dauphin, totally regardless of the long-standing
-engagement with Edward for the Princess Elizabeth. Maximilian of Austria,
-the father of Margaret, was strongly opposed to the match, seeing too
-well that Louis only wanted to make himself master of the territories of
-the children. Louis, however, had intrigued with the people of Ghent,
-and they would insist upon the alliance. Margaret was delivered to the
-commissioners of Louis, who settled on her the provinces which he had
-taken from her mother. The French, who regarded this event as bringing to
-the kingdom some very fine territories, without the trouble and expense
-of a conquest, received the infant princess with great rejoicings.
-
-[Illustration: ST. ANDREWS FROM THE PIER.]
-
-The rage of Edward knew no bounds. He had been so often warned, both
-by his courtiers and by Parliament, that the crafty Louis would play
-him false, that he now vowed to take the most consummate vengeance
-upon him. The best means of inflicting the severest punishment on the
-King of France engrossed his whole soul, and occupied him day and
-night. This violent excitement, operating upon a constitution ruined
-by sensual indulgence, brought on an illness, which, not attended to
-at first, soon terminated his existence. He died on the 9th of April,
-1483, in the twenty-third year of his reign and the forty-first of his
-age. The approach of death awoke in him feelings of deep repentance. He
-ordered full restitution to be made to all whom he had wronged, or from
-whom he had extorted benevolences. But such orders were not likely to
-receive much attention from Gloucester, who became the source of power.
-Immediately after his death he was exposed on a board, naked from the
-waist upwards, for ten hours, so that the lords spiritual and temporal,
-and the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London, might see that he had received
-no violence. He was then buried in Westminster Abbey, with great pomp and
-ceremony.
-
-Edward IV. was a man calculated to make a great figure in rude and
-martial times. He was handsome, lively of disposition, affable, and
-brave. So long as circumstances demanded daring and exertion in the
-field, he was triumphant and prosperous. Rapid in his resolves and in his
-movements, undaunted in his attacks, he was uniformly victorious; but
-peace at once unmanned him. With the last stroke of the sword and the
-last sound of the trumpet he flung down his arms, and flew to riot and
-debauchery. Ever the conqueror in the field, he was always defeated in
-the city. He never could become conqueror over himself. By unrestrained
-indulgence he destroyed his constitution, and hurried on to early death.
-Whether in the battle-field or in the hour of peace, he was unrestrained
-by principle, and sullied his most brilliant laurels with the blood of
-the young, the innocent, and the victim incapable of resistance. He was
-magnificent in his costume, luxurious at table, and most licentious in
-his amours. As he advanced in years he grew corpulent and unhealthy.
-He had the faculty of never forgetting the face of any one whom he had
-once seen, or the name of any one who had done him an injury. There was
-no person of any prominence of whom he did not know the whole history;
-and he had a spy in almost every officer of his government, even to the
-extremities of his kingdom. By this means he was early informed of the
-slightest hostile movement, and by a rapid dash into the enemy's quarters
-he soon extinguished opposition. Such a man might be a brilliant, but
-could never be a good monarch. He attached no one to his fortunes;
-therefore all his attempts to knit up alliances and his other projects
-failed; and his sons, left young and unprotected, speedily perished.
-
-His children were Edward, his eldest son and successor, born in the
-Sanctuary in 1470; Richard, Duke of York; Elizabeth, who was contracted
-to the Dauphin, but who became the queen of Henry VII.; Cecilia,
-contracted to James, afterwards IV. of Scotland, but married to John,
-Viscount Wells; Anne, contracted to the son of Maximilian of Austria, but
-married to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk; Bridget, who became a nun at
-Dartford; and Catherine, contracted to the Prince of Spain, but married
-to William Courtney, Earl of Devonshire.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.
-
-     Edward V. Proclaimed--The Two Parties of the Queen and of
-     Gloucester--Struggle in the Council--Gloucester's Plans--The Earl
-     Rivers and his Friends imprisoned--Gloucester secures the King and
-     conducts him to London--Indignities to the young King--Execution
-     of Lord Hastings--A Base Sermon at St. Paul's Cross--Gloucester
-     pronounces the two young Princes illegitimate--The Farce at
-     the Guildhall--Gloucester seizes the Crown--Richard crowned
-     in London and again at York--Buckingham revolts against
-     him--Murder of the Two Princes--Henry of Richmond--Failure
-     of Buckingham's Rising--Buckingham beheaded--Richard's Title
-     confirmed by Parliament--Queen Dowager and her Daughters quit the
-     Sanctuary--Death of Richard's Son and Heir--Proposes to marry his
-     Niece, Elizabeth of York--Richmond lands at Milford Haven--His
-     Progress--The Troubles of Richard--The Battle of Bosworth--The
-     Fallen Tyrant--End of the Wars of the Roses.
-
-
-By the death of Edward IV. England was destined once more to witness all
-the inconveniences which attend the minority of a king. Edward V. was a
-boy of only thirteen. His mother and her family had made themselves many
-enemies and few friends by their undisguised ambition and cupidity. The
-Greys and Woodvilles had been lifted above the heads of the greatest
-members of the aristocracy, enriched with the estates, and clothed with
-the honours of ancient houses. They had been posted round the throne as
-if to keep aloof all other candidates for favour and promotion. At the
-time of the death of Edward IV., Richard of Gloucester was in the North,
-attending to his duties as commander against the army in the Scottish
-marches. He immediately commenced his proceedings with that consummate
-and hypocritical art of which he was a first-rate master. He at once
-put his retinue into deep mourning, and marched to York attended by 600
-knights and esquires. There he ordered the obsequies of the departed king
-to be performed with all solemnity in the cathedral. He then summoned
-the nobility and gentry of the country to take the oath of allegiance to
-his nephew, Edward V., and he led the way by first taking it himself.
-He wrote to the queen-mother to condole with her on her loss, and to
-assure her of his zealous support of the rights of his beloved nephew.
-He expressed his ardent desire for the close friendship of the queen,
-of Earl Rivers, her brother, and of all her family. He announced his
-intention of proceeding towards London to attend the coronation, and if
-Elizabeth had not already known the man, she might have congratulated
-herself on the enjoyment of so affectionate a brother-in-law, and so
-brave and faithful a guardian of her son.
-
-But there is every reason to believe that the same messenger who carried
-these letters of condolence and professed friendship to the queen,
-carried others of a different tone to a hostile section of her council.
-The Lords Howard, Hastings, and Stanley, though personal friends of
-the late king, and Hastings, the chosen confidant and associate of his
-pleasures, were at heart bitter enemies of the queen's family. It was
-only the authority of Edward which had maintained peace between them, and
-now they showed an undisguised hostility to them at the council-board.
-The Earl Rivers, the queen's brother, and the Marquis of Dorset, her
-son by her former marriage, occupied the chief seats at that board, and
-Edward was no stranger to their real sentiments. This knowledge had led
-him, on perceiving his health failing, to bring these rivals together,
-and to state to them how much it concerned his son's peace and security
-that they should forget all past causes of difference, and unite for
-that loyal purpose. This they promised, but only with the tongue. No
-sooner was the king dead, than all the old animosity and jealousy showed
-themselves in aggravated form.
-
-Elizabeth now proposed that the young king should be brought up to town
-in order to be crowned, and that he should be attended by a strong body
-of soldiery for the safety of his person. At this, Hastings, who, in
-common with three-fourths of the nobility, was jealous of the design of
-the queen and her party to make themselves masters of the government
-during the king's minority, no longer concealed his real feelings. Edward
-had been kept on the borders of Wales, where the power of the Mortimers
-and the Yorkists lay. It was believed that the object was to give a
-preponderance to the royal family through the Welsh and the borderers;
-and now to march up to London, attended by a Welsh army, appeared
-a direct attempt to control the capital by these means. Hastings,
-therefore, warmly demanded--"What need of an army? Who were the enemies
-they had to dread? Was it the king's own uncle, Gloucester? Was it Lord
-Stanley, or himself? Was this force meant by the Woodvilles to put an end
-to all liberty in the council and the government, and thus to break the
-very union the king, on his death-bed, had pledged them to?" Hastings
-concluded his speech by hotly declaring that if the king was brought to
-London by an army, he would quit the council and the kingdom.
-
-Deterred by this open opposition, Elizabeth yielded, and reduced the
-proposed guard to 2,000 cavalry. But she did it with deep and too
-well-founded anxiety. She had had too much opportunity of studying the
-character of Gloucester to trust him, and the event very soon justified
-her conviction. Secret messages had, during this interval, been passing
-between Gloucester and Hastings and the Duke of Buckingham, a weak
-man, descended from Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward
-III. No doubt he had instructed them to defeat any measures of the
-Woodville family, which could leave the king in their hands. The moment
-was accurately calculated; and, accordingly, when the Lords Rivers and
-Grey, on their way to London with the young king, arrived at Stony
-Stratford, they found Gloucester had already reached Northampton, only
-ten miles from them. Gloucester had increased his forces on the way to
-a formidable body, and he was there joined by the Duke of Buckingham
-with 500 horse. The Lords Rivers and Grey, on learning the presence of
-Gloucester at Northampton, immediately rode over to him to welcome him
-in the king's name, and to consult with him on the plan of their united
-entrance into London. Gloucester received them with all the marks of
-that friendship which he had written to avow. They were invited to dine
-and spend the night, the Dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham promising
-to ride with them in the morning to pay their respects to the king.
-Morning appeared, and Gloucester and Buckingham set out with them in the
-best of humours. They rode in pleasant converse till, arriving at the
-entrance of Stony Stratford, Gloucester suddenly accused Rivers and Grey
-of having estranged the affections of the king from him. They denied the
-charge with as much vehemence as astonishment; but they were immediately
-arrested and conducted to the rear. Gloucester and Buckingham rode on
-to the king, where the two dukes humbly on their knees professed their
-loyalty and attachment. This they proceeded to make manifest by arresting
-also the king's faithful servants, Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard
-Hawse. In spite of the poor young king's entreaties, he led him away with
-him to Northampton, his relatives and friends, Rivers, Grey, Vaughan,
-and Hawse, following in the rear as prisoners. These prisoners of State
-were sent off by Gloucester, under a strong guard, to his castle of
-Pontefract--that blood-stained fortress, the very entrance to which, in
-bondage, was equivalent to a death-warrant.
-
-At midnight following the very day of these transactions, being the 1st
-of May, the appalling tidings reached the court that Gloucester, followed
-by a large army, had seized the king, and sent prisoners the queen's
-brother and son no one knew whither. Struck with consternation, and
-deeply rueing her weakness in giving up her own plans of caution, the
-queen, hastily seizing her younger son by the hand, and followed by her
-daughters, rushed from the palace of Westminster to the Sanctuary, which
-had protected her before; but not against a person so base and deadly
-in his ruthless ambition as this her brother-in-law of Gloucester. She
-knew the man, and she dreaded everything. Her eldest son, Dorset, who
-was Keeper of the Tower, in his turn weakly abandoned that important
-stronghold, and also fled to the Sanctuary. Rotherham, the Archbishop
-of York and Chancellor of the realm, hastening thither, found the queen
-seated on the rushes with which the floors at that time were strewn, an
-image of abandonment and woe.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD V.]
-
-Meanwhile, London was thrown into the utmost dismay and confusion. Many
-of the nobles and citizens flew to arms, and some flocked to the queen at
-Westminster, and others to Lord Hastings in London. Hastings continued to
-assure them that there was no cause of alarm; that Gloucester was a true
-man; and he was most likely the more ready to believe this himself from
-his own dislike of the queen's family.
-
-On the 4th of May Gloucester conducted his royal captive into the
-capital. At Hornsey Park, the lord mayor and corporation, in scarlet, met
-the royal procession, followed by 400 citizens, all in violet. The Duke
-of Gloucester, habited, like his followers, in mourning, rode into the
-city before the king, with his cap in hand, bowing low to the people, and
-pointing out to their notice the king, who rode in a mantle of purple
-velvet. Edward V. was first conducted to Ely Place, to the bishop's
-palace; but he was soon removed to the Tower, on the motion of the Duke
-of Buckingham, on pretence that it was the proper place in which to await
-his coronation. That ceremony Elizabeth and her council had ordered to
-take place this very day, but the crafty Gloucester prevented that by not
-arriving in time. He took up his quarters in Crosby Place, Bishopsgate,
-where one part of the council constantly sat, while another, but lesser
-portion of it, assembled with Lord Hastings and others in the Tower.
-The day of the coronation was then fixed for the 22nd of June, leaving
-an interval of nearly seven weeks in which the schemes of Gloucester
-might be perfected. The first object of this man had been to impress the
-queen and her party with his friendly disposition, till he had secured
-their persons; this being, in a great measure, effected, the next was
-to persuade the public of his loyalty to his nephew. For this purpose
-he conducted him with such state into the capital, and so assiduously
-pointed him out as their king to the people. To have openly proclaimed
-his designs upon the crown would have united all parties against him. He
-averted that by his calling on all men to swear fealty to his nephew,
-and by first swearing it himself. Having now procured full possession
-of the king's person, the next step was to secure that of his younger
-brother, without which his plans would all be vain. He was surrendered by
-the queen, and also placed in the Tower.
-
-[Illustration: EDWARD V.]
-
-The victims were secured. Gloucester had feigned himself a kind relation
-till he had got them into prison; now he yearned to put forth his claws
-and devour them. But for this it required that the public should be duly
-prepared. His followers, and especially his imbecile tool, Buckingham,
-busily spread through town and country reports of the most terrible
-plots on the part of the queen and her friends to destroy Gloucester,
-Buckingham, and other great lords, in order that she and her family might
-have the king, and through him, the whole government, in their power.
-They exhibited quantities of arms, which they declared the queen's party
-had secreted in order to destroy Gloucester and the other patriotic
-lords, as they pleased to represent them. This did not fail to produce
-its effect on the people without, and it was promptly followed up by a
-picture of treason in the very council.
-
-Lord Stanley, who was sincerely attached to Edward IV.'s family, had
-often expressed his suspicions of what was going on at Crosby Hall; but
-Hastings had replied, that he had a trusty agent there who informed him
-of all that passed. But Hastings, who had been completely duped by
-Gloucester, had been unconsciously playing into his hands, till his own
-turn came. While he imagined that Richard was punishing the assumption
-of the queen and her relations, the latter was preparing the bloody acts
-of one of the most daring dramas of historic crime ever acted before the
-world. Richard, no doubt, had thought Hastings ready to go the whole way
-with him. At this crisis, however, he became aware that he was an honest
-though misguided man, who would stand staunchly by his young sovereign,
-and must therefore be removed. The tyrant was now beginning to feel
-secure of his object, and prepared to seize it at whatever cost of crime
-and infamy. Accordingly, on the 13th of June, says Sir Thomas More, he
-came into the council about nine in the morning, "in a very merry humour.
-After a little talking with them, he said to the Bishop of Ely, 'My lord,
-you have very good strawberries in your garden in Holborn: I request
-you let us have a mess of them.' 'Gladly, my lord,' quoth he; 'would to
-God I had some better things as ready to your pleasure as that!' and
-then, with all haste, he sent his servant for a mess of strawberries.
-The protector set the lords fast in communing, and thereupon praying
-them to spare him a little while, departed thence, and, soon after one
-hour, between ten and eleven, he returned into the chamber amongst them
-all, changed, with a wonderful sour, angry countenance, knitting his
-brows, frowning and fretting, gnawing on his lips, and so sat him down
-in his place. Soon after he asked, 'What those persons deserved who had
-compassed and imagined his destruction.' Lord Hastings answered that they
-deserved death, whoever they might be; and then Richard affirmed that
-they were that sorceress, his brother's wife (meaning the queen), with
-others with her; 'and,' said the protector, 'we shall see in what wise
-that sorceress, and that other witch of her councils, Shore's wife, with
-their affinity, have by their sorcery and witchcraft wasted my body.'
-So saying, he plucked up his doublet sleeve to his elbow upon his left
-arm, where the arm appeared to be withered and small, as it was never
-other." He then included Hastings in the charge. The unfortunate man was
-hurried out by the armed ruffians of the tyrant, and scarcely allowing
-him time to confess to the first priest that came to hand, they made
-use of a log which accidentally lay on the green at the door of the
-chapel, and beheaded him at once. Lord Stanley, the Archbishop of York,
-and the Bishop of Ely, were kept close prisoners in the Tower. Shortly
-afterwards the queen's brother and son, Earl Rivers and Lord Grey, were
-executed at Pontefract.
-
-The united troops of Gloucester and Buckingham, to the amount of 20,000,
-now held the metropolis in subjection; the terror of the protector's
-deeds enchained it still more. On the following Sunday, June 22nd, the
-day which had been fixed for the coronation, instead of that ceremony
-taking place, a priest was found base enough--tyrants never fail of such
-tools--to ascend St. Paul's Cross, and preach from this text, from the
-Book of Wisdom, "Bastard slips shall not strike deep root."
-
-This despicable man was one Dr. Shaw, brother of the Lord Mayor. He
-drew a broad picture of the licentious life of Edward IV., and asserted
-that his mode of destroying such ladies as he found unwilling to incur
-dishonour was to promise them marriage, and occasionally to go through
-a mock or real ceremony with them. He declared that Edward had thus, in
-the commencement of his reign, really contracted a marriage with the
-Lady Eleanor Butler, the widow of Lord Butler, of Sudeley, and daughter
-of the Earl of Shrewsbury; that he afterwards contracted a private and
-illegal marriage with Elizabeth Woodville, which, however it might be
-real and legal in other respects, was altogether invalid and impossible,
-from the fact that Edward was already married to Lady Butler. Hence he
-contended that Elizabeth Woodville, though acknowledged by Parliament,
-was, in reality, nothing more than a concubine; that she and the king had
-been living in open and scandalous adultery; and that, of consequence,
-the whole of their children were illegitimate, and the sons incapable of
-wearing the crown.
-
-But the preacher went further. Determined to destroy the claims of
-the young Edward V. to the crown, he boldly asserted not only his
-illegitimacy, but that of his father, Edward IV. This could only be done
-at the expense of the honour of the proud Cicely, Duchess of York, the
-mother of Gloucester, as well as of Edward. But the man who was wading
-his way to the throne through the blood of his own nephews, and of the
-best men in the country, was not likely to be stopped by the honour of
-his mother. The son of Clarence was living, and in case of the deaths of
-Edward's sons had a prior right to Gloucester. That right was at present
-in abeyance, through Clarence's attainder, but would revive on reversion
-of the attainder, and the possibility of this must be destroyed.
-
-[Illustration: THE CROWN OF ENGLAND BEING OFFERED TO RICHARD, DUKE OF
-GLOUCESTER, AT BAYNARD'S CASTLE, IN 1483.
-
-FROM THE WALL PAINTING BY SIGISMUND GOETZE, IN THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.]
-
-The preacher, therefore, stoutly maintained that both Edward IV. and
-Clarence were the children of other men, not of the late Duke of York;
-that it was notorious, and that their striking likeness to their reputed
-fathers fully confirmed it. Gloucester, he contended, was alone the son
-of the Duke of York; and this vile prostitutor of the pulpit exclaimed,
-"Behold this excellent prince, the express image of his noble father--the
-genuine descendant of the house of York; bearing no less in the virtues
-of his mind than in the features of his countenance the character of the
-gallant Richard!" At this moment Gloucester, by concert, was to have
-passed, as if accidentally, through the audience to his place, and the
-preacher exclaimed, "Behold the man entitled to your allegiance! He must
-deliver you from the dominion of all intruders!--he alone can restore the
-lost glory and honour of the nation!"
-
-Here it was expected that the people would cry out "Long live King
-Richard!" but they stared at one another in amazement, and the more
-so that Gloucester did not appear at the nick of time, but after the
-preacher's apostrophe was concluded; so that, when Gloucester did appear,
-he was obliged to repeat his lesson, which threw such an air of ridicule
-upon the whole, that Gloucester could not conceal his chagrin, and the
-preacher--perceiving that the odium of the attempt, as it had failed,
-would fall upon him--stole away home, and, it is said, never again
-recovered his standing. Gloucester, of course, would be the first to
-fling him by as a worthless tool, and he received that reward of public
-contempt which it would be better for the world if it always measured out
-to such vile subserviency.
-
-But Gloucester was now fully prepared to complete his necessary amount
-of crime for the attainment of the throne, and was not to be daunted by
-one failure. The preacher, having broken the ice, he renewed his attempt
-in another quarter--the council chamber of the city. The Lord Mayor--as
-great a sycophant as his brother the preacher--lent himself, as he had
-probably done before, to the scheme. On the next Tuesday, the 24th of
-June, the Duke of Buckingham appeared upon the hustings at Guildhall, and
-harangued the citizens. He called upon them to recollect the dissolute
-life of the late king; his frequent violation of the sanctity of their
-homes; the seduction of most respectable ladies; the extent of his
-extortions of their money under the name of benevolences. In fact, he
-repeated, in another form, the whole sermon of Shaw, and went through the
-whole story of the marriage of Lady Butler, by the king, previous to that
-with Lady Grey, of which he assured them Stillington, Bishop of Bath, was
-a witness. Stillington, however, was never called to give such evidence.
-He then asked whether they would have the illegitimate progeny of such
-a man to rule over them. He assured them that he would never submit to
-the rule of a bastard, and that both the aristocracy and the people of
-the northern counties had sworn the same. But there, he observed, was
-the Duke of Gloucester, a man calculated to rescue England from such a
-stigma, and from all its losses--a man valiant, wise, patriotic, and
-of true blood, the genuine descendant of the great Edward III. On this
-the servants of Buckingham and Gloucester incited some of the meanest
-apprentices to cry out, and there was a feeble voice raised of "God save
-King Richard!" That was enough. Buckingham returned the people thanks
-for their hearty assent, and invited them to attend him the next morning
-to the duke's residence of Baynard's Castle, near Blackfriars Bridge, to
-tender him the crown. After a show of refusal Gloucester accepted it.
-
-Thus ended this scene, which Hume calls a ridiculous farce, but which
-was, in fact, a most diabolical one, to be followed by as revolting a
-tragedy. The next day this monster in human form went to Westminster
-in state. There he entered the great hall, and seated himself on the
-marble seat, with Lord Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, on his right
-hand, and the Duke of Suffolk on his left. He stated to the persons
-present that he chose to commence his reign in that place, because the
-administration of justice was the first duty of a king. Every one who
-heard this must have felt that if there were any justice in him he could
-not be there. It is clear that the spirit of the nation was with the poor
-boy Edward, but there was no man who dared to lift up his voice for him.
-The axe of Gloucester had already lopped off heads enough to render the
-others dumb, and London was invested by his myrmidons. He was already
-a dictator, and could do for a while what he pleased. He proclaimed
-an amnesty to all offenders against him up to that hour, and he then
-proceeded to St. Paul's, to return thanks to God. Thus, on the 26th of
-June, 1483, successful villainy sat enthroned in the heart of London.
-
-[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON: BLOODY (A) AND WAKEFIELD (B) TOWERS.]
-
-On the 6th of July, not a fortnight after his acceptance of the crown at
-Baynard's Castle Richard was crowned with all splendour. The terror of
-the blood-stained despot was all-potent, and was evidenced in the fact
-that few of the peers or peeresses ventured to absent themselves. With
-consummate tact Richard, the Yorkist usurper, appointed the heads of the
-Lancastrian line to bear the most prominent part in the ceremony, next to
-royalty itself. Buckingham bore his train, and the Countess of Richmond
-bore that of his queen. Both these persons were descendants of John of
-Gaunt, and the countess was the wife of that Lord Stanley who had been
-wounded at the very council board by Richard's ruffian guards, at the
-time of the seizure of Hastings. There can be little doubt but that it
-was the intention of Gloucester to have thus got rid, as by accident,
-of that respectable and powerful nobleman, who had great influence in
-the north; but having failed in that, he now made a merit of liberating
-him and his fellows, the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Ely, from
-the Tower. On Stanley he conferred the stewardship of the household, and
-soon after made him Constable of England. Probably, it not only entered
-the mind of Richard that it would be politic to secure the favour of
-a nobleman so much esteemed in Cheshire and Lancashire, but that, by
-ingratiating himself with the Countess of Richmond, the wife of Stanley,
-and the mother of the young Earl of Richmond, who, during the reign of
-Edward IV., had been a cause of anxiety, as a probable aspirant to the
-throne, he might succeed in beguiling Richmond into his hands; and this
-is the more probable because he was, at the very time, negotiating some
-private matters with the Duke of Brittany, at whose court Richmond was.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF RICHARD III.]
-
-Besides the promotion of Stanley, the Lord Howard was made Earl Marshal
-and Duke of Norfolk, his son was created Earl of Surrey, Lord Lovel was
-made a viscount, and many others of the nobility now received higher
-rank. The vast wealth which Edward IV. had left he distributed lavishly
-amongst those who had done his work, and those whom he sought to win
-over. The troops who had come from the north, and were seen with wonder
-and ridicule by the Londoners from their mean and dirty appearance, and
-called a rascal rabble, but who were ready at a word to do desperate
-things, he amply rewarded, and sent home again, as soon as the coronation
-was over.
-
-This great display over, Richard called no Parliament, but merely
-assembled the nobility before their returning to their respective
-counties, and enjoined them to maintain the peace there, and to assist
-his officers in putting down all offenders and disturbers. But he did
-not satisfy himself with injunctions. He set out to make a wide circuit
-through his kingdom, in order to awe all malcontents by his presence.
-He proceeded by slow journeys to Oxford, Woodstock, Gloucester, and
-Worcester. At Warwick he was joined by the queen; and as she was the
-daughter of the late Earl of Warwick, she might be considered as
-presiding in her ancestral home; and there, therefore, a considerable
-court was held for the space of a week, the Spanish ambassadors and
-members of the English nobility coming there. Thence the royal pair
-advanced by Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham, and Pontefract to York. The
-inhabitants of that stronghold of Lancastrian feeling had been warned to
-receive the king "with every mark of joy;" and to conciliate the northern
-population, Richard sent for the royal wardrobe from London, and once
-more repeated the coronation in York, as if to intimate that he scarcely
-felt himself sovereign till he had their sanction and homage.
-
-But after all the crimes perpetrated by Richard, the public had been
-terrified into silence, not into approval. No sooner was the south
-relieved from his presence than it at once recovered breath and language.
-As if the oppression of a nightmare were withdrawn, people began to utter
-their true feelings. Some were for marching in thousands upon the Tower,
-and forcibly liberating the innocent victims; others suggested that it
-were wise to enable the daughters of Edward to escape to the Continent,
-so that Richard should never be free from the fear of legitimate
-claimants to the crown. All the foreign potentates had shrunk from
-entering into alliance with so blood-stained a character, and would be
-ready to cherish these princesses as a means of annoying or controlling
-him.
-
-But Richard had thought of all these things long before the public, and
-had taken such measures to prevent them as would soon make the ears of
-all England tingle at their discovery. On attempting to communicate with
-Elizabeth and her daughters in the sanctuary, they found that asylum
-invested by a strong body of soldiers under one John Nesfield, and that
-there was no approaching the royal family. The only alternative was to
-endeavour to liberate the young princes.
-
-For this purpose private meetings were held in nearly all the counties
-of the south and west. The nobility and gentry bound themselves by
-oath to take arms and unite for the restoration of Edward V. In the
-midst of these movements the agitators were agreeably astonished to
-find themselves in possession of a most unexpected and powerful ally.
-This was no other than the Duke of Buckingham, the man who had so
-unscrupulously taken the lead in putting down all who were formidable
-obstacles to Richard's plans, and in bringing London to declare for him.
-The circumstances which produced this marvellous change have rather been
-guessed at than ever satisfactorily known.
-
-Buckingham was descended from Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, sixth son of
-Edward III. His claims to the throne were far superior to those of the
-Earl of Richmond, who was of an exactly parallel descent from John of
-Gaunt, but with a flaw of illegitimacy through that prince's connection
-with Catherine Swynford. Buckingham not only stood higher amongst the
-princes of the Lancastrian blood than Richmond, but he was married to
-the sister of Queen Elizabeth, and was thus closely connected with the
-imprisoned prince. Yet he had at once supported the most unscrupulous of
-the Yorkists, and helped more than any other man to dethrone his near
-relative. If this were strange, his sudden conversion was stranger.
-For his signal services to Richard he had received signal rewards.
-The Earl of Gloucester, Buckingham's ancestor, had married one of the
-daughters and co-heiresses of Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford. Their
-property, on the Yorkist family ascending the throne, had been seized by
-it. Buckingham had probably made it his bargain for what he was to do
-for Richard, that these estates should be restored to him. They were,
-accordingly, restored, and beyond that he was made Constable of England,
-Justiciary of Wales, and many other honours were heaped upon him. Why,
-then, this sudden revolt? The real causes were most likely those which
-have ever separated successful villains--distrust of each other, and the
-desire of the principal to be rid of his too knowing and, therefore,
-dangerous accessory. Buckingham was the confidant in many and terrible
-State secrets. He knew why Hastings was suddenly hurried to his death,
-and all the dark work by which the true prince had been thrust down to a
-dungeon, and the false one set up.
-
-He resolved, therefore, to reinstate Edward V.; and circular letters
-were addressed to all those chiefs who were likely to unite in the
-enterprise. In Kent, Essex, Sussex, Berkshire, Hants, Wilts, and
-Devonshire, preparations were made for the purpose; and Buckingham was
-about to move forward to put himself at their head, when the confederates
-were thunderstruck with the news that the king and his brother had been
-already murdered in the Tower.
-
-The account which has been generally followed of this horrid event, is
-that of Sir Thomas More. According to the learned chancellor, Richard,
-while making his holiday progress through the country, was plotting the
-death of the young princes in the Tower. From Gloucester he despatched
-one of his pages to Sir Robert Brackenbury, the Governor of the Tower,
-commanding him to get them quietly made away with. Sir Robert refused the
-office of assassin. Richard, however, from Warwick sent Sir James Tyrell,
-with orders to command the Tower for one night. This Tyrell had been
-vice-Constable under Edward IV., and always employed by him to execute
-illegal commissions, like Tristan, the tool of Louis XI. Tradition holds
-that the Portcullis Tower was the one in which the young princes were
-confined, and it is stated that they were under the constant surveillance
-of four keepers, and waited on by a fellow called Black Will, or Will
-Slaughter.
-
-The murderer Richard is said to have roused Tyrell from his bed at
-midnight, and sent him off; and Brackenbury, though he would not stain
-his own hands with innocent blood, had to give the keys by the king's
-command to the man who would. "Then," says Sir Thomas More, "Sir James
-Tyrell desired that the princes should be murdered in bed, to the
-execution whereof he appropriated Miles Forest, one of their keepers,
-a fellow flesh-bred in murder, and to him he joined one John Dighton,
-his own horse-keeper, a big, broad, square knave. The young king had
-certainly a clear apprehension of his fate, for he was heard sighingly to
-say, 'I would mine uncle would let me have my life, though he taketh my
-crown.' After which time the prince never tied his points nor anything
-attended to himself, but with that young babe his brother, lingered in
-thought and heaviness, till the traitorous deed delivered them from their
-wretchedness.
-
-"All their other attendants being removed from them, and the harmless
-children in bed, these men came into their chamber, and suddenly lapping
-them in the clothes, smothered and stifled them till thoroughly dead.
-Then laying out their bodies on the bed, they fetched Sir James to see
-them, who caused the murderers to bury them at the stairfoot, deep in
-the ground under a heap of stones. Then rode Sir James in great haste
-to King Richard, and showed him the manner of the murder, who gave him
-great thanks, but allowed not their bodies in so vile a corner, but would
-have them buried in consecrated ground. Sir Robert Brackenbury's priest
-then took them up, and where he buried them was never known, for he died
-shortly afterwards. But when the news was brought to the unfortunate
-mother, yet being in sanctuary, that her two sons were murdered, it
-struck to her heart like the sharp dart of death; she was so suddenly
-amazed that she swooned and fell to the ground, and there lay in great
-agony, yet like to a dead corpse."
-
-This dismal news, however, probably did not reach the unhappy queen till
-some time after the perpetration of the murder, for the tyrant kept the
-deed close till it suited his purpose to disclose it.
-
-The whole of this circumstantial account has been called in question
-by some modern historians, on the plea that the history of Richard
-was written by men after his death, who invented half the crimes and
-repulsive features of Richard to please the court of Henry VII. But
-perhaps two more highly credible historians could not be found than
-Sir Thomas More and the continuator of the Croyland Chronicle, the
-latter of whom wrote immediately after the death of Richard; and every
-circumstance known confirms their accounts. We shall see that the younger
-of these princes was supposed to reappear in the reign of Henry VII. as
-Perkin Warbeck. But, unfortunately for this story, the bodies of the
-two murdered children were discovered buried in one coffin or box. This
-occurred so late as 1674, when workmen were digging down the stairs which
-led from the king's lodgings to the chapel in the Tower, where, about ten
-feet deep, they came upon this chest containing the bones of two youths
-"proportionable to the ages of the two brothers; namely, about thirteen
-and eleven years."
-
-What is more, all those said to be concerned in this diabolical deed
-were afterwards specially patronised by Richard. Greene, the messenger,
-was made receiver of the lordships of the Isle of Wight and Porchester
-Castle; Tyrell and Brackenbury received numerous grants of lucrative
-offices, money, and lands, as may be seen in Strype's notes to Bucke's
-history, in Kennet. Dighton, one of the murderers, was made bailiff
-for life of the manor of Aiton, in Staffordshire; and Forest dying in
-possession of a lucrative post in Bernard Castle, his widow and son
-received an annuity of five marks. Still, further, Sir Thomas More says,
-"Very truth it is, and well known, that at such times as Sir James Tyrell
-was in the Tower for treason against King Henry VII., both Dighton and
-him were examined, and confessed the murder in manner above written."
-Henry, in consequence, sought for the bodies, but at that time they could
-not be found, the chaplain, the depositary of the secret, being dead.
-
-When, in addition to this, it shall be seen that Richard was anxious
-to marry Elizabeth of York, the sister of these young princes, and to
-prevent Richmond from marrying her, nothing can be more conclusive of the
-death of the boys as described--for, otherwise, the issue of Elizabeth
-could not succeed rightfully to the throne. Moreover, Richard is himself
-stated to have allowed the fact of the murder to come out, in order to
-crush the rising of Buckingham and his confederates in their behalf.
-Under all these circumstances, we conceive no event of history stands
-more strongly authenticated.
-
-It is said to have been in the midst of the gaieties of the coronation
-at York that Richard received the news of Buckingham's movement, and of
-the confederation of the southern counties. The circumstances were so
-alarming that, notwithstanding the execration which he was conscious such
-an avowal would bring down upon him, he permitted the account of the
-princes' death to be published. One universal burst of horror, both from
-friend and foe, went through the kingdom; and from that hour, instead of
-saving him, the knowledge of that cruel deed repelled all hearts from him.
-
-For the moment, the nobles, marching forward to rescue the young king,
-were taken aback: the tyrant had anticipated them; the king they would
-restore had perished. But the astute Bishop of Ely reminded them that
-there was Henry of Richmond, descended from John of Gaunt, who might
-marry Elizabeth of York, and thus, uniting the two rival houses, put
-an end to the divisions of the nation. This uniting all parties would
-annihilate the murderer. The idea was seized upon with avidity. Reginald
-Bray, the steward to the Countess of Richmond, was instructed to open
-the project to her, who immediately embraced it in favour of her son.
-Dr. Lewis, a Welsh physician, who attended the queen-dowager in the
-sanctuary, was made the bearer of the scheme to her. Elizabeth was well
-prepared by the wrongs heaped upon her, the murder of her brother and
-her three sons, and her own confinement and degradation, to forget her
-opposition to the house of Lancaster. She fully agreed to the project, on
-the condition of Richmond swearing to marry her daughter Elizabeth on his
-arriving in England. She even borrowed a sum of money and sent it to him,
-to aid his enterprise. A messenger was despatched to Henry in Brittany
-to inform him of the agreement, and to hasten his arrival, the 18th of
-October being fixed for the general rising in his favour.
-
-[Illustration: THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER. (_See p._ 54.)
-
-(_After the picture by Paul Delaroche._)]
-
-But it was not to be supposed that all these arrangements could
-escape the suspicious vigilance of Richard. He proceeded from York to
-Lincolnshire as if he were only attending to the ordinary affairs of the
-kingdom. But on the 11th of October--a week before the day appointed for
-the rising of the confederates--he summoned all his adherents to meet him
-at Leicester. Four days afterwards he proclaimed Buckingham a traitor,
-and set a reward of £1,000, or of £100 a year in land, on his head. For
-those of the Marquis of Dorset and of the two bishops he offered 1,000
-marks, or 100 marks a year in land each; and for the head of any hostile
-knight half that sum. He sent at the same time to London for the great
-seal to authenticate these and similar acts.
-
-On the day fixed, the rising, notwithstanding, took place. The Marquis
-of Dorset proclaimed Henry VII. at Exeter; the Bishop Of Salisbury
-proclaimed him in that city; the men of Kent at Maidstone; those of
-Berkshire at Newbury, and the Duke of Buckingham raised his standard
-at Brecon. Few revolutions ever opened with more favourable auspices.
-But untoward events made wholly abortive this well-planned popular
-attempt. The Duke of Richmond set sail from St. Malo on the 12th of
-October for England, with a fleet of forty sail, carrying 5,000 men; but
-tempestuous weather prevented him from reaching the coast of Devonshire
-till the dispersion of his unfortunate allies. He therefore put back.
-In the meantime Richard had joined his army at Leicester, and issued a
-proclamation which reads nowadays like the ravings of a madman.
-
-[Illustration: RICHARD III.]
-
-To draw off the followers of the confederates, while he offered rewards
-for the heads of their leaders, he granted free pardons to all who
-would abandon them. And the elements at this moment fought for Richard.
-Buckingham set out on his march to unite his forces to those of the other
-leaders, but there fell such heavy and continuous rains during the whole
-of his march from Brecon through the Forest of Dean to the Severn, that
-the bridges were carried away, and all the fords rendered impassable.
-Such rains and floods had not been known in the memory of man; and the
-inundation of the Severn was long after remembered as _Buckingham's
-Flood_.
-
-The Welsh, struck with a superstitious dread from this circumstance, and
-pressed by famine, dispersed, and Buckingham turned back to Weobly, the
-seat of Lord Ferrers. The news of Buckingham's failure confounded all
-the other confederates, and every man made the best of his way towards
-a place of safety. Merton, Dorset, Courtenay the Bishop of Exeter, and
-others, escaped to Flanders and Brittany. Weobly was closely watched,
-on one side by Sir Humphrey Stafford, and on the other by the clan of
-the Vaughans, who were promised the plunder of Brecon if they secured
-the duke. Buckingham, in disguise, escaped from Weobly, and hid himself
-near Shrewsbury, in the hut of a fellow of the name of Bannister, an old
-servant of the duke's family. This wretch, to secure the reward, betrayed
-his master to John Mitton, the sheriff of Shropshire, who conducted him
-to Richard at Salisbury, who ordered his head to be instantly struck off
-in the market-place. Amongst others who shared the same fate, Richard
-had the satisfaction of thus silencing a witty rhymester, William
-Collingbourne, who had dared to say that,
-
-    "The rat, the cat, and Lovel the dog,
-    Ruled all England under the hog."
-
-That is, Ratcliffe, Catesby, and Lord Lovel; the hog being in allusion to
-Richard's crest, the boar.
-
-Richard, thus relieved, marched into Devonshire, where he put to
-death, amongst others, Sir Thomas St. Leger, a knight who had married
-the Duchess of Exeter, his own sister. He then traversed the southern
-counties in triumph, and, arriving in London, he ventured to do what
-hitherto he had not dared, that is, call a Parliament. This assembly,
-prostrate at the feet of the prosperous despot, did whatever he proposed.
-They pronounced him "the undoubted king of England, as well by right
-of consanguinity and inheritance, as by lawful election, consecration,
-and coronation;" and they entailed the crown on his issue; the Lords,
-spiritual and temporal, binding themselves to uphold the succession of
-his son, the Prince of Wales. They attainted his enemies by wholesale,
-and beyond all precedent. One duke, one marquis, three earls, three
-bishops, with a whole host of knights and gentlemen, were thus deprived
-of honour, title, and estate; and their lands, forfeited to the Crown,
-were bestowed by Richard liberally on his northern adherents, who were
-thus planted in the south to act as spies on the southern nobles and
-gentry. The Countess of Richmond, though attainted, was permitted to hold
-her estates for life, or rather, they were thus conceded for that term to
-her husband, Lord Stanley, to bind him to the usurper.
-
-To avenge himself on the queen-dowager for her acceptance of the proposal
-to bring over Henry of Richmond and unite him to her daughter, Richard
-now deprived her and her daughters of all title, property, and honour. He
-treated them, not as the legitimate wife and children of Edward IV., but
-as what he had before proclaimed them. He had ordered the late murdered
-king to be called officially "Edward the bastard, lately called Edward
-V." The queen-dowager was styled "Elizabeth, late wife of Sir John Gray,"
-and her daughters were treated and addressed as simple gentlewomen.
-
-But the design of placing Henry of Richmond on the throne, Richard knew
-well, though for the moment defeated, was not abandoned. At the last
-festival of Christmas Henry had met the English exiles, to the number of
-500, at Rhedon, in Brittany, and had there sworn to marry Elizabeth of
-York as soon as he should subdue the usurper; and thereupon the exiles
-had unanimously sworn to support him as their sovereign. Henry was, as
-we have observed, descended on the father's side merely from Owen Tudor,
-a yeoman of the royal guard, and Catherine, the widow of Henry V. On
-the mother's side he was descended from Edward III. through John of
-Gaunt, but from an illegitimate branch. The bar of illegitimacy, though
-legally removed, would always have operated against his claim to the
-crown; but, independent of this, there were still various princes and
-princesses of Spain and Portugal, descendants of John of Gaunt, whose
-titles to the English crown were much superior to his. Yet, from his very
-infancy, there seems to have been a singular feeling that one day he
-would mount the throne of this kingdom. Henry VI. is said to have laid
-his hand on his head as a child, and declared that one day the crown
-would sit there. Edward IV. had evinced a perpetual fear of him, and had
-not only bargained for his secure detention at the court of Brittany,
-but on one occasion he had bribed the Duke of Brittany to give him up on
-the pretence of his intending to marry him to his eldest daughter--that
-daughter, in fact, he was destined eventually to marry. The duke,
-however, at the last moment, feeling a strong misgiving, had followed
-Henry to St. Malo, and there stopped him from embarking. Richard, on
-succeeding to the throne, had tried to purchase the surrender of Henry
-from the Duke of Brittany. In short, Henry assured the historian,
-Comines, that from the age of five years he had either been a captive or
-a fugitive. With this long traditionary presentiment that he was to reign
-in England attached to him, his marriage to Elizabeth of York would at
-once obviate all scruples as to his complete title. He would come in on
-the strength of her title, as William of Orange afterwards did on that of
-his queen, Mary Stuart.
-
-As the prospect of this event became more imminent--as Richard felt more
-deeply that the heart of the nation was not with him, but that all men
-were looking to this alliance as the hope of better times, he set himself
-to defeat it. Though he had so lately robbed, degraded, and insulted
-Queen Elizabeth and her family--though he had murdered her children and
-usurped their throne, he now suddenly turned round, and fawned on them.
-He began to smile most kindly on Elizabeth, and wished her to quit the
-sanctuary and come to court--a court dyed in the blood of her sons and
-brothers. He made her the most flattering promises; and, when they failed
-to draw her forth, he followed them by the most deadly threats. Elizabeth
-Woodville had never been found insensible to prospects of advantage for
-herself and family; but to put herself into the power of so lawless
-a butcher, and to unite her daughter with the son of the murderer of
-her children, was by no means reconcilable to her feelings. She stood
-out stoutly; but fear of worse consequences at length compelled her to
-succumb, and a private contract was concluded. Richard, in the presence
-of a number of the nobles and prelates, as well as of the Lord Mayor and
-aldermen, swore that the lives of Elizabeth and her daughters should be
-safe; that the mother should receive an annuity of 700 marks for life,
-and each of the daughters lands to the value of 200 marks on their
-marriage, which should be to none but gentlemen.
-
-When this bitter draught was swallowed, she had to endure another not
-the less sorrowful--that was, to appear at the court of the usurper,
-and behold him sitting in the seat of her murdered son, and receiving
-that homage which was his right. But this strange patron now smiled
-sunnily upon her. She and her daughters were received with every mark of
-distinction, and especially Elizabeth, the eldest, whom he was intending
-to pluck from the hopes of Richmond, by wedding her to his own son. But
-these views were suddenly destroyed by the death of this, Richard's only
-legitimate, son. He died at Middleham, where Richard was often residing,
-but was then with his queen absent at Nottingham. His death, which took
-place about the 9th of April, had something so remarkable about it, that
-Rous, the family chronicler, calls it "an unhappy death." Both Richard
-and his queen were so overwhelmed by this unexpected blow, that the
-continuator of the Croyland Chronicle says that they almost went mad.
-
-It was indeed a fatal stroke. The son on whom Richard had built the
-hopes of his family's succession, and for whom he killed his nephews,
-was now gone, and he was left without an heir, and without any prospect
-of one. It might be supposed that this event would raise the confidence
-of the Richmond party; and Richard, appearing to entertain the same
-idea, conceived the design of securing Richmond, and, no doubt, dealing
-with him as effectually as he had done with all others who stood in his
-way. For this purpose he opened secret communications with Francis, Duke
-of Brittany. That prince, who had been so long the generous protector
-of Richmond, was now in a feeble and failing state of health, and his
-minister, Peter Landois, administered his affairs pretty much at his
-own will. The interest of Landois was purchased by heavy sums, and he
-agreed to deliver Richmond into the hands of Richard. But the sagacious
-Morton, Bishop of Ely, gave him timely warning, and Richmond fled for
-his life. He reached France with only five attendants, and went at once
-to the French court at Angers, where he was cordially received by the
-sister of Charles VIII., then acting as regent. He accompanied the French
-court to Paris, where he again repeated his oath to marry Elizabeth of
-York, in case of deposing the tyrant, and he was immediately hailed by
-the students of Paris as King of England. He was promised assistance
-by the princess regent for his enterprise, and while these things were
-proceeding, Francis of Brittany, who had recovered his health, and was
-made acquainted with the villainy of Landois, sent a messenger to offer
-him aid in his design.
-
-Thus Richard had driven his enemy into a more safe and formidable
-position, instead of capturing him, and he taxed his subtle genius to
-thwart this dangerous rival by other means. To prepare for any serious
-attack from France, he put an end to a miserable state of plunder and
-reprisal betwixt Scotland and his subjects. He concluded an armistice
-with James of Scotland; and having since his son's death nominated John
-Earl of Lincoln the son of his sister the Duchess of Suffolk heir to the
-crown, he now contracted Anne de la Pole, the sister of the young earl,
-to the eldest son of the King of Scotland.
-
-But Richard had designs more profound than this. He determined, as
-he could not marry Elizabeth of York to his son, he would snatch her
-from Richmond by wedding her himself. True, he had already a wife;
-but monarchs have frequently shown how soon such an obstacle to a
-fresh alliance can be removed. Richard now held a magnificent court at
-Westminster. There was a constant succession of balls, feastings, and
-gaieties. In the midst of these no one was so conspicuous as Elizabeth of
-York; and what very soon excited the attention and the speculations of
-the court, she always appeared in precisely the same dress as the queen.
-
-The poor queen, Anne of Warwick, who began with hating Richard most
-cordially, and even disguised herself as a cookmaid to escape him,
-since the death of her son, had never recovered from her melancholy
-and depression. Probably, knowing the real character of her ruthless
-Bluebeard, she foresaw what must take place, and was too weary of life to
-care to retain it. Though she penetrated the designs of the king, these
-never influenced her in her conduct to Elizabeth, to whom she was kind as
-became an aunt. And now she fell ill, and Richard is said to have assured
-Elizabeth that the queen would "die in February," and that she should
-succeed her.
-
-Anne of Warwick, the last queen of the Plantagenet line, did not die in
-February, but she did not survive through March. Yet that event did not
-in any degree contribute to Richard's marriage with Elizabeth. Whether we
-are to suppose with Sir Thomas More, and others, that Elizabeth herself
-manifested a steady repugnance to so abhorrent a union, or whether
-Richard deemed her in greater security there, he sent her under close
-guard to the castle of Sheriff-Hutton, in Yorkshire, and no sooner did
-he permit it to be whispered that such a marriage was probable, than
-the rumour was received with universal horror. No persons were more
-resolutely opposed to it than Ratcliffe and Catesby, Richard's great
-confidants in his crimes. They naturally dreaded the idea of Elizabeth,
-the sister of the murdered princes and the representative of a family on
-which they had heaped such injuries, becoming queen, and in a position
-to wreak her vengeance upon them. But they also saw, quite as clearly,
-the ruin which the king would certainly bring down upon himself by such
-a measure, in which they must also be inevitably involved.
-
-The instinct of self-preservation in these men led them to remind the
-king that a marriage with his own niece would be regarded as incestuous,
-would be reprobated by the clergy, and abhorred by the people; that
-there was a general persuasion abroad that he had poisoned his wife, and
-this union would convert that persuasion into absolute conviction; that
-the men of the northern counties, on whom he chiefly depended, and who
-adhered to him, more than for any other cause, through their attachment
-to the late queen, as the daughter of the great Earl of Warwick, would be
-totally lost, and nothing but ruin could await him.
-
-This strong and undisguised feeling, displayed thus both in public and
-private, drove Richard from this design. Just before Easter, he called
-a meeting of the city authorities in the great hall of St John's,
-Clerkenwell, and there declared that he had no such intention as that of
-marrying his niece, and that the report was "false and scandalous in a
-high degree." He also sent a letter to the citizens of York, dated the
-11th of April, contradicting such slanderous tales, and commanding them
-to apprehend and punish all who should be found guilty of propagating
-them.
-
-But the time was fast drawing near which must decide whether Richard or
-Henry of Richmond should wear the crown. Richard was informed by his
-agents on the Continent that Charles of France had permitted the Earl
-of Richmond to raise an army in that country. They amounted to 3,000
-men, consisting of English refugees and Norman adventurers. Richard
-pretended to be delighted at the news, as confident that now he should
-speedily annihilate his enemy. He was, however, so impoverished by his
-lavish gifts and grants to secure the faith of his adherents, that he
-was unprovided with the means of maintaining an army; neither had he
-a fleet to intercept that of Henry. He dared not call a Parliament to
-ask for supplies, for he had expended those granted by the only one he
-had called. In that Parliament, to cast odium upon the memory of his
-brother Edward, he had called on his subjects to remember his tyranny in
-extorting benevolences; yet now he resorted to the very same thing; and
-the people, in ridicule of his pretended denunciation of benevolences,
-called them _malevolences_. By these arbitrary exactions he destroyed
-the last trace of adhesion to his Government. On all sides he felt
-coldness--on all sides he saw defection. The brave old Earl of Oxford,
-John De Vere, who had been a prisoner twelve years in the prison of
-Ham, in Picardy, was set at liberty by Sir James Blount, the governor
-of the castle, and they fled together to Henry. Sir John Fortescue, the
-Porter of Calais, followed their example, and numbers of young English
-gentlemen, students of the University of Paris, flocked to his standard.
-The same process was going on in England. Several sheriffs of counties
-abandoned their charge, and hastened over to France; and numerous parties
-put off from time to time from the coast. But no nobleman occasioned,
-however, so much anxiety as Lord Stanley. His connection with Richmond,
-having married his mother, made Richard always suspicious. He had
-lavished favours upon him to attach him, and had made him steward of
-the household to retain him under his eye. Stanley had always appeared
-sincere in his service, but it was a sincerity that Richard could not
-comprehend. This nobleman now demanded permission to visit his estates
-in Cheshire and Lancashire, to raise forces for the king; but Richard so
-little trusted him that he detained his son, Lord Strange, as a hostage
-for his fidelity. We have already seen that Stanley had long secretly
-pledged himself to Elizabeth of York in her cause, and only waited the
-proper occasion to go over.
-
-[Illustration: RICHARD III. AT THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH. (_See p._ 63.)]
-
-On the 1st of August, 1485, Henry of Richmond set sail from Harfleur,
-with the united fleet of France and Brittany, and an army of 3,000 men,
-on that memorable expedition which was to terminate the fatal wars of
-the Roses, and introduce into England a new dynasty, and a new era of
-civilisation. On the seventh of that month he landed at Milford Haven. He
-himself and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, went on shore at
-a place called Dale, while his army was disembarking. The Welsh accosted
-the old earl with this significant welcome on his setting foot on his
-native shore, "Welcome! for thou hast taken good care of _thy_ nephew!"
-
-Having refreshed his forces, Henry marched on through Haverfordwest and
-Pembroke to Cardigan. Everywhere he was received with manifest delight;
-but his forces did not increase till he reached Cardigan, where Richard
-Griffith and Richard Thomas, two Welsh gentlemen, joined his standard
-with their friends. His old friend Sir Walter Herbert, who had been
-expressly sent by Richard into that quarter with Rice ap Thomas to raise
-the country in his behalf, though he did not join him, suffered him to
-pass unmolested. Rice ap Thomas, on receiving a promise of the Government
-of Wales, went over at once to Henry. When the army reached Newport Sir
-Gilbert Talbot, with a decision of character in keeping with the account
-of him by Brereton, came at the head of the tenantry of his nephew, the
-Earl of Shrewsbury, 2,000 in number, and there, too, he was followed by
-Sir John Savage. The invading force now amounted to more than 6,000 men.
-
-Henry crossed the Severn at Shrewsbury. Richard now advanced to
-Leicester, whence he issued despatches to all his subjects to join him
-on the instant, accompanied by the most deadly menaces against all
-defaulters. The Duke of Norfolk was there with the levies of the eastern
-counties; the Earl of Northumberland with those from the north; Lord
-Lovel commanded those from London; and Brackenbury those from Hampshire.
-Stanley alone held aloof, and sent word, in reply to Richard's summons,
-that he was ill in bed with the sweating sickness. Richard received this
-ominous message with the utmost rage; and, as he had vowed that, on the
-first symptom of disaffection on his part, he would cut off the head of
-Lord Strange, his son, Strange made an instant attempt at flight. He was
-brought back, and frankly confessed that he and his uncle, Sir William
-Stanley, chamberlain of North Wales, had agreed to join the invaders;
-but protested that his father knew nothing of their intention, but was
-loyal, and his forces were already on the way to the royal camp. Richard
-compelled him to write to his father, bidding him come up at once, or
-that his son was a dead man.
-
-On the 21st of August Richard rode forward from Leicester, and encamped
-about two miles from Bosworth. He was mounted in the march on a
-magnificent white courser, and clad in the same rich suit of burnished
-steel which he wore at his victorious field of Tewkesbury. On his helmet
-blazed a regal crown, which he had displayed there since he took up his
-headquarters at Nottingham. His countenance is represented as stern and
-frowning; his manner haughty, and as if putting on an air of bravado,
-rather than of calm confidence; for, though his troops amounted to
-30,000, and his cavalry was the finest in Europe, he well knew that there
-was secret and wide-spread disaffection under all that martial show.
-Were his followers true to him, the little army of Richmond would be
-shivered in the first shock, and trodden under foot. But, perhaps, not
-a man except the Duke of Norfolk was really stanch in his devotion; and
-that night Norfolk's followers found pinned upon his tent this ominous
-couplet:--
-
-    "Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,
-    For Dickon thy master is bought and sold."
-
-That night Henry, who had reached Tamworth, marched to Atherstone. His
-army did not amount to half that of Richard: yet all were earnest in the
-cause, and the number of men of rank and character in it gave it a very
-imposing air in the eyes of the soldiers. On the contrary, Richard's
-soldiers, if we are to believe "Twelve Strange Prophecies"--still in
-the British Museum--had been discouraged, not only by the warning to
-John, or--as he was familiarly called--Jocky of Norfolk, but by the
-following singular incident. As the king rode out of Leicester by the
-south gate, at the head of his cavalry, a blind old man, well known as
-a superannuated wheelwright, sat begging at the foot of the bridge. In
-reply to the remarks of the soldiers as to the weather, the old man cried
-out just as the king was at hand--"If the moon change again to-day, which
-has changed once in the course of nature, King Richard will lose life
-and crown." This was supposed to allude to Lord Percy, whose crest was a
-crescent, and of whose faith Richard was sorely in doubt. When Richard
-passed, his foot struck against a low post placed to defend the corner
-of the bridge, and the beggar said, "His head will strike there as he
-returns at night."
-
-The night before the battle, Henry of Richmond had a secret meeting near
-Atherstone with Lord Stanley, who assured him of his adherence, but
-showed him how impossible it was that he could join him till Richard was
-engaged in arraying the battle, or his son's life would immediately be
-sacrificed. Stanley had 5,000 men, and engaged to appear for Richard till
-the moment for battle, when his defection would do Henry the most signal
-service.
-
-On the evening of the 21st of August, the two armies lay encamped
-near the little town of Bosworth, opposite to each other. Richard
-is represented by the chroniclers as passing that night in the most
-agonising state of restlessness and uncertainty. The deeply-rooted
-disaffection of his troops destroyed his confidence, though his 30,000
-were only opposed by Richmond's 6,000. He went through the camp examining
-secretly the state of his outposts, and finding at one of them a sentinel
-asleep, he stabbed him to the heart, saying, "I find him asleep, and I
-leave him so." His own slumbers are said to have been broken, and the
-chroniclers express his state by saying he "was most terribly pulled and
-haled by devils."
-
-But other agents than those thus troubling the tyrant's mind were active
-throughout the camp. Many of his soldiers stole away to Richmond, and
-probably some of these left the warning to Jocky of Norfolk. These
-desertions produced dismay in Richard's ranks, and confidence in those of
-his rival.
-
-When morning broke, Richmond's little army was discovered already drawn
-up. The van, consisting of archers, was led by the Earl of Oxford; the
-right wing by Sir Gilbert Talbot; the left by Sir John Savage. In the
-main body Henry posted himself, accompanied by the Earl of Pembroke.
-Richard confronted the foe with his numerous lines, taking his place also
-in the main body, opposite to Richmond, but giving the command of the van
-to the Duke of Norfolk. Lord Stanley took his station on one wing, and
-Sir William on the other, so that, thus disposed, they could flank either
-their own side or the opposed one. The battle was begun by the archers
-of both armies, and soon became furious. No sooner was this the case,
-than the Stanleys, seizing the critical moment, wheeling round, joined
-the enemy, and fell on Richard's flanks. This masterly manoeuvre struck
-dismay through the lines of Richard; the men who stood their ground
-appeared to fight without heart, and to be ready to fly. Richard, who saw
-this, and beheld the Duke of Northumberland, sitting at the head of his
-division, and never striking a single stroke, became transported with
-fury. His only hope appeared to be to make a desperate assault on Henry's
-van, and, if possible, to reach and kill him on the spot. With this
-object he made three furious charges of cavalry; and, at the third, but
-not before he had seen his chief companion, the Duke of Norfolk, slain,
-he broke into the midst of Henry's main body, and, catching sight of
-him, dashed forward, crying frantically, "Treason! treason! treason!" He
-killed Sir William Brandon, Henry's standard-bearer, with his own hand;
-struck Sir John Cheyney from his horse; and, springing forward on Henry,
-aimed a desperate blow at him; but Sir William Stanley, breaking in at
-that moment, surrounded Richard with his brave followers, who bore him to
-the ground by their numbers, and slew him, as he continued to fight with
-a bravery as heroic as his political career had been--in the words of
-Hume--"dishonourable for his multiplied and detestable enormities." The
-blood of Richard tinged a small brook which ran where he fell, and the
-people are said to this day never to drink of its water.
-
-The body of the fallen tyrant was speedily stripped of his valuable
-armour and ornaments, and the soldier who laid hands upon the crown hid
-it in a hawthorn bush. But strict quest being made after it, it was
-soon discovered and carried to Lord Stanley, who placed it upon the
-head of Henry, and the victor was immediately saluted by the general
-acclamations of the army with "Long live King Henry!" and they sang
-_Te Deum_, in grand chorus, on the bloody heath of Bosworth. From the
-poetical circumstance of the hawthorn bush, the Tudors assumed as their
-device a crown in a bush of fruited hawthorn. Lord Strange, the son of
-Lord Stanley, being deserted by his guards, as soon as the defeat was
-known, made his way to the field, and joined his father and the king at
-the close of the battle.
-
-King Henry VII. advanced from the decisive field of Bosworth, at the head
-of his victorious troops, to Leicester, which he entered with the same
-royal state that Richard had quitted it. The statements of the numbers
-who fell on this field vary from 1,000 to 4,000, but of the leaders, the
-Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Ferrars of Chartley, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Sir
-Robert Percy, and Sir Robert Brackenbury, fell with the king. On the side
-of Henry fell no leaders of note.
-
-Henry used his victory mildly; he shed no blood of the vanquished, except
-that of the notorious Catesby, and two persons of the name of Brecher,
-who were probably men of like character and crimes. Thus, in one day,
-the world was relieved of the presence of Richard and of his two base
-commissioners of murder, Catesby and Ratcliffe.
-
-Richard's naked body, covered with mud and gore, was, according to the
-local traditions of Leicester, flung carelessly across a horse, and thus
-carried into that town; his head, say these historic memories, striking
-against the very post which the blind beggar had said it should, and the
-rude populace following it with shouts of mockery. The corpse was begged
-by the nuns of the Grey Friars, to whom Richard had been a benefactor,
-and was decently interred in their church.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
-
-     The Study of Latin and Greek--Invention of Printing--Caxton--New
-     Schools and Colleges--Architecture, Military, Ecclesiastical,
-     and Domestic--Sculpture, Painting, and Gilding--The Art of
-     War--Commerce and Shipping--Coinage.
-
-
-It might be very reasonably supposed that during a century spent almost
-entirely in war, and during the second half of it in the most rancorous
-intestine strife, there could not be much national progress. There is no
-doubt but that the population was greatly decreased. It was calculated
-that at the beginning of the century the population of England and Wales
-amounted to about 2,700,000. At the end of it, it is supposed that there
-were not 2,500,000.
-
-In these depopulating wars, there can be no question that, besides
-the actual destruction of so many men, there must have been terrible
-sufferings inflicted, and an immense interruption of all those peaceful
-transactions by which nations become wealthy and powerful.
-
-During this century, two events of the highest importance to art and
-learning took place--the introduction of the knowledge of Greek and the
-invention of printing.
-
-[Illustration: CAXTON SHOWING THE FIRST SPECIMEN OF HIS PRINTING TO KING
-EDWARD IV., AT THE ALMONRY, WESTMINSTER.
-
-AFTER THE PAINTING BY DANIEL MACLISE, R.A.]
-
-If the knowledge of Greek had not entirely died out in western Europe,
-it had nearly so till this century. The crusades, leading the Christians
-of western Europe to the east, had opened up an acquaintance betwixt the
-people of the Greek empire and those of the West. The destruction of that
-empire in this century drove a number of learned men into Italy, where
-they taught their language and literature. Amongst these were Theodore
-Gaza, Cardinal Bessarion, George of Trebizond, Demetrius Chalcondyles,
-John Argyropulus, and Johannes Lascaris. Before that time some knowledge
-of the Greek philosophy had reached us through the Arabians, but till
-the fourteenth century very little of the literature of Greece was known
-in the western nations, not even the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of Homer.
-In Italy Petrarch and Boccaccio learned the language and studied the
-writings of Greece, and an enthusiasm for Greek literature spread over
-all Europe. Grocyn studied it in Italy in 1488, under Chalcondyles, and
-came and taught it in England.
-
-[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF CAXTON'S PRINTING IN THE "DICTES AND SAYINGS
-OF PHILOSOPHERS" (1477).]
-
-At the same moment that Greek began to be studied, Latin in Europe was
-in the lowest and most degraded state. Though it still continued the
-language of divines, lawyers, philosophers, historians, and even poets,
-it had lost almost every trace of its original idiom and elegance. Latin
-words were used, but in the English order, and where words were wanting,
-they Anglicised them.
-
-[Illustration: EARL RIVERS PRESENTING CAXTON TO EDWARD IV. (_From MS. in
-the Library of Lambeth Palace._)]
-
-But that wonderful art which was destined to chase this darkness like a
-new sun was already on its way from Germany to this country. The Chinese
-had printed from engraved wooden blocks for many centuries, when the same
-idea suggested itself to a citizen of Haarlem, named Laurent Janszoon
-Coster. Coster, who was keeper of the cathedral, first cut his letters in
-wood, then made separate wooden letters, and employed them in printing
-books by tying them together with strings. From wood he proceeded to cut
-his letters in metal, and finally to cast them in the present fashion.
-Coster concealed his secret with great care, and was anxious to transmit
-it to his children; but in this he was disappointed, for at his death
-one of his assistants, John Gensfleisch, the Gutenberger, went off to
-Mayence, carrying with him movable types of Coster's casting.
-
-That is the Dutch story, but the Germans insist on Gutenberg being the
-originator of printing. They contend that Coster's were only the wooden
-blocks which had long been in use for the printing of playing cards, and
-manuals of devotion. They even insinuate that all that the Dutch claim
-had probably been brought from China by Marco Polo in the thirteenth
-century, who had seen the paper-money thus printed there in letters of
-vermilion, and that Holland had no share in the invention at all. But we
-know that the Germans have a vast capacity for claiming. It is notorious
-that all the earliest block-printing, the Bibliæ Pauperum, the Bibles of
-the Poor, the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, with its fifty pictures, and
-other block works, were all done in the Low Countries in the century we
-are reviewing.
-
-Taking a broad view, however, it is certain that Gutenberg, Fust, and
-Schoeffer, were the men who first printed any known works in movable
-types, and from Mayence, in 1445, diffused very soon the knowledge of
-the present art of printing over the whole world. The first work which
-they are supposed to have printed was the Bible, an edition of the Latin
-Vulgate, known by the name of the Mazarin Bible, of which various copies
-remain, though without date or printer's name.
-
-Printing was introduced into England in 1474, according to all the chief
-authorities of or near that time, by William Caxton. Caxton was a native
-of the weald of Kent. He served his apprenticeship to a mercer of London,
-and left England in 1441 to transact business in the Low Countries. There
-he was greatly regarded by Margaret, the Duchess of Burgundy, Edward
-IV.'s sister, who retained him as long as she could at her court. Caxton
-was now upwards of fifty years of age, but his inquisitive and active
-temperament led him to learn, amongst other things, the whole art of
-printing from one Colard Manson. He saw its immense importance, and he
-translated Raoul le Feure's "Recueil des Histoires de Troye," and printed
-it in folio. This great work he says himself that he began in Bruges,
-and finished in Cologne in 1471. The first work which he printed in
-England was the "Game and Playe of Chesse," which was published in 1475.
-From this time till 1490, or till nearly the date of his death in 1491
-or 1492, a period of sixteen years, the list of the works which Caxton
-passed through his press is quite wonderful. Thomas Milling, the Abbot
-of Westminster, was his most zealous patron; and at Westminster, in the
-Almonry, he commenced his business. Earl Rivers, brother to the queen of
-Edward IV., another of his friends and patrons, translated the "Dictes
-and Sayings of the Philosophers" for his nephew, the Prince of Wales, and
-introduced Caxton, when it was printed, to present it to the king and
-royal family.
-
-But while Caxton was thus busy he saw others around him also as hard at
-work with their presses: Theodore Rood, John Lettow, William Machelina,
-and Wynkyn de Worde, foreigners, and Thomas Hunt, an Englishman. A
-schoolmaster of St. Albans set up a press there, and several books were
-printed at Oxford in 1478, and to the end of the century. There is
-no direct evidence of any work being printed in Scotland during this
-century, though such may have been the case, and all traces of the fact
-obliterated in the almost universal destruction of the cathedral and
-conventual libraries at the Reformation. James III. was known to collect
-the most superb specimens of typography, and Dr. Henry mentions seeing
-a magnificent edition of "Speculum Moralitatis," which had been in that
-king's possession, and contained his autograph.
-
-Not less meritorious benefactors of their country, next to the writers
-and printers of books, were those who collected them into libraries, and
-the most munificent patron and encourager of learning in this manner was
-the unfortunate Duke Humphrey of Gloucester. He gave to the University
-of Oxford a library of 600 volumes in 1440, valued at £1,000. Some of
-these very volumes yet remain in different collections. Duke Humphrey
-not only bought books, but he employed men of science and learning to
-translate and transcribe. He kept celebrated writers from France and
-Italy, as well as Englishmen, to translate from the Greek and other
-languages; and is said to have written himself on astronomy, a scheme of
-astronomical calculations under his name still remaining in the library
-of Gresham College. The great Duke of Bedford, likewise, when master of
-Paris, purchased and sent to this country the royal library, containing
-853 volumes, valued at 2,223 livres.
-
-The schools and colleges founded during this century were the
-following:--Lincoln College, Oxford, founded in 1427, by Richard Fleming,
-Bishop of Lincoln, and completed by Thomas Scott, of Rotherham, Bishop of
-Lincoln, in 1475. All Souls' College, Oxford, was founded by Chicheley,
-Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1437. He expended upon its erection £4,545,
-and procured considerable revenues for it out of lands of the alien
-priories dissolved just before that time. Magdalene College, Oxford, was
-founded by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, in 1458, and soon
-became one of the richest colleges in Europe. King's College, Cambridge,
-was founded by Henry VI. in 1441. Queens' College, Cambridge, was
-founded by Margaret of Anjou, in 1448; and Catherine Hall, Cambridge, was
-founded by Robert Woodlark, third provost of King's College, in 1473.
-
-Besides these, Henry VI. founded Eton College, and Thomas Hokenorton,
-Abbot of Osney, founded the schools in Oxford, in 1439. Before that
-time the professors of several sciences in both universities read
-their lectures in private houses, at very inconvenient distances from
-each other. To remedy this inconvenience, schools were erected in
-both universities at this period. Hokenorton's schools comprehended
-the teaching of divinity, metaphysics, natural and moral philosophy,
-astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, music, logic, rhetoric, and grammar.
-They required liberal aid from other benefactors, and they found these
-in the noble Humphrey of Gloucester, and the two brothers Kemp, the one
-Archbishop of York and the other Bishop of London. They were completed
-in 1480, including Duke Humphrey's noble library, the nucleus of the
-present Bodleian, which was refounded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1597. The
-quadrangle, containing the schools of Cambridge, was completed in 1475.
-
-Up to this period Scotland had possessed no university whatever, and
-its youth had been obliged to travel to foreign universities for their
-education. But now the University of St. Andrews was founded in 1410,
-and obtained a charter in 1411 from Bishop Wardlaw, which was confirmed
-by the Pope in 1412, and by James I. in 1431. The great need of such an
-institution was soon evidenced by the university becoming famous. In 1456
-Kennedy, the successor of Wardlaw, founded the College of St. Salvator in
-that city; and in 1450 William Turnbull, the Bishop of Glasgow, founded
-the University of that city; and in the same year was founded the college
-or faculty of arts in Glasgow, King James II. taking both college and
-university under his especial patronage and protection. This college
-received a handsome endowment from James, Lord Hamilton, and his lady,
-Euphemia, Countess of Douglas, in 1459.
-
-The castles erected during this period are few. The wars of the
-Roses brought the force of cannon and gunpowder against the massive
-erections of the barons of past ages, and many a terrible stronghold
-was demolished. But there was, from the beginning of these wars, little
-leisure for repairing, or for building new castles. The proprietors, for
-the most part, were killed or reduced to ruin, and the workmen shared
-the same fate, so that labour became too scarce and dear for such great
-undertakings. Scotland was affected by similar circumstances.
-
-The castles of this period bear unmistakable traces of the Perpendicular
-style, which was prevalent in the ecclesiastical architecture of the
-age. That portion of Windsor built by William of Wykeham, though much
-altered, retains some marked and good features of this age. The exterior
-of Tattershall Castle, in Lincolnshire, remains nearly unaltered. All the
-castles of this time blend more or less of the domestic character, and
-tended towards that style which prevailed in the next century under the
-name of Tudor. Another great change in the castellated architecture of
-this period was the use of brick in their construction. Bricks, though
-introduced into Britain by the Romans, had gone almost out of use till
-the reign of Richard II.; now they were in such favour that the castles
-of Tattershall, Hurstmonceux, and Caistor were built chiefly of them, as
-Thornbury Castle was in the next century. Hurstmonceux, in Sussex, was
-erected in 1448 on the plan of Porchester Castle. It was a stupendous
-building, of which the ruins now remain, forming a regular parallelogram
-of 180 feet square, flanked by seventeen octagon towers, and with a fine
-machicolated gateway forming the keep. Tattershall, in Lincolnshire,
-built in 1455, is erected in the style of the ancient keep, a huge square
-tower with polygonal turrets at the angles. Caistor, in Norfolk, erected
-about 1450, was remarkable for two very large circular brick towers at
-the northern angle, one of which remains.
-
-But the castles and the mansions of this period possessed frequently
-so many features and qualities in common, that some of them are actual
-hybrids, the uniting links of the two kinds of houses. They had alike
-towers, battlements, and moats, and the chief apartments looked into the
-interior quadrangle as the safest. Oxburgh Hall, in Norfolk, is one of
-this mixed class. Though called a hall, it is moated, and has a massive
-gateway of a remarkable altitude. Raglan Castle, built in the reign of
-Edward IV., has more of the true castellated style; Warwick and Windsor,
-more of the union of the two styles. At the same time such castles as
-had their gateways battered down, and rebuilt at this period, present
-in them all the older characteristics of castellated buildings. Such is
-the gateway of Carisbrooke Castle, built in the reign of Edward IV., and
-the west gate of Canterbury, built towards the close of the fourteenth
-century, which retain the stem old circular towers, lighted only by mere
-loopholes and _oeillets_.
-
-The style of ecclesiastical architecture prevailing through this century,
-and to the middle of the next, is that called the Perpendicular. It
-appears to have commenced about 1377, or at the commencement of the
-reign of Richard II., just twenty years prior to this century, and
-it terminated at the Reformation, in the reign of Henry VIII. The
-Reformation was anything but a reformation in architecture. That great
-convulsion broke up the period of a thousand years, during which, from
-the first introduction of Christianity into this island, this peculiar
-character of architecture, often called Gothic, but more properly
-Christian, had been progressing and perfecting itself. The Western
-princes and prelates, evidently copying the Grecian in their columns,
-but adding curves and ornaments unknown to the Greeks, and introducing
-principles of pliancy, and of long and lofty aisles, from the suggestions
-of the forests, in which they were accustomed to wander, and the linden
-groves which they planted, originated a new school of architecture, in
-many particulars far exceeding that of the classic nations. No church
-took up and perpetuated this noble Christian architecture more cordially
-and more inspiredly than the Catholic. Over the whole of Europe, wherever
-the Roman Church prevailed, it erected its churches and monasteries in
-a spirit of unrivalled grandeur and beauty. In architecture, in music,
-and in painting, it acquitted itself royally towards the public, however
-it might fail in spirit, in doctrine, or in discipline. The remains
-of painted windows, to say nothing of the productions of such men as
-Raphael, Michael Angelo, Guido, and a host of others, who drew their
-inspiration from the devotions of that church, are sufficient to excite
-our highest admiration; and the sublime anthems which resounded through
-their august and poetical temples, through what are called "the Dark
-Ages," were well calculated to enchain the imagination of minds not
-deeply reflective or profoundly informed.
-
-[Illustration: THE QUADRANGLE: ETON COLLEGE.]
-
-In every country we find, moreover, a different style in all these
-arts--music, painting, and architecture; demonstrating the exuberance
-of genius turned into these channels during long centuries, when all
-others, except warfare, seemed closed. England had its distinctive style
-in these matters, and in architecture this Perpendicular style was the
-last. During its later period it considerably deteriorated, and with
-the Reformation it went out. In England sufficient power and property
-were left to the Anglican Church to enable it to preserve the majority
-of its churches, and many of its conventual buildings: in Scotland the
-destruction was more terrible. There public opinion took a great leap
-from Catholicism to the simplicity and sternness of the school of John
-Knox; and in consequence of his celebrated sermon at Perth, in which he
-told his congregation that to effectually drive away the rooks they must
-pull out their nests, almost every convent and cathedral, except that of
-Glasgow, was reduced to a ruin.
-
-[Illustration: INTERIOR OF KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE.]
-
-Of the Perpendicular style we have many churches throughout the country,
-and still more into which it has been more or less introduced into
-those of earlier date in repairs and restorations. Every county, and
-almost every parish, can show us specimens of this style, if it be only
-in a window, a porch, or a buttress. Rickman is of opinion that half
-the windows in English edifices over the kingdom are of this style.
-Whilst our neighbours on the Continent were indulging themselves in the
-_flamboyant_ style, and loading their churches with the most exuberant
-ornament, as in the splendid cathedrals of Normandy and Brittany, our
-ancestors were enamoured of this new and more chaste style. There are
-writers who regard the perpendicular lines of this style as an evidence
-of a decline in the art. We cannot agree with that opinion. The straight,
-continuous mullions of the Perpendicular are--combined with the rich and
-abundant ornaments of other portions of the buildings, as the spandrils
-enriched with shields, the finely-wrought and soaring canopies, and
-crocketed finials, the canopied buttresses, the groined roofs and
-fan-tracery of ceilings--a pleasure to the eye, when chastely and richly
-designed.
-
-The windows of this style at once catch the observation of the spectator.
-The mullions, running through from bottom to top, give you, instead of
-the flowing tracery of the Decorated style, a simple and somewhat stiff
-heading; but the stiffness is in most instances relieved by the heading
-of each individual section being cuspated, and the upper portions of
-the window presenting frequent variations, as in the grand western
-window of Winchester Cathedral. Some of these windows, with their
-cinquefoils and quatrefoils, approach even to the Decorative. Amongst
-the finest windows of this kind are those of St. George's, Windsor, of
-four lights; the clerestory windows of Henry the Seventh's Chapel, of
-five. The east window of York Cathedral is of superb proportions. The
-window of the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, is extremely rich and peculiar
-in its character. Those of the Abbey Church of Bath have the mullions
-alternating, by the perpendicular line being continued from the centre of
-each arch beneath it.
-
-The mullions in this style are crossed at right angles by transoms,
-converting the whole window into a series of panels; for panelling in the
-Perpendicular style is one of its chief characteristics, being carried
-out on walls, doors, and, in many cases, even roofs and ceilings. Take
-away the arched head of a window, and you convert it at once into an
-Elizabethan one.
-
-Every portion of a Perpendicular building has its essential
-characteristics: its piers, its buttresses, its niches, its roofs,
-porches, battlements, and ornaments, which we cannot enumerate here.
-They must be studied for themselves. We can only point out one or two
-prominent examples.
-
-Many of the buildings of this style are adorned with flying buttresses,
-which are often pierced, and rich in tracery, as those of Henry VII.'s
-Chapel. The projection of the buttresses in King's College Chapel,
-Cambridge, is so great that chapels are built between them. Many of these
-buttresses are very rich with statuary niches and wrought canopies.
-Pinnacles are used profusely in this style; but in St. George's,
-Windsor, and the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, the buttresses run up, and
-finish square.
-
-Panelling, as we have said, is one of the most striking features of the
-Perpendicular style. This is carried to such an extent in most of the
-richly-ornamented buildings, that it covers walls, windows, roofs; for
-the doors and windows are only pierced panels. St. George's, Windsor, is
-a fine example of this; but still finer is Henry VII.'s Chapel, which,
-within and without, is almost covered with panelling. King's College
-Chapel, Cambridge, is another remarkable example, which is all panelled,
-except the floor. The roof of this chapel is one of the richest specimens
-of the fan-tracery in the kingdom. Amongst the most graceful ornaments of
-this style are the angels introduced into cornices, and as supporters of
-shields and corbels for roof-beams, rich foliated crockets, and flowers
-exquisitely worked, conspicuous amongst them being the Tudor flower.
-
-Some of the finest steeples in the country belong to this style. First
-and foremost stands the unrivalled open-work tower of St. Nicholas,
-Newcastle-on-Tyne. This forms a splendid crown in the air, composed of
-four flying buttresses, springing from the base of octagonal turrets, and
-bearing at their intersection an elegant lantern, crowned with a spire.
-From this have been copied that of St. Giles's, Edinburgh, that of the
-church of Linlithgow, and the college tower of Aberdeen. Boston, Derby,
-Taunton, Doncaster, Coventry, York, and Canterbury boast noble steeples
-of this style.
-
-The arches of the Perpendicular are various; but none are so common
-as the flat, four-centred arch. This in doors, and in windows also,
-is generally enclosed by a square plane of decoration, appearing as a
-frame, and this mostly surmounted by a dripstone; the spandrels formed
-betwixt the arch and frame being generally filled by armorial shields,
-or ornamental tracery. In some doorways there is an excess of ornament.
-The Decorative style in this country, or the florid abroad, has nothing
-richer. Every part is covered with canopy-work, flowers, heraldic
-emblems, and emblazoned shields. Such is the doorway of King's College
-Chapel, Cambridge; and such are the chapels of Henry V. and Henry VII. at
-Westminster.
-
-The groined roofs of the Perpendicular style are noble, and often
-profusely ornamented. The intersections of the ribs of these groined
-roofs are often shields richly emblazoned in their proper colours. The
-vaulted roof of the cloisters of Canterbury Cathedral is studded with
-above 800 shields, of kings and other benefactors; and the whole presents
-a perfect blaze of splendour. Some of these groined roofs are adorned
-with a ramification of ribs, running out in a fan-shape, circumscribed by
-a quarter or half-circle rib, the intervals filled up with ornament. The
-cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral present, perhaps, the first specimen of
-the fan-tracery roof; and after that King's College Chapel, Cambridge,
-Henry VII.'s Chapel, and the Abbey Church at Bath. The Red Mount Chapel,
-at Lynn, in Norfolk, is a unique and very beautiful specimen of the
-Perpendicular, not only having a richly ornamental roof of this kind,
-but though much injured by time, displaying in every part of it design
-and workmanship equally exquisite. Henry VII.'s Chapel and the Divinity
-School at Oxford have pendants which come down as low as the springing
-line of the fans.
-
-A simpler roof, but quaint and impressive in its appearance, is the open
-one--that is, open to the roof framing. Here, as all is bare to the eye,
-the whole framework of beams and rafters has been constructed for effect.
-The wood-work forms arches, pendants, and pierced panels of various form
-and ornament. Such are the roofs of Westminster Hall, Crosby Hall (just
-removed), Eltham Palace, the College of Christ Church, Oxford, and many
-an old baronial hall and church throughout the country.
-
-Specimens of this style of architecture in whole or in part will meet
-the reader in every part of England, Wales, and Scotland; and it should
-be remembered that it is an especial and exclusively English style, no
-other country possessing it. In Scotland Melrose Abbey and Roslin Chapel
-present fine specimens of the Perpendicular, the latter one displaying
-some singular variations, the work of foreign artists.
-
-When we descend from the military castle to more domestic architecture,
-we find the large houses of the gentry, or nobility, though totally
-incapable of resisting cannon, yet frequently battlemented, flanked
-with turrets, and surrounded by the flooded moat. The large houses of
-this period were generally built round one or two quadrangles. These
-buildings often possessed much variety of exterior detail: a great
-arched gateway with the armorial escutcheon above it; projections,
-recesses, tall chimneys, flanking buttresses, handsome oriel windows, and
-pointed gables, terminated by some animal belonging to the emblazonry
-of the family. They were commonly adorned with fanes, in the form of
-the military banner of the chief, duly emblazoned in proper colours.
-Within, the great hall, with its open groined roof, the kitchen, and
-the buttery, cut the principal figure. At the upper end of the hall was
-the daïs or raised part, on which stood the table of the lord and his
-immediate family or particular guests; and below the great salt-cellar
-sat the remainder of the establishment. At the lower end was commonly a
-music gallery. The fire was still frequently in the centre of the hall,
-and there was a hole in the roof to permit the smoke to escape, as at
-Penshurst, where the front of the music gallery is true Perpendicular. In
-other houses there were large open fireplaces, the mantelpieces of which
-were frequently richly carved with the armorial shields of the family.
-
-The floors were still strewn with fresh rushes instead of a carpet, and
-the walls were hung with arras, which clothed them, and at the same
-time kept out cold draughts. Plaster ceilings were yet unknown. The
-greater portion of these houses, however, was required for the sleeping
-apartments of the numerous retainers.
-
-In the humbler halls, granges, and farmhouses, the same plan of building
-round a quadrangle was mostly adhered to, and a large number of such
-houses were of framed timber, with ornamental gables and porches, and
-displaying much carving. Great Chatfield manor-house in Wiltshire,
-Harlaxton in Lincolnshire, Helmingham Hall, Norfolk, Moreton Hall in
-Cheshire, and probably some of the framed timber houses of Lancashire, as
-the Hall-in-the-Wood, Smithell's, Speke Hall, &c., in whole or in part,
-date from this period. Ockwells, in Berkshire, is another of the fine old
-timber houses of this century.
-
-In the towns the houses were also chiefly of wood. The streets were
-extremely narrow, and the upper storeys of the houses projected over
-the lower ones, so that you might almost shake hands out of the third
-or fourth storey windows. This was the cause of such frequent fires as
-occurred in London. Many of the small houses in these narrow streets
-were adorned with abundance of carving. The houses or inns of the great
-barons, prelates, and abbots were extensive, and surrounded inner courts.
-Here, during Parliament, and on other grand occasions, the owners came
-with their vast retinues. We are told that the Duke of York lodged with
-400 men in Baynard's Castle, in 1457. The Earl of Warwick had his house
-in Warwick Lane, still called after it, where he could lodge 800 men.
-At another house of his called the Herber, meaning an inn, the Earl of
-Salisbury, his father, lodged with 500 men. Still more extensive must
-have been the abodes of the Earls of Exeter and Northumberland, who
-occasionally brought retinues of from 800 to 1,500 men. The sites of
-these great houses are yet known, and bear the names of their ancient
-owners, but the buildings themselves have long vanished. The great houses
-of Scotland still kept up the show of feudal strength and capability of
-defence. The peels, or Border towers, yet bear evidence of the necessity
-of stout fortification in those times. We may form some idea of the
-devastation made amongst private dwellings in the Wars of the Roses,
-from the statement of John Rous, the Warwick antiquary, who says that
-no fewer than sixty villages, some of them large and populous, with
-churches and manor-houses, had been destroyed within twelve miles of that
-town. From all that we can learn, the common people of this age were but
-indifferently lodged, and the mansions of the great were more stately
-than comfortable.
-
-Though such extensive destruction of the statuary which adorned both the
-exterior and interior of our churches took place at the Reformation,
-sufficient yet remains to warrant us in the belief that the fifteenth
-surpassed every prior century in its sculpture. The very opposition
-which the Wycliffites had raised to the worship and even existence of
-images, seems to have stimulated the Church only the more to put forth
-its strength in this direction. Sculptors, both foreign and English,
-therefore received the highest encouragement, and were in the fullest
-employ. The few statues which yet remain in niches, on the outside of our
-cathedrals, especially those on the west end of the Cathedral of Wells,
-though probably not the best work of the artists, are decided proofs
-of their ability. The effigies of knights and ladies extended on their
-altar tombs received grave damage, with the rest of the ecclesiastical
-art, from the misguided zeal of the reformers, yet many such remain of
-undoubted beauty, and the chantries, which were in this century erected
-over the tombs of great prelates, are of the most exquisite design and
-workmanship. Such are those in Winchester Cathedral of Bishops Wykeham,
-Beaufort, and Waynflete. The shrine of Bishop Beaufort, in particular,
-is a mass of Portland stone, carved like the finest ivory, and is a most
-gorgeous specimen of a tomb of the Perpendicular period. Henry V.'s
-chantry, in Westminster Abbey, is the only one erected in this period to
-royalty, and it is a monument of high honour to the age.
-
-The names of some of the artists of this era are preserved. Thomas Colyn,
-Thomas Holewell, and Thomas Poppehowe, executed, carried over, and
-erected in Nantes, in 1408, the alabaster tomb of the Duke of Brittany.
-Of the five artists who executed the celebrated tomb of Richard, Earl
-of Warwick, in the Beauchamp Chapel, four were English, and the fifth
-was a Dutch goldsmith. Besides the great image of the earl, there were
-thirty-two images on this monument. These were all cast by William
-Austin, a founder of London, clearly a great genius, on the finest latten
-(brass), and gilded by Bartholomew Lambespring the Dutch goldsmith. The
-monument and the superb chapel in which it stands cost £2,481 4s. 7d.,
-equivalent to £24,800 now.
-
-Most of the monumental brasses which abound in our churches were the
-work of this period. There are some of much older date, but, during this
-century they were multiplied everywhere, and afforded great scope for the
-talents of founders, engravers, and enamellers.
-
-In painting, the age does not appear to have equally excelled. There
-was, unquestionably, abundance of religious pictures on the walls of our
-churches, and the images themselves were painted and gilt; but there
-do not seem to have existed artists who had a true conception of the
-sublimity of their pursuit. The painting of such works was undertaken by
-the job, by painters and stainers. John Prudde, glazier in Westminster,
-undertook to "import from beyond seas glass of the finest colours, blue,
-yellow red, purple, sanguine, and violet," and with it glaze the windows
-of the Beauchamp Chapel. Brentwood, a stainer of London, was to paint
-the west wall of the chapel "with all manner of devices and imagery;"
-and Christian Coliburne, painter, of London, was to "paint the images in
-the finest oil colours." The great Earl of Warwick bargained with his
-tailor to paint the scenes of his embassy to France, for which he was to
-receive £1 8s. 6d. The "Dance of Death," so common on the Continent in
-churches and churchyards, made also so famous by Holbein, was copied from
-the cloister of the Innocents in Paris, and painted on the walls of the
-cloister of St. Paul's. It was a specimen of the portrait painting of the
-age, for it contained the portraits of actual persons, in different ranks
-of life, in their proper dresses. The portraits of our kings, queens, and
-celebrated characters, done at this time, are of inferior merit.
-
-[Illustration: _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-    _Reproduced by André & Sleigh, Ltd., Bushey, Herts._
-
-THE GRAND ASSAULT UPON THE TOWN OF AFRICA BY THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH.
-
-THE TOWN OF AFRICA, SOME SEVENTY MILES FROM TUNIS, WAS THE OBJECTIVE OF
-THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO CHASTISE THE BARBARY
-CORSAIRS, AS DEPICTED IN ANOTHER OF THE FROISSART ILLUMINATIONS. THE VIEW
-OF THE TOWN IS CLEARLY IMAGINARY, THE ARTIST BEING PROBABLY FAMILIAR WITH
-NONE BUT FLEMISH OR FRENCH ARCHITECTURE.]
-
-Gilding was in great request, not only for ornamenting churches and their
-monuments, but for domestic use, the precious metals being very scarce,
-and therefore copper and brass articles were commonly silvered or gilt.
-But it was in the illumination of manuscripts that the artistic genius
-of the time was, more than almost in any other department, displayed.
-The colours used are deemed inferior in splendour to those of the
-fourteenth century, but the illuminations are superior in drawing and
-power of expression. The terror depicted in the faces of the Earl of
-Warwick's sailors in expectation of shipwreck, and the grief in those who
-witnessed his death, are evidences of the hand of a master. Many of the
-portraits of the leading characters of the age are to be found in these
-illuminations; and they afford us the most lively views of the persons
-and dresses of our ancestors of that day--their arms, ships, houses,
-furniture, manners, and employments. But the art of printing was already
-in existence, and before it the beautiful art of illumination fell and
-died out.
-
-[Illustration: STREET IN LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-The deadly arts of destruction were more practised during this century
-than all others. First the English turned their arms against the French,
-and then against each other, and though many of their armies were hastily
-raised, and therefore ill-disciplined, they not only showed their
-accustomed bravery, but many advances were made in the manner of raising,
-forming, paying, and disciplining troops, as well as in the modes of
-attacking fortifications and towns. Henry V. was a consummate master in
-this, his favourite art, and was, perhaps, the first of our kings who
-introduced a scheme of superior discipline, teaching his troops to march
-in straight lines at proper distances, with a steady, measured pace; to
-advance, attack, halt, or fall back without breaking, or getting into
-confusion. This, combined with his mode of employing his archers, which
-we have described in the account of his battles, gave him an invincible
-superiority over his enemies.
-
-As the feudal system decayed, the kings of England no longer depended
-on their barons appearing in the field with their vassals, but they
-bargained with different leaders to furnish men at stated prices,
-which, as we have shown, were high. It was only in cases of rebellion
-and intestine struggle that they summoned all their military tenants
-to raise the people in mass, and the same summonses were issued to the
-archbishops, bishops, and all the principal clergy, to arm all their
-followers, lay and clerical, and march to the royal standard.
-
-The pictures of battles and sieges at this period give us an odd medley
-of bows and arrows, crossbows, spears, cannon, and hand-guns. The old
-weapons were not left off, because the new ones were too imperfect and
-too difficult of locomotion to supersede them. The cannons, though
-often of immense bore and weight, throwing balls of from one to five
-hundredweight, were, for the most part, without carriages, and therefore
-difficult and tardy in their operations. The Scots were the first to
-anticipate the modern gun-carriage, by what they called their "carts of
-war," which carried two guns each, while many of the guns of the English
-required fifty horses to drag them. They had, however, smaller guns; as
-culverins, serpentines, basilisks, fowlers, scorpions, &c. The culverins
-were a species of hand-gun in general, fired from a rest, or from the
-shoulder. The Swiss had 10,000 culverins at the famous battle of Morat.
-These hand-guns are said to have been first brought into England by
-Edward IV. on his return from Flanders in 1471. Ships were also supplied
-with small guns.
-
-The trade of England continued to flourish and extend itself through
-this century, in spite of the obstacles and ruinous effects of almost
-perpetual war. Our kings, however warlike they might be, were yet very
-sensible of the advantages of commerce, and during this century made
-numerous treaties in its favour. At the same time, it is curious that,
-even when two countries were at war, such was the spirit of trade, that
-the merchants went on trading whenever they could, just as if there
-was no war at all. This was the case, especially between England and
-Flanders. Our monarchs were already ambitious of reigning supreme masters
-of the seas, and this doctrine was as jealously urged upon them by the
-nation. In a rhyming pamphlet, written about 1433, and to be found in
-Hakluyt (Vol. I., p. 167), the writer says, that "if the English keep the
-seas, especially the main seas, they will compell all the world to be at
-peace with them, and to court their friendship."
-
-Henry IV., though harassed by the difficulties of a usurped crown,
-strenuously set himself to promote commerce, and to put an end to the
-continual depredations committed upon each other by the English and the
-merchants of the Hanse Towns, as well as those of Prussia and Livonia,
-subject to the grand master of the Teutonic order of knights.
-
-Henry V. was as victorious at sea as on land; and by his fleet, under his
-brother, the great Duke of Bedford, in 1416, and again in 1417, the Earl
-of Huntingdon being his admiral, swept the seas of the united fleets of
-France and Genoa, and made himself complete master of the ocean during
-his time. This ascendency was lost under the disastrous reign of Henry
-VI., but was regained by Edward IV., a monarch who, notwithstanding his
-voluptuous character, was fully alive to the vast benefits accruing to
-a nation from foreign trade, and thought it no dishonour to be, if not
-a merchant-prince, a prince-merchant. He had ships of his own, and in
-time of peace he did not suffer them to remain useless in harbour, but
-freighted them with goods on his own account, and grew rich by traffic.
-
-Notwithstanding all this, the nation was not yet much more enlightened
-as to the real principles of trade than it was in the previous century.
-The same absurd restrictions were in force against foreign merchants.
-Such foreign merchants were required to lay out all the money received
-for goods imported in English merchandise. No gold or silver coin, plate
-or bullion, was, on any account, to be carried out of the kingdom. Banks
-were now established in most countries, and bills of exchange had been
-in use since the thirteenth century--so that these remedied, to a large
-extent, this evil; but it is clear that where the exports of a country
-exceeded its imports, the balance must be remitted in cash; and the
-commercial men were clever enough to evade all the laws of this kind. No
-fact was so notorious as that the coinage of England abounded in all the
-countries to which she traded.
-
-Besides the prohibition of carrying out any English coin or even bullion,
-foreign merchants were to sell all the goods they brought within
-three months, but they were not to sell any of them to other merchant
-strangers, and when they arrived in any English town they were assigned
-to particular hosts, and were to lodge nowhere else. Yet, under all these
-obstacles, our commerce grew, and our merchants extended their voyages to
-ports and countries which they had not hitherto frequented. In 1413 they
-fitted out ships in the port of London for Morocco, having a cargo of
-wool and other merchandise valued at £24,000, or £240,000 of our money.
-This raised the ire of the Genoese, who seized these precious ships; but
-Henry IV. soon made ample reprisals by granting to his subjects letters
-of marque to seize the ships and goods of the Genoese wherever they could
-be found. And so well did the English kings follow this up, that we find
-them in Richard III.'s reign not only successfully competing with the
-Genoese, but obtaining a footing in Italy itself, and establishing a
-consul at Pisa. Consuls, or, as they were then called, governors, of the
-English traders abroad, were also employed during this period in Germany,
-Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Holland, and Flanders.
-
-[Illustration: _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-FROISSART PRESENTING HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS TO RICHARD II. IN 1395.
-
-ON HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND IN 1395, AFTER AN ABSENCE OF TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS,
-SIR JOHN FROISSART HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING, TO WHOM HE PRESENTED
-HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS. "THE ROMANCE OF MELIADOR."]
-
-[Illustration: _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-THE LANDING OF THE LADY DE COUCY AT BOULOGNE.
-
-THE LADY DE COUCY, WHO IS FOLLOWED BY HER WAITING MAID, HAD BEEN IN
-ATTENDANCE UPON QUEEN ISABELLA, CONSORT OF RICHARD II AND SHE IS HERE
-SEEN RETURNING SADLY TO FRANCE (IN 1399) BEARING TIDINGS OF THE KING'S
-DOWNFALL.]
-
-Wool, woollens, tin, hides, and corn, were still our chief exports.
-Slaves, says the historian, were no longer an article of commerce; but
-the conveyance of pilgrims to foreign shrines was a source of great
-emolument to merchants. A curious pamphlet of the middle of this century,
-called "The Prologue of English Policy," gives us a complete view of
-our imports:--The commodities of Spain were figs, raisins, wines, oils,
-soap, dates, liquorice, wax, iron, wool, wadmote, goatfell, redfell,
-saffron, and quicksilver--a valuable importation. Those of Portugal were
-very much the same. Brittany sent wine, salt, crest-cloth or linen, and
-canvas; Germany, Scandinavia, and Flanders, iron, steel, copper, osmond,
-bowstaves, boards, wax, corn, pitch, tar, flax, hemp, felting, thread,
-fustian, buckram, canvas, and wool-cards; Genoa, gold, cloth of gold,
-silk, cotton, oil, black pepper, rockalum, and wood; Venice, Florence,
-and other Italian states, all kinds of spices and grocery wares, sweet
-wines, sugar, dates.
-
-The age abounded with great merchants. The Medici of Florence; Jacques
-le Coeur, the greatest merchant that France ever produced, who had
-more wealth and trade than all the other merchants of that country
-together, and who supplied Charles VII. with money by which he recovered
-his country from the English. In our own country John Norbury, John
-Hende, and Richard Whittington, were the leading merchants of London,
-the last of whom was so far from a poor boy making his fortune by a cat
-that he was the son of Sir William Whittington, knight. In Bristol
-also flourished at this time William Cannynge, who was five times mayor
-of that city, and who had, for some cause not explained, 2,470 tons of
-shipping taken from him at once by Edward IV., including one ship of 400
-tons, one of 500, and one of 900. The name of this Cannynge is familiar
-to readers of Chatterton's ingenious Rowley poems.
-
-Of the ships and shipping of the age we need not say more than that, with
-all the characteristics of the past age, there was an attempt to build
-larger vessels in rivalry of the Genoese. John Taverner, of Hull, had a
-royal licence granted him in 1449, conferring on him great privileges
-and exemptions as a merchant, for building one as large as a Venetian
-carrack, one of their first-class ships, or even larger. And Bishop
-Kennedy, of St. Andrews, was as much celebrated for building a ship of
-unusual size, called the _Bishop's Berge_, as for building and endowing
-a college.
-
-In Scotland the state of the shipping interest was much the same as in
-England. James I. displayed enlightened views of trade. He made various
-laws to ascertain the rate of duty on all exports and imports, to secure
-the effects of any traders dying abroad, and permitted his subjects to
-trade in foreign ships when they had no vessels of their own. In both
-countries great care was taken to protect and promote their fisheries.
-
-The coin of those times in England was chiefly of gold and silver.
-The gold coin consisted of nobles, half-nobles, and quarter-nobles,
-originally equivalent to guineas (the exact value of a noble in Henry
-IV.'s reign was 21s. 1-1/2d.), half-guineas, and quarter-guineas, or
-dollars of 5s. 3d. The silver coins were groats, half-groats, and
-pennies. But it must be remembered that all these coins were of ten times
-the intrinsic value of our present money; so that the labourer who in the
-fifteenth century received 1-1/2d. per day, received as much as fifteen
-pence of the present money. But the great historical fact regarding
-the money of this age was its continual adulteration, and consequent
-depreciation.
-
-[Illustration: CANNON OF THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. (_From an
-Engraving by I. van Mechlin._)]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE REIGN OF HENRY VII.
-
-     Henry's Defective Title--Imprisonment of the Earl of Warwick--The
-     King's Title to the Throne--His Marriage--Lovel's Rising--Lambert
-     Simnel--Henry's prompt Action--Failure of the Rebellion--The
-     Queen's Coronation--The Act of Maintenance--Henry's Ingratitude
-     to the Duke of Brittany--Discontent in England--Expedition to
-     France and its Results--Henry's Second Invasion--Treaty of
-     Étaples--Perkin Warbeck--His Adventures in Ireland, France,
-     and Burgundy--Henry's Measures--Descent on Kent--Warbeck in
-     Scotland--Invasion of England--The Cornish Rising--Warbeck
-     quits Scotland--He lands in Cornwall--Failure of the
-     Rebellion--Imprisonment of Warbeck and his subsequent
-     Execution--European Affairs--Marriages of Henry's Daughter and
-     Son--Betrothal of Catherine and Prince Henry--Henry's Matrimonial
-     Schemes--Royal Exactions--A Lucky Capture--Henry proposes for
-     Joanna--His Death.
-
-
-Though Henry Tudor had conquered Richard III. on the field of Bosworth,
-he had no title whatever to the crown of England, except such as the
-people, by their own free choice, should give him. He was descended, it
-is true, from Edward III., through John of Gaunt, but from the offspring
-of not only an illicit, but an adulterous connection. When the natural
-children of John of Gaunt, therefore, were legitimatised by Act of
-Parliament, that Act expressly declared them incapable of inheriting the
-crown. Still more, the true hereditary claim lay in the house of York;
-and had that line been totally extinct, and had the bar against his line
-not existed, the royal house of Portugal at least had a superior title in
-point of descent from John of Gaunt. Further still, he stood attainted
-as a traitor by Act of Parliament, and could not, therefore, assert a
-Parliamentary right. Yet, as we have said, for years public expectation,
-overlooking the claims of all others of both the contending lines, had
-turned towards him, as the individual destined by Providence to put an
-end to the sanguinary broils of York and Lancaster, and unite them in
-peace.
-
-The only son of the late Duke of Clarence, who, next to the children
-of Edward IV., was the heir apparent of the line of York, had been
-confined by his uncle, Richard III., in the castle of Sheriff Hutton,
-in Yorkshire. Richard had at first treated this poor boy with kindness;
-he had created him Earl of Warwick, the title of his illustrious
-grandfather, the king-maker. On the death of his own son, he had at first
-proposed to nominate him his heir; but, fearing that he might be too
-dangerous a competitor, he had omitted that favour, and conferred it on
-the Earl of Lincoln, John de la Pole, the son of his sister the Duchess
-of Suffolk, and therefore nephew both of himself and Edward IV. Henry,
-the very first day after the battle of Bosworth, despatched Sir Robert
-Willoughby to take the young earl from Sheriff Hutton, and convey him to
-the Tower of London. Henry then put himself at the head of his victorious
-troops, and commenced his march towards the capital. Everywhere he was
-received, not as a conqueror, but a deliverer.
-
-He arrived safely at Kennington, and after dining with Thomas Bourchier,
-Archbishop of Canterbury, he proceeded with a splendid attendance of
-lords, both spiritual and temporal, towards the city. The nobles,
-imitating the absurd custom of France, rode two together on one horse,
-to show how completely the rival parties had amalgamated, and in this
-ridiculous style they passed through the city to the Tower, where Henry
-for the present took up his residence. On the 30th of October he was
-crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he immediately appointed a
-body-guard of fifty archers to attend upon him. This was an indication of
-distrust in his subjects or of the state of a conqueror, which astonished
-and dismayed the public; but Henry assured them that it was merely the
-state which, on the Continent, was now deemed essential to a king.
-
-The Parliament assembled on the 7th of November, to settle the new order
-of things. Before proceeding to business they found themselves in a great
-dilemma. No less than 107 of the members were persons attainted during
-the last two reigns, and were therefore disqualified for acting. They
-were the most zealous partisans of the house of Lancaster, and immediate
-application was made to the judges for their decision on this new and
-singular case. They came to the conclusion that the attainted members
-could not take their seats till their attainders were reversed, and a
-bill was passed by the remaining members accordingly.
-
-When Henry met his duly qualified Parliament, he informed them that
-"he had come to the throne by just title of inheritance, and by the
-sure judgment of God, who had given him the victory over his enemies in
-the field." In this declaration he was careful, while he asserted what
-was not true, to avoid what would alarm the pride and the fears of the
-nation. He had no just title of inheritance, as we have shown, and he
-dared not use the words "right of conquest," for such right was held
-to imply a lapse of all the lands in the nation to the Crown, since
-they had been held of the prince who had been conquered. Lest he had,
-even in speaking of victory, gone too far, he immediately added, that
-"every man should continue to enjoy his rights and hereditaments, except
-such persons as in the present Parliament should be punished for their
-offences against his royal majesty."
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF HENRY VII.]
-
-Another claim to the crown, which Henry was still more careful to ignore,
-though it was one on which he secretly placed confidence, was the right
-of Elizabeth of York, whom he had pledged himself to marry, and who was
-the undoubted owner of the throne. But as Henry would not owe his throne
-to his people, so he would not owe it to his wife. He therefore used
-every means to establish his own title to the throne before he in any
-way alluded to hers, or took any steps towards fulfilling his pledge
-of marriage. He renewed that pledge, indeed, on arriving in London, to
-satisfy the York party; but he proceeded to have his claims to the throne
-acknowledged by Parliament without any reference to hers. If he had
-mentioned the right of Elizabeth of York, his extreme caution suggested
-that he would be held to possess the throne, not by his own claims, but
-by hers, an idea which equally offended his pride, and alarmed him for
-the security of the succession in his offspring. Should Elizabeth die
-without children, in that case the right would die with her; and any
-issue of his by another marriage might be accounted intruders in the
-succession, and they might be removed for the next heirs of Edward IV.
-If she should die childless, and even before him, even his own retention
-of the throne might be disputed. All these points the mind of Henry saw
-clearly; and in a moment, and as if no such person as Elizabeth existed,
-and as if no pledge to marry her had helped him to his success, he
-procured an Act of Parliament, which provided that "the inheritance of
-the crown should be, rest, remain, and abide in the most royal person
-of the then sovereign lord, King Henry VII., and the heirs of his body
-lawfully coming, perpetually with the grace of God so to endure, and in
-none other."
-
-But this excess of caution and this nicely balanced policy had not been
-carried through without alarming all parties, and greatly disgusting
-that of York. The whole country looked to the union of the houses by
-the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth as the only means of putting an
-end to the civil wars which had so long rent the nation. Still Henry,
-though now securely seated on the throne, evinced no haste to fulfil
-his pledge of placing Elizabeth of York upon it. It was not, therefore,
-till the feeling of the public became strongly manifested at his neglect
-of the princess, and till the Commons presented him a petition praying
-him "to take to wife the Princess Elizabeth, which marriage they hoped
-God would bless with a progeny of the race of kings;" and till the
-Lords, spiritual and temporal, had testified their participation in this
-wish, by rising simultaneously and bowing as it was uttered, that Henry
-consented to the celebration of the marriage.
-
-The marriage took place on the 18th of January, 1486, and the rejoicings
-in London, Westminster, and other cities were of the most lively kind.
-They were heartfelt, for now all parties concluded that there was hope
-of peace and comfort. They were far more ardent than at the king's
-accession or coronation, and the mean-souled monarch saw it with sullen
-displeasure, for it seemed to imply that though he had taken such pains
-to place foremost his right to the throne, the people recognised,
-spontaneously, the superior title of the house of York, and that of
-his beautiful, and by him superciliously treated wife. Lord Bacon,
-who is the great historian of this period, and who may be supposed to
-be sufficiently informed, does not hesitate to add that the manifest
-affection of the people for the queen produced in him towards her
-additional coldness and dislike.
-
-Henry, before dismissing his Parliament, conferred favours and promotions
-on many of his friends. The two persons, however, whose counsels and
-administrative services he chiefly valued, were Bishops Morton and Fox,
-the latter of whom he raised to the see of Exeter. They had shared in
-all his adversities, and were now admitted to participate in his high
-fortune. Morton was, on the death of Bourchier, made Primate of England;
-and Fox was entrusted with the Privy Seal, and successively made Bishop
-of Bath and Wells, Durham, and finally, Winchester. These two able
-prelates were Henry's ministers and constant advisers. "He loved," says
-the historian of the time, "to have a convenient number of right grave
-and wise priests to be of his council; because," adds Bacon, "having rich
-bishoprics to bestow, it was easy to reward their services."
-
-Having dismissed his Parliament, and left all in order, Henry set out
-on a progress through the kingdom. The people of the northern counties
-had been the most devoted to Richard, and he sought, by spending some
-time amongst them, to remove their prejudices and attach them to his
-interests. He had advanced as far as Lincoln, and was there keeping
-his Easter, on the 2nd day of April, when he learned that Lord Lovel,
-formerly chamberlain to Richard, with Humphrey and Thomas Stafford,
-had left the sanctuary at Colchester, and were gone with dangerous
-intentions, no man knew whither. The news did not seem to give him much
-concern, and he proceeded towards York. At Nottingham, more pressing and
-alarming intelligence reached him, that Lord Lovel was advancing towards
-York with 4,000 men, and that the two Staffords were besieging Worcester
-with another army.
-
-At Nottingham, Henry received an embassy from the King of the Scots;
-and despatching his uncle, the Duke of Bedford, with about 3,000 men
-in pursuit of Lord Lovel, on the 6th of April he quitted Northampton
-in the same direction. At Pontefract he was met, on the 17th, by the
-news that Lovel had passed him on the road, had raised a force in the
-neighbourhood of Ripon and Middleham, and was preparing to surprise him
-on his entrance into York. Henry's courage did not fail him; he was
-now surrounded by most of the northern and southern nobility, who had
-brought up considerable forces. But the man who always trusted more to
-his shrewd knowledge of human nature than to arms, now hit on a means
-of dispersing the insurgent army without a blow. He sent on his uncle,
-Jasper of Bedford, to offer a free pardon to all who would desert Lovel's
-standard, and the whole host dispersed as by magic. It was, in fact, the
-magic of the right incentive applied at the right moment. Lovel, who was
-as much affected by the proclamation of pardon as his followers--for it
-instantly struck him with the fear of universal desertion--fled at once
-to the house of his friend, Sir Thomas Broughton, in Lancashire; and,
-after lying concealed there some days, contrived to escape to the court
-of the Duchess of Burgundy, in Flanders. Some of his followers, as it
-would seem, in defiance of the king's offer of pardon, were seized and
-executed by the Earl of Northumberland.
-
-On the 30th of September the queen was prematurely delivered of a
-son, who, however, was pronounced a strong and healthy child, and was
-christened by the name of Arthur, after Prince Arthur of the ancient
-Britons, from whom Henry pretended to derive his descent. But the birth
-of an heir-apparent tried too severely the temper of the numerous
-malcontents who still existed. Though Henry had put himself to much
-trouble, and to some cost, to win over the people of the northern
-counties, his conduct in general had not been such as to conciliate the
-enemies of the Lancastrian line.
-
-However, the Yorkist party, though roused to disturb the quiet of the
-king, prepared their measures of annoyance with a lack of acumen which
-was more likely to irritate than overturn. Perhaps they did not want to
-dethrone him, because that would overturn also the head, and most popular
-representative of their own party--Elizabeth; especially as she was now
-the mother of a legitimate prince, capable of uniting all interests.
-Perhaps they wished rather to show the cold and unforgiving monarch
-that he was more at their mercy than he supposed, and that they could
-embitter, if they did not proceed to terminate, his reign. Such, in fact,
-whether this was their purpose or not, were the character and tendency of
-the plots and impostures which, for so many years, kept Henry in disquiet
-and anxiety.
-
-The first attempt was to bring forward a youth as the Earl of Warwick,
-the son of Clarence, whom Henry was keeping confined in the Tower. So
-little depth was there in this plot, that at first it was evidently the
-plan to bring the impostor forward as the Duke of York, the younger of
-the two princes supposed to be murdered in the Tower. It was given out
-that though his elder brother had been murdered, the younger had been
-allowed to escape. Had this story been adhered to, and well acted, it
-might have raised a most formidable rebellion; but, for some unknown
-reason, it was as speedily abandoned as adopted, and the Earl of Warwick
-pitched upon as the preferable impersonation. Nothing, however, could be
-more absurd, for the true earl being really alive, Henry could at any
-moment bring him forward.
-
-Towards the close of the year 1486, there appeared at the castle of
-Dublin a priest of Oxford named Richard Simon, attended by a boy of
-about fifteen years of age. The boy was of a peculiarly handsome and
-interesting appearance; and Simon, who was a total stranger in Ireland,
-presented him to the lord-deputy, the Earl of Kildare, as Edward
-Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, who, he represented, had fortunately
-escaped from his dungeon in the Tower of London, and had come to throw
-himself under the protection of the earl and his friends. Thomas
-Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, was a zealous Yorkist; his brother was
-chancellor, and almost all the bishops and officers in the Irish
-Government had been appointed by Edward IV. or Richard. It is most likely
-that the lord-deputy and the party were already cognisant of the whole
-scheme of this agitation; for it is neither likely that Simon the priest
-should have originated so daring and arduous an enterprise as that of
-presenting a new claimant for the throne in opposition to the astute
-and determined Henry Tudor, nor that he should have so particularly
-singled out Ireland as the opening ground of his operations, and the
-lord-deputy as his patron and coadjutor. What sufficiently proved this
-was, that simultaneously the Earl of Lincoln, of whom we have lately made
-mention, son to the eldest sister of the two late kings, had disappeared
-from England and gone over to his aunt Margaret, Duchess-Dowager of
-Burgundy, Henry's most inveterate enemy. This satisfied the king that
-the plot which showed itself in Ireland was produced in England, and was
-fomented by the Yorkist party at large. It was soon found that Simon had
-been diligently instructing the young pretender, whose name was Lambert
-Simnel, before he produced him in public, in all the arcana of the
-character he had to support.
-
-The loyalty of the lord-deputy had been already questionable. Henry had
-sent him a summons to attend in London, but he evaded that by a petition
-from the spiritual and temporal peers of Ireland, stating strongly the
-absolute necessity of his presence there. No sooner did Simon present
-his _protégé_ to Kildare, than that nobleman received him without any
-apparent reluctance to put faith in his story.
-
-When Henry received this news, he hastened to do what he ought to have
-done long before. He took the Earl of Warwick out of the Tower, conducted
-him publicly to St. Paul's, so that all might see him, and all who
-desired it were allowed to approach him, and converse with him. The
-nobility and gentry were personally introduced to him, and the king then
-took him with him to Sheen, where he held his court, and gave familiar
-access to all those who had seen or known him before. By this politic
-act he completely satisfied the people of England, who laughed at the
-impostor in Ireland; but the Irish, on the contrary, declared that
-Henry's Warwick was the impostor, and theirs the real one. To consult on
-the best measures for defeating this plot, Henry called a great council
-at Sheen; but at its breaking up, the public were thrown into still
-greater surprise and perplexity by the king, who, instead of offering to
-crown the queen, seized her mother, the queen-dowager, confiscated her
-property, and consigned her to the custody of the monks of Bermondsey.
-The reason assigned was, that the queen-dowager, in the last reign,
-had promised her daughter to Henry, and then put her into the hands of
-Richard. Such a reason, if really put forward, was a simple absurdity,
-because since then Elizabeth Woodville had been living at court as
-the queen-mother, in all public honour. The real cause was presumably
-connected with the business in hand--the Simnel conspiracy. This is the
-opinion of Lord Bacon, who, living a hundred years later, nevertheless
-had access to sources of information not available to the modern student,
-though his authority may easily be overrated. Speaking of Simon, he
-says:--"It cannot be but that some great person, that knew particularly
-and familiarly Edward Plantagenet, had a hand in the business, from whom
-the priest might take his aim. That which is most probable out of the
-preceding and subsequent acts is, that it was the queen-dowager from whom
-this action had the principal source and motion; for certain it is that
-she was a busy, negotiating woman, and in her withdrawing-chamber had
-the fortunate conspiracy for the king against Richard III. been hatched,
-which the king knew, and remembered, perhaps, but too well; and was at
-this time extremely discontented with the king, thinking her daughter--as
-the king handled the matter--not advanced but depressed; and none could
-hold the book so well to prompt and instruct this stage play as she
-could."
-
-[Illustration: HENRY VII.]
-
-But the most formidable and unwearied enemy of Henry VII. was Margaret,
-the Dowager-Duchess of Burgundy. As the sister of Edward IV. and of
-Richard, no circumstance could induce her to tolerate Henry Tudor, in her
-eyes a low-born man, who had thrust the Yorkist line from the throne. To
-her Lord Lovel had fled, and to her also fled the Earl of Lincoln. To her
-the Irish party sent emissaries for aid; and she despatched 2,000 veteran
-German troops, under a brave and experienced general, Martin Schwarz,
-accompanied by the Earl of Lincoln.
-
-The moment that Henry Tudor learned the flight of the Earl of Lincoln,
-he set out on a progress through the counties of Essex, Suffolk,
-and Norfolk, in which the chief interest of the earl lay. He was at
-Kenilworth when news was brought him that the Earl of Lincoln and Lord
-Lovel had landed with the pretended Edward VI., supported by Martin
-Schwarz and his German legion, at the pile of Foudray, an old keep in the
-southern extremity of Furness. Henry advanced by Coventry and Leicester
-to Nottingham; Lincoln had already approached Newark. The royal army
-advancing to oppose the whole force lost its way between Nottingham and
-Newark, and there was such confusion in consequence, and such rumours
-of the enemy being upon them, that numbers deserted. But five guides
-were procured from Ratcliff-on-Trent, and soon afterwards the vanguard
-of Henry's army, led by the Earl of Oxford, encountered the forces of
-Lincoln at Stoke, a village near Newark. The battle lasted for three
-hours, and was obstinately contested. The veteran Germans, under Schwarz,
-fought till they were exterminated almost to a man. The Irish displayed
-not the less valour; but, being only armed with darts and skeans--for
-the English settlers had adopted the arms of the natives--were no match
-for the royal cavalry. The whole of the troops of the insurgents,
-expecting no mercy if they were taken, seemed prepared to perish rather
-than to yield. Four thousand of the insurgents and 2,000 of the king's
-best troops are said to have fallen in this desperate engagement; but
-nearly all the leaders of the rebel army, the Earl of Lincoln, Sir
-Thomas Broughton, the brave Schwarz, and the Lords Thomas and Maurice
-Fitzgerald, having fallen, the victory on Henry's part became complete.
-
-[Illustration: THE LAST STAND OF SCHWARZ AND HIS GERMANS]
-
-The pretender Lambert Simnel and the priest Simon were captured by Sir
-Robert Bellingham, one of the king's esquires; but nothing was seen
-of Lord Lovel. He was believed to have escaped, but no traces of him
-were discoverable; many thought that he had perished in attempting to
-swim his horse across the Trent. But nearly two centuries afterwards
-a subterranean chamber was discovered accidentally by some workmen at
-Minster Lovel, in Oxfordshire, the ancient seat of his family. In this
-chamber was seated a skeleton in a chair, with its head resting on a
-table; and this was supposed to be the remains of this same Lord Lovel,
-who had reached his house, and secreted himself in this apartment, where
-he had perished by some unknown cause.
-
-After the battle, Henry travelled northward to ascertain that all was
-secure in the tract through which the insurgents had passed, and to
-punish such as had aided the rebels, and those who just before the battle
-had spread the rumour of his defeat. The royal punishments did not
-consist in putting his enemies to death, but in fining them severely, for
-Henry Tudor much preferred making a profit of a man to killing him. The
-late insurrection had taught him that if he did not wish for a repetition
-of it, he must concede something to the Yorkist party, and must pay
-some respect to the queen. Accordingly, on the 25th of November, 1487,
-Elizabeth was crowned with much state at Westminster.
-
-Having thus made this _amende_ to public opinion, Henry, instead of
-giving Simnel consequence by putting him to death, or making a State
-prisoner of him in the Tower, turned him into his kitchen as a scullion,
-thus showing his contempt of him. "He would not take his life," says Lord
-Bacon, "taking him but as an image of wax that others had tempered and
-moulded;" and considering that if he was made a continual spectacle, he
-would be "a kind of remedy against the like enchantments of people in
-time to come." The priest Simon he shut up in a secret prison, saying
-he was but a tool, and did not know the depths of the plot. He even
-professed to regret the death of the Earl of Lincoln, who, had his life
-been spared, he said, "might have revealed to him the bottom of his
-danger." In his peculiar way he threw much mystery over the matter, for
-mystery was one of his greatest pleasures.
-
-Having settled these matters, which he did on his own authority, Henry
-summoned a Parliament to grant him supplies, and to increase those
-supplies by bill of attainder against all those who had been engaged in
-the late conspiracy. To prevent similar risings, he demanded that the law
-should be rigorously put in force against the practice of maintenance.
-This maintenance was the association of numbers of persons under a
-particular chief or nobleman, whose badge or livery they wore, and to
-whom they were bound by oath to support him in his private quarrels
-against other noblemen. But the instrument was too convenient not to
-be turned on occasion against the Crown, whenever rich chiefs took
-up the opposite party, and by this means it was that such numbers of
-troops could be brought at the shortest notice into the field against
-the monarch. Various laws had been passed on this subject, and heavy
-penalties decreed; but now it was ordained that, instead of calling
-such offenders before the royal council, as had been the custom, a
-particular Court should be established for the purpose. The chancellor,
-the treasurer, the keeper of the privy seal, or two of them, one bishop,
-one lay peer, and the judges of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, were
-empowered to summon all such persons before them, and to punish the
-guilty just as if they had been convicted by ordinary course of law. This
-was the origin of what came to be called the Court of the Star Chamber,
-from the walls or ceiling of the room where it met being decorated with
-stars.
-
-The affairs on the Continent were now in a state which demanded the most
-serious attention, but which were by no means likely to be settled to the
-honour of the country by a monarch of the penurious character of Henry
-VII. If ever a monarch was bound by gratitude to succour another prince,
-it was Henry VII. He had been protected in Brittany from all the attempts
-of the Yorkist monarch for years. The Duke Francis, who had been his
-host and friend during his long exile, was now growing old. He appears
-never to have been of a very vigorous mind, and now mind and body were
-failing together. He had two daughters, and the hope of securing the
-patrimony of the eldest, Anne, drew the attention of many suitors, the
-chief of whom were Maximilian, King of the Romans; the Duke of Orleans,
-the first prince of the blood in France; and the Count D'Albret, a
-powerful chieftain, at the foot of the Pyrenees. But hostile alike to
-all these wooers was Charles VIII. of France, who, though he was under
-engagement to marry the daughter of Maximilian, and therefore apparently
-debarred from the hand of Anne of Brittany, was resolved, if possible, to
-secure her territory. In this dilemma, Francis sent repeated importunate
-entreaties to Henry to come to his rescue. France, at the same time, sent
-to him, praying him to be neutral, alleging that Charles was only seeking
-to drive his revolted subjects out of Brittany. Henry was bound by honour
-to give prompt succour to his old friend; he had received from Parliament
-two-fifteenths for the purpose, and was urged by it to send efficient
-aid to prevent France from seizing this important province. But Henry
-could not find it in his heart to spend the money in active service; he
-proposed to mediate between the parties. This suited the views of France
-exactly, because while Henry was negotiating they could continue to press
-on their victories. The poor Duke Francis was compelled to submit to a
-treaty, in August, at Verger, by which he surrendered to the French all
-the territory they had conquered, and was bound never again to call in
-assistance from England or any other country, nor to marry either of
-his daughters without the consent of the King of France. Having signed
-this humiliating treaty, the duke died of a broken heart, on the 7th of
-September, 1488, only three weeks afterwards.
-
-The people of England received these tidings with undisguised
-indignation. Twice had they voted large sums to enable their ungrateful
-and pusillanimous king to aid his old benefactor and the ally of
-England; twice had he put the money in his coffers, and sold the
-honour of the country and the fortunes of the unfortunate ally to the
-French, wholly insensible to honour or shame. But whilst the public
-were foaming in wrath over this despicable conduct, the indefatigable
-French were pressing on. Anne, the young orphan duchess, was a mere
-child of only twelve years of age. Around her were contending rivals and
-their adherents. But all this time the French were seizing town after
-town. The news of this awoke such a fermentation in England, and Henry
-was upbraided in such vehement terms for thus, as the sovereign of a
-great people, sacrificing the honour of the nation, and permitting the
-helpless orphan of his benefactor to become the prey of France, that he
-was compelled to rouse himself. He determined to send ambassadors to
-Maximilian, to his son, the Archduke Philip, to the Kings of Spain and
-Portugal, inviting them to act in concert with him for the repression of
-French ambition. Having taken this magnanimous, and, if it had really
-been intended to follow it up vigorously, most admirable step, Henry
-called a Parliament, and demanded more money to carry on the war.
-
-The pretences of this huckstering king were now become too transparent
-to deceive any one. All the money hitherto voted for a war that never
-took place was still in Henry's coffers. The people thought that he ought
-first to bring out that before he asked for more. Parliament, therefore,
-made strong opposition, and finally reduced his demand of £100,000 to
-£75,000. But, when they had voted, the indignant people refused to pay
-it, considering that the selfish monarch had their cash already in hand.
-Great disturbances arose in the endeavour to enforce the collection of
-the tax. This manifested itself especially in the north, where Henry had
-used such endeavours to soothe and win the inhabitants.
-
-The Earl of Northumberland directed the collection to be enforced,
-accompanying the command with such menaces as he deemed necessary to
-procure obedience. But these had a contrary effect. The people flew
-to arms, and, turning their vengeance first against the earl, as the
-rigorous instrument of an imperious monarch, they stormed his house and
-put him to death. They then declared war against the tyrant, as they
-termed Henry, himself. Their leader was a fiery fellow of the common
-order, named John à Chambre, but, as they assumed a formidable aspect,
-Sir John Egremont, one of the Yorkist faction, put himself at their head.
-Henry lost no time in despatching Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who
-soon suppressed the insurrection, and hanged John à Chambre and some of
-his accomplices. Sir John Egremont escaped to Flanders to the Duchess of
-Burgundy.
-
-Henry now sent over to Brittany a body of 6,000 men under Lord Willoughby
-de Broke; but he limited their service to six months, which was, in fact,
-to render them nearly useless, especially when they had instructions not
-to fight, and he would not even afford that aid until he had exacted from
-the poor orphan girl, the young duchess, the surrender of her two best
-sea-ports in security of payment. He moreover compelled the duchess to
-bind herself by the like oath to him as she had taken to the French king,
-not to marry without his consent. Before the end of the year Anne found
-herself invested by the French army in Rennes; and rather than fall a
-helpless and humiliated captive into the hands of Charles, she consented
-to marry him, having not a single soul left to stand by her in her
-resolute opposition. She was married to Charles on the 13th of December,
-1491, at Rennes, was crowned in the abbey church of St. Denis, and made
-her entrance into Paris amid the acclamations of a vast multitude, who
-regarded this event as one of the most auspicious which had ever happened
-to France.
-
-The rage of Maximilian may be imagined. He had lost Brittany, his
-daughter had lost the throne of France, and he was duped and insulted in
-the most egregious manner before all Europe. He made his complaints ring
-far and wide, but they were only echoed by the laughter of his enemies,
-and he proceeded to vow revenge by the assistance of Spain and England.
-
-Henry was now bent, according to all appearance, on war. He was too
-clear-sighted not to perceive the immense advantage France had obtained
-over him in securing Brittany, and how the political foresight and
-sagacity on which he prided himself had suffered from the paltry
-promptings of his avarice. He therefore put on a most belligerent
-attitude. He summoned a Parliament at Westminster, and addressed it in
-the most heroic strain. He commented on the insolence of France, elated
-with the success of her late perfidy, and on--what he no doubt felt more
-deeply than anything else--her refusal to pay what he called the tribute
-agreed by Louis XI. to be paid to Edward IV., and hitherto continued
-to himself. Two-fifteenths were at once granted him, and the nobility
-were on fire with the anticipation of realising all the glories and the
-plunder of the past ages.
-
-He availed himself of the paroxysm of the moment, not only to gather
-in and garner the two-fifteenths newly granted, but the remains of the
-benevolence voted last session. Whilst the fresh tax fell on the nation
-generally, this fell on the monied and commercial capitalists. London
-alone furnished £10,000 of it or £100,000 of our money. The wily old
-archbishop, Morton, instructed the commissioners to employ this dilemma,
-which was called "Morton's fork." They were to urge upon people who lived
-in a modest and careful way, that they _must_ be rich in consequence of
-their parsimony; on those who indulged in expensive abodes and styles of
-living, that they _must_ be opulent, because they had so much to expend.
-To afford ample time for harvesting these riches, Henry found perpetual
-causes for delaying his expedition. The nobles were already crowding to
-his standard with their vassals, and impatient to set out, but Henry
-had always some plausible excuse for lingering. At one time it was the
-unsafe state of Scotland, and four months were occupied in negotiating
-an extension of the truce; then it was the necessity of contracting for
-fresh levies of troops. These troops, however, were ready in June and
-July, but still they were not allowed to move. "The truth was," says
-Bacon, "that though the king showed great forwardness for a war, not
-only to his Parliament and Court, but to his Privy Council, except the
-two bishops (Fox and Morton), and a few more, yet, nevertheless, in his
-secret intentions, he had no purpose to go through with any war upon
-France. But the truth was, that he did but traffic with that war to make
-money."
-
-At length, in the beginning of October, 1492, he landed at Calais, with
-a fine army of 25,000 foot, and 1,600 horse, which he gave in command
-to the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Oxford. This was a force capable
-of striking an alarming blow, but the whole affair was a sham. In fact,
-Henry had entered into a treaty of peace before he had set out, and the
-only difficulty now was how to get out of the war without incurring too
-much resentment at home. To guard against this, the odium of the abortive
-expedient must be carefully removed from himself to other parties. The
-machinery for this was already prepared. His ambassadors appeared in the
-camp at Boulogne, informing them that their visit to his previous ally
-Maximilian had been useless; he was incapable of joining him. These were
-followed by others from Spain, bringing the intelligence that Ferdinand
-had concluded a peace with France, Roussillon and Cerdagne being ceded to
-him by Charles. But with Henry's fine army, and the defenceless state of
-France, the defection of these allies, from whom little or nothing had
-been expected, would have scarcely cost him a thought had he been a Henry
-V. As it was, after all his boasts, it was not even for him to propose
-an abandonment of the enterprise, and therefore, the Marquis of Dorset
-and twenty-three other persons of distinction were employed to present to
-him a request that he would also make a peace with France. They urged,
-as they were instructed for this purpose, the defection of these allies,
-the approach of winter, the difficulty of obtaining supplies at Calais at
-that season, and the obstinacy of the siege of Boulogne. All these were
-circumstances that had been foreseen from the first, and treated with
-indifference, as they deserved to be; but now Henry affected to listen
-to the desires of his army, and sent off the Bishop of Exeter and the
-Lord Daubeney to confer with the Marshal de Cordes, who had been sent as
-plenipotentiary on the part of Charles to Étaples. They soon returned,
-bringing the rough draft of a treaty, by which peace and amity were to
-be maintained betwixt the two sovereigns during their lives, and a year
-afterwards. Even this Henry affected to decline, and only consented to
-give way at the earnest entreaty of his already-mentioned four-and-twenty
-officers.
-
-After having thus assumed all this pretence to exonerate himself from
-censure, Henry signed a peace on the following terms:--Charles was to
-retain Brittany for ever, and he was to pay Henry 620,000 crowns in gold
-for the money advanced by Henry on account of Brittany and his present
-expenses, and 125,000 crowns in gold as arrears of the pension paid to
-Edward IV. by Louis XI. He was also to continue this pension of 25,000
-crowns to Henry and his heirs. The whole amount which Henry sacked was
-745,000 crowns, equal to £400,000 of our present money. The members of
-his council, who openly acted the part of petitioners of this peace, are
-said not only to have been instructed by Henry to perform this obnoxious
-duty, but to have been gained by the bribes of the French king, who was
-anxious to make short work of it, that he might proceed on an expedition
-which he had set his mind upon against Naples. They went about declaring
-that it was the most glorious peace that any king of England ever made
-with France, and that if Henry's subjects presumed to censure it, they
-were ready to take the blame upon themselves.
-
-[Illustration: PENNY OF HENRY VII.]
-
-[Illustration: ANGEL OF HENRY VII.]
-
-Having used these precautions to ward off the reproaches of his subjects,
-Henry ratified the peace on the 6th of November, and led back his army
-to England. There, though he had the money safely in his chests, the
-disappointment and indignation of the people were extreme, and tended
-to diminish his sordid satisfaction. The people protested that he had
-been trading on the honour of the nation, and had sold its interests and
-reputation for his own vile gain, and his enemies did not neglect to
-avail themselves of his unpopularity. During the past year, a young man
-had landed in Cork, of a singularly fascinating exterior and insinuating
-address. He represented himself to be no other than the Duke of York,
-the younger of the two princes who were supposed to have been murdered
-in the Tower. He was a fine young man, apparently exactly of the age of
-the Duke of York, and bearing a striking likeness to Edward IV. "Such
-a mercurial," says Bacon, "as the like hath seldom been known; and he
-had such a crafty and bewitching fashion, both to move pity and induce
-belief, as was like a kind of fascination or enchantment." What would
-appear to have been the real story of this remarkable pretender, so far
-as we can gather from the records of the time, is this:--
-
-Margaret, the Duchess-Dowager of Burgundy, having played off Lambert
-Simnel, devised this scheme, or was supplied with it by the Yorkist
-refugees at her Court, who had immediate and constant communion with
-the heads of the York faction in England. A young man was industriously
-sought after who should well represent the Duke of York, though she knew
-him to be dead. Such a youth was found in the son, or reputed son, of
-one John Osbeck, or Warbeck, a renegade Jew of Tournay. This Warbeck
-had lived and carried on business in the time of Edward IV., and had
-dealings with the king, who was so free with him that the Jew prevailed
-on him to become godfather to his child, who was called Peter, and whose
-name became converted into the diminutive Peterkin or Perkin. Others
-assert that Warbeck's wife had been amongst the numerous favourites of
-Edward, and that this Perkin was really his son--whence the striking
-resemblance, the cleverness and liveliness of his character. Warbeck had
-returned to Flanders, and there, in course of time, his son had attracted
-the attention of the Yorkist conspirators as the very youth, in all
-respects, for their purpose. He was introduced to the duchess, who found
-him already familiar with the whole story of Edward's Court from the past
-affairs and position there of his parents.
-
-[Illustration: NOBLE OF HENRY VII.]
-
-[Illustration: SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VII.]
-
-The scheme being now matured and the chief actor ready, they only waited
-for the true moment for his appearance. That came in the prospect
-of Henry being involved in war with France. As soon as this seemed
-inevitable, the pretended Duke of York landed in Ireland. The York
-faction was still strong in that country, and, despite the failure of
-the former pretender, Simnel, the Irish were ready, to a certain extent,
-to embrace another claimant of Henry's crown. He landed at Cork, where
-the mayor and others of that city received him as the true Richard
-Plantagenet, as, no doubt, they had previously agreed to do. Many of the
-credulous people flocked after him, but the more prudent stood aloof.
-He wrote to the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, inviting them to join his
-standard, but those powerful noblemen kept a cautious distance. Kildare
-had been disgraced by Henry for his reception of Simnel, and dreaded
-his more deadly vengeance in case of a second failure. But Warbeck,
-undismayed, spread everywhere the exciting story of his escape from the
-cruelty of his uncle Richard, and was gradually making an impression on
-the imaginative mind of Ireland, when a summons came to a new scene.
-
-Charles VIII. of France was now menaced by Henry with invasion. He knew
-the man too well to doubt the real object of his menace, and the power of
-money to avert it, but it was of consequence to reduce the bribe as much
-as possible; and every instrument which promised to assist in effecting
-that was most valuable. Such an instrument was this self-styled Duke
-of York, who had suddenly appeared in Ireland. The watchful Duchess of
-Burgundy is said to have adroitly turned Charles's attention to this
-mysterious individual through the agency of one Frion, a man who had been
-a Secretary of Henry, but who had been won over by his enemies. Charles
-caught at the idea; an invitation was instantly despatched to Perkin
-Warbeck to hasten to the French Court, where he was "to hear of something
-to his advantage," and he was received by the king as the undoubted
-Duke of York and true monarch of England. Perkin's person, talents, and
-address, being worthy of a real prince, won him the admiration of all
-who approached him; and not only the Court and capital, but the whole of
-France, soon rang with praise of the accomplishments, the adventures,
-and the unmerited misfortunes of this last of the Plantagenets. The king
-settled upon him a princely income; a magnificent abode was assigned him,
-and a body-guard befitting a royal personage was conferred upon him, of
-which the Lord of Concressault was made captain.
-
-The news of this cordial reception of the reputed Duke of York by the
-French Court flew to England, and Sir George Neville, Sir John Taylor,
-and above a hundred gentlemen hastened to Paris, and offered to him
-their devoted services. This decided and rapidly-growing demonstration
-had the effect which Charles contemplated. Henry was greatly alarmed,
-and hastened to close the negotiations for peace. These once signed,
-the puppet had done its work in France. Henry made earnest demands to
-have Warbeck handed over to him, but Charles, who, no doubt, was bound
-by agreement with the Duchess of Burgundy to refuse any such surrender,
-declared that to do so would be contrary to his honour; but he gave the
-pretender a hint to quit the kingdom, and he retired to the Court of
-Burgundy.
-
-The duchess now heaped on Perkin all the marks of affection and the
-honours which she would have deemed due to her own nephew. She ordered
-every one to give him the homage belonging to a real king; she appointed
-him a guard of thirty halberdiers, and styled him the "White Rose of
-England." On all occasions her conduct towards him was that of an
-affectionate aunt, who regarded him as the head of her family, and the
-heir of the brightest crown in Europe.
-
-It is not to be supposed that the tempest which was gathering around
-Henry had escaped his attention. On the contrary, he was aware of all
-that was passing, and with the caution and concealment of his character,
-he was at work to counteract the operations of his enemies. The first
-object with him was to convince the public that the real Duke of York
-had perished at the same time as his brother, Edward V. Nothing, he
-concluded, would be so effectual for this purpose as the evidence of
-those who had always been held to be concerned in the death of the young
-princes. Of five implicated, according to universal belief, two only
-now survived, namely, Sir James Tyrell--who had taken the place of Sir
-Robert Brackenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower, during the night of the
-murder--and John Dighton, one of the actual assassins. These two were
-secured and interrogated, and their evidence was precisely that which
-we have stated when relating the murder of the princes. The bodies,
-therefore, were sought for, but as the chaplain was dead who was supposed
-to have witnessed their removal, according to the order of Richard III.,
-they could not then be found and produced. The testimony of Tyrell and
-Dighton, however, was published and circulated as widely as possible,
-and these two miscreants, after their full and frank avowal of the
-perpetration of this diabolical murder, were, to the disgrace of the
-king and of public justice, again allowed to go free. Everyone, however,
-must perceive at once how important it was to Henry that the real
-witnesses of that murder should exist, and be forthcoming to confound any
-one pretending to be either of these princes.
-
-Henry next applied to the Archduke Philip, the son of Maximilian and
-Mary of Burgundy, and now sovereign of the Netherlands in his own
-right, to deliver up to him the impostor, Warbeck, who, he contended,
-was entertained in his dominions contrary to the existing treaties, and
-the amity betwixt the two sovereigns. But Margaret had the influence to
-render his application abortive. Philip professed to have every desire
-to oblige his great ally, Henry of England, but he pleaded that Margaret
-was sole ruler in her own states, and, though he might advise her in
-this matter, he could not control her. Henry resented the polite evasion
-by stopping all commercial intercourse between England and the Low
-Countries, by banishing all Flemings from his dominions, and recalling
-his own subjects from Flanders; and Philip retaliated by issuing similar
-edicts.
-
-In 1494, several Yorkist lords were arrested and executed, but there
-remained a conspirator far higher than any who had yet been unveiled--a
-conspirator where it was least expected, in the immediate vicinity of
-the throne, and in the person who more than all others, perhaps, had
-contributed to place Henry upon it. His name stood in the secret list of
-traitors furnished by spies, but he had been left for a more striking
-and dramatic discovery, for a dénouement calculated to produce the most
-startling and profound impression.
-
-After the festivities of Christmas the king took up his residence in the
-Tower, where he held his council on the 7th of January, 1495. If there
-was one man more distinguished than another by the royal favour in that
-august circle, he was Stanley, Lord Chamberlain. Sir William Stanley
-had burst upon Richard III. at Bosworth Field, at the critical moment,
-slain his standard-bearer, and, by his followers, killed the tyrant. His
-brother, Lord Stanley, had put the crown of the fallen monarch on Henry's
-head. For this he had been created Earl of Derby, and had been allowed
-to ally himself to the throne by the marriage of Henry's mother, the
-Countess of Richmond. Sir William had been made Lord Chamberlain, and
-both brothers had been glutted, as it were, with the wealth and estates
-of proscribed families. There were no men--not even Fox and Morton--who
-were supposed to stand so high, not merely in the favour, but in the
-friendship of Henry. He was suddenly arrested at the council chamber and
-executed, his vast wealth passing to the Crown.
-
-The fall of Stanley was a paralysing blow to the partisans of Warbeck.
-They saw that even that great nobleman, while apparently living in the
-very centre and blaze of royal favour, had been surrounded by spies
-who watched all his actions, heard his most secret communications, and
-carried them all to the king. No man who was in any degree implicated
-felt himself safe. Henry's cautious and severe temper, while it made him
-hated, made him proportionately feared. Assured by the success which had
-attended all his measures, Henry every day displayed more and more the
-grasping avarice of his disposition, and accusations and heavy fines fell
-thickly around. He fined Sir William Capel, Alderman of London, for some
-offence, £2,743; and, though he failed to secure the whole, he obtained
-£1,615. Encouraged by this, he repeated the like attempts; and, while he
-depressed the nobility, he especially countenanced unprincipled lawyers,
-as the ready tools of his rapacity. Whilst this conduct, however, kept
-alive the rancour of many influential people, it rendered the common
-people passive; for they escaped the oppressions of many petty tyrants,
-who were kept in check by the one great one. Warbeck's party, therefore,
-was much disabled. It was now three years since he made his appearance,
-but, with the exception of his brief visit to Ireland, he had attempted
-nothing in Henry's dominions. But the Flemings, who were smarting under
-the restrictions put upon their trade with England, began to murmur
-loudly, and the Archduke Philip to remonstrate warmly with Margaret on
-account of the countenance given to the English insurgents.
-
-Under these circumstances it was necessary for Warbeck and his adherents
-to make an effort of some kind. Taking advantage, therefore, of the
-absence of Henry on a visit to his mother at Latham House, in Lancashire,
-Warbeck and a few hundred followers made a descent in July on the
-coast of Kent, near Deal. It was hoped that Henry's severity would
-have made numbers ready to join them. The people, indeed, assembled
-under the guidance of some gentlemen of property, and, professing to
-favour Warbeck, invited him to come on shore. But he, or those about
-him, observing that the forces collected had nothing of that tumultuous
-impetuosity about them which usually characterises insurgents in earnest,
-kept aloof, and the men of Kent perceiving that they could not draw
-Warbeck into the snare, fell on his followers already on land, and,
-besides killing many of them, took 169 prisoners. The rest managed to
-get on board again, and Warbeck, seeing what sort of a reception England
-gave him, sailed back with all speed to Flanders. The prisoners were tied
-together like teams of cattle, and driven to London, where they were all
-condemned and executed to a man, in various places, some at London and
-Wapping, some on the coasts of Kent, Sussex, Essex, and Norfolk, where
-they were gibbeted, as a warning to any fresh adventurers who might
-appear on those shores.
-
-Flanders was now become no durable place of sojourn for Perkin and his
-party. The Flemings would no longer submit to the interruption of their
-trade; and the archduke entered into a treaty with Henry, which contained
-a stipulation that Philip should restrain the Duchess Margaret from
-harbouring any of the king's enemies, and that the two princes should
-expel from their territories all the enemies of each other. This treaty
-was ratified on the 24th of February, 1496, and thereupon Warbeck betook
-himself to Ireland. But there he found a sensible change had taken place
-since his former visit. The king had sent over Sir Edward Poynings as
-lord-deputy, who had taken such measures that the people were much
-satisfied. On landing at Cork, therefore, the Irish refused to recognise
-their late idol, and from Cork he sailed away to Scotland. There a new
-and surprising turn of fortune awaited him. For a long time his interest
-had been on the decline. In Flanders the public had grown weary of him;
-in England they had endeavoured to entrap him; from Ireland they had
-repulsed him. He is said to have presented letters of recommendation from
-Charles VIII. of France, and from his great patroness the Duchess-Dowager
-of Burgundy; and James IV. of Scotland received him with open arms.
-
-James IV. of Scotland was a brave, generous, and patriotic monarch. When
-Henry offered him his daughter Margaret, he, therefore, unceremoniously
-rejected the offer. The disposition which Henry was said to have shown
-to encourage his subjects, during the truce, to molest the Scottish
-merchantmen at the very mouth of the Forth, was highly resented by
-James, who supported his admiral--Wood of Largo--in severely chastising
-the pirates, and did not fail to warn Henry that such practices must
-not be repeated. The dislike which James entertained for the insidious
-character of Henry--who began that system of bribing the nobles around
-the throne of Scotland which was never discontinued so long as a Tudor
-reigned, and which ended in the destruction of Mary, Queen of Scots--was
-violently aggravated by a base attempt of Henry in 1490. This was no
-other than a scheme to seize and carry off James to England, which failed
-ignominiously.
-
-In this temper of the Scottish King, nothing could come more opportunely
-than such a person as Perkin Warbeck. James had, from the first moment
-of mounting his throne, been careful to strengthen his alliances with
-the whole European continent. With France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, and
-Flanders, his intercourse, both official and mercantile, was active and
-constant. Of course, James was kept in full information of all that was
-agitating England. With the Duchess of Burgundy, the inveterate enemy of
-Henry, it is clearly provable that James was in secret correspondence
-only five months after his accession. In 1488, even, there were busy
-messengers and heralds passing to and fro betwixt Flanders, Ireland, and
-Scotland.
-
-From these circumstances, which are attested by the "Treasurer's
-Accounts," and other records of Scotland, it is manifest that James was
-intimately informed of everything which could be known about Warbeck.
-There could be no mistake made by James in his reception of that
-personage, when, in November, 1495, he presented himself at the palace of
-Stirling. Whatever James did he did with his eyes wide open and his mind
-fully made up. Yet from the very first he received him apparently with
-the most undoubting faith as to his being the true Plantagenet.
-
-Warbeck was welcomed into Scotland with much state and rejoicing as the
-veritable Duke of York. James addressed him as "cousin," and celebrated
-tournaments and other courtly gaieties in his honour. The reputed
-prince, by his noble appearance, the simple dignity of his manners, and
-the romance of his story and supposed misfortunes, everywhere excited
-the highest admiration. James made a grand progress with him through
-his dominions, and beheld him wherever he appeared produce the most
-favourable impression. If James did not himself really believe Warbeck
-to be the Duke of York before he came to Scotland, his conduct during
-his abode there seems to have convinced him of it. At no time was he
-known to express a doubt of it, and on all occasions he spoke and acted
-as if morally certain of it. Nothing could be more convincing than his
-giving him to wife one of the most beautiful and high-born women of
-Scotland, Lady Catherine Gordon, daughter of the Earl of Huntly, and
-grand-daughter of James I. James now mustered his forces for the grand
-expedition which he hoped would drive Henry from the throne of England,
-and establish there the son of Edward IV., in the person of Warbeck.
-
-[Illustration: STIRLING CASTLE.
-
-(_From a Photograph by G. W. Wilson & Co., Aberdeen._)]
-
-Meantime, Henry VII. was diligently at work at his favourite plans of
-bribing and undermining. He had an active agent in Lord Bothwell, whom
-James had weakly forgiven for his numerous conspiracies. By his means
-Henry had won over the king's brothers, the Duke of Ross, the Earl of
-Buchan, and the Bishop of Moray. These traitors engaged to do everything
-in their power to defeat the expedition. The Duke of Ross promised to
-put himself under the protection of the King of England the moment his
-brother crossed the borders. Nor did the plot stop there. Again there was
-a scheme to seize James at night in his tent, suggested by Henry, and
-entered into by Bothwell, Buchan, and Wyat, an English emissary. This
-disgraceful plot was defeated by the vigilance of the royal guard, but
-not the less actively did the paid spies of Henry Tudor, including some
-of the most powerful barons in Scotland, labour to defeat the success of
-the enterprise. They accompanied the army only with the hope of betraying
-it, while their efforts were essentially aided by the remonstrances of
-more honest counsellors, who doubted the wisdom of the expedition, and
-did all they could to dissuade James from it.
-
-Burning with resentment at the base and insidious attempts of Henry to
-disturb the security of his government, and to seize upon his person,
-and coveting the glory of restoring the last noble scion of a great
-race to the throne of his ancestors, James was deaf alike to warnings
-of secret treason or more public danger. He made his last muster of his
-forces at Ellam Kirk, near the English border and, proclaiming war on
-Henry, marched forward. Warbeck, as Richard Duke of York, at the same
-time issued a proclamation calling upon all true Englishmen to assemble
-beneath the banner of the true inheritor of the crown. He denounced Henry
-Tudor as a usurper, and as the murderer of Sir William Stanley, Sir Simon
-Montfort, and others of the ancient nobility; he charged him with having
-invaded the liberties and the franchises of both Church and people; and
-with having plundered the subjects by heavy and illegal impositions. He
-pledged himself to remedy all these abuses; to restore and defend the
-rights and privileges of the Church, the nobles, the corporations, and
-the commerce and manufactures of the country. He related the dangers
-through which he had passed since his escape from the Tower to this
-moment, and he set a price of a thousand pounds in money, and land to the
-value of a hundred marks per annum, for the capture or destruction of
-Henry Tudor.
-
-But however judiciously the proclamation was drawn up, James was
-confounded as he advanced to see that it produced not the slightest
-effect. In vain had it been protested in the proclamation that James came
-only as the friend of the rightful King of England; that he sought no
-advantage to himself--though he had really bargained for the restoration
-of Berwick, and was to be paid 1,000 marks for the expenses of the
-war--and that he would retire the moment a sufficient English force
-appeared in the field. No such force was likely to present itself. If
-Warbeck had met with no success when supported by Englishmen, it was
-not to be expected when followed by an army of the hereditary foes of
-the kingdom--Scots and French, backed by Germans, Flemings, and other
-foreigners.
-
-When James saw that, instead of being welcomed as deliverers, they were
-avoided, and that the expedition was altogether hopeless, he gave way to
-his wrath, and began to plunder the country, or to permit his troops to
-do it. Warbeck remonstrated against the devastations committed on the
-English with all the ardour of a true prince, declaring that he would
-rather lose the throne than gain it by the sufferings of his people. But
-James replied that his cousin of York was too considerate of the welfare
-of a nation that hesitated to acknowledge him either as king or subject.
-All this time the diligent Bothwell was duly informing Henry of the state
-of the Scottish camp, and of everything said and done in it. He now
-assured him that the Scottish army would soon beat a retreat, for that
-the inhabitants, in expectation of the visit, had driven off all their
-cattle, and removed their stores; so that the army was on the point of
-starvation. This was soon verified. The Scots, finding no supporters,
-about the end of the year retreated into their own country.
-
-The invasion from Scotland afforded Henry another pretext for raising
-more money. He summoned a Parliament in the February of 1497, to which he
-uttered bitter complaints of the inroad and devastations of the Scots;
-of the troubles created by the impostor, and the manifold insults to the
-crown and nation. All this was now apparently blown over; but Parliament
-gratified the king by voting £120,000, together with two-fifteenths.
-Happy in the prospect of such supplies, Henry recked little of Warbeck or
-the Scots; but the tax roused the especial wrath of the Cornish people,
-who, knowing that the king only wanted to add their money to his already
-immense and useless hoards, wanted to know what they had to do with
-inroads of the Scots, who were never likely to come near them, and who
-had retired of themselves without so much as waiting for the sight of
-an army. This excitement of the brave and industrious, but hard-living
-Cornish men was fanned into a flame by Michael Joseph, a farrier of
-Bodmin, and one Thomas Flammock, an attorney, who assured the people that
-the tax was totally illegal, though voted by Parliament; for that the
-northern counties were bound by the tenures of their estates to defend
-that frontier; and that if they submitted to the avarice of Henry and his
-ministers there would be no end to it.
-
-Flammock told them that they must deliver the king a petition, seconded
-by such numbers as to give it authority; but at the same time he assured
-them that to procure the concurrence of the rest of the kingdom they
-must conduct themselves with all order, and refrain from committing any
-injuries to person or property, demonstrating that they had only the
-public good in view. Armed with bills, bows, axes, and other country
-weapons that they could command, they marched into Devonshire 16,000
-strong, and called on the people to accompany them, and demand the heads
-of Archbishop Morton and Sir Reginald Bray, who were declared to be the
-advisers of the obnoxious impost. At Taunton they made an example of an
-insolent and overbearing commissioner of the tax of the name of Perin. At
-Wells they were joined by Lord Audley, a man of an ancient family, but
-said to be of a vain and ambitious character.
-
-Proud of having a nobleman at their head, they marched through Salisbury
-and Winchester into Surrey, and thence to Kent, the people of which,
-Flammock told them, had in all ages been noted for their independence
-and patriotism, and were sure to join them. They pitched their camp on
-Blackheath, near Eltham, but not a man joined them. The people of Kent
-had their causes of complaint; but they had lately shown what was their
-spirit by repelling Perkin Warbeck, and they were too enlightened to join
-in the expedition.
-
-Henry had now received the new levies raised to oppose any further motion
-of the Scots, and he sent them forward to attack and disperse the rebels.
-He always regarded Saturday as his fortunate day; therefore, on Saturday,
-the 22nd of June, 1497, he gave the order for the attack. He divided
-his forces into three divisions. The first, under Lord Daubeney, pushed
-forward to attack the insurgents in front; the second, under the Earl
-of Oxford, was to take a compass, and assail them in the rear; and the
-king himself took post with the third division in St. George's Fields,
-to secure the city. To throw the insurgents off their guard, he had
-given out that he should not take the field for some days; and to give
-probability to this notion, he did not send out his advanced forces till
-the latter part of the day. Lord Daubeney beat an advanced guard of the
-rebels from Deptford Bridge, and before the main body was prepared to
-receive him, he charged them with fury. Though they were brave men, and
-16,000 strong, thus taken at advantage, and naturally ill-disciplined,
-ill-armed, and destitute of cavalry and artillery, they were soon broken
-and compelled to fly. Two thousand of them were slain, and 1,500 made
-prisoners. The prisoners Henry gave up to the captors, who allowed them
-to ransom themselves for a few shillings each.
-
-Lord Audley, Flammock, and Joseph only were executed. The peer was
-beheaded, the commoners were hanged; and Joseph seemed to glory in the
-distinction, saying he should figure in history. Henry on this occasion
-displayed great clemency, which some have ascribed to his desire to
-make a good impression on the Cornish people; others for joy that Lord
-Daubeney had escaped, for at one time he was surrounded by the enemy
-but was soon rescued. But the most probable reason was that assigned by
-Lord Bacon:--"That the harmless behaviour of this people that came from
-the west of England to the east, without mischief almost, or spoil of
-the country, did somewhat mollify him, and move him to compassion; or,
-lastly, that he made a great difference between people that did rebel
-upon wantonness, and them that did rebel upon want."
-
-James of Scotland seized on the opportunity created by the Cornish
-insurrection to make a fresh inroad into England. He laid siege to the
-castle of Norham, and plundered the country round. Henry despatched the
-Earl of Surrey, with an army of 20,000 men, to drive back the Scots,
-and punish them by carrying the war of devastation into their country.
-As Surrey advanced, James retired, and Surrey, following him across
-the Tweed, took and demolished the little castle of Ayton, ravaged the
-borders, and returned to Berwick. These useless and worse than useless
-raids, with no hope of permanent advantage on either side, but only of
-mischief to the unoffending inhabitants on both, were worthy only of the
-most savage and unenlightened times. The spies of Henry, however, soon
-informed him that James was really sick of the war, and he repeated the
-offer made before of the hand of his daughter Margaret. This he made
-through the Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro d'Ayala, who came forward
-as a friendly mediator, thus sparing both kings the humiliation of
-making the first move. D'Ayala found James quite disposed for peace,
-but in a somewhat cavalier humour as to the terms. By the advice of
-D'Ayala, commissioners were appointed to meet at Ayton, where, under the
-management of Fox, Bishop of Durham, on the part of England, a truce was
-agreed upon to last for the lives of the two kings, and a year after the
-death of the longer liver. Though agreed upon, this important truce was
-not ratified for some years afterwards.
-
-Meantime, James privately admonished Warbeck to quit the kingdom, as he
-could no longer assist him, and his presence would only tend to endanger
-the truce. Warbeck is said to have received this intimation with much
-true dignity and good feeling. He thanked the king for the great effort
-he had made on his account, for all the honours and favours that he had
-conferred upon him, and for which he declared he should ever remain
-deeply grateful. A vessel was prepared for his departure at Ayr, and
-every comfort was provided for his accommodation which James could have
-offered to the true prince. His beautiful and accomplished wife would not
-be left behind--a proof that she was really attached to him, whatever
-she might think of his pretensions. She quitted rank, fortune, a high
-position in the Scottish Court, to embrace with him a homeless life and a
-dark prospect. Flanders was closed to Perkin by the fresh league betwixt
-that country and England. Ireland was a more than dubious resort, yet
-thither he turned his prow, and landed at Cork on the 30th of July, 1497,
-with about 100 followers. The attempt to rouse again the enthusiasm of
-Ireland was vain; but at this juncture the last gleam of Warbeck's waning
-fortune seemed to fall upon him.
-
-The Cornish rebels, let off so easily by Henry, had returned to their
-own county, proclaiming by the way that the king had not dared to put
-them to death because the whole of his subjects were in the same state
-of discontent. The people of Cornwall and Devon, reassured by this,
-again took up arms against the commissioners, who were still collecting
-the tax with great severity, and, it is said, despatched a message to
-Warbeck to come over and head them. On the 7th of September, 1497, he
-accordingly landed at Whitsand Bay, with four or five small barques, and
-his 100 fighting men. Being joined by 3,000 of the insurgents at Bodmin,
-he issued a proclamation similar to his former one. Bodmin was the native
-place of Michael Joseph, their great orator and leader, and the people
-there were burning to revenge his death. Warbeck set out on his march
-towards Devonshire, and thousands of those who had lost friends and
-relations in the bloody battle of Blackheath joined him on the way. He
-sent his wife to Mount St. Michael for security, and directing his course
-towards Exeter, he invested that city on the 17th of September with a
-rude, wild force of about 10,000 men. He announced himself as Richard IV.
-of England, and called on the inhabitants to surrender; but, having sent
-notification of his approach to King Henry, they determined to defend
-themselves, if needful, till succour arrived.
-
-[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, CORNWALL.]
-
-Warbeck had no artillery or engines of any kind to carry on a siege, he
-therefore attempted to break down the gates. At the one he was repulsed
-with considerable loss, the other he managed to burn down, but the
-citizens availed themselves of the fire, feeding it as it failed, till
-they had dug a deep trench behind the flames. When, the next morning,
-Warbeck returned to force a passage by that gate, the citizens received
-him with such spirit that they slew 200 of his men, and daunted the rest.
-Assistance was now also flowing in from the country to the city, and
-Warbeck was in danger of being attacked both in front and rear. Seeing
-this, he demanded a suspension of hostilities, and, depressed by this
-failure, his Devonshire followers began rapidly to fall away, and steal
-home as quickly as they could. His Cornish adherents, however, more
-intrepid, encouraged him to persevere, and vowed that they would perish
-in his cause. In this state of desperation the pretender marched on
-towards Taunton, where he arrived on the 20th of September. The country
-people on their way, smarting under the infliction of the hated tax,
-wished them success, but did not attempt to help them.
-
-[Illustration: LADY CATHERINE GORDON BEFORE HENRY VII. (_See p._ 94.)]
-
-At Taunton, instead of any encouragement, they met the vanguard of the
-royal army, under the command of Lord Daubeney, the lord chamberlain, and
-Lord Broke, the steward of the household. The Duke of Buckingham was just
-behind with a second division, and Henry was declared to be following
-with a still larger force. The brave Cornish men, scarcely clothed, and
-still worse armed, shrank not a moment from the hopeless combat. They
-vowed to perish to a man in behalf of their newly-adopted king, and
-Warbeck, with an air as if he would lead them into battle in the morning,
-rode along their lines encouraging them, and made all ready for the
-attack.
-
-But Warbeck, who had never shown any want of courage, perceived the
-utter madness of contending with his undisciplined followers against
-such overwhelming odds, and in the night he mounted a fleet steed and
-rode off. In the morning the Cornish men, seeing themselves without a
-leader, submitted to the king, and, with the exception of a few of the
-ringleaders, they were dismissed and returned homewards as best they
-might. Meanwhile, Lord Daubeney despatched 500 horsemen in pursuit of
-Warbeck, to prevent, if possible, his entrance into sanctuary; but the
-fugitive succeeded in reaching the monastery of Beaulieu, in the New
-Forest.
-
-Henry sent a number of horsemen, in all haste, to St. Michael's Mount, in
-Cornwall, to obtain possession of the Lady Catherine Gordon, the wife of
-Warbeck. This they easily accomplished, and brought her to the king, on
-entering whose presence she blushed and burst into tears. Henry received
-her kindly--touched, for once in his life, with tenderness, by beauty
-in distress; or, probably, bearing in mind that the lady was the near
-kinswoman of the King of Scots, with whom he was desirous to stand well.
-He sent her to the queen, by whom she was most cordially received, and in
-whose court she remained attached to her service. She was still called
-the White Rose of Scotland, on account of her beauty. Lady Gordon was
-afterwards, it appears, three times married, but lies buried by the side
-of her second husband, Sir Matthew Cradock, in Swansea church.
-
-Henry proceeded to Exeter, where he had the ringleaders of the Cornish
-insurrection brought in procession before him, with halters round their
-necks. Some of them he hanged, the rest he pardoned; but he, at the
-same time, appointed commissioners to proceed into the country through
-which Perkin had passed, and to fine all such people of property as
-had furnished him with aid or refreshment. They did not confine their
-scrutiny to those who had assisted Perkin in his march, but extended it
-to all who had relieved the famishing fugitives; "so that," says Bacon,
-"their severity did much obscure the king's mercy in sparing of blood,
-with the bleeding of so much treasure." They extorted altogether £10,000.
-
-The next business was to get Warbeck out of his sanctuary and into the
-hands of the king. Beaulieu was surrounded by an armed force, and all
-attempts at escape made impossible. Some of Henry's council urged him to
-omit all ceremony, and take the pretender from the sanctuary by force;
-but this he declined, preferring to lure him thence by fair promises.
-After hesitating for some time, Warbeck at length threw himself upon the
-king's mercy. Henry then set out to London with his captive in his train.
-Warbeck rode in the king's suite through the city, along Cheapside,
-Cornhill, and to the Tower, and thence to Westminster. As the king had
-promised him his life, he kept his word. He was repeatedly examined by
-the Privy Council, but it seems as if something had transpired there
-which Henry deemed better concealed, for a profound silence was preserved
-on the subject of these disclosures. So far from even being degraded,
-like Lambert Simnel, to some menial occupation, Warbeck was suffered to
-enjoy a certain degree of liberty, and was treated as a gentleman. The
-probability is, that the king satisfied himself that this mysterious
-personage was in reality a son of Edward IV., by the handsome Jewess,
-Catherine de Faro, his birth being in Flanders, and agreeing exactly with
-the time of Edward's exile there. This might account for his admirable
-support of the character of a prince, for his confidence in his assertion
-of it for so many years, and the power he had of winning the strong
-attachment of persons of the highest rank and education. If this were
-true, he was, moreover, the queen's brother, though an illegitimate one,
-and might win the interest of herself and sisters by his resemblance in
-person, and in spirit and ambition, to her father.
-
-But however this might be, he was too dangerous a person to be allowed
-to get loose again. He lived at Court under a strict surveillance, and
-he grew so weary of it, that he contrived to make his escape on the
-8th of June, 1498. The alarm was instantly given; numbers of persons
-were out in pursuit of him; every road by which he might escape to sea
-was vigilantly beset, and the unhappy man, finding himself pressed on
-all sides, surrendered himself to the Prior of Sheen, near Richmond.
-The prior exercised the right of sanctuary possessed by the house, and
-refused to give him up to the king, except under pledge that his life
-should be spared. Henry agreed, but he confirmed the public opinion,
-which, excited by the mystery of the Court, fully believed Warbeck a son
-of Edward's, by now endeavouring to degrade him, and to fix upon him the
-old story. For this purpose he compelled him to sit in the stocks two
-whole days, on the 14th of June at Westminster Hall, and on the 15th
-in Cheapside, and there to read aloud to the people a confession made
-up of the account of him published in Henry's former proclamation, but
-with some very contradictory additions. This confession was then printed
-and circulated amongst the people, but failed entirely to satisfy any
-one. When this bitter purgatory had been passed through, the bitterest
-conceivable to a man of Warbeck's character, pretensions, and superior
-mind, he was committed to the Tower.
-
-Warbeck had not been long in the Tower when there was an attempt to
-liberate the Earl of Warwick, who was still in confinement there; and
-it failed only through the conspirators not having properly informed
-themselves of the real quarter in which he was kept. Soon after that
-a fresh plot was set on foot for the same object. In this the King of
-France was said to be concerned. It was said that he had declared his
-regret for ever having countenanced the usurpation of Henry Tudor, and
-that he offered money, ships, and even troops, to the friends of Warwick
-to enable them to release him, and place him on the throne. The Yorkist
-malcontents were once more active. They wrote to the retainers of the
-late Duke of Clarence, the father of Warwick, and to Lady Warwick,
-to come forward and see justice done to the oppressed prince; and an
-invitation was sent from the Court of France to a distinguished leader
-of the house of York to go over to that country and assume the command
-of the expedition. This also failing, a report was then spread of the
-death of the Earl of Warwick: then it was said that he had escaped, and a
-person of the name of Ralph Wulford, or Wilford, the son of a shoemaker
-in Sussex, was taught by one Patrick, an Augustinian friar, to personate
-the earl.
-
-Whether the Yorkists were determined to give Henry no repose, but to
-haunt and harass him with a perpetual succession of impostors, or
-whether Henry himself planned this latter improbable scheme as a pretext
-for getting rid of the Earl of Warwick altogether, seems never to have
-been satisfactorily cleared up. All that is known is, that Wulford and
-the friar were speedily arrested, whereupon Wulford was put to death, and
-the friar consigned to prison for life.
-
-Scarcely had this blown over, when it was reported that Warbeck and
-Warwick had endeavoured to escape from the Tower together. Warbeck must
-have been allowed to have free access to Warwick after he was sent to the
-Tower--a circumstance not likely to have been permitted by the cautious
-and vigilant Henry VII. had he not had some ulterior purpose in it. Once
-together, however, Warbeck won the favour of the simple and inexperienced
-Warwick, who was as ignorant of the world as a child, having passed
-nearly all his life in prison. Warbeck, however, exercised the same
-fascination over the highest and most intelligent persons whenever he had
-access to them. To the Tower he carried his active spirit of intrigue
-and adventure, and we soon find him in the enjoyment, for so dangerous
-a character, of extraordinary liberty and range in that State prison.
-He had not only completely won over the Earl of Warwick, but their
-keepers, Strangways, Astwood, Long Roger, and Blewet. These men engaged
-to murder their master, Sir John Digby, the Governor of the Tower, to get
-possession of the keys, and to conduct Warbeck and Warwick to the Yorkist
-partisans, by whom Warbeck was to be proclaimed King Richard IV., and
-Warwick to be restored to his titles and estates.
-
-This plot, it is said, was discovered in time; and this was another
-circumstance which caused the public to suspect that the whole thing had
-been of the contriving, or, at least, of the permission of Henry, to rid
-him of these troublesome aspirants. The two offenders were immediately
-confined in separate cells. The servants of the Governor were brought
-to trial, and Blewet and Astwood were condemned and hanged. On the 16th
-of November, Warbeck was arraigned in Westminster Hall for sundry acts
-of high treason, since as a foreigner he had come into these kingdoms.
-They were, in fact, the attempts on the crown which we have related. He
-was condemned and hanged at Tyburn on the 23rd of November, 1499. On the
-scaffold his confession was read, and he declared it, on the word of a
-dying man, to be wholly true. Such was the end of this extraordinary
-adventurer. Bacon describes his enterprise as "one of the largest
-plays of the kind that hath been in memory; and might, perhaps, have
-had another end if he had not met with a king both wise, stout, and
-fortunate."
-
-On the 21st of November, the Earl of Warwick was brought to trial before
-the peers, though he had been attainted from his birth, and had never
-taken his oath and seat as a peer of the realm. The charge against
-him was his conspiracy with Warbeck to dethrone the king. The poor
-youth pleaded guilty, either as weary of a life which had been but one
-long injury and wrong, in consequence of his birth, or because he was
-destitute, from his perpetual confinement, of the activity of mind to
-comprehend his situation. Probably he imagined that if he confessed
-himself guilty, he would be pardoned, and sent back to his cell. But
-Henry had no such intention. The Earl of Oxford, as Lord Steward,
-pronounced judgment, and three days afterwards he was beheaded on Tower
-Hill. Thus perished the last legitimate descendant of the Plantagenets
-who could alarm the fears of Henry Tudor.
-
-A few months after these tragic events, a plague broke out in London,
-which the people considered as a direct judgment from Heaven for such
-wicked bloodshed. Henry got out of town, but not feeling himself safe,
-after several changes of residence, he went over to Calais, and whilst
-there he had an interview with the Archduke Philip of Burgundy. Henry
-invited the archduke to take up his quarters in Calais, but it is a proof
-of the distrust which even his own allies entertained of the politic
-Henry, that the archduke declined putting himself into his power, and
-agreed to meet him at St. Pierre, near that city. What the archduke was
-particularly anxious to see Henry for, was to excite his jealousy of
-France, and secure his co-operation in counteracting its ambition.
-
-Charles VIII. of France, an ambitious youth, had made a grand expedition
-into Italy to seize on the two Sicilies, having contrived to make out a
-claim upon them, which, though empty in itself, was good enough for an
-excuse for conquest. He had passed over the Alps with an army of upwards
-of 30,000 men. At first all gave way before him, but an extensive league
-was soon formed against the French encroachment, including Ferdinand of
-Spain, Maximilian, the King of the Romans, the father of Philip, the Duke
-of Milan, and the Doge of Venice. Charles, who had led a most dissipated
-life, died suddenly in 1498 at the castle of Amboise, and the Duke of
-Orleans succeeded as Louis XII. Louis was as fully bent as Charles had
-been on prosecuting the conquest of Naples and Sicily, and in 1499
-marched with a fresh army into the south of Italy.
-
-It was to secure Henry's assistance in the league against the aggression
-of France, which alarmed all Europe, that Philip used his most eloquent
-persuasives, but the only persuasives with Henry were moneys, and these
-Louis had already extended. He renewed the peace of Étaples, paid up
-the arrears of Henry's pension, and secured the interest of the Pope,
-with whom Henry was desirous to stand well, by paying him 20,000 ducats
-for a dispensation enabling him to divorce his wife, and marry Anne of
-Brittany, the widow of Charles VIII., and an old flame of his. He had
-also made over the Valentinois, in Dauphiné, with a pension of 20,000
-livres, to the Pope's son, the vile Cæsar Borgia. The Pope, moreover,
-was coquetting with Henry, inviting him, by an express nuncio, to join a
-league for an imaginary crusade to the Holy Land, which Henry was ready
-to do for the cession of some real ports in Italy as places for the
-retreat and security of his fleet in those seas.
-
-It was not likely that Philip of Burgundy would make much progress with
-Henry, except so far as he could serve him by keeping certain matters,
-well known at the Courts of Burgundy and Flanders, concerning the real
-history of Perkin Warbeck, secret; and his anxiety on this head more and
-more convinced people that Warbeck had been something more than the son
-of a Jew.
-
-Henry VII. having succeeded in ridding himself of all the pretenders to
-his crown, now set himself to complete the marriages of his children,
-and to make money with redoubled ardour. Negotiations had been going
-on with James of Scotland for the marriage of Henry's eldest daughter,
-Margaret. In 1496 James, who had previously declined the match, now in
-communication with Fox, Bishop of Durham, offered to enter into that
-contract. Henry gladly assented, and, when some of his council suggested
-that in case of the failure of the male line in England, a Scottish
-prince, born of this marriage, would become the heir, and England a mere
-appendage of Scotland, "No," replied Henry, "Scotland will become an
-appendage of England, for the smaller must follow the larger kingdom."
-And, no doubt, this idea had from the first actuated the calculating mind
-of the Tudor. On the 29th of January, 1502, the parties were solemnly
-affianced in the queen's chamber, the Earl of Bothwell having come to
-London as proxy for James. Margaret, at the time of this affiancing, was
-but just turned twelve years of age, and it was agreed that she should
-remain twenty months longer under the roof of her parents. Accordingly,
-it was not till the 8th of July, 1503, that she set out on her journey to
-Scotland.
-
-[Illustration: THE BYWARD TOWER: TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-Simultaneously had been proceeding the negotiations with the Spanish
-Court for the marriage between Henry's eldest son, Arthur, and Catherine,
-the daughter of Ferdinand, King of Aragon. The negotiations for this
-marriage had commenced so early as 1489, when the young prince was not
-yet three years old, and Catherine but four. In 1496 a further step was
-taken; and Ferdinand then promised to give the princess a portion of
-200,000 crowns, and Henry engaged that his son should endow her with
-one-third of his present income, and the same of the income of the Crown,
-if he should live to be king. It was stipulated that so soon as Prince
-Arthur reached his twelfth year, a dispensation should be obtained to
-empower him to make the contract; and, accordingly, the marriage was
-performed by proxy, the Spanish ambassador assuming this part, in the
-chapel of the prince's manor of Bewdley. These two children, who were
-at this period, the one ten, and the other eleven years of age, were
-educated in the highest possible degree by their respective parents; and
-at the time of their actual marriage, in 1501, when Arthur was fifteen,
-and Catherine nearly sixteen, they were perhaps the two most learned
-persons of their years in the two kingdoms of Spain and England. The
-festivities over, Arthur retired to his castle of Ludlow with his bride,
-and there kept a Court modelled on that of the king. Great hopes and
-auguries were drawn from this marriage, and wonderful futures to them
-and their descendants were promised them by the astrologers. But little
-more than five months sufficed to falsify all the earthly predictions;
-for the young prince fell suddenly ill and died. Various reasons for his
-death are assigned by different authorities. Some assert that he died of
-consumption; others declare that he was perfectly sound and robust, and
-that he died of some epidemic--the sweating sickness, or, as the Spanish
-historian says, the plague. Great sickness of some kind was prevailing
-in the neighbourhood, so that at Worcester the funeral, according to the
-Spanish herald, was but thinly attended. Prince Arthur died on the 2nd
-of April, 1502. He was a prince of great promise, and the beauty of his
-person, the sweetness of his manner, and his brilliant accomplishments,
-won him universal favour, which was equally shared by his young bride.
-
-The death of Arthur was a shock to the political arrangements, as well
-as to the affections of the royal parties on both sides. Ferdinand was
-anxious to retain a close alliance with England, as a counterpoise to
-the ascendency of France. He therefore proposed to Henry that Catherine
-should be affianced to Henry Duke of York, Prince Arthur's younger
-brother. This was a very legitimate project according to the Jewish
-law, but not so much in accordance with the practice of the Christian
-world. Henry VII. appeared to hesitate--it may safely be surmised with
-no intention of allowing the young princess, and her dowry of 200,000
-crowns, to escape him; but rather, it may be supposed, with a design
-to exact something more. To hasten his decision, however, the Spanish
-monarch announced as the alternative that Catherine must be at once
-restored to her parents, with half of the marriage portion already paid.
-This had immediate effect on the deliberations of Henry. He showed
-himself ready to assent, if there were an additional incentive in the
-shape of another sum. Ferdinand and Isabella were firm. They declared
-themselves ready to pay the remaining 100,000 crowns on the contract of
-the marriage, which should take effect two months after the receipt of
-a dispensation from the Pope. Henry tried every art to extort a larger
-sum, and it was not till June, 1503, that this proposition was finally
-accepted. The solemnisation of the marriage was to take place on the
-young Prince Henry completing his fourteenth year. But the difficulties
-were not yet over. The two monarchs continued, like two skilful players,
-to try every move which might delay the payment of the money, or compel
-it with an augmentation. In this state the matter remained till 1504,
-when Henry and Catherine, on the 25th of June, were betrothed, but still
-not married, at the house of the Bishop of Salisbury, in Fleet Street.
-
-Scarcely had the eyes of Elizabeth of York closed (she died in 1503), at
-the early age of thirty-seven, than Henry was on the look-out for another
-wife, for it was another opportunity of making a profit. His eyes glanced
-over the courts and courtly dames of Europe; and the lady who struck him
-as the most attractive in the world was the widow of the late King of
-Naples--for the deceased monarch had bequeathed her an immense property.
-Her ducats were charms that told on the gold-loving heart of Henry most
-ravishingly. He posted off three private gentlemen, well skilled in such
-delicate inquiries, to Naples, to learn from real sources whether all
-was safe as to this grand dowry. Poor Catherine was even made to play a
-part in this notable scheme of courtship, by furnishing the emissaries
-with a letter to her relative, the queen-dowager. The gentlemen reported
-in the most glowing terms the charms of the queen-dowager's person, the
-sweetness of her disposition, and the brilliant endowments of her mind,
-but they were obliged to add that, though the lady's fortune was in
-justice as large as fame reported it, the present king refused to carry
-out the will by which it was conferred. This one unlucky fact at once
-blotted out all the rest, and Henry, giving not another thought to the
-dowager-queen of Naples, turned his attention to the dowager-duchess of
-Savoy, who was also reported to be rich.
-
-While Henry, however, was traversing Europe with the design of adding to
-his ever-growing hoards, he was equally diligent at home in prosecuting
-every art by which he could add another mark to his heap. He sought
-out and kept in his pay clever and unprincipled lawyers to search the
-old statute-books for laws grown obsolete, but which had never been
-formally repealed; and he had another set of spies in correspondence
-with them, who went to and fro throughout the whole kingdom to mark out
-all such persons of property as had transgressed these slumbering laws.
-Such a state of things could never have been tolerated in any former
-reign; but the wars of the Roses had cut off all the chief nobility,
-and the House of Commons, terrified by the summary proceedings against
-offenders, had become utterly cowed, and trembled at the mere word of
-this imperious monarch. Never, therefore, was the English people at any
-time so completely prostrated beneath the talons of a royal vampire as at
-this period. The rich merchants of London found themselves accused of
-malpractices in the discharge of their civic offices, and were subjected
-to the same process of squeezing in Henry's universal press.
-
-To drain the coffers of the landed aristocracy, Henry's agents brought
-up against them all the old obsolete feudal charges of wardships, aids,
-liveries, premier seizins, and scutages. Their estates had long been
-held under a different tenure, obtained from former monarchs. No matter:
-all those marked out for legal bleeding were brought into the private
-inquisition of the king's commissioners, and compelled to pay whatever
-was demanded, or to suffer worse inconveniences. Even his own friends
-were not exempted from the ever-watchful eyes and schemes of this
-money-making king. The law which he had enacted against the practice of
-"maintenance" was a prolific source of emolument. A striking example of
-this species of royal sharp practice was given in the case of John de
-Vere, Earl of Oxford. This nobleman having entertained the king on one
-occasion for several days magnificently at his castle of Henningham, to
-do the utmost honour to him at his departure, summoned all his friends
-and retainers, arrayed in all their livery coats and cognisances, and
-ranged them in two rows leading from the reception rooms to the royal
-carriage. Henry's eye was instantly struck with this prodigious display
-of wealth and of men, and his mind as suddenly leapt to a felicitous
-conclusion. There was money to be made out of it. The king said: "By my
-faith, my lord, I thank you for your good cheer, but I may not endure to
-have my laws thus broken in my sight: my attorney must speak to you." The
-earl was prosecuted for thus seeking to flatter the vanity of his master,
-and compelled to gratify Henry's avarice by a fine of 15,000 marks.
-
-Whilst the king himself set so notable an example of extortion, we may
-be sure that his commissioners, spies, and tools of all sorts were not
-slack in this abominable business of ferreting out and putting through
-the cruel torture of their secret courts, the unhappy subjects of
-every corner of the kingdom who had any substance to prey upon. "The
-king," says Bacon, "had gotten for his purpose, or beyond his purpose,
-two instruments, Empson and Dudley, whom the people esteemed as his
-horse-leeches and shearers: bold men, and careless of fame, and that took
-toll of their master's grist. Dudley was of a good family, eloquent,
-and one that could put hateful business into good language. But Empson,
-that was the son of a sieve-maker, triumphed always upon the deed done,
-putting off all other respects whatsoever."
-
-The tempestuous weather of January, 1506, which brought to others the
-disastrous news of vessels wrecked and lives lost, brought to Henry VII.
-tidings of a most exciting and elating kind. It was no other than that
-amongst the foreign vessels driven into the port of Weymouth, were some
-containing the Archduke Philip of Flanders and his wife Joanna, the
-elder sister of Catherine of Aragon, his daughter-in-law, and daughter
-of his friend and ally Ferdinand of Spain. The Archduke Philip knew his
-man; and at their meeting near Calais, in 1500, though he attempted to
-hold Henry's stirrup, and heaped upon him the titles of his father and
-protector, he took good care to keep out of his clutches; nothing would
-induce him to enter the city. But now circumstances were greatly changed;
-and the archduke and his wife Joanna would be a much more valuable prize.
-The mother of Joanna, the Queen Isabella of Spain, was dead, and Joanna
-was, in her own right, Queen of Castile, and Philip, by hers, king. There
-was a number of things, any one of which Henry would have been only too
-happy to extort from Philip.
-
-The prince soon found himself received with much magnificence at the
-castle of Windsor; but he was not suffered to remain long without feeling
-that he was in the hands of a man who would have his full advantage
-out of him. The insatiable old miser went to work and propounded his
-demands, and there was nothing for it but for Philip to comply, if he
-ever meant to see Spain. First, Henry informed him that he was intending
-to marry, and that Philip's sister, the dowager-duchess of Savoy, was
-the woman of his choice. He demanded with her the sum of 300,000 crowns,
-of which 100,000 should be paid in August--it was already the 10th of
-March--and the remainder in six years by equal instalments. Besides
-this, Margaret, the duchess, was in the annual receipt of two dowries;
-one as the widow of John, Prince of Spain, and the other as widow of
-Philibert, Duke of Savoy, for she had been twice married already. This
-income Henry stipulated should be settled upon himself, and the princess
-was to receive instead an income as queen of England. That meant that
-Henry would have an income certain, and give her one most uncertain, for
-at this very time Catherine, the widow of his son Arthur, and betrothed
-bride of his son Henry, was kept by him in a condition of the most
-shameful destitution.
-
-Philip consented--for what could he do?--and that point settled, Henry
-informed Philip that he had also a son, whom he, Henry, proposed to
-marry to his youngest daughter, Mary. This must have been a still more
-bitter draught for the poor Spanish monarch than the former. Henry had
-already made this very proposal, and it had been at once rejected. This
-son of Philip, the future celebrated Emperor Charles V., was now a child
-of six years of age, and the little Princess Mary was just three! Philip,
-however much he might inwardly rebel, and however differently he had
-planned the destiny of his son, was in the miser's vice, and the thing
-was done.
-
-[Illustration: KING HENRY'S DEPARTURE FROM HENNINGHAM CASTLE. (_See p._
-99.)]
-
-Soon there came about fresh complications. Philip of Flanders, or, as
-he was oftener called, Philip the Fair of Austria, was but an invalid
-when he set out on his unlucky voyage to Spain. His detention in England
-during the three most trying months of its trying climate, January,
-February, and March, added to the vexation of the engagement forced
-upon him by the relentless Henry, is said to have completely broken
-his constitution; he sank and died in about six months. No sooner did
-King Henry hear this news, than, throwing aside all further thoughts of
-the Duchess of Savoy, he applied for the hand of Joanna, the widow of
-Philip. With Joanna, Queen of Castile, married to himself, and Charles,
-her son, the heir of all Spain, the Netherlands, and Austria, married
-to his daughter Mary, what visions of greatness and empire must have
-swum before the keen eyes of Henry, and excited his intense passion of
-acquisitiveness! Ferdinand returned for answer, that the proposal would
-have been well pleasing to him, but that Queen Joanna, from violent grief
-for the loss of her husband, was become permanently insane. This answer,
-which would have been all-sufficient for most men, was treated as a mere
-trifle by Henry, who replied that he knew the queen, having seen her in
-England; that her derangement of mind was not the effect of grief, but of
-the harsh treatment of Philip; that she would soon be all right, and that
-he was quite ready to marry her. Ferdinand reiterated the certainty of
-the lady's fixed madness, and Henry rejoined that if he was not allowed
-to marry her, the king's other daughter, Catherine, should never marry
-his son.
-
-There is no doubt that, could Henry have secured the hand of
-Joanna--"the Mad Queen," as she came to be called--he would have broken
-off the contract between Henry, his son, and Catherine, and kept her and
-her dower in England nevertheless. But the marriage of Henry VII. with
-Joanna being an impossibility, Ferdinand promised to send the remaining
-half of Catherine's dower by instalments, and Henry consented that the
-marriage of the two young people should take place as soon as the money
-was paid. Catherine, whose letters to her father had, for the most part,
-been intercepted and detained by Henry, at length gave up her opposition
-also to the wedding, declaring, in one of these letters, that it was
-better for her to marry the prince than remain in the woful condition
-of destitution and dependence in which her father-in-law kept her. The
-remainder of the dower, however, was never paid up during Henry's time,
-and therefore the marriage did not take place till after his death.
-
-[Illustration: HENRY VII.'S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.]
-
-In the midst of his grasping, his hoarding, and his scheming, the king's
-end was drawing on, though he was far from an old man. The gout had
-long visited him with its periodical attacks. He was liable, during the
-cold and variable weather of spring, to complaints of the chest, which
-assumed the appearance of consumption, and occasionally reduced him very
-low. When the sickness was strong upon him he ordered Empson and Dudley
-to cease their villainies; as he got worse he commanded them even to
-make restitution to those whom they had pillaged and imprisoned; but as
-he grew better again, he instructed them that it was only necessary to
-recompense such as had not been dealt with according to the regular forms
-of law--so that as these vultures generally tore their victims in a legal
-fashion, and as they themselves were made the judges of the necessary
-restitution, very little was done. Henry VII. died at his palace of
-Richmond on the 21st of April, 1509, in the fifty-fourth year of his age
-and the twenty-fourth of his reign.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
-
-     The King's Accession--State of Europe--Henry and Julius
-     II.--Treaty between England and Spain--Henry is duped by
-     Ferdinand--New Combinations--Execution of Suffolk--Invasion of
-     France--Battle of Spurs--Invasion of England by the Scots--Flodden
-     Field--Death of James of Scotland--Louis breaks up the Holy
-     League--Peace with France--Marriage and Death of Louis XII.--Rise
-     of Wolsey--Affairs in Scotland--Francis I. in Italy--Death
-     of Maximilian--Henry a Candidate for the Empire--Election of
-     Charles--Field of the Cloth of Gold--Wolsey's Diplomacy--Failure
-     of his Candidature for the Papacy--The Emperor in London.
-
-
-No prince ever ascended a throne under more auspicious circumstances
-than Henry VIII. While his father had strengthened the throne, he had
-made himself extremely unpopular. The longer he lived, the more the
-selfish meanness and the avarice of his character had become conspicuous,
-and excited the disgust of his subjects. Henry was young, handsome,
-accomplished, and gay. He was in many respects the very opposite of
-his father, and the people always give to a young prince every virtue
-under the sun. Accordingly, Henry, who was only eighteen, was regarded
-as a fine, buxom young fellow; frank, affable, generous, capable of
-everything, and disposed to the best.
-
-Fox was grown old, and under Henry VII. had grown habitually
-parsimonious. He, therefore, attempted to keep a tight reign on the young
-monarch, and discouraged all mere schemes of pleasure which necessarily
-brought expense. But the old proverb that a miser is sure to be succeeded
-by a spendthrift, was not likely to be falsified in Henry. He was full
-of health, youth, vigour, and affluence. He was disposed to enjoy all
-the gaieties and enjoyments which a brilliant Court and the resources of
-a great kingdom spread around him, and in this tendency he found in the
-Earl of Surrey a far more facile counsellor than in Fox.
-
-All this made deep inroads into his parental treasures, but it augmented
-his popularity, which he vastly extended by bringing to justice the
-two hated extortioners of Henry VII.'s reign. To prepare for this, he
-appointed commissioners to hear the complaints of those who had suffered
-from the grievous exactions of the late reign; but these complaints
-were so loud and so universal that he was soon convinced that it would
-be impossible to make full restitution; and he therefore resolved to
-appease the injured in some degree by punishing the injurers. A number of
-the most notorious informers were therefore seized, set on horses, and
-paraded through the streets of London, on the 6th of June, with their
-faces to the horses' tails. This done, they were set in the pillory, and
-left to the vengeance of the people, who so maltreated them that they all
-died soon after in prison. The fate of Dudley and Empson--the two main
-instruments of popular oppression--was suspended by the coronation, which
-took place on the 24th of the same month. After it was over they were
-tried and beheaded.
-
-Henry had been married to Catherine of Aragon on the 3rd of the month at
-Greenwich. Whatever pretences Henry made in after years of his scruples
-about this marriage--Catherine having been the wife of his elder brother
-Prince Arthur--he seems to have felt or expressed none now. Archbishop
-Warham had protested against it on that ground in Henry VII.'s time; but
-though the princess was six years older than himself, there is every
-reason to believe that Henry was now anxious for the match. Catherine
-was at this time very agreeable in person, and was distinguished for the
-excellence of her disposition and the spotless purity and modesty of her
-life. She was the daughter of one of the most powerful sovereigns of
-Europe; and the alliance of Spain was held to be essentially desirable
-to counteract the power of France. Besides this, the princess had a
-large dower, which must be restored if she were allowed to return home.
-The majority of his council, therefore, zealously concurred with him in
-his wish to complete this marriage; and his grandmother, the sagacious
-Countess of Richmond, was one of its warmest advocates. "There were
-few women," says Lord Herbert, "who could compete with Queen Catherine
-when in her prime;" and Henry himself, writing to her father a short
-time after the marriage, sufficiently expresses his satisfaction at the
-union:--"As regards that sincere love which we have to the most serene
-queen, our consort, her eminent virtues daily more shine forth, blossom,
-and increase so much, that if we were still free, her would we yet
-choose for our wife before all others." The conduct of Henry for many
-years bore out this profession.
-
-To make the general satisfaction complete, Henry summoned a Parliament,
-in which the chief topic was the prevention in future of the abominable
-exactions of the past; and the obsolete penal statutes on which the
-extortioners had acted were formally repealed. The whole number
-of temporal peers who were summoned to this Parliament was only
-thirty-six--one duke, one marquis, eight earls, and twenty-six barons.
-
-Henry was now at peace with all the world. At home and abroad, so far as
-he was concerned, everything was tranquil. No English monarch had ever
-been more popular, powerful, and prosperous. Nothing could show more the
-advance which England had made of late in strength and importance than
-the deference paid to Henry by the greatest princes on the Continent, and
-their anxiety to cultivate his alliance. The balance of power in Europe
-appeared more widely established than at any former period. England had
-freed herself of her intestine divisions, and stood compact and vigorous
-from united political power and the active spirit of commerce. The people
-were thriving; the Crown, owing to the care of Henry VII., was rich.
-Spain had joined its several provinces into one potent state, which was
-ruled by the crafty but able Ferdinand. France had begun the same work of
-consolidation under Louis XII., by his marriage with Anne of Brittany,
-and the union of Brittany with the Crown. Maximilian, the Emperor of
-Germany, with his hereditary dominions of Austria, possessed the weight
-given him by his Imperial office over all Germany; and his grandson
-Charles, heir at once of Austria, Spain, and the Netherlands, was at this
-time the ruler of Burgundy and the Netherlands, under the guardianship
-of his aunt Margaret of Savoy, a princess of high character for sense
-and virtue. Henry had taken the earliest opportunity of renewing the
-treaties made by his father with all these princes, and with Scotland,
-and declared that he was resolved to maintain peace with them, and to
-cultivate the interests of his subjects at home. But this promise he
-speedily broke.
-
-The first means of exciting him to mingle in the distraction of the
-Continent were found in the fact that Louis XII. of France was reluctant
-to continue the annual payment of £80,000 which he made to his father.
-Henry had made a considerable vacuum in the paternal treasury chests, and
-was not willing to forego this convenient subsidy. There were those on
-the watch ready to stimulate him to hostile action. Pope Julius II. and
-Ferdinand of Spain had their own reasons for fomenting ill-will between
-Louis of France and Henry. Louis had added Milan and part of the north
-of Italy to the French crown. Ferdinand had become possessed of Naples
-and Sicily, first, by aiding the French in conquering them, and then by
-driving out the French. Julius II. was equally averse from the presence
-of the French and Spaniards in Italy, but he was, at the same time,
-jealous of the spreading power of Venice, and therefore concealed his
-ultimate designs against France and Spain, so that he might engage Louis
-and Ferdinand to aid him in humbling Venice. For this purpose he engaged
-Louis, Ferdinand, and Maximilian of Austria to enter into a league at
-Cambray, as early as December, 1508, by which they engaged to assist him
-in regaining the dominions of the church from the Venetians. Henry, who
-had no interest in the matter, was induced, in course of time, to add his
-name to this League, as a faithful son of the Church.
-
-No sooner had Julius driven back the Venetians and reduced them to seek
-for peace, than he found occasion to quarrel with the French, and a new
-league was formed to protect the Pope from what he termed the ambitious
-designs of the French, into which Ferdinand, Maximilian, and Henry
-entered. Louis XII., seeing this powerful alliance arrayed against him,
-determined to carry a war of another nature into the camp of the militant
-Pope Julius. He induced a number of the cardinals to declare against the
-violence and aggressive spirit of the pontiff, as totally unbecoming his
-sacred character. But Julius, who, though now old, had all the resolution
-and the ambition of youth, set this schismatic conclave at defiance.
-He declared Pisa, where the opposing cardinals had summoned a council,
-and every other place to which they transferred themselves, under an
-interdict. He excommunicated all cardinals and prelates who should attend
-any such council, and not only they, but any temporal prince or chief who
-should receive, shelter, or countenance them.
-
-At the same time that Julius launched his thunders thus liberally at
-his disobedient cardinals, he made every court in Europe ring with his
-outcries against the perfidy and lawless ambition of Louis, who, not
-content with seizing on Milan, he now asserted, was striving to make
-himself master of the domains of the holy Mother Church. Henry was
-prompt in responding to this appeal. He regarded the claims of the
-Church as sacred and binding on all Christian princes; he had his own
-demands on Louis, and he was naturally disposed to co-operate with his
-father-in-law, Ferdinand. But beyond this, he was greatly flattered by
-the politic Pope declaring him "the head of the Italian league;" and
-assuring him that Louis by his hostility to the Church, having forfeited
-the title of the "Most Christian King," he would transfer it to him.
-
-Henry was perfectly intoxicated by these skilful addresses to his vanity,
-and condescended to a piece of deception which, though often practised
-by potentates and statesmen, is at all times unworthy of any Englishman;
-he joined the Kings of Scotland and Spain, in recommending Louis to make
-peace with the Pope, on condition that Bologna should be restored to the
-Church, the council of cardinals at Pisa dissolved, and the cause of
-Alphonso, the Duke of Ferrara--whose territories Julius, the fighting
-Pope, had invaded--referred to impartial judges. These propositions
-on the part of Henry were made by Young, the English ambassador; but
-Louis, on his part, was perfectly aware at this very time that Henry was
-not only in alliance with the Pope and Spain, but had engaged to join
-Ferdinand in an invasion of France in the spring. He therefore treated
-the hollow overture with just contempt.
-
-Henry was at this time in profound peace with Louis. He had but a few
-months before renewed his treaty with him, yet he was at the very time
-that he sent his hypocritical proposal of arbitration, diligently, though
-secretly, preparing for war with him. He sent a commission to gentlemen
-in each county on June 20th, 1511, to array and exercise all the
-men-at-arms and archers in their county, and to make a return of their
-names, and the quality of their arms, before the 1st of August.
-
-On opening his plans to his council, he there met with strong dissuasion
-from war against France, and on very rational grounds. It was contended
-that "the natural situation of islands seems not to consort with
-conquests on the Continent. If we will enlarge ourselves, let it be in
-the way for which Providence hath fitted us, which is by sea." Never
-was sounder or more enlightened counsel given to an English king. But
-such language was in vain addressed to the ears of Henry, which had been
-assiduously tickled by the emissaries of Pope Julius and Ferdinand the
-Catholic, who assured him that nothing would be more easy, while they
-attacked France in other quarters, than to recover all the provinces
-once possessed there. He hastened to form a separate treaty with his
-cunning father-in-law, who had his own scheme in it, and this treaty was
-signed on the 10th of November, 1511. The preamble of this treaty was a
-fine specimen of the solemn pretences with which men attempt to varnish
-over their unprincipled designs. It represented Louis as an enemy to God
-and religion, a cruel and unrelenting persecutor of the Church, one who
-despised all admonition, and had rejected the generous offer of the Pope
-to pardon his sins.
-
-And what was this pious scheme, so greatly to the glory of God and of
-heaven? It was professedly to seize on the French province of Guienne, in
-which Ferdinand promised to help Henry, but in reality to seize Navarre,
-in which Ferdinand meant Henry to help him, but took care not to say so.
-The old man, long practised in every art of royal treachery, was far too
-knowing for the vainglorious young man, his son-in-law.
-
-Things being put into this train, Henry sent a herald to Louis, to
-command him not to make war upon the Pope, whom he styled "the father
-of all Christians." Louis, who was well acquainted with what was going
-on, knew that Pope Julius was as much a soldier and a politician as a
-Pope. He was the most busy, scheming, restless, and ambitious old man
-of his time. He not only made war on his neighbours, but attended the
-field in person, watched the progress of sieges, saw his attendants
-fall by his very side, and inspected his outposts with the watchful
-diligence of a prudent general. Louis knew that he was at the bottom of
-all these leagues against him, and he only smiled at Henry's message.
-This herald was therefore speedily followed by another demanding the
-surrender of Anjou, Maine, Normandy, and Guienne, as Henry's lawful
-inheritance. This, of course, was tantamount to a declaration of war, and
-the formal declaration only awaited the sanction of Henry by Parliament.
-Parliament was therefore summoned by him on the 4th of February, 1512,
-and was opened by Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, with a sermon, the
-extraordinary text of which was--"Righteousness and peace have kissed
-each other" (Psalm lxxxv. 10). Two-tenths and two-fifteenths were
-cheerfully granted Henry for prosecuting the war, and the clergy in
-convocation voted a subsidy of £23,000.
-
-Thus zealously supported and encouraged, Henry despatched a declaration
-of war, and sent an army of 10,000 men, chiefly archers, with a train of
-artillery, under command of the Marquis of Dorset, to co-operate with
-the Spaniards for the reduction of Guienne. These troops embarked at
-Southampton, May 16th, 1512, and soon landed safely at Guipuscoa, whilst
-the fleet under the Lord Admiral, Sir Edward Howard, cruised during the
-summer off the coast. But Ferdinand's real object was a very different
-one; his intention, as we have seen, was not to secure Guienne for his
-duped son-in-law, but Navarre for himself.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-Navarre was a separate kingdom in possession of John d'Albret, who had
-married its heiress, the Infanta Catherine; and, justly suspicious of
-the covetous intentions of the King of Spain, he had sought to fortify
-himself by a secret treaty with the King of France. While, therefore, the
-Marquis of Dorset, the English general, and his army were impatiently
-waiting for the Spanish reinforcements, they received from Ferdinand a
-message that it would not be safe for them to quit the Spanish frontiers
-until they had secured the neutrality of the King of Navarre, who was
-also Lord of Béarn, on the French side of the Pyrenees. The English had
-thus to wait while Ferdinand demanded of D'Albret a pledge of strict
-neutrality during the present war. D'Albret readily assented to this;
-but Ferdinand then demanded security for his keeping this neutrality. To
-this also John of Navarre freely acceded; which was again followed by a
-demand from Ferdinand that this security should consist of the surrender
-of six of the most considerable places in his dominions into the hands
-of the Spaniards, and of his son as a hostage. The King of Navarre
-was compelled to refuse so unreasonable a requisition, and therefore
-Ferdinand, professing to believe that D'Albret meant to cut off the
-communication of the Spanish army with Spain if it ventured into France,
-and showing that he had obtained a copy of the secret treaty of D'Albret
-with Louis, immediately ordered the Duke of Alva to invade Navarre. The
-Duke soon made himself master of the smaller towns and the open country,
-and then summoned, to their profound astonishment, the English to march
-into Navarre, and assist him in reducing Pampeluna.
-
-Dorset now perceived the real game that was being played. Having no
-orders, however, to do anything but attack Guienne, he refused to move a
-foot for the reduction of Navarre, and demanded afresh the supplies of
-artillery and horse which had been guaranteed for the former enterprise.
-But Ferdinand replied that it was quite out of the question to furnish
-him with any till Navarre was made secure; that was the first necessary
-step, and that effected, he should be prepared to march with him to
-Bayonne, Bordeaux, and to the conquest of all Guienne.
-
-These representations only increased the disgust of Dorset and his army:
-but they could do nothing but await the event, and saw themselves thus
-most adroitly posted by Ferdinand, as the necessary guard of his position
-against the French, whilst he accomplished his long-desired acquisition
-of Navarre. So Alva went on leisurely reducing Pampeluna, Ferdinand
-still calling on Dorset to accelerate the business by marching to Alva's
-support.
-
-Henry did not yet perceive how grossly he had been deluded by his loving
-father-in-law, who had only used him to secure a kingdom for himself
-most essential to the compactness and power of Spain; and he would have
-been led by him to assist in his still contemplated aggressions. In the
-meantime Louis, more cognisant of the game, marched his troops into
-Béarn, and left them, professedly for his ally, whilst the remnant of
-the English army reached home, shorn of its anticipated honours, reduced
-in numbers, in rags, and more than half-famished. Henry was disposed to
-charge upon Dorset the disasters and disappointments of the expedition,
-but the officers succeeded in convincing him that they could not have
-done differently, consistent with their orders; but the time was yet far
-off when the vainglorious young king was to have his eyes opened to the
-selfish deceptions which his Machiavelian father-in-law was practising
-upon him.
-
-At sea, the fleet under Sir Edward Howard had not been more successful
-than the forces on land. Sir Edward harassed the coasts of Brittany
-during the spring and summer, and on the 10th of August fell in with
-a fleet of thirty-nine sail. Sir Charles Brandon, afterwards the Duke
-of Suffolk, bore down upon the _Cordelier_, of Brest, a vessel of huge
-bulk, and carrying 900 men. Brandon's vessel was soon dismasted, and fell
-astern, giving place to the _Regent_, the largest vessel in the English
-navy, a ship of 1,000 tons. The _Regent_ was commanded by Sir Thomas
-Knevet, a young officer of a daring character. He continued the contest
-for more than an hour, when another ship coming to his aid, the French
-commander set fire to the _Cordelier_, the flames of which soon catching
-the _Regent_, which lay alongside of her in full action, both vessels
-were wrapt in fire, amid which the crews continued their desperate fight
-till the French admiral's ship blew up, destroying with it the _Regent_;
-and all the crews went down with the commanders, amid the horror of the
-spectators. The rest of the French fleet then escaped into Brest; and Sir
-Edward Howard made a vow to God that he would never see the king's face
-again till he had avenged the death of the valiant Knevet.
-
-But though Henry had been duped by the wily Ferdinand, and had suffered
-at sea, his efforts had inflicted serious evil on the King of France. The
-menace of Louis' dominions in the south, and the English fleet hovering
-upon his coasts, had prevented him from sending into Italy the necessary
-force to ensure lasting advantage there. Before Christmas Julius had
-fulfilled his boast that he would drive the barbarians beyond the Alps.
-He had done it, says Muratori, without stopping a moment to ask himself
-whether this was the precise function of the chief pastor of the Church.
-
-Louis, convinced that the Holy League, as it was called, was proving
-too strong for him, employed the ensuing winter in devising means to
-break it up, or to corrupt some of its members. Julius, the soul of the
-League, died--a grand advantage to Louis--in February, 1513, and the new
-pontiff, Leo X., who was Cardinal John de Medici, though he prosecuted
-the same object of clearing Italy of the foreigner, did not possess the
-same belligerent temperament as his predecessor. Leo laboured to keep
-the League together, but at the same time he was engaged in schemes for
-the aggrandisement of his own family, and especially of securing to it
-the sovereignty of Florence. In pursuing this object, Venice felt itself
-neglected in its claims of support against the emperor, and went over
-to the alliance with France. Yet the plan of a renewed league between
-the Pope, the emperor, the kings of Spain and England, against Louis,
-which had long been secretly concocting at Mechlin, was signed by the
-plenipotentiaries on the 5th of April, 1513. By this league Leo engaged
-to invade France in Provence or Dauphiné, and to launch the thunders of
-the Church at Louis. He had managed to detach the emperor from the French
-king, and engaged him to attack France from his own side, but not in
-Italy. To enable him to take the field, Henry of England was to advance
-him 100,000 crowns of gold. Ferdinand engaged to invade Béarn, for which
-he particularly yearned, or Languedoc; Henry to attack Normandy, Picardy,
-or Guienne. The invading armies were to be strong and well appointed, and
-none of the confederates were to make a peace without the consent of all
-the rest.
-
-Henry, in his self-confident ardour, blinded by his vanity, little read
-as yet in the wiles and selfish cunning of men, was delighted with this
-accomplished league. To him it appeared that Louis of France, encompassed
-on every side, was certain of utter defeat, and thus as certain to
-be compelled to restore all the rich provinces which his fathers had
-wrested from England. But little did he dream that at the very moment
-he was empowering his plenipotentiary to sign this league, his Spanish
-father-in-law was signing another with Louis himself, in conjunction
-with James of Scotland and the Duke of Gueldres. By this Ferdinand
-engaged to be quiet, and do Louis no harm. In fact, none of the parties
-in that league meant to fight at all. Their only object was to obtain
-Henry's money, or to derive some other advantage from him, and they would
-enjoy the pleasure of seeing him expending his wealth and his energies
-in the war on France, and thus reducing his too formidable ascendency in
-Europe. Ferdinand's intention was to spend the summer in strengthening
-his position in the newly acquired kingdom of Navarre, and Maximilian,
-the emperor, having got the subsidy from Henry, would be ready to reap
-further benefits whilst he idly amused the young king with his pretences
-of service. Henry alone was all on fire to wipe away the disgrace of
-his troops and the disasters of his navy; to win martial renown, and to
-restore the ancient Continental possessions of the Crown.
-
-The war commenced first at sea. Sir Edward Howard, burning to discharge
-his vow by taking vengeance for the death of Admiral Knevet, blockaded
-the harbour of Brest. On the 23rd of April he attempted to cut away a
-squadron of six galleys, moored in the bay of Conquêt, a few leagues
-from Brest, and commanded by Admiral Prejeant. With two galleys, one
-of which he gave into the command of Lord Ferrers, and four boats, he
-rowed up to the admiral's galley, leaped upon its deck, and was followed
-by one Carroz, a Spanish cavalier, and sixteen Englishmen. But the
-cable which bound the vessel to that of Prejeant being cut, his ship,
-instead of lying alongside, fell astern, and left him unsupported. He
-was forced overboard, with all his gallant followers, by the pikes of
-an overwhelming weight of the enemy, and perished. Sir Thomas Cheney,
-Sir John Wallop, and Sir William Sidney, seeing the danger of Sir Edward
-Howard, pressed forward to his rescue, but in vain, and the English
-fleet, discouraged by the loss of their gallant commander, put back
-to port. Prejeant sailed out of harbour after it, and gave chase, but
-failing in overtaking it, he made a descent on the coast of Sussex, where
-he was repulsed, and lost an eye, being struck by an arrow. Henry, on
-hearing the unfortunate affair of Brest, appointed Lord Thomas Howard to
-his brother's post, and bade him go out and avenge his death; whereupon
-the French fleet again made sail for Brest, and left the English masters
-of the Channel.
-
-In June, Henry deemed himself fully prepared to cross with his army to
-Calais. Lord Howard was ordered to bring his fleet into the Channel, to
-cover the passage, and on the 6th of June, 1513, the vanguard of the army
-passed over, under the command of the Earl of Shrewsbury, accompanied by
-the Earl of Derby, the Lords Fitzwalter, Hastings, Cobham, and Sir Rice
-ap Thomas. A second division followed on the 16th, under Lord Herbert,
-the Chamberlain, accompanied by the Earls of Northumberland and Kent; the
-Lords Audley and Delawar, with Carew, Curson, and many other gentlemen.
-Henry himself followed on the 30th, with the main body and the rear of
-the army. The whole force consisted of 25,000 men, the majority of which
-was composed of the old victorious arm of archers.
-
-Before leaving Dover, to which place the queen attended him, Henry
-appointed her regent during his absence, and constituted Archbishop
-Warham and Sir Thomas Lovel her chief counsellors and ministers. On
-the plea of leaving no cause of disturbance behind him to trouble her
-Majesty, he cut off the head of the Earl of Suffolk. Henry VII. had
-inveigled this nobleman into his hands at the time of the visit of the
-Archduke Philip, on the assurance that he would not take his life; but
-he seems to have repented of this show of clemency, for on his death-bed
-the king left an order that his son should put him to death. The earl
-had remained till now prisoner in the Tower, and Henry had been fatally
-reminded of him and of his father's dying injunction by the imprudence of
-Richard de la Pole, the brother of Suffolk, who had not only attempted to
-revive the York faction, but had taken a high command in the French army.
-
-Henry himself, instead of crossing direct to Calais, ran down the coast
-as far as Boulogne, firing continually his artillery to terrify the
-French, and then returning, entered Calais amid a tremendous uproar of
-cannon from ships and batteries, announcing rather prematurely that
-another English monarch was come to conquer France. In order to effect
-this conquest, however, he found none of his allies fulfilling their
-agreements, except the Swiss, who, always alive at the touch of money,
-and having fingered that of Henry, were in full descent on the south of
-France, elated, moreover, with their victory over the French in the last
-Italian campaign. Maximilian, who had received 120,000 crowns, was not
-yet visible. But Henry's own officers had shown no remissness. Before
-his arrival, Lord Herbert and the Earl of Shrewsbury had laid siege to
-Terouenne, a town situate on the borders of Picardy, where they found a
-stout resistance from the two commanders, Teligni and Crequi. The siege
-had been continued a month, and Henry, engaged in a round of pleasures
-and gaieties in Calais amongst his courtiers, seemed to have forgotten
-the great business before him, of rivalling the Edwards and the fifth of
-his own name. But news from the scene of action at length roused him. The
-besieged people of Terouenne, on the point of starvation, contrived to
-send word of their situation to Louis, who despatched Fontrailles with
-800 Albanian horses, each soldier carrying behind him a sack of gunpowder
-and two quarters of bacon. Coming unawares upon the English camp, they
-made a sudden dash through it, up to the town fosse, where, flinging
-down their load, which was as quickly snatched up by the famishing
-inhabitants, they returned at full gallop, and so great was the surprise
-of the English that they again cut their way out and got clear off.
-
-[Illustration: MEETING OF HENRY AND THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. (_See p._
-108.)]
-
-On arriving before Terouenne, on the 4th of August, Henry was soon
-joined by Maximilian, the emperor. This strange ally, who had received
-120,000 crowns to raise and bring with him an army, appeared with only
-a miserable complement of 4,000 horse. Henry had taken up his quarters
-in a magnificent tent, blazing in silks, blue damask, and cloth of gold,
-but the bad weather had driven him out of it into a wooden house. To
-do honour to his German ally--who, by rank, was the first prince in
-Christendom--Henry arrayed himself and his nobles in all their bravery of
-attire. They and their horses were loaded with gold and silver tissue;
-the camp glittered with the display of golden ornaments and utensils;
-and, in this royal splendour, he rode at the head of his Court and
-commanders to meet and escort his guest. They encountered the emperor and
-his attendants clad in simple black, mourning for the recent death of
-the empress. But there was little opportunity for comparisons--for the
-weather was terrible; and they exchanged their greetings amid tempests
-of wind and deluges of rain. Maximilian, to prevent any too-well founded
-complaints as to the smallness of his force compared with the greatness
-of his position, his promises in the alliance, and his princely pay,
-declared himself only the king's volunteer, ready to serve under him as
-his own soldier, for the payment of 100 crowns a day. He adopted Henry's
-badge of the red rose, was adorned with the cross of St. George, and, by
-flattering Henry's vanity, made him forget all his deficiencies.
-
-The pleasure of receiving his great ally was somewhat dashed with bitter
-by the arrival of the Scottish Lion king-at-arms with the declaration of
-war from James IV., accompanied by the information that his master was
-already in the field, and had sent a fleet to the succour of the French
-king. Henry proudly replied that he left the Earl of Surrey to entertain
-James, who would know very well how to do it.
-
-[Illustration: HENRY AND THE CAPTURED FRENCH OFFICERS. (_See p._ 110.)]
-
-The French still continued to throw succours into Terouenne, in spite of
-the vigilance of the English. In this service no one was more active than
-the Duke of Angoulême, the heir-apparent to the crown, and afterwards
-Francis I. When the siege had lasted about six weeks, and the whole
-energy of the British army was roused to cut off these supplies of
-provisions and ammunition, the French advanced in great force to effect
-a diversion in favour of the place. A formidable display of cavalry
-issued from Blangy, and marched along the opposite bank of the Lis.
-As they approached Terouenne they divided into two bodies, one under
-Longueville, the other under the Duke of Alençon. Henry wisely followed
-the advice of Maximilian, who knew the country well, and had before this
-won two victories over the French in that very quarter. The troops were
-drawn out, and Maximilian crossed the river with his German horse and
-the English archers, also mounted on horseback. Henry followed with the
-infantry.
-
-The French cavalry, who had won a high reputation for bravery and address
-in the Italian campaigns, charged the united army brilliantly; but
-speedily gave way and rode off. The English archers and German horse gave
-chase; the French fled faster and faster, till in hot pursuit they were
-driven upon the lines of the main body, and threw them into confusion.
-This was, no doubt, more than was intended; for the probable solution
-of the mystery is, that the retreat of the advanced body of cavalry was
-a feint, to enable the Duke of Alençon to seize the opportunity of the
-pursuit by the English to throw the necessary supplies into the town.
-This he attempted. Dashing across the river, he made for the gates of the
-town, whence simultaneously was made an impetuous sally. But Lord Herbert
-met and beat back Alençon; and the Earl of Shrewsbury chased back the
-sallying party. In the meantime the feigned retreat of the decoy cavalry,
-by the brisk pursuit of the German and English horse, had become a real
-one. After galloping almost four miles before their enemies, they rushed
-upon their own main body with such fiery haste that they communicated
-a panic. All wheeled about to fly; the English came on with vehement
-shouts of "St. George!" "St. George!" The French commanders called in
-vain to their terror-stricken men to halt, and face the enemy; every
-man dashed his spurs into the flanks of his steed, and the huge army,
-in irretrievable confusion, galloped away, without striking a single
-blow. The officers, while using every endeavour to bring the terrified
-soldiers to a stand, soon found themselves abandoned and in the hands of
-the enemy. The Duke de Longueville, the famous Chevalier Bayard, Bussy
-d'Amboise, the Marquis of Rotelin, Clermont, and La Fayette, men of the
-highest reputation in the French army, were instantly surrounded and
-taken, with many other distinguished officers. La Palice and Imbrecourt
-were also taken, but effected their escape.
-
-When these commanders, confounded by the unaccountable flight of their
-whole army, were presented to Henry and Maximilian, who had witnessed
-the sudden rout with equal amazement, Henry, laughing, complimented them
-ironically on the speed of their men, when the light-hearted Frenchmen,
-entering into the monarch's humour, declared that it was only a battle
-of spurs, for they were the only weapons that had been used. The Battle
-of Spurs has ever since been the name of this singular action, though it
-is sometimes called the Battle of Guinegate, from the place where the
-officers were met with. This event took place on the 16th of August.
-
-The garrison of Terouenne, seeing that all hope of relief was now over,
-surrendered; but, instead of leaving a sufficient force in the place to
-hold it, Henry, at the artful suggestion of the emperor, who was anxious
-to destroy such a stronghold on the frontiers of his grandson Charles,
-Duke of Burgundy, first wasted his time in demolishing the fortifications
-of the town, and then, under the same mischievous counsel, perpetrated a
-still grosser error. Instead of marching on Paris, he sat down before
-Tournay, which Maximilian wished to secure for his grandson Charles. It
-fell after eight days' siege.
-
-Here ended this extraordinary campaign, where so much had been
-prognosticated, and what was done should have only been the
-stepping-stones to infinitely greater advantages. But Henry entered
-the city of Tournay with as much pomp as if he had really entered into
-Paris instead. Wolsey received the promised wealthy bishopric, and
-Henry gratified his overweening vanity by his favourite tournaments and
-revelries. Charles, the young Duke of Burgundy, accompanied by his aunt
-Margaret, the Duchess-Dowager of Savoy, and Regent of the Netherlands,
-hastened to pay his respects to the English monarch, who had been so
-successfully fighting for his advantage.
-
-During the reign of Henry VII., Charles had been affianced to Mary, the
-daughter of Henry, and sister of the present King of England. As he was
-then only four years of age, oaths had been plighted, and bonds to a
-heavy amount entered into by Henry and Maximilian for the preservation
-of the contract. The marriage was to take place on Charles reaching his
-fourteenth year. That time was now approaching; and, therefore, a new
-treaty was now subscribed, by which Maximilian, Margaret, and Charles
-were bound to meet Henry, Catherine, and Mary in the following spring to
-complete this union.
-
-Meantime, the Swiss, discovering what sort of an ally they had got,
-entered into a negotiation with Tremouille, the Governor of Burgundy,
-who paid them handsomely in money, promised them much more, and saw
-them march off again to their mountains. Relieved from those dangerous
-visitants, Louis once more breathed freely. He concentrated his forces
-in the north, watched the movements of Henry VIII. with increasing
-satisfaction, and at length saw him embark for England with a secret
-resolve to accumulate a serious amount of difficulties in the way of his
-return. France had escaped from one of the most imminent perils of its
-history by the folly of the vainglorious English king. Yet he returned
-with all the assumption of a great conqueror, and utterly unconscious
-that he had been a laughing-stock and a dupe.
-
-We have seen that James IV. of Scotland sent his declaration of war to
-Henry whilst he was engaged at the siege of Terouenne. Among the causes
-of complaint which James deemed he had against Henry was the refusal to
-deliver up the jewels left by Henry's father to the Queen Margaret of
-Scotland--a truly dishonest act on the part of the English monarch, who,
-with all the wasteful prodigality peculiar to himself, inherited the
-avaricious disposition of his father. No sooner, therefore, did Henry
-set out for France, than James despatched a fleet with a body of 3,000
-men to the aid of Louis, and by his herald at Terouenne, after detailing
-the catalogue of his own grievances, demanded that Henry should evacuate
-France. This haughty message received as haughty a reply, but James did
-not live to receive it.
-
-In August, whilst Henry still lay before Terouenne, on the very same
-day that the Scottish herald left that place with his answer, the peace
-between England and Scotland was broken by Lord Home, chamberlain to
-King James, who crossed the Border, and made a devastating raid on the
-defenceless inhabitants. His band of marauders, on their return, loaded
-with plunder, was met by Sir William Bulmer, who slew 500 of them upon
-the spot, and took 400 prisoners. Called to action by this disaster,
-James collected on the Burghmuir, to the south of Edinburgh, such an army
-as, say the writers of the time, never gathered round a king of Scotland.
-Some state it at 100,000 men; the lowest calculation is 80,000.
-
-James passed the Tweed on the 22nd of August, and on that and the
-following day encamped at Twizel-haugh. On the 24th, with the consent
-of his nobles, he issued a declaration that the heirs of all who were
-killed or who died in that expedition, should be exempt from all charges
-for wardship, relief, or marriage, without regard to their age. He
-then advanced up the right bank of the Tweed, and attacked the Border
-castle of Norham. This strong fortress was expected to detain the army
-some time, but the governor, rashly improvident of his ammunition, was
-compelled to surrender on the fifth day, August 29th. Wark, Etall,
-Heaton, and Ford Castles, places of no great consequence, soon followed
-the example of Norham. That accomplished, James fixed his camp on Flodden
-Hill, the east spur of the Cheviot Mountains, with the deep river Till
-flowing at his feet to join the neighbouring Tweed. In that strong
-position he awaited the approach of the English army.
-
-The Earl of Surrey, commissioned by Henry on his departure expressly to
-arm the northern counties and defend the frontiers from an irruption
-of the Scots, no sooner heard of the muster of James on the Burghmuir,
-than he despatched messages to all the noblemen and gentlemen of those
-counties to assemble their forces, and meet him on the 1st of September
-at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He marched out of York on the 27th of August,
-and, though the weather was wet and stormy, and the roads consequently
-very bad, he marched day and night till he reached Durham. There he
-received the news that the Scots had taken Norham, which the commander
-had bragged he would hold against all comers till Henry returned from
-France. Receiving the banner of St. Cuthbert from the Prior of Durham,
-Surrey marched to Newcastle, where a council of war was held, and the
-troops from all parts were appointed to assemble on the 4th of September
-at Bolton, in Glendale, about twenty miles from Ford, where the Scots
-were said to be lying.
-
-On the 4th of September, before Surrey had left Alnwick, which he had
-reached the evening before, he was joined, to his great encouragement,
-by his gallant son, Lord Thomas Howard, the Admiral of England, with a
-choice body of 5,000 men, whom Henry had despatched from France. From
-Alnwick the earl sent a herald to the Scottish king to reproach him with
-his breach of faith to his brother, the King of England, and to offer him
-battle on Friday, the 9th, if he dared to wait so long for his arrival.
-
-On the 6th of September, the Earl of Surrey had reached Wooler-haugh,
-within three miles of the Scottish camp.
-
-When Surrey came in sight, he was greatly struck with the formidable
-nature of James's position, and sent a messenger to him charging him
-with having shifted his ground after having accepted the challenge, and
-calling upon him to come down into the spacious plain of Millfield,
-where both armies could contend on more equal terms, the army of Surrey
-amounting to only 25,000 men. James, resenting this accusation, refused
-to admit the herald to his presence, but sent him word that he had sought
-no undue advantage, should seek none, and that it did not become an earl
-to send such a message to a king.
-
-This endeavour to induce James by his high and often imprudent sense
-of honour to weaken his position not succeeding, on the 8th Surrey at
-the suggestion of his son the Lord Admiral adopted a fresh stratagem.
-He marched northward, sweeping round the hill of Flodden, crossed the
-Till near Twizel Castle, and thus placed the whole of his army between
-James and Scotland. From that point they directed their march as if
-intending to cross the Tweed, and enter Scotland. On the morning of
-Friday, the 9th, leaving their night halt at Barmoor Wood, they continued
-this course, till the Scots were greatly alarmed lest the English
-should plunder the fertile country of the Merse, and they implored the
-king to descend and fight in defence of his country. Moved by these
-representations, and this being the day on which Surrey had promised to
-fight him, he ordered his army to set fire to their tents with all the
-litter and refuse of the camp, so as to make a great smoke, under which
-they might descend, unnoticed, on the English. But no sooner did the
-English perceive this, than also availing themselves of the obscurity
-of the smoke, they wheeled about, and made once more for the Till. As
-the reek blew aside, they were observed in the very act of crossing the
-narrow bridge of Twizel, and Robert Borthwick, the commander of James's
-artillery, fell on his knees and implored his sovereign to allow him
-to turn the fire of his cannon on the bridge, which he would destroy,
-and prevent the passage of Surrey's host. But James, with that romantic
-spirit of chivalry which seems to have possessed him to a degree of
-insanity, is said to have replied, "Fire one shot on the bridge, and I
-will command you to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. I will have all my
-enemies before me, and fight them fairly."
-
-Thus the English host defiled over the bridge at leisure, and drew up in
-a long double line, consisting of a centre and two wings, with a strong
-body of cavalry, under Lord Dacre, in the rear. They beheld the Scots,
-in like form, descending the hill in solemn silence. The two conflicting
-armies came into action about four o'clock in the afternoon by the mutual
-discharge of their artillery. The thunder and concussion were terrific,
-but it was soon seen that the guns of the Scots being placed too high,
-their balls passed over the heads of their opponents, whilst those of
-the English, sweeping up the hill, did hideous execution, and made the
-Scots impatient to come to closer fight. The master gunner of Scotland
-was soon slain, his men were driven from their guns, whilst the shot of
-the English continued to strike into the heart of the battle. The left
-wing of the Scots, under the Earl of Huntly and Lord Home, came first
-into contact with the right wing of the English, and fighting on foot
-with long spears, they charged the enemy with such impetuosity, that Sir
-Edmund Howard, the commander of that wing, was borne down, his banner
-flung to the earth, and his lines broken into utter confusion. But at
-this moment Sir Edmund and his division were suddenly succoured by the
-Bastard Heron. This movement was supported by the advance of the second
-division of the English right wing, under the Lord Admiral, who attacked
-Home and Huntly, and these again were followed by the cavalry of Lord
-Dacre's reserve.
-
-The Highlanders, under Home and Huntly, when they overthrew Sir Edmund
-Howard, imagined that they had won the victory, and fell eagerly to
-stripping and plundering the slain; but they soon found enough to do to
-defend themselves, and the battle then raged with desperate energy. At
-length the Scottish left gave way, and the Lord Admiral and the cavalry
-of Dacre next fell on the division under the Earls of Crawford and
-Montrose, both of whom were slain.
-
-On the extreme right wing of the Scottish army fought the clans of the
-Macleans, the Mackenzies, the Campbells, and Macleods, under the Earls
-of Lennox and Argyle. These encountered the stout bowmen of Lancashire
-and Cheshire, under Sir Edward Stanley, who galled the half-naked
-Highlanders so intolerably with their arrows, that they flung down their
-targets, and dashed forward with claymore and axe pell-mell amongst the
-enemy. The French commissioner, De la Motte, who was present, astounded
-at this display of wild passion and savage insubordination, assisted
-by other French officers, shouted, stormed, and gesticulated to check
-the disorderly rabble, and restrain them in their ranks. In vain! The
-English, for a moment surprised by this sudden furious onslaught, yet
-kept their ranks unbroken, and, advancing like a solid wall, flung back
-their disintegrated assailants, swept them before them, and despatched
-them piece-meal. The Earls of Argyle and Lennox perished in the midst of
-their unmanageable men.
-
-The two main bodies of the armies only were now left where James and
-Surrey were contending at the head of their troops, but with this
-difference, that the Scottish right and left were now unprotected, and
-those of James's centre were attacked on each side by the victorious
-right and left wings of the English. On one side Sir Edward Stanley
-charged with archers and pikemen, on the other Lord Howard, Sir Edmund
-Howard, and Lord Dacre were threatening with both horse and foot.
-
-[Illustration: EDINBURGH AFTER FLODDEN. (_See p._ 114.)]
-
-James and all his nobility about him in the main body were fighting on
-foot, and being clad in splendid armour, they suffered less from the
-English archers, who were opposed to them in the ranks of Surrey. On
-James's right hand fought his natural son, the accomplished Archbishop of
-St. Andrews. Soon the combatants became engaged hand to hand in deadly
-struggle with their swords, spears, pikes, and other instruments of
-death. Whilst hewing and cutting each other down in furious strife, face
-to face, life for life, showers of English arrows fell amid the Scottish
-ranks, and dealt terrible destruction to the less stoutly protected. When
-the Earls of Bothwell and Huntly rushed to the support of the main body
-on the one side, and Stanley, the Howards, and Dacre came to the aid of
-Surrey on the other, the strife became terrible beyond description, and
-the slaughter awful on every side of the environed Scots. Before the
-arrival of the reserves the Scots appeared at one time to have the best
-of it, and to be on the very edge of victory; and even after that James
-and the gallant band around him seemed to make a stupendous effort, as if
-they thought their sole hope was to force their way to Surrey and cut him
-down. James is said to have reached within a spear's length of him, when,
-after being twice wounded with arrows, he was despatched by a bill. This
-decided the day; the Scots, after suffering fearful losses, retreated
-next morning from the field, after holding Flodden Hill during the night.
-
-When the news of the Scottish overthrow reached Edinburgh, it plunged
-the inhabitants into terrible grief and dismay. Women, weeping and
-seeking for tidings of their friends, thronged the streets. But the
-civic authorities kept their heads in the crisis. They ordered all the
-inhabitants capable of bearing arms to assemble for the defence at the
-tolling of a bell. Women and strangers were required to remain at their
-work and not to frequent the streets "clamorand and cryand;" while women
-of higher station were to repair to church, to offer up prayers "for our
-Sovereign Lord and his army, and the townsmen who are with the army." The
-crisis soon passed. No invasion was ever likely in view of the serious
-losses which the English themselves had suffered, and the city in due
-course regained its wonted aspect.
-
-James IV., who fell at Flodden in the forty-first year of his age,
-and the twenty-fifth of his reign, was a prince of quick, generous,
-and chivalric character. Like his father, he had a taste for the
-arts, particularly those of civil and naval architecture; he built
-the great ship _St. Michael_, and several churches, and maintained a
-Court far superior in its elegance and refinement to that of any of his
-predecessors. On such a nature, Henry, by kind and even just treatment,
-might have operated so as to excite the most devoted friendship. As it
-was, a neighbouring nation, instead of a firm ally, had been made a
-more embittered enemy; its prince had been slain, and his kingdom left
-exposed, in the peculiar weakness of a long minority, to the ambitious
-cupidity of his royal uncle, whose overbearing designs only tended to
-defeat that union of the crowns which he was most anxious to ensure,
-and to perpetuate crimes, heartburnings, and troubles between the two
-governments, for two eventful generations yet to come. Henry, however,
-overlooking all these things, on returning home elate with his own
-useless campaign, and this brilliant but cruel victory, rewarded Surrey
-by restoring to him the title of Duke of Norfolk, forfeited by his father
-for his adherence to Richard III., and Lord Thomas Howard, his son,
-succeeded, for his part, to the title of Earl of Surrey, which had been
-his father's. Lord Herbert was made Earl of Somerset; and Sir Edward
-Stanley, Lord Monteagle. At the same time, his favourite, Sir Charles
-Brandon, Lord Lisle, the king elevated to the dignity of Duke of Suffolk.
-Wolsey, his growing clerical favourite, he made Bishop of Lincoln, in
-addition to his French bishopric of Tournay.
-
-Henry VIII. had returned from the Continent as much inflated with the
-idea of his military greatness as if he had been Henry V.; his allies, in
-the meantime, were laughing in their sleeves at the success with which
-they had duped him. It was true that he had seriously distressed Louis,
-but it was for the benefit of those allies, who had all reaped singular
-advantages from Henry's campaign and heavy outlay. The Pope had got Italy
-freed from the French; Ferdinand of Spain had got Navarre, and leisure
-to fortify and make it safe; and Maximilian had got Terouenne, Tournay,
-and command of the French frontiers on the side of Flanders, with a fine
-pension from England. It was now time to see what acknowledgment those
-allies were likely to make him for his expensive services, and they did
-not permit him to wait long. While he had been so essentially obliging
-to the Pope, his Holiness had sent four bulls into his kingdom, by every
-one of which he had violated the statutes of the realm, especially that
-of Provisors, taking upon himself to nominate bishops and to command the
-persecution of heretics. The pontiff now went farther, and made a secret
-treaty with Louis of France, by which he removed the excommunication from
-Louis, and the interdict from his kingdom, on condition that Louis should
-withdraw his countenance from the schismatic council of cardinals; but
-knowing Henry's vain character, the Pope, to prevent him from expressing
-any anger, sent him a consecrated sword and banner, with many fulsome
-compliments on his valour and royal greatness.
-
-Henry's father-in-law, Ferdinand, was growing old, and having obtained
-all that he wanted--Navarre--was most ready to listen to Louis' proposals
-for peace. Louis tempted him by offering to marry his second daughter,
-Rénée, to his grandson Charles, and to give her as her portion his claim
-on the duchy of Milan. Ferdinand not only accepted with alacrity these
-terms, without troubling himself about what Henry might think of such
-treachery, but engaged to bring over Maximilian, Henry's ally and paid
-agent, but still the grandfather of Charles. When the news of these
-transactions, on the part of his trusty confederates, reached Henry,
-he was for a while incredulous, and then broke into a fury of rage. He
-complained that his father-in-law had been the first to involve him with
-France by his great promises and professions, not one of which he had
-kept, and now, without a moment's warning, had not only sacrificed his
-interests for his own selfish purposes, but had drawn over the Emperor
-of Germany, who lay under such signal obligations to him. He vowed the
-most determined revenge. Here was Maximilian, for whom he had conquered
-Terouenne and Tournay, whom he had subsidised to the amount of 200,000
-crowns, and whose grandson Charles was affianced to his sister Mary, who
-had in a moment forgotten all these benefits and his engagement. As the
-time was come for the marriage of Charles and the Princess Mary, Henry
-sent a demand for its completion; Maximilian, who had already agreed to
-Louis' offer of his daughter Rénée, sent an evasive answer, and Henry's
-wrath knew no bounds. It was impossible for even his egregious vanity to
-blind him any longer to the extent to which he had been duped all round.
-
-Louis, having thus destroyed Henry's confederacy of broken reeds, next
-took measures to secure a peace with him. The Duke of Longueville, who
-was one of the prisoners taken at the Battle of Spurs, was in London, and
-instructed by Louis, kept his ears open to Henry's angry denunciations
-of his perfidious allies. He represented to him that Anne, the Queen of
-France, being dead, there was a noble opportunity of avenging himself on
-these ungrateful princes, and of forming an alliance with Louis which
-would make them all tremble. Mary, the Princess of England, might become
-Queen of France, and thus a league be established between England and
-France which would decide the fate of Europe.
-
-Henry's resentment and wounded honour would of themselves have made him
-close eagerly with this proposal; but he saw in it the most substantial
-advantages, and in a moment made up his mind. He had the policy, however,
-to appear to demur, and said his people would never consent for him to
-renounce his hereditary claims on France, which must be the case if such
-an alliance took place. They would ask themselves what equivalent they
-should obtain for so great a surrender. The shrewd Frenchman understood
-the suggestion; he communicated what passed to his Government, and
-proposals were quickly sent to meet Henry's views. Louis agreed to pay
-Henry a million crowns in discharge of all arrears due to Henry VII.
-from Charles VIII., &c.; and Henry engaged to give his sister a dower
-of 200,000 crowns, to pay the expenses of her journey, and to supply
-her with jewels--probably those of which he had defrauded the Scottish
-queen. The two kings agreed to assist each other, in case of any attack,
-by a force of 14,000 men, or, in case of any attack by either of them on
-another power, by half that number. This treaty was to continue for the
-lives of the two kings, and a year longer.
-
-Thus was the Holy League, as it had been called, for the defence of the
-Pope and the Church against the King of France entirely done away with;
-and this great pretence was not so much as mentioned in any one of these
-treaties which put an end to it. The King of France strove hard to obtain
-Tournay again; but, though it was evidently Henry's interest to restore
-it, his favourite Wolsey, apprehensive of losing the profits of the
-bishopric, successfully opposed its restoration. Wolsey and Fox of Durham
-were Henry's plenipotentiaries for the management of the treaty, which
-was signed on the 7th of August, 1514.
-
-By this treaty, Mary Tudor, Princess Royal of England, a remarkably
-beautiful young woman of sixteen, and passionately attached to Charles
-Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the handsomest and most accomplished man of
-Henry's Court, was handed over to the worn-out Louis of France, who was
-fifty-three in years, and much older in constitution.
-
-But this unnatural political _mésalliance_ was not destined to be of long
-duration. Louis wrote in the course of December to Henry, expressing his
-happiness in possessing so excellent and amiable a wife, and on the
-1st of January he expired. The dissipation at Court, consequent on his
-marriage, is stated in the "Life of Bayard" to have precipitated his end.
-"For the good king, on account of his wife, had changed the whole manner
-of his life. He had been accustomed to dine at eight o'clock, now he had
-to dine at noon; he had been accustomed to retire to rest at six in the
-evening, and now he had often to sit up till midnight." Louis was greatly
-beloved by his subjects, who regarded him as a brave, upright, and wise
-prince, and gave him the honourable title of "the Father of his People."
-Mary promptly married her old lover, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
-Henry was angry at first, but the storm soon lulled. Wolsey is said
-to have been in the secret from the first, and such was his influence
-now, that a much more difficult matter would have given way before it.
-The young couple were received into favour, and ordered by Henry to be
-re-married before him at Greenwich--an event which took place on the 13th
-of May, 1515. So far was the part which Francis I. had taken in this
-matter from being resented, that he and Henry renewed all the engagements
-which existed between Louis and Henry, and so satisfactorily that they
-boasted that they had made a peace which would last for ever.
-
-We have had frequent occasion already to introduce the name of Wolsey;
-we shall have still more frequent and more surprising occasion to repeat
-that name: and it is therefore necessary to take a complete view of the
-man who was now rapidly rising into a prominence before Europe and the
-world, such as has few examples in history, in one whose origin was as
-mean as his ascent was dazzling, and his fall sudden and irrevocable.
-
-In the reign of Henry VII. we find first the name of Thomas Wolsey coming
-to public view as the private secretary of the king at the time of the
-forced visit of the Archduke Philip to the English Court. This originally
-obscure clergyman was born in 1471 at Ipswich, where his father was
-a wealthy butcher, and, therefore, could afford to give his son an
-education at the university. Probably the worthy butcher was induced to
-this step by a perception of the lad's uncommon cleverness, for at Oxford
-he displayed so much talent that he was soon distinguished by the title
-of the "Boy Bachelor." He became teacher of the grammar-school adjoining
-Magdalen College, and among his pupils were the sons of the Marquis of
-Dorset, on whom he so far won that he gave him the somewhat valuable
-living of Lymington, in Somersetshire. This might seem substantial
-promotion for the butcher's son, but an eagle, though hatched in the nest
-of a barn-door fowl, is sure to soar up towards the sun. Thomas Wolsey
-was not destined to the obscurity of a country parish. The same abilities
-and address which won him the favour of the marquis were capable of
-attracting far higher patrons.
-
-Leaving his country parish, he seems to have been introduced to Fox, the
-Bishop of Winchester, and minister to Henry VII., who introduced him to
-the king, who was so much satisfied with him that he made him one of the
-royal chaplains. In this position the extraordinary talents and Court
-aptitude of Wolsey soon became apparent to the cautious old king. He
-employed him in sundry matters requiring secrecy and address. He was soon
-advanced to the deanery of Lincoln, and office of the king's almoner.
-Wolsey was Henry VII.'s envoy to the Duchess of Savoy when that amorous
-monarch had fallen in love with her fortune.
-
-On the accession of Henry VIII., Wolsey rose still higher in the favour
-of the youthful monarch. Henry was but nineteen. Wolsey was forty; yet
-not a young gallant about the Court could so completely adapt himself
-to the fancy of the young pleasure-loving and power-loving king. In
-a very few months he was Henry's bosom friend--the associate in all
-his gaieties, the repository of all his secrets, the dispenser of all
-his favours, and, in reality, his only confidential minister. Henry
-seemed wrapped in admiration at the union of intellect and courtly
-accomplishment in the wonderful man. He gave him a grant of all
-deodands and forfeitures of felony, and went on continually adding to
-these other offices, benefices, and grants. In November, 1510, he was
-admitted a member of the Privy Council, and from that time he was really
-Prime Minister. Henry could move nowhere without his great friend and
-counsellor. He took him with him on his expedition to France in 1513,
-there conferred on him the wealthy bishopric of Tournay, and on his
-return made him Bishop of Lincoln, and gave him the opulent Abbey of St.
-Albans _in commendam_.
-
-The ascent of Wolsey was now rapid. From the very commencement of his
-career at Court no man had been able to stand before him. Bishop Fox
-had first recommended his introduction into the Privy Council because,
-growing old himself, he perceived that the Earl of Surrey, afterwards
-conqueror of Flodden, and Duke of Norfolk, was winning higher favour
-with the king than the ancient bishop; because his martial tastes and
-more courtly character were more attractive to Henry. Wolsey soon showed
-himself so successful that he not only cast Surrey, but his own patron,
-into the shade. In everything Wolsey could participate in the monarch's
-pursuits and amusements. Henry had already an ambition of literary and
-polemic distinction. He had studied the school divinity, and was an
-ardent admirer of Thomas Aquinas. Here Wolsey was quite at home; for he
-was a widely read man, and would, as a matter of course, soon refresh
-himself on any learned topic which was his master's hobby. While he
-flattered the young king's vanity, he was ready to contribute to his
-whims and his pleasures.
-
-[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP WARHAM. (_From the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-On the 14th of July, 1514, Leo X. addressed a letter to Henry, informing
-him that his ambassador, Cardinal Bambridge, the Archbishop of York,
-had died that day; and that, at the request of the deceased, he had
-promised not to appoint a successor till he had learnt the pleasure of
-his Majesty. This pleasure, there can be no doubt, was already known;
-and that the Pope, like every one now, perceiving the power of the
-favourite, was ready to conciliate him. The king at once named Wolsey
-to his Holiness, and showed that he was quite satisfied that that
-nomination would be confirmed by at once placing the archbishopric and
-all its revenues in the custody of the favourite. Thus was this great
-son of fortune at once possessed of the Archbishopric of York, the
-Bishoprics of Tournay and Lincoln, the administration of the Bishoprics
-of Worcester, Hereford, and Bath, the possessors of which were Italians,
-who resided abroad, and were glad to secure a portion of their revenues
-by resigning to the native prelate the rest. Henry even allowed Wolsey,
-with the See of York, to unite that of Durham, as he afterwards did that
-of Winchester. The Pope, seeing more and more the marvellous influence
-of the man, before this year was out made him a cardinal. "For," says
-Hall, "when he was once archbishop, he studied day and night how to be
-a cardinal, and caused the king and the French king to write to Rome
-for him." Leo found a strong opposition amongst the cardinals to this
-promotion; but, desirous to oblige both Henry and Francis, he declared
-him a cardinal in full consistory, on September 11th.
-
-My Lord Cardinal Wolsey almost immediately received a fresh favour
-from the Pope, who appointed him legate in England. This commission
-was originally limited to two years, but Wolsey never relinquished the
-office. He obtained from succeeding Popes a continuation of the post,
-asking from time to time even fresh powers, till he at length exercised
-within the realm almost all the prerogatives of the Pontiff. The only
-step above him now was the Papacy itself, and on that dignity he had
-already fixed his ambitious eye.
-
-From the moment that Wolsey saw himself a cardinal and Papal legate,
-as well as chief favourite of the king, his ambition displayed itself
-without restraint, and we shall have to paint, in his career, one of the
-most amazing instances of the pride, power, and grandeur of a subject.
-When his cardinal's hat was brought to England, he sent a splendid
-deputation to meet the bearer of it at Blackheath, and to conduct him
-through London, as if he had been the Pope himself. He gave a reception
-of the hat in Westminster Hall, which more resembled a coronation than
-the official investiture of a subject and a clergyman. His arrogance and
-ostentation disgusted the king's old ministers and courtiers. The Duke of
-Norfolk, with all his military glory, found himself completely eclipsed,
-and absented himself from Court as much as possible, though he still held
-the office of Treasurer. Fox, the venerable Bishop of Winchester, who
-had been the means of introducing Wolsey, found himself superseded by
-him, and, resigning his office of Keeper of the Privy Seal, retired to
-his diocese. On taking his leave, the aged minister was bold enough to
-caution Henry not to make any of his subjects greater than himself, to
-which the bluff king replied that he knew how to keep his subjects in
-order. The resignation of Fox was followed by that of Archbishop Warham,
-who delivered the Great Seal on the 22nd of December, 1515, resigning his
-office of Chancellor. Henry immediately handed over the seal to Wolsey,
-who now stood on the pinnacle of power, almost alone. He was like a great
-tree which withered up every other tree which came within its shade, and
-even the kingly power itself seemed centred in his hands. For the next
-ten years he may be said to have reigned in England, and Henry himself
-to have been the nominal, and Wolsey the real king. Well might he, in
-addressing a foreign power, say, "_Ego et rex meus_:" "I and my king."
-
-Whilst the great looked on all this grandeur in obsequious but resentful
-silence, the people settled it in their own minds that the wonderful
-power of the priest over the fiery nature of the monarch was the effect
-of sorcery. But Wolsey was no mean or ordinary man. His talents and his
-consummate address were what influenced the king, who was proud of the
-magnificence which was at once his creation and his representative; and
-Wolsey had a grasp, an expanse, and an elevation in his ambition, which
-had something sublime in them. Though he was in the receipt of enormous
-revenues, he had no paltry desire to hoard them. He employed them in this
-august state and mode of living, which he regarded as reflecting honour
-on the monarch whose chief minister he was, and on the Church in which
-he held all but the highest rank. He devoted his funds liberally to the
-promoting of literature. He sent learned men to foreign courts to copy
-valuable manuscripts, which were made accessible by his vast influence.
-He built Hampton Court Palace, a residence fit only for a monarch, and
-presented it to Henry as a gift worthy such a subject to such a king. He
-built a college at Ipswich, his native place, and was in the course of
-erecting Christ Church at Oxford when his career was so abruptly closed.
-Besides that, he endowed seven lectureships in Oxford.
-
-The peace which Henry had made with the young monarch of France was not
-destined to be of long continuance. Francis I. soon had the misfortune to
-offend both Henry and Wolsey, and in their separate interests. James IV.
-of Scotland had left by his will the regency of his kingdom to his widow.
-The Convention of the States confirmed this arrangement, but on condition
-that the queen remained unmarried. James V., her son, of whom she was
-to retain the guardianship, was on his father's death an infant of only
-a year-and-a-half old. In less than seven months after the death of her
-husband, Margaret was delivered of a second son, Alexander, Duke of Ross;
-and in less than three months after that she married, in defiance of the
-Convention of the States, Douglas, Earl of Angus, a young man of handsome
-person, but of an ambitious and headstrong character. This marriage gave
-great offence to a large number of the nobility, especially those who had
-a leaning to France. They asserted that Henry of England, the queen's
-brother, notwithstanding that he had deprived her of her husband, and
-notwithstanding her difficult position as the widowed mother of an infant
-king, so far from supporting her, took every opportunity to attack her
-borders. They therefore recommended that they should recall from France
-John, Duke of Albany, the son of Alexander, who had been banished by his
-brother James III., and place the regency in his hands. Albany, though of
-Scottish origin, was a Frenchman by birth, education, and taste. He had
-not a foot of land in Scotland, but in France he had extensive demesnes,
-and stood high in favour of the monarch.
-
-[Illustration: _By permission, from the Painting in the City of London
-Corporation Art Gallery._
-
-CARDINAL WOLSEY GOING IN PROCESSION TO WESTMINSTER HALL
-
-_By Sir John Gilbert_, R.A., P.R.W.S.]
-
-At the head of the party in opposition to the queen was Lord Home, on
-whose conduct at Flodden aspersions had been cast. By him and his party
-it was that Albany was invited to Scotland. Henry was greatly alarmed at
-this proposition, and for some time the fear of a breach induced Francis
-I. to restrain Albany from accepting the offer. Yet in May, 1515, Albany
-made his appearance in Scotland. He found that kingdom in a condition
-which required a firm and determined hand to govern it. The nobility,
-always turbulent, and kept in order with difficulty by the strongest
-monarchs, were now divided into two factions, for and against the queen
-and her party. Lord Home, by whom Albany had chiefly been invited, had
-the ill-fortune to be represented to Albany, immediately on his arrival,
-as, so far from a friend, one of the most dangerous enemies of legitimate
-authority in the kingdom. Home, apprised of this representation, and of
-its having taken full effect on the mind of Albany, threw himself into
-the party of the queen, and urged her to avoid the danger of allowing
-the young princes to fall into the hands of Albany, who was the next
-heir to the crown after them, and was, according to his statement, a
-most dangerous and ambitious man. Moved by these statements, Margaret
-determined to escape to England with her sons, and put them under the
-powerful protection of their uncle Henry.
-
-Henry had himself made similar representations to her, for nothing would
-suit his views on the crown of Scotland so well as to have possession
-of the infant heirs. But Albany was quickly informed of the queen's
-intentions; he besieged the castle of Stirling, where she resided with
-the infant princes, compelled her to surrender, and obtaining possession
-of the princes, placed them in the keeping of three lords appointed by
-Parliament. Margaret herself, accompanied by her husband Angus, and Lord
-Home, succeeded in escaping to England, where she was delivered of a
-daughter.
-
-The part which Francis I. evidently had in permitting the passage of
-Albany to Scotland, and in supporting his party there, had given great
-offence to Henry. He sent strong remonstrances through his ambassador
-to Francis, complaining that Albany had been permitted to leave France
-and usurp the government of Scotland, contrary to the treaty; and that
-by this means the Queen of Scotland, the sister of the King of England,
-had been driven from the regency of the kingdom and the guardianship of
-her children. Francis I. endeavoured to pacify Henry by assurances that
-Albany's conduct had received no countenance from him, but that he had
-stolen away at the urgent solicitation of a strong body of nobles in
-Scotland. Henry was not convinced, but there was nothing to be obtained
-by further remonstrances, for Francis was at this moment at the head of a
-powerful army, while Henry, having spent his father's hoards, was not in
-a condition for a fresh war without the sanction of Parliament.
-
-Francis was bent on prosecuting the vain scheme of the conquest of
-Milan, which had already cost his predecessors and France so much. He
-had entered into alliance with Venice and Genoa, and trusted to be able
-easily to overcome Maximilian Sforza the native Prince; Sforza, on his
-part, depended upon the support of the Pope and the Swiss. Francis
-professed, in the first place, that his design was to chastise the
-hostile Swiss. These hardy people had fortified those passes in the Alps
-by which they calculated that the French would attempt to pass towards
-Milan, but Francis made his way with 60,000 troops over the mountains
-in another direction, a large part of his army taking the way to the
-left of Mount Genèvre, a route never essayed by any army before. The
-Swiss mercenaries in the service of Sforza, thus taken by surprise, were
-rapidly defeated by the French, and were on the point of capitulation,
-when their countrymen, who had been watching to intercept Francis and his
-army, seeing that he had stolen a march upon them, descended from their
-mountains, 20,000 strong, and came to the relief of their countrymen
-under the walls of Milan. At Marignano, Francis won a great victory over
-them on September 13th, 1515.
-
-The effect at the English Court of this brilliant success was to heighten
-extremely that discontent with Francis which Henry had shown at the very
-moment that the chivalric young French king had set out for Italy. Henry,
-who was ambitious of military renown, was stung to the quick by it, and
-his envious mood was artfully aggravated by the suggestions of Wolsey.
-
-On the 12th of November, 1515, Parliament was summoned to meet. Henry
-had caught a very discouraging glimpse of the iron at the bottom of his
-father's money-chests, and was, therefore, obliged to ask supplies from
-his subjects. His application does not appear to have been successful,
-and Parliament was therefore dissolved on the 22nd of December, and was
-never called again till the 31st of July, 1523, an interval of eight
-years. A Parliament which would not grant money was not likely to be a
-very favourite instrument with Henry, and this still less so, because it
-had involved him in a contention with the Convocation. The Convocation
-had dared to claim exemption for the clergy from the jurisdiction of
-the secular courts. The clergy in Henry's interest resisted this claim;
-it was brought before Parliament, and both the Lords and Commons, as
-well as the judges, decided against the Convocation. Henry, who was at
-once as fond of power and as bigoted as the Church, found himself in
-a most embarrassing dilemma, but declared that he would maintain the
-prerogatives of the Crown, and was glad to get rid of the dispute by the
-dismissal of Parliament.
-
-On the 8th of February, 1516, Queen Catherine gave birth to a daughter,
-who was named Mary, and who survived to wear the crown of England. In
-the previous month died the queen's father, Ferdinand of Spain, one of
-the most cunning, grasping, and unprincipled monarchs that ever lived,
-but who had by his Machiavelian schemes united Spain into one great
-and compact kingdom, and whose sceptre Providence had extended, by the
-discovery of Columbus, over new and wonderful worlds. His grandson
-Charles, already in possession of the territories of the house of
-Burgundy, and heir to those of Austria, succeeded him, as Charles V.
-Henry had just entered into a commercial treaty with Charles, as regarded
-the Netherlands, and perceiving the vast power and greatness which must
-centre in Charles--for on the death of Maximilian, who was now old, he
-would also become Emperor of Germany--he was anxious to unite himself
-with him in close bonds of interest and intimacy. To this end, he gave
-a commission to Wolsey, assisted by the Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop
-of Durham, to cement and conclude a league with the Emperor Maximilian
-and Charles, the avowed object of which was to combine for the defence
-of the Church, and to restrain the unbridled ambition of certain
-princes--meaning Francis.
-
-The sordid Emperor Maximilian, who had so often and so successfully made
-his profit out of the vanity of Henry, seeing him so urgent to cultivate
-the favour of his grandson Charles, thought it a good opportunity to
-draw fresh sums from him. Maximilian was now tottering towards his
-grave, but he was not the less desirous to pave his way to it with gold.
-In a confidential conversation, therefore, with Sir Robert Wingfield,
-the English ambassador at his Court, he delicately dropped a hint
-that he was grown weary of the toils and cares attending the Imperial
-office. Pursuing the theme, he pretended great admiration for the King
-of England; he declared that amongst all the princes of Christendom,
-he could see none who was so fitted to succeed him in his high office,
-and at the same time become the champion and protector of Holy Church
-against its enemies. He therefore proposed to adopt Henry as his son,
-for a proper consideration. According to his plan, Henry was to cross
-the Channel with an army. From Tournay he was to march to Trèves, where
-Maximilian was to meet him, and resign the empire to him, with all the
-necessary formalities. Then the united army of English and Germans was to
-invade France, and, whilst they thus sufficiently occupied the attention
-of Francis, Henry and Maximilian, with another division, were to march
-upon Italy, crossing the Alps at Coire, to take Milan, and, having
-secured that city, make an easy journey to Rome, where Henry was to be
-crowned emperor by the Pope.
-
-In this wild-goose scheme--which equally ignored the fact that Charles
-V. was the grandson of Maximilian, heir of his kingdom, and therefore
-neither by the natural affection of the emperor, nor by the will of
-his subjects, likely to be set aside for a King of England; and the
-difficulty, the impossibility almost, of the accomplishment of the
-enterprise by two such monarchs as Maximilian and Henry--only one thing
-was palpable, that Maximilian would give his blessing to the stipulated
-son for these impossible honours, and then would as quickly find a reason
-for abandoning the extravagant scheme as he had already done that of
-taking Milan. Yet it is certain that, for the moment, it seized on the
-imagination of Henry, and he despatched the Earl of Worcester and Dr.
-Tunstall, afterwards Bishop of Durham, to the Imperial Court, to settle
-the conditions of this notable scheme. Tunstall, who was not only an
-accomplished scholar, but a solid and shrewd thinker, no sooner reached
-the Court of Maximilian than he saw at a glance the hollowness of the
-plot and of the Imperial plotter. He, as well as Dr. Richard Pace, the
-ambassador at Maximilian's Court, quickly and honestly informed Henry
-that it was a mere scheme to get money.
-
-[Illustration: HAMPTON COURT PALACE.]
-
-These honest and patriotic statements perfectly unmasked the wily old
-Maximilian, and Henry escaped the snare. Francis I., having also now
-secured the duchy of Milan, set himself to conciliate two persons whose
-amity was necessary to his future peace and security. These were the
-Pope and Henry of England. The balance of power on the Continent, it was
-clear, would lie between Francis and Charles V., the King of Spain. On
-the death of Maximilian, Charles would be ruler of Austria, and, in all
-probability, Emperor of Germany. It would be quite enough for Francis
-to contend with the interests of Charles, whose dominions would then
-stretch from Austria, with the Imperial power of Germany, through the
-Netherlands to France, and reappear on the other boundary of France, in
-Spain, without having that gigantic dominion backed by the co-operation
-of England. Francis had seen with alarm the cultivation of friendship
-recently between these two formidable neighbours. To counteract these
-influences, the French king whilst in Italy had an interview with the
-Pope at Bologna, where he so won upon his regard that the Pontiff agreed
-to drop all opposition to the possession of Milan by the French.
-
-Having secured himself in this quarter, Francis returned to France, and
-knowing well that the only way to the good graces of Henry was through
-the all-powerful Cardinal Wolsey, he caused his ambassador in England
-to endeavour to win the favour of the great minister. This was not to
-be done otherwise than by substantial contributions to his avarice, and
-promises of service in that greatest project of Wolsey's ambition, the
-succession to the Popedom. Wolsey was at this time in the possession of
-the most extraordinary power in England. His word was law with both king
-and subject. To him all men bowed down, and while he conferred favours
-with regal hand, he did not forget those who had offended him in the days
-of his littleness. Not only English subjects, but foreign monarchs sought
-his favour with equal anxiety. The young King of Spain, to secure him to
-his views, and knowing his grudge against the King of France, conferred
-on him a pension of 3,000 livres a year, styling him, in the written
-grant, "his most dear and especial friend."
-
-Thus were the kings of Spain and France paying humble homage to this
-proud churchman and absolute minister of England at the same moment.
-But Francis felt that he must outbid the King of Spain, and he resolved
-to do it. He commenced, then, by reminding him how sincerely he had
-rejoiced at his elevation to the cardinalate, and how greatly he
-desired the continuance and increase of their friendship, and promised
-him whatever it was in his power to do for him. These were mighty and
-significant words for the man who could signally aid him in his designs
-on the Popedom, and who could settle all difficulties and doubts about
-the bishopric of Tournay, hitherto such a stumbling-block between them.
-The letters of Francis were spread with the most skilful, if not the
-most delicate flatteries; he called him his lord, his father, and his
-guardian, told him he regarded his counsels as oracles; and whilst they
-increased the vanity of the cardinal most profusely, he accompanied his
-flatteries by presents of many extremely valuable and curious things.
-
-Being assured by Villeroi, his resident ambassador at London, that the
-cardinal lent a willing ear to all these things, Francis instructed the
-ambassador to enter at once into private negotiation with Wolsey for the
-restoration of Tournay, and an alliance between the two crowns. This
-alliance was to be cemented by the affiancing of Henry's daughter, Mary,
-then about a year-and-a-half old, to the infant dauphin of France, but
-recently born! The price which Wolsey was to receive for these services
-being satisfactorily settled between himself and Francis, the great
-minister broke the matter to his master in a manner which marks the
-genius of the man, and his profound knowledge of Henry's character. He
-presented some of the superb articles which Francis had sent him to the
-king, saying, "With these things hath the King of France attempted to
-corrupt me. Many servants would have concealed this from their masters,
-but I am resolved to deal openly with your grace on all occasions. This
-attempt, however," added he, "to corrupt a servant is a certain proof
-of his sincere desire for the friendship of the master." Oh! faithful
-servant! Oh! open and incorruptible man! Henry's vanity was so flattered
-that he took in every word, and looked on himself as so much the greater
-prince to have a minister thus admired and courted by the most powerful
-monarchs.
-
-The way to negotiation was now entirely open. Francis appointed William
-Gouffier, Lord of Bonivet, Admiral of France; Stephen Ponchier, Bishop
-of Paris; Sir Francis de Rupecavarde and Sir Nicholas de Neuville his
-plenipotentiaries. They set out with a splendid train of the greatest
-lords and ladies of France, attended by a retinue of 1,200 officers
-and servants. Francis knew that the way to ensure Henry's favourable
-attention was to compliment him by the pomp and splendour of his embassy.
-The French plenipotentiaries were introduced to Henry at Greenwich,
-on the 22nd of September, 1518, and Wolsey was appointed to conduct
-the business on the part of the King of England. When they went to
-business the ambassadors of Francis prepared the way for the greater
-matters by producing a grant, already prepared, and, therefore, clearly
-agreed upon beforehand, which they presented to Wolsey, securing him a
-pension of 12,000 livres a year, in compensation for the cession of the
-bishopric of Tournay. This was a direct and palpable bribe; but there
-was no troublesome and meddlesome Opposition in the House of Commons in
-those days to demand the production of papers, and the impeachment of
-corrupt ministers. With such a beginning the terms of treaty were soon
-settled. They embraced four articles:--A general contract of peace and
-amity betwixt the two kings and their successors, _for ever_; a treaty
-of marriage betwixt the two little babies, the Dauphin and Mary Tudor;
-the restitution of Tournay to France for 600,000 crowns; and, lastly, an
-agreement for a personal interview between the two monarchs, which was to
-take place on neutral ground between Calais and Ardres, before the last
-day of July, 1519.
-
-But while Wolsey was deeply occupied in his plans and preparations for
-the royal meeting, an event occurred which for a time arrested the
-attention of Europe. This was the death of the Emperor Maximilian, and
-the vacancy in the Imperial office. Francis I. and Charles of Spain
-were the two candidates for its occupation, and the rivalry of these two
-monarchs seems to have again awakened in Henry the same wish, though
-the plain statements of Bishop Tunstall had for a time suppressed it.
-He despatched a man of great learning, Dr. Richard Pace, to Germany, to
-see whether there were in reality any chance for him. The reports of
-Pace soon extinguished all hope of such event, and Henry, with a strange
-duplicity, then sent off his "sincere longings for success" to both of
-the rival candidates, Francis and Charles!
-
-Francis declared to Henry's ambassador, Sir Thomas Boleyn, that he would
-spend three millions of gold, but he would win the Imperial crown; but
-though the German electors were notoriously corrupt, and ready to hold
-out plausible pretences to secure as much of any one's money as they
-could, from the outset there could be no question as to who would prove
-the successful candidate. The first and indispensable requisite for
-election was, that the candidate must be a native of Germany, and subject
-of the Empire, neither of which Francis was, and both of which Charles
-was. Charles was not only grandson of Maximilian, and his successor to
-the throne of Austria, and therefore of a German royal house, but he was
-sovereign of the Netherlands, which were included in the universal German
-empire.
-
-Even where Francis placed his great strength--the power of bribing the
-corrupt German electors, the petty princes of Germany, for the _people_
-had no voice in the matter--Charles was infinitely beyond him in the
-power of bribery. He was now monarch of Spain, of the Netherlands,
-of Naples and Sicily, of the Indies, and of the gold regions of the
-newly-discovered America. Nor was Francis at all a match for Charles in
-the other power which usually determines so much in these contests--that
-of intrigue. Francis was open, generous, and ardent; Charles cool,
-cautious, and, though young, surrounded by ministers educated in the
-school of the crafty Ferdinand and the able Ximenes to every artifice
-of diplomatic cunning. Still more, the vulpine Maximilian, at the very
-time that he was attempting to wheedle Henry of England out of his money,
-on pretence of securing the Imperial dignity for him, had paved the way
-for his own grandson, by assiduous exertions and promises amongst the
-electors--promises which Charles was amply able to fulfil. Accordingly,
-after a lavish distribution of both French and Spanish gold amongst the
-elector-princes of Germany, Charles was declared emperor on the 28th of
-June, 1519. Francis, though he professed to carry off his disappointment
-with all the gaiety of a Frenchman, was deeply and lastingly chagrined by
-the event; and though he and Charles must, under any circumstances, have
-been rivals for the place of supremacy on the Continent of Europe, there
-is no doubt that this circumstance struck much deeper the feeling which
-led to that gigantic struggle between them, which, during their lives,
-kept Europe in a constant state of warfare and agitation.
-
-Both Charles and Francis were intensely anxious to secure the preference
-of Henry, because his weight thrown into either balance must give it a
-dangerous preponderance. Both, therefore, paid assiduous court to him,
-and still more, though covertly, to his all-powerful minister, Wolsey.
-Francis, aware of the impulsive temperament of Henry, prayed for an early
-fulfilment of the visit agreed upon of Henry to France. It was decided
-that the interview should take place in May. The news of this immediately
-excited the jealousy of Charles, and his ambassadors in London expressed
-great dissatisfaction at the proposal. Wolsey found he had a difficult
-part to play, for he had great expectations from both monarchs, and he
-took care to make such representations to each prince in private, as to
-persuade him that the real affection of England lay towards him, the
-public favour shown to the rival monarch being only a matter of political
-expedience. When the Spanish ambassadors found they could not put off
-the intended interview, they proposed a visit of their master to the
-King of England previously, on his way from Spain to Germany. This was
-secretly arranged with the cardinal, but was to be made to appear quite
-an unpremeditated occurrence.
-
-Accordingly, before the king set out for Calais, Charles, according to
-the secret treaty with Wolsey, sent that minister a grant under his privy
-seal, from the revenue of the two bishoprics of Badajoz and Placentia,
-of 7,000 ducats. Henry set forward from London to Canterbury, on his
-way towards Dover and Calais, attended by his queen and court, with a
-surprising degree of splendour. Whilst lying there, he was surprised, as
-it was made to appear, by the news that the emperor had been induced by
-his regard for the king to turn aside on his voyage towards his German
-dominions, and had anchored in the port of Hythe, on the 26th of May,
-1520. As soon as this news reached Henry, he despatched Wolsey to receive
-the emperor and conduct him to the castle of Dover, and Henry himself
-set out and rode by torchlight to Dover, where he arrived in the middle
-of the night. It must have been a hospitably inconvenient visit at that
-hour, for Charles, fatigued by his voyage, had gone to bed, and was awoke
-from a sound sleep by the noise and bustle of the king's arrival. He
-arose, however, and met Henry at the top of the stairs, where the two
-monarchs embraced, and Henry bade his august relative welcome. The next
-day, being Whitsunday, they went together to Canterbury, the king riding
-with the emperor on his right hand, the Earl of Derby carrying before
-them the sword of State.
-
-From the cathedral the emperor was conducted by his royal host to the
-palace of the archbishop, where he was for the time quartered. For three
-days the archiepiscopal palace was a scene of the gayest festivities;
-nothing was omitted by Henry to do honour to his august relative; and
-nothing on the part of Charles to win upon Henry, and detach him from the
-interests of France. Nor the less assiduously did the politic emperor
-exert himself to secure the services of Wolsey. He saw that ambition was
-the great passion of the cardinal, and he adroitly infused into his mind
-the hope of reaching the Popedom through his influence and assistance.
-Nothing could bind Wolsey like this fascinating anticipation. Leo X.
-was a much younger man than himself; but this did not seem to occur to
-the sanguine spirit of the cardinal, for "all men think all men mortal
-but themselves;" whilst to Charles the circumstance made his promise
-peculiarly easy, as he could scarcely expect to be called upon to fulfil
-it.
-
-On the fourth day Charles embarked at Sandwich for the Netherlands,
-less anxious regarding the approaching interview of Henry and Francis,
-for he had made an ardent impression on the king, and had put a strong
-hook into the nose of his great leviathan--the hope of the triple crown.
-Simultaneously with the departure of Charles, Henry, his queen and court,
-embarked at Dover for Calais; and on the 4th of June, 1520, Henry, with
-his queen, the Queen Dowager of France, and all his court, rode on to
-Guines, where 2,000 workmen, most of them clever artificers from Holland
-and Flanders, had been busily engaged for several months in erecting a
-palace of wood for their reception.
-
-The meeting-place was called, from the splendour of the retinues of the
-two monarchs, the "Field of the Cloth of Gold," but it did little to
-cement the alliance between England and France.
-
-On the 25th of June the English Court returned to Calais; half the
-followers of the nobles were sent home, and then preparations were made
-for visiting the emperor at Gravelines, and receiving a visit from him
-at Calais. By the 10th of July all was ready, and Henry set out with a
-splendid retinue. He was met on the way, and conducted into Gravelines by
-Charles, with every circumstance of honour and display. Charles, whose
-object was avowedly to efface any impression which Francis and the French
-might have made on the mind of Henry at the late interview, had given
-orders to receive the English with every demonstration of friendship and
-hospitality, and his orders were so well executed that the English were
-enchanted with their visit.
-
-On the departure of Charles, Henry and his court embarked for Dover,
-returning proud of his sham prowess and mock battles, and of all his
-finery, but both himself and his followers loaded with a fearful amount
-of debt for this useless and hypocritical display. When the nobles
-and gentlemen got home, and began to reflect coolly on the heavy
-responsibilities they had incurred for their late showy but worthless
-follies, they could not help grumbling amongst themselves, and even
-blaming Wolsey, as loudly as they dared, as being at the bottom of the
-whole affair. One amongst them was neither nice nor cautious in his
-expressions of chagrin at the ruinous and foolish expense incurred, and
-denounced the proud cardinal's ambition as the cause of it all. This was
-the Duke of Buckingham. He was executed in 1521 on the absurd charge of
-having intercourse with astrologers.
-
-The various causes of antipathy between Francis I. and Charles V., which
-had been long fomenting, now reached that degree of activity when they
-must burst all restraint. War was inevitable. The first breach was made
-by Francis. At this crisis Charles appealed to Henry to act as mediator,
-according to the provisions of the treaty of 1518. Henry at once accepted
-the office, and entered upon it with high professions of impartiality and
-of his sincere desire to promote justice and amity, but really with about
-the same amount of sincerity as was displayed by each of the contending
-parties. Francis had certainly been the aggressor, and Charles, having
-intercepted some of his letters, had already convinced Henry, to whom he
-had shown them, that the invasion of both Spain and Flanders was planned
-in the French cabinet. Henry's mind, therefore, was already made up
-before he assumed the duty of deciding; and Charles, from being aware of
-this, proposed his arbitration. Henry, moreover, was anxious to invade
-France on his own account, spite of treaties and the dallyings of the
-Field of the Cloth of Gold, but he had not yet the funds necessary. With
-these feelings and secrets in his own heart, Henry opened his proposal
-of arbitration to Francis by declarations of the extraordinary affection
-which he had contracted for him at the late interview.
-
-[Illustration: HENRY VIII. (_After the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-There was no alternative for the French king but to acquiesce in the
-proposal; the place of negotiations was appointed to be Calais, and,
-of course, Wolsey was named as the only man able and fitting to decide
-between two such great monarchs--Wolsey, who was bound hand and foot to
-the emperor by the hope of the Popedom. It was a clear case that Francis
-must be victimised, or the negotiation must prove abortive. Wolsey set
-out with something more than regal state to decide between the kings.
-In addition to his dignity of Papal legate _a latere_, he received the
-extraordinary powers of creating fifty counts-palatine, fifty knights,
-fifty chaplains, and fifty notaries; of legitimising bastards, and
-conferring the degree of doctor in medicine, law, and divinity. By
-another bull, he was empowered to grant licences to such as he thought
-proper to read the heretical works of Martin Luther, in order that some
-able man, having read them, might refute them. This was to pave the
-way for a royal champion of the Catholic Church against Luther and the
-devil, and that such a champion was already at work we shall shortly have
-occasion to show. Such were the pomp and splendour of the cardinal, that
-when he continued his journey into the Netherlands, with his troops of
-gentlemen attending him, clad in scarlet coats, with borders of velvet
-of a full hand's breadth, and with massive gold chains: when they saw
-him served on the knee by these attendants, and expending money with
-the most marvellous profusion, Christian, King of Denmark, and other
-princes then at the Court of the Emperor at Bruges, were overwhelmed with
-astonishment, for such slavish homage was not known in Germany.
-
-Wolsey landed at Calais on the 2nd of July, 1521, and was received
-with great reverence. The ambassadors of the emperor had taken care to
-be there first, that they might secretly settle with Wolsey all the
-points to be insisted on. The French embassy arrived the next day, and
-the discussions were at once entered upon with all that air of solemn
-impartiality and careful weighing of propositions which such conferences
-assume, when the real points at issue have been determined upon privately
-beforehand by the parties who mean to carry out their own views. The
-French plenipotentiaries alleged that the emperor had broken the treaty
-of Noyon of 1516, by retaining possession of Navarre, and by neglecting
-to do homage for Flanders and Artois, fiefs of the French crown. On
-the other hand, the Imperial representatives retorted on the French
-the breach of the treaty of Noyon, and denounced in strong terms the
-late invasion of Spain and the clandestine support given to the Duke of
-Bouillon. The cardinal laboured to bring the fiery litigants to terms,
-but the demands of the emperor were purposely pitched so high that it was
-impossible. The differences became only the more inflamed; and on the
-Imperial chancellor, Gattinara, declaring that he could not concede a
-single demand made by his master, and that he came there to obtain them
-through the aid of the King of England, who was bound to afford it by the
-late treaty, Wolsey said that there, of necessity, his endeavours must
-end, unless the emperor could be induced to modify his expectations; and
-that, as his ambassador had no power to grant such modification, rather
-than all hope of accommodation should fail, he would himself take the
-trouble to make a journey to the Imperial Court, and endeavour to procure
-better terms. Nothing could appear more disinterested on the part of
-the cardinal, but the French ambassadors were struck with consternation
-at the proposal. They were too well aware of the cardinal's leaning
-towards Charles; they did not forget the coquetting of the English and
-the emperor both before and after the meeting at the Field of the Cloth
-of Gold; and they opposed this proposal of Wolsey with all their power.
-But their opposition was useless. There can be no doubt that the prime
-object of Wolsey in his embassy was to make this visit to Charles for his
-own purpose, and that it had been agreed upon between himself and Charles
-before he left London. In vain the French protested that such a visit,
-made by the umpire in the midst of the conference to one of the parties
-concerned, was contrary to all ideas of the impartiality essential to a
-mediator; and they declared that, if the thing was persisted in, they
-would break off the negotiation and retire. But Wolsey told them that if
-they did not remain at Calais till his return, he would pronounce them in
-the wrong, as the real aggressors in the war, and the enemies to peace
-and to the King of England. There was nothing for it but to submit.
-
-The cardinal set out on his progress to Bruges on the 12th of August,
-attended by the Imperial ambassadors and a splendid retinue of prelates,
-nobles, knights, and gentlemen, amounting altogether to 400 horsemen.
-The emperor met him a mile out of Bruges, and conducted him into the
-city in a kind of triumph. Thirteen days--a greater number than had been
-occupied at Calais--were spent in the pretended conferences for reducing
-the emperor's demands on France, but in reality in strengthening Wolsey's
-interest with Charles for the Popedom, and in settling the actual
-terms of a treaty between Charles, the Pope, and the King of England
-for a war against France. So deep was the hypocrisy of these parties,
-that before Wolsey had quitted the shores of England he had received a
-commission from Henry investing him with full authority to make a treaty
-of confederacy with the Pope, the emperor, the King of France, or any
-other potentate, offensive or defensive, which the king bound himself
-to ratify; the words "King of France, or other king, prince, or state,"
-being clearly inserted to cover with an air of generality the particular
-design. The proposed marriage between the Dauphin and the Princess Mary
-was secretly determined to be set aside, and a marriage between Charles
-and that princess was agreed upon; and, moreover, it was settled that
-Charles should pay another visit to England on his voyage to Spain.
-Writing from Bruges to Henry, Wolsey told him all this, and added that
-it was to be kept a profound secret till Charles came to England, so
-that, adds Wolsey, "convenient time may be had to put yourself in good
-readiness for war."
-
-After all this scandalous treachery--called in State language
-diplomacy--Wolsey returned to Calais, and resumed the conferences, as
-if he were the most honest man in the world, and was serving two kings
-about as honest as himself. He proposed to the plenipotentiaries a plan
-of a pacification, the conditions of which he knew the French would never
-accept. All this time hostilities were going on between Francis and the
-emperor. The emperor had taken Mouzon and laid siege to Mézières, and
-Francis, advancing, raised the siege, but was checked in his further
-pursuit of the enemy by the Count of Nassau. At this crisis Wolsey
-interposed, insisting that the belligerents should lay down their arms,
-and abide the award of King Henry; but this proposal was by no means
-likely to be met with favour on the part of the French, after what had
-been going on at Bruges, and therefore Wolsey pronounced that Francis was
-the aggressor, and that Henry was bound by the treaty to aid the emperor.
-
-This was but a very thin varnish for the proceedings which immediately
-took place at Calais, and revealed the result of the interview at Bruges,
-in an avowed treaty between the Pope, the emperor, and Henry, by which
-they arranged--in order to promote an intended demonstration against the
-Turks, and to restrain the ambition of Francis--that the three combined
-powers should, in the spring of 1523, invade France simultaneously from
-as many different quarters; that, if Francis would not conclude a peace
-with the emperor on the arrival of Charles in England, Henry should
-declare war against France, and should break off the proposed marriage
-between the Dauphin and the Princess Mary.
-
-In the meantime, the united forces of the Pope and Charles had prevailed
-in Italy, and expelled the French from Milan; the emperor had made
-himself master of Tournay, for which Francis had lately paid so heavy
-a price, and all the advantages that the French could boast of in
-the campaign to balance these losses were the capture of the little
-fortresses of Hesdin and Bouchain. Wolsey landed at Dover on the 27th
-of November, after the discharge of these important functions, having
-laid the foundation of much trouble to Europe, by destroying the balance
-of power between France, the Empire, and Spain, which it was the real
-interest of Henry to have maintained; and having equally inconvenienced
-the Government at home by carrying the Great Seal with him, so that those
-who had any business with it were obliged to go over to Calais, and so
-that there could be no nomination of sheriffs that year. But his power
-at this period was unlimited, and nothing could open Henry's eyes to his
-mischievous and inflated pride--not even his placing himself wholly on
-a par with the king in the treaty just signed, when he made himself a
-joint-guarantee, as if he had been a crowned head.
-
-Wolsey had laboured assiduously and unscrupulously for Charles V. in
-furtherance of his own ambitious views. What convulsions disorganised
-Europe, what nations suffered or triumphed, troubled him not, so long
-as he could pave the way to the Papal chair. The time which was to test
-the gratitude of Charles came much sooner than any one had anticipated.
-Leo X., who was in the prime of life, elated with the expulsion of the
-French from Italy, was occupied in celebrating the triumph with every
-kind of public rejoicing. The moment he heard of the fall of Milan he
-ordered a _Te Deum_, and set off from his villa of Magliana to Rome,
-which he entered in triumph; but that very night he was seized with a
-sudden illness, and on the 1st of December, but a few days afterwards,
-it was announced that he was dead, at the age of only forty-six. Strong
-suspicions of poison were entertained, and it was believed that it had
-been administered by his favourite valet, Bernabo Malaspina, who was
-supposed to have been bribed to it by the French party.
-
-The news of Leo's death travelled with speed to England, and Wolsey, who,
-amid all his secret exertions to attain the Papal tiara, had declared
-with mock humility that he was too unworthy for so great and sacred a
-station, now threw off his garb of indifference, and despatched Dr. Pace
-to Rome, with the utmost celerity, to promote his election; and he sent
-to put the emperor in mind of his promises. On the 27th of December the
-conclave commenced its sittings. Another of the Medici family, Cardinal
-Giulio, appeared to have the majority of votes, but for twenty-three days
-the election remained undecided. The French cardinals opposed Giulio with
-all the persevering virulence of enemies smarting under national defeat.
-Numbers of others were opposed to electing a second member of the same
-family, and Giulio, growing impatient of the stormy and interminable
-debates which kept him from attending to pressing affairs out of doors,
-suddenly nominated Cardinal Adrian, a Belgian. This extraordinary stroke
-was supposed to be intended merely to prolong the time, till Giulio
-could throw more force into his own party; but Cardinal Cajetan, a
-man of great art and eloquence, who knew and admired the writings of
-Adrian, and had probably suggested his name to Giulio, advocated his
-election with such persuasive power, that Adrian, though a foreigner,
-and personally unknown, was carried almost by acclamation. And thus, as
-Lingard observes, within nine years from the time when Julius drove the
-barbarians out of Italy, a barbarian was seated as his successor on the
-Papal throne.
-
-The cardinals had no sooner elected the new Pope than they appeared to
-wake from a dream, and wondered at their own work. The act appeared to be
-one of those sudden impulses which seize bodies of people in a condition
-of great and prolonged excitement, and they declared that it must have
-been the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. As for Wolsey, it does not appear
-that his sincere friend the emperor, who had protested that he would have
-him elected if it were at the head of his army, moved a finger in his
-behalf. The proud cardinal, however, was obliged to swallow his chagrin,
-and wait for the next change, Adrian being already an old man; and Dr.
-Pace remained at Rome to congratulate the new Pontiff on his arrival, and
-solicit a renewal of his legatine authority.
-
-Francis at this crisis made strenuous efforts to regain the friendship of
-Henry. Probably he thought that the disappointment of Wolsey might cool
-his friendship for the emperor, or, which was the same thing, diminish
-his confidence in his promises; whilst Charles was very well aware that
-Wolsey was much more serviceable to him as minister of England than he
-could be or would be as Pope. Francis attacked Henry on his weakest
-side--his vanity. He heaped compliments upon him, and entreated that if
-he could not be his fast and avowed friend, he would, at least, abstain
-from being his enemy. To give force to his flatteries, he held out hopes
-of increasing his annual payments to England; and when that did not
-produce the due effect, he stopped the disbursements of that which he had
-been wont to remit. Finding that even this did not influence Henry, who
-was kept steady by Wolsey, he laid an embargo on the English shipping in
-his ports, and seized the property of the English merchants.
-
-At this act of decided hostility Henry was transported with one of those
-fits of rage which became habitual in after years. As if he had not long
-been plotting against Francis, and preparing to make war upon him--as
-if he had not coolly and even insolently repulsed all his advances and
-offers of advantage and alliance--he regarded Francis as an aggressor
-without any cause, ordered the French ambassador to be confined to his
-house, all Frenchmen in London to be arrested, and despatched an envoy to
-Paris with a mortal defiance. What particularly exasperated Henry was the
-news that a whole fleet, loaded with wine, had been seized at Bordeaux,
-and the merchants and seamen thrown into prison. The English were ordered
-to make reprisals, and this was the actual state of things when Sir
-Thomas Cheney, his ambassador, announced by dispatch that the envoy had
-declared war on the 21st of May at Lyons; to which the king had replied,
-"_I_ looked for this a great while ago; for, since the cardinal was at
-Bruges, I looked for nothing else." The wily manoeuvres of Wolsey had
-deceived nobody.
-
-On the 26th of May, only five days after the declaration of war with
-France, the Emperor Charles V. landed at Dover. The passion of Henry had
-precipitated the outbreak of hostilities, for it was not intended that
-war should be declared till Charles was on the eve of departure from
-England, so that he might continue his voyage in safety to Spain. The
-king, however, received his illustrious guest with as much gaiety and
-splendour as if nothing but peace were in prospect. Wolsey waited on
-Charles at the landing-place, and, after embracing him, led him by the
-arm to the castle, where Henry soon welcomed him with great cordiality.
-Charles calculated much, in the approaching war, on the fleet of Henry;
-and, to show him its extent and equipment, Henry conducted him to the
-Downs, and led him over all his ships, especially his great ship, _Henri,
-Grâce à Dieu_, which was considered one of the wonders of the world. He
-then conducted his Imperial guest by easy journeys to Greenwich, where
-the Court was then residing, and introduced him to his aunt, the queen,
-and her infant daughter, whom it was arranged that he should marry.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SHIP OF HENRY VIII. (_From the Drawing by Holbein._)]
-
-On the 6th of June Henry conducted the emperor with great state into
-London, where the inhabitants received him with a variety of shows and
-pageants. Sir Thomas More spoke the emperor's welcome in a learned
-oration, and there was a profusion of Latin verses in honour of the
-occasion. The two monarchs feasted, hunted, and rode at tournaments,
-whilst their ministers were busily employed in carrying out the terms
-agreed upon at Bruges into a treaty, which was signed on the 19th at
-Windsor. The subject of this treaty was the marriage of Charles with
-the infant Princess Mary, which the two monarchs bound themselves to
-see completed, under a penalty, in case of breach of engagement, of
-400,000 crowns. Charles also engaged to indemnify Henry for the sums of
-money due to him from Francis; and, what was most extraordinary, both
-monarchs bound themselves to appear before Cardinal Wolsey in case of
-any dispute, and submit absolutely to his decision, thus making a subject
-the arbiter of monarchs.
-
-The emperor also engaged to indemnify the cardinal for _his_ losses
-in breaking with Francis, by a grant of 9,000 crowns annually; thus
-paying this proud priest for being the author of the war. Yet, after
-all his courting and flattering of Wolsey, after again assuring him of
-his determination to set him in the Papal chair, it is certain that he
-hated the man, and used him only as a tool. His aunt, Queen Catherine,
-had deeply resented the cardinal's pursuit of the Duke of Buckingham to
-death, for whom she entertained a high regard; and Wolsey was aware of
-it, and never forgave her. It was, probably, in reply to Catherine's
-relation of this tragic event that Charles, whilst on this visit, was
-overheard to say, "Then the butcher's dog has pulled down the fairest
-buck in Christendom"--a witticism which flew all over the Court, and was
-not forgotten by the vindictive Wolsey.
-
-Having agreed that each was to bring 40,000 men into the field, that
-France was to be attacked simultaneously on the north and the south, and
-that Charles was to co-operate with the English for the re-conquest of
-Guienne, the emperor embarked on the 6th of July, and pursued his voyage
-to Spain.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_continued_).
-
-     The War with France--The Earl of Surrey Invades that Country--More
-     elected Speaker--Henry and Parliament--Revolt of the Duke of
-     Bourbon--Pope Adrian VI. dies--Clement VII. elected--Francis
-     I. taken Prisoner at the Battle of Pavia--Wolsey grows
-     unpopular--Change of Feeling at the English Court--Treaty with
-     France--Francis I. regains his Liberty--Italian League, including
-     France and England, against the Emperor--Fall of the Duke of
-     Bourbon at the Siege of Rome--Sacking of Rome, and Capture of the
-     Pope--Appearance of Luther--Henry writes against him--Is styled
-     by the Pope "Defender of the Faith"--Anne Boleyn--Henry applies
-     to the Pope for a Divorce from the Queen--The Pope's Dilemma--War
-     declared against Spain--Cardinal Campeggio arrives in England to
-     decide the Legality of Henry's Marriage with Catherine--Trial of
-     the Queen--Henry's Discontent with Wolsey--Fall of Wolsey--His
-     Banishment from Court, and Death--Cranmer's Advice regarding the
-     Divorce--Cromwell cuts the Gordian Knot--Dismay of the Clergy--The
-     King declared Head of the Church of England--The King's Marriage
-     with Anne Boleyn--Cranmer made Archbishop--The Pope Reverses the
-     Divorce--Separation of England from Rome.
-
-
-On the departure of the emperor, Henry commanded the Earl of Surrey to
-scour the Channel before him; and Charles, out of compliment to Henry,
-named Surrey, who was Lord Admiral of England, also admiral of his own
-fleet of one hundred and eighty sail. Surrey, having seen Charles safely
-landed in Spain, returned along the coast of France, ravaging it on all
-accessible points. He landed at Cherbourg, in Normandy, burnt the town
-of Morlaix, in Brittany, and many other maritime villages, houses of
-the people, and castles of the aristocracy. This was preparatory to the
-great invasion which Henry contemplated. For this purpose he had recalled
-Surrey from Ireland, where he had conducted himself with much ability,
-repressed the disorders of the natives, and won the esteem of the chief
-population. Henry now gave him the command of the army destined to invade
-France. That army, Henry boasted, should consist of forty thousand men;
-but the question was, whence the money was to come for its assembly and
-payment. The Field of the Cloth of Gold, and the entertainment of the
-emperor, following on many other extravagances, had entirely dissipated
-the treasures which his father had left him; and, as he was now
-endeavouring to rule without a parliament, he was compelled to resort to
-those unconstitutional measures of forced loans, which had always covered
-with odium the monarchs who used them.
-
-In this unpopular attempt Wolsey was his instrument, and the work he
-had now to do ensured him a plentiful growth of dislike. In the first
-place, he exacted a loan of £20,000 from the merchants of London, and
-scarcely had he obtained possession of it, when he summoned the leading
-citizens before him, and demanded fresh advances. On the 20th of August,
-1522, the lord mayor, aldermen, and the most substantial merchants
-of London appeared before him, to whom he announced that the king had
-sent commissioners into the whole realm, to inquire into the actual
-rents of the lands in each township, what were the names of the owners
-and occupiers, and what was the value of each man's movable property.
-According to his account, a new Domesday Book was in preparation; and
-he, moreover, informed them that his Majesty had ordered a muster in the
-maritime counties of all the men betwixt the ages of sixteen and sixty,
-to enrol their names, and the names of the lords of whom they held their
-lands.
-
-The deputation returned to the city in deep dejection, and made out their
-lists of such as were merchants and dealers and reputed men of substance.
-These men, then, themselves waited on the cardinal, and besought him not
-to put them to their oath as to their real amount of property, for that
-it was difficult for themselves to make a correct estimate of it, and
-that, in fact, many an honest man's credit was more than his substance.
-Wolsey replied that he "dare swear that the substance of London was
-no less than two millions of gold." From this it was obvious that the
-cardinal expected from them at least £200,000. But the citizens replied,
-"Would to God the city were so rich, but it is sore afflicted by the
-occupying of strangers!" The cardinal promised to see that that should be
-rectified, and that their loans should be repaid them out of the first
-subsidy voted by Parliament, which it was intended to call. But the
-victims did not appear much cheered by these assurances: they knew that
-Henry was not fond of calling parliaments. If he meant it, why borrow
-money when it could be voted? And they went away, saying that for the
-last loan some lent a fifth, and now to ask a tenth again was too much.
-
-By these means, however, money enough was raised to put an army in
-motion. About the middle of August the Earl of Surrey landed at Calais
-with 12,000 men, paid by the king, and 3,000 volunteers. There he was
-joined by a body of German, Flemish, and Spanish horse, making a total
-force of 16,000. At the head of these he advanced through Picardy and
-Artois, desolating the country as he went, burning the defenceless towns,
-the castles of the nobles, and the huts of the peasants, and destroying
-whatever they could not carry off as spoil. They left the fortified
-cities, making no attempt except against Hesdin, which they soon quitted,
-finding their artillery not of weight enough. The French, under the
-Duke de Vendôme, avoided a general engagement, but they harassed the
-outskirts of the army, cut off the supplies, and occasionally a number
-of stragglers. The weather was the great ally of the French, for it was
-extremely rainy and cold, and occasioned dysentery to break out in the
-camp. On the appearance of this fatal foe, the foreign troops hastily
-retired into Béthune, and Surrey soon after led back his main body to
-Calais, having done the French much mischief, but obtained no single
-advantage except the seizure of a quantity of booty.
-
-Francis, meantime, had not only kept his army hovering in front of the
-invaders, but he had sent active emissaries to rouse the Irish and Scots,
-and thus to distract the attention of the English. In Ireland he turned
-his attention to the Earl of Desmond, who still maintained in a great
-measure his independence of the English Crown. Francis offered him an
-annual pension, on condition that he should take up arms in Ireland
-against the English power, and the earl, moreover, seduced by the promise
-that a French army would be sent over, engaged to join it, and never
-to lay down his arms till he had won for himself a strong dominion in
-the island, and the remainder for Richard de la Pole, the heir of the
-house of York. But Francis, having obtained his object by the very alarm
-created by this negotiation, never sent any troops, never paid the Earl
-of Desmond any annuity, and the unfortunate chieftain was left to pay the
-penalty of his rash credulity in the vengeance of the English Government.
-
-In Scotland affairs assumed a more formidable aspect. After the return of
-Margaret, the queen-mother, from England, she quarrelled with her weak
-but headstrong husband, the Earl of Angus, and in 1521 sent and invited
-her old antagonist, the Duke of Albany, to return to Scotland from
-France, promising to support him at the head of the Government. Nothing
-could suit the views of France better than this, for it was already
-menaced by Henry of England. Albany landed at Gairloch on the 19th of
-November, and thence hastened to the queen at Stirling. This strange,
-bold, and dissimulating woman, who had all the imperiousness and the
-sensuality of a Tudor, received him with open arms, and entered at once
-on such terms of familiarity with him as scandalised all Scotland.
-
-Her husband and his relatives, the Douglases, being summoned by the
-regent before Parliament, fled towards the Borders, and took refuge in
-the kirk of Steyle. By means of the celebrated Gawin Douglas, the Bishop
-of Dunkeld, and one of Scotland's finest poets, who was the uncle of
-Angus, the fugitives opened a communication with Henry of England. The
-bishop represented the conduct of Margaret as of the most flagitious
-kind, attributing to her the design of marrying Albany, and setting aside
-her own son. It was even asserted, and Lord Dacre, warden of the Western
-Marches, joined in the assertion, that the life of the young king was
-in danger, and as much from his own mother as from Albany. There is no
-question that the conduct of Margaret was most disgraceful; and though
-Albany was anxious to establish quietness and order in Scotland, and to
-obtain peace with England, the emissaries of Henry took care to foment
-strife between the nobles and the Government. Lord Dacre was--according
-to the system introduced by Henry VII., and continued so long as there
-was a Tudor on the throne of England--plentifully supplied with money
-to bribe the most powerful nobles, especially the Homes, to harass the
-Government by their factions.
-
-[Illustration: STIRLING FROM THE ABBEY CRAIG.
-
-(_From a 'photograph by G. W. Wilson and Co., Aberdeen._)]
-
-It was in vain, therefore, that Queen Margaret wrote to her brother, the
-King of England, protesting that the accusations against her were base
-and abominable calumnies, that the Duke of Albany ruled by the choice
-and advice of Parliament, and that without him there would be no peace
-in Scotland, nor safety for the king or herself. Henry only replied by
-upbraiding her with living in shameful adultery, and insisting that
-Albany should quit Scotland, or that he would make war upon it. He did
-not stop there--he made the same demand of Parliament, and hearing that
-Margaret was applying to the Pope for a divorce from Angus, in order to
-marry Albany, he exerted all his influence with the Church to prevent it.
-The Scottish Parliament, notwithstanding it contained many traitors, made
-such by Henry's gold, yet rejected his proposition for the dismissal of
-Albany; whereupon Henry ordered all Scottish subjects found in England
-to be driven with insult over the Borders, having a white cross marked
-upon their backs. And at the same time that he sent Surrey to France,
-in the spring of 1522, he also bade the Earl of Shrewsbury march across
-the Tweed to punish the Scots. Shrewsbury obeyed the order with great
-celerity, and speedily laid waste the fine pastoral country round Kelso,
-but was met by a superior force and driven back, not however before he
-had aroused great indignation among the people at the wantonness of his
-attack and the outrages upon innocent folk and their property with which
-it was accompanied.
-
-[Illustration: CARDINAL WOLSEY. (_From the Portrait by Holbein_).]
-
-Instead, therefore, of an invasion of Scotland by the English, Henry was
-threatened with a descent of the Scots on his own kingdom, whilst the
-gallant Surrey was absent in France. The Duke of Albany, incensed at the
-reproaches of Henry regarding his connection with Queen Margaret, at the
-demands for his extradition, and at the ferocious inroad of the Earl of
-Shrewsbury, declared war against England, with the consent of Parliament.
-He called for the muster of all the feudal force of the kingdom, and the
-call was answered with such promptness that he beheld himself at the head
-of 80,000 men. With such a force, nothing would have been easier to all
-appearance than to have overrun the north of England, left almost wholly
-destitute of defence. But though the Scottish people were in earnest,
-there was treason not only in the camp, but in the very tent of Albany.
-The money of Dacre was in the pockets of the most powerful nobles, who
-silently but actively spread disunion through his host; and worst of
-all, Margaret, who, like her brother, was continually roving in her
-affections from one person to another, was already weary of Albany, and
-was in covert communication with Lord Dacre, and betraying the secrets
-and plans of Albany to him. It is said that Henry, through Lord Dacre,
-had completely corrupted the queen, probably by assisting her with money,
-but still more by offering to receive her again to his favour, and to
-secure her interests by marrying Mary, the Princess of England, to her
-son, the young King of Scots. Influenced by these hopes, the unprincipled
-queen exerted herself to weaken the measures of Albany, and to diminish
-the influence of France in the country as much as possible.
-
-Albany, therefore, though he advanced to the banks of the Tweed, and even
-reached within a few miles of Carlisle, found the spirit of his host
-continually on the decline. On the other hand, Lord Dacre had expended
-his money in extensive bribery, and was almost destitute of soldiers; yet
-he pretended that a great army was on the march to him, which would show
-the Scots another Flodden Field, and so imposed on Albany that he was
-willing to treat instead of being ready to fight. He engaged to disband
-his forces if Dacre would engage to keep back the imaginary advancing
-troops of England. Wolsey, who was watching in the northern counties with
-deep anxiety the result of this contest between military multitudes and
-political cunning, could not sufficiently express his astonishment, as
-he saw the stupendous armament of Scotland melt away before the empty
-bugbears of Lord Dacre's creation. "By the great wisdom and policy of my
-Lord Dacre, and by means of the safe-conduct lately sent at the desire
-and contemplation of the Queen of Scots, the said Duke of Albany hath,
-our Lord be praised, not only forborne his invasion, but also dissolved
-his army; which, being dispersed, neither shall nor can, for this year,
-be gathered or assembled again." And the cardinal proceeds to give us a
-specimen of the easy nature of his political morality, in saying, "And
-yet the said abstinence [armistice] concluded by my Lord Dacre, _he_ not
-having your authority for the same, _nothing bindeth your grace_; but,
-at your liberty, ye may pursue your wars against the said Scots, if it
-shall be thought to your highness convenable." On the 11th of September,
-1522, the treaty between Albany and Dacre was concluded, and Albany went
-over to France for fresh supplies of men and money, leaving the Earls of
-Huntly, Arran, and Argyle to administer affairs during his absence. Thus,
-about the same time, Henry saw his French and his Scottish campaign for
-that year terminated.
-
-His great and difficult business was now to raise the necessary funds for
-prosecuting his further designs against France. For eight years he had
-forborne to call a Parliament, but to postpone longer a summons of this
-engine of supply was not possible. He had pushed to the extreme point
-all the modes, legal and illegal, of extracting funds from his subjects;
-and the reluctance with which his last forced loan had been conceded,
-and the solemn promises which he had made to call a Parliament, left
-him no alternative. No king who ever reigned had a higher notion of the
-royal prerogative, and the hearty commendation he afterwards bestowed on
-Charles V. for destroying the last vestiges of free institutions in Spain
-showed plainly what he would fain have carried out in England. But sturdy
-as was his Tudor soul, he found that the English people had an equally
-stubborn will, and on the 15th of April, 1523, he summoned a Parliament
-at Blackfriars, London, where Wolsey sat at his feet as Chancellor.
-
-The Commons chose, as was supposed through the influence of the Court,
-Sir Thomas More as Speaker. Sir Thomas was not only a man of profound
-learning, but a felicitous genius, and extremely witty. His conversation
-was greatly relished by the queen, who had introduced him to the private
-suppers with the king, who became as much fascinated by his society. Sir
-Thomas was evidently well aware of the difficult part which he would
-have to sustain in such a post, for he hung back from it, declaring
-how unfit he was for it. But Wolsey, who calculated greatly on his
-genius, protested that he was qualified for it by his great abilities
-and judgment more than almost any man. After a few days' session of
-Parliament, Wolsey went down to the House, contrary to all custom and
-privilege, and presented a royal message, to the effect that Francis,
-by his conduct, had made a war absolutely necessary, that the honour of
-the country was deeply concerned, and that it was a fine opportunity for
-England to recover all that it had lost in that country. He concluded his
-address by recommending them to vote immediately a property-tax of twenty
-per cent., which would raise the sum of £800,000.
-
-Such a sum had never before been asked by any English king in his wildest
-dreams of foreign conquest. The House sat as if thunderstruck, and in
-profound silence. Wolsey had imagined that his presence, surrounded by
-all the symbols of his grandeur, would completely overawe the House; and
-that with a Court favourite of such distinction as Sir Thomas More, he
-should carry the monstrous demand by surprise. He had, therefore, come
-environed by his pompous retinue of prelates and nobles, and with his
-silver pillars and crosses, his maces, his poleaxes, his hat and Great
-Seal borne before him. But not all his magnificence moved the Commons
-where its privileges had been thus grossly invaded, and its money was
-thus boldly demanded. The whole House sat as silent as the senate of
-Rome when Brennus and his savage Gauls burst in upon it. Wolsey gazed
-upon them in amazement, looking from one to another. The proud cardinal
-then addressed a member by name. The member arose, bowed, and sat down
-again without uttering a word. Still more surprised at this dumb show,
-Wolsey called upon another member for an explanation, but obtained none.
-Growing wrathful, for he was not accustomed to such treatment, he broke
-out:--"Masters, as I am sent here by the king, it is not unreasonable to
-expect an answer. Yet, unless it be the manner of your House, as very
-likely it may, by your Speaker only in such cases to express your mind,
-here is, without doubt, a most marvellous silence."
-
-Whilst he said this, he looked fixedly and angrily at Sir Thomas More,
-unquestionably expecting different conduct from him. But Sir Thomas,
-dropping on his knee, said that the House felt abashed in the presence of
-so great a personage--which, he added, was enough to amaze the wisest and
-most learned men of the realm; that the House, according to its ancient
-privileges, was not bound to return any answer; and as for himself,
-unless all the members present could put their several thoughts into his
-head, he was unable to give his grace an answer on so weighty a matter.
-The cardinal then retired, much displeased with the House, and still more
-with the Speaker.
-
-After the great minister had retired, the House went into a warm debate.
-Some of the members affirmed that there was not above £800,000 of cash
-in the kingdom; and if the money were gathered into the king's hands,
-no trade could be carried on except by barter. The courtiers urged all
-the ingenious arguments that they could invent, or with which they were
-supplied, to show the necessity of the grant; and the king was in such
-a rage that he is said to have even threatened some of the members with
-death. It was, in fact, a stout resistance to oppression of the people,
-and one of the most determined stands for privilege of Parliament ever
-made in this country.
-
-The contest grew to such a pitch that the cardinal, fearful of the
-result, determined to go to the House a second time, notwithstanding the
-clear intimation given him that his presence was considered a breach of
-privilege. He made them a speech, going over all the arguments which had
-been advanced by the opposition, and then begged them to tell him what
-they had to object; but they only returned him the answer, through the
-Speaker, that they would hear his grace with humility, but could only
-reason amongst themselves; and he was obliged to go away as he came.
-
-When he had departed, they resumed the debate; and at length, at the
-earnest entreaty of the Speaker, they voted two shillings in the pound
-on all who enjoyed twenty pounds a year or upwards; one shilling on all
-who possessed from two pounds to twenty; and on all subjects with incomes
-below that scale, a groat a head. This was not a moiety of what the king
-had demanded, and the payment was spread over four years, so that it did
-not really amount to above sixpence in the pound. The lesson which Henry
-here received did not incline him to call another Parliament speedily.
-He had summoned none for eight years before; and there is no doubt that
-he asked for this extravagant sum that he might dispense with Parliament
-for another term as long. He did not, as it was, call another for seven
-years.
-
-The king, in his anger at the Commons, boasted to the mayor and aldermen
-of London that he should find a very different spirit amongst the
-clergy; but even these he tried beyond their patience. He demanded no
-less than fifty per cent. of the incomes of their benefices, to make up
-the deficiency from the laity. But the clergy were not disposed to be
-mulcted of half their incomes at a blow; they made as stout a resistance
-as the House of Commons. Wolsey, to make sure of them, summoned the
-convocations of the two provinces, which had met in their usual manner,
-by his legatine authority, to assemble in a national synod in Westminster
-Abbey. But there the proctors declared that they had only power to grant
-money in regular convocation, not in synod; and he was obliged to permit
-them to depart, and vote in their ordinary way. The convocation of the
-cardinal's own province of York waited to see what Canterbury would
-first do, which was more independent of Wolsey's power. In the Lower
-House the resistance was resolute, and was kept alive by the eloquence
-of a preacher of the name of Philips, till he was won over to the Court
-by substantial promotion. In the Upper House, the Bishops of Winchester
-and Rochester animated the prelates to such opposition, that the grant
-was not carried for four months, and then, being spread over five years,
-amounted, not to fifty, but only to ten per cent.
-
-[Illustration: SILVER GROAT OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-The money obtained at all this cost of difficulty in Parliament, and
-of unpopularity with the people, was lavishly expended in repelling
-the attempts of the Scots, in furnishing aid to the allies in Italy,
-and in preparing for another expedition into France. It was of the
-first importance, before sending the army across the Channel, to obtain
-security on the side of Scotland. To this end Henry made fresh overtures
-to his sister, Queen Margaret, offering to place her at the head of
-the Government, and to enable her to put down the party of Albany, who
-was now absent in France collecting fresh means for maintaining the
-war. He sent the Earl of Surrey, son of the victor of Flodden Field, to
-co-operate with her, to win over as many as possible of the nobles with
-money, and to lay waste the Borders, so that they should be incapable of
-furnishing supplies to an invading army.
-
-[Illustration: GOLD CROWN OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-Margaret now had every opportunity which a woman of spirit and reputation
-could wish. She was strongly supported by the power of England, and her
-great opponent was for ever defeated. She proclaimed her son, and assumed
-the regency; but her worst enemy was herself. She fell into her old
-habits; and her scandalous attachment to Henry Stuart, the son of Lord
-Evandale, soon ruined her prospects. Henry once more abandoned her, and
-raised her husband, the Earl of Angus, to the chief power. It was in
-vain that Margaret applied for assistance to Francis I., and humiliated
-herself so far as to solicit the return of Albany. From this moment there
-was more tranquillity in Scotland. The French faction, seeing support
-from France hopeless, were compelled to remain quiet. Truce after truce
-was established with England; and for eighteen years the Borders rested
-from hostilities.
-
-[Illustration: GEORGE NOBLE OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-The position of the King of France was, at this crisis, becoming more
-and more critical. His kingdom was environed with perils, and menaced
-with ruin, which could only be averted by singular courage and address.
-Against him was arrayed a most formidable confederacy of the Pope, the
-emperor, the King of England, and the various states of Italy. He had
-not a single ally, except the King of Scotland, a minor, and without
-authority. The internal condition of France was extremely discouraging.
-The wars of Francis in Italy and at home, his gay life and expensive
-pleasures, with his extravagant grants to his favourites, had exhausted
-his treasury, and involved him in grave embarrassment. The troops were
-ill-paid, and, as is usual in such cases, became disorderly and infested
-the highways, plundered the peasantry, and filled the whole kingdom with
-alarm and discontent. The Court partook of the licence and distraction
-of the nation; it was rent by faction, and the most dangerous secret
-conspiracy was at work in it. This was the doing of the Duke of Bourbon,
-Constable of France, who had been wronged in a lawsuit with the king.
-
-Charles V. and Henry of England thereupon entered into a secret treaty
-with the disaffected prince to betray his sovereign and his native
-country. The transaction was a disgraceful one to all parties concerned.
-In Bourbon, notwithstanding his grievous wrongs, it was a base as well as
-an impolitic deed; in Henry and Charles, it was one destructive of the
-security of the throne, and of every principle of honour which should
-guide the counsels of kings. Henry felt the vileness of the proceeding,
-but endeavoured to justify it as a fair retaliation, for that Francis had
-tampered with his Irish subject, the Earl of Desmond.
-
-[Illustration: DOUBLE SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-The Lord of Beaurain had been employed as the secret agent of the
-emperor; and Sir John Russell--this being one of the first public notices
-of the Russells in history--as that of Henry. A private treaty was
-concluded, of which the substance was as follows:--The emperor and the
-King of England were to invade France simultaneously, the one in the
-north, the other in the south, while Bourbon himself was to excite a
-rebellion in the heart of the kingdom, supported by all the connections
-of his family, whom he calculated at 200 knights and gentlemen, with
-their retainers. The attempt was to be made the moment Francis had
-crossed the Alps; and when the conquest of France was complete, Bourbon,
-in addition to his appanage of the Bourbonnais and Auvergne, was to
-receive Provence and Dauphiné, which together were to constitute a
-kingdom for him. He was, moreover, to receive the hand of the emperor's
-sister, Eleanor, Queen-Dowager of Portugal. The emperor was to have, as
-his share of the spoil, Languedoc, Burgundy, Champagne, and Picardy, and
-Henry VIII. the rest of France.
-
-Such was the traitorous scheme which was now opened up to the astonished
-gaze of Francis. Had he crossed the Alps before he received the
-intelligence, it might have been fatal. He had received some dark hints
-of mischief to be apprehended from Bourbon previously; and on his way
-south, he had suddenly presented himself at the duke's castle, and called
-upon him to accompany the expedition to Italy; but the duke made it
-appear that the state of his health rendered that impossible. Francis,
-not by any means satisfied, set a strict but secret guard upon his
-castle, and proceeded to Lyons; but there the news reached him that the
-pretended sick man had managed to escape in disguise, and was on his way,
-through the intricacies of the mountains of Auvergne and Dauphiné, to
-join the emperor's army in Italy.
-
-[Illustration: POUND SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-The Powers of England and the Netherlands appeared, in pursuance of the
-secret treaty with Bourbon, on the soil of France about the same time.
-The Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon, the commander of the English army,
-landed at Calais on the 24th of August, and, joining to his troops those
-collected from the garrisons of Calais, Ham, and Guines, found himself
-at the head of 13,000 men. He marched on the 19th of September, and the
-next day fell in with the Imperial troops from the Netherlands, under
-Van Buren. The allies now amounted to 20,000; but instead of marching
-to join the Imperial forces coming from Germany, they remained under
-the walls of St. Omer, debating whether they should do this or invest
-Boulogne. After having wasted a precious month, they decided to leave
-Boulogne, and endeavour to form a junction with the Germans. But they
-had now allowed Francis ample time to thwart all their objects. He had
-sent a strong detachment, under the Duke of Guise, to throw themselves
-in the way of the Germans; whilst the Dukes of Vendôme and Tremouille
-kept a sharp watch over the movements of the allied army. Suffolk and Van
-Buren traversed Artois and Picardy, crossed the Somme and the Oise, and
-alarmed Paris by pitching their tents near Laon, within twenty miles of
-the capital. They had stopped by the way to invest Bray, Montdidier, and
-some other small places, and now confidently expected the arrival of the
-German army.
-
-But the Germans by this time were in full flight before the Duke of
-Guise, and Vendôme and Tremouille manoeuvred more menacingly on the
-front and flank of the Allies. Tremouille, in particular, grew more and
-more audacious, beat up their quarters with his cavalry, harassed them by
-frequent skirmishes, and intercepted their convoys. The position of the
-allied troops became every day more critical. They were threatened with
-a growing force in their rear, drawn from the garrisons of Picardy, and
-there was danger of their supplies, which were all derived from Calais,
-being cut off. The troops were become sickly, and discontented with their
-situation. It was high time to retrace their steps, and they commenced
-their march by way of Valenciennes. But the weather was very rainy, the
-roads were almost impassable, cold and frost succeeded, and the sickness
-and murmurs of the troops augmented every day. Numbers perished on the
-march; all were eager to reach their homes; and, as the Flemings drew
-near their frontiers, they deserted in shoals. The armies then separated,
-and Suffolk reached Calais in December, with his forces greatly reduced,
-and all in miserable condition.
-
-On the 14th of September, whilst the Duke of Suffolk was advancing on
-Paris, an event occurred which arrested the attention of Cardinal Wolsey
-even more than the engrossing moves on the great chess-board of war. This
-was the death of the Pope Adrian. He had occupied the papal chair only
-about twenty months; and so impatient were the Italians of the Flemish
-pope and his strict economy, that they styled the doctor who attended him
-in his last sickness the "saviour of his country." Wolsey lost no time in
-putting in his claim; and wrote to Dr. Clark, the English ambassador at
-Rome, telling him to spare neither money nor promises, for that it was
-by command of the king, who would undoubtedly see all his engagements
-performed. This time Wolsey was put in nomination, and obtained a
-considerable number of votes; but there was no real chance for him, for
-the Italians were clamorous to have no more ultramontane, or, as they
-styled them, barbarian popes. Charles V., despite his promises to Wolsey,
-not only did not move a finger in his favour, but threw all his influence
-into the scale to carry the election of Julius de Medici; whilst the
-French cardinals, to a man, were opposed to Wolsey as the most dangerous
-enemy to their sovereign. The conclave met in October, and the discussion
-was continued through six stormy weeks. The election at length was seen
-to lie between Jacovaccio Romano and Julius de Medici. Cardinal Pompeo
-Colonna, who held the most decisive influence in the conclave, threw his
-weight into the scale for Romano, and the balance hung undecided; but all
-at once it gave way. Colonna, although he hated the Medici, gave up his
-opposition, and Julius was unanimously elected.
-
-Wolsey, to all appearance, bore this second disappointment with the
-equanimity of a philosopher; yet we may justly imagine that it produced
-a deep change in his feelings towards the emperor, and led to a hostile
-policy against his interests and those of Queen Catherine, his aunt,
-in England. But Wolsey had prepared for either event, his election
-or rejection; and the moment the latter became certain, the whole of
-the influence of the English Government was employed in favour of the
-election of Julius de Medici. On the strength of this, the English
-ambassadors congratulated Julius on his elevation, and solicited the
-continuance of the legatine commission to Wolsey. The Pope, who assumed
-the name of Clement VII., not only renewed the commission, but granted
-it for life, with augmented powers; and added to it a commission to
-reform or suppress certain religious houses in England. This was a
-dangerous power, and as Wolsey, in 1525--only two years afterwards--by
-this authority suppressed a number of monasteries, it is by no means
-improbable that it led Henry to think of those more sweeping changes of
-the same kind which he afterwards effected. The money thus procured was
-devoted, notwithstanding the necessities of the State, to the erection of
-colleges, where both Wolsey and his master declared they were anxious to
-educate able men in order to oppose effectually the fast-growing heresies
-of Martin Luther.
-
-The campaign in Italy opened in the spring of 1524, with wonderfully
-increased difficulties for the French. Charles V. had appointed the
-renegade Duke of Bourbon his generalissimo in that country against his
-own sovereign and compatriots. Henry of England engaged to furnish
-100,000 crowns for the first month's pay of the duke's army, and to make
-a diversion by invading Picardy in July. The emperor promised to defray
-the cost of the Italian army for the remainder of the campaign, and to
-invade Languedoc at the same time. Thus supported, Bourbon took the field
-early in the spring; and by the end of May the duke had completely freed
-Italy of his countrymen, and driven them across the Alps. The losses
-of the French in this retreat were dreadful, and perhaps the greatest
-calamity was the death of the famous Chevalier Bayard, the knight "sans
-peur et sans reproche," who was killed as he was protecting the rear of
-the army, on the banks of the Sesia (April 30, 1524.)
-
-Bourbon, ardent and impatient to secure the kingdom which had been
-promised him in France, as well as thirsting with desire to take the
-utmost vengeance on Francis I., entreated the emperor to allow him
-to quit Italy and enter France with his victorious army. The emperor
-consented, and the Imperial forces soon found themselves descending
-from the Alps. Unfortunately, Charles had divided the command of this
-expedition between Bourbon and the Marquis of Pescara, and the certain
-result was divided councils. Bourbon urged to push forward to Lyons,
-calculating on his friends and dependants in France flocking to him
-there; but Pescara had probably different instructions, and accordingly
-advised that they should descend on Provence, and lay siege to
-Marseilles. This was palpably the suggestion of the emperor, for he was
-ambitious of securing Marseilles, and holding it as a key to the south of
-France, as Calais was to the north, in the hands of the English. Thither,
-therefore, they marched, entered Provence on the 2nd of July, and on the
-19th of August they sat down before Marseilles with an army of 16,000 men.
-
-But the situation of the Imperial troops soon became extremely hazardous
-there. The place was strongly fortified; it contained a garrison of 3,200
-men, and these were zealously supported by 9,000 of the inhabitants,
-who, detesting the Spaniards, took up arms and fought most gallantly.
-Bourbon and Pescara spent forty days in mining and bombarding the place,
-when they became aware of a tempest gathering which boded their utter
-destruction. This was Francis marching from Avignon at the head of 40,000
-men. Neither Henry nor the emperor had made those diversions in Languedoc
-and Picardy which they had promised, and thus the whole weight of the
-army of France was at liberty to descend upon them. Bourbon and Pescara
-precipitately abandoned the siege, made for the Alps, and regained Italy.
-
-At this moment Francis committed a military error, which probably
-deprived him of the triumph of thoroughly routing his enemies. To
-have continued the pursuit was almost certain to have destroyed the
-Imperialist force, for it was worn down by its severe marches, and the
-road to Lodi by which Pescara retreated was actually strewn with his
-exhausted horses. The army of Pescara was the sole Imperial force now
-in Italy, and its defeat would have been the immediate recovery of the
-Milanese territory. But Francis was beguiled into the delay of besieging
-Pavia, in which Pescara had left a strong garrison, under Antonio da
-Leyva. Pavia was a well-fortified city, situated on the deep and rapid
-Ticino, in a peculiarly strong position, and had repeatedly defied
-armies for a long time together, particularly those of the Lombards
-and of Charlemagne. The moment Pescara heard of Francis sitting down
-before it, he exclaimed that he was saved! Every exertion was made by
-the Imperialists to profit by the time thus given them. The Duke of
-Bourbon hastened over the Alps to Germany to raise 12,000 men, for which
-purpose he had pawned his jewels. Lannoy, the viceroy of Naples, pledged
-the regular revenues of that kingdom for ready cash for the hiring of
-troops, and great activity was displayed in raising an army and posting
-it betwixt the Adda and the Ticino.
-
-For three months Francis continued lying before Pavia, and committed the
-further error of weakening his forces, by detaching 6,000 of them, under
-Albany, the late regent of Scotland, to menace the kingdom of Naples.
-
-In the beginning of February, 1525, the Imperialist generals thought
-themselves strong enough to attack the French in their entrenchments.
-These entrenchments were very formidable. The rear-guard was posted in
-the beautiful castle of Mirabello, in the midst of an extensive park,
-enclosed by high and solid walls. But Leyva, who commanded the garrison,
-found means to communicate with the Imperial generals outside, and
-he sent them word that they must either relieve him or that he must
-attempt to cut his way out, for famine was urgent amongst his troops.
-The generals themselves were suffering from want of provisions and pay
-for their troops. In the French camp the wisest commanders counselled
-Francis to raise the siege and retire to Milan, confident that the enemy
-must soon disband from want of pay. But Bonivet treated this counsel as
-mean and dastardly; and, unfortunately, this was the tone most likely to
-captivate the chivalrous mind of the French king. He resolved to stand
-his ground.
-
-On the 24th of February, Bourbon, Pescara, and Lannoy, having distracted
-the attention of the French for several days previously by false
-attacks, at midnight led out their troops silently to the park. A body
-of pioneers commenced operations on the wall, and before daylight they
-had effected a breach of a hundred paces in length, and at dawn they
-carried the castle by surprise. Francis drew his troops out of their
-entrenchments and made a push across the Ticino, but he found the bridge
-demolished, and a strong body of the Spaniards closely drawn up on the
-banks. Attacked fiercely by the garrison in the rear, and hemmed in by
-the Imperial army in front, the battle became desperate. Francis had
-his horse killed under him; the Swiss, contrary to their wont, turned
-and fled at the first charge; and the Germans, who fought with singular
-valour, were annihilated to a man. The Spanish musketeers then broke the
-French ranks; and the king, being already wounded twice in the face, and
-once in the hand, refused to surrender to the Spaniards who environed
-him. Fortunately, Pomperant, a French gentleman in the service of the
-Duke of Bourbon, recognised him, and called Lannoy, to whom the king
-resigned his sword. Lannoy, kneeling, kissed the king's hand, took the
-sword, and gave him his own in return, saying it did not become a monarch
-to appear unarmed in the presence of a subject. The king was relieved of
-his helmet by James D'Avila; and the Spanish soldiers, who admired his
-valour, came crowding around him, and snatched the feathers from it, and,
-when they were all gone, even cut pieces from his clothes, to keep as
-memorials that they had fought hand to hand with him. Francis was soon
-left standing in his jerkin and hose, and, despite his misfortune, could
-not help laughing at his situation, and at the eagerness of the soldiers
-for something belonging to him.
-
-The amazement and consternation which fell on France at the news of this
-terrible disaster are scarcely to be imagined. Nothing, indeed, could be
-more melancholy than the situation of that kingdom. Her king was captive,
-her most distinguished generals and the flower of the army were taken or
-slain; powerful and triumphant enemies on all sides were ready to seize
-her as a spoil, and she was equally destitute of allies, of money, of
-troops, or wise counsel. Scarcely less was the terror of the princes and
-the states of Italy, for their only safety--the balance of power--was
-destroyed, and there appeared no defence against the predominant power of
-the emperor.
-
-Charles himself assumed an air of singular composure and moderation on
-the receipt of this brilliant news. He had been daily expecting to hear
-of the defeat of his army, when, on the 10th of March, came the tidings
-of this great victory. We may imagine, therefore, his real joy. But
-such was his command of his feelings that nothing of this appeared in
-his manner. He perused the dispatches with the most perfect composure,
-affected even to commiserate the fall of his rival, and moralised
-sagely on the uncertainty of human greatness. A little time, however,
-was sufficient to show that this was dissimulation, and his conduct to
-Francis was ample proof that he had neither pity nor generosity.
-
-Henry of England, on the contrary, gave freedom to his expressions of
-joy. Though he was actually on his way to coalesce with Francis against
-Charles, he saw at once the immense advantages this defeat and capture
-offered for aggressions on his kingdom, and he therefore ordered the most
-public rejoicings in London and other cities, and rode himself in state
-to St. Paul's, where Wolsey performed mass, assisted by eleven bishops,
-in presence of the Court and all the foreign ambassadors; and afterwards
-_Te Deum_ was sung. Henry then posted off Tunstall, Bishop of London, and
-Sir Richard Wingfield, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, into Spain
-to congratulate the emperor on his splendid triumph, and modestly to
-propose that they should divide France between them.
-
-To induce Charles to consent to this improbable arrangement, Henry
-proposed at once to put the Princess Mary, who was betrothed to Charles,
-into his hands--in fact, to make the exchange of her person for that of
-Francis. Henry was the more buoyed up in these wild notions by the fact
-that the ambassador of Charles had just been applying for the delivery of
-the princess.
-
-[Illustration: SURRENDER OF FRANCIS ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF PAVIA. (_See
-p._ 140.)]
-
-So confident was Henry of the cession of his claims by the emperor,
-that he instantly took measures to raise the money necessary for the
-invasion of France. As he had resolved to rule without the interference
-of parliaments, he sent out commissioners to every part of the country to
-levy the sixth part of the goods of the laity and a fourth of those of
-the clergy. The scheme was entirely unconstitutional, the commissioners
-performed their part in a harsh and overbearing manner, trusting thus to
-intimidate the people into compliance, and the consequence was universal
-resentment and resistance. Clergy and laity, rich and poor, all alike
-denounced the arbitrary and illegal impost. "How the great men took it,"
-says Hall, "was a marvel: the poor cursed, the rich repugned, the lighter
-sort railed, and, in conclusion, all men execrated the cardinal as the
-subverter of the laws and liberties of England. For, said they, if men
-should give their goods by a commission, then were it worse than the
-taxes of France, and so England would be bond, and not free." This was
-the more just because the cardinal in person acted as commissioner in
-London, and lent all the weight of his office and position to sanction
-the oppression. He used all his arts to prevail on the citizens to
-comply, but neither threats nor blandishments moved them. The resistance
-was obstinate and universal.
-
-In London the excitement became excessive; the people placarded the walls
-with their complaints, and the clergy preached against the arbitrary
-tax, and declared that for themselves they would pay no money which
-was not voted in Convocation. From London the fire spread through the
-other towns, the people began to take up arms, the clergy to encourage
-them, and Henry, who was soon terrified, with all his bluster, took the
-alarm, and declared that he wanted nothing from his loving subjects but
-as a benevolence. But the very word benevolence awoke a host of hateful
-recollections. The tumult was only increased by it; and a lawyer in
-the city published the passage from the Act of Richard III., by which
-benevolences were abolished for ever. This seemed to arouse the lion
-spirit in Henry. The prospect of the crown of France was too fascinating
-to be lightly surrendered; he therefore called together the judges,
-and demanded their opinion on his power to tax his subjects without
-Parliament. The venal judges reminded the king that Richard III. was a
-usurper, and that his Parliament was a factious Parliament, the acts
-of which were illegal and void, and could in no wise bind a legitimate
-and _absolute_ king, who, like him, held the Crown by hereditary right.
-This bold and base doctrine was loudly echoed by the Privy Council, but
-vain were such authorities with the people. On hearing this decision,
-they again flew to arms. In Kent they speedily drove the commissioners
-and tax-gatherers out of the county; in Suffolk they marched in an armed
-body of 4,000 or 5,000 men, and even threatened the duke of the county,
-Brandon, the king's brother-in-law, who was the chief commissioner there,
-with death. Surrey, who stood high in the estimation of the people,
-interfered to calm them, and to prevent mischief; and Henry saw that the
-contest was hopeless, and by proclamation retracted his demand. Wolsey,
-who had been extremely prominent in endeavouring to enforce the detested
-tax, now caused a report to be industriously circulated, that he had, in
-truth, never been favourable to it, but the people only replied when they
-heard it, "God save the king! we know the cardinal well enough."
-
-But Henry might have spared himself this tumult and unpopularity. The
-emperor was never less likely than now to concede such favours and
-advantages to him. He was a deep and subtle prince; no man could see more
-intuitively and instantly the wonderful change in his power and position
-which the battle of Pavia created. Charles had calculated upon Henry
-for large subsidies during the war, but instead of receiving these, he
-had found Henry as much straitened for money as he was himself. It was
-now discovered that the emperor had already made a truce of six months
-with France, and he coolly advised the ambassadors to seek from their
-sovereign power, not negotiations for the invasion of France, but the
-terms on which the French king should be liberated. To crown all, and
-leave no question of the feeling which Henry's late conduct had produced
-in Charles's Court, he wrote to Henry, no longer styling himself his
-loving uncle and penning the grossest flatteries with his own hand, but
-he simply and curtly signed himself Charles to official communications
-duly and officially prepared.
-
-This was a rebuff not to be received complacently by a man of Henry's
-vain and volcanic spirit. He read the astounding dispatches with an
-amazement which burst into a tempest of rage. At once a tide of impetuous
-revulsion flowed over his whole soul. He abandoned in a moment all ideas
-of conquests, invasions, and the crown of France, and determined to do
-everything in his power to procure the liberation of Francis, and to
-unite with him against the perfidious and insulting Spaniard. He had
-dismissed the French envoys, who were residing privately in London, on
-the news of the capture of Francis, but he now let it be understood
-that their presence would be heartily welcome. Louise, the mother of
-Francis, accepted the hint, and John Brenon, president of the council
-of Normandy, and her favourite envoy, Giovanni Joacchino, were again
-despatched to London. A truce for four months was immediately concluded,
-and Wolsey, who fanned the new flame in Henry's bosom for objects and
-resentments of his own, soon arranged the terms of a treaty with them.
-These terms were extremely acceptable to Henry, as they furnished him
-with a prospect of a considerable addition to his income, without the
-disagreeable necessity of having to go to Parliament for it. The treaty
-consisted of six articles. By the first, the contracting parties engaged
-to guarantee the integrity of each other's territories against all
-the princes in the world. The object of this was to prevent Francis
-from bartering any of his provinces with Charles for his liberty. By
-the second, Francis and his heirs were made to guarantee to Henry the
-payment of 2,000,000 crowns, by half-yearly instalments, and 100,000
-crowns for life, after the payment of that amount. Nine of the chief
-noblemen of France, and nine of the richest cities also, gave up their
-bonds for the security of these payments. By the third article, the
-King of France engaged to pay up all the arrears of the dowry of Mary,
-the Queen-Dowager of France. The rest of the articles were for the
-prevention of depredations at sea, for comprehending the King of Scots in
-the treaty, and for the prevention of the return of the Duke of Albany
-to Scotland during the minority of James V. This treaty was signed at
-the king's house in Hertfordshire, on the 30th of August. The cardinal,
-who never forgot himself on these occasions, was well rewarded for his
-trouble in promoting and arranging this alliance. He received a grant of
-100,000 crowns for his good offices in the affair, and the arrears of his
-pension in lieu of his surrender of the bishopric of Tournay, the whole
-to be paid in equal instalments in the course of seven years and a half.
-
-But whilst the French regent, Louise, made these liberal concessions
-for the friendship of Henry, and showed every apparent disposition to
-guarantee the conditions, Louise swearing to them, and Francis ratifying
-them, care was taken to leave a loophole of escape at any future period.
-The attorney and solicitor-general entered a secret protest against the
-whole treaty, so that Francis might, if occasion required, plead the
-illegality of the whole transaction.
-
-But it was not so easy to procure the liberation of the captive King
-of France. Moderate as Charles had professed to be, and sympathetic
-regarding the misfortunes of Francis, he soon showed that he was
-determined to extort every possible advantage from having the royal
-captive in his hands. He had been detained in the strong castle of
-Pizzighettone, near Cremona; but, thinking that he should be able to
-influence the emperor by his presence, he petitioned to be removed to the
-Alcazar of Madrid. At length, however, on the 14th of January, 1526, was
-signed the famous treaty called the Concord of Madrid, one of the most
-grasping and impudent pieces of extortion which one prince ever forced
-from another in his necessity. By this treaty Francis gave up all that he
-had offered before--namely, all claims of superiority over Flanders and
-Artois, and the possession of Naples, Milan, Genoa, and the other Italian
-territories, for which France had spent so much blood and treasure. But
-besides this, Francis was to deliver to the emperor his two sons, the
-Dauphin and the Duke of Orleans, as hostages, and also bind himself, if
-he did not, or could not, fulfil his engagements within four months,
-to return and yield himself once more prisoner. He was to marry Queen
-Eleanora of Portugal, the sister of Charles, and the Dauphin was to marry
-the Princess Maria, the daughter of Eleanora. But these were but a small
-part of the demands. Francis was bound to persuade the King of Navarre
-to surrender his rights in that kingdom to Charles, and the Duke of
-Gueldres to appoint Charles the heir to his dominions; and if he failed
-to persuade them, he was to give them no aid when the emperor invaded
-their states. Next, Francis was to lend his whole navy, 500 men-at-arms,
-and 6,000 foot-soldiers, to put down the princes of Italy, who were
-uniting to effect his own freedom! Then, Francis was to pay to the King
-of England all those sums which the emperor himself had engaged to pay.
-Still more, he was to restore Bourbon and the rest of the rebels to their
-estates and honours. The whole of the conditions were so monstrous,
-that they cannot be read without astonishment at the rapacity of this
-triumphant prince. But to gain his liberty Francis signed the Treaty.
-
-Henry VIII. was one of the first amongst princes to send ambassadors to
-congratulate Francis on his restoration to freedom, and to urge him to
-break every article of the infamous terms which had been forced upon him.
-Sir Thomas Cheney was sent from England to meet Dr. Taylor, the English
-ambassador at Paris; and together they proceeded to Bayonne, and were
-introduced to Francis, who told them he greatly felt the friendship of
-Henry, who had, indeed, remonstrated with Charles on his behalf, though
-Charles had not paid much respect to the intercession. There was no need
-of any arguments from the two English casuists to induce Francis to break
-the engagements he had entered into. He had never meant to keep them.
-Before signing the document, he had protested, before two notaries and a
-few confidential friends, that he had acted under restraint, and that he
-should hold himself bound to observe none of the conditions which were
-not just and reasonable.
-
-Two ambassadors had attended him from Spain to take his signature of
-the Treaty, when he was free and on his own soil, as a ratification of
-it, which he had engaged to give; but when the ambassadors presented
-themselves for this purpose, Francis declined, affirming that he could
-not enter into any such engagements without the advice of his council and
-the approbation of his subjects. He assured them, however, that he would
-immediately summon an assembly of the notables at Cognac, and requested
-them to attend him thither, to learn the decision of the assembly. This
-body met at that place in June, and declared, with one voice, that the
-king had no right or power to sever Burgundy from the kingdom without
-their consent, and such consent they would never give. The Spanish
-ambassadors were present when this decision was pronounced, and they said
-that the king, not being able to fulfil his contract, was bound to return
-to his captivity, and they called upon him to obey. Instead of a direct
-answer to this demand, a treaty betwixt the King of France, the Pope,
-the Venetians, and the Duke of Milan, which had been secretly concluded
-a few days before, was produced, and published in their hearing. As this
-was tantamount to a declaration of war, the ambassadors demanded their
-passports, and returned to Spain. The Pope, on entering into this league,
-absolved Francis from all the forced oaths that he had sworn.
-
-This confederacy of Francis and the Italian princes and states against
-the emperor, bound the Allies to raise and pay an army of 30,000 foot
-and 3,000 horse, with a certain number of ships and galleys. The King of
-France was to be put in possession of the county of Asti and the lordship
-of Genoa; and Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, engaged to pay him 50,000
-crowns annually. Naples was to be wrested from Charles, and its crown
-placed at the disposal of the Pope; but the king whom he appointed was to
-pay an annuity of 75,000 crowns to the King of France. Henry of England,
-though he declined to take any active part in the league, but consented
-merely to be nominated its protector, was to have a principality in
-Naples, with 36,000 ducats a year; and the cardinal, who always came in
-for his share of spoil, was to have a lordship worth 10,000 ducats.
-
-So closed the year 1526; and the new year opened with preparations
-for still more terrors for devoted Italy. The Emperor Charles had no
-money to maintain the troops necessary for the extensive domination
-that he aimed at, and he therefore allowed the mercenary troops in his
-employment, rather than in his pay, to indemnify themselves by the
-plunder of the wretched inhabitants of the countries where they were
-collected. These troops consisted of a mob of vagabonds, outlaws, and
-marauders, from every country in Europe, who, by their long course of
-licentious freedom, were become utterly callous to the sufferings which
-they inflicted. Freundsberg, a German soldier of fortune, was at the head
-of 15,000 of these adventurers, consisting of Germans, Spaniards, and
-Swiss; and Bourbon, at the head of 10,000 more half-starved and half-clad
-mercenaries, was in possession of the whole duchy of Milan, but with
-no means of supporting his position. These two ferocious hordes having
-formed a junction under his banner, clamoured for their pay; Bourbon told
-them he had no money, and that Milan had been so repeatedly overrun and
-ravaged, that it was destitute of all means of supporting them; but that
-he would lead them into the enemy's country--into the richest cities
-of Italy--where they might amply indemnify themselves for all their
-past sufferings. Animated by these assurances, they swore to follow him
-whithersoever he might lead them. They marched on Rome, and sacked it,
-losing, however, their leader, who fell in the attack.
-
-The news of the sacking of Rome, and the imprisonment of the Pope,
-excited the most lively sensations of horror and indignation throughout
-the Christian, and especially the Catholic, world. None appeared more
-affected than the emperor, by whose troops the sacrilegious deed had been
-perpetrated. He put himself and his Court into the deepest mourning,
-forbade rejoicing for the birth of his son, and commanded prayers to
-be offered in the churches throughout Spain for the liberation of His
-Holiness. No one could play off a piece of solemn hypocrisy more solemnly
-than Charles V. Francis and Henry, who were making a fresh treaty of
-alliance, were at once affected with real or pretended horror. They
-agreed immediately to invade Italy with 30,000 foot, and 1,000 horse, to
-join the confederate army there, and drive out the troops of Spain, and
-liberate the Pope from the Castle of St. Angelo.
-
-[Illustration: MARTIN LUTHER.
-
-(_After the Portrait by Lucas Cranach, at Florence._)]
-
-But the time was now approaching which was to interrupt the friendship
-of Henry with the head of the Church of Rome. The Reformation in Germany
-had made an immense progress, and produced the most astonishing events.
-The whole mind and intellect of that country had been convulsed by the
-preaching of the doctrines of Luther. State had been set against state,
-prince against prince; and the bold monk of Wittenberg had only escaped
-the vengeance of the Church of Rome by the undaunted championship of the
-Elector of Saxony. Henry, fond of school divinity from his youth, and a
-great reader and admirer of Thomas Aquinas, had looked across to Germany
-with a grim and truculent glance, which seemed to rest on the blunt and
-unconventional Reformer with an expression of one who longed to strike
-down the daring heretic, and rid the world of him. As this was out of
-his power, he determined to annihilate him by his pen; and for this
-purpose he had written a book against him, with the title of "A Treatise
-on the Seven Sacraments, against Martin Luther, the Heresiarch, by the
-Illustrious Prince Henry VIII." This he had caused to be presented to the
-Pope by the English ambassador, beautifully written and magnificently
-bound, and Leo X. received it with the most extravagant laudations, and
-conferred on Henry in 1521 the title of "Defender of the Faith," in a
-bull signed by himself and twenty-seven cardinals. Henry really believed
-that he had crushed Luther and all his sect; but the free-mouthed
-Reformer, who paid no flatteries to king or Pope, soon convinced the
-literary monarch that he was as much alive as ever. He wrote a reply to
-Henry, in which, giving him commendation for writing in elegant language,
-he abused him and his work as broadly as he would have done that of the
-obscurest mortal. Henry, in his estimation, was "fool," "liar," "ass,"
-"blasphemer." The correspondence which ensued was acrimonious.
-
-The great defender of the faith, at the time at which we are now arrived,
-was growing dissatisfied with his wife, and was about to seek a divorce
-from her, which must necessarily involve the Pope in difficulties with
-the queen's nephew, the Emperor. Henry was married to Catherine when she
-was in her twenty-fifth year. So long as the disparity of their ages did
-not appear, for he was six years younger, and so long as she was pleasing
-in her person, he seemed not only satisfied with, but really attached to
-her. But she was now forty-two years of age, had undergone much anxiety
-in her earlier years in England, had borne the king five children, three
-sons and two daughters, all of whom died in their infancy, except the
-Princess Mary, who lived to mount the throne. Catherine, of late years,
-had suffered much in her health, and we may judge from the best-known
-portrait of her that she had now lost her good looks, and had a
-bowed-down and sorrow-stricken air.
-
-Anne Boleyn had been living in France, at first as attendant on Mary,
-King Henry's sister, the queen of Louis XII., and afterwards in the
-family of the Duke of Alençon. She returned to England on the breaking
-out of the war with Francis I., in 1522; and seems, by her beauty, wit,
-and accomplishments, to have created a great sensation in the English
-Court, where she was soon attached to the service of Queen Catherine.
-Henry is said to have first met her by accident, in her father's garden,
-at Hever Castle, in Kent; and was so charmed with her that he told Wolsey
-that he had been "discoursing with a young lady who had the wit of an
-angel, and was worthy of a crown." She is supposed at that time to have
-been about one-and-twenty, a brunette of tall and most graceful figure,
-and extremely accomplished.
-
-The understanding between Henry and Anne Boleyn soon became obvious
-to the whole Court. The queen saw it as clearly as any one else, and
-upbraided Henry with it, but does not seem to have used any harshness
-to Anne on that account, though she occasionally gave her some sharp
-rubs. For instance, once when the queen was playing at cards with Anne
-Boleyn she thus addressed her, "My Lady Anne, you have the good hap ever
-to stop at a king; but you are like others, you will have all or none."
-Cavendish, Wolsey's secretary, says the queen at this trying crisis
-"behaved like a very patient Grissel."
-
-Henry now having resolved to marry Anne Boleyn, as he found he could
-obtain her on no other terms, felt himself suddenly afflicted with
-lamentable scruples of conscience for being married to his brother's
-widow, and entertaining equally afflicting doubts of the power of the
-Pope to grant a dispensation for such a marriage. For eighteen years
-these scruples had rested in his bosom without disturbing a moment of his
-repose. It is true that these doubts had been started before the marriage
-by Archbishop Warham, but they had no weight with Henry or his father.
-Henry had gone into the marriage at the age of eighteen with his eyes
-open, having some time before, by his father's order, made a protest
-against it for State purposes, and had been ever since, till he saw Anne
-Boleyn, not only contented but jovial. Now, however, he soon ceased to
-be merely scrupulous--he became positive that his marriage was unlawful,
-and set to work to write a book to prove it. The king communicated to
-Wolsey fully his views regarding the divorce, and Wolsey, who had now
-his decided quarrel with Charles for deceiving him in the matter of the
-Papacy, and who was equally the enemy of Catherine, she having openly
-expressed her resentment of his procuring the destruction of the Duke
-of Buckingham, readily fell into the scheme. Wolsey was undoubtedly as
-well aware as any one of the love affair going on between Henry and
-Anne Boleyn; nothing that was moving at Court could escape him; but he
-supposed this affair was only of the same kind as the rest of Henry's
-gallantries, and his notion was that some foreign princess would be
-selected for Henry's second queen.
-
-But during the discussions on the marriage between the English princess
-and the French prince, a circumstance had taken place which showed that
-Henry was resolved to let slip no opportunity of carrying his divorce
-at all costs. The Bishop of Tarbes suddenly asked the question whether
-the legitimacy of the Princess Mary was beyond every legal and canonical
-doubt, considering the nature of the king's marriage with her mother, the
-queen. Henry and Wolsey affected to be much astonished and agitated at
-the question; and the King afterwards made it an argument that the idea
-of the illegality of his marriage, though it had originated with himself,
-had been greatly strengthened by the question of the bishop, as it showed
-how apparent the fact was to strangers and even foreigners. Yet the
-suggestion had undoubtedly been made to the bishop by Wolsey on Henry's
-behalf. The meaning of the question was quite obvious--it was to serve
-the cause of the divorce, which was an object highly pleasing to Francis
-I., in his resentment of the treatment of himself by the Emperor; but it
-was not believed for a moment to indicate real doubt even on the part of
-the French king, or he would not have proceeded to confirm the choice of
-an illegitimate maiden for the Queen of France, or the wife of his son.
-
-At the close of this treaty, Wolsey was sent over to France, rather to
-show to Europe, and particularly to the King of Spain, the intimate
-footing between France and England, than for any real use. It was
-believed that Anne Boleyn and her friends were at the bottom of Wolsey's
-being sent abroad for a time, that the affairs regarding "the king's
-secret" might proceed without his cognisance; and, indeed, before his
-return, it had ceased to be a secret to any one. Anne had become openly
-acknowledged as the king's favourite, and had assumed an air and style
-of magnificence and consequence on account of it. Meantime, Wolsey,
-misled by his idea that the king meant to marry a foreign princess, had
-committed himself deeply, and supplied fresh and serious materials for
-his own destruction. He had given hints of the divorce of Henry, and of
-his probable marriage with a princess of the Court of France. He told
-Louise, the French king's mother, that "if she lived another year, she
-should see as great union on one side, and disunion on the other, as she
-would ask or wish for. These," he added, "were not idle words. Let her
-treasure them up in her memory; time would explain them."
-
-The cardinal had, in fact, been looking round him at the French Court for
-a wife for Henry, and had selected the Princess Renée, sister of the late
-Queen Claude, while Henry himself had settled his choice nearer home. On
-the return of Wolsey, all being now prepared, Henry communicated to the
-astonished man the secret of his intended marriage with Anne. Confounded
-at the disclosure, the proud cardinal dropped on his knees, and, it is
-said, remained there for some hours pleading with the king against this
-infatuation, as he deemed it, and which he saw compromised himself with
-the Court of France, and menaced him darkly in the future, from the
-deep enmity of her who would thus become his queen. His pleadings and
-arguments were vain. His fair enemy had made her ground wholly secure in
-his absence, and Wolsey withdrew with gloomy forebodings.
-
-The communication of the king's secret to Wolsey was immediately followed
-by more active measures, in which Wolsey, however averse, was obliged to
-co-operate. The king's treatise was now submitted to Sir Thomas More,
-who at once saw the peril of acting as a judge in so delicate a matter,
-declared that he was no theologian, and therefore unqualified to decide.
-It was next laid before the Bishop of Rochester, who decided against it.
-Henry then directed Sir Thomas to apply to some other of the bishops;
-but as he was hostile to the treatise himself, he was not likely to be
-a very persuasive pleader for it with others. None of the bishops would
-commit themselves, and Sir Thomas advised Henry to see what St. Jerome,
-St. Augustine, and the other fathers of the Church said upon it. Henry
-then employed the more unscrupulous agency of Wolsey with the prelates,
-who plied them with all his eloquence; but the most that he could
-obtain from them was that the arguments of the king's book furnished a
-reasonable ground for a scruple, and that he had better apply to the Holy
-See, and abide by its decision.
-
-With the nation at large, the proposal of the amorous king was still
-less popular than with the bishops. They had a great veneration for the
-insulted Catherine, who had maintained for so many years the most fair
-and estimable character on the throne, and against whose virtue not a
-word had ever been breathed. They attributed this scheme to the acts
-of the cardinal, who was the enemy of the Emperor and the warm ally of
-France; and they dreaded that the divorce might lead to war and the
-suppression of the profitable trade with the Netherlands.
-
-Unable to obtain much sanction at home, Henry at length referred the
-cause to the Pope; and Stephen Gardiner--then known by the humble name
-of Mr. Stephen--and Bishop Fox went in 1528 to Italy with the Royal
-instructions. The grand difficulty was to effect the divorce in so
-legal and complete a manner that no plea might be able to be brought
-against the legitimacy of the proposed marriage. For three months fresh
-instructions were issued and revoked, and issued in amended form again,
-which were laid before Dr. Knight, the king's agent at the Papal Court,
-and the three brothers Casali, Wolsey's agents, and before Staphilaeo,
-Dean of the Rota, who had been gained over whilst lately in London.
-
-But the Emperor had not been idle. The Pope, as we have seen, had been
-shut up by the Imperial troops in the Castle of St. Angelo; and, in
-negotiation for his liberation, Charles had made it one of the principal
-stipulations of his release that he should not consent to act preparatory
-to a divorce without the previous knowledge of Charles himself. Scarcely
-had the Pope made his escape to Orvieto, when the English emissaries
-appeared before him. Poor Clement was thrown into a terrible dilemma.
-The Imperialists were still in possession of Rome, and if he consented
-to the request of Henry, he had nothing to expect but vengeance from the
-Emperor. To make the matter worse, a French army, under the command
-of Lautrec, and accompanied by Sir Robert Jerningham as the English
-commissary, which had been sent over the Alps to his assistance, and to
-enable him to recover his capital, loitered at Piacenza, and delayed the
-chance of the restoration and defence of Rome.
-
-The English envoys presented to him two instruments, which had been
-prepared by the learned agents above named, by the first of which he
-was to empower Wolsey, or in case of any objection to him, Staphilaeo,
-to hear and decide the case of the divorce; and by the second he was to
-grant Henry a dispensation to marry, in the place of Catherine, any other
-woman soever, even if she were already promised to another, or related
-to him in the first degree of affinity. This was a most extraordinary
-proceeding, an acknowledgment by Henry of the very power in the Pope
-which he affected to doubt and deny. The objection to the marriage of
-Henry with Catherine was that she was within the proscribed degree of
-affinity, having been his brother's wife. Moreover, as Henry was accused,
-and this instrument appeared to admit the charge, of having established
-the same degree of relationship, though illicitly, with Mary Boleyn, the
-_sister_ of Anne, as had existed between Catherine and his _brother_
-legally, this document was to prevent any objections to the marriage with
-Anne.
-
-The Pope signed both instruments, but recommended that Henry should keep
-them secret till the French army, under Lautrec, should arrive, and free
-him from fears, even for his life, of the vengeance of the Emperor. When
-this should have taken place, he promised to issue a second commission of
-the same import, which might at once be publicly proceeded with.
-
-Scarcely, however, had Dr. Knight left Orvieto, when Gregorio da Casali
-brought a request from the English Court that a legate from Rome might be
-joined in the commission with Wolsey. To this Clement observed that the
-King of England was pursuing a very circuitous course. If the king was
-really convinced in his conscience that his present marriage was null, he
-had better marry again, and then he himself or a legate could decide the
-question at once. But if a legate were to sit in jurisdiction, there must
-be appeals to himself in Rome, exceptions, and adjournments, which would
-make it an affair of years. But, after saying this, the Pope signed the
-requisition.
-
-At the instigation of Wolsey, who was anxious that the treaty which
-he had signed with France should be carried into effect, war was now
-declared formally against the Emperor. The news of the war was received
-in England with the utmost disgust and discontent. The people denounced
-the cardinal as the troubler of the kingdom and the interrupter of its
-commerce. The merchants refused to frequent the new marts in France,
-which were appointed instead of their accustomed ones in the Netherlands.
-The wool-combers, spinners, and clothiers were stopped in their sales
-by this resolve on the part of the merchants; their people were all
-thrown out of work; and the spirit of commotion grew so strong that there
-were serious fears of open outbreaks. In the council, the cardinal had
-as little support in his policy as he did elsewhere. There was not a
-member, except himself, who was an advocate of the French alliance; but
-all his colleagues at the council-table were eagerly watching for some
-chance which should hasten his downfall. Even the king himself was averse
-from the war with his nephew; and especially as he was aware that the
-fear of Charles's resentment deterred Clement from cordially proceeding
-with the divorce; and Henry hinted that if peace were restored, Charles
-might be induced to withdraw his opposition. Fortunately, the Flemings
-were as much incommoded by the breach of commercial relations as the
-English; and the Archduchess Margaret, the Governess of the Netherlands,
-had the prudence to make a proposition that peace should be restored.
-Negotiations commenced, and were carried on for some time for a general
-pacification; but this being proved unattainable, a peace was concluded
-with the Netherlands, and the state of war was allowed to remain between
-England and Spain.
-
-But the fact was, the war, so far as regarded these two countries,
-was merely nominal; it raged only in Italy, between the French and
-the Imperialists. Henry had no money for war, and, besides, his whole
-thoughts and energies were occupied in carrying through the divorce,
-which he now found a most formidable affair, fresh difficulties starting
-up at every step. Had Catherine been only an English subject, instead
-of the aunt of the great monarch of Germany, Flanders, and Spain, Henry
-would have made short work of his conscience and of the poor woman who
-was in the way. He would have charged her with some heinous and revolting
-crime, and severed her head from her shoulders at a blow, and all his
-difficulties with it. But he had not only royal blood to deal with, but
-all the ancient prejudices that surrounded it, and which would have
-made him execrated over the whole world had he spilled it. He knew that
-Charles was watching intently to catch him at a disadvantage, and he
-never felt himself safe in his proceedings.
-
-[Illustration: THE TRIAL OF QUEEN CATHERINE. (_See p._ 151.)
-
-(_After the Picture by Laslett J. Pott._)]
-
-It now occurred to him that, though the Pope had granted permission for
-Wolsey and the legate to decide this momentous question, yet he might be
-induced, by the influence of Charles, to revise and reverse the sentence
-pronounced by his delegates: and this might involve him in inextricable
-dilemmas, especially should he have acted on the sentence of divorce, and
-married again.
-
-Clement was placed in a very trying situation. He was anxious to oblige
-Henry, but to grant the bull confirming the sentence to be pronounced
-by Wolsey and the Legate, was to annihilate the dogma of Papal
-infallibility, for Julius II. had granted the Church's dispensation,
-notwithstanding the fact of Catherine's union with Henry's brother.
-Clement had been also informed that Henry's object was only to gratify
-the wish of a woman who was already living in adultery with him. But
-this was rebutted by a letter already received from Wolsey, assuring
-the Pope that Anne Boleyn was a lady of unimpeachable character. Driven
-from this point, Clement still demurred as to the formidable bull; and
-only consented, after consultation with a convocation of cardinals and
-theologians, to issue an order for a commission to inquire into the
-validity of the dispensation granted by Pope Julius, and to revoke it, if
-it was found to have been by any means surreptitiously obtained.
-
-Campeggio, who had most reluctantly undertaken the appointment of
-commissioner in this case, was all this time slowly, very slowly,
-progressing towards England. He was an eminent professor of the canon
-law, and an experienced statesman. He had been a married man, and had a
-family; but, on the death of his wife, in 1509, he had taken orders, was
-made cardinal in 1517, and had been employed by Leo and his successors in
-various arduous cases to their highest satisfaction. Campeggio arrived in
-London at last, on the 7th of October, 1528, but in such exhaustion, from
-violent and long attacks of the gout, that he was carried in a litter to
-his lodgings, and remained for some time confined to his bed. Henry, with
-his characteristic hypocrisy, on the approach of the legate, again sent
-away his mistress, and recalled his obliging wife, with whom he appeared
-to be living on the most affectionate terms. They had the same bed and
-board, and went regularly through the same devotions. The arrival of
-the legate raised the courage of the people, who were unanimous in the
-favour of the queen, and, though Wolsey made every exertion to silence
-and restrain them, they loudly declared that, let the king marry whom he
-pleased, they would acknowledge no successor in prejudice to Mary.
-
-It was a fortnight before the legate was ready to see the king. On the
-22nd of October he made his visit, and was, of course, most graciously
-received by Henry and the cardinal, but they could extract from him no
-opinion as to the probable result of the inquiry which was at hand.
-Henry and Wolsey exerted all their arts to win over the great man. The
-king paid him constant visits; and to mollify and draw him out heaped
-all sorts of flatteries upon him, and made him the most brilliant
-promises. He had already made him Bishop of Salisbury, and presented
-him with a splendid palace in Rome; and he now offered to confer on him
-the rich bishopric of Durham, and knighted his son Ridolfo, by whom
-he was accompanied. But nothing moved the impenetrable ecclesiastic;
-for if favours were heaped on him here, terrors awaited him at Rome
-if he betrayed the trust of his master, the Pope. He replied to all
-solicitations that he had every disposition to serve the king, so far
-as his conscience would permit him. To produce a favourable bias in the
-opinions of the inexorable man, the judgments of eminent divines and
-doctors of the canon law on the king's case were laid before him. These
-he read, but still kept his own ideas locked in his breast.
-
-Henry next endeavoured to obtain from Campeggio the publication of
-the decretal bull, or, at least, that it should be shown to the Privy
-Council, but the legate remained firm to his instructions. The king's
-agents at the same time plied Clement with persuasives to the same end,
-but with the same result. So far from giving way, the agents informed
-Henry that the Emperor had given back to the Pope Civita Vecchia and
-all the fortresses which he had taken from the Holy See, and that it
-was to be feared that there was a secret understanding between the Pope
-and Charles. At this news Henry despatched Sir Francis Bryan, Master of
-the Henchmen, and Peter Vannes, his secretary of the Latin tongue, to
-Francis I., upbraiding him with his neglect in permitting this to go
-on; and they then proceeded to Italy, and requested the Pope to cite all
-Christian princes to meet in Avignon and settle their differences. In
-the meantime these agents were to consult the most celebrated canonists
-at Rome on the following extraordinary points:--"1. Whether, if a wife
-were to make a vow of chastity, and enter a convent, the Pope could not,
-in the plenitude of his power, authorise the husband to marry again. 2.
-Whether, if the husband were to enter into a religious order, that he
-might induce the wife to do the same, he might not afterwards be released
-from his vow, and have liberty to marry. 3. Whether, for reasons of
-State, the Pope could not license a prince to have, like the ancient
-patriarchs, two wives, of whom one only should be publicly acknowledged,
-and enjoy the honours of royalty."
-
-On the 6th of February, 1529, the intelligence arrived that Clement
-was dying, and by that time was probably dead. Now was the time to
-place Wolsey in the Papal chair, and thus end all difficulties. Francis
-promised cordially to aid in the attempt; but, to their dismay, Clement
-revived, and dashed their hopes to the ground. Made desperate by these
-chances, Henry now gave the invalid Pope no rest from his solicitations.
-His agents forced themselves into his very sick chamber, and demanded
-that the fatal mandate of dispensation granted by Julius II.--a copy
-of which Catherine had obtained from Spain--should be revoked, or that
-Charles should be compelled to exhibit the original. But the Pope
-remained firm. He declared that he could not depart from the course
-already prescribed, that Catherine had even entered a protest in his
-Court against the persons of her judges, and he recommended Henry to lose
-no time, but to try to determine the matter in his own realm.
-
-The Court which was to try the cause met in the Parliament chamber in
-the Blackfriars, and summoned the king and queen to appear before it on
-the 18th of June. Henry appeared by proxy; Catherine obeyed the summons
-in person, but only to protest against the judges as the subjects of
-Henry, her accuser, and to appeal to the Pope. This appeal was overruled,
-and the Court adjourned to the 21st of June. On this day both Henry and
-Catherine appeared, the king sitting in state on the right hand of the
-cardinal and legate, and Catherine sat on their left, attended by four
-friendly bishops. On their names being called, Henry answered "Here!" but
-Catherine was unable to reply. On being again cited, however, she rose
-and repeated her protest on three grounds,--first, as being a stranger;
-secondly, because the judges were subjects, and held benefices, the
-gift of her adversary; and last, because from such a Court she could
-not expect impartiality. This protest being held inadmissible, she rose
-again, crossed herself, and, leaning on her maids, approached the king,
-threw herself at his feet, and addressed him in a pathetic speech.
-
-On the 25th of June Catherine was summoned before the Court again, but
-she refused to appear, sending in, however, and causing to be read,
-her appeal to the Pope. On this she was declared contumacious; and the
-king's counsellors asserted that the following points had been clearly
-proved:--That her marriage with Prince Arthur had been consummated, and,
-therefore, her marriage with Henry was unlawful; that the dispensation
-of Julius II. had been obtained under false pretences and a concealment
-of facts; and that the Papal brief which had been sent from Spain was
-a forgery. They therefore called on the judges to pronounce for the
-divorce. But even had all this been proved, which it had not, Campeggio
-was not intending to do anything of the kind. The peace which had been
-rumoured between the Pope and the Emperor had been signed on the 29th
-of June, and Clement was now much at his ease. On the 23rd of July, no
-progress being made, Henry summoned the Court, and demanded judgment in
-imperious terms. But Campeggio replied with unmoved dignity:--"I have
-not come so far to please any man for fear, meed, or favour, be he king
-or any other potentate. I am an old man, sick, decayed, looking daily
-for death; what should it then avail me to put my soul in the danger of
-God's displeasure, to my utter damnation, for the favour of any prince
-or high estate in this world? Forasmuch, then, that I perceive that the
-truth in this case is very difficult to be known; that the defendant
-will make no answer thereunto, but hath appealed from our judgment;
-therefore, to avoid all injustice and obscure doubts, I intend to proceed
-no further in this matter until I have the opinion of the Pope and such
-others of his council as have more experience and learning. I, for this
-purpose, adjourn this Court till the commencement of the next term, in
-the beginning of October."
-
-It would be difficult to conceive the state of agitation into which the
-Court of Henry was now thrown. Instead of receiving a decision, it was
-put off till October; and this was not the worst, for in a few days
-news arrived that the commission of the cardinals had been revoked by
-the Pope on the 15th of July, or eight days previous to the adjournment,
-and that the Papal Court had entertained the appeal of Queen Catherine,
-and recalled Campeggio. Thus, not even in October was there any chance
-of a decision, and had such been arrived at now it would have been null,
-the commission having previously expired. Still worse, while Henry was
-in the highest state of irritation, there came an instrument from Rome,
-forbidding him to pursue his cause by the legates, but citing him to
-appear by attorney in the Papal Court, under a penalty of 10,000 ducats.
-Campeggio departed from England at the commencement of Michaelmas term.
-At the interview in which he took his leave of the king, Henry behaved
-with much politeness to the Italian legate, but treated Wolsey with
-marked coldness. Showing a disposition to relent later on in the same
-day, Henry was at once so worked upon by the Boleyn faction that he
-undertook never more to see the cardinal, whose fall was now certain.
-
-Indeed, on account of his failure to obtain the divorce, Wolsey was
-doomed to destruction. On the 9th of October, the same month as he opened
-the Court of Chancery, he perceived a deadly coldness as of winter frost
-around him. No one did him honour--the sun of Royal favour had set to
-him for ever. On the same day Hales, the attorney-general, filed two
-bills against him in the King's Bench, charging him with having incurred
-the penalty of Præmunire by acting in the kingdom as the Pope's legate.
-This was a most barefaced accusation, for he had accepted the legatine
-authority by Henry's express permission; had exercised it for many years
-with his full knowledge and approbation, and, in the affairs of the
-divorce, at the earnest request of the king. But Henry VIII. had no law
-but his own will, and never wanted reasons for punishing those who had
-offended him.
-
-Of Wolsey, as he appeared at this moment, scathed and stunned by the
-thunderbolt of the royal wrath, we have a striking picture. The Bishop
-of Bayonne, the French ambassador, says in a letter:--"I have been
-to visit the cardinal in his distress, and I have witnessed the most
-striking change of fortune. He explained to me his hard case in the worst
-rhetoric that was ever heard. Both his tongue and his heart failed him.
-He recommended himself to the pity of the king and madame [Francis I. and
-his mother] with sighs and tears; and at last left me, without having
-said anything near so moving as his appearance. His face is dwindled to
-one-half its natural size. In truth, his misery is such that his enemies,
-Englishmen as they are, cannot help pitying him. Still, they will carry
-things to extremities. As for his legation, the seals, his authority,
-etc., he thinks no more of them. He is willing to give up everything,
-even the shirt from his back, and live in a hermitage, if the king would
-but desist from his displeasure."
-
-On the 17th of October Henry sent the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk to
-demand the Great Seal; and they are said to have done that duty with
-some ungenerous triumph. But Wolsey delivered up his authority without
-complaint, and only sent in an offer surrendering all his personal estate
-to his gracious master, on condition that he might retire to his diocese
-on his church property. But the property of Wolsey had long been riveting
-the greedy eye of Henry, and, next to Anne Boleyn, that was, probably,
-the "weight which pulled him down." A message was soon brought him by
-the same noblemen that the king expected an entire and unconditional
-submission, whereupon he granted to the king the yearly profits of his
-benefices, and threw himself on his mercy. It was then intimated that His
-Majesty meant to reside at York Place (Whitehall) during the Parliament,
-and that Wolsey might retire to Esher Place, in Surrey, a house belonging
-to his bishopric of Winchester.
-
-On the 3rd of November, after the long intermission of seven years,
-a Parliament was called together. The main object of this unusual
-occurrence was to complete the ruin of Wolsey, and place it beyond the
-power of the king to restore him to favour--a circumstance of which the
-courtiers were in constant dread. The committee of the House of Lords
-presented to the king a string of no less than forty-four articles
-against the fallen minister, enumerating and exaggerating all his
-offences, and calling upon the monarch to take such order with him "that
-he should never have any power, jurisdiction, or authority hereafter,
-to trouble, vex, and impoverish the commonwealth of this your realm, as
-he hath done heretofore, to the great hurt and damage of almost every
-man, high or low." This address was carried to the Commons for their
-concurrence; but there Thomas Cromwell, who by the favour of Wolsey had
-risen from the very lowest condition to be his friend and steward, and
-was now advanced to the king's service by the particular recommendation
-of the cardinal, attacked the articles manfully, and caused the Commons
-to reject them, as the members were persuaded that Cromwell was acting
-by suggestion of the king; which is very probable, for so far from Henry
-showing Cromwell any dislike for this proceeding, he continued to promote
-him, till he became his prime minister, and was created Earl of Essex.
-
-[Illustration: THE DISMISSAL OF WOLSEY. (_See p._ 152.)]
-
-Henry, having now seized upon all the cardinal's property, the incomes
-of his bishoprics, abbeys, and other benefices, his colleges at Ipswich
-and Oxford, with all their furniture and revenues, his pensions, clothes,
-and even his very tomb, seemed contented to leave him his life. He,
-therefore, on the 12th of February, 1530, granted him a full pardon for
-all his real and pretended crimes. He allowed him, moreover, to retain
-the revenues of York. He gave him also a pension of 1,000 marks a year
-out of the bishopric of Winchester, and soon after sent him a present of
-£3,000 in money; and in plate, furniture, &c., the value of £3,374 3s.
-7d., and gave him leave to reside at Richmond.
-
-This new flow of royal favour wonderfully revived the cardinal's hopes,
-and as vividly excited the fears of the Boleyn party. To have this
-formidable man residing so near them as Richmond was too perilous to be
-thought of. Some fine morning the king might suddenly ride over there,
-and all be undone. Henry was, therefore, besieged with entreaties to
-remove him farther from the Court, and to such a distance as should
-prevent the possibility of an interview. They prevailed, and Wolsey
-received an order through his friend Cromwell to go and reside in his
-archbishopric of York. To the cardinal, who felt a strong persuasion
-that if he could but obtain an interview with the king all would be set
-right, this was next to a death-warrant. He entreated Cromwell to obtain
-leave for him to reside at Winchester, but this was refused, and the Duke
-of Norfolk, Anne's uncle, sent Wolsey word that if he did not get away
-immediately into the North he would come and tear him in pieces with his
-teeth. "Then," said Wolsey, "it is time for me to be gone."
-
-Delighted with their metropolitan, the clergy of York waited upon him in
-a body, and begged that he would allow himself to be installed in his
-cathedral, according to the custom of his predecessors. Wolsey, after
-taking time to consider of it, consented, on condition that it should be
-done with as little splendour as possible. No sooner, however, was this
-news divulged than the noblemen, gentlemen, and clergy of the county
-sent into York great quantities of provisions, and made preparations
-for a most magnificent feast. But this was suddenly prevented by a
-very unexpected event. On the 4th of November, only three days before
-the grand installation was to come off, the Earl of Northumberland,
-accompanied by Sir William Walsh and a number of horsemen, arrived at
-Cawood. Wolsey, believing in good news, went out to receive the Earl with
-a cheerful countenance; and, observing his numerous retinue, he said,
-"Ah! my lord, I perceive that you observe the precepts and instructions
-which I gave you, when you were abiding with me in your youth, to cherish
-your father's old servants." He then took the earl affectionately by the
-hand, and led him into a bed-chamber. There he no doubt expected to hear
-good tidings; but the earl, though greatly affected and embarrassed, laid
-his hand on the old man's shoulder, and said, "My lord, I arrest you of
-high treason." Wolsey was struck dumb, and stood motionless as a statue.
-He then bowed to the order, and prepared for his journey. On his way to
-London he was seized with dysentery at Sheffield Park, the mansion of
-the Earl of Shrewsbury. The attack left him so weak that he was glad to
-accept the hospitality of Leicester Abbey, where the abbot, at the head
-of a procession of the monks, with lighted torches, received him. He was
-completely worn out, and being lifted from his mule, said, "I am come,
-my brethren, to lay my bones amongst you." The monks carried him to his
-bed, where he swooned repeatedly; and the second morning his servants,
-who had watched him with anxious affection, saw that he was dying. He
-called to his bedside Sir William Kingston, and amongst others, addressed
-to him these remarkable words:--"Had I but served God as diligently as I
-have served the king, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs.
-But this is the just reward that I must receive for my diligent pains
-and study, not regarding my service to God, but only to my prince. Let
-me advise you to take care what you put in the king's head, for you can
-never put it out again. I have often kneeled before him, sometimes three
-hours together, to persuade him from his will and appetite, but could not
-prevail. He is a prince of most royal courage, and hath a princely heart;
-for, rather than miss or want any part of his will, he will endanger one
-half of his kingdom." On the 29th of November, 1530, thus died Thomas,
-Lord Cardinal Wolsey, one of the most extraordinary characters that was
-ever raised up and again overthrown by the mere will of a king, and who
-unconsciously contributed to one of the most extensive revolutions of
-human mind and government which the world has known.
-
-In following the story of Wolsey to its close, we have a little
-overstepped the progress of affairs. As soon as the great man was
-out of the way, a ministry was formed of the leading persons of the
-Boleyn party. The Duke of Norfolk, Anne's uncle, was made President of
-the Council, Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Lord Marshal, and the Earl of
-Wiltshire, the father of Anne Boleyn, had a principal place. Sir Thomas
-More, unfortunately for him as it proved, was made Lord Chancellor
-instead of Wolsey, a promotion which he reluctantly accepted. Amongst
-the king's servants, Stephen Gardiner, who had been introduced and
-much employed by Wolsey, still remained high in the king's favour, and
-occupied the post of his secretary. Gardiner, a bigoted Catholic, and
-afterwards one of the most bloody persecutors of the Reformers, now,
-however, in trying to promote the wishes of the king for the divorce,
-unconsciously promoted the Reformation.
-
-[Illustration: CARDINAL WOLSEY AT LEICESTER ABBEY.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR JOHN GILBERT, R.A., P.R.W.S. AT THE VICTORIA AND
-ALBERT MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON.]
-
-The king, returning from the progress which he had made to Moore Park,
-and to Grafton, remained one night at Waltham. Gardiner and Fox were
-lodged in the house of a Mr. Cressy, a gentleman of good family. After
-supper the conversation turned on the grand topic of the day--the king's
-divorce, and Gardiner and Fox detailed the difficulties that surrounded
-it, and the apparent impossibility of getting the Pope to move in it. A
-grave clergyman, the tutor of the family, of the name of Thomas Cranmer,
-after listening to the discourse, was asked by Fox and Gardiner what
-he thought of the matter. At first he declined to give his opinion on
-so high a matter, but being pressed, he said, he thought they were
-wrong altogether in the way they were seeking the divorce. As the Pope
-evidently would not commit himself upon the subject, his opinion was
-that they should not waste any more time in fruitless solicitations at
-Rome, but submit this plain question to the most learned men and chief
-universities of Europe: "Do the laws of God permit a man to marry his
-brother's widow?" If, as he imagined, the answers were in the negative,
-the Pope would not dare to pronounce a sentence in opposition to the
-opinions of all these learned men and learned bodies.
-
-On the return of the Court to Greenwich, Fox and Gardiner related this
-conversation to the king, who instantly swore that "the man had got
-the right sow by the ear," and ordered him instantly to be sent for to
-Court. Cranmer, on his arrival, maintained his opinion in a manner which
-wonderfully delighted Henry, and raised his hope of having at length hit
-on the true mode of solving the difficulty.
-
-Agents were despatched to obtain the required opinion from the different
-universities, both in England and on the Continent, well provided with
-that most persuasive of rhetoricians--money. At his own universities,
-however, Henry found no little opposition. On the Continent, where
-Henry's menaces had no weight, his purse was freely opened; and the
-universities of Bologna, Padua, and Ferrara, as well as many learned
-men, were prevailed on to take the view that Henry wished. In Germany
-his agents were far less successful. Both Protestants and Catholics
-in general condemned his proposed divorce; and Luther and Melanchthon
-said he had much better follow the example of the patriarchs, and take
-a second wife, than put away the first without any crime on her part.
-From France and its fourteen universities Henry expected much more
-compliance, but he was disappointed. From Orleans, Toulouse, and Bourges,
-and from the civilians of Angers, doubtful decisions were procured, but
-the theologians of the last city maintained the validity of the existing
-marriage. The answers from other universities were either not received or
-were suppressed.
-
-The scheme of Cranmer had not worked particularly well; the opinions of
-the universities were for the most part either adverse, or were forced,
-and those of learned men more opposed than coinciding. There needed a
-more determined spirit than that of Cranmer to break the way through the
-wood of embarrassments in which they were involved, and the right man
-now stepped forward in Thomas Cromwell, the former secretary of Wolsey.
-He sought an interview with Henry, and determined, according to his own
-phrase, "to make or mar," thus addressed him:--"It was not," he observed,
-"for him to affect to give advice where so many wise and abler men had
-failed, but when he saw the anxiety of his sovereign, he could no longer
-be silent, whatever might be the result. There was a clear and obvious
-course to pursue. Let the king do just what the princes of Germany
-had done, throw off the yoke of Rome; and let him, by the authority,
-declare himself, as he should be, the head of the Church within his own
-dominions. At present England was a monster with two heads. But let the
-king assume the authority now usurped by a foreign pontiff, an authority
-from which so many evils and confusions to this realm had flowed, and
-the monstrosity would be at an end; all would be simple, harmonious, and
-devoid of difficulty. The clergy, sensible that their lives and fortunes
-were in the hands of their own monarch--hands which could be no longer
-paralysed by alien interference--from haughty antagonists would instantly
-become the obsequious ministers of his will."
-
-Henry listened to this new doctrine with equal wonder and delight, and
-he thanked Cromwell heartily, and had him instantly sworn of his privy
-council.
-
-No time was lost in trying the efficacy of Cromwell's daring scheme.
-To sever that ancient union, which had existed so many ages, and was
-hallowed in the eyes of the world by so many proud recollections was a
-task at which the stoutest heart and most iron resolution might have
-trembled; but Cromwell had taken a profound survey of the region he was
-about to invade, and had learned its weakest places. He relied on the
-unscrupulous impetuosity of the king's passion to bear him through;
-he relied far more on the finesse of his own genius. With the calmest
-resolution, he laid his finger on one single page of the statute-book,
-and knew that he was master of the Church. The law which rendered any
-one who received favours direct from the Pope guilty of a breach of the
-Statute of Præmunire, permitted the monarch to suspend the action of
-this Statute at his discretion. This he had done in the case of Wolsey.
-When he accepted the legatine authority, the cardinal took care to obtain
-a patent under the Great Seal, authorising the exercise of this foreign
-power. But Wolsey, when he was called in question for the administration
-of an office thus especially sanctioned by the Crown, neglected to
-produce this deed of indemnity, hoping still to be restored to the royal
-favour, and unwilling to irritate the king by any show of self-defence.
-There lay the concealed weapon which the shrewd eye of Cromwell had
-detected, and by which he could overturn the ecclesiastical fabric of
-ages. He declared, to the consternation of the whole hierarchy, that not
-only had Wolsey involved himself in all the penalties of Præmunire, but
-the whole of the clergy with him. They had admitted his exercise of the
-Papal authority, and thereby were become, in the language of the Statute,
-his "fautors and abettors."
-
-Dire was the dismay which at this charge seized on the whole body of the
-clergy. The council ordered the Attorney-General to file an information
-against the entire ecclesiastical body. Convocation assembled in haste,
-and offered, as the price of a full pardon, £100,000. But still greater
-were the amazement and dismay of the clergy, when they found that this
-magnificent sum was rejected unless Convocation consented to declare,
-in the preamble to the grant, that the king was "the protector and
-only supreme head of the Church of England." By the king's permission,
-however, the venerable Archbishop Warham introduced and carried an
-amendment in Convocation, by which the grant was voted with this clause
-in the preamble:--"Of which church and clergy we acknowledge His Majesty
-to be the chief protector, the only and supreme lord, and, _as far as
-the law of God will allow_, the supreme head." The wedge was introduced;
-the severance was certain: the perfect accomplishment of it only awaited
-another opportunity for an easier issue. The northern convocation adopted
-the same language, and voted a grant of £18,840.
-
-Henry, under the guidance of Cromwell, now procured an act to be passed
-by Parliament, abolishing the annates, or first-fruits, which furnished
-a considerable annual income to the Pope, and another abrogating the
-authority of the clergy in Convocation, and attaching that authority to
-the Crown. Feeling that in this struggle he should need the friendship
-of Francis, he proposed a new treaty with France, which was signed in
-London on the 23rd of June, 1532; and the more to strengthen the alliance
-the two monarchs met between Calais and Boulogne. Great preparations
-were made on both sides, and Henry begged Francis to bring his favourite
-mistress with him. This was as an excuse for Henry to bring Anne Boleyn,
-who was now created the Marchioness of Pembroke, and without whom he
-could go nowhere. It is said that Francis, during the interview, had
-urged Henry to wait no longer for the permission of the Pope, but to
-marry the Marchioness of Pembroke without further delay; but it is quite
-certain that another counsellor was more urgent, and that was--Time.
-It was high time, indeed, that the marriage should take place if they
-meant to legitimatise her offspring, for Anne Boleyn was with child.
-Accordingly, the marriage took place on the 25th of January, 1533. The
-ceremony, however, was strictly private. In fact the marriage was kept
-so secret that it was not even communicated to Cranmer, who had just
-returned from Germany, and taken up his abode in the family of Anne
-Boleyn. Cranmer, whilst in Germany, had married, Catholic priest as he
-was, the niece of Osiander, the Protestant minister of Nuremberg. This
-lady he had brought secretly to England, and was now living a married
-priest, in direct violation of the Church that he belonged to.
-
-Archbishop Warham was now dead, and Henry nominated Cranmer to the vacant
-primacy. He was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on the 30th of
-March, 1533, and he was immediately ordered to proceed with the divorces.
-The new primate, therefore, wrote on the 11th of April, a formal letter
-to the king, soliciting the issue of a commission to try that cause, and
-pronounce a definite sentence. This was immediately done; and Cranmer,
-as the head of this commission, accompanied by Gardiner, now Bishop of
-Winchester, the Bishops of London, Lincoln, Bath, and Wells, with many
-other divines and canonists, opened their court at Dunstable, in the
-monastery of St. Peter, six miles from Ampthill, where the queen resided.
-On the 12th of May Cranmer pronounced Catherine contumacious, and on the
-23rd, he declared her marriage was null and invalid from the beginning.
-On the 28th, in a court held at Lambeth, the archbishop pronounced the
-king's marriage with Anne Boleyn to be good and valid. On the 1st of
-June, being Whit Sunday, Anne was crowned with every possible degree of
-pomp and display.
-
-Henry, notwithstanding his separation from Rome, was anxious to obtain
-the sanction of his marriage by the Pope; but, instead of that, Clement
-fulminated his denunciations against him over Europe. He annulled
-Cranmer's sentence on Henry's first marriage, and published a bull
-excommunicating Henry and Anne, unless they separated before the next
-September, when the new queen expected her confinement. Henry despatched
-ambassadors to the different foreign courts to announce his marriage, and
-the reasons which had led him to it; but from no quarter did he receive
-much congratulation.
-
-[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON: SKETCH IN THE GARDENS.]
-
-However sincere and earnest the two principals in this contest, the Pope
-and Henry, might be, there were at work in the Court of England and the
-Court of Rome parties really more powerful than their principals, who
-were resolved that the two desiderata to this pacification never should
-be yielded. Cromwell and his party commenced an active campaign in
-Parliament for breaking beyond remedy the tie with Rome, and establishing
-an independent church in this country. This able man, who for his past
-services was now made Chancellor of the Exchequer for life, framed a
-series of bills, and introduced them to Parliament, soon after the
-Christmas holidays. These included an act establishing the title of the
-king as supreme head of the English Church, and vesting in him the right
-to appoint to all bishoprics, and to decide all ecclesiastical causes.
-Payments or appeals to Rome were strictly forbidden by the confirmation
-of the Annates Act, the Act against "Peter Pence," and that "in
-Restraint of appeals" whereby the whole Roman jurisdiction in England was
-decisively repudiated.
-
-By a further bill, the marriage of Catherine--strangely enough at the
-very moment that Henry had conceded its final decision at Rome--was
-declared unlawful, and that of Anne Boleyn confirmed. The issue by
-the first marriage was declared illegitimate, and excluded from the
-succession, and the issue of the marriage of Anne was made inheritable
-of the crown, and that only, and any one casting any slander on this
-marriage, or endeavouring to prejudice the succession of its issue, was
-declared guilty of high treason, if by writing, printing, or deed, and
-misprision of treason if by word. Thus was a new power established by
-the Crown; every person of full age, or on hereafter coming to full age,
-was to be sworn to obey this act. Not only new powers were thus created,
-but a new crime was invented; and though this statute was swept away in
-the course of a few years, yet it is a remarkable one, for it became the
-precedent for many a succeeding and despotic government.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_continued_).
-
-     The Maid of Kent and Her Accomplices--Act of Supremacy and
-     Consequent Persecutions--The "Bloody Statute"--Deaths of Fisher
-     and More--Suppression of the Smaller Monasteries--Trial and Death
-     of Anne Boleyn--Henry Marries Jane Seymour--Divisions in the
-     Church--The Pilgrimage of Grace--Birth of Prince Edward--Death
-     of Queen Jane--Suppression of the Larger Monasteries--The
-     Six Articles--Judicial Murders--Persecution of Cardinal
-     Pole--Cromwell's Marriage Scheme--Its Failure and his Fall.
-
-
-The discontent aroused in the country amongst those attached to the
-church of Rome, by the separation, and by the seizure of church property,
-with the fear of still greater spoliation, excited many murmurings.
-The king, aware that his proceedings were regarded with disapprobation
-by a vast body of people both at home and abroad, grew suspicious of
-every rumour, jealous, and vindictive. Amongst the singular conspiracies
-against the royal transactions, one of the earliest arose out of the
-visions of a young woman of Addington, in Surrey, of the name of
-Elizabeth Barton, who was of a nervous temperament, and whose mind
-was greatly excited by the sufferings of Queen Catherine. The rector
-of the parish, struck by many of the words which fell from her in her
-trances, regarded her as a religiously inspired person, and recommended
-her to quit the village, and enter the convent of St. Sepulchre at
-Canterbury. There her ecstacies and revelations, probably strengthened
-by the atmosphere of the place, became more frequent and strong. The
-nuns regarded her declarations as prophecies, and the fame of her soon
-spread round the country, where she acquired the name of the "Holy Maid
-of Kent." It was observed that her visions had all a tendency to exalt
-the power of the Pope and the clergy, and to denounce the vengeance of
-Heaven on all who disobeyed or attempted to injure them. At length Henry
-considered that the words of the maid, which were sedulously taken down
-and circulated through the press, were a powerful means of stirring up
-the popular feeling against him, and he therefore ordered the arrest of
-herself and the chief of her accomplices.
-
-In November they were brought into the Star Chamber and carefully
-examined by Cranmer, the archbishop, Cromwell, and Hugh Latimer, who
-soon after was made Bishop of Worcester. This tribunal appears to have
-intimidated both the maid and her abettors into a confession of the
-imposture, and they were condemned to stand during the sermon on Sunday
-at St. Paul's Cross, and there acknowledge the fraud. After that they
-were remanded to prison, and it was thought that, having disarmed these
-people by this exposure, he would be satisfied with the punishment they
-had received. But Henry was now become every day more and more addicted
-to blood, and ready to shed it for any infringement of those almost
-Divine rights which the supremacy of the Church had conferred on him. On
-the 21st of February, 1534, therefore, a bill of attainder was brought
-into the House of Lords against the maid and her abettors, on the plea
-that their conspiracy tended to bring into peril the king's life and
-crown. The bill, notwithstanding that it was regarded with horror by the
-public as a strange and cruel stretch of authority, was passed by the
-slavish Parliament; and on the 21st of April, 1534, the seven accused
-were drawn to Tyburn and hanged. Besides the persons who suffered
-immediately with her, there were also accused of corresponding with her,
-Edward Thwaites, gentleman, Thomas Lawrence, registrar to the Archdeacon
-of Canterbury, the venerable Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas
-More.
-
-Fisher, who was in his seventy-sixth year, confessed that he had seen
-and conversed with Elizabeth Barton; that he had heard her utter her
-prophecies concerning the king; and that he had not mentioned them to the
-sovereign, because her declarations did not refer to any violence against
-him, but merely to a visitation of Providence; and because, also, he knew
-that the king had received the communication of the prophecies from the
-maid herself, who had had for that purpose a private audience with Henry.
-He was, therefore, he said, guiltless of any conspiracy, and as he would
-answer it before the throne of Christ, knew not of any malice or evil
-that was intended by her or by any other earthly creature unto the king's
-highness.
-
-The name of Sir Thomas More was erased from this bill, though he could
-not be more innocent than Fisher, but not more than a fortnight passed
-before the bloodthirsty tyrant had contrived a more deadly snare for
-them both. He had them summoned, and commanded to take the new oath of
-allegiance. They were both of them ready to swear to the king's full
-temporal authority, and to the succession of his children, but they could
-not conscientiously take the oath which declared Henry the supreme head
-of the English Church, and the marriage with Anne Boleyn lawful. Cranmer,
-who on this occasion showed more mildness and liberality than he had
-shown honest principles in his elevation, would fain have admitted these
-illustrious men to take the oath so far as it applied to temporal, and to
-dispense with it as regarded spiritual matters. But he pleaded in vain,
-and they were both committed to the Tower.
-
-Henry, having got the Acts of Parliament for the Supremacy and the
-Succession, was not of a temper to let them become a dead letter.
-Whether it was owing to the carelessness of Parliament or the
-carefulness of the Crown, the oath of the Succession had not been
-verbally defined, and Henry now availed himself of this emission to
-alter and add to it so as to please himself. From the clergy he took
-care to obtain an oath including the full recognition of his supremacy
-in the Church, omitting the qualifying clause in the former one; and an
-assertion that the Bishop of Rome had no more authority within the realm
-than any other bishop. He spent the summer in administering this oath to
-the monks, friars, and nuns, also to all clergymen and clerical bodies
-whatever, and in obtaining decisions against the papal authority from
-the two convocations and the universities. The oath to the laity was
-administered to men and women alike. Remembering the mental reservation
-of Cranmer when he swore obedience to the Pope, he now demanded from
-every prelate an oath of renunciation of every protest previously or
-secretly made contrary to the oath of supremacy. He ordered that the very
-word Pope should be obliterated carefully out of all books used in public
-worship.
-
-If Henry had been a zealous Reformer, a disciple of the new creed, we
-might have attributed his proceedings to an arbitrary and uncharitable
-earnestness for what he deemed the truth; but he was just as bigoted
-in the old faith as ever. His Bloody Statute, as it was called, the
-Statute of Six Articles, maintained that the actual presence was in
-the sacramental bread and wine; that priests were forbidden to marry;
-that vows of chastity were to be observed; and that mass and auricular
-confession were indispensable. Those who opposed any of these dogmas
-were to suffer death; no doctrine was to be believed contrary to the Six
-Articles; no persons were to sing or rhyme contrary to them; no book was
-to be possessed by any one against the Holy Sacrament; no annotations or
-preambles were to exist in Bibles or Testaments in English; and nothing
-was to be taught contrary to the king's command. In fact, the country had
-only got rid of an Italian Pope and got an English one in his stead--Pope
-Henry VIII.
-
-The first-fruits of this awful concession to a vain and selfish
-man of the usurpation of God's own dominion in the soul, were an
-indiscriminating mass of Lollards, Lutherans, Anabaptists, and Roman
-Catholics committed to the flames. On the 22nd of July, during the
-prorogation of Parliament, Firth, a young man of singular learning,
-who had written a book against purgatory, transubstantiation, and
-consubstantiation, was burnt in Smithfield; and a poor tailor, Andrew
-Hewett, who simply affirmed that he thought Firth was right, was burnt
-with him. Several Anabaptists underwent the same fate.
-
-[Illustration: SIR THOMAS MORE. (_After the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-As that year closed in blood, so the next opened. The priors of the
-then Charterhouses of London, Axholm, and Belleval, waited on Cromwell
-to explain their conscientious scruples; but Cromwell, who was become
-the harsh and unhesitating instrument of Henry's despotism, instead
-of listening to them, committed them to the Tower on a charge of high
-treason, for refusing the king "the dignity, style, and name of his
-Royal estate." When he brought them to trial the jury shrank from giving
-such a verdict against men of their acknowledged virtue and character.
-Cromwell hastened to the court in person, and threatened to hang them
-instead of the prisoners, if they did not without further delay pronounce
-them guilty. Five days later these three dignitaries were executed at
-Tyburn, with Richard Reynolds, a doctor of divinity and monk of Sion, and
-John Hailes, Vicar of Thistleworth. They were all treated with savage
-barbarity, being hanged, cut down alive, embowelled, and dismembered. On
-the 18th of June, nearly a fortnight afterwards, Exmew, Middlemore, and
-Newdigate, three Carthusian monks from the Charterhouse, were executed,
-with the same atrocities.
-
-[Illustration: THE PARTING OF SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER. (_See p._
-162.)]
-
-Whilst these horrors struck with consternation all at home, Henry
-proceeded to a deed which extended the feeling of abhorrence all over
-Europe. He shed the blood of Fisher and More. We have stated that
-Parliament had not enacted the precise oath for the refusal of which
-Fisher and More were arraigned. But this made no difference: the king
-willed it, and the submissive legislature passed a bill of attainder for
-misprision of treason against them both. On this they and their families
-were stripped of everything they had. The poor old bishop was left in
-a complete state of destitution, and had not even clothes to cover his
-nakedness. Sir Thomas More was dependent wholly for the support of his
-life on his married daughter, Margaret Roper. They were repeatedly
-called up after their attainder, and treacherously examined as to any
-act or word that they might have done or uttered contrary to the king's
-supremacy, as if to aggravate their crime and justify a more rigorous
-sentence. The Pope Clement was dead, and was succeeded by Paul III.,
-who, hearing of the sad condition of the venerable Fisher, sent him a
-cardinal's hat, thinking it might make Henry less willing to proceed
-to extremities with him. But the effect on the tyrant was quite the
-contrary. On hearing of the Pope's intention, he exclaimed, "Ha! Paul may
-send him a hat, but I will take care that he have never a head to wear it
-on."
-
-Accordingly, the aged prelate was brought out of the Tower on the 22nd of
-June, 1535, and beheaded. His head was stuck upon London Bridge, with his
-face turned towards the Kentish hills, amid which he had spent so many
-pleasant years. The body of the old bishop was stripped, and left naked
-on the spot till evening, when it was carried away by the guards, and
-buried in Allhallows churchyard at Barking. Such was the manner in which
-this supreme head of the Church treated his former tutor, and one of the
-most accomplished and pious men in Christendom.
-
-More, the scholar, the wit, the genius, raised reluctantly to the
-chancellorship, had there so far deteriorated from the noble mood in
-which he had written his "Utopia" as to have become, contrary to all its
-doctrines and spirit, a persecutor. On the 14th of June he was visited in
-the Tower by Doctors Aldridge, Layton, Curwen, and Mr. Bedle, and there
-strictly interrogated in the presence of Pelstede, Whalley, and Rice, as
-to whether he had held any correspondence since he came into the Tower
-with Bishop Fisher, or others, and what had become of the letters he
-had received. He replied that George, the lieutenant's servant, had put
-them into the fire, against his wish, saying there was no better keeper
-than the fire. He was then asked whether he would not acknowledge the
-lawfulness of the king's marriage, and his headship of the Church. He
-declined to give an answer.
-
-At length, on the 1st of July, he was brought out of the Tower, and
-was conducted on foot through the streets of London to Westminster. He
-was wrapped only in a coarse woollen garment, his hair had grown grey,
-his face was pale and emaciated, for he had been nearly a year a close
-prisoner. This was thought well calculated to teach a lesson of obedience
-to the people; when they saw how the king handled even ex-chancellors and
-cardinals. When he arrived, bowed with suffering, and supporting himself
-on a staff, in that hall where he had presided with so much dignity, all
-who saw him were struck with astonishment. In order to confound him, and
-prevent the dreaded effect of his eloquence, his enemies had caused the
-indictment against him to be drawn out an immense length, and the charges
-to be grossly exaggerated and enveloped in clouds of words. Sentence
-of death was pronounced upon him, and he rose to address the Court. In
-the rudest manner they attempted to silence him, and twice, by their
-clamour, they succeeded; but the firmness of the noble victim at length
-triumphed, and he told them that he could now openly avow what he had
-before concealed from every human being, that the oath of supremacy was
-contrary to English law. He declared that he had no enmity against his
-judges. There would, he observed, have always been a scene of contention,
-and he prayed that as Paul had consented to the death of Stephen, and
-yet was afterwards called to tread in the same path, and ascend to the
-same heaven, so might he and they yet meet there. "And so," he added, in
-conclusion, "may God preserve you all, and especially my lord the king,
-and send him good counsel."
-
-As he turned from the bar, his son rushed through the hall, fell upon
-his knees, and implored his blessing; and, on approaching the Tower
-Wharf, his daughter, Margaret Roper, forced her way through the guard
-which surrounded him, and, clasping him round the neck, wept and sobbed
-aloud. The noble man, now clothed with all the calm dignity of the
-Christian philosopher, summoned fortitude enough to take a loving and a
-final farewell of her; but as he was moved on, the distracted daughter
-turned back, and, flying once more through the crowd, hung on his neck
-in the abandonment of grief. This was too much for his stoicism; he shed
-tears, whilst with deep emotion he repeated his blessing, and uttered
-words of Christian consolation. The people and the guards were so deeply
-affected, that they too burst into tears, and it was some time before the
-officers could summon resolution to part the father and his child.
-
-On the 6th of July he was summoned to execution, and informed that the
-king, as an especial favour, had commuted his punishment from hanging,
-drawing, and quartering, to decapitation. On this Sir Thomas, who had now
-taken his leave of the world, and met death with the cheerful humour of a
-man who is well assured that he is on the threshold of a better, replied
-with his wonted promptitude of wit, "God preserve all my friends from
-such favour." As he was about to ascend the scaffold, some one expressed
-a fear lest it should break down, for it appeared weak. "Mr. Lieutenant,"
-said More, smiling, "see me safe up, and for my coming down let me shift
-for myself." The executioner then approached, and asked his forgiveness.
-More embraced him, and said, "Friend, thou wilt render me the greatest
-service in the power of any mortal; but," putting an angel into his hand,
-"my neck is so short, that I fear thou wilt gain little credit in the way
-of thy profession." The same fear of the eloquence of the illustrious
-victim which had attempted to stop his mouth on the trial, now forbade
-him to address the multitude; he therefore contented himself with
-saying that he died a faithful subject to the king, and a true Catholic
-before God. He then prayed, and, laying his head upon the block, bade
-the executioner stay his hand a moment while he put back his beard. For
-"that," said he, "has never committed any treason." His head was severed
-at a single blow, and was, like Fisher's, fixed on London Bridge.
-
-But it was not merely in lopping off the heads of honest statesmen and
-prelates that Henry VIII. now displayed the powers of supreme head
-over the Church. There was a more tempting prey which allured his
-avaricious soul, and promised to recruit his exhausted treasury. These
-were the monasteries, convents, and abbeys. These institutions had grown
-excessively corrupt through time. Without depending on the reports of
-Henry's commissioners, whose business it was to make out a case for him
-against them, there is abundant evidence in contemporary writings that
-the monks, nuns, and friars were grown extremely sensual and corrupt.
-Rage and cupidity alike urged Henry to imitate the Reformers of Germany,
-and seize the spoils of this wealthy body. Cromwell--whom he had
-appointed Vicar-General, a strange office for a layman--went the whole
-length with him in those views; nay, he was the man who first turned his
-eyes on this great attractive mass of wealth, and hallooed him to the
-spoil. He had told him that, if once he was established by Parliament as
-head of the Church, all that opulence was his. There can be no doubt that
-it was to carry out this seizure that Cromwell was put into that very
-office of Vicar-General, as the only man to do the business, and he went
-to work upon it with right good will.
-
-The first thing was to appoint a commission, and to obtain such a
-report as should induce Parliament to pass an act of suppression of the
-religious houses, and the forfeiture of all their property to the Crown.
-The Archbishop of Paris, years before, had confidently affirmed, that
-whenever Wolsey should fall, the spoliation of the Church would quickly
-follow. To expedite this matter as much as possible, the whole kingdom
-was divided into districts, and to each district was appointed a couple
-of commissioners, who were armed with eighty-six questions to propound to
-the monastic orders. As acknowledgment of the supremacy of the king and
-approbation of his marriage were made requisites of compliance, there was
-little chance of escape for any monastery, be its morals what they might.
-
-The visitors had secret instructions to seek, in the first place, the
-lesser houses, and to exhort the inmates voluntarily to surrender them
-to the king, and, where they did not succeed, to collect such a body of
-evidence as should warrant the suppression of those houses; but after
-zealously labouring at this object through the winter, they could only
-prevail on seven small houses to surrender. A report was then prepared,
-which considerably surprised the public by stating that the lesser houses
-were abandoned to the most shameful sloth and immorality, but that the
-large and more opulent ones, contrary to all human experience, were more
-orderly. The secret of this representation was, that the abbots and
-priors of the great houses were lords of Parliament, and were, therefore,
-present to expose any false statement.
-
-On the 4th of March, 1536, a bill was passed hastily through both Houses,
-transferring to the king and his heirs all monastic establishments the
-clear value of which did not exceed £200 per annum. It was calculated
-that this bill--which, however, did not pass the Commons till Henry had
-sent for them, and told them that he would apply his favourite remedy
-for stiff necks--would dissolve no less than 380 communities, and add
-£32,000 to the annual income of the Crown, besides the presents received
-of £100,000 in money, plate, and jewels. The cause of these presents
-was a clause in the Act of Parliament, which left it to the discretion
-of the king to found any of these houses anew; a clause which was
-actively worked by Cromwell and his commissioners, and, by the hopes
-they inspired, drew large sums from the menaced brethren, part of which
-lodged in the pockets of the minister and his agents, and part reached
-the Crown. Cromwell amassed a large fortune from such sources.
-
-The Parliament, which had now sat seven years, and which was one of the
-most slavish and base bodies that ever were brought together--having
-yielded every popular right and privilege which the imperious monarch
-demanded, and augmented the Royal prerogative to a pitch of actual
-absolutism; having altered the succession, changed the system of
-ecclesiastical government, abolished a great number of the ancient
-religious houses without thereby much benefiting the Crown--was now
-dismissed, having done that for this worthless king which should cost
-some of his successors their thrones or their heads, and a braver and
-more honourable generation the blood of its best men to undo again.
-
-Anne Boleyn, on hearing of Catherine's death, which occurred in January,
-1536, was so rejoiced that she could not help crying out, "Now I am
-indeed a queen!" And yet, in truth, never had she less cause for triumph.
-Already the lecherous eye of her worthless husband had fallen on one of
-_her_ maids, as it had formerly fallen on one of Catherine's in her own
-person. This was Jane Seymour, a daughter of a knight of Wiltshire, who
-was not only of great beauty, but was distinguished for a gentle and
-sportive manner, equally removed from the Spanish gravity of Catherine
-and the French levity of Anne Boleyn. Before the death of Catherine,
-this fresh amour of Henry's was well known in the palace to all but
-the reigning queen; and, according to Wyatt, Anne only became aware
-of it by entering a room one day, and beholding Jane Seymour seated
-on Henry's knee, in a manner the most familiar, and as if accustomed
-to that indulgence. She saw at once that not only was Henry ready to
-bestow his regards on another, but that other was still more willing to
-step into her place than she had been to usurp that of Catherine. Anne
-was far advanced in pregnancy, and was in great hopes of riveting the
-king's affections to her by the birth of a prince; but the shock which
-she now received threw her into such agitation that she was prematurely
-delivered--of a boy, indeed, but dead. Henry, the moment that he heard of
-this unlucky accident, rushed into the queen's chamber, and upbraided her
-savagely "with the loss of his boy." Anne, stung by this cruelty, replied
-that he had to thank himself and "that wench Jane Seymour" for it. The
-fell tyrant retired, muttering his vengeance, and the die was now cast
-irrevocably for Anne Boleyn, if it were not before.
-
-It was a great misfortune for Anne that she had never been able to lay
-aside that levity of manner which she had acquired by spending her
-juvenile years at the French Court. After her elevation to the throne,
-she was too apt to forget, with those about her, the sober dignity which
-belonged to the queen, and to converse with the officers about her more
-in the familiar manner of the maid-of-honour which she had once been.
-This freedom and gaiety had been caught at by the Court gossips, and now
-scandals were whispered abroad, and, as soon as the way was open by the
-anger and fresh love affair of the king, carried to him. Such accusations
-were precisely what he wanted, as a means to rid himself of her. A plot
-was speedily concocted, in which she was to be charged with criminal
-conduct towards not only three officers of the Royal household--Brereton,
-Weston, and Norris--but also with Mark Smeaton, the king's musician,
-and, still more horrible, with her own brother, the Viscount Rochford. A
-court of inquiry was at once appointed, in which presided Cromwell, the
-Lord Chancellor, and the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, Anne's determined
-enemies. On the 28th of April they began with Brereton, and committed
-him to the Tower. On Sunday, the 31st, they examined Smeaton, and sent
-him also to the same prison. The following day, being the 1st of May,
-the court was suspended to celebrate the gaieties usual on that day; and
-these were used for the purpose of obtaining a public cause of accusation
-against Sir Henry Norris. There was to be held a tournament at Greenwich
-that day, in which the Viscount Rochford was to be opposed by Norris as
-the principal defendant.
-
-In the midst of the tournament, Henry, who, no doubt, was watching for
-some opportunity to entrap his victims, suddenly found one. The queen,
-leaning over the balcony, witnessing the tournament, accidentally
-let fall her handkerchief. Norris took it up, and, it was said,
-presumptuously wiped his face with it, and then handed it to the queen on
-his spear. The thing is wholly improbable, the true version most likely
-being that the courtly Norris kissed the handkerchief on taking it up--an
-ordinary knightly usage--and that this was seized upon as a pretended
-charge against him. Henry, however, suddenly frowned, rose abruptly from
-his seat, and, black as a thunder-cloud, marched out of the gallery,
-followed by his six attendants. Every one was amazed; the queen appeared
-terror-stricken, and immediately retired. Sir Henry Norris, and not only
-Norris but Lord Rochford, who had had nothing whatever to do with the
-handkerchief (showing, therefore, that the matter was preconcerted), was
-arrested at the barriers on a charge of high treason. The queen herself
-was taken to her lodgings in the Tower.
-
-[Illustration: ANNE BOLEYN. (_After the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-Left alone in her prison, Anne's affliction seemed to actually disturb
-her intellect. She would sit for hours plunged in a stupor of melancholy,
-shedding torrents of tears, and then she would abruptly burst into wild
-laughter. To her attendants she would say that she should be a saint in
-heaven; that no rain would fall on the earth till she was delivered from
-prison; and that the most grievous calamities would oppress the nation in
-punishment for her death. At other times she became calm and devotional,
-and requested that a consecrated host might be placed in her closet.
-
-But the unhappy queen was not suffered to enjoy much retirement. It
-was necessary for Henry to establish a charge against her sufficiently
-strong to turn the feeling of the nation against her, and from him; and
-for this purpose no means were neglected which tyranny and harshness
-of the intensest kind could suggest. Whilst the accused gentlemen were
-interrogated, threatened, cajoled, and even put to the torture in their
-cells, to force a confession of guilt from them, two women were set over
-Anne to watch her every word, look, and act, to draw from her in her
-unguarded conversation everything they could to implicate her, and, no
-doubt, to invent and colour where the facts did not sufficiently answer
-the purpose required. These were Lady Boleyn, the wife of Anne's uncle,
-Sir Edward Boleyn, a determined enemy of hers, and Mrs. Cosyns, the
-wife of Anne's master of the horse, a creature of the most unprincipled
-character.
-
-Mrs. Cosyns asked her why Norris had told his almoner on the preceding
-Saturday "that he could swear the queen was a good woman?" "Marry,"
-replied Anne, "I bade him do so, for I asked him why he did not go on
-with his marriage, and he made answer that he would tarry awhile. 'Then,'
-said I, 'you look for dead men's shoes. If aught but good should come to
-the king [who was then afflicted with a dangerous ulcer], you would look
-to have me.' He denied it, and I told him I could undo him if I would."
-Again, the queen expressed some apprehension of what Weston might say
-in his examination, for he had told her on Whit Monday last that Norris
-came into her chamber more for her sake than for Madge, one of her maids
-of honour. She had told him he did love her kinswoman, Mrs. Skelton,
-and that he loved not his wife; and he answered again that he loved one
-in his house better than them both. She asked him who, and he said,
-"Yourself," on which she defied him. Such was the stuff which Kingston
-gathered at the hands of these wretched spies, to be used against the
-queen, who was to be got rid of.
-
-Anne exhorted Kingston to convey a letter from her to Cromwell, but he
-declined such a responsibility; she contrived, however, by some means, on
-the fourth day of her imprisonment, to forward a letter, which conveys a
-very different impression from the conversation reported by the female
-spies, through Cromwell to the king.
-
-"Never," she wrote, "did I at any time so far forget myself in my
-exaltation or received queenship, but that I always looked for such
-alteration as I now find; for the ground of my preferment being on no
-surer foundation than your grace's fancy, the least alteration was fit
-and sufficient (I knew) to draw that fancy to some other object.
-
-"Try me, good king, but let me have a lawful trial, and let not my sworn
-enemies sit as my accusers and as my judges; yea, let me receive an open
-trial, for my truth shall fear no open shame. Then shall you see either
-mine innocency cleared, your suspicions and conscience satisfied, the
-ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my guilt openly declared."
-
-This letter, a copy of which was found amongst the papers of Cromwell,
-when his turn came to pay the penalty of serving that remorseless tyrant,
-is the letter of an innocent woman, and forms a strange contrast to the
-dubious language put into her mouth by those who reported her speech on
-the scaffold.
-
-On the 10th of May an indictment for high treason was found by the grand
-jury of Westminster against Anne and the five gentlemen accused; and on
-the same day the four commoners were put upon their trial in Westminster
-Hall, for the alleged offences against the honour and life of their
-sovereign lord. A true bill was also found against them by the grand
-juries of Kent and Middlesex, some of the offences being laid in those
-counties, at Greenwich, Hampton Court, &c. Smeaton, the musician, was the
-only one who could be brought to confess his guilt; and it is declared by
-Constantyne, who was in attendance on the trials, and wrote an account
-of the proceedings, that he "had been grievously racked" to bring him to
-that confession. According to Grafton's chronicle, he was beguiled into
-signing the deposition which criminated the queen as well as himself,
-by an offer of pardon like that so repeatedly made to Norris. The weak
-man fell into the snare; the rest of the accused stood firmly by their
-innocence, and neither threats nor promises could move them from it.
-Norris was a great favourite with the king, who still appeared anxious
-to save his life, and sent to him, offering him again full pardon if he
-would confess his guilt. But Norris nobly declared that he believed in
-his conscience that the queen was wholly innocent of the crimes charged
-upon her; but whether she were so or not, he could not accuse her of
-anything, and that he would rather die a thousand deaths than falsely
-accuse the innocent. On this being told to Henry, he exclaimed, "Let him
-hang then! hang him up then!" All the four were condemned to death.
-
-On the 16th of May Queen Anne and her brother, Lord Rochford, were
-brought to trial in the great hall in the Tower, a temporary court
-being erected within it for the purpose. The Duke of Norfolk, a known
-and notorious enemy of the accused, was created Lord High Steward for
-the occasion, and presided--a sufficient proof, if any were needed,
-that no justice was intended. His son, the Earl of Surrey, sat as
-Deputy Earl-Marshal beneath him. Twenty-six peers, as "lords-triers,"
-constituted the court, and amongst these appeared the Duke of Suffolk, a
-nobleman still more inveterate in his hatred of the queen than the chief
-judge himself. The Earl of Northumberland, Anne's old lover, was one
-of the lords-triers; but he was seized with such a disorder, no doubt
-resulting from his memory of the past, that he was obliged to quit the
-court before the arraignment of Lord Rochford, and did not live many
-months. Henry, by his tyranny, had forcibly rent asunder his engagement
-with Anne; had embittered his life; and tired of the treasure which would
-have made Northumberland happy, he now called upon that injured man to
-assist in destroying one whom he had already lost.
-
-Lord Rochford defended himself with such courage and ability that even
-in that packed court there were many who, by their sense of justice,
-were led to brave the vengeance of the terrible king, and voted for his
-acquittal. The chief witness against him was his own wife, who had hated
-Anne Boleyn from the moment that she became the king's favourite; and
-now with a most monstrous violation of all nature and decency, strove to
-destroy her queen and her own husband together. Spite of the impression
-which the young viscount made on some of his judges, he was condemned,
-for Henry willed it, and that was enough.
-
-When he was removed Anne, Queen of England, was summoned into court, and
-appeared attended by her ladies and Lady Kingston, and was conducted to
-the bar by the Constable and Lieutenant of the Tower. She stood alone,
-without counsel or adviser; yet in that trying moment she displayed a
-dignified composure worthy of her station and of the character of an
-innocent woman. Crispin, Lord of Milherve, who was present, says that
-"she presented herself at the bar with the true dignity of a queen, and
-curtsied to her judges, looking round upon them all without any signs of
-fear." When the indictment against her, charging her with adultery and
-incest, had been read, she held up her hand and pleaded not guilty.
-
-Anne seems to have shown great ability and address on the occasion. She
-is said to have spoken with extraordinary force, wit, and eloquence,
-and so completely scattered all the vile tissue of lies that was brought
-against her, that the spectators imagined that there was nothing for it
-but to acquit her. "It was reported without doors," says Wyatt, "that
-she had cleared herself in a most wise and noble speech." But, alas! it
-was neither wisdom, wit, truth, innocence, eloquence, nor all the powers
-and virtues which could be assembled in one soul, which could draw an
-acquittal from that assembly of slaves bound by selfish terror to the
-yoke of the remorseless despot who now disgraced the throne. "Had the
-peers given their verdict, according to the expectation of the assembly,"
-says Bishop Godwin, "she had been acquitted." But they knew they must
-give it according to the expectation of their implacable master, and she
-was condemned.
-
-Henry lost no time in getting rid of the woman, to obtain whom he had
-moved heaven and earth for years--threatening the peace of kingdoms, and
-rending the ancient bonds of the Church. The very day on which she was
-condemned, he signed her death-warrant, and sent Cranmer to confess her.
-There is something rather hinted at than proved in this part of these
-strange proceedings. Anne, when she was conveyed from Greenwich to the
-Tower, told her enemies proudly that nothing could prevent her dying
-their queen; and now, when she had seen Cranmer, she was in high spirits,
-and said to her attendants that she believed she should be spared after
-all, and that she understood that she was to be sent to Antwerp. The
-meaning of this the event of next day sufficiently explained. In the
-morning, on a summons from Archbishop Cranmer, she was conveyed privately
-from the Tower to Lambeth, where she voluntarily submitted to a judgment
-that her marriage with the king had been invalid, and was, therefore,
-from the first null and void. Thus she consented to dethrone herself,
-to unwife herself, and to bastardise her only child. Why? Undoubtedly
-from the promise of life, and from fear of the horrid death by fire. As
-she had received the confident idea of escape with life from the visit
-of Cranmer, there can be no rational doubt that he had been employed by
-the king to tamper with her fears of death and the stake, and draw this
-concession from her. Does any one think this impossible or improbable in
-Cranmer--the great Reformer of the Church? Let him weigh his very next
-proceeding.
-
-Cranmer had formerly examined the marriage of Henry and Anne carefully
-by the canon law, and had pronounced it good and valid. He now
-proceeded to contradict every one of his former arguments and decisions,
-and pronounced the same marriage null and void. A solemn mockery of
-everything true, serious, and Divine was now gone through. Henry
-appointed Dr. Sampson his proctor in the case; Anne had assigned her
-the Drs. Wotton and Barbour. The objections to the marriage were read
-over to them in the presence of the queen. The king's proctor could
-not dispute them; the queen's were, with pretended reluctance, obliged
-to admit them, and both united in demanding a judgment. Then the great
-Archbishop and Reformer, "having previously invoked the name of Christ,
-and having God alone before his eyes," pronounced definitively that the
-marriage formally contracted, solemnised, and consummated between Henry
-and Anne was from the first illegal, and, therefore, no marriage at all;
-and the poor woman, who had been induced to submit to this deed of shame
-and of infamous deception, was sent back, not to life, not to exile at
-Antwerp--but to the block!
-
-[Illustration: ANNE BOLEYN'S LAST FAREWELL OF HER LADIES. (_See p._ 168.)]
-
-Friday, the 19th of May, was the day fixed for her execution, and on
-that morning she rose at two o'clock and resumed her devotions with
-her almoner. She sent for Sir William Kingston to be witness to her
-last solemn protest of her innocence before taking the sacrament. A few
-minutes before twelve o'clock she was led forth by the Lieutenant of the
-Tower to the scaffold. "Never," said a foreign gentleman present, "had
-the queen looked so beautiful before." Her composure was equal to her
-beauty. She removed her hat and collar herself, and put a small linen cap
-upon her head, saying, "Alas! poor head, in a very brief space thou wilt
-roll in the dust on the scaffold; and as in life thou didst not merit to
-wear a crown, so in death thou deserved not better doom than this." She
-then took a very affectionate farewell of her ladies. Having given to
-Mary Wyatt, the sister of Sir Thomas Wyatt, who attended her through all
-her trouble, the little book of devotions which she held in her hand, and
-whispered to her some parting words, she laid her head on the block. One
-of the ladies then covered her eyes with a bandage, and as the poor queen
-was saying, "O Lord, have mercy on my soul," the executioner, who had
-been sent for from Calais, severed her head from her body at one stroke
-of the sword. Her body was thrust into a chest used for keeping arrows
-in, and buried in the same grave with that of her brother, Lord Rochford,
-no coffin being provided.
-
-[Illustration: ST. PETER'S CHAPEL, TOWER GREEN, LONDON, WHERE ANNE BOLEYN
-WAS BURIED.]
-
-Henry now repealed the late act of settlement, and passed a new one
-through the compliant Parliament, entailing the crown on the issue by
-Jane Seymour, whom he married on the morning after Anne's execution.
-He obtained, moreover, a power to bequeath the succession by letters
-patent, or by his last will, in case of having no fresh issue of his own,
-on any person whom he thought proper. In life and in death he demanded
-absolute power over every principle of the Constitution, and this
-Parliament, which would have granted him anything, conceded it. It was
-well understood that he meant to cut off his daughters, and to confer the
-crown on his illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond. But as if Providence
-would punish him in the very act, this son died before he could give his
-Royal assent to the bill.
-
-But if Henry had found a very submissive body in the Parliament, there
-was much discontent amongst the people, who were encouraged in their
-murmurs by the monks who had been dispossessed of their monasteries
-or who feared the approach of their fall, and by the clergy, who were
-equally alarmed at the progress of the opinions of the Reformers in the
-nation. There were two great factions in the Church and the Government,
-the opposed members of which were denominated the men of the Old and
-the New learning. At the head of the Old or Romanist faction were Lee,
-Archbishop of York; Stokesley, Bishop of London; Tunstal, Bishop of
-Durham; Gardiner, of Winchester; Sherbourne, of Chichester; Nix, of
-Norwich; and Kite, of Carlisle. These received the countenance and
-support of the Duke of Norfolk and of Wriothesley, the premier secretary.
-The leaders of the Reforming faction were Cranmer, the Primate; Latimer,
-Bishop of Worcester; Shaxton, of Salisbury; Hilsey, of Rochester; Fox, of
-Hereford; and Barlow, of St. David's. These were especially patronised by
-Cromwell, whose power as Vicar-General was great, and who was now made
-Lord Cromwell by the king.
-
-Each of these parties, supported by a large body in the nation,
-endeavoured to make their way by flattering the vanity or the love of
-power of the capricious king. The Papist party swayed him to their side
-by his love of the old doctrines and rites; the Reformers, by his pride
-in opposing the Pope, and the gratification of his love of power as the
-independent head of the Church. In this transition state of things, the
-doctrines of the English Church, as settled by Convocation, exhibited
-a singular medley, and were liable at any moment to be disturbed by
-the momentary bias of the king, whose word was the only law of both
-Church and State. The Reformers succeeded in having the standard of
-faith recognised as existing in the Scriptures and the three creeds--the
-Apostolic, Nicene, and Athanasian; but then the Romanists had secured the
-retention of auricular confession and penance. As to marriage, extreme
-unction, confirmation, or holy orders, it was found that there could
-be no agreement in the belief in them as sacraments, and, therefore,
-they remained unmentioned, every one following his own fancy. The
-Real Presence was admitted in the sacrament of the Supper. The Roman
-Catholics asserted the warrant of Scripture for the use of images; but
-the Protestants denied this, and warned the people against idolatry in
-praying to them. The use of holy water, the ceremonies practised on Ash
-Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and other Festivals, were still
-maintained, but Convocation, yielding to the Reformers, admitted that
-they had no power to remit sin.
-
-The Church being in this divided state, each party pushed its own
-opinions and practice where it could, with the certain consequence
-that there was much feud and heart-burning, and the people were pulled
-hither and thither. In those places where the Reformers prevailed, they
-saw the images thrown down or removed, the ancient rites neglected or
-despised; and they felt themselves aggrieved, but more especially with
-the ordinances of Cromwell as Vicar-General, who retrenched many of their
-ancient holidays. He also incensed the clergy, by prohibiting the resort
-to places of pilgrimage, and the exhibition of relics. These greatly
-reduced the emoluments of the clergy, whom he on the other hand compelled
-to lay aside a considerable portion of their revenues for the repairs of
-the churches, and the assistance of the poor. This caused them to foment
-the discontents of the people, and the thousands of monks now wandering
-over the country, without home or subsistence, found ready listeners
-in the vast population which had been accustomed to draw their main
-support from the daily alms of the convents and monasteries. The people,
-seeing all these ancient sources of a lazy support suddenly cut off by
-Government, grew furious; and their disaffection was strengthened by
-observing that many of the nobility and gentry were equally malcontent,
-whose ancestry had founded monasteries, and who, therefore, looked upon
-them with feelings of family pride, and, moreover, regarded them as a
-certain provision for some of their younger children. There were many
-of all classes who thought with horror of the souls of their ancestors
-and friends, who, they believed, would now remain for ages in all the
-torments of purgatory, for want of masses to relieve them.
-
-All these causes operating together produced formidable insurrections,
-both in the north and south. The first rising was in Lincolnshire. It
-was headed by Dr. Mackrel, the Prior of Barlings, who was disguised like
-a mechanic, and by another man in disguise, calling himself Captain
-Cobbler. The first attack was occasioned by the demand of a subsidy for
-the king, but the public mind was already in a state of high excitement,
-and this was only the spark that produced the explosion. Twenty thousand
-men quickly rose in arms, and forced several lords and gentlemen to
-be their leaders. Such as refused, they either threw into prison or
-killed on the spot. Amongst the latter was the Chancellor of Longland,
-an ecclesiastic by no means popular. The king sent a force against them
-under the Duke of Suffolk, attended by the Earls of Shrewsbury, Kent,
-Rutland, and Huntingdon.
-
-Suffolk found the insurgents in such force that he thought it best to
-temporise, and demanded of them what they had to complain of. Thereupon
-the men of Lincolnshire drew up and presented to him a list of six
-articles of grievance. These consisted, first and foremost, of the
-suppression of the monasteries, by which they said great numbers of
-persons were put from their livings, and the poor of the realm were
-left unrelieved. Another complaint was of the fifteenth voted by
-Parliament, and of having to pay fourpence for a beast, and twelvepence
-for every twenty sheep. They affirmed that the king had taken into his
-councils personages of low birth and small reputation, who had got the
-forfeited lands into their hands, "most especial for their singular
-lucre and advantage." This was aimed by name, and with only too much
-justice, at Cromwell and Lord Rich, who had grown wealthy on the spoils
-of the abbeys. To these men they added the names of the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, the Bishops of Rochester, Salisbury, St. David's, and Dublin,
-whom they accused of having perverted the faith of the realm; and they
-especially attributed the severe exactions on the people to the Bishop of
-Lincoln and the officers of Cromwell, of whom it was rumoured that they
-meant to take the plate, jewels, and ornaments of the parish churches, as
-they had taken those of the religious houses.
-
-The king answered by flatly refusing their petition, bidding them
-meddle no more in the affairs of their undoubted prince, but deliver up
-their ringleaders, and leave governing to him and his counsellors and
-noblemen. This bluster appears to have frightened the simple clodhoppers
-of the Fens; for we have, a few days later, another letter from the same
-swelling hand, telling them that he has heard from the Earl of Shrewsbury
-that they have shown a fitting repentance and sorrow for their folly
-and their heinous crimes; and assuring them that in any other Christian
-country they, their wives and children, would have been exterminated with
-fire and sword. He orders them to pile their arms in the market-place of
-Lincoln, and get away to their proper habitations and business, or, if
-they remain a day longer in arms, he will execute on them, their wives
-and children, the most terrible judgments that the world had ever known.
-
-On the 30th of October, this frightened rabble, which seems to have been
-led on and then deserted by the clergy and gentry, dispersed, having
-first delivered up to the king's general fifteen of their ringleaders,
-amongst whom were Dr. Mackrel, the Prior of Barlings, and Captain
-Cobbler, said to have been a man of the name of Melton. These prisoners
-were afterwards executed as traitors, with all the barbarities of the
-age.
-
-Scarcely, however, was the disturbance in Lincolnshire suppressed, when
-a far more formidable one broke out in the north. The people there were
-much more accustomed to arms, and their vicinity to the Scots created
-alarm at Court, lest the latter should take advantage of the rising to
-make an inroad into the country. The insurrection quickly spread over
-Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Lancashire. The Lord
-Darcy was conspicuous in it on the Borders, and there were calculated
-to be not less than 40,000 men in arms. Henry was this time seriously
-aroused, and sent Cromwell to the Jewel-house in the Tower to take as
-much plate as he thought could possibly be spared, and have it coined to
-pay troops, for he had no money in his coffers, notwithstanding all the
-monasteries which he had seized. Wriothesley, the Secretary of State,
-wrote from Windsor to Cromwell to expedite this business, superscribing
-his letter, "_In haste--haste for thy life_;" and telling him that the
-king appeared to fear much this matter, especially if he should want
-money, "for on the Lord Darcy his Grace had no great trust."
-
-As soon as money could be coined, a good sum was sent to the Duke
-of Suffolk, who was posted at Newark, and who made free use of it
-in buying over some of the ringleaders, and in sowing dissensions
-among the insurgents. Meanwhile the Earl of Shrewsbury was made the
-king's Lord-Lieutenant north of the Trent, and the Duke of Norfolk was
-despatched into Yorkshire, to command there with 5,000 men. Robert Aske,
-a gentleman of ability, was at the head of the rebel forces, and he had
-given a religious character to the movement by styling it "The Pilgrimage
-of Grace." Priests marched in the van, in the habits of their various
-orders, carrying crosses and banners, on which were emblazoned the figure
-of Christ on the cross, the sacred chalice, and the five wounds of the
-Saviour. On their sleeves, too, were embroidered the five wounds, and
-the name of Christ on their centre. They had all sworn an oath that they
-had entered into the pilgrimage from no other motive than the love of
-God, the care of the king's person and issue, the desire of purifying the
-nobility, of driving base persons from the king, of restoring the Church,
-and suppressing heresy.
-
-Wherever they came, they compelled the people to join their ranks,
-as they would answer it at the day of judgment, as they would bear
-the pulling down of their houses, and the loss of their goods and of
-their lives. They restored the monks and nuns to their houses as
-they went along. The cities of York, Hull, and Pontefract had opened
-their gates, and taken the prescribed oaths. The Archbishop of York,
-the Lords Darcy, Lumley, Latimer, and Neville, with a vast number of
-knights and gentlemen, gathered to their standard, either by free will
-or compulsion, and the army presented a formidable aspect. But there
-was already disunion in the host. The money of the Duke of Suffolk was
-doing its work, and Wriothesley soon wrote that the insurgents were
-falling to talking amongst themselves, and, if that went on, a pair of
-light heels would soon be worth five pairs of hands to them. The Earl
-of Cumberland repulsed them from his castle of Skipton; Sir Ralph Evers
-defended Scarborough against them; Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, the
-Earls of Huntingdon, Derby, and Rutland, took the field against them; and
-they only managed to take Pomfret Castle, because the Lord Darcy and the
-Archbishop of York, lying there, were supposed to be secretly in league
-with them, and only made a show of force, which they might plead in case
-of failure.
-
-The insurgents, quite aware that the Government, which was attempting
-to sow dissension among them by pretended negotiations, was but waiting
-to seize and crush the leaders, again took the field in the very midst
-of winter. On the 23rd of January, 1537, bills were stuck on the church
-doors by night, calling on the commoners to come forth and to be true
-to one another, for the gentlemen had deceived them, yet they should
-not want for captains. There was great distrust lest the gentlemen had
-been won over by the pardon and by money. The rebels, however, marched
-out under two leaders of the name of Musgrave and Tilby, and, 8,000
-strong, they laid siege to Carlisle, where they were repulsed; and, being
-encountered in their retreat by Norfolk, they were defeated and put to
-flight. All their officers, except Musgrave, were taken and put to death,
-to the number of seventy. Sir Francis Bigot and one Hallam attempted to
-surprise Hull, but failed; and other risings in the north proving equally
-abortive, the king now bade Norfolk spread his banner, march through the
-northern counties with martial law, and, regardless of the pardon he had
-issued, punish the rebels without mercy.
-
-As the monks had obviously been at the bottom of this commotion, Henry
-let loose his vengeance especially upon them. He ordered Norfolk to go
-to Sawley, Hexham, Newminster, Lanercost, St. Agatha, and all other
-places that had made resistance, and there seize certain priors and
-canons and send them up to him, and immediately to hang up "all monks and
-canons that be in any wise faulty, without further delay or ceremony."
-He ordered the Earl of Surrey and other officers in the north to charge
-the monks there with grievous offences, to try their minds, and see
-whether they would not submit themselves gladly to his will. Under these
-sanguinary orders the whole of England north of the Trent became a scene
-of horror and butchery, and ghastly heads and mangled bodies, or corpses
-swinging from the trees. Nor did this admirable reformer of religion
-neglect to look after the property of his victims. Their lands and goods
-were all to be forfeited and taken possession of; "for we are informed,"
-he says, "that there were amongst them divers freeholders and rich men,
-whose lands and goods, well looked unto, will reward others that with
-their truth have deserved the same."
-
-Besides Aske, Sir Thomas Constable, Sir John Bulmer, Sir Thomas Percy,
-Sir Stephen Hamilton, Nicholas Tempest, William Lumley, and others,
-though they had taken the benefit of the pardon, were found guilty,
-and most of them were executed. Lord Hussey was found guilty of being
-an accomplice in the Lincolnshire rising, and was executed at Lincoln.
-Lord Darcy, though he pleaded compulsion, and a long life spent in the
-service of the Crown, was executed on Tower Hill. Lady Bulmer, the wife
-of Sir John Bulmer, was burnt in Smithfield; and Robert Aske was hung in
-chains on one of the towers of York. Having thus satiated his vengeance,
-and struck a profound terror into all the disaffected, Henry once more
-published a general pardon, to which he adhered; and even complied with
-one of the demands which the insurgents had made, that of erecting by
-patent a court of justice at York, for deciding lawsuits in the northern
-counties.
-
-On the 12th of October, 1537, Jane Seymour gave birth to the long-desired
-prince, so well known afterwards as King Edward VI. This event took
-place at the palace of Hampton Court, and the infant was immediately
-proclaimed Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester. The
-joy on so greatly desired an occurrence may be imagined, though it
-was somewhat dashed by the death of the queen, which took place only
-twelve days afterwards. During the confinement there was some question
-whether the life of the mother or of the child should be sacrificed,
-and on the question being put to the king, which should be spared, he
-characteristically replied, "The child by all means, for other wives
-can be easily found." The queen's death, however, was occasioned by
-the absurd exposure which the pompous christening necessitated. Henry
-appeared to be grieved when her death really took place, and put on
-mourning, which he had never done for his wives before, and never did
-again. He wore it three months.
-
-[Illustration: THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE. (_See p._ 171.)]
-
-By the accession of Queen Jane a new family, greedy and insatiable of
-advancement, was brought forward, whom we shall soon find figuring on
-the scene. The queen's brothers, sisters, uncles, and cousins presently
-filled every great and lucrative office at Court; closely imitating the
-unpopular precedent of the relations of Elizabeth Woodville. Her eldest
-brother, Edward Seymour, was immediately made Lord Beauchamp and Earl of
-Hertford; and, in the joy of having an heir, Henry created Sir William
-Paulet Lord St. John and Sir John Russell Lord Russell. Sir William
-Fitzwilliam was made Earl of Southampton, and High-Admiral. Russell and
-Paulet were sworn of the Privy Council; and John Russell, now in high
-favour with the king, attended the wedding, flattered the bride, and
-became, in the next reign, Earl of Bedford. Queen Jane received all
-the rites of the Roman Catholic Church on her death-bed; thus clearly
-denoting that neither she nor her husband was of the Protestant faith.
-
-Any grief which might have affected Henry for his wife's death did
-not prevent him from prosecuting his favourite design of seizing rich
-monasteries and destroying heretics. The great amount of property
-which Henry had obtained from the dissolution of monastic houses
-only stimulated him and his courtiers to invade the remainder. The
-insurrections laid the inmates of these houses open to a general charge
-that they had everywhere fomented, and in many places taken public part
-in, these attempts to resist Government. Prosecutions for high treason
-and menaces of martial law induced many of the more timid abbots and
-priors to resign their trusts into the hands of the king and his heirs
-for ever. Others--like the prior of Henton, in Somersetshire--resisted,
-declaring that it did not become them "to be light and hasty in giving up
-those things which were not theirs to give, being dedicated to Almighty
-God, for service to be done unto His honour continually, with many other
-good deeds of charity which be daily done in their houses to their
-Christian brethren."
-
-To grapple the more effectually with these sturdy remonstrants, a new
-visitation was appointed of all the monasteries in England; and, as a
-pretence only was wanted for their suppression, it was not difficult to
-find one where so many great men were eager to share in the spoils. But,
-while the destruction of the monasteries found many advocates, there
-were not wanting some who recommended the retention of those convents
-for women which had maintained order and a good reputation. But the king
-would hear of nothing but that all should be swept away together; and
-the better to prepare the public mind for so complete a revolution in
-social life, every means was employed to represent these establishments
-as abodes of infamy, and to expose the relics preserved in their shrines
-to ridicule, as impostures which deluded the ignorant people.
-
-The work of suppressing the monasteries and convents went on briskly,
-for, says Bishop Godwin, "the king continued much prone to reformation,
-especially if anything might be gotten by it." The Earl of Sussex and
-a body of Commissioners were despatched to the north, to inquire into
-the conduct of the religious houses there, and great stress was laid on
-the participation of the monks in the insurrection of the Pilgrimage of
-Grace. The abbeys of Furness and Whalley were particularly rich; and
-though little concern with the rebellion could be traced to the inmates,
-yet the Commissioners never rested till, by persuasion and intimidation,
-they had induced the abbots to surrender these houses into their hands.
-The success of the Earl of Sussex and his associates led to similar
-Commissions in the south, and for four years the process was going on
-without an Act of Parliament.
-
-The system generally adopted was this:--First, tempting offers of
-pensions were held out to the superiors and the monks or nuns, and
-in proportion to the obstinacy in complying was the smallness of the
-pension. The pensions to superiors varied, according to the wealth and
-rank of their houses, from £266 to £6 per annum. The priors of cells
-received generally £13. A few, whose services merited the distinction,
-£20. The monks received from £2 to £6 per annum, with a small sum in hand
-for immediate need. Nuns got about £4. That was the first and persuasive
-process; but, if this failed, intimidation was resorted to. The superior
-and his monks, tenants, servants, and neighbours, were subjected to a
-rigorous and vexatious examination. The accounts of the house were called
-for, and were scrutinised minutely, and all moneys, plate, and jewels
-ordered to be produced. There was a severe inquiry into the morals of
-the members, and one was encouraged to accuse another. Obstinate and
-refractory members were thrown into prison, and many died there--amongst
-them, the monks of the Charterhouse, London.
-
-In 1539 a bill was brought into Parliament, vesting in the Crown all the
-property, movable and immovable, of the monastic establishments which
-were already, or which should be hereafter, suppressed, abolished, or
-surrendered, and, by 1540, the whole of this branch of the ecclesiastical
-property was in the hands of the king, or of the courtiers and parasites
-who surrounded him, like vultures, gorging themselves with the fallen
-carcase. The total number of such establishments suppressed from first
-to last by Henry was 655 monasteries--of which 28 had abbots enjoying a
-seat in Parliament--90 colleges, 2,374 chantries and free chapels, and
-110 hospitals. The whole of the revenue of this property, as paid to
-superiors of these houses, was £161,000. The whole income of the kingdom
-at that period was rated at £4,000,000, so that the monastic property was
-apparently one twenty-fifth of the national estate; but as the monastic
-lands were let on long leases, and at very low rents, in the hands of the
-new proprietors it would prove of vastly higher value.
-
-Henry distributed the property among his greedy courtiers as fast as it
-came, and never was so magnificent a property so speedily dissipated.
-What did not go amongst the Seymours, the Essexes, the Howards, the
-Russells, and the like, went in the most lavish manner on the king's
-pleasures and follies. He is said to have given a woman who introduced a
-pudding to his liking the revenue of a whole convent. Pauperism, instead
-of being extinguished, was increased to a degree which astonished every
-one. Such crowds had been supported by the monks and nuns as the public
-had no adequate idea of, till they were thrown destitute and desperate
-into the streets and the highways, and at length became such a national
-burden and nuisance as in the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth to
-cause the introduction of the poor-law system. The aristocracy, in fact,
-usurped the fund for the support of the poor, and threw them on the
-nation at large.
-
-Education received an equal shock. The schools supported by the
-monasteries fell with them. The new race of noblemen who got the funds
-did nothing to continue them. Religion suffered also, for the wealth
-which might have founded efficient incomes for good preachers was gone
-into private hands, and such miserable stipends were paid to the working
-clergy, that none but poor and unlettered men would accept them.
-
-It is only justice to Cranmer to say that he saw this waste of public
-property with concern, and would have had it appropriated to the
-purposes of education and religion, and the relief of the poor; but
-he was too timid to lay the matter before the Royal prodigal. Yet the
-murmurs of the people induced Henry to think of establishing a number
-of bishoprics, deaneries, and colleges, with a portion of the lands of
-the suppressed monasteries. He had an act passed through Parliament
-for the establishment of eighteen bishoprics, but it was found that
-the property intended for these was cleverly grasped by some of his
-courtiers, and only six out of the eighteen could be erected, namely,
-Westminster, Oxford, Peterborough, Bristol, Chester, and Gloucester; and
-some of these were so meagrely endowed that the new prelates had much
-ado for a considerable time to live. At the same time Henry converted
-fourteen abbeys and priories into cathedral and collegiate churches,
-attaching to each a deanery and a certain number of prebendaries. These
-were Canterbury, Rochester, Westminster, Winchester, Bristol, Gloucester,
-Worcester, Chester, Burton-upon-Trent, Carlisle, Durham, Thornton,
-Peterborough, and Ely. But he retained a good slice of the property
-belonging to them, and, at the same time, imposed on the chapters the
-obligations of paying a considerable sum to the repair of the highways,
-and another sum to the maintenance of the poor.
-
-At the same time that Henry had been squandering the monastic property,
-and had falsified his promises of making the Crown independent of
-taxation, by coming to Parliament within twelve months for a subsidy
-of two-tenths and two-fifteenths, he had all along been riveting the
-doctrines of the Church of Rome faster on the nation, and persecuting
-those who questioned them. The Lower House of Convocation drew up a list
-of fifty-nine propositions, which it denounced as heresies, extracted
-from the publications of different Reformers, and presented it to the
-Upper House. On this, Henry, who believed himself a greater theologian
-than any in either house of Convocation, drew up, with the aid of some
-of the prelates, a book of "Articles" which was presented by Cromwell
-to Convocation, and there subscribed. This was then carried through
-Parliament, and became termed too justly the "Bloody Statute," for a more
-terrible engine of persecution never existed.
-
-No sooner had the statute of the Six Articles passed, than Latimer and
-Shaxton, the Bishops of Worcester and Salisbury, resigned their sees; and
-Cranmer, who had been living openly with his wife and children, seeing
-the king's determination to enforce the celibacy of the clergy, sent off
-his family to Germany, and made himself outwardly conformable to the
-law. At the end of the year 1539, the king put to death, in Smithfield,
-three victims of his intolerance. The first two were a man and a woman
-who were Anabaptists. The third was John Lambert, formerly a priest, who
-had become a schoolmaster in London. He was a Reformer, and denied the
-doctrine which Henry was now enforcing under the penalty of death, that
-the Real Presence existed in the bread and wine.
-
-During the whole of the years 1538 and 1539 Henry was, nevertheless, not
-only grown suspicious of his subjects, but greatly alarmed at the rumours
-of a combination between the Pope, the Emperor, and the King of France
-against him. It was rumoured that Cardinal Pole, his relative, who had
-rigorously opposed the divorce, was assisting in this scheme, and as
-Henry could not reach him, on account of Pole's flight to the Continent,
-he determined to take vengeance on his relatives and friends in England.
-A truce for ten years was concluded under the Papal mediation, between
-Charles and Francis, at Nice, in June, 1538. The two monarchs urged Paul
-to publish his bull of excommunication against Henry, which had been
-reserved so long, and Henry, whose spies soon conveyed to him these
-tidings, immediately ordered his fleet to be put in a state of activity,
-his harbours of defence strengthened, and the whole population to be
-called under arms, in expectation of a combined attack.
-
-But at this conference Cardinal Pole had been present, and Henry directly
-attributed the scheme of invasion to him. At once, therefore, he let
-loose his fury on his relatives and friends in England. Becket, the
-usher, and Wrothe, server of the Royal chamber, were despatched into
-Cornwall to collect some colour of accusation against Henry Courtenay,
-the Marquis of Exeter, and his adherents and dependents. The marquis and
-marchioness were soon arrested, as well as Sir Geoffrey Pole and Lord
-Montagu, brothers of the cardinal, and Sir Edward Neville, a brother of
-Lord Abergavenny. Two priests, Croft and Collins, and Holland, a mariner,
-were also arrested, and lodged in the Tower. On the last day of 1538 the
-marquis and Lord Montagu were tried before some of the peers, but not
-before their peers in Parliament, for Parliament was not sitting. The
-commoners were brought to trial before juries; and all on a charge of
-having conspired to place Reginald Pole, late Dean of Exeter, the king's
-enemy, on the throne. The king's ministers declared that the charge was
-well proved, but no such proofs were ever published, which, we may be
-sure, would have been had they existed.
-
-[Illustration: GATEWAY OF KIRKHAM PRIORY.]
-
-The fact was, those noblemen were descended directly from the old
-Royal line of England: Courtenay was grandson to Edward IV., through
-his daughter Catherine, and the Poles were grandsons to George, Duke
-of Clarence, the brother of Edward. All had a better title to the
-throne than Henry, and this, combined with their connection with the
-cardinal, was the cause of the tyrant's enmity. If these prisoners
-had been inclined to treason, they had had the fairest opportunity of
-showing it during the northern insurrection, but they had taken no part
-in it whatever. But Henry had determined to wreak his vengeance, which
-could not reach the cardinal, on them; and the servile peers and courts
-condemned them. It was said that Sir Geoffrey Pole, to save his own life,
-consented to give evidence against the rest--secretly it must have been,
-for it was never produced. His life, therefore, was spared, but the
-rest were executed. Lord Montagu, the Marquis of Exeter, and Sir Edward
-Neville were beheaded on Tower Hill on the 9th of January, 1539, and Sir
-Nicholas Carew, master of the king's horse, was also beheaded on the 3rd
-of March, on a charge of being privy to the conspiracy. The two priests
-and the mariner were hanged and quartered at Tyburn. A commission was
-then sent down into Cornwall, which arraigned, condemned, and put to
-death two gentlemen of the names of Kendall and Quintrell, for having
-said, some years before, that Exeter was the heir apparent, and should be
-king, if Henry married Anne Boleyn, or it should cost a thousand lives.
-
-[Illustration: BEAUCHAMP TOWER, AND PLACE OF EXECUTION WITHIN THE TOWER
-OF LONDON.]
-
-But the sanguinary fury of Henry was not yet sated. The cardinal was sent
-by the Pope to the Spanish and French courts to concert the carrying out
-of the scheme of policy against England. Henry defeated this by means
-of his agents, and neither Charles nor Francis would move: but not the
-less did Henry determine further to punish the hostile cardinal. Judgment
-of treason was pronounced against him; the Continental sovereigns were
-called upon to deliver him up; and he was constantly surrounded by spies,
-and, as he believed, ruffians hired to assassinate him. Meanwhile it was
-said that a French vessel had been driven by stress of weather into South
-Shields, and in it had been taken three emissaries--an English priest of
-the name of Moore, and two Irishmen, a monk and a friar, who were said to
-be carrying treasonable letters to the Pope and to Pole. The Irish monks
-were sent up to London, and tortured in the Tower--a very unnecessary
-measure, if they really possessed the treasonable letters alleged. On
-the 28th of April Parliament was called upon to pass bills of attainder
-against Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, the mother of Cardinal Pole;
-Gertrude, the widow of the Marquis of Exeter; the son of Lord Montagu,
-a boy of tender years; Sir Adam Fortescue, and Sir Thomas Dingley. This
-was a device of Cromwell's, who demanded of the judges whether persons
-accused of treason might not be attainted and condemned by Parliament
-without any trial! The judges--who, like every one else under this
-monster of a king, had lost all sense of honour and justice in fears for
-their own safety--replied that it was a nice question, and one that no
-inferior tribunal could entertain, but that Parliament was supreme, and
-that an attainder by Parliament would be good in law! Such a bill was
-accordingly passed through the servile Parliament, condemning the whole
-to death without any form of trial whatever.
-
-The two knights were beheaded on the 10th of July; the Marchioness of
-Exeter was kept in prison for six months, and then dismissed; the son of
-Lord Montagu, the grandson of the countess, was probably, too, allowed to
-escape, for no record of his death appears; but the venerable old lady
-herself, the near relative of the king, and the last direct descendant
-of the Plantagenets, after having been kept in prison for nearly two
-years, was brought out, and on the 27th of May, 1541, was condemned to
-the scaffold. There she still showed the determination of her character.
-Unlike many who had fallen there before her, so far from making any
-ambiguous speech, or giving any hypocritical professions of reverence for
-the king, she refused to do anything which appeared consenting to her
-own death. When told to lay her head on the block, she replied, "No, my
-head never committed treason; if you will have it, you must take it as
-you can." The executioner tried to seize her, but she moved swiftly round
-the scaffold, tossing her head from side to side. At last, covered with
-blood, for the guards struck her with their weapons, she was seized, and
-forcibly held down, and whilst exclaiming, "Blessed are they who suffer
-persecution for righteousness' sake," the axe descended, and her head
-fell.
-
-But, the time of Cromwell himself was coming. The block was the pretty
-certain goal of Henry's ministers. The more he caressed and favoured
-them, the more certain was that result. Reflecting anxiously on the
-critical nature of his position, the deep and unprincipled minister came
-to the conclusion that the only mode of regaining his influence with the
-king was to promote a Protestant marriage. For a time at least Henry
-allowed himself to be governed by a new wife, and that time gained might
-prove everything to Cromwell. Circumstances seemed to favour him at this
-moment. The king was in constant alarm at the combination between France
-and Spain; and a new alliance with the Protestant princes of Germany,
-if accomplished, would equally serve the purposes of the king and of
-Cromwell. Now was the time for Cromwell, while Henry was chagrined by
-these difficulties. He informed him that Anne, daughter of John III.,
-Duke of Cleves, Count of Mark, and Lord of Ravenstein, was greatly
-extolled for her beauty and good sense; that her sister Sybilla, the wife
-of Frederick, Duke of Saxony, the head of the Protestant confederation
-of Germany, called the Schmalkaldic League, was famed for her beauty,
-talents, and virtues, and universally regarded as one of the most
-distinguished ladies of the time. He pointed out to Henry the advantages
-of thus, by this alliance, acquiring the firm friendship of the princes
-of Germany, in counterpoise to the designs of France and Spain; and he
-assured him that he heard that the sisters of the Electress of Saxony,
-educated under the same wise mother, were equally attractive in person
-and in mind, and waited only a higher position to give them greater
-lustre, especially the Princess Anne.
-
-The Duke of Cleves died on the 6th of February, 1539, and Henry
-despatched Hans Holbein to take the lady's portrait. Being delighted
-with the portrait--which agreed so well with the many praises written
-of the lady by his agents--he acceded to the match; and in the month
-of September the count palatine and ambassadors from Cleves arrived in
-London, where Cromwell received them with real delight, and the king bade
-them right welcome. The treaty was soon concluded; and Henry, impatient
-for the arrival of his wife, despatched the Lord Admiral Fitzwilliam,
-Earl of Southampton, to receive her at Calais, and conduct her to England.
-
-On the 27th of December, 1539, Anne landed at Deal, having been escorted
-across the Channel by a fleet of fifty ships. She was a thorough
-Protestant, going into the midst of as thoroughly Papist a faction, and
-to consort with a monarch the most fickle and dogmatic in the world. She
-could speak no language but German, and of that Henry did not understand
-a word. It would have required a world of charms to have reconciled all
-this to Henry, even for a time, and of these poor Anne of Cleves was
-destitute. That she was not ugly, many contemporaries testify; but she
-was at least plain in person, and still plainer in manners. Both she and
-her maidens, of whom she brought a great train, are said to have been
-as homely and as awkward a bevy as ever came to England in the cause of
-royal matrimony.
-
-The impatient though unwieldy lover, accompanied by eight gentlemen of
-his privy chamber, rode to Rochester to meet the bride. They were all
-clad alike, in coats "of marble colour;" for Henry, with a spice of his
-old romance, was going incognito, to get a peep at his queen without
-her being aware which was he. He told Cromwell that "he intended to
-visit her privily, to nourish love." On his arrival, he sent Sir Anthony
-Browne, his master of the horse, to inform Anne that he had brought
-her a new year's gift, if she would please to accept it. Sir Anthony,
-on being introduced to the lady who was to occupy the place of the two
-most celebrated beauties of the day, the Boleyn and the Seymour, was,
-he afterwards confessed, "never so much dismayed in his life," but of
-course said nothing. So now the enamoured king, whose eyes were dazzled
-with the recollection of what his queens had been, and what Holbein and
-his ambassadors had promised him should again be, entered the presence of
-Anne of Cleves, and was thunderstruck at the first sight of the reality.
-Lord John Russell, who was present, declared "that he had never seen his
-highness so marvellously astonished and abashed as on that occasion."
-
-Instead of presenting himself the new year's gift which he had brought--a
-muff and tippet of rich sables--he sent them to her with a very cold
-message, and rode back to Greenwich in high dudgeon. There, the moment
-that he saw Cromwell, he burst out upon him for being the means of
-bringing him, not a wife, but "a great Flanders mare." Cromwell excused
-himself by not having seen her, and threw the blame on Fitzwilliam, the
-lord admiral, who, he said, when he found the princess at Calais so
-different from the pictures and reports, should have detained her there
-till he knew the king's pleasure; but the admiral replied brusquely
-that he had not had the choosing of her, but had simply executed his
-commission; and if he had in his dispatches spoken of her beauty, it was
-because she was reckoned beautiful, and it was not for him to judge of
-his queen.
-
-No way out of the marriage being found, orders were given for the lady to
-proceed from Dartford, and at Greenwich she was received outwardly with
-all the pomp and rejoicings the most welcome beauty could have elicited.
-But still the mind of the mortified king revolted at the completion of
-the wedding, and once more he summoned his council, and declared himself
-unsatisfied about the contract, and required that Anne should make a
-solemn protestation that she was free from all pre-contracts. Probably
-Henry hoped that, seeing that she was far from pleasing him, she might be
-willing to give him up; but though her just pride as a woman must have
-been wounded by his treatment, and her fears excited by the recollection
-of the fates of Catherine and Anne Boleyn, the princess could be no free
-agent in the matter. The ambassadors would urge the impossibility of her
-going back, thus insulting all Protestant Germany, and her own pride
-would second their arguments on that side too. The ignominy of being sent
-back, rejected as unattractive and unwelcome, was not to be thought of.
-She made a most clear and positive declaration of her freedom from all
-pre-contracts. On hearing this, the surly monarch fell into such a humour
-that Cromwell got away from his presence as quickly as he could. Seeing
-no way out of it, the marriage was celebrated on the 6th of January,
-1540, but nothing could reconcile Henry to his German queen. He loathed
-her person, he could not even talk with her without an interpreter; and
-he soon fell in love with Catherine Howard, niece to the Duke of Norfolk,
-a young lady who was much handsomer than Anne, but not well educated, and
-greatly wanting in principle. From the moment that Henry cast his eyes
-on this new favourite, the little remains of outward courtesy towards
-the queen vanished. He ceased to appear with her in public. He began to
-express scruples about having a Lutheran wife. He did not hesitate to
-propagate the most shameful calumnies against her, declaring that she had
-not been virtuous before her marriage.
-
-Anne, in need of counsel, could find none in those who ought to have
-stood by her. Cranmer, the Reformer, and Cromwell, the advocate of
-Protestantism, and who had, in fact, brought about the marriage, kept
-aloof from her. She sent expressly to Cromwell, and repeatedly, but in
-vain; he refused to see her, for he knew that he stood on the edge of a
-precipice already; that he had deeply offended the choleric monarch by
-promoting this match; and that he was surrounded by spies and enemies,
-who were watching for occasion for his ruin. There is no doubt whatever
-that his ruin was already determined, but Cromwell was an unhesitating
-tool of the quality which Henry needed; for it was just at this time
-that Henry executed the relatives of Cardinal Pole, and probably it was
-an object of his to load that minister with as much of the odium of
-that measure as he could before he cast him down. Cromwell still, then,
-apparently retained the full favour of the king, notwithstanding this
-unfortunate marriage, but the conduct of his friends precipitated his
-fate.
-
-Bishop Gardiner, a bigoted Papist, and one who saw the signs of the
-times as quickly as any man living, did not hear Henry's scruples about
-a Lutheran wife with unheeding ears. On the 14th of February, 1540, he
-preached a sermon at St. Paul's Cross, in which he unsparingly denounced
-as a damnable doctrine the Lutheran tenet of justification by faith
-without works. Dr. Barnes, a dependent of Cromwell's, but clearly a most
-imprudent one, on the 28th of February, just a fortnight afterwards,
-mounted the same pulpit, and made a violent attack on Gardiner and his
-creed. Barnes could never have intimated to Cromwell his intention to
-make this assault on a creed which was as much the king's as Gardiner's,
-or he would have shown him the fatality of it. But Barnes, like a rash
-and unreflecting zealot, not only attacked Gardiner's sermon, but got
-quite excited, and declared that he himself was a fighting-cock, and
-Gardiner was another fighting-cock, but that the _garden_-cock lacked
-good spurs. As was inevitable, Henry, who never let slip an opportunity
-to champion his own religious views, summoned Barnes forthwith before a
-commission of divines, compelled him to recant his opinion, and ordered
-him to preach another sermon, in the same place, on the first Sunday
-after Easter, and there to read his recantation, and beg pardon of
-Gardiner. Barnes obeyed. He read his recantation, publicly asked pardon
-of Gardiner, and then, getting warm in his sermon, reiterated in stronger
-terms than ever the very doctrine he had recanted.
-
-The man must have made up his mind to punishment for his religious faith,
-for no such daring conduct was ever tolerated for a moment by Henry. He
-threw the offender into the Tower, together with Garret and Jerome, two
-preachers of the same belief, who followed his example.
-
-The enemies of Cromwell rejoiced in this event, believing that his
-connection with Barnes would not fail to influence the king. So
-confidently did they entertain this notion, that they already talked
-of the transfer of his two chief offices, those of Vicar-General and
-Keeper of the Privy Seal, to Tunstal, Bishop of Durham, and Clarke,
-Bishop of Bath. But the king had not yet come to his own point of
-action. Cromwell's opponents were, therefore, astonished to see him open
-Parliament on the 12th of April, as usual, when he announced the king's
-sorrow and displeasure at the religious dissensions which appeared in the
-nation, his subjects branding each other with the opprobrious epithets
-of Papists and heretics, and abusing the indulgence which the king
-had granted them of reading the Scriptures in their native tongue. To
-remedy these evils his Majesty had appointed two committees of prelates
-and doctors--one to set forth a system of pure doctrine, and the other
-to decide what ceremonies and rites should be retained in the Church or
-abandoned; and, in the meantime, he called on both houses to assist him
-in enacting penalties against all who treated with irreverence, or rashly
-and presumptuously explained, the Holy Scriptures.
-
-Never did Cromwell appear so fully to possess the favour of his
-sovereign. He had obtained a grant of thirty manors belonging to
-suppressed monasteries; the title of Earl of Essex was revived in his
-favour, and the office of Lord-Chamberlain was added to his other
-appointments. He was the performer of all the great acts of the State. He
-brought in two bills, vesting the property of the Knights Hospitallers
-in the king, and settling an adequate jointure on the queen. He obtained
-from the laity the enormous subsidy of four-tenths and fifteenths,
-besides ten per cent. of their income from lands, and five per cent. on
-their goods; and from the clergy two-tenths, and twenty per cent. of
-their incomes for two years. So little did there appear any prospect of
-the fall of Cromwell, that his own conduct augured that he never felt
-himself stronger in his monarch's esteem. He dealt about his blows on all
-who had offended himself or the king, however high. He committed to the
-Tower the Bishop of Chichester and Dr. Wilson, for relieving prisoners
-confined for refusing to take the oath of supremacy; and menaced with
-the royal displeasure his chief opponents, the Duke of Norfolk, and the
-Bishops of Durham, Winchester, and Bath.
-
-Yet all this time Henry had determined, and was preparing for his fall.
-He appointed Wriothesley and Ralph Sadler Secretaries of State, and
-divided the business between them. The king had met Catherine Howard, it
-is said, at dinner at Gardiner's, who was Bishop of Winchester. As she
-was a strict Papist, and niece to Norfolk, it was believed that this had
-been concerted by the Catholic party; and they were not mistaken. She at
-once caught the fancy of Henry. Every opportunity was afforded the king
-of meeting her at Gardiner's; and no sooner did that worldly prelate
-perceive the impression she had made, than he informed Henry that Barnes,
-whom neither Gardiner nor Henry could forget, had been Cromwell's agent
-in bringing about the marriage of Anne of Cleves; that Cromwell and
-Barnes had done this, without regard to the feelings of the king, merely
-to bring in a queen pledged to German Protestantism; and that, instead of
-submitting to the king's religious views, they were bent on establishing
-in the country the detestable heresies of Luther.
-
-[Illustration: THOMAS CROMWELL, EARL OF ESSEX. (_After the Portrait by
-Holbein._)]
-
-Henry, whose jealousy was now excited, recollected that when he proposed
-to send Anne of Cleves back, Cromwell had strongly dissuaded him, and as
-Anne had now changed her insubordinate behaviour to him, he immediately
-suspected that it was at the suggestion of Cromwell. No sooner had this
-idea taken full possession, than down came the thunderbolt on the head
-of the great minister. The time was come, all was prepared, and, without
-a single note of warning--without the change of look or manner in the
-king--Cromwell was arrested at the council-board on a charge of high
-treason. In the morning he was in his place in the House of Lords, with
-every evidence of power about him; in the evening he was in the Tower.
-
-In his career, from the shop of the fuller to the supreme power in the
-State, next to the king, Cromwell had totally forgotten the wise counsel
-of Wolsey. He had not avoided, but courted, ambition. He had leaned to
-the Reformed doctrines secretly, but he had taken care to enrich himself
-with the spoils of the suppressed monasteries, and many suspected that
-these spoils were the true incentives to his system of reformation. The
-wealth he had accumulated was, no doubt, a strong temptation to Henry,
-as it was in all such cases, and thus Cromwell's avarice brought its own
-punishment. In his treatment of the unfortunate Romanists whom he had to
-eject from their ancient houses and lands, his conduct had been harsh
-and unsparing; and by that party, now in power, he was consequently hated
-with an intense hatred; and this was a second means of self-punishment.
-But above all, in the days of his power, he had been perfectly reckless
-of the liberties and securities of the subject. He had broken down the
-bulwarks of the Constitution, and advised the king to make his own
-will the sole law, carrying for him through Parliament the monstrous
-doctrine embodied in the enactment that the royal proclamation superseded
-Parliamentary decrees, and that the Crown could put men to death without
-any form of trial. Under the monstrous despotism which he had thus
-erected, he now fell himself, and had no right whatever to complain.
-Yet he did complain most lamentably. The men who never feel for others,
-concentrate all their commiseration on themselves; and Cromwell, so
-ruthless and immovable to the pleadings of his own victims, now sent the
-most abject and imploring letters to Henry, crying, "Mercy, mercy!"
-
-His experience might have assured him that, when once Henry seized his
-victim, he never relented; and there was no one except Cranmer who
-dared to raise a voice in his favour, and Cranmer's interference was so
-much in his own timid style, that it availed nothing. His papers were
-seized, his servants interrogated, and out of their statements, whatever
-they were--for they were never produced in any court--the accusations
-were framed against him. These consisted in the charges of his having,
-as minister, received bribes, and encroached on the royal authority
-by issuing commissions, discharging prisoners, pardoning convicts,
-and granting licences for the exportation of prohibited merchandise.
-As Vicar-General, he was charged with having not only held heretical
-opinions himself, but also with protecting heretical preachers, and
-promoting the circulation of heretical books. Lastly, there was added
-one of those absurd, gratuitous assertions, which Henry always threw
-in to make the charge amount to high treason, namely, that Cromwell had
-expressed his resolve to fight against the king himself, if necessary, in
-support of his religious opinions; and Mount was instructed to inform the
-German princes that Cromwell had threatened to strike a dagger into the
-heart of the man who should oppose the Reformation, which, he said, meant
-the king. He demanded a public trial, but was refused, being only allowed
-to face his accusers before the Commissioners. Government then proceeded
-against him by bill of attainder, and thus, on the principle that he had
-himself established, he was condemned without trial, even Cranmer voting
-in favour of the attainder. His fate was delayed for more than a month,
-during which time he continued to protest his innocence, with a violence
-which stood in strong contrast to his callousness to the protestations of
-others, wishing that God might confound him, that the vengeance of God
-might light upon him, that all the devils in hell might confront him,
-if he were guilty. He drew the most lamentable picture of his forlorn
-and miserable condition, and offered to make any disclosures demanded of
-him; but though nothing would have saved him, unluckily for him, Henry
-discovered among his papers his secret correspondence with the princes
-of Germany. He gave the royal assent to the bill of attainder, and in
-five days--namely, on the 28th of July--Cromwell was led to the scaffold,
-where he confessed that he had been in error, but had now returned to
-the truth, and died a good Catholic. He fell detested by every man of
-his own party, exulted over by the Papist section of the community, and
-unregretted by the people, who were just then smarting under the enormous
-subsidy he had imposed. As if to render his execution the more degrading,
-Lord Hungerford, a nobleman charged with revolting crimes, was beheaded
-with him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_concluded_).
-
-     Divorce of Anne of Cleves--Catherine Howard's Marriage and
-     Death--Fresh Persecutions--Welsh Affairs--The Irish Insurrection
-     and its Suppression--Scottish Affairs--Catholic Opposition
-     to Henry--Outbreak of War--Battle of Solway Moss--French and
-     English Parties in Scotland--Escape of Beaton--Triumph of the
-     French Party--Treaty between England and Germany--Henry's Sixth
-     Marriage--Campaign in France--Expedition against Scotland--Capture
-     of Edinburgh--Fresh Attempt on England--Cardinal Beaton and
-     Wishart--Death of the Cardinal--Struggle between the Two Parties
-     in England--Death of Henry.
-
-
-The death of Cromwell was quickly followed by the divorce of Anne of
-Cleves. The queen was ordered to retire to Richmond, on pretence that the
-plague was in London. Marillac, the French ambassador, writing to Francis
-I., said that the reason assigned was not the true one, for if there had
-been the slightest rumour of the plague, nothing would have induced Henry
-to remain; "for the king is the most timid person in the world in such
-cases." It was the preliminary step to the divorce, and as soon as she
-was gone, Henry put in motion all his established machinery for getting
-rid of wives. The Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke
-of Norfolk, and others of the king's ministers, procured a petition to be
-got up and presented to his Majesty, stating that the House had doubts
-of the validity of the king's marriage, and consequently were uneasy
-as to the succession, and prayed the king to submit the question to
-Convocation. Of course, Henry could refuse nothing to his faithful peers,
-and Convocation, accordingly, took the matter into consideration. The
-marriage was declared--like his two former ones with Catherine and Anne
-Boleyn--to be null and void; and the same judgment of high treason was
-pronounced on any one who should say or write to the contrary. The queen
-being a stranger to the English laws and customs, was not called upon to
-appear personally, or even by her advocates, before Convocation.
-
-All this being settled, the Duke of Suffolk, the Earl of Southampton, and
-Wriothesley proceeded to Richmond, to announce the decision to the queen.
-On the sight of these ministers, and on hearing their communication, that
-the marriage was annulled by Parliament, the poor woman, supposing that
-she was going to be treated like Anne Boleyn, fainted, and fell on the
-floor. On her return to consciousness, the messengers hastened to assure
-her that there was no cause of alarm; that the king had the kindest and
-best intentions towards her; that, if she would consent to resign the
-title of queen, he proposed to give her the title of his sister; to grant
-her precedence of every lady except the future queen and his daughters,
-and to endow her with estates to the value of £3,000 per annum.
-
-Anne received some of the spoils of the fallen Cromwell in different
-estates which were made over to her for life, including Denham Hall, in
-Essex. She resided principally at her palace of Richmond, and at Ham
-House; but we find her living at different times at Bletchingley, Hever
-Castle, Penshurst, and Dartford. Though she was queen only about six
-months, she continued to live in England for seventeen years--seeing two
-queens after her, and Edward VI. and Queen Mary on the throne--greatly
-honoured by all who knew her, and much beloved by both the princesses
-Mary and Elizabeth. Not in seventeen years, but in sixteen months, she
-saw the fall and tragedy of the queen who supplanted her; so that one
-of her maids of honour, Elizabeth Bassett, could not help exclaiming
-at the news, "What a man the king is! how many wives _will_ he have?"
-For which very natural expression the poor girl was very near getting
-into trouble. As for Anne herself, she appeared quite a new woman when
-she had got clear of her terrible and coarse-minded tyrant, so that the
-French ambassador, Marillac, wrote to his master that "Madame of Cleves
-has a more joyous countenance than ever. She wears a great variety of
-dresses, and passes all her time in sports and recreations." No sooner
-was she divorced than Henry paid her a visit, and was so delighted by
-her pleasant and respectful reception of him, that he supped with her
-merrily, and not only went often again to see her, but invited her to
-Hampton, whither she went, not at all troubling herself that another was
-acting the queen.
-
-Anne's marriage was annulled by Parliament on the 9th of July, and on the
-8th of August Catherine Howard appeared at Court as the acknowledged
-queen. For twelve months all went on well, and the king repeatedly
-declared that he had never been happy in love or matrimony till now;
-that the queen was the most perfect of women, and the most affectionate
-of wives. To gratify his new queen, and to accomplish some objects of
-importance, Henry this summer made a progress into the north, and took
-Catherine with him. One object was to judge for himself of the state of
-the northern counties, where the late insurrections in favour of the old
-religion had broken out. He promised himself that his presence would
-intimidate the disaffected; that he should be able to punish those who
-remained troublesome, and make all quiet; but still more was he anxious
-for an interview with his nephew, James V. of Scotland. The principles
-of the Reformation had been making rapid progress in that country, and
-the fires of persecution had been lit up by the clergy. Patrick Hamilton,
-a young man of noble family, who had imbibed the new doctrines abroad,
-and Friar Forrest, a zealous preacher of the same, had suffered at the
-stake. But far more dangerous to the stability of the Catholic Church,
-was the fact that the Scottish nobility, poor and ambitious, had learnt
-a significant lesson from what had been going on in England. The seizure
-of the monastic estates there by the king, and their liberal distribution
-amongst the nobility, excited their cupidity, and they strongly urged
-James to follow the example of his royal uncle. In this counsel they
-found a staunch coadjutor in Henry, who never ceased exciting James to
-follow his example, and, to make sure of his doing so, invited him to an
-interview at York, to which he consented.
-
-Notwithstanding great preparations had been made, the King of Scots
-excused his coming. The very first announcement of such a project had
-struck the clergy of Scotland with consternation. They hastened to
-point out to James the dangers of innovation--the certain mischief of
-aggrandising the nobility, already too powerful, with the spoils of the
-Church--the jeopardy of putting himself into the hands of Henry and the
-English, and the loss of the friendship of all foreign powers, if he was
-induced by Henry to attack the Church, which would render him almost
-wholly dependent on England. They added force to these arguments by
-presenting him with a gratuity of £50,000; promised him a continuance
-of their liberality, and pointed out to him a certain source of income
-of at least £100,000 per annum in the confiscations of heretics. These
-representations and gifts had the desired effect. James sent an excuse
-to Henry for not being able to meet him at York; and the disappointed
-king turned homeward in great disgust. The fascinations of the young
-queen, however, soon restored his good humour, and they arrived at
-Windsor, on the 26th of October, in high spirits.
-
-Little did the uxorious monarch dream that he was at this moment standing
-on a mine that would blow all his imagined happiness into the air and
-send his idolised wife to the block. But at the very time that he and
-Catherine had been showing themselves as so beautifully conjugal a couple
-to the good people of the north, the mine had been preparing. It was the
-misfortune of all the queens of Henry VIII. that they had not only to
-deal with one of the most vindictive and capricious tyrants that ever
-existed, but that they were invariably, and necessarily, the objects of
-the hatred of a powerful and merciless party, which was ready to destroy
-its antagonist, and, as the first and telling stroke in that progress, to
-pull down the queen. Catherine Howard was now the hope of the Romanists.
-She was the niece of the Duke of Norfolk, the most resolute lay-Papist in
-the kingdom, and the political head of that party. The public evidences
-of the growing influence of Catherine with the king in the northern
-progress, had been marked by the Catholics with exultation, and by the
-Protestants with proportionate alarm. Both Rapin and Burnet assert that
-Cranmer felt convinced, from what he saw passing, that unless some means
-were found to lessen the influence of the queen, and thus dash the hopes
-of the Catholics, he must soon follow Cromwell to the block. A most
-ominous circumstance which reached him was, that the royal party took up
-their quarters for a night at the house of Sir John Gorstwick, who, but
-in the preceding spring, had denounced Cranmer in open Parliament, as
-"the root of all heresies," and that at Gorstwick's there had been held a
-select meeting of the Privy Council, at which Gardiner, the unhesitating
-leader of the Romanists, presided. It was the signal for the Protestants
-to bring means of counter-action into play, and such means, unfortunately
-for the queen, were already stored up and at hand.
-
-It was discovered that the queen had been guilty of numerous
-improprieties before marriage, chiefly with a man called Derham, and it
-was now alleged that an intrigue had been going on between Catherine
-and her cousin, Thomas Culpepper, in the northern progress, at Lincoln
-and York, and that one night Culpepper was in the same room with the
-queen and Lady Rochford for three hours. But when it was attempted to
-establish this fact on the evidence of women in attendance, Catherine
-Tylney and Margaret Morton, this evidence dwindled to mere surmise.
-Tylney deposed that on two nights at Lincoln, the queen went to the
-room of Lady Rochford, and stayed late, but affirmed "on her peril that
-she never saw who came unto the queen and my Lady Rochford, nor heard
-what was said between them." Morton's evidence amounted only to this,
-that, at Pontefract, Lady Rochford conveyed letters between the queen
-and Culpepper, _as was supposed_; and one night when the king went to
-the queen's chamber, the door was bolted, and it was some time before
-he could be admitted. This circumstance must have been satisfactorily
-accounted for to Henry at the time, jealous person as he was, yet on such
-paltry grounds was it necessary to build the charge of criminal conduct
-in the queen.
-
-[Illustration: CATHERINE HOWARD BEING CONVEYED TO THE TOWER. (_See p._
-185.)]
-
-On the 21st of January, 1542, a bill of attainder of Catherine Howard,
-late Queen of England, and of Jane, Lady Rochford, for high treason; of
-Agnes, Duchess of Norfolk, Lord William Howard, the Lady Bridgewater,
-and four men and five women, including Derham and Culpepper, already
-executed, was read in the Lords. On the 28th, the Lord Chancellor,
-impressed with a laudable sense of justice, proposed that a deputation of
-Lords and Commons should be allowed to wait on the queen to hear what she
-had to say for herself. He said it was but just that a queen, who was no
-mean or private person, but a public and illustrious one, should be tried
-by equal laws like themselves and thought it would be acceptable to the
-king himself if his consort could thus clear herself. But that did not
-suit Henry: he was resolved to be rid of his lately beloved model queen;
-and as there was no evidence whatever of any crime on her part against
-him, he did not mean that she should have any opportunity of being heard
-in her defence. The bill was, therefore, passed through Parliament,
-passing the Lords in three and the Commons in two days. On the 10th of
-February the queen was conveyed by water to the Tower, and the next
-day Henry gave his assent to the bill of attainder. The persons sent
-to receive the queen's confession were Suffolk, Cranmer, Southampton,
-Audley, and Thirlby. "How much she confessed to them," Burnet says, "is
-not very clear, neither by the journal nor the Act of Parliament, which
-only say she confessed." If she had confessed the crime alleged after
-marriage, that would have been made fully and officially known. Two days
-afterwards, February 12th, she was brought to the block.
-
-Thus fell Catherine Howard in the bloom of her youth and beauty, being
-declared by an eye-witness to be the handsomest woman of her time, paying
-for youthful indiscretions the forfeit of her life to the king, though
-some think she had not sinned against him. So conscious was Henry of
-this, that he made it high treason, in the Act of Attainder, for any one
-to conceal any such previous misconduct in a woman whom the sovereign was
-about to marry. With Catherine fell the odious Lady Rochford, who had
-long deserved her fate, for her false and murderous evidence against her
-own husband and Anne Boleyn.
-
-Having thus destroyed his fifth wife, Henry now turned his attention
-to the regulation of religious affairs and opinions. In 1539 he had
-attempted to set up a standard of orthodoxy by the publication of "The
-Institution of a Christian Man," or "The Bishops' Book," as it was
-called, because compiled by the bishops under his direction. After that
-he published his "Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian
-Man," which was called "The King's Book." In this it was observable that,
-instead of approaching nearer to the Protestant creed, he was going fast
-back into the strictest principles of Romanism. He had allowed the people
-to read the Bible, but he now declared that, though the reading of it was
-necessary to the teachers of religion, it was not so necessary for the
-learners; and he decreed, by Act of Parliament, that the Bible should
-not be read in public, or be seen in any private families but such as
-were of noble or gentle birth. It was not to be read privately by any but
-householders and women who were well-born. If any woman of the ordinary
-class, any artificer, apprentice, journeyman, servant, or labourer dared
-to read the Bible, he or she was to be imprisoned for one month.
-
-Gardiner and the Papist party were more and more in the ascendant,
-and the timid Cranmer and the more liberal bishops were compelled not
-only to wink at these bigoted rules, but to order "The King's Book,"
-containing all the dogmas which they held to be false and pernicious, to
-be published in every diocese, and to be the guide of every preacher.
-By this means it was hoped to quash the numerous new sects which were
-springing from the reading of the Bible, and the earnest discussions
-consequent upon it. Such a flood of new light had poured suddenly into
-the human mind, that it was completely dazzled by it. Opinion becoming
-in some degree free, ran into strange forms. There were Anabaptists,
-who held that every man ought to be guided by the direct inspiration
-of the Holy Ghost, and that, consequently, there was no need of king,
-judge, magistrate, or civil law, or war, or capital punishment. There
-were Antinomians, who contended that all things were free and allowable
-to the saints without sin. There were Fifth-Monarchy men; members of
-the Family of Love, or Davidians, from one David George, their leader;
-Arians, Unitarians, Predestinarians, Libertines, and other denominations,
-whom we shall find abundant in the time of the Commonwealth. What was
-strangest of all was to see King Henry, who would allow no man's opinion
-to be right but his own, and who burnt men for daring to differ from
-him, lecturing these contending sects on their animosities in his speech
-in Parliament, and bidding them "behold what love and charity there
-was amongst them, when one called another heretic and Anabaptist, and
-he called him again Papist, hypocrite, and pharisee;" and the royal
-peacemaker threatened to put an end to their quarrellings by punishing
-them all. During the four remaining years of his reign, he burnt or
-hanged twenty-four persons for religion--that is, six annually--fourteen
-of them being Protestants. During these years "The King's Book" was the
-only authorised standard of English orthodoxy.
-
-It is now necessary to take a brief glance at the proceedings of
-Henry's government in Ireland and Wales, and towards Scotland. In the
-Principality of Wales the measures of the king were marked by a far
-wiser spirit than those which predominated in religion. Being descended
-from the natives of that country, it was natural that it should claim
-his particular attention. Wales at that time might be divided into two
-parts, one of which had been subjected by the English monarchs, and
-divided into shires, the other which had been conquered by different
-knights and barons, thence called the lords-marchers. The shires were
-under the royal will, but the hundred and forty-one small districts or
-lordships which had been granted to the petty conquerors, excluded the
-officers and writs of the king altogether. The lords, like so many counts
-palatine, exercised all sovereign rights within their own districts, had
-their own courts, appointed their own judges, and punished or pardoned
-offenders at pleasure. This opened up a source of the grossest confusion
-and impunity from justice; for criminals perpetrating offences in one
-district had only to move into another, and set the law at defiance.
-Henry, by enacting, in 1536, that the whole of Wales should thenceforth
-be incorporated with England, should obey the same laws and enjoy the
-same rights and privileges, did a great work. The Welsh shires, with one
-borough in each, were empowered to send members to Parliament, the judges
-were appointed solely by the Crown, and no lord was any longer allowed to
-pardon any treason, murder, or felony in his lordship, or to protect the
-perpetrators of such crimes. The same regulations were extended to the
-county palatine of Chester.
-
-The proceedings of Henry in Ireland were equally energetic, if they were
-not always as just; and in the end they produced an equally improved
-condition of things there. Quiet and law came to prevail, though they
-prevailed with severity. On the accession of Henry to the throne, the
-portion of the island over which the English authority really extended
-was very limited indeed. It included merely the chief sea-ports, with
-the five counties of Louth, Westmeath, Dublin, Kildare, and Wexford.
-The rest of the country was almost independent of England, being in the
-hands of no less than ninety chieftains--thirty of English origin, and
-the rest native--who exercised a wild and lawless kind of sway, and
-made war on each other at will. Wolsey, in the height of his power,
-determined to reduce this Irish chaos to order. He saw that the main
-causes of the decay of the English authority lay in the perpetual feuds
-and jealousies of the families of Fitzgerald and Butler, at the head
-of which were the Earls of Kildare and of Ormond. The young Earl of
-Kildare, the chief of the Fitzgeralds, who succeeded his father in 1520,
-was replaced by the Earl of Surrey, afterwards the Duke of Norfolk, whom
-we have seen so disgracefully figuring in the affairs of Anne Boleyn
-and Catherine Howard, his nieces. During the two years that he held
-the Irish government, he did himself great credit by the vigour of his
-administration, repressing the turbulence of the chiefs, and winning the
-esteem of the people by his hospitality and munificence.
-
-Unfortunately for Ireland, Surrey had acquired great renown by his
-conduct under his father at Flodden, and when Henry, in 1522, declared
-war against France, he was deemed the only man fitted to take command of
-the army. The government of Ireland, on his departure, was placed in the
-hands of Butler, Earl of Ormond. In the course of ten years it passed
-successively from Ormond again to Kildare, from Kildare to Sir William
-Skeffington, and back for the third time to Kildare.
-
-Kildare, relieved from the fear of Wolsey, who had now fallen, gave
-way to the exercise of such acts of extravagance, that his own friends
-attributed them to insanity. At the earnest recommendations, therefore,
-of his hereditary rivals, the Butlers, he was called to London in
-1534, and sent to the Tower. Still, he had left his Irish government
-in the hands of his son, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald--a young man of only
-one-and-twenty, brave, generous, but with all the impetuosity of Irish
-blood. Hearing a false report that his father was beheaded in the Tower,
-young Fitzgerald flew to arms. He appeared at the head of 140 followers
-before the council, resigned the sword of State, and demanded war against
-Henry of England.
-
-Cromer, the Archbishop of Armagh, earnestly entreated him not to plunge
-himself into a quarrel so hopeless as that with England; but in vain.
-The strains of an Irish minstrel, uttered in his native tongue, had more
-influence with him, for they called on him to revenge his father, to free
-Ireland; and the incensed youth flew to arms. For a time success attended
-him. He overran the rich district of Fingal; the natives flocked to his
-standard; the Irish minstrels, in wild songs, stirred the people to
-frenzy; and surprising Allen, the Archbishop of Dublin, on the very point
-of escaping to England, and supposed to be one of the accusers of the
-Earl of Kildare, they murdered him in presence of the young chief and his
-brothers. He then sent a deputation to Rome, offering, on condition that
-the Pope should give him the support of his sanction, to defend Ireland
-against an apostate prince, and to pay a handsome annual tribute to the
-Holy See. He sent ambassadors also to the Emperor, demanding assistance
-against the prince who had so grossly insulted him by divorcing his aunt,
-Queen Catherine. Five of his uncles joined him, but he was repulsed
-from the walls of Dublin. The strong castle of Maynooth was carried by
-assault by the new deputy, Sir William Skeffington; and in the month of
-October Lord Leonard Gray, the son of the Marquis of Dorset, arriving
-from England at the head of fresh forces, chased him into the fastnesses
-of Munster and Connaught. On hearing of this ill-advised rebellion, the
-poor Earl of Kildare, already stricken with palsy, sickened and died in
-the Tower.
-
-Lord Gray did not trust simply to his arms in the difficult country into
-which the Fitzgeralds had retired; he employed money freely to bribe
-the natives, who led him through the defiles of the mountains, and the
-passable tracks of the morasses, into the retreats of the enemy. He
-found the county of Kildare almost entirely desolated. Six out of the
-eight baronies were burnt; and where this was not the case, the people
-had fled, leaving the corn in the fields. Meath also was ravaged; and
-the towns throughout the south of Ireland, besides the horrors of civil
-war, found fever and pestilence prevailing, Dublin itself being more
-frightfully decimated than the provincial towns. The English Government
-sent very little money to the troops, and left them to subsist by
-plunder; and they first seized all the cattle, corn, and provisions,
-and then laid waste the country by fire. By March, 1535, Lord Thomas
-Fitzgerald was reduced to such extremity that he wrote to Lord Gray,
-begging him to become intercessor between the king and himself. Lord
-Gray, there can be little doubt, promised Fitzgerald a full pardon, on
-which he surrendered. But Skeffington wrote to the king that, finding
-that O'Connor, his principal supporter, had come in and yielded, "the
-young traitor, Thomas Fitzgerald, had done the same, without condition of
-pardon of life, lands, and goods."
-
-[Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE FITZGERALDS. (_See p._ 189.)]
-
-But this assertion is clearly contradicted by the council in Dublin, who
-wrote entreating the king to be merciful to the said Thomas, to whom they
-had given comfortable promises. O'Connor had been too wise to put himself
-into the power of Henry on the strength of any promises: he delivered
-only certain hostages as security for his good behaviour; but Lord
-Thomas was carried over to England by Lord Gray, where he was committed
-to the Tower. Gray was immediately sent back to Ireland, with the full
-command of the army there, and he was instructed above all things to
-secure the persons of the five uncles of Lord Fitzgerald. Accordingly,
-on the 14th of February, 1536, the council of Ireland sent to Cromwell,
-then minister, an exulting message, that Lord Gray, the chief justice,
-and others, had captured the five brethren, which they pronounced to
-be the "first deed that ever was done for the weal of the king's poor
-subjects of that land." They added, "We assure your mastership that the
-said lord justice, the treasurer of the king's wars, and such others as
-his grace put in trust in this behalf, have highly deserved his most
-gracious thanks for the politic and secret conveying of the matter."
-But the truth was, that this politic and secret management was one of
-the most disgraceful pieces of treachery which ever was transacted--the
-Fitzgeralds being seized at a banquet to which both parties had proceeded
-under the most solemn pledges of mutual faith. They were conveyed at once
-to London, and in February, 1537, the young earl and his five uncles
-were beheaded, after a long and cruel imprisonment in the Tower. Their
-unprincipled betrayer, however, did not long enjoy the fruits of his
-treachery. He was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland as a reward for his
-dishonourable service, but was soon removed on charges of misconduct,
-committed to one of the very cells which his victims had occupied, and
-was beheaded on Tower Hill, as a traitor, on the 28th of June, 1541,
-ending his life, according to Godwin, very quietly and godlily. Gray
-certainly deserved better treatment from Henry; for, though his conduct
-was infamous to the Fitzgeralds, it was most useful to the English king.
-The rival factions of Fitzgeralds and Butlers continuing to resist the
-English power, Gray contended against them till, by his brilliant victory
-at Bellahoe, he broke the power of O'Neill, the northern chieftain, and
-confirmed the power of England. Yet, being uncle, by his sister, to the
-last surviving male heir of the Fitzgeralds--Gerald, the youngest brother
-of the unfortunate Lord Thomas, a boy of only twelve years of age--he
-was accused of favouring his escape, and all his services were forgotten
-by his ungrateful sovereign. The young Gerald Fitzgerald escaped to the
-Continent by the aid of a sea captain of St. Malo, and ultimately to
-Italy, where he lived under the patronage and protection of his kinsman,
-Cardinal Pole, till he eventually recovered the honours and estates of
-his ancestors, in the reign of Queen Mary, at the suggestion of the
-cardinal.
-
-After the recall of Lord Gray, O'Connor, O'Neill, M'Murdo, and the
-O'Tooles excited fresh insurrections, but they were speedily put down,
-and in 1541 Anthony St. Leger found both the Irish chiefs and the lords
-of the pale eagerly outstripping each other in professions of loyalty.
-In 1541 Henry raised Ireland from the rank of a lordship to that of a
-kingdom, and granted letters patent to the Irish chiefs, by the advice
-of Sir Thomas Cusake, though unwillingly. Thus, by securing them in
-possession of their lands, and raising them to new honours, he gained
-their devoted attachment. Henry gave them houses in Dublin, which they
-were to inhabit when summoned as peers of the Irish Parliament. Ulick
-Burke was made Earl of Clanricarde, Murroch O'Brien Earl of Thomond,
-and the great O'Neill became henceforth known by his new title of
-Earl of Tyrone. The Irish council was instructed to proceed with the
-suppression of the monasteries, though cautiously, not urging the monks
-too rigorously, lest they stirred up opposition, but desirably persuading
-them that "the lands of the Church were his proper inheritance." These
-matters were so well carried out, that the ascendency of England had
-never appeared so firmly established since the first invasion of the
-island by Henry II.
-
-In Scotland the French and Catholic party was all powerful. James V.
-married a French wife, Mary of Guise, in 1538, and in 1539 David Beaton
-succeeded his uncle, James Beaton, in the primacy, when the Pope, to
-add additional honours to so devoted a servant, presented him with a
-cardinal's hat. It was at this crisis that the Pope, acting in concert
-with France and Spain, sent Cardinal Pole to co-operate with the Scots in
-annoying Henry, and James being applied to by the Pontiff Paul, declared
-himself willing to unite with Francis I. and the Emperor in the endeavour
-to convert or punish the heretical English king. As if to show Henry
-that there was no prospect of any co-operation of James with him, the
-fires of persecution were kindled by Beaton and his coadjutors against
-the Protestants in that kingdom, and this again drove the Reformers
-to make common cause with the Earl of Angus and other Scottish exiles
-in England. Henry, to encourage the Protestants, and to warn James if
-possible, sent to him his rising diplomatist, Sir Ralph Sadler, who
-represented to James that Henry was much nearer related to him than were
-any of the Continental sovereigns, and who endeavoured to prevent there
-the publication of the bill of excommunication.
-
-But it became necessarily a pitched battle between the Papist party in
-Scotland and Henry. They beheld with natural alarm his destruction of
-the Papal Church in England, an example of the most terrible kind to
-all other national churches of the same creed; and Henry, on the other
-hand, knew that so long as that faith was in the ascendant in Scotland,
-there would be no assured quiet in his own kingdom. It was the one
-proximate and exposed quarter through which the Pope and his abettors on
-the Continent could perpetually assail him. From this moment, therefore,
-Henry spared no money, no negotiation, no pains to break down the Roman
-Catholic ascendency in Scotland.
-
-In the spring of 1541 Cardinal Beaton, and Panter, the Royal secretary,
-were despatched to Rome with secret instructions. This alarmed Henry, and
-yet afforded him a hope of making an impression on his nephew whilst the
-cardinal was away. Once more, therefore, he invited James to meet him at
-York. Lord William Howard, who was his envoy on the occasion, induced
-James to promise to meet Henry there, and we have seen him on his way
-accompanied by his bride, Catherine Howard, to the place of rendezvous.
-But James came not; and Henry, enraged, vowed that he would compel James
-by force to do that which he would not concede to persuasion.
-
-The Romanist party in Scotland were better pleased with a hostile than
-a pacific position, for they greatly dreaded that Henry might at length
-warp the king's mind towards his own views. The leaders on both sides
-were, in fact, never at peace. On the one side, the exiled Douglases
-were always on the watch to recover their estates by their swords, and
-the fugitives in Scotland, on account of the Pilgrimage of Grace, were
-equally ready to fight their way back to their homes and fortunes. In the
-August of 1542, accordingly, there were sharp forays, first from one side
-of the Border, and then from the other. Sir James Bowes, the warden of
-the east marches, accompanied by Sir George Douglas, the Earl of Angus,
-and other Scottish exiles, and 3,000 horsemen, rushed into Teviotdale,
-when they were met at Haddenrig by the Earl of Huntly and Lord Home, who
-defeated them, and took 600 prisoners.
-
-Henry, having issued a proclamation declaring the Scots the aggressors,
-ordered a levy of 40,000 men, and appointed the Duke of Norfolk the
-commander of this army. He was attended by the Earls of Shrewsbury,
-Derby, Cumberland, Surrey, Hertford, Rutland, with many others of the
-nobility. This imposing force was joined by the Earl of Angus and
-the rest of the banished Douglases who had escaped the slaughter at
-Haddenrig. After some delay at York the royal army, issuing a fresh
-proclamation, in which Henry claimed the crown of Scotland, advanced
-to Berwick, where it crossed into Scotland, and, advancing along the
-northern bank of the Tweed as far as Kelso, burned two towns and twenty
-villages. Norfolk did not venture to advance farther into the country, as
-he heard that James had assembled a powerful force, whilst Huntly, Home,
-and Seton were hovering on his flanks. He therefore contented himself
-with ravaging the neighbourhood, and then crossed again at Kelso into
-England.
-
-James, indignant at the invasion and the injuries inflicted on his
-subjects, marched from the Burghmuir at Edinburgh, where he was encamped
-at the head of 30,000 men, in pursuit of the English. But he soon found
-that different causes paralysed his intended chastisement. Many of the
-nobles were in favour of the Reformation, and held this martial movement
-as a direct attempt to maintain the Papal power and the influence of
-Beaton and his party. Others were in secret league with the banished
-Douglases, who were on the English side; and there were not wanting those
-who sincerely advised a merely defensive warfare, and pointed out the
-evils which had always followed the pursuit of the English into their
-own country. They urged the fact that Norfolk and his army, destitute of
-provisions and suffering from the inclemency of the weather, were already
-in full retreat homewards. But James would not listen to these arguments;
-he burned to take vengeance on the English, and after halting on Fala
-Muir, and reviewing his troops, he gave the order to march in pursuit of
-Norfolk; but, to his consternation, he found that nearly every nobleman
-refused to cross the Border. They pleaded the lateness of the season,
-the want of provisions for the army, and the rashness of following the
-English into the midst of their own country, where another Flodden Field
-might await them.
-
-James was highly exasperated at this defection, and denounced the
-leaders as traitors and cowards, pointing out to them their unpatriotic
-conduct, when they saw all around them the towns and villages burnt,
-the farms ravaged, and the people expelled or exterminated along the
-line of Norfolk's march. It was in vain that he exhorted or reproved
-them; they stole away from his standard, and the indignant king found
-himself abandoned by the chief body of his army. For himself, however,
-he disdained to give up the enterprise. He despatched Lord Maxwell with
-a force of 10,000 men to burst into the western marches, ordering him
-to remain in England laying waste the country as long as Norfolk had
-remained in Scotland. James himself awaited the event at Caerlaverock
-Castle; but, discontented with the movements of Lord Maxwell, whom he
-suspected of being infected by the spirit of the other insubordinate
-nobles, he sent his favourite, Oliver Sinclair, to supersede Lord Maxwell
-in the command.
-
-[Illustration: SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES.
-
-Moss-troopers returning from a Foray.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY S. E. WALLER, IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF BRITISH
-ART.]
-
-This was an imprudent step, calculated to excite fresh discontent, as
-it very effectually did. The proud nobles who surrounded Maxwell threw
-down their arms, swearing that they would not serve under any such royal
-minion; the troops broke out into open mutiny; and in the midst of this
-confusion, a body of 500 English horse riding up under the Lords Dacre
-and Musgrave, the Scots believed it to be the vanguard of Norfolk's army,
-and fled in precipitate confusion. The English, charging furiously at
-this unexpected advantage, surrounded great numbers of the fugitives, and
-took 1,000 of them prisoners. All these were sent to London, and given
-into the custody of different English noblemen. Many of the prisoners
-were believed to surrender willingly, as disaffected men who were ready
-to sell their country to England; and others are said to have been seized
-by border freebooters, and sold to the enemy. This was the battle of
-Solway Moss.
-
-The king was so overwhelmed with grief and resentment at this disgraceful
-defeat, through the disloyalty of his nobility, that he returned to
-Edinburgh in deep dejection. From Edinburgh he proceeded to the palace of
-Falkland, where he shut himself up, brooding on his misfortunes; and such
-hold did this take upon him, that he began to sink rapidly in health. He
-was in the prime of his life, being only in his thirty-first year; of a
-constitution hitherto vigorous, having scarcely known any sickness; but
-his agonised mind producing fever of body, he seemed hastening rapidly to
-the grave. At this crisis his wife was confined. She had already borne
-him two sons, who had died in their infancy, and an heir might now have
-given a check to his melancholy; but it proved a daughter--the afterwards
-celebrated and unfortunate Queen of Scots. On hearing that it was a
-daughter, he turned himself in his bed, saying, "The crown came with a
-woman, and it will go with one. Many miseries await this poor kingdom.
-Henry will make it his own, either by force of arms or by marriage." On
-the seventh day after the birth of Mary, he expired, December 14th, 1542.
-
-No sooner did Cardinal Beaton and his party learn that the king had
-expired than, guessing all that Henry and his party in Scotland would
-attempt, they took measures to secure the young queen and the sovereign
-power. Beaton produced a will as that of James, appointing him regent
-and guardian of the young queen, assisted by a council of the Earls of
-Argyll, Huntly, and Murray. The Earl of Arran, James Hamilton, on the
-other hand, declared this will to be a forgery, and being himself the
-next heir to the throne, after the infant queen, he assumed the right to
-make himself her guardian, and to order the kingdom for her. By means
-of the Protestant nobles, as well as the vassals of his own house, and
-the prevailing opinion that Beaton had forged the will, Arran succeeded
-in establishing himself as regent on the 22nd of December, 1542, and
-the Protestant influence was in the ascendant. It was now conceded that
-Angus and the Douglases should be recalled from their exile, and they
-quitted England in the following January, the Earl of Arran giving them
-a safe-conduct.
-
-It was a deadly warfare between the Protestant and Papal parties. A list
-of 360 of the nobles and gentry was produced by Arran, which was said to
-have been found on the person of the king, all of whom were proscribed
-as heretics, and doomed to confiscation of their estates and other
-punishments. This list, which the Romanists in their turn denounced as
-forged, was vehemently charged on Beaton, who was said to have drawn it
-up when the heads of the army refused to march into England. The Earl
-of Arran himself stood at the head of the list. The cardinal, who saw
-the imminent danger of his cause and party, despatched trusty agents
-to France to solicit instant aid in money and troops, to defend the
-interests and guard the persons of the queen-dowager, Mary of Guise,
-and the royal infant. To hasten the movements of the house of Guise, he
-represented the certain dependence of Scotland on England if the king of
-England succeeded in accomplishing the marriage of the infant queen with
-his son.
-
-To silence the cardinal, he was seized and incarcerated in the castle of
-Blackness, under the care of Lord Seton; and a negotiation was actively
-carried on through Sir Ralph Sadler for the marriage of the infant
-queen and the Prince of Wales. It was agreed that Mary should remain in
-Scotland till she was ten years of age; that she should then be sent to
-England to be educated; that six Scottish noblemen should be at once
-delivered to Henry as hostages for the fulfilment of the contract; and
-when the union of the two kingdoms should take place, Scotland should
-retain all its own laws and privileges.
-
-But though Beaton was in prison, his spirit was abroad. The clergy had
-the highest faith in the talents and influence of the cardinal. They
-considered his liberation as necessary to avert the ruin of their party,
-and they put in motion all their machinery for rousing the people.
-They shut up the churches, and refused to administer the sacraments or
-bury the dead; and the priests and monks were thus set at liberty from
-all other duties to harangue and influence the passions of the people.
-Everywhere it was declared that Arran, the regent, had formed a league
-with Angus and the Douglases, who had been so long in England, to sell
-the country and the queen to England under the pretence of a marriage;
-that this was what the English monarchs had long been seeking; and that
-not only the Douglases, but Arran himself, were pensioned by Henry for
-the purpose. That this was but too true, the State Papers amply prove.
-Henry and his successors spared no money for this end; and the traitorous
-bargaining of a great number of the Scottish nobles with the English
-monarchs stands too well evidenced under their own hands.
-
-[Illustration: THE FIRST LEVEE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. (_See p._ 191.)
-
-(_After the Picture by W. B. Hole, R.S.A._)]
-
-At this juncture Cardinal Beaton managed to escape from his prison, from
-which he had never ceased to correspond with and inspirit his party. How
-he came to escape has been considered a mystery; but perhaps that mystery
-is not very deep when we reflect that Lord Seton, in whose custody he
-was, was a man, though related to the Hamiltons, yet of a most loyal
-temper, and a decided Romanist. Seton negotiated with Beaton to give up
-his castle of St. Andrews; and, as if this could not be accomplished
-without the cardinal's presence on the spot, Seton allowed him to
-accompany him, but with so small a force, that the moment the cardinal
-stood in his own castle he declared himself at liberty, and Seton had
-no power to say nay had he wished it. As no punishment or even censure
-befell Lord Seton on this account, it is most probable that Arran
-himself was cognisant of the scheme. What makes this more likely is that
-Hamilton, the abbot of Paisley, the natural brother of Arran, the Regent,
-had returned just before from France; and that he was at the bottom of
-the plot may not unreasonably be supposed, from the fact that he very
-soon exercised a powerful influence over the weaker mind of the Regent.
-Through the means of the abbot, Beaton even attempted to accommodate
-matters with Henry. He declared that he was sincerely desirous of the
-union of the young queen and the Prince of Wales, so that there should be
-peace between the countries, yet a peace preserving the independence of
-each. But this independence of Scotland was the very thing which Henry
-was determined to annihilate, and he pressed his desires for it with such
-violence that all hopes of an amicable arrangement vanished.
-
-[Illustration: VIEW IN ST. ANDREWS.]
-
-Arran, alienated from the English Government by the imperious demands
-of Henry, and alarmed at the progress of the Papist faction, took care
-to proclaim his resolute resolve to oppose the aims of Henry, even to
-the extremity of war, and he dismissed his Protestant chaplains, friar
-Williams and John Rough; and such was the spirit of the people that
-Glencairn and Cassillis, the most devoted partisans of England, declared
-that they would sooner die than agree to the surrender of the French
-alliance. Such, in fact, was the popular exasperation that Sadler dared
-not appear in the streets; and the peers in the interest of Henry were
-equally the objects of the public resentment.
-
-To induce Henry to pause in his fatal career, Sir George Douglas
-hastened to London, and prevailed on him to abate the extravagance of
-his demands. The immediate delivery of the infant queen, the surrender
-of the fortresses and of the Government into the hands of Henry, were
-waived, and Douglas returned to Scotland, bearing proposals of marriage
-of a more reasonable kind. Henry, however, did not abandon his schemes
-in secret. In the Public Record office there is a memorandum in the hand
-of Wriothesley, saying that "the articles be so reasonable, that if the
-ambassadors of Scotland will not agree to them, then it shall be mete
-the king's majesty follow out his purpose by force." Sir George Douglas
-renewed the offer formerly made by Henry to Arran, of marrying the
-Princess Elizabeth and his eldest son, and Sir George and Glencairn were
-sent to London to assist the ambassadors in bringing the negotiation to
-a close.
-
-But Arran was assailed as vehemently on the other side by the cardinal,
-and the queen-dowager, who was the real head of the party. They sent
-Lennox to endeavour to win him over to their side, so that all Scotland
-might unite against Henry. Lennox delivered a very flattering message
-from Francis I. to the Regent, offering him both men and money to
-resist any attempt of invasion by the English; but this failing, the
-queen-dowager and Beaton prosecuted the negotiation with France, and it
-was agreed that 2,000 men, under Montgomerie, Sieur de Lorges, should
-be sent to Scotland. The queen and cardinal called on their partisans
-to assemble their followers and garrison their castles, whilst Grimani,
-the Pope's legate, was entreated to hasten to Scotland with a formidable
-store of anathemas and excommunications. The clergy assembled in
-convention at St. Andrews, and so ardent were they in the cause which
-they believed to be that of the very existence of the Church, that
-they pledged themselves to raise the sum required for the war against
-England, and, if necessary, not only to melt down the church plate, and
-to sacrifice their private fortunes, but to fight in person.
-
-Whilst public opinion was in this state of fermentation, Henry VIII.,
-irritated at the conduct of the cardinal and a large body of the nobles,
-committed one of those rash and foolish acts, into which the wild fury
-of his temper often precipitated him. After the proclamation of peace,
-a fleet of Scottish merchant vessels, driven by a storm, took refuge in
-an English port, where, under the recent treaty, they deemed themselves
-safe. But Henry had just proclaimed war on France and, making that a
-pretence, he accused them of carrying provisions to his enemies, and
-detained them. At this outrage the people of Edinburgh surrounded the
-house of Sadler the English ambassador, and threatened to burn him in
-it if the ships were not restored. Arran, the governor, came in for
-his share of the odium as the staunch ally of Henry; and the common
-friends of Arran and Henry, the traitorous faction of Angus, Cassillis,
-Glencairn, and the other barons under secret bond to England, proposed
-to call out their forces for immediate war. These base sons of a brave
-country asserted that the time was come for Henry to send a great army
-into Scotland, with which they would co-operate, "for the conquest of the
-realm."
-
-Everything boded the immediate outbreak of a bloody war, when a
-surprising revolution took place. On the 3rd of September, Arran declared
-to Sir Ralph Sadler that he was devotedly attached to the interests of
-Henry, and within a week afterwards he met the cardinal at Callender
-House, the seat of Lord Livingston, and entered into a complete
-reconciliation with him. A short time before Beaton had refused to hold
-any intercourse with him for fear of his life, and now he was seen
-riding amicably with him towards Stirling. This singular exhibition was
-followed by Arran's renunciation of Protestantism; his return, with full
-absolution, into communion with the Roman Church; his surrender of the
-treaties with England, and the delivery of his son as a pledge of his
-sincerity. So marvellous a conversion must have had powerful causes, and
-they are only to be explained by the weakness of Arran's character, and
-the artful and alarming representations of his more able brother, the
-abbot of Paisley. This zealous partisan of both France and the cardinal
-is said to have persuaded him that by renouncing the Papal supremacy,
-and allying himself with the arch-enemy of Rome, Henry of England, he
-was running imminent danger of the total loss of his titles, estates,
-and claim to the Regency, which could only be maintained by the Pope
-declaring valid the divorce of his father from his former wife. All
-Scotland was now united in its enmity to England.
-
-The year 1544 found Henry bent on war both with Scotland and France.
-Francis had deeply offended him by disapproving of his divorce and murder
-of Anne Boleyn, and by his refusal to follow his advice in repudiating
-his allegiance to the Pope. Francis had declared that he was Henry's
-friend, but only as far as the altar. Charles V., aggravated as had been
-the conduct of Henry towards him, by his divorce of his aunt Catherine,
-and the stigma of illegitimacy which he had cast on her daughter the
-Princess Mary, was yet by no means displeased to observe the growing
-differences between Henry and his rival Francis. He, therefore, like
-a genuine politician, dropped his resentment on account of Catherine,
-and professed to believe that it was time to bury these remembrances
-in oblivion. The only obstacle to peace between them was the declared
-illegitimacy and exclusion from the succession of Mary. Henry lost no
-time in getting over this point. He had no need to confess himself
-wrong; he had a staunch Parliament who would do anything he required.
-Parliament, therefore, passed an Act restoring both Mary and Elizabeth
-to their political rights. Nothing was said of their illegitimacy, but
-they were restored to their place in the succession. Thus the Parliament
-had gone backward and forward at Henry's bidding to such an extent that
-now it was treason to assert the legitimacy of the princesses, and it was
-treason to deny it; for if they were illegitimate they could not claim
-the throne. It was treason to be silent, according to the former Act on
-this head, and it was now treason to refuse to take an oath on it when
-required. To such infamy did honourable members of Parliament stoop under
-this extraordinary despot.
-
-This sorry compromise having been accepted by the necessities rather than
-the will of the Emperor, Henry and he now made a treaty on these terms:
-1st, That they should jointly require the French king to renounce his
-alliance with the Turks, and to make reparation to the Christians for
-all the losses which they had sustained in consequence of that alliance;
-2nd, That Francis should be compelled to pay up to the King of England
-the arrears of his pension, and give security for a more punctual payment
-in future; 3rd, That if Francis did not comply with these terms within
-forty days, the Emperor should seize the duchy of Burgundy, Henry all
-the territories of France which had belonged to his ancestors, and that
-both monarchs should be ready to enforce their claims at the head of a
-competent army.
-
-As Francis refused to listen to these terms, and would not even permit
-the messengers of the newly allied sovereigns to cross his frontiers, the
-Emperor, who was now desirous of recovering the towns which he had lost
-in Flanders, obtained from Henry a reinforcement of 6,000 men under Sir
-John Wallop, who laid siege to Landrecies; whilst Charles himself, with a
-still greater force, overran the duchy of Cleves, and compelled the duke,
-the devoted partisan of France, to acknowledge the Imperial allegiance.
-Charles then marched to the siege of Landrecies, and Francis approached
-at the head of a large army. A great battle now appeared inevitable; but
-Francis, manoeuvring as for a fight, contrived to throw provisions into
-the town and withdrew. Imperialists and English pursued the retiring
-army; and the English, by too much impetuosity, suffered considerable
-loss. Henry promised himself more decided advantage in the next campaign,
-which he intended to conduct in person. This he had not been able to make
-illustrious by his presence; for he had been busily engaged with his
-approaching marriage to a sixth wife.
-
-The lady who had this time been elevated to this perilous eminence was
-the Lady Catherine Latimer, the widow of Lord Latimer, already mentioned
-for his concern in the Pilgrimage of Grace. She was born Catherine Parr,
-a daughter of Sir Thomas Parr. She was fourth cousin to Henry himself,
-and had been twice married previous to his wedding her. She was the
-widow of Lord Borough, of Gainsborough, at fifteen, and was about thirty
-when Henry married her, only a few months after the death of her second
-husband, Lord Latimer.
-
-Catherine Parr, as she still continues to be called, was educated
-under the care of her mother at Kendal Castle, and received a very
-learned education for a woman of those times. She read and wrote Latin
-fluently, had some knowledge of Greek, and was mistress of several modern
-languages. She is said to have been handsome, but of very small and
-delicate features. At all times she appears to have been of remarkable
-thoughtfulness and prudence, extremely amiable, and became thoroughly
-devoted to Protestantism; and she may, indeed, justly be styled the first
-Protestant Queen of England, for Anne of Cleves, though educated in the
-Protestant faith, became a decided Papist in this country. It was not
-till after the death of Lord Latimer that her Protestant tendencies,
-however, were known; yet then, she seems to have made no secret of them,
-for her house became the resort of Coverdale, Latimer, Parkhurst, and
-other eminent Reformers, and sermons were frequently preached in her
-chamber of state, which it is surprising did not attract the attention
-of the king. The marriage took place on the 12th of July, 1543, in the
-queen's closet at Hampton Court.
-
-The spring of 1544 opened with active preparations for Henry's campaign
-in France. During the winter, Gonzaga, the viceroy of Sicily, was
-despatched to London by Charles, to arrange the plan of operations. An
-admirable one was devised, had Henry been the man to assist in carrying
-it out. The emperor was to enter France by Champagne, and Henry by
-Picardy, and, instead of staying to besiege the towns on the route, they
-were to dash on to Paris where, their forces uniting, they might consider
-themselves masters of the French capital, or in a position to dictate
-terms to Francis. In May the Imperialists were in the field, and Henry
-landed at Calais in June, and by the middle of July he was within the
-bounds of France, at the head of 20,000 English and 15,000 Imperialists.
-
-But neither of the invaders kept to the original plan. Charles stopped by
-the way to reduce Luxembourg, Ligne, and St. Didier. Had Henry, however,
-pushed on with his imposing army to Paris, Francis would have been at the
-mercy of the allies. But Henry, ambitious to rival the military successes
-of Charles, and take towns too, instead of making the capital his object,
-turned aside to besiege Boulogne and Montreuil. The Imperial ambassador,
-sensible of the fatality of this proceeding, urged Henry with all his
-eloquence during eleven days to push on: and Charles, to take from him
-any further excuse for delay, hastened forward along the right bank of
-the Marne, avoiding all the fortified towns. But when once Henry had
-undertaken an object, opposition only increased his resolution, and he
-lost all consciousness of everything but the one idea of asserting his
-mastery. In vain, therefore, did Charles send messengers imploring him to
-advance; for more than two months he continued besieging Boulogne, and
-the golden opportunity was lost.
-
-Francis seized on the delay to make terms with Charles. He sent to him
-a Spanish monk of the name of Guzman, and a near relative of Charles's
-confessor, proposing terms of accommodation. Charles readily listened
-to them, and sent to Henry to learn his demands. These demands were
-something enormous, and whilst Francis demurred, Charles continued his
-march, and arrived at Château-Thierry, almost in the vicinity of Paris.
-The circumstances of both Francis and Charles now mutually inclined them
-to open separate negotiations. Francis saw a foreign army menacing his
-capital, but Charles, on the other hand, saw the French army constantly
-increasing between him and his strange ally, whom nothing could induce
-to move from the walls of Boulogne. Under these circumstances Charles
-consented to offer Francis the terms which he had demanded before the
-war, and which he had refused; but now came the news that the English
-had taken Boulogne, and the French king at once accepted them. The Treaty
-of Crépy, as this was called, bound the two sovereigns to unite for the
-defence of Christendom against the Turks, and to unite their families by
-the marriage of the second son of Francis with a daughter of Charles.
-Henry, on his part, having placed a strong garrison in Boulogne, raised
-the siege of Montreuil, and returned to England, like a great conqueror,
-as he always did, from his distant campaigns.
-
-By the end of April a scheme to assassinate Cardinal Beaton, of which
-Henry was cognisant, having failed, he was prepared to pour on Scotland
-the vial of his murderous wrath. A fleet of a hundred sail, under the
-command of Lord Lisle, the High Admiral of England, appeared suddenly
-in the Forth. The Scots seem to have by no means been dreaming of such
-a visitant, and it threw the capital into the greatest consternation.
-In four days, such was the absence of preparation, such the public
-paralysis, that Hertford was permitted to land his troops and his
-artillery without the sight of a single soldier. He had advanced from
-Granton to Leith when Arran and the cardinal threw themselves in his way
-with a miserable handful of followers, who were instantly dispersed and
-Leith was given up to plunder.
-
-The citizens of Edinburgh, finding themselves deserted by the governor,
-flew to arms, under the command of Otterburn of Redhall, the provost
-of the city. Otterburn proceeded to the English camp and, obtaining an
-interview with Lord Hertford, complained of this unlooked-for invasion,
-and offered to accommodate all differences. But Hertford returned a
-haughty answer that he was not come to negotiate, for which he had no
-power, but to lay waste town and country with fire and sword unless the
-young queen were delivered to him. The people of Edinburgh, on hearing
-this insolent message, vowed to perish to a man rather than condescend
-to such baseness. They set about to defend their walls and sustain the
-attack of the enemy; but they found that Otterburn, who had tampered
-secretly with the English before this, had stolen unobserved away. They
-appointed a new provost, and manned their walls so stoutly that they
-compelled Hertford to fetch up his battering ordnance from Leith. Seeing
-very soon that it was impossible to defend their gates from this heavy
-ordnance, they silently collected as much of their property as they could
-carry, and abandoned the town. Hertford took possession of it; and then
-sought to reduce the castle. But finding this useless, he set fire to
-the city; and, reinforced by 4,000 horse, under Lord Eure, he employed
-himself in devastating the surrounding country with a savage ferocity,
-which no doubt had been commanded by the bitter malice of the English
-king.
-
-[Illustration: FRANCIS I.
-
-(_From the Portrait in the Louvre, attributed to the Elder Clouet._)]
-
-On the 15th of May, Arran, having assembled a considerable force, and
-liberated Angus and his brother, Sir George Douglas, in the hope of
-winning them over by such clemency, marched rapidly towards Edinburgh.
-The English, however, did not wait for his arrival. Lord Lisle embarked
-a portion of the troops at Leith again, and Lord Hertford led away
-the remainder by land. Both by land and water the English commanders
-continued their buccaneering outrages, doing all the mischief and
-inflicting all the misery they could. Lord Lisle seized the two largest
-Scottish vessels in the harbour of Leith, and burnt the rest; he then
-sailed along the coast, plundering and destroying all the villages and
-country within reach. Lord Hertford, on his part, laid Port Seaton,
-Haddington, Renton, and Dunbar in ashes, and returned into England,
-leaving behind him a trail of desolation. Such was the insane and
-ridiculous manner in which Henry VIII. wooed the little Queen of Scotland
-for his son. A border war ensued, and Scotland was mercilessly ravaged.
-
-Francis I. could not rest satisfied so long as Boulogne was in the hands
-of the English, and he resolved in 1545, to make a grand effort to
-recover not only that town but Calais, which had been for centuries in
-the possession of England. Large galleys were built at Rouen, and as many
-vessels were collected as possible from Marseilles and other ports in the
-Mediterranean for this enterprise. He hired soldiers from the Venetian
-and other Italian States, and he determined to send a body of troops to
-Scotland to assist in making a diversion in that country. But he was
-not contented with endeavouring to regain his own towns; his coasts
-had often been harassed by the English vessels, and he now ventured to
-carry the war to Henry's own shores. Henry, aware of his intentions,
-raised fortifications on the banks of the Thames, and along the shores
-of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire. The French fleet, consisting of 130
-ships, set sail on the 16th of July, and fell down the Channel. Francis
-flattered himself that he could seize the Isle of Wight, and perhaps
-maintain garrisons there, if he should not be able to get possession
-of Portsmouth. Henry had himself proceeded to Portsmouth, where he had
-sixty ships lying, under the command of Lord Lisle. The French fleet
-sailed into the Solent, and anchored at St. Helen's. The sea being very
-calm, the French admiral put out his flat-bottomed boats and galleys that
-drew little water, and sailed into the very mouth of Portsmouth Harbour,
-daring the English admiral to come out. But Henry commanded Lord Lisle to
-lie still. The French admiral, firing into the port, sank the _Mary Rose_
-with her commander, Sir George Carew, and 700 men. On the turn of the
-tide Lord Lisle bore down on the enemy, and sank a galley with its men,
-and the French vessels then bore away to the main fleet.
-
-As the French could not provoke the English to come out of harbour,
-though they burned the villages and farmhouses along the coast, they held
-a council of war, and resolved to attempt the conquest of the Isle of
-Wight. The invasion of the island was essayed in three places, but the
-inhabitants repulsed with great spirit the soldiers as they landed; and,
-after committing some ravages, the French thought it best to retire. They
-then sailed along the coast of Sussex, making occasional descents, and
-finally anchored before Boulogne, to prevent the entrance of supplies
-for the army there. Another object was to hinder reinforcements of ships
-from the Thames reaching Portsmouth, but in both these endeavours the
-superior vigilance of the English prevailed; provisions were conveyed
-into Boulogne, and a reinforcement of thirty ships arrived at Portsmouth.
-At length Lord Lisle received orders from Henry to put to sea and attack
-the enemy; he expressed himself highly delighted, but nothing came of it,
-for the two fleets manoeuvred for some time in the face of each other,
-exchanged a few shots, and then retired to their respective ports. And
-thus ended the boastful enterprise of Francis. Henry, as we have seen,
-had only succeeded in capturing Boulogne, and was accordingly glad to
-make peace with Francis in 1546, on terms fairly advantageous to England.
-
-As Scotland was included in the peace with France, the French party
-appeared to be entirely triumphant. But Beaton's end was near, and it was
-hastened on by his religious persecutions. Notwithstanding the endeavours
-of Cardinal Beaton, and the apostacy of Arran, the Reformation had now
-made great progress in Scotland, and it was while the struggle was going
-on between the party of Angus and the party of the cardinal, backed by
-the money and the arms of England, that there came upon the scene the
-remarkable preacher, George Wishart. Wishart is supposed to have been
-the son of James Wishart of Pitarro, justice-clerk to James V., and he
-was patronised by John Erskine, Provost of Montrose. In Montrose he
-became master of a school, and was expelled for teaching Greek to his
-boys, avowedly as the original tongue of the New Testament. He fled to
-England, and in Bristol was condemned as a heretic for preaching against
-the offering of prayers to the Virgin. He then recanted to avoid death,
-but remained some years in England, returning to all and more than the
-opinions he had renounced in sight of the fagot. He boldly preached
-the insufficiency of outward ceremonies when the heart itself was not
-touched. He admitted only the sacraments recorded in the Scriptures;
-derided auricular confession; condemned the invocation of saints and the
-doctrine of purgatory, though he approved of fasting, and maintained
-that the Lord's Supper was a Divine and comfortable institution. The
-doctrines, conduct, and corruptions of his opponents he denounced with
-unsparing severity.
-
-These traits had made him a welcome agent of opposition to the cardinal
-with the lords of the English party; and Beaton, at once hostile to his
-religious views and to him personally, as the ally of those who were
-seeking his life by the most abominable means, soon turned his resentment
-upon him. Twice he is said to have escaped from the emissaries of the
-cardinal lying in wait to seize him. How far he was aware of the plots
-and mercenary villainy of those about him is uncertain; but living in the
-very midst of the traitor lords, and often under the very roof of the
-busy agent of Beaton's proposed murder, Brunston, he was so far cognisant
-of the preparations for the invasion of Scotland and the destruction of
-the cardinal's party, that he frequently announced in his sermons the
-approach of the horrors which at length arrived, and thus acquired the
-reputation of a prophet. Under the protection of the Angus party, he
-preached in the towns of Montrose, Dundee, Perth, and Ayr, and produced
-such a spirit of hostility to the old religion, that at Dundee the houses
-of the Black and Grey Friars were destroyed, and similar attempts were
-made in Edinburgh.
-
-While the friends of Wishart were seeking the life of Beaton, Beaton,
-aware of this, was seeking the life of Wishart, and Wishart in his
-addresses to the people repeatedly declared that he should perish a
-martyr to the cause of truth. At length Cassillis and the gentlemen of
-Kyle and Cunningham sent for him to meet them at Edinburgh, where they
-proposed that he should have an opportunity for public disputation with
-the bishop. Wishart proceeded to the capital where, Cassillis and the
-confederates not having arrived, he soon began to preach to the people,
-under the protection of the barons of Lothian. At Leith, Sir George
-Douglas bore public testimony to the truth of his doctrine, and declared
-his resolution to protect the preacher. There, too, he converted John
-Knox, who was destined to establish the Reformation in Scotland.
-
-In the midst of these proceedings arrived the cardinal and the governor
-in Edinburgh, and Beaton lost no time in endeavouring to secure the
-person of the popular apostle. Brunston removed Wishart to West Lothian
-to be out of the way till the arrival of Cassillis, who was the chief
-conspirator against the cardinal; but Wishart was not a man to lie
-concealed. He preached in the very face of danger, though a two-handed
-sword was constantly borne before him on these occasions; and at length,
-after a remarkable sermon at Haddington, where he prognosticated deep
-miseries about to fall upon the country, he took leave affectionately
-of his audience, and set out for the house of Ormiston, accompanied by
-Brunston, Sandilands of Calder, and Ormiston. That night the house of
-Ormiston was surrounded by a party of horse under the command of the Earl
-of Bothwell. Wishart, Sandilands, and Cockburn were seized. Cockburn and
-Sandilands were conducted to the castle of Edinburgh, Wishart to Hailes,
-the house of Bothwell, who for some time refused to give him up to the
-cardinal, but at length did so under promise of a great reward. Brunston
-had managed to escape.
-
-Beaton was anxious to have Wishart tried and condemned on a civil charge;
-but to this Arran would not consent, and the cardinal was therefore
-obliged to forego his vengeance, or arraign him as a heretic. He was
-sentenced to be burnt, and this sentence was carried out at St. Andrews,
-on the 28th of March, 1546. In this execution the cardinal's malice
-far outran his usually sound policy. Nothing could be more mischievous
-to his own cause than the murder of Wishart. Till then, the people,
-whatever their religious opinions, regarded the political views of Beaton
-as patriotic, and they supported him as the great bulwark against the
-power and designs of England. But now they regarded him as a horrible
-persecutor, and they shrank from him and his power fell. The meekness
-and patience with which Wishart, whom they now honoured with the name of
-martyr, bore his horrible fate, made a lasting impression on the public
-mind.
-
-While the people thus unequivocally condemned this barbarous deed, and
-only the more eagerly inquired into the principles of the sufferer, the
-immediate confederates against the cardinal found in this event a grand
-warrant for carrying out their own murderous intentions. Cassillis,
-Glencairn, and the rest of the nobles had delayed the desperate deed,
-because they could not extract from Henry a distinct statement of the pay
-they were to receive for it. But now Norman Leslie, the Earl of Rothes,
-and John Leslie, his uncle, began to vow publicly that they would have
-the blood of Beaton as an atonement for that of the martyred Wishart.
-They opened anew an active correspondence with England, and associated
-themselves with a number of others who were exasperated at the cardinal's
-deed.
-
-On the other hand, the partisans of Beaton lauded him to the skies as the
-saviour of the Church in Scotland, and strong in the alliance of France
-and the late ill-success of the English party, the cardinal appeared
-to enjoy a season of triumph; but it was a triumph quickly quenched in
-blood. Elated with his temporary success, the cardinal made a progress
-into Angus, and celebrated the marriage of one of his natural daughters,
-Margaret Béthune, to David Lindsay, Master of Crawford, at Finhaven
-Castle, bestowing upon her a dowry worthy of a princess. The cardinal was
-disturbed in his festivities by the news that Henry VIII. was pushing
-on his preparations for a new invasion, and he hastened to St. Andrews
-to put his castle into a perfect state of defence. On his arrival he
-summoned the barons of the neighbouring coast to consult on the best
-means of fortifying it against any attack of the enemy. But while thus
-busily engaged in warding off the assault of a foreign enemy, a domestic
-foe was eagerly at work close at hand for his destruction. The Laird
-of Brunston was stimulating Henry to give the necessary assurance to
-those who were ready at a word to plunge the sword into the body of the
-cardinal. A quarrel arising between Beaton and the Leslies brought the
-matter to a crisis. Norman Leslie, the Master of Rothes, had given up to
-Beaton the estate of Easter Wemyss and, at a meeting in St. Andrews, had
-found the cardinal indisposed to make the promised equivalent for it.
-High words arose, and Leslie hastened to his uncle John; and both of them
-deeming that there was no longer any safety after the words Norman Leslie
-in his rage had let fall, they immediately summoned their confederates,
-and resolved to put the cardinal to death without delay.
-
-On the evening of the 28th of May, Norman Leslie, attended by five
-followers, entered the city of St. Andrews, and rode, without exciting
-any suspicion, in his usual manner to his inn. Kirkaldy of Grange was
-awaiting him there, and after nightfall, John Leslie, whose enmity
-to Beaton was most notorious, stole quietly in and joined them. At
-daybreak the next morning, Norman Leslie and three of his attendants
-entered the gates of the castle court, the porter having lowered the
-drawbridge to admit the workmen who were employed on the cardinal's fresh
-fortifications. Norman inquired if the cardinal were yet up, as if he had
-business with him; and while he held the porter in conversation, Kirkaldy
-of Grange, James Melville, and their followers entered unobserved; but
-presently the porter, catching sight of John Leslie crossing the bridge,
-instantly suspected treason, and attempted to raise the drawbridge;
-but Leslie was too nimble for him; he leaped across the gap, and the
-conspirators, closing round the porter, despatched him with their
-daggers, seized the keys, and threw the body into the fosse, without any
-noise or alarm. They then proceeded to dismiss the workmen as quietly
-from the castle, and Kirkaldy, who was well acquainted with the castle,
-stationed himself at the only postern through which an escape could be
-made. The conspirators then went to the apartments of the different
-gentlemen composing the household of the cardinal, awoke them, and, under
-menace of instant death if they made any noise, conducted them silently
-out of the castle and dismissed them. Thus were 150 workmen and fifty
-household servants removed without any commotion by this little band of
-sixteen determined men, and, the portcullis being dropped, they remained
-masters of the castle.
-
-The cardinal, who had slept through the greater part of this time, at
-length awoke at the unusual bustle, threw open his chamber window and
-demanded the cause of it. The reply was that Norman Leslie had taken
-the castle, on which the cardinal rushed to the postern to escape; but
-finding it in possession of Kirkaldy, he returned as rapidly to his
-chamber and, assisted by a page, pushed the heaviest furniture against
-the door to defend the entrance till an alarm could be given. But the
-conspirators did not allow him time for that. They called for fire to
-burn down the door, and Beaton, finding resistance useless, threw open
-the door, when John Leslie and Carmichael rushed upon him, as he cried
-for mercy, and stabbed him in several places. Melville, however, with a
-mockery of justice, bade them desist, saying that though the deed was
-done in secret, it was an act of national justice not that of mercenary
-assassins, and must be executed with all due decorum. Then, turning
-the point of the sword towards the wretched cardinal, he said, with
-formal gravity, "Repent thee, thou wicked cardinal, of all thy sins and
-iniquities, especially of the murder of Wishart, that instrument of God
-for the conversion of these lands. It is his death which now cries for
-vengeance on thee. We are sent by God to inflict the deserved punishment.
-For here, before the Almighty, I protest that it is neither hatred of thy
-person, nor love of thy riches, nor fear of thy power, which moves me to
-seek thy death; but only because thou hast been, and still remainest,
-an obstinate enemy to Christ Jesus and His holy Gospel." With that he
-plunged his sword repeatedly into the prelate's body, and laid him dead
-at his feet.
-
-The death of Cardinal Beaton was at the same time the death-blow to the
-Church in Scotland. Though he was a man of corrupt moral life and of a
-persecuting disposition, he was one of the most able men of his time, and
-resisted the designs of Henry for the subjugation of his native country,
-with a vigour and perseverance which made Henry feel that whilst he lived
-Scotland was independent. The death of Beaton, so ardently desired, and
-so highly paid for by Henry, did not, however, bring him nearer to the
-reduction of the country, or the accomplishment of his son's marriage
-with the queen. On the contrary, so intense was the hatred of him and
-of England, which his tyrannic and detestable conduct had created in
-every rank and class of the Scottish people, that these objects were now
-farther off than ever. Henry's own embarrassments were, in consequence
-of his Scottish and French wars, become so intolerable, that he was
-compelled, as we have already seen (p. 198), to make peace with France
-in the month of June, by a treaty called the Treaty of Boulogne, and
-to agree to deliver up Boulogne, on condition that Francis paid up the
-arrears of his pension, and to submit a claim of 500,000 crowns upon him
-to arbitration. Francis took care to have Scotland included in the peace,
-and Henry bound himself not to interfere with it except on receiving some
-fresh provocation.
-
-[Illustration: THE ASSASSINATION OF CARDINAL BEATON. (_See p._ 200.)]
-
-Henry was now drawing to a close of that life which might have been so
-splendid, and which he had made so horrible. To the last moment he was
-employed in base endeavours to elude the peace which he had submitted to
-with Scotland; in the struggles between the two great religious factions,
-and in still further shocking executions for treason and heresy. Henry
-himself was become in mind and person a most loathsome object. A life
-of vile pleasures, and furious and unrestrained passions, succeeded, as
-other appetites decayed, by a brutal habit of gormandising, had swollen
-him to an enormous size, and made his body one huge mass of corruption.
-The ulcer in his leg had become revoltingly offensive; his weight and
-helplessness were such that he could not pass through any ordinary door,
-nor be removed from one part of the house to another, except by the
-aid of machinery and by the help of numerous attendants. The constant
-irritation of his festering legs made his terrible temper still more
-terrible.
-
-Of those about him, his queen, Catherine Parr, had the most miraculous
-escape. With wonderful patience, she had borne his whims, his rages,
-and his offensive person. She had shown an affectionate regard for his
-children, and had assisted with great wisdom in the progress of their
-education, living all the time as with a sword suspended over her head
-by a hair. She was devotedly attached to the Reformed principles, and
-loved to converse with sincere Protestants. She had made Miles Coverdale
-her almoner, and rendered him every assistance in his translation of the
-Bible. She employed the learned Nicholas Udal, Master of Eton, to edit
-the translations of Erasmus's "Paraphrases on the Four Gospels," which,
-according to Strype, she published at her own cost. Stimulated by her
-example, many ladies of rank pursued the study of the learned languages
-and of Scriptural knowledge.
-
-Of this school, and one of Catherine's own pupils, was Lady Jane Grey;
-and another lovely and noble victim, Anne Askew, whose turn it was to
-fall under the destroying hand of Henry VIII. at this moment, was highly
-esteemed and encouraged by her. She was tortured and then burnt (July 6,
-1546) for denying the Real Presence, and it is said that the Chancellor
-Wriothesley assisted in the application of the rack in the hope of
-wringing a confession from her.
-
-An attempt to involve the Queen in similar charges was a complete
-failure, and Henry never forgave Gardiner for this attempt to deprive him
-of his true wife and unrivalled nurse. Catherine is said to have treated
-these her deadly enemies with great magnanimity; but she seems to have
-become quite aware that Gardiner's was the daring hand that was lifted
-to ruin her with the king, and it was probably this clear understanding
-between the king and queen which destroyed Gardiner's influence with
-Henry for ever. Henry struck Gardiner's name out of the list of his
-council, and on perceiving him one day on the terrace at Windsor amongst
-the other courtiers, he turned fiercely on Wriothesley, and said, "Did
-I not command you that _he_ should come no more amongst you?" "My Lord
-of Winchester," replied the chancellor, "has come to wait upon your
-highness with the offer of a benevolence from his clergy." That was a
-deeply politic stroke of Gardiner's; he knew that if anything could
-redeem the lost favour of Henry, it was a sacrifice to his avarice next
-to his vanity. Henry took the money, but turned away from the bishop
-without a word or a look, and immediately struck his name from amongst
-his executors, as well as that of Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster, who, he
-said, was schooled by Gardiner. A deadly feud had grown up between the
-house of Seymour and the house of Howard. The house of Howard was old,
-and proud, not only of its ancient lineage, but of its grand deeds. The
-glory of Flodden lay like a great splendour on their name. Two queens had
-been selected from this house during the present reign, and the Princess
-Elizabeth was a partaker of its blood. The Seymours, on the other hand,
-were of no great lineage; but the two heads of it, Sir Thomas Seymour
-and Edward, who had been created Earl of Hertford, and whom we have seen
-executing the king's sanguinary pleasure more than once in Scotland,
-were the uncles to the heir-apparent, Prince Edward. They had been lifted
-into greatness entirely through the marriage of their sister with Henry
-and the birth of the prince; they had no natural connection, therefore,
-amongst the old nobility, and were regarded by them with jealousy as
-fortunate upstarts. But there was a circumstance which gave them power
-besides the alliance with the Crown and the heir to it, and this was
-the Protestant faith which they held, and which, therefore, bound the
-Protestant party in England to their cause, and in hope, through their
-nephew, the future king. The Howards, on the other hand, held by the
-ancient faith, and were among its most positive assertors. Thus the feud
-between these rival houses was not only the feud of the old and new
-aristocracy, but that of the old and new faith; and the rival factions
-looked up to them as their natural lords and leaders.
-
-The question, therefore, which of these families should become the
-guardians and ministers of the new king was every day acquiring a more
-intense interest. The Howards, from their old standing, and their great
-employments under the Crown, naturally regarded themselves as entitled
-to that distinction, and in this view they were, of course, supported by
-the whole Papist party most anxiously. But the Seymours, as the uncles
-of the prince, were equally bent on securing the preference. They had
-little connection, as we have stated, amongst the aristocracy, but had
-the whole Protestant party in their interest. They therefore regarded the
-Howards with the deepest jealousy and alarm, and they lost no time or
-opportunity in securing their ruin during the present king's life. There
-were many things which they could so bring before Henry's mind as to
-excite his most deadly fear. The Howards were the determined supporters
-of the Roman faith. What chance, therefore, was there under them of the
-preservation of the supremacy? What chance was there that they would
-leave the young king to his own unbiassed choice in matters of religion
-and of Church government? But still more, the Howards had not escaped
-his secret dislike through the conduct of Catherine Howard, the queen.
-A little thing could stimulate this dislike into something fearful.
-Again, the Duke of Norfolk was rich, and never were the riches of a
-subject overlooked or unlonged for by Henry Tudor. All these motives were
-brought successfully into play. Bishop Gardiner was the man most to be
-feared in the Howard interest, as it regarded the Church, and this had,
-unquestionably, much to do with his disgrace and banishment from Court.
-
-A few days after that event, namely, on the 12th of December, the Duke
-of Norfolk and his son the Earl of Surrey, were, unknown to each other,
-arrested on a charge of high treason, and sent to the Tower, the one
-by water and the other by land. Surrey had never forgiven the Earl of
-Hertford for having superseded him in command of the army at Boulogne; he
-had in his irritation spoken with biting contempt of the parvenu Seymour,
-and declared that after the king's death he would take his revenge. But
-Henry was soon persuaded that the designs of Surrey went further. His
-fears, in his morbid and sinking state, were easily excited, and he was
-made to believe that there was a conspiracy of the Howards to seize the
-reins of government during his illness, and make themselves masters of
-the person of the prince. Surrey, with all the rash and lofty spirit of
-the poet, denied every charge of disloyalty or treason with the utmost
-vehemence, and offered to fight his accuser in his shirt.
-
-The Duke of Norfolk wrote to the king from the Tower, expressing his
-astonishment at the sudden arrest, and saying, "Sir, God doth know that
-in all my life I never thought one untrue thought against you, or your
-succession; nor can no more judge nor cast in my mind what should be
-laid to my charge, than the child that was born this night." The only
-thing which he thought his enemies might bring against him was for "being
-quick against such as had been accused for sacramentaries," that is,
-Protestants. He prayed earnestly to have a fair hearing before the king
-or his council, face to face with his accusers. His gifted son, one of
-the finest poets of the age, and whose fame still makes part of England's
-glory, was brought to trial first, for he was young and full of talent,
-and, therefore, more dreaded than his father. On the 13th of December
-he was arraigned for treason in Guildhall, before the Lord Chancellor,
-the Lord Mayor, and other Commissioners, and a jury of commoners, and
-beheaded on the 19th of January. The Seymours pursued Norfolk with
-relentless ferocity. The king was rapidly sinking, there was no time to
-lose; a bill of attainder was passed through the Peers on the 26th of
-January, 1547; on the 27th the Royal assent was given in due form, and an
-order was despatched to the Tower to execute the Duke at an early hour
-next morning. Before that morning the soul of the tyrant was called to
-its dread account, and the life of the old nobleman was saved as by a
-miracle.
-
-Henry VIII. was fifty-five years and seven months old at his death, and
-had reigned thirty-seven years, nine months, and six days. His will
-was dated December 30th, 1546. He was authorised by Act of Parliament
-to settle the succession by his will, and he now named his son Prince
-Edward, as his lawful successor, then, in default of heirs, the Princess
-Mary and her heirs; these failing, the Princess Elizabeth, and her heirs.
-After Elizabeth, was named the Lady Frances, the eldest daughter of
-his sister, the Queen of France, and her heirs; and such failing, the
-Lady Eleanor, the youngest daughter of the late Queen of France. On the
-failure of all these, then the succession was to be to his heirs-at-law;
-but no particular mention was made in the succession of his sister
-Margaret, Queen of Scotland, and of her issue.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE REIGN OF EDWARD VI.
-
-     Accession of Edward VI.--Hertford's Intrigues--He becomes Duke
-     of Somerset and Lord Protector--War with Scotland--Battle of
-     Pinkie--Reversal of Henry's Policy--Religious Reforms--Ambition
-     of Lord Seymour of Sudeley--He marries Catherine Parr--His
-     Arrest and Death--Popular Discontents--Rebellion in
-     Devonshire and Cornwall--Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk--Warwick
-     Suppresses it--Opposition to Somerset--His Rapacity--Fall
-     of Somerset--Disgraceful Peace with France--Persecution of
-     Romanists--Somerset's Efforts to regain Power--His Trial and
-     Execution--New Treason Law--Northumberland's Schemes for Changing
-     the Succession--Death of Edward.
-
-
-The country was doomed once more to experience the inconveniences of
-a regal minority, to witness the struggles and manifold mischiefs of
-ambitious nobles, while the hand of the king was too feeble to keep
-them in restraint. The execution of Surrey, and the imprisonment and
-attainder of the great Duke of Norfolk, left the Seymours completely
-in the ascendant; and having recently risen into note and power, they
-very soon showed all the inflated ambition of such parvenus. The Earl of
-Hertford, as uncle of the king, was in reality the man now in possession
-of the chief power. The king was but a few months more than nine years
-of age. Henry, his father, acting on the discretion given him by an
-Act of Parliament of the twenty-eighth year of his reign, had by will
-settled the crown on Edward, and had appointed sixteen individuals as his
-executors, who should constitute also the Privy Council, and exercise
-the authority of the Crown till the young monarch was eighteen years of
-age. To enable these executors, or rather, to enable Hertford, to secure
-the person of the king, and take other measures for the establishment
-of their position, the death of Henry was kept secret for four days.
-Parliament, which was virtually dissolved by his death, met on the 29th
-of January, and proceeded to business as usual, so that any acts passed
-under these circumstances would have clearly become null. On the 31st
-Edward entered London amid the applause of the people.
-
-On the day after his arrival at the Tower, that is, on February 1st,
-1547, the greater part of the nobility and the prelates were summoned,
-and assembled there about three o'clock in the afternoon, in the
-presence-chamber, where they all successively knelt and kissed his
-majesty's hands, saying every one of them, "God save your grace!" Then
-Wriothesley, the Chancellor, produced Henry's will, and announced from it
-that sixteen persons were appointed to be his late majesty's executors,
-and to hold the office of governors of the present king and of the
-kingdom till he was eighteen years of age. To these were added twelve
-others, who were to aid them in any case of difficulty by their advice.
-Yet, although these formed a second council, it was totally destitute of
-any real authority and could only tender advice when asked.
-
-The announcement of these names excited much animadversion and some
-censure. It was remarked that the greater part of them were new men; and
-the chief council consisted of those who had been about Henry in his
-last illness. But what next was disclosed was more extraordinary. The
-executors, when assembled in the Tower on the day of the young king's
-proclamation, declared that "they were resolved not only to stand to and
-maintain the last will and testament of their master, the late king, and
-every part and parcel of the same, to the uttermost of their powers,
-wits, and cunning, but also that every one of them present should
-take a corporal oath upon a book, for the more assured and effectual
-accomplishment of the same." And now it was announced that the Privy
-Council, for the better despatch of business, had resolved to place
-the Earl of Hertford at their head. This was so directly in opposition
-to the will, which had invested every member of the council with equal
-power, that it was received with no little wonder. The fact was that
-Hertford--who, before the old king's death, had determined to seize the
-supreme power during the minority of his nephew--had secured a majority
-in the council, who, as we shall soon find, had their object to attain.
-Wriothesley was the only one who stood out. He assured them that such
-an act invalidated the whole will. But he argued in vain and, finding
-it useless, he gave way; and thus Hertford was now proclaimed Protector
-of the realm and guardian of the king's person, with the understood but
-empty condition, that he should attempt nothing which had not the assent
-of a majority of the council. His triumph was completed by the titles of
-Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England.
-
-[Illustration: EDWARD VI.]
-
-Essex, that is Parr, brother of the late queen, became Marquis of
-Northampton; Lisle, Earl of Warwick; Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton;
-Sir Thomas Seymour, Baron Seymour of Sudeley, and Lord High Admiral;
-Rich became Baron Rich; Willoughby, Baron Willoughby; Sheffield, Baron
-Sheffield. Southampton was, however, soon compelled to resign office on
-the charge of having illegally put the Great Seal in commission.
-
-Having thus seized and secured the actual sovereign power in England,
-Somerset began to turn his attention to foreign affairs. Henry VIII. had
-left it as a strict injunction to his council to secure the marriage of
-the Queen of Scots with his son Edward. Somerset, therefore, addressed
-a letter to the Scottish nobility, calling upon them to complete an
-arrangement which he recommended as equally advantageous with that to
-which they were bound by oaths, promises, and seals. The Scots took
-little notice of this communication from the man who had carried the
-commands of the late king through their land with fire and sword. The
-castle of St. Andrews, which the murderers of Cardinal Beaton held out
-against Arran, had in the course of this summer been surrendered to a
-French force, and the conspirators were conveyed to France. Some of them
-were confined in fortresses on the coast of Brittany, and others, amongst
-whom was John Knox, were sent to work in the galleys, whence they were
-not released till 1550. By the month of August, Somerset was once more
-prepared to invade Scotland, and to force, if possible, the young queen
-from the hands of Arran and the queen-mother. The forces were reviewed,
-and on the 29th they commenced their march. On the 2nd of September they
-were at Berwick, where they found Lord Clinton with the fleet, and from
-that point the army marched along the shore, supported by the ships at
-sea. Somerset took Douglas Castle, the property of Sir George Douglas,
-without resistance. The castle being rifled, was then blown up with
-gunpowder, as were also the peels of Thornton and Anderwick. Passing
-by Dunbar and the castle of Tantallon, the army, on Friday, the 8th of
-September, sat down near Prestonpans, the fleet being stationed opposite
-the town of Musselburgh.
-
-To meet this invasion, Arran had sent the Fiery Cross from clan to clan
-through the Highlands, and had ordered every Scot capable of bearing arms
-to meet at Musselburgh. The two armies now lay at Pinkie, not much more
-than a couple of miles from each other. On the 9th the Scottish horse
-were seen parading themselves boldly on the height which lay between the
-hosts, called Falside, or Fawside Brae. The two armies had the sea to
-the north, while Falside rose facing the west, and having on its summit
-a castellated keep and a few huts.
-
-Somerset and Warwick resolved to occupy the height on which stood St.
-Michael's Church, and for this purpose, early on the morning of the 10th,
-long called "Black Saturday" in Scotland, they advanced upon it about
-eight o'clock. But the Scots had also concluded to advance, and on the
-English approaching the first height, they were astonished to find that
-the Scots had quitted their strong position beyond the river, and were
-occupying the ground they had intended for themselves. It seems that the
-Scots had somehow got the idea that the English meant to retreat and
-escape them, and to prevent this they determined to surprise them in
-their camp, and were on the way for this purpose. At the sight of the
-English, the Scots pushed forward impetuously, hoping to get possession
-of Fawside Brae, but they were checked by a sharp discharge of artillery
-from the admiral's galley, which mowed down about thirty of them, as they
-defiled over the bridge near the sea. Seeing the English posted on the
-height with several pieces of artillery, the Scots halted in a fallow
-field, having in their front a deep ditch. The English, however, reckless
-of this obstacle, dashed on and, with Lord Grey at their head, made
-their way up to them. Standing in an almost impenetrable mass, the Scots
-kept crying, "Come here, loons! come here, tykes! come here, heretics!"
-and the like, and the English charging upon them, seemed for a moment
-to have disconcerted them, but soon were fain to turn and retreat. The
-flight became general, and the Scots rushing on expected to reap an easy
-victory. Lord Grey himself was severely wounded in the mouth, and the
-Scottish soldiers pressing on seized the Royal standard, when a desperate
-struggle ensued and, the staff of the standard being broken, part of it
-remained in the hands of the enemy, but the standard itself was rescued.
-
-The fight now became general and fierce, and there was a hand-to-hand
-contest in which many fell on both sides; but the English commanders were
-men proved in many a great battle, and exerted themselves to restore
-order amongst their troops. Warwick was seen everywhere encouraging,
-ordering, and ranking his men afresh; while the artillery from the
-height, directed over the heads of their own regiments, mowed down the
-assailing Scots. The ardour of the soldiers restored, advantage was taken
-of the position of a large body of the enemy who in their impetuosity had
-rushed forward beyond the support of the main army. They were surrounded
-and attacked on all sides. Confounded by this unexpected occurrence, the
-Scots were thrown into confusion, and began to take to flight. Arran
-himself soon put spurs to his horse; Angus followed, and the Highland
-clans--who had never been engaged--fled _en masse_. The rout was general
-and the slaughter terrible, some making for Leith, some direct for
-Edinburgh, by fields or woods as they could, and others endeavoured to
-cross the marsh and reach Dalkeith.
-
-Now was the time to push the object for which this expedition had been
-undertaken--the securing the young queen for the king. Somerset had
-attained a commanding position. He held the capital, as it were, under
-his hand, and fresh forces brought up, and judiciously employed, must
-have put the country so far into his power as to enable him to treat
-on the most advantageous terms for the accomplishment of this great
-national object; or if he could not obtain it by treaty, he might make
-himself master of her person by arms. But all this demonstration, this
-signal victory, this sanguinary butchery, which must add finally to the
-antipathy of the Scottish people if no real gain followed it, was cast
-aside with a strange recklessness which shewed that though Somerset
-could conquer in the field, he was totally destitute of the qualities
-of a statesman. Instead of making his success the platform of wise
-negotiation, and of a great national union, he converted it into a
-fresh aggravation of the ill-will of the Scots, by depriving it of all
-rational result. Being, it is supposed, apprised of some machinations
-of his brother, the admiral, in his absence, he commenced an instant
-march homeward, like a man that was beaten rather than a victor. On the
-17th of September, only a week from the battle of Pinkie, he took his
-departure southwards. On entering England, he made the best of his way to
-London, the whole term of his absence having been only some six weeks.
-A Parliament was then summoned, and the Protector proceeded to carry
-out the contemplated reform in the Church. Already an ecclesiastical
-commission had been busily engaged in visitation of dioceses. For this
-purpose, the kingdom was divided into six circuits, to each of which was
-appointed a certain number of visitors, partly laymen partly clergymen,
-who, the moment they arrived in a diocese, became the only ecclesiastical
-authority there. They were empowered to call before them the bishop,
-the clergy, and five, six, or eight of the principal inhabitants of
-each parish, and put into their hands a body of royal injunctions,
-seven-and-thirty in number. These injunctions regarded religious
-doctrines and practice, and the visitors required an answer upon oath to
-every question which they chose to put concerning them. The injunctions
-were similar to those which had been framed and used by Cromwell, but the
-present practice of joining the laity with the clergy was an innovation
-of a more sweeping character. The commission promptly imprisoned Bonner
-and Gardiner, the leaders of the Roman Catholic party.
-
-Parliament assembled on the 4th of November, and proceeded to mitigate
-some of the severities of the last reign. It repealed those monstrous
-acts of Henry VIII., which gave to Royal proclamations all the force of
-Acts of Parliament; likewise all the penal statutes against the Lollards,
-and all the new felonies created in the last reign, including the statute
-of the Six Articles. It admitted the laity as well as the clergy to
-receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in both kinds. It determined
-that the old fiction of electing bishops by "congé d'élire" should cease,
-and that all such appointments should proceed directly by nomination of
-the Crown; that all processes in the episcopal courts should be carried
-on in the king's name, and all documents issuing thence should be sealed,
-not with the bishop's seal, but with that of the Crown. The claim of
-spiritual supremacy was placed on the same level as the other rights of
-the Crown, and it was made a capital offence to deny that the king was
-supreme head of the Church; but with this distinction, that what was
-printed of that nature was direct high treason--what was merely spoken
-only became so by repetition. A bill for legalising the marriages of the
-clergy was brought into the Commons, and carried by a large majority;
-but, from some cause, was not carried to the Lords during the present
-session.
-
-Parliament terminated its sitting on the 24th of December, and the
-council, carrying forward its measures for the advancement of the
-Reformation, issued an order prohibiting the burning of candles on
-Candlemas-Day, and the use of ashes on Ash Wednesday, and of palms on
-Palm Sunday. The order against images was repeated, and the clothes
-covering them were directed to be given to the poor. The people, however,
-who delighted in religious ceremonies, processions, and spectacles,
-and thought the sermons very dull, were by no means pleased with these
-innovations. There was to be no elevation of the Host, and the whole
-service was to be in English.
-
-Cranmer employed himself in composing a catechism, which was published
-"for the singular profit and instruction of children and young people;"
-and a committee of bishops and divines sat to compile a new liturgy
-for the use of the English Church. They took the Latin missals and
-breviaries for the groundwork, omitting whatever they deemed superfluous
-or superstitious, and adding fresh matter. Before Christmas they had
-compiled a book of common prayer, differing in various particulars from
-the one now in use, and all ministers were ordered to make use of that
-book, under penalty, on refusal, of forfeiture of a year's income, and
-six months' imprisonment for the first offence; for the second, loss of
-all preferments, with twelve months' imprisonment; and for the third,
-imprisonment for life. Any one taking upon him to preach, except in his
-own house, without licence from the king's visitors, the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, or the bishop of the diocese, was liable to imprisonment.
-Latimer, who had resigned his bishopric in 1539, was now called forward
-again, and appointed to preach at St. Paul's Cross, and also in the
-king's privy garden, where Edward, attended by his court, used to listen
-to his bold and quaint eloquence for an hour together.
-
-Towards the close of 1547, as we have seen, a bill passed the Commons
-authorising the marriage of the clergy, but on the 9th of February, 1548,
-a different bill for the same object was carried in the House of Lords,
-and accepted by the Commons.
-
-While these events had been taking place in England, the war had been
-steadily prosecuted against Scotland, and led to the result which
-might naturally be expected, but which was least expected by the
-Protector--that of the passing of the young queen of Scotland into the
-hands of the French. Very soon after the battle of Pinkie, a council was
-summoned at Stirling, where the queen-dowager proposed that, to put an
-end to those barbarous inroads of the English on pretence of seeking the
-hand of the queen, they should apply to France for its assistance; that
-as a means of engaging it in effectual aid, they should offer the young
-queen in marriage to the Dauphin; and that for her better security she
-should be educated in the French court. There, in August, 1548, she was
-solemnly contracted to the Dauphin, afterwards Francis II.
-
-But during the session of Parliament commencing on the 24th of November,
-a question of most serious import was brought forward concerning the
-Protector's brother. The lord high admiral, Thomas Seymour, had all
-the ambition of his elder brother, the Protector, but from some cause
-he had failed to acquire the same position at court. Henry VIII. had
-not only employed Somerset in great commissions, but had given him such
-marks of his confidence that, on his death, he easily engrossed all
-the power of the State under his son. The admiral did not witness this
-with indifference. The Protector, to satisfy him, got him created Baron
-Seymour of Sudeley, and with this title he received in August, 1548,
-the lordship of Sudeley in Gloucestershire, together with other lands
-and tenements in no less than eighteen counties. He made him, moreover,
-high admiral, a post which had been held by the Earl of Warwick, who
-received instead of it that of lord great chamberlain. These honours
-and estates might have well contented a man of even high ambition, but
-the aspiring of the Seymours brooked no limits. As he did not seem to
-succeed in his desire of rising to a station as lofty as that of his
-brother the Protector, through the Council and political alliance, he
-sought to achieve this by means of marriage. There were several ladies
-on whom he cast his eyes for this purpose. The Princesses Mary and
-Elizabeth were the next in succession, and he did not hesitate to aim at
-securing the hand of one of them, which would have realised his soaring
-wishes, or plunged him down at once to destruction. He seems then to have
-weighed the chances which a union with Lady Jane Grey might give him;
-but, as if not satisfied with the prospect, he suddenly determined on
-the queen-dowager. He had, indeed, paid his addresses to Catherine Parr
-before her marriage with Henry VIII., and Catherine was so much attached
-to him that she at first listened with obvious reluctance to Henry's
-proposal. No sooner was Henry dead than Seymour seems to have renewed
-his addresses to Catherine, and, with all her piety and prudence, the
-queen-dowager seems to have listened to him as promptly and readily.
-Though Henry only died at the end of January, 1547, in a single month,
-according to Leti, she had consented to a private contract of marriage,
-and she and Seymour had exchanged rings of betrothal. According to King
-Edward's journal, their marriage took place in May, but the courtship
-had been going on long before, and was only revealed to him when it
-was become dangerous to conceal it any longer, and they were privately
-married long before that. The marriage was publicly announced in June--a
-rapidity for such a transaction as strange as it was indecorous.
-Catherine Parr gave birth to a daughter on the 30th of August, 1548, and
-on the 7th of September, only eight days after, she died of puerperal
-fever. Rumours that her husband had poisoned her to enable him to aspire
-to the hand of the Princess Elizabeth, were spread by his enemies, but
-there does not appear the slightest foundation for the horrible charge.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-The lord admiral, who had found it difficult to keep out of danger
-during the life of his wife, partly through his own rash ambition, and
-partly through the malice of his near relatives, soon fell into it
-after her death. In July of 1548, he had been called before the Council
-on the charge of having endeavoured to prevail on the king to write a
-letter, complaining of the arbitrary conduct of the Protector and of the
-restraint in which he was kept by him. Seymour was seeking, in fact, to
-supersede the Protector, and was threatened with imprisonment in the
-Tower; but the matter for that time was made up, and the Protector added
-£800 per annum to his income, by way of conciliating him.
-
-But with Catherine departed his good genius. He gave a free play to his
-ambitious desires, and renewed his endeavours to compass a clandestine
-marriage with the Princess Elizabeth, as he had done with Catherine.
-Finding, however, that such a marriage would annul the claims of
-Elizabeth to the throne, he next devised means to extort from the Council
-a consent, which he was well aware it would never yield voluntarily.
-For this purpose he is said to have courted the friendship of the
-discontented section of the nobility, and made such a display of his
-wealth and retainers as was calculated to alarm the Protector and his
-party. The Protector now resolved to get rid of so dangerous an enemy,
-though he was his own brother. Sharrington, master of the mint at
-Bristol being accused of gross peculation by clipping the coin, issuing
-testoons, or shilling pieces, of a false value, and making fraudulent
-entries in his books, was boldly defended by the admiral, who owed him
-£3,000. But Sharrington, to save his life, ungratefully betrayed that of
-his advocate. He confessed that he had promised to coin money for the
-admiral, who could reckon on the services of 10,000 men, with whose aid
-he meant to carry off the king and change the government. This charge,
-made, no doubt, solely to save his own life, was enough for Somerset.
-Seymour was arrested on the 16th of January, 1549, on a charge of high
-treason, and committed to the Tower.
-
-There was no lack of charges against him, true or false. It was stated
-that he had resolved to seize the king's person, and carry him to his
-castle of Holt, in Denbighshire, which had come to him in one of the
-royal grants; that he had confederated for this purpose with various
-noblemen and others, and had laid in large stores of provisions and a
-mass of money at that castle. He was also charged with having abused his
-authority as lord admiral, and encouraged piracy and smuggling, and with
-having circulated reports against the Lord Protector and Council too vile
-to be repeated. But the most remarkable were the charges against him of
-endeavouring, both before and after his marriage with the queen-dowager,
-to compass a marriage with the king's sister, the Lady Elizabeth, second
-inheritor to the Crown, to the peril of the king's person and danger
-to the throne. A Bill of Attainder was brought in against him; he was
-condemned without a hearing and executed on the 27th of March.
-
-The Protector no sooner had put his brother out of his path into a bloody
-grave, than he was called upon to contend with a whole host of enemies.
-A variety of causes had reduced the common people to a condition of
-deep distress and discontent. The depreciation of the coinage by Henry
-VIII. had produced its certain consequence--the proportionate advance
-of the price of all purchasable articles. But with the rise in price of
-food and clothing, there had been no rise in the price of labour. The
-dissolution of the monasteries had thrown a vast number of people on the
-public without any resource. Besides the large number of monks and nuns
-who, instead of affording alms, were now obliged to seek a subsistence of
-some kind, the hundreds of thousands who had received daily assistance
-at the doors of convents and monasteries were obliged to beg, work, or
-starve. But the new proprietors who had obtained the abbey and chantry
-lands, found wool so much in demand, that instead of cultivating the
-land, and thus at once employing the people and growing corn for them,
-they threw their fields out of tillage, and made great enclosures where
-their profitable flocks could range without even the superintendence of
-a shepherd.
-
-The people thus driven to starvation were still more exasperated by
-the change in the religion of the country, by the destruction of their
-images, and the desecration of the shrines of their saints. Their
-whole public life had been changed by the change of their religion.
-Their oldest and most sacred associations were broken. Their pageants,
-their processions, their pilgrimages were all rudely swept away as
-superstitious rubbish; their gay holidays had become a gloomy blank. What
-their fathers and their pastors had taught them as peculiarly holy and
-essential to their spiritual well-being, their rulers had now pronounced
-to be damnable doctrines and the delusions of priest-craft; and whilst
-smarting under this abrupt privation of their bodily and spiritual
-support, they beheld the new lords of the ancient church lands greedily
-cutting off not only the old streams of benevolence, but the means of
-livelihood by labour, and showing not the slightest regard for their
-sufferings. The priests, the monks, the remaining heads of the Papist
-party did not fail to point assiduously at all these things, and to fan
-the fires of the popular discontent.
-
-The timidity of the Protector forced the ferment to a climax by the
-very means which he resorted to in order to mitigate it. He ordered
-all the new enclosures to be thrown open by a certain day. The people
-rejoiced at this, believing that now they had the Government on their
-side. But they waited in vain to see the Protector's order obeyed. The
-Royal proclamation fully bore out the complaints of the populace. It
-declared that many villages, in which from one hundred to two hundred
-people had lived, were entirely destroyed; that one shepherd now dwelt
-where numerous industrious families dwelt before; and that the realm
-was injured by turning arable land into pasture, and letting houses and
-families decay and lie waste. Hales, the commissioner, stated that the
-laws which forbade any one to keep more than 2,000 sheep, and which
-commanded the owners of church lands to keep household on the same,
-were disobeyed, the result being that numbers of the king's subjects
-had diminished. But though the Government admitted all this, it took no
-measures to make its proclamation effective; the landowners disregarded
-it, and the people, believing that they were only seconding the law,
-assembled in great numbers, chose their captains or leaders, broke down
-the enclosures, killed the deer in the parks, and began to spoil and
-waste, according to Holinshed, after the manner of an open rebellion.
-The day approached when the use of the old liturgy was to cease, and
-instead of the music, the spectacle, and all the imposing ceremonies of
-high Mass, they would be called on to listen to a plain sermon. Goaded to
-desperation by these grievances, the people rose in almost every part of
-the country.
-
-In Wiltshire, Sir William Herbert raised a body of troops and dispersed
-the insurgents, killing some, and executing others according to martial
-law. The same was done in other quarters by the resident gentry. The
-Protector, alarmed, sent out commissioners to hear and decide all causes
-about enclosures, highways, and cottages. These commissioners were armed
-with great powers, the exercise of which produced as much dissatisfaction
-amongst the nobility and gentry as the enclosures had done amongst the
-people. The spirit of remonstrance entered into the very Council, and
-the Protector was checked in his proceedings; whereupon the people, not
-finding the redress they expected, again rose in rebellion.
-
-In Devonshire the religious phase of the movement appeared first, and
-rapidly assumed a very formidable air. The new liturgy was read for the
-first time in the church of Sampford Courtenay, on Whit Sunday, and
-the next day the people compelled the clergyman to perform the ancient
-service. Having once resisted the law, the insurgents rapidly spread.
-Humphrey Arundel, the governor of St. Michael's Mount, took the lead,
-and a few days brought ten thousand men to his standard. As the other
-risings had been easily dispersed, the Government were rather dilatory in
-dealing with this; but finding that it steadily increased, Lord Russell
-was despatched with a small force against the malcontents, accompanied by
-three preachers, Gregory, Reynolds, and Coverdale, who were licensed to
-preach in such public places as Lord Russell should appoint.
-
-The rebels had sat down before Exeter when Russell came up with them;
-but conscious of the great inferiority of his force, and expecting no
-miracles from the eloquence of his preachers, he adopted the plan of the
-Duke of Norfolk in the late reign, and offered to negotiate. Upon this,
-Arundel and his adherents drew up and presented fifteen articles, which
-went, indeed, to restore everything of the old faith and ritual that
-had been taken away. The Statute of the Six Articles was to be put in
-force, the Mass to be in Latin, the Sacrament to be again hung up and
-worshipped, all such as refused it homage were to be treated as heretics,
-souls in purgatory should be prayed for, images again be set up, the
-Bible be called in, and Cardinal Pole was to be of the king's Council.
-Half of the Church lands were to be restored to two of the chief abbeys
-in each county; in a word, Popery was to be restored and Protestantism
-abolished.
-
-All this time Lord Russell lay at Honiton, not venturing to attack, the
-Government sending him instead of troops only proclamations, by one of
-which a free pardon was offered to all who would submit; by another, the
-lands, goods, and chattels of the insurgents were given to any who chose
-to take them; by a third, punishment of death by martial law was ordered
-for all taken in arms; and by a fourth, the commissioners were commanded
-to break down all illegal enclosures. None of these produced the least
-effect. Lord Russell had sent Sir Peter Carew to urge the Protector and
-Council to expedite reinforcements; but the Protector and Rich charged
-Sir Peter with having been the original cause of the outbreak. The
-bold baronet resented this imputation so stoutly, and charged home the
-Protector in a style so unaccustomed in courts, with his own neglect,
-that men and money were promised. Nothing, however, but the proclamations
-just mentioned arrived, and at length the rebels despatched a force
-to dislodge Russell from his position at Honiton. To prevent this, he
-advanced to Feniton Bridge, where he encountered the rebel detachment and
-defeated it. Soon after Lord Grey arrived with 300 German and Italian
-infantry, with which assistance he marched on Exeter, and again defeated
-the rebels. They rallied on Clifton Downs, and Lord Grey coming suddenly
-upon them and fearing they might overpower him, he ordered his men to
-despatch all the prisoners they had in their hands, and a sanguinary
-slaughter took place. A third and last encounter at Bridgewater completed
-the reduction of the Rising of the West.
-
-But the most formidable demonstration was made by the rebels in Norfolk.
-It commenced at Aldborough, and appeared at first too insignificant for
-notice. But the rumours of what had been done in Kent, where the new
-enclosures had been broken down, gradually infected the people far and
-wide. They did not trouble themselves about the religious questions,
-but they expressed a particular rancour against gentlemen, for their
-insatiable avarice and their grasping at all land, their extortionate
-rents, and oppressions of the people. They declared that it was high time
-that not only the enclosure mania should be put a stop to, but abundance
-of other evils should be reformed.
-
-On the 6th of July, at Wymondham, a few miles from Norwich, on occasion
-of a play which was annually performed there, the people, stimulated by
-what was being done elsewhere, began to throw down the dykes, as they
-were called, or fences round enclosures, and they found a leader in one
-Robert Ket, a tanner. Under an oak tree, called the Tree of Reformation,
-which stood on Mousehold Hill, near Norwich, Ket erected his throne, and
-established courts of chancery, king's bench, and common pleas, as in
-Westminster Hall; and, with a liberality which shamed the Government of
-that and of most succeeding times, he allowed not only the orators of his
-own but of the opposite party to harangue them from this tree. Ket, it is
-clear, was a man far beyond his times, sincerely seeking the reform of
-abuses, and not destruction of the constituted authority. The tree was
-used as a rostrum, and all who had anything to say climbed into it. Into
-the tree mounted frequently Master Aldrich, the mayor of Norwich, and
-others, who used all possible persuasions to the insurgents to desist
-from spoliation and disorderly courses. Clergymen of both persuasions
-preached to them from the oak, and Matthew Parker, afterwards Archbishop
-of Canterbury, one day ascended it, and addressed them in the plainest
-possible terms on the unwisdom of their attempt, and the ruin it was
-certain to bring upon them.
-
-[Illustration: THE ROYAL HERALD IN KET'S CAMP. (_See p._ 212.)]
-
-At length on the 31st of July, a Royal herald appeared in the camp, "and,
-standing before the Tree of Reformation, apparelled in his coat-of-arms,
-pronounced there, before all the multitude, with loud voice, a free
-pardon to all that would depart to their houses and, laying aside their
-armour, give over their traitorous enterprise." Some of the insurgents,
-who were already weary of the affair, and only wanted a good excuse for
-drawing off safely, took the offered pardon and disappeared; but Ket and
-the chief part of the people held their ground, saying they wanted no
-pardon, for they had done nothing but what was incumbent on true subjects.
-
-Expecting that now some attack would soon be made upon them, they marched
-into Norwich to seize on all the artillery and ammunition they could, and
-carry it to their camp. The herald made another proclamation to them in
-the market-place, repeating the offer of pardon, but threatening death
-to all who did not immediately accept it. They bade him begone, for
-they wanted no such manner of mercy. From that day the number of Ket's
-followers grew again rapidly, for he seemed above the Government; and
-the herald returning to town, dissipated at Court any hope of the rebels
-dispersing of themselves. A troop of 1,500 horse, under the Marquis of
-Northampton, accompanied by a small force of mounted Italians, under
-Malatesta, were, therefore, sent down to Norwich, of which they took
-possession. But the next day Ket and his host descended from their hill,
-found their way into the city, engaged, defeated, and drove out the
-king's troops, killing Lord Sheffield and many gentlemen, and, their
-blood being up, set fire to the town, and plundered it as it burnt.
-
-Northampton retreated ignominiously to town, where the Protector now saw
-that the affair was of a character that demanded vigorous suppression.
-An army of 8,000 men, 2,000 of whom were Germans, under the Earl of
-Warwick, about to proceed against Scotland, was directed to march to
-Norwich and disperse the rebels. Warwick arriving, made an entrance,
-after some resistance, into the city. But there he was assailed on every
-side with such impetuosity, that he found it all that he could do to
-defend himself, being deficient in ammunition. On the 26th of August,
-however, arrived a reinforcement of 1,400 lansquenets, with store of
-powder and ball, and the next day he marched out, and the enemy having
-imprudently left their strong position on the hill, he attacked them in
-the valley of Dussingdale, and at the first charge broke their ranks.
-They fled, their leader, Ket, galloping off before them. They were
-pursued for three or four miles, and the troopers cut them down all the
-way with such ruthless vengeance, that 3,500 of them were said to have
-perished. The rest, however, managed to surround themselves by a line of
-waggons, and, hastily forming a rampart of a trench and a bank fortified
-with stakes, resolved to stand their ground. Warwick, perceiving the
-strength of the place, and apprehensive of a great slaughter of his men,
-offered them a pardon; but they replied that they did not trust to the
-offer; they knew the fate that awaited them, and they preferred to die
-with arms in their hands rather than on the gallows. Warwick renewed his
-offer, and went himself to assure them of his sincerity, on which they
-laid down their arms, or retired with them in their hands. Ket alone was
-hanged on the walls of Norwich Castle, his brother on the steeple of
-Wymondham Church, and nine of the ringleaders on the Oak of Reformation.
-
-[Illustration: OLD SOMERSET HOUSE, LONDON.]
-
-Circumstances were now fast environing the Protector with danger. The
-feebleness of his government, his total want of success, both in Scotland
-and France, with which country he had become involved in an undeclared
-war, emboldened his enemies, who had become numerous and determined from
-the arrogance of his manners and his endeavours to check the enclosures
-of the aristocracy. Henry VIII. had never drawn any signal advantages
-from his hostile expeditions; but the forces which he collected and
-the determined character of the man impressed his foreign foes with a
-dread of him. It was evident that the neighbouring nations had learned
-Somerset's weakness, and therefore despised him. He had driven the Queen
-of Scots into the hands of the French, and they had driven him out of
-the country. He was on the very verge of losing Boulogne, which Henry
-had prided himself so much on conquering. At home the whole country had
-been thrown into a state of anarchy and insubordination by the reforms in
-religion, of which he was the avowed patron, and in the meantime he had
-allowed another to reap the honour of restoring order.
-
-It was intended that the Protector himself should have proceeded against
-the rebels; but probably he thought that the man who had encouraged them
-to pull down the enclosures would appear with a very bad grace to punish
-them for doing it. Dudley, Earl of Warwick, was, therefore, selected
-for this office--a man quite as ambitious, quite as unprincipled, and
-far more daring than Somerset. He returned from Norfolk like a victor,
-and his reputation rose remarkably from that moment. He was looked up
-to as the able and successful man, and his ambitious views were warmly
-seconded by the wily old ex-Chancellor, Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton,
-who hated Somerset for having dismissed him from office, and for having
-banished him from the Council. He now took up Warwick as a promising
-instrument for his revenge. He flattered him with the idea that he was
-the only man to restore the credit and peace of the nation.
-
-Nor was it Warwick only whom Southampton stimulated to enmity against
-Somerset. He had arguments adapted to all; and where he found any
-seemingly resolved to stand by the Protector, he would significantly ask
-what friendship they hoped from a man who had murdered his own brother.
-Little art was needed to influence the old nobility against Somerset,
-and his hostility to the enclosures had raised up a host of enemies
-amongst the new, who should have been his natural friends. The people
-he had lost favour with, from his total want of success against the
-enemies of the country, and if there were any whom all these causes had
-not alienated, these were disgusted with his insolence and rapacity.
-He had bargained for large slices from the manors of bishoprics and
-cathedrals as the price of promotion to the clergy. He had obtained from
-the puppet king in his hands, grants of extensive Church lands for his
-services in Scotland, services which now were worse than null; and in
-the patent which invested him with these lands, drawn up under his own
-eye, he had himself styled "Duke of Somerset, _by the grace of God_,"
-as if he were a king. He was accused of having sold many of the chantry
-lands to his friends at nominal prices, because he obtained a heavy
-premium upon the transaction; but what more than all shocked the public
-sense of religious decorum was that he had erected for himself a splendid
-palace in the Strand, where the one called from him Somerset House now
-stands, and had spared no outrage upon public rights and decencies in
-its erection. Not only private houses, but public buildings, and those
-of the most sacred character, had been displaced to make room for his
-proud mansion. To clear the ground for its site and to procure materials
-for its building, he pulled down three episcopal houses and two churches
-on the spot, St. Mary's and a church of St. John of Jerusalem, also a
-chapel, a cloister, and a charnel-house in St. Paul's Churchyard, and
-he carted away the remains of the dead by whole loads, and threw them
-into a pit in Bloomsbury. When he attempted to pull down St. Margaret's
-Church in Westminster, for the stones, the parishioners rose in tumult
-and drove his men away. Whatever profession of Reformed religion he might
-make, such proceedings as these stamped it as a pretence, hollow and even
-impious, in the minds of the public.
-
-The feeling (which originated out of doors) had now made its way into
-the heart of the Council. Somerset's friends were silenced. His enemies
-spoke out boldly. During September there were great contentions in the
-Council; and by the beginning of October the two parties were ranged in
-hostile attitudes under their chiefs. Warwick and his followers met at
-Ely Place; the Protector was at Hampton Court, where he had the king.
-On the 5th of October, Somerset, in the king's name, sent the Secretary
-of the Council to know why the lords were assembling themselves in that
-manner, and commanding them, if they had anything to lay before him, to
-come before him peaceably and loyally. When this message was despatched,
-Somerset, fearful of the spirit in which this summons might be complied
-with, ordered the armour to be brought down out of the armoury at
-Hampton Court, sufficient for 500 men, to arm his followers, and had the
-doors barricaded, and people fetched in for the defence. But, instead
-of coming, Warwick and his party ordered the Lieutenant of the Tower,
-and the Lord Mayor and aldermen, to be summoned, who duly attended and
-proffered their obedience. They then despatched letters to the nobility
-and gentry in different parts of the kingdom, informing them of their
-doings and the motives for them. Alarmed at the aspect of affairs,
-Somerset conveyed the king to Windsor, under escort of 500 men; Cranmer
-and Sir William Paget alone, of all the Council, accompanying them.
-Finding himself rapidly deserted by his friends, Somerset judiciously
-submitted and signed a confession of his guilt, his presumption, and
-incapacity. Having signed this, he was promised his life, on condition
-that he should forfeit all his appointments, his goods and chattels,
-and so much of his estates as amounted to £2,000 a year. A bill to this
-effect passed both Houses of Parliament in January, 1550. Somerset
-remonstrated against the extent of this forfeiture, but the Council
-replied to him with so much sternness that the abject-spirited man shrank
-in terror, and on the 2nd of February signed a still more ignominious
-submission, disclaiming all idea of justifying himself, and expressing
-his gratitude to the king and Council for sparing his life and being
-content with a fine. On the 6th of February he was discharged from the
-Tower, and ten days after received a formal pardon. His officers and
-servants, who had been imprisoned, also recovered their liberty, but were
-heavily fined.
-
-Warwick had humbled Somerset, but he could not prevent the country from
-being humbled with him. His party had blamed the Protector for proposing
-to surrender Boulogne, but they were now compelled, by the exhausted and
-disordered state of the nation, to accept even more disgraceful terms.
-During the winter the French had cut off all communication between
-Boulogne and Calais, and the Earl of Huntingdon found himself unable to
-re-open it, though he led against the enemy all his bands of mercenaries
-and 3,000 English veterans. His treasury and his storehouses were empty,
-and the French calculated confidently on taking the place at spring.
-Unable to send the necessary aid, a fresh proposal was made to the
-Emperor to occupy it, and this not tempting him, the Council next offered
-to cede it to him in full sovereignty, on condition that it should never
-be surrendered to France. Charles declined, and as a last resource a
-Florentine merchant, Antonio Guidotti, was employed to make the French
-aware that England was not averse from a peace. The French embraced the
-offer, but under such circumstances they were not likely to be very
-modest in their terms of accommodation.
-
-The conference between the ambassadors was opened on the 21st of
-January, and the English proposed that, as an equivalent for the
-surrender of Boulogne, Mary of Scotland should be contracted to Edward.
-To this the French bluntly replied that that was impossible, as Henry had
-already agreed to marry her to the Dauphin. The next proposition was that
-the arrears of money due from the Crown of France should be paid up, and
-the payment of the fixed pension continued. To this the ambassadors of
-Henry replied, in a very different tone to that which English monarchs
-had been accustomed to hear from those of France, that their king would
-never condescend to pay tribute to any foreign Crown; that Henry VIII.
-had been enabled by the necessities of France to extort a pension
-from Francis; and that they would now avail themselves of the present
-difficulties of England to compel Edward to renounce it. The English
-envoys appeared, on this bold declaration, highly indignant, and as if
-they would break off the conference; but every day they receded more and
-more from their pretensions, and they ended by subscribing, on the 24th
-of March, to all the demands of their opponents.
-
-These conditions were that there should be peace and union between the
-two countries, not merely for the lives of the present monarchs, but
-to the end of time; that Boulogne should be surrendered to the King of
-France with all its stores and ordnance; and that, in return for the
-money expended on the fortifications, they should pay to Edward 200,000
-crowns on the delivery of the place, and 200,000 more in five months. But
-the English were previously to surrender Douglas and Lauder to the Queen
-of Scots, or, if they were already in the hands of the Scots, to raze
-the fortresses of Eyemouth and Roxburgh to the ground. Scotland was to
-be comprehended in the treaty if the queen desired it, and Edward bound
-himself not to make war on Scotland unless some new provocation were
-given.
-
-So disgraceful was this treaty, such a surrender was it of the nation's
-dignity, that the people regarded it as an eternal opprobrium to the
-country; and from that hour the boastful claims of England on the French
-Crown were no more heard of, except in the ridiculous retention of the
-title of King of France by our sovereigns.
-
-Freed from the embarrassments of foreign politics, the Council now
-proceeded with the work of Church reform; and during 1550 and part of
-1551 was busily engaged checking on the one hand the opposition of the
-Romanist clergy, and on the other the latitudinarian tendencies of the
-Protestants. Bonner and Gardiner were the most considerable of the
-uncomplying prelates, and they were first brought under notice. Bonner
-had been called before the Council in August of 1549, for not complying
-with the requisitions of the Court in matters of religion; and in
-April, 1550, he was deprived of his see of London, and remanded to the
-Marshalsea, where he remained till the king's death. Ridley was appointed
-to the bishopric of London. Gardiner and Heath, Bishop of Worcester, were
-also imprisoned.
-
-From the bishops, the reforming Council proceeded to higher game. The
-Princess Mary, the king's eldest sister, from the first had expressed
-her firm resolution of not adopting the new faith or ritual. She had,
-moreover, declared to Somerset, that during Edward's minority things
-ought to remain as the king her father had left them. Somerset replied
-that, on the contrary, he was only carrying out the plans which Henry
-had already settled in his own mind, but had not had time to complete.
-On the introduction of the new liturgy, she received in June, 1549, an
-intimation that she must conform to the provisions of the statute. Mary
-replied with spirit, that her conscience would not permit her to lay
-aside the practice of the religion that she believed in, and reminded
-the lords of the Council that they were bound by their oaths to maintain
-the Church as left by her father; adding, that they could not, with
-any decency, refuse liberty of worship to the daughter of the king who
-had raised them to what they were. The appeal to the liberality, the
-consciences, or the gratitude of these statesmen producing no effect,
-she next applied to a more influential person, the Emperor, Charles V.,
-her great relative. He intervened on her behalf with such vigour that
-war between England and Germany seemed at one time inevitable, and the
-Council gave way. The persecutions were shortly afterwards renewed, but
-Mary remained firm, and finally was completely victorious.
-
-The ungenerous conduct of the Warwick party towards Mary, and the
-disgraceful conditions of the peace with France, naturally caused a
-considerable revival of Somerset's influence at Court, and the remainder
-of the summer was spent by him in intriguing for the increase of his
-favour. He surrounded himself with a strong body of armed men; there
-were secret debates among his friends on the possibility of raising
-the City in his behalf, and he did not hesitate to drop hints that
-assassination only could free him from his implacable enemies. But
-whilst the irresolute Somerset plotted, Warwick acted. He secured for
-himself the appointment of warden of the Scottish marches, thus cutting
-off the danger which had lately appeared of Somerset's retreat thither.
-Armed with the preponderating influence which that office conferred in
-the northern districts, on the 27th of September or the 17th of October
-he was announced as Duke of Northumberland, a title venerated by the
-Border people, and which had been extinct since the attainder of Earl
-Percy in 1527. In this formidable position of power and dignity he was
-strengthened by his friends and partisans being at the same time elevated
-in the peerage. The Marquis of Dorset was created Duke of Suffolk, the
-Earl of Wiltshire, Marquis of Winchester, and Sir William Herbert, Baron
-of Cardiff and Earl of Pembroke. Cecil, Cheke, Sidney, and Nevil received
-the honour of knighthood.
-
-This movement in favour of Warwick was followed by consequences of still
-more startling character to the Duke of Somerset. His enemies now felt
-safe, and on the 16th of October, 1551, the news flew through London that
-he was arrested on a charge of conspiracy and high treason, and committed
-to the Tower. He had been apprised that depositions of a serious
-character had been made against him by Sir Thomas Palmer, a partisan
-of Warwick's, whereupon he sent for Palmer, and strictly interrogated
-him, but on his positive denial, let him go. Not satisfied, however, he
-wrote to Cecil, telling him that he suspected something was in agitation
-against him. Cecil replied with his characteristic astuteness, that if
-he were innocent he could have nothing to fear; if he were guilty, he
-could only lament his misfortune. Piqued at this reply, he sent a letter
-of defiance, but took no means for the security of his person. Palmer,
-notwithstanding his denial, had, however, it seems, really lodged this
-charge against him on the 7th of the month with Warwick:--That in a
-conference with Somerset in April last, in his garden, the duke assured
-him that at the time that the solemn declaration of Sir William Herbert
-had prevented him from going northward, he had sent Lord Grey to raise
-their friends there; that after that he had formed the design of inviting
-Warwick, Northampton, and the chiefs of that party, and of assassinating
-them, either there, or on their return home; that at this very moment he
-was planning to raise an insurrection in London, to destroy his enemy,
-and to seize the direction of Government; that Sir Miles Partridge was
-to call out the apprentices of the City, kill the City guard, and get
-possession of the Great Seal; and that Sir Thomas Arundel had secured
-the Tower, and Sir Ralph Vane had a force of 2,000 men ready to support
-them.
-
-[Illustration: THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. (_After the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-Probably this was a mixture of some truth with a much larger portion of
-convenient falsehood. The duke was accordingly arrested, and the next
-day the duchess, with her favourites, Mr. and Mrs. Crane, Sir Miles
-Partridge, Sir Thomas Arundel, Sir Thomas Holcroft, Sir Michael Stanhope,
-and others of the duke's friends, were also arrested, and committed
-to the Tower. The king was already brought up from Hampton Court to
-Westminster for greater security and convenience during the trials of the
-conspirators. A message was sent in the king's name to the Lord Mayor and
-Corporation, informing them that the conspirators had agreed to seize the
-Tower, kill the guards of the City, seize the Great Seal, set fire to the
-town, and depart for the Isle of Wight; and they were, therefore, ordered
-to keep the gates well, and maintain a strong patrol in the streets.
-
-The trial of the duke, such as it was, took place on the 1st of December,
-in Westminster Hall. Twenty-seven peers were summoned to sit as his
-judges, the Marquis of Winchester being appointed Lord High Steward,
-to preside. On that morning Somerset was brought from the Tower, with
-the axe borne before him; whilst a great number of men carrying bills,
-glaives, halberds, and poll-axes, guarded him. A new platform was raised
-in the hall, on which the lords, his judges, sat; and above them was the
-Lord High Steward, on a raised seat ascended by three steps, and over
-it a canopy of State. The judges consisted almost wholly of the duke's
-enemies, and conspicuous amongst them were Northumberland, Northampton,
-and Pembroke. The witnesses against him were not produced, but merely
-their depositions read. Somerset denied the whole of the charges
-respecting his intention to raise the City of London, declaring that the
-idea of killing the City guard was worthy only of a madman. As to the
-accusation of proposing to assassinate the Duke of Northumberland and
-others, he admitted that he had thought of it, and even talked of it, but
-on mature consideration had abandoned it for ever.
-
-On this confession the judges declared him guilty of felony without
-benefit of clergy. They were desirous to adjudge it treason, but this
-Northumberland himself overruled. When this sentence was pronounced,
-Somerset fell on his knees, and thanked the lords for the fair trial they
-had given him, and implored pardon from Northumberland, Northampton, and
-Pembroke, for his design against their lives, entreating them to pray
-the king's mercy to him and his grace towards his wife, his children,
-and his servants. On the sentence being pronounced only felony, the
-axe of the Tower was withdrawn; and the people, seeing him returning
-without that fatal instrument, imagined that he was acquitted, and
-gave such shouts, that they were heard from Charing Cross to the hall.
-According to Holinshed, the Duke of Somerset landed from the river "at
-the crane of the Vine-tree, and so passed through London, where were both
-acclamations--the one cried for joy that he was acquitted, the other
-cried that he was condemned."
-
-Six weeks after his sentence, the warrant for his execution was signed.
-The chronicler quaintly remarks that "Christmas being thus passed and
-spent with much mirth and pastime, it was thought now good to proceed to
-the execution of the judgment against the Duke of Somerset." The day of
-execution was the 22nd of January, 1552. To prevent the vast concourse
-which, from the popularity of his character among the common people, from
-his opposition to enclosures during his Protectorship, was sure to take
-place, the Council had issued a precept to the Lord Mayor, commanding him
-to take all necessary measures for restraining the rush towards Tower
-Hill. The constables in every ward had, therefore, strictly charged
-every one not to leave their houses before ten o'clock that morning.
-But, by the very dawn, Tower Hill was one mass of heads, assembled more
-in expectation of the duke's reprieve than of his execution. At eight
-o'clock he was delivered to the sheriffs of London, who led him out to
-the scaffold on Tower Hill. He died calmly and nobly.
-
-Parliament met the day after the execution of Somerset; and as it had
-been originally summoned by him, it appeared to act as inspired with a
-spirit which resented his treatment and his death; and this spirit tended
-greatly during this session to revive that ancient independence which
-Henry VIII. had so completely quelled during his life. Most deserving
-of notice was the enactment which ordered the churchwardens in every
-parish to collect contributions for the support of the poor. This, though
-it appeared at first sight a voluntary contribution under the sanction
-of Government, was in reality a compulsory one, for the bishop of the
-diocese had authority to proceed against such as refused to subscribe.
-From this germ grew the English poor-law, with all its machinery and
-consequences.
-
-The Crown attempted to re-enact some of the most arbitrary and oppressive
-laws of Henry VIII., though they had been repealed in the first
-Parliament of this reign. A bill was sent to the Lords, making it treason
-to call the king, or any of his heirs, a heretic, schismatic, tyrant, or
-usurper. The Lords passed it without hesitation, for it most probably
-proceeded from Warwick, and the Lords were strongly devoted to him; but
-the Commons drew the same line which had been drawn regarding the deniers
-of the supremacy. They would admit the offence to be treason only when
-it was done by "writing, printing, carving, or graving," which indicated
-deliberate purpose; but what was spoken, as it might result from
-indiscretion or sudden passion, they decreed to be only a minor offence,
-punishable by fine or forfeiture, and only rendered treasonable by a
-third repetition. The Commons also added a most invaluable clause, the
-necessity of which had been constantly pressing on the public attention,
-and had just been strikingly demonstrated by the trial of Somerset.
-It was now enacted that no person should be arraigned, indicted,
-convicted, or attainted of any manner of treason unless on the oath of
-two lawful accusers, who should be brought before him at the time of his
-arraignment, and there should openly maintain their charges against him.
-
-But in prosecuting the reforms of the Church, the Parliament proceeded
-with a far more arbitrary spirit. The Common Prayer Book underwent much
-revision, and an Act was passed by which the bishops were empowered to
-compel attendance on the amended form of service by spiritual censures,
-and the magistrates to punish corporally all who used any other. Any one
-daring to attend any other form of worship was liable to six months'
-imprisonment for the first offence, twelve months for the second, and
-confinement for life for the third. So little did our Church reformers
-of that day understand of the rights of conscience. In the same spirit
-Cranmer proceeded to frame a collection of the articles of religion, and
-a code of ecclesiastical constitutions.
-
-Parliament, proving too independent, was dissolved, and in preparing for
-a new Parliament, Northumberland took such measures as showed that his
-own power and aggrandisement were the first things in his thoughts, the
-Constitution of the kingdom the last. Letters were sent in the king's
-name to all the sheriffs, directing them, in the most straightforward
-manner, to abuse their powers in order to return a Parliament completely
-subservient to the Government.
-
-[Illustration: SILVER CROWN OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-The only object which the Duke of Northumberland had in view in calling
-the new Parliament together was to procure liberal supplies. The
-appropriation of the monastic and chartered lands had left the Crown
-nearly as poor as it had found it. Such portions of these lands as
-still remained in its possession were totally inadequate to meet the
-annual demands of the Government. Northumberland, therefore, asked for
-two-tenths and two-fifteenths; but even with his care to pack the Commons
-he found it no easy task to obtain supplies, and the friends of Somerset
-again assembled in considerable force in the House, resenting in strong
-terms the pretence thrown out in the preamble to the bill that it was
-owing to the extravagance and improvidence of the late Duke of Somerset,
-to his involving the country in needless wars, debasing the coin, and
-occasioning a terrible rebellion.
-
-But the king's health was fast failing, and it was high time for
-Northumberland to make sure his position and fortune. The constitution
-of Edward had long betrayed symptoms of frailty. In the early spring of
-the past year he was successively attacked by measles and small-pox.
-In the autumn, through incautious exposure to cold, he was attacked by
-inflammation of the lungs, and so enfeebled was he become by the meeting
-of Parliament on the 1st of March, 1553, that he was obliged to receive
-the two Houses at his palace of Whitehall. He was greatly exhausted by
-the exertion, being evidently far gone in a consumption, and harassed
-with a troublesome cough.
-
-Northumberland, from the day on which he rose into the ascendant
-at Court, had shown that he was the true son of the old licensed
-extortioner. He had laboured assiduously not only to surround himself by
-interested adherents, but to add estate to estate. He inherited a large
-property, the accumulations of oppression and crimes of the blackest
-dye. But during the three years in which he had enjoyed all but kingly
-power, he had been diligently at work creating a kingly demesne. He was
-become the Steward of the East Riding of Yorkshire, and likewise of all
-the Royal manors in the five northern counties. He had obtained Tynemouth
-and Alnwick in Northumberland, Barnard Castle in Durham, and immense
-estates in Warwick, Worcester, and Somerset shires. The more he saw the
-king fail, the more anxious he was to place his brother, his sons, his
-relatives, and most devoted partisans in places of honour and profit
-around him at Court. This done, he advanced to bolder measures, to which
-these were only the stepping-stones. Lady Jane Grey was the daughter
-of Frances, Duchess of Suffolk, whose mother was Mary, the sister of
-Henry VIII. Mary first married Louis XII. of France, by whom she had no
-children, and next, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by whom she had two
-daughters. The younger of these married Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, but
-the elder, Frances, whose claim came first, had by the Marquis of Dorset
-(afterwards Duke of Suffolk) three daughters, Jane, Catherine, and Mary.
-
-Northumberland, casting his eye over the descendants of Henry VIII.,
-saw the only son, King Edward, dying, and the two daughters, Mary
-and Elizabeth, bastardised by Acts of Parliament still unrepealed. A
-daring scheme seized his ambitious mind--a scheme to set aside these
-two princesses, the elder of whom, and immediate heir to the throne,
-was especially dangerous to the permanence of the newly-established
-Protestantism. It was true that Margaret of Scotland, the sister of Henry
-VIII., was older than his sister Mary, and her grand-daughter, Mary Queen
-of Scots, would have taken precedence of the descendants of Mary, but
-she and her issue had been entirely passed over in the will of Henry.
-Leaving out, then, this line, and setting aside the Princesses Mary and
-Elizabeth as legally illegitimate, Lady Jane Grey would become heir to
-the throne. Northumberland resolved, therefore, to secure Lady Jane in
-marriage for his son Lord Guilford Dudley; to obtain Lady Jane's sister,
-Catherine, for Lord Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke, who owed title,
-estates, and everything to the favour of Northumberland; and to marry his
-own daughter Catherine to the eldest son of the Earl of Huntingdon. The
-marriages were celebrated at Durham House, the Duke of Northumberland's
-new residence in the Strand.
-
-[Illustration: SIXPENCE OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-[Illustration: SHILLING OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-Northumberland's next step was to induce the king to bequeath the crown
-to Lady Jane. The dying prince listened with a mind which had long been
-under the influence of the more powerful will of Dudley, and saw nothing
-but the most patriotic objects in his recommendations. He no doubt
-considered it a great kingly duty to decide the succession by will as his
-father had done; and that the whole responsibility might rest on himself,
-and not on Northumberland, who had so much at stake, he was easily
-induced to sketch the form of his devise of the Crown with his own pen.
-In this rough draft he entailed the succession on "the Lady Frances's
-heirs masles," next on "Lady Jane's heirs masles," and then on the heirs
-male of her sisters. This, however, did not accord with the plans of
-Northumberland, for none of the ladies named had any heirs male; and,
-therefore, on the death of Edward, the Crown would have passed over the
-whole family, and would go to the next of kin. A slight alteration was
-accordingly made. The letter "s" at the end of "Jane's" was scored out,
-the words "and her" inserted, and thus the bequest stood "to the Lady
-Jane and her heirs masles." Northumberland then compelled the judges to
-draw out letters patent under the Great Seal confirming the disposition
-of the Crown.
-
-[Illustration: POUND SOVEREIGN OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-[Illustration: TRIPLE SOVEREIGN OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-But Northumberland, not satisfied with the will of the king and the act
-of the Crown lawyer, produced another document, to which he required the
-signatures of the members of the Council and of the legal advisers of the
-Crown, who pledged, to the number of four-and-twenty, their oaths and
-honour to support this arrangement. The legal instrument, being prepared,
-was engrossed on parchment, and was authenticated by the Great Seal.
-Northumberland was preparing to secure his position by force of arms,
-when the poor young king, whose mind had been overtaxed by his advisers,
-died on the 6th of July, 1553.
-
-[Illustration: QUEEN MARY AND THE STATE PRISONERS IN THE TOWER. (_See p._
-223.)]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-THE REIGN OF MARY.
-
-     Proclamation of Lady Jane Grey--Mary's
-     Resistance--Northumberland's Failure--Mary is Proclaimed--The
-     Advice of Charles V.--Execution of Northumberland--Restoration
-     of the Roman Church--Proposed Marriage with Philip of
-     Spain--Consequent Risings throughout England--Wyatt's
-     Rebellion--Execution of Lady Jane Grey--Imprisonment of
-     Elizabeth--Marriage of Philip and Mary--England Accepts the Papal
-     Absolution--Persecuting Statutes Re-enacted--Martyrdom of Rogers,
-     Hooper, and Taylor--Di Castro's Sermon--Sickness of Mary--Trials
-     of Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer--Martyrdom of Ridley and
-     Latimer--Confession and Death of Cranmer--Departure of Philip--The
-     Dudley Conspiracy--Return of Philip--War with France--Battle of
-     St. Quentin--Loss of Calais--Death of Mary.
-
-
-As Mary fled from the emissaries of Northumberland on the 7th of July,
-after learning the death of her brother, she arrived on the ensuing
-evening at Sawston Hall, near Cambridge, the seat of Mr. Huddlestone, a
-zealous Romanist, one of whose kinsmen was a gentleman of Mary's retinue.
-There she passed the night, but was compelled to resume her journey early
-in the morning, the Protestant party in Cambridge having heard of her
-arrival, and being on the march to attack her. She and her followers were
-obliged to make the best of their way thence in different disguises,
-and turning on the Gogmagog Hills to take a look at the hall, she saw
-it in flames: her night's sojourn had cost her entertainer the home of
-his ancestors. On seeing this, she exclaimed, as quite certain of her
-fortunes, "Well, let it burn, I will build him a better;" and she kept
-her word. She passed through Bury St. Edmunds, and the next night reached
-the seat of Kenninghall, in Norfolk. Thence without delay she despatched
-a messenger to the Privy Council, commanding them to desist from the
-treasonable scheme which she knew that they were attempting, and ordering
-them to proclaim her their rightful sovereign, in which case all that was
-past should be pardoned. The messenger arrived just in time to see the
-rival queen proclaimed on the 10th, and to bring back a reply peculiarly
-insulting for its gross language, asserting her illegitimacy, and calling
-upon her to submit to her sovereign, Queen Jane.
-
-Mary on this occasion displayed the strong spirit of the Tudor. Though
-Northumberland had all the powers of the Government, the military
-strength, the influence of party, and the support of the nobility of the
-nation apparently under his hand, and possessed the reputation of being
-an able and most successful general, and though she had nobody with her
-but Sir Thomas Warton, the steward of her household, Andrew Huddlestone,
-and her ladies; though she had neither troops nor money, Mary did not
-hesitate. Kenninghall was but a defenceless house in an open country;
-she, therefore, rode forward to Framlingham Castle, not far from the
-Suffolk coast, where, in a strong fortress, she could await the result
-of an appeal to her subjects and, were she forced to fly, could easily
-escape across to Holland, and put herself under the protection of her
-Imperial kinsman.
-
-Once within the lofty walls of Framlingham, she commanded the standard
-of England to be cast loose to the winds, and caused herself to be
-proclaimed Queen-regnant of England and Ireland. The effect was soon
-seen. Sir Henry Jerningham and Sir Henry Bedingfeld had joined her with
-a few followers before she quitted Kenninghall, and had served her as
-a guard in her ride of twenty miles to Framlingham. Sir John Sulyard
-now arrived, and was appointed captain of her guard. He was speedily
-followed by the tenants of Sir Henry Bedingfeld, to the number of 140.
-By the influence of Sir Henry Jerningham, Yarmouth declared for her;
-and soon after flocked in, with more or less of followers, Lord Thomas
-Howard, a grandson of the old Duke of Norfolk; Sir William Drury; Sir
-Thomas Cornwallis, High Sheriff of Suffolk; Sir John Skelton; and
-Sir John Tyrrel. These were all zealous Papists; and the people of
-Norfolk and Suffolk hurried to her standard, impelled by the memory of
-Northumberland's sanguinary extinction of Ket's rebellion, the horrors
-of which still kept alive a deep detestation of the unprincipled duke in
-those counties. In a very short time Mary beheld herself surrounded by an
-army of 13,000 men, all serving without pay, but confidently calculating
-on the certain recompense which, as queen, she would soon be able to
-award them. Lord Derby rose for her in Cheshire, and Carew proclaimed her
-in Devonshire.
-
-Northumberland saw that no time was to be lost. It was necessary that
-forces should be instantly despatched to check the growth of Mary's
-army, and to disperse it altogether. But who should command it? There
-was no one so proper as himself; but he suspected the fidelity of the
-Council, and was unwilling to remove himself to a distance from them; he
-therefore recommended the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane, to
-the command of the expedition. The Council, who were anxious to get rid
-of Northumberland in order that they might themselves escape to Mary's
-camp, represented privately that Suffolk was a general of no reputation,
-that everything depended on decisive proceedings in the outset, and that
-he alone was the man for the purpose. They, moreover, so excited the
-fears of Lady Jane that she entreated in tears that her father might
-remain with her.
-
-Northumberland consented, though with many misgivings. He equally
-distrusted the Council and the citizens. On the 13th of July he set out,
-urging on the Council at his departure fidelity to the trust reposed in
-them, and receiving from them the most earnest protestations of zeal
-and attachment. At every step some expectation was falsified, or some
-disastrous news met him. The promised reinforcements did not arrive, but
-he heard of them taking the way to the camp of Mary instead of to his
-own. He heard of the defection of the fleet; and lastly, a prostrating
-blow, of the Council having gone over to Queen Mary. Struck with dismay
-at this accumulation of evil tidings, he retreated from Bury St.
-Edmunds, which he had reached, to Cambridge, and there betrayed pitiable
-indecision.
-
-Scarcely had he left London before the Council, whilst outwardly
-professing much activity for the interests of Queen Jane, set to work
-to terminate as soon as possible the perilous farce of her royalty. On
-the evening of Sunday, the 16th, the Lord Treasurer left the Tower,
-and made a visit to his own house, contrary to the positive order of
-Northumberland, who had strictly enjoined Suffolk to keep the whole
-Council within its walls. On the 19th the Lord Treasurer and Lord Privy
-Seal, the Earls of Arundel, Shrewsbury, and Pembroke, Sir Thomas Cheney,
-and Sir John Mason, left the Tower, on the plea that it was necessary to
-levy forces, and to receive the French ambassador, and that Baynard's
-Castle, the residence of the Earl of Pembroke, was a much more convenient
-place for these purposes. As they professed to be actuated by zeal for
-the cause of his daughter, Suffolk, a very weak person, was easily
-duped. No sooner had they reached Baynard's Castle than they unanimously
-declared for Queen Mary.
-
-[Illustration: LADY JANE GREY'S RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT THE CROWN OF ENGLAND.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY C. R. LESLIE, R.A. IN THE POSSESSION OF THE DUKE OF
-BEDFORD.]
-
-Immediately after proclaiming the new queen, the Council sent to summon
-the Duke of Suffolk to surrender the Tower, which he did with all
-alacrity, and, proceeding to Baynard's Castle, signed the proclamations
-which the Council were issuing. Poor Lady Jane resigned her uneasy and
-unblessed crown of nine days with unfeigned joy, and the next morning
-returned to Sion House. This brief period of queenship, which had been
-thrust upon her against her own wishes and better judgment, had been
-embittered not only by her own sense of injustice towards her kinswoman,
-the Princess Mary, and by apprehension of the consequences to herself and
-all her friends, but still more by the harshness and insatiate ambition
-of her husband and his mother.
-
-The Council despatched a letter to Northumberland by Richard Rose, the
-herald, commanding him to disband his army, and return to his allegiance
-to Queen Mary, under penalty of being declared a traitor. But before
-this reached him he had submitted himself, and in a manner the least
-heroic and dignified possible. On the Sunday he had induced Dr. Sandys,
-the vice-chancellor of the university, to preach a sermon against the
-title and religion of Mary. The very next day the news of the revolution
-at London arrived, and Northumberland, proceeding to the market-place,
-proclaimed the woman he had thus denounced, and flung up his cap as if
-in joy at the event, whilst the tears of grief and chagrin streamed
-down his face. Turning to Doctor Sandys, who was again with him, he
-said, "Queen Mary was a merciful woman, and that, doubtless, all would
-receive the benefit of her general pardon." But Sandys, who could not
-help despising him, bade him "not flatter himself with that; for if the
-queen were ever so inclined to pardon, those who ruled her would destroy
-him, whoever else were spared." Immediately after, Sir John Gates, one
-of his oldest and most obsequious instruments, arrested him, when he had
-his boots half-drawn on, so that he could not help himself; and, on the
-following morning, the Earl of Arundel, arriving with a body of troops,
-took possession of Northumberland, his captor, Gates, and Dr. Sandys, and
-sent them off to the Tower.
-
-Mary dismissed her army, which had never exceeded 15,000, and which had
-had no occasion to draw a sword, before quitting Wanstead, except 3,000
-horsemen in uniforms of green and white, red and white, and blue and
-white. These, too, she sent back before entering the City gate, thus
-showing her perfect confidence in the attachment of her capital. From
-that point her only guard was that of the City, which brought up the rear
-with bows and javelins. As Mary and her sister Elizabeth rode through
-the crowded streets, they were accompanied by a continuous roar of
-acclamation; and on entering the court of the Tower they beheld, kneeling
-on the green before St. Peter's Church, the State prisoners who had been
-detained there during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. These were
-Courtenay, the son of the Marquis of Exeter, who was executed in 1538;
-the old Duke of Norfolk, still under sentence of death; and the Bishops
-of Durham and Winchester, Tunstall and Gardiner. Gardiner pronounced a
-congratulation on behalf of the others; and Mary, bursting into tears at
-the sight, called them to her, exclaiming, "Ye are all my prisoners!"
-raised them one by one, kissed them, and set them at liberty. To extend
-the joy of her safe establishment upon the throne of her ancestors, she
-ordered eighteen pence to be distributed to every poor householder in the
-City.
-
-It was Mary's misfortune that she had been educated to place so much
-reliance on the wisdom and friendship of her great relative, the Emperor
-Charles V. He had been her champion, as he had been that of her mother.
-When pressed on the subject of her religion during the last reign, he
-had menaced the country with war if the freedom of her conscience were
-violated. It was natural, therefore, that she should now look to him for
-counsel, seeing that almost all those whom she was obliged to employ
-or to have around her had been her enemies during her brother's reign.
-Charles communicated his opinions through Simon Renard, his ambassador,
-who was to be the medium of their correspondence, and to advise her in
-matters not of sufficient importance to require the Emperor's judgment,
-or not allowing of sufficient time to obtain it. Renard was ordered to
-act warily, and to show himself little at Court, so as to avoid suspicion.
-
-Charles advised her to make examples of the chief conspirators, and to
-punish the subordinates more mildly, so as to obtain a character of
-moderation. He insisted upon it as necessary, however, that Lady Jane
-Grey should be included in the list for capital punishment, and to
-this Mary would by no means consent. She replied that "she could not
-find in her heart or conscience to put her unfortunate kinswoman to
-death, who had not been an accomplice of Northumberland, but merely an
-unresisting instrument in his hands. If there were any crime in being
-his daughter-in-law, even of that her cousin Jane was not guilty, for she
-had been legally contracted to another, and, therefore, her marriage with
-Lord Guilford Dudley was not valid. As to the danger existing from her
-pretensions, it was but imaginary, and every requisite precaution should
-be taken before she was set at liberty."
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF PHILIP AND MARY.]
-
-Mary's selection of prisoners was remarkably small considering the
-number in her hands, and the character of their offence against her. She
-contented herself with putting only seven of them on their trial--namely,
-Northumberland, his son the Earl of Warwick, the Marquis of Northampton,
-Sir John Gates, Sir Henry Gates, Sir Andrew Dudley, and Sir Thomas
-Palmer--his chief councillors and his associates. Northumberland
-submitted to the court whether a man could be guilty of treason who acted
-on the authority of Council, and under warrant of the Great Seal; or
-could they, who had been his chief advisers and accomplices during the
-whole time, sit as his judges? The Duke of Norfolk, who presided at the
-trial as High Steward, replied that the Council and Great Seal which he
-spoke of were those of a usurper, and, therefore, so far from availing
-him, only aggravated the offence, and that the lords in question could
-sit as his judges, because they were under no attainder.
-
-Finding that his appeal had done him no service, Northumberland and his
-fellow-prisoners pleaded guilty. The duke prayed that his sentence might
-be commuted into decapitation, as became a peer of the realm, and he
-prayed the queen that she would be merciful to his children on account
-of their youth. He desired also that an able divine might be sent to
-him for the settling of his conscience, thereby intimating that he was
-at heart a Romanist, in hopes, no doubt, of winning upon the mind of
-the queen, for he was very anxious to save his life. He professed, too,
-that he was in possession of certain State secrets of vital importance
-to her Majesty, and entreated that two members of the Council might be
-sent to him to receive these matters from him. What his object was became
-manifest from the result, for Gardiner and another member of the Council
-being sent to him in consequence, he implored Gardiner passionately to
-intercede for his life. Gardiner gave him little hope, but promised
-to do what he could, and on returning to the queen so much moved her,
-that she was inclined to grant the request; but others of the Council
-wrote through Renard to the Emperor, who strenuously warned her, if
-she valued her safety, or the peace of her reign, not to listen to the
-arch-traitor. On Tuesday, the 22nd of August, Northumberland, Gates,
-and Palmer were brought from the Tower for execution on Tower Hill. Of
-the eleven condemned, only these three were executed--an instance of
-clemency, in so gross a conspiracy to deprive a sovereign of a throne,
-which is without parallel. When the Duke of Northumberland and Gates
-met on the scaffold, they each accused the other of being the author
-of the treason. Northumberland charged the whole design on Gates and
-the Council; Gates laid it more truly on Northumberland and his high
-authority. They protested, however, that they entirely forgave each
-other, and Northumberland, stepping to the rail, made a speech, praying
-for a long and happy reign to the queen, and calling on the people to
-bear witness that he died in the true Catholic faith. Though he condemned
-it, he said, in his heart, ambition had led him to conform to the new
-faith, the adoption of which had filled both England and Germany with
-constant dissensions, troubles, and civil wars. After repeating the
-"Miserere," "De Profundis," and the "Paternoster," with some portion
-of another psalm, concluding with the words, "Into thy hands, O Lord,
-I commend my spirit," he laid his head on the block, saying that he
-deserved a thousand deaths, and it was severed at a stroke. Gates and
-Palmer died professing much penitence.
-
-[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE CONSTABLE'S GARDEN, TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-The accession of Mary was a joyful event to the Papal Court. Julius III.
-appointed Cardinal Pole his legate to the queen; but Pole was by no means
-in haste, without obtaining further information, to fill this office in
-a country where the people, whose sturdy character he well knew, had to
-so great an extent imbibed the doctrines of the Reformation. Dandino,
-the Papal legate at Brussels, therefore despatched a gentleman of his
-suite to proceed to London and cautiously spy out the land. Before making
-himself known, this emissary, Gianfrancesco Commendone, went about
-London for some days gathering up all evidences of the public feeling on
-the question of the Church. He then procured a private interview with
-Mary, and was delighted to hear from her own lips that she was fully
-resolved on reconciling her kingdom to the Papal See, and meant to obtain
-the repeal of all laws restricting the doctrines or discipline of the
-Roman Church; but that it required caution, and that no trace of any
-correspondence with Rome must come to light.
-
-Mary was, however, inclined to go faster and farther than some of her
-advisers, and Gardiner, though so staunch a Papist, was too much of an
-Englishman to wish to see the supremacy restored to the Pontiff. But
-others were not so patriotic. Throughout the kingdom the Protestant
-preachers were silenced. The great bell at Christ Church, Oxford, was
-just recast, and the first use of it was to call the people to Mass.
-"That bell then rung," says Fuller, "the knell of Gospel truth in the
-city of Oxford, afterwards filled with Protestant tears."
-
-Four days after her coronation, on October 1st, Mary opened her first
-Parliament; and she opened it in a manner which showed plainly what
-was to come. Both peers and commoners were called upon to attend her
-majesty at a solemn Mass of the Holy Ghost. This was an immediate test
-of what degree of compliance was to be expected in the attempt to return
-to the ancient order of things; and the success of the experiment was
-most encouraging. With the exception of Taylor Bishop of Lincoln, and
-Harley Bishop of Hereford, the whole Parliament--peers, prelates,
-and commoners--fell on their knees at the elevation of the Host, and
-participated with an air of devotion in that which in the last reign
-they had declared an abomination. But such was the zeal now for the
-lately abhorred Mass, that the two noncomplying bishops were thrust out
-of the queen's presence, and out of the abbey altogether. There were
-those who insinuated that the Emperor furnished Mary with funds to bribe
-her Parliament on this occasion; but, besides that Charles was not so
-lavish of his money, events soon showed that the Parliament, though
-so exceedingly pliant in the matter of religion, was stubborn enough
-regarding the estates obtained from the Church, and also concerning
-Mary's scheme of a Spanish marriage.
-
-The first act of legislation was to restore the securities to life and
-property which had been granted in the twenty-fifth year of Edward III.,
-and which had been so completely prostrated by the acts of Henry VIII.
-Such an Act had been passed at the commencement of the last reign, but
-had been again violated in the cases of the two Seymours. The Parliament,
-looking back on the sanguinary lawlessness of that monarch, did not
-think the country sufficiently safe from charges of constructive treason
-and felony without a fresh enactment. It next passed an Act annulling
-the divorce of Queen Catherine of Aragon, by Cranmer, and declaring the
-present queen legitimate. This Act indeed tacitly declared Elizabeth
-illegitimate, but there was no getting altogether out of the difficulties
-which the licentious proceedings of Henry VIII. had created, and it was
-deemed best to pass that point over in silence, leaving the queen to
-treat her sister as if born in genuine wedlock.
-
-The next Act went to restore the Papal Church in England, stopping short,
-however, of the supremacy. This received no opposition in the House of
-Lords, but occasioned a debate of two days in the Commons. It passed,
-however, eventually without a division, and by it was swept away at once
-the whole system of Protestantism established by Cranmer during the reign
-of Edward VI. The Reformed liturgy, which the Parliament of that monarch
-had declared was framed by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, was now
-pronounced to be "a new thing, imagined and devised by a few of singular
-opinions." This abolished the marriages of priests and illegitimatised
-their children. From the 20th day of November divine worship was to be
-performed, and the sacraments were to be administered, as in the last
-year of Henry VIII. Thus were the tyrannic Six Articles restored, and all
-but the Papal supremacy. Even the discussion of the ritual and doctrines
-of Edward VI. became so warm, that the queen prorogued Parliament
-for three days. On calling the House of Commons together again, and
-proceeding with the Bill, no mention was made of the restoration of the
-Church property, though the queen was anxious to restore all that was in
-the hands of the Crown; for the Lords, and gentlemen even of the House
-of Commons, who were in possession of those lands, would have raised
-a far different opposition to that which was manifested regarding the
-State religion. No sooner were these Bills passed than the clergy met in
-Convocation, and passed decrees for the speedy enforcement of all the new
-regulations.
-
-[Illustration: _By permission, from the Painting in the Victoria and
-Albert Museum, South Kensington._
-
-CRANMER AT TRAITORS' GATE. 1553.
-
-By F. GOODALL, R.A.]
-
-The persecution of the Reformed clergy who had stood firm became
-vehement. The married clergy were called upon to abandon their wives, and
-there was a rush of the expelled priests again to fill their pulpits. In
-the cities there was considerable opposition, for there the people had
-read and reflected, but generally throughout the agricultural districts
-the change took place with the ease and rapidity of the scene-shifting at
-a theatre. Many of the married priests, however, would not abandon their
-wives and children, and were turned adrift into the highways, or were
-thrust into prison. Many fled abroad, hoping for more Christian treatment
-from the Reformed churches there, but in vain, for their doctrines did
-not accord with those of the foreign Reformers, who deemed them heretical.
-
-About half the English bishops conformed; the rest were ejected from
-their sees, and several of them were imprisoned. Soon after Cranmer,
-Latimer, and Ridley were sent to the Tower, Holgate, Archbishop of York,
-was sent thither also. Poynet, who was Bishop of Winchester during
-Gardiner's expulsion, was imprisoned for having married. Taylor of
-Lincoln and Harley of Hereford, for refusing to kneel on the elevation
-of the Host at the queen's coronation, and for other heresies, were
-committed to prison. On the 13th of October Cranmer was brought to
-trial in the Guildhall, on a charge of treason, with Lady Jane Grey,
-her husband Lord Guilford Dudley, and Lord Ambrose Dudley, his brother.
-They were all condemned to death as traitors, and a bill of attainder
-was passed through Parliament against them. Lady Jane's sentence was to
-be beheaded or burnt at the queen's pleasure, which was then the law
-of England in all cases where women committed high treason, or petty
-treason by the murder of their husbands. The fate of Lady Jane, who
-pleaded guilty, and exhibited the most mild and amiable demeanour on
-the occasion, excited deep sympathy, and crowds followed her as she was
-reconducted to the Tower, weeping and lamenting her hard fate. It was
-well understood, however, that the queen had no intention of carrying
-the sentence into effect against any of the prisoners; but she deemed
-it a means of keeping quiet her partisans to hold them in prison under
-sentence of death. She gave orders that they should receive every
-indulgence consistent with their security, and Lady Jane was permitted to
-walk in the queen's garden at the Tower, and even on Tower Hill.
-
-The subject which created the greatest difficulty to this Parliament was
-that of the queen's marriage. The wily Renard suggested to Mary as a
-possible husband Philip the heir of Charles V., and she eagerly seized
-on the idea though she knew that it would be very unpopular. The first
-to remonstrate with Mary on the subject was Gardiner, her Chancellor,
-who boldly pointed out to her the repugnance of the nation to a Spanish
-marriage; that she would be the paramount authority if she married a
-subject, but that it would be difficult to maintain that rank with a
-Spanish king; that the arrogance of the Spanish had made them odious to
-all nations, and that this quality had shown itself conspicuously in
-Philip. He was greatly disliked by his own people, and it was not likely
-that he would be tolerated by the English; moreover, alliance with Spain
-meant perpetual war with France, which would never suffer the Netherlands
-to be annexed to the crown of England. The rest of Mary's Council took
-up the same strain, with the exception of the old Duke of Norfolk, and
-the Lords Arundel and Paget. The Protestant party out of doors were
-furious against the match, declaring that it would bring the Inquisition
-into the country, to rivet Popery upon it, and to make England the slave
-of taxation to the Spaniards. The Parliament took up the subject with
-equal hostility, and the Commons sent their Speaker to her, attended
-by a deputation of twenty members, praying her Majesty not to marry a
-foreigner.
-
-Noailles, the French ambassador, was delighted with this movement, and
-took much credit to himself for inciting influential parties to it; but
-Mary believed it to originate with Gardiner, and the lion spirit of her
-father coming over her, she vowed that she would prove a match for the
-cunning of the Chancellor. That very night she sent for the Spanish
-ambassador, and bidding him follow her into her private oratory, she
-there knelt down before the altar, and after chanting the hymn, "Veni
-Creator Spiritus," she made a vow to God that she would marry Philip
-of Spain, and whilst she lived, no other man but him. Thus she put it
-out of her power, if she kept her vow, to marry any other person should
-she outlive Philip, showing the force of the paroxysm of determination
-which was upon her. The effort would seem to have been very violent, for
-immediately after she was taken ill, and continued so for some days.
-
-It was on the last day of October that this curious circumstance took
-place, and on the 17th of November she sent for the House of Commons,
-when the Speaker read the address giving her their advice regarding her
-marriage. Instead of the Chancellor returning the answer, as was the
-custom, Mary replied herself, thanking them for their care that she
-should have a succession in her own children, but rebuking them for
-presuming to dictate to her the choice of a husband. She declared that
-the marriages of her predecessors had always been free, a privilege
-which, she assured them, she was resolved to maintain. At the same time,
-she added, she should be careful to make such a selection as should
-contribute both to her own happiness and to that of her people.
-
-The plain declaration of the queen to her Parliament was not necessary
-to inform those about her who were interested in the question; they had
-speedy information of her having favoured the Spanish suit, and Noailles
-was certainly mixed up in conspiracies to defeat it. It was proposed to
-place Courtenay, the young Earl of Devon, who had long been a prisoner
-in the Tower, at the head of the Reformed party, and if Mary would not
-consent to marry him, to assassinate Arundel and Paget, the advocates
-of the Spanish match; to marry Elizabeth to Courtenay, and raise the
-standard of rebellion in Devonshire. It appears from the despatches of
-Noailles that the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane Grey, was in
-this conspiracy. But the folly and the unstable character of their hero,
-Courtenay, was fatal to their design, and of that Noailles very soon
-became sensible. It was suggested by some of the parties that Courtenay
-should steal away from Court, get across to France, and thence join the
-conspirators in Devonshire; but Noailles opposed this plan, declaring
-that the moment Courtenay quitted the coast of England his chance was
-utterly lost; and he wrote to his own government, saying that the scheme
-would fall to nothing; for although Courtenay and Elizabeth were fitting
-persons to cause a rising, such was the want of decision of Courtenay, he
-would let himself be taken before he would act--the thing which actually
-came to pass.
-
-On the 2nd of January, 1554, a splendid embassy, sent by the Emperor,
-headed by the Counts Egmont and Lalain, the Lord of Courrieres, and the
-Sieur de Nigry, landed in Kent, to arrange the marriage between Mary and
-Philip. The unpopularity of this measure was immediately manifested,
-for the men of Kent, taking Egmont for Philip, rose in fury, and would
-have torn him to pieces if they could have got hold of him. Having,
-however, reached Westminster in safety, on the 14th of January, a
-numerous assembly of nobles, prelates, and courtiers was summoned to the
-queen's presence-chamber, where Gardiner, who had found it necessary to
-relinquish his opposition, stated to them the proposed conditions of
-the treaty. The greatest care was evidently taken to disarm the fears of
-the English, and nothing could appear more moderate than the terms of
-this alliance. Philip and Mary were to confer on each other the titles
-of their respective kingdoms, but each kingdom was still to be governed
-by its own laws and constitution. None but English subjects were to hold
-office in this country, not even in the king's private service. If the
-queen had an heir, it was to be her successor in her own dominions, and
-also in all Philip's dominions of Burgundy, Holland, and Flanders, which
-were for ever to become part and parcel of England. This certainly, on
-the face of it, was a most advantageous condition for England, but had
-it taken effect, it would undoubtedly have proved a most disastrous one,
-involving us perpetually in the wars and struggles of the Continent, and
-draining these islands to defend those foreign territories.
-
-Another condition of the treaty was that Mary was not to be carried
-out of the kingdom except at her own request, nor any of her children,
-except by the consent of the peers. The Commons were totally ignored in
-the matter. Philip was not to entangle England in the Continental wars
-of his father, nor to appropriate any of the naval or military resources
-of this country, or the property or jewels of the Crown, to any foreign
-purposes. If there was no issue of the marriage, all the conditions of
-the treaty at once became void, and Philip ceased to be king even in
-name. If he died first, which was not very probable, Mary was to enjoy a
-dower of 60,000 ducats per annum, secured on lands in Spain and Flanders.
-No mention was made of any payment to Philip if he happened to be the
-survivor. But there was one little clause which stipulated that Philip
-should _aid_ Mary in governing her kingdom--an ominous word, which might
-be made of vast significance.
-
-Within five days came the startling news that three insurrections had
-broken out in different quarters of the kingdom. One was a-foot in the
-midland counties, where the Duke of Suffolk and the Grey family had
-property and influence. There the cry was for the Lady Jane. Mary had
-been completely deceived by the Duke of Suffolk, whom she had pardoned
-and liberated from the Tower. In return for her leniency he affected so
-hearty an approval of her marriage, that she instantly thought of him as
-the man to put down the other rebellions, and sending for him, found
-that he and his brothers, Lord Thomas and Lord John Grey, had ridden off
-with a strong body of horse to Leicestershire, proclaiming Lady Jane in
-every town through which they passed. They found no response to their
-cry, a fact which any but the most rash speculators might have been
-certain of. The Earl of Huntingdon, a relative of the queen's, took the
-field against the Greys, who by their folly brought certain death to Lady
-Jane, and defeated them near Coventry, upon which they fled for their
-lives.
-
-[Illustration: OLD LONDON BRIDGE, WITH NONSUCH PALACE.
-
-(_From the View of London, made by Van der Wyngarde, for Philip II._)]
-
-The second insurrection was in the west, under Sir Peter Carew, whose
-project was to place Elizabeth and Courtenay, Earl of Devon, on the
-throne, and restore the Protestant religion. These parties, as well as
-the third under Sir Thomas Wyatt, had consented to act together, and
-thus paralyse the efforts of Mary, by the simultaneous outbreak in so
-many quarters. But the miserable folly of their plans became evident at
-once. They did not even unite in the choice of the same person as their
-future monarch, and had they put down Mary, must then have come to blows
-amongst themselves. Carew found Devonshire as indifferent to his call as
-the Greys had found Leicestershire. Courtenay was to have put himself at
-their head, but never went; and Carew, Gibbs, and Champernham called on
-the people of Exeter to sign an address to the queen, stating that they
-would have no Spanish despot. The people of Devon gave no support to the
-movement. The Earl of Bedford appeared at the head of the queen's troops.
-A number of the conspirators were seized, and Carew with others fled to
-France.
-
-But the most formidable section of this tripartite rebellion was that
-under Sir Thomas Wyatt. He fixed his headquarters at Rochester, having
-a fleet of five sail, under his associate Winter, which brought him
-ordnance and ammunition. Wyatt was only a youth of twenty-three, but
-he was full of both courage and enthusiasm, and endeavoured to rouse
-the people of Canterbury to follow him. There, however, he was not
-successful, and this cast a damp upon his adherents. Sir Robert Southwell
-defeated a party of the insurgents under Knevet, and the Lord Abergavenny
-another party under Isley, and the spirits of Wyatt's troops began to
-sink rapidly. Many of his supporters sent to the Council, offering to
-surrender on promise of full pardon, and a little delay would probably
-have witnessed the total dispersion of his force.
-
-But on the 29th of January, the Duke of Norfolk marched from London
-with a detachment of the guards under Sir Henry Jerningham. On reaching
-Rochester they found Wyatt encamped in the ruins of the old castle,
-and the bridge bristling with cannon, and with well-armed Kentishmen.
-Norfolk endeavoured to dissolve the hostile force by sending a herald
-to proclaim a pardon to all that would lay down their arms, but Wyatt
-would not permit him to read the paper. Norfolk then ordered his troops
-to force the bridge; but this duty falling to a detachment of 500 of the
-train-bands of the city under Captain Brett, the moment they reached the
-bridge Brett turned round, and addressed his followers thus:--"Masters,
-we go about to fight against our native countrymen of England, and our
-friends, in a quarrel unrightful and wicked; for they, considering the
-great miseries that are like to fall upon us, if we shall be under the
-rule of the proud Spaniards, or strangers, are here assembled to make
-resistance to their coming, for the avoiding the great mischiefs likely
-to alight not only upon themselves, but upon every of us and the whole
-realm; wherefore I think no English heart ought to say against them. I
-and others will spend our blood in their quarrel."
-
-On hearing this, his men shouted, one and all, "A Wyatt! a Wyatt!" and
-turned their guns not against the bridge, but against Norfolk's forces.
-At this sight Norfolk and his officers, imagining a universal treason,
-turned their horses and fled at full speed, leaving behind them their
-cannon and ammunition. The train-bands crossed the bridge and joined
-Wyatt's soldiers, followed by three-fourths of the queen's troops,
-and some companies of the guard. Norfolk and his fugitive officers
-galloping into London carried with them the direst consternation. In
-City and Court alike the most terrible panic prevailed. The lawyers in
-Westminster Hall pleaded in suits of armour hidden under their robes, and
-Dr. Weston preached before the queen in Whitehall Chapel, on Candlemas
-Day, in armour under his clerical vestments. Mary alone seemed calm and
-self-possessed. She mounted her horse, and, attended by her ladies and
-her Council, rode into the City, where, summoning Sir Thomas White, Lord
-Mayor and tailor, and the aldermen to meet, who all came clad in armour
-under their civic livery, she ascended a chair of State, and with her
-sceptre in hand addressed them, declaring she would never marry except
-with leave of Parliament.
-
-Her courage gained the day. From some cause the insurgents had not pushed
-forward with the celerity which the flight of Norfolk appeared to make
-easy. Instead of marching on the City and taking advantage of its panic,
-Wyatt was three days in reaching Deptford and Greenwich, and he then lay
-three more days there, though his success was said to have raised his
-forces to 15,000 men. Meantime the City had recovered its courage by the
-valiant bearing of the queen, and the news of the dispersion of the other
-two divisions of the rebels. The golden opportunity was irrevocably lost.
-On the 3rd of February Wyatt marched along the river side to Southwark.
-Coming to the end of London Bridge, he found the drawbridge raised, the
-gates closed, and the citizens, headed by the Lord Mayor and aldermen in
-armour, in strong force ready to resist his entrance. He was surprised
-to find the Londoners determined not to admit him, for he had been led
-to believe that they were as hostile to the marriage as himself. He
-planted two pieces of artillery at the foot of the bridge, but this was
-evidently with the view of defending his own position, and not of forcing
-the gates, for he cut a deep ditch between the bridge and the fort which
-he occupied, and then protected his flanks from attack by other guns,
-one pointing down Bermondsey Street, one by St. George's Church, and the
-third towards the Bishop of Winchester's house. He must still have hoped
-for a demonstration in the City in his favour, for he remained stationary
-two whole days, without making an attack on the bridge. On the third
-morning this inaction was broken by the garrison in the Tower opening a
-brisk cannonade against him with all their heavy ordnance, doing immense
-damage to the houses in the vicinity of the bridge fort, and to the
-towers of St. Olave's and St. Mary Overy's.
-
-The people of Southwark, seeing the inaction of Wyatt and the mischief
-done to their property, now cried out amain, and desired him to take
-himself away, which he did. He told the people that he would not have
-them hurt on his account, and forthwith commenced a march towards
-Kingston, hoping to be able to cross the bridge there, which he supposed
-would be unguarded, and that so he might fall on Westminster and London
-on the side where they were but indifferently fortified. He reached
-Kingston about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 6th of February,
-where he found a part of the bridge broken down, and an armed force
-ready to oppose his passage. His object being to cross here, and not,
-as at London Bridge, to await a voluntary admission, he brought up his
-artillery, swept the enemy from the opposite bank, and by the help of
-some sailors, who brought up boats and barges, he had the bridge made
-passable, and his troops crossed over. By this time it was eleven o'clock
-at night; his troops were extremely fatigued by their march and their
-labours here, but he now deemed it absolutely necessary to push on, and
-allow the Government no more time than he could help to collect forces
-into his path, and strengthen their position. He marched on, therefore,
-through a miserable winter night, and staying most imprudently to
-re-mount a heavy gun which had broken down, it was broad daylight when he
-arrived at what is now Hyde Park, where the Earl of Pembroke was posted
-with the royal forces to receive him.
-
-Lord Clinton headed the cavalry, and took his station with a battery of
-cannon on the rising ground opposite to the palace of St. James's, at the
-top of the present St. James's Street, and his cavalry extended from that
-spot to the present Jermyn Street. All that quarter of dense building,
-including Piccadilly, Pall Mall, and St. James's Square, was then open
-and called St. James's Fields. About nine o'clock appeared the advance
-guard of Wyatt's army. The morning was dismal, gloomy, and rainy, and his
-troops, who had been wading through muddy roads all night, were in no
-condition to face a fresh army. Many had deserted at Kingston, many more
-had dropped off since, and seeing the strength of the force placed to
-obstruct him, he divided his own into three parts. One of these, led by
-Captain Cobham, took the way through St. James's Park at the back of the
-palace, which was barricaded at all points, guards being stationed at the
-windows, even those of the queen's bed-chamber and with drawing-rooms.
-Cobham's division fired on the palace as it passed, whilst another
-division under Captain Knevet, holding more to the right, assaulted the
-palaces of Westminster and Whitehall.
-
-But Wyatt, at the head of the main division, charged Clinton's cavalry;
-the cannon were brought up, and a general engagement took place between
-the rebel army and the troops under Clinton and the infantry under
-Pembroke. Wyatt's charge seemed to make the cavalry give way, but it was
-only a stratagem on the part of Clinton, who opened his ranks to let
-Wyatt and about four hundred of his followers pass, when he closed and
-cut off the main body from their commander. In all Wyatt's proceedings he
-displayed great bravery, but little military experience or caution.
-
-His main forces, now deprived of their leader, wavered and gave way, but
-instead of breaking took another course to reach the City. Wyatt, as if
-unconscious that he had left the bulk of his army behind him, and had now
-the enemy between it and himself, rushed along past Charing Cross and
-through the Strand to Ludgate, in the fond hope still that the citizens
-would admit him and join him. In the passages of the Strand were posted
-bodies of soldiers under the Earl of Worcester and the contemptible
-Courtenay, who, on the sight of Wyatt, fled.
-
-On reaching Ludgate, Wyatt found the gates closed, and instead of the
-citizens who had promised to receive him, Lord William Howard appeared
-over the gate, crying sternly, "Avaunt, traitor! avaunt; you enter not
-here!" Finding no access there, the unhappy man turned to rejoin and
-assist his troops, but he was met by those of Pembroke, who had poured
-after him like a flood. With the energy of despair he fought his way back
-as far as the Temple, where he found only twenty-four of his followers
-surviving. At Temple Bar he threw away his sword, which was broken, and
-surrendered himself to Sir Maurice Berkeley, who immediately mounted him
-behind him and carried him off to Court.
-
-Mary had displayed the most extraordinary clemency on the termination
-of the former conspiracy, for which not only the Emperor but her
-own Ministers had blamed her. Her Council now urged her to make a
-more salutary example of these offenders, to prevent a repetition
-of rebellion. On the previous occasion she had permitted only three
-of the ringleaders to be put to death. On this occasion five of the
-chief conspirators were condemned, and four of them were executed,
-Croft being pardoned. Suffolk fell without any commiseration. It was
-difficult to decide whether his folly or his ingratitude had been the
-greater. He had twice been a traitor to the queen, the second time
-after being most mercifully pardoned. He had twice put his amiable and
-excellent daughter's life in jeopardy; the second time after seeing how
-hopeless was the attempt to place her on the throne, and therefore,
-to a certainty, by the second revolt, involving her death; and to add
-to his infamy, he endeavoured to win escape for himself by betraying
-others. He was beheaded on the 23rd of February. Wyatt was kept in the
-Tower till the 11th of April, when he was executed. Unlike Suffolk, he
-tried to exculpate others, declaring in his last moments that neither
-the Princess Elizabeth nor Courtenay, who were suspected of being privy
-to his designs, knew anything of them. Wyatt seems to have been a brave
-and honest man, who believed himself acting the part of a patriot in
-endeavouring to preserve the country from the Spanish yoke, and who,
-in the sincerity of his own heart, had too confidently trusted to the
-assurances of faithless men. Had he succeeded, and placed the Protestant
-Princess Elizabeth on the throne, his name, instead of remaining that of
-a traitor, would have stood side by side with that of Hampden. His body
-was quartered and exposed in different places. His head was stuck on a
-pole at Hay Hill, near Hyde Park, whence it was stolen by some of his
-friends.
-
-Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was the sixth, who was tried at Guildhall on the
-17th of April, the very day of Lord Grey's execution. His condemnation
-and death were regarded as certain; but on being brought to the bar he
-adroitly pleaded that the recent statute abolishing all treasons since
-the reign of Edward III., covered anything which he could possibly have
-done, and that his offence being only words, were by the same statute
-declared to be no overt act at all. He stated this with so much skill and
-eloquence, at the same time contending that there was not a particle of
-evidence of his having been an active accomplice of the rebels, that the
-jury acquitted him.
-
-The execution which caused and still causes the deepest interest,
-and which always appears as a shadow on the character of Queen Mary,
-was that of her cousin, Lady Jane Grey. Till this second unfortunate
-insurrection, Mary steadily refused to listen to any persuasions to shed
-the blood of Lady Jane. She had had her tried and condemned to death,
-but she still permitted her to live, gave her a considerable degree of
-liberty and unusual indulgences, and it was generally understood that
-she meant eventually to pardon her. The ambassadors of Charles V. had
-strenuously urged her to prevent future danger by executing her rival,
-but she had replied that she could not find it in her conscience to
-put her unfortunate kinswoman to death, who had not been an accomplice
-of Northumberland, but merely an instrument in his hands; but now that
-the very mischief had taken place which the Emperor and her own Council
-had prognosticated; she was importuned on all sides to take what they
-described as the only prudent course. Poynet, the Bishop of Winchester,
-says that those lords of the Council who had been the most instrumental
-at the death of Edward VI. in thrusting royalty on Lady Jane--namely,
-Pembroke and Winchester--and who had been amongst the first to denounce
-Mary as illegitimate, were now the most remorseless advocates for Lady
-Jane's death.
-
-Accordingly, the day after the fall of Wyatt, Mary signed the warrant
-for the execution of "Guilford Dudley and his wife," to take place
-within three days. On the morning of the execution the queen sent Lady
-Jane permission to have an interview with her husband, but she declined
-the favour as too trying, saying she should meet him within a few hours
-in heaven. She saw her husband go to execution from the window of the
-lodging in Master Partridge's house, and beheld the headless trunk borne
-back to be buried in the chapel. Lord Guilford Dudley was executed on
-Tower Hill in sight of a vast concourse, but a scaffold was erected for
-her on the Tower green. Immediately after his corpse had passed she was
-led forth by the Lieutenant of the Tower, and appeared to go to her
-fate without any discomposing fear, but in a serious frame, not a tear
-dimming her eye, though her gentlewomen, Elizabeth Tilney and Mistress
-Helen, were weeping greatly. She continued engaged in prayer, which she
-read from a book, till she came to the scaffold; there she made a short
-speech to the spectators, declaring that she deserved her punishment for
-allowing herself to be made the instrument of the ambition of others.
-"That device, however," she said, "was never of my seeking, but by the
-counsel of those who appeared to have better understanding of such things
-than I. As for the procurement or desire of such dignity by me, I wash
-my hands thereof before God and all you Christian people this day."
-She caused her gentlewomen to disrobe her, bandaged her own eyes with
-a handkerchief, and laying her head on the block, at one stroke it was
-severed from the body (February 12, 1554).
-
-But this conspiracy had approached the queen much more nearly than in
-the person of Wyatt or the friends of Lady Jane Grey. It was discovered
-by intercepted letters of Wyatt, of Noailles, the French ambassador, and
-by one supposed to have been written by Elizabeth herself to the French
-king; that she was deeply implicated, and that the design of marrying
-her and Courtenay and placing them on the throne was well known, and
-apparently quite agreeable to her.
-
-[Illustration: LADY JANE GREY ON HER WAY TO THE SCAFFOLD. (_See p._
-232.)]
-
-The refusal of Elizabeth to join her sister at the outbreak of the
-insurrection, and the flight of Courtenay at the moment of Wyatt's entry
-of London, excited suspicion, and this suspicion was soon converted into
-something very like fact by the three despatches of Noailles, written in
-cipher, and dated January 26th, 28th, and 30th. These despatches detailed
-the steps taken in her favour. Besides these there were two notes sent
-by Wyatt to Elizabeth, the first advising her to remove to Donington,
-the next informing her of his successful entry into Southwark. Then came
-what appeared clearly a letter of Elizabeth to the King of France. The
-Duke of Suffolk's confession was again corroborative of these details,
-namely, that the object of the insurrection was to depose Mary and place
-Elizabeth on the throne. William Thomas supported this, adding that it
-was intended to put the queen immediately to death. Croft confessed that
-he had solicited Elizabeth to return to Donington; Lord Russell said
-he had conveyed letters from Wyatt to Elizabeth, and another witness
-deposed to his knowledge of a correspondence between Courtenay and Carew
-respecting Courtenay's marriage with the princess.
-
-With all these startling facts in her possession, Mary wrote to Elizabeth
-with an air of unsuspicious kindness, requesting her to come to her from
-Ashridge, informing her that malicious and ill-disposed persons accused
-her of favouring the late insurrection; but appearing not to believe
-it, and giving as a reason for her wishing her to be nearer, that the
-times were so unsettled that she would be in greater security with her.
-Elizabeth pleaded illness for not complying; but the queen sent Hastings,
-Southwell, and Cornwallis, members of Council, whom she received in
-her bed, and complained of being afflicted with a severe and dangerous
-malady. Mary, well acquainted with the deep dissimulation of her
-sister's character, then sent three of her own physicians, accompanied
-by Lord William Howard; and the physicians having given their opinion
-that she was quite able to travel, she was obliged to accompany them by
-short stages, borne in a litter. She appeared pale and bloated. It was
-said that she had been poisoned; but in a week she was quite well, and
-demanded an audience of the queen; but Mary had so much evidence in her
-hands of Elizabeth's proceedings, that she sent her word that it was
-necessary first to prove her innocence.
-
-Courtenay had been arrested on the 12th of February, at the house of the
-Earl of Essex, and committed to the Tower. Mary was averse from sending
-her sister there, and asked each of the lords of the Council in rotation
-to admit Elizabeth to their houses, and take charge of her. All declined
-the dangerous office; she was, therefore, compelled to sign the warrant
-for her committal, and Elizabeth was conducted to the Tower by the
-Earl of Sussex and another nobleman on the 18th of March. Even whilst
-performing this duty, it appears that Elizabeth had influence enough with
-these noblemen to make them dilatory in the execution of their office, to
-the great anger of the queen, who upbraided them with their remissness,
-telling them they dared not have done such a thing in her father's time,
-and wishing that "he were alive for a month." Elizabeth on entering the
-Tower was dreadfully afraid that she was doomed to leave it as so many
-princes and nobles had done, without a head. She inquired whether Lady
-Jane's scaffold were removed, and was greatly relieved to hear that it
-was. But what alarmed Elizabeth still more, was that the Constable of
-the Tower was discharged from his office, and Sir Henry Bedingfield,
-a zealous Romanist, appointed in his place. The fact of Sir Robert
-Brackenbury having been seventy years before, in like manner, removed,
-and Sir James Tyrell put in, when the princes were murdered, appeared an
-ominous precedent, but there was no real cause for apprehension; Mary
-had no wish to shed her sister's blood. Elizabeth, spite of the evidence
-against her, protested vehemently her innocence, and wished "that God
-might confound her eternally if she was in any manner implicated with
-Wyatt."
-
-The Court of Spain, through Renard the ambassador, urged perseveringly
-the execution of Elizabeth and Courtenay. Renard represented from his
-sovereign that there could be no security for her throne so long as
-Elizabeth and Courtenay were suffered to live. But Mary replied that
-though they had both of them, no doubt, listened willingly to the
-conspirators, and would have been ready had they succeeded to step into
-her throne, yet they had been guilty of no overt act, and, therefore, by
-the constitutional law of England which had been enacted in her first
-Parliament, they could not be put to death, but could only be imprisoned,
-or suffer forfeiture of their goods.
-
-In spite of the many warnings and the most universal expression of
-dislike to the match, Mary persisted in her engagement of marriage with
-Philip of Spain, though he himself showed no unequivocal reluctance to
-the completion of it; never writing to her, but submitting to his fate,
-as it were, in obedience to the parental command. At the end of May the
-unwilling bridegroom resigned his government of Castile--which he held
-for his insane grandmother, Juana--into the hands of his sister, the
-Princess-Dowager of Portugal, and bade adieu to his family. He embarked
-at Corunna on the 13th of July for England, and landed at Southampton on
-the 20th, after a week's voyage. He married his wife, who was much older
-than himself, and whose importunate love soon began to annoy him, at
-Winchester.
-
-On the 11th of November the third Parliament of Mary's reign was
-summoned, and she and her Royal husband rode from Hampton Court to
-Whitehall to open the session. The king and queen rode side by side,
-a sword of State being borne before each to betoken their independent
-sovereignties. The queen was extremely anxious to restore the lands
-reft from the Church by her father and brother to their ancient uses,
-but she must have known little of the men into whose hands those lands
-had fallen, if she could seriously hope for such a sacrifice. The Earl
-of Bedford, than whom no one had more deeply gorged himself with Church
-plunder, on hearing the proposition, tore his rosary from his girdle
-and flung it into the fire, saying he valued the abbey of Woborn more
-than any fatherly counsel that could come from Rome. All the rest of the
-Council were of the same way of thinking as Bedford, and Mary saw that
-it was a hopeless case to move them on that point, though she set them a
-very honourable example by surrendering the lands which still remained in
-the hands of the Crown, to the value of £60,000 a year.
-
-Though Mary could not recover the property for the Church, she resolved
-to restore that Church to unity with Rome. She expressed her earnest
-desire to have the presence of her kinsman, Cardinal Pole, in her
-kingdom, and he now set out for England, from which he had been banished
-so many years. He rendered this return the more easy, by bringing with
-him from the Pope a bull which confirmed the nobles in their possession
-of the Church property, on condition that the Papal supremacy was
-restored. The queen despatched Sir Edward Hastings to accompany the
-cardinal; and Sir William Cecil, who had been Edward's unhesitating
-minister in stripping the Church, set out of his own accord to pay homage
-to the Papal representative. Cecil's only real religion was ambition, and
-Mary knew that so well that, in spite of all his time-serving, she never
-would place any confidence in him, whence his bitter hostility to her
-memory.
-
-Pole, on his arrival, ascended the Thames from Greenwich in a splendid
-State barge, at the prow of which he fixed a large silver cross, thus
-marking the entrance of the legatine and Papal authority into the
-country, as it were, in a triumphal manner. On the 24th of November the
-king and queen met the united Parliament in the presence-chamber of the
-palace of Whitehall: this was owing to the indisposition of the queen.
-Gardiner introduced the business, which, he told them, was the weightiest
-that ever happened in this realm, and begged their utmost attention to
-Cardinal Pole. Pole then made a long speech, reverting to his own history
-as well as that of the nation. All listened in solemn seriousness and
-yet apprehension when he announced to them the fact that the Pope was
-ready to absolve the English from their crimes of heresy and contumacy.
-But when he added that this was to be done without any reclamation
-of the Church lands, there was a unanimous vote of both Houses for
-reconciliation with Rome.
-
-The next morning, the king, queen, and Parliament met again in the
-presence-chamber, when, Pole presenting himself, Philip and Mary
-rose, and, bowing profoundly to him, presented him with the vote of
-Parliament. The cardinal, on receiving it, offered up thanks to God for
-this auspicious event, and then ordered his commission to be read. The
-Peers and Commons then fell on their knees and received absolution and
-benediction from the hands of the cardinal, and thus for a time again was
-the great breach between England and the Papacy healed.
-
-Parliament proceeded to pass Acts confirming all that was now done,
-and repealing all the statutes which had been passed against the Roman
-Church since the 20th of Henry VIII., while the clergy in Convocation
-made formal resignation of the possessions which had passed into
-the hands of laymen. The legate also issued decrees authorising all
-cathedral churches, hospitals, and schools founded since the schism, to
-be preserved, and that all persons who had contracted marriage within
-prescribed degrees should remain married notwithstanding.
-
-The year 1555 opened with dark and threatening features. The queen's
-health was failing; and, under the idea that she was merely suffering
-maternal inconvenience, she was rapidly advancing in a dropsy which,
-in less than four years, was destined to sink her to the tomb. The
-king, gloomy, despotic, and, consequently, unpopular, though he often
-endeavoured to act against his nature, and assume a popular character,
-still hoping for an heir to the English crown, had obtained from
-Parliament an Act constituting him regent, in case Mary should die after
-the birth of a child, during the minority of that child. Thus, whether
-the queen lived or died, he appeared to possess a reasonable prospect of
-obtaining the supreme power in this country; and how he would have used
-it, we may judge from his government of Spain and the Netherlands. If the
-child was a female, he was made governor till her fifteenth year; if a
-male, till his eighteenth year. Philip protested on his honour that he
-would give up the government faithfully when the child came of age; but
-Lord Paget asked "who was to sue the bond if he did not?"--a suggestion
-never forgiven. With this flattering but illusive prospect before
-him, the tempest of persecution soon burst forth; and, had Providence
-permitted, England would soon have exhibited the same scene of tyranny,
-bloodshed, and insult which Flanders did under his rule. As it was, for a
-short period, terrible war for conscience' sake burst forth, the prisons
-were thronged, and the fires of death blazed out in every quarter of the
-island. Mary, with failing health, and doting absurdly on her husband,
-was easily drawn to acquiesce in deeds and measures which made her name
-a byword to all future times.
-
-We are now called upon to pass through a reign of terror, a time of
-fire and blood, such as has no parallel in the history of England. The
-statutes against the Lollards enacted in the reigns of Richard II.,
-Henry IV., and Henry V., were revived and were to come into force on the
-20th of January. Bonner, accompanied by eight bishops and 160 priests,
-made a grand procession through the streets of London, and held services
-of public thanksgiving for the happy restoration of Catholicism. A
-commission was then held in the Church of St. Mary Overy, in Southwark,
-for the trial of heretics. The first man brought before this court, over
-which Gardiner presided, was John Rogers, a prebendary of St. Paul's,
-who had nobly distinguished himself by defending the first priest sent
-by Mary to preach Papacy at St. Paul's Cross. The Court condemned him to
-be burnt, and on the 4th of February this horrible sentence was executed
-in the most barbarous manner. The day of his death was kept a profound
-secret from him, and early that morning he was suddenly awakened out of a
-sound sleep and informed that he was to be burnt that day. The condemned
-man, so far from sinking under the appalling announcement, only calmly
-observed, "Then I need not truss my points." He requested to be permitted
-to take leave of his wife and children, of whom he had eleven--one still
-at the breast--but this Bonner refused. As he was led by the sheriffs
-towards Smithfield, where he was to suffer, he sang the "Miserere." His
-wife and children were placed where he would have a full view of them
-at the stake, and it was expected that this would induce him to recant
-and save his life, and thus induce others to follow his example; but
-outwardly unmoved, he maintained the most sublime fortitude.
-
-Bishop Hooper, Ferrar, Bishop of St. David's, Dr. Rowland Taylor of
-Hadleigh, in Suffolk, and Lawrence Saunders, Rector of Allhallows,
-Coventry, were all condemned to the same death, and, like Rogers,
-were offered their lives on recantation, which one and all refused.
-The treatment of the pious Bishop Hooper was a most glaring case of
-ingratitude. Decided Protestant as he was, and of the most primitive
-simplicity of faith, he had from the first manifested the most staunch
-loyalty to Mary. In his own account of himself he says, "When Mary's
-fortunes were at the worst, I rode myself from place to place, as is well
-known, to win and stay the people to her party. And whereas when another
-was proclaimed [Lady Jane Grey] I preferred our queen, notwithstanding
-the proclamations. I sent horses in both shires [Gloucestershire and
-Worcester] to serve her in great danger, as Sir John Talbot and William
-Lygon, Esq., can testify." Hooper was sent down to Gloucester, his own
-diocese, to suffer, where he was burnt on the 9th of February, in a slow
-fire, to increase and prolong his agonies to the utmost. On the same day
-Dr. Taylor was burnt at Hadleigh.
-
-This shocking state of things was interrupted for some time by the sudden
-and extraordinary outbreak of Alphonso di Castro, the confessor of King
-Philip, a Spanish friar, who preached before the Court a sermon in which
-he most vehemently and eloquently inveighed against the wickedness and
-inhumanity of burning people for their opinions. He declared that the
-practice was not learned in the Scriptures, but the contrary; for it was
-decidedly opposed to both the letter and the spirit of the New Testament;
-that it was the duty of the Government and the clergy to win men to the
-Gospel by mildness, and not to kill but to instruct the ignorant. A
-mystery has always hung over this singular demonstration. Some thought
-Philip, some that Mary, had ordered him to preach this sermon, but it
-is far more probable that it was the spontaneous act of zeal in a man
-who was enlightened beyond his age and his country. It is not probable
-that it proceeded from Philip, for he could at once have commanded this
-change; it is besides contrary to his life-long policy. Had it been the
-will of the sovereigns it would have produced a permanent effect. As it
-was, it took the Court and country by surprise. The impression on the
-Court was so powerful that all further burnings ceased for five weeks, by
-which time the good friar's sermon had lost its effect; and the religious
-butcheries went on as fiercely as ever, till more than two hundred
-persons had been slaughtered on account of their faith in this short
-reign. Miles Coverdale, the venerable translator of the Bible, was saved
-from this death by the King of Denmark writing to Mary and claiming him
-as his subject.
-
-[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.
-
-(_From the Portrait in the Collection at Lambeth Palace._)]
-
-Mary had now, according to the custom of English queens, formally taken
-to her chamber in expectation of giving birth to an heir to the throne.
-She chose Hampton Court as the scene of this vainly-hoped-for event, and
-went there on the 3rd of April, where she continued secluded from her
-subjects, only being seen on one occasion, till the 21st of July, after
-she had again returned to St. James's. This occasion was on the 23rd of
-May, St. George's Day, when she stood at a window of the palace to see
-the procession of the Knights of the Garter with Philip at their head,
-attended by Gardiner the Lord Chancellor, and a crowd of priests with
-crosses, march round the courts and cloisters of Hampton Court. A few
-days afterwards there was a report that a prince was born, and there
-was much ringing of bells and singing _Te Deum_ in the City and other
-places. But it soon became known, that there was no hope of an heir, but
-that the queen was suffering under a mortal disease, and that such was
-her condition, "that she sat whole days together on the ground crouched
-together with her knees higher than her head." On the 21st of July she
-removed for her health from London to Eltham Palace.
-
-Gardiner took advantage of the pause in persecution caused by the sermon
-of Di Castro to withdraw from his odious office of chief inquisitor.
-Might _he_ not have instigated the friar to express his opinion so
-boldly, for it is obvious that he wanted to be clear of the dreadful
-work of murdering his fellow-subjects for their faith? He therefore
-withdrew from the office, and a more sanguinary man took it up. This
-was Bonner, Bishop of London. He opened his inquisitorial court in the
-consistory court of St. Paul's, and compelled the Lord Mayor and aldermen
-to attend and countenance his proceedings. Burnet gives a letter written
-in the name of Philip and Mary exhorting him to increased activity; but
-from what we have seen of Mary's condition we may safely attribute the
-spur to Philip. Cardinal Pole did all in his power to put an end to the
-persecutions, but in vain.
-
-It was now resolved to proceed to extremities with the three eminent
-prelates, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer. But the charge of high treason
-was dropped, undoubtedly because it was hoped that they might, by the
-prospect of the flames, be brought as heretics to recantation. On the
-15th of April, 1554, they were led from their prisons to St. Mary's
-Church, Oxford, where the doctors of the university sat in judgment upon
-them. They were promised a free and fair discussion of their tenets,
-and the still more vain assurance was given that if they could convince
-their opponents they should be set free. The so-called disputation
-continued three days, but it more truly represented a bear-baiting than
-the discussion of men in quest of the truth.
-
-On the 16th of April, the day appointed, Cranmer appeared before
-this disorderly assembly in the divinity school. He was treated with
-peculiar indignity, for they had a deep hatred of him from the long and
-conspicuous part which he had enacted in the work of Reformation. It was
-in vain that he attempted to state his views, for he was interrupted at
-every moment by half a dozen persons at once; and whenever he advanced
-anything particularly difficult of answer, the doctors denounced him as
-ignorant and unlearned, and the students hissed and clapped their hands
-outrageously. The next day Ridley experienced the same treatment, but
-he was a man of a much more bold and determined character, of profound
-learning, and ready address, and, in spite of the most disreputable
-clamour and riot, he made himself heard above all the storm, and with
-telling effect. When his adversaries shouted at him five or six at a
-time, he calmly observed, "I have but one tongue, I cannot answer all at
-once."
-
-Latimer was not only oppressed by age but by sickness, and he was
-scarcely able to stand. He appealed to his base judges to pity his
-weakness and give him a fair hearing. "Ha! good master," he said to
-Weston, the moderator, "I pray ye be good to an old man; ye may be once
-as old as I am: ye may come to this age and this debility." But he
-appealed in vain; his judges and hearers were lost to all sense of what
-was due to truth and religion, of what was due to the age and spirit of a
-veteran servant of God, whatever might have been his errors or failings.
-The rude students only laughed, hissed, clapped their hands, and mocked
-the old man the more. Seeing that all hopes of a hearing were vain, he
-told the rabble of his judges and spectators, for such they truly were,
-"that he had spoken before attentive kings for two and three hours at
-a time, but that he could not declare his mind there for a quarter of
-an hour for mockings, revilings, checks, rebukes, and taunts, such as
-he had not felt the like in such an audience all his life long." The
-three insulted and unheard prisoners wrote to the queen that they had
-been silenced by the noise, not by the arguments of their opponents, and
-Cranmer in his letter said, "I never knew nor heard of a more confused
-disputation in all my life; for albeit there was one appointed to dispute
-against me, yet every man spake his mind, and brought forth what him
-liked without order; and such haste was made that no answer could be
-suffered to be given."
-
-On the 28th of April they were all three brought again into St. Mary's
-Church, and asked by Weston whether they were willing to conform, and
-on replying in the negative, were condemned as obstinate heretics,
-and returned to their prison. There they lay till the October of the
-following year (1555), when Ridley and Latimer were ordered to prepare
-for the stake. On the 16th of that month a stake was erected in the town
-ditch opposite to Balliol College. Soto, a Spanish priest, had been sent
-to them in person to try to convert them, but in vain; Latimer would not
-even listen to him; and now at the stake a Dr. Smith, who had renounced
-Popery in King Edward's time, and was again a pervert, preached a sermon
-on the text, "Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it
-profiteth me nothing." The two martyrs cheered each other, and exhorted
-one another to be courageous. Ridley, on approaching the pile, turned to
-Latimer who was following him, embraced and kissed him, saying, "Be of
-good heart, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flame,
-or strengthen us to bear it;" and when Latimer was tied to the stake
-back to back with his fellow-sufferer, he returned the consolation,
-exclaiming, "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we
-shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I
-trust shall never be put out." A lighted faggot was placed at the feet
-of Ridley, and matches were applied to the pile. Bags of gunpowder were
-hung round their necks to shorten their sufferings, and as the flames
-ascended Latimer quickly died, probably through suffocation in the smoke;
-but Ridley suffered long. His brother-in-law had piled the faggots high
-about him to hasten his death, but the flames did not readily find their
-way amongst them from their closeness, and a spectator hearing him cry
-out that he could not burn opened the pile, and an explosion of gunpowder
-almost instantly terminated his existence.
-
-Cranmer was reserved for a future day. The punctilios of ecclesiastical
-form were strictly observed, and as he enjoyed the dignity of Primate
-of England, it required higher authority to decide his fate than that
-which had pronounced judgment on his companions. Latimer and Ridley had
-been sentenced by the commissioners of the legate, Cranmer must only be
-doomed by the Pontiff himself. He was therefore waited on in his cell
-by Brooks, Bishop of Gloucester, as Papal sub-delegate, and two Royal
-commissioners, and there cited to appear before him at Rome within
-eighty days, and answer for his heresies. As this was impossible, the
-citation was a mockery and an insult. When the archbishop saw his two
-friends led forth to their horrible death, his resolution, which never
-was very great, began to fail, and he now presented a woful image of
-terror and irresolution, very different to the bravery of his departed
-friends. He expressed a possibility of conversion to Rome, and desired
-a conference with Cardinal Pole. But soon he became ashamed of his own
-weakness, and wrote to the queen defending his own doctrines, which she
-commissioned the cardinal to answer. When the eighty days had expired,
-and the Pope had pronounced his sentence, and had appointed Bonner, and
-Thirlby, Bishop of Ely, to degrade him, and see his sentence executed,
-he once more trembled with apprehension, and gave out that he was ready
-to submit to the judgment of the queen; that he believed in the creed of
-the Catholic Church, and deplored and condemned his past apostacy. He
-forwarded this submission to the Council, which they found too vague, and
-required a more full and distinct confession, which he supplied. When the
-Bishops of London and Ely arrived to degrade him, he appealed from the
-judgment of the Pope to that of a general Council, but that not being
-listened to, he sent two other papers to the commissioners before they
-left Oxford, again fully and explicitly submitting to all the statutes of
-the realm regarding the supremacy, and professing his faith in all the
-doctrines and rites of the Romish Church.
-
-On the 21st of March, 1556, Cranmer was conducted to St. Mary's Church,
-Oxford, where Dr. Cole, provost of Eton College, preached a sermon, in
-which he stated that notwithstanding Cranmer's repentance, he had done
-the Church so much mischief that he must die. That morning Garcina, a
-Spanish friar, had waited on him before leaving his cell, and presented
-him with a paper making a complete statement of his recantation and
-repentance, which he requested him to copy and sign. It seems that his
-enemies calculated that, having so fully committed himself, the fallen
-Primate would not, at the last hour, depart from his confession; but they
-were mistaken. Cranmer now saw nothing but death before him, and he most
-bitterly repented of his weakness and the renunciation of what he felt
-to be the holy truth. He therefore transcribed once more the paper which
-had been brought to him, but in place of the latter part of it he wrote
-in a very different conclusion. Accordingly, when he read his paper at
-the conclusion of the sermon, there was a profound silence till he came
-to the fifth article of it, which went on to declare that through fear of
-death, and beguiled by hopes of pardon, he had been led to renounce his
-genuine faith, but that he now declared that all his recantations were
-false; that he recalled them every one, rejected the Papal authority, and
-confirmed the whole doctrine contained in his book. The amazement was
-intense, the audience became agitated by various passions, there were
-mingled murmurings and approbation. The Lord Williams of Thame called to
-him to "remember himself and play the Christian." That was touching a
-string which woke the response of the hero and the martyr in the Primate.
-He replied that he did remember; that it was now too late to dissemble,
-and he must now speak the truth.
-
-[Illustration: THE PLACE OF MARTYRDOM, OLD SMITHFIELD.]
-
-When the first astonishment at this unlooked-for declaration had passed,
-there was a rush to drag down Cranmer, and hurry him to the stake in
-the same spot where his friends Ridley and Latimer had suffered. There
-he was speedily stripped to the shirt and tied to the stake; through it
-all he was firm and calm. He no longer trembled at his fate; he declared
-that he had never changed his belief; hope of life only had wrung from
-him his recantation; and the moment that the flames burst out he thrust
-his right hand into them, saying, "This hath offended." The writers of
-those times say that he stood by the stake whilst the fire raged round
-him, as immovable as the stake itself, and lifting up his eyes to heaven,
-exclaimed, "Lord, receive my spirit," and very soon expired.
-
-The day after the death of Cranmer, Cardinal Pole, who had now taken
-priest's orders, was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury; and showed his
-anxiety to check this fierce and impolitic persecution, but, as we shall
-find, with no great result.
-
-While these terrible transactions had been taking place King Philip
-had quitted the kingdom. With all his endeavours to become popular
-with the English, Philip never could win their regard. He conformed to
-many national customs, and affected to enjoy the national amusements;
-threw off much of his hauteur, especially in his intercourse with the
-nobles, and conferred pensions on them on the plea that they had stood
-by the queen during the insurrection. But nothing could inspire the
-English with confidence in him. They had always an idea that the object
-of the Spaniards was to introduce the Spanish rule and dominance here.
-They had always the persuasion that it was no longer their own queen,
-but the future King of Spain and the Netherlands who ruled. It was
-clearly seen that Philip never had any real affection for Mary; it was
-the public opinion that he had now less than ever, whilst the poor
-invalid Mary doated on him, and was ready to yield up everything but the
-actual sovereignty to him. And now came a very sufficient cause for the
-departure of Philip from England. His father, Charles V., wearied of
-governing his vast empire, was anxious to abdicate in favour of his son.
-Philip embarked at Dover on the 4th of September, 1555. Mary accompanied
-him from Hampton to Greenwich, riding through London in a litter, in
-order, as the French ambassador states, "that her people might see that
-she was not dead." The queen was anxious to proceed as far as Dover, and
-see him embark, but her health did not permit this; and after parting
-from him with passionate grief, she endeavoured to console herself by
-having daily prayers offered for his safety and speedy return.
-
-[Illustration: MARY I.]
-
-Charles V., at the age of only fifty-five, had now resigned his vast
-empire to his son and his brother Ferdinand; and Spain, the Netherlands,
-Naples, Sicily, Milan, and the new lands of South America, owned Philip
-as their lord. On the 25th of October, 1555, Charles, in an assembly of
-the States of the Netherlands, resigned these countries to Philip, and
-in a few months later he also put him in possession of the government
-of other parts of his dominions, Ferdinand succeeding to the Imperial
-crown. Charles then retired to the monastery of St. Just, near Placentia,
-on the borders of Spain and Portugal, where this great king, who had
-so long exercised so strong an influence on the destinies of Europe,
-lived as a simple private gentleman, retaining only a few servants and a
-single horse for his own use, and employing his now abundant leisure in
-religious exercises, in gardening, and clock-making.
-
-During Philip's absence, a series of insurrections took place which
-disturbed the quiet of the queen, and in which the King of France seems
-to have borne no inconsiderable part. His assiduous minister, Noailles,
-disseminated reports that Mary, hopeless of issue, had resolved to settle
-the Crown on her husband. This having produced its effect, a conspiracy
-was set on foot to put Elizabeth on the throne, and depose Mary. Sir
-Henry Dudley, a relative of the late Duke of Northumberland, was to head
-it and the French king, to secure his interest, had settled a pension
-on him. The worthless Courtenay, who was at this moment on his way to
-Italy, whence he never returned, was still to play the part of husband
-to Elizabeth, though the management of the plot was to be consigned to
-Dudley. Elizabeth had again, it is said, fully consented to this plot,
-though the health of Mary was such as must have promised her the throne
-at no distant day. Dudley was already on the coast of Normandy with some
-of his fellow-conspirators, making preparations, when the King of France
-unexpectedly concluded a truce for five years with Philip. He therefore
-advised Dudley and his accomplices to lie quiet for a more favourable
-opportunity. This was a paralysing blow to the scheme of insurrection,
-and the coadjutors in England had gone so far that they did not think
-it safe to stop. Kingston, Uedale, Throgmorton, Staunton, and others of
-the league determined to seize the treasure in the Tower, and, once in
-possession of that, to raise forces and drive the queen from the throne.
-But one of them revealed the design; several of them were seized and
-executed, and others escaped to France. Mary applied by her ambassador,
-Lord Clinton, to Henry II. to have them delivered up, and received a
-polite promise of endeavour to secure them, which there was in reality
-no intention to fulfil. Amongst the conspirators arrested were two
-officers of the household of Elizabeth, Peckham and Werne, who made very
-awkward confessions; but again the princess escaped, it is said at the
-intercession of Philip, who was apprehensive, if Elizabeth was removed
-from the succession, of the claims of the French king on behalf of his
-daughter-in-law, the Queen of Scots. Elizabeth at all events escaped,
-protesting her innocence as stoutly as ever, but receiving from the
-Council in place of those two officers executed, two other trusty ones,
-Sir Thomas Pope and Robert Cage.
-
-But if Elizabeth was uneasy, Mary was still more so. The disquiets
-which surrounded her, and the wretched state of her health, made her
-very anxious for the return of her husband. She had lost her able
-minister, Gardiner, who died in November, 1555, and his successor, Heath,
-Archbishop of York, by no means supplied his place. Mary, therefore,
-wrote long and repeated letters to urge the return of Philip, and,
-finding them unavailing, she despatched Lord Paget to represent the
-urgent need of his presence in the kingdom. At last his difficulties
-with France and the Pope brought Philip home to his wife when all
-conjugal persuasions on her part had failed. He sent over, to announce
-his approach, Robert Dudley, son of the late Duke of Northumberland,
-whom Mary had liberated from the Tower, and who already, it seems, had
-contrived to win so much favour as to be taken into the royal service,
-in which he continued to mount till, in the next reign, he became the
-notorious Earl of Leicester and favourite of Queen Elizabeth. On the 20th
-of March, 1556, Philip himself arrived at Greenwich. As he wanted to win
-the English to join him in the war against France, he paid particular
-respect to the City of London. During this visit there appeared at Court
-the novel sight of a Duke of Muscovy, in the character of ambassador from
-Russia, who astonished the public by the enormous size of the pearls and
-jewels that he wore, and the richness of his dress.
-
-Philip used all his influence to induce the queen and her Council to
-declare war against Henry of France, who had broken that five years'
-truce into which he had so recently entered. But the finances of the
-country were not such as to render either the queen or her Council
-willing to go to war with France, which, connected as France was now with
-Scotland, was sure to occasion a war also with that country. Cardinal
-Pole and nearly the whole Council were strongly opposed to it. They
-assured her that to engage lightly in Philip's wars was to make England
-a dependency of Spain, and Philip, on the other hand, protested to the
-queen that if she did not aid him against France he would take his leave
-of her for ever.
-
-While matters were in this position a circumstance occurred which
-turned the scale in Philip's favour. Henry II. of France, on deciding
-to accept the Pope's invitation, and to make war on Philip, called on
-Dudley and his adherents to renew their attempts on England. Dudley
-and his coadjutors opened a communication with the families of the
-Reformers in Calais and the surrounding district, who had suffered from
-the persecution of the English Government, or who were indignant at the
-cruelties practised on their fellow professors, and they concurred in a
-plan to betray Hammes and Guines to the French. This scheme was defeated
-by the means of an English spy who became cognisant of the secret. The
-mischief, though stopped there, soon showed itself in another quarter.
-Thomas Stafford, the second son of Lord Stafford, and grandson of the
-late Duke of Buckingham, mustered a small army of English, French, and
-Scots, and, sailing from Dieppe, landed at Scarborough in Yorkshire, and
-surprised the castle there. But he soon found that, however much the
-public might dislike the Spanish match, they were not at all inclined to
-rebel against their queen. Wotton, the English ambassador in France, had
-duly warned his court of the designs of Stafford, and on the fourth day
-the Earl of Westmoreland appeared with a strong body of troops before
-the castle, and compelled Stafford to surrender at discretion. Stafford,
-Saunders, and three or four others were sent to London, and committed
-to the Tower, where, under torture, they were made to confess that the
-King of France had instigated and assisted their enterprise. Stafford was
-beheaded on Tower Hill on the 28th of May, 1557, and the next day three
-of his confederates were hanged at Tyburn.
-
-The Council had been averse from the war, and had advised that, instead
-of appearing as principals, we should merely confine ourselves to the
-furnishing that aid which we were bound to by our ancient treaties
-with the House of Burgundy. Now, however, it felt itself justified in
-proclaiming open war against the King of France, as the violator of the
-treaty between the nations, in having harboured the traitors against the
-queen, and in having sent them over in French ships to Scarborough with
-arms, ammunition, and money. Philip, having obtained what he wanted,
-hastened over to Flanders, and neither Mary nor England ever saw him
-again.
-
-The Earl of Pembroke, accompanied by Lord Robert Dudley as his master of
-ordnance, followed Philip at the end of July with 7,000 men. They joined
-the army of Philip, consisting of men of many nations--Germans, Italians,
-Flemings, Dalmatians, Croats, Illyrians, and others--making altogether
-a force of 40,000 men, the supreme command of which was given to the
-rejected suitor of the Princess Elizabeth, Philibert Duke of Savoy.
-The duke successfully threatened an attack upon Marienberg, Rocroi, and
-Guise, but he finally drew up before St. Quentin, on the right bank
-of the Somme. There he won a great victory. The English fleet made
-descents upon France at various points, menaced Bordeaux and Bayonne, and
-plundered the defenceless inhabitants of the coasts. This was all that
-was achieved, except what Philip probably most looked for, the drawing
-of the Duke of Guise out of Italy. But this, while it removed all danger
-from Philip's Transalpine possessions, led to a loss on the part of his
-English ally which might be termed the crowning mischief of his union
-with Mary.
-
-The Duke of Guise, disappointed of his laurels in Italy, was now
-planning an attack on Calais. The English were never less prepared for
-the invasion. The fleet which had ravaged the coasts of France, and the
-troops sent to Flanders, had totally exhausted the exchequer of Mary,
-which at no time was well supplied. To victual that navy the queen had
-seized all the corn she could find in Norfolk without paying for it,
-and to equip the army sent to aid Philip, she had made a forced loan on
-London, and on people of property in different places; she had levied
-the second year's subsidy voted by Parliament before its time, and now
-was helpless at the critical moment. Lord Wentworth, the Governor of
-Calais, foreseeing the approaching storm, sent repeated entreaties for
-reinforcements for its defence. They were wholly unattended to.
-
-The Duke of Guise, after entering the English pale, sent a detachment
-of his army along the downs to Rysbank, and led the other himself, with
-a very heavy train of artillery, towards Newnham Bridge. He forced
-the outwork at the village of St. Agatha, at the commencement of the
-causeway, drove the garrison into Newnham, and took possession of the
-outwork. The bulwarks of Froyton and Nesle were abandoned, for the
-lord-deputy could send no forces to defend them. At Newnham Bridge
-the garrison withdrew so silently that the French continued firing
-upon the fort when the men were already in Calais; but at Rysbank the
-garrison surrendered with the fort. Thus, in a couple of days, the Duke
-of Guise was in possession of two most important forts, one commanding
-the harbour, the other the causeway across the marshes from Flanders. A
-battery on the heath of St. Pierre played on the wall to create a false
-alarm, whilst another in real earnest played on the castle. A breach
-was made in the wall near the water-gate, and, while the garrison
-was busy in repairing it, Guise cannonaded the castle (which was in a
-scandalous state of neglect) with fifteen double cannons. A wide breach
-was speedily made. Lord Wentworth, well aware that the castle could
-not be maintained, had ordered mines to be prepared, and calculated on
-blowing the castle and the Frenchmen into the air together as soon as
-they were in. Guise, seeing no garrison defending the breach, ordered one
-detachment to occupy the quay, and another, under Strozzi, to take up
-a position on the other side of the harbour. Strozzi was repulsed; but
-at ebb-tide in the evening, Grammont, at the head of 100 arquebusiers,
-marched up to the ditch opposite to the breach. No one being seen in the
-castle, Guise ordered plenty of hurdles to be thrown into the ditch, and,
-putting himself at the head of his men, forded the ditch, finding it not
-deeper than his girdle. The lord-deputy, seeing the French in the castle,
-ordered the train to be fired; but there was no explosion. The soldiers
-crossing from the ditch to the breach, with their clothes deluging the
-ground with water, had wet the train, and defeated Wentworth's design.
-The next morning Guise sent his troops to assault the town, calculating
-on as easy a conquest of it; but Sir Anthony Agar, with a handful of
-men, not only repulsed the French, but chased them back into the castle.
-The brave Sir Anthony, with a larger force, would have driven the French
-from the decayed old castle too, but he had the merest little knot of
-followers, and in the vain attempt to force the enemy out of the castle,
-he fell at the gate with his son, and eighty of his chief officers.
-Lord Wentworth perceiving the impossibility of continuing the defence,
-destitute of a garrison, and having waited in vain for reinforcements
-from Dover, that night demanded a parley, and surrendered.
-
-[Illustration: THE HÔTEL DE VILLE AND OLD LIGHTHOUSE, CALAIS.]
-
-The fall of Calais necessitated, as a matter of course, the loss of
-the whole Calais district. Having put Calais into a state of defence,
-Guise marched on the 13th of January, 1558, to Guines, about five miles
-distant, to reduce the town and fort there. These were defended stoutly
-by Lord Grey de Wilton, who had received about 400 Spanish and Burgundian
-soldiers from King Philip, but they were in too miserable a state of
-repair to be long held. The walls in a few days were knocked to pieces;
-the Spanish soldiers were nearly all killed, and the remaining force
-compelled their officers to surrender. The little castle of Hammes now
-only remained, and situated in the midst of extensive marshes, it might
-have given the enemy some trouble; but its governor, Lord Edward Dudley,
-the moment he heard of the surrender of Guines, abandoned it, and fled
-with his few soldiers into Flanders. The French were as elated at their
-success as the English were mortified with it, and the poor queen felt
-the loss so deeply, that she declared that if her body were opened after
-her death, the name of Calais would be found graven on her heart.
-
-[Illustration: SHILLING OF PHILIP AND MARY.]
-
-In England, during the spring, preparations were made for the invasion
-of France. Seven thousand troops were raised and diligently drilled.
-One hundred and forty ships were hired, which the Lord-Admiral Clinton
-collected in the harbour of Portsmouth, to be ready to join the fleet
-of Philip, and, in conjunction, to ravage the coasts of France; whilst
-Philip, with an army of Spanish, French, and English, should enter the
-country by land. But this fleet and the English army, instead of aiming
-to recover Calais, sailed to make an attack on Brest. But their progress
-had been so dilatory that the French had made ample preparations to
-receive them, and despairing of effecting any impression on Brest, they
-fell on the little port of Le Conquêt, which they took and pillaged,
-with a large church and several hamlets in its immediate neighbourhood.
-They then marched some miles up the country, burning and plundering, and
-the Flemings, in the eager quest of booty, going too far ahead, were
-surrounded, and 400 of them cut off.
-
-[Illustration: REAL OF MARY I.]
-
-It appeared as if the war would be brought to a conclusion by a pitched
-battle between the sovereigns of France and Spain. Philip had joined
-his general, the Duke of Savoy, and they lay near Dourlens with an army
-of 45,000 men. Henry had come into the camp of the Duke of Guise near
-Amiens, who had an army of nearly equal strength. All the world looked
-now for a great and decisive conflict. But Philip, though superior in
-numbers, as well as crowned with the prestige of victory, listened to
-offers of accommodation from Henry, and dismissing their armies into
-winter quarters, they betook themselves to negotiation. From the first no
-agreement appeared probable. Philip demanded the restoration of Calais,
-Henry that of Navarre, and they were still pursuing the hopeless phantom
-of accommodation, when the news of Queen Mary's death changed totally the
-position of Philip, and put an end to the attempt. She died, desolate and
-broken-hearted, on the 17th of November, 1558.
-
-With all her bigotry, Mary had many excellent and amiable qualities.
-No English monarch ever maintained a less expensive and less corrupt
-court. She avoided all unnecessary taxation, and treated the cost of
-her war with France as largely a private charge of her own. She lived
-unostentatiously, went about amongst the poor with her maids, inquiring
-into their wants and relieving them. She was an enlightened patron of
-learning, and was the first to propose a hospital for old and invalid
-soldiers, leaving a legacy for this purpose, which was, however, never
-appropriated. Except in the matter of religious toleration, she showed a
-scrupulous regard for the maintenance of the Constitution and the law.
-Under her the administration of justice was pure and without respect of
-person. Nor were the interests of trade neglected. She was the first to
-make a commercial treaty with Russia, and she revoked the privileges of
-the Hanse Town merchants, who had exercised them to the hurt of her own
-people. By nature she was mild, but the persecution of her own faith in
-the persons of her mother and herself, and, above everything, the fatal
-Spanish marriage, produced a reaction which entailed all the calamities
-of her short and miserable reign.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
-
-     Accession of Elizabeth--Sir William Cecil--The Coronation--Opening
-     of Parliament--Ecclesiastical Legislation--Consecration of
-     Parker--Elizabeth and Philip--Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis--Affairs
-     in Scotland--The First Covenant--Attitude of Mary of Guise--Riot
-     at Perth--Outbreak of Hostilities--The Lords of the Congregation
-     apply to England--Elizabeth hesitates--Siege of Leith--Treaty
-     of Edinburgh--Return of Mary to Scotland--Murray's Influence
-     over her--Beginning of the Religious Wars in France--Elizabeth
-     sends Help to the Huguenots--Peace of Amboise--English Disaster
-     at Havre--Peace with France--The Earl of Leicester--Project of
-     his Marriage with Mary--Lord Darnley--Murder of Rizzio--Birth
-     of Mary's Son--Murder of Darnley--Mary and Bothwell--Carberry
-     Hill--Mary in Lochleven--Abdicates in favour of Her Infant
-     Son--Mary's Escape from Lochleven--Defeated at Langside--Her
-     Escape into England.
-
-
-Parliament had met on the morning of the 17th of November, 1558, unaware
-of the decease of the queen; but before noon, Dr. Heath, the Archbishop
-of York and Lord Chancellor of England, sent a message to the House of
-Commons, requesting the Speaker, with the knights and burgesses of the
-Lower House, to attend in the Lords to give their assent in a matter of
-the utmost importance. On being there assembled, the Lord Chancellor
-announced to the united Parliament the demise of Mary, and, though by
-that event the Commons were dissolved by the law as it remained till
-the reign of William III., he called upon them to combine with the
-Lords, before taking their departure, for the safety of the country, by
-proclaiming the Lady Elizabeth queen of the realm. Whatever might have
-been the fears of any portion of the community as to the recognition of
-the title of Elizabeth on the plea of illegitimacy, or from suspicion of
-her religion, that question had long been settled by the flocking of the
-courtiers of all creeds and characters to Hatfield, where she resided;
-and now on this announcement there was a loud acclamation from the
-members of both Houses of "God save Queen Elizabeth! Long may she reign
-over us!"
-
-For two days Elizabeth, as if from due respect to her deceased sister and
-sovereign, remained quiescent at Hatfield; but thousands of people of all
-ranks were flocking thither; and on the 19th her Privy Council proceeded
-thither also, and, after announcing to her her joyful and undisputed
-accession, they proclaimed her with all state before the gates of
-Hatfield House. They then sat in council with her, and she appointed her
-own ministers, having, no doubt, made all these arrangements with the man
-whom she had long marked out for her prime minister, Sir William Cecil.
-He had for years been her confidential counsellor. By his shrewd and
-worldly guidance, she had shaped her future course; and in appointing her
-ministers now, she showed by her address to Cecil that it was for him
-that she designed the chief post.
-
-Besides Cecil, she named Sir Thomas Parry, her cofferer, Cave, and
-Rogers of her Privy Council. Cecil immediately entered on his duties as
-her Secretary of State, and submitted to her a programme of what was
-immediately necessary to be done, which she accepted; and thus began that
-union between Elizabeth and her great minister, which only terminated
-with his life.
-
-On the 23rd the new queen commenced her progress towards the metropolis,
-attended by a magnificent throng of nobles, ladies, and gentlemen, and
-a vast concourse of people from London and from the country round. At
-Highgate she was met by the bishops, who kneeled by the wayside, and
-offered their allegiance. She received them graciously, and gave them
-all her hand to kiss, except to Bonner, whom she treated with a marked
-coldness, on account of his atrocious cruelties: an intimation of her own
-intentions on the score of religion which must have given satisfaction
-to the people. At the foot of Highgate Hill, the Lord Mayor and his
-aldermanic brethren, in their scarlet gowns, were waiting to receive her,
-and conducted her to the Charter House, then the residence of Lord North,
-where Heath, the Lord Chancellor, and the Earls of Derby and Shrewsbury
-received her. There she remained five days to give time for the necessary
-preparations, when she proceeded to take up her residence in the Tower,
-prior to her coronation, which took place on the 15th of January, 1559.
-
-[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH.
-
-(_From the painting by Zucchero at Hatfield House._)]
-
-On the 25th of January Elizabeth proceeded to open her first Parliament.
-She had prepared to carry the decisive measures of religious reform which
-she contemplated, by adding five new peers of the Protestant faith to the
-Upper House, and by sending to the sheriffs a list of Court candidates
-out of which they were to choose the members. Like all other public
-proceedings, this was a strange medley of Romanism and Protestantism.
-High mass was performed at the altar in Westminster Abbey before the
-queen and the assembled Houses, and this was followed by a sermon
-preached by Dr. Cox, the Calvinistic schoolmaster of Edward VI., who had
-just returned from Geneva. The Lord Keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, then
-opened the session by a speech, the queen being present, in which he held
-very high prerogative language, assuring both Lords and Commons that they
-might take measures for a uniform order of religion, and for the safety
-of the State against both foreign and domestic enemies; not that it was
-absolutely necessary, for she could do everything of her own authority,
-but she preferred having the advice and counsel of her loving subjects.
-
-The first thing which the Commons proposed was the very last thing
-which she would have wished them to meddle with--that is, an address
-recommending her to marry, so as to secure a legitimate heir to the
-throne. Elizabeth, as we have seen, had had many suitors, none of whom,
-if we except the unfortunate Lord Admiral Seymour, or the handsome
-but imbecile Courtenay, Earl of Devon, had she shown any willingness
-to marry. There have been many theories regarding the refusal of
-Elizabeth to enter into wedlock. The only one which will bear a moment's
-examination is, that her love of power was so strong as to absorb every
-other feeling and consideration. She made a long speech in reply to the
-address, glancing towards the close of it at her coronation ring, and
-then saying that when she received that ring, she became solemnly bound
-in marriage to the realm, and that she took their address in good part,
-but more for their good will than for their message.
-
-Without referring to the questionable marriage of her mother, Anne
-Boleyn, an Act was passed restoring Elizabeth in blood, and rendering her
-heritable to her mother and all her mother's line. She was declared to be
-lawful and rightful queen, lineally and lawfully descended of the blood
-royal, and fully capable of holding, and transmitting to her posterity,
-the possession of the crown and throne.
-
-Next came the regulations for the government of the Church, which
-Elizabeth had so prudently avoided making upon her own responsibility,
-but left to the authority of Parliament. By it the tenths and
-first-fruits resigned by Mary were again restored to her. The statutes
-passed in Mary's reign for the maintenance of strict Romanism were
-repealed, and those of Henry VIII. for the rejection of the Papal
-authority, and of Edward VI. for the reformation of the Church ritual
-were revived. The Book of Common Prayer, considerably modified, was to
-be in uniform and exclusive use. The old penalties against seeking any
-ecclesiastical authority or ordination from abroad were re-enacted,
-and the queen was declared absolute head of the Church by a new Act of
-Supremacy.
-
-Notwithstanding the softening of the parts and expressions in the liturgy
-most offensive to the Papists, such as the prayer "to deliver us from the
-Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities," and the modification
-of the terms in administration of the sacrament, to avoid offence to
-other Protestant churches, the bishops opposed these measures most
-resolutely. Convocation presented to the House of Lords a declaration
-of its belief in the Real Presence, transubstantiation, the sacrifice
-of the Mass, and the supremacy of the Pope. On the other hand, the
-Protestants were grievously disappointed in other particulars, especially
-as to restoration of the married clergy, and of the restoration to their
-sees of Bishops Barlow, Scorey, and Coverdale. Both these petitions
-failed on the question of marriage, for Elizabeth never could tolerate
-married priests or bishops, and these expelled bishops were all married
-men. The Protestants were equally disappointed in the failure of a Bill
-to nominate a commission to draw a code of canon law for the Anglican
-Church. Elizabeth, like her father, rather preferred deciding all such
-matters herself than allowing any other body to be authority.
-
-But to give an air of liberality to what was not meant to involve any
-concession, permission was given for the Papist and Protestant divines to
-argue certain great points in public. Five bishops and three doctors on
-the part of the former, and as many Protestant divines, were appointed
-to dispute before the Lord Keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, and the debates
-of the two Houses were suspended, that the members might attend the
-controversy. The Roman Catholics were to have the privilege of opening
-the conference, and the Protestants were to reply; but it was speedily
-discovered that this gave immense advantage to the Protestants. The Roman
-Catholics called for a change of this mode; the Lord Keeper refused to
-grant it; the bishops, therefore, protested that the conditions were
-not equal, and refused to attend. For this disobedience the Bishops of
-Winchester and Lincoln were committed to the Tower, and the other six
-disputants were bound to make their appearance at the bar of the Lords
-till judgment was pronounced, and they were compelled to do so till the
-end of the session, when they were fined in sums from £500 to forty
-marks. Parliament was dissolved on the 8th of May, and within a week
-Elizabeth summoned the bishops and other dignitaries before herself and
-the Privy Council, and admonished them to make themselves conformable to
-the laws just passed regarding religion. Heath, the archbishop, replied
-by boldly advising her Majesty to remember her own coronation oath, not
-to alter the religion which she found by law established; adding that his
-conscience could not permit him to conform to the new regulations, and
-all the other prelates and dignitaries declared the same. The Council
-then charged Heath and Bonner, on the evidence of certain papers, with
-having, during the reign of Edward VI., carried on secret conspiracies
-with Rome, with the intent to overthrow the Government. To this they
-replied by pleading two general pardons, and the Council then proceeded
-to administer to them the oath of supremacy. This they all refused except
-Kitchen, the Bishop of Llandaff, who had clung to his see through all
-changes for the last fourteen years, and clung to it still. They were
-then deprived of their sees, and a considerable number of other Church
-dignitaries were also deprived by the same test. The bulk of the clergy,
-however, conformed, and to those who were ejected pensions for life were
-allowed--a policy far more considerate than had ever prevailed in such
-circumstances before. The refugees on account of the Marian persecution,
-who had now flocked home from Switzerland and Germany, were installed
-in the vacant livings, and before the end of this year the Church
-of Rome had lost the State patronage in Great Britain for ever. Two
-statutes--the Act enforcing the oath of Supremacy, and the other the Act
-of Uniformity--became law, during this session. The latter Act prohibited
-under heavy penalties the use by a minister of any but the established
-liturgy, and confirmed the revised Book of Common Prayer of Edward VI.
-
-To replace the expelled bishops was no very easy matter, not from the
-paucity of candidates, but from the revolutions which had taken place in
-the ordinal of the Church. Dr. Matthew Parker, who had been the chaplain
-of Anne Boleyn, and who had stood so faithfully by her, was appointed by
-Elizabeth Archbishop of Canterbury, but how was he to be consecrated? His
-election was to be confirmed by four bishops, and his consecration to be
-performed by them. Where were they to be found? There was not a bishop
-left, except Llandaff. Still more, Mary had abolished the ordinal of
-Edward VI., and Elizabeth had abolished that of Mary. The difficulty was,
-at first sight, insurmountable, and no way out of it presented itself for
-four months. It was then recollected that Barlow, Hodgkins, Scorey, and
-Coverdale, the deprived Bishops of Bath, Bedford, Chichester, and Exeter,
-had been consecrated by the Reformed ordinal, and that restoration which
-had been denied them at the petition of their friends, because they
-were married men, was now accorded as an escape from this dilemma. They
-were reinstated, and confirmed the election of Parker, consecrated him
-according to the form of Edward VI., and helped to confirm and consecrate
-all the newly elected prelates.
-
-While Elizabeth and her ministers had been thus engaged in settling the
-constitution of the Church, they had also been occupied with effecting a
-Continental peace. Philip had refused to conclude a treaty with France
-previous to the death of Mary, without including in it the restoration
-of Calais to England, and to Philibert the Duke of Savoy his hereditary
-estates. The death of Mary at once cut the actual connection of Philip
-with England, but he remained firm in his demand, for he had formed the
-design of obtaining the hand of Elizabeth. He lost no time in making the
-offer, observing that though they were within the proscribed degrees of
-affinity the Pope would readily grant a dispensation, and the union of
-England and Spain would give them the command of Europe. But, independent
-of the partnership in power which this marriage would create, Elizabeth
-entertained schemes of Church arrangement very different to any which
-would accord with Philip's ideas. She, therefore, courteously excused
-herself on the plea of scruples of conscience, and this refusal was
-followed by the non-appearance of Feria, Philip's ambassador, at her
-coronation. Philip, however, did not give up the suit without employing
-all the eloquence and the arguments that he could muster; he kept up a
-brisk correspondence for some time with the new queen, and even when the
-attempt appeared hopeless, he still offered to assist her in the treaty
-with France. He settled his own disputes with France by marrying the
-daughter of the King of France, as soon as he saw the hand of Elizabeth
-unattainable, and procured the sister of Henry II. for his friend
-Philibert.
-
-[Illustration: ELIZABETH'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO LONDON. (_See p._ 246.)]
-
-The great demand of Elizabeth was the restoration of Calais, and at
-Cateau-Cambresis a treaty was concluded on the 2nd of April, 1559, by
-which the King of France actually engaged to surrender that town to
-England at the end of eight years, or pay to Elizabeth 500,000 crowns;
-and he agreed to deliver, as guarantee for this sum, four French noblemen
-and the bonds of eight foreign merchants. But to this article was
-appended another which, to any one in the least familiar with diplomacy,
-betrayed the fact that the whole was illusory, and that the French would
-have no difficulty, at the end of the prescribed term, in showing that
-England had in some way broken the contract. The article stipulated that
-if, within that period, Henry of France, or Mary of Scotland, should
-make any attempt against the realm or subjects of Elizabeth, they should
-forfeit all claim to the retention of that town; and if Elizabeth should
-infringe the peace with either of those monarchs, she should forfeit
-all claim to its surrender or to the penalty of 500,000 crowns. The
-public at once saw that the French would never relinquish their hold on
-Calais from the force of any such condition, and the indignation was
-proportionate. The Government, to divert the attention of the people from
-this flimsy pretence of eventual restoration, ordered the impeachment of
-Lord Wentworth, the late governor of the castle and of the Rysbank, on a
-charge of cowardice and treason. Wentworth, as he deserved, was acquitted
-by the jury; the captains were condemned, but the object of the trial
-being attained, their sentence was never carried into effect.
-
-Elizabeth, at her accession, had assumed the title of Queen of France.
-Henry II. immediately, by way of retaliation, caused his daughter-in-law
-Mary (she had married the Dauphin in 1558) to be styled Queen of
-Scotland and England, and had the arms of England quartered with those
-of Scotland. Elizabeth, with her extreme sensitiveness to any claims
-upon her crown, and regarding this act as a declaration of her own
-illegitimacy and of Henry's assertion of Mary's superior right to the
-English throne, resented the proceeding deeply, and from that moment
-never ceased to plot against the peace and power of Mary till she drove
-her from her throne, made her captive, and finally deprived her of her
-life.
-
-We have already shown that Henry VII. commenced, and Henry VIII. and
-Edward VI. continued, the system of bribing the Scottish nobility
-against their sovereign. Elizabeth, in pursuance of her plans against the
-Queen of Scots, now adopted the same practice, and kept in pay both the
-nobles and the Protestant leaders of Scotland. To understand fully her
-proceedings, we must, however, first take a hasty glance at the progress
-of the Reformation in Scotland. That kingdom received the Reformation
-in its simplest, most rigid, and severe form. The doctrines which had
-sprung up in republican Switzerland, under Calvin and Zwingli, were
-imbibed there by Knox and others in their most unbending hardness. There
-was little of the gentle and the pliant in their tenets, but a stern
-asceticism, which suited well with the grave and earnest character of the
-Scots. When summoned by Mary of Guise to appear in Edinburgh and answer
-for their conduct, the preachers, attended by thousands of the respective
-congregations, presented themselves in such a formidable shape, that
-the Regent declared that she meant no injury to them. A period of such
-tranquillity succeeded, that the leaders of the Reform party--the Earl
-of Glencairn, Lord Lorne, son of the Earl of Argyll, Erskine of Dun,
-Lord James Stuart, afterwards the Regent Murray--on the 3rd of December,
-1557, drew up that League and Covenant which was destined to work such
-wonders in Scotland, to rouse the suffering Reformers into a church
-militant, to put arms into the hands of the excited peasants, brace the
-sword to the side of the preacher, and, through civil war and scenes of
-strange suffering, bloodshed, and resistance on moor and mountain, to
-work out the freedom of the faith for ever in Scotland. The Covenant
-engaged all who subscribed it, in a solemn vow, "in the presence of the
-Majesty of God and His congregation," to spread the Word by every means
-in their power, to maintain the Gospel and defend its ministers against
-all tyranny; and it pronounced the most bitter anathemas against the
-superstition, the idolatry, and the abominations of Rome. This bond
-received the signatures of the Earls of Glencairn, Argyll, and Morton,
-Lord Lorne, Erskine of Dun, and many other nobles and gentlemen, who
-assumed the name of the Lords of the Congregation: and from this hour it
-became a scandalous apostacy for any one to flinch or fall away from this
-"Solemn League and Covenant."
-
-Mary at first temporised, but eventually determined to stand firm. In a
-convention of the clergy held in Edinburgh, in March, 1559, the Lords
-of the Congregation demanded that the bishops should be elected by the
-gentlemen of the diocese, and the clergy by the people of each parish.
-This was peremptorily refused, and it was decreed that the practice of
-using English prayers should cease, no language should be permitted in
-public worship but Latin, and this was followed by a proclamation of the
-Queen-Regent, ordering all people to conform strictly to the established
-religion and to attend Mass daily; and, in an interview with the leaders
-of the Protestants, she showed them the commands which she had received
-on these heads from France, and summoned the chief ministers of the
-Reformed body to appear before a Parliament to be held at Stirling to
-answer for their conduct in introducing heretical practices and doctrines.
-
-At this moment Knox arrived from France. It was determined by the Lords
-of the Congregation to attend their ministers to Stirling in such numbers
-as to overawe the Government, and Knox volunteered to take his part
-with the other preachers. The nobles and the people mustered at Perth.
-There Knox preached a stirring sermon; a riot was the result, and some
-religious houses were sacked.
-
-The Queen-Regent, at the news of this destruction, became furious. She
-vowed she would raze the town of Perth to the ground, and sow it with
-salt as a sign of eternal desolation. She summoned to her aid Arran, now
-Duke of Chatelherault, the Earl of Athole, and D'Oyselles, the French
-commander, and being joined by two of the Lords of the Congregation,
-Argyll and Lord James Stuart, who were averse from the outrages
-committed, on the 18th of May she marched to Perth. The Congregation
-hastened to address letters both to the Queen-Regent and the two Lords
-of the Congregation, who, to their indignation, had joined her. They
-told Mary of Guise that hitherto they had served her willingly; but if
-she persisted in her persecutions, they should abandon her and defend
-themselves. They would obey the queen and her husband if permitted
-to worship in their own way, otherwise they would be subject to no
-mortal man. To the two Lords of the Congregation they wrote first
-in mild expostulation, but they soon advanced their tone to threats
-of excommunication, and the doom of traitors, if they did not come
-from amongst the persecutors. They addressed another letter "To the
-generation of Anti-Christ, the pestilent prelates and their shavelings in
-Scotland;" and they warned them that, if they did not desist from their
-persecutions, they would exterminate them, as the Israelites did the
-wicked Canaanites.
-
-Matters were proceeding to extremity when Glencairn arrived in the
-Protestant camp with 2,500 men. This made the Queen-Regent pause, and
-an agreement was effected by means of Argyll and the Lord James, by
-which toleration was again granted, and the Queen-Regent engaged that no
-Frenchman should approach within three miles of Perth, a condition which
-she characteristically evaded by garrisoning it with Scottish troops in
-French pay. Knox and Willock had an interview with Argyll and the Lord
-James, and sharply upbraided them with appearing in arms against their
-brethren, to which these nobles replied that they had done it only as a
-means of arbitrating for peace; but the Congregation took means to bind
-them in future by framing a new covenant, to which every member swore
-obedience, engaging to defend the Congregation or any of its members when
-menaced by the enemies of their religion.
-
-They were soon called upon to prove their sincerity. The
-Queen-Regent--totally regardless of the treaty just entered into--the
-very same day that the Lords of the Congregation quitted Perth, entered
-it with Chatelherault, D'Oyselles, and a body of French soldiers. She
-deprived the chief magistrates of their authority because they favoured
-the Reformation; made Charteris of Kinfauns, a man of infamous character,
-provost of the city, and left a garrison of troops in French pay to
-support him.
-
-The Lords of the Congregation assembled at St. Andrews, and with them
-Knox, who had come, as he said, to the conclusion that to be rid of the
-rooks it was necessary to pull down their nests. Their action was prompt;
-Perth surrendered at the first assault. Argyll and the Lord James had
-succeeded in checking the march of the Queen-Regent; and on their advance
-to Linlithgow, she and the French forces evacuated Edinburgh, falling
-back to Dunbar; whilst the Covenanting army, entering Linlithgow, pulled
-down the altars and images, destroyed the relics, and then advanced on
-Edinburgh, which they entered in triumph on the 29th of June, 1559.
-
-It was at this crisis that the progress of the Reformers in Scotland
-arrested the attention of the Government in England, and a letter was
-received from Sir Henry Percy by Kirkaldy of Grange, inquiring into the
-real objects of the Lords of the Congregation. Kirkaldy replied that they
-meant nothing but the reformation of religion; that they had purged the
-churches of imagery and other Popish stuff wherever they had come, and
-that they pulled down such friaries and abbeys as would not receive the
-Reformed faith; but that they had not meddled with a pennyworth of the
-Church's property, reserving the appropriation of that to the maintenance
-of godly ministers hereafter; that if the Queen-Regent would grant them
-spiritual liberty and send away the Frenchmen, they would obey her; if
-not, they would hear of no agreement. Knox also wrote to Percy in the
-name of the whole Congregation, and entreated that England should aid
-them in their struggle, telling them, in his sturdy way, that if it did
-it would be better for it; if not, though Scotland might suffer, England
-could not escape her share of the trouble.
-
-[Illustration: ELIZABETH. (_From the Portrait by Isaac Oliver._)]
-
-The parsimony of Elizabeth, however, and the caution of her minister
-Cecil, withheld all efficient aid from the Scottish Reformers at the time
-that it was most essential. Whilst the Queen-Regent delayed any active
-proceedings in the hope of the arrival of fresh troops from France, and
-the knowledge that the irregular army brought into the field by the
-Scottish barons could not long be kept together, Elizabeth deferred the
-promised subsidies. In this predicament, the Lords of the Congregation
-made still more impassioned appeals to Cecil, and Knox wrote to him
-entreating him to abate the prejudice of Elizabeth towards him. But that
-prejudice was of the most bitter and unconquerable kind in the heart of
-Elizabeth. Knox had perpetrated the unpardonable offence to Elizabeth in
-writing his "First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of
-Women." While Elizabeth hesitated, the Regent was fortifying Leith.
-
-At last the English queen determined to help her fellow-religionists,
-and by the treaty of Berwick agreed to aid them in an attack on the
-Regent. The Covenanters prepared for an assault on Leith, by constructing
-scaling-ladders in the High Church of St. Giles, Edinburgh, to the great
-scandal of the preachers, who prognosticated that proceedings begun
-in sacrilege would end in defeat. This soon appeared likely to be the
-result, for the money sent from England being exhausted, the soldiers
-clamoured for pay, and the army of 12,000 was on the verge of melting
-away very rapidly. In great alarm, the leaders vehemently entreated
-Elizabeth for more money, and making a struggle with her natural
-parsimony, she sent £4,000 to Cockburn of Ormiston, who undertook the
-perilous office of conveying it to headquarters. But a man who afterwards
-became notorious for the audacity of his crimes, the Earl of Bothwell,
-who now professed to be a zealous supporter of the Congregation, and had
-by this means obtained the knowledge of the transmission of the treasure,
-waylaid Cockburn, and carried off the money. This was a severe blow to
-the Congregation, and was speedily followed by another. Haliburton,
-provost of Dundee, had led a party of Reformers to attack Leith. He had
-planted his heavy artillery on an eminence near Holyrood; but whilst the
-majority of the leaders were attending a sermon, the French garrison
-attacked the battery, and drove the Reformers back into the city with
-great slaughter.
-
-[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-Even the arrival of an English army did not mend matters. The siege was
-carried on against Leith in a manner little creditable to the ancient
-fame of the English; as for the Scots, Sadler said, "they could climb
-no walls:" that is, they were not famous for conducting sieges and
-taking towns by assault. The English, who had acquired great fame in
-that kind of warfare, now seemed to have forgotten their skill, though
-they had lost none of their courage. Their lines of circumvallation were
-ill-drawn, their guns were ill-directed, their trenches were opened
-in ground unfit for the purpose, and they were repeatedly thrown into
-disorder by sorties of the enemy. To make matters worse, the supplies
-of the Scots became exhausted, and they began to make their usual cries
-to the English for more money. But from the English court came, instead
-of the all-needful money, signs of discouragement. Elizabeth still
-maintained her equivocal conduct, and the Lords of the Congregation
-were greatly alarmed to find her actually negotiating with the sick
-Queen-Regent for an accommodation. At the very time that the Scots and
-the English were engaged in a smart action at Hawkhill, near Lochend,
-during the siege, Sir James Croft and Sir George Howard were with the
-dying Mary of Guise in the castle of Edinburgh. Elizabeth still declared
-that she was not fighting against Francis and Mary, the king and queen of
-France and Scotland, but against their Ministers in the latter country,
-and simply for the defence of her own realm against their attempts. She
-desired Sir Ralph Sadler to express her willingness to treat, and to make
-it clear that she was no party to any design to injure or depose the
-rightful queen. What she aimed at was the expulsion of the French from
-Scotland as dangerous to her own dominions, and he was instructed, if
-the old plea was raised--namely, that the French only remained there to
-maintain the throne of their mistress against disaffected subjects--to
-state that his sovereign would not admit this plea, as it was a mere
-pretence, and would not lay down her arms till the Queen of Scots was
-also secured in her just power and claims.
-
-On the 10th of June, 1560, the Queen-Regent died in the castle of
-Edinburgh. On her death-bed she entreated Lord James Stuart, and some
-others of the Lords of the Congregation, as well as her own courtiers, to
-support the rightful power of her daughter: but, as the events showed,
-and the treacherous, ambitious character of the bastard brother of Queen
-Mary rendered probable, to very little purpose. The Queen-Regent's
-decease, however, opened a way to negotiation. The insurrectionary
-feeling in France made the French court readily support such a
-proposition, and it was agreed that the French and English commissioners
-should meet at Berwick on the 14th of June. The English commissioners
-were Cecil and Dr. Wotton, Dean of Canterbury; the French, Monluc, Bishop
-of Valence, and Count de Randon. Perhaps four more acute diplomatists
-never met. On the 16th of June, they proceeded to Edinburgh, passing
-through the English camp on the way, where they were saluted by a general
-discharge of firearms. By the 6th of July all the conditions of peace
-were settled, and it was announced both to the besiegers and besieged
-that hostilities were at an end.
-
-The French commissioners stood stoutly for the rights and prerogatives
-of the Crown, but they were compelled to yield many points to the
-imperturbable firmness of Cecil. Dunbar and Inchkeith were surrendered
-as well as Leith. The French troops, excepting a small garrison in
-Dunbar and another in Inchkeith, were to be sent home and no more to be
-brought over. An indemnity for all that had passed since March, 1558, in
-Scotland, was granted; every man was to regain the post or position which
-he held before the struggle, and no Frenchman was to hold any office in
-that kingdom. A Convention of the three Estates was to be summoned by
-the king and queen, and four-and-twenty persons were to be named by this
-Convention, out of whom should be chosen a Council of twelve for the
-government of the country, of whom the Queen should name seven, and the
-Estates five. The king and queen were not to declare war, or conclude
-peace, without the concurrence of the Estates; neither the Lords nor
-the members of the Congregation should be molested for what they had
-done, and Churchmen were to be protected in their persons, rights, and
-properties, and to receive compensation for their losses according to the
-award of the Estates in Parliament.
-
-On one point, and that the chief point of the quarrel, the leaders of
-the Congregation did not obtain their demand, which naturally was for
-the establishment of their religion. We may suppose that Cecil and his
-colleague were not very desirous of carrying this; for the Queen of
-England regarded the Scottish Reformers as fanatical and she especially
-abominated the character and doctrines of Knox. It was conceded, however,
-that Parliament should be summoned without delay, and that a deputation
-should lay this request before the king and queen.
-
-By a second treaty between England and France, it was determined that
-the right to the crowns of England and Ireland lay in Elizabeth, and
-that Mary should no longer bear the arms or use the style of these two
-kingdoms. Another proposition, however, was refused in this treaty, and
-that was the surrender of Calais to England.
-
-It remained now to obtain the consent of Francis and Mary to these
-decisions; and Sir James Sandilands, a knight of Malta, was despatched
-to Paris for this purpose. His reception was such as might be expected.
-Mary refused to sanction the proceedings of a Parliament which had been
-summoned without her authority, and which had acted in the very face of
-the treaty, by seeking to destroy the religion in which she had been
-educated. Thereupon the Estates established Protestantism on their own
-authority.
-
-All speculations as to what the Guises would do were cut short by the
-death of Francis II., the husband of Mary, on the 5th of December,
-1560. He had always been a sickly personage, and his reign had lasted
-only eighteen months. His successor, Charles IX., was only nine years
-of age, and had a mind and constitution not exhibiting more promise of
-health and vigour than those of his late brother. His mother, Catherine
-de Medici, became regent, and his uncles of Lorraine lost the direction
-of affairs. Catherine and Mary were no friends; the young Queen-Dowager
-of France, only nineteen, was now treated harshly and contemptuously by
-the Lady-Regent, and she retired to Rheims, where she spent the winter
-amongst her relatives of Lorraine.
-
-Mary now prepared to make her way home by sea. Her false half-brother,
-the Lord James, instead of being to her, at this trying moment, a friend
-and staunch counsellor, was, and had long been, leagued with her most
-troublesome and rebellious subjects, and was expecting, by the aid of
-Elizabeth of England, to engross the chief power in the State, if not
-eventually to push his unsuspecting sister from the throne. The Roman
-Catholics of Scotland were quite alive to the dangers which attended
-their sovereign in such company, and deputed Leslie the Bishop of Ross,
-a man of high integrity--which, through a long series of troubles, he
-manifested towards his queen--to go over to France and return with her.
-Leslie was so much alarmed by the dangers which menaced her amongst her
-turbulent and zeal-excited subjects, that he advised her in private to
-extend her voyage to the Highlands, and put herself under the protection
-of the Earl of Huntly, who, at the head of a large army, would conduct
-her to her capital and place her in safety on her throne, at the same
-time that he enabled her to protect the ancient religion. But Mary
-would not listen to anything like a return by force. She determined to
-throw herself on the affections of her subjects, and to go amongst them
-peaceably.
-
-Mary embarked at Calais on the 15th of August, 1561. She eluded the
-ships sent to prevent her, and on the 19th she landed on her native
-shore at Leith. She had come a fortnight earlier than she had fixed, to
-checkmate the schemes of her enemies; but the people flew to welcome
-her and crowded the beach with hearty acclamations: the lords, however,
-says a contemporary, had taken small pains to honour her reception and
-"cover the nakedness of the land." Instead of the gay palfreys of France
-to which she had been accustomed, in their rich accoutrements, she saw a
-wretched set of Highland shelties prepared to convey her and her retinue
-to Holyrood; and when she surveyed their tattered furniture and mounted
-into the bare wooden saddle, the past and the present came so mournfully
-over her, that her eyes filled with tears. The honest joy of her people,
-however, was an ample compensation, had she not known what ill-will
-lurked in the background against her amongst the nobles and clergy.
-
-Mary was the finest woman of her time. Tall, beautiful, accomplished, in
-the freshness of her youth, not yet nineteen, distinguished by the most
-graceful manners and the most fascinating disposition, she was formed
-to captivate a people sensible to such charms. But she came into her
-country, in every past age turbulent and independent, at a crisis when
-the public spirit was divided and embittered by religious controversy,
-and she was exposed to the deepest suspicion of the Reforming party, by
-belonging to a family notorious for its bigoted attachment to the old
-religion. Yet the candour of her disposition and her easy condescension
-seemed to make a deep impression on the masses. They not only cheered
-her enthusiastically on the way to her ancestral palace of Holyrood,
-but about 200 of the citizens of Edinburgh, playing on three-stringed
-fiddles, kept up a deafening serenade under her windows all night; and
-such was her good-natured appreciation of the motive, that she thanked
-them in the morning for having really kept her awake after her fatiguing
-voyage. Not quite so agreeable, though, was the conduct of her liege
-subjects on the Sunday in her chapel, where, having ordered her chaplain
-to perform Mass, such a riot was raised, that had not her natural
-brother, the Lord James Stuart, interfered, the priest would have been
-killed at the altar.
-
-This was a plain indication that, although the Reformers demanded liberty
-of conscience for themselves, they meant to allow none to others; and
-a month afterwards the same riot was renewed so violently in the royal
-chapel at Stirling, that Randolph, writing to Cecil, said that the Earl
-of Argyll and the Lord James himself this time "so disturbed the quire,
-that some, both priests and clerks, left their places with broken heads
-and bloody ears."
-
-Mary bore this rude and disloyal conduct with an admirable patience.
-She had the advantage of the counsels of D'Oyselles, who had spent some
-years in the country, and had learned the character of the people. She
-placed the leaders of the Congregation in honour and power around her,
-making the Lord James her chief minister, and Maitland of Lethington her
-Secretary of State, both of whom, however, were in the pay and interests
-of the English queen. It was not in the nature of Knox to delay long
-appearing in her presence, and opening upon her the battery of his fierce
-zeal.
-
-It is, perhaps, impossible to imagine a situation more appalling than
-that of this young and accomplished girl suddenly thrown into the midst
-of this effervescence of spiritual pride and boorish dogmatism, which
-was so insensible to the finer influences of social life, so unconscious
-of the rights of conscience in those of a different opinion. Mary showed
-a far more Christian spirit. She reminded Knox of his offensive and
-contemptuous book against women, gently admonished him to be more liberal
-to those who could not think as he did, and to use more meekness of
-speech in his sermons.
-
-But the Scottish clergy at that moment received a severe recompense
-for their contempt of the social amenities, in their aristocratic
-coadjutors treating them as men who had no need of temporal advantages.
-The nobles used them to overturn by their preaching the ancient Church;
-and that done, they quietly but firmly appropriated the substance of it
-to themselves. The example of the English hierarchy had not been lost
-upon them. When the clergy put in their claim for a fair share of the
-booty, the nobles affected great surprise at such a worldly appetite
-in such holy men. The clergy proposed that the property of the Church
-should be divided into three portions: one-third for the pastors of the
-new Church, one-third for the poor, and one-third for the endowment of
-schools and colleges. Maitland of Lethington asked Knox, "Where, then,
-was the portion of the nobles? Were they to become hod-bearers in this
-building of the Kirk?" Knox replied that they might be worse employed.
-But he and his fellow-ministers had different material to operate upon
-in the hard-fisted nobles. They might browbeat and insult a young queen,
-but they could not force the plunder from the grip of their aristocratic
-patrons. The whole sum which they could obtain for the maintenance of
-1,000 parish churches was only about £4,000, or about £6 sterling as the
-annual income of a parish priest.
-
-As for the unhappy queen, she was equally vexed by clergy and
-aristocracy. She was soon called upon for extensive favours by her
-ambitious brother, the Lord James, prior of St. Andrews. She created
-him Earl of Mar, and she further contemplated conferring on him the
-ancient earldom of Murray, which had been forfeited to the Crown in
-the reign of James II. A great part of the property, however, of this
-earldom had been taken possession of by the Earl of Huntly, the head
-of the most powerful family in the north. Huntly had offered, if Mary
-would land in the Highlands, to conduct her to Edinburgh at the head
-of 20,000 men, and enable her to put down the whole body of Reformers.
-Mary had declined this offer, as the certain cause of a civil war, if
-accepted. Huntly, therefore, stood aloof from the present Government,
-and was especially hostile to the Earl of Mar, who was the leading
-person in it. Mar determined to break the power of this haughty chief,
-and thus wrest from him the lands he claimed for his new earldom. Mary
-was anxious to advance her brother, and did not need much persuasion to
-sanction this design of Mar; and the son of Huntly, Sir John Gordon,
-having committed some feudal outrage, was seized and imprisoned for a
-short term. This punishment was regarded as an indignity by the house
-of Gordon, and the symptoms of disaffection towards the Government were
-increased. Mary, therefore, took the field with her brother, the Lord
-James, and marched into the Highlands at the head of her troops. The Earl
-of Huntly, dismayed at this spirit in the young queen, who appeared to
-enjoy the excitement and the inconveniences of a campaign, hastened to
-make overtures of accommodation; and the matter would probably have been
-soon amicably arranged, but, unfortunately, a party of Huntly's vassals
-refused Mary and her staff entrance into the castle of Inverness, and
-made a show of holding it against her. They were, however, soon compelled
-to surrender, and the governor was executed as a traitor. At this time,
-Sir John Gordon, escaping from his prison, flew to arms, roused the
-vassals of the clan Gordon far and wide; and his father, seeing no longer
-any chance of agreement, led his forces into the field. He advanced
-towards Aberdeen, and met Mar, who had now exchanged that title for the
-title of Earl of Murray, encamped on the hill of Fare near Corrichie.
-There Murray, as an excellent soldier, defeated Huntly, who was killed on
-the field, or died soon after. His son, Sir John Gordon, was seized, and
-executed at Aberdeen, three days after the battle. Murray was thus placed
-in full possession of his title and new estate, and Mary, with so able
-and powerful a relative as her chief minister, appeared in a position
-to command obedience from her refractory subjects. But now a new danger
-menaced her from the rival queen of England, who was still bent on seeing
-Mary so married as to give her no additional power.
-
-In the spring of 1562 Elizabeth became engaged in the support of the
-Huguenots, or Protestants of France, against their Government, as she had
-supported the Covenanters of Scotland. After the failure of a conspiracy
-to surprise the court at Amboise, and the accession of Catherine de
-Medici to the Regency, the heads of the party again flew to arms; but
-Catherine making concessions, in order to engage the Huguenot chiefs
-Condé and Coligny to assist her in counteracting the influence of the
-house of Guise, a treaty was entered into by which the Protestants
-were to be allowed free exercise of their religion. But the Duke of
-Guise becoming possessed of the person of the king, soon persuaded
-Catherine--his mother and Regent--to break the treaty. The Huguenots
-again rose in defence of their lives and principles, and no less than
-fourteen armies were soon on foot in one part or another of France. The
-Duke of Guise headed the Catholics; the Prince of Condé, Admiral Coligny,
-Andelot, and others, commanded the Huguenots. The Parliament of Paris
-issued an edict, authorising the Papists to massacre the Protestants
-wherever they found them; the Protestants retaliated with augmented fury,
-and carnage and violence prevailed throughout the devoted country. The
-Duke of Guise found himself so hard driven by the Protestants, in whose
-ranks the very women and children fought fiercely, that he entreated
-Philip of Spain to come to his aid. Philip gladly engaged in a work so
-congenial, his own Protestant subjects having had bloody experience of
-his bigotry, and sent into France 6,000 men, besides money. On this the
-Prince of Condé appealed to Elizabeth for support against the common
-enemies of their religion. To induce her to act promptly in their favour,
-he offered to put Havre-de-Grâce immediately into her hands. Nowadays,
-in such a case, the English Government would take the public means of
-endeavouring by negotiation to lead its ally to concede their rights
-to its subjects. But Elizabeth took her favourite mode of privately
-aiding the discontented subjects of a power with whom she was at peace,
-against their sovereign. She made no overtures to Catherine de Medici,
-as Queen-Regent. She made no declaration of war, but despatched Sir
-Henry Sidney, the father of the afterwards celebrated Sir Philip Sidney,
-ostensibly to mediate between the Roman Catholics and Protestants, but
-really to enter into a compact with Condé. She was to furnish him with
-100,000 crowns, and to send over 6,000 men, under Sir Edward Poynings, to
-take possession of the forts of Havre and Dieppe.
-
-[Illustration: THE PREACHING OF JOHN KNOX BEFORE THE LORDS OF THE
-CONGREGATION, 10TH JUNE, 1559.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR DAVID WILKIE, R.A., IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF
-BRITISH ART.]
-
-[Illustration: MARS' WORK, STIRLING.]
-
-On the 3rd of October a fleet carried over the stipulated force, took
-possession of the ports, and Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, the brother
-of the favourite Lord Robert Dudley, was made commander-in-chief of
-the English army in France. The French ambassador, with the treaty of
-Cateau-Cambresis in his hand, demanded the cause of the infringement of
-the thirteenth article of this treaty, and reminded the queen that, by
-proceeding to hostilities, she would at once forfeit all claim to Calais
-at the expiration of the prescribed period. Elizabeth replied that she
-was in arms, in fact, on behalf of the King of France, who was a prisoner
-in the hands of Guise, and when the ambassador required her, in the name
-of his sovereign, to withdraw her troops, she refused to believe that
-the demand came from the king, because he was not a free agent, and that
-it was the duty of Charles IX. to protect his oppressed subjects, and to
-thank a friendly power for endeavouring to assist him in that object.
-
-But these sophisms deceived nobody. The nobility of France regarded
-Guise, who had driven the English out of France by the capture of Calais,
-as the real defender of the country; and Condé, who had brought them in
-again by the surrender of Havre and Dieppe, was considered a traitor.
-Numbers flocked to the standard of Guise and the Queen-Regent, who were
-joined by the King of Navarre. The Royal army, with Charles in person,
-besieged Rouen, to which Poynings, the English commander at Havre, sent a
-reinforcement. The governor of the city defended it obstinately against
-this formidable combination, and the Englishmen, mounting a breach which
-was made, fought till their last man fell. Two hundred of them thus
-perished, and the French, rushing in over their dead bodies, pillaged the
-place for eight days with every circumstance of atrocity.
-
-The fall of Rouen and the massacre of a detachment of her troops was news
-that no one dared to communicate to Elizabeth. The ministers induced
-her favourite, Lord Robert Dudley, to undertake the unwelcome task;
-but even he dared only at first to hint to her that a rumour of defeat
-was afloat. When at length he disclosed the truth, Elizabeth blamed
-nobody but herself, confessing that it was her own reluctance to send
-sufficient force which had caused it all. She determined to send fresh
-reinforcements; commissioned Count Oldenburg to raise 12,000 men in
-Germany, and ordered public prayers for three days in succession for a
-blessing on her arms in favour of the Gospel.
-
-Condé, who had been engaged near Orleans, on the arrival of 6,000
-mercenaries from Germany, advanced towards Paris; and at Dreux, on the
-banks of the Eure, where the Duke of Guise achieved a victory over the
-Huguenots, Condé and Montmorency, a leader of each party, were taken
-prisoners; and Coligny, who now became the chief Huguenot general, fell
-back on Orleans, and sent pressing entreaties to Elizabeth for the
-supplies which she was bound by the treaty to furnish. The English queen,
-never fond of parting with her money, had at this crisis none in her
-exchequer. But money must be forthcoming, or the cause of Protestantism
-must fail through her bad faith. The German mercenaries were clamorous
-for their pay, none of which they had received, and the representations
-of Coligny were so urgent that Elizabeth was compelled to summon a
-Parliament and ask for supplies.
-
-Meanwhile affairs in France had been anything but satisfactory. The
-Huguenot chiefs had promised Elizabeth, as the price of her assistance,
-the restoration of Calais. Elizabeth, on her part, ordered the Earl
-of Warwick not to advance with his troops beyond the walls of Hammes;
-and when Coligny reduced the chief towns of Normandy, he gave up their
-plunder to his German auxiliaries, and, instead of awarding any share to
-the English, complained loudly of the neutrality of Warwick's troops,
-and the more so when he saw the Duke of Guise preparing to lay siege to
-Orleans. But Guise was assassinated (February 24, 1563) by Poltrot, a
-deserter from the Huguenot army, and this circumstance produced a great
-change amongst the belligerents on both sides. The Catholics were afraid
-of the English uniting with Coligny, and gaining still greater advantages
-in Normandy; and, on the other hand, Condé was anxious to make peace,
-and secure the position in the French Government which Guise had held. A
-peace was accordingly concluded at Amboise on the 6th of March, in which
-freedom for the exercise of their religion was conceded to the Huguenots
-in every town of France, Paris excepted; and the Huguenots, in return,
-promised to support the Government.
-
-Elizabeth, in her anger at this treaty, made without any reference
-to her, appeared to abandon her own shrewd sense. Though the French
-Government offered to renew the treaty of Cateau, to restore Calais at
-the stipulated time, Havre being of course surrendered, and to repay her
-all the sums advanced to the Huguenots, she refused, and declared that
-she would maintain Havre against the whole realm of France. But when
-she saw that the two parties were united to drive the English troops
-out of France, she thought better of it. She despatched Throgmorton to
-act for her in conjunction with Sir Thomas Smith, her ambassador. But
-Throgmorton arrived too late. The united parties were now pretty secure
-of the surrender of Havre, and, as Throgmorton's intrigues in France were
-notorious, to prevent a repetition of them they seized him on pretence of
-having no proper credentials, and delayed audience to Sir Thomas Smith
-from day to day, while they pushed on the siege.
-
-To prevent insurrection, or co-operation with the French outside, Warwick
-had expelled most of the native inhabitants from Havre. He had about
-5,000 men with him, and during the siege Sir Hugh Paulet threw in a
-reinforcement of about 800 more. Elizabeth had now the mortification
-of seeing her old allies take the command against her. Montmorency, the
-constable, had the chief command; and Condé, who had been the principal
-means of leading her into the war, served under him. It was clear that
-the place could not hold out long, yet the English manned the walls,
-defended the breaches and, till the whole garrison was reduced to less
-than 1,500 men, gave no sign of surrender. The Constable made the first
-proposals for a capitulation, which Warwick agreed to accept; but such
-was the fury of the French soldiers, or rather, the rabble collected from
-all quarters to the siege, that, in spite of the truce, they fired on
-the besieged repeatedly, and shot the Earl of Warwick through the thigh,
-as he stood in the breach. The next day the capitulation was signed, the
-garrison and people of the town being allowed to retire within six days,
-with all their effects. The chief marshal, Edward Randall, caused the
-sick to be carried on board, that they might not be left to the mercy of
-the French, and himself lent a helping hand. But the infected troops and
-people carried out the plague with them; it spread in various parts of
-England, and raged excessively in London. The inns of court were closed;
-those who could fled into the country. To the plague was added scarcity
-of money and of provisions. There were earthquakes in Lincolnshire,
-Northamptonshire, and other places; terrific thunders and lightnings--and
-all these terrors were attributed by the Papists to the heresies which
-were in the ascendant.
-
-Thus terminated Elizabeth's demonstration in favour of the Huguenots.
-She contemplated the humiliating result with indignation, which she
-was unable to conceal even in the presence of Castelnau, the French
-ambassador. At one moment she declared that she would not consent to
-peace, at another she vowed that she would make her Commissioners pay
-with their heads for offering to accept conditions which were gall to
-her haughty spirit. But there was no alternative. She first attempted
-to compel the French court to liberate Throgmorton, by seizing the
-French envoy De Foix, and offering him in exchange; but the French would
-not admit that Throgmorton was a duly appointed ambassador, and in
-retaliation for the seizure of De Foix, they arrested Sir Thomas Smith,
-and consigned him to the castle of Mélun. Elizabeth still held the bonds
-for 500,000 crowns, or the restoration of Calais, and the hostages; and
-in the end she submitted to surrender the hostages for the return of
-Throgmorton, and reduced her claim of 500,000 crowns to one-fourth of
-that sum. Thus, not only Havre but Calais was virtually resigned, though
-Elizabeth still claimed to negotiate on that point. The proud English
-queen was, in fact, most mortifyingly defeated, both in the cabinet and
-the field. The treaty was signed on April 11th, 1564.
-
-This French campaign terminated, Elizabeth turned her attention again
-to Scotland, and the subject on which she was most anxious was the
-marriage of the Scottish queen. To Elizabeth, who abhorred the idea of
-any one ever succeeding her on the throne, it was of much consequence
-how Mary, her presumptive heir, should wed. If to a foreign prince, it
-might render the claim on the English throne doubly hazardous. By this
-time it was pretty clear that Elizabeth herself was resolved to take no
-partner of her power, as the hands of numerous other princely suitors
-had been refused besides that of Philip. Of all the long array of the
-lovers of this famous queen, foreign or English, none ever acquired such
-a place in her regard and favour as the Lord Robert Dudley, one of the
-sons of the Duke of Northumberland, who had been attainted, with his
-father and family, for his participation in the attempt to place Lady
-Jane Grey on the throne, to the exclusion of Queen Mary and of this
-very Elizabeth. The queen restored him in blood, made him Master of the
-Horse, installed him Knight of the Garter, and, soon after this period,
-Earl of Leicester. This maiden queen, who had rejected so many kings
-and princes, soon grew so enamoured of this young nobleman, that their
-conduct became the scandal of the Court and country, but probably it was
-nothing more than indiscreet. The reports were believed of their living
-as man and wife, even whilst Leicester was still the husband of Amy
-Robsart, whom he is said, though falsely, to have murdered. The Queen of
-Scots, in one of her letters, tells her that she hears this asserted,
-and that she had promised to marry him before one of the ladies of the
-bed-chamber. Throgmorton, her ambassador, sent his secretary, Jones, to
-inform Elizabeth privately, and at the suggestion of Cecil and the other
-ministers, of the common remarks on this subject by the Spanish and
-Venetian ambassadors at Paris. Elizabeth, listening to Jones's recital,
-including the account of the murder of Amy Robsart, sometimes laughed,
-sometimes hid her face in her hands, but replied that she had heard it
-all before, and did not believe in the murder. From the evidence on this
-subject, it appears that Elizabeth had promised Dudley to marry him, and
-was this time very near being involved in the trammels of matrimony; but
-she escaped to have another long string of princely suitors.
-
-Careful to avoid the bonds of matrimony herself, Elizabeth was, however,
-bent on securing in them the Queen of Scots. Since Mary of Scotland had
-become a widow, the suitors of Elizabeth had transferred their attentions
-to her. She was younger and much handsomer; her kingdom was much less
-important, but then she was by no means so haughty and immovable. She
-was of a warm, a generous, a poetic nature, and would soon have found a
-congenial husband, but either her own subjects or her rival Elizabeth
-had something in each case to object. Her French relatives successively
-proposed Don Carlos, the son of Philip, and heir of Spain; the Duke of
-Anjou, one of the brothers of her late husband; the Cardinal de Bourbon,
-who had not yet taken priest's orders; the Duke of Ferrara, and some
-others. But none of these would suit her Scottish subjects, for they
-were all Papists; and they suited Elizabeth as little, for they would
-create too strong a foreign coalition. Mary, with an extraordinary
-amiability, listened to all the objections of Elizabeth, and expressed
-herself quite disposed to accept such a husband as should be agreeable to
-her. Be it understood, however, that Mary was not without policy in this
-condescension. She hoped to induce Elizabeth, by thus being willing to
-oblige her in this particular, to acknowledge her right to succeed her,
-but in this she was grievously disappointed.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-Mary at last sent Sir James Melville to London to consult with Elizabeth,
-in personal interview, fully and candidly as to the person that she would
-really recommend as her consort. Elizabeth received him at her palace at
-Westminster, at eight o'clock, in her garden. She asked Melville if his
-queen had made up her mind regarding the man who should be her husband.
-He replied that she was just now thinking more of some disputes upon the
-Borders, and that she was desirous that her Majesty should send my Lord
-of Bedford and my Lord Dudley to meet her and her Commissioners there.
-Elizabeth affected to be hurt at Melville naming the Earl of Bedford
-first. She said that "it appeared to her as if I made but small account
-of Lord Robert, seeing that I named Bedford before him; but ere it were
-long she would make him a greater earl, and I should see it done before
-me, for she esteemed him as one whom she should have married herself, if
-she had ever been minded to take a husband. But being determined to end
-her life in virginity, she wished that the queen her sister should marry
-him, for with him she might find it in her heart to declare Queen Mary
-second person, rather than any other; for, being matched with him, it
-would best remove out of her mind all fear and suspicion of usurpation
-before her death."
-
-Elizabeth immediately carried into effect her word that she would make
-Dudley an earl, by creating him, whilst Melville was present, Earl of
-Leicester and Baron Denbigh. "This was done," he says, "with great state
-at Westminster, herself helping to put on his robes, he sitting on his
-knees before her, and keeping a great gravity and discreet behaviour; as
-for the queen, she could not refrain from putting her hand in his neck to
-tickle him, smilingly, the French ambassador and I standing beside her.
-Then she asked me 'how I liked him.' I said, 'as he was a worthy subject,
-so he was happy in a great prince, who could discern and reward good
-service.' 'Yet,' she replied, 'ye like better of yon long lad,' pointing
-towards my Lord Darnley, who, as nearest prince of the blood, that day
-bare the sword before her. My answer was, 'that no woman of spirit would
-make choice of _sic_ a man, that was liker a woman than a man, for he was
-lusty, beardless, and lady-faced.' I had no will that she should think
-I liked him, though I had a secret charge to deal with his mother, Lady
-Lennox, to purchase leave for him to pass to Scotland."
-
-[Illustration: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.
-
-(_From a Contemporary Portrait on Wood._)]
-
-Lord Darnley, "the long lad," as Elizabeth called him, was the son of
-that Earl of Lennox who in the time of Henry VIII. joined with Glencairn,
-Cassillis, and others in attempting to betray Scotland to Henry. For
-these services, and especially for attempting to betray Dumbarton Castle
-to the English, he was banished and suffered forfeiture of his estates,
-but received from Henry VIII., as the promised reward for his treason,
-the hand of the Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of Margaret, Queen
-of Scotland, and sister of Henry VIII., one of the lewdest and most
-turbulent women of the age. Thus Darnley was the son of Mary's aunt, the
-Lady Margaret Douglas, and grandson of Elizabeth's aunt, Margaret Tudor.
-He was thus near enough to have laid claim to the crown of England, and
-of Scotland too, in case of the failure of issue by the present queens.
-His nearness to the thrones of both kingdoms seems to have suggested the
-idea of marrying him to the Queen of Scots, whereby her claim on the
-English throne would receive added force. Mary was induced to favour the
-family, her near relatives. She corresponded with the Countess of Lennox,
-and invited Lennox to return to Scotland, and reversed his attainder.
-He did not recover the patrimony of Angus, his father, for that was in
-possession of the powerful Earl of Morton, Chancellor of the kingdom, but
-Mary promised to make that up to him by other means. Once restored to
-favour and rank in Scotland, Lennox pushed on the scheme of marrying his
-son Darnley to the queen. Melville was commissioned to intercede for his
-return to Scotland, but Elizabeth, who could not be blind to the danger
-of Darnley's wedding the Queen of Scots, for a time would not listen to
-it. We may believe too that Cecil did his best to prevent this, for of
-all his desires, the most earnest was that of the removal of Leicester
-from the Court, and therefore he used all his eloquence to get Leicester
-chosen for that honour.
-
-On returning from Hampton Court, Leicester conducted Melville to London
-by water, and on the way he asked him what the Queen of Scots thought
-of him as a husband. The answer of Melville, who did not care so nicely
-to flatter the favourite, was not very complimentary, and thereupon
-Leicester made haste to assure the Scottish envoy that he had never
-presumed so much as to think of marrying so great a queen; that he knew
-he was not worthy to wipe her shoes, but that it was the plot of Cecil to
-ruin him with both the queens.
-
-Melville, on his return to Edinburgh, assured the Queen of Scots that she
-could never expect any real friendship from the Queen of England, for
-that she was overflowing with jealousy, and was made up of falsehood and
-deceit. These royal courtships and rivalries went on still for some time:
-Queen Mary finally determined to refuse the Archduke Charles of Austria,
-probably to avoid giving umbrage to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth received
-one more suitor in no less a personage than the young King of France.
-This was a scheme of the busy and intriguing Catherine de Medici, who
-thought it would be a fine thing to link England and France together by
-marriage, but Elizabeth was not likely to perpetrate anything so shallow.
-The king was only fourteen, and Elizabeth replied that "her good brother
-was too great and too small; too great as a king, and too small, being
-but young, and she already thirty." Catherine, however, again pressed it,
-by De Foix the ambassador; but Elizabeth, laughing, said, she thought
-her neighbour Mary Stuart would suit him better; this, however, was only
-thrown out because Elizabeth had heard of some such project, which, if
-real, she would oppose resolutely. But a circumstance now took place
-which it seems difficult to account for. Having refused to permit Lord
-Darnley to go to Scotland, lest he should marry the Queen of Scots,
-and add to her claims on the English throne, all at once her objection
-seemed to vanish, and in February, 1565, she permitted him to travel to
-Edinburgh. Darnley was at this time in his twenty-fourth year, tall and
-handsome, possessing the courtly accomplishments of the age, and free in
-the distribution of his money. He waited on the young queen at Wemyss
-Castle, in Fife, and was well received by Mary, who was now about the
-same age. There appears no doubt but that the marriage had been planned
-and promoted by the Lennox party, and it is said that Murray encouraged
-it, thinking that with a young man of Darnley's weak and pleasure-loving
-character, he could easily retain the power of the State in his hands. Be
-that as it may, Darnley soon proposed, and was rejected; but Elizabeth,
-contrary to her own intentions, contributed to alter Mary's resolution.
-Elizabeth, probably apprehensive that Darnley being present might obtain
-the queen's goodwill, again sent Randolph to press the marriage with
-Leicester; on which Mary, bursting into tears, declared that the Queen of
-England treated her as a child, and immediately favoured the pretensions
-of Darnley. The marriage took place on the 29th of July, 1565.
-
-As Darnley was a Catholic, the Protestant party was much alarmed. The
-lords, headed by Murray, assembled at Stirling, and entered into a bond
-to stand by each other. They sent off a messenger to urge speedy aid
-from Elizabeth, and actively diffused reports that Lennox had plotted
-to take away the life of Murray. This, both Lennox and Darnley stoutly
-denied, and the queen, to leave no obscurity in the case, gave Murray a
-safe conduct for himself and eighty others, and ordered him to attend
-in her presence and produce his proofs. She declared that such a thing
-as enforcement of the religion or consciences of her subjects had never
-entered her mind, and she called on her loyal subjects to hasten to
-her defence. This call was promptly and widely responded to, and Mary,
-finding herself now in security, declared the choice of Darnley as her
-husband, created him Duke of Albany, and married him openly, in the
-chapel of Holyrood. He was by proclamation declared king during the time
-of their marriage, and all writs were ordered to run in the joint names
-of Henry and Mary, King and Queen of Scotland.
-
-Elizabeth, meanwhile, had complied with the demands of the Scottish
-lords; sent off money, appointed Bedford and Shrewsbury her lieutenants
-in the north, and reinforced the garrison of Berwick with 2,000 men.
-Finding, however, that the call of Mary on her subjects had brought
-out such a force around her as would require still more money and men
-to cope with it, she despatched Tamworth, a creature of Leicester's,
-to Scotland, to deter Mary by menaces and reproaches. It was too late;
-and Mary, assuming the attitude of a justly incensed monarch, compelled
-the ambassador to deliver his charge in writing, and answered it in the
-same manner, requesting Elizabeth to content herself with the government
-of her own kingdom, and not to interfere in the concerns of monarchs
-as independent as herself. When Tamworth took leave, he refused the
-passport given him bearing the joint names of the king and queen, out
-of fear of his imperious mistress, for which Mary ordered him to be
-apprehended on the road by Lord Home as a vagrant, and detained a couple
-of days; and on Randolph remonstrating, she informed him that unless he
-ceased to intrigue with her subjects, she would treat him the same. This
-bold rebuff to the meddling Queen of England, and the demonstration of
-affection on the part of the people, confounded the disaffected lords,
-and their resistance collapsed.
-
-The Queen of Scots, victorious by arms over her enemies, determined
-to call together a Parliament, and there to procure the forfeiture of
-Murray and his adherents. This threw the rebel lords into the utmost
-consternation; for, in the then temper of the nation at large, the
-measure would have been passed, and they would have been stripped of
-their estates and entirely crushed. To prevent this catastrophe no time
-was lost. It was actively spread amongst the people that Mary, having
-signed the league, it was the intention, through the Kings of France
-and Spain, to put down the Reformation in Scotland. It was represented
-that David Rizzio, a Milanese, who had become Mary's secretary for the
-French language, was the agent of the league and a pensioner of Rome,
-and that it was necessary to have him removed. Unfortunately for
-Rizzio, he had incurred the hatred not only of these Protestant lords,
-but of Darnley, the queen's husband. That young man had soon displayed
-a character which could bring nothing but misery to the queen. He was a
-man of shallow intellect, but of violent passions, and, as is usually the
-case with such persons, of a will as strong as his judgment was weak. He
-was ambitious of the chief power, and sullenly resentful because it was
-denied. Mary, who was of a warm and impulsive temperament, in the ardour
-of her first affection, had promised Darnley the crown matrimonial, which
-would have invested him with an equal share of the royal authority;
-but soon unhappily perceiving that she had lavished her regard on a
-weak, headstrong, and dissipated person, she refused to comply, fully
-assured of the mischiefs which such power in his hands would produce.
-Darnley resented this denial violently. He reproached the queen with her
-insincerity in most intemperate language; treated her in public with
-scandalous disrespect; abandoned her society for the lowest and worst
-company, and threw himself into the hands of his enemies, who soon made
-him their tool. They persuaded him that Rizzio, who, in his quarrels with
-the queen, always took her part, and who, as the keeper of the privy
-purse, was obliged to resist his extravagant demands upon it, was not
-only the enemy of the nation, the spy and paid agent of foreign princes,
-but was the queen's paramour, and the author of the resolve to keep him
-out of all real power. The scheme took the effect that was desired.
-Darnley became jealous and furious for revenge. His father, the Earl of
-Lennox, joined him in his suspicions, and it was resolved to put Rizzio
-out of the way.
-
-Darnley, in his blind fury, sent for Lord Ruthven, imploring him to
-come to him on a matter of life and death. Ruthven was confined to his
-bed by a severe illness, yet he consented to engage in the conspiracy
-for the murder of Rizzio, on condition that Darnley should engage to
-prevent the meeting of Parliament, and to procure the return of Murray
-and the rebel chiefs. Darnley was in a mood ready to grant anything
-for the gratification of his resentment against Rizzio; he agreed to
-everything; a league was entered into, a new covenant sworn, the objects
-of which were the murder of Rizzio, the prevention of the assembling
-of Parliament, and the return of Murray and his adherents. Randolph,
-the English ambassador, now banished from Scotland for his traitorous
-collusion with the insurgents, yet had gone no farther than Berwick,
-where he was made fully acquainted with the plot, and communicated
-it immediately to Leicester in a letter, dated February 13th, 1566,
-which yet remains. He assured him that the murder of Rizzio would be
-accomplished within ten days; that the crown would be torn from Mary's
-dishonoured head, and that matters of a still darker nature were
-meditated against her person which he dared not yet allude to.
-
-Mary was not without some warnings of what was being prepared, but she
-could not be made sensible of her danger, neither could Rizzio; though
-Damiot, an astrologer, whom he was in the habit of consulting, bade him
-beware of the bastard. The obscurity attending all such oracles led
-Rizzio to believe that Damiot alluded to Murray, and Rizzio laughed at
-any danger from him, a banished man; but we shall see that he received
-his first wound from another bastard, George Douglas, the natural son of
-the Earl of Angus.
-
-On the 3rd of March Parliament was opened, and a statute of treason
-and of forfeiture against Murray and his accomplices was immediately
-introduced on the Thursday, which was to be passed on the following
-Tuesday. But on the Saturday evening, the queen, sitting at supper in
-a small closet adjoining her chamber, attended by her natural sister
-the Countess of Argyll, the Commendator of Holyrood, Beaton Master of
-the Household, Arthur Erskine captain of the guard, and her secretary
-Rizzio, was surprised by the apparition of Darnley suddenly putting aside
-the arras which concealed the door, and standing for a moment gloomily
-surveying the group. Behind him came a still more startling figure; it
-was that of Ruthven, in complete armour, just come from his sick bed,
-and with a face pale and ghastly as that of a ghost. Mary, who was seven
-months gone with child, started up at this terrible sight, and commanded
-Ruthven to be gone; but at this moment Darnley put his arm round her
-waist as if to detain her, and other conspirators entered, one after
-another, with naked weapons, into the room. Ruthven drew his dagger, and
-crying that their business was with Rizzio, endeavoured to seize him.
-But Rizzio, rushing to his mistress, caught the skirt of her robe, and
-shouted, "Giustizia! giustizia! sauve ma vie--Madame, sauve ma vie!"
-
-Darnley forced himself between the queen and Rizzio, to separate them
-from one another, and probably the intention was to drag him out of her
-presence, and dispatch him. But George Douglas, the bastard, in his
-impetuosity, drove his dagger into the back of Rizzio over the queen's
-shoulder, and the rest of the conspirators--Morton, Car of Faudonside,
-and others--dragged him out to the entrance of the presence-chamber,
-where, in their murderous fury, they stabbed him with fifty-six wounds,
-with such blind rage that they wounded one another, and left Darnley's
-dagger sticking in the body as an evidence of his participation in the
-deed. This done, the hideous Ruthven, exhausted with the excitement,
-staggered into the presence of the shrieking queen, and, sinking upon a
-seat, demanded a cup of wine. Mary upbraided him with his brutality; but
-he coolly assured her that it was all done at the command of her husband
-and king. At that moment one of her ladies rushed in crying that they had
-killed Rizzio. "And is it so?" said Mary; "then farewell tears, we must
-now study revenge."
-
-It was about seven in the evening when this savage murder was
-perpetrated. The palace was beset by troops under the command of Morton.
-There was no means of rousing the city, the queen was kept close prisoner
-in her chamber, whilst the king, assuming the sole authority, issued
-letters commanding the three Estates to quit the capital within three
-hours, on pain of treason, whilst Morton with his guards was ordered to
-allow no one to leave the palace. Notwithstanding this, Huntly, Bothwell,
-Sir James Balfour, and James Melville, made their escape in the darkness
-and confusion; and as Melville passed under the queen's window, she
-suddenly threw up the sash, and entreated him to give the alarm to the
-city. Her ruffianly guards immediately seized her, and dragged her back,
-swearing they would cut her to pieces; and Darnley was pushed forward to
-harangue the people, and assure them that both the queen and himself were
-safe, and commanding them to retire in peace, which they did.
-
-[Illustration: THE MURDER OF RIZZIO. (_See p._ 264.)]
-
-But Mary was not long left alone with Darnley, before she convinced him
-of the dupe he had made of himself. She asked him whether he was so mad
-as to expect that after they had secured her, after they had imperilled
-the life of his child, they would spare him? And she bade him look at
-their conduct now, where they usurped all authority and did not even
-allow him to send his own servants to her. Darnley became thoroughly
-alarmed; he vowed he had had no hand in the conspiracy, and offered to
-call the conspirators into her presence, and declare that the queen was
-ready to pardon them, on condition that they withdrew their guards,
-replaced her own servants, and treated her as their true queen. The noble
-traitors were this time over-reached in their turn; probably trembling
-for the consequences of their daring conduct, on seeing Darnley and
-the queen reconciled, they consented, and in the night the queen and
-Darnley mounted fleet horses and fled to Dunbar. The consternation of the
-murderers in the morning may be imagined. The outraged and insulted queen
-had escaped their hands, and the news came flying that already the nobles
-and the people were hurrying from all sides to her standard. Huntly,
-Athole, Bothwell, and whole crowds of barons and gentlemen flew to her,
-and at Dunbar a numerous army stood as if by magic ready to march on the
-traitors and execute the vengeance due. They fled. Morton, Ruthven--the
-grisly, pale-faced assassin--Brunston, and Car of Faudonside, escaped to
-England. Maitland of Lethington betook himself to the hills of Athole,
-and Craig, the colleague of Knox, dived into the darksome recesses of the
-city wynds.
-
-The spirit of Mary was not of a character long to brood over revenge;
-that belonged rather to such men as Ruthven, Murray, and Morton. They
-vowed deadly vengeance on Darnley, and from that hour his destruction
-was settled, and never lost sight of. As for Elizabeth of England,
-she was loud in denunciation of the outrage on the queen, and wrote
-expressing deep sympathy; and the virtuous Murray was indignant at the
-villainy in which he had been engaged, but now only seemed to perceive
-the full extent of. The assurances of the friendship of England and
-France seemed, however, to tranquillise the queen's mind, and the hour
-of her confinement drawing nigh, she called her councillors around her,
-became reconciled to the king, and prepared everything for her own life
-or death. On the 19th of June she was, however, safely delivered, in
-the castle of Edinburgh, of a son, who was named James, and Sir James
-Melville was dispatched to carry the tidings to Elizabeth. The messenger
-arrived as the English queen was dancing after supper at Greenwich.
-Cecil, who had seen Sir James, took the opportunity to whisper the news
-to her in preparation. No sooner did she hear the news than she seemed
-struck motionless. She ceased, sat down, leaning her cheek on her hand,
-and when her ladies hastened to ascertain what ailed her, burst out, "The
-Queen of Scots is mother of a fair son, and I am a barren stock!" Her
-agitation was so visible that the music stopped, and there was general
-wonder and confusion. There were not wanting spies to carry this to
-Melville, and, aware of the truth, he was curious to mark the official
-look which the great dissembler wore the next morning. She was then
-all smiling and serene, and even received the message, he says, with a
-"merry volt," that is, we suppose, a caper of affected joy. She declared
-that she was so delighted with the news, that it had quite cured her of
-a heavy sickness which she had had for fifteen days. Melville was too
-much of a courtier to congratulate her on being able to dance merrily
-in sickness; but he wanted her to become godmother, which office she
-accepted cheerfully, by proxy. She expressed quite an ardent desire to
-go and see her fair sister, but as she could not she sent the Earl of
-Bedford, with a font of gold for its christening and £1,000. With Bedford
-and Mr. Carey, son of her kinsman, Lord Hunsdon, she sent a splendid
-train of knights and gentlemen to attend the christening. The ceremony
-was performed at Stirling by the Archbishop of St. Andrews, according
-to the rites of the Romish Church, the Kings of France and the Duke
-of Savoy being godfathers by their ambassadors. The English embassy
-remained outside the chapel during the service, for they dared not take
-part in the idolatries of the mass. They reported that Mary looked very
-melancholy, and Darnley was not present, it was supposed for fear the
-officers of Elizabeth should not give him the homage of royalty; for
-Elizabeth had still refused to acknowledge his title as King of Scotland.
-
-The attention of Elizabeth and her ministers was soon attracted to
-Scotland by the startling events in progress there. The birth of the
-young prince had only for the moment had the effect of softening the
-wayward temper of Darnley. It became absolutely necessary for Mary to
-construct a strong Government if she was to enjoy the slightest power or
-tranquillity. Had she known the villainous materials out of which, at
-best, she must erect such a Government, she would have despaired. All the
-men of talent and influence were more or less tainted by treason, and in
-the enjoyment of bribery to work her evil. She leaned on Murray as on
-a brother, and he was at heart a very Judas. He advised her to recall
-Morton and reinstate Maitland. By his efforts Bothwell and Maitland were
-reconciled; the Lairds of Brunston, Ormiston, Hatton, and Calder, the
-heads of the Church party, were admitted to favour. But the prospect of
-so many of the traitors, cognisant of his own treason, assembling about
-the throne, rendered Darnley desperate. He resolved on throwing himself
-into the arms of the Roman Catholic party, and actually wrote to the
-Pope, blaming the queen for not taking measures for the restoration of
-the Mass. His letters were intercepted and, in his indignation, he gave
-out that he would quit the kingdom.
-
-Nothing availed to show Darnley the folly of his proceedings, everything
-tended rather to aggravate his waywardness. He persisted in his
-declarations that he would leave the kingdom, yet he never went. He
-denounced Maitland, Bellenden the justice-clerk, and Macgill the clerk
-register, as principal conspirators against Rizzio, and insisted that
-they should be deprived of office. He opposed the return of Morton, and
-thus embittered his associates, Murray, Bothwell, Argyll, and Maitland.
-There was no party, except the Roman Catholics, which did not regard him
-with suspicion or aversion. The Reformers hated him for his intriguing
-with their enemies; Cecil suspected him of plotting with the Papists
-of England; the Hamiltons had detested him from the first for coming
-in between them and the succession. The queen now became grievously
-impatient of his intractable stupidity, and deeply deplored her union
-with the man who had already endangered the life of herself and her
-child, and now kept the Government in a constant state of struggle and
-uncertainty.
-
-Matters were in this state when, in the commencement of October, 1566,
-disturbances on the Borders rendered it necessary for the queen to go
-thither in person. Her lieutenant, the Earl of Bothwell, in attempting
-to reduce the Borderers to subordination, was severely wounded, and left
-for dead on the field. He was not dead, however, and was conveyed to
-Hermitage Castle. Mary arrived at Jedburgh on the 7th of October, and
-the next day opened her Court. The trials of the marauders lasted till
-the 15th, when she rode over to Hermitage, a distance of twenty miles,
-to visit her wounded lieutenant. This visit excited much observation and
-remark amongst her subjects, and the events which succeeded have given
-deep significance to it. Bothwell was a bold and impetuous man, who had
-from the first maintained a sturdy attachment to the service of the
-queen, even when all others had deserted and betrayed her. This had won
-him a high place in Mary's estimation, and she was not of a character
-to conceal such preference. He was a man of loose principles, which he
-had indulged freely on the Continent. Ambition and gallantry, united
-to unabashed audacity, made up a forcible but dangerous character. The
-manifest favour of his young, beautiful, and unhappy sovereign seems
-very soon to have inspired him with the most daring designs, which still
-lay locked in his own heart. There is little doubt that he had entered
-into the conspiracy to kill Darnley, for he was mixed up with that
-clique; and the miserable and irritating conduct of Darnley towards the
-queen was now rousing the indignation of far better men than Bothwell.
-The favour in which Bothwell was with the queen was early observed and
-encouraged by Murray, Maitland, and their associates, because it tended
-to punish and might eventually lead to the dismissal of Darnley. Sir
-James Melville, indeed, attributes Bothwell's scheme for murdering
-Darnley and gaining possession of the queen to this time.
-
-There is, however, no reason to believe that Mary consciously encouraged
-the unhallowed passion of Bothwell at this period. As an officer high
-in her Court, and in her esteem for his fidelity, it was not out of the
-generous course of Mary's usual proceedings to pay him a visit, which,
-moreover, was only of two hours, for she rode back to Jedburgh the same
-day, ordering a mass of official papers to be immediately sent after her.
-Immediately on reaching Jedburgh she was seized with a fever so severe
-and rapid, that for ten days her physicians despaired of her life. This
-was ascribed to the fatigue of her long ride to Hermitage and back;
-but it probably arose from that fatigue operating on a mind and body
-already shaken by deep anxiety. She recovered, but her peace of mind
-and cheerfulness were gone. Darnley never went to see her during the
-extremity of her illness; and though he made her two visits during her
-convalescence, they were not visits of peace or regard. They left her in
-a state of great melancholy, and she often wished that she was dead. The
-recollection of what Darnley had shown himself capable of in the plot
-against Rizzio, and his duplicity on that occasion, seemed now to inspire
-her with a dread that he would conspire against her life, and she never
-saw him speaking to any of the lords but she was in alarm.
-
-Bothwell, Murray, and Maitland, now invited Huntley and Argyll to meet
-them at Craigmillar Castle, and there proposed that a divorce should be
-recommended to the queen, on condition that she pardoned Morton and his
-accomplices in the death of Rizzio. Mary listened to the scheme with
-apparent willingness, on the understanding that the measure was not to
-prejudice the rights of her son; but when it was proposed that Darnley
-should live in some remote part of the country, or retire to France,
-the idea appeared to realise their separation too vividly. She evidently
-cherished a lingering affection for him, and expressed a hope that he
-might return to better mind. She even offered to pass over to France
-herself, and remain there till he became sensible of his faults. On this
-Maitland exclaimed that, sooner than that she should banish herself, they
-would substitute death for divorce. This effectually startled Mary, and
-she commanded them to let the matter be, for that she should wait and see
-what God in His goodness would do to remedy the matter.
-
-The conspirators expressed their obedience to the queen's demands, but
-they still proceeded with the plot. At Craigmillar they met again, and
-drew up a bond or covenant for the murder of Darnley, which was signed
-by Huntly, Maitland, Argyll, and Sir James Balfour, of which Bothwell,
-kept possession. It declared Darnley a young fool and tyrant, and bound
-them to cut him off as an enemy to the nobility, and for his unbearable
-conduct to the queen.
-
-Soon after the Earl of Bedford arrived to attend the baptism of the
-child. As we have stated, Darnley, though in the palace, did not attend
-the ceremony, and the queen was observed to be oppressed with melancholy
-and to shed tears. The ministers now prevailed on the queen to pardon all
-the murderers of Rizzio, except Car of Faudonside, who had held a pistol
-to her breast, and George Douglas, who was the first to stab Rizzio.
-This gave such offence to Darnley that he quitted Edinburgh, and went
-to his father's, at Glasgow. There he was seized with a severe attack
-of illness, and an eruption which came out all over his body. It was
-believed to be poison, but proved to be the small-pox.
-
-Whilst he was lying ill, Morton returned to Edinburgh. Bothwell and
-Maitland met him at Whittingham, the seat of Archibald Douglas, where
-they pressed him to join the conspiracy for the murder of Darnley,
-professing that it was all done at the queen's desire. Morton insisted
-that they should bring him the queen's warrant, under her own hand, but
-this they failed to do. At the time that these plottings were going on,
-in the month of January, 1567, the queen set out to visit Darnley, who
-had received some hints of the plots against him, and was greatly alarmed
-by the tidings that the queen, whose severe censure of him he was well
-acquainted with, was on the way to see him. He sent a messenger to meet
-her, apologising for not waiting on her in person. The queen replied
-there was no medicine against fear, and rode on. She went direct to his
-father's, entered his room, and greeted him kindly. Darnley professed
-deep repentance of his faults, pleading his youth and the few friends
-and advisers that he had. He complained of a plot got up at Craigmillar,
-and that it was said that the queen knew of it but would not sign it. He
-entreated that all should be made up, and that she should not withdraw
-herself from him, as he complained she had done. Mary conducted him
-by short journeys to Edinburgh, herself travelling on horseback, and
-Darnley being carried in a litter. They rested two days at Linlithgow,
-and reached Edinburgh on the last day of January. It was intended to take
-Darnley to Craigmillar, on account of Holyrood being thought to lie too
-low for a convalescent; but probably Darnley, after what he had heard,
-objected to go thither, and he was therefore taken to a suburb called
-Kirk-of-Field, an airy situation, where the Duke of Chatelherault had a
-palace. The attendants proceeded to the duke's house, but the queen told
-them the lodging prepared for the king was not there, but in a house just
-by, and also by the city wall, near the ruinous monastery of the Black
-Friars.
-
-The place appeared a singular one for a king, for it was confined in size
-and not over well furnished. What was more suspicious was, that it was
-the property of Robert Balfour, the brother of that Sir James Balfour
-who was of the league sworn to destroy Darnley, and the same who drew
-up the document. He was a dependent of Bothwell's, who held the bond,
-and who met the king and queen a little way before they reached the
-capital, and accompanied them to this place. These circumstances taken
-along with those which followed, show that the whole had reference to
-the catastrophe, and the great question which has divided historians to
-this hour is, how far the queen was a party to the proceedings. For the
-present, so far as Mary was concerned, all appeared fair and sincere.
-She seemed to have resumed all her interest in her husband. She was
-constantly with him, and attended to everything necessary for his comfort
-and restoration. She passed the greater part of the day in his chamber,
-and slept in the room under his. Though Darnley was apprehensive of
-danger from the circumstance that his mortal enemies were now in power
-and about the Court, the constant presence and affection of the queen
-were a guarantee for his safety, and appeared to give him confidence.
-
-But the conspirators were watching assiduously for an opportunity to
-destroy him. Morton, Maitland, and Balfour, had now gathered into the
-plot the Earls of Huntly, Argyll, and Caithness, Archibald Douglas, the
-Archbishop of St. Andrews, and many other lords and leading men of the
-bench and bar. Murray alone seemed to stand aloof; though, from the
-evidence existing, there can be no question that he was privy to the
-whole affair.
-
-[Illustration: HOLYROOD PALACE, EDINBURGH. (_From a photograph by J.
-Valentine, Dundee._)]
-
-Darnley during this time received a warning of his danger from the Earl
-of Orkney, who, finding opportunity, told him that if he did not get
-quickly out of that place it would cost him his life. Darnley told this
-to the queen, who questioned the earl, and he then denied having said
-so. This was precisely what Morton stated would take place, when on his
-death-bed, confessing a knowledge of the plot, he was asked why he had
-not revealed it. He replied, that there was nobody to tell it to; that
-it was no use telling it to the queen, for he was assured that she was
-in the plot; and that if he had told Darnley, he was such a fool that
-he would immediately tell it to the queen. The circumstance, however,
-startled the conspirators, and determined them to expedite the terrible
-business. The desired opportunity arrived. The queen agreed to be present
-on the evening of the 9th of February at the marriage of Sebastiani and
-Margaret Carwood, two of her servants, which was to be celebrated with
-a masque. The queen remained with the king the greater part of the day,
-which was passed in the most apparent cordiality, and Mary declared her
-intention of remaining all night at Kirk-of-Field. However, she suddenly
-recollected her promise to attend the marriage, and taking leave of
-Darnley, kissed him, and taking a ring from her finger placed it on his
-own. It was now that the hired assassins executed their appointed task.
-How Darnley and his page were murdered is yet a disputed point. The house
-was blown up with gunpowder, but the bodies of the king and his page
-were found in the orchard adjoining the garden wall, the king only in his
-night-dress, his pelisse lying by his side, and no marks of fire upon the
-body.
-
-However doubtful may be other matters, there is no question of the
-presence of Bothwell at the tragedy. He attended the queen from
-Kirk-of-Field to Holyrood, but about midnight quitted the palace, changed
-his rich dress, and in disguise joined the murderers, who were waiting
-for him. About two o'clock two of them entered the house and lit a
-slow-burning match, the other end of which was placed amongst the powder.
-They remained some time expecting the catastrophe, till Bothwell grew so
-impatient that he was with difficulty withheld from entering the house
-to ascertain whether the match still burnt. This was done by one of the
-fellows, who looked through a window and perceived the match alight.
-The explosion soon after took place, and with a concussion which seemed
-to shake the whole city. Bothwell hurried away and got to bed before
-a servant rushed in with the news. He then started up with well-acted
-astonishment, and rushed forth shouting, "Treason! treason!" Huntly, and
-some others of the conspirators then proceeded to the queen's chamber,
-and informed her of what had taken place. She seemed petrified with
-horror, gave herself up to the most violent expression of grief, and,
-shutting herself up in her chamber, continued as if paralysed by so
-diabolical a tragedy.
-
-The demands of the outraged people for inquiry were loud. The city was
-placarded with the names of Bothwell, James Balfour, David Chambers,
-black John Spens, Signors Francisco, Joseph Rizzio--the brother of
-David--Bartiani, and John de Bourdeaux, as the leading murderers. The
-Earl of Lennox, the father of Darnley, called on the queen to bring
-them to trial; but he demanded in vain. Bothwell, the man whom the
-whole public denounced, continued the first in favour with the queen.
-Everything demonstrated the necessity of the queen exerting herself to
-discover the murderers of her husband. Sir Harry Killigrew arrived from
-Elizabeth, bearing a message of condolence, but at the same time urging
-the absolute necessity of the trial of Bothwell. Killigrew found the
-capital in a most excited state, clamorous for inquiry, and loud in its
-censures of the queen. At the same time a letter arrived from Bishop
-Beaton, her ambassador in France, stating in plainest terms that she was
-publicly accused there of being herself the chief mover in the whole
-dark business, and telling her that if she did not exert herself to take
-a rigorous vengeance she had better have lost life and all. Mary promised
-Killigrew that Bothwell should be brought to strict trial; but as soon
-as he was gone means were taken to secure Bothwell more completely
-from any effectual inquiry. The Earl of Mar was induced to give up the
-possession of the castle of Edinburgh to Bothwell, Morton had his lands
-and his castle of Tantallon restored to him, and in return supported
-Bothwell with all his influence. The castle of Blackness, the Inch, and
-the superiority of Leith, were conferred on Bothwell; and Murray--who
-neither liked to play the second to the aspiring favourite, nor to run
-any risk of exposure in those inquiries which must sooner or later
-ensue--requested permission to visit France.
-
-Mary could not possibly be happy in such circumstances. Whatever might
-be the state of her conscience, her character was fearfully implicated,
-and on all sides came calls for inquiry, which she did not seem to have
-the power or the will to make. The climax to her trouble was put by the
-queen-mother of France and her uncle, the cardinal, sending her the most
-cutting message of reproach; calling on her without delay to avenge
-the death of the king, and to clear her own reputation, or regard them
-as no longer her friends, but the proclaimers of her utter disgrace.
-There was no possibility of delaying inquiry any longer, but every means
-was adopted to make it a mockery. Lennox was forbidden to appear with
-more than six followers, and his efforts to obtain a postponement were
-fruitless. In his absence Bothwell was unanimously acquitted.
-
-Rumours now arose that Bothwell was about to divorce his wife, the
-sister of Huntly--to whom he had been married only six months--and to
-marry the queen; and in the face of these reports Mary conferred on him
-the castle and lordship of Dunbar, with extension of his powers as Lord
-High Admiral. As tidings of the queen's intended marriage grew, Murray,
-her brother, stole away out of contact with danger or responsibility
-and retired to France. But, nevertheless, she did not lack warning.
-Her ambassador at the French Court entreated her, in the most serious
-manner, to punish her husband's murderers, and not allow the world to
-use such freedom with her character as it did. She had equally strong
-letters from her friends in England, which Melville showed to her, and
-was advised by Maitland of Lethington to get away from Court for fear
-of Bothwell. Bothwell, however, soon put the matter beyond doubt. He
-invited the principal nobility to a tavern, kept by one Ainslie, and
-there he drew out of his pocket a bond expressing his innocence of the
-murder of Darnley, as established by the bench and the legislature, and
-his intention to marry the queen, and containing, it is said, her written
-warrant empowering him to propose the matter to the nobility. The company
-was composed partly of his friends and accomplices. The rest were taken
-with confusion, but they had all been deeply drinking, and they found
-the house surrounded by 200 of Bothwell's hackbutters. Under constraint,
-eight bishops, nine earls, and seven lords, subscribed the paper.
-
-But the daring ambition of the man now roused even his old accomplices to
-conspire against him, for the safety of the young prince and Government.
-Morton, Argyll, Athole, and Kirkaldy of Grange, were at the head of this
-plot; and they wrote to Bedford the day after the supper at Ainslie's,
-saying it was high time that his dangerous career was checked, and
-engaging by Elizabeth's aid to avenge the murder of the king. Kirkaldy,
-who was the scribe, added that the queen had been heard to say that "she
-cared not to lose France, England, and her own country for him, and would
-go with him to the world's end in a white petticoat, before she would
-leave him."
-
-An anonymous letter, but undoubtedly from some of this party, soon
-followed, declaring that the queen had concerted with Bothwell the
-seizure of her person. The correctness of this information was
-immediately proved. On Monday, the 21st of April, the very day foretold,
-Mary rode to Stirling to visit her son, where the Earl of Mar,
-entertaining strong suspicions of her intentions, refused to allow her
-access to him with more than two attendants, to her great indignation.
-On her return, as had been foreseen in the letter quoted, Bothwell
-met her at the head of 1,000 horse, at Almond Bridge, six miles from
-Edinburgh; and, according to Melville, who was in the queen's train,
-taking the queen's bridle, he boasted that "he would marry the queen,
-who could or who would not; yea, whether she would herself or not." He
-says that Captain Blackadder, one of Bothwell's men, told him that it
-was with the queen's own consent. Whether this were so or not, has been
-argued eagerly on both sides, but it is probable from what we have seen,
-that Mary really was a consenting party. The royal retinue was suffered
-to continue its journey, with the exception of Melville, Maitland, and
-Huntly, who were conducted along with the queen to the castle of Dunbar,
-the recent gift of Mary to Bothwell. The queen seems to have made no loud
-outcries against her apparently forcible abduction, and the country was
-so convinced of the sham nature of the affair, that there was no attempt
-to rescue her.
-
-The divorce of Bothwell from his wife was now hastened, and after
-detaining the queen five days at the castle of Dunbar, he conducted her
-to Edinburgh, and led her to the castle, where she was received with a
-salute of artillery, Bothwell holding her train as she dismounted. The
-ministers of the Church were ordered to proclaim the banns of marriage
-between the queen and Bothwell, but they declined; and Craig, the
-colleague of Knox, who was absent, declared that he had no command from
-her Majesty, who was held in disgraceful constraint by Bothwell. This
-brought to him the Justice Clerk with a letter under the queen's own
-hand, stating that the assertions he had made were false and commanding
-him to obey. Craig still refused till he had seen the queen herself;
-and, before the Privy Council, charged Bothwell with murder, rape, and
-adultery. No punishment followed so daring a charge, and the preacher
-having done his duty, obeyed the Royal mandate and published the banns,
-at the same time exclaiming, "I take heaven and earth to witness that I
-abhor and detest this marriage, as odious and slanderous to the world;
-and I would exhort the faithful to pray earnestly that a union against
-all reason and good conscience may yet be overruled by God to the conform
-of this unhappy realm."
-
-Nothing moved by these public expressions of censure and disgust, the
-queen appeared, on the 12th of May, at the high court of Edinburgh, and
-informed the Chancellor, the judges, and the nobility that, though she
-was at first incensed against the Earl of Bothwell for the forcible
-detention of her person, she had now quite forgiven him for his
-subsequent good conduct. That day she created Bothwell Duke of Orkney and
-Shetland, and with her own hand placed the coronet on his head. On the
-15th they were married, at four o'clock in the morning, in the Presence
-Chamber of Holyrood. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of Orkney,
-according to the Protestant form, Craig being present; and afterwards
-privately, according to the Romish rite.
-
-Very soon circumstances hastened the inevitable insurrection in Scotland.
-Mary had summoned her nobles to accompany her on an expedition to
-Liddesdale, but many disobeyed the order. Murray had now arrived in
-England, and was using all his influence with Elizabeth to make a
-movement for the expulsion of Bothwell from his usurpation; and even
-Maitland, who to the last had remained at Court, wearing the air of a
-staunch supporter of the queen, slipped away and joined the opposition.
-These were ominous circumstances, and suddenly, while the queen and
-Bothwell were at Borthwick Castle, about ten miles from Edinburgh,
-the conspirators made a rapid night march, and morning saw the castle
-surrounded by nearly 1,000 Borderers, under the command of Hume and other
-Border chiefs, with whom were Morton, Mar, Lindsay, Kirkaldy, and others
-of the nobles.
-
-The confederates deemed the queen and Bothwell now safe in their hands,
-but they were deceived. Bothwell escaped through a postern to Haddington,
-whence he reached Dunbar; and the queen also eluding them disguised as a
-man, rode booted and spurred after him. The confederates, disappointed of
-their grand prize, marched on the capital, forced the gates, and entered,
-proclaiming that they came to revenge the death of the king, and to
-rescue the queen from the murderer. There the Earl of Athole and Maitland
-joined them, and a banner was displayed on which was painted the body
-of the murdered king lying under a tree, and the young prince kneeling
-beside it, exclaiming, "Judge and avenge my cause, O Lord!" The people
-flocked to this exciting standard, and the leaders speedily commanded a
-strong force.
-
-Mary and Bothwell, meanwhile, summoned the nobles and people around
-Dunbar, and the Lords Seton, Yester, and Borthwick, appeared in arms,
-with a body of 2,000 men. Impatient to quell the confederates at once,
-they marched to Seton, where Mary issued a proclamation, declaring that
-all the pretences of the confederates were false; that her husband,
-the duke, was no murderer but had, as they knew, been fully acquitted;
-she was under no restraint but freely married to Bothwell, by consent
-and approbation of these very nobles; nor was her son in any danger,
-unless it were from them, for he was in their hands. Mary advanced and
-entrenched herself on Carberry Hill, in the old works which the English
-had thrown up before the battle of Pinkie.
-
-The confederates marched out of Edinburgh and confronted the Royal army,
-eager for the battle. De Croc, the French ambassador, now attempted to
-mediate between the two parties, and carried a message to Morton and
-Glencairn, offering the queen's pardon, on condition that they all
-returned to their allegiance; but Glencairn replied that they were not
-come there to seek pardon, but rather to give it those who had sinned;
-and Morton added, "We are not in arms against our queen, but the Duke
-of Orkney, the murderer of her husband, and are prepared to yield her
-our obedience, on condition that she dismisses him from her presence and
-delivers him up to us."
-
-It was clear that these terms must be complied with or they must fight;
-and it was soon perceived that the soldiers of the queen's army began
-to show symptoms of disaffection. Bothwell, therefore, rode forward,
-and defied any one who dared to accuse him of the king's murder. His
-challenge was accepted by James Murray of Tullibardine, the baron who was
-said to have charged Bothwell with the murder, in a placard affixed to
-the Tolbooth gate. Bothwell declined to enter the lists with Murray, on
-the plea that he was not his peer, whereupon Lord Lindsay of the Byres
-offered himself and was accepted, but at the moment of action the queen
-forbade the fight. By this time the defection in the queen's army became
-so conspicuous that Mary rode among her men to encourage them, assuring
-them of victory; but her voice had lost its charm, and the soldiers
-refused to fight in defence of the alleged murderer of the king. Whilst
-this was passing, it was observed that Kirkaldy of Grange was wheeling
-his forces round the hill to turn their flank, and the panic becoming
-general, the queen and Bothwell found themselves abandoned by all but
-about sixty gentlemen and the band of hackbutters.
-
-To prevent Kirkaldy from advancing his troops so as to cut off their
-retreat towards Dunbar, the queen demanded a parley, which was granted.
-Kirkaldy went forward and assured the queen that they were all prepared
-to obey her authority, provided she put away the man who stood by her
-side stained with the blood of the king. The queen promised to acquiesce,
-and she held a moment's conversation with Bothwell, gave him her hand,
-and followed Kirkaldy; Bothwell turning his horse's head and riding off
-to Dunbar. This brutal and unheroic man afterwards became a rover in the
-North Sea, and died in prison in Denmark in 1578. Mary did not follow
-Kirkaldy of Grange far till she saw Bothwell out of danger, when she
-reminded him that she relied on the assurances of the lords, on which
-Grange, kissing her Majesty's hand, took her horse by the rein, and
-led her towards the camp. On reaching the lines, the confederate lords
-received the queen on their knees, and vowed to obey and defend her as
-loyally as ever the nobility of the realm did her ancestors; but they
-very soon showed the hollowness of these professions, and the common
-soldiers assailed her ears with the most opprobrious language.
-
-[Illustration: MARY SIGNING THE DEED OF ABDICATION IN LOCHLEVEN CASTLE.
-(_See p._ 273.)]
-
-The unfortunate but guilty queen at every step learned more plainly her
-real situation, and the faith which she was to put in these nobles. She
-was conducted like a captive into Edinburgh, the soldiers constantly
-waving before her eyes the banner on which was painted the murdered
-king. The mob was crowding round in thousands, shouting and yelling in
-execration, and the women heaped on her all the coarsest epithets of
-adulteress and murderess. On arriving in the city, instead of conducting
-her to her own palace, the patriot nobles shut her up as a solitary
-prisoner in the house of the Provost, not even allowing her to have her
-women to attend her; and in the morning she was greeted by a repetition
-of the scenes of the previous day--the same hideous banner was hung
-out opposite her window, and the yells of the mob were furious. Driven
-to actual delirium by this treatment, she rent the clothes from her
-person, and almost naked attempted to speak to the raving populace. This
-shocking spectacle roused the sympathy of the better class of citizens,
-and they determined on a rescue of the insulted queen, when the watchful
-nobles removed her to Holyrood. There they held a Council, and concluded
-to send her prisoner to Lochleven Castle, at Kinross, under the stern
-guardianship of Lindsay and the savage Ruthven. While there she was
-persuaded (July 23, 1567), to resign in favour of her baby, and Murray,
-who was summoned home, became Regent.
-
-The queen, seeing herself destined by Murray to perpetual captivity,
-resolved to exert every faculty to effect her escape. After several
-unsuccessful efforts, she succeeded in May, 1568, through the ingenuity
-of a page called Little Douglas. The news of Mary's escape flew like
-lightning in every direction; the people, forgetting her crimes in her
-beauty and her sufferings, gathered to her standard; and she who a few
-days before was a deserted captive, now beheld herself at the head of
-6,000 men. Many of the nobility, and some of those who had sinned deeply
-against her, now flocked around her. Murray, on the first news of their
-movement, marched out of Glasgow, and took possession of a small hamlet
-called Langside, surrounded by gardens and orchards, which occupied each
-side of a steep narrow lane directly in the way of the queen's army.
-Instead of avoiding this position, and making their way to Dumbarton by
-another course, Lord Claud Hamilton charged the troops there posted with
-his cavalry, 2,000 strong, in perfect confidence of driving them thence;
-but the hackbutters, who had screened themselves behind walls and trees,
-poured in on the cavalry a deadly fire which threw them into confusion.
-Lord Claud cheered them on to renew the charge, and with great valour
-they pushed forward and drove the enemy before them. But, pursuing them
-up the steep hill, they suddenly found themselves face to face with
-Murray's advance, composed of the finest body of Border pikemen, and
-commanded by Morton, Home, Ker of Cessford, and the barons of the Merse,
-all fighting on foot at the heads of their divisions.
-
-The battle was unequal, for the troops of Murray were fresh, while
-those of the queen were out of breath with their up-hill fight.
-Notwithstanding, the main body of the queen's forces coming up, there
-was a severe struggle, and the right of the Regent's army began to give
-way. Grange, who was watching the field from above, quickly brought up
-reinforcements from the main body, and made so furious a charge on the
-queen's left as to scatter it into fragments; and Murray, who had waited
-with the reserve for the decisive moment, rushed forward with so much
-impetuosity, that the main battle of the queen was broken, and the flight
-became general (May 13, 1568). Mary, who had surveyed the conflict from
-the castle of Crookston, on a neighbouring height, about four miles from
-Paisley, beholding the rout of her army, turned her horse and fled, and
-never drew bit till she reached the abbey of Dundrennan, in Galloway. She
-then set sail in a boat, and landed at Workington, in Cumberland. Here
-she wrote to Elizabeth, expressing her strong confidence that Elizabeth
-would receive her and protect her against her rebellious subjects. She
-concluded her letter with these words:--"It is my earnest request that
-your majesty will send for me as soon as possible, for my condition is
-pitiable, not to say for a queen, but even for a simple gentlewoman. I
-have no other dress than that in which I escaped from the field. My first
-day's ride was sixty miles across the country, and I have not since dared
-to travel except by night."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_continued_).
-
-     Elizabeth Determines to Imprison Mary--The Conference at
-     York--It is Moved to London--The Casket Letters--Mary is sent
-     Southwards--Remonstrances of the European Sovereigns--Affairs
-     in the Netherlands--Alva is sent Thither--Elizabeth Aids the
-     Insurgents--Proposed Marriage between Mary and Norfolk--The
-     Plot is Discovered--Rising in the North--Its Suppression--Death
-     of the Regent Murray--Its Consequences in Scotland--Religious
-     Persecutions--Execution of Norfolk--Massacre of St.
-     Bartholomew--Siege of Edinburgh Castle--War in France--Splendid
-     Defence of La Rochelle--Death of Charles IX.--Religious War in the
-     Netherlands--Rule of Don John--The Anjou Marriage--Deaths of Anjou
-     and of William the Silent.
-
-
-Elizabeth, on reading Mary's letter, felt that she was now entirely in
-her power; and all her art was exerted to draw her over into the heart
-of the kingdom, so that she could neither retreat nor escape to France.
-She took every measure to avoid alarming her. She dispatched letters
-to the sheriff of Cumberland, commanding him to treat the Scottish
-queen with all honour, but to keep the strictest watch over her, and to
-prevent any possibility of escape. Nothing was farther from Elizabeth's
-intentions than to enter on friendly terms with the Queen of Scots.
-She had never forgiven her the offence of insisting on her claims of
-succession to the crown of England. She had a personal jealousy of the
-fame of her superior beauty; and, with such a counsellor as Cecil, it
-was certain that a selfish and suspicious policy would prevail. In those
-days, honour and high principle were of little account: expediency was
-the only statesmanship. It was, therefore, easy for Elizabeth and her
-ministers to plead the accusations against Mary--the imprudence of her
-conduct, and her still unabated infatuation for the murderer Bothwell.
-Mary was a firm Papist, Murray was a high professing Protestant, and to
-favour him and his party was to be the champion of Protestantism. To let
-Mary escape to France was not to be thought of, for of all things it was
-essential to keep asunder the union of French and Scottish interests. It
-was clear, therefore, that Mary must be detained in England, at least for
-the present; after she had been sufficiently discredited she might be
-allowed to return to Scotland.
-
-Elizabeth, after some consideration, determined that Mary's conduct
-should be submitted to a formal inquiry. When Mary learned that a message
-was actually on its way to call Murray and his accomplices to England,
-to prefer their charges against her, she protested vehemently against
-such a proceeding and declared that she would rather die than submit to
-such indignity. Murray received his summons with his usual artfulness.
-He was required by Elizabeth to prefer his charges against the Queen of
-Scots, but in the meantime to refrain from hostilities. He obeyed the
-requisition; placed his soldiers in quarters; but demanded to know what
-was to be the result of the inquiry. If the queen was declared innocent,
-what guarantee was he to receive for his own security? If guilty, what
-then? He said he had already sent copies of his proofs by his servant
-Wood; and if they were found to be faithful to the originals, would they
-be deemed conclusive?
-
-Thus the cunning Regent was seeking to ascertain whether he had already
-evidence deemed by the selected judge sufficiently damnatory, or whether
-he should fabricate more. Nothing could be cleverer than Elizabeth's
-dealings in reply. She assured Murray, and also Mary, that she did not
-set herself up as a judge of the Scottish queen, far less as an accuser;
-that her sole object was to settle the disputes between Mary and her
-subjects, and to reinstate her at once in their good opinion and in her
-full power; but in secret she assured Murray, as we learn from Goodall
-and Anderson, that, whatever were her assurances to Mary, she really
-meant to try her and, if she could find her guilty, to retain her in
-perpetual imprisonment.
-
-After considerable delay Murray appointed his commissioners--the Earl
-of Morton, the Bishop of Orkney, Lord Lindsay, and the commendator of
-Dunfermline, who were to be assisted by Maitland, Buchanan, and Macgill.
-Elizabeth appointed, as hers, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex,
-and Sir Ralph Sadler. Maitland, at this juncture, while engaged on the
-part of Murray, sent Mary copies of the letters which Murray intended to
-present against her, and begged her to say what he could do to assist
-her. She replied, that he should use his influence to abate the rigour of
-Murray, influence the Duke of Norfolk as much as possible in her favour,
-and rely on the Bishop of Ross as her sincere friend. She then named, on
-her part, the said Bishop of Ross, the Lords Herries, Boyd, Livingston,
-the abbot of Kilwinning, Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar, and Sir John
-Cockburn of Stirling.
-
-The Commissioners, Murray attending in person with his own, met at York,
-on the 4th of October. Some obstruction of business was occasioned by
-the Duke of Norfolk insisting that, as the Regent had consented to plead
-before Elizabeth, he must first do homage to the English crown. This was
-refused, and was therefore waived; but the step discovered the desire
-of Elizabeth to seize on this occasion to achieve what none of her
-ancestors could accomplish--the acknowledgment of the feudal vassalage
-of Scotland. The next betrayed the duplicity of her promises to the two
-parties. Mary's commissioners claimed that the engagement of Elizabeth
-to place Mary on the throne of Scotland in any case, should appear in
-their powers; and Murray's, on the contrary, pleaded the queen's promise
-that if Mary were pronounced guilty she should remain a prisoner. These
-contradictory powers were granted, and Mary's commissioners opened
-the conference with their charges that Murray and his associates had
-rebelliously risen in arms against their lawful sovereign, had deposed
-and imprisoned her, and compelled her to seek justice from her royal
-kinswoman.
-
-Murray was now called upon to reply, but, instead of openly and boldly
-stating his reasons for the course he had pursued, and producing and
-substantiating, as Elizabeth hoped and expected, the charges of her
-participating in her husband's murder, which he had so long and loudly
-vaunted, he solicited a private interview with the English commissioners,
-before whom he stated his defence. In this defence, to the unmitigated
-astonishment and disappointment of Elizabeth and her ministers, he made
-no charge against Mary of participation in the murder of Darnley; but
-reiterated the charges against her of marrying Bothwell, and the danger
-thereby incurred by the prince. Nor was this all. Mary's commissioners
-did not so far excuse him; they accused him boldly of complicity with
-Bothwell and the murderers, and of being on the most friendly terms with
-Bothwell whilst the marriage with the queen was in progress. Murray, with
-all his art, was confounded and silenced.
-
-[Illustration: LORD BURLEIGH. (_From the Portrait by Mark Gerard._)]
-
-It is said that the arguments and disclosures of the Duke of Norfolk
-had, at this moment, greatly staggered him. Norfolk had conceived the
-design of marrying the Queen of Scots; and, in order to deter Murray
-from pressing the worst charges, intimated to him privately that he was
-pursuing a dangerous course, for that Elizabeth, it was well known,
-never meant to decide against Mary. Murray was rendered sufficiently
-cautious to abstain from the public accusation of the queen; but he laid
-privately before Norfolk, Suffolk, and Sadler, the alleged contents of
-the celebrated silver casket, consisting of love-letters and sonnets,
-addressed by Mary to Bothwell, and a contract of marriage in the
-handwriting of Huntley. Copies of these were transmitted to Elizabeth.
-
-Being now in possession of Murray's charges, Elizabeth determined to
-compel him to make them openly, her grand object being to establish an
-accusation of Mary sufficiently atrocious to warrant her in keeping her
-a perpetual prisoner. For this reason she summoned the Commission to
-Westminster, alleging that York was too distant for a quick transaction
-of business. When Murray appeared before Elizabeth, he found, to his
-dismay, that she was perfectly informed of his private interviews with
-Norfolk, and she insisted that he should make a public accusation of
-Mary, threatening in case of refusal, to transfer her interests to the
-Duke of Chatelherault, and to favour the latter's claim to the Regency.
-But Murray was not inclined to make this accusation, unless assured that
-Elizabeth would pronounce sentence on Mary, which Norfolk had led him
-to doubt. Mary, on the other hand, received information from Hepburn of
-Riccarton, a confederate of Bothwell's, that Elizabeth was of all things
-really anxious to compel Murray to this accusation. To prevent this, she
-ordered her commissioners, if any such attempt was made at accusing her,
-to demand her immediate admission to the presence of Elizabeth, and, if
-that were refused, to break up the conference.
-
-[Illustration: FARTHING OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-[Illustration: HALFPENNY OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-[Illustration: PENNY OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-[Illustration: TWOPENCE OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-These conferences were opened in the Painted Chamber at Westminster,
-the commissioners of Mary refusing to meet in any judicial court; and,
-acting on the instruction of their queen, they at once demanded the
-admission of Mary to Elizabeth's presence, on the reasonable plea that
-that privilege had been granted to Murray. This was again declined, on
-the old ground that Mary must first clear herself; and on the retirement
-of the commissioners it was demanded of Murray to put in his accusation
-in writing, Bacon, the Lord Keeper, assuring him that, if Mary were found
-guilty, she should be either delivered to him, or kept safe in England.
-To this Murray replied, that he had prepared his written accusation,
-but that before he would give it in he must have an assurance, under
-the hand of Elizabeth, that she would pronounce judgment. On this Cecil
-said, "Where is your accusation?" and Murray's secretary, Wood, taking it
-imprudently from his bosom, replied, "Here it is, and here it must remain
-till we have the queen's written assurance." But while he spoke the paper
-was snatched from his hand by Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, who rushed over
-the table, pursued by Wood, and handed it to the English commissioners.
-It was received amid roars of laughter, and Cecil, who had now gained his
-great object, became radiant with exultation. The confusion of the scene
-was extraordinary; Lord William Howard, a blunt sea-officer, shouting
-aloud in his glee, and Maitland whispering to Murray that he had ruined
-his cause for ever.
-
-[Illustration: HALF-CROWN OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-[Illustration: HALF-SOVEREIGN OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-But as there was now no going back, the paper was read, and found to
-contain the broadest and most direct charge against Mary, not only of
-being an accomplice in the murder of her husband, but even of inciting
-Bothwell to it, and then marrying the murderer. This was totally
-different from Murray's former declaration to the English ministers; but
-it was now backed by a similar one from Lord Lennox, demanding vengeance
-for the death of his son. No sooner did the commissioners of the Queen
-of Scots hear this than they most indignantly condemned the conduct of
-the English commissioners, declared themselves prepared to prove that
-Murray and his friends themselves were the actual authors, and some of
-them the perpetrators of the murder. They demanded instant admittance
-to the presence of Elizabeth; complained loudly of the breach of the
-contract that nothing should be received in prejudice of their queen's
-honour, in her absence; demanded the instant arrest of the authors of the
-foul charge, and, on that being refused, broke off the conference.
-
-Here, indeed, the conference really ceased. Elizabeth, despite the
-withdrawal of Mary's commissioners, summoned Murray to produce his
-proofs; and the pretended love-letters and sonnets, of which Elizabeth
-had already had copies, were spread before her commissioners. The
-originals of these celebrated documents have long disappeared, but
-the copies which remained have evidently been tampered with, and have
-been pronounced most suspicious by all who have examined them. Mary,
-on hearing this, demanded by her commissioners the right to see these
-papers, declaring that she would prove the exhibitors of them the real
-murderers, and expose them as liars and traitors. This most reasonable
-request was refused, and Elizabeth, having now all she wanted, delivered
-by her Council this extraordinary decision on the 10th of January,
-1569:--That neither against the Queen of Scotland, nor against Murray,
-had any convincing charge of crime, on the one hand, or treason on
-the other, been shown; and that the Queen of England saw no cause to
-conceive an ill opinion of her good sister of Scotland. It was conceded
-that Mary should have copies of the papers in the casket, on condition
-that she should reply to them, which she consented to do, provided that
-Murray and her accusers were detained to abide the consequence. This,
-however, did not suit the object of Elizabeth. Murray and his associates
-were permitted to retire to Scotland, but it was declared that, on many
-grounds, the Queen of Scots must remain in England.
-
-Meanwhile Elizabeth had removed Mary farther from the Scottish border.
-She evidently doubted the security of the Queen of Scots so near her
-Scottish subjects, and in a part of the country so extremely Popish.
-Mary, on her part, was quite sensible of the views of Elizabeth, and
-protested against going farther into the interior of England. She did
-not hesitate to express her opinion that it was the intention of Cecil
-to make away with her. But resistance on her part was now hopeless.
-She was in the hands of a powerful and unscrupulous woman, who every
-day felt more and more the difficult position in which she had placed
-herself by thus making herself the gaoler, against all right and honour,
-of an independent queen. She sent express orders to Scrope and Knollys
-to permit no person to approach the Queen of Scots who was likely to
-dissuade her from her removal, and furnished them with a list of such
-well-affected gentlemen as should attend her on her way through the
-different counties. On the 26th of January, 1569, in wintry weather,
-Mary and her attendants were obliged to quit Bolton Castle and, mounted
-on miserable horses, to take their way southward. On the 2nd of February
-they reached Ripon, and thence proceeded to Tutbury Castle, a ruinous
-house belonging to the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was now her keeper. The
-castle lay high above the valley of the Dove, and was a wretched abode
-for a crowned head; and Mary was watched and guarded with the utmost
-anxiety lest some of her partisans should find means of communicating
-with her.
-
-Not only were the Roman Catholic subjects of Elizabeth greatly
-discontented with the detention of the Scottish queen--whom Elizabeth
-had again removed to Wingfield Manor, in Derbyshire, in April--but the
-sovereigns of the Continent also remonstrated with Elizabeth on the
-injustice of treating a queen--as much a sovereign as herself--as a
-captive and a criminal. Elizabeth, however, feeling that she had now
-little to fear from them, replied that they were labouring under a
-mistake; and that so far from treating the Queen of Scots as a captive,
-she was giving her refuge and protection against her rebellious subjects,
-who sought her life, and laid the most grievous crimes to her charge.
-
-The Duke of Norfolk, and the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, as friends of
-Mary, were extremely hostile to Cecil, regarding him as the real mover
-and influencer of the queen against her. They succeeded in securing the
-favour of Leicester to their design against him, who ventured to lay
-their complaints, as the complaints of the country, before Elizabeth,
-representing the clamour against the measures of Cecil, and the belief
-that his policy was prejudicial to her reputation and injurious to the
-interests of the realm, as universal. Elizabeth defended her favourite
-minister with zeal; but the politic Cecil was struck with a degree
-of alarm at their combination, which might have eventually proved
-formidable, had they not stumbled on the scheme of marrying Norfolk to
-Mary. The results of that scheme, however, we must postpone till we have
-noticed some anterior affairs.
-
-We have seen how Elizabeth assisted the Huguenots in France. In the
-Netherlands she was not less active. The commercial natives of these
-countries had not only grown rich under the mild sway of the Dukes of
-Burgundy, but they had exercised privileges which did not accord with the
-bigoted and despotic notions of Philip II. Both Protestants and Romanists
-murmured at his harsh and arbitrary government. The latter complained
-that opulent abbeys in the possession of natives were dissolved to
-form bishoprics for Spaniards. The Protestants groaned under a stern
-persecution, and every class of subjects beheld with horror and disgust
-the Spanish Inquisition introduced. Protestants and Papists alike united
-to put down this odious institution. The league, from including both
-religious parties, was named the Compromise, and the Prince of Orange and
-the Counts Egmont and Horn took the lead in it. The Duchess of Parma,
-who governed the country, gave way before the storm, and abolished the
-Inquisition, which had the effect of separating the Roman Catholics from
-the Protestants. The latter deemed it necessary, when thus deserted, to
-conduct their worship with arms in their hands; and the duchess, alarmed
-at this hostile attitude, issued a proclamation forbidding all such
-assemblies. In Antwerp and other cities where the English and German
-Protestants greatly abounded, no notice was taken of her proclamation;
-but it was resolved no longer to remain on the defensive, but to carry
-the war into the enemy's quarters.
-
-The people, assembling in April, 1567, in vast crowds, proceeded to
-demolish the images and altars in the churches, and even to pull the
-churches down. On the feast of the Assumption, as the priests were
-carrying an image of the Virgin through the streets, the crowd made
-terrible menaces against it, and the procession was glad to hasten back
-to the church from which it had set out. But a few days afterwards the
-people rushed to the cathedral, which was filled with rich shrines,
-treasures, and works of art, and set systematically to work to smash and
-destroy every image that it contained. Amongst these was a crucifix,
-placed aloft, the work of a famous artist, which they dragged down with
-ropes, and knocked in pieces. The pictures, many of them very valuable,
-they cut to shreds, and the altars and shrines they tore down and
-utterly destroyed. From the desecrated cathedral they proceeded to the
-other churches, where they perpetrated the same ruin, and thence to the
-convents and monasteries, driving the monks and nuns destitute into the
-streets. The example of Antwerp was zealously followed in every other
-province in the Netherlands, except in the Walloons. The iconoclasts were
-at length interrupted in their work by the Duchess of Parma, who fell
-upon them near Antwerp, and defeated them with great slaughter. Philip
-dispatched the notorious Duke of Alva to take vengeance on the turbulent
-heretics, and overran the Netherlands with his butcheries. The Prince of
-Orange retired to his province of Nassau, but Horn and Egmont were seized
-and beheaded on the 5th of June, 1568.
-
-The Huguenots in France, alarmed at this success of Alva, and believing
-that he was appointed to carry into execution the secret league of
-Bayonne, for compelling the Protestants of France, Spain, and Flanders,
-to give up their religion or their lives, rose under Condé, and attempted
-to seize the king, Charles IX., at Monceaux. Charles, however, was
-rescued by his Swiss guards, who, surrounding him in a body, beat off
-the Huguenots, and conducted him in safety to Paris. There, he was,
-nevertheless, a prisoner, till he was released by the defeat of the
-Huguenots at the battle of St. Denis, where his principal general, the
-constable Montmorency, was killed. Condé had fallen in the battle of
-Jarnac (March 15, 1569). Norris, the English ambassador, was accused
-of giving encouragement and aid to the insurgents, and the king was
-compelled to make a treaty with his armed subjects. In the spring of
-1568, 3,000 of these French Huguenots marched into Flanders, to join the
-Prince of Orange, who had taken the field against Alva. After various
-successes, the prince, at the close of the campaign, was obliged to
-retreat across the Rhine.
-
-Throughout these struggles, both in France and Belgium, Elizabeth lent
-much aid and encouragement in the shape of money; but, with her usual
-caution, she would take no public part in the contest, and all the while
-professed herself the friend of Philip, and most hostile to rebellion.
-
-The summer of 1569 was distinguished by a remarkable scheme for
-the marriage of the Duke of Norfolk to the Queen of Scots, which
-ended fatally for that nobleman, and increased the rigour of Mary's
-incarceration. The scheme was said to have originated in the ever-busy
-brain of Maitland. Murray fell into it, probably under the idea that
-Mary would then content herself with living in England, and leave the
-government of Scotland in his hands; or it might have entered into his
-calculations that it would, on discovery, so exasperate Elizabeth, as
-to lead to what it did, the closer imprisonment of the Queen of Scots,
-which would be equally acceptable to him. Elizabeth was not long in
-catching the rumours of this plot, and she burst out on the duke in her
-fiercest style; but Norfolk had the art to satisfy her of the folly of
-such an idea, by replying that such a thing had, indeed, been suggested
-to him, but that it was not a thing likely to captivate him, who loved to
-sleep on a safe pillow. The plan, however, went on, and from one motive
-or another, it eventually included amongst its promoters the Earls of
-Pembroke, Arundel, Bedford, Shrewsbury, Northumberland, and Westmoreland.
-Leicester and Throgmorton were induced to embrace it, and even Cecil was
-made aware of it and favoured it. In Scotland, Murray, Maitland, the
-Bishop of Ross, and Lord Boyd, were favourable to the measure. Mary was
-sounded on the subject, and professed her readiness to be divorced from
-Bothwell; but as to marriage, from her past sorrowful experience, she
-would rather retain her solitary life; yet, if the sanction of Elizabeth
-was obtained, she would consent to take Norfolk--but not, since all her
-miseries had flowed from her marriage with Darnley, contrary to the Queen
-of England's pleasure. The duke, on his part, when it was proposed to
-him, had recommended Leicester rather, and on his declining, his own
-brother Lord Henry Howard. How far either party was sincere in these
-statements matters little; the promoters were urgent and they acquiesced.
-
-The Bishop of Ross, with the apparent approbation of Murray, undertook
-to negotiate with Elizabeth for the restoration of the Scottish queen,
-on condition that neither she nor her issue should lay claim to the
-English throne during the life of Elizabeth; and that Mary should
-enter into a perpetual league, offensive and defensive, with England,
-and establish the Reformed religion in Scotland. Elizabeth affected
-to listen to these proposals, and the matter went so far that, on the
-assembling of the Scottish Parliament in July, 1569, Murray professed to
-be quite agreeable to the liberation of Mary, but took care to reject
-the proposals approved of by Elizabeth, and opposed the appointment to
-examine the queen's marriage with Bothwell. Maitland at once fathomed
-the long-concealed deceit of the Regent, and dreading his vengeance on
-those who had committed themselves in the matter, took a hasty flight
-into the fastnesses of Athole.
-
-And now befell what, no doubt, Murray had calculated upon. He despatched
-an envoy to the English queen, bearing full details of the propositions
-laid before the Scottish Parliament, and the consent received from
-Bothwell in Denmark to the divorce. The marriage with Norfolk, which was
-the end and object of all these plottings, had never been communicated
-to Elizabeth; for though Leicester had promised to impart it to her,
-he had not ventured to do it. Elizabeth immediately invited Norfolk to
-dine with her at Farnham, and, on rising from table, reminded him, in
-a very significant tone, of his speech when charged with such a design
-some time before, saying, "My lord duke, beware on what pillow you lay
-your head." Alarmed at this expression, Norfolk urged Leicester to
-redeem his promise, and speak to the queen on the subject; and this he
-did, under pretence of being seriously ill, while the queen was sitting
-by his bedside. The rage of Elizabeth was unbounded, but on Leicester
-expressing the deepest regret for his meddling in the matter, she forgave
-him, but sent for Norfolk and poured out on him her wrath and scorn.
-Norfolk expressed himself perfectly indifferent to the alliance, though
-so strongly recommended by his friends; but his words and manner did not
-deceive the deep-sighted queen. She continued to regard him with stern
-looks, and the courtiers immediately avoided him as a dangerous person.
-Leicester, who had promised him so much, lowered upon him as a public
-disturber. Norfolk felt it most agreeable to withdraw from Court, and
-his example was followed by his staunch friends Pembroke and Arundel.
-From Norfolk he wrote to Elizabeth excusing his absence, and expressing
-fears of the acts and slanders of his enemies. Elizabeth immediately
-commanded him to return to London. Her first information from Murray had
-been increased by the treachery of that nobleman and of Leicester, who
-had hastened to reveal to her the secret correspondence of Norfolk with
-them. His friends advised him to fly, but he did not venture on this, but
-wrote to Cecil to intercede with the queen. Cecil assured him there was
-no danger; the duke, therefore, proceeded to London, and was instantly
-arrested and committed to the Tower in October, 1569.
-
-At the same time Elizabeth joined the Earl of Huntingdon, an avowed
-enemy of the Queen of Scots, in commission with her keeper, the Earl
-of Shrewsbury, and Viscount Hertford, to secure more completely the
-person of Mary, who was again removed to Tutbury, and to examine her
-papers for further proofs of the correspondence with Norfolk. Her
-confidential servants had been dismissed; her person surrounded by an
-armed force; and her cabinets and apartments were strictly searched for
-this correspondence, but without effect. It is also asserted that it was
-determined to put her to death, if, as had been expected, the Duke of
-Norfolk should attempt her rescue by force. The friends of Mary blamed
-the duke for not having taken arms for her rescue, declaring that a short
-time would have brought whole hosts to his standard, but Norfolk must
-have too well known the hopelessness of such an enterprise.
-
-[Illustration: THE DUKE OF NORFOLK'S INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH. (_See p._
-280.)]
-
-The disclosure of the plot produced consternation and distrust on all
-sides. Murray, in revealing the correspondence with Norfolk, had not been
-able to escape suspicion himself. Elizabeth saw enough to believe that
-he had been an active promoter of the scheme; she saw still clearer that
-Maitland had been the originator of it; she was, moreover, incensed at
-the double-faced part which Murray's secretary, Wood, had been playing
-in the matter in London; and she ordered Lord Hunsdon, and her other
-agents in the North, to keep a sharp eye on Murray, and the movements
-of the leading Scots. To propitiate Elizabeth Murray determined to
-sacrifice Maitland; he, therefore, lured him from his retreat by some
-plausible artifice, when, on the demand of Lennox, he was arrested in the
-Council as one of the murderers of his son Darnley. Sir James Balfour,
-whom Lennox also accused, was seized with his brother George, in spite
-of the pardon which had been granted him on this head. In the midst of
-Murray's exultation over his success, Kirkaldy of Grange, dreading fresh
-disclosures, attacked the house where Maitland was kept, and carried him
-off.
-
-As the autumn approached, there were repeated rumours of rebellion
-in the North, which alarmed the Court of Elizabeth. On inquiry,
-however, no trace of such a thing could be discovered, and the Earls of
-Northumberland and Westmoreland, when questioned, gave such apparently
-honest and satisfactory answers, that the Government was perplexed.
-Suddenly, however, at the beginning of October, the two earls received
-a summons to York on the queen's business, and the Earl of Sussex was
-instructed, when he had secured them, to forward them to London. The
-fate of Norfolk, and consciousness of their actual secret proceedings,
-determined them to disobey the summons. But, unfortunately for them,
-their plans of action were yet so immature that they were not prepared
-to take up arms. While consulting what course to follow, the summons of
-Sussex arrived, and at the same time a rumour that a force was on the
-march to arrest Northumberland at Topcliffe. He and his countess hastened
-to Branspeth Castle, where the Earl of Westmoreland had already assembled
-around him his guests and retainers. Northumberland was still of opinion
-that they should avoid hostilities, for which they were unprepared;
-but others, and amongst them the Countess of Westmoreland, the sister
-of Norfolk, the Markenfields and Nortons, demanded war. Northumberland
-still dissented, and resolved to set out for Alnwick; but was detained by
-force, and the banner of revolt was unfurled.
-
-The first step of the insurgents was to occupy the city of Durham. So
-insignificant was their number at this moment, that only sixty horsemen
-followed the banner of the two earls. But their appeals to rise and
-defend the ancient faith found a strong response. Mass was celebrated
-in the cathedral before some thousands of people, who tore up the
-English Bible and destroyed the Communion table. They then, continually
-increasing in numbers, marched through Staindrop, Darlington, Richmond,
-and Ripon, everywhere turning out the appliances of the Reformed worship
-from the churches, and reinstating the ancient ritual.
-
-They proceeded as far as Bramham Moor, or, according to other
-authorities, Clifford Moor, near Wetherby, where their forces were found
-to amount to 1,700 horse, and something less than 4,000 foot, but many of
-them badly armed. The earls, who were famous for their hospitality, had
-but little ready money; Northumberland bringing only 8,000 crowns, and
-Westmoreland nothing at all. The Roman Catholics did not rise in their
-favour, as they had calculated. The insurgents had sent to the Spanish
-ambassador soliciting his help, but he referred them to the Duke of
-Alva, and the duke waited for orders from Philip. This aid not arriving
-cast a damp on the Romanists, who now, doubting of the expedition, lay
-still, or went over to the Royal army under the Earl of Sussex. To add to
-their confusion, 800 horse, whom they had despatched to Secure the Queen
-of Scots at Tutbury, returned with the news that she was removed thence
-to Coventry. They were confounded by this intelligence, and still more by
-the rumours of the numerous forces which were being raised under Ambrose
-Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and the Lord Admiral, whilst Lord Hunsdon from
-Berwick was hastening down upon them with his garrison and Royalists from
-the Borders.
-
-Dissension now began to appear in their ranks and amongst the leaders.
-The Earl of Westmoreland, who at first was the most daring, now began
-to hesitate; and Northumberland, who was, in a manner, dragged into the
-rising, on the contrary, counselled bold measures, as they had committed
-themselves. The result, however, was that they retreated to the Earl of
-Westmoreland's castle of Branspeth. They there issued a new manifesto;
-and as the Papists had not come forward as they expected, they now
-dropped the argument of religion, and took up the plea that there was a
-determination at Court to exercise arbitrary power over the lives and
-liberties of the subject, and that it was necessary to drive from her
-Majesty's counsels the persons who gave her pernicious advice.
-
-But this retreat had shaken the confidence of the people; and the
-different noblemen to whom they sent messengers followed the example
-of the Earl of Derby, and arrested them and sent them to the queen.
-The measures on the part of Elizabeth's Government were active and
-effectual. Orders were issued to muster a large army in the south. The
-Earl of Bedford was despatched to maintain quiet in Wales. A regiment of
-well-disciplined troops was marched from the Isle of Wight to defend the
-person of the sovereign, and suspected persons were arrested. To prevent
-any communication with the foreign princes, the mail-bags of the Spanish
-and French ambassadors were stopped and examined. Leicester entreated to
-be sent against the rebels, but Elizabeth would not risk his precious
-life, and kept him near her as her chief adviser, Cecil being indisposed.
-
-The patience of Elizabeth was greatly tried by the cautious delay of the
-Earl of Sussex, who was her commander in the north, and especially as his
-procrastination allowed the two earls to besiege Sir George Bowes in
-Barnard Castle for eleven days, which then opened its gates. There were
-even insinuations that Sussex was in secret league with the rebel earls.
-On the approach of the army of the Earl of Warwick, 12,000 in number,
-the insurgents held a council at Durham, on the 16th of December, 1569;
-but dissension again broke out between Westmoreland and Northumberland
-to such a degree that the forces scattered, and the enterprise was at
-an end. The foot got away to their homes, and the earls fled across the
-Border with 500 horse.
-
-In England no severity was spared in punishing the fallen insurgents.
-Those who possessed property were reserved for trial in the courts,
-to secure the forfeiture of their estates. These, and the fugitives
-together, amounted to fifty-seven noblemen, gentlemen, and freeholders,
-so that their wealth would form a good fund for the payment of the
-expenses of the campaign, and the reward of the officers and soldiers.
-On the poorer class Sussex let loose his vengeance with a fury which
-was intended to convince Elizabeth of his before-questioned loyalty. In
-the county of Durham he put to death more than 300 individuals, hanging
-at Durham at one time sixty-three constables; and Sir George Bowes made
-his boast that, for sixty miles in length, and fifty miles in breadth,
-between Newcastle and Wetherby, there was hardly a town or village in
-which he did not gibbet some of the inhabitants as a warning to the rest;
-a cruelty, says Bishop Percy, "which exceeds that practised in the West
-after Monmouth's rebellion; but this was not the age of tenderness or
-humanity." Sussex, in writing to Cecil, says, "I gesse it will not be
-under six or seven hundred at leaste of the common sort that shall be
-executed, besides the prisoners taken in the field."
-
-Meanwhile the Regent Murray, finding that there would never be any rest
-for either England or Scotland while the Queen of Scots was detained in
-her unjust captivity, entered into serious negotiations with Elizabeth,
-to have her surrendered to his own custody, when it would have been in
-his power to get rid of her on some pretence. Knox, in no equivocal
-language, in a letter to Cecil which still remains, had recommended her
-being put out of the way, telling him, "If ye strike not at the root, the
-branches that appear to be broken will bud again, and this more quickly
-than man can believe, with greater force than we could wish." On the
-day on which this letter was dated, Murray despatched Elphinstone to
-Elizabeth, to impress upon her the absolute necessity of some immediate
-and decisive dealing with Mary. He assured her that the faction in her
-favour both at home and abroad was daily acquiring fresh force; that the
-Spaniards and the Pope were intriguing with the Romanists of England and
-Scotland, and that daily succours were expected from France. He demanded
-that she should, therefore, at once exchange the Queen of Scots for
-Northumberland, and enable him, by a proper supply of money and arms, to
-resist their common foes. He entreated her to remember that the heads
-of all these troubles--no doubt meaning Mary and Norfolk--were at her
-command, and that if she declined this arrangement, he must forbear to
-adventure his life as he had done.
-
-These negotiations, however private, did not escape the knowledge of
-Mary's friends. The Bishop of Ross immediately entered a protest before
-Elizabeth against the scheme, which he declared would be tantamount
-to signing the death-warrant of the Queen of Scots. He induced the
-ambassadors of France and Spain to enter like protests; but whether they
-would have been effective remains a mystery, for Elizabeth had despatched
-Sir Henry Gates to the Regent on the subject, when the news of Murray's
-end altered the whole position of affairs.
-
-Private revenge and public had combined to accomplish this tragedy.
-James Hamilton, of Bothwellhaugh, an estate adjoining the celebrated
-Bothwell-brig, was one of the Hamilton clan who fought at Langside, and
-was there taken and condemned to death, but let off with the forfeit of
-his estate. The loss of his property might have been cause enough of
-discontent to a proud and high-spirited gentleman, but this was rendered
-tenfold more intolerable by the seizure of that of his wife, and her
-ejectment from it in the most brutal manner. He determined to have
-revenge.
-
-Murray was about to proceed from Stirling to Edinburgh, and had arranged
-to pass through Linlithgow. The Archbishop of St. Andrews, the uncle
-of Bothwellhaugh, had an old palace in the High Street of that town,
-through which Murray must pass. Bothwellhaugh took possession of this,
-and made all his preparations for the murder with the coolest exactness.
-He barricaded the front door, so that no one could, without considerable
-delay, force their way in to seize him. In the back yard he placed a
-powerful and swift horse, ready bridled and saddled for flight; and even
-removed the head of the doorway, so as to admit him to spring upon his
-steed, and ride through it without the moment's delay of leading the
-horse there. He then cut a hole for the barrel of his gun through a panel
-below a window, in a sort of wooden gallery, from which he could survey
-the procession. To prevent his booted steps from being heard, he laid
-a feather bed on the floor, and to prevent the possible casting of a
-shadow, hung up behind him a black cloth. These preparations being made,
-he stood ready, with his piece loaded with four bullets.
-
-[Illustration: THE REGENT MURRAY.
-
-(_From the Portrait in the Collection at Holyrood Palace._)]
-
-The Regent had been duly warned of his danger by a faithful servant named
-John Herne, who seems to have had full knowledge of Bothwellhaugh's plan
-and place of ambush, and offered to take the Regent where he could seize
-the assassin on the spot. With that fatal neglect which so often attends
-such victims, Murray agreed to avoid the public street, but took no means
-to secure the murderer. The crowd on entering the town became so great
-that he allowed himself to be densely surrounded--as it were, borne
-irresistibly along the fatal street. The throng, moreover, compelled him
-to move slowly, giving his enemy ample time to take aim. As he passed the
-archbishop's house, Bothwellhaugh fired so accurately that he shot him
-through the body, and killed the horse of the person riding next to him
-(January 23, 1570). The confusion which followed allowed the assassin
-to escape before his barricade could be forced, and he was just seen
-galloping away towards Hamilton. There the archbishop, the Lord Arbroath,
-and the whole clan of the Hamiltons, received him in triumph, as the
-liberator of his country from an unnatural tyrant who was plotting the
-murder of his sister and sovereign. They immediately flew to arms, and
-resolved to march to Edinburgh, liberate the Duke of Chatelherault, and
-assume the government.
-
-The assassination of Murray greatly disconcerted the policy of Elizabeth.
-The wily diplomatist who had such strong reasons for securing her
-co-operation in detaining the Queen of Scots from the throne, being gone,
-there was a serious danger of the two parties combining, and, by the aid
-of France, placing Mary, if not on the throne, at least at their head
-during the minority of her son. The Hamiltons, Maitland, Herries, Huntly,
-and Argyll, were all on the side of the Queen of Scots, and Morton and
-his associates were in no condition of themselves to resist them. They
-were on the march to secure the castles of Dumbarton and Edinburgh;
-the French were already on the Clyde; the Kers and Scots, friends of
-Mary, had burst across the Border, accompanied by the refugee Earl of
-Westmoreland; and an emissary from the Duke of Alva had arrived, bringing
-money, and promise of substantial help from Philip. It was necessary
-to sow instant dissension in Scotland, and for this purpose Elizabeth
-dispatched that subtle intriguer, Sir Thomas Randolph, to that country
-only three days after Murray's death, and resolved to recommend Lennox,
-whom the Hamiltons hated, as Regent. The young king, indeed, was his
-grandson, and therefore he had a natural claim to that position, if his
-abilities had been adequate to its responsibilities.
-
-[Illustration: HIGH STREET, LINLITHGOW.]
-
-Fortune seemed to favour Elizabeth. At the very moment that Cecil was
-recommending these measures, Lord Hunsdon, the Governor of Berwick,
-wrote to inform her that Morton was anxious to secure her support, and
-that nobleman lost no time in waiting on Sir Henry Gates and Sir William
-Drury, who had arrived on a mission to Murray, just before he was killed.
-He represented that his party trusted to the Queen of England not to
-liberate the Queen of Scotland, or the foreigners would soon possess the
-chief power in Scotland, but to send them Lennox as Regent, and assist
-them as she had assisted Murray, and they would pledge themselves to
-pursue the same policy. Randolph, on his arrival, promised them the
-queen's aid, and encouraged them to refuse any connection with the
-Hamiltons, who had warned them to acknowledge no authority but that of
-the queen. Morton and his friends replied by a proclamation, maintaining
-the rights of the king, and forbidding any one, on pain of treason, to
-hold communication with the Hamiltons. As they wanted a clever head,
-they liberated Maitland from the castle; and on his declaration of
-innocence of the murder of Darnley--a notorious untruth--they reinstated
-him in his old post of Secretary, and made Morton Chancellor. Randolph
-assured them of Elizabeth's determination to increase the rigour of
-the imprisonment of the Queen of Scots, and promised them both money
-and soldiers on condition that they should take care that the young
-king should not be carried off to France, that they should maintain the
-Protestant religion, and deliver up Westmoreland and Northumberland.
-These conditions were readily accepted, and letters were dispatched to
-hasten the arrival of Lennox.
-
-On the queen's side were now ranged the whole power of the Hamiltons,
-the Earls of Argyll, Huntly, Athole, Errol, Crawford, and Marshall;
-Caithness, Cassillis, Sutherland, and Eglinton; the Lords Home, Seton,
-Ogilvy, Ross, Borthwick, Oliphant, Yester, and Fleming; Herries, Boyd,
-Somerville, Innermeith, Forbes, and Gray. But more than all, their
-strength lay in the military abilities of Kirkaldy of Grange, and the
-diplomatic abilities of Maitland, who was no sooner at liberty than he
-went over to them. On the side of the king were Lennox, Mar, the governor
-of his youthful majesty, Glencairn, Buchanan, and the Lords Glammis,
-Ruthven, Lindsay, Cathcart, Methven, Ochiltree, and Saltoun.
-
-The friends of Mary, encouraged by promise of support from Spain and
-France, liberated Chatelherault from the castle of Edinburgh, and
-compelled Randolph to fly to Berwick. They then addressed a memorial to
-Elizabeth, calling upon her to put an end to the miseries of Scotland by
-liberating the queen. But Elizabeth was in no humour to listen to such
-requests. She had excited all Mary's friends at home and abroad, and a
-perpetual succession of intrigues, plots, and menaces of invasion kept
-her in no enviable condition. The intrigues of Norfolk for obtaining
-Mary, the successive rebellions in the northern shires, the invasions
-of the Borderers under Buccleuch and Ferniehurst--who had announced
-the death of Murray before it took place--and the constant rumours of
-expeditions from France or Spain, wrought her to such a pitch, that on
-pretence of seizing her rebels Northumberland and Westmoreland, she sent
-the Earl of Sussex into Scotland at the head of 7,000 men, the real
-object being to take vengeance on the allies of Mary, and to devastate
-the country with fire and sword.
-
-This excessive fury so roused the indignation of all parties in
-Scotland, and such loud remonstrances were made by Maitland, the Bishop
-of Ross, and the French ambassador, that Elizabeth began to fear that
-she had gone too far and, instead of ruining Mary's party, had created
-her one out of her old enemies. She wrote to Sussex, commanding him to
-stop the siege of Dumbarton, and to Randolph, ordering him to proceed
-again from Berwick to Edinburgh, and to inform the two parties that,
-having reasonably chastised her rebels, she had listened to the request
-of Mary's ambassador the Bishop of Ross, and was about to arrange at
-Chatsworth for the liberation and restoration of the Queen of Scots.
-On this Sussex retired with his forces, and the commissioners for the
-adjustment of the terms with Mary proceeded to the Peak. Cecil and
-Mildmay were then the agents of Elizabeth; the Bishop of Ross that of
-Mary. The Scottish queen, who had been removed about four months to this
-palace of the Peak, then one of the houses of the Earl of Shrewsbury, her
-keeper, during these negotiations showed herself a complete match for
-the deep and practical diplomatists of Elizabeth; but of course she was
-under the necessity of complying with many things which she would never
-have listened to at liberty. Elizabeth expressed herself quite satisfied;
-still the assent of the two parties in Scotland had to be obtained, and
-that was not at all likely, so that Elizabeth's offer could appear fair,
-and even liberal, with perfect safety. Morton, the head of the opponents
-to Mary, advocated the right of subjects to depose their sovereigns
-where they infringed the rights of the community--a doctrine which was
-abominable to the ears of Elizabeth, and called forth her unqualified
-censure. On the other hand, the guarantees to be given by and on
-account of the Queen of Scots were such as never could be settled, from
-Elizabeth's fears of the resentment of Mary if once she became free. Thus
-the discussion was prolonged till Cecil found a way out of it without the
-liberation of the Scottish Queen. He represented that if Elizabeth were
-to marry a French prince, she would almost entirely annihilate any hopes
-of the English crown in Mary: for if she had issue her claims would be
-superseded; if she had not, then the French would be directly interested
-in keeping Elizabeth firm on her throne. The Duke of Anjou was the prince
-this time proposed, and Elizabeth appeared, as she generally did at
-first, to listen with pleasure to the proposal. No sooner was this scheme
-entertained than she caused the commissioners on the part of the King of
-Scotland to be dismissed for the present, on pretence that they were
-not furnished with sufficient credentials, by which she left herself at
-liberty to renew the treaty if necessary, or to take no further notice
-of it if she came to an arrangement with the French prince. Prolonged
-negotiations with the French Court were set on foot, but neither party
-was sincere, and eventually the marriage project was abandoned, though it
-was subsequently revived in favour of Anjou's brother Alençon.
-
-No sooner had the Scottish commissioners withdrawn than Elizabeth
-summoned a Parliament, in which she proceeded to the enactment of
-severities against both Romanists and Protestants. Pope Pius V. had had
-the folly to cause a bull of excommunication against Elizabeth to be
-published. This now effete instrument of Papal vengeance could only serve
-to enrage the heretic Queen, and to cause her wrath to fall heavily on
-some zealous unfortunate. The lawyers being amongst those who clung the
-longest to the old faith, a search was made in the inns of court for
-copies of the offensive paper. One was found in the chambers of a poor
-student, who, being stretched on the rack to force a confession from
-him of the party from whom he had received it, to save himself from
-torture, confessed that it was given to him by John Felton, a gentleman
-living near Southwark. Felton was seized, and confessed to the fact of
-delivering the bull to the student: and to force a revelation of his
-accomplices from him he was tortured, but to no purpose--he would confess
-nothing more. He was committed to the Tower on the 25th of May, and kept
-till the 4th of August, when he was tried at Guildhall on a charge of
-high treason, condemned, and executed with the disgusting cruelties of
-being cut down alive, and then embowelled and quartered in St. Paul's
-Churchyard, before the gates of the palace of the Bishop of London.
-
-On the 2nd of April, 1571, Parliament met at Westminster. A subsidy of
-two shillings and eightpence in the pound was granted by the Commons,
-and of five shillings in the pound by the clergy, towards defraying
-the charges of suppressing the rebellion in the North, and of pursuing
-the rebels and their abettors into Scotland. This obtained, a bill was
-introduced to make it high treason for any one to claim a right to the
-succession of the Crown during the lifetime of the queen, or to say that
-it belonged to any other person than the queen. A second bill was passed
-this session enacting that any one was guilty of high treason who not
-merely obtained any bull from, or entered any suit in, the Court of
-Rome, but who was merely absolved by the Pope, or by means of any Papal
-instrument; and that all persons should suffer the pains of Præmunire who
-received any _Agnus Dei_, cross, bead, or picture, which had been blessed
-by the Pope, or any one deriving authority from him; and their aiders
-and abettors the same. All persons whatsoever, of a certain age, were
-bound to attend the Protestant worship, and receive the Sacrament as by
-law established; and all such as had fled abroad in order to escape this
-most despotic state of things were ordered to return within six months
-and submit themselves, under penalty of suffering the forfeiture of all
-property or rents from land. This Parliament was distinctly Puritan in
-its temper, and introduced several bills for the reform of religious
-worship, which were dropped in the House of Lords, or failed to receive
-the royal assent.
-
-The result of the friendship between England and France was that many
-of the English Catholics turned to Spain, and the dangerous conspiracy
-was hatched which is known as the Ridolfi plot. In the month of April,
-1571, Charles Bailly, a servant of the Queen of Scots, who was coming
-from Brussels to Dover, was arrested at the latter place, and upon him
-was discovered a packet of letters, which being written in cipher created
-suspicion. The Bishop of Ross, Mary's staunch and vigilant friend, who
-knew very well whence they came, on the first rumour of their seizure,
-contrived to obtain them from Lord Cobham, in whose hands they were, from
-a pretended curiosity to read them before they were sent to the Council.
-Having obtained his desire, he dexterously substituted others, and very
-innocent ones, in their place in a like cipher: but Bailly being sent to
-the Tower and placed on the rack, at length confessed that he had written
-the letters from the dictation of Ridolfi, of Brussels, formerly an
-Italian banker in London, and then had been commissioned by him to convey
-them to England. He further confessed that they contained assurances
-from the Duke of Alva of his warm sympathy with the cause of the captive
-queen, and approved of the plan of a foreign invasion of England; that
-if his master the King of Spain authorised him, he should be ready to
-co-operate with "30" and "40." Who these "30" and "40" were Bailly said
-he did not know, but that all that was explained by a letter enclosed
-to the Bishop of Ross, who was requested to deliver them to the right
-persons.
-
-One of these persons was immediately believed to be the Duke of Norfolk.
-When he had been ten months a prisoner without any matter having
-been brought against him of more consequence than that of his having
-desired to marry the Queen of Scots, provided the Queen of England was
-willing--which was no treason--and had been brought to no trial, he
-petitioned to be liberated, contending that though he was wrong in not
-communicating everything fully to the queen, yet that he had neither
-committed nor intended any crime, and that his health and circumstances
-were suffering greatly from his close imprisonment. In consequence, he
-was removed from the Tower on the 4th of August, 1570, to one of his
-own houses, under the custody of Sir Henry Neville. He certainly then
-obtained sufficient variety of prisons, but no more liberty, for he
-was repeatedly removed from one house to another. He petitioned to be
-restored to his seat in the Council, but was refused; and in August of
-1571 circumstances transpired which occasioned his return to the Tower.
-
-A man of the name of Brown, of Shrewsbury, on the 29th of August carried
-to the Privy Council a bag of money which he said he had received from
-Hickford, the Duke of Norfolk's secretary, to carry to Bannister, the
-duke's steward. The money on being counted in presence of the Council was
-found to amount to £600. But besides the money there were two papers in
-cipher; and on this suspicious appearance Hickford, the secretary, was
-at once arrested, and ordered to decipher the notes, which then showed
-that the money was intended to be sent to Lord Herries in Scotland, to
-assist in making fresh efforts on behalf of Mary. Here was treason, and
-the duke was immediately sent back to the Tower in the custody of Sir
-Ralph Sadler, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Henry Neville his old keeper, and
-Dr. Wilson. The duke denied all knowledge of it; but Bannister, and
-Barker, another secretary of Norfolk's, being now apprehended, as well as
-the Bishop of Ross, the rack forced a confession from them. The result
-was the destruction of the entire conspiracy. The Bishop of Ross, who
-was immediately arrested, made such revelations, that when the Duke of
-Norfolk, who had hitherto stoutly denied everything laid to his charge,
-saw the depositions of the bishop, of Hickford, and Barker, he exclaimed
-that he had been betrayed and ruined by those in whom he put confidence.
-On comparing the various answers of these men and of the duke, it would
-appear that several plans had been in agitation for the liberation of the
-Queen of Scots; that Norfolk, though he would confess to nothing of the
-kind, had taken active part in them; that the money lately taken from
-Hickford had been sent from France for the Scottish friends of Mary. But
-the most fatal to the duke was the revelation of the mission of Ridolfi,
-who had it appeared been sent by him to Alva, to the King of Spain, and
-to the Pope--or rather by Mary, with the cognisance and approbation of
-the duke.
-
-From further disclosures it appeared that the Pope placed a sum of money
-at the disposal of Mary, and accompanied it by a letter to Norfolk,
-regretting that he could send him no further aid this year. Thence
-Ridolfi hastened to Spain, and reaching Madrid on the 3rd of July, 1571,
-he delivered his letters to Philip. Meanwhile Philip had received letters
-from both the Pope and Alva. The Pope urged him to accept the enterprise
-and rescue England from heresy. The more astute Alva advised him to have
-nothing to do with it, for he had no faith in the men engaged in it,
-nor in the soundness of their plans. Philip, however, listened to the
-scheme, and was so much impressed by it as to determine to undertake the
-expedition, and to appoint Vitelli its commander. Ridolfi assured the
-king that he would find plenty ready to co-operate with his forces in
-England; that he might calculate on an army of 20,000 infantry and 3,000
-cavalry meeting his troops on landing, led on by the Duke of Norfolk,
-the Earls of Worcester and Southampton, the Lords Montague, Windsor, and
-Lumley, with many others; that it was intended to dispatch Elizabeth
-while on a visit to some country house, and also to destroy with her
-Cecil, Bacon, Leicester, and Northampton. All this Ridolfi wrote to
-communicate; but the scheme was suddenly scattered to the winds by the
-discovery of his money and letters.
-
-At length the queen determined to bring Norfolk to the bar. She named
-the Earl of Shrewsbury High Steward, and he summoned six-and-twenty
-peers, who were in the first place chosen by the ministers, to attend
-on the 16th of January, 1572, in Westminster Hall. Thither Norfolk was
-brought by the Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir Peter Carew, and was
-charged with having compassed and imagined the death of the queen, and
-with levying war upon her within the realm--1st, By endeavouring to marry
-the Queen of Scots, and supplying her with money, well knowing that she
-claimed the Crown of England; 2nd, By sending sums of money to the Earls
-of Westmoreland and Northumberland and other persons concerned in the
-rebellion in the North, enemies to the queen, and attainted of high
-treason; 3rd, By despatching Ridolfi to the Pope, Alva, and the King of
-Spain, recommending them to send forces to depose the queen, and set
-up the Queen of Scots in her place; he himself marrying the said Queen
-of Scots. Norfolk was found guilty on the fullest evidence, and the
-complicity of Mary was also brought to light.
-
-[Illustration: KENILWORTH CASTLE.]
-
-On Saturday, the 8th of February, Elizabeth signed the warrant for
-Norfolk's execution on the Monday; but late on Sunday night she sent for
-Cecil--now more commonly called Burleigh--and commanded the execution
-to be stayed, revoking the warrant, to the great disappointment of the
-good citizens of London, who had seen all the preparations made for the
-spectacle. Elizabeth soon after signed a fresh warrant which, as the time
-of execution approached, she also revoked. As she herself hung back, the
-preachers and the Commons took it up, and demanded the duke's death,
-for the security of both the sovereign and the State. When the public
-excitement had reached its height, then the queen slowly and reluctantly
-yielded, and issued a third warrant, which she did not revoke, for now
-it was become the act of the nation rather than her own. On the 2nd of
-June, 1572, at eight o'clock in the morning, the duke was brought out
-of the Tower to a scaffold on Tower Hill, the drawing to Tyburn and all
-its revolting accompaniments being dispensed with on account of his high
-rank. He addressed the people, confessing the justice of his sentence,
-though he still denied all treason. On being offered a handkerchief to
-bind his eyes, he refused, saying he was not afraid of death; and after
-a prayer he stretched his head across the block, and it was severed at a
-stroke.
-
-Meanwhile, Elizabeth had been making a gay procession amongst her
-subjects, and had been royally feasted at the castle of her favourite,
-Leicester, at Kenilworth, and was at Woodstock, on her return towards
-town, when she was met by one of the most horrible pieces of news
-which ever flew across affrighted Europe. This was the massacre of St.
-Bartholomew.
-
-The pacification which had been patched up between the Romanists and
-the Huguenots in France had no sincerity in it. All the old hatred and
-resentment were fomenting beneath the surface. The Huguenots had no faith
-in the Papists, and the Papists longed to annihilate the Huguenots as
-heretics. None thirsted so much for their blood as the queen-mother,
-Catherine de Medicis. She entered into the most subtle and daring schemes
-for their destruction, and the imbecile Charles IX. was mere wax in her
-hands. Her plans ripened, the massacre broke out on St. Bartholomew's
-day, August 24th, 1572, and it continued until many Protestants of all
-ages had been cruelly murdered.
-
-A sensation of horror was diffused all over Europe by the news of this
-unexampled atrocity of bigotry, which was greatly augmented in England
-by the crowds of Protestants who fled thither for refuge. The body of
-the nation called for instant war, to avenge on the sanguinary French
-Government this infamous treatment of the Reformed church. The French
-ambassador hastened to apologise to the Queen of England for what he
-termed this unfortunate accident. Burleigh carefully impressed upon
-Elizabeth the necessity of the death of Mary as "the only means of
-preventing her own deposition and murder;" and Sandys, the Bishop of
-London, sent in a paper of necessary precautions to be adopted, the first
-and foremost of which was to "forthwith cut off the Scottish queen's
-head." The nation also clamoured for her execution. Elizabeth listened
-to the advice, but was too politic to imbrue her hands in the blood of
-the Queen of Scotland, without exerting herself first to transfer the
-odium to some other person. Killigrew was therefore sent down to Scotland
-to see if the execution of the queen could not be effected there. His
-ostensible mission was to arrange, if possible, the terms of an armistice
-between the adherents of Mary and those of the young king in Scotland,
-at the head of which parties were Huntly and Morton. But the private and
-real object was to lead the Protestant lords to the point of removing
-Mary from the hands of Elizabeth, "to receive that she had deserved by
-order of justice." But before an answer could be received the Regent
-Mar died suddenly. This occurred on the 28th of October, 1572, and on
-the 9th of November Morton, by the influence of Elizabeth, was elected
-Regent in his place. Thus Elizabeth had obtained the appointment to
-be guardian of the young king of the very man who had for many years
-been in her pay, and was ready to execute any designs demanded by her
-policy. Both Mary and her son might now be said to be in her hands. No
-sooner was Morton in power than he managed, with the help of Elizabeth,
-who had always _weighty_ persuasions at hand, to bring over Mary's
-chief friends the Hamiltons, and Huntley's people the Gordons, and he
-demanded the immediate and unconditional surrender of the castle of
-Edinburgh. Kirkaldy, Maitland, and Hume, who held it, however, refused
-to give it up, and thus put them at the mercy of their enemies. On this,
-Elizabeth ordered Drury, the marshal of Berwick, to advance to Edinburgh
-with a strong force furnished with a powerful battering train, and,
-if necessary, lay the castle in ashes. In this extremity the besieged
-lords, and Mary from her prison in England, implored the King of France
-to hasten to their assistance, and not to allow Elizabeth to extinguish
-the last spark of opposition in Scotland. But Charles replied that it was
-quite out of his power, for Elizabeth, on the very first movement, would
-send a fleet to La Rochelle, where he was besieging the Huguenots. The
-castle was consequently compelled to surrender on the 9th of June, 1573,
-after a siege of thirty-four days, and the King's party was for the time
-being triumphant.
-
-Though the French king had refused to assist Mary's party in Scotland
-in their last extremity, for fear of Elizabeth's affording aid to the
-Huguenots besieged in La Rochelle by the Duke of Anjou, that did not
-prevent Elizabeth assisting the Rochellais. She allowed a strong fleet
-of Englishmen, under the nominal command of the Count de Montgomery, to
-assemble in Plymouth for their relief, and she promised them further
-help. To avert this, Charles IX. endeavoured to flatter Elizabeth into
-neutrality. He requested her to stand godmother to his infant daughter.
-The French Protestants, however, were so incensed at Elizabeth's
-compliance, which they regarded as an act of apostacy, that they attacked
-the squadron which conveyed the English ambassador, Elizabeth's proxy,
-seized one of his ships, slew some of his attendants, and put his own
-life in peril. Charles IX. saw in this a favourable opportunity for
-inducing Elizabeth to cause the Plymouth fleet to disperse. He therefore
-despatched an ambassador before the queen's anger could cool, requesting
-her to refuse a promised loan to these audacious Rochellais, and to
-disperse the hostile fleet at Plymouth. But Elizabeth referred the envoy
-to her ministers on that point, who assured him that they had no power
-whatever to impede the sailing of the fleet, for that Englishmen sailed
-on the plea of traffic wherever they pleased; and if they committed any
-acts of hostility on friendly powers, they were at the mercy of those
-powers to seize them and treat them as pirates.
-
-Elizabeth was soon, however, punished for this flagrant equivocation.
-Montgomery sailed in April; but on discovering the strength of the
-French fleet moored under the forts and batteries of La Rochelle he
-was seized with terror, and returned to Plymouth without striking a
-blow. Elizabeth, indignant at his failure, then sent him word that she
-was highly displeased at his presuming to unfurl the English flag, and
-forbade his access to any of the English ports. In June, 1574, he was
-taken prisoner in Normandy, and on the 26th of that month he was executed
-as a traitor in Paris. The bravery of the people of La Rochelle, however,
-and the election of the Duke of Anjou to the throne of Poland, saved that
-city. A new pacification was entered into, but the peace of France was
-again disturbed by a coalition between the heads of the Huguenots and the
-Marshals Montmorency, De Cossé, and Damfont, the Papal leaders called
-the Politiques. This league was formed to get possession of the king,
-whose health was now fast failing, remove Catherine and the Duke of Guise
-from power, and proclaim Alençon as the successor to the crown in the
-absence of Anjou in Poland. Elizabeth was actively engaged in all these
-movements, especially in advising Alençon to place himself at the head
-of affairs. But the watchful genius of Catherine discovered and defeated
-the plot: Montmorency and Cossé were committed to the Bastille, Alençon
-and the King of Navarre were so closely watched that they were stopped in
-five attempts to escape, and numbers of the inferior actors were put to
-death.
-
-In May, 1574, Charles IX. of France died a miserable death, full of
-remorse and horror, worn out with consumption, in the twenty-sixth year
-of his age. By the management of Catherine, the throne was secured by her
-next son, Anjou, notwithstanding his being absent in Poland. Anjou as
-ended the French throne under the title of Henry III., detested by all
-the Protestants for his share in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. In the
-following year a new plot was formed between the Protestant council at
-Millaud in Rovergne and the Romanists under Damville, to place Alençon
-on the throne--a scheme cordially supported by Elizabeth, in favour of
-her present lover, Alençon. Alençon effected his escape from Court in
-September, 1575; and Elizabeth, notwithstanding her recent renewal of
-the treaty of Blois, advanced him money to raise him an army of German
-Protestants. In February, 1575, the King of Navarre also escaped, and
-the two princes called on Elizabeth to declare war in their favour; but
-the demand was overruled in the Council, and Elizabeth offered herself
-as mediatrix between the king and his brother, Alençon, who was grown
-jealous of the ascendency of Navarre.
-
-On the 21st of April a treaty was concluded by which the exercise of
-the Protestant religion was permitted to a certain extent; the king
-promised to call an assembly of the States to regulate the affairs of the
-kingdom, and Alençon succeeded to the appanage of his elder brother, and
-hence-forward was styled Anjou.
-
-This settlement of the differences of creeds was of very short duration.
-The Protestant league of Millaud stimulated the Roman Catholics to
-counter-leagues, which entered into obligation under oath to maintain
-the ascendency of the ancient faith, and to resist all the encroachments
-of the Protestants. Henry III., who beheld his own authority usurped
-by these leagues, determined to place himself at the head of a great
-combined league of the Catholics, which he did in February, 1577, the
-deputies of the assemblies of the States, for the most part, following
-his example, and annulling the bulk of the privileges lately conceded
-to the Protestants. The consequence was another religious war, followed
-by as short-lived a peace, by which the privileges revoked were again
-restored.
-
-But our narrative of the French contests between the two parties has
-passed ahead of the disturbances in the Netherlands. A furious war had
-been raging there between the Protestant and Papist interests, which also
-represented the interests of the native Netherlanders and Spain. The Duke
-of Alva had waded through oceans of blood to maintain the bigoted and
-cruel power of his master, Philip; but the natives had found a resolute
-and skilful champion in the Protestant Prince of Orange. He succeeded in
-establishing the independence of Holland and Zealand; and Philip, angry
-with Alva for his want of success, recalled him, and treated him with a
-stern neglect, which, however ungrateful in the king, was perhaps the
-best reward for the commission of such crimes as Alva had given himself
-up to work for him. In the place of Alva, Philip despatched Requescens,
-who adopted a more conciliatory policy towards the people, and thus
-weakened the influence of the Prince of Orange.
-
-In these circumstances William applied to Elizabeth for help; but, since
-he had assumed the government of Holland and Zealand, Elizabeth had begun
-to regard him with jealousy. She felt sure that, from his connection
-with the Protestants of France, he would seek for their assistance, and
-this once gained would afford a pretext for Henry III. invading Holland;
-and the extension of the sway of France into the Netherlands by no means
-offered a pleasing prospect to the commerce and tranquillity of England.
-Instead of granting aid to the struggling Protestants of Flanders, she
-withdrew her forces from Flushing, and entered into negotiations with the
-Spaniards. Requescens, rejoiced at this change, conceded what he could,
-agreed to expel the English refugees from the Netherlands, and obtained,
-in return, an order to arrest all the vessels of the insurgents in her
-ports, and for their exclusion from England.
-
-This change of policy greatly mortified the Prince of Orange and the
-Protestant interests in the Netherlands, but Elizabeth represented it
-as her object to mediate between them and France. The Prince of Orange,
-however, would listen to no such mediation, till the civil war breaking
-out again in France put an end to all hope of assistance thence. To
-effectually secure the aid of Elizabeth, the prince sent over deputies
-to make her an offer of the sovereignty of Holland and Zealand, as the
-representative of the ancient princes of those countries by descent
-from Philippa of Hainault. This proposal flattered her; but, after much
-discussion and diversity of opinion in her Council, it was deemed best
-to decline it, but she intimated that she would do all in her power to
-reconcile them to their sovereign, Philip.
-
-About a month after this decision, Requescens died, and was succeeded
-towards the end of the year by Don John of Austria, the bastard brother
-of Philip, attended by all the reputation of his victory over the
-Turks at the great battle of Lepanto. He was compelled to ratify an
-accommodation which had just taken place between Holland and Zealand and
-the Popish states of the Netherlands, which was styled the Pacification
-of Ghent, and provided that no foreign soldiers should be permitted in
-the States, and that they should help each other against all opponents.
-This treaty was known as the "perpetual edict," but it appeared very
-likely to be broken immediately. Don John, without a foreign army,
-found himself impotent to contend with the independent Belgians. He
-therefore sent for the Spanish army from Italy, and the Prince of Orange
-also appealed to Elizabeth for men and money to resist this direct
-violation of the edict. Elizabeth recommended both parties to abide by
-that contract, but the Prince of Orange, hopeless of any justice or
-toleration with a Spanish army in the country, threatened to transfer the
-sovereignty of his estates to Alençon, Elizabeth's suitor, now Anjou. He
-moreover despatched an envoy to communicate a grand design of Don John of
-Austria against England. He represented that Don John was of a restless
-and ambitious character, that he had been disappointed of becoming King
-of Tunis by the commands of Philip, and that he now found that he had
-conceived a plan for making himself monarch of England and Scotland. This
-plan had already received the sanction of the Pope, who had engaged to
-aid him with 6,000 mercenaries on pretence of assisting the knights of
-Malta. The prince assured her that the recall of the Spanish army was
-for the invasion of her realm; that the Pope's reinforcement was to meet
-them at sea, and together they were to land in England and, aided by the
-friends of the Queen of Scotland, liberate that princess, who was to
-marry Don John, and they were to reign as John and Mary, King and Queen
-of England and Scotland.
-
-Elizabeth must have credited the reality of this design, for she agreed
-to guarantee a loan of £100,000 to the States, and to furnish 1,000
-horse and 5,000 foot, on condition that they should not make peace
-without her approbation, nor allow her rebels to find an asylum amongst
-them. This was not a defence of her own country, but an invasion of
-her ally Philip's; and she was obliged to assure him that she had no
-hostile intention, but to compel the observance of the Pacification
-of Ghent, and to defend her own territory against the designs of his
-brother, Don John. Philip affected to hope that her mediation might be
-successful, but probably trusted to the talents of Don John and the army
-from Italy to subdue the insurgent people, in spite of the English aid.
-The Netherlanders, notwithstanding the money which they had raised on
-Elizabeth's guarantee, wanted yet more; and they put into her hands the
-jewels and plate which Matthias of Austria, the brother of the Emperor
-Rudolph and nominal governor of the States, had pledged to them. On this
-pledge Elizabeth advanced them £50,000. Animated by this supply, the
-Dutch proceeded to attack the army of Don John, but were defeated in
-the great battle of Gembloux, an overthrow which spread consternation
-throughout the Netherlands. Once more they appealed to Elizabeth, to the
-Protestant princes of Germany, and to the Duke of Anjou.
-
-[Illustration: THE HOUSE OF THE ENGLISH AMBASSADOR DURING THE MASSACRE OF
-ST. BARTHOLOMEW. (_After the Picture by P. H. Calderon, R. A._)]
-
-Casimir, brother of the Elector Palatine, marched across the Rhine with
-12,000 men, paid with English gold, and Anjou also advanced at the head
-of 10,000. The Protestant followers of Casimir, however, seemed to act
-rather as invading an enemy's country than as come to succour friends
-and the people, wherever they came, declared that they had better remain
-under Philip than under such allies. The Prince of Orange, despairing of
-being able to resist such commanders as Don John and Farnese, Duke of
-Parma, formed a confederation of the Northern States alone, afterwards
-known as the United Provinces; and Don John dying (not, it has been said,
-without a suspicion of having been poisoned) on the 1st of October, 1578,
-the Duke of Parma won over the Walloon States to Philip by promising to
-observe the Perpetual Edict, and replacing the foreign army by native
-troops.
-
-However, the contest in the Netherlands went on. On March 15th, 1580,
-Philip published a ban, offering 25,000 crowns for the head of the
-Prince of Orange; and Anjou, on the other hand, prosecuted his claim
-to the Netherlands. Elizabeth, who probably was now looking for a
-plausible excuse for dismissing Anjou, professed to doubt how far, if he
-succeeded in making himself master of those provinces, she could keep
-her engagement to marry him, as it would, probably, be dangerous to the
-trade and independence of England; and moreover, if she did marry Anjou,
-would not such a marriage be as hateful to her subjects as that of Mary
-with Philip? Yet, immediately afterwards, she consented to his acceptance
-of the government of the Netherlands, and made him a present of 100,000
-crowns, by means of which he put his army in motion.
-
-In April, 1581, in consequence of this return of regard for Anjou, a
-distinguished embassy was sent over from France, and was received by the
-nobles and the authorities of the city of London with great _éclat_. The
-ambassadors persuaded themselves that this time success would attend
-them; but they were much astonished to find that the queen had now
-discovered a new objection to the match: that it would involve her in a
-war with Philip, who had lately become additionally formidable by the
-acquisition of Portugal, and proposed to enter, instead of marriage,
-into a league, offensive and defensive, with France. By the perseverance
-of the ambassadors, however, these scruples were also overcome, and the
-marriage was definitively settled to take place in six weeks, provided
-that the league of perpetual amity were signed within that time. The six
-weeks having expired, and Elizabeth still continuing undetermined, Anjou,
-who had crossed the frontier with 16,000 men, and expelled the Prince of
-Parma from Cambray, hastened over to settle matters with his wavering
-mistress.
-
-Elizabeth received him with every demonstration of affection, and
-probably would have married him had it not been for the public
-indignation. She let her vengeance fall on the author of a pamphlet
-called "The Gaping Gulf," showing the dangers of this marriage. The
-author was one John Stubbs, a student of Lincoln's Inn. Elizabeth laid
-hold on him, his printer and publisher, and had them condemned in the
-Court of Queen's Bench to have their right hands cut off. The printer
-was suffered to depart, but the sentence was executed on Stubbs and
-his publisher in the market-place of Westminster, by driving a cleaver
-through the wrist with a mallet. The foolish Stubbs, the moment his hand
-was off, waving his cap with the left, cried--"Long live the queen!"
-At the end of three months Anjou grew weary of this silly farce, and
-announced his determination to depart. Even then Elizabeth would not
-permit him to go without exacting a promise that he would soon return.
-She stormed, she raved, she called the States of the Netherlands, which
-summoned him to his duties there, _des coquins_, and accompanied the duke
-to Canterbury, where she parted from him weeping like a girl.
-
-On his arrival in the Netherlands, Anjou found plenty of employment in
-contending with the genius and the forces of the Prince of Parma. He
-found, also, that the real authority in the country was centred in the
-Prince of Orange, and resolving to make himself the actual master of
-it, he laid a plan of seizing all the chief towns in the states on the
-same day. But this extraordinary scheme failed. The Dutch, resenting the
-attempt, attacked his troops on all sides, and soon compelled him to fly
-back to France, where he terminated his existence at Château-Thierry, on
-the 10th of June, 1584, not without suggestion of foul play. So great was
-Elizabeth's fondness for this prince, whom she might have married, and
-would not, that even at this period no one dare for some time inform her
-of his death, which she appeared to bewail with all the symptoms of deep
-grief.
-
-Within one month of the death of Anjou there fell a far more noble and
-important man. William the Silent, Prince of Orange, the great champion
-and founder of the independence of Holland, perished by the hand of
-an assassin. The ban of Philip had not failed to operate, though at a
-distance of four years. Balthazar Gerard, impelled by fanaticism and the
-25,000 crowns offered by the unscrupulous Spanish King, shot him on the
-10th of July, 1584.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_continued_).
-
-     Affairs of Ireland: Shane O'Neil's Rebellion--Plantation of
-     Ulster--Spanish Descent on Ireland--Desmond's Rebellion--Religious
-     Conformity--Campian and Parsons--The Anabaptists--Affairs
-     of Scotland--Death of Morton--Success of the Catholics in
-     Scotland--The Raid of Ruthven--Elizabeth's Position--Throgmorton's
-     Plot--Association to Protect Elizabeth--Mary removed
-     to Tutbury--Support of the Protestant Cause on the
-     Continent--Leicester in the Netherlands--Babington's Plot--Trial
-     of Mary--Her Condemnation--Hesitation of Elizabeth--Execution of
-     Mary.
-
-
-It is now necessary to trace the course of events in Ireland during the
-years we have just passed over. A great work had been going on in that
-country, the object of which was to reduce the turbulent native chiefs to
-obedience, and to establish English settlers in the lands of those who
-were driven out or exterminated.
-
-The most distinguished of those chiefs was Shane O'Neil, the Earl
-of Tyrone. Henry VIII. had granted the succession to Matthew, an
-illegitimate son of the old earl's; but Shane, the eldest legitimate
-son, would not submit to this arrangement. He was supported in his
-claims by the people, and vindicated his rights. By the persuasion of
-the Earl of Sussex, at that time governor, he was induced to appear
-at the Court of Elizabeth in 1562. He laid his claims before her, and
-excited a great sensation by appearing in his native costume, attended
-by a guard armed with battle-axes, and clad in saffron-coloured vests.
-Elizabeth did not grant all his requests, but expressed herself highly
-pleased with his presence, and made him great promises. But Shane was too
-sensitive and independent in his feelings and ideas to be a very orderly
-subject. Frequently he did essential service as the ally of the English
-Government, but more frequently was compelled to seek vengeance for
-injuries and encroachments. In 1565, three years after his appearance at
-the English Court, he was driven into open rebellion; and after a severe
-struggle, was compelled to seek refuge in the wilds of Ulster amongst the
-Scots. There, at the instigation of Piers, an English officer, he was
-assassinated (1567), his estates were confiscated, with those of all his
-followers, comprising one-half of Ulster, and the name and dignity of
-O'Neil were abolished for ever.
-
-That which was done in Ulster had to be done in every other province of
-Ireland. Whenever insurrection broke out and was suppressed, the lands
-were forfeited to the Crown. But so long as the Crown held nominally
-these lands, the natives continued to hold them really. To remedy this,
-and to ensure a certain forfeiture by the rebels, and a reward to the
-English conquerors, Sir Thomas Smith proposed that these lands should
-be granted in various portions to English settlers, who, in prosecution
-of their own claims, would drive out the rebel natives and cultivate
-the soil. It needs no reflection to perceive that this system must be
-fruitful beyond conception in crimes, murders, and miseries. Lands were
-granted to a bastard son of the projector's, and to numerous other
-adventurers. They drove out the Irish, and these came back in infuriated
-numbers, with fire and desolation. Under this frightful system the
-country soon became a desert. To put an end to these sanguinary scenes,
-Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex, represented that it needed only a
-sufficient force on the part of the English. He offered to bring under
-subjection, and to colonise, the district of Clandeboy in Ulster. His
-proposals were that the queen and himself should furnish equal shares
-of the charge, and the colony, being organised, should be divided
-equally between them. The courtiers who had envied him his favour with
-Elizabeth pretended to promote his design till he had embarked all his
-fortune in it, when they threw all possible obstacles in his way. Through
-these hindrances, it was late in the summer of 1573 before he arrived
-in Ireland, and then only to find that the Lord-deputy Fitzwilliam
-questioned his powers; and on proceeding to the lands of Clandeboy,
-Phelim O'Neil and his adherents contended with him for its possession
-fort by fort. He maintained his ground, however, through the winter,
-though grievously suffering from the bad quality of the provisions
-furnished by the queen's contractors, and from the ill-armed condition
-of his troops--for the evils which mowed down our army in the Crimea
-were among the most ancient evils of the English Government. Essex is
-said to have invited Phelim O'Neil to a banquet, and there assassinated
-him and his attendants; but this did not mend his position. The Lords
-Dacre and Rich, and many gentlemen, abandoned the enterprise and returned
-home. Though deserted and unable to conquer his own allotted territory,
-he assisted the Lord-Deputy to suppress the rebels in other parts of the
-island. He returned to England in 1575, and was appointed Earl Marshal of
-Ireland, but with no adequate force; and ultimately died, September 22nd,
-1576, at Dublin.
-
-After the death of Essex, the system of planting Ireland, as it was
-called, still went on. The destruction of the O'Neils all the other clans
-regarded as only preliminary to their own. They therefore appealed to
-the Kings of Spain and France for assistance; and on their declaring
-themselves unable, from their own dangers and insurrections at home, to
-assist them, they implored the protection of the Pope, Gregory XIII.
-His holiness launched a bull at the heretic queen, declaring Ireland
-forfeited, as previous bulls had declared England and Wales forfeited.
-Under his encouragement two adventurers, Thomas Stukely and James
-Fitzmaurice, set out to proclaim the bull, and to carry the arms of his
-holiness all over Ireland. Stukely, however, having obtained a ship of
-war, 600 soldiers, and 3,000 stand of arms, carried them to the service
-of the King of Portugal, and died fighting in his wars against the Moors.
-Fitzmaurice, a brother of the Earl of Desmond, and a deadly enemy of
-the English invaders, was more faithful; and after suffering shipwreck
-on the coast of Galicia, landed at Smerwick, in Kerry, in June, 1579.
-He had with him, however, only eighty Spanish soldiers, and a few Irish
-and English refugees; and his expedition proved an utter failure, for
-the inhabitants had no faith in so insignificant a knot of adventurers.
-Fitzmaurice being killed in a private quarrel, his followers fled into
-the territories of his brother, the Earl of Desmond.
-
-The Earl of Desmond professed himself a loyal subject; but he was
-suspected of favouring the insurgents, and the English marched into his
-demesnes, and plundered them. Another detachment from the Pope, however,
-landed at Smerwick, the port which Fitzmaurice had made. It consisted
-of several hundred men, having a large sum of money, and 5,000 stand
-of arms, under the command of San Giuseppe, an Italian. Lord Grey de
-Wilton, the new Lord-Deputy, had recently suffered a defeat in the vale
-of Glandaclough; but he managed to besiege this foreign force in their
-newly-erected fort, while Admiral Winter blockaded them on the sea side.
-After three days' resistance, the handful of Italians and Spaniards put
-out a flag of truce, and offered to surrender on condition that their
-lives were spared. Foreign writers all assert that this was granted them;
-but Sir Richard Bingham, who was present, says that they surrendered one
-night at the pleasure of the Lord-Deputy, to have mercy or not, as he
-willed. Sir Walter Raleigh and Spenser, the poet, were in Grey's army,
-and their conduct reflects no honour upon them. Sir Walter entered the
-fort to receive their arms, and then ordered them all to be massacred
-(1580); and this proceeding Spenser endeavours to vindicate. He was
-Lord Grey's secretary; and while he styles him "a most gentle, affable,
-loving, and temperate lord," he gives this account of his act:--"The
-enemy begged that they might be allowed to depart with their lives and
-arms according to the law of nations. He asked to see their commission
-from the Pope or the King of Spain. They had none: they were the allies
-of the Irish. 'But the Irish,' replied Grey, 'are traitors, and you must
-suffer as traitors. I will make no terms with you; you may submit or
-not.' They yielded, craving only mercy, which it not being thought good
-to show them, for danger of them, if being saved, they should afterwards
-join the Irish, who were much emboldened by those foreign successes, and
-also put in hope of more ere long. There was no other way but to make
-that short end of them as was made."
-
-This was a fatal precedent to the French and Spaniards, against whom
-our own countrymen were fighting in the very same manner by the orders
-of Elizabeth, in France, in the Netherlands, and in South America; and
-whilst we denounce the savage slaughter of English adventurers in the
-trans-Atlantic lands of Spain wherever they were found without mercy or
-quarter, we are bound to remember that we thus set the Spaniards the
-example, and furnished them with warrant.
-
-After this butchery Grey and his myrmidons combined to chase Desmond from
-spot to spot in his mountain fastnesses. Three years later (1583) a party
-of the English, attracted by a light, entered a hut, where they found a
-venerable old man lying on the hearth before the fire, quite alone. On
-their demanding who he was, he replied, "The Earl of Desmond," when Kelly
-of Moriarty instantly struck off his head, which he sent as a grateful
-present to Elizabeth, by whom it was fixed on London Bridge. With Desmond
-fell for some time the resistance of the hunted natives in Ireland. From
-the forfeited lands of these immolated Irish, Sir Walter Raleigh received
-42,000 acres, other gentlemen from 5,000 to 18,000, and Spenser the poet
-3,000 and a castle of the unfortunate Desmond's--Kilcolman--which the
-exasperated natives burnt over his head, and with it one of his children.
-Spenser's concern in this bloody affair proved, in fact, his ruin.
-
-[Illustration: MURDER OF THE EARL OF DESMOND. (_See p._ 296.)]
-
-Returning to England, we find that Elizabeth during this period had
-been persecuting every form of Christianity which did not agree with
-her own. There were three parties against whom she felt herself
-aggrieved--the Puritans, the Papists, and the Anabaptists; and she set
-to work resolutely to squeeze them into the mould of her orthodoxy, or
-to crush them. Many of the Puritans who had imbibed the sternest spirit
-of Geneva had got into the pulpits of the State Church and refused to
-wear the robes, to perform the rites, or to preach the exact doctrines
-as prescribed by law. If they did not accord with that Church, they
-certainly had no business there, and had no right to complain that
-Elizabeth turned them out. The time to complain was when she had
-expelled them, and they set up a Church of their own, which she would
-not allow. Their freedom was their birthright; but the queen would
-not suffer them to exercise it. She had but one word in her religious
-vocabulary--conform; and this rigid conformity was carried out ruthlessly
-by the very ministers and clergy who had so manfully complained of
-compulsion in the last reign. They purged one diocese after another by
-expelling Puritan clergy. These acts of arbitrary power were loudly
-denounced in the House of Commons, where there was a strong Puritan
-party, and numerous bills were brought in to advance the Reformation. Out
-of doors, Parker, the old Archbishop of Canterbury, faithfully executed
-the will of the sovereign; and opinion, suppressed in the Church and
-in Parliament, where the queen even sent personal and most dictatorial
-messages stopping all religious discussion, now burst forth through the
-press. Pamphlets of a most inflammatory nature and abusive style issued
-in shoals; and one Burchell, a student of the Middle Temple, became so
-inflamed by zeal that he murdered Hawkins, an officer, mistaking him for
-Hatton, the queen's new favourite. In prison he also killed his keeper
-under the delusion that he was Hatton; and though palpably insane, he was
-hanged for murder.
-
-Parker died in 1575 and was succeeded by Grindal, who, Elizabeth soon
-discovered, was too much of a Puritan himself to persecute them severely,
-and she suspended him, and harassed him to such a degree that he died in
-1583. To him succeeded Whitgift, a man after Elizabeth's own heart, who
-framed a test of orthodoxy, which he put to all clergymen or others whom
-he suspected, which consisted of these three notable dogmas--the queen's
-supremacy, the perfection of the Ordinal and Book of Common Prayer, and
-the complete accordance of the Thirty-nine Articles with the Scriptures.
-All those clergymen who refused to subscribe to this he expelled; and
-in defiance of clamour and intrigue in Council or Convocation, he held
-on his way immovably. Nor did the queen long satisfy herself with
-mere expulsion. Thacker and Copping, two Brownists, were indicted for
-objecting to the Book of Common Prayer, which was treated as an attack
-on the royal supremacy, and were put to death. The persecution of the
-Catholics was still more severe than that of the Puritans.
-
-The fury of persecution in England stimulated the Roman Catholics abroad
-to a corresponding enthusiasm of martyrdom. Gregory XIII. followed
-the example of William Allen--who had founded an English seminary at
-Douay--and established a second English seminary in the hospital of
-Santo Spirito, in Rome, from which emissaries were despatched into
-the heretical kingdom. First and foremost the general of the Jesuits
-selected in 1580 two Englishmen of distinguished abilities, and sent
-them from this college. Robert Parsons and Edmund Campian arrived with
-a reputation, and with rumours of the dark conspiracy in which they
-were engaged, which roused all the alarm and the vigilance of the
-Government. Rewards were offered for their discovery, and menaces of
-punishment issued for remissness in tracing them out. The queen sent
-forth a proclamation, calling on every person who had children, wards,
-or relatives gone abroad for education to make a return of their names
-to the ordinary, and to recall them within three months; and all persons
-whatsoever who knew of any Jesuit or seminarist in the kingdom, and
-failed to give information, were to be punished as abettors of treason.
-
-As soon as Parliament met in January of 1581, still more stringent laws
-were passed for the punishment of Roman Catholics. It was made high
-treason merely to possess the power of absolution, or to receive any
-person into the church of Rome. The fines for hearing or saying Mass were
-re-enacted. Absence from church was made punishable at the rate of twenty
-pounds per month, and, if prolonged to a whole year, besides the penalty,
-the offender must produce two securities for his good behaviour of £200
-each. The concealment of Roman Catholic tutors, schoolmasters, or priests
-entailed a year's imprisonment, a priest or tutor being also amenable to
-the same punishment, and the employer of them to a fine of ten pounds per
-month. There was but one step possible beyond this outrageous despotism,
-and that was to the stake, as in Mary's time; but the very fury of legal
-punishment defeated its own object.
-
-Parsons and Campian put into the hands of their friends written
-statements of their objects in coming into the country, which they
-declared to be solely to exercise their spiritual functions as priests,
-not to interfere with any worldly concerns or affairs of State; but they
-declared that all the Jesuits in the world had entered into a league to
-maintain the Catholic religion at the risk of imprisonment, torture, or
-death. This announcement excited the greatest alarm, and the most fiery
-persecution burst forth on the whole body of the Romanists, whilst every
-means was exerted to discover and secure these missionaries. The names
-of all the recusants in the kingdom, amounting to 50,000, were returned
-to Government, and no man included in that number had any longer the
-least security or privacy in his own house. The doors were broken open
-without notice given, and the pursuivants, rushing in, spread themselves
-all over the dwelling. Cabinets, cupboards, drawers, closets were forced
-and ransacked, beds torn open, tapestry or wainscot was dragged down, and
-every imaginable place explored, for the purpose of obtaining evidence
-by vessels, vestments, books, or crosses, of heretical worship. The
-inmates were put under strict watch, till they had been searched and
-interrogated; and many were driven nearly or wholly out of their senses
-by the rudeness and the insults which they received from brutal officers.
-Lady Neville was frightened to death in Holborn, and Mrs. Vavasour was
-deprived of her reason at York.
-
-In July, Campian was taken at Lyfford, in Berkshire, and was committed
-to the Tower; and Parsons, seeing no prospect of long escaping pursuit,
-contrived to get over again to the Continent. Campian was repeatedly
-racked, and under the force of torture and the promises that no injury
-should be done to his entertainers, he related the whole course of his
-peregrinations in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Denbigh, Northampton, Warwick,
-Bedford, Buckingham, and elsewhere, and the names of those who had given
-him hospitality. No sooner, however, had the Council the names than they
-summoned all those who had harboured him, and fined some and imprisoned
-others.
-
-In November, Campian and twelve other priests and a layman were put upon
-their trial, and were charged with a horrible conspiracy to murder the
-queen and to overturn Church and State. Rome and Rheims were declared to
-be the places where this direful plot had been hatched. The astonishment
-of the prisoners, several of whom had never been out of England, was
-extreme. Not an atom of evidence was produced to authenticate these
-charges, yet the whole were pronounced guilty. One of them was saved by
-an _alibi_ established by Lancaster, a Protestant barrister; the rest
-were executed as traitors, except those who were still kept prisoners. On
-the scaffold (December 1, 1581), Campian lamented that the weakness of
-the flesh on the rack had forced him to disclose the names of some of his
-entertainers, by which they had been brought into trouble.
-
-The Anabaptists, who had created great scandals and disturbance in
-Germany, made repeated visits to London under pretence of belonging to
-the Dutch Church. They denied the propriety of infant baptism; they also
-denied that Christ assumed the flesh of the Virgin; they believed it
-wrong to take an oath, or to accept the office of a magistrate. In some
-of these tenets they resembled the Society of Friends which afterwards
-rose, and their creed did not interfere with the quiet of the State;
-yet numbers of them were imprisoned, ten of them were sent out of the
-kingdom, and two, Peters and Turwert, were burnt in Smithfield in July,
-1575. Again, in 1579, Matthew Hammond, a ploughman, was burnt at Norwich.
-
-In no quarter had Elizabeth for a long time any security except in
-Scotland. There Morton was her faithful ally, inasmuch as she held fast
-the King of Scots, and so guaranteed the chief means of his own tranquil
-enjoyment of power. But Morton's rule was not such as any country would
-long tolerate. He was essentially a base and selfish man, and his
-severity and rapacity alienated the public from him more and more. He
-debased the coin, multiplied forfeitures to enrich himself, appropriated
-the estates of the Church, and at the same time was so subservient to
-Elizabeth, that the national pride resented it. In 1578, Athole and
-Argyll made their way to the presence of the young king, who was now
-approaching thirteen years of age, and assured him that it was now quite
-time that he freed himself from the tutelage of Morton and ruled the
-country himself. James readily listened to them, and sent Morton an order
-to resign, and to attend a council at Stirling, where the friends of
-Athole and Argyll were summoned.
-
-Morton, though taken by surprise, appeared to obey with perfect
-acquiescence; but he lost no time in intriguing with the Erskines, and
-in three months had again possessed himself of the person of the king,
-and resumed his authority in the State. Athole and Argyll mustered their
-friends to force the reins from the hands of Morton, who boldly met them
-in the field, when the ambassador of England appeared as a mediator,
-and persuaded them to a reconciliation. But it was not in the nature of
-Morton to forget the opponents of his power, although they now appeared
-as nominal friends. He invited Athole, the chief actor in his late fall,
-to a banquet, from which he retired, as Mar had done, to die. Like Mar,
-he was poisoned. Secure as he now seemed, Morton let loose his vengeance
-on his enemies; and the Hamiltons, the friends of Mary, were compelled,
-in spite of the treaty of Perth, to fly to England for security; and
-being freed from their restraint he indulged freely his insatiable
-avarice at the expense of the country.
-
-But justice reached this minister of evil when it was least expected.
-Esmé Stuart, the Lord of Aubigny, a son of the younger brother of the
-Earl of Lennox, who had become naturalised in France, returned to
-Scotland. With a handsome person and French accomplishments, he soon
-captivated the young monarch, who could not live at any period of his
-life without a favourite. He created Aubigny captain of the guard, first
-lord of the bed-chamber, and finally Duke of Lennox, being the nephew
-of the late earl, and cousin of Darnley. Associated with Lennox was
-another and far more deep and designing Stuart--James, commonly called
-Captain Stuart, the second son of Lord Ochiltree. He was also related
-to the king, and lent essential aid to Lennox, not only from his genius
-for intrigue, but because Lennox was suspected of being an emissary of
-the Duke of Guise. Lennox and his friend Stuart, who was now created by
-James Earl of Arran, instilled every possible suspicion into the king's
-mind against Morton, who, they averred, intended to convey him to England
-and give him up to Elizabeth. To seize Morton, and arraign him for the
-multitude of illegal acts which he had perpetrated in his position of
-Regent, might not succeed, for the wily offender had taken care to
-procure bills of indemnity for whatever he had done. They determined,
-therefore, to accuse him of Darnley's murder, of which he was notoriously
-guilty in common with others.
-
-[Illustration: THE EARL OF ARRAN ACCUSING MORTON OF THE MURDER OF
-DARNLEY. (_See p._ 300.)]
-
-One morning, therefore, Captain Stuart, now Earl of Arran, fell on his
-knees in the Council, and charged Morton to the king with the murder of
-his (the king's) father. Morton, thunderstruck at this bold and sudden
-act, stoutly denied the charge, but he was ordered to be guarded in his
-own house, and soon after sent off to the Castle of Dumbarton. Morton
-despatched a messenger to his trusty friend the Queen of England, who
-forthwith despatched Randolph to intercede with the king, the Council,
-and the Parliament for the precious life of this vile murderer.
-Elizabeth, as she had not been ashamed to countenance and support him, so
-neither was she now ashamed to plead for him, and to beg that he might
-be set at liberty as a special favour to her, in recompence of the many
-services she had rendered Scotland. She accused Lennox of being in league
-with the French Government for the invasion of England, and Randolph
-produced documents to prove it. On examining these papers, the Council
-pronounced them forgeries, and the trial was ordered to proceed. On
-perceiving his failure with the king and Council, Randolph had recourse
-to his old arts of endeavouring to stir up sedition, and did his utmost
-to rouse Mar and the Earl of Angus to rise in arms for Morton's rescue.
-This becoming known, Randolph, who had been twice sent out of the country
-for his traitorous meddling, was now glad to flee for his life.
-
-To save this execrable villain, but very useful tool, Elizabeth induced
-the Prince of Orange and the King of Navarre to support the exertions
-of her ambassador on his behalf, but all in vain. James was firm in
-following out the advice given him. Elizabeth ordered a body of troops
-to march to the Border, as if she were resolved to invade Scotland for
-the rescue of Morton; but James, far from being intimidated, called
-all his subjects to arms, ordered Angus to retire beyond the Spey, Mar
-to surrender the charge of Stirling Castle, and demanded of Elizabeth
-whether she meant peace or war.
-
-[Illustration: DUMBARTON ROCK, WITH VIEW OF CASTLE.]
-
-This bold attitude put an end to her efforts. Randolph suddenly found
-out that Morton was accused of murder with a fair show of proof, and
-Elizabeth then pretended to think that if it were so it did not become
-her any longer to defend him. Deserted by his great patron Elizabeth, the
-hoary criminal was brought to trial, and charged not only with the murder
-of Darnley, but that of Athole. Besides verbal and personal evidence of
-his guilt, his bond of manrent, or guarantee of indemnity for the murder,
-given to Bothwell, was exhibited, together with a paper purporting to be
-a confession of Bothwell made on his death-bed in Denmark, in which he
-accused Morton as a principal contriver of the murder, and exonerated
-the Queen of Scots. Whether this paper were genuine or not, there was
-abundant proof without it; he was condemned by the unanimous verdict of
-the peers, and executed (June 3, 1581).
-
-The fall of Morton and the display of independence in the young King
-James opened up the most extravagant hopes in the minds of the friends
-of Queen Mary, and of the Papists in general. They were ready to believe
-that James would soon show his regard for his mother, and a deep sense
-of her wrongs. Morton had been the stern adherent of Protestantism,
-scandalous as he was; but who should say that Aubigny, educated in
-France, and with many friends and relatives there, would not incline to
-favour the Papists, and that James, under his guidance, though educated
-by the disciples of Knox, might not, young as he was, return to the
-religion of his ancestors? Parsons, the Jesuit, was enthusiastic in
-this behalf, and he despatched Waytes, an English Popish clergyman,
-to Holyrood, and soon afterwards Creighton, a Scottish Jesuit. These
-emissaries returned with the most flattering accounts of their reception
-by James and his ministers. Probably, in prospect of no very friendly
-relations with Elizabeth, the advisers of James might adopt the policy
-of conciliating the Romanists, and thus securing the ancient support of
-France, and also of Spain. Be that as it may, James professed to feel
-deeply the wrongs of his mother, and to cherish great filial affection
-for her. He assured them that he would always receive with favour such
-persons as came with an introduction from her, and he consented to
-receive an Italian Catholic into his Court as his tutor in that language.
-
-Elated by these tidings, Parsons and Creighton hastened to Paris in
-May of 1582. There happened to be present an extraordinary number of
-persons interested in the cause of Popery--the Duke of Guise; Castelli,
-the Papal nuncio; Tassis, the Spanish ambassador; Beaton, Archbishop of
-Glasgow; Matthieu, the Provincial of the French Jesuits; and Dr. Allen,
-the provost of the seminary of Douay. They all agreed that Mary ought
-to be restored without deposing James; that they should reign jointly;
-and Parsons was sent to Spain to solicit assistance, and Creighton to
-the Pope for the same object. Both missions were successful: Philip gave
-12,000 crowns to relieve the necessities of James, and the Pope engaged
-to pay the expenses of his body-guard for twelve months. Both Mary and
-James assented to this proposal, Mary offering to leave all the exercise
-of power in James's hands.
-
-Successful as this scheme appeared, every movement in it had been watched
-by the Court of England, and a counterplot of a most startling kind was
-set on foot. In August, 1581, the Earl of Gowrie, the son of the murderer
-Ruthven, was induced to invite the king to his castle of Ruthven, when
-he made him prisoner. The government was then seized by the Earl of Mar,
-the Master of Glamis, the Lord Oliphant, and others. Lennox, the king's
-chief minister, escaped to France, but died soon after, as was suspected,
-from poison. Arran, the successful destroyer of Morton, was thrown into
-prison. The pulpit was set to work to proclaim that there had been a
-plot to restore "the limb of Satan," the lewd Queen Mary, with all the
-ceremonial of the Mass; and that Lennox was at the bottom of it, though
-he died professing himself a staunch Protestant.
-
-But the position of affairs in Scotland was calculated to excite the
-utmost vigilance of both France and England. Henry III. saw with terror
-the young King of Scotland in the hands of the English faction, and
-sent thither La Motte Fenelon and Maigneville to encourage James to
-call together the Estates, to insist by their means on his liberty,
-and on the liberation of his mother to govern with him. The English
-Court, on the other hand, instructed its agents, Bowes and Davidson, to
-demand the dismissal of the French envoys, and to show him the danger
-of the measures which they proposed. James appeared to listen to both
-parties; and ostensibly in order to consult on their advice, he summoned
-a council of the nobility to meet at the castle of St. Andrews. Once in
-their midst, James felt his freedom; and to prevent any contest on the
-question, published a pardon to all who had been concerned in the Raid of
-Ruthven, as it was called, or the conspiracy of Gowrie. This bold stroke
-of the young king so took the English Court by surprise that Walsingham
-was sent, notwithstanding his age and important duties at home, to
-the Scottish Court. Walsingham must have been amazed at the small
-success which attended his mission, for James received him with little
-consideration, appeared to regard his communications with indifference,
-and dismissed him with a paltry present on his departure. Elizabeth could
-not help complaining of the palpable slight to her ambassador, and the
-friends of Queen Mary drew fresh hope from the circumstance.
-
-But little solid hope could be entertained of Mary's enfranchisement
-by any one who considered the real situation of affairs. The King of
-France was far from sincere in his wish for her release. So long as she
-was in the hands of Elizabeth, he was secure from any further meddling
-of Elizabeth in the internal affairs of France. At any moment he could
-alarm her by rumours of designs to set the Scottish queen free, at the
-same time that James, as a young man, was open to influence from France
-against England. For these reasons a fresh conference in Paris on Mary's
-behalf came to nothing. The Duke of Guise, Castelli, the Archbishop of
-Glasgow, and Matthieu met again, this time with the addition of Morgan,
-a Welsh gentleman, one of the commissioners of her dower in France. They
-proposed that Guise should land in the south of England with an army,
-while James should simultaneously enter it at the north. James at once
-assented to the project; but Mary, who knew very well that her life would
-be sacrificed at once if there were a formidable attempt at her rescue,
-resorted to the hopeless course of endeavouring to persuade Elizabeth to
-treat with France for her release on safe terms. Elizabeth appeared to
-listen; but the rumours of the invasion speedily caused her to abandon
-any such negotiation, on the plea that, once at liberty, Mary could not
-be trusted. Revenge might induce her to ally herself with France and
-Spain, to the great peril of England.
-
-No situation in the world could be conceived more miserable than that
-of Elizabeth. The captive queen had become to her a source of perpetual
-alarms--alarm of invasion from France and from Scotland--alarm at
-insurrections among the Papists, whom persecutions kept in a state of
-the deepest disaffection. For two years the prisons had been crowded
-with Catholics, and the scaffolds drenched with their blood. They had
-been persecuted and insulted till they must have been more than mortal
-to have felt no desire for revenge. Therefore the country swarmed with
-spies and informers; and Walsingham, as a skilful unraveller of plots,
-was kept hard at work to trace, by his secret emissaries, every concealed
-movement of sedition. Both at home and abroad he had a host of agents
-under a multitude of disguises. The Jesuits never had a more expert and
-fearless general, nor a more varied army of informers. They presented
-themselves in the shape of travelling noblemen, of physicians, of
-students in Popish seminaries. They swarmed in sea-ports lying between
-England and the different Continental routes. There was scarcely a Roman
-Catholic gentleman or nobleman into whose house they had not found their
-way. To those whom they suspected of a leaning towards the Queen of Scots
-they professed to be confidential agents of her or of her adherents,
-and presented forged letters by which they might entrap the unwary into
-compromising answers.
-
-At length the chief of the conspirators was brought to justice in the
-person of Thomas Throgmorton, the son of Sir John Throgmorton, Chief
-Justice of Chester. Walsingham intercepted letters, and by his spies
-made his way into every abode and company. He received from his trusty
-emissaries the information that Charles Paget, one of the commissioners
-of the Queen of Scots' dower--Morgan, just mentioned, being the
-other--had landed on the coast of Sussex under the name of Mope. A letter
-of Morgan's was also intercepted, and from something in its contents the
-two sons of Sir John Throgmorton, Thomas and George, were immediately
-arrested and committed to the Tower. The Earl of Northumberland, with
-his son the Earl of Arundel, his countess, uncle, and brothers, were
-summoned before the Privy Council and repeatedly questioned. The Lord
-Paget, brother of Charles Paget, and Charles Arundel, escaped to the
-Continent, but sent a declaration that they had fled, not from any sense
-of guilt, but from the utter hopelessness of acquittal where Leicester
-had any influence. Northumberland and Lord Arundel, with their wives
-and relatives, stoutly denied all concern with plots or any species of
-disloyalty, and no proof could be brought against them. Meanwhile it
-was asserted that the Duke of Guise was proceeding with his scheme of
-invasion, and that many English noblemen and gentlemen were co-operating
-in it; that a letter had been intercepted from the Scottish Court to
-Mary, informing her that James was quite ready to perform his part
-of the scheme by invading the kingdom from the north, having had the
-promise of 20,000 crowns; but that he was desirous to know who were
-the influential persons in England that might be calculated upon for
-support. All this was soon wonderfully corroborated by the confession
-of Thomas Throgmorton, in whose trunks were found two catalogues, one
-of the chief ports, and the other of the principal Romanists in the
-kingdom. He admitted that these were for the use of Mendoza, the Spanish
-minister, and that he had devised a plan with that ambassador to raise
-troops in the name of the queen through the Catholics, who were then to
-call on her to tolerate Catholicism, or to depose her. This was a strong
-case indeed against the prisoners and the fugitives; and Burleigh, with
-Throgmorton's confession in his hand, charged the Spanish ambassador with
-his breach of all the laws of nations and of his office. Mendoza had
-the impudence to deny the charges; but he was ordered to withdraw from
-England, and Throgmorton was hanged (1583). From that hour war with Spain
-was inevitable.
-
-The patriotism of England was now awake. An association was formed,
-under the influence of the Government, by which all the members bound
-themselves to pursue and kill every person who should attempt the
-life of the queen, and every person for whose advantage it should be
-attempted. This palpably pointed at the Scottish Queen. The bond of
-association was shown to Mary as a means of intimidating her. At the
-first glance she perceived that it was aimed at her life; but, after a
-moment of astonishment, she proposed to sign the bond herself so far as
-she was concerned, which, of course, was not permitted, as it would have
-neutralised the whole intention, but it was industriously circulated for
-signature amongst those who dared not well do otherwise.
-
-The same object was pursued in the Parliament, which met on the 23rd
-of November. After the clergy had granted an aid of six shillings in
-the pound to be paid in three years, and the Commons a subsidy and
-two-fifteenths, an Act was passed condemning as traitors any one who
-had been declared by a court of twenty-four commissioners cognisant of
-any treasonable designs against the queen; and Mary and her issue were
-excluded from the succession in case of the queen coming to a violent
-death. The Roman Catholics were also treated with increased severity,
-in consequence of the alleged plots. No Popish clergyman was to be
-allowed to remain in the kingdom; if found there after forty days he was
-pronounced guilty of high treason; any one knowing of his being in the
-country, and not giving information within twelve days, was to be fined
-and imprisoned during the queen's pleasure; and any one receiving or
-relieving him was guilty of felony. All students in Popish seminaries
-were called on to return to their native country within six months after
-proclamation; parents sending their children to such seminaries without
-licence were to forfeit for every such offence a hundred pounds; and the
-students themselves forfeited all right to the property of their parents.
-
-To avoid, if possible, the fate which the bill of this Session prepared
-for them, the Roman Catholics drew up an earnest and loyal memorial to
-the queen, declaring it as their settled and solemn conviction that she
-was their sovereign _de jure_ and _de facto_; that neither Pope nor
-priest had power to license any one to lift their hand against her, nor
-to absolve them were such a crime committed, and that they renounced and
-abominated any one who held a contrary doctrine.
-
-All these transactions only tended to aggravate the situation of
-the Queen of Scots. She was now taken out of the hands of the Earl
-of Shrewsbury, and consigned to the custody of Sir Amyas Paulet, a
-dependent of Leicester's, a man of a rigid, gaoler-like disposition,
-but not destitute of honour. She was removed from Sheffield Park to the
-ruinous stronghold of Tutbury. Finding that all appeals to Elizabeth
-and all protestations of her innocence of any participation in, and
-even ignorance of, the plots charged on different persons were alike
-disregarded, she turned to her son, but only to receive from that quarter
-a disregard still harder to bear. James coldly announced to her that he
-had nothing to do with her concerns, nor she with his: he was now, in
-fact, in the pay of Elizabeth. He bade her remember that she was only
-the queen-mother, and enjoyed no authority in Scotland, though she bore
-the empty title of queen. Abandoning all hope of assistance from him,
-Mary now demanded of Elizabeth to liberate her on any conditions she
-pleased--she asked only liberty and life. But her requests were unheeded.
-
-Meanwhile Elizabeth was supporting Protestantism abroad. Henry of Navarre
-had become the next in succession to the crown of France, by the death of
-the Duke of Anjou in 1584. Being well known as a Protestant, the Roman
-Catholics in France, with the Duke of Guise at their head, reorganised
-their league, and compelled the French King to subscribe to it. The King
-of Spain, a member of the league, promised it all his support. On the
-other hand, Elizabeth, anxious to see a Protestant prince on the throne
-of France, sent Henry large remittances, and invited him to make England
-his home in case his enemies should compel him to retreat for a time,
-when he could wait the turn of events. In all this there was nothing to
-complain of. Henry had a clear right to the throne of France, and justice
-as well as the Reformed faith called upon her to support it; but not so
-honourable were her proceedings in the Netherlands. There she secretly
-urged to insurrection the subjects of a power with whom she was at peace,
-and maintained them by repeated supplies of money.
-
-Sympathising as she did with the oppressed Protestants of the
-Netherlands, her course was quite obvious. She could call on Philip to
-give to them free exercise of their religion, and if he refused, she had
-a fair plea to break with him and to support the cause of the common
-religion. But Elizabeth had too much politic regard for the rights of
-kings openly to support against them the rights of the people; and, what
-was still more embarrassing, she was practising the very intolerance and
-persecution against her Roman Catholic subjects that Philip was against
-his Protestant ones.
-
-The Primate, when appealed to, stated broadly this fact, and declared
-that Philip had as much right to send forces to aid the English Roman
-Catholics as Elizabeth had to support the Belgian Protestants. When,
-therefore, in June of 1585 the deputies of the revolted provinces of the
-Netherlands besought Elizabeth to annex them to her own dominions, she
-declined; but in September she signed a treaty with them, engaging to
-send them 6,000 men, and received in pledge of their payment the towns
-of Brielle and Flushing, and the strong fortress of Rammekens. This
-was making war on Philip without any declaration of it; but she still
-persisted that she was not assisting the Flemings to throw off their
-allegiance to their lawful prince, but was only helping them to recover
-undoubted privileges of which they had been deprived.
-
-[Illustration: THE EARL OF LEICESTER.
-
-(_From the Portrait in the Possession of the Marquis of Salisbury._)]
-
-But the fact was, that Elizabeth had long been warring on Spain, and it
-was the fault of Spain that it had not declared open war in return. In
-1570 she had sent out the celebrated Admiral Drake, to scour the coasts
-of the West Indies and South America, on the plea that Spain had no
-right to shut up the ports of those countries, and to exclude all other
-flags from those seas. Under her commission, Drake and other captains
-had ravaged the settlements of Spain in the New World, had plundered
-Carthagena, St. Iago, and St. Domingo, and almost every town on the
-coasts of Chili and Peru. They had intercepted the Spanish galleons,
-or treasure vessels, and carried off immense booty of silver and other
-precious articles. But as Drake had received special marks of royal
-favour--the queen had dined on board his vessel, the _Golden Hind_, when
-it lay at Deptford, and had knighted him (1581) for his services,--and as
-there was no declaration of war, all these were clear cases of piracy;
-but Philip was too much engaged at home to defend these trans-Atlantic
-possessions from the daring sea captains of Elizabeth, and if he did
-declare war he at once sanctioned her interference both in the Spanish
-seas and in the Netherlands.
-
-To conduct her campaign in the Netherlands, Elizabeth had appointed the
-Earl of Leicester. The way in which he conducted himself there was not
-calculated to increase his reputation for honesty or military talent. No
-sooner did he arrive, than, without consulting the queen, he induced the
-States to nominate him governor-general of the United Provinces, with the
-title of Excellency, and with supreme power over the army, the State, and
-the executive. In fact, his ambition rested with nothing short of being
-a king: with nothing but possessing all the title and authority enjoyed
-by the Duke of Anjou. When this news reached Elizabeth she flew into a
-terrible rage, charged him with presumption and vanity, with contempt of
-her authority, and "swore great oaths that she would have no more Courts
-under her abeyance than one;" desired him to remember the dust from which
-she had raised him, and let him know if he were not obedient to her every
-word, she would beat him to the ground as quickly as she had raised him.
-
-The unfortunate States, who thought they were gratifying the Queen of
-England when they were honouring her favourite, were confounded at this
-discovery; but Leicester, as if he really thought that he could render
-himself independent of his royal patroness, remained lofty, insolent, and
-silent. Trusting to the position into which he had thus stepped, he left
-it to the ministers at home to pacify the queen. He had so long ruled
-her that he appeared to think he could still do as he pleased. The great
-Burleigh and the cunning Walsingham were at their wits' end to satisfy
-Elizabeth: the only letter which they got from Leicester being one to
-Hatton, so insolent and arrogant that they dared not present it till they
-had remodelled it. Meanwhile, Elizabeth continued to write to the new
-captain-general the most bitter reproaches and menaces, and to heap upon
-his friends fierce epithets which could not reach him and produced no
-effect on him. With all the airs of a great monarch, Leicester progressed
-from one city to another, receiving solemn deputations, and giving grand
-entertainments in return.
-
-In the field his conduct was as contemptible as in the government. He
-had an accomplished general, Alexander Farnese, the Prince of Parma, to
-contend with, and never did an English general present so pitiable a
-spectacle in a campaign as did Leicester. His great object appeared to
-be to avoid a battle, and the only conflict which he engaged in, which
-has left a name, is the attack upon Zutphen, on September 22, 1586,
-because there fell the gallant and gifted Sir Philip Sidney, in the
-thirty-second year of his age.
-
-As autumn approached Leicester marched back his forces to the Hague, and
-was greatly disgusted and astonished to be called to account by what he
-pleased to name an assembly of shopkeepers and artisans. Not the less
-loudly, however, did the merchants and shopkeepers of the Netherlands
-upbraid him with the utter failure of the campaign, with the waste of
-their money, the violation of their privileges, the ruin of their trade,
-and the extorting of the people's money in a manner equally arbitrary and
-irritating. In a fit of ineffable disgust he broke up the assembly: the
-assembly continued to sit. He next resorted to entreaties and promises;
-it regarded these as little. He announced his intention of returning to
-England, and in his absence nominated one of his staff to exercise the
-supreme government. The assembly insisted on his resigning that charge to
-them; he complied, yet, by a private deed, reserved it to himself; and
-thus did this proud, empty, inefficient upstart dishonour the queen who
-had raised him, the country which had tolerated him, and which had long
-impatiently witnessed his arrogance, and his abuse of the queen's favour.
-At length, on the approach of winter, he obeyed the call of his sovereign
-and returned home. Scarcely had he quitted the Netherlands when the
-officers whom he had left in command surrendered the places of strength
-to the Prince of Parma, and went over to the Spaniards. The campaign was,
-from first to last, a scandal and a disgrace to the English name and
-government.
-
-Mary had now been removed, in the early part of this year, to Chartley
-Castle, in Staffordshire, under the care of Sir Amyas Paulet; and the
-gentlemen in England whom the foreign adherents of the Queen of Scots
-had pitched upon to carry out their plan, were a young enthusiastic
-Papist--Anthony Babington, of Dethick, near Matlock, in Derbyshire--and
-his friends and companions, all men of fortune, family, and education.
-Babington had long been an ardent admirer of the Queen of Scots, had
-corresponded with her whilst she was at Sheffield Park, and was ready to
-devote himself to the death in her cause. At the same time he had such
-an idea of the peril of meddling with the government of Elizabeth, that
-he despaired of accomplishing Mary's enfranchisement during Elizabeth's
-life. Ballard, a Jesuit, assured him that Elizabeth would be taken
-off, by command of the Pope; that Savage, an officer who had served in
-Flanders, and was exasperated at the death of Throgmorton, had determined
-to do it; and that the Prince of Parma would land simultaneously with
-that event, and set Mary at liberty. The plan was made known to Mary, and
-received her sanction. "When all is ready," she wrote, "the six gentlemen
-must be set to work."
-
-Walsingham, who had long been on the watch, was now in possession of all
-the evidence that he was likely to get, for Babington soon discovered
-that he had been betrayed by somebody, whom he could not tell; and
-though he remained in London as though there were no danger, he made
-preparations for the escape of Ballard to the Continent, by procuring him
-a passport under a feigned name. Every moment might throw fresh light on
-the deception, and allow the escape of the victims. On the 4th of August,
-therefore, Babington found his house entered by the pursuivants of
-Walsingham, and Ballard, who had not got off, was there seized. Babington
-escaped for the moment, but was arrested on the 7th, and was taken to the
-country house of Walsingham, but escaped from the servants into whose
-charge he was given. With his friends and accomplices, Gage, Charnock,
-Barnewell, and Donne, he concealed himself in St. John's Wood, till
-they were compelled by hunger to make their way to the house of their
-common friend Bellamy, at Harrow, who concealed them in his outhouses and
-gardens. But the cunning Walsingham had his agents on their trail the
-whole time, and on the 15th they walked into the premises of Bellamy,
-secured the concealed conspirators, together with their host, his wife
-and brother, and conveyed them, amid the shouts and execrations of the
-populace, and the universal ringing of bells, to the Tower, whither also
-were soon brought Abingdon, Tichbourne, Tilney, Travers; the only one of
-the friends of Babington that escaped being Edward Windsor, the brother
-of Lord Windsor.
-
-On the 13th of September, Babington, Ballard, Savage, Donne, Barnewell,
-and Tichbourne were put upon their trial, charged with a conspiracy
-to murder Elizabeth, and raise a rebellion in favour of the Queen of
-Scots. They pleaded guilty to one or other of the charges, and seven
-others pleaded not guilty; but all were alike convicted, and condemned
-to the death of traitors. The greater part of them appear to have taken
-no part in the blacker part of the conspiracy, the design to murder
-Elizabeth; and some of them, as Tichbourne and Jones, declared that they
-had taken no part whatever, but merely kept the secret for the sake of
-their friends. Bellamy was condemned for affording them an asylum; his
-wife escaped through a flaw in the indictment. Pooley, the decoy, was
-imprisoned as a blind, and then liberated; and Gifford was already in
-prison in Paris, where, three years later, he died. On the 20th and 21st
-of September, 1586, they were executed in Lincoln's Inn Fields, because
-they used there to hold their meetings.
-
-Though no mention was made on the trial of any participation of the Queen
-of Scots in this conspiracy, nothing was farther from the intention of
-Elizabeth and her ministers than her escape. They had already prepared
-for her death by the bill passed empowering twenty-four or more of the
-Lords of the Council and other peers to sit in judgment on any one
-concerned in attempts to raise rebellion, or to injure the queen's
-person. To procure every possible evidence for this end the following
-stratagem was used:--The Queen of Scots was kept in total ignorance
-of the seizure of the conspirators, and on the copy of her letter to
-Babington being laid before the Council, an order was sent down to Sir
-Amyas Paulet to seize all her papers and keep her in more rigorous
-confinement. Accordingly, one morning, Mary took a drive in her carriage,
-accompanied, as was her custom, by Paulet, but with a larger attendance.
-When Mary desired to return, Paulet told her that he had orders to convey
-her to Tixall, a house belonging to Sir Walter Aston, about three miles
-distant. Astonished and alarmed, Mary refused to go, and declared that
-if they took her there it should be by force. She must have suspected
-the design of searching her cabinets during her absence; but, in spite
-of her protestations and her tears, she was compelled to proceed. There
-she was confined to two rooms only, was guarded in the strictest manner,
-and debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper. Meanwhile Sir William
-Wade arrived at Chartley, and proceeded to break open the cabinets and
-take possession of all her letters and papers, as well as those of her
-secretaries. A large chest was filled with these papers, amongst which
-were Mary's own minute of the answer to Babington, and other damning
-proofs. It was determined to bring her to a public trial.
-
-Mary was now removed to Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire, in
-preparation for her trial. It was first proposed to convey her to the
-Tower, but they feared her friends in the City; then the castle of
-Hertford was suggested, but that also was thought too near the capital;
-and Grafton, Woodstock, Coventry, Northampton, and Huntingdon were all
-proposed and rejected, showing that her enemies were well aware of the
-seriousness of the business they contemplated.
-
-On the 5th of October a commission was issued to forty-six persons,
-peers, privy councillors, and judges, constituting a court competent to
-inquire into and determine all offences committed against the statute
-of the 27th of the Queen, either by Mary, daughter and heiress of James
-V., late of Scotland, or by any other person whomsoever. The moment this
-was known, Chasteauneuf, the French ambassador, demanded in the name
-of his sovereign that Mary should be allowed counsel, according to the
-universal practice of civilised nations. But Elizabeth sent him a message
-by Hatton, that "she did not require the advice or schooling of foreign
-powers to instruct her how she ought to act."
-
-On the 12th the commissioners arrived at the castle. They were the Lord
-Chancellor Bromley, the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, and many other magnates.
-
-On the 14th the Court assembled in the great hall of Fotheringay, at the
-upper end of which was placed a chair of State with a canopy, as for
-the queen of England; and below it, at some distance, a chair without
-a canopy, for the Queen of Scots. The Chancellor, Bromley, opened the
-Court by informing Mary that the Queen of England, having heard that she
-had conspired against her state and person, had deputed them to inquire
-into the fact. Upon this Mary, who had at first refused to plead at all,
-entered her solemn protest against their authority, declaring that she
-had come as a friendly sovereign to seek aid from her cousin, the Queen
-of England, and had been unjustly detained by her as a prisoner; on that
-ground she denied their authority to try her. It was permitted to record
-her protest, together with the Chancellor's reply.
-
-The charges against her were two: first, that she had conspired with
-traitors and foreigners to invade the realm, and secondly, to compass the
-death of the queen. As to the first charge Mary pleaded guilty to it, and
-justified it. They grounded this charge on a host of letters intercepted
-or found in her cabinets, to and from Mendoza, Paget, Morgan, and others.
-From these it appeared that she had sanctioned an invasion on her
-behalf, had offered to raise her friends to support it, and had requested
-that those in Scotland should make themselves master of the person of her
-son, and prevent any aid from being sent to the Government of England.
-When they came to the second charge, the conspiracy to murder Elizabeth,
-she denied any participation in it totally, indignantly, and with tears.
-She called God to witness the truth of her assertion, and prayed Him,
-if she were guilty of such a crime, to grant her no mercy. The proofs
-produced to establish her approval of this design were--first, the copy
-of the letter of Babington, in which was this passage:--"For the dispatch
-of the usurper, from the obedience of whom, by the excommunication of
-her, we are made free, there be six noble gentlemen, all my private
-friends, who, for the zeal they bear to the Catholic cause and your
-majesty's service, will undertake the tragical execution." Next there
-was a copy of seven points, which were professedly derived from her
-answer to Babington, the sixth of which was, "By what means do the six
-gentlemen deliberate to proceed?" After these came the confessions of
-Mary's secretaries, and, finally, reported admissions in her letters to
-her foreign correspondents of having received these intimations of their
-intention to assassinate the queen, and of having given them cautions and
-instructions on this point.
-
-Mary at first denied any correspondence with Babington, but she soon
-saw enough to convince her that they had the correspondence in their
-possession, and admitted having written the note of the 18th, but not
-any such answer to Babington on the 17th of July, as they asserted. She
-demanded the production of the original letters, and the production of
-her secretaries Nau and Curle face to face with her, for that Nau was
-timid and simple, and Curle so accustomed to obey Nau, that he would
-not do otherwise; but she was sure that in her presence they would not
-venture to speak falsely. But neither of these things, no doubt for the
-strongest of reasons, was consented to. As to her letters, she said it
-was not the first time that they had been garbled and interpolated. It
-was easy for one man to imitate the writing and ciphers of another; and
-she greatly feared that Walsingham had done it in this instance, to
-practise against the lives of both herself and her son. In fact, her
-defence was most ingenious but quite unconvincing.
-
-[Illustration: TRIAL OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS IN FOTHERINGAY CASTLE. (_See
-p._ 308.)]
-
-On this the commissioners adjourned their sitting to the 15th of October,
-and from Fotheringay to the Star Chamber at Westminster. There the
-secretaries were re-examined, and finally the commissioners unanimously
-signed Mary's condemnation, the sentence running as follows:--"For that
-since the conclusion of the session of Parliament, namely, since the
-first day of June, in the twenty-seventh year of her Majesty's reign and
-before the date of the commission, divers matters have been compassed and
-imagined within this realm of England by Anthony Babington and others,
-with the privity of the said Mary, pretending a title to the Crown of
-this realm of England, tending to the hurt, death, and destruction of
-the royal person of our lady the queen; and also for that the aforesaid
-Mary, pretending a title to the Crown, hath herself compassed and
-imagined within this realm divers matters tending to the hurt, death, and
-destruction to the royal person of our sovereign lady the queen, contrary
-to the form of the statute in the commission aforesaid specified." Nau
-and Curle were declared abettors, so that it was a sentence of death to
-all the three. To this a provision was added that the sentence should
-in no way derogate from the right or dignity of her son, James King of
-Scotland.
-
-On the 29th of October--that is, four days after the passing of this
-sentence--Elizabeth assembled her Parliament. She had summoned it for
-the 15th, anticipating quicker work at Fotheringay, but prorogued it to
-this date. The proceedings of the trial were laid before each house, and
-both Lords and Commons petitioned Elizabeth to enforce the execution of
-the Queen of Scots without delay. Serjeant Puckering, the Speaker of the
-Commons, in communicating the prayer of the House, reminded Elizabeth of
-the wrath of God against persons who neglected to execute His judgments,
-as in the case of Saul, who had spared Agag, and Ahab, who had spared
-Benhadad. Elizabeth replied with perfect serenity that she was unwilling
-to shed the blood of that wicked woman, the Queen of Scots, though she
-had so often sought her life, for the preservation of which she expressed
-her deep gratitude to Almighty God. She wished that she and Mary were
-two milkmaids, with pails upon their arms, and then she would forgive
-her all her wrongs. As for her own life, she had no desire on her own
-account to preserve it; she had nothing left worth living for; but for
-her people she could endure much. Still, the call of her Council, her
-Parliament, and her people to execute justice on her own kinswoman, had
-brought her into a great strait and struggle of mind. But then, she said,
-she would confide to them a secret: that certain persons had sworn an
-oath within these few days to take her life or be hanged themselves. She
-had written proof of this, and she must, therefore, remind them of their
-own oath of association for the defence of her person. "She thought it
-requisite," she said, "with earnest prayer to beseech the Divine Majesty
-so to illuminate her understanding, and to inspire her with His grace,
-that she might see clearly to do and determine that which would serve to
-the establishment of His Church, the preservation of their estates, and
-the prosperity of the commonwealth."
-
-She sent a message to the two Houses, expressing the great conflict which
-she had had in her own mind, and begging to know whether they could not
-devise some means of sparing the life of her relative. Both Houses, on
-the 25th, returned answer that this was impossible. To this declaration
-of Parliament she returned to them one of her enigmatical answers, "If I
-should say that I meant not to grant your petition, by my faith, I should
-say unto you more perhaps than I mean. And if I should say that I mean to
-grant it, I should tell you more than it is fit for you to know. Thus I
-must deliver to you an answer answerless."
-
-On the 6th of December proclamation of the judgment of the commissioners
-against the Queen of Scots was made through London by sound of trumpet,
-whereupon the populace made great rejoicings, kindled large bonfires, and
-rang the bells all day as if some joyful event had occurred. They were
-so fully persuaded that the Queen of Scots was at the bottom of all the
-alleged and real plots for the overturn of the Government, the bringing
-in of the King of Spain, and the Roman Catholic religion, that their
-exultation was boundless.
-
-Meanwhile, in spite of the eagerness of the nation, Elizabeth hesitated
-to put Mary to death. Her conduct was tortuous, for she was devising to
-escape the opprobrium. At length Lord Howard of Effingham persuaded her
-that she could delay no longer. She went about continually muttering
-to herself, "_Aut fer aut feri: ne feriare feri_" ("Either endure or
-strike: strike lest thou be stricken"). Instead of proceeding to sign
-the death-warrant and let the execution take its course, she had it
-again debated in the Council whether it were not better to take her
-off by poison. Walsingham, who saw that the responsibility would be
-certainly thrown on somebody near the queen, got away from Court; and the
-warrant, drawn up by Burleigh, was handed by him to Davison, the queen's
-secretary, to get it engrossed and presented to the queen for signature.
-When he did this, she bade him keep it awhile, and it lay in his hands
-for five or six weeks. But both Leicester and Burleigh were impatient for
-its execution; and directly after the departure of James's ambassadors
-in February, he was ordered to present it; and then Elizabeth signed it,
-bidding him take it to the Great Seal, "and trouble her no more with
-it." Then, as if suddenly recollecting herself, she said, "Surely Paulet
-and Drury might ease me of this burden. Do you and Walsingham sound
-their dispositions." Burleigh and Leicester, to whom Davison showed the
-warrant, urged him to send it to Fotheringay without a moment's delay;
-but Davison had a feeling that he certainly should get into trouble if
-he did so. He therefore went on to Walsingham, and after showing him
-the warrant, they then and there made a rough draft of a letter to Sir
-Amyas Paulet and Sir Drew Drury, Mary's additional keeper, proposing
-that they should act on their own authority, as the queen requested.
-While Walsingham made a fair copy, Davison went to the Lord Chancellor
-and got the great seal affixed to the warrant. Davison the next day
-had confirmation doubly strong that Elizabeth was watching to entrap
-him in the matter. She asked him if the warrant had passed the Great
-Seal. He said it had; on which she immediately said, "Why such haste?"
-He inquired whether, then, she did not wish the affair to proceed. She
-replied, certainly; but that she thought it might be better managed, as
-the execution of the warrant threw the whole burden upon her. Davison
-said he did not know who else could bear it, as her laws made it murder
-to destroy the meanest subject without her warrant. At this her patience
-appeared exhausted, and she uttered a wish that she had but two such
-subjects as Morton and Archibald Douglas.
-
-Davison was terrified at the gulf on the edge of which he saw himself
-standing, with the queen ready and longing to drag him in. He went to
-Hatton, and told him that though he had her orders to send off the
-warrant to Fotheringay at once, he would not do it of himself. They
-therefore went together to Burleigh, who coincided with them in the
-demand for caution. He therefore summoned the Council the next morning,
-and it was there unanimously agreed, as the queen had discharged her
-duty, to do theirs, and to proceed on joint responsibility. The warrant
-was therefore issued.
-
-On the 7th of February the order for Mary's death reached Fotheringay.
-The Earl of Shrewsbury, who had guarded her so many years, as Earl
-Marshal, had now the painful office of carrying into effect her
-execution. There had been for some time a growing feeling at Fotheringay
-that the last day of Mary was at hand, for there had been a remarkable
-coming and going of strangers. When Shrewsbury was announced, his office
-proclaimed the fatal secret. The Scottish queen rose from her bed, and
-was dressed to receive him, having seated herself at a small table
-with her servants disposed around her. The Earl of Shrewsbury entered,
-followed by the Earls of Kent, Cumberland, and Derby, as well as by the
-sheriff and several gentlemen of the county. Beale, the clerk of the
-Council, read the order for the execution, to which Mary listened with
-the utmost apparent equanimity. When it was finished she crossed herself,
-bade them welcome, and assured them that she had long waited for the day
-which had now arrived; that twenty years of miserable imprisonment had
-made her a burden to herself and useless to others; and that she could
-conceive no close of life so happy or so honourable as that of shedding
-her blood for her religion. She recited her injuries and the frauds and
-perjuries of her enemies, and then laying her hand on the Testament upon
-her table, called God to witness that she had never imagined, much less
-attempted, anything against the life of the Queen of England. A long
-conversation followed, and Mary asked whether the foreign powers had
-made no efforts in her behalf, and whether her only son had forgotten
-her; and finally, when she was to suffer. The Earl of Shrewsbury replied
-with much emotion, "To-morrow morning, at eight o'clock." Mary received
-this announcement with a calm dignity which awed and even affected
-the beholders. And on the scaffold, which was erected in the hall of
-Fotheringay, she played her part with the same perfection of acting,
-posing as a religious martyr and wholly ignoring the political crimes of
-which she had been guilty (February 8, 1587).
-
-The Earl of Shrewsbury sent his son with the intelligence of the
-execution of Mary, which reached Court the next day. Burleigh, who
-received the letter, immediately sent for Davison and several of the
-Privy Council, and it was resolved to keep the fact from the queen for a
-short time. But such a fact, though it might be officially, could not be
-otherwise concealed. The news flew abroad, and the Protestant population
-gave the reins to their joy by the ringing of bells and kindling of
-bonfires. Elizabeth neither could nor did remain ignorant of the cause of
-this noisy exultation. She inquired why the bells rang so merrily, and
-was told, says Davison, "for the execution of the Queen of Scots;" but
-she took no notice of it, having not been officially informed. Far from
-displaying any emotion of any kind, she took her usual airing, and on her
-return appeared to be enjoying herself in the company of Don Antonio,
-the pretender to the Crown of Portugal. But in the morning, being then
-officially informed, she flew into very well-acted paroxysms of rage and
-grief. She declared that she had never contemplated or sanctioned such a
-thing; that Davison had betrayed her, whom she had charged not to let the
-warrant go out of his hands; and that the whole Privy Council had acted
-most unjustifiably.
-
-[Illustration: MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS RECEIVING INTIMATION OF HER DOOM.
-(_See p._ 311.)]
-
-Davison, who fondly hoped that he had secured himself under the shield of
-the Privy Council, made his appearance at Court; but the councillors, who
-saw there must be a victim, advised him to keep out of sight for a few
-days; and the consequence was, that his amiable friends of the Council
-most likely made him their scapegoat, for he was immediately arrested and
-committed to the Tower. But the ministers themselves did not escape their
-share of the storm. For four days the matter was before the Council, and
-they received the severest and most unmeasured upbraidings from their
-royal mistress, the burden being naturally thrown on poor Davison, who
-was actually dismissed from the public service and condemned to pay a
-large fine.
-
-[Illustration: _By permission, from the Painting in the City of
-Manchester Art Gallery._
-
-THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA, 1588.
-
-By ALBERT GOODWIN, R.W.S.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_concluded_).
-
-     State of Europe on the Death of Mary--Preparations of Philip
-     of Spain--Exploits of English Sailors--Drake Singes the King
-     of Spain's Beard--Preparations against the Armada--Loyalty of
-     the Roman Catholics--Arrival of the Armada in the Channel--Its
-     Disastrous Course and Complete Destruction--Elizabeth at
-     Tilbury--Death of Leicester--Persecution of the Puritans and
-     Catholics--Renewed Expeditions against Spain--Accession of Henry
-     of Navarre to the French Throne--He is helped by Elizabeth--Essex
-     takes Cadiz--His Quarrels with the Cecils--His Second Expedition
-     and Rupture with the Queen--Troubles in Ireland--Essex appointed
-     Lord-Deputy--His Failure--The Essex Rising--Execution of
-     Essex--Mountjoy in Ireland--The Debate on Monopolies--Victory of
-     Mountjoy--Weakness of Elizabeth--Her last illness and Death.
-
-
-Among all these equivocations Elizabeth displayed her usual ability, and
-prevented the only thing which she feared--a coalition between Scotland,
-France, and Spain, to avenge the death of the Scottish queen. James of
-Scotland was readily checked, being of a pusillanimous character, and
-fonder of money than of the life and honour of his mother. Henry III. of
-France, as Elizabeth well knew, was too much beset by difficulties to be
-formidable. His course was now fast running to a close. Civil war was
-raging in his kingdom; and we may here anticipate a little to take a view
-of his end. His feud with the Guises grew to such a pitch, that, to rid
-himself of them, he determined to assassinate their leaders, the duke
-and cardinal, the cousins of the late Queen of Scots. For this purpose,
-near the close of 1588, he assembled a body of assassins in the Castle
-of Blois, where he privately distributed daggers to forty-five of them.
-The Duke of Guise was invited to the fatal feast, and murdered at the
-very door of the king's chamber (December 23). The next day his brother,
-the cardinal, was also slain. But this infamous action only procured the
-destruction of Henry himself. The Papists, exasperated by the murder of
-their chiefs, were infuriated. The Pope excommunicated the king, and the
-clergy absolved the people from their oath of allegiance; and on August
-2, 1589, Henry was assassinated by a fanatic monk of the name of Jacques
-Clement, whilst besieging his own capital.
-
-But not so readily was Philip of Spain disposed of. He was crafty and
-powerful, and remembered the conduct of Elizabeth, who, from the very
-commencement of her reign, while professing friendship and high regard
-for him, had done all in her power to strip him of the Netherlands.
-She had supported his insurgent subjects with both money and troops;
-and at this time her favourite, Leicester, at the head of an army, was
-enjoying the rule of the revolted territory called the United Provinces,
-as governor-general. Not only in Europe, but in the new regions of
-South America, she carried on the same system of invasion and plunder
-by some of the greatest naval captains of the age--all still without
-any declaration of war. Besides, Mary had left to him her claim on the
-English throne, and Philip had accepted it, thereby alienating the King
-of Scotland. Philip did not hesitate to denounce Elizabeth as a murderer,
-and excited amongst his subjects a most intense hatred of her, both as
-a heretic and a woman oppressive and unjust, and stained with kindred
-and regal blood. In vain did she attempt to mollify his resentment
-by recalling Leicester from the Netherlands, and alluring a native
-prince, the Prince of Orange, to take his place. She opened, through
-Burleigh, negotiations with Spain, and sent a private mission to the
-Prince of Parma, in the Netherlands. There was a great suspicion in the
-minds of the Dutch and Flemings that she meant to give up the cause of
-Protestantism there, and to sell the cautionary towns which she held to
-Spain. But fortunately for them, Philip was too much incensed to listen
-to her overtures, and had now made up his mind to the daring project of
-invading England. News of actual preparations for this purpose on a vast
-scale convinced Elizabeth that pacification was hopeless, and she resumed
-her predatory measures against Spain and its colonies.
-
-To obtain a clear idea of the causes which, independent of the continual
-attempts of Elizabeth to break the yoke of Spain in the Low Countries,
-had so exasperated Philip, we must refer to the marauding expeditions
-of Hawkins, Cavendish, and Drake--men whose names have descended to our
-day as types of all that is enterprising, daring, and successful in the
-naval heroes of England. They were men who, like most of the prominent
-persons of that time, had no very nice ideas of international justice or
-honesty, but had courage which shrank from no attempt, however arduous,
-and ability to achieve what even now are regarded as little short of
-miracles. Whilst in Europe they were Royal commanders, in the distant
-seas of America they were, to all intents and purposes, pirates and
-buccaneers.
-
-Sir John Hawkins has the gloomy fame of being the originator of the
-African slave trade (1562). He made three voyages to the African coast,
-where he bartered his goods for cargoes of negroes, which he carried
-to the Spanish settlements in America, and sold them for hides, sugar,
-ginger, and pearls. This traffic, which afterwards increased to such
-terrific and detestable dimensions, was so extremely profitable that
-Elizabeth fitted out two ships and sent them under his command. On this
-his third voyage, however, Hawkins was surprised by the Spanish admiral
-in the Bay of St. Juan de Ulloa. A desperate engagement took place, and
-Hawkins's fleet, with all his treasure, was captured or destroyed except
-two, one of which afterwards went down at sea, the only one returning
-home being a little bark of fifty tons, called _Judith_, and commanded by
-one Francis Drake. Elizabeth, of course, lost her whole venture in the
-slave trade.
-
-But this Francis Drake, destined to win a great name, could not rest
-under the defeat in the bay of Ulloa and the loss of his booty. He
-obtained interest enough to fit out a little fleet, and also made three
-voyages, like Hawkins, to the Spanish American settlements. In the logic
-of that age, it was quite right to plunder any people of a particular
-nation in return for a loss by aggrieved persons of another nation; and
-Drake felt himself authorised to seize Spanish property wherever he could
-find it. In his first two voyages he was not eminently successful; but
-the third, in 1572, made him ample amends. He took and plundered the
-town of Nombre de Dios, captured about 100 little vessels in the Gulf of
-Mexico, and made an expedition inland, where, ascending a mountain in
-Darien, he caught sight of the Pacific, and became inflamed with a desire
-to sail into that sea and plunder the Spanish settlements there. He
-captured in March of 1573 a convoy of mules laden with gold and silver,
-and in October reached England with his plunder.
-
-This success awoke the cupidity of his countrymen. Elizabeth embarked
-1,000 crowns in a fresh expedition, which was supported by Walsingham,
-Hatton, and others of her ministers. In 1577 Drake set out for the
-Spanish Main with five ships and 160 men. In this voyage he pursued
-steadily his great idea of adventures in the Pacific, coasted the
-Brazils, passed the straits of Magellan, and reached Santiago, from which
-place to Lima he found the coast unprotected, and took the vessels and
-plundered the towns at will. Among his prizes was a Spanish merchantman
-of great value, which he captured in the spring of 1579. By this time,
-however, the Spaniards had sent out a squadron to meet and intercept
-him at the straits; and Drake, becoming aware of it, took the daring
-resolution of sailing to the Moluccas, and so home by the Cape of Good
-Hope. The hardihood of this determination we can scarcely at this day
-realise, for it implied the circumnavigation of the globe, which had
-never yet been accomplished, Magellan himself having perished on his
-voyage at the Philippines. Drake, however, reached Plymouth safely, on
-the 3rd of November, 1580, after a voyage of three years. The dangers
-and hardships which he had endured in this unprecedented exploit may be
-conceived from the fact that only one of his five vessels reached home
-with him; but that vessel contained a treasure of £800,000.
-
-Elizabeth was in a great strait. The wealth which Drake had brought,
-and of which she expected an ample share, was too agreeable a thing to
-allow her to quarrel with the acquirer; but the ravages which he had
-committed on a Power not openly at war with her, were too flagrant to
-be acknowledged. For four months, therefore, Drake remained without any
-public acknowledgment of his services, further than his ship being placed
-in the dock at Plymouth, as a trophy of his bold circumnavigation of the
-globe. At length the queen consented to be present at a banquet which
-Drake gave on board, and she there broke from her duplicity by knighting
-him on the spot (1581). A tithe of the enormous amount of money was
-distributed as prize among the officers and men; the Spanish ambassador,
-who had laid claim to the whole as stolen property, was appeased by a
-considerable sum; and the huge remainder was shared by the queen, her
-favourites, and the fortunate commander.
-
-It was not long before Sir Francis Drake was placed in commission and
-sent out as the queen's own admiral against Spain. In 1585 he sailed for
-the West Indies with a fleet of twenty-one ships, where he burnt down the
-town of St. Iago, ravaged Carthagena and St. Domingo, and committed other
-mischief. The following year Thomas Cavendish followed in Drake's track,
-with three ships which he had built out of the wreck of his fortune,
-and reaching the Spanish Main, committed many depredations. In 1587 he
-secured the freight of gold and silver of a large Manila merchantman, and
-returned home by the new route which Drake had pointed out.
-
-These terrible chastisements of the Spanish colonies had embittered
-the mind of Philip and his subjects even beyond the warfare of the
-Netherlands; and he was now steadily preparing that mighty force and
-that host of vessels by which he vowed to prostrate the power of the
-heretic queen, and reduce the British Islands to the Spanish yoke and
-to the yoke of the Papal Church. Elizabeth, having endeavoured in vain
-to arrange a peace, buckled on the armour of her spirit, and determined
-to meet the danger with a fearless front. She despatched Drake with a
-fleet of thirty vessels to examine the Spanish harbours where these means
-of invasion were preparing, and to destroy all that he could come at.
-No task could have delighted him more. On the 18th of April, 1587, he
-entered the roads of Cadiz, and discovering upwards of eighty vessels,
-attacked, sank, and destroyed them all. He then sailed out again, and
-running along the coast as far as Cape St. Vincent, demolished above a
-hundred vessels, and, besides other injuries, battered down four forts.
-This Drake called "singeing the King of Spain's beard." In the Tagus he
-encountered the Grand Admiral of Spain, Santa Cruz, but could not bring
-him to an engagement, owing to the orders which the admiral had received;
-but he captured, in his very teeth, the _St. Philip_, one of the finest
-ships of Spain, and laden with the richest merchandise. Santa Cruz took
-it so much to heart that he was not permitted to engage Drake, that he is
-said to have died shortly afterwards of sheer mortification.
-
-When Drake returned from this expedition he was received by the public
-with acclamation; but Elizabeth was perfectly frightened by the extent of
-the calamities inflicted, believing that they would only rouse Philip to
-more inveterate hostility--and in that she was right. She actually made
-an apology to the Prince of Parma, Philip's general in the Netherlands,
-for the deeds of Drake, assuring him that she had sent him out only to
-guard against any attacks on herself. Farnese replied that he could
-well believe anything of a man bred as Drake had been in piracy, and
-professed still to be ready to make peace. But Philip was in no pacific
-mood. He was now eagerly employed in forwarding his huge preparations;
-and the name of the Spanish Armada began to sound familiarly in
-England. He prevailed on the Pope to issue a new bull of excommunication
-against Elizabeth, and to advance him large sums of money for this holy
-enterprise, which was to restore these rich but recreant islands to the
-Holy See. He collected his best vessels into the Spanish ports, and went
-on industriously building others in all the ports of Spain, Portugal, and
-those portions of the Netherlands now belonging to him. He collected all
-the vessels that his Sicilian and Neapolitan subjects could furnish, and
-hired others from Genoa and Venice. In Flanders he prepared an immense
-shoal of flat-bottomed boats to carry over an army of 30,000 men to the
-coasts of England, under the command of the Prince of Parma.
-
-The time appeared to have arrived which was to avenge all the injuries
-and insults which, during twenty years, the English queen had heaped upon
-him. She had, in the first place, refused his hand; she had year after
-year incited and encouraged his subjects in the Netherlands to rebel
-against his rule; she had supplied them first secretly, then openly, with
-money; she had hired mercenary troops against him; and, finally, sent the
-Earl of Leicester to assume the position of a viceroy for herself. While
-this state of intolerable interference on land had been growing, she had
-sent out men to attack and plunder his colonies, intercept his treasure
-ships, and chase from the high seas the merchant vessels of his nation.
-All this time she had been with an iron hand crushing the Church which he
-believed the only true one, and had ended by putting to death a queen who
-was regarded as the champion of that Church in Britain. We are apt, in
-thinking of the Spanish Armada and the attempt of Philip to invade this
-kingdom, to overlook these provocations, which were certainly sufficient
-to rouse any monarch to such an enterprise.
-
-While carrying matters with so high a hand, Elizabeth's parsimony had
-prevented her from making those preparations for defence which such an
-enemy dictated. In November, 1587, the danger had grown so palpable that
-a great council of war was summoned to take into consideration the grand
-plan of defence, and the mode of mustering an adequate force both at land
-and at sea. It was well known that the dockyards of Antwerp, Newport,
-Gravelines, and Dunkirk had long been alive with the building of boats,
-and that the forest of Waes had been felled to supply material. Farnese,
-reputed one of the ablest generals in Europe, had at his command,
-besides the forces necessary to garrison the Spanish Netherlands, 30,000
-infantry and 1,800 cavalry; whilst the Spanish fleet consisted of 135
-men-of-war, prepared to carry over 8,000 seamen, and 19,000 soldiers.
-Both in Spain and in the Netherlands the enthusiasm of volunteers for the
-service had been wonderful; not only the members of the noblest families
-had enrolled themselves, but the fame of this expedition, which was to
-be a second conquest of England, yielding far more riches and glory than
-that of William of Normandy, had drawn adventurers from every corner of
-Europe.
-
-What had England to oppose to all this force and animating spirit of
-anticipation? It was discovered that the whole navy of England amounted
-to only thirty-six sail. As to the army, it did not amount to 20,000 men,
-and those chiefly raw recruits, the order for the muster of the main body
-of the forces even having been issued only in June. Courage Elizabeth
-undoubtedly possessed in an eminent degree; but such was her parsimony,
-that though the army which was to serve under Leicester was ordered
-to assemble in June, that which, under Lord Hunsdon, was to follow
-particularly the movements of the queen, did not receive orders for
-enrolment till August. What was to be done with such raw recruits against
-the disciplined and tried troops of Parma, and his military experience?
-It was the same as regarded the sailors to man the fleet. In the autumn
-of 1586 she ordered a levy of 5,000 seamen; but in January she thought
-more of the expense than the danger, and insisted on 2,000 of them being
-disbanded. The rumours of growing danger, however, enabled the Council to
-dissuade her from this impolitic measure, and even obtain an increase to
-7,000.
-
-In the war council held in November, 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh earnestly
-advocated what his quick genius had seen at a glance--that the defence
-of the country must depend on the navy. The enemy must not be suffered
-to land. At sea, even then, England was a match for almost any amount of
-force; and never did she possess admirals who had more of that daring
-and indomitable character which has for ages distinguished the seamen of
-Great Britain. Sir Walter Raleigh prevailed: and at once was seen that
-burst of enthusiasm which, on all occasions when Britain has been menaced
-with invasion, has flamed from end to end of the country. Merchantmen
-offered their vessels, the people fitted them out at their own expense,
-and very soon, instead of thirty-six ships of war, there were 191, of
-various sizes and characters, with not 7,000, but 17,400 sailors on
-board of them. To the thirty-six Government ships of war were added
-18 volunteer vessels of heavy burden, forty-three hired vessels, and
-fifty-three coasters. The _Triumph_ was a ship of 1,100 tons; there was
-another of 1,000, one of 900, two of 800 each, three of 600, five of 500,
-five of 400, six of 300, six of 250, twenty of 200, besides numbers of
-smaller size, the total amount of tonnage being 31,985.
-
-But the main strength, after all, was in the character of the men who
-commanded and animated this fleet. Supreme in command was the Lord
-Admiral, Howard of Effingham, a man of undaunted courage, of firm and
-independent resolution, and very popular with the sailors. Under him
-served the Earl of Cumberland and the Lords Henry Seymour, Thomas Howard,
-and Edmund Sheffield, as volunteers; and the want of experience in these
-aristocrats was amply overbalanced by the staunch men whose fame was
-world-wide--Drake, who was lieutenant of the fleet, Hawkins, Frobisher,
-and others of those marine heroes who had made themselves a terror to the
-remotest shores of the earth.
-
-The neighbouring Protestant States, who were naturally called on to aid
-in this struggle, which was not so much for the conquest of England
-as for the annihilation of the Reformed Church, were Scotland and the
-Netherlands. But James of Scotland was the worst possible subject to
-depend on in such an emergency, and no assistance could be secured from
-him. Very different was the conduct of the Dutch. Though Leicester had
-wasted their wealth in useless campaigns, abused their confidence,
-abridged their privileges, encumbered their trade, and insulted their
-honour; though Elizabeth had appeared quite ready to sell them to Spain,
-and in their distress had called upon them to raise £100,000 to pay for
-fresh soldiers, or declared she would abandon them;--yet knowing that
-it was not Elizabeth or the worthless Leicester they had to support,
-but the very existence of that faith for which they had fought so long
-and so bravely, and for their country, which, if England fell, must
-fall inevitably too, they at once "came roundly in," says Stowe, "with
-threescore sail, brave ships of war, firm and full of spleen, not so much
-in England's aid as in just occasion for their own defence, foreseeing
-the greatness of the danger that must ensue if the Spaniards should
-chance to win the day and get the mastery over them." They engaged to
-block up the mouth of the Scheldt with ten ships of war, and sent the
-others to unite with the English fleet. That fleet was dispersed to
-watch as much as possible all points of approach, for rumours confounded
-the people by naming a variety of places on which the descent was to be
-made. Lord Howard put the division of the fleet immediately under his
-command in three squadrons on the western coast; Drake was stationed in
-the direction of Ushant; Hawkins, a regular adventurer, who had not long
-ago offered his services to Philip and had been rejected, now thirsting
-for revenge on him, cruised between the Land's End and the Scilly Isles;
-Lord Henry Seymour scoured the coast of Flanders, blockading the Spanish
-ports to prevent the passage of the Prince of Parma's army; and other
-commanders sailed to and fro in the Channel.
-
-[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.]
-
-On land there was at first a haunting fear of the Roman Catholics.
-Their oppression had been of a character which was not thought likely
-to nourish patriotism; and the very invasion was professedly for their
-relief and revenge. But the moment that the common country was menaced
-with danger, they forgot all but the common interest. There was no class
-which displayed more zeal for the national defence. Yet to the very last
-moment their loyalty was tried to the utmost. Few could believe that they
-would not seize this opportunity to retaliate those severities which
-had been practised upon them; and there were those who even advised an
-English St. Bartholomew, or at least the putting to death of the leading
-Roman Catholics. This bloody project Elizabeth rejected; but they were,
-nevertheless, subjected to the most cruel treatment out of fear. A
-return was ordered of those suspected of this religion in London, who
-were found to amount to 17,000. All such as were convicted of recusancy
-were put in prison. Throughout the land the old domiciliary searches
-were made, and thousands of every rank and class, men and women, were
-dragged off to gaol to keep them safe, while the Protestant clergy
-inveighed in awful terms against the designs of the Pope and the terrible
-intentions of the Papists. All commands, with few exceptions, amongst
-which were those entrusted to the Lord Admiral Howard and his family,
-were placed in the hands of Protestants; yet this did not prevent the
-Papists from offering their services, and gentlemen of family and fortune
-from serving in the ranks, or as sailors at sea. The peers armed their
-tenants and servants, and placed them at the disposal of the queen; and
-gentlemen fitted out vessels and put Protestants into command of them.
-The ministers themselves, in the famous "Letter to Mendoza," which they
-published in almost every language of Europe, confessed that they could
-see no difference between the Romanists and the Protestants in their
-enthusiasm for the defence of the country. They mention the Viscount
-Montague, his son, and grandson, appearing before the queen with 200
-horse which they had raised to defend her person, and add that the very
-prisoners for their religion in Ely signed a memorial to her, declaring
-that they were ready to fight to the death for her against all her
-enemies, whether they were Pope, priests, kings, or any power whatever.
-
-Meanwhile the muster throughout the kingdom had brought together
-130,000 men. True, the greater part of them were raw recruits without
-discipline and experience, and could not have stood for a moment before
-the veterans of Parma, had he landed; but they were instructed to lay
-waste the country before him, to harass his march day and night by
-hanging on his skirts, and obstructing his way; and as not a town would
-have surrendered without a violent struggle, the event, with the dogged
-courage and perseverance of an English population, could only have been
-one of destruction to the invaders. This great but irregular force was
-dispersed in a number of camps on the east, west, and southern coasts.
-At Milford Haven were stationed 2,200 horse; 5,000 men of Cornwall and
-Devon defended Plymouth; the men of Dorset and Wiltshire garrisoned
-Portland; the Isle of Wight swarmed with soldiers, and was fortified at
-all points. The banks of the Thames were fortified under the direction
-of a celebrated Italian engineer, Federico Giambelli, who had deserted
-from the Spaniards. Gravesend was not only fortified, but was defended by
-a vast assemblage of boats, and had a bridge of them, which at once cut
-off the passage of the river, and opened a constant passage for troops
-between Essex and Kent. At Tilbury, opposite to Gravesend, there was a
-camp for 22,000 foot and 2,000 horse, under the command of the Earl of
-Leicester, and Lord Hunsdon defended the capital with an army of 28,000
-men, supported by 10,000 Londoners.
-
-Such were the preparations for the vaunted Invincible Armada. With all
-the courage of Elizabeth, however, she continued to negotiate anxiously
-for peace to the very last minute, and to the great chagrin of Leicester
-and Walsingham, who assured her that such a proceeding was calculated
-to encourage her enemies and depress her own subjects. Burleigh, with
-his more cautious nature, supported her, and even so late as February,
-1588, she sent commissioners to Bourbourg, near Calais, to meet the
-commissioners of Philip, and they vainly continued their negotiations for
-peace till the Armada appeared in the Channel.
-
-And now the time for the sailing of this dread fleet had arrived. The
-King of Spain, tired of delays, ordered its advance. It was in vain
-that the wisdom of further postponement seemed to be suggested by the
-sudden death of his experienced Admiral Santa Cruz, and his excellent
-Vice-Admiral the Duke of Paliano; he immediately gave the command to the
-Duke of Medina Sidonia, a man wholly without such experience, and the
-second command to Martinez de Ricaldez, a good seaman. In vain the Prince
-of Parma entreated that he might reduce Flushing before he carried such
-a force out of the country, and Sir William Stanley, who had deserted to
-Spain from the Netherlands army, recommended the occupation of Ireland
-before the descent on England. The Pope had delivered his bull for the
-deposition of Elizabeth, had collected the money which he promised to
-advance, had made Dr. Allen a cardinal, and appointed his legate in
-England to confer on Philip the investiture of the kingdom; the fleet was
-at anchor in the Tagus, and he commanded it to put forth.
-
-This famous Armada consisted of 130 vessels of different sizes. There
-were forty-five galleons and larger vessels of from 500 to 1,000 tons
-each; twenty-five were pink-built ships, and thirteen were frigates. It
-carried 2,680 pieces of artillery, and 19,295 troops, exclusive of the
-crews which worked the vessels, of whom 2,000 were volunteers of the
-highest families in Spain. The English fleet outnumbered the Armada by
-about sixty vessels, but its entire tonnage did not amount to half that
-of the Armada.
-
-On May the 30th, 1588, this formidable and long-prepared fleet issued
-from the Tagus. The spectacle was of such grandeur, that no one could
-behold it without the strongest emotions and the most flattering
-expectations of success. But these were of very brief duration: one of
-those tempests which in every age, since the Norman Conquest, as if
-indicating the steady purpose of Providence, have assailed and scattered
-the fleets of England's enemies, burst on the Armada off Cape Finisterre,
-scattered its vessels along the coast of Galicia, ran three large ships
-aground, dismasted and shattered eight others, and compelled the proud
-fleet to seek shelter in Corunna, and other ports along the coast. The
-damage to the ships was so considerable, that it occasioned the admiral
-a delay of three weeks at Corunna.
-
-No sooner was this news announced in London, than Elizabeth, amid her
-most warlike movements never forgetting the expense, immediately ordered
-the Lord Admiral to dismantle four of his largest ships, as if the
-danger were over. Lord Howard had the wise boldness to refuse, declaring
-that he would rather take the risk of his sovereign's displeasure, and
-keep the vessels afloat at his own cost, than endanger the country. To
-show that all his vessels were needed, he called a council of war, and
-proposed that they should sail for the Spanish coast, and fall on the
-fleet whilst it was thus disordered. At sea they saw and gave chase to
-fourteen Spanish ships. The wind veered and became at once favourable
-to his return, and also to the sailing of the Armada. He turned back
-to Plymouth, lest some of the Spanish vessels should have reached his
-unprotected station before him.
-
-The event proved that his caution was not vain. He had scarcely regained
-Plymouth and moored his fleet, when a Scottish privateer, named Fleming
-sailed in after him and informed him he had discovered the Armada off
-the Lizard. Most of the officers were at the moment playing at bowls on
-the Hoe, and Drake, who was one of them, bade them not hurry themselves,
-but play out the game and then go and beat the Spaniards. The wind, too,
-was blowing right into harbour, but having with great labour warped out
-their ships they stood off, and the next day, being the 20th of July,
-they saw the Spanish fleet bearing down full upon them. It was drawn up
-in the form of a crescent, the horns of which were seven miles apart, and
-a nobler or more imposing sight was never seen on the ocean. Lord Howard
-deemed it hazardous to measure strength with ships of such superior size
-and weight of metal, and he was soon relieved from the necessity, for the
-Duke of Medina, on perceiving the English fleet, called a council of his
-officers--who were impatient to attack and destroy the enemy at once--and
-showed them his instructions, which bound them strictly to avoid all
-chance of damage to his vessels by a conflict before he had effected the
-main object of seeing the Flemish army landed on the English coast. The
-Grand Armada, therefore, swept on in stately magnificence up the Channel,
-the great galeasses, with their huge hulks, their lofty prows, and their
-slow imposing motion, making a brave show. To the experienced eyes of the
-English sailors, however, this immediately communicated encouragement,
-for they saw at once that they were not calculated, like their own
-nimbler vessels, to tack and obey the helm promptly.
-
-And now began, as it were, a strange chase of the mighty Armada by the
-lesser fleet. The Duke of Medina pressed on with all sail to reach
-Dunkirk, and make a junction with the fleet of flat-bottomed boats of
-the Prince of Parma, which were to carry over the army; but some of his
-vessels soon fell behind, and in spite of his signalling for them to come
-up, they could not do so before the nimbler English vessels were upon
-them, and fired into them with right good will. The _Disdain_, a pinnace
-commanded by Jonas Bradbury, was the first to engage, and was speedily
-seconded by the Lord Admiral himself, who attacked a great galleon, and
-Drake in the _Revenge_, Hawkins in the _Victory_, and Frobisher in the
-_Triumph_, closed in with the others. Ricaldez, the Rear Admiral, was in
-this affray, and encouraged his men bravely, but it was soon found that
-the Spaniards, though so much more gigantic in size, had no chance with
-the more manageable English ships. Their heavy artillery, from their
-uncommon height, fired over the enemies' heads, and did little mischief,
-whilst the undaunted English tacked about and hit them first in one
-place and then in another. Drake justified his fame by boarding a great
-galleon, the mast of which was shot away, and taking her with 55,000
-ducats on board. The Duke of Medina was compelled to heave-to till the
-jeopardised squadron could come up; but night set in, and there was seen
-another of the galleons blazing on the water, having, it was said, been
-purposely set on fire by a Flemish gunner, whom the captain had accused
-of cowardice or treachery. In the confusion the neighbouring vessels
-ran foul of each other, there being a heavy sea, and a third vessel was
-separated from the fleet, and captured near the French coast.
-
-[Illustration: THE HOE, PLYMOUTH.
-
-(_From a Photograph by W. Heath, Plymouth._)]
-
-Lord Howard on the 23rd again came up with the Armada off Portland. He
-was now reinforced by forty fresh sail, and had on board this accession
-Sir Walter Raleigh. The weather was still adverse to the advance of the
-Spaniards, and the English kept them well engaged by pouring in ever and
-anon a broadside, and then dropping out of range. Sometimes, the wind
-lulling, they were compelled to stand the full fire of the great ships,
-and in one of these encounters Frobisher was surrounded in the _Triumph_,
-and had to sustain an unequal combat for two hours. By direction of the
-Admiral, however, a number of vessels moved to his rescue, and reserving
-their fire till they were close in with the enemy, they poured such a
-broadside into the Spaniards as turned the scale. Many of the Spanish
-ships were completely disabled in this day's fight, and a Venetian argosy
-and several transports remained in possession of the English.
-
-The next day the English fleet could not renew the action, for they had
-burnt all their powder, and the time to prevent the junction of Medina
-with Parma was totally lost. The next, the 25th, having in the meantime
-procured a fresh supply of ammunition from shore, the Admiral renewed
-the fight off the Isle of Wight, where Hawkins took a large Portuguese
-galleon, and the Duke of Medina's ship had its mainmast shot away, and
-was much shattered; but in the midst of the engagement the powder of the
-English again failed, and they were obliged to draw off. Fortunately the
-Spanish admiral also found that he had expended his heavy shot, and sent
-to the Prince of Parma to hold himself in readiness and send him back
-some shot. On the 26th the Armada held on its way with a fair breeze
-up the Channel, and Howard, who had received fresh ammunition, besides
-continual reinforcements of small vessels and men from the ports as
-they passed, directly pursued. In the Straits of Dover he expected to
-be joined by a strong squadron under Lord Henry Seymour and Sir Thomas
-Winter, and, therefore, he reserved his fire. On the following day, the
-Duke of Medina, instead of making at once for Dunkirk, as he wished,
-was prevailed on to cast anchor before Calais. It was represented that
-there was a Dutch and English fleet blockading Newport and Dunkirk, the
-only outlets for Parma's flat-bottoms, and that the Armada would then
-be enclosed between the two hostile fleets. It was necessary first to
-beat off the fleet which hung on his rear, and he had already found it
-impracticable with his huge unwieldy vessels. He therefore despatched
-a messenger to the Prince of Parma over land, urging him to send him a
-squadron of fly-boats to beat off the English ships, and to be ready
-embarked, that he might land in England under his fire as soon as he
-could come up.
-
-[Illustration: THE ARMADA IN SIGHT. (_See p._ 319.)
-
-(_From the Painting by Mr. Seymour Lucas, R.A., by permission of Mr.
-Arthur Lucas, Publisher._)]
-
-But Parma sent the discouraging news that it was impossible for him to
-move or even to transport his troops till the grand fleet came up to his
-assistance. Fourteen thousand troops, he informed him, had been embarked
-at Newport, and the other division at Dunkirk had been held in readiness
-for the word of command, in expectation of the arrival of the fleet; but
-having been so long delayed, their provisions were exhausted, the boats,
-which had been built in a hurry with green wood, had warped and become
-unseaworthy, and with the hot weather fever had broken out among his
-troops. Were he, however, otherwise able to stir, there lay a force of
-Dutch and English vessels at anchor large enough to send every boat to
-the bottom.
-
-Under these circumstances there was nothing for it but to make for
-Dunkirk, force the blockades at the mouth of the Scheldt, and effect
-the junction with Parma. But now the expected junction of Winter and
-Lord Henry Seymour had taken place with the Lord Admiral's squadron,
-and the Spaniards found themselves closely hemmed in by 140 English
-sail, crowded with sailors and soldiers eager for the fray, and there
-was clearly no avoiding a general engagement. This being inevitable,
-the Spaniards placed their great ships in front, anchored the lesser
-between them and the shore, and awaited the next morning for the decisive
-battle. But such captains as Drake and Hawkins saw too well the strong
-position of the Armada to trust to their fighting, and they determined
-to throw the enemy into confusion by stratagem. They therefore prepared
-eight fire-ships, and the wind being in shore, they sent them, under the
-management of Captain Young and Prouse, at midnight, down towards the
-Spanish lines. The brave officers effected their hazardous duty, and took
-to their boats. Presently, there was a wild cry as the eight vessels
-in full blaze, and sending forth explosion after explosion, bore right
-down upon the Spaniards. Remembering the terrible fire-ships which the
-Dutch had formerly sent amongst them, the sailors shouted--"The fire of
-Antwerp! the fire of Antwerp!" and every vessel was put in motion to
-escape in the darkness as best it might. The confusion became terrible,
-and the ships were continually running foul of each other. One of the
-largest galeasses had her rudder carried away by coming in contact with
-her neighbour, and, floating at the mercy of the waves, was stranded.
-When the fire-ships had exhausted themselves, the Duke of Medina fired
-again to recall his scattered vessels; but few heard it, flying madly as
-they were in fear and confusion, and the dawn found them scattered along
-the coast from Ostend to Calais. A more horrible night no unfortunate
-creatures ever passed, for a tempest had set in, a furious gale blowing
-from the south-west, the rain falling in torrents, and the pitchy gloom
-being lit up only by the glare of lightning.
-
-A loud cannonade in the direction of Gravelines announced that the
-hostile fleets were engaged there, and it became the signal for the
-fugitives to draw together, but all along the coast the active English
-commanders were ready to receive them, and Drake, Hawkins, Raleigh,
-Frobisher, Seymour, and Cumberland vied in their endeavours to win the
-highest distinction. Terrible scenes were presented at the different
-stranded galeasses. One was boarded off Calais after a desperate
-engagement, its crew and troops were cut to pieces or pushed overboard,
-and 50,000 ducats were taken out of her. Another galleon sank under the
-English fire; a third, the _San Matteo_, was compelled to surrender; and
-another, dismantled and in miserable plight, drifted on shore at Flushing
-and was seized by the sailors. Some of the battered vessels foundered
-at sea, and the duke, calling a council, proposed to return home. This
-was vehemently opposed by many officers and the seamen, who had fought
-furiously and now cried for revenge; but the admiral said that it was
-impossible long to hold out against such an enemy, and gave the order to
-make for Spain. But how? The English now swarmed in the narrow seas, and
-the issue of the desperate conflict which must attend the attempt the
-whole way was too clear. The only means of escape he believed was to sail
-northward, round Scotland and Ireland. Such a voyage, through tempestuous
-seas and along dangerous coasts, to men little, if at all, acquainted
-with them, was so charged with peril and hardships, that nothing but
-absolute necessity could have forced them to attempt it. The fragments
-of the Armada, no longer invincible, and already reduced to eighty
-vessels, were now, therefore, seen with a favourable wind in full sail
-northward. With such men as Drake and the rest it might have been safely
-calculated that not a ship would ever return to Spain. A strong squadron
-sent to meet the Spanish fleet on the west coast of Ireland, and another
-following in pursuit, would have utterly destroyed this great naval
-armament. But here again the parsimony of Elizabeth, and the strange want
-of providence in her Government, became apparent. Instead of pursuing,
-the English fleet returned to port on the 8th of August, for want of
-powder and shot, and, as if satisfied with getting rid of the enemy,
-no measures whatever were taken to intercept the fugitive fleet! "If,"
-says Sir William Monson, "we had been so happy as to have followed their
-course, as it was both thought and discoursed of, we had been absolutely
-victorious over this great and formidable navy, for they were brought to
-that necessity that they would willingly have yielded, as divers of them
-confessed that were shipwrecked on the coast of Ireland."
-
-[Illustration: "THE SURRENDER:" AN INCIDENT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
-
-(Don Pedro de Valdes, Commander of the Andalusian Squadron of the Spanish
-Armada, delivering up his sword to Sir Francis Drake.)
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY SEYMOUR LUCAS, R.A.]
-
-This gross piece of misgovernment occasioned much disappointment amongst
-the brave seamen, both officers and men, a few ships only being able
-to follow the Spaniards as far as the Frith of Forth. Walsingham, in a
-letter to the Lord Chancellor at the time, said, "I am sorry the Lord
-Admiral was forced to leave the prosecution of the enemy through the
-want he sustains. Our half doings doth breed dishonour, and leaveth the
-disease uncured." But the winds and waves did for the English what they
-themselves had left undone. A terrible tempest assailed the flying Armada
-to the north of Scotland, and scattered its unhappy ships amongst the
-iron-bound islands of the Orkneys and Hebrides. To save themselves the
-Spaniards threw overboard their horses, mules, artillery, and baggage,
-and in many instances to no purpose. On many a wild spot of the shores
-of the Western Isles, and those of Scotland and Ireland, you are still
-told, "Here was stranded one of the great ships of the Invincible
-Armada." Innumerable summer tourists hear this at Tobermory, in the Isle
-of Mull; and the hosts of visitors to the Giant's Causeway are shown the
-terrible cliffs of Port-na-Spagna, whose very name commemorates the awful
-catastrophe which occurred there. More than thirty of these vessels were
-stranded on the Irish coast; others went down at sea, every soul on board
-perishing; and others were driven to Norway and stranded there.
-
-Never was there so fearful a destruction; and well might the triumphant
-Protestants exult in the idea that the wrath of an avenging Deity was
-let loose against this devoted navy. No mercy was shown to the wretched
-sufferers in general who escaped to land. In Ireland the fear of their
-joining the natives made the Government scandalously cruel. Instead
-of taking those prisoners who came on shore they cut them down in
-cold blood, and upwards of 200 are said to have been thus mercilessly
-butchered. Some of the scattered vessels were compelled to fight their
-way back down the English Channel, and were the prey of the English,
-the Dutch, and of French Huguenots, who had equipped a number of
-privateers to have a share in the destruction and plunder of their hated
-enemies. The Duke of Medina eventually reached the port of St. Andero in
-September, with the loss of more than half his fleet, and of 10,000 men,
-those who survived looking more like ghosts than human beings.
-
-Philip, though he must have been deeply mortified by this signal failure
-of his costly and ambitious enterprise, was too proud to show it. He
-received the news without a change of countenance, and thanked God that
-his kingdom was so strong and flourishing that it could well bear such a
-loss. He gave 50,000 crowns to relieve the sufferers; forbade any public
-mourning, assigning the mishap, not to the English, but the weather; and
-wrote to the Prince of Parma--whom the English Government had tempted at
-this crisis to throw off his allegiance, and make himself master of the
-Catholic provinces of the Netherlands, as the Prince of Orange had done
-of the Protestant ones--to thank him for his readiness to have carried
-out his design, and to assure him of his unshaken favour.
-
-In following the fate of the Spanish fleet, and the bravery and address
-of England's naval commanders, we have left unnoticed the less striking
-proceedings of the army on shore. The chief camp at Tilbury, which would
-have come first into conflict with the Spanish army had it effected a
-landing, was put under the command of Leicester--a man who had been
-tried in the Netherlands, and found wanting in every qualification of a
-general. There, a few days after the defeat of the Armada, Elizabeth held
-a grand review. Leicester and the new stripling favourite, Essex, led her
-bridle rein, whilst she is said to have delivered this fine speech: "My
-loving people! we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our
-safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for
-fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust
-my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear! I have always so behaved
-myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard
-in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and, therefore, I am
-come amongst you at this time not as for my recreation and sport, but
-being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die
-amongst you all--to lay down for my God, for my kingdom, and for my
-people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know that I have but
-the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and
-a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, or
-any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm: to
-which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take
-up arms--I myself will be your general--the judge and rewarder of every
-one of your virtues in the field. I already know by your forwardness
-that you have deserved rewards and crowns; and we do assure you, on the
-word of a prince, they shall be duly paid to you. In the meantime my
-lieutenant-general shall be in my stead--than whom never prince commanded
-a more noble or more worthy subject; nor will I suffer myself to doubt
-that, by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and
-your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over
-those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and my people."
-
-On Lord Howard, as admiral of the fleet, rewards and favours were
-conferred; but neither he, nor the other heroes of his immortal contest
-at sea, received a tithe of the honour of Leicester, who had done
-nothing but write a love-letter to the queen from Tilbury camp. Nothing
-that she had done or could do appeared adequate to his incomprehensible
-merits. She determined to create a new and most invidious office in his
-favour; and the warrant for his creation of Lord Lieutenant of England
-and Ireland lay ready for the royal signature, when the remonstrances
-of Burleigh and Hatton delayed, and the sudden death of the favourite
-put an end to it. In ten days after the queen's visit to the camp he
-had disbanded the army, and was on his way to his castle of Kenilworth,
-when he was seized with sickness at Cornbury Park, in Oxfordshire, and
-died on the 4th of September, of a fever. His enemies declared he had
-been poisoned, and invented the following story:--He had discovered or
-suspected a criminal connection between his wife, the Countess of Essex,
-and Sir Christopher Blount. He had attempted to assassinate Blount, but
-failed; and his countess, profiting by his own instructions in getting
-rid of her former husband, administered the fatal dose. This and other
-stories against Leicester are now discredited.
-
-The first use which Elizabeth made of her victory was to take vengeance
-on the Papists--not because they had done anything disloyal, but because
-they were of the same religion as the detested Spaniards. All their
-demonstrations of devotion to the cause of their country and their
-queen during the attempted invasion went for nothing. A commission was
-appointed to try those already in prison; and six priests, four laymen,
-and a lady of the name of Ward, for having harboured priests, other
-four laymen, for having been reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church,
-and fifteen persons, charged with being connected with them, in all
-thirty individuals, were, within a period of three months, condemned as
-traitors, and executed with all the disembowelling and other atrocities
-attending that sentence. Their only crime was the practice of their
-religion, or the succouring their clergymen. Elizabeth, however, treated
-their proceedings as political offences, and her efforts to dragoon the
-nation into conformity continued the greater part of her life; old age
-alone appearing to abate her virulence, as it dimmed her faculties and
-subdued her spirits. Sixty-one Roman Catholic clergymen, forty-seven
-laymen, and two ladies suffered death for their religion. The fines
-for recusancy were levied with the utmost rigour, £20 per lunar month
-being the legal sum, so that many gentlemen were fleeced of their entire
-income. Besides this, they were liable to a year's imprisonment and a
-fine of 100 marks every time they heard Mass. The search for concealed
-priests was carried on with great avidity, because it gave occasion for
-plunder, and on conviction of such concealment, forfeiture of the whole
-of their property followed, with ample gleaning to the informers. The
-poorer recusants were for some time imprisoned; but the prisons becoming
-full, officers were sent through the country, visiting all villages and
-remote places, and extorting what they could.
-
-[Illustration: PHILIP II. (_After Titian._)]
-
-As Elizabeth grew in years she more and more resembled her father, and
-persecuted the Puritans as zealously as the Papists, and for similar
-reasons. In these Reformers, however, she found a sturdy class of
-men, who would not endure so quietly her oppressions. Hume blames the
-Nonconformists for not setting up separate congregations of their own;
-but he forgot the £20 a month, which would have been levied on every
-individual that could pay, and the imprisonments and harassing of others.
-Where, however, the Nonconformists could not preach, they printed. Books
-and pamphlets flew in all directions; and there was set up a sort of
-ambulatory press, which was conveyed from place to place, till at length
-it was hunted down and destroyed near Manchester. In 1590, Sir Richard
-Knightley, Hooles, of Coventry, and Wigmore and his wife, of Warwick,
-were fined, in the Star Chamber, as promulgators of a book called "Martin
-Marprelate," the first £2,000, the second 1,000 marks, the third 500, the
-fourth 100, and to be imprisoned during the queen's pleasure.
-
-In 1591 Udal, a Nonconformist minister, was condemned to death for
-publishing a book called "A Demonstration of Discipline," but died
-in prison. Mr. Cartwright, fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, for
-pointing out defects in the system of the Church, was deprived of his
-fellowship, expelled the university, and in 1591 was summoned before
-the ecclesiastical commission with some of his friends, and committed
-to prison because they would not answer interrogatories on oath--a
-practice clearly contrary to law. In 1593 Barrow, Greenwood, and Penry,
-Independent ministers, or Brownists, were put to death for writings said
-to reflect on the queen. But no suppression produced the desired effect.
-
-In the spring of 1589 Parliament and Convocation assembled, and Elizabeth
-laid before them a statement of the heavy expenses incurred in beating
-off the Spaniards. She had already levied a forced loan, to which the
-recusants had been made to contribute heavily, and she now received most
-liberal grants from both Parliament and Convocation. Having given this
-freely, the House of Commons prayed the queen to send out a strong force
-and take vengeance on the Spaniards for their attack on this country.
-Elizabeth was perfectly agreeable that they should punish Philip to
-their hearts' content, but not out of the supplies they had granted.
-She said there were great demands on her exchequer; that she could only
-furnish ships and soldiers, and they must pay the cost. The proposal of
-retaliation was so much to the taste of the public that an association
-was formed under the auspices of Drake and Norris, and very soon they
-had a fleet of 100 sail at Plymouth, carrying 21,000 men. Elizabeth
-had long been patronising Don Antonio, prior of Crato, an illegitimate
-branch of the Royal family of Portugal. This pretender was now sent
-out in this fleet in royal state, and the expedition was directed to
-land in Portugal, and call on the people to throw off the Spanish yoke,
-and restore their government under a native, and, as Elizabeth boldly
-asserted, legitimate prince. If the Portuguese would not receive Don
-Antonio, the fleet was then to scour the roads of Spain, and inflict on
-the territory of Philip all the damage possible.
-
-The fascination of this expedition under so renowned a commander
-as Drake, seized on the fancy of a young noble, who had now become
-Elizabeth's prime favourite--the Earl of Essex. This was the son of
-the Countess of Essex whom Leicester had secretly married, much to
-Elizabeth's indignation, in 1578. Leicester introduced the young earl to
-Elizabeth, who, for a time, hated him on account of his mother, for the
-queen, in spite of her numerous quarrels with Leicester, was never able
-to free herself wholly from her early attachment to him. However, some
-time before Leicester's death, the graces and lively disposition of the
-young earl had made a strong impression on her heart or head, and she
-lavished blandishments on the handsome boy in public, even in the face
-of the camp at Tilbury, which must have been eminently ludicrous. After
-Leicester's death he was installed as the chief favourite, and she could
-scarcely bear him out of her sight. Her consternation was great when she
-found that he had slyly eloped, and had set off after the fleet bound for
-Spain.
-
-Drake made first for Corunna, where he seized a number of merchantmen
-and ships of war, made himself master of the suburbs or marine part of
-the town, with large stores of oil and wine, but failed to take the
-town itself, though he succeeded in making a breach in the wall, at the
-cost of many lives. Norris, meantime, attacked the forces of the Condé
-d'Andrada, posted at the Puente de Burgos, and drove them before him for
-some miles; but sickness and shortness of powder compelled them to embark
-again. Drake and Norris, as famous for their bulletins as Napoleon in
-our day, wrote home that they had killed 1,000 of the enemy, with the
-loss of only three men! but Lord Talbot, writing at the same time to his
-father, said that they had lost a great number of men, quite as many
-as the Spaniards. From Corunna they coasted to Peniche, about thirty
-miles north of Lisbon. At Peniche the young Earl of Essex, who kept out
-at sea till the commanders could say in their dispatches that they had
-heard nothing of him, was the first to spring on shore, and showed great
-gallantry. They quickly took the castle, and the fleet then proceeded
-along the shore to the Tagus, while the army marched by land to Lisbon
-through Torres Vedras and St. Sebastian.
-
-The garrison in Lisbon was but weak, and Essex knocked at the gates, and
-summoned the commander to surrender; but the Spaniards had taken the
-precaution to lay waste the neighbourhood and destroy all the provisions,
-or carry them into the city, so that famine, fever, and want of powder
-soon compelled the English to retire. They found that their pretender,
-Don Antonio, was everywhere treated as a pretender--not a man would own
-him; and they marched to Cascaes, which they found already plundered by
-Drake and his squadron. They there embarked for England, but were soon
-dispersed by a storm, and reached Plymouth in straggling disorder, one
-of the sections of the fleet having, before leaving Spain, plundered
-the town of Vigo. It was found that out of their 21,000 men, they had
-lost one-half. Out of the 1,100 gentlemen who accompanied the expedition
-one-third had perished. Elizabeth secretly grumbled at the expense and
-loss, but publicly boasted of the chastisement she had given to Philip.
-
-On the death of Henry III. of France by assassination, as we have
-previously related, Henry of Navarre, a lineal descendant of St. Louis,
-by his youngest son Robert, Count of Clermont, assumed the crown as Henry
-IV. But Henry's known Protestantism placed him in extreme difficulty,
-even with those who had hitherto supported himself or the late king.
-The Papist followers of that monarch insisted that he should sign an
-engagement to maintain their worship, and that to the exclusion of every
-other, except in the places in which the Protestant form was already
-established. They bound Henry to hunt out and punish the murderers of the
-late king; to give no offices in the State, in cities or corporations,
-except to Papists, and to permit the nobles of the Roman Catholic
-league to defend to the Pope their proceedings. But by conceding these
-conditions, he mortally offended the Protestants, who had hitherto
-faithfully adhered to him, and who refused any longer to fight under the
-banners of a prince who had thus, as they deemed it, abandoned their
-cause. Nine regiments deserted his standard, whilst a regiment of Papists
-on the other side, not sufficiently satisfied with the concessions thus
-dearly purchased, also marched out of his camp.
-
-Such was the extent of the disaffection, that instead of being able
-to take Paris, he was compelled to raise the siege and retreat into
-Normandy. Thither the Duke of Mayenne, the leader of the Guise party, and
-his fanatic rabble pursued him, but Henry, advantageously encamping his
-little army, which did not amount to a fourth of the enemy, on a slope
-opposite to the castle and village of Arques, a few miles from Dieppe,
-defeated his assailants with great slaughter. The battle was fought on
-the 21st of September, 1589, and the spot is now marked by a lofty column.
-
-On the heels of this victory came a most timely aid from Elizabeth of
-England, of £20,000 in gold and 4,000 troops under Lord Willoughby.
-Henry now retraced his steps to Paris, where he made himself master
-of the suburbs on the left bank of the Seine, and continued to act on
-the offensive during the remainder of the year. At the commencement of
-1591 the English army was dismissed, having suffered heavy losses, and
-displayed marked bravery.
-
-But they only returned home for Henry to solicit fresh assistance; the
-Spaniards and the Duke of Mercoeur put in claims for the province of
-Brittany, and united their forces to obtain it. Elizabeth, who professed
-to desire the Protestant ascendency in France, sorely rued the expense
-of supporting that interest, and her old and cunning minister Burleigh,
-threw his weight into the scale of parsimony, because he delighted to
-see France depressed. But now that the hated Spaniards had actually
-landed in that country over against her very coasts, she was roused to do
-something. She advanced a fresh loan and sent over a small reinforcement
-of 3,000 men. Essex was impatient to have the command of this force,
-but the queen, listening to Burleigh, gave it to Sir John Norris, and
-Essex quitted the Court in a pet. Fresh forces were, however, solicited,
-and Essex, to his great delight, received the appointment. In August he
-landed at Dieppe, and finding Henry engaged in the distant Champagne,
-he pitched his tent at Arques, near the scene of Henry's triumph, and
-remained there for two months doing nothing but knighting his officers
-to keep them contented. His whole force consisted only of 300 horse, 300
-gentlemen volunteers, and 3,000 infantry. On the king's arrival the siege
-of Rouen was begun, where the English army suffered terrible hardships,
-and in the spring of 1592, the siege having been raised on the approach
-of the Prince of Parma, Essex left his troops with Sir Roger Williams,
-having lost his brother, Walter Devereux, in the campaign.
-
-This unsatisfactory state of things in France continued till the
-midsummer of 1593. Henry was continually demanding fresh aid, fresh
-advances of money, fresh troops, which he did not employ, as was
-stipulated with Elizabeth, solely against the Spaniards, but against
-his rebellious subjects. Elizabeth was greatly enraged at his breach of
-faith, but still found it impossible to refuse him, lest the Spaniards
-should get the upper hand, and Henry, calculating on this, went on doing
-with her troops just what he pleased. Elizabeth was further incensed, and
-went into the worst of tempers on this account, and for this cause not
-only dealt sharp words, but heavy blows about her on her attendants. But
-worst of all came the news that Henry IV. was about to embrace the Roman
-Catholic faith. The fact was he saw that it was impossible otherwise
-to maintain himself on the throne. She sent off a strong remonstrance
-composed by Burleigh, but before its arrival the deed was done, nor is
-it to be supposed that its arrival would have prevented it. Elizabeth's
-limited aid could not enable him to overcome the tremendous opposition
-arrayed against him. On the 15th of July, 1593, Henry publicly abjured
-the Protestant and embraced, if not the Roman Catholic faith, the
-profession of it. On hearing that this was done, Elizabeth burst into one
-of her violent passions, and heaped on him her choicest terms of abuse.
-She wrote to him after four months had somewhat abated her fury, but
-still in a strain of high remonstrance.
-
-Elizabeth, after getting over her resentment against Henry IV. on account
-of his lapse of faith, found it convenient to make a league offensive and
-defensive with him against Philip. The consequence was that the Spaniards
-speedily poured into France from the Netherlands. Velasco, the constable
-of Castile, penetrated into Champagne, and directed his attack against
-Franche-Comté. Fuentes marched into Picardy, defeated Henry's army, took
-Dourlens and Cambray, and threw the King of France into the greatest
-alarm. In vain he sent to demand aid of Elizabeth: she had heard of
-preparations in the Spanish ports for a second invasion of her kingdom;
-and so far from aiding Henry, she withdrew her troops from Brittany,
-complaining dreadfully of all the money and men which she had foolishly
-wasted on the apostate monarch of France. In March, 1596, the Archduke
-Albert, who had become Governor of the Netherlands, suddenly marched on
-Calais, pretending that his object was to raise the siege of La Fere.
-By this ruse he was already under the walls of Calais with 15,000 men.
-The outstanding forts were soon won, and as Elizabeth was one Sunday at
-church at Greenwich, the distant report of the Archduke's cannonade on
-the walls of Calais was plainly heard. Elizabeth sprang up in the midst
-of the service, and vowed that she would rescue that ancient town. She
-sent off post-haste to order the Lord Mayor of London to immediately
-impress 1,000 men, and send them on to Calais; but the fit of enthusiasm
-was soon over, and the next morning she countermanded the order. When
-Henry's ambassadors urged her for assistance, she coolly proffered it on
-condition that she should garrison Calais with an English army. When the
-proposal was made to Henry, he was so incensed that he actually turned
-his back on her ambassador, Sir Robert Sidney, saying he would rather
-receive a box on the ear from a man than a fillip from a woman. In a few
-days--namely, on the 14th of April--the town was carried by storm, and
-Elizabeth had the mortification of seeing the Spaniards in possession
-of a port so calculated to enable them to invade England. Henry, on his
-part, was excessively enraged at her duplicity and selfishness, and spoke
-in no sparing terms of her. Nevertheless, his necessities soon compelled
-him to lower his tone, and even to condescend to flatter her in the most
-extravagant manner of the age, with the result that 2,000 troops were
-sent to garrison Boulogne.
-
-The hostile preparations in the ports of Spain at this time occupied
-all the attention of Elizabeth and her Government, and the more so as
-during the past years she had lost her two famous commanders, Drake and
-Hawkins. They had been sent out on one of their predatory expeditions
-against the Spanish settlements in South America and the West Indies.
-But circumstances in these quarters had become greatly changed. The
-colonies had acquired population and strength: the former ravages of
-these commanders had put the people and the Government on their guard.
-Wherever the English fleet appeared, it found the ports and coasts well
-guarded and defended. Their attacks were repulsed, and such was the
-deplorable failure of the expedition, and the contrast of their former
-profitable and splendid exploits, that both commanders sank under their
-mortification. Hawkins died in 1595, and Drake in the following year. The
-survivors only returned to experience the anger of the queen, who felt
-with equal sensibility the loss of reputation and of the accustomed booty.
-
-The Lord Howard of Effingham, the brave High Admiral who had so
-successfully commanded the fleet against the Armada, recommended at this
-crisis that the English Government should adopt the advice which he had
-given on the former occasion, to anticipate the intentions of Spain,
-and attack and destroy the menacing fleet ere it left the port. In this
-counsel he was ardently seconded by Essex, who loved above all things an
-expedition of a bold and romantic character, and the more so, because it
-was directly opposed to the cold and cautious policy of his enemies, the
-Cecils. He prevailed, and a fleet of 130 sail was fitted out to carry
-over an army of 14,000 land forces. The fleet was confided to the command
-of Lord Howard, the army to Essex; but to put some check on his fiery
-enthusiasm he was required to take, on all great occasions, the advice
-of a council of war consisting of the Lord Admiral, Lord Thomas Howard,
-Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Vere, Sir George Carew, and Sir Coniers
-Clifford.
-
-On the 1st of June, 1596, the fleet issued from Plymouth, and being
-joined by twenty-two ships from Holland, it amounted to 150 sail,
-carrying 14,000 men. On the 20th the fleet cast anchor at the mouth of
-the harbour of Cadiz, and there discovered fifteen men-of-war, and about
-forty merchantmen. The next morning a fierce battle took place, which
-lasted from seven in the morning till one o'clock at noon. The English
-sailed right into the harbour, despite the fire from the ships and forts,
-and the Spaniards, finding the contest going against them, attempted to
-run their vessels ashore and burn them. The galleons got out to sea,
-while the merchantmen having reached Puerto Real, discharged their cargo
-and were burnt by order of the Duke of Medina. Two large ships with an
-argosy were taken, and much booty fell to the captors. The Earl of Essex
-displayed the utmost gallantry. Instead of remaining with the army, he
-went on board and fought in the thick of the danger. The sea-fight over,
-he landed 3,000 men and marched into Cadiz. A body of horse and foot was
-posted to oppose his progress, but fled at his approach; and, finding
-that the inhabitants in their terror had closed the gates, they made
-their way over a ruinous wall, and the English without delay followed
-them. In spite of the fire kept up from the tops of the houses, Essex led
-his men to the market-place, where they were speedily joined by the Lord
-Admiral, who had found his way through a portal. The city capitulated,
-paying 120,000 crowns for the lives of the people, the town and all its
-wealth being abandoned to the plunder of the troops.
-
-[Illustration: BEAUCHAMP TOWER, WARDERS' HOUSES, AND YEOMAN GAOLERS'
-LODGINGS: TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-Essex proposed to strike a great blow while the panic of their victory
-paralysed the country. He recommended that they should march into
-the heart of Andalusia; and such was the destitution of disciplined
-troops from the drain which the wars of France and the Netherlands had
-occasioned, such were the discontent of the nobles and the disaffection
-of the Moriscoes, that much mischief might have been done before they
-could have been successfully opposed. The plan, however, was resisted by
-the other commanders, and Essex then offered to remain in the Isla de
-Leon with 4,000 men, and defend it against the whole force of the enemy.
-But the other leaders would hear of nothing but hastening home. They had
-laid the town in ruins, with the exception of two or three churches;
-they had nearly annihilated the fleet, had collected a vast booty, and
-inflicted on the Spaniards a loss of 20,000,000 ducats.
-
-The conquerors returned home, having dealt the severest blow at Spain
-that it had received for generations. They had raised the prestige of the
-English arms, amply avenged the attempt at the invasion of their country,
-and sunk the reputation of Spain in no ordinary degree. Foreigners
-regarded the exploit with wonder, and the people raised thunders of
-acclamations as the victorious vessels sailed into port. But the gallant
-and magnanimous deeds of Essex had been gall and wormwood to the Cecils,
-and they had neglected no means of injuring him in his absence. Essex had
-succeeded ever since the death of Walsingham--that is, for six years--in
-preventing the dearest wish of Burleigh's heart, to see his son, Sir
-Robert, established in his post. While Essex was away he carried this
-point with the queen; and the courtiers, now auguring the ascendency of
-the Cecils, united in defaming Essex to win favour with them. They talked
-freely of his vainglory, rashness, extravagance, and dissipation.
-
-Day after day the queen subjected Essex to the scrutiny and
-cross-questioning of his enemies in the Council, till, luckily for him,
-there came the news that the Spanish treasures from the New World had
-just arrived safely in port with 20,000,000 of dollars. This put the
-climax to Elizabeth's exasperation; and Essex, who, since his return
-from the expedition, as if to take away every ground for the censure of
-the courtiers, had assumed a totally new character, and was no longer
-the gay and pleasure-seeking young nobleman, but the grave and religious
-man; who lived at home with his countess, attended her to church, and
-exhibited the most pious demeanour; who, instead of his haughty and
-irritable temper, had displayed the utmost patience and forbearance
-under the galling examination of the Council, now broke out at once with
-the declaration that he had done everything in his power to persuade
-his colleagues to permit him to sail to Terceira to intercept this very
-fleet; that the creatures of the Cecils had opposed him resolutely,
-defeated the enterprise, and robbed the queen of this princely treasure.
-
-Instantly the whole current of Elizabeth's feelings underwent a change.
-It was deemed necessary to send out an expedition to Spain to hunt up
-the hostile fleet and destroy it as before. Essex stood undoubted in the
-queen's confidence, and she gave him the command of the fleet for this
-purpose, with Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Walter Raleigh under him. This
-time there was no subjection to a council of war. On the 11th of July,
-1597, the fleet set sail; but had not sailed more than forty leagues
-when it was driven back by a tempest, which raged for four days. Essex
-himself disdained to turn back, but, with his utter contempt of danger
-and dogged obstinacy, he, to use his own words, beat up his ship in the
-teeth of the storm, till it was actually falling asunder, having a leak
-which obliged them to pump eight tons of water per day out of her; her
-main and foremast being cracked, and most of her beams broken and reft.
-The gentlemen volunteers were so completely satisfied with sailing with
-such a man, that on reaching land at Falmouth they all stole away home.
-But Essex himself was as resolved as ever to prosecute the voyage, though
-the queen would advance nothing more for refitting the fleet. He got as
-many of his ships into order as he could, and on the 17th of August was
-enabled to sail again, though the men by this time had consumed most
-of their provisions. He made now, not for the coast of Spain, but the
-Azores, where they took Fayal, Graciosa, and Flores--useless conquests,
-as they could not keep them, and which led to immediate quarrels, for
-Raleigh, with his indomitable ambition, took Fayal himself without
-orders, which Essex deeming an honour stolen from him, resented greatly.
-He ordered several of the officers concerned to be arrested; but when
-he was advised to try Raleigh by a court-martial, he replied, "So I
-would had he been one of my friends." What was worse than this dispute,
-however, was that the Spanish treasure vessels returning from America,
-which Elizabeth had expressly ordered them to lay wait for, had escaped
-into Terceira, and they were obliged to return with the capture of three
-Spanish ships and other plunder, valued at £100,000.
-
-Essex, on landing, hastened to Court, but the queen was in the worst of
-humours at the missing of the treasure ships, and complained that he
-had done nothing to discharge the expenses of the expedition. She laid
-all the blame of failure on him, and gave all the credit to Sir Walter
-Raleigh, whom she accused him of oppressing and insulting. With his
-usual choleric petulance, he hastily left the Court and retired to his
-own house at Wanstead. He was so far from admitting that he was in the
-wrong, that he demanded satisfaction for the injuries which he considered
-had been done him in his absence. The Chancellorship of the Duchy of
-Lancaster, which he had asked for a dependent, had been conferred on
-Cecil, and the Lord Admiral Howard had been created Earl of Nottingham,
-and thus had obtained an official precedency over him. Worse still, and
-more unjust, the honour of the capture of Cadiz was allowed to be usurped
-by Lord Howard in his new patent, though it really belonged to Essex. The
-passionate favourite was so enraged that he offered to fight Nottingham
-in vindication of his claim, or one of his sons, or any gentleman of the
-name of Howard. However, he bridled his resentment, and on the 18th of
-December all was made smooth, and Essex again appeared at Court, being
-created Earl Marshal, by which he regained precedency over the new Earl
-of Nottingham.
-
-The King of France, in the commencement of the year 1598, announced to
-the Queen of England his intention to seek peace with Spain. This was
-news by no means agreeable to Elizabeth, as such a peace would leave
-Philip at liberty to pursue his designs against her; and she endeavoured
-by her ambassador to dissuade Henry from such a measure. But Henry had
-now for thirteen years been harassed by the cares of a kingdom involved
-on two sides in war with Philip, and rent in every quarter by religious
-dissension. The death of the Guises had broken up, in a great measure,
-the Roman Catholic League, but the spirit of opposition was still as much
-alive as ever, and was fanned into flame by a Protestant League, formed
-on the same principles. He longed intensely for peace, that he might
-more fully exert himself to abate this religious discord. His anxiety
-for it had been doubled by the capture of Amiens by the Spaniards in
-February, 1597; and his recovery of it in the following September only
-rendered him the more willing to treat, because he could do it on better
-terms. It was necessary to send over Sir Robert Cecil as ambassador
-extraordinary, to attend the negotiations: and fearing the influence of
-Essex in his absence, the cunning minister had been induced to favour his
-advancement to the post of Earl Marshal, and he sought to win the Earl
-over more completely by moving the queen to present Essex with a cargo
-of cochineal worth £7,000, and a contract for the sale of a much larger
-amount out of the royal stores. Greatly pleased by these instances of
-Cecil's friendship, as he deemed it, Essex transacted the business of the
-Secretaryship for Sir Robert in his absence, and that politic gentleman
-took his departure for France on the 10th of February, 1598.
-
-At the conference both Cecil and the Dutch deputies did everything in
-their power to prevent the peace, but in vain. Henry was resolved on
-giving tranquillity to his kingdom; and when reproached by Cecil for
-deserting Elizabeth, he replied that in aiding him she had served her
-own interests. On the 20th of April he published the edict of Nantes,
-giving security and toleration to the Protestants; and on May the 2nd he
-signed, at Vervins, the treaty with Spain, which was so advantageous that
-he recovered Calais and all places which had been taken during the war.
-Elizabeth was in reality a gainer, for she thus became free from a charge
-of £126,000 per annum in holding the cautionary towns; and the States
-gave an acknowledgment of a debt of £800,000, which they engaged to pay
-by instalments.
-
-On the return of Cecil he submitted to the queen the proposals which
-Philip had made for the extension of the peace to England, and Burleigh
-and Sir Robert contended that Spain having made peace with France, it was
-wise for this kingdom to do the same. Essex, on the contrary, contended
-for war, and for still punishing the Spaniards for their attempt at
-invasion. In the midst of one of the debates in the Council, Burleigh
-put his pocket Bible gently before him, open at these words in the
-Psalms:--"Blood-thirsty men shall not live out half their days." Essex
-took no apparent notice of it, but after his death the circumstance came
-to be looked on as prophetic. The Council was in favour of peace. The
-nation sympathised with Essex, and especially the army and navy, who
-hated the Spaniards, and thought Essex stood up for the honour of the
-country. But if Essex's favour rose with the people, it was in utmost
-peril at Court.
-
-A scene soon occurred in the Council chamber which hastened the rupture.
-There was a warm debate on the appointment of a new Lord Deputy for
-Ireland. That country was in such a cruelly distracted state, and the
-population, both English and Irish, so hostile to the English Government,
-that no one would willingly accept the office. At this moment the Cecils
-were warmly recommending Sir William Knollys to that unenviable post,
-Essex still more vehemently urging the appointment on Sir George Carew.
-But each party was not striving to confer the post as a favour, but as an
-annoyance. Sir William Knollys was the uncle of Essex, and, therefore,
-when the queen named him, the Cecils supported the nomination; and Essex,
-on the contrary, named Sir George Carew as a partisan of the Cecils.
-The debate grew vehement, and Essex, without regard to the wishes of
-the queen, spoke violently against the appointment of Sir William. The
-queen made a sarcastic observation on Essex's advocacy, and the petted
-favourite turned his back upon her with an expression neither respectful
-nor prudent. The soul of the great queen rose in all its Tudor fury,
-and she fetched the rash and forgetful youth a sound buffet on the ear.
-Instead of being called to his senses by this action, the fiery Earl
-started to his feet and clapped his hand on his sword; but the Lord
-Admiral threw himself between the ungallant Earl and the queen; and Essex
-exclaiming that "it was an insult which he would not have taken from her
-father, much less from a king in petticoats," rushed out of the room.
-
-[Illustration: THE QUARREL BETWEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF ESSEX. (_See
-p._ 332.)]
-
-The rupture took place in June, and not till the 6th of November did
-the haughty favourite and the offended queen become reconciled; and it
-is not probable that the reconciliation was ever sincere on the part of
-Elizabeth. Meanwhile, death had removed two persons of great consequence
-in the history of Elizabeth--her aged minister Burleigh, and Philip of
-Spain (1598). Sir Robert Cecil, Burleigh's son, succeeded him in the
-councils of the queen, much to the disgust of Essex, and perpetuated his
-father's cautious principles.
-
-Ireland was now at such a pitch of confusion that the English Government
-was at its wit's end about it, and no one liked to undertake its
-vice-royalty. It was come to such a pass that it was even worse than
-when Walsingham wished it four-and-twenty hours under water. The Lord
-Grey, though eulogised by Spenser, had left it with the character
-of a cruel and rapacious tyrant. Sir John Perrot, reputed to be an
-illegitimate brother of Elizabeth, succeeded him, and dispensed
-justice with a stern hand. He was as ready to punish the English for
-their excesses as to do justice to the Irish under their wrongs; and
-the enmity of his own domineering and avaricious countrymen became
-much more effective than the respect of the natives. In 1592 the
-clamours and intrigues of his enemies occasioned his recall. At home,
-however, he suffered himself to speak incautiously of the queen and of
-Chancellor Hatton, and a secret inquiry was instituted into his late
-administration of Ireland. All sorts of charges of a treasonable nature
-were advanced against him by those whose rapacity he had punished during
-his deputyship--such as favouring the Roman Catholic clergy, plotting
-with Parma and the Spaniards, and encouraging the insurrections of the
-O'Rourkes and the Burkes. They could establish none of these, but they
-managed to touch him in a still more dangerous quarter. They proved that
-in his irritation at the obstructions thrown in his way by the Court, he
-had spoken sometimes freely of the queen and her ministers. Essex, whose
-sister Perrot's son had married, exerted all his influence in his favour;
-but where Elizabeth's vanity was wounded she was unforgiving. Sir John
-was condemned to death, and soon after died in the Tower from chagrin at
-his unjust treatment, or, as was suspected, from poison.
-
-[Illustration: THE EARL OF ESSEX.
-
-(_From the Portrait by Isaac Oliver._)]
-
-The most formidable Irish chieftain with whom the English had to
-contend was Hugh, the son of the late Baron of Dungannon. This active
-and ambitious chief, who had been rewarded for his services in the war
-against the Earl of Desmond with the earldom of Tyrone, soon proclaimed
-himself not merely the successor to the earldom of O'Neil, but the
-genuine O'Neil himself. The natives of Ulster, in need of such a
-champion, admitted his claims, and were ready to support him in all his
-pretensions. As these were not admitted by the English, he became their
-enemy, and by his military talents proved a terrible thorn in their
-side. He demanded for the natives liberty of conscience and all their
-old lands, rights, and privileges; and the successive deputies found
-themselves engaged in a most harassing and destructive war with this
-subtle chief and his followers, in which he wore them out by constant
-skirmishes and surprises amongst the woods, bogs, and mountains of his
-wild territories. Sir John Norris, who had served with so much honour
-in the Netherlands and France, sank under it; and in August of 1598 Sir
-Henry Bagenal was defeated and slain in a pitched battle at Blackwater,
-in Tyrone, his baggage and artillery being lost, and 1,500 men killed.
-The consequence of this victory was that nearly all Ireland rushed into
-a state of open rebellion, and the great question in the English cabinet
-was, who was the man capable of reducing the insurgents. It required no
-common man; for the Irish everywhere proclaimed the Earl of Tyrone the
-saviour of his country, and looked to him to drive the English wholly
-out of Ireland. The Earl of Essex dwelt so much in the Council on the
-necessary bravery and address of the man who should be appointed, that
-the Cecils, anxious to remove him to a distance from the Court, declared
-that he himself was by far the most fitting for the office. His friends
-warned him of the dangers and difficulties of a Government which had been
-the ruin of so many; but the queen, seconding the recommendations of the
-Cecils, to induce him to accept the post, remitted him a debt of £8,000,
-and made him a present of nearly three times that sum. He was furnished
-with an army of 18,000 men, many of them veteran troops who had fought in
-the Netherlands, and with the fullest powers that had ever been conferred
-on any Irish Deputy. He had full authority to continue the war or to
-make peace; to pardon all crimes and treasons at his pleasure, and to
-determine all his own appointments.
-
-Such were the terms of his commission; but in one particular the queen
-had laid a strict injunction upon him, in conversation, which was,
-that he should not give the command of the cavalry, as he wished, to
-his friend and the friend of Shakespeare, the Earl of Southampton,
-with whom Elizabeth had the old cause of quarrel, that of presuming to
-marry without her consent. In March, 1599, Essex marched out of London,
-surrounded by the flower of the young nobility, and followed by the
-acclamations and good wishes of the populace, of whom he was the idol for
-his military reputation and his frank and generous disposition.
-
-No sooner did he arrive in Ireland than he set at defiance the orders of
-the queen, and placed Southampton at the head of the horse. Elizabeth
-sent an angry command for his removal, and Essex reminded her of the
-terms of his commission, and wished to know whether she meant to revoke
-it. Worse was to follow. Sickness, from the wretched and unwholesome
-supplies of provisions--the worst enemy of the British soldier in all
-ages being frequently the commissariat officers--soon decimated them; and
-by the month of August his 18,000 men showed no more than 3,500 foot, and
-300 horse. He was compelled to demand a reinforcement of 2,000 men before
-he could march into Ulster, the chief seat of the rebellion. The queen
-sent the soldiers, but accompanied the order by very bitter letters,
-complaining of his waste of her troops, her money, and of her time, which
-was so precious. Essex defended himself by representing the difficulties
-of the task which he had to encounter, and which had mastered so many
-before him. He assured her that he acted entirely by the advice of the
-Lords of the Irish Council; but "these rebels," he said, "are far more
-numerous than your Majesty's army, and have--though I do unwillingly
-confess it--better bodies, and more perfect use of their arms, than those
-men your Majesty sends over." He added, that for his part he received
-nothing from home but "discomfort and soul-wounds."
-
-When he came up with Tyrone on the 5th of September, encamped with his
-whole army in the county of Louth, that chief demanded a parley, and
-instead of a battle, as was expected, an armistice was agreed upon for
-six weeks, which was to be renewed from six weeks to six weeks till the
-following May, to give time for full inquiry. His enemies thereupon
-insinuated that Essex was at heart a traitor, and was in collusion with
-the Irish to betray his trust and make himself independent. Still worse,
-they declared that he was waiting for a descent of the Spaniards on
-the island to assist in the design. Certain that his destruction was
-determined upon by his foes, and that no justice was to be expected
-whilst he was at such a distance, he formed the sudden resolve to hasten
-to London and defend his policy in person. His first idea was to take
-with him such a body of troops as should overawe the adverse party, and
-secure his own person; but Sir Christopher Blount, who had now married
-the mother of Essex, convinced him of the fatality of such a proceeding.
-He departed, therefore, with a small attendance; and arriving in London
-on the 28th of September, 1599, and finding the queen was at Nonsuch, he
-lost no time in hastening thither, to prevent any one from prejudicing
-her against him. But he found that, quick as he had been, his enemies
-had been quicker, and that one of the most hostile of them, Lord Grey of
-Wilton, was on the way at full speed. Essex knew what the effect would be
-if Cecil got the news before his arrival, that he had left his government
-contrary to the positive order of the queen; and if time were allowed
-to excite the queen's resentment, he would undoubtedly be arrested the
-moment of his arrival. For this reason he rode like a madman, through mud
-and mire, but hate travelled faster, and Grey had been closeted a good
-quarter of a hour with Cecil when he reached the palace.
-
-Without pausing to alter his dress, Essex rushed into the queen's privy
-chamber, and not finding her there, did not hesitate to rush into her
-bed-chamber, though it was only ten o'clock in the morning. The queen was
-just up, and sat with her hair all about her face in the hands of her
-tire-woman. She was naturally excessively astonished at this unexpected
-apparition; but Essex threw himself on his knees before her, covered her
-hands with kisses, and did not rise till she had given him evidence of
-her good-will. He retired to make his toilet in such good humour at his
-reception that he thanked God that after so many troublous storms abroad,
-"he found a sweet calm at home." Within an hour he returned, and had a
-long interview with her Majesty, who was so kind and gracious, that the
-courtiers, who had carefully watched how this rude entrance would be
-taken, persuaded themselves that love would carry the day against duty
-with the queen; and they all, except the Cecil party, were very courteous
-towards him. But by the evening the poison of the venomous minister had
-been instilled and done its work. Essex was received by the queen with
-a stern and distant air, and she began to demand of him why he had thus
-left Ireland without her permission, affairs being in so disordered and
-dangerous a state. He received an order at night to consider himself a
-prisoner in his room; and the next day, at two o'clock in the afternoon,
-he was summoned to give an account of himself to the Council. On entering
-the Council the lords arose and saluted him, but reseated themselves,
-leaving him standing at the end of the board. It was demanded why he had
-left his charge in Ireland without leave; why he had made so many knights
-there, contrary to the express desire of the queen; why he had written
-such presumptuous letters to her Majesty; and how he had dared to enter
-her Majesty's bedroom. After awhile he was allowed a certain amount of
-freedom, but the queen never saw him again.
-
-In June of 1600 she put Essex on his trial before a court of eighteen
-commissioners, whom she empowered to pass "censure," but not judgment.
-The result of this trial was that Essex was condemned to forfeit every
-office which he held by patent from the Crown, and to remain a prisoner
-at the royal pleasure. Elizabeth trusted that now she had broken the
-proud spirit of the Lord Deputy, and that the sentence of the court would
-bring him humbly to sue for forgiveness. But the great failing of Essex
-was his high spirit, his indignant sense of wrong, and his obstinate
-refusal to surrender his own will when he felt himself right, though
-there was no other way of appeasing his equally self-willed sovereign. He
-only begged to be dismissed, and that she "would let her servant depart
-in peace." He declared that all the pleasures and ambitions of this world
-had palled upon his mind; that he saw their vanity, and desired only
-to live in retirement with his wife, his friends, and his books in the
-country. Had that wish been real, few men were better qualified, by their
-refined and elevated taste and their love of literature, to have adorned
-such a life; but Essex, if he truly longed for private and domestic life,
-did not know himself, for he was one of those restless and quick spirits
-of whom the poet said "quiet is a hell." However, on the 26th of August
-he was released from custody, but informed that he must not appear at
-Court.
-
-Essex, once at large, cast off his pretences of retirement and contempt
-of the world, and petitioned the queen for a continuation of his patent
-for a monopoly of sweet wines. Elizabeth replied that she would first
-inquire into the value of this privilege, which she understood was
-worth £50,000 per annum. She accompanied this message with an ominous
-remark that when horses became unmanageable it was necessary to stint
-them in their corn. Accordingly, she refused his request, and appointed
-commissioners to manage the tax for herself.
-
-Essex now became beside himself. Hitherto he had lived in privacy,
-but now he came to Essex House, in the Strand, where he gave free
-entertainment to all sorts of people. His secretary Cuffe and other
-dangerous persons encouraged him in the belief that by his popularity
-with the people it would be no difficult matter to force Cecil, Raleigh,
-and his other enemies from office; and that once removed from the queen,
-all would be right. He therefore kept open house, and was soon surrounded
-by crowds of military men and adventurers, by Roman Catholics and
-Puritans. His military friends formed themselves into a sort of guard;
-and it was remarked that many of the nobility also visited him, as the
-Earls of Worcester, Southampton, Sussex, Rutland, and Bedford. There were
-daily preachings in his house, and he proposed to some of the theologians
-the question whether it were not lawful, in case of mal-administration,
-to compel a sovereign to govern according to law. He moreover sent to
-the king of Scotland, assuring him that there was a design at Court
-to exclude him in favour of the Infanta of Spain, and urged James to
-send an ambassador to demand a distinct declaration of his right to the
-succession. James, who was in great anxiety on this head already, appears
-to have listened to the advice of Essex, and to have taken measures to
-act upon it.
-
-Essex was now stimulated by his passions into a most perilous position.
-He was actively engaged in dangerous courses; and though some pains
-were taken to conceal his real designs, by the chief coadjutors in the
-conspiracy meeting at the Earl of Southampton's, and communicating
-privately by letter with Essex, the proceedings could not escape the
-ever-open ears of Cecil and his party. The conspirators had concluded
-that the safest thing to do in the first instance was for Sir Christopher
-Blount, Sir John Davis, and Sir Charles Davers to head three parties,
-and to take possession of the gate of Westminster palace, the guard, and
-the presence chamber, whilst Essex threw himself on his knees before the
-queen, and refused to rise till she had complied with his petition, and
-dismissed the obnoxious ministers. But while they were planning, Cecil
-and his friends acted. The secretary Herbert arrived with a summons for
-Essex to appear before the Council. He replied that he was too unwell
-to attend; and while he was thus evading the summons, he received an
-anonymous note warning him to escape as he valued his life; and this
-was immediately followed by the intelligence that the guard had been
-doubled at the palace. It was high time now to act, as his arrest was
-certain. In the night he despatched messages to collect his friends;
-and it was resolved that the next morning, which was Sunday, the 8th of
-February, 1601, the Earls of Southampton and Rutland, the Lords Sandys
-and Mounteagle, and about 600 gentlemen, should enter the City with Essex
-during sermon time, and assembling at St. Paul's Cross, where the Lord
-Mayor, Aldermen, and Companies were wont to attend, to call upon them to
-accompany them to the palace to assist in obtaining the removal of the
-pernicious advisers of the Crown.
-
-When they were on the point of executing this plan they were interrupted
-by a visit from the Lord Keeper Egerton, the Earl of Worcester, Knollys,
-the comptroller of the household, and the Lord Chief Justice. Essex
-ordered them to be admitted through the wicket, but without any of their
-attendants, except the purse-bearer. When the officers of the Crown found
-themselves in the midst of an armed company, Egerton demanded what was
-the meaning of it; on which Essex replied in a loud and excited tone,
-"There is a plot laid for my life. Letters have been counterfeited in my
-name; men have been hired to murder me in my bed. We are met to defend
-our lives, since my enemies cannot be satisfied without sucking my blood."
-
-"If such be the case," said the Lord Chief Justice Popham, "let it
-be proved. We will relate it fairly, and the queen will do impartial
-justice." "Impartial justice!" said the Earl of Southampton; "then
-why is it not done on Lord Grey?" Grey had attacked Southampton in
-the Strand with a number of followers on account of an old grudge,
-Southampton having only a foot-boy with him, whose hand was struck off,
-and Southampton himself was in great danger, till a number of people with
-clubs came to his help. Popham replied that Grey was imprisoned for the
-offence; and Egerton desired Essex to explain his grievances in private,
-when there was a cry of "They abuse you, my lord; they are undoing you;
-you lose your time!" Egerton put on his cap, and commanded every man,
-in the queen's name, to lay down his arms and depart. The crowd outside
-continued to shout, "Kill them, kill them! Keep them for hostages! Throw
-the great seal out of the window!" The queen's officers, being shown into
-a back room guarded by musketeers, Essex begged them to have patience
-for half an hour and locking the door upon them, left them. Sir John
-Davis, Sir Gilly Merrick, Francis Tresham, and Owen Salisbury were left
-in charge of them.
-
-[Illustration: LORD GREY AND HIS FOLLOWERS ATTACKING THE EARL OF
-SOUTHAMPTON. (_See p._ 336.)]
-
-Then Essex, rushing into the street, drew his sword, and followed by
-Southampton, Rutland, Sandys, Mounteagle, and most of the knights and
-gentlemen, he made for the City. They were joined on the way by the
-Earl of Bedford and Lord Cromwell, with 200 others. At Ludgate the
-guard suffered them to pass, Essex declaring that he was endeavouring
-to save his life from Raleigh, Cobham, and their accomplices. To their
-great disappointment they found nobody at St. Paul's Cross, the queen
-having warned the Corporation to keep away, and to see that the people
-remained within their houses. Essex rode along shouting, "For the
-queen, my mistress! a plot is laid for my life!" and called upon the
-citizens to come and follow him. He had relied on his popularity with the
-masses; but he now found himself miserably deceived. The common people
-shouted "God bless your honour!" but no man joined him. He returned
-crestfallen to his house; but it was presently surrounded by a military
-force with a battering train, and not a soul rose in his defence. The
-case was hopeless, and about ten o'clock at night Essex and Southampton
-held a parley from the top of the house with Sir Robert Sidney, and
-surrendered on promise of a fair trial. They were conveyed for the night
-to Lambeth Palace. The next day Essex and Southampton were committed
-to the Tower, and the other prisoners to different gaols in London and
-Westminster. Essex was tried, and on the whole fairly, for his technical
-guilt was obvious; and, after the usual hesitation on the part of
-Elizabeth, suffered the penalty of the law on the 25th of February, 1601.
-Southampton was imprisoned for life.
-
-Lord Mountjoy, the friend of Essex, though advanced to the deputyship of
-Ireland in his room, knew that Elizabeth had become aware of his offer
-to attempt a release of Essex from his confinement before his last rash
-outbreak, and he was prepared to escape to the Continent on the first
-symptom of an attempt to arrest him; but to his agreeable surprise he
-received a very gracious letter from Elizabeth, in which she stated that
-the defection and death of Essex had caused her deep grief, but his,
-Mountjoy's, loyalty and success in Ireland had been a comfort to her.
-This had been done at the suggestion of Cecil, who represented to her
-that Mountjoy's loyalty might be secured by not seeming to doubt it, and
-it was a great consequence to have so able a general in Ireland, as the
-Spaniards were now meditating a descent on the coast of that island.
-Indeed, in September, 4,000 Spaniards landed at Kinsale, under Don Juan
-D'Aguilar, fortified the town, and called on the people to join them
-against the heretic and excommunicated Queen of England, their oppressor.
-Whilst Mountjoy marched his forces to Kinsale and shut up the Spaniards
-in their own lines, Elizabeth summoned her last Parliament. She opened
-it in person on the 27th of October, 1601, but she was now so enfeebled
-that she was actually sinking under the weight of the robes of State,
-when the nobleman who stood nearest to her caught her in his arms and
-supported her. Notwithstanding this exhibition of her weakness, her
-determined will enabled her to rally and to go through the ceremony. The
-Session was a very stormy one. The great object of calling it together
-was to obtain money. Money the House of Commons expressed its willingness
-to grant, but at the same time called for the abolition of a number
-of monopolies which were sapping the very vitals of the nation. These
-monopolies were patents granted to her courtiers, for the exclusive sale
-of some article of commerce. It was a custom which had commenced in the
-seventeenth year of her reign, and by the greediness of her favourites
-had grown into a monstrous abuse. Scarcely a man about her but had one or
-more of these monopolies in his hand, by which the price of all sorts of
-the necessities of life was doubled, or more than doubled. Sometimes the
-patentee exercised the monopoly himself, sometimes he farmed it out to
-others, whose only object was to screw as much as possible out of it. The
-members for counties and boroughs had been repeatedly called on by their
-constituents to demand the abolition of these detestable abuses; but they
-had always been silenced by Ministers, on the ground that the queen would
-highly resent any interference with her prerogatives.
-
-On the 18th of November a motion to put an end to these monopolies was
-made, which received the regular Ministerial answer, with the addition
-that it was useless to endeavour to tie the Royal hands, because, even if
-it were done by both Houses, the queen could loose them at her pleasure.
-Cecil said that the Speaker was very much to blame to admit of such a
-motion at the commencement of a Session, knowing that it was contrary
-to the Royal command. But, nothing daunted, the members of the Commons
-replied that they had found, however useless it was to petition for the
-removal of these grievances, that the remedy lay in their own hands,
-and the patentees were such blood-suckers of the commonwealth, that the
-people would no longer bear the burden of them. When the list of the
-monopolies was read over, a member asked if bread were not amongst them.
-The House appeared amazed at the question. "Nay," said he, "if no remedy
-be found for these, bread will be there before next Parliament." Bacon
-and Cecil still talked loudly of prerogative, but the House went on with
-so much resolution that the favourites began to tremble, and Raleigh, who
-had monopolies of tar and various other commodities, saw such a storm
-brewing that he offered to give them all up. For four days the debate
-continued with such an agitation as had not been witnessed through the
-whole reign; and Cecil found it necessary to give way, and the monopolies
-were withdrawn. On the 25th the queen sent for the Speaker, and in the
-presence of the Council, addressed him in a truly noble speech, saying
-that she had rather her heart and hand should perish than that either
-heart or hand should allow such privileges to monopolists as might injure
-her people.
-
-While these events had been taking place in Parliament, Mountjoy had
-defeated the queen's enemies in Ireland. He had united his forces with
-those of the President of Munster, and kept the Spaniards shut up in
-Kinsale. On Christmas Eve the Earl of Tyrone advanced to the assistance
-of the besieged, with 6,000 Irish and 200 fresh Spaniards, who had landed
-at Castlehaven under the command of Ocampo. His plan was to surprise
-the English before daylight, and to have a second division of his army
-ready with a supply oprovisions to throw into the town. But Mountjoy
-was already aware of his approach, which was delayed by the fears of
-Ocampo--only too well founded--of the fatal want of discipline amongst
-the natives, and by his endeavours to bring them into some regularity.
-Mountjoy surprised these wild hordes as they were crossing a stream,
-and thoroughly routed them. The Spaniards, left on the field alone,
-surrendered, and Tyrone retreated northwards with the remnant of his
-army. About 500 Irish were killed.
-
-[Illustration: A STORY OF THE SPANISH MAIN
-
-FROM THE PICTURE BY SEYMOUR LUCAS, R.A.]
-
-The Spaniards in Kinsale yielded the place on this defeat of their
-allies, on condition of being allowed to return home with their arms
-and ammunition. Tyrone was then pursued by Mountjoy with great vigour,
-and after a number of defeats retired still more northward. Munster was
-reduced, and Tyrone offered to submit on favourable terms; but Mountjoy
-could obtain no such terms from the queen; she insisted on unconditional
-surrender. Her ministers strongly advised her to concede and settle the
-state of Ireland, which was now costing her £300,000 a year to defend
-it against the natives. Sometimes she appeared disposed to comply,
-and then again was as obstinate as ever; and matters remained in this
-position till 1603, when Mountjoy, hearing that the queen was not likely
-to live long, agreed to receive Tyrone's submission, to grant him and
-his followers a full pardon, and restore the whole of his territories,
-with some few exceptions. Tyrone then accompanied Mountjoy to Dublin,
-where they heard of the death of Elizabeth; and Tyrone burst into tears
-and regretted his too hasty surrender. The deed, however, was done, and
-tranquillity ensured to Ireland for a short time.
-
-The last warlike demonstration of the reign of Elizabeth was an
-expedition to the coast of Spain to prevent the passage of fresh fleets
-to Ireland. Admirals Levison and Monson proceeded thither with a fleet;
-but, tempted by a carrack of immense value in the harbour of Sesimbria,
-they seized it and returned home. This desertion of their duty to satisfy
-their greed of prize-money, would, in Elizabeth's days of vigour, have
-cost the commanders dearly. While they were guarding their treasure
-homewards the Spanish fleet might have made sail. Therefore no time
-was lost in sending back the fleet under Monson, who found six Spanish
-galleys out, and stealing along the French coast. Before he could pursue
-them they were met by a squadron of Dutch and English ships, and after
-some hard fighting three of them were sunk, and three escaped into Sluys.
-
-The reign of Queen Elizabeth was now drawing to a close. She was
-approaching her seventieth year, and till lately had still listened to
-the voice of flattery as if she were yet in the glory of her youth. But
-nature had begun to give her stern warnings, and the failing of her
-strength brought deep melancholy. At one time she affected an unnatural
-gaiety; at another she withdrew into solitude, and was often found in
-tears. One of her household says in a letter--"She sleepeth not so much
-by day as she used, neither taketh rest by night. Her delight is to sit
-in the dark, and sometimes with shedding tears to bewail Essex."
-
-Yet she still strove against the advancing infirmities of age. She would
-insist to the last on making her annual progress and on hunting. Only
-five months before her death Lord Henry Howard wrote to the Earl of
-Mar--"The queen our sovereign was never so gallant many years, nor so
-set upon jollity." A letter of April 7th, 1602, says--"The queen walks
-often on Richmond Green with greater show of ability than can well stand
-with her years. Mr. Secretary sways all of importance, albeit of late
-much absent from the Court and about London, but not omitting in his
-absence daily to present Her Majesty with some jewel or toy that may be
-acceptable. The other of the Council or nobility estrange themselves
-from Court by all occasions, so as, besides the master of the horse,
-vice-chamberlain, and comptroller, few of account appear there."
-
-When Cecil was present it required all his art to conceal his
-correspondence with the King of Scotland. One day a packet was delivered
-to him from James in the queen's presence. She ordered him instantly to
-open it, and show its contents to her. It was a critical moment, and none
-but a long-practised diplomatist could have escaped the exposure which it
-would probably occasion; but recollecting her excessive dislike of bad
-smells and terror of contagion, he observed as he was cutting the string
-that "it had a strange and evil smell," and hinted that it might have
-been in contact with infected persons or goods. Elizabeth immediately
-ordered the cunning Minister to take it away and have it purified, and no
-doubt he did purify it of any dangerous contents before displaying them
-to Her Majesty.
-
-Meanwhile, not only Cecil and Howard, but another clique, was busy
-paying court to James. These were Raleigh, Cobham, and the Earl
-of Northumberland. They met at Durham House, and kept up a warm
-correspondence with James; but they were as zealously counteracted by
-Cecil and Howard, who warned James of all things not to trust to them,
-Howard declaring that as for Raleigh and Cobham, "hell did never spew up
-such a couple when it cast up Cerberus and Phlegethon."
-
-[Illustration: ELIZABETH'S PROMENADE ON RICHMOND GREEN. (_See p._ 339.)]
-
-While these self-seeking courtiers were thus anxiously labouring to stand
-first with the heir, Elizabeth was sinking fast into a most pitiable
-condition. She was weighed down by a complication of complaints, and her
-mind was affrighted by strange spectres. When the Lord Admiral urged her
-to go to bed, she said, "No, no; there were spirits there that troubled
-her;" and added that, "if he were in the habit of seeing such things
-in his bed as she did in hers, he would not try to persuade her to go
-there." Cecil hearing this, asked if Her Majesty had seen any spirits.
-At this she cast one of her old lightning flashes at him, and said, "I
-shall not answer _you_ such a question." Cecil then said she must go to
-bed to content the people. "Must," she said, smiling scornfully; "_must_
-is a word not to be used to princes;" adding, "Little man! little man! if
-your father had lived you durst not have said so much, but you know I
-must die, and that makes you so presumptuous." She now saw Cecil's real
-character, and ordering him and all the rest except the Lord Admiral out
-of her chamber, she said, "My lord, I am tied with a chain of iron round
-my neck." He endeavoured to dissipate the idea, but she only said, "I am
-tied! I am tied! and the case is altered with me."
-
-[Illustration: RICHMOND PALACE. (_See p._ 382.)]
-
-"The queen," says Lady Southwell, "kept her bed fifteen days, besides
-the three days she sat upon a stool, and one day, when, being pulled up
-by force, she obstinately stood upon her feet for fifteen hours." What
-a most miserable scene was the death-bed of this glorious woman! Surely
-nothing was ever more melancholy and terrible in its mixture of mental
-decay, dark remorse, and indomitable hardiness and self-will. At one and
-the same time around her bed were men urging her to take broth, to name
-her successor, and to hear prayers. The kings of France and Scotland were
-mentioned to her, but without eliciting the slightest notice; but when
-they named Beauchamp, the son of the Earl of Hertford and Catherine Grey,
-one of Elizabeth's victims, she fired up and exclaimed, "I will have no
-rascal's son in my nest, but one worthy to be a king!"
-
-At length they persuaded her to listen to a prayer by the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, and when he had once begun she appeared unwilling to let him
-leave off; half-hour after half-hour she kept the primate on his knees.
-She then sank into a state of insensibility, and died at three o'clock
-in the morning of the 24th of March, 1603, in the seventieth year of her
-age, and the forty-fifth of her reign. Robert Carey, afterwards Earl of
-Monmouth, was anxiously waiting under the window of Elizabeth's room at
-Richmond Palace for the first news of her death, which Lady Scrope, his
-sister, communicated to him by silently letting fall, as a signal, a
-sapphire ring, afterwards celebrated as "the blue ring," which he caught,
-and the moment after was galloping off towards Scotland to be the first
-herald of the mighty event to the expecting James. Three hours later
-Cecil, the Lord Keeper, and the Lord Admiral were with the Council in
-London, and it was resolved to proclaim James VI. of Scotland James I. of
-England.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
-
-     The Tudors and the Nation--The Church--Population and
-     Wealth--Royal Prerogative--Legislation of Henry VIII.--The Star
-     Chamber--Beneficial Legislation--Treason Laws--Legislation
-     of Edward and Mary--Elizabeth's Policy--Religion and
-     the Church--Sketch of Ecclesiastical History under the
-     Tudors--Literature, Science, and Art--Greatness of the
-     Period--Foundation of Colleges and Schools--Revival of
-     Learning--Its Temporary Decay--Prose Writers of the Period--The
-     Poets--Scottish Bards--Music--Architecture--Painting and
-     Sculpture--Furniture and Decorations--Arms and Armour--Costumes,
-     Coins, and Coinage--Ships, Commerce, Colonies, and
-     Manufactures--Manners and Customs--Condition of the People.
-
-
-The century of which we have just traced the events was a period marked
-by vast progress and by changes which were the springs of still more
-wonderful progress in after ages. Though the character of the Tudors
-was absolutely despotic, no dynasty since the days of Alfred and Magna
-Charta wrought out such revolutions in the constitution of England.
-These revolutions were partly effected by the very efforts of the Tudor
-monarchs to establish their own power and gratify their own self-will,
-but were due also to the fact that the Tudor despotism was essentially
-popular, and encouraged manifestations of the national will. These
-revolutions extended not only into the political constitution of the
-nation, but into its religious one; into its literature, its philosophy,
-and its morals; and that simply because the spirit of the age was of
-that tone and strength that, though outward powers could agitate it,
-nothing but its own momentum could direct its tendency. Henry VII., with
-an indifferent title, succeeded to the crown, because the nation was
-weary of the conflicts of the York and Lancaster monarchs, and longed for
-peace, which his disposition promised. Cold, cautious, and penurious,
-he took care not to raise a fresh race of powerful barons in place of
-that which the Wars of the Roses had destroyed, but hoarded up money;
-and beyond the injustice practised in its collection, left his people to
-pursue their trades and their agriculture, and thus renew their strength.
-Henry VIII.--violent, passionate, sensual, and intensely arbitrary, but
-fond of parade, and in his youth boastful of his prowess--gratified
-the pride of the nation, whilst he ruled it with a rod of iron. In the
-gratification of his lusts he did not hesitate to renounce allegiance to
-that great spiritual power which for above a thousand years had ruled
-haughtily over Europe and all its kings and warriors. By this act he
-set free for ever the mind and conscience of England. In vain did he
-endeavour to bind the nation in a knot of his own making. Though he
-hurled his fiercest terms against those who claimed a universal liberty
-which he intended only for himself, he had broken the mighty spell of
-ages--a power and a mystery before which the world had bowed in impotent
-awe; and no chains which he could forge, no creed which he could set up,
-no hierarchy which he could frame, could possess more than the strength
-of the fire-scorched flax against the will of the enfranchised people.
-The moment that Henry perished, the soul of the nation showed itself
-alive. The very Reformers around his throne, who had cowered beneath
-the fell and deadly ire of the tyrant, rose, with Cranmer at their head
-and, under the mild auspices of the religious Edward, gave free vent to
-the spirit and the doctrines of the Reformation. The return of theologic
-despotism under Mary only added force to the spirit of reform, by showing
-how terrible and bloody was the animus of ancient superstition. The fires
-of Smithfield lit up the dark places of spiritual tyranny to the remotest
-corners of the nation, and gave the blow to the tottering Bastille of
-restringent faith in Great Britain. Elizabeth, with all the self-will of
-her father, lived to see both in people and Parliament, a spirit that
-made her lion-heart shrink with awe, and own, however reluctantly, a
-power looking already gigantically down upon her own. She felt more than
-once, in the pride of her might, the terror of that national will which,
-in less than half a century from her death, shattered the throne of her
-successor, and gave to the world the unheard-of spectacle of a king
-decapitated for treason to his people.
-
-The grand underlying impulse of the forward movement of this age was
-that of the general progress of the world in knowledge--knowledge of its
-rights and of the force inherent in popular association. The restoration
-of classical literature, and especially of the Greek, had rekindled
-the lofty and independent sentiments of antiquity; but still more, the
-knowledge of the doctrines, principles, and promises of the Bible, which
-had been disseminated among the people by the Reformers, had spread like
-a flame amongst them, and had given them totally new ideas of human
-prerogative and dignity. Henry VIII., after being induced to make public
-the Scriptures, saw so clearly their effect that he withdrew the boon
-as far as was possible, and pronounced the severest penalties on any of
-the common people who should consult that Divine fountain of truth and
-freedom. Throughout the civilised world, far even beyond the countries
-in which the Reformation had established itself, the stimulating boon of
-this knowledge was diffused, and gave a perilous and uneasy feeling to
-the most slavish nations and the most despotic sovereigns.
-
-But in England many other causes had co-operated to raise the power and
-condition of the people. The long civil wars had, by the time of the
-accession of Henry VII., reduced the old nobility to a mere fragment.
-Such extraordinary specimens of baronial wealth and dominion as the
-Warwicks, Beauchamps, and Shrewsburys, no longer existed. In the first
-Parliament of Henry VII., the peers amounted to only twenty-eight;
-in that of Henry VIII. they had risen only to thirty-six. With their
-extinction had lapsed their vast estates to the Crown, and this property
-had in part been sold to defray the costs by which the throne had
-maintained its straggles against various claimants and their factions.
-Henry VII., as we have said, carefully kept down this haughty class to
-the limits into which it had fallen. His son, Henry VIII., like him,
-pursued the policy of Edward IV., who had established a system of fine
-and recovery to cut off entails; and by liberal use of attainders, with
-their consequent forfeitures of title and estate, made the nobility
-entirely subservient to the Crown, which augmented its wealth and power
-on their ruin. By conferring their estates in part on new aspirants to
-the peerage from the families of the lesser gentry, and in many cases--as
-in those of Wolsey and Cromwell--from the ranks of the common people, he
-divided the aristocracy against itself, and thus added fresh influence to
-the throne.
-
-This predominance of the Crown once established, Henry VIII. proceeded to
-a still more startling blow at a power hitherto equal and often paramount
-to that of the Crown--the Church. To the terror and astonishment of the
-whole of Papal Christendom, he stretched his hand not only against the
-supreme rule, but the vast property of that august and time-honoured
-institution. In 1532 he abolished the annates, or first-fruits, before
-that time paid to the court of Rome--an act in itself proclaiming his
-independence of that court. In the following year he declared by Act of
-Parliament that his subjects might discuss the claims and condemn the
-acts and opinions of the Pope without incurring any charge of heresy.
-Another year, and he caused himself to be proclaimed "Supreme head of the
-Church" in his own realms, and prohibited not only all payments to the
-Pope, but all appeals to or recognition of his authority. In 1535, the
-very next year, he confiscated the property of the lesser monasteries;
-and this course, once begun, never stopped, till he had made himself
-master of all the vast demesnes of the monasteries, the collegiate
-churches, hospitals, and houses of the order of the Knights of St. John
-of Jerusalem; the bulk of which he appropriated to his own use, turning
-adrift 150,000 monks, priests, and nuns into the world. So daring a
-sweep of ecclesiastical property, power, and privilege never was made by
-any other man or in any other era of the world; and nothing could have
-emboldened even this impious and lawless monarch to so astounding a deed
-but the clear consciousness that the spirit of the age was with him.
-
-By this unexampled stroke Henry made himself master of 644 convents,
-90 colleges, 2,374 chantries and free chapels, and 110 hospitals; the
-whole of which property, with trifling exception, was speedily conveyed
-to the vast swarm of hungry upstarts--the Russells, the Brownes, the
-Seymours, and the like--who rapidly bloomed into aristocratic greatness,
-and constituted an impregnable barrier against any restoration of this
-affluent but corrupt ecclesiastical princedom.
-
-These new men, in their turn, were compelled to subdivide a portion, more
-or less, among their followers, to establish their own position; and
-other large areas of lands were sold in minor amounts to the successful
-merchants and traders, so that by this means there grew up again a new
-power in the country--that of small but sturdy freeholders, who, at once
-independent of the Crown and the aristocracy, soon made their might felt
-in the community, and added to the House of Commons that popular infusion
-of authoritative life which speedily electrified the Government by its
-tone, and prostrated it by its measures.
-
-That a large number of such men of substance, whose wealth was the
-produce of industry, existed at the period, is an indication that the
-nation had grown rich by trade, and had also advanced in population. When
-we talk of the England and other countries of Europe of former ages,
-we are scarcely aware of what extremely different countries they were,
-both in regard to the cultivation of their lands, the arts, aspects,
-and habits of their cities, their general knowledge, their polish of
-speech, and their amount of population. It will scarcely be credited that
-at the close of the Wars of the Roses, the whole population of England
-and Wales did not exceed two millions and a half--far less than the
-present population of London. But in 1575, that is, in the seventeenth
-year of Elizabeth, the men fit to bear arms alone amounted to 1,172,674,
-and the entire population to not less than 5,000,000. Harrison, in his
-"Description of England" at this time, says that "Some do grudge at the
-great increase of people in these days, thinking a necessary herd of
-cattle far better than a superfluous augmentation of mankind. They laid,"
-he says, "the cause upon God, as though He were in fault for sending such
-increase of people, or want of wars that should consume them; affirming
-that the land was never so full." So little did they comprehend that the
-multitude of people, properly employed, were the strength and wealth of
-the nation.
-
-But we shall have occasion to notice that with this wealth and strength
-there also existed much poverty, owing to the derangements of society
-in the days of Henry VIII., and to the great tendency to leave the land
-in pasture to supply the growth of wool necessary for the large demand
-for the Netherlands and the rapidly increasing one at home, where the
-manufacture of both coarse and fine cloths had been growing from the time
-that Edward III., at the instigation of his queen Philippa of Hainault,
-invited the weavers of fine woollens over from that country. Still the
-rise in the value of all kinds of articles of life, including wages,
-during the whole of this period, is a proof of the enlarged demand
-for skilled workmen, and the capacity to pay much more than formerly,
-which could only be the case with augmented means in the bulk of the
-population. At various times, as in 1496 and 1514, Acts were passed
-with the vain object of keeping down wages--attempts which, though they
-show little progress in political economy, prove with equal clearness
-that employers were more numerous than they had been in proportion to
-labour. In 1500 the wages of a master mason were 6d. a day; in 1575
-they were doubled; and in 1590 they had reached 1s. 2d. The wages of
-common labourers had risen from 6d. a day to 10d. In 1511 the salary of
-a domestic priest was £3 6s. 8d. a year; in 1545 it had risen to £4 14s.
-6d. In 1544 the wages of sailors were advanced from 5s. per month, in the
-Royal navy, to 6s. 8d., and all other trades and professions exhibited
-the similar advance of payment.
-
-This, of course, was the result of the like advance in the prices of
-provisions, rents, and clothing--another proof that the people had become
-not only more numerous, but more luxurious, and, therefore, demanded
-better diet and accommodation. Wheat, the staple of the people's food,
-had advanced from 3s. 4d. a quarter in 1485 to 17s. in 1589; £2 2s. in
-1596; and £1 7s. in 1599. It is true the price of wheat varied a great
-deal in this period, but except in a very few seasons it never approached
-the low price of the previous century; and in 1587, a year of scarcity,
-it rose to £5 4s. In 1500 a dozen pigeons were 4d., in 1541 they were
-10d., in 1590 they were 1s., and in 1597, a year of scarcity, 4s. 3d. In
-1500 a hundred eggs could be had for 6d., in 1541 they were 1s. 2d., and
-in 1597 they were 3s. A good fat goose in 1500 was only 4d., but in 1541
-it was 8d., in 1589 it was 1s. 2d. A fat sheep in 1500 was 1s. 8d., in
-1549 from 2s. 4d. to 4s., and in 1597, the dear year, it could not be had
-under 14s. 6d. In 1500 an ox could be purchased for 11s. or 12s., in 1541
-its price had advanced from £1 to £2; in 1597 a single stone of beef was
-2s., and a whole fat ox upwards of £5.
-
-In "Stafford's Dialogue," published in 1581, all the speakers agree in
-respect to this advance of prices in their time. "I am fain," says the
-capper, "to give my journeymen twopence in a day more than I was wont to
-do, and yet they say they cannot sufficiently live thereon." "Such of
-us," says the knight, "as do abide in the country, still cannot, with
-£200 a year, keep that house that we might have done with 200 marks but
-sixteen years past. Cannot you, neighbour," he adds, addressing the
-farmer, "remember that within these thirty years I could in this town
-buy the best pig or goose that I could lay my hand on for 4d., which now
-costeth 12d., a good capon for 3d. or 4d., a chicken for 1d., a hen for
-2d., which now costeth me double and triple the money? It is likewise in
-greater ware, as in beef and mutton. I have seen a cap for 13d. as good
-as I can get now for 2s. 6d.; of cloth ye have heard how the price is
-risen. Now a pair of shoes costs 12d., yet in my time I have bought a
-better for 6d. Now I can get never a horse shoed under 10d. or 12d., when
-I have also seen the common price was 6d."
-
-This steady advance of prices of all articles is a sufficient test of the
-progress of the nation in general wealth, and in notions of comfort and
-style of living; for though undoubtedly a vast mass of pauperism existed
-during this period, no people could go on paying higher and higher rates
-for everything, who had not the means of doing so. A poor nation might
-have suffered distress or scarcity, but could not have raised the means
-of living to such a degree as is here shown, if they had not had the
-money to purchase on such a scale.
-
-[Illustration: TOWN AND COUNTRY FOLK OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN.]
-
-But we have abundant other evidence, with some degree of detail, of the
-progress of wealth in the splendour maintained by the Court, in the cost
-of dress, jewellery, horses, and household establishments, in the amount
-of taxation and revenue, in the extent of shipping and foreign commerce,
-and in the rank and influence which the nation had assumed in Europe. We
-now proceed to notice these tokens of advance.
-
-The Tudors were a race who had the highest possible idea of their power
-and prerogative. Under Henry VIII. especially the sentiment of Louis XIV.
-of France was thoroughly realised though the phrase was not yet coined,
-"L'état? c'est moi!"--"I am the State." If he did not actually annihilate
-the Constitution, he reduced it to a mockery and a mere machine, which
-moved only at his will. Yet in truth, paralysed as the nation appeared
-then under the terror of the axe and the gallows, its spirit only waited:
-it was never extinguished, and under his successors it showed itself
-again unmistakably. It has been asserted that the people in the time of
-Henry VIII. were most cowardly, for that he had no means of maintaining
-his arbitrary course against them, as he had no standing army. But this
-is not altogether true, for though he had no actual standing army, he had
-such authority over the minds of both aristocracy and people, that--as
-we have seen on all occasions in which the people revolted, chiefly on
-account of religion, and when they were instigated and supported by the
-Roman Catholic nobles--he speedily mustered sufficient forces to put
-them down. In contemplating the strange mystery of the base submission
-of the Parliament and people to the reckless caprices and bloodthirsty
-despotism of Henry VIII., we must ever bear in mind that the whole nation
-was rent into two most antagonistic parts by the schism in religion. The
-Roman Catholics feared the loss of their estates, the Protestants were
-eager to secure them. Of the few noblemen remaining in the country from
-the sanguinary decimation of the civil wars, some of the wealthiest were
-still staunch Roman Catholics, and were watched with greedy eyes by the
-host of poor but ambitious adventurers who were ready to second every
-scheme of spoliation meditated by the monarch. When the ancient Church
-was going to the ground, with all its proud establishments and enormous
-estates, the nobles who belonged to it felt the very earth shaking
-under their feet, and saw no means of safety but in the most implicit
-obedience. On the other hand, the numerous swarm of courtiers--whose only
-law was the word of the prince, and their only real creed the belief in
-plunder and in the acquisition of the lands of nobles, prelates, abbots,
-and chantries, as the reward of subservience--were ever ready to rush
-to arms or to the execution of the most fierce and unconstitutional
-orders of the king. No mercy was shown by the members of families to
-one another, where the terror of the monarch and the hope of his favour
-intervened. And at that day, when the country swarmed with vagabonds, who
-had no home and no ties, who had been increasing ever since the abolition
-of villenage, there was no difficulty in mustering numbers of soldiers,
-where there was the chance of liberal pay and more liberal plunder.
-
-This state of things, this facility of drawing forces to the field on
-the shortest notice, and on the most certain basis, was particularly
-provided for by Henry VII. He took care to save money by all means, and
-to hoard it, so that though no man was more reluctant to spend, and none
-ever incurred so much odium by his parsimony where the military fame of
-the nation was concerned; yet he gained at least the reputation of ample
-means, and the credit for a disposition to punish promptly and severely
-any disloyalty or adverse claims on his Crown. He moreover passed two
-statutes for the purpose of bringing his nobles and dependents rapidly
-to his standard on any emergency. By the Acts 2 Henry VII. c. 18, and
-19 Henry VII. c. 1, every one who possessed an office, fee, or annuity,
-by grant from the Crown, was required to attend the king whenever he
-went to war, under penalty, in case of failure, of forfeiture of all
-such grants. There were, of course, certain exemptions. Some obtained
-the king's licence, for an equivalent consideration, to remain at home,
-and such as could prove any disqualifying infirmity were excused. The
-clergy, as a matter of course, were exempt, also the judges and principal
-officers of the law; and by the latter Act this privilege was extended
-to the members of the king's Council, to such persons as had bought
-their patents for a certain sum, and to all persons under twenty and
-above sixty years of age. The exemptions extended to comparatively a
-small number of persons, the fear of forfeiture applied to the majority.
-To render this more effectual, Henry VII. was rigorous in prohibiting
-a large array of retainers by the nobles, whilst he was strenuous to
-enforce the attendance of the feoffees of the Crown. This process
-was carried farther by Henry VIII. by the free use of attainders, by
-which, at will, he struck down the most wealthy and exalted nobles, and
-appropriated their demesnes; so that eventually there was not a foot of
-land in the kingdom nor an individual life which was not held at the
-king's mercy.
-
-But still more than by the passing of attainders were the lives,
-liberties, and property of the nobles submitted to the will of the king,
-by the institution of the Court of the Star Chamber. This court set aside
-all other courts at will, and by abandoning the use of juries in it, laid
-Magna Charta and the life and fortune of every man, at the foot of the
-throne. From the moment, in fact, that this court was formally erected
-by the 3 Henry VII., c. 1, there was an end of the Constitution, the
-privilege of Habeas Corpus was suspended, and Parliament legislated in
-vain. The king was the State, and ruled in this arbitrary court by the
-officers of his Privy Council. This court was so called from the stars
-which ornamented the ceiling of the room in which it met.
-
-Henry VII., in his original enactment, plainly avowed his reason for
-establishing this court to be, that he might reach and punish such
-persons as by one means or another escaped sentence in the ordinary
-courts, through the bribery or "remissness" of juries, and check the
-evils of "maintenance," or the overriding of justice through the
-assistance of a powerful neighbour, and the granting of "liveries" for
-the same purpose. The court was, therefore, directed against the licence
-of the nobility, and though arbitrary was at first popular. It consisted
-in its original form of the Chancellor, Treasurer, and Keeper of the
-Privy Seal, or any two of them, with a bishop and a temporal lord of the
-council and the chief justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, or
-two other justices in their absence. Ultimately it developed into a mere
-gathering of privy councillors, and its jurisdiction at first accurately
-defined, and for the most part beneficial, became extremely vague and was
-exercised at haphazard.
-
-In the reign of Henry VII. the privilege of benefit of clergy was greatly
-modified. This privilege, which originally exempted all clergymen from
-the authority of lay tribunals, had become extended to all such laymen as
-could read, and were therefore capable of becoming "clerks." To restrict
-this abuse, Henry VII., in 1488, enacted that such privilege should be
-allowed to laymen only once; and afterwards--when a man had murdered his
-master--a statute was passed to deprive all murderers of their lords and
-masters of benefit of clergy. Where it was admitted, the culprit, if a
-layman, did not entirely escape punishment, for he was burnt with a hot
-iron in the brawn of the left thumb.
-
-The statutes in this reign were drawn up in English, and printed as they
-came out, by De Worde, Pynson, and Faques, a signal step in progress
-towards a public knowledge of the laws.
-
-Under Henry VIII. the principle of arbitrary government arrived at its
-culmination. The freedom from restraint which his father had prepared
-for him, the passionate and imperious nature of this prince led him to
-exercise to the utmost. By the means which we have described--terror
-of death to those who offended, and participation in the spoils of
-nobles and the Church, and hope of new honours to those who served him
-regardless of law or conscience--he put himself above all control of
-Parliament or statute, and ruled as royally, according to his own fancy,
-as any Eastern despot. Out of this monstrous evil came, nevertheless,
-much good to the nation. By his own daring act he broke up the ancient
-system of the Church, with its accumulated wealth, superstitions,
-and abuses, and cleared the ground for a new and more liberal state
-of things. By the distribution of this property he founded a new and
-influential class of freeholders, and enabled the affluence of trade to
-flow into land, and to give to the mercantile class a new status and
-influence. His motive was his own selfishness, but the result was the
-public good.
-
-Among the useful Statutes which he passed may be mentioned the Statute
-of Uses and the Statute of Bankruptcy. By the former he put an end to a
-most mischievous practice of conveying property for the use of certain
-parties or corporate bodies, which had been introduced to evade the
-Statute of Mortmain. So many secret modes of conveyance, so many legal
-fictions had been introduced into the transfer of this property, that
-it was difficult to ascertain the real owner; and creditors thus became
-defrauded, widows were deprived of their dowers, and husbands of their
-estates, by the courtesy. But the great feudal lords also were defrauded
-of their dues on wardships, marriages, and reliefs. By an Act of the
-twenty-seventh year of his reign (1536), it was decreed that whoever was
-found in the possession of such property should be deemed its _bonâ-fide_
-owner, and liable to the charges leviable upon it. By this means the
-dubious and fraudulent practice of uses was abolished, and the lawyers
-were compelled to resort to the more tangible theory of trusts. The
-nature of the tenure still remained the same, for the use was but a
-trust; but it was simplified, and brought more into the region of common
-sense and common observation.
-
-By the preamble to the Statute of Bankruptcy, we find that the progress
-of commerce had led to frauds. Men by means of credit got the property
-of others into their hands and absconded with it. In the 34 and 35 of
-Henry VIII., therefore, it was enacted that the Chancellor or Keeper of
-the great seal, with the Lord Treasurer, Lord President, Privy Seal,
-and others of the privy council, and chief justices, or any three of
-them--the Chancellor, Keeper, President, or Privy Seal being one--should
-have power to constitute a court, before which, on complaints from a
-party aggrieved, they should summon the defaulter, should take possession
-of all his property, should hear all necessary evidence on oath, and
-should make a distribution of his effects amongst the creditors according
-to their claims. Persons concealing effects of the offender were to
-forfeit double their value; and claimants making fraudulent claims were
-to forfeit double the amount demanded.
-
-This was the first outline and foundation of our court and law of
-bankruptcy, the main principles of which are still in force, but
-considerably modified by the greater development of the action of trade,
-and a spirit of increased enlightenment and humanity. The bankrupt is no
-longer treated necessarily as a criminal, but as one who has suffered
-from misfortune; and where he is innocent of dishonest conduct, is
-discharged from such obligations as he has no means of fulfilling, and
-the way opened for future enterprise.
-
-But the laws of Henry were rarely so rational or innocent as these. We
-have seen, in tracing the events of his reign, that, to stop the mouths
-of his subjects regarding his many criminal deeds, the cruel calumnies
-on and divorces of his wives, followed by their execution, and the
-perpetration of fresh marriages equally revolting, he was continually
-creating new species of treasons, and loading the Statute book with the
-most atrocious specimens of legislation which ever disgraced the annals
-of any nation, Christian or pagan.
-
-The first of these extraordinary enactments was the Statute 25 Henry
-VIII., c. 22, passed on the occasion of his divorce of Catherine of
-Aragon, and his marriage of Anne Boleyn. In this he declared that any
-one who dared to write, print, or circulate anything to the prejudice
-of this marriage, or the queen herself, or the issue of such marriage,
-should be guilty of high treason. The same was to be the fate of any one
-who endeavoured to dispute this alliance by advocating the validity of
-the former marriage with Catherine, and every one was to take an oath to
-obey this Act fully; and if any refused to take such oath, they were to
-be also guilty of misprision of treason. As, however, the tyrant could
-not prevent people from thinking and speaking their minds in private,
-next Session he got from his pliant Parliament a fresh Act, forbidding
-all persons to speak or even think a slander against the king; for if
-they thought, they could have the oath put to them, and must either deny
-their very thought, or be found guilty of treason.
-
-But by the twenty-eighth year of his reign the fickle despot had cut off
-the head of this very queen, against whom nobody had on any account been
-allowed to whisper the slightest fault, on peril of their lives (1536).
-The marriage with her, as well as that with Catherine, was declared
-void, and never to have been otherwise; the issue of both was pronounced
-illegitimate, and the same penalties were enacted against every one
-who called in question the tyrant's marriage with Jane Seymour. Thus,
-on every occasion that this Royal sensualist thought fit to destroy or
-divorce a wife and marry another, did he compel the whole of his subjects
-to swear and forswear at his pleasure. In a Statute of the thirty-first
-of his reign, c. 8, he clearly enunciated that doctrine of Divine right
-which the Stuarts, his successors, upheld to their perdition. It is
-worthy of note, too, that by abolishing the authority of the Pope, to
-serve his own selfish ends, he let loose the human mind from its long
-thraldom, and prepared the way--a necessary sequence--for that political
-rebellion which was certain to be assumed by a people who had once
-triumphed in a religious one. Thus was political freedom the consequence
-of this lawless monarch's attempt to crush it, as much as the Reformation
-was that of his rejection of the Papacy for the gratification of his
-passions.
-
-It is needless to follow Henry VIII. through the still repeated progress
-of those contradictory oaths as he slew or wedded fresh wives. It was the
-same in the divorce of Anne of Cleves, on the decapitation of Catherine
-Howard; but growing perfectly frantic with wrath and shame on finding
-himself married to an unchaste woman whom he had proclaimed an angel, he
-went a step farther, and denounced the terrors of high treason against
-any woman who should dare to marry him if she had been incontinent before
-marriage, and against all such persons as should know of this and should
-not warn the king in time. When to these hideous Statutes we add that
-of 31 Henry VIII., c. 14, which abolished all "Diversity of opinions,"
-and that of 34 and 35 Henry VIII., c. 1, for the "Advancement of true
-religion and abolishment of the contrary," we have exhibited the most
-perfect example of what a man may become by the intoxication of unlimited
-power.
-
-Besides particular laws, Henry VIII. erected two new courts of
-justice--the Court of the Steward of the Marshalsea, for the trial of
-all treasons, murders, manslaughters, and blows by which blood was shed
-in any of the palaces or houses of the king during his residence there;
-and the Court of the President and Council of the North. This latter
-court was established in the thirty-first year of his reign to try the
-rioters who had risen against his suppression of the lesser monasteries;
-but it included all the powers vested in the king's own Council, and
-not only decided such civil cases as were brought before it, but was
-armed with authority, by secret instructions from the Crown, to inquire
-into presumed illegalities, and to bring before it alleged offenders
-against the prerogatives of the king. Such oppressive use was made of
-it by Strafford in the time of Charles I., that it was abolished in the
-sixteenth year of that monarch's reign.
-
-[Illustration: STATE TRIAL IN WESTMINSTER HALL IN THE TIME OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-To the honour of Edward VI. and his counsellors, all these arbitrary Acts
-of his father were repealed by him: the law of treason was restored to
-its state under the Statute of 25 Edward III.; religion was again set
-free, and proclamations by the king in council were declared to have no
-longer the force of Acts of Parliament. A few years, however, introduced
-Queen Mary, and a reversal of the State religion and all its laws. That
-dreadful persecution which we have narrated, and which is one of the
-darkest spots in the history of the world, was carried on to force the
-human mind into its former thraldom; and an attempt was made by the
-Spanish power which was then introduced to restore arbitrary rule by a
-singular suggestion. Charles V. presented, through his ambassador, a
-book to the queen, in which the principle was laid down that as she was
-the first queen regnant, none of the limitations which had been set to
-the prerogative of her ancestors the kings of England, applied to her,
-but to kings only; and that by consequence she was free and absolute.
-This book Mary showed to Gardiner, and asked his opinion of it, which
-was that it was a pernicious book, and could work her no good. Thereupon
-Mary threw the book into the fire; and Gardiner, on the plea of defining
-and establishing her authority, brought in an Act which, giving her the
-_same_ powers as the kings before her possessed, consequently restrained
-her within the same limits.
-
-Mary confirmed the Act of her late brother, confining the law of treason
-to the Statute of the 25th of Edward III.; nor does she seem to have
-created fresh treasons, except in one instance--making it treasonable
-to counterfeit not merely the coin of the realm, but also such coins as
-circulated there by Royal consent.
-
-On the accession of Elizabeth the Reformed religion was once more
-restored; and, like her father, she was not only declared supreme head of
-the Church, but she assumed all his claims of supreme authority in the
-State. She frequently told her Parliament that it existed entirely by her
-will and pleasure; and when the members entered on matters disagreeable
-to her, she snubbed them in language which sounds oddly enough in these
-days of high Parliamentary privilege. By the very first Statute passed
-in her reign, she proceeded to set up a new Court, ignored everything
-like Magna Charta and the right of jury, making her own will the entire
-law, and placing every subject, with his life and property, at her mercy.
-This was the Court of High Commission, which assumed all the pretensions
-of the Star Chamber, but was directed more especially to ecclesiastical
-affairs. The queen was empowered to appoint by letters patent, whenever
-she thought proper, such persons, being natural-born subjects, as she
-pleased, to execute all jurisdiction concerning spiritual matters, and
-to visit, reform, and redress all errors, heresies, schisms, abuses,
-offences, &c., which by any ecclesiastical authority might be lawfully
-ordered or corrected. The Reformers were only too eager to put this
-formidable engine into her hands, because it was to crush the Romish
-hierarchy; but they did not reflect that it could on occasion be employed
-against themselves, as Laud and Strafford afterwards demonstrated to
-their children. This inquisitorial court was armed with authority to
-employ torture to effect the necessary confessions, and its jurisdiction
-was extended to the punishment of breaches of the marriage vow, and all
-misdemeanours and disorders in that state. It was, therefore, sanctioned
-in forcing its operations into the very bosom of social and domestic life.
-
-Elizabeth, indeed, was fully as arrogant and despotic as her father; and
-nothing but her lion-like resolution, her choice of able and unscrupulous
-ministers, and the cunning of her Government, could have enabled her
-to maintain her sway so successfully as she did. The homage due to her
-sex no doubt also contributed essentially to this result. Yet not all
-these circumstances could prevent her from perceiving that her power
-was silently and even rapidly waning before that of the people. She
-frequently had to tell persons that they dared not have done or said
-certain things in her father's time. She had repeatedly to concede the
-point to the pertinacity of her Parliament; especially so when, towards
-the end of her reign, the House of Commons called so boldly upon her to
-abolish the monstrous list of monopolies which had been granted to her
-favourites, commencing from the seventeenth year of her reign. Amongst
-these monopolies were those for the exclusive sale of salt, currants,
-iron, powder, cards, calf-skins, felts, poledavy (a kind of canvas),
-ox shin-bones, train-oil, lifts of cloth, potash, anise-seed, vinegar,
-sea-coal, steel, aqua-vitæ, brushes, pots, bottles, saltpetre, lead,
-accidences (or books of the rudiments of Latin grammar), oil, calamine
-stone, oil of blubber, glasses, paper, starch, tin, sulphur, new drapery,
-dried pilchards; the exportation of iron, ham, beer, and leather; the
-importation of Spanish wool and Irish linen; such an astonishing list, in
-fact, that when it was read over in the Commons in 1601, but two years
-before her death, a member in amazement asked, as already stated, whether
-bread was not of the number.
-
-These grants had been obtained from her by her courtiers through
-the weak side of the woman; but in the expenses of her government,
-considering the aid she had to render to her Protestant allies in
-Scotland, France, and the Netherlands, and the enemies she had to contend
-with, necessitating costly armaments and navies, her administration shows
-most favourably. She would never incur debt, but paid off that incurred
-by her predecessors, Edward and Mary. Instead of debasing the coin,
-like her father, she increased its purity; and the annual outlay of her
-government averaged only about £65,000 per annum.
-
-In fact, the more we recede from the personal history of Elizabeth,
-and approach her great political measures, the more we perceive the
-true evidences of her glory. She was courageous, beyond the power of a
-world in arms to terrify her; she was moderate in her demands on her
-subjects, though vain in her person and showy in her court; shrewd in
-her choice of ministers, though weak in her indulgence of favourites;
-she was ambitious of the reputation of her country; and she rendered to
-the labouring people their birthright in the land, which her father had
-stripped them of in levelling the monastic institutions by enacting the
-Poor Law, the celebrated Statute of the forty-third of her reign (1601),
-on which yet rests the whole fabric of parochial right to support in age
-and destitution. In nothing did she display her sagacity so much as in
-her repeated declaration that money in her subjects' purse was as good
-as in her own exchequer. It was better, for there it would be growing
-tenfold in the ordinary augmentation of traffic, ready to yield the State
-proportionate interest on any real emergency.
-
-The great struggle between the Papacy and the growing Protestant forces
-was nearly ended, but complete and terrible as was the overthrow of
-the ancient hierarchy in England and Scotland, it came at last with a
-rapidity which astonished even the friends of the change. From the time
-of Richard II. hatred of the Papacy had been afloat among the people,
-and even in his day had availed to shake the throne, and fill the public
-mind with prognostics of Papal decay. Yet reign after reign had passed,
-and the Church had not only maintained its position, but had seemed to
-crush with a successful hand the Protestant schismatics. The fires which
-consumed the more daring advocates of the new opinions seemed to scare
-the rest into obscurity. The triumphant Church of Rome still presented
-a front of determined strength, and lorded it over the land with a
-magnificence which seemed destined to endure for ever.
-
-Henry VII. was a firm upholder of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. "He
-advanced churchism," says Bacon; "he was tender of the privileges of
-sanctuaries, though they did him much mischief; he built and endowed
-many religious foundations, besides his memorable hospital of the Savoy;
-and yet he was a great alms-giver in secret, which showed that his works
-in public were rather dedicated to God's glory than his own." The fact
-was that Henry VII. was too cautious a man to become a reformer. He was
-too fond of money to risk its loss by the most distant chance of an
-unsuccessful enterprise, and he was too recently placed on the throne of
-a vanquished dynasty to venture on so bold a measure of ecclesiastical
-revolution had he been thus inclined, which he was far enough from
-being. On the contrary, his ministers were almost all great and able
-churchmen. Cardinals Bourchier and Morton, Archbishops Deane and Warham,
-were the accomplished churchmen who conducted the governmental affairs
-of Henry; and when the public outcry against the worldly and dissolute
-lives of the clergy, both secular and regular, became too loud to be
-disregarded, these clerical ministers of the king endeavoured with one
-hand to reduce the corruption by advice and remonstrance, and to check
-the progress of heresy by the stake and fagot. Henry VII. permitted this
-mode of extinguishing opinion by destroying the entertainers of it. In
-the ninth year of his reign Joan Boughton was burnt in Smithfield, and
-this auto-da-fé was followed by that of William Tylsworth, at Amersham,
-whose daughter was compelled to set fire to the pile which destroyed
-her father, and that of Laurence Guest at Salisbury. In addition to the
-victims of these odious crimes, many persons were burnt in the cheek,
-imprisoned, and otherwise cruelly treated. These atrocities so far from
-diminishing the heresy, only excited the abhorrence of the people and
-weakened their attachment to the Church.
-
-Henry VIII. continued the persecuting practices of his father with
-unabated rigour. In his earlier days he appeared determined to do honour
-to the Church beyond most of his predecessors. He raised up and created
-in Cardinal Wolsey such a colossus of ecclesiastical pomp and greatness
-as the world had rarely seen. In 1513 Wolsey was made Bishop of Tournay,
-in France; in 1514, Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of York; in 1515,
-the king's almoner, Cardinal, and Lord High Chancellor of the kingdom;
-in 1518 he became the Pope's legate _à latere_ and Bishop of Bath and
-Wells; in 1521, he was made Abbot of St. Albans; in 1523, Bishop of
-Durham, in exchange for the bishopric of Bath and Wells; and in 1529,
-Bishop of Winchester, in exchange for that of Durham. Besides these
-dignities, he had pensions from the King of France, the Emperor of
-Germany, the Pope, and other princes. The whole power of the kingdom was
-in his hands; for Henry, so far from being jealous of his greatness, only
-felt himself the greater for having a servant who in pride and splendour
-rivalled the greatest monarchs. The state which Wolsey kept would lead us
-to infer that the Church had reached a higher pitch of power and grandeur
-than ever in this country. His palaces were more gorgeous, and filled
-with more evidences of enormous wealth, than those of kings. His retinue
-of servants and attendants, many of the latter being nobles or the sons
-of nobles, was inconceivable. It was only at Hampton Court that the
-whole train of his servants and the crowd of his visitors, including the
-nobility and ambassadors of foreign courts, could be suitably lodged and
-entertained. For a long course of years the whole government of England
-was in his hands. The king did nothing without him; and as prime minister
-and Lord Chancellor of England, Archbishop of York, and chief judge in
-the court of Star Chamber, there was no man or his estate that was not in
-his power. His revenues from a hundred sources were immense, and such was
-the magnificence of his position and influence, that he might well forget
-himself and utter the famous words of unparalleled egotism--"Ego et rex
-meus."
-
-Who could have deemed that the Papal Church was near its end as the State
-religion of England, whilst the king thus honoured its dignitaries? The
-very greatness of Wolsey hastened the fall of the Church as well as of
-himself. The arrogance, the rapacity, and the frequent injustice of
-the proud minister made for him and his Church deadly enemies. "For,"
-says Strype, "he disobliged not only the inferior sort by his pride and
-haughty behaviour, but by laying his hands upon the rights, privileges,
-and profits of the gentry and clergy, he made them his implacable enemies
-too. He took upon him to bestow benefices, though the real right of
-patronage lay in others. He called all offending persons before him,
-whether of the laity or clergy, and compelled them to compound as his
-officers thought fit."
-
-But in spite of all his grandeur, Wolsey was but the creature of the
-most violent and capricious of men. A single word and he fell headlong,
-assuredly shaking in his fall the great hierarchy of which he had
-seemed the most gorgeous pillar and ornament; for the whole system was
-corrupt and rotten to the core. The wealth of the monastic orders had
-especially demoralised them. Both the regular and secular clergy were
-accused of not only spending their time in taverns and gambling-houses,
-but of abandoning in such resorts the very costume which distinguished
-them from the laity, of wearing daggers, gowns, and hoods of silk and
-embroidery, and of letting their hair grow long and fall on their
-shoulders. The interiors of the monastic houses were described as dens of
-licentiousness, both in monks and nuns. We have it, on the evidence of
-one of the letters of reproof addressed by Archbishop Morton to the Abbot
-of St. Albans, that that famous abbey was filled with every species of
-vice and sensuality. He further charges them with cutting down the woods,
-wasting and embezzling the property of the Church, stealing the plate,
-and even picking out the jewels from the shrine of the patron saint.
-
-Whilst such was the corruption of the clergy, these infatuated men fell
-to quarrelling amongst themselves. The most remarkable circumstance,
-moreover, in this schism, is the very question which in these latter
-days has furnished such a fiery theme of discussion in both Romanist and
-Protestant Churches--the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin.
-
-With the blind tenacity which often induces falling bodies to assert
-their prerogatives with arrogant obstinacy, the Church, in the fourth
-year of Henry VIII., commenced a daring opposition to the Government,
-in defence of the benefit of clergy. Henry VII., as we have stated,
-had limited this much abused privilege, by his Statute ordering such
-laymen as claimed it under charge of murder, to be burnt in the brawn
-of the thumb with the letter M. Henry VIII. had a Bill introduced into
-Parliament for the purpose of still further limiting this mischievous
-right, and denying benefit of clergy to all murderers and robbers
-whatever. This the clergy opposed in Parliament and preached against in
-the pulpit. The Lords and Commons were unanimously in favour of the Bill
-as well as the people, but the clergy determined not to yield. Whilst
-the public mind was in a ferment on this subject, a tailor of London, of
-the name of Hunne, was brought into conflict with the incumbent of his
-parish, on account of mortuary dues. Being sued in the spiritual court,
-with a boldness which marked the rising spirit of the times and which the
-clergy ought to have noted seriously, he took out a writ of Præmunire
-against his prosecutor, for appealing to a foreign jurisdiction, the
-spiritual court, still under the authority of the Pope. Enraged at this
-audacity they put the tailor into prison on a charge of heresy, and there
-he was discovered hanging dead. A coroner's inquest found the officers of
-the prison guilty of murder, and it appeared that the Bishop of London's
-chancellor, the sumner, and bell-ringer had perpetrated the crime. This
-threw the deepest odium on the clergy, and alienated the people from
-them; yet they did not cease to prosecute their claim of privilege, and
-after much contest, Wolsey prayed the king to refer the matter to the
-Pope. But even then Henry showed that he was tenacious of his power, and
-gave a striking foretaste of what he would one day do. He replied, "By
-permission and ordinance of God, we are King of England; and the king of
-England in times past hath never had any superior but God only. Therefore
-know you well that we will maintain the right of our crown, and of our
-temporal jurisdiction, as well in this as in all other points, in as
-ample a manner as any of our progenitors have done before our time."
-
-[Illustration: JOHN KNOX. (_From a Portrait of the Period._)]
-
-Whilst Edward VI. thoroughly established Protestantism, Mary as
-completely reinstated Popery, and with a series of horrors which for
-ever stamped terror and aversion of Roman Catholic ascendency deep on
-the spirit of the nation. The number of persons who died in the flames
-in that awful reign, for their faith and the freedom of conscience, is
-stated to have been 288; but Lord Burleigh estimated those who perished
-by fire, torture, famine, and imprisonment at not less than 400. Besides
-these, vast numbers suffered cruelly in a variety of ways. "Some of
-the professors," says Coverdale, "were thrown into dungeons, noisome
-holes, dark, loathsome and stinking corners; others lying in fetters and
-chains, and loaded with so many irons that they could scarcely stir.
-Some tied in the stocks with their heels upwards; some having their
-legs in the stocks, with their necks chained to the wall with gorgets
-of iron; some with hands and legs in the stocks at once; sometimes both
-hands in and both legs out; sometimes the right hand with the left
-leg, or the left hand with the right leg, fastened in the stocks with
-manacles and fetters, having neither stool nor stone to sit on to ease
-their woful bodies; some standing in Skevington's gyves [commonly called
-"Skevington's daughter"]--which were most painful engines of iron--with
-their bodies doubled; some whipped and scourged, beaten with rods, and
-buffeted with fists; and some having their hands burned with a candle
-to try their patience, and force them to relent; some hunger-pined, and
-some miserably famished and starved." The leading Reformers fled out
-of the kingdom, chiefly to Frankfort and to Switzerland; and 800 or
-more lived to become the heads of the restored Church under Elizabeth;
-amongst these were Poynet, Bishop of Winchester; Grindal, afterwards
-Bishop of London, and finally Primate of England; Sandys, afterwards
-Archbishop of York; Ball, Bishop of Ossory; Pilkington, afterwards Bishop
-of Durham; Bentham, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield; Scorey, Bishop of
-Chichester, and afterwards of Hereford; Young, afterwards Archbishop of
-York; Cox, afterwards of Ely; Jewel, afterwards of Salisbury; Coverdale,
-the translator of the Bible, Bishop of Exeter; Horn, Dean of Durham;
-Knox, the apostle of Scotland; and Foxe, the martyrologist. Besides
-these eminent men, there were Sir John Cheke, the famous Greek scholar,
-Sir Anthony Cooke, and Sir Francis Knollys, afterwards Elizabeth's
-vice-chamberlain.
-
-On Elizabeth's accession to the throne she was by no means disposed
-to go so far as her brother Edward had gone, much less as far as the
-refugees--who now flocked back again from Geneva--would have carried her.
-They had imbibed the rigid independent notions of Calvin and Zwinglius,
-and that probably before their departure from England--a circumstance
-which there is little doubt directed their course to Switzerland,
-for the Reformers who resorted to Frankfort were much nearer to her
-standard--a standard very much the same as that of her father. She
-renounced all allegiance to the Pope and the Church of Rome, though she
-hesitated to declare herself the supreme head of the Church till it was
-conferred on her by Parliament. She issued orders to restrain the zeal of
-the Protestants, who began to pull down the images, and to restore the
-service to its state in King Edward's time. She gave directions that a
-part of the service should be read in English, and forbade the elevation
-of the Host; but at the same time she suspended all preaching.
-
-Parliament, on meeting, passed an Act asserting the supremacy of the
-Crown over the Church, revived the Acts of Henry VIII. which abolished
-the power and jurisdiction of the Pope in England, and authorised the
-use of King Edward's Book of Common Prayer, with some alterations,
-chiefly in the Communion Service. Thus they cast off the Roman Catholics
-who would not conform, but did not go far enough for the more zealous
-Reformers. The oath of Supremacy was presented to the bishops, and it
-had the effect of clearing the Church of all but Kitchen of St. Asaph.
-The inferior clergy, however, were not so firm, and only six abbots,
-twelve deans, twelve archdeacons, fifteen heads of colleges, fifty
-prebendaries, and eighty rectors refused compliance. The monks returned
-to secular life, but the nuns mostly went abroad. The clergy were ordered
-to wear the habits in use in the latter part of King Edward's time; and
-their marriages, against which the queen showed a strong repugnance,
-were put under stringent regulations. The press also was laid under the
-most rigorous restrictions, and no book was to be printed or published
-without the licence of the queen, or of six of her privy council,
-or of her ecclesiastical commissioners, or the two archbishops, the
-Bishop of London, the chancellors of the universities, and the bishop
-and archdeacons of the place where it was produced. All persons were
-commanded to attend their parish churches under severe penalties. In 1562
-the articles of religion of King Edward were reduced from forty-two to
-thirty-nine. In 1571 they underwent a further revision, and were made
-binding on the clergy before they could be admitted to orders.
-
-Like her father, the longer she lived the more resolute she became
-to enforce her own dogmas on the whole body of her subjects. In the
-twenty-third year of her reign the penalty for non-attendance of the
-Established Church was raised to £20 per month. In the same year another
-Act was passed, declaring it high treason to attempt to draw any one
-to the Church of Rome; and the persons thus drawn were equally guilty
-of treason, and all their aiders, abettors, and concealers were made
-guilty of misprision of treason. These arbitrary laws against the freedom
-of opinion went on increasing in severity. In 1585 an Act was passed
-which made traitors of all Jesuits and other Popish priests who had
-been ordained abroad, and of all subjects whatever educated in Papal
-seminaries who did not immediately return home and take the oath of
-supremacy. The receivers of any such persons were declared felons without
-benefit of clergy. Whoever sent money to any foreign Jesuits or priests
-was liable to Præmunire; and parents sending their children to school
-abroad without licence from her Majesty were liable to a penalty of £100.
-Fresh Acts were added in 1581 and 1593, the former to make void all
-conveyances of property by Popish recusants, with the object of escaping
-the penalties imposed upon them, and to decree that the penalty of £20 a
-month for non-attendance at church should be levied by distress to the
-extent of all the offenders' goods and two-thirds of their lands; the
-latter ordered all Popish recusants above sixteen to repair to their
-proper places of abode, and never more to go more than five miles from
-them without special licence from the bishop of the diocese or lieutenant
-of the county, under penalty of forfeiture of their goods and of the
-profits of their lands for life; those having no goods or lands to be
-deemed felons.
-
-But if the atrocities committed by the Roman Catholics in the reign of
-Mary, and the fears of their recurrence should the Papists regain the
-power, afforded some plea for these persecutions, what is to be said of
-the same rigours applied to the Reformers, who simply desired to form
-their religious opinions on the Bible--the Divine charter of Humanity?
-Thousands of these, from the earliest days of the Reformation, had
-claimed this privilege as their birthright; and many of those who came
-back from the Continent on the termination of the Marian persecution,
-were surprised and discouraged to find themselves equally excluded with
-the Catholics from the exercise of their own judgments by a Protestant
-queen. They were required to attend the preaching of those against whose
-doctrines they protested, and suffered the same monstrous fines if they
-absented themselves. Instead of that "glorious liberty of the gospel"
-which they had promised themselves, they had to accept with all homage
-the cut out and prescribed pattern of opinion dictated by an autocratic
-woman, who made a desperate stand against the removal of images from the
-churches, and practised many Popish ceremonies in her own private chapel.
-Instead of the form of service which the English refugees had established
-at Geneva, in which there were no Litany, no responses, and scarcely any
-rites or ceremonies, they were commanded to adopt a form which appeared
-to them little removed from Popery. The Genevan refugees--who, from
-their demand for the utmost purity and primitive simplicity in worship,
-were styled Puritans--would, had they been permitted, have planted a
-church far more like the church as it came to exist in Scotland than
-that which was established for England. They opposed the claims of the
-bishops to a superior rank or authority to the presbyters; they denied
-that they possessed the sole right of ordination, and exercise of church
-discipline; they objected to the titles and dignities which had been
-copied by the Anglican Church from the Roman, of archdeacons, deans,
-canons, prebendaries; to the jurisdiction of Spiritual Courts; to an
-indiscriminate admission of all persons to the Communion; to many parts
-of the liturgy, and of the offices of marriage and burial, including
-the use of the ring in marriage; they repudiated set forms of prayers,
-and the use of godfathers and godmothers, the rite of confirmation,
-the observance of Lent and holidays, the cathedral worship, the use of
-the organ, the retention of the reading of apocryphal books in church,
-pluralities, non-residence, the presentation to livings by the Crown, or
-any other patron, or by any mode but the free election of the people.
-
-But in that age no conception of religious liberty was entertained. The
-Puritans were as resolute in their ideas of conformity to their notions
-as Elizabeth was to hers; and had they had the power, would have used
-the same compulsion. Knox exhibited that spirit of exclusiveness to the
-extreme in Scotland, even calling for the deposition of the queen as a
-"Jezebel" and "an idolatress," because she would not adopt his peculiar
-tenets and view of things. The Puritans exhibited the same spirit long
-after in America for the exercise of their faith. In fact, the great and
-divine principle of the entire liberty of the gospel was too elevated to
-be arrived at suddenly after so many ages of spiritual despotism, and
-required long and earnest study of the spirit and example of Christ.
-Severe struggles, bloody deaths, and incredible sufferings in those
-who came to see the truth, had to be undergone before the battle of
-religious freedom was fought out, and all parties could admit the plain
-fact which had revealed itself to Charles V. after his abdication of the
-throne, when he amused himself with clock making--that as no two clocks
-can be made to go precisely alike, it is folly to expect _all_ men to
-think precisely alike. "Both parties," says Neal, in his "History of the
-Puritans," "agreed too well in asserting the necessity of a uniformity of
-public worship, and in using the sword of the magistrate for the support
-and defence of their respective principles, which they made an ill use
-of in their turns whenever they could grasp the power in their hands.
-The standard of uniformity, according to the bishops, was the queen's
-supremacy, and the laws of the land; according to the Puritans, the
-decrees of provincial and national synods, allowed and enforced by the
-civil magistrate: but neither party were for admitting that liberty of
-conscience and freedom of profession which is every man's right as far
-as is consistent with the peace of the civil Government he lives under."
-Heresy was, in fact, punished by the Government as a purely political
-offence.
-
-Elizabeth, having the power, compelled all those clergymen who conformed
-sufficiently to accept livings and bishoprics, not only to conform
-but more or less to persecute their brethren. Even men like Parker
-and Grindal, naturally averse from compulsion, were obliged to do her
-bidding, till Grindal rebelled and was set aside; but their places were
-supplied by Sandys, who had himself fled from Popish compulsion, and by
-Whitgift, who rigorously enforced the laws. Sandys actually sentenced
-the anabaptists who, in 1575, were burnt at the stake by order of the
-queen--for to this pass it came: Hammond, a ploughman, being burnt at
-Norwich in 1579, and Kett, a member of one of the universities, in the
-same place, ten years afterwards, under Elizabeth.
-
-Such was the state of the Protestant Church at the termination of
-the period we are now reviewing. The queen discouraged preaching and
-instruction of the people, allowing many bishoprics, prebends, and
-livings to be vacant, and receiving their incomes. She declared that one
-or two preachers in a county was enough, probably fearing the prevalence
-of the more advanced opinions. Parker in his time had been ordered to
-enforce strict compliance with the rubric, and numbers of the most
-eminent and eloquent clergymen resigned their livings and travelled over
-the country, and preached where they could, "as if," says Bishop Jewell,
-"they were apostles; and so they were with regard to their poverty, for
-silver and gold they had none." Being, however, continually brought
-before the authorities and fined and otherwise punished, they determined
-to break off all connection with the public churches, and form themselves
-into an avowed separate communion, worshipping God in their own way and
-being ready to suffer for His sake. Here, then, commenced the great cause
-of Nonconformity, and the formation of all those sects which from time
-to time have since appeared, each claiming--and justly--the right to
-worship God and to regulate their particular church as seems conformable
-to their understanding of the Scriptures. These separate assemblies,
-however, were stigmatised as conventicles, and from this time many were
-the laws passed to put them down, as we shall hereafter find. Among the
-Nonconformists a most zealous and resolute sect arose called Brownists,
-from Robert Brown, a preacher in the diocese of Norwich, a man of good
-family, and said to be a relative of Lord Burleigh. His followers soon
-acquired the name of Independents, which they afterwards changed for that
-of Congregationalists, from their denial of all ecclesiastical dignities
-and authority whatever, asserting that each congregation constitutes
-a complete church, with the right to nominate their own minister and
-conduct their own affairs. This body of Christians, at this day so
-extensive and respectable, of course felt the especial weight of the
-persecution of the Established Church, with which it refused to hold
-the slightest communion; yet to such a degree did it flourish--a proof
-of the onward spirit of the time, that Sir Walter Raleigh declared in
-Parliament that there were before the death of Elizabeth not less than
-20,000 members of that body in Norfolk, Essex, and the neighbourhood of
-London.
-
-[Illustration: REDUCED FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE GREAT BIBLE,
-ALSO CALLED CROMWELL'S BIBLE.]
-
-In the narration of the struggles of this period in Scotland we have
-sufficiently traced the persecution of the Protestants by the Romish
-Church--the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, Walter
-Mill, and others; the murder of Cardinal Beaton, and the final triumph
-of Knox and his compeers, from which period the organisation of the
-Protestant Church of Scotland went on rapidly. In 1560 the Lords of
-the Congregation entered Edinburgh in arms; and Parliament assembling,
-abolished for ever the Pope's jurisdiction, abolished the celebration of
-Mass, and authorised "The Confession of the Faith and Doctrine believed
-and professed by the Protestants of Scotland." An Act also was passed to
-pull down all cloisters and abbey-churches still left standing: and the
-Church, not waiting for any further enactment of the Parliament or Crown,
-went on exercising its own proper functions as an independent church,
-governed, not by the State, but by presbyteries, synods, and general
-assemblies. In 1580 the General Assembly, after having at various times
-diminished the power and rank of bishops, declared that episcopacy was
-unscriptural and unlawful--a dictum which the Parliament fully ratified
-in 1592, establishing the Presbyterian Church as the national one, with
-general assembly, provincial synods, presbyteries, and kirk sessions. In
-1597 the Parliament admitted certain representatives of the clergy to
-seats in it, to which the General Assembly assented at its next meeting;
-and thus was completed the system of Church government in Scotland at
-that time.
-
-The sixteenth century produced as great a revolution in Literature and
-Science as in religion. We still look back to this era for some of the
-greatest names and greatest works which have adorned and enlightened not
-only our own country, but the whole civilised world. When we enumerate
-Sir Thomas More, Lord Surrey, Roger Ascham, Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney,
-Shakespeare, Marlowe, Bacon, Buchanan, Gawin Douglas, Dunbar, and
-Sir David Lyndsay, we remind our readers that we are moving amid a
-constellation of genius, than which Time has scarcely any brighter.
-But in the two words Shakespeare and Bacon, we pronounce the names and
-glorious births of dramatic and philosophic genius, which have placed
-England on the summit of intellectual fame, by works never surpassed
-before or since in any nation, and by discoveries in science and art
-which have flowed from the "Novum Organum" of Bacon as from an eternal
-and ever-strengthening fountain. True it is both men belong, by their
-works, rather to the succeeding period than to the present; but Bacon
-had, long before the death of Elizabeth, sketched out the plan of his
-immortal work, though he had not dared to publish it; and Shakespeare had
-not only written his poems, but had also written and acted in many of his
-most brilliant and original plays. By these great writers the English
-language was established as a classical language; and though it has since
-extended and connected itself with the progress of knowledge and most
-astonishing and varied discoveries, we can produce no purer, no stronger,
-nor more eloquent specimens of it than from the pages of Shakespeare,
-which continue to be read and listened to on our stage, the genuine
-speech of Englishmen--somewhat quaint occasionally, but always musical to
-the ear, familiar to the sense, and animating to the spirit.
-
-The violent changes and spoliations of the Reformation did not check the
-foundation of new colleges and seminaries of learning--the fountains,
-under a more liberal order of things, certain to produce noble results.
-Even Henry VIII., in his wholesale destruction of endowed property, and
-though college property was included in the Acts which he procured from
-his obsequious Parliament, for the most part spared the resources of
-education. His reign was distinguished by the foundation, in Oxford, of
-Brazenose College, in 1509, by Sir William Smith, Bishop of Lincoln, and
-Sir Richard Sutton, of Prestbury, in Cheshire. Old Richard Fox, Bishop
-of Winchester, who had been prime minister of Henry VII., and still was
-of the council of his son, in 1516 founded Corpus Christi. The only
-exception to Henry VIII.'s patronage of the colleges occurred in those
-founded by Wolsey--his Cardinal College at Oxford, and his college at
-Ipswich, which both fell with him. In 1545 Henry himself founded Christ
-Church instead of that of Wolsey, which he then dissolved. In 1554
-Trinity College was founded on the basis of Durham College by Sir Thomas
-Pope. In 1555 Sir Thomas White, alderman and merchant tailor of London,
-founded St. John's College, on the site of Bernard College. These were
-in the reign of Queen Mary. In Elizabeth's time rose Jesus College, in
-1571, from funds furnished by Dr. Hugh Price, and augmented by the queen
-herself.
-
-In Cambridge three colleges arose during the reign of Henry VII.--the
-only educational endowments of any note during that period. In 1496 John
-Alcock, Bishop of Ely, founded Jesus College. In 1505 Margaret Countess
-of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., founded Christ's College, and also in
-1511, very shortly before her son's death, St. John's College. In 1519
-Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, commenced the College of Magdalene;
-but as he was executed for high treason in 1521, Lord Audley, the Lord
-Chancellor, completed it. Henry VIII. founded Trinity College in 1546,
-and at the same time four new professorships in the university; namely,
-for theology, law, Greek, and Hebrew. Henry was proud of his learning,
-and had the good sense to support, with all the imperative force of his
-character, the new study of Greek, when it was violently assailed by
-the Church and professors. Dr. Caius founded the college named after
-him, and popularly pronounced "Keys," on the basis of the old hall of
-Gonville, in 1558--the only extension of Cambridge University under
-Queen Mary. Sir Walter Mildmay founded Emmanuel College in 1584, and in
-1598 Sidney-Sussex College was founded by Lady Frances Sidney, widow of
-Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex.
-
-The universities of Scotland were greatly extended during this period.
-That of Aberdeen was founded in 1494 under the name of King's College,
-James IV. having procured a bull for that purpose from Pope Alexander
-VI., though the bishop was the main benefactor. In 1593 Marischal
-College, in the same university, was erected by George, Earl Marischal.
-At St. Andrews the college of St. Leonard's was established in 1512 by
-Archbishop Stuart and John Hepburn, prior of the metropolitan church.
-This was afterwards united with that of St. Salvator (founded in 1456),
-and together bore the name of the United College. St. Mary's, in the same
-university, was founded, in 1537, by Beaton. In 1582 James VI. founded
-the University of Edinburgh. In 1591 Elizabeth founded in Dublin the
-University of Trinity College.
-
-Contemporaneous with these colleges and universities rose a great number
-of grammar-schools, designed to extend the knowledge of Latin to the
-mass of the people. Among the magnificent endowments, since too much
-withdrawn, by the influence of wealth, from the poor and the orphan, for
-whom they were designed, and devoted to the use of the affluent, for whom
-they were not designed, we may name St. Paul's School, London, founded
-by Dean Colet in 1509; Christ's Hospital, London, founded by Edward
-VI. in 1553, the year of his death; Westminster School, established by
-Elizabeth, 1560; and Merchant Taylors School, founded by that guild
-in 1561. In Scotland the High School of Edinburgh was founded by the
-magistrates of that city in 1577.
-
-It is a curious fact that the revival of the Greek language and
-literature was coincident with the Reformation. Widely opposed as the
-spirit of Christianity and of the Greek mythology are, yet in one
-particular they are identical, in breathing a spirit of liberty and
-popular dominance which were not long in showing their effects in
-Great Britain. The Scriptures were now translated and made familiar
-to the people, at least by means of Puritan preachers, who were thus
-proclaiming that God had made of one blood all the nations of the earth,
-and that He was no respecter of persons; thereby laying the foundations
-of eternal justice in the public mind, and teaching, as a necessary
-consequence, that the end and object of all human government was not the
-good of kings or nobles, but of the collective people. The poets, the
-historians, the dramatists, and the philosophers of republican Greece
-were made to bring all the force of their fiery eloquence, their glowing
-narratives, and their subtle reasoning to bear upon the same theme;
-presenting not only arguments for general liberty and a popular polity,
-but examples of the most sublime struggles of a small but glorious people
-against domestic tyrants and the vast hordes of barbarism without, of
-noblest orators thundering against the oppression of the mighty, of awful
-tragedians steeping their stage in the imaged blood of tyrants and of
-traitors, of patriots perishing in joy for the salvation of their country.
-
-It was not to be wondered at that on the bursting of these novel elements
-like a sudden and strong torrent into the arena of human life, there
-should arise a fearful struggle and combat between the old intellectual
-ideas and the new. The two-fold inundation pouring from the hills
-of Palestine and of Greece, and in united vastness deluging Europe,
-threatened to destroy all the old land-marks of the schoolmen, and to
-drown Duns Scotus and Aquinas along with the owls and bats of the monkish
-cells and dream chambers. It was soon seen that this new language was
-the language of the very book from which the Reformers drew their words
-winged with the fire of destruction to the ancient slavery of popular
-ignorance and popular dependence on priests and Popes, and no time was
-lost in denouncing it as a gross and new-fangled heresy. It was a heresy
-from which not only freedom in Church but in State was to spring; the
-seed from which grew, in the next age, our Hampdens, Marvels, Pyms,
-Prynnes, Cromwells, and Miltons.
-
-Yet it is only due to Henry VIII., to his ministers Wolsey, Fox, and
-More, and to other eminent dignitaries--amongst them Cardinal Pole
-in Queen Mary's reign--to state that they were zealous advocates and
-promoters of the Greek learning. The very first public school in which
-Greek is said to have been taught in England was the new foundation of
-Dean Colet, St. Paul's school, where the celebrated scholar William
-Lilly, who had studied in Rhodes, was the master. Wolsey introduced it
-into his new colleges, and Henry VIII. being at Woodstock, and hearing
-of a furious harangue made at Oxford against the study of the Greek
-Testament in the University, immediately ordered the teaching of it, and
-established a professorship of it also in Cambridge.
-
-Notwithstanding, a violent opposition arose against the study of Greek in
-consequence of the authority it gave to the doctrines of the Reformers,
-rendering an appeal to the original text invincible. Erasmus informs
-us that the preachers and declaimers against his edition of the Greek
-Testament really appeared to believe that he was by its means attempting
-to introduce some new kind of religion. The book was prohibited in the
-University of Cambridge, and a heavy penalty decreed for any one found
-with it in his possession. Erasmus attempted to teach the Greek grammar
-of Chrysoloras there, but a terrible outcry was raised against him, and
-his scholars soon deserted his benches. As the contest went on, however,
-the Universities, both here and abroad, became divided into the factions
-of the Greeks and Trojans, the Trojans being those who were advocates for
-Latin, but not for Greek. The Greeks, however, victorious, as of old,
-expelled the works of the famous Duns Scotus from the schools; they were
-torn up and trodden under foot; and the King sent down a Commission which
-altogether abolished the study of this old scholastic philosophy which
-had had so long and absolute a reign.
-
-Yet the new knowledge appears for some time after the first excitement
-to have made less progress in the schools than at Court and amongst the
-aristocracy. On the surface, therefore, the age appeared a very learned
-one. All the chief churchmen on both sides of the question in the reigns
-of Henry VIII. and Edward VI.--Wolsey, Fox, Gardiner, Cranmer, Ridley,
-Tunstall, Cardinal Pole--were men of great acquirements. Henry was a fine
-scholar, and, despite his harsh treatment of his wives and children,
-gave to the latter educations perhaps superior to those of any princes
-or princesses of the time. Edward was steeped in learning, to the injury
-of his overtaxed constitution. Mary and Elizabeth were both accomplished
-linguists, speaking Latin, French, and Spanish fluently; and Elizabeth
-adding to these Greek and Italian, with a smattering of Dutch and German.
-Mary was studiously instructed in the originals of the Scriptures, and
-made a translation of the Latin paraphrase of St. John, by Erasmus, which
-was printed and read as part of the Church service, till it was ordered
-to be burnt by herself in her own reign with other heretical books.
-She was deeply read in the fathers, and in the works of Plato, Cicero,
-Seneca, Plutarch, and selected portions of Horace, Lucan, and Livy.
-Elizabeth was a poetess of no mean pretensions and, besides her knowledge
-of the classical and modern languages, read by preference immense
-quantities of history. Roger Ascham, the teacher of Lady Jane Grey, said
-that "numberless honourable ladies" of the time surpassed the daughters
-of Sir Thomas More, but that none could compete with the Princess
-Elizabeth; that she spoke and wrote Greek and Latin beautifully; that
-he had read with her the whole of Cicero, and great part of Livy; that
-she devoted her mornings to the New Testament in Greek, select orations
-of Isocrates, and the tragedies of Sophocles, whilst she drew religious
-knowledge from St. Cyprian and the "Common-places" of Melanchthon; that
-she was skilful in music, but did not greatly delight in it.
-
-With such examples, no wonder that there were such learned ladies at
-Court as Lady Jane Grey, Lady Tyrwhit, Mary Countess of Arundel, Joanna
-Lady Lumley, and her sister Mary the Duchess of Norfolk--all learned
-in Greek and Latin, and authoresses of translations from them; the two
-daughters of Sir Thomas More, and the three daughters of the learned
-Sir Anthony Cooke--one of them the wife of the all-powerful statesman
-Burleigh, another the mother of the illustrious Francis Bacon, and the
-third, Lady Killigrew, a famous Hebrew scholar, as well as profound in
-Latin and Greek. It is extraordinary that learning, which had been so
-ardently taken up by these accomplished women, should have languished
-in the schools and amongst the people. Yet such was the fact, and is
-explained by the violent and continual changes which were taking place
-in Church and State. A great part of the reign of Henry VIII. was
-engrossed by the conflict with the Court of Rome regarding his divorce
-from Catherine, and then by his stupendous onslaught on the monastic
-and cathedral property. As no man at the Universities could tell where
-promotion was to come from in the Church under a king who equally took
-vengeance on Romanist and Protestant who dared to differ from him, and as
-it was equally uncertain whether, in some new fit of anger or caprice,
-he might not suppress the colleges as he had suppressed monasteries,
-ministers, and chantries, it is not surprising to hear Latimer exclaim,
-"It would pity a man's heart to hear what I hear of the state of
-Cambridge. There be few that study divinity, but so many as of necessity
-must furnish the college."
-
-[Illustration: CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, LONDON (1899).]
-
-Under Edward VI. things became far worse. Then it was a scramble amongst
-his courtiers who should get the most of the property devoted to religion
-or learning. Bishoprics, good livings, the rest of the monastic lands
-which yet remained with the Crown did not suffice. These cormorants
-clutched at the University resources. They appropriated exhibitions
-and pensions, and, says Warton, in his "History of English Poetry,"
-"Ascham, in a letter to the Marquis of Northampton, dated 1550, laments
-the ruin of grammar-schools throughout England, and predicts the speedy
-extinction of the universities from this growing calamity. At Oxford the
-schools were neglected by the professors and pupils, and allotted to the
-lowest purposes. Academical degrees were abrogated as anti-Christian.
-Reformation was soon turned into fanaticism. Absurd refinements,
-concerning the inutility of human learning, were superadded to the just
-and rational purgation of Christianity from the Papal corruption." He
-adds that the Government visitors of the University totally stripped the
-public library, established by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, of all its
-books and manuscripts; and Latimer, in one of his sermons about that
-time, declared his belief that there were then 10,000 fewer students than
-there had been twenty years before.
-
-Classical literature did not fare better during the persecuting reign
-of Mary, though Cardinal Pole was a warm friend of the introduction of
-Greek, notwithstanding the use made of it by the Protestants. When he
-urged Sir Thomas Pope to establish a professorship of that language
-in his new college of Trinity, Sir Thomas replied, "I fear the times
-will not bear it now. I remember, when I was a young scholar at Eton,
-the Greek tongue was growing apace, the study of which is now a-late
-much decayed." Nor was it likely when Elizabeth discouraged preaching
-even, saying that "one or two preachers in a county was enough," that
-Classical studies would be much encouraged. In fact, nothing could be
-lower than the condition into which both learning and preaching had
-fallen in Elizabeth's Church. The Bishop of Bangor stated that he had
-but two preachers in all his diocese. Numbers of churches stood vacant,
-according to Neal, where there was no preaching, nor even reading of the
-homilies for months together, and in many parishes there could be found
-no one to baptise the living or bury the dead; in others, unlearned
-mechanics, and even the gardeners of those who had secured the clerical
-glebes and income, performed the only service that there was. But no
-doubt this afforded good scope to the Puritans, who had now the Bible in
-English, Cranmer's, Coverdale's, and Parker's, or the Bishops' Bible; and
-these zealous men, despite the crushing penalties, would find constant
-opportunities of diffusing their knowledge. In Oxford there were only
-three divines in 1563 who were considered able to preach a sermon, and
-these three were Puritans. The knowledge of the Classics was fallen
-so low that all that Archbishop Parker required of the holders of his
-three new scholarships in Cambridge, in 1567, was that they should be
-well instructed in grammar and be able to make a verse. The classical
-qualifications in the two Universities were below contempt.
-
-It is a satisfaction to turn from this humiliating state of things to
-the great lights of genius and learning which were burning brightly amid
-this thick darkness. Here there meets us the illustrious constellation
-of names of More, Ascham, Puttenham, Sidney, Hooker, Bacon, Barclay,
-Skelton, Sackville, Heywood, Surrey, Wyatt, Spenser, Shakespeare,
-Marlowe, and others--names which cast a lustre over this period, and in
-whose blaze all its faults and failings are forgotten.
-
-Of the prose writers Sir Thomas More (_b_. 1480, _d_. 1535) is one of the
-earliest and most famous. He was equally remarkable for the suavity of
-his manners, his wit, his independence of character, and the eloquence
-and originality of his writings. We have seen how he served and was
-served by Henry VIII. Erasmus, who stayed some time at his house, says,
-"With him you might imagine yourself in the academy of Plato. But I
-should do injustice to his house by comparing it to the academy of Plato,
-where numbers and geometrical figures, and sometimes moral virtues, were
-the subjects of discussion. It would be more just to call it a school,
-and an exercise of Christian religion. All its inhabitants, male and
-female, applied their leisure to liberal studies and profitable reading,
-although piety was their first care. No wrangling, no angry word was
-heard in it, no one was idle; every one did his duty with alacrity, and
-not without a temperate cheerfulness."
-
-More's chief work is his "Utopia," and it may be pronounced the first
-enunciation of a system of Socialism since the Apostolic age. It may
-surprise many, but More, in fact, was the forerunner of Proudhon and
-Fourrier. His "Utopia" describes an island in which a commonwealth is
-established completely on Socialistic principles. No one is allowed to
-possess separate property; because such possession produces an unequal
-division of the necessaries of life, demoralising those who become
-inordinately rich and, in a different direction, depraving and degrading
-those who are obliged to labour incessantly. What is remarkable, More in
-his imaginary commonwealth admits the fullest toleration of religious
-belief, though he fell so far in practice as to join in the persecutions
-of his time. His principles were too noble for his practice; yet with
-this one flaw he was one of the most admirable men who ever lived. His
-"Utopia" was written by him in Latin, but was translated into English
-in 1551, afterwards by Bishop Burnet, and in 1808 by Arthur Cayley.
-In addition to this, he wrote a life of Richard III., and various
-compositions in Latin and English, besides a number of letters which have
-been published in his collected works. As a specimen of the prose style
-and state of the language in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII.,
-we may quote a short passage from a letter to his second wife, Alice
-Middleton, in 1528, on hearing that his house at Chelsea was burnt down:--
-
-"Maistress Alyce, in my most harty wise I recommend me to you; and
-whereas I am enfourmed by my son Heron of the losse of our barnes and of
-our neighbours also, with all the corne that was therein, albeit (saving
-God's pleasure) it is grit pitie of so much good corne loste; yet sith
-it hath liked Hym to sende us such a chaunce, we must and are bounden,
-not only to be content, but also to be glad of His visitacion. He sente
-us all that we have loste; and sith He hath by such a chaunce taken it
-away againe, His pleasure be fulfilled. Let us never grudge thereat, but
-take in good worth, and hartily thank Him, as well for adversitie as for
-prosperite; and peradventure we have more cause to thank Him for our
-losse than for our winning; for His wisdome better seeth what is good
-for us than we do our selves. Therefore I pray you be of good chere, and
-take all the howshold with you to church, and there thanke God, both for
-what He hath given us, and for that He hath taken from us, and for that
-He hath left us, which, if it please Hym He can encrease when He will.
-And if it please Hym to leave us yet lesse, at His pleasure be it. I
-pray you to make some good insearche what my poore neighbours have loste,
-and bid them take no thought therefore; for an I shold not leave myself
-a spone, there shal no poore neighboure of mine bere no losse by any
-chaunce happened in my house. I pray you be with my children, and your
-howshold mery in God."
-
-Latimer (_b._ 1470, _d._ 1555) was the son of a Leicestershire farmer,
-and rose to be Bishop of Worcester, and to the far higher rank of a
-martyr for his faith. He has been pronounced by writers of this age as
-a good but not a great man. To our mind he was a very great man. Not in
-worldly wisdom, for he was simple as a child; but he was a genius, true,
-racy, and original. He was made, as his sermons show, for a preacher
-to the people rather than to princes, though to them he bore a bold
-and unblenching testimony. But to the people he was a prophet and an
-awakener. He had been amongst them; he knew their deepest feelings, their
-most secret thoughts their language and their desires; and he addressed
-them from the pulpit with the loving and picturesque familiarity which
-he used at their firesides. There is occasionally much rudeness in his
-discourses, his images are often bizarre, his allusions grotesque;
-but there is a life that kindles, there is a poetry that warms, a
-spirit that arouses, a bold aggressive truth which must have made his
-hearers look into their souls and think. We take a short passage from a
-sermon preached before Edward VI. in 1549--twenty-one years after the
-composition of More just given, and yet how much more old-fashioned is
-the language. After telling the king that so plain was his preaching
-that it had been called seditious, and that his friends, with tears in
-their eyes, assured him he would get into the Tower, he says:--"There
-be more of myne opinion than I. I thought I was not alone. I have now
-gotten one felowe more, a companyon of sedytyon, and wot ye who is my
-felowe? Esaye the prophete. I spake but of a lytle preaty shyllynge; but
-he speaketh to Hierusalem after another sorte, and was so bold to meddle
-with theyr coine (Isaiah i. 22). Thou proude, thou covetous, thou hautye
-cytye of Hierusalem, _argentum tuum versum est in scoriam_; thy sylver is
-turned into what? into testyiers. _Scoriam_--into drosse. Ah, sediciouse
-wretch, what had he to do wyth the mynte? Why should not he have lefte
-that matter to some master of policy to reprove? Thy sylver is drosse,
-it is not fine, it is counterfeit, thy sylver is turned, thou haddest
-good sylver. What pertayned that to Esaye? Mary, he espyeth a piece of
-divinity in that policie; he threatened them God's vengeance for it. He
-went to the rote of the matter, which was covetousness. He espyed two
-poyntes in it: that eythere it came of covetousnesse, whych became hym
-to reprove; er els that it tended to the hurte of the pore people, for
-the naughtyness of the sylver was the occasion of dearth to all thynges
-in the realme. He imputeth it to them as a great cryme. He may be called
-a mayster of sedicion in dede. Was this not a sidicyouse varlet to tell
-them thys to theyr beardes, to theyr face?"
-
-Amongst writers of this age who tended to purify and perfect the language
-were Sir Thomas Wilson, and Puttenham, who wrote the "Art of English
-Poesy," which was published in 1582. Wilson (_b._ 1520, _d._ 1581) wrote
-his "Art of Rhetorique" thirty years before, only three years later
-than the sermon of Latimer's just quoted; yet what an advance in both
-style and orthography:--"What maketh the lawyer to have such utterance?
-Practice. What maketh the preacher to speake so soundly? Practice. Yea,
-what maketh women go so fast awai with their wordes? Marie, practice, I
-warrant you. Therefore in all faculties, diligent practice and earnest
-exercise are the only thynges that make men prove excellent."
-
-Contemporary with More was Sir Thomas Elyot (_b._ 1495, _d._ 1546), whose
-treatise called "The Governor" is a fine example of vigorous English.
-Cranmer and Ridley were not less distinguished for their fine style than
-for their liberal principles; and Roger Ascham (_b._ 1515, _d._ 1568),
-the instructor of Lady Jane Grey and Queen Elizabeth, was equally famed
-for his caligraphy, his musical talents, his proficiency in the new
-learning--Greek--for his classical Latin, and his English composition.
-To relieve the severities of study he practised archery, and wrote his
-"Toxophilus, the Schole of Shootinge," to recommend that old English art.
-In it he strongly advocated the old English language, and the abstinence
-from foreign terms, a recommendation which succeeding generations wisely
-declined, to the vast enrichment of the language. But Ascham was a
-genuine Englishman, and advised his countrymen to follow the counsel of
-Aristotle, and "speak as the common people do, but think as wise men do."
-His next principal work was the "Scholemaster: a plaine and perfite way
-of teaching children to understand, write, and speak the Latin tong"--a
-work which has become more known than any other of his, because in it he
-mentions his visit to Lady Jane Grey at Bradgate Park, near Leicester,
-where he found her deep in Plato's "Phædo" while the rest of the family
-were hunting. But besides these works he wrote on the affairs of Germany;
-and Latin poems, Latin letters, and his celebrated Apology for the Lord's
-Supper, in opposition to the Mass.
-
-[Illustration: LATIMER PREACHING BEFORE EDWARD VI. (_From a Woodcut in
-Foxe's "Martyrs," 1563._)]
-
-As a prose writer Edmund Spenser (_b._ 1553, _d._ 1599), the author
-of the "Faerie Queene," must be mentioned for his "View of the State
-of Ireland," which contained many judicious recommendations for the
-improvement of that country, and presents in its serious statesmanlike
-views a curious contrast to the allegorical fancy of his great poem.
-But far greater as prose writers of the latter portion of this period
-stand forth Sir Philip Sidney and the "judicious Hooker." Sir Philip
-Sidney (_b._ 1554, _d._ 1586), who was celebrated as the most perfect
-gentleman of his time, or as, in the phrase of the age, "the Mirror of
-Courtesy," was killed at the age of thirty-three at Zutphen. Yet he
-left behind him the "Arcadia," a romance; the "Defence of Poesie," and
-various minor poems and prose articles, which were published after his
-death. The person and writings of Sidney have been the theme of unbounded
-panegyric. He was a gentleman finished and complete, in whom mildness
-was associated with courage, erudition mollified by refinement, and
-courtliness dignified by truth. He is a specimen of what the English
-character was capable of producing when foreign admixtures had not
-destroyed its simplicity, or politeness debased its honour. In his own
-day he was the object of the most enthusiastic praises, and has been
-lauded in the most vivid terms by writers of every period since. Near his
-own times Nash, Lord Brooke, Camden, Ben Jonson, Naunton, Aubrey, Milton,
-and Cowley, were his eulogists; Wordsworth and the writers of our own day
-are equally complimentary. Perhaps, after so continuous and high-toned
-a hymning, a modern reader, taking up his "Arcadia" for the first time,
-would find it stiff, formal, and pedantic. He might miss that fervid
-spirit which animates the fictions of the great masters of our own age,
-and wonder at the warmth of so many great authorities upon what failed to
-warm him. In fact, it must be confessed, that it is a noble specimen of
-what pleased the taste of the time in which it was written. It displays
-imagination, though often on stilts instead of on wings, and breathes
-the spirit which animated its author, of a refined nature, a chivalrous
-temperament, a generous heart, and the instincts of the perfect scholar.
-Of that period it is a noble monument; in this it is a unique work of
-art, which, however, strikes us as fair, mild, and antiquated. "The
-Defence of Poesie," with much of the same mannerism, is worthy of a poet,
-and of a man whose life was the finest poem, from its generous patronage
-of talent, its high literary taste, and the hero's death, in the very
-agonies of which he gave from his own scorched lips the draught of cold
-water to the dying soldier at his side.
-
-[Illustration: ROGER ASCHAM'S VISIT TO LADY JANE GREY. (_See p._ 364.)]
-
-The list of the prose writers of this period presents no more honourable
-name than that of the great champion of the Church of England, Richard
-Hooker (_b._ 1553, _d._ 1600), whose composition is as remarkable for its
-cogent reasoning and elevated style, as Sidney's is for fancy and grace
-of sentiment. His "Ecclesiastical Polity," in eight books, is regarded as
-the most able defence of church establishments that ever appeared. From
-the breadth of its principles it drew the applause of Pope Clement VIII.
-as well as of the royal pedant, James I. To those who study it as an
-example of the intellect, learning, and language of the time, it presents
-itself, even to such as dissent from its conclusions, as a labour most
-honourable to the country and age which produced it.
-
-A still greater man was yet behind. Bacon (_b._ 1561, _d._ 1626) was
-figuring as the great lawyer, the eloquent advocate and senator;
-but under the duties of these offices lay hid the master who was to
-revolutionise philosophy and science; the father of the new world of
-discovery, and the most marvellous career of social and intellectual
-advance. To this period he is the sun sending its rays above the horizon,
-but not yet risen. His speeches, his "Essays Civil and Moral," and
-"Maxims of Law," already foretold his fame.
-
-A very different writer was John Lyly, the Euphuist (_b._ 1553, _d._
-1601). Lyly was a poet and dramatist of repute; but in 1579 he published
-"Euphues; or, Anatomy of Wit," which was followed, in 1581, by a second
-part, called "Euphues and his England." In this he invented a style
-and phraseology of his own, which seized the fancy of the public like
-a mania, and set the Court, the ladies, the dandies, and dilettanti of
-the day speaking and writing in a most affected, piebald, and fantastic
-style. Sir Philip Sidney, in his "Arcadia," ridiculed it, not without
-being in a considerable degree affected by it himself. Shakespeare, in
-"Love's Labour's Lost," and Sir Walter Scott, in his Sir Piercie Shafton,
-in "The Monastery," have made the modern public familiar with it. Yet,
-after all, probably Lyly was only laughing in his sleeve at the follies
-of others, and was, as has been asserted, aiming at the purification of
-the language; for in his dramas his diction is simple enough, considering
-the taste of the age.
-
-Among the rising writers was also Sir Walter Raleigh; but his literary
-reputation belongs rather to the age that was coming. On the whole, the
-period from the reign of Henry VII. to the end of that of Elizabeth was
-a period more kindred to our own than any which had gone before it.
-It produced prose writers whose minds still hold communion with and
-influence those of to-day. Its philosophy had assumed a more practical
-stamp, and was full of the elements of change and progress. Its poetry,
-which we have now to consider, reached the very highest pitch of human
-genius.
-
-The earliest poet who has left any name of note is Stephen Hawes, whose
-principal work was "The Pastime of Pleasure," which was printed by Wynkyn
-de Worde in 1517. Hawes was a native of Suffolk, had travelled much, and
-by his proficiency in French and French literature acquired the favour
-of Henry VII. Another poem, "The Temple of Glass," has been ascribed to
-Hawes, but is most probably Lydgate's, who, Hawes tells us, composed such
-a poem.
-
-Next to Hawes comes Alexander Barclay, the author of numerous works in
-prose and poetry, as "The Castell of Labour," wherein is "Rychesse,
-Vertue, and Honour," an allegorical poem, translated from the French;
-"The Shyp of Foles of the Worlde," translated from Sebastian Brandt's
-German poem, "Das Narren Schiff;" "Egloges; or, the Miseries of Courts
-and Courtiers;" a treatise against Skelton the poet; a translation of
-Livy's "Wars of Jugurtha;" "Life of St. George," &c. &c. The work,
-however, which has handed down his name to posterity is the "Ship of
-Fools," which, by interspersing it with original touches on the follies
-of his countrymen, he made in some degree his own. But the chief merit
-of the poem in our time is the evidence of the polish which the English
-language had acquired, and to which Barclay probably contributed, for
-he had travelled through Germany, Holland, France, and Italy, studying
-diligently the best authors of those countries. He was successively a
-prebendary of the college of Ottery St. Mary, a Benedictine monk, Vicar
-of Great Barlow, in Essex, of Wokey, in Somersetshire, and Rector of All
-Hallows, London, terminating his life at Croydon. A stanza or two will
-suffice to show the state of the language at the close of the reign of
-Henry VII. A man in orders is speaking:--
-
-    "Eche is not lettred that nowe is made a lorde,
-    Nor eche a clerke that hath a benefice:
-    They are not all lawyers that plees do recorde,
-    All that are promoted are not fully wise.
-    On such chaunce nowe fortune throwes her dice
-    That, though one knowe but the Yrishe game,
-    Yet would he have a gentleman's name.
-
-           *       *       *       *       *
-
-    I am like other clerkes which so frowardly them gyde,
-    That after they are once come unto promotion,
-    They give them to pleasure, their study set aside,
-    Their avarice covering with fained devotion.
-    Yet daily they preache, and have great derision
-    Against the rude lay men, and all for covetise,
-    Though their own conscience be blinded with that vice."
-
-The reign of Henry VIII. was distinguished chiefly by satirists: and it
-says much for the courage of poets that they were almost the only men in
-that terrible period who dared open their mouths on the crying sins of
-Government. Skelton, Heywood, and Roy were men who amused themselves with
-the follies and vices of their contemporaries. When the sun of poetry
-rose in a more glowing form in Surrey, the ferocious king, so ready with
-the headsman's axe, quenched it in blood. John Skelton (_b._ 1460, _d._
-1529) was a clergyman, educated at Oxford. Erasmus declared him to be
-"Britannicarum Literarum Lumen et Decus"--"the light and ornament of
-Britain." He became Rector of Diss, in Norfolk; but, like Sterne at a
-later day, Skelton was overflowing with humour and satire rather than
-sermons, and so fell under the resentment of Nykke, Bishop of Norwich.
-He lashed with all the wonderful power of his merry muse the licentious
-ignorance of the monks and friars; and, soaring at higher game, attacked
-the swollen greatness of Cardinal Wolsey in a strain of the most daring
-invective. The incensed cardinal endeavoured to lay hold on him, and he
-would not have escaped scatheless out of his hands, had not the venerable
-John Islip, Abbot of Westminster, opened the sanctuary to him; and there
-Skelton lived secure for the remainder of his days, neither stinting his
-stinging lashes at the cardinal, nor suppressing his overflowing humour,
-which welled forth in a torrent of the most wild, sparkling, random, and
-rodomontade character. His amazing command of language, his never-failing
-and extraordinary rhymes, remind us of one man only, and that of last
-century--Hood. The airiness and irregularity of his lyrical measures
-equally suggest a comparison with that most untranslatable Swedish poet,
-Bellmann.
-
-His friend Thomas Churchyard, in a eulogium on him, enumerates a number
-of poets of that and preceding times, some of them now little known:--
-
-    "Peirs Plowman was full plaine,
-      And Chaucer's spreet was great;
-    Earl Surrey had a goodly veine,
-      Lord Vaux the marke did beat.
-    And Phaer did hit the pricke
-      In things he did translate,
-    And Edwards had a special gift;
-      And divers men of late
-    Have helped our English tongue,
-      That first was base and brute.
-    Oh! shall I leave out Skelton's name?--
-      The blossom of my fruit!"
-
-The "Pithy, Pleasant, and Profitable Works of Maister Skelton, Poet
-Laureate to Henry VIII.," contain "The Crowne of Laurell," by way of
-introduction; "The Bouge of the Courte," in which this unique poet
-laureate attacks the vices of the Court without mercy; "The Duke
-of Albany," a poem equally severe on the Scots; "Ware the Hawk," a
-castigation of the clergy; "The Tunning of Eleanor Rumming," a wild
-rattling string of rhymes on an old ale-wife and her costume; and "Why
-come ye not to Court?" an unsparing satire on Wolsey. There is no part
-of the cardinal's history or character that he lets escape. His mean
-origin, his puffed-up pride, his sensuality, his lordly insolence, his
-covetousness and cruelties, run on in a strain of loose yet vivid jingle
-that was calculated to catch the ear of the people. The gentlest word
-that Skelton has for him is that--
-
-    "He regardeth lords
-    No more than potsherds;
-    He is in such elation
-    Of his exaltation
-    Of our sovereign lord
-    That God to record,
-    He ruleth all at will,
-    Without reason or skill,
-    Howbeit they be primordial
-    Of his wretched original
-    And his base progeny,
-    And his greasy genealogy.
-    He came of the sink royal
-    That was cast out of a butcher's stall.
-    But however he was born,
-    Men would have the less scorn
-    If he could consider
-    His birth and room together."
-
-He tells us that the king,
-
-            "Of his royal mind,
-    Thought to do a thing
-    That pertaineth to a king--
-    To make up one of nought,
-    And made to him be brought
-    A wretched poor man,
-    With his living wan,
-    With planting leeks,
-    By the days and by the weeks;
-    And of this poor vassal
-    He made a king royal!"
-
-We cannot afford space for the wild riot of Skelton's description of old
-Eleanor Rumming--
-
-    Droupy and drowsy,
-    Scurvy and lousy,
-    Her face all bowsy;
-    Comely crinkled,
-    Wonderfully wrinkled,
-    Like roast pig's ear,
-    Bristled with hair.
-
-But Skelton has shown that he could praise in strains not unworthy the
-fair and noble, and buoyant with music of their own. Such is his canzonet
-to
-
-MISTRESS MARGARET HUSSEY.
-
-    Merry Margaret
-    As midsummer flower,
-    Gentle as falcon,
-    Or hawk of the tower.
-    With solace and gladness,
-    Mirth and no madness,
-    All good and no badness:
-    So joyously,
-    So maidenly,
-    So womanly,
-    Her demeanour
-    In everything
-    Far, far passing
-    That I can indite,
-    Or suffice to write
-    Of Merry Margaret,
-    As midsummer flower,
-    Gentle as falcon,
-    Or hawk of the tower, etc.
-
-A far more grave and not less vengeful satirist of Wolsey and the clergy
-was William Roy, the coadjutor of Tyndale in the translation of the
-Bible. He was originally a friar, but joining the Reformers, he wrote
-a poem against Wolsey, who had ordered the burning of Tyndale's New
-Testament. It is called--
-
-    "Rede me, and be not wrothe,
-    For I saye no thynge but trothe."
-
-In this work he placed on the title a coat of arms for Wolsey in black
-and crimson, with a description in verse at the back of the title,
-of which the following stanza, alluding to the deaths of the Duke of
-Buckingham (the swan) and the Duke of Norfolk (the white lion), may serve
-as a specimen:--
-
-    "Of the proude Cardinall this is the shelde,
-    Borne up betweene two angels of Sathan.
-    The sixe bloody axes in a bare felde
-    Sheweth the cruelty of the red man,
-    Which hath devoured the beautiful swan,
-    Mortal enemy of the white lion,
-    Carter of York, the vile butcher's sonne."
-
-The burning of Tyndale's New Testament is denounced by Roy in many verses
-of the bitterest feeling, every stanza repeating his indignation at the
-unhallowed deed:--
-
-    "O miserable monster, most malicious
-      Father of perversitie, patron of hell!
-    O terrible tyrant, to God and man odious,
-      Advocate of antichrist, to Christ rebell;
-    To thee I speak, O caytife cardinall so cruell,
-    Causeles chargynge by thy coursed commandment
-    To burne Godde's worde, the wholly Testament."
-
-Besides these satirists there was John Heywood, in the time of Henry
-VIII., Edward, and Mary, who wrote "Six Centuries of Epigrams," of a
-pious nature, a considerable number of plays, and an allegory called
-"The Spider and the Fly." Of course, he was a favourite with Henry and
-Mary, and is said to have been more amusing in his conversation than in
-his books. Heywood has the honour commonly assigned him of being the
-first author of interludes; the stepping-stones from the old mysteries
-and moralities to the regular drama. With the Church passed away these
-grotesque performances called religious; and the drama quickly expanded
-in all its fair proportions before the eyes of the public. Shakespeare
-arose, and the dates of the appearance of his plays show us that they
-were many of them produced before 1603, the close of the reign of
-Elizabeth. In fact, Shakespeare seems to have retired from the stage in
-the very year of Elizabeth's death. Before him, however, a number of
-dramatic writers had appeared; but the greater part of them overlived
-the termination of Elizabeth's reign, or their works began after that
-period to take their due rank. Of these dramatic writers some may be
-noted in passing. Heywood had been preceded by Skelton in the line of
-interlude, whose strange "Nigromansia" was printed by Wynkyn de Worde as
-early as 1505. Heywood wrote various interludes, but his chief one was
-the "4 P's," namely, a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary, and a Pedlar. On
-the heels of this appeared the first regular comedy, "Gammer Gurton's
-Needle," written by John Hill, and printed in 1551. Ten years after was
-acted the first English tragedy, "Gorboduc," written by Thomas Norton
-and the celebrated poet Thomas Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurst and
-Earl of Dorset. Passing over the "Damon and Pythias" of Richard Edwards,
-the "Promos and Cassandra" of George Whetstone, which, borrowed from
-an Italian novel, contains the rude outline of Shakespeare's "Measure
-for Measure," we come to Robert Greene, who with Kyd, Lyly, Peele,
-Nash author of "Queen Dido," and Marlowe, constituted a remarkable
-constellation of genius. Greene's chief plays are "Friar Bacon and
-the Friar of Bungay," and "A Looking Glasse for London," written in
-conjunction with his friend Thomas Lodge. He also wrote much poetry.
-The principal dramas of George Peele are "David and Bethsabe, with the
-Tragedy of Absolon," written in 1579, which is a real mystery play, and
-"The Famous Chronicle of Edward I.," "The Old Wives' Tales, a Comedy,"
-&c. Lyly, the Euphuist, wrote nine plays, amongst them "Alexander and
-Campaspe," "Sappho and Phaon," "Midos," "Gallathea," etc. Lyly was fond
-of Greek subjects, but he could also enjoy English comedy, as in "Mother
-Bombie," and others, which are regular comedies, divided into acts and
-scenes, and interspersed with agreeable songs.
-
-Contemporary with the preceding, as well as with Shakespeare, Marlowe
-(_b._ 1564, _d._ 1593) is the greatest name which precedes that of
-the supreme dramatist. We can do no more here than name some of his
-chief tragedies, for Marlowe was essentially a tragedian. These were
-"Tamburlaine the Great," in two parts, "The Massacre of Paris," "Edward
-II.," including the fall of Mortimer and Gaveston, "Doctor Faustus," "The
-Rich Jew of Malta," and "Lust's Dominion; or, the Lascivious Queen."
-Marlowe was, moreover, a beautiful lyrical poet, as is evident by his
-charming madrigal "Come live with me and be my love," given in Walton's
-"Angler." Greene, Peele, Marlowe, Nash, and that whole company were
-dissipated in their lives, and lived and died in deep poverty. To these
-we must add, as dramatic poets of this era whom it is essential to a
-continuous view of the progress of the drama to mention with the rest,
-Decker; Kyd, author of "Jeronimo" and the "Spanish Tragedy;" Lodge,
-author of "The Wounds of Civil War," &c.; Gascoine; Chapman, also the
-celebrated author of the translation of Homer; Jasper Heywood, son of
-John Heywood; Weston, Marston, &c. So much was the drama now advanced in
-estimation, that even Elizabeth's Lord Chancellor, Hatton, was in part
-author of the tragedy of "Tancred and Sigismunda," founded on the story
-of Boccaccio.
-
-[Illustration: EDMUND SPENSER.]
-
-Amongst the lyrical poets, the reign of Henry VIII. presents us with a
-remarkable trio, who were associated as well by their genius as their
-position and fate. These were Sir Thomas Wyatt, the early lover of Anne
-Boleyn, her brother, George Boleyn, afterwards the unfortunate Earl of
-Rochford, and the equally unfortunate Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, the
-last victim of the sanguinary Henry VIII. Surrey was the cousin-german
-of the Boleyns, Wyatt was their early neighbour and playfellow; together
-they all figured amongst the most accomplished courtiers: two of them
-lost their heads, the third only narrowly escaping; and their poetry was
-printed together in one volume.
-
-Sir Thomas Wyatt (_b._ 1503, _d._ 1542, and called the Elder, to
-distinguish him from his son, who was executed for rebellion in the reign
-of Queen Mary) was one of the most illustrious men of the Court of Henry
-VIII. His country-house was Allington Castle, in Kent, and its vicinity
-to the residence of the Boleyns made him a youthful companion of Anne and
-her brother and sister. He became attached to Anne, but was obliged to
-give way to the king, of whose wrath he was in some danger. After that he
-was long employed abroad in embassies to France, Spain, Italy, and the
-Netherlands. Incurring the king's displeasure for aiding Cromwell in the
-promotion of the marriage with Anne of Cleves, he prudently withdrew from
-Court to his castle in Kent. He had never ceased writing poetry even when
-engaged in his diplomatic missions, and he now more than ever cultivated
-the muses. His amatory verses are polished and elegant, but his satires
-display more vigour, and are remarkable as containing the earliest
-English version of "The Town and Country Mouse." Besides his poems he has
-left letters, in which he not only gives us many insights into the state
-of the Courts where he resided, but various particulars regarding the
-fate of Anne Boleyn, and some addressed to his son, which place him in a
-most favourable light as a man and a father. His prose has been greatly
-admired. A short lyric, which we may give, addressed to Anne Boleyn, when
-her creation of Marchioness of Pembroke warned him that he saw in her the
-future queen, clearly informs us that he had been her accepted lover:--
-
-    "Forget not yet the tried intent
-    Of such a truth as I have meant;
-    My great travail so gladly spent,
-                              Forget not yet.
-
-    "Forget not yet when first began
-    The weary life ye know; since when
-    The suit, the service none tell can,
-                              Forget not yet.
-
-    "Forget not yet the great assays,
-    The cruel wrongs, the scornful ways,
-    The painful patience and delays,
-                              Forget not yet.
-
-    "Forget not, O! forget not this,
-    How long ago had been and is
-    The love that never meant amiss,
-                              Forget not yet.
-
-    "Forget not now thine own approved,
-    The which so constant hath thee loved,
-    Whose steadfast faith hath never moved,
-                              Forget not yet."
-
-His friend George Boleyn was, perhaps, a more spirited poet than himself,
-and is said to have sung the night before his execution (May 17, 1536) a
-lyric which had been printed some time, along with the poems of Wyatt,
-called, "Farewell, my lute," the refrain of which was too strikingly
-applicable to his situation:--
-
-    "Farewell, my lute, this is the last
-    Labour that thou and I shall waste,
-    For ended is that we began;
-    Now is the song both sung and passed;
-    My lute, be still, for I have done."
-
-But the most famous of these was the Earl of Surrey (_b._ 1516, _d._
-1547). Like Wyatt, he had travelled in Italy, and formed a high
-admiration of the great Italian poets, Dante, Ariosto, and Petrarch, on
-whose model he formed his taste. Like his ancestor, the conqueror of
-Flodden, he was brave and high-spirited but seems to have had a facility
-for getting into scrapes, both with his own family and the Government.
-As a gay courtier, however, he was much admired by the ladies, and
-still more by people of taste for his poems, which went through four
-editions in two months, and through seven more in the thirty years
-after their appearance. They are supposed to have strongly influenced
-the taste of Spenser and Milton. The theme of his lyrics was the fair
-Geraldine, but who she was precisely neither critics nor historians
-have quite determined, though believed to be a lady of the Irish family
-of Fitzgerald. A single stanza will indicate the spirit with which he
-proclaimed her beauty:--
-
-    "Give place, ye lovers, here before
-      That spent your boasts and brags in vain!
-    My lady's beauty passeth more
-      The best of yours, I dare well say'n,
-    Than doth the sun the candle-light,
-    Or brightest day the darkest night."
-
-But the most important fact in Surrey's poetical history is his
-introduction of blank verse into the English language, a simple but, in
-its consequences, most eventful innovation, liberating both the heroic
-and the dramatic muse from the shackles of rhyme, and leading the way to
-the magnificent works of Shakespeare and Milton in that free form. There
-has been much dispute among critics as to whether Surrey invented blank
-verse, or merely copied it from some other language; but the only wonder
-seems that some one of our poets had not attempted it before. What so
-likely as that Surrey, in translating the first and fourth books of the
-"Æneid," should adopt the blank verse in which the original was written,
-not exactly the hexameter but a measure more suitable to the English
-language? All the verse of the ancient Greeks and Romans is of this blank
-species; and it is extraordinary that men well read in these tongues had
-so long omitted the experiment; especially as the Italians, the French,
-and the Spaniards had tried it. Gonsalvo Perez, secretary to Charles V.,
-had translated Homer's "Odyssey" into blank verse; and in 1528 Trissino,
-in order to root out the _terza rima_ of Dante, had published his "Italia
-Liberata di Goti"--"Italy delivered from the Goths"--in blank verse. In
-the reign of Francis I. two of the most popular poets of France, Jodelle
-and De Baif, wrote poems in this style. Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld,
-had already translated the "Æneid' into Scots metre, and it would seem
-as if Surrey, in trying his hand on two books of the same poem, had been
-induced to make the essay of blank verse at the same time. Whatever
-was the immediate cause, nothing could exceed the success of Surrey's
-experiment. His verse flows with a stately dignity full of music and
-strength. We take a specimen from the fourth book of the "Æneid," where
-Dido, who has vowed never to marry again, perceives her new passion for
-Æneas, and discloses her pain to her sister:--
-
-    "Ne to her lymmes care graunteth quiet rest.
-    The next morrowe with Phoebus' lampe the erthe
-    Alightened clere, and eke the dawning daye,
-    The shadowe danke gan from the pole remove,
-    When all unsownd her sister of like minde,
-    Thus spoke she to: 'O sister An, what dremes
-    Be these that me tormenten, thus afraide?
-    What newcome gest unto our realm ys come?
-    What one of chere? How stowt of harte in arms?
-    Truelie I think, ne vaine ys my beliefe,
-    Of goddishe race some of springe should he seeme.
-    Cowardie noteth harts swarved owt of kinde
-    He driven, lord, with how hard destinie!
-    What battells eke atchieved did he tell!
-    And but my minde was fixt immovablie
-    Never with wight in wedlocke for to joine,
-    Sithe my first love me lefte by deth disseverid,
-    Yf bridal bowndes and bed me lothed not,
-    To this one fawlt perchaunce yeet might I yeld;
-    For I will graunt sith wretched Syche's dethe,
-    My spouse and hawse with brother slaughter stained,
-    This onley man hath made my senses bend,
-    And pricketh forthe the minde that gan to slide:
-    Feelinglie I taste the steppes of mine old flame.
-    But first I wishe the erth me swallow downe,
-    Or with thunder the mighty Lord me send
-    To the pale gostes of hell and darkness depe,
-    Or I thee stayne shamefastness, or the lawes.'"
-
-If we turn to Sackville's "Gorboduc," acted before Queen Elizabeth in
-1561, we shall see how thoroughly blank verse had asserted its freedom of
-the language. Even Greene, in his "Friar Bacon," in 1594, has passages
-that in their rich and harmonious diction display the wonderful power of
-blank verse. The true vehicle for the deathless dramas of Shakespeare was
-established, and already he had taken possession of it with some of his
-noblest imaginings, for Nash, as early as 1589, alludes to "Hamlet."
-
-But before coming to Shakespeare, we must add another word regarding
-Sackville (_b._ 1527, _d._ 1608). In 1559 he published "The Mirrour for
-Magistrates." The poetical preface to this work, which he called "The
-Induction," and the "Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham," displayed
-the most remarkable powers of poetry, and at once arrested the public
-attention. The work itself was a mere series of the lives of personages
-prominent in English history; it is supposed to be an imitation of
-Lydgate's "Fall of Princes," but is expanded by the loftier genius of the
-author, while the induction is so illustrated by allegory, as to give
-rise to the belief that Spenser was indebted to him.
-
-Edmund Spenser, the greatest of our allegoric poets, was born (1553) in
-East Smithfield, in London, and was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.
-He had the good fortune to secure the friendship of the all-powerful
-Earl of Leicester, of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Walter Raleigh. By their
-introduction to Queen Elizabeth, he obtained an annuity of £50 a year;
-and besides being employed by Leicester on a mission to France, went to
-Ireland in 1580 with Lord Grey de Wilton. We have already mentioned his
-"View of the State of Ireland," and for that able work, as well as for
-other services, he received a grant of the abbey and manor of Enniscorthy
-in Wexford, which the same year, probably under pressure of necessity,
-he transferred to a Mr. Lynot. The estate, at the time of Gilbert's
-survey of Ireland, was worth £8,000 a year. Afterwards Spenser obtained
-the grant of the castle of Kilcolman, in the county of Cork, part of the
-estate of the unfortunate Earl of Desmond, with 3,000 acres of land.
-On this property the poet went to live, and his dear friend Sir Philip
-Sidney being just then killed at the battle of Zutphen, he wrote his
-pastoral elegy of "Astrophel" in his honour. He also wrote his great work
-the "Faerie Queene" there; but in 1597 he was chased by the exasperated
-Irish from his castle, which was burned over his head, his youngest child
-perishing in the cradle. He reached London, with his wife and two boys
-and a girl, and thus broken down by his misfortunes, he sank and died in
-1599 at an inn or lodging-house in King Street, Westminster. Ben Jonson
-says "he died for lake of bread, yet refused twenty pieces sent to him by
-my Lord of Essex, adding he was sorry he had not time to spend them."
-
-It has been asked how he could die of "lack of bread" with an annuity
-of £50 a year. The thing is very possible. Burleigh was his life-long
-enemy. He hated him as the commonplace soul instinctively hates the man
-of genius, and this hatred was aggravated by his being patronised by
-Leicester, Essex, and Raleigh, all men whom Burleigh detested. Nothing
-was, therefore, easier than for Burleigh to withhold the dying poet's
-pension, or his son Robert Cecil, who now possessed his power, for
-Burleigh was in his last days, and Cecil inherited all his meanness.
-Spenser has recorded the malice of Burleigh in various places. In his
-"Ruins of Time" he says:--
-
-    "The rugged foremost that with grave foresight
-    Wields kingdoms' causes and affairs of state,
-    My looser verse, I wot, doth sharply wite
-    For praising love."
-
-And at the close of the sixth book of "The Faerie Queene," he declares
-there is no hope of escaping "his venomous despite." Spenser's verses in
-"Mother Hubbard's Tales," describing the miseries of Court dependence,
-have often been quoted:--
-
-    "Full little knowest thou that hast not tryed
-    What hell it is in suing long to byde;
-    To lose good days that might be better spent;
-    To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
-    To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;
-    To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow;
-    To have thy prince's grace, yet want her peeres';
-    To have thy asking, yet wait many years;
-    To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares;
-    To eat thy heart with comfortless despairs;
-    To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
-    To spend, to give, to want, to be undone."
-
-The minor poems of Spenser beside the "Astrophel," are the "Epithalamium"
-on his own marriage; four "Hymns to Love and Beauty;" "Sonnets;" "Colin
-Clout come Home again;" "The Tears of the Muses;" "Mother Hubbard's
-Tales," which refer to Court characters of the time; "The Ruins of
-Time;" "Petrarch's Visions," "Bellaye's Visions," &c. In all these there
-is much beauty and fancy, mingled with much that is far-fetched and
-fantastic--the inevitable fault of that age. The "Faerie Queene" rises
-above them all as the cathedral over the lesser churches of a great city.
-It was written in a stanza which from him has ever since been called the
-Spenserian, a stanza so capable of every grace, strength, and harmony,
-that there are few poets who have not essayed it: Thomson's "Castle of
-Indolence," Beattie's "Minstrel," Mrs. Tighe's "Psyche," Campbell's
-"Gertrude of Wyoming," and Byron's "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," have
-made it the vehicle of many immortal thoughts.
-
-To the modern reader, nevertheless, the "Faerie Queene" would prove a
-tedious task in a continuous perusal. It is of a fashion and taste so
-entirely belonging to the age in which it was written--that of courtly
-tourneys, of parade of knighthood, at least in books, and of fondness
-of high-flown allegory--that it unavoidably strikes a reader of this
-more realistic age as visionary, formal in manner, and descriptive not
-of actual human life, but of an impossible style of existence. It is
-dedicated to Queen Elizabeth as "The Most High, Mightie, and Magnificent
-Empresse," and in a letter to Sir Walter Raleigh he explains its plan.
-Following the example of Ariosto in his "Orlando," he endeavours to
-exalt worthy knighthood by portraying Prince Arthur before he was king,
-under the image of a brave knight, perfected in the twelve private moral
-virtues, as Aristotle hath devised, in which is the purpose of these
-first twelve books. From the arguments of "Despair" to the "Red-Crosse
-Knight," we may take a specimen of the "Faerie Queene:"
-
-        "'Who travailes by the wearie, wandering way,
-        To come unto his wished home in haste,
-        And meets a flood that doth his passage stay,
-        Is not great grace to help him over past,
-        Or free his feet that in the myre sticke fast?
-        Most envious man that grieves at neighbour's good,
-        And fond, that joyest in the woe thou hast,
-        Why wilt not let him passe, that long hath stood
-    Upon the bancke, yet wilt thyselfe not pas the flood?
-
-        "'He there does now enjoy eternall rest,
-        And happy ease, which thou dost want and crave,
-        And further from it daily wanderest:
-        What if some little payne the passage have,
-        That makes frayle flesh to feare the bitter wave?
-        Is that not payne well borne, that bringes long ease,
-        And lays the soul to sleepe in quiet grave?
-        Sleepe after toyle, port after stormie seas,
-    Ease after warre, deathe after life, does greatly please.'
-
-        "The knight much wondered at his suddeine wit,
-        And sayst, 'The terme of life is limited,
-        Ne may a man prolong, nor shorten it;
-        The soldier may not move from watchful steed,
-        Nor leave his stand, until his captaine bid.'
-        'Who life did limit by Almightie doome,'
-        Quoth he, 'knows best the terms established;
-        And he that points the centenel his roome,
-    Doth license his depart at sound of morning droome.
-
-        "'Is not his deed, whatever thing is done,
-        In heaven and earth? Did he not all create
-        To die againe? All ends, that was begoune,
-        Their times in his eternall booke of fate
-        Are written sure, and have their certain date.
-        Who, then, can strive with strong necessitie?
-        That holds the world in its still changing state,
-        Or shunne the death ordayned by destinee?
-    When houre of death is come, let none aske whence nor why.
-
-        "'The longer life, I wote, the greater sin;
-        The greater sin, the greater punishment.
-        All those great battles which thou boasts to win,
-        Through strife, and bloodshed, and avengement,
-        Now praysed, hereafter deare thou shalt repent--
-        For life must life, and blood must blood repay.
-        Is not enough thy evill life forespent?
-        For he that once hath missèd the right way,
-    The further he doth goe, the further he doth stray.'"
-
-The language of Spenser must not be held to be the language of the time;
-he purposely used an antiquated diction to give a quaint and piquant
-tone to his romance. A modern critic has denied that the language is
-thus treated by the poet; but it must be allowed that Sir Philip Sidney,
-living at the moment, was a competent judge of this fact, and in his
-"Defence of Poesie" he complains of this very circumstance in the "Faerie
-Queene."
-
-[Illustration: THE HOUSE AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS
-BORN.]
-
-We arrive now at the last name which we intend to introduce in our review
-of the literature of England at this period, and it is the greatest;
-perhaps the greatest which has yet diffused its glory over this or any
-other country. The genius of Shakespeare appears to penetrate into all
-departments of human knowledge, and his instincts possess a universal
-accuracy. Whether he describes the beauties of Nature at large, or
-enters the haunts of busy life, high or low, royal, noble, or plebeian,
-or sends his all-searching glance into the depths of the human mind,
-or the strange intricacies of human nature, we are equally astonished
-at the clearness of his perceptive faculties, and the justness of his
-conclusions. We shall not here discuss the various guesses, for such to a
-great degree they are, which have been indulged in by his host of critics
-and biographers, regarding his little known life. It is sufficient that
-we know that he was born at Stratford-on-Avon in 1564; that his father
-was in the Town Council, and a man of property; that William was said to
-have been apprenticed to a butcher, or that one of his father's trades
-was that of a butcher; that at the age of nineteen he married Anne
-Hathaway, who was eight years his senior; that at the age of twenty-two
-he was driven by increasing poverty, and it is said through a disturbance
-about poaching in Sir Thomas Lucy's park, to London, where he became
-connected with the theatre, and so early as 1589 we find that he had
-written "Hamlet," if no other of his dramas, though none of them seem to
-have been published till 1597, eight years afterwards. The first of his
-poems, "Venus and Adonis," was printed in 1593, four years earlier, and
-the "Rape of Lucrece" in the following year. From that time to 1603,
-the year of the death of Elizabeth, a great number of his dramas was
-published, but "King Lear," "Macbeth," "Cymbeline," "The Winter's Tale,"
-the "Tempest," "Troilus and Cressida," "Henry VIII.," "Coriolanus,"
-"Julius Cæsar," and "Antony and Cleopatra," would appear to have been the
-glorious products of his ten or thirteen years of leisure in his native
-town. One of the first labours of his retirement seems to have been the
-collection of his Sonnets, for they were published in 1609.
-
-We mention these facts here merely as historical data; because it will
-be necessary to notice his plays in the next centennial period of our
-history, in connection with the drama at large; but we shall confine our
-notice of Shakespeare on this occasion solely to his poetical character.
-
-The poems of Shakespeare are "Venus and Adonis," "The Rape of Lucrece,"
-"Sonnets," "A Lover's Complaint," and "The Passionate Pilgrim." The
-poems for the most part, if not altogether--"The Passionate Pilgrim" and
-some of the sonnets excepted--would appear to have been his earliest
-productions. He dedicates "Venus and Adonis" to Lord Southampton, and
-styles it "the first heir of my invention." This poem, "The Rape of
-Lucrece," and the "Lover's Complaint," bear marks of youthful passion.
-They burn with a voluptuous fire, yet they are at the same time equally
-prodigal of a masterly vigour, imagination, and the faculty of entering
-into and depicting the souls of others. They as clearly herald the great
-poet of the age, as a morning sun in July announces what will be its
-intensity at noon. The language, in its purity and eloquence, is so
-perfect that it might have been written, not in the days of Elizabeth,
-but in those of Victoria, and presents a singular contrast to that of
-Spenser. "The Passionate Pilgrim" is an extraordinary production; it has
-no thread, not even the slightest, of story or connection, and seems
-to be merely a stringing together of various passages of poetry, which
-he had struck off at different moments of inspiration, and intended to
-use in his dramas. Some of them indeed we find there. It opens with a
-commencement of the legend of "Venus and Adonis," apparently his first
-rude sketch of the poem he afterwards wrote more to his mind. It then
-breaks suddenly off with those well-known lines, beginning--
-
-    "Crabbed age and youth
-      Cannot live together;"
-
-soon after as suddenly changes into--
-
-    "It was a lording's daughter, the fairest one of three;"
-
-as abruptly gives us those charming stanzas opening with--
-
-    "Take, oh, take those lips away
-    That so sweetly were forsworn;"
-
-and presents us with a number of disjointed passages which are found in
-"Love's Labour's Lost."
-
-But the Sonnets are the most interesting, because they give us glimpses
-into his own life and personal feelings. Many of them are plainly written
-in the characters of others; some express the sentiments of women towards
-their lovers, but others are unmistakably the deepest sentiments and
-feelings of his own life. From these we learn that Shakespeare was not
-exempt from the dissipations and aberrations incident on a town life at
-that time, but his true and noble nature led him to abandon the immoral
-city as early as possible, and retire to his own domestic roof in his own
-native place. We may select one specimen of these sonnets, which probably
-was addressed to his wife, and which at once betrays his dislike of his
-profession of an actor, and his regret over the influence which it had
-had on his mind, and the stigma which it had cast on his name; for the
-profession of a player was then so low as to stamp actors as "vagabonds."
-
-    "Oh, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
-    The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,
-    That did not better for my life provide
-    Than public means which public manners breeds:
-    Thence came it that my name receives a brand,
-    And almost thence my nature is subdued
-    To what it works in, like the dyer's hand.
-    Pity me then, and wish I were renewed;
-    Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink
-    Potions of eysell[A] 'gainst my strong infection;
-    No bitterness that I will bitter think,
-    Nor double penance to correct correction.
-    Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye,
-    Even that your pity is enough to cure me."
-
-But if the great dramatist and inimitable poet shrank with disgust from
-the profession of acting, because of the estimation in which the actor
-then was held and the pollutions which surrounded the stage, he held a
-very different opinion of the vocation of a dramatist. In the peaceful
-and virtuous retirement of his country residence he still occupied
-himself with the composition of the noblest dramas of all time; and
-whilst he was so free from the petty egotism of a small mind that he left
-scarcely any record of himself, he boldly avowed his assurance of the
-immortality of his fame:--
-
-    "Now with the drops of this most balmy time,
-    My love looks fresh, and Death to me subscribes;[B]
-    Since, spite of him, I'll live in this poor rhyme,
-    While he insults o'er dull and speechless tribes:
-    And thou in this shalt find thy monument,
-    When tyrants' crests and tombs of brass are spent."
-
-[Footnote A: Vinegar.]
-
-[Footnote B: Submits.]
-
-[Illustration: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING KNOWN AS THE CHANDOS PORTRAIT, ATTRIBUTED TO RICHARD
-BURBAGE, IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.]
-
-We shall have occasion to show that Shakespeare had much to do in shaping
-and raising the drama out of that chaotic state in which he found it,
-and the wonder has always been that, with his apparently imperfect
-education, he could accomplish so much. But there is no education like
-self-education; this was William Shakespeare's, and his genius was of
-that brilliant and healthy kind that gave him all the advantages of such
-a tuition. In history and in society he found the materials of the drama,
-but the wealth and power of the poet he found in the great school of
-Nature.
-
-In Scotland the language had remained much more stationary than in
-England. In this period we find the chief Scottish poets writing in a
-diction far more unintelligible to the English reader than Chaucer's or
-Gower's was in the middle of the fourteenth century. Two of the Scots
-poets of that period--Barbour and King James I.--wrote in English, and,
-therefore, in a language far in advance of Gawin Douglas, Dunbar, and
-Sir David Lyndsay in the sixteenth century. One great reason of this
-probably was the constant strife and enmity between the nations, which
-made the Scots cling in confirmed nationality to their own language and
-customs, for the works and merits of the English poets were known and
-acknowledged. James I. called Chaucer and Gower "his maisters dear."
-Henryson, a succeeding poet, even wrote a continuation of Chaucer's
-"Troilus and Cresseide," under the names of the "Testament," and the
-"Complaint of Cresseide;" and Gawin, or Gavin, Douglas, the famous Bishop
-of Dunkeld, pronouncing his vernacular tongue barbarous, declared that
-rather than remain silent through the scarcity of Scottish terms, he
-would use bastard Latin, French, or English. A still greater and later
-poet, Dunbar, expresses repeatedly his admiration of "Chawcer of Makars
-flowir," of "the Monck of Berry," "Lydgate," and "Gowyr." Yet if we use
-the very language which he did to utter his admiration in, we find no
-advance towards the polish of these poets:
-
-    "O reverend Chawcer, rose of rethouris all,
-    As in our toung the flowir imperiall,
-    That ever raise in Brittane, quha reids richt,
-    Those biers of makars the triumphs ryall,
-    The fresche enamallit termes celestiall;
-    This matter thou couth haif ilumint bricht,
-    Was thou not of our _Inglis_ all the licht;
-    Surmounting every toung terrestiall,
-    As far as Mayis fair morning does midnight.
-
-    "O morale Gower and Lidgate laureat,
-    Zour suggurat toungs and lipps aureat
-    Bene till our eirs cause of grit delyte."
-
-It is curious that Dunbar calls this English and not Scots. He also
-enumerates a long list of Scottish poets who were deceased, as Sir Hew
-of Eglintoun, Etrick, Heriot, Wyntoun, Maister John Clerk, James Afflek,
-Holland, Barbour, Sir Mungo Dockhart of the Lie, Clerk of Tranent, who
-wrote the adventures of Sir Gawayn, Sir Gilbert Gray, Blind Harry, and
-Sandy Traill, Patrick Johnstone, Mersar, Rowll of Aberdeen, and Rowll
-of Corstorphine, Brown of Dunfermline, Robert Henryson, Sir John the
-Ross, Stobo, Quinten Schaw, and Walter Kennedy. Of these little is now
-known, except of Henryson, and that chiefly for his ballad of "Robert and
-Makyn," given by Bishop Percy in his "Reliques of English Poetry."
-
-Gawin Douglas, third son of the celebrated fifth Earl of Angus, called
-Bell-the-Cat, was born in 1474. He lived a troubled life in those stormy
-times, and died a refugee in London, of the Plague, in 1522. He was
-patronised by Queen Margaret, sister of Henry VIII., and richly deserved
-it, for his learning, his virtues, and his genius. He was most celebrated
-in his own time for his translation of Virgil's "Æneid," the first
-metrical version of any ancient classic in either English or Scots. He
-also translated Ovid's "De Remedio Amoris." But his original poems, "The
-Palace of Honour," "King Hart," and his "Comoediæ Sacræ," or dramatic
-poems from the Scriptures, are now justly esteemed the real trophies of
-his genius. "The Palace of Honour" and "King Hart" are allegoric poems,
-abounding with beautiful descriptions and noble sentiments.
-
-The principal poems of William Dunbar (_b._ 1465, _d._ 1530,) are "The
-Golden Terge," or target; "The Thistle and the Rose," in honour of the
-marriage of Margaret of England with James IV. of Scotland; "The Fained
-Friar;" the "Lament of the Death of the Makars," or poets, and a number
-of other poems, chiefly lyrical, which display versatile genius--comic,
-satirical, grave, descriptive, and religious--and place him in the first
-rank of Scotland's poets, notwithstanding the obsolete character of his
-language; and not the least of his distinctions is the absence of that
-grossness which disfigured the writings of the poets of those times. A
-few lines may denote the music of his versification:
-
-    "Be merry, man, and tak nocht far in mynd
-    The waivering of this wrechit world of sorrow,
-    To God be humill, and to thy freynd be kynd,
-    And with thy nychtbouris glaidly len and borrow;
-    His chance to-nycht, it may be thyne to-morrow."
-
-[Illustration: SHAKESPEARE. (_From the Portrait by Droeshout in the First
-Folio._)]
-
-The last poet of this period that we must notice is Sir David Lyndsay
-of the Mount, Lyon King-at-Arms, whom Sir Walter Scott, in "Marmion,"
-has made so familiar to modern readers, predating, however, Sir David's
-office of Lyon King by seventeen years. Sir David was born about 1490,
-and is supposed to have died about 1567; so that he lived in the reigns
-of Henry VII. of England and of Elizabeth, through the whole period
-of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary. His life was cast in times most
-eventful, and Sir David, as Lyon-Herald of Scotland, occupied a prominent
-position in the shaping of those events. At the time of the battle of
-Flodden in 1513, both Pitscottie and Buchanan assure us that he was with
-James IV. when the ghost appeared to him in the church at Linlithgow,
-warning him against the battle. Lyndsay was then only three-and-twenty.
-He was appointed page to the young king, and continued about him and in
-his service during the king's life. In his "Complaynt," addressing the
-king, he says:--
-
-    "How as are chapman beres his pack,
-    I bore thy grace upon my back,
-    And sometymes stridlingis on my neck,
-    Dansand with mony bend and beck:
-    The first syllabis that thou did mute,
-    Pa-da-lyn upon the lute;
-    For play, thou leit me never rest,
-    But gyngertoun, thou luffit ay best.
-    And ay quhen thou come from the scule,
-    Then I luffit to play the fule."
-
-Lyndsay went to France on embassies of royal marriage; and after the
-king's early death, under the Regency, he was again sent to the Low
-Countries on a mission to the Emperor Charles V. In 1548 he went as
-Lion-King to Denmark, to King Christian, to seek aid against the English,
-and afterwards lived to see the great struggle between the old Church and
-the Reformation, the murder of Cardinal Beaton, the return of Knox, and
-must have died about the time of the murder of Darnley.
-
-[Illustration: THE ACTING OF ONE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS IN THE TIME OF
-QUEEN ELIZABETH.]
-
-Sir David, though bred a courtier, was a thorough Reformer; and his poems
-abound with the most unrestrained exposure of the corruptions of Courts
-and of the Church. On the flagitious lives of monks, nuns, and clergy,
-he pours forth the most trenchant satire and denunciation; and in this
-respect he may be styled the Chaucer of Scotland. His poems are "The
-Dreme," "The Complaynt," "The Complaynt of Papingo," "The Complaynt of
-Bagsche," "Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Three Estatis," "The Answer to the
-King's Flyting," "Kittie's Confession," "The Tragedie of the Cardinal,"
-"The Historie and Testament of Squire Meldrum," "Monarchie," and "The
-Epistill Nuncupatorie."
-
-"The Dreme" reminds one of the dreams of former poets, of Chaucer,
-William Langland's, "The Vision of Piers Plowman," and of those of
-Douglas and Dunbar. Probably "The Golden Terge" of Dunbar suggested
-this poem, for just as Dunbar goes out, as "the stern of day began to
-schyne," and lying under a _roseir_, or arbour of roses, lulled by
-the songs of birds and the sound of a river, dreams, so does Lyndsay
-dream, passing, with Dame Remembrance as his guide, through earth, hell,
-purgatory, heaven, paradise, and "the planets seven," hearing and seeing
-all the works of God, and the rewards and punishments of the good and
-the evil. "The Complaynt" describes the degenerate manners of the Court
-whilst Lyndsay was banished from it, and the grapes were sour. "The
-Complaynt of the Papingo," or the king's parrot, deals out the same
-measure to the hierarchy as Lyndsay had given to the State, and in it
-Cardinal Beaton, the Pope and the clergy in general, are soundly rated.
-Next comes "The Three Estatis," a morality play in which all kinds of
-emblematical personages--Rex Humanitas, Sensualitie, Chastitie, &c.--act
-their parts. Its scope may be inferred from its being declared to be
-"in commendation of vertew and vituperation of vyce." This is the great
-work of Lyndsay, and was acted before the king and queen, who sat out
-nine mortal hours in its performance, in which they successively heard
-every order in the State--Court, nobility, Church, and people--severely
-criticised. Lyndsay's play has the merit of preceding both "Gorboduc"
-and "Gammer Gurton's Needle;" and it certainly possesses the moral of
-the former and the wit of the latter. "The Answer to the King's Flyting"
-is a very curious example of what the indulgence of a professional fool
-at Court led to: it produced not only the jester but the poet laureate.
-The king condescended to flyte, or jibe, with his jester; the jester
-in return became the satirist, and the poet laureate healed all wounds
-by his eulogies. James V. flyted with Lyndsay, and Lyndsay answered
-with interest. In "Kittie's Confession" Lyndsay ridicules auricular
-confession. In "The Cardinal" he sings a song of triumph over the fall
-of Beaton. In the "Legend of Squire Meldrum" the poet dresses up the
-adventures of a domestic of Lord Lyndsay's of that name in the manner of
-an ancient romance, and it was extremely popular. It has been declared by
-critics of note to be the best of Lyndsay's poems, and equal to the most
-polished pieces of Drayton, who lived a century after him.
-
-We have taken thus much notice of the Lyon King-at-Arms, because
-nowadays he does not enjoy, perhaps, his due fame in comparison with
-that of our Chaucer and our early dramatists; yet a perusal of his works
-is necessary to a real knowledge of the times in which he lived. The
-reader, however, must be warned that in the search after this knowledge
-he will have to wade through much filth, and language now astonishing
-for its naked coarseness. On the other hand, he will occasionally find
-scientific theories of modern pretension quite familiar to our Lyon-King.
-For instance, Kirwan in his "Elements of Mineralogy"--a work published
-in 1794 and marking a considerable advance in knowledge--claimed the
-geologic discovery that the currents which broke up the hills in Europe
-came from the south-west, leaving the diluvial slopes declining to the
-north-east. But hear Lyndsay three hundred years ago:--
-
-    "I reid how clerkis dois conclude,
-    Induryng that maist furious flude
-    With quhilk the erth was sa opprest,
-    The wynd blew feorth of the south-west,
-    As may be sene be experience,
-    How, throw the watter's violence,
-    The heich montanis, in every art,
-    Ar bain fornenst the south-west part;
-    As the montanis of Pyreneis,
-    The Alpis, and rochis in the seis;
-    Richt sa the rochis gret and gray
-    Quhilk standis into Norroway.
-    The heichest hillis, in every art,
-    And in Scotland, for the maist part,
-    Throuch weltryng of that furious flude,
-    The craigis of erth war maist denude.
-    Travelling men may considder best
-    The montanis bair nixt the south-west."
-
-The sixteenth century was nearly as distinguished for its Music as its
-poetry. The reproach which has been cast on England in our own time for
-not being a musical or music-producing nation did not apply then. On the
-contrary, we stood at the head of Europe in original musical composition.
-The monarchs of that age, like their most illustrious predecessors from
-Alfred downwards, were highly educated in music. Henry VIII. was himself
-a composer of Church music. It must be recollected that Henry, being but
-the second son of Henry VII., was originally educated for the Church,
-whose dignities were then princely; and, as a matter of course, he was
-made familiar with its music, which occupied so prominent a part in its
-worship. Erasmus bears testimony to the fact of Henry having composed
-Offices for the Church--a fact confirmed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury and
-Bishop Burnet; and Sir John Hawkins in his "History of Music," and Boyce,
-in his "Cathedral Music of English Masters," have preserved specimens of
-the Royal composition. Boyce gives a fine anthem of Henry's, "O Lord, the
-Maker of all things." The king's musical establishment for his chapel
-consisting of 114 persons cost annually upwards of £2,000, and was
-continued by Edward. Mary and Elizabeth were equally learned in music,
-though they do not appear to have patronised it as royally.
-
-Under these circumstances great composers, both of sacred and social
-music flourished in the sixteenth century. The names of Tye, Marbeck,
-Tallis, Bird, Farrant, Dowland, Bennet, Wilbye, Ford, &c., stand in
-superb array as composers of some of our finest Church music, or of
-madrigals and part songs.
-
-Tye was so much esteemed by Henry VIII., that he was made music
-preceptor to Edward VI., and was afterwards organist to Elizabeth. He
-composed both anthems and madrigals; and his motett, "Laudate nomen
-Domini," is still famous. Marbeck composed the notes to the Preces
-and Responses, which, with some alterations, are still in use in our
-cathedrals. He was organist at Windsor, and was very nearly losing his
-life under the ferocious Henry, being found to be a member of a society
-for religious reformation. He and his three accomplices were condemned to
-the stake; but Marbeck was saved by his musical genius, Henry observing,
-on Marbeck's "Latin Concordance," on which he had been employed, being
-shown to him, "Poor Marbeck! it would be well for thine accusers if they
-employed their time no worse." His fellows were burnt without mercy,
-though no more guilty than himself.
-
-[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CITHER AND MUSIC-BOOK.]
-
-Tallis was indebted to Marbeck for the notes just mentioned in his
-compositions for the Church. His entire service, including prayers,
-responses, Litany, and nearly all of a musical kind, are preserved in
-Boyce's collections. They became the most celebrated of any of that
-remarkable age. In conjunction, also, with his pupil William Bird, he
-published, in 1575, "Cantiones Sacræ"--perfect of their kind; one of
-them, "O sacrum convivium," since adapted by Dean Aldrich to the words
-"I call and cry," still continues to be frequently performed in our
-cathedrals. The "Cantiones" are also remarkable as having been the first
-things of the sort protected by a patent for twenty-one years, granted by
-Elizabeth.
-
-Bird was the author of the splendid canon, "Non nobis, Domine," which has
-been claimed by composers of Italy, France, and the Netherlands, but, as
-sufficiently proved, without any ground. The names of Tallis and Bird are
-of themselves an ample guarantee to the claim of musical genius by this
-country. Richard Farrant and Dr. Bull--the first a chorister in Edward
-VI.'s chapel, and the latter organist to Queen Elizabeth--added greatly
-to the sacred music of the period. Farrant's compositions especially are
-remarkable for their deep pathos and devotion. His anthem, preserved by
-Boyce, "Lord, for Thy tender mercy's sake." is unrivalled.
-
-In social music the poetical Surrey stands conspicuous, having set his
-own sonnets to music. Madrigals and other part songs--since better
-known as glees--were carried to a brilliant height in this country. The
-madrigal was originally invented by the Flemings, but glee singing seems
-to be English, though no doubt derived from the madrigal. Morley's first
-book of madrigals was published in 1594, Weelkes's in 1597, Wilbye's
-in 1598, Bennet's in 1599, and soon after Ward's and Orlando Gibbons'.
-Dowland's and Ford's are more properly glees than madrigals; the former
-appeared in 1597, and the latter in 1607. Morley, one of the gentlemen
-of Queen Elizabeth's chapel, appears, like Dowland, to have studied the
-works of the great composers abroad; and the harmony and science which he
-evinces are eminent. His canzonets for two voices are especially lively
-and pleasing. Dowland not only travelled in France, Italy, and Germany,
-but, at the request of King Christian IV., who saw him in England,
-he went to reside in Denmark. Fuller declares that he was the rarest
-musician of the age. In 1598 Wilbye published thirty madrigals, and a
-second book, applicable to instrumental as well as vocal music, in 1609,
-amongst which are, "Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting," "As fair
-as morn," "Down in a valley," &c.; and in 1599 John Bennet published a
-set of madrigals, including the admirable ones of "O sleep, fond Fancy!"
-"Flow, O my tears!" Lastly, John Milton, the father of the poet, who
-also composed several psalm tunes, was a contributor to "The Triumphs
-of Oriana," a set of madrigals in praise of Queen Elizabeth. Altogether
-this century was brilliant in both Church and convivial music; and if
-we are to judge from some specimens to be found in "The Dancing Master"
-and "Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book," the popular airs were in many
-instances of a superior character, among which we may mention Bird's
-"Carman's Whistle" and the "Newe Northern Ditty of Ladye Green Sleeves."
-
-The change which marked religion and literature in this country extended
-itself as strikingly into Architecture. We have no longer to record
-the rise of new Orders of ecclesiastical building, nor to direct the
-attention of the reader to splendid churches as examples of them. The
-unity of the Church, which had enabled it to erect such a host of
-admirable cathedrals and abbeys, was broken up; the wealth which had
-supplied the material and engaged the skill was dispersed into other
-hands, and destined not only to produce new orders of society, but new
-forms of architecture. Churches must give way to palaces and country
-halls, as full of innovations as the very faith of the country. From
-this period to our own time the taste for ecclesiastical architecture
-continued to decline, till the very principles of what is called Gothic
-architecture were forgotten. The architects, as Wren and Jones, went back
-to classic models, so little adapted to the spirit of Christian worship
-that, in spite of the genius expended upon them, they have remained few
-in number and, from the revival of the knowledge of Anglo-Gothic amongst
-us, are not likely to increase.
-
-[Illustration: HOLLAND HOUSE, KENSINGTON. (_From a Photograph by Bedford,
-Lemere & Co._)]
-
-But it is even a question whether the Gothic style had not reached its
-full development at the period of the Reformation; for we find in most
-European countries that the noblest buildings of this kind are for the
-most part anterior to this epoch. It is at the same time true that the
-same causes which brought our ecclesiastical architecture to a sudden
-stand in the sixteenth century strongly affected all Europe, even where
-Roman Catholicism managed to maintain its ground. Everywhere the conflict
-was raging--everywhere the rending influence was felt; and the ancient
-power and wealth of the Church were broken and diminished. In England a
-few churches might be pointed to of this period, but they exhibit the
-influence of the age in marks of decline, and to none can we turn as
-examples to be named with our Westminsters, Yorks, and Winchesters. Bath
-Abbey was in progress of erection when the Reformation burst forth and
-arrested its progress. It was not completed till 1616--more than ten
-years after the death of Elizabeth--and cannot be named as one of our
-finest erections.
-
-The wealth which was diverted from the Church into the hands of the Crown
-and the aristocracy, reappeared in palaces and country halls; and a
-totally new genius displayed itself in these. The old Tudor, so called,
-which marked the baronial residences even before the Tudors reached the
-throne, the mixture of castle and manor-house, with its small windows,
-battlemented roofs, and flanking turrets, began to enlarge and exaggerate
-most of these features, and to mix with them new elements clearly brought
-into the country by foreign architects, and in a great measure from
-Italy. The windows rapidly augmented themselves, till they soon occupied
-a predominant portion of the towers and fronts; the turrets became
-surmounted by domes, and by those bulbous domes which were often piled
-one above another. There was soon seen one tier of pillared or pilastered
-storey above another, in the Palladian or Paduan fashion. Turrets often
-gave way to scroll-work parapets; and instead of the house standing as
-heretofore on a level plain, it was elevated on a terrace, with broad and
-balustraded flights of steps, and all the adjuncts of fountains, statues,
-and balustraded esplanades essential to the Italian garden.
-
-[Illustration: THE GREAT COURT OF KIRBY HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.]
-
-The houses were still built round a court or quadrangle, and adorned
-with outer and inner gateways, while groined roofs and rich oriels still
-demonstrated the connecting link of descent from the Gothic. In fact,
-the architecture of the Tudor period is a singular yet often superb
-mixture of the Gothic and the Italian, with profusion of ornaments and
-ingraftment of parts which tell strongly of a more Eastern origin. Nor
-does it appear that these foreign elements were introduced at the latter
-portion of this period only--they stand forth conspicuously in the very
-commencement of it. In the later years of the reign of Elizabeth we
-can point to noble houses which are more allied to the ancient Tudor,
-with its small windows and simple towers and roofs, than those of the
-Henrys VII. and VIII., who in their earlier days had a gorgeous and even
-fantastic taste for palatial architecture. For example, Hampton Court
-is far more simple and chaste than Richmond Palace (_see_ p. 341), built
-by Henry VII., or Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII. In family mansions,
-Wimbledon House, built in 1588, with its open court, its two terraces,
-clearly Italian in character, is yet so chaste and simple, with its flat
-roof, its square slated towers, and mixture of small and large windows,
-that, compared to Nonsuch, as it has been, you at once see the violent
-contrast of the fanciful and the grave. Again, in Charlton House, in
-Kent, with its central entrance of Italian character, with two tiers of
-engaged columns, its ornamented parapets just verging into scroll-work,
-its turret windows of medium size, and its turret domes simple, and still
-plainer chimneys; or in Holland House (_see_ p. 380), built in 1607,
-without domes, but with ogee-gables; or in Campden House, as it was built
-in 1612, with roof of plainest character, and pilastered entrance, we
-mark a far less ornate style than in the days of the Henrys. The whole
-of this period was one of a mixed style, in which different architects
-indulged themselves in employing more or less of one or other of the
-prevailing elements, according to their tastes. What is more strictly
-called Elizabethan may be seen in such houses as Wollaton or Hardwicke,
-in which the ample square windows, the square towers superseding the
-octagon ones of Nonsuch, the absence of the Eastern-looking domes, and
-the presence of superb scroll-work, give a fine distinctive style.
-
-The Palace of Richmond, as built by Henry VII., with its projecting
-towers occupied almost entirely with windows, and its roof presenting
-an immense number of double domes, a smaller one surmounting a lantern
-placed on the larger domes, had an air more Saracenic than English;
-but the Palace of Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII., outdid that in the
-singularity of its style, and was the wonder of its age. It was built
-round a quadrangle; the front was flanked by octagonal towers which, at
-the height of the ordinary roof, rose, by a demi-arch expanding over
-the lower one, into three more storeys, and upon these were lesser
-towers of two storeys, surmounted by domes and fanes. All the lower
-storeys were divided into compartments by pilasters and bands, these
-compartments embellished by figures and groups in bas-relief. The lower
-part of this palace was of stone, the upper of wood. Hentzner, the German
-traveller, became quite enthusiastic in describing it as a palace in
-which everything that architecture could perform seemed to have been
-accomplished; and says that it was "so encompassed with parks full of
-deer, delicious gardens, groves ornamented with trellis-work, cabinets
-of verdure, and walks so embowered by trees, that it seemed to be a place
-pitched upon by Pleasure herself to dwell in along with Health."
-
-But there were two men in the reign of Henry VIII. who drew him off from
-this more florid and fanciful style to others of a very different, but
-equally imposing character, and full of rich detail. These were Wolsey
-and John of Padua. Wolsey appeared to have an especial fondness for
-brick-work, and Hampton and the gatehouse of his mansion at Esher remain
-as proofs of the admirable masonry which he used. In Hampton Court (_see_
-p. 121) we go back from the barbaric pomp of Nonsuch to the castellated
-style; to small windows, pointed archways, castellated turrets and
-battlements, mingled with rich oriel windows over the entrances, rich
-groined roofs in the archways, but a very sparing use of the ordinary aid
-of the bulbous dome. In this and the other buildings of this class, as
-Hengrave in Suffolk, the richly cross-banded chimneys are a conspicuous
-ornament. John Thorpe, or John of Padua, who became chief architect to
-Henry VIII., and afterwards built Somerset House for the Protector,
-seems to have been unknown in his own country, but originated a modified
-Italian style here which bears his name, possessing great grace and
-dignity, and of which Stoneyhurst College in Lancashire, Longleat in
-Wiltshire, and Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire (built for Sir Christopher
-Hatton), are fine examples.
-
-In the smaller houses of town and country there continued to be
-little change. They were chiefly of timber, and displayed much more
-picturesqueness than they afforded comfort. In towns the different
-storeys, one over-hanging another till the inhabitants could almost shake
-hands out of the attic windows across the narrow streets, and their want
-of internal cleanliness and ventilation, caused the plague periodically
-to visit them. The Spaniards who accompanied Philip, in Mary's reign,
-were equally amazed at the good living of the English people and the
-dirt about their houses. One great improvement about this time was the
-introduction of chimneys; and in good country-houses the ample space of
-their staircases, often finely ornamented with balustrade work, diffused
-a pure atmosphere through them.
-
-In other arts, however, the sixteenth century in England was almost
-destitute of native talent. In Statuary and Carving the preceding century
-had made great progress, but the destruction of the churches, and
-the outcry raised against images and carving on tombs as idolatry and
-vain-glory, gave a decided check to their development. As for Painting,
-it had never, except in illumination, flourished much among the English,
-and now that the Italian and Flemish schools had taken so high a
-position, it became the fashion of the princes and nobility, not to call
-forth the skill of natives, but to import foreign art and artists. In
-the reign of Henry VII. a Holbein, supposed to be the uncle of the great
-Hans Holbein, visited England, but we know little of his performance
-here. There is a picture at Hampton Court, called a Mabuse, of the
-Children of Henry VII.--Prince Arthur, Prince Henry, and the Princess
-Margaret. As Prince Henry appears to be about seven years old, that
-would fix the painting of the picture about 1499. But its authenticity
-is doubtful, as, according to some, Mabuse was born that year. In Castle
-Howard there is a painting by him of undoubted authority, "The Offering
-of the Magi," containing thirty principal figures. It is in the highest
-state of preservation, and Dr. Waagen, who was well acquainted with the
-productions of this artist in the great galleries of the Continent,
-pronounced it of the highest excellence. He is said to have painted the
-children of Henry VIII., but if he did so, the picture has perished.
-The date of his visit is quite uncertain, and the attribution to him of
-portraits is at the best no more than conjectural. Mabuse was a very
-dissipated man, and had fled from Flanders on account of his debts or
-delinquencies, yet the character of his performances is that of the most
-patient industry and painstaking. His works done in England could not
-have been many, as his abode here is supposed to have been only a year.
-He died in 1532.
-
-[Illustration: ENTRANCE FROM THE COURTYARD OF BURLEIGH HOUSE, STAMFORD.]
-
-Besides Mabuse, the names of several other foreign artists are known
-as having visited England; but little or nothing is known of the works
-of Toto del Nunziata, an Italian, or of Corvus, Fleccius, Horrebout
-or Horneband, or of Cornelius, Flemish artists; but another Fleming
-was employed, in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII., by Bishop
-Sherbourne, in painting a series of English kings and bishops in
-Chichester Cathedral.
-
-Of the celebrated Hans Holbein, the case is better authenticated. He
-resided in England nearly thirty years, and died in London of the plague
-in 1543. There is an obscurity about both the time and place of his
-birth, but the latter appears now to be settled to be Grünstadt, formerly
-the residence of the Counts of Leiningen-Westerburg. He accompanied his
-father to Basle, receiving from him instructions in his art. There he
-became acquainted with Erasmus, who gave him letters to Sir Thomas More.
-He arrived in England in 1526, and lived and worked in the house of his
-noble patron, Sir Thomas, for three years. The learned chancellor invited
-Henry VIII. to see his pictures, who was so much delighted with them,
-that he took him instantly into his service. It is related of him that
-while busily engaged with his works for the king, he was so much annoyed
-and interrupted by a nobleman of the court, that he ordered him to quit
-his studio, and on his refusing, pushed him downstairs. When the nobleman
-complained to Henry of this rudeness, Henry bluntly told him that the
-painter had served him right, and warned him to beware of seeking any
-revenge. "For," added he, "remember you now have not Holbein to deal
-with, but me: and I tell you, that of seven peasants I can make as many
-lords, but I cannot make one Holbein."
-
-The demand of portraits from Holbein by the Court and nobility was so
-constant and extensive, that he completed comparatively few historical
-compositions. He has left us various portraits of Henry, and adorned the
-walls of a saloon at Whitehall with two large paintings representing the
-triumphs of riches and poverty. He also painted Henry as delivering the
-charter of the barber-surgeons, and Edward VI. delivering that for the
-foundation of Bridewell Hospital. The former piece is still at the hall
-of that guild. Amongst the finest of Holbein's paintings on the Continent
-is that of "The Burgomaster and his Family" in the gallery at Dresden.
-There is less of the stiffness of his manner in that than in most of his
-pieces; but in spirited design, clearness and brilliancy of tone, and
-perfection of finish, few painters excel Holbein; he wanted only a course
-of study in the Italian school to have placed him among the greatest
-masters of any age.
-
-[Illustration: ELIZABETH'S DRAWING-ROOM, PENSHURST PLACE.
-
-(_From a Photograph by Carl Norman and Co., Tunbridge Wells._)]
-
-In the reign of Mary, Sir Antonio More, a Flemish artist, was the great
-portrait-painter. In that of Elizabeth, though she was not more liberal
-to the arts than to literature, yet her personal vanity led her to have
-her own portrait repeatedly painted, and the artists, chiefly Flemings,
-were much employed by the nobility in the same department. Some of the
-foreign artists also executed historical and other pieces. Among these
-artists may be named Frederic Zuccaro, an Italian portrait-painter; Luke
-van Heere, who executed a considerable number of orders here, including
-a series of representations of national costume for the Earl of Lincoln;
-and Cornelius Vroom, who designed the defeat of the Spanish Armada, for
-the tapestry which adorned the walls of the House of Lords, and which
-was destroyed by the fire in 1834. In Elizabeth's reign also two native
-artists distinguished themselves: Nicolas Hilliard, a miniature-painter;
-and Isaac Oliver (_b._ 1556, _d._ 1617), his pupil, who surpassed his
-master in portraits, and also produced historical works of merit.
-
-Among the sculptors were Pietro Torregiano, from Florence, who, assisted
-by a number of Englishmen, executed the bronze monument of Henry VII.,
-and is supposed also to be the author of the tomb of Henry's mother in
-his chapel. John Hales, who executed the tomb of the Earl of Derby at
-Ormskirk, was one of Torregiano's English assistants. Benedetto Rovezzano
-designed the splendid bronze tomb of Henry VIII., which was to have
-exhibited himself and Jane Seymour, as large as life, in effigy, an
-equestrian statue, figures of the saints and prophets, the history of St.
-George, amounting to 133 statues and forty bas-reliefs. This monument
-of Henry's egotism none of his children or successors respected him
-enough to complete; and Parliament, in 1646, ordered the portion already
-executed to be melted down.
-
-[Illustration: SOLDIERS OF THE TUDOR PERIOD.]
-
-In Scotland during this period the arts were still less cultivated.
-The only monarch who had evinced a taste for their patronage was James
-V., who improved and adorned the royal palaces, by the aid of French
-architects, painters, and sculptors whom he procured from France, with
-which he was connected by marriage and alliance. His chief interest and
-expenditure were, however, devoted to the palace at Linlithgow, which he
-left by far the noblest palace of Scotland, and worthy of any country in
-Europe.
-
-The furniture of noble houses in the sixteenth century was still
-quaint; but in many instances rich and picturesque. The walls retained
-their hangings of tapestry, on which glowed hunting-scenes, with their
-woodlands, dogs, horsemen, and flying stags, or resisting boars, or
-lions; scenes mythological or historical. In one of the finest preserved
-houses of that age, Hardwicke, in Derbyshire, the state-room is hung
-with tapestry representing the story of Ulysses; and above this are
-figures, rudely executed in plaster, of Diana and her nymphs. The hall is
-hung with very curious tapestry, of the fifteenth century, representing
-a boar-hunt and an otter-hunt. The chapel in this house gives a very
-vivid idea of the furniture of domestic chapels of that age; with its
-brocaded seats and cushions, and its curious altar-cloth, thirty feet
-long, hung round the rails of the altar, with figures of saints, under
-canopies, wrought in needlework. You are greatly struck as you pass
-along this noble old hall, which has had its internal decorations and
-furniture carefully retained, with the air of rude abundance, and what
-looks now to us nakedness and incompleteness, mingled with old baronial
-state, and rich and precious articles of use and show. There are vast and
-long passages, simply matted; with huge chests filled with coals, which
-formerly were filled with wood, and having ample crypts in the walls for
-chips and firewood. There are none of the modern contrivances to conceal
-these things; yet the rooms, which were then probably uncarpeted, or only
-embellished in the centre with a small Turkey carpet bearing the family
-arms, or perhaps merely with rushes, are still abounding with antique
-cabinets, massy tables, and high chairs covered with crimson velvet, or
-ornamental satin. You behold the very furniture used by the Queen of
-Scots; the very bed, the brocade of which she and her maidens worked with
-their own fingers. In the entrance hall the old feudal mansion still
-seems to survive with its huge antlers, its huge escutcheons, and carved
-arms thrust out of the wall, intended to hold lights. But still more
-does its picture gallery, extending along the whole front of the house,
-give you a feeling of the rude and stately grandeur of those times. This
-gallery is nearly 200 feet long, of remarkable loftiness, and its windows
-are stupendous, comprising nearly the whole front, rattling and wailing
-as the wind sweeps along them, whilst the walls are covered with the
-portraits of the most remarkable personages of that and prior times.
-You have Henry VIII., Elizabeth, the Queen of Scots, with many of the
-statesmen and ladies of the age.
-
-In such old houses we find abundance of furniture of the period. The
-chairs are generally high-backed, richly carved, and stuffed and covered
-with superb velvet or satin. At Charlcote House, near Stratford-on-Avon,
-the seat of the Lucys, there are eight fine ebony chairs, inlaid with
-ivory, two cabinets, and a couch of the same, which were given by Queen
-Elizabeth to Leicester, and made part of the furniture of Kenilworth. At
-Penshurst, Kent, the seat of the Sidneys, in the room called Elizabeth's
-room, remain the chairs which it is said she herself presented, with the
-rest of the furniture. They are fine, tall, and capacious; the frames are
-gilt, the drapery is yellow and crimson satin, richly embroidered, and
-the walls of each end of the room are covered with the same embroidered
-satin. In the Elizabethan room at Greenwich Court are chairs as well as
-other articles of that age. In Winchester Cathedral is yet preserved
-the chair, a present from the Pope, in which Queen Mary was crowned and
-married.
-
-At Penshurst we have, in the old banqueting-hall, the furniture and
-style which still prevailed in many houses in Sir Philip Sidney's time:
-the dogs for the fire in the centre of the room, from which the smoke
-ascended through a hole in the roof, the rude tables, the raised daïs,
-and the music gallery, such as Sir Philip Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare,
-and Bacon, as well as the Royal Elizabeth, witnessed them. In this
-house is also preserved a manuscript catalogue of all the furniture of
-Kenilworth in Leicester's time, a document which throws much light on the
-whole paraphernalia of a great house and household of that day.
-
-Looking-glasses were now superseding mirrors of polished steel. Sir
-Samuel Meyrick had a fine specimen of the looking-glass of this age at
-Goodrich, as well as a German clock, fire-dogs, a napkin-press, and an
-"arriere-dos" or "rere-dosse," and a small brass fender of that age. He
-also possessed the box containing the original portraits of Henry VIII.
-and Anne of Cleves. The clock, like the large one over the entrance
-at Hampton Court, had the Italian face, with two sets of figures,
-twelve each, thus running the round of the twenty-four hours, such as
-Shakespeare alludes to in "Othello:"--
-
-    "He'll watch the horologe _a double set_,
-    If drink rock not his cradle."
-
-Richly carved wardrobes and buffets adorned the Tudor rooms: some of
-these buffets were of silver and of silver gilt. Engravings of these, as
-well as of tables with folding tops, round tables with pillar and claw,
-and many beds of that period may still be seen in old houses, and are
-represented in engravings in Montfaucon, Shaw, and Willemin. The beds at
-Hardwicke, the great bed at Ware, a bedstead of the time of Henry VIII.
-at Lovely Hall, near Blackburn, are good specimens. Forks, though known,
-were not generally used yet at table, and spoons of silver and gold were
-made to fold up, and were carried by great people in their pockets for
-their own use. Spoons of silver--apostle-spoons, having the heads of the
-twelve apostles on the handles--were not unfrequent, but spoons of horn
-or wood were more common.
-
-The armour of every period bears a coincident resemblance to the civil
-costume of the time, and is in this period rather noticeable by its
-fashion than by any material change of another kind. The breastplate was
-still globose, as in the reign of Edward IV., but was beautifully fluted
-in that of Henry VII. In the reign of Henry VIII., the breastplate being
-still globose, the old fashion revived of an edge down the centre, called
-a tapul; and in this reign puffed and ribbed armour, in imitation of the
-slashed dresses of the day, was introduced. In the reign of Elizabeth
-the breastplate was thickened to resist musket-balls. The helmet in all
-these reigns assumed the shape of the head, having movable plates at the
-back to guard the neck, and yet allow free motion to the head. In the
-reign of Elizabeth the morions were much ornamented by engraving. In the
-time of Henry VII. the panache which had appeared on the apex of the
-bassinets of Henry V. was changed for plumes, descending from the back
-of the helmet almost to the rider's saddle. A new feature in armour also
-came in with Henry VII., called "lamboys" from the French "lambeaux,"
-being a sort of skirt or petticoat of steel, in imitation of the puckered
-skirts of cloth or velvet worn at that time, and this fashion, with
-variations in form, continued through the whole period. In the reign of
-Henry VIII. the armour altogether became very showy and rich, in keeping
-with the ostentation of that monarch. A magnificent suit of the armour
-of Henry is preserved in the Tower, which was presented to him by the
-Emperor Maximilian, on his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, and is
-the fellow to a suit of Maximilian's preserved in the Little Belvedere
-Palace in Vienna. It covers both horse and man, and is richly engraved
-with legendary subjects, badges, mottoes, and the like. The seal of Henry
-presents a fine figure of him on horseback, in armour, with his tabard
-and crowned helmet, and its depending plumes.
-
-The tilting helmet disappeared altogether in the time of Henry VIII.,
-and a coursing-hat was worn instead, with a "mentonnière," or defence
-for the lower part of the face. In the reign of Mary we learn that the
-military force of the kingdom consisted of demi-lancers, who supplied
-the place of the men-at-arms; pikemen, who wore back and breast-plates,
-with tassets, gauntlets, and steel hats; archers, with steel skull-caps
-and brigandines; black-billmen or halberdiers, who wore armour called
-almain rivet and morions; and harquebussiers, similarly appointed. In
-Elizabeth's reign the armour was seldom worn on the legs and thighs,
-except in jousting, and not always then.
-
-There were various changes in the shapes of swords and glaives; the
-battle-axe changed into the halberd in the time of Edward IV., which
-became general in that of Henry VII. In the reign of Henry VIII. was
-added the partisan, a kind of pike or spontoon; but the great change
-was in firearms, the hand-gun making several steps towards its modern
-termination in the musket and rifle, with detonating caps. The first
-improvement was to place a cock to the gun-barrel, to hold and apply the
-match instead of the soldier holding it in his hand. This was called an
-arc-a-bousa, thence corrupted into the arquebuse, much used by Henry
-VII. In his son's reign the wheel-lock was invented by the Italians, in
-which a wheel revolving against a piece of sulphuret of iron ignited the
-powder in the pan by its sparks. Pistols were also introduced now, and
-called pistols or dags, according to the shape of the butt-ends; the
-pistol finishing with a knob, the dag--or tacke--having its butt-end
-slanting. Pistols at first more resembled carabines in length, and the
-pocket pistol was of a considerable bulk. Cartridges were first used in
-pistols, and were carried in a steel case called a patron. In the reign
-of Elizabeth we hear of carabines, petronels, and dragons. Carabines were
-a sort of light, Spanish troops, who, probably, used this kind of arm;
-petronels were so called because their square butt-end was placed against
-the chest, or "poitrine;" and the dragon received its name from its
-muzzle being terminated with the head of that fabulous monster, and gave
-the name of "dragoon" to the soldiers who fought with them. Bandoliers,
-or leathern cases, each containing a complete charge of powder for a
-musket, were used till the end of the seventeenth century, when they gave
-way to the cartridge-box.
-
-With the progress of firearms, it is almost needless to say that the
-famous art of archery, by which the English had won such fame in the
-world, was gradually superseded. During the reigns of Henry VII. and
-Henry VIII., bows were much used in their armies as well as firearms,
-but it was impossible long to maintain the bow and arrow in the presence
-of the hand-gun and powder. In vain did Henry VIII. pass severe laws
-against the disuse of the bow; by the end of his reign it had fallen, for
-the most part, from the hands of the warrior into that of the sportsman.
-In vain did Henry forbid the use even of the cross-bow to encourage the
-practice of archery, and Roger Ascham in his "Toxophilus" endeavour to
-prolong the date of the bow. By the end of the reign of Elizabeth, the
-endeavour to protract the existence of archery by statute was abandoned,
-and its long reign, except as a graceful amusement, was over.
-
-The costumes of this age come down to us depicted by great masters, and
-are displayed to us in their full effect, at least this much can be said
-for those of the aristocracy. Looking at these ladies and gentlemen, they
-appear as little like plain matter-of-fact English people as possible.
-There is a length and looseness of robes about the men which has more the
-air of a holiday, gala garb, than the attire of people who had serious
-affairs to carry through, and you would scarcely credit them to be the
-ancestors of the present prosaic, buttoned-up, and busy generation. In
-a MS. called the "Boke of Custome," the chamberlain is commanded to
-provide against his master's uprising, "a clene sherte and breche, a
-pettycotte, a doublette, a long cotte, a stomacher, hys hosen, hys socks,
-and his shoen." And the "Boke of Kervynge," quoted by Strutt, says to
-the chamberlain, "Warme your soverayne his pettycotte, his doublette,
-and his stomacher, and then put on his hosen, and then his schone or
-slyppers, then stryten up his hosen mannerly, and tye them up, then lace
-his doublette hole by hole." Barclay, in the "Ship of Fools," printed by
-Pynson in 1508, mentions some who had their necks
-
-    "Charged with collars and chaines,
-    In golden withs, their fingers full of rings,
-    Their necks naked almost to the raines,
-    Their sleeves blazing like unto a crane's winges."
-
-Their coats were generally loose and with broad collars, and turned back
-fronts, with loose hanging sleeves, often slashed, and sometimes without
-sleeves at all, but the sleeves of their doublets appearing through them,
-laced tight to the elbow and puffed out above. Hats and caps were of
-various fashions in the time of Henry VII. There was the square turned-up
-cap, a round hat something like the present wide-awake, but the more
-gay and assuming wore large felt hats, or bonnets of velvet, fur, or
-other materials, with great spreading plumes of party-coloured feathers.
-They wore the showy hats so much on one side, as to display under them
-close-fitting caps, often of gold network. Others, again, wore only the
-small cap, and let the large plumed hat hang on their shoulders.
-
-The hose, when the dress was short enough to show them, were
-close-fitting, and of gay, often of two different colours; the long-toed
-shoes had given way to others, with toes called duck-bills, from their
-shape, being wider in front than they were long. Top-boots were worn for
-riding. The face was close shaven, except in the case of soldiers or
-old men, and the hair was suffered to hang long and flowing. The first
-mention of a collar of the garter occurs in this reign, and a collar is
-seen on the effigy of Sir George Daubeny, of this date.
-
-In the costume of the ladies the sleeves were as wide as they were in
-that of the men, and have been imitated in modern times, being called
-"bishop's sleeves" in London. The gown was cut square in the neck, and
-they wore stomachers, belts, and buckles, girdles with long pendents in
-front, and hats and feathers. Others wore caps and cauls of gold net, or
-embroidery, from beneath which the hair hung down the shoulders half way
-to the ground. The morning dress was a full, loose, flowing robe, with
-cape and hood, and the extent and material of it was regulated by Royal
-ordinance.
-
-Every one is familiar with the costume of the reigns of Henry VIII. and
-Edward VI. The ordinary costume of bluff Harry was a full-skirted jacket,
-or doublet, with large sleeves to the wrists; over which was worn a
-short but equally full cloak or coat, with loose, hanging sleeves, and
-a broad, rolling collar of fur. Many, however, still wore the doublet
-sleeves, as in the last reign: tight to the elbow, puffed out about the
-shoulders, and the coat sleeveless, allowing this to appear. The cap
-was square or round, and still worn somewhat side-ways, jewelled, and
-plumed with ostrich feathers. The hose were now often divided into hose
-and stockings, and the shoes, though sometimes square-toed, yet often
-resembling the modern shape. The Norman "chausses" were revived under
-the older name of "trousses," being close hose, fitting exactly to the
-limbs.
-
-[Illustration: THE WEDDING OF JACK OF NEWBURY: THE BRIDE'S PROCESSION.
-(_See p._ 390.)]
-
-Henry VIII. was most extravagant in dress, and was followed with so much
-avidity by his subjects in his ostentation, that in the twenty-fourth
-year of his reign he was obliged to pass a sumptuary law to restrain
-them, and the style and quality of dress for every different rank was
-prescribed--as we may suppose with indifferent success. No person of less
-degree than a knight was to wear crimson or blue velvet or embroidered
-apparel, broched or guarded with goldsmith's work, except sons and heirs
-of knights and barons, who might use crimson velvet, and tinsel in their
-doublets. Velvet gowns, jackets and coats, furs of martens, &c., chains,
-bracelets, and collars of gold, were proscribed to all but persons
-possessing two hundred marks per annum; except the sons and heirs of such
-persons, who might wear black velvet doublets, coats of black damask,
-etc.
-
-Henry's own dress was of the most gorgeous kind. He is described at a
-banquet at Westminster as arrayed in a suit of short garments of blue
-velvet and crymosine, with long sleeves all cut and lined with cloth
-of gold, and the outer garments powdered with castles and sheaves of
-arrows--the badges of Queen Catherine--of fine ducat gold; the upper part
-of the hose of like fashion, the lower parts of scarlet, powdered with
-timbrels of fine gold. His bonnet was of damask silver, flat, "woven
-in the stall," and therefore wrought with gold, and rich feathers on
-it. When he met Anne of Cleves he had tricked himself out in a frock of
-velvet embroidered all over with flatted gold of damask, mixed with a
-profusion of lace; the sleeves and breast being cut and lined with cloth
-of gold, and tied together with great buttons of diamonds, rubies, and
-orient pearls. The king was deemed to be the best dressed sovereign in
-the world, for he put on new clothes every holy day.
-
-Henry ordered his subjects to cut off their long hair; beards and
-moustaches were now worn at pleasure.
-
-The reigns of Edward and Mary did not vary much in the costume of the
-men. The dress worn now by the boys of Christ's Hospital (familiarly
-known as the Bluecoat School), founded by Edward, is very much that which
-was worn by the London apprentices of that period--blue coats and yellow
-stockings being also common to the citizens generally. The square-toed
-shoes were banished by proclamation in the reign of Queen Mary.
-
-The costume of the ladies of the reign of Henry VIII. is extremely
-familiar, from the numerous portraits of his six wives, engravings of
-which are in Lodge's "Portraits." With the exception of the bonnet or
-coif--which, though worn by Catherine of Aragon, came to be called the
-Anne Boleyn cap--the dress of the ladies of this reign bears a striking
-resemblance to one of the later Victorian fashions, though differing of
-course in material. You find the gown fitting close to the bust of the
-natural length of waist, and cut square at the chest, where it is edged
-with narrow lace. The sleeves, tight at the shoulder, widened to the
-elbow, where they hung deep, showing an under-sleeve of fine lawn or
-lace extending to the wrist, and terminated by lace ruffles. On the neck
-was generally worn a pearl necklace, with a jewelled cross. The skirts
-were full, the train long, according to rank. Seven yards of purple
-cloth of damask gold were allowed for a kirtle for Queen Catherine, in
-a wardrobe account of the eighth year of Henry's reign. The sleeves of
-ladies' garments, like those of gentlemen's dresses, could be changed at
-pleasure, being separate and attached at will. They were extremely rich;
-and we find in one lady's inventory three pair of purple satin sleeves,
-one of linen paned with gold over the arms, quilted with black silk, and
-wrought with flounces between the panes and at the hands; one pair of
-purple gold tissue damask wire, each sleeve tied with aglets of gold; one
-pair of crimson satin, four buttons of gold on each sleeve, and in every
-button nine pearls.
-
-The coif was of various materials, from simple linen to rich velvet and
-cloth of gold; either with the round front, as in Mary and Elizabeth as
-princesses, in Catherine Parr and Catherine Howard, or dipping in front,
-which came to be called the "Queen of Scots" bonnet; but the commonest
-shape was the five-cornered one. This last was indeed the hood of the
-time of Henry VII., in which we have a portrait of his queen, Elizabeth
-of York; the lappets of the hood depending on the bosom, embroidered and
-edged with pearls; the scarf behind hanging on the shoulders. In the
-portrait of Catherine of Aragon, the front, embroidered and jewelled,
-had become shorter, touching the neck only; but the scarf behind still
-spread on the shoulder. In Anne Boleyn's portrait the coif had reached
-its extreme of elegance; the frontlet, consisting of the five-pointed
-frame, is still shorter, only covering the ears, and is faced with a
-double row of pearls (_see_ p. 165). Her hair is scarcely seen, being
-concealed by an under-coif, which shows as a band in a slanting direction
-over the forehead. The back consists of a green velvet hood, with broad
-scarf lappets, of which one is turned up over the back of the head,
-and the other hangs on the left shoulder. Of the dress of the ladies
-of the citizen class we have a curious account in the bride of John
-of Winchcomb, the famous clothier, called "Jack of Newbury." "She was
-habited in a gown of sheep's russet, and a kirtle of fine worsted, her
-head attired with a billiment of gold, and her hair, as yellow as gold,
-hanging down behind her, which was curiously combed and plaited. She was
-led to church by two boys with bride laces and rosemary tied about their
-silken sleeves. When she in after years came out of her widow's weeds,
-she appeared in a fair train gown stuck full of silver pins, having a
-white cap on her head, with cuts of curious needlework under the same,
-and an apron before her as white as driven snow."
-
-With Elizabeth came in a totally new fashion, not only of women's but
-of men's costumes. The large trunk hose made their appearance; the
-long-waisted doublet, the short cloak or mantle, with its standing
-collar, the ruff, the hat, the band and feather, the roses in the shoes,
-are all of this period. To such a degree did the fashion of puffed
-and stuffed breeches obtain, which had begun to swell in the prior
-reigns, that about the thirty-third of Elizabeth, over the seats in the
-Parliament House, were certain holes, some two inches square, in the
-walls, in which were placed posts to uphold scaffolds round about the
-house for those to sit upon who wore great breeches stuffed with hair,
-like woolsacks.
-
-As to ruffs, Stubbs, in his "Anatomie of Abuses," tells us that sooner
-than go without them, men would mortgage their lands, or risk their
-lives at Tyburn; and he adds, "They have now newly (1595) found out a
-more monstrous kind of ruff of twelve, yea, sixteen lengths apiece, set
-three or four times double, thence called three steps and a half to the
-gallows." The French or Venetian hose, he tells us, cost often £100 a
-pair, probably from being cloth of gold and set with jewels. To these
-were added boot hose of the finest cloth, also splendidly embroidered
-with birds, beasts, and antiques. The doublets, he says, grew longer
-and longer in the waist, stuffed and quilted with four, five, or six
-pounds of bombast, the exterior being of silk, satin, taffeta, gold,
-or silver stuff, slashed, jagged, covered, pinched, and laced with all
-kinds of costly devices. Over these were their coats and jerkins, some
-with collars, some without, some close to the body, some loose, called
-mandilions; some buttoned down the breast, some under the arm, some
-down the back. They had cloaks also--white, red, tawny, yellow, green,
-violet--of cloth, silk, or taffeta, and of French, Spanish, or Dutch
-fashion, ornamented with costly lace of gold, silver, or silk. These
-cloaks were as costly inside as out. Their slippers or "pantoufles"
-were of all colours, and yet, says Stubbs, they were difficult to keep
-on, and went flap-flap up and down in the dirt, casting the mire up to
-their knees. Their hats, he states, were sharp at the crown, peaking up
-like the shaft of a steeple a quarter of a yard above the crown of their
-heads, some more, some less; others were flat and broad on the crown;
-some had round crowns and bands of all colours; and these hats or caps
-were of velvet, taffeta, or sarcenet, ornamented with big bunches of
-feathers; and finally we hear of _beaver hats_, costing from twenty to
-forty shillings apiece, brought from beyond seas.
-
-But if such was the dress of gentlemen to please the strange taste of
-the maiden queen, that of this famous queen herself, as evinced by her
-numerous portraits, has nothing like it in all the annals of fashion.
-In an early portrait of Elizabeth we have her dressed in a costume very
-little different to that of a man. Over her gown or doublet she wore a
-coat with the enormous shoulder-points standing up six inches, and with
-a close upright collar completely enveloping her neck, and surmounted by
-a ruff; her coat cut and slashed all over, and on her head a round hat,
-pulled down to a peak in front, and thickly jewelled. Stubbs, alluding to
-this particular fashion, says, "The women have doublets and jerkins as
-the men have, buttoned up to the breast, and made with wings, welts, and
-pinions on the shoulder-points, as men's apparel in all respects.... Yet
-they blush not to wear it."
-
-But it was about the middle of her reign that Elizabeth introduced
-that astounding style of dress in which she figures in most of her
-portraits, and in which the body was imprisoned in whalebone to the
-hips; the partlet or habit-shirt, which had for some time been in use,
-and covered the whole bosom to the chin, was removed, and an enormous
-ruff, rising gradually from the front of the shoulders to nearly the
-height of the head behind, encircled the wearer like the enormous wings
-of some nondescript butterfly. In fact, there was ruff beyond ruff;
-first, a crimped one round the neck like a collar; and then a round
-one standing up from the shoulders behind the head; and, finally, the
-enormous circular fans towering high and wide. The head of the queen is
-seen covered with one of her eighty sets of false hair, and hoisted above
-that a jaunty hat, jewelled and plumed.
-
-In order to enable this monstrous expanse of ruff to support itself,
-it was necessary to resort to starch, and, as Stubbs tells us, also to
-a machinery of wires, "erected for the purpose, and whipped all over
-with gold thread, silver, or silk." This was called a "supportasse, or
-underpropper." The queen sent to Holland for women skilled in the art of
-starching; and one Mistress Dingham Vander Plasse came over and became
-famous in the mystery of tormenting pride with starch. "The devil," says
-Stubbs, "hath learned them to wash and dress their ruffs, which, being
-dry, will then stand inflexible about their necks."
-
-From the bosom, now partly left bare, descended an interminable
-stomacher, and then the farthingale spread out its enormous breadth,
-like the Victorian crinoline. Stockings of worsted yarn and silk had
-now become common; and Mistress Montague presented Her Majesty, in the
-third year of her reign, with a pair of silk stockings knit in England;
-thereupon she would never wear any else. A fashion of both ladies and
-gentlemen of this time was to wear small looking-glasses hanging at their
-sides or inserted in the fan of ostrich feathers.
-
-The history of the coinage from Henry VII. to the reign of Elizabeth is
-one of depreciation and adulteration, as it had been in the preceding
-century. Not till Elizabeth did it begin to return to a sound and honest
-standard.
-
-Henry VII. made several variations in the money of the realm. He
-preserved the standard of Edward IV. and Richard III., coining 450
-pennies from the pound of silver, or thirty-seven nominal shillings and
-sixpences. He introduced shillings as actual money, being before only
-nominal, and used in accounts. These shillings, struck in 1504--called
-at first large groats, and then testons, from the French "teste," or
-"tête," a head--bore the profile of the king instead of the full face; a
-thing unknown since the reign of Stephen, but ever after followed, except
-by Henry VIII. and Edward VI., who, however, used the profile in their
-groats. Henry coined also a novel coin--the sovereign, or "double rose
-noble," worth twenty shillings, and the "rose rial," or half-sovereign.
-These gold coins are now very rare. On the reverse of his coins he for
-the first time placed the Royal arms.
-
-The gold coins of Henry VIII. were sovereigns, half-sovereigns, or
-rials, half and quarter rials, angels, angelets, or half angels, and
-quarter-angels, George nobles--so called from bearing on the reverse
-St. George and the dragon--crowns, and half-crowns. His silver coins
-were shillings, groats, half-groats, and pennies. Amongst these appeared
-groats and half-groats coined by Wolsey at York, in accordance with a
-privilege, exercised by the Church long before. In his impeachment it was
-made a capital charge that he had placed the cardinal's hat on the groats
-under the king's arms. The groats also bore on each side of the arms his
-initials, "T. W.," and the half-groats "W. A."--Wolsey Archiepiscopus.
-
-Not only did Henry adulterate the coin in the most scandalous manner,
-but he also depreciated the value of the silver coins, by coining a much
-larger number of pennies out of a pound of the base alloy. Before his
-time the mixed mint pound had consisted of eleven ounces two pennyweights
-of silver, and eighteen pennyweights of alloy; but Henry, in 1543,
-altered it to ten ounces of silver and two ounces of alloy. Two years
-later he added as much alloy as there was silver; and not content with
-that, in 1546, or one year after, he left only four ounces of silver
-in the pound, or eight ounces of alloy to the four ounces of silver!
-But this even did not satisfy him: he next proceeded to coin his base
-metal into a larger amount than the good metal had ever produced before.
-Instead of 37s. 6d., or 450 pennies, into which it had been coined ever
-since the reign of Edward IV., he made it yield 540 pennies, or 45s.,
-in 1527, and in 1543 he extended it to 48s., or 576 pennies. He thus,
-instead of 450 pennies out of a pound containing eleven ounces two
-pennyweights of silver, coined 576 pennies out of only four ounces of
-silver! Such were the lawless robberies which "Bluff Harry" committed
-on his subjects. Any one of the smallest debasements by a subject would
-have sent him to the gallows. He certainly was one of the most wholesale
-issuers of bad money that ever lived.
-
-The counsellors of his son Edward--a most rapacious set of
-adventurers--however, even out-Harryed Harry; for though Edward restored
-at first the value of the mint mixture in some degree, in 1551 the amount
-of silver in a pound of that alloy was only three ounces, or an ounce
-less than the worst coin of his father. And still worse, instead of 48s.,
-the largest number coined by his father out of a pound, he coined 72s.,
-or instead of 450 pennies out of four ounces of silver, 864 pennies were
-coined out of three ounces. The ruin, the confusion of prices, and the
-public outcry, however, consequent upon this violent public fraud, at
-length compelled Government to restore the amount of silver in the pound
-to nearly what it was at the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII., and
-the number of shillings was reduced from seventy-two to sixty. The gold,
-which was equally debased, was also restored to the same extent.
-
-Queen Mary, while she issued a proclamation at the commencement of her
-reign denouncing the dishonest proceedings of her predecessors, again
-increased the alloy in a pound of mint silver to an ounce instead of
-nineteen pennyweights; and she added two pennyweights more of alloy to
-the ounce of gold. The coins issued by Philip and Mary bear both their
-profiles.
-
-Elizabeth honourably restored the coinage to its ancient value. She
-fixed the alloy in a pound of silver at only eighteen pennyweights;
-but she coined sixty-two shillings out of the pound instead of sixty,
-at which it remained till 1816, when it became sixty-six, as it still
-remains. The standard mixture of Elizabeth has continued the same to
-our own day. She called in and melted down the base money of her father
-and brother to the nominal value of £638,000, but of real value only
-£244,000. The gold coins of Elizabeth are rials, angels, half-angels,
-and quarter-angels, crowns and half-crowns, nobles and double nobles.
-Some of her coins were the first which had milled edges, both of gold and
-silver. Besides shillings, sixpences, groats, and pence, Elizabeth coined
-a crown, for the use of the East India Company, called portcullis crowns,
-in imitation of the Spanish dollar. These were valued at four shillings
-and sixpence, and are now rare.
-
-[Illustration: SHIPS OF ELIZABETH'S TIME.]
-
-In Scotland the alloy of the silver at the mint was not so great as in
-England during this period; but the number of shillings coined out of one
-pound of silver was astonishingly increased. This kind of depreciation
-had been going on for two centuries before this period; but from 1475,
-when only 144 shillings were coined out of the pound of silver, the
-number was rapidly augmented every few years, till in 1601 no less than
-720 shillings were coined out of it, or, in other words, the original
-value of one pound was made to pass for thirty-six pounds.
-
-In tracing the historical events of these reigns, we have had occasion to
-show the increasing strength of the Royal navy of England. Both in the
-reigns of Henry VIII. and of Elizabeth the sea fights were of a character
-and attended by results which marked out England as a maritime power
-growing ever more formidable. In the fourth year of his reign Henry drove
-the French fleet from the Channel with forty-two ships, Royal and others.
-He chastised the Scots, who, under James V., had become daring at sea;
-and on various occasions during his reign he showed his superiority to
-the French and Spaniards.
-
-But it was the victory over the Armada under Elizabeth, and the exploits
-of Drake, Essex, Raleigh, and others in the Spanish ports, and of
-Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher in the Spanish settlements of America,
-that raised the fame of the British fleet to a pitch which it had never
-reached before. For, after all, the amount of Henry's fleet never was
-large. We are told, indeed, that at first he had only one ship of war,
-the _Great Harry_, till he took the _Lion_, a large Scottish ship, with
-its commander, the celebrated Andrew Barton; but probably this is meant
-of such size as to merit the name of man-of-war. Parsimonious as was
-Henry VII., and careful to avoid any collisions with foreign powers, we
-cannot suppose he left the kingdom totally destitute of a navy. But Henry
-VIII. was not contented with owning merely a mediocre fleet; he had an
-ambition of building large vessels, and in 1512 he built one of 1,000
-tons, called the _Regent_. This was blown up in a battle with the French
-fleet off Brest, and instead of it he built another called _Grâce de
-Dieu_. The rivalry of Henry was excited by the King of Scotland building
-a much larger ship than his _Regent_, which was said to carry 300 seamen,
-120 gunners, and 1,000 soldiers. This ship, like Henry's _Regent_,
-was unfortunately lost at sea. By the end of Henry's reign, his fleet
-altogether amounted to 12,500 tons.
-
-Besides building of ships, Henry seems to have planned all the necessary
-offices for a naval system. He established the Navy Office, with a
-sort of Board of Admiralty for its management, and he also founded, in
-the fourth year of his reign, the Corporation of the Trinity House at
-Deptford, for managing everything relating to the education, selection,
-and appointment of pilots, the putting down of buoys, and erecting
-beacons and lighthouses. Similar establishments were created by him at
-Hull and Newcastle. He built at great cost the first pier at Dover, and
-passed an Act of Parliament for improving the harbours of Plymouth,
-Dartmouth, Teignmouth, Falmouth, and Fowey, which had been choked up by
-the refuse of certain tin-works, which he prohibited. But perhaps his
-greatest works of the kind were his establishment of the navy-yards and
-storehouses at Woolwich and Deptford. No monarch, in fact, had hitherto
-planned so efficiently and exerted himself so earnestly to found an
-English navy. Great merit is due to him for his advancement of the
-maritime interests of the nation.
-
-The manner in which the different monarchs of the Tudor dynasty advanced
-or neglected the navy is well shown by the returns of the Navy Office to
-Parliament in 1791. At the end of the reign of Henry VIII. it amounted
-to 12,500 tons, at the end of that of Edward VI. to only 11,065 tons,
-and at the end of Mary's to 7,110 tons, but at the end of Elizabeth's
-it rose to 17,110. At the time of the Armada, Elizabeth had at sea 150
-sail, of which, however, only forty were the property of the Crown; the
-rest belonged to the merchants who were liable to be called upon on
-such emergencies to furnish their largest craft for the public service.
-Thirty-four of these ships were from 500 to 1,100 tons each, and these
-larger vessels are said to have carried 300 men and forty cannon each.
-Besides the vessels thus called out for war, the mercantile navy at this
-time amounted to another 150 sail of various capacity, averaging each 150
-tons, and carrying forty seamen.
-
-This extent of Royal and mercantile navy had not been reached without
-much fostering care on the part of the queen. With all her parsimony
-and dread of expense, it was one of the finest parts of her very mixed
-character, that she saw the necessity of a strong power at sea and had
-all the pride of her father to maintain it. Whilst on land she introduced
-the manufacture of gunpowder, and raised the pay of the soldiers, she
-extended her care to the fleet, and made it in the end the best equipped
-navy in Europe. She raised the pay of the sailors as she had done that
-of the soldiers, and the merchants entered so readily into her service
-that she had no longer occasion to hire vessels, as her predecessors
-had done, from the Hanse Towns, or from Venice and Genoa. She built a
-fort on the Medway, somewhere near the present Sheerness, to protect her
-fleet, and justly acquired the name of the Queen of the North Seas. Many
-circumstances combined to give a new and wonderful development in her
-time to commerce--the discovery and partial settlement of the New World;
-the way opened by the Cape to India; the extension of commercial inquiry
-and enterprise into the north of Europe and to the banks of Newfoundland.
-But ere this stirring period arrived, commerce had had to struggle
-with many severe restrictions, the fruit of the ignorance of political
-economy.
-
-[Illustration: THE WORLD
-
-in the
-
-XVIth CENTURY
-
-showing
-
-the DISCOVERIES of
-
-BRITISH & other EXPLORERS.]
-
-Henry VII. is praised by Hall, the chronicler, as a prince who "by
-his high policy marvellously enriched his realm and himself, and left
-his subjects in high wealth and prosperity; as is apparent by the
-great abundance of gold and silver yearly brought into the kingdom, in
-plate, money, and bullion, by merchants passing and repassing." But
-the true reason of the rapid advance of commerce under Henry VII. was,
-undoubtedly, the quietness and stability of affairs which he introduced;
-for Henry was too fond of hoarding to be a very munificent patron of
-trade. Amongst the very first measures which he passed was one against
-usury, totally forbidding the loan of money on interest, which, if it
-could have been really carried out, would have nearly extinguished
-commerce altogether. In this, however, Henry was but continuing the
-practice of his predecessors, who, though great warriors, were no
-merchants. So severe was Henry's enactment against usury, that, by the
-Act of the third year of his reign, every offender was, on discovery, to
-be fined £100, and the bargain to be made void. Henry VIII. abrogated
-this law, and allowed usury under ten per cent.; it was again put in
-force by Edward VI. in terms of the utmost severity, declaring it to be
-"a vice most odious and detestable, and utterly prohibited by the Word of
-God." Elizabeth, however, again restored the law of her father in 1571,
-permitting interest under ten per cent.
-
-Whilst Henry VII. endeavoured to extinguish usury, he was equally jealous
-of foreign merchants--of their bringing their foreign manufactures and
-carrying out English goods--lest our wealth should be drained away by
-them. The careful old king could not see that it mattered little by whom
-the exchanges of commerce were made, so that merchants were left to make
-their own bargains; whence the result would be that they would only
-purchase such things as they wanted, and sell such as they did not want,
-with benefit to everybody. It accorded, however, with Henry's ideas, and
-was so far beneficial as to induce the settling of English merchants in
-foreign countries, with the object of endeavouring to drain them of their
-wealth. Therefore, he was careful to heal the breach with the Netherlands
-which the patronage of Perkin Warbeck by the Duchess of Burgundy had
-made, and the company of Merchant Adventurers was again established in
-Antwerp. The treaty on this occasion was termed by the rejoicing Flemings
-the "Intercursus Magnus," or Great Treaty of Intercourse; but Henry, in
-1506, on intercepting the Archduke Philip at Weymouth, forced from him
-a less liberal treaty, which the Flemings branded as the "Intercursus
-Malus," or Evil Treaty.
-
-In the same one-sided spirit of trade, Henry, in 1489, concluded a treaty
-with Denmark, by which English companies were authorised to purchase
-lands in Bergen in Norway, Lund and Landskrona in Sweden, and Lowisa in
-Finland, on which to erect factories and warehouses, to remain theirs in
-perpetuity for the purposes of trade. He also renewed a similar treaty
-at the same time with the great trading republic of Venice, by which the
-English companies were to enjoy all the privileges of the citizens of
-Florence and Pisa, where they were established, and were privileged to
-export English wool, and re-ship the spices and valuable articles which
-were brought by the Venetians overland from India.
-
-It was not long, however, before Henry was called on to check the effects
-of monopoly in his English companies. The Merchant Adventurers of London
-soon showed so strongly these effects, that they compelled the king to
-interfere with a view to counteract them.
-
-The markets of Europe were now fast growing in importance and demand. The
-wealth of South America was flowing into Spain, in the shape of gold, to
-the amount of a million sterling annually, and the spices and riches of
-the East Indies into Portugal, since the discovery of the way round the
-Cape. Amsterdam became the great mercantile depôt of these commodities
-in Europe, and the benefit of it was felt nowhere more sensibly than in
-England. Henry VII., who had let slip the opportunity of securing South
-America and the West Indies by neglecting the offers of Columbus, now
-endeavoured to repair the mischief by granting patents to the Cabots and
-others for the discovery of new lands. He could not open his heart or his
-coffers sufficiently to assist the adventurers with funds, but he was
-ready to reap his share of the benefit, which was to consist of all the
-countries discovered and a fifth of the immediate proceeds. Under such
-patents the Cabots, father and son, in the course of several voyages,
-discovered Labrador in 1497, and afterwards ran along the whole coast of
-North America, to the Gulf of Mexico.
-
-From this moment the spirit of mercantile enterprise rapidly developed
-itself. In 1562 we find Captain Hawkins trading to Guinea for elephants'
-teeth, and to Brazil, to which coasts voyages soon became common.
-Trading to all parts of the Mediterranean was frequent during the reign
-of Henry VIII.; taking out wool, cloth, and skins, and importing silks,
-drugs, wines, cotton-wool, spices, and Turkey carpets. The voyages of
-Cabot had opened up a new trade--that of cod-fishing--on the coasts of
-Newfoundland, which was eagerly engaged in; and the voyages of Willoughby
-and Richard Chancellor, by exploring the White Sea, at the suggestion of
-Cabot, opened a new trade with Russia. A Russian company was formed by
-Edward VI., and fully incorporated by Mary, who vigorously prosecuted
-that trade; and in 1556 an ambassador arrived at London from the Czar.
-Jenkinson, an agent of this company afterwards descended the Volga to
-Astrakhan, and crossing the Caspian Sea, reached Bokhara, the great
-resort of the merchants of Russia, Persia, India, and China. He is said
-to have made six other voyages to Bokhara by that route--a striking proof
-of the growing enterprise of the English merchant. The loss of Calais
-by Mary was a circumstance which, as was to be expected, exerted an
-injurious influence on commerce in her unfortunate reign.
-
-[Illustration: THE FIRST ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON (FOUNDED BY SIR THOMAS
-GRESHAM).]
-
-The earliest European trade with India was Venetian, and was conducted by
-way of the Black Sea. On the discovery by Vasco da Gama of the passage by
-the Cape of Good Hope, in 1497, the Dutch claimed the exclusive right of
-navigating those seas. The Spaniards again were equally exclusive with
-regard to their own subsequent discovery of a passage by the Straits of
-Magellan. These monopolies, so strange in their contrast to our modern
-conceptions and practice, left the English the sole alternative of a
-north-west or north-east passage. About 1500, a Portuguese named Corte
-Real attempted to discover a north-west passage, and was followed by a
-similar effort on the part of the English in 1553. The idea received the
-greatest encouragement from Queen Elizabeth, and a company was formed
-in 1585, called the "Fellowship for the discovery of the North-West
-Passage." Sir Hugh Willoughby's last voyage, which was entered on with
-a view to discover a north-east passage to China, was fatal to him and
-his brave comrades, who perished in the ice. The instructions given to
-Sir Hugh by Sebastian Cabot, Grand Pilot of England by appointment of
-Henry VII., are extant, and furnish a curious and interesting specimen of
-naval regulation. No dicing, carding, tabling, nor other such practices
-were to be allowed on ship-board; morning and evening prayers were to be
-diligently observed. On the other hand, the natives of strange countries
-were to be "enticed on board and made drunk with your beer and wine, for
-then you shall know the secrets of their hearts:" and they were to be
-cautious with regard to "certain creatures with men's heads and the tails
-of fishes, who swim with bows and arrows about the fords and bays, and
-live on human flesh."
-
-[Illustration: SIR THOMAS GRESHAM.]
-
-During the long reign of Elizabeth foreign trade made gigantic strides.
-Among the very first acts of this queen was one to abolish the
-restriction of English merchants to English ships in the transport of
-goods. The Act states that this restriction had provoked the natural
-adoption of like restrictions by foreign princes. This was the first
-acknowledgment of the mischief of meddling with the freedom of trade;
-and our foreign trade had now acquired an importance which demanded
-respect. With the Netherlands alone our trade was extraordinary, its
-value amounting to nearly two millions and a half sterling annually; and
-we find at this time the first mention of insurance of goods on their
-voyage. In 1562 we hear also of that detestable commerce the slave trade,
-which was introduced by John Hawkins, so well known afterwards as the
-daring compeer of Drake and Frobisher, and one of the heroic conquerors
-of the Armada. Hawkins carried out English goods, called at the Guinea
-Coast, and took in slaves, sailed to Hispaniola, and brought thence
-sugar, ginger, hides, and pearls.
-
-During the reign of Elizabeth the many voyages which were made in
-order to discover a north-west passage to India led to a more intimate
-knowledge of the North American coasts. In these Frobisher, Cavendish,
-and Davis distinguished themselves. From 1576 to the end of Elizabeth's
-reign, Raleigh and his step-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, made repeated
-attempts to colonise North America, and particularly Virginia--so called
-in honour of Elizabeth--but in vain. Equally strenuous and unsuccessful
-efforts were made to open a direct sea communication with India by the
-English; and it was not till the close of Elizabeth's reign that the
-incorporation of an East India Company, destined to establish that trade,
-was effected. The charter was granted by Elizabeth in 1600. Elizabeth
-also chartered a company in 1579 for the exclusive right of trading to
-all the countries of the Baltic.
-
-As regarded the domestic manufactures of this period, the woollen
-manufactures were the most important, and extended themselves greatly on
-account of the foreign demand. This manufacture had to contend with many
-old charters and restrictions which were introduced to monopolise the
-practice of it to certain towns and persons; but these were gradually
-broken through after much contest, and people in both town and country
-were allowed to make cloths and other woollen goods. Originally London,
-Norwich, Bristol, Gloucester, and Coventry were the privileged places.
-Essex became a clothing county; but by degrees the trade spread into
-those quarters where it still prevails. Berks, Oxford, Surrey, and
-Yorkshire made coarse kerseys for exportation; Wales manufactured fringes
-and coarse cloths; but Tiverton, Bridgewater, Chard, and other towns of
-Wilts, Gloucester, and Somerset were famous for their broad-cloths; those
-of Kidderminster, Bromwich, Coventry, Worcester, Evesham, Droitwich,
-as also of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, were in esteem. Manchester and
-Halifax were already noted for rugs and fringes, Norfolk for coverlets,
-and Lincolnshire and Chester for what were called "cottons," but which
-were a species of woollen. There was much complaint at that day of the
-adulteration of these fabrics by intermixture of inferior yarns, and
-by not taking the proper means to prevent them from shrinking on being
-exposed to wet. Norwich had manufactures of woollen different to ordinary
-cloth, in which it excelled all other places; and in Elizabeth's reign
-the Norwich manufacturers introduced new kinds under the name of Norwich
-satins and fustians.
-
-The art of dyeing received a new impulse and new colours from the
-discovery of Brazil and other distant countries. Soap-making was
-also introduced, soap having before 1524 been chiefly imported. Many
-manufacturing processes in weaving, dyeing, and cleaning cloths were
-brought over by the refugees from the Netherlands, driven to England by
-the Spanish persecutions. During Elizabeth's reign the smelting of iron,
-which had been chiefly carried on in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, became
-restricted there on account of the consumption of wood. Copper mines and
-alum pits were discovered in the time of Elizabeth, in Cumberland and
-Yorkshire, which contributed to the extension of the manufacturing arts.
-
-Sir Thomas Gresham, the chief financial leader of the day, although a
-protégé of the Duke of Northumberland's, was received with much favour by
-Elizabeth on her accession. The great merchant then gave her advice--the
-following of which may well be called an epoch in the history of this
-country. He told her that all the debased coin should be converted
-into fine coin of a certain weight; that their monopoly should not be
-restored to the Steelyard merchants; that licences should be granted as
-seldom as possible; that she should incur no debt, or as little debt as
-possible, beyond the seas; and that she should keep her credit with her
-own merchants, as they would be her best and most powerful friends. These
-wise measures of reform were gradually carried out. Elizabeth probably
-perceived their value, but she could not find it in her heart to act
-altogether with the necessary self-denial and liberality. Thus she would
-not give up her power to reward favourites by means of special grants and
-licences. The monopoly of sweet wines which Essex enjoyed is an instance
-of her influence in this respect.
-
-Gresham himself superintended the restoration of the coinage, and his
-advice with regard to the Steelyard merchants was also carried into
-practice. It was to him that the merchants of that day owed their first
-place of meeting for the transaction of business. Before that they had
-been "constrained either to endure all extremities of weather, namely,
-heat and cold, snow and rain, or else to shelter themselves in shops."
-Gresham therefore built a house for them, which the queen visited in 1570
-and called the Royal Exchange. This building, like many others belonging
-to the City companies, was destroyed in the Great Fire. It was designed
-after the model of the Bourse of Antwerp, and was Flemish also in its
-architect, its workmen, and its materials. The commerce of Scotland
-during this century was affected by precisely the same circumstances as
-that of England.
-
-During this century much progress was made in the improvement of London.
-Henry VIII. passed various Acts for the paving of the thoroughfares,
-which before were horrible sloughs, "very foul and full of pits."
-
-The public amusements of the nation underwent as great a revolution
-during this century as its religion or its literature. The fall of the
-Church and the introduction of firearms were fatal to the spirit of
-chivalry, and the whole host of religious pageants and plays. Henry VIII.
-and Elizabeth exerted themselves to prolong the exercises of chivalry,
-but they had lost their spirit, and fell lifeless to the ground. In vain
-was the tournament of the Cloth of Gold, or the jousts at which Elizabeth
-presided at Greenwich. They were become mere mockeries of what once had
-been the all-engrossing contests of knightly honour. In vain did they
-endeavour to keep alive the long bow and the feats of archery. The musket
-and the sportsman's gun had made the bow and quiver mere playthings. The
-tournament made way for the joust, in which the contest was conducted
-with headless lances, and fighting at the barriers with blunted axes; and
-that gave way to "riding at the ring," in which the gentlemen did not run
-their lances through their antagonists, but through a ring suspended for
-the purpose. The last of the ancient exercises was the contest with the
-sword and buckler; but the sword was deprived of both edge and point,
-and as the combatants were not allowed to lunge, but only to strike, the
-practice was perfectly harmless. In the time of Henry VIII., however, the
-art of fencing was introduced; and in the time of Elizabeth the use of
-the rapier and the deadly thrust rendered the acquirement of the art of
-fence a matter of the first importance.
-
-But though the chivalric exercises went out in this age, never was
-the love of pageant and display more alive. The revival of the Greek
-literature brought forward a crowd of gods and goddesses, who figured in
-public processions and galas; and the strangest allegoric absurdities
-were gazed upon by grave princes and their counsellors, as well as by the
-ladies, with all the enthusiasm of country lads and lasses gaping at a
-strolling theatre or a puppet-show.
-
-Strange masquerades and allegoric pageants were got up in London for
-Mary and Elizabeth; and readers of worthy Laneham's description of the
-nineteen days in which Queen Bess was entertained at Kenilworth by
-Leicester, will find plenty of giants, distressed Ladies of the Lake,
-"salvage men," presents from Bacchus, Pomona, Ceres, floating islands,
-and sham Arions riding on sham dolphins. More healthy but little less
-romantic were the holiday sports which had survived the Church, and were
-mingled in by both princes, nobles, and people. The old Mystery did not
-for some time disappear before the secular drama, and the Coventry Play
-was played before Elizabeth at Kenilworth. May-day had its grand may-pole
-still; and Henry VIII. did not disdain, on May-day, 1515, to go a-maying
-to Shooter's Hill, with his queen and his sister, the Queen-Dowager of
-France. May-day was also the great day of the milkmaids, who danced from
-door to door with a pyramid of plates on their heads.
-
-Stubbs--who, Puritan as he was, seems to have enjoyed what he describes
-so well--gives us the following description of the amusements of the
-merry gentlemen of the Temple in those days:--
-
-"First, all the wild heads of the parish covening together, choose them
-a grand captain of mischief, whom they ennoble with the title of My Lord
-of Misrule, and him they crown with great solemnity and adopt for their
-king. This king anointed chooseth for him twenty, forty, threescore, or
-a hundred lusty guts like to himself to wait upon his lordly majesty and
-to guard his noble person. Then every one of these his men he investeth
-with his liveries of green, yellow, or some other wanton colour. And, as
-though they were not gaudy enough, they bedeck themselves with scarfs,
-ribbons, and laces, hanged all over with gold rings, precious stones, and
-other jewels; this done, they tie about either leg twenty or forty bells,
-with rich handkerchiefs in their hands, and sometimes laid across over
-their shoulders and necks, borrowed for the most part of their pretty
-Mopsies and loving Bessies.... Thus all things set in order, then have
-they their hobby-horses, dragons, and other antics, together with their
-pipers and thundering drummers to strike up the devil's dance withal;
-then march these heathen company towards the church and churchyard, their
-pipers piping, their drummers thundering, their stumps dancing, their
-bells jingling, their handkerchiefs swinging about their heads like
-madmen, their hobby-horses and other monsters skirmishing amongst the
-throng; and in this sort they go to the church (though the minister be at
-prayer or preaching), dancing and swinging their handkerchiefs over their
-heads in the church like devils incarnate, with such a confused noise
-that no man can hear his own voice. Then the foolish people they look,
-they stare, they laugh, they fleer, and mount upon forms and pews to see
-these goodly pageants solemnised in this sort. Then, after this, about
-the church they go again and again, and so forth into the churchyard,
-where they have commonly their summer halls, their bowers, arbours, and
-banqueting-houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet, and dance all that
-day, and peradventure all that night, too. And thus these terrestrial
-furies spend the Sabbath-day in the country."
-
-To relate all the jollity with which Christmas was celebrated is beyond
-our space. The Christmas carols with which the waits awoke all the
-sleeping people for a fortnight before; the yule-log dragged into the
-hall and piled on the fire; the boar's-head feast, with plum-pudding and
-mince-pies, and all the dances and games, were as much in fashion as in
-the days of the ancient Church. Plough Monday, Valentine Day, Easter and
-Whitsuntide, St. John's Eve, and all the charities of Maundy Thursday,
-were still maintained. Even Palm Sunday, when the figure of Christ went
-on its procession mounted on a wooden ass, resisted the Reformation till
-the year 1548.
-
-The drama, which was now shaping itself into freedom and splendour under
-such men as Shakespeare and Marlowe, was yet conducted in a very rough
-style. The theatres were mostly of wood; the actors were rarely arrayed
-in proper costume; women's parts were represented by boys; any scenery
-which the play had, remained, like a picture on a country fair booth,
-through the whole piece. The aristocratic frequenters sate on the stage,
-for there were no boxes or dress-circle, and the commonalty sate on
-stools and enjoyed their pipes and beer during the performance. What was
-worse, the theatre had to contend, in the affections of the public, with
-the bear-garden, bull-baiting, and cock-fighting. This was true--and to
-us the fact must seem deplorable--of the very highest classes among the
-people.
-
-As Sunday had been the great day of the Church plays or Mysteries,
-so Sunday was the chief day of the theatre, which brought it into
-disrepute with the serious portion of the community; and when there was
-bull-baiting, the theatre was closed that it might not interfere. Queen
-Elizabeth was especially fond of the bear-garden, and that sport was
-consequently included by Leicester in the recreations which he provided
-for her at Kenilworth. In truth, bear-gardens, cock-pits, bowling-greens,
-tennis-courts, dicing-houses, taverns, smoking ordinaries, and the like
-abounded, giving us a fair idea of the grade of taste of that age.
-Hunting and hawking were still pastimes of the gentry, and horse-racing
-became a great rage. The first notice we have of this latter pastime is
-on the occasion before mentioned, when Henry went a-maying in 1515; after
-which it is said that he and his brother-in-law, the Duke of Suffolk,
-diverted themselves by "racing on great coursers."
-
-But amid the pleasures of this century there must have existed a large
-intermixture of a more moral class, for the Bible had become extensively
-read, and the Reformers must have been numerous to enable the Government
-to effect the ecclesiastical changes which they did; and the advance
-of physical improvement must not be judged of by the popular condition
-of to-day, but of previous times. In the course of the century the
-condition of the people considerably advanced. At the beginning the
-houses of farmers were generally of timber, and those of labourers of
-mud, or wattle and mud. In many of them were no chimneys, except one for
-cooking. Wooden trenchers and wooden spoons were used instead of pewter
-or earthenware; and a yeoman who had half a dozen pewter dishes in his
-house was looked on as wealthy. Their lodging was equally mean. Straw
-beds and pillows of chaff were most common; flock beds were a rural
-luxury; and the farm servants lay on straw, and often had not even a
-coverlet to throw over them. The bread of the common people was made of
-rye, barley, or oats, and in many districts of peas or beans. The gentry
-only ate wheaten bread. The men by the fire in the evening, after their
-day's work, made their own shoes, or prepared the yokes for oxen, and
-their plough-gear. The women made the wool and the hemp or flax ready
-for the weaver at the spinning-wheel. As they do now on the Continent,
-the countrywomen worked much in the fields. Fitzherbert, the first of
-our writers on husbandry, says that it was the business of the farmer's
-wife "to winnow all manner of corn, to make malt, to wash, to make hay,
-to shear corn, and, in time of need, to help her husband to fill the
-muck-wain, or dung-cart, drive the plough, to load hay or corn, to go to
-market and sell butter or pigs or fowls."
-
-Latimer, who was a farmer's son, describes the advance in the value of
-land in his time. When he was young, he says, his father's farm was
-rented by him at £4 a year; that he employed half-a-dozen men upon it,
-and had 100 sheep and thirty cows; that his father managed to send him
-to school and college, and to give to each of his daughters £5 on her
-marriage. But, continues Latimer, at the time he wrote this, the same
-farm was charged £16 a year, or fourfold, and then the farmer of it
-could do nothing for his prince, himself, or his children, nor give a
-cup of drink to the poor. The cause of this was the increased demand for
-wool, which had occasioned great enclosures, and a decrease of tillage
-in favour of pasturage. This pressed greatly on the labouring class who
-were not employed; for the gentlemen had flocks of from 10,000 to 20,000,
-and a few shepherds were all they needed in their great enclosures. The
-gentry, who thus occupied the land, we are told, did not reside on it,
-but crowded up to London and hung about the Court. "Hence," says Roger
-Ascham, "so many families dispersed, so many houses ruined. Hence the
-honour and strength of England, the noble yeomanry, are broken up and
-destroyed."
-
-[Illustration: THE FROLIC OF MY LORD OF MISRULE. (_See p._ 399.)]
-
-The evils of this state of things compelled the Legislature to put
-restrictions on the extent of pasturage, to insist on the tillage of
-sufficient land for the wants of the community; and penalties were
-enacted for such as did not build proper cottages for their labourers,
-with four acres of land each, or who allowed more than one family in one
-cottage. The evil produced its own remedy. The scarcity of tillage land
-raised the price of produce, and that stimulated to the manuring and
-better culture of the land. We learn from Harrison and Norden, writers
-of the period, that towards the end of the century things were greatly
-improved. The farmers and small builders were become more painstaking and
-skilful. They collected manure and even the sweepings of streets, burnt
-lime, and carted sea sand, as in Cornwall and Devon. The consequence was
-that they had better cattle and better crops, they had milk from their
-cows, ewes, and goats; and they used much more meat. In the autumn they
-cured bacon and beef for the winter; and in summer they had abundance of
-veal, beef, and mutton, which, says Harrison, they ceased to baste with
-lard, but basted with butter, or suffered the fattest to baste itself.
-
-With their living, their houses improved. Wood or wattle gave way to
-stone or brick, the wooden trenchers were superseded at substantial
-tables by pewter, and with the pewter were sometimes seen articles of
-silver. Feather beds replaced the straw and chaff mattresses; there was
-more abundant linen, bed-covers, and better clothing. Coal was beginning
-to make the scarcity of wood less felt.
-
-The vast increase of foreign trade and of manufactures which has been
-described must have proved the most effectual means, far more than
-enactments, for encouraging tillage, from the augmented demand of
-provisions and luxuries; and the same causes would provide employment
-and good wages for increased numbers. The land as well as every other
-thing in the kingdom was in a transition state, and as the large estates
-of nobles and the Church, now divided amongst a multitude, came to be
-settled and cultivated, the diffusion of life and prosperity through
-the rural districts was no doubt proportional. At this time there must
-have been a great flow of population from the agricultural to the
-manufacturing districts, as the latter were making increased demands on
-the strength of the nation; yet it appears that the produce both of the
-tilled ground and of pasturage grew steadily. The small cottagers, who
-had probably been but poor farmers, being now gradually absorbed into the
-growing artisan population, gave place to greater and wealthier men, who
-laid out the ground in large grazing farms. This gave rise to the false
-impression that the population was decreasing, and the statistics of the
-period give frequent evidence of the alarm thus occasioned. The evidence,
-however, for the increase of the population is incontestable; and the
-wage for ordinary labour seems to have been quite double its old amount
-in this century. It may be interesting to record some of the salaries
-of the period. In the household of the Earl of Northumberland, in 1511,
-the principal priest of the chapel received £5 a year; a chaplain
-graduate, £3 6s. 8d.; a chaplain, not a graduate, £2; a minstrel, £4;
-a serving-boy, 13s. 4d.; all these being lodged and fed in addition.
-In 1500 a mason received 4d. a day, and 2d. for diet. In 1575 a master
-mason received 1s. a day, and a common labourer 8d. In 1601 a master
-mason had 1s. 2d. a day, and a labourer 10d. The long continuance of
-internal peace had increased the population from two millions and a half
-in the commencement of the fifteenth century, to six millions and a half
-at the end of the sixteenth; but the increase of trade, of commerce,
-and of tillage, had not been able to absorb a tithe of the homeless and
-destitute people who had been increasing since the abolition of villenage
-and the destruction of the monasteries, which had fed swarms of them. We
-have had occasion to show that these wandering tribes overran the country
-like a flood--"vagabonds, rogues, and sturdy beggars"--carrying terror
-and crime everywhere. Henry VIII., Harrison tells us, in the course of
-his reign, hanged of robbers, thieves, and vagabonds, no fewer than
-72,000, and Elizabeth, toward the latter part of her reign, sent 300 or
-400 of them annually to the gallows.
-
-We find a statute of the first year of Edward VI. containing the
-following:--"Idleness and vagabondry is the mother and root of all
-thefts, robberies, and all evil acts and other mischiefs, and the
-multitude of people given thereto hath always been here within this
-realm very great and more in number, as it may appear, than in other
-regions; the which idleness and vagabondry all the king's highness' noble
-progenitors, kings of this realm, and this high court of Parliament hath
-often and with great travail gone about and assayed with godly acts
-and statutes to repress; yet until this our time it hath not had that
-success which hath been wished; but--partly by foolish pity and mercy
-of them which should have seen the said godly laws executed, partly by
-perverse natures and long-accustomed idleness of the persons given to
-loitering--the said godly statutes hitherto hath had small effect, and
-idle and vagabond persons hath been suffered to remain and increase,
-and yet so do." "If," continues the Act, "they should be punished by
-death, whipping, imprisonment, or with other corporal pain, it were not
-without their desert, for the example of others and to the benefit of
-the commonwealth; yet if they could be brought to be made profitable and
-do service, it were much to be wished and desired." Such words would
-lead us to conclude that they were about to adopt conciliatory measures
-with regard to this troublesome class, but we find on the contrary the
-harshest enactments put in execution. Thus, every person found idle
-and wandering without any effort to obtain work was to be considered a
-vagabond, and was liable to be seized by any one and forced to labour,
-for which he was to receive only his daily food. If he attempted to
-run away, he was to be branded on the breast with the letter "V" and
-made the slave of his owner for two years. If he made a second attempt
-for liberty, he was to be branded on the forehead or cheek with the
-letter "S" and made his master's slave for ever; while a third effort
-at escape was punishable by death. The severity of this law prevented
-it from being properly executed, and caused its repeal in two years.
-After various futile enactments, Henry VIII., in 1530, gave the sick and
-impotent permission to beg; and in 1536 the magistrates and the clergy
-were ordered to make collections for their relief. These were the first
-approaches to a poor-law, and in the year 1562 Queen Elizabeth passed an
-Act making parochial assessments for the poor compulsory. The poor-law,
-therefore, in reality dates from that period; but in the year 1601, the
-celebrated Act of the 43rd of Elizabeth organised and completed that
-system of employing and maintaining the destitute poor, which--with its
-subsequent modifications--has remained ever since the law of England.
-
-[Illustration: PUNISHMENT OF THE STOCKS.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-THE REIGN OF JAMES I.
-
-     The Stuart Dynasty--Hopes and Fears caused by the Accession of
-     James--The King enters England--His Progress to London--Lavish
-     Creation of Peers and Knights--The Royal Entrance into the
-     Metropolis--The Coronation--Popularity of Queen Anne--Ravages
-     of the Plague--The King Receives Foreign Embassies--Rivalry
-     of the Diplomatists of France and Spain--Discontent of
-     Raleigh, Northumberland, and Cobham--Conspiracies against
-     James--"The Main" and "The Bye"--Trials of the Conspirators--The
-     Sentences--Conference with Puritans--Parliament of
-     1604--Persecution of Catholics and Puritans--Gunpowder
-     Plot--Admission of fresh Members--Delays and Devices--The
-     Letter to Lord Mounteagle--Discovery of the Plot--Flight of the
-     Conspirators--Their Capture and Execution--New Penal Code--James's
-     Correspondence with Bellarmine--Cecil's attempts to get
-     Money--Project of Union between England and Scotland--The King's
-     Collisions with Parliament--Insurrection of the Levellers--Royal
-     Extravagance and Impecuniosity--Fresh Disputes with Parliament and
-     Assertions of the Prerogative--Death of Cecil--Story of Arabella
-     Stuart--Death of Prince Henry.
-
-
-With the Stuart dynasty begins a new order of things. The direct line of
-the Tudors ceased in Elizabeth, and the collateral one of the Stuarts
-introduced the kings of Scotland to the English throne. After all the
-ages of conflict to unite the two kingdoms under one crown, it was
-effected, but in the reverse direction to that in which the monarchs
-of England had striven. They had not mounted the throne of Scotland,
-but Scotland sent her king to rule over England. With Elizabeth and the
-Tudors terminated the reign of almost unresisted absolutism; with James
-commenced that mighty struggle for constitutional liberty which did not
-cease till it had expelled his dynasty from the throne, and placed on a
-firm basis the independence of the people.
-
-With great haste various messengers flew to Scotland to announce the
-demise of Elizabeth; the winner in the race of loyalty, or, in other
-words, of self-interest, being, as we have seen, Sir Robert Carey, to
-whom the artifice of his sister, Lady Scrope, had communicated the
-earliest news of the queen's decease. He reached Edinburgh four days
-before Sir Charles Percy and Thomas Somerset, who were despatched
-officially by the Council. Meanwhile, on March 24th, 1603, Cecil
-assembled thirty-five individuals--members of Council, peers, prelates,
-and officers of State--at Whitehall, and accompanied by the lord mayor
-and aldermen, proclaimed James VI. of Scotland James I. of England, first
-in front of Westminster Palace, and then at the High Cross, in Cheapside.
-
-There were some who were apprehensive that the accession of James might
-be opposed by the noblemen who had been so active in the death of his
-mother. But these had taken care to make their peace with the facile
-James, whose filial affection was not of an intensity to weigh much in
-the scales with the crown of England. On the contrary, his accession
-was hailed with apparent enthusiasm by all parties, for all parties
-believed that they should reap decided advantages from his government.
-The persecuted Catholics felt certain that the son of the queen of Scots
-would at least tolerate their religion, as he had many a time privately
-assured their agents. The Puritans were equally confident that a king
-who had been educated in the strictest faith of Calvinism, would place
-them in the ascendant. The Episcopal church--as it deemed, on equally
-good grounds--rejoiced in the advent of a prince who had protested to
-its friends that he was heartily sick of a religion which had domineered
-over both his mother and himself with an iron rigidity. The populace, in
-the hope of a milder yoke than that of the truculent Tudors, gave vent to
-their joy in loud acclamations, by bonfires and ringing of bells, while
-Elizabeth was lying a corpse, scarcely cold, on her bier.
-
-James, who was in his thirty-seventh year, was transported at the
-prospect of his escape from the poverty and religious restraint of
-Scotland, to the affluence of so much more extensive an empire, and
-one impediment alone checked his flight southward--the want of money
-for the journey. He sent a speedy message to Cecil for the necessary
-funds, and also added a request for the transmission of the Crown jewels
-for the adornment of his wife. The money was forwarded, but the jewels
-were prudently withheld till he reached his future capital. Once in
-possession of the means of locomotion, James did not conceal his pleasure
-at escaping from the control of his Presbyterian clergy and the haughty
-rudeness of his nobles, to an accession of wealth and power which he
-imagined would make him as absolute as Henry VIII., a condition for which
-he had an intense yearning.
-
-On the 5th of April James commenced his journey towards London, but
-however much he rejoiced in the prospect of his new kingdom, he was in
-no haste to reach the capital. The moment that he set foot in England
-he seemed to have realised the full luxury of his new sovereignty, and
-announced to those about him that they had indeed at last arrived at
-the Land of Promise. At Berwick he fired a piece of ordnance himself
-in his joy, which seemed for the moment to have raised him above his
-constitutional timidity; and he then sate down and wrote to Cecil,
-informing him of his progress, and of his intention to take York and
-other places on his way. As he intended to enter York and pass through
-other towns in state, he pressed on the obsequious minister the necessity
-of forwarding to him coaches, litters, horses, jewels, and all that
-was requisite for regal dignity, as well as a lord chamberlain; and he
-forthwith appointed to that office the lord Thomas Howard. He stayed
-three days at York, and did not reach Newark till the 21st of the month.
-Cecil had met him at York, and accompanied his progress; and as he rode
-forward the people crowded around to welcome their new sovereign with
-the most hearty acclamations. To express his satisfaction to the gentry,
-he made almost every man of any standing who approached him a knight; so
-that by the time he reached London he is said to have created two hundred
-and fifty, and before he had been in England three months, seven hundred
-knights, a profusion which much diminished the value of the gift.
-
-[Illustration: JAMES I.]
-
-The truth was that James, who made himself very free and easy in his
-immediate circle, disliked exposure to the mob, and dealt about his
-smiles and knighthoods to get rid of his throngers as soon as possible.
-By the time he had reached Berwick he had knighted three persons; at
-Widdrington he knighted eleven, at York thirty-one, at Worksop in
-Nottinghamshire eighteen, at Newark eight, on the road thence to Belvoir
-Castle four, at Belvoir forty-five. Yet gracious as he was and agreeable
-as he wanted to make himself, his new subjects did not behold his person
-and manner without considerable astonishment. His ungainly figure and
-his equally uncouth dialect no little amazed the stately courtiers of
-Elizabeth, but nevertheless they paid him the most devoted homage, as the
-dispenser of all honours and of every good.
-
-At Theobalds Cecil had the opportunity of studying James's character and
-of ingratiating himself with him. A new Council was formed, and whilst
-James introduced six of his own countrymen, Cecil recommended six of his
-partisans to balance them. During his correspondence with James Cecil had
-managed to fix in the king's mind a deep and ineradicable aversion to the
-men whom he himself regarded with jealous and hostile feelings--Raleigh,
-Cobham, and Grey. It was in vain that they paid their court; they were
-treated with coldness, and Raleigh, instead of receiving the promotion to
-which he aspired, was even deprived of the valuable office of warden of
-the Stannaries. Northumberland was equally the object of Cecil's dislike,
-but Bacon was warmly in his favour, and the king received him graciously.
-
-On the 7th of July James set out for his capital, and at Stamford Hill
-was met by the lord mayor and aldermen in their scarlet robes, followed
-by a great crowd, and with these he entered the City, and proceeded to
-the Charterhouse. He immediately caused a proclamation to be made that
-all licences and monopolies granted by Elizabeth, and which had excited
-so much discontent, should be suspended till they had been examined by
-the Council; that all protections from the Crown to delay the progress
-of justice in the courts of law should cease, as well as the abuses of
-purveyance, and the oppressions of saltpetre-makers and officers of the
-household. From the Charterhouse he proceeded, according to routine,
-to the Tower, and thence to Greenwich and back to Whitehall, at every
-step making more knights and creating peers. He had sent for the Earl
-of Southampton to meet him at York, and he now restored both him and
-the son of his friend the Earl of Essex to their honours and estates.
-Mountjoy and three of the Howards were raised to the rank of earls; nine
-new barons were created, amongst them Cecil, who was made Lord Cecil, and
-afterwards Viscount Cranbourne, and finally Earl of Salisbury. Buckhurst
-and Egerton were promoted; and eventually, besides his seven hundred
-spick-and-span new knights, he added sixty-two fresh members to the
-peerage. So extravagant was his distribution of honours that a pasquinade
-was affixed to the door of St. Paul's, offering to teach weak memories
-the art of recollecting the titles of the nobility.
-
-The coronation took place on the 25th of July. James's wife, Anne of
-Denmark, was crowned with him. The weather had been intensely hot, but
-it now set in very rainy. To spoil the pleasure of the people, the
-plague was raging in the City, and the inhabitants were by proclamation
-forbidden to enter Westminster. No queen-consort had been crowned since
-Anne Boleyn, nor had any king and queen been crowned together since Henry
-VIII. and Catherine of Aragon, and therefore the restriction was the more
-mortifying. Queen Anne went to the coronation "with her seemly hair down
-hanging on her princely shoulders, and on her head a coronet of gold. She
-so mildly saluted her new subjects, that the women, weeping, cried out
-with one voice, 'God bless the royal queen! Welcome to England, long to
-live and continue!'"
-
-That week there died in London and the suburbs eight hundred and
-fifty-seven persons of the plague. On the 5th of August James ordered
-morning and evening prayers and sermons, with bonfires all night to
-drive away the pestilence, not forgetting to order that all men should
-praise God for his Majesty's escape that day three years before, from the
-Gowrie conspiracy; and on the 10th of August he commanded that a fast,
-with sermons of repentance, should be held, and repeated every week on
-Wednesday so long as the plague continued.
-
-James's pride was soon gratified by the flocking in of ambassadors
-from all the great nations of Europe, soliciting his alliance; and on
-the first intimation of their approach he appointed Sir Lewis Lewknor
-master of the ceremonies, to receive and entertain these distinguished
-persons. This was the first establishment of such an office in England.
-First arrived, from Holland and the United Provinces, Prince Frederick
-of Nassau son of the Prince of Orange, attended by the three able
-diplomatists Valck, Barneveldt, and Brederode. James, with equally high
-notions of the royal prerogative, had not the sympathy of Elizabeth
-with the struggles of Protestantism abroad, and therefore regarded the
-revolted Netherlanders as rebels and traitors, and did not fail amongst
-his courtiers to pronounce them so; the more particularly as they owed
-the English crown large sums for past assistance, which they were in
-no hurry to pay. He, therefore, framed various excuses to defer their
-audiences till the arrival of the envoy of the King of Spain, Count
-Aremberg, who was not long in appearing, bringing the agreeable news that
-the Archduke had liberated all English prisoners, as the subjects of a
-friendly power. Two days after Aremberg's arrival, Henry IV.'s great
-minister, the Duke of Sully, reached London. Aremberg was in no condition
-to negotiate on any positive terms till he received instructions from
-Spain; and Sully seized time by the forelock, by distributing amongst the
-courtiers sixty thousand crowns, a considerable part of which found its
-way into the queen's purse. He prevailed on James to make a treaty with
-Henry IV., in which he engaged to send money to the States in aid against
-the Spaniards, and join France in open hostilities should Philip attempt
-to invade that country. Sully, delighted with his success--for Henry
-feared nothing more than James's making peace with Spain, and leaving him
-to assist Holland alone--returned to France. But a little time convinced
-the French court that nothing in reality had been secured by it, for
-James had no money to send to Holland had he been really so disposed,
-which is doubtful, and that he merely temporised with them as he had done
-with different States before.
-
-Meantime the Court of Spain, notwithstanding the activity of France, was
-slow in deciding the course of policy to be adopted towards England under
-the new king. After the decided hostility towards it under Elizabeth, and
-the signal defeats experienced, pride forbade Philip to solicit a peace,
-lest it should look like weakness. And, indeed, Spain had never recovered
-from the severe blow received in the loss of its Armada, and the other
-ravages of its ports and colonies by the English, added to the loss of a
-great portion of the Low Countries; and this consciousness made it more
-tardy in its proceedings. But while engaged in prolonged discussions on
-this head, two Englishmen arrived at the court of Spain, whose mission
-was of a nature to bring it to a decision. These were Wright and Fawkes,
-who were soon to assume a conspicuous position in the strife between
-the Catholics and Protestants of England. Previous to the death of
-Elizabeth, Thomas Winter had negotiated with the Spanish Court a plan
-for the invasion of England, which had been abandoned on her decease.
-Now, however, the scheme was revived, and these two emissaries were
-despatched to sound the present disposition of the Court of Madrid. This
-direct appeal from the conspirators seems to have startled the Spanish
-Government from its wavering policy. It was not prepared for anything
-so desperate, and replied that it had no cause of complaint against
-James, but, on the contrary, regarded him as a friend and ally, and had
-appointed the Condé de Villa Mediana as ambassador to his Court.
-
-This was decisive, and the way now seemed open towards a more friendly
-tone between Spain and England; but at the same moment a secret
-and mysterious correspondence seems to have been going on between
-Aremberg, the agent of the King of Spain, and a discontented party in
-England. Northumberland, Cobham, and Raleigh were ill at ease under
-the disappointment which they had met with in their hopes of favour at
-James's Court. Northumberland had been to a certain degree graciously
-received, and even entertained with promises by James; but he felt that
-while Cecil was so completely in the ascendant there was little hope of
-a cordial feeling towards him in the monarch's heart. Cobham and Raleigh
-were undisguisedly in disgrace, and were shunned by the courtiers as
-fallen men. The three friends, therefore, entered into intrigues with the
-Court of France through the resident minister Beaumont, and Sully the
-envoy extraordinary. For a time their suggestions were listened to, but
-the apparent success of Sully with James put an end to further overtures,
-and there Northumberland was prudent enough to desist. But Cobham and
-Raleigh, disappointed of Court favour and burning with resentment against
-Cecil--whom they felt to be the cause of their disgrace--plotted for the
-overthrow of the crafty minister.
-
-Sully, the French envoy, had, while in London, done his best to inspire
-James with distrust of Cecil; and there is little doubt that this was at
-the suggestion, or with the co-operation of Cobham, Northumberland, and
-Raleigh. When Northumberland drew back, these two held communication with
-Aremberg, to whom they offered their services in promoting the objects
-he sought on behalf of Spain and the Netherlands. Aremberg, who did not
-know what was going on at the Spanish Court, communicated the proposal
-to his master, who instructed him to give a favourable answer. What the
-scheme proposed by Cobham and Raleigh precisely was seems never to have
-been known, but we may suppose that in return for aid from the Continent,
-these ambitious men were to attempt the removal of Cecil by some means,
-and on their succeeding to power, their influence was to be exerted with
-the king on behalf of Spain.
-
-This was designated by those in the secret as "The Main" conspiracy; but
-there was also another going on simultaneously, of which these gentlemen
-are supposed to have been cognisant, but not mixed up with. This was
-called "The Bye" conspiracy, and was composed of an extraordinary medley
-of the discontented, the most determined of whom aimed at nothing less
-than the seizure of the king, and the government of the country in his
-name, for their own party purposes.
-
-The grand cause of discontent was the disappointment of both Catholics
-and Puritans in James. Before his coming to the English crown he had
-held out the most flattering expectations to the Catholics that he
-would grant them toleration, whilst the Puritans calculated on his
-Presbyterian education for a decided adhesion to their views. But no
-sooner did he reach England than he threw himself into the arms of the
-High Church party, declaring that it was the only religion fit for a
-king. To the Catholics he declared he would grant no toleration--rather
-would he fight to the death against it; and he took no pains to conceal
-his disgust at the Presbyterian clergy amongst whom he had spent his
-youth. The antagonism of Catholic and Puritan was forgotten in the
-resentment against this disclosure of the king's disposition. Instantly
-plans were cogitated to avenge themselves of the royal perfidy, as it
-was termed, and to secure themselves against the threatened storm. Sir
-Griffin Markham, a Catholic gentlemen of no great property or influence,
-concerted with two priests, Watson and Clarke, the means of raising the
-Catholics against the Government. Watson had been sent into Scotland, to
-James, on behalf of the Catholics, before the death of Elizabeth, and he
-indignantly represented that James had given them, through him, the most
-solemn promises of toleration, which he had now broken. He, therefore,
-threw himself with the greatest heat into the conspiracy: he drew up an
-awful oath of secrecy, and he and Clarke travelled far and wide amongst
-the Catholic families, calling upon them to come forward in the name of
-their religion and their property.
-
-But their success was trivial; few or none of the Catholics of weight
-and station would engage in the enterprise. Failing there, Watson turned
-his attention to the Puritans; and with them he was more successful,
-by artfully concealing from them the paucity of the Catholics who had
-joined the conspiracy, and the full extent of his own intentions. Lord
-Grey de Wilton, who was a leading Puritan, and had his discontent from
-the same causes as Cobham and Raleigh, was induced by Watson to join the
-conspiracy, under the impression that a strong Catholic body was engaged
-in it. He agreed to furnish a troop of a hundred horse, but he was not
-long in discovering that he had been imposed upon, and advised the
-conspirators to defer the execution of their design to a more favourable
-opportunity.
-
-The conspirators proposed to meet during the darkness of night at
-Greenwich; but the reflection that there were three hundred armed
-gentlemen within the Palace, made that appear too hazardous; they,
-therefore, altered their plan, and concluded to seize James as he was
-hunting at Hanworth, and where he was accustomed to call for refreshment
-at a gentleman's house. The plan, as communicated by Watson to the
-conspirators, was to assemble in a numerous body under pretence of
-presenting a petition to James as he went out hunting, seize the king,
-and convey him to a place of safety, where they were to extort from him
-a declaration of liberty of conscience. With the king in their hands,
-they would then wreak their vengeance on Cecil and Sir George Howe; and
-it was afterwards charged against them in the indictment, that they meant
-to make Watson lord chancellor, Brooke, the brother of Cobham--who was a
-most unprincipled man, and has been suspected of being Cecil's spy and
-tool on the occasion--lord treasurer, Markham secretary, and Grey earl
-marshal. Probably this was the scheme devised for them by the accusers,
-for it appears too wild for belief; but be that as it may, the 24th of
-June was the day named for the attempt, when the refusal of Lord Grey
-caused it to be abandoned, and the party separated with much mutual
-recrimination.
-
-But Watson had already proceeded to a length which led to the revelation
-of the plot to Cecil. He had endeavoured to engage in it the Society of
-the Jesuits, and had communicated his plans to a Jesuit of the name of
-Gerard. The Society not only refused to sanction the conspiracy, but the
-archpriest went at once and revealed it to Cecil. The crafty minister
-kept his information close, and resolved to let the conspirators go on
-till the very day for the execution of their design, so that he might
-the more summarily convict them; but the failure of their plan left him
-no further reason for delay, and Anthony Copley, one of the "Bye," was
-arrested, as a man well known to be of a timid character and likely
-in his terror to betray his associates. Cecil had probably plenty of
-intelligence of both the plan and its agitators from others as well as
-from Gerard, and most probably from Brooke. But with great judgment he
-neglected no means of making the conspirators furnish evidence against
-each other, and thus he kept his own sources of knowledge secret. On the
-heels of Copley's arrest, followed, as a natural consequence, the arrest
-of Griffin, Markham, the priests Watson and Clarke, and the rest of
-Copley's associates. Cecil said that the mere fact of Brooke being in the
-conspiracy made him feel certain that Cobham, Raleigh, and Northumberland
-were in it. They were therefore apprehended separately; and, by playing
-on the fears of the fallen Cobham, Cecil speedily made him incriminate
-Raleigh.
-
-[Illustration: ST. THOMAS'S TOWER AND TRAITORS' GATE, TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-The coronation of the king, which took place on the 25th of July,
-being his saint's day, the festival of St. James, and the violence of
-the plague, which caused the king to flee into the country, postponed
-the trials of the conspirators. The Court, followed by the judges and
-their suitors, fled from place to place for several months, pursued by
-the plague; and it was not till November that the trials took place in
-the castle at Winchester. Another cause had, perhaps still more than
-the plague, deferred them. Aremberg was deeply implicated, but his
-intrigues could not be opened up whilst he was in the country, nor could
-an order be issued directing him to leave, without embarrassing the
-public relations with Spain. But in October he left, and on the 15th
-of November the trials of the conspirators commenced. The accomplices
-of the "Bye"--Brooke, Brookesby, Markham, Copley, Watson, and Clarke,
-with others--were all condemned on their own confessions, for they had
-been so managed that they not only accused each other, but made the most
-ample confessions of their own guilt, as if each thought he should obtain
-pardon by discovering most. These confessions, which had been carefully
-compiled, were put in as evidence against them. Sir Edward Parham only
-was acquitted, for he pleaded that he joined solely to rescue the king
-from the hands of those who held him in captivity; Cecil threw in his
-word in his favour, suggesting that the king's dignity consisted as much
-in freeing the innocent as condemning the guilty. This conduct gave an
-air of impartiality--of which no one could estimate the effect more fully
-than the astute Cecil--to the proceedings.
-
-Sir Walter Raleigh was next put upon his trial. His extraordinary
-ability, and his knowledge of Court secrets, made it too dangerous an
-attempt to connect him with the "Bye," and arraign him along with the
-unhappy and weak members of that part of the conspiracy. He was not
-placed at the bar even along with Cobham, for the only evidence against
-him which the Court dared to bring forward, was that of Cobham; and
-they knew too well that in Raleigh's presence, the wavering Cobham
-would be worse than useless. Already repenting of his accusation of
-Raleigh in the surprise of his resentment, Cobham had retracted his
-accusations; and when pressed and cross-questioned by the Council, had so
-contradicted himself, that to bring him into public would be to render
-his evidence worthless. True, the Council had the intercepted letters,
-which had passed between Aremberg and the Spanish authorities, which
-were sufficiently criminatory of Raleigh and Cobham; but these could
-not be produced without an exposure of the fact that the correspondence
-of ambassadors and their principals was not safe in England. Indeed,
-Coke, who was of course duly instructed in the particulars of this
-correspondence, having made some too intelligible reference to Aremberg,
-Cecil compelled him to apologise to the ambassador, and hastened to
-assure the other ambassadors of foreign courts that Aremberg had no
-notion of the purpose for which Cobham and Raleigh had solicited money
-from Spain.
-
-Coke's device was to mix the two plots. He went into the case at
-length, and what he lacked in proof he endeavoured to supply by abuse.
-He described in inflated language the intentions of the agitators of
-the "Bye," and declared that amongst other things, they meant to make
-proclamation against monopolies, as if that were absolute treason.
-Raleigh calmly reminded him that he was not charged with the "Bye." "You
-are not," replied Coke; "but it will be seen that all these treasons,
-though they consisted of several parts, closed in together like Samson's
-foxes, which were joined in their tails, though their heads were
-separated." Raleigh still insisted that the "Bye" was the treason of the
-priests, and said, "What is the treason of the priest to me?" "I will
-then come close to you," said Coke. "I will prove you to be the most
-notorious traitor that ever came to the bar; you are, indeed, upon the
-'Main,' but you have followed them upon the 'Bye' in imitation."
-
-Raleigh in reply demanded that his accuser should be brought face to
-face with him. He demanded it on the authority of the statute law and
-the law of God, both of which required that this should be done to prove
-an offence. But Lord Chief Justice Popham told him that the Statutes of
-Edward VI. to which he appealed, were cancelled by Philip and Mary; that
-he must take his trial by the common law, as settled by Edward III.,
-under which a trial by jury and written evidence was as valid as a trial
-by jury and witnesses; and that at most one witness was sufficient. But
-Raleigh replied that his case was peculiar, and that there was not a
-single witness against him; for even the man who had borne testimony
-against him had retracted his assertions. He, therefore, reiterated his
-demand for the production of Cobham; declaring that if Cobham dared in
-his presence to reaffirm a single charge, he would submit to his doom,
-and would not add another word. When this challenge was passed over
-without any notice, he produced a letter which Cobham had written to him
-about a fortnight before, in which he said:--"To free myself from the cry
-of blood, I protest, upon my soul and before God and His angels, I never
-had conference with you in any treason, nor was ever moved by you to the
-things I heretofore accused you of; and, for anything I know, you are as
-innocent and as clear from any treasons against the king as is subject
-living. And God so deal with me and have mercy on my soul, as this is
-true."
-
-This appeared a strong avowal, but Cecil was prepared for this, having,
-no doubt, already seen this letter on its passage; and Coke produced in
-defeat of it another letter written by Cobham to the Council but the day
-before. In this letter Cobham stated that Raleigh had twice sent letters
-to him in the Tower, which had been thrown into his window-sash in an
-apple, and that in these letters he entreated him to do him right by
-denying what he had said as to his wishing him to come from the Continent
-by Jersey, and in other particulars. Cobham replied that he retracted the
-assertion about Jersey, but went on to state that Raleigh had been the
-original cause of his ruin, for that he had no dealings with Aremberg but
-at Sir Walter's instigation. He added that at Aremberg's coming Raleigh
-was to receive a pension of fifteen hundred pounds a year, for which he
-was to keep the king of Spain informed of all designs against the Indies,
-the Netherlands, or Spain; that he (Cobham) also counselled him (Raleigh)
-not to be overtaken by preachers as Essex was, and that the king would
-better allow of a constant denial than of the accusation of any one.
-
-During the reading of this letter Raleigh could not conceal his
-astonishment and confusion. When it was finished, he admitted that there
-had been some talk of a pension, but mere talk and nothing more. But the
-fact made a deep impression on the minds of the jury, and the prisoner
-probably being conscious of it, repeated his demand for the production
-of Cobham himself. "My lords," he exclaimed, "let Cobham be sent for; I
-know he is in this very house! I beseech you let him be confronted with
-me! Let him be here openly charged--upon his soul--upon his allegiance
-to the king--and if he will then maintain his accusations to my face,
-I will confess myself guilty!" But no notice was taken of this appeal:
-Coke still strove to bear him down by the coarsest brow-beating, shouting
-fiercely, "I will have the last word for the king!" "Nay," retorted
-Raleigh, "I will have the last word for my life!" "Go to," said the
-insolent lawyer; "I will lay thee upon thy back for the confidentest
-traitor that ever came to the bar." Cecil here interposed, telling Coke
-that he was too impatient and severe; but Coke cried, "I am the king's
-sworn servant, and must speak. You discourage the king's counsel, my
-lord, and encourage traitors."
-
-The jury, but with evident reluctance, returned a verdict of guilty.
-On being asked, in the usual form, whether he had anything to say why
-judgment should not be pronounced against him, he replied that he was
-perfectly innocent of the charges of Cobham, but that he submitted
-himself to the king's mercy, and recommended to the compassion of his
-majesty his wife and his son of tender years. After the sentence of high
-treason, with all its disgusting details, had been pronounced, Raleigh
-asked to speak privately with Cecil, Lord Henry Howard, and the Earls of
-Suffolk and Devonshire, entreating them that, in consideration of the
-position which he had held under the crown, his death might not be so
-ignominious as the strict sentence required. They promised to use their
-influence, and he was taken back to his quarters.
-
-The charges of complicity which were made against Arabella Stuart, in
-the indictment against Raleigh, were of a nature which called for denial
-on her part. She was present at the trial in a gallery; and Charles
-Howard, Earl of Nottingham, who was sitting by her, arose, and in her
-name protested, on her salvation, that she had never meddled in any
-such matters. There appeared, indeed, no disposition at this moment to
-implicate the Lady Arabella, though her relation to the Crown made her
-an object of anxiety to James, as we shall soon have occasion to see.
-Cecil himself acquitted her of any concern in this treason, admitting
-that though she had received a letter from Cobham, entreating her to
-countenance it, she only laughed at it and at once sent it to the king.
-Of the actual extent of Raleigh's participation, and what was his real
-object, we have no means of judging, for though James was in possession
-of the letters between the accused parties and Aremberg, they could not,
-as already stated, be produced.
-
-Cobham and Grey were arraigned before a tribunal of their peers,
-consisting of eleven earls and nineteen barons. Nothing could be more
-striking than the cowardice and meanness of Cobham, and the noble dignity
-of Grey. They were both condemned.
-
-The two priests were first conducted to execution. They suffered all
-the bloody horrors of the law at Winchester, on the 29th of November.
-It was surmised that James was glad to be rid of Watson as one of
-the individuals to whom, before coming to the English throne, he had
-promised toleration to the Catholics. There was an attempt to prove
-the non-existence of such a promise, but it was crude and convinced
-nobody. At the gallows both Watson and Clarke declared that they were
-convinced they owed their death to their priesthood. They were cut down
-alive and their bowels torn out--a revolting practice which but too well
-illustrates the vindictive spirit of the age.
-
-The next execution was that of Brooke. He was simply beheaded, also at
-Winchester, on the 5th of December. The people expressed great sympathy
-for him, under a belief that he had first been employed by Cecil in
-the troubled waters of these conspiracies, and then victimised by him.
-Markham, Grey, and Cobham were brought to the scaffold, induced to
-confess, and, after an interval of suspense, reprieved. Raleigh was
-imprisoned in the Tower of London for many years.
-
-The effect of this conspiracy was to deepen James's suspicion of the
-Catholics and his dislike of the Puritans. The Catholics, since his
-coming to the English throne, had conducted themselves with more policy
-than their robustious rivals, the Puritans. They had claimed, indeed,
-the fulfilment of his promises whilst merely King of Scotland, to favour
-them as the staunch friends of his mother and serious sufferers on her
-account; but they had preferred their claims with a degree of courtesy
-and moderation to which the brusque Reformers were strangers. The pope,
-Clement VIII., probably led by the same expectations, had by two breves
-addressed to the archpriest and provincial of the Jesuits, strictly
-enjoined the missionaries to confine themselves to their spiritual
-duties, and on no account to mix themselves up with the agitators for
-political change. He condemned unequivocally the conduct of Watson and
-Clarke, and sent a secret envoy to the English Court, expressing his
-abhorrence of all acts of disloyalty, and offering to withdraw any
-missionary from the kingdom who was in any way obnoxious to the king and
-Council. James appeared so far influenced by this moderation, that though
-he stoutly refused all application for a free exercise of the Catholic
-worship, and even committed individuals to the Tower who offended in this
-respect, yet he invited the Catholics to frequent his Court, he conferred
-knighthood on some of them, and assured them generally that they should
-not suffer for recusancy so long as they abstained from a breach of the
-laws as regarded religion, and from all acts of political insubordination.
-
-[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH. (_From the Portrait by Zucchero._)]
-
-But towards the Puritans he was by no means so courteous. He could never
-forget that they had kept him in restraint in his infancy and youth;
-that they had been the defamers and persecutors of his mother; and that
-to the very hour in which he escaped into the larger field of English
-power, they had goaded him with their demands and defied his authority.
-As he drew nearer to the English throne, the charms of the English church
-increased in his imagination. A church which set up the king as its head
-was a church as much after James's own heart as after that of Henry VIII.
-Like that monarch, he dearly loved to shine in polemics, and long before
-he arrived in England, it required no great shrewdness to perceive where
-his affections lay.
-
-[Illustration: THE DISSENTING DIVINES PRESENTING THEIR PETITION TO JAMES.
-(_See p._ 416.)]
-
-No sooner was he in England than he spoke his mind roundly as to his real
-feelings towards the Puritans. He said to the bishops and courtiers: "I
-will tell you, I have lived amongst this sect of men ever since I was
-ten years old; but I may say of myself as Christ said of Himself, though
-I lived amongst them, yet, since I had ability to judge, I was never of
-them." And this was at least sincere. He had grown more undisguisedly
-Episcopalian as he saw Elizabeth sinking, and felt his hold on the
-throne through her own ministers. He had given seats in parliament to
-a certain number of clergymen, thus making them bishops without the
-name; but it was in his "Basilicon Doron"--a manual for the instruction
-of his son, published in 1779--that he had let loose his deep dislike
-of the Presbyterians. He tells his son to "take heed to such Puritans,
-very pests in the church and commonwealth, whom no deserts can oblige,
-neither oaths nor promises bind, breathing nothing but sedition and
-calumnies, aspiring without measure, ruling without reason, making their
-own imaginations, without any warrant of the Word, the square of their
-conscience. I protest," he added, "before the great God, and since I am
-here upon my testament, it is no place for me to lie in, that you shall
-never find with any Highland or Border thieves greater ingratitude, and
-more lies and perjuries than with these fanatic spirits; and suffer not
-the principal of them to brook your land, if ye list to sit at rest;
-except you would keep them for trying your patience, as Socrates did an
-evil wife."
-
-But whilst the royal Solomon thus plainly enunciated his hatred of
-Puritanism, he was cautious not to let the English bishops too early
-into his fixed intention to patronise them. He liked to feel himself
-the undoubted head of that Church, and to see those dignitaries in
-fear and trembling prostrate at his feet; and it was not till they had
-sufficiently humbled themselves before him, that he revived their spirits
-with the declaration of his real sentiments. The Puritans precipitated
-this avowal, by urging on James a further reform of the Church, and
-its purgation from ceremonies. In their millenary petition (so called
-because it was expected it would have a thousand signatures, but in
-reality it had only about eight hundred) they demanded a conference,
-in which to settle the form and doctrines of the Church. This, of all
-things, delighted James. It was the very arena in which to display his
-theological knowledge; he gladly consented to it, and appointed it to
-take place at Hampton Court early in January, 1604. On the 14th of that
-month the first assembly took place; and the bishops, who were first
-admitted to the royal presence alone, were so alarmed at the prospect
-of a conference which had been demanded by Dissenters, that they threw
-themselves on their knees, and earnestly entreated the king not to alter
-the constitution of the Church, nor to give the Puritans the triumph in
-the coming debate, lest the Popish recusants should rejoice over and
-declare them justly punished for their repulsion and persecution of them.
-Then James condescended to lift the weight of fear from their hearts. He
-avowed to them that he was a sincere convert to the Church of England,
-and thanked God "who had brought him to the promised land, to a country
-where religion was purely professed, and where he sate among grave,
-reverend, and learned men; not as before, elsewhere, a king without
-state, without honour, and without order, and braved to his face by
-beardless boys under the garb of ministers."
-
-The delight of the bishops and dignitaries at this gracious confession
-may be imagined. They were nearly twenty in number, whilst the Reformers
-summoned numbered only four--namely, Doctors Reynolds and Sparkes,
-divinity professors of Oxford, and Doctors Knewstub and Chatterton,
-of Cambridge. James somewhat cooled the raptures of the Churchmen, by
-adding that he knew all things were not perfect, and that, as some
-modifications of the ritual and the ecclesiastical courts were, in his
-opinion, needed, he had called them together in the first instance, in
-order that they might settle what concessions should be made to the
-Puritans. It was necessary to show some compliance; and after the day's
-discussion it was agreed that some explanatory words should be added
-in the Book of Common Prayer to the forms of general absolution and of
-confirmation; that the Chancellor and the Chief Justice should reform
-the practice of the commissary court; that excommunication should only
-be inflicted for particularly serious offences; that the bishops should
-neither confer ordinations nor pronounce censures, without the assistance
-and concurrence of other eminent divines; that baptism should not be
-administered by women or by laymen.
-
-These points being determined, on the 16th the four Puritan divines were
-admitted, and instructed to state their demands. These embraced a general
-revision of the Book of Common Prayer, the withdrawal of excommunication,
-of baptism by women, of the use of the ring in marriage, of bowing
-at the name of Jesus, of confirmation, of the wearing of the cap and
-surplice, of the reading of the Apocrypha. They further required that
-pluralities and non-residence should cease, that obligation to subscribe
-the Thirty-nine Articles be abrogated, as well as the commendatories
-held by bishops. The bishops defended such parts of the church service
-and practices as the king had agreed should remain, and the prelates of
-London and Winchester argued in their behalf long and vehemently. As the
-Puritan doctors were not thus to be satisfied, and had by much the best
-of the argument, James himself took up the debate, and conducted it in
-that royal style which admits of no contradiction. He was now in his true
-element: theological discussion was his pride and glory, and he believed
-himself capable of silencing all Christendom. Dr. Reynolds, however,
-who was the chief speaker, undaunted by his crowned opponent, insisted
-boldly on various points; but when he came to the demand for the disuse
-of the Apocrypha in the Church service, James could bear it no longer. He
-called for a Bible, read a chapter out of Ecclesiasticus, and expounded
-it according to his own views; then turning to the lords of his Council,
-he said, "What trow ye makes these men so angry with Ecclesiasticus? By
-my soul, I think Ecclesiasticus was a bishop, or they would never use him
-so." The bishops and courtiers applauded the royal wit. James continued
-to hold forth on all sorts of topics--baptism, confirmation, absolution,
-which he declared to be apostolical, and a very good ordinance--and
-assured the anti-episcopal divines that in his opinion, if there were no
-bishops, there would soon be no king.
-
-When he had tired himself out with talking, Dr. Reynolds again ventured
-to open his mouth, and inquired how ordinances of the Church agreed with
-Christian liberty. This was touching James closely: it brought back to
-his memory the harangues on the same liberty which he had heard from his
-clergy in Scotland. He declared that he would not argue that point, but
-answer as kings were wont to do in parliament, "_Le roy s'avisera_."
-Without pretending to treat the matter as one of conviction, he treated
-it as one of authority. He exclaimed, "I will have none of that: I will
-have one doctrine and one discipline, one religion in substance and in
-ceremony." He was resolved to be as absolute over every man's conscience
-and understanding as Henry VIII. had been. "If that is what you be at,
-then I tell you that a Scottish presbytery agreeth with monarchy as well
-as God with the Devil. Then shall Jack and Tom and Dick meet, and at
-their pleasure censure me and my council and all our proceedings. Then
-Will shall stand up and say, 'It must be thus;' then Dick shall reply and
-say, 'Nay, marry, but we will have it thus;' and therefore, here I must
-once more reiterate my former speech, and say, _Le roy s'avisera_."
-
-It was in vain that Dr. Reynolds, who was reputed one of the most
-able divines and logicians of the age, attempted to state his views
-and opinions. The king constantly interrupted him and scoffed at him,
-treating him in the most insolently overbearing manner, and when he
-paused, asked him, "Well, doctor, have you anything more to say?"
-Reynolds, perceiving it useless, replied, "No, please your majesty;" on
-which James told these brow-beaten divines, that had they disputed no
-better in college, and he had been moderator, he would have had them all
-fetched up and flogged for dunces; that if that was all they had to say
-for themselves, he would make them conform, or hurry them out of the
-kingdom, or worse. With this scandalous treatment they were dismissed
-till the 18th, when the Conference met again. The greater part of the day
-was consumed by the king, the Council, and prelates in inquiring into
-the abuses of the high commission court, and devising means for checking
-them. At a late hour the Dissenting delegates were again admitted, not to
-continue the discussion, but to hear the fixed decision of the king. On
-hearing it they prayed that a certain time might be allowed before the
-new regulations were enforced. This was granted, but not strictly kept,
-for the new Book of Common Prayer was immediately prepared and published
-by authority.
-
-Thus ended this curious Conference, in a complete triumph for the High
-Church party. The Reformers complained bitterly of this, but James
-himself was incapable of feeling the force of public opinion. He was
-inflated with the idea of his own unrivalled eloquence and ability.
-He boasted that he had "peppered the Dissenters soundly. They fled
-me," he said, "from argument to argument like schoolboys." The bishops
-and ministers of his Council added to his absurd egotism, by actually
-pouring deluges of the most fulsome adulation upon him. Bancroft, Bishop
-of London, flung himself on his knees before him, and exclaimed "that
-his heart melted with joy, and made haste to acknowledge unto Almighty
-God His singular mercy in giving them such a king, as since Christ's
-time the like had not been"; and Whitgift, the primate, protested "that
-his majesty spake by the special assistance of God's spirit." The Lord
-Chancellor Ellesmere, emulating the sycophants of the Church, said that
-"the king and the priest had never been so wonderfully united in the same
-person;" and the peers echoed the plaudits, declaring that his majesty's
-speeches proceeded from the spirit of God operating on an understanding
-heart. "I wist not what they mean," wrote Harrington, in "Nugæ Antiquæ";
-"but the spirit was rather foul-mouthed."
-
-All parties connected with the Church having thus admitted that the king
-was acting under the most luminous effusion of the Divine spirit, ought
-not, therefore, to have murmured when soon afterwards, without waiting
-for ecclesiastical sanction, he made his own alterations in the Book of
-Common Prayer, and then issued a proclamation, warning all men neither to
-attempt nor expect any further alterations in the Church, and commanding
-all ecclesiastical and civil authorities to enforce the strictest
-conformity. Whitgift soon after died (1604), and many attributed the
-acceleration of his death to his mortification at the king's ordering the
-affairs of the Church by his own will and wisdom, which Whitgift had been
-one of the first to extol as infallible. Bancroft succeeded him in the
-primacy, and showed himself a capable instrument of James's bigotry, and
-ready to enforce whatever cruelty he would attempt.
-
-James spent fully half of his year in hunting, and if any person or
-party had an urgent matter to prefer, the only opportunity of doing so
-was by waylaying him in his rides to the forest. The Dissenters, as the
-time approached for the enforcement of the new canons of the Church,
-presented a petition to him near Newmarket, praying a prolongation of
-the time allowed them for conforming. James received them with savage
-fierceness; told them that it was from such petitions that the rebellion
-in the Netherlands originated; that his mother and he had been haunted by
-Puritan devils from their cradles; that he would sooner lose his crown
-than encourage such malicious spirits; and if he thought his son would
-tolerate them in his time, he would wish to see him that moment lying in
-his grave. The Nonconformists complained that he persecuted the disciples
-whilst he favoured the enemies of the Gospel. This was referring to his
-reception of Catholics at court, and his promises not to molest them if
-they abstained from the open prosecution of their worship. But James left
-them under no mistake on that head. He expressed an equally vehement
-hatred of Papists; and on the 22nd of February he issued a proclamation
-enjoining the banishment of all Catholic missionaries. He went to the
-Star Chamber, framed regulations for the discovery and prosecution of
-recusants, and issued orders to magistrates to see the penal laws put
-in force against all persons, of whatever faith, who did not fully
-conform to the rites and ordinances of the Church. Thus the miseries
-and oppressions of religious persecution were renewed with all their
-virulence; and the only consolation for those who refused to conform was
-that they might persecute one another.
-
-In the midst of this state of things James was compelled to call a
-Parliament. This assembled on the 19th of March, 1604. It was one of the
-most remarkable Parliaments in our history, for it came together, on the
-part of both King and Commons, prepared to contest the great principles
-of absolutism and constitutional liberty; a contest which never again
-ceased till the people had triumphed over the Crown, and prescribed for
-it those limits within which it continues still to exist. The Tudors had
-made themselves absolute, but rather by acting than talking. They had
-willed, but had only occasionally boasted of the supremacy of their will.
-Whenever they had done so, especially in the person of Elizabeth, they
-received a protest so spirited from Parliament, that they wisely again
-veiled their pretensions. But James, possessing all their personal vanity
-and love of unlimited power, had not the policy to keep his pretensions
-in the background. He obtruded them on the public notice; he vaunted his
-towering belief of his earthly divinity, declaring that as God killed or
-made alive, so had He ordained kings to do the same at pleasure. Years
-before he came to England, he published these imperious and imprudent
-doctrines in a discourse "On the True Law of Free Monarchies; or, the
-Reciprogue and Mutual Duty betwixt a Free King and his Natural Subjects."
-He was, in short, a firm believer in the doctrine of the Divine Right of
-Kings, which had taken such a firm root in Europe.
-
-In the proclamation calling this Parliament, James took care to set forth
-the supremacy of his prerogative, and commanded the sheriffs and other
-officers to make no returns of members but such as were wholly agreeable
-to his views; there were to be no "persons noted for their superstitious
-blindness in religion one way, or for their turbulent humour the other."
-That is, neither Puritans nor Catholics were to be elected. Instructions
-were sent down to the various counties and boroughs, naming such persons
-for candidates as were agreeable to the Court. But the Puritans were in
-no humour to comply with such unconstitutional orders. They were justly
-filled with resentment at the treatment of their representatives at
-Hampton Court, and put forward their own men and returned them in great
-numbers in defiance of the Government. One case led to a direct and
-vehement collision between the Crown and the House of Commons. Sir John
-Fortescue, a member of the Privy Council, had been named by the Court as
-a member for the county of Buckingham. The people of Buckinghamshire,
-afterwards so conspicuous in the struggles between the Stuarts and
-Parliament, elected Sir Francis Goodwin. The clerk of the Crown refused
-to receive the return, and sent it back to the sheriff as contrary to
-the proclamation; for Goodwin had formerly been outlawed, and James had
-forbidden the return of outlaws. A second writ was issued, and under it
-Sir John Fortescue was elected. But the Commons refused to admit him,
-declaring that as Goodwin's outlawry had been reversed, the proclamation
-did not apply to him, and that his return was good and should stand.
-
-[Illustration: THE OLD PALACE, WESTMINSTER, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.
-
-(_Showing the Hall, Parliament House, Painted Chamber, and St. Stephen's
-Chapel._)]
-
-The Government, in the name of the Lords, proposed to the Commons that
-there should be a conference between the two Houses on the subject
-before any other business was proceeded with; but the Commons, with
-a clear insight into their privileges, where the constitution and
-functions of their own body were concerned, replied that it did not
-consist with the honour of their House to give an account of their
-proceedings and doings. On this they received a second message, in which
-they were informed, through Coke, that his majesty being apprised of
-their objection, conceived that his honour was touched, and desired
-that there should be some conference between the Houses. On this the
-Commons sent a deputation of their members, headed by the Speaker, to
-represent to the king why they could not confer with the Lords on any
-subject. The king was exceedingly high, and let them know that they
-held all their privileges by the royal favour; but the members stoutly
-denied that doctrine, as the House at large had already this session
-denied it, saying "that new laws could not be instituted, nor imperfect
-laws reformed, nor inconvenient laws abrogated, by any other power than
-that of the High Court of Parliament, that is, by the agreement of the
-Commons, the accord of the Lords, and the assent of the Sovereign;
-that to him belonged the right either negatively to frustrate, or
-affirmatively to ratify, but that he could not institute; every bill
-must pass through the two Houses before it could be submitted to his
-pleasure."
-
-This was a doctrine that clashed disagreeably with James's absolute
-notions, and he upbraided the Commons with their presumption. But they
-stood firmly to their position and, what was extremely humiliating to
-the new monarch, excused his unconstitutional ideas through ignorance or
-misinformation of the custom and laws of England; the privileges of their
-house, they said, were the birthright of Englishmen and could not be
-surrendered. James claimed that all disputed matters should be referred
-to his court of chancery; but they claimed to settle all such themselves,
-as the essential to the government of their estate.
-
-When James found that nothing would induce the Commons to confer with the
-Lords, he ordered them to confer with the judges, and this command the
-deputation carried back to the House. But the House, after a warm debate,
-unanimously refused to refer the question to the judges; they drew up an
-answer to all the king's arguments, and sent it to the Lords, requesting
-them to present it to his majesty, and be mediators between them. James,
-now finding that he could make no impression by express command, sent for
-the Speaker and endeavoured to coax him over to his views; but that being
-unsuccessful, he ordered him to deliver to the House his command, "as an
-absolute king," to confer with the judges. This was a direct challenge
-to the popular element to try its strength with the royal one--language
-which was sure to put a high-spirited people on its mettle: the first
-utterance of that language, which no warning, no experience could teach
-a Stuart to abandon, till the utterance was quenched in blood.
-
-When the Speaker delivered this command, there fell a profound silence
-on the House--an augury and foreboding, as it were, of the gigantic
-struggle which was commencing. At length the ominous silence was broken
-by a member starting up and exclaiming that "the prince's command was
-like a thunderbolt; his command over our allegiance," he said, "is like
-the roaring of a lion! To his command there is no contradiction; but how,
-or in what manner we should proceed to perform obedience, that will be
-the question." It was finally agreed to send a deputation to confer with
-the judges in the presence of the king and Council. At the conference
-there appeared no better prospect of success, when the king happily
-proposed that both Goodwin and Fortescue should be set aside, and a new
-writ issued. The Commons gladly acceded to this proposal. The House was
-rejoiced at this solution of the difficulty, but out of doors those they
-represented were far from satisfied, and reproached the House with having
-yielded the right which they had boldly claimed. But in reality, the
-Commons had done no such thing, for they proceeded, by their Speaker's
-warrant, to issue the new writ themselves, and they have ever since
-exercised the right which they then assumed, of deciding all cases of
-contested elections.
-
-The king, on his part, was as little satisfied as the people. He laboured
-under no mistake as to where the victory lay: he felt keenly that he
-was defeated in his soaring claims of prerogative, and the Commons went
-on to let him know that they were resolved on an exercise of power
-still greater. They attacked the monopolies which James had declared by
-proclamation that he would abolish, but towards which not a step was
-taken. They complained of the continuance of the feudal grievances of
-assarts, wardships, aids for royal marriages, and purveyance. The right
-of guardianship of minors of estate continued a source of vast emolument
-to the Crown, which received the proceeds of these estates and rendered
-no account. This was, moreover, a source of equal peculation to the
-minister for the time being, and Cecil was thought to draw enormous
-wealth from this abuse; and as for purveyance, it seems to have been as
-recklessly and insolently pursued as under any of the kings of York or
-Lancaster. The royal purveyors seized the property of the subject just
-as they pleased; took horses, carts, carriages, and provisions at will;
-called out men to labour for the royal pleasure, paying or not as suited
-them, felling trees, and committing sundry other depredations.
-
-After much debate these grievances were referred to a committee; but
-as the Lords would have nothing to do with it, the matter was obliged
-to be dropped. Bacon, who was assiduously climbing into royal favour,
-played a contemptible part on this occasion in the House. He affected
-the character of a patriot, and discoursed feelingly of abuses and the
-sufferings of the people, while in the Council, before the king, he
-declared that his majesty was the voice of God in man, the good spirit of
-God in the mouth of man.
-
-The struggle continued between the Crown and the Commons through the
-whole session. As the Crown would not agree to reform the abuses
-complained of, the Commons declined to grant the king any money beyond
-the usual rate of tonnage and poundage. So apprehensive, in fact, was
-the king of another defeat in the present temper of the House, that he
-sent a message requesting them not to enter on the business of subsidy,
-notwithstanding his urgent need of money.
-
-The struggle regarding religious liberty was carried on by the Puritans
-in the House with equal obstinacy. Convocation sitting at the same time
-with Parliament occupied itself in framing a new code of ecclesiastical
-canons. In spite of the resolution of the Conference at Hampton Court,
-which declared that no excommunication should issue except for very grave
-offences, these canons--one hundred and forty-one in number--equalled
-in ecclesiastical despotism anything which had been decreed under Henry
-VIII. Excommunication was pronounced against all who denied the supremacy
-of the king or the orthodoxy of the Church; who affirmed the Book of
-Common Prayer to be superstitious or unlawful, that any one of the
-Thirty-nine Articles was erroneous, or that the ordinal was opposed to
-the Word of God. All who should separate from the Established Church,
-or established conventicles, were equally denounced, and this bigoted
-code James ratified by letters patent under the Great Seal. But it did
-not pass without severe comment from the Puritan members of the House,
-in the midst of which the king prorogued Parliament; and so remained the
-question of the canon law of England, which in reality was and is a law
-binding only on the clergy, having received their own sanction and that
-of their head the king, but not that of the Legislature; for which reason
-the judges have always held that it binds the clergy who framed, but not
-the people whose representatives refused it.
-
-No sooner was the canon law promulgated and Parliament prorogued, than
-Bancroft, the new archbishop, let loose the fury of the Church against
-nonconformists, whether Catholic or Protestant. All were called on to
-conform to the new regulations, and no less than three hundred clergymen
-were forced from their livings. The Catholics, on their part, were
-equally harassed, fined, and insulted. The legal penalty of twenty
-pounds a month for recusancy was again enforced, notwithstanding James
-had promised to overlook this; and it was executed with a new rigour of
-barbarity, the fines for the whole period during which James had been
-professing leniency being levied. Thus the sufferers were called on to
-make thirteen payments at one time, which at once reduced a vast number
-of families to absolute beggary.
-
-The Puritans did not submit to the outrages perpetrated on them without
-sturdy resistance and remonstrance. The Catholics, or at least a section
-of them, proceeded to something more dangerous. Smarting under their
-renewed persecution, they felt it useless to remonstrate like the
-Puritans, for both the Church party and Nonconformists were against them.
-They, therefore, as a body, brooded in silence over their sufferings;
-but there were amongst the oppressed spirits those who could not thus
-endure in patience, but planned a desperate revenge. Amongst these was
-Robert Catesby, the descendant of an ancient Catholic family, seated for
-centuries at Ashby St. Legers, in Northamptonshire, and also possessing
-considerable property in Warwickshire. Catesby's father had been a great
-sufferer for recusancy, having several times been imprisoned, in addition
-to the plundering of his substance. In his youth, the younger Catesby,
-who was wild and extravagant, was not disposed to sacrifice his jollity
-for the maintenance of a persecuted faith. He embraced Protestantism,
-but in 1598 he returned to his original belief, and, feeling the bitter
-force of persecution, he became stimulated to an active hatred of the
-Government. He aided the insurrection of Essex on condition that he
-should enjoy full religious freedom; and escaping the fate of his leader
-by the forfeiture of three thousand pounds, he then secretly joined
-himself to the Spanish party amongst the Catholics, in order to prevent
-the succession of the Scottish prince. This hope being defeated, and
-the Catholics not only seeing James prepared to falsify his promises of
-Catholic indulgence, but all the heads of the Catholic world abroad--the
-kings of France and Spain, and the Pope himself--seeking the friendship
-of the king, Catesby conceived the gloomy idea that deliverance could
-only proceed from the English Catholics themselves. In following out
-this desperate idea, he gradually evolved a scheme of vengeance and
-annihilation of all the persecutors of his faith. This was no other than
-to blow up the king and Parliament with gunpowder.
-
-Catesby first made a confidant in his terrible project of Thomas Winter,
-the younger brother of Robert Winter, of Huddington, in Worcestershire.
-Winter was the intimate friend of Catesby, and had been long associated
-with him in the plans for the relief of the Catholics. He had been a
-volunteer in the wars of the Netherlands, and then was sent to Madrid as
-the secret agent of the Spanish party in England, amongst whom his friend
-Catesby was an active partisan. But familiar as Winter was with the
-sufferings and projects of the Catholics, this bloody revelation struck
-him with horror, and he denounced it vehemently as most criminal and
-inhuman. But Catesby spared no labour to reconcile his mind to the idea;
-he painted in vivid colours the long, the pitiless, and the unmerited
-cruelties inflicted on the Catholics. He enumerated the numbers who
-had been exterminated by the axe and the rope of the executioner; who
-had perished in their prisons, or who had been reduced from affluence
-and honour to beggary by the relentless bigotry of the Government. He
-demanded whence relief was to come, what hope there was left of effectual
-intercession from abroad, or of resolute resistance from the dispirited
-Catholics at home. He appealed to him whether God had not given to every
-man the right to repel force by force, and whether the whole world
-besides afforded them any other chance.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF JAMES I.]
-
-Winter was staggered but not convinced, and declared that he would
-not consent to any such frightful measure until fresh attempts had
-been made to procure a mitigation of their sufferings by milder means.
-He, therefore, hastened over to the Netherlands, where the Spanish
-ambassador, Velasco, had arrived, in order to conclude a peace between
-England and Spain. At Bergen, near Dunkirk, he had an interview with
-the ambassador, and urged upon him to demand a clause in the treaty for
-the protection of the Catholics. He was soon convinced that Velasco,
-though promising to use his influence for that end, would not risk the
-completion of the peace by the advocacy of such a stipulation.
-
-Indignant at this apathy, he hastened to Ostend on his return, where
-he accidentally encountered an old comrade in the Netherland wars, of
-the name of Guido or Guy Fawkes, a native of Yorkshire, and a man of
-determined courage, as well as of great experience and address. He had
-been Winter's companion in his mission to Madrid, and he now solicited
-him to accompany him to England, and unite his endeavours with other
-friends for Catholic relief. Winter, it would seem, had now made up his
-mind to enter into Catesby's plot, but did not let Fawkes into the full
-secret for some time.
-
-Meanwhile, Catesby had been ardently at work in the prosecution of his
-idea. He had communicated his plan to Percy and Wright. Thomas Percy was
-of the Northumberland family, and steward to the earl, and John Wright
-was brother-in-law to Percy, and reputed to be the best swordsman in
-England. Percy had joined the Catholics about the same time as Catesby
-returned to them, and like a zealous proselyte had, during the latter
-days of Elizabeth, gone to James at Edinburgh and endeavoured to draw
-from him a promise of favour to the Catholics on his accession. James is
-reported to have assured Percy that he would at least tolerate the mass
-in a corner. This James afterwards denied, but his denial can go for very
-little, for it was perfectly in keeping with his king-craft to promise
-what served to secure his ends for the time; and almost every monarch in
-Europe had to make that complaint against him. Percy, on the breaking out
-of the persecution under James, felt that he had been made the dupe of
-James's duplicity. He presented a remonstrance to the king, to which no
-answer was deigned, and Catesby found him in a mood of great resentment
-against the king, and in a favourable temper for his views. He not only
-agreed to co-operate but brought in his brother-in-law Wright, who was
-also a recent proselyte to Catholicism.
-
-[Illustration: GUY FAWKES'S CELLAR UNDER PARLIAMENT HOUSE.]
-
-Percy appears to have been of a very excitable nature: the embryo
-conspirators assembled at Catesby's lodging, and Percy demanded whether
-they were merely to talk and never to act. Catesby said that before he
-would open his plan to them, he must demand from every one an oath of
-secrecy. This was assented to, and a few days afterwards, as appears by
-the confession of Winter, the five--that is, Catesby, Winter, Percy,
-Wright, and Fawkes--"met at a house in the fields beyond St. Clement's
-Inn, where they did confer and agree upon the plot, and there they took
-a solemn oath and vows by all their force and power to execute the same,
-and of secrecy not to reveal it to any of their fellows but of such as
-should be thought fit persons to enter into that action." When they had
-all sworn and perfectly understood what was proposed, Catesby led them
-into an upper chamber of the house, where they received the sacrament
-from Gerard, the Jesuit missionary, but who, according to Winter's
-confession, was not let into the secret.
-
-This dreadful oath was taken on the 1st of May, 1604, but the
-conspirators resolved to wait for the remotest chance of any good arising
-out of the negotiations between England and Spain. But the treaty was
-concluded on the 18th of August, without any clause protective of the
-Catholics. Peace and commercial relations were restored between the
-two countries, and James was left at liberty to do as he pleased with
-the cautionary towns if the States did not redeem them. After the
-ratification of the treaty, the Spanish ambassador solicited in the name
-of his sovereign the goodwill of James towards his Catholic subjects;
-but James assured Velasco that however much he might be disposed to such
-indulgence, he dared not grant it, such was the terror of his Protestant
-subjects of any return to power of the Catholics. Velasco took his
-leave, and fresh orders were issued to judges and magistrates to enforce
-the laws against the Catholics with all rigour. This put an end to the
-patience of the conspirators, and they protested that it was but a
-fitting retribution to bury the authors of their oppressions under the
-ruins of the edifice in which they enacted such diabolical laws.
-
-They now sought for a proper place to commence their operations, and they
-soon found a house adjoining the Parliament House in the possession of
-one Ferris, the tenant of Whinyard, the keeper of the king's wardrobe.
-This Percy hired, in his own name, of Ferris, on pretence that his office
-of gentleman pensioner compelled him to reside part of the year in the
-vicinity of the Court. But the conspirators were debarred from immediate
-operations, by the commissioners appointed by James to consider a scheme
-for the union of the two kingdoms, taking possession of this house where
-they sate for several months. Not wholly, however, to lose time, the
-conspirators hired another house in Lambeth, on the banks of the river,
-where they stored up wood, gunpowder, and other combustibles, which they
-could easily remove by night in boats, as occasion served, to their house
-in Westminster, as soon as it was in their hands. They confided the
-charge of this house in Lambeth to Thomas Kay, a Catholic gentleman of
-reduced means, who took the oath and entered into the plot.
-
-On the 11th of December the conspirators obtained possession of their
-house, when they again swore to be faithful to each other, and they
-began their preparations by night. Behind the house, in a garden and
-adjoining the Parliament House, stood an old building. Within this they
-began to perforate the wall, one keeping watch while the others laboured.
-The watching was allotted to Fawkes, whose person was unknown, and who
-assumed the name of Johnson and appeared as the servant of Percy. Three
-of the others worked whilst the fourth rested. During the day they toiled
-at undermining the wall, and during the night they buried the rubbish
-under the earth in the garden. They had laid in a store of eggs, dried
-meats, and the like, so that no suspicion should be excited in the
-neighbourhood by their going in and out, or by there being brought in
-provisions for so many persons. They thus laboured indefatigably for a
-fortnight, when Fawkes brought them the intelligence that Parliament was
-prorogued from the 7th of February to the 3rd of October. On this they
-resolved to suspend their work till after the Christmas holidays, and to
-retire to their respective residences, agreeing neither to meet in the
-interim, nor to correspond or send messages to each other regarding the
-plot.
-
-During their late labours, as they discussed various matters, Catesby,
-to his dread and mortification, discovered a strong tendency amongst his
-associates to doubt the lawfulness of their attempt, because innocent
-people must perish with the guilty, Catholics amid the persecuting
-Protestants. In vain he employed all his ingenuity in reasoning; he saw
-the feeling remain, and he endeavoured to secure a plausible argument
-before their coming together again. He therefore consulted Garnet,
-the provincial of the Jesuits, on this point. Catesby had accepted a
-commission as captain in a regiment of cavalry, to be commanded by Sir
-Charles Percy, in the service of Spain. He now observed to Garnet in a
-large company that he had no doubt about the justice of the war on the
-side of Spain, but as he might be called on to make attacks in which
-the innocent might fall with the guilty, women and children with armed
-soldiers, could he do that lawfully in the sight of the Almighty? Garnet
-replied certainly, otherwise an aggressor could always defeat the object
-of the party invaded by placing innocent persons amongst guilty ones in
-his ranks. This was enough for Catesby, the principle was admitted; and
-on the meeting of the conspirators after the recess, he was prepared
-to banish their scruple by assuring them that it was decided to be
-groundless by competent ecclesiastical authority.
-
-On the 30th of January, 1605, they resumed their operations. They found
-the wall through which they had to dig was no less than three yards
-thick, and composed of huge stones, so that the labour was intense, and
-the danger of their blows being heard began to alarm them. They had an
-accession of force to their numbers, the brothers of Wright and Winter,
-and one John Grant, of Norbrook in Warwickshire, who had married a sister
-of the Winters. He had suffered much from persecution under Elizabeth,
-and his house was large and strongly fortified, offering a good depot for
-horses and ammunition. Besides these, Catesby had admitted Bates, his
-confidential servant, into the secret, believing he had more than half
-guessed it, and sent him with arms and ammunition to Grant's house in
-Worcestershire.
-
-But at this point the operations of the conspirators received a severe
-check. There arose a difficulty which seemed to be insurmountable; which
-so disheartened some of the band that they were in favour of abandoning
-their project altogether--or at least for a time. This formidable
-obstacle appeared in the shape of ordinary water, which now began to ooze
-in from the river, and put a stop to all hope of making the passage.
-Fortune came to their aid, however. Whilst they were in this state of
-dejection, they were extremely alarmed by a loud noise, which appeared to
-come from a room just over their heads. Fawkes went to endeavour to learn
-the cause of it, and returned with the intelligence that it proceeded
-from the selling of the stock in trade of Bright, a coal merchant, who
-was evacuating the cellar, which would be in a few days unoccupied. At
-this joyful news, the mining of the foundation was abandoned; the cellar,
-which lay directly under the House of Lords, was immediately taken by
-Fawkes in the name of his pretended master, Percy. In a short time they
-had removed thirty-six barrels of gunpowder from the house in Lambeth
-in the darkness of night, and had covered them over in the cellar with
-faggots and billets of wood. All being prepared, they once more separated
-till September, a few days before the assembling of Parliament. They
-dispersed themselves to avoid all suspicion, and Fawkes went over to
-Flanders to endeavour to procure a supply of military stores, and to
-win over Sir William Stanley, Captain Owen, and other officers of the
-regiment in the pay of the archduke. Catesby was an officer of this
-regiment; most of these officers were Catholics and his personal friends,
-and he informed them through Fawkes, that things were come to that pass
-that it was reported that the Catholics were to be utterly exterminated
-throughout England, and that if they could not defend themselves by
-peaceable means, they must do it by the sword; and he enjoined them
-to engage as many of their brethren as possible to aid them in their
-deliverance. Sir William Stanley was absent in Spain and Owen promised
-that he would communicate with him; but little effect appears to have
-been produced by Fawkes's mission, except that of exciting the attention
-of Cecil, who received repeated intimations from Flanders that the
-English exiles had some secret enterprise in agitation, though what it
-was the informants could not discover.
-
-Catesby at home was in constant activity. He had obtained a fresh
-accomplice in Keyes, an intimate friend of his, who had been stripped of
-his property and was prepared for the worst, being a man of determined
-disposition; and he had his eye on others who appeared in a mood for it.
-At the same time the growing excitement of Catesby endangered the secret.
-There was a tone and a restlessness about him which attracted the notice
-of his friends. He still delayed joining his regiment in Flanders, and
-Garnet, the Jesuit, came to suspect that he was engaged in some plot and
-warned him against such attempts. This only excited the anger of Catesby,
-and Garnet wrote to Rome and obtained letters from the Pope and the
-generals of his Order, strongly enjoining on the Catholics submission to
-the Government. Catesby, uneasy in his conscience, at length confessed to
-Garnet the existence of some plot. The Jesuit refused to hear anything
-of it, but endeavoured to impress on the conspirator the necessity of
-obedience to the breves from Rome. At length he prevailed on him to
-promise that nothing should be done till they had sent a messenger to
-the Pope fully detailing the condition of the Catholics in England, and
-had received an answer. But Catesby had no intention of deferring his
-enterprise on such grounds. Fawkes returned to England in September, and
-they resolved to proceed. A second prorogation of Parliament, however,
-from October to the 5th of November, disconcerted the conspirators, and
-induced them to fear that their designs had become known to Government.
-To ascertain this, if possible, Thomas Winter was deputed to attend
-in the House of Lords and watch the countenances and behaviour of the
-commissioners during the ceremony of prorogation. He returned, assuring
-them that their secret was still safe, for the commissioners walked
-about and conversed in the utmost unconsciousness of danger on the very
-surface of the prepared volcano--the six-and-thirty barrels of gunpowder.
-
-These repeated delays, however, ensured the defeat of the plot. All the
-conspirators except Catesby were now ruined by fines, exactions, and
-persecutions on account of their faith. They had depended for support
-for the last twelve months on the assistance of relations and friends.
-Catesby had purchased the military stores and other requisites: his means
-were now exhausted, and yet more money must be in hand against the day
-of explosion if they meant to take full advantage of it. This induced
-them to extend the number of their accomplices, a perilous proceeding in
-anything demanding secrecy; and yet Catesby ventured on divulging the
-scheme to no less than three fresh associates, men of family and fortune.
-The first was Sir Everard Digby, of Drystoke in Rutlandshire, Gotehurst
-in Buckinghamshire, and of other large estates. Digby had been left as a
-boy a ward of Queen Elizabeth's and had been educated at her court as a
-Protestant. But a little before the death of the queen he embraced the
-Catholic faith, and thus abandoning the brilliant prospects before him,
-retired to his estates in the country. At the time of the conspiracy he
-had a young wife and two children, was only twenty-five himself, and
-thus had every imaginable earthly good within his reach. Subtle must
-have been the persuasion which could have induced such a man to risk all
-this in a desperate enterprise, and bold the spirit of Catesby who could
-venture to tempt him to do it. It was not effected without difficulty.
-Digby could not avoid seeing the hazard and doubting the innocence of
-such a proceeding, but eventually he gave way, and promised to assemble
-his Catholic friends on the opening of Parliament to hunt with him on
-Dunsmoor in Warwickshire, and to advance one thousand five hundred pounds.
-
-The next was Ambrose Rookwood of Coldham Hall, Suffolk, the head of
-an ancient and wealthy family, who had suffered like his neighbours,
-but was still affluent. He had a fine stud of horses, which made him
-a very desirable coadjutor, independent of other considerations. He
-seems to have had as little ambition as he had motive for conspiracy,
-being, despite his share of persecutions, able to enjoy a quiet life;
-but his attachment to Catesby was his snare. Like the rest, he at first
-recoiled from the prospect of so much bloodshed; but Catesby managed to
-reconcile him to the idea, and he removed his family to Clopton Hall,
-near Stratford-on-Avon, in order to be near the Catholic rendezvous at
-Dunsmoor.
-
-The third new accomplice was Sir Francis Tresham. His father, Sir Thomas
-Tresham, had long been severely handled on account of his religion, in
-Elizabeth's reign, and his son Francis, who succeeded him, had been
-engaged in several plots. He was in that of Essex in conjunction with
-Catesby and Percy, and escaped by a prompt distribution of three thousand
-pounds amongst the queen's favourites. His chief seat was at Rushton, in
-Northamptonshire. The selection of Tresham was especially imprudent, for
-he had the character of being selfish, reserved, and fickle; but he had
-money, which induced Catesby to trust him. From the moment, however, that
-he did so, he had no more peace of mind. Terrible fears and suspicions
-seized him, dreams as terrible haunted him at night. His comrades had no
-confidence in Tresham, whose character was well known; but the thing was
-done, and there was no retracing the step which was to bring destruction
-upon them. Tresham promised a contribution of two thousand pounds, and
-Percy also engaging to advance four thousand pounds from the rents of the
-Earl of Northumberland, whose steward he was, the pecuniary provision
-appeared ample, and they proceeded to organise their plan of operations.
-
-A list of all the peers and commons who were Catholics, or who had
-opposed the penal statutes and other harsh measures against the
-Catholics, was made out, and these were at the last moment on the fatal
-morning to be called away from the House by some urgent message. Guy
-Fawkes was appointed to fire the train with a slow burning match, which
-should allow of his escape before the explosion; and a ship was to lie
-ready in the river to carry him over to Flanders, where he was to publish
-a manifesto justifying the deed and calling on the Catholic powers for
-aid. Percy, as a gentleman pensioner, was to enter the palace and secure
-the person of the young Prince Charles--it seems they were willing to
-let Prince Henry perish--and on pretence of placing him in security,
-convey him away to the appointed rendezvous at Dunchurch. Digby, Tresham,
-Grant, and others, were to hasten to Combe Abbey, and secure the Princess
-Elizabeth, whom, if the two young princes should not be saved, they were
-at once to proclaim queen. Catesby was to proclaim the heir-apparent,
-whoever it was, at Charing Cross; and on reaching Warwickshire a
-declaration was to be issued abolishing monopolies, purveyance, and
-wardships. A protector was to be appointed to conduct the Government
-during the minority of the sovereign.
-
-[Illustration: LORD MONTEAGLE AND THE WARNING LETTER ABOUT THE GUNPOWDER
-PLOT. (_See p._ 426.)]
-
-There were circumstances enough in these regulations to have alarmed
-all but fanatics in the cause. Messages at the last moment to so many
-members of the two Houses must have created suspicion, and the endeavour
-to secure the royal children was full of hazard. But there were greater
-dangers than these. As the time drew nigh, almost every one had friends
-amongst the members of Parliament, and they were not contented with the
-general plan of drawing them away at the critical moment. Each wished
-to convey a particular warning to his own friends or relatives, which
-should make their safety certain. Every such warning, however, menaced
-the discovery of the whole scheme. Tresham was excessively anxious to
-rescue the Lords Mordaunt and Monteagle, who had married two of his
-sisters. Percy was equally desirous to save his relative, the Earl of
-Northumberland; Keyes, the old gentleman who had the custody of the house
-at Lambeth, was importunate to save Lord Mordaunt, who sheltered and
-maintained his wife and children after his own ruin; and all were eager
-to warn the young Earl of Arundel.
-
-Catesby, extremely alarmed by these proposals, declared that means enough
-were in operation to keep those that they wished to save away; but that
-rather than endanger the result, he would have all blown up, though they
-were as dear to him as his own son. He and Fawkes, as the day drew near,
-retired to a solitary house in Enfield Chase, called White Webbs, where,
-as they were in consultation with Thomas Winter, Tresham suddenly made
-his appearance. He appeared excited and embarrassed, and demanded that
-he should be allowed to put Lord Monteagle, on his guard. When Catesby
-and his associates protested against it, he advanced reasons for delay,
-declaring that he should not be prepared with the promised advance of
-money till he had sold some property. He pleaded that the explosion would
-be as effectual at the end of the session as at the beginning; that in
-the meantime the conspirators might live in Flanders, whither his ship
-should convey them, and where he would supply them with the necessary
-funds for maintenance. Catesby was confirmed in his fears of Tresham
-by these proposals, but thought it best to dissemble and appear to
-acquiesce. Tresham returned to town, and would seem to have warned not
-only Monteagle but others, most likely including Lord Mordaunt. Digby and
-others of the conspirators are supposed to have warned their own friends,
-so that the danger of discovery was hourly increasing. Tresham, in his
-examination, alleged that his real object at this moment was not to delay
-but to put an end to the plot, as the only means he could devise to save
-the lives of all concerned, and to preserve his own life, fortune, and
-reputation.
-
-The movements of Lord Monteagle warranted the belief that he had received
-a warning of some kind that there was danger in town, for he removed
-from his house in London to one which he had at Hoxton, and on the 26th
-of October, six days before the proposed opening of Parliament, he, much
-to the surprise of his own family, ordered a good supper to be prepared
-there. Monteagle had formerly been engaged in the Spanish treason, and
-had written to Baynham, who was the emissary at Rome, and therefore was
-probably aware of some plot in agitation, but he had latterly obtained
-the confidence of the king and was one of the commissioners for the late
-prorogation.
-
-As he sat at table about seven o'clock in the evening, a page handed
-to him a letter, which he said he had received from a tall man whose
-features he could not recognise in the dark. Monteagle opened the letter
-and seeing that it had neither date nor signature, he handed it to
-Thomas Ward, a gentleman of his establishment, to read aloud. It was as
-follows:--"My lord out of the love i beare to some of youer frends i have
-a caer of your preservacion therefor i would advyse yowe as yowe tender
-youer lyfe to devyse some exscuse to shift of youer attendance at this
-parleament for god and man hath concurred to punishe the wickednes of
-this tyme and think not slightlye of this advertisement but retyere to
-youre self into youre contri wheare you may expect the event in safeti
-for thowghe theare be no apparance of anni stir yet i saye they shall
-receyve a terrible blowe this parleament and yet they shall not seie who
-hurts them this cowncel is not to be contemned because it may do yowe
-good and can do yowe no harme for the danger is passed as soon as yowe
-have burnt the letter and i hope God will give yowe the grace to mak good
-use of it to whose holy protecion i comend yowe."
-
-The astonishment of the guests at the hearing of this letter may be
-imagined. Lord Monteagle immediately hastened to town, and laid the
-letter before Cecil and some of the other ministers, the king being away
-still at Royston, hunting. Cecil determined that nothing should be done
-till the king's return. The next morning Ward, who had read the letter
-publicly at the supper-table, communicated the circumstance to Thomas
-Winter, and said the letter was in the possession of Cecil. Winter was
-thunderstruck, but put the best face upon the matter that he could, and
-pretended to laugh at the whole affair as a hoax on the credulity of Lord
-Monteagle; but no sooner was Ward gone than he flew to White Webbs and
-imparted the news to Catesby. Catesby at once attributed the letter to
-Tresham, and the more so as he had absented himself for several days on
-the pretence of having business in Northamptonshire. The question was
-whether he had revealed the particulars of the plot and the names of the
-conspirators. To ascertain the extent of the mischief and of the guilt
-of Tresham, he sent him an imperative message to come to White Webbs.
-Tresham obeyed the summons on the 30th of October, and met Catesby and
-Winter at this lonely house in Enfield Chase. They had made up their
-minds if they found him guilty, to shoot him on the spot. They charged
-him point blank with the discovery of the plot, and kept a searching gaze
-upon his countenance as he received their declaration. Had he faltered or
-shown any confusion, his doom would have been instant. But he exhibited
-the utmost calmness and firmness of expression, protesting most solemnly
-that he was innocent of the charge.
-
-That Tresham was the writer of the letter, and that he had entered into
-a confidential understanding with Monteagle for the defeat of the plot,
-there appears every reason to conclude. His own avowal on the examination
-that such was his intention is borne out by all the examinations. The
-delivery of the letter whilst Monteagle was at supper with his friends,
-if it was done by Tresham, shows an intention that it should thus be made
-irrevocably public. The instant communication of Lord Monteagle's servant
-with Winter the conspirator, in order to warn them, confirms the idea
-that all this was planned between Tresham and Monteagle; but there is no
-reason to believe that Tresham had betrayed the names of his accomplices.
-
-Catesby and Winter returned with Tresham to town, and Guy Fawkes was
-despatched to the cellar under the Parliament House to discover whether
-all was right there. Not a thing or a secret mark was disturbed. They
-then first told him why they had sent him, on which Fawkes complained of
-their distrust of his courage, and said he would visit the cellar every
-day till the 5th of November. Had Cecil not been still more cunning than
-the conspirators, had he made a stir and an inquisition, the aim of
-Tresham would have been effected, the conspirators would have escaped,
-and the plot have been put an end to without any catastrophe. But the
-artifice of Cecil lulled their suspicions and lured them on to their doom.
-
-On the 31st of October James returned to town, and the letter was laid
-before him, with the particulars of its delivery. The king was struck
-by the account, read the letter several times over, and discussed the
-matter for two hours with his ministers. He boasted to Parliament on its
-opening, that it was his own bright suggestion that the receiving of the
-letter sent to Lord Monteagle implied that they were all to be blown up,
-and that he in consequence ordered the search of the cellars under the
-Parliament House. But this was a piece of consummate flattery on the part
-of his ministers, to make it appear the result of his superior sagacity;
-for we have direct evidence in the circular of the Earl of Salisbury,
-that the ministers were in possession of the secret, but he observes,
-"we all thought fit to forbear to impart it to the king until some three
-or four days before the sessions." In fact, the intelligence that the
-letter was in the hands of the king, and that the Council was consulting
-on it, was immediately conveyed to Winter by Monteagle's servant. Upon
-this Winter waited on Tresham at his house in Lincoln's Inn Walks, where
-Tresham, in great agitation, assured him that the existence of the mine
-was known to the ministers; that he knew certainly, but denied any
-knowledge of the person by whom the discovery had been made. He declared
-that they were all lost if they did not escape at once. From the moment
-the affair was known, Tresham had avoided further intercourse with the
-conspirators, meaning to appear ignorant of their concerns, for which
-reason he went about openly, and even offered his services to the Council.
-
-The conspirators met to decide on their plan of action. Some of them
-advised instant flight to the Continent; Catesby, Winter, and others were
-perfectly convinced that Tresham was in communication with Monteagle,
-and perhaps with Cecil; but some of them would not believe such treason,
-and the arguments of Percy finally nailed them to their fate. This
-discussion took place on the 3rd of November. Percy conjured them to wait
-and see what the next day would bring forth, the very last day before the
-grand crisis. He represented all the labour, the anxieties, the plannings
-they had gone through, the costs they had incurred, the difficulties they
-had overcome, and he demanded whether, on the very point of complete
-success, they were to abandon their enterprise through the fears of a
-recreant colleague, who probably described what only his affrighted fancy
-pictured to him. He reminded them that his vessel still lay in the Thames
-at their service, and on the first positive proof of danger, they had
-only to hasten on board and drop down the river out of reach of their
-enemies.
-
-These arguments prevailed, but they changed their plan of operations.
-Fawkes was still to keep guard in the cellar, Percy and Winter to
-superintend the necessary operations in London; but Catesby and John
-Wright were to hasten to Dunchurch and put Sir Everard Digby and the
-party on their guard.
-
-On the evening of Monday the 4th of November, the Earl of Suffolk,
-in prosecution of his duty as Lord Chamberlain, to see all necessary
-preparations made for the opening of Parliament, went down to the House
-accompanied by Lord Monteagle.
-
-After they had been some time in the Parliament chamber, on pretence that
-some necessary articles were missing, they went down to the cellars to
-make a search. They entered the vault where the mine was prepared and
-where Fawkes was at his post. The Lord Chamberlain, casually casting his
-eyes round the place, inquired by whom it was occupied, and who Fawkes
-was. The staunch traitor replied that it was occupied by Mr. Percy, whose
-servant he was; on which Suffolk observed in a careless manner, "Your
-master has laid in a good stock of fuel;" and he and Monteagle left the
-cellar. No sooner were they off the ground, than Fawkes hastened to
-inform Percy of what had occurred, but the warning was lost upon him. He
-persuaded himself that all was yet undiscovered, and Fawkes returned to
-the cellar to await the fatal hour.
-
-A little after midnight, being now actually the 5th of November, Guy
-Fawkes had occasion to open the door of the vault, and he was immediately
-seized by Sir Thomas Knevett a magistrate of Westminster, who, with a
-party of soldiers, had silently invested the place. Fawkes was found to
-be booted and spurred, ready for a precipitate flight after lighting
-the train; three matches were found in his pocket, and a dark lantern
-containing a light was placed behind the door. The least delay in
-seizing the desperado, and he would have blown himself and the guard all
-into the air together. But he was instantly pinioned, bound hand and
-foot, and conveyed to Whitehall, where the Council had assembled in the
-king's bed-chamber by four o'clock to interrogate him. Fast fettered
-as he was, the determined look of the undaunted traitor struck terror
-into the spectators. He appeared quite self-possessed, calm in aspect,
-and bold, though respectful in speech. Nothing could be drawn from him
-regarding the conspiracy. He said his name was Johnson, and that Percy
-was his master. He avowed that his object was to annihilate King and
-Parliament, as the only possible means of ridding the Catholics of their
-persecutions. When asked who were his accomplices, he replied that should
-never be known from him. Finding that nothing could be extracted from the
-conspirator, on the morning of the 6th of November he was sent to the
-Tower, accompanied by orders that the secret was to be extorted from him
-by torture. The instructions of James directed that the gentle tortures
-were to be tried first, with gradual resort to the severer forms if
-necessary. For three or four days this man of iron nerve and will endured
-the utmost agony they could put him to, without divulging a syllable,
-nor did he relax till he learned for certain that the conspirators had
-proclaimed themselves by appearing in arms.
-
-[Illustration: ARREST OF GUY FAWKES. (_See p._ 427.)]
-
-Catesby and John Wright had left on the evening of the 4th for Dunchurch
-as agreed; Percy and Christopher Wright maintained their watch in London
-till they heard of the arrest of Fawkes, when they mounted and rode after
-Catesby and John Wright. Keyes and Rookwood still waited till morning,
-when finding the whole known and all London in a state of terror, Keyes
-got away after the rest. Rookwood lingered in town till near noon, as
-he had a relay of vigorous horses ready, and when mounted, he rode
-furiously, overtook Keyes on Finchley Common, whence they rode to Turvey
-in Bedfordshire. Rookwood still pursued his gallop till he overtook first
-Percy and Christopher Wright, and then Catesby and John Wright, and the
-whole troop rode on together till they came to Lady Catesby's, at Ashby
-St. Legers, in Northamptonshire. They arrived there at six o'clock in
-the evening, Rookwood having ridden the whole eighty miles from London
-in little more than six hours. A party of conspirators, with whom was
-Winter, were just sitting down to supper when the fugitives came in,
-covered with mud and sinking with fatigue. Yet no time was to be lost.
-After a hasty refreshment, the whole company got to horse, and rode with
-all speed to Dunchurch.
-
-The strange, haggard, and dejected appearance of the conspirators, and
-their eager closeting with Sir Everard Digby, awoke the suspicions of
-the hunting party. Before midnight, a whisper of treason and its failure
-flew amongst them, and they quickly got to horse and rode off each his
-own way. In the morning there remained only Catesby, Digby, Percy, the
-Wrights, Winter, and a few servants.
-
-Catesby now advised that they should strike across Worcestershire for
-Wales, where he flattered himself they might assemble the Catholic gentry
-and make a formidable stand. In pursuance of this romantic plan, they
-mounted and rode to Warwick, whence, after obtaining fresh horses for
-their jaded ones, they made for Grant's house at Norbrook, and thence
-rode on through Warwickshire and Worcestershire to Holbeach House, on the
-borders of Staffordshire. All the way they had called on the Catholics
-to arm and join them for the rescue of their faith, but not a man would
-listen to the appeal. On this decided failure, instead of pushing for the
-mountains of Wales, they resolved to make a stand at Holbeach.
-
-Meanwhile Sir Richard Walsh the sheriff of Worcestershire, with the whole
-_posse comitatus_ and a number of volunteer gentlemen, was in chase of
-them. They had diverged from their original route in the hope of being
-joined by the gentry, who only drove them from their doors; and now,
-no sooner did Stephen Littleton, the owner of Holbeach, learn the real
-facts, than, horrified at the certain destruction impending over these
-desperate men, he escaped at the earliest opportunity from the house. He
-was soon followed by Sir Everard Digby, on the plea of endeavouring to
-muster assistance. The remaining conspirators--who, with servants, did
-not amount to more than forty men--put the house in a state of defence;
-but as they were drying some powder before the fire, it exploded,
-scorching Catesby and some others of the bystanders.
-
-This accident so appalled them, impressing them with the idea that their
-enterprise was displeasing to God, that Robert Winter, Bates the servant
-of Catesby, and others got away. About noon Sir Richard Walsh came up
-with his troop, surrounded the house, and summoned them to surrender. But
-preferring death in arms to the gallows, they defied their assailants,
-and resolved to fight to the last. On this the sheriff ordered one part
-of his followers to set fire to the house, and the other to batter in the
-gates. Catesby, blackened and nearly blinded by the powder, called on the
-rest to make a rush and die hand to hand with their assailants. In the
-courtyard, Catesby, the two Wrights, and Percy were mortally wounded.
-Catesby crawled on hands and knees into the house to a crucifix, which he
-seized in his hands and expired. Rookwood, dreadfully burnt and wounded,
-was seized as well as Winter, whose arm was broken. Percy died the next
-day. The rest of them were soon taken. Robert Winter had overtaken
-Stephen Littleton in a wood, and together they made their way to the
-house of a Mrs. Littleton, near Hagley, where they were secreted, without
-her knowledge, by her cousin Humphrey Littleton, but were betrayed by a
-servant of Mrs. Littleton. Sir Everard Digby was pursued and taken in a
-wood near Dudley. They were all captured, with Keyes and Bates Catesby's
-servant, who was taken in Staffordshire. Four days after the seizure of
-the captives at Holbeach, Tresham was arrested in London, notwithstanding
-his affected innocence and his offers of assistance to the Council; and
-thus were the authors of this conspiracy destroyed, or safe in the hands
-of Government. Soon afterwards Garnet was discovered hiding at Hendip in
-a secret chamber.
-
-The trials, of course, excited intense interest, and the king, queen, and
-prince were said to be present, where they could see and hear without
-attracting public notice. The prisoners were eight, Sir Everard Digby,
-Robert and Thomas Winter, Rookwood, Grant, Guido Fawkes, Keyes, and
-Bates. Sir Everard Digby pleaded guilty, all the rest not guilty, on the
-ground that many things were included in the indictments which were not
-true. There were no witnesses called, but the written depositions of the
-prisoners and of a servant of Sir Everard's were taken as sufficient
-proof. The accused, for the most part, denied that the three Jesuits
-(Garnet and two others who had been implicated) had any part in the
-plot, though they might more or less be aware of it; nor was there any
-proof brought forward or admission made which affected the Catholic
-body generally. On the contrary, it was too notorious that the Catholics
-had everywhere shrunk from the conspirators with horror; and Sir Everard
-Digby, in his letters to his wife, written from the Tower, pathetically
-laments that the Catholics so far from supporting the conspiracy,
-shunned and condemned them, and adds that he would never have engaged
-in it if he had not thought it lawful. The prisoners who pleaded not
-guilty, excused their conduct by the cruelty of the persecutions which
-they were enduring, the ruin and sufferings of their families, the
-violated promises of the king, and their consequent despair of any other
-termination of their oppressions, as well as their natural desire to
-effect the restoration of what they deemed the only true church. The
-Earls of Salisbury and Northampton denied, on the part of the king, the
-breach of any promises; and the prisoners were condemned to the death of
-traitors, which they endured, in all its revolting severity, at the west
-end of St. Paul's Churchyard. Digby, Robert Winter, Grant, and Bates, on
-the 31st of January, and Thomas Winter, Fawkes, Rookwood, and Keyes, next
-day.
-
-The Jesuits Garnet and Oldcorne and their two servants, Owen and
-Chambers, who had been captured in Worcestershire, were lodged in the
-Tower, and there underwent the strictest examination, and Oldcorne, Owen,
-and Chambers were placed upon the rack. Garnet was not racked, but was
-threatened with it, to which he replied, "_Minate ista pueris_"--"Threats
-are only for boys." As it was probably thought that nothing was to be
-hoped from Garnet through torture, a stratagem worthy of the Inquisition
-was resolved on. The warder in whose custody the Jesuits lay, received
-an order from the lieutenant of the Tower to assume a friendly demeanour
-towards them; to express his sympathy for their sufferings, and his
-respect for their undaunted maintenance of their faith. Having made a
-favourable impression, he proceeded to offer them all the indulgence in
-his power, consistent with their safe custody. The Jesuits fell into
-the snare. The warder offered to take charge of any letters that they
-wished to convey to their friends. His sincerity seemed so genuine
-that the offer was accepted; a correspondence with several Catholics
-was commenced, and the letters each way were regularly carried to the
-commissioners, opened, and copied before delivery. Many of the letters
-being found to have secret notes appended in lemon juice, which only
-became visible when heated, were retained, and exact copies sent. Some
-of these letters still remain in the Public Record Office. But this
-correspondence, notwithstanding the sympathetic ink, was so guarded, that
-it furnished no new facts and another plan was adopted. The warder, as if
-growing more willing to serve them by longer acquaintance, showed them
-that by leaving an intermediate door unlocked between their cells, the
-two Jesuits could meet and converse at freedom. Still confiding entirely
-in their apparent friend the warder, who recommended extreme caution,
-Garnet and Oldcorne gladly embraced this opportunity of intercourse.
-But in secret recesses in the passage were placed Lockerson the private
-secretary of Cecil, and Forsett a magistrate of the Tower, who heard and
-noted down the conversations of the prisoners. Five times were these
-treacherous interviews permitted, and the reported conversations of four
-of them are still preserved.
-
-As might be expected, the conversations chiefly turned on the best mode
-of conducting their defence. In these conversations Garnet admitted that
-though he had denied it, he had still been at White Webbs, in Enfield
-Chase, with the conspirators, and would still maintain that he had not
-been there since Bartholomew-tide. On another occasion he let fall things
-which still further betrayed his knowledge of the plot. It is possible
-that he might even yet have escaped had he not, at his trial, avowed that
-he considered equivocation and mental reservation on any point that might
-incriminate him, perfectly justifiable. After that declaration popular
-sympathy was no longer in his favour. A verdict of guilty was pronounced
-against him, and he was hanged, drawn and quartered on the 3rd of May,
-1606.
-
-A Parliament was summoned for the double purpose of raising money and
-of extending additional punishment over the Catholics generally. The
-whole country was in that state of alarm and hostility to them, that
-James found it necessary to restrain rather than encourage the mania.
-Such was the public excitement, that even he was not exempt from blame
-on account of this lenity. He had chosen this inauspicious moment to
-make overtures to Spain for the Infanta as a wife for Prince Henry,
-and the Puritans at once ascribed his moderation to this cause, and
-declared that he was little better than a secret Papist himself. James
-was alarmed and obliged to give way. It was in vain that Henry IV. of
-France remonstrated against a bigotry which had already driven some of
-the Catholics to such desperate lengths. His ambassador represented
-that the king his master had learnt from experience that persecution
-only stimulated zealots to a temper in which they gloried in suffering,
-and that far more could be effected by kindness than by severity; that
-James should, if he loved peace, make himself their protector instead
-of their persecutor. But Parliament soon showed how useless at the
-moment was such advice. Both Houses appeared to be carried beyond all
-reason by their fears and their resentment. On the 3rd of February every
-member of the Commons was ordered to stand up in his place and propound
-such measures as appeared to him most desirable. The most extravagant
-propositions seemed the most acceptable, and after impetuous debates upon
-them, they were communicated by conferences to the other House, and in
-both Lords and Commons motions of the severest description were made and
-carried by triumphant majorities. Catholic recusants were now forbidden
-to appear at Court, to dwell within its boundaries, or within ten miles
-of the boundaries of London; or to remove on any occasion more than five
-miles from their homes, under particular penalties, unless in the latter
-case they had a licence from four neighbouring magistrates. They were
-rendered incapable of practising in surgery, physic, or common or civil
-law; of acting as judges, clerks, officers, in any court or corporation;
-of presenting to church livings, schools, or hospitals in their gift;
-or of exercising the functions of executors or guardians; where persons
-were married by Catholic priests, the husband, if a Catholic, could
-not claim the property of the wife, nor the wife, if a Catholic, that
-of the husband; and if a child born was not baptised by a Protestant
-minister within a month, the penalty was one hundred and fifty pounds;
-and for every corpse not buried in a Protestant cemetery, the penalty
-was twenty pounds. All existing penalties for absence from church were
-retained, with the addition that whoever received Catholic visitors, or
-kept Catholic servants, must pay for each such individual ten pounds per
-lunar month. Every recusant was declared to be excommunicated; his house
-might be broken open and searched at any time, his books and any articles
-belonging to "his idolatrous worship" might be burnt, and his arms and
-horses seized by the order of a single magistrate.
-
-A new oath of allegiance was framed recognising absolute renunciation
-of the right of the Pope to interfere in the temporal affairs of the
-kingdom. The Catholics who submitted to take this oath were to be liable
-_only_ to the penalties now enumerated; but they who refused were to be
-imprisoned for life, and to suffer forfeiture of their personal property
-and the rents of their lands.
-
-The publication of these terrible enactments carried astonishment
-and dismay through the nation; many Protestants as well as Catholics
-condemned them. The French minister Villeroy declared that they were
-characteristic of barbarians rather than of Christians. Many Catholics
-made haste to quit their native country, and the rest prepared to
-sacrifice both property and personal liberty. The Pope Paul V. despatched
-a secret emissary to James, imploring him to relax the rigour of the
-new laws, but without success. And the Pontiff, resenting the repulse,
-then published a breve, denouncing the oath of allegiance as unlawful,
-"because contrary to faith and salvation." The publication of this
-imprudent breve only made matters worse. The Catholic clergy were before
-its arrival divided in their opinions as to the lawfulness of taking
-it; the archpriest Blackwall himself, with many of his brethren, were
-prepared to take it. The authority of the Pope extinguished theirs and
-decided the majority; yet Blackwall took the oath himself, and advised
-the Catholics, by a circular letter, to take it.
-
-But no submission on the part of a portion of the Catholics could
-mitigate the wrath of James at the conduct of the Pope. He ordered the
-bishops in their several dioceses to tender the oath, and to enforce the
-penalties on all recusants. Three missionaries lying under sentence of
-death for the exercise of their priestly functions, were called upon to
-take it; they refused. Two of them were saved by the earnest intercession
-of the Prince de Joinville and the French ambassador. The third, named
-Drury, was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Blackwall the archpriest himself
-was thrown into prison, though he had both taken the oath and advised the
-rest of the Catholics to take it; and though James pitied him, he could
-do nothing more in his behalf than prevent him from being brought to
-trial and capitally condemned. The case of Blackwall was extremely hard,
-for, on the other hand, he had excited the resentment of the Pope by his
-concession. He was called on by letters from Cardinals Bellarmine and
-Arrigoni, and the Jesuits Parsons and Holtby to retract; but as he would
-not, he was superseded by Birket. He was then in his seventieth year, and
-remained in prison till his death, in 1613.
-
-A second breve from the Pope roused the spirit of James; he determined
-to try whether he could not silence the clamour of the papal party
-by his pen. He abandoned even the pleasures of the chase, refused to
-listen to his ministers, and calling his favourite divines around him,
-he shut himself up with them, and produced a tract called "An Apologie
-for the Oath of Allegiance," which was immediately translated into
-French and Latin. But as the royal _brochure_ did not convince the
-Catholics, six priests were condemned for refusing the oath, and three of
-them were executed, one at York and two at Tyburn. Moreau, Bellarmine,
-and Parsons, published replies to the royal treatise; and again James
-closeted himself with his divines, revised his publication, and prefaced
-it with a "Premonition to all Christian Princes." It was in vain that
-the kings of Denmark and France counselled him to desist from a contest
-so unworthy of a great monarch, in vain that the queen urged the same
-advice. He condescended to declare that the fittest answer to Parsons
-would be a rope; and as for Bellarmine, who had written under a feigned
-name, he dubbed him "a most obscure author, a very desperate fellow in
-beginning his apprentisage, not only to refute, but to rail at a king."
-The flatterers of the king applauded his "immortal labours," as they were
-pleased to call them; and James continued to toil at them, revise, and
-remodel his arguments till 1609. The Catholic peers, with the exception
-of Lord Teynham, all took the oath on different occasions in the Upper
-House.
-
-[Illustration: POUND SOVEREIGN OF JAMES I.]
-
-[Illustration: UNIT OR LAUREL OF JAMES I. (GOLD).]
-
-[Illustration: SPUR RIAL OF JAMES I. (GOLD).]
-
-[Illustration: THISTLE CROWN OF JAMES I. (GOLD).]
-
-To dismiss for the present the religious controversies which kept the
-kingdom in a ferment of bitterness, we have a little overstepped the
-progress of general events. In the spring of 1606 James called together
-Parliament, for he was in much distress for money. As usual, the Commons
-had their list of complaints to set off against his demands and as
-James showed no eagerness to redress no less than sixteen subjects of
-grievance, the Commons made no haste with the supplies. At length, in the
-month of May, whilst the question of the subsidy was dragging its slow
-length along, and Cecil was endeavouring in vain to quicken the motion
-of the House, by making promises which meant nothing beyond inducing the
-members to vote, a sudden rumour ran through the court that the king was
-assassinated at Oaking in Berkshire, where he was hunting along with
-his favourites, the Earl of Montgomery, Sir John Ramsay, and Sir James
-Hay. The mode of his death was variously reported. One version was that
-he had been stabbed with a poisoned knife, and another that he had been
-shot with a pistol, and a third that he was smothered in his bed. The
-murderers were differently represented to be the Jesuits, Scotsmen in
-women's clothes, Frenchmen, and Spaniards. There was great consternation
-both in the City and the Parliament. The Lords displayed the utmost
-loyalty; and the Commons suddenly closed their money debate by voting
-three subsidies and six fifteenths. In the midst of the panic James
-arrived safe and sound in London, and was received with proportionate
-enthusiasm. As the sensation went off, many began to suspect that Cecil,
-and perhaps the king himself, could have explained the origin of the
-_ruse_--that it was but a spur to the tardy liberality of the Commons. At
-all events, James, having obtained his supplies, prorogued Parliament to
-the 18th of November.
-
-[Illustration: SIR ROBERT CECIL, AFTERWARDS EARL OF SALISBURY. (_From the
-Portrait by Zucchero._)]
-
-The great business of Parliament now for several sessions--that is,
-from 1604 to 1607--was that of discussing James's suggestion for the
-union of the two kingdoms. This very suggestion, so immediately brought
-forward, was a glaring proof of James's want of solid judgment. The
-least reflection might have satisfied the least reflecting mind, that
-two nations which had for so many ages been inflamed against each
-other by wars, injustice, mutual cruelties, political jealousies, and
-the taunts which embittered passions had caused them to fling at each
-other, would require a long time to reconcile them to the idea of entire
-amalgamation. The centuries of attempted usurpation on the part of the
-English, and the determined resistance, even to death, of the Scots,
-made the latter sensitively apprehensive of the union. They saw in it
-only the accomplishment of the same end by different means. They were
-the less disposed to it in consequence of the foolish boastings of James
-of his absolute power. His high notions of prerogative appeared to have
-grown wonderfully since his accession to the English throne. He compared
-himself to a god upon earth, and had already given out his style and
-title as king of Great Britain. The Scots were, therefore, naturally
-suspicious of a union which would very largely augment his powers. Still
-more, his new and excessive leaning towards Episcopacy alarmed the Scots.
-They saw nothing but its attempted imposition on them in the union of the
-kingdoms, and they were not inclined thus easily to give up their freedom
-of conscience which they had fought out at so much cost. On the other
-hand, James's imprudent bestowal of posts and honours on Scotsmen in
-England, offended and disgusted the English. They asked whether they were
-to be overrun by a regular inundation of proud and hungry adventurers
-from the North. In the Commons the expressions of contempt and aversion
-to the Scottish race grew to the height of insolence and insult, and were
-sure to excite the most indignant feeling in that people. Sir Christopher
-Pigot, the member for Buckinghamshire, especially distinguished himself
-by the vituperation of Scotsmen. He professed the utmost horror at the
-idea of union between a rich and fertile country like England, and a
-sterile and poor one like Scotland; between a people wealthy, frank, and
-generous, and one at once haughty, beggarly, and penurious. This put the
-climax to the patience of Scotland, and James declared he could no longer
-tolerate language which insulted himself as a Scot.
-
-Cecil at the command of the king took up the matter warmly, and the House
-of Commons, persuaded by him, expelled Pigot, and he was committed to
-the Tower. Defeated in the Commons, James betook himself to the courts
-of law. He had proposed to the Commons to pass an Act naturalising all
-Scots, even those born before his accession to the English throne;
-but when they rejected this, he obtained a decision from the judges
-sanctioning the admission of the inhabitants of each kingdom to all the
-rights of subjects in both. This would in a few years have made the
-Scots as much subjects of the English Crown as the English themselves,
-but James was not content with this. He used very angry and impudent
-language, threatening to leave London and fix his court at York or
-Berwick; telling his English subjects to remember that he was a king, who
-had to govern them and to answer for their errors; who was made of flesh
-and blood like themselves, and might be tempted to do what they would not
-like.
-
-The Commons resented this language: they sent their Speaker to desire
-that the king would receive no reports of their proceedings except
-from themselves, and that they might be permitted to feel that they
-were at liberty to deliver their opinions in their own House without
-restraint or fear. James, who was easily alarmed, professed to have no
-desire to encroach on their liberty of speech, but no sooner did they
-put him to the test than he renewed his interference. A petition being
-presented to the House complaining of the oppressions upon the Puritans,
-and the abuses of the Church, James sent an order to the Speaker to
-inform the House that they were meddling with what belonged alone to
-him. The members declared this to be a violation of their privileges,
-but the Speaker informed them that there were plenty of precedents for
-such restraint on the House by the Crown. The House on this proposed to
-appoint a committee to inquire into these precedents, and how far they
-were founded in constitutional right; but here again, James, fearing he
-had gone too far, sent them word that although the matter in question
-properly belonged to him, he should not object to their reading the
-petition.
-
-But the Crown and the House very soon came into collision on the
-subject of the powers of the Commons. A petition was presented from the
-merchants, representing the injuries their ships and commerce received
-from Spain, particularly on the coasts of South America, the ports of
-which the Spanish were endeavouring to close against all other nations.
-The Commons thought it a subject of that national character that they
-should have the co-operation of the Peers with them, and therefore sent
-to the Upper House proposing a conference. But the Lords demurred,
-thinking it a subject which the Commons were scarcely authorised to enter
-upon. The difficulty, however, was mutually obviated; the Lords agreed to
-the conference. But it proved only an occasion for the Crown to deliver
-a lecture to the Commons on their aspiring to deal with subjects too
-high for them. James was, in fact, contemplating an alliance with Spain,
-and was by no means disposed to offend its rulers. Cecil, therefore, and
-Lord Henry Howard, now Earl of Northampton, read the Commons a very plain
-lecture, instructing them that all matters appertaining to peace or war,
-and all such topics as led to these results, belonged especially to the
-Crown; which indeed occasionally consulted the Commons, not out of right
-or necessity but as a matter of favour and also of policy, when it was
-advisable to have the sympathy and active support of the representatives
-of the people. But the declaration of war or concession of peace was the
-absolute prerogative of the Crown; the business of the Commons was more
-private and local, such as the furnishing of funds--and when money was
-wanted, they never failed to hear of it.
-
-The Commons allowed the petition of the merchants to stand over for the
-time, but out of doors the spirit of dissatisfaction rose high, and the
-leaning of James towards Spain was narrowly watched and commented upon.
-
-While the Government and the Commons were engaged in this discussion, a
-serious insurrection called the attention of the Council another way.
-The lucky courtiers who had obtained amongst them the estates of the
-gentlemen who had forfeited them for their share in the Gunpowder Plot,
-whilst dividing and enclosing, like their predecessors who had obtained
-the estates of the Church, cast greedy eyes on the adjacent common
-lands, and enclosed as much as they could of them with the rest. The
-people, deprived of their right of pasturage, rose in resistance, as
-they had done in the reign of Edward VI. They had the statutes regarding
-enclosures in their favour, and assembling in numbers from one to five
-thousand, they broke down the new fences, filled up the ditches, and
-restored the usurped fields to their ancient state as common. Like the
-agrarian reformer, Ket of Norfolk, they confined themselves strictly to
-their legitimate object. They conducted themselves with perfect order,
-committed no depredations on really private property, nor perpetrated any
-excesses, to which their numbers might have tempted them. They appeared
-in great force at Hill Morton, in Warwickshire, an estate of Tresham's,
-and in their largest force of five thousand at Coleshill. Their leaders,
-whoever they were, appeared in masks, except one man of the name of
-Reynolds, who was an enthusiast and set all danger at defiance; declaring
-that he was sent of God to satisfy men of all degrees, and had, moreover,
-authority from the king to level all the new fences. He acquired the
-name of Captain Pouch, from a large pocket which he wore at his side,
-and in which he boasted that he carried a charm which not only made him
-invulnerable to sword or bullet, but which would protect them from all
-harm.
-
-The insurgents broke out about the middle of May, having in vain
-previously presented their memorials to the Council, the members of which
-were too much interested in the lands in question to pay any attention to
-them. At first James and the Court were greatly alarmed, supposing it to
-be a demonstration of Catholics or Puritans. The guards at Westminster
-palace were doubled, and orders were issued to the Lord Mayor to watch
-the movements of the apprentices in the City. A little time, however,
-revealed the real nature of the rising, and the insurgents were ordered
-to disperse; but they stood their ground, assuring the magistrates that
-they were only executing the statutes against enclosures, and were
-under orders not to violate the law in any manner, nor even to indulge
-in swearing. The lieutenants then endeavoured to raise the counties,
-but the yeomanry displayed no desire to interfere in such a cause; and
-many gentlemen even contended that it was best to concede the matter to
-the poor, advice which, if followed, would no doubt have ensured speedy
-quietness without bloodshed. But this did not suit the views of the
-interested Council, and the Earls of Huntingdon and Exeter and Lord Zouch
-were sent with a considerable force to quell them. Sir Edward Montague
-and Sir Anthony Mildmay came upon a number of them busy levelling the
-enclosures at Newton, another estate forfeited by Tresham. They found
-them well armed with bills and bows, pikes and stones. The officers
-commanded them to disperse, but they refused, and after twice reading
-the Riot Act in vain, a charge was ordered. The trained bands showed no
-relish for the business; but the regular cavalry, and the servants of
-Mildmay and Montague, attacked them briskly. The insurgents returned the
-attack with much bravery, but at the second onset broke and fled. Forty
-or fifty of them were killed, and a great number wounded. Sir Henry
-Fookes, who led on the infantry against them, was severely wounded. After
-this defeat "the levellers," as they were called, were pursued in all
-directions and everywhere put down and dispersed. Many prisoners were
-made and a commission, with Sir Edward Coke at its head, was appointed to
-try them.
-
-James, with a feeling that did him honour, instructed the Commission to
-use moderation in punishing the prisoners, declaring that the Council had
-been more to blame than they, for neglecting their petitions. Had they
-not intercepted them, he pretended to say that they would have received
-redress from him. He maintained that they had been oppressed and driven
-to resistance by the rapacity of the gentry and the neglect of ministers.
-Pouch and some of his associates were condemned and executed as traitors
-on the 28th of June; and some of the others were hanged as felons because
-they had not dispersed on the reading of the Riot Act.
-
-[Illustration: SHILLING OF JAMES I.]
-
-The king on the 4th of July prorogued Parliament till November, but
-having got a considerable amount of money from it, and little other
-satisfaction, he did not summon it again till February, 1610. Could he
-have found sufficient funds any other way, it is quite certain that he
-would never have called it any more. In his suit of Lincoln green, with a
-little feather in his hat, and a horn by his side instead of a sword, he
-followed his hounds through the forest, happy as Nimrod himself, so long
-as the means lasted. But James's Court was altogether on an extravagant
-scale. Like a youthful heir whose guardians have kept him close, and who
-makes up for a long abstinence by tenfold profuseness on coming to his
-estate, James, escaped from the poverty of his Scottish establishment
-where he had mainly lived on his pension from Elizabeth, now gave rein to
-extravagance as if nothing could exhaust the affluence of England. He had
-a most expensive household, and he gave money to his favourites as though
-he had the wishing-cap of Fortunatus.
-
-[Illustration: CROWN OF JAMES I.]
-
-Not only was his own household lavishly managed, but even those of Henry
-and Elizabeth, two of his children, consisted of one hundred and forty
-personages. In 1610, but three years after this period, that of Prince
-Henry was increased to four hundred and twenty-six individuals, of whom
-two hundred and ninety-seven were in receipt of salaries, besides a
-number of workmen employed under Inigo Jones, the architect.
-
-But above all the presents to his favourites would have given the idea
-that his resources were interminable. At the marriage of Sir Philip
-Herbert with Lady Susan Vere, he gave him an estate valued at £500 a
-year. At the marriage of Ramsay, Viscount Haddington, with Lady Elizabeth
-Ratcliffe, he paid his debts, amounting to £10,000, having already
-endowed him with an estate of £1,000 per annum; and he presented to the
-bride a gold cup containing the patent of a grant of lands worth £600 a
-year. His gifts at different times to Lord Dunbar amounted to £15,262; to
-the Earl of Mar, to £15,500; and to Viscount Haddington, to £31,000.
-
-This Viscount Haddington was the Sir John Ramsay who stabbed the Earl of
-Gowrie, at the time of the singular Gowrie conspiracy; and James went
-on promoting him till he became Earl of Holderness, with many grants of
-lands, gifts, and pensions. The second in James's regard, in the early
-part of his reign, was another Scotsman, James Hay, whom he successively
-created Lord Hay, Viscount Doncaster, and Earl of Carlisle. Clarendon
-says that this man, in the course of a very licentious career, spent
-above four hundred thousand pounds and left neither house nor child to be
-remembered by. James, in England, also chose several English favourites.
-The first of those was Sir Philip Herbert, brother of the Earl of
-Pembroke and son of the sister of Sir Philip Sidney. He was created Earl
-of Montgomery, and was especially agreeable to James because he despised
-learned men--for James was jealous of all such--and took pleasure
-only, like his royal master, in dogs and horses. Montgomery was in the
-ascendant till the king's eye fell on one Robert Carr, destined to a
-strange history; and the English and Scottish favourites, by their mutual
-hatred of each other, their quarrels and duels, gave James sufficient
-trouble. Haddington and Montgomery had an affray in which Montgomery
-showed the white feather, and James sent Haddington for a short time to
-the Tower. Douglas, the Master of the Horse, was killed in one of these
-squabbles; and some years later Lord Sanquhar had an eye thrust out by a
-fencing master, for which his lordship killed him, and was executed for
-the deed. Such was the disgraceful condition of the court of the British
-Solomon.
-
-[Illustration: JAMES AND HIS COURTIERS SETTING OUT FOR THE HUNT. (_See
-p._ 436.)]
-
-During the years 1608 and 1609, negotiations were pending between the
-United Provinces of the Netherlands and Spain. James, who had a claim
-on these Provinces for above eight hundred thousand pounds on account
-of advances and services by Elizabeth, for which he held the towns of
-Flushing, Brell, and Rammekens, would have been glad to obtain possession
-of the money. So well was this known, that there were rumours that, as
-he could not obtain the sum due, he was intending to sell the towns
-to Philip III. of Spain. The Archduke Albert was still in Flanders,
-not having abandoned the hope of recovering the revolted States; and
-Catholics from England were in the habit of volunteering to assist him
-in undoing what Queen Elizabeth had done there. But much as James was
-pressed for money, he was scarcely daring enough to aid Spain in its
-views. The spirit of Protestantism was too strong in England tamely to
-witness such an anti-Protestant policy; and, in fact, James himself was
-rather afraid of an attack from Spain, than hoping for a coalition with
-it. The Earl of Tyrone had fallen under suspicion of fresh rebellion,
-and had fled to the Spaniards in the Netherlands for security. Cecil
-apprehensive that Philip might be disposed to attempt his restoration,
-instructed Sir Charles Cornwallis, at Madrid, to use bold language on the
-occasion. This appears to have had effect, for Tyrone retired to Italy.
-But a new danger presented itself in the rumour of negotiations for peace
-between Holland and Spain. Cecil dreaded a pacification between these
-Powers, as it would allow Philip more opportunity to turn his attention
-to Ireland, if so disposed.
-
-The English Government was surprised and mortified to learn that such
-negotiations were actually proceeding, and that the King of France had
-been invited to join in them. At length James, who had so deep a stake in
-the Netherlands, received a formal notice to the same effect, soliciting
-his co-operation. These negotiations were conducted at the Hague, but
-it was not till March, 1609, that they were brought to a conclusion.
-The result was a truce for twelve years, which was, in fact, equivalent
-to a peace, acknowledging the independence of the Dutch States, after a
-brave conflict for liberty of forty years. The debt of James, amounting
-to eight hundred and eighteen thousand pounds, was acknowledged, and
-engagements entered into for its payment by annual instalments of sixty
-thousand pounds. But the first payment was not to be made till the end of
-two years, and James was still to retain the cautionary towns till the
-whole was discharged.
-
-The postponement of the payment of the debt of Holland was extremely
-embarrassing to Cecil. On the death of the Earl of Dorset, in 1608, he
-succeeded to the office of Treasurer, and to the clamorous demands which
-had been made upon Dorset. His carriage had been stopped in the streets
-by the servants of the king's household, who were loud in their demands
-for their long arrears of wages, and the purveyors refused to bring in
-any more supplies till they were paid their advances. Cecil, on examining
-the accounts, found James one million three hundred thousand pounds in
-debt, and exceeding his income at the rate of upwards of eighty thousand
-pounds per annum. He set to work resolutely to curtail this expenditure
-and to devise means of raising money. James always claimed an authority
-paramount to all laws; and Cecil ventured to put in practice the idea of
-prerogative in raising the necessary funds. He called in rigorously the
-unpaid remains of the last voted subsidies, and then proceeded to lay
-on duties and impose monopolies of the most odious nature, without any
-sanction of Parliament. His predecessor Dorset had set him the example by
-levying an import duty on currants by letters patent. This illegal demand
-had been resisted, and Bates, a Turkey merchant, was proceeded against
-for refusal to pay, in the Court of Exchequer. This court was base
-enough to decide in favour of this unconstitutional stretch of power, and
-James was delighted at so auspicious a concession of the justice of his
-doctrine of prerogative. Cecil pressed on in the path thus opened, and
-laid on import and export duties on various articles by orders under the
-Great Seal. He imposed a feudal aid towards the knighting of the Prince
-Henry, of twenty shillings on each knight's fee; but this produced only
-twenty-eight thousand pounds. He then extended his duties to almost every
-species of imported and exported goods, at the rate of five pounds per
-cent. on the value of the goods, which he calculated would produce three
-hundred thousand pounds per annum; and he sold to the Dutch a right of
-fishing on the coasts of England and Scotland. Cecil himself was the
-farmer of these duties. They were, however, of a character to excite the
-utmost dissatisfaction; trade fell off under their influence, fewer ships
-came into the English ports, and there was at length no alternative but
-to summon a Parliament, which met on the 24th of February, 1610.
-
-The great topics which occupied this Parliament were, of course, the
-king's want of money and his continual violations of Magna Charta. Cecil,
-seeing the desperate state of the royal finances, made a bold demand that
-six hundred thousand pounds should be at once voted to liquidate his
-debts, and that an annual addition of two hundred thousand pounds should
-be consented to as a permanent pension, to prevent him from getting into
-debt again. But Cecil committed a great blunder both in routine and in
-sound policy, by proposing this money measure to the Lords instead of
-to the Commons, whose proper business it was. The Commons resented this
-course, and were more determined than ever in demanding an abandonment of
-the unconstitutional practice of imposing duties without their consent.
-They declared that the imprisonment of Bates for opposing this practice,
-though sanctioned by the Exchequer, was nevertheless illegal. Francis
-Bacon and Sir John Davis endeavouring to justify the despotic proceeding,
-only increased the exasperation of the House. It was declared that if
-the taxing of merchandise by prerogative was permitted, the taxing of
-their lands would soon follow. James sent them word to desist from such
-discussions; but the Commons were not to be thus silenced, whereupon
-James sent for both Houses to Whitehall, and delivered a most blasphemous
-speech in vindication of his inflated notions of kingly authority.
-"Kings," said he, "are justly called gods, for they exercise a manner
-or resemblance of divine power upon earth. For if you will consider
-the attributes of God, you shall see how they agree in the person of a
-king. God hath power to create or destroy, to make or unmake, at His
-pleasure; to give life or send death, to judge all, and to be judged of
-nor accountable to none; to raise low things, and to make high things
-low at His pleasure; and to God both body and soul are due. And the like
-power have kings. They make and unmake their subjects; they have power
-of raising and casting down, of life and of death; judges over all their
-subjects, and in all cases, and yet accountable to none but God only.
-They have power to exalt low things and abase high things, and make of
-their subjects like men of chess--a pawn to take a bishop or a knight;
-and to cry up or down any of their subjects as they do their money.
-And to the king is due both the affection of the soul, and the service
-of the body of his subjects." To resist the king in any of his acts or
-impositions, he declared was sedition; for the king was above all law,
-and laws were, in fact, but granted by kings to the people as a matter of
-favour.
-
-The Commons would not listen to such insane language. They told the king
-that in extolling the power of kings, he forgot the existence of Magna
-Charta, which set eternal and impassable bounds to that power; and they
-appointed a committee to search for the legality or illegality of all the
-practices complained of. The Crown lawyers in committee argued that "the
-reverence of past ages, and the possession of present times," sanctioned
-the king's doctrine; and that the right of imposing duties had been
-exercised by the three first Edwards by their own will, and independent
-of Parliament; and that if it had been interrupted from Richard II. to
-Mary, yet that princess had reassumed the royal privilege, and that it
-was continued by Elizabeth. But the Commons replied that in all these
-cases the monarchs had violated Magna Charta, the Statute _de tallagio
-non concedendo_, and twelve other Parliamentary enactments; that no time
-or practice could establish a right against those great bulwarks of
-popular liberty. And the Commons therefore demanded that a law should
-be made during this Session, declaring that all such impositions of
-duties or taxes, without consent of Parliament, should be pronounced for
-ever void. And they accordingly passed such a Bill, which, however, was
-rejected by the more subservient Lords.
-
-James writhed under this plain and direct denial of his assumed
-authority, and refused to surrender the question. He found in the bishops
-a body, on the whole, ready to co-operate with him in his attempt to
-destroy the Constitution; and Bancroft, the Primate, led the way with
-unblushing baseness. Under his leadership the whole High Church party
-echoed the king's most absolute dogmas, and claimed for him all the
-divinity which he professed to possess. The king, according to their
-creed, being divine, so were the bishops who were appointed by him,
-and therefore this divine Crown and Church were above all law. The
-ecclesiastical courts carried this theory into daily practice, and
-encroached on the temporal courts as pertinaciously as the king did on
-Parliament. There was a grand struggle between the common and the civil
-law. The judges, who saw this arrogance of the clergy with jealousy and
-disgust, began to relax their enmity against the Puritans and to regard
-them as the natural allies of law against absolutism.
-
-On the other hand, the king and bishops sought out fresh means in support
-of their doctrine, and one of these was to bring forward Dr. Cowell who,
-in his "Interpreter, or Law Dictionary," broached unmitigated maxims of
-despotism. He declared that the king inherited all the powers which had
-been exercised by the Emperors of Rome; as if the empire of the Romans
-had never ceased in England, or as if the civil law being still used by
-the Church, it became in all its forms imperative on the nation. This
-work was dedicated to Bancroft, and he and the king eulogised it as
-maintaining all the rampant maxims of absolutism which James had ever
-uttered. The king, Cowell declared, was "_solutus à legibus_," "freed
-from all restraint of laws;" and though he took an oath at his coronation
-to maintain all the laws unchanged, yet he was at full liberty to quash
-any laws that he pleased; and, in a word, he contended "that the King of
-England is an absolute king."
-
-The Commons called upon the Lords to unite with them in punishing this
-apologist, who, not content with selling his own birthright for a mess of
-pottage, was endeavouring to sell that of the nation too. The case was
-so flagrant that the Lords could not decline the challenge. And Bacon,
-who had shortly before been the advocate of the royal prerogative, now
-conducted the case for the Commons in the conference against Cowell, who
-was sent to prison for a time; his book was suppressed by the king's
-proclamation, poor James himself being obliged to condemn his own
-champion.
-
-Having triumphed in this particular, the Commons proceeded to much older
-grievances. They demanded the abolition of that den of injustice and
-extortion, the Court of High Commission, in which the king exercised that
-unrestrained despotism which he claimed over the whole kingdom; where
-men were sentenced and fined at the arbitrary will of the king and its
-council, without jury or evidence admitted in their defence: but this
-was an institution so dear to James's heart, that he would not listen to
-any abatement of its power. They next complained of the growing abuse
-of substituting royal proclamations for established law, "by reason of
-which," said the Commons, "there is a general fear conceived and spread
-amongst your majesty's people, that proclamations will, by degrees, grow
-up and increase to the strength and nature of laws." To this James simply
-replied that his proclamations should not exceed the warranty of law.
-They further complained of the delay of the courts in granting writs of
-_habeas corpus_ and prohibition, and of the encroachment of the Council
-of Wales, which extended its jurisdiction over neighbouring counties
-where it had no real authority; as well as of various monopolies, taxes
-on public-houses and on sea-coal.
-
-The licenses to public-houses he agreed to revoke, but he demanded a
-perpetual revenue in lieu of the income thence derived. This the Commons
-refused, alleging that he had no right to impose that tax in the first
-instance; and they further demanded that the feudal burthens of tenure
-by knights' service, wardships, and purveyance, should cease. As to the
-first, James absolutely refused compliance, on the plea that he would not
-reduce all his subjects, "rich and poor, noble and base, to hold their
-lands in the same ignoble manner;" but as to wardships, the marriages of
-infants and widows, and other odious services, including purveyance, he
-was willing to barter them for a sum of money. The sum which he demanded
-was three hundred thousand pounds per annum. The Commons only offered
-one hundred thousand pounds, but after a long course of haggling, like
-chapmen in a fair, the king descended to two hundred and twenty thousand
-pounds, and the Commons rose to one hundred and eighty thousand pounds.
-Here the matter paused till James moved a dissolution, when the Commons
-advanced to two hundred thousand pounds, and the king accepted the sum.
-But here again the king and his advocates had boasted so much of his
-being above the law, and of his power to quash, of his own will, any
-statute to which he had consented, that the Commons were cautious in
-their proceedings, and they had moreover to determine out of what funds
-this revenue should be raised. These discussions had now driven on the
-Session to the middle of July, and it was agreed that they should vote
-one subsidy, and one tenth and fifteenth for the present Session, and
-defer the final settlement of the other grant till the next.
-
-The interval was utilised by James and his ministers in attempts to
-corrupt some of the members of the Opposition, and thus to enable him
-to concede less and obtain more; but the Commons had employed the time
-in weighing the slippery nature of the man with whom they had to deal.
-His continual boasts of his superiority to all laws, and of an actually
-divine power of dispensing with his most solemn obligations, made them
-doubtful of the possibility of binding him to any terms; and the growing
-extravagance and rapacity of both king and courtiers deepened their fears.
-
-When they met they were in a far less compliant humour than when they
-separated. They insisted on seeing the promised reforms before they voted
-the two hundred thousand pounds. James was growing desperate for money;
-his coffers were empty, and the officers of the Crown were clamorous
-for their arrears of salary. He therefore sent for them to Whitehall,
-and a deputation of about thirty members attended. The king demanded
-of them whether they thought that he was really in want of money, as
-his Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had informed them?
-"Whereto," says Winwood, "when Sir Francis Bacon had begun to answer
-in a more extravagant style than his majesty did delight to hear, he
-picked out Sir Henry Neville, commanding him to answer according to his
-conscience. Thereupon Sir Henry Neville did directly answer that he
-thought his majesty was in want. 'Then,' said the king, 'tell me whether
-it belongeth to you, that are my subjects, to relieve me or not?' 'To
-this,' quoth Sir Henry, 'I must answer with a distinction: where your
-majesty's expense groweth by the commonwealth, we are bound to maintain
-it, otherwise not.'" Sir Henry reminded the king that in this one
-Parliament they had already given four subsidies and seven fifteenths,
-which was more than any Parliament at any time had given, and yet they
-had no relief of their grievances. James demanded what these grievances
-were--as though he had not heard them enumerated often enough before--and
-desired Sir Henry to give him a catalogue of them. Sir Henry adverted to
-the difficulties of obtaining justice in courts of law, to the usurped
-jurisdiction in the marches of Wales, and would have gone through the
-whole list had not Sir Herbert Croft interrupted him.
-
-[Illustration: THE STAR CHAMBER.]
-
-Finding that nothing was to be drawn from the resolute House, James again
-prorogued them for nine weeks, in order to try every means of drawing
-over to him individual members. But these efforts were as abortive as the
-former: the Commons were determined not to part with their money till
-they had a guarantee for the redress of their grievances, and James about
-this time lost his two right-hand men, Bancroft and Cecil. Bancroft, had
-died in November, 1610, staunch to the last in his exhortations to James
-not to give up the High Court of Commission; assuring him that though
-the Lords had thrown out the Bill, the Commons would bring it in again,
-and that nothing but unflinching firmness would defeat them. Cecil died
-on the 24th of May, 1612. He was grievously chagrined at the failure of
-his favourite scheme for setting the king above all his difficulties.
-In default of that, the old expedient of the sale of Crown lands was
-resorted to for the raising of money, and privy seals for loans of money
-were despatched into different counties. Meanwhile James was subsisting
-on a subsidy of six shillings in the pound granted by the clergy, and
-both king and ministers were in terror lest the privy seals should be
-"refused by the desperate hardness of the people." They raised, however,
-one hundred and eleven thousand pounds.
-
-The end of Cecil has been supposed to have been hastened by these
-anxieties; but probably he was worn out by the incessant cares which
-have pulled down other ministers besides him; for in his last moments he
-said to Sir Walter Cope, "Ease and pleasures quake to hear of death; but
-my life, full of cares and miseries, desireth to be dissolved." He had
-sought benefit at Bath, but without effect, and died at Marlborough on
-his return. Like his father, he had great talents, applied in a cold and
-ungenerous manner; but with all his faults he was a great minister.
-
-We must now introduce the story of a lady whose fate was very
-hard--Arabella Stuart. Lady Arabella (born in 1577) was descended from
-Henry VII.'s eldest daughter Margaret, like James himself, and therefore
-was to him an object of suspicion. Her proximity to the Crown had drawn
-upon her the attention of both princes and conspirators at various
-times. When she was only about ten years of age, Elizabeth used to show
-her at Court as the person she meant to make her heir. This she did to
-provoke James, whose pretensions were nearly as odious to her as those
-of his mother. But in after years Elizabeth treated her with extreme
-severity. James, indeed, contributed to this, by asking her in marriage
-for his favourite, Esmé Stuart, Duke of Lennox, who was Arabella's
-cousin, also of the same royal descent. Elizabeth was extremely chagrined
-at such a proposal, reprimanded James sharply, forbade the marriage,
-and imprisoned the unoffending maiden. Again, Raleigh and Cobham were
-accused on their trial of having designed to depose James and place her
-on the throne in his stead. Lady Arabella did not wait to be questioned
-on the subject, but on receiving a letter of such purport from Cobham,
-immediately sent it to the king, and only laughed at the proposal. Again
-her name was mentioned in the Gunpowder Plot. James does not seem to
-have had any fear of her on these occasions. But he was more afraid of
-aspirants to her hand than of conspirators; and had, no doubt, settled
-in his mind that she should never marry. Like Elizabeth, he repulsed
-all offers of the kind, both from subjects and foreign princes, lest
-from the marriage should issue claimants to his throne. Cecil took care,
-on the death of Elizabeth, to secure the person of Arabella till James
-had been proclaimed and had taken possession of the throne. The king
-himself appeared disposed to act liberally towards her, except in not
-permitting her to marry. He settled a pension upon her, allowed her
-apartments in the palace, and she was recognised while the Princess
-Elizabeth was in her tutelage as first lady of the Court. The year after
-James's accession, the King of Poland sent an ambassador to demand her in
-marriage; but even Poland was not distant enough for royal fears. Next
-came a proposal from Count Maurice, titular Duke of Guelders, but James
-would not listen to it; and Lady Arabella, who was a clever woman, made
-it her policy--both under Elizabeth and James--to appear averse from any
-marriage whatever. She devoted herself to literature, poetry, and even
-theology, which became fashionable at Court from the predilections of
-James.
-
-Queen Anne appears to have had a great regard for the Lady Arabella, who
-was handsome, of a lively and affectionate disposition, and ready to
-enter into all the taste for masques and pageants which distinguished
-her royal mistress. She was, in fact, the great ornament of the Court of
-James; but her attractions were only the more dangerous to her safety,
-considering her descent. The feeling that she excited increased James's
-alarm, and she was kept under the close surveillance of Elizabeth
-Cavendish the Countess of Shrewsbury, who was her aunt. The countess
-appears to have treated her with much harshness, and James to have
-paid her salary very badly. On the whole, no situation, with all its
-splendour, could be more miserable than that of Lady Arabella. No wonder,
-then, that she sought to escape from it. In her childhood she had been
-acquainted with Sir William Seymour, the son of Lord Beauchamp. They met
-again at Court, and their early attachment was renewed and rapidly grew
-into love. The Lady Arabella was now watched and harassed more than ever
-by her shrewish guardian Lady Shrewsbury, and matters came to such a pass
-between them that James was obliged to interfere. He paid up the arrears
-of her pension to enable her to discharge her debts, and to soothe her
-made her a present of a cupboard of plate, worth two hundred pounds. The
-chief cause of Lady Arabella's discontent was supposed to arise from
-her pressing necessities; but there was a deeper cause--the restraint
-upon her affections; and it was not long before some officious Court spy
-conveyed to James the alarming intelligence that there was an engagement
-of marriage plighted between Seymour and Lady Arabella. Seymour was also
-descended from Henry VII., and such a marriage in prospect was enough
-to terrify James beyond conception. He instantly summoned the offenders
-before his Council, where they were severely snubbed and forbidden to
-marry without the king's permission. They both promised to abandon the
-idea, but this was only to disarm suspicion till they could effect
-their marriage. In July, 1610, it was discovered that they were already
-wedded, and James issued an immediate order for their arrest. Seymour was
-committed to the Tower, and Arabella to the keeping of Sir Thomas Parry
-at Lambeth.
-
-The youthful couple were so much pitied that they did not find it
-difficult to meet. Seymour bribed his keeper so effectually that he
-suffered him frequently to go out of the Tower, and he met Lady Arabella
-in the garden at Lambeth, and even in the house, unknown to Sir Thomas
-Parry. Meanwhile the friends of the young people were not inactive. They
-used all the means they could imagine to soften the mind of the king
-towards them; and the queen, who loved Arabella and received the most
-eloquent letters from her, praying her to exert her influence in her
-behalf, did her utmost to procure the liberation of her and her husband.
-Unfortunately, whispers of their stolen interviews reached James, and
-he sent instant orders to guard Seymour better, and to remove Lady
-Arabella to Durham, where she was to be in the keeping of the bishop.
-When the order reached Lady Arabella, she positively refused to go; but
-the officers carried her forcibly out in her bed, placed her in a boat,
-and rowed her up the river. In spite of her resistance, her keepers set
-forward on their journey; but by the time that they reached Barnet, her
-agitation of mind had thrown her into a fever, and the doctor declared
-that nothing but the discontinuance of the journey could save her life.
-He waited on the king himself and assured him of this. But though James
-confessed that carrying her away in her bed was enough to make her ill
-if she had been well, he was peremptory in his commands that she should
-proceed. To Durham she should go, he said, if he were king. To this the
-physician replied that the lady would obey if the king required it.
-"Obedience!" repeated James; "is that required?" But when his first anger
-was over he relented, and allowed her to remain for a month at Highgate
-in the house of the Earl of Essex. There she was closely watched; but on
-the 3rd of June, 1611, the very day that the Bishop of Durham set out
-northward to prepare for her reception, she effected her escape.
-
-The plan of flight to the Continent had been carefully concerted between
-herself and her husband in the Tower, through the medium of two of
-Seymour's friends. It was arranged that Arabella should get away in
-male attire, and Seymour in the garb of a physician. A French vessel
-was engaged to lie off Gravesend to receive the fugitives, and carry
-them to the Continent. All was in readiness, and Arabella, says Winwood,
-"disguising herselfe by drawing a great pair of French-fashioned hose
-over her petticoats, putting on a man's doublet, a man-lyke peruque,
-with long locks over her hair, a black hat, black cloake, russet bootes
-with red tops, and a rapier by her syde, walked forth between three and
-four o'clock with Mr. Markham. After they had gone on foot a mile and
-a halfe to a sorry inne, where Crompton attended with their horses,
-she grew very sicke and fainte; so as the ostler that held the styrrup
-said that gentleman would hardly hold out to London. Yet being set on a
-good gelding a-stryde in an unwonted fashion, the stirring of the horse
-brought blood enough into her face, and so she rode on towards Blackwall."
-
-Lady Arabella found boats and attendants ready to row her down to
-Gravesend, where she expected to find her husband. But Seymour had not
-been quite so expeditious in making his way out of the Tower. He had
-indeed effected it, and was on his way, but Lady Arabella, on getting
-on board, found that he had not arrived; and the French captain, aware
-of the serious nature of his commission, grew afraid, and in spite of
-Arabella's entreaties dropped down the river towards its mouth. Seymour,
-on finding that the vessel had sailed without him, engaged the captain of
-a collier for forty pounds to land him in Flanders.
-
-No sooner was the news of Arabella's flight from Highgate conveyed
-to Court, than the utmost consternation prevailed. A messenger was
-despatched to the Tower to order the strictest surveillance of Seymour,
-but the man brought back the appalling tidings that he also had escaped.
-The terrors of a new conspiracy seized James and the courtiers. It was
-soon asserted that it was a design of the King of Spain and the Papists;
-that the fugitives were to be received in the Netherlands by the Spanish
-commander, and were to be brought to London at the head of a Catholic
-host.
-
-Couriers were hurried off in all likely directions to intercept the
-culprits, and the Thames was astir with ships and boats to discover them
-on board any vessel there. In spite of this sharp pursuit, the collier
-put Seymour safe on shore in Flanders; but Lady Arabella was not so
-fortunate. The French vessel was chased and brought to in mid-channel.
-After some resistance it was boarded, and the unhappy princess seized,
-brought back, and secured in the Tower. Meanwhile James had written very
-angry letters to the archduke of Austria and the authorities of the
-Netherlands, as well as to the king and queen-regent of France, accusing
-them roundly of being accessory to the plot, and demanding them to send
-the fugitives back.
-
-For a time Lady Arabella bore imprisonment better than could have been
-expected. She declared that she did not mind captivity for herself, so
-that her husband had escaped. Yet not the less did she appeal to the
-generosity of James for her liberty, nor relax her efforts to that end
-through the kind offices of the queen. But all such endeavours were
-useless: James had had too great a fright to risk anything more. He sent
-the lady word that as she had eaten of the forbidden fruit, she must now
-pay the penalty of it. All hope of moving the relentless soul of the
-royal pedant gradually forsook her, and then her splendidly sensitive
-mind gave way. She became a pitiable lunatic, and died in her prison on
-the 27th of September, 1615. James had thrown the Countess of Shrewsbury
-into the Tower at the same time with the Lady Arabella, on suspicion of
-being a party to the scheme; but that high-spirited lady refused to give
-an answer to any interrogatories put to her, notwithstanding menaces of
-the Star Chamber and heavy fines. On the death of Lady Arabella she was
-set at liberty.
-
-[Illustration: FLIGHT OF THE LADY ARABELLA STUART. (_See p._ 443.)]
-
-In pursuing the fate of this ill-used lady to its close, we have passed
-over another tragedy, that of the popular but dissipated King Henry IV.
-of France. Notwithstanding his adoption of Catholicism, from motives of
-policy, it was believed that his heart was still with the Protestant
-cause, and the death of John, Duke of Cleves, Juliers, and Berg, which
-occurred in 1609, gave him an opportunity of serving that interest
-under the plea of political necessity. The Duke of Cleves had died
-without issue, and the Emperor of Germany seized it as a fief of the
-imperial crown. The Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, and the Duke of
-Neuburg, also laid claim to it. Jealousy of the already too powerful and
-ambitious house of Austria combined against it the Protestant princes
-of Germany and Holland, and they were joined by Henry of France on the
-same political ground, whilst the King of Spain, the archduke, and other
-Catholic and kindred princes, supported the claims of Austria. James of
-England engaged to furnish four thousand infantry, and the King of France
-the same. The Protestant princes of Germany and Holland were to supply
-nine thousand foot and two thousand horse, and it was agreed that the
-Elector of Brandenburg should be acknowledged as the real heir.
-
-[Illustration: NOTRE DAME, CAUDEBEC.]
-
-Meanwhile Henry IV. did not confine himself to his quota of four
-thousand infantry. The moment appeared to him favourable for extending
-his own territory and power, and he appeared at the head of a splendid
-army of thirty thousand men, with a great train of artillery and camp
-supplies. Rumour was very busy on the appearance of this great force,
-that Henry was for apostatising a second time, or rather now going back
-to his original faith; and the priests diligently propagated the belief
-that he meant to make war on the Pope and restore Protestantism. These
-representations seem to have excited the brain of a mad young friar, of
-the name of Francis Ravaillac, who stabbed him in the streets of Paris,
-three days before his intended departure for the campaign (May 14, 1610).
-The murderer was put to the torture to force from him the names of his
-accomplices or instigators; but he persisted to the last in denying that
-he had any. Three times before had the life of Henry IV. been attacked
-by assassins: in 1593 by Pierre Barrière, in 1597 by Pierre Ouen, and
-in 1605 by Jean de l'Isle. Ravaillac succeeded, and suffered the reward
-of his deed in a terrible death. This horrible tragedy renewed the
-terror of the Catholics in England, and both the Parliament of England
-and the Council of Scotland called on James to secure himself by fresh
-persecution of them. The Scottish Council saw in the French assassins the
-frogs foretold in the Revelation, to be sent out by the devil against the
-head of the Church, and prayed the king to protect his precious life by
-fresh guards while he indulged himself in hunting.
-
-Whilst James was earnestly engaged in suppressing any rival claims to
-the Crown by persecuting to death the Lady Arabella, he was equally busy
-in endeavouring to secure a succession in his own family. Though he
-persecuted the Catholics as a dangerous, sinful, and abominable body,
-he had no objection whatever to marry his children to Catholic princes,
-because they were by far the most considerable in Europe. Accordingly
-he made overtures for the marriage of his son Henry, and his daughter
-Elizabeth, both to France and Spain. Queen Anne was most bent on the
-Spanish matches for both son and daughter, and was therefore vehemently
-suspected of Popery, though her motives were the same as those of her
-husband--the rank and prestige of the alliance.
-
-Prince Henry was the darling of his mother and of the nation. In
-appearance, temper, and aspirations the very opposite of his father. All
-persons, and especially all princes, who die young, are remembered with
-a peculiar affection; their virtues are exaggerated and live in memory
-as the roots of brilliant hopes cut off by fate. Time has not allowed
-the adverse influences of life and of royal power to corrupt them. Had
-Henry VIII. died young, he would have left a regretted name as a model of
-chivalric spirit and generous enthusiasm; yet we have no right to infer
-that Henry Prince of Wales, the eldest son of James, would have developed
-into such a character as the eighth Henry. He was a handsome, brave,
-and right-minded youth of eighteen, possessed of none of the timidity
-or the bookishness of his father, and very fond of all sorts of martial
-exercises--pitching the bar, handling the pike, riding, and shooting with
-the bow. Though extremely fond of horses, he was not, like his father,
-addicted to the chase, revolting from its cruelty. He seemed to have set
-before him as models Henry V. and the Black Prince; models which might
-have led him to inflict serious evils on his country had he lived, by
-the spirit of conquest. Young as he was, he displayed all the tastes of
-such a hero. He fired off cannon with his own hands, and had new pieces
-cast on improved models. He conversed with unceasing pleasure with
-engineers and men who had seen distinguished service, and he imported the
-finest horses from the Continent that could be procured. In his private
-character he was serious, modest, and devout. He attended the best
-preachers, and listened with a quiet sobriety in striking contrast to his
-father, who was always excited when listening to a preacher and wanting
-to preach himself. Henry abhorred profanity and swearing, and had a box
-in each of his houses at Richmond, Nonsuch, and St. James's to receive
-the fines for swearing from his household, which were rigorously levied,
-the money being given to the poor.
-
-As these traits became known, the people flocked after the prince in a
-manner which much piqued his father, who could not help exclaiming--"Will
-he bury me alive!" The Reformers conceived great hopes of him, and there
-was a prophecy regarding him in every one's mouth:--
-
-    "Henry the Eighth pulled down abbeys and cells,
-    But Henry the Ninth shall pull down bishops and bells."
-
-Had James succeeded in obtaining the Spanish Infanta for Henry, he would
-have effectually neutralised this popularity. But though Henry did not
-stubbornly oppose his father's plans, he is said to have declared amongst
-his own friends that he had made up his mind never to marry a Popish
-princess, and the Puritans had the firmest faith that he never would.
-
-It was regarded as a good sign that the young prince was extremely
-averse from his father's favourites, and especially from Carr, who
-was rapidly rising, and had now been created Viscount Rochester. The
-queen, who shared this aversion, strengthened him in it with all her
-influence. But he was not destined to wear the crown of England: he was
-now attacked with symptoms of premature decay. It was supposed that he
-had grown too fast for his strength, having reached the stature of six
-feet at seventeen, and his chivalrous exercises had been too violent
-and imprudent for such rapid growth. He was accustomed to take his
-exercises in the greatest heat of summer, to expose himself to all sorts
-of weather, and to bathe for a long time together after supper. While
-James was planning marriages for him, the prince was fast hastening
-out of the world. The Spanish match still lingering, after years of
-negotiation, James listened to a proposal of Mary de Medici, the widow of
-Henry IV., and now Queen-Regent of France, for a wedding between Prince
-Henry and the Princess Christine, the second daughter of France, on the
-understanding that she should be educated as a Protestant. About the same
-time James agreed to a marriage between his daughter Elizabeth and the
-Protestant Elector Palatine. These marriages had been in accordance with
-the policy of Cecil, who wished to make them the basis of a Protestant
-alliance against the Catholic Powers. But the first of them was never
-to take place. In the spring of 1612 the health of Prince Henry began
-to fail. In the October of that year the Elector Palatine arrived in
-England to complete his marriage with Elizabeth, who was still only
-sixteen. Henry roused himself to receive his proposed brother-in-law; he
-rode to town from Richmond, and most imprudently, in his infirm state of
-health, engaged in the sports and pastimes of the occasion. On the 24th
-of October he played a great match at tennis with the Count Henry of
-Nassau in his shirt. He had been suffering from typhus already, and this
-brought it to a crisis. He was seized in the night with a violent pain in
-his head, and an oppressive languor; yet the next day, being Sunday, he
-would rise and attend two services, one in his own chapel at St. James's,
-and another at the king's in Whitehall. The text of the preacher at St.
-James's was remarkable:--"Man, that is born of a woman, is of short
-continuance and full of trouble." In the afternoon, after dinner, he was
-compelled to yield to the complaint, and hastened home to bed. By the
-29th he was so ill that there was great dismay amongst the people, and
-this was immensely aggravated by a lunar rainbow, which appeared to span
-that part of the Palace of St. James's where the sick prince lay. The
-most fatal auguries were drawn from this phenomenon.
-
-The fever now assumed a putrid form, and was declared by the medical men
-highly infectious; and his parents and sister were debarred from entering
-his room. He grew daily worse, was highly delirious, calling for his
-clothes and his arms, and saying he must be gone. On the 5th of November,
-the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, James was informed that all hope
-was extinct. Unable to bear his feelings so near the scene of sorrow,
-the king hastened away to Theobalds; but the queen would only retire to
-Somerset House, whence she sent continual messengers to inquire after
-her son's symptoms. The prince had entertained a romantic admiration of
-Sir Walter Raleigh, declaring that no prince but his father would keep
-such a bird in a cage, and he had joined with his mother in entreating
-for his liberty. To Sir Walter the life or death of the prince was life
-or death to himself. The agonised mother was now seized with a desperate
-desire to obtain from Raleigh a nostrum which he possessed, and which she
-had herself formerly taken in a fit of ague. Sir Walter sent it, with
-the assurance that it would cure any mortal malady except poison. After
-taking Raleigh's nostrum he seemed to revive for a time, but again became
-worse, and expired at eight o'clock on Friday night, the 6th of November.
-
-Perhaps a more extraordinary 5th of November was never passed than the
-one preceding Henry's death. The people were assembled in dense crowds
-around the palace, eagerly listening for news of the prince's condition,
-while all around them were the noises--the firing, and the bonfires--of
-the celebration of the Gunpowder Plot. They were still remaining there
-the following day, and when the cry of the prince's servants was heard in
-the palace on beholding him dead, the people groaned and wept in agony.
-The Catholics, on their part, regarded the death of the first-born of the
-royal house as a manifest judgment for the persecution of their Church.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-JAMES I. (_concluded_).
-
-     Reign of Favourites--Robert Carr--His Marriage--Death of
-     Overbury--Venality at Court--The Addled Parliament--George
-     Villiers--Fall of Somerset--Disgrace of Coke--Bacon becomes
-     Lord Chancellor--Position of England Abroad--The Scottish
-     Church--Introduction of Episcopacy--Andrew Melville--Visit
-     of James to Scotland--The Book of Sports--Persecution of the
-     Irish Catholics--Examination into Titles--Rebellion of the
-     Chiefs--Plantation of Ulster--Fresh Confiscations--Quarrel
-     between Bacon and Coke--Prosperity of Buckingham--Raleigh's
-     Last Voyage--His Execution--Beginnings of the Thirty
-     Years' War--Indecision of James--Despatch of Troops to the
-     Palatinate--Parliament of 1621--Impeachment of Bacon--His
-     Fall--Floyd's Case--James's Proceedings during the
-     Recess--Dissolution of Parliament--Reasons for the Spanish
-     Match--Charles and Buckingham go to Spain--The Match is Broken
-     Off--Punishment of Bristol--Popularity of Buckingham--Change of
-     Foreign Policy--Marriage of Charles and Henrietta Maria--Death of
-     James.
-
-
-From the death of Cecil we may date the reign of favourites, which
-continued as long as the king lived. That cautious and able minister was
-too fond of power himself to allow it to pass into the hands of much
-weaker men. James, while Cecil lived, had indeed no lack of favourites
-on whom he lavished affluence and honours; but his cunning minister had
-the address to prevent him from giving them places of real power and
-responsibility. James therefore, so long as Cecil remained, was content
-to make his favourites his companions and left Cecil to conduct public
-affairs; but no sooner was Salisbury in his grave, than James became the
-slave of his favourites, who ruled both him and the kingdom.
-
-The first of these was Robert Carr, or Ker, a young border Scot of
-the Kers of Fernihurst. He had been some years in France, and being a
-handsome youth--"straight-limbed, well-formed, strong-shouldered, and
-smooth-faced"--he had been led to believe that if he cultivated his
-personal appearance and a gaiety and courtliness of address, he was sure
-of making his fortune at the Court of James. Accordingly he managed to
-appear as page to Lord Dingwall at a grand tilting match at Westminster,
-in 1606. According to chivalric usage, it became his duty to present
-his lord's shield to his Majesty; but in manoeuvring his horse on the
-occasion, it fell and broke his leg. That fall was his rise. James was
-immediately struck with the beauty of the youth who lay disabled at his
-feet, and had him straightway carried into a house near Charing Cross,
-and sent his own surgeon to him. As soon as he could get away from the
-tilt-yard, he hastened to him himself. He renewed his visits daily,
-waiting upon him himself, and displaying to the whole Court the intensity
-of his sudden regard for him. "Lord!" says Weldon, "how the great men
-flocked then to see him, and to offer to his shrine in such abundance,
-that the king was forced to lay a restraint, lest it might retard his
-recovery."
-
-The lad's fortune was made; and though James, in conversing with him,
-found that he was very ignorant--the whole of his education having
-been directed to his outside--this did not abate his regard, for he
-condescended to be at once his nurse and schoolmaster. "The prince," says
-Harrington, "leaneth on his arm, pinches his cheek, smooths his ruffled
-garments. The young man doth study much art and device; he hath changed
-his tailors and tiremen many times, and all to please the prince. The
-king teaches him Latin every morning, and I think some one should teach
-him English too, for he is a Scotch lad, and hath much need of better
-language."
-
-[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS BACON (VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS).
-
-(_From the Portrait by Van Somer._)]
-
-James found that Carr had been his page in Scotland, and that his
-father had suffered much in the cause of the unhappy Mary Stuart;
-these were additional causes of favour. On Christmas-day, 1607, James
-knighted him and made him a gentleman of the bed-chamber, so as to have
-him constantly about his person. Such was his favour that every one
-pressed around him to obtain their suits with the king. He received rich
-presents; the ladies courted his attention; the greatest lords did him
-the most obsequious and disgusting homage. Carr, however, had an eye to
-pleasing the public and therefore, Scotsman as he was, he turned the
-cold shoulder to his countrymen, and associated with and favoured the
-English; probably, too, finding this the most profitable. Those about him
-were almost wholly English; and his affairs were in the hands of one Sir
-Thomas Overbury, a man of an evil look, and with a countenance said to
-be shaped like that of a horse. The dark ability of this man supplied
-the lack of talent in his patron, and became a mine of wealth to Overbury
-himself. Even Cecil and the Earl of Suffolk strove to avail themselves of
-his services; and when Cecil quitted the scene, Carr, through Overbury's
-management, carried all before him. In March, 1611, he had been created
-Viscount Rochester; in April, 1612, he became a member of the Privy
-Council, and was invested with the order of the Garter. The Earl of
-Suffolk succeeding to Cecil's post of Lord Treasurer, Carr stepped into
-Suffolk's office of Lord Chamberlain, at the same time discharging the
-duties of the post of Secretary by the aid of Sir Thomas Overbury. The
-favourite's favourite, however, was no favourite of the king, who was
-jealous of having so much of the time and confidence of Carr occupied by
-Overbury, and this feeling was probably much heightened by the queen,
-who had an instinctive aversion to the man. On one occasion the queen
-succeeded in obtaining his expulsion from Court, for alleged discourtesy
-to her, but he soon returned; and though the king appointed Sir Ralph
-Winwood and Sir Thomas Lake to occupy jointly the office of Secretary of
-State, yet Carr, by the king's favour and Overbury's ability, remained
-lord paramount in the Court; Overbury himself being the avenue to every
-favour. On April 21, 1613, Overbury boasted to Sir Henry Wotton of his
-good fortune, and his flattering prospects, yet that very day saw him
-committed close prisoner to the Tower. Adept as he was in all Court
-intrigues, he had yet committed an irremediable blunder, and aroused
-a spirit of vengeance which nothing but his blood could quench. This
-spirit lived in the bosom of a beautiful girl not yet twenty years of age.
-
-Lady Frances Howard, the daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, had been
-married at the age of thirteen to the Earl of Essex, the son of
-Elizabeth's unfortunate favourite, who was only a year older. It was a
-match promoted by the king out of regard, as he said, for the memory of
-the young earl's father. The ceremony being performed, the bride returned
-to the care of her mother, and the boy bridegroom proceeded, under care
-of a tutor, on his travels. At the end of four years he returned, and
-claimed his wife, whom he found the beauty and pride of the Court. But
-whilst he was enraptured with her loveliness, he was mortified to find
-that she treated him with every mark of aversion. It was only by the
-stern command of her father that she consented to live with him at all,
-and he soon discovered that in his absence her affections had been stolen
-away by the profligate favourite Rochester, who had won her even from
-another and a royal suitor, Prince Henry.
-
-This discovery, and the constant bickerings which took place between the
-earl and countess, made Essex willing that a divorce should be obtained.
-There were others who were glad of this expedient: Lady Howard's father,
-Lord Suffolk, and the Earl of Northampton, Lord Privy Seal, saw in her
-marriage with Rochester a mode of putting an end to the rivalry which
-existed between them, and the king was equally eager for this result.
-But to Overbury the scheme boded the destruction of his power, which
-would be at an end if his patron coalesced with his enemies. He therefore
-commenced a determined opposition to the match. He it was who had written
-the glowing and eloquent love-letters of Rochester, and had promoted
-the _liaison_ to the utmost of his power; but he had never dreamt of
-its leading to a marriage which must work his own ruin. He therefore
-represented to Rochester the odium of such a marriage; the base and
-abandoned character of the woman, who might do for his mistress, but was
-not to be thought of as a wife. When he found that his arguments did
-not produce the effect which he wished, he took the dangerous step of
-menaces, and declared that he could and would throw an insuperable bar
-in the way of the divorce from Essex, without which there could be no
-marriage. This bar was undoubtedly Overbury's knowledge of the adulterous
-connection which had existed between the parties, and which would
-certainly ruin the countess's demand of a separation.
-
-The master of deep policy could not see the rock upon which he was
-running, and which would have been very clear to him in another person's
-case. Rochester repeated to the countess all that he said, and the rage
-of a sinful woman, proverbially fierce as hell, seized upon her. She
-vowed that she would have his life. In her first fury she offered £1,000
-to Sir John Wood to kill him in a duel, but her friends interposed, and
-suggested a less hazardous and less criminal method of getting Overbury
-out of the way, which was to send him on an embassy to France or Russia.
-If he accepted the office, he would be detained abroad till the divorce
-was effected; if he refused, it would be easy to construe his conduct
-into a contempt of the king's service.
-
-Overbury was sounded on the subject of a mission to Russia, and listened
-to it with apparent pleasure; but the young beauty could not thus satisfy
-her revenge, and at her instigation Rochester affected to feel his
-projected absence intolerable. He declared his presence and counsel were
-indispensable to him, and he promised to satisfy the king, if he agreed
-to decline the offer. No sooner did Overbury consent than Rochester, so
-far from excusing him to the king, represented his conduct as not only
-disobedient to his Majesty, but as insolent and intolerable to himself.
-James was only too glad to clear the Court of the hated man; a warrant
-was immediately issued, and Overbury was committed to the Tower. By the
-arrangement of Rochester and the Earl of Northampton, the lieutenant of
-the Tower, Sir William Wade, was removed, and a creature of theirs, Sir
-Jervis Elwes, was installed in his place. Under the care of Elwes, Sir
-Thomas Overbury was at once cut off from all communication with the outer
-world. Neither servant nor relative was permitted to see him; he was
-already dead to the world, and the world was soon to be dead to him.
-
-The dangerous man secured, the measures for the divorce commenced. The
-countess petitioned for it, alleging serious grounds, and her father
-signed the petition. But no one was more forward and determined in
-carrying this disgraceful transaction through than the king. He appointed
-without delay a commission to try the cause. The commissioners were
-Abbot the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London, Winchester,
-Rochester, Ely, Lichfield, and Coventry; Sir Julius Cæsar, Sir John
-Barry, Sir Daniel Dunne, Sir John Bennet, Francis James and Thomas
-Edwards, doctors of civil law.
-
-The Earl of Essex was only too glad to be rid of his virago, and
-consented to anything, even to the most humiliating imputations on
-his manhood. The real causes of the vile business were sufficiently
-notorious; and the Primate, though at the head of the commission,
-revolting at being made a tool for the accommodation of aristocratic
-licentiousness, strongly opposed the divorce. But James took him sharply
-to task, telling him in so many words that it was his duty to resign
-his own judgment and follow that of his sovereign. "If," he wrote, in a
-most imperative letter, "a judge should have a prejudice in respect of
-persons, it should become you rather to have a kind of implicit faith
-in my judgment, as well in respect of some skill I have in divinity, as
-also that I hope no honest man doubts the uprightness of my conscience;
-and the best thankfulness that you, that are so far my creature, can use
-towards me, is to reverence and follow my judgment and not to contradict
-it, except where you may demonstrate unto me that I am mistaken or wrong
-informed."
-
-But James did not content himself with recommending implicit obedience;
-he influenced and controlled the proceedings, and intimidated the judges
-by all means in his power. His zeal was quickened by the receipt of
-twenty-five thousand pounds from Rochester, at a moment when his officers
-were at their wits' end for money. But do what he would, he could not
-bend the integrity of the Primate, who to the last resisted the divorce,
-and three of the doctors of law supported him. The Bishop of London also
-voted with him, but the rest of the bishops and civil lawyers voted
-for the divorce, which was carried by seven voices against five. The
-Bishop of Winchester showed himself so servile on the occasion, that
-the king knighted his son, who was ever afterwards dubbed by the people
-Sir Nullity Bilson. The other judges and bishops who voted according to
-his wish were also rewarded by James, and the sentence of divorce was
-pronounced on the 25th of September.
-
-The public at large, to whom the facts of the case were no secret,
-condemned the whole proceeding in no measured terms, and this reprobation
-rose into actual horror when the news oozed out that, the very day
-before the verdict for the divorce, Sir Thomas Overbury was found dead
-in his cell in the Tower. He was buried in all haste, and with profound
-secrecy, the officials diligently propagating a report that he died of a
-loathsome and contagious disease: but the public entertained no doubt of
-his perishing of poison.
-
-In the face of all this, James proceeded immediately to raise Rochester
-to the dignity of Earl of Somerset, that he might equal in rank, if not
-in iniquity, the murder-breathing countess. The marriage, moreover, was
-celebrated on the 26th of December, at the royal chapel in Whitehall,
-the king making it his own affair, being himself present, with Prince
-Charles, and a great crowd of bishops and noblemen. The queen kept
-herself commendably apart from the whole infamous business. The
-blood-stained bride, with a shamelessness unparalleled, appeared with
-her hair hanging loose on her shoulders, in the character of a virgin!
-Montague, Bishop of Bath and Wells, married the guilty couple, and
-Mountain, Dean of Westminster, pronounced a blessing upon them. Then
-the king gave a series of banquets and masques at Whitehall in honour
-of them, which continued till the 4th of January, 1614; and, as if all
-classes of public men were eager to disgrace themselves by sanctioning
-this Court wickedness, the Lord Mayor and aldermen invited the adulterous
-couple to a splendid banquet, given at the Merchant Taylors' Hall, on the
-same 4th of January, whither they were accompanied by the Duke of Lennox,
-the Earl of Northampton, Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Chamberlain, and the
-Earls of Worcester, Pembroke, and Montgomery.
-
-From his gaieties James was called, by his eternal want of money, to face
-his Parliament. Since 1611, when he dissolved his last House of Commons,
-he had endeavoured to carry on by any illegal and unconstitutional
-means that the people would submit to. But the Dutch did not keep their
-engagement to pay off their debt of upwards of eight hundred thousand
-pounds by annual instalments of sixty thousand pounds, and James was too
-pusillanimous to adopt the means which a Cromwell would have done. He
-threatened war, and threatened only; and therefore became despised by his
-debtors, who thenceforth made no movement towards paying. Disappointed
-here, the only alternative was to fleece his own subjects. He resorted
-to the scandalous measure of selling all the places of honour and trust,
-and all kinds of dignities, for money. He sold several peerages for
-high prices. Every place under Government was to be had only for cash;
-nor did the proceeds of this infamous traffic always reach the king's
-hands, but fell into those of his minion Somerset, and the Howards, the
-relatives of Somerset's wife. The wicked Countess of Somerset, and Lady
-Suffolk, her mother, got four thousand pounds as a bribe from Sir Fulke
-Greville, for the Chancellorship of the Exchequer. The example thus set
-at Court ran through all departments, and the whole management of the
-country was given up to corruption and venality. So little of these
-proceeds of iniquity came to the king, and that little was so foolishly
-and recklessly given away amongst his hangers-on, that the salaries of
-all who were not in a situation to be bribed, and thus pay themselves,
-remained unpaid. In this difficulty, James hit upon a notable scheme,
-and originated a new order of aristocracy--namely baronets, or little
-barons, a link between the barons, or lowest peers, and knights. These
-new titles he sold at one thousand pounds apiece. Sir Nicholas Bacon was
-the first created for England, and Sir Francis Blundell for Ireland, in
-1620. Baronets for Nova Scotia, of whom Sir Robert Gordon was first, were
-added by Charles I., to extend this source of income, in 1625.
-
-[Illustration: THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL.]
-
-James was now compelled to summon a Parliament, and Sir Francis Bacon
-concocted a scheme for managing the House of Commons. Bacon's plan was
-this, and he had regularly weighed it and drawn it up for the king's
-consideration: that, according to a principle afterwards made a maxim
-by Sir Robert Walpole, every one had his price; that the leaders of the
-late opposition, Neville, Yelverton, Hyde, Crew, and Sir Dudley Digges,
-were chiefly lawyers, and there were plenty of means, by prospects of
-promotion skilfully applied, to bring them zealously to the king's side;
-that they being once brought over, he had the talking, persuasive power
-of the House; and that much might be done beforehand also with the city
-men and country gentlemen, and where any obstinate man appeared, means
-might be used to keep him out. At the same time Bacon assured James that
-it was necessary to make a show of some concession. It was suggested that
-as he had promised to abolish abuses, he should at least give up some of
-the lesser ones; and on his accepting this plan, he and his friends were
-ready to "undertake" to manage Parliament, and to guarantee his Majesty
-plenty of money and little trouble, provided James would only avoid
-irritating speeches.
-
-James's Parliament met on the 5th of April 1614, and he endeavoured to
-put in practice the Machiavellian instructions of Bacon by delivering a
-very popular speech--popular because it promised plentiful persecution
-for religion, which was the spirit of the day, and a liberal removal
-of grievances; but, as usual, first of all he placed the supply of
-his necessities. But the Undertakers had not succeeded in their first
-out-of-door efforts; there was a sturdy assemblage of popular members,
-and such faces appeared amongst them, according to a writer of the time,
-as made the Court to droop. The House of Commons at once reversed the
-topics of the king's speech, placing the grievances in the front and
-making the supplies conditional on their abolition. The royal party which
-the Undertakers had got together, found their pleas for slavish obedience
-drowned in a storm of angry demand for justice; and the House demanded a
-conference with the Lords on the subject. The Lords asked the opinion of
-the judges on the question, and especially that of Coke the Lord Chief
-Justice. Coke, who remembered the endeavours of Bacon to supplant him
-in the good graces of the king, and who hoped for no higher preferment,
-took the opportunity to throw cold water on the conference, asserting
-that the judges, after consultation among themselves, felt that they were
-bound by their office to decide between the king and his subjects, and
-were therefore equally bound not to appear as disputants or partisans
-on either side. The Lords on hearing this declined the conference, and
-Neale, who had recently been transferred from the see of Lichfield to
-the wealthier one of Lincoln, for his services in procuring the Countess
-of Essex's divorce, rose and uttered a most unbecoming tirade against
-the Commons, charging them with striking at the root of the royal
-prerogative, and anticipating that if admitted to a conference, they
-might use very disloyal and seditious language.
-
-This roused the indignation of the Commons: they did not understand the
-etiquette of our time, which supposes what passes in one House unknown in
-the other; but they immediately demanded of the Lords the punishment of
-the man who had thus dared to slander their loyalty. On this the bishop,
-who was as cowardly as he was insolent, and who was hated by the Puritans
-as a merciless persecutor, instantly recanted in his place; and with many
-tears, and fervent declarations of his high respect for the Commons,
-denied many of the offensive expressions attributed to him. But the House
-was not thus to be appeased. The members were greatly exasperated at
-the plan of managing them, which had become public, and fell on Bacon
-as the author of the scheme. The versatile Sir Francis pretended to
-ridicule the very idea of any such scheme being in existence, as the
-king had done in his opening speech, but the House gave him no credit;
-they proceeded to question even his right to sit in their House, on his
-accepting the office of Attorney-General, and only permitted it as a
-special indulgence, which was not to be drawn into a precedent.
-
-The king, who saw no chance of supplies in the present temper of the
-House, sent them a sharp message, desiring them to proceed to the
-business of the supplies, attended with a threat of immediate dissolution
-in case of non-compliance. This produced no effect, and the House was
-dissolved on the 7th of June. Having thus broken the immediate power
-of retaliation in the House, he, the next morning, arrested the most
-refractory members and committed five of them to the Tower, amongst whom
-was Wentworth, a lawyer, destined to act a very prominent part in the
-next reign. These members were not discharged till they had, by their
-admissions, occasioned the king to arrest others, who were committed in
-their turn. This Parliament obtained the name of the Addled Parliament,
-because it had not passed a single bill, but it had displayed a spirit
-which was pregnant with the most momentous consequences. It had laid
-the foundation of the rights of the Commons, and at the same time had
-displayed its rigid temperament, by issuing an order which excluded all
-Catholics, and by making it necessary for every member, before taking his
-seat, to receive the Sacrament according to the form of the Church of
-England.
-
-James had indeed got from the determined tone of the House a fright which
-lasted him nearly seven years. He returned to his usual unconstitutional
-modes of extorting revenue. Besides the sale of monopolies and
-privileges, he compelled the payment of benevolences, an odious tax, not
-only because raised without sanction of Parliament, but because its name
-implied a free gift. Those who resisted these modes of royal robbery were
-dragged into the Star Chamber, and there sentenced to enormous fines.
-Mr. Oliver St. John, a gentleman who had not only refused such payment,
-but had vindicated his conduct in an able letter, in which he commented
-freely on the king's violation of Magna Charta, was fined by the tyrannic
-Star Chamber five thousand pounds, and ordered to be imprisoned during
-the king's pleasure.
-
-A new era now arrived in the history of the king's favourites. Though
-the Countess of Somerset was hardened enough to stalk through adultery
-and poison to the gratification of her desires, and show no remorse, it
-appears that her new husband was not altogether of so callous a nature.
-From the moment of the death of Overbury, he was a totally changed man.
-All pleasure in life had deserted him; he had lost all his gaiety and
-went about moody and morose. His person became neglected, his dress
-disorderly, and even in the king's company he was absent of mind and
-took no pains to please him. This was not lost on those courtiers who
-envied the favour of the Howards, who now enjoyed complete ascendency
-through their wicked kinswoman. The Earls of Bedford, Pembroke, and
-Hertford maintained a sharp watch for a new favourite to bring before
-James, confident that a suitable man once found, the day of Somerset was
-over. This man soon appeared in a youth of the name of George Villiers,
-the younger son of Sir George Villiers of Brooksby, in Leicestershire.
-Sir George was dead, and young Villiers had been brought up under the
-care of his mother, who was at once one of the most beautiful and
-infamous women of her time. She saw in the beauty and grace of this boy
-the means of advancing the fortunes of the whole family. She therefore
-carefully educated him to win the favour of the favourite-loving king,
-confident that if he once attracted his attention, the result was sure.
-This far-seeing and ambitious woman therefore sent the lad to France, to
-acquire the gay and easy manner of that Court.
-
-His courtly education being considered perfect, at the age of
-one-and-twenty, the post of cup-bearer to his Majesty was purchased
-amongst the lavish sale of offices of the time, as one that must
-unavoidably place him under the eye of the king. Accordingly, he appeared
-in that employment with a fine suit of French clothes on his back, and
-as many French graces as any silly modern Solomon could desire. He was
-a fine, tall young fellow, and pre-eminently handsome, at the same time
-that he was one of the emptiest, haughtiest, and most profligate men that
-ever lived. Time, however, was yet to display these qualities; they were
-at present concealed under a garb of finished courtesy and agreeable
-manners. The Herberts, the Russells, and the Seymours were delighted;
-and it was planned that young Villiers should discharge his office of
-cup-bearer at a supper entertainment at Baynard's Castle, in such a
-manner as must strike the imagination of the king. James was, according
-to expectation, smitten with the looks of the youth, and pointed out his
-imagined likeness to a beautiful head of St. Stephen at Whitehall, whence
-he gave him the pet name of "Steenie," which he always after used.
-
-Villiers once installed in James's good graces, the fall of Somerset
-was easy, and no time was lost in effecting it. Somerset was not so
-lost to observance of what passed around him as to be unaware of some
-danger; probably his vigilant spouse brought the fact to his attention.
-He therefore solicited a pardon of the king, in full and formal style,
-of all and everything which he might have done, or should hereafter do,
-which might subject him to a charge of treason, misprision of treason,
-felony, or other accusation. James, who had not yet been incited to
-his destruction, with his usual facility in such matters, especially
-when under certain genial influences, freely granted it; but the Lord
-Chancellor Ellesmere refused to put the Great Seal to such a document,
-declaring that it would subject him to a Præmunire. After all, it might
-be a _ruse_ of James to grant this pardon, thus still preserving an
-appearance of favour to Somerset, as he did to the last moment, knowing
-that a hint to Ellesmere, who was a very compliant creature of his, would
-prevent the deed taking effect. James went further; he sent Villiers
-to Somerset, to assure him that he desired not in any way to interfere
-between him and the king's favour, but would seek preferment only through
-his means and be "his servant and creature;" to which Somerset, with the
-moroseness which had become his manner, replied, "I will have none of
-your service, and you shall have none of my favour. I will, if I can,
-break your neck."
-
-Matters now being ripe, Mr. Secretary Winwood was induced by Archbishop
-Abbot, under promise of protection from the queen, to communicate
-to James the popular rumour that Overbury had been poisoned in the
-Tower, and that this had been confirmed by some admissions of Elwes,
-the lieutenant of that fortress, in conversation with the Earl of
-Shrewsbury. That the old favourite had lost his place in James's heart
-was immediately evident. He took up the matter with his usual avidity
-where a mystery was to be probed. He put a number of questions to Elwes
-in writing, and demanded, on pain of his life, a faithful answer. The
-answer satisfied James that Somerset and his wife were guilty of this
-foul murder. He immediately sent for the Lord Chief Justice Coke, and
-ordered him to arrest them. Coke demurred till the king had named several
-others in commission with him. This being settled, this extraordinary
-royal dissembler set out to Royston to hunt, and took Somerset with him,
-showing him all his old marks of fondness. In the days of his real favour
-he had refused him not the most iniquitous request. Even when the wife
-of Sir Walter Raleigh, on his first condemnation for treason, had gone
-down on her knees to him, to implore him to spare his castle and estate
-at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, for his children, James had ruthlessly
-replied, "Na, na; I maun hae the land; I maun hae it for Carr." And at
-this moment, when he was dooming the same Carr to destruction, he was
-pretending the same infatuated regard. When the Chief Justice's messenger
-arrived at Royston with the warrant, he found the king hanging about
-Somerset's neck, kissing him in the true Judas style, and saying, "When
-shall I see thee again? When shall I see thee again?"
-
-When the warrant was delivered to Somerset, in the midst of these
-disgusting affectations of endearment, he exclaimed that never had
-such an affront been offered to a peer of England in presence of his
-sovereign. "Nay, man," replied the royal hypocrite, coaxingly, "if Coke
-sends for _me_, I maun go;" and as soon as Somerset's back was turned, he
-added, "Now the deil go with thee, for I will never see thy face mair."
-Soon after Coke himself arrived, to whom James indignantly complained
-that Somerset and his wife had made him a go-between in their adultery
-and murder. Even his enormous self-conceit was so far overcome, as to
-compel him to admit that he had been grossly duped. He commanded Coke
-to search the affair to the bottom, and to spare no man or woman that
-he found guilty, however great or powerful. "And," added he, "may God's
-curse be upon you and your house if you spare any of them; and God's
-curse be upon me and mine, if I pardon any of them."
-
-Coke seemed quite willing to act as vigorously and unsparingly as
-the king could desire. The commissioners, of whom he was the chief,
-subjected the adulterous pair to no less than three hundred examinations,
-and then announced that they found ample proofs of their guilt; that
-Frances Howard, formerly Countess of Essex, had resorted to sorcery
-to incapacitate her then husband, the Earl of Essex, and to procure
-the love of Lord Rochester; that, finding Sir Thomas Overbury an
-obstacle to their criminal designs, they had, by the assistance of the
-countess's late uncle, the Earl of Northampton, procured the commitment
-of Sir Thomas to the Tower, and the removal of the lieutenant, and the
-appointment in his place of their creature Elwes, and of one Weston to
-be the warder of the prisoner; that this Weston had formerly been the
-servant of Mrs. Turner, a woman famous for the introduction of yellow
-starch for ruffs, and an early companion of the said Lady Frances Howard;
-that, through Weston and Mrs. Turner, the countess had procured three
-kinds of poison from one Franklin, an apothecary; and that Weston had
-administered these poisons to his prisoner Overbury, and thus procured
-his death. Coke added that, from private memorandum books and letters
-which he had found amongst the papers of the prisoners, he had discovered
-that Somerset had undoubtedly poisoned Prince Henry. The queen is said to
-have been greatly excited by this intelligence, and had all her former
-belief of this poisoning revived. She declared her full conviction that
-Somerset and his clique had planned the removal of herself, and her son
-Charles also, in order to marry the Princess Elizabeth to the son of
-the Earl of Suffolk, brother to the countess. But James was too well
-satisfied by the _post mortem_ examination of the body of Prince Henry,
-and by the insufficiency of Coke's proof, to be led into this absurd
-belief, though he admitted a persuasion that Somerset had received money
-from Spain on condition of delivering up the Prince Charles to that
-monarch.
-
-Though the minor confederates were promptly hanged, the trial of Somerset
-and his wife was deferred till April, 1616. The real cause of delay was
-probably the fear of bringing a man like Somerset, who had been so long
-in all James's secrets, to trial, lest he should avow something in his
-despair to the damage of the royal reputation. Certain it is that, when
-the time of trial approached, James betrayed the most extreme terror
-and uneasiness, and omitted no means to induce Somerset to make a full
-confession in private, offering him both life and restoration to his
-estates. He sent messenger after messenger to Somerset in prison, the
-Attorney-General Bacon being the principal, James Hay, afterwards Earl
-of Carlisle, another, with whom was employed Somerset's late private
-secretary. They did all in their power to induce Somerset to accept the
-king's terms, but he remained obstinate, replying, when offered life
-and fortune, "Of what use is life when honour is gone?" He demanded
-earnestly to be permitted to see the king himself, declaring that in half
-an hour's interview he could place all in so clear a light as should
-perfectly satisfy his majesty. This interview James declined, as well as
-a proposal to send a private letter to the king. These requests being
-refused, he assumed an attitude of menace, declaring that whenever he was
-brought into court, he would make such avowals as should astonish the
-country, and cause the king to rue his rejection of his offers. James
-displayed much alarm on hearing of this.
-
-[Illustration: GREENWICH PALACE IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.]
-
-On the 24th of May the countess was brought before the Peers, where,
-as she had already confessed, she had only to plead guilty. She was
-extremely agitated, pale, spiritless. She trembled greatly all the
-time that the clerk was reading the indictment, and put her fan before
-her face at the mention of Weston. Her words were nearly inaudible,
-through weeping, as she pleaded guilty, and threw herself on the royal
-mercy. This done, she was removed from the bar before the sentence was
-pronounced, during which interval Bacon delivered a perfectly unnecessary
-speech, as she had pleaded guilty, detailing the damning facts which
-he was prepared to produce, had he been compelled by her denying her
-guilt. This manoeuvre was intended to criminate Somerset, without the
-hazard of his wife's declaring his innocence on hearing him implicated.
-Bacon's purpose being served, she was recalled, and the Lord Chancellor
-Ellesmere, who acted as High Steward on the trials, pronounced sentence
-of death upon her.
-
-That day Somerset was informed that he would go to trial on the morrow:
-they had not deemed it safe to try him and his wife together. On hearing
-this he went into a great rage, declaring that the king had assured him
-that he should never go to trial, and protesting that if they took him
-there, it should be by force and in his bed. He repeated his former
-threats, adding the king dared not bring him into open court. More, the
-lieutenant of the Tower, was so alarmed at this temper and language, that
-he hastened away to James at Greenwich, though it was getting late, and
-was midnight when he reached the palace. He was hastily admitted to the
-king's chamber, and James, on hearing his statement, burst into an agony
-of tears, and exclaimed: "On my soul, More, I wot not what to do. Thou
-art a wise man: help me in this great strait, and thou shalt find thou
-dost it for a thankful master." More promised to do his best, and was
-afterwards actually rewarded for his services on this occasion with a
-suit worth to him fifteen hundred pounds, though the Earl of Annandale,
-his great friend, managed to get half of it.
-
-[Illustration: SIR EDWARD COKE.
-
-(_From the Portrait by Cornelius Janssen._)]
-
-The lieutenant hastened back to the Tower, and told Somerset that he
-had communicated his wishes to the king, who was in the most gracious
-disposition towards him, and sent him assurance that though for form's
-sake he must appear in court, he should not be detained there by any
-proceedings; but whilst he had there an opportunity of seeing his enemies
-and their malice towards him, the royal power should protect him from any
-harm.
-
-This appeased the rage of Somerset, and he prepared calmly to make his
-appearance in the morning. But even then the officers of the court were
-by no means secure of the result when he should find himself compelled to
-plead, notwithstanding the royal promise. Bacon had planned all necessary
-cautions for this emergency, as we find from his "Particular Remembrances
-for his Majesty," preserved in the State Trials. "It were good," he says,
-"that after he is come into the hall, so that he may perceive that he
-must go to trial, and shall be retired to the place appointed till the
-court call for him, then the lieutenant shall tell him roundly that, if
-in his speeches he shall tax the king, the justice of England is that
-he shall be taken away, and the evidence go on without him; and then all
-the people will cry away with him, and then it shall not be in the king's
-power to save his life, the people will be so set on fire."
-
-The lieutenant had carefully acted on this plan, and had provided two
-servants, each with a cloak on his arm, to stand behind Somerset, so
-that if More's representations did not after all prevent Somerset from
-speaking out to the discredit of the king, they should throw the cloaks
-instantly over his head, and drag him from the bar, from all consequence
-of which proceeding he promised to protect them.
-
-These singular precautions, which betrayed an awful terror on the part of
-the king of some withering exposure from the exasperated favourite, so
-far prevailed, that Somerset stood upon his trial with apparent calmness,
-but refused steadfastly to plead guilty. Bacon, on his part, was careful
-in stating the charges against him, to do it so mildly that the prisoner
-should not be excited to any dangerous pitch. Somerset never mentioned
-the king, but he defended himself resolutely and with consummate ability.
-He analysed the whole string of charges brought against him, explained
-away whatever appeared to tell most forcibly to his disadvantage, and for
-eleven hours prolonged the trial and the intolerable agony and suspense
-of the king, who, during the whole time, was in the most pitiable
-condition of terror. "But who had seen," says Sir Anthony Weldon, in a
-passage which is fully borne out by the letters of More, the lieutenant,
-"the king's restless motion all that day, sending to every boat landing
-at the bridge, cursing all that came without tidings, would have easily
-judged that all was not right, and that there had been some grounds for
-his fears of Somerset's boldness; but at last, one bringing him word that
-he was condemned, all was quiet."
-
-In the course of a few weeks James actually granted a pardon to the
-murder-stained countess, on the plea that she was not tried as a
-principal, but as an accessory before the fact; though all the facts of
-the case go to show that she was the chief instrumental instigator of the
-death of Overbury. He also offered the same grace to Somerset; but the
-proud, though fallen, favourite haughtily refused it, saying that he was
-an innocent man, who therefore needed no pardon, but expected a reversal
-of his sentence.
-
-Time, however, showed him that the favour of the prince had passed on to
-others, and that his enemies were working for further injury to him; he
-therefore condescended in the autumn of 1624 to petition for the pardon
-formerly rejected. It was granted on the 24th of October, with a promise
-of the restoration of his property. James meanwhile allowed him an
-income of four thousand pounds a year, and protected him from the infamy
-attaching to his condemnation. He would not allow him to be expelled from
-the Order of St. George, nor his arms to be reversed in the chapel of
-that saint at Windsor.
-
-The guilty earl and countess are said to have retired together into the
-country, not to the felicity of innocent affection but, as it was said,
-to mutual hatred and recrimination. The countess died in 1632; the earl,
-who never recovered his estates, lived on thirteen years longer. Their
-only child, Lady Ann Carr, who was born in the Tower, was married to
-William, the fifth Earl, and afterwards Duke, of Bedford, and became
-the mother of the celebrated Lord William Russell, who perished on the
-scaffold under Charles II. Out of such a soil can rise such plants;
-nay, even the daughter of this infamous couple is declared to have been
-a woman of the purest and noblest character; and so carefully was the
-horrible history of her parents kept from her, that it never reached her
-ears till a few years before her own death. The Earl of Essex, so cruelly
-treated in this revolting affair, lived to lead with high distinction the
-army of the Commonwealth.
-
-Fast on the fall of Somerset followed that of the Chief Justice Coke.
-He had rendered distinguished service to James in hunting out the
-evidence and bringing to punishment the favourite and his wife; but
-he had neutralised this benefit by his haughtiness and opposition to
-the royal authority in other respects. Coke and Bacon had pursued two
-opposite systems of policy in their courses towards the highest honours
-of the State. Bacon had affected liberalism and a championship of popular
-rights, which the higher he rose the more he sacrificed to the pleasure
-of the monarch. There was a profound flattery in this, for it seemed to
-give an additional value to his growing attachment to the Crown, that it
-was won from his original bias towards the people. On the other hand,
-Coke commenced as a thorough-going supporter of the prerogative, and as
-his abilities were pre-eminent, and his prosecution of State offenders
-unrestrained by any scruples of conscience, he did the work of that
-despotic prince with a gusto and a ruthlessness which highly delighted
-his employer. No lawyer, except Jeffreys, in a later age, ever indulged
-in the same unsparing abuse of those against whom he was retained. His
-disposition was not merely unfeeling, it was truculent, and the insolence
-of his language was beyond all former experience. When let loose on a
-victim, he certainly was no respecter of persons; an Arabella Stuart or a
-Raleigh were abused in a style which would not now be tolerated towards
-the most abject criminal. But when Coke had reached the summit of his
-ambition, and thought the height to which he had climbed secure, he began
-to display the inherent pride of his nature, by assuming an independence
-of manner and a haughtiness of opinion, exhibited even towards the
-Throne, which astonished and irritated James. In the Commons he openly
-opposed the claims of prerogative, came out in defence of popular rights,
-and ended where Bacon had begun. From abject servility he rapidly passed
-to daring opposition. On the subject of the late benevolences, he stood
-forward as a patriot in the Commons; in the case of Peacham, that which
-was prosecuted as treason, Coke declared was only defamation; and in that
-of Owen, he agreed with the prisoner that he had committed no treason
-in saying that the king, if excommunicated, might lawfully be killed,
-because the king not having been excommunicated, the opinion could not
-apply to him. These declarations, both in Parliament and on the Bench,
-roused James to a keen resentment, and this was continually augmented. He
-set his own court of the King's Bench above every other, and threatened
-with the penalties of a Præmunire the judges of the Court of Chancery,
-and all other judges who should grant relief in Equity after judgment
-had been pronounced in the King's Bench; and he extended the same menace
-to all suitors who sought for such relief. The judges of the Courts of
-Admiralty, of High Commission, of Requests, of the Duchy of Lancaster,
-and even the presidents of the Councils of the North and of Wales, felt
-their jurisdictions invaded and repressed by his pretensions. The Court
-of Star Chamber even, hitherto above all law, was called in question by
-him, and its power to levy fines in many cases denied. He went farther,
-and, as in the case of Owen and Peacham, dictated to the Privy Council,
-and contradicted the Sovereign to his very face.
-
-It would seem as if at the moment when Coke was hunting down his former
-benefactor Somerset, the secret decree had gone out from the king
-against the Lord Chief Justice himself. Somerset was condemned on the
-25th of May, and on the 30th of June Coke received an order from the
-king to absent himself from the Council chamber, and not to proceed on
-his circuit, but to employ himself in correcting the errors in his Book
-of Reports. He had outraged James's sense of his own supreme authority,
-by opposing him in the matter of Commendams and bishoprics, and had,
-moreover, contended with Villiers, the new favourite, respecting a patent
-place at Court. Long before he received this startling order for the
-suspension of his diplomatic and judicial functions, the Archbishop,
-the Chancellor, and Mr. Attorney-General Bacon had been employed by
-royal command to collect charges against him. He was now charged with
-concealing a debt of twelve thousand pounds, due from the late Chancellor
-Hatton to the Crown; with contempt of the king's authority in declaring
-from the Bench that the Common Law would be overthrown by proceedings in
-Equity, or by claims of prerogative; and for disrespect to the Crown in
-the affair of the Commendams.
-
-The charge regarding the money Coke refuted when brought before the
-Council, and confirmed his case by a decision at law; as to the second
-charge, he explained it as in no way reflecting on the king; and for the
-third, he humbly solicited his majesty's forgiveness. James professed to
-retain the highest regard for the Lord Chief Justice, and intended, on
-his showing a proper humility, to continue to him his favour; but when
-Coke brought in his Book of Reports, and maintained that he could only
-find five trivial errors in it, James, in great anger for his "deceit,
-contempt, and slander of government," dismissed him from the Bench, and
-made Montague, the Recorder of London, chief justice in his place. Coke,
-with all his harshness and cutting style to others, felt for himself
-keenly, and is said to have wept like a child on receiving his dismissal.
-Bacon displayed anything but a philosophical magnanimity on the fall of
-his rival. He not only joked with Villiers on the disgrace of the great
-man who had offended the favourite, but he wrote a most insulting letter
-to the fallen judge, which was particularly odious from being garnished
-with the cant of piety.
-
-Bacon now looked confidently towards the Chancellorship, and in March
-of the next year (1617) Brackley resigning from age, the Great Seal
-was transferred to him, with the title of Lord Keeper. Sir Francis had
-reached the elevation to which he had so long and so ardently aspired,
-by a slavish advocacy of the most unlimited claims of prerogative and,
-as far as in him lay, the restriction of constitutional liberty--a
-deplorable instance of how completely the most transcendent talents can
-be united in an ignoble and mercenary nature. Indeed, the conduct of
-Bacon on this occasion was vain and weak to a pitiable degree. Though
-he had now reached the mature age of fifty-four, and drew an enormous
-income from his grants and offices, he was so profuse of expenditure
-that he was a needy man, pressed with difficulties, which he saw in the
-Chancellorship an exhaustless means of dispersing. His vanity burst forth
-to a surprising extent and he assumed all the state of a Wolsey. He rode
-to Westminster Hall on horseback, in a gown of rich purple satin, and
-attended by a crowd of nobles, judges, great law officers, lawyers, and
-students, rivalling even the splendour of the king.
-
-While these affairs were progressing at home, the credit of James abroad
-had sunk very low. At the conference for effecting a truce between
-Holland and Spain, held at the Hague--a conference which established the
-independence of the Low Countries--the English ministers had been made
-to feel the ignominy of their position, compared with the dignity of the
-ambassadors of Elizabeth. Prince Maurice told them openly that their
-master dare not open his mouth in contradiction to the King of Spain; and
-their allies, the French, in consequence assumed a superiority throughout
-the negotiations which mortified deeply the English envoys. Nor was that
-the only slight which James's truckling policy brought on him abroad. He
-was anxious to ally his son to the Court of Spain, notwithstanding the
-intense aversion of his subjects from the idea of a Catholic Princess.
-But Spain declined the offer. He next applied for the hand of Madame
-Christine, sister to Louis XIII. of France; but here again he was met
-with the contempt which his mean and insecure character merited: France
-preferred the suit of the Duke of Savoy. It was never before the fortune
-of England to have to go begging to the Continental states for wives for
-its princes: they had hitherto been only too officiously pressed on its
-acceptance.
-
-We must now trace the proceedings of James in Scotland and Ireland, where
-he was anxious to establish his principles of Church and State supremacy
-as thoroughly as in England, and where the seed he sowed rapidly grew
-into the same harvest of bloodshed and revolution as on the south side of
-the Tweed.
-
-The Church of Scotland, as established by Knox and his contemporaries,
-was, like Switzerland (from which they brought the idea), a republic.
-It acknowledged no head but Christ, nor any concern which the State had
-with it, except to furnish the support of the ministers whose lives were
-devoted to the civilisation and religious improvement of the community.
-The minister and the lay elders of a parish constituted the parochial
-assembly, which governed all the spiritual affairs of that little
-circle; a certain number of these assemblies constituted a presbytery,
-which heard all appeals from the parochial assemblies, and sanctioned
-the appointment, suspension, or dismissal of their ministers. Beyond
-the presbytery extended the provincial synod, and the General Assembly
-claimed the supreme management of the affairs of the Church under God.
-
-This free form of the Scottish Church had always been extremely repugnant
-to James's despotic notions. Even when he professed to admire its
-constitution as the purest and most perfect on earth, he was writhing
-under its authority; and no sooner did he ascend the English throne
-than he avowed his real opinion of its inconsistency with monarchy.
-The hierarchy of England delighted him; he regarded it as the surest
-bulwark of the Throne, and bishops he seemed to regard as the guarantees
-of royal security. "No bishop no king," was his favourite motto; and
-the hatred of presbytery which he expressed at Hampton Court led him
-to seek its utter overthrow in Scotland. He knew the sturdy materials
-that he had to deal with in the Scottish ministry and people, who had
-driven out his mother in their hatred of Catholicism; yet this did not
-deter him from endeavouring to plant episcopacy as firmly in Scotland
-as in England. He looked on the spirit and form of the Scottish Church
-but as one remove from republicanism in the State; and his first step,
-taken in 1605, was a bold one, being no less than to assume the right
-to prorogue the General Assembly at will. This was at once annihilating
-the theocratic constitution of the Assembly, and placing the king at its
-head. This measure was carried out by Sir George Home the Lord Treasurer
-of Scotland, afterwards Earl of Dunbar. The ministers, though prorogued,
-met again in defiance of the royal fiat, but were dissolved again and
-again. The ministers from nine presbyteries still boldly met in assertion
-of the paramount right of the Church, at Aberdeen, called themselves "an
-Assembly," appointed a moderator, and before dissolving at the command of
-the Council, adjourned their sitting to a fixed time that year.
-
-[Illustration: ANDREW MELVILLE BEFORE THE SCOTTISH PRIVY COUNCIL. (_See
-p._ 462.)]
-
-Thirteen of the most prominent ministers were immediately arrested on
-the charge of having violated the Act of 1584, "for maintenance of the
-royal power over all estates." The jury was packed by Dunbar, and six
-of the most refractory clergy were condemned as guilty of high treason,
-and banished for life. They retired into Holland and France, and were
-followed thither by numbers of their admirers. Meanwhile, at home,
-undaunted by this lawless exercise of power, the ministers offered up
-prayers for their exiled brethren, whom they boldly proclaimed from their
-pulpits as martyrs to the freedom of the faith; and unsilenced by the
-menaces of the Court, loudly warned the people of the impending danger to
-the Church.
-
-But James, with the blind hardihood of a true Stuart, went on, and in
-1606 appointed thirteen clergymen to the ancient abolished bishoprics,
-and gave them precedency in the synods and Assembly. The ministers
-refused to submit to their authority, and, as they were unsupported by
-the old reverence, treated their assumed dignity with contempt. But
-James went on to repeal the Act which had confiscated the episcopal
-estates, endowed the bishops, and made them moderators of both synods
-and presbyteries within their own districts. He erected two courts of
-High Commission, and indeed gave them a power such as their predecessors
-had never possessed. In 1610 three of these bishops went to England, and
-received episcopal ordination from the English prelates, and on their
-return conferred it on their colleagues. And finally, in 1612, it was
-enacted by the Scottish Parliament that all General Assemblies should
-only be appointed by the Crown; that the bishops only should present to
-livings; that they should admit no one who would not first take the Oath
-of Supremacy to the king, and of canonical obedience to the bishop; that
-they should possess the power of deprivation and the right of visitation,
-each in his own diocese.
-
-Andrew Melville, the successor of Knox, boldly though respectfully denied
-these innovations, asserting the freedom of conscience, and its immunity
-from the power of any earthly potentate. When pressed by some slavish
-Scottish lords to conform, he said: "My lords, I am a free subject of
-Scotland, a free kingdom, that has laws and privileges of its own. By
-these I stand. No legal citation has been issued against me; nor are
-you and I in our own country, where such an inquisition, so oppressive
-as the present, is condemned by Parliament. I am bound by no law to
-criminate or to furnish accusations against myself. My lords, remember
-what you are; mean as I am, remember that I am a free-born Scotsman, to
-be dealt with as you would be dealt with yourselves, according to the
-laws of the Scottish nation."
-
-This was noble and patriotic language; but Melville had to deal with a
-vain despot, who declared himself above all laws. He insisted on their
-attending the royal chapel to hear the preaching of his bishops. The
-plain presbyterian Scots were scandalised at both what they saw and heard
-there: at the ceremonies, the gilded altar, the chalices, and tapers,
-but above all, at the slavish doctrines of those courtly preachers.
-The Scottish ministers did not hesitate to express their contempt and
-indignation at the whole spectacle, and Melville ridiculed the entire
-service in a Latin epigram. For this audacity James summoned him before
-his Privy Council; but the preacher's blood was now chafed beyond
-restraint, for he and his colleagues, though they were impatient to get
-away from what they considered this idolatrous scene, where the conduct
-of the bishops and clergy was by no means edifying, had been compelled
-to stay. So far from expressing any regret for his satire on the royal
-mode of worship, he denounced in the strongest terms the whole system
-of the Anglican Church, and in his excitement seized the surplice of
-the primate, and shook angrily what he called the Romish rags of the
-Archbishop of Canterbury.
-
-James committed him to the Tower for his contumacy (1606), where he kept
-him four years, and then banished him for life. He went to reside at
-Sedan, where he died in 1622. His nephew, James Melville, was shut up at
-Berwick, and died six years before his uncle; the rest of the preachers
-were banished to remote districts of Scotland, wide apart from each other.
-
-To put the finish to this daring change, James determined to make a
-journey to Scotland himself in 1617. On leaving that country he had
-assured his Scottish subjects that he would visit his ancient capital
-at least once in three years: fourteen years had now elapsed without
-his redeeming his word, his poverty having hitherto presented an
-insurmountable obstacle. But he had now consented to yield up the
-cautionary towns, Brell, Flushing, and Rammekens, for 2,728,000 florins
-instead of 8,000,000, which were due to him. He had been induced to
-this by his necessities and the persuasions of Secretary Winwood, who
-was said to have received £29,000 from the Dutch for his services on
-the occasion. James now discharged some of his most pressing debts, and
-obtained a loan of £96,000, with which he set forward to Scotland in the
-spring of 1617.
-
-On the 7th of June the Scottish Estates met, and James excluded such of
-the representatives as he knew were hostile to his object of establishing
-the English Church in all its forms and authority, as the State Church of
-Scotland for ever. But the Peers, alarmed lest he should restore to his
-pet church the lands of which they now were in possession, rejected the
-articles which he recommended. To win over these nobles, James invited
-them to a secret conference, in which he assured them that no revocation
-of these lands should be made. Reassured on this head, the Peers were
-ready to vote as he pleased, and he opened the Estates in one of his
-vaunting speeches about his power, in which he told his audience that "he
-had nothing more at heart than to reduce their barbarity to the sweet
-civility of their neighbours; and if the Scots would be as docible to
-learn the goodness of the English as they were teachable to limp after
-their ill, then he should not doubt of success; for they had already
-learnt of the English to drink healths, to wear coaches and gay clothes,
-to take tobacco, and to speak a language which was neither English nor
-Scottish."
-
-In this insolent speech the king might have included himself both as to
-clothes and language; but these were small matters in comparison with
-those which he had in view. He brought in a Bill to enact that what the
-king might determine upon regarding the Church, with the concurrence of
-the bishops and a certain number of the clergy, should be good in law.
-At this proposition the ministers were instantly in arms, and presented
-so determined a remonstrance against it, that he became afraid and gave
-it up, saying it was unnecessary to give him that by statute which was
-already his by authority of the Crown. He managed, however, to carry a
-Bill adding chapters to the bishoprics, regulating the appointment of
-bishops, and also one for converting the hereditary offices of sheriffs
-into annual ones, which he would thus be able to influence. Never,
-surely, with a spirit so essentially cowardly, was there a monarch
-so ingrained with the bigotry of absolutism, or who so perseveringly
-laboured to annihilate every liberty of the subject, and leave the nation
-a base and soulless heritage of the Crown. But the nation was not thus
-to be trodden into a horde of serfs; and though James escaped to a
-quiet tomb, it took a terrible vengeance on his children, whom he had
-inoculated with his incorrigible lust of absolutism.
-
-As nothing more was to be obtained from Parliament, the uncouth tyrant
-wended his way to St. Andrews, where he had planned a severe retribution
-for the remonstrant ministers, from a more obsequious tribunal. There
-the ministers having met at his summons, he singled out Simpson, Ewart,
-and Calderwood, who had signed the remonstrance which baulked him of his
-full intentions, and brought them before the High Commission Court, and
-condemned Simpson and Ewart to suspension and imprisonment. Calderwood,
-who by his influence and ability excited most of all his dread and
-resentment, he banished for life. Having thus given the ministers a
-sharp lesson, he now announced to them that it was his will that the
-whole ritual of the English Church should be adopted in Scotland in five
-articles, the name of which afterwards became famous, namely:--1st,
-That the Eucharist should be received in a kneeling, and not in a
-sitting, posture, as had been hitherto the mode in Scotland; 2nd, That
-the Sacrament should be given to the sick at their own houses when they
-were in danger of death; 3rd, That baptism should, in like cases, be
-administered in private houses; 4th, That the youth should be confirmed
-by the bishops; and 5th, That the festivals of Christmas, Good Friday,
-Easter, Ascension Day, and Whit-Sunday, should be observed in Scotland
-just as in England. These commands were received with unequivocal marks
-of displeasure by the ministers, but the fate of the three remonstrants
-availed to keep them silent for a time, and James regarded his plans
-as fully accomplished; but presently the preachers fell on their knees
-and implored him to refer the Five Articles to the General Assembly of
-the Kirk. James for some time refused to listen to them, but on Patrick
-Galloway assuring him that matters should be so managed that all should
-go right, he consented.
-
-He then kept his Whitsuntide in the English fashion, with all his
-crouching prelates and courtiers around him; and afterwards took his way
-homeward, in the full persuasion that he had succeeded in his object.
-Time told a very different tale; nor was he himself long in perceiving
-that, though he had overawed, he had not subdued the sturdy Scottish
-clergy. Scarcely had he reached England when he learned that the Scots,
-both clergy and laity, were loud in denouncing the administration of
-the Eucharist in private houses as a remnant of Popery; the revival of
-the festivals of Christmas as the return to the ancient Saturnalia;
-and of those of Easter and Whitsuntide as the renewal of the feasts of
-the Jews. And on the 24th of November the ministers, in their assembly
-at St. Andrews, confirmed none of the Five Articles except that of the
-administration of the Sacrament at the houses of the sick, provided
-that the sick person first took an oath that he or she did not expect
-to recover. James was highly enraged. He ordered the observance of
-the Five Articles to be commanded by proclamation, and withdrew the
-promised augmentations of stipend. Nor did the king give way in the
-slightest degree. The next year he managed the Assembly so far, through
-Lord Binning, as to carry the Articles by a majority of eighty-six
-against forty-one; and in 1621, three years later, he obtained an Act
-of Parliament enforcing these Articles on the repugnant spirit of the
-people. Dr. Laud, whose name we now meet for the first time, afterwards
-to become so notorious, even urged James to go further lengths; but his
-fatal advice was destined to act with more force on the next generation.
-
-Whilst James's hand was in, however, he hit upon another mode of
-incensing the Puritans, and showing his dislike of them. He had been
-extremely annoyed by the severity of the Presbyterian manners during his
-visit; and when, on returning, the Catholics of Lancashire presented to
-him petitions complaining of the strictness of the Puritans, who forbade
-those sports and recreations to which they had been accustomed on Sundays
-after service, adding that it drove men to the ale-house, a bright
-idea occurred to him, and he determined to publish a Book of Sports,
-encouraging the people on Sundays, after church, to play at running,
-leaping, archery, morris-dances, and to enjoy their church-ales and
-festivities as aforetime. These sports, however, were not to be indulged
-in by the recusants, nor any who had not attended Church in the morning.
-He also prohibited on Sundays bull and bear-baitings, interludes, and
-bowls; the last, probably, because they led to gambling. He restored all
-the jollity of may-poles and rush-bearings.
-
-Many of the established clergy were conscientiously opposed to this
-mode of spending the Sunday, which appeared to them to savour greatly
-of Papacy; but James persisted in his scheme, and not only published
-his Book of Sports, but ordered the bishops, each in his own diocese,
-to publish his ordinance regarding the Sunday amusements. Abbot, the
-Primate, is said to have steadfastly refused to read the book in his
-own church at Croydon, but the other bishops complied. Laud was zealous
-in its promulgation, and in after years roused the stern and undaunted
-spirit of the reformers by recommending the revival of the Book to
-Charles I.
-
-In Ireland the same system had been pursued by James from the
-commencement of his reign, of endeavouring to force the consciences of
-his subjects into the mould of his own ideas. On the death of Elizabeth
-the Irish had openly resumed the Catholic worship in most of the South
-of Ireland. Mountjoy, the Lord-Deputy, issued a proclamation for its
-immediate suppression; but the fear of the old lioness of a queen being
-removed, they treated his orders with contempt and defiance. Mountjoy
-marched down upon them, and compelled submission at the point of the
-bayonet, and then passed over to England, having with him the two great
-chiefs, Tyrone and O'Donnell, with a number of their followers.
-
-These chieftains being well received by James, Tyrone being restored to
-his honours and estates, and O'Donnell created Earl of Tyrconnel, the
-Irish conceived wonderful hopes of the clemency and liberality of James.
-They sent a deputation to join the two earls in petitioning for the
-full enjoyment of their religion, but they found themselves grievously
-deceived. James declared that he would never consent to anything of the
-kind, but so long as he had a hundred men left, he would fight to the
-death to put down so idolatrous a worship. In his anger he committed four
-of the delegates to the Tower, where he kept them three months; and this
-practice of committing Irish deputies to prison for daring to present
-petitions on such subjects, became his regular practice.
-
-The British Solomon never relaxed his war upon the religion of his
-subjects, if it were not of the same colour and shape as his own, so long
-as breath was left in him. It was in his eyes akin to the sin against
-the Holy Ghost to differ from or doubt the infallibility of his wisdom,
-for he deemed himself, according to his open avowal, a god upon earth.
-In 1605, two years only after ascending the throne of England, he issued
-a proclamation, commanding all Catholic priests to quit Ireland on pain
-of death; and he commanded all officers, magistrates, and chief citizens
-of Dublin to attend the Established Church, or suffer the fine of twenty
-pounds a month, and moreover, imprisonment. The nobility prayed to be
-permitted the exercise of their religion, but the ill-fated presenters of
-the petition were thrown into the Castle of Dublin, and their spokesman,
-Sir Patrick Barnewell, was sent over to England, and incarcerated in the
-Tower.
-
-[Illustration: KEEPING SUNDAY, ACCORDING TO KING JAMES'S BOOK OF SPORTS.
-(_See p._ 464.)]
-
-James now hit on a bold scheme for breaking down the clanship of Ireland,
-and so weakening the opposition of the people to his despotic will. He
-ordered all possessors of lands to bring in their titles to commissioners
-appointed for the purpose, on the promise that they should receive them
-again in a more valid and advantageous form. As, from the disturbed state
-of the country for ages past, many of these titles were defective, the
-landowners accepted the offer in good faith, but they found that the
-commissioners, instead of returning them of the same value, and bearing
-the same conditions, only returned them freehold titles of such lands as
-were in their own hands. All such lands as were in the hands of tenants,
-were made over to these tenants, only subject to the rent charges and
-dues which they had formerly paid. Thus the great bulk of the tenantry
-of Ireland was freed from its dependence on the will of the chief _in
-capite_, and now set him at naught. But though the power of the chiefs
-was broken, the commonalty showed no more inclination to adhere to a
-Government which persecuted them on account of their faith. They were now
-more at liberty, and readier than ever to follow some bold and defiant
-leader who promised them protection and vengeance on their tyrants. The
-great lords, thus tricked out of their hereditary rights, were converted
-into deadly enemies of the English Government.
-
-Tyrone and Tyrconnel, on taking leave of the English Court to return to
-Ireland, professed extreme gratitude for the kindness of their reception,
-but in reality they were full of the most hostile sentiments. They looked
-on this transfer of their seigneurial rights as a measure intended to
-sever their vassals from them, and thus to subjugate the whole island to
-the yoke of the English hierarchy. No sooner did they land in Ireland,
-than Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, invited them to meet him at his
-Castle of Maynooth. They unanimously agreed that the destruction of the
-hereditary faith of Ireland was planned, and they bound themselves by
-oath to act together for its defence.
-
-Two years later, intelligence was gathered by some one at Brussels, in
-the service of the archduke, that Tyrone had renewed his relations with
-the Court of Spain; and, in order to decoy him into England, a pretender
-to a large extent of his lands was set up, and both parties were summoned
-over to have the cause tried before the Privy Council. Tyrone, aware of
-the design, avoided the snare by sending an attorney with full powers
-to act in his behalf. This stratagem did not succeed. Tyrone received
-from the Lord-Deputy information that his presence would be necessary in
-London to defeat the pretensions of his opponent. Tyrone, feigning to
-comply, only solicited a delay of a month, in order to settle his affairs
-and raise money for his journey and sojourn at Court. The request being
-acceded to, he escaped in a vessel sent on purpose from Dunkirk, with two
-of his sons and nephew, accompanied by Tyrconnel, with his son, and Lord
-Dungannon, his brother, with thirty of their retainers, and reached in a
-few days Quillebeque in Normandy.
-
-On the discovery of the escape of these nobles, James was greatly
-alarmed, believing that they had gone to Spain to join the Armada which
-during the summer had been collecting in the Spanish ports, and to
-conduct it to Ireland. The news of their real resort abated his fears.
-He demanded their delivery from France, and then from the Netherlands,
-whither they betook themselves, describing them as traitors, and men
-of mean birth, who had been merely ennobled for purposes of State. He
-accused them of an intention to excite a rebellion, and returning to
-Ireland with foreign confederates, to put to death all Irishmen of
-English descent. The Court of Brussels declined to give up men exiled
-only on account of their religion, and admitted them into the Spanish
-army of Brabant. Tyrone himself proceeded to Rome, where the King of
-Spain allowed him a pension of six hundred crowns per month, and the Pope
-one hundred.
-
-Active search was made in Ireland for the accomplices of the fugitives;
-many were arrested in Ulster, some were sent over for trial to England.
-Lord Delvin, with the eldest son of Tyrone, and Sir Christopher St.
-Lawrence, were secured and lodged in Dublin Castle. Delvin was tried and
-condemned as a traitor, but he escaped on the morning fixed for his
-execution; and no trace of him could be found till he suddenly appeared
-at the English Court, and throwing himself on his knees before the king,
-presented such a list of real wrongs inflicted on himself and his father,
-as compelled James to pardon him and to make him amends by creating him
-Earl of Westmeath; a clemency, as it proved, well bestowed, and which
-might have taught the king a more successful way to secure obedience and
-loyalty from his subjects, than those which he unhappily pursued.
-
-Another Irish chief, O'Dogherty of Inishowen, having received a mortal
-insult from Paulet, the Governor of Derry, surprised him at table, and by
-the aid of his followers succeeded in killing him and five others. The
-avengers captured alive Hart, the governor of the Fortress of Culmore,
-and leading him to the gates of the Castle, called on the governor's wife
-to surrender the place, or see her husband murdered on the spot. Conjugal
-affection prevailed, and O'Dogherty found himself in possession of the
-stronghold. Possessed by this means of arms and ammunition, O'Dogherty
-marched with a strong force to Derry, and received the submission of the
-castle and town. The hopes of the exiles were wonderfully raised by so
-unexpected an event. They despatched messengers instructing O'Dogherty
-to hold the place, if possible, till their arrival with foreign aid;
-but after two unsuccessful attacks, the place was evacuated on the
-approach of Wingfield, the marshal of the camp, and O'Dogherty fled to
-the mountains. There, in the month of June, 1608, he was accidentally
-discovered, and shot.
-
-The rebellion of these great chiefs, by throwing into the hands of the
-Crown an immense territory, suggested to James the planting of a new
-English Colony. Undeterred by the failure of Elizabeth's plantation of
-Ulster, he proceeded to divide the confiscated region, which included
-nearly the whole of the northern counties of Cavan, Fermanagh, Armagh,
-Derry, Tyrone, and Tyrconnel, amounting to two millions of acres, into
-four great divisions. Two of these were again divided into lots of one
-thousand acres each, a third into lots of fifteen hundred acres, and
-the fourth into lots of two thousand acres. The two thousand acre lots
-were appropriated to a class of men called "undertakers and servitors,"
-adventurers of capital from England and Scotland, with the civil and
-military officers of the Crown. The lesser lots went amongst these
-and the natives of the province also; but the natives were only to
-receive their lots in the plains and open country, not in the hills
-and fastnesses, where they might become formidable to Government. The
-possessors were bound to pay a mark a year for every sixty acres, and the
-lesser ones besides to take the Oath of Supremacy, and engage to admit no
-recusant as tenant.
-
-By these means some hundred thousand acres were planted; but whole
-districts in the hills were never divided at all, whilst many of the
-undertakers managed to get immensely more land than they had any right
-to. It was at this time (1611) that the scheme, already mentioned, of
-creating baronets was proposed to James by Sir Anthony Shirley, as a
-means of raising money for the support of the army in Ulster. James
-caught eagerly at the idea, coined upwards of one hundred thousand pounds
-out of it, but neither sent any of the money to Ireland, nor gave a
-handsome gratuity to Shirley for the suggestion, as he promised.
-
-After these measures, James ventured to call a Parliament in Ireland,
-in 1613, the first for seven-and-twenty years. He wanted money, and
-he wanted also to enact new laws. But the Catholics were naturally
-apprehensive of these intended laws, for the whole of James's policy
-went to crush their religion out of the majority of the inhabitants, and
-impose on them his own model church. So little had this shallow sovereign
-profited by the lessons of history, that he expected to convert a whole
-nation by the sword and confiscation. But Ireland had by all former
-English monarchs, down to Elizabeth, been taught to regard the Pope as
-the lord paramount of the island; it was a doctrine that secured the
-obedience of the people under all their oppressions. But since Elizabeth
-had separated from the Catholic Church, and stood excommunicated by
-the pontiff, this maxim, so convenient before, was become extremely
-inconvenient. To the political causes of discontent was now added the far
-more irritating one of violated religious faith, which has continued till
-our time.
-
-Under these circumstances the Lord-Deputy summoned the Parliament,
-and soon found that, though he had a majority of more than twenty
-Protestants, the spirit of the Catholics was such that he did not dare
-to proceed. Since the former Parliament, no less than seventeen new
-counties and forty new boroughs had been created, and these had been
-filled by men devoted to the measures of the Crown; the boroughs, the
-Catholics complained, had been put into the hands of attorneys' clerks
-and servants, and they expected to find on the projected new plantations
-only evil-disposed persons, ready to insult and injure the old
-inhabitants. They objected to many of the returns; they complained that
-obsolete statutes had been revived for the purposes of oppression; that
-Catholics of noble birth were excluded from posts of honour; that they
-were expelled from the magistracy; that they were forbidden to educate
-their children abroad; that Catholic barristers were not permitted to
-practise; that Catholic citizens were excluded from all influence in
-the corporations; and that the whole community was subjected to fines,
-excommunications, and punishments, which spread poverty and misery over
-the island.
-
-The Lord-Deputy prorogued the impracticable assembly, and both parties
-appealed to the king. The Catholics sent as deputies the Lords
-Gormansbury and Dunboyne, and two knights and two barristers to plead
-their cause. The expense of the mission was defrayed by a general
-collection, which was made in spite of a severe proclamation against
-it. James received them at first graciously, but his anger soon broke
-out when he found them impervious to his controversial eloquence; and,
-as usual, he threw two of them into prison--Luttrel into the Fleet, and
-Talbot into the Tower. He soon had Talbot before the Star Chamber, and
-strictly interrogated him on the point of loyalty to the Crown, and he
-severely reprimanded the whole deputation on the same ground; but Lord
-Delvin on his knees declared that he would ever be faithful to the king
-as his rightful liege, yet that nothing should ever induce him to abandon
-his religion. James dismissed them, after having appointed a commission
-of inquiry regarding the representatives of the new Irish boroughs, which
-decided that none of the four boroughs incorporated after the writs were
-issued had a right to sit that Session.
-
-As to the religious grievances, no concession was made, and scarcely had
-the deputies reached home, when a proclamation appeared ordering all
-the Catholic clergy to quit Ireland on pain of death. When Parliament
-met again in Dublin, in 1615, there was an outward air of conciliation;
-the two parties avoided the grand subjects of discord, except that both
-Houses joined in a petition that Catholic barristers might be permitted
-to plead. The attainders of Tyrone, Tyrconnel, and O'Dogherty were
-confirmed, as well as the plantation of Ulster, and all distinctions
-between the two races of the Irish--that is, the native Irish and the
-Anglo-Irish--were abolished by statute, and a liberal subsidy was
-obtained.
-
-The conciliatory air did not long continue. The Lord-Deputy Chichester
-made a cautious attempt to enforce the fines for absence from church,
-beginning with a few timid persons in each county, whose compliance might
-influence others. In 1623, Lord Falkland, then Lord-Deputy, repeated
-the proclamation ordering all Catholic priests to leave the kingdom on
-pain of death; but they only retired into the mountains and morasses and
-defied his authority. James saw that it was useless to hope for success
-in his scheme of crushing out Catholicism, till he had planted the whole
-island after the Ulster fashion, and this was set about in good earnest.
-Commissions were issued for the examination of all grants and titles,
-and, by the most iniquitous proceedings, hardly a single foot of land was
-exempted from the claim of forfeiture to the Crown. It was found that the
-proprietors of the vast counties of Connaught, Galway, and Clare, had
-been induced to surrender their titles to Elizabeth, on condition that
-they should receive fresh ones, and that they had paid three thousand
-pounds for the enrolment of these titles, but had never got them. On this
-discovery James was advised to claim the whole island, with the exception
-of the small portion which he had himself planted; but the owners
-declared on all hands that they would defend their lands with their
-swords rather than admit such a claim; and James preferred getting a sum
-of money. His pretensions were commuted for a double annual rent and a
-fine of ten thousand pounds. He, however, proceeded to plant the coast
-between Dublin and Wexford, then the counties of Leitrim and Longford,
-and finally Westmeath, and King's and Queen's Counties. In this business
-all law and justice were set aside. James gave orders that three-fourths
-of the lands should be settled on the original proprietors, but no regard
-was paid to this. Few of the old possessors obtained above a quarter of
-their lands again, and many were stripped of every acre which they had
-inherited from their fathers. Whole septs were removed to the parts most
-distant from their native localities. Seven such septs were transported
-from Queen's County to King's, and menaced with instant death by martial
-law if they dared return. Sir Patrick Crosby received the seigniory
-of Tarbert, on condition that he leased out one-fourth of it to those
-unhappy exiles, but very few of them got anything; and, in a word, Carte
-declares that the injustice and cruelty then committed are scarcely to
-be paralleled in the history of any age or country. At the same time, the
-north of Ireland, hitherto a mere wilderness, began immediately to assume
-an appearance of prosperity.
-
-Such was the condition of Ireland as left by James. He imagined that he
-had pacified it; it was only the sullen lull before the storm which burst
-forth in the days of his successor, with a fury only the more terrible
-from its temporary delay.
-
-During the king's absence in Scotland, Bacon had shown such arrogance in
-the Council, that he had disgusted everybody. He had appeared to imagine
-himself king, took up his quarters in Whitehall, and gave audiences
-in the great Banqueting-house at Whitehall. Mr. Secretary Winwood was
-so incensed at his presumption that he quitted the Council Chamber,
-declaring, that he would not enter it again till the king's return;
-and he wrote at once an account of Bacon's proceedings, assuring the
-king that it was high time that he returned, for his throne was already
-occupied. The vain, foolish conduct of the Lord Keeper was watched by
-an eye which owed him no favour, and a spirit smarting with envy, which
-was relentless in his revenge. Coke, by offending the favourite, lost
-his position, but he now saw a way to turn this opposition to Buckingham
-against Bacon. Buckingham, since his rising into favour, had taken care
-to promote the fortunes of his friends and relatives. He had cast his
-eyes on the daughter of the fallen Chief Justice Coke, by Lady Hatton,
-the widow of Queen Elizabeth's Chancellor; this young lady, who was
-likely to have a large fortune from her mother, he determined to obtain
-for his brother John Villiers, a sickly and nearly idiotic youth. Coke,
-who despised the favourite, and was at feud with him respecting the
-already mentioned patent place at Court, opposed the match, which was
-agreeable neither to the young lady nor her mother. But when Coke found
-himself deprived of his office, and his rival, Bacon, advanced, he
-bethought himself that by the means of his daughter he had the power of
-regaining the goodwill of the favourite, and pulling down the arrogant
-Lord Keeper. Before Buckingham had left for Scotland, Coke had had a
-private interview with him, in which he agreed to consent to the marriage
-on condition of regaining his honours and position in the Council and on
-the Bench.
-
-During the absence of the Court in Scotland, and while Bacon was in the
-full tide of his assumed greatness, he discovered this compact, which
-boded him nothing but destruction. Without delay he incited the Lady
-Hatton, who was in almost everything violently opposed to her husband,
-to make haste and secure her daughter by secreting her with herself in
-the house of Sir Edward Withipole near Oxford, and by contracting her
-in marriage to Henry de Vere, Earl of Oxford, for whom the young lady
-really entertained a regard. Coke, enraged at this flight, and at the
-attempt to marry his daughter contrary to his own plans, applied for a
-search-warrant to enter the house where she was secreted. Bacon refused
-it, but Winwood was only too happy to grant it. Coke, supported by
-twelve armed men, made a forcible entry and carried away his daughter.
-On this Bacon procured the new Attorney-General, Yelverton, to file an
-information against Coke in the Star Chamber for a breach of the peace.
-Bacon also wrote to the king and the favourite in Scotland, representing
-to Buckingham that it was by no means to his honour or interest to ally
-his family to that of Coke, a fallen, disgraced man, and disliked of
-the king, especially as much better matches might be found. To James he
-represented the trouble which Coke had given to his majesty, his fondness
-for opposing the king's wishes, and the disturbances there had been in
-the kingdom and courts of justice so long as Coke had been in power. Sir
-Francis added that now everything was quiet, and that his majesty knew
-that he had in him an officer always anxious to do his will.
-
-[Illustration: PARLIAMENT HOUSE, DUBLIN, IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-The answer of the king struck him at once to the earth. The great
-philosopher was not aware how far the compact with Coke had really
-gone; and when he read the king's letter, reprimanding his presumption,
-accompanied by another from Buckingham, in which he rated him for his
-officious meddling, and telling him that the same hand which had made him
-could unmake him, he saw the gulf into which he had plunged. At once he
-wrote off to both monarch and minion, imploring the humblest pardon for
-this unworthy offence, which he would now do all in his power to wipe
-away. Accordingly, he stopped the proceedings before the Council and in
-the Star Chamber against Coke, and assured Lady Hatton and her friends
-that he could not assist them in a course so opposed to the wishes of the
-young lady's father.
-
-On the return of the Court, Bacon hastened to pay his homage to the proud
-favourite; but he was then made to feel how much it is in the power of a
-base and little-souled man in favour, to humiliate the most gigantic mind
-when it forgets to be submissive. The great renovator of science, the
-proud and vaunting Lord Keeper, was made to wait for two whole days in
-the lobby of the upstart. This is Weldon's account of it:--"He attended
-two days at Buckingham's chamber, being not admitted to any better place
-than the room where trencher-scrapers and lackeys attended, there sitting
-upon an old wooden chest, amongst such as for his baseness were only fit
-for his companions, although the honour of his place did merit far more
-respect, with his purse and Seal lying by him on that chest. Myself told
-a servant of my Lord of Buckingham, it was a shame to see the purse and
-Seal of so little value or esteem in his chamber, though the carrier
-without it merited nothing but scorn, being worst amongst the basest. But
-the servant told me they had command it must be so. After two days he had
-admittance. At his first entrance he fell down flat at the duke's foot,
-kissing it, and vowing never to rise till he had his pardon; and thus was
-he again reconciled. And since that time so very a slave to the duke and
-all that family, that he durst not deny the command of the meanest of
-the kindred, nor yet oppose anything. By which you see a base spirit is
-even most concomitant with the proudest mind; and surely, never so many
-brave parts, and so base and abject a spirit, tenanted together in any
-one earthen cottage, as in this one man."
-
-Buckingham condescended to forgive the suppliant Lord Keeper: the
-projected marriage was accomplished, and Bacon soon after--that is, on
-the 4th of January, 1618--was raised to the dignity of Lord Chancellor,
-with a pension of twelve hundred pounds a year and the title of Baron
-Verulam. For, provided he threw no obstacle in the way of the marriage,
-both James and Buckingham preferred his pliancy to the sturdy spirit of
-Coke.
-
-The consequences of this forced and unnatural marriage were as deplorable
-as the means of effecting it were vile. The brother of Villiers was
-created Viscount Purbeck; but no title could give him a sound body or
-a healthy intellect. It was not long before he was pronounced utterly
-mad, was shut up in an asylum, and Buckingham took possession of Lady
-Purbeck's property under pretence of managing it for her and Lord
-Purbeck, but spent it for his own purposes; and Coke's daughter, outraged
-in all her feelings as a woman and her rights as a subject, became a
-degraded and abandoned character.
-
-Buckingham now reigned supreme at Court. He had rapidly risen from a
-simple country youth into a baron, viscount, earl, and marquis; he was
-a member of the Privy Council, Knight of the Garter, had been a Master
-of the Horse, and was now Lord High Admiral; the Earl of Nottingham--the
-brave old Howard, hero of the Armada--having been compelled to resign
-to make way for him. He and his mother disposed of all places about
-Court, in the Church, in the courts of law, and in the Government. Peers,
-prelates, and men of all degrees courted humbly his favour, and paid him
-large sums of money for the places they sought, or agreed to annuities
-out of their salaries and emoluments. The king seemed to rejoice in the
-wealth which flowed in on his favourite from these corrupt services, and
-could not bear him out of his sight.
-
-Let us take Weldon's account of this state of things:--"And now
-Buckingham, having the Chancellor or Treasurer, and all great officers,
-his very slaves, swells in the height of pride, and summons up all his
-country kindred, the old countess providing a place for them to learn to
-carry themselves in a Court-like garb." The old countess, as Weldon calls
-her, was far from old, but a woman yet in her prime, and of singular
-beauty and notorious wickedness. She was another Elizabeth Woodville in
-looking out for rich heirs and heiresses, and marrying her kin to them.
-The brothers, half-brothers, cousins of Buckingham, were all matched
-to rich women, and the women were matched to the eldest sons of earls,
-barons, and men of large estate. And where there was no title, such was
-soon conferred. The madman that they gave to Coke's daughter, as we
-have seen, was made Lord Purbeck; another brother was created Earl of
-Anglesea. Fielding, who married Buckingham's sister, was made Earl of
-Denbigh, and his brother Earl of Desmond. Cranfield, who married a female
-relative, was made Earl of Middlesex. But the most shameful case of all,
-perhaps, was that of Williams, Dean of Westminster, a paramour of the
-countess's, who was made Bishop of Lincoln, and allowed to retain not
-only the deanery of Westminster, but the rectories of Dinam, Waldgrave,
-Grafton, and Peterborough; the prebends of Asgarbie and Nonnington,
-besides other dignities; so that, says Heylin, he was a perfect diocese
-in himself, being bishop, dean, prebendary, residentiary, and parson,
-and these all at once. Other livings and bishoprics were sold as highly
-as these were freely given. Fotherby of Salisbury paid three thousand
-five hundred pounds for his see, and all other dignities and benefices
-in the Church were equally at the disposal of this upstart and his
-venal, lascivious mother. "There were books of rates," says Weldon, "on
-all offices, bishoprics, and deaneries in England, that could tell you
-what fines and pensions were to pay." He adds, "that Buckingham's female
-relatives were numerous enough to have peopled any plantation. So that
-King James, that naturally in former times hated women, had his lodgings
-replenished with them, and all of the kindred, and little children did
-run up and down the king's lodgings like rabbits startled out of their
-burrows. Here was a strange change, that the king, who formerly would not
-endure his queen and children in his lodgings, now you would have judged
-that none but women frequented them. Nay, this was not all; but the
-kindred had all the houses about Whitehall, as if bulwarks and flankers
-to that citadel."
-
-Buckingham himself, in time, seemed to clothe himself with half the
-offices in the country. He became Warden of the Cinque Ports, chief
-justice in eyre of all the parks and forests south of the Trent, Master
-of the King's Bench Office, High Steward of Westminster, and Constable of
-Windsor Castle. In his person he was lavish and showy even to tawdriness.
-He was skilled in dancing, and therefore kept the Court one scene of
-balls and masques. He had his clothes trimmed at even an ordinary dance
-with great buttons of diamond, with diamond hatbands, cockades, and
-earrings; "he was yoked with manifold ropes and knots of pearl; in short,
-he was accustomed to be manacled, fettered, and imprisoned in jewels."
-
-But one of the most interesting and painful events of the reign of
-James, and one which does him little credit, now occurred. Sir Walter
-Raleigh, deprived (as we have seen, to gratify the favourite Carr) of his
-beautiful estate of Sherborne in Dorsetshire--"which he had beautified
-with orchards, gardens, and groves, of much variety and delight"--had
-remained in the Tower from the time of his trial in 1603, that is,
-thirteen years. His captivity was rendered less severe by the presence
-in the Tower of other prisoners of intelligence, and, more than all
-the rest, of the Earl of Northumberland, who gathered around him in
-his prison men of science and literature, and thus was instrumental in
-converting his cell into a palace of knowledge and refined delight.
-Northumberland was another of those men who revelled in learning, whom a
-king really wise and learned would have rejoiced to honour. But James's
-love was not a love of learning or literature on its own account, it
-was a love of himself. It was the vanity of passing for a sagacious and
-learned king which he possessed, and not the sagacity and the learning
-themselves. Therefore, so far from cherishing science and learning,
-and loving the possessor of them, James was too shallow to comprehend
-the one, and so egotistical that he hated the other. Northumberland
-had been in prison ever since the year of the Gunpowder Plot, 1605,
-eleven years, a victim to the suspicions of the king and the tyranny
-of the Star Chamber, for no participation in the plot was ever proved
-against him. Amongst his visitants and pensioners were the most profound
-mathematicians of the age, Allen, Hariot, Warner--"the Atlantes of the
-mathematical world," Burchill--the celebrated Greek and Hebrew scholar,
-and other noted characters. Amongst them Sir Walter found the pleasure
-of cultivating inquiries which his busy public and Court life had before
-kept unknown to him. He commenced a series of chemical experiments, and
-the celebrated Lucy Hutchinson, who was the daughter of Sir Allen Apsley,
-Lieutenant of the Tower, in the preface to her interesting life of her
-husband, Colonel Hutchinson, says:--"Sir Walter Raleigh and Mr. Ruthin,
-being prisoners in the Tower, and addicting themselves to chemistry,
-my mother suffered them to make their rare experiments at her cost,
-partly to comfort and divert the poor prisoners, and partly to gain the
-knowledge of their experiments and the medicines, to help such poor
-people as were not able to seek physicians."
-
-In these chemical inquiries, Sir Walter imagined that he had discovered
-a universal panacea. The queen in an illness had taken it, and appeared
-cured by it, and afterwards, as we have seen, tried it in the case of
-Prince Henry, but without effect.
-
-[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS BACON WAITING AN AUDIENCE OF BUCKINGHAM. (_See
-p._ 470.)]
-
-Sir Walter next turned his attention to history, and commenced a History
-of the World, a gigantic undertaking, but no doubt one that offered great
-consolation to the mind of a prisoner for life, from the very fact of
-its immensity, thus promising to him a constant forgetfulness of his
-captivity, and a busy discursiveness amid the peoples of the whole globe.
-Such men as Burchill, who was not only a great classical scholar but a
-distinguished Latin poet, could furnish him with books and translations,
-by which means he has displayed so vast an acquaintance with Greek and
-Rabbinical writers. Raleigh commenced his History for the instruction of
-Prince Henry, who had a high regard for the author, but the death of that
-prince in 1612, gave a check to the undertaking, and all that Raleigh has
-completed extends from the Creation to about a century and a half before
-the Christian era.
-
-The fall of Somerset and the rise of Buckingham awoke new hopes of
-liberty in Raleigh. His friends made zealous applications to the
-favourite, which for a time produced little effect because the true
-persuasive with the greedy Villiers family was not applied. In the
-meantime, however, Raleigh managed to interest Secretary Winwood in
-a grand scheme which he had for discovering and working gold mines
-in Guiana. Raleigh, as our readers are aware, was of a romantic and
-adventurous turn. The Admirals Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, with
-whom he had had the honour of defeating the Grand Armada, had brought
-home immense treasures from the Spanish and Portuguese territories
-of South America. Raleigh himself had been engaged in the scheme of
-settling Virginia in North America, in the year 1584, when he procured
-a patent from Elizabeth--a copy of one granted still earlier to his
-half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert--with full power to discover and
-settle any heathen lands not already in the possession of any Christian
-prince. In consequence, he had equipped various expeditions to the
-coast of Virginia, which, however, had all proved failures, and Sir
-Humphrey Gilbert, who conducted one of them, lost his life at sea. Sir
-Walter's enterprises, which had cost him much money, were immediate
-failures--failures to himself and his associates, but ultimate successes
-to the country, for they led to the settlement of that great Federated
-Republic of Northern America.
-
-But still earlier, in 1595, he had made a voyage to Guiana. The glories
-of Drake and the other piratical admirals, and the wondrous legend of
-the golden empire of Guiana, with its inconceivable affluence, and the
-reported splendours of its capital, Manoa, called by the Spaniards
-El Dorado, or the golden city, inflamed his imagination. He sailed
-thither, touching at Trinidad, as if on his way to Virginia; and the
-Spaniards, deluded by this belief, entered into friendly relations and
-bartered various commodities with him. But suddenly Raleigh, watching
-his opportunity, fell on the garrison, killed the guard, and secured the
-person of Berrio the governor, whom he carried away as guide to Guiana,
-Berrio having already settled a colony there. This transaction, which
-was in the true spirit of Drake and the rest, who acted in those regions
-as if the Spaniards were at war, though they were at entire peace with
-England, was one of the charges afterwards brought against him. To this
-Raleigh replied that Berrio, at Trinidad, had formerly made prisoners of
-eight Englishmen, and that to leave him at his back when he was about
-to ascend the Orinoco, was to have been an ass. Whether the story of
-the eight Englishmen was true or not, it was clearly no business of
-Raleigh's, and the real motive was partly the last assigned--to secure
-so dangerous a person as Berrio, and at the same time so valuable a
-guide. In fact, Raleigh, with all his genius, was never renowned for very
-scrupulous ideas of right and wrong, and shared in all the loose maritime
-notions of the age.
-
-Thus provided, he sailed for the Orinoco and advanced up it three hundred
-miles in boats. He seemed to have heard many wonderful rumours of gold
-mines, and cities built of gold and silver and embossed with precious
-stones; but he discovered no magnificent Manoa, with pinnacles blazing
-with diamonds and rubies, nor any gold mines, only signs of gold in the
-mountains beyond the Spanish town of St. Thomas. He gave out to the
-natives that he was come to relieve them of the Spaniards, and by their
-assistance explored the country for a month, when the waters of the
-mighty Orinoco rose so suddenly and with such impetuosity, that they were
-carried down at the peril of their lives to their ships.
-
-On his return, Raleigh, although he brought no riches, brought marvellous
-descriptions of them. Though he had seen nothing but a pleasant country
-and friendly natives, he did not hesitate to publish the most amazing
-stories to draw fresh colleagues to the enterprise. He described the
-country and the climate in colours of heaven, and as for its riches, "the
-common soldier," he said--detailing the discovery of the large, rich, and
-beautiful empire of Guiana, with relations of the great and golden city,
-Manoa--"shall here fight for gold, and pay himself, instead of pence,
-with plates of half a foot broad, whereas he breaks his bones in other
-wars for provant and penury. Those commanders and chieftains that shoot
-at honour and abundance, shall find here more rich and beautiful cities,
-more temples adorned with golden images, more sepulchres filled with
-treasure, than either Cortez found in Mexico, or Pizarro in Peru."
-
-Probably Raleigh believed all this himself, on the faith of the
-natives; but though several expeditions went out nothing of the kind
-was discovered. Yet these failures in no degree abated the enthusiasm
-of Raleigh. He represented to objectors that the adventurers sent out
-were ignorant alike of the locality and of the art of conciliating the
-natives. Were _he_ permitted to go, he would make Guiana to England what
-Peru was to Spain.
-
-His glowing descriptions at length captivated the imagination of Winwood,
-who did his best to excite the cupidity of James on the subject, and
-not without effect, for he began to speak of Raleigh as a very clever
-and gallant fellow. The scheme suited James extremely well, as he was
-always in want of money, and Raleigh asked for nothing, not even a ship
-to accomplish the enterprise, but guaranteed to the king one-fifth of the
-gold. Still there was one obstacle; James dared not issue the desired
-commission without the approbation of the favourite, and this Raleigh
-and his friends were obliged to purchase by a present of fifteen hundred
-pounds to Buckingham's uncles, Sir Edward Villiers and Sir William St.
-John.
-
-In the month of August, 1616, Sir Walter issued from his thirteen years'
-captivity in the Tower, and commenced preparations for the voyage. Plenty
-of adventurers and co-operators were found: the Countess of Bedford
-advanced eight thousand pounds, and Lady Raleigh sold her estate at
-Mitcham for two thousand five hundred pounds. A fleet of fourteen sail
-was equipped and manned. But before Raleigh could get out to sea, the
-Spanish ambassador, Gondomar, had caught wind of the real destination of
-the squadron. The Spaniard was a deep politician, who assumed an air of
-gaiety and freedom which won on the courtiers, and not less on James,
-whose vanity he flattered to the utmost; often speaking false Latin, that
-James might correct him, he would reply, "Ah, your majesty speaks Latin
-like a pedant, but I only speak it like a gentleman."
-
-On making the discovery, Gondomar rushed into the presence of the king,
-exclaiming, "Pirates! pirates! pirates!" James, who was always paralysed
-at the very idea of war, sent in a hurry for Raleigh, took back the
-patent which he had granted him, and altered it with his own hand. He
-strictly prohibited the adventurers from invading any territories in
-possession of his allies, especially of the King of Spain, but commanded
-that they should confine their enterprise to countries still in the hands
-of the heathen. They were allowed to trade and to defend themselves if
-attacked, but not to act on the offensive. He moreover demanded from
-Raleigh a memorandum under his own hand, of the places with which he
-meant to trade, and the force he proposed to take out. All this James is
-said to have shown to Gondomar, so that, fully forewarned, the Spanish
-ambassador despatched a squadron with troops to St. Thomas, of which his
-brother was governor.
-
-In all this, it is clear that Raleigh was imposing on the king. This
-Raleigh himself admits in his address to Lord Carew:--"I acquainted his
-majesty with my intention to land in Guiana, yet I never made it known to
-his majesty that the Spaniards had any footing there. Neither had I any
-authority from my patent to remove them thence." But this was a point on
-which Gondomar could and probably did enlighten James.
-
-After the guarantees given by Raleigh, Gondomar appears to have ceased
-his opposition; having, moreover, taken measures to guard against any
-attack in Guiana. On the 28th of March, 1617, the fleet set sail, but
-owing to bad weather was obliged to put into Cork, where they lay till
-August, and did not reach the coast of Guiana till November 12th, after
-a troublesome voyage of four months. On arriving, two of his ships were
-missing: disease had reduced his men to a state of miserable weakness,
-forty-two on board Raleigh's own vessel having died. He himself was
-disabled for active service, and to his mortification he learned that
-a Spanish fleet was cruising near in order to intercept them. He wrote
-to his wife, that reduced as they were, he deemed himself in sufficient
-force to accomplish the enterprise if the care taken at home to let the
-Spaniards know of their numbers, had not caused all approaches to be
-fortified against them.
-
-[Illustration: THE DEPARTURE OF THE MAYFLOWER.
-
-FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER THE PICTURE BY A. W. BAYES.]
-
-Being unable to proceed immediately, he sent Captain Keymis up the river
-in boats to discover the mine, while he lay at its mouth to ward off
-the Spanish squadron. Keymis was said to have been at the mine they
-were in search of in the expedition of 1595. He began the ascent of
-the river on the 10th of December, under orders to make straight for
-the mine, and if he found it rich to fix himself there; if but poor,
-to bring away a basket of the ore to convince the king that they had
-gone out after a reality. The exploring force landed near St. Thomas,
-but found the Spaniards prepared for them; a battle ensued, in which
-the governor, the brother of Gondomar, was killed, but at the same time
-also fell the eldest son of Sir Walter, Captain Walter Raleigh. This
-enraged the soldiers, who carried the town of St. Thomas by storm and set
-fire to it. They expected to find in it great wealth, but all that they
-discovered was two ingots of gold and four refining houses, whence any
-ore that there might have been was carried off. The Spaniards entrenched
-themselves in formidable positions amongst the hills--as the invaders
-supposed, between them and the mines; but Keymis was so much discouraged
-by the death of young Raleigh, and the violent discontent of the men
-on discovering the emptiness of the place, and the preparations of the
-enemy, who again fired upon and killed several of them, that he gave up
-the enterprise and dropped down the river again.
-
-When Keymis reached the ships with the news of their ill success and of
-the death of Raleigh's son, Sir Walter was beside himself. Though Keymis
-had been a faithful officer and friend of his for many years, sharing the
-dangers and hardships of his former adventures, he upbraided him bitterly
-with his ruin. Keymis replied that when the young captain was dead, the
-men set him at defiance, and that to have attempted to reach the mines
-with them would have been an act of madness; had it succeeded even,
-it would only have enriched these murderous villains; had it failed,
-both himself, and probably Sir Walter, would have fallen their victims.
-Recollecting the feeble condition of his commander-in-chief, he deemed it
-his duty to return to him.
-
-All was lost on Raleigh, who, feeling the acutest grief for the death
-of his son, and seeing nothing but destruction await him at home from
-the wrath of the Spaniards and the disappointed cupidity of the king,
-raved against Keymis like a madman. The unfortunate officer drew up
-a statement of the real facts of the case, addressed to the Earl of
-Arundel, and asked Raleigh to sign it in justice to him: he peremptorily
-refused. Some days passed on, but instead of moderating his bitterness
-when Keymis again urged him to sign the statement, he refused, heaping
-upon him reproaches of imbecility or cowardice. Stung by this ungenerous
-conduct, the unhappy officer retired to his cabin, and shot himself with
-a pocket-pistol, and as that had not killed him, finished the bloody deed
-by a stab with a long knife.
-
-Horror took possession of the fleet at the news of Keymis's suicide, and
-discord and mutiny broke out on all sides. The officers and men alike
-expressed their indignation. Captain Whitney, in whom Raleigh reposed
-the most confidence, and who was under great obligations to him, sailed
-for England. Others followed his example, and Raleigh soon found himself
-with only five ships. Yet still he had a larger fleet, manned with a
-stronger force of daring fellows than the brave crews who had done
-amazing things under Drake, Hawkins, and others, had Raleigh been in a
-mood to lead them. Death and disgrace awaited his return home; death or
-the acquisition of wealth capable of appeasing the royal resentment, was
-the alternative which attended a bold onslaught on the Spanish shores.
-But Raleigh's spirit was crushed. In a letter to his wife he declared
-that "his brains were broken;" and he sailed away to Newfoundland, where
-he refitted his ships.
-
-He now contemplated the chance of intercepting one of the Spanish
-treasure-ships, which he felt assured would set all right with James; but
-fresh mutinies arose and he took his course homewards. In the month of
-June, 1618, after much hesitation, he entered the harbour of Plymouth,
-where he was met with the news that a royal warrant was out for his
-apprehension. Gondomar, furious at the fate of his brother, demanded
-condign punishment for Raleigh's outrages on the subjects of his most
-Catholic majesty in Guiana. There were many reasons why the Spanish
-Court should long for the destruction of Raleigh. He was by far the
-ablest naval commander that James possessed. He had been one of those who
-led the English fleet to the triumph over the Armada. He had committed
-terrible depredations in the Azores and Canary Isles when he sailed with
-Essex, besides his seizure of the Governor of Trinidad.
-
-Sir Walter was advised by his friends to fly instantly to France, a
-vessel lying ready to carry him over. But he seemed to have lost all
-power of self-direction, or it might be that, as his younger son Carew
-relates, the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke were sureties for his return,
-and it was a point of honour to keep faith with them. He landed, and was
-arrested by his near kinsman, Sir Lewis Stukeley, Vice-Admiral of Devon,
-who conducted him to the house of Sir Christopher Harris, near the port,
-where he detained him for nearly a week, till he received the royal order
-for his disposal. No sooner was it announced at Court that Raleigh was
-secured, than Buckingham wrote, by direction of the king, to inform the
-Spanish ambassador of the fact, and to assure him that he would give him
-up to him to be sent to Spain, and dealt with as his royal master should
-see fit, unless his most Catholic majesty preferred that he should suffer
-the penalty of his crimes here. Gondomar sent off a special messenger
-to learn the decision of the King of Spain, and meantime Stukeley was
-ordered to proceed to London with his prisoner.
-
-[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH RE-ARRESTED BY STUKELEY. (_See p._
-477.)]
-
-Struck now with awe at the prospect of once more being immured in the
-Tower, and with only the most gloomy prospect of his exit thence, Sir
-Walter procured some drugs from Manourie a Frenchman, with which he
-brought on violent sickness, and aquafortis, with which he produced
-blisters and excoriations on his face, arms, breast, and legs. He was
-found in his shirt on all fours, gnawing the rushes on the floor and
-affecting madness; the physicians pronounced him to be in considerable
-danger, and James, who was then at Salisbury, ordered him to be conveyed
-for a short time to his own house in London, lest he should convey some
-infection into the Tower.
-
-This was Raleigh's object, and he now employed the time afforded him to
-effect his escape in earnest. He despatched his faithful friend, Captain
-King, to provide a ship for his purpose. This was arranged, but Raleigh,
-not aware that Manourie was a spy upon him, confided the secret to him,
-and it was immediately communicated to Stukeley. Raleigh, observing the
-strict watch which Stukeley kept over him, and deeming him worthy of his
-confidence, gave him a valuable jewel and a bond for one thousand pounds,
-on condition that he allowed him to escape. Stukeley took the bribe, but
-while pretending to be now his sworn friend, only the more effectually
-played the traitor. He was commissioned to procure all possible evidence
-of Raleigh's connection with France, and circumstances favoured him. At
-Brentford Raleigh received a visit from De Chesne, the secretary of the
-French Envoy in London, offering him, from Le Clerk, his master, the
-use of a French barque and a safe-conduct to the Governor of Calais.
-On arriving in London, Le Clerk himself waited on him and renewed the
-offer. Raleigh expressed his gratitude, but concluded to take the vessel
-engaged by Captain King, and lying near Tilbury Fort. All this Stukeley
-communicated daily to the Council.
-
-At the time fixed, Raleigh in disguise, and accompanied by King and
-Stukeley, who expressed much interest in seeing his relative safely off,
-took a boat and dropped down the river to reach the vessel at Gravesend.
-But from the moment that they were on the water, the quick eye of Raleigh
-noticed a wherry which kept steadily in their wake; and the tide failing,
-it was judged useless to proceed to Gravesend. They went, therefore, into
-Greenwich; the wherry also lay to there, and Sir Walter found himself
-immediately re-arrested by the traitor Stukeley, whose men were in the
-wherry. King also was arrested, and Sir Walter was conveyed next morning
-to the Tower. The French Envoy was forbidden the Court and soon after
-ordered to leave the country.
-
-[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH BEFORE THE JUDGES. (_See p._ 478.)]
-
-The answer from the King of Spain did not arrive for five weeks. It
-stated that in his opinion the punishment of Raleigh's offences should
-take place where his commission--which he had violated--was issued. It
-was, therefore, necessary to bring him to trial in London. Meanwhile,
-he had been subjected to close and repeated interrogations before a
-commission appointed for the purpose, composed of Lord Chancellor
-Bacon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Edward Coke, and several other
-members of Council. He was charged with having imposed upon the king, by
-representing that his object was to discover a gold mine, when he only
-wanted to get out of prison and commence piracy; that he had endeavoured
-to provoke a war with Spain; that he had barbarously deserted his ships'
-companies, and pushed them into unnecessary danger; that he had ridiculed
-and maligned the king; that he had feigned madness to deceive his
-majesty; and that he had attempted to escape in defiance of his authority.
-
-Raleigh denied the charge of treating the name of the king
-disrespectfully; asserted that nothing proved his sincerity in expecting
-to reach mines so completely, as his having expended two thousand pounds
-in the necessary apparatus for refining the ore; that he had never
-exposed his men to any danger that he did not share himself, except when
-illness incapacitated him; and that as to feigning madness and trying to
-escape, the charges were true, but they were, under the circumstances,
-perfectly natural and pardonable.
-
-The commissioners, finding that they could establish no real case
-against him of sufficient gravity to implicate his life, resorted to
-the usual stratagem of Government in those times, as well as in times
-long after--and set a spy upon him under the colour of a friend. The
-individual who accepted this dirty office--such villains are always
-plentifully at hand--was one Sir Thomas Wilson, Keeper of the State Paper
-Office. He appeared to be hit upon because he had as much learning and
-ingenuity as he had little principle, and could therefore easily draw
-out Raleigh to talk by assuming a kindly interest in him. Sir Walter
-appeared to talk freely, and related his adventures, and also what daily
-took place before the commission; yet this government pump could bring up
-nothing very criminating. Raleigh declared that had he fallen in with one
-of the Spanish galleons, he would have seized it with the same freedom
-that Drake had done; but his mere intention to do what had won so much
-fame and favour for other commanders, was not a charge likely to go down
-with the public. Raleigh remarked that when he made that avowal before
-the commission, Bacon said, "Why, you would have been a pirate!" and that
-he had replied, "Oh, my lord, did you ever know of any that were pirates
-for millions? They that work for small things are pirates."
-
-Finding that there was nothing in Raleigh's proceedings on this occasion
-which had not been done, and far more than done, with high public
-approbation, by the greatest commanders of the British Navy, they dared
-not attempt to condemn him on that score, and therefore James demanded
-of his Council what other mode they could suggest to take his life. Coke
-and Bacon proposed that they should fall back simply on the plea of his
-old sentence, and the king sent to the Tower an order for his execution.
-The judges, therefore, received an order to issue a warrant for his
-immediate beheading, but they wisely shrank from such a responsibility,
-declaring that after such a lapse of time neither a writ of privy seal
-nor a warrant under the Great Seal would be legal without calling on the
-party to show cause against it. They accordingly summoned him before
-them by _habeas corpus_, and Raleigh, who was suffering from fever and
-ague, real enough this time, was the next day brought before them at the
-King's Bench, Westminster. Yelverton, the Attorney General, reminded the
-Court that Sir Walter had been sentenced to death for high treason,
-fifteen years before; that the king, in his clemency, had deferred the
-execution of the prisoner, but now deemed it necessary to call for it.
-He observed that Sir Walter had been a statesman, and a man who, in
-respect to his talents, was to be pitied, and that he had been as a star
-at which the world had gazed; but "stars," he continued, "may fall; nay,
-they must fall when they trouble the spheres wherein they abide." He
-called, therefore, at the command of his majesty, for their order for his
-execution. On being asked what he had to say against it, Raleigh replied
-that the judgment given against him so many years ago could not with any
-reason be brought against him then, for he had since borne his majesty's
-commission, which was equivalent to a pardon; and that no other charge
-was made against him. The Chief Justice told him that this pleading would
-not avail him; that in cases of treason nothing but a pardon in express
-words was sufficient. Raleigh then said, if that were the case, he could
-only throw himself on the king's mercy; but that he was certain that, had
-the king not been afresh exasperated against him, he might have lived a
-thousand years, if nature enabled him, without hearing anything more of
-the old sentence.
-
-Montague, the Chief Justice, admitted this by saying that "new offences
-had stirred up his majesty's justice to revive what the law had formerly
-decreed;" and he ended with the fatal words--"Execution is granted."
-
-Thus Raleigh was put to death to oblige the King of Spain, with whom
-James was anxious to form an alliance by his son's marriage to the
-Infanta. The old sentence was but the stalking-horse for the occasion,
-the Court not daring to allege as the true offence that he died for
-having invaded the territories of the King of Spain. The public having
-a strong repugnance to both Spain and any matrimonial alliance with it,
-which must introduce a Popish queen, would have gloried in the real
-chastisement of that nation and the capture of its treasure-ships. Sir
-Walter was executed on the 29th of October, 1618.
-
-Hitherto James had contrived to avoid war for sixteen years. He now saw
-himself dragged into a hopeless contest by the folly of his son-in-law,
-Frederick, the Elector of the Palatinate. Frederick was a Calvinistic
-Protestant, and the Protestants of Bohemia, anxious to prevent the
-Catholic Emperor of Austria from acquiring their Crown, offered it to
-him, and the Elector was imprudent enough to accept it. James was
-thunderstruck by the news, and instantly avowed that the Elector had
-entered on an enterprise which would involve him in utter ruin. To enable
-the reader, however, to understand the question, we must take a brief
-review of the antecedents of the case. Bohemia, a country inhabited by
-a branch of the great Sclavonic race called Czechs, had early imbibed
-the doctrines of Protestantism. The people resisted the imposition of
-the Papal yoke by the Austrian princes, and insurrection and carnage
-were the consequences. At length the Emperor Rudolph was obliged to
-cede to the sturdy Bohemians the right of enjoying their own religious
-faith, and it was stipulated that they should be at liberty to erect
-churches on the Crown lands. The Calvinists, the most resolute sect of
-the Bohemian Protestants--for they were divided into Calvinists and
-Lutherans--declared the Church lands were in fact Crown lands, and began
-to build churches on estates belonging to the Archbishop of Prague and
-the Abbot of Braunau. These prelates appealed to the Emperor Matthias,
-who decided against the Protestants; and an order was issued to pull down
-again the churches both at Prague and Braunau. At Braunau the people
-made resistance, and some of their leaders were thrown into prison. This
-created a great excitement, and Count Thurm, the head of the Evangelical
-Church, called an assembly of the Protestants at Prague, on the 6th of
-March, 1618, to take measures for the maintenance of their privileges;
-but the enthusiasm with which this step was attended, from all parts of
-the country, much alarming the Austrians, menaces of punishment were
-issued by Imperial brief against those who took part in it. This roused
-the wrath of the people, who, headed by Count Thurm, on the 23rd of May,
-1618, marched to the royal palace, seized two obnoxious councillors,
-and hurled them out of the window of the council chamber, which was
-eighty feet from the ground. These men had been the servile tools of the
-Austrian Court, and had thereby excited the hatred of the people. They
-refused the rites of marriage, baptism, and burial to all who would not
-consent to become Catholics; they were accused of having drawn up the
-threatening letter which came signed by the Emperor, and of hunting the
-Protestants into the Catholic churches with dogs. Luckily for them there
-was plenty of mud in the palace ditch, and they escaped with their lives
-to scourge the people at a later date.
-
-This bold deed kindled a flame throughout all Bohemia, Moravia, Lusatia,
-and Silesia. Thurm sent forth a proclamation assuring the Protestants
-that the die was cast; that they had nothing but vengeance and oppression
-to expect from Austria; and therefore the time was come to throw off the
-Austrian yoke, to resume the independence of Bohemia, and make common
-cause with the Protestants of Germany and the Netherlands. The people
-flocked to Prague; the palace was occupied by the troops of the different
-provinces; an oath was taken from the magistrates and officials to
-obey the States alone; the taxes were ordered to be paid only to those
-appointed by them; the Jesuits were chased from the country; a council of
-thirty members was elected to assume the government, and Thurm placed at
-their head. All this passed with lightning rapidity and caused the utmost
-consternation in Vienna.
-
-Matthias was sickly and feeble both in body and mind, but his cousin
-Ferdinand--who had already assumed the title of King of Bohemia, a bigot
-of the very first water, and whose name soon became the rallying cry of
-all bigotry in Europe--caught at the opportunity as one sent by Heaven,
-to enable him to exterminate Protestantism in Austria. He sent off to
-the Spanish Court in the Netherlands demands for co-operation in this
-great work, and armies were prepared in Austria; whilst Thurm and the
-Bohemians, on their part, mustered with all eagerness their forces.
-Matthias proposed to settle the difference by arbitration, but Ferdinand
-rejected any such means, seized Cardinal Klesel the Emperor's adviser,
-and sent him prisoner into the Tyrol, so that the poor invalid Matthias
-remained a puppet in their hands. He died in March, 1619. Ferdinand, the
-prince of bigots, to whom whole nations of lives were only as so much
-dust in comparison with the sacredness of his dogmas, mounted the throne,
-being elected emperor in August of that year. Now all Europe stood in
-expectation of the bloody decision of this quarrel,--a quarrel which
-was destined to spread over all Germany, draw into its vortex Sweden,
-Denmark, Holland, France, and England, and to be for ever remembered in
-the world as the most terrible of contests, the "Thirty Years' War."
-
-At this moment, when the Protestants of Germany were joined in a Union
-for the maintenance of their principles, but were opposed by the far
-more powerful League of the Catholic princes; when Ferdinand, Emperor of
-Austria, supported by the Elector Maximilian of Bavaria, the head of
-the League in Germany, was promised the co-operation of Spain; at this
-moment the Crown of Bohemia was offered to Frederick, the palsgrave,
-and he foolishly accepted it. He was a mere youth of twenty, with more
-ambition than ability; but he was spurred on by his wife, Elizabeth of
-England, who told him he had courage enough to aspire to the hand of a
-king's daughter, but not to grasp a crown when offered, and who, when
-reminded by him of the electoral province which they possessed in safety,
-exclaimed, "Better a crown with a crust, than a petty electorate with
-abundance."
-
-This fatal crown, which Elizabeth came to wear, and to have the crust
-speedily afterwards, had been already offered to John George, Elector
-of Saxony, who was too shrewd to accept it. Count Thurm had for a time
-carried all before him, and had even marched into Austria and besieged
-the Emperor in Vienna; but this success was soon over. The Catholic
-princes had armed in defence of the Emperor; the students of Vienna and
-fifteen hundred citizens volunteered in his cause; the distinguished
-Spanish General Spinola was already on his march to invade the
-palsgrave's hereditary State, so despised by the Princess Elizabeth; and
-Count Mansfeld, the general of the German Protestants, was defeated on
-the Bohemian soil, when Frederick the Elector was crowned king of that
-country in Prague, on the 25th of October, 1619. He reigned only till
-the 8th of November of the following year, when he was expelled from his
-capital by the Austrian and Bavarian forces under Maximilian and General
-Bucquoi. They had defeated the Protestant generals in Upper Austria and
-Bohemia, while Frederick--who obtained the name of the "Winter King,"
-because he only reigned one winter--had lost the confidence of his
-subjects by his luxurious effeminacy, his inattention to government, his
-impolitic treatment of the native nobles and generals, and his bigoted
-partiality to the Calvinistic party. Even the Protestant Elector of
-Saxony, who had refused the crown, allied himself to the Catholic Emperor
-against him. He was roused from table only by the news of the battle
-before his walls, rushed out only to see his army scattered, and fled.
-The Counts Thurm and Hohenlohe counselled him still to make a stand in
-Glatz, but he was no hero to fight, even for a kingdom; he continued his
-flight to Breslau, thence to Berlin, and did not stop till he reached
-Holland. Elizabeth, his queen, now reduced to the crust, far advanced
-in pregnancy, and deeply pitied by all generous and chivalric minds,
-accompanied him in his ignominious flight.
-
-Meanwhile, James had been a prey to the most conflicting interests. His
-Protestant subjects, as ill informed of the state of parties on the
-Continent as the unfortunate Frederick himself, had received with an
-outburst of joy the news of the palsgrave being crowned King of Bohemia;
-and Archbishop Abbot gave the very text from the Apocalypse in which
-this event, so favourable to the Reformed faith, was predicted. James
-was urged to send an army to his son-in-law's support, but he saw no
-chance of keeping him on the Bohemian throne. The Bohemians were divided
-into three violent parties--Calvinists, Lutherans, and Catholics.
-The Protestants of Germany were equally divided; some of them had
-voluntarily offered their aid to the Emperor, and others had submitted
-to his victorious generals. Spinola was marching on the Palatinate, and
-James was distracted by the fear of his daughter and son-in-law being
-reduced to beggary. Yet if he attempted to prop the King of Bohemia on
-his tottering throne, he should offend the Catholic King of Spain, the
-sworn ally of the Emperor, and with whom he was at this very time seeking
-an alliance. Without being able to save his Protestant son-in-law, he
-should thus lose a Catholic daughter-in-law. If he lay still, all men
-would call him an unnatural father, all Protestants would declare him
-an apostate to his religion. Never was man in such a strait. One moment
-he declared to the Spanish ambassador that the Elector was a fool and a
-villain, and that he would abandon him to his fate; at another he assured
-the Protestant envoys from Germany that he would support him to the
-utmost. At length he hit upon the only rational course; which was, not to
-attempt an impossibility--the support of Frederick on the baseless throne
-of Bohemia--but to send a force to defend his patrimonial territories
-from the Spaniards. The first enterprise was, in fact, soon out of the
-question: Prague had fallen, his son-in-law and daughter were fugitives;
-but the second object was still possible, and more necessary than ever.
-
-He sent an army of four thousand men under the Earls of Oxford and Essex
-to the rescue of the Palatinate. This force was altogether inadequate
-to cope with the numerous army of the able Spinola; and yet James had
-exhausted all his means and all his efforts in raising it. Money he had
-none, and had been compelled to seek a loan and a voluntary subscription.
-By the autumn the Lower Palatinate was overrun by the Spaniards, and
-Bohemia had sought and received pardon from the Imperial Court. James's
-real hope was that Spain would join him in mediating a peace.
-
-[Illustration: THE FRANZENSRING, VIENNA.]
-
-In this state of affairs James was compelled to summon a Parliament. It
-assembled on the 30th of January, 1621, the king having used all the
-unconstitutional means in his power to influence the return of members.
-In his opening speech he now admitted what he had so stoutly denied
-before, the presence of Undertakers in the last Parliament, "a strange
-kind of beasts which had done mischief." In that shallow, wheedling
-tone, that rather showed the hollowness of the man than conciliated,
-as it was meant to do, he even enlarged his confessions and admitted
-that he had been swayed by evil counsellors. He then demanded liberal
-supplies to carry on the war in the Palatinate, for which the people
-had indeed loudly called. The Commons expressed their readiness, but
-first demanded that the king should enforce the penalties against the
-Papists with additional rigour, observing that they were the Papists in
-Germany who had deprived the Elector Palatine of his crown, and were
-now seeking to deprive him of his hereditary domains. They recommended
-that no recusants should be allowed to come within ten miles of London,
-that they should not be permitted to attend Mass in their own houses or
-in the chapels of ambassadors; and they offered to pass a Bill, giving
-to the Crown two-thirds of the property of recusants. They then granted
-him two subsidies, but no tenths or fifteenths--a sum wholly inadequate
-to the necessities of the war, much less of his expenditure in general.
-Yet James, to keep them in good humour--hoping to obtain more before the
-close of the Session--professed to be more satisfied with it than if it
-had been millions, because it was so freely granted.
-
-The Commons showed more alacrity in complaining of the breach of their
-privileges. They reminded the king of the four members of their House
-whom he had imprisoned after the last Session of Parliament, and insisted
-that such a practice rendered the liberty of speech amongst them a mere
-fiction. As it was James's policy to remain on good terms with them,
-he made a solemn assurance that he would respect their freedom in that
-matter. Yet, the next day, the House, as if to show that they themselves
-were ready to destroy the liberty within, which they so warmly contended
-against being infringed from without, expelled one of their members named
-Shepherd, for declaring, in a speech against a Bill for restraining the
-abuses of the Sabbath, that the Sabbath was Saturday, and not Sunday;
-that the Scriptures recommended dancing on the Sabbath day; and that this
-Bill was in direct opposition to the king's ordinances for the keeping of
-Sunday.
-
-From their own members they next extended their prosecutions to public
-officers. They had appointed a committee of inquiry into public abuses,
-and now summoned witnesses. The conduct of public officers, judges,
-and their dependents, was subjected to a severe scrutiny. They first
-examined into the abuses of patents, and three of these incurred
-particular censure: the one for the licensing of ale-houses, another for
-the inspection of inns and hostelries, and the third for the exclusive
-manufacture of gold and silver thread. Patents, to secure to inventors
-the fruits of their discoveries in arts and manufactures, are beneficial,
-stimulating to improvement and extending traffic. But these patents were
-of a directly contrary nature, being grants, for money or through Court
-favour, to individuals to monopolise some particular business; thus
-checking competition, and defrauding the fair trader of his legitimate
-profits. The inquiry laid open a scene of the most extraordinary fraud,
-corruption, and oppression. The three patents just mentioned were
-denounced as national injuries, and Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis
-Michell, a justice of the peace, his partner in them, were arrested
-as offenders. The culprits sought protection from the Government,
-Buckingham having sold them the patents and divided the profits with his
-half-brother, Sir Edward Villiers. The Court was in great tremor, and it
-was proposed to dissolve Parliament to save the patentees. But Williams,
-Dean of Westminster, represented this as a very imprudent measure, and
-another course was adopted at his recommendation. Buckingham affected
-a patriotic air, as if he himself had been no way concerned in it, and
-said if his brother had shared the emolument, let him also share the
-punishment. But this was safely said, for Villiers was already abroad
-out of the reach of Parliament; and means were not long wanting to let
-Mompesson escape out of the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms. Michell was
-not so fortunate; he was secured and lodged in the Tower.
-
-In these prosecutions Coke was extremely active, for he saw a prospect
-of taking a signal revenge on Bacon, who had not only supplanted him,
-but insulted him in his fall. Bacon was notoriously mixed up with the
-corruptions of the Court of Chancery; and Coke informed the Commons that
-it was not within their jurisdiction to punish offenders not of their
-own House, but that they could punish all offences against the State in
-co-operation with the Lords. Accordingly they invited the Upper House to
-take cognisance of these offences, with which they readily complied, and
-sentenced Mompesson and Michell to be degraded from their knighthood,
-fined, and imprisoned. James, who had done his best to screen the
-offenders, then in a fit of affected patriotism expressed his indignation
-at having had his credulity imposed on by these men, and by an illegal
-stretch of prerogative converted Mompesson's sentence into perpetual
-banishment. Buckingham, the guiltiest party of all, did not quite
-escape observation. Yelverton, the Attorney-General, who was accused of
-participation in these illegal practices, and who was condemned to severe
-fines and imprisonment for life, boldly accused Buckingham, before the
-House of Lords, of his master share in them. But that favourite was too
-strongly fortified by the royal favour, and by those who must have fallen
-with him, to be seriously endangered. But lesser men did not escape so
-well. Sir John Bennet, Judge of the Prerogative Court, was impeached,
-as well as Dr. Field, Bishop of Llandaff, for bribery and corruption.
-Bennet was charged with having granted administration of wills for money,
-contrary to law; but he escaped his punishment by obtaining time to
-prepare his defence, during which Parliament was prorogued; but he was
-afterwards fined twenty thousand pounds in the Star Chamber, for which,
-however, he obtained a pardon. Field of Llandaff had bound a suitor in
-Chancery to pay him over six thousand pounds, if he obtained his suit
-for him, through Buckingham. At the entreaty of the archbishop, however,
-he, too, escaped, under the pretence of being left to the dealing of the
-Church.
-
-But the great offender, at whom Coke and others were directing their main
-efforts, was the Lord Chancellor Bacon. Bacon had managed to make his way
-from a moderate position to the highest honours of the State. He was
-not only Lord Chancellor of the kingdom, and a baron, but in January,
-1621, became Viscount St. Albans. Besides this elevation, he possessed
-a far higher one in the fame of his philosophical works; and had he
-possessed as much real greatness of mind as talent, might have stood in
-the admiration of posterity as Milton does--poor, but glorious beyond
-the tinsel glory of Courts; and it might have been said of him as of the
-great poet--
-
-    "His soul was like a star and dwelt apart."
-
-But Bacon, who had placed his name high on the scroll of immortality by
-his genius, was destined, like Lucifer, to become more notorious by his
-fall than by his standing. Brilliant as were his powers, superb as were
-his accomplishments, he had not hesitated to trail his finest qualities
-through the mire of Courts and corruption, in the eager quest of worldly
-distinction. He had risen, perhaps, more by his base flatteries, and his
-calumnious envy of his contemporaries, than by his abilities; and he had
-continued, whilst rising, to make enemies on all sides. The king and
-Buckingham had both conceived a deep dislike to him. James hated all men
-of genius with the jealousy of a pedant, and was only rendered tolerant
-of Bacon by his abject adulation, and his services in punishing Coke and
-carrying out relentlessly the fiats of prerogative. Buckingham probably
-never forgot what he had done in the matter of Coke's daughter. The Lords
-hated him for his upstart vanity and ostentation, and the Commons for his
-desertion of the public cause for that of the despotic king. But perhaps
-not all these causes together would have availed to pull him down, if
-Buckingham had not wanted the Great Seal for his creature Williams, now
-Bishop of Lincoln.
-
-The Parliamentary Committee inquiring into the abuses of office,
-recommended the House of Commons to impeach the Lord Chancellor for
-bribery and corruption in the court over which he presided; and the
-Commons accordingly presented to the Upper House a Bill of Impeachment
-against him, consisting of two-and-twenty instances of bribery and
-corruption in his own person, and of allowing the same in his officers.
-The corruption of the Chancellor was notorious; and out of doors it
-was asserted that he had received in presents no less than one hundred
-thousand pounds in the three years of his Chancellorship. This he denied
-in a letter to Buckingham; but the charges brought against him by the
-Commons, who were prepared to support them, were so formidable that they
-completely struck down the guilty man. He felt that his ruin was at hand,
-and either feeling or feigning sickness, he took to his bed. If he had
-not perceived sufficient indications of his impending fate from other
-quarters, the conduct of the king left him in no doubt. James informed
-the Lords that he trusted the Chancellor might clear himself, but that if
-he did not, he would punish him with the utmost severity.
-
-It must not be supposed, however, that Bacon was the first to introduce
-bribery into the Court of Chancery; it was an old and well-known
-practice, which had been both familiar to Elizabeth and sanctioned by
-her. But Bacon ought to have had a soul above it, whereas he had indulged
-in the villainous custom the more profusely because his mode of living
-was so extravagant and ostentatious, that he saved not a penny of his
-enormous gain, but was always in need.
-
-Bacon, on the presentation of the Bill of Impeachment, on the 21st of
-March, prayed for time to prepare his defence, and this was granted him,
-the House adjourning till the 17th of April. On the 24th of that month,
-the humbled statesman drew up a general confession of his guilt, which
-was presented by Prince Charles. In this letter he threw himself on the
-mercy of the House and the king, and pleaded, with a strange mixture
-of humility and ingenuity, his very crimes as meritorious, since their
-punishment would deter others from them. He represented his spirit as
-broken, his mind as overwhelmed by his calamities; but he added that he
-found a certain gladness in the fact that "hereafter the greatness of a
-judge or magistrate shall be no sanctuary or protection to him against
-guiltiness; which is the beginning of a golden work--the purgation of
-the courts of justice. And," he added, "in these two points, God is my
-witness, though it be my fortune to be the anvil upon which these two
-effects are broken and wrought, I take no small comfort." After this
-edifying spectacle of exhibiting his punishment as a public benefit, he
-proceeded to apply that unctuous adulation to the Sovereign and to the
-Peers in which he was so unabashed a master. He implored mercy at the
-hands of the king--"a king of incomparable clemency, whose heart was
-inscrutable for wisdom and goodness--a prince whose like had not been
-seen these hundred years!" And then the Lords were equally bepraised,
-"compassion ever beating in the veins of noble blood;" nor were the
-bishops forgotten, "the servants of Him who would not break the bruised
-reed, nor quench the smoking flax."
-
-[Illustration: INTERVIEW BETWEEN BACON AND THE DEPUTATION FROM THE LORDS.
-(_See p._ 484.)]
-
-But all this cringing to the Crown, the coronet, and the mitre, did not
-serve him: he was required by the Peers to make a separate and distinct
-answer to each charge. He complied fully with the demand, confessing
-everything; and when a deputation from the Lords waited on him to
-know whether this was his own voluntary act--for they excused him the
-humiliation of appearing at the bar of the House--he replied with tears,
-"It is my act--my hand--my heart. Oh, my lords, spare a broken reed!"
-This full and explicit confession being read in the House, on the 3rd of
-May the Commons, headed by their Speaker, attended to demand judgment,
-which the Lord Chief Justice, acting as Speaker of the Upper House,
-declared to this effect:--That the Lord Chancellor being found guilty of
-many acts of bribery and corruption, both by his own confession and the
-evidence of witnesses, he was condemned to pay a fine of forty thousand
-pounds, to be imprisoned in the Tower during the king's pleasure, to be
-dismissed from all his offices, and deemed incapable of either holding
-office again or sitting in Parliament, and to be prohibited from coming
-within twelve miles of the seat of Parliament.
-
-The king remitted the fine, for the best of reasons--that Bacon had
-nothing to pay it with; he also liberated him from the Tower after a mere
-_pro formâ_ imprisonment of a few days, and Bacon retired to hide his
-dishonour at his house at Gorhambury, near St. Albans. Nor had his fall
-extinguished all admiration for him as a great lawyer and philosopher.
-Even in the House Sir Robert Philips, Sir Edward Sackville, and others,
-reminded the public of the Lord Chancellor's wonderful genius and
-acquirements; and as Prince Charles returned from hunting one day, he
-beheld "a coach accompanied by a goodly troop of horsemen," escorting the
-ex-Lord Chancellor to his house at Gorhambury.
-
-In that beautiful retreat, it was in Bacon's power to have so lived and
-so written, that his disgrace as a statesman would have been soon lost
-in the splendour of his genius and the dignified wisdom of his latter
-years. But unfortunately Bacon was steeped to the core in the love of
-worldly greatness, and the five years that he lived were rendered still
-more miserable and still more contemptible by his incessant hankering
-after restoration to place and honour, and his persevering and cringing
-importunities to the king and Buckingham for these objects. To such a
-length did the wretched man proceed, that his letters became actually
-impious. He told the prince that as the king, his father, had been his
-creator, he had hoped that he would be his redeemer. The works which
-he completed after his disgrace were only such as could result from
-so miserable a condition of mind. They were suggested to him by the
-king, but were not executed with the zest of his own inclination. They
-consisted chiefly of a life of Henry VII., a revision of his former
-works, and the superintendence of a Latin translation of them. At length,
-finding all his efforts vain to move the king towards his restoration,
-his health and temper gave way, and he died on the 9th of April, 1626,
-the melancholy victim of an unworthy ambition.
-
-[Illustration: GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
-
-(_After the Portrait by Van Dyck._)]
-
-The Commons had rendered a very valuable service by these impeachments
-of public men, and one which has since then operated as a precedent
-in the hands of Parliament to check and punish on a large scale the
-too daring and unprincipled servants of the Crown. But, as if carried
-beyond themselves by their success, they now fell into a grievous error,
-and displayed a spirit as aggressive in themselves, as it was cruel,
-bigoted, and unconstitutional. One Edward Floyd, a Catholic barrister,
-a prisoner in the Fleet, was reported to have exulted in the success of
-the Catholics in Germany over the Elector Palatine. This being mentioned
-in the Commons, that august body took immediately such violent offence,
-that it was proposed by members to nail him by the ears, bore him through
-the tongue, set him in the pillory, and so forth. On inquiry, all that
-could be substantiated against him was, that he had said "that goodman
-Palsgrave and goodwife Palsgrave had been driven from Prague."
-
-For this paltry offence--which would not now attract a passing notice in
-a newspaper--the Commons adjudged Floyd to pay a fine of one thousand
-pounds, to stand in the pillory in three different places, and to be
-carried from place to place on a horse without a saddle, and with
-his face to the tail. The Commons had clearly stepped out of their
-jurisdiction to adjudge a man who was no member of their House, and Floyd
-instantly appealed to the king against the proceeding. James, who had so
-often been checked in his prerogative by the Commons, did not neglect
-this grand opportunity of rebuking their error. He sent the very next
-morning to demand by what authority they condemned one who did not belong
-to them, nor had committed any breach of their privileges; and still
-more, by what right they sentenced him without evidence taken on oath?
-
-This was a posing inquiry. The House was greatly disconcerted, for they
-were clearly in the wrong, and the king in the right. It was a hard
-matter, however, to confess their fault: the case was debated warmly for
-several days; but at length it was agreed to confer with the Peers, who
-asserted that the Commons had invaded their privilege of pronouncing
-judgment in such cases. The Commons still contended that they had a right
-to administer an oath, and therefore to pass judgment. But the Lords
-would not admit this, and it was agreed that the Lords should sentence
-Floyd, which they proceeded to do, as exercising their own exclusive
-right, the Commons contending that the Lords now judged him by a similar
-right by which they had already judged him. The sentence was severe
-enough to satisfy the Commons. The fine was increased from one to five
-thousand pounds, Floyd was to be flogged at the cart's tail from the
-Fleet to Westminster Hall, to sit in the pillory, to be degraded from the
-rank of a gentleman, to be held infamous, and to be imprisoned in Newgate
-for life.
-
-Perhaps so atrocious a sentence was never pronounced for so trivial an
-offence. It showed how little either the Lords or Commons were yet to be
-trusted with the lives and liberties of the subject, and how ill-defined
-were still their functions. The public expressed its abhorrence of the
-barbarous proceeding, and Prince Charles exerted himself to procure a
-mitigation of the punishment, but could only succeed in obtaining the
-remission of the flogging. The Commons having executed so much justice
-and so much injustice, but making no approach to a vote of further
-supplies, James adjourned Parliament on the 4th of June to November.
-Vehement as had been the wrath of the Commons against a disrespectful
-allusion to the Palsgrave, they had done nothing towards the defence of
-his territory. As the public were by no means so indifferent on this
-point, the fear of their constituents suddenly flashed on the Commons,
-and they then made a declaration that if nothing effectual was done
-during the recess for the restoration of the Elector Palatine and the
-Protestant religion, they would sacrifice their lives and fortunes in the
-cause. This was not only carried by acclamation, but Coke, falling on his
-knees, with many tears and signs of deep emotion, read aloud the collect
-for the king and royal family from the Book of Common Prayer.
-
-Parliament being adjourned, James proceeded to appoint a new Lord
-Chancellor in the place of Bacon. There were three public candidates for
-the office--Ley and Hobart, the two Chief Justices, and Lord Cranfield,
-the Treasurer, who had been originally a city merchant, but had risen
-by marrying a relative of Buckingham's. But there was another and still
-more extraordinary competitor determined on by Buckingham and James for
-the Chancellorship--no other than a clergyman--Williams, late Dean of
-Westminster, now Bishop of Lincoln. That a clergyman should be placed
-at the head of the Court of Chancery instead of a lawyer, was enough to
-astonish not only the members of the legal profession, but the whole
-public. Williams himself was openly professing to support the claims of
-Cranfield, and expressed astonishment when the post was offered to him.
-He declared so strongly his sense of his incapacity for the office, being
-inexperienced in matters of law, that he would only accept of it on trial
-for eighteen months, and on condition that two judges should sit with
-him to assist him. Yet this truly scandalous appointment was actually
-made, the real cause out of doors being assigned that "his too grate
-familiarity with Buckingham's mother procured him these grate favours and
-preferments one a suddaine." It was some time ere the barristers would
-plead before him.
-
-But not the less did another event confound the dignitaries of the
-Church. Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, hunting with Lord Zouch in
-Bramshill Park, in Hampshire, accidentally shot the keeper of the Park in
-aiming at a buck. The verdict of the coroner's inquest was unintentional
-homicide; but still the clergy contended that by the canon law the
-shedding of blood had disqualified him for discharging any ecclesiastical
-functions. Much censure was also expressed on his engaging in hunting
-at all; and as there were just then four bishops-elect who awaited
-consecration, they refused to receive it at his hands. Amongst these were
-Williams, the Lord Keeper, and Laud, Bishop of St. David's, who were
-supposed to be partly influenced by a hope of securing the primacy, if
-Abbot were pronounced disqualified. A commission, however, of prelates
-and canonists proposed that the archbishop should be absolved from all
-irregularity, and James, as head of the Church, granted him a pardon
-and appointed eight bishops to give him absolution; but from this time
-forward he seldom appeared at Court.
-
-During the recess the king performed an act calculated to conciliate the
-Commons. By the advice, as it was said, of Williams, the Lord Keeper,
-he had abolished thirty-seven of the most oppressive of the patents and
-monopolies, of which the Commons had so long complained. But the effect
-of this was totally neutralised by other measures of a contrary tendency.
-Complaints had been made of the growing audacity of the Algerine
-pirates, who had not only seized several English merchant ships in the
-Mediterranean, but even on the British coast. James requested Spain,
-which also was a sufferer from these robbers, to join in an expedition
-to burn all their ships and destroy Algiers itself. Sir Robert Monsell
-was sent with a squadron for this purpose, but the Spaniards did not join
-him, and he was said to have a royal order not to risk his ships. Under
-such circumstances, nothing very vigorous was to be expected, yet on
-the 24th of May Monsell sailed up to the fort, and the sailors set fire
-to the ships and then retired. No attack was made on the town, and the
-firing of the vessels was so imperfectly done, that the Algerines soon
-put out the flames, and threw booms across the harbour to prevent the
-re-entrance of the English. Only two of the pirate vessels were consumed,
-and the Algerines, like a swarm of hornets irritated in their nest but
-not injured, rushed forth soon afterwards in such force and fury, that
-they speedily captured no less than five-and-thirty English merchantmen.
-Loud and bitter were the complaints in the country of this worse than
-useless proceeding.
-
-To add to the ill-humour generated by this imbecile transaction,
-the public had been greatly incensed by the arrest of a number of
-liberal-minded men--the Earls of Oxford and Southampton, Sutcliffe, Dean
-of Exeter, Brise, a Puritan preacher, Sir Christopher Neville, Sir Edward
-Sandys, and Selden, the great lawyer and antiquary; and a prosecution had
-been commenced against Sir Edward Coke, on no less than eleven charges of
-misdemeanour during the time that he was a judge. Coke, unlike Bacon, had
-amassed great wealth during his official life, and it was understood that
-these charges of peculation and bribery had been got up at the suggestion
-of Bacon and Coke's own wife, Lady Hatton.
-
-The Commons took up zealously the cause of their members, Sandys and
-Coke. Sandys had been examined on some secret charge before the Council,
-and after a month's detention was discharged. Being confined to his bed
-at the commencement of the Session, two members were appointed to wait on
-him and learn the cause of his arrest, notwithstanding the assurance of
-the Secretary of State that it had no connection with his conduct in the
-House. They also ordered the Serjeant-at-Arms to take into custody the
-accusers of Coke, and appointed a committee to examine witnesses. They
-felt assured that the proceedings against these gentlemen originated with
-their popular conduct in Parliament.
-
-At the same time, Coke, in the Commons, proposed a petition to the king
-against the increase of Popery and the marriage of the Prince of Wales
-to a Catholic. It represented that the success in Germany against the
-Elector Palatine had so encouraged the Papists, that they flocked in
-crowds to the chapels of the foreign ambassadors; sent their children
-abroad for education, and were treated with so much lenity that, if
-not prevented, they would soon again be in the ascendant. Spain was
-represented, without directly naming it, as the worst enemy of England,
-and the king was implored to recall all the children of Catholic noblemen
-and gentlemen from abroad, to marry his son to a Protestant princess, and
-to enforce the laws with rigour against the Papists.
-
-James received a private copy of this petition, and was thrown into a
-paroxysm of rage at its perusal. To dictate to him how he should marry
-his son; to recommend that he should invade the territories of Spain, and
-to reflect on the honour of his ally, the Spanish king, were examples of
-intolerable interference with his dearly valued prerogative. He wrote at
-once to the Speaker, denouncing certain "fiery, popular, and turbulent
-spirits" in the House, and desiring them not to concern themselves about
-such matters as were included in the petition. Adverting to Sandys, he
-denied that his offence was connected with the House of Commons, but
-at the same time declared that the Crown possessed a right to punish
-subjects, whether members of Parliament or not, and would not fail to
-exercise it.
-
-The House received this missive with much dissatisfaction, but with
-dignity, and vindicated their right of liberty of speech in a firm
-memorial. James replied that though their privileges were no undoubted
-right, but were derived from the grace of his ancestors on the throne,
-yet so long as they kept them within the limits of duty, he should
-not exercise his prerogative and withdraw those privileges. The House
-declared its high resentment at this language, which reduced their
-right into mere matter of royal favour, and the expression of feeling
-ran so high that James became alarmed, and wrote to Secretary Calvert,
-instructing him to qualify his assertions a little. But the House was
-not thus to be satisfied where the question of its privileges was
-directly raised, and on the 18th of December it drew up the following
-protest:--"That the liberties and jurisdictions of Parliament are the
-most ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the subjects of
-England; that arduous and urgent affairs concerning the king, the State,
-and defence of the realm, and the Church of England, the making and
-maintenance of laws, and the redress of grievances, are proper subjects
-of counsel and debate in Parliament; that in the handling of these
-businesses every member hath and ought to have freedom of speech; that
-the Commons in Parliament have like liberty to treat of these matters in
-such order as they think proper; that every member hath like freedom from
-all impeachment, imprisonment, and molestation, other than by the censure
-of the House itself, concerning any Bill, speaking or reasoning touching
-Parliament matters; and that if any be complained of for anything said or
-done in Parliament, the same is to be showed to the king by assent of the
-Commons before the king give evidence to any private information."
-
-This was speaking out; the Parliament threw down the gage and James, in
-his wrath, took it up. Forgetting that he was represented as ill, he rode
-up to London in a fury and ordered the clerk of the Commons to bring
-him the Journals of the House. According to Rushworth, he tore out the
-obnoxious protest with his own hands, in full Council, and in presence of
-the judges; at all events he cancelled it; had what he had done entered
-in the Council-book; and on the 6th of January, 1622, by an insulting
-proclamation, dissolved Parliament, assuring the public that it was on
-account of its evil temper that he had dissolved the House of Commons,
-and not with any intention of doing without one; that he should soon call
-another; and in the meantime the country might rest assured that he would
-endeavour to govern well.
-
-The first proof of his notions of governing well was the summoning of
-the Earls of Oxford and Southampton from the House of Peers, of Coke,
-Philip, Pym, and Mallory from the Commons, and of Sir John Selden, to
-appear before the Council. Some were committed to the Tower, some to the
-Fleet, and others to the custody of private individuals. Though nothing
-in either House could have occasioned these arrests, various reasons were
-assigned for them. Moreover, Selden was not a member of the Commons, and
-he therefore could have incurred no blame there. But he was the legal
-adviser of Sandys and others, who had made themselves prominent in the
-popular cause, and he was known as one of the ablest legal advocates of
-Parliamentary and public rights. The two Peers were also at the head of
-a popular party which had sprung up in the Lords, and the whole matter
-was too palpable for mistake. Nothing could, however, be fixed on any
-of the prisoners which the Government dared to charge as a crime, and
-after a sharp rebuke they were liberated. There were still other members
-whose conduct had excited the anger of the Court, but against whom no
-specific charge could be established. These were Sir Dudley Digges, Sir
-James Parrott, Sir Nathaniel Rich, and Sir Thomas Carew. To punish them a
-singular mode was devised. They were appointed to a commission in Ireland
-to inquire into the state of the army and navy, into the condition of
-the Church and of public schools, into the abuses in the collection of
-revenue and in the settlement of the plantations, and into the existence
-of illegal and mischievous patents. As it was extremely inconvenient for
-these gentlemen to absent themselves on such business, they protested
-decidedly against it; but they were told that the king had a right to the
-services of his subjects, in any way that he pleased; and though these
-gentlemen had stood boldly with their fellows in a collective capacity
-for the rights of the subject, they were not sufficiently screwed up to
-the pitch of martyrdom to stand upon their individual freedom, and refuse
-at all costs. Coke, who had now taken the lead in the popular cause,
-because the Court had repelled and dismissed him, offered to accompany
-them, and assist them with his legal advice and experience, but his offer
-was declined. The subjects of inquiry, of themselves, were of a nature
-to furnish much strength and information to the reformers, and the mode
-of punishing these men was as short-sighted as it was arbitrary. But the
-great contest was now fully begun, in which the blindness and tyranny of
-the Stuarts, and the firm intelligence of the people, were to fight out
-the grand question of constitutional government. Those who regard this as
-a matter only of Charles I.'s reign have strangely overlooked the doings
-and doctrines of James, who was the real author of the conflict, and
-opened it himself with all the dogmatism which distinguished the royal
-side to the end. This very session Prince Charles had been a diligent
-attender of the House of Lords, but seems to have had no perception
-whatever of the spirit which was dominant in the House of Commons, and
-rapidly diffusing its electric fire through the nation. The names of Pym,
-Coke, Wentworth, and Laud, were already in men's mouths, the heralds
-of that mighty host, which, for good or for evil, was soon to engage
-in terrible combat; the issue of which was to be the morning-star of
-governmental science to the nations, determining the true powers, uses,
-and limitations of governments, as well as the liberty of the people
-protected, by its own popular safeguards, from licence and anarchy.
-
-[Illustration: THE FLEET PRISON.]
-
-In foreign affairs James was placed in particular difficulties. The two
-objects which he had more than all others at heart, were the marriage
-of his son, the Prince of Wales, to the Infanta of Spain, and the
-restoration of the Elector Palatine to his hereditary possessions. He
-had tried too late to secure the Princess Christine of France. She was
-already affianced to Philip of Spain. He had since negotiated for the
-hand of Donna Maria of Spain. If he could accomplish this marriage,
-he should be at once able to secure by it his other grand desire--the
-restoration of the Palsgrave,--for Spain would then be induced to
-withdraw its forces from the assistance of the Emperor against the
-Palatinate, and to add its earnest co-operation in arranging for the
-Palsgrave's re-instatement.
-
-But against this project of marriage--the stepping-stone to these
-measures in Germany--stood the aversion of the people in England to a
-match with so pronouncedly Catholic a country as Spain, and so bigoted
-a family as that of its Sovereign. Just as adverse were the Spaniards,
-and especially the priests, to the young Infanta coming into a heretical
-country, and to any impediment thrown in the way of the Emperor of
-Germany exterminating the Protestants there. During the life of Philip
-III., the father of Donna Maria, little progress was made in these
-negotiations, but on the accession of his son Philip IV., in 1621, the
-prospect brightened. Both James and Charles wrote to the new king and his
-favourite Olivarez. In England Gondomar, the Spanish minister, was warmly
-in favour of the alliance, seeing in it a guarantee for the relief of
-the Catholics and of increased strength against France. Lord Digby, now
-Earl of Bristol, late ambassador at Madrid, was equally zealous for the
-marriage; and James was the more eager for it as he saw no hope of aid in
-his German project from France. There the feeble monarch, Louis XIII.,
-was wholly in the hands of a despicable favourite, De Luynes, who was
-insolently opposed to the English interests, though the French people,
-from the hereditary hatred of the house of Austria, would have gladly
-marched against the invaders of the Palatinate.
-
-The affairs of Frederick, the Elector Palatine, were desperate. The
-Palatinate, in fact, was already lost. Count Mansfeldt--the ablest
-general who had fought for the Elector's interests--and the Prince
-Christian of Brunswick, had evacuated the Palatinate; Heidelberg and
-Mannheim were in the hands of the enemy; and these generals had entered
-the service of the Dutch. The Emperor, in reward for the successful
-services of Maximilian of Bavaria, had conferred on him the Electorate of
-the Palatinate with the greater part of the territory.
-
-James himself, to get rid of the maintenance of the garrison, had given
-up Frankenthal to the Spaniards, on condition that if, within eighteen
-months, a satisfactory peace were not made, it should be returned.
-Everything, therefore, was lost, and James fondly hoped that the Spanish
-match might yet recover everything.
-
-Circumstances appeared to favour his hopes. The young King of Spain and
-his minister, Olivarez, responded cordially to James's proposal; Gondomar
-hastened on to Madrid to promote the object, and was soon followed by the
-Earl of Bristol, equally earnest for the accomplishment of the marriage.
-It was, however, necessary to procure a dispensation for this union from
-the Pope, and this the King of Spain undertook to procure through his
-ambassador at Rome. James was not to appear at all in the affair, but
-with the unconquerable propensity to be meddling personally in every
-negotiation, he could not help despatching George Gage, a Catholic,
-with letters to the Pontiff, as well as to the Cardinals Ludovisio and
-Bandini; and Buckingham, to complete the intercession, sent Bennet, a
-Catholic priest, on the same errand.
-
-The Pope was not likely to grant the favour to James without a _quid
-pro quo_, and therefore, as might have been expected, replied that the
-canons of the Church could only be suspended for the benefit of the
-Church; that the King of England had been very liberal of his promises
-to the late King of Spain, but had performed nothing; he must now give
-proof of his sincerity by relieving the English Catholics from the
-pressure of his penal laws, and the request would be accorded. This was
-a demand _in limine_ which would have shown to any prudent monarch the
-dangerous path he was entering upon; but James trusted to his tortuous
-art of king-craft, and rashly set to work to undo all that he had done
-throughout his reign against the Catholics. He caused an order under the
-Great Seal to be issued, granting pardons to all recusants who should
-apply for them within five years; and the judges were commanded to
-discharge from prison those who gave security for their compliance with
-these terms.
-
-There was a glad and universal acceptance of the proffered lenity by
-the Catholics. The doors of the prisons were opened, and the astonished
-Puritans saw thousands on thousands of the dreaded Papists once more
-coming abroad. There was instantly a cry of terror and indignation
-from John O'Groat's to the Land's End. The pulpits resounded with the
-execrations of enthusiastic preachers on the traitorous dealing of the
-Court, and the depicted horrors of Catholic and Spanish ascendency. James
-trembled, but ordered the Lord Keeper Williams and the Bishop of London
-to assure the public that he was only seeking to gain better treatment
-for the Protestants abroad, whom the Continental princes declared they
-would punish with the same rigour as James had punished the Catholics in
-England, unless the British severity was somewhat mitigated; and that,
-moreover, there was no danger; for the recusants, though out of prison,
-had still the shackles about their heels, and could at any moment be
-remanded. This, without satisfying the Puritans, undid all confidence
-amongst the Catholics. They recalled the habitual duplicity of James and
-felt no longer any security; and when Gondomar boasted in Spain that four
-thousand Catholics had been released in England, those Catholics only
-remarked, "Yes; but we have still the shackles about our heels, and may
-at any moment be thrust again into our dungeons."
-
-His only consolation was that the Spanish match now seemed really to
-progress. On the 5th of January, 1623, the twenty articles securing
-the freedom of her worship to the Infanta in England, the cessation of
-persecution of the Catholics, and the exercise of their religious rites
-in their own houses, were signed by James and Prince Charles. The dower
-of the princess was to be two millions of ducats. The espousals were to
-take place at Madrid by proxy, within forty days from the receipt of the
-dispensation; and the princess was to set out for England within three
-weeks. The time for the final consummation of the marriage, and the
-intervals between the several payments of the dower, were all fixed, and
-Gondomar and Bristol congratulated themselves on the completion of their
-arduous negotiation.
-
-At this crisis, however, arrived two Englishmen at the Earl of Bristol's
-residence at Madrid, under the names of John and Thomas Smith. To the
-ambassador's astonishment and chagrin, on appearing before him, they
-turned out to be no other than the Prince of Wales and Buckingham, who
-had arrived in disguise, and with only three attendants. But how this
-extraordinary and imprudent journey had come about requires to be told
-with some detail. It was said to have originated with Gondomar; it had
-been planned on his visit to London the preceding summer, and had since
-been stimulated by his letters. He is declared to have represented to the
-prince, who complained of delay, that all obstacles would vanish at once
-if he were to suddenly appear and press his own suit. The idea caught
-the imagination of the prince, and was warmly seconded by Buckingham, who
-not only longed to seek adventures among the beauties of Madrid, but also
-hoped to snatch the achievement of the match out of the hands of Bristol,
-whom he hated. If it were really the scheme of the wily Spaniard, he must
-have prided himself greatly on its success; a success, however, which
-produced its own ruin.
-
-When the plan was first opened to James by Charles and Buckingham,
-he gave in to them without hesitation so much did he desire to have
-the affair settled. But on thinking it over alone, he was immediately
-sensible of the danger and the impolitic character of the enterprise. He
-therefore begged the prince and the favourite to give it up, pointing
-out, with great justice, how much they would put themselves in the power
-of the Spaniards, what advantages they would give them over them, and
-what a storm of anger and alarm would break out at home as soon as it
-became known. The two knights-errant bade him dismiss his fears, saying
-that all would go well and that they had selected Sir Francis Cottington
-and Sir Endymion Porter to attend them. James approved their choice,
-but commanded Cottington to tell him plainly what he thought of the
-project. Cottington, who did not seem yet to have been let into the
-secret, on hearing it, was much agitated and declared that it was a rash
-and perilous adventure; whereupon James threw himself upon his bed in an
-agony, crying--"I told you so; I told you so before. I shall be undone,
-and lose baby Charles." The prince and Buckingham were furious at the
-behaviour of Cottington, and handled him severely; but after all, James,
-with his usual weakness, gave his consent, and the travellers set forward
-on the 17th of February, 1623, and after an adventurous journey arrived
-at their destination.
-
-Lord Bristol had despatched a messenger immediately on the prince
-reaching his house, informing the king that his son and friend were
-safe in Madrid, after a journey of sixteen days. Meanwhile, strange
-rumours began to run about the Spanish capital that some great man from
-England had arrived, supposed to be the king himself; and it was deemed
-best to make the fact known to the Court. Accordingly they sent for
-Gondomar, who hurried off to Court with the welcome news. There were
-first private but stately interviews, and then a public reception. The
-prince was first privately conducted to the Monastery of St. Jerome,
-from which the Spanish kings proceed to their coronation, and was then
-brought back publicly by the king, his two brothers, and the _élite_
-of the Spanish nobility. Charles rode at the king's right hand through
-the whole city to the palace, when he was conducted to the apartments
-appropriated to him. He had then a formal introduction to the queen and
-Infanta. Charles had two keys of gold given him, by which he could pass
-into the royal apartments at all hours, yet Spanish etiquette did not
-allow him to converse with the Infanta except in public. Tired of this
-restraint, Charles determined to break through the Court formality, and
-speak unceremoniously with his proposed wife; wherefore, hearing that
-Donna Maria used to go to the Casa de Campo on the other side of the
-river to gather Maydew, he rose early and went thither also. He passed
-through the house and garden, but found that the princess was in the
-orchard, and between him and her a high wall, and the door strongly
-bolted. Without further ceremony he got over the wall, dropped down,
-and seeing the princess at a distance, hastened towards her. But the
-princess, on perceiving him, gave a shriek and ran off; and the old
-marquis, her guardian, falling on his knees before the prince, entreated
-him to retire, as he should lose his head if he permitted the interview.
-Accordingly he let him out and rebolted the door.
-
-Great were the public rejoicings, however, on account of this chivalric
-visit. The king professed to feel himself much complimented by the
-reliance of the English prince on the Spanish honour, on the earnestness
-it evinced in the prosecution of his suit; and the people as firmly
-calculated on his conversion to the Catholic faith. The prisons were
-thrown open; presents and favours were heaped upon him, the king insisted
-on his taking precedence of himself, and assured him that any petition
-which he presented to him for a whole month should be granted. There
-were bull-fights, tournaments, fencing matches, feasts, and religious
-processions, held in his honour and for his amusement.
-
-But at home, dire was the consternation when it was known that Charles
-had gone off with slight attendance to Spain. It was stoutly declared
-that he would never escape alive from amongst the inquisitions and
-monks of that priest-ridden country, or if he did, it would only be as
-a Papist. The freedom of comment on the occasion in the pulpits caused
-James to issue an order through the Bishop of London that the clergy
-should not in their prayers "prejudicate the prince's journey, but only
-pray to God to return him home in safety again to us, and no more."
-Whereupon a preacher, with an air of great simplicity, prayed that the
-prince might return in safety again, and _no more_--that is, as it was
-understood, without a Catholic wife. Yet to pacify his subjects, the
-king informed them that he had sent after them two Protestant chaplains,
-together with all the stuff and ornaments fit for the service of God. And
-he added, "I have fully instructed them, so as all their behaviour and
-service shall, I hope, prove decent and agreeable to the purity of the
-primitive Church, and yet so near the Roman form as can lawfully be done.
-For," says this stern persecutor of Catholicism, "it hath ever been my
-way to go with the Church of Rome _usque ad aras_."
-
-In so very complying a mood was James at this moment, that when these
-chaplains asked him what they were to do if they met the Host in the
-streets, he replied they must avoid meeting it whenever they could; when
-they could not, they must do as the people did there. And poor James soon
-found that he had need of all his moral pliability. The Spanish Court,
-as might have been foreseen, once having the prince in their power,
-resolved to benefit by it. They soon let the prince and Buckingham know
-that the Pope made grave difficulty about the dispensation, and the
-Papal nuncio was sternly set against it, and it was inquired how far the
-prince could go in concession. Buckingham wrote, therefore, to the king
-in these ominous words:--"We would gladly have your directions how far we
-may engage you in the acknowledgment of the Pope's special power, for we
-almost find, if you will be contented to acknowledge the Pope chief head
-under Christ, that the match will be made without him."
-
-This was asking everything and James was brought to a stand. He wrote in
-reply that he did not know what they meant by acknowledging the Pope's
-spiritual supremacy. He was sure they would not have him renounce his
-religion for all the world. "Perhaps," he wrote, "you allude to a passage
-in my book against Cardinal Bellarmine, where I say that if the Pope
-would quit his godhead and usurping over kings, I would acknowledge him
-for chief bishop, to whom all appeals of Churchmen ought to lie _en
-dernier ressort_. That is the farthest my conscience would permit me to
-go; for I am not a monsieur who can shift his religion as easily as he
-can shift his shirt when he cometh from tennis."
-
-[Illustration: PUBLIC RECEPTION OF PRINCE CHARLES IN MADRID. (_See p._
-492.)]
-
-That Buckingham would have advised Charles to abandon his religion for
-the achievement of his object, had he dared, there is little question,
-for his mother was an avowed Papist and was his constant prompter in
-his policy. Before leaving London, the two adventurers had obtained the
-king's solemn promise in writing, that whatever they agreed to with the
-Spanish monarch he would ratify; so that James might well be alarmed
-at their suggestion. Charles, in fact, did not hesitate, in reply to
-a letter from the Pope, to pledge himself to abstain from every act
-hostile to the Catholic religion, and to seek every opportunity of
-accomplishing the reunion of the Church of England with that of Rome.
-The letter--which, Lord Clarendon truly says, "is, by your favour,
-more than a compliment"--may be seen in the Hardwicke papers. Charles
-afterwards said that it was only a promise that he never meant to keep;
-we may therefore see that already his father's notions of king-craft
-had taken full possession of him, which, with his large self-esteem
-and a persevering disposition, produced in him that fatal mixture of
-determination and unscrupulous insincerity which ruined him. Instead of
-a firm resistance to the palpable schemes of the Pope and the Spaniard,
-and a truthful candour which would have convinced them that they had
-no chance of moving him, he led them by his apparent acquiescence to
-believe that they could win him over; and when they had carried him
-beyond the bounds of prudence, and much beyond those of honesty, he had
-no alternative but to steal away and repudiate his own solemn words and
-acts. Is it at all to be wondered at that neither foreign nations nor
-his own could ever after put faith in him? The sophistry and absolutism
-of the father had already destroyed the son, by perverting his moral
-constitution. It is probable that Charles also acquired a strong taste
-for ecclesiastical pomp and circumstance during this visit and its
-religious shows and ceremonies, which falling in afterwards with the
-ambitious taste of Laud, also tended to direct him towards the same
-"_facilis descensus Averni_."
-
-James had despatched after the prince a great number of people, to form
-a becoming attendance on the heir of England. Others flocked thither of
-their own accord and especially Catholic refugees, who swarmed in the
-prince's court, and particularly about Buckingham. The Jesuits did their
-best to convert them, and were encouraged by every appearance of success.
-Though James had sent what he called the "stuff and ornaments" for
-public Protestant worship, we are informed that these were never used;
-for though the Prince had the Earl of Carlisle, and the Lords Mountjoy,
-Holland, Rochfort, Andover, Denbigh, Vaughan, and Kensington, besides
-a number of other courtiers and their dependents around him, they had
-no public worship, as if they were ashamed of their heretical faith,
-or feared to offend their Catholic friends. Charles contented himself
-with bed-chamber prayers. The consequence was, as Howell, who was there,
-wrote, that the Spaniards, hardly believing the English Christians and
-seeing no evidence of worship, set them down as little better than
-infidels. This occasioned great discontent amongst the more conscientious
-of the retinue, and they did not hesitate to avow their religious belief,
-and their contempt of the mummery which they saw around them, which led
-to much scandal and anger. Archie, or Archibald, Armstrong, the famous
-Court fool, whom oddly enough James had sent as well as the Church plate
-and vestments, seemed to think himself privileged by his office to say
-what he pleased, and he did not hesitate to laugh at the religious
-ceremonies, and argue on religious points with all the zeal of a Scottish
-Presbyterian, as he was. Others even proceeded to blows. Sir Edward
-Varney, finding a priest at the bedside of a sick Englishman, struck him
-under the ear and they fell to fighting till they were thrust asunder.
-
-This state of things would not have been tolerated so near the
-Inquisition except for the great end in view--the belief that
-Charles would become a Catholic. Gregory XV. had written to the
-Inquisitor-General to this effect:--"We understand that the Prince of
-Wales, the King of Great Britain's son, is lately arrived there, carried
-with a hope of Catholic marriage. Our desire is that he should not
-stay in vain in the courts of those to whom the defence of the Pope's
-authority, and care of advancing religion, hath procured the renowned
-name of Catholic. Wherefore, by apostolic letters, we exhort his Catholic
-majesty that he would gently endeavour sweetly to reduce the prince to
-the obedience of the Roman Church, to which the ancient kings of Great
-Britain, with Heaven's approbation, submitted their crowns and sceptres.
-Now, to the attaining of this victory, which to the conquered promiseth
-triumphs and principalities of heavenly felicity, we need not exhaust the
-king's treasures, nor levy armies of furious soldiers, but we must fetch
-from heaven the armour of light, whose divine splendour may allure the
-prince's eye, and gently expel all errors from his mind. Now, in the
-managing of these businesses, what power and art you have, we have well
-known long ago; wherefore, we wish you to go like a religious counsellor
-to the Catholic king, and to try all ways which, by this present
-occasion, may benefit the kingdom of Britain and the Church of Rome. The
-matter is of great weight and moment, and therefore not to be amplified
-with words. Whoever shall inflame the mind of this royal youth with a
-love of the Catholic religion, and breed a hate in him of heretical
-impiety, shall begin to open the kingdom of heaven to the Prince of
-Britain, and to gain the kingdom of Britain to the Apostolic See."
-
-It was easy to foresee that this absurd journey would lead to these
-determined attempts to regain the rich islands of Great Britain to
-the Catholic Church. The Catholics everywhere regarded the rupture to
-have been occasioned by Henry VIII.'s Protestant marriage, and nothing
-appeared so likely as that a Catholic marriage would heal it. It was not
-so easy to foresee that Charles, at the age of twenty-three, should so
-consummately act the hypocrite. He wrote to the Pope, in reply to a most
-gracious and paternal letter from his holiness, calling him "Most Holy
-Father," telling him how much he deplored the division of the Churches
-and longed to restore union. Gregory was dead before this extraordinary
-epistle arrived at Rome, but Urban VIII., the new Pope, lifted up his
-hands in joyful astonishment on reading it, and "gave thanks to the
-Father of Mercies, that on the very entrance of his reign a British
-prince performed this kind of obeisance to the Pope of Rome." Having
-apparently so favourable a subject to operate upon, Olivarez now told
-Charles that the treaty entered into through the Earl of Bristol had
-been rather for show than use, and that now, as the prince and his able
-adviser were there themselves, they should make a real and effective
-compact. Accordingly, in spite of the strenuous remonstrances of the two
-British ambassadors against re-opening the question already settled,
-Charles and Buckingham permitted it; and the Spanish minister found
-little difficulty in introducing several new and more favourable clauses.
-There was, in fact, a public and a private treaty agreed to. By the
-public one the marriage was to be celebrated in Spain and afterwards in
-England; the children were to remain in the care of their mother till ten
-years of age; the Infanta, was to have an open church and chapel for the
-free exercise of her religion, and her chaplains were to be Spaniards
-under the control of their own bishops. By the private treaty it was
-engaged that the penal laws against Catholics should be suspended; that
-Catholic worship should be freely performed in private houses; that no
-attempts should be made to entice the princess to abandon her hereditary
-faith; and that the king should swear to obtain the repeal of the penal
-Statutes by Parliament.
-
-When this treaty was sent home, James was struck with consternation. He
-had pledged himself to Charles and Buckingham not to communicate any of
-their proceedings to the Council; but the present responsibility was
-overwhelming and he therefore opened his difficulty to the Council. After
-making what the Secretary of the Council calls "a most sad, fatherly,
-kind, wise, pious, manly, stout speech as ever was heard," the lords of
-the Council came to the conclusion, though reluctantly and with fear,
-that the prince's honour must be maintained and the oath to keep the
-treaty taken. This, however, was only the public treaty; James kept the
-private one to himself and swore to it separately.
-
-Having got the English Court, as they supposed, thus secured, both the
-Pope and the Spaniard raised their heads still higher and showed that
-they meant to exact the utmost possible concession. In Spain the Papal
-dispensation for the marriage was already in the hands of the nuncio,
-but he refused to deliver it till the King of England, according to his
-oath, had obtained the repeal of the penal Statutes by Parliament; while
-in England James refused to go a step farther till the marriage was
-celebrated and the first instalment of the dower paid. When the king's
-resolve was known, it was conceded that the marriage should at once take
-place, but that the princess and the dower should remain in Spain till
-the stipulated indulgence to the English Catholics was obtained from
-Parliament. James refused this, and sent word that the marriage must
-be celebrated and the prince bring home his bride, or come without the
-wedding: this brought the Spaniards down a little. The ambassadors in
-London assured James that a royal proclamation would satisfy them, but he
-replied that a proclamation without the added sanction of Parliament was
-no law; that, however, he would issue an order for Catholic indulgence
-under the Great Seal. This they were obliged to be satisfied with; but
-when it came, to the Lord Keeper Williams, he refused to put the Great
-Seal to it, as a most dangerous act, without precedent.
-
-As there was no prospect of a speedy settlement, Charles, who had
-probably grown tired of a princess surrounded by such a hedge of
-difficulties and delays, desired his father to send him an order for his
-recall. It would appear as if the prince had planned the mode of his
-retreat, for the preparations for the marriage of the Infanta proceeded,
-on the understanding that she was to continue in Spain till spring.
-James was apparently occupied in preparing grand wedding presents for
-the bride, and a small fleet to bring her home. This, if carried out,
-must have been very onerous to him; for he had already made doleful
-representations to Charles and Buckingham, of the exhaustion of his
-treasury by his remittance of five thousand pounds, and three thousand
-pounds for their "tilting stuff," &c. At Madrid the marriage articles
-were signed and confirmed by oath, the Infanta assumed the title of
-Princess of England, and had a Court formed of corresponding importance.
-
-Never was the marriage so far off. Charles and Buckingham had resolved
-to steal away and abandon the whole affair. They felt that they were
-regularly entrapped through their folly; and other causes rendered a
-speedy exit necessary. Buckingham--vain, empty, and sensual--had given
-way without caution or control to his licentiousness and love of parade.
-To make him more fitting for the companion of his son, James had raised
-him to the rank of duke since his departure. His extravagance, his
-amours, his haughty bearing, and unceremonious treatment of both his own
-prince and the grandees of Spain, astonished all Madrid. He introduced
-the very worst people, men and women, into the palace, and would sit
-with his hat on when the prince himself was uncovered. His behaviour
-in the presence of the King of Spain was just as irreverent, and the
-minister Olivarez was so incensed at his insolence that he detested him.
-He had the soul of an upstart lackey under the title of a duke, and was
-never easy unless he could outshine all the grandees at the Spanish
-Court. He was perpetually importuning the king to supply orders, jewels,
-and money. Georges and garters were sent over in numbers to confer on
-different courtiers, and the constant cry of Buckingham's letters was
-"Jewels, jewels, jewels." He represented how rich the Spaniards were in
-jewels, and how poor those looked which they themselves already had. He
-described the prince as quite mean in his appearance, compared with
-the Spanish splendour. "Sir, he hath neither chain nor hatband, and I
-beseech you consider first how rich they are in jewels here; then in
-what a poor equipage he came in; how he hath no other means to appear
-like a king's son; how they are usefullest at such a time as this, when
-you may do yourself, your son, and the nation honour; and lastly, how it
-will neither cost nor hazard you anything. These reasons, I hope, since
-you have already ventured your chiefest jewel, your son, will serve
-to persuade you to let loose these more after him:--first, your best
-hatband, the Portugal diamond, the rest of the pendent diamonds to make
-up a necklace to give his mistress, and the best rope of pearl, with
-a rich chain or two for himself to wear, or else your dog must want a
-collar, which is the ready way to put him into it. There are many other
-jewels, which are of so mean quality as deserve not that name, but will
-save much in your purse, and serve very well for presents."
-
-The prince quite aware that he had entangled himself in engagements that
-he could only keep at the risk of his father's crown, and Buckingham
-equally aware of the hatred which he had excited in a proud and vengeful
-nation, the two agreed to put the most honest possible face on the
-matter, and get away. Charles, therefore, presented his father's order
-for their return, and pledging himself to fulfil the marriage according
-to the articles; nay, appearing most eager for its accomplishment before
-Christmas, they were permitted to take their leave, loaded with valuable
-presents. The king gave the prince a set of fine Barbary horses, a number
-of the finest pictures by Titian and Correggio, a diamond-hilted sword
-and dagger, and various other arms of the richest fashion and ornament.
-The queen gave him a great many bags of amber, dressed kid-skins, and
-other articles; and Olivarez also presented him with a number of fine
-Italian pictures and costly articles of furniture. In return, Charles
-gave the king diamond-studded hilts for a sword and dagger, to the
-queen a pair of rich earrings, and to the Infanta the string of pearls
-recommended by Buckingham, to which was attached a diamond anchor, as an
-_emblem of his constancy_. He affected the utmost distress at leaving his
-bride even for a short time only, and the princess ordered a Mass for his
-safe journey home.
-
-Never did appearances look more real, never were they more hollow. The
-Spaniards had endeavoured by every act, into which the sacred name of
-religion had been dragged, to make the most of their advantage in the
-presence of the prince, and to extort terms beyond the original contract;
-they were, therefore, properly punished. But nothing could justify
-the deep and deliberate falsehood, and repeated perjury of a young
-Protestant prince, whose conduct stamped a deep stain on his country and
-on Protestantism itself. The Protestants had long and loudly denounced
-the jesuitry of the Catholics, and asserted that no faith could be put in
-their most solemn engagements. Here, however, was a voluntary surrender
-of the pure and lofty morality of Protestantism, a willing abasement of
-its honour to the level of the worst Catholic duplicity. We shall see
-that the whole of Charles's conduct was lamentably in keeping with this
-unprincipled beginning.
-
-[Illustration: PRINCE CHARLES'S FAREWELL OF THE INFANTA. (_See p._ 496.)]
-
-Buckingham was impatient to be in England, from news which he had
-received that certain courtiers were busily at work in endeavouring
-to undermine his credit with the king. Behind him he left nothing but
-detestation, which Olivarez, the chief minister, took no pains to
-conceal. When the prince and he set out they were attended by the king
-himself, and a brilliant assemblage of the nobles, who added to the
-prince's presents a number of fine Andalusian horses and mules. They
-halted for several days at the Escurial, where they were splendidly
-entertained, and then the king rode on with them as far as Campillo. The
-parting of the affianced brothers-in-law was of the most affectionate
-kind, and the king ordered a column to be erected on the spot, as a
-lasting monument of it. So Charles rode on, attended by several nobles
-and entertained most honourably at their castles. He visited the cell
-of a celebrated nun at Carrion, who was held to be a saint, and to whom
-Donna Maria had given him a letter.
-
-Arrived at the port where the English fleet was waiting for him, he
-no sooner stepped on board than he laughed at the credulity of the
-Spaniards, called them fools, and wondered at his easy escape from them.
-They landed at Portsmouth on the 5th of October, and there and all the
-way to and through London their reception was one piece of exultation at
-the safe return of the prince from the clutches of the dreaded Spaniards.
-The country resounded with the ringing of bells, the firing of cannon,
-the whizzing of fireworks, and the shouts of the people. The clergy,
-without waiting for royal orders, put up thanksgiving in the churches for
-the prince's happy arrival.
-
-Meanwhile, the prince's perfidy was awaking the Spaniards from a trance
-of astonishment to a tempest of rage. From Segovia, he had sent back
-Clerk, a creature of Buckingham's, to the Earl of Bristol. Calculating
-that the Papal dispensation would by that time have arrived, Clerk was to
-hand to Bristol an order from the prince not to present the proxies left
-in his hands--which were to be given up immediately after the delivery
-of the dispensation--till he received further orders from home. The
-reason alleged by Charles was that he feared on the marriage by proxy
-the Infanta would retire into a convent. The idea was so absurd that
-Bristol saw at once that it was a mere pretence to break off the match.
-As his honour as well as the honour of the nation was implicated, he at
-once hastened to the king and laid the doubts of the prince before him.
-The astonishment of the king may be conceived. He had fixed the 29th
-of November for the espousals, the 29th of December for the marriage:
-orders for public rejoicings were already issued, a platform covered
-with tapestry was erected from the palace to the church, and the
-nobility had been summoned to attend. He gave Bristol every assurance
-that the princess should be delivered to the English without delay, and
-Bristol despatched these assurances in all haste to James. Meanwhile,
-the Countess Olivarez communicated privately to the Infanta the prince's
-message, at which she laughed heartily, saying that she never, in all her
-life, had a mind to be a nun, and thought she should hardly turn one now
-merely to avoid the Prince of Wales.
-
-Only four days before the one appointed for the espousals, three couriers
-on the heels of each other arrived from England, bearing from James the
-message that he was perfectly willing for the marriage to proceed, on
-condition that the King of Spain pledged himself, under his own hand, to
-take up arms for the restoration of the Palatine and to fix the day for
-hostilities to commence. At an early period of the negotiation, Philip
-had declared that on the completion of the agreement for the marriage, he
-would give James a _carte blanche_ regarding the affairs of the Elector
-Palatine, and whatever terms James required, he pledged himself to accede
-to. Now he repeated that although he could not in honour proclaim war
-against his nephew the Emperor--being engaged as mediator between him
-and the Palsgrave, at the instance of James--yet he would pledge himself
-in writing never to cease, by intercession or by warfare, till he had
-restored the Palatine to his hereditary dominion. Bristol and his fellow
-ambassador thought this assurance amply satisfactory; they sent off
-a messenger in hot haste, bearing their assurances that all possible
-difficulty was removed; and they went on putting their households into
-velvet and silver lace, to do honour to the marriage ceremony, as if
-it were really to take place. Bristol wrote more earnestly to the
-king, reminding him that the honour of king, prince, and ambassadors
-was most solemnly pledged; that the matters of the Palsgrave had been
-treated of separately, and that his majesty had always represented to
-Bristol himself that he regarded the marriage as a certain pledge of the
-Palatine's restoration. He added that the prince and my lord duke had
-also acted entirely on that opinion during their stay there. Charles and
-Buckingham, in fact, seem to have taken very little trouble about the
-ex-King and Queen of Bohemia.
-
-But all was in vain; the prince had determined not to complete the
-marriage. It was believed that the view which he had had of the Princess
-Henrietta at Paris had, even before his reaching Spain, changed his
-intentions; and a courier brought from James an order for Bristol not to
-deliver the proxy till Christmas, "because that holy and joyful time was
-best fitting so notable and blessed an action as the marriage." When we
-add that the proxy was well known to the king and prince to expire before
-Christmas, we can duly estimate this awful language of hypocrisy. The
-King of Spain saw at once that he had been imposed upon; he gave instant
-orders to stop the preparations for the marriage, for the Infanta to drop
-the title of Princess of England, which she is said to have done with
-tears, and to return to her usual state. The fury of indignation against
-the English in Spain may readily be conceived.
-
-The Earl of Bristol had acted too much the part of a faithful and
-honourable servant of the Crown to escape the censure of such a Court,
-and the vengeance of such a man as Buckingham. He had not hesitated, in
-spite of the remonstrances of the prince, to represent to James, during
-their sojourn in Madrid, the disgraceful conduct of that despicable
-libertine. James had the folly or the wickedness to show to the favourite
-these letters, and Bristol received his recall. The ambassador wrote to
-James requesting a remittance sufficient to bear him home, having pledged
-all his lady's jewels, and incurred a debt of fifty thousand crowns for
-Prince Charles, so that he had not funds even for his journey.
-
-It does not appear that James or Charles took any notice of this most
-reasonable appeal; but Philip not only exonerated Bristol from any
-share in the disgraceful proceedings, but warned him of the danger
-which threatened him at home, and offered to make him one of the most
-distinguished men of his own realm, if he would take up his abode in
-Spain. Bristol, however, declined the noble offer, saying that he would
-rather lose his head in England, conscious as he was of innocence, than
-live a duke or Infantado in Spain with the imputation of treason, which
-was sure in such a case to be cast on him. Though he was ordered to
-quit Spain without delay, he was instructed to travel slowly, and on
-his landing he was commanded to retire to his house in the country, and
-consider himself a prisoner. The malicious Buckingham did his best to
-have him committed to the Tower, but the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of
-Pembroke opposed this injustice with effect.
-
-James had got his baby Charles and his dog Steenie home again, but he
-soon found that they had involved him in troubles and debts, which very
-much abated the pleasure of their company. They had brought home neither
-wife nor her much desired money; on the contrary, they had spent his
-last shilling, increased his debts, thrown away the greater part of his
-jewels, had left the cause of his daughter and son-in-law in a worse
-position than before, and now were vehement to engage him in a war with
-Spain. Under the gloomy oppression of these embarrassments, he lost even
-his appetite for hunting and hawking, shut himself up alone at Newmarket,
-and wrote to the Palatine, recommending him to make his submission to
-the Emperor; to offer his eldest son, who was to be educated in England,
-to him for his daughter; to accept the administration of his hereditary
-territory, and to allow the Duke of Bavaria the title of Elector for
-life. Under the advice of Charles and Buckingham the Palsgrave positively
-declined any such arrangement.
-
-The only resource now was to call a Parliament, but this was a step
-which had rarely brought him satisfaction. Before doing this he took
-the opinion of the Privy Council during the Christmas holidays on
-these points:--Whether the King of Spain had acted sincerely in the
-negotiations for the marriage? and whether he had given sufficient
-provocation to call for war? The Council unanimously supported the idea
-of the King of Spain's sincere dealing, and a majority declared that
-there was no just cause for war.
-
-This result, so hostile to the wishes of Buckingham, filled him with
-chagrin, and his wrath fell with especial weight on Williams the Lord
-Keeper, and Cranfield the Treasurer. These men had been his most servile
-creatures; they were, in fact, altogether his creatures; but during his
-absence they had seen such evidence of displeasure in the king towards
-him, that they imagined his power was about at an end and they were
-emboldened to oppose him. But his fierce displeasure and the symptoms of
-even growing popularity which showed themselves round him, terrified them
-and they made the most humble submission.
-
-On the 2nd of February, 1624, Williams wrote a most abject letter to
-Buckingham, begging him to forgive his past conduct, "to receive his
-soul in gage and pawn:" they were reconciled. People who before hated
-Buckingham now looked upon him as a patriot, for having broken off the
-Papist match, and for seeking to punish Spain by war. The heads of the
-Opposition in the House of Commons, the Earl of Southampton, the Lord
-Say and Sele, and others came over to him; and through Preston, a Puritan
-minister and chaplain to the prince, he was brought in favour with many
-other members of the country party. Buckingham and Charles assured James
-that the demand of war with Spain was the only cry for him, as nothing
-would so readily draw money from the Commons. Accordingly, though
-trembling and reluctant, James summoned Parliament, which met on the 19th
-of February.
-
-[Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE, MADRID. (_From a photograph by Frith,
-Reigate._)]
-
-He opened it in much humbler tones than ever before. He expressed a great
-desire to manifest his love for his people. He then informed them that he
-had long been engaged in treaties with different countries for the public
-good, and had actually sent his son and the man whom he most trusted to
-Spain, and all that had passed there should be laid before them; and he
-asked them to judge him charitably, and to give him their advice on the
-whole matter. One thing he begged to assure them of, that in everything,
-public and private, he had always made a reservation for the cause of
-religion; and though he had occasionally relaxed the penal statutes
-against Catholics a little, yet as to suspending or altering any of them,
-"I never," he exclaimed, "promised or yielded; I never thought it with my
-heart or spoke it with my mouth!" And this notwithstanding that on the
-20th of July previous, he had sworn in the Spanish treaty to procure the
-abolition of all those laws from Parliament; a fact notorious not only to
-Charles, Buckingham, and Bristol, but to all the Lords of the Council,
-and the Spanish ambassadors still in London. He concluded by begging them
-to remember that time was precious, and to avoid all impertinent and
-irritating inquiries.
-
-On the 24th of February, a conference of both Houses was held at
-Whitehall, at which Buckingham went into the detail of the journey of
-the prince and himself to Spain. Bristol was prohibited from attending
-Parliament, and the duke gave his own version of the affair. According
-to him--for he produced only such despatches as had been in a private
-conference with the Lord Keeper Williams deemed safe; "his highness
-wishing," says Williams, "to draw on a breach with Spain without ripping
-up of private despatches"--the Spaniards behaved in a most treacherous
-manner. He asserted that after long years of negotiation the king could
-bring the court of Spain to nothing; that the Earl of Bristol had merely
-got from them professions and declarations; that though the prince
-had gone himself to test their sincerity, he had met with nothing but
-falsehood and deceit; and that as to the restitution of the Palatinate,
-he had found it hopeless from that quarter.
-
-Perhaps no minister bronzed in impudence by years of crooked dealing ever
-presented such a tissue of base and arrant fictions to the Commons of
-England. The despatches, had they been produced, would have covered the
-king, the prince, and the favourite, with confusion. Bristol could have
-proved, had he been allowed, that he had actually completed the treaty
-when the prince and Buckingham came and put an end to it. So indignant
-were the Spanish ambassadors at this shameful misrepresentation of the
-real facts, that they protested vehemently against the whole of the
-statement, and declared that had any nobleman in Spain spoken thus of the
-King of England, he should have paid with his head for the slander.
-
-Buckingham was not only defended but applauded. The prince during the
-whole time stood at his elbow, and aided his memory or his ingenuity.
-Coke declared that Buckingham was the saviour of his country; and out of
-doors the people kindled bonfires in his honour, sung songs to his glory,
-and insulted the Spanish ambassadors. The two Houses, in an address to
-the Throne, declared that neither the treaty with Spain for the marriage,
-nor that for the restitution of the Palatinate, could be continued with
-honour or safety.
-
-Of all things James dreaded war: he complained of his poverty, his debts,
-of his desire of quietness at his years; but he had not the resolution
-to resist the importunities of Buckingham and the prince, backed by a
-strong cry from the deluded people, especially as he saw no other mode
-of obtaining the money so necessary to him. In addressing Parliament,
-he stated candidly the many reasons against the war; the emptiness of
-his exchequer and the impoverished condition of his allies; that Ireland
-would demand large sums, and the repairs of the navy more; and then he
-put to them these questions--whether he could with honour engage in a war
-which concerned his own family exclusively? and whether the means would
-be found for prosecuting it vigorously?
-
-A deputation from both Houses answered these queries by calling for war,
-and offering to support him in it with their persons and fortunes. This
-address was read by Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who but six
-months before had most reluctantly sworn to the Spanish treaty. This was,
-indeed, a triumph to the archbishop, but did not make the singularity the
-less of putting an address for war into the hands of a clergyman; and
-one, moreover, who had so lately fallen into great difficulty on account
-of his own accidental shedding of blood. When the archbishop came to the
-passage where James was congratulated on "his having become sensible of
-the insincerity of the Spaniards--" "Hold!" exclaimed the king; "you
-insinuate what I have never spoken. Give me leave to tell you that I have
-not expressed myself to be either sensible or insensible of their good
-or bad dealing. Buckingham hath made you a relation on which you are to
-judge, but I never yet declared my mind upon it."
-
-James, indeed, knew very well to the contrary; the Spaniards had been too
-grasping, and had thus overshot themselves, but they meant to complete
-the marriage; and it was a most unjustifiable thing in James to go to
-war with them on the ground of their insincerity, if he did not believe
-in its existence. But James was desirous that as Buckingham had so
-strenuously called for war to avenge his own petty, private piques, he
-should bear the blame of it.
-
-James told them plainly that if he went to war he should demand ample
-advances, and when five days afterwards the question of supplies came
-on, he demanded seven hundred thousand pounds to commence the war with,
-and an annual sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds towards the
-liquidation of his debts. The amount startled the Commons, in spite
-of their magniloquent offer to support him with life and fortune; but
-Buckingham and the prince, who were as mad for war as they had before
-been for their foolish adventure, let the Commons know that a much less
-sum would be accepted, and they voted three hundred thousand pounds
-for the year, which the king consented should be put into the hands
-of the treasurers appointed by the House, who were to pay money only
-on a warrant from the Council of War. James also agreed that he would
-not end the war without their consent. The vote was accompanied by
-another address, vindicating Buckingham from the censures of the Spanish
-ambassadors, and then the king issued a proclamation announcing that both
-the treaties with Spain were at an end.
-
-Thus was James, after twenty years of peace, except in the character of
-an ally of his son-in-law, launched into a war. The Spaniards ridiculed
-the idea; for on the authority of Gondomar, they had conceived not only a
-very contemptible idea of James, but that the kingdom was poor, torn with
-religious factions, and feeble from the timid and vacillating character
-of the king. Only one peer, the Earl of Rutland, had the good sense to
-oppose the vote for the war.
-
-The restraint of the desire to please Spain during the negotiations for
-the marriage being removed, the Houses of Parliament indulged their old
-hatred of the Catholics by uniting in a petition to the king to renew
-their persecution. James again protested that he never intended to
-abolish those laws, and would never consent to the insertion of a clause
-in any treaty whatever, binding him to an indulgence of Catholics. And
-Charles also bound himself by an oath, that "whenever it should please
-God to bestow upon him any lady that were Popish, she should have no
-further liberty but for her own family, and no advantage to any recusants
-at home."
-
-Accordingly a proclamation was issued, ordering all missionaries to
-quit the kingdom by a certain day under penalty of death; judges and
-magistrates were ordered to enforce the laws as aforetime; the Lord Mayor
-was enjoined to arrest all persons coming from Mass in the houses of the
-ambassadors, and the bishops were called upon to advise the king how the
-children of the Papists might be brought up Protestants. The Commons
-called on every member to name all Catholics holding office in his town
-or county, and prepared a list of them, which they sent to the Lords;
-but the Lords declared that before they could unite in a prayer for the
-dismissal of any one, they must have evidence of his guilt; and thus the
-vindictive scheme fell to the ground.
-
-The Commons, checked in this quarter, turned their attention to their
-more legitimate prosecution of jobbers and holders of injurious patents.
-They presented a list of eleven such grievances to the king, who replied
-that he had his grievances too: they had encroached on his prerogatives;
-they had condemned patents of unquestionable usefulness; and had been
-guided in their quest after them by lawyers, who, he would say it to
-their faces, were in the whole kingdom the greatest grievances of all;
-for where a suit was of no benefit to either litigant, they made it so
-to themselves. But this did not prevent them from flying at high game.
-Buckingham had never forgiven Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex and Lord
-Treasurer, for turning against him in his absence; and the Opposition
-party, with whom the duke was now connected, took the lead in prosecuting
-him on a charge of bribery, oppression, and neglect of duty. James was
-indignant at this attack, but had not resolution enough to ward it off;
-though he told Buckingham that he was a fool, and making a rod for his
-own breech, and Charles that he would live to have his bellyful of
-impeachments. Cranfield was condemned to a fine of fifty thousand pounds,
-to be imprisoned during his majesty's pleasure, and for ever excluded
-from office, from Parliament, and the verge of the Court. Williams, the
-Lord Keeper, had also a narrow escape. Notwithstanding his cringing at
-the feet of Buckingham, the favourite had by no means forgiven him;
-petitions against him were presented to the Committee of Inquiry, but he
-again sued humbly to Buckingham, and having had the opportunity during
-the Session of doing him a service, the duke let him off with the proud
-remark, "I shall not seek your ruin, but I shall cease to study your
-fortune."
-
-Buckingham and Charles now persuaded the king to change his foreign
-policy. They sent envoys all over Europe to engage the different powers
-by any argument and by rich presents to co-operate in the war against
-Spain and Austria for the restitution of the Palatinate. To Sweden,
-Denmark, and the Protestant States of Germany, they urged the necessity
-of reducing the power of the Catholic princes on the Continent. Promises
-of liberal subsidies were added, and the concurrence of these States
-was pledged. It was a more difficult matter to influence the Catholic
-countries of France, Venice, and Savoy to a war which was actually aimed
-at the existence of their own religion. But the ancient enmity of these
-States against Austria prevailed over their religious scruples, and they
-undertook to assist indirectly, by making a show of hostilities against
-Spain, so as to prevent her from giving effectual aid to Austria, and by
-allowing soldiers to be raised within their territories, as well as by
-furnishing money.
-
-With Holland they had effected a league, and undertaken to send troops to
-resist the invasion of Spain and Austria, when the news of a frightful
-tragedy, perpetrated by the Dutch in the East, upon the English there,
-arrived in England. This was what has become so well known in history as
-the massacre of Amboyna.
-
-Since the Dutch had enjoyed their long truce with Spain, they had been
-zealously colonising and trading to the East. Besides Batavia, they laid
-claim to all the Spice Islands in the Indian Archipelago, from which
-they had expelled the Portuguese. On one of these islands, Amboyna, the
-English East India Company had, in 1612, established a small settlement,
-to trade with the natives for cloves. The Dutch compelled them to retire,
-but in consequence of a treaty in 1619, the English had returned thither,
-and established a settlement at Cambello. In the whole population there
-were only about twenty English and about thirty Japanese, whilst there
-were two hundred Dutch soldiers besides other Dutchmen in the Civil
-Service. Yet on pretence of a conspiracy between the English and Japanese
-to surprise the garrison and expel the Dutch, in 1623 the latter seized
-Captain Towerson and nine other Englishmen, nine Japanese, and one
-Portuguese, and after torturing them into a confession, cut off their
-heads.
-
-The horror with which the news of this atrocious deed was received,
-threatened to ruin Buckingham's plans. But the English minister made a
-strong complaint on the subject; the States made humble apologies and
-promises of ample redress, and thus it was contrived for the moment to
-smooth over the difficulty. It was the more readily done because the
-unpopular Spaniards had already laid siege to Breda; and six thousand
-troops were despatched from England to enable Prince Maurice of Orange
-to cope with the able Spanish general Spinola. Spinola carried Breda in
-defiance of the Dutch and English; and the Prince of Orange, hearing that
-Antwerp had been left without a sufficient garrison, marched thither to
-surprise it but with equally ill success. To obtain fresh men and money,
-Count Mansfeldt, the Palatine's old auxiliary general, came over to
-England in the autumn. He was promised twenty thousand pounds a month,
-and twelve thousand Englishmen were pressed into his service. With these
-he set sail, to reach as soon as possible his army of French and German
-mercenaries on the borders of the Palatinate. But the French, who had
-agreed to allow this force to pass through their territory, refused, on
-account of their disorderly character; for they were the scum of their
-own country, and several, on their march through it, had been hanged for
-their outrages. Mansfeldt conducted them to the island of Zealand, but
-there also the authorities were averse from their landing; and while
-remaining cooped up in small miserable transports, in bad weather, and on
-a swampy shore, they began to perish of fever. Five thousand of them had
-died before they reached the borders of the Palatinate, and the united
-force was still too feeble to accomplish anything. Maurice of Orange,
-meanwhile, having done nothing at Antwerp, retired into winter quarters,
-and soon after died at the Hague; whereupon the Earl of Southampton and
-other English officers returned home. Such was the miserable result of
-the campaign into which James had been hurried by the folly of Charles
-and Buckingham.
-
-The melancholy thoughts of James were diverted from dwelling on these
-wretched affairs by the prospect of the marriage of Charles and Henrietta
-Maria, the youngest sister of the King of France.
-
-It was a curious fact that at the time of Charles's looking out for a
-wife from one of the principal houses of Europe, the prospect of an
-English royal marriage was made gloomy by the most awful reflections to
-both France and Spain. The last Spanish Queen of England was Catherine of
-Aragon, who had found such a tyrant in the sanguinary Henry VIII., and
-suffered divorce and severe usage; the last French queen was Margaret
-of Anjou, who had been driven from the country after the most heroic
-endeavours to maintain her husband on the throne. Besides these sombre
-memories, the question presented formidable difficulties from the temper
-of the English people regarding Popery. Politically the alliance was
-attractive, and this is generally all-sufficient in regal matrimony.
-But it was singular that the present marriage with a French princess
-was followed by similar and even more fearful results than the former.
-Henrietta Maria married Charles only to engage in a similar contest for
-the retention of the throne as Margaret of Anjou, and not only to see her
-husband deposed but put to death.
-
-Charles is supposed by many to have been struck by the young Princess
-of France at his visit to the French Court on his way to Spain, and to
-have gone there prepared to break off the match. It is probable, however,
-that the thought of Henrietta came back more strongly upon him after he
-found himself disappointed in Donna Maria of Spain; for independently
-of the other difficulties already related attending Charles's Spanish
-courtship, it is very likely that he was not extremely fascinated by
-the Infanta. On the way to Spain, Henrietta, as seen by him, was merely
-a girl of little more than fourteen years of age, of short stature, and
-visible but for a brief space. The impression which she left could not
-be very vivid; but the Queen of France, the elder sister of Donna Maria,
-was extremely beautiful and, as Charles himself said in his letters to
-his father at the time, had so much struck him as to inspire him "with a
-greater desire to see her sister." There can be little doubt that Charles
-was disappointed in his expectation, for he was of that romantic turn
-that had he been strongly fascinated by the lady, he would have broken
-through all difficulties for her sake. But at the Court of Spain he met
-with another queen, the sister of Louis of France and of Henrietta, who
-not only cast the Infanta into the shade by her beauty and grace, but
-actually suggested to Charles the more desirable union with her sister
-of France. The rigid etiquette of the Spanish Court prevented much
-intercourse between Charles and the queen; she dared not even converse
-with him in French without express permission, and one opportunity to
-do so having been obtained, she begged him never to speak to her again,
-for that it was the custom in Spain to poison all gentlemen who were
-very marked in their attentions to the queen. But she seized that one
-opportunity to say that "she wished he would marry her sister Henrietta,
-which indeed he would be able to do, because his engagement with the
-Infanta would be certainly broken."
-
-[Illustration: THE LADIES OF THE FRENCH COURT AND THE PORTRAIT OF PRINCE
-CHARLES. (_See p._ 506.)]
-
-On the other hand, there was a decided desire in the French Court for
-this alliance, despite past experience. Mary de Medici, the queen-mother
-of France, had acquired a predominating influence in the government of
-her son, Louis XIII., by means of her clever and intriguing almoner
-Richelieu, who soon mounted into vast power in the State. She entertained
-a strong hope of effecting a marriage for her daughter with the heir
-of England, and was no doubt early informed of the probability of the
-failure of the Spanish courtship. It was soon conveyed to Charles by
-the English ambassador at Paris, that Henrietta had said, "The Prince
-of Wales need not have gone so far as Madrid to look for a wife."
-This following the suggestion of the Queen of Spain, left no doubt
-of the wishes of the Court of France, and the bait seems to have been
-soon taken. Buckingham would certainly promote the idea to spite the
-Spaniards; and Henry Rich, Lord Kensington, appeared in Paris before
-the Spanish match was formally broken off, to open the subject to the
-queen-mother.
-
-[Illustration: HENRIETTA MARIA.]
-
-Mary de Medici, though extremely anxious for the marriage, played
-the part of the politician well under Richelieu, and gave no decided
-encouragement to the hints of the English envoy, till he assured her
-plainly that the match with Spain was positively broken off. Even
-then, she told Lord Kensington that "she could not consider the matter
-seriously, as she had received no intimation of such proposal from the
-King of England, and that the princess could not make advances; she must
-be sought." On this, Kensington spoke out with authority, and received
-a favourable answer. It is asserted that a great sensation was excited
-at the French Court, and the ladies crowded round Lord Kensington to
-have a view of the prince's portrait, which he carried in a locket; and
-the locket was soon privately borrowed by the princess and kept for a
-good long observation, she expressing her satisfaction with the looks of
-her royal lover. Kensington, by his courtly assiduity at Paris and his
-letters to Charles, endeavoured to create a strong personal interest in
-the prince and princess towards each other. Hay, Earl of Carlisle, one of
-James's favourites, a handsome, empty fop, who prided himself on adorning
-his person with lace and jewels to the amount of forty thousand pounds,
-was sent as a formal ambassador for the marriage negotiation, the real
-conductor of it still being Kensington. A miniature portrait of Henrietta
-was sent to Charles, who appeared to be enraptured with it.
-
-So far all went well. But notwithstanding the anxious desire for the
-marriage on the part of the French Court, it was not likely that so
-crafty a diplomatist as Richelieu would make an easy bargain for the
-English. The portion of the princess was settled at eight hundred
-thousand crowns. She was pledged to renounce all claims for herself
-and her descendants on the crown of France. Then came the question of
-religion. James and Charles had lately bound themselves by the most
-solemn oaths that a Catholic wife of the prince should have indulgence
-in that respect only for her own private worship; and that no toleration
-whatever should be extended to the English Catholics on account of such a
-marriage. But this was not likely to pass. The Pope Urban, in the first
-place, was extremely unfriendly to the match. He expected little good
-from a prince who had shown such duplicity in the Spanish courtship; and
-he predicted that the alliance, if effected, would be disastrous; being
-fully informed by the seminary priests who were in England, secretly
-prosecuting the support of Catholicism, of the determined temper of the
-people on that score, and assured by them that if the king dared to relax
-the penal laws he would not be king long; and if he did not soften their
-rigour, the Pope argued, what prospect of happiness could there be for a
-Catholic queen? He was, therefore, averse from granting a dispensation.
-
-Under these circumstances the negotiation appeared for some time at a
-stand. On the part of the English people, the opposition was scarcely
-perceptible. They saw that they were pretty certain to have a Catholic
-queen; the Stuart family did not incline to stoop to the alliance of any
-further petty Protestant princes; the experiment of the Palatinate was
-not encouraging. The people, therefore, were far more disposed to receive
-a daughter of great Henry IV., who had been a Protestant at heart even
-when he had yielded the profession of his faith to political necessity,
-than a grand-daughter of Philip II., who had rendered his memory so
-odious in England and all over the world by bloody persecutions of the
-Protestants. On the part of the French, however, the proceedings every
-day seemed involved in growing difficulties.
-
-Richelieu, who, up to the time of the breaking off the Spanish match, was
-most compliant, now insisted on the concession to the Catholics of all
-the advantages stipulated for by Spain. He declared that it would be an
-affront to his sovereign to offer less. James, despite his recent oath,
-signed a paper, promising indulgence to the Catholics, which Kensington
-and Carlisle assured Richelieu was quite sufficient; but it had no effect
-on the astute French minister. "We did sing a song to the deaf," wrote
-the ambassadors, "for he would not endure to hear of it." In vain did
-they remind him that the French Court had promised that if they gave
-toleration to the Catholics, it would send soldiers to the Palatinate,
-and unite their interests with those of England entirely. Richelieu
-did not deny this, but contended that the security was not sufficient;
-they must have an actual treaty. Meanwhile Lord Nithsdale, a Catholic,
-was sent post haste to Rome, to make promises of favour to the English
-Catholics in order to procure the dispensation.
-
-At length the French Court agreed to accept the secret agreement of
-James, which was to the effect that the English Catholics should enjoy
-a greater freedom of religion than had been guaranteed by the Spanish
-contract. This was signed by James, Charles, and the Secretary of State,
-on the 8th of November, and Louis placed his signature on the 12th to the
-treaty of marriage. By this treaty it was provided, not indeed expressly,
-as many historians have asserted, that the children of the marriage
-should be brought up Roman Catholics till their thirteenth year, and that
-they should remain under the queen's care till that age; a stipulation
-amounting very much to the same thing; for though Charles chose to
-construe the article in his own way, the mother used her opportunity thus
-guaranteed to fix the Catholic faith firmly in the hearts of her sons,
-as was too well and too disastrously shown in the end.
-
-If the English Court thought the difficulties all surmounted, they were
-vastly mistaken; for the French ministers now expressed themselves as
-not satisfied with James's secret engagement. It was, they contended,
-too vague, and they called upon him to specify precisely the indulgences
-which he intended towards the Catholics. At this proposition Carlisle
-expressed his astonishment, and wrote to James in a tone of unequivocal
-indignation. He advised the king to make no further concessions; feeling
-sure that if he were firm, the French would give way rather than hazard
-the failure of the match. But to preach firmness to James was to expect
-solidity from a mist. He was alarmed at the obstinacy of the Pope; at
-the declaration of Philip of Spain, that he held the marriage contract
-with Charles as still valid, from a private agreement between the prince
-and himself; and at the strenuous efforts made by Philip to bring the
-Court of France to this persuasion. To complete his dismay, the Huguenots
-of France, just at this moment, made a rising under the leadership of
-Soubise. They demanded a better observance of the edicts in favour of
-the Protestants, seized the Isle of Rhé, near La Rochelle, placed it in
-a state of defence, sent out a fleet to range the coast, and vowed not
-to lay down their arms till their demands were granted. James consented
-to add these express stipulations to his secret bond--That all Catholics
-imprisoned on account of their religion, since the rising of Parliament,
-should be liberated; that all fines levied on recusants since that
-period should be repaid; and that for the future they should suffer no
-interruption to the free exercise of their religious faith.
-
-All obstacles on the part of the French Court were now removed, and
-the young princess prepared for her journey to England. But the
-Pope continued his opposition, still presaging misfortune from the
-marriage, and refusing to deliver the dispensation. The patience of the
-queen-mother was exhausted; the ministers of France proposed to proceed
-on a dispensation from the ecclesiastic authorities in their own realm;
-but to this James demurred, lest the validity of the marriage might
-hereafter be called in question. At length the Pope was satisfied by
-an oath taken by Louis, binding himself and his successors to compel
-James and his son, by all the power of France if necessary, to keep
-their engagement. The dispensation was delivered by Spada, the Papal
-Nuncio; the Duke of Chevreuse, a prince of the House of Guise, and a near
-relative of James and Charles, through the Queen of Scots, was appointed
-proxy by Charles, and Buckingham was ordered to go over and receive the
-bride. But James was destined not to see the completion of the marriage,
-after all his trouble through nine years of matrimonial negotiations.
-
-On the 13th of March, 1625, he returned to Theobalds from the hunt
-with an illness upon him, which was regarded as the tertian ague, but
-which soon developed itself as gout in the stomach. He had long been
-so thoroughly undermined in constitution by his habits of eating and
-drinking, that it required no fierce attack of sickness to carry him off.
-He had always had a strong repugnance to doctors and physic, but now the
-Court physicians were hurried to his bedside. At this moment appeared
-the mother of Buckingham with an infallible specific--a plaster and a
-posset obtained from an Essex quack. These were pronounced marvellous
-in the cure of ague, and though the physicians protested against their
-use, they were applied. They did not delay, if they did not accelerate
-the catastrophe. On the eleventh day of his illness, James received the
-Sacrament. Williams, bishop and Lord Keeper, preached his funeral sermon,
-and said that, having told the king "that holy men in holy orders in the
-Church of England doe challenge a power as inherent in their functions,
-and not in their person, to pronounce and declare remission of sins to
-such as being penitent doe call for the same, he had answered suddenly,
-'I have ever believed there was that power in you that be in orders in
-the Church of England, and therefore I, a miserable sinner, doe humbly
-desire Almighty God to absolve me my sinnes, and you, that are His
-servant in that high place, to affoard me this heavenly comfort.' And
-after the absolution read and pronounced, he received the sacrament
-with that zeal and devotion, as if he had not been a fraile man, but a
-Christian cloathed with flesh and blood."
-
-On Sunday, the 27th of March, the fourteenth day of his illness, Charles
-was hastily called before daylight to go to him, but before he reached
-the chamber the king had lost the power of speech. He appeared extremely
-anxious to communicate something to him but could not, and soon after
-expired. He was in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty-third
-of his reign. Two only of his seven children, three sons and four
-daughters, Charles and the ex-queen of Bohemia, survived him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-REIGN OF CHARLES I.
-
-     Accession of Charles--His Marriage--Meeting of Parliament--Loan
-     of Ships to Richelieu--Dissolution of Parliament--Failure of
-     the Spanish Expedition--Persecution of the Catholics--The
-     Second Parliament--It appoints three Committees--Impeachment
-     of Buckingham--Parliament dissolved to save him--Illegal
-     Government--High Church Doctrines--Rupture with France--Disastrous
-     Expedition to Rhé--The Third Parliament--The Petition of
-     Right--Resistance and Final Surrender of Charles--Parliament
-     Prorogued--Assassination of Buckingham--Fall of La
-     Rochelle--Parliament Reassembles and is dissolved--Imprisonment
-     of Offending Members--Government without Parliament--Peace
-     with France and Spain--Gustavus Adolphus in Germany--Despotic
-     Proceedings of Charles and Laud.
-
-
-Within a quarter of an hour after the decease of James, Charles was
-proclaimed by the Knight-Marshal, Sir Edward Zouch, at the court-gate
-at Theobalds. He was in his twenty-fifth year, and so far as the
-admission of his title and the substantial prosperity of the kingdom were
-concerned, few monarchs have mounted the throne with more favourable
-auspices. But though there was entire submission to his right to reign,
-and the state of parties was such that no immediate change of executive
-was needed, yet there were at work feelings and principles which required
-the nicest wisdom to estimate their nature and their force, and the
-most able policy to deal with them. The battle between prerogative and
-popular rights had to be fought out, and it depended on the capacity of
-the monarch to perceive what was capable of modulation, and what was
-immovable, whether the result should be success or ruin. Charles was
-equally prepared by his father's maxims, his father's practice, and his
-habit of favouritism, to convert one of the grandest opportunities in
-history into one of the most terrible of its catastrophes. The first
-thing which augured ill for him was his continuing in the post of chief
-favourite and chief counsellor, the vain, incapable, and licentious
-Buckingham. The next matter to which Charles turned his attention was
-his marriage with the Princess Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII.
-of France, the contract for which was already signed. The third day
-after his accession, he ratified the treaty as king which he had signed
-as prince. The Pope Urban, as we have stated, seeing that he could not
-prevail on the royal family of France to give up the marriage with the
-heretic prince of England, at length had, through his nuncio, delivered
-the breve of dispensation.
-
-Louis of France, the queen-mother, the bride, Gaston Duke of Orleans,
-and the Duke of Chevreuse, Charles's proxy, signed the document with the
-English ambassadors, on the 8th of May, 1625, and the marriage took
-place on a platform in front of the ancient cathedral of Notre Dame on
-the 11th. The Duke of Buckingham arrived to conduct the young queen to
-England, attended by a numerous and splendid retinue of English nobility.
-The showy and extravagant upstart appeared at the French Court in a style
-which threw even the monarch into the shade. He wore "a rich white satin
-uncut velvet suit, set all over, suit and cloak, with diamonds, the value
-whereof," say the Hardwicke Papers, "is thought to be worth fourscore
-thousand pounds; besides a feather made with great diamonds, with sword,
-girdle, hatband, and spurs with diamonds, and he had twenty-seven other
-suits, all rich as invention could frame or art fashion." His conduct was
-as devoid of modesty as his dress, and threw discredit on the king who
-could entrust his honour and his counsels to such a man.
-
-The king, queen, and queen-mother, accompanied by the whole Court,
-set out to conduct the young _fiancée_ to the port where she should
-embark for England. The procession was made as gorgeous and imposing as
-possible, and at each halting place the Court was amused by a variety of
-pageants and entertainments drawn from a past age. One alone of these
-deserves remark, being afterwards deemed ominous--a representation of all
-the French princesses who had become queens of England. They presented
-a group distinguished by their misfortunes, the only one necessary
-to complete the number being herself yet a spectator, the girlish
-Henrietta, little more than fifteen years of age, who was destined to
-exceed them all in calamity. The king was, however, seized with an
-illness, which compelled him to discontinue the journey, and at Compiègne
-the queen-mother was also taken so ill as to detain the procession a
-fortnight at Amiens. There the queen and queen-mother took leave of
-Henrietta. Charles, during the delay at Amiens, had been awaiting his
-Buckingham. No sooner did that most impudent of libertines reach the
-French Court than he had the audacity to fall in love with the Queen
-of France, the beautiful Anne of Austria. He lost no opportunity of
-pressing his insolent suit on the way in the absence of the king, and
-had the presumption to imagine that his daring passion was returned. No
-sooner did he reach Boulogne, than pretending that he had received some
-despatches of the utmost importance, he hurried back to Amiens, where
-the French procession yet remained, and rushing into the bed-chamber of
-the queen, threw himself on his knees before her, and, regardless of the
-presence of two maids of honour, poured out the infamous protestations of
-his polluted passion. The queen repulsed him with an air of deep anger,
-and bade him begone in a tone of cutting severity, the reality of which,
-however, was doubted by Madame de Motteville, who recorded the occurrence.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF CHARLES I.]
-
-The sensation excited by this unparalleled circumstance in the French
-Court was intense. The king ordered the arrest of a number of the queen's
-attendants, and dismissed several of them. Yet Buckingham, on reaching
-England, does not appear to have received any serious censure from his
-infatuated master, for this breach of all ambassadorial decency and
-etiquette; and in spite of the resentment of the French king and Court,
-continued to maintain all the character of a devoted lover of the French
-queen.
-
-On the 23rd of June the report of ordnance wafted over from Boulogne
-announced the embarkation; and on Sunday evening the queen landed
-at Dover, after a stormy passage. Mr. Tyrwhitt, a gentleman of the
-household, rode post haste to Canterbury to inform Charles, who was
-at Dover Castle by ten o'clock the next morning to greet his bride.
-Henrietta Maria was at breakfast when the king was announced, and
-instantly rose, and hastened downstairs to meet him. On seeing him,
-she attempted to kneel and kiss his hand, but he prevented her, by
-folding her in his arms and kissing her. She had studied a little set
-speech to address him with, but could only get out so much of it as,
-"_Sire, je suis venue en ce pays de votre majesté, pour être commandée
-de vous_"--"Sire, I am come into your majesty's country to be at your
-command"--but at that point she burst into tears.
-
-Charles was delighted with the beauty and vivacity of the young queen.
-They set out for Canterbury, and on their way thither were met on Barham
-Downs by the English nobility; pavilions being pitched there for the
-purpose of the refreshment of the royal pair, and the introduction of the
-queen to her court. After the wedding, at which the celebrated English
-composer, Orlando Gibbons, performed on the organ, the royal cavalcade
-took its way to Gravesend, and thence ascended the Thames, so as to avoid
-the city, in which the plague was then raging.
-
-On the 28th of June, the day after the arrival of the queen in London,
-Charles met his first Parliament. The king had not yet been crowned,
-but he appeared on the throne with his crown on his head. He ordered
-one of the bishops to read prayers before proceeding to business, and
-this was done so adroitly, that the Catholic members were compelled to
-remain during the heretical service. They betrayed great uneasiness, some
-kneeling, some standing upright, and one unhappy individual continuing to
-cross himself the whole time.
-
-Charles was not an eloquent speaker, and, moreover, was afflicted with
-stammering; but he plunged boldly into a statement which it was very
-easy for the two Houses to understand. He informed them that his father
-had left debts to the amount of seven hundred thousand pounds; that the
-money voted for the war against Spain and Austria was expended, and
-he therefore called upon them for liberal supplies. He declared his
-resolution to prosecute the wars which they had so loudly called for with
-vigour, but it was for them to furnish the means.
-
-As he was beginning his reign, and had not plunged himself into
-very heavy debt, or preached up, like his father, the claims of the
-prerogative, he had a right to expect a more generous treatment than
-James. But, notwithstanding the _éclat_ of a new reign, and the usual
-desire on such occasions to stand well with the throne, the Commons
-displayed no enthusiasm in voting their money. There were many causes,
-even under a new king, to produce this coolness. Charles had won their
-popularity by abandoning the Spanish match, but he had now neutralised
-that merit by taking a Catholic queen from France. To please the
-Commons and the public generally, he should have selected a wife from
-one of the Protestant houses of Germany or the Netherlands; but for
-this he had displayed no desire. In the second place, he had retained
-the hated Buckingham in all his former eminence, both as a minister of
-the Crown, and as his own associate. Besides, they had no faith in his
-abilities, either as a commander or a statesman, and beheld with disgust
-his reckless extravagance and the unconcealed infamy of his life at
-home. No talent whatever had been shown in the war in Germany for the
-restoration of the Palatinate; and, therefore, the Commons, instead of
-voting money to defray the late king's debts and to carry on the war
-efficiently, restricted their advances to two subsidies, amounting to
-about one hundred and forty thousand pounds, and to the grant of tonnage
-and poundage, not for life as aforetime, but merely for the space of one
-year.
-
-But still more apprehensive were they on the subject of religion.
-The breach with Spain had naturally removed any delicacy on the part
-of the Spaniards to conceal the treacherous concessions, in perfect
-contradiction to the public professions of both the late and the present
-king, which had been made on that head. It was now freely whispered
-that the like had been made to France, and the sight of the crowd of
-priests and Catholic courtiers who had flocked over with the queen, and
-the performance of the Mass in the king's own house, led the zealous
-Reformers to believe that there was a tacit intention on the part of the
-king to restore the Catholic religion.
-
-What rendered the Commons more sensitive on this point were the writings
-of Dr. Montague, one of the king's chaplains and editor of his father's
-works. In a controversy with a Catholic missionary, he had disowned
-the Calvinistic doctrines of the Puritans with which his church was
-charged, and declared for the Arminian tenets of which Laud was the great
-champion. This gave much offence; he was accused of being a concealed
-Papist, and two Puritan ministers, Yates and Ward, prepared a charge
-against him and laid it before Parliament. Montague denied that he was
-amenable to Parliament and "appealed unto Cæsar." Charles informed the
-Commons that the cognisance of his chaplains belonged to him, and not
-to them. But they asserted their right to deal with all such cases, and
-summoned him to appear at the bar of the House, where they bound him in
-a bond of two thousand pounds to appear when called for.
-
-Charles endeavoured to direct their attention to the state of the
-finances, showing them the inadequacy of their votes, the fitting out of
-the navy amounting alone to three hundred thousand pounds. He was beyond
-all indignant at the grant of tonnage and poundage for only one year,
-seeing that his predecessors from the time of Henry VI. had enjoyed it
-for life; and the Lords threw out that part of the vote for this reason,
-so that he had no Parliamentary right to collect it at all. To make
-matters worse, instead of attending to the pleading of Lord Conway, the
-Chief Secretary, for further grants, they presented to the king, after
-listening to four sermons one day and taking the Sacrament the next,
-a "pious petition" praying him--as he valued the maintenance of true
-religion and would discourage superstition and idolatry--to put in force
-the penal Statutes against Catholics.
-
-To this demand Charles could only return an evasive answer. He had
-recently bound himself by the most solemn oaths to do nothing of the
-kind; and under the sanction of the marriage treaty with France, the
-Mass was every day celebrated under his own roof, and his palace and its
-immediate vicinity swarmed with Catholics and their priests. Nay, he had,
-just before summoning Parliament, been called on by France to send a
-fleet in virtue of this treaty to assist in putting down the Huguenots.
-Soubise, the General of the Huguenots, still retained possession of La
-Rochelle and the island of Rhé, and their fleet scoured the coasts in
-such force that the French fleet dared not attempt to cope with it.
-Richelieu, therefore, requested Charles to give Louis assistance. Charles
-delayed until he received news, which proved to be premature, that peace
-had been concluded with the Huguenots. Thereupon he concluded that the
-ships might be sent without danger. Accordingly, though the affairs of
-the English fleet had been wofully misconducted ever since Buckingham had
-been Lord Admiral, he mustered seven merchant vessels, and sent them with
-the _Vanguard_, the only ship of the line that was fit for sea, under the
-command of Admiral Pennington, to La Rochelle. The destination of the
-fleet was declared to be Genoa, but on reaching Dieppe, the officers and
-crew were astonished to receive orders to take on board French soldiers
-and sailors, and proceed to La Rochelle to fight against the Protestants.
-They refused to a man, and notwithstanding the imperative commands of the
-Duke of Montmorency the Lord Admiral of France, they compelled their own
-admiral to put back to the Downs.
-
-On this ignominious return, Pennington requested to be permitted
-to decline this service, and his desire was much favoured by the
-remonstrances of the Huguenots, who sent over an envoy, entreating
-the king not to give such a triumph to Popery as to fight against the
-Protestants. Charles, with that fatal duplicity which he had learned so
-early under his father, sent fair words to Soubise, the Duke of Rohan,
-and the other leaders of the Huguenots; but Buckingham, by speaking
-out more plainly, exposed the hollowness of his master. He assured the
-navy that they were bound by treaty, and fight they must for the king
-of France. Both officers and owners of the ships declared that as they
-were chartered for the service of the king of England, they should not
-be handed over to the French without an order from the king himself.
-Thereupon Buckingham hastened down to Rochester, accompanied by the
-French ambassador, who offered to charter the vessels for his Government.
-Men, owners, and officers, refused positively any such service.
-
-Disappointed by this display of true English spirit, Charles ordered
-Secretary Conway to write to Vice-Admiral Pennington in his name,
-commanding him that he should proceed to Dieppe and take on board as
-many men as the French Government desired, for which this letter was
-his warrant. At the same time Pennington received an autographic letter
-from Charles, commanding him to make over the _Vanguard_ to the French
-admiral at Dieppe, and to order the commanders of the seven merchant
-ships to do the same, and in case of refusal to compel them by force. All
-this appears to have been imposed on Pennington as a matter of strict
-secrecy; and that officer had not the virtue to refuse so degrading a
-service. The fleet again sailed to Dieppe: the men must have more than
-suspected the object; and when Pennington made over the _Vanguard_,
-and delivered the royal order to the captains of the seven merchant
-vessels, they declined to obey, and weighed anchor to return home. On
-this Pennington, who proved himself the fitting tool of such a king,
-fired into them, and overawed all of them except Sir Ferdinand Gore, in
-the _Neptune_, who kept on his way, disdaining to disgrace himself by
-such a deed. The French were taken on board and conveyed to La Rochelle.
-But that was all that was accomplished; for the English seamen instantly
-deserted on reaching land, and many of them hastened to join the ranks of
-the Huguenots, the rest returning home overflowing with indignation and
-spreading everywhere the disgrace of the royal conduct.
-
-In the whole of this transaction the headstrong fatality of Charles was
-conspicuous, and foreboded the miseries that were to follow. In the midst
-of the public excitement from this cause, the Parliament met at Oxford
-on the 1st of August. The result was as might have been expected. On
-the king demanding the restoration of the vote of tonnage and poundage,
-negatived by the Lords, or that other subsidies should be granted in lieu
-of it, the Commons refused both. In reply to the king's inquiry how the
-war was to be carried on, they replied that they must first be satisfied
-against whom the war was really to be directed. They complained that the
-penal statutes against the Papists were not enforced as promised, and
-proceeded to their favourite avocation of attacking public grievances.
-On this topic Coke came forward with an eloquence and a boldness which
-astonished the Court. With an unsparing vigour worthy of his earlier
-years--but in a much better cause than that in which his abilities
-were then often exercised--he denounced the new offices created, the
-monopolies granted, and the lavish waste of the public money, all for the
-benefit of Buckingham and his relations. He insisted that the useless
-pensions which had been recently granted should be stopped till the late
-king's debts were paid, and that a system of strict economy should be
-substituted for the now extravagant expenditure of the royal household.
-Others followed in the same strain, denouncing the odious practice of
-selling offices, of which Buckingham and his mother were the chief
-vendors.
-
-[Illustration: CHARLES WELCOMING HIS QUEEN TO ENGLAND. (_See p._ 509.)]
-
-A third party showed that they were armed with dangerous matter by the
-still disgraced and restrained Earl of Bristol. They charged Buckingham
-with his mal-administration of affairs, with his incompetency as Lord
-High Admiral, and with having involved this country in an unnecessary
-war with Spain, merely in revenge of a private quarrel with the Spanish
-minister, Olivarez. They demanded an inquiry into that affair. One of the
-members of the House venturing to defend the Government, and condemning
-the licence of speech against the Crown, was speedily brought upon his
-knees and compelled to implore pardon at the Bar. Sir Robert Cotton, the
-founder of the Cottonian Library, applauded the wisdom and spirit of the
-House in thus summarily dealing with this unworthy member; and after
-giving a description of the conduct of the late favourite, Somerset,
-and of the follies and crimes of favourites of former reigns, as the
-Spencers, the Gavestons, the Poles, and others, pronounced Buckingham as
-far more insolent, mischievous, and incompetent than any of them.
-
-The favourite, thus rudely handled, was quietly enjoying himself at
-Woodstock; but the king made him aware of the necessity of defending
-himself. He hastened to town, and delivered in his place in the Peers, a
-statement of the accounts of the navy, and a stout denial of any personal
-motives in the quarrel with Spain. He clearly showed that he felt whence
-the danger came, and alluding to the Earl of Bristol, said, "I am minded
-to leave that business asleep, but if it should awake, it will prove a
-lion to devour him who co-operated with Olivarez."
-
-[Illustration:
-
-    _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-   _Reproduced by André & Sleigh, Ld., Bushey, Herts._
-
-ILLUMINATED PAGE, WITH BORDERING.
-
-THE ILLUMINATION SHOWS THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY, WENCESLAUS, AND CHARLES
-VI OF FRANCE SITTING IN COUNCIL (PROBABLY IN THE CATHEDRAL OF RHEIMS)
-TO DEVISE MEANS FOR TERMINATING THE SCHISM IN THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE
-FOURTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-[Illustration: CHARLES I.]
-
-To cut short these awkward debates, the king sent word to the Commons
-that as the plague was already in Oxford, it was necessary to make quick
-work, and that they should finish the grant of supplies. He offered to
-accept for the present forty thousand pounds; but the House refused even
-this, saying that if that was all that was necessary, it might readily be
-raised by a loan to the Crown. This put the king beyond his patience, and
-he menaced them with a speedy dissolution; adding if they were not afraid
-of their health, he would take care of it for them, by releasing them
-from the plague-invaded city, and find some means of helping himself.
-The Commons were not in a temper to be intimidated; on the contrary,
-they went into a most warm and spirited debate on the king's message,
-and appointed a committee to prepare a reply. In this they thanked him
-for his care of their health, and of the religion of the nation, and
-promised supplies when the abuses of the Government were redressed; and
-they called upon him not to suffer himself to be prejudiced against the
-greatest safeguard that a king could have--the faithful and dutiful
-Commons--by interested persons. Before they had time, however, to present
-this address, Charles dissolved the Parliament, which had only sat in
-this Oxford Session twelve days.
-
-Thus deprived of all the necessary funds for a war, none but so
-infatuated a monarch as Charles would have persisted in plunging into it.
-War had not yet been proclaimed against Spain; it was neither necessary
-nor expedient; on the contrary, every motive of political wisdom warned
-him to peace in that quarter, if he really wished to be at liberty to
-prosecute the interests of the Elector and the Protestant cause. But led
-by the splenetic imbecility of Buckingham, so far was he from seeing
-the folly of a war with Spain, that he was soon pushed into one with
-France. In fact, he took every step which would have been avoided by a
-wise prince, and speedily involved himself in a labyrinth of inextricable
-difficulties. Spain quieted and even soothed; France cultivated with
-the object of obtaining its influence and aid in the recovery of the
-Palatinate; and the Protestants of Germany sympathised with, if not aided
-substantially in their severe struggle against Austrian bigotry, Charles
-might have eventually restored his sister and her husband to their old
-estate, and have won a place in the European world superior to any king
-of his time. Instead of this, he took the surest means to exasperate his
-own people and his most powerful neighbour that his worst enemies could
-have suggested.
-
-To raise money for the prosecution of the war against Spain, he ordered
-the duties of tonnage and poundage to be levied, notwithstanding they
-were not voted by the Peers. He issued writs of Privy Seal to the
-nobility, gentry, and clergy, for loans of money, and menaced vengeance
-if they were not complied with. All salaries and fees were suspended,
-and to such a strait was he reduced by his efforts to man and supply
-the fleet, that he was obliged to borrow three thousand pounds from the
-corporations of Southampton and Salisbury to enable him to meet the
-expenses of his own table.
-
-At length the fleet was ready to sail with a force of ten thousand
-men; the English fleet consisted of eighty sail, and the Dutch sent an
-addition of sixteen sail. In weight and armament of ships such a force
-had scarcely ever before left an English port. But formidable as was
-this naval power, it was rendered perfectly inert by the same utter want
-of judgment and genius which marked all the measures of Buckingham. Its
-destination was to have been kept secret, so that it might take the
-Spaniards by surprise; but it was well known, not only to that nation,
-but to the whole Continent. In spite of this, such a force, in the hands
-of a Drake or a Nottingham, might have struck a ruinous blow at the
-Spanish navy and seaports; but Buckingham, for his own selfish purposes,
-appointed to the command Sir Edward Cecil, now created Viscount
-Wimbledon, a man who had, indeed, grown grey in the service of the States
-of Holland, but only to make himself known as most incompetent to such
-an enterprise. He was, moreover, a land officer, whilst the admiral to
-whom the command regularly fell, in case the Lord High Admiral himself
-did not take it--Sir Robert Mansell, Vice-Admiral of England--had a high
-reputation and the confidence of the men as an experienced officer.
-
-On the 3rd of October this noble but ill-used fleet sailed from Plymouth,
-and took its way across the Bay of Biscay, where it encountered one of
-its storms, and received considerable damage, one vessel foundering with
-a hundred and seventy men. The admiral had instructions to intercept the
-treasure ships from America, to scour the coasts of Spain, and destroy
-the shipping in its harbours. But instead of doing that first which
-must be done then if at all--attack the ships in the ports--he called
-a council, and was completely bewildered by the conflicting opinions
-given. The conclusion was to make for Cadiz and seize its ships, but
-the Spaniards were already aware of and prepared for them. Instead of
-keeping, moreover, a sharp watch for the Plate ships, Wimbledon let
-several of them escape into port, which of themselves were thought, says
-Howell, rich enough to have paid all the expenses of the expedition.
-There was still nothing to prevent a brave admiral from attacking the
-vessels in harbour; but more accustomed to land service, the commander
-landed his forces, and took the Fort of Puntal. Making next a rapid march
-towards the bridge of Suazzo, in order to cut off the communication
-between the Isle de Leon and the mainland, his soldiers discovered
-some wine cellars by the way and became intoxicated and incapable of
-preserving order. Alarmed at this circumstance, their incapable leader
-conducted them back to the ships. Not daring to attack the port, he
-determined to look out for the treasure ships. But while cruising for
-this purpose, a fever broke out on board the vessel of Lord Delaware; and
-as if it were his intention to diffuse the contagion through the whole
-fleet, the admiral had the sick men distributed among the healthy ships.
-A dreadful mortality accordingly raged through the whole fleet. No Plate
-ships could be seen, for they appear to have been aware of their enemies
-and held away towards the Barbary coast; and after waiting fruitlessly
-for eighteen days, Wimbledon made sail again for England. No sooner did
-this imbecile quit the coast than fifty richly laden vessels entered the
-port of Lisbon. On landing at Plymouth, with the loss of a thousand men
-in this most ignominious voyage, the people received the admiral with
-hisses and execrations.
-
-Meanwhile Charles, who was in straits with his Parliament and subjects,
-was compelled to try again the more than dubious resort to Parliament
-for money. To prepare the way for any success with the Commons, he was
-obliged to do that which must certainly embroil him with his French
-allies, and add fresh fuel to the fire of domestic discord which consumed
-him. Certainly never had any man a more arduous part to play, and the
-king had rendered his position all the harder by the imprudence of
-his measures; for nothing is easier than for men, by their folly or
-absurd resentments, to knit themselves up into a web of difficulties.
-He now resolved to break his marriage oath to France, and persecute the
-Catholics to conciliate the Protestants. Orders were accordingly issued
-to all magistrates to put the penal laws in force, and a commission
-was appointed to levy the fines on the recusants. All Catholic priests
-and missionaries were warned to quit the kingdom immediately, and all
-parents and guardians to recall their children from Catholic schools,
-and young men from Catholic colleges on the Continent. But worse than
-all, because personally insulting and irritating to the higher classes,
-who constituted the House of Peers, and who hitherto had exhibited much
-forbearance, he accepted the advice of his Council that the Catholic
-aristocracy should be disarmed.
-
-Certainly no proceedings could indispose the House of Peers to the king
-more than such as these; but meanwhile Charles was active in endeavouring
-by other measures to win a party there. The Earl of Pembroke had for some
-time made himself head of the Opposition, and on great occasions brought
-with him on a vote no less than ten proxies, Buckingham himself being
-only able to command thirteen. He prevailed on Pembroke to be reconciled
-to the favourite; and at the same time in order to punish the Lord Keeper
-Williams who had quarrelled with Buckingham and had told him that he
-should go over to Pembroke, and labour for the redress of the grievances
-of the people--he dismissed him and gave the Great Seal to Sir Thomas
-Coventry, the Attorney-General.
-
-To manage the Commons, and to prevent the threatened impeachment of
-Buckingham, when the judges presented to him the lists of sheriffs
-Charles struck out seven names and wrote in their places seven of the
-most able and active of the leaders of Opposition in the Commons, the
-most determined enemies of the favourite:--Sir Edward Coke, Sir Thomas
-Wentworth, Sir Francis Seymour, Sir Robert Philips, Sir Grey Palmer, Sir
-William Fleetwood, and Edward Alford. As this office disqualified them
-from sitting in Parliament, the king thus got rid of them for that year;
-but Coke contended that though a sheriff could not sit for his own county
-he could for another, and got himself elected for the county of Norfolk,
-but did not venture to take his seat.
-
-All these measures, it will be seen, were dictated not by a desire to
-conciliate, but to override the Parliament, and therefore could not
-promise much good to a mind of any depth of penetration. Parliament was
-summoned for the 6th of February, 1626, and the 2nd was appointed for the
-coronation. With the knowledge of a discontented people, Charles went to
-meet his Parliament, and this consciousness would, in a monarch capable
-of taking a solemn warning, have operated to produce conciliation, at
-least of tone; but Charles was one of that class of men who illustrated
-the striking words of the Latin fatalist "Whom God intends to destroy He
-first drives mad." Accordingly, he opened the sitting with a curt speech,
-referring them to that of the new Lord Keeper Coventry, which was in
-the worst possible taste. He said, "If we consider aright, and think of
-the incomparable distance between the supreme height and majesty of a
-mighty monarch, and the submissive awe and lowliness of loyal subjects,
-we cannot but receive exceeding comfort and contentment in the frame and
-constitution of this highest Court, wherein not only prelates, nobles,
-and grandees, but the commons of all degrees have their part; and wherein
-that high majesty doth descend to admit, or rather to invite, the
-humblest of his subjects to conference and council with him."
-
-Of all language this was, in the temper of the Commons, the most adapted
-to incense them. Such talk of the condescension of the Crown, at the
-moment when they were entering on a desperate conflict against its abuse
-of the prerogative, only the more stimulated their resolution to their
-task. They immediately formed themselves into three committees: one of
-religion, a second of grievances, and a third of evils. They again, by
-the Committee of Religion, canvassed the subject of Popery; resolving to
-enact still severer laws against it, as the origin of many of the worst
-evils that afflicted the nation. They summoned schoolmasters from various
-and remote parts of the kingdom, and put searching questions to them, as
-to the doctrines which they held and taught to their scholars; and every
-member of the House was called upon in turn to denounce all persons in
-authority or office, known to them as holding the tenets of the ancient
-faith. In fact, in their vehement zeal for religious liberty, the zealots
-of the House were on the highway to extinguish every spark of toleration,
-and to convert the House of Commons into an inquisition, instead of the
-bulwark of popular right.
-
-[Illustration: RECEPTION OF VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON AT PLYMOUTH. (_See p._
-515.)]
-
-They again summoned Dr. Montague to redeem his bail, and receive
-punishment on account of his book, in which they charged him with
-having admitted that the Church of Rome was the true Church, and that
-the articles on which the two churches did not agree were of minor
-importance. Laud advocated the cause of Montague at Court, for he was of
-precisely the same opinions, and urged the king and Buckingham to protect
-him. But both Charles and the favourite saw too many difficulties in
-their own way to care to interfere in defence of the chaplain. They left
-him to his fate, and he would have been no doubt severely dealt with,
-had not higher matters seized the attention of the House, and caused the
-offending Churchman to be overlooked.
-
-This was the impeachment of Buckingham. The Committee of Grievances had
-drawn up, after a tedious investigation, a list of sixteen grievances,
-consisting of such as had so often been warmly debated in the last
-reign. Of these the most prominent, in their opinion, were the practice
-of purveyance, by which the officers of the household still collected
-provisions at a fixed price for sixty miles round the Court, and the
-illegal conduct of the Lord Treasurer, who went on collecting tonnage and
-poundage though unsanctioned by Parliament. They charged the maintenance
-of these evils to the advice and influence of a "great delinquent" at
-Court; who had, moreover, occasioned all the disgraces to the national
-flag, both by land and sea, which had for some years occurred, and who
-ought to be punished accordingly.
-
-The time was now actually arriving of which James had warned his son and
-Buckingham, when they urged the impeachment of the Earl of Middlesex,
-but choosing to forget all that, Charles sent down word to the House
-that he did not allow any of his servants to be called in question by
-them, especially such as were of eminence and near unto his person. He
-remarked that of old the desire of subjects had been to know what they
-should do with him whom the king delighted to honour, but their desire
-now appeared to be to do what they could against him whom the king
-honoured. That they aimed at the Duke of Buckingham, he said, he saw
-clearly, and he wondered much what had produced such a change since the
-former Parliament; assuring them that the duke had taken no step but by
-his order and consent; and he concluded by requesting them to hasten the
-question of Supply, "or it would be worse for them."
-
-[Illustration: YORK HOUSE (THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S MANSION).]
-
-On the 29th of March he repeated the menace; but the Commons went on
-preparing their charges against Buckingham, declaring that it was the
-undoubted right of Parliament to inquire into the proceedings of persons
-of any estate whatever, who had been found dangerous to the Commonwealth,
-and had abused the confidence reposed in them by the Crown.
-
-Seeing them bent on proceeding, Charles sent down to the House the Lord
-Keeper to acquaint them with his majesty's express command that they
-should cease this inquiry, or that he would dissolve them; and Sir Dudley
-Carleton, who had been much employed as ambassador to foreign states,
-and had recently returned from France, warned them not to make the king
-out of love with parliaments, and then drew a most deplorable picture of
-the state of those countries where such had come to be the case. In all
-Christian countries, he said, there were formerly parliaments; but the
-monarchs, weary of their turbulence, had broken them up, except in this
-kingdom; and now he represented the miserable subjects as resembling
-spectres rather than men, miserably clad, meagre of body, and wearing
-wooden shoes.
-
-This caricature of foreigners, had it been true, was the very thing to
-make the Commons cling to their freedom, and keep their affairs in their
-own hands; and as such arguments had no effect. Charles summoned the
-House to the bar of the Lords, and there addressed to them a most royal
-reproof, letting them know that it depended entirely on him whether he
-would call and when he would dismiss Parliament, and, therefore, as they
-conducted themselves so should he act. Their very existence depended, he
-assured them, on his will.
-
-This was language which might have done in the mouth of Henry VIII., who
-by the possession of the vast plunder of the Church had made himself
-independent of parliaments and trod on them at his pleasure; but the
-times and circumstances were entirely changed. The Commons had learned
-their power and the king's weakness, and would no longer tolerate the
-insolence of despotism. They returned to their own House, and, to show
-that they were about to discuss the king's speech in a spirit which
-admitted of no interruption or interference, they locked the door and
-put the key in the hands of Sir John Finch, their Speaker. This ominous
-proceeding struck terror into the king, and a conference with the Upper
-House was proposed and accepted. There Buckingham endeavoured to smooth
-down the royal speeches and messages into something like a bearable and
-constitutional shape, and to defend his own conduct. But by this time the
-Committee of Evils, Causes and Remedies, had come to the conclusion that
-the only mode of preventing the recurrence of such mal-administration as
-Buckingham had been guilty of was to impeach and punish him. The House
-accordingly passed a resolution to that effect on the 8th of May.
-
-As if Charles were actually inspired by madness, at this moment, when he
-needed all the assistance of the Peers to screen his favourite from the
-impeachment of the Commons, he made a direct attack on their privileges.
-Lord Arundel, the Earl Marshal, had given some offence to Buckingham,
-and was well known to be decidedly hostile to him. As he possessed six
-proxies, it was thought a grand stroke of policy to get him out of the
-House at the approaching impeachment; and a plea was not long wanting.
-Arundel's son, Lord Maltravers, had married a daughter of the Duke of
-Lennox without consent of the king, and as Lennox was of blood-royal,
-this was deemed offence enough to involve Arundel himself. He was charged
-with not having prevented it, but he replied that the match had been made
-unknown to him; that it had been secretly planned between the mothers
-of the young people. This was not admitted, and Arundel was arrested by
-a royal warrant and lodged in the Tower. The real offender, if real
-offence there were, was Maltravers, but it was Arundel's absence which
-was wanted. The Lords, however, took up the matter as an infringement of
-their privileges; they passed a resolution that "no lord of Parliament,
-the Parliament sitting, or within the usual times of privilege of
-Parliament, is to be imprisoned or restrained, without sentence or order
-of the House, unless it be for treason or felony, or for refusing to give
-surety for the peace."
-
-They sent an address to Charles demanding Arundel's immediate liberation;
-he returned an evasive answer: they sent a second address; Charles
-then ordered the Attorney-General to plead the royal prerogative, and
-to declare the Earl Marshal as personally offensive to the king and as
-dangerous to the State. The Peers would not admit the plea, but passed
-a resolution to suspend business till their colleague was set at large;
-and after a contest of three months the king was forced to yield, and the
-Earl Marshal resumed his seat in the House amid cheers and acclamations.
-
-But this most imprudent conflict with the Peers had another and still
-more damaging result. The Earl of Bristol, who had been so unjustly and
-ungraciously received, or rather, not received, on his return from his
-Spanish embassy, to enable Buckingham and Charles to maintain their
-charge against Spain, had remained an exile from Court and Parliament,
-but not without keeping a watchful eye on the progress of events. He was
-not a man to sit down quietly under misrepresentation and injury; and
-now, seeing that the Peers had roused themselves from their subserviency,
-and were prepared to take vengeance on the common enemy, he complained
-to the House of Peers that, as one of their order and possessed of all
-their privileges, his writ of summons to Parliament had been wrongfully
-withheld. To have withstood this demand at this moment might have led to
-a dangerous excitement. The writ was therefore immediately issued, but
-Bristol at the same time received a private letter, charging him on pain
-of the king's high displeasure not to attempt to take his place. The
-earl at once forwarded the letter to the Peers, requesting their advice
-upon it, on the ground that it affected their rights, being a case which
-might reach any other of them, and demanding that he might be permitted
-to take his seat in order to accuse the man who, to screen his own high
-crimes and misdemeanours, had for years deprived a peer of the realm of
-his liberty and right.
-
-This alarming claim of the earl's struck both the king and Buckingham
-with terror; and to prevent, if possible, the menaced charge, the
-Attorney-General was instantly despatched to the Lords to prefer a plea
-of high treason against Bristol. But the Peers were not thus to be
-circumvented. They replied that Bristol's accusation was first laid and
-must be first heard; and that without the counter-charge being held to
-prejudice his testimony. Bristol, thus at liberty to speak out, proceeded
-to town and to the House of Peers in triumph, his coach drawn by eight
-horses, caparisoned in cloth of gold or tissue; and Buckingham, as if
-to present a contrast of modesty, a quality wholly alien to his nature,
-drove thither in an old carriage with only three footmen and no retinue.
-
-Bristol charged him with having concerted with Gondomar to inveigle
-the Prince of Wales into Spain, in order to procure his conversion to
-Popery prior to his marriage with the Infanta; with having complied with
-Popish ceremonies himself; with having, whilst at Madrid, disgraced the
-king, his country, and himself, by his contempt of all decency and the
-vileness of his profligacy. He stated that "As for the scandal given by
-his behaviour, as also his employing his power with the King of Spain
-for the procuring of favours and offices, which he conferred on base and
-unworthy persons, for the recompense and hire of his lust--these things,
-as neither fit for the Earl of Bristol to speak, nor, indeed, for the
-House to hear, he leaveth to your lordships' wisdoms how far it will
-please you to have them examined." He went on to charge him with breaking
-off the treaty of marriage solely through resentment, because the Spanish
-ministers, disgusted with his conduct, refused any negotiation with so
-infamous a person; and declared that, on his return, he had deceived both
-king and Parliament by a most false statement. All this the earl pledged
-himself to prove by written documents and other most undeniable evidence.
-
-Instead of Buckingham attempting to clear himself as an innocent man
-so blackened by terrible charges would, it was sought to deprive the
-testimony of Bristol of all value by making him a criminal and a traitor
-to the king whilst his representative in Spain. Charles went so far as
-to send the Lord Keeper Coventry, a most pliant courtier, to inform the
-Lords that he would of his own knowledge clear the duke, the duke himself
-reserving his defence till after the impeachment by the Commons. Charles
-not only guaranteed to vindicate Buckingham, but accused Bristol of
-making a direct charge against himself, inasmuch as he himself had been
-with Buckingham all the time in Spain, and had verified his narrative
-on his return. The Peers passed this royal charge courageously by; and
-Charles then ordered the cause between Bristol and Buckingham to be
-removed from the Peers to the court of King's Bench; but the Lords would
-not permit such an infringement of their privileges. They put these
-questions themselves to the judges--"Whether the king could be a witness
-in a case of treason? And whether, in Bristol's case, he could be a
-witness at all, admitting the treason done with his privity?" The king
-sent the judges an order not to answer these questions, and in the midst
-of these proceedings the charges against Bristol were heard, and answered
-by him with a spirit and clearness which were perfectly satisfactory
-to the House. The charges against him amounted to this:--That he had
-falsely assured James of the sincerity of the Spanish Cabinet; had
-concurred in a plan for inducing the prince to change his religion; that
-he had endeavoured to force the marriage on Charles by delivering the
-procuration; and had given the lie to his present sovereign by declaring
-false what he had vouched in Buckingham's statement to be true. These
-were so palpably untenable positions that the House ordered Bristol's
-answer to be entered on the journals, and there left the matter.
-
-But now the impeachment of Buckingham by the Commons was brought up to
-the Lords. It consisted of thirteen articles; the principal of which were
-that he had not only enriched himself with several of the highest offices
-of the State which had never before been held by one and the same person,
-but had purchased for money those of High Admiral and Warden of the
-Cinque Ports; that he had in those offices neglected the trade and the
-security of the coasts of the country; that he had perverted to his own
-use the revenues of the Crown; had filled the Court and dignities of the
-land with his poor relations; had put a squadron of English ships into
-the hands of the French, and on the other hand, by detaining for his own
-use a vessel belonging to the King of France, had provoked him to make
-reprisals on British merchants; that he had extorted ten thousand pounds
-from the East India Company; and even charged him with being accessory to
-the late king's death, by administering medicine contrary to the advice
-of the royal physicians.
-
-Eight Managers were appointed by the Commons to conduct the
-impeachment--Sir Dudley Digges, Sir John Eliot, Serjeant Glanville,
-Selden, Whitelock, Pym, Herbert, and Wandsford. Digges opened the case,
-and was followed by Glanville, Selden, and Pym. While these gentlemen
-were speaking and detailing the main charges against him, Buckingham,
-confident in the power and will of the king to protect him, displayed
-the most impudent recklessness, laughing and jesting at the orators and
-their arguments. Serjeant Glanville, on one occasion, turned brusquely
-on him, and exclaimed, "My lord, do you jeer at me? Are these things to
-be jeered at? My lord, I can show you when a man of a greater blood than
-your lordship, as high in place and power, and as deep in the favour of
-the king as you, hath been hanged for as small a crime as the least of
-these articles contain."
-
-Sir John Eliot wound up the charge, and compared Buckingham to Sejanus;
-as proud, insolent, rapacious, an accuser of others, a base adulator
-and tyrant by turns, and one who conferred commands and offices on his
-dependants. "Ask England, Scotland, and Ireland," exclaimed Sir John,
-"and they will tell you whether this man doth not the like. Sejanus's
-pride was so excessive, as Tacitus saith, that he neglected all counsel,
-mixed his business and service with the prince, and was often styled
-_Imperatoris laborum socius_. My lords," he said, "I have done. You see
-the man: by him came all evils; in him we find the cause; on him we
-expect the remedies."
-
-The direct inference that if Buckingham was a Sejanus the king was a
-Tiberius, and a rumour that Eliot and Digges had hinted that in the
-death of the late king there was a greater than Buckingham behind,
-transported Charles with rage, and urged him on to another of those acts
-of aggression which ultimately brought him to actual battle with his
-Parliament. He had the two offending members called out of the House
-as if the king required their presence, when they were seized and sent
-to the Tower. This outrage on the persons of their fellow members and
-delegated prosecutors came like a thunder-clap on the House. There was
-instantly a vehement cry of "Rise! rise! rise!" The House was in a state
-of the highest ferment.
-
-Charles hurried to the House of Lords to denounce the imputations
-cast upon him, and to defend Buckingham; and Buckingham stood by his
-side whilst he spoke. He declared that he had punished some insolent
-speeches, and that it was high time, for that he had been too lenient.
-He would give his evidence to clear Buckingham, he said, in every one of
-the articles, and he would suffer no one with impunity to charge himself
-with having any concern in the death of his father. But all this bravado
-was wasted on the Commons: again with closed doors they discussed the
-violation of their privileges, and resolved to proceed with no further
-business till their members should be discharged. In a few days this was
-done, and the House passed a resolution that the two members had only
-fulfilled their bounden duty.
-
-On the 8th of June, Buckingham opened his defence in the House of Lords.
-In this he had been assisted by Sir Nicholas Hyde. He divided the charges
-against him into three classes: such as were unfounded in fact; such as
-might be true, but did not affect _him_; and lastly, those in which he
-had merely been the servant of the king or of the Executive. In all the
-circumstances which could be proved, he simply acted in obedience to the
-late or the present king, with one exception, the purchase of the office
-of Warden of the Cinque Ports, which he admitted that he had bought, but
-which he thought might be excused on the ground of public utility. As
-to the grave charge of the delivery of the king's ships to the French
-admiral, he did not mean to go into it, not but that he could prove his
-own innocence in the affair, but that he was bound not to reveal the
-secrets of the State; and he pleaded a pardon which had been granted by
-the king on the 10th of February, that is, four days after the opening of
-the present Parliament.
-
-Thus Charles had kept his word: he had allowed the duke to throw the
-total responsibility of his deeds on himself, and he had granted him
-a pardon by anticipation to forestall the conclusions of Parliament.
-This defence by no means satisfied the Commons, and they proceeded to
-reply; but in this they were stopped short by the king, who the very
-next day sent a message to the Speaker, desiring the House to hasten
-and come at once to the subject of Supply, or that he would "take other
-resolutions." The Commons set themselves, without loss of time, to
-prepare a remonstrance in strong terms, praying for the dismissal of the
-favourite; but whilst employed upon it, they were suddenly summoned to
-the Upper House, where they found Commissioners appointed to pronounce
-the dissolution of Parliament. Anticipating this movement, the Speaker
-had carried the resolutions of remonstrance in his hand, and before the
-Commissioners could declare Parliament dissolved, the Speaker held up
-the paper and declared its contents. The Lords, on this, apprehending
-unpleasant consequences, sent to implore Charles to a short delay, but
-received the king's energetic answer--"No, not for one minute!"
-
-[Illustration: TRIAL OF BUCKINGHAM. (_See p._ 520.)]
-
-Charles was left by his own wild devices to try how his fancied right
-divine would furnish him funds to discharge his debts at home and his
-obligations abroad. That he was not insensible to his danger, or to
-the price which he had paid for the support of his favourite, is made
-plain to us by Meade, the careful chronicler of the time. "The duke,"
-he says, "being in the bed-chamber private with the king, his majesty
-was overheard, as they say, to use these words: 'What can I do more? I
-have engaged mine honour to mine uncle of Denmark and other princes. I
-have, in a manner, lost the love of my subjects, and what wouldst thou
-have me do?' Whence some think the duke meant the king to dissolve the
-Parliament." But however he might feel this, he was in no disposition
-to take warning; the spirit and the inculcations of his father worked
-in him victorious over any better instincts. No sooner had he dismissed
-Parliament, than he seized the Earl of Bristol, and Arundel, the Earl
-Marshal, and thrust Bristol into the Tower. This bit of petty spite
-enacted, he set about boldly to do everything that the Commons had been
-striving against. The Commons had published their remonstrance; he
-published a counter-declaration, and commanded all persons having that
-of the Commons to burn it, or expect his resentment. He then issued a
-warrant, levying duties on all exports and imports; ordered the fines
-from the Catholics to be rigorously enforced, but offering to compound
-with rich recusants for an annual sum, so as to procure a fixed income
-from that source. A Commission was issued to inquire into the proceeds of
-the Crown lands, and to grant leases, remit feudal services, and convert
-copyholds into freeholds, on certain charges. Privy seals were again
-issued to noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants, for the advance of loans,
-and London was called on to furnish one hundred and twenty thousand
-pounds; and as if the king already feared that his arbitrary acts might
-produce disturbance, he ordered the different seaports, under the plea
-of protecting the coasts, to provide and maintain during three months a
-certain number of armed vessels, and the lord-lieutenants of counties to
-muster the people, and train troops to arms to prevent internal riot or
-foreign invasion.
-
-At the moment that the king was thus daringly setting both Parliament and
-the country at defiance, came the news that a terrible battle had been
-fought at Lutter between the Austrians under Tilly, and the Protestant
-allies under Charles's uncle, the King of Denmark; that the allies were
-defeated and driven across the Elbe; all their baggage and ammunition
-lost, and the whole circle of Lower Saxony left exposed to the soldiers
-of Ferdinand. This was the death-blow to the cause of the Elector
-Palatine. But Charles seized the occasion to raise money by a fresh
-forced loan on a large scale, on pretence of the necessity of aiding
-Protestantism, and as if to make the lawless demand the more intolerable,
-the Commissioners were armed with the most arbitrary powers. All who
-refused to comply with this illegal demand, this body was authorised to
-interrogate on oath, as to their reasons, and who were their advisers,
-and they were bound by oath never to divulge what passed between them and
-the Commissioners.
-
-Charles issued a proclamation, excusing his conduct by alleging that the
-necessities of the State did not admit of waiting for the reassembling
-of Parliament, and assuring his loving subjects that whatever was now
-paid would be remitted in the collection of the next subsidy. He also
-addressed a letter to the clergy, calling on them to exhort their
-parishioners from the pulpit to obedience and liberality. But such were
-the relative positions of king and Parliament, that people were not
-very confident of any speedy grant from that body, and the good faith
-of both Charles and his favourite had become so dubious, that many
-refused to pay. The names of these were transmitted to the Council,
-and the vengeance of the Court was let loose upon them. The rich were
-fined and imprisoned, the poor were forcibly enrolled in the army or
-navy, that "they might serve with their bodies, since they refused to
-serve with their purses." In vain were appeals made to the king against
-this intolerable tyranny; he would listen to no one. Amongst the names
-of those who suffered on this occasion, stand those of Sir John Eliot
-and John Hampden, as well as of Wentworth, soon to become the staunch
-upholder of Absolutism.
-
-In towns the people did not conceal their indignation at these
-proceedings. "Six poor tradesmen at Chelmsford stood out stiffly,
-notwithstanding the many threats and promises made them;" and the
-Londoners loudly shouted, "A Parliament! a Parliament! No Parliament no
-money!" Still Charles went on in his mad course; no voice, mortal or
-immortal, could even for a moment break the spell of his delusion. Those
-judges and magistrates who were averse from enforcing the detestable
-orders were summarily dismissed. Sir Randolph Carew, the Chief Justice
-of the King's Bench, must give way to the more pliant Sir Nicholas
-Hyde, the adviser of Buckingham. But the lawyers in general were ready
-enough to break the laws by order of the Court, and the clergy were
-still more so. Laud was now advanced, for his Absolutist and Popish
-predilections, to the see of Bath and Wells, and sent forth a circular
-to the clergy enjoining them to preach up zealously the advance of
-money to the Crown, as a work meriting salvation. He openly advocated
-a strict league and confederacy between the Church and State, by which
-they might trample upon all schism, heresy, and disloyalty. There was
-no lack of time-servers to second his efforts. Roger Mainwaring, one
-of the king's chaplains, a true high-priest to the golden calf, with
-the most shameless prostitution of the pulpit, declared before the king
-and Court at Whitehall, that the power of the king was above all courts
-and parliaments; that parliament was but an inferior kind of council,
-entirely at the king's will; that the king's order was sufficient
-authority for the raising of money, and that all who refused it were
-guilty of unutterable sin and liable to damnation. He insulted the
-Scriptures by dragging them in to prove all this, and would have sold,
-not his own soul only, but the souls of the whole nation to obtain
-a bishopric. He had his desire; and the success of such religious
-toadyism inflamed the clergy in the country with a like abjectness.
-One Robert Sibthorpe, vicar of Brackley, in an assize sermon preached
-at Northampton, declared that even if the king commanded people to
-resist the Law of God, they were to obey him, to show no resistance, no
-railing, no reviling, to be all passive obedience. To demonstrate the
-Scriptural soundness of his doctrine, he quoted this verse of the Book of
-Ecclesiastes (viii. 4.): "Where the word of a king is, there is power:
-and who may say unto him, What doest thou?"
-
-Abbot, the Archbishop, was applied to, to license the printing of this
-sermon; but the old man, who had always had a Puritan leaning, which his
-high post alone prevented him from more fully demonstrating, declined
-to do it. In vain the king insisted: the archbishop was suspended
-and sent to his country house; and Laud, who was hankering earnestly
-after the Primacy, licensed the sermon. Sibthorpe did not fail of his
-reward; he was appointed chaplain in ordinary, and received a prebend in
-Peterborough, and the goodly living of Burton Latimer. Andrew Marvell
-designated these model Churchmen as "exceedingly pragmatical, intolerably
-ambitious, and so desperately proud that scarcely any gentleman might
-come near the tails of their mules." The subserviency of the clergy was
-not one of the least evils which a tyrannic court fostered. The people
-saw more clearly than ever that the Church under such circumstances would
-become the staunch ally of despotism; and many even of its own honourable
-members, in the higher walks of life, shrank away from it and joined the
-ranks of the Puritans, for no other reason than that they were resolute
-for the liberty of the subject.
-
-The state of feeling on both sides of the Channel meanwhile hastened
-an open rupture. The French were highly incensed at the treatment of
-the queen's retinue, who, having become an intense nuisance, were
-packed off to Paris. Thereupon the most sinister reports were spread
-among the people, who eagerly imbibed the idea that their princess was
-a victim in the hands of her heretic husband; and they were ready to
-avenge themselves on England or on the Protestants of their own country.
-On the other hand, Charles ascribed his disasters, the defeat of his
-brother-in-law's allies in Germany, and his consequent unpopularity
-at home, to the failure of Louis of France in giving the aid which he
-had promised. Through this default Charles considered that he had sunk
-a million of money, ten thousand soldiers, and lost the favour of his
-people. In these ideas he was strengthened by the emissaries of the
-French Protestants; and very soon Devic and Montague were despatched by
-Charles to concert measures with the Huguenots, and Soubise and Brancard
-were received at London as their envoys. It was finally determined that
-Charles should send a fleet and army to La Rochelle, which the Duke de
-Rohan should join with four thousand men. It was rumoured that it was
-planned for a Protestant state to be established between the Loire and
-Garonne, at the head of which Buckingham should be placed. That there
-was some great scheme of the kind is certain, for Charles, in dismissing
-ambassadors from his uncle the King of Denmark, said that he kept his
-full design from them; "for," he remarked, "I think it needless, or
-rather hurtful, to discover my main intent in this business, because
-divulging it, in my mind, must needs hazard it."
-
-Meanwhile France, on its side, had not been inactive. Richelieu had
-listened not only to the discontent of the French at the concessions
-made by Bassompierre, the French ambassador, in the matter of the number
-of the queen's religious advisers, but to the urgent entreaties of the
-Pope's nuncio, who had never ceased, since the expulsion of Henrietta's
-priests, to call on Louis to avenge that insult to the Church, and had
-concluded a treaty with Spain, for mutual defence and for the punishment
-of England. They regarded the fleet preparing in the English ports, on
-the pretence of chastising the Algerines and giving aid to the Palsgrave,
-as really destined against France and Spain, and they planned not only
-a defence of their own coasts but a descent on the shores of England.
-It was agreed that Spanish ships should be received in French ports and
-French ones in those of Spain.
-
-The English, on their part, swept the ships of all nations from the sea,
-on the plea that they might contain Spanish goods. Letters of mark were
-issued, and no nations were spared by the cruisers, not even those in
-alliance with England. The Hanse Towns, the Dutch States, and even the
-King of Denmark, had to make zealous remonstrances. Louis of France had
-not confined himself to remonstrances even before signing the treaty with
-Spain, but had laid an embargo on all English ships in French harbours.
-But now orders were issued by both the French and English Courts for the
-suspension of commercial intercourse between the two nations.
-
-On the 27th of June, 1627, the English fleet sailed out of Portsmouth.
-It consisted of forty-two ships of war, thirty-four transports, and
-carried seven regiments of infantry, of nine hundred men each, a squadron
-of cavalry, and a numerous body of French Protestants, altogether about
-seven or eight thousand men. That it might this time succeed, the Duke
-of Buckingham took command of it, for in his self-conceit he attributed
-former failures to his not being on the spot in person, to give the
-troops the advantage of his consummate genius and experience; the whole
-of his military genius, if he had any, being yet to be discovered, and
-the whole of his experience amounting to having seen soldiers on parade.
-His plans were kept so secret--even from the friends with whom he was
-to co-operate--that arriving on the 11th of July before La Rochelle,
-the inhabitants refused to permit him to land. It was in vain that Sir
-William Beecher and their own envoy Soubise entreated them to receive
-those who were come as their allies and defenders: the people distrusted
-Buckingham, and declared that they would make no hostile demonstration
-against Louis till they had consulted the other churches and got in their
-harvest. This displayed a dreadful want of management on the part of the
-English; and Buckingham, thus shut out by those whom he came to support,
-turned his attention to the neighbouring isles of Rhé and Oléron, which
-the Huguenots had some time ago surrendered to their king. He decided to
-invade Rhé, and made his descent the very next day, on the 12th of July.
-His sudden diversion in this direction took Toyras, the governor of the
-island, by surprise; the small force with which he attempted to prevent
-their landing was defeated; but Buckingham, loitering on the shore for
-four or five days, in landing the remainder of his troops, allowed Toyras
-to convey the provisions, wine, and ammunition on the island into the
-strong citadel of the town of St. Martin. A small fort called La Prée
-lay in Buckingham's path, but he did not stay to take that, but pushed
-on to St. Martin. The castle stood on a rock overlooking the town and
-bay, and experienced officers were struck with great misgivings at the
-sight of it. Buckingham talked of taking it by a _coup de main_, but
-Sir John Burroughs, an officer who had acquired a real knowledge of war
-and sieges in the Netherlands, shook his head and pronounced the place
-next to impregnable, and that an attempt to storm it would be a useless
-waste of lives. It was then determined to invest the place in force; but
-Burroughs was equally dissatisfied with the unscientific construction of
-the trenches and batteries which were prepared. Buckingham, instead of
-benefiting by the counsels of this experienced officer, reprimanded him
-with a sternness which silenced more compliant men. In a few days a shot
-silenced altogether the honestly officious Burroughs, and the duke went
-on with his siege only to find that, as that officer had predicted, the
-fort defied all his efforts.
-
-The news of this attack on France spread consternation amongst the allies
-of the Palsgrave; the prince himself, the States of Holland, and the King
-of Denmark, all hastened to express their astonishment and dismay at
-this rupture between the two great powers who should have enabled them
-by their united efforts to re-conquer the Palatinate. They would not
-admit Charles's representation of his obligation to support the French
-Protestants as of sufficient moment to induce him to destroy the hopes of
-Protestantism in Germany, and of his own sister and brother-in-law. They
-begged to be permitted to mediate between the two crowns: Denmark sent
-ambassadors instantly to Paris, to use its influence for that purpose
-with the French Court; and the Dutch deprived of their commissions all
-English officers in their service, who had joined the expedition to La
-Rochelle.
-
-[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL.]
-
-But they could not move Charles. He wrote to Buckingham, congratulating
-him on the success of his attempt on Rhé, which was yet no success at
-all; promising him fresh reinforcements and provisions, and exhorting him
-to prosecute the war with vigour and to listen to no proposals of peace.
-He applauded a proclamation which Buckingham had prepared, to assure the
-French Protestants that the King of England had no intention of conquest,
-his sole object being to compel the King of France to fulfil his
-engagements towards the French Protestants into which he had entered with
-them; that, despite these engagements, he had not dismantled Fort Louis,
-in the vicinity of La Rochelle; but, on the contrary, had endeavoured to
-surprise the town and reduce it by force to comply with his own religious
-demands. Charles, however, ordered Buckingham to make an alteration in
-the manifesto, so that instead of the defence of the Protestants being
-the sole cause of his coming, it should be the chief cause, and allow
-him to put forward other reasons for his hostilities as occasion might
-require.
-
-With this proclamation in his hand, the Duke de Rohan made a tour amongst
-the Huguenot churches in the south of France, where the people listened
-to him with enthusiasm, and all who dissented from the vow to live and
-die with the English liberators were denounced as traitors. Rohan was
-empowered to raise forces and advance to the support of La Rochelle; but
-La Rochelle was in no haste to declare itself, for Richelieu had marched
-an army into the neighbourhood, and kept it in check. It was the last to
-hoist the flag of revolt, and it was for the last time.
-
-But all this time Buckingham was experiencing the truth of the warnings
-of Burroughs: no impression whatever was made on the citadel of St.
-Martin. Charles's promised reinforcements did not arrive. He wrote to
-explain the causes of the delay--being the difficulty of obtaining
-mariners, and the slowness of the Commissioners of the Navy; but he
-assured him that the Earl of Holland was preparing to bring out fresh
-forces. On the 12th of August there was a rumour of an attempt to
-assassinate Buckingham by a Jesuit, with a thick three-edged knife; but a
-real wound was inflicted on his reputation by a French flotilla bursting
-the boom which he had drawn across the harbour, despite his fleet, and
-throwing provisions into Fort St. Martin, in spite of himself. This
-disaster produced violent altercations between his ill-managed army and
-fleet. The army charged the misfortune to the sheer negligence of the
-fleet, and the fleet only answered by loud clamours for pay, having, it
-appeared, received nothing the whole time.
-
-Under these circumstances Buckingham displayed all the wavering confusion
-of mind which characterises an inefficient commander. One day he was
-ready to comply with the written requisition of the officers of the army
-to abandon the siege; the next, he determined to stay and assault the
-place. This miserable vacillation was ended by the arrival of the Earl
-of Holland on the 27th of October, with fifteen hundred men; and the
-La Rochelle folk sending eight hundred more, it was resolved to make
-a general assault on the place. On the 6th of November this assault
-began, but the cannonade produced no effect on the adamantine works
-and solid walls of the fort; the slaughter of the troops on all sides
-was terrible, and the attempt was abandoned. Buckingham then wished
-himself safe on board his fleet; but unfortunately for him and his
-army, Marshal Schomberg had now posted himself with a strong force on
-the island between him and his vessels. He had occupied and garrisoned
-Fort la Prée, which Buckingham had so imprudently left in his rear, and
-compelled him now to defile his army along a narrow causeway across the
-marshes, connecting the small island of Oie with that of Rhé. Nothing
-could demonstrate more forcibly the utter incompetence of Buckingham
-for military command than thus suffering the enemy to land and lodge
-in the line of his retreat. Schomberg now attacked the defiling troops
-in the rear with his ordnance, and the cavalry. The cavalry was thrown
-into confusion, and the pressure and disorder on the causeway became
-frightful; the artillery played upon them with dreadful effect, and
-numbers were pushed off into the bordering bogs and salt pits and
-suffocated. The destruction soon amounted to twelve hundred men, and
-twenty pairs of colours were taken. There was no want of bravery
-exhibited by either Buckingham or his men. Courage, it has been well
-said, was the sole qualification for a general which he possessed; he was
-the last to leave the beach; and the men once off the causeway, turned
-resolutely and offered battle to Schomberg. But that prudent general
-was satisfied to let them go away, which they prepared to do, to the
-consternation of the people of La Rochelle, who had risen on the strength
-of their promises, and were now exposed to a formidable army under the
-command of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, and Schomberg.
-
-A really good general, though he had suffered serious loss, would still
-have thrown himself into La Rochelle and, with the sea kept open by his
-fleet for supplies, might have done signal service in defence of the
-place. But Buckingham was no such general. He determined to withdraw,
-contemplating another enterprise equally impossible to him as the taking
-of the citadel of St. Martin. He had an idea of the glory and popularity
-of recovering Calais, and communicated this notable project to the king.
-Charles was charmed with the project, and as he had assured Buckingham
-that he had done wonders, and almost impossibilities on the island of
-Rhé, so he anticipated an equally splendid result: this in any other
-man, except Charles, would have looked like bitter irony. In the eyes
-of the more sensible officers of the fleet and army, the notion of
-attempting the surprise of Calais with a reduced and defeated force,
-and under such a general, was scouted as madness. Buckingham turned the
-prows of his fleet homewards, and arrived towards the end of November.
-The fleet and army were indignant at the disgraceful management of the
-campaign; the people at home were equally so at the waste of public
-money, and the ruin of national honour; but Charles received Buckingham
-with undiminished affection, and took to himself the blame of the failure
-of the expedition, because he had not been able to send sufficient
-reinforcements and provisions. But he speedily received an impressive
-reminder of the consequences of this scandalously managed attempt.
-The people of La Rochelle sent over envoys to represent to him their
-condition, in consequence of listening to his promises; the French were
-beleaguering their town, and the most terrible fate awaited them if they
-were thus deceived and abandoned. Charles gave them comfortable words,
-and entered into a solemn engagement to stand by them so long as their
-forts could resist the enemy, and to make no peace without the guarantee
-of all their ancient liberties.
-
-But how were these grandiloquent words to be redeemed? He had exhausted
-all the resources of his arbitrary exactions, and had incurred an
-additional amount of unpopularity by seizing and imprisoning numbers of
-those who refused to submit to a forced loan; and when they demanded a
-fair hearing through the exercise of the _Habeas corpus_, they were told
-that the king's command superseded that. The Crown lawyers, in fact,
-vaunted the royal will as the supreme law, whilst Selden, Coke, and the
-constitutional lawyers referred them to Magna Charta, which had been
-thirty times confirmed by the kings, and thus aroused a wonderful feeling
-of popular right in the kingdom.
-
-Whilst such was the state of public feeling, the usual pressure for
-money rendered it necessary to adopt some means of raising it. Besides
-the requirements of the home government, the proposed aid to the people
-of La Rochelle made immediate funds necessary. To attempt extorting
-supplies by the modes which had so exasperated the public, was a course
-which all reasonable men regarded with repugnance and apprehension.
-Charles himself would have braved any danger rather than that of meeting
-Parliament, with all its remonstrances and demands of redress of public
-grievances; but his Council urged him to make another trial of the
-Commons, and he consented. The writs were issued on the 29th of January,
-1628, for the assembling of Parliament on the 17th of March. Yet in the
-course of that very week the king proceeded to repeat the conduct which
-Parliament had so strongly condemned, and which must render its meeting
-the more formidable. He required one hundred and seventy-three thousand
-four hundred and eleven pounds for the outfit of the expedition to La
-Rochelle, and instead of waiting for a grant from Parliament, he ordered
-the money to be raised by a Commission from the counties, and that within
-three weeks. With that irritating habit which he had inherited from his
-father, he added a menace, saying that if they paid this tax cheerfully,
-he would meet his Parliament; if not, "he would think of some more speedy
-way."
-
-Conduct so restless and insulting on the very eve of the opening of
-Parliament raised the wildest ferment in the public: the Commissioners
-shrank in terror from their task, and Charles hastened to revoke the
-Commission, saying that "he would rely on the love of his people in
-Parliament." This was on the 16th of February, but like Pharaoh, Charles
-repented himself of his momentary concession, and on the 28th he issued
-an order to raise the money which the counties had refused, by a duty
-on merchandise. The merchants were, however, not a whit more willing to
-submit to an illegal imposition, nor more timid than the counties. The
-ministers trembled before the storm, and anticipated certain impeachment;
-the judges pronounced the duty illegal, and once more Charles recalled
-his order.
-
-What rendered the public more sensitive to these acts of royal licence
-was, that a number of foreign troops were about to be brought into the
-kingdom, on the plea of employing them against France, but which the
-people saw might be turned against themselves or their representatives.
-They were, therefore, worked up to a pitch of extreme excitement, and
-bestirred themselves to send up to the House of Commons a body of such
-men as should not be readily intimidated. Never before had Parliament
-assembled under such favourable circumstances. Daring as had been the
-king's assaults on the public liberties, this had only served to rouse
-the nation to a resolute resolve to withstand his contempt of Magna
-Charta at all hazards. Westminster elected one Bradshaw, a brewer, and
-Maurice, a grocer. Huntingdon sent up a far more remarkable man, one
-Oliver Cromwell, the first time that he had been returned to Parliament
-by any place. There was a general enthusiasm to turn out all such members
-as had been inert, indifferent, or ready to betray their trusts out of
-terror or a leaning towards the Court. When the members assembled the
-House was crowded; there were four hundred such men as had rarely sat in
-any English Parliament before. Both county and town had selected such
-brave, patriotic, and substantial freeholders, merchants, and traders, as
-made sycophants and time-servers tremble. They were no longer the timid
-Commons who had formerly scarcely dared to look the lords or even the
-knights in the face; they were well aware of their power, and in wealth
-itself they were said to be three times superior to the House of Peers.
-In running his eye over them, a spectator would see such men as Cromwell,
-Hampden, Selden, Pym, Hollis, Eliot, Dudley Digges, Coke, Wentworth (soon
-to apostatise), and others, with intellects illumined by the study of
-the orators, lawgivers, and philosophers of republican Greece, animated
-with the great principles of Christianity, and with resolutions like
-iron. Many of these men had been attended to London by trains of their
-neighbours, sturdy freeholders and substantial shopkeepers, more numerous
-than the retinues of any lords, such was the intense expectation of what
-might ensue, and the prompt resolve to stand by their representatives.
-And they were not deceived, for this third Parliament of Charles I.
-marked itself out as one of the grand land-marks of English history.
-
-The king was conscious that if he hoped to gain his chief object from
-them--money--he must curb his haughty temper and assume a conciliating
-manner. He therefore, just before the opening of the Session, liberated
-seventy-eight gentlemen who had been imprisoned for refusing to pay
-the forced loan; he let the Earl of Bristol out of the Tower, though
-he lay under an impeachment for high treason; accorded the same favour
-to Bishop Williams, whom Buckingham had caused to be lodged there;
-and restored Archbishop Abbot, who had been suspended for refusing to
-license Sibthorpe's base sermon. But when he had made these concessions
-to popular opinion, Charles could not command his inveterate habit of
-threatening, and so spoilt all. In his opening speech he said:--"I have
-called you together, judging a Parliament to be the ancient, speediest,
-and best way to give such supply as to secure ourselves and save our
-friends from imminent ruin. Every man must now do according to his
-conscience; wherefore, if you, which God forbid, should not do your
-duties in contributing what this State at this time needs, I must, in
-discharge of my conscience, use those other means which God hath put
-into my hands, to save that which the follies of other men may otherwise
-hazard to lose. Take not this as threatening--I scorn to threaten any but
-my equals--but as an admonition from him that, both out of nature and
-duty, hath most care of your preservation and properties."
-
-This was followed by an equally impolitic speech from the Lord Keeper
-Coventry, who informed the Commons that the king had come to Parliament,
-not because it was at all necessary, not because he was destitute of
-other means, but because it was more agreeable to the goodness of his
-most gracious disposition. And then he unwisely enough added, "If this be
-deferred, necessity and the sword may make way for others. Remember his
-majesty's admonition; I say, remember it."
-
-Surely if the veriest novices in government had been set to talk to
-Parliament, they could not have done it in a more insane, blundering
-style. If the Commons had had as little tact as the king and his
-minister, there would have been hard words hurled back again, and
-the Parliament would have not been many days ere it ceased to exist.
-But the Commons had men as profound as these were shallow. They took
-all patiently, and set about quietly to determine on the question of
-Supplies. They came to the resolution to offer ample ones--no less than
-five subsidies, the whole to be paid within one year--but they tagged
-this simple condition to them, that the king should give them a guarantee
-against any further invasion of their rights.
-
-As we have already stated, during the past year many gentlemen had been
-imprisoned for refusing to pay the demands of the king made without
-sanction of Parliament. Five of them had been, at their own request,
-brought before the King's Bench by writ of _Habeas corpus_, and their
-counsel demanded that, as they were charged with no particular offence,
-but merely committed at the particular command of the king, they should
-be discharged or admitted to bail; but both were refused. The question
-was now discussed by the House, and it was resolved that no subsidy
-should pass without a remedy granted against this royal licence. "It
-will in us be wrong done to ourselves," said Sir Francis Seymour, "to
-our posterity, to our consciences, if we forego this just claim and
-pretension."
-
-"We must vindicate what?" demanded Wentworth; "new things? No; our
-ancient, legal, and vital liberties, by enforcing the laws enacted by
-our ancestors; by setting such a stamp upon them that no licentious
-spirit shall dare henceforth to invade them." In the repeated debates
-which followed, Sir Edward Coke particularly distinguished himself, old
-as he was, by his powerful and undaunted speeches. He called upon the
-members to stand by the ancient laws, and was seconded by other members,
-who narrated the breaking of those laws by the abuses of raising money
-by loans, by benevolences, and privy seals; by billeting soldiers,
-by imprisonment of men for refusing these illegal demands, and by
-withholding from them the benefit of _Habeas corpus_. In vain were the
-speakers warned by the Court party to beware of distrusting the king,
-who had been driven to these measures by necessity, and by others, who
-declared that such was the king's goodness that it was next only to that
-of God. But Coke cried out, "Let us work whilst we have time! I am
-absolutely for giving supply to his majesty, but yet with some caution.
-Let us not flatter ourselves. Who will give subsidies if the king may
-impose what he will? I know he is a religious king, free from personal
-vices, but he deals with other men's hands, and sees with other men's
-eyes."
-
-[Illustration: SIR JOHN ELIOT. (_From the Port Eliot Portrait._)]
-
-This was approaching the subject of the favourite, which even the boldest
-were afraid of touching, but which Coke soon after entered upon plainly,
-and with all courage.
-
-On the 8th of May the House passed the four following resolutions,
-without a dissentient voice even from the courtiers--1st, That no freeman
-ought to be restrained or imprisoned, unless some lawful cause of such
-restraint or imprisonment be expressed; 2nd, That the writ of _Habeas
-Corpus_ ought to be granted to every man imprisoned or restrained, though
-it be at the command of the king or Privy Council, if he pray for the
-same; 3rd, That when the return expresses no cause of commitment or
-restraint, the party ought to be delivered or bailed; 4th, That it is
-the ancient and undoubted right of every free man, that he hath a full
-and absolute property in his goods and estates, and that no tax, loan,
-or benevolence ought to be levied by the king or his ministers, without
-common consent by Act of Parliament.
-
-It was clear, from these resolutions, that unless Charles chose to forego
-his illegal practices of raising money without consent of Parliament,
-and of imprisoning subjects without any warrant but his own will, he
-must abandon all idea of the five subsidies; but his necessities were
-too great, and the difficulties in the way of continuing to plunder
-people at his pleasure too formidable to allow him lightly to give up
-the tempting offer. The Lords were less determined than the Commons, and
-this gave him some encouragement. The matter was argued in the Commons
-on his behalf by the Attorney-General and the King's Counsel, but they
-found the leading members of the House too strong in their knowledge of
-constitutional law to be moved from their grand propositions. In the
-course of the debate the interference of Buckingham was felt, and the
-brave Sir John Eliot did not let that pass without criticism. "I know
-not," he said, "by what fatality or importunity it has crept in, but
-I observe in the close of Mr. Secretary's relation, mention made of
-_another_ in addition to his majesty, and that which hath been formerly
-a matter of complaint, I find here still--a mixture with his majesty,
-not only in business, but in name. Let me beseech you, sir, let no man
-hereafter within these walls take this boldness to introduce it."
-
-On the 28th of May the Commons presented to his majesty their celebrated
-Petition of Right; a document destined to become celebrated, a
-confirmation of Magna Charta, and the origin of the Bill of Rights
-secured in 1688, on which rests all the fabric of our present liberties.
-This Petition was based on the four resolutions. It commenced by
-reminding the monarch of the great statutes passed by some of the
-most illustrious of his ancestors, which he had been so long and
-pertinaciously outraging; that the statute _De Tallagio non concedendo_,
-made in the reign of Edward I., provided that no tallage nor aid could
-be levied by the king without consent of Parliament; that by another
-statute of the 25th year of Edward III., no person could be compelled to
-make any loan to the king without such sanction; such loans being against
-reason and the charters of the land. There could be no dispute here--the
-king stood palpably convicted, and had he acted in ignorance, could do
-so no longer. It then went on: "And by other laws of this realm, it is
-provided that none shall be charged by any charge or imposition called a
-benevolence, nor by such like charge; by which statutes before mentioned,
-and the other good laws and statutes of the realm, your subjects have
-inherited this freedom, that they should not be compelled to contribute
-to any tax, tallage, aid, or other like charge, not set by common
-consent in Parliament: yet, nevertheless, of late, divers commissions,
-directed to sundry commissioners, in several counties, with instructions,
-have issued, by pretext whereof your people have been in divers places
-assembled, and required to lend certain sums of money unto your majesty;
-and many of them, upon their refusal to do so, have had an unlawful oath
-administered unto them, not warrantable by the laws and statutes of this
-realm, and have been constrained to become bound to make appearance and
-give attendance before your Privy Council in other places; and others
-of them have therefore been imprisoned, confined, and sundry other
-ways molested and disquieted; and divers other charges have been laid
-and levied upon your people in several counties, by lords-lieutenant,
-commissioners for musters, justices of peace, and others, by command or
-direction from your majesty or your Privy Council, against the laws and
-free customs of this realm."
-
-The Petition next set forth that divers persons refusing to pay these
-impositions had been imprisoned without cause shown, and on being brought
-up by _Habeas Corpus_ to have their cause examined, had been sent back to
-prison without such fair trial and examination. From this it proceeded to
-the fact that numbers of soldiers had been billeted in private houses,
-contrary to the law, and persons tried by martial law in cases where
-they were only amenable to the common law of the land; and moreover,
-officers and ministers of the king had screened soldiers and sailors who
-had committed robberies, murders, and other felonies, on the plea that
-they were only responsible to military tribunals. All these breaches of
-the statutes, the Petition prayed the king to cause to cease, as being
-contrary to the rights and liberties of the subject, as secured by the
-laws of the land.
-
-The Petition was so clear, and the statutes quoted were so undeniable,
-that Charles was puzzled what to do. To refuse the prayer of the Commons
-was to forfeit the five tempting subsidies; to admit it simply and fully
-was to confess that he had hitherto been altogether wrong, and to leave
-himself no loop-hole of excuse for the future. Instead, therefore, of
-adopting the established form of saying, in the old Norman words, "_Soit
-droit fait comme il est désiré_," he wrote at the foot of the petition
-this loose and most absurd assent--"The king willeth that right be done
-according to the laws and customs of the realm; and that the statutes be
-put in due execution, that his subjects may have no cause to complain of
-any wrongs or oppressions, contrary to their just rights and liberties,
-to the preservation whereof he holds himself in conscience as well
-obliged as of his own prerogative."
-
-This left the matter precisely where it was, for the king had always
-contended that he did nothing but what was warranted by his prerogative.
-The House felt this, and at once expressed their grievous disappointment.
-To add to their chagrin, Charles sent a message to them, informing
-them that he should dissolve Parliament on the 11th of June, it now
-being the 5th. A deep and melancholy silence pervaded the House, which
-locked the doors to prevent interruption, and debated the matter in all
-earnestness. A second message from his majesty, commanding them not to
-cast or lay aspersions on any minister of his majesty, added greatly
-to the concern of the House. On the day but one before Sir John Eliot
-had urged the necessity of a "declaration" to his majesty, showing the
-decay and contempt of religion, and the insufficiency of his ministers,
-the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster had styled Sir John's speech
-"strange language," and had declared that if Sir John went on, he would
-go out; upon which the House told him plainly to take himself off. This
-had brought down the king's second message. The debate went on amid tears
-and deep emotion from strong and long-practised men; as if they perceived
-that the great crisis of the nation was come, and foresaw the bloodshed
-and misery which were to follow if they stood firm to their knowledge of
-the right; the slavery and degradation of England if they did not.
-
-Sir Robert Philips, interrupted by sobs and weeping, said:--"I perceive
-that towards God and towards man there is little hope, after our humble
-and careful endeavours, seeing our sins are many and so great. I consider
-my own infirmities, and if ever my passions were wrought upon, it is now.
-This message stirs me up, especially when I remember with what moderation
-we have proceeded." These earnest and religious men feared that God was
-hardening the heart of the king as he had done that of Pharaoh, in order
-to punish the nation for its backslidings and wickedness. "Our sins,"
-said Sir John Eliot, "are so exceeding great, that unless we speedily
-turn to God, God will remove Himself farther from us. You know with what
-affection and integrity we have proceeded hitherto, to gain his majesty's
-heart; and, out of the necessity of our duty, were brought to that
-course we were in: I doubt a misrepresentation to his majesty hath drawn
-this mark of his displeasure upon us. I observe in the message, amongst
-other sad particulars, it is conceived that we were about to lay some
-aspersions upon the Government. Give me leave to protest that so clear
-were our intentions, that we desire only to vindicate these dishonours
-to our king and country. It is said also as if we cast some aspersions
-on his majesty's ministers; I am confident no minister, how dear soever,
-can----"
-
-Eliot was interrupted by Sir John Finch, the Speaker, who had for some
-time been more and more sidling away to the favour of the king, starting
-up and exclaiming, "There is a command laid upon me, to interrupt any
-that shall go about to lay an aspersion on the ministers of State." This
-was a clear infringement of the privilege of Parliament, which the House
-was not disposed to pass by. Sir John, thus snubbed, sat down, and there
-remained a significant silence for some minutes. Then Sir Dudley Digges
-rose and said, "Unless we may speak of these things, let us arise, and
-begone, or sit still and do nothing." There was another deep silence, at
-length broken by Sir Nathaniel Rich, who said, "We must now speak, or
-for ever hold our peace. For us to be silent when king and kingdom are
-in this calamity, is not fit. The question is, whether we shall secure
-ourselves by our silence--yea or no? Let us go to the Lords and show our
-dangers, that we may then go to the king together with our representation
-thereof." Prynne, Coke, and others, spoke to the same effect, and Coke
-was so overwhelmed with his feelings, grown old as he was, at the Bar, on
-the Bench and in the House, that he was obliged to resume his seat.
-
-The House resolved itself into a committee for more freedom of
-discussion, and put Mr. Whitly into the chair. Finch, the Speaker,
-begged leave, as he was quitting the chair, for half an hour's absence.
-The House knew very well that he only wanted to run off and tell the
-king what was going on, but they let him go, and away he bustled to
-Whitehall. The House then passed an order, declaring that no man should
-leave the House under penalty of being committed to the Tower. Then Mr.
-Kirton rose, and declaring that the king in himself was as good a prince
-as ever reigned, said "it was high time to find out the enemies of the
-Commonwealth, who had so prevailed with him, and then he doubted not but
-God would send them hearts, hands, and swords, to cut all their throats."
-He added that the Speaker to desire to leave the House as he had done,
-was unprecedented, and to his mind ominous. Sir Edward Coke once more
-endeavoured to say what he had not been able to say before, but which
-must be said, and none so proper as this veteran statesman to say it. "I
-now see," he observed, "that God has not accepted our humble and moderate
-carriages and fair proceedings; and I fear the reason is that we have
-not dealt sincerely with the king, and made a true representation of the
-causes of all these miseries. Let us take this to heart. In the time of
-Edward III. had Parliament any doubt as to naming men that misled the
-king? They accused John of Gaunt, the king's son, Lord Latimer, and Lord
-Neville, for misadvising the king; and they went to the Tower for it.
-And now, when there is such a downfall of the State, shall we hold our
-tongues? Why," continued he, "may we not name those who are the cause of
-all our evils?" And he added, "Let us palliate no longer; if we do, God
-will not prosper us. I think the Duke of Buckingham is the cause, and
-till the duke be informed thereof, we shall never go out with honour, nor
-sit with honour here. That man is the grievance of grievances! Let us
-set down the causes of all our disasters, and they will all reflect upon
-him. As to going to the Lords, that is not _via regia_; our liberties are
-now impeached; we are deeply concerned; it is not _via regia_, for the
-Lords are not participant with our liberties. It is not the king but the
-duke that saith, 'We require you not to meddle with state affairs, or the
-ministers thereof.' Did not his majesty, when prince, attend the Upper
-House in our prosecution of Lord Chancellor Bacon and the Lord Treasurer
-Middlesex?"
-
-The secret was out; the word was spoken! The name at which Charles and
-the duke had trembled, lest it should come into discussion, was, in spite
-of threats and messages, named; and the naming, and the charging with all
-the disgraces and miseries of the nation, were received with sudden and
-general acclamation of "Yea! yea! 'Tis he! 'tis he!" The day was come
-that James had so solemnly warned both Charles and Buckingham of--when
-they should have their bellyful of impeachments; having, as Coke now
-reminded them, themselves set the ball rolling. Aldred, in the letter
-just quoted, says:--"As when one good hound recovers the scent, the rest
-come in with full cry, so one pursued it, and every one came home and
-laid the blame where he thought the fault was, on the Duke of Buckingham,
-to wit." The duke was speedily accused of treachery and incapacity, both
-as High Admiral and Commander-in-Chief. All the disgraceful failures, at
-Cadiz, at La Rochelle, on the Isle of Rhé, and even in Germany, were
-charged upon his evil counsels or worse management.
-
-Selden proposed a declaration to his majesty under four heads, expressive
-of the dutiful devotion of the House, of the violation of the nation's
-liberties, of the intentions of the House, and of the interference of
-the duke to prevent inquiry. He declared that all this time they had
-been casting a mantle over the accusation made against Buckingham, and
-that it was time to revert to that. "At this moment," says Aldred, "as
-we were putting the question, the Speaker, having been, not half an
-hour, but three hours absent, and with the king, returned, bringing
-this message--that the House should then rise--being about eleven
-o'clock--adjourn till the morrow morning, and no committees to sit, or
-other business to go on in the interim."
-
-The next day the House met, when Finch apologised for his absence,
-and his going to the king, declaring that he had communicated nothing
-but what was to the honour of the House; and wishing that his tongue
-might cleave to the roof of his mouth before he spoke a word to the
-disparagement of any member. He informed them that his majesty had no
-desire to fetter their deliberations, so that they did not interfere with
-his ministers, and added words of courtesy from the king. The Commons
-observed that they had no intention of charging anything on the king,
-but must insist on inquiring when necessary into the conduct of his
-ministers; and the words of Mr. Kirton being found fault with, which
-intimated a hope that all those found guilty might have their throats
-cut, the House resolved that "he had said nothing beyond the bounds of
-duty and allegiance, and that they all concurred with him therein."
-
-On the following day they went into committee, and commenced their
-labours of inquiry into the proceedings of the executive. They examined
-Burlemachi, a foreign speculator, as to a commission which he was alleged
-to have, for engaging and bringing into this kingdom troops of German
-horse. He confessed to such warrant, and to having received thirty
-thousand pounds for this purpose; one thousand of these horse being,
-as he admitted, already raised and armed, and waiting their passage in
-Holland. "And the intention of bringing over these mercenaries," said
-one of the members, "is to cut our throats, or to keep us in obedience!"
-Another member declared that twelve of the commanders were already
-arrived, and had been seen in St. Paul's. The House next fell upon a
-new scheme of excise, which it was proposed to levy without consent of
-Parliament, and voted that any member who had any information regarding
-this new imposition and did not disclose it, was an enemy to the State,
-and no true Englishman.
-
-[Illustration: ASSASSINATION OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. (_See p._ 535.)]
-
-The danger which was obviously approaching Buckingham in the proceedings
-of this Committee alarmed the king; and the same day, the 7th of June,
-he commanded the Commons to meet him in the House of Lords, and then
-observing that he thought he had given a full and specific answer to
-their Petition of Right, but as they were not satisfied, he desired
-them to read the Petition again, and he would give them an answer which
-should satisfy them. Taking his seat on the throne, this was done, and
-he then ordered the former answer to be cut off, and the following, in
-the established form, to be inscribed--"Let right be done as is desired."
-"Now," he added, "I have performed my part; wherefore, if this Parliament
-have not a happy issue, the sin is yours. I am free of it."
-
-Thus was passed the Petition of Right, the most important document
-since the acquirement of Magna Charta. The rejoicing for this conquest,
-this assurance of quieter days and secure firesides, sped through the
-City, and thence over the kingdom, and was everywhere demonstrated by
-acclamations, ringing of bells, and bonfires. On the 10th of June, three
-days afterwards, the king, as if pleased with this public expression of
-satisfaction, sent Sir Humphrey May to inform the House of Commons that
-he was graciously pleased that their Petition of Right, with his answer,
-should be recorded not only on the journals of Parliament, but in those
-of the courts of Westminster, and should, moreover, be printed for his
-honour and the content of the people. On the 12th the Commons showed
-their content by voting the king the five subsidies, and hastening to
-pass the Bill for five other subsidies granted by the clergy.
-
-But the exultation over this great triumph did not prevent the Commons
-from pursuing their labours of inquiry into abuses. They obtained a
-judgment from the Lords against Dr. Mainwaring for his encouragement
-of kingly absolutism in his sermons, and censured Laud and Neale of
-Winchester, for licensing similar sermons; they then came to Buckingham
-himself, and voted a strong remonstrance against his undue influence and
-unconstitutional doings, which was presented by the Speaker to the king.
-The House felt itself highly aggrieved by a speech which the favourite
-was reported to have made at his own table--"Tush! it makes no matter
-what the Commons or Parliament doth; for without my leave and authority,
-they shall not be able to touch the hair of a dog." Buckingham protested
-that he had never uttered such words, and called upon the House of Lords
-to demand that the members of the Commons who had thus reported it should
-be called in to prove it; but the duke was forced to content himself with
-entering his protest on the journals of the Lords.
-
-The Commons not having voted the tonnage and poundage, calculated that
-the king would not hastily dissolve the House, and therefore prayed
-him to remove Buckingham from his counsels, as the author of so many
-calamities; and they took the opportunity to remind him that tonnage
-and poundage could not be collected without their consent, as the
-king's concession of the Petition of Right testified. This called forth
-Charles again as hotly as ever. Though he had admitted, in granting
-this Petition, that no kind of duty could be imposed without consent of
-Parliament, he now sought to except the tonnage and poundage from this
-condition. He therefore, on the 26th of June, suddenly went to the House
-of Lords, and summoned the attendance of the Commons. The action had
-been so impromptu, that the Lords had no notice of it, and neither he
-nor they had time to robe themselves, when the Commons at nine o'clock
-in the morning made their appearance. All unrobed as he was, Charles
-seated himself on the throne, and lectured the Commons on their already
-beginning to put false constructions on his passing the Petition of
-Right. "As for the tonnage and poundage, it is a thing I cannot want,
-and was never intended by you to ask, nor meant by me, I am sure, to
-grant." And he called on them, but more especially the Lords, who were
-the judges, to take notice of what he declared his meaning to be when he
-granted the Petition.
-
-The mischief had been done by former Parliaments granting this impost,
-now called customs duties, for life; and though Parliament had never
-altogether surrendered the power of voting it, nor had voted it for
-life to Charles, he had come to consider it as merged into a matter of
-prerogative, and not to be affected by his general concession just made.
-The Commons, however, meant nothing less than that this, as well as
-every other grant of taxes on the subject, should be void without their
-assent. Here, therefore, as so often afterwards, they found themselves
-just where they were with the king as matter of dispute, though they
-had settled the question as matter of right. No man was ever so hard as
-Charles I. to be made to see what he did not like. He therefore gave
-his assent to the subsidies, and prorogued the Parliament till October;
-and, as if to mark how far he was from intending to submit to what he
-had thus so solemnly in the face of the whole nation bound himself to,
-he proceeded to reward the men who had so shamefully advocated absolute
-power in him. He made bishops of both Montague and Mainwaring, and
-promoted Sibthorpe to coveted livings.
-
-The king's attention was soon drawn from the battle with the Commons
-to the demands of the unfortunate people of La Rochelle upon him. He
-had solemnly pledged his honour to assist them, and they now sorely
-needed it. Since Buckingham left them to their fate, La Rochelle had
-been invested by the French army under the king and Richelieu, and the
-besieged loudly called on the King of England to succour them according
-to his promise. The Earl of Denbigh was despatched thither with a
-numerous fleet, yet had done nothing; but having shown himself before
-the town for seven days, returned, to the great mortification of the
-Rochellais. Denbigh had been raised to his rank and title simply for
-marrying a sister of Buckingham's, and the people murmured loudly at the
-fleet being put into such incompetent hands. The hatred of the duke rose
-higher and higher, and on the same day that he was pronounced by the
-Commons the cause of all these national calamities, his physician, Dr.
-Lambe, was murdered by a mob in London, and a placard was affixed on the
-walls in these words:--"Who rules the kingdom?--The king. Who rules the
-king?--The duke. Who rules the duke?--The devil. Let the duke look to it,
-or he will be served as his doctor was served." A doggerel rhyme was in
-the mouths of the common people:--
-
-    "Let Charles and George do what they can,
-    The duke shall die like Dr. Lambe."
-
-The king was extremely concerned when the placard was shown him, and
-added double guard at night; but the duke treated the whole with
-contempt, and prepared to proceed himself with the fleet to relieve La
-Rochelle. Charles went with him to Deptford to see the ships, and is
-reported to have said to Buckingham on beholding them, "George, there are
-those who wish that both these and thou may perish; but we will both
-perish together, if thou dost." Buckingham proceeded to Portsmouth, where
-he was to embark. Clarendon relates that the ghost of Buckingham's father
-had appeared to an officer of the king's wardrobe three times, urging
-him to go to his son and warn him to do something to abate the hatred
-of the people, or that he would not be allowed to live long. Since the
-demonstrations in London, it needed no ghost to show his danger. But he
-was never gayer than on the eve of the verification of the omens and the
-menaces.
-
-The duke, on the 23rd of August, rose in high spirits, even dancing in
-his gaiety, and went to breakfast with a great number of his officers.
-Whilst he was at breakfast, M. Soubise, the envoy of the people of La
-Rochelle, went to him, and was seen in earnest private conversation.
-It is supposed that Soubise had come to the knowledge of certain
-negotiations between England and France, in which, though both monarchs
-showed every tendency to listen to an accommodation, neither had yet
-ventured to propose it; but that it was the object of Buckingham rather
-to treat than to fight when he got to La Rochelle. At that very moment
-Mr. Secretary Carleton had arrived from the king with instructions to
-Buckingham to open by some means a communication with Richelieu, and
-thus, as it were, accidentally to bring about a treaty. Probably Soubise
-had acquired hints of these things, for both he and many other Frenchmen
-about Buckingham appeared greatly discontented, and vociferated and
-gesticulated energetically. The duke, it is said, had been endeavouring
-to persuade Soubise that La Rochelle was already relieved, which he was
-too well informed to credit.
-
-The duke now prepared to go out to his carriage, which was waiting at
-the door, and as he went through the hall, still followed by the French
-gentlemen, Colonel Friar whispered something in his ear. He turned to
-listen, and at the same moment a knife was plunged into his heart, and
-there left sticking. Plucking it out, with the word "Villain!" he fell,
-covered with blood. His servants, who caught him as he was falling,
-thought it was a stroke of apoplexy, but the blood, both from the wound
-and his mouth, quickly undeceived them. Then an alarm was raised; some
-ran to close the gates, and others rushed forth to spread the news. The
-Duchess of Buckingham and her sister, the Countess of Anglesea, heard the
-noise in their chamber, and ran into the gallery of the lobby, where
-they saw the duke lying in his gore. He was only in his six-and-thirtieth
-year.
-
-The first suspicion fell upon the French, and they were in great danger
-from the duke's people; but when a number of officers came rushing in,
-crying out, "Where is the villain? Where is the butcher?" a man stepped
-calmly forward, saying, "I am the man--here I am!" He had quietly
-withdrawn into the kitchen as soon as he had done the deed, and might
-have escaped had he so willed. On hearing him avow the murder the
-officers drew their swords, and would have despatched him, but were
-prevented by the Secretary Carleton, Sir Thomas Morton, and others, who
-stood guard over him till a detachment of soldiers arrived and conveyed
-him to the Governor's house.
-
-The assassin turned out to be John Felton, a gentleman by birth and
-education, who had been a lieutenant in the army during the expedition
-to the Isle of Rhé. He had thrown up his commission because he could not
-obtain the arrears of his pay, and had seen another at the same time
-promoted over his head. He had, therefore, most likely, a personal grudge
-against the duke, but had also been led on by religious fanaticism. He
-was a stout, dark, military-looking man, from Suffolk; but according
-to his own account, was first excited to the deed by reading the
-remonstrance of the Parliament against the duke, when it seemed to him
-that that remonstrance was a sufficient warrant for the act, and that
-by ridding the country of him he should render a real service to it.
-He described himself as walking in London on Tower Hill, when he saw a
-broad hunting-knife on a cutler's stall, and that it was suggested to him
-instantly to buy it for this purpose.
-
-At Portsmouth one of the royal chaplains was sent to him in his dungeon,
-where he lay heavily ironed; but Felton, supposing the chaplain sent to
-draw something from him, rather than for his consolation, said, "Sir,
-I shall be brief with you; I killed him for the cause of God and my
-country!" The chaplain, to mislead him, told him what was not true, that
-the surgeons gave hopes of his life; but Felton promptly replied, "That
-is impossible! I had the power of forty men, assisted by Him who guided
-my hand." On being removed to London, the people crowded to see him,
-showering blessings on him as the deliverer of his country; and one old
-woman at Kingston said, "Now, God bless thee, little David!" meaning that
-he had killed Goliath. Felton was lodged in the Tower, and threatened
-with the rack to make him confess his accomplices, but he steadfastly
-replied that he had no accomplices or abettors but the remonstrance
-of the Commons. The Earl of Dorset went to see him, accompanied, as
-reported, by Laud, and menaced him with the rack if he would not reveal
-his colleagues. Felton replied, "I am ready, but I must tell you that
-I will then accuse you my lord of Dorset, and no one but you." Charles
-urged his being racked, but the judges, who saw better than he did the
-spirit that was abroad, refused to sanction it, declaring that torture,
-however used, had always been contrary to the law of England. Felton
-gloried in his deed, but at length, through the exertions of the clergy,
-came to confess that he had been misled by a bad spirit; yet it has been
-doubted whether he ever really abandoned inwardly the persuasion of
-having done a great and patriotic deed. When the Attorney-General on the
-trial lauded the virtues, the abilities, wisdom, and public services of
-Buckingham to the skies, Felton, on being asked what he had to say why
-judgment should not be passed on him, replied that if he had deprived his
-majesty of so faithful a servant as Mr. Attorney-General described, he
-was sorry, and extending his arm exclaimed, "This is the instrument that
-did the deed, let it be cut off for it!" He was hanged at Tyburn, and
-then gibbeted at Portsmouth, the scene of his crime.
-
-In place of the duke, the Earl of Lindsay was ordered to take command of
-the expedition for the relief of La Rochelle, and he was accompanied by
-Walter Montague, the second son of the Earl of Manchester, who was to
-open a negotiation with Richelieu. Montague was already a Catholic at
-heart, and afterwards became so avowedly, and was made commendatory Abbot
-of Pontoise, and a member of the Council of Anne of Austria. No doubt it
-was from this known tendency that he had been chosen for this mission.
-For five days the fleet manoeuvred before La Rochelle, and after two
-ineffectual, and probably rather pretended than actual, endeavours to
-force an entrance, returned to Spithead. Montague, meanwhile, had been
-introduced to Louis, had hurried back to London, and was on the point
-of returning, when the news came of the surrender of La Rochelle. This
-event put an end to the dreams of a Protestant State in France, and
-greatly consolidated the power of that country. To the Rochellais it was
-a terrible lesson against putting faith in English kings. When they were
-prevailed upon to surrender their peace and prosperity to the promises
-of protection and religious liberty, the town contained fifteen thousand
-souls; when they opened their gates to their own sovereign, they were
-reduced to four thousand. All this misery was the work of Charles and
-Buckingham.
-
-[Illustration: TYBURN IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.]
-
-This event had greatly grieved the Protestants in England, and it was
-whilst the public was brooding over these matters, and over fresh acts of
-arbitrary oppression in the Star Chamber and Court of High Commission, as
-well as by the continued levy of tonnage and poundage and other duties,
-that Charles called together Parliament. It had been prorogued to the
-20th of October, but met on the 20th of January, 1629. The king sent
-the Commons a message, desiring them to proceed to vote the tonnage and
-poundage without delay, this having been neglected by the Parliament
-in the last Session; but the House insisted on going first into the
-grievances. These were two-fold--such as related to the constitution, and
-such as affected the faith of the nation. Charles had not only persisted
-in the enforcement of revenue without Parliament, and dared to tamper
-even with the Petition of Rights after he had granted it, but had issued
-a new edition of the Articles of the Church, into which he had introduced
-a clause to suit the intentions of himself and his great ecclesiastical
-adviser, Laud. The Commons agreed to take the religious question first,
-declaring that the business of the kings of this earth should give place
-to the business of the King of Heaven.
-
-Popery and Arminianism were the things which the Puritans held in almost
-equal horror. In reference to Popery they inquired what was the reason
-that the laws regarding it were relaxed? and why out of ten individuals
-who had been arraigned for receiving ordination in the Church of Rome,
-only one had been condemned, and the execution of that one respited? Two
-Committees were appointed to inquire of the judges on what grounds they
-had refused to receive evidence tendered against the recusants at their
-trial, and of the Attorney-General by what authority he had discharged
-the persons in question, on their giving bail for their re-appearance.
-Every member was bound to give all the information to the House in his
-power regarding the relaxation of the penal laws, and all attempts or
-warrants to stay proceedings against the Papists.
-
-But the growth and favour of Arminianism in high places was the most
-absorbing subject of animadversion. Laud, now Bishop of London, was bent
-not only on introducing Arminianism to its fullest extent, but ceremonies
-and rites merging fast into Catholicism. Therefore the Puritans declared
-the heresy of Arminianism to be the spawn of Popery. Laud had notions of
-Church government as absolute as Charles had of civil government. All the
-promotions by him were of Arminian clergymen. Montague was become Bishop
-of Chichester, Mainwaring was a bishop, and all those who meant to get
-preferment saw plainly that they must profess Arminianism, and the love
-of gorgeous ceremonies and plenty of surplices.
-
-There were difficulties, however, for the Articles drawn up in 1562,
-under Elizabeth, stated:--"The Church hath power to decree rites and
-ceremonies, and hath authority in matters of faith." Mr. Pym called upon
-the House to take a covenant for the maintenance of their religious
-rites, which were in danger; and both he and others denounced the
-introduction of idolatrous ceremonies into the Church by Charles and
-others. Sir John Eliot protested vehemently against the introduction of
-the new clause into the Articles. He called on the House to enter not a
-mere resolution but a "vow" on its Journals against it, which was done;
-namely, "that the Commons of England claimed, professed, and avowed for
-truth, that sense of the Articles of Religion which were established in
-Parliament in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth, which by the public
-acts of the Church of England, and by the general and current exposition
-of the writers of that Church, had been declared unto them, and that they
-rejected the sense of the Jesuits, Arminians, and all others wherein they
-differed from it."
-
-The king sent the House a message, desiring them to leave matters of
-religion, and proceed to pass the vote for tonnage and poundage. This
-led to a sharp debate between the Court party and the Opposition. The
-courtiers lauded the goodness of the king, and the enlargement of their
-liberties which he had granted; but Mr. Coriton replied bluntly, "When
-men speak here of neglect of duty towards his majesty, let them know
-we know no such thing, nor what they mean. I see not how we neglect
-the same. I see it is all our heart's desire to expedite the Bill of
-tonnage and poundage in due time. Our business is still put back by their
-messages, and the business in hand is God's. And his majesty's things are
-certainly amiss, and every one sees it; but woe be unto us if we present
-not the same to his majesty!" On the 2nd of February the House, instead
-of the vote of tonnage and poundage, presented to the king "an apology"
-for delaying that Bill, and containing a complaint of his majesty's
-encroaching on the orders and privileges of their House by three messages
-in two days, urging them to change inconveniently the orders of their
-proceedings. Charles replied by a message through Secretary Coke that
-he was as zealous for the faith as they were, but must again think it
-strange that the business of religion should be an obstruction to his
-business. He once more desired them to pass the vote for the tonnage and
-poundage, adding one of his mischievous and most impolitic threats, of
-quickening them by other means if they did not.
-
-The House, resenting this ill-advised message, went on discussing the
-affairs of the Church. Mr. Kirton, who had in the last Session talked
-of cutting the throats of all traitorous Ministers, now declared Laud
-and Neale, Bishop of Winchester, to be at the bottom of all the troubles
-that were now come upon them and their religion. On the 11th of February,
-in the Committee on Religion, Oliver Cromwell made his first appearance
-as a speaker in that House, a circumstance of great mark, seeing what
-the honourable member afterwards grew into. He said, "He had heard
-by relation from one Dr. Beard that Dr. Alabaster had preached flat
-Popery at Paul's Cross, and that the Bishop of Winchester had commanded
-him, as his diocesan, that he should preach nothing to the contrary.
-Mainwaring, so justly censured in this House for his sermons, was by the
-same bishop's means preferred to a rich living. If these are the steps
-to Church preferment, what are we to expect?" Whereupon the Committee
-ordered Dr. Beard to be written to by Mr. Speaker, to come up and testify
-against the bishop; "the order for Dr. Beard to be delivered to Mr.
-Cromwell." After severe animadversions on Neale, who, Mr. Kirton said,
-had leaped through many bishoprics, but always left Popery behind him,
-the House passed to the consideration of the Petition of Right.
-
-Selden called the attention of the House to this subject, and showed
-that though Charles had promised that the Petition of Right should be
-printed, and that the king's printer had struck off fifteen hundred
-copies of that document, the king had sent for and destroyed them,
-and had then had printed and circulated another copy, from which the
-king's assent was removed, his first evasive answer restored, and his
-sophistical explanation at the close of the Session, that it did not
-apply to tonnage and poundage, introduced. This flagrant violation of
-his word and of all the forms of Parliament, struck the House with
-ominous doubts of ever binding the king by any law or by any principle.
-They summoned the king's printer to their bar, and demanded by what
-authority he had thus substituted a false for the true Petition. He
-replied that the day after the Session the Attorney-General had sent for
-him, and forbade him to publish the copy printed, as did also the Earl
-of Worcester, Lord Privy Seal; and that he was sent for again to Court,
-furnished with the new copy, and ordered to print and publish it in that
-form.
-
-The House was in the highest state of indignation and astonishment. Such
-a deliberate falsification of a document passed by the House and ratified
-by himself, branded the king as capable of any act of duplicity, and went
-to destroy all confidence in not merely his word but his most solemn
-legislative act. The chief speakers of the Commons expressed their horror
-and disgust at the deed in no measured terms. Selden exclaimed, "For this
-Petition of Right, we see how it has been invaded since our last meeting.
-Our liberties of life, person, and freehold have been invaded; men have
-been committed contrary to that Petition. No man ought to lose life or
-limb but by the law, and hath not one lately lost his ears by order of
-the Star Chamber? Next, they will take away our arms, and then our legs,
-and so our lives. Let all see we are sensible of this. Evil customs creep
-in upon us: let us make a just representation thereof to his majesty."
-
-The case of a merchant and member of the House, Mr. Rolles, was then
-related. His goods had been seized by the officers of the Customs for
-refusing to pay the rates demanded, though he told them that whatever was
-declared due by law, he would discharge. This case, amongst a multitude
-of others, threw the House into a great ferment. "They knew the party was
-a Parliament man," said Sir Robert Philips; "nay, they said if all the
-Parliament was with him, or concerned in the goods, they would seize them
-just the same."
-
-The king, perceiving the storm he had raised, sent word by Secretary
-Coke to stay further debate on that case till three o'clock the next
-day, when he would speak with both Houses at Whitehall. Accordingly,
-meeting them there, Charles, after complimenting the Lords at the expense
-of the Commons, then said, addressing the members of the Lower House,
-"The complaint of staying men's goods for tonnage and poundage may have
-a short and easy conclusion. By passing the Bill as my ancestors have
-had it, my past actions will be concluded, and my future proceedings
-authorised. I take not these duties as appertaining to my hereditary
-prerogative. It ever was, and still is, my meaning, by the gift of my
-subjects to enjoy the same. In my speech of last Session I did not
-challenge them as right, but showed you the necessity by which I was to
-take them, till you had granted them, assuring myself that you wanted
-only time, and not good will. So make good your professions, and put an
-end to all questions arising from the subject."
-
-These assertions were in direct contradiction to his declaration in that
-very speech which we have already quoted, that the tonnage and poundage
-was a thing that Parliament had nothing to do with. But the concession
-gratified the Commons; still they did not grant the Customs duties, but
-employed themselves strenuously in calling to account those who had been
-concerned in furthering or executing the king's illegal orders. They
-summoned to their bar Acton, the Sheriff of London, who had seized the
-goods of Rolles and other merchants, and sent him to the Tower. They
-summoned also the officers of the Customs who made the seizure, who
-pleaded the king's warrant, and also his own express command; and the
-king declared, through Secretary Coke, that he would defend them. This
-caused loud outcries in the House, but did not check their proceedings,
-for they sent messages to the Chancellor and Barons of the Exchequer, who
-excused themselves by saying all those aggrieved had their remedy at law.
-Thus they did not attempt to justify their proceedings.
-
-On the 25th of February, two days later than these determined
-inquisitions, showing that the Commons were assuming high and most
-ominous ground, the Committee of Religion presented to the House a
-report, entitled "Heads of Articles agreed upon, and to be insisted on by
-the House." In these they complained that the bishops licensed books in
-favour of Popery, and suppressed books opposed to Popery; that such books
-as those of Mainwaring and Montague should be burnt, and some better
-order taken for the licensing of books. They demanded that candlesticks
-should be removed from the communion-tables, which were now impiously
-styled high altars; that pictures, lights, images, should be taken away;
-and crossing and praying towards the East forbidden; that more learned,
-pious, and orthodox men should be put into livings, and that better
-provision should be made for a good minister in every parish.
-
-[Illustration: BROAD OF CHARLES I.]
-
-Again Charles sent them an order to adjourn to the 2nd of March,
-which they did, but only to assemble on that day in the same resolute
-and unbending spirit. Sir John Eliot immediately denounced Neale of
-Winchester, as a rank abettor of Arminianism, and thence passed on to
-the Lord Treasurer Weston, whom he declared to be his grand supporter
-in it. This Sir Richard Weston had been seeking his fortune at Court
-many years, and had nearly spent a private fortune of his own before he
-obtained any promotion. At last he got employed as ambassador to Archduke
-Albert in Flanders, and afterwards to the court of Germany, in which he
-discharged his trust so well that on his return he was made Chancellor of
-the Exchequer, and a few months before the death of Buckingham, Charles
-had removed the Earl of Marlborough from the office of Lord Treasurer,
-and given it to him. Weston was highly elated, and devoted himself with
-all his ardour to succeed to the place of favourite which Buckingham had
-held. But though Charles showed him much favour, and eventually made him
-Earl of Portland, he allowed Weston to succeed to the arbitrary offices
-and public odium of the duke, but not to the ascendency which Buckingham
-had possessed over him.
-
-[Illustration: THREE POUND PIECE OF CHARLES I.]
-
-Sir John Eliot now pointed out Weston's criminal subservience to the
-worst designs of the king. "In his person," he said, "all evil is
-concentrated, both for the innovation of religion, and the invasion of
-our liberties. He is now the great enemy of the Commonwealth. I have
-traced him in all his actions, and I find him building on those grounds
-laid by his master, the great duke. He secretly is moving for this
-interruption; and from this fear they go about to break Parliament, lest
-Parliament should break them."
-
-[Illustration: BRIOT SHILLING OF CHARLES I.]
-
-This was tender ground, and Sir John Finch the Speaker, who was a regular
-courtier, immediately said he had a command from his majesty to adjourn
-the House till the following Tuesday week. Several members declared the
-message to be vexatious and out of order, for that adjournment was a
-function of their own; but since the Speaker had delivered the message
-and that was sufficient, they would settle a few matters, and do as his
-majesty desired. Sir John Eliot produced a remonstrance addressed to
-the king against levying tonnage and poundage, and desired the Speaker
-to read it; but he refused, saying the House was adjourned by the king.
-Eliot then desired the Clerk of the House to read it, but he also
-refused, and so Sir John read it himself; but the Speaker refused to put
-it to the vote. Selden then told the Speaker that if he would not put
-the question to the vote, they would all continue sitting still. The
-Speaker, however, declared that he had his majesty's command immediately
-to rise when he had delivered the message; whereupon he was rising, but
-Holles, the son of the Earl of Clare, and Valentine, who had placed
-themselves on each side of him for the purpose, held him down in his
-chair. He made a great outcry and resistance: several of the courtiers
-rushed to his assistance, but Holles swore that he should sit as long as
-they pleased. The doors were locked, and there was a scuffle and blows,
-but the Opposition members compelled the Speaker to continue sitting,
-notwithstanding his struggles, tears, and entreaties.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN SELDEN. (_From the Portrait by the Elder Mytens._)]
-
-Selden delivered an address to the imprisoned Speaker on his duties and
-his obedience owed to the House which sat under the Great Seal, and had
-power of adjournment as the king had that of prorogation. Sir Peter
-Hayman told him that he blushed at being his kinsman, that he was a blot
-on his family, and would be held in scorn and contempt by posterity; and
-concluded by recommending that if he would not do his duty, he should be
-brought to the bar of the House, dismissed, and another chosen at once in
-his place. Mr. Holles proceeded to read the following set of resolutions,
-which were loudly cheered, and assented to by the House, namely:--1, That
-whoever shall seek to bring in Popery, Arminianism, or other opinions,
-disagreeing from the true and orthodox Church, shall be reputed a capital
-enemy to this kingdom and Commonwealth; 2, Whoever shall advise the
-taking of tonnage and poundage, not being granted by Parliament, or shall
-be an actor or instrument therein, shall be reputed a capital enemy to
-this kingdom and Parliament; 3, Whatever merchant or other person shall
-pay tonnage and poundage, not being granted by Parliament, shall be
-reputed a betrayer of the liberties of England, and an enemy to the same.
-
-Whilst these extraordinary scenes were acting, the king had come down to
-the House of Lords, but not finding the Speaker there as he expected,
-sent a messenger to bring away the sergeant with his mace, without which
-there could be no House. The doors were locked, and the messenger could
-get no admittance. Charles then sent the Usher of the Black Rod to summon
-the Commons to his presence, but he could no more obtain an entrance than
-the messenger. On hearing this, in a transport of rage, the king ordered
-the Captain of the Guard to break open the door; but this catastrophe
-was prevented by the House just then adjourning to the 10th of March,
-according to the king's message.
-
-On the 10th of March the king went to the House of Lords, and, without
-summoning the Commons, proceeded to dissolve Parliament. He then
-addressed the Lords, complaining grievously of the conduct of the
-Commons, which compelled him at that time to dissolve Parliament. He
-expressed much comfort in the Lords, and conceded that there were in
-the Commons many who were as dutiful and loyal subjects as any in the
-world, but that they had some "vipers" amongst them that created all this
-trouble. He intimated that these evil-disposed persons would meet with
-their rewards, and bade the Lord Keeper do as he had commanded. Then the
-Lord Keeper said, "My lords, and gentlemen of the Commons, the king's
-majesty doth dissolve this Parliament;" though the Commons, with the
-exception of a few individuals, were not there, nor represented by their
-Speaker.
-
-This question of the right of the Commons to determine their own
-adjournment, and to deny to the king the right of preventing the Speaker
-from putting any question from the Chair, was a vital one, and hitherto
-undetermined. If the king could at any moment adjourn the Commons as well
-as prorogue Parliament altogether, and could decide what topics should
-be entertained by the House, there was an end of the existence of the
-Commons as an independent branch of the Legislature: it sunk at once into
-the mere creature of the Crown. There was a great battle for this as for
-other popular rights, and the determined conduct of the members showed
-that things were coming fast to a crisis. But at this moment Charles
-was as resolved to conquer the Parliament, as Parliament was not to be
-conquered.
-
-No sooner did this unprecedented scene with the Speaker take place, than
-he adopted measures to punish those most prominently concerned in it.
-The compulsory detention of the Speaker took place on the 2nd of March;
-on the 5th he issued warrants to arrest the "vipers"--Eliot, Selden,
-Holles, Valentine, Hobart, Hayman, Coriton, Long, and Stroud--and commit
-them to the Tower or other prisons. Stroud and Long were not immediately
-caught, but on the issue of a proclamation for their apprehension they
-surrendered. The houses of Eliot, Holles, Selden, Long, and Valentine
-were forcibly entered, their desks broken open, and their papers seized.
-On the first day of Michaelmas term they were brought into court, and
-ordered to find bail, and also to give security for their good behaviour.
-They were all ready to give bail, but all positively refused to give
-security for good behaviour, as that implied the commission of some
-crime, which they denied. They were then put upon their trial, but
-excepted to the jurisdiction of the court, being amenable only to their
-own high court of Parliament for what was done therein. But they were
-told that their conduct had not been parliamentary, and that the common
-law could deal with all offences there by word or deed, as well as
-anywhere else. This was another attack on the privileges of Parliament,
-which, if allowed, would have finished its independence; and these were
-not the men to surrender any of the outworks and defences of Parliament.
-They were then sentenced as follows:--Sir John Eliot to be imprisoned
-in the Tower, the others in other prisons at the king's pleasure. None
-of them were to be delivered out of prison till they had given security
-for their good behaviour, acknowledged their offence, and paid the
-following fines:--Sir John Eliot, as the ring-leader and chief offender,
-two thousand pounds; Holles, one thousand marks; Valentine, five hundred
-pounds. Long was not included in this trial, but was prosecuted in the
-Star Chamber, on the plea that he had no business in Parliament, being
-pricked for sheriff of his county, and by his oath was bound to have been
-there. He was fined one thousand marks. This, however, deceived nobody:
-every one knew that the offence for which he suffered was for his conduct
-in Parliament. The prisoners lay in gaol for eighteen months. Sir John
-Eliot never came out again. His noble conduct had made deadly enemies
-of the king and his courtiers, and even when he was dying, in 1632,
-after three years' confinement, they rejoiced in his melancholy fate and
-refused all petitions for his release.
-
-Charles called no more Parliaments till 1640, but went on for eleven
-years fighting his way towards the block, through the most maniacal
-attempts on the constitution and temper of the nation. Laud was in the
-ascendant, and Wentworth, lately a member of the Opposition, who had
-now changed sides from motives that it would be absurd not to call
-conscientious, gave his great talents to the Court party. Laud was as
-much a stickler for the power of the Church as Charles was of the State;
-their views coincided, and Charles, Laud, and Wentworth, worked shoulder
-to shoulder in governing without a Parliament. They invented a cant term
-between them to express what they aimed at, and the means by which they
-pursued it. It was "Thorough."
-
-Laud had introduced a passage into the ceremonial even of the coronation,
-which astonished the hearers, and showed even then that he aimed at an
-ecclesiastical despotism: "Stand and hold fast from henceforth the place
-to which you have been heir by the succession of your forefathers, being
-now delivered to you by the authority of God Almighty, and by the hands
-of us all, and all the bishops and servants of God. And as you see the
-clergy to come nearer the altar than others, so remember that, in all
-places convenient, you give them greater honour," etc. This haughty
-prelate now promulgated such absolute doctrines of divine right of king
-and priest, and began to run in ceremonies and Church splendour so fast
-towards actual Popery, that the daughter of the Earl of Devonshire being
-asked by him why she had turned Catholic replied, "Because I hate to
-travel in a crowd. I perceive your Grace and many others are making haste
-to Rome, and therefore, in order to prevent being crowded, I have gone
-before you."
-
-Under this undaunted leader, the pulpits now resounded with the most
-flaming advocacy of divine right. A pamphlet was discovered by the
-Reformers, which had been written for King James, and was now printed,
-urging the king to do as Louis XI. of France had done--dispense with
-Parliaments altogether, and secure his predominance by a standing army.
-The queen's advice was precisely of this character: often crying up the
-infinite superiority of the kings of her own country and family, whom
-she styled real kings, while the English were only sham ones. But though
-Charles was greatly soothed by these doctrines, and strengthened in his
-resolve to trouble himself no more with Parliaments, he was careful to
-strengthen his Government by inducing as many of the ablest men of the
-Opposition as he could to join him. The first with whom he succeeded were
-Wentworth and Sir John Savile. They were both from Yorkshire, and both
-men of considerable property. Savile had been persuaded by Cottington the
-Lord Chancellor, to desert his patriotic friends and professions at the
-close of the second Parliament for a place in the Privy Council and the
-office of Comptroller of the Household.
-
-Sir Thomas Wentworth was a much more considerable man. He claimed
-to be descended from the royal line of the Plantagenets, and had no
-superior in ability in the House. The position which he had assumed
-in the Parliamentary resistance to the royal encroachments had been
-uncompromising and most effective. So much were his eloquence and
-influence dreaded, that he had been, amongst others, appointed sheriff to
-keep him out of the House. For his continual opposition he was deprived
-of the office of Custos Rotulorum and thrown into prison. Yet, when
-tempted by the offer of rank and power, he fell suddenly, utterly, and
-hopelessly, and became one of the most unflinching advocates and actors
-of absolutism that ever lived. On the 21st of July, 1628, Savile was
-created a baron, and on the morrow Wentworth was raised to the same
-dignity, as Baron Wentworth; and before the end of the year he was made
-a viscount and Lord President of the Council of the North. From the
-moment that Wentworth put his hand to the plough of despotism he never
-looked back. He became as prominent and as resolute in the destruction of
-liberty and the prosecution of his former colleagues as he had been for
-its advancement and for their friendship.
-
-The contagion of this conversion spread. Sir Dudley Digges had taken
-a conspicuous part in the contests which we have described, and had
-distinguished himself by his abilities in debate, sufficient to render
-him worth purchasing. His colleagues had long felt, notwithstanding his
-zeal, that he would not be proof to temptation. He was offered the post
-of Master of the Rolls, and he at once accepted it. Noye and Littleton,
-both lawyers, were as ready to advocate despotism as liberty, and the
-offer of the Attorney-Generalship to Noye, and the Solicitor-Generalship
-to Littleton, convinced them instantly that the Court was right, and
-their old cause and companions were wrong. They testified their capacity
-for seeing both sides of an argument, by persecuting their old opinions
-and associates with the red hot zeal of proselytes.
-
-The rest of Charles's ministers were the Lord Keeper Coventry, who,
-though he appeared on several occasions as the instrument of Charles's
-arbitrary measures, was thought not to approve very much of them, and
-who therefore kept himself as much as possible from mixing in political
-matters. The Earls of Holland and Carlisle, the pusillanimous Earl of
-Montgomery, his brother the Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl of Dorset
-were rather men of pleasure than of business, and attended the Council
-without caring for office. The Earl of Arundel was Earl Marshal, a proud
-and empty man, whom Clarendon the historian describes as living much
-abroad, because the manners of foreign nations suited him better than
-his own, and who "resorted sometimes to Court, because there only was a
-greater man than himself, and went thither the seldomer because there
-was a greater man than himself." He was careless of pleasing favourites,
-and was therefore almost always in disgrace. Lord Weston, already
-mentioned, was Lord Treasurer, and the Earl of Manchester Privy Seal.
-Weston was an able lawyer, who succeeded Coke as Lord Chief Justice,
-and then purchased the office of Lord Treasurer for twenty thousand
-pounds, only to have it wrested from him again by Buckingham in about
-twelve months; but he was courtier enough to suppress his resentment,
-and had now again ascended to his present office, in which he was a very
-pliant servant of the king. Besides these, Sir John Coke or Cooke, and
-Sir Dudley Carleton, were Secretaries of State. Carleton had spent too
-much time in foreign embassies to understand well the state of parties
-at home, but he understood the will of the king, and took good care to
-obey and promote it. Coke was "of narrow education, and narrower nature,"
-says Clarendon, who adds that "his cardinal perfection was industry,
-his most eminent infirmity covetousness." He knew as little of foreign
-relations as Carleton did of domestic ones; but their office was one of
-far less rank and importance than such office is now, their real business
-being to enter the minutes and write the despatches of the Council, not
-to participate in its discussions. Such were the instruments by which
-Charles trusted to render Parliaments superfluous. By their aid, but far
-more so by that of Laud and Wentworth, he soon raised the nation to a
-state of exasperation, which was only appeased by the blood of all three.
-
-During the violent transactions with his Parliament at home, Charles
-had made peace with France. In fact, neither France nor Spain had shown
-a disposition to prosecute the disputes which the King of England had
-entered into with them. Louis sent home the prisoners he had taken in the
-La Rochelle expedition, under the name of a present to his sister, and
-Philip also released those who had been captured at Cadiz. Buckingham had
-been at the bottom of both wars, and now that he was gone all differences
-were soon arranged. Louis of France made a demand for the restoration
-of a man-of-war, the _St. Esprit_, which had been illegally captured by
-Sir Sackville Trevor; but he gave up the claim, and Charles was not very
-importunate in his demands of protection for the French Protestants.
-Richelieu, however, treated them far better than Charles treated the
-Puritans in England. He took measures to prevent the possibility of
-another coalition, by destroying the castles of the nobles and the
-fortifications of the towns, prohibited the convention of deputies from
-the churches, and abolished the military organisation of the Huguenots in
-the South of France; but he left them the exercise of their worship, and
-attached no disability to a profession of it. This peace was concluded in
-the spring of 1629, and in the following year that with Spain was also
-accomplished. The Queen Henrietta was violently opposed to this peace
-with Spain, because France was still at war with that country and the
-kindred House of Austria. When she found that she could not prevail on
-Charles, she is said to have shed tears of vexation.
-
-It is curious that the first overtures to this peace were made through
-two Flemish painters; the celebrated Sir Peter Paul Rubens, and Gerbier,
-a native of Antwerp, who had been Master of the Horse to Buckingham.
-Cottington was despatched to Spain, in spite of the strenuous endeavours
-of the queen and the French ambassador; and in November, 1630, Coloma
-arrived as ambassador from Madrid. Philip accepted the same terms as
-were proposed in 1604, pledging himself to restore such parts of the
-Palsgrave's territory as were occupied by the troops of Spain--no very
-important extent--and never to cease his endeavours to procure from the
-Emperor the restitution of the whole. In consideration of this, Charles
-once more agreed to that mysterious treaty against Holland which had
-been in negotiation during the visit of Charles and Buckingham to Spain.
-This was no other than to assist Philip to regain possession of the seven
-United States of the Netherlands, which had cost Elizabeth so much to aid
-in the establishment of their independence, and which had always been, as
-Protestant States, so much regarded by the English public; with which a
-great trade was, moreover, carried on. The knowledge of such a piece of
-treachery on the part of Charles would have excited a terrible commotion
-amongst the people. For his share of the booty he was to receive a
-certain portion of the provinces, including the Island of Zealand.
-Luckily for the king, his treason to Protestantism remained a profound
-secret, and at length himself perceiving the difficulties and dilemmas
-in which it would involve him, after Olivarez and Cottington had signed
-the treaty he withheld his ratification. By this prudent act, however, he
-forfeited all right to demand from Philip aid in regaining the patrimony
-of the Prince Palatine.
-
-[Illustration: SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: THE SPEAKER COERCED. (_See
-p._ 541.)]
-
-Whether prudence, a rare virtue in Charles, or other more congenial
-motives, determined him in withdrawing from the compact with Spain
-regarding Holland is doubtful, for in the very next year he was found
-busily engaged with the Catholic States of Flanders and Brabant in a
-project to drive thence his new ally Philip of Spain. France and Holland
-were equally eager to assist in this design; but the people of Flanders
-were suspicious of them, dreading to find in such powerful allies only
-fresh masters. They therefore applied to the King of England, and a
-correspondence took place in which Secretary Coke was at great pains to
-show how much more to the advantage of the people of Flanders and Brabant
-would be the alliance of England, than that of the ambitious French, or
-of the Calvinistic farmers of Holland. In religion Coke was zealous to
-prove that the Catholic and Anglican Churches were almost identical;
-but his efforts ended, not in offering support in the coming struggle,
-but in promising to protect them against everyone except the King of
-Spain. Charles having recently made peace with the Spanish sovereign,
-"it would be against honour and conscience to debauch his subjects from
-their allegiance." But if what Coke proposed were not that very fact
-of tampering with them, it would be difficult to imagine what could be;
-and, moreover, it was just the King of Spain against whom they required
-protection. Coke advised them to declare their independence, and then the
-King of England, he told them, could help them as an independent State;
-and Philip would not then have cause of offence from Charles, but ought
-rather to be obliged to him for endeavouring to prevent the States from
-falling into the hands of France, or some other of his powerful enemies.
-This duplicity, however, was not by any means encouraging to revolt, and
-in the meantime Philip, learning what was going on, settled the question
-by sending into the Provinces an overwhelming force of soldiers.
-
-But the war which ought to have excited the deepest interest in Charles
-as a Protestant prince, and as the brother-in-law of the Protestant
-Prince Palatine, was the great war--since called the Thirty Years'
-War--which was raging in Germany. It was a war expressly of Catholicism
-for the utter extirpation of Protestantism. The resistance had begun
-in Bohemia: the Protestants had invited Frederick of the Palatinate to
-become their king and defend them against the power of Austria and the
-exterminating Catholic emperor. We have seen that Frederick had, without
-weighing the hazards of the enterprise sufficiently, accepted the crown,
-lost it immediately, together with his hereditary dominions; and that
-all the efforts of England, Denmark, and of an allied host in Germany,
-had failed to make head against Austria, Spain, and Bavaria. Germany was
-overrun with the victorious troops of Austria, led on by the ruthless
-and victorious Generals Wallenstein, Piccolomini, Tilly, and Pappenheim.
-Horrible desolation had followed the march of their armies all over
-Germany; the most important of its cities were sacked or plundered; its
-fields were laid waste; its cultivation was stopped; its people were
-destroyed or starving; and, with the exception of Saxony and Bavaria, the
-power of the princes was prostrated, and they were thoroughly divided
-amongst themselves, and therefore the more readily trodden upon by their
-oppressors.
-
-But at this moment relief came out of an unexpected quarter. Christian
-IV. of Denmark had attempted a diversion in favour of the German
-Protestant princes, and had not only been repulsed, but had drawn the
-Austrian generals into his own kingdom with fire and sword. But in
-Sweden had risen up a king, able, pious, earnestly desirous of the
-restoration of Protestantism, and qualified by long military experience,
-though yet a young man, to cope with any general of the age. Gustavus
-Adolphus had mounted the Swedish throne at the age of eighteen, and was
-now only seven-and-thirty; yet he had already maintained a seventeen
-years' war against Poland, backed by the power of Austria. But now an
-armistice of six years was settled with Poland. Wallenstein, the ablest
-general of Austria, had been removed from the command, in consequence
-of the universal outcry of the German princes, in an Imperial Council
-at Ratisbon, against his cruelties and exactions; and the far-seeing
-Richelieu, who was attacking the Spaniards in Italy and the Netherlands,
-perceiving the immense advantage of such division in Germany, had offered
-to make an alliance with the Swede.
-
-On the 23rd of June, 1630, Gustavus embarked fifteen thousand of his
-veteran troops, and crossed into Pomerania. On the 17th of September
-the Swedish king gave battle to Tilly and Pappenheim before Leipsic,
-and routed them with great slaughter. This turned the scale of war:
-the cowed German princes once more raised their heads and entered into
-league with Gustavus, who soon drove the Austrians from the larger part
-of the country, took Hanau and Frankfort-on-the-Main, when Frederick
-the Palsgrave joined him, hoping to be established by Gustavus in his
-patrimony. But the brave Swedish king, who was highly incensed against
-Charles for not joining at his earnest entreaty in this enterprise, in
-which he himself was hazarding life, crown, and everything, of putting
-down the Catholic intolerance, and placing a Protestant emperor on the
-throne, though he received the Palsgrave kindly, gave him no immediate
-hope of restoration. The English ambassador was there, pressing this
-vehemently on Gustavus; but the Swede told him he regarded him only as
-a Spaniard in disguise, and said bluntly, "Let the King of England make
-a league with me against Spain. Let him send me twelve thousand men, to
-be maintained at his own cost, and which shall be placed entirely at my
-command, and I will engage to compel from both Spain and Bavaria full
-restoration of the Palsgrave's rights."
-
-Gustavus was perfectly right. Had Charles dealt honourably and wisely
-with his Parliament and people, and husbanded his resources, here was the
-great opportunity to have re-established his sister and brother-in-law,
-and have had a glorious share in the victory of Protestantism on the
-Continent. Gustavus recovered Darmstadt, Oppenheim, and Mainz, and
-then took up his winter quarters. Meanwhile, the Saxon field-marshal,
-Von Arnim, invaded Bohemia and took Prague; whilst the Landgrave of
-Hesse-Cassel, and Duke Bernhard of Weimar, defeated several bodies of
-Tilly's troops in Westphalia and the Upper Rhine lands.
-
-This sweeping reverse compelled the Emperor to recall Wallenstein to
-the chief command. Assembling forty thousand men at Znaim in Bohemia,
-he marched on Prague, and drove the Saxons not only thence but out of
-Bohemia altogether. Meanwhile Gustavus, issuing from his winter quarters
-on the Rhine, directed his course to Nuremberg, and so to Donauwörth,
-and at Rain on the Lech fought with Tilly and the Duke of Bavaria. Tilly
-was killed (April 30, 1632); and Gustavus advanced and took Augsburg in
-April, Munich on the 27th of May, and after in vain attacking Wallenstein
-before Nuremberg, he encountered him at Lützen, in Saxony, and beat
-him, but fell himself in the hour of victory (November 16, 1632). He
-had, however, saved Protestantism. Wallenstein lost favour after his
-defeat, was suspected by the emperor, and finally assassinated by his own
-officers (February 25, 1634). The generals of Gustavus, under the orders
-of Gustavus's great Minister Oxenstierna, continued the contest, and
-enabled the German Protestant princes to establish their power and the
-exercise of their religion, at the peace of Westphalia in 1648.
-
-Charles, shamed into some degree of co-operation, had despatched the
-Marquis of Hamilton with six thousand men to the assistance of Gustavus;
-but the whole affair was so badly managed, the commissariat and general
-care of the men were so miserable, that the little army speedily became
-decimated by disease and was of no service. Hamilton returned home,
-and the remains of his forces under the command of the Prince Charles
-Louis, son of the Elector Frederick, were routed in Westphalia. Frederick
-himself, deprived of all hope by the fall of Gustavus, only survived him
-about a fortnight; and thus ended the dream of the restoration of the
-Palatinate.
-
-At home Charles had determined to rule without a Parliament, but this
-necessarily drove him upon all those means of raising an income which
-Parliament had protested against, and which must, therefore, continue to
-exasperate the people. Between the dissolution of the Parliament in 1629,
-and the summons of another in 1640, these proceedings had apparently
-advanced the cause of despotism, but in reality they promoted the cause
-of liberty; the nation had been scourged into a temper which left no
-means but the sword of appeasing it. The first unceremonious violation
-of his pledge to the public conveyed in the granting of the Petition of
-Right was levying as unscrupulously as ever the duties of tonnage and
-poundage; and the goods of all such as refused the illegal payment were
-immediately distrained upon and sold.
-
-The king next appointed a Committee to inquire into the encroachments on
-the royal forests, a legitimate and laudable object if conducted in a
-spirit of fairness and liberality. In every age gross encroachments have
-been made on these Crown lands, and especially in the reckless reign of
-James. But it would seem that the Commissioners proceeded in an arbitrary
-spirit, and, relying on the power of the Crown, often ruined those who
-resisted their decisions by the costs of law. The Earl of Holland--a
-noted creature of the king's--was made head of this Commission, and
-presided in a court established for the purpose. Under its operations
-vast tracts were recovered to the Crown, and heavy fines for trespasses
-levied. Rockingham Forest was enlarged from a circuit of six miles to one
-of sixty, and the Earl of Southampton was nearly ruined by the king's
-resumption of a large estate adjoining the New Forest. Even where these
-recoveries were made with right, they exasperated the aristocracy, who
-had been the chief encroachers, and injured the king in their goodwill.
-Clarendon says, "To recompense the damage the Crown sustained by the
-sale of old lands, and by the grant of new pensions, the old laws of
-the forest are revived; by which not only great fines are imposed, but
-great annual rents intended, and like to be settled by way of contract,
-which burden lighted most upon persons of quality and honour, who thought
-themselves above ordinary oppressions, and therefore like to remember it
-with more sharpness."
-
-Besides the tonnage and poundage, obsolete laws were revived, and other
-duties imposed on merchants' goods; and all who resisted were prosecuted,
-fined, and imprisoned. But a still more plausible scheme was hit upon
-for extorting money. The old feudal practice, introduced by Henry III.
-and Edward I., of compelling persons holding lands under the Crown worth
-twenty pounds per annum, to receive knighthood, or to compound by a fine,
-had been enforced by Elizabeth and James, and was not likely to be passed
-over in this general inquisition after the means of income independent of
-Parliament. All landed proprietors worth forty pounds a year were called
-on to accept the title of knight and pay the fees, or were fined, and
-in default of payment thrown into prison. "By this ill-husbandry," says
-Clarendon, "which, though it was founded in right, was most grievous from
-the mode of proceeding, vast sums were drawn from the subject. And no
-less unjust projects of all kinds--many ridiculous, many scandalous, all
-very grievous--were set on foot, the damage and reproach of which came to
-the king, the profit to other men; inasmuch as of twenty thousand pounds
-a year, scarcely one thousand five hundred pounds came to the king's use
-or account."
-
-A great commotion was raised by the king depriving many freeholders
-arbitrarily of their lands to enlarge Richmond Park, and he saw the
-necessity of making some compensation.
-
-Another mode of raising money was by undoing in a great measure what the
-Parliament had done by abolishing monopolies. True, Charles took care not
-to grant these monopolies to individuals, but to companies; but this,
-whilst it arrested the odium of seeing them in the hands of courtiers and
-favourites, increased their mischief by augmenting the number and power
-of the oppressors. These companies were enabled to dictate to the public
-the price of the articles included in their patent, and restrain at their
-pleasure their manufacture or sale. One of the most flagrant cases was
-that of the Company of Soap-boilers, who purchased a monopoly of the
-manufacture of soap for ten thousand pounds, and a duty of eight pounds
-per ton on all the soap they made. The scheme was that of the renegade
-Noye; and all who presumed to make soap for themselves, regardless of the
-monopoly, were fined, the company being authorised to search the premises
-of all soap-boilers, seize any made without a licence, and prosecute the
-offender in the Star Chamber. There was a similar monopoly granted to
-starch-makers.
-
-King James had formed the idea that London was become too large, and that
-its size was the cause of the prevalence of the plague and contagious
-fevers. He had not penetrated the fact that the real cause lay in the
-want of drainage and cleanliness, and he issued repeated proclamations
-forbidding any more building of houses in the Metropolis. The judges
-declared the proclamations illegal, and building went on as fast as
-ever. Here was a splendid opportunity for putting on the screw. Charles
-therefore appointed a Commission to inquire into the extent of building
-done in defiance of his father's orders. Such persons who were willing to
-compound for their offences, got off by paying a fine amounting to three
-years' rental of the premises. Those who refused, pleaded in vain the
-decision of the judges, for Charles had a court independent of all judges
-but himself, namely, the Star Chamber; and those who escaped this fell
-into another inquisition as detestable--the Court of the Earl Marshal.
-Sturdy resisters, therefore, had their houses actually demolished, and
-were then fleeced in those infamous courts to complete their ruin. A
-Mr. Moore had erected forty-two houses of an expensive class, with
-coach-houses and stables, near St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. He was fined
-one thousand pounds, and ordered to pull them down before Easter, under
-penalty of another thousand pounds, but refusing, the sheriffs demolished
-the houses, and levied the money by distress. This terrified others, who
-submitted to a composition, and by these iniquitous means one hundred
-thousand pounds were brought into the Treasury.
-
-Simultaneously with these proceedings, Laud, Bishop of London, pursued
-the same course in the Church. He had long been the most abject flatterer
-of the royal power, and now, supported by Wentworth, went on boldly to
-reduce all England to the most complete slavery to Church and State. He
-was supposed to have the intention of restoring the Papal power; but such
-was far from his design. Neither Laud nor Charles dreamt for a moment
-of returning to the union with Rome, for the simple reason that they
-loved too well themselves the enjoyment of absolute power. Like Henry
-VIII., they could tolerate no Pope but one disguised under the name of
-an English king. Never did the Church more egregiously deceive itself
-than by suspecting Laud or Charles of any design to put on again the yoke
-of the Roman Pontiff. That spiritual potentate, deluded by such empty
-imagination, offered Laud a cardinal's hat, which was rejected with scorn.
-
-On the 29th of May, 1630, the queen gave birth to a son, afterwards
-Charles II., who was baptised on the 2nd of July, the ceremony being
-performed by Laud, who composed a prayer for the occasion.
-
-Charles had issued a proclamation forbidding any one to introduce into
-the pulpit any remarks bearing on the great Arminian controversy which
-was raging in the kingdom--Laud and his party in the Church on one side,
-the zealous Puritans on the other. Both sides were summoned with an air
-of impartiality into the Star Chamber or High Commission Court, but came
-out with this difference--that the orthodox divines generally confessed
-their fault, and were dismissed with a reprimand; but the Puritan
-ministers could not bend in that manner and sacrifice conscience to fear,
-so they were fined, imprisoned, and deprived without mercy. Davenant
-(Bishop of Salisbury), Dr. Burgess, Dr. Prideaux, Dr. Hall (Bishop of
-Norwich, whose poetry and liberality of spirit will long be held in
-honourable remembrance), and many others, were harassed because they did
-not preach exactly to the mind of Charles and Laud; but the treatment
-of Dr. Alexander Leighton, a Scottish Puritan preacher, was brutality
-itself. He had published a pamphlet called "An Appeal to Parliament, or
-Zion's Plea against Prelacy." It attracted the notice of the Government,
-which in June, 1630, had him dragged before the Star Chamber, where
-he was condemned to the following horrible punishment, than which the
-records of the Inquisition preserve nothing more infernal:--That he
-should be imprisoned for life, should pay a fine of ten thousand pounds,
-be degraded from his ministry, whipped, set in the pillory, have one
-of his ears cut off, one side of his nose slit, and be branded on the
-forehead with a double S.S., as a "sower of sedition." He was then to
-be carried back to prison, and after a few days to be pilloried again,
-whipped, have the other side of his nose slit, the other ear cut off, and
-shut up in his dungeon, to be released only by death.
-
-[Illustration: INTERIOR OF OLD ST. PAUL'S.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. (_continued_).
-
-     Visit of Charles to Scotland--Laud and the Papal See--His
-     Ecclesiastical Measures--Punishment of Prynne, Bastwick, and
-     Burton--Disgrace of Williams--Ship-money--Resistance of John
-     Hampden--Wentworth in the North--Recall of Falkland from
-     Ireland--Wentworth's Measures--Inquiry into Titles--Prelacy
-     Riots in Edinburgh--Jenny Geddes's Stool--The Tables--Renewal
-     of the Covenant--Charles makes Concessions--The General
-     Assembly--Preparations for War--Charles at York--Leslie at
-     Dunse Hill--A Conference held--Treaty of Berwick--Arrest of
-     Loudon--Insult from the Dutch--Wentworth in England--The Short
-     Parliament--Riots in London--Preparations of the Scots--Mutiny in
-     the English Army--Invasion of England--Treaty of Ripon--Meeting of
-     the Long Parliament--Impeachment of Strafford--His Trial--He is
-     Abandoned by Charles--His Execution--The King's Visit to Scotland.
-
-
-Having reduced the refractory members of the Church and of Parliament in
-England to silence for the present, Charles determined to make a journey
-into Scotland, there to be crowned, to raise revenue, and to establish
-the Anglican hierarchy in that part of his dominions. For the latter
-purpose he took Laud with him. He reached Edinburgh on the 12th of June,
-1633, where he was received by the inhabitants with demonstrations of
-lively rejoicing, as if they were neither aware of the character and
-views of the monarch, nor remembered the consequences of the visit of his
-father. On the 18th he was crowned in Edinburgh by the Archbishop of St.
-Andrews; but Laud did not let that opportunity pass without giving them
-a foretaste of what was coming. "It was observed," says Rushworth, "that
-Dr. Laud was high in his carriage, taking upon him the order and managing
-of the ceremonies; and, for instance, Spotswood, Archbishop of St.
-Andrews, being placed at the king's right hand, and Lindsey, Archbishop
-of Glasgow, at his left, Bishop Laud took Glasgow and thrust him from the
-king with these words:--'Are you a Churchman, and want the coat of your
-order?'--which was an embroidered coat, which he scrupled to wear, being
-a moderate Churchman--and in place of him put in the Bishop of Ross at
-the king's right hand."
-
-This question of the embroidered robes of the Roman hierarchy, with the
-high altar, the tapers, chalices, genuflections, and oil of unction,
-was introduced into Parliament, and forced on the reluctant Scots. They
-had voted supplies with a most liberal spirit, and laid on a land tax
-of four hundred thousand pounds Scots for six years; but when the king
-proposed to pass a Bill authorising the robes, ceremonies, and rites just
-mentioned, there was a stout opposition. Lord Melville said plainly to
-Charles, "I have sworn with your father and the whole kingdom to the
-confession of faith in which the innovations intended by these Articles
-were solemnly abjured." And the Bishop of the Isles told him at dinner
-that it was said amongst the people that his entrance into the city had
-been with hosannas, but that it would be changed, like that of the Jews
-to our Saviour, into, "Away with him, crucify him!" Charles is said
-to have turned thoughtful, and eaten no more. Yet the next day he as
-positively as ever insisted on the Parliament passing the Articles, and,
-pointing to a paper in his hand, said, "Your names are here; I shall know
-to-day who will do me service and who will not."
-
-Notwithstanding this, the House voted against it by a considerable
-majority, there being opposed to it fifteen Peers and forty-five
-Commoners; yet the Lord Register, under influence of the Court,
-audaciously declared that the Articles were accepted by Parliament. The
-Earl of Rothes had the boldness to deny this and to demand a scrutiny
-of the votes; but Charles intimidated both him and all dissentients by
-refusing any scrutiny unless Rothes would arraign the Lord Register
-of the capital crime of falsifying the votes. This was a course too
-perilous for any individual under the circumstances. Rothes was silent,
-the Articles were ratified by the Crown, and Parliament was forthwith
-dissolved on the 28th of June.
-
-Having thus carried his point with the Parliament, Charles took
-every means, except that which had brought upon him so much odium in
-England--namely, imprisoning and prosecuting the members who opposed
-him--to express his dissatisfaction with them. He distributed lands and
-honours upon those who had fallen in with his wishes, and treated the
-dissentients with sullen looks, and even severe words, when they came
-in his way. They were openly ridiculed by his courtiers, and dubbed
-schismatics and seditious. Lord Balmerino was even condemned to death
-for a pamphlet being found in his possession complaining of the king's
-arbitrary conduct in these concerns; but the sentence was too atrocious
-to be executed.
-
-Charles and Laud erected Edinburgh into a bishopric, with a diocese
-extending even to Berwick, and richly endowed with old Church lands,
-which were obtained from the noblemen who held them. A set of singing
-men was also appointed for Holyrood Chapel; and Laud, who had been made
-a Privy Councillor, preached there in full pontificals, to the great
-scandal of the Presbyterians. Thence Charles and his apostle made a
-tour to St. Andrews, Dundee, Falkland, Dunblane, etc., to the singular
-discomfort of Laud amongst the rough fastnesses of the Highlands.
-
-Immediately after this, Charles posted to London in four days, leaving
-Laud to travel more at leisure. No doubt both master and man thought
-they had made a very fine piece of work in this forcing of the Scottish
-consciences: they were destined in a while to feel what it actually was,
-in rebellion and the sharp edge of the axe.
-
-Scarcely had they reached London, when they heard the news of the death
-of Archbishop Abbot, and Charles was thus enabled to reward Laud for
-all his services in building up despotism and superstition by making
-him Primate, which he did on the 6th of August, 1633. It was a curious
-coincidence that about the same time Laud received a second offer of a
-cardinal's hat, and he seems to have been greatly tempted by it. He says
-that he acquainted his majesty with the offer, and that the king rescued
-him from the trouble and danger; for, he adds, there was something
-dwelling in him which would not suffer him to accept the offer till Rome
-was other than she was. To have accepted a cardinal's hat was to have
-gone over to the Church of Rome, and the Church of England was for him a
-much better thing now he was Primate.
-
-There undoubtedly did at this precise time take place an active private
-negotiation between the courts of Rome and England on this topic.
-The queen was anxious to have the dignity of cardinal conferred on a
-British subject. Probably she thought that the residence of the English
-cardinal at London would be a stepping-stone to the full restoration
-of Catholicism. Towards the end of August, immediately after Laud's
-elevation to the Primacy, Sir Robert Douglas was sent to Rome as envoy
-from the queen, with a letter of credence, signed by the Earl of
-Stirling, Secretary of State for Scotland. His mission was this proposal
-of an English cardinal, as a measure which would contribute greatly to
-the conversion of the king. To carry out this negotiation, Leander, an
-English Benedictine monk, was despatched to England, followed soon after
-by Panzani an Italian priest.
-
-From the despatches of Panzani we find that there existed a strong party
-at the English court for the return to the allegiance of Rome, amongst
-whom were Secretary Windebank; Lord Chancellor Cottington; Goodman,
-Bishop of Gloucester; and Montague, Bishop of Chichester. He was informed
-that none of the bishops except three--those of Durham, Salisbury, and
-Exeter--would object to a purely spiritual supremacy of the Pope, and
-very few of the clergy.
-
-Douglas was followed to Rome by Sir William Hamilton, to prosecute
-this secret business, but it all came to nothing, for the king, who
-was sincere in his attachment to the English Church, was not likely to
-listen to any proposal for submitting again to the yoke of Rome; and the
-Pope, on his part, would not comply with Charles's request to exert his
-influence with Catholic Austria for the restoration of his sister and
-her son in the Palatinate so long as they continued Protestants. Laud
-was therefore relieved from his temptation to receive the cardinal's
-hat by the resolve of the king to yield not one jot of his spiritual or
-political power; and a Scottish Catholic named Conn being at Rome, was
-mentioned as candidate for the purple instead. He came to England and was
-graciously received, not only by the queen, but the king too. He resided
-in England three years, but without the cardinal's hat, and was succeeded
-by Count Rossetti as the Pope's envoy. The rumours of the offers of the
-scarlet hat to Laud, and the residence of these Papal envoys in London,
-excited the jealousy of the people and added immensely to Charles's
-unpopularity; for no one felt sure of his real faith.
-
-As Laud, however, could not array himself in scarlet as a cardinal,
-he determined to make the Anglican Church as Popish, and himself as
-much of a Pope, as possible. Before reaching the Primacy he had gone a
-good way. The spoliation of the Church by Henry VIII. and Edward VI.,
-and their greedy nobility, had deprived it of the means of keeping the
-ecclesiastical buildings in repair. The Catholic Church in England had
-devoted the property of the Establishment to three objects: one, to
-the maintenance of the clergy and religious orders; the second, to
-the maintenance of the buildings of the churches and cathedrals; and
-the third to the support of the poor. Thus the patrimony of the poor
-was swallowed up by the aristocracy, and the maintenance of the poor
-thrown upon the country; and fixed there by the 43rd of Elizabeth. The
-patrimony of the public for the maintenance of Church buildings being
-equally shared by the Russells, Villierses, Seymours, Dudleys, and a
-thousand other Court leeches, neither Charles nor Laud, with all their
-stickling for the Church, dared to call upon them to disgorge their prey;
-but a proclamation was issued to the bishops for the repairs of all the
-churches and chapels, and they were to levy the necessary rates on the
-parishioners at large, and to exert the powers of the ecclesiastical
-courts against all such as resisted.
-
-[Illustration: DUNBLANE IN THE 17TH CENTURY.]
-
-This excited a serious ferment amongst the people, which was greatly
-increased by the general opinion that these repairs should be done out
-of the tithes which they paid either to lay or clerical personages. Laud
-carried matters with far too high a hand to pay the slightest regard to
-these complaints, and he proceeded to consecrate such churches as were
-thus repaired, with all the splendid ceremony of Catholicism, as if they
-had been desecrated by their neglect.
-
-He obtained a commission under the Great Seal for the repair of St.
-Paul's Cathedral. The judges of the prerogative courts, and their
-officials throughout England and Wales, were ordered to pay into the
-chamber in London all moneys derived from persons dying intestate, to be
-applied to the restoration of this church. The clergy were called on by
-the bishops in their several dioceses to furnish an annual subsidy for
-this object. The king contributed at various times ten thousand pounds,
-Sir Paul Pindar four thousand pounds, and Laud gave one hundred pounds
-a year. He was bent on making St. Paul's a rival of St. Peter's; and as
-more money became necessary, he summoned wealthy people into the High
-Commission Court on all possible pleas, and fined them heavily; so that
-there was a plentiful crop of money and of murmurs against the Primate,
-who was said to be building the church out of the sins of the people.
-
-Laud had obtained for his devoted adherents Windebank and Juxon, Dean
-of Westminster, the posts of Secretary of State and of Clerk of the
-King's Closet respectively; thus, as Heylin observes, the king was so
-well watched by his staunch friends that it was not easy for any one to
-insinuate anything to Laud's disadvantage; and the Primate went on most
-sweepingly in his own way. He put down all evening lecturing, evening
-meetings, and extemporary praying. He re-introduced in the churches
-painted glass, pictures, and surplices, lawn-sleeves, and embroidered
-caps; had the communion-tables removed, and altars placed instead, and
-railed in; and he carried his innovations with such an arbitrary hand
-that many who might have approved of them in themselves were set against
-them. The stricter reformers complained of the looseness with which the
-Sabbath was kept, and the Lord Chief Justice Richardson and Baron Denham
-issued an order in the western circuit to put an end to the disorders
-attending church-ales, bid-ales, clerk-ales, and the like. But no sooner
-did Laud hear of it than he had the Lord Chief Justice summoned before
-the Council and severely reprimanded as interfering with the commands of
-King James for the practice of such Sunday sports, as recommended in his
-Book of Sports, and since confirmed by Charles.
-
-[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP LAUD.]
-
-The country magistrates, who had seen the demoralisation consequent on
-these sports and Sunday gatherings at the ale-houses, petitioned the king
-to put them down; and the petition was signed by Lord Paulet, Sir William
-Portman, Sir Ralph Hopeton, and many other gentlemen of distinction. But
-they were forestalled by the agility of Laud, who procured from the king
-a declaration sanctioning all the Sunday amusements to be found in the
-Book of Sports, and commanding all judges on circuit, and all justices
-of the peace, to see that no man was molested on that account. This
-declaration was ordered to be read in all parish churches by the clergy.
-Many conscientious clergy, who had seen too much of the dissolute riots
-resulting from these rude gatherings on Sundays, refused to read the
-declaration, and were suspended from their duties, and prosecuted to such
-a degree that they had no alternative but to emigrate to America.
-
-This dictation of Laud extended over the whole kingdom, into Wales,
-Scotland, and Ireland. Charles was urged to issue proclamation after
-proclamation interfering in things entirely beyond the range of his
-episcopal jurisdiction, such as regulating the price of poultry and the
-retailing of tobacco. In Ireland, Wentworth, now made Lord Deputy, went
-hand-in-hand with him. That he might the better interfere in all kinds of
-matters Laud was appointed in 1634 Chief of the Board of Commissioners
-of the Exchequer, and--on the death of Weston, Lord Portland--the Lord
-High Treasurer. He then got his friend Juxon made Bishop of London, and
-in about a year surrendered to him the Treasurership, to the surprise and
-murmuring of many, for Juxon, till the primate brought him forward, was a
-man of no mark whatever. Lord Chancellor Cottington, who had been a fast
-friend of Laud's, and calculated on the white staff of the Treasurer, now
-fell away from Laud, and many noblemen who had had an eye to it began
-to prophesy what the end of his career would be. But the University of
-Oxford, going the whole way with him in his advances towards Popery,
-styled him "His Holiness _Summus Pontifex, Spiritu Sancto effusissime
-plenus, Archangelus et nequid minus_!" And Laud accepted all this base
-adulation, and declared that these revolting titles were quite proper,
-because they had been applied to the popes and fathers of the Romish
-Church. In fact, he desired to be the pope of England.
-
-And in this great Papal authority he was fain to stretch his coercing
-hand over the churches wherever they were. He procured an order in
-Council to shut the English factories in Holland, and compel the troops
-serving there to conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England. Most
-of the merchants and many of these soldiers had gone thither expressly
-to enjoy their own forms of religion; but no matter, they must conform.
-And says Heylin, "The like course was prescribed for our factories
-in Hamburg, and those farther off, that is to say in Turkey, in the
-Mogul's dominions, the Indian islands, the plantations in Virginia,
-the Barbadoes, and all other places where the English had any standing
-residence in the way of trade." This order was to be carried into the
-houses and establishments of all ambassadors and consuls abroad.
-
-William Prynne was a young graduate of Oxford, originally from Painswick,
-near Bath, but now an outer barrister of Lincoln's Inn. He was a thorough
-Puritan, grave, stern in his ideas, and rigid in his morals, a man who
-was ready to sacrifice reputation, life, and everything, for his high
-ideal of religious truth. He was persuaded that much of the dissoluteness
-of the young men around him arose from the debasing effect of frequenting
-the theatres; and in that he was probably correct, for the theatres
-were not in that age, nor for long after, fitting schools for youth. He
-therefore wrote (1632) a volume of a thousand pages against the stage,
-called "Histriomastix." He stated that forty thousand copies of plays
-had been exposed for sale within two years, and were eagerly bought up;
-that the theatres were the chapels of Satan, the players his ministers,
-and their frequenters were rushing headlong into hell. Dancing was, in
-his opinion, an equally diabolical amusement, and every pace was a step
-nearer to Tophet. Dancing made the ladies of England "frizzled madams,"
-polluted their modesty, and would destroy them as it had done Nero,
-and led three Romans to assassinate Gallienus. He went on to attack
-everything that Laud had been supporting--Maypoles, public festivals,
-church-ales, music, and Christmas carols: the cringings and duckings at
-the altar which Laud had so much fostered, and all the silk and satin
-divines, their pluralities, and their bellowing chants in the Church.
-
-Laud had made two vain attempts to lay hold on this pestilent satirist,
-but the lawyers had defeated him by injunctions from Westminster Hall.
-But the third time, by accusing him more exclusively of reflecting on the
-king and queen by his strictures on dancing, he obtained an order for
-the Attorney-General Noye to indict him in the Star Chamber. There he
-was condemned to be excluded from the bar and from Lincoln's Inn, to be
-deprived of his University degree, to pay a fine of five thousand pounds,
-to have his book burnt before his face by the hangman, to stand in the
-pillory at Westminster and in Cheapside, at each place to lose an ear,
-and afterwards to be imprisoned for life. This most detestable sentence
-was carried into effect in May, 1634, with brutal ferocity, although the
-queen interceded earnestly in his favour, and the nation denounced the
-barbarity in no equivocal language.
-
-Prynne, undaunted, nay, exasperated to greater daring by this cruelty,
-resumed the subject in his prison, whence he issued a tract (1637) styled
-"News from Ipswich," in which he charged the prelates with being the
-bishops of Lucifer, devouring wolves, and execrable traitors, who had
-overthrown the simplicity of the Gospel to introduce the superstitions
-of Popery. He had found in prison a congenial soul, Dr. Bastwick, a
-physician, who had written a treatise against the bishops, called
-"_Elenchus papismi et flagellum episcoporum Latialium_," for which he had
-been condemned to pay a fine of one thousand pounds to the king, to be
-imprisoned two years, and to make recantation. He now, that is in 1636,
-wrote a fresh tract: "_Apologeticus ad præsules Anglicanos_," and (in
-1637) the "Litanie of John Bastwick, doctor of physic, lying in _Limbo
-patrum_," in which he attacked both the bishops' and Laud's service books.
-
-A third person was Henry Burton, who had been chaplain to Charles when
-on his journey to Spain; but being now incumbent of St. Matthew's, in
-London, he had preached against the bishops as "blind watchmen, dumb
-dogs, ravening wolves, anti-Christian mushrooms, robbers of souls, limbs
-of the beast, and factors of antichrist."
-
-These zealous religionists, whom the cruelties and follies of Laud and
-his bishops had driven almost beside themselves, were condemned in the
-Star Chamber to be each fined five thousand pounds, to stand two hours in
-the pillory, where they were to have their ears cut off, to be branded
-on both cheeks with the letters S.L., for "seditious libeller," and then
-imprisoned for life.
-
-This sentence, than which the Spanish Inquisition has nothing worse to
-show, was fully executed in Old Palace Yard, on the 30th of June, 1637.
-Prynne from the pillory defied all Lambeth, with the Pope at its back,
-to prove to him that such doings were according to the law of England;
-and if he failed to prove them violators of that law and the law of God,
-they were at liberty to hang him at the door of the Gate House prison. On
-hearing this the people gave a great shout; but the executioner, as if
-incited to more cruelty, cut off their ears as barbarously as possible,
-rather sawing than cutting them. Prynne, who is said to have had his
-ears sewed on again on the former occasion, had them now gouged out, as
-it were; yet as the hangman sawed at them he cried out, "Cut me, tear
-me, I fear thee not. I fear the fire of hell, but not thee!" Burton,
-too, harangued the people for a long time most eloquently; but the sun
-blazing hotly in their faces all the time, he was near fainting, when he
-was carried into a house in King Street, saying, "It is too hot! Too hot,
-indeed!"
-
-This most disgraceful exhibition made a terrible impression on the
-spectators, of whom the king was informed that there were one hundred
-thousand; whilst the executioner sawed at the ears of the prisoners they
-assailed him with curses, hisses, and groans. Both Charles and Laud
-were unpleasantly surprised at the effect produced; and to remove the
-sufferers from public sympathy, they determined to send them to distant
-and solitary prisons, far separate from each other--to Launceston,
-Carnarvon, and Lancaster. But the king and his high priest were still
-more amazed and alarmed when they found on the removal of the prisoners
-the crowds were equally immense, and that they went along from place
-to place in a kind of triumph. To attend Burton from Smithfield to two
-miles beyond Highgate, there were again at least one hundred thousand
-people, who testified their deep sympathy, and threw money into the coach
-to his wife as she drove along. Money and presents were also offered to
-Prynne, but he refused them. Gentlemen of wealth and station pressed to
-see and condole with the prisoners, whom they honoured and applauded as
-martyrs. When Prynne reached Chester, on his way to Carnarvon, one of the
-sheriffs, attended by a number of gentle men, met him, invited him to a
-good dinner, discharged the cost, and gave him some hangings to furnish
-his dungeon with in Carnarvon Castle.
-
-This popular demonstration still more startled Laud, who summoned the
-sheriff, as well as the other gentlemen, before the High Commission Court
-at York, where they were fined in sums varying from two hundred and fifty
-pounds to five hundred pounds, and condemned to acknowledge their offence
-before the congregation in the cathedral and the Corporation in the town
-hall of Chester. The prisoners themselves were ordered to be removed
-farther still, and accordingly Bastwick was sent to the Isle of Scilly,
-Burton to the Castle of Cornet in Guernsey, and Prynne to that of Mount
-Orgueil in Jersey. But the king and archbishop had now roused a spirit,
-by their cutting off of ears, which would be satisfied ere long with
-nothing less than their whole heads.
-
-To stop the outcry against their cruelties, they next determined to
-gag the press. An order was therefore issued by the Star Chamber,
-forbidding all importation of foreign books, and the printing of any
-at home without licence. All books on religion, physic, literature, and
-poetry must be licensed by the bishops, so that all truths unpleasant
-to the Church would thus be suppressed. There were to be allowed only
-twenty master printers in the kingdom, except those of his majesty and
-the universities; no printer was to have more than two presses nor two
-apprentices, except the warden of the Company. There were to be only four
-letter-founders; and whoever presumed to print without licence was to be
-whipped through London and set in the pillory. All this time the High
-Commission Court kept pace with the Star Chamber in its prosecutions and
-arbitrary fines, under pretence of protecting public morals.
-
-Laud soon had delinquents against the atrocious order for gagging the
-press. In about six months after the infliction of the sentence on Prynne
-and his associates, he cited into the Star Chamber John Lilburne and John
-Warton, for printing Prynne's "News from Ipswich" and other books called
-libellous (1638). The accused refused to take the oath proposed to them,
-protesting against the lawfulness of the court. Being called up several
-times, and still obstinately refusing, they were condemned to be fined
-five hundred pounds apiece, Lilburne to be whipped from the Fleet to the
-pillory, and both to be bound to their good behaviour. Lilburne was one
-of the most determined of men. He continued to declaim violently against
-the tyranny of Laud and his bishops whilst he was standing in the pillory
-and undergoing his whipping. He drew from his pockets a number of the
-very pamphlets he was punished for printing, and scattered them from the
-pillory amongst the crowd. The court of Star Chamber being informed of
-his conduct, sent and had him gagged; but he then stamped with his feet
-to intimate that he would still speak if he could. He was then thrown
-into the Fleet, heavily ironed and in solitude.
-
-To complete Laud's attacks on all persons and parties, there lacked
-only an onslaught on the episcopal bench, and there he found Williams,
-formerly Lord Keeper, and still Bishop of Lincoln, for a victim.
-Williams, with all his faults, had been a true friend of Laud's at a time
-when he had very few, and the wily upstart had declared that his very
-life would be too short to demonstrate his gratitude: but he took full
-occasion to display towards him his ingratitude. From the moment that
-Laud was introduced to the king, Williams could ill conceal his disgust
-at the clerical adventurer's base adulation. But Laud continued to
-ascend and Williams to descend. Williams having lost the seals, retired
-to his diocese, where he made himself very popular by his talents, his
-agreeable manners, his hospitality, and still more by his being regarded
-as a victim of the arbitrary spirit of the king and of Laud. Williams,
-who had a stinging wit, launched a tract at the head of the Primate,
-called the "Holy Table," in which he unmercifully satirised Laud's parade
-of high altars and Popish ceremonies. The Primate very speedily had him
-in the Star Chamber, where he received private information that if he
-would give up to Laud his deanery of Westminster, that disinterested
-prelate would let the prosecution slip. Williams refused, and then
-commenced one of the most disgraceful scenes in history. Laud, Windebank,
-and the king were determined to force the deanery and a heavy fine from
-him. They browbeat his witnesses; threw them into prison to compel them
-to swear falsely; removed Chief Justice Heath to put in a more pliant
-man; and at length, through the medium of Lord Cottington, induced
-Williams, from terror of worse, to give up the deanery and pay a fine of
-ten thousand pounds. His servants and agents, Walker, Catlin, and Lunn,
-were fined three hundred pounds apiece, and Powell two hundred pounds.
-
-This being done, Laud uttered a most hypocritical speech, professing
-high admiration of the talents, wisdom, learning, and various endowments
-of Williams, and his sorrow to see him thus punished, declaring that he
-had gone five times on his knees to the king to sue for his pardon. But
-even so Williams was not destined to escape. The officers who went to
-take possession of his effects, found amongst his papers two letters from
-Osbaldeston, master of Westminster School, in one of which he said that
-the great leviathan--the late Lord Treasurer, Portland--and the little
-urchin--Laud--were in a storm; and in the other, that "there was great
-jealousy between the leviathan and the little meddling hocus-pocus."
-
-This, which was no crime of Williams, but of Osbaldeston, was, however,
-made a crime of both. Williams was condemned on the charge of concealing
-a libel on a public officer, and fined eight thousand pounds more, and
-to suffer imprisonment during the king's pleasure. The chief offender,
-Osbaldeston, could not be found; he had left a note saying he was "gone
-beyond Canterbury;" but he was sentenced to deprivation of his office, to
-be branded, and stand opposite to his own school in the pillory, with
-his ears nailed to it. He took good care, however, not to fall into such
-merciless hands.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN LILBURNE ON THE PILLORY. (_See p._ 556.)]
-
-Besides those means of raising a permanent revenue for the Crown,
-independent of Parliament, which we have already detailed--as tonnage
-and poundage, the fees on compulsory knighthood, and the resumption
-of forest lands,--there was discovered another which was owing to
-the ingenuity of Attorney-General Noye. The landed proprietors had
-been much alarmed by the rumours that the king would lay claim to the
-greater part of every county in England except Kent, Sussex, and Surrey,
-but the whole public was struck with consternation at the additional
-project of the Attorney-General. As he had been always of a surly and
-morose disposition, he carried this ungracious manner with him into his
-apostacy. Formerly he had acted like a rude ill-tempered patriot, now
-he was the more odious from being at once obsequious to the Crown, and
-coarsely insolent to those whose rights he had invaded.
-
-In the Records of the Tower he discovered writs compelling the ports and
-maritime counties to provide a certain number of ships during war, or for
-protecting the coasts from pirates. It was now declared that the seas
-were greatly infested with Turkish corsairs, who not only intercepted our
-merchantmen at sea, but made descents on the coast of Ireland and carried
-off the inhabitants into slavery. The French and Dutch mariners, it was
-added, were continually interrupting our trade, and making prizes of our
-trading vessels. It was necessary to assert our right to the sovereignty
-of the narrow seas, which, it was contended, "our progenitors, Kings
-of England, had always possessed, and that it would be very irksome to
-us if that princely honour in our time should be lost, or in anything
-diminished."
-
-But the real cause was that Charles was at that time, 1634, engaged
-in the treaty with Spain to assist it against the United Provinces of
-Holland, on condition that Philip engaged to restore the Palsgrave.
-Noye's scheme was highly approved and supported by the Lord Keeper
-Coventry. On the 20th of October, 1634, a writ was issued by the Lords of
-the Council, signed by the king, to the city of London, commanding it to
-furnish before the 1st of March next, seven ships, with all the requisite
-arms, stores, and tackling, and wages for the men for twenty-six weeks.
-One ship was to be of nine hundred tons, and to carry three hundred and
-fifty men; another of eight hundred tons, with two hundred and sixty
-men; four ships of five hundred tons, with two hundred men each; and
-one of three hundred tons, with one hundred and fifty men. The Common
-Council and citizens humbly remonstrated against the demand as one from
-which they were exempt by their charters, but the Council treated their
-objections with contempt, and compelled them to submit.
-
-In the spring of 1635 similar writs were issued to the maritime
-counties, and even sent into the interior, a most unheard-of demand;
-and instructions were forwarded to all parts, signed by Laud, Coventry,
-Juxon, Cottington, and the rest of the Privy Council, ordering the
-sheriffs to collect the money which was to be levied instead of ships, at
-the rate of three thousand three hundred pounds for every ship. They were
-to distrain on all who refused, and take care that no arrears were left
-to their successors. The demand occasioned both murmuring and resistance.
-The deputy-lieutenants of some inland counties wrote to the Council,
-begging that the inhabitants might be excused this unprecedented tax; but
-they were speedily called before the Council, and severely reprimanded.
-The people on the coasts of Sussex absolutely refused to pay, but they
-were soon forced by the sheriffs to submit. Noye died before this took
-place, and squibs regarding him were publicly placarded, saying that
-his body being opened, a bundle of proclamations was found in his head,
-worm-eaten records were discovered in his stomach, and a barrel of soap,
-alluding to the enforcement of the monopoly on that article, was found in
-his paunch.
-
-To put an end to all murmurs or resistance, Charles determined to
-have the sanction of the judges, knowing that he could not have that
-of Parliament. He therefore removed Chief Justice Heath on this and
-other accounts, and put in his place the supple Sir John Finch, lately
-conspicuous as Speaker of the Commons. The questions submitted to the
-judges were whether, when the good and safety of the realm demanded it,
-the king could not levy this ship-money, and whether he was not the
-proper and sole judge of the danger and the necessity. Finch canvassed
-his brethren of the Bench individually and privately. The judges met
-in Serjeant's Inn on the 12th of February, 1636, when they were all
-perfectly unanimous except Croke and Hutton, who, however, subscribed, on
-the ground that the opinion of a majority settled the matter.
-
-To obtain this opinion, Charles had let the judges know through Finch,
-that he only required their decision for his private satisfaction; but
-they were startled to find their sanction immediately proclaimed by the
-Lord Keeper Coventry in the Star Chamber, order given that it should
-be enrolled in all the courts at Westminster, and themselves required
-to make it known from the Bench on their circuits through the country.
-Nor was this all, for Wentworth, now become a full-fledged agent of
-despotism, contended that "since it is lawful for the king to impose a
-tax towards the equipment of the navy, it must be equally so for the levy
-of an army; and the same reason which authorises him to levy an army to
-resist, will authorise him to carry that army abroad, that he may prevent
-invasion. Moreover, what is law in England is also law in Ireland and
-Scotland. This decision of the judges will, therefore, make the king
-absolute at home, and formidable abroad. Let him," he observed, "only
-abstain from war a few years, that he may habituate his subjects to the
-payment of this tax, and in the end he will find himself more powerful
-and respected than any of his predecessors."
-
-Such were the principles of Wentworth, ready on the smallest concession
-to grant a dozen other assumptions upon it, and such the counsellors,
-himself and Laud, who encouraged the already too fatally despotic king to
-his destruction. The judges were, for the most part, equally traitorous
-to the nation, and preached the most absolute doctrines and passed the
-most absolute sentences. Richard Chambers, the London merchant, who had
-already suffered so severely for resisting the king's illegal demands,
-also refused payment of this, and brought an action against the Lord
-Mayor for imprisoning him for his refusal. But Judge Berkeley would not
-hear the counsel of Chambers in his defence; and afterwards, in his
-charge to the grand jury at York, described ship-money as the inseparable
-flower of the Crown. But they were not so easily to override the rights
-of the people of England. There were numbers of stout hearts only waiting
-a fitting opportunity to unite and crush the spirit of despotism now
-growing so rampant. One of the most distinguished of these patriots was
-John Hampden, a gentleman of Buckinghamshire, whose name has become a
-world-wide synonym for sturdy constitutional independence. He determined
-not only to resist the payment of ship-money, but to try the question,
-so as to make known far and wide its illegality. He consulted his legal
-friends, Holborne, St. John, Whitelock, and others, on the best means of
-dealing with it, and encouraged by his example, thirty freeholders of
-his parish of Great Kimble, in Buckinghamshire, also refused payment. No
-sooner, therefore, had Charles obtained the opinion of the judges, than
-he determined to proceed against Hampden in the Court of Exchequer. The
-case was conducted for the Crown by the Attorney-General, Sir John Banks,
-and the Solicitor-General, Sir Edward Littleton. The sum at which Hampden
-was assessed was only twenty shillings: the trial lasted for twelve days
-before the twelve judges, that is, from the 6th to the 18th of December,
-1637.
-
-It was argued on the part of the Crown that the practice was sanctioned
-by the annual tax of Dane-gelt, imposed by the Saxons; by former monarchs
-having pressed ships into their service, and compelled the maritime
-counties to equip them; and that the claim on the part of the king was
-reasonable and patriotic, for if he did not exercise this right of the
-Crown, in cases of danger, before the Parliament could be assembled
-serious damage might accrue. The Crown lawyers ridiculed the refusal of
-a man of Mr. Hampden's great estates to pay so paltry a sum as twenty
-shillings; and declared that the sheriffs of Bucks ought to be fined
-for not putting upon him twenty pounds. But it was replied upon the
-part of Hampden, that the amount of the assessment was not in question,
-it was the principle of it. Nor could the Dane-gelt give evidence in
-the case, the imperfect accounts to be drawn on the subject from our
-ancient writers being too vague and uncertain. Moreover, the practice
-of monarchs before or after Magna Charta could not establish any law on
-the subject, for Magna Charta abrogated any arbitrary customs that had
-gone before, and strictly and clearly forbade them afterwards. No breach
-of that great Charter could be pleaded against it, for it was paramount
-and perpetual in its authority. Again, various statutes since, and last
-of all the Petition of Right, assented to by the king himself, made any
-such taxation without consent of Parliament illegal and void; while
-the very asking of loans and benevolences by different monarchs was
-sufficient proof of this, for if they had the right to tax, they would
-have taxed, and not borrowed. The most arbitrary prince that ever sat
-on the English throne--Henry VIII.,--when he had borrowed, and was not
-disposed to repay, did not consider his own fiat sufficient to cancel
-the debt, but called in Parliament to release him from the obligation.
-They reminded the judges of Edward I.'s confirmation of the charters, and
-of the statute _De Tallagio non concedendo_. As to the plea of imminent
-danger from foreign invasion, as in the case of the great Armada, as
-the Crown lawyers had mentioned, such cases, they argued, were next to
-impossible; notices of danger, as in the instance of the Armada itself,
-being obtained in ample time to call together Parliament. In this case
-there was no urgency whatever to forestall the measures of Parliament;
-for neither the insolence of a few Turkish pirates, nor even the threats
-of neighbouring States, were of consequence enough to warrant the
-forestalling of the constitutional functions of Parliament.
-
-The Crown lawyers, baffled by this unanswerable statement, then
-unblushingly took their stand on the doctrine that the king was bound
-by no laws, but all laws proceeded from the grace of the king, and that
-this was a right which all monarchs had reserved from time immemorial.
-Justice Crawley declared that the right of such impositions resided _ipso
-facto_ in the king as king, that you could not have a king without these
-rights--no, not by Act of Parliament. "The law," said Judge Berkeley,
-"knows no such king-yoking policy. The law is an old and trusty servant
-of the king's; it is his instrument or means which he useth to govern
-his people by. I never read or heard that _Lex_ was _Rex_, but it is
-common and most true that _Rex_ is _Lex_." The pliable Finch said, "Acts
-of Parliament are void to bind the king not to command the subjects,
-their persons, and goods, and, I say, their money, too, for no Acts of
-Parliament make any difference." Certainly they made no difference to
-him; and if these base lawyers could have talked away the rights of
-the people of England, they would have done it for their own selfish
-interests. When Holborne contended that it was not only for themselves,
-but for posterity, that they were bound to preserve the constitution
-intact, Finch testily exclaimed, "It belongs not to the Bar to talk of
-future governments; it is not agreeable to duty to have you bandy what is
-the hope of succeeding princes, when the king hath a blessed issue so
-hopeful to succeed him in his crown and virtues." But Holborne replied,
-"My lord, for that whereof I speak, I look far off--many ages off; five
-hundred years hence!"
-
-But all the judges were not of like stamp. Hutton and Croke, who had
-dissented when the opinion of the judges was first taken, now made a bold
-stand against the illegal practice. As the ruin of a judge who thus dared
-to act in upright independence was pretty certain at that time, we may
-estimate the degree of virtue necessary to such decision, and the noble
-self-sacrifice of Lady Croke, who bade her husband give no thought to
-the consequences of discharging his duty, for that she would be content
-to suffer want, or any misery with him, rather than he should do or say
-anything against his judgment and conscience.
-
-The case was not decided till the Trinity Term, the third term from the
-commencement of the trial, when, on the 12th of June, 1638, judgment was
-entered against Hampden in the Court of Exchequer. But even then five
-of the judges had the courage to decide for Hampden, though three of
-them did this only on technical grounds, conceding the main and vital
-question. The decision of this most important trial was apparently in
-favour of the king, and there was, accordingly, much triumphing at Court;
-but in reality, it was in favour of the people, for it had been so
-long before the public, and the arguments of Hampden's counsel were so
-undeniable, those of the Crown so absolutely untenable, and opposed to
-all the history of the nation, that the matter was everywhere discussed,
-and men's opinions made up that, without a positive resistance to such
-claims and such doctrines as had here been advanced, the country was a
-place of serfdom, and the bloodshed and the labour of all past patriots
-had been in vain. It was accordingly found that people were more averse
-than ever from paying these demands; and even the courtly Clarendon
-confesses that "the pressure was borne with much more cheerfulness before
-the judgment for the king than ever it was after." Lord Say made a
-determined stand against it in Warwickshire, and would fain have brought
-on another trial like that of John Hampden; but the king would not allow
-another damaging experiment; and events came crowding after it of such a
-nature, as showed how deep the matter had sunk into the public mind.
-
-The course which matters were taking was exceedingly disgusting to the
-ministers of King Charles--Laud and Wentworth. The latter had been
-appointed Lord President of the North, where he had ruled with all
-the overbearing self-will of a king. The Council of the North had been
-appointed by Henry VIII., to try and punish the insurgents concerned
-in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and it had been continued ever since on as
-lawless a basis as that of the Star Chamber itself. In fact, it was the
-Star Chamber of the five most northern counties of England, summoning and
-judging the subjects without any jury, but at the will of the Council
-itself. Wentworth had risen from a simple baronet to be Privy Councillor,
-baron and viscount, and President of the North, with more rapidity than
-Buckingham himself had done. On accepting this last office, his power
-and jurisdiction were enlarged, and he displayed such an unflinching
-spirit in exercising the most despotic will, that on difficulties arising
-in Ireland, he was, without resigning his Presidency of the North,
-transferred thither, where Charles had resolved to introduce the same
-subjection to his sole will as in England and Scotland.
-
-When the unfortunate expedition to Cadiz had been made, and the king
-feared the Spaniards would retaliate by making a descent on Ireland, he
-ordered the Lord-Deputy, Lord Falkland, to raise the Irish army to five
-thousand foot and five hundred horse. There was no great difficulty in
-that, but the question how they were to be maintained was not so easy.
-Lord Falkland, who was one of the most honourable and conscientious of
-men, called together the great landed proprietors, and submitted the
-matter to their judgment. These, who were chiefly Catholics, offered to
-advance the necessary funds on condition that certain concessions should
-be made to the people of Ireland. These were, that, besides the removal
-of many minor grievances, the recusants should be allowed to practise
-in the courts of law, and to sue the livery of their lands out of the
-court of wards on their taking the oath of Allegiance without that of
-Supremacy; that the Undertakers on the several plantations should have
-time to fulfil the conditions of their leases; that the claims of the
-Crown should be confined to the last sixty years, the inhabitants of
-Connaught being allowed a new enrolment of their estates; and finally,
-that a parliament should be held to confirm these graces, as they were
-called.
-
-Delegates were sent to London to lay these proposals before the king,
-and on the agreement to pay one hundred and twenty thousand pounds by
-instalments in three years, Charles readily granted these articles
-of grace, amounting to fifty-one. But meanwhile, a rumour of these
-concessions having got out, the Irish Established Church had made a
-great opposition, and though the parliament was called, nothing was done,
-nor did Charles intend to do more than get the money. As Lord Falkland
-was the last man in the world to be a party to anything so dishonourable,
-he was recalled, and Wentworth was sent over, in the July of 1632, to do
-the work.
-
-[Illustration: THE BIRMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE.]
-
-Wentworth's arrival in Ireland was tantamount to a revolution there.
-He introduced all the regulations of the English Court at the Castle,
-assumed a guard like the king, which no Deputy before him had done, and
-carried himself with a haughty demeanour which made the Irish lords stand
-amazed. The only good which he effected was in putting down the multitude
-of minor tyrants, but then he combined all their tyranny and oppressions
-in himself. He was ready to bear any amount of odium, because he trusted
-to the king's support. His object was to raise a large permanent revenue,
-and Wentworth soon informed Charles that if this was to be done, there
-must be an end to making grants to needy English nobles, who absorbed
-what should flow to the Crown. Charles had promised such grants to
-the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Arundel, and others; but on learning
-Wentworth's views, Secretary Windebank wrote, at the king's command, that
-Wentworth was at liberty to refuse them these grants, provided that he
-took "the refusing part" on himself.
-
-As a first measure to raise money, he informed Charles that it would
-be necessary to call a Parliament. The king, who had found Parliaments
-too much for him, and was endeavouring to live without them, heard
-the proposal with consternation, and warned Wentworth against such an
-attempt; but the Lord Deputy informed him that he had a plan by which
-he could manage them, and Charles wrote to him, consenting, but still
-warning. "As for that hydra, take good heed, for you know that here I
-have found it as well cunning as malicious. It is true that your grounds
-are well laid, and I assure you that I have a great trust in your care
-and judgment; yet my opinion is, that it will not be the worse for my
-service though their obstinacy make you to break them, for I fear they
-have some ground to demand more than it is fit for me to give."
-
-Wentworth knew that very well, but meant to grant nothing of the kind.
-He sent out a hundred letters of recommendation in favour of the return
-of candidates on whom he could rely, and procured a royal order for the
-absent peers to send blank proxies, which he might fill up as he pleased.
-These were considerable in number, and consisted chiefly of Englishmen
-who had obtained their estates or titles from Charles or his father. Thus
-he secured a majority; and on opening Parliament he informed the members
-that he meant to hold two Sessions--one for the benefit of the king, the
-other for redressing the grievances of the people. Had the Irish noticed
-what had been going forward in England, they would have augured no good
-from such an arrangement, and might have followed the example of the
-English Commons, who would always insist on stating their grievances
-before parting with their money. But the unfortunate Irish listened to
-the dulcet tones of the Lord-Deputy, who assured them that if they put
-their trust in him and the king they would have the happiest Parliament
-that had ever sat in that kingdom. He talked of the misfortunes which
-had happened to the English Parliament through distrusting the king--he
-himself having been one of the chief actors in these distrusts--and on
-his assuring them that he was anxious to hasten to the second Session and
-the removal of all their grievances they voted him out of the fulness
-of their confidence six subsidies of larger amount than had ever been
-granted before.
-
-But when they came to the second Session, awful was the astonishment, and
-terrible the consternation, of the liberal granters of subsidies. The
-shameless trickster coolly informed them that of the fifty-one graces
-promised them by the king, very few were of a kind which he, who knew
-the circumstances of the country, could grant. In vain they reminded him
-of his promises, and called on him to fulfil them. He gave them menaces
-instead of promises, launched at them the most biting sarcasms, and
-made them appear a set of criminals rather than deceived and insulted
-legislators. His majority carried everything as he pleased, and after
-passing a few insignificant graces, he negatived the bulk of them,
-including all the important ones, and dismissed the Parliament.
-
-He had been equally successful with the Convocation. He obtained from
-it eight subsidies of three thousand pounds each, but he then refused
-to grant the conditions promised. It was the settled plan of the king,
-supported by Laud, to conform both the Scottish and Irish Churches to
-the English, and Wentworth was the most unscrupulous agent in such a
-work that they could have. The Irish prelates informed him that their
-Church was wholly independent of that of England, had its own Articles,
-of the Calvinistic class, and owed no obedience to the See of Canterbury.
-He insisted, however, that they must admit the Thirty-nine Articles of
-England; it was not necessary to parade them before the people, but they
-must be admitted, and the old Irish Articles might quietly die out. The
-prelates set about to frame a new code of ecclesiastical discipline; but
-to his surprise, he learned that they had rejected the English Articles
-and retained their own. He sent for the Archbishop and the Committee,
-upbraided the Chairman with suffering such a proceeding, took possession
-of the minutes, and ordered Archbishop Ussher himself to frame a canon
-authorising the English Articles. Ussher's production, however, did
-not satisfy him; he therefore drew up a form himself, and sent it to
-the Convocation, commanding that no debate should take place, but the
-Articles should be at once adopted, and informing them that every one's
-vote should be reported to him. Only one member of the whole Convocation
-dared to vote against his will; the rest submitted, but with the utmost
-indignation.
-
-Having thus with a high hand carried his measures--refused the
-confirmation of the graces, conformed the Irish to the English Church
-in one Session, and obtained such an amount of money as would not only
-pay off the debts of the Crown, but would supply for some years the
-extraordinary demands of the Government, he wrote exultingly to England,
-declaring that the king was as absolute in Ireland as any king in the
-world, and might be the same in England if they did their duty there.
-He boldly demanded an earl's coronet, on account of these services,
-which, however, Charles deferred for awhile, thinking that he should
-hold such a man to his work rather by the hope than the possession of
-high preferment. Wentworth was so delighted with his overruling the
-Irish Parliament, that he proposed to the king to merely prorogue and
-not dissolve it, as being the most convenient instrument for effecting
-his further designs on the country. But Charles would not listen to it,
-remarking that parliaments were like cats, they ever grew cursed with
-age, and it was better to put an end to them early, young ones being most
-tractable. He thanked him for what he had done, and especially for saving
-him from the odium of breaking his promise about the graces.
-
-How little did this bold bad man see that, whilst he was serving the
-king's worst purposes, he was preparing his own destruction. In fact,
-though he had stunned the Irish for a moment by the audacity of his
-bearing, he had struck deep into their souls a resentment that no man,
-however powerful or subtle, could withstand. He was, however, only on
-the threshold of the sweeping changes which he contemplated in that
-country, for he was resolved to reduce it to a condition of absolute
-dependence on the Crown. He was not content with forcing the English
-Articles on the Irish Church, but he refused to the Catholics every
-relief that Charles had pledged himself to in order to get their money.
-Instead of abolishing, as promised, the oppressive power of the court
-of wards, he gave them a more virulent activity. The Catholic heir was
-still obliged to sue out the livery of his lands, and before he could
-obtain them, to take the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy. To obtain his
-rightful property, he was thus compelled to abjure his religion. But he
-entertained a still more gigantic design, which was to seize on the fee
-simple of the greater part of Ireland, on pretence of defective title.
-
-We have seen that in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the titles of the
-great landed proprietors both in Connaught and Ulster had been called in
-question, and those monarchs had pretended to renew them on condition
-of certain payments. These conditions had been repeatedly fulfilled
-by the proprietors, but not by the Crown. Charles, in 1628, amongst
-the other benefits promised, had engaged to ratify these titles; but
-Wentworth showed him the folly of doing that while by alarming them on
-the point he might draw immense sums from them, or get possession of the
-lands. To this proposal Charles consented, and the experiment was begun
-with Connaught. Wentworth proceeded (1635) at the head of a commission,
-to hold an inquisition in every county of Connaught. He opened his
-proceedings at Roscommon, where he summoned a jury of "gentlemen of
-the best estates and understandings," that more weight might attach to
-their decisions if favourable, or that, if adverse, he might levy heavy
-fines upon them. He assured the jury that his majesty merely meant to
-ascertain the condition of all titles, in order that if defective he
-might render them legal. It was on this plea that the freeholders had
-been wheedled into the surrender of their deeds and patents by Elizabeth
-and James; but Wentworth added another alarming fiction. He contended
-that Henry III., reserving only five cantreds to himself, had given the
-remainder to Richard de Burgh, to be holden of him and his heirs of the
-Crown, and that those tenures had now descended to the present king, by
-the marriage of the heirs of De Burgh with the royal line. According to
-this the king was the rightful owner of every acre of land in Ireland.
-He assured the jury, therefore, that it was their best interest to
-give a general verdict for the king, as he could without their consent
-establish his right, and if compelled to do that in opposition to them,
-the result might be much worse for them. By these means he induced
-the juries in Roscommon, Sligo, Mayo, Clare, and Limerick, to return
-a verdict in favour of the Crown, but the people of Galway stoutly
-resisted. They declared that the title of the king, through Edward IV.,
-from Richard de Burgh, could not be proved; there was a hiatus in the
-genealogy. They were all Catholics, and were the more resolute from
-having been so shamefully deluded in the matter of wardship. Wentworth
-was rather glad to be able to make an example of them, and he therefore
-fined the sheriff one thousand pounds for returning so obstinate and
-perverse a jury, and dragged the jury into his Star Chamber, the chamber
-of the Castle, and fined them four thousand pounds apiece. He fell
-with especial vindictiveness on the old Earl of Clanricarde, and other
-great landowners of Galway, and set about to seize the fort of Galway,
-march a body of troops into the country, and compel it to submit to
-the king's will. The proprietors, disbelieving that the king could know
-of or sanction such infamous breaches of faith and acts of oppression,
-sent over a deputation to Charles to lay the matter before him. But the
-king received them with reproaches, declared his full approval of the
-proceedings of the Lord-Deputy, and sent them back to Ireland as State
-prisoners. The old Earl of Clanricarde, whose son had been the head of
-the deputation, died soon after receiving the news of this conduct of the
-monarch, and Wentworth wrote to Charles that he was accused of being the
-cause of his death. "They might as well," he remarked haughtily, "impute
-to me the crime of his being threescore and ten." He was still busily
-pursuing other noblemen with the same rancour--the Earl of Cork, Lord
-Wilmot, and others--when the Catholic party in England, who had a friend
-in Queen Henrietta, made their complaints heard at Whitehall. Laud, who
-was acting as outrageously himself in England, informed Wentworth of
-it, and even hinted more caution, observing that if he could find a way
-to do all those great services without raising so many storms, it would
-be excellently well thought of. But Wentworth was as little disposed to
-avoid storms as his adviser himself. He proceeded in the same autocratic
-style both towards the public and individuals. It had been the original
-intention to return to the proprietors three-fourths of their lands,
-and retain one-fourth for the Crown, amounting to about one hundred and
-twenty thousand acres, which were to be planted with Englishmen, on
-condition of yielding a large annual income to the Crown. But now it
-was resolved to retain a full half of Galway as a punishment of its
-obstinacy, and Wentworth was proceeding with the necessary measurements,
-when his career proved at an end.
-
-[Illustration: SIR THOMAS WENTWORTH (EARL OF STRAFFORD).
-
-(_After the Portrait by Vandyke._)]
-
-The individual acts of injustice which he perpetrated were done at the
-suggestion of his profligate desires or personal revenge, with the most
-unabashed hardihood. He had seduced the daughter of Loftus, the Lord
-Chancellor of Ireland, wife of Sir John Gifford, and wanted to confer
-a good post on her relative Sir Adam Loftus. Such an opportunity soon
-occurred by an inadvertent expression of Lord Mountnorris, Vice-Treasurer
-of Ireland. It happened one day that Annesley, a lieutenant in the army,
-accidentally set a stool on the foot of the Lord-Deputy, when he was
-suffering from the gout. This Lieutenant Annesley had some time before
-been caned by Wentworth in a paroxysm of passion, and Mountnorris hearing
-the incident of the stool mentioned at the table of Chancellor Loftus,
-said, "Perhaps Annesley did it as his revenge, but he has a brother who
-would not have taken such a revenge." This being repeated to Wentworth,
-he treated the observation as a suggestion to Annesley to perpetrate
-a more bloody revenge; and though he dissembled his resentment for
-some time, he then accused Mountnorris, who was also an officer in the
-army, of mutiny, founded on this expression. Wentworth attended the
-court-martial to overawe its proceedings, and obtained a sentence of
-death against Mountnorris. The sentence was too atrocious to be carried
-into execution, but it served Wentworth's purpose, for he cashiered
-Mountnorris and gave his office to Loftus. Much as the Irish had suffered
-before, this most lawless act excited a loud murmur of indignation
-throughout the land; but Wentworth had secured himself from any censure
-from the king by handing him six thousand pounds as the price of the
-transfer of Mountnorris's treasurership to Sir Adam Loftus.
-
-The resentment of the Irish was becoming so strong against Wentworth,
-that the king thought it safest for him to come to England for a time;
-but he soon returned thither, with the additional favour of the monarch,
-where he remained till summoned by Charles to assist him by his counsels
-against the Scots. But the fatal and memorable year 1640 was at hand,
-to close the story of his tyrannies. We must now retrace our steps, and
-bring up the conflicts of Scotland with the same blind and determined
-despots to that period.
-
-The storm against the despotism of Charles had broken out in that
-country. From the moment of his visit to Edinburgh with his great apostle
-Laud, he had never ceased pushing forward his scheme of conforming the
-Presbyterian Church to Anglican episcopacy. He had restored the bishops
-on that occasion, given them lands, erected deans and chapters, and
-Laud had consecrated St. Giles's Church as a Cathedral. As he could not
-persuade the Scottish Peers to submit to the liturgy as used in England,
-which his father had attempted in vain before him, he consented that a
-liturgy should be drawn up by four Scottish bishops, who were also to
-form a code of ecclesiastical canons. They were to introduce into the
-latter some of the acts of the Scottish assemblies, and some more ancient
-canons, to make the whole more palatable. These laws and the liturgy
-were afterwards revised by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops
-of London and Norwich, and Charles ordered the amended copies to be
-published and preserved.
-
-None but a monarch so foolhardy as Charles would have dared such an
-experiment on the Scots who had resisted so stoutly his father, and had
-driven his grandmother from the country for her adhesion to Popery. The
-people received the publication of the canon with unequivocal indications
-of their temper; and when, therefore, the first introduction, of the
-liturgy was fixed for the 23rd of July, 1637, in St. Giles's Church,
-they went thither in crowds, to give a characteristic reception. The
-archbishops and bishops, the Lords of Session, and the magistrates went
-in procession, and appeared there in all their official splendour. This
-display, however, so far from imposing on the people of Edinburgh, only
-excited their wrath and contempt, as the trumpery finery of the woman of
-Babylon. A considerable riot ensued, during which a woman named Jenny
-Geddes is said to have thrown a stool at the bishop's head. The story is,
-however, supported by indifferent evidence.
-
-But it was not merely the base multitude, the nobility were as violent
-against the new Liturgy as the people, and came to high words with the
-bishops and their favourers amongst the clergy. Four ministers--Alexander
-Henderson, of Leuchars; John Hamilton, of Newburn; James Bruce, of
-Kingsbarns, and another--petitioned the Council on the 23rd of August,
-to give them time to show the anti-Christian and idolatrous nature of
-this ritual, and how near it came to the Popish mass, reminding them that
-the people of Scotland had established the independence of their own
-Church at the Reformation, which had been confirmed by Parliament and
-General Assemblies, and that the people, instructed in their religion
-from the pulpit, were not likely to adopt what their fathers had rejected
-as contrary to the simplicity of the Gospel. But the Bishop of Ross,
-Laud's right-hand man, replied for the Council that the liturgy was
-neither superstitious nor idolatrous, but according to the formula of
-the ancient Churches, and they must submit to that or to "horning," that
-is, banishment. Still the Council delayed, and the people were pretty
-quiet during the harvest time, but that over, the news having arrived of
-a peremptory message from the king, commanding the enforcement of the
-liturgy, and the removal of the Council from Edinburgh to Linlithgow,
-thence in the following term to Stirling, and for the next to Dundee,
-the people flocked into Edinburgh, and, incensed at the idea of their
-ancient capital being deprived of its honours as the seat of government,
-they became extremely irritated, attacked the bishops when they could see
-them, and nearly tore the clothes from the back of the Bishop of Galway.
-He escaped into the Council House, and the members of the Council in
-their turn sent to demand protection from the magistrates, who could not
-even protect themselves.
-
-For greater security the Council removed to Dalkeith, and the Marquis of
-Hamilton recommended to Charles to make some concessions; but far from
-giving way, a more positive order for the enforcement of the obnoxious
-liturgy arrived from the king. But it was found impossible to enforce it:
-the Earl of Traquair was summoned up to London, sharply questioned as to
-the causes of the delay, and was sent back with more arbitrary commands.
-On the 18th of October these were made known, and fresh riots took place,
-Traquair and two of the bishops nearly losing their lives. The king then
-consented to the petitioners above mentioned being represented by a
-deputation personally resident in Edinburgh. The object was to induce the
-crowds of strangers to withdraw to their homes, when it was thought the
-people of Edinburgh alone might be better dealt with; but the advocates
-of the people seized on the plan, and converted it into one of the most
-powerful engines of opposition imaginable.
-
-At the head of these able politicians, and the contrivers of this
-profoundly sagacious scheme, were the Lords Rothes, Balmerino, Lindsay,
-Lothian, Loudon, Yester, and Cranstoun. Balmerino had been severely
-treated by Charles, and had thus become hardened into the most positive
-opponent of the episcopal movement. In his possession in 1634 was a copy
-of a petition to the Scottish Parliament, too strong in its language
-even for the Scottish dissentients to present. He had, under pledge of
-strictest secrecy, lent this to a friend. For this he was committed to
-prison, and at the instigation of Spottiswood, Archbishop of St. Andrews,
-it was resolved to prosecute him for high treason, and a verdict was
-procured against him. But the people were so enraged that they assembled
-in vast crowds, vowing to murder both the jurors who had given the
-verdict and the judges who had accepted it. Government was alarmed, and
-the king was reluctantly induced to grant Balmerino a pardon. From that
-moment he became the champion of the people.
-
-He and his colleagues the nobles, the gentry, the Presbyterian clergy,
-and the inhabitants of the burghs, formed themselves into four "Tables"
-or Committees, each of four persons, and each Table sent a representative
-to a fifth Table, a Committee of superintendence and government. Thus
-in the capital there were sitting five Tables or Committees, to receive
-complaints and information from the people, and decide on all these
-matters. Throughout the country were speedily established similar Tables,
-with whom they corresponded. Thus, instead of that mere representation of
-the petitioners which the king contemplated as an expedient for getting
-rid of the immediate pressure of the people, one of the most perfect and
-most powerful systems of popular agitation was organised that the world
-had ever seen. There was the most instant attention to the suggestions of
-the people by the provincial Tables, and the most prompt and respectful
-consideration of their reports by the Tables in the capital. A permanent
-government of the people was, in fact, erected, to which the public
-looked with the utmost confidence, and by which step its whole weight was
-brought to bear on the unpopular government of the king.
-
-The formidable nature of this novel engine of the popular will was
-quickly perceived by the Court; and Traquair was ordered to issue a
-proclamation declaring the Tables to be unlawful, commanding all people
-to withdraw to their own homes, and menacing the penalties of treason
-against all who disobeyed. This proclamation was made by Traquair at
-Stirling, on the 19th of February, 1638; but it was disregarded. The
-Tables had procured early information of the forthcoming proclamation,
-and had summoned the provincial Tables from all parts to assemble in
-Edinburgh and Stirling. These cities were thus crowded with the very life
-and soul of the whole agitation. They had already risen in their demands
-as they perceived their strength, and had ceased to petition for time
-and some trifling alterations in "the buke." They demanded the formal
-revocation of the liturgy, the canons, and the Court of High Commission.
-Now, no sooner had the herald read the royal proclamation than the Lords
-Hume and Lindsay read a counter proclamation, saw it affixed to the
-market cross, and copies sent to Edinburgh and Linlithgow, to be read and
-publicly placarded there.
-
-Traquair, who had clearly foreseen these consequences, and in vain warned
-the king to avoid them by timely concession, wrote to Hamilton, informing
-him of what had taken place, and that there was no power in the kingdom
-capable of forcing the liturgy down the people's throats; that they would
-receive the Mass as soon. His words received a speedy confirmation. The
-Tables determined to publish a Solemn Covenant between the people and
-the Almighty to stand by their religion to the death. Their fathers, at
-the time of the Reformation, had adopted such an instrument. The great
-nobles of the time had sworn to maintain the principles of Wishart
-and Knox, and to defend the preachers of those doctrines against the
-powers of Antichrist and the monarchy. James had sworn to adhere to
-this confession of faith, with all their households and all classes of
-people, in the years 1580, 1581, and 1590. The name of Covenant was thus
-become a watchword to the whole nation, which roused them like a trumpet.
-This document had been composed by Alexander Henderson, one of the four
-ministers who had petitioned, and Archibald Johnstone, an advocate, the
-legal adviser of the party; and had been revised by Balmerino, Loudon,
-and Rothes.
-
-This famous document began by a clear exposition of the tenets of
-the Reformed Scottish Church, and as solemn an abjuration of all the
-errors and doctrines of the Pope, with his "vain allegories, rites,
-signs, and traditions." It enumerated the anti-Christian tenets of
-Popery--the denial of salvation to infants dying without baptism; the
-receiving the Sacrament from men of scandalous lives; the devilish Mass;
-the canonisation of men; the invocation of saints; the worshipping of
-imaginary relics and crosses; the speaking and praying in a strange
-language; auricular confession; the shaveling monks; bloody persecutions;
-and a hundred other abominations. All these were made as great offences
-against the Anglican hierarchy, which was fast running back into those
-"days of bygone idolatry." The various classes--"noblemen, barons,
-gentlemen, burgesses, ministers, and commons"--bound themselves by the
-Covenant to defend and maintain the reformed faith before God, His
-angels, and the world, till it was again established by free Assemblies
-and Parliaments, in the same full purity and liberty of the Gospel as it
-had been heretofore.
-
-On the 1st of March, 1638, the church of St. Giles, which had witnessed
-so lately the hasty flight of the bishops, was thronged with the
-Covenanters of all ranks and from all parts of the country. The business
-was opened by a fervent prayer from Henderson, and then the people were
-addressed in a stirring harangue by the Earl of Loudon, the most eloquent
-man in Scotland. The effect was such that the whole assembly rose
-simultaneously, and with outstretched arms, amid torrents of tears, swore
-to the contents of the Covenant. That done, they turned and embraced each
-other, wept, and shouted aloud their exultation over this great victory,
-for such they felt it, in the united energy and religious dedication of
-the nation.
-
-Dispersing to their various homes, the delegates carried the fire of
-this grand enthusiasm with them. Over moor and mountain it flew, across
-the green pastoral hills of the South, through the dark defiles of the
-Highlands, and to the sea-swept isles. Thousands continued to pour into
-the capital to add their signatures to the Covenant; and in every parish
-on the Sunday the people streamed to listen to the fiery harangues from
-the pulpits, and to give in their names, with the same tears, emotions,
-and embraces as in Edinburgh. It was soon found that, except in the
-county of Aberdeen, the Covenanters outnumbered their opponents in the
-proportion of one hundred to one.
-
-Nor did these determined reformers readily admit of any dissent or
-lukewarmness. Where they found any opposed or inert, they roused them by
-threats, and often by blows and coercion. Some they threw into prison,
-and some they set in the stocks for refusing to sign. The Catholics were
-those who principally stood aloof; but these were not calculated at a
-thousand in all Scotland. Of such they entered the names in a list, and
-made calculations of their property, with a view to confiscation. In
-Lanark and other places the contending factions came to blows before
-the lists were filled up. Active subscriptions were levied for the
-maintenance of the Cause, and before the end of April there was scarcely
-a single Protestant who had not signed the Covenant. The bishops had fled
-to England, and all Scotland stood ready to fight for its faith.
-
-[Illustration: THE PEOPLE SIGNING THE COVENANT IN ST. GILES'S CHURCH,
-EDINBURGH. (_See p._ 567.)]
-
-Here was a spectacle which would have shown the folly of his career
-to any other monarch; but all reason or representation was wasted on
-Charles. Traquair entreated him, before plunging into war, to listen to
-the counsels of his most experienced Scottish Ministers; but Charles
-seldom listened to anything except his own self-will, or any person
-except his fatal counsellors, Laud and Wentworth. He is said on this
-occasion to have consulted with a small council of Scotsmen living in
-England, which had been formed by James on his accession to the English
-throne, and in accordance with their advice and in opposition to that of
-the Council in Scotland, he resolved on suppressing the Covenant by force.
-
-In May he sent the Marquis of Hamilton to Scotland, with orders to
-endeavour to soothe the people by assuring them that the liturgy and
-canons should only be exercised in a fair and gentle manner, and that
-the High Commission Court should be so remodelled as to be no grievance.
-If these promises did not satisfy them, as Hamilton must have known they
-would not, for Charles's promises were too notorious to be of any value,
-he was to resort to any exercise of force that he thought necessary.
-
-On the 3rd of June he arrived at Berwick, and sent to the nobility to
-meet him at Haddington; but no one appeared except the Earl of Roxburgh,
-who assured him that anything but a full revocation of the canons and
-liturgy was hopeless. On reaching Dalkeith he was waited on by Lord
-Rothes, who, on the part of the Covenanters, invited him to take up his
-abode in Holyrood as more convenient for discussion.
-
-Hamilton objected to enter a city swarming with Covenanters, where the
-castle was already invested by their guards. These, it was promised him,
-should be removed and the city kept quiet, on which he consented; and on
-the 8th of June he set forward. But he found the whole of the way, from
-Musselburgh to Leith and from Leith to Edinburgh, lined with Covenanters,
-fifty thousand in number. There were from five to seven hundred clergymen
-collected; and all the nobility and gentry assembled in the capital,
-amounting to five thousand, came out to meet and escort him in. All this
-he was informed was to do him honour, but he felt that its real design
-was to impress him with the strength of the Covenant party.
-
-[Illustration: ST. GILES'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH, IN THE 17TH CENTURY.]
-
-Being settled in Holyrood, Hamilton received a deputation of the heads
-of the League, and asked them what they required to induce them to
-surrender opposition. They replied that in the first place they demanded
-the summons of a General Assembly and a Parliament. They then renewed the
-guard at the castle, and doubled the guards and watches of the city. The
-preachers warned the people to be on their guard against propositions.
-They informed the marquis that no English Service Book must be used in
-the royal chapel, and they nailed up the organ as an "abomination to the
-Lord." They then waited on Hamilton, requesting him and his officers
-to sign the Covenant, as they hoped to be regarded as patriots and
-Christians. The ministers whom the oppressions of Wentworth had chased
-out of Ulster to make way for the Anglican service were in Edinburgh,
-inflaming the people by their details of the cruelties and broken
-promises of Charles and his Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland.
-
-Hamilton saw that it was useless to publish Charles's proclamation, but
-wrote advising him to grant them their demands, or to lose no time in
-appearing with a powerful army. Charles replied desiring him to amuse the
-Covenanters with any promises that he pleased, so that he did not commit
-the king himself. He was to avoid granting an Assembly or Parliament, but
-he added, "Your chief end being now to win time, they may commit public
-follies until I be ready to suppress them." The marquis, therefore,
-endeavoured to spin out the time by coaxing and deluding the Covenanters.
-He promised to call a General Assembly and a Parliament, and redress all
-their grievances. When pressed too closely, he declared that he would go
-to London himself and endeavour to set all right with the king; but this
-was part only of the plan of gaining time whilst Charles was preparing a
-fleet and army. But the Scots were too wary to be thus deceived. They had
-information that troops were being raised in England, and they too made
-preparations. At the same time they waited on the marquis, professing
-the most unabated loyalty, but resolute to have free exercise of their
-religion. Hamilton promised to present their address to the king, and
-set out on the 4th of July for England. He informed Charles of the real
-state of the country, and that the very members of the Privy Council were
-so infected by the Covenant that he had not dared to call them together.
-But Charles was not to be induced to take any effective measures for
-pacifying the public mind of Scotland. His instructions to the marquis
-were to amuse the people with hopes, and to allow of the sitting of
-a General Assembly, but not before the 1st of November. He was even
-to publish the order for discharging the use of the Service Book, the
-canons, and the High Commission Court, but was to forbid the abolition
-of bishops, though the bishops were for the present not to intrude
-themselves into the Assembly. They were, however, to be privately held to
-be essentially members of the Assembly, and were to be one way or other
-provided for till better times.
-
-These half measures were not likely to be accepted, but they would serve
-Charles's grand object of gaining time, and the marquis arrived with
-them in Edinburgh on the 10th of August. Three days after his arrival
-the Covenanters waited upon him to learn how the king had received their
-explanations, and the marquis assured them with much grace and goodness;
-but when they heard that the bishops were not to be abolished, they
-treated his other offers with contempt, and Hamilton once more proposed
-to journey to England to endeavour to obtain a full and free recall
-of all the offensive ordinances. Before taking his leave, as a proof
-of his earnestness, he joined with the Earls of Traquair, Roxburgh,
-and Southesk, in a written solicitation to his Majesty to remove all
-innovations in religion which had disturbed the peace of the country.
-By the 17th of September Hamilton was again at Holyrood. On the 21st
-he received the Covenanters and informed them that he had succeeded;
-that the king gave up everything; that an Assembly was to be called
-immediately, and a Parliament in the month of May next; and that the
-king revoked the Service Book, the Book of Canons, the five Articles of
-Perth, and the High Commission. The Covenanters were about to express
-their unbounded satisfaction and loyal gratitude, when the marquis added
-that his Majesty only required them to sign the old confession of faith
-as adopted by King James in 1580 and 1590. This single reservation broke
-the whole charm; their countenances fell, and they declared that they
-looked upon this as an artifice merely to set aside their new bond of the
-Covenant.
-
-In all Charles's most solemn acts the cloven foot showed itself. Even
-when seeming most honest, there was something which awoke a distrust in
-him. He was not sincere, and he had not the art to look so. In any other
-monarch the positive assurance that the innovations on the religion of
-Scotland should be abandoned, would have settled the matter at once;
-but Charles had so utterly lost character for truth and good faith that
-it was believed throughout the country that he was still only deluding
-them, and seeking time ultimately to come down resistlessly upon them.
-And we know from his own correspondence preserved in the Strafford Papers
-that it was so. These words addressed to Hamilton, "Your chief end is
-to win time, that they may commit public follies, until I be ready to
-suppress them," are an everlasting proof of it. Besides, they had ample
-information from friends about the Court in England that this was the
-case, and that in a few months the king meant to visit them with an
-irresistible force. The people of England were suffering too much from
-the same species of oppression not to sympathise warmly with the Scottish
-patriots, and keep them well informed of what was going on there. We find
-it asserted in the Hardwicke State Papers that the Government was very
-jealous of the number of people who went about England selling Scottish
-linen, and it was recommended to open all letters going between the
-countries at Berwick.
-
-The Covenanters therefore determined to hold together and be prepared.
-On the 22nd of September, 1638, the Marquis of Hamilton caused the royal
-proclamation to be read at the market-cross at Edinburgh, abandoning
-the Anglican Service and the High Commission Court; but as it required
-subscription to the old confession of faith, there was no rejoicing on
-the occasion. There were two particulars in this proclamation which fully
-justified the Scots in refusing to comply with it. It stated that the vow
-of the Covenant was unauthorised by Government, and therefore illegal;
-and it professed to grant a pardon for that act to all who signed the
-confession, which would have acknowledged that the nation had been guilty
-of a crime in accepting the Covenant, a thing they were not likely to
-admit, for in that case they could not have refused the re-admission
-of the very liturgy against which they were at war. They therefore
-published a protest against the proclamation, founded on these reasons.
-
-The marquis having obtained the signature of the Lords of the Secret
-Council to the new bond, which Charles had previously signed, though it
-contained many clauses repugnant to Arminianism, issued the proclamation
-for the meeting of the Assembly in Glasgow on the 21st of November,
-1638, and for that of the Parliament on the 17th of May, 1639. In a few
-days afterwards, the Council published an act discharging the Book of
-Common Prayer, the Book of Canons, etc., and called for the subscription
-of all his Majesty's subjects. The municipal bodies, the ministers, and
-the people hastened to thank the Council, and to express their joy at
-the revocation of the obnoxious orders, but they refused to sign the
-confession.
-
-The marquis wrote to Charles, informing him of the determined spirit of
-the people, and advising him to hasten his military preparations. He also
-represented to him the protests of the bishops against the holding of the
-Assembly; but the king bade him persist in holding it, so that he might
-not appear to break faith with the public and thus precipitate matters,
-but to counteract the effect of the Assembly by sowing discord amongst
-the members, and protesting against their tumultuary proceedings.
-
-But the Scots did not give Hamilton much time for such machinations
-before the meeting of the Assembly. They were warned by a trusty
-correspondent--notwithstanding the waylaying of the post was carried
-into effect--that vigorous preparations were being made to invade
-Scotland. There were arms for twenty thousand men, including forty
-pieces of ordnance and forty carriages; but the writer did not believe
-they would get two hundred men for the service, such was the desire of
-all parties--nobles, gentry, and people--for their success, which if
-obtained, he said, would lead many of all ranks to settle in Scotland for
-freedom of conscience. He added that Wentworth had made large offers of
-assistance to the king from Ireland, but that the Irish were themselves
-so injured that he doubted whether any considerable help would be had
-from Wentworth against them; yet if Charles could muster sufficient
-force, they might expect no terms from him but such as they would get at
-the cannon's mouth.
-
-At the end of October the Earl of Rothes demanded from Hamilton a
-warrant citing the bishops as guilty of heresy, perjury, simony, and
-gross immorality, to appear before the approaching Assembly. The marquis
-refused, on which the Presbytery of Edinburgh cited them. Charles had
-ordered, as a sign of his favour, the restoration of the Lords of Session
-of Edinburgh, but on condition of their signing the confession of faith.
-Nine out of the fifteen were induced with much difficulty to sign, but
-from that moment they were in terror of their lives from the exasperation
-of the people.
-
-When Hamilton arrived on the 17th of November in Glasgow to open the
-Assembly, he found the town thronged with people from all quarters,
-evidently in intense excitement. The Tables had secured the most popular
-elections of representatives to the Assembly, sending one lay elder and
-four lay assessors from every Presbytery. The marquis therefore found
-himself overruled on all points. In his opening speech he read them the
-king's letter, in which Charles complained of having been misrepresented,
-as though he desired innovations in laws and religion; and to prove how
-groundless this was, he had granted this free Assembly, for settling all
-such matters to the satisfaction of his good subjects. He then of himself
-protested against the foul and devilish calumnies against his sacred
-Majesty, purporting that even this grant of the Assembly was but to gain
-time whilst he was preparing arms to force on the nation the abhorred
-ritual. The marquis, whilst he was making these solemn asseverations,
-being well assured, as were most of his hearers, that the king was all
-the while casting cannon and ball, and mustering soldiers for this "foul
-and devilish purpose," the Assembly must have been perfectly satisfied
-that no good was to be expected but from their own firmness. They at once
-proceeded to elect Alexander Henderson as their Moderator, and Hamilton
-protested as vigorously against it, but in vain. They next elected as
-clerk-register Archibald Johnstone, the clerk of the Edinburgh Tables,
-against which Hamilton again protested with as little effect, Johnstone
-declaring that he would do his best to "defend the prerogative of the Son
-of God."
-
-Defeated on these important points, the marquis the next day entered
-a protest against the return of lay members to the Assembly; and the
-proctor on behalf of the bishops added their protest, declining the
-authority of the Assembly, which he contended ought to be purely
-ecclesiastical. James had, in fact, put the lay members out of the
-Assembly, and the king therefore treated this original constitution of
-the Assembly, as settled at the Reformation, as an innovation, turning
-the charge of innovation on the Covenanters. The marquis would then
-have read the protests of the bishops with which he was furnished; but
-the Assembly declined to hear them, and repeated that they would pursue
-the charges against the bishops so long as they had lives and fortunes.
-On this Hamilton dissolved the Assembly, and the same day wrote a most
-remarkable letter to Charles, which appears to leave little ground for
-the suspicions of the royal party that he was secretly inclined to the
-Covenant. He informed the king that he had done his utmost, but to no
-purpose, with that rebellious nation. He seemed to apprehend danger to
-his life, and that this might be the last letter he should ever write to
-his Majesty. He blamed the bishops for persuading the king to bring in
-the English liturgy and canons in so abrupt and violent a manner; that
-their pride was great, their folly greater. He gives the king his opinion
-of the character and degrees of the trustworthiness of the different
-Ministers, and bids him beware of the Earl of Argyle, whom he declares to
-be the most dangerous man in the State; so far from favouring episcopacy,
-as had been supposed, that nobleman wished it abolished with all his
-soul. This was immediately afterwards, as we shall see, made clear by
-Argyle himself. Hamilton then proceeded to instruct the king how best to
-proceed to quell what he deemed not merely a contest for religion, but an
-incipient rebellion. It was to blockade the ports, and thus cut off all
-trade, by which the burghs, the chief seats of the agitation, lived. As
-fast as these burghs felt their folly and returned to their allegiance,
-they should be restored to favour, and their ports opened, which would
-make the rest anxious to follow. He said he had done his best to garrison
-the castle of Edinburgh, though it was in a precarious state, but that
-the castle of Dumbarton might be readily garrisoned by troops from
-Ireland. If he preserved his life, which he seemed to doubt, he would
-defend his post to the utmost, though "he hated the place like hell," and
-as soon as he was free of it would forswear the country. He recommended
-his brother to the king's favour and his children to his protection if
-they lived; and to these, if they did not prove loyal, he left his curse.
-His daughters, he desired, might never marry into Scotland.
-
-The marquis clearly saw the dreadful conflict which was approaching,
-and his tears and emotion on dismissing the Assembly struck every one
-with that impression. But the Assembly had no intention of dispersing.
-Like the Commons of England, they entertained too high an estimate of
-their right, and of their duty in such a crisis. They therefore passed a
-resolution declaring the Kirk independent of the civil powers, and the
-dissolution of the Assembly by the Royal Commissioner illegal and void.
-They said that if the Commissioner should see fit to quit the country,
-and leave the Church and kingdom in that disorder, it was their duty to
-sit; and that they would continue to sit till they had settled all the
-evils which came within their lawful and undoubted jurisdiction.
-
-Laud, in reply to Hamilton, lamented that fear of giving umbrage to
-the Covenanters too soon had too long delayed the means to crush them.
-He thanked him for having conveyed the bishops to Hamilton Castle to
-protect them, and trusted that his own life would yet be preserved
-from the diabolical fury of the Scots. What Hamilton had foreseen in
-the meantime had come to pass. The Earl of Argyle declared plainly in
-the Council that he would take the Covenant and sanction the Assembly.
-Accordingly, though not a member of it, he took his place in the Assembly
-as their chief director; and thus encouraged, they proceeded to abolish
-episcopacy for ever, to deprive all the bishops, and to excommunicate
-the greater part of them and all their abettors. Charles, and James
-before him, had completely conferred all the power of Parliament on the
-bishops, making eight of them the Lords of the Articles, with authority
-to choose eight of the nobles, and these sixteen having power to choose
-all the rest, so that all depended on the bishops, and they, again, on
-the king. This effectually ranged the nobles against them. The Marquis of
-Hamilton, notwithstanding his fears, was permitted quietly to withdraw
-to England, whence he was soon to return against them at the head of the
-fleet. The people received the news of the proceedings of the Assembly
-with transports of joy, and celebrated the downfall of episcopacy by a
-day of thanksgiving. Charles, on the other hand, issued a proclamation
-declaring all its acts void, and hastened his preparations for marching
-into Scotland.
-
-But the Covenanters were not the less active on their part, and
-everything tended to a civil war, the result of Charles's incessant
-attacks on the liberties of the nation. They made collections of arms,
-and as early as December they received six thousand muskets from Holland.
-These had been stopped by the Government of that country, but Cardinal
-Richelieu had suddenly shown himself a friend, by ordering the muskets
-as if for his own use, receiving them into a French port, and thence
-forwarding them to Scotland. However impolitic it might appear for France
-to assist subjects against their prince, it must be remembered that
-Charles had managed to create nearly as strong a feeling against him in
-Louis and his minister Richelieu as in his own subjects. He had set the
-example by assisting the Huguenots against their prince, and had provoked
-France by defeating its plan of dividing the Spanish Netherlands between
-that country and Holland. The present opportunity, therefore, was eagerly
-seized to make Charles feel the error he had committed. Richelieu,
-moreover, ordered the French Ambassador in London to pay over to General
-Leslie, one of Gustavus Adolphus's old officers, who had been engaged
-by the Assembly, one hundred thousand crowns. This last transaction,
-however, was kept a profound secret, for the Scots, when advised to seek
-the assistance of France and Germany, had indignantly refused, saying the
-Lutherans of Germany were heretics, and the people of France Papistical
-idolaters; that it became them to seek support from God alone, and not
-from the broken reed of Egypt. The preachers thundered from the pulpits
-against the bishops, and the determination of the king still to force
-them on the country; and they refused the Communion to all who had not
-signed the Covenant. The Tables called on the young men in every quarter
-of the country to come forward and be trained to arms, and the Scottish
-officers who had been engaged in the wars in Germany flocked over and
-offered their services for the support of the popular cause. The nobles
-contributed plate to be melted down, the merchants in the towns sent in
-money, and an army of determined men was fast forming.
-
-[Illustration: THE OLD COLLEGE, GLASGOW, IN THE 17TH CENTURY.]
-
-Charles, on his part, was not the less busy preparing for the campaign,
-and he was persuaded by many of the courtiers that he had only to appear,
-to pacify the Scots. If we are to believe Clarendon, the Treasury was in
-a flourishing condition, a most unlikely circumstance, considering the
-unpopular mode of raising funds without a Parliament; and we are assured
-of the contrary by a letter of the Earl of Northumberland, addressed
-to Wentworth in January, 1639. He says, "I assure your lordship, to my
-understanding, to my sorrow I speak it, we are altogether in as ill a
-posture to invade others or to defend ourselves as we were a twelve-month
-since, which is more than any one can imagine that is not an eye-witness
-of it. The discontents here at home do rather increase than lessen,
-there being no course taken to give any kind of satisfaction. The king's
-coffers were never emptier than at this time, and to us that have the
-honour to be near about him, no way is yet known how he will find means
-either to maintain or begin a war without the help of his people."
-Cottington wrote to Wentworth in the same strain.
-
-So far from consulting Parliament, Charles had not even opened his
-difficulties to his Council. He was now compelled to do the latter, and
-on this occasion Laud was found entreating for peaceful measures. It is
-probable that he had taken a more rational view of the belligerent temper
-of the Scots, and saw more danger in the king's attempt to coerce them,
-than he generally discerned in pushing on arbitrary counsels. His advice
-was rejected, and the rest of the Council acquiesced in the determination
-of the king. By the beginning of the year 1639, Charles had named his
-generals and officers, had issued orders to the Lords-Lieutenant to
-muster the trained bands of their several counties, and the nobles to
-meet him at York on the 1st of April with such retinues as belonged to
-their rank and fortune. To procure money he suspended the payment of
-all pensions, borrowed where he could, and judges, lawyers, and the
-clergy were called upon to contribute from their salaries and livings
-in lieu of their personal service. The clergy were in general extremely
-liberal. They considered that the cause was their own, and that if the
-Presbyterians of Scotland became triumphant, the Puritans of England
-might deal in similar fashion with the Church of England. Laud, moreover,
-ordered the names of all clergymen who refused to be returned to him. The
-queen also lent her aid by calling on the Catholics to assist, reminding
-them that aid given to the king in this emergency was the most likely
-means to securing future advantages to themselves. When the knowledge
-of the queen's circular letter to the Catholics became known to the
-Puritans, they were greatly scandalised; and the Catholics responding
-readily to the call, and holding a meeting in London presided over by the
-Pope's Nuncio, tended to strengthen their opinion of the papistical bias
-of Charles and his Church.
-
-The king, on his part, sought to take advantage of the ancient
-antipathies between the two kingdoms, and issued proclamations calling
-on all good subjects to resist the attempts of the Scots, who were
-contemplating, he asserted, the invasion and plunder of the kingdom and
-the destruction of the monarchy. But he found this was an empty alarm.
-The reformers of England knew too well that the cause of the Scots and
-their own were identical; that the purpose of the king was to destroy
-the constitutional rights and freedom of religion in both kingdoms
-alike. The Scottish nobles, as well as the English public, rejected all
-attempts to divide them in this Cause. There was a time when they could
-be bought by the money of England, which had been freely and successfully
-employed by the Tudors. But Charles had little money to give; and to the
-honour of the Scottish peers, when other temptations were tried, for the
-most part the sacred cause of their religion triumphed over them. They
-exhorted one another to stand fast by the Covenant. The most intimate
-communication between the Scottish and English reformers was maintained
-by pamphlets secretly circulated, by emissaries traversing all classes
-and all quarters. The earliest information of the movements of the Court
-was transmitted; and before Charles commenced his march towards York,
-General Leslie, the elected Commander-in-Chief, took the initiative, and
-surprised the castle of Edinburgh, on the 21st of March, at the head of
-a thousand musketeers, and without losing a single man. The next day,
-Saturday, the castle of Dalkeith was given over by Traquair, with all the
-regalia and a large quantity of ammunition and arms. It was thought that
-Traquair had shown great timidity, to surrender so strong a castle almost
-without a blow; but he complained of having been left alone, without
-countenance or advice. The Earls of Rothes and Balmerino took the castle,
-and conveyed the regalia safely to the castle of Edinburgh. The following
-day, Sunday, did not prevent even Scotsmen and Covenanters from seizing
-the castle of Dumbarton. The governor was surprised on his return from
-church, and threatened with instant death if he did not surrender the
-keys to the provost of the town, a zealous Covenanter. Stirling was in
-the hands of the Earl of Mar, who had taken the Covenant; and of all the
-royal fortresses, only Carlaverock, the least important, remained in the
-hands of the Crown. The Marquis of Huntly, who had undertaken to hold
-the Highlands for the king, was overpowered or entrapped by Leslie and
-Montrose, who at the head of seven thousand men compelled the reluctant
-professors of Aberdeen to accept the Covenant, when Leslie returned to
-Edinburgh, carrying Huntly with him. The Earl of Antrim, who was to have
-invaded the domains of Argyle from Ireland, was unable to fulfil his
-engagement, and thus every day brought the news of rapid disasters to
-Charles on his march towards York. Hamilton, who had been despatched with
-a fleet, appeared in the Forth on the 13th of April. He had five thousand
-troops on board, and was expected to secure Leith, the port of Edinburgh,
-and overawe if he could not take the capital; but he found the place
-strongly fortified, and twenty thousand men were posted on the shores to
-hinder his landing. All classes, from the noble to the peasant, had been
-labouring industriously to repair fortifications and throw up batteries,
-and ladies had carried materials for them. The marquis saw no chance of
-effecting a landing, and therefore disembarked his men on the islands
-in the Forth, to prevent them from perishing in the ships, for they
-were landsmen, and had been hastily pressed into the service, and were
-both sickly and mutinous. No prospect was ever more discouraging; even
-Wentworth could not send him the small aid of five hundred musketeers
-in time, and strongly advised Charles to avoid coming to an engagement
-with his raw levies against the enthusiastic Scots and their practical
-generals, but to garrison Berwick and Carlisle to prevent incursions, and
-wait till the next year if necessary.
-
-Charles arrived at York on the 19th of April, and proceeded to administer
-to the lords who there awaited him with their followers, an oath of
-allegiance, binding them to oppose all conspiracies and seditions,
-even if they were veiled under the pretence of religion. The Lords
-Say and Brooke declined to take the oath, saying they were willing to
-accompany their sovereign from loyalty and affection; but that, as
-they were ignorant of the laws and customs of Scotland, they could not
-undertake to say that the Scots were rebels, or the war was just. Charles
-with indignation ordered them to be arrested, but the Attorney and
-Solicitor-Generals on being consulted declaring that there was no ground
-for their prosecution, they were dismissed with the royal displeasure
-and desired to return home. Nor had the king much more satisfaction with
-the lords who had taken the oath, for they qualified it by signing a
-paper stating in what sense they took it. To perform an act calculated
-to please the people whom he was leaving behind, at York he issued a
-proclamation, revoking no less than thirty-one monopolies and patents,
-pretending that he had not discovered before how grievous they were to
-his subjects; but the real fact was, that most of them had been granted
-to Scotsmen who had now forfeited his favour.
-
-On leaving York he complimented the Recorder, who had paid him the most
-fulsome flattery, and the municipal authorities, by telling them that he
-had there experienced more love than he ever had in London on which he
-had showered so many benefits. At Durham by the bishop and clergy, and
-at Newcastle by the corporation, he was magnificently entertained, and
-at every halting-place fresh quotas of horse and foot came in. "But,"
-remarks Clarendon, "if there had been none in the march but soldiers,
-it is most probable that a noble peace would have quickly ensued, even
-without fighting; but the progress was more illustrious than the march,
-and the soldiers were the least part of the army, and the least consulted
-with. For," he adds, "the king more intended the pomp of his preparations
-than the strength of them." The certain proof, he might have added, of a
-very foolish king, as Charles was. But the "ifs" which Clarendon summons
-up on this occasion to explain the want of success are amusing. "If the
-war had been vigorously pursued, it had been as soon ended as begun." "If
-he had been duly informed of what was going on in Scotland," of course
-he would have known. "If the whole nation of Scotchmen had been entirely
-united in the rebellion, and all who stayed in the Court had marched in
-their army, the king or kingdom could have sustained no damage by them;
-but the monument of their presumption and their shame would have been
-razed together, and no other memory preserved of their rebellion but in
-their memorable and infamous defeat." That is, there would have been no
-Scottish traitors about him to keep him misinformed. This is just as
-true as the treasury being well furnished, for we know that Hamilton
-and Traquair kept the king punctually informed of everything the whole
-time. "If," however, Charles had more wisely chosen his generals,--but
-Arundel, his general, was a man, says this veracious historian, "who
-had nothing martial about him but his presence and his looks, and
-therefore was thought to be made choice of for his negative qualities.
-He did not love the Scots; he did not love the Puritans; which good
-qualities were allayed by another negative--he did love nobody else." The
-lieutenant-general, the Earl of Essex, was too proud and uncompromising,
-and the Earl of Holland, general of the horse, was just no general at
-all, "a man fitter for a show than a field." Yet, says Clarendon, "If the
-king himself had stayed at London, or, which had been the next best, kept
-his court and resided at York, and sent the army on its proper errand,
-and left the matter of the war solely to them, in all human reason his
-enemies had been speedily subdued." With such generals as Arundel and
-Holland--for Essex was a brave commander, though, as afterwards appeared,
-no great tactician--it is not so easy to see that. But Clarendon might
-have safely reduced all his "ifs" into one--if Charles had been a wise
-king he would not have got into a quarrel with his subjects at all.
-
-With such generals, and an army of raw levies, hastily dragged
-reluctantly from the plough and the mattock, to fight in a cause with
-which they had no sympathy, and encumbered by heaps of useless nobles
-and gentry, Charles marched on to Berwick, and encamped his forces on an
-open field called the Birks. He had besides the garrison of Berwick three
-thousand two hundred and sixty horse, and nineteen thousand six hundred
-and fourteen foot. But, on the other hand, Leslie, says Clarendon, had
-drawn up his forces on the side of a hill at Dunse, so as to make a great
-show. "The front only could be seen, but it was reported that Leslie and
-the whole army were there; and it was very true, they were all there
-indeed--but it was as true that all did not exceed the number of nine
-thousand men, very ill armed, and mostly country fellows, who were on
-the sudden got together to make that show." Leslie, he informs us, had
-so dispersed his knot of ragamuffins, with great herds of cattle on the
-hills around, that it was naturally supposed that there was a large army,
-the bulk of it concealed behind the hill; and he assures us that had the
-royal army pushed forward the whole illusion would have vanished.
-
-This account is as thoroughly opposed to all the credible historians
-of the time, Rushworth, Nalson, Burnet, Baillie, and the letters of
-distinguished persons engaged, as the whole array of "ifs." We are
-assured that Leslie had pitched his camp at Dunglas, and twelve thousand
-volunteers had crowded to his standard. The preachers everywhere called
-on their hearers to advance the cause of God and the Kirk. Those in the
-camp wrote and disseminated letters to the same effect. One demanded that
-every true Scot should go forward to extort a reasonable peace from the
-king, or to do battle with his and their common enemies, the prelates
-and papists of England. Another denounced the curse of Meroz on all who
-did not come to the help of the Lord, and of His champions. Another
-ironically bade those who would not fight for God and their country to
-bring spades and bury the saints whom they had abandoned to the swords
-of the Amalekites. They had chosen for the motto on their banners the
-words, "For Christ's Crown and the Covenant," and over every captain's
-tent waved the arms of Scotland and these words. Soldiers therefore
-flocked in on all sides to the sacred standard, and by the time that
-Leslie marched for Dunse Hill his army numbered nearly twenty thousand
-men, many of them new to arms, but all enthusiastic patriots. Twice a day
-they were summoned by sound of drum to drill and to sermon; and when they
-were not listening to the exciting harangues of the ministers, they were
-solacing themselves with singing psalms and reading the Scriptures, or
-with extempore prayer. "Had you lent your ear," says one of them, "and
-heard in the tents the sounds of some singing psalms, some praying, some
-reading Scripture, you would have been refreshed. For myself, I never
-found my mind in better temper than it was. I was as a man who had taken
-leave from the world, and was resolved to die in that service without
-return. I found the favour of God shining upon me, and a sweet, meek,
-humble, yet strong and vehement spirit leading me all along."
-
-Leslie was joined by the Earl of Montrose, who had been posted at Kelso,
-and the first of their proceedings was to issue proclamations, declaring
-that they had no intention to invade England if their reasonable demands
-were granted; and that their only object was to obtain from the king the
-confirmation of his promises for the free enjoyment of their religion.
-Whatever was done in the Scottish camp was freely circulated in the
-royal camp, for they had plenty of friends there, and the strength, the
-spirits, and resolution of their army were abundantly set forth daily.
-
-It was the fortune of the Earl of Holland to lead the way first against
-them. He passed the Tweed near Twizel, where the English army had crossed
-to the battle of Flodden, and advanced towards the detachment of the
-army near Kelso. He had with him the bulk of the horse and about three
-thousand infantry. As if no enemy had been in the country, he trotted on
-with his horse, till he found himself on the hill of Maxwellhaugh, above
-Kelso, and not only saw the tents of the enemy, but his way barred by
-an advanced post of one hundred and fifty horse and five or six thousand
-foot. He then discovered that his foot and artillery were three or four
-miles behind. On this he sent a trumpet to the enemy, commanding them
-not to cross the Border, to which they replied by asking whose trumpet
-that was, and being told the Earl of Holland's, they said the earl had
-better take himself off; which it appears he lost no time in doing, and
-rode back to the general camp without striking a blow. The Scots, when
-they saw him retreating, sent after him a number of squibs and letters of
-ridicule, which were speedily circulated through the English army. The
-generals wrote letters to Essex, Holland, and Arundel, entreating them
-to intercede with the king that matters might be accommodated without
-bloodshed. Essex is said to have sent on their letters to the king
-without a word of reply to their messengers. Arundel and Holland were
-more gracious.
-
-[Illustration: CHARLES AND THE SCOTTISH COMMISSIONERS. (_See p._ 578.)]
-
-During this marching and countermarching it was that Leslie had posted
-his army on Dunse Hill, opposite Charles's camp, and the king, who had
-hitherto despised the Scottish force, now felt alarmed at their close
-proximity, and the hasty retreat of Holland. He blamed Lord Arundel
-for giving him no notice of the approach of the rebels, Arundel blamed
-the scout-master, and the scout-master blamed the scouts. There were
-earthworks suddenly thrown up to protect his camp and intimation given
-that overtures would be listened to. Accordingly, on the 6th of June,
-1639, the Earl of Dunfermline, attended by a trumpet, arrived in the
-royal camp, bearing a humble petition to his majesty, entreating him
-to appoint a few suitable persons to confer with a deputation from the
-Scots, so that all misunderstandings might be removed, and the peace
-of the kingdom preserved. The petition was received, for besides the
-ill-success of Holland, the ill-success of Hamilton and his fleet was
-notorious; and it was, moreover, rumoured that the mother of Hamilton,
-a most zealous covenanter, had paid him a visit on board his vessel,
-and that he was much disinclined by her persuasions to press the Scots
-closely. There were daily rumours of a descent from Ireland, on the
-other hand and of a rising of the Royalists in the Highlands under
-Lord Aboyne, son of the Earl of Huntly, which rendered the Covenanters
-more desirous of an accommodation. On the part of the Crown the Earls
-of Essex, Holland, Salisbury, and Berkshire, Sir Henry Vane, and Mr.
-Secretary Coke, were appointed commissioners; on that of the Covenanters
-the Earls of Rothes and Dunfermline, the Lord Loudon, and Sir William
-Douglas, sheriff of Teviotdale. To these afterwards, much to the
-displeasure of the king, were added Alexander Henderson, late moderator
-of the assembly, and Johnstone, the clerk-register. They met in Arundel's
-tent; but before they could proceed to business, the king suddenly
-entered, and telling the Scottish commissioners that as he understood
-they complained that they could not be heard, he had determined to hear
-them himself, and he demanded what it was they wanted. The Earl of Rothes
-replied simply, to be secured in their religion and liberty. Loudon
-made some apology for the boldness of the proceedings of the Scots, but
-Charles cut him short, telling him that he could admit of no apologies
-for what was past, but that if they came to implore pardon, they must put
-down what they had to say in writing, and in writing he would answer them.
-
-This was Charles's peculiar style, by which the negotiation appeared
-likely to come to a speedy end; but the Scots were firm, and adhered to
-their old sound principle, declaring that they had sought nothing but
-their own native rights, and the advancement of his majesty's service,
-and desired to have those severely punished who had misrepresented them
-to the king. Some historians assert that Hamilton at this juncture came
-into the camp from the Forth, and strongly advised the king to close with
-the Scots; though Clarendon affirms that he did not arrive till after
-the agreement was signed, and found much fault with it. However this
-may be, after much debate, and several attempts to overreach the Scots,
-which their caution defeated, it was agreed that the king should ratify
-all that had been done by his commissioner, which was next to nothing,
-though he would not recognise the acts of what he called the pretended
-General Assembly. But the main and only important concession was that
-all disputes should be settled by another Assembly, to be held on the
-6th of August, and by a Parliament which should ratify its proceedings,
-to be held on the 20th of August, when an act of oblivion should be
-passed. Both parties were to disband their armies; the king's forts were
-to be restored, with all the ammunition; the fleet was to be withdrawn;
-Scottish merchant vessels and goods were to be returned; and the honours
-and privileges of the subjects replaced. The king resisted, however,
-any mention of episcopacy in the agreement; for he was as resolved as
-ever to reinstate the bishops. And indeed, that same duplicity guided
-him in this as in other actions of his life, being determined to break
-the whole agreement on the first possible opportunity. The Covenanters
-strongly suspected as much; and when Charles, before returning, invited
-fourteen of the leaders to meet him in Berwick, they had the fear of
-the Tower before their eyes, and declined the honour, and sent as their
-commissioners the Earls of Loudon, Lothian, and Montrose. Charles
-represented that it had been his intention to proceed to Edinburgh, and
-hold the Parliament in person, but that fresh instances of "the valyance
-of the godly females" deterred him; his chief officers not being able to
-show themselves in the streets of Berwick without insult from these good
-women.
-
-What Charles had failed to do in the Convention at large, he managed to
-effect to a certain degree with the nobles. Loudon and Lothian were said
-to be greatly softened by the king's conversation, but Montrose was won
-over altogether.
-
-The two armies were disbanded on the 24th of June, and the Earl of
-Traquair was appointed the king's commissioner in Scotland, Hamilton
-firmly declining to return thither. Charles reached London on the 1st
-of August, and one of the first things which he did was to write to the
-Scottish bishops, telling them that he would never abandon the idea of
-reinstating them, and would in the meantime provide for their support.
-He forbade them to present themselves at the approaching Assembly or
-Parliament, as that would ruin everything; but he advised them to send in
-a protest against the infringement of their rights, and get it presented
-by some mean person, so as to create not too much notice. Such was
-Charles's perfidious conduct, at the very moment that he was promising
-the Covenanters the contrary. Accordingly the bishops fixed themselves in
-the vicinity of the borders, some at Morpeth, some in Holy Island, some
-in Berwick itself, keeping up a correspondence with their adherents in
-the Scottish capital, and ready to rush in again on the first favourable
-chance.
-
-If we are to believe Clarendon, however, "The king was very melancholy,
-and quickly discovered that he had lost reputation at home and abroad,
-and those counsellors who had been most faulty either through want of
-courage or wisdom--for at that time few of them wanted fidelity--never
-afterwards recovered spirit enough to do their duty, but gave themselves
-up to those who so much had outwitted them, every man shifting the
-fault from himself." On the contrary, he says, "The Scots got so
-much benefit and advantage by it, that they brought all their other
-mischievous devices to pass with ease, and a prosperous gale in all
-they went about." They declared that "they did not intend by anything
-contained in the treaty, to vacate any of the proceedings which had
-been in the late General Assembly at Glasgow, by which all the bishops
-were excommunicated, and renewed all their menaces against them by
-proclamation, and imposed grievous penalties on all who should presume
-to harbour any of them, so that by the time the king came to London, it
-appeared plainly that the army was disbanded without a peace being made,
-and the Scots in more reputation and equal inclination to affront his
-majesty than ever." The fact was, that whilst Charles was pretending
-to concede, meaning to revoke when he had the power, the Scots were
-conscious of their advantage and did not mean to allow him to do so.
-They were earnest and outspoken in their resolves, and therefore Charles
-seized a paper in which they published what had really been promised in
-the treaty, and had it burned by the common hangman.
-
-The Assembly was opened on the 12th of August in Edinburgh, and in spite
-of what Charles had assured the bishops, they were given up in the
-instructions to Traquair, for he meant to resist the abolition of the
-bishops, and to restore them when he had the power, but endeavoured to
-make political capital out of this concession. Traquair was to obtain, if
-possible, the admission of fourteen ministers into Parliament instead of
-the bishops, or, if that were not possible, as many lay members whom the
-king was to appoint, and who were to choose the lords of the articles.
-By these perpetual finesses, Charles continually sought to withdraw the
-concessions that he made, as though those whom he tried to overreach were
-not as wide awake as himself. He thought, if he could select the Lords
-of the Articles, and fourteen others devoted to him, he could revoke in
-the Parliament what he gave up in the Assembly--the characteristic of
-short-sighted cunning.
-
-The bishops presented their protest to the Commissioner, which, without
-being read, was to serve as a proof of their not having yielded up their
-claims; and the commissioner, finding the Covenanters firm to all their
-demands--for every member of the Assembly before entering it had sworn to
-support all the acts of the Assembly of Glasgow--gave the royal assent
-to all the proceedings, and the news of the overthrow of episcopacy was
-received with shouts of acclamation by the people.
-
-The Parliament of Scotland met on the day appointed, the 20th of August.
-There the Covenanters displayed their determination not to stickle for
-small matters, but to destroy the scheme by which that body had been
-made dependent on the royal will. They would no longer admit the bishops
-nor the Lords of the Articles whom the bishops had chosen, and who
-selected the topics, under the direction of the Crown, which should or
-should not come before the House. They proposed that the lesser barons,
-the commissioners of the shires, should take the place of the bishops,
-and that the Lords of the Articles should be selected from men of each
-estate, by those estates themselves. In order not to appear obstinate,
-they permitted the Commissioner to name the Lords of the Articles for
-this once, not as an act of right, but of grace, from themselves. They
-then decreed that all acts in favour of episcopacy should be rescinded;
-that patents of peerage should for the future be granted to none but
-such as possessed a rental of ten thousand marks from land in Scotland;
-that proxies should never again be admitted; and that the fortresses
-of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton, should be entrusted to none but
-Scotsmen.
-
-These measures would have completely enfranchised Scotland from the
-shackles of the Crown, and Traquair, unable to avoid the necessity of
-ratifying them, prorogued the Parliament to the 14th of November, so that
-he could receive the instructions of the king. Charles, to get rid of
-the demands of the Covenanters altogether, prorogued it for six months.
-The members, who saw the intention, protested against the prorogation
-under circumstances so vital to the country, but obeyed after naming a
-deputation to go to the king on the subject. This deputation, headed by
-the Lords Loudon and Dunfermline, on arriving at Whitehall were refused
-audience, because they had not come with the sanction of the royal
-Commissioner; and Traquair was immediately summoned to court to answer
-for having conceded so much to the Scots. He had, indeed, conceded
-nothing but what Charles himself had instructed him to do but the king
-was angry because he had not been able to recover in Parliament, as he
-had vainly hoped, what was lost in the Assembly.
-
-Traquair, who was aware that having implicitly followed these
-instructions would avail him little with the king in his mortification,
-thought of an expedient to divert Charles's anger into another channel.
-He had discovered a letter addressed by the Covenanters to the King of
-France, complaining of the miserable condition of Scotland through the
-attempts of the king to root out the religion of the people; of his
-having violated the late treaty at Berwick, and dissolved Parliament
-contrary to the will of the states and to all national precedent, and
-entreating him to mediate in their favour. This letter was signed by
-seven lords, and addressed _Au Roi_. The letter had been publicly
-declined by Louis, but privately answered, though in very cautious terms.
-
-The production of this letter had all the effect that Traquair hoped for.
-The wrath of the king was immediately turned on the Covenanters, and
-Traquair deepened the impression by assuring the king that nothing but
-war would pacify the Covenanters, and declaring this discovery to be a
-perfect justification.
-
-The Scots demanded an opportunity of vindicating themselves, and
-requested leave to send up deputies for that purpose. It was granted,
-and Dunfermline and Loudon were sent up. No sooner did they arrive than
-Loudon, whose name was one of those appended to the intercepted letter,
-was instantly seized and brought before the Council. The letter being
-addressed simply _Au Roi_, which was the manner from subjects to their
-own sovereign, and not as from foreigners, it was deemed treasonable on
-that ground, if on no other. Loudon asserted that the letter had been
-written before the pacification at Berwick, and, not being approved,
-had never been sent, but the contents contradicted that statement; and,
-moreover, William Colvill, who had carried it to the French court, was
-in London, and was taken prisoner. Loudon thereupon insisted on his safe
-conduct, and demanded liberty to return, contending that, if he had done
-anything wrong, it was in Scotland and not there that he ought to be
-interrogated. But the king sent both him and Colvill to the Tower.
-
-The Covenanters were greatly incensed at the seizure of their envoy, and
-demanded his release, but Charles signed a warrant for his execution and
-was prevented from putting him to death only by the solemn declaration
-that if he did Scotland was lost for ever. After this it became plain
-that nothing could avert a conflict between the infatuated king and
-the Scottish people. Charles's object was to obtain funds; that of the
-Scots to divide the king's attention by exciting discontent nearer home.
-England itself had abundant causes of dissatisfaction. The disuse of
-Parliaments, the continued illegal levying of taxes by the king's own
-will, the rigorous and ruinous prosecutions in the Star Chamber and the
-High Commission Court, the brandings, scourgings, and mutilations of such
-as dared to dispute the awful tyranny of the Government, portended a
-storm at home ere long, and the Scots found many well-wishers and friends
-amongst the English patriots. These were everyday drawing into their
-ranks men of the highest position and the most distinguished talents. The
-Earls of Essex, Bedford, and Holland were secretly connected with them;
-the Lord Say, Hampden, Pym, Cromwell, and other men of iron nerve and
-indomitable will, were watching with deep interest movements in the North
-so congenial to their own.
-
-Whilst the king was pondering on the means of raising money, an
-event took place which for the moment promised to present him with a
-considerable sum. A Spanish fleet of seventy sail was discovered by the
-Dutch admiral, De Witt, off the Land's End. As it was bearing troops
-from Spain to Flanders, which were hard pressed by the Dutch, De Witt
-followed it up the Channel, firing guns to harass its rear, but still
-more to awake the attention of Van Tromp, who was lying off Dunkirk. The
-two celebrated Dutch admirals were soon in full chase of the Spaniards.
-Sixteen of the ships, having four thousand troops on board, bore away
-with all speed for the coast of Flanders, but the rest fled for shelter
-into the Downs. Charles sent the Earl of Arundel to inquire of Oquendo
-the Spanish admiral, what was his destination, being apprehensive lest
-the fleet might be intended for a descent on Ireland, or in aid of his
-disaffected subjects of Scotland.
-
-Oquendo satisfied Arundel that they were really on their way to Flanders,
-and demanded the protection of Charles as a friendly king. Charles was
-willing to grant it for a consideration, and the sum of one hundred and
-fifty thousand pounds was the price named in ready cash. For this Charles
-was to send the Spanish fleet under protection of his own to Flanders;
-but the two Dutch admirals, having now no less than one hundred sail,
-from continued fresh arrivals, attacked the Spaniards in the English
-roads, sank and burned five of the largest vessels, drove twenty-three
-more on shore, and pursued the rest across the Channel, suffering only
-ten of them to escape. All this time the English admiral lay near at
-hand, but made no movement in protection of the Spaniards. The English
-people on shore beheld the destruction of the Spanish fleet with the
-utmost exultation, the memory of the great Armada being yet so strong
-amongst them; but Charles had lost his much desired money, and with the
-loss had acquired an immense amount of foreign odium. To have suffered
-the vessels of a friendly Power, which had fled to him for shelter, to
-be attacked and chased from his own harbour, lowered him greatly in the
-estimation of Continental nations.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN HAMPDEN. (_From an Engraving by Houbraken._)]
-
-At the time of this untoward occurrence Charles had sent for Wentworth
-from Ireland, to assist him by his counsels as to the best mode of
-dealing with his difficulties at home, and the Scots in the North.
-Wentworth had overridden all obstacles in Ireland, and had forced an
-income out of the reluctant people there; he was thought, therefore,
-by Charles the only man whose wisdom and resolution were equal to the
-crisis. Wentworth had strongly advised Charles not to march against the
-Scots, knowing that the king's raw levies would have no chance against
-them; and he had gone on actively drilling ten thousand men, to prepare
-them for the campaign, which he felt must come, even after all seemed
-settled at Berwick.
-
-Clarendon, who is a regular Royalist and inclined to see more virtues in
-Wentworth than other historians of the time, is yet obliged to sketch
-this picture of the enmities which he justly provoked:--"He was a man of
-too high and severe deportment, and too great a contemner of ceremony,
-to have many friends at court, and therefore could not but have enemies
-enough. He had two that professed it, the Earl of Holland and Sir Henry
-Vane." Besides having said that "the king would do well to cut off
-Holland's head," he had insulted the Earl in various ways. He had done
-all he could to prevent Sir Henry Vane from being made secretary in place
-of Sir John Coke, whom the king removed on his return from Scotland;
-but, worse still, Charles now creating him Earl of Strafford, nothing
-would satisfy him but that he must be also made Baron of Proby, Vane's
-own estate, from which he himself hoped to derive that title. "That,"
-continues Clarendon, "was an act of the most unnecessary provocation that
-I have known, and though he contemned the man with marvellous scorn, I
-believe it was the loss of his head. To these a third adversary, like
-to be more pertinacious than the other two, was the Earl of Essex,
-naturally enough disinclined to his person, his power, and his parts."
-This enmity in Essex, we are told, was increased by Wentworth's insolent
-conduct to Lord Bacon, for whom Essex had a friendship; and he openly
-vowed vengeance. "Lastly, he had an enemy more terrible than all the
-others, and like to be more fatal, the whole Scottish nation, provoked by
-the declaration he had procured of Ireland, and some high carriage and
-expressions of his against them in that kingdom." Moreover, Wentworth had
-no friend in the queen, from his persecution of the Catholics in Ireland,
-and was continually thwarted by her.
-
-But all these councillors could devise no way to raise funds but by the
-old and irritating mode of ship-money, for which writs to the amount of
-two hundred thousand pounds were immediately issued, and this bearing
-no proportion to the requirements of a campaign against the Scots, they
-advised Charles to call together a Parliament. To this he demurred; but
-when they persisted in that advice, he ordered a full Council to be
-called, and put to it this question:--"If this Parliament should prove
-as untoward as some have lately been, will you then assist me in such
-extraordinary ways as in that extremity should be thought fit?"
-
-Charles was thus bent on extraordinary ways, and the Council promised
-him its support. Wentworth returned to Ireland, being not only created
-Earl of Strafford, but made Lord-lieutenant of that country. He promised
-to obtain a liberal vote from the Irish Parliament, which it was thought
-might act as a salutary example for England. Accordingly, no one daring
-to oppose his wishes, he obtained four subsidies, with a promise of
-more if found necessary. The English Parliament was delayed till this
-was effected, and was then summoned for the 13th of April. To assist the
-king and council in what was felt to be a critical emergency, Wentworth,
-now Strafford, returned, though suffering from a painful complaint. He
-left orders for the immediate levy of an army of eight thousand men, and
-Charles took measures for the raising in England of fifteen thousand
-foot and four thousand horse, which he thought would serve to overawe
-Parliament; and, what is singular, the order for the raising of these
-troops and providing artillery and ammunition was signed by Laud, so
-little had he an idea of an archbishop being a minister of the Prince
-of Peace. Before the arrival of Strafford, Charles read to the Council
-the account of the liberal subsidies and the loyal expressions which
-Strafford had put into the mouths of the enslaved Irish Commons. This he
-did at the request of Strafford himself, to prove not only the loyalty of
-the Irish, but his own popularity there, in spite of the assertions of
-his being hated in that country.
-
-When the king met the Parliament on the 13th of April he had not abated
-one jot of his high-flown notions of his divine right, and of the slavish
-obedience due from Parliament. The Lord Keeper Finch formerly Speaker
-of the House but now more truly in his element as a courtier, made a
-most fulsome speech, describing the king as "the most just, the most
-pious, the most gracious king that ever was." He informed them that for
-many years in his piety towards them he had taken all the annoyances of
-government from them, and raised the condition and reputation of the
-country to a wonderful splendour; that, notwithstanding such exemplary
-virtues and exhibitions of goodness, some sons of Belial had blown the
-trumpet of rebellion in Scotland, and that it was now necessary to
-chastise that stiff-necked people; that they must therefore lay aside all
-other subjects, and imitate the loyal Parliament of Ireland in furnishing
-liberal supplies; that had not the king, upon the credit of his servants
-and out of his own estate, raised three hundred thousand pounds, he could
-not have made the preparations already in progress; and that they must
-therefore grant him tonnage and poundage from the beginning of his reign,
-and vote the subsidies at once, when his Majesty would pledge his royal
-word that he would take into his gracious consideration their grievances.
-And all this attempt to get the supplies before the discussion of
-grievances, from sturdy commoners who had never yet given way to force or
-flattery!
-
-[Illustration: VISIT OF CHARLES I. TO THE GUILDHALL.
-
-FROM THE WALL PAINTING IN THE ROYAL EXCHANGE, BY SOLOMON J. SOLOMON,
-A.R.A]
-
-Charles then produced the intercepted letters of the Scottish lords to
-the King of France, to show the treason of the Scots and the necessity
-of taking decisive measures with them. But the Commons were not likely
-to be moved from their settled purpose by any such arguments. They
-elected Serjeant Glanvil as Speaker, and proceeded first and foremost
-to the discussion of the grievances of the nation. Amongst their old
-members--though the brave Sir John Eliot had perished in prison, and
-Sir Edward Coke, who by his later years of patriotism had effaced the
-memory of the arbitrary spirit of his earlier ones, was also dead--there
-were Oliver Cromwell, now sitting for Cambridge, Pym, Hampden, Denzil
-Holles, Maynard, Oliver St. John, Strode, Corriton, Hayman, and Haselrig.
-There were amongst the new ones, Harbottle Grimston, Edmund Waller, the
-poet, Lord George Digby, the son of the Earl of Bristol, a young man of
-eminent talent, and other men destined to become prominent. Sir Benjamin
-Rudyard and Grimston delivered speeches recommending at once courtesy and
-respect towards the Crown, but unflinching support of the rights of the
-people. Harbottle Grimston described the commonwealth as miserably torn
-and massacred, all property and liberty shaken, the Church distracted,
-the Gospel and professors of it persecuted, Parliament suspended, and
-the laws made void. Sir Benjamin Rudyard protested that he desired
-nothing so much as that they might proceed with moderation, but that
-if Parliaments were gone, they were lost. A remarkable feature of this
-Parliament was the number of petitions sent in by the people. These were
-poured in against ship-money and other abuses, as the Star Chamber and
-High Commission Court, from the counties of Hertford, Essex, and Sussex.
-After these matters had been warmly debated for four days, for the king
-had many advocates in the House, on the 17th Mr. Pym delivered a most
-eloquent and impressive speech, in which he narrated the many attacks on
-the privileges of Parliament and the liberty of the subject, and laid
-down the constitutional doctrine "that the king can do no wrong," thus
-bringing the conduct and counsels of his ministers under the direct
-censure of the House, and loading them with the solemn responsibility--an
-awful foreshadowing of the judgments to come on Laud and Wentworth. From
-that point the debate turned on the arbitrary treatment of the members
-of the Commons, and orders were issued for a report of the proceedings of
-the Star Chamber and the Court of King's Bench against Sir John Eliot,
-Mr. Holles, and Mr. Hampden, to be laid on the table of the House. The
-conduct of the late Speaker Finch, in adjourning the House at the command
-of the king, was declared unconstitutional.
-
-The king could no longer restrain his impatience, and summoned both
-Houses before him in the Banqueting Hall. There the Lord Keeper Finch,
-in the presence of Charles, recalled their attention to the necessity of
-voting the supplies, and repeated the king's promises. He endeavoured
-to excuse the raising of ship-money as a necessity for chastising the
-Algerine pirates who infested the seas, and again recommended the liberal
-example of the Irish Parliament. The only effect produced by this was
-a most vivid and trenchant speech the next day by Waller, in which
-he told the House that the king was personally beloved, but that his
-mode of extorting his subjects' money was detested; and that neither
-the admiration of his majesty's natural disposition, nor the pretended
-consent of the judges, could ever induce them to consent to such
-unconstitutional demands. He then severely castigated the conduct of the
-bishops and clergy who preached the divine right of monarchs to plunder
-the public at their own pleasure. "But," said he, "they gain preferment
-by it, and then it is no matter, though they neither believe themselves
-nor are believed by others. But since they are so ready to let loose the
-consciences of their kings, we are bound the more carefully to provide
-against this pulpit law, by declaring and enforcing the municipal laws of
-this kingdom."
-
-This again roused the king, who went down to the Lords, and read them
-a sharp lesson on their not supporting him in his just demands of
-supplies from the Commons. Thereupon the Lords sent for the Commons to
-a conference on the 29th of April, and recommended them to pass the
-votes and take the king's word for the redress of grievances; but the
-Commons resented their intruding their advice about money matters as an
-infringement of the privileges of the House; and on the 1st of May, the
-Lords, through the Lord Keeper, disclaimed any intention of encroaching
-on any of the well-known rights of the Commons, but that the Lords had
-felt bound to comply with the request of the king. The Commons returned
-to their debate on ship-money, and on Saturday, the 2nd of May, Charles
-sent a message by Sir Henry Vane, now Secretary of State and Treasurer
-of the Household, desiring an immediate answer regarding the supplies.
-Lord Digby reminded the House that the demand was that of a hasty and
-immediate answer to a call for funds to involve the nation in a civil war
-with the Scots, a people holding the same religion and subjects of the
-same king as themselves. The debate was continued for two days, Clarendon
-accusing Vane of deliberately keeping from the House the fact entrusted
-to him, that the king, though asking for twelve subsidies, would consent
-to take eight.
-
-But it was not so much the amount as the principle involved in the
-subsidies which was the question; for, on the 4th of May, Charles sent
-Vane again with the remarkable offer to abolish ship-money for ever, and
-by any means that they should think fit, on condition that they granted
-him twelve subsidies, valued at eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds,
-to be paid in three years, with an assurance that the House should not be
-prorogued till next Michaelmas. This was a mighty temptation: here was
-the direct offer of at once getting rid of one of the monster grievances
-for ever; but it did not escape the attention of the more sagacious that,
-by accepting the bargain, they were conceding the king's right to set
-aside the most established laws, to force his own notions of religion on
-his subjects, and to make war on them if they refused. They rejected the
-snare, and maintained the debate for some hours against all the arguments
-of the Court party. On rising, they informed Vane that they would resume
-the debate the next morning at eight o'clock; but Sir Henry, seeing very
-well how it would terminate, assured the king in Council that he was
-certain that the House would not grant him a penny for the war against
-the Scots.
-
-On this Charles adopted one of his stratagems. Early in the morning he
-sent for Glanvil the Speaker, before the Commons had assembled, and
-detained him at Whitehall, so that the Commons without him could not vote
-against the supplies, nor protest against the war; and suddenly hastening
-to the House of Lords, he sent for the Commons and dismissed them. In
-doing this, he praised the peers at the expense of the Commons, and
-declared that as to the liberties of the people which the Commons made so
-much talk of, they had not more regard for them than he had.
-
-This was the last Parliament which Charles was ever to dissolve, and the
-folly of his conduct became speedily palpable. The Parliament had only
-sat about three weeks, having met on the 13th of April, and being now
-dissolved on May 5th. By this hasty act the king had put himself wholly
-on the army. Had he allowed the Commons to vote against the supplies,
-many would have sympathised with him; now he had only himself to blame.
-His enemies rejoiced, exceedingly, and his friends deplored the deed with
-gloomy auguries.
-
-The king was made to feel his mistake, on applying to the City of
-London for a loan and receiving a cool and evasive answer. The Scots
-were greatly elated. They had their agents in close though secret
-communication with the leaders of the opposition, and now saw the king
-deprived of the means of effectually contending with them, and felt
-that they had numerous friends of their cause in England. The passion
-of the king only increased their advantages. He issued a proclamation
-declaring why he had dismissed the Parliament, charging the Commons
-with malice and disaffection to the State, and with designing to bring
-government and magistracy into contempt; and he gave fresh proofs of his
-vindictive feeling by arresting a number of the members the day after the
-dissolution. The public had not forgotten the cruelty practised on their
-faithful servant Sir John Eliot, and they now saw Sir John Hotham and Mr.
-Bellasis committed to the Fleet, Mr. Crew, afterwards Lord Crew, to the
-Tower, and the house of Lord Brooke forced, and his study and cabinets
-broken open in a search for papers.
-
-To add to the general exasperation, Laud, who had summoned Convocation
-previous to the meeting of Parliament, continued its sessions after the
-dissolution, contrary to all custom; and its sitting was employed to
-pass a series of seventeen new canons of the most offensive and slavish
-kind. The public excitement was so great against the innovation that
-the Lord Keeper Finch and some of the judges had to furnish a written
-opinion declaring the right of Convocation to sit after the close of
-Parliament, and a new commission was issued with the usual words,
-"during the Parliament," altered to "during our pleasure." But a guard
-of soldiers was deemed necessary to protect the sittings, in which
-the clergy first voted six subsidies to the king, and then passed to
-the canons, one of which ordered that every clergyman once a quarter
-should instruct his parishioners in the divine right of kings, and the
-damnable sin of resisting authority. Others fulminated the most flaming
-intolerance of Catholics, Socinians, and Separatists. All clergymen and
-graduates of the universities were called on to take an oath declaring
-the sufficiency of the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England,
-in opposition to Presbyterianism and Popery.
-
-[Illustration: GUILDHALL, LONDON, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.]
-
-On the publication of these canons, great was the ferment in the country,
-and petitions and remonstrances from Northampton, Kent, Devon, and
-other counties, were sent up against them. The code was most ungracious
-as regarded the Catholics, who had just presented to the king, at the
-suggestion of the queen, fourteen thousand pounds. The queen remonstrated
-against it, and the king gave orders to Laud to desist from further
-annoyance in that direction. But anger and discontent were spreading
-throughout the country, from the outrageous measures to raise money.
-Fresh writs of ship-money were issued, and many victims were dragged into
-the Star Chamber for refusal to pay, and fined, so that their money was
-obtained by one process or the other. The names of the richest citizens
-were picked out in order to demand loans from them. Bullion, the property
-of foreign merchants, was seized at the Mint, and forty thousand pounds
-were extorted for its release; and bags of pepper on the Exchange were
-sold at whatever they would fetch. It was next proposed to coin four
-hundred thousand pounds' worth of bad money; but the merchants and other
-intelligent men came forward and drew such a picture of the ruin and
-confusion that such an act would produce, that the king was alarmed,
-and gave the project up. The Council, however, hit upon the scheme of
-purchasing goods at long credit, and selling them at a low price for
-ready money. All this time large sums of money were levied throughout
-the land by violence, for the support of the troops collected for the
-campaign against the Scots. Carts, horses, and forage were seized at the
-sword's point; and whoever dared to represent these outrages to the king
-was branded as an enemy to the Government. The Corporation of London was
-dealt with severely, because it showed no fondness for enforcing the
-king's arbitrary demands. The Lord Mayor and sheriffs were cited into the
-Star Chamber for remissness in levying the ship-money; and several of
-the aldermen were committed to prison for refusing to furnish the names
-of such persons in their wards as were able to contribute to Charles's
-forced loans. Strafford said things would never go right till a few fat
-London aldermen were hanged.
-
-These desperate measures inflamed the public mind beyond expression, and
-greatly strengthened the league of the discontented with the Scots. All
-except the insane tyrants who were thus forcing the nation to rebellion,
-could see tempests ahead; and the Earl of Northumberland, writing to
-a friend, said, "It is impossible that all things can long remain in
-the condition they are now in: so general a defection in this kingdom
-hath not been known in the memory of man." The disaffection began to
-find expression, and, according to Clarendon, inflammatory placards
-were scattered about the City and affixed on gates and public places,
-denouncing the king's chief advisers. Laud, Strafford, and Hamilton,
-were the marks of the most intense hatred, and the London apprentices
-were invited, by a bill posted on the Royal Exchange, to demolish the
-episcopal palace at Lambeth and "haul out William the fox."
-
-The train-bands assembled and kept the peace by day, but at night a mob
-of five hundred assembled and attacked Lambeth Palace, and demolished
-the windows, vowing that they would tear the archbishop to pieces. In a
-couple of hours the train-bands arrived, fired on them, and dispersed
-the multitude. Laud got away to Whitehall, where he remained some days,
-till the damages were repaired and the house was fortified with cannon.
-Another crowd, said to be two thousand in number, entered St. Paul's,
-where the High Commission Court sat, tore down the benches, and cried
-out, "No bishop! no High Commission!" A number of rioters were seized by
-the train-bands and lodged in the White Lion Prison; but the prison was
-forced open by the insurgents, and their associates released all but two,
-a sailor and a drummer, who were executed, according to some authorities;
-according to others, only one was thus disposed of.
-
-The king was greatly alarmed at this outbreak. He removed the queen to
-Greenwich, as she was near her confinement, and placed a strong guard
-over the palace with sixteen pieces of cannon; nor was he easy till he
-saw a force of six thousand men at hand.
-
-The time for the meeting of the Scottish Parliament had now arrived, and
-Charles sought to prevent it by another prorogation; but the Scots were
-not to be put off in any such manner. The king had for some time been
-treating them like a nation at war; he had prohibited all trade with
-Scotland, and his men-of-war had been ordered to seize its merchantmen,
-wherever found. The Scots therefore met on the 2nd of January, set
-aside the king's warrant of prorogation on the plea of informality, and
-the members took their seats, elected a president, an officer hitherto
-unknown, and passed the new Acts. They then voted a tax of ten per
-cent. on all rents, and five per cent. on interest of money to open the
-inevitable campaign; and, before rising, appointed a Committee of Estates
-for the government of the kingdom till the next meeting of Parliament.
-This Committee was to sit either at Edinburgh or at the place where
-the headquarters of the army should be, and a bond was entered into to
-support the authority of Parliament, and to give to the statutes which
-it had passed or should pass the same force as if they had received the
-royal assent.
-
-But they had not waited for Parliament to take the necessary steps for
-organisation of the army. They had retained in full pay the experienced
-officers whom they had invited from Germany, and the soldiers who had
-disbanded at the pacification of Berwick returned with alacrity to their
-colours in March and April. Leslie was still commander-in-chief, and
-determined to reduce the castle of Edinburgh before marching south. It
-was in vain that Charles issued his proclamations, warning them of the
-treasonable nature of their proceedings; they went on as if animated
-by one spirit, and determined not only to strike the first blow, but to
-advance into England instead of waiting to be attacked at home.
-
-Charles, on his part, was far from being so early ready or so well
-served. His plans for the campaign were grand. He proposed to attack
-Scotland on three sides at once--with twenty thousand men from England,
-with ten thousand from the Highlands under the Marquis of Hamilton, and
-with the same number from Ireland under Strafford. But his total want of
-funds prevented his progress, and the resort to the lawless practices
-which we have related for raising them, was alienating the hearts of his
-English subjects from him in an equal degree. It was not till the month
-of July, and the loan of three hundred thousand pounds by the Lords, that
-he dared to issue writs for the number of forces. Thus the Scots were
-ready for action when the king was only mobilising an army.
-
-In the appointment of commanders gross blunders were committed. The Earls
-of Essex, Holland, and Arundel were set aside, and this, with personal
-affronts to Essex, tended to throw these officers into the interest
-of the opposition. Essex and Holland were at undisguised hostility
-with Strafford, and as he was to take a leading part in the campaign,
-they were kept out of it to oblige him. The Earl of Northumberland was
-appointed commander-in-chief instead of Arundel, but was prevented by a
-severe illness from acting; and Strafford was desired to leave Ireland
-in the charge of the Earl of Ormond, and take the chief command, which
-he consented to do, but nominally only as lieutenant to Northumberland.
-Lord Conway was made general of the horse, partly because he had
-been born a soldier in his father's garrison of Brell, and had held
-several subordinate commands; but still more from the causes which put
-incompetent generals at the head of our armies in later times--Court
-influence.
-
-On the 29th of June Leslie collected his army at Chouseley Wood, near
-Dunse, his former camp, and drilled them there three weeks. He had
-entrusted the siege of the castle of Edinburgh to a select party, and
-had the pleasure soon after this period to hear of its surrender to
-his officers. Meanwhile, Conway was advancing northward, and soon gave
-evidence of his gross incapacity, by writing in all his despatches to
-Windebank, the Secretary of State, "that the Scotch had not advanced
-their preparations to that degree, that they would be able to march that
-year." But the king, Clarendon says, had much better information, and
-ought to have distrusted the vigilance of such a commander. Moreover,
-his soldiers displayed a most decided aversion to the service. They were
-evidently leavened with the same leaven of reform as the Parliament.
-They wanted to know whether their officers were Papists, and would
-not be satisfied till they saw them take the Sacrament. "They laid
-violent hands," says May, "on divers of their commanders, and killed
-some, uttering in bold speeches their distaste to the cause, to the
-astonishment of many, that common people should be sensible of public
-interest and religion, when lords and gentlemen seemed not to be."
-
-Strafford was so well aware of the readiness of the Scots, and the
-unreadiness and disaffection of the English soldiery, that he issued
-strict injunctions to Conway not to attempt to cross the Tyne, and expose
-his raw and wavering recruits in the open country between that river
-and the Trent, but to fortify the passage of the Tyne at Newburn, and
-prevent the Scots from crossing. The Scots, however, did not leave him
-time for his defences. On the 20th of August, Leslie crossed the Tweed
-with twenty thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry. He had been
-strongly advised to this step by the leaders of the English opposition
-themselves, and "the Earls of Essex, Bedford, Holland, the Lord Say,
-Hampden, and Pym," says Whitelock, "were deeply in with them." No sooner
-were the Scots on English ground, than the preachers advanced to the
-front of the army with their Bibles in their hands, and led the way.
-The soldiers followed with reversed arms, and a proclamation was issued
-by Leslie that the Scots had undertaken this expedition at the call of
-Divine Providence, not against the people of England, but against the
-"Canterbury faction of Papists, Atheists, Arminians, and Prelates."
-God and their consciences bore them witness that they sought only the
-peace of both kingdoms by putting down the "troublers of Israel, the
-fire-brands of hell, the Korahs, the Balaams, the Doegs, the Rhabshakehs,
-the Hamans, the Tobiahs, the Sanballats of the times," and that done,
-they would return with satisfaction to their own country.
-
-On the 27th of August they arrived at Heddon-law, near Newburn, on the
-left bank of the Tyne, and found Conway posted on the opposite side,
-between Newburnhaugh and Stellahaugh. The Scots kindled that night great
-fires round their camp, thus giving the English an imposing idea of its
-great extent; and we are told that numbers of the English soldiers went
-over during the night amongst them, and were well received by them, for
-they assured them that they only came to demand justice from the king
-against the men who were the pest of both nations. The next day the Scots
-attempted to ford the river, but were driven back by a charge of six
-troops of horse; these horse were, however, in their turn repulsed by the
-discharge of artillery, and a second attempt of the Scots succeeded. "As
-for Conway," says Clarendon, "he soon afterwards turned his face towards
-the army, nor did anything like a commander, though his troops were
-quickly brought together again, without the loss of a dozen men [the real
-loss was about sixty], and were so ashamed of their flight, that they
-were very willing, as well as able, to have taken what revenge they could
-upon the enemy."
-
-This was not true, for though "our whole army made the most shameful
-and confounding flight that was ever heard of," they had no chance of
-taking revenge with such a commander, being only about four thousand
-five hundred altogether, horse and foot, while the Scots were twenty-six
-thousand strong. Moreover, the English had no heart for the work, while
-the Scots were resolute as one man, and commanded by officers who had
-grown grey in the service of the victorious Swede, the great Gustavus
-Adolphus. When the English forces reached Newcastle, they did not feel
-able to defend it against such an army, and they fled on to Durham.
-The Scots could scarcely believe their eyes when they found Newcastle
-evacuated.
-
-The retreating English army, under the panic-stricken Conway, meantime
-dared not even stop at Durham, but continued their flight to Darlington,
-where they met Strafford coming up with reinforcements. He was suffering
-from gout and stone, and in a marvellously bad humour at the late
-scandalous disaster; and he must have seen enough of the demoralisation
-of Conway's troops, for he turned back with him to Northallerton, where
-Charles was lying with the bulk of his army. Altogether, Charles had
-now twenty thousand men and sixty pieces of cannon wherewith to face
-the Scots; but the disaffection became so manifest, the desertions so
-frequent, and the whole condition of the force so unsatisfactory, that
-though Strafford professed to speak with contempt of the Scots, he
-assured Charles that it would require two months to put his army into
-fighting order. They therefore fell back upon York, intending to entrench
-a camp under its walls, and to send the cavalry to Richmond or Cleveland
-to guard the passes of the Tees.
-
-The Scots had meanwhile taken unopposed possession of Newcastle, Durham,
-Shields, Tynemouth, and other towns, and were masters of the four
-northern counties of England, without having lost twenty men. In this
-position it has been matter of wonder that they did not still advance,
-and drive the king before them; but those writers who have thus imagined
-have greatly mistaken the whole business. The object of the Scots was
-not, as of old, to annoy and devastate, much less to conquer England; it
-was simply to force from the king and his evil ministers the recognition
-and the guarantee of their just national rights. They had advanced into
-England with this plain declaration; they had attempted not to fight
-except so far as to force their way to the king's presence. To this they
-were, in fact, now come. They had achieved a vantage-ground from which to
-treat, and, though strongly posted, and possessed of the whole country
-north of the Tees, they had refrained from all ravages and impositions
-on the people with whom they had no quarrel, paying for whatever they
-needed. To have done otherwise, would have broken faith with the
-people of England, who were seeking the same redress of grievances as
-themselves, and have at once roused the jealousy of the English public,
-who would have regarded them as invaders instead of friends, and thus
-strengthened the hands of the king. The Scots knew perfectly well what
-they were about, and how best to obtain their just demands. They now
-therefore sent Lord Lanark, Secretary of State for Scotland, and brother
-of the Marquis of Hamilton, to present the petition of the Covenanters to
-the king, who was plainly in a strait and therefore compelled to listen
-to it. They respectfully repeated their pacific designs, and implored
-the king to assemble a Parliament, and by its wisdom to settle peace
-between the two kingdoms. This was precisely what the people of England
-were earnestly seeking, and demonstrates the perfect concert between the
-leaders of the two nations. To assemble a Parliament was of all things
-the last which Charles was disposed to consent to, but he was in no
-condition to refuse altogether. He therefore took three days to consider
-their request, and on the 5th of September returned to Lord Lanark the
-answer, that he would assemble a great council of English Peers in York
-to settle the matters in dispute between them, and that he had already
-summoned this Assembly for the 24th of that month. By this means Charles
-endeavoured to escape the necessity of calling a Parliament, but his
-hesitation did not avail him. All parties were too much interested to let
-this opportunity slip. Twelve peers--Bedford, Essex, Hertford, Warwick,
-Bristol, Mulgrave, Say and Sele, Howard, Bolingbroke, Mandeville, Brooke,
-and Paget--presented a petition, urgently representing the necessity
-of a Parliament, and describing the sufferings of the nation from the
-lawlessness of the soldiers, the damage done to trade by the arbitrary
-levies on merchants, and the danger of bringing in wild Irish troops.
-The citizens of London prepared a similar one, which Laud endeavoured to
-quash, but in vain; they obtained ten thousand signatures, and despatched
-some of the Aldermen and members of the Common Council to present it
-at York. The gentry of Yorkshire presented another, detailing their
-sufferings from the support of the army, and their cry, too, was for a
-Parliament. Strafford, who was desired to present it, endeavoured to
-persuade them to leave the prayer for a Parliament out, on pretence that
-he knew the king meant to call one; but they would on no account omit it.
-Thus pressed on all sides, Charles was reluctantly compelled to promise,
-and on the meeting of the great council of Peers on the 24th, announced
-to them that he had issued the writs for the meeting of a Parliament on
-the 3rd of November.
-
-[Illustration: ADVANCE OF THE COVENANTERS ACROSS THE BORDER INTO ENGLAND.
-(_See p._ 587.)]
-
-The Scots had comprised their demands under seven heads, the chief of
-which were the full and free exercise of their religion; the total
-abolition of episcopacy; the restoration of their ships and goods; the
-recall of the offensive epithet of traitors; and the punishment of the
-evil counsellors who had created all these troubles. The Lords, delighted
-at the prospect of a Parliament, saw no difficulty in coming to terms
-with the Scots. They named sixteen of their own body to meet with eight
-Commissioners of the Covenanters at Ripon, to negotiate the terms of a
-peace, and sent a deputation of six other lords to London, to raise for
-the king a loan of two hundred thousand pounds, on their own securities.
-Charles would have drawn the Conference from Ripon to York, where his
-army lay, but the Scots were too cautious to be caught in such a snare.
-They represented the danger of their putting their Commissioners into the
-power of an army commanded by Strafford, one of the very incendiaries
-against whom they were complaining, and who termed them rebels and
-traitors in the Parliament in Ireland, and had recommended the king to
-subdue and destroy them. The Conference was opened at Ripon, but got no
-further from the 1st to the 16th of October, than the settlement of the
-question of the maintenance of the Scottish army till all was concluded.
-Charles offered to leave them at liberty to make assessments for
-themselves, but this they declined, as looking too much like plundering;
-and it was finally agreed that they should retain their position in the
-four northern counties, and receive eight hundred and eighty pounds for
-two months, binding themselves to commit no depredations on any party;
-and the time for the meeting of Parliament approaching, the Conference
-was adjourned to London on the 24th.
-
-The last Parliament had been called the Short Parliament; this was
-destined to acquire the name of the Long Parliament, never to be
-dissolved till it had dissolved the monarchy--the most memorable
-Parliament that ever sat. "The Parliament," says Clarendon, "met on the
-3rd of November, 1640. It had a sad and a melancholie aspect upon the
-first entrance, which presaged some unusual and unnatural events. The
-king himself did not ride with his accustomed equipages, nor in his usual
-majesty to Westminster, but went privately in his barge to the Parliament
-stairs, and so to the church, as if it had been a return of a prorogued
-or adjourned Parliament. There was likewise an untoward, and, in truth,
-an unheard of accident, which broke many of the king's measures, and
-infinitely disordered his service beyond a capacity of reparation."
-
-This was the defeat in the City of the man on whom he had fixed as
-Speaker of the Commons, Sir Thomas Gardiner, the Recorder of London, a
-lawyer on whom Charles greatly calculated for managing the House. But
-that very morning he learned that Gardiner had been thrown out as one of
-the four members, and he was so confounded that it was afternoon before
-he could go to the House. There Lenthall, a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, was
-immediately elected Speaker, and Charles, believing him well affected
-to the Church and State, when two days afterwards he was, according to
-custom, presented to him, confirmed the choice, which he afterwards most
-bitterly repented. But it was not only in the case of the Speaker that
-the king was doomed to see himself disappointed. The whole body of the
-House was of a new character and spirit. "There was," says Clarendon,
-"observed a marvellous elated countenance in most of the members of
-Parliament before they met together in the House. The same men, who six
-months before were observed to be of very moderate tempers, and to wish
-that gentle remedies might be applied without opening the wound too
-wide and exposing it to the air, and rather to excuse what was amiss
-than too strictly make inquisition into the causes and origin of the
-malady, talked now in another dialect both of things and persons. Mr.
-Hyde, who was returned to serve for a borough in Cornwall, met Mr. Pym in
-Westminster Hall some days before the Parliament, and conferring together
-on the state of affairs, Pym told Hyde that 'they now must be of another
-temper than they were the last Parliament; that they must not only sweep
-the house clean below, but must pull down the cobwebs which hung on the
-tops and corners, that they might not breed dust, and so make a foul
-house hereafter. That they had now an opportunity to make their country
-happy by removing all grievances, and pulling up the causes of them by
-the roots, if all men would do their duties;' and used much other sharp
-discourse to the same purpose, by which it was discerned that the warmest
-and boldest counsels and overtures would find a much better reception
-than those of a more temperate allay, which fell out accordingly."
-
-Charles opened Parliament, as usual, by promising freely redress of
-grievances on the granting of the necessary subsidies, and called on the
-two Houses to abandon all suspicions, and put confidence in him; but,
-after fifteen years of constant struggle and constant breaches of faith,
-this was impossible. The Commons saw the certainty at length of achieving
-their objects, not from any goodwill towards constitutional freedom
-in the king, but from the stringent necessity in which he had placed
-himself. His creeping into Parliament, as it were, by the back door,
-instead of coming there in the usual state, showed that he was anxious
-and depressed, and his advisers were in an equal state of terror. His
-latest hope--the selection of the Speaker--had failed him, and he saw the
-Commons commence their work by passing altogether over the question of
-supplies, and falling in ominous earnestness on the grievances.
-
-On the fourth day of their session they proceeded from acts to deeds.
-They passed an order that those victims of the Star Chamber, Prynne,
-Bastwick, and Burton, whose horrible mutilations had revolted the whole
-civilised world, putting the Reformed Church of England on a par with
-persecuting and murdering Rome in her worst days, should be sent for
-from their distant prisons, and called on to state by whose authority
-they had been thus mutilated, branded, and imprisoned. This order spread
-a wonderful joy amongst the Reformers everywhere. The three lopped and
-tortured men were welcomed with acclamations at all places on their
-journey, and on the 28th of November they entered London attended by
-hundreds of carriages, and by five thousand people on horseback, both
-men and women, all wearing in their hats and caps bays and rosemary,
-and followed by great multitudes, with boughs and flowers, and strewing
-flowers and herbs as they passed. This was a change from the day when
-Laud pulled off his cap at the passing of Prynne's horrible sentence, and
-thanked God for it. The House of Commons, after hearing their statement,
-voted them damages to the amount of six thousand pounds to Burton, and
-five thousand pounds each to Prynne and Bastwick, which was to be paid
-by Archbishop Laud and his associates in the High Commission and Star
-Chamber.
-
-But they did not stop there; from compensating the sufferers they passed
-on to the punishment of the oppressors. The Committee of Religion
-proceeded to inquire into the loose lives of the clergy, their cruelties
-towards the Puritans, and their introduction of papistical ceremonies.
-"Their first care," says May in his "History of Parliament," "was to
-vindicate distressed ministers, who had been imprisoned or deprived
-by the bishops, and all others who in the cause of religion had been
-persecuted by them. Many of those ministers were released from durance
-and restored to their livings, with damages from their oppressors.
-Many doctors and divines that had been most busy in promoting the late
-church innovations about altars and other ceremonies, and therefore
-most gracious and flourishing in the State, were then questioned and
-committed, inasmuch as the change, and the suddenness of it, seemed
-wonderful to own, and may serve worthily as a document to all posterity,
-_quam fragili loco starent superbi_--how insecure are the proud." On the
-18th of December, Denzil Holles was sent to the Upper House to demand
-the impeachment of Laud. On hearing this the Archbishop rose, and, with
-his usual warmth declaring his own innocence, was proceeding to charge
-his accusers with various offences, when he was promptly called to order
-by the Earl of Essex and the Lord Say, and was stopped by the House and
-consigned to the Usher of the Black Rod. He apologised, and obtained
-leave, under surveillance of the gentleman usher, to fetch some papers
-from his house, necessary to his defence; and after remaining in the
-custody of the Black Rod for ten weeks he was committed to the Tower
-(February 24, 1641).
-
-[Illustration: JOHN PYM. (_From an Engraving by Houbraken._)]
-
-But the Commons had been all this time more deeply engaged in securing
-the most daring and dangerous offender of all, the Earl of Strafford.
-Laud, who was generally in London, was more safely within their power
-at any moment; but Strafford was left in the North, where he was
-lieutenant-general of the army, Lord President of the Council of the
-North, and could at any instant slip away to Ireland, where he had still
-more authority, and a considerable army. Laud, once caged, could wait;
-but Strafford must be both secured and promptly dealt with. His own
-friends in London, and his own sagacity, sufficiently apprised Strafford
-of the danger which awaited him if he came to town. He represented to the
-king that it were much better on all accounts that he should remain where
-he was; that in London he should by his presence remind the opposition of
-their enmity towards him; and that he would only further embarrass the
-king's affairs if he came, whilst he could be of service with the army,
-and, if necessary, escape to Ireland, where he might do the king real
-service. But Charles, who felt his weakness without Strafford, in whose
-judgment and power of overruling men he had the highest faith, would not
-hear of it, but insisted on his coming to London: and pledged himself
-to guarantee his safety, reminding him that he was King of England, and
-that Parliament should not touch a hair of his head. Strafford was rather
-bound to obey as a subject and servant of the Crown, than assured of
-his safety by those solemn pledges. He went to town, and on the third
-day after his arrival he was arrested, and placed in the custody of the
-Keeper of the Black Rod.
-
-[Illustration: ARREST OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. (_See p._ 593.)]
-
-On the 11th of November, 1640, assuming an outward air of unconcern,
-Strafford went to take his seat in the House of Lords. The Earl of
-Northumberland, writing to the Earl of Leicester on the 13th, declared
-that "a greater and more universal hatred was never contracted by any
-person than he has drawn upon himself, yet he is not at all dejected."
-Before he appeared in the House, the impeachment had been carried thither
-from the Commons. Strafford at once hastened to meet his enemies.
-Baillie, who was one of the Scottish commissioners, gives this striking
-account of his arrest:--"He calls rudely at the door: James Maxwell,
-Keeper of the Black Rod, opens. His lordship, with a proud, gloomy
-countenance, makes towards his place at the board head; but at once many
-bid him avoid the House, so he is forced in confusion to go back till
-he is called. After consultation, being called in, he stands, but is
-commanded to kneel, and on his knees to hear the sentence. Being on his
-knees he is delivered to the Keeper of the Black Rod, to be prisoner,
-till he was cleared of these crimes the House of Commons had charged him
-with. He offered to speak, but was commanded to be gone without a word.
-In the outer room James Maxwell, required him, as prisoner, to deliver
-his sword. When he had got it, he cries with a loud voice for his man to
-carry my Lord-lieutenant's sword. This done, he makes through a number of
-people towards his coach, all gazing, no man capping him, before whom,
-that morning, the greatest of England would have stood uncovered, all
-crying, 'What is the matter?' He said, 'A small matter, I warrant you.'
-They replied, 'Yes, indeed, high treason is a small matter.' Coming to
-his place where he expected his coach, it was not there, so he behoved to
-return the same way, through a crowd of gazing people. When at last he
-found his coach, and was entering, James Maxwell told him, 'Your lordship
-is my prisoner, and must go in my coach;' so he behoved to do." In a few
-days he was committed to the Tower, and the Commons proceeded to deal
-with those next in degree. But Windebank, Secretary of State, and Finch
-the Lord Keeper, fled from the reach of their vengeance.
-
-This, then, was the marvellous state of affairs at this moment. "Within
-less than six weeks," says Clarendon, "these terrible Reformers had
-caused the two greatest councillors of the kingdom--Laud and Strafford,
-whom they most feared, and so hated--to be removed from the king, and
-imprisoned under an accusation of high treason; and frightened away
-the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and one of the principal
-Secretaries of State into foreign kingdoms for fear of the like,
-besides preparing all the Lords of the Council, and very many of the
-principal gentlemen throughout England, who had been sheriffs and
-deputy-lieutenants, to expect such measure of punishment from their
-general votes and resolutions as their future demeanour should draw upon
-them for their past offences." And thus ended the ever memorable year
-1640, in which the Parliament had secured the ascendency after fifteen
-years' determined struggle with the present king, and many more with his
-father; had humbled the proud and obstinate monarch; imprisoned his two
-arch-counsellors; impressed a salutary terror on the whole royal party;
-and initiated changes of the most stupendous kind.
-
-The House of Commons commenced the year 1641 with an endeavour to secure
-annual Parliaments, and succeeded in obtaining triennial ones. They
-proposed that the issuing of the writs should take place at a fixed time,
-and to prevent the Crown from defeating this intention, they demanded, in
-case the king did not order the writs at the regular time, it should be
-imperative on the Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor to do it; in case they
-neglected it, it should become the duty of the House of Lords to do so;
-if the Lords failed, then the sheriffs, and if the sheriffs neglected or
-refused, the people should proceed to elect their own representatives
-without any writs at all. To frustrate in future any hasty prorogations,
-by which the House of Commons was liable at any moment to be stopped by
-the Crown, they proposed that the king should not have power to prorogue
-or dissolve Parliament within fifty days of its meeting without its own
-consent.
-
-At one time Charles would have resented so bold a measure most
-indignantly, and would have dissolved the audacious body at once; but now
-he condescended to reason with them in a far different tone. He protested
-against the measure as a direct encroachment on his prerogative, by which
-sheriffs and constables were to be endowed with powers that hitherto had
-been only kingly; but he was fain at last to give way, and the Bill, so
-far as regarded triennial Parliaments, was passed, and a Bill securing
-the Houses from hasty prorogation followed in May. By that act Charles
-tied up his hands from dissolving Parliament at all without its own
-consent, so that he could no longer defeat its measures as he had done.
-Thus a real and most momentous infringement on the prerogative was made,
-being brought about by the king's resistance to the cession of just
-rights. In obstinately claiming the people's privileges, he was driven to
-forfeit his own. He was now in a dilemma. The army of the Scots still lay
-in the North, and both the English Commons and the Scottish Commissioners
-in London were in no hurry to have it disbanded. Whilst it lay there
-well supported by Parliamentary allowance, the king and his friends were
-overawed and powerless, and both parties, the Commons of England and the
-Covenanters of Scotland, were the better able to press their claims and
-support each other. Both parties were bent on abolishing or reducing
-episcopacy.
-
-The Scottish Commissioners exerted themselves with the leaders of the
-English Commons to move for the total abolition of episcopacy in England,
-and the establishment of Presbyterianism; but this led only to the
-development of a variety of views in the Commons. Some of the members
-favoured the Scottish proposal, and of these were the supporters of the
-petition with fifteen thousand signatures, brought in from London by
-Alderman Pennington, called the "root and branch petition." Others, as
-the Lords Wharton, Say, and Brooke, preferred the still more levelling
-system of the Independents. On the other hand, some of the most prominent
-Reformers--the Lords Digby and Falkland, and Selden and Rudyard--were
-opposed to the extinction of the bishops. Digby compared the London
-petition to a comet portending nothing but anarchy, and with its tail
-pointing to the North, meaning that it was a Scottish comet; and Lord
-Falkland was for relieving the bishops of their temporal cares, but not
-removing them from the Church altogether. The question was warmly debated
-for two days, but the fate of the bishops was deferred awhile by that of
-Strafford.
-
-All being prepared, Strafford was brought from the Tower on the 22nd
-of March, 1641, and placed before the tribunal appointed to try him
-in Westminster Hall. He had been about three months in prison, and
-meanwhile a deputation had arrived from Ireland. They brought a
-petition, calling on the Commons of England to join them in obtaining
-his condign punishment. They enumerated their grievances and sufferings
-from his lawless violence under sixteen heads. The Commons welcomed
-the deputation, as may be supposed, and to obtain full evidence of
-Strafford's doings in Ireland, not only accused his most active
-instrument--Sir George Ratcliffe--of high treason, too, but almost every
-one of his willing subordinates, and secured all of them that they
-could, and kept them in readiness to be questioned, by which means they
-also prevented them from doing mischief with the army. The Scottish
-Commissioners were equally vehement in demanding justice against him for
-having counselled the king to put down their religion and government by
-force, and for offering to supply an army of Irish for the purpose. Thus
-all three kingdoms were arrayed against the common enemy.
-
-After much debate, it had been concluded that the trial should take place
-in Westminster Hall, before the Lords and Commons. The Earl of Arundel
-was appointed to preside as Lord High Steward. On each side of the throne
-was erected a cabinet, where the king, queen, and Prince of Wales could
-sit without being seen, these cabinets having trellis work in front,
-and being hung with arras. Before the throne ran lines of seats for the
-peers, and woolsacks for the judges, and on each side of the peers were
-ranged seats for the Commons, who consented to sit uncovered there. Near
-them were the Scottish and Irish deputies, and there was a desk or dock
-enclosed for the prisoner and his counsel. One-third of the Hall was
-left open to the public, the rest being defended by a bar; and there was
-a gallery near for ladies, which was crowded by those of highest rank.
-There was an intense interest, indeed, felt by all classes, and the hall
-was daily so crowded, that Mr. Principal Baillie, minister of Kilwinning,
-whom we have already mentioned, says in the quaint manner of his time,
-"We always behoved to be there before five in the morning: the house was
-full before seven."
-
-Strafford was brought from the Tower guarded by a hundred soldiers, who
-filled, with the officers, six barges; and on landing at Westminster he
-was received and conducted forward by two hundred of the train-band. All
-cross streets and entries were occupied by a strong force of constables
-and watchmen, placed there as early as four in the morning. The king,
-queen, and prince arrived about nine o'clock, and about the same time
-the prisoner was conducted into the Hall. On his appearance the porter
-demanded of the Usher of the Black Rod whether the axe should be borne
-before him; but the Usher said no, the king had expressly forbidden it.
-
-The bishops did not appear amongst the lords, for their presence had
-been strongly objected to by the House of Commons, on the plea that
-the canons forbade their taking part in any trial which involved
-bloodshed--"_clericus non debet interesse sanguini_." But the real fact
-was that they were supporters of Laud, and Williams, of Lincoln, very
-adroitly volunteered a motion as from the prelates themselves, that
-they should be excused. The Commons had objected to those who had been
-made peers since Strafford had been impeached, as they were his avowed
-friends. All, except Lord Lyttelton, who had been made a baron and Lord
-Keeper in the place of the fugitive Finch, refused to comply and took
-their seats; and so says Clarendon, might the bishops, too, had they had
-the same spirit.
-
-All being ready, the impeachment was read, consisting of twenty-eight
-capital articles, and then Strafford's reply to it, which filled two
-hundred sheets of paper. This occupied the first day. The court rose
-about two o'clock, and the prisoner was reconducted to the Tower. This
-was the routine of each day during the trial, which lasted eighteen
-days. On entering the court at nine o'clock, Strafford made three
-obeisances to the Earl of Arundel, the High Steward, two of which might
-be interpreted as intended for the king and queen, though they were not
-at first visible, nor during the whole time were supposed to be so; but
-the interest of the proceedings quickly made the king impatient of the
-trellis work, and, according to Baillie, he pulled it down with his own
-hands. "It was daily the most glorious assembly," continues Baillie,
-"that the isle could afford; yet the gravity was not such as I expected.
-After ten, much public eating, not only of confections, but of flesh and
-bread; bottles of beer and wine going thick from mouth to mouth without
-cups, and all this in the king's eye.... There was no outgoing to return,
-and often the sitting was till two, three, or four o'clock at night."
-
-As Strafford went and came, the crowd conducted themselves towards
-him with forbearance and courtesy, and he returned their greetings
-with humility and politeness. Few of the lords at first returned his
-obeisances, and the managers, thirteen in number, showed him no favour.
-When the Lord Steward ordered the Committee of Management to proceed
-on the second morning, Pym opened the case with an eloquent charge,
-commencing with these words:--"My lords, we stand here by the commandment
-of the knights, citizens, and burgesses, now assembled for the Commons
-in Parliament, and we are ready to make good that impeachment whereby
-Thomas, Earl of Strafford, stands charged in their name, and in the
-name of all the Commons of England, with high treason. This, my lords,
-is a great cause, and we might sink under the weight of it, and be
-astonished with the lustre of this noble assembly, if there were not in
-the cause strength and vigour to support itself, and to encourage us.
-It is the cause of the king; it concerns his majesty in the honour of
-his government, in the safety of his person, in the stability of his
-crown. It is the cause of the kingdom: it concerns not only the peace
-and prosperity, but even the being of the kingdom. We have that piercing
-eloquence, the cries, and groans, and tears of all the subjects assisting
-us. We have the three kingdoms, England, and Scotland, and Ireland, in
-travail and agitation with us, bowing themselves, like the hinds spoken
-of in Job, to cast out their sorrows. Truth and goodness, my lords,
-they are the beauty of the soul, they are the perfection of all created
-natures, they are the image and character of God upon the creatures.
-This beauty, evil spirits and evil men have lost; but yet there are none
-so wicked, but they desire to march under the show and shadow of it,
-though they hate the reality of it. This unhappy earl, now the object
-of your lordships' justice, hath taken as much care, hath used as much
-cunning, to set a face and countenance of honesty in the performance of
-all these actions. My lords, it is the greatest baseness of wickedness,
-that it dares not look in its own colours, nor be seen in its natural
-countenance. But virtue, as it is amiable in all aspects, so the least is
-not this, that it puts a nobleness, it puts a bravery upon the mind, and
-lifts it above hopes and fears, above favour and displeasure: it makes it
-always uniform and constant to itself. The service commanded to me and my
-colleagues, is to take off those vizards of truth and uprightness, which
-hath been sought to be put upon this cause, and to show you his actions
-and intentions in their own natural blackness and deformity."
-
-Pym, after this passage, went one by one through the pleas of Strafford
-in his reply, and rent away ruthlessly the arguments by which he
-endeavoured to veil the flagrancy of his actions; but he dwelt for
-this time more especially on his conduct in Ireland, representing him
-there as treading on all the rights, privileges, and property of the
-people in a manner utterly regardless of any constitution or compacts.
-He then produced as witnesses Sir Pierce Crosby, Sir John Clotworthy,
-Lord Ranelagh, Lord Mountnorris, and Mr. Barnwell, who had suffered
-insult, loss of office and honour from the Lord-Lieutenant's overbearing
-despotism. To this Strafford replied in a long and able speech. The
-subject of Ireland was resumed the next day, and then from day to day.
-
-After the Managers had gone through some particular charge, and produced
-their witnesses, the court adjourned for half an hour, when Strafford
-made his defence and produced his witnesses; the Managers then commented
-on the evidence, and the court closed for the day. Thus it went on
-for thirteen days. "All the hasty and proud expressions that he had
-uttered at any time," says Clarendon, "since he was first made a privy
-councillor; all the acts of passion or power that he had exercised in
-Yorkshire, from the time that he was first President there; his engaging
-himself in projects in Ireland, as the sole making of flax and selling
-tobacco in that kingdom; his extraordinary proceedings against Lord
-Mountnorris and the Lord Chancellor Loftus; his assuming a power of
-judicature at the Council table to determine private interest, and matter
-of inheritance; some rigorous and extrajudicial determinations in cases
-of Plantations; some high discourses at the Council table in Ireland; and
-some casual and light discourses at his own table and at public meetings;
-and, lastly, some words spoken in secret Council in this kingdom, after
-the dissolution of the last Parliament, were urged and pressed against
-him to make good the general charge of an endeavour to overthrow the
-fundamental government of the kingdom, and to introduce an arbitrary
-power." "In his defence," continues the same historian, "the earl behaved
-himself with great show of humility and submission, but yet with such
-a kind of courage, as would lose no advantage; and, in truth, made his
-defence with all imaginable dexterity, answering this and evading that
-with all possible skill and eloquence; and though he knew not till he
-came to the bar upon what parts of his charge they would proceed against
-him, or what evidence they would produce, he took very little time to
-recollect himself, and left nothing unsaid that might make for his own
-justification."
-
-Though this is the language of the royalist historian, it is borne out
-by all accounts of this extraordinary trial. Strafford was one of the
-most eloquent, able, and imposing men of any age. His commanding person,
-and persuasive and impressive manner, had made his influence paramount
-wherever he had appeared. He had the faculty vastly developed of making
-the worse appear the better reason; and never had his splendid talents
-been so successfully displayed as on this great occasion, when all the
-ability, the patriotism, and the elocution of the time were arrayed
-against him. The very weight and vastness of the opposition bearing upon
-him acted in his favour. There he stood, alone, as it were, against the
-three kingdoms, dauntless, and unsubdued; laden with growing infirmities,
-and the deadly hatred of innumerable hosts, yet disdaining to succumb to
-them; and with a readiness of wit, a promptness of reply, an adroitness
-of application or of evasion, a keenness of ridicule, a weight of reason,
-and a rich eloquence, that raised admiration even in those who most
-loathed him. The sympathies of the ladies were every day more and more
-enlisted in his cause. They were seen--those of the highest rank--taking
-notes, discussing the proceedings, and discovering their vivid interest
-in him by a thousand signs. The courtiers were enraptured; the lords,
-even the sternest, rapidly relaxed, and at length were almost all on
-his side. The clergy were unanimous in their plaudits of him, and the
-Managers saw with dismay a change which threatened their defeat.
-
-[Illustration: WESTMINSTER HALL AND PALACE YARD, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES
-I.]
-
-Maynard and Glynne, two acute lawyers, were the Managers who chiefly
-brought forward the accusations, and directed the evidence against him;
-but they appeared no match for Strafford's intellect and address. They
-endeavoured to establish a charge of constructive treason, that is, of
-treason not founded on one clear and palpable act, but on accumulated
-evidence, the aggregate of many offences; but the prisoner's answer to
-this was triumphant. They had not his letters, which we have; and though
-they could point to a long course of arbitrary and unconstitutional
-conduct, amounting to high misdemeanours, they could not lay their
-fingers on the damning proofs of his avowed intentions under his own
-hand, as we now can in the Strafford Papers. But even had they possessed
-these, it would still have been technically impossible to establish a
-charge of high treason according to any definition of law, or idea of
-treason then existing. All the statutes of high treason had heretofore
-been directed against designs or attempts to injure or remove the king,
-or any of his family; to subvert the Government, or change the possession
-of the Crown. That there might be such a thing as treason against the
-people and their rights had never entered into governing heads.
-
-In vain would Pym or Selden then search Coke upon Littleton, or the
-statutes at large, for any definition of a treason that would serve them.
-The statute of 25 Edward III. c. 2 was the great landmark of English
-history in those matters, and amongst the seven distinct declarations of
-treasonable offences, they would look in vain for one to fit Wentworth,
-for most assuredly against none of them had Strafford offended. He was
-working with the king and his officers; his acts and intentions pointed
-in a totally different direction. His object was to strengthen the king's
-government beyond all precedent; to make him, as we now have it under
-his own hand, the most absolute and independent monarch that ever lived.
-True, from the reign of Henry IV. to that of Queen Mary, many other
-species of high treason had been created by the Crown, and especially by
-Henry VIII. But in none of these reigns, when almost every imaginable
-or unimaginable thing affecting kingship was made treason, had it ever
-entered the royal or legal head to conceive of the possibility of treason
-against the people. Therefore, had all these descriptions of treason been
-yet existent, none of them would have availed against Strafford, who was
-most loyal to the king and his government.
-
-The matter was too palpable to be denied, but at this crisis an event
-occurred which gave fresh hope to the accusers. The younger Sir Henry
-Vane communicated to Pym a paper which he had discovered in the cabinet
-of his father, the Secretary of State. The account which he gave of the
-occurrence, according to Whitelock, was this:--His father being out of
-town, had sent him the key of his study, desiring him to search for some
-papers which he wanted. In this search he came upon one paper of such
-extraordinary contents, that he held himself bound in duty to secure
-it. The paper was a minute of what had passed in the Privy Council on
-the morning of the day on which the last Parliament had been dissolved.
-The question before the Council was offensive or defensive war with the
-Scots. The king said, "How can I undertake a war without money?" And
-Strafford was made to reply, "Borrow one hundred thousand pounds of the
-City. Go rigorously on to levy ship-money. Your majesty having tried the
-affections of your people, you are absolved and loosed from all rules of
-government, and may do what power will admit. Having tried all ways, you
-shall be acquitted before God and man. You have an army in Ireland, which
-you may employ to reduce this kingdom to obedience, for I am confident
-the Scots cannot hold out five months." Laud and Cottington declared with
-similar vehemence that the king was absolved from all law.
-
-Pym, having obtained from young Vane a copy of this paper, on the 10th of
-April informed the Commons of the fact. After hearing it read, Vane the
-younger rose and confirmed the relation, excusing himself on the ground
-that it had appeared his bounden duty to make the matter known, and that
-Mr. Pym had confirmed him in this opinion. After giving Mr. Pym the copy,
-he had returned the original paper to its proper place in the cabinet.
-Sir Henry Vane, the father, here rose, and remarked, with much sign of
-resentment against his son, that he now saw whence all this mischief
-came, and that he could give no further particulars of the matter but
-found himself in an ill condition from its testimony.
-
-On the 12th, charge was made against Strafford in court, who replied
-that old Vane was his most inveterate enemy; that, as was most probable,
-if he had delivered this paper to his son, he had been guilty of an
-unpardonable breach of his oath as a Privy Councillor, to preserve the
-king's secrets, and was therefore totally unworthy of credit; that he
-had been strictly examined on what passed at that Council, and at first
-denied all memory of any such words spoken by him, Strafford, on that
-occasion; and even on his third examination, after having been shown
-this paper, he had only recollected he had spoken these words, or some
-like them; that such words and such counsel were not likely to be soon
-forgotten; yet, of eight Privy Councillors then present, none of those
-whose evidence could be obtained could remember any such words, except
-the Earl of Northumberland, who thought he recollected such words as
-those--"of being absolved from all rules of government." The Archbishop
-of Canterbury and Windebank were not present to give their evidence;
-but the Marquis of Hamilton, Bishop Juxon, and Lord Cottington, could
-remember no such words. Even had he used the words, it depended much
-on whether the phrase "this kingdom" meant England or Scotland; that
-the country under debate was Scotland, and he had demanded of Vane,
-whether the word used was really "this" or "that." And further, could the
-authority of this paper be established, it would not establish a charge
-of treason, for the law demanded the evidence of two witnesses, and this
-was but the evidence of one.
-
-Pym therefore put in the verified copy of the paper, for the paper itself
-having been laid on the table of the Committee of Commons, had been
-purloined, and was never afterwards recovered. That in the possession
-of Charles was in the handwriting of Digby, which brought him under
-suspicion. Pym contended that the evidence of the minute itself, and that
-of Sir Henry Vane, amounted to the required proofs of the law, being
-two witnesses against the earl. The Lord Steward, Arundel, then called
-on Strafford to say whether he had any observations to make on this
-additional proof, and he replied most eloquently:--
-
-"Where has this species of guilt lain so long concealed? Where has this
-fire been so long buried during so many centuries, that no smoke should
-appear till it burst out at once, to consume me and my children? Better
-it were to live under no law at all, than to fancy we have a law on which
-we can rely, and find at last that this law preceded its promulgation,
-and try us by maxims unheard of till the moment of the prosecution. If I
-sail on the Thames, and split my vessel on an anchor, in case there be no
-buoy to give warning, the party shall pay me damages; but if the anchor
-be marked out, then is the striking on it at my own peril. But where is
-the mark set upon this crime? Where the token by which I should discover
-it?
-
-"It is now full two hundred and forty years since treasons were defined,
-and so long has it been since any man was touched to this extent upon
-this crime before myself. We have lived, my lords, happily to ourselves
-at home; we have lived gloriously abroad in the world; let us be content
-with what our fathers have left us; let not an ambition carry us to
-be more learned than they were in these killing and destructive acts.
-My lords, be pleased to give that regard to the peerage of England,
-as never to expose yourselves to such moot points, such constructive
-interpretations of law. If there must be a trial of wits, let the
-subject matter be of somewhat else than the lives and honours of peers.
-It will be wisdom for yourselves, for your posterity, and for the whole
-kingdom, to cast into the fire these bloody and mysterious volumes of
-constructive and arbitrary treason, as the primitive Christians did their
-books of curious arts, and betake yourselves to the plain letter of the
-statute, which tells you where the crime is, and points out the path by
-which you may avoid it....
-
-"My lords, I have now troubled your lordships a great deal longer than
-I should have done, were it not for the interest of these pledges which
-a saint in heaven left me. I should be loth----" here he pointed to
-his children, and his weeping stopped him. "What I forfeit for myself
-is nothing, but that my indiscretion should extend to my posterity,
-I confess, wounds me very deeply. You will be pleased to pardon my
-importunity. Something I should have said, but I see I shall not be able,
-and therefore I shall leave it. And now, my lords, I thank God that I
-have been by His blessing sufficiently instructed in the vanity of all
-temporary enjoyments, compared to the importance of an eternal duration.
-And so, my lords, even so with all tranquillity of mind, I submit clearly
-and freely to your judgment; and whether that righteous doom shall be
-life or death, I shall repose myself, full of gratitude and confidence,
-in the arms of the great Author of my existence--'_In te Domine confido:
-non confundar in æternum_.'"
-
-What the effect of this address must have been, may be inferred from
-the observations of Whitelock, the chairman of the Committee which was
-conducting the prosecution:--"Certainly, never any man acted such a part
-on such a theatre, with more wisdom, constancy, and eloquence; with
-greater reason, judgment, and temper; and with a better grace in all his
-words and actions, than did this great and excellent person, so that he
-moved the hearts of all his auditors, some few excepted, to remorse and
-pity."
-
-The Commons were alarmed at the effect of the trial. The production of
-Vane's paper had been a blow enough to have sunk another man, but the
-extraordinary eloquence and address of Strafford seemed to have effaced
-even that; they had little faith in procuring a verdict from the Lords
-in their present course, and they resolved to change their plan, and
-proceed against the offender by a Bill of Attainder. They have been
-accused of adopting the arbitrary measures of Henry VIII. in so doing,
-and of depriving Strafford of the fair influence of his trial; but we,
-who enjoy the benefit of their deed, ought not to join in that cry.
-Strafford was guilty, if ever man was, of the most atrocious attempt that
-a man can entertain--that of destroying the liberties of his country.
-The laws had been so framed, from royal bias, as not duly to designate
-his crime; but not for that, nor for any temporary feeling of pity raised
-by his admirable defence, did these patriots mean to allow of his escape.
-But in the House of Commons the Bill of Attainder met with unexpected
-opposition from one of the most zealous of the Reformers, Lord Digby. He
-saw, like the rest, that technically they could not condemn Strafford
-for high treason as the law then stood, and he feared the precedent of
-condemning men under a show of law that did not exist. It was, in fact,
-too much imitating the king. It was a real difficulty, which the patriots
-had not sufficiently foreseen. Instead of charging him with treason,
-as it was then defined, they should first have remodelled the law, or
-have charged Strafford with the violation of the national guarantee of
-Magna Charta, on which there could be no doubt, and for which he was
-well worthy of death; but it was too late to retrace their steps, and
-they were obliged to condemn him for the unquestionable crime of treason
-against the nation, making the act of the Legislature in all its branches
-an extension of the law. Digby himself did not question his guilt. He
-said "he believed him still that grand apostate to the commonwealth,
-who must not expect to be pardoned in this world till he be despatched
-to the other;" but he pleaded that on the ground of law he should have
-his life spared. But the Commons knew that while he lived there was no
-security. On the first occasion the king would pardon and restore him,
-and all their labour would be thrown away. They sought, therefore, to
-erect Parliament in so great an emergency into a court of equity as well
-as of law, believing that what was decreed by both Houses, and had the
-sanction of the Crown, was and would be a law of itself. They did not,
-like the Tudors and the Stuarts, seek to condemn him by setting aside the
-established courts and trial by jury; they gave him the highest court
-in the realm, and a full trial by his peers, and by their Bill they now
-called for a verdict.
-
-But that verdict was not obtained without a great struggle. In the
-Commons it was warmly debated, and it was not till the eleventh day, the
-21st of April, that it was carried by a vast majority. Only fifty-four,
-or, according to Whitelock, fifty-nine members voted against the Bill,
-and the next morning the names of these were placarded in the streets
-as "Straffordians," who, to allow a traitor to escape, would betray
-their country. The Lords, who had been greatly influenced by Strafford's
-speeches, and his confident exposition of the law, displayed no alacrity
-to pass the Bill of Attainder through their House; but they soon found
-themselves exposed to the pressure from without. The nation had made up
-its mind to the punishment of the man who had advised the king to reduce
-them to the condition of serfs; and the Lords could not appear anywhere
-without being pursued by cries of "Justice! justice on the traitor!"
-Vast crowds surrounded the Parliament House, uttering the same demands,
-and a petition was carried up from the City, signed by many thousands.
-The country was terrified by rumours of insurrections and invasions,
-which were made plausible by the lately discovered plot for marching
-the army of York on London, and the Court preparations for rescuing and
-getting away Strafford. There is also clear evidence from the despatches
-of Rosetti, who was in the confidence of the queen, that the king had
-ordered the fortifications of Portsmouth to be strengthened; and the
-command of the fortress was given to Goring, that Charles might have a
-place of retreat if he was obliged to quit London, and an opening for the
-landing of troops from France or Holland, whom he might prevail on to
-come to his assistance.
-
-In carrying up the Bill to the Lords, the Attorney-General, St. John, had
-endeavoured to get rid of the legal objections to the death of Strafford,
-by saying that laws were made for the protection of the peaceable and
-the innocent, not for those who broke all law for the destruction of
-the people. This was a dangerous doctrine, and did not at all mend the
-matter; he did not see that the real strength and justification of the
-case lay in the three branches of the Legislature interpreting the law as
-extending to the State and Constitution altogether, and by their united
-act rendering it law.
-
-In the meantime, the anxiety and perplexity of the king became
-excruciating. He had clearly, by his confident assertions of protection,
-drawn Strafford into the snare, and if the Lords passed the Bill, how
-was he, by his own decayed authority, to defend him? He had previously
-sought the aid of the Earl of Bedford, who was the most influential of
-the peers, and promised him the disposal of all the great offices of
-State, on condition that Strafford's life should be spared. Bedford had
-accepted it, but just at this crisis he fell sick and died. Clarendon
-says, of his own knowledge, that it was the plan of Bedford to give the
-king the excise as a settled source of income, and thus extricate him
-out of all his troubles,--the very thing which was afterwards granted
-to his son, Charles II. On Bedford's death, Lord Say accepted the same
-position on the same terms; and it is asserted by Clarendon that it was
-by his advice that Charles now took a step that proved very fatal. He
-proceeded to the House of Lords on the 1st of May, whilst the Bill of
-Attainder was still before it, and calling for the Commons, informed
-them that having, as they knew, been constantly present at the trial of
-Strafford, he was perfectly familiar with all that had been advanced on
-both sides, and that the serious conclusion at which he had arrived was
-that he was not guilty of treason, and, therefore, in his conscience, he
-could not condemn him if the Bill were passed and came to him. "It was
-not," he said, "for him to argue the matter with them; his place was to
-utter a single decision. But," he continued, "I must tell you three great
-truths:--First, I never had any intention of bringing over the Irish
-army into England, nor ever was advised by any one to do so. Second,
-there never was any debate before me, either in public council or private
-committee, of the disloyalty or disaffection of my English subjects.
-Third, I was never counselled by any to alter the least of any of the
-laws of England, much less alter all the laws."
-
-[Illustration: CHARLES SIGNING THE COMMISSION OF ASSENT TO STRAFFORD'S
-ATTAINDER. (_See p._ 603.)]
-
-After the long breach of the law that the king shall not levy taxes
-without consent of Parliament; after the long exercise of the arbitrary
-power of the Star Chamber and the High Commission Court, where Magna
-Charta was utterly set aside; after the brandings, the lopping off
-of ears, the slitting of noses, and the fining and imprisonment of
-the subject at the king's pleasure, these assertions show how utterly
-regardless of truth this king was. He then admitted that Strafford was
-guilty of great misdemeanours. "Therefore," he said, "I hope you may
-find some middle way to satisfy justice and your own fears, and not to
-press upon my conscience. My lords, I hope you know what a tender thing
-conscience is. To satisfy my people I would do great matters, but in
-this of conscience, no fear, no respect whatever, shall ever make me go
-against it. Certainly, I have not so ill-deserved of the Parliament this
-time that they should press me on this tender point." He proposed that
-Strafford should be rendered incapable hereafter of holding any place of
-trust or honour under the Crown.
-
-But the very declarations which he had made in this address were so
-untrue, that every one must have felt that as long as Strafford lived
-there was no security against his return to power. The Commons, however,
-took up the matter in another manner. On their return to their own
-House--the king had not recognised their presence by a single observation
-in the other--they instantly passed a resolution, declaring the king's
-interference with any bill before either House of Parliament, a most
-flagrant abuse of their privileges. This was Saturday, and the next
-day the ministers, Scottish and Puritan, took up the subject in their
-pulpits, and roused their hearers to a sense of their danger, only to be
-averted by the death of the arch-traitor. On Monday the population poured
-out in a vast concourse, and directed their steps towards Westminster.
-Six thousand infuriated people surrounded the Houses of Parliament, armed
-with clubs and staves, crying out for justice on the prisoner.
-
-At this moment Pym was haranguing the House of Commons on the discovery
-of the plot to debauch the army, and informing them, moreover, that there
-was already a strong body of French troops assembled on the opposite
-coast, and that it was declared to be their intention to take possession
-of Jersey and Guernsey, and to land at Portsmouth. This was so far true
-that Montague, a favourite of the queen's, had been despatched to the
-French court, a fleet had assembled on the coast of Brittany, and an
-army in Flanders. Montreuil had endeavoured to convince the popular
-leaders, through the Earl of Holland, that the army was destined for the
-war in the Netherlands, and the fleet to protect the coasts of Portugal.
-Their being so near this country, however, was sufficient to justify
-the popular suspicion, and the public excitement continued to increase.
-Montague was advised to seek his safety by flight, and the queen was
-so terrified that she ordered her carriages to Whitehall to flee to
-Portsmouth. The Lords, however, prevented this by a remonstrance to the
-king, and thereby probably saved the queen's life from the enraged mob;
-for it was now that the disclosures of Colonel Goring of the Army Plot
-became public.
-
-Pym seized the opportunity of this occurrence to press on the Commons a
-resolution to the effect that the seaports should be closed, and that the
-king should command that neither the queen, the prince, nor any person
-attending upon his majesty, should leave London without the permission of
-the king, acting on the advice of his Parliament. This was passed, and
-Pym then called on them to make a solemn Protestation, after the manner
-of the Scottish Covenant, which should be taken by the whole House,
-binding them by a vow, in the presence of God, to maintain and defend his
-majesty's royal person and estate, as well as the power and privileges
-of Parliament, the lawful rights and liberties of the subject, the peace
-and union of the three kingdoms against all plots, conspiracies, and evil
-practices, and that neither hope, fear, nor any other respect, should
-induce them to relinquish this promise, vow, and protestation. It was
-instantly signed by the Speaker, and by every member present.
-
-The Commons next addressed a letter to the army in the North, assuring
-them that, notwithstanding the attempts to corrupt them, Parliament
-relied on their fidelity, and would take care to furnish their pay.
-They ordered the forces in Wiltshire and Hampshire to advance nearer
-to Portsmouth, and those in Kent and Sussex to draw towards Dover, and
-declared any man advising the introduction of foreign troops to be
-an enemy to his country. These resolutions they despatched with the
-Protestation to the Upper House by Denzil Holles, calling on the whole
-House to subscribe to the Protestation. The next morning, being the 4th
-of May, the Lords desired a conference with the Commons, and informed
-them of a message from the king, desiring that the intimidation of
-the mobs might be withdrawn, that the deliberation of the Parliament
-might be free; and as the peers proposed to take the Protestation
-unanimously, Dr. Burgess, a popular preacher, was sent out to inform
-the people of this, and to desire that they would peaceably withdraw to
-their own homes. The crowds, on this assurance, melted rapidly away. The
-Protestation was then sent out to be subscribed by the whole nation, as
-the Covenant had been in Scotland, and with the intimation that any one
-declining to adopt it should be looked upon as an enemy to his country.
-To complete their security, the Commons passed a Bill that Parliament
-should on no account be dissolved without the consent of both Houses.
-
-The next day, on a false alarm that the House of Commons was in danger,
-the train-bands, headed by Colonel Mainwaring, marched with beat of
-drum to Westminster; it proved an unnecessary caution, but one that
-convinced the peers and the king that any resistance to the Commons,
-backed by the public, was useless. The very next day the news was
-circulated in Parliament that six or eight dangerous conspirators had
-fled, amongst them Jermyn, the queen's favourite, and Percy, both members
-of the Commons, and that the queen was still bent, if opportunity could
-be found, of escaping too. On the following day, May 7th, the peers
-voted by a majority that the fifteenth and nineteenth charges against
-Strafford were proved, namely, that he had quartered soldiers on the
-peaceable inhabitants of Ireland contrary to law, and had imposed
-on his own authority an illegal oath on all Scotsmen living in that
-country. Thereupon they consulted the judges, who unanimously decided
-that Strafford deserved to suffer the pains and penalties of treason.
-The Catholics kept away from the House because they would not take the
-Protestation, and therefore bore no part in Strafford's condemnation. The
-Bill was passed by a majority of twenty-six to nineteen. The following
-morning, May 8th, the Bill of Attainder was read a third time and passed;
-and, at the same time, the Lords also passed the Bill of the Commons
-against the dissolution of Parliament.
-
-Charles was now reduced to a pitiable condition. On the one hand, he had
-solemnly pledged himself, both to Strafford and to Parliament, never
-to consent to the earl's death; but, on the other hand, the two Houses
-had pronounced against him, and the public was waiting with impatience
-for his ratification of the sentence. He had lately seen the ominous
-assemblage of the people, and the march of the City bands to support
-Parliament; the Scots still lay in the North, waiting with fierce desire
-for the fall of their enemy; one signal, and the whole country would be
-in a blaze. The Bill was passed on Saturday, and perhaps never was a
-Sunday spent by any man, or any house, in so dreadful a state as that
-passed by Charles and his family. The only alternative left him was to
-summon his Privy Council, and submit to them his difficulty. But from
-them he derived very little comfort. The members in general urged on him
-the necessity of complying with the demand of both Houses of Parliament,
-and the manifest desire of the public, who were again loudly declaring
-that they would have either the head of Strafford or the king's. The
-bishops strongly urged the same arguments; the terror of the Parliament
-and the people was upon them.
-
-Williams, the old bishop of Lincoln, who had been treated with stern
-severity by both Strafford and Laud, told the king, when he talked of
-his conscience, that there was a public as well as a private conscience;
-that he had discharged his private conscience by doing all in his power
-to save the earl, and he might now exercise his public conscience by
-conceding to the decision of his Parliament; that the question now was
-not about saving Strafford, but about saving himself, his queen, and
-family. Juxon, Bishop of London, alone had the courage to tell him
-boldly not to consent to the shedding of the blood of a man whom in his
-conscience he felt to be innocent. Ussher of Armagh, Morton of Durham,
-and another bishop, advised him to be guided by the opinion of the
-judges. The judges being then asked, repeated their judgment that the
-case, as put to them by the Lords, amounted to treason. Thus borne down
-by all parties, Charles reluctantly gave way, and late in the evening,
-though he would not directly sign his assent to the Bill, he signed a
-commission to several lords to give the assent. Even in this last act
-his friends endeavoured to console him with the assurance that "his own
-hand was not in it." It was a miserable subterfuge, for the deed was
-equally valid, and he executed it with tears, declaring the condition of
-Strafford happier than his own.
-
-The day of execution was fixed for Wednesday, the 12th of May, and on
-Monday, the 10th, the commission to this effect passed the Great Seal.
-But still Charles could not give up the hope of saving the unhappy
-man. He sent to the two Houses to inform them that he would instantly
-disband the Irish army; and the next morning, having appeared to have
-made a favourable impression on the Commons, who had returned a very
-flattering message, he sent the Prince of Wales to the Lords with a
-letter once more imploring them to consult with the Commons, and grant
-him "the unspeakable contentment" of changing the sentence of the earl
-to perpetual imprisonment, with a pledge never to interfere in his
-behalf; and if the earl should ever seek his liberty, especially by
-any application to himself, his life should be forfeited. If, however,
-it could not be done with satisfaction to the people, he said "_Fiat
-justitia_." In a postscript, stated to have been added at the suggestion
-of the queen, he appended the fatal words, "If he must die, it were
-charity to reprieve him till Saturday;" words which seemed to imply that,
-though he asked, he really did not hope to save him. Nothing, however,
-could have saved him. The House, after reading the letter twice, and
-after "sad and serious consideration," sent a deputation to inform him
-that neither of the requests could be complied with.
-
-[Illustration: THE OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE, EDINBURGH.]
-
-Strafford, on the previous Tuesday, hearing of the king's extreme
-agitation and trouble on his account, had sent him a letter which was
-full of magnanimity. He informed him that the hearing of the king's
-unwillingness to pass the Bill, on the ground that he did not believe
-him guilty, and of the excitement of the people against him on that
-account, had brought him into a great strait; that the ruin of his
-family on the one side, and fear of injury to the king on the other, had
-greatly troubled him; that to say that there had not been a great strife
-in him, would be to say that he was not made of flesh and blood; yet
-considering that the chief thing was the prosperity of the realm and the
-king, he had, with a natural sadness, come to the conclusion to desire
-the king to let matters take their course rather than incur the ill that
-refusing to sign the Bill might bring on his sacred majesty. Whitelock
-assures us that the king sent Carleton to him, to inform him that he had
-been compelled to pass the Bill, and adding that he had been the more
-reconciled to it by his willingness to die. On hearing this, Strafford
-started up from his chair, lifted up his eyes to heaven, laid his hand
-upon his heart, and said, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons
-of men, for in them there is no salvation."
-
-The night before the day fixed for his execution, Archbishop Ussher
-visited the prisoner, who begged him to go to his fellow-prisoner,
-Archbishop Laud, and beg his prayers for him that night, and his blessing
-when he should go forth in the morning. He had in vain endeavoured to
-persuade the Lieutenant Balfour to permit him to have an interview
-with the fallen prelate. In the morning, when led out to the scaffold,
-on approaching the window of the archbishop's prison, he begged the
-lieutenant to allow him to make his obeisance towards the prelate's room,
-though he could not see him himself.
-
-[Illustration: STRAFFORD ON HIS WAY TO EXECUTION.
-
-AFTER THE PAINTING BY PAUL DELAROCHE, IN THE POSSESSION OF THE DUKE OF
-SUTHERLAND.]
-
-[Illustration: THE MARQUIS OF MONTROSE. (_From a contemporary print by
-Faithorne.)_]
-
-Laud, however, was on the watch, and putting forth his hands from his
-window, bestowed his blessing. That was all that his weakness and his
-emotion permitted. He sank, overcome with his grief, to the floor.
-Strafford made a profound obeisance, and the procession moved on. But
-after a few steps the earl turned round again, bowed to the ground once
-more, saying, "Farewell, my lord! God protect your innocence!" Then
-proceeding again, he assumed a lofty and dignified air, more even than
-was usual to him. At the Tower gate the lieutenant requested him to
-enter a coach, lest the people should wreak their hatred upon him; but
-he declined, saying, "No, Master lieutenant, I dare look death in the
-face, and I hope the people, too. Have you a care that I do not escape,
-and I care not how I die, whether by the executioner, or the madness
-of the people. If that give them better satisfaction, it is all one to
-me." He was accompanied to the scaffold by Archbishop Ussher, the Earl
-of Cleveland, and his brother, Sir George Wentworth, and others of his
-friends were there to take their leave of him. The crowd assembled to see
-their great enemy depart was immense, and he made a speech from notes
-which he had prepared, still protesting his innocence; declaring that so
-far from wishing to put an end to Parliaments, he had always regarded
-them, under God, as the best means to make the king and his people
-happy. His head fell at a single blow, and the astonished people could
-scarcely believe that they had seen the last of their foe. They retired
-in quietness, as if overcome by the greatness of the satisfaction; but
-they testified their joy in the evening by bonfires in the streets (May
-12, 1641).
-
-The fall of Strafford carried terror through the Court. Many began
-to think of flying. Cottington had given up his office of Master of
-the Wards, and Lord Say and other noblemen of the popular party were
-introduced into the Ministry. The Marquis of Hertford was made Governor
-to the Prince, the Earl of Essex Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Leicester
-the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The king was wholly averse from the new
-ministers, but hoped to win upon them as he had done upon Strafford,
-Loudon, and Montrose; and indeed, after their appointment, a bolder and
-more independent spirit seemed to awaken in the Lords. They threw out
-several Bills sent up from the Commons, amongst others, one for excluding
-the bishops from their House. Essex, though a reformer, was by no means
-hostile to the hierarchy, and always obliged his servants to accompany
-him to church, and kept a chaplain who was a thorough conformist. The
-Lords did not object to the bishops and clergy in general being excluded
-from the Star Chamber, the Privy Council, and the Commissions of the
-Peace; but they contended that bishops had always formed a part of their
-body, and that the Commons might next take it into their heads to exclude
-barons.
-
-The Commons, however, pressed on the Lords Bills for the abolition of
-the two greatest engines of tyranny in the country, the Star Chamber
-and the High Commission Court. These, with another for a poll-tax for
-the maintenance of the armies, the Lords passed; but Charles hesitated.
-He had given up much this Session: the right of prorogation without
-consent of Parliament, thus making Parliament perpetual if it pleased;
-the right to demand tonnage and poundage without the same consent; he had
-limited the forest laws; granted to the judges their places during good
-behaviour; and withdrawn the commission for the Presidency of the North
-as illegal. But to give up the civil and ecclesiastical inquisitions,
-those ready and terrible torture houses of the Crown, went hard with
-him. The poll-tax he passed at once, because he thought it would be
-unpopular, but he refused to sanction the others. The Commons came to a
-resolution that he should pass all three or none; and the tone of both
-Parliament and the people was so menacing, that on the 5th of July he
-gave his consent, and put an end to those un-English abominations.
-
-The Commons having granted the king six subsidies, and tonnage and
-poundage for the year, he now proposed to proceed to Scotland to hold
-a Parliament. He was aware that a reaction had taken place there. The
-Marquis of Montrose had exerted himself to form a party amongst such
-noblemen and gentlemen as had grown to regard the popular leaders both
-in Scotland and England as bearing too insolently on the prerogatives of
-the Crown. He had prevailed on nineteen noblemen to subscribe a bond,
-pledging themselves "to oppose the particular and indirect practices of
-a few, and to study all public ends which might tend to the safety of
-religion, laws, and liberty." They were careful that the language of this
-bond should not clash openly with that of the Covenant; but the real
-design did not escape the vigilance of the Committee of Estates. They
-called on Montrose and his associates to clear themselves, and obtaining
-the bond, burn it publicly. Notwithstanding this, the confederates
-opened a secret correspondence with the king, and assured him of their
-confidence of victory over the Covenanters, if he would honour the
-Parliament with his presence, confirm his former concessions, and delay
-the distribution of offices and honours to the end of the session. But
-this correspondence also was discovered. Walter Stuart, the messenger
-of Montrose to the king, was seized near Haddington, and the letter of
-the marquis to the king, with various other suspicious papers, was found
-concealed in the pommel of his saddle. Montrose, Lord Napier, Sir George
-Stirling, and Sir Archibald Stuart, were arrested, examined, and sent to
-the castle of Edinburgh.
-
-These events rendered Charles still more impatient for his northern
-journey. Not only Traquair, and the other four of his officers who had
-been excepted from pardon as incendiaries, but these, his new allies,
-demanded his assistance. By the beginning of August the treaty of
-pacification was signed by the Scots. They had received an engagement
-from the English Parliament for the payment of a balance of two hundred
-and twenty thousand pounds of "the brotherly assistance." Charles had
-granted an amnesty and an act of oblivion of all that was past, having
-cost the kingdom about one million one hundred thousand pounds, and both
-armies were ordered to be disbanded. The Parliament, however, looked on
-this journey with no friendly eye. Even amongst his own friends, the wily
-old Bishop of Lincoln, Williams, whom the king, in the absence of Laud,
-and the loss of Strafford, had taken into favour, and who was soon to
-be Archbishop of York, advised Charles to keep away from the Scots. He
-assured him that they would ferret out any secret negotiations that might
-pass between himself and the royal party, and make the English Commons
-acquainted with them; and that he would do much better to remain, and
-employ himself in corrupting and winning over as many as he could of the
-Parliamentary leaders. The Commons insisted on his appointing a Regency,
-if he should go, to act during his absence; but he consented only to the
-naming of a Commission. It was not till the 10th of August that he got
-permission for his journey, and he was not destined to depart without
-having another proof of the animus of the House of Commons. On the 4th,
-Serjeant Wild presented to the Lords a Bill of Impeachment against
-thirteen of the bishops--Laud's name being put among them--for their
-recent manufacturing of canons and constitutions contrary to law. Their
-grant of a benevolence to the king was made an offence under the name of
-a bribe, and by this means, though they had not been able to exclude all
-the bishops from the Upper House for ever, they excluded these thirteen
-for a time.
-
-At length Charles was enabled to set out. He had made the Earl of Holland
-commander-in-chief of the Forces, much to the disgust of the friends of
-Essex, who was appointed commander only of those south of the Trent.
-He was attended in his coach by his nephew, Charles Louis, the nominal
-Elector Palatine, the Duke of Lennox, now Duke of Richmond, and the
-Marquis of Hamilton--rather ominous associates. The king had not been
-gone a week, however, when Holland having quarrelled with the queen, and
-the king having refused to make a baron at his suggestion, by which he
-would have got ten thousand pounds, sent a letter to the House of Lords,
-obscurely intimating some new practices and designs against Parliament.
-The Lords communicated to the Commons this letter, and the two Houses
-immediately appointed a commission to proceed to Scotland, ostensibly to
-procure the ratification of the late treaty, but really to keep watch
-over the king and his partisans. To this duty were named the Earl of
-Bedford, Lord Edward Howard, Sir William Almayne, Sir Philip Stapleton,
-Mr. Hampden, and Nathaniel Fiennes. The king endeavoured to get rid of
-this unwelcome commission, declaring it needless, and refused to sign the
-commission when sent to him; but the Parliament still pressing it, he
-allowed the commissioners to proceed to Scotland to attend him; all of
-whom did so except the Earl of Bedford.
-
-Charles had set out with the resolve to win over as many of his enemies
-as possible, and to please the Scots at large, thereby to raise up a
-counter influence to that at home. At the northern camp, which was not
-yet broken up, he did all that he could to corrupt the officers, went
-to dine with old Leslie, the Scottish general, and soon after ennobled
-him. At Edinburgh he flattered the Covenanters by attending their
-preachings, and went so far as to appoint Alexander Henderson, the stout
-champion of the Covenant, his chaplain, appearing to take especial
-delight in his conversation, and having him constantly about him. He
-ratified all the acts of the last Session of the Scottish Parliament.
-As regarded the incendiaries, as they were called--that is, Charles's
-former ministers--who had been imprisoned for executing his commands,
-he promised on their release to give their offices to such persons as
-had pleased the Parliament. He submitted to them a list of forty-two
-councillors, and nine great officers of State. The Parliament conceded
-so far as to release all the incendiaries but five, and these were to be
-referred to a committee for trial, and their sentence to be pronounced by
-the king. So far, all promised well, but the Covenanters were desirous
-to have the Earl of Argyll, who had so openly espoused their cause in
-the General Assembly, appointed to the chief post in the ministry, that
-of Chancellor; but Charles conferred it on Loudon. Argyll strove for the
-next, that of Treasurer, a post of great emolument, but Charles gave it
-to Lord Ormond; but the Parliament would not consent, and the contest for
-this appointment had gone on ten days, when the feud thus commenced was
-rent still wider by what is known in Scottish history as the "Incident."
-
-Since Charles had come to Edinburgh, he had continued to keep up his
-correspondence with the Marquis of Montrose, who was still prisoner
-in the castle, and who, notwithstanding his known intrigue with the
-king, had by concert with him kept up a pretence of being a zealous
-Covenanter. A letter from Montrose, revealing the progress of this
-correspondence, had been found by some traitorous person about the king,
-supposed, indeed, to have been taken from his pocket, and had been sent
-by the Marquis of Hamilton to the Covenanters. Montrose found means to
-convey to the king his ideas about it, and to warn him especially of the
-treasonable proceedings and intentions of Hamilton and Argyll. Hamilton,
-since his having, at Charles's request, assumed the part of a favourer
-of the Covenanters, had become suspected of being more really of that
-party than he pretended. The king had grown cool in his manner to him:
-the letters of Montrose, conveyed through William Murray, a groom of the
-bed-chamber, urged the king to make away with the traitors Hamilton and
-Argyll. At this juncture young Lord Kerr sent by the Earl of Crawford
-a challenge of treason to Hamilton, who appealed to Parliament in his
-justification, and Kerr was compelled to make an apology. But if we are
-to believe Hamilton himself, this did not prevent the prosecution of
-the plot to assassinate or carry them off to some place of concealment.
-He says, in a letter to his brother, Lord Lanark, that he was sent for
-suddenly by his brother and Argyll, as he was engaged with some company,
-desiring him to go to them on matters of the utmost consequence. When
-he went he was told by them that they had been desired to go to General
-Leslie, at his house, who informed them of a plot to kill or carry them
-away. On this being confirmed to Hamilton by Colonel Hurrie and Captain
-Stuart, the three lost no time in escaping from the city to Hamilton
-House, at Kinneil; whilst the rumour of the plot spreading, the burghers
-of Edinburgh had closed their gates, and armed themselves for the defence
-of the Parliament.
-
-As this was a direct charge of a most black and murderous design on the
-part of the king, he lost no time, on receiving letters from the fugitive
-noblemen stating why they had fled, in marching to the Parliament House
-at the head of five hundred soldiers, to demand an explanation. The
-Parliament was justly alarmed at this menacing movement, and insisted
-that a commission should immediately be given to Leslie to guard
-Parliament with all the city bands, the regiments of foot near at hand,
-and some troops of horse.
-
-Charles was loud in his complaints of the scandal cast upon him by the
-needless flight of the three noblemen and the arming of the citizens,
-and demanded an instant examination before Parliament for his clearance.
-The Parliament would not consent to a trial before the whole House; but
-in spite of the king's remonstrances, referred it to a committee, and
-ordered the immediate arrest of the Earl of Crawford, Colonel Cochrane,
-William Murray, and others. What the committee discovered is not known,
-for its proceedings were conducted with the profoundest secrecy; and
-they finally came to the conclusion that there was nothing which touched
-the king personally; and yet that the noblemen did not flee without
-sufficient cause, and were falsely accused by Montrose. Montrose himself,
-when examined regarding the letter to the king, declared that he meant
-to accuse nobody in particular; and Crawford, Murray, and the rest, gave
-confused and disordered answers. All was involved in mystery, and this
-was no little increased by Hamilton and Argyll returning to Edinburgh
-in the course of a few weeks, and Hamilton declaring that there was
-nothing in the affair which reflected any dishonour on the king. Still
-more to confound all reasoning on the matter, the plotters not only were
-liberated on bail, but Argyll was placed at the head of the Treasury, was
-created a marquis, Hamilton a duke, and Leslie an earl, with the title of
-Leven.
-
-The news of the plot had been despatched with all speed to the Parliament
-in England, and had created great alarm in London, many being of opinion
-that a conspiracy was on foot to get rid of all the king's opponents.
-Parliament, which had adjourned to the 20th of October, had just met
-again, and the Council sent urgent requests for the return of the king to
-the capital.
-
-The king, however, appeared in no haste. He remained entertaining all
-parties in great festivity, distributing the forfeited church lands
-amongst influential persons, not excepting his covenanting chaplain,
-Henderson. Honours were as freely bestowed. It was found that Charles
-had carried the Crown jewels with him: it was now well known that the
-great collar of rubies was pawned in Holland, and it was believed that
-Charles was buying up his enemies with others of the jewels, afterwards
-to be exchanged for money. These unpleasant suspicions were greatly
-increased by the fact that five companies of foot had, by the king's
-especial command, been detained at Berwick, notwithstanding the order for
-disbandment. The Council sent six ships to fetch away the artillery and
-ammunition from Berwick and Holy Isle, and again represented to Charles
-the necessity of his presence in London.
-
-His departure, however, was at length determined by startling news out of
-another quarter, namely, of rebellion in Ireland.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-
-    Abbott Bishop, Primate, 464.
-
-    "Addled Parliament," The, 453.
-
-    Albany, Duke of, assumes title of Alexander, King of Scotland, 44.
-
-    Albany, Duke of, proclaimed joint king with Mary of Scotland,
-        assassination of Rizzio, 264;
-      flees to Dunbar with Mary, 266;
-      unpopularity among the nobles, 267;
-      plot against him, 268;
-      murdered, 269.
-      (_See_ also Darnley, Lord.)
-
-    Amboise, Peace of, 258.
-
-    Amiens, Truce of, 39.
-
-    Archery, Decay of, 16th century, 388.
-
-    Architecture, 15th century, 67;
-      16th century, decline of Gothic, 380;
-      old Tudor, 381.
-
-    Argyle, Earl of, chief director of the Assembly, 572.
-
-    Armada, The Spanish, preparation by Philip, 315;
-      English fleet, 316;
-      strength of Armada, preparation for defence, 318;
-      sets sail, driven back by storm, sails up Channel, chased by
-        English, 319;
-      fight renewed, 320;
-      fire ships, 322;
-      retreat of Armada, English land forces, 323.
-
-    Arms and Armour, 16th century, 387.
-
-    Arran, Earl of, Regent, 191;
-      relations with England, 193;
-      with France, 194;
-      reconciled to Beaton, 194.
-
-    Arthur, Prince, married to Catherine of Aragon, 97;
-      death and character, 98.
-
-    Ascham, Roger, 363.
-
-    Aske, Robert, executed, 172.
-
-    Askew, Anne, tortured and burnt, 202.
-
-    Audley, Lord, the Cornish rising, 90.
-
-
-    Babington, Anthony, plot against Elizabeth, 306;
-      execution, 307.
-
-    Bacon, Sir Francis, scheme for managing Commons, 452;
-      Attorney General, 453;
-      undignified conduct on fall of Coke, Lord Keeper, 459;
-      Buckingham and Coke's daughter, 468;
-      Lord Chancellor, Baron Verulam, 470.
-      (_See_ also Verulam, Baron.)
-
-    Bacon, Sir Nicholas, first Baronet created, 452.
-
-    Bancroft, Bishop of London, Archbishop of Canterbury, 415;
-      animosity to Catholic and Protestant Nonconformists, 419;
-      supports James's claim to Royal Prerogative, 439;
-      death, 441.
-
-    Bankruptcy, Statute of, 347.
-
-    Barnet, Battle of, 34.
-
-    Baronet, new title created by James I.: its abuse, 452.
-
-    "Basilicon Doron," 413.
-
-    Bastwick, Dr., 555, 591.
-
-    Beaton, Cardinal, sent to Rome, 190;
-      claims regency, solicits aid from France, imprisonment, 191;
-      escape, 192;
-      plot to assassinate, 196;
-      burns Wishart, 199;
-      assassinated, 200.
-
-    "Benevolences," 453.
-
-    "Black Saturday," 206.
-
-    Blackwater, Battle of, 334.
-
-    "Bloody Statute," The, 175.
-
-    Boleyn, Anne, 146;
-      created Marchioness of Pembroke, married privately to Henry VIII.,
-        crowned, 156;
-      plot against, 164;
-      indicted for high treason, 166;
-      her defence, 167;
-      beheaded, 168.
-
-    Bonner, Bishop of London, imprisoned by Ecclesiastical Commission, 207;
-      deprived of his see, 216;
-      restoration of Catholicism, inhumanity, 236;
-      chief inquisitor, 238;
-      treated coldly by Elizabeth, 246.
-
-    Bosworth, Battle of, 63.
-
-    Bothwell, Earl of, murder of Darnley, mock trial and acquittal, 270;
-      divorce from his wife, created Duke of Orkney and Shetland,
-        marriage with Mary, 271;
-      rising of nobility, flight and death, 272.
-
-    Bothwell, Lord, intrigues to capture Scottish king, 89;
-      spy in Scottish camp, 90.
-
-    Brackenbury, Sir Robert, 54.
-
-    Brandon, Sir Charles, Lord Lisle. (_See_ Suffolk, Duke of.)
-
-    Buckingham, Duke of, 47;
-      harangues citizens of London in favour of Gloucester, offers crown
-        to him, 54;
-      instigates revolt to set Edward V. on the throne: his descent, 54;
-      proclaimed traitor by Richard III., 56;
-      marches to join Richmond, 57;
-      executed at Salisbury, 58.
-
-    Buckingham, Duke of, executed on charge of practising astrology, 124.
-
-    Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, 470;
-      his power, 471;
-      in Spain, 491;
-      at conference of Houses, 500;
-      impeachment, 519;
-      French expedition, 524;
-      assassinated, 536.
-
-    "Buckingham's Flood," 58.
-
-    Bulmer, Lady, burnt at Smithfield, 172.
-
-    Burleigh, Lord, Norfolk's execution, 289;
-      urges death of Mary, 290;
-      Mendoza, 303;
-      Lord Treasurer, 308;
-      Mary's death-warrant, 311;
-      counsels assistance to Henry of Navarre, 327;
-      death, 332.
-
-    "Bye Plot," The, 408.
-
-
-    Carr, Robert, 44.
-      (_See_ Rochester, Viscount.)
-
-    Casket Letters, The, 278.
-
-    Cateau-Cambresis, Treaty of, 250.
-
-    Catesby, Robert, Gunpowder Plot, 419.
-
-    Catherine of Aragon, married to Prince Arthur, 97;
-      betrothed to Prince Henry, 98;
-      married, 102;
-      regent during Henry's absence in France, 107;
-      treatment by the King, 146;
-      trial, 151;
-      divorce, 156.
-
-    Cavendish, Thomas, successful expedition to Spanish Main, 315.
-
-    Caxton, William, 66.
-
-    Cecil, Sir Robert, assembles council to proclaim James King, 404;
-      enmity to Raleigh, Cobham, and Gray, 406;
-      created Lord Cecil, Viscount Cranbourne, Earl of Salisbury, 406;
-      conspiracy against, 408;
-      Catesby's conspiracy, 423;
-      Lord Treasurer, 438;
-      death, 441.
-
-    Cecil, Sir William, confidential counsellor of Elizabeth, Secretary
-        of State, 246;
-      policy to Scottish reformers, 252;
-      Cecil and Elizabeth's relations to Leicester, 259;
-      Cecil and Murray, 277;
-      hostility to Mary Stuart's friends, 278;
-      Cecil and Knox, 283;
-      Scottish policy, 285;
-      Duke of Norfolk and Ridolfi plot, 288.
-      (_See_ also Burleigh, Lord.)
-
-    Charles, Prince, Spanish match, 491;
-      Henrietta of France, 503.
-
-    Charles I., First Parliament, 509;
-      tonnage and poundage, 514;
-      scheme to prevent Buckingham's impeachment, Second Parliament, 315;
-      illegal government, 522;
-      failure of expedition to Rhé, 524;
-      Third Parliament, 527;
-      the subsidies, 528;
-      Petition of Right, resistance of Charles, 531;
-      passed, 534;
-      force sent under Buckingham to aid the Rochellais, 535;
-      crowned at Edinburgh, 550;
-      adherence to Anglican Church, 551;
-      Bishop Williams, 556;
-      ship money, treaty with Spain against Holland, 557;
-      treatment of Irish, 564;
-      renewal of the covenant, temporises, 570;
-      letter to general assembly, 572;
-      conference, 578;
-      Wentworth, 581;
-      the Short Parliament, 584;
-      illegal extortions, 585;
-      Scottish Parliament, 586;
-      the Long Parliament, 590;
-      trial of Strafford, 595;
-      visits Scotland, 606.
-
-    Charolais, Count of, 38.
-
-    Chimneys, Introduction of, 382.
-
-    Clarence, Duke of, marries Isabel of Warwick, retires to Calais, 26;
-      at Olney, 27;
-      secret agreement with Edward to desert Warwick, 30;
-      joined in regency with Warwick, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 31;
-      deserts to Edward on eve of Barnet, 33;
-      quarrel with Gloucester, 36;
-      act of resumption, death of Isabel, 40;
-      suitor of Mary of Burgundy, 41;
-      at feud with Edward, charged with treason, death in the Tower, 42.
-
-    Cleves, Anne of, 178;
-      her reception by, and marriage to Henry VIII., 179;
-      divorced, retires to her estates, 183.
-
-    Coins and coinage, 15th century, 75;
-      16th century, their debasement, 392;
-      restitution of value by Elizabeth, 393.
-
-    Coke, Lord, indicts Raleigh, 410;
-      trial of Somerset, 453;
-      supports royal prerogative, 458;
-      disgrace, 459;
-      restored, 469;
-      popular leader, 489;
-      speeches in Parliament, 528.
-
-    Colonies, 395.
-
-    Commerce, 16th century, 394.
-
-    "Complaints of the Commons of Kent," 2.
-
-    Congregationalists, 356.
-
-    Costumes, 16th century, 388.
-
-    Courtenay, Earl of Devon, plot to marry Elizabeth and dethrone
-        Mary, 238.
-
-    Coverdale, Miles, 237.
-
-    Cranmer, Thomas, plan for settlement of King's divorce, 155;
-      Archbishop of Canterbury, 156;
-      Chancellor of the Exchequer, 157;
-      introduces bill for the supremacy and the succession, 158;
-      confesses Anne Boleyn, 167;
-      head of reforming party, 170;
-      conforms outwardly to statute of Six Articles, 175;
-      Anne of Cleves, 179;
-      fall of Cromwell, 182;
-      Catherine Howard, 184;
-      catechism, 207;
-      frames articles and canons, 219;
-      attainted, 227;
-      trial at St. Mary's, Oxford, 238;
-      cited to appear at Rome, renouncement and recantation, 239;
-      burnt at Oxford, 240.
-
-    Cromwell, Oliver, 538.
-
-    Cromwell, Thomas, successful advice on divorce to Henry VIII.,
-        Privy Councillor, 155;
-      Archbishop of Canterbury, pronounces Henry's marriage with
-        Anne Boleyn valid, 156;
-      Vicar General, 163;
-      Lord Cromwell, 170;
-      proposes royal marriage with Anne of Cleves, 178;
-      Earl of Essex and Lord Chamberlain, 180;
-      bill of attainder, execution, character, 182.
-
-    Culpepper, Thomas, alleged intrigue with his cousin, Catherine
-        Howard, 184;
-      attainted and executed, 185.
-
-
-    Darnley, Lord, 261;
-      marries Mary Queen of Scots, created Duke of Albany, 263.
-      (_See_ Albany, Duke of.)
-
-    Daubeny, Lord, suppresses Cornish rising, 91;
-      commands Royal forces against Warbeck, 94.
-
-    "De Tallagio non concedendo," 530, 559.
-
-    Desmond, Earl of, rebellion, 296.
-
-    Digby, Sir Everard, Gunpowder Plot, 424.
-
-    Dighton, John, murders Princes in the Tower, 54.
-
-    Douglas, Archibald, Earl of Angus, "Bell the Cat," puts to death
-        Earl of Mar, 44.
-
-    Drake, Sir Francis, sent by Elizabeth to harass Spanish settlements,
-        special favours from the Queen, 305;
-      exploits against the Spaniards, circumnavigates the globe,
-        knighted, 314;
-      destruction of ships in Cadiz harbour, 315;
-      fights against the Armada, 319;
-      expedition to Portugal, 326;
-      failure of expedition against Spanish settlements, death, 328.
-
-    Dudley, Sir Henry, plots to set Princess Elizabeth on the throne, 242;
-      plan to betray Hammes and Guines to the French, 243.
-
-    Dudley, Robert, 242;
-      Master of Ordnance, 243;
-      announces loss of Rouen to Elizabeth, 258;
-      her attachment to him, special favours, 259.
-      (_See_ Leicester, Earl of.)
-
-    Dymoke, Sir Thomas, 28.
-
-
-    East India Company chartered, 398.
-
-    Ecclesiastical History under Tudors, 351.
-
-    Edgecote, Battle of, 27.
-
-    Edward, Prince of Wales, 6;
-      attainted, 19;
-      saved by an outlaw, 22;
-      marries Anne of Warwick, 30;
-      crown settled on by Warwick's Parliament, 31;
-      death at Tewkesbury, 35.
-
-    Edward IV. crowned, 19;
-      secret marriage with Elizabeth Woodville, 23;
-      alliance of his sister Margaret and embassy to France, 24;
-      insurrection against him, 26;
-      unpopularity of the Woodvilles, 27;
-      taken prisoner at Olney by Warwick, 27;
-      marriage of daughter to George Neville, 27;
-      escapes from the Moor to Windsor, insurrections in Lincolnshire, 28;
-      detaches Clarence from Warwick, 30;
-      escapes to Court of Burgundy, 31;
-      lands at Ravenspur, 32;
-      defeats Warwick at Barnet, 33;
-      triumphant return to London, 36;
-      alliance with Burgundy against France, 38;
-      Treaty of Amiens, 39;
-      dissatisfaction of English, 40;
-      projected alliances, 43;
-      anger against Louis, 44;
-      death, burial at Westminster, character, 45;
-      children, 46.
-
-    Edward V., 46;
-      proposal for his coronation by Queen Mother, 47;
-      seized by Gloucester, conducted in state to London and removed to
-        the Tower, 48;
-      murder in the Tower, 54;
-      Sir Thomas More's account, 55.
-
-    Edward VI., 204;
-      repeal of Penal Acts of Henry, changes in doctrines and Church
-        discipline, 207;
-      Catechism and Liturgy, Book of Common Prayer, war with Scotland, 208;
-      public discontent and risings, 210;
-      Fall of Somerset, surrender of Boulogne, Church reform, 215;
-      new law of treason, revision of Prayer-Book, Act for compulsory
-        attendance at church, 218;
-      Cranmer's Articles of Religion and Code, failing health, 219;
-      change in the succession, death, 220.
-
-    Eliot, Sir John, 520;
-      speech in Parliament, 531;
-      imprisoned, 542.
-
-    Elizabeth, ecclesiastical legislation, 247;
-      Philip's proposed marriage, 248;
-      assumes title of Queen of France, 248;
-      relations with Mary Queen of Scots, 250;
-      indignation at Peace of Amboise, 258;
-      imprisons Mary, 274;
-      Commission of Inquiry, 275;
-      aids Protestants of France and Belgium, 279;
-      anger at proposed marriage of Duke of Norfolk, 280;
-      religious persecutions, 287;
-      Ridolfi plot, 289;
-      Duke of Anjou, 294;
-      religious conformity, 297;
-      relations with James VI., 303;
-      treaty with Protestants of the Netherlands, 305;
-      hesitation to sign death-warrant of Mary, 310;
-      sends Drake to harass Spanish Armada, betrays parsimony, 315;
-      negotiations with Philip's commissioners, 318;
-      reviews troops at Tilbury, 324;
-      persecution of Catholics and Puritans, 325;
-      sends Drake to Portugal, 326;
-      assists Henry IV. against Catholic League, 327;
-      rupture with Essex, 332;
-      death, 241.
-
-    Empson and Dudley, agents of Henry VII.'s avarice, 109.
-
-    Erpingham, Battle of, 28.
-
-    Essex, Earl of, created Marquis of Northampton, 207.
-
-    Essex, Earl of, Walter Devereux, plan to subjugate and colonise
-        Ireland, 295;
-      appointed Earl Marshal of Ireland, 296.
-
-    Essex, Earl of, favourite of Elizabeth, gallant conduct at
-        Peniche, 326;
-      at Cadiz, 329;
-      hostility of Cecils, commands Spanish expedition, 330;
-      Earl Marshal, 331;
-      quarrel with the queen, 332;
-      Lord-Deputy in Ireland, failure, 334;
-      trial, 335;
-      conspiracy, 336;
-      tried and executed, 338.
-
-    Étaples, Treaty of, 84.
-
-
-    Falkland, Lord, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, recalled, 560.
-
-    Fawkes, Guido, 420;
-      gunpowder plot, 422;
-      arrested, 427;
-      executed, 430.
-
-    Felton, John, 536.
-
-    Ferrybridge, Battle of, 18.
-
-    Field of the Cloth of Gold, 124.
-
-    Finch, Sir John, Speaker of the Commons, Chief Justice, 558;
-      speech at opening of Short Parliament, 582.
-
-    Firearms, 16th century, 388.
-
-    Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, refuses to take new oath of
-        allegiance, 152;
-      attainted and beheaded, 162.
-
-    Fitzgerald, Lord Thomas, 187;
-      surrenders to Lord Gray, 188.
-
-    Fitzhugh, Lord, 26.
-
-    Fitzwilliam, Sir William, created Earl of Southampton and Lord
-        High Admiral, 173;
-      receives Catherine Howard's confession of infidelity, 185.
-
-    "Five Articles," The, 463.
-
-    Flodden Field, Battle of, 112.
-
-    Forest, Miles, murders princes in the Tower, 54;
-      rewarded by Richard III., 55.
-
-    Fox, Bishop, 78.
-
-    France, Louis XI., 19;
-      invaded by Edward IV., 39;
-      expedition against Charles VIII. by Henry VII., 84;
-      invasion by Henry VIII., 107;
-      marriage of Princess Mary and Louis, 115;
-      alliance sought by Francis, 123;
-      war with England, 129;
-      treaty with Henry VIII., 143;
-      advantageous peace, 215;
-      Calais regained, 244.
-
-    Frobisher, Martin, 316;
-      bravery against Armada, 319.
-
-    Furniture and Decoration, 16th century, 386.
-
-
-    Gardiner, 147;
-      preaches at St. Paul's Cross against Lutheran doctrines, 180;
-      growing influence, 186;
-      impolitic conduct, 202;
-      disgrace and banishment from Court, 203;
-      imprisoned by Ecclesiastical Commission, 207;
-      liberated by Mary, 223;
-      patriotic caution, 226;
-      Chancellor, 227;
-      proposes reconciliation with Rome, 235;
-      President of Commission to try heretics, 236;
-      withdraws from the office, 238;
-      death, 242.
-
-    Garnet (Gunpowder plot) hanged, 430.
-
-    Gloucester, Richard, Duke of, accompanies Edward IV. in his flight
-        to the Continent, 31;
-      visits his brother Clarence the night before Barnet, 33;
-      quarrel with Clarence over Warwick estates, 36;
-      marries Anne of Warwick, 37;
-      pays court to Louis XI., 39;
-      hostile conduct towards Clarence, 42;
-      commands army against Scotch, enters Edinburgh, 44;
-      pledges support to Edward V., 46;
-      arrests Lords Grey and Rivers and others, 47;
-      seizes the king, 48;
-      and his brother, 49;
-      holds London in subjection, 50;
-      accepts Crown at Baynard's Castle, proclaims amnesty, 51;
-      crowned, 52.
-      (_See_ also Richard III.)
-
-    Gondamar, Spanish Ambassador, 474.
-
-    Gordon, Lady Catherine, marries Warbeck, 88;
-      attached to Queen's Court, 94.
-
-    Gowrie Conspiracy, The, 406.
-
-    Gresham, Sir Thomas, 395.
-
-    Grey, Lady Jane, 202;
-      marries Lord Guildford Dudley, and is made Queen, 220;
-      beheaded, 232.
-
-    Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury, 298.
-
-    Guinegate, Battle of. (_See_ "Spurs," 110.)
-
-    Guise, Duke of, head of Catholic League, 304;
-      assassinated, 313.
-
-    Gunpowder Plot, The, 419-430.
-
-
-    Hamilton, Marquis of, sent by Charles to Covenanters, 568;
-      concessions, 570;
-      opens General Assembly, 571;
-      letter to Charles, 572;
-      ill-success of fleet, 577.
-
-    Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, 283;
-      assassinates Murray, 284.
-
-    Hampden, John, 552;
-      ship money, 560.
-
-    Hampton Court Conference, 414.
-
-    Hastings, Lord, confidant of Gloucester, 47.
-
-    Hawkins, Sir John, 313;
-      originates slave trade, 314.
-
-    Hedgeley Moor, Battle of, 21.
-
-    Henry VI., his imbecility, 6;
-      York appointed Protector, 7;
-      defeated at St. Albans, 8;
-      Great Council of Coventry, 9;
-      Conference at London, 10;
-      at Ludiford, 11;
-      defeated at Northampton, Parliament for redress of grievances, 13;
-      assents to bill of succession, 14;
-      attainted by Parliament, 19;
-      at Harlech Castle, 20;
-      captured and imprisoned, 22;
-      restored to throne by Warwick, 31;
-      defeat of Barnet, 34;
-      death in the Tower, burial at Chertsey Abbey, body removed by
-        Richard III. to Windsor, 36.
-
-    Henry VII., defective title, Parliament and attainted members, 76;
-      claims acknowledged by Parliament, 77;
-      marriage, Lord Lovel's rising, Lambert Simnel, 78;
-      failure of rebellion, 79;
-      battle of Lincoln Stoke, 81;
-      coronation of Elizabeth, 82;
-      origin of Star Chamber, 82;
-      his avarice, 82;
-      discontent in England, invasion of France, 83;
-      Treaty of Étaples, 84;
-      Perkin Warbeck, 85;
-      Scottish affairs, 89;
-      Cornish revolt, 90;
-      fresh invasion of the Scots, 91;
-      visits France, affiance of daughter Margaret to James
-        of Scotland, 96;
-      marriage of Prince Arthur to Catherine of Aragon, 97;
-      matrimonial schemes, death of Elizabeth, 98;
-      exactions, 99;
-      Philip of Flanders and his wife Joanna at Windsor, 99;
-      proposes marriage to Joanna when widow, 99;
-     death, 101.
-
-    Henry VIII., marries Catherine of Aragon, 102;
-      meets Maximilian, 108;
-      Wolsey, 116;
-      meets Charles V. at Dover and Field of the Cloth of Gold, 124;
-      secret treaty with Charles, 136;
-      "Defender of the Faith," seeks divorce, 145;
-      refers question to Clement VII., 147;
-      claims supremacy as head of the Church, 156;
-      suppresses the monasteries, 163;
-      execution of Anne Boleyn, 168;
-      marries Jane Seymour, 169;
-      Statute of the Six Articles, 175;
-      execution of relatives of Cardinal Pole, 176;
-      marries Anne of Cleves, 179;
-      disgraces Cromwell, 181;
-      marries Catherine Howard, 183;
-      Royal progress in the North, 184;
-      publishes Bishops' Book and the King's Book, 186;
-      claims Crown of Scotland, 190;
-      marries Catherine Parr, 195;
-      death, children, succession, 204.
-
-    Henry of Navarre, 304;
-      assisted by Elizabeth against Catholic League, abjures
-        Protestant faith, 327;
-      league with Elizabeth against Spain, 328;
-      assassinated, 445.
-
-    Henry, Prince, son of James I., popularity and character, 446;
-      proposed alliance with Princess Christine of France, illness
-        and death, 447.
-
-    Herbert, Lord, besieges Terouenne, 107;
-      created Earl of Somerset, 114.
-
-    Hertford, Earl of, takes title of Lord Protector and Duke of
-        Somerset, 205.
-      (_See_ Somerset.)
-
-    Hewett, Andrew, burnt at Smithfield, 160.
-
-    Hexham, Battle of, 21.
-
-    High Commission, Court of, 350, 606.
-
-    Holbein, Hans, 383.
-
-    Holles imprisoned, 540;
-      demands impeachment of Laud, 591.
-
-    "Holy Maid of Kent," 158.
-
-    Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, burnt, 236.
-
-    Howard, Lord, Earl Marshal, and Duke of Norfolk, 53;
-      falls at Bosworth, 64.
-
-    Howard, Lord, of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, 316;
-      created Earl of Nottingham, 331.
-
-    Howard, Lord Thomas, Lord Admiral, 107;
-      at Flodden, 111;
-      Earl of Surrey, 114;
-      war with France, 130;
-      sentenced to death, but escapes execution, 203.
-
-    Howard, Sir Edward, Lord Admiral, commands fleet against French, 105;
-      blockades Brest, brave death, 107.
-
-    Huguenots and Elizabeth, 257;
-      rise under Condé, 279;
-      massacre of St. Bartholomew, 289;
-      horror excited by, Elizabeth assists the Rochellais, 290;
-      expedition to Isle of Rhé, 507.
-
-
-    Independents, 356.
-
-    Ireland, Simnel in, 79;
-      Warbeck in, 86;
-      insurrection, 187;
-      made a kingdom, 189;
-      plantation of Ulster, 295;
-      Desmond's rebellion, 296;
-      Essex in, 333;
-      Tyrone's revolt, 334;
-      inquiry into titles, 464;
-      oppression of Catholics, 467;
-      Wentworth, 561;
-      his "Thorough" policy, 563.
-
-
-    Jack Cade, 2;
-      takes possession of London,
-      slain by Iden, 3.
-
-    Jacquetta of Luxembourg, 22.
-
-    James I., wholesale creation of peers and knights, 405;
-      "Main" and "Bye" plots, 408;
-      Hampton Court conference, 414;
-      abuse of royal prerogative at elections, 416;
-      Gunpowder Plot, 419;
-      royal treatise, Cardinal Bellarmine, 432;
-      collisions with Parliament, 434;
-      extravagance and impecuniosity, 436;
-      exaction of duties, 438;
-      Lady Arabella Stuart, 442;
-      Prince Henry, 446;
-      marriage of daughter Elizabeth, 447;
-      reign of favourites, 448;
-      venality at Court, 451;
-      George Villiers, fall of Somerset, 454;
-      episcopacy in Scotland, 462;
-      plantation of Ulster, 466;
-      execution of Raleigh, 478;
-      thirty years' war, 479;
-      his indecision, 480;
-      inquiry by Parliament into abuse of patents, 482;
-      "governing well," 488;
-      the Spanish match, 489;
-      negotiations with the Pope, 492;
-      public and private treaty with Spain, 495;
-      match between Henrietta and Prince Charles, 503;
-      secret arrangement with France, 506;
-      death, 507.
-
-    James II. of Scotland, slain at Roxburgh, 18.
-
-    James III. of Scotland, 43.
-
-    James IV. of Scotland, slain at Flodden, 114.
-
-    Jane Shore, 36.
-
-    Jesuits, Campian and Parsons, Elizabeth's proclamation against, 298;
-      their schemes and plots, 303.
-
-    "John Amend All," 2.
-
-    Juxon, Dean of Westminster, Bishop of London, Lord High Treasurer, 554.
-
-
-    Ket, Robert, rising in Norfolk, 211;
-      repulses royal troops, burns Norwich, 212;
-      defeat at Dussingdale, hanged, 213.
-
-    "King's Book," The, 186.
-
-    Knox, John, arrives from France, promotes the Reformation in
-        Scotland, 251;
-      urges on Cecil death of Mary Stuart, 283.
-
-
-    Lambert, John, reformer, put to death, 175.
-
-    Latimer, Bishop, sent to Tower, 227;
-      tried at Oxford and burnt, 238.
-
-    Laud, 464;
-      Bishop of Bath and Wells, 523;
-      chief ecclesiastical adviser, 537;
-      Bishop of London, 538;
-      "Thorough," 543;
-      offered Cardinal's hat by Pope, 548;
-      Arminian controversy, 549;
-      visits Scotland with Charles, erects Edinburgh into a bishopric,
-        Primate of England, relations with Papal see, 551;
-      ecclesiastical measures, 552;
-      Lord High Treasurer, 554;
-      cruel treatment of Prynne, Bastwick, Burton, Lilburne, and Williams,
-        Bishop of Lincoln, 556;
-      admonishes Wentworth, 564;
-      counsels peaceful measure in Scotland, 574;
-      publishes new canons, 584;
-      Lambeth Palace attacked by mob, 586;
-      impeachment demanded by Commons, 591.
-
-    Learning, Revival of, 359.
-
-    Leicester, Earl of, scandal, 259;
-      supports scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart to Duke of Norfolk, 280;
-      expedition to Netherlands, 306;
-      commands forces at Tilbury, proposed honours, death, 324;
-      (_See_ also Dudley, Robert.)
-
-    Lenthall, Speaker of Long Parliament, 590.
-
-    Leslie, General, surprises Edinburgh, 574;
-      Dunse Hill, 576;
-      crosses the Tweed, 587;
-      ennobled by Charles, 607.
-
-    "Levellers," The, 435.
-
-    Lilburne, sentence of Star Chamber, 556.
-
-    Lincoln Stoke, Battle of, 81.
-
-    Literature and science, 16th century, 358.
-
-    Long Parliament, The, 590;
-      temper of the new House, awards compensation to Prynne, Burton,
-        and Bastwick, demands impeachment of Laud, 591;
-      impeachment of Strafford, 593;
-      reforms demanded, "root and branch" petition, 594;
-      trial of Strafford, 595;
-      Pym's indictment, 596;
-      passes Bill of Attainder, 600;
-      intervention of Charles, 601;
-      Star Chamber and High Commission Court abolished, 606.
-
-    Lovel, Lord, 78.
-
-    Ludiford, Battle of, 11.
-
-    Luther, Martin, 145.
-
-
-    "Main" Plot, The, 408.
-
-    Maintenance, Act of, 82.
-
-    Maitland of Lethington, Secretary of State to Mary Stuart, 255;
-      conspiracy against Rizzio, flees, reinstated, 266;
-      scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart with Norfolk, 280;
-      betrayed by Murray, 281.
-
-    "Malevolences," 60.
-
-    Mar, Earl of, hostilities with Earl of Huntley and the Gordons, 256;
-      exchanges his title for Earl of Murray, 256.
-
-    March, Edward, Earl of, declared king by Great Council of Yorkists, 16.
-      (_See_ also Edward IV.)
-
-    Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI., queen's party, 4;
-      machinations against York, 8;
-      flees with son to Scotland, 13;
-      gains victory at Wakefield, 15;
-      struggle with Edward IV., 17;
-      her efforts to regain the throne, 19;
-      sails for England, 20;
-      defeat at Hexham, 21;
-      flees to Scotland with Prince Edward, 22;
-      reconciliation with Warwick, 29;
-      Battle of Tewkesbury ransomed by Louis, retires to Castle of
-        Reculé, 36.
-
-    "Martin Marprelate," 325.
-
-    Mary, Princess, treatment by Warwick's party, interposition of
-        Charles V., 216;
-      claims the crown from the Privy Council, 221;
-      rising in her favour, 222;
-      Council in Northumberland's absence declares for Mary, 223.
-      (_See_ also Mary, Queen.)
-
-    Mary, Queen, triumphal entry into London, appeals to Charles V.
-        for guidance, 223;
-      her clemency, 224;
-      Papal See, 225;
-      restoration of Roman Church, 227;
-      persecution of the reformed clergy, 226;
-      opposition of Council and Protestant party, 227;
-      terms of marriage treaty, 228;
-      insurrections, 228;
-      Elizabeth, 234;
-      Mary's marriage with Philip, repeal of penal statutes against
-        Catholics, 235;
-      persecution of Protestants, 236;
-      false report of birth of a prince, 238;
-      Philip's departure, 241;
-      conspiracy to place Elizabeth on throne, 242;
-      conspiracy under Stafford, 243;
-      war against France, 243;
-      loss of Calais, 244;
-      death, character, 246.
-
-    Mary Queen of Scots, marries Dauphin, 250;
-      death of Francis II., 254;
-      returns to Scotland, person and character, 255;
-      marries Darnley, 262;
-      asserts her prerogative as queen, connection with Rizzio, 263;
-      birth of James, 266;
-      murder of Darnley, 269;
-      her unpopularity, 270;
-      seizure by Bothwell and marriage, insurrection of nobles, 271;
-      captured, 272;
-      imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, resigns throne in favour of
-        James, 273;
-      flight to England, 274;
-      conference at York, 275;
-      at Westminster, 276;
-      removed by Elizabeth from Scottish border, Act against her, 304;
-      Babington's plot, 306;
-      trial, 308;
-      hesitation of Elizabeth, 310;
-      execution, 311.
-
-    Mechlin, League of, 106.
-
-    Medina Sidonia, Duke of, commands Spanish Armada, 319.
-
-    Melville, Andrew, succeeds Knox, refuses to conform, committed to
-        Tower, dies in banishment at Sedan, 462.
-
-    Mercantile Marine, 16th century, 394.
-
-    Merchant Adventurers of London, The, 395.
-
-    Monteagle, Lord, 114.
-
-    Montrose, Marquis of, joins Leslie at Dunse Hill, 576;
-      won over to Royal party, 578;
-      arrested, 606.
-
-    More, Sir Thomas, Speaker House of Commons, 134;
-      question of Henry's divorce submitted to him, 147;
-      Lord Chancellor, 154;
-      beheaded, 163;
-      his "Utopia," 362.
-
-    Mortimer's Cross, Battle of, 16.
-
-    Morton, Archbishop, 78.
-
-    Morton, Regent of Scotland, ordered to resign, regains power, 299;
-      charged with murder of Darnley, intercession of Elizabeth, 300;
-      trial and execution, 301.
-
-    Mountjoy, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, 338.
-
-    Murray, Earl of, threatened forfeiture, 263;
-      Bothwell, 267;
-      retires to France, 270;
-      Regent, 273;
-      Commission of Inquiry on Mary Stuart, 275;
-      entrapped by Cecil, 277;
-      party to scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart with Duke of
-        Norfolk, 280;
-      betrays Maitland, 281;
-      negotiations with Elizabeth for surrender of Mary, 283;
-      assassinated, 284.
-
-    Music of the 16th century, 378.
-
-    "My Lord of Misrule," Stubbs quoted, 399.
-
-
-    Nantes, Edict of, 331.
-
-    Navy office, founded by Henry VIII., 394.
-
-    Navy, The Royal, 16th century, 393.
-
-    Netherlands, Protestant revolt, 279;
-      Elizabeth's aid to, 292.
-
-    Nonconformists, The, 356.
-
-    Norfolk, Duke of, president of the council, 154;
-      condemned for treason, 203;
-      miraculous escape, 204.
-
-    Norfolk, Duke of, a commissioner to try Mary Stuart, 275;
-      secret design to marry Mary, 276;
-      hostility to Cecil, 278;
-      displeasure of Elizabeth, 280;
-      tried for treason, 288;
-      executed, 289.
-
-    Northampton, Battle of, 13.
-
-    Northumberland, Duke of, Dudley, disgraceful peace with France, 216;
-      avarice, 219;
-      scheme for changing the succession, 220;
-      insurrection in favour of Mary, 222;
-      trial with chief associates on the council, beheaded, 224.
-      (_See_ also Warwick, Dudley, Earl of.)
-
-    "Novum Organum," The, 378.
-
-    Noye, Attorney General, proposes ship-money, 557;
-      death, 558.
-
-
-    O'Neill, created Earl of Tyrone, 189.
-
-    Overbury, Sir Thomas, connection and influence with Carr, 448;
-      committed to Tower, 449;
-      death, 451.
-
-
-    Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, 248.
-
-    Parma, Prince of, opposes army under Leicester, 306;
-      private mission from Elizabeth, 313;
-      preparations to invade England, 315.
-
-    Parr, Catherine, wife of Henry VIII., her Protestant sympathies, 195;
-      her narrow escape, 202;
-      marries privately Baron Seymour, 208;
-      death, 209.
-
-    Pavia, Battle of, 140.
-
-    Petition of Right, 531, 534.
-
-    Philip of Spain, marries Mary, his unpopularity, 235;
-      Act constituting him Regent, 236;
-      succeeds Charles V., 241;
-      quits England, revisits it to urge war against France, 242;
-      incursions of English ships on Spanish Main, 313;
-      makes preparation to invade England, 313;
-      dispersion of his Armada, 323;
-      death, 332.
-
-    Pilgrimage of Grace, The, 171.
-
-    Poets, Tudor Period, 366.
-
-    Pinkie, Battle of, 206.
-
-    Plagues in London, 96, 259, 406.
-
-    Pole, Cardinal, 175;
-      Papal legate to Queen Mary, 225;
-      addresses Parliament and grants Papal absolution, 235;
-      endeavours to check persecutions, 238;
-      Primate, 240;
-      opposes war with France, 242.
-
-    Poor Law Act, 43, 403.
-
-    Presbyterians, persecution of, 279;
-      conference with, 414;
-      their resistance, 419;
-      James I. and, 460.
-
-    Printing, Origin and progress of, 65.
-
-    Prose Writers, Elizabethan, 362.
-
-    Prynne, William, barrister, writes "Histriomastix," indicted
-        by Laud, cruel sentence on, 554;
-      publishes "News from Ipswich," increased severity of sentence,
-        popular demonstrations of sympathy, 555;
-      awarded compensation by Long Parliament, 591.
-
-    Puritans, The, 355.
-
-    Pym, John, speech at opening of Short Parliament, 582;
-      opens case against Strafford, 596.
-
-
-    Raleigh, Sir Walter, serves in Grey's army, 296;
-      Armada, 316;
-      sails under Lord Howard in Spanish expedition, quarrel
-        with Essex, 330;
-      monopolies, 338;
-      Cecil's animosity, the "Bye" conspiracy, 409;
-      trial, committed to Tower, 411;
-      life in Tower, writes "History of the World," 471;
-      voyages, 474;
-      return and arrest, 475;
-      Gondamar, 476;
-      attempted escape, betrayed by Stukeley, trial, executed on old
-        charge of treason, 478.
-
-    Reformation in England, events in, 163, 174,
-     186, 207, 215, 236, 247, 356.
-
-    Reformation in Scotland, 356.
-
-    "Requests," The, 2.
-
-    Reynolds, Dr., Puritan delegate at Hampton
-      Court. Conference, 414.
-
-    Richard III., coronation repeated at York, 53;
-      murder of princes in the Tower, 54;
-      counter movement to Richmond's plot, 56;
-      proclaims Duke of Buckingham and others, 56;
-      Parliament proclaims him king and entails Crown on issue;
-      wholesale attainders, 58;
-      designs on Queen Dowager, 59;
-      armistice with Scottish king, 60;
-      death of Anne of Warwick, proposes to marry Elizabeth of York,
-        public execration, 60;
-      defection of adherents, 62;
-      battle of Bosworth, and death, 63;
-      buried at Grey Friars Church, 64.
-      (_See_ also Gloucester.)
-
-    Richmond, Earl of, at court of Duke of Brittany, 53;
-      risings in his favour, 57;
-      descent, 58;
-      raises army in France, 60;
-      lands at Milford Haven, 62;
-      conquers at Bosworth, 63;
-      enters Leicester in state as Henry VII.
-      (_See_ Henry VII.)
-
-    Ridolfi Plot, The, 287.
-
-    Ridley, Bishop of London, 216;
-      sent to Tower, 227;
-      tried at Oxford and burnt, 238.
-
-    Rivers, Lord, rival to Clarence for Mary of Burgundy, 41;
-      welcomes Gloucester at Northampton, 47;
-      executed at Pontefract Castle, 50;
-      patron of learning, 66.
-
-    Rizzio, 263;
-      his murder, 264.
-
-    Robsart, Amy, 259.
-
-    Rochester, Viscount, further honours, Lord Chamberlain, 449;
-      marriage with divorced wife of Essex, 451.
-      (_See_ also Somerset, Earl of.)
-
-    Rogers, John, Prebendary of St. Paul's, burnt at Smithfield, 236.
-
-    "Root and Branch" Petition, 594.
-
-    Roses, War of, origin of rival badges, 18.
-
-    Russell, Sir John, first historical notice of the Russells, 137;
-      created Lord Russell, Duke of Bedford, 173.
-
-
-    Scotland, Berwick ceded, 19;
-      attacked by Edward IV., 44;
-      Warbeck at court, 88;
-      war with England, 89;
-      invasion by Henry VII., 90;
-      inroads on England, 91;
-      faction rule, 119;
-      Albany and Henry VIII., 131;
-      Papist party, 189;
-      war with England, 206;
-      first covenant, 251;
-      treaty with England, 254;
-      Mary's reign, 299;
-      James VI. and Presbyterians, 460;
-      introduction of Episcopacy, 565;
-      the Tables, 566;
-      civil war, 574;
-      march into England, 587;
-      Charles in Edinburgh, 607.
-
-    Scottish poets, 16th century, 375.
-
-    Scottish coins, 393.
-
-    Selden, Sir John, 488;
-      opposes Arminian doctrine, 538;
-      imprisoned, 542.
-
-    Seton, Lord, 192.
-
-    Seymour, Edward, created Lord Beauchamp, and Earl of Hertford, 173.
-
-    Seymour, Jane, 164;
-      marries Henry VIII., 169;
-      birth of son, and death, 172.
-
-    Seymour, Sir Thomas, created Baron Seymour of Sudeley and Lord High
-        Admiral, 205;
-      private marriage with Queen Dowager, 208;
-      seeks hand of Elizabeth, 209;
-      attainted and executed, 210.
-
-    Shakespeare, 358;
-      his works, 373-4.
-
-    Ship money, 557;
-      protests against writs, sanction of judges, 558;
-      Richard Chambers and John Hampden resist payment, 558;
-      Hampden's case tried in Court of Exchequer, 559;
-      judgment against him, 560.
-
-    Ships, 15th century, 75;
-      16th century, 393.
-
-    Short Parliament, The, its members, numerous petitions, speech of
-        Pym, Star Chamber and Queen's Bench, 583;
-      conflict with Charles over supply, 584.
-
-    Sidney, Sir Philip, falls at Zutphen, 306;
-      "Arcadia," 364.
-
-    Simnel, Lambert, 79.
-
-    Six Articles, The statute of, 175.
-
-    Solemn League and Covenant, 567.
-
-    Solway Moss, Battle of, 191.
-
-    Somerset, Duke of, 5;
-      attainted by Commons, challenge to York, 6;
-      committed by Parliament to Tower, reinstated, 7;
-      joins Queen Margaret at York, commands at Wakefield, 15;
-      at Towton, 18;
-      attainted second time, unsuccessful embassage for Margaret
-        to Louis XI., 19;
-      death, 22.
-
-    Somerset, Duke of, lack of statesmanship, reform in the Church,
-        ecclesiastical commission, the "Royal injunctions," 207;
-      his avarice, Somerset House, defection of council, 214;
-      disgrace, 215;
-      trial and execution, 218.
-
-    Somerset, Earl of, 451;
-      changed manner, supplanted by Villiers, 454;
-      charge of poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury, 455;
-      condemned, pardoned by king, 548.
-      (_See_ also Rochester.)
-
-    Spain, treaty with England, 106;
-      hostilities against England, 315;
-      capture of Cadiz, 329;
-      descent on Ireland, 338;
-      intrigues against England, 407;
-      Spanish match, 490;
-      treaty with Charles I., 557.
-
-    Spenser, Edmund, poet, serves in army of Lord Grey, 296;
-      receives forfeited Irish estate, 297;
-      "Faerie Queen," 371.
-
-    "Sports, Book of," The, 464.
-
-    Spurs, Battle of, 110.
-
-    St. Albans, Battle of, 8;
-      second battle, 16.
-
-    Stanley, Lord, 49;
-      imprisoned in Tower by Gloucester, 50;
-      constable of England, 52;
-      secret treaty with Elizabeth of York, deserts Richard at
-        Bosworth, 63;
-      places crown on Henry's head, 64.
-
-    Star Chamber, the, Origin of, 82;
-      why named, 346;
-      abuse of, 453;
-      abolition of, 606.
-
-    St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, 289.
-
-    St. Quentin, Battle of, 243.
-
-    Strafford, Earl of, public indignation against, 586;
-      Lieutenant General of the army, 592;
-      impeachment, 593;
-      trial, 595;
-      reply to indictment, 597;
-      letter to king, 604;
-      execution, 606.
-      (_See_ also Wentworth.)
-
-    Stuart, Lady Arabella, history, marriage with Seymour, 442;
-      Seymour sent to Tower, stolen interviews, flight and capture,
-        lodged in Tower, 443;
-      insanity, death, 444.
-
-    Stuart, Lord James, half-brother to Mary Queen of Scots, Prior of
-        St. Andrews, his treachery, 254;
-      chief minister, 255.
-      (_See_ Mar, Earl of.)
-
-    Suffolk, Charles Brandon, Duke of, 114;
-      marries Mary, widow of Louis of France, 116;
-      commands English troops, 137;
-      Lord Marshal, 154;
-      sent to suppress Catholic insurrections, 170;
-      receives Catherine Howard's confession, 185.
-
-    Suffolk, Duke of, father of Lady Jane Grey, 222;
-      his rebellion, 228;
-      beheaded, 231.
-
-    Sully, Duke of, Envoy Extraordinary to James I., bribes courtiers
-        and makes treaty with James, 407.
-
-    Sunday Sports, Petition of magistrates against, declaration of
-        Charles, 553.
-
-    Supremacy, Act of, 248.
-
-
-    Tewkesbury, Battle of, 35.
-
-    Thirty Years War, 479.
-
-    Throgmorton, Sir Nicholas, tried for treason and acquitted, 232.
-
-    Throgmorton, Thomas, plots against queen, hanged, 303.
-
-    Towton, Battle of, 18.
-
-    Trinity House, Corporation of, 394.
-
-    Tudor, Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, 16.
-
-    Tudor, Owen, ancestor of Tudor line, beheaded at Hereford, 16.
-
-    Tyrone, Hugh, Earl of, rebellion of, 333.
-
-
-    Uniformity, Act of, 248.
-
-    Uses, Statute of, 347.
-
-    Usury, Laws against, 395.
-
-
-    Vane, Sir Henry, sent by Charles to Commons, 584;
-      at Strafford's trial, 598.
-
-    Vauclerc, Lieutenant of Calais, 28.
-
-    Verulam, Baron, 470;
-      trial of Raleigh, 477;
-      Viscount St. Albans, his genius, impeachment, 483;
-      retires to Gorhambury, 484;
-      death, 485.
-      (_See_ also Bacon, Sir Francis.)
-
-    Villiers, George, 454.
-      (_See_ also Buckingham, Duke of.)
-
-
-    Wakefield, Battle of, 15.
-
-    Wales incorporated with England, 187.
-
-    Warbeck, Perkin, origin, 85;
-      adventures in France, Ireland, and Burgundy, 86;
-      in Scotland, marries Lady Gordon, 88;
-      lands at Cork, 91;
-      in Cornwall, 92;
-      defeated, takes sanctuary in monastery of Beaulieu, at the
-        Royal Court, 94;
-      escapes to Sheen Priory, placed in stocks in London, and
-        imprisoned in Tower, 94;
-      plots with Warwick, hanged at Tyburn, 95.
-
-    Warwick, Earl of, battle of St. Albans, 7;
-      Governor of Calais, 8;
-      retires to Calais, 9;
-      attacks fleet of Lübeck merchantmen in Channel, 10;
-      Attainted, 11;
-      lands in Kent with Cospini the Pope's legate, Northampton, 12;
-      defeated at St. Albans, 16;
-      at Ferrybridge, and Towton, commands the North, 18;
-      Ambassador at the Scottish Court, 19;
-      Ambassador to France for Bona of Savoy, 23;
-      his chagrin at marriage of Edward to Elizabeth Woodville, 23;
-      visits France to negotiate marriage of Margaret the king's sister
-        with son of Louis XI. of France, 24;
-      indignation at rejection of the proposed alliance, accused of
-        secret partisanship with Lancastrians, restored to royal
-        favour, 25;
-      retires to Calais, 26;
-      takes the king prisoner at Olney, defeats Lancastrian insurgents
-        under Sir Humphrey Neville, 27;
-      meets Edward at the Moor, flees to Calais after failure of
-        insurrection of Sir Robert Wells, 28;
-      received by Louis XI., alliance with the Lancastrian party and
-        Queen Margaret, 29;
-      Anne, his daughter, married to the Prince of Wales, 30;
-      proclaims Henry king, 30;
-      summons Parliament, 31;
-      battle of Barnet and death, 34.
-
-    Warwick, son of Duke of Clarence, heir apparent of York, imprisoned
-        in the Tower, 76;
-      exhibited to the people as the real earl by Henry VII., plot with
-        Warbeck, 95;
-      tried and beheaded, 96.
-
-    Warwick, Dudley, Earl of, rivalry with Somerset, 214;
-      ungenerous conduct of party to Princess Mary, 216;
-      warden of the Scottish Marches, 216.
-
-    Wentworth, arbitrary action in Ireland, 554;
-      Lord President of the North, 560;
-      dishonourable treatment of Irish Parliament and Convocation, 562;
-      inquiry into Irish titles, 563;
-      Mountnorris, 565;
-      recalled from Ireland to advise Charles, 581;
-      returns as Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant, 582.
-      (_See_ also Strafford, Earl of.)
-
-    William the Silent, assassination of, 294.
-
-    Williams, Bishop, Lord Chancellor, 486.
-
-    Wishart, George, Scottish Reformer, 198;
-      burnt, 199.
-
-    Wolsey, Cardinal, receives bishopric of Tournay, 110;
-      Bishop of Lincoln, 114;
-      origin and rise, 116;
-      Archbishop of York, 117;
-      Cardinal, Papal Legate, and Chancellor, favours learning and the
-        arts, 118;
-      conduct of foreign affairs, 122;
-      power and magnificence, 126;
-      conference with the emperor, 127;
-      candidature for the Papacy, 128;
-      forced loans for king, 130;
-      disappointed of Popedom a second time, legatine and increased
-        powers granted for life by Clement VII., suppresses
-        monasteries, 138;
-      unpopularity, 142;
-      treaty with French envoys, 143;
-      seeks to dissuade Henry from marriage with Anne Boleyn, 147;
-      joined in Commission with Papal legate to try divorce, 148;
-      fall of, 153;
-      death, 154.
-
-    Woodvilles, The, their unpopularity, and aggrandisement of the
-        family, 24;
-      their influence, 46.
-
-    Wyatt, Sir Thomas, revolt under, 229.
-
-
-    York, Battle of, 26.
-
-    York, Archbishop of, Edward Neville, peacemaker between Woodvilles
-        and Nevilles, 25;
-      invites king to the Moor to meet Warwick and Duke of Clarence, 28;
-      confirmed in Chancellorship by Warwick, 31.
-
-    York, Richard, Duke of, lineal descent, 4;
-      in Ireland, 5;
-      proposed as successor to Crown, Protector, rupture with king,
-        battle of St. Albans, 7;
-      Protector again, resigns, 8;
-      Council of Coventry, 9;
-      Conference in London, 10;
-      attainted, 11;
-      claims the Crown at Westminster, 14;
-      slain at Wakefield, 15.
-
-
-    Zutphen, Battle of, 306.
-
-
-PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.
-
-
-
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-    +----------------------------------------------------------+
-    |                Transcriber's note:                        |
-    |                                                          |
-    | P.12. 'perferment' changed to 'preferment'.              |
-    | P.44. 'peithet' changed to 'epeithet'.                   |
-    | P.295. 'Campion' changed to 'Campian'.                   |
-    | P.326. 'slily' changed to 'slyly'.                       |
-    | P.342. 'Bastile' changed to 'Bastille'.                  |
-    | P.348. 'Arragon' changed to 'Aragon'.                    |
-    | P.417. 'eing' changed to 'being'.                        |
-    | P.490. 'negociations' changed to 'negotiations'.         |
-    | P.549. 'nothi' changed to 'nothing'.                     |
-    | P.611. 'Campion' changed to 'Campian'.                   |
-    | P.612. 'bishopric o' changed to 'bishopric of'.          |
-    | Corrected various punctuation errors.                    |
-    +----------------------------------------------------------+
-
-
-
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-<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Cassell's History of England, Vol. II (of 8),
-by Anonymous</h1>
-<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
-and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
-restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
-under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
-eBook or online at <a
-href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.  If you are not
-located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this ebook.</p>
-<p>Title: Cassell's History of England, Vol. II (of 8)</p>
-<p>       From the Wars of the Roses to the Great Rebellion</p>
-<p>Author: Anonymous</p>
-<p>Release Date: December 17, 2015  [eBook #50710]</p>
-<p>Language: English</p>
-<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
-<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASSELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, VOL. II (OF 8)***</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<h4 class="pg">E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Jane Robins,<br />
-    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
-    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
-    from page images generously made available by<br />
-    Internet Archive<br />
-    (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
-  <tr>
-    <td valign="top">
-      Note:
-    </td>
-    <td>
-      Images of the original pages are available through
-      Internet Archive. See
-      <a href="https://archive.org/details/cassellshistoryo02londuoft">
-      https://archive.org/details/cassellshistoryo02londuoft</a>
-    </td>
-  </tr>
-</table>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<hr class="full" />
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<h1><span class="small80">CASSELL'S</span><br />
-
-<span class="smcap">History of England</span></h1>
-
-<p class="p5">FROM THE WARS OF THE ROSES<br />
-TO THE GREAT REBELLION</p>
-
-<p class="p4">WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS,<br />
-INCLUDING COLOURED<br />
-AND REMBRANDT PLATES</p>
-
-<p class="p4">VOL. II</p>
-
-<p class="p5"><i>THE KING'S EDITION</i></p>
-
-<p class="p5">CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED<br />
-<span class="small80">LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE</span></p>
-
-<p class="p4">MCMIX</p>
-
-<hr class="chapter" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v"></a></span></p>
-
-<p class="p4">ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
-
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">WARS OF THE ROSES.        <span class="shiftright">PAGE</span></p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Cade's Rebellion&mdash;York comes over from Ireland&mdash;His Claims and the Unpopularity of the Reigning Line&mdash;His First
-Appearance in Arms&mdash;Birth of the Prince of Wales&mdash;York made Protector&mdash;Recovery of the King&mdash;Battle of St.
-Albans&mdash;York's second Protectorate&mdash;Brief Reconciliation of Parties&mdash;Battle of Blore Heath&mdash;Flight of the Yorkists&mdash;Battle
-of Northampton&mdash;York Claims the Crown&mdash;The Lords Attempt a Compromise&mdash;Death of York at Wakefield&mdash;Second
-Battle of St. Albans&mdash;The Young Duke of York Marches on London&mdash;His Triumphant Entry        <span class="shiftright">1</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF EDWARD IV.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The Battle of Towton&mdash;Edward's Coronation&mdash;Henry escapes to Scotland&mdash;The Queen seeks aid in France&mdash;Battle of
-Hexham&mdash;Henry made Prisoner&mdash;Confined in the Tower&mdash;Edward marries Lady Elizabeth Grey&mdash;Advancement of
-her Relations&mdash;Attacks on the Family of the Nevilles&mdash;Warwick negotiates with France&mdash;Marriage of Margaret, the
-King's Sister, to the Duke of Burgundy&mdash;Marriage of the Duke of Clarence with a Daughter of Warwick&mdash;Battle
-of Banbury&mdash;Rupture between the King and his Brother&mdash;Rebellion of Clarence and Warwick&mdash;Clarence and
-Warwick flee to France&mdash;Warwick proposes to restore Henry VI.&mdash;Marries Edward, Prince of Wales, to his Daughter,
-Lady Ann Neville&mdash;Edward IV.'s reckless Dissipation&mdash;Warwick and Clarence invade England&mdash;Edward expelled&mdash;His
-return to England&mdash;Battle of Barnet&mdash;Battle of Tewkesbury, and ruin of the Lancastrian Cause&mdash;Rivalry of
-Clarence and Gloucester&mdash;Edward's Futile Intervention in Foreign Politics&mdash;Becomes a Pensioner of France&mdash;Death
-of Clarence&mdash;Expedition to Scotland&mdash;Death and Character of the King      <span class="shiftright">17</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Edward V. proclaimed&mdash;The Two Parties of the Queen and of Gloucester&mdash;Struggle in the Council&mdash;Gloucester's Plans&mdash;The
-Earl Rivers and his Friends imprisoned&mdash;Gloucester secures the King and conducts him to London&mdash;Indignities
-to the young King&mdash;Execution of Lord Hastings&mdash;A Base Sermon at St. Paul's Cross&mdash;Gloucester
-pronounces the two young Princes illegitimate&mdash;The Farce at the Guildhall&mdash;Gloucester seizes the Crown&mdash;Richard
-crowned in London and again at York&mdash;Buckingham revolts against him&mdash;Murder of the two Princes&mdash;Henry
-of Richmond&mdash;Failure of Buckingham's Rising&mdash;Buckingham beheaded&mdash;Richards title confirmed by
-Parliament&mdash;Queen Dowager and her Daughters quit the Sanctuary&mdash;Death of Richard's Son and Heir&mdash;Proposes
-to Marry his Niece, Elizabeth of York&mdash;Richmond lands at Milford Haven&mdash;His Progress&mdash;The Troubles of Richard&mdash;The
-Battle of Bosworth&mdash;The Fallen Tyrant&mdash;End of the Wars of the Roses      <span class="shiftright">46</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The Study of Latin and Greek&mdash;Invention of Printing&mdash;Caxton&mdash;New Schools and Colleges&mdash;Architecture, Military, Ecclesiastical,
-and Domestic&mdash;Sculpture, Painting, and Gilding&mdash;The Art of War&mdash;Commerce and Shipping&mdash;Coinage         <span class="shiftright">64</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF HENRY VII.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Henry's Defective Title&mdash;Imprisonment of the Earl of Warwick&mdash;The King's Title to the Throne&mdash;His Marriage&mdash;Love
-Rising&mdash;Lambert Simnel&mdash;Henry's prompt Action&mdash;Failure of the Rebellion&mdash;The Queen's Coronation&mdash;The Act of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>Maintenance&mdash;Henry's Ingratitude to the Duke of Brittany&mdash;Discontent in England&mdash;Expedition to France and its
-Results&mdash;Henry's Second Invasion&mdash;Treaty of Étaples&mdash;Perkin Warbeck&mdash;His Adventures in Ireland, France, and
-Burgundy&mdash;Henry's Measures&mdash;Descent on Kent&mdash;Warbeck in Scotland&mdash;Invasion of England&mdash;The Cornish Rising&mdash;Warbeck
-quits Scotland&mdash;He lands in Cornwall&mdash;Failure of the Rebellion&mdash;Imprisonment of Warbeck and his
-subsequent Execution&mdash;European Affairs&mdash;Marriages of Henry's Daughter and Son&mdash;Betrothal of Catherine and
-Prince Henry&mdash;Henry's Matrimonial Schemes&mdash;Royal Exactions&mdash;A Lucky Capture&mdash;Henry proposes for Joanna&mdash;His
-Death       <span class="shiftright">76</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF HENRY VIII.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The King's Accession&mdash;State of Europe&mdash;Henry and Julius II.&mdash;Treaty between England and Spain&mdash;Henry is duped by
-Ferdinand&mdash;New Combinations&mdash;Execution of Suffolk&mdash;Invasion of France&mdash;Battle of Spurs&mdash;Invasion of England by
-the Scots&mdash;Flodden Field&mdash;Death of James of Scotland&mdash;Louis breaks up the Holy League&mdash;Peace with France&mdash;Marriage
-and Death of Louis XII.&mdash;Rise of Wolsey&mdash;Affairs in Scotland&mdash;Francis I. in Italy&mdash;Death of Maximilian&mdash;
-Henry a Candidate for the Empire&mdash;Election of Charles&mdash;Field of the Cloth of Gold&mdash;Wolsey's Diplomacy&mdash;Failure
-of his Candidature for the Papacy&mdash;The Emperor in London        <span class="shiftright">102</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The War with France&mdash;The Earl of Surrey Invades that Country&mdash;Sir Thomas More elected Speaker&mdash;Henry and Parliament&mdash;Revolt
-of the Duke of Bourbon&mdash;Pope Adrian VI. dies&mdash;Clement VII. elected&mdash;Francis I. taken Prisoner at
-the Battle of Pavia&mdash;Growing Unpopularity of Wolsey&mdash;Change of Feeling at the English Court&mdash;Treaty with
-France&mdash;Francis I. regains his liberty&mdash;Italian League, including France and England, established against the
-Emperor&mdash;Fall of the Duke of Bourbon at the Siege of Rome&mdash;Sacking of Rome, and Capture of the Pope&mdash;Appearance
-of Luther&mdash;Henry writes against the German Reformer&mdash;Henry receives from the Pope the style
-and Designation of "Defender of the Faith"&mdash;Anne Boleyn&mdash;Henry applies to the Pope for a Divorce from
-the Queen&mdash;The Pope's Dilemma&mdash;War declared against Spain&mdash;Cardinal Campeggio arrives in England to decide
-the Legality of Henry's Marriage with Catherine&mdash;Trial of the Queen&mdash;Henry's Discontent with Wolsey&mdash;Fall
-of Wolsey&mdash;His Banishment from Court and Death&mdash;Cranmer's advice regarding the Divorce&mdash;Cromwell cuts the
-Gordian Knot&mdash;Dismay of the Clergy&mdash;The King declared Head of the Church in England&mdash;The King's
-Marriage with Anne Boleyn&mdash;Cranmer made Archbishop&mdash;The Pope Reverses the Divorce&mdash;Separation of England
-from Rome        <span class="shiftright">130</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The Maid of Kent and Her Accomplices&mdash;Act of Supremacy and Consequent Persecutions&mdash;The "Bloody Statute"&mdash;Deaths
-of Fisher and More&mdash;Suppression of the Smaller Monasteries&mdash;Trial and Death of Anne Boleyn&mdash;Henry
-Marries Jane Seymour&mdash;Divisions in the Church&mdash;The Pilgrimage of Grace&mdash;Birth of Prince Edward&mdash;Death of
-Queen Jane&mdash;Suppression of the Larger Monasteries&mdash;The Six Articles&mdash;Judicial Murders&mdash;Persecution of Cardinal
-Pole&mdash;Cromwell's Marriage Scheme&mdash;Its Failure and his Fall        <span class="shiftright">158</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (<i>concluded</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Divorce of Anne of Cleves&mdash;Catherine Howard's Marriage and Death&mdash;Fresh Persecutions&mdash;Welsh Affairs&mdash;The Irish
-Insurrection and its Suppression&mdash;Scottish Affairs&mdash;Catholic Opposition to Henry&mdash;Outbreak of War&mdash;Battle of
-Solway Moss&mdash;French and English Parties in Scotland&mdash;Escape of Beaton&mdash;Triumph of the French Party&mdash;Treaty
-between England and Germany&mdash;Henry's Sixth Marriage&mdash;Campaign in France&mdash;Expedition against Scotland&mdash;Capture
-of Edinburgh&mdash;Fresh Attempt on England&mdash;Cardinal Beaton and Wishart&mdash;Death of the Cardinal&mdash;Struggle
-between the two Parties in England&mdash;Death of Henry        <span class="shiftright">183</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF EDWARD VI.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Accession of Edward VI.&mdash;Hertford's Intrigues&mdash;He becomes Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector&mdash;War with Scotland&mdash;Battle
-of Pinkie&mdash;Reversal of Henry's Policy&mdash;Religious Reforms&mdash;Ambition of Lord Seymour of Sudeley&mdash;He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span>
-marries Catherine Parr&mdash;His Arrest and Death&mdash;Popular Discontents&mdash;Rebellion in Devonshire and Cornwall&mdash;Ket's
-Rebellion in Norfolk&mdash;Warwick Suppresses it&mdash;Opposition to Somerset&mdash;His Rapacity&mdash;Fall of Somerset&mdash;Disgraceful
-Peace with France&mdash;Persecution of Romanists&mdash;Somerset's Efforts to regain Power&mdash;His Trial and Execution&mdash;New
-Treason Law&mdash;Northumberland's Schemes for Changing the Succession&mdash;Death of Edward       <span class="shiftright">204</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF MARY.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Proclamation of Lady Jane Grey&mdash;Mary's Resistance&mdash;Northumberland's Failure&mdash;Mary is Proclaimed&mdash;The Advice of
-Charles V.&mdash;Execution of Northumberland&mdash;Restoration of the Roman Church&mdash;Proposed Marriage with Philip of
-Spain&mdash;Consequent Risings throughout England&mdash;Wyatt's Rebellion&mdash;Execution of Lady Jane Grey&mdash;Imprisonment
-of Elizabeth&mdash;Marriage of Philip and Mary&mdash;England Accepts the Papal Absolution&mdash;Persecuting Statutes Re-enacted&mdash;Martyrdom
-of Rogers, Hooper, and Taylor&mdash;Di Castro's Sermon&mdash;Sickness of Mary&mdash;Trials of Ridley,
-Latimer, and Cranmer&mdash;Martyrdom of Ridley and Latimer&mdash;Confession and Death of Cranmer&mdash;Departure of
-Philip&mdash;The Dudley Conspiracy&mdash;Return of Philip&mdash;War with France&mdash;Battle of St. Quentin&mdash;Loss of Calais&mdash;Death
-of Mary        <span class="shiftright">221</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF ELIZABETH.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Accession of Elizabeth&mdash;Sir William Cecil&mdash;The Coronation&mdash;Opening of Parliament&mdash;Ecclesiastical Legislation&mdash;Consecration
-of Parker&mdash;Elizabeth and Philip&mdash;Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis&mdash;Affairs in Scotland&mdash;The First Covenant&mdash;Attitude
-of Mary of Guise&mdash;Riot at Perth&mdash;Outbreak of Hostilities&mdash;The Lords of the Congregation apply to
-England&mdash;Elizabeth hesitates&mdash;Siege of Leith&mdash;Treaty of Edinburgh&mdash;Return of Mary to Scotland&mdash;Murray's Influence
-over her&mdash;Beginning of the Religious Wars in France&mdash;Elizabeth sends Help to the Huguenots&mdash;Peace of
-Amboise&mdash;English Disaster at Havre&mdash;Peace with France&mdash;The Earl of Leicester&mdash;Project of his Marriage with Mary&mdash;Lord
-Darnley&mdash;Murder of Rizzio&mdash;Birth of Mary's Son&mdash;Murder of Darnley&mdash;Mary and Bothwell&mdash;Carberry
-Hill&mdash;Mary in Lochleven&mdash;Abdicates in favour of her Infant Son&mdash;Mary's Escape from Lochleven&mdash;Defeated at
-Langside&mdash;Her Escape into England        <span class="shiftright">246</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF ELIZABETH (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Elizabeth Determines to Imprison Mary&mdash;The Conference at York&mdash;It is Moved to London&mdash;The Casket Letters&mdash;Mary is
-sent Southwards&mdash;Remonstrances of the European Sovereigns&mdash;Affairs in the Netherlands&mdash;Alva is sent Thither&mdash;Elizabeth
-Aids the Insurgents&mdash;Proposed Marriage between Mary and Norfolk&mdash;The Plot is Discovered&mdash;Rising in
-the North&mdash;Its Suppression&mdash;Death of the Regent Murray&mdash;Its Consequences in Scotland&mdash;Religious Persecutions&mdash;Execution
-of Norfolk&mdash;Massacre of St. Bartholomew&mdash;Siege of Edinburgh Castle&mdash;War in France&mdash;Splendid
-Defence of La Rochelle&mdash;Death of Charles IX.&mdash;Religious War in the Netherlands&mdash;Rule of Don John&mdash;The
-Anjou Marriage&mdash;Deaths of Anjou and of William the Silent       <span class="shiftright">274</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF ELIZABETH (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Affairs of Ireland: Shane O'Neil's Rebellion&mdash;Plantation of Ulster&mdash;Spanish Descent on Ireland&mdash;Desmond's Rebellion&mdash;Religious
-Conformity&mdash;Campian and Parsons&mdash;The Anabaptists&mdash;Affairs of Scotland&mdash;Death of Morton&mdash;Success of
-the Catholics in Scotland&mdash;The Raid of Ruthven&mdash;Elizabeth's Position&mdash;Throgmorton's Plot&mdash;Association to Protect
-Elizabeth&mdash;Mary removed to Tutbury&mdash;Support of the Protestant Cause on the Continent&mdash;Leicester in the Netherlands&mdash;Babington's
-Plot&mdash;Trial of Mary&mdash;Her Condemnation&mdash;Hesitation of Elizabeth&mdash;Execution of Mary        <span class="shiftright">295</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF ELIZABETH (<i>concluded</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>State of Europe on the Death of Mary&mdash;Preparations of Philip of Spain&mdash;Exploits of English Sailors&mdash;Drake Singes the
-King of Spain's Beard&mdash;Preparations against the Armada&mdash;Loyalty of the Roman Catholics&mdash;Arrival of the Armada<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>
-in the Channel&mdash;Its Disastrous Course and Complete Destruction&mdash;Elizabeth at Tilbury&mdash;Death of Leicester&mdash;Persecution
-of the Puritans and Catholics&mdash;Renewed Expeditions against Spain&mdash;Accession of Henry of Navarre to the
-French Throne&mdash;He is helped by Elizabeth&mdash;Essex takes Cadiz&mdash;His Quarrels with the Cecils&mdash;His Second Expedition
-and Rupture with the Queen&mdash;Troubles in Ireland&mdash;Essex appointed Lord-Deputy&mdash;His Failure&mdash;The Essex
-Rising&mdash;Execution of Essex&mdash;Mountjoy in Ireland&mdash;The Debate on Monopolies&mdash;Victory of Mountjoy&mdash;Weakness
-of Elizabeth&mdash;Her last Illness and Death         <span class="shiftright">313</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The Tudors and the Nation&mdash;The Church&mdash;Population and Wealth&mdash;Royal Prerogative&mdash;Legislation of Henry VIII.&mdash;The
-Star Chamber&mdash;Beneficial Legislation&mdash;Treason Laws&mdash;Legislation of Edward and Mary&mdash;Elizabeth's Policy&mdash;Religion
-and the Church&mdash;Sketch of Ecclesiastical History under the Tudors&mdash;Literature, Science, and Art&mdash;Greatness of
-the Period&mdash;Foundation of Colleges and Schools&mdash;Revival of Learning&mdash;Its Temporary Decay&mdash;Prose Writers of
-the Period&mdash;The Poets&mdash;Scottish Bards&mdash;Music&mdash;Architecture&mdash;Painting and Sculpture&mdash;Furniture and Decorations&mdash;Arms
-and Armour&mdash;Costumes, Coins, and Coinage&mdash;Ships, Commerce, Colonies, and Manufactures&mdash;Manners and
-Customs&mdash;Condition of the People       <span class="shiftright">342</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF JAMES I.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The Stuart Dynasty&mdash;Hopes and Fears caused by the Accession of James&mdash;The King enters England&mdash;His Progress to
-London&mdash;Lavish Creation of Peers and Knights&mdash;The Royal Entrance into the Metropolis&mdash;The Coronation&mdash;Popularity
-of Queen Anne&mdash;Ravages of the Plague&mdash;The King Receives Foreign Embassies&mdash;Rivalry of the Diplomatists of
-France and Spain&mdash;Discontent of Raleigh, Northumberland, and Cobham&mdash;Conspiracies against James&mdash;"The Main"
-and "The Bye"&mdash;Trials of the Conspirators&mdash;The Sentences&mdash;Conference with Puritans&mdash;Parliament of 1604&mdash;Persecution
-of Catholics and Puritans&mdash;Gunpowder Plot&mdash;Admission of Fresh Members&mdash;Delays and Devices&mdash;The
-Letter to Lord Mounteagle&mdash;Discovery of the Plot&mdash;Flight of the Conspirators&mdash;Their Capture and Execution&mdash;New
-Penal Code&mdash;James's Correspondence with Bellarmine&mdash;Cecil's attempts to get Money&mdash;Project of Union between
-England and Scotland&mdash;The King's Collisions with Parliament&mdash;Insurrection of the Levellers&mdash;Royal Extravagance
-and Impecuniosity&mdash;Fresh Disputes with Parliament and Assertions of the Prerogative&mdash;Death of Cecil&mdash;Story of
-Arabella Stuart&mdash;Death of Prince Henry       <span class="shiftright">404</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF JAMES I (<i>concluded</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Reign of Favourites&mdash;Robert Carr&mdash;His Marriage&mdash;Death of Overbury&mdash;Venality at Court&mdash;The Addled Parliament&mdash;George
-Villiers&mdash;Fall of Somerset&mdash;Disgrace of Coke&mdash;Bacon becomes Lord Chancellor&mdash;Position of England
-Abroad&mdash;The Scottish Church&mdash;Introduction of Episcopacy&mdash;Andrew Melville&mdash;Visit of James to Scotland&mdash;The
-Book of Sports&mdash;Persecution of the Irish Catholics&mdash;Examination into Titles&mdash;Rebellion of the Chiefs&mdash;Plantation of
-Ulster&mdash;Fresh Confiscations&mdash;Quarrel between Bacon and Coke&mdash;Prosperity of Buckingham&mdash;Raleigh's Last Voyage&mdash;His
-Execution&mdash;Beginning of the Thirty Years' War&mdash;Indecision of James&mdash;Despatch of Troops to the Palatinate&mdash;Parliament
-of 1621&mdash;Impeachment of Bacon&mdash;His Fall&mdash;Floyd's Case&mdash;James's Proceedings during the Recess&mdash;Dissolution
-of Parliament&mdash;Reasons for the Spanish Match&mdash;Charles and Buckingham go to Spain&mdash;The Match
-is Broken Off&mdash;Punishment of Bristol&mdash;Popularity of Buckingham&mdash;Change of Foreign Policy&mdash;Marriage of Charles
-and Henrietta Maria&mdash;Death of James        <span class="shiftright">448</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">REIGN OF CHARLES I.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Accession of Charles&mdash;His Marriage&mdash;Meeting of Parliament&mdash;Loan of Ships to Richelieu&mdash;Dissolution of Parliament&mdash;Failure
-of the Spanish Expedition&mdash;Persecution of the Catholics&mdash;The Second Parliament&mdash;It appoints three
-Committees&mdash;Impeachment of Buckingham&mdash;Parliament dissolved to save him&mdash;Illegal Government&mdash;High Church
-Doctrines&mdash;Rupture with France&mdash;Disastrous Expedition to Rhé&mdash;The Third Parliament&mdash;The Petition of Right&mdash;Resistance
-and Final Surrender of Charles&mdash;Parliament Prorogued&mdash;Assassination of Buckingham&mdash;Fall of La
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span>Rochelle&mdash;Parliament Reassembles and is Dissolved&mdash;Imprisonment of Offending Members&mdash;Government without
-Parliament&mdash;Peace with France and Spain&mdash;Gustavus Adolphus in Germany&mdash;Despotic Proceedings of Charles and
-Laud       <span class="shiftright">508</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p class="p5"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></p>
-
-<p class="p1">Reign of Charles I (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Visit of Charles to Scotland&mdash;Laud and the Papal See&mdash;His Ecclesiastical Measures&mdash;Punishment of Prynne, Bastwick, and
-Burton&mdash;Disgrace of Williams&mdash;Ship-money&mdash;Resistance of John Hampden&mdash;Wentworth in the North&mdash;Recall of
-Falkland from Ireland&mdash;Wentworth's Measures&mdash;Inquiry into Titles&mdash;Prelacy Riots in Edinburgh&mdash;Jenny Geddes's
-Stool&mdash;The Tables&mdash;Renewal of the Covenant&mdash;Charles makes Concessions&mdash;The General Assembly&mdash;Preparations
-for War&mdash;Charles at York&mdash;Leslie at Dunse Hill&mdash;A Conference held&mdash;Treaty of Berwick&mdash;Arrest of Loudon&mdash;Insult
-from the Dutch&mdash;Wentworth in England&mdash;The Short Parliament&mdash;Riots in London&mdash;Preparations of the
-Scots&mdash;Mutiny in the English Army&mdash;Invasion of England&mdash;Treaty of Ripon&mdash;Meeting of the Long Parliament&mdash;Impeachment
-of Strafford&mdash;His Trial&mdash;He is abandoned by Charles&mdash;His Execution&mdash;The King's Visit to Scotland        <span class="shiftright">550</span></p></blockquote>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_000.jpg" width="313" height="500" alt="From a Broadside, dated 1646" title="DANDY OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>DANDY OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I.</p>
-
-<p>(<cite>From a Broadside, dated 1646.</cite>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
-
-
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS">
-<tbody>
-<tr><th>&nbsp;</th><th>PAGE</th></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Dandy of the Time of Charles I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_ix">IX</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Eltham Palace, from the North-east</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Duke of York Challenged to Mortal Combat</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">View in Lübeck: The Church of St. Ægidius</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Clifford's Tower: York Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Rutland beseeching Clifford to spare his Life</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Quarrel in the Temple Gardens</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Edward IV.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Dunstanburgh Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Edward IV.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Gold Rose Noble of Edward IV.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Preaching at St. Paul's Cross</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Battle of Barnet: Death of the King-maker</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Burial of King Henry</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Louis XI. and the Herald</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">St. Andrews, from the Pier</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Edward V.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Edward V.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Tower of London: Bloody and Wakefield Towers</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Richard III.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Princes in the Tower</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Richard III.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Richard III. at the Battle of Bosworth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Facsimile of Caxton's Printing in the "Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers," (1477)</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Earl Rivers Presenting Caxton to Edward IV.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Quadrangle, Eton College</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Street in London in the Fifteenth Century</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Cannon of the End of the Fifteenth Century</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Henry VII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Henry VII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Last Stand of Schwarz and his Germans</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Penny of Henry VII. Angel of Henry VII. Noble of Henry VII.<br />
-&nbsp; &nbsp; Sovereign of Henry VII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Stirling Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Lady Catherine Gordon before Henry VII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Byward Tower, Tower of London</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">King Henry's Departure from Henningham Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Henry VIII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Meeting of Henry and the Emperor Maximilian</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Henry and the captured French Officers</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Edinburgh after Flodden</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Archbishop Warham</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Hampton Court Palace</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Henry VIII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Ship of Henry VIII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Stirling, from the Abbey Craig</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Cardinal Wolsey</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Silver Groat of Henry VIII. Gold Crown of Henry VIII.<br />
-&nbsp; &nbsp; George Noble of Henry VIII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Pound Sovereign of Henry VIII. Double Sovereign of Henry VIII.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Surrender of Francis on the Battle-field of Pavia</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Martin Luther</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Trial of Queen Catherine</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Dismissal of Wolsey</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Tower of London: Sketch in the Gardens</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Thomas More</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Parting of Sir Thomas More and his Daughter</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Anne Boleyn</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Anne Boleyn's Last Farewell of her Ladies</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">St. Peter's Chapel, Tower Green, London, where Anne Boleyn was Buried</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Pilgrimage of Grace</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Gateway of Kirkham Priory</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Beauchamp Tower, and Place of Execution within the Tower of London</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Catherine Howard being conveyed to the Tower</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Capture of the Fitzgeralds</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The First Levee of Mary Queen of Scots</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">View in St. Andrews: North Street</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Francis I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Assassination of Cardinal Beaton</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Edward VI.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Edward VI.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Royal Herald in Ket's Camp</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Old Somerset House, London</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Duke of Somerset</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Silver Crown of Edward VI.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sixpence of Edward VI. Shilling of Edward VI. Pound<br />
-&nbsp; &nbsp; Sovereign of Edward VI. Triple Sovereign of Edward VI.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Queen Mary and the State Prisoners in the Tower</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Philip and Mary</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">View from the Constable's Garden, Tower of London</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Old London Bridge, with Nonsuch Palace</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Lady Jane Grey on her way to the Scaffold</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Archbishop Cranmer</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Place of Martyrdom, Old Smithfield</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Mary I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Hôtel de Ville and Old Lighthouse, Calais</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Shilling of Philip and Mary. Real of Mary I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Elizabeth's Public Entry into London</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Elizabeth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Autograph of Elizabeth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Mar's Work, Stirling</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Elizabeth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Mary, Queen of Scots</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Murder of Rizzio</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Mary Signing the Deed of Abdication in Lochleven Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Lord Burleigh</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Farthing of Elizabeth. Halfpenny of Elizabeth. Penny of Elizabeth. Twopence<br />
-&nbsp; &nbsp; of Elizabeth. Half-crown of Elizabeth. Half-sovereign of Elizabeth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Duke of Norfolk's Interview with Elizabeth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Regent Murray</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">High Street, Linlithgow</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Kenilworth Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The House of the English Ambassador during the Massacre of St. Bartholomew</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Murder of the Earl of Desmond</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Earl of Arran accusing Morton of the Murder of Darnley</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_300">300</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Dumbarton Rock, with view of Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Earl of Leicester</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_305">305</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Trial of Mary Queen of Scots in Fotheringay Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_309">309</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Mary Queen of Scots receiving Intimation of her Doom</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_312">312</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Francis Drake</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_317">317</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Hoe, Plymouth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Armada in Sight</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_321">321</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Philip II.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_325">325</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Beauchamp Tower, Warders' Houses, and Yeoman Gaolers' Lodgings:<br />
-&nbsp; &nbsp; Tower of London</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Quarrel between Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Earl of Essex</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Lord Grey and his Followers Attacking the Earl of Southampton</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Elizabeth's Promenade on Richmond Green</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_340">340</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Richmond Palace</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_341">341</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Town and Country Folk of Elizabeth's Reign</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">State Trial in Westminster Hall in the Time of Elizabeth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">John Knox</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Reduced Facsimile of the Title-page of the Great Bible,<br />
-&nbsp; &nbsp; also called Cromwell's Bible</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_357">357</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Christ's Hospital, London</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_361">361</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Latimer Preaching before Edward VI.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Roger Ascham's Visit to Lady Jane Grey</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Edmund Spenser</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_369">369</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The House at Stratford-on-Avon in which Shakespeare was Born</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_373">373</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Shakespeare</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_376">376</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Acting of one of Shakespeare's Plays in the Time of Queen Elizabeth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Queen Elizabeth's Cither and Music-book</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_379">379</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Holland House, Kensington</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_380">380</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Great Court of Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_381">381</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Entrance from the Courtyard of Burleigh House, Stamford</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_383">383</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Elizabeth's Drawing-room, Penshurst Place</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_384">384</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Soldiers of the Tudor Period</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_385">385</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Wedding of Jack of Newbury: The Bride's Procession</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_389">389</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Ships of Elizabeth's Time</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_393">393</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The First Royal Exchange, London (Founded by Sir Thomas Gresham)</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_396">396</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Thomas Gresham</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_397">397</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Frolic of My Lord of Misrule</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_401">401</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Punishment of the Stocks</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_403">403</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">James I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_405">405</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">St. Thomas's Tower and Traitor's Gate, Tower of London</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_409">409</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Walter Raleigh</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_412">412</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Dissenting Divines Presenting their Petition to James</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_413">413</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Old Palace, Westminster, in the time of Charles I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_417">417</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of James I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_420">420</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Guy Fawkes's Cellar under Parliament House</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_421">421</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Lord Monteagle and the Warning Letter about the Gunpowder Plot</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_425">425</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Arrest of Guy Fawkes</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_428">428</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Pound Sovereign of James I. Unit or Laurel of James I. (Gold).<br />
-&nbsp; &nbsp; Spur Rial of James I. (Gold). Thistle Crown of James I. (Gold)</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_432">432</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Robert Cecil, afterwards Earl of Salisbury</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_433">433</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Shilling of James I. Crown of James I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_436">436</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">James and his Courtiers setting out for the Hunt</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_437">437</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Star Chamber</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_441">441</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Flight of the Lady Arabella Stuart</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_444">444</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Notre Dame, Caudebec</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_445">445</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Francis Bacon (Viscount St. Albans)</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_449">449</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Banqueting House, Whitehall</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_452">452</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Greenwich Palace in the time of James I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_456">456</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Edward Coke</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_457">457</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Andrew Melville before the Scottish Privy Council</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_461">461</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Keeping Sunday, according to King James's Book of Sports</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_465">465</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Parliament House, Dublin, in the Seventeenth Century</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_469">469</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Francis Bacon waiting an Audience of Buckingham</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_472">472</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Arrest of Sir Walter Raleigh</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_476">476</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Walter Raleigh before the Judges</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_477">477</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Franzensring, Vienna</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_481">481</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Interview between Bacon and the Deputation from the Lords</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_484">484</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_485">485</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Fleet Prison</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_489">489</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Public Reception of Prince Charles in Madrid</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_493">493</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Prince Charles's Farewell of the Infanta</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_497">497</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Royal Palace, Madrid</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_500">500</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Ladies of the French Court and the Portrait of Prince Charles</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_504">504</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Henrietta Maria</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_505">505</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Seal of Charles I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_509">509</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Charles welcoming his Queen to England</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_512">512</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Charles I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_513">513</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Reception of Viscount Wimbledon at Plymouth</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_516">516</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">York House (The Duke of Buckingham's Mansion)</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_517">517</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Trial of Buckingham</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_521">521</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Interior of the Banqueting House, Whitehall</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_525">525</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir John Eliot</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_529">529</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Assassination of the Duke of Buckingham</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_533">533</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Tyburn in the time of Charles I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_537">537</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Three Pound Piece of Charles I. Broad of Charles I. Briot Shilling of Charles I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_540">540</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">John Selden</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_541">541</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Scene in the House of Commons: The Speaker Coerced</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_545">545</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Interior of Old St. Paul's</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_549">549</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Dunblane</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_552">552</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Archbishop Laud</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_553">553</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">John Lilburne on the Pillory</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_557">557</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Birmingham Tower, Dublin Castle</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_561">561</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Sir Thomas Wentworth (Earl of Strafford)</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_564">564</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The People Signing the Covenant in St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_568">568</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, in the 17th Century</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_569">569</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Old College, Glasgow, in the 17th Century</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_573">573</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Charles and the Scottish Commissioners</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_577">577</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">John Hampden</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_581">581</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Guildhall, London, in the time of Charles I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_585">585</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Advance of the Covenanters across the Border into England</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_589">589</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">John Pym</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_592">592</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Arrest of the Earl of Strafford</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_593">593</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Westminster Hall and Palace Yard in the time of Charles I.</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_597">597</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Charles Signing the Commission of Assent to Strafford's Attainder</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_601">601</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Old Parliament House, Edinburgh</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_604">604</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">The Marquis of Montrose</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_605">605</a></td></tr>
-</tbody>
-</table></div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2>LIST OF PLATES</h2>
-
-
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="LIST OF PLATES">
-<tbody>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Departure of English and French from Genoa in 1390 to Chastise the</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">Barbary Corsairs.</span> (<cite>From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum</cite>)</td><td class="tdl"><i>Frontispiece</i></td><td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Crown of England being Offered to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, at</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">Baynard's Castle, in 1483.</span> (<cite>By Sigismund Goetze</cite>)</td><td class="tdl"><i>To face p.</i></td> <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Caxton Showing the First Specimen of his Printing to King Edward IV.,</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">at the Almonry, Westminster.</span> (<cite>By Daniel Maclise, R.A.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Grand Assault upon the Town of Africa by the English and French.</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb">(<cite>From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Froissart Presenting his Book of Love Poems to Richard II., in 1395.&mdash;The</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">Landing of the Lady de Coucy at Boulogne.</span> (<cite>From the Froissart MS. in</cite></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><cite>the British Museum</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cardinal Wolsey Going in Procession to Westminster Hall.</span> (<cite>By Sir John</cite></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><cite>Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cardinal Wolsey at Leicester Abbey.</span> (<cite>By Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">Sweethearts and Wives. (Moss-troopers Returning from a Foray.)</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb">(<cite>By S. E. Waller</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Lady Jane Grey's Reluctance to Accept the Crown of England.</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb">(<cite>By C. R. Leslie, R.A.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cranmer at Traitors' Gate.</span> (<cite>By F. Goodall, R.A.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">Queen Elizabeth.</span> (<cite>By F. Zucchero</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Preaching of John Knox before the Lords of the Congregation,</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">10th June, 1559.</span> (<cite>By Sir David Wilkie, R.A.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Invincible Armada.</span> (<cite>By Albert Goodwin, R.W.S.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_312">312</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">"The Surrender": An Incident of the Spanish Armada.</span> (<cite>By Seymour</cite></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><cite>Lucas, R.A.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_322">322</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Story of the Spanish Main.</span> (<cite>By Seymour Lucas, R.A.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_338">338</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">William Shakespeare.</span> (<cite>From the Painting known as the Chandos Portrait, and</cite></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><cite>attributed to Richard Burbage, in the National Portrait Gallery</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_374">374</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Map of the World at the End of the Sixteenth Century, showing the</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdlb"><span class="smcap">Discoveries of British and other Explorers</span></td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_394">394</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Departure of the "Mayflower."</span> (<cite>By A. W. Bayes</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_474">474</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Illuminated Page, with Bordering.</span> (<cite>From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_512">512</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Visit of Charles I. to the Guildhall.</span> (<cite>By Solomon J. Solomon, R.A.</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_582">582</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Strafford Going to Execution.</span> (<cite>By Paul Delaroche</cite>)</td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_604">604</a></td></tr>
-</tbody>
-</table></div>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 580px;">
-<img src="images/i_001.jpg" width="580" height="406" alt="From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum" title="DEPARTURE OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO CHASTISE THE BARBARY CORSAIRS" />
-<div class="caption"><p class="smaller"><i>From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum.</i> <span style="margin-left: 6em;"><i>Reproduced by André &amp; Sleigh, Ld., Buskey, Herts.</i></span></p>
-
-<p>DEPARTURE OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO CHASTISE THE BARBARY CORSAIRS.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">THE PERSONAGE IN THE PLACE OF HONOUR IN THE ROWING-BOAT IS BELIEVED TO BE THE DUKE OF BOURBON. THE VESSEL IN THE CENTRE CONTAINS SEVERAL FRENCH KNIGHTS: IN THAT ON THE LEFT
-IS HENRY DE BEAUFORT (A NATURAL SON OF THE DUKE OF LANCASTER), WITH ENGLISH KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="larger-file">
-  [<a href="images/i_001big.jpg">See larger version</a>]
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chapter" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 580px;">
-<img src="images/i_001a.jpg" width="580" height="438" alt="After an Engraving published in 1735" title="ELTHAM PALACE, FROM THE NORTH-EAST" />
-<div class="caption"><p>ELTHAM PALACE, FROM THE NORTH-EAST. (<i>After an Engraving published in 1735.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<h2 style="page-break-before: avoid;"><span class="small80">CASSELL'S</span><br />
-
-<span class="smcap">Illustrated History of England</span>.</h2>
-
-
-
-<hr class="r10" />
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE WARS OF THE ROSES.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Cade's Rebellion&mdash;York comes over from Ireland&mdash;His Claims and the Unpopularity of the Reigning Line&mdash;His First Appearance
-in Arms&mdash;Birth of the Prince of Wales&mdash;York made Protector&mdash;Recovery of the King&mdash;Battle of St. Albans&mdash;York's
-second Protectorate&mdash;Brief Reconciliation of Parties&mdash;Battle of Blore Heath&mdash;Flight of the Yorkists&mdash;Battle of
-Northampton&mdash;York Claims the Crown&mdash;The Lords Attempt a Compromise&mdash;Death of York at Wakefield&mdash;Second Battle
-of St. Albans&mdash;The Young Duke of York Marches on London&mdash;His Triumphant Entry.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>Henry the Sixth and his queen were plunged
-into grief and consternation at the extraordinary
-death of Suffolk in 1450. They saw that a
-powerful party was engaged in thus defeating their
-attempt to rescue Suffolk from his enemies by
-a slight term of exile; and they strongly suspected
-that the Duke of York, though absent
-in his government of Ireland, was at the
-bottom of it. It was more than conjectured
-that he entertained serious designs of profiting
-by the unpopularity of the Government to assert
-his claims to the crown. This ought to have
-made the king and queen especially circumspect,
-but, so far from this being the case, Henry
-announced his resolve to punish the people
-of Kent for the murder of Suffolk, which had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
-been perpetrated on their coast. The queen was
-furious in her vows of vengeance. These unwise
-demonstrations incurred the anger of the people,
-and especially irritated the inhabitants of Kent.
-To add to the popular discontent, Somerset, who
-had lost by his imbecility the French territories,
-was made minister in the place of Suffolk, and
-invested with all the favour of the court. The
-people in several counties threatened to rise and
-reform the Government; and the opportunity was
-seized by a bold adventurer of the name of John
-Cade, an Irishman, to attempt a revolution. He
-selected Kent as the quarter more pre-eminently
-in a state of excitement against the prevailing
-misrule, and declaring that he belonged to the
-royal line of Mortimer, and was cousin to the Duke
-of York, he gave himself out to be the son of
-Sir John Mortimer, who, on a charge of high
-treason, had been executed in the beginning of this
-reign, without trial or evidence. The lenity which
-Henry V. had always shown to the Mortimers&mdash;their
-title being superior to his own, their position
-near the throne was of course an element of
-danger&mdash;had not been imitated by Bedford and
-Gloucester, the infant king's uncles, and their
-neglect of the forms of a regular trial had only
-strengthened the opinions of the people as to
-the Mortimer rights. No sooner, therefore, did
-Jack Cade assume this popular name, than the
-people, burning with the anger of the hour against
-the unlucky dynasty, flocked, to the number
-of 20,000, to his standard, and advanced to
-Blackheath. Emissaries were sent into London
-to stir up the people there, and induce them to
-open their gates and join the movement. As the
-Government, taken by surprise, was destitute of
-the necessary troops on the spot to repel so formidable
-a body of insurgents, it put on the same
-air of moderation which Richard II. had done in
-Tyler's rebellion, and many messages passed between
-the king and the pretended Mortimer, or,
-as he also called himself, John Amend-all.</p>
-
-<p>In reply to the king's inquiry as to the cause
-of this assembly, Cade sent in "The Complaints
-of the Commons of Kent, and the Causes of the
-Assembly on Blackheath." These documents were
-ably and artfully drawn. They professed the
-most affectionate attachment to the king, and
-demanded the redress of what were universally
-known to be real and enormous grievances. The
-wrongs were those under which the kingdom had
-long been smarting&mdash;the loss of the territories in
-France, and the loss of the national honour with
-them, through the treason and mal-administration
-of the ministers; the usurpation of the Crown
-lands by the greedy courtiers, and the consequent
-shifting of the royal expenditure to the
-shoulders of the people, with the scandals, offences,
-and robberies of purveyance. The "Complaints"
-asserted that the people of Kent had been especially
-victimised and ill-used by the sheriffs and tax-gatherers,
-and that the free elections of their
-knights of the shire had been prevented. They
-declared, moreover, that corrupt men were employed
-at court, and the princes of the blood and
-honest men kept out of power.</p>
-
-<p>Government undertook to examine into these
-causes of complaint, and promised an answer;
-but the people soon were aware that this was
-only a pretence to gain time, and that the answer
-would be presented at the point of the sword.
-Jack Cade, therefore, sent out what he called
-"The Requests of the Captain of the Great Assembly
-in Kent." These "Requests" were based
-directly on the previous complaints, and were that
-the king should renew the grants of the Crown,
-and so enable himself to live on his own income,
-without fleecing the people; that he should dismiss
-all corrupt councillors, and all the progeny
-of the Duke of Suffolk, and take into his
-service his right trusty cousins and noble peers,
-the Duke of York, now banished to Ireland, the
-Dukes of Exeter, Buckingham, and Norfolk. This
-looked assuredly as if those who drew up those
-papers for Cade were in the interest of the York
-party, and the more so as the document went on
-to denounce the traitors who had compassed the
-death of that excellent prince the Duke of Gloucester,
-and of their holy father the cardinal, and
-who had so shamefully caused the loss of Maine,
-Anjou, Normandy, and our other lands in France.
-The assumed murder of the cardinal, who had
-died almost in public, and surrounded by the ceremonies
-of the Church, was too ridiculous, and was
-probably thrown in to hide the actual party at
-work. The "Requests" then demanded summary
-execution on the detested collectors and extortioners,
-Crowmer, Lisle, Este, and Sleg.</p>
-
-<p>The court had now a force ready equal to that
-of the insurgents, and sent it under Sir Humphrey
-Stafford to answer the "Requests" by cannon and
-matchlock. Cade retreated to Sevenoaks, where,
-taking advantage of Stafford's too hasty pursuit,
-with only part of his forces, he fell upon his
-troops, put them to flight, killed Stafford, and,
-arraying himself in the slain man's armour, advanced
-again to his former position on Blackheath.</p>
-
-<p>This unexpected success threw the court into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
-a panic. The soldiers who had gone to Sevenoaks
-had gone unwillingly; and those left on Blackheath
-now declared that they knew not why they
-should fight their fellow-countrymen for only asking
-redress of undoubted grievances. The nobles,
-who were at heart adverse to the present ministers,
-found this quite reasonable, and the court
-was obliged to assume an air of concession. The
-Lord Say, who had been one of Suffolk's most
-obsequious instruments, and was regarded by the
-people as a prime agent in the making over of
-Maine and Anjou, was sent to the Tower with
-some inferior officers. The king was advised to
-disband his army, and retire to Kenilworth; and
-Lord Scales, with a thousand men, undertook to
-defend the Tower. Cade advanced from Blackheath,
-took possession of Southwark, and demanded
-entrance into the city of London.</p>
-
-<p>The lord mayor summoned a council, in which
-the proposal was debated; and it was concluded
-to offer no resistance. On the 3rd of July Cade
-marched over the bridge, and took up his quarters
-in the heart of the capital. He took the precaution
-to cut the ropes of the drawbridge with his
-sword as he passed, to prevent his being caught,
-as in a trap; and, maintaining strict discipline
-amongst his followers, he led them back into the
-Borough in the evening. The next day he reappeared
-in the same circumspect and orderly
-manner; and, compelling the lord mayor and the
-judges to sit in Guildhall, he brought Lord Say
-before them, and arraigned him on a charge of
-high treason. Say demanded to be tried by his
-peers; but he was hurried away to the standard
-in Cheapside, and beheaded. His son-in-law,
-Crowmer, sheriff of Kent, was served in the same
-manner. The Duchess of Suffolk, the Bishop of
-Salisbury, Thomas Daniel, and others, were accused
-of the like high crimes, but, luckily, were
-not to be found. The bishop had already fallen
-at the hands of his own tenants at Edington, in
-Wiltshire.</p>
-
-<p>On the third day Cade's followers plundered
-some of the houses of the citizens; and the
-Londoners, calling in Lord Scales with his 1,000
-men to aid them, resolved that Cade should be
-prevented from again entering the city. Cade received
-notice of this from some of his partisans,
-and rushed to the bridge in the night to secure it.
-He found it already in the possession of the citizens.
-There was a bloody battle, which lasted
-for six hours, when the insurgents drew off, and
-left the Londoners masters of the bridge.</p>
-
-<p>On receiving this news, the Archbishops of
-Canterbury and York, who were in the Tower,
-determined to try the ruse which had succeeded
-with the followers of Wat Tyler. They therefore
-sent the Bishop of Winchester to promise redress
-of grievances, and a full pardon under the great
-seal, for every one who should at once return
-to their homes. After some demur, the terms
-were gratefully accepted; Cade himself embraced
-the offered grace, according to the subsequent
-proclamation against him, dated the 10th of July;
-but quickly repenting of his credulity, he once
-more unfurled his banner, and found a number
-of men ready to rejoin it. This mere remnant
-of the insurgent host, however, was utterly
-incapable of effecting anything against the city;
-they retired to Deptford, and thence to Rochester,
-hoping to gather a fresh army. But the people
-had now cooled; the rioters began to divide their
-plunder and to quarrel over it; and Cade, seeing
-all was lost, and fearing that he should be seized
-for the reward of 1,000 marks offered for his head,
-fled on horseback towards Lewes. Disguising
-himself, he lurked about in secret places, till,
-being discovered in a garden at Heathfield, in
-Kent, by Alexander Iden, the new sheriff; he
-was, after a short battle, killed by Iden, and his
-body carried to London.</p>
-
-<p>That the party of the Duke of York had some
-concern in Cade's rebellion, the Government not
-only suspected, but several of Cade's followers
-when brought to execution, are said to have confessed
-as much. But stronger evidence of the fact
-is, that there was an immediate rumour that the
-duke himself was preparing to cross over to England.
-The court at once issued orders in the
-king's name, to forbid his coming, and to oppose
-any armed attempt on his part. The duke defeated
-this scheme by appearing without any retinue
-whatever, trusting to the good-will of the
-people. His confidence in thus coming at once to
-the very court put the Government, which had
-shown such suspicion of him, completely in the
-wrong in the eye of the public.</p>
-
-<p>We are now on the eve of that contest for
-the possession of the crown, which figures so
-eminently in history as the Wars of the Roses.
-The accession of Henry IV., productive of very
-bloody consequences at the time, had nearly been
-forgotten through the brilliant successes of his son,
-Henry V.; but still the heirs of the true line, according
-to the doctrine of lineal descent, were in
-existence. The Mortimers, Earls of March, had
-been spared by the usurping family; and Richard,
-Duke of York, was now the representative<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
-of that line. To understand clearly how the
-Mortimers, and from them Richard, Duke of
-York, took precedence of Henry VI., according to
-lineal descent, we must recollect that Henry IV.
-was the son of John of Gaunt, who was the
-fourth son of Edward III. On the deposition of
-Richard II., who was the son of the Black Prince,
-the eldest son of Edward III., there was living
-the Earl of March, the grandson of Lionel, the
-<em>third</em> son of Edward III., who had clearly the
-right to precede Henry. This right had been,
-moreover, recognised by Parliament. But Henry
-of Lancaster, disregarding this claim, seized on
-the crown by force, yet took no care to destroy
-the true claimant. Now, the Duke of York,
-who was paternally descended from Edmund of
-Langley, the fifth son of Edward III., was also
-maternally the lineal descendant of Lionel, the
-third son through the daughter and heiress of
-Mortimer, the Earl of March. By this descent
-he preceded the descendants of Henry IV., and
-was by right of heirship the undoubted claimant
-of the English crown.</p>
-
-<p>The Marches had shown no disposition whatever
-to assert that right, and this had proved their
-safety. They had been for several generations a
-particularly modest and unambitious race; and
-so long as the descendants of Henry IV. had
-proved able or popular monarchs, their claim
-would have lain in abeyance. But they were
-never forgotten; and now that the imbecility and
-long minority of Henry VI. had created strong
-factions, and disgusted the people, this claim was
-zealously revived. Henry IV. had but one real
-and indefeasible claim to the throne&mdash;namely,
-that of the election of the people, had he chosen to
-accept it; but this he proudly rejected, and took
-his stand on his lineal descent from Edward III.,
-where the heirs of his uncle Lionel had entirely
-the advantage of him.</p>
-
-<p>The people who had favoured, and would have
-adopted Henry IV., had now become alienated
-from the house of Lancaster, through the incapacity
-of the present king, by which they had lost
-the whole of their ancient possessions, as well as
-their conquests in France. Nothing remained but
-heavy taxation and national exhaustion, as the
-net result of all the wars in that kingdom. In
-this respect the very glory of Henry V. became
-the ruin of his son. While the people complained
-of their poverty and oppression in consequence
-of those wars, they were doubly harassed by
-the factious quarrels of the king's relatives.
-They had attached themselves to the Duke of
-Gloucester, and he had been murdered by these
-cliques, and, as was generally believed, at the
-instigation of the queen. Queen Margaret, indeed,
-completed the alienation of the people from the
-house of Lancaster. She was not only French&mdash;a
-nation now in the worst odour with the people
-of England&mdash;but through her they had lost Maine
-and Anjou.</p>
-
-<p>These circumstances now drew the hearts of the
-people as strongly towards the Duke of York, as
-they had formerly been attracted to the house of
-Lancaster. They began to regard him with interest,
-as a person whose rights to the throne had
-been unjustly overlooked. He was a man who
-seemed to possess much of the modest and amiable
-character of the Marches. He had been recalled
-from France, where he was ably conducting himself,
-by the influence of the queen, as was believed,
-and sent as governor into Ireland, as a sort of
-honourable banishment. But though treated in a
-manner calculated to provoke him, he had retained
-the unassuming moderation of his demeanour. He
-had yet made no public pretensions to the crown,
-and though circumstances seemed to invite him,
-showed no haste to seize it. There were many
-circumstances, indeed, which tended to make all
-parties hesitate to proceed to extremities. True,
-the queen was highly unpopular, but Henry,
-though weak, was so amiable, pious, and just, that
-the people, although groaning under the consequences
-of his weakness, yet retained much
-affection for him. There were also numbers of
-nobles of great influence who had benefited by
-the long minority of the king, and who, much as
-they disliked the queen's party, were afraid of
-being called on, in case another dynasty was established,
-to yield up the valuable grants which
-they had obtained.</p>
-
-<p>Thus the kingdom was divided into three
-parties: those who took part with Somerset and
-the queen, those who inclined to the Duke of
-York, and those who, having benefited by the long
-reign of corruption, were afraid of any change, and
-endeavoured to hold the balance betwixt the extreme
-parties. Almost all the nobles of the North
-of England were zealous supporters of the house of
-Lancaster, and with them went the Earl of Westmoreland,
-the head of the house of Neville, though
-the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, the most
-influential members of the family, were the chief
-champions of the cause of York. With the Duke
-of Somerset also followed, in support of the crown,
-Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, Stafford, Duke
-of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
-Lords Clifford, Dudley, Scales, Audley, and other
-noblemen. With the Duke of York, besides
-the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, went many
-of the southern houses.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_005big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_005.jpg" width="580" height="432" alt="" title="THE DUKE OF YORK CHALLENGED TO MORTAL COMBAT" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE DUKE OF YORK CHALLENGED TO MORTAL COMBAT. (<i>See p.</i> 6.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Such was the state of public feeling and the
-position of parties when the insurrection of Cade
-occurred. The Duke of York had made himself
-additionally popular by his conduct in Ireland.
-He had shown great prudence and ability in
-suppressing the insurrections of the natives; and
-thus made fast friends of all the English who had
-connections in that island. No doubt the members
-of his own party used every argument to incite the
-duke to assert his right to the throne, and so to
-free the country from the dominance of the queen
-and her favourites. That it was the general
-opinion that the Cade conspiracy was a direct
-feeler on the part of the Yorkists, is clear from
-Shakespeare, who wrote so much nearer to that
-day. But when York appeared upon the scene,
-Cade had already paid the penalty of his outbreak.
-On his way to town, York, passing through
-Northamptonshire, sent for William Tresham,
-the late Speaker of the House of Commons,
-who had taken an active part in the prosecution
-of Suffolk. But, on his way to the duke,
-Tresham was fallen upon by the men of Lord
-Grey de Ruthin, and murdered. York proceeded
-to London, as related, and appeared before the
-king, where he demanded of him to summon a
-Parliament for the settlement of the disturbed
-affairs of the realm. Henry promised, and York
-meanwhile retired to his castle at Fotheringay.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had York retired when Somerset
-arrived from France, and the queen and Henry
-hailed him as a champion sent in the moment of
-need to sustain the court party against the power
-and designs of York. But Somerset came from
-the loss of France, and, therefore, loaded with an
-awful weight of public odium; and with her vindictive
-disregard of appearances, Queen Margaret
-immediately transferred to him all her old predilection
-for Suffolk. When the Parliament met,
-the temper of the public mind was very soon apparent.
-Out of doors the life of Somerset was
-threatened by the mob, and his house was pillaged.
-In the Commons, Young, one of the representatives
-of Bristol, moved that, as Henry had no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
-children, York should be declared his successor.
-This proposal seemed to take the house by
-surprise, and Young was committed to the Tower.
-But a bill was carried to attaint the memory of
-the Duke of Suffolk, and another to remove from
-about the king the Duchess of Suffolk, the Duke
-of Somerset, and almost all the party in power.
-Henry refused to accede to these measures, any
-further than promising to withdraw a number of
-inferior persons from the court for twelve months,
-during which time their conduct might be inquired
-into. On this the Duchess of Suffolk and the
-other persons indicted of high treason during the
-insurrection, demanded to be heard in their defence,
-and were acquitted.</p>
-
-<p>The spirit of the opposite factions ran very
-high; the party of Somerset accusing that of
-York of treasonable designs, and that of York
-declaring that the court was plotting to destroy
-the duke as they had destroyed Gloucester. York
-retired to his castle of Ludlow, in Shropshire,
-where he was in the very centre of the Mortimer
-interest, and under plea of securing himself
-against Somerset, he actively employed himself in
-raising forces, at the same time issuing a proclamation
-of the most devoted loyalty, and offering
-to swear fealty to the king on the sacrament
-before the Bishop of Hereford and the Earl of
-Shrewsbury. The court paid no attention to his
-professions, but an army was led by the king
-against him. York, instead of awaiting the blow,
-took another road, and endeavoured to reach and
-obtain possession of London in the king's absence.
-On approaching the capital, he received a message
-that its gates would be shut against him, and he
-then turned aside to Dartford, probably hoping for
-support from the same population which had followed
-Cade. The king pursued him, and encamping
-on Blackheath, sent the Bishops of Ely
-and Winchester to demand why he was in arms.
-York replied that he was in arms from no disloyal
-design, but merely to protect himself from his
-enemies. The king told him his movements had
-been watched since the murder of the Bishop of
-Chichester by men supposed to be in his interest,
-and still more since his partisans had openly
-boasted of his right to the crown; but for his
-own part, he himself believed him to be a loyal
-subject, and his own well-beloved cousin.</p>
-
-<p>York demanded that all persons "noised or
-indicted of treason" should be apprehended, committed
-to the Tower, and brought to trial. All
-this the king, or his advisers, promised, and as
-Somerset was one of the persons chiefly aimed at
-by York, the king gave an instant order for the
-arrest and committal of Somerset, and assured
-York that a new council should be summoned, in
-which he himself should be included, and all
-matters decided by a majority. At these frank
-promises York expressed himself entirely satisfied,
-disbanded his army, and came bareheaded to the
-king's tent. What occurred, however, was by no
-means in accordance with the honourable character
-of the king, and savoured more of the councils of
-the queen. No sooner did York present himself
-before Henry, and begin to enter upon the causes
-of complaint, than Somerset stepped from behind
-a curtain, denied the assertions of York, and
-defied him to mortal combat. So flagrant a
-breach of faith showed York that he had been
-betrayed. He turned to depart in indignant resentment,
-but he was informed that he was a
-prisoner. Somerset was urgent for his trial and
-execution, as the only means of securing the permanent
-peace of the realm. Henry had a horror
-of spilling blood; but in this instance York is said
-to have owed his safety rather to the fears of the
-ministers than any act of grace of the king, who
-was probably in no condition of mind to be
-capable of thinking upon the subject. There was
-already a report that York's son, the Earl of
-March, was on the way towards London with a
-strong army of Welshmen, to liberate his father.
-This so alarmed the queen and council that they
-agreed to set free the duke, on condition that he
-swore to be faithful to the king, which he did at
-St. Paul's, Henry and his chief nobility being
-present. York then retired to his castle of
-Wigmore.</p>
-
-<p>In the autumn of 1453 the queen was delivered
-of a son, who was called Edward. There was a
-cry in the country that this was no son of the
-king&mdash;a cry zealously promoted by the partisans
-of York&mdash;but it did not prevent the young
-prince from being recognised as the heir-apparent,
-and created Prince of Wales, Earl of Cornwall
-and Chester. But the king had now fallen
-into such a state of imbecility, with periods of
-absolute insanity, that those who had denied the
-legitimacy of his mother, Queen Catherine, might
-well change their opinion; for Henry's malady
-seemed to be precisely that of his reputed grandfather,
-Charles VI. of France. Such was his condition,
-that Parliament would no longer consent to
-leave him in the hands of the queen and Somerset.
-In the autumn the influence of Parliament compelled
-the recall of York to the council; and this,
-as might have been expected, was immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
-followed by the committal of Somerset to the Tower.
-In February Parliament recommenced its sittings,
-and York appeared as lieutenant or commissioner
-for the king, who was incapable of opening it in
-person. It had been the policy of the queen to
-keep concealed the real condition of the king, but
-with York at the head of affairs, this was no
-longer possible. The House of Lords appointed a
-deputation to wait on Henry at Windsor. The
-Archbishop of Canterbury, who was also Lord
-Chancellor, was dead; and the Lords seized upon
-the occasion as the plea for a personal interview,
-according to ancient custom, with the king.
-Twelve peers accordingly proceeded to Windsor,
-and would not return without seeing the monarch.
-They found him in such a state of mental alienation
-that, though they saw him three times, they
-could perceive no mark of attention from him.
-They reported him utterly incapable of transacting
-any business; and the Duke of York was thereupon
-appointed protector, with a yearly salary of
-2,000 marks. The Lancastrian party, however,
-took care to define the duties and the powers of
-this office, so as to maintain the rights of the king.
-The title of protector was to give no authority,
-but merely precedence in the council, and the
-command of the army in time of rebellion or invasion.
-It was to be revocable at the will of the
-king, should he at any time recover soundness of
-mind; and, in case that he remained so long incapacitated
-for Government, the protectorate was
-to pass to the prince Edward on his coming of
-age. The command at sea was entrusted to five
-noblemen, chosen from the two parties; and the
-Government of Calais, a most important post, was
-taken from Somerset, and given to York.</p>
-
-<p>With all this change, the session of Parliament
-appears to have been stormy. The Duke of
-York had instituted an action for trespass against
-Thorpe, the Speaker of the Commons, and one
-of the Barons of the Exchequer, and obtained
-a verdict with damages to the amount of £1,000,
-and Thorpe was committed to prison till he gave
-security for that sum, and an equal fine to the
-Crown. In vain did the Commons petition for
-the release of the Speaker. The Lords refused;
-and they were compelled to elect a new one.
-Many of the Lords, not feeling themselves safe,
-absented themselves from the House, and were
-compelled to attend only by heavy fines. The
-Duke of Exeter was taken into custody, and
-bound to keep the peace; and the Earl of Devonshire,
-a Yorkist, was accused of high treason
-and tried, but acquitted. So strong was the
-opposition of the court party, that even York himself
-was compelled to stand up and defend himself.</p>
-
-<p>These angry commotions were but the prelude
-to a more decisive act. The king was found
-something better, and the fact was instantly
-seized on by the queen and her party to hurl
-York from power, and reinstate Somerset. About
-Christmas the king demanded from York the resignation
-of the protectorate, and immediately
-liberated Somerset. This was not done without
-Somerset being at first held to bail for his appearance
-at Westminster to answer the charges
-against him. But he appealed to the council, on
-the ground that he had been committed without
-any lawful cause; and the court party being now
-in the ascendant, he was at once freed from his
-recognisances. The king himself seemed anxious
-to reconcile the two dukes, a circumstance more
-convincing of his good nature than of his sound
-sense&mdash;for it was an impossibility. He would
-not restore the government of Calais to the Duke
-of Somerset, but he took it from York and retained
-it in his own hands. York perceived that
-he had been regularly defeated by the queen, and
-he retired again to his castle of Ludlow to plan
-more serious measures.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Salisbury
-and his son, the celebrated Earl of Warwick, destined
-to acquire the name of the "King-maker,"
-hastened there at his summons, and it was resolved
-to attempt the suppression of the court
-party by force of arms. They were quickly at
-the head of a large force, with which they hoped
-to surprise the royalists. But no sooner did the
-news of this approaching force reach the court,
-than the king was carried forth at the head of
-a body of troops equal to those of York, and a
-march was commenced against him. The royal
-army had reached St. Albans, and on the morning
-of the 22nd of May, 1455, as it was about to
-resume its progress, the hills bordering on the
-high road were covered with the troops of York.
-This army marching under the banners of the
-house of York, now for the first time displayed
-in resistance to the sovereign, halted in a field
-near the town, and sent forward a herald announcing
-that the three noblemen were come in
-all loyalty and attachment to the king; but with
-a determination to remove the Duke of Somerset
-from his councils, and demanding that he and
-his pernicious associates should be at once delivered
-up to them. The Yorkists declared that
-they felt this to be so absolutely necessary, that
-they were resolved to destroy those enemies to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
-the peace of the country, or to perish themselves.
-An answer was returned by or for the king,
-"that he would not abandon any of the lords
-who were faithful to him, but rather would do
-battle upon it, at the peril of life and crown."</p>
-
-<p>It would have appeared that the royal army
-had a most decided advantage by being in possession
-of the town, which was well fortified, and
-where a stout resistance might have been made in
-the narrow streets; but, spite of this, the superior
-spirit of the commanders on the side of York
-triumphed over the royalists. York himself made
-a desperate attack on the barriers at the entrance
-of the town, while Warwick, searching the outskirts
-of the place, found, or was directed by some
-favouring persons to a weak spot. He made his
-way across some gardens, burst into the city, and
-came upon the royal forces where he was little
-expected. Aided by this diversion, York redoubled
-his attack on the barriers, and, notwithstanding
-their resolute defence by Lord Clifford
-forced an entrance. Between the cries of "A
-York! a York!" "A Warwick! a Warwick!"
-confusion spread amongst the king's forces, they
-gave way, and fled out of the town in utter rout.
-The slaughter among the leaders of the royal army
-was terrible. The Duke of Somerset, the Earl of
-Northumberland, and Lord Clifford were slain;
-the king himself was wounded in the neck, the
-Duke of Buckingham and Lord Dudley in the
-face, and the Earl of Stafford in the arm. All
-these were arrow wounds, and it was plain that
-here again the archers had won the day. The
-fall or wounds of the leaders, indeed, settled the
-business, and saved the common soldiers; for
-though Hall reports that 8,000, Stowe that 5,000
-men fell, yet Crane, in a letter to his cousin,
-John Paston, written at the time, declares that
-there were only six-score, and Sir William Stonor
-states that only forty-eight were buried in St.
-Albans.</p>
-
-<p>The king was found concealed in the house
-of a tanner; and there York visited him, on his
-knees renewed his vows of loyal affection, and
-congratulated Henry on the fall of the traitor
-Somerset. He then led the king to the shrine
-of St. Albans, and afterwards to his apartment
-in the abbey. It might have been supposed that
-the fallen king, being now in the hands of York
-and his party, the claims of York to the crown
-would have been asserted. But at this time York
-either had not really determined on seizing the
-throne, or did not deem the public fully prepared
-for so great a change. On the meeting of
-Parliament it was reported that York and his
-friends sought only to free the king from the unpopular
-ministers who surrounded him, and to
-redress the grievances of the nation. That party
-complained&mdash;with what truth does not appear&mdash;that,
-on the very morning of the battle, they had
-sought to explain these views and intentions in
-letters, which the Duke of Somerset and Thorpe,
-the late Speaker of the Commons, had withheld
-from his grace. The king acquitted York, Salisbury,
-and Warwick of all evil intention, pronounced
-them good and loyal subjects, granting
-them a full pardon. The peers renewed their
-fealty, and Parliament was prorogued till the 12th
-of November. Thus the first blood in these civil
-wars had been drawn at the battle of St. Albans
-and all appeared restored to peace. But it was a
-deceitful calm; rivers of blood were yet to flow.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had Parliament reassembled when it
-was announced that the king had relapsed into
-his former condition. Both Lords and Commons
-refused to proceed with business till this matter
-was ascertained and settled. The Lords then
-requested York once more to resume the protectorate
-for the good of the nation; but this time
-he was not to be caught in his former snare.
-He professed his insufficiency for the onerous
-office, and begged of them to lay its responsibilities
-on some more able person. He was quite
-safe in this course, for he had now acquired a
-majority in the council, and the office of chancellor
-and the Governorship of Calais were in the
-hands of his two stout friends, Salisbury and
-Warwick. Of course, the reply was that no one
-was so capable or suitable as he; and then he
-expressed his willingness to accept the protectorate,
-but only on condition that its revocation
-should not lie in the mere will of the king, but
-in the king with the consent of the Lords spiritual
-and temporal in Parliament assembled. The protectorate
-was to devolve, as before, on the Prince
-of Wales, in case the malady of the king continued
-so long.</p>
-
-<p>York might think that he was now secure from
-the machinations of the queen, but he was deceived.
-This never-resting lady was at that very
-moment actively preparing for his defeat; and
-no sooner did Parliament meet after the Christmas
-recess than Henry again presented himself
-in person, announcing his restoration to health,
-and dissolved the protectorate. The Duke
-of York resigned his authority with apparent
-good-will. Calais and the chancellorship passed
-from Salisbury and Warwick to the friends of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
-the queen; the whole Government was again
-on its old footing. Two years passed on in
-apparent peace to the nation, but in the most
-bitter party warfare at court. The queen and
-her associates could never rest while the Duke
-of York and his friends were permitted to
-escape punishment for the late outbreak. The
-relatives of Somerset and the Earl of Northumberland,
-and of the other nobles slain at St.
-Albans, were encouraged to demand with eagerness
-vengeance on the Yorkists. Both parties
-surrounded themselves more and more with armed
-retainers, and everything portended fresh acts of
-bloodshed and discord. The king endeavoured to
-avert this by summoning a great council at
-Coventry in 1457. There the Duke of Buckingham
-made a formal rehearsal of all the offences
-committed by York and his party; at the conclusion
-of which the peers fell on their knees and entreated
-the king to make a declaration that he
-would never more show grace to the Duke of York,
-or any other person who should oppose the power
-of the crown or endanger the peace of the kingdom.
-To this the king consented; and then the
-Duke of York, Salisbury, and Warwick renewed
-their oaths of fealty, and all the lords bound
-themselves never for the future to seek redress by
-arms, but only from the justice of the sovereign.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_009big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_009.jpg" width="459" height="600" alt="" title="VIEW IN LÜBECK: THE CHURCH OF ST. AEGIDIUS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>VIEW IN LÜBECK: THE CHURCH OF ST. ÆGIDIUS.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At the close of this council, the Duke of York
-retired to Wigmore, Salisbury to Middleham, and
-Warwick to Calais. It was soon found that, notwithstanding
-all these oaths and these royal endeavours,
-the same animosity was alive in the two hostile
-parties, and the king tried still further the
-hopeless experiment of reconciliation. He prevailed
-on the leaders to meet him in London. On the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
-26th of January, 1458, the leaders of the York
-and Lancaster factions appeared in the metropolis,
-but they came attended by armed retainers&mdash;the
-Duke of York with 140 horse, the now Duke of
-Somerset with 200, and Salisbury with 400, besides
-fourscore knights and esquires. York and
-his friends were admitted into the city, probably
-as being more under the control of the authorities;
-for the lord mayor, at the head of 5,000
-armed citizens, undertook to maintain the peace.
-The Lancastrian lords were lodged in the suburbs.
-Every day the Yorkists met at the Blackfriars
-and the Lancastrians at the Whitefriars, and
-after communicating with each other, the result
-was sent to the king, who lay at Berkhampstead
-with several of the judges. The result of their
-deliberations was this:&mdash;The king, as umpire,
-awarded that the Duke of York, and the Earls of
-Salisbury and Warwick, should, within two years,
-found a chantry for the good of the souls of the
-three lords slain in battle at St. Albans, that both
-those who slew, and those who were slain at that
-battle should be reputed faithful subjects; that
-the Duke of York should pay to the dowager
-Duchess of Somerset and her children the sum of
-5,000, and the Earl of Warwick to the Lord
-Clifford 1,000 marks; and that the Earl of Salisbury
-should release to Percy Lord Egremont all
-the damages he had obtained against him for an
-assault, on condition that the said Lord Egremont
-should bind himself to keep the peace for ten
-years.</p>
-
-<p>The next day, March 25th, the king came to
-town, and went to St. Paul's in procession, followed
-by the whole court, the queen conducted by
-the Duke of York, and the lords of each party
-walking arm-in-arm before them, in token of perfect
-reconciliation. But real reconciliation was as
-distant as ever. The causes of contention lay too
-deep for the efforts of the simple and well-intentioned
-king, or even for the subtlest acts of
-diplomacy. It was the settled strife for a crown;
-and swords, not oaths, could alone decide it. The
-whole show was a mocking pageant. The slightest
-spark might any day light up a flame which would
-rage through the whole kingdom; and in a little
-more than a month such a spark fell into the combustible
-mass. News arrived that a large fleet of
-merchantmen from Lübeck had been attacked by
-Warwick as it passed down the Channel, and five
-sail of them captured after a severe contest, and
-carried into Calais. As Lübeck was a town of
-the Hanseatic League, that powerful association&mdash;which
-was in amity with England&mdash;speedily sent
-commissioners to London demanding redress.
-Warwick was summoned to appear before the
-council; and, whilst in attendance, a quarrel
-arose betwixt his followers and those of the court.
-Warwick believed, or feigned&mdash;to escape out of the
-scrape into which he had fallen&mdash;that there was a
-design upon his life. He fled to his father, Salisbury,
-and York, and they resolved that their only
-safety lay in arms. There was a story circulated,
-and thoroughly believed in by the Yorkist party,
-that the queen, who never forgot or forgave an
-enemy, kept a register, written in blood, of all the
-Yorkist chiefs, and had vowed never to rest till
-they were exterminated. In fact, both parties
-were arrived at that pitch of rancour which
-nothing could appease but the blood of their opponents.
-The feud was no longer confined to the
-nobles and their immediate retainers; the leaven
-of discord had pervaded the whole mass of the
-nation. The conflicting claims had been discussed
-till they had penetrated into every village, every
-family, into the convents of the monks, and the
-cottages of the poor. One party asserted that the
-Duke of York was an injured prince, driven from
-his hereditary right by a usurping family, and
-now marked to be destroyed by them. The other
-contended that, though Henry IV. had deposed
-Richard II., he had been the choice of the nation;
-that his son had made the name of England
-glorious; that more than sixty years' possession
-of the crown was itself sufficient warrant for
-its retention; that the Duke of York had, over
-and over again, sworn eternal fealty to Henry
-VI., which was in itself a renunciation of any
-claim he might previously possess; and that,
-in seeking now to deprive the king of his throne,
-he was a perjured and worthless man. One party
-argued that York owed his life to the clemency of
-the king; and the other replied that the king
-equally owed his to that of York, who had him in
-his power at St. Albans.</p>
-
-<p>While the nation was thus heating its blood in
-these disputes, the heads of the different factions
-were busy preparing to meet each other in the
-field. The three lords spent the winter in arousing
-their partisans. Warwick called around him at
-Calais the veterans who had fought in Normandy
-and Guienne. On the other hand, the court distributed
-in profusion collars of white swans, the
-badge of the young prince; and the friends of the
-king were invited by letters, under the privy seal,
-to meet him in arms at Leicester. The spring and
-summer had come and gone, however, before the
-rival parties proceeded to actual extremities. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
-finances of the court impeded its proceedings; and
-the Yorkist party still averred that it had no
-object but its own defence and the rescue of the
-Government from traitors.</p>
-
-<p>At length, on the 23rd of September, 1459, the
-Earl of Salisbury marched forth from his castle of
-Middleham, in Yorkshire, to form a junction with
-York on the borders of Wales. Lord Audley,
-with a force of 10,000 men, far exceeding that of
-Salisbury, sought to intercept his progress at Blore
-Heath in Staffordshire; but the veteran Salisbury
-was too subtle for his antagonist. He pretended
-to fly at the sight of such unequal numbers; and
-having thus seduced Audley to pass a deep glen
-and torrent, he fell upon his troops when part
-only were over, and, throwing them into confusion,
-made a dreadful slaughter of them. Some writers
-contend that Salisbury had only 500 men with
-him; but this appears incredible, for they left
-Lord Audley with 2,000 of his men dead on the
-field, and took prisoner Lord Dudley, with many
-knights and esquires. The earl pursued his way
-unmolested to Ludlow, where York lay, and where
-they were joined in a few days by Warwick with
-his large reinforcement of veterans under Sir John
-Blount and Sir Andrew Trollop.</p>
-
-<p>The king, queen, and lords of their party had
-assembled an army of 60,000 men. With these
-they advanced to within half a mile of Ludiford,
-the camp of York, near Ludlow, on the 10th of
-October; and Henry, after all his experience, had
-the goodness, or the weakness, once more to renew
-his offers of pardon and reconciliation on condition
-that his opponents should submit within six days.
-York and his colleagues replied that they had no
-reliance on his promises because those about him
-did not observe them, and that the Earl of Warwick,
-trusting to them last year, nearly lost his
-life. Yet they still protested that nothing but
-their own security caused them to arm, and that
-they had determined not to draw the sword
-against their sovereign unless they were compelled.
-It was concluded by the royal party to
-give battle on the 13th, but they found York
-posted with consummate military skill. His camp
-was defended by several batteries of cannon, which
-played effectively on the royal ranks as they attempted
-to advance. The royalists, therefore, deferred
-the engagement till the next morning, and
-were relieved from that necessity by Sir Andrew
-Trollop, who was marshal of the Yorkist army,
-going over in the night with all his Calais auxiliaries
-to the king. Trollop had hitherto believed
-the assurances of the Yorkist leaders that they
-sought only Government redress, and not subversion
-of the throne; but something had now opened
-his eyes, and, as he was a staunch royalist, he
-acted accordingly. This event struck terror and
-confusion through the Yorkist army. Every man
-was doubtful of his fellow; the confederate lords
-made a hasty retreat into Wales, whence York and
-one of his sons passed over to Ireland, and the
-rest followed Warwick, who hastened to Devonshire,
-and thence escaped again to Calais.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing shows so strikingly the feeble councils
-of the royal camp as that these formidable foes
-should have been permitted to decamp without
-any pursuit. A vigorous blow at the now panic-struck
-enemy might for ever have rid the king of
-his mortal antagonists. But Henry, always averse
-from shedding blood, was, no doubt, glad of this
-unexpected escape from it, and his generals were
-weak enough to acquiesce. The court returned
-to London, and satisfied themselves with passing
-an act of attainder against the Duke and Duchess
-of York, and their sons, the Earls of March and
-Rutland, against the Earl and Countess of Salisbury,
-and their son the Earl of Warwick, the Lord
-Clinton, and various knights and esquires. Even
-this was painful to the morbidly tender mind of
-Henry. He reserved to himself the right to
-reverse the attainder, if he thought proper, and refused
-to permit the confiscation of the property of
-Lord Powis, and two others who had thrown themselves
-on his clemency.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the insurgent chiefs, though dispersed,
-were not crushed. York had great popularity
-in Ireland; Warwick had a strong retreat
-in Calais. To deprive him of this, the Duke of
-Somerset was appointed governor, and, encouraged
-by the conduct of the Calais veterans at Ludiford,
-set out to drive Warwick from that city. But he
-met with a very different reception to that which
-he had calculated upon. He was assailed by a
-severe fire from the batteries, and compelled to
-stand out. On making an attempt to reach Calais
-from Guisnes, he found himself deserted by his
-sailors, who carried his fleet into Calais, and surrendered
-it to their favourite commander. Warwick
-stationed a sufficient force to watch Somerset
-in Guisnes, and, so little did he care for him, set
-out with his fleet, and dispersed two successive
-armaments sent to the relief of Somerset from the
-ports of Kent. When this had been done, he
-sailed to Dublin, to concert measures with York,
-and returned in safety to Calais, having met the
-high-admiral, the Duke of Exeter, who at sight of
-him escaped into Dartmouth.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In the spring of 1460 the Yorkists, who had fled
-so rapidly from the royal army at Ludiford, and
-had seemed to vanish as a mist, were again on
-foot, and in a threatening attitude. They had
-sedulously scattered proclamations throughout the
-country, still protesting that they had no designs
-on the crown; that the king was so well
-assured of it that he refused to ratify the act
-of attainder, but that he was in the hands of the
-enemies of the nation. These documents concluded
-by saying that the maligned lords were resolved
-now to prove their loyalty in the presence
-of the sovereign. Following up this, Warwick
-landed in June, in Kent&mdash;next to the marches of
-Wales the great stronghold of the house of York.
-He had brought only 1,500 men with him, but he
-was accompanied by Coppini, the Pope's legate,
-who had been sent indeed to Henry, but was
-gained over by Warwick. In Kent they were
-joined by the Lord Cobham with 400 men; by the
-Archbishop of Canterbury, who had received his
-preferment from York during his protectorate;
-and by a large number of knights and gentlemen
-of the county. As he advanced towards the
-capital, people flocked to him from all sides till
-his army amounted to 30,000, some say 40,000,
-men. He entered London on the 2nd of July,
-and, proceeding to the convocation, prevailed on
-no less than five bishops to accompany him to an
-interview with the king, who was lying at
-Coventry. The legate issued a letter to the
-clergy, informing them that he had laid it before
-the king; that the Yorkists demanded nothing but
-personal security, peaceable enjoyment of their
-property, and the removal of evil counsellors. All
-this was calculated to turn the credulous, or to
-prevent them from swelling the forces of the court.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_012big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_012.jpg" width="580" height="424" alt="From a photograph by Frith and Co., Reigate" title="CLIFFORD'S TOWER: YORK CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CLIFFORD'S TOWER: YORK CASTLE.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From a photograph by Frith and Co., Reigate.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Henry advanced to Northampton, where he entrenched
-himself in a strong camp. On arriving
-before it, Warwick made three successive attempts
-to obtain an interview with the king, but finding
-it unavailing, the legate excommunicated the royal
-party, and set up the papal banner in the Yorkist
-camp. For this he was afterwards recalled by the
-Pope, imprisoned, and degraded; but for the time
-it had its effect. Warwick gave the king notice
-that, as he would not listen to any overtures, he
-must prepare for battle at two in the afternoon on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
-the 10th of July, 1460. The royal party made
-themselves certain of victory, but were this time
-confounded by Lord Grey of Ruthin going over to
-the enemy, as Sir Andrew Trollop had deserted
-the other party at Ludlow. Grey introduced the
-Yorkists into the very heart of Henry's camp,
-and the contest was speedily decided. Warwick
-ordered his followers to spare the common soldiers,
-and direct their attacks against the leaders; and
-accordingly of these there were slain 300 knights
-and gentlemen, including the Duke of Buckingham,
-the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the Lords
-Beaumont and Egremont. A second time Henry
-fell into the hands of his rebellious subjects, but
-they treated him with all respect. The queen and
-her son escaped into Wales, and thence into Scotland,
-after having been plundered on the way by
-their own servants.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_013big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_013.jpg" width="553" height="560" alt="" title="RUTLAND BESEECHING CLIFFORD TO SPARE HIS LIFE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>RUTLAND BESEECHING CLIFFORD TO SPARE HIS LIFE. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The victors then marched back to London, carrying
-the king along with them a captive, but
-with studied appearance of being still at the head
-of his loving subjects. He entered the city, as in
-triumph, Warwick riding bareheaded before him,
-carrying the sword. Writs were issued in his
-name, applauding the loyalty of the very man who
-had made war on and seized his person, and a Parliament
-was summoned for the redress of grievances,
-the chief of these being the acts issued last
-year in the Parliament at Coventry, attainting the
-Yorkist leaders, which, of course, were abolished.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
-This had scarcely been effected when the Duke
-of York arrived from Ireland, at the head of
-500 horse. He rode into Westminster, entered
-the House of Lords, and advancing to the throne
-laid his hand on the gold cloth, and seemed to wait
-as in expectance that he should be invited to seat
-himself there. But no such invitation was given.
-To do so would have been to act in opposition,
-on the part of the peers, to all the assurances
-that from first to last had been made by York
-and his friends, that he sought no such thing. It
-was now, however, the intention of York to throw
-off the mask, and openly lay claim to the crown.
-The manner in which the public, both aristocracy
-and people, had flocked to the standard of Warwick,
-led him to believe that it was now safe to
-declare himself; but he had himself defeated, in a
-great measure, his own object. His constant assertions
-that he sought only reform, not the subversion
-of the royal authority, his repeated oaths
-of fealty, had convinced all parties, except that of
-his own private friends, that he was sincere in
-his declarations, and they esteemed him for his
-honourable conduct to the gentle and inoffensive
-king. When, therefore, he did declare his intention
-of seizing the crown, the astonishment and disapprobation
-were proportionate.</p>
-
-<p>As all remained silent when he laid his hand on
-the throne, he turned and looked, as if for help,
-towards the assembled nobles. The Archbishop of
-Canterbury, to put an end to the embarrassing
-dilemma, asked him if he would not pay his respects
-to the king, who was in the queen's apartment.
-York replied that he knew no one to
-whom he owed that title; that he was subject to
-no man in that realm, but, under God, was himself
-entitled to the sovereignty. The peers preserved a
-profound and discouraging silence; and York, not
-finding that response which he had hoped, left the
-house. It was, however, only to take possession
-of the palace as his hereditary right. Thence
-he sent to the peers a written demand of the
-crown, tracing his descent, showing its priority to
-that of the line of Lancaster, and that, by every
-plea of right, law, and custom, the possession of
-the throne centred in him. To this he requested
-an immediate answer. This demand was carried
-by the lords to the king, who, on hearing it, said,
-"My father was king: his father also was king.
-I have worn the crown forty years from my cradle;
-you have all sworn fealty to me as your sovereign;
-and your fathers have done the same to my
-fathers; how, then, can my right be disputed?"</p>
-
-<p>The Lords resolved to take the matter into
-consideration, as if it were a thing to be decided
-by evidence, without any heat or violence. They
-called upon the judges to defend, to the best of
-their ability, the claims of the king. But the
-judges objected that they were judges, not advocates;
-that it was their business not to produce
-arguments, but merely to decide on such as were
-advanced. They declared this to be a case above
-the law, and only to be decided by the high court
-of Parliament. The Lords then called upon the
-king's serjeants and attorneys, who also endeavoured
-to escape from the dangerous task, but
-were not permitted, their office being, in reality, to
-give advice to the Crown.</p>
-
-<p>The Peers then proceeded to the discussion of
-this great question. They objected to York's
-claims, that he had really renounced any right
-given him by descent, by repeatedly swearing
-fealty to Henry; that the many Acts of Parliament
-passed to sanction the right of the house of
-Lancaster themselves were sufficient, and had
-authority to defeat any measure of title; that the
-duke bore the arms of Edmund, the fifth son of
-Edward III., and not those of Lionel, the third
-son, from whom he claimed, showing that he himself
-held that to be his true descent. York replied
-to all these arguments, but especially to that
-wherein he knew the main force to lie, the effect of
-his own oaths. This he declared nugatory, inasmuch
-as those oaths were of necessity and constraint,
-and, therefore, acknowledged by all men
-in all ages to be utterly void.</p>
-
-<p>The result was that the Lords came to the
-conclusion which the power of outward circumstances
-rather than their real convictions, dictated.
-They attempted a compromise, which, had Henry
-had no issue, might have succeeded, but which, as
-it went to disinherit the son of Henry, and much
-more the son of Margaret, was certain to produce
-fresh conflicts. The queen, whose resolute spirit
-would have been worthy of all admiration had it
-been accompanied by a spirit of liberality and
-conciliation, was sure never to acquiesce in the rejection
-of her own son while she could move a
-limb, or raise a soldier. The verdict of the Lords
-was that York's claim was just, but should not
-take effect during the lifetime of the present
-king. The decision of the Peers was accepted by
-York and his two sons, March and Rutland, who
-swore not to molest the king, but to maintain him
-on his throne; and, on the other hand, Henry
-gave his assent to the Bill, declared any attempt
-on the duke high treason, and settled estates on
-him and his sons as the succeeding royal line.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But Margaret of Anjou never for a moment conceded
-this repudiation of the rights of her son.
-She upbraided Henry for his unnatural conduct,
-and quitting her retreat in Scotland, appeared in
-the midst of her northern friends, calling on them
-by every argument of loyalty to the throne, and
-security to themselves, to take the field against
-the traitor York. The Earl of Northumberland,
-the Lords Dacre, Clifford, and Neville were soon
-in arms. They assembled at York; and Margaret,
-roused to the highest state of indignation
-by the disinheriting of her son, put forth all her
-powers to attach adherents to her standard. She
-assumed the most fascinating affability, and
-lavished her caresses and her promises on all
-whom she came near. She excited the jealousy
-of the northern barons by depicting the bold assumption
-of the southern nobles, who had presumed
-to give away the crown as if it were their
-own; and she promised to every one unlimited
-plunder of the estates and property of the people
-south of the Trent. These arts and allurements
-speedily brought 30,000 men to her standard,
-which was now joined by the Earls of Somerset
-and Devon.</p>
-
-<p>York and Salisbury set out in haste from
-London to oppose this growing force. They
-seem not to have been duly informed of its real
-strength, for they pushed forward with only
-5,000 men. They received a rude admonitory
-attack at Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, on the
-21st of December; but, still advancing, York
-threw himself, before Christmas, into the strong
-castle of Sandall. Here it was the evident policy
-of York to await the arrival of his son, the Earl of
-March, who was collecting forces in the marches
-of Wales; but either he was straitened for provisions,
-or was weak enough to be influenced by
-the taunts of the queen, who sent him word that it
-did not become the future king of England to
-coop himself up in a fortress, but to dare to meet
-those whom he dared to depose. He issued into
-the open country, in defiance of the warnings
-of Salisbury and Sir David Hall, and gave battle,
-on the 30th of December, to the queen's troops
-near Wakefield. The Duke of Somerset commanded
-the queen's army. He led the main body
-himself, and gave the command of one wing to the
-Earl of Wiltshire, and the other to Lord Clifford,
-ordering them to keep concealed till the action
-had commenced, and then to close in upon York.
-This was done with such success that York, who
-fell with great fury on Somerset, found himself
-instantly surrounded. Two thousand of his men
-were speedily slain, and the greater part of the
-remainder compelled to surrender. He himself,
-with most of his commanders, was left dead
-upon the field; the veteran Salisbury was taken,
-conveyed to Pontefract Castle, with several
-knights and gentlemen, and there beheaded.</p>
-
-<p>When the body of York was found, his head
-was cut off and carried to Queen Margaret, who
-rejoiced excessively at the sight, uttered most unfeminine
-reproaches upon it, and ordered it to be
-crowned with a paper crown in mockery, and
-placed upon the walls of York. Whethamstede, a
-cotemporary, says that the duke was taken alive,
-and beheaded on the field. At all events, Lord
-Clifford brought the head to the queen, stuck upon
-a spear; and this ferocious nobleman, whose
-father was killed at the battle of St. Albans, not
-satisfied with this revenge, perpetrated the murder
-of York's son, Rutland, with a fell barbarity
-which has covered his name with infamy. This
-youth, who was but about seventeen years of age,
-handsome and amiable, was met by Clifford as he
-was endeavouring to escape across the bridge of
-Wakefield in the care of his tutor, Sir Robert
-Aspall. The poor boy, seeing the bloody Clifford,
-fell on his knees, and entreated for mercy. The
-savage demanded who he was; and Aspall,
-thinking to save him by the avowal, said it was
-the younger son of York. Then swore Clifford&mdash;"As
-thy father slew mine, so will I slay thee, and
-all thy kin;" and plunging the dagger into his
-heart, ruthlessly bade the tutor go and tell his
-mother what he had done.</p>
-
-<p>The spirit of the "she-wolf of France" seemed
-to animate all her army on this occasion. There
-was nothing but butchery, and exultation in it.
-Margaret thought she had now removed the danger
-in destroying York. "At this deadly blood-supping,"
-says Hall, "there was much joy and great
-rejoicing: but many laughed then that sore
-lamented after&mdash;as the queen herself and her son;
-and many were glad of other men's deaths, not
-knowing that their own were near at hand, as the
-Lord Clifford and others."</p>
-
-<p>The revenge soon came. The Earl of March,
-York's eldest son, was advancing to prove that
-York was still alive in the new possessor of the
-title. Yet, before his blow of vengeance fell,
-Margaret had one more triumph. She had pursued
-her march on London after the battle of
-Wakefield, and had reached St. Albans. But
-there she came in contact with the army of Warwick.
-Flushed with victory, her forces fell upon
-the enemy. Warwick had posted himself on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
-low hills to the south-east of the town. The
-royalists penetrated to the very town cross, where
-they were repulsed by a strong body of archers.
-But they soon made their way by another street
-through the town, and the battle raged on the
-heaths lying betwixt St. Albans and Barnet. The
-last troops which made a stand were a body of
-Kentish men, who, maintaining the conflict till
-night, enabled the Yorkists to retreat from the
-victorious van, and disperse. The king was found
-in his tent, under the care of Lord Montague, his
-chamberlain, where he was visited by Margaret
-and his son, whom he received with the liveliest
-joy. The Yorkists in this second battle of St.
-Albans, fought February 17th, 1461, lost about
-2,000 men. Edward, called "the late Earl of
-March," was proclaimed a traitor, and rewards
-offered for his apprehension. But the success of
-this action was defeated by the insubordination of
-the troops. They were chiefly borderers, who had
-been led on by hopes of plunder, and had been
-freely promised it by Margaret and her allies.
-Nothing could induce them to advance farther.
-They were only bent on ravaging the neighbourhood,
-and the citizens of London closed their gates
-against them and held out for York.</p>
-
-<p>Edward was rapidly marching to the capital.
-He was at Gloucester when the news of the fall of
-his father and the atrocious murder of his brother
-reached him; and the intelligence arousing the
-Welsh borderers, they flocked to his standard,
-breathing vengeance. His march was harassed
-by a party of royalists&mdash;consisting chiefly of
-Welsh and Irish&mdash;under Jasper Tudor, Earl of
-Pembroke, the king's half-brother. To free himself
-of them, Edward turned upon them, on the
-2nd of February, at Mortimer's Cross, near Hereford.
-A dreadful battle ensued, in which Edward
-gained a complete victory, slaying nearly 4,000
-of the royalists. Jasper Tudor escaped; but his
-father Owen Tudor, the second husband of
-Catherine of Valois, and ancestor of the Tudor
-line of sovereigns, was taken prisoner, and with
-Throgmorton and seven other captains, was beheaded
-at Hereford, in retaliation for those who
-had been similarly put to death after the battle of
-Wakefield. The news of this butchery reaching
-Margaret before the battle of St. Albans, instigated
-her to reply with the execution of Lord Bonville
-and Sir Thomas Kyriel, who had so much distinguished
-himself in France. The spirit of deadly
-malice was now raging betwixt the contending
-parties, and one deed of cruelty provoked another.</p>
-
-<p>Edward found no further obstacle on his march
-towards London. The terrible chastisement of
-the royalists made a deep impression. His force
-grew as he advanced. He soon joined Warwick,
-and collected his dispersed troops. Once united,
-they were more than a match for the royalists.
-When Edward approached London, he was welcomed
-as a deliverer. The lawless army of the
-queen had carried terror, wherever they came.
-The queen was as impolitic as her soldiers. She
-sent from Barnet into the city demanding supplies;
-and though the lord mayor was inclined to
-comply, the people stoutly refused to let any provisions
-pass. A party of 400 horse were sent to
-enforce the demand; they plundered the northern
-suburbs, and would have continued their depredations
-in London itself, but the people fell upon
-them, and drove them out. Such was the
-situation of affairs when Edward and Warwick
-appeared. The gates were joyfully thrown open,
-and Edward rode in triumph into the city. He
-was still but in his nineteenth year, of a remarkably
-handsome person, of a gay and affable
-disposition, and reputed to be highly accomplished.
-The fate of his father and brother, and the recent
-conduct of the queen, added greatly to the interest
-which he excited. While Lord Falconbridge reviewed
-a body of troops in the fields of Clerkenwell,
-Neville, the Bishop of Exeter, seized the
-opportunity to harangue the crowded spectators.
-He drew a miserable picture of the imbecility of
-the king, of the haughty and bloody spirit of the
-queen, and of the calamities which had resulted
-from both; and maintained that Henry, by
-joining the queen's forces, had forfeited the crown.
-He then demanded whether they would still have
-him for king. They shouted&mdash;"No, no!" He
-then asked whether they would have Edward for
-king, and they cried&mdash;"Yes, yes! long live King
-Edward!"</p>
-
-<p>The popular feeling being thus ascertained, a
-great council was convoked by the Yorkists, on
-the 3rd of March, 1461, which confirmed the
-verdict of the public, declared Henry to have
-justly forfeited the crown by breaking his oath
-and joining in proceedings against the Duke of
-York, who had thus been slain; and on the 4th
-Edward rode in procession to Westminster Hall,
-where he mounted the throne, and made a speech
-to the thronging thousands, detailing the just
-claims of his family, according to hereditary succession.
-He then adjourned to the abbey church,
-where he repeated the same harangue to the same
-consenting audience, and was duly proclaimed by
-the style and title of King Edward IV.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_017big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_017.jpg" width="560" height="415" alt="" title="THE QUARREL IN THE TEMPLE GARDENS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE QUARREL IN THE TEMPLE GARDENS. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">REIGN OF EDWARD IV.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The Battle of Towton&mdash;Edward's Coronation&mdash;Henry escapes to Scotland&mdash;The Queen seeks aid in France&mdash;Battle of Hexham&mdash;Henry
-made Prisoner&mdash;Confined in the Tower&mdash;Edward marries Lady Elizabeth Grey&mdash;Advancement of her Relations&mdash;Attacks
-on the Family of the Nevilles&mdash;Warwick negotiates with France&mdash;Marriage of Margaret, the King's Sister, to the
-Duke of Burgundy&mdash;Marriage of the Duke of Clarence with a Daughter of Warwick&mdash;Battle of Banbury&mdash;Rupture
-between the King and his Brother&mdash;Rebellion of Clarence and Warwick&mdash;Clarence and Warwick flee to France&mdash;Warwick
-proposes to restore Henry VI.&mdash;Marries Edward, Prince of Wales, to his Daughter, Lady Ann Neville&mdash;Edward
-IV.'s reckless Dissipation&mdash;Warwick and Clarence invade England&mdash;Edward expelled&mdash;His return to England&mdash;Battle
-of Barnet&mdash;Battle of Tewkesbury, and ruin of the Lancastrian Cause&mdash;Rivalry of Clarence and Gloucester&mdash;Edward's
-Futile Intervention in Foreign Politics&mdash;Becomes a Pensioner of France&mdash;Death of Clarence&mdash;Expedition to Scotland&mdash;Death
-and Character of the King.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>Edward IV., at this period of his great success,
-and his acknowledgment by the people of London
-and the council as king, was only in his twentieth
-year. Handsome of person and of popular
-manners, he was not restrained by any such conscientious
-scruples as guided his father, but was
-bold and impetuous. He was fond of pleasure,
-addicted to gallantry, and at the same time as
-ready to shed blood as he was to make love and
-revel in courtly pageants. The reluctant approaches
-to sanguinary measures which had
-marked the earlier proceedings of his father,
-had long since vanished in the heated progress of
-the strife, and Edward might be regarded as the
-representative of the leaders now on both sides,
-with the exception of the gentle and forgiving
-Henry. But on this side Queen Margaret was as
-energetic as she was ambitious, and as resolute as
-her husband was the contrary. The circumstances
-into which she had been thrown had roused in her
-the spirit of a tigress fighting for its young.</p>
-
-<p>Margaret, on the warm reception of Edward by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
-the Londoners, had retired northward with her
-marauding soldiers, who had so fatally damaged
-her cause by their outrages. Three days after
-his reception in London, Edward despatched
-Warwick, the chief bulwark of his cause, in pursuit
-of her, and on the 12th of March, only five
-days afterwards, he followed himself. On reaching
-the Earl of Warwick, their combined troops
-amounted to 40,000. The queen was exerting all
-her activity and eloquence amongst her northern
-friends, and lay at York with 60,000 men.
-Everything denoted the eve of a bloody conflict.</p>
-
-<p>This civil war was now known all over the
-world as the War of the Roses, a name said to be
-derived from a circumstance which took place in a
-dispute in the Temple Gardens betwixt Warwick
-and Somerset, at an early period of the rival
-factions. Somerset, in order to collect the suffrages
-of those on the side of Lancaster, is said to
-have plucked a red rose from a bush, and called
-upon every man who held with him to do the
-like. Warwick, for York, plucked a white rose,
-and thus the partisans were distinguishable by
-these differing badges.</p>
-
-<p>The vanguard of the two armies met at Ferrybridge,
-the passage of the river Aire. The Duke
-of Somerset was commander-in-chief of the royal
-army. The king, queen, and prince remained at
-York. Lord Clifford led the vanguard, and was
-opposed by Lord Fitzwalter on the part of the
-Yorkists. The battle at the bridge was furious;
-Fitzwalter was killed. Lord Falconbridge was
-instantly sent forward to replace him, and instead
-of opposing Clifford in front in his strong position,
-allowing the troops there to hold him in play, he
-himself crossed the Aire, some miles above Ferrybridge,
-and falling unexpectedly on the rear of
-Clifford, routed his force, and revenged the death
-of Fitzwalter by that of Clifford himself. The
-Yorkists poured over the bridge, took possession of
-the town, and advanced towards Towton. Meantime,
-Warwick, excited by the temporary repulse
-at the bridge under Fitzwalter, had called for his
-horse, stabbed him in sight of the whole army, and
-kissing the hilt of his bloody sword, swore that he
-would fight on foot, and share every fatigue and
-disadvantage with the common soldiers.</p>
-
-<p>With minds inflamed to the utmost pitch of
-animosity, the two armies met on the morning of
-Palm Sunday, March 29th, in the fields betwixt
-the villages of Saxton and Towton, about ten
-miles south of York. Edward issued orders that
-no quarter should be given, no prisoners taken.
-The action began at nine o'clock in the morning,
-under circumstances most unfortunate for the
-Lancastrians. A snowstorm was blowing full in
-their faces; and Lord Falconbridge seized at once
-on this circumstance by an adroit stratagem. He
-ordered the archers to advance, discharge their
-arrows, and again retire out of the reach of those
-of the enemy. The Lancastrians, believing themselves
-within bow-shot of the enemy, whose arrows
-did great execution amongst them, returned the
-compliment without being able to see where their
-arrows reached for the snowflakes. The Yorkist
-archers were now out of their range, and they fell
-useless. Again the Yorkists advanced, and
-poured in a fresh flight with such effect that the
-Lancastrians, probably doubting of the success of
-their own arrows, rushed forward and came hand
-to hand with their opponents. It was now one
-terrible clash of swords, battle-axes, and spears,
-amid the thick-falling and blinding storm; and
-thus the two infuriated armies continued fighting
-desperately for nearly five hours. Towards evening
-the Lancastrians, disheartened by the fall of
-their principal commanders, broke and fled. They
-were pursued as far as Tadcaster with the fiercest
-impetuosity, and fearful slaughter. It was one
-of the bloodiest battles ever fought in Britain.
-According to a contemporary historian, those
-who were employed to number and bury the dead,
-declared them to be 38,000.</p>
-
-<p>After celebrating the feast of Easter at York,
-Edward marched to Newcastle, and, leaving
-Warwick there to keep the north in order, returned
-to London on the 26th of June.</p>
-
-<p>On reaching Scotland, Margaret placed Henry
-in a secure retreat at Kirkcudbright, and then
-hastened to Edinburgh, to try what could be done
-towards renewing the contest, which no dispersion
-of her friends and forces could ever teach
-her to relinquish. There she found a boy sovereign,
-a divided court, and a country which had
-suffered by factions almost as deadly as her own.
-James I., who had seemed to return to his kingdom
-after his long captivity under such auspicious
-circumstances&mdash;full of intelligence and plans for
-the improvement of his country, married to the
-woman of his affections, and courted by both
-England and France,&mdash;was soon murdered by the
-rude and lawless nobles whom he endeavoured to
-reduce to some degree of order and subordination.
-His son, James II., when arrived at years of maturity,
-endeavoured to recover from distracted
-England some of the places it had reft from Scotland
-formerly, but in besieging Roxburgh in 1460,
-he was killed by the bursting of a cannon. His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
-son was at this time a child of only eight years
-old, and the kingdom was governed by a council of
-regency; but the care of the king's person was
-committed to the queen-mother, Mary of Guelders,
-who was ambitious of engrossing not only that
-duty, but the actual powers of the government.
-In this she was opposed by the powerful family of
-Douglas.</p>
-
-<p>Margaret had no willing listeners amongst parties
-who were occupied with their own schemes
-and feuds. She had the difficult task of appealing
-to their various interests; and she found no one
-thing capable of fixing their attention till she hit
-on the idea of proposing the surrender of Berwick
-as the price of Scotland's assistance. That key of
-the northern frontiers of England, for the possession
-of which so much blood had been spilled
-from age to age, was an object the proposed recovery
-of which at once gave her the command of
-the ears of the whole court. In addition to this,
-she offered a marriage betwixt her son, Edward,
-Prince of Wales, and the eldest sister of the
-young King of Scotland. These treaties were
-carried into effect, and Berwick was put into the
-hands of the Scots on the 25th of April, 1461.</p>
-
-<p>Edward, on his return to London, was crowned
-on the 29th of June. He then summoned a
-Parliament to meet at Westminster on the 6th of
-July, but an invasion appearing not improbable, he
-prorogued it till the 4th of November. The
-sword and the scaffold had already so thinned the
-nobility that only one duke, four earls, one viscount,
-and twenty-nine barons were summoned to
-this Parliament. The great battle of Towton,
-which had laid so many of them low, had rendered
-the rest very submissive. There was no longer
-any hesitating betwixt the two families, or seeking
-of those compromises which, in the end, only produced
-more discord. Whatever Edward dictated
-was accepted as law and constitution. Of course
-Henry IV. was declared to have been an arrant
-usurper; and his posterity were held incapable,
-not only of wearing the crown, but of enjoying
-any estate or dignity in any portion of the British
-dominions for ever. Henry VI., Margaret,
-Edward, called Prince of Wales, the Dukes of
-Somerset and Exeter, the Earls of Northumberland,
-Devonshire, and Pembroke, and a vast
-number of lords, knights, and gentlemen, were
-attainted. Edward IV. was proclaimed to be the
-only rightful king; and all those of the York
-party who had been declared traitors by the
-Lancaster party when it was uppermost, and expelled
-from honours and estates, were restored.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, nothing daunted, Margaret was
-exerting her ingenuity to rouse a party in Scotland.
-She pleaded to deaf ears. Her surrender
-of Berwick brought her no real assistance; and
-she now sent over Somerset to endeavour to obtain
-succour from France. All these efforts were
-equally vain. Charles VII. died in 1461, and his
-successor, Louis XI., was immovable. Somerset,
-her ambassador, returned completely unsuccessful.
-He and his attendants had, indeed, been arrested
-by Louis when they attempted to escape in the
-guise of merchants, for fear of the despicable
-king giving them up to Edward to propitiate his
-favour. It was only through the earnest intercession
-of the Count of Charolais, the son of the
-Duke of Burgundy, that they were liberated.
-Louis XI. was cousin-german to both Margaret
-and Henry VI.; but such relationships weigh
-nothing with selfish men, in comparison to their
-own immediate interests. While this unwelcome
-news was arriving, Margaret was rendered the
-more uneasy and unsafe by the appearance of
-Warwick at the court of Scotland, proposing a
-marriage betwixt the Scottish queen and the victorious
-Edward of England. Under these circumstances,
-neither Margaret nor Henry was safe.
-She resolved, therefore, to make one more effort
-with Louis of France, and a personal one. By
-means of a French merchant, who owed her some
-kindness for past benefit, she managed to get over
-to France, where she threw herself at the feet of
-Louis, who was at Chinon in Normandy. She
-was only able to reach his court by the assistance
-of the Duke of Brittany, who gave her 12,000
-crowns.</p>
-
-<p>Margaret agreed to surrender the rights of the
-crown in Calais, and that Henry should do the
-same. And what was to be the price of this sacrifice&mdash;this
-sacrifice of this proud stronghold of
-England, this sacrifice of her own honour, and this
-last remaining fragment of her good fame in
-Britain? The paltry sum of 20,000 livres! That
-was all she could squeeze from the miserable
-French king for this intensely desired object.
-True, he had it still to win, for it was not in the
-possession of Margaret or her husband; but the
-acknowledged purchase from the Lancastrian king
-would give him great weight in any attempts to
-compel the surrender, and if Henry did again recover
-his throne, Calais must be made over to him
-at once.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_020.jpg" width="500" height="556" alt="" title="EDWARD IV" />
-<div class="caption"><p>EDWARD IV.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>With her 20,000 livres Margaret was enabled to
-engage the services of Pierre de Brézé, the seneschal
-of Normandy. He had been an old admirer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
-of Margaret's, and now offered to follow her with
-2,000 men. With this force, after an absence of
-five months, she set sail for England, and attempted
-to land at Tynemouth, in October, 1462,
-but was repelled by the garrison. The fleet was
-now attacked by a terrible storm; the very elements
-seemed to fight against her. Many of her
-ships ran ashore near Bamborough. Yet, spite of
-all her difficulties, Margaret effected a landing,
-and gained possession of the castles of Bamborough,
-Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick. She sent for
-Henry from his safe hiding-place at Harlech
-Castle in Merionethshire, where she had left him
-while she went to France, and was gathering some
-considerable forces of Scots and French when
-Warwick drew near with 20,000 men, and news
-was received that Edward was approaching with
-an equal number. Edward halted at Newcastle,
-but Warwick advancing, divided his forces into
-three bodies, and simultaneously invested the three
-strongholds. Somerset surrendered Bamborough
-on condition that himself and Sir Ralph Percy,
-and others, should be allowed to take the oath
-of fealty to Edward, and be restored to all
-their honours and estates; and that the rest of
-the two garrisons, with the Earl of Pembroke,
-and some others, whose lands had been conferred
-on Edward's friends, and could not, therefore, be
-now restored, should be conveyed in safety to
-Scotland. This defection of her chief supporters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
-was a dreadful blow to the queen, and, to add to
-her misfortunes, 500 of her French followers, who
-had established themselves in Holy Island were
-attacked and cut to pieces by Sir Robert Ogle.
-Alnwick Castle still held out in the hands of the
-brave De Brézé and Lord Hungerford; but the
-Earl of Angus coming up with a party of relief,
-the besieged took the opportunity to make a
-sally and escape from the castle to their friends.
-Bamborough and Dunstanburgh were restored by
-the king to Lord Percy; but Alnwick he gave to
-Sir John Ashley, to the great offence of Sir Ralph
-Grey, who had formerly won it for Edward, and
-now expected to have had it.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_021big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_021.jpg" width="560" height="401" alt="" title="DUNSTANBURGH CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>DUNSTANBURGH CASTLE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It might have been supposed that all hope of
-ever restoring the Lancastrian cause was now at
-an end. But in the soul of Margaret hope never
-seemed to die. With an admirable and indomitable
-resolution, she again turned her efforts to
-reconstruct a fresh army. She traversed Scotland,
-drew together her scattered friends, joined them
-to her French auxiliaries, whom she again mustered
-on the Continent: and by the spring of
-1464 was in a condition once more to march into
-England. For some time her affairs wore a
-promising aspect. She retook the castles of Alnwick,
-Bamborough, and Dunstanburgh. Somerset,
-Sir Ralph Percy, and the rest who had made their
-peace with Edward, hearing of her successes, again
-flew to her standard. Sir Ralph Grey, who resented
-the preference given to Sir John Ashley by
-Edward in the disposal of Alnwick, came over to
-her, and was made commander of Bamborough.</p>
-
-<p>Edward, on the news of these reverses, dispatched
-the Lord Montague, the brother of Warwick,
-into the north to raise his forces there, and
-make head against the never-resting queen. He
-met with Sir Ralph Percy on Hedgeley Moor, near
-Wooler, on the 25th of April, defeated his forces,
-and killed Sir Ralph. Having received fresh
-reinforcements from the south, he advanced towards
-Margaret's main army, and encamped on a
-plain, called the Levels, near Hexham. There, on
-the 15th of May, the two armies came to a general
-action, and after a long and bloody conflict the
-Lancastrians were again completely routed. Poor
-King Henry fled for his life, and this time managed
-not to be left in the hands of his enemies.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Margaret and her son, with a few attendants,
-were meanwhile flying wildly through the neighbouring
-forests from the tender mercies of this
-sanguinary young king. She was endeavouring to
-reach the Scottish borders, when they were met by
-a party of marauders, with whom the Border
-country abounded. The queen on her knees implored
-mercy, and avowed who she was; but the
-villains who had hold of her, seeing their associates
-busy dividing the rich booty, turned to
-them, and she seized the opportunity, while they
-were quarrelling over it, to fly with her son. The
-fugitives rushed onward, not knowing whither they
-were going, till night overtook them. Nearly
-fainting with terror, fatigue, and hunger, as the
-moon broke through the clouds they beheld a huge
-man, armed, and with threatening gestures hastening
-towards them. Imagining it was one of
-the band that had robbed them who had now
-overtaken her, she expected nothing but death;
-but, mustering her characteristic resolution, she
-bade the man see that if he hoped for booty it was
-useless, for she and her child had been stripped
-even of their upper garments for their value. The
-man appeared to be one of the numerous outlaws
-harboured in that locality, and many of whom had
-seen better days. He was touched by her appeal,
-and Margaret, perceiving it, said, "Here, my
-friend, save the son of your king! I charge thee
-to preserve from violence that innocent royal
-blood. Take him, and conceal him from those
-who seek his life. Give him a refuge in thine obscure
-hiding-place, and he will one day give thee
-free access to his royal chamber, and make thee
-one of his barons." The man, struck by the
-majestic presence of the queen, the pleading innocence
-of the prince, and the words of Margaret,
-knelt, and vowed he would rather die a thousand
-deaths than injure or betray them. He carried
-the young prince in his arms to his cave, on the
-south bank of a little stream which runs at the
-foot of Blockhill, and, from this circumstance,
-still called "Queen Margaret's cave." There the
-man's wife made them right welcome, and, after
-two days' concealment, the outlaw succeeded in
-meeting with De Brézé, and his followers soon
-afterwards discovered the Duke of Exeter and
-Edward Beaufort&mdash;from the execution of his
-brother now Duke of Somerset; and with them
-Margaret escaped to Scotland, and, after many
-adventures, reached France. There Margaret
-received the melancholy news of the capture
-and imprisonment of her husband. For about
-twelve months the unfortunate monarch had
-contrived to elude the eager quest of his enemies.
-He went from place to place amongst the friends
-of the house of Lancaster in Westmoreland, Lancashire,
-and Yorkshire. At the various halls and
-castles where he sojourned, tradition has to this
-day retained the memory of his presence. He was
-at length betrayed by a monk of Abingdon, and
-he was taken by the servants of Sir John Harrington,
-as he sat at dinner at Waddington Hall.
-He was treated with the utmost indignity on his
-way to London. He was mounted on a miserable hack,
-his legs being tied to his stirrups, and
-an insulting placard fixed on his back. At Islington
-Warwick met the fallen king, and disgraced
-himself by commanding the thronging spectators
-to show no respect to him. To enforce his command
-by his own example, he led the unhappy
-man three times round the pillory, as if he had
-been a common felon, crying, "Treason! treason!
-Behold the traitor!"</p>
-
-<p>Edward, now freed from his enemies, considered
-himself as established on the throne beyond all
-doubt. He created Lord Montacute Earl of Northumberland
-for his services at Hexham, and Lord
-Herbert Earl of Pembroke. He issued a long
-list of attainders to exhaust the resources of his
-opponents and increase those of his adherents.
-He then passed an Act for the resumption of the
-Crown lands to supply a royal income; but this
-was clogged by so many exceptions that it proved
-fruitless. He then gave himself up to mirth and
-jollity, and in the pursuit of his pleasures made
-himself so affable and agreeable, especially with
-the Londoners, that, in spite of his free gallantries,
-he was very popular. So strongly did he now
-seem to be grounded in the affections of his
-subjects, that he ventured to make known a
-private marriage, which he had contracted some
-time before, though he knew that it would give
-deep offence in several quarters.</p>
-
-<p>It is a curious circumstance that in the early
-part of the reign of Henry VI., two ladies of
-royal lineage, and one of them of royal rank, had
-condescended to marry private gentlemen, to the
-great scandal of their high-born connections. One
-of these was Catherine of Valois, the widow of
-Henry V., and mother of Henry VI., who married
-Owen Tudor. The other was Jacquetta of Luxembourg,
-the widow of the great Duke of Bedford,
-Regent of France, who married Sir Richard
-Woodville. Both Tudor and Woodville were
-men of remarkable beauty; and both were imprisoned
-and persecuted for the offence of marrying,
-without permission of the Crown, princesses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
-who chose to fall in love with them. Woodville
-regained his liberty by the payment of a fine of
-1,000 crowns. Tudor's persecutions were more
-severe and prolonged. Yet, from these two scandalous
-<em>mésalliances</em>, as they were regarded by the
-Court and high nobility, sprang a line of the most
-remarkable princes that ever sat upon the English
-throne. The blood of both these ladies mingled
-in the burly body of Henry VIII. and his descendants.
-We have seen how Tudor became the
-grandfather of Henry VII.; we have now to
-observe how Woodville became the grandfather of
-Henry's wife, Elizabeth of York.</p>
-
-<p>Jacquetta had several children by Sir Richard
-Woodville, one of whom, Elizabeth, was a woman
-of much beauty and great accomplishments. She
-had been married to Sir John Grey of Groby, a
-Lancastrian, who fell at the second battle of St.
-Albans. His estate was consequently confiscated;
-his widow, with seven children, returned to her
-father, and was living at his seat at Grafton, in
-Northamptonshire. Edward being out on a
-hunting party in the neighbourhood, took the opportunity
-to call on the Duchess of Bedford.
-There he saw and was greatly struck with the
-beauty of the Lady Grey. She, on her part, seized
-the occasion to endeavour to secure some restitution
-of their property for her children. The
-whole of her subsequent life showed that she was
-not a woman to neglect such opportunities. She
-threw herself at the feet of the gay monarch, and
-with many tears besought him to restore to her
-innocent children their father's patrimony.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Grey made more impression than she
-probably intended. Edward was perfectly fascinated
-by her beauty and spirit. He raised her
-from her suppliant posture, and promised her his
-favour. He soon communicated to her the terms
-on which he would grant the restitution of her
-property; but he found in Elizabeth Woodville, or
-Grey, a very different person to those he had been
-accustomed to meet. She firmly refused every
-concession inconsistent with her honour, and the
-king, piqued by the resistance he encountered, became
-more and more enamoured.</p>
-
-<p>On the 1st of May, 1464, he married her at
-Grafton, in the presence only of the priest, the
-clerk, the Duchess of Bedford, and two female
-attendants. Within a few days after the marriage
-he set out to meet the Lancastrians in the
-north; but the battles of Hedgeley Moor and
-Hexham were fought before his arrival; and
-on his return he became anxious to open the
-matter to his council, and to obtain its sanction.
-Accordingly, at Michaelmas, he summoned a
-general council of the peers at the abbey of
-Reading, where he announced this important
-event. Amongst the Peers present were Edward's
-brother the Duke of Clarence, and the great king-maker,
-Warwick. To neither of these individuals
-was the transaction agreeable. To Clarence it
-appeared too inferior a choice for the King of
-England, though Elizabeth Grey, by her mother's
-side, was of princely blood. But to Warwick
-there was offence in it, personal and deep. He
-had been commissioned by Edward to solicit for
-him the hand of Bona of Savoy, the sister of the
-Queen of France. The proposal had been accepted;
-the King of France had given his consent;
-the treaty of marriage was actually drawn;
-and there lacked nothing but the ratification of
-the terms agreed upon, and the bringing over of
-the princess to England. At this moment came
-the order to pause in the proceedings, and the
-mystery was soon cleared up by the confident
-rumour of this sudden matrimonial caprice of
-the king. Warwick returned in high dudgeon;
-from Edward he did not try to conceal it; but
-the time for revenge of his injured honour was
-not yet come; and therefore, after the royal
-announcement in the council, Clarence and Warwick
-took Elizabeth by the hand, and introduced
-her to the rest of the peers. A second council
-was held at Westminster, in December, and the
-income of the new queen was settled at 4,000
-marks a year.</p>
-
-<p>It was not to be expected that this sudden
-elevation of a simple knight's daughter to the
-throne would pass without murmuring and discontent,
-which was probably the more fully
-expressed as it was shared by the all-powerful
-Warwick and the king's brothers. There were
-busy rumours that the politic old duchess, Jacquetta,
-and her daughter, had practised magical
-arts upon the king, and administered philtres;
-and that, recovering from their effect, he had
-grievously repented, and endeavoured to free himself.
-But Edward's whole conduct towards the
-queen showed the falsity of this jealous gossip;
-and to make it obvious that she was of no mean
-parentage, he invited to the coronation her
-mother's brother, John of Luxembourg, with a
-retinue of a hundred knights and gentlemen.</p>
-
-<p>But if the king had made apparent her noble
-birth and his continued affection for her, it became
-speedily as apparent that the marriage of a
-subject was to be followed by all its inconveniences.
-Elizabeth, though raised to the throne,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
-might still be said to be on her knees, imploring
-the favour of the king. There was nothing which
-she thought too much for her numerous relations,
-and the king displayed a marvellous facility in
-complying with her requests. Her father was
-created Earl Rivers, and soon after the Lord
-Mountjoy, a partisan of the Nevilles, was removed
-to make way for him as Treasurer of England; and
-again, on the resignation of the Earl of Worcester,
-the office of Lord High Constable was conferred
-on him. That was very well for a beginning, but
-it was nothing to what followed; every branch of
-the queen's family must be aggrandised without
-delay. She had five sisters, and each of them
-was married to one of the highest noblemen in the
-realm: one to the Duke of Buckingham; one to
-the heir of the Earl of Essex; a third to the
-Earl of Arundel; a fourth to Lord Grey de
-Ruthin, who was made Earl of Kent; and the
-fifth to Lord William Herbert, created Earl of
-Huntingdon. Her brother Anthony was married
-to the heiress of the late Lord Scales, and endowed
-with her estate and title. Her younger brother
-John, in his twentieth year, was married to the
-wealthy old dowager Duchess of Norfolk, in her
-eightieth year; such was the shameless greed of
-this family. The queen's son, Thomas Grey, was
-married to the king's niece, the daughter and
-heiress of the Duke of Exeter. The Nevilles
-looked on all these extraordinary proceedings with
-ominous gloom.</p>
-
-<p>Fresh cause of disunion arose between the king
-and Warwick. A marriage had for some time
-been in agitation between Margaret, the king's
-sister, and the Count of Charolais, son and heir of
-the Duke of Burgundy. The count was sprung
-from the house of Lancaster, and even when his
-father showed the most settled coolness towards
-Henry VI. and Margaret, had displayed a warm
-sympathy for them. It was a good stroke of
-policy, therefore, to win him over by this marriage
-to the reigning dynasty. But Warwick, who in
-his former intercourse with Burgundy in France
-had conceived a deep dislike to him, opposed this
-match, and represented one with a son of Louis
-XI. as far more advantageous. To Warwick's
-arguments was opposed the evident policy of
-maintaining our commercial intercourse with the
-Netherlands, and of possessing so efficient an
-ally on the borders of France against the deep
-and selfish schemes of Louis. But in the end
-Warwick prevailed. He was sent over to France
-to negotiate the affair with Louis. Warwick
-went attended with a princely train, and with
-all the magnificence which distinguished him
-at home, more like that of a great sovereign than
-of a subject. Louis, who never lost an opportunity
-of sowing jealousies amongst his enemies,
-even while he appeared to be honouring them, met
-Warwick at Rouen, attended by the queen and
-princesses. The inhabitants, obeying royal orders,
-went out and escorted Warwick into the city with
-banners and processions of priests, who conducted
-the earl to the cathedral, and then to the lodgings
-prepared for him at the Jacobins. There also
-Louis and the court took up their quarters, and for
-twelve days, during which the conference lasted,
-Louis used to visit the earl in private, passing
-through a side door into his apartments. With
-all this secret and familiar intercourse, no pains
-were taken to conceal its existence; and the
-consequence was such as the astute and mischievous
-Louis intended. Reports were forwarded
-to Edward from those whom he had placed in
-Warwick's train, which roused his ever uncalculating
-anger. He hastened to the house of
-Warwick's brother&mdash;the Archbishop of York and
-Chancellor of the kingdom&mdash;demanded the instant
-surrender of the seals; and, enforcing the act of
-resumption of Crown lands lately passed, deprived
-the archbishop of two manors formerly belonging
-to the Crown.</p>
-
-<p>Warwick returned, as may be supposed, in no
-very good humour, but still with every prospect of
-success in his mission. The court of France was
-agreeable to the match. And on the heels of the
-earl came the Archbishop of Narbonne and the
-Bastard of Bourbon to complete the arrangements.
-They were prepared to offer an annual pension to
-Edward from Louis, and to pledge the king to
-submit to the Pope Edward's demand for the restoration
-of Normandy and Aquitaine, which
-should be decided within four years. But the
-importance of these propositions, and the evident
-prudence of at least appearing to listen to the
-terms of a monarch like that of France, had no
-weight with Edward, who was far more distinguished
-for petulance and rashness than for
-policy. He treated the French ambassadors
-with the most insulting coldness; and unceremoniously
-quitted the capital, leaving his
-ministers to deal with the ambassadors, and, in
-fact, to get rid of them. His resentment against
-Warwick made him not only thus forget the
-courtesy due to the envoys of a great foreign
-prince&mdash;conduct sure to create its own punishment,&mdash;but
-he gave all the more favour to the suit
-of the Count of Charolais from the same cause.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The count had sent over his relative, the
-Bastard of Burgundy, ostensibly to hold a tournament
-with Lord Scales, the queen's brother, but
-really to press forward the match with the English
-princess. The Duke of Burgundy dying at
-this juncture, all difficulties vanished. The princess
-was affianced to the new Duke of Burgundy.</p>
-
-<p>This completed the resentment of Warwick.
-The open insult offered to the court of France,
-and the rejection of the alliance which he had
-effected, sunk deep into his proud mind. He retired
-to his castle of Middleham, in Yorkshire;
-and occasion was taken of his absence from court
-to accuse him, on the evidence of one of Queen
-Margaret's emissaries taken in Wales, of being a
-secret partisan of the Lancastrian faction. The
-charge failed; but Edward, resolved to mortify
-and humiliate the man to whom he owed his
-throne, affected still to believe him a secret ally
-of the Lancastrians, and that his own safety was
-threatened by him. He therefore summoned a
-body-guard of 200 archers, without whose attendance
-he never stirred abroad. He expelled the
-Nevilles from court, and took every means to
-express his dislike and suspicion of that house.
-On the other hand, the Nevilles repaid the hatred
-of the upstart family of Woodville with interest;
-and from this moment, whatever might be the
-outward seeming, the feud betwixt these rival
-families was settled, deadly, and never terminated
-till it had completed the ruin of all parties.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_025.jpg" width="500" height="250" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD IV" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD IV.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At present the Archbishop of York, though
-suffering under the immediate severity of the
-king, was too wise to give way to his resentment.
-He justly feared the influence of the Woodvilles
-with the king, and that it might prove most injurious
-to his own family. He therefore stood
-forth as a peacemaker. He volunteered a visit to
-Earl Rivers, the queen's father; met him at Nottingham,
-and agreed on terms of reconciliation
-between the families. The king, queen, and court
-were keeping the Christmas of 1467 at Coventry.
-The archbishop hastened to his brother at
-Middleham, and prevailed upon him to accompany
-him to Coventry, where he was graciously
-received by Edward; all subjects of
-offence betwixt him and the relatives of the
-queen&mdash;especially her brothers-in-law, the Lords
-Herbert, Stafford, and Audley&mdash;were arranged;
-and the king expressed himself so much pleased
-with the conduct of the archbishop, that he
-restored to him his two manors. This pacific
-state of things lasted for little more than a year.
-On the 18th of June, 1468, the king's sister set
-out on her journey to meet her husband in
-Flanders. The king accompanied her to the coast;
-and, as a proof that Warwick at this moment held
-his old position of honour at court, the princess
-rode behind him through the streets of London.
-A conspiracy having been discovered, or supposed,
-of several gentlemen with Queen Margaret, Warwick
-and his brother, the Earl of Northumberland,
-were joined with the king's brothers, Clarence
-and Gloucester, in a commission to try them; and
-the two Nevilles certainly executed their part of
-the trust with a zeal which looked like anything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
-but disaffection. Very arbitrary measures were
-used towards the prisoners, several of whom were
-condemned and executed.</p>
-
-<p>This calm was soon broken. The Duke of
-Clarence had from the first shown as deep a
-dislike to the ascendency of the Woodvilles as the
-Nevilles themselves. This drew him into closer
-intimacy with Warwick. He frequently withdrew
-for long periods from court, and was generally
-to be found at one of the residences of Warwick.
-It soon came out that there was a cause
-still more influential than his dislike of the queen's
-relations; it was his admiration of the Earl's
-eldest daughter, Isabella, who was co-heiress of
-his vast estates. Warwick was delighted with the
-prospect of this alliance, for as yet the king,
-having no male heir, and his only daughter being
-but four years old, Clarence stood as the next
-male heir to his brother. Edward, on the contrary,
-beheld this proposed connection with the
-utmost alarm. The Nevilles were already too
-powerful; and should Warwick succeed, through
-Clarence, in placing his descendants so near the
-throne, it might produce the most dangerous consequences
-to his own line. He therefore did all
-in his power to frustrate the marriage, but in vain.
-Clarence and Warwick retired to Calais, of which
-Warwick remained the governor; and there the
-marriage was celebrated, in the Church of St.
-Nicholas, on the 11th of July, 1469.</p>
-
-<p>With the exception of this annoying event, at
-this moment Edward appeared so firmly seated on
-his throne, and so well secured by foreign treaties
-with almost all the European powers, and especially
-with the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany,
-the latter of whom had recently become his ally,
-that he actually contemplated the enterprise of
-recovering by his arms the territories which his
-weak predecessor had lost in France. His hatred
-of the cold-blooded Louis XI., who in political
-cunning was infinitely Edward's superior, probably
-urged him to this idea. To draw off the attention
-of the different factions at home, and find some
-common medium of uniting them in action abroad,
-might be another. The most remarkable circumstance
-of all was, that Parliament, after its experience
-of the drain which these French wars had
-been to the blood and resources of the nation,
-received the king's proposal with cordial approbation.</p>
-
-<p>But these dreams of martial glory were very
-quickly swept from the brain of the king by
-domestic troubles. At first these troubles appeared
-to originate in private and local causes, but there
-was such food for combustion existing throughout
-the kingdom, that the farther they went, the
-wider they opened, and at every step onwards
-assumed more and more the aspect of a Warwick
-and Clarence conspiracy. Nothing could be farther
-removed from such an appearance than the
-opening occurrence.</p>
-
-<p>The hospital of St. Leonard, near York, had
-possessed, from the reign of King Athelstan, a
-right of levying a thrave of corn (twenty-four
-sheaves) from every ploughland in the county.
-There had long been complaints that this grant
-was grossly abused, and instead of benefiting
-the poor, as it was intended, was converted to
-the emolument of the managers. During the last
-reign many had refused in consequence to yield
-the stipulated thrave, and Parliament had passed
-an act to compel the delivery. Now again the refusal
-to pay the demand was become general. The
-vassals had their goods distrained, and were themselves
-thrown into prison. This raised the peasantry,
-who were all of the old Lancastrian party,
-and regarded the present dynasty as usurpers and
-oppressors. They flew to arms, under the leadership
-of one Robert Hilyard, called by the insurgents
-Robin of Redesdale, and vowed that they
-would march south and reform the Government.
-Lord Montague, Earl of Northumberland, brother
-of Warwick, marched out against them, forming
-as they now did a body of 15,000 men, and menacing
-the city of York. He defeated them, seized
-their leader Hilyard, and executed him on the
-field of battle.</p>
-
-<p>So far there appeared certainly no hand of the
-Nevilles in this movement. Northumberland did
-his best to crush it, and Warwick and Clarence
-were away at Calais, thinking, apparently, not of
-rebellion, but of matrimonial festivities. But the
-very next move revealed a startling fact.</p>
-
-<p>The insurgents, though dispersed, were by no
-means subdued. They had lost their peasant
-head, but they reappeared in still greater forces,
-with two heads, and those no other than the Lords
-Fitzhugh and Latimer, the nephew and the cousin-german
-of Warwick. Northumberland contented
-himself with protecting the city of York. He
-made no attempt to pursue this still more menacing
-body, who, dropping their cry of the hospital
-and the thrave of corn, declared that their object
-was to meet the Earl of Warwick, and by his aid
-and advice to remove from the councils of the king
-the swarm of Woodvilles, whom they charged
-with being the authors of the oppressive taxes,
-and of all the calamities of the nation. The young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
-noblemen who headed the insurrection were assisted
-by the military abilities of an old and experienced
-officer, Sir William Conyers. At the
-name of Warwick, his tenants came streaming
-from every quarter, and in a few days, the insurgent
-army numbered 60,000 men.</p>
-
-<p>Edward, on the news of this formidable movement,
-called together what troops he could, and
-fixed his headquarters at the castle of Fotheringay.
-Towards this place the insurgent army
-marched, growing, as they proceeded, in numbers
-and boldness. The whole outcry resolved itself
-into a capital charge against the Woodvilles, and
-the movement being headed by the Nevilles, there
-could not be much mystery about the matter.
-Yet Edward, after advancing as far as Newark,
-and becoming intimidated by the spirit of disaffection
-which everywhere prevailed, wrote imploringly
-to Warwick and Clarence to hasten from
-Calais to his assistance. The result was such as
-might have been expected. Warwick and Clarence,
-instead of complying with the king's urgent
-entreaty, summoned their friends to meet them at
-Canterbury, on the following Sunday, to proceed
-with them to the king to lay before him the petitions
-of the Commons.</p>
-
-<p>In this alarming extremity, Edward looked
-with impatience for the arrival of the Earls of
-Devonshire and Pembroke, who had been mustering
-forces for his assistance. Devon was at the
-head of a strong body of archers, and Pembroke
-of 10,000 Welshmen. They met at Banbury,
-where the demon of discord divided them in their
-quest of quarters, and made them forget the
-critical situation of their sovereign. Pembroke,
-leaving Devon in possession, advanced to Edgecote.
-There he came in contact with the insurgents,
-who, falling upon him, deprived as he
-was of the assistance of Devon's archers, easily
-routed him. In this engagement 2,000 of his
-soldiers are said to have perished, and Pembroke
-and his brother were taken and put to death, with
-ten other gentlemen, on the field. Devon made
-no attempt to restore the fortunes of his party.</p>
-
-<p>This fatal defeat completely annihilated the
-hopes of Edward. At the news of it, all his
-troops stole away from their colours, and his
-favourites fled for concealment. But the queen's
-father, Earl Rivers, was discovered in the Forest
-of Dean, with his son, Sir John Woodville; and
-the Earl of Devon, late Earl Stafford, the queen's
-brother-in-law, abandoned by his soldiers, was
-taken at Bridgewater. The whole of them were
-executed, Rivers and his son Woodville being
-conveyed to their own neighbourhood, and beheaded
-at Northampton.</p>
-
-<p>Warwick, Clarence, and Northumberland, who
-had, no doubt, conducted all these movements
-from a distance, now appeared as principals on the
-scene. They marched forward from Canterbury
-at the head of a powerful force, and overtook
-Edward at Olney, plunged in despair at the
-sudden ruin which had surrounded him. They
-approached him with an air of sympathy and loyal
-obeisance; and Edward, imposed upon by this,
-with his usual unguarded anger, upbraided them
-with being the real authors of his troubles. He
-very soon perceived his folly, for he found himself,
-not their commander, but their captive. Warwick
-dismissed the insurgent army to their homes, who
-retired laden with booty, and sensible that they
-had executed all that was expected of them.
-Under protection of their Kentish troops, they
-then conducted Edward to Warwick Castle, and
-thence, for greater security, to Middleham.</p>
-
-<p>Thus England had at the same time two kings,
-and both of them captive; Henry in the Tower of
-London, Edward at Middleham, in Yorkshire.
-Men now expected nothing less than that Warwick
-would proclaim Clarence as king, but probably
-the measures of Warwick and Clarence were
-deranged by a fresh insurrection which broke out.
-This time it was the Lancastrians, who seized the
-opportunity to raise again the banner of Henry.
-They appeared in the marches of Scotland, under
-Sir Humphrey Neville, one of the fugitives
-from the battle of Hexham. Warwick advanced
-against him in the king's name, but he found that
-the soldiers refused to fight until they were assured
-of the king's safety. Warwick was therefore
-compelled to produce Edward to the army at
-York. After that they followed him against the
-Lancastrians, whom they defeated, and taking
-their leader, brought him to the king, who ordered
-his instant execution.</p>
-
-<p>Edward was now permitted to return to
-London, accompanied by several leaders of the
-party. There a council of peers was summoned,
-and then it appeared that though Warwick's faction
-had probably not accomplished all they had
-intended, they bound the king to terms which,
-while they neutralised the hopes of Clarence in
-some degree, still were calculated to add to the
-greatness of the house of Neville. The king announced
-that he had proposed to give his daughter,
-yet only four years old, to George, the son of the
-Earl of Northumberland, and presumptive heir of
-all the Nevilles. The council gave its unanimous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
-approbation of the measure, and the young nobleman,
-to raise his name to a level with his affianced
-bride, was created Duke of Bedford.</p>
-
-<p>Outwardly everything was so harmonious, that
-not only was a general pardon granted to all who
-had been in any way concerned in the late disturbances,
-but the king and his reconciled friends
-were again proposing to invade France in concert
-with the Duke of Burgundy. The French court
-was so convinced of the reality of this invasion
-that it commanded a general muster of troops for
-the 1st of May, 1470.</p>
-
-<p>But the designs of the Nevilles lay nearer home
-in reality. The Archbishop of York invited the
-king to meet Clarence and Warwick at his seat&mdash;the
-Moor&mdash;in Hertfordshire. As Edward was
-washing his hands preparatory to supper, John
-Ratcliff, afterwards
-Lord Fitzwalter, whispered
-in his ear that
-100 armed men were
-on the watch to seize
-him and convey him
-to prison. Edward,
-having been once before
-trepanned by his
-loving friends, gave instant
-credence to the
-information, stole out,
-mounted a horse, and rode off to Windsor. This
-open confession of his opinion of the Nevilles
-produced a fresh scene of discord, which, with
-some difficulty, was appeased by the king's
-mother, the Duchess of York, and the parties were
-reconciled with just the same sincerity as before.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_028.jpg" width="441" height="220" alt="" title="GOLD ROSE NOBLE OF EDWARD IV" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GOLD ROSE NOBLE OF EDWARD IV.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Nevilles were now in too critical a position
-to pause. They or the king must fall. At any
-hour some stratagem might surprise them, and
-give the advantage to their injured and deadly
-enemies, the Woodvilles. Insurrection, therefore,
-was not long in showing itself again. This time it
-broke out in Lincolnshire, and, as in the case of
-the hospital of St. Leonard, appeared to have
-nothing whatever to do with Warwick or his
-party. Its ostensible cause was the old grievance
-of purveyance, and Sir Robert Burgh, one of the
-purveyors, was attacked, his house burnt down,
-and himself chased out of the county. Had the
-cause been really local, there the mischief would
-have ended; but now again stepped forward a partisan
-of Warwick, Sir Robert Wells, who encouraged
-the rioters to keep together, and proceed to
-redress, not the evils of one county, but of the
-nation. He put himself at their head, and they
-soon amounted to 30,000 men. The king required
-a number of nobles to raise troops with all speed,
-and so well did Warwick and Clarence feign
-loyalty that they were amongst this number.</p>
-
-<p>Edward summoned Lord Wells, the father of
-the insurgent chief, and Sir Thomas Dymoke, the
-Champion, both Lincolnshire men, to the council,
-in order to obtain information of the extent of
-the insurrection, and to engage them to exert
-their influence to check it. Both these gentlemen,
-as if conscious of guilt, fled to sanctuary, but, on
-a promise of pardon, repaired to court. Edward
-insisted that Lord Wells should command his son
-to lay down his arms, and disperse his followers,
-with which order Lord Wells complied; but Sir
-Robert Wells received at the same time letters
-from Warwick and Clarence, encouraging him to
-hold out, assuring him
-that they were on the
-march to support him.
-When Edward reached
-Stamford, bearing Lord
-Wells and Dymoke
-with him, he found Sir
-Robert still in arms,
-and in his anger he
-wreaked his vengeance
-on his father, Lord
-Wells, and on Dymoke,
-beheading them in direct violation of his promise.
-He then sent a second order to Sir
-Robert to lay down his arms, but he replied
-that he scorned to surrender to a man destitute
-of honour, who had murdered his father.
-Edward then fell upon the insurgents at Empingham,
-in Rutlandshire, and made a terrible
-slaughter of them. The leaders, Wells and Sir
-Thomas Delalaunde, were taken and immediately
-executed. The inferior prisoners, as dupes to the
-designs of others, were dismissed.</p>
-
-<p>Warwick and Clarence made for Calais. But
-there Warwick's lieutenant, Vauclerc, a Gascon
-knight, to whom he had entrusted the care of the
-city, refused to admit them. When they attempted
-to enter, the batteries were opened upon
-them; and when they remonstrated on this
-strange conduct, Vauclerc sent secretly to inform
-Warwick that the garrison, aware of what had
-taken place in England, were ill affected, and
-would certainly seize him if he entered; that his
-only chance of preserving the place for him was to
-appear at present hostile; and he prayed him to
-retire till a more favourable opportunity. To
-Edward, however, Vauclerc sent word that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
-would hold the town for him as his sovereign
-against all attempts&mdash;for which Edward rewarded
-him with the government of the place, and the
-Duke of Burgundy added a pension of a thousand
-crowns. Warwick and Clarence, enraged at this
-unexpected repulse, sailed along the coast towards
-Normandy, seizing every Flemish merchantman
-that fell in their way in revenge against
-Burgundy, and entered Harfleur, where they were
-received with all honour by the admiral of France.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_029big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_029.jpg" width="560" height="421" alt="" title="PREACHING AT ST. PAUL'S CROSS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>PREACHING AT ST. PAUL'S CROSS. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Low as were now the fortunes of Warwick and
-Clarence, decided as had been the failure of their
-attempts against Edward IV., Louis of France
-thought he had, in the possession of these great
-leaders, a means of consolidating a formidable
-party against Edward, who had treated his alliance
-with such contempt, and who entered into the
-closest relations with his most formidable opponent,
-the Duke of Burgundy. He therefore received
-them at Amboise, where he was holding
-his court, with the most marked honours, and
-ordered them and their ladies to have the best
-accommodations that could be procured in the
-neighbourhood. He proposed to these two chiefs
-to coalesce with the Lancastrian party, by which
-means they would be sure to gain the instant
-support of all that faction. He sent for Queen
-Margaret, who was then at Angers, and assured
-her that Providence had at length prepared the
-certain means of the restoration of King Henry
-and his family.</p>
-
-<p>Warwick engaged, by the assistance of Louis
-and of the Lancastrians, to replace Henry again
-upon the throne. By this means Warwick was
-to depose, and if possible to destroy, Edward of
-York. But Warwick never forgot the suggestions
-of his ambition. He must, if possible, sit on the
-throne of England in the persons of his descendants.
-For this he had married one daughter
-to Clarence. When the success of Edward had
-enfeebled his chance, he had succeeded in affiancing
-his nephew to the daughter of Edward, so
-that if not a Warwick at least a Neville might
-reign. He now sacrificed both these hopes to
-that of placing another daughter on the throne,
-as the queen of Margaret's son, the Prince of
-Wales. This alliance was the price of Warwick's
-assistance, and, however bitter might be the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
-necessity, Margaret submitted to it, and the young
-Prince of Wales was forthwith married to Anne,
-the daughter of Warwick. Warwick then acknowledged
-Henry VI. as the rightful sovereign of
-England, and at the same time entered into
-solemn engagements to exert all his power to reinstate
-and maintain him on the throne. Margaret
-on her part swore on the holy Gospels never
-to reproach Warwick with the past, but to esteem
-him as a loyal and faithful subject. The French
-king, on the completion of this reconciliation,
-engaged to furnish the means necessary for the
-expedition.</p>
-
-<p>Edward, on hearing of the extraordinary meeting
-and negotiations of Warwick and Margaret, of
-the active agency of the French king, and the
-proposed marriage of Edward, Prince of Wales,
-and Anne of Warwick, sent off a lady of pre-eminent
-art and address, who belonged to the
-train of the Duchess of Clarence, but who had
-somehow been left behind. The clever dame
-no sooner reached the court of Clarence than
-she expressed to him and the duchess her amazement
-at their permitting such a coalition as
-the present; that in every point of view it was
-destructive to their own hopes, and even security;
-that the continued adhesion of Warwick and Margaret
-was impossible. Their mutual antipathies
-were too deeply rooted ever to be eradicated.</p>
-
-<p>Clarence was only one-and-twenty years of age.
-He was of a slender capacity, easily guided or
-misguided, and he agreed, on the first favourable
-opportunity, to abandon Warwick and go over to
-the king.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, Warwick was as actively
-and secretly engaged in preparing the defection of
-partisans of the king in England. His brother,
-Montague, though he had not deemed it prudent
-to join Warwick and Clarence in their unfortunate
-attempt to raise the country against Edward,
-had been suspected by him, and stripped of the
-earldom of Northumberland. He was still an
-ostensible adherent of the king, but he was
-watched. Warwick apprised him of the new and
-wonderful turn of affairs, and engaged him to
-keep up a zealous show of loyalty that his defection
-at an important moment might tell with
-the more disastrous effect on the Yorkist cause.</p>
-
-<p>Edward, satisfied with having detached Clarence
-from Warwick's interests, continued as careless as
-ever. The Duke of Burgundy, more sagacious
-than his brother-in-law, the King of England, did
-all that he could to arouse him to a sense of his
-danger, and to obstruct the progress of the
-expedition. He sent ambassadors to Paris to
-complain of the reception given to the enemies of
-his brother and ally. He menaced Louis with
-instant war if he did not desist from aiding and
-protecting the English traitors. He sent spies to
-watch the proceedings of Vauclerc, in Calais, and
-dispatched a squadron to make reprisals on the
-French merchantmen for the seizures made by
-Warwick, and to blockade the mouth of the Seine.
-Edward laughed at the fears and precautions of
-Burgundy. He bade him take no pains to guard
-the Channel, for that he should enjoy nothing
-better than to see Warwick venture to set foot
-in England.</p>
-
-<p>He was not long without that pleasure. A
-tempest dispersed the Burgundian fleet, and the
-fleet of Warwick and Clarence, seizing the opportunity,
-put to sea, crossed the Channel, and
-landed on the 13th of September, 1470, without
-opposition, at Portsmouth and Dartmouth. Warwick
-had prepared his own way very skilfully.
-Edward was deluded by a ruse on the part of
-Lord Fitzwalter, the brother-in-law of Warwick,
-who appeared in arms in Northumberland, as if
-meditating an insurrection; by which means the
-unwary king was induced to march towards the
-north, leaving the southern counties exposed to
-the invaders. This was the object of Warwick,
-and, as soon as it was effected, Fitzwalter retreated
-into Scotland. Meantime, the real danger
-was growing rapidly in the south. The men of
-Kent rose in arms; London was thrown into a
-ferment by Dr. Goddard preaching at St. Paul's
-Cross in favour of Henry VI.; and from every
-quarter people hastened to the standard of Warwick
-with such eagerness that he speedily found
-himself at the head of 60,000 men.</p>
-
-<p>As London and the southern counties appeared
-safe, Warwick proclaimed Henry, and set out to
-encounter Edward without delay. He advanced
-towards Nottingham. Edward, who had taken
-up his headquarters at Doncaster, had issued his
-orders for all who could bear arms to join his
-banner. They came in slowly; and Edward, who
-had ridiculed the idea of the return of Warwick,
-saying Burgundy would take care that he did not
-cross the sea, was now rudely aroused from his
-fancied security. He was compelled with unequal
-forces to advance against Warwick. A great
-battle appeared imminent in the neighbourhood of
-Nottingham; but the rapid defection of Edward's
-adherents rendered that unnecessary. The speedy
-movements of Warwick, and the general demonstration
-in favour of Henry, had not permitted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
-Clarence to carry into effect his intended transit
-from Warwick to Edward, when a startling act of
-desertion occurred to the king's side, which completed
-Edward's ruin. Before Edward could
-reach Nottingham, and while lying near the river
-Welland, in Lincolnshire, Montague, Warwick's
-brother, from whom Edward had taken the earldom
-of Northumberland, now revenged himself by
-suddenly marching from York at the head of
-6,000 men, and in the night, and in full concert
-with his officers, advancing upon Edward's quarters,
-his men wearing the red rose instead of the
-white, and with loud cries of "God bless King
-Henry!"</p>
-
-<p>Edward commanded his troops to be put in
-array to meet the traitor; but Lord Hastings
-told him that he had not a regiment that he could
-rely upon; that nothing was to be thought of
-but his personal safety, and that on the instant.
-Accordingly, he took horse with the Duke of
-Gloucester, the Earl Rivers, seven or eight other
-noblemen, and a small troop of the most reliable
-followers, with whom he rode away. A guard
-was posted on a neighbouring bridge to prevent
-the crossing of Warwick, for he also was within a
-day's march of him; and with all haste Edward
-and his little band rode at full speed till he
-reached Lynn, in Norfolk. It is probable that
-the royal party had made for this small port on
-the Wash, knowing that some vessels which had
-brought provisions for the troops still lay there.
-They found, indeed, a small English ship, and two
-Dutch vessels, on board of which they hurried,
-and put to sea. Edward, on starting from his
-quarters, had recommended his army to declare at
-once for Warwick, as the best means of saving
-themselves, and of again rejoining his standard
-when opportunity should offer.</p>
-
-<p>The fugitives made sail for the coast of Holland,
-but no sooner had the king escaped from his
-enemies on land than he fell amongst fresh ones at
-sea. These were the Easterlings, or mariners of
-Ostend, who were now at war with both France
-and England. The Easterlings were at this time
-as terrible at sea as the pirates of Algiers were
-afterwards. They had committed great ravages
-on the English coast, while the nation was thus
-engaged in suicidal intestine warfare, and no
-sooner did they perceive this little fleet than they
-immediately gave chase. There were eight vessels
-to Edward's three, and to escape the unequal
-contest, he ran his vessels aground on the coast of
-Friesland, near Alkmaar. To ascertain how
-Vauclerc, the Governor of Calais, was disposed, in
-case Warwick resolved to attack the duke in his
-own territories, he sent an envoy to him to sound
-him. The envoy found all the garrison wearing
-the red rose. This discovery added to the alarm
-and chagrin of Burgundy, and, while he conceded
-to Edward a place of refuge, he publicly declared
-himself the ally, not of this power or that, but of
-England, and avowed himself adverse to Edward's
-designs, who was to expect no aid from him
-in endeavouring to recover his crown.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand Louis of France was thrown
-into ecstasies of delight. He sent for Queen
-Margaret and her son, the Prince of Wales, who
-had been living for years totally neglected, and
-almost forgotten in their poverty, and received her
-in Paris with the most splendid and expensive
-pageants and rejoicings. He at the same time
-despatched a splendid embassy to Henry at
-London, and immediately concluded with him a
-treaty of peace and commerce for fifteen years.</p>
-
-<p>Warwick and Clarence made their triumphal
-entry into London on the 6th of October, 1470.
-Warwick proceeded to the Tower, and brought
-forth King Henry, who had lain there as a captive
-for five years. Henry was proclaimed lawful
-king, and conducted with great pomp through the
-streets of London to the bishop's palace, where he
-resided till the 13th, when he walked in solemn
-procession, with the crown upon his head, attended
-by his prelates, nobles, and great officers,
-to St. Paul's, where solemn thanksgivings were
-offered up for his restoration.</p>
-
-<p>All this time Clarence was looking on, an
-immediate spectator of proceedings which pushed
-him farther from the throne. To keep him quiet,
-Warwick heaped every favour but the actual
-possession of the kingdom upon him. He joined
-him with himself in the regency which was
-to continue till the majority of the Prince of
-Wales; he made him Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,
-and conferred upon him all the estates of the
-house of York. Warwick retained himself the
-offices of Chamberlain of England, Governor of
-Calais, High Admiral of the seas; his brother, the
-archbishop, was continued Chancellor; and his
-other brother, Montague, returned to the Wardenship
-of the Marches.</p>
-
-<p>Warwick summoned a Parliament, which, surrounded
-by his troops and his partisans, of course
-passed whatever acts he pleased. The crown was
-settled on Edward, the Prince of Wales, and his
-issue; but that failing, it was to devolve upon
-Clarence.</p>
-
-<p>Queen Margaret might have been expected,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
-from her characteristic energy and rapidity of
-action, to have been in London nearly as soon as
-Warwick; but this was not the case. In the first
-place, she was in want of the necessary funds.
-Louis, who was chary of his money, probably
-thought he had done sufficient in enabling the
-victorious armament of Warwick to reach England;
-and poor King Réné, Margaret's father,
-was in no condition to assist her. In the meantime
-all the exiled Lancastrians flocked to her;
-and all were destitute. In February, 1471, she
-set sail to cross the Channel, but was driven back
-by tempests. Three times did she make the
-daring attempt to cross, though warned against it
-by the seamen of Harfleur; and every time she
-was driven back with such fury and damage, that
-many declared it was the will of Heaven she should
-not pass over; nor was she able to do so till the
-following month. Till that time Warwick held
-England in the name of Henry, and appeared
-established, if not exactly on the throne, in the
-seat of supreme and settled power.</p>
-
-<p>The mock restoration of Henry VI. was not
-destined to be of long continuance. The ups and
-downs of royalty at this period were as rapid and
-strange as the shifting scenes of a theatre. There
-is no part of our history where we are left so much
-in the dark as to the real moving causes. It is
-difficult to see how Warwick, with his vast popularity,
-should, in the course of a single winter, become
-so unpopular as to render his fall and the
-success of Edward so easy. It must be remembered,
-however, that there was a secret schism
-in his party. Clarence was only waiting to seize
-a good opportunity to overthrow his father-in-law,
-Warwick, and climb the throne himself.
-Though he was by no means high-principled,
-Clarence was not so weak as to build any hopes
-on Warwick's having given him the succession in
-case of the issue of the Prince of Wales failing.
-Warwick had married another of his daughters
-to the prince, and it was his strongest interest
-to maintain that line on the throne.</p>
-
-<p>All these causes undoubtedly co-operated to
-produce what soon followed. Burgundy determined
-to assist Edward to regain his throne, and
-thus destroy the ascendency of Warwick. While,
-therefore, issuing a proclamation forbidding any of
-his subjects to follow Edward in his expedition, he
-privately sent to him the cross of St. Andrew;
-and a gift of 50,000 florins furnished him with
-four large ships, which were fitted up and stored
-for him at Vere, in Walcheren. Besides these,
-he hired for him fourteen ships from the merchants
-of the Hanse Towns, to transport his troops from
-Flushing to England. These transactions could
-leave no question in the minds of the subjects of
-Burgundy which way lay the real feelings of their
-sovereign. But the number of troops embarking
-with Edward was not such as to give to the enterprise
-a Burgundian appearance. The soldiers
-furnished him were only 2,000. Edward undoubtedly
-relied on information sent him from
-England as to the forces there ready to join him.</p>
-
-<p>The fleet of Edward steered for the Suffolk
-coast. It was in the south that the Yorkist
-influence lay, and Clarence was posted in that
-quarter at the head of a considerable force. But
-Warwick's preparations were too strong in that
-quarter; an active body of troops, under a brother
-of the Earl of Oxford, deterred the invaders from
-any attempt at landing. They proceeded northward,
-finding no opportunity of successfully getting
-on shore till they reached the little port of Ravenspur,
-in Yorkshire&mdash;singularly enough, the very
-place where Henry IV. landed when he deposed
-Richard II. From this same port now issued the
-force which was to terminate his line.</p>
-
-<p>At first, however, the undertaking wore anything
-but a promising aspect. The north was the
-very stronghold of the Lancastrian faction, and
-openly was displayed the hostility of the inhabitants
-towards the returned Yorkist monarch.
-But Edward, with that ready dishonesty which is
-considered defensible in the strife for crowns,
-solemnly declared that he had abandoned for himself
-all claims on the throne; that he saw and
-acknowledged the right of Henry VI. and his line,
-and for himself only desired the happy security of
-a private station. His real and most patriotic
-design, he gave out, was to put down the turbulent
-and overbearing power of Warwick, and thus give
-permanent tranquillity to the country, which
-never could exist so long as Warwick lived. He
-exhibited a forged safe-conduct from the Earl of
-Northumberland; he declared that he sought for
-himself nothing but the possessions of the Duke of
-York, his father; he mounted in his bonnet
-an ostrich feather, the device of the Prince of
-Wales, and ordered his followers to shout "Long
-live King Henry!" in every place through which
-they passed.</p>
-
-<p>These exhibitions of his untruth were too barefaced
-to deceive any one. The people still
-stood aloof, and, on reaching the gates of
-York, Edward found them closed against him.
-But by the boldest use of the same lying policy,
-Edward managed to prevail on the mayor and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
-aldermen to admit him. He swore the most
-solemn oath that he abjured the crown for ever,
-and would do all in his power to maintain Henry
-and his issue upon it. Not satisfied with this,
-the clergy demanded that he should repeat this
-oath most emphatically before the high altar in
-the cathedral. Edward assented with alacrity,
-and would undoubtedly have sworn anything and
-any number of oaths to the same effect. He then
-marched in with that bold precipitance which was
-the secret of his success, and which, as in the
-case of the great Napoleon, always threw his
-enemies into consternation and confusion. At
-Pontefract lay the Marquis of Montague, Warwick's
-brother, with a force superior to that of
-Edward, and all the world looked to see him
-throw himself across the path of the invader, and
-to set battle against him. Nothing of the kind;
-Montague lay still in the fortress, and Edward,
-marching within four miles of this commander,
-went on his way without any check from him.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_033big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_033.jpg" width="560" height="426" alt="" title="BATTLE OF BARNET: DEATH OF THE KING-MAKER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>BATTLE OF BARNET: DEATH OF THE KING-MAKER. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>As Edward approached the midland counties,
-and especially when he had crossed the Trent, the
-scene changed rapidly in his favour. He had left
-the Lancastrian districts behind, and reached
-those where Yorkism prevailed. People now
-flocked to his standard. At Nottingham the
-Lord Stanley, Sir Thomas Parr, Sir James Harrington,
-Sir Thomas Montgomery, and several
-other gentlemen, came in with reinforcements.
-Edward felt himself strong enough to throw off
-the mask: he assumed the title of king, and
-marched towards Coventry, where lay Warwick
-and Clarence with a force sufficient to punish this
-odious perjury. But a fresh turn of the royal
-kaleidoscope was here to astonish the public.
-Edward challenged the united army of Warwick
-and Clarence on the 29th of March, 1471. In
-the night, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, paid a
-visit to his brother Clarence. The two brothers
-flew into each other's arms with a transport
-which, if not that of genuine affection, was at
-least that of successful conspiracy. The morning
-beheld the army of Clarence, amounting to 12,000
-men, arrayed, not on the part of Warwick, but of
-Edward, the soldiers wearing, not the red, but the
-white rose over their gorgets.</p>
-
-<p>Here, then, was fully disclosed the secret which
-had induced Edward to march on so confidently
-through hostile districts, and people standing aloof<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
-from his banners. Clarence, whether in weak
-simplicity, or under the influence of others, sent
-to Warwick to apologise for his breach of his
-most solemn oaths, and offered to become mediator
-betwixt him, his father-in-law, and Edward his
-brother. Warwick rejected the offer with disdain,
-refusing all further intercourse with the perjured
-Clarence; but he was now too weak to engage
-him and Edward, and the Yorkist king then
-boldly advanced towards the capital. The gates
-of the city, like those of York, he found closed
-against him, but he possessed sufficient means to
-unlock the one as he had done the other. There
-were upwards of 2,000 persons of rank and
-influence, including no less than 400 knights and
-gentlemen, crowded into the various sanctuaries of
-London and Westminster, who were ready not
-only to declare, but to act in his favour. The
-ladies, who were charmed with the gay and
-gallant disposition of Edward, were avowedly his
-zealous friends; and perhaps still more persuasive
-was the fact that the jovial monarch owed
-large sums to the merchants, who saw in his return
-their only chance of payment. Edward even
-succeeded in securing the Archbishop of York,
-who was, in his brother Warwick's absence, the
-custodian of the city and the person of King
-Henry. All regard to oaths, and all fidelity to
-principle or party, seemed to have disappeared at
-this epoch. By permission of the archbishop,
-Edward was admitted on Thursday, April 2nd,
-by a postern into the bishop's palace, where he
-found the poor and helpless King Henry, and
-immediately sent him to the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>So confident now was Edward of victory, that
-he disdained to shelter himself any longer within
-the walls of the city, but marched out against
-the enemy. It was late on Easter eve when
-the two armies met on Barnet Common. Both
-had made long marches, Edward having left
-London that day. The Earl of Warwick, being
-first on the ground, had chosen his position.
-Edward, who came later, had to make his arrangements
-in the dark, the consequence of which was,
-that he committed a great error. His right wing,
-instead of confronting the left wing of Warwick,
-was opposed to his centre, and the left wing of
-Edward consequently had no opponents, but
-stretched far away to the west. Daylight must
-have discovered this error, and most probably
-fatally for Edward; but day&mdash;the 14th of April&mdash;came
-accompanied by a dense fog, believed to have
-been raised by a celebrated magician, Friar Bungy.
-The left wing of each army, advancing through
-the obscurity of the fog, and finding no enemy,
-wheeled in the direction of the main body. By
-this movement the left wing of Warwick trampled
-down the right wing of Edward, and defeating it,
-pursued the flying Yorkists through Barnet on
-the way to London.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime, the left wing of the Yorkists, instead
-of encountering the right of the Lancastrians,
-came up so as to strengthen their own centre,
-where Edward and Warwick were contending
-with all their might against each other. Both
-chiefs were in the very front of the battle, which
-was raging with the utmost fury. Warwick, contrary
-to his custom, had been persuaded by his
-brother Montague to dismount, send away his
-horse, and fight on foot.</p>
-
-<p>The battle commenced at four o'clock in the
-morning, and lasted till ten. The rage of the
-combatants was terrible, and the slaughter was
-proportionate, for Edward, exasperated at the
-commons, who had shown such favour to Warwick
-on all occasions, had, contrary to his usual custom,
-issued orders to spare none of them, and to kill all
-the leaders if possible. The conflict was terminated
-by a singular mistake. The device of the
-Earl of Oxford, who was fighting for Warwick,
-was a star with rays, emblazoned both on the
-front and back of his soldiers' coats. The device
-of Edward's own soldiers on this occasion was a
-sun with rays. Oxford had beaten his opponents
-in the field, and was returning to assist Warwick,
-when Warwick's troops, mistaking through the
-mist the stars of Oxford for the sun of Edward,
-fell upon Oxford's followers, supposing them to be
-Yorkists, and put them to flight. Oxford fled
-with 800 of his soldiers, supposing himself the
-object of some fatal treachery, while, on the other
-hand, Warwick, weakened by the apparent defection
-of Oxford, and his troops thrown into confusion,
-rushed desperately into the thickest of the
-enemy, trusting thus to revive the courage of his
-troops, and was thus slain, fighting.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner was the body of Warwick, stripped
-of its armour and covered with wounds, discovered
-on the field, than his forces gave way, and fled
-amain. Thus fell the great "king-maker," who so
-long had kept alive the spirit of contention,
-placing the crown first on one head and then on
-another. With him perished the power of his
-faction and the prosperity of his family. On the
-field with him lay all the chief lords who fought
-on his side, except the Earl of Oxford and the
-Duke of Somerset, who escaped into Wales, and
-joined Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
-was in arms for Henry. The Duke of Exeter was
-taken up for dead, but being found to be alive, he
-was conveyed by his servants secretly to the sanctuary
-at Westminster; but the holiness of the
-sanctuary does not appear to have proved any
-defence against the lawless vengeance of Edward,
-for, some months after, his dead body was found
-floating in the sea near Dover. On the side of
-Edward fell the Lords Say and Cromwell, Sir
-John Lisle, the son of Lord Berners, and many
-other squires and gentlemen. The soldiers who
-fell on both sides have been variously stated at
-from 1,000 to 10,000; the number more commonly
-credited is about 1,500. The dead were buried
-where they fell, and a chapel was erected near the
-spot for the repose of their souls. The battle-field
-is now marked by a stone obelisk. The bodies
-of Warwick and Montague were exposed for three
-days, naked, on the floor of St. Paul's Church, as
-a striking warning against subjects interfering
-with kings and crowns. They were then conveyed
-to the burial-place of their family in the abbey of
-Bilsam, in Berkshire.</p>
-
-<p>In the fall of Warwick Edward might justly
-suppose that he saw the only real obstacle to the
-permanency of his own power; but Margaret was
-still alive. She was no longer, however, the
-elastic and indomitable Margaret who had led
-her forces up to the battles of St. Albans,
-Northampton, Wakefield, Towton, and Hexham. On
-the day that she landed at Weymouth, imagining
-she had now nothing to do but to march in
-triumph to London, and resume with her husband
-their vacant throne, the fatal battle of Barnet
-was fought. The first news she received was of
-the total overthrow of her party and the death
-of Warwick. The life of the great king-maker
-might have caused her future trouble; his fall
-was her total ruin. Confounded by the tidings,
-her once lofty spirit abandoned her, and she
-sank on the ground in a swoon.</p>
-
-<p>It was the plan of her generals to hasten to
-Pembroke; and, having effected a junction with
-him, to proceed to Cheshire, to render the army
-effective by a good body of archers. But Edward,
-always rapid in his movements, allowed them no
-time for so formidable a combination. He left
-London on the 19th of April, and reached Tewkesbury
-on the 3rd of May. Margaret and her
-company set out from Bath, and prepared to cross
-the Severn at Gloucester, to join Pembroke and
-Jasper Tudor. But the people of Gloucester had
-fortified the bridge, and neither threats nor bribes
-could induce them to let her pass. She then
-marched on to Tewkesbury, near which they
-found Edward already awaiting them.</p>
-
-<p>The troops being worn down by the fatigue of a
-long and fearful march, Margaret was in the
-utmost anxiety to avoid an engagement, and to
-press on to their friends in Wales. But Somerset
-represented that such a thing was utterly impossible.
-For a night and a day the foot-soldiers
-had been plunging along for six-and-thirty miles
-through a foul country&mdash;all lanes, and stony ways,
-betwixt woods, and having no proper refreshment.
-To move farther in the face of the enemy was out
-of the question. He must pitch his camp in the
-park, and take such fortune as God should send.</p>
-
-<p>The queen, as well as the most experienced
-officers of the army, were much averse from this,
-but the duke either could not or would not move,
-and Edward presented himself in readiness for
-battle. Thus compelled to give up the cheering
-hope of a junction with the Welsh army, Margaret
-and her son did all in their power to inspire
-the soldiers with courage for this most eventful
-conflict. The next morning, being the 4th of
-May, the forces were drawn out in order. The
-Duke of Somerset took the charge of the main
-body. The Prince of Wales commanded the
-second division under the direction of Lord Wenlock
-and the Prior of St. John's. The Earl of
-Devonshire brought up the rear. The Lancastrian
-army was entrenched in a particularly strong
-position on the banks of the Severn; having,
-both in front and on the flanks, a country so
-deeply intersected with lanes, hedges, and ditches,
-that there was scarcely any approaching it. This
-grand advantage, however, was completely lost by
-the folly and impetuosity of the Duke of Somerset,
-who, not content to defend himself against the
-superior forces and heavier artillery of Edward,
-rushed out beyond the entrenchments, where he
-was speedily taken in flank by a body of 200
-spearsmen, and thrown into confusion. The Lancastrians
-were utterly defeated, and the Prince of
-Wales fell on the field, or, according to other
-accounts, was put to death immediately after the
-battle. Somerset was condemned and beheaded.</p>
-
-<p>No fate can be conceived more consummately
-wretched than that of Margaret now&mdash;her cause
-utterly ruined, her only son slain, her husband
-and herself the captives of their haughty enemies.
-They who had thus barbarously shed the blood of
-the prince might, with a little cunning, shed that
-of her husband and herself. No such good
-fortune awaited Margaret. She was doomed to
-hear of the death of her imprisoned consort, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
-to be left to long years of grief over the utter
-wreck of crown, husband, child, and friends&mdash;a
-great and distinguished band.</p>
-
-<p>Edward returned to London triumphant over
-all his enemies, and the next morning Henry VI.
-was found dead in the Tower. It was given out
-that he died of grief and melancholy, but nobody
-at that day doubted that he was murdered, and it
-was generally attributed to Richard of Gloucester,
-but probably without reason. The continuator of
-the chronicles of Croyland prays that the doer of
-the deed, whoever he was, may have time for repentance,
-and declares that it was done by "an
-agent of the tyrant" and a subject of the murdered
-king. Who was this? The chronicler in
-Leland points it out plainly. "That night," he
-says, "King Henry was put to death in the
-Tower, the Duke of Gloucester and divers of his
-men being there." Fabyan, also a contemporary,
-says, "Divers tales were told, but the most common
-fame went that he was sticked with a dagger
-by the hands of the Duke Gloucester."</p>
-
-<p>To satisfy the people the same means were resorted
-to as in the case of Richard II. The body
-of the unfortunate king was conveyed on a bier,
-with the face exposed, from the Tower through
-Cheapside to St. Paul's. Four of the principal
-chroniclers of the day assert that the fresh blood
-from his wounds "welled upon the pavement,"
-giving certain evidence of the manner of his
-death; and the same thing occurred when he was
-removed to Blackfriars. To get rid of so unsatisfactory
-a proof of Henry's natural death the
-body was the same day put into a barge with a
-guard of soldiers from Calais, and thus, says the
-Croyland chronicler, "without singing or saying,
-he was conveyed up the dark waters of the
-Thames at midnight, to his silent interment at
-Chertsey Abbey, where it was long pretended that
-miracles were performed at his tomb."</p>
-
-<p>Henry's reputation for holiness during his life,
-and his tragical death, occasioned such a resort to
-his tomb, that Gloucester, on mounting the throne
-as Richard III., caused the remains of the poor
-king to be removed, it was said, to Windsor.
-Afterwards, when Henry VII. wished to convey
-them to Westminster, they could not be found,
-having been carefully concealed from public
-attention.</p>
-
-<p>Margaret, who was conveyed to the Tower the
-very night on which her husband was murdered
-there, was at first rigorously treated. There had
-been an attempt on the part of the Bastard of
-Falconberg, who was vice-admiral under Warwick,
-to liberate Henry, during the absence of Edward
-and Gloucester, at the battle of Tewkesbury. He
-landed at Blackwall with a body of marines, and,
-calling on the people of Essex and Kent to aid
-him, made two desperate attempts to penetrate to
-the Tower, burning Bishopsgate, but was repulsed,
-and on the approach of Edward, retreated. To
-prevent any similar attempt in favour of Margaret
-she was successively removed to Windsor,
-and lastly to Wallingford. She remained a prisoner
-for five years, when at the entreaty of King
-Réné, she was ransomed by Louis of France, and
-retired to the castle of Reculé, near Angers. She
-died at the château of Dampierre, near Saumur,
-in 1482, in the fifty-third year of her age.</p>
-
-<p>The two brothers, Clarence and Gloucester,
-came now, on the first return of peace, to quarrel
-at the very foot of the throne for the vast property
-of Warwick. Edward would fain have forgotten
-everything else in his pleasures. The blood
-upon his own hands gave him no concern; he was
-only anxious to devote his leisure hours to Jane
-Shore, the silversmith's wife, whom he had, like
-numbers of other ladies, seduced from her duty.
-But Clarence and Gloucester broke through
-his gaieties with their wranglings and mutual
-menaces.</p>
-
-<p>The fact was, that Clarence having, as we have
-seen, married Isabella, the eldest daughter, was
-determined, if possible, to monopolise all the property
-of Warwick, as if the eldest daughter were
-sole heiress. But Gloucester, who was always on
-the look out for his own aggrandisement, now cast
-his eyes on Anne, the other daughter, who had
-been married to the Prince of Wales. Clarence,
-aware that he should have a daring and a lawless
-rival in Gloucester, in regard to the property, opposed
-the match with all his might. On this point
-they rose to high words and much heat. Clarence
-declared at length that Richard might marry
-Anne if he pleased, but that he should have no
-share whatever in the property; but only let
-Richard get the lady, and he would soon possess
-himself of the lands. The question was debated
-by the two brothers with such fury before the
-council, that civil war was anticipated.</p>
-
-<p>All this time the property was rightfully that
-of the widow of Warwick, the mother of the two
-young ladies. Anne, the Countess of Warwick,
-was the sole heiress of the vast estates of the
-Despensers and the Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick.
-To all the great court party, who had once
-been her friends&mdash;as the world calls friendship&mdash;and
-many of them her humble flatterers and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
-admirers, she applied from her sanctuary at
-Beaulieu, in the most moving terms, for their kind
-aid in obtaining a modicum of freedom and support
-out of her own lands, the most wealthy in
-England. But it was not her that the two princes
-courted, it was her property; and nobody dared or
-cared to move a finger in favour of the once great
-Anne of Warwick. The daughter, Anne, so far
-from desiring to marry Richard of Gloucester,
-detested him. Cooperating, therefore, with the
-wishes and interests of Clarence, she, by his assistance,
-escaped out of the sanctuary of Beaulieu,
-where she had been with the countess, her mother,
-and disappeared. For some time no trace of her
-could be discovered; but Gloucester had his spies
-and emissaries everywhere; and, at length, the
-daughter of Warwick, and the future queen of
-England, was found in the guise of a cookmaid in
-London. Gloucester removed her to the sanctuary
-of St. Martin's-le-Grand. Afterwards she was
-allowed to visit her uncle, the Archbishop of York,
-before his disgrace, and the Queen Margaret in
-the Tower. All this was probably conceded by
-Gloucester in order to win Anne's favour; but
-Anne still repelling with disgust his addresses,
-he refused her these solaces, and procuring the
-removal of her mother from Beaulieu, sent her,
-under the escort of Sir John Tyrrell, into the
-north, where he is said to have kept her confined
-till his own death, even while she was his mother-in-law.
-Anne was at length compelled to marry
-the hated Gloucester; and her hatred appeared to
-increase from nearer acquaintance, for she was
-soon after praying for a divorce.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_037big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_037.jpg" width="560" height="418" alt="" title="BURIAL OF KING HENRY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>BURIAL OF KING HENRY. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The king was compelled to award to Gloucester
-a large share of Warwick's property; and the
-servile Parliament passed an act in 1474, embodying
-the disgraceful commands of these most
-unnatural and unprincipled princes. The two
-daughters were to succeed to the Warwick property,
-as though their mother, the possessor in her
-own right, were dead. If either of them should
-die before her husband, he should continue to
-retain her estates during his natural life. If a
-divorce should take place between Richard and
-Anne, for which Anne was striving, Richard was
-still to retain her property, provided he married
-or did his best to marry her to some one else.
-Thus, by this most iniquitous arrangement, while
-Richard kept his wife's property, they made it a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
-motive with her to force her into some other
-alliance, if not so hateful, perhaps more degrading.
-It is impossible to conceive the tyranny of vice
-and selfishness carried farther than in these odious
-transactions. But this was not all. There was
-living a son of the Marquis of Montague, Warwick's
-brother; and to prevent any claim from
-him as next heir male, all such lands as he might
-become the claimant of were tied upon Clarence
-and Gloucester, and their heirs, so long as there
-should remain any heirs male of the marquis. By
-these means did these amiable brothers imagine
-that they had stepped into the full and perpetual
-possession of the enormous wealth of the great
-Warwick. Edward, having rather smoothed over
-than appeased the jealousies of his brothers, now
-turned his ambition to foreign conquest.</p>
-
-<p>In all his contests at home, Edward had shown
-great military talents. He had fought ten battles,
-and never lost one; for at the time of the treason
-of Lord Montague in 1470, he had not fought at
-all, but, deserted by his army, had fled to Flanders.
-He had always entertained a flattering idea that
-he could emulate the martial glory of the Edwards
-and of Henry V., and once more recover the lost
-territories of France, and the lost prestige of the
-British arms on the Continent. His relations
-with France and Burgundy were such as encouraged
-this roseate notion. Louis XI. had supported
-the claims of Henry, and accomplishing
-the alliance of Margaret and his most formidable
-enemy Warwick, had sent them to push him from
-his throne. The time appeared to be arrived for
-inflicting full retribution. Burgundy was his
-brother-in-law, and had aided him in recovering
-his crown. True, the assistance of Burgundy
-had not been prompted by love to him, but by
-enmity to Warwick and Louis; nor had his
-reception of him in his distress been such as to
-merit much gratitude, but he did not care to
-probe too deeply into the motives of the prince;
-the great matter was, that Burgundy was the
-antagonist of Louis, and their interests were,
-therefore, the same.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Burgundy, formerly Count of
-Charolais&mdash;called Charles le Téméraire, or the Bold&mdash;was
-no match for the cold and politic Louis XI.
-He and his ally, the Duke of Brittany, fancied
-themselves incapable of standing their ground
-against Louis, and now made an offer of mutual
-alliance to Edward, for the purpose of enforcing
-their common claims in France. Nothing could
-accord more with the desires of Edward than this
-proposition. He had employed 1473 in settling his
-disputes with the Hanse Towns, in confirming the
-truce with Scotland, and renewing his alliances
-with Portugal and Denmark. His Parliament
-had granted him large supplies. They voted him
-a tenth of rents, or two shillings in the pound,
-calculated to produce at that day £31,460, equal
-to more than £300,000 of our present money.
-They then added to this a whole fifteenth, and
-three-quarters of another. But when Edward
-entered into the scheme of Burgundy and Brittany
-for the French conquest, they granted him
-permission to raise any further moneys by what
-were called <em>benevolences</em>, or free gifts&mdash;a kind of
-exaction perhaps more irksome than any other,
-because it was vague, arbitrary, and put the
-advances of the subjects on the basis of loyalty.
-Such a mode of fleecing the people had been
-resorted to under Henry III. and Richard II.
-Now there was added a clause to the Act of
-Parliament, providing that the proceeds of the
-fifteenth should be deposited in religious houses,
-and, if the French campaign should not take place,
-should be refunded to the people: as if any one
-had ever heard of taxes, once obtained, ever being
-refunded to the payers!</p>
-
-<p>All being in readiness, Edward passed over
-from Sandwich to Calais, where he landed on the
-22nd of June, 1475. He had with him 1,500
-men-at-arms, and 15,000 archers, an army with
-which the former Edwards would have made
-Louis tremble on his throne. He dispatched
-Garter-king-at-arms with a letter of defiance to
-Louis, demanding nothing less than the crown of
-France. The position of Louis was to all appearance
-most critical. If Burgundy, Brittany, and
-the Count of St. Pol, the Constable of France,
-who had entered into the league against him, had
-acted wisely and faithfully together, the war must
-have been as dreadful, and the losses of France as
-severe, as in the past days. But probably Louis
-was well satisfied of the crumbling character of
-the coalition. Comines, who was at the time in
-the service of Louis, has left us ample accounts of
-these transactions and, according to them, the
-conduct of the French king was masterly in the
-extreme. Instead of firing with resentment at
-the proud demands of the letter, he took the
-herald politely into his private closet, and there,
-in the most courteous and familiar manner, told
-him he was sorry for this misunderstanding with
-the King of England; that, for his part, he had
-the highest respect for Edward, and desired to be
-on amicable terms with him, but that he knew
-very well that all this was stirred up by the Duke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
-of Burgundy and the Constable St. Pol, who
-would be the very first to abandon Edward, if
-any difficulty arose, or after they had got their
-own turn served. He put it to the herald how
-much better it would be for England and France
-to be on good terms, and gave the greatest weight
-to his arguments by smilingly placing in Garter's
-hand a purse of 300 crowns, assuring him that if
-he used his endeavours effectually to preserve the
-peace between the two kingdoms, he would add to
-it a thousand more.</p>
-
-<p>The herald was so completely captivated by the
-suavity, the sound reasons, and the money of
-Louis, that he promised to do everything in his
-power to promote a peace, and advised the king to
-open a correspondence with the Lords Howard
-and Stanley, noblemen not only high in the favour
-of Edward, but secretly adverse to this expedition.
-This being settled, Louis committed Garter-king-at-arms
-to the care of Philip de Comines, telling
-him to give the herald publicly a piece of crimson
-velvet thirty ells in length, as though it were the
-only present, and to get him away as soon as he
-could, with all courtesy, without allowing him to
-hold any communication with the courtiers. This
-being done, Louis summoned his great barons and
-the rest of the courtiers around him, and ordered
-the letter of defiance to be read aloud, all the
-time sitting with a look of the greatest tranquillity,
-for he was himself much assured by what
-he had heard from the herald.</p>
-
-<p>The words of Louis came rapidly to pass as
-regarded Edward's allies. Nothing could equal
-the folly of Burgundy and the treachery of the
-others. Charles the Rash, instead of coming up
-punctually with his promised forces, and in his
-usual wild way, led them to avenge some affront
-from the Duke of Lorraine, and the princes of
-Germany, far away from the really important
-scene of action. When the duke appeared in
-Edward's camp, with only a small retinue instead
-of a large army, and there was no prospect of his
-rendering any effective aid that summer, Edward
-was highly chagrined. All his officers were eager
-for the campaign, promising themselves a renewal
-of the fame and booty which their fathers had
-won. But when Edward advanced from Péronne,
-where he lay, to St. Quentin, on the assurances of
-Burgundy that St. Pol, who held it, would open
-its gates to him, and when, instead of such surrender,
-St. Pol fired on his troops from the walls,
-the king's wrath knew no bounds; he upbraided
-the duke with his conduct in thus deceiving and
-making a laughing-stock of him, and Burgundy
-retired in haste from the English camp. To add
-to Edward's disgust, Burgundy and his subjects
-had from the first landing of the English betrayed
-the utmost reluctance to admit the British forces
-into any of their towns. Artois and Picardy
-were shut against them, as if they came, not as
-allies, but as intending conquerors.</p>
-
-<p>Precisely at this juncture, the herald returned
-with his narrative of his kind reception, and the
-amiable disposition of Louis. This was by no
-means unwelcome in the present temper of
-Edward. It gave him the most direct prospect of
-punishing his perfidious allies. On the heels of
-Garter-king-at-arms arrived heralds from Louis,
-confirming all he had stated, and offering every
-means of pacification. The king called a council
-in the camp of Péronne, in which it was resolved
-to negotiate a peace with France on three
-grounds&mdash;the approach of winter, the absence of
-all supplies for the army, and the failure of assistance
-from the allies. For two months, while the
-terms of this treaty were being discussed, the
-agents and money of Louis were freely circulating
-amongst the courtiers and ministers of Edward.</p>
-
-<p>The plenipotentiaries found all their labours
-wonderfully smoothed by the desire of Louis to
-see the soil of France as soon as possible clear
-of the English army. The French King agreed
-to almost everything proposed, never intending to
-fulfil a tithe of his contracts. A truce for seven
-years was concluded at Amiens. The King of
-France agreed to pay the King of England 75,000
-crowns within the next fifteen days; and 50,000
-crowns a year during their joint lives, to be paid
-in London. Apparently prodigal of his money,
-it was at this time that Louis paid 50,000 crowns
-for the ransom of Queen Margaret. To bind the
-alliance still more firmly, Edward proposed that
-the dauphin should marry his eldest daughter,
-Elizabeth, which was readily assented to. To testify
-his great joy in the termination of this treaty,
-Louis sent 300 cart-loads of the best wines of
-France into the English camp, and proposed, in
-order to increase the feeling of friendship between
-the two monarchs, that they should have a personal
-interview before Edward's departure.</p>
-
-<p>The treaty being signed, Gloucester and some
-others of the chief nobility who were averse from
-the peace, and therefore would not attend the
-meeting of the kings, now rode into Amiens to pay
-their court to him, and Louis received them with
-that air of pleasure which he could so easily put on,
-entertained them luxuriously, and presented them
-with rich gifts of plate and horses.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Thus was this singular treaty concluded, and
-each monarch thought most advantageously to
-himself. Edward had paid off the Duke of Burgundy
-for neglecting to fulfil his agreement as
-to the campaign, and he now sent the duke word,
-patronisingly, that if he wished, he would get a
-similar truce for him; to which Burgundy sent
-an indignant answer. Edward had, moreover, got
-a good round sum of money to pay his army, and
-a yearly income of 50,000 crowns for life. Like
-Charles II. afterwards, he did not trouble himself
-about the disgrace and disadvantage of having
-made himself a pensioner of France. Besides
-this, he had arranged to set his eldest daughter on
-the French throne after Louis' decease.</p>
-
-<p>The people were very much of the French king's
-opinion, that their own monarch had been sadly
-over-reached. The army, which on its return
-was disbanded, promoted this feeling everywhere.
-The soldiers came back disappointed of the plunder
-of France, and accordingly vented their
-chagrin on the king and his courtiers, who for
-their private emolument had sold, they said, the
-honour of the nation. As to the general terms of
-the peace, the people had good cause to be
-satisfied. It was much better for the nation to be
-left at liberty to pursue its profitable trade than
-to be year after year drained of its substance to
-carry on a useless war. But the real cause of
-discontent was the annual bribe, which bound the
-king and his court to wink at any proceedings of
-France on the Continent against our allies and
-commercial connections, and even to suffer intrusions
-on our own trade, rather than incur the
-danger of losing the pay of the French king.</p>
-
-<p>Edward endeavoured to silence these murmurs
-by severity. He sent amongst the people spies
-who reported any obnoxious language, and he punished
-offenders without mercy. At the same time,
-he extended an equally stern hand towards all disturbers
-of the peace; the disbanded soldiers
-having collected into hordes, and spread murder
-and rapine through several of the counties.
-Seeing, however, that the general discontent was
-such that, should some Wat Tyler or Jack
-Cade arise, the consequences might be terrible, he
-determined to ease the burdens of the people at
-the expense of the higher classes. He therefore
-ordered a rigorous exaction of the customs; laid
-frequent tenths on the clergy; resumed many of
-the estates of the Crown; and compelled the
-holders of estates to compound by heavy fines for
-the omission of any of their duties as feudal
-tenants. He moreover entered boldly into trade.
-Instead of permitting his ships to lie rotting in
-port&mdash;since he had no occasion for them as transport
-vessels,&mdash;he sent out in them wool, tin, cloth,
-and other merchandise, and brought back from
-the ports of the Levant the produce of the East.
-By these means Edward became the wealthiest
-monarch of Europe, and while he soon grew popular
-with the people, who felt the weight of taxation
-annually decreasing, he became equally formidable
-to those who had more reason to complain.</p>
-
-<p>But however generally prosperous was the remainder
-of Edward's reign, it was to himself filled
-with the deepest causes of grief and remorse.
-The part which his brother Clarence had taken,
-his allying himself to Warwick, with the design to
-depose Edward and secure the crown to himself,
-could never be forgotten. He had been named
-the successor to the Prince of Wales, the son of
-Henry VI., and, should anything happen to
-Edward, might assert that claim to the prejudice
-of his own son. Still further, Clarence had given
-mortal offence to the queen. Her father and her
-brother had been put to death in Clarence's name.
-Her brother Anthony, afterwards, had narrowly
-escaped the same fate from the orders of Clarence.
-He had been forward in the charge of sorcery
-against her mother, the Duchess Jacquetta.
-Scarcely less had he incensed his brother Richard
-of Gloucester, the vindictive and never forgiving,
-by his opposition to his marriage with Anne of
-Warwick, and to sharing any of Warwick's property
-with him. Clarence was immensely rich,
-from the possession of the bulk of Warwick's
-vast estates, and he seems to have borne himself
-haughtily, as if he were another Warwick. He
-was at the head of a large party of malcontents,
-those who hated and envied the queen's family,
-and those who had been made to yield up their
-valuable grants from the crown under Henry VI.
-Clarence himself was one of the reluctant parties
-thus forced to disgorge some of his lands, under
-the act of resumption, on Edward's return from
-France. While brooding over this offence, his
-wife Isabella of Warwick died, on the 22nd of
-December, 1476, just after the birth of her third
-child. Clarence, who was so extremely attached
-to her that he was almost beside himself at the
-loss, accused, brought to trial, and procured the
-condemnation of one of her attendants, on the
-charge of having poisoned her.</p>
-
-<p>Directly after this, January 5th, 1477, the
-Duke of Burgundy fell at the battle of Nancy, in
-his vain struggle against the Duke of Lorraine,
-backed by the valiant Swiss. His splendid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
-domains fell to his only daughter, Mary, who immediately
-became the object of the most eager
-desire to numerous princes. Louis of France disdained
-to sue for her hand for the Dauphin, but
-attacked her territories, and hoped to secure both
-them and her by conquest. There had been some
-treaty for her by the Archduke Maximilian, of
-Austria, for his son during the late duke's life;
-but now Clarence aroused himself from his
-grief for the loss of his wife, and made zealous
-court, on his own account, to this great heiress.
-Her mother, Margaret, the sister of Clarence,
-favoured his suit warmly, but the idea of such an
-alliance struck Edward with dismay. Clarence
-already was far too powerful. Should he succeed
-in placing himself at the head of one of the most
-powerful states on the Continent, and with his
-avowed claims on the English crown, and his undisguised
-enmity to Edward's queen and family,
-the mischief he might do was incalculable.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_041big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_041.jpg" width="560" height="523" alt="" title="LOUIS XI. AND THE HERALD" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>LOUIS XI. AND THE HERALD. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Edward, therefore, lost no time in putting in
-his most decided opposition. In this cause he
-was zealously seconded by Gloucester. But
-if ever there was a choice of a rival most
-unfortunate, and even insulting, it was that put
-forward by Edward against Clarence, in the person
-of Lord Rivers, the queen's brother. This
-match was rejected by the court of Burgundy
-with disdain, and only heightened the hatred of
-the queen in England&mdash;an odium which fell
-heavily on her in after years. She was now regarded
-as a woman who, not content with filling
-all the chief houses of England with her kin,
-aimed at filling the highest Continental thrones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
-with them. The result was that Edward succeeded
-in defeating Clarence without gaining
-his own, or rather his wife's, object.</p>
-
-<p>From this moment Clarence became at deadly
-feud with Edward and all his family. The king,
-the queen, and Gloucester, united in a league
-against him, which, where such men were concerned&mdash;men
-never scrupling to destroy those who
-opposed them&mdash;boded him little good. The conduct
-of Clarence was calculated to exasperate
-this enmity, and to expose him to its attacks.
-He vented his wrath against all the parties who
-had thwarted him, king, queen, and Gloucester,
-in the bitterest and most public manner; and on
-the other side, occasions were found to stimulate
-him to more disloyal conduct. They began with
-attacking his friends and members of his household.
-John Stacey, a priest in his service, was
-charged with having practised sorcery to procure
-the death of Lord Beauchamp, and being put to
-the torture was brought to confess that Thomas
-Burdett, a gentleman of Arrow, in Warwickshire,
-also a gentleman of the duke's household, and
-greatly beloved by Clarence, was an accomplice.
-It was well understood why this confession was
-wrung from the poor priest. Thomas Burdett
-had a fine white stag in his park, on which he set
-great value. Edward in hunting had shot this
-stag, and Burdett, in his anger at the deed, had
-been reported to have said that he wished the
-horns of the deer were in the stomach of the
-person who had advised the king to insult him by
-killing it. This speech, real or imaginary, had
-been carefully conveyed to the king, and he thus
-took his revenge. Thomas Burdett was accused
-of high treason, tried, and, by the servile judges
-and jury, condemned, and beheaded at Tyburn.</p>
-
-<p>Clarence had exerted himself to save the lives
-of both these persons in vain. They both died
-protesting their innocence, and the next day
-Clarence entered the council, bringing Dr. Goddard,
-a clergyman, who appeared on various occasions
-in those times as a popular agitator. Goddard
-attested the dying declarations of the
-sufferers; and Clarence, with an honourable but
-imprudent zeal, warmly denounced the destruction
-of his innocent friends. Edward and the
-court were at Windsor, and these proceedings
-were duly carried thither by the enemies of
-Clarence. Soon it was reported that, having for
-many days sat sullenly silent at the council-board,
-with folded arms, he had started up and uttered
-the most disloyal words, accusing the queen of
-sorcery, which she had learned of her mother,
-and even implicating the king in the accusation.</p>
-
-<p>The fate of Clarence was sealed. The queen
-and Gloucester were vehement against him.
-Edward hurried to Westminster; Clarence was
-arrested and conducted by the king himself to the
-Tower. On the 16th of January a Parliament
-was assembled, and Edward himself appeared as
-the accuser of his brother at the bar of the Lords.
-He charged him with a design to dethrone and
-destroy him and his family. He retorted upon
-him the charge of sorcery, and of dealing with
-masters of the black art for this treasonable purpose;
-that to raise a rebellion he had supplied
-his servants with vast quantities of money, wine,
-venison, and provisions, to feast the people, and to
-fill their minds at such feasts with the belief that
-Burdett and Stacey had been wrongfully put to
-death; that Clarence had engaged numbers of
-people to swear to stand by him and his heirs as
-rightful claimants of the throne&mdash;asserting that
-Edward was, in truth, a bastard, and had no
-right whatever to the crown; that to gain the
-throne, and support himself upon it, he had had
-constant application to the arts for which his
-queen and her mother were famous, and had not
-hesitated to poison and destroy in secret. As for
-himself&mdash;Clarence&mdash;he pledged himself to restore
-all the lands and honours of the Lancastrians,
-when he gained his own royal rights.</p>
-
-<p>To these monstrous charges Clarence made a
-vehement reply, but posterity has no means of
-judging of the truth or force of what he said, for
-the whole of his defence was omitted in the rolls
-of Parliament. Not a soul dared to say a word
-on his behalf. Edward brought forward witnesses
-to swear to everything he alleged; the duke was
-condemned to death; and the Commons being
-summoned to attend, confirmed the sentence. No
-attempt was made to put the sentence into execution,
-but about ten days later it was announced
-that Clarence had died in the Tower. The precise
-mode of his death has never been clearly ascertained.
-The generally received account is that of
-Fabyan, a cotemporary, who says that he was
-drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.</p>
-
-<p>Edward now again gave himself up to his
-pleasures, and would have been glad, in the midst
-of his amorous intrigues, to have forgotten public
-affairs altogether. But for this the times were
-too much out of joint. It was not in England
-alone that the elements of faction had been in
-agitation. Nearly the whole of Europe had witnessed
-the contentions of overgrown nobles and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
-vassal princes by which almost every crown had
-been endangered, and the regal authority in many
-cases brought into contempt. The changes consequent
-on the accession of Henry IV. we have
-fully detailed; those storms which raged around
-the throne of France we have partially seen; but
-similar dissensions betwixt the Electors of Germany
-and the Emperor Sigismund prevailed; the
-Netherlands were divided against each other; and
-Spain was equally disturbed by the conspiracies of
-the nobles against the crown. Edward of England,
-as if sensible of the weakness of his position,
-strove anxiously to strengthen it by foreign
-alliances. Though his children were far too young
-to contract actual marriages, he made treaties
-which should place his daughters on a number of
-the chief thrones. Some of these contracts were
-entered into almost as soon as those concerned in
-them were born. Elizabeth, the eldest, was
-affianced to the Dauphin of France; Cecilia, the
-second, to the eldest son and heir of the King of
-Scotland; Anne, to the infant son of Maximilian,
-Archduke of Austria, and husband of Mary of
-Burgundy; Catherine, to the heir of the King of
-Spain. His eldest son was engaged to the eldest
-daughter of the Duke of Brittany. On the other
-hand, all these royal negotiators appear to have
-been equally impressed with the precarious character
-of Edward's power, and were ready at the
-first moment to annul the contracts.</p>
-
-<p>That subtle monarch, Louis of France, never
-from the first moment seriously meant to adhere
-to his engagement; and in a very few years all
-these anxiously-planned marriages were blown
-away like summer clouds. Edward was not
-long in suspecting the hollowness of the conduct
-of Louis XI. Though repeatedly reminded
-that the time was come to fetch the Princess of
-England, in order to complete her education in
-France, preparatory to her occupying the station
-assigned to her there, Louis took no measures for
-this purpose; and when Edward remonstrated on
-the subject, threatened to withdraw the payment
-of the annual 50,000 crowns. Edward boiled
-with indignation, and vowed, amongst his immediate
-courtiers that he would hunt up the old fox
-in his own cover if he did not mind. But that
-wily prince was not so easily dealt with. He
-saw with chagrin the proposed alliances betwixt
-Edward and his dangerous neighbours, the Duke
-of Brittany and Maximilian of Austria, now,
-through his wife, the ruler of Burgundy. Edward,
-in his resentment at the threat of Louis to withdraw
-his annual payment, made offers of closer
-union with Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy,
-and engaged, on condition that they should pay
-him the 50,000 crowns which he now had from
-Louis, to assist them against that monarch. But
-Louis was not to be out-man&oelig;uvred in this
-manner; he was a profounder master in all the
-arts of diplomatic stratagem than Edward. He,
-therefore, made secret and tempting advances to
-Maximilian and Mary, one article of which devoted
-the Dauphin to their infant daughter,
-despite of her engagement to the English heir.
-At the same time he stirred up sufficient trouble
-in Scotland to occupy Edward for some time.</p>
-
-<p>The circumstances of Scotland were at this time
-very favourable to the mischievous interference of
-Louis. James III. was a monarch far beyond his
-age. He was of a pacific and philosophic turn.
-Surrounded by a rude and ignorant nobility, he
-conceived an infinite contempt for them, and
-was not politic enough to conceal it. They were
-received at court with coldness and neglect, while
-they saw men of science and letters admitted to
-the king's most intimate conversation. To avenge
-their slighted dignity, they stirred up the king's
-two brothers, the Duke of Albany, and the Earl
-of Mar, to rebellion. James, however, showed that,
-though pacifically disposed, he did not lack
-energy. He seized Mar and Albany, and confined
-them&mdash;Mar in Craigmillar Castle, and Albany
-in that of Edinburgh. Albany managed to escape,
-and made his way, by means of a French vessel,
-to France. Mar, who was of a vehement temper,
-was seized in his prison with fever and delirium.
-He was, therefore, removed from Craigmillar to
-a house in the Canongate, at Edinburgh, where,
-having been bled, he is said on a return of the
-paroxysm to have torn off his bandages while
-in a warm bath, and died from loss of blood.
-The incident was suspicious; but public opinion,
-for the most part, exonerated the king from
-the charge of any criminal intention; and even
-when he was afterwards deposed, no such charge
-was preferred against him by the hostile faction.</p>
-
-<p>It was at this crisis that Edward&mdash;roused to
-indignation by the conduct of the French king,
-who neglected to fetch the Princess of England,
-and withdrew his annual payment of the 50,000
-crowns, and still more by tracing Louis' hand in
-Scottish affairs&mdash;invited over Albany from Paris,
-promising to set him on the throne of Scotland.
-Albany, smarting with his brother's treatment,
-was but too ready to accept the proposal. Edward
-launched reproaches against the King of Scotland
-for his perfidy in listening to Louis of France<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>,
-whilst under the closest engagements with himself.
-Three years' payments of the dowry of Edward's
-daughter, Cecilia, had already been paid to the
-Scottish monarch, and yet he had thrown constant
-obstacles in the way of a marriage agreed
-upon between the sister of James and the Earl
-Rivers, the brother-in-law of Edward. In reply
-to Edward's reproaches, James flung at him the
-epeithet of reiver, or robber, alluding to his seizure
-of the English crown.</p>
-
-<p>Edward despatched an army to the borders of
-Scotland, under his brother Gloucester and
-Albany. He engaged to place Albany on the
-throne of James, and, in return, Albany, who
-was believed already to have two wives, was to
-marry one of Edward's daughters. With upwards
-of 22,000 men Gloucester and Albany reached
-Berwick, which speedily surrendered, though the
-castle held out.</p>
-
-<p>James, to meet this formidable attack, summoned
-the whole force of his kingdom to meet him
-on the Burghmuir, near Edinburgh, and at the
-head of 50,000 men advanced first to Soutra, and
-thence to Lauder. But sedition was in his camp.
-Edward and Albany had opened communications
-with the discontented nobles. Albany, at the
-treaty of Fotheringay, where the Scottish scheme
-was made matter of compact, had assumed the
-title of Alexander, King of Scotland, and the
-adhesion of the principal chiefs of Scotland was
-confirmed by the impolicy of James, who had not
-only given to his favourite Cochrane, the architect,
-the bulk of the estates, along with the title
-of the Earl of Mar, but now placed him in command
-of the artillery, and permitted him to excite
-the envy and indignation of the great barons by
-the splendour of his appointments. Cochrane was,
-therefore, put to death by a band of conspirators,
-headed by Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus,
-known, therefore, as Archibald "Bell-the-Cat."</p>
-
-<p>Albany and Gloucester quickly followed the
-conspirators to the Scottish capital, and there
-appeared now every prospect of the crown being
-placed on the head of Albany; but this was suddenly
-prevented by a new movement. The whole
-body of the Scottish nobles had joined in the destruction
-of the favourites, but there was a strong
-party of them who contemplated nothing further.
-The loyalty of this section of the aristocracy being
-well known to Angus and his friends, they had
-not ventured to communicate to them their design
-of deposing James. The moment that this became
-known to them, they quitted Edinburgh, collected
-an army, and planted themselves near Haddington,
-determined to keep in check any proceedings
-against the king. At the head of this loyal party
-were the Archbishop of St. Andrews, the Bishop
-of Dunkeld, the Earl of Argyll, and Lord Evandale.
-They called on all loyal Scots to gather
-to their standard, and, being posted betwixt
-Edinburgh and the English border, threw Gloucester
-and his adherents into considerable anxiety
-as to their position. Albany, Gloucester, and the
-insurgent lords were glad to come to an accommodation.
-It was agreed that James should retain
-the crown; that Albany should receive a pardon
-and the restoration of his rank and estates; that
-the money paid by Edward as part of the dowry
-of Cecilia should be repaid by the citizens of Edinburgh,
-and that Berwick and its castle should be
-ceded to England. Gloucester thereupon marched
-homeward, and Albany laid siege to the castle of
-Edinburgh, where the Earls of Atholl and Buchan
-still detained the king. He soon compelled them
-to capitulate, and James being now in the hands
-of Albany, the two brothers, in sign of perfect reconciliation,
-rode together on the same horse to
-the palace of Holyrood, and slept together in the
-same bed. The treason of Albany, however, only
-hid itself in his bosom for a season.</p>
-
-<p>The Scottish difficulty being settled, Edward
-now turned his attention to Louis of France.
-Whilst the Scottish campaign had been proceeding,
-an occurrence had taken place which raised
-Edward's wrath to its pitch. Mary of Burgundy
-had one day gone out hawking in the neighbourhood
-of Bruges, when her horse, in leaping a dyke,
-broke his girths, and threw her violently against a
-tree. She died in consequence, leaving three infant
-children, one of whom, Margaret, was a little girl
-two years old. Mary herself was only twenty-five
-at the time of her death. No sooner did
-Louis hear of this, than he immediately demanded
-the infant Margaret for his son the Dauphin,
-totally regardless of the long-standing engagement
-with Edward for the Princess Elizabeth.
-Maximilian of Austria, the father of Margaret,
-was strongly opposed to the match, seeing too
-well that Louis only wanted to make himself
-master of the territories of the children. Louis,
-however, had intrigued with the people of Ghent,
-and they would insist upon the alliance. Margaret
-was delivered to the commissioners of Louis,
-who settled on her the provinces which he had
-taken from her mother. The French, who regarded
-this event as bringing to the kingdom
-some very fine territories, without the trouble and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
-expense of a conquest, received the infant princess
-with great rejoicings.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_045.jpg" width="560" height="430" alt="" title="ST. ANDREWS FROM THE PIER" />
-<div class="caption"><p>ST. ANDREWS FROM THE PIER.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The rage of Edward knew no bounds. He had
-been so often warned, both by his courtiers and
-by Parliament, that the crafty Louis would play
-him false, that he now vowed to take the most
-consummate vengeance upon him. The best
-means of inflicting the severest punishment on
-the King of France engrossed his whole soul, and
-occupied him day and night. This violent excitement,
-operating upon a constitution ruined by
-sensual indulgence, brought on an illness, which,
-not attended to at first, soon terminated his
-existence. He died on the 9th of April, 1483,
-in the twenty-third year of his reign and the
-forty-first of his age. The approach of death
-awoke in him feelings of deep repentance. He
-ordered full restitution to be made to all whom he
-had wronged, or from whom he had extorted
-benevolences. But such orders were not likely
-to receive much attention from Gloucester, who
-became the source of power. Immediately after
-his death he was exposed on a board, naked from
-the waist upwards, for ten hours, so that the
-lords spiritual and temporal, and the Lord Mayor
-and aldermen of London, might see that he had received
-no violence. He was then buried in Westminster
-Abbey, with great pomp and ceremony.</p>
-
-<p>Edward IV. was a man calculated to make a
-great figure in rude and martial times. He was
-handsome, lively of disposition, affable, and brave.
-So long as circumstances demanded daring and
-exertion in the field, he was triumphant and prosperous.
-Rapid in his resolves and in his movements,
-undaunted in his attacks, he was uniformly
-victorious; but peace at once unmanned him.
-With the last stroke of the sword and the last
-sound of the trumpet he flung down his arms,
-and flew to riot and debauchery. Ever the conqueror
-in the field, he was always defeated in the
-city. He never could become conqueror over himself.
-By unrestrained indulgence he destroyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
-his constitution, and hurried on to early death.
-Whether in the battle-field or in the hour of peace,
-he was unrestrained by principle, and sullied
-his most brilliant laurels with the blood of the
-young, the innocent, and the victim incapable of
-resistance. He was magnificent in his costume,
-luxurious at table, and most licentious in his
-amours. As he advanced in years he grew corpulent
-and unhealthy. He had the faculty of
-never forgetting the face of any one whom he
-had once seen, or the name of any one who had
-done him an injury. There was no person of any
-prominence of whom he did not know the whole
-history; and he had a spy in almost every
-officer of his government, even to the extremities
-of his kingdom. By this means he was early informed
-of the slightest hostile movement, and by
-a rapid dash into the enemy's quarters he soon
-extinguished opposition. Such a man might be a
-brilliant, but could never be a good monarch. He
-attached no one to his fortunes; therefore all his
-attempts to knit up alliances and his other projects
-failed; and his sons, left young and unprotected,
-speedily perished.</p>
-
-<p>His children were Edward, his eldest son
-and successor, born in the Sanctuary in 1470;
-Richard, Duke of York; Elizabeth, who was contracted
-to the Dauphin, but who became the queen
-of Henry VII.; Cecilia, contracted to James,
-afterwards IV. of Scotland, but married to John,
-Viscount Wells; Anne, contracted to the son of
-Maximilian of Austria, but married to Thomas
-Howard, Duke of Norfolk; Bridget, who became
-a nun at Dartford; and Catherine, contracted to
-the Prince of Spain, but married to William
-Courtney, Earl of Devonshire.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Edward V. Proclaimed&mdash;The Two Parties of the Queen and of Gloucester&mdash;Struggle in the Council&mdash;Gloucester's Plans&mdash;The
-Earl Rivers and his Friends imprisoned&mdash;Gloucester secures the King and conducts him to London&mdash;Indignities to the
-young King&mdash;Execution of Lord Hastings&mdash;A Base Sermon at St. Paul's Cross&mdash;Gloucester pronounces the two young
-Princes illegitimate&mdash;The Farce at the Guildhall&mdash;Gloucester seizes the Crown&mdash;Richard crowned in London and again
-at York&mdash;Buckingham revolts against him&mdash;Murder of the Two Princes&mdash;Henry of Richmond&mdash;Failure of Buckingham's
-Rising&mdash;Buckingham beheaded&mdash;Richard's Title confirmed by Parliament&mdash;Queen Dowager and her Daughters quit the
-Sanctuary&mdash;Death of Richard's Son and Heir&mdash;Proposes to marry his Niece, Elizabeth of York&mdash;Richmond lands at
-Milford Haven&mdash;His Progress&mdash;The Troubles of Richard&mdash;The Battle of Bosworth&mdash;The Fallen Tyrant&mdash;End of the Wars
-of the Roses.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>By the death of Edward IV. England was destined
-once more to witness all the inconveniences
-which attend the minority of a king. Edward V.
-was a boy of only thirteen. His mother and her
-family had made themselves many enemies and
-few friends by their undisguised ambition and
-cupidity. The Greys and Woodvilles had been
-lifted above the heads of the greatest members of
-the aristocracy, enriched with the estates, and
-clothed with the honours of ancient houses. They
-had been posted round the throne as if to keep
-aloof all other candidates for favour and promotion.
-At the time of the death of Edward IV.,
-Richard of Gloucester was in the North, attending
-to his duties as commander against the army in
-the Scottish marches. He immediately commenced
-his proceedings with that consummate and
-hypocritical art of which he was a first-rate
-master. He at once put his retinue into deep
-mourning, and marched to York attended by 600
-knights and esquires. There he ordered the obsequies
-of the departed king to be performed with
-all solemnity in the cathedral. He then summoned
-the nobility and gentry of the country
-to take the oath of allegiance to his nephew,
-Edward V., and he led the way by first taking it
-himself. He wrote to the queen-mother to condole
-with her on her loss, and to assure her of his
-zealous support of the rights of his beloved
-nephew. He expressed his ardent desire for the
-close friendship of the queen, of Earl Rivers, her
-brother, and of all her family. He announced
-his intention of proceeding towards London to
-attend the coronation, and if Elizabeth had not
-already known the man, she might have congratulated
-herself on the enjoyment of so affectionate a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
-brother-in-law, and so brave and faithful a guardian
-of her son.</p>
-
-<p>But there is every reason to believe that the
-same messenger who carried these letters of condolence
-and professed friendship to the queen,
-carried others of a different tone to a hostile
-section of her council. The Lords Howard,
-Hastings, and Stanley, though personal friends of
-the late king, and Hastings, the chosen confidant
-and associate of his pleasures, were at heart bitter
-enemies of the queen's family. It was only the
-authority of Edward which had maintained peace
-between them, and now they showed an undisguised
-hostility to them at the council-board. The
-Earl Rivers, the queen's brother, and the Marquis
-of Dorset, her son by her former marriage, occupied
-the chief seats at that board, and Edward
-was no stranger to their real sentiments. This
-knowledge had led him, on perceiving his health
-failing, to bring these rivals together, and to
-state to them how much it concerned his son's
-peace and security that they should forget all past
-causes of difference, and unite for that loyal purpose.
-This they promised, but only with the
-tongue. No sooner was the king dead, than all
-the old animosity and jealousy showed themselves
-in aggravated form.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth now proposed that the young king
-should be brought up to town in order to be
-crowned, and that he should be attended by a strong
-body of soldiery for the safety of his person. At
-this, Hastings, who, in common with three-fourths
-of the nobility, was jealous of the design of the
-queen and her party to make themselves masters
-of the government during the king's minority, no
-longer concealed his real feelings. Edward had
-been kept on the borders of Wales, where the
-power of the Mortimers and the Yorkists lay. It
-was believed that the object was to give a preponderance
-to the royal family through the Welsh
-and the borderers; and now to march up to
-London, attended by a Welsh army, appeared a
-direct attempt to control the capital by these
-means. Hastings, therefore, warmly demanded&mdash;"What
-need of an army? Who were the enemies
-they had to dread? Was it the king's own uncle,
-Gloucester? Was it Lord Stanley, or himself?
-Was this force meant by the Woodvilles to put an
-end to all liberty in the council and the government,
-and thus to break the very union the king,
-on his death-bed, had pledged them to?" Hastings
-concluded his speech by hotly declaring that
-if the king was brought to London by an army,
-he would quit the council and the kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>Deterred by this open opposition, Elizabeth
-yielded, and reduced the proposed guard to 2,000
-cavalry. But she did it with deep and too well-founded
-anxiety. She had had too much opportunity
-of studying the character of Gloucester
-to trust him, and the event very soon justified
-her conviction. Secret messages had, during this
-interval, been passing between Gloucester and
-Hastings and the Duke of Buckingham, a weak
-man, descended from Thomas of Woodstock, the
-youngest son of Edward III. No doubt he had
-instructed them to defeat any measures of the
-Woodville family, which could leave the king in
-their hands. The moment was accurately calculated;
-and, accordingly, when the Lords Rivers
-and Grey, on their way to London with the young
-king, arrived at Stony Stratford, they found Gloucester
-had already reached Northampton, only ten
-miles from them. Gloucester had increased his
-forces on the way to a formidable body, and he
-was there joined by the Duke of Buckingham
-with 500 horse. The Lords Rivers and Grey, on
-learning the presence of Gloucester at Northampton,
-immediately rode over to him to welcome
-him in the king's name, and to consult with him
-on the plan of their united entrance into London.
-Gloucester received them with all the marks of that
-friendship which he had written to avow. They
-were invited to dine and spend the night, the
-Dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham promising
-to ride with them in the morning to pay their
-respects to the king. Morning appeared, and
-Gloucester and Buckingham set out with them in
-the best of humours. They rode in pleasant
-converse till, arriving at the entrance of Stony
-Stratford, Gloucester suddenly accused Rivers and
-Grey of having estranged the affections of the
-king from him. They denied the charge with as
-much vehemence as astonishment; but they were
-immediately arrested and conducted to the rear.
-Gloucester and Buckingham rode on to the king,
-where the two dukes humbly on their knees professed
-their loyalty and attachment. This they
-proceeded to make manifest by arresting also the
-king's faithful servants, Sir Thomas Vaughan and
-Sir Richard Hawse. In spite of the poor young
-king's entreaties, he led him away with him to
-Northampton, his relatives and friends, Rivers,
-Grey, Vaughan, and Hawse, following in the rear
-as prisoners. These prisoners of State were sent
-off by Gloucester, under a strong guard, to his
-castle of Pontefract&mdash;that blood-stained fortress,
-the very entrance to which, in bondage, was equivalent
-to a death-warrant.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>At midnight following the very day of these
-transactions, being the 1st of May, the appalling
-tidings reached the court that Gloucester, followed
-by a large army, had seized the king, and sent
-prisoners the queen's brother and son no one knew
-whither. Struck with consternation, and deeply
-rueing her weakness in giving up her own plans of
-caution, the queen, hastily seizing her younger son
-by the hand, and followed by her daughters,
-rushed from the palace of Westminster to the
-Sanctuary, which had protected her before; but
-not against a person so base and deadly in his
-ruthless ambition as this her brother-in-law of
-Gloucester. She knew the man, and she dreaded
-everything. Her eldest son, Dorset, who was
-Keeper of the Tower, in his turn weakly abandoned
-that important stronghold, and also fled to
-the Sanctuary. Rotherham, the Archbishop of
-York and Chancellor of the realm, hastening
-thither, found the queen seated on the rushes with
-which the floors at that time were strewn, an
-image of abandonment and woe.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_048.jpg" width="500" height="249" alt="" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD V.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, London was thrown into the utmost
-dismay and confusion. Many of the nobles and
-citizens flew to arms, and some flocked to the
-queen at Westminster, and others to Lord Hastings
-in London. Hastings continued to assure
-them that there was no cause of alarm; that
-Gloucester was a true man; and he was most
-likely the more ready to believe this himself from
-his own dislike of the queen's family.</p>
-
-<p>On the 4th of May Gloucester conducted his
-royal captive into the capital. At Hornsey Park,
-the lord mayor and corporation, in scarlet, met the
-royal procession, followed by 400 citizens, all in
-violet. The Duke of Gloucester, habited, like
-his followers, in mourning, rode into the city
-before the king, with his cap in hand, bowing low
-to the people, and pointing out to their notice
-the king, who rode in a mantle of purple velvet.
-Edward V. was first conducted to Ely Place, to
-the bishop's palace; but he was soon removed to
-the Tower, on the motion of the Duke of Buckingham,
-on pretence that it was the proper place
-in which to await his coronation. That ceremony
-Elizabeth and her council had ordered to take
-place this very day, but the crafty Gloucester
-prevented that by not arriving in time. He took
-up his quarters in Crosby Place, Bishopsgate,
-where one part of the council constantly sat, while
-another, but lesser portion of it, assembled with
-Lord Hastings and others in the Tower. The day
-of the coronation was then fixed for the 22nd of
-June, leaving an interval of nearly seven weeks in
-which the schemes of Gloucester might be perfected.
-The first object of this man had been to
-impress the queen and her party with his friendly
-disposition, till he had secured their persons; this
-being, in a great measure, effected, the next was
-to persuade the public of his loyalty to his nephew.
-For this purpose he conducted him with such state
-into the capital, and so assiduously pointed him
-out as their king to the people. To have openly
-proclaimed his designs upon the crown would have
-united all parties against him. He averted that
-by his calling on all men to swear fealty to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
-nephew, and by first swearing it himself. Having
-now procured full possession of the king's person,
-the next step was to secure that of his younger
-brother, without which his plans would all be
-vain. He was surrendered by the queen, and
-also placed in the Tower.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_049.jpg" width="408" height="500" alt="" title="EDWARD V" />
-<div class="caption"><p>EDWARD V.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The victims were secured. Gloucester had
-feigned himself a kind relation till he had got
-them into prison; now he yearned to put forth
-his claws and devour them. But for this it required
-that the public should be duly prepared.
-His followers, and especially his imbecile tool,
-Buckingham, busily spread through town and
-country reports of the most terrible plots on the
-part of the queen and her friends to destroy
-Gloucester, Buckingham, and other great lords, in
-order that she and her family might have the
-king, and through him, the whole government, in
-their power. They exhibited quantities of arms,
-which they declared the queen's party had secreted
-in order to destroy Gloucester and the other
-patriotic lords, as they pleased to represent them.
-This did not fail to produce its effect on the
-people without, and it was promptly followed up
-by a picture of treason in the very council.</p>
-
-<p>Lord Stanley, who was sincerely attached to
-Edward IV.'s family, had often expressed his
-suspicions of what was going on at Crosby Hall;
-but Hastings had replied, that he had a trusty
-agent there who informed him of all that passed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
-But Hastings, who had been completely duped by
-Gloucester, had been unconsciously playing into
-his hands, till his own turn came. While he
-imagined that Richard was punishing the assumption
-of the queen and her relations, the latter was
-preparing the bloody acts of one of the most
-daring dramas of historic crime ever acted before
-the world. Richard, no doubt, had thought
-Hastings ready to go the whole way with him.
-At this crisis, however, he became aware that
-he was an honest though misguided man, who
-would stand staunchly by his young sovereign,
-and must therefore be removed. The tyrant
-was now beginning to feel secure of his object,
-and prepared to seize it at whatever cost of
-crime and infamy. Accordingly, on the 13th of
-June, says Sir Thomas More, he came into the
-council about nine in the morning, "in a very
-merry humour. After a little talking with them,
-he said to the Bishop of Ely, 'My lord, you have
-very good strawberries in your garden in Holborn:
-I request you let us have a mess of them.'
-'Gladly, my lord,' quoth he; 'would to God I had
-some better things as ready to your pleasure as
-that!' and then, with all haste, he sent his servant
-for a mess of strawberries. The protector set the
-lords fast in communing, and thereupon praying
-them to spare him a little while, departed thence,
-and, soon after one hour, between ten and eleven,
-he returned into the chamber amongst them all,
-changed, with a wonderful sour, angry countenance,
-knitting his brows, frowning and fretting,
-gnawing on his lips, and so sat him down in his
-place. Soon after he asked, 'What those persons
-deserved who had compassed and imagined his
-destruction.' Lord Hastings answered that they
-deserved death, whoever they might be; and then
-Richard affirmed that they were that sorceress, his
-brother's wife (meaning the queen), with others
-with her; 'and,' said the protector, 'we shall see
-in what wise that sorceress, and that other witch
-of her councils, Shore's wife, with their affinity,
-have by their sorcery and witchcraft wasted my
-body.' So saying, he plucked up his doublet
-sleeve to his elbow upon his left arm, where the
-arm appeared to be withered and small, as it was
-never other." He then included Hastings in the
-charge. The unfortunate man was hurried out
-by the armed ruffians of the tyrant, and scarcely
-allowing him time to confess to the first priest
-that came to hand, they made use of a log which
-accidentally lay on the green at the door of the
-chapel, and beheaded him at once. Lord Stanley,
-the Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of Ely,
-were kept close prisoners in the Tower. Shortly
-afterwards the queen's brother and son, Earl
-Rivers and Lord Grey, were executed at Pontefract.</p>
-
-<p>The united troops of Gloucester and Buckingham,
-to the amount of 20,000, now held the metropolis
-in subjection; the terror of the protector's
-deeds enchained it still more. On the following
-Sunday, June 22nd, the day which had been fixed
-for the coronation, instead of that ceremony taking
-place, a priest was found base enough&mdash;tyrants
-never fail of such tools&mdash;to ascend St. Paul's
-Cross, and preach from this text, from the Book
-of Wisdom, "Bastard slips shall not strike deep
-root."</p>
-
-<p>This despicable man was one Dr. Shaw, brother
-of the Lord Mayor. He drew a broad picture of
-the licentious life of Edward IV., and asserted
-that his mode of destroying such ladies as he
-found unwilling to incur dishonour was to
-promise them marriage, and occasionally to go
-through a mock or real ceremony with them. He
-declared that Edward had thus, in the commencement
-of his reign, really contracted a marriage
-with the Lady Eleanor Butler, the widow of Lord
-Butler, of Sudeley, and daughter of the Earl of
-Shrewsbury; that he afterwards contracted a
-private and illegal marriage with Elizabeth Woodville,
-which, however it might be real and legal in
-other respects, was altogether invalid and impossible,
-from the fact that Edward was already
-married to Lady Butler. Hence he contended
-that Elizabeth Woodville, though acknowledged
-by Parliament, was, in reality, nothing more than
-a concubine; that she and the king had been living
-in open and scandalous adultery; and that, of
-consequence, the whole of their children were
-illegitimate, and the sons incapable of wearing
-the crown.</p>
-
-<p>But the preacher went further. Determined to
-destroy the claims of the young Edward V. to the
-crown, he boldly asserted not only his illegitimacy,
-but that of his father, Edward IV. This could
-only be done at the expense of the honour of the
-proud Cicely, Duchess of York, the mother of Gloucester,
-as well as of Edward. But the man who
-was wading his way to the throne through the
-blood of his own nephews, and of the best men in
-the country, was not likely to be stopped by the
-honour of his mother. The son of Clarence was
-living, and in case of the deaths of Edward's sons
-had a prior right to Gloucester. That right was
-at present in abeyance, through Clarence's attainder,
-but would revive on reversion of the attainder,
-and the possibility of this must be destroyed.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_050big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_050.jpg" width="348" height="560" alt="From the Wall Painting by Sigismund Goetze, in the Royal Exchange" title="THE CROWN OF ENGLAND BEING OFFERED TO RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, AT BAYNARD'S CASTLE, IN 1483" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE CROWN OF ENGLAND BEING OFFERED TO RICHARD,
-DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, AT BAYNARD'S CASTLE, IN 1483.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From the Wall Painting by Sigismund Goetze, in the Royal Exchange.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The preacher, therefore, stoutly maintained that
-both Edward IV. and Clarence were the children
-of other men, not of the late Duke of York; that
-it was notorious, and that their striking likeness
-to their reputed fathers fully confirmed it. Gloucester,
-he contended, was alone the son of the
-Duke of York; and this vile prostitutor of the
-pulpit exclaimed, "Behold this excellent prince,
-the express image of his noble father&mdash;the genuine
-descendant of the house of York; bearing no less
-in the virtues of his mind than in the features of
-his countenance the character of the gallant
-Richard!" At this moment Gloucester, by concert,
-was to have passed, as if accidentally,
-through the audience to his place, and the
-preacher exclaimed, "Behold the man entitled to
-your allegiance! He must deliver you from the
-dominion of all intruders!&mdash;he alone can restore
-the lost glory and honour of the nation!"</p>
-
-<p>Here it was expected that the people would cry
-out "Long live King Richard!" but they stared
-at one another in amazement, and the more so
-that Gloucester did not appear at the nick of
-time, but after the preacher's apostrophe was concluded;
-so that, when Gloucester did appear, he
-was obliged to repeat his lesson, which threw such
-an air of ridicule upon the whole, that Gloucester
-could not conceal his chagrin, and the preacher&mdash;perceiving
-that the odium of the attempt, as it
-had failed, would fall upon him&mdash;stole away home,
-and, it is said, never again recovered his standing.
-Gloucester, of course, would be the first to fling
-him by as a worthless tool, and he received that
-reward of public contempt which it would be
-better for the world if it always measured out
-to such vile subserviency.</p>
-
-<p>But Gloucester was now fully prepared to complete
-his necessary amount of crime for the attainment
-of the throne, and was not to be daunted by
-one failure. The preacher, having broken the ice,
-he renewed his attempt in another quarter&mdash;the
-council chamber of the city. The Lord Mayor&mdash;as
-great a sycophant as his brother the preacher&mdash;lent
-himself, as he had probably done before, to
-the scheme. On the next Tuesday, the 24th of
-June, the Duke of Buckingham appeared upon the
-hustings at Guildhall, and harangued the citizens.
-He called upon them to recollect the dissolute life
-of the late king; his frequent violation of the
-sanctity of their homes; the seduction of most
-respectable ladies; the extent of his extortions of
-their money under the name of benevolences. In
-fact, he repeated, in another form, the whole sermon
-of Shaw, and went through the whole story
-of the marriage of Lady Butler, by the king, previous
-to that with Lady Grey, of which he assured
-them Stillington, Bishop of Bath, was a witness.
-Stillington, however, was never called to give such
-evidence. He then asked whether they would
-have the illegitimate progeny of such a man to
-rule over them. He assured them that he would
-never submit to the rule of a bastard, and
-that both the aristocracy and the people of
-the northern counties had sworn the same. But
-there, he observed, was the Duke of Gloucester, a
-man calculated to rescue England from such a
-stigma, and from all its losses&mdash;a man valiant,
-wise, patriotic, and of true blood, the genuine descendant
-of the great Edward III. On this the
-servants of Buckingham and Gloucester incited
-some of the meanest apprentices to cry out, and
-there was a feeble voice raised of "God save King
-Richard!" That was enough. Buckingham returned
-the people thanks for their hearty assent,
-and invited them to attend him the next morning
-to the duke's residence of Baynard's Castle, near
-Blackfriars Bridge, to tender him the crown.
-After a show of refusal Gloucester accepted it.</p>
-
-<p>Thus ended this scene, which Hume calls a
-ridiculous farce, but which was, in fact, a most
-diabolical one, to be followed by as revolting a
-tragedy. The next day this monster in human
-form went to Westminster in state. There he
-entered the great hall, and seated himself on the
-marble seat, with Lord Howard, afterwards Duke
-of Norfolk, on his right hand, and the Duke of
-Suffolk on his left. He stated to the persons
-present that he chose to commence his reign in
-that place, because the administration of justice
-was the first duty of a king. Every one who
-heard this must have felt that if there were any
-justice in him he could not be there. It is clear
-that the spirit of the nation was with the poor boy
-Edward, but there was no man who dared to lift
-up his voice for him. The axe of Gloucester had
-already lopped off heads enough to render the
-others dumb, and London was invested by his
-myrmidons. He was already a dictator, and could
-do for a while what he pleased. He proclaimed
-an amnesty to all offenders against him up to that
-hour, and he then proceeded to St. Paul's, to
-return thanks to God. Thus, on the 26th of
-June, 1483, successful villainy sat enthroned in
-the heart of London.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_052big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_052.jpg" width="375" height="560" alt="" title="THE TOWER OF LONDON: BLOODY (A) AND WAKEFIELD (B) TOWERS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE TOWER OF LONDON: BLOODY (A) AND WAKEFIELD (B) TOWERS.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 6th of July, not a fortnight after his
-acceptance of the crown at Baynard's Castle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
-Richard was crowned with all splendour. The
-terror of the blood-stained despot was all-potent,
-and was evidenced in the fact that few of the
-peers or peeresses ventured to absent themselves.
-With consummate tact Richard, the Yorkist
-usurper, appointed the heads of the Lancastrian
-line to bear the most prominent part in the ceremony,
-next to royalty itself. Buckingham bore
-his train, and the Countess of Richmond bore that
-of his queen. Both these persons were descendants
-of John of Gaunt, and the countess was the
-wife of that Lord Stanley who had been wounded
-at the very council board by Richard's ruffian
-guards, at the time of the seizure of Hastings.
-There can be little doubt but that it was the intention
-of Gloucester to have thus got rid, as
-by accident, of that respectable and powerful
-nobleman, who had great influence in the north;
-but having failed in that, he now made a merit
-of liberating him and his fellows, the Archbishop
-of York and the Bishop of Ely, from the Tower.
-On Stanley he conferred the stewardship of the
-household, and soon after made him Constable of
-England. Probably, it not only entered the mind
-of Richard that it would be politic to secure
-the favour of a nobleman so much esteemed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
-Cheshire and Lancashire, but that, by ingratiating
-himself with the Countess of Richmond, the wife
-of Stanley, and the mother of the young Earl of
-Richmond, who, during the reign of Edward IV.,
-had been a cause of anxiety, as a probable aspirant
-to the throne, he might succeed in beguiling
-Richmond into his hands; and this is the more
-probable because he was, at the very time, negotiating
-some private matters with the Duke of
-Brittany, at whose court Richmond was.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_053.jpg" width="500" height="250" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF RICHARD III" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF RICHARD III.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Besides the promotion of Stanley, the Lord
-Howard was made Earl Marshal and Duke of
-Norfolk, his son was created Earl of Surrey, Lord
-Lovel was made a viscount, and many others of
-the nobility now received higher rank. The vast
-wealth which Edward IV. had left he distributed
-lavishly amongst those who had done his work,
-and those whom he sought to win over. The
-troops who had come from the north, and were
-seen with wonder and ridicule by the Londoners
-from their mean and dirty appearance, and called
-a rascal rabble, but who were ready at a word to
-do desperate things, he amply rewarded, and sent
-home again, as soon as the coronation was over.</p>
-
-<p>This great display over, Richard called no Parliament,
-but merely assembled the nobility before
-their returning to their respective counties, and
-enjoined them to maintain the peace there, and to
-assist his officers in putting down all offenders and
-disturbers. But he did not satisfy himself with
-injunctions. He set out to make a wide circuit
-through his kingdom, in order to awe all malcontents
-by his presence. He proceeded by slow
-journeys to Oxford, Woodstock, Gloucester, and
-Worcester. At Warwick he was joined by the
-queen; and as she was the daughter of the late
-Earl of Warwick, she might be considered as presiding
-in her ancestral home; and there, therefore,
-a considerable court was held for the space
-of a week, the Spanish ambassadors and members
-of the English nobility coming there. Thence
-the royal pair advanced by Coventry, Leicester,
-Nottingham, and Pontefract to York. The inhabitants
-of that stronghold of Lancastrian feeling
-had been warned to receive the king "with every
-mark of joy;" and to conciliate the northern population,
-Richard sent for the royal wardrobe from
-London, and once more repeated the coronation in
-York, as if to intimate that he scarcely felt himself
-sovereign till he had their sanction and
-homage.</p>
-
-<p>But after all the crimes perpetrated by Richard,
-the public had been terrified into silence, not into
-approval. No sooner was the south relieved from
-his presence than it at once recovered breath and
-language. As if the oppression of a nightmare
-were withdrawn, people began to utter their true
-feelings. Some were for marching in thousands
-upon the Tower, and forcibly liberating the innocent
-victims; others suggested that it were wise
-to enable the daughters of Edward to escape to
-the Continent, so that Richard should never be
-free from the fear of legitimate claimants to the
-crown. All the foreign potentates had shrunk
-from entering into alliance with so blood-stained a
-character, and would be ready to cherish these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
-princesses as a means of annoying or controlling
-him.</p>
-
-<p>But Richard had thought of all these things
-long before the public, and had taken such measures
-to prevent them as would soon make the
-ears of all England tingle at their discovery. On
-attempting to communicate with Elizabeth and
-her daughters in the sanctuary, they found that
-asylum invested by a strong body of soldiers under
-one John Nesfield, and that there was no approaching
-the royal family. The only alternative
-was to endeavour to liberate the young princes.</p>
-
-<p>For this purpose private meetings were held in
-nearly all the counties of the south and west.
-The nobility and gentry bound themselves by oath
-to take arms and unite for the restoration of
-Edward V. In the midst of these movements
-the agitators were agreeably astonished to find
-themselves in possession of a most unexpected and
-powerful ally. This was no other than the Duke
-of Buckingham, the man who had so unscrupulously
-taken the lead in putting down all who were formidable
-obstacles to Richard's plans, and in
-bringing London to declare for him. The circumstances
-which produced this marvellous change
-have rather been guessed at than ever satisfactorily
-known.</p>
-
-<p>Buckingham was descended from Thomas, Duke
-of Gloucester, sixth son of Edward III. His
-claims to the throne were far superior to those of
-the Earl of Richmond, who was of an exactly
-parallel descent from John of Gaunt, but with a
-flaw of illegitimacy through that prince's connection
-with Catherine Swynford. Buckingham not
-only stood higher amongst the princes of the Lancastrian
-blood than Richmond, but he was married
-to the sister of Queen Elizabeth, and was thus
-closely connected with the imprisoned prince. Yet
-he had at once supported the most unscrupulous
-of the Yorkists, and helped more than any other
-man to dethrone his near relative. If this were
-strange, his sudden conversion was stranger.
-For his signal services to Richard he had received
-signal rewards. The Earl of Gloucester, Buckingham's
-ancestor, had married one of the daughters
-and co-heiresses of Humphrey Bohun, Earl of
-Hereford. Their property, on the Yorkist family
-ascending the throne, had been seized by it.
-Buckingham had probably made it his bargain for
-what he was to do for Richard, that these estates
-should be restored to him. They were, accordingly,
-restored, and beyond that he was made
-Constable of England, Justiciary of Wales, and
-many other honours were heaped upon him.
-Why, then, this sudden revolt? The real causes
-were most likely those which have ever separated
-successful villains&mdash;distrust of each other, and
-the desire of the principal to be rid of his
-too knowing and, therefore, dangerous accessory.
-Buckingham was the confidant in many and terrible
-State secrets. He knew why Hastings was
-suddenly hurried to his death, and all the dark
-work by which the true prince had been thrust
-down to a dungeon, and the false one set up.</p>
-
-<p>He resolved, therefore, to reinstate Edward V.;
-and circular letters were addressed to all those
-chiefs who were likely to unite in the enterprise.
-In Kent, Essex, Sussex, Berkshire, Hants, Wilts,
-and Devonshire, preparations were made for the
-purpose; and Buckingham was about to move
-forward to put himself at their head, when the
-confederates were thunderstruck with the news
-that the king and his brother had been already
-murdered in the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>The account which has been generally followed
-of this horrid event, is that of Sir Thomas More.
-According to the learned chancellor, Richard,
-while making his holiday progress through the
-country, was plotting the death of the young
-princes in the Tower. From Gloucester he despatched
-one of his pages to Sir Robert Brackenbury,
-the Governor of the Tower, commanding him
-to get them quietly made away with. Sir Robert
-refused the office of assassin. Richard, however,
-from Warwick sent Sir James Tyrell, with orders
-to command the Tower for one night. This
-Tyrell had been vice-Constable under Edward IV.,
-and always employed by him to execute illegal
-commissions, like Tristan, the tool of Louis XI.
-Tradition holds that the Portcullis Tower was the
-one in which the young princes were confined, and
-it is stated that they were under the constant
-surveillance of four keepers, and waited on by a
-fellow called Black Will, or Will Slaughter.</p>
-
-<p>The murderer Richard is said to have roused
-Tyrell from his bed at midnight, and sent him off;
-and Brackenbury, though he would not stain his
-own hands with innocent blood, had to give the
-keys by the king's command to the man who
-would. "Then," says Sir Thomas More, "Sir
-James Tyrell desired that the princes should be
-murdered in bed, to the execution whereof he
-appropriated Miles Forest, one of their keepers, a
-fellow flesh-bred in murder, and to him he joined
-one John Dighton, his own horse-keeper, a big,
-broad, square knave. The young king had certainly
-a clear apprehension of his fate, for he was
-heard sighingly to say, 'I would mine uncle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
-would let me have my life, though he taketh my
-crown.' After which time the prince never tied
-his points nor anything attended to himself, but
-with that young babe his brother, lingered in
-thought and heaviness, till the traitorous deed
-delivered them from their wretchedness.</p>
-
-<p>"All their other attendants being removed from
-them, and the harmless children in bed, these
-men came into their chamber, and suddenly
-lapping them in the clothes, smothered and stifled
-them till thoroughly dead. Then laying out their
-bodies on the bed, they fetched Sir James to see
-them, who caused the murderers to bury them at
-the stairfoot, deep in the ground under a heap
-of stones. Then rode Sir James in great haste to
-King Richard, and showed him the manner of the
-murder, who gave him great thanks, but allowed
-not their bodies in so vile a corner, but would
-have them buried in consecrated ground. Sir
-Robert Brackenbury's priest then took them up,
-and where he buried them was never known, for
-he died shortly afterwards. But when the news
-was brought to the unfortunate mother, yet being
-in sanctuary, that her two sons were murdered,
-it struck to her heart like the sharp dart of
-death; she was so suddenly amazed that she
-swooned and fell to the ground, and there lay in
-great agony, yet like to a dead corpse."</p>
-
-<p>This dismal news, however, probably did not
-reach the unhappy queen till some time after the
-perpetration of the murder, for the tyrant kept the
-deed close till it suited his purpose to disclose it.</p>
-
-<p>The whole of this circumstantial account has
-been called in question by some modern historians,
-on the plea that the history of Richard was
-written by men after his death, who invented half
-the crimes and repulsive features of Richard to
-please the court of Henry VII. But perhaps
-two more highly credible historians could not be
-found than Sir Thomas More and the continuator
-of the Croyland Chronicle, the latter of whom
-wrote immediately after the death of Richard;
-and every circumstance known confirms their
-accounts. We shall see that the younger of these
-princes was supposed to reappear in the reign of
-Henry VII. as Perkin Warbeck. But, unfortunately
-for this story, the bodies of the two murdered
-children were discovered buried in one coffin
-or box. This occurred so late as 1674, when
-workmen were digging down the stairs which led
-from the king's lodgings to the chapel in the
-Tower, where, about ten feet deep, they came
-upon this chest containing the bones of two
-youths "proportionable to the ages of the two
-brothers; namely, about thirteen and eleven
-years."</p>
-
-<p>What is more, all those said to be concerned in
-this diabolical deed were afterwards specially
-patronised by Richard. Greene, the messenger,
-was made receiver of the lordships of the Isle of
-Wight and Porchester Castle; Tyrell and Brackenbury
-received numerous grants of lucrative offices,
-money, and lands, as may be seen in Strype's
-notes to Bucke's history, in Kennet. Dighton,
-one of the murderers, was made bailiff for life of
-the manor of Aiton, in Staffordshire; and Forest
-dying in possession of a lucrative post in Bernard
-Castle, his widow and son received an annuity of
-five marks. Still, further, Sir Thomas More says,
-"Very truth it is, and well known, that at such
-times as Sir James Tyrell was in the Tower for
-treason against King Henry VII., both Dighton
-and him were examined, and confessed the murder
-in manner above written." Henry, in consequence,
-sought for the bodies, but at that time
-they could not be found, the chaplain, the depositary
-of the secret, being dead.</p>
-
-<p>When, in addition to this, it shall be seen that
-Richard was anxious to marry Elizabeth of York,
-the sister of these young princes, and to prevent
-Richmond from marrying her, nothing can be more
-conclusive of the death of the boys as described&mdash;for,
-otherwise, the issue of Elizabeth could not
-succeed rightfully to the throne. Moreover,
-Richard is himself stated to have allowed the fact
-of the murder to come out, in order to crush the
-rising of Buckingham and his confederates in their
-behalf. Under all these circumstances, we conceive
-no event of history stands more strongly
-authenticated.</p>
-
-<p>It is said to have been in the midst of the
-gaieties of the coronation at York that Richard
-received the news of Buckingham's movement,
-and of the confederation of the southern counties.
-The circumstances were so alarming that, notwithstanding
-the execration which he was conscious
-such an avowal would bring down upon him, he
-permitted the account of the princes' death to be
-published. One universal burst of horror, both
-from friend and foe, went through the kingdom;
-and from that hour, instead of saving him, the
-knowledge of that cruel deed repelled all hearts
-from him.</p>
-
-<p>For the moment, the nobles, marching forward
-to rescue the young king, were taken aback: the
-tyrant had anticipated them; the king they
-would restore had perished. But the astute
-Bishop of Ely reminded them that there was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
-Henry of Richmond, descended from John of
-Gaunt, who might marry Elizabeth of York, and
-thus, uniting the two rival houses, put an end to
-the divisions of the nation. This uniting all
-parties would annihilate the murderer. The idea
-was seized upon with avidity. Reginald Bray,
-the steward to the Countess of Richmond, was
-instructed to open the project to her, who
-immediately embraced it in favour of her son.
-Dr. Lewis, a Welsh physician, who attended the
-queen-dowager in the sanctuary, was made the
-bearer of the scheme to her. Elizabeth was well prepared
-by the wrongs heaped upon her, the murder
-of her brother and her three sons, and her own
-confinement and degradation, to forget her opposition
-to the house of Lancaster. She fully agreed
-to the project, on the condition of Richmond
-swearing to marry her daughter Elizabeth on his
-arriving in England. She even borrowed a sum
-of money and sent it to him, to aid his
-enterprise. A messenger was despatched to
-Henry in Brittany to inform him of the agreement,
-and to hasten his arrival, the 18th of October
-being fixed for the general rising in his favour.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_056big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_056.jpg" width="560" height="473" alt="After the picture by Paul Delaroche" title="THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.)</p>
-
-<p>(<i>After the picture by Paul Delaroche.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But it was not to be supposed that all these
-arrangements could escape the suspicious vigilance
-of Richard. He proceeded from York to Lincolnshire
-as if he were only attending to the ordinary
-affairs of the kingdom. But on the 11th of
-October&mdash;a week before the day appointed for the
-rising of the confederates&mdash;he summoned all his
-adherents to meet him at Leicester. Four days
-afterwards he proclaimed Buckingham a traitor,
-and set a reward of £1,000, or of £100 a year in
-land, on his head. For those of the Marquis of
-Dorset and of the two bishops he offered 1,000
-marks, or 100 marks a year in land each; and for
-the head of any hostile knight half that sum. He
-sent at the same time to London for the great
-seal to authenticate these and similar acts.</p>
-
-<p>On the day fixed, the rising, notwithstanding,
-took place. The Marquis of Dorset proclaimed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
-Henry VII. at Exeter; the Bishop Of Salisbury
-proclaimed him in that city; the men of Kent
-at Maidstone; those of Berkshire at Newbury,
-and the Duke of Buckingham raised his standard
-at Brecon. Few revolutions ever opened with
-more favourable auspices. But untoward events
-made wholly abortive this well-planned popular
-attempt. The Duke of Richmond set sail from
-St. Malo on the 12th of October for England, with
-a fleet of forty sail, carrying 5,000 men; but tempestuous
-weather prevented him from reaching
-the coast of Devonshire till the dispersion of his
-unfortunate allies. He therefore put back. In
-the meantime Richard had joined his army at
-Leicester, and issued a proclamation which reads
-nowadays like the ravings of a madman.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_057.jpg" width="500" height="554" alt="" title="RICHARD III" />
-<div class="caption"><p>RICHARD III.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>To draw off the followers of the confederates,
-while he offered rewards for the heads of their
-leaders, he granted free pardons to all who would
-abandon them. And the elements at this moment
-fought for Richard. Buckingham set out on his
-march to unite his forces to those of the other
-leaders, but there fell such heavy and continuous
-rains during the whole of his march from Brecon
-through the Forest of Dean to the Severn, that
-the bridges were carried away, and all the fords
-rendered impassable. Such rains and floods had
-not been known in the memory of man; and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
-inundation of the Severn was long after remembered
-as <em>Buckingham's Flood</em>.</p>
-
-<p>The Welsh, struck with a superstitious dread
-from this circumstance, and pressed by famine,
-dispersed, and Buckingham turned back to
-Weobly, the seat of Lord Ferrers. The news
-of Buckingham's failure confounded all the other
-confederates, and every man made the best of his
-way towards a place of safety. Merton, Dorset,
-Courtenay the Bishop of Exeter, and others, escaped
-to Flanders and Brittany. Weobly was
-closely watched, on one side by Sir Humphrey
-Stafford, and on the other by the clan of the
-Vaughans, who were promised the plunder of
-Brecon if they secured the duke. Buckingham, in
-disguise, escaped from Weobly, and hid himself
-near Shrewsbury, in the hut of a fellow of the
-name of Bannister, an old servant of the duke's
-family. This wretch, to secure the reward, betrayed
-his master to John Mitton, the sheriff of
-Shropshire, who conducted him to Richard at
-Salisbury, who ordered his head to be instantly
-struck off in the market-place. Amongst others
-who shared the same fate, Richard had the
-satisfaction of thus silencing a witty rhymester,
-William Collingbourne, who had dared to say
-that,</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"The rat, the cat, and Lovel the dog,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Ruled all England under the hog."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>That is, Ratcliffe, Catesby, and Lord Lovel; the
-hog being in allusion to Richard's crest, the boar.</p>
-
-<p>Richard, thus relieved, marched into Devonshire,
-where he put to death, amongst others, Sir
-Thomas St. Leger, a knight who had married the
-Duchess of Exeter, his own sister. He then
-traversed the southern counties in triumph, and,
-arriving in London, he ventured to do what
-hitherto he had not dared, that is, call a Parliament.
-This assembly, prostrate at the feet of the
-prosperous despot, did whatever he proposed.
-They pronounced him "the undoubted king of
-England, as well by right of consanguinity and
-inheritance, as by lawful election, consecration,
-and coronation;" and they entailed the crown on
-his issue; the Lords, spiritual and temporal,
-binding themselves to uphold the succession of his
-son, the Prince of Wales. They attainted his
-enemies by wholesale, and beyond all precedent.
-One duke, one marquis, three earls, three bishops,
-with a whole host of knights and gentlemen, were
-thus deprived of honour, title, and estate; and
-their lands, forfeited to the Crown, were bestowed
-by Richard liberally on his northern adherents,
-who were thus planted in the south to act as
-spies on the southern nobles and gentry. The
-Countess of Richmond, though attainted, was permitted
-to hold her estates for life, or rather, they
-were thus conceded for that term to her husband,
-Lord Stanley, to bind him to the usurper.</p>
-
-<p>To avenge himself on the queen-dowager for
-her acceptance of the proposal to bring over
-Henry of Richmond and unite him to her
-daughter, Richard now deprived her and her
-daughters of all title, property, and honour. He
-treated them, not as the legitimate wife and
-children of Edward IV., but as what he had
-before proclaimed them. He had ordered the
-late murdered king to be called officially "Edward
-the bastard, lately called Edward V." The
-queen-dowager was styled "Elizabeth, late wife
-of Sir John Gray," and her daughters were
-treated and addressed as simple gentlewomen.</p>
-
-<p>But the design of placing Henry of Richmond
-on the throne, Richard knew well, though for the
-moment defeated, was not abandoned. At the
-last festival of Christmas Henry had met the
-English exiles, to the number of 500, at Rhedon,
-in Brittany, and had there sworn to marry Elizabeth
-of York as soon as he should subdue the
-usurper; and thereupon the exiles had unanimously
-sworn to support him as their sovereign.
-Henry was, as we have observed, descended on
-the father's side merely from Owen Tudor, a
-yeoman of the royal guard, and Catherine, the
-widow of Henry V. On the mother's side he
-was descended from Edward III. through John of
-Gaunt, but from an illegitimate branch. The bar
-of illegitimacy, though legally removed, would
-always have operated against his claim to the
-crown; but, independent of this, there were still
-various princes and princesses of Spain and Portugal,
-descendants of John of Gaunt, whose titles
-to the English crown were much superior to his.
-Yet, from his very infancy, there seems to have
-been a singular feeling that one day he would
-mount the throne of this kingdom. Henry VI. is
-said to have laid his hand on his head as a child,
-and declared that one day the crown would sit
-there. Edward IV. had evinced a perpetual fear
-of him, and had not only bargained for his secure
-detention at the court of Brittany, but on one occasion
-he had bribed the Duke of Brittany to give
-him up on the pretence of his intending to marry
-him to his eldest daughter&mdash;that daughter, in fact,
-he was destined eventually to marry. The duke,
-however, at the last moment, feeling a strong
-misgiving, had followed Henry to St. Malo, and
-there stopped him from embarking. Richard, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
-succeeding to the throne, had tried to purchase
-the surrender of Henry from the Duke of Brittany.
-In short, Henry assured the historian,
-Comines, that from the age of five years he had
-either been a captive or a fugitive. With this
-long traditionary presentiment that he was to
-reign in England attached to him, his marriage to
-Elizabeth of York would at once obviate all
-scruples as to his complete title. He would come
-in on the strength of her title, as William of
-Orange afterwards did on that of his queen, Mary
-Stuart.</p>
-
-<p>As the prospect of this event became more
-imminent&mdash;as Richard felt more deeply that the
-heart of the nation was not with him, but that all
-men were looking to this alliance as the hope of
-better times, he set himself to defeat it. Though he
-had so lately robbed, degraded, and insulted Queen
-Elizabeth and her family&mdash;though he had murdered
-her children and usurped their throne, he
-now suddenly turned round, and fawned on them.
-He began to smile most kindly on Elizabeth, and
-wished her to quit the sanctuary and come to
-court&mdash;a court dyed in the blood of her sons and
-brothers. He made her the most flattering
-promises; and, when they failed to draw her
-forth, he followed them by the most deadly
-threats. Elizabeth Woodville had never been
-found insensible to prospects of advantage for
-herself and family; but to put herself into the
-power of so lawless a butcher, and to unite her
-daughter with the son of the murderer of her
-children, was by no means reconcilable to her
-feelings. She stood out stoutly; but fear of
-worse consequences at length compelled her to
-succumb, and a private contract was concluded.
-Richard, in the presence of a number of the
-nobles and prelates, as well as of the Lord Mayor
-and aldermen, swore that the lives of Elizabeth
-and her daughters should be safe; that the mother
-should receive an annuity of 700 marks for life,
-and each of the daughters lands to the value of
-200 marks on their marriage, which should be to
-none but gentlemen.</p>
-
-<p>When this bitter draught was swallowed, she
-had to endure another not the less sorrowful&mdash;that
-was, to appear at the court of the usurper,
-and behold him sitting in the seat of her murdered
-son, and receiving that homage which was his
-right. But this strange patron now smiled sunnily
-upon her. She and her daughters were
-received with every mark of distinction, and
-especially Elizabeth, the eldest, whom he was intending
-to pluck from the hopes of Richmond, by
-wedding her to his own son. But these views
-were suddenly destroyed by the death of this,
-Richard's only legitimate, son. He died at Middleham,
-where Richard was often residing, but
-was then with his queen absent at Nottingham.
-His death, which took place about the 9th of
-April, had something so remarkable about it, that
-Rous, the family chronicler, calls it "an unhappy
-death." Both Richard and his queen were so
-overwhelmed by this unexpected blow, that the
-continuator of the Croyland Chronicle says that
-they almost went mad.</p>
-
-<p>It was indeed a fatal stroke. The son on whom
-Richard had built the hopes of his family's succession,
-and for whom he killed his nephews, was
-now gone, and he was left without an heir, and
-without any prospect of one. It might be supposed
-that this event would raise the confidence of
-the Richmond party; and Richard, appearing to
-entertain the same idea, conceived the design of
-securing Richmond, and, no doubt, dealing with
-him as effectually as he had done with all others
-who stood in his way. For this purpose he opened
-secret communications with Francis, Duke of
-Brittany. That prince, who had been so long the
-generous protector of Richmond, was now in a
-feeble and failing state of health, and his minister,
-Peter Landois, administered his affairs pretty
-much at his own will. The interest of Landois
-was purchased by heavy sums, and he agreed to
-deliver Richmond into the hands of Richard. But
-the sagacious Morton, Bishop of Ely, gave him
-timely warning, and Richmond fled for his life.
-He reached France with only five attendants, and
-went at once to the French court at Angers,
-where he was cordially received by the sister of
-Charles VIII., then acting as regent. He accompanied
-the French court to Paris, where he again
-repeated his oath to marry Elizabeth of York, in
-case of deposing the tyrant, and he was immediately
-hailed by the students of Paris as King of
-England. He was promised assistance by the
-princess regent for his enterprise, and while these
-things were proceeding, Francis of Brittany, who
-had recovered his health, and was made acquainted
-with the villainy of Landois, sent a messenger
-to offer him aid in his design.</p>
-
-<p>Thus Richard had driven his enemy into a more
-safe and formidable position, instead of capturing
-him, and he taxed his subtle genius to thwart this
-dangerous rival by other means. To prepare for
-any serious attack from France, he put an end to
-a miserable state of plunder and reprisal betwixt
-Scotland and his subjects. He concluded an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
-armistice with James of Scotland; and having
-since his son's death nominated John Earl of
-Lincoln the son of his sister the Duchess of Suffolk
-heir to the crown, he now contracted Anne
-de la Pole, the sister of the young earl, to the
-eldest son of the King of Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>But Richard had designs more profound than
-this. He determined, as he could not marry
-Elizabeth of York to his son, he would snatch her
-from Richmond by wedding her himself. True,
-he had already a wife; but monarchs have frequently
-shown how soon such an obstacle to a
-fresh alliance can be removed. Richard now held
-a magnificent court at Westminster. There was a
-constant succession of balls, feastings, and gaieties.
-In the midst of these no one was so conspicuous
-as Elizabeth of York; and what very soon excited
-the attention and the speculations of the court,
-she always appeared in precisely the same dress as
-the queen.</p>
-
-<p>The poor queen, Anne of Warwick, who began
-with hating Richard most cordially, and even disguised
-herself as a cookmaid to escape him, since
-the death of her son, had never recovered from her
-melancholy and depression. Probably, knowing
-the real character of her ruthless Bluebeard, she
-foresaw what must take place, and was too weary
-of life to care to retain it. Though she penetrated
-the designs of the king, these never influenced her
-in her conduct to Elizabeth, to whom she was kind
-as became an aunt. And now she fell ill, and
-Richard is said to have assured Elizabeth that
-the queen would "die in February," and that she
-should succeed her.</p>
-
-<p>Anne of Warwick, the last queen of the Plantagenet
-line, did not die in February, but she did
-not survive through March. Yet that event did
-not in any degree contribute to Richard's marriage
-with Elizabeth. Whether we are to suppose
-with Sir Thomas More, and others, that Elizabeth
-herself manifested a steady repugnance to so
-abhorrent a union, or whether Richard deemed
-her in greater security there, he sent her under
-close guard to the castle of Sheriff-Hutton, in
-Yorkshire, and no sooner did he permit it to be
-whispered that such a marriage was probable,
-than the rumour was received with universal
-horror. No persons were more resolutely opposed
-to it than Ratcliffe and Catesby, Richard's great
-confidants in his crimes. They naturally dreaded
-the idea of Elizabeth, the sister of the murdered
-princes and the representative of a family on which
-they had heaped such injuries, becoming queen,
-and in a position to wreak her vengeance upon
-them. But they also saw, quite as clearly, the
-ruin which the king would certainly bring down
-upon himself by such a measure, in which they
-must also be inevitably involved.</p>
-
-<p>The instinct of self-preservation in these men
-led them to remind the king that a marriage with
-his own niece would be regarded as incestuous,
-would be reprobated by the clergy, and abhorred
-by the people; that there was a general persuasion
-abroad that he had poisoned his wife, and
-this union would convert that persuasion into
-absolute conviction; that the men of the northern
-counties, on whom he chiefly depended, and who
-adhered to him, more than for any other cause,
-through their attachment to the late queen, as the
-daughter of the great Earl of Warwick, would be
-totally lost, and nothing but ruin could await him.</p>
-
-<p>This strong and undisguised feeling, displayed
-thus both in public and private, drove Richard
-from this design. Just before Easter, he called a
-meeting of the city authorities in the great hall of
-St John's, Clerkenwell, and there declared that he
-had no such intention as that of marrying his
-niece, and that the report was "false and scandalous
-in a high degree." He also sent a letter to
-the citizens of York, dated the 11th of April,
-contradicting such slanderous tales, and commanding
-them to apprehend and punish all who
-should be found guilty of propagating them.</p>
-
-<p>But the time was fast drawing near which must
-decide whether Richard or Henry of Richmond
-should wear the crown. Richard was informed by
-his agents on the Continent that Charles of France
-had permitted the Earl of Richmond to raise an
-army in that country. They amounted to 3,000
-men, consisting of English refugees and Norman
-adventurers. Richard pretended to be delighted at
-the news, as confident that now he should speedily
-annihilate his enemy. He was, however, so impoverished
-by his lavish gifts and grants to secure
-the faith of his adherents, that he was unprovided
-with the means of maintaining an army; neither
-had he a fleet to intercept that of Henry. He
-dared not call a Parliament to ask for supplies,
-for he had expended those granted by the only
-one he had called. In that Parliament, to cast
-odium upon the memory of his brother Edward,
-he had called on his subjects to remember his
-tyranny in extorting benevolences; yet now he resorted
-to the very same thing; and the people, in
-ridicule of his pretended denunciation of benevolences,
-called them <em>malevolences</em>. By these arbitrary
-exactions he destroyed the last trace of
-adhesion to his Government. On all sides he felt
-coldness&mdash;on all sides he saw defection. The
-brave old Earl of Oxford, John De Vere, who had
-been a prisoner twelve years in the prison of
-Ham, in Picardy, was set at liberty by Sir James
-Blount, the governor of the castle, and they fled
-together to Henry. Sir John Fortescue, the
-Porter of Calais, followed their example, and
-numbers of young English gentlemen, students of
-the University of Paris, flocked to his standard.
-The same process was going on in England.
-Several sheriffs of counties abandoned their
-charge, and hastened over to France; and numerous
-parties put off from time to time from the
-coast. But no nobleman occasioned, however, so
-much anxiety as Lord Stanley. His connection
-with Richmond, having married his mother, made
-Richard always suspicious. He had lavished
-favours upon him to attach him, and had made
-him steward of the household to retain him under
-his eye. Stanley had always appeared sincere in
-his service, but it was a sincerity that Richard
-could not comprehend. This nobleman now demanded
-permission to visit his estates in Cheshire
-and Lancashire, to raise forces for the king; but
-Richard so little trusted him that he detained his
-son, Lord Strange, as a hostage for his fidelity.
-We have already seen that Stanley had long
-secretly pledged himself to Elizabeth of York in
-her cause, and only waited the proper occasion to
-go over.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_061big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_061.jpg" width="408" height="560" alt="" title="RICHARD III. AT THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>RICHARD III. AT THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>On the 1st of August, 1485, Henry of Richmond
-set sail from Harfleur, with the united fleet
-of France and Brittany, and an army of 3,000
-men, on that memorable expedition which was to
-terminate the fatal wars of the Roses, and introduce
-into England a new dynasty, and a new era
-of civilisation. On the seventh of that month he
-landed at Milford Haven. He himself and his
-uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, went on
-shore at a place called Dale, while his army was
-disembarking. The Welsh accosted the old earl
-with this significant welcome on his setting foot
-on his native shore, "Welcome! for thou hast
-taken good care of <em>thy</em> nephew!"</p>
-
-<p>Having refreshed his forces, Henry marched
-on through Haverfordwest and Pembroke to Cardigan.
-Everywhere he was received with manifest
-delight; but his forces did not increase till he
-reached Cardigan, where Richard Griffith and
-Richard Thomas, two Welsh gentlemen, joined his
-standard with their friends. His old friend Sir
-Walter Herbert, who had been expressly sent
-by Richard into that quarter with Rice ap Thomas
-to raise the country in his behalf, though he did
-not join him, suffered him to pass unmolested.
-Rice ap Thomas, on receiving a promise of the
-Government of Wales, went over at once to
-Henry. When the army reached Newport Sir
-Gilbert Talbot, with a decision of character in
-keeping with the account of him by Brereton,
-came at the head of the tenantry of his nephew,
-the Earl of Shrewsbury, 2,000 in number, and
-there, too, he was followed by Sir John Savage.
-The invading force now amounted to more than
-6,000 men.</p>
-
-<p>Henry crossed the Severn at Shrewsbury.
-Richard now advanced to Leicester, whence he
-issued despatches to all his subjects to join him on
-the instant, accompanied by the most deadly
-menaces against all defaulters. The Duke of
-Norfolk was there with the levies of the eastern
-counties; the Earl of Northumberland with those
-from the north; Lord Lovel commanded those
-from London; and Brackenbury those from Hampshire.
-Stanley alone held aloof, and sent word, in
-reply to Richard's summons, that he was ill in
-bed with the sweating sickness. Richard received
-this ominous message with the utmost rage; and,
-as he had vowed that, on the first symptom of
-disaffection on his part, he would cut off the head
-of Lord Strange, his son, Strange made an instant
-attempt at flight. He was brought back,
-and frankly confessed that he and his uncle, Sir
-William Stanley, chamberlain of North Wales,
-had agreed to join the invaders; but protested
-that his father knew nothing of their intention,
-but was loyal, and his forces were already on the
-way to the royal camp. Richard compelled him to
-write to his father, bidding him come up at once,
-or that his son was a dead man.</p>
-
-<p>On the 21st of August Richard rode forward
-from Leicester, and encamped about two miles
-from Bosworth. He was mounted in the march
-on a magnificent white courser, and clad in the
-same rich suit of burnished steel which he
-wore at his victorious field of Tewkesbury. On
-his helmet blazed a regal crown, which he had
-displayed there since he took up his headquarters
-at Nottingham. His countenance is represented
-as stern and frowning; his manner haughty, and
-as if putting on an air of bravado, rather than of
-calm confidence; for, though his troops amounted
-to 30,000, and his cavalry was the finest in
-Europe, he well knew that there was secret and
-wide-spread disaffection under all that martial
-show. Were his followers true to him, the little
-army of Richmond would be shivered in the first
-shock, and trodden under foot. But, perhaps, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
-a man except the Duke of Norfolk was really
-stanch in his devotion; and that night Norfolk's
-followers found pinned upon his tent this ominous
-couplet:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,</div>
-  <div class="i0">For Dickon thy master is bought and sold."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>That night Henry, who had reached Tamworth,
-marched to Atherstone. His army did not amount
-to half that of Richard: yet all were earnest in
-the cause, and the number of men of rank and
-character in it gave it a very imposing air in the
-eyes of the soldiers. On the contrary, Richard's
-soldiers, if we are to believe "Twelve Strange
-Prophecies"&mdash;still in the British Museum&mdash;had
-been discouraged, not only by the warning to
-John, or&mdash;as he was familiarly called&mdash;Jocky of
-Norfolk, but by the following singular incident.
-As the king rode out of Leicester by the south
-gate, at the head of his cavalry, a blind old man,
-well known as a superannuated wheelwright, sat
-begging at the foot of the bridge. In reply to
-the remarks of the soldiers as to the weather, the
-old man cried out just as the king was at hand&mdash;"If
-the moon change again to-day, which has
-changed once in the course of nature, King
-Richard will lose life and crown." This was supposed
-to allude to Lord Percy, whose crest was a
-crescent, and of whose faith Richard was sorely in
-doubt. When Richard passed, his foot struck
-against a low post placed to defend the corner of
-the bridge, and the beggar said, "His head will
-strike there as he returns at night."</p>
-
-<p>The night before the battle, Henry of Richmond
-had a secret meeting near Atherstone with
-Lord Stanley, who assured him of his adherence,
-but showed him how impossible it was that
-he could join him till Richard was engaged in
-arraying the battle, or his son's life would immediately
-be sacrificed. Stanley had 5,000 men,
-and engaged to appear for Richard till the
-moment for battle, when his defection would do
-Henry the most signal service.</p>
-
-<p>On the evening of the 21st of August, the two
-armies lay encamped near the little town of
-Bosworth, opposite to each other. Richard is
-represented by the chroniclers as passing that
-night in the most agonising state of restlessness
-and uncertainty. The deeply-rooted disaffection
-of his troops destroyed his confidence, though his
-30,000 were only opposed by Richmond's 6,000.
-He went through the camp examining secretly the
-state of his outposts, and finding at one of them a
-sentinel asleep, he stabbed him to the heart,
-saying, "I find him asleep, and I leave him so."
-His own slumbers are said to have been broken,
-and the chroniclers express his state by saying he
-"was most terribly pulled and haled by devils."</p>
-
-<p>But other agents than those thus troubling
-the tyrant's mind were active throughout the
-camp. Many of his soldiers stole away to Richmond,
-and probably some of these left the warning
-to Jocky of Norfolk. These desertions produced
-dismay in Richard's ranks, and confidence in those
-of his rival.</p>
-
-<p>When morning broke, Richmond's little army
-was discovered already drawn up. The van, consisting
-of archers, was led by the Earl of Oxford;
-the right wing by Sir Gilbert Talbot; the left by
-Sir John Savage. In the main body Henry
-posted himself, accompanied by the Earl of Pembroke.
-Richard confronted the foe with his numerous
-lines, taking his place also in the main
-body, opposite to Richmond, but giving the command
-of the van to the Duke of Norfolk. Lord
-Stanley took his station on one wing, and Sir
-William on the other, so that, thus disposed, they
-could flank either their own side or the opposed
-one. The battle was begun by the archers of both
-armies, and soon became furious. No sooner was
-this the case, than the Stanleys, seizing the
-critical moment, wheeling round, joined the
-enemy, and fell on Richard's flanks. This masterly
-man&oelig;uvre struck dismay through the lines
-of Richard; the men who stood their ground
-appeared to fight without heart, and to be ready
-to fly. Richard, who saw this, and beheld the
-Duke of Northumberland, sitting at the head of
-his division, and never striking a single stroke,
-became transported with fury. His only hope
-appeared to be to make a desperate assault on
-Henry's van, and, if possible, to reach and kill him
-on the spot. With this object he made three
-furious charges of cavalry; and, at the third, but
-not before he had seen his chief companion, the
-Duke of Norfolk, slain, he broke into the midst
-of Henry's main body, and, catching sight
-of him, dashed forward, crying frantically,
-"Treason! treason! treason!" He killed Sir
-William Brandon, Henry's standard-bearer, with
-his own hand; struck Sir John Cheyney from
-his horse; and, springing forward on Henry,
-aimed a desperate blow at him; but Sir William
-Stanley, breaking in at that moment, surrounded
-Richard with his brave followers, who bore him
-to the ground by their numbers, and slew him, as
-he continued to fight with a bravery as heroic as
-his political career had been&mdash;in the words of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
-Hume&mdash;"dishonourable for his multiplied and
-detestable enormities." The blood of Richard
-tinged a small brook which ran where he fell, and
-the people are said to this day never to drink of
-its water.</p>
-
-<p>The body of the fallen tyrant was speedily
-stripped of his valuable armour and ornaments,
-and the soldier who laid hands upon the crown hid
-it in a hawthorn bush. But strict quest being
-made after it, it was soon discovered and carried
-to Lord Stanley, who placed it upon the head of
-Henry, and the victor was immediately saluted by
-the general acclamations of the army with "Long
-live King Henry!" and they sang <em>Te Deum</em>, in
-grand chorus, on the bloody heath of Bosworth.
-From the poetical circumstance of the hawthorn
-bush, the Tudors assumed as their device a crown
-in a bush of fruited hawthorn. Lord Strange,
-the son of Lord Stanley, being deserted by his
-guards, as soon as the defeat was known, made
-his way to the field, and joined his father and the
-king at the close of the battle.</p>
-
-<p>King Henry VII. advanced from the decisive
-field of Bosworth, at the head of his victorious
-troops, to Leicester, which he entered with the
-same royal state that Richard had quitted it.
-The statements of the numbers who fell on this
-field vary from 1,000 to 4,000, but of the leaders,
-the Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Ferrars of Chartley,
-Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Sir Robert Percy, and
-Sir Robert Brackenbury, fell with the king. On
-the side of Henry fell no leaders of note.</p>
-
-<p>Henry used his victory mildly; he shed no
-blood of the vanquished, except that of the notorious
-Catesby, and two persons of the name of
-Brecher, who were probably men of like character
-and crimes. Thus, in one day, the world was relieved
-of the presence of Richard and of his two
-base commissioners of murder, Catesby and
-Ratcliffe.</p>
-
-<p>Richard's naked body, covered with mud and
-gore, was, according to the local traditions of
-Leicester, flung carelessly across a horse, and thus
-carried into that town; his head, say these historic
-memories, striking against the very post
-which the blind beggar had said it should, and the
-rude populace following it with shouts of mockery.
-The corpse was begged by the nuns of the Grey
-Friars, to whom Richard had been a benefactor,
-and was decently interred in their church.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The Study of Latin and Greek&mdash;Invention of Printing&mdash;Caxton&mdash;New Schools and Colleges&mdash;Architecture, Military, Ecclesiastical,
-and Domestic&mdash;Sculpture, Painting, and Gilding&mdash;The Art of War&mdash;Commerce and Shipping&mdash;Coinage.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>It might be very reasonably supposed that during
-a century spent almost entirely in war, and during
-the second half of it in the most rancorous intestine
-strife, there could not be much national
-progress. There is no doubt but that the population
-was greatly decreased. It was calculated
-that at the beginning of the century the population
-of England and Wales amounted to about
-2,700,000. At the end of it, it is supposed that
-there were not 2,500,000.</p>
-
-<p>In these depopulating wars, there can be no
-question that, besides the actual destruction of so
-many men, there must have been terrible sufferings
-inflicted, and an immense interruption of all those
-peaceful transactions by which nations become
-wealthy and powerful.</p>
-
-<p>During this century, two events of the highest
-importance to art and learning took place&mdash;the
-introduction of the knowledge of Greek and the
-invention of printing.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_064big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_064.jpg" width="560" height="337" alt="After the Painting by Daniel Maclise, R.A" title="CAXTON SHOWING THE FIRST SPECIMEN OF HIS PRINTING TO KING EDWARD IV., AT THE ALMONRY, WESTMINSTER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CAXTON SHOWING THE FIRST SPECIMEN OF HIS PRINTING
-TO KING EDWARD IV., AT THE ALMONRY, WESTMINSTER.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">After the Painting by Daniel Maclise</span>, R.A.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>If the knowledge of Greek had not entirely died
-out in western Europe, it had nearly so till this
-century. The crusades, leading the Christians of
-western Europe to the east, had opened up an
-acquaintance betwixt the people of the Greek
-empire and those of the West. The destruction of
-that empire in this century drove a number of
-learned men into Italy, where they taught their
-language and literature. Amongst these were
-Theodore Gaza, Cardinal Bessarion, George of
-Trebizond, Demetrius Chalcondyles, John Argyropulus,
-and Johannes Lascaris. Before that time
-some knowledge of the Greek philosophy had
-reached us through the Arabians, but till the
-fourteenth century very little of the literature of
-Greece was known in the western nations, not
-even the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of Homer. In
-Italy Petrarch and Boccaccio learned the language
-and studied the writings of Greece, and an
-enthusiasm for Greek literature spread over all
-Europe. Grocyn studied it in Italy in 1488, under
-Chalcondyles, and came and taught it in England.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_065.jpg" width="560" height="161" alt="" title="FACSIMILE OF CAXTON'S PRINTING IN THE DICTES AND SAYINGS OF PHILOSOPHERS" />
-<div class="caption"><p>FACSIMILE OF CAXTON'S PRINTING IN THE "DICTES AND SAYINGS OF PHILOSOPHERS" (1477).</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At the same moment that Greek began to be
-studied, Latin in Europe was in the lowest and
-most degraded state. Though it still continued the
-language of divines, lawyers, philosophers, historians,
-and even poets, it had lost almost every
-trace of its original idiom and elegance. Latin
-words were used, but in the English order, and
-where words were wanting, they Anglicised them.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_065big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_065a.jpg" width="500" height="440" alt="From MS. in the Library of Lambeth Palace" title="EARL RIVERS PRESENTING CAXTON TO EDWARD IV" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>EARL RIVERS PRESENTING CAXTON TO EDWARD IV. (<i>From MS. in the Library of Lambeth Palace.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But that wonderful art which was destined to
-chase this darkness like a new sun was already on
-its way from Germany to this country. The
-Chinese had printed from engraved wooden blocks
-for many centuries, when the same idea suggested
-itself to a citizen of Haarlem, named Laurent
-Janszoon Coster. Coster, who was keeper of the
-cathedral, first cut his letters in wood, then made
-separate wooden letters, and employed them in
-printing books by tying them together with
-strings. From wood he proceeded to cut his
-letters in metal, and finally to cast them in the
-present fashion. Coster concealed his secret with
-great care, and was anxious to transmit it to his
-children; but in this he was disappointed, for at
-his death one of his assistants, John Gensfleisch,
-the Gutenberger, went off to Mayence, carrying
-with him movable types of Coster's casting.</p>
-
-<p>That is the Dutch story, but the Germans insist
-on Gutenberg being the originator of printing.
-They contend that Coster's were only the wooden
-blocks which had long been in use for the printing
-of playing cards, and manuals of devotion. They
-even insinuate that all that the Dutch claim had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
-probably been brought from China by Marco Polo
-in the thirteenth century, who had seen the paper-money
-thus printed there in letters of vermilion,
-and that Holland had no share in the invention at
-all. But we know that the Germans have a vast
-capacity for claiming. It is notorious that all the
-earliest block-printing, the Bibliæ Pauperum, the
-Bibles of the Poor, the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis,
-with its fifty pictures, and other block
-works, were all done in the Low Countries in the
-century we are reviewing.</p>
-
-<p>Taking a broad view, however, it is certain that
-Gutenberg, Fust, and Schoeffer, were the men who
-first printed any known works in movable types,
-and from Mayence, in 1445, diffused very soon the
-knowledge of the present art of printing over the
-whole world. The first work which they are
-supposed to have printed was the Bible, an edition
-of the Latin Vulgate, known by the name of the
-Mazarin Bible, of which various copies remain,
-though without date or printer's name.</p>
-
-<p>Printing was introduced into England in 1474,
-according to all the chief authorities of or near
-that time, by William Caxton. Caxton was a
-native of the weald of Kent. He served his
-apprenticeship to a mercer of London, and left
-England in 1441 to transact business in the Low
-Countries. There he was greatly regarded by
-Margaret, the Duchess of Burgundy, Edward IV.'s
-sister, who retained him as long as she could at
-her court. Caxton was now upwards of fifty
-years of age, but his inquisitive and active temperament
-led him to learn, amongst other things,
-the whole art of printing from one Colard Manson.
-He saw its immense importance, and he translated
-Raoul le Feure's "Recueil des Histoires de Troye,"
-and printed it in folio. This great work he says
-himself that he began in Bruges, and finished in
-Cologne in 1471. The first work which he printed
-in England was the "Game and Playe of Chesse,"
-which was published in 1475. From this time till
-1490, or till nearly the date of his death in 1491
-or 1492, a period of sixteen years, the list of the
-works which Caxton passed through his press is
-quite wonderful. Thomas Milling, the Abbot of
-Westminster, was his most zealous patron; and
-at Westminster, in the Almonry, he commenced
-his business. Earl Rivers, brother to the queen
-of Edward IV., another of his friends and
-patrons, translated the "Dictes and Sayings of
-the Philosophers" for his nephew, the Prince of
-Wales, and introduced Caxton, when it was
-printed, to present it to the king and royal
-family.</p>
-
-<p>But while Caxton was thus busy he saw others
-around him also as hard at work with their
-presses: Theodore Rood, John Lettow, William
-Machelina, and Wynkyn de Worde, foreigners,
-and Thomas Hunt, an Englishman. A schoolmaster
-of St. Albans set up a press there, and
-several books were printed at Oxford in 1478, and
-to the end of the century. There is no direct
-evidence of any work being printed in Scotland
-during this century, though such may have been
-the case, and all traces of the fact obliterated in
-the almost universal destruction of the cathedral
-and conventual libraries at the Reformation.
-James III. was known to collect the most superb
-specimens of typography, and Dr. Henry mentions
-seeing a magnificent edition of "Speculum Moralitatis,"
-which had been in that king's possession,
-and contained his autograph.</p>
-
-<p>Not less meritorious benefactors of their
-country, next to the writers and printers of books,
-were those who collected them into libraries, and
-the most munificent patron and encourager of
-learning in this manner was the unfortunate Duke
-Humphrey of Gloucester. He gave to the University
-of Oxford a library of 600 volumes in
-1440, valued at £1,000. Some of these very
-volumes yet remain in different collections. Duke
-Humphrey not only bought books, but he employed
-men of science and learning to translate
-and transcribe. He kept celebrated writers from
-France and Italy, as well as Englishmen, to translate
-from the Greek and other languages; and is
-said to have written himself on astronomy, a
-scheme of astronomical calculations under his
-name still remaining in the library of Gresham
-College. The great Duke of Bedford, likewise,
-when master of Paris, purchased and sent to this
-country the royal library, containing 853 volumes,
-valued at 2,223 livres.</p>
-
-<p>The schools and colleges founded during this
-century were the following:&mdash;Lincoln College,
-Oxford, founded in 1427, by Richard Fleming,
-Bishop of Lincoln, and completed by Thomas
-Scott, of Rotherham, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1475.
-All Souls' College, Oxford, was founded by Chicheley,
-Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1437. He expended
-upon its erection £4,545, and procured considerable
-revenues for it out of lands of the alien
-priories dissolved just before that time. Magdalene
-College, Oxford, was founded by William
-of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, in 1458, and
-soon became one of the richest colleges in Europe.
-King's College, Cambridge, was founded by Henry
-VI. in 1441. Queens' College, Cambridge, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
-founded by Margaret of Anjou, in 1448; and
-Catherine Hall, Cambridge, was founded by Robert
-Woodlark, third provost of King's College, in 1473.</p>
-
-<p>Besides these, Henry VI. founded Eton College,
-and Thomas Hokenorton, Abbot of Osney, founded
-the schools in Oxford, in 1439. Before that time
-the professors of several sciences in both universities
-read their lectures in private houses, at very
-inconvenient distances from each other. To remedy
-this inconvenience, schools were erected in
-both universities at this period. Hokenorton's
-schools comprehended the teaching of divinity,
-metaphysics, natural and moral philosophy, astronomy,
-geometry, arithmetic, music, logic, rhetoric,
-and grammar. They required liberal aid from
-other benefactors, and they found these in the
-noble Humphrey of Gloucester, and the two
-brothers Kemp, the one Archbishop of York and
-the other Bishop of London. They were completed
-in 1480, including Duke Humphrey's noble
-library, the nucleus of the present Bodleian, which
-was refounded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1597.
-The quadrangle, containing the schools of Cambridge,
-was completed in 1475.</p>
-
-<p>Up to this period Scotland had possessed no
-university whatever, and its youth had been
-obliged to travel to foreign universities for their
-education. But now the University of St. Andrews
-was founded in 1410, and obtained a charter in
-1411 from Bishop Wardlaw, which was confirmed
-by the Pope in 1412, and by James I. in 1431.
-The great need of such an institution was soon
-evidenced by the university becoming famous. In
-1456 Kennedy, the successor of Wardlaw, founded
-the College of St. Salvator in that city; and in
-1450 William Turnbull, the Bishop of Glasgow,
-founded the University of that city; and in the
-same year was founded the college or faculty of
-arts in Glasgow, King James II. taking both
-college and university under his especial patronage
-and protection. This college received a handsome
-endowment from James, Lord Hamilton,
-and his lady, Euphemia, Countess of Douglas,
-in 1459.</p>
-
-<p>The castles erected during this period are few.
-The wars of the Roses brought the force of cannon
-and gunpowder against the massive erections of
-the barons of past ages, and many a terrible
-stronghold was demolished. But there was, from
-the beginning of these wars, little leisure for repairing,
-or for building new castles. The proprietors,
-for the most part, were killed or reduced
-to ruin, and the workmen shared the same fate, so
-that labour became too scarce and dear for such
-great undertakings. Scotland was affected by
-similar circumstances.</p>
-
-<p>The castles of this period bear unmistakable
-traces of the Perpendicular style, which was prevalent
-in the ecclesiastical architecture of the age.
-That portion of Windsor built by William of
-Wykeham, though much altered, retains some
-marked and good features of this age. The exterior
-of Tattershall Castle, in Lincolnshire, remains
-nearly unaltered. All the castles of this time blend
-more or less of the domestic character, and tended
-towards that style which prevailed in the next
-century under the name of Tudor. Another great
-change in the castellated architecture of this
-period was the use of brick in their construction.
-Bricks, though introduced into Britain by the
-Romans, had gone almost out of use till the reign
-of Richard II.; now they were in such favour
-that the castles of Tattershall, Hurstmonceux,
-and Caistor were built chiefly of them, as Thornbury
-Castle was in the next century. Hurstmonceux,
-in Sussex, was erected in 1448 on the plan
-of Porchester Castle. It was a stupendous
-building, of which the ruins now remain, forming
-a regular parallelogram of 180 feet square, flanked
-by seventeen octagon towers, and with a fine
-machicolated gateway forming the keep. Tattershall,
-in Lincolnshire, built in 1455, is erected in
-the style of the ancient keep, a huge square tower
-with polygonal turrets at the angles. Caistor, in
-Norfolk, erected about 1450, was remarkable for
-two very large circular brick towers at the
-northern angle, one of which remains.</p>
-
-<p>But the castles and the mansions of this period
-possessed frequently so many features and qualities
-in common, that some of them are actual hybrids,
-the uniting links of the two kinds of houses. They
-had alike towers, battlements, and moats, and the
-chief apartments looked into the interior quadrangle
-as the safest. Oxburgh Hall, in Norfolk, is
-one of this mixed class. Though called a hall, it
-is moated, and has a massive gateway of a remarkable
-altitude. Raglan Castle, built in the reign of
-Edward IV., has more of the true castellated style;
-Warwick and Windsor, more of the union of the
-two styles. At the same time such castles as had
-their gateways battered down, and rebuilt at this
-period, present in them all the older characteristics
-of castellated buildings. Such is the gateway of
-Carisbrooke Castle, built in the reign of Edward
-IV., and the west gate of Canterbury, built towards
-the close of the fourteenth century, which
-retain the stem old circular towers, lighted only
-by mere loopholes and <em>&oelig;illets</em>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The style of ecclesiastical architecture prevailing
-through this century, and to the middle of the
-next, is that called the Perpendicular. It appears
-to have commenced about 1377, or at the commencement
-of the reign of Richard II., just
-twenty years prior to this century, and it terminated
-at the Reformation, in the reign of Henry
-VIII. The Reformation was anything but a reformation
-in architecture. That great convulsion
-broke up the period of a thousand years, during
-which, from the first introduction of Christianity
-into this island, this peculiar character of architecture,
-often called Gothic, but more properly
-Christian, had been progressing and perfecting itself.
-The Western princes and prelates, evidently
-copying the Grecian in their columns, but adding
-curves and ornaments unknown to the Greeks, and
-introducing principles of pliancy, and of long and
-lofty aisles, from the suggestions of the forests, in
-which they were accustomed to wander, and the
-linden groves which they planted, originated a new
-school of architecture, in many particulars far exceeding
-that of the classic nations. No church
-took up and perpetuated this noble Christian architecture
-more cordially and more inspiredly than
-the Catholic. Over the whole of Europe, wherever
-the Roman Church prevailed, it erected its
-churches and monasteries in a spirit of unrivalled
-grandeur and beauty. In architecture, in music,
-and in painting, it acquitted itself royally towards
-the public, however it might fail in spirit, in doctrine,
-or in discipline. The remains of painted
-windows, to say nothing of the productions of
-such men as Raphael, Michael Angelo, Guido, and
-a host of others, who drew their inspiration from
-the devotions of that church, are sufficient to
-excite our highest admiration; and the sublime
-anthems which resounded through their august
-and poetical temples, through what are called
-"the Dark Ages," were well calculated to enchain
-the imagination of minds not deeply reflective or
-profoundly informed.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_068.jpg" width="560" height="402" alt="" />
-<div class="caption"><p>THE QUADRANGLE: ETON COLLEGE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In every country we find, moreover, a different
-style in all these arts&mdash;music, painting, and architecture;
-demonstrating the exuberance of genius
-turned into these channels during long centuries,
-when all others, except warfare, seemed closed.
-England had its distinctive style in these matters,
-and in architecture this Perpendicular style
-was the last. During its later period it considerably
-deteriorated, and with the Reformation
-it went out. In England sufficient power and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
-property were left to the Anglican Church to enable
-it to preserve the majority of its churches,
-and many of its conventual buildings: in Scotland
-the destruction was more terrible. There public
-opinion took a great leap from Catholicism to the
-simplicity and sternness of the school of John
-Knox; and in consequence of his celebrated sermon
-at Perth, in which he told his congregation
-that to effectually drive away the rooks they must
-pull out their nests, almost every convent and cathedral,
-except that of Glasgow, was reduced to a ruin.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_069big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_069.jpg" width="323" height="560" alt="" title="INTERIOR OF KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>INTERIOR OF KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Of the Perpendicular style we have many
-churches throughout the country, and still more
-into which it has been more or less introduced
-into those of earlier date in repairs and restorations.
-Every county, and almost every parish, can
-show us specimens of this style, if it be only in a
-window, a porch, or a buttress. Rickman is of
-opinion that half the windows in English edifices
-over the kingdom are of this style. Whilst
-our neighbours on the Continent were indulging
-themselves in the <em>flamboyant</em> style, and loading
-their churches with the most exuberant ornament,
-as in the splendid cathedrals of Normandy and
-Brittany, our ancestors were enamoured of this
-new and more chaste style. There are writers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
-who regard the perpendicular lines of this style as
-an evidence of a decline in the art. We cannot
-agree with that opinion. The straight, continuous
-mullions of the Perpendicular are&mdash;combined with
-the rich and abundant ornaments of other portions
-of the buildings, as the spandrils enriched with
-shields, the finely-wrought and soaring canopies,
-and crocketed finials, the canopied buttresses, the
-groined roofs and fan-tracery of ceilings&mdash;a pleasure
-to the eye, when chastely and richly designed.</p>
-
-<p>The windows of this style at once catch the
-observation of the spectator. The mullions, running
-through from bottom to top, give you, instead
-of the flowing tracery of the Decorated
-style, a simple and somewhat stiff heading;
-but the stiffness is in most instances relieved
-by the heading of each individual section being
-cuspated, and the upper portions of the window
-presenting frequent variations, as in the grand
-western window of Winchester Cathedral. Some
-of these windows, with their cinquefoils and
-quatrefoils, approach even to the Decorative.
-Amongst the finest windows of this kind are those
-of St. George's, Windsor, of four lights; the
-clerestory windows of Henry the Seventh's Chapel,
-of five. The east window of York Cathedral is of
-superb proportions. The window of the Beauchamp
-Chapel, Warwick, is extremely rich and
-peculiar in its character. Those of the Abbey
-Church of Bath have the mullions alternating, by
-the perpendicular line being continued from the
-centre of each arch beneath it.</p>
-
-<p>The mullions in this style are crossed at right
-angles by transoms, converting the whole window
-into a series of panels; for panelling in the Perpendicular
-style is one of its chief characteristics,
-being carried out on walls, doors, and, in many
-cases, even roofs and ceilings. Take away the
-arched head of a window, and you convert it at
-once into an Elizabethan one.</p>
-
-<p>Every portion of a Perpendicular building has
-its essential characteristics: its piers, its buttresses,
-its niches, its roofs, porches, battlements,
-and ornaments, which we cannot enumerate here.
-They must be studied for themselves. We can
-only point out one or two prominent examples.</p>
-
-<p>Many of the buildings of this style are adorned
-with flying buttresses, which are often pierced,
-and rich in tracery, as those of Henry VII.'s
-Chapel. The projection of the buttresses in
-King's College Chapel, Cambridge, is so great that
-chapels are built between them. Many of these
-buttresses are very rich with statuary niches and
-wrought canopies. Pinnacles are used profusely
-in this style; but in St. George's, Windsor, and
-the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, the buttresses
-run up, and finish square.</p>
-
-<p>Panelling, as we have said, is one of the most
-striking features of the Perpendicular style. This
-is carried to such an extent in most of the richly-ornamented
-buildings, that it covers walls, windows,
-roofs; for the doors and windows are only
-pierced panels. St. George's, Windsor, is a fine
-example of this; but still finer is Henry VII.'s
-Chapel, which, within and without, is almost
-covered with panelling. King's College Chapel,
-Cambridge, is another remarkable example, which
-is all panelled, except the floor. The roof of this
-chapel is one of the richest specimens of the fan-tracery
-in the kingdom. Amongst the most graceful
-ornaments of this style are the angels introduced
-into cornices, and as supporters of shields
-and corbels for roof-beams, rich foliated crockets,
-and flowers exquisitely worked, conspicuous
-amongst them being the Tudor flower.</p>
-
-<p>Some of the finest steeples in the country belong
-to this style. First and foremost stands the unrivalled
-open-work tower of St. Nicholas, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
-This forms a splendid crown in
-the air, composed of four flying buttresses,
-springing from the base of octagonal turrets, and
-bearing at their intersection an elegant lantern,
-crowned with a spire. From this have been copied
-that of St. Giles's, Edinburgh, that of the church
-of Linlithgow, and the college tower of Aberdeen.
-Boston, Derby, Taunton, Doncaster, Coventry,
-York, and Canterbury boast noble steeples of this
-style.</p>
-
-<p>The arches of the Perpendicular are various; but
-none are so common as the flat, four-centred arch.
-This in doors, and in windows also, is generally
-enclosed by a square plane of decoration, appearing
-as a frame, and this mostly surmounted by a dripstone;
-the spandrels formed betwixt the arch and
-frame being generally filled by armorial shields, or
-ornamental tracery. In some doorways there is
-an excess of ornament. The Decorative style in
-this country, or the florid abroad, has nothing
-richer. Every part is covered with canopy-work,
-flowers, heraldic emblems, and emblazoned shields.
-Such is the doorway of King's College Chapel,
-Cambridge; and such are the chapels of Henry
-V. and Henry VII. at Westminster.</p>
-
-<p>The groined roofs of the Perpendicular style are
-noble, and often profusely ornamented. The intersections
-of the ribs of these groined roofs are
-often shields richly emblazoned in their proper
-colours. The vaulted roof of the cloisters of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
-Canterbury Cathedral is studded with above 800
-shields, of kings and other benefactors; and the
-whole presents a perfect blaze of splendour. Some
-of these groined roofs are adorned with a ramification
-of ribs, running out in a fan-shape, circumscribed
-by a quarter or half-circle rib, the intervals
-filled up with ornament. The cloisters of Gloucester
-Cathedral present, perhaps, the first specimen
-of the fan-tracery roof; and after that King's
-College Chapel, Cambridge, Henry VII.'s Chapel,
-and the Abbey Church at Bath. The Red Mount
-Chapel, at Lynn, in Norfolk, is a unique and very
-beautiful specimen of the Perpendicular, not only
-having a richly ornamental roof of this kind, but
-though much injured by time, displaying in every
-part of it design and workmanship equally exquisite.
-Henry VII.'s Chapel and the Divinity
-School at Oxford have pendants which come down
-as low as the springing line of the fans.</p>
-
-<p>A simpler roof, but quaint and impressive in its
-appearance, is the open one&mdash;that is, open to the
-roof framing. Here, as all is bare to the eye, the
-whole framework of beams and rafters has been
-constructed for effect. The wood-work forms
-arches, pendants, and pierced panels of various
-form and ornament. Such are the roofs of Westminster
-Hall, Crosby Hall (just removed), Eltham
-Palace, the College of Christ Church, Oxford, and
-many an old baronial hall and church throughout
-the country.</p>
-
-<p>Specimens of this style of architecture in whole
-or in part will meet the reader in every part of
-England, Wales, and Scotland; and it should be
-remembered that it is an especial and exclusively
-English style, no other country possessing it. In
-Scotland Melrose Abbey and Roslin Chapel present
-fine specimens of the Perpendicular, the latter
-one displaying some singular variations, the work
-of foreign artists.</p>
-
-<p>When we descend from the military castle to
-more domestic architecture, we find the large
-houses of the gentry, or nobility, though totally
-incapable of resisting cannon, yet frequently
-battlemented, flanked with turrets, and surrounded
-by the flooded moat. The large houses
-of this period were generally built round one or
-two quadrangles. These buildings often possessed
-much variety of exterior detail: a great arched
-gateway with the armorial escutcheon above it;
-projections, recesses, tall chimneys, flanking buttresses,
-handsome oriel windows, and pointed
-gables, terminated by some animal belonging to the
-emblazonry of the family. They were commonly
-adorned with fanes, in the form of the military
-banner of the chief, duly emblazoned in proper
-colours. Within, the great hall, with its open
-groined roof, the kitchen, and the buttery, cut the
-principal figure. At the upper end of the hall was
-the daïs or raised part, on which stood the table of
-the lord and his immediate family or particular
-guests; and below the great salt-cellar sat the
-remainder of the establishment. At the lower
-end was commonly a music gallery. The fire was
-still frequently in the centre of the hall, and
-there was a hole in the roof to permit the smoke
-to escape, as at Penshurst, where the front of
-the music gallery is true Perpendicular. In other
-houses there were large open fireplaces, the mantelpieces
-of which were frequently richly carved with
-the armorial shields of the family.</p>
-
-<p>The floors were still strewn with fresh rushes
-instead of a carpet, and the walls were hung with
-arras, which clothed them, and at the same time
-kept out cold draughts. Plaster ceilings were yet
-unknown. The greater portion of these houses,
-however, was required for the sleeping apartments
-of the numerous retainers.</p>
-
-<p>In the humbler halls, granges, and farmhouses,
-the same plan of building round a quadrangle was
-mostly adhered to, and a large number of such
-houses were of framed timber, with ornamental
-gables and porches, and displaying much carving.
-Great Chatfield manor-house in Wiltshire, Harlaxton
-in Lincolnshire, Helmingham Hall, Norfolk,
-Moreton Hall in Cheshire, and probably some of
-the framed timber houses of Lancashire, as the
-Hall-in-the-Wood, Smithell's, Speke Hall, &amp;c., in
-whole or in part, date from this period. Ockwells,
-in Berkshire, is another of the fine old timber
-houses of this century.</p>
-
-<p>In the towns the houses were also chiefly of
-wood. The streets were extremely narrow, and
-the upper storeys of the houses projected over
-the lower ones, so that you might almost shake
-hands out of the third or fourth storey windows.
-This was the cause of such frequent fires as occurred
-in London. Many of the small houses in
-these narrow streets were adorned with abundance
-of carving. The houses or inns of the great
-barons, prelates, and abbots were extensive, and
-surrounded inner courts. Here, during Parliament,
-and on other grand occasions, the owners
-came with their vast retinues. We are told that
-the Duke of York lodged with 400 men in Baynard's
-Castle, in 1457. The Earl of Warwick had
-his house in Warwick Lane, still called after it,
-where he could lodge 800 men. At another house
-of his called the Herber, meaning an inn, the Earl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
-of Salisbury, his father, lodged with 500 men.
-Still more extensive must have been the abodes of
-the Earls of Exeter and Northumberland, who
-occasionally brought retinues of from 800 to 1,500
-men. The sites of these great houses are yet
-known, and bear the names of their ancient
-owners, but the buildings themselves have long
-vanished. The great houses of Scotland still kept
-up the show of feudal strength and capability
-of defence. The peels, or Border towers, yet bear
-evidence of the necessity of stout fortification in
-those times. We may form some idea of the devastation
-made amongst private dwellings in the
-Wars of the Roses, from the statement of John
-Rous, the Warwick antiquary, who says that no
-fewer than sixty villages, some of them large and
-populous, with churches and manor-houses, had
-been destroyed within twelve miles of that town.
-From all that we can learn, the common people of
-this age were but indifferently lodged, and the
-mansions of the great were more stately than comfortable.</p>
-
-<p>Though such extensive destruction of the
-statuary which adorned both the exterior and interior
-of our churches took place at the Reformation,
-sufficient yet remains to warrant us in the
-belief that the fifteenth surpassed every prior
-century in its sculpture. The very opposition
-which the Wycliffites had raised to the worship
-and even existence of images, seems to have stimulated
-the Church only the more to put forth its
-strength in this direction. Sculptors, both foreign
-and English, therefore received the highest encouragement,
-and were in the fullest employ. The
-few statues which yet remain in niches, on the
-outside of our cathedrals, especially those on the
-west end of the Cathedral of Wells, though probably
-not the best work of the artists, are decided
-proofs of their ability. The effigies of knights and
-ladies extended on their altar tombs received
-grave damage, with the rest of the ecclesiastical
-art, from the misguided zeal of the reformers, yet
-many such remain of undoubted beauty, and the
-chantries, which were in this century erected over
-the tombs of great prelates, are of the most exquisite
-design and workmanship. Such are those
-in Winchester Cathedral of Bishops Wykeham,
-Beaufort, and Waynflete. The shrine of Bishop
-Beaufort, in particular, is a mass of Portland stone,
-carved like the finest ivory, and is a most gorgeous
-specimen of a tomb of the Perpendicular period.
-Henry V.'s chantry, in Westminster Abbey, is
-the only one erected in this period to royalty, and
-it is a monument of high honour to the age.</p>
-
-<p>The names of some of the artists of this era
-are preserved. Thomas Colyn, Thomas Holewell,
-and Thomas Poppehowe, executed, carried over,
-and erected in Nantes, in 1408, the alabaster tomb
-of the Duke of Brittany. Of the five artists who
-executed the celebrated tomb of Richard, Earl of
-Warwick, in the Beauchamp Chapel, four were
-English, and the fifth was a Dutch goldsmith.
-Besides the great image of the earl, there were
-thirty-two images on this monument. These were
-all cast by William Austin, a founder of London,
-clearly a great genius, on the finest latten (brass),
-and gilded by Bartholomew Lambespring the
-Dutch goldsmith. The monument and the superb
-chapel in which it stands cost £2,481 4s. 7d.,
-equivalent to £24,800 now.</p>
-
-<p>Most of the monumental brasses which abound
-in our churches were the work of this period.
-There are some of much older date, but, during
-this century they were multiplied everywhere, and
-afforded great scope for the talents of founders,
-engravers, and enamellers.</p>
-
-<p>In painting, the age does not appear to have
-equally excelled. There was, unquestionably,
-abundance of religious pictures on the walls of
-our churches, and the images themselves were
-painted and gilt; but there do not seem to
-have existed artists who had a true conception of
-the sublimity of their pursuit. The painting of
-such works was undertaken by the job, by painters
-and stainers. John Prudde, glazier in Westminster,
-undertook to "import from beyond seas glass
-of the finest colours, blue, yellow red, purple, sanguine,
-and violet," and with it glaze the windows
-of the Beauchamp Chapel. Brentwood, a stainer
-of London, was to paint the west wall of the
-chapel "with all manner of devices and imagery;"
-and Christian Coliburne, painter, of London, was
-to "paint the images in the finest oil colours."
-The great Earl of Warwick bargained with his
-tailor to paint the scenes of his embassy to
-France, for which he was to receive £1 8s. 6d.
-The "Dance of Death," so common on the Continent
-in churches and churchyards, made also
-so famous by Holbein, was copied from the
-cloister of the Innocents in Paris, and painted on
-the walls of the cloister of St. Paul's. It was a
-specimen of the portrait painting of the age, for it
-contained the portraits of actual persons, in
-different ranks of life, in their proper dresses.
-The portraits of our kings, queens, and celebrated
-characters, done at this time, are of inferior
-merit.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_072big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_072.jpg" width="560" height="384" alt="From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum Reproduced by André and Sleigh, Ltd., Bushey, Herts" title="THE GRAND ASSAULT UPON THE TOWN OF AFRICA BY THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p class="left"><cite>From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class="right"><cite>Reproduced by André &amp; Sleigh, Ltd., Bushey, Herts.</cite></p>
-
-<p>THE GRAND ASSAULT UPON THE TOWN OF AFRICA BY THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">THE TOWN OF AFRICA, SOME SEVENTY MILES FROM TUNIS, WAS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO CHASTISE THE BARBARY CORSAIRS, AS DEPICTED IN ANOTHER
-OF THE FROISSART ILLUMINATIONS. THE VIEW OF THE TOWN IS CLEARLY IMAGINARY, THE ARTIST BEING PROBABLY FAMILIAR WITH NONE BUT FLEMISH OR FRENCH ARCHITECTURE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Gilding was in great request, not only for
-ornamenting churches and their monuments, but
-for domestic use, the precious metals being very
-scarce, and therefore copper and brass articles
-were commonly silvered or gilt. But it was in
-the illumination of manuscripts that the artistic
-genius of the time was, more than almost in any
-other department, displayed. The colours used are
-deemed inferior in splendour to those of the fourteenth
-century, but the illuminations are superior
-in drawing and power of expression. The terror
-depicted in the faces of the Earl of Warwick's
-sailors in expectation of shipwreck, and the grief
-in those who witnessed his death, are evidences of
-the hand of a master. Many of the portraits of
-the leading characters of the age are to be found
-in these illuminations; and they afford us the most
-lively views of the persons and dresses of our
-ancestors of that day&mdash;their arms, ships, houses,
-furniture, manners, and employments. But the
-art of printing was already in existence, and
-before it the beautiful art of illumination fell and
-died out.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_073big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_073.jpg" width="560" height="429" alt="" title="STREET IN LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>STREET IN LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The deadly arts of destruction were more practised
-during this century than all others. First
-the English turned their arms against the French,
-and then against each other, and though many of
-their armies were hastily raised, and therefore ill-disciplined,
-they not only showed their accustomed
-bravery, but many advances were made in the
-manner of raising, forming, paying, and disciplining
-troops, as well as in the modes of attacking fortifications
-and towns. Henry V. was a consummate
-master in this, his favourite art, and was, perhaps,
-the first of our kings who introduced a scheme of
-superior discipline, teaching his troops to march in
-straight lines at proper distances, with a steady,
-measured pace; to advance, attack, halt, or fall
-back without breaking, or getting into confusion.
-This, combined with his mode of employing his
-archers, which we have described in the account of
-his battles, gave him an invincible superiority over
-his enemies.</p>
-
-<p>As the feudal system decayed, the kings of
-England no longer depended on their barons appearing
-in the field with their vassals, but they
-bargained with different leaders to furnish men at
-stated prices, which, as we have shown, were high.
-It was only in cases of rebellion and intestine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
-struggle that they summoned all their military
-tenants to raise the people in mass, and the same
-summonses were issued to the archbishops, bishops,
-and all the principal clergy, to arm all their followers,
-lay and clerical, and march to the royal
-standard.</p>
-
-<p>The pictures of battles and sieges at this period
-give us an odd medley of bows and arrows, crossbows,
-spears, cannon, and hand-guns. The old
-weapons were not left off, because the new ones
-were too imperfect and too difficult of locomotion
-to supersede them. The cannons, though often of
-immense bore and weight, throwing balls of from
-one to five hundredweight, were, for the most
-part, without carriages, and therefore difficult and
-tardy in their operations. The Scots were the
-first to anticipate the modern gun-carriage, by
-what they called their "carts of war," which
-carried two guns each, while many of the guns of
-the English required fifty horses to drag them.
-They had, however, smaller guns; as culverins,
-serpentines, basilisks, fowlers, scorpions, &amp;c.
-The culverins were a species of hand-gun in
-general, fired from a rest, or from the shoulder.
-The Swiss had 10,000 culverins at the famous
-battle of Morat. These hand-guns are said to
-have been first brought into England by Edward
-IV. on his return from Flanders in 1471. Ships
-were also supplied with small guns.</p>
-
-<p>The trade of England continued to flourish
-and extend itself through this century, in spite of
-the obstacles and ruinous effects of almost perpetual
-war. Our kings, however warlike they
-might be, were yet very sensible of the advantages
-of commerce, and during this century made
-numerous treaties in its favour. At the same
-time, it is curious that, even when two countries
-were at war, such was the spirit of trade, that the
-merchants went on trading whenever they could,
-just as if there was no war at all. This was the
-case, especially between England and Flanders.
-Our monarchs were already ambitious of reigning
-supreme masters of the seas, and this doctrine was
-as jealously urged upon them by the nation. In a
-rhyming pamphlet, written about 1433, and to be
-found in Hakluyt (Vol. I., p. 167), the writer says,
-that "if the English keep the seas, especially the
-main seas, they will compell all the world to be at
-peace with them, and to court their friendship."</p>
-
-<p>Henry IV., though harassed by the difficulties
-of a usurped crown, strenuously set himself to
-promote commerce, and to put an end to the continual
-depredations committed upon each other
-by the English and the merchants of the Hanse
-Towns, as well as those of Prussia and Livonia,
-subject to the grand master of the Teutonic order
-of knights.</p>
-
-<p>Henry V. was as victorious at sea as on land;
-and by his fleet, under his brother, the great Duke
-of Bedford, in 1416, and again in 1417, the Earl
-of Huntingdon being his admiral, swept the seas
-of the united fleets of France and Genoa, and
-made himself complete master of the ocean during
-his time. This ascendency was lost under the
-disastrous reign of Henry VI., but was regained
-by Edward IV., a monarch who, notwithstanding
-his voluptuous character, was fully alive to the
-vast benefits accruing to a nation from foreign
-trade, and thought it no dishonour to be, if not a
-merchant-prince, a prince-merchant. He had ships
-of his own, and in time of peace he did not suffer
-them to remain useless in harbour, but freighted
-them with goods on his own account, and grew
-rich by traffic.</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding all this, the nation was not yet
-much more enlightened as to the real principles of
-trade than it was in the previous century. The
-same absurd restrictions were in force against
-foreign merchants. Such foreign merchants were
-required to lay out all the money received for
-goods imported in English merchandise. No gold
-or silver coin, plate or bullion, was, on any account,
-to be carried out of the kingdom. Banks were
-now established in most countries, and bills of
-exchange had been in use since the thirteenth
-century&mdash;so that these remedied, to a large extent,
-this evil; but it is clear that where the exports of
-a country exceeded its imports, the balance must
-be remitted in cash; and the commercial men were
-clever enough to evade all the laws of this kind.
-No fact was so notorious as that the coinage of
-England abounded in all the countries to which
-she traded.</p>
-
-<p>Besides the prohibition of carrying out any
-English coin or even bullion, foreign merchants
-were to sell all the goods they brought within
-three months, but they were not to sell any of
-them to other merchant strangers, and when they
-arrived in any English town they were assigned to
-particular hosts, and were to lodge nowhere else.
-Yet, under all these obstacles, our commerce grew,
-and our merchants extended their voyages to
-ports and countries which they had not hitherto
-frequented. In 1413 they fitted out ships in the
-port of London for Morocco, having a cargo of
-wool and other merchandise valued at £24,000, or
-£240,000 of our money. This raised the ire of
-the Genoese, who seized these precious ships; but
-Henry IV. soon made ample reprisals by granting
-to his subjects letters of marque to seize the ships
-and goods of the Genoese wherever they could be
-found. And so well did the English kings follow
-this up, that we find them in Richard III.'s reign
-not only successfully competing with the Genoese,
-but obtaining a footing in Italy itself, and establishing
-a consul at Pisa. Consuls, or, as they
-were then called, governors, of the English traders
-abroad, were also employed during this period in
-Germany, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway,
-Holland, and Flanders.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 431px;"><a href="images/i_074abig.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_074a.jpg" width="431" height="560" alt="" title="FROISSART PRESENTING HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS TO RICHARD II. IN 1395" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p class="left"><i>From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum.</i></p>
-
-<p>FROISSART PRESENTING HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS
-TO RICHARD II. IN 1395.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">ON HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND IN 1395, AFTER AN ABSENCE OF TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS, SIR JOHN FROISSART
-HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING, TO WHOM HE PRESENTED HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS. "THE ROMANCE
-OF MELIADOR."</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 406px;"><a href="images/i_074bbig.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_074b.jpg" width="406" height="560" alt="" title="THE LANDING OF THE LADY DE COUCY AT BOULOGNE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p class="left"><i>From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum.</i></p>
-
-<p>THE LANDING OF THE LADY DE COUCY AT
-BOULOGNE.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">THE LADY DE COUCY, WHO IS FOLLOWED BY HER WAITING MAID, HAD BEEN IN ATTENDANCE
-UPON QUEEN ISABELLA, CONSORT OF RICHARD II AND SHE IS HERE SEEN RETURNING
-SADLY TO FRANCE (IN 1399) BEARING TIDINGS OF THE KING'S DOWNFALL.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Wool, woollens, tin, hides, and corn, were still
-our chief exports. Slaves, says the historian, were
-no longer an article of commerce; but the conveyance
-of pilgrims to foreign shrines was a source
-of great emolument to merchants. A curious
-pamphlet of the middle of this century, called
-"The Prologue of English Policy," gives us a complete
-view of our imports:&mdash;The commodities of
-Spain were figs, raisins, wines, oils, soap, dates,
-liquorice, wax, iron, wool, wadmote, goatfell, redfell,
-saffron, and quicksilver&mdash;a valuable importation.
-Those of Portugal were very much the same.
-Brittany sent wine, salt, crest-cloth or linen, and
-canvas; Germany, Scandinavia, and Flanders, iron,
-steel, copper, osmond, bowstaves, boards, wax, corn,
-pitch, tar, flax, hemp, felting, thread, fustian,
-buckram, canvas, and wool-cards; Genoa, gold,
-cloth of gold, silk, cotton, oil, black pepper, rockalum,
-and wood; Venice, Florence, and other
-Italian states, all kinds of spices and grocery wares,
-sweet wines, sugar, dates.</p>
-
-<p>The age abounded with great merchants. The
-Medici of Florence; Jacques le C&oelig;ur, the greatest
-merchant that France ever produced, who had
-more wealth and trade than all the other merchants
-of that country together, and who supplied
-Charles VII. with money by which he recovered
-his country from the English. In our own country
-John Norbury, John Hende, and Richard Whittington,
-were the leading merchants of London, the
-last of whom was so far from a poor boy making
-his fortune by a cat that he was the son of Sir
-William Whittington, knight. In Bristol also
-flourished at this time William Cannynge, who was
-five times mayor of that city, and who had, for
-some cause not explained, 2,470 tons of shipping
-taken from him at once by Edward IV., including
-one ship of 400 tons, one of 500, and one of 900.
-The name of this Cannynge is familiar to readers
-of Chatterton's ingenious Rowley poems.</p>
-
-<p>Of the ships and shipping of the age we need
-not say more than that, with all the characteristics
-of the past age, there was an attempt to build
-larger vessels in rivalry of the Genoese. John
-Taverner, of Hull, had a royal licence granted him
-in 1449, conferring on him great privileges and
-exemptions as a merchant, for building one as large
-as a Venetian carrack, one of their first-class ships,
-or even larger. And Bishop Kennedy, of St.
-Andrews, was as much celebrated for building a
-ship of unusual size, called the <em>Bishop's Berge</em>, as
-for building and endowing a college.</p>
-
-<p>In Scotland the state of the shipping interest
-was much the same as in England. James I.
-displayed enlightened views of trade. He made
-various laws to ascertain the rate of duty on all
-exports and imports, to secure the effects of any
-traders dying abroad, and permitted his subjects
-to trade in foreign ships when they had no vessels
-of their own. In both countries great care was
-taken to protect and promote their fisheries.</p>
-
-<p>The coin of those times in England was chiefly
-of gold and silver. The gold coin consisted of
-nobles, half-nobles, and quarter-nobles, originally
-equivalent to guineas (the exact value of a noble
-in Henry IV.'s reign was 21s. 1&frac12;d.), half-guineas,
-and quarter-guineas, or dollars of 5s. 3d. The
-silver coins were groats, half-groats, and pennies.
-But it must be remembered that all these coins
-were of ten times the intrinsic value of our present
-money; so that the labourer who in the fifteenth
-century received 1&frac12;d. per day, received as much as
-fifteen pence of the present money. But the
-great historical fact regarding the money of this
-age was its continual adulteration, and consequent
-depreciation.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_075.jpg" width="560" height="223" alt="From an Engraving by I. van Mechlin" title="CANNON OF THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY" />
-<div class="caption"><p>CANNON OF THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. (<i>From an Engraving by I. van Mechlin.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE REIGN OF HENRY VII.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>Henry's Defective Title&mdash;Imprisonment of the Earl of Warwick&mdash;The King's Title to the Throne&mdash;His Marriage&mdash;Lovel's
-Rising&mdash;Lambert Simnel&mdash;Henry's prompt Action&mdash;Failure of the Rebellion&mdash;The Queen's Coronation&mdash;The Act of Maintenance&mdash;Henry's
-Ingratitude to the Duke of Brittany&mdash;Discontent in England&mdash;Expedition to France and its Results&mdash;Henry's
-Second Invasion&mdash;Treaty of Étaples&mdash;Perkin Warbeck&mdash;His Adventures in Ireland, France, and Burgundy&mdash;Henry's
-Measures&mdash;Descent on Kent&mdash;Warbeck in Scotland&mdash;Invasion of England&mdash;The Cornish Rising&mdash;Warbeck quits
-Scotland&mdash;He lands in Cornwall&mdash;Failure of the Rebellion&mdash;Imprisonment of Warbeck and his subsequent Execution&mdash;European
-Affairs&mdash;Marriages of Henry's Daughter and Son&mdash;Betrothal of Catherine and Prince Henry&mdash;Henry's
-Matrimonial Schemes&mdash;Royal Exactions&mdash;A Lucky Capture&mdash;Henry proposes for Joanna&mdash;His Death.</p></div>
-
-
-<p>Though Henry Tudor had conquered Richard III.
-on the field of Bosworth, he had no title whatever
-to the crown of England, except such as the people,
-by their own free choice, should give him. He
-was descended, it is true, from Edward III.,
-through John of Gaunt, but from the offspring of
-not only an illicit, but an adulterous connection.
-When the natural children of John of Gaunt,
-therefore, were legitimatised by Act of Parliament,
-that Act expressly declared them incapable
-of inheriting the crown. Still more, the true hereditary
-claim lay in the house of York; and had
-that line been totally extinct, and had the bar
-against his line not existed, the royal house of
-Portugal at least had a superior title in point
-of descent from John of Gaunt. Further still, he
-stood attainted as a traitor by Act of Parliament,
-and could not, therefore, assert a Parliamentary
-right. Yet, as we have said, for years public
-expectation, overlooking the claims of all others of
-both the contending lines, had turned towards him,
-as the individual destined by Providence to put an
-end to the sanguinary broils of York and Lancaster,
-and unite them in peace.</p>
-
-<p>The only son of the late Duke of Clarence, who,
-next to the children of Edward IV., was the heir
-apparent of the line of York, had been confined by
-his uncle, Richard III., in the castle of Sheriff
-Hutton, in Yorkshire. Richard had at first
-treated this poor boy with kindness; he had
-created him Earl of Warwick, the title of his illustrious
-grandfather, the king-maker. On the death
-of his own son, he had at first proposed to nominate
-him his heir; but, fearing that he might be
-too dangerous a competitor, he had omitted that
-favour, and conferred it on the Earl of Lincoln,
-John de la Pole, the son of his sister the Duchess
-of Suffolk, and therefore nephew both of himself
-and Edward IV. Henry, the very first day after
-the battle of Bosworth, despatched Sir Robert
-Willoughby to take the young earl from Sheriff
-Hutton, and convey him to the Tower of London.
-Henry then put himself at the head of his victorious
-troops, and commenced his march towards
-the capital. Everywhere he was received, not as a
-conqueror, but a deliverer.</p>
-
-<p>He arrived safely at Kennington, and after
-dining with Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury,
-he proceeded with a splendid attendance
-of lords, both spiritual and temporal, towards the
-city. The nobles, imitating the absurd custom of
-France, rode two together on one horse, to show
-how completely the rival parties had amalgamated,
-and in this ridiculous style they passed
-through the city to the Tower, where Henry for
-the present took up his residence. On the 30th
-of October he was crowned by the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, and he immediately appointed a body-guard
-of fifty archers to attend upon him. This
-was an indication of distrust in his subjects
-or of the state of a conqueror, which astonished
-and dismayed the public; but Henry assured
-them that it was merely the state which, on the
-Continent, was now deemed essential to a king.</p>
-
-<p>The Parliament assembled on the 7th of November,
-to settle the new order of things. Before
-proceeding to business they found themselves in a
-great dilemma. No less than 107 of the members
-were persons attainted during the last two reigns,
-and were therefore disqualified for acting. They
-were the most zealous partisans of the house of
-Lancaster, and immediate application was made to
-the judges for their decision on this new and singular
-case. They came to the conclusion that the
-attainted members could not take their seats till
-their attainders were reversed, and a bill was
-passed by the remaining members accordingly.</p>
-
-<p>When Henry met his duly qualified Parliament,
-he informed them that "he had come to the
-throne by just title of inheritance, and by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
-sure judgment of God, who had given him the
-victory over his enemies in the field." In this
-declaration he was careful, while he asserted what
-was not true, to avoid what would alarm the pride
-and the fears of the nation. He had no just title
-of inheritance, as we have shown, and he dared
-not use the words "right of conquest," for such
-right was held to imply a lapse of all the lands in
-the nation to the Crown, since they had been held
-of the prince who had been conquered. Lest he
-had, even in speaking of victory, gone too far, he
-immediately added, that "every man should continue
-to enjoy his rights and hereditaments, except
-such persons as in the present Parliament should
-be punished for their offences against his royal
-majesty."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_077.jpg" width="560" height="266" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF HENRY VII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF HENRY VII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Another claim to the crown, which Henry was
-still more careful to ignore, though it was one on
-which he secretly placed confidence, was the right
-of Elizabeth of York, whom he had pledged himself
-to marry, and who was the undoubted owner
-of the throne. But as Henry would not owe his
-throne to his people, so he would not owe it to his
-wife. He therefore used every means to establish
-his own title to the throne before he in any way
-alluded to hers, or took any steps towards fulfilling
-his pledge of marriage. He renewed that
-pledge, indeed, on arriving in London, to satisfy
-the York party; but he proceeded to have his
-claims to the throne acknowledged by Parliament
-without any reference to hers. If he had mentioned
-the right of Elizabeth of York, his extreme
-caution suggested that he would be held to possess
-the throne, not by his own claims, but by hers, an
-idea which equally offended his pride, and alarmed
-him for the security of the succession in his
-offspring. Should Elizabeth die without children,
-in that case the right would die with her; and
-any issue of his by another marriage might be
-accounted intruders in the succession, and they
-might be removed for the next heirs of Edward
-IV. If she should die childless, and even before
-him, even his own retention of the throne might
-be disputed. All these points the mind of Henry
-saw clearly; and in a moment, and as if no such
-person as Elizabeth existed, and as if no pledge to
-marry her had helped him to his success, he procured
-an Act of Parliament, which provided that
-"the inheritance of the crown should be, rest,
-remain, and abide in the most royal person of the
-then sovereign lord, King Henry VII., and the
-heirs of his body lawfully coming, perpetually with
-the grace of God so to endure, and in none other."</p>
-
-<p>But this excess of caution and this nicely
-balanced policy had not been carried through without
-alarming all parties, and greatly disgusting
-that of York. The whole country looked to the
-union of the houses by the marriage of Henry and
-Elizabeth as the only means of putting an end to
-the civil wars which had so long rent the nation.
-Still Henry, though now securely seated on the
-throne, evinced no haste to fulfil his pledge of
-placing Elizabeth of York upon it. It was not,
-therefore, till the feeling of the public became
-strongly manifested at his neglect of the princess,
-and till the Commons presented him a petition
-praying him "to take to wife the Princess Elizabeth,
-which marriage they hoped God would bless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
-with a progeny of the race of kings;" and till the
-Lords, spiritual and temporal, had testified their
-participation in this wish, by rising simultaneously
-and bowing as it was uttered, that Henry consented
-to the celebration of the marriage.</p>
-
-<p>The marriage took place on the 18th of January,
-1486, and the rejoicings in London, Westminster,
-and other cities were of the most lively kind.
-They were heartfelt, for now all parties concluded
-that there was hope of peace and comfort. They
-were far more ardent than at the king's accession
-or coronation, and the mean-souled monarch saw
-it with sullen displeasure, for it seemed to imply
-that though he had taken such pains to place foremost
-his right to the throne, the people recognised,
-spontaneously, the superior title of the house of
-York, and that of his beautiful, and by him superciliously
-treated wife. Lord Bacon, who is the
-great historian of this period, and who may be
-supposed to be sufficiently informed, does not hesitate
-to add that the manifest affection of the
-people for the queen produced in him towards
-her additional coldness and dislike.</p>
-
-<p>Henry, before dismissing his Parliament, conferred
-favours and promotions on many of his
-friends. The two persons, however, whose counsels
-and administrative services he chiefly valued, were
-Bishops Morton and Fox, the latter of whom he
-raised to the see of Exeter. They had shared in
-all his adversities, and were now admitted to participate
-in his high fortune. Morton was, on the
-death of Bourchier, made Primate of England;
-and Fox was entrusted with the Privy Seal, and
-successively made Bishop of Bath and Wells,
-Durham, and finally, Winchester. These two able
-prelates were Henry's ministers and constant
-advisers. "He loved," says the historian of the
-time, "to have a convenient number of right grave
-and wise priests to be of his council; because,"
-adds Bacon, "having rich bishoprics to bestow, it
-was easy to reward their services."</p>
-
-<p>Having dismissed his Parliament, and left all in
-order, Henry set out on a progress through the
-kingdom. The people of the northern counties
-had been the most devoted to Richard, and he
-sought, by spending some time amongst them, to
-remove their prejudices and attach them to his
-interests. He had advanced as far as Lincoln, and
-was there keeping his Easter, on the 2nd day of
-April, when he learned that Lord Lovel, formerly
-chamberlain to Richard, with Humphrey and
-Thomas Stafford, had left the sanctuary at Colchester,
-and were gone with dangerous intentions,
-no man knew whither. The news did not seem to
-give him much concern, and he proceeded towards
-York. At Nottingham, more pressing and alarming
-intelligence reached him, that Lord Lovel was
-advancing towards York with 4,000 men, and that
-the two Staffords were besieging Worcester with
-another army.</p>
-
-<p>At Nottingham, Henry received an embassy
-from the King of the Scots; and despatching his
-uncle, the Duke of Bedford, with about 3,000 men
-in pursuit of Lord Lovel, on the 6th of April he
-quitted Northampton in the same direction. At
-Pontefract he was met, on the 17th, by the news
-that Lovel had passed him on the road, had raised
-a force in the neighbourhood of Ripon and Middleham,
-and was preparing to surprise him on his
-entrance into York. Henry's courage did not fail
-him; he was now surrounded by most of the
-northern and southern nobility, who had brought
-up considerable forces. But the man who always
-trusted more to his shrewd knowledge of human
-nature than to arms, now hit on a means of dispersing
-the insurgent army without a blow. He
-sent on his uncle, Jasper of Bedford, to offer a free
-pardon to all who would desert Lovel's standard,
-and the whole host dispersed as by magic. It was,
-in fact, the magic of the right incentive applied at
-the right moment. Lovel, who was as much
-affected by the proclamation of pardon as his
-followers&mdash;for it instantly struck him with the
-fear of universal desertion&mdash;fled at once to the
-house of his friend, Sir Thomas Broughton, in
-Lancashire; and, after lying concealed there some
-days, contrived to escape to the court of the
-Duchess of Burgundy, in Flanders. Some of his
-followers, as it would seem, in defiance of the king's
-offer of pardon, were seized and executed by the
-Earl of Northumberland.</p>
-
-<p>On the 30th of September the queen was prematurely
-delivered of a son, who, however, was pronounced
-a strong and healthy child, and was
-christened by the name of Arthur, after Prince
-Arthur of the ancient Britons, from whom Henry
-pretended to derive his descent. But the birth of
-an heir-apparent tried too severely the temper
-of the numerous malcontents who still existed.
-Though Henry had put himself to much trouble,
-and to some cost, to win over the people of the
-northern counties, his conduct in general had
-not been such as to conciliate the enemies of the
-Lancastrian line.</p>
-
-<p>However, the Yorkist party, though roused
-to disturb the quiet of the king, prepared their
-measures of annoyance with a lack of acumen
-which was more likely to irritate than overturn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
-Perhaps they did not want to dethrone him,
-because that would overturn also the head, and
-most popular representative of their own party&mdash;Elizabeth;
-especially as she was now the mother
-of a legitimate prince, capable of uniting all interests.
-Perhaps they wished rather to show the
-cold and unforgiving monarch that he was more at
-their mercy than he supposed, and that they could
-embitter, if they did not proceed to terminate, his
-reign. Such, in fact, whether this was their purpose
-or not, were the character and tendency of
-the plots and impostures which, for so many years,
-kept Henry in disquiet and anxiety.</p>
-
-<p>The first attempt was to bring forward a youth
-as the Earl of Warwick, the son of Clarence, whom
-Henry was keeping confined in the Tower. So
-little depth was there in this plot, that at first it
-was evidently the plan to bring the impostor forward
-as the Duke of York, the younger of the two
-princes supposed to be murdered in the Tower. It
-was given out that though his elder brother had
-been murdered, the younger had been allowed to
-escape. Had this story been adhered to, and well
-acted, it might have raised a most formidable
-rebellion; but, for some unknown reason, it was
-as speedily abandoned as adopted, and the Earl of
-Warwick pitched upon as the preferable impersonation.
-Nothing, however, could be more absurd,
-for the true earl being really alive, Henry could at
-any moment bring him forward.</p>
-
-<p>Towards the close of the year 1486, there appeared
-at the castle of Dublin a priest of Oxford
-named Richard Simon, attended by a boy of about
-fifteen years of age. The boy was of a peculiarly
-handsome and interesting appearance; and Simon,
-who was a total stranger in Ireland, presented him
-to the lord-deputy, the Earl of Kildare, as Edward
-Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, who, he represented,
-had fortunately escaped from his dungeon
-in the Tower of London, and had come to throw
-himself under the protection of the earl and his
-friends. Thomas Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, was
-a zealous Yorkist; his brother was chancellor, and
-almost all the bishops and officers in the Irish
-Government had been appointed by Edward IV.
-or Richard. It is most likely that the lord-deputy
-and the party were already cognisant of the whole
-scheme of this agitation; for it is neither likely
-that Simon the priest should have originated so
-daring and arduous an enterprise as that of presenting
-a new claimant for the throne in opposition
-to the astute and determined Henry Tudor, nor
-that he should have so particularly singled out
-Ireland as the opening ground of his operations,
-and the lord-deputy as his patron and coadjutor.
-What sufficiently proved this was, that simultaneously
-the Earl of Lincoln, of whom we have
-lately made mention, son to the eldest sister of the
-two late kings, had disappeared from England and
-gone over to his aunt Margaret, Duchess-Dowager
-of Burgundy, Henry's most inveterate enemy.
-This satisfied the king that the plot which showed
-itself in Ireland was produced in England, and was
-fomented by the Yorkist party at large. It was
-soon found that Simon had been diligently instructing
-the young pretender, whose name was
-Lambert Simnel, before he produced him in public,
-in all the arcana of the character he had to
-support.</p>
-
-<p>The loyalty of the lord-deputy had been already
-questionable. Henry had sent him a summons to
-attend in London, but he evaded that by a petition
-from the spiritual and temporal peers of Ireland,
-stating strongly the absolute necessity of his
-presence there. No sooner did Simon present his
-<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">protégé</i> to Kildare, than that nobleman received
-him without any apparent reluctance to put faith
-in his story.</p>
-
-<p>When Henry received this news, he hastened to
-do what he ought to have done long before. He
-took the Earl of Warwick out of the Tower, conducted
-him publicly to St. Paul's, so that all might
-see him, and all who desired it were allowed to
-approach him, and converse with him. The
-nobility and gentry were personally introduced to
-him, and the king then took him with him to
-Sheen, where he held his court, and gave familiar
-access to all those who had seen or known him
-before. By this politic act he completely satisfied
-the people of England, who laughed at the impostor
-in Ireland; but the Irish, on the contrary, declared
-that Henry's Warwick was the impostor, and
-theirs the real one. To consult on the best
-measures for defeating this plot, Henry called a
-great council at Sheen; but at its breaking up, the
-public were thrown into still greater surprise and
-perplexity by the king, who, instead of offering to
-crown the queen, seized her mother, the queen-dowager,
-confiscated her property, and consigned
-her to the custody of the monks of Bermondsey.
-The reason assigned was, that the queen-dowager,
-in the last reign, had promised her daughter to
-Henry, and then put her into the hands of Richard.
-Such a reason, if really put forward, was a simple
-absurdity, because since then Elizabeth Woodville
-had been living at court as the queen-mother, in
-all public honour. The real cause was presumably
-connected with the business in hand&mdash;the Simnel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
-conspiracy. This is the opinion of Lord Bacon,
-who, living a hundred years later, nevertheless had
-access to sources of information not available to the
-modern student, though his authority may easily
-be overrated. Speaking of Simon, he says:&mdash;"It
-cannot be but that some great person, that knew
-particularly and familiarly Edward Plantagenet,
-had a hand in the business, from whom the
-priest might take his aim. That which is most
-probable out of the preceding and subsequent acts
-is, that it was the queen-dowager from whom this
-action had the principal source and motion; for
-certain it is that she was a busy, negotiating
-woman, and in her withdrawing-chamber had
-the fortunate conspiracy for the king against
-Richard III. been hatched, which the king knew,
-and remembered, perhaps, but too well; and was
-at this time extremely discontented with the king,
-thinking her daughter&mdash;as the king handled the
-matter&mdash;not advanced but depressed; and none
-could hold the book so well to prompt and instruct
-this stage play as she could."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_080.jpg" width="500" height="546" alt="" title="HENRY VII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>HENRY VII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the most formidable and unwearied enemy
-of Henry VII. was Margaret, the Dowager-Duchess
-of Burgundy. As the sister of Edward
-IV. and of Richard, no circumstance could induce
-her to tolerate Henry Tudor, in her eyes a
-low-born man, who had thrust the Yorkist line
-from the throne. To her Lord Lovel had fled,
-and to her also fled the Earl of Lincoln. To her
-the Irish party sent emissaries for aid; and she
-despatched 2,000 veteran German troops, under a
-brave and experienced general, Martin Schwarz,
-accompanied by the Earl of Lincoln.</p>
-
-<p>The moment that Henry Tudor learned the
-flight of the Earl of Lincoln, he set out on a
-progress through the counties of Essex, Suffolk,
-and Norfolk, in which the chief interest of the earl
-lay. He was at Kenilworth when news was
-brought him that the Earl of Lincoln and Lord<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
-Lovel had landed with the pretended Edward VI.,
-supported by Martin Schwarz and his German
-legion, at the pile of Foudray, an old keep in the
-southern extremity of Furness. Henry advanced
-by Coventry and Leicester to Nottingham; Lincoln
-had already approached Newark. The royal
-army advancing to oppose the whole force lost its
-way between Nottingham and Newark, and there
-was such confusion in consequence, and such
-rumours of the enemy being upon them, that
-numbers deserted. But five guides were procured
-from Ratcliff-on-Trent, and soon afterwards the
-vanguard of Henry's army, led by the Earl of
-Oxford, encountered the forces of Lincoln at
-Stoke, a village near Newark. The battle lasted
-for three hours, and was obstinately contested.
-The veteran Germans, under Schwarz, fought till
-they were exterminated almost to a man. The
-Irish displayed not the less valour; but, being
-only armed with darts and skeans&mdash;for the English
-settlers had adopted the arms of the natives&mdash;were
-no match for the royal cavalry. The whole of the
-troops of the insurgents, expecting no mercy if
-they were taken, seemed prepared to perish rather
-than to yield. Four thousand of the insurgents
-and 2,000 of the king's best troops are said to have
-fallen in this desperate engagement; but nearly all
-the leaders of the rebel army, the Earl of Lincoln,
-Sir Thomas Broughton, the brave Schwarz, and
-the Lords Thomas and Maurice Fitzgerald, having
-fallen, the victory on Henry's part became complete.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_081big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_081.jpg" width="560" height="424" alt="" title="THE LAST STAND OF SCHWARZ AND HIS GERMANS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE LAST STAND OF SCHWARZ AND HIS GERMANS</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The pretender Lambert Simnel and the priest
-Simon were captured by Sir Robert Bellingham,
-one of the king's esquires; but nothing was seen
-of Lord Lovel. He was believed to have escaped,
-but no traces of him were discoverable; many
-thought that he had perished in attempting to
-swim his horse across the Trent. But nearly two
-centuries afterwards a subterranean chamber was
-discovered accidentally by some workmen at Minster
-Lovel, in Oxfordshire, the ancient seat of his
-family. In this chamber was seated a skeleton in
-a chair, with its head resting on a table; and this
-was supposed to be the remains of this same Lord
-Lovel, who had reached his house, and secreted
-himself in this apartment, where he had perished
-by some unknown cause.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>After the battle, Henry travelled northward to
-ascertain that all was secure in the tract through
-which the insurgents had passed, and to punish
-such as had aided the rebels, and those who just
-before the battle had spread the rumour of his
-defeat. The royal punishments did not consist in
-putting his enemies to death, but in fining them
-severely, for Henry Tudor much preferred making
-a profit of a man to killing him. The late insurrection
-had taught him that if he did not wish
-for a repetition of it, he must concede something
-to the Yorkist party, and must pay some respect
-to the queen. Accordingly, on the 25th of November,
-1487, Elizabeth was crowned with much
-state at Westminster.</p>
-
-<p>Having thus made this <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">amende</i> to public opinion,
-Henry, instead of giving Simnel consequence by
-putting him to death, or making a State prisoner of
-him in the Tower, turned him into his kitchen as a
-scullion, thus showing his contempt of him. "He
-would not take his life," says Lord Bacon, "taking
-him but as an image of wax that others had
-tempered and moulded;" and considering that if
-he was made a continual spectacle, he would be
-"a kind of remedy against the like enchantments
-of people in time to come." The priest Simon he
-shut up in a secret prison, saying he was but a
-tool, and did not know the depths of the plot. He
-even professed to regret the death of the Earl of
-Lincoln, who, had his life been spared, he said,
-"might have revealed to him the bottom of his
-danger." In his peculiar way he threw much
-mystery over the matter, for mystery was one of
-his greatest pleasures.</p>
-
-<p>Having settled these matters, which he did on
-his own authority, Henry summoned a Parliament
-to grant him supplies, and to increase those supplies
-by bill of attainder against all those who had been
-engaged in the late conspiracy. To prevent similar
-risings, he demanded that the law should be
-rigorously put in force against the practice of
-maintenance. This maintenance was the association
-of numbers of persons under a particular chief
-or nobleman, whose badge or livery they wore, and
-to whom they were bound by oath to support him
-in his private quarrels against other noblemen.
-But the instrument was too convenient not to be
-turned on occasion against the Crown, whenever
-rich chiefs took up the opposite party, and by this
-means it was that such numbers of troops could be
-brought at the shortest notice into the field against
-the monarch. Various laws had been passed on
-this subject, and heavy penalties decreed; but now
-it was ordained that, instead of calling such
-offenders before the royal council, as had been the
-custom, a particular Court should be established
-for the purpose. The chancellor, the treasurer,
-the keeper of the privy seal, or two of them, one
-bishop, one lay peer, and the judges of the King's
-Bench and Common Pleas, were empowered to
-summon all such persons before them, and to
-punish the guilty just as if they had been convicted
-by ordinary course of law. This was the
-origin of what came to be called the Court of the
-Star Chamber, from the walls or ceiling of the room
-where it met being decorated with stars.</p>
-
-<p>The affairs on the Continent were now in a state
-which demanded the most serious attention, but
-which were by no means likely to be settled to the
-honour of the country by a monarch of the penurious
-character of Henry VII. If ever a monarch
-was bound by gratitude to succour another prince,
-it was Henry VII. He had been protected in
-Brittany from all the attempts of the Yorkist
-monarch for years. The Duke Francis, who had
-been his host and friend during his long exile, was
-now growing old. He appears never to have been
-of a very vigorous mind, and now mind and body
-were failing together. He had two daughters, and
-the hope of securing the patrimony of the eldest,
-Anne, drew the attention of many suitors, the
-chief of whom were Maximilian, King of the
-Romans; the Duke of Orleans, the first prince of
-the blood in France; and the Count D'Albret, a
-powerful chieftain, at the foot of the Pyrenees.
-But hostile alike to all these wooers was Charles
-VIII. of France, who, though he was under engagement
-to marry the daughter of Maximilian,
-and therefore apparently debarred from the hand
-of Anne of Brittany, was resolved, if possible, to
-secure her territory. In this dilemma, Francis
-sent repeated importunate entreaties to Henry to
-come to his rescue. France, at the same time, sent
-to him, praying him to be neutral, alleging that
-Charles was only seeking to drive his revolted
-subjects out of Brittany. Henry was bound by
-honour to give prompt succour to his old friend;
-he had received from Parliament two-fifteenths for
-the purpose, and was urged by it to send efficient
-aid to prevent France from seizing this important
-province. But Henry could not find it in
-his heart to spend the money in active service; he
-proposed to mediate between the parties. This
-suited the views of France exactly, because while
-Henry was negotiating they could continue to press
-on their victories. The poor Duke Francis was
-compelled to submit to a treaty, in August, at
-Verger, by which he surrendered to the French all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
-the territory they had conquered, and was bound
-never again to call in assistance from England
-or any other country, nor to marry either of his
-daughters without the consent of the King of
-France. Having signed this humiliating treaty,
-the duke died of a broken heart, on the 7th of
-September, 1488, only three weeks afterwards.</p>
-
-<p>The people of England received these tidings
-with undisguised indignation. Twice had they
-voted large sums to enable their ungrateful and
-pusillanimous king to aid his old benefactor and
-the ally of England; twice had he put the money
-in his coffers, and sold the honour of the country
-and the fortunes of the unfortunate ally to the
-French, wholly insensible to honour or shame.
-But whilst the public were foaming in wrath over
-this despicable conduct, the indefatigable French
-were pressing on. Anne, the young orphan
-duchess, was a mere child of only twelve years
-of age. Around her were contending rivals and
-their adherents. But all this time the French
-were seizing town after town. The news of this
-awoke such a fermentation in England, and Henry
-was upbraided in such vehement terms for thus, as
-the sovereign of a great people, sacrificing the
-honour of the nation, and permitting the helpless
-orphan of his benefactor to become the prey of
-France, that he was compelled to rouse himself.
-He determined to send ambassadors to Maximilian,
-to his son, the Archduke Philip, to the Kings of
-Spain and Portugal, inviting them to act in concert
-with him for the repression of French ambition.
-Having taken this magnanimous, and, if it had
-really been intended to follow it up vigorously,
-most admirable step, Henry called a Parliament,
-and demanded more money to carry on the war.</p>
-
-<p>The pretences of this huckstering king were now
-become too transparent to deceive any one. All
-the money hitherto voted for a war that never took
-place was still in Henry's coffers. The people
-thought that he ought first to bring out that before
-he asked for more. Parliament, therefore, made
-strong opposition, and finally reduced his demand
-of £100,000 to £75,000. But, when they had
-voted, the indignant people refused to pay it, considering
-that the selfish monarch had their cash
-already in hand. Great disturbances arose in the
-endeavour to enforce the collection of the tax.
-This manifested itself especially in the north, where
-Henry had used such endeavours to soothe and
-win the inhabitants.</p>
-
-<p>The Earl of Northumberland directed the collection
-to be enforced, accompanying the command
-with such menaces as he deemed necessary to
-procure obedience. But these had a contrary
-effect. The people flew to arms, and, turning
-their vengeance first against the earl, as the
-rigorous instrument of an imperious monarch, they
-stormed his house and put him to death. They
-then declared war against the tyrant, as they
-termed Henry, himself. Their leader was a fiery
-fellow of the common order, named John à
-Chambre, but, as they assumed a formidable
-aspect, Sir John Egremont, one of the Yorkist
-faction, put himself at their head. Henry lost no
-time in despatching Thomas Howard, Earl of
-Surrey, who soon suppressed the insurrection, and
-hanged John à Chambre and some of his accomplices.
-Sir John Egremont escaped to Flanders
-to the Duchess of Burgundy.</p>
-
-<p>Henry now sent over to Brittany a body of 6,000
-men under Lord Willoughby de Broke; but he
-limited their service to six months, which was, in
-fact, to render them nearly useless, especially when
-they had instructions not to fight, and he would
-not even afford that aid until he had exacted from
-the poor orphan girl, the young duchess, the
-surrender of her two best sea-ports in security of
-payment. He moreover compelled the duchess to
-bind herself by the like oath to him as she had
-taken to the French king, not to marry without
-his consent. Before the end of the year Anne
-found herself invested by the French army in
-Rennes; and rather than fall a helpless and
-humiliated captive into the hands of Charles, she
-consented to marry him, having not a single soul
-left to stand by her in her resolute opposition.
-She was married to Charles on the 13th of December,
-1491, at Rennes, was crowned in the abbey
-church of St. Denis, and made her entrance
-into Paris amid the acclamations of a vast multitude,
-who regarded this event as one of the
-most auspicious which had ever happened to
-France.</p>
-
-<p>The rage of Maximilian may be imagined. He
-had lost Brittany, his daughter had lost the throne
-of France, and he was duped and insulted in the
-most egregious manner before all Europe. He
-made his complaints ring far and wide, but they
-were only echoed by the laughter of his enemies,
-and he proceeded to vow revenge by the assistance
-of Spain and England.</p>
-
-<p>Henry was now bent, according to all appearance,
-on war. He was too clear-sighted not to perceive
-the immense advantage France had obtained over
-him in securing Brittany, and how the political
-foresight and sagacity on which he prided himself
-had suffered from the paltry promptings of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
-avarice. He therefore put on a most belligerent
-attitude. He summoned a Parliament at Westminster,
-and addressed it in the most heroic strain.
-He commented on the insolence of France, elated
-with the success of her late perfidy, and on&mdash;what
-he no doubt felt more deeply than anything else&mdash;her
-refusal to pay what he called the tribute agreed
-by Louis XI. to be paid to Edward IV., and
-hitherto continued to himself. Two-fifteenths were
-at once granted him, and the nobility were on fire
-with the anticipation of realising all the glories
-and the plunder of the past ages.</p>
-
-<p>He availed himself of the paroxysm of the moment,
-not only to gather in and garner the two-fifteenths
-newly granted, but the remains of the
-benevolence voted last session. Whilst the fresh
-tax fell on the nation generally, this fell on the
-monied and commercial capitalists. London alone
-furnished £10,000 of it or £100,000 of our money.
-The wily old archbishop, Morton, instructed the
-commissioners to employ this dilemma, which was
-called "Morton's fork." They were to urge upon
-people who lived in a modest and careful way, that
-they <em>must</em> be rich in consequence of their parsimony;
-on those who indulged in expensive abodes
-and styles of living, that they <em>must</em> be opulent,
-because they had so much to expend. To afford
-ample time for harvesting these riches, Henry
-found perpetual causes for delaying his expedition.
-The nobles were already crowding to his standard
-with their vassals, and impatient to set out, but
-Henry had always some plausible excuse for
-lingering. At one time it was the unsafe state of
-Scotland, and four months were occupied in negotiating
-an extension of the truce; then it was the
-necessity of contracting for fresh levies of troops.
-These troops, however, were ready in June and
-July, but still they were not allowed to move.
-"The truth was," says Bacon, "that though the
-king showed great forwardness for a war, not
-only to his Parliament and Court, but to his Privy
-Council, except the two bishops (Fox and Morton),
-and a few more, yet, nevertheless, in his secret
-intentions, he had no purpose to go through with
-any war upon France. But the truth was, that he
-did but traffic with that war to make money."</p>
-
-<p>At length, in the beginning of October, 1492, he
-landed at Calais, with a fine army of 25,000 foot,
-and 1,600 horse, which he gave in command to the
-Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Oxford. This
-was a force capable of striking an alarming blow,
-but the whole affair was a sham. In fact, Henry
-had entered into a treaty of peace before he had
-set out, and the only difficulty now was how to get
-out of the war without incurring too much resentment
-at home. To guard against this, the odium of
-the abortive expedient must be carefully removed
-from himself to other parties. The machinery for
-this was already prepared. His ambassadors appeared
-in the camp at Boulogne, informing them
-that their visit to his previous ally Maximilian had
-been useless; he was incapable of joining him.
-These were followed by others from Spain, bringing
-the intelligence that Ferdinand had concluded
-a peace with France, Roussillon and Cerdagne
-being ceded to him by Charles. But with Henry's
-fine army, and the defenceless state of France, the
-defection of these allies, from whom little or
-nothing had been expected, would have scarcely
-cost him a thought had he been a Henry V. As
-it was, after all his boasts, it was not even for him
-to propose an abandonment of the enterprise, and
-therefore, the Marquis of Dorset and twenty-three
-other persons of distinction were employed to present
-to him a request that he would also make a
-peace with France. They urged, as they were
-instructed for this purpose, the defection of these
-allies, the approach of winter, the difficulty of
-obtaining supplies at Calais at that season, and the
-obstinacy of the siege of Boulogne. All these
-were circumstances that had been foreseen from
-the first, and treated with indifference, as they deserved
-to be; but now Henry affected to listen to
-the desires of his army, and sent off the Bishop of
-Exeter and the Lord Daubeney to confer with the
-Marshal de Cordes, who had been sent as plenipotentiary
-on the part of Charles to Étaples.
-They soon returned, bringing the rough draft of a
-treaty, by which peace and amity were to be maintained
-betwixt the two sovereigns during their
-lives, and a year afterwards. Even this Henry
-affected to decline, and only consented to give way
-at the earnest entreaty of his already-mentioned
-four-and-twenty officers.</p>
-
-<p>After having thus assumed all this pretence to
-exonerate himself from censure, Henry signed a
-peace on the following terms:&mdash;Charles was to
-retain Brittany for ever, and he was to pay Henry
-620,000 crowns in gold for the money advanced by
-Henry on account of Brittany and his present
-expenses, and 125,000 crowns in gold as arrears
-of the pension paid to Edward IV. by Louis XI.
-He was also to continue this pension of 25,000
-crowns to Henry and his heirs. The whole amount
-which Henry sacked was 745,000 crowns, equal to
-£400,000 of our present money. The members of
-his council, who openly acted the part of petitioners
-of this peace, are said not only to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
-been instructed by Henry to perform this obnoxious
-duty, but to have been gained by the
-bribes of the French king, who was anxious to
-make short work of it, that he might proceed on
-an expedition which he had set his mind upon
-against Naples. They went about declaring that
-it was the most glorious peace that any king of
-England ever made with France, and that if
-Henry's subjects presumed
-to censure it,
-they were ready to take
-the blame upon themselves.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_085a.jpg" width="350" height="180" alt="" title="PENNY OF HENRY VII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>PENNY OF HENRY VII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;">
-<img src="images/i_085b.jpg" width="300" height="146" alt="" title="ANGEL OF HENRY VII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>ANGEL OF HENRY VII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Having used these
-precautions to ward off
-the reproaches of his subjects, Henry ratified the
-peace on the 6th of November, and led back his
-army to England. There, though he had the
-money safely in his chests, the disappointment and
-indignation of the people were extreme, and tended
-to diminish his sordid satisfaction. The people
-protested that he had been trading on the honour
-of the nation, and had sold its interests and reputation
-for his own vile gain, and his enemies did
-not neglect to avail themselves of his unpopularity.
-During the past year, a young man had landed in
-Cork, of a singularly fascinating exterior and insinuating
-address. He represented himself
-to be no other than the Duke of
-York, the younger of the two princes
-who were supposed to have been murdered
-in the Tower. He was a fine
-young man, apparently exactly of the
-age of the Duke of York, and bearing a
-striking likeness to Edward IV. "Such
-a mercurial," says Bacon, "as the like
-hath seldom been known; and he had
-such a crafty and bewitching fashion,
-both to move pity and induce belief, as
-was like a kind of fascination or enchantment."
-What would appear to have been
-the real story of this remarkable pretender, so
-far as we can gather from the records of the
-time, is this:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>Margaret, the Duchess-Dowager of Burgundy,
-having played off Lambert Simnel, devised this
-scheme, or was supplied with it by the Yorkist
-refugees at her Court, who had immediate and
-constant communion with the heads of the York
-faction in England. A young man was industriously
-sought after who should well represent the
-Duke of York, though she knew him to be dead.
-Such a youth was found in the son, or reputed son,
-of one John Osbeck, or Warbeck, a renegade Jew
-of Tournay. This Warbeck had lived and carried
-on business in the time of Edward IV., and had
-dealings with the king, who was so free with him
-that the Jew prevailed on him to become godfather
-to his child, who was called Peter, and whose name
-became converted into the diminutive Peterkin or
-Perkin. Others assert that Warbeck's wife had
-been amongst the numerous favourites of Edward,
-and that this Perkin was really his son&mdash;whence
-the striking resemblance, the cleverness and liveliness
-of his character. Warbeck had returned to
-Flanders, and there, in course of time, his son had
-attracted the attention of the Yorkist conspirators
-as the very youth, in all respects, for their purpose.
-He was introduced to the duchess, who found him
-already familiar with the whole story of Edward's
-Court from the past affairs and position there of
-his parents.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/i_085c.jpg" width="350" height="168" alt="" title="NOBLE OF HENRY VII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>NOBLE OF HENRY VII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/i_085d.jpg" width="350" height="171" alt="" title="SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The scheme being now matured and the chief
-actor ready, they only waited for the true moment
-for his appearance. That came in the prospect of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
-Henry being involved in war with France. As
-soon as this seemed inevitable, the pretended Duke
-of York landed in Ireland. The York faction
-was still strong in that country, and, despite the
-failure of the former pretender, Simnel, the Irish
-were ready, to a certain extent, to embrace another
-claimant of Henry's crown. He landed at Cork,
-where the mayor and others of that city received
-him as the true Richard Plantagenet, as, no doubt,
-they had previously agreed to do. Many of the
-credulous people flocked after him, but the more
-prudent stood aloof. He wrote to the Earls of
-Desmond and Kildare, inviting them to join his
-standard, but those powerful noblemen kept a
-cautious distance. Kildare had been disgraced by
-Henry for his reception of Simnel, and dreaded
-his more deadly vengeance in case of a second
-failure. But Warbeck, undismayed, spread everywhere
-the exciting story of his escape from the
-cruelty of his uncle Richard, and was gradually
-making an impression on the imaginative mind of
-Ireland, when a summons came to a new scene.</p>
-
-<p>Charles VIII. of France was now menaced by
-Henry with invasion. He knew the man too well
-to doubt the real object of his menace, and the
-power of money to avert it, but it was of consequence
-to reduce the bribe as much as possible;
-and every instrument which promised to assist in
-effecting that was most valuable. Such an instrument
-was this self-styled Duke of York, who had
-suddenly appeared in Ireland. The watchful
-Duchess of Burgundy is said to have adroitly
-turned Charles's attention to this mysterious individual
-through the agency of one Frion, a man
-who had been a Secretary of Henry, but who had
-been won over by his enemies. Charles caught at
-the idea; an invitation was instantly despatched
-to Perkin Warbeck to hasten to the French Court,
-where he was "to hear of something to his advantage,"
-and he was received by the king as the undoubted
-Duke of York and true monarch of
-England. Perkin's person, talents, and address,
-being worthy of a real prince, won him the admiration
-of all who approached him; and not only
-the Court and capital, but the whole of France,
-soon rang with praise of the accomplishments, the
-adventures, and the unmerited misfortunes of this
-last of the Plantagenets. The king settled upon
-him a princely income; a magnificent abode was
-assigned him, and a body-guard befitting a royal
-personage was conferred upon him, of which the
-Lord of Concressault was made captain.</p>
-
-<p>The news of this cordial reception of the reputed
-Duke of York by the French Court flew to
-England, and Sir George Neville, Sir John Taylor,
-and above a hundred gentlemen hastened to Paris,
-and offered to him their devoted services. This
-decided and rapidly-growing demonstration had the
-effect which Charles contemplated. Henry was
-greatly alarmed, and hastened to close the negotiations
-for peace. These once signed, the puppet
-had done its work in France. Henry made earnest
-demands to have Warbeck handed over to him, but
-Charles, who, no doubt, was bound by agreement
-with the Duchess of Burgundy to refuse any such
-surrender, declared that to do so would be contrary
-to his honour; but he gave the pretender a hint
-to quit the kingdom, and he retired to the Court
-of Burgundy.</p>
-
-<p>The duchess now heaped on Perkin all the marks
-of affection and the honours which she would have
-deemed due to her own nephew. She ordered
-every one to give him the homage belonging to a
-real king; she appointed him a guard of thirty
-halberdiers, and styled him the "White Rose of
-England." On all occasions her conduct towards
-him was that of an affectionate aunt, who regarded
-him as the head of her family, and the heir of the
-brightest crown in Europe.</p>
-
-<p>It is not to be supposed that the tempest which
-was gathering around Henry had escaped his
-attention. On the contrary, he was aware of all
-that was passing, and with the caution and concealment
-of his character, he was at work to
-counteract the operations of his enemies. The
-first object with him was to convince the public
-that the real Duke of York had perished at the
-same time as his brother, Edward V. Nothing,
-he concluded, would be so effectual for this purpose
-as the evidence of those who had always been
-held to be concerned in the death of the young
-princes. Of five implicated, according to universal
-belief, two only now survived, namely, Sir James
-Tyrell&mdash;who had taken the place of Sir Robert
-Brackenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower, during the
-night of the murder&mdash;and John Dighton, one of
-the actual assassins. These two were secured and
-interrogated, and their evidence was precisely that
-which we have stated when relating the murder of
-the princes. The bodies, therefore, were sought
-for, but as the chaplain was dead who was supposed
-to have witnessed their removal, according to the
-order of Richard III., they could not then be
-found and produced. The testimony of Tyrell and
-Dighton, however, was published and circulated as
-widely as possible, and these two miscreants, after
-their full and frank avowal of the perpetration of
-this diabolical murder, were, to the disgrace of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
-king and of public justice, again allowed to go free.
-Everyone, however, must perceive at once how
-important it was to Henry that the real witnesses
-of that murder should exist, and be forthcoming
-to confound any one pretending to be either of
-these princes.</p>
-
-<p>Henry next applied to the Archduke Philip, the
-son of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy, and
-now sovereign of the Netherlands in his own
-right, to deliver up to him the impostor, Warbeck,
-who, he contended, was entertained in his dominions
-contrary to the existing treaties, and the
-amity betwixt the two sovereigns. But Margaret
-had the influence to render his application abortive.
-Philip professed to have every desire to oblige his
-great ally, Henry of England, but he pleaded that
-Margaret was sole ruler in her own states, and,
-though he might advise her in this matter, he
-could not control her. Henry resented the polite
-evasion by stopping all commercial intercourse
-between England and the Low Countries, by
-banishing all Flemings from his dominions, and
-recalling his own subjects from Flanders; and
-Philip retaliated by issuing similar edicts.</p>
-
-<p>In 1494, several Yorkist lords were arrested and
-executed, but there remained a conspirator far
-higher than any who had yet been unveiled&mdash;a
-conspirator where it was least expected, in the
-immediate vicinity of the throne, and in the person
-who more than all others, perhaps, had contributed
-to place Henry upon it. His name stood in the
-secret list of traitors furnished by spies, but he had
-been left for a more striking and dramatic discovery,
-for a dénouement calculated to produce the
-most startling and profound impression.</p>
-
-<p>After the festivities of Christmas the king took
-up his residence in the Tower, where he held his
-council on the 7th of January, 1495. If there
-was one man more distinguished than another by
-the royal favour in that august circle, he was
-Stanley, Lord Chamberlain. Sir William Stanley
-had burst upon Richard III. at Bosworth Field,
-at the critical moment, slain his standard-bearer,
-and, by his followers, killed the tyrant. His
-brother, Lord Stanley, had put the crown of the
-fallen monarch on Henry's head. For this he had
-been created Earl of Derby, and had been allowed
-to ally himself to the throne by the marriage of
-Henry's mother, the Countess of Richmond. Sir
-William had been made Lord Chamberlain, and
-both brothers had been glutted, as it were, with
-the wealth and estates of proscribed families.
-There were no men&mdash;not even Fox and Morton&mdash;who
-were supposed to stand so high, not merely in
-the favour, but in the friendship of Henry. He
-was suddenly arrested at the council chamber and
-executed, his vast wealth passing to the Crown.</p>
-
-<p>The fall of Stanley was a paralysing blow to the
-partisans of Warbeck. They saw that even that
-great nobleman, while apparently living in the very
-centre and blaze of royal favour, had been surrounded
-by spies who watched all his actions,
-heard his most secret communications, and carried
-them all to the king. No man who was in any
-degree implicated felt himself safe. Henry's
-cautious and severe temper, while it made him
-hated, made him proportionately feared. Assured
-by the success which had attended all his measures,
-Henry every day displayed more and more the
-grasping avarice of his disposition, and accusations
-and heavy fines fell thickly around. He fined Sir
-William Capel, Alderman of London, for some
-offence, £2,743; and, though he failed to secure
-the whole, he obtained £1,615. Encouraged by
-this, he repeated the like attempts; and, while he
-depressed the nobility, he especially countenanced
-unprincipled lawyers, as the ready tools of his
-rapacity. Whilst this conduct, however, kept
-alive the rancour of many influential people, it
-rendered the common people passive; for they escaped
-the oppressions of many petty tyrants, who
-were kept in check by the one great one. Warbeck's
-party, therefore, was much disabled. It
-was now three years since he made his appearance,
-but, with the exception of his brief visit to Ireland,
-he had attempted nothing in Henry's dominions.
-But the Flemings, who were smarting under the
-restrictions put upon their trade with England,
-began to murmur loudly, and the Archduke
-Philip to remonstrate warmly with Margaret on
-account of the countenance given to the English
-insurgents.</p>
-
-<p>Under these circumstances it was necessary for
-Warbeck and his adherents to make an effort of some
-kind. Taking advantage, therefore, of the absence
-of Henry on a visit to his mother at Latham
-House, in Lancashire, Warbeck and a few hundred
-followers made a descent in July on the coast of
-Kent, near Deal. It was hoped that Henry's
-severity would have made numbers ready to join
-them. The people, indeed, assembled under the
-guidance of some gentlemen of property, and, professing
-to favour Warbeck, invited him to come on
-shore. But he, or those about him, observing that
-the forces collected had nothing of that tumultuous
-impetuosity about them which usually characterises
-insurgents in earnest, kept aloof, and the men of
-Kent perceiving that they could not draw Warbeck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
-into the snare, fell on his followers already on
-land, and, besides killing many of them, took 169
-prisoners. The rest managed to get on board
-again, and Warbeck, seeing what sort of a reception
-England gave him, sailed back with all speed
-to Flanders. The prisoners were tied together like
-teams of cattle, and driven to London, where they
-were all condemned and executed to a man, in
-various places, some at London and Wapping,
-some on the coasts of Kent, Sussex, Essex, and
-Norfolk, where they were gibbeted, as a warning
-to any fresh adventurers who might appear on
-those shores.</p>
-
-<p>Flanders was now become no durable place of
-sojourn for Perkin and his party. The Flemings
-would no longer submit to the interruption of their
-trade; and the archduke entered into a treaty
-with Henry, which contained a stipulation that
-Philip should restrain the Duchess Margaret from
-harbouring any of the king's enemies, and that
-the two princes should expel from their territories
-all the enemies of each other. This treaty was
-ratified on the 24th of February, 1496, and thereupon
-Warbeck betook himself to Ireland. But
-there he found a sensible change had taken place
-since his former visit. The king had sent over Sir
-Edward Poynings as lord-deputy, who had taken
-such measures that the people were much satisfied.
-On landing at Cork, therefore, the Irish refused to
-recognise their late idol, and from Cork he sailed
-away to Scotland. There a new and surprising
-turn of fortune awaited him. For a long time his
-interest had been on the decline. In Flanders the
-public had grown weary of him; in England they
-had endeavoured to entrap him; from Ireland they
-had repulsed him. He is said to have presented
-letters of recommendation from Charles VIII. of
-France, and from his great patroness the Duchess-Dowager
-of Burgundy; and James IV. of Scotland
-received him with open arms.</p>
-
-<p>James IV. of Scotland was a brave, generous,
-and patriotic monarch. When Henry offered him
-his daughter Margaret, he, therefore, unceremoniously
-rejected the offer. The disposition
-which Henry was said to have shown to encourage
-his subjects, during the truce, to molest the Scottish
-merchantmen at the very mouth of the Forth, was
-highly resented by James, who supported his
-admiral&mdash;Wood of Largo&mdash;in severely chastising
-the pirates, and did not fail to warn Henry that
-such practices must not be repeated. The dislike
-which James entertained for the insidious character
-of Henry&mdash;who began that system of bribing
-the nobles around the throne of Scotland which
-was never discontinued so long as a Tudor reigned,
-and which ended in the destruction of Mary,
-Queen of Scots&mdash;was violently aggravated by a
-base attempt of Henry in 1490. This was no
-other than a scheme to seize and carry off James
-to England, which failed ignominiously.</p>
-
-<p>In this temper of the Scottish King, nothing
-could come more opportunely than such a person
-as Perkin Warbeck. James had, from the first
-moment of mounting his throne, been careful to
-strengthen his alliances with the whole European
-continent. With France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark,
-and Flanders, his intercourse, both official
-and mercantile, was active and constant. Of
-course, James was kept in full information of all
-that was agitating England. With the Duchess
-of Burgundy, the inveterate enemy of Henry, it
-is clearly provable that James was in secret
-correspondence only five months after his accession.
-In 1488, even, there were busy messengers
-and heralds passing to and fro betwixt Flanders,
-Ireland, and Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>From these circumstances, which are attested by
-the "Treasurer's Accounts," and other records of
-Scotland, it is manifest that James was intimately
-informed of everything which could be known
-about Warbeck. There could be no mistake made
-by James in his reception of that personage, when,
-in November, 1495, he presented himself at the
-palace of Stirling. Whatever James did he did
-with his eyes wide open and his mind fully made
-up. Yet from the very first he received him
-apparently with the most undoubting faith as to
-his being the true Plantagenet.</p>
-
-<p>Warbeck was welcomed into Scotland with much
-state and rejoicing as the veritable Duke of York.
-James addressed him as "cousin," and celebrated
-tournaments and other courtly gaieties in his
-honour. The reputed prince, by his noble appearance,
-the simple dignity of his manners, and the
-romance of his story and supposed misfortunes,
-everywhere excited the highest admiration. James
-made a grand progress with him through his
-dominions, and beheld him wherever he appeared
-produce the most favourable impression. If James
-did not himself really believe Warbeck to be the
-Duke of York before he came to Scotland, his
-conduct during his abode there seems to have convinced
-him of it. At no time was he known to
-express a doubt of it, and on all occasions he spoke
-and acted as if morally certain of it. Nothing
-could be more convincing than his giving him to
-wife one of the most beautiful and high-born
-women of Scotland, Lady Catherine Gordon,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
-daughter of the Earl of Huntly, and grand-daughter
-of James I. James now mustered his
-forces for the grand expedition which he hoped
-would drive Henry from the throne of England,
-and establish there the son of Edward IV., in the
-person of Warbeck.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_089big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_089.jpg" width="560" height="423" alt="From a Photograph by G. W. Wilson &amp; Co., Aberdeen" title="STIRLING CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>STIRLING CASTLE.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From a Photograph by G. W. Wilson &amp; Co., Aberdeen.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Meantime, Henry VII. was diligently at work
-at his favourite plans of bribing and undermining.
-He had an active agent in Lord Bothwell, whom
-James had weakly forgiven for his numerous conspiracies.
-By his means Henry had won over the
-king's brothers, the Duke of Ross, the Earl of
-Buchan, and the Bishop of Moray. These traitors
-engaged to do everything in their power to defeat
-the expedition. The Duke of Ross promised to put
-himself under the protection of the King of England
-the moment his brother crossed the borders.
-Nor did the plot stop there. Again there was a
-scheme to seize James at night in his tent, suggested
-by Henry, and entered into by Bothwell, Buchan,
-and Wyat, an English emissary. This disgraceful
-plot was defeated by the vigilance of the royal
-guard, but not the less actively did the paid spies
-of Henry Tudor, including some of the most
-powerful barons in Scotland, labour to defeat the
-success of the enterprise. They accompanied the
-army only with the hope of betraying it, while
-their efforts were essentially aided by the remonstrances
-of more honest counsellors, who
-doubted the wisdom of the expedition, and did all
-they could to dissuade James from it.</p>
-
-<p>Burning with resentment at the base and insidious
-attempts of Henry to disturb the security
-of his government, and to seize upon his person,
-and coveting the glory of restoring the last noble
-scion of a great race to the throne of his ancestors,
-James was deaf alike to warnings of secret treason
-or more public danger. He made his last muster of
-his forces at Ellam Kirk, near the English border
-and, proclaiming war on Henry, marched forward.
-Warbeck, as Richard Duke of York, at the same
-time issued a proclamation calling upon all true
-Englishmen to assemble beneath the banner of
-the true inheritor of the crown. He denounced
-Henry Tudor as a usurper, and as the murderer
-of Sir William Stanley, Sir Simon Montfort,
-and others of the ancient nobility; he charged
-him with having invaded the liberties and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
-franchises of both Church and people; and with
-having plundered the subjects by heavy and illegal
-impositions. He pledged himself to remedy all
-these abuses; to restore and defend the rights and
-privileges of the Church, the nobles, the corporations,
-and the commerce and manufactures of the
-country. He related the dangers through which
-he had passed since his escape from the Tower to
-this moment, and he set a price of a thousand
-pounds in money, and land to the value of a hundred
-marks per annum, for the capture or destruction
-of Henry Tudor.</p>
-
-<p>But however judiciously the proclamation was
-drawn up, James was confounded as he advanced
-to see that it produced not the slightest effect. In
-vain had it been protested in the proclamation that
-James came only as the friend of the rightful King
-of England; that he sought no advantage to himself&mdash;though
-he had really bargained for the
-restoration of Berwick, and was to be paid 1,000
-marks for the expenses of the war&mdash;and that he
-would retire the moment a sufficient English force
-appeared in the field. No such force was likely to
-present itself. If Warbeck had met with no
-success when supported by Englishmen, it was not
-to be expected when followed by an army of the
-hereditary foes of the kingdom&mdash;Scots and French,
-backed by Germans, Flemings, and other foreigners.</p>
-
-<p>When James saw that, instead of being welcomed
-as deliverers, they were avoided, and that the
-expedition was altogether hopeless, he gave way to
-his wrath, and began to plunder the country, or to
-permit his troops to do it. Warbeck remonstrated
-against the devastations committed on the English
-with all the ardour of a true prince, declaring that
-he would rather lose the throne than gain it by the
-sufferings of his people. But James replied that
-his cousin of York was too considerate of the
-welfare of a nation that hesitated to acknowledge
-him either as king or subject. All this time the
-diligent Bothwell was duly informing Henry of the
-state of the Scottish camp, and of everything said
-and done in it. He now assured him that the
-Scottish army would soon beat a retreat, for that
-the inhabitants, in expectation of the visit, had
-driven off all their cattle, and removed their stores;
-so that the army was on the point of starvation.
-This was soon verified. The Scots, finding no
-supporters, about the end of the year retreated
-into their own country.</p>
-
-<p>The invasion from Scotland afforded Henry
-another pretext for raising more money. He
-summoned a Parliament in the February of 1497,
-to which he uttered bitter complaints of the inroad
-and devastations of the Scots; of the troubles
-created by the impostor, and the manifold insults
-to the crown and nation. All this was now
-apparently blown over; but Parliament gratified
-the king by voting £120,000, together with two-fifteenths.
-Happy in the prospect of such supplies,
-Henry recked little of Warbeck or the Scots; but
-the tax roused the especial wrath of the Cornish
-people, who, knowing that the king only wanted to
-add their money to his already immense and useless
-hoards, wanted to know what they had to do with
-inroads of the Scots, who were never likely to
-come near them, and who had retired of themselves
-without so much as waiting for the sight of an
-army. This excitement of the brave and industrious,
-but hard-living Cornish men was fanned
-into a flame by Michael Joseph, a farrier of
-Bodmin, and one Thomas Flammock, an attorney,
-who assured the people that the tax was totally
-illegal, though voted by Parliament; for that the
-northern counties were bound by the tenures of
-their estates to defend that frontier; and that if
-they submitted to the avarice of Henry and his
-ministers there would be no end to it.</p>
-
-<p>Flammock told them that they must deliver the
-king a petition, seconded by such numbers as to
-give it authority; but at the same time he assured
-them that to procure the concurrence of the rest of
-the kingdom they must conduct themselves with
-all order, and refrain from committing any injuries
-to person or property, demonstrating that they had
-only the public good in view. Armed with bills,
-bows, axes, and other country weapons that they
-could command, they marched into Devonshire
-16,000 strong, and called on the people to accompany
-them, and demand the heads of Archbishop
-Morton and Sir Reginald Bray, who were declared
-to be the advisers of the obnoxious impost. At
-Taunton they made an example of an insolent and
-overbearing commissioner of the tax of the name
-of Perin. At Wells they were joined by Lord
-Audley, a man of an ancient family, but said to be
-of a vain and ambitious character.</p>
-
-<p>Proud of having a nobleman at their head, they
-marched through Salisbury and Winchester into
-Surrey, and thence to Kent, the people of which,
-Flammock told them, had in all ages been noted
-for their independence and patriotism, and were
-sure to join them. They pitched their camp on
-Blackheath, near Eltham, but not a man joined
-them. The people of Kent had their causes of
-complaint; but they had lately shown what was
-their spirit by repelling Perkin Warbeck, and they
-were too enlightened to join in the expedition.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Henry had now received the new levies raised
-to oppose any further motion of the Scots, and he
-sent them forward to attack and disperse the
-rebels. He always regarded Saturday as his
-fortunate day; therefore, on Saturday, the 22nd
-of June, 1497, he gave the order for the attack.
-He divided his forces into three divisions. The
-first, under Lord Daubeney, pushed forward to
-attack the insurgents in front; the second, under
-the Earl of Oxford, was to take a compass, and
-assail them in the rear; and the king himself took
-post with the third division in St. George's Fields,
-to secure the city. To throw the insurgents off
-their guard, he had given out that he should not
-take the field for some days; and to give probability
-to this notion, he did not send out his
-advanced forces till the latter part of the day.
-Lord Daubeney beat an advanced guard of the
-rebels from Deptford Bridge, and before the main
-body was prepared to receive him, he charged them
-with fury. Though they were brave men, and
-16,000 strong, thus taken at advantage, and
-naturally ill-disciplined, ill-armed, and destitute of
-cavalry and artillery, they were soon broken and
-compelled to fly. Two thousand of them were
-slain, and 1,500 made prisoners. The prisoners
-Henry gave up to the captors, who allowed them
-to ransom themselves for a few shillings each.</p>
-
-<p>Lord Audley, Flammock, and Joseph only were
-executed. The peer was beheaded, the commoners
-were hanged; and Joseph seemed to glory in the
-distinction, saying he should figure in history.
-Henry on this occasion displayed great clemency,
-which some have ascribed to his desire to make a
-good impression on the Cornish people; others for
-joy that Lord Daubeney had escaped, for at one
-time he was surrounded by the enemy but was
-soon rescued. But the most probable reason was
-that assigned by Lord Bacon:&mdash;"That the harmless
-behaviour of this people that came from the
-west of England to the east, without mischief
-almost, or spoil of the country, did somewhat
-mollify him, and move him to compassion; or,
-lastly, that he made a great difference between
-people that did rebel upon wantonness, and them
-that did rebel upon want."</p>
-
-<p>James of Scotland seized on the opportunity
-created by the Cornish insurrection to make a
-fresh inroad into England. He laid siege to the
-castle of Norham, and plundered the country
-round. Henry despatched the Earl of Surrey, with
-an army of 20,000 men, to drive back the Scots,
-and punish them by carrying the war of devastation
-into their country. As Surrey advanced,
-James retired, and Surrey, following him across
-the Tweed, took and demolished the little castle
-of Ayton, ravaged the borders, and returned to
-Berwick. These useless and worse than useless
-raids, with no hope of permanent advantage on
-either side, but only of mischief to the unoffending
-inhabitants on both, were worthy only of the most
-savage and unenlightened times. The spies of
-Henry, however, soon informed him that James
-was really sick of the war, and he repeated the
-offer made before of the hand of his daughter
-Margaret. This he made through the Spanish
-ambassador, Don Pedro d'Ayala, who came forward
-as a friendly mediator, thus sparing both
-kings the humiliation of making the first move.
-D'Ayala found James quite disposed for peace, but
-in a somewhat cavalier humour as to the terms.
-By the advice of D'Ayala, commissioners were
-appointed to meet at Ayton, where, under the
-management of Fox, Bishop of Durham, on the
-part of England, a truce was agreed upon to last
-for the lives of the two kings, and a year after the
-death of the longer liver. Though agreed upon,
-this important truce was not ratified for some
-years afterwards.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime, James privately admonished Warbeck
-to quit the kingdom, as he could no longer
-assist him, and his presence would only tend to
-endanger the truce. Warbeck is said to have
-received this intimation with much true dignity
-and good feeling. He thanked the king for the
-great effort he had made on his account, for all the
-honours and favours that he had conferred upon
-him, and for which he declared he should ever
-remain deeply grateful. A vessel was prepared
-for his departure at Ayr, and every comfort was
-provided for his accommodation which James could
-have offered to the true prince. His beautiful and
-accomplished wife would not be left behind&mdash;a
-proof that she was really attached to him, whatever
-she might think of his pretensions. She quitted
-rank, fortune, a high position in the Scottish Court,
-to embrace with him a homeless life and a dark
-prospect. Flanders was closed to Perkin by the
-fresh league betwixt that country and England.
-Ireland was a more than dubious resort, yet
-thither he turned his prow, and landed at Cork on
-the 30th of July, 1497, with about 100 followers.
-The attempt to rouse again the enthusiasm of Ireland
-was vain; but at this juncture the last gleam
-of Warbeck's waning fortune seemed to fall upon
-him.</p>
-
-<p>The Cornish rebels, let off so easily by Henry,
-had returned to their own county, proclaiming by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
-the way that the king had not dared to put them
-to death because the whole of his subjects were in
-the same state of discontent. The people of Cornwall
-and Devon, reassured by this, again took up
-arms against the commissioners, who were still
-collecting the tax with great severity, and, it is
-said, despatched a message to Warbeck to come
-over and head them. On the 7th of September,
-1497, he accordingly landed at Whitsand Bay,
-with four or five small barques, and his 100 fighting
-men. Being joined by 3,000 of the insurgents
-at Bodmin, he issued a proclamation similar to his
-former one. Bodmin was the native place of
-Michael Joseph, their great orator and leader, and
-the people there were burning to revenge his
-death. Warbeck set out on his march towards
-Devonshire, and thousands of those who had lost
-friends and relations in the bloody battle of Blackheath
-joined him on the way. He sent his wife to
-Mount St. Michael for security, and directing his
-course towards Exeter, he invested that city on the
-17th of September with a rude, wild force of about
-10,000 men. He announced himself as Richard
-IV. of England, and called on the inhabitants
-to surrender; but, having sent notification of his
-approach to King Henry, they determined to defend
-themselves, if needful, till succour arrived.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_092big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_092.jpg" width="560" height="389" alt="" title="ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, CORNWALL" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, CORNWALL.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Warbeck had no artillery or engines of any kind
-to carry on a siege, he therefore attempted to
-break down the gates. At the one he was repulsed
-with considerable loss, the other he managed to
-burn down, but the citizens availed themselves of
-the fire, feeding it as it failed, till they had dug a
-deep trench behind the flames. When, the next
-morning, Warbeck returned to force a passage by
-that gate, the citizens received him with such
-spirit that they slew 200 of his men, and daunted
-the rest. Assistance was now also flowing in from
-the country to the city, and Warbeck was in
-danger of being attacked both in front and rear.
-Seeing this, he demanded a suspension of hostilities,
-and, depressed by this failure, his Devonshire
-followers began rapidly to fall away, and steal
-home as quickly as they could. His Cornish
-adherents, however, more intrepid, encouraged
-him to persevere, and vowed that they would
-perish in his cause. In this state of desperation
-the pretender marched on towards Taunton, where
-he arrived on the 20th of September. The country
-people on their way, smarting under the infliction
-of the hated tax, wished them success, but did not
-attempt to help them.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_094big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_094.jpg" width="415" height="560" alt="" title="LADY CATHERINE GORDON BEFORE HENRY VII" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>LADY CATHERINE GORDON BEFORE HENRY VII. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>At Taunton, instead of any encouragement, they
-met the vanguard of the royal army, under the
-command of Lord Daubeney, the lord chamberlain,
-and Lord Broke, the steward of the household.
-The Duke of Buckingham was just behind with a
-second division, and Henry was declared to be
-following with a still larger force. The brave
-Cornish men, scarcely clothed, and still worse
-armed, shrank not a moment from the hopeless
-combat. They vowed to perish to a man in behalf
-of their newly-adopted king, and Warbeck, with
-an air as if he would lead them into battle in the
-morning, rode along their lines encouraging them,
-and made all ready for the attack.</p>
-
-<p>But Warbeck, who had never shown any want
-of courage, perceived the utter madness of contending
-with his undisciplined followers against
-such overwhelming odds, and in the night he
-mounted a fleet steed and rode off. In the morning
-the Cornish men, seeing themselves without a
-leader, submitted to the king, and, with the exception
-of a few of the ringleaders, they were dismissed
-and returned homewards as best they
-might. Meanwhile, Lord Daubeney despatched 500
-horsemen in pursuit of Warbeck, to prevent, if
-possible, his entrance into sanctuary; but the
-fugitive succeeded in reaching the monastery of
-Beaulieu, in the New Forest.</p>
-
-<p>Henry sent a number of horsemen, in all haste,
-to St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall, to obtain
-possession of the Lady Catherine Gordon, the
-wife of Warbeck. This they easily accomplished,
-and brought her to the king, on entering whose
-presence she blushed and burst into tears. Henry
-received her kindly&mdash;touched, for once in his life,
-with tenderness, by beauty in distress; or, probably,
-bearing in mind that the lady was the near
-kinswoman of the King of Scots, with whom he
-was desirous to stand well. He sent her to the
-queen, by whom she was most cordially received,
-and in whose court she remained attached to her
-service. She was still called the White Rose of
-Scotland, on account of her beauty. Lady Gordon
-was afterwards, it appears, three times married,
-but lies buried by the side of her second husband,
-Sir Matthew Cradock, in Swansea church.</p>
-
-<p>Henry proceeded to Exeter, where he had the
-ringleaders of the Cornish insurrection brought in
-procession before him, with halters round their
-necks. Some of them he hanged, the rest he
-pardoned; but he, at the same time, appointed
-commissioners to proceed into the country through
-which Perkin had passed, and to fine all such
-people of property as had furnished him with aid
-or refreshment. They did not confine their scrutiny
-to those who had assisted Perkin in his march,
-but extended it to all who had relieved the famishing
-fugitives; "so that," says Bacon, "their
-severity did much obscure the king's mercy in
-sparing of blood, with the bleeding of so much
-treasure." They extorted altogether £10,000.</p>
-
-<p>The next business was to get Warbeck out of
-his sanctuary and into the hands of the king.
-Beaulieu was surrounded by an armed force, and
-all attempts at escape made impossible. Some of
-Henry's council urged him to omit all ceremony,
-and take the pretender from the sanctuary by
-force; but this he declined, preferring to lure him
-thence by fair promises. After hesitating for some
-time, Warbeck at length threw himself upon the
-king's mercy. Henry then set out to London with
-his captive in his train. Warbeck rode in the
-king's suite through the city, along Cheapside,
-Cornhill, and to the Tower, and thence to Westminster.
-As the king had promised him his life,
-he kept his word. He was repeatedly examined
-by the Privy Council, but it seems as if something
-had transpired there which Henry deemed better
-concealed, for a profound silence was preserved on
-the subject of these disclosures. So far from even
-being degraded, like Lambert Simnel, to some
-menial occupation, Warbeck was suffered to enjoy
-a certain degree of liberty, and was treated as a
-gentleman. The probability is, that the king
-satisfied himself that this mysterious personage
-was in reality a son of Edward IV., by the handsome
-Jewess, Catherine de Faro, his birth being in
-Flanders, and agreeing exactly with the time of
-Edward's exile there. This might account for his
-admirable support of the character of a prince, for
-his confidence in his assertion of it for so many
-years, and the power he had of winning the strong
-attachment of persons of the highest rank and
-education. If this were true, he was, moreover,
-the queen's brother, though an illegitimate one,
-and might win the interest of herself and sisters by
-his resemblance in person, and in spirit and ambition,
-to her father.</p>
-
-<p>But however this might be, he was too dangerous
-a person to be allowed to get loose again. He
-lived at Court under a strict surveillance, and he
-grew so weary of it, that he contrived to make
-his escape on the 8th of June, 1498. The alarm
-was instantly given; numbers of persons were out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
-in pursuit of him; every road by which he might
-escape to sea was vigilantly beset, and the unhappy
-man, finding himself pressed on all sides, surrendered
-himself to the Prior of Sheen, near Richmond.
-The prior exercised the right of sanctuary possessed
-by the house, and refused to give him up to the
-king, except under pledge that his life should be
-spared. Henry agreed, but he confirmed the public
-opinion, which, excited by the mystery of the
-Court, fully believed Warbeck a son of Edward's,
-by now endeavouring to degrade him, and to fix
-upon him the old story. For this purpose he compelled
-him to sit in the stocks two whole days, on
-the 14th of June at Westminster Hall, and on the
-15th in Cheapside, and there to read aloud to the
-people a confession made up of the account of him
-published in Henry's former proclamation, but
-with some very contradictory additions. This confession
-was then printed and circulated amongst
-the people, but failed entirely to satisfy any one.
-When this bitter purgatory had been passed
-through, the bitterest conceivable to a man of
-Warbeck's character, pretensions, and superior
-mind, he was committed to the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>Warbeck had not been long in the Tower when
-there was an attempt to liberate the Earl of Warwick,
-who was still in confinement there; and it
-failed only through the conspirators not having
-properly informed themselves of the real quarter
-in which he was kept. Soon after that a fresh
-plot was set on foot for the same object. In this
-the King of France was said to be concerned. It
-was said that he had declared his regret for ever
-having countenanced the usurpation of Henry
-Tudor, and that he offered money, ships, and even
-troops, to the friends of Warwick to enable them
-to release him, and place him on the throne. The
-Yorkist malcontents were once more active. They
-wrote to the retainers of the late Duke of Clarence,
-the father of Warwick, and to Lady Warwick, to
-come forward and see justice done to the oppressed
-prince; and an invitation was sent from the Court
-of France to a distinguished leader of the house of
-York to go over to that country and assume the
-command of the expedition. This also failing, a
-report was then spread of the death of the Earl of
-Warwick: then it was said that he had escaped,
-and a person of the name of Ralph Wulford, or
-Wilford, the son of a shoemaker in Sussex, was
-taught by one Patrick, an Augustinian friar, to
-personate the earl.</p>
-
-<p>Whether the Yorkists were determined to give
-Henry no repose, but to haunt and harass him with
-a perpetual succession of impostors, or whether
-Henry himself planned this latter improbable
-scheme as a pretext for getting rid of the Earl of
-Warwick altogether, seems never to have been
-satisfactorily cleared up. All that is known is,
-that Wulford and the friar were speedily arrested,
-whereupon Wulford was put to death, and the friar
-consigned to prison for life.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had this blown over, when it was reported
-that Warbeck and Warwick had endeavoured
-to escape from the Tower together. Warbeck
-must have been allowed to have free access
-to Warwick after he was sent to the Tower&mdash;a
-circumstance not likely to have been permitted by
-the cautious and vigilant Henry VII. had he not
-had some ulterior purpose in it. Once together,
-however, Warbeck won the favour of the simple
-and inexperienced Warwick, who was as ignorant
-of the world as a child, having passed nearly all
-his life in prison. Warbeck, however, exercised
-the same fascination over the highest and most
-intelligent persons whenever he had access to them.
-To the Tower he carried his active spirit of intrigue
-and adventure, and we soon find him in the enjoyment,
-for so dangerous a character, of extraordinary
-liberty and range in that State prison. He had
-not only completely won over the Earl of Warwick,
-but their keepers, Strangways, Astwood, Long
-Roger, and Blewet. These men engaged to murder
-their master, Sir John Digby, the Governor of
-the Tower, to get possession of the keys, and to
-conduct Warbeck and Warwick to the Yorkist
-partisans, by whom Warbeck was to be proclaimed
-King Richard IV., and Warwick to be restored to
-his titles and estates.</p>
-
-<p>This plot, it is said, was discovered in time; and
-this was another circumstance which caused the
-public to suspect that the whole thing had been of
-the contriving, or, at least, of the permission of
-Henry, to rid him of these troublesome aspirants.
-The two offenders were immediately confined in
-separate cells. The servants of the Governor were
-brought to trial, and Blewet and Astwood were
-condemned and hanged. On the 16th of November,
-Warbeck was arraigned in Westminster Hall
-for sundry acts of high treason, since as a foreigner
-he had come into these kingdoms. They were, in
-fact, the attempts on the crown which we have
-related. He was condemned and hanged at Tyburn
-on the 23rd of November, 1499. On the scaffold
-his confession was read, and he declared it, on the
-word of a dying man, to be wholly true. Such was
-the end of this extraordinary adventurer. Bacon
-describes his enterprise as "one of the largest
-plays of the kind that hath been in memory;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
-and might, perhaps, have had another end if he
-had not met with a king both wise, stout, and fortunate."</p>
-
-<p>On the 21st of November, the Earl of Warwick
-was brought to trial before the peers, though he
-had been attainted from his birth, and had never
-taken his oath and seat as a peer of the realm.
-The charge against him was his conspiracy with
-Warbeck to dethrone the king. The poor youth
-pleaded guilty, either as weary of a life which had
-been but one long injury and wrong, in consequence
-of his birth, or because he was destitute, from his
-perpetual confinement, of the activity of mind to
-comprehend his situation. Probably he imagined
-that if he confessed himself guilty, he would be
-pardoned, and sent back to his cell. But Henry
-had no such intention. The Earl of Oxford,
-as Lord Steward, pronounced judgment, and three
-days afterwards he was beheaded on Tower Hill.
-Thus perished the last legitimate descendant of
-the Plantagenets who could alarm the fears of
-Henry Tudor.</p>
-
-<p>A few months after these tragic events, a plague
-broke out in London, which the people considered
-as a direct judgment from Heaven for such wicked
-bloodshed. Henry got out of town, but not feeling
-himself safe, after several changes of residence,
-he went over to Calais, and whilst there he had
-an interview with the Archduke Philip of Burgundy.
-Henry invited the archduke to take up
-his quarters in Calais, but it is a proof of the distrust
-which even his own allies entertained of the
-politic Henry, that the archduke declined putting
-himself into his power, and agreed to meet him at
-St. Pierre, near that city. What the archduke
-was particularly anxious to see Henry for, was to
-excite his jealousy of France, and secure his co-operation
-in counteracting its ambition.</p>
-
-<p>Charles VIII. of France, an ambitious youth, had
-made a grand expedition into Italy to seize on the
-two Sicilies, having contrived to make out a claim
-upon them, which, though empty in itself, was
-good enough for an excuse for conquest. He had
-passed over the Alps with an army of upwards of
-30,000 men. At first all gave way before him, but
-an extensive league was soon formed against the
-French encroachment, including Ferdinand of
-Spain, Maximilian, the King of the Romans, the
-father of Philip, the Duke of Milan, and the Doge
-of Venice. Charles, who had led a most dissipated
-life, died suddenly in 1498 at the castle of Amboise,
-and the Duke of Orleans succeeded as Louis XII.
-Louis was as fully bent as Charles had been on
-prosecuting the conquest of Naples and Sicily, and
-in 1499 marched with a fresh army into the south
-of Italy.</p>
-
-<p>It was to secure Henry's assistance in the league
-against the aggression of France, which alarmed
-all Europe, that Philip used his most eloquent persuasives,
-but the only persuasives with Henry were
-moneys, and these Louis had already extended.
-He renewed the peace of Étaples, paid up the
-arrears of Henry's pension, and secured the interest
-of the Pope, with whom Henry was desirous to
-stand well, by paying him 20,000 ducats for a dispensation
-enabling him to divorce his wife, and
-marry Anne of Brittany, the widow of Charles
-VIII., and an old flame of his. He had also made
-over the Valentinois, in Dauphiné, with a pension
-of 20,000 livres, to the Pope's son, the vile Cæsar
-Borgia. The Pope, moreover, was coquetting with
-Henry, inviting him, by an express nuncio, to join
-a league for an imaginary crusade to the Holy
-Land, which Henry was ready to do for the cession
-of some real ports in Italy as places for the retreat
-and security of his fleet in those seas.</p>
-
-<p>It was not likely that Philip of Burgundy would
-make much progress with Henry, except so far as
-he could serve him by keeping certain matters,
-well known at the Courts of Burgundy and Flanders,
-concerning the real history of Perkin Warbeck,
-secret; and his anxiety on this head more
-and more convinced people that Warbeck had
-been something more than the son of a Jew.</p>
-
-<p>Henry VII. having succeeded in ridding himself
-of all the pretenders to his crown, now set himself
-to complete the marriages of his children, and to
-make money with redoubled ardour. Negotiations
-had been going on with James of Scotland for the
-marriage of Henry's eldest daughter, Margaret.
-In 1496 James, who had previously declined the
-match, now in communication with Fox, Bishop
-of Durham, offered to enter into that contract.
-Henry gladly assented, and, when some of his
-council suggested that in case of the failure of the
-male line in England, a Scottish prince, born of
-this marriage, would become the heir, and England
-a mere appendage of Scotland, "No," replied
-Henry, "Scotland will become an appendage of
-England, for the smaller must follow the larger
-kingdom." And, no doubt, this idea had from the
-first actuated the calculating mind of the Tudor.
-On the 29th of January, 1502, the parties were
-solemnly affianced in the queen's chamber, the
-Earl of Bothwell having come to London as proxy
-for James. Margaret, at the time of this affiancing,
-was but just turned twelve years of age, and it
-was agreed that she should remain twenty months<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
-longer under the roof of her parents. Accordingly,
-it was not till the 8th of July, 1503, that
-she set out on her journey to Scotland.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_097big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_097.jpg" width="434" height="560" alt="" title="THE BYWARD TOWER: TOWER OF LONDON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE BYWARD TOWER: TOWER OF LONDON.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Simultaneously had been proceeding the negotiations
-with the Spanish Court for the marriage
-between Henry's eldest son, Arthur, and
-Catherine, the daughter of Ferdinand, King of
-Aragon. The negotiations for this marriage had
-commenced so early as 1489, when the young
-prince was not yet three years old, and
-Catherine but four. In 1496 a further step was
-taken; and Ferdinand then promised to give
-the princess a portion of 200,000 crowns, and
-Henry engaged that his son should endow her
-with one-third of his present income, and the
-same of the income of the Crown, if he should
-live to be king. It was stipulated that so
-soon as Prince Arthur reached his twelfth year,
-a dispensation should be obtained to empower
-him to make the contract; and, accordingly,
-the marriage was performed by proxy, the
-Spanish ambassador assuming this part, in the
-chapel of the prince's manor of Bewdley. These
-two children, who were at this period, the one ten,
-and the other eleven years of age, were educated
-in the highest possible degree by their respective
-parents; and at the time of their actual marriage,
-in 1501, when Arthur was fifteen, and Catherine
-nearly sixteen, they were perhaps the two most
-learned persons of their years in the two kingdoms
-of Spain and England. The festivities over,
-Arthur retired to his castle of Ludlow with his
-bride, and there kept a Court modelled on that of
-the king. Great hopes and auguries were drawn
-from this marriage, and wonderful futures to them
-and their descendants were promised them by the
-astrologers. But little more than five months
-sufficed to falsify all the earthly predictions; for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
-the young prince fell suddenly ill and died.
-Various reasons for his death are assigned by
-different authorities. Some assert that he died of
-consumption; others declare that he was perfectly
-sound and robust, and that he died of some epidemic&mdash;the
-sweating sickness, or, as the Spanish
-historian says, the plague. Great sickness of some
-kind was prevailing in the neighbourhood, so that
-at Worcester the funeral, according to the Spanish
-herald, was but thinly attended. Prince Arthur
-died on the 2nd of April, 1502. He was a prince
-of great promise, and the beauty of his person,
-the sweetness of his manner, and his brilliant
-accomplishments, won him universal favour, which
-was equally shared by his young bride.</p>
-
-<p>The death of Arthur was a shock to the political
-arrangements, as well as to the affections of the
-royal parties on both sides. Ferdinand was
-anxious to retain a close alliance with England, as
-a counterpoise to the ascendency of France. He
-therefore proposed to Henry that Catherine should
-be affianced to Henry Duke of York, Prince
-Arthur's younger brother. This was a very legitimate
-project according to the Jewish law, but not
-so much in accordance with the practice of the
-Christian world. Henry VII. appeared to hesitate&mdash;it
-may safely be surmised with no intention of
-allowing the young princess, and her dowry of
-200,000 crowns, to escape him; but rather, it
-may be supposed, with a design to exact something
-more. To hasten his decision, however, the
-Spanish monarch announced as the alternative
-that Catherine must be at once restored to
-her parents, with half of the marriage portion
-already paid. This had immediate effect on the
-deliberations of Henry. He showed himself ready
-to assent, if there were an additional incentive
-in the shape of another sum. Ferdinand and
-Isabella were firm. They declared themselves
-ready to pay the remaining 100,000 crowns on
-the contract of the marriage, which should take
-effect two months after the receipt of a dispensation
-from the Pope. Henry tried every art to
-extort a larger sum, and it was not till June, 1503,
-that this proposition was finally accepted. The
-solemnisation of the marriage was to take place
-on the young Prince Henry completing his fourteenth
-year. But the difficulties were not yet
-over. The two monarchs continued, like two skilful
-players, to try every move which might delay
-the payment of the money, or compel it with an
-augmentation. In this state the matter remained
-till 1504, when Henry and Catherine, on the 25th
-of June, were betrothed, but still not married, at
-the house of the Bishop of Salisbury, in Fleet
-Street.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had the eyes of Elizabeth of York closed
-(she died in 1503), at the early age of thirty-seven,
-than Henry was on the look-out for another wife,
-for it was another opportunity of making a profit.
-His eyes glanced over the courts and courtly dames
-of Europe; and the lady who struck him as the
-most attractive in the world was the widow of the
-late King of Naples&mdash;for the deceased monarch
-had bequeathed her an immense property. Her
-ducats were charms that told on the gold-loving
-heart of Henry most ravishingly. He posted off
-three private gentlemen, well skilled in such
-delicate inquiries, to Naples, to learn from real
-sources whether all was safe as to this grand dowry.
-Poor Catherine was even made to play a part in
-this notable scheme of courtship, by furnishing
-the emissaries with a letter to her relative, the
-queen-dowager. The gentlemen reported in the
-most glowing terms the charms of the queen-dowager's
-person, the sweetness of her disposition,
-and the brilliant endowments of her mind, but
-they were obliged to add that, though the lady's
-fortune was in justice as large as fame reported it,
-the present king refused to carry out the will by
-which it was conferred. This one unlucky fact at
-once blotted out all the rest, and Henry, giving
-not another thought to the dowager-queen of
-Naples, turned his attention to the dowager-duchess
-of Savoy, who was also reported to be
-rich.</p>
-
-<p>While Henry, however, was traversing Europe
-with the design of adding to his ever-growing
-hoards, he was equally diligent at home in prosecuting
-every art by which he could add another
-mark to his heap. He sought out and kept in his
-pay clever and unprincipled lawyers to search the
-old statute-books for laws grown obsolete, but
-which had never been formally repealed; and he
-had another set of spies in correspondence with
-them, who went to and fro throughout the whole
-kingdom to mark out all such persons of property
-as had transgressed these slumbering laws. Such
-a state of things could never have been tolerated
-in any former reign; but the wars of the Roses
-had cut off all the chief nobility, and the House of
-Commons, terrified by the summary proceedings
-against offenders, had become utterly cowed, and
-trembled at the mere word of this imperious
-monarch. Never, therefore, was the English people
-at any time so completely prostrated beneath the
-talons of a royal vampire as at this period. The
-rich merchants of London found themselves accused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
-of malpractices in the discharge of their civic
-offices, and were subjected to the same process of
-squeezing in Henry's universal press.</p>
-
-<p>To drain the coffers of the landed aristocracy,
-Henry's agents brought up against them all the old
-obsolete feudal charges of wardships, aids, liveries,
-premier seizins, and scutages. Their estates had
-long been held under a different tenure, obtained
-from former monarchs. No matter: all those
-marked out for legal bleeding were brought into
-the private inquisition of the king's commissioners,
-and compelled to pay whatever was demanded, or
-to suffer worse inconveniences. Even his own
-friends were not exempted from the ever-watchful
-eyes and schemes of this money-making king. The
-law which he had enacted against the practice of
-"maintenance" was a prolific source of emolument.
-A striking example of this species of royal sharp
-practice was given in the case of John de Vere,
-Earl of Oxford. This nobleman having entertained
-the king on one occasion for several days
-magnificently at his castle of Henningham, to do
-the utmost honour to him at his departure, summoned
-all his friends and retainers, arrayed in all
-their livery coats and cognisances, and ranged
-them in two rows leading from the reception rooms
-to the royal carriage. Henry's eye was instantly
-struck with this prodigious display of wealth and
-of men, and his mind as suddenly leapt to a felicitous
-conclusion. There was money to be made out
-of it. The king said: "By my faith, my lord, I
-thank you for your good cheer, but I may not
-endure to have my laws thus broken in my sight:
-my attorney must speak to you." The earl was
-prosecuted for thus seeking to flatter the vanity
-of his master, and compelled to gratify Henry's
-avarice by a fine of 15,000 marks.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst the king himself set so notable an example
-of extortion, we may be sure that his commissioners,
-spies, and tools of all sorts were not
-slack in this abominable business of ferreting out
-and putting through the cruel torture of their
-secret courts, the unhappy subjects of every corner
-of the kingdom who had any substance to prey
-upon. "The king," says Bacon, "had gotten for
-his purpose, or beyond his purpose, two instruments,
-Empson and Dudley, whom the people esteemed
-as his horse-leeches and shearers: bold men, and
-careless of fame, and that took toll of their master's
-grist. Dudley was of a good family, eloquent, and
-one that could put hateful business into good
-language. But Empson, that was the son of
-a sieve-maker, triumphed always upon the deed
-done, putting off all other respects whatsoever."</p>
-
-<p>The tempestuous weather of January, 1506,
-which brought to others the disastrous news of
-vessels wrecked and lives lost, brought to Henry
-VII. tidings of a most exciting and elating kind.
-It was no other than that amongst the foreign
-vessels driven into the port of Weymouth, were
-some containing the Archduke Philip of Flanders
-and his wife Joanna, the elder sister of Catherine
-of Aragon, his daughter-in-law, and daughter of
-his friend and ally Ferdinand of Spain. The Archduke
-Philip knew his man; and at their meeting
-near Calais, in 1500, though he attempted to hold
-Henry's stirrup, and heaped upon him the titles of
-his father and protector, he took good care to keep
-out of his clutches; nothing would induce him to
-enter the city. But now circumstances were
-greatly changed; and the archduke and his wife
-Joanna would be a much more valuable prize. The
-mother of Joanna, the Queen Isabella of Spain,
-was dead, and Joanna was, in her own right, Queen
-of Castile, and Philip, by hers, king. There was
-a number of things, any one of which Henry
-would have been only too happy to extort from
-Philip.</p>
-
-<p>The prince soon found himself received with
-much magnificence at the castle of Windsor; but
-he was not suffered to remain long without feeling
-that he was in the hands of a man who would have
-his full advantage out of him. The insatiable old
-miser went to work and propounded his demands,
-and there was nothing for it but for Philip to
-comply, if he ever meant to see Spain. First,
-Henry informed him that he was intending to
-marry, and that Philip's sister, the dowager-duchess
-of Savoy, was the woman of his choice.
-He demanded with her the sum of 300,000 crowns,
-of which 100,000 should be paid in August&mdash;it
-was already the 10th of March&mdash;and the remainder
-in six years by equal instalments. Besides
-this, Margaret, the duchess, was in the annual
-receipt of two dowries; one as the widow of John,
-Prince of Spain, and the other as widow of Philibert,
-Duke of Savoy, for she had been twice
-married already. This income Henry stipulated
-should be settled upon himself, and the princess
-was to receive instead an income as queen of
-England. That meant that Henry would have an
-income certain, and give her one most uncertain,
-for at this very time Catherine, the widow of his
-son Arthur, and betrothed bride of his son Henry,
-was kept by him in a condition of the most shameful
-destitution.</p>
-
-<p>Philip consented&mdash;for what could he do?&mdash;and
-that point settled, Henry informed Philip that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
-had also a son, whom he, Henry, proposed to
-marry to his youngest daughter, Mary. This must
-have been a still more bitter draught for the poor
-Spanish monarch than the former. Henry had
-already made this very proposal, and it had been
-at once rejected. This son of Philip, the future
-celebrated Emperor Charles V., was now a child
-of six years of age, and the little Princess Mary
-was just three! Philip, however much he might
-inwardly rebel, and however differently he had
-planned the destiny of his son, was in the miser's
-vice, and the thing was done.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_100big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_100.jpg" width="560" height="428" alt="" title="KING HENRY'S DEPARTURE FROM HENNINGHAM CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>KING HENRY'S DEPARTURE FROM HENNINGHAM CASTLE. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_99">99.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Soon there came about fresh complications.
-Philip of Flanders, or, as he was oftener called,
-Philip the Fair of Austria, was but an invalid
-when he set out on his unlucky voyage to Spain.
-His detention in England during the three most
-trying months of its trying climate, January,
-February, and March, added to the vexation of the
-engagement forced upon him by the relentless
-Henry, is said to have completely broken his
-constitution; he sank and died in about six months.
-No sooner did King Henry hear this news, than,
-throwing aside all further thoughts of the Duchess
-of Savoy, he applied for the hand of Joanna, the
-widow of Philip. With Joanna, Queen of Castile,
-married to himself, and Charles, her son, the heir
-of all Spain, the Netherlands, and Austria, married
-to his daughter Mary, what visions of greatness
-and empire must have swum before the keen
-eyes of Henry, and excited his intense passion of
-acquisitiveness! Ferdinand returned for answer,
-that the proposal would have been well pleasing to
-him, but that Queen Joanna, from violent grief
-for the loss of her husband, was become permanently
-insane. This answer, which would have
-been all-sufficient for most men, was treated as a
-mere trifle by Henry, who replied that he knew
-the queen, having seen her in England; that her
-derangement of mind was not the effect of grief,
-but of the harsh treatment of Philip; that she
-would soon be all right, and that he was quite
-ready to marry her. Ferdinand reiterated the
-certainty of the lady's fixed madness, and Henry
-rejoined that if he was not allowed to marry her,
-the king's other daughter, Catherine, should never
-marry his son.</p>
-
-<p>There is no doubt that, could Henry have secured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
-the hand of Joanna&mdash;"the Mad Queen," as she came
-to be called&mdash;he would have broken off the contract
-between Henry, his son, and Catherine, and kept
-her and her dower in England nevertheless. But
-the marriage of Henry VII. with Joanna being
-an impossibility, Ferdinand promised to send the
-remaining half of Catherine's dower by instalments,
-and Henry consented that the marriage of the two
-young people should take place as soon as the
-money was paid. Catherine, whose letters to her
-father had, for the most part, been intercepted and
-detained by Henry, at length gave up her opposition
-also to the wedding, declaring, in one of these
-letters, that it was better for her to marry the
-prince than remain in the woful condition of destitution
-and dependence in which her father-in-law
-kept her. The remainder of the dower, however,
-was never paid up during Henry's time,
-and therefore the marriage did not take place
-till after his death.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_101.jpg" width="560" height="454" alt="" title="HENRY VII.'S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY" />
-<div class="caption"><p>HENRY VII.'S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the midst of his grasping, his hoarding, and
-his scheming, the king's end was drawing on, though
-he was far from an old man. The gout had long
-visited him with its periodical attacks. He was
-liable, during the cold and variable weather of
-spring, to complaints of the chest, which assumed
-the appearance of consumption, and occasionally
-reduced him very low. When the sickness was
-strong upon him he ordered Empson and Dudley
-to cease their villainies; as he got worse he commanded
-them even to make restitution to those
-whom they had pillaged and imprisoned; but as he
-grew better again, he instructed them that it was
-only necessary to recompense such as had not been
-dealt with according to the regular forms of law&mdash;so
-that as these vultures generally tore their
-victims in a legal fashion, and as they themselves
-were made the judges of the necessary restitution,
-very little was done. Henry VII. died at his
-palace of Richmond on the 21st of April, 1509, in
-the fifty-fourth year of his age and the twenty-fourth
-of his reign.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">REIGN OF HENRY VIII.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The King's Accession&mdash;State of Europe&mdash;Henry and Julius II.&mdash;Treaty between England and Spain&mdash;Henry is duped by
-Ferdinand&mdash;New Combinations&mdash;Execution of Suffolk&mdash;Invasion of France&mdash;Battle of Spurs&mdash;Invasion of England by the
-Scots&mdash;Flodden Field&mdash;Death of James of Scotland&mdash;Louis breaks up the Holy League&mdash;Peace with France&mdash;Marriage
-and Death of Louis XII.&mdash;Rise of Wolsey&mdash;Affairs in Scotland&mdash;Francis I. in Italy&mdash;Death of Maximilian&mdash;Henry a
-Candidate for the Empire&mdash;Election of Charles&mdash;Field of the Cloth of Gold&mdash;Wolsey's Diplomacy&mdash;Failure of his Candidature
-for the Papacy&mdash;The Emperor in London.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>No prince ever ascended a throne under more
-auspicious circumstances than Henry VIII. While
-his father had strengthened the throne, he had
-made himself extremely unpopular. The longer he
-lived, the more the selfish meanness and the avarice
-of his character had become conspicuous, and
-excited the disgust of his subjects. Henry was
-young, handsome, accomplished, and gay. He was
-in many respects the very opposite of his father,
-and the people always give to a young prince
-every virtue under the sun. Accordingly, Henry,
-who was only eighteen, was regarded as a fine,
-buxom young fellow; frank, affable, generous,
-capable of everything, and disposed to the best.</p>
-
-<p>Fox was grown old, and under Henry VII. had
-grown habitually parsimonious. He, therefore,
-attempted to keep a tight reign on the young
-monarch, and discouraged all mere schemes of pleasure
-which necessarily brought expense. But the
-old proverb that a miser is sure to be succeeded by
-a spendthrift, was not likely to be falsified in
-Henry. He was full of health, youth, vigour, and
-affluence. He was disposed to enjoy all the
-gaieties and enjoyments which a brilliant Court
-and the resources of a great kingdom spread around
-him, and in this tendency he found in the Earl of
-Surrey a far more facile counsellor than in Fox.</p>
-
-<p>All this made deep inroads into his parental
-treasures, but it augmented his popularity, which
-he vastly extended by bringing to justice the two
-hated extortioners of Henry VII.'s reign. To
-prepare for this, he appointed commissioners to
-hear the complaints of those who had suffered
-from the grievous exactions of the late reign; but
-these complaints were so loud and so universal
-that he was soon convinced that it would be impossible
-to make full restitution; and he therefore
-resolved to appease the injured in some degree by
-punishing the injurers. A number of the most
-notorious informers were therefore seized, set on
-horses, and paraded through the streets of London,
-on the 6th of June, with their faces to the horses'
-tails. This done, they were set in the pillory, and
-left to the vengeance of the people, who so maltreated
-them that they all died soon after in
-prison. The fate of Dudley and Empson&mdash;the two
-main instruments of popular oppression&mdash;was
-suspended by the coronation, which took place on
-the 24th of the same month. After it was over
-they were tried and beheaded.</p>
-
-<p>Henry had been married to Catherine of Aragon
-on the 3rd of the month at Greenwich. Whatever
-pretences Henry made in after years of his
-scruples about this marriage&mdash;Catherine having
-been the wife of his elder brother Prince Arthur&mdash;he
-seems to have felt or expressed none now.
-Archbishop Warham had protested against it on
-that ground in Henry VII.'s time; but though
-the princess was six years older than himself,
-there is every reason to believe that Henry was
-now anxious for the match. Catherine was at
-this time very agreeable in person, and was distinguished
-for the excellence of her disposition
-and the spotless purity and modesty of her life.
-She was the daughter of one of the most powerful
-sovereigns of Europe; and the alliance of Spain
-was held to be essentially desirable to counteract
-the power of France. Besides this, the princess
-had a large dower, which must be restored if she
-were allowed to return home. The majority of
-his council, therefore, zealously concurred with him
-in his wish to complete this marriage; and his
-grandmother, the sagacious Countess of Richmond,
-was one of its warmest advocates. "There were
-few women," says Lord Herbert, "who could compete
-with Queen Catherine when in her prime;"
-and Henry himself, writing to her father a short
-time after the marriage, sufficiently expresses his
-satisfaction at the union:&mdash;"As regards that
-sincere love which we have to the most serene
-queen, our consort, her eminent virtues daily more
-shine forth, blossom, and increase so much, that if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
-we were still free, her would we yet choose for
-our wife before all others." The conduct of Henry
-for many years bore out this profession.</p>
-
-<p>To make the general satisfaction complete,
-Henry summoned a Parliament, in which the chief
-topic was the prevention in future of the abominable
-exactions of the past; and the obsolete penal
-statutes on which the extortioners had acted were
-formally repealed. The whole number of temporal
-peers who were summoned to this Parliament was
-only thirty-six&mdash;one duke, one marquis, eight earls,
-and twenty-six barons.</p>
-
-<p>Henry was now at peace with all the world.
-At home and abroad, so far as he was concerned,
-everything was tranquil. No English monarch had
-ever been more popular, powerful, and prosperous.
-Nothing could show more the advance which
-England had made of late in strength and importance
-than the deference paid to Henry by the
-greatest princes on the Continent, and their
-anxiety to cultivate his alliance. The balance of
-power in Europe appeared more widely established
-than at any former period. England had freed
-herself of her intestine divisions, and stood compact
-and vigorous from united political power and
-the active spirit of commerce. The people were
-thriving; the Crown, owing to the care of Henry
-VII., was rich. Spain had joined its several provinces
-into one potent state, which was ruled by
-the crafty but able Ferdinand. France had begun
-the same work of consolidation under Louis XII.,
-by his marriage with Anne of Brittany, and the
-union of Brittany with the Crown. Maximilian,
-the Emperor of Germany, with his hereditary dominions
-of Austria, possessed the weight given
-him by his Imperial office over all Germany; and
-his grandson Charles, heir at once of Austria,
-Spain, and the Netherlands, was at this time the
-ruler of Burgundy and the Netherlands, under
-the guardianship of his aunt Margaret of Savoy,
-a princess of high character for sense and virtue.
-Henry had taken the earliest opportunity of renewing
-the treaties made by his father with all
-these princes, and with Scotland, and declared
-that he was resolved to maintain peace with them,
-and to cultivate the interests of his subjects at
-home. But this promise he speedily broke.</p>
-
-<p>The first means of exciting him to mingle in
-the distraction of the Continent were found in the
-fact that Louis XII. of France was reluctant to
-continue the annual payment of £80,000 which he
-made to his father. Henry had made a considerable
-vacuum in the paternal treasury chests,
-and was not willing to forego this convenient
-subsidy. There were those on the watch ready to
-stimulate him to hostile action. Pope Julius II.
-and Ferdinand of Spain had their own reasons for
-fomenting ill-will between Louis of France and
-Henry. Louis had added Milan and part of the
-north of Italy to the French crown. Ferdinand
-had become possessed of Naples and Sicily, first,
-by aiding the French in conquering them, and
-then by driving out the French. Julius II. was
-equally averse from the presence of the French and
-Spaniards in Italy, but he was, at the same time,
-jealous of the spreading power of Venice, and
-therefore concealed his ultimate designs against
-France and Spain, so that he might engage Louis
-and Ferdinand to aid him in humbling Venice.
-For this purpose he engaged Louis, Ferdinand, and
-Maximilian of Austria to enter into a league at
-Cambray, as early as December, 1508, by which
-they engaged to assist him in regaining the dominions
-of the church from the Venetians.
-Henry, who had no interest in the matter, was
-induced, in course of time, to add his name to this
-League, as a faithful son of the Church.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner had Julius driven back the Venetians
-and reduced them to seek for peace, than he
-found occasion to quarrel with the French, and a
-new league was formed to protect the Pope from
-what he termed the ambitious designs of the
-French, into which Ferdinand, Maximilian, and
-Henry entered. Louis XII., seeing this powerful
-alliance arrayed against him, determined to carry
-a war of another nature into the camp of the militant
-Pope Julius. He induced a number of the
-cardinals to declare against the violence and
-aggressive spirit of the pontiff, as totally unbecoming
-his sacred character. But Julius, who,
-though now old, had all the resolution and the
-ambition of youth, set this schismatic conclave at
-defiance. He declared Pisa, where the opposing
-cardinals had summoned a council, and every other
-place to which they transferred themselves, under
-an interdict. He excommunicated all cardinals
-and prelates who should attend any such council,
-and not only they, but any temporal prince or
-chief who should receive, shelter, or countenance
-them.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time that Julius launched his thunders
-thus liberally at his disobedient cardinals, he
-made every court in Europe ring with his outcries
-against the perfidy and lawless ambition of Louis,
-who, not content with seizing on Milan, he now
-asserted, was striving to make himself master of
-the domains of the holy Mother Church. Henry
-was prompt in responding to this appeal. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
-regarded the claims of the Church as sacred and
-binding on all Christian princes; he had his own
-demands on Louis, and he was naturally disposed
-to co-operate with his father-in-law, Ferdinand.
-But beyond this, he was greatly flattered by the
-politic Pope declaring him "the head of the Italian
-league;" and assuring him that Louis by his hostility
-to the Church, having forfeited the title of
-the "Most Christian King," he would transfer it
-to him.</p>
-
-<p>Henry was perfectly intoxicated by these skilful
-addresses to his vanity, and condescended to a
-piece of deception which, though often practised
-by potentates and statesmen, is at all times unworthy
-of any Englishman; he joined the Kings
-of Scotland and Spain, in recommending Louis to
-make peace with the Pope, on condition that
-Bologna should be restored to the Church, the
-council of cardinals at Pisa dissolved, and the
-cause of Alphonso, the Duke of Ferrara&mdash;whose
-territories Julius, the fighting Pope, had invaded&mdash;referred
-to impartial judges. These propositions
-on the part of Henry were made by
-Young, the English ambassador; but Louis, on his
-part, was perfectly aware at this very time that
-Henry was not only in alliance with the Pope and
-Spain, but had engaged to join Ferdinand in an
-invasion of France in the spring. He therefore
-treated the hollow overture with just contempt.</p>
-
-<p>Henry was at this time in profound peace with
-Louis. He had but a few months before renewed
-his treaty with him, yet he was at the very time
-that he sent his hypocritical proposal of arbitration,
-diligently, though secretly, preparing for war
-with him. He sent a commission to gentlemen in
-each county on June 20th, 1511, to array and
-exercise all the men-at-arms and archers in their
-county, and to make a return of their names, and
-the quality of their arms, before the 1st of
-August.</p>
-
-<p>On opening his plans to his council, he there
-met with strong dissuasion from war against
-France, and on very rational grounds. It was
-contended that "the natural situation of islands
-seems not to consort with conquests on the Continent.
-If we will enlarge ourselves, let it be in
-the way for which Providence hath fitted us,
-which is by sea." Never was sounder or more
-enlightened counsel given to an English king. But
-such language was in vain addressed to the ears of
-Henry, which had been assiduously tickled by the
-emissaries of Pope Julius and Ferdinand the
-Catholic, who assured him that nothing would be
-more easy, while they attacked France in other
-quarters, than to recover all the provinces once
-possessed there. He hastened to form a separate
-treaty with his cunning father-in-law, who had his
-own scheme in it, and this treaty was signed on
-the 10th of November, 1511. The preamble of
-this treaty was a fine specimen of the solemn pretences
-with which men attempt to varnish over
-their unprincipled designs. It represented Louis
-as an enemy to God and religion, a cruel and unrelenting
-persecutor of the Church, one who despised
-all admonition, and had rejected the generous
-offer of the Pope to pardon his sins.</p>
-
-<p>And what was this pious scheme, so greatly
-to the glory of God and of heaven? It was
-professedly to seize on the French province of
-Guienne, in which Ferdinand promised to help
-Henry, but in reality to seize Navarre, in which
-Ferdinand meant Henry to help him, but took
-care not to say so. The old man, long practised
-in every art of royal treachery, was far too
-knowing for the vainglorious young man, his son-in-law.</p>
-
-<p>Things being put into this train, Henry sent a
-herald to Louis, to command him not to make war
-upon the Pope, whom he styled "the father of all
-Christians." Louis, who was well acquainted
-with what was going on, knew that Pope Julius
-was as much a soldier and a politician as a Pope.
-He was the most busy, scheming, restless, and
-ambitious old man of his time. He not only
-made war on his neighbours, but attended the field
-in person, watched the progress of sieges, saw his
-attendants fall by his very side, and inspected
-his outposts with the watchful diligence of a prudent
-general. Louis knew that he was at the
-bottom of all these leagues against him, and he
-only smiled at Henry's message. This herald was
-therefore speedily followed by another demanding
-the surrender of Anjou, Maine, Normandy, and
-Guienne, as Henry's lawful inheritance. This, of
-course, was tantamount to a declaration of war,
-and the formal declaration only awaited the sanction
-of Henry by Parliament. Parliament was
-therefore summoned by him on the 4th of February,
-1512, and was opened by Warham, Archbishop
-of Canterbury, with a sermon, the extraordinary
-text of which was&mdash;"Righteousness and
-peace have kissed each other" (Psalm lxxxv. 10).
-Two-tenths and two-fifteenths were cheerfully
-granted Henry for prosecuting the war, and the
-clergy in convocation voted a subsidy of £23,000.</p>
-
-<p>Thus zealously supported and encouraged, Henry
-despatched a declaration of war, and sent an army
-of 10,000 men, chiefly archers, with a train of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
-artillery, under command of the Marquis of
-Dorset, to co-operate with the Spaniards for the
-reduction of Guienne. These troops embarked at
-Southampton, May 16th, 1512, and soon landed
-safely at Guipuscoa, whilst the fleet under the
-Lord Admiral, Sir Edward Howard, cruised during
-the summer off the coast. But Ferdinand's real
-object was a very different one; his intention, as
-we have seen, was not to secure Guienne for his
-duped son-in-law, but Navarre for himself.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_105.jpg" width="500" height="251" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF HENRY VIII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF HENRY VIII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Navarre was a separate kingdom in possession
-of John d'Albret, who had married its heiress,
-the Infanta Catherine; and, justly suspicious of
-the covetous intentions of the King of Spain,
-he had sought to fortify himself by a secret
-treaty with the King of France. While, therefore,
-the Marquis of Dorset, the English general, and
-his army were impatiently waiting for the Spanish
-reinforcements, they received from Ferdinand a
-message that it would not be safe for them to quit
-the Spanish frontiers until they had secured the
-neutrality of the King of Navarre, who was also
-Lord of Béarn, on the French side of the Pyrenees.
-The English had thus to wait while Ferdinand
-demanded of D'Albret a pledge of strict
-neutrality during the present war. D'Albret readily
-assented to this; but Ferdinand then demanded
-security for his keeping this neutrality.
-To this also John of Navarre freely acceded;
-which was again followed by a demand from Ferdinand
-that this security should consist of the surrender
-of six of the most considerable places in
-his dominions into the hands of the Spaniards,
-and of his son as a hostage. The King of
-Navarre was compelled to refuse so unreasonable
-a requisition, and therefore Ferdinand, professing
-to believe that D'Albret meant to cut off the communication
-of the Spanish army with Spain if it
-ventured into France, and showing that he had
-obtained a copy of the secret treaty of D'Albret
-with Louis, immediately ordered the Duke of
-Alva to invade Navarre. The Duke soon made
-himself master of the smaller towns and the open
-country, and then summoned, to their profound
-astonishment, the English to march into Navarre,
-and assist him in reducing Pampeluna.</p>
-
-<p>Dorset now perceived the real game that was
-being played. Having no orders, however, to
-do anything but attack Guienne, he refused to
-move a foot for the reduction of Navarre, and
-demanded afresh the supplies of artillery and
-horse which had been guaranteed for the former
-enterprise. But Ferdinand replied that it was
-quite out of the question to furnish him with
-any till Navarre was made secure; that was the
-first necessary step, and that effected, he should
-be prepared to march with him to Bayonne,
-Bordeaux, and to the conquest of all Guienne.</p>
-
-<p>These representations only increased the disgust
-of Dorset and his army: but they could do
-nothing but await the event, and saw themselves
-thus most adroitly posted by Ferdinand, as the necessary
-guard of his position against the French,
-whilst he accomplished his long-desired acquisition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
-of Navarre. So Alva went on leisurely reducing
-Pampeluna, Ferdinand still calling on Dorset to
-accelerate the business by marching to Alva's
-support.</p>
-
-<p>Henry did not yet perceive how grossly he had
-been deluded by his loving father-in-law, who had
-only used him to secure a kingdom for himself
-most essential to the compactness and power of
-Spain; and he would have been led by him to
-assist in his still contemplated aggressions. In
-the meantime Louis, more cognisant of the game,
-marched his troops into Béarn, and left them,
-professedly for his ally, whilst the remnant of the
-English army reached home, shorn of its anticipated
-honours, reduced in numbers, in rags, and
-more than half-famished. Henry was disposed to
-charge upon Dorset the disasters and disappointments
-of the expedition, but the officers succeeded
-in convincing him that they could not have done
-differently, consistent with their orders; but the
-time was yet far off when the vainglorious young
-king was to have his eyes opened to the selfish deceptions
-which his Machiavelian father-in-law was
-practising upon him.</p>
-
-<p>At sea, the fleet under Sir Edward Howard had
-not been more successful than the forces on land.
-Sir Edward harassed the coasts of Brittany during
-the spring and summer, and on the 10th of August
-fell in with a fleet of thirty-nine sail. Sir Charles
-Brandon, afterwards the Duke of Suffolk, bore
-down upon the <em>Cordelier</em>, of Brest, a vessel of huge
-bulk, and carrying 900 men. Brandon's vessel
-was soon dismasted, and fell astern, giving place to
-the <em>Regent</em>, the largest vessel in the English navy,
-a ship of 1,000 tons. The <em>Regent</em> was commanded
-by Sir Thomas Knevet, a young officer of a daring
-character. He continued the contest for more
-than an hour, when another ship coming to his aid,
-the French commander set fire to the <em>Cordelier</em>,
-the flames of which soon catching the <em>Regent</em>, which
-lay alongside of her in full action, both vessels were
-wrapt in fire, amid which the crews continued
-their desperate fight till the French admiral's ship
-blew up, destroying with it the <em>Regent</em>; and all the
-crews went down with the commanders, amid the
-horror of the spectators. The rest of the French
-fleet then escaped into Brest; and Sir Edward
-Howard made a vow to God that he would never
-see the king's face again till he had avenged the
-death of the valiant Knevet.</p>
-
-<p>But though Henry had been duped by the wily
-Ferdinand, and had suffered at sea, his efforts
-had inflicted serious evil on the King of France.
-The menace of Louis' dominions in the south,
-and the English fleet hovering upon his coasts,
-had prevented him from sending into Italy the
-necessary force to ensure lasting advantage there.
-Before Christmas Julius had fulfilled his boast that
-he would drive the barbarians beyond the Alps.
-He had done it, says Muratori, without stopping a
-moment to ask himself whether this was the precise
-function of the chief pastor of the Church.</p>
-
-<p>Louis, convinced that the Holy League, as it was
-called, was proving too strong for him, employed
-the ensuing winter in devising means to break it
-up, or to corrupt some of its members. Julius,
-the soul of the League, died&mdash;a grand advantage
-to Louis&mdash;in February, 1513, and the new pontiff,
-Leo X., who was Cardinal John de Medici, though
-he prosecuted the same object of clearing Italy of
-the foreigner, did not possess the same belligerent
-temperament as his predecessor. Leo laboured to
-keep the League together, but at the same time
-he was engaged in schemes for the aggrandisement
-of his own family, and especially of securing
-to it the sovereignty of Florence. In pursuing
-this object, Venice felt itself neglected in its claims
-of support against the emperor, and went over to
-the alliance with France. Yet the plan of a renewed
-league between the Pope, the emperor, the
-kings of Spain and England, against Louis, which
-had long been secretly concocting at Mechlin, was
-signed by the plenipotentiaries on the 5th of April,
-1513. By this league Leo engaged to invade
-France in Provence or Dauphiné, and to launch
-the thunders of the Church at Louis. He had
-managed to detach the emperor from the French
-king, and engaged him to attack France from his
-own side, but not in Italy. To enable him to take
-the field, Henry of England was to advance him
-100,000 crowns of gold. Ferdinand engaged to
-invade Béarn, for which he particularly yearned,
-or Languedoc; Henry to attack Normandy,
-Picardy, or Guienne. The invading armies were
-to be strong and well appointed, and none of
-the confederates were to make a peace without the
-consent of all the rest.</p>
-
-<p>Henry, in his self-confident ardour, blinded by
-his vanity, little read as yet in the wiles and selfish
-cunning of men, was delighted with this accomplished
-league. To him it appeared that Louis
-of France, encompassed on every side, was certain
-of utter defeat, and thus as certain to be
-compelled to restore all the rich provinces which
-his fathers had wrested from England. But little
-did he dream that at the very moment he was empowering
-his plenipotentiary to sign this league,
-his Spanish father-in-law was signing another with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
-Louis himself, in conjunction with James of Scotland
-and the Duke of Gueldres. By this Ferdinand
-engaged to be quiet, and do Louis no harm.
-In fact, none of the parties in that league meant
-to fight at all. Their only object was to obtain
-Henry's money, or to derive some other advantage
-from him, and they would enjoy the pleasure of
-seeing him expending his wealth and his energies
-in the war on France, and thus reducing his too
-formidable ascendency in Europe. Ferdinand's
-intention was to spend the summer in strengthening
-his position in the newly acquired kingdom of
-Navarre, and Maximilian, the emperor, having got
-the subsidy from Henry, would be ready to reap
-further benefits whilst he idly amused the young
-king with his pretences of service. Henry alone
-was all on fire to wipe away the disgrace of his
-troops and the disasters of his navy; to win martial
-renown, and to restore the ancient Continental
-possessions of the Crown.</p>
-
-<p>The war commenced first at sea. Sir Edward
-Howard, burning to discharge his vow by taking
-vengeance for the death of Admiral Knevet,
-blockaded the harbour of Brest. On the 23rd of
-April he attempted to cut away a squadron of
-six galleys, moored in the bay of Conquêt, a few
-leagues from Brest, and commanded by Admiral
-Prejeant. With two galleys, one of which he
-gave into the command of Lord Ferrers, and four
-boats, he rowed up to the admiral's galley, leaped
-upon its deck, and was followed by one Carroz, a
-Spanish cavalier, and sixteen Englishmen. But
-the cable which bound the vessel to that of
-Prejeant being cut, his ship, instead of lying
-alongside, fell astern, and left him unsupported.
-He was forced overboard, with all his gallant followers,
-by the pikes of an overwhelming weight of
-the enemy, and perished. Sir Thomas Cheney, Sir
-John Wallop, and Sir William Sidney, seeing the
-danger of Sir Edward Howard, pressed forward to
-his rescue, but in vain, and the English fleet, discouraged
-by the loss of their gallant commander,
-put back to port. Prejeant sailed out of harbour
-after it, and gave chase, but failing in overtaking
-it, he made a descent on the coast of Sussex, where
-he was repulsed, and lost an eye, being struck by an
-arrow. Henry, on hearing the unfortunate affair
-of Brest, appointed Lord Thomas Howard to his
-brother's post, and bade him go out and avenge his
-death; whereupon the French fleet again made
-sail for Brest, and left the English masters of the
-Channel.</p>
-
-<p>In June, Henry deemed himself fully prepared
-to cross with his army to Calais. Lord Howard
-was ordered to bring his fleet into the Channel, to
-cover the passage, and on the 6th of June, 1513,
-the vanguard of the army passed over, under the
-command of the Earl of Shrewsbury, accompanied
-by the Earl of Derby, the Lords Fitzwalter,
-Hastings, Cobham, and Sir Rice ap Thomas. A
-second division followed on the 16th, under Lord
-Herbert, the Chamberlain, accompanied by the
-Earls of Northumberland and Kent; the Lords
-Audley and Delawar, with Carew, Curson, and
-many other gentlemen. Henry himself followed
-on the 30th, with the main body and the rear of
-the army. The whole force consisted of 25,000
-men, the majority of which was composed of the
-old victorious arm of archers.</p>
-
-<p>Before leaving Dover, to which place the queen
-attended him, Henry appointed her regent during
-his absence, and constituted Archbishop Warham
-and Sir Thomas Lovel her chief counsellors and
-ministers. On the plea of leaving no cause of disturbance
-behind him to trouble her Majesty, he cut
-off the head of the Earl of Suffolk. Henry VII.
-had inveigled this nobleman into his hands at the
-time of the visit of the Archduke Philip, on the
-assurance that he would not take his life; but he
-seems to have repented of this show of clemency,
-for on his death-bed the king left an order that
-his son should put him to death. The earl had
-remained till now prisoner in the Tower, and
-Henry had been fatally reminded of him and
-of his father's dying injunction by the imprudence
-of Richard de la Pole, the brother of Suffolk,
-who had not only attempted to revive the York
-faction, but had taken a high command in the
-French army.</p>
-
-<p>Henry himself, instead of crossing direct to
-Calais, ran down the coast as far as Boulogne,
-firing continually his artillery to terrify the French,
-and then returning, entered Calais amid a tremendous
-uproar of cannon from ships and batteries,
-announcing rather prematurely that another English
-monarch was come to conquer France. In
-order to effect this conquest, however, he found
-none of his allies fulfilling their agreements, except
-the Swiss, who, always alive at the touch of money,
-and having fingered that of Henry, were in full
-descent on the south of France, elated, moreover,
-with their victory over the French in the last
-Italian campaign. Maximilian, who had received
-120,000 crowns, was not yet visible. But Henry's
-own officers had shown no remissness. Before his
-arrival, Lord Herbert and the Earl of Shrewsbury
-had laid siege to Terouenne, a town situate on
-the borders of Picardy, where they found a stout<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
-resistance from the two commanders, Teligni and
-Crequi. The siege had been continued a month,
-and Henry, engaged in a round of pleasures and
-gaieties in Calais amongst his courtiers, seemed to
-have forgotten the great business before him, of
-rivalling the Edwards and the fifth of his own
-name. But news from the scene of action at length
-roused him. The besieged people of Terouenne, on
-the point of starvation, contrived to send word of
-their situation to Louis, who despatched Fontrailles
-with 800 Albanian horses, each soldier carrying
-behind him a sack of gunpowder and two quarters
-of bacon. Coming unawares upon the English
-camp, they made a sudden dash through it, up to
-the town fosse, where, flinging down their load,
-which was as quickly snatched up by the famishing
-inhabitants, they returned at full gallop, and so
-great was the surprise of the English that they
-again cut their way out and got clear off.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_108big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_108.jpg" width="560" height="426" alt="" title="MEETING OF HENRY AND THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>MEETING OF HENRY AND THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_108">108.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On arriving before Terouenne, on the 4th of
-August, Henry was soon joined by Maximilian,
-the emperor. This strange ally, who had received
-120,000 crowns to raise and bring with him an
-army, appeared with only a miserable complement
-of 4,000 horse. Henry had taken up his quarters
-in a magnificent tent, blazing in silks, blue damask,
-and cloth of gold, but the bad weather had driven
-him out of it into a wooden house. To do
-honour to his German ally&mdash;who, by rank, was the
-first prince in Christendom&mdash;Henry arrayed himself
-and his nobles in all their bravery of attire.
-They and their horses were loaded with gold and
-silver tissue; the camp glittered with the display
-of golden ornaments and utensils; and, in this
-royal splendour, he rode at the head of his Court
-and commanders to meet and escort his guest.
-They encountered the emperor and his attendants
-clad in simple black, mourning for the recent death
-of the empress. But there was little opportunity
-for comparisons&mdash;for the weather was terrible;
-and they exchanged their greetings amid tempests
-of wind and deluges of rain. Maximilian, to prevent
-any too-well founded complaints as to the
-smallness of his force compared with the greatness
-of his position, his promises in the alliance, and his
-princely pay, declared himself only the king's
-volunteer, ready to serve under him as his own
-soldier, for the payment of 100 crowns a day. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
-adopted Henry's badge of the red rose, was adorned
-with the cross of St. George, and, by flattering
-Henry's vanity, made him forget all his deficiencies.</p>
-
-<p>The pleasure of receiving his great ally was
-somewhat dashed with bitter by the arrival of the
-Scottish Lion king-at-arms with the declaration of
-war from James IV., accompanied by the information
-that his master was already in the field, and
-had sent a fleet to the succour of the French king.
-Henry proudly replied that he left the Earl of
-Surrey to entertain James, who would know very
-well how to do it.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_109big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_109.jpg" width="560" height="418" alt="" title="HENRY AND THE CAPTURED FRENCH OFFICERS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>HENRY AND THE CAPTURED FRENCH OFFICERS. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The French still continued to throw succours
-into Terouenne, in spite of the vigilance of the
-English. In this service no one was more active
-than the Duke of Angoulême, the heir-apparent to
-the crown, and afterwards Francis I. When the
-siege had lasted about six weeks, and the whole
-energy of the British army was roused to cut
-off these supplies of provisions and ammunition,
-the French advanced in great force to effect a
-diversion in favour of the place. A formidable
-display of cavalry issued from Blangy, and
-marched along the opposite bank of the Lis. As
-they approached Terouenne they divided into two
-bodies, one under Longueville, the other under the
-Duke of Alençon. Henry wisely followed the
-advice of Maximilian, who knew the country well,
-and had before this won two victories over the
-French in that very quarter. The troops were
-drawn out, and Maximilian crossed the river with
-his German horse and the English archers, also
-mounted on horseback. Henry followed with the
-infantry.</p>
-
-<p>The French cavalry, who had won a high reputation
-for bravery and address in the Italian campaigns,
-charged the united army brilliantly; but
-speedily gave way and rode off. The English
-archers and German horse gave chase; the French
-fled faster and faster, till in hot pursuit they were
-driven upon the lines of the main body, and threw
-them into confusion. This was, no doubt, more
-than was intended; for the probable solution of
-the mystery is, that the retreat of the advanced
-body of cavalry was a feint, to enable the Duke of
-Alençon to seize the opportunity of the pursuit by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
-the English to throw the necessary supplies into
-the town. This he attempted. Dashing across the
-river, he made for the gates of the town, whence
-simultaneously was made an impetuous sally. But
-Lord Herbert met and beat back Alençon; and
-the Earl of Shrewsbury chased back the sallying
-party. In the meantime the feigned retreat of the
-decoy cavalry, by the brisk pursuit of the German
-and English horse, had become a real one. After
-galloping almost four miles before their enemies,
-they rushed upon their own main body with such
-fiery haste that they communicated a panic.
-All wheeled about to fly; the English came on
-with vehement shouts of "St. George!" "St.
-George!" The French commanders called in
-vain to their terror-stricken men to halt, and
-face the enemy; every man dashed his spurs
-into the flanks of his steed, and the huge army,
-in irretrievable confusion, galloped away, without
-striking a single blow. The officers, while
-using every endeavour to bring the terrified
-soldiers to a stand, soon found themselves abandoned
-and in the hands of the enemy. The Duke
-de Longueville, the famous Chevalier Bayard,
-Bussy d'Amboise, the Marquis of Rotelin, Clermont,
-and La Fayette, men of the highest reputation
-in the French army, were instantly surrounded
-and taken, with many other distinguished
-officers. La Palice and Imbrecourt were also
-taken, but effected their escape.</p>
-
-<p>When these commanders, confounded by the
-unaccountable flight of their whole army, were
-presented to Henry and Maximilian, who had
-witnessed the sudden rout with equal amazement,
-Henry, laughing, complimented them ironically
-on the speed of their men, when the light-hearted
-Frenchmen, entering into the monarch's humour,
-declared that it was only a battle of spurs, for
-they were the only weapons that had been used.
-The Battle of Spurs has ever since been the name
-of this singular action, though it is sometimes
-called the Battle of Guinegate, from the place
-where the officers were met with. This event
-took place on the 16th of August.</p>
-
-<p>The garrison of Terouenne, seeing that all hope
-of relief was now over, surrendered; but, instead
-of leaving a sufficient force in the place to hold it,
-Henry, at the artful suggestion of the emperor,
-who was anxious to destroy such a stronghold on
-the frontiers of his grandson Charles, Duke of
-Burgundy, first wasted his time in demolishing the
-fortifications of the town, and then, under the
-same mischievous counsel, perpetrated a still
-grosser error. Instead of marching on Paris, he
-sat down before Tournay, which Maximilian
-wished to secure for his grandson Charles. It fell
-after eight days' siege.</p>
-
-<p>Here ended this extraordinary campaign, where
-so much had been prognosticated, and what was
-done should have only been the stepping-stones to
-infinitely greater advantages. But Henry entered
-the city of Tournay with as much pomp as if he
-had really entered into Paris instead. Wolsey received
-the promised wealthy bishopric, and Henry
-gratified his overweening vanity by his favourite
-tournaments and revelries. Charles, the young
-Duke of Burgundy, accompanied by his aunt
-Margaret, the Duchess-Dowager of Savoy, and
-Regent of the Netherlands, hastened to pay his
-respects to the English monarch, who had been so
-successfully fighting for his advantage.</p>
-
-<p>During the reign of Henry VII., Charles had
-been affianced to Mary, the daughter of Henry,
-and sister of the present King of England. As he
-was then only four years of age, oaths had been
-plighted, and bonds to a heavy amount entered
-into by Henry and Maximilian for the preservation
-of the contract. The marriage was to take
-place on Charles reaching his fourteenth year.
-That time was now approaching; and, therefore, a
-new treaty was now subscribed, by which Maximilian,
-Margaret, and Charles were bound to
-meet Henry, Catherine, and Mary in the following
-spring to complete this union.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime, the Swiss, discovering what sort of
-an ally they had got, entered into a negotiation
-with Tremouille, the Governor of Burgundy, who
-paid them handsomely in money, promised them
-much more, and saw them march off again to their
-mountains. Relieved from those dangerous visitants,
-Louis once more breathed freely. He concentrated
-his forces in the north, watched the movements
-of Henry VIII. with increasing satisfaction,
-and at length saw him embark for England with a
-secret resolve to accumulate a serious amount of
-difficulties in the way of his return. France had
-escaped from one of the most imminent perils of
-its history by the folly of the vainglorious English
-king. Yet he returned with all the assumption
-of a great conqueror, and utterly unconscious that
-he had been a laughing-stock and a dupe.</p>
-
-<p>We have seen that James IV. of Scotland sent
-his declaration of war to Henry whilst he was engaged
-at the siege of Terouenne. Among the
-causes of complaint which James deemed he had
-against Henry was the refusal to deliver up the
-jewels left by Henry's father to the Queen Margaret
-of Scotland&mdash;a truly dishonest act on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
-part of the English monarch, who, with all the
-wasteful prodigality peculiar to himself, inherited
-the avaricious disposition of his father. No sooner,
-therefore, did Henry set out for France, than
-James despatched a fleet with a body of 3,000 men
-to the aid of Louis, and by his herald at Terouenne,
-after detailing the catalogue of his own grievances,
-demanded that Henry should evacuate France.
-This haughty message received as haughty a reply,
-but James did not live to receive it.</p>
-
-<p>In August, whilst Henry still lay before Terouenne,
-on the very same day that the Scottish herald
-left that place with his answer, the peace between
-England and Scotland was broken by Lord Home,
-chamberlain to King James, who crossed the
-Border, and made a devastating raid on the defenceless
-inhabitants. His band of marauders,
-on their return, loaded with plunder, was met
-by Sir William Bulmer, who slew 500 of them
-upon the spot, and took 400 prisoners. Called to
-action by this disaster, James collected on the
-Burghmuir, to the south of Edinburgh, such
-an army as, say the writers of the time, never
-gathered round a king of Scotland. Some state it
-at 100,000 men; the lowest calculation is 80,000.</p>
-
-<p>James passed the Tweed on the 22nd of August,
-and on that and the following day encamped at
-Twizel-haugh. On the 24th, with the consent of
-his nobles, he issued a declaration that the heirs of
-all who were killed or who died in that expedition,
-should be exempt from all charges for wardship,
-relief, or marriage, without regard to their age.
-He then advanced up the right bank of the Tweed,
-and attacked the Border castle of Norham. This
-strong fortress was expected to detain the army
-some time, but the governor, rashly improvident of
-his ammunition, was compelled to surrender on the
-fifth day, August 29th. Wark, Etall, Heaton,
-and Ford Castles, places of no great consequence,
-soon followed the example of Norham. That accomplished,
-James fixed his camp on Flodden Hill,
-the east spur of the Cheviot Mountains, with the
-deep river Till flowing at his feet to join the neighbouring
-Tweed. In that strong position he
-awaited the approach of the English army.</p>
-
-<p>The Earl of Surrey, commissioned by Henry on
-his departure expressly to arm the northern counties
-and defend the frontiers from an irruption of
-the Scots, no sooner heard of the muster of James
-on the Burghmuir, than he despatched messages to
-all the noblemen and gentlemen of those counties
-to assemble their forces, and meet him on the 1st
-of September at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He marched
-out of York on the 27th of August, and, though
-the weather was wet and stormy, and the roads
-consequently very bad, he marched day and night
-till he reached Durham. There he received the
-news that the Scots had taken Norham, which the
-commander had bragged he would hold against
-all comers till Henry returned from France.
-Receiving the banner of St. Cuthbert from the
-Prior of Durham, Surrey marched to Newcastle,
-where a council of war was held, and the troops
-from all parts were appointed to assemble on the
-4th of September at Bolton, in Glendale, about
-twenty miles from Ford, where the Scots were
-said to be lying.</p>
-
-<p>On the 4th of September, before Surrey had
-left Alnwick, which he had reached the evening
-before, he was joined, to his great encouragement,
-by his gallant son, Lord Thomas Howard, the
-Admiral of England, with a choice body of 5,000
-men, whom Henry had despatched from France.
-From Alnwick the earl sent a herald to the Scottish
-king to reproach him with his breach of faith
-to his brother, the King of England, and to offer
-him battle on Friday, the 9th, if he dared to wait
-so long for his arrival.</p>
-
-<p>On the 6th of September, the Earl of Surrey
-had reached Wooler-haugh, within three miles of
-the Scottish camp.</p>
-
-<p>When Surrey came in sight, he was greatly
-struck with the formidable nature of James's
-position, and sent a messenger to him charging
-him with having shifted his ground after having
-accepted the challenge, and calling upon him to
-come down into the spacious plain of Millfield,
-where both armies could contend on more equal
-terms, the army of Surrey amounting to only 25,000
-men. James, resenting this accusation, refused to
-admit the herald to his presence, but sent him
-word that he had sought no undue advantage,
-should seek none, and that it did not become an
-earl to send such a message to a king.</p>
-
-<p>This endeavour to induce James by his high
-and often imprudent sense of honour to weaken
-his position not succeeding, on the 8th Surrey
-at the suggestion of his son the Lord Admiral
-adopted a fresh stratagem. He marched northward,
-sweeping round the hill of Flodden, crossed
-the Till near Twizel Castle, and thus placed the
-whole of his army between James and Scotland.
-From that point they directed their march as if
-intending to cross the Tweed, and enter Scotland.
-On the morning of Friday, the 9th, leaving their
-night halt at Barmoor Wood, they continued this
-course, till the Scots were greatly alarmed lest the
-English should plunder the fertile country of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
-Merse, and they implored the king to descend and
-fight in defence of his country. Moved by these
-representations, and this being the day on which
-Surrey had promised to fight him, he ordered his
-army to set fire to their tents with all the litter
-and refuse of the camp, so as to make a great
-smoke, under which they might descend, unnoticed,
-on the English. But no sooner did the
-English perceive this, than also availing themselves
-of the obscurity of the smoke, they wheeled
-about, and made once more for the Till. As the
-reek blew aside, they were observed in the very
-act of crossing the narrow bridge of Twizel, and
-Robert Borthwick, the commander of James's
-artillery, fell on his knees and implored his
-sovereign to allow him to turn the fire of his
-cannon on the bridge, which he would destroy,
-and prevent the passage of Surrey's host. But
-James, with that romantic spirit of chivalry which
-seems to have possessed him to a degree of
-insanity, is said to have replied, "Fire one shot on
-the bridge, and I will command you to be hanged,
-drawn, and quartered. I will have all my enemies
-before me, and fight them fairly."</p>
-
-<p>Thus the English host defiled over the bridge at
-leisure, and drew up in a long double line, consisting
-of a centre and two wings, with a strong body
-of cavalry, under Lord Dacre, in the rear. They
-beheld the Scots, in like form, descending the hill
-in solemn silence. The two conflicting armies
-came into action about four o'clock in the afternoon
-by the mutual discharge of their artillery.
-The thunder and concussion were terrific, but it
-was soon seen that the guns of the Scots being
-placed too high, their balls passed over the heads
-of their opponents, whilst those of the English,
-sweeping up the hill, did hideous execution, and
-made the Scots impatient to come to closer fight.
-The master gunner of Scotland was soon slain, his
-men were driven from their guns, whilst the shot
-of the English continued to strike into the heart
-of the battle. The left wing of the Scots, under
-the Earl of Huntly and Lord Home, came first
-into contact with the right wing of the English,
-and fighting on foot with long spears, they
-charged the enemy with such impetuosity, that
-Sir Edmund Howard, the commander of that
-wing, was borne down, his banner flung to the
-earth, and his lines broken into utter confusion.
-But at this moment Sir Edmund and his division
-were suddenly succoured by the Bastard Heron.
-This movement was supported by the advance
-of the second division of the English right wing,
-under the Lord Admiral, who attacked Home
-and Huntly, and these again were followed by
-the cavalry of Lord Dacre's reserve.</p>
-
-<p>The Highlanders, under Home and Huntly,
-when they overthrew Sir Edmund Howard,
-imagined that they had won the victory, and fell
-eagerly to stripping and plundering the slain;
-but they soon found enough to do to defend themselves,
-and the battle then raged with desperate
-energy. At length the Scottish left gave way,
-and the Lord Admiral and the cavalry of Dacre
-next fell on the division under the Earls of
-Crawford and Montrose, both of whom were
-slain.</p>
-
-<p>On the extreme right wing of the Scottish army
-fought the clans of the Macleans, the Mackenzies,
-the Campbells, and Macleods, under the Earls of
-Lennox and Argyle. These encountered the
-stout bowmen of Lancashire and Cheshire, under
-Sir Edward Stanley, who galled the half-naked
-Highlanders so intolerably with their arrows,
-that they flung down their targets, and dashed
-forward with claymore and axe pell-mell amongst
-the enemy. The French commissioner, De la Motte,
-who was present, astounded at this display of
-wild passion and savage insubordination, assisted
-by other French officers, shouted, stormed, and
-gesticulated to check the disorderly rabble, and
-restrain them in their ranks. In vain! The
-English, for a moment surprised by this sudden
-furious onslaught, yet kept their ranks unbroken,
-and, advancing like a solid wall, flung back their
-disintegrated assailants, swept them before them,
-and despatched them piece-meal. The Earls of
-Argyle and Lennox perished in the midst of their
-unmanageable men.</p>
-
-<p>The two main bodies of the armies only were
-now left where James and Surrey were contending
-at the head of their troops, but with this
-difference, that the Scottish right and left were
-now unprotected, and those of James's centre
-were attacked on each side by the victorious right
-and left wings of the English. On one side Sir
-Edward Stanley charged with archers and pikemen,
-on the other Lord Howard, Sir Edmund
-Howard, and Lord Dacre were threatening with
-both horse and foot.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_113big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_113.jpg" width="410" height="560" alt="" title="EDINBURGH AFTER FLODDEN" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>EDINBURGH AFTER FLODDEN. (<i>See p.</i> 114.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>James and all his nobility about him in the
-main body were fighting on foot, and being clad
-in splendid armour, they suffered less from the
-English archers, who were opposed to them in the
-ranks of Surrey. On James's right hand fought
-his natural son, the accomplished Archbishop of
-St. Andrews. Soon the combatants became engaged
-hand to hand in deadly struggle with their
-swords, spears, pikes, and other instruments
-of death. Whilst hewing and cutting each other
-down in furious strife, face to face, life for life,
-showers of English arrows fell amid the Scottish
-ranks, and dealt terrible destruction to the less
-stoutly protected. When the Earls of Bothwell
-and Huntly rushed to the support of the main
-body on the one side, and Stanley, the Howards,
-and Dacre came to the aid of Surrey on the other,
-the strife became terrible beyond description, and
-the slaughter awful on every side of the environed
-Scots. Before the arrival of the reserves the
-Scots appeared at one time to have the best of it,
-and to be on the very edge of victory; and even
-after that James and the gallant band around him
-seemed to make a stupendous effort, as if they
-thought their sole hope was to force their way to
-Surrey and cut him down. James is said to have
-reached within a spear's length of him, when,
-after being twice wounded with arrows, he was
-despatched by a bill. This decided the day; the
-Scots, after suffering fearful losses, retreated next
-morning from the field, after holding Flodden Hill
-during the night.</p>
-
-<p>When the news of the Scottish overthrow
-reached Edinburgh, it plunged the inhabitants
-into terrible grief and dismay. Women, weeping
-and seeking for tidings of their friends, thronged
-the streets. But the civic authorities kept their
-heads in the crisis. They ordered all the inhabitants
-capable of bearing arms to assemble for
-the defence at the tolling of a bell. Women and
-strangers were required to remain at their work
-and not to frequent the streets "clamorand and
-cryand;" while women of higher station were to
-repair to church, to offer up prayers "for our
-Sovereign Lord and his army, and the townsmen
-who are with the army." The crisis soon passed.
-No invasion was ever likely in view of the serious
-losses which the English themselves had suffered, and
-the city in due course regained its wonted aspect.</p>
-
-<p>James IV., who fell at Flodden in the forty-first
-year of his age, and the twenty-fifth of his
-reign, was a prince of quick, generous, and
-chivalric character. Like his father, he had a taste
-for the arts, particularly those of civil and naval
-architecture; he built the great ship <em>St. Michael</em>,
-and several churches, and maintained a Court
-far superior in its elegance and refinement to that
-of any of his predecessors. On such a nature,
-Henry, by kind and even just treatment, might
-have operated so as to excite the most devoted
-friendship. As it was, a neighbouring nation,
-instead of a firm ally, had been made a more
-embittered enemy; its prince had been slain, and
-his kingdom left exposed, in the peculiar weakness
-of a long minority, to the ambitious cupidity
-of his royal uncle, whose overbearing designs only
-tended to defeat that union of the crowns which
-he was most anxious to ensure, and to perpetuate
-crimes, heartburnings, and troubles between the
-two governments, for two eventful generations
-yet to come. Henry, however, overlooking all
-these things, on returning home elate with his
-own useless campaign, and this brilliant but cruel
-victory, rewarded Surrey by restoring to him the
-title of Duke of Norfolk, forfeited by his father
-for his adherence to Richard III., and Lord
-Thomas Howard, his son, succeeded, for his part,
-to the title of Earl of Surrey, which had been his
-father's. Lord Herbert was made Earl of Somerset;
-and Sir Edward Stanley, Lord Monteagle.
-At the same time, his favourite, Sir Charles
-Brandon, Lord Lisle, the king elevated to the
-dignity of Duke of Suffolk. Wolsey, his growing
-clerical favourite, he made Bishop of Lincoln, in
-addition to his French bishopric of Tournay.</p>
-
-<p>Henry VIII. had returned from the Continent
-as much inflated with the idea of his military
-greatness as if he had been Henry V.; his allies,
-in the meantime, were laughing in their sleeves at
-the success with which they had duped him. It
-was true that he had seriously distressed Louis,
-but it was for the benefit of those allies, who had
-all reaped singular advantages from Henry's
-campaign and heavy outlay. The Pope had got
-Italy freed from the French; Ferdinand of Spain
-had got Navarre, and leisure to fortify and make
-it safe; and Maximilian had got Terouenne,
-Tournay, and command of the French frontiers on
-the side of Flanders, with a fine pension from
-England. It was now time to see what acknowledgment
-those allies were likely to make
-him for his expensive services, and they did not
-permit him to wait long. While he had been so
-essentially obliging to the Pope, his Holiness had
-sent four bulls into his kingdom, by every one of
-which he had violated the statutes of the realm,
-especially that of Provisors, taking upon himself
-to nominate bishops and to command the persecution
-of heretics. The pontiff now went
-farther, and made a secret treaty with Louis of
-France, by which he removed the excommunication
-from Louis, and the interdict from his
-kingdom, on condition that Louis should withdraw
-his countenance from the schismatic council
-of cardinals; but knowing Henry's vain character,
-the Pope, to prevent him from expressing any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
-anger, sent him a consecrated sword and banner,
-with many fulsome compliments on his valour and
-royal greatness.</p>
-
-<p>Henry's father-in-law, Ferdinand, was growing
-old, and having obtained all that he wanted&mdash;Navarre&mdash;was
-most ready to listen to Louis'
-proposals for peace. Louis tempted him by
-offering to marry his second daughter, Rénée, to
-his grandson Charles, and to give her as her
-portion his claim on the duchy of Milan. Ferdinand
-not only accepted with alacrity these terms,
-without troubling himself about what Henry
-might think of such treachery, but engaged to
-bring over Maximilian, Henry's ally and paid
-agent, but still the grandfather of Charles.
-When the news of these transactions, on the
-part of his trusty confederates, reached Henry,
-he was for a while incredulous, and then broke
-into a fury of rage. He complained that his
-father-in-law had been the first to involve him
-with France by his great promises and professions,
-not one of which he had kept, and now, without
-a moment's warning, had not only sacrificed his
-interests for his own selfish purposes, but had
-drawn over the Emperor of Germany, who lay
-under such signal obligations to him. He vowed the
-most determined revenge. Here was Maximilian,
-for whom he had conquered Terouenne and
-Tournay, whom he had subsidised to the amount
-of 200,000 crowns, and whose grandson Charles
-was affianced to his sister Mary, who had in a
-moment forgotten all these benefits and his engagement.
-As the time was come for the
-marriage of Charles and the Princess Mary,
-Henry sent a demand for its completion; Maximilian,
-who had already agreed to Louis' offer
-of his daughter Rénée, sent an evasive answer,
-and Henry's wrath knew no bounds. It was impossible
-for even his egregious vanity to blind
-him any longer to the extent to which he had
-been duped all round.</p>
-
-<p>Louis, having thus destroyed Henry's confederacy
-of broken reeds, next took measures to
-secure a peace with him. The Duke of Longueville,
-who was one of the prisoners taken at the
-Battle of Spurs, was in London, and instructed
-by Louis, kept his ears open to Henry's angry
-denunciations of his perfidious allies. He represented
-to him that Anne, the Queen of France,
-being dead, there was a noble opportunity of
-avenging himself on these ungrateful princes, and
-of forming an alliance with Louis which would
-make them all tremble. Mary, the Princess of
-England, might become Queen of France, and
-thus a league be established between England and
-France which would decide the fate of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>Henry's resentment and wounded honour
-would of themselves have made him close eagerly
-with this proposal; but he saw in it the most
-substantial advantages, and in a moment made
-up his mind. He had the policy, however, to
-appear to demur, and said his people would never
-consent for him to renounce his hereditary claims
-on France, which must be the case if such an
-alliance took place. They would ask themselves
-what equivalent they should obtain for so great a
-surrender. The shrewd Frenchman understood
-the suggestion; he communicated what passed
-to his Government, and proposals were quickly
-sent to meet Henry's views. Louis agreed to pay
-Henry a million crowns in discharge of all arrears
-due to Henry VII. from Charles VIII., &amp;c.;
-and Henry engaged to give his sister a dower of
-200,000 crowns, to pay the expenses of her
-journey, and to supply her with jewels&mdash;probably
-those of which he had defrauded the Scottish
-queen. The two kings agreed to assist each
-other, in case of any attack, by a force of 14,000
-men, or, in case of any attack by either of them
-on another power, by half that number. This
-treaty was to continue for the lives of the two
-kings, and a year longer.</p>
-
-<p>Thus was the Holy League, as it had been
-called, for the defence of the Pope and the
-Church against the King of France entirely done
-away with; and this great pretence was not so
-much as mentioned in any one of these treaties
-which put an end to it. The King of France
-strove hard to obtain Tournay again; but, though
-it was evidently Henry's interest to restore it,
-his favourite Wolsey, apprehensive of losing the
-profits of the bishopric, successfully opposed its
-restoration. Wolsey and Fox of Durham were
-Henry's plenipotentiaries for the management of
-the treaty, which was signed on the 7th of
-August, 1514.</p>
-
-<p>By this treaty, Mary Tudor, Princess Royal
-of England, a remarkably beautiful young woman
-of sixteen, and passionately attached to Charles
-Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the handsomest and
-most accomplished man of Henry's Court, was
-handed over to the worn-out Louis of France,
-who was fifty-three in years, and much older in
-constitution.</p>
-
-<p>But this unnatural political <em>mésalliance</em> was not
-destined to be of long duration. Louis wrote in
-the course of December to Henry, expressing his
-happiness in possessing so excellent and amiable a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
-wife, and on the 1st of January he expired. The
-dissipation at Court, consequent on his marriage,
-is stated in the "Life of Bayard" to have precipitated
-his end. "For the good king, on account of
-his wife, had changed the whole manner of his
-life. He had been accustomed to dine at eight
-o'clock, now he had to dine at noon; he had been
-accustomed to retire to rest at six in the evening,
-and now he had often to sit up till midnight."
-Louis was greatly beloved by his subjects, who
-regarded him as a brave, upright, and wise prince,
-and gave him the honourable title of "the Father
-of his People." Mary promptly married her old
-lover, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Henry
-was angry at first, but the storm soon lulled.
-Wolsey is said to have been in the secret from the
-first, and such was his influence now, that a much
-more difficult matter would have given way before
-it. The young couple were received into favour,
-and ordered by Henry to be re-married before him
-at Greenwich&mdash;an event which took place on the
-13th of May, 1515. So far was the part which
-Francis I. had taken in this matter from being
-resented, that he and Henry renewed all the engagements
-which existed between Louis and
-Henry, and so satisfactorily that they boasted
-that they had made a peace which would last for
-ever.</p>
-
-<p>We have had frequent occasion already to introduce
-the name of Wolsey; we shall have still
-more frequent and more surprising occasion to
-repeat that name: and it is therefore necessary
-to take a complete view of the man who was
-now rapidly rising into a prominence before
-Europe and the world, such as has few examples
-in history, in one whose origin was as mean
-as his ascent was dazzling, and his fall sudden and
-irrevocable.</p>
-
-<p>In the reign of Henry VII. we find first the
-name of Thomas Wolsey coming to public view as
-the private secretary of the king at the time of
-the forced visit of the Archduke Philip to the
-English Court. This originally obscure clergyman
-was born in 1471 at Ipswich, where his father was
-a wealthy butcher, and, therefore, could afford
-to give his son an education at the university.
-Probably the worthy butcher was induced to this
-step by a perception of the lad's uncommon cleverness,
-for at Oxford he displayed so much talent
-that he was soon distinguished by the title of the
-"Boy Bachelor." He became teacher of the
-grammar-school adjoining Magdalen College, and
-among his pupils were the sons of the Marquis of
-Dorset, on whom he so far won that he gave him
-the somewhat valuable living of Lymington, in
-Somersetshire. This might seem substantial promotion
-for the butcher's son, but an eagle, though
-hatched in the nest of a barn-door fowl, is sure to
-soar up towards the sun. Thomas Wolsey was not
-destined to the obscurity of a country parish.
-The same abilities and address which won him the
-favour of the marquis were capable of attracting
-far higher patrons.</p>
-
-<p>Leaving his country parish, he seems to have
-been introduced to Fox, the Bishop of Winchester,
-and minister to Henry VII., who introduced him
-to the king, who was so much satisfied with him
-that he made him one of the royal chaplains. In
-this position the extraordinary talents and Court
-aptitude of Wolsey soon became apparent to the
-cautious old king. He employed him in sundry
-matters requiring secrecy and address. He was
-soon advanced to the deanery of Lincoln, and office
-of the king's almoner. Wolsey was Henry VII.'s
-envoy to the Duchess of Savoy when that amorous
-monarch had fallen in love with her fortune.</p>
-
-<p>On the accession of Henry VIII., Wolsey rose
-still higher in the favour of the youthful monarch.
-Henry was but nineteen. Wolsey was forty; yet
-not a young gallant about the Court could so completely
-adapt himself to the fancy of the young
-pleasure-loving and power-loving king. In a very
-few months he was Henry's bosom friend&mdash;the
-associate in all his gaieties, the repository of all his
-secrets, the dispenser of all his favours, and, in
-reality, his only confidential minister. Henry
-seemed wrapped in admiration at the union of
-intellect and courtly accomplishment in the wonderful
-man. He gave him a grant of all deodands
-and forfeitures of felony, and went on continually
-adding to these other offices, benefices, and grants.
-In November, 1510, he was admitted a member of
-the Privy Council, and from that time he was
-really Prime Minister. Henry could move
-nowhere without his great friend and counsellor.
-He took him with him on his expedition to France
-in 1513, there conferred on him the wealthy
-bishopric of Tournay, and on his return made him
-Bishop of Lincoln, and gave him the opulent
-Abbey of St. Albans <em>in commendam</em>.</p>
-
-<p>The ascent of Wolsey was now rapid. From
-the very commencement of his career at Court no
-man had been able to stand before him. Bishop
-Fox had first recommended his introduction into
-the Privy Council because, growing old himself, he
-perceived that the Earl of Surrey, afterwards
-conqueror of Flodden, and Duke of Norfolk, was
-winning higher favour with the king than the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
-ancient bishop; because his martial tastes and
-more courtly character were more attractive to
-Henry. Wolsey soon showed himself so successful
-that he not only cast Surrey, but his own
-patron, into the shade. In everything Wolsey
-could participate in the monarch's pursuits and
-amusements. Henry had already an ambition of
-literary and polemic distinction. He had studied
-the school divinity, and was an ardent admirer of
-Thomas Aquinas. Here Wolsey was quite at
-home; for he was a widely read man, and would, as
-a matter of course, soon refresh himself on any
-learned topic which was his master's hobby.
-While he flattered the young king's vanity, he was
-ready to contribute to his whims and his pleasures.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_117big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_117.jpg" width="437" height="560" alt="From the Portrait by Holbein" title="ARCHBISHOP WARHAM" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ARCHBISHOP WARHAM. (<i>From the Portrait by Holbein.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 14th of July, 1514, Leo X. addressed a
-letter to Henry, informing him that his ambassador,
-Cardinal Bambridge, the Archbishop of
-York, had died that day; and that, at the request
-of the deceased, he had promised not to appoint a
-successor till he had learnt the pleasure of his
-Majesty. This pleasure, there can be no doubt,
-was already known; and that the Pope, like every
-one now, perceiving the power of the favourite,
-was ready to conciliate him. The king at once
-named Wolsey to his Holiness, and showed that
-he was quite satisfied that that nomination would
-be confirmed by at once placing the archbishopric
-and all its revenues in the custody of the favourite.
-Thus was this great son of fortune at once possessed
-of the Archbishopric of York, the Bishoprics
-of Tournay and Lincoln, the administration of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
-Bishoprics of Worcester, Hereford, and Bath, the
-possessors of which were Italians, who resided
-abroad, and were glad to secure a portion of
-their revenues by resigning to the native prelate
-the rest. Henry even allowed Wolsey, with the
-See of York, to unite that of Durham, as he afterwards
-did that of Winchester. The Pope, seeing
-more and more the marvellous influence of the
-man, before this year was out made him a cardinal.
-"For," says Hall, "when he was once archbishop,
-he studied day and night how to be a cardinal, and
-caused the king and the French king to write to
-Rome for him." Leo found a strong opposition
-amongst the cardinals to this promotion; but,
-desirous to oblige both Henry and Francis, he
-declared him a cardinal in full consistory, on
-September 11th.</p>
-
-<p>My Lord Cardinal Wolsey almost immediately
-received a fresh favour from the Pope, who appointed
-him legate in England. This commission
-was originally limited to two years, but Wolsey
-never relinquished the office. He obtained from
-succeeding Popes a continuation of the post,
-asking from time to time even fresh powers, till he
-at length exercised within the realm almost all
-the prerogatives of the Pontiff. The only step
-above him now was the Papacy itself, and on that
-dignity he had already fixed his ambitious eye.</p>
-
-<p>From the moment that Wolsey saw himself a
-cardinal and Papal legate, as well as chief
-favourite of the king, his ambition displayed
-itself without restraint, and we shall have to
-paint, in his career, one of the most amazing
-instances of the pride, power, and grandeur of a
-subject. When his cardinal's hat was brought to
-England, he sent a splendid deputation to meet
-the bearer of it at Blackheath, and to conduct him
-through London, as if he had been the Pope himself.
-He gave a reception of the hat in Westminster
-Hall, which more resembled a coronation
-than the official investiture of a subject and a
-clergyman. His arrogance and ostentation disgusted
-the king's old ministers and courtiers.
-The Duke of Norfolk, with all his military glory,
-found himself completely eclipsed, and absented
-himself from Court as much as possible, though
-he still held the office of Treasurer. Fox, the
-venerable Bishop of Winchester, who had been
-the means of introducing Wolsey, found himself
-superseded by him, and, resigning his office of
-Keeper of the Privy Seal, retired to his diocese.
-On taking his leave, the aged minister was bold
-enough to caution Henry not to make any of his
-subjects greater than himself, to which the bluff
-king replied that he knew how to keep his
-subjects in order. The resignation of Fox was
-followed by that of Archbishop Warham, who
-delivered the Great Seal on the 22nd of December,
-1515, resigning his office of Chancellor. Henry
-immediately handed over the seal to Wolsey, who
-now stood on the pinnacle of power, almost alone.
-He was like a great tree which withered up every
-other tree which came within its shade, and even
-the kingly power itself seemed centred in his
-hands. For the next ten years he may be said to
-have reigned in England, and Henry himself to
-have been the nominal, and Wolsey the real king.
-Well might he, in addressing a foreign power, say,
-"<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ego et rex meus</i>:" "I and my king."</p>
-
-<p>Whilst the great looked on all this grandeur in
-obsequious but resentful silence, the people settled
-it in their own minds that the wonderful power of
-the priest over the fiery nature of the monarch
-was the effect of sorcery. But Wolsey was no
-mean or ordinary man. His talents and his consummate
-address were what influenced the king,
-who was proud of the magnificence which was at
-once his creation and his representative; and
-Wolsey had a grasp, an expanse, and an elevation
-in his ambition, which had something sublime in
-them. Though he was in the receipt of enormous
-revenues, he had no paltry desire to hoard them.
-He employed them in this august state and mode
-of living, which he regarded as reflecting honour
-on the monarch whose chief minister he was, and
-on the Church in which he held all but the highest
-rank. He devoted his funds liberally to the promoting
-of literature. He sent learned men to
-foreign courts to copy valuable manuscripts, which
-were made accessible by his vast influence. He
-built Hampton Court Palace, a residence fit only
-for a monarch, and presented it to Henry as a gift
-worthy such a subject to such a king. He built a
-college at Ipswich, his native place, and was in the
-course of erecting Christ Church at Oxford when
-his career was so abruptly closed. Besides that,
-he endowed seven lectureships in Oxford.</p>
-
-<p>The peace which Henry had made with the
-young monarch of France was not destined to be
-of long continuance. Francis I. soon had the
-misfortune to offend both Henry and Wolsey, and
-in their separate interests. James IV. of Scotland
-had left by his will the regency of his kingdom to
-his widow. The Convention of the States confirmed
-this arrangement, but on condition that the
-queen remained unmarried. James V., her son,
-of whom she was to retain the guardianship, was
-on his father's death an infant of only a year-and-a-half
-old. In less than seven months after the
-death of her husband, Margaret was delivered of a
-second son, Alexander, Duke of Ross; and in less
-than three months after that she married, in
-defiance of the Convention of the States, Douglas,
-Earl of Angus, a young man of handsome person,
-but of an ambitious and headstrong character.
-This marriage gave great offence to a large
-number of the nobility, especially those who had
-a leaning to France. They asserted that Henry
-of England, the queen's brother, notwithstanding
-that he had deprived her of her husband, and notwithstanding
-her difficult position as the widowed
-mother of an infant king, so far from supporting
-her, took every opportunity to attack her borders.
-They therefore recommended that they should
-recall from France John, Duke of Albany, the son
-of Alexander, who had been banished by his
-brother James III., and place the regency in his
-hands. Albany, though of Scottish origin, was a
-Frenchman by birth, education, and taste. He
-had not a foot of land in Scotland, but in France
-he had extensive demesnes, and stood high in
-favour of the monarch.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_118big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_118.jpg" width="560" height="308" alt="By permission, from the Painting in the City of London Corporation Art Gallery. By Sir John Gilbert" title="CARDINAL WOLSEY GOING IN PROCESSION TO WESTMINSTER HALL" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>By permission, from the Painting in the City of London Corporation Art Gallery.</i></p>
-
-<p>CARDINAL WOLSEY GOING IN PROCESSION TO WESTMINSTER HALL</p>
-
-<p><i>By Sir John Gilbert</i>, R.A., P.R.W.S.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>At the head of the party in opposition to the
-queen was Lord Home, on whose conduct at
-Flodden aspersions had been cast. By him and
-his party it was that Albany was invited to
-Scotland. Henry was greatly alarmed at this
-proposition, and for some time the fear of a breach
-induced Francis I. to restrain Albany from
-accepting the offer. Yet in May, 1515, Albany
-made his appearance in Scotland. He found that
-kingdom in a condition which required a firm and
-determined hand to govern it. The nobility,
-always turbulent, and kept in order with difficulty
-by the strongest monarchs, were now divided into
-two factions, for and against the queen and her
-party. Lord Home, by whom Albany had chiefly
-been invited, had the ill-fortune to be represented
-to Albany, immediately on his arrival, as, so far
-from a friend, one of the most dangerous enemies
-of legitimate authority in the kingdom. Home,
-apprised of this representation, and of its having
-taken full effect on the mind of Albany, threw
-himself into the party of the queen, and urged her
-to avoid the danger of allowing the young princes
-to fall into the hands of Albany, who was the next
-heir to the crown after them, and was, according
-to his statement, a most dangerous and ambitious
-man. Moved by these statements, Margaret
-determined to escape to England with her sons,
-and put them under the powerful protection of
-their uncle Henry.</p>
-
-<p>Henry had himself made similar representations
-to her, for nothing would suit his views on the
-crown of Scotland so well as to have possession of
-the infant heirs. But Albany was quickly informed
-of the queen's intentions; he besieged the
-castle of Stirling, where she resided with the
-infant princes, compelled her to surrender, and
-obtaining possession of the princes, placed them in
-the keeping of three lords appointed by Parliament.
-Margaret herself, accompanied by her husband
-Angus, and Lord Home, succeeded in escaping
-to England, where she was delivered of a daughter.</p>
-
-<p>The part which Francis I. evidently had in
-permitting the passage of Albany to Scotland, and
-in supporting his party there, had given great
-offence to Henry. He sent strong remonstrances
-through his ambassador to Francis, complaining
-that Albany had been permitted to leave France
-and usurp the government of Scotland, contrary
-to the treaty; and that by this means the Queen
-of Scotland, the sister of the King of England,
-had been driven from the regency of the kingdom
-and the guardianship of her children. Francis I.
-endeavoured to pacify Henry by assurances that
-Albany's conduct had received no countenance
-from him, but that he had stolen away at the
-urgent solicitation of a strong body of nobles in
-Scotland. Henry was not convinced, but there
-was nothing to be obtained by further remonstrances,
-for Francis was at this moment at the
-head of a powerful army, while Henry, having
-spent his father's hoards, was not in a condition
-for a fresh war without the sanction of Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>Francis was bent on prosecuting the vain
-scheme of the conquest of Milan, which had
-already cost his predecessors and France so much.
-He had entered into alliance with Venice and
-Genoa, and trusted to be able easily to overcome
-Maximilian Sforza the native Prince; Sforza, on
-his part, depended upon the support of the Pope
-and the Swiss. Francis professed, in the first
-place, that his design was to chastise the hostile
-Swiss. These hardy people had fortified those
-passes in the Alps by which they calculated that
-the French would attempt to pass towards Milan,
-but Francis made his way with 60,000 troops over
-the mountains in another direction, a large part of
-his army taking the way to the left of Mount
-Genèvre, a route never essayed by any army
-before. The Swiss mercenaries in the service of
-Sforza, thus taken by surprise, were rapidly defeated
-by the French, and were on the point of
-capitulation, when their countrymen, who had
-been watching to intercept Francis and his army,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
-seeing that he had stolen a march upon them,
-descended from their mountains, 20,000 strong,
-and came to the relief of their countrymen under
-the walls of Milan. At Marignano, Francis won a
-great victory over them on September 13th, 1515.</p>
-
-<p>The effect at the English Court of this brilliant
-success was to heighten extremely that discontent
-with Francis which Henry had shown at the very
-moment that the chivalric young French king had
-set out for Italy. Henry, who was ambitious of
-military renown, was stung to the quick by it, and
-his envious mood was artfully aggravated by the
-suggestions of Wolsey.</p>
-
-<p>On the 12th of November, 1515, Parliament
-was summoned to meet. Henry had caught a
-very discouraging glimpse of the iron at the
-bottom of his father's money-chests, and was,
-therefore, obliged to ask supplies from his subjects.
-His application does not appear to have been successful,
-and Parliament was therefore dissolved on
-the 22nd of December, and was never called again
-till the 31st of July, 1523, an interval of eight
-years. A Parliament which would not grant
-money was not likely to be a very favourite
-instrument with Henry, and this still less so,
-because it had involved him in a contention with
-the Convocation. The Convocation had dared to
-claim exemption for the clergy from the jurisdiction
-of the secular courts. The clergy in Henry's
-interest resisted this claim; it was brought before
-Parliament, and both the Lords and Commons, as
-well as the judges, decided against the Convocation.
-Henry, who was at once as fond of power
-and as bigoted as the Church, found himself in a
-most embarrassing dilemma, but declared that he
-would maintain the prerogatives of the Crown, and
-was glad to get rid of the dispute by the dismissal
-of Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>On the 8th of February, 1516, Queen Catherine
-gave birth to a daughter, who was named Mary,
-and who survived to wear the crown of England.
-In the previous month died the queen's father, Ferdinand
-of Spain, one of the most cunning, grasping,
-and unprincipled monarchs that ever lived, but
-who had by his Machiavelian schemes united Spain
-into one great and compact kingdom, and whose
-sceptre Providence had extended, by the discovery
-of Columbus, over new and wonderful worlds.
-His grandson Charles, already in possession of the
-territories of the house of Burgundy, and heir to
-those of Austria, succeeded him, as Charles V.
-Henry had just entered into a commercial treaty
-with Charles, as regarded the Netherlands, and
-perceiving the vast power and greatness which
-must centre in Charles&mdash;for on the death of
-Maximilian, who was now old, he would also become
-Emperor of Germany&mdash;he was anxious to
-unite himself with him in close bonds of interest
-and intimacy. To this end, he gave a commission
-to Wolsey, assisted by the Duke of Norfolk and
-the Bishop of Durham, to cement and conclude a
-league with the Emperor Maximilian and Charles,
-the avowed object of which was to combine for
-the defence of the Church, and to restrain the
-unbridled ambition of certain princes&mdash;meaning
-Francis.</p>
-
-<p>The sordid Emperor Maximilian, who had so
-often and so successfully made his profit out of the
-vanity of Henry, seeing him so urgent to cultivate
-the favour of his grandson Charles, thought it a
-good opportunity to draw fresh sums from him.
-Maximilian was now tottering towards his grave,
-but he was not the less desirous to pave his way
-to it with gold. In a confidential conversation,
-therefore, with Sir Robert Wingfield, the English
-ambassador at his Court, he delicately dropped a
-hint that he was grown weary of the toils and
-cares attending the Imperial office. Pursuing the
-theme, he pretended great admiration for the
-King of England; he declared that amongst all
-the princes of Christendom, he could see none who
-was so fitted to succeed him in his high office, and
-at the same time become the champion and protector
-of Holy Church against its enemies. He
-therefore proposed to adopt Henry as his son, for
-a proper consideration. According to his plan,
-Henry was to cross the Channel with an army.
-From Tournay he was to march to Trèves, where
-Maximilian was to meet him, and resign the
-empire to him, with all the necessary formalities.
-Then the united army of English and Germans
-was to invade France, and, whilst they thus sufficiently
-occupied the attention of Francis, Henry
-and Maximilian, with another division, were to
-march upon Italy, crossing the Alps at Coire, to
-take Milan, and, having secured that city, make
-an easy journey to Rome, where Henry was to be
-crowned emperor by the Pope.</p>
-
-<p>In this wild-goose scheme&mdash;which equally ignored
-the fact that Charles V. was the grandson
-of Maximilian, heir of his kingdom, and therefore
-neither by the natural affection of the emperor,
-nor by the will of his subjects, likely to be set
-aside for a King of England; and the difficulty,
-the impossibility almost, of the accomplishment
-of the enterprise by two such monarchs as
-Maximilian and Henry&mdash;only one thing was palpable,
-that Maximilian would give his blessing to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
-the stipulated son for these impossible honours, and
-then would as quickly find a reason for abandoning
-the extravagant scheme as he had already
-done that of taking Milan. Yet it is certain that,
-for the moment, it seized on the imagination of
-Henry, and he despatched the Earl of Worcester
-and Dr. Tunstall, afterwards Bishop of Durham,
-to the Imperial Court, to settle the conditions of
-this notable scheme. Tunstall, who was not only
-an accomplished scholar, but a solid and shrewd
-thinker, no sooner reached the Court of Maximilian
-than he saw at a glance the hollowness of the
-plot and of the Imperial plotter. He, as well as
-Dr. Richard Pace, the ambassador at Maximilian's
-Court, quickly and honestly informed Henry that
-it was a mere scheme to get money.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_121.jpg" width="512" height="380" alt="" title="HAMPTON COURT PALACE" />
-<div class="caption"><p>HAMPTON COURT PALACE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>These honest and patriotic statements perfectly
-unmasked the wily old Maximilian, and Henry
-escaped the snare. Francis I., having also now
-secured the duchy of Milan, set himself to conciliate
-two persons whose amity was necessary to
-his future peace and security. These were the
-Pope and Henry of England. The balance of
-power on the Continent, it was clear, would lie
-between Francis and Charles V., the King of
-Spain. On the death of Maximilian, Charles
-would be ruler of Austria, and, in all probability,
-Emperor of Germany. It would be quite enough
-for Francis to contend with the interests of
-Charles, whose dominions would then stretch from
-Austria, with the Imperial power of Germany,
-through the Netherlands to France, and reappear
-on the other boundary of France, in Spain,
-without having that gigantic dominion backed by
-the co-operation of England. Francis had seen with
-alarm the cultivation of friendship recently between
-these two formidable neighbours. To counteract
-these influences, the French king whilst in Italy
-had an interview with the Pope at Bologna,
-where he so won upon his regard that the Pontiff
-agreed to drop all opposition to the possession of
-Milan by the French.</p>
-
-<p>Having secured himself in this quarter, Francis
-returned to France, and knowing well that the
-only way to the good graces of Henry was through
-the all-powerful Cardinal Wolsey, he caused his
-ambassador in England to endeavour to win the
-favour of the great minister. This was not to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
-done otherwise than by substantial contributions
-to his avarice, and promises of service in that
-greatest project of Wolsey's ambition, the succession
-to the Popedom. Wolsey was at this time in
-the possession of the most extraordinary power in
-England. His word was law with both king and
-subject. To him all men bowed down, and while
-he conferred favours with regal hand, he did not
-forget those who had offended him in the days of
-his littleness. Not only English subjects, but
-foreign monarchs sought his favour with equal
-anxiety. The young King of Spain, to secure
-him to his views, and knowing his grudge against
-the King of France, conferred on him a pension
-of 3,000 livres a year, styling him, in the written
-grant, "his most dear and especial friend."</p>
-
-<p>Thus were the kings of Spain and France paying
-humble homage to this proud churchman and
-absolute minister of England at the same moment.
-But Francis felt that he must outbid the King of
-Spain, and he resolved to do it. He commenced,
-then, by reminding him how sincerely he had
-rejoiced at his elevation to the cardinalate, and
-how greatly he desired the continuance and increase
-of their friendship, and promised him whatever
-it was in his power to do for him. These
-were mighty and significant words for the man
-who could signally aid him in his designs on the
-Popedom, and who could settle all difficulties and
-doubts about the bishopric of Tournay, hitherto
-such a stumbling-block between them. The letters
-of Francis were spread with the most skilful, if not
-the most delicate flatteries; he called him his lord,
-his father, and his guardian, told him he regarded
-his counsels as oracles; and whilst they increased
-the vanity of the cardinal most profusely, he
-accompanied his flatteries by presents of many
-extremely valuable and curious things.</p>
-
-<p>Being assured by Villeroi, his resident ambassador
-at London, that the cardinal lent a willing
-ear to all these things, Francis instructed the
-ambassador to enter at once into private negotiation
-with Wolsey for the restoration of Tournay,
-and an alliance between the two crowns. This
-alliance was to be cemented by the affiancing of
-Henry's daughter, Mary, then about a year-and-a-half
-old, to the infant dauphin of France, but
-recently born! The price which Wolsey was to
-receive for these services being satisfactorily
-settled between himself and Francis, the great
-minister broke the matter to his master in a
-manner which marks the genius of the man, and
-his profound knowledge of Henry's character.
-He presented some of the superb articles which
-Francis had sent him to the king, saying, "With
-these things hath the King of France attempted to
-corrupt me. Many servants would have concealed
-this from their masters, but I am resolved to deal
-openly with your grace on all occasions. This
-attempt, however," added he, "to corrupt a servant
-is a certain proof of his sincere desire for the
-friendship of the master." Oh! faithful servant!
-Oh! open and incorruptible man! Henry's vanity
-was so flattered that he took in every word, and
-looked on himself as so much the greater prince
-to have a minister thus admired and courted by
-the most powerful monarchs.</p>
-
-<p>The way to negotiation was now entirely open.
-Francis appointed William Gouffier, Lord of
-Bonivet, Admiral of France; Stephen Ponchier,
-Bishop of Paris; Sir Francis de Rupecavarde and
-Sir Nicholas de Neuville his plenipotentiaries.
-They set out with a splendid train of the greatest
-lords and ladies of France, attended by a retinue
-of 1,200 officers and servants. Francis knew that
-the way to ensure Henry's favourable attention
-was to compliment him by the pomp and splendour
-of his embassy. The French plenipotentiaries
-were introduced to Henry at Greenwich, on the
-22nd of September, 1518, and Wolsey was appointed
-to conduct the business on the part of the
-King of England. When they went to business
-the ambassadors of Francis prepared the way for
-the greater matters by producing a grant, already
-prepared, and, therefore, clearly agreed upon beforehand,
-which they presented to Wolsey, securing
-him a pension of 12,000 livres a year, in compensation
-for the cession of the bishopric of Tournay.
-This was a direct and palpable bribe; but there
-was no troublesome and meddlesome Opposition in
-the House of Commons in those days to demand
-the production of papers, and the impeachment of
-corrupt ministers. With such a beginning the
-terms of treaty were soon settled. They embraced
-four articles:&mdash;A general contract of peace
-and amity betwixt the two kings and their successors,
-<em>for ever</em>; a treaty of marriage betwixt the
-two little babies, the Dauphin and Mary Tudor;
-the restitution of Tournay to France for 600,000
-crowns; and, lastly, an agreement for a personal
-interview between the two monarchs, which was to
-take place on neutral ground between Calais and
-Ardres, before the last day of July, 1519.</p>
-
-<p>But while Wolsey was deeply occupied in his
-plans and preparations for the royal meeting, an
-event occurred which for a time arrested the
-attention of Europe. This was the death of
-the Emperor Maximilian, and the vacancy in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
-Imperial office. Francis I. and Charles of Spain
-were the two candidates for its occupation, and
-the rivalry of these two monarchs seems to have
-again awakened in Henry the same wish, though
-the plain statements of Bishop Tunstall had for a
-time suppressed it. He despatched a man of great
-learning, Dr. Richard Pace, to Germany, to see
-whether there were in reality any chance for him.
-The reports of Pace soon extinguished all hope
-of such event, and Henry, with a strange duplicity,
-then sent off his "sincere longings for success" to
-both of the rival candidates, Francis and Charles!</p>
-
-<p>Francis declared to Henry's ambassador, Sir
-Thomas Boleyn, that he would spend three millions
-of gold, but he would win the Imperial
-crown; but though the German electors were
-notoriously corrupt, and ready to hold out plausible
-pretences to secure as much of any one's money
-as they could, from the outset there could be no
-question as to who would prove the successful
-candidate. The first and indispensable requisite
-for election was, that the candidate must be a
-native of Germany, and subject of the Empire,
-neither of which Francis was, and both of which
-Charles was. Charles was not only grandson of
-Maximilian, and his successor to the throne of
-Austria, and therefore of a German royal house,
-but he was sovereign of the Netherlands, which
-were included in the universal German empire.</p>
-
-<p>Even where Francis placed his great strength&mdash;the
-power of bribing the corrupt German electors,
-the petty princes of Germany, for the <em>people</em> had
-no voice in the matter&mdash;Charles was infinitely
-beyond him in the power of bribery. He was now
-monarch of Spain, of the Netherlands, of Naples
-and Sicily, of the Indies, and of the gold regions
-of the newly-discovered America. Nor was
-Francis at all a match for Charles in the other
-power which usually determines so much in these
-contests&mdash;that of intrigue. Francis was open,
-generous, and ardent; Charles cool, cautious, and,
-though young, surrounded by ministers educated
-in the school of the crafty Ferdinand and the able
-Ximenes to every artifice of diplomatic cunning.
-Still more, the vulpine Maximilian, at the very
-time that he was attempting to wheedle Henry of
-England out of his money, on pretence of securing
-the Imperial dignity for him, had paved the way
-for his own grandson, by assiduous exertions and
-promises amongst the electors&mdash;promises which
-Charles was amply able to fulfil. Accordingly,
-after a lavish distribution of both French and
-Spanish gold amongst the elector-princes of Germany,
-Charles was declared emperor on the 28th
-of June, 1519. Francis, though he professed to
-carry off his disappointment with all the gaiety of
-a Frenchman, was deeply and lastingly chagrined
-by the event; and though he and Charles must,
-under any circumstances, have been rivals for the
-place of supremacy on the Continent of Europe,
-there is no doubt that this circumstance struck
-much deeper the feeling which led to that gigantic
-struggle between them, which, during their lives,
-kept Europe in a constant state of warfare and
-agitation.</p>
-
-<p>Both Charles and Francis were intensely
-anxious to secure the preference of Henry,
-because his weight thrown into either balance
-must give it a dangerous preponderance. Both,
-therefore, paid assiduous court to him, and still
-more, though covertly, to his all-powerful minister,
-Wolsey. Francis, aware of the impulsive temperament
-of Henry, prayed for an early fulfilment
-of the visit agreed upon of Henry to France. It
-was decided that the interview should take place
-in May. The news of this immediately excited
-the jealousy of Charles, and his ambassadors in
-London expressed great dissatisfaction at the
-proposal. Wolsey found he had a difficult part
-to play, for he had great expectations from both
-monarchs, and he took care to make such
-representations to each prince in private, as to
-persuade him that the real affection of England
-lay towards him, the public favour shown to the
-rival monarch being only a matter of political
-expedience. When the Spanish ambassadors
-found they could not put off the intended interview,
-they proposed a visit of their master to the
-King of England previously, on his way from
-Spain to Germany. This was secretly arranged
-with the cardinal, but was to be made to appear
-quite an unpremeditated occurrence.</p>
-
-<p>Accordingly, before the king set out for Calais,
-Charles, according to the secret treaty with
-Wolsey, sent that minister a grant under his privy
-seal, from the revenue of the two bishoprics of
-Badajoz and Placentia, of 7,000 ducats. Henry
-set forward from London to Canterbury, on his
-way towards Dover and Calais, attended by his
-queen and court, with a surprising degree of
-splendour. Whilst lying there, he was surprised,
-as it was made to appear, by the news that the
-emperor had been induced by his regard for the
-king to turn aside on his voyage towards his
-German dominions, and had anchored in the port
-of Hythe, on the 26th of May, 1520. As soon as
-this news reached Henry, he despatched Wolsey
-to receive the emperor and conduct him to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
-castle of Dover, and Henry himself set out and
-rode by torchlight to Dover, where he arrived in
-the middle of the night. It must have been a
-hospitably inconvenient visit at that hour, for
-Charles, fatigued by his voyage, had gone to bed,
-and was awoke from a sound sleep by the noise
-and bustle of the king's arrival. He arose, however,
-and met Henry at the top of the stairs,
-where the two monarchs embraced, and Henry
-bade his august relative welcome. The next day,
-being Whitsunday, they went together to Canterbury,
-the king riding with the emperor on his
-right hand, the Earl of Derby carrying before
-them the sword of State.</p>
-
-<p>From the cathedral the emperor was conducted
-by his royal host to the palace of the archbishop,
-where he was for the time quartered. For three
-days the archiepiscopal palace was a scene of the
-gayest festivities; nothing was omitted by Henry
-to do honour to his august relative; and nothing
-on the part of Charles to win upon Henry,
-and detach him from the interests of France.
-Nor the less assiduously did the politic emperor
-exert himself to secure the services of Wolsey.
-He saw that ambition was the great passion of the
-cardinal, and he adroitly infused into his mind
-the hope of reaching the Popedom through his
-influence and assistance. Nothing could bind
-Wolsey like this fascinating anticipation. Leo X.
-was a much younger man than himself; but this
-did not seem to occur to the sanguine spirit of
-the cardinal, for "all men think all men mortal
-but themselves;" whilst to Charles the circumstance
-made his promise peculiarly easy, as he
-could scarcely expect to be called upon to fulfil it.</p>
-
-<p>On the fourth day Charles embarked at Sandwich
-for the Netherlands, less anxious regarding
-the approaching interview of Henry and Francis,
-for he had made an ardent impression on the
-king, and had put a strong hook into the nose
-of his great leviathan&mdash;the hope of the triple
-crown. Simultaneously with the departure of
-Charles, Henry, his queen and court, embarked at
-Dover for Calais; and on the 4th of June,
-1520, Henry, with his queen, the Queen Dowager
-of France, and all his court, rode on to Guines,
-where 2,000 workmen, most of them clever
-artificers from Holland and Flanders, had been
-busily engaged for several months in erecting a
-palace of wood for their reception.</p>
-
-<p>The meeting-place was called, from the splendour
-of the retinues of the two monarchs, the
-"Field of the Cloth of Gold," but it did little to
-cement the alliance between England and France.</p>
-
-<p>On the 25th of June the English Court returned
-to Calais; half the followers of the nobles
-were sent home, and then preparations were
-made for visiting the emperor at Gravelines, and
-receiving a visit from him at Calais. By the
-10th of July all was ready, and Henry set out
-with a splendid retinue. He was met on the way,
-and conducted into Gravelines by Charles, with
-every circumstance of honour and display. Charles,
-whose object was avowedly to efface any impression
-which Francis and the French might have
-made on the mind of Henry at the late interview,
-had given orders to receive the English with every
-demonstration of friendship and hospitality, and
-his orders were so well executed that the English
-were enchanted with their visit.</p>
-
-<p>On the departure of Charles, Henry and his
-court embarked for Dover, returning proud of his
-sham prowess and mock battles, and of all his
-finery, but both himself and his followers loaded
-with a fearful amount of debt for this useless and
-hypocritical display. When the nobles and
-gentlemen got home, and began to reflect coolly on
-the heavy responsibilities they had incurred for
-their late showy but worthless follies, they could
-not help grumbling amongst themselves, and even
-blaming Wolsey, as loudly as they dared, as
-being at the bottom of the whole affair. One
-amongst them was neither nice nor cautious in
-his expressions of chagrin at the ruinous and
-foolish expense incurred, and denounced the
-proud cardinal's ambition as the cause of it all.
-This was the Duke of Buckingham. He was
-executed in 1521 on the absurd charge of having
-intercourse with astrologers.</p>
-
-<p>The various causes of antipathy between
-Francis I. and Charles V., which had been long
-fomenting, now reached that degree of activity
-when they must burst all restraint. War was
-inevitable. The first breach was made by
-Francis. At this crisis Charles appealed to
-Henry to act as mediator, according to the provisions
-of the treaty of 1518. Henry at once
-accepted the office, and entered upon it with high
-professions of impartiality and of his sincere
-desire to promote justice and amity, but really
-with about the same amount of sincerity as was
-displayed by each of the contending parties.
-Francis had certainly been the aggressor, and
-Charles, having intercepted some of his letters, had
-already convinced Henry, to whom he had shown
-them, that the invasion of both Spain and
-Flanders was planned in the French cabinet.
-Henry's mind, therefore, was already made up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
-before he assumed the duty of deciding; and
-Charles, from being aware of this, proposed his
-arbitration. Henry, moreover, was anxious to
-invade France on his own account, spite of
-treaties and the dallyings of the Field of the
-Cloth of Gold, but he had not yet the funds
-necessary. With these feelings and secrets in his
-own heart, Henry opened his proposal of arbitration
-to Francis by declarations of the extraordinary
-affection which he had contracted for him
-at the late interview.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_125big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_125.jpg" width="388" height="560" alt="After the Portrait by Holbein" title="HENRY VIII" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>HENRY VIII. (<cite>After the Portrait by Holbein.</cite>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There was no alternative for the French king
-but to acquiesce in the proposal; the place of
-negotiations was appointed to be Calais, and, of
-course, Wolsey was named as the only man able
-and fitting to decide between two such great
-monarchs&mdash;Wolsey, who was bound hand and
-foot to the emperor by the hope of the Popedom.
-It was a clear case that Francis must be
-victimised, or the negotiation must prove abortive.
-Wolsey set out with something more than regal
-state to decide between the kings. In addition
-to his dignity of Papal legate <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">a latere</i>, he received
-the extraordinary powers of creating fifty counts-palatine,
-fifty knights, fifty chaplains, and fifty
-notaries; of legitimising bastards, and conferring
-the degree of doctor in medicine, law, and
-divinity. By another bull, he was empowered
-to grant licences to such as he thought proper
-to read the heretical works of Martin Luther, in
-order that some able man, having read them,
-might refute them. This was to pave the way for
-a royal champion of the Catholic Church against
-Luther and the devil, and that such a champion
-was already at work we shall shortly have occasion
-to show. Such were the pomp and splendour of
-the cardinal, that when he continued his journey
-into the Netherlands, with his troops of gentlemen
-attending him, clad in scarlet coats, with
-borders of velvet of a full hand's breadth, and
-with massive gold chains: when they saw him
-served on the knee by these attendants, and
-expending money with the most marvellous
-profusion, Christian, King of Denmark, and other
-princes then at the Court of the Emperor at
-Bruges, were overwhelmed with astonishment,
-for such slavish homage was not known in
-Germany.</p>
-
-<p>Wolsey landed at Calais on the 2nd of July,
-1521, and was received with great reverence.
-The ambassadors of the emperor had taken care to
-be there first, that they might secretly settle with
-Wolsey all the points to be insisted on. The
-French embassy arrived the next day, and the discussions
-were at once entered upon with all that
-air of solemn impartiality and careful weighing of
-propositions which such conferences assume, when
-the real points at issue have been determined
-upon privately beforehand by the parties who
-mean to carry out their own views. The French
-plenipotentiaries alleged that the emperor had
-broken the treaty of Noyon of 1516, by retaining
-possession of Navarre, and by neglecting to do
-homage for Flanders and Artois, fiefs of the
-French crown. On the other hand, the Imperial
-representatives retorted on the French the breach
-of the treaty of Noyon, and denounced in strong
-terms the late invasion of Spain and the clandestine
-support given to the Duke of Bouillon. The
-cardinal laboured to bring the fiery litigants to
-terms, but the demands of the emperor were
-purposely pitched so high that it was impossible.
-The differences became only the more inflamed;
-and on the Imperial chancellor, Gattinara, declaring
-that he could not concede a single demand
-made by his master, and that he came there to
-obtain them through the aid of the King of
-England, who was bound to afford it by the late
-treaty, Wolsey said that there, of necessity, his
-endeavours must end, unless the emperor could be
-induced to modify his expectations; and that,
-as his ambassador had no power to grant such
-modification, rather than all hope of accommodation
-should fail, he would himself take the
-trouble to make a journey to the Imperial Court,
-and endeavour to procure better terms. Nothing
-could appear more disinterested on the part of
-the cardinal, but the French ambassadors were
-struck with consternation at the proposal. They
-were too well aware of the cardinal's leaning
-towards Charles; they did not forget the
-coquetting of the English and the emperor both
-before and after the meeting at the Field of the
-Cloth of Gold; and they opposed this proposal of
-Wolsey with all their power. But their opposition
-was useless. There can be no doubt that the
-prime object of Wolsey in his embassy was to
-make this visit to Charles for his own purpose,
-and that it had been agreed upon between himself
-and Charles before he left London. In vain the
-French protested that such a visit, made by the
-umpire in the midst of the conference to one of
-the parties concerned, was contrary to all ideas of
-the impartiality essential to a mediator; and they
-declared that, if the thing was persisted in, they
-would break off the negotiation and retire. But
-Wolsey told them that if they did not remain
-at Calais till his return, he would pronounce them
-in the wrong, as the real aggressors in the war,
-and the enemies to peace and to the King of
-England. There was nothing for it but to submit.</p>
-
-<p>The cardinal set out on his progress to Bruges
-on the 12th of August, attended by the Imperial
-ambassadors and a splendid retinue of prelates,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
-nobles, knights, and gentlemen, amounting altogether
-to 400 horsemen. The emperor met him
-a mile out of Bruges, and conducted him into the
-city in a kind of triumph. Thirteen days&mdash;a
-greater number than had been occupied at Calais&mdash;were
-spent in the pretended conferences for
-reducing the emperor's demands on France, but
-in reality in strengthening Wolsey's interest with
-Charles for the Popedom, and in settling the
-actual terms of a treaty between Charles, the Pope,
-and the King of England for a war against
-France. So deep was the hypocrisy of these
-parties, that before Wolsey had quitted the shores
-of England he had received a commission from
-Henry investing him with full authority to make
-a treaty of confederacy with the Pope, the
-emperor, the King of France, or any other
-potentate, offensive or defensive, which the king
-bound himself to ratify; the words "King of
-France, or other king, prince, or state," being
-clearly inserted to cover with an air of generality
-the particular design. The proposed marriage
-between the Dauphin and the Princess Mary was
-secretly determined to be set aside, and a marriage
-between Charles and that princess was agreed
-upon; and, moreover, it was settled that Charles
-should pay another visit to England on his voyage
-to Spain. Writing from Bruges to Henry,
-Wolsey told him all this, and added that it was to
-be kept a profound secret till Charles came to
-England, so that, adds Wolsey, "convenient time
-may be had to put yourself in good readiness for
-war."</p>
-
-<p>After all this scandalous treachery&mdash;called in
-State language diplomacy&mdash;Wolsey returned to
-Calais, and resumed the conferences, as if he were
-the most honest man in the world, and was serving
-two kings about as honest as himself. He proposed
-to the plenipotentiaries a plan of a pacification,
-the conditions of which he knew the
-French would never accept. All this time hostilities
-were going on between Francis and the
-emperor. The emperor had taken Mouzon and
-laid siege to Mézières, and Francis, advancing,
-raised the siege, but was checked in his further
-pursuit of the enemy by the Count of Nassau.
-At this crisis Wolsey interposed, insisting that the
-belligerents should lay down their arms, and abide
-the award of King Henry; but this proposal
-was by no means likely to be met with favour on
-the part of the French, after what had been going
-on at Bruges, and therefore Wolsey pronounced
-that Francis was the aggressor, and that Henry
-was bound by the treaty to aid the emperor.</p>
-
-<p>This was but a very thin varnish for the proceedings
-which immediately took place at Calais,
-and revealed the result of the interview at Bruges,
-in an avowed treaty between the Pope, the
-emperor, and Henry, by which they arranged&mdash;in
-order to promote an intended demonstration
-against the Turks, and to restrain the
-ambition of Francis&mdash;that the three combined
-powers should, in the spring of 1523, invade
-France simultaneously from as many different
-quarters; that, if Francis would not conclude a
-peace with the emperor on the arrival of Charles
-in England, Henry should declare war against
-France, and should break off the proposed marriage
-between the Dauphin and the Princess Mary.</p>
-
-<p>In the meantime, the united forces of the Pope
-and Charles had prevailed in Italy, and expelled the
-French from Milan; the emperor had made himself
-master of Tournay, for which Francis had
-lately paid so heavy a price, and all the advantages
-that the French could boast of in the
-campaign to balance these losses were the capture
-of the little fortresses of Hesdin and Bouchain.
-Wolsey landed at Dover on the 27th of November,
-after the discharge of these important
-functions, having laid the foundation of much
-trouble to Europe, by destroying the balance of
-power between France, the Empire, and Spain,
-which it was the real interest of Henry to have
-maintained; and having equally inconvenienced the
-Government at home by carrying the Great Seal
-with him, so that those who had any business
-with it were obliged to go over to Calais, and so
-that there could be no nomination of sheriffs
-that year. But his power at this period was unlimited,
-and nothing could open Henry's eyes to
-his mischievous and inflated pride&mdash;not even his
-placing himself wholly on a par with the king in
-the treaty just signed, when he made himself a
-joint-guarantee, as if he had been a crowned
-head.</p>
-
-<p>Wolsey had laboured assiduously and unscrupulously
-for Charles V. in furtherance of his own
-ambitious views. What convulsions disorganised
-Europe, what nations suffered or triumphed, troubled
-him not, so long as he could pave the way to the
-Papal chair. The time which was to test the gratitude
-of Charles came much sooner than any one
-had anticipated. Leo X., who was in the prime of
-life, elated with the expulsion of the French from
-Italy, was occupied in celebrating the triumph
-with every kind of public rejoicing. The moment
-he heard of the fall of Milan he ordered a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Te
-Deum</i>, and set off from his villa of Magliana to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
-Rome, which he entered in triumph; but that
-very night he was seized with a sudden illness,
-and on the 1st of December, but a few days afterwards,
-it was announced that he was dead, at the
-age of only forty-six. Strong suspicions of poison
-were entertained, and it was believed that it had
-been administered by his favourite valet, Bernabo
-Malaspina, who was supposed to have been bribed
-to it by the French party.</p>
-
-<p>The news of Leo's death travelled with speed
-to England, and Wolsey, who, amid all his secret
-exertions to attain the Papal tiara, had declared
-with mock humility that he was too unworthy for
-so great and sacred a station, now threw off his
-garb of indifference, and despatched Dr. Pace to
-Rome, with the utmost celerity, to promote his
-election; and he sent to put the emperor in mind
-of his promises. On the 27th of December the
-conclave commenced its sittings. Another of the
-Medici family, Cardinal Giulio, appeared to have
-the majority of votes, but for twenty-three days
-the election remained undecided. The French
-cardinals opposed Giulio with all the persevering
-virulence of enemies smarting under national
-defeat. Numbers of others were opposed to
-electing a second member of the same family, and
-Giulio, growing impatient of the stormy and
-interminable debates which kept him from
-attending to pressing affairs out of doors, suddenly
-nominated Cardinal Adrian, a Belgian. This
-extraordinary stroke was supposed to be intended
-merely to prolong the time, till Giulio could throw
-more force into his own party; but Cardinal
-Cajetan, a man of great art and eloquence, who
-knew and admired the writings of Adrian, and
-had probably suggested his name to Giulio,
-advocated his election with such persuasive power,
-that Adrian, though a foreigner, and personally
-unknown, was carried almost by acclamation.
-And thus, as Lingard observes, within nine
-years from the time when Julius drove the barbarians
-out of Italy, a barbarian was seated as
-his successor on the Papal throne.</p>
-
-<p>The cardinals had no sooner elected the new
-Pope than they appeared to wake from a dream,
-and wondered at their own work. The act
-appeared to be one of those sudden impulses
-which seize bodies of people in a condition of
-great and prolonged excitement, and they declared
-that it must have been the inspiration of the
-Holy Ghost. As for Wolsey, it does not appear
-that his sincere friend the emperor, who had
-protested that he would have him elected if it
-were at the head of his army, moved a finger
-in his behalf. The proud cardinal, however, was
-obliged to swallow his chagrin, and wait for the
-next change, Adrian being already an old man;
-and Dr. Pace remained at Rome to congratulate
-the new Pontiff on his arrival, and solicit a
-renewal of his legatine authority.</p>
-
-<p>Francis at this crisis made strenuous efforts
-to regain the friendship of Henry. Probably
-he thought that the disappointment of Wolsey
-might cool his friendship for the emperor, or,
-which was the same thing, diminish his confidence
-in his promises; whilst Charles was very well
-aware that Wolsey was much more serviceable
-to him as minister of England than he could be
-or would be as Pope. Francis attacked Henry
-on his weakest side&mdash;his vanity. He heaped
-compliments upon him, and entreated that if
-he could not be his fast and avowed friend, he
-would, at least, abstain from being his enemy.
-To give force to his flatteries, he held out hopes
-of increasing his annual payments to England;
-and when that did not produce the due effect,
-he stopped the disbursements of that which he
-had been wont to remit. Finding that even this
-did not influence Henry, who was kept steady by
-Wolsey, he laid an embargo on the English
-shipping in his ports, and seized the property
-of the English merchants.</p>
-
-<p>At this act of decided hostility Henry was
-transported with one of those fits of rage which
-became habitual in after years. As if he had not
-long been plotting against Francis, and preparing
-to make war upon him&mdash;as if he had not coolly
-and even insolently repulsed all his advances and
-offers of advantage and alliance&mdash;he regarded
-Francis as an aggressor without any cause,
-ordered the French ambassador to be confined
-to his house, all Frenchmen in London to be
-arrested, and despatched an envoy to Paris
-with a mortal defiance. What particularly exasperated
-Henry was the news that a whole
-fleet, loaded with wine, had been seized at
-Bordeaux, and the merchants and seamen
-thrown into prison. The English were ordered
-to make reprisals, and this was the actual
-state of things when Sir Thomas Cheney,
-his ambassador, announced by dispatch that
-the envoy had declared war on the 21st of May
-at Lyons; to which the king had replied, "<em>I</em>
-looked for this a great while ago; for, since the
-cardinal was at Bruges, I looked for nothing
-else." The wily man&oelig;uvres of Wolsey had
-deceived nobody.</p>
-
-<p>On the 26th of May, only five days after the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
-declaration of war with France, the Emperor
-Charles V. landed at Dover. The passion of
-Henry had precipitated the outbreak of hostilities,
-for it was not intended that war should be declared
-till Charles was on the eve of departure
-from England, so that he might continue his
-voyage in safety to Spain. The king, however,
-received his illustrious guest with as much gaiety
-and splendour as if nothing but peace were in
-prospect. Wolsey waited on Charles at the
-landing-place, and, after embracing him, led
-him by the arm to the castle, where Henry
-soon welcomed him with great cordiality.
-Charles calculated much, in the approaching
-war, on the fleet of Henry; and, to show him
-its extent and equipment, Henry conducted him
-to the Downs, and led him over all his ships,
-especially his great ship, <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Henri, Grâce à Dieu</i>,
-which was considered one of the wonders of the
-world. He then conducted his Imperial guest
-by easy journeys to Greenwich, where the Court
-was then residing, and introduced him to his aunt,
-the queen, and her infant daughter, whom it was
-arranged that he should marry.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_129big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_129.jpg" width="560" height="490" alt="From the Drawing by Holbein" title="GREAT SHIP OF HENRY VIII" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SHIP OF HENRY VIII. (<i>From the Drawing by Holbein.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 6th of June Henry conducted the
-emperor with great state into London, where
-the inhabitants received him with a variety of
-shows and pageants. Sir Thomas More spoke
-the emperor's welcome in a learned oration, and
-there was a profusion of Latin verses in honour
-of the occasion. The two monarchs feasted,
-hunted, and rode at tournaments, whilst their
-ministers were busily employed in carrying out
-the terms agreed upon at Bruges into a treaty,
-which was signed on the 19th at Windsor. The
-subject of this treaty was the marriage of
-Charles with the infant Princess Mary, which
-the two monarchs bound themselves to see completed,
-under a penalty, in case of breach of
-engagement, of 400,000 crowns. Charles also
-engaged to indemnify Henry for the sums of
-money due to him from Francis; and, what was
-most extraordinary, both monarchs bound themselves
-to appear before Cardinal Wolsey in case<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
-of any dispute, and submit absolutely to his decision,
-thus making a subject the arbiter of monarchs.</p>
-
-<p>The emperor also engaged to indemnify the
-cardinal for <em>his</em> losses in breaking with Francis,
-by a grant of 9,000 crowns annually; thus
-paying this proud priest for being the author
-of the war. Yet, after all his courting and
-flattering of Wolsey, after again assuring him
-of his determination to set him in the Papal
-chair, it is certain that he hated the man, and used
-him only as a tool. His aunt, Queen Catherine,
-had deeply resented the cardinal's pursuit of
-the Duke of Buckingham to death, for whom
-she entertained a high regard; and Wolsey was
-aware of it, and never forgave her. It was,
-probably, in reply to Catherine's relation of this
-tragic event that Charles, whilst on this visit,
-was overheard to say, "Then the butcher's dog
-has pulled down the fairest buck in Christendom"&mdash;a
-witticism which flew all over the Court, and
-was not forgotten by the vindictive Wolsey.</p>
-
-<p>Having agreed that each was to bring 40,000
-men into the field, that France was to be attacked
-simultaneously on the north and the south, and
-that Charles was to co-operate with the English
-for the re-conquest of Guienne, the emperor embarked
-on the 6th of July, and pursued his voyage
-to Spain.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The War with France&mdash;The Earl of Surrey Invades that Country&mdash;More elected Speaker&mdash;Henry and Parliament&mdash;Revolt of
-the Duke of Bourbon&mdash;Pope Adrian VI. dies&mdash;Clement VII. elected&mdash;Francis I. taken Prisoner at the Battle of Pavia&mdash;Wolsey
-grows unpopular&mdash;Change of Feeling at the English Court&mdash;Treaty with France&mdash;Francis I. regains his Liberty&mdash;Italian
-League, including France and England, against the Emperor&mdash;Fall of the Duke of Bourbon at the Siege of Rome&mdash;Sacking
-of Rome, and Capture of the Pope&mdash;Appearance of Luther&mdash;Henry writes against him&mdash;Is styled by the Pope
-"Defender of the Faith"&mdash;Anne Boleyn&mdash;Henry applies to the Pope for a Divorce from the Queen&mdash;The Pope's Dilemma&mdash;War
-declared against Spain&mdash;Cardinal Campeggio arrives in England to decide the Legality of Henry's Marriage with
-Catherine&mdash;Trial of the Queen&mdash;Henry's Discontent with Wolsey&mdash;Fall of Wolsey&mdash;His Banishment from Court,
-and Death&mdash;Cranmer's Advice regarding the Divorce&mdash;Cromwell cuts the Gordian Knot&mdash;Dismay of the Clergy&mdash;The
-King declared Head of the Church of England&mdash;The King's Marriage with Anne Boleyn&mdash;Cranmer made Archbishop&mdash;The
-Pope Reverses the Divorce&mdash;Separation of England from Rome.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>On the departure of the emperor, Henry commanded
-the Earl of Surrey to scour the Channel
-before him; and Charles, out of compliment to
-Henry, named Surrey, who was Lord Admiral
-of England, also admiral of his own fleet of
-one hundred and eighty sail. Surrey, having
-seen Charles safely landed in Spain, returned
-along the coast of France, ravaging it on all
-accessible points. He landed at Cherbourg, in
-Normandy, burnt the town of Morlaix, in
-Brittany, and many other maritime villages,
-houses of the people, and castles of the aristocracy.
-This was preparatory to the great invasion which
-Henry contemplated. For this purpose he had
-recalled Surrey from Ireland, where he had
-conducted himself with much ability, repressed
-the disorders of the natives, and won the esteem
-of the chief population. Henry now gave him the
-command of the army destined to invade France.
-That army, Henry boasted, should consist of forty
-thousand men; but the question was, whence the
-money was to come for its assembly and payment.
-The Field of the Cloth of Gold, and the entertainment
-of the emperor, following on many other
-extravagances, had entirely dissipated the treasures
-which his father had left him; and, as he
-was now endeavouring to rule without a parliament,
-he was compelled to resort to those unconstitutional
-measures of forced loans, which had
-always covered with odium the monarchs who
-used them.</p>
-
-<p>In this unpopular attempt Wolsey was his
-instrument, and the work he had now to do ensured
-him a plentiful growth of dislike. In the
-first place, he exacted a loan of £20,000 from
-the merchants of London, and scarcely had he
-obtained possession of it, when he summoned
-the leading citizens before him, and demanded
-fresh advances. On the 20th of August, 1522, the
-lord mayor, aldermen, and the most substantial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
-merchants of London appeared before him, to
-whom he announced that the king had sent
-commissioners into the whole realm, to inquire
-into the actual rents of the lands in each
-township, what were the names of the owners
-and occupiers, and what was the value of each
-man's movable property. According to his account,
-a new Domesday Book was in preparation;
-and he, moreover, informed them that
-his Majesty had ordered a muster in the maritime
-counties of all the men betwixt the ages of sixteen
-and sixty, to enrol their names, and the names
-of the lords of whom they held their lands.</p>
-
-<p>The deputation returned to the city in deep
-dejection, and made out their lists of such as
-were merchants and dealers and reputed men
-of substance. These men, then, themselves
-waited on the cardinal, and besought him not
-to put them to their oath as to their real amount
-of property, for that it was difficult for themselves
-to make a correct estimate of it, and that, in fact,
-many an honest man's credit was more than his
-substance. Wolsey replied that he "dare swear
-that the substance of London was no less than
-two millions of gold." From this it was obvious
-that the cardinal expected from them at least
-£200,000. But the citizens replied, "Would to
-God the city were so rich, but it is sore afflicted
-by the occupying of strangers!" The cardinal
-promised to see that that should be rectified, and
-that their loans should be repaid them out of
-the first subsidy voted by Parliament, which it
-was intended to call. But the victims did not
-appear much cheered by these assurances: they
-knew that Henry was not fond of calling parliaments.
-If he meant it, why borrow money when
-it could be voted? And they went away, saying
-that for the last loan some lent a fifth, and now to
-ask a tenth again was too much.</p>
-
-<p>By these means, however, money enough was
-raised to put an army in motion. About the
-middle of August the Earl of Surrey landed at
-Calais with 12,000 men, paid by the king, and
-3,000 volunteers. There he was joined by a
-body of German, Flemish, and Spanish horse,
-making a total force of 16,000. At the head of
-these he advanced through Picardy and Artois,
-desolating the country as he went, burning the
-defenceless towns, the castles of the nobles, and
-the huts of the peasants, and destroying whatever
-they could not carry off as spoil. They
-left the fortified cities, making no attempt
-except against Hesdin, which they soon quitted,
-finding their artillery not of weight enough.
-The French, under the Duke de Vendôme,
-avoided a general engagement, but they harassed
-the outskirts of the army, cut off the supplies,
-and occasionally a number of stragglers. The
-weather was the great ally of the French, for
-it was extremely rainy and cold, and occasioned
-dysentery to break out in the camp. On the
-appearance of this fatal foe, the foreign troops
-hastily retired into Béthune, and Surrey soon after
-led back his main body to Calais, having done the
-French much mischief, but obtained no single
-advantage except the seizure of a quantity of
-booty.</p>
-
-<p>Francis, meantime, had not only kept his army
-hovering in front of the invaders, but he had
-sent active emissaries to rouse the Irish and
-Scots, and thus to distract the attention of the
-English. In Ireland he turned his attention to
-the Earl of Desmond, who still maintained in a
-great measure his independence of the English
-Crown. Francis offered him an annual pension,
-on condition that he should take up arms in
-Ireland against the English power, and the earl,
-moreover, seduced by the promise that a French
-army would be sent over, engaged to join it, and
-never to lay down his arms till he had won for
-himself a strong dominion in the island, and the
-remainder for Richard de la Pole, the heir of the
-house of York. But Francis, having obtained his
-object by the very alarm created by this negotiation,
-never sent any troops, never paid the Earl of
-Desmond any annuity, and the unfortunate chieftain
-was left to pay the penalty of his rash credulity
-in the vengeance of the English Government.</p>
-
-<p>In Scotland affairs assumed a more formidable
-aspect. After the return of Margaret, the queen-mother,
-from England, she quarrelled with her
-weak but headstrong husband, the Earl of Angus,
-and in 1521 sent and invited her old antagonist,
-the Duke of Albany, to return to Scotland from
-France, promising to support him at the head of
-the Government. Nothing could suit the views
-of France better than this, for it was already
-menaced by Henry of England. Albany landed
-at Gairloch on the 19th of November, and thence
-hastened to the queen at Stirling. This strange,
-bold, and dissimulating woman, who had all the
-imperiousness and the sensuality of a Tudor,
-received him with open arms, and entered at
-once on such terms of familiarity with him as
-scandalised all Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>Her husband and his relatives, the Douglases,
-being summoned by the regent before Parliament,
-fled towards the Borders, and took refuge in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
-kirk of Steyle. By means of the celebrated
-Gawin Douglas, the Bishop of Dunkeld, and one
-of Scotland's finest poets, who was the uncle of
-Angus, the fugitives opened a communication
-with Henry of England. The bishop represented
-the conduct of Margaret as of the most flagitious
-kind, attributing to her the design of marrying
-Albany, and setting aside her own son. It was
-even asserted, and Lord Dacre, warden of the
-Western Marches, joined in the assertion, that
-the life of the young king was in danger, and as
-much from his own mother as from Albany.
-There is no question that the conduct of Margaret
-was most disgraceful; and though Albany was
-anxious to establish quietness and order in Scotland,
-and to obtain peace with England, the
-emissaries of Henry took care to foment strife
-between the nobles and the Government. Lord
-Dacre was&mdash;according to the system introduced
-by Henry VII., and continued so long as there
-was a Tudor on the throne of England&mdash;plentifully
-supplied with money to bribe the most
-powerful nobles, especially the Homes, to harass
-the Government by their factions.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_132big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_132.jpg" width="560" height="417" alt="From a photograph by G. W. Wilson and Co., Aberdeen" title="STIRLING FROM THE ABBEY CRAIG" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>STIRLING FROM THE ABBEY CRAIG.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From a 'photograph by G. W. Wilson and Co., Aberdeen.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It was in vain, therefore, that Queen Margaret
-wrote to her brother, the King of England, protesting
-that the accusations against her were base
-and abominable calumnies, that the Duke of
-Albany ruled by the choice and advice of Parliament,
-and that without him there would be no
-peace in Scotland, nor safety for the king or
-herself. Henry only replied by upbraiding her
-with living in shameful adultery, and insisting
-that Albany should quit Scotland, or that he
-would make war upon it. He did not stop there&mdash;he
-made the same demand of Parliament, and
-hearing that Margaret was applying to the Pope
-for a divorce from Angus, in order to marry
-Albany, he exerted all his influence with the
-Church to prevent it. The Scottish Parliament,
-notwithstanding it contained many traitors, made
-such by Henry's gold, yet rejected his proposition
-for the dismissal of Albany; whereupon Henry
-ordered all Scottish subjects found in England<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
-to be driven with insult over the Borders, having
-a white cross marked upon their backs. And
-at the same time that he sent Surrey to France,
-in the spring of 1522, he also bade the Earl of
-Shrewsbury march across the Tweed to punish
-the Scots. Shrewsbury obeyed the order with
-great celerity, and speedily laid waste the fine
-pastoral country round Kelso, but was met by a
-superior force and driven back, not however before
-he had aroused great indignation among the
-people at the wantonness of his attack and the
-outrages upon innocent folk and their property
-with which it was accompanied.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_133big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_133.jpg" width="428" height="550" alt="From the Portrait by Holbein" title="CARDINAL WOLSEY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CARDINAL WOLSEY. (<i>From the Portrait by Holbein</i>).</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Instead, therefore, of an invasion of Scotland
-by the English, Henry was threatened with a
-descent of the Scots on his own kingdom, whilst
-the gallant Surrey was absent in France. The
-Duke of Albany, incensed at the reproaches of
-Henry regarding his connection with Queen
-Margaret, at the demands for his extradition,
-and at the ferocious inroad of the Earl of
-Shrewsbury, declared war against England, with
-the consent of Parliament. He called for the
-muster of all the feudal force of the kingdom,
-and the call was answered with such promptness
-that he beheld himself at the head of 80,000 men.
-With such a force, nothing would have been
-easier to all appearance than to have overrun
-the north of England, left almost wholly destitute
-of defence. But though the Scottish people were
-in earnest, there was treason not only in the camp,
-but in the very tent of Albany. The money of
-Dacre was in the pockets of the most powerful
-nobles, who silently but actively spread disunion
-through his host; and worst of all, Margaret,
-who, like her brother, was continually roving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
-in her affections from one person to another, was
-already weary of Albany, and was in covert communication
-with Lord Dacre, and betraying
-the secrets and plans of Albany to him. It is
-said that Henry, through Lord Dacre, had completely
-corrupted the queen, probably by assisting
-her with money, but still more by offering to
-receive her again to his favour, and to secure her
-interests by marrying Mary, the Princess of
-England, to her son, the young King of Scots.
-Influenced by these hopes, the unprincipled queen
-exerted herself to weaken the measures of Albany,
-and to diminish the influence of France in the
-country as much as possible.</p>
-
-<p>Albany, therefore, though he advanced to the
-banks of the Tweed, and even reached within a
-few miles of Carlisle, found the spirit of his host
-continually on the decline. On the other hand,
-Lord Dacre had expended his money in extensive
-bribery, and was almost destitute of soldiers; yet
-he pretended that a great army was on the march
-to him, which would show the Scots another Flodden
-Field, and so imposed on Albany that he was
-willing to treat instead of being ready to fight.
-He engaged to disband his forces if Dacre would
-engage to keep back the imaginary advancing
-troops of England. Wolsey, who was watching
-in the northern counties with deep anxiety the
-result of this contest between military multitudes
-and political cunning, could not sufficiently express
-his astonishment, as he saw the stupendous
-armament of Scotland melt away before the
-empty bugbears of Lord Dacre's creation. "By
-the great wisdom and policy of my Lord Dacre,
-and by means of the safe-conduct lately sent at
-the desire and contemplation of the Queen of
-Scots, the said Duke of Albany hath, our Lord
-be praised, not only forborne his invasion, but
-also dissolved his army; which, being dispersed,
-neither shall nor can, for this year, be gathered or
-assembled again." And the cardinal proceeds to
-give us a specimen of the easy nature of his
-political morality, in saying, "And yet the said
-abstinence [armistice] concluded by my Lord
-Dacre, <em>he</em> not having your authority for the same,
-<em>nothing bindeth your grace</em>; but, at your liberty,
-ye may pursue your wars against the said Scots,
-if it shall be thought to your highness convenable."
-On the 11th of September, 1522, the
-treaty between Albany and Dacre was concluded,
-and Albany went over to France for fresh supplies
-of men and money, leaving the Earls of
-Huntly, Arran, and Argyle to administer affairs
-during his absence. Thus, about the same time,
-Henry saw his French and his Scottish campaign
-for that year terminated.</p>
-
-<p>His great and difficult business was now to
-raise the necessary funds for prosecuting his
-further designs against France. For eight years
-he had forborne to call a Parliament, but to postpone
-longer a summons of this engine of supply
-was not possible. He had pushed to the extreme
-point all the modes, legal and illegal, of extracting
-funds from his subjects; and the reluctance
-with which his last forced loan had been conceded,
-and the solemn promises which he had made to
-call a Parliament, left him no alternative. No
-king who ever reigned had a higher notion of the
-royal prerogative, and the hearty commendation
-he afterwards bestowed on Charles V. for destroying
-the last vestiges of free institutions in Spain
-showed plainly what he would fain have carried
-out in England. But sturdy as was his Tudor
-soul, he found that the English people had an
-equally stubborn will, and on the 15th of April,
-1523, he summoned a Parliament at Blackfriars,
-London, where Wolsey sat at his feet as Chancellor.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons chose, as was supposed through
-the influence of the Court, Sir Thomas More as
-Speaker. Sir Thomas was not only a man of profound
-learning, but a felicitous genius, and extremely
-witty. His conversation was greatly
-relished by the queen, who had introduced him
-to the private suppers with the king, who became
-as much fascinated by his society. Sir Thomas
-was evidently well aware of the difficult part
-which he would have to sustain in such a post,
-for he hung back from it, declaring how unfit
-he was for it. But Wolsey, who calculated
-greatly on his genius, protested that he was
-qualified for it by his great abilities and judgment
-more than almost any man. After a few days'
-session of Parliament, Wolsey went down to the
-House, contrary to all custom and privilege, and
-presented a royal message, to the effect that
-Francis, by his conduct, had made a war absolutely
-necessary, that the honour of the country
-was deeply concerned, and that it was a fine
-opportunity for England to recover all that it
-had lost in that country. He concluded his
-address by recommending them to vote immediately
-a property-tax of twenty per cent.,
-which would raise the sum of £800,000.</p>
-
-<p>Such a sum had never before been asked by
-any English king in his wildest dreams of foreign
-conquest. The House sat as if thunderstruck, and
-in profound silence. Wolsey had imagined that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
-his presence, surrounded by all the symbols of
-his grandeur, would completely overawe the
-House; and that with a Court favourite of such
-distinction as Sir Thomas More, he should carry
-the monstrous demand by surprise. He had,
-therefore, come environed by his pompous retinue
-of prelates and nobles, and with his silver
-pillars and crosses, his maces, his poleaxes, his
-hat and Great Seal borne before him. But not
-all his magnificence moved the Commons where
-its privileges had been thus grossly invaded, and
-its money was thus boldly demanded. The whole
-House sat as silent as the senate of Rome when
-Brennus and his savage Gauls burst in upon it.
-Wolsey gazed upon them in amazement, looking
-from one to another. The proud cardinal then
-addressed a member by name. The member
-arose, bowed, and sat down again without uttering
-a word. Still more surprised at this dumb
-show, Wolsey called upon another member for
-an explanation, but obtained none. Growing
-wrathful, for he was not accustomed to such
-treatment, he broke out:&mdash;"Masters, as I am
-sent here by the king, it is not unreasonable
-to expect an answer. Yet, unless it be the
-manner of your House, as very likely it may,
-by your Speaker only in such cases to express
-your mind, here is, without doubt, a most
-marvellous silence."</p>
-
-<p>Whilst he said this, he looked fixedly and angrily
-at Sir Thomas More, unquestionably expecting
-different conduct from him. But Sir Thomas,
-dropping on his knee, said that the House felt
-abashed in the presence of so great a personage&mdash;which,
-he added, was enough to amaze the wisest
-and most learned men of the realm; that the
-House, according to its ancient privileges, was not
-bound to return any answer; and as for himself,
-unless all the members present could put their
-several thoughts into his head, he was unable to
-give his grace an answer on so weighty a matter.
-The cardinal then retired, much displeased with
-the House, and still more with the Speaker.</p>
-
-<p>After the great minister had retired, the House
-went into a warm debate. Some of the members
-affirmed that there was not above £800,000 of
-cash in the kingdom; and if the money were
-gathered into the king's hands, no trade could be
-carried on except by barter. The courtiers urged
-all the ingenious arguments that they could invent,
-or with which they were supplied, to show the
-necessity of the grant; and the king was in such
-a rage that he is said to have even threatened
-some of the members with death. It was, in fact,
-a stout resistance to oppression of the people, and
-one of the most determined stands for privilege of
-Parliament ever made in this country.</p>
-
-<p>The contest grew to such a pitch that the
-cardinal, fearful of the result, determined to
-go to the House a second time, notwithstanding
-the clear intimation given him that his presence
-was considered a breach of privilege. He made
-them a speech, going over all the arguments
-which had been advanced by the opposition,
-and then begged them to tell him what they had
-to object; but they only returned him the answer,
-through the Speaker, that they would hear his
-grace with humility, but could only reason amongst
-themselves; and he was obliged to go away as he
-came.</p>
-
-<p>When he had departed, they resumed the debate;
-and at length, at the earnest entreaty of the
-Speaker, they voted two shillings in the pound on
-all who enjoyed twenty pounds a year or upwards;
-one shilling on all who possessed from two pounds
-to twenty; and on all subjects with incomes below
-that scale, a groat a head. This was not a moiety
-of what the king had demanded, and the payment
-was spread over four years, so that it did not
-really amount to above sixpence in the pound.
-The lesson which Henry here received did not
-incline him to call another Parliament speedily.
-He had summoned none for eight years before;
-and there is no doubt that he asked for this extravagant
-sum that he might dispense with Parliament
-for another term as long. He did not, as it
-was, call another for seven years.</p>
-
-<p>The king, in his anger at the Commons, boasted
-to the mayor and aldermen of London that he
-should find a very different spirit amongst the
-clergy; but even these he tried beyond their
-patience. He demanded no less than fifty per
-cent. of the incomes of their benefices, to make up
-the deficiency from the laity. But the clergy were
-not disposed to be mulcted of half their incomes at
-a blow; they made as stout a resistance as the
-House of Commons. Wolsey, to make sure of
-them, summoned the convocations of the two
-provinces, which had met in their usual manner,
-by his legatine authority, to assemble in a national
-synod in Westminster Abbey. But there the
-proctors declared that they had only power to
-grant money in regular convocation, not in synod;
-and he was obliged to permit them to depart, and
-vote in their ordinary way. The convocation of
-the cardinal's own province of York waited to see
-what Canterbury would first do, which was more
-independent of Wolsey's power. In the Lower<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
-House the resistance was resolute, and was kept
-alive by the eloquence of a preacher of the name
-of Philips, till he was won over to the Court by
-substantial promotion. In the Upper House, the
-Bishops of Winchester and Rochester animated
-the prelates to such opposition, that the grant was
-not carried for four months, and then, being spread
-over five years, amounted, not to fifty, but only to
-ten per cent.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_136a.jpg" width="500" height="226" alt="" title="SILVER GROAT OF HENRY VIII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SILVER GROAT OF HENRY VIII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The money obtained at all this cost of difficulty
-in Parliament, and of unpopularity with the people,
-was lavishly expended in repelling the attempts of
-the Scots, in furnishing aid to the allies in Italy,
-and in preparing for another expedition into
-France. It was of the first importance, before
-sending the army across the Channel, to obtain
-security on the side of Scotland. To this end
-Henry made fresh overtures to his sister, Queen
-Margaret, offering to place her at the head of the
-Government, and to enable her to put down the
-party of Albany, who was now absent in France
-collecting fresh means for maintaining the war.
-He sent the Earl of Surrey, son of the victor of
-Flodden Field, to co-operate with her, to win over
-as many as possible of the nobles with money, and
-to lay waste the Borders, so that they should be
-incapable of furnishing supplies to an invading
-army.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_136b.jpg" width="500" height="225" alt="" title="GOLD CROWN OF HENRY VIII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GOLD CROWN OF HENRY VIII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Margaret now had every opportunity which a
-woman of spirit and reputation could wish. She
-was strongly supported by the power of England,
-and her great opponent was for ever defeated.
-She proclaimed her son, and assumed the regency;
-but her worst enemy was herself. She fell into
-her old habits; and her scandalous attachment to
-Henry Stuart, the son of Lord Evandale, soon
-ruined her prospects. Henry once more abandoned
-her, and raised her husband, the Earl of
-Angus, to the chief power. It was in vain that
-Margaret applied for assistance to Francis I., and
-humiliated herself so far as to solicit the return of
-Albany. From this moment there was more tranquillity
-in Scotland. The French faction, seeing
-support from France hopeless, were compelled to
-remain quiet. Truce after truce was established
-with England; and for eighteen years the Borders
-rested from hostilities.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_136c.jpg" width="500" height="223" alt="" title="GEORGE NOBLE OF HENRY VIII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GEORGE NOBLE OF HENRY VIII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The position of the King of France was, at this
-crisis, becoming more and more critical. His
-kingdom was environed with perils, and menaced
-with ruin, which could only be averted by singular
-courage and address. Against him was arrayed a
-most formidable confederacy of the Pope, the
-emperor, the King of England, and the various
-states of Italy. He had not a single ally, except
-the King of Scotland, a minor, and without
-authority. The internal condition of France was
-extremely discouraging. The wars of Francis in
-Italy and at home, his gay life and expensive
-pleasures, with his extravagant grants to his
-favourites, had exhausted his treasury, and involved
-him in grave embarrassment. The troops
-were ill-paid, and, as is usual in such cases, became
-disorderly and infested the highways, plundered
-the peasantry, and filled the whole kingdom
-with alarm and discontent. The Court partook
-of the licence and distraction of the nation; it
-was rent by faction, and the most dangerous
-secret conspiracy was at work in it. This was
-the doing of the Duke of Bourbon, Constable of
-France, who had been wronged in a lawsuit with
-the king.</p>
-
-<p>Charles V. and Henry of England thereupon
-entered into a secret treaty with the disaffected
-prince to betray his sovereign and his native
-country. The transaction was a disgraceful one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
-to all parties concerned. In Bourbon, notwithstanding
-his grievous wrongs, it was a base as
-well as an impolitic deed; in Henry and Charles,
-it was one destructive of the security of the
-throne, and of every principle of honour which
-should guide the counsels of kings. Henry felt
-the vileness of the proceeding, but
-endeavoured to justify it as a fair
-retaliation, for that Francis had tampered
-with his Irish subject, the Earl
-of Desmond.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
-<img src="images/i_137a.jpg" width="500" height="253" alt="" title="DOUBLE SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VIII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>DOUBLE SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VIII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Lord of Beaurain had been
-employed as the secret agent of the
-emperor; and Sir John Russell&mdash;this
-being one of the first public notices
-of the Russells in history&mdash;as that
-of Henry. A private treaty was concluded,
-of which the substance was as
-follows:&mdash;The emperor and the King
-of England were to invade France
-simultaneously, the one in the north,
-the other in the south, while Bourbon himself
-was to excite a rebellion in the heart of the
-kingdom, supported by all the connections of his
-family, whom he calculated at 200 knights and
-gentlemen, with their retainers. The attempt
-was to be made the moment Francis had crossed
-the Alps; and when the conquest of France
-was complete, Bourbon, in addition to his appanage
-of the Bourbonnais and Auvergne, was to
-receive Provence and Dauphiné, which together
-were to constitute a kingdom for him. He was,
-moreover, to receive the hand of the emperor's
-sister, Eleanor, Queen-Dowager of Portugal. The
-emperor was to have, as his share of the spoil,
-Languedoc, Burgundy, Champagne, and Picardy,
-and Henry VIII. the rest of France.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the traitorous scheme which was now
-opened up to the astonished gaze of Francis. Had
-he crossed the Alps before he received the intelligence,
-it might have been fatal. He had received
-some dark hints of mischief to be apprehended from
-Bourbon previously; and on his way south, he
-had suddenly presented himself at the duke's
-castle, and called upon him to accompany the
-expedition to Italy; but the duke made it appear
-that the state of his health rendered that impossible.
-Francis, not by any means satisfied, set
-a strict but secret guard upon his castle, and proceeded
-to Lyons; but there the news reached him
-that the pretended sick man had managed to
-escape in disguise, and was on his way, through
-the intricacies of the mountains of
-Auvergne and Dauphiné, to join the
-emperor's army in Italy.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_137b.jpg" width="500" height="250" alt="" title="POUND SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VIII" />
-<div class="caption"><p>POUND SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VIII.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Powers of England and the
-Netherlands appeared, in pursuance
-of the secret treaty with Bourbon, on
-the soil of France about the same
-time. The Duke of Suffolk, Charles
-Brandon, the commander of the
-English army, landed at Calais on the
-24th of August, and, joining to his
-troops those collected from the garrisons
-of Calais, Ham, and Guines,
-found himself at the head of 13,000
-men. He marched on the 19th of
-September, and the next day fell in with the Imperial
-troops from the Netherlands, under Van
-Buren. The allies now amounted to 20,000; but
-instead of marching to join the Imperial forces
-coming from Germany, they remained under the
-walls of St. Omer, debating whether they should
-do this or invest Boulogne. After having wasted
-a precious month, they decided to leave Boulogne,
-and endeavour to form a junction with the Germans.
-But they had now allowed Francis ample
-time to thwart all their objects. He had sent a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
-strong detachment, under the Duke of Guise, to
-throw themselves in the way of the Germans;
-whilst the Dukes of Vendôme and Tremouille
-kept a sharp watch over the movements of the
-allied army. Suffolk and Van Buren traversed
-Artois and Picardy, crossed the Somme and the
-Oise, and alarmed Paris by pitching their tents
-near Laon, within twenty miles of the capital.
-They had stopped by the way to invest Bray,
-Montdidier, and some other small places, and now
-confidently expected the arrival of the German
-army.</p>
-
-<p>But the Germans by this time were in full
-flight before the Duke of Guise, and Vendôme and
-Tremouille man&oelig;uvred more menacingly on the
-front and flank of the Allies. Tremouille, in particular,
-grew more and more audacious, beat up
-their quarters with his cavalry, harassed them by
-frequent skirmishes, and intercepted their convoys.
-The position of the allied troops became every day
-more critical. They were threatened with a
-growing force in their rear, drawn from the garrisons
-of Picardy, and there was danger of their
-supplies, which were all derived from Calais, being
-cut off. The troops were become sickly, and discontented
-with their situation. It was high time
-to retrace their steps, and they commenced their
-march by way of Valenciennes. But the weather
-was very rainy, the roads were almost impassable,
-cold and frost succeeded, and the sickness and
-murmurs of the troops augmented every day.
-Numbers perished on the march; all were eager
-to reach their homes; and, as the Flemings drew
-near their frontiers, they deserted in shoals. The
-armies then separated, and Suffolk reached Calais
-in December, with his forces greatly reduced, and
-all in miserable condition.</p>
-
-<p>On the 14th of September, whilst the Duke of
-Suffolk was advancing on Paris, an event occurred
-which arrested the attention of Cardinal Wolsey
-even more than the engrossing moves on the great
-chess-board of war. This was the death of the
-Pope Adrian. He had occupied the papal chair
-only about twenty months; and so impatient were
-the Italians of the Flemish pope and his strict economy,
-that they styled the doctor who attended him
-in his last sickness the "saviour of his country."
-Wolsey lost no time in putting in his claim; and
-wrote to Dr. Clark, the English ambassador at
-Rome, telling him to spare neither money nor
-promises, for that it was by command of the king,
-who would undoubtedly see all his engagements
-performed. This time Wolsey was put in nomination,
-and obtained a considerable number of votes;
-but there was no real chance for him, for the
-Italians were clamorous to have no more ultramontane,
-or, as they styled them, barbarian popes.
-Charles V., despite his promises to Wolsey, not
-only did not move a finger in his favour, but
-threw all his influence into the scale to carry the
-election of Julius de Medici; whilst the French
-cardinals, to a man, were opposed to Wolsey as
-the most dangerous enemy to their sovereign.
-The conclave met in October, and the discussion
-was continued through six stormy weeks. The
-election at length was seen to lie between Jacovaccio
-Romano and Julius de Medici. Cardinal
-Pompeo Colonna, who held the most decisive influence
-in the conclave, threw his weight into the
-scale for Romano, and the balance hung undecided;
-but all at once it gave way. Colonna,
-although he hated the Medici, gave up his opposition,
-and Julius was unanimously elected.</p>
-
-<p>Wolsey, to all appearance, bore this second disappointment
-with the equanimity of a philosopher;
-yet we may justly imagine that it produced a deep
-change in his feelings towards the emperor, and
-led to a hostile policy against his interests and
-those of Queen Catherine, his aunt, in England.
-But Wolsey had prepared for either event, his
-election or rejection; and the moment the latter
-became certain, the whole of the influence of the
-English Government was employed in favour of
-the election of Julius de Medici. On the strength
-of this, the English ambassadors congratulated
-Julius on his elevation, and solicited the continuance
-of the legatine commission to Wolsey.
-The Pope, who assumed the name of Clement
-VII., not only renewed the commission, but
-granted it for life, with augmented powers; and
-added to it a commission to reform or suppress
-certain religious houses in England. This was a
-dangerous power, and as Wolsey, in 1525&mdash;only
-two years afterwards&mdash;by this authority suppressed
-a number of monasteries, it is by no means
-improbable that it led Henry to think of those
-more sweeping changes of the same kind which he
-afterwards effected. The money thus procured
-was devoted, notwithstanding the necessities of
-the State, to the erection of colleges, where both
-Wolsey and his master declared they were anxious
-to educate able men in order to oppose effectually
-the fast-growing heresies of Martin Luther.</p>
-
-<p>The campaign in Italy opened in the spring of
-1524, with wonderfully increased difficulties for
-the French. Charles V. had appointed the renegade
-Duke of Bourbon his generalissimo in that
-country against his own sovereign and compatriots.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
-Henry of England engaged to furnish 100,000
-crowns for the first month's pay of the duke's
-army, and to make a diversion by invading
-Picardy in July. The emperor promised to defray
-the cost of the Italian army for the remainder of
-the campaign, and to invade Languedoc at the
-same time. Thus supported, Bourbon took the
-field early in the spring; and by the end of May
-the duke had completely freed Italy of his countrymen,
-and driven them across the Alps. The losses
-of the French in this retreat were dreadful, and
-perhaps the greatest calamity was the death of the
-famous Chevalier Bayard, the knight "sans peur
-et sans reproche," who was killed as he was protecting
-the rear of the army, on the banks of the
-Sesia (April 30, 1524.)</p>
-
-<p>Bourbon, ardent and impatient to secure the
-kingdom which had been promised him in France,
-as well as thirsting with desire to take the utmost
-vengeance on Francis I., entreated the emperor to
-allow him to quit Italy and enter France with his
-victorious army. The emperor consented, and the
-Imperial forces soon found themselves descending
-from the Alps. Unfortunately, Charles had
-divided the command of this expedition between
-Bourbon and the Marquis of Pescara, and the
-certain result was divided councils. Bourbon
-urged to push forward to Lyons, calculating on his
-friends and dependants in France flocking to him
-there; but Pescara had probably different instructions,
-and accordingly advised that they should
-descend on Provence, and lay siege to Marseilles.
-This was palpably the suggestion of the emperor,
-for he was ambitious of securing Marseilles, and
-holding it as a key to the south of France, as
-Calais was to the north, in the hands of the English.
-Thither, therefore, they marched, entered
-Provence on the 2nd of July, and on the 19th of
-August they sat down before Marseilles with an
-army of 16,000 men.</p>
-
-<p>But the situation of the Imperial troops soon
-became extremely hazardous there. The place was
-strongly fortified; it contained a garrison of 3,200
-men, and these were zealously supported by 9,000
-of the inhabitants, who, detesting the Spaniards,
-took up arms and fought most gallantly. Bourbon
-and Pescara spent forty days in mining and bombarding
-the place, when they became aware of a
-tempest gathering which boded their utter destruction.
-This was Francis marching from Avignon
-at the head of 40,000 men. Neither Henry
-nor the emperor had made those diversions in
-Languedoc and Picardy which they had promised,
-and thus the whole weight of the army of France
-was at liberty to descend upon them. Bourbon
-and Pescara precipitately abandoned the siege,
-made for the Alps, and regained Italy.</p>
-
-<p>At this moment Francis committed a military
-error, which probably deprived him of the
-triumph of thoroughly routing his enemies. To
-have continued the pursuit was almost certain to
-have destroyed the Imperialist force, for it was
-worn down by its severe marches, and the road to
-Lodi by which Pescara retreated was actually
-strewn with his exhausted horses. The army of
-Pescara was the sole Imperial force now in Italy,
-and its defeat would have been the immediate
-recovery of the Milanese territory. But Francis
-was beguiled into the delay of besieging Pavia, in
-which Pescara had left a strong garrison, under
-Antonio da Leyva. Pavia was a well-fortified
-city, situated on the deep and rapid Ticino, in a
-peculiarly strong position, and had repeatedly
-defied armies for a long time together, particularly
-those of the Lombards and of Charlemagne. The
-moment Pescara heard of Francis sitting down
-before it, he exclaimed that he was saved! Every
-exertion was made by the Imperialists to profit by
-the time thus given them. The Duke of Bourbon
-hastened over the Alps to Germany to raise
-12,000 men, for which purpose he had pawned
-his jewels. Lannoy, the viceroy of Naples,
-pledged the regular revenues of that kingdom for
-ready cash for the hiring of troops, and great
-activity was displayed in raising an army and
-posting it betwixt the Adda and the Ticino.</p>
-
-<p>For three months Francis continued lying
-before Pavia, and committed the further error of
-weakening his forces, by detaching 6,000 of them,
-under Albany, the late regent of Scotland, to
-menace the kingdom of Naples.</p>
-
-<p>In the beginning of February, 1525, the
-Imperialist generals thought themselves strong
-enough to attack the French in their entrenchments.
-These entrenchments were very formidable.
-The rear-guard was posted in the beautiful
-castle of Mirabello, in the midst of an extensive
-park, enclosed by high and solid walls. But
-Leyva, who commanded the garrison, found means
-to communicate with the Imperial generals outside,
-and he sent them word that they must
-either relieve him or that he must attempt to cut
-his way out, for famine was urgent amongst his
-troops. The generals themselves were suffering
-from want of provisions and pay for their troops.
-In the French camp the wisest commanders
-counselled Francis to raise the siege and retire
-to Milan, confident that the enemy must soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
-disband from want of pay. But Bonivet treated
-this counsel as mean and dastardly; and, unfortunately,
-this was the tone most likely to
-captivate the chivalrous mind of the French king.
-He resolved to stand his ground.</p>
-
-<p>On the 24th of February, Bourbon, Pescara,
-and Lannoy, having distracted the attention of
-the French for several days previously by false
-attacks, at midnight led out their troops silently
-to the park. A body of pioneers commenced
-operations on the wall, and before daylight they
-had effected a breach of a hundred paces in length,
-and at dawn they carried the castle by surprise.
-Francis drew his troops out of their entrenchments
-and made a push across the Ticino, but he found
-the bridge demolished, and a strong body of the
-Spaniards closely drawn up on the banks.
-Attacked fiercely by the garrison in the rear, and
-hemmed in by the Imperial army in front, the
-battle became desperate. Francis had his horse
-killed under him; the Swiss, contrary to their
-wont, turned and fled at the first charge; and the
-Germans, who fought with singular valour, were
-annihilated to a man. The Spanish musketeers
-then broke the French ranks; and the king,
-being already wounded twice in the face, and once
-in the hand, refused to surrender to the Spaniards
-who environed him. Fortunately, Pomperant, a
-French gentleman in the service of the Duke of
-Bourbon, recognised him, and called Lannoy, to
-whom the king resigned his sword. Lannoy,
-kneeling, kissed the king's hand, took the sword,
-and gave him his own in return, saying it did not
-become a monarch to appear unarmed in the
-presence of a subject. The king was relieved of
-his helmet by James D'Avila; and the Spanish
-soldiers, who admired his valour, came crowding
-around him, and snatched the feathers from it,
-and, when they were all gone, even cut pieces
-from his clothes, to keep as memorials that they
-had fought hand to hand with him. Francis was
-soon left standing in his jerkin and hose, and,
-despite his misfortune, could not help laughing at
-his situation, and at the eagerness of the soldiers
-for something belonging to him.</p>
-
-<p>The amazement and consternation which fell on
-France at the news of this terrible disaster are
-scarcely to be imagined. Nothing, indeed, could
-be more melancholy than the situation of that
-kingdom. Her king was captive, her most distinguished
-generals and the flower of the army
-were taken or slain; powerful and triumphant
-enemies on all sides were ready to seize her as a
-spoil, and she was equally destitute of allies, of
-money, of troops, or wise counsel. Scarcely less
-was the terror of the princes and the states of
-Italy, for their only safety&mdash;the balance of power&mdash;was
-destroyed, and there appeared no defence
-against the predominant power of the emperor.</p>
-
-<p>Charles himself assumed an air of singular
-composure and moderation on the receipt of this
-brilliant news. He had been daily expecting to
-hear of the defeat of his army, when, on the 10th
-of March, came the tidings of this great victory.
-We may imagine, therefore, his real joy. But
-such was his command of his feelings that nothing
-of this appeared in his manner. He perused
-the dispatches with the most perfect composure,
-affected even to commiserate the fall of his rival,
-and moralised sagely on the uncertainty of
-human greatness. A little time, however, was
-sufficient to show that this was dissimulation,
-and his conduct to Francis was ample proof that
-he had neither pity nor generosity.</p>
-
-<p>Henry of England, on the contrary, gave
-freedom to his expressions of joy. Though he was
-actually on his way to coalesce with Francis
-against Charles, he saw at once the immense
-advantages this defeat and capture offered for
-aggressions on his kingdom, and he therefore
-ordered the most public rejoicings in London and
-other cities, and rode himself in state to St.
-Paul's, where Wolsey performed mass, assisted
-by eleven bishops, in presence of the Court and
-all the foreign ambassadors; and afterwards <em>Te
-Deum</em> was sung. Henry then posted off Tunstall,
-Bishop of London, and Sir Richard Wingfield,
-Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, into Spain
-to congratulate the emperor on his splendid
-triumph, and modestly to propose that they should
-divide France between them.</p>
-
-<p>To induce Charles to consent to this improbable
-arrangement, Henry proposed at once to put the
-Princess Mary, who was betrothed to Charles, into
-his hands&mdash;in fact, to make the exchange of her
-person for that of Francis. Henry was the more
-buoyed up in these wild notions by the fact that
-the ambassador of Charles had just been applying
-for the delivery of the princess.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 414px;"><a href="images/i_141big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_141.jpg" width="414" height="560" alt="" title="SURRENDER OF FRANCIS ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF PAVIA" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SURRENDER OF FRANCIS ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF PAVIA. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_140">140.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>So confident was Henry of the cession of his
-claims by the emperor, that he instantly took
-measures to raise the money necessary for the
-invasion of France. As he had resolved to rule
-without the interference of parliaments, he sent
-out commissioners to every part of the country
-to levy the sixth part of the goods of the laity
-and a fourth of those of the clergy. The scheme
-was entirely unconstitutional, the commissioners
-performed their part in a harsh and overbearing
-manner, trusting thus to intimidate the people
-into compliance, and the consequence was universal
-resentment and resistance. Clergy and
-laity, rich and poor, all alike denounced the
-arbitrary and illegal impost. "How the great
-men took it," says Hall, "was a marvel: the poor
-cursed, the rich repugned, the lighter sort railed,
-and, in conclusion, all men execrated the cardinal
-as the subverter of the laws and liberties of
-England. For, said they, if men should give their
-goods by a commission, then were it worse than
-the taxes of France, and so England would be
-bond, and not free." This was the more just
-because the cardinal in person acted as commissioner
-in London, and lent all the weight of his
-office and position to sanction the oppression. He
-used all his arts to prevail on the citizens to
-comply, but neither threats nor blandishments
-moved them. The resistance was obstinate and
-universal.</p>
-
-<p>In London the excitement became excessive;
-the people placarded the walls with their complaints,
-and the clergy preached against the
-arbitrary tax, and declared that for themselves
-they would pay no money which was not voted in
-Convocation. From London the fire spread
-through the other towns, the people began to take
-up arms, the clergy to encourage them, and
-Henry, who was soon terrified, with all his bluster,
-took the alarm, and declared that he wanted
-nothing from his loving subjects but as a benevolence.
-But the very word benevolence awoke a
-host of hateful recollections. The tumult was
-only increased by it; and a lawyer in the city
-published the passage from the Act of Richard
-III., by which benevolences were abolished for
-ever. This seemed to arouse the lion spirit in
-Henry. The prospect of the crown of France was
-too fascinating to be lightly surrendered; he therefore
-called together the judges, and demanded
-their opinion on his power to tax his subjects
-without Parliament. The venal judges reminded
-the king that Richard III. was a usurper, and
-that his Parliament was a factious Parliament,
-the acts of which were illegal and void, and could
-in no wise bind a legitimate and <em>absolute</em> king,
-who, like him, held the Crown by hereditary right.
-This bold and base doctrine was loudly echoed by
-the Privy Council, but vain were such authorities
-with the people. On hearing this decision, they
-again flew to arms. In Kent they speedily drove
-the commissioners and tax-gatherers out of the
-county; in Suffolk they marched in an armed body
-of 4,000 or 5,000 men, and even threatened the
-duke of the county, Brandon, the king's brother-in-law,
-who was the chief commissioner there,
-with death. Surrey, who stood high in the estimation
-of the people, interfered to calm them,
-and to prevent mischief; and Henry saw that the
-contest was hopeless, and by proclamation retracted
-his demand. Wolsey, who had been
-extremely prominent in endeavouring to enforce
-the detested tax, now caused a report to be industriously
-circulated, that he had, in truth, never
-been favourable to it, but the people only replied
-when they heard it, "God save the king! we know
-the cardinal well enough."</p>
-
-<p>But Henry might have spared himself this
-tumult and unpopularity. The emperor was never
-less likely than now to concede such favours and
-advantages to him. He was a deep and subtle
-prince; no man could see more intuitively and
-instantly the wonderful change in his power and
-position which the battle of Pavia created. Charles
-had calculated upon Henry for large subsidies
-during the war, but instead of receiving these, he
-had found Henry as much straitened for money as
-he was himself. It was now discovered that the
-emperor had already made a truce of six months
-with France, and he coolly advised the ambassadors
-to seek from their sovereign power, not
-negotiations for the invasion of France, but the
-terms on which the French king should be
-liberated. To crown all, and leave no question
-of the feeling which Henry's late conduct had
-produced in Charles's Court, he wrote to Henry,
-no longer styling himself his loving uncle and
-penning the grossest flatteries with his own hand,
-but he simply and curtly signed himself Charles
-to official communications duly and officially
-prepared.</p>
-
-<p>This was a rebuff not to be received complacently
-by a man of Henry's vain and volcanic spirit.
-He read the astounding dispatches with an amazement
-which burst into a tempest of rage. At
-once a tide of impetuous revulsion flowed over
-his whole soul. He abandoned in a moment all
-ideas of conquests, invasions, and the crown of
-France, and determined to do everything in his
-power to procure the liberation of Francis, and
-to unite with him against the perfidious and insulting
-Spaniard. He had dismissed the French
-envoys, who were residing privately in London,
-on the news of the capture of Francis, but he now
-let it be understood that their presence would be
-heartily welcome. Louise, the mother of Francis,
-accepted the hint, and John Brenon, president of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
-council of Normandy, and her favourite envoy,
-Giovanni Joacchino, were again despatched to
-London. A truce for four months was immediately
-concluded, and Wolsey, who fanned
-the new flame in Henry's bosom for objects and
-resentments of his own, soon arranged the terms
-of a treaty with them. These terms were extremely
-acceptable to Henry, as they furnished
-him with a prospect of a considerable addition to
-his income, without the disagreeable necessity of
-having to go to Parliament for it. The treaty
-consisted of six articles. By the first, the contracting
-parties engaged to guarantee the integrity
-of each other's territories against all the princes
-in the world. The object of this was to prevent
-Francis from bartering any of his provinces with
-Charles for his liberty. By the second, Francis
-and his heirs were made to guarantee to Henry
-the payment of 2,000,000 crowns, by half-yearly
-instalments, and 100,000 crowns for life, after the
-payment of that amount. Nine of the chief
-noblemen of France, and nine of the richest cities
-also, gave up their bonds for the security of these
-payments. By the third article, the King of
-France engaged to pay up all the arrears of the
-dowry of Mary, the Queen-Dowager of France.
-The rest of the articles were for the prevention of
-depredations at sea, for comprehending the King
-of Scots in the treaty, and for the prevention of
-the return of the Duke of Albany to Scotland
-during the minority of James V. This treaty
-was signed at the king's house in Hertfordshire,
-on the 30th of August. The cardinal,
-who never forgot himself on these occasions,
-was well rewarded for his trouble in promoting
-and arranging this alliance. He received a grant
-of 100,000 crowns for his good offices in the affair,
-and the arrears of his pension in lieu of his
-surrender of the bishopric of Tournay, the whole
-to be paid in equal instalments in the course of
-seven years and a half.</p>
-
-<p>But whilst the French regent, Louise, made
-these liberal concessions for the friendship of
-Henry, and showed every apparent disposition
-to guarantee the conditions, Louise swearing to
-them, and Francis ratifying them, care was taken
-to leave a loophole of escape at any future period.
-The attorney and solicitor-general entered a secret
-protest against the whole treaty, so that Francis
-might, if occasion required, plead the illegality of
-the whole transaction.</p>
-
-<p>But it was not so easy to procure the liberation
-of the captive King of France. Moderate as
-Charles had professed to be, and sympathetic
-regarding the misfortunes of Francis, he soon
-showed that he was determined to extort every
-possible advantage from having the royal captive
-in his hands. He had been detained in the
-strong castle of Pizzighettone, near Cremona; but,
-thinking that he should be able to influence the
-emperor by his presence, he petitioned to be removed
-to the Alcazar of Madrid. At length,
-however, on the 14th of January, 1526, was
-signed the famous treaty called the Concord of
-Madrid, one of the most grasping and impudent
-pieces of extortion which one prince ever forced
-from another in his necessity. By this treaty
-Francis gave up all that he had offered before&mdash;namely,
-all claims of superiority over Flanders
-and Artois, and the possession of Naples, Milan,
-Genoa, and the other Italian territories, for which
-France had spent so much blood and treasure.
-But besides this, Francis was to deliver to the
-emperor his two sons, the Dauphin and the Duke
-of Orleans, as hostages, and also bind himself, if
-he did not, or could not, fulfil his engagements
-within four months, to return and yield himself
-once more prisoner. He was to marry Queen
-Eleanora of Portugal, the sister of Charles, and
-the Dauphin was to marry the Princess Maria, the
-daughter of Eleanora. But these were but a small
-part of the demands. Francis was bound to
-persuade the King of Navarre to surrender his
-rights in that kingdom to Charles, and the
-Duke of Gueldres to appoint Charles the heir
-to his dominions; and if he failed to persuade
-them, he was to give them no aid when the
-emperor invaded their states. Next, Francis
-was to lend his whole navy, 500 men-at-arms,
-and 6,000 foot-soldiers, to put down the princes
-of Italy, who were uniting to effect his own
-freedom! Then, Francis was to pay to the
-King of England all those sums which the emperor
-himself had engaged to pay. Still more,
-he was to restore Bourbon and the rest of the
-rebels to their estates and honours. The whole
-of the conditions were so monstrous, that they
-cannot be read without astonishment at the
-rapacity of this triumphant prince. But to
-gain his liberty Francis signed the Treaty.</p>
-
-<p>Henry VIII. was one of the first amongst
-princes to send ambassadors to congratulate
-Francis on his restoration to freedom, and to
-urge him to break every article of the infamous
-terms which had been forced upon him. Sir
-Thomas Cheney was sent from England to meet
-Dr. Taylor, the English ambassador at Paris; and
-together they proceeded to Bayonne, and were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
-introduced to Francis, who told them he greatly
-felt the friendship of Henry, who had, indeed, remonstrated
-with Charles on his behalf, though
-Charles had not paid much respect to the intercession.
-There was no need of any arguments
-from the two English casuists to induce Francis
-to break the engagements he had entered into.
-He had never meant to keep them. Before
-signing the document, he had protested, before two
-notaries and a few confidential friends, that he
-had acted under restraint, and that he should hold
-himself bound to observe none of the conditions
-which were not just and reasonable.</p>
-
-<p>Two ambassadors had attended him from Spain
-to take his signature of the Treaty, when he was
-free and on his own soil, as a ratification of it,
-which he had engaged to give; but when the ambassadors
-presented themselves for this purpose,
-Francis declined, affirming that he could not enter
-into any such engagements without the advice of
-his council and the approbation of his subjects.
-He assured them, however, that he would immediately
-summon an assembly of the notables at
-Cognac, and requested them to attend him thither,
-to learn the decision of the assembly. This body
-met at that place in June, and declared, with one
-voice, that the king had no right or power to sever
-Burgundy from the kingdom without their consent,
-and such consent they would never give.
-The Spanish ambassadors were present when this
-decision was pronounced, and they said that the
-king, not being able to fulfil his contract, was
-bound to return to his captivity, and they called
-upon him to obey. Instead of a direct answer to
-this demand, a treaty betwixt the King of France,
-the Pope, the Venetians, and the Duke of Milan,
-which had been secretly concluded a few days
-before, was produced, and published in their
-hearing. As this was tantamount to a declaration
-of war, the ambassadors demanded their
-passports, and returned to Spain. The Pope, on
-entering into this league, absolved Francis from
-all the forced oaths that he had sworn.</p>
-
-<p>This confederacy of Francis and the Italian
-princes and states against the emperor, bound the
-Allies to raise and pay an army of 30,000 foot and
-3,000 horse, with a certain number of ships and
-galleys. The King of France was to be put in
-possession of the county of Asti and the lordship
-of Genoa; and Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan,
-engaged to pay him 50,000 crowns annually.
-Naples was to be wrested from Charles, and its
-crown placed at the disposal of the Pope; but the
-king whom he appointed was to pay an annuity of
-75,000 crowns to the King of France. Henry of
-England, though he declined to take any active
-part in the league, but consented merely to be
-nominated its protector, was to have a principality
-in Naples, with 36,000 ducats a year; and the
-cardinal, who always came in for his share of spoil,
-was to have a lordship worth 10,000 ducats.</p>
-
-<p>So closed the year 1526; and the new year
-opened with preparations for still more terrors for
-devoted Italy. The Emperor Charles had no
-money to maintain the troops necessary for the
-extensive domination that he aimed at, and he
-therefore allowed the mercenary troops in his
-employment, rather than in his pay, to indemnify
-themselves by the plunder of the wretched inhabitants
-of the countries where they were collected.
-These troops consisted of a mob of vagabonds,
-outlaws, and marauders, from every country
-in Europe, who, by their long course of licentious
-freedom, were become utterly callous to the sufferings
-which they inflicted. Freundsberg, a
-German soldier of fortune, was at the head of
-15,000 of these adventurers, consisting of Germans,
-Spaniards, and Swiss; and Bourbon, at the
-head of 10,000 more half-starved and half-clad
-mercenaries, was in possession of the whole duchy
-of Milan, but with no means of supporting his
-position. These two ferocious hordes having
-formed a junction under his banner, clamoured for
-their pay; Bourbon told them he had no money,
-and that Milan had been so repeatedly overrun
-and ravaged, that it was destitute of all means of
-supporting them; but that he would lead them
-into the enemy's country&mdash;into the richest cities
-of Italy&mdash;where they might amply indemnify
-themselves for all their past sufferings. Animated
-by these assurances, they swore to follow him
-whithersoever he might lead them. They marched
-on Rome, and sacked it, losing, however, their
-leader, who fell in the attack.</p>
-
-<p>The news of the sacking of Rome, and the imprisonment
-of the Pope, excited the most lively
-sensations of horror and indignation throughout
-the Christian, and especially the Catholic, world.
-None appeared more affected than the emperor, by
-whose troops the sacrilegious deed had been perpetrated.
-He put himself and his Court into
-the deepest mourning, forbade rejoicing for the
-birth of his son, and commanded prayers to be
-offered in the churches throughout Spain for
-the liberation of His Holiness. No one could
-play off a piece of solemn hypocrisy more solemnly
-than Charles V. Francis and Henry, who were
-making a fresh treaty of alliance, were at once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
-affected with real or pretended horror. They
-agreed immediately to invade Italy with 30,000
-foot, and 1,000 horse, to join the confederate army
-there, and drive out the troops of Spain, and
-liberate the Pope from the Castle of St. Angelo.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_145big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_145.jpg" width="500" height="519" alt="After the Portrait by Lucas Cranach, at Florence" title="MARTIN LUTHER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>MARTIN LUTHER.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>After the Portrait by Lucas Cranach, at Florence.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the time was now approaching which was
-to interrupt the friendship of Henry with the
-head of the Church of Rome. The Reformation
-in Germany had made an immense progress, and
-produced the most astonishing events. The whole
-mind and intellect of that country had been convulsed
-by the preaching of the doctrines of
-Luther. State had been set against state, prince
-against prince; and the bold monk of Wittenberg
-had only escaped the vengeance of the Church of
-Rome by the undaunted championship of the
-Elector of Saxony. Henry, fond of school
-divinity from his youth, and a great reader and
-admirer of Thomas Aquinas, had looked across to
-Germany with a grim and truculent glance, which
-seemed to rest on the blunt and unconventional
-Reformer with an expression of one who longed to
-strike down the daring heretic, and rid the world
-of him. As this was out of his power, he determined
-to annihilate him by his pen; and for this
-purpose he had written a book against him, with
-the title of "A Treatise on the Seven Sacraments,
-against Martin Luther, the Heresiarch, by the
-Illustrious Prince Henry VIII." This he had
-caused to be presented to the Pope by the English
-ambassador, beautifully written and magnificently
-bound, and Leo X. received it with the most extravagant
-laudations, and conferred on Henry in
-1521 the title of "Defender of the Faith," in a
-bull signed by himself and twenty-seven cardinals.
-Henry really believed that he had crushed
-Luther and all his sect; but the free-mouthed
-Reformer, who paid no flatteries to king or Pope,
-soon convinced the literary monarch that he was
-as much alive as ever. He wrote a reply to
-Henry, in which, giving him commendation for
-writing in elegant language, he abused him and
-his work as broadly as he would have done that of
-the obscurest mortal. Henry, in his estimation,
-was "fool," "liar," "ass," "blasphemer." The
-correspondence which ensued was acrimonious.</p>
-
-<p>The great defender of the faith, at the time at
-which we are now arrived, was growing dissatisfied
-with his wife, and was about to seek a divorce
-from her, which must necessarily involve the Pope
-in difficulties with the queen's nephew, the Emperor.
-Henry was married to Catherine when
-she was in her twenty-fifth year. So long as the
-disparity of their ages did not appear, for he was
-six years younger, and so long as she was pleasing
-in her person, he seemed not only satisfied with,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
-but really attached to her. But she was now
-forty-two years of age, had undergone much
-anxiety in her earlier years in England, had borne
-the king five children, three sons and two
-daughters, all of whom died in their infancy,
-except the Princess Mary, who lived to mount the
-throne. Catherine, of late years, had suffered
-much in her health, and we may judge from the
-best-known portrait of her that she had now lost
-her good looks, and had a bowed-down and sorrow-stricken
-air.</p>
-
-<p>Anne Boleyn had been living in France, at first
-as attendant on Mary, King Henry's sister, the
-queen of Louis XII., and afterwards in the family
-of the Duke of Alençon. She returned to England
-on the breaking out of the war with
-Francis I., in 1522; and seems, by her beauty,
-wit, and accomplishments, to have created a
-great sensation in the English Court, where she
-was soon attached to the service of Queen
-Catherine. Henry is said to have first met her by
-accident, in her father's garden, at Hever Castle,
-in Kent; and was so charmed with her that he
-told Wolsey that he had been "discoursing with a
-young lady who had the wit of an angel, and was
-worthy of a crown." She is supposed at that time
-to have been about one-and-twenty, a brunette of
-tall and most graceful figure, and extremely
-accomplished.</p>
-
-<p>The understanding between Henry and Anne
-Boleyn soon became obvious to the whole Court.
-The queen saw it as clearly as any one else, and
-upbraided Henry with it, but does not seem to
-have used any harshness to Anne on that account,
-though she occasionally gave her some sharp rubs.
-For instance, once when the queen was playing at
-cards with Anne Boleyn she thus addressed her,
-"My Lady Anne, you have the good hap ever to
-stop at a king; but you are like others, you will
-have all or none." Cavendish, Wolsey's secretary,
-says the queen at this trying crisis "behaved
-like a very patient Grissel."</p>
-
-<p>Henry now having resolved to marry Anne
-Boleyn, as he found he could obtain her on
-no other terms, felt himself suddenly afflicted
-with lamentable scruples of conscience for being
-married to his brother's widow, and entertaining
-equally afflicting doubts of the power of the Pope
-to grant a dispensation for such a marriage. For
-eighteen years these scruples had rested in his
-bosom without disturbing a moment of his repose.
-It is true that these doubts had been started
-before the marriage by Archbishop Warham, but
-they had no weight with Henry or his father.
-Henry had gone into the marriage at the age of
-eighteen with his eyes open, having some time
-before, by his father's order, made a protest
-against it for State purposes, and had been ever
-since, till he saw Anne Boleyn, not only contented
-but jovial. Now, however, he soon ceased to be
-merely scrupulous&mdash;he became positive that his
-marriage was unlawful, and set to work to write
-a book to prove it. The king communicated to
-Wolsey fully his views regarding the divorce, and
-Wolsey, who had now his decided quarrel with
-Charles for deceiving him in the matter of the
-Papacy, and who was equally the enemy of Catherine,
-she having openly expressed her resentment
-of his procuring the destruction of the Duke of
-Buckingham, readily fell into the scheme. Wolsey
-was undoubtedly as well aware as any one of
-the love affair going on between Henry and Anne
-Boleyn; nothing that was moving at Court could
-escape him; but he supposed this affair was only
-of the same kind as the rest of Henry's gallantries,
-and his notion was that some foreign princess
-would be selected for Henry's second queen.</p>
-
-<p>But during the discussions on the marriage
-between the English princess and the French
-prince, a circumstance had taken place which
-showed that Henry was resolved to let slip no
-opportunity of carrying his divorce at all costs.
-The Bishop of Tarbes suddenly asked the question
-whether the legitimacy of the Princess Mary was
-beyond every legal and canonical doubt, considering
-the nature of the king's marriage with her
-mother, the queen. Henry and Wolsey affected
-to be much astonished and agitated at the
-question; and the King afterwards made it an
-argument that the idea of the illegality of his
-marriage, though it had originated with himself,
-had been greatly strengthened by the question of
-the bishop, as it showed how apparent the fact
-was to strangers and even foreigners. Yet the
-suggestion had undoubtedly been made to the
-bishop by Wolsey on Henry's behalf. The meaning
-of the question was quite obvious&mdash;it was to
-serve the cause of the divorce, which was an
-object highly pleasing to Francis I., in his resentment
-of the treatment of himself by the Emperor;
-but it was not believed for a moment to indicate
-real doubt even on the part of the French king,
-or he would not have proceeded to confirm the
-choice of an illegitimate maiden for the Queen of
-France, or the wife of his son.</p>
-
-<p>At the close of this treaty, Wolsey was sent
-over to France, rather to show to Europe, and
-particularly to the King of Spain, the intimate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
-footing between France and England, than for
-any real use. It was believed that Anne
-Boleyn and her friends were at the bottom of
-Wolsey's being sent abroad for a time, that the
-affairs regarding "the king's secret" might proceed
-without his cognisance; and, indeed, before
-his return, it had ceased to be a secret to any one.
-Anne had become openly acknowledged as the
-king's favourite, and had assumed an air and style
-of magnificence and consequence on account of
-it. Meantime, Wolsey, misled by his idea that
-the king meant to marry a foreign princess, had
-committed himself deeply, and supplied fresh and
-serious materials for his own destruction. He
-had given hints of the divorce of Henry, and
-of his probable marriage with a princess of the
-Court of France. He told Louise, the French
-king's mother, that "if she lived another year, she
-should see as great union on one side, and disunion
-on the other, as she would ask or wish
-for. These," he added, "were not idle words.
-Let her treasure them up in her memory; time
-would explain them."</p>
-
-<p>The cardinal had, in fact, been looking round
-him at the French Court for a wife for Henry,
-and had selected the Princess Renée, sister
-of the late Queen Claude, while Henry himself
-had settled his choice nearer home. On the
-return of Wolsey, all being now prepared, Henry
-communicated to the astonished man the secret
-of his intended marriage with Anne. Confounded
-at the disclosure, the proud cardinal dropped on
-his knees, and, it is said, remained there for some
-hours pleading with the king against this infatuation,
-as he deemed it, and which he saw compromised
-himself with the Court of France, and
-menaced him darkly in the future, from the deep
-enmity of her who would thus become his queen.
-His pleadings and arguments were vain. His fair
-enemy had made her ground wholly secure in his
-absence, and Wolsey withdrew with gloomy forebodings.</p>
-
-<p>The communication of the king's secret to
-Wolsey was immediately followed by more active
-measures, in which Wolsey, however averse, was
-obliged to co-operate. The king's treatise was
-now submitted to Sir Thomas More, who at once
-saw the peril of acting as a judge in so delicate
-a matter, declared that he was no theologian,
-and therefore unqualified to decide. It was next
-laid before the Bishop of Rochester, who decided
-against it. Henry then directed Sir Thomas to
-apply to some other of the bishops; but as he
-was hostile to the treatise himself, he was not
-likely to be a very persuasive pleader for it with
-others. None of the bishops would commit
-themselves, and Sir Thomas advised Henry to
-see what St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and the
-other fathers of the Church said upon it. Henry
-then employed the more unscrupulous agency
-of Wolsey with the prelates, who plied them
-with all his eloquence; but the most that he
-could obtain from them was that the arguments
-of the king's book furnished a reasonable ground
-for a scruple, and that he had better apply to the
-Holy See, and abide by its decision.</p>
-
-<p>With the nation at large, the proposal of the
-amorous king was still less popular than with the
-bishops. They had a great veneration for the
-insulted Catherine, who had maintained for so
-many years the most fair and estimable character
-on the throne, and against whose virtue not a
-word had ever been breathed. They attributed
-this scheme to the acts of the cardinal, who was
-the enemy of the Emperor and the warm ally of
-France; and they dreaded that the divorce might
-lead to war and the suppression of the profitable
-trade with the Netherlands.</p>
-
-<p>Unable to obtain much sanction at home,
-Henry at length referred the cause to the Pope;
-and Stephen Gardiner&mdash;then known by the
-humble name of Mr. Stephen&mdash;and Bishop Fox
-went in 1528 to Italy with the Royal instructions.
-The grand difficulty was to effect the divorce in
-so legal and complete a manner that no plea
-might be able to be brought against the legitimacy
-of the proposed marriage. For three months
-fresh instructions were issued and revoked, and
-issued in amended form again, which were laid
-before Dr. Knight, the king's agent at the Papal
-Court, and the three brothers Casali, Wolsey's
-agents, and before Staphilaeo, Dean of the
-Rota, who had been gained over whilst lately
-in London.</p>
-
-<p>But the Emperor had not been idle. The Pope,
-as we have seen, had been shut up by the Imperial
-troops in the Castle of St. Angelo; and,
-in negotiation for his liberation, Charles had made
-it one of the principal stipulations of his release
-that he should not consent to act preparatory to a
-divorce without the previous knowledge of Charles
-himself. Scarcely had the Pope made his escape
-to Orvieto, when the English emissaries appeared
-before him. Poor Clement was thrown into a
-terrible dilemma. The Imperialists were still in
-possession of Rome, and if he consented to the
-request of Henry, he had nothing to expect but
-vengeance from the Emperor. To make the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
-matter worse, a French army, under the command
-of Lautrec, and accompanied by Sir Robert
-Jerningham as the English commissary, which
-had been sent over the Alps to his assistance, and
-to enable him to recover his capital, loitered at
-Piacenza, and delayed the chance of the restoration
-and defence of Rome.</p>
-
-<p>The English envoys presented to him two
-instruments, which had been prepared by the
-learned agents above named, by the first of which
-he was to empower Wolsey, or in case of any
-objection to him, Staphilaeo, to hear and decide
-the case of the divorce; and by the second he
-was to grant Henry a dispensation to marry, in
-the place of Catherine, any other woman soever,
-even if she were already promised to another, or
-related to him in the first degree of affinity. This
-was a most extraordinary proceeding, an acknowledgment
-by Henry of the very power in the Pope
-which he affected to doubt and deny. The objection
-to the marriage of Henry with Catherine
-was that she was within the proscribed degree of
-affinity, having been his brother's wife. Moreover,
-as Henry was accused, and this instrument
-appeared to admit the charge, of having established
-the same degree of relationship, though
-illicitly, with Mary Boleyn, the <em>sister</em> of Anne, as
-had existed between Catherine and his <em>brother</em>
-legally, this document was to prevent any objections
-to the marriage with Anne.</p>
-
-<p>The Pope signed both instruments, but recommended
-that Henry should keep them secret till
-the French army, under Lautrec, should arrive,
-and free him from fears, even for his life, of the
-vengeance of the Emperor. When this should
-have taken place, he promised to issue a second
-commission of the same import, which might at
-once be publicly proceeded with.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely, however, had Dr. Knight left Orvieto,
-when Gregorio da Casali brought a request from
-the English Court that a legate from Rome might
-be joined in the commission with Wolsey. To
-this Clement observed that the King of England
-was pursuing a very circuitous course. If the
-king was really convinced in his conscience that
-his present marriage was null, he had better
-marry again, and then he himself or a legate
-could decide the question at once. But if a
-legate were to sit in jurisdiction, there must be
-appeals to himself in Rome, exceptions, and
-adjournments, which would make it an affair of
-years. But, after saying this, the Pope signed
-the requisition.</p>
-
-<p>At the instigation of Wolsey, who was anxious
-that the treaty which he had signed with France
-should be carried into effect, war was now declared
-formally against the Emperor. The news
-of the war was received in England with the
-utmost disgust and discontent. The people denounced
-the cardinal as the troubler of the
-kingdom and the interrupter of its commerce.
-The merchants refused to frequent the new marts
-in France, which were appointed instead of their
-accustomed ones in the Netherlands. The wool-combers,
-spinners, and clothiers were stopped in
-their sales by this resolve on the part of the
-merchants; their people were all thrown out of
-work; and the spirit of commotion grew so strong
-that there were serious fears of open outbreaks.
-In the council, the cardinal had as little support
-in his policy as he did elsewhere. There was not
-a member, except himself, who was an advocate
-of the French alliance; but all his colleagues at
-the council-table were eagerly watching for some
-chance which should hasten his downfall. Even
-the king himself was averse from the war with his
-nephew; and especially as he was aware that the
-fear of Charles's resentment deterred Clement
-from cordially proceeding with the divorce; and
-Henry hinted that if peace were restored, Charles
-might be induced to withdraw his opposition.
-Fortunately, the Flemings were as much incommoded
-by the breach of commercial relations
-as the English; and the Archduchess Margaret,
-the Governess of the Netherlands, had the
-prudence to make a proposition that peace should
-be restored. Negotiations commenced, and were
-carried on for some time for a general pacification;
-but this being proved unattainable, a peace was
-concluded with the Netherlands, and the state of
-war was allowed to remain between England and
-Spain.</p>
-
-<p>But the fact was, the war, so far as regarded
-these two countries, was merely nominal; it raged
-only in Italy, between the French and the Imperialists.
-Henry had no money for war, and,
-besides, his whole thoughts and energies were
-occupied in carrying through the divorce, which
-he now found a most formidable affair, fresh difficulties
-starting up at every step. Had Catherine
-been only an English subject, instead of the aunt
-of the great monarch of Germany, Flanders, and
-Spain, Henry would have made short work of
-his conscience and of the poor woman who was
-in the way. He would have charged her with
-some heinous and revolting crime, and severed her
-head from her shoulders at a blow, and all his
-difficulties with it. But he had not only royal
-blood to deal with, but all the ancient prejudices
-that surrounded it, and which would have made
-him execrated over the whole world had he spilled
-it. He knew that Charles was watching intently
-to catch him at a disadvantage, and he never felt
-himself safe in his proceedings.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_149big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_149.jpg" width="560" height="325" alt="After the Picture by Laslett J. Pott" title="THE TRIAL OF QUEEN CATHERINE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE TRIAL OF QUEEN CATHERINE. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_151">151.</a>)</p>
-
-<p>(<i>After the Picture by Laslett J. Pott.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>It now occurred to him that, though the Pope
-had granted permission for Wolsey and the legate
-to decide this momentous question, yet he might
-be induced, by the influence of Charles, to revise
-and reverse the sentence pronounced by his delegates:
-and this might involve him in inextricable
-dilemmas, especially should he have acted on the
-sentence of divorce, and married again.</p>
-
-<p>Clement was placed in a very trying situation.
-He was anxious to oblige Henry, but to grant
-the bull confirming the sentence to be pronounced
-by Wolsey and the Legate, was to annihilate the
-dogma of Papal infallibility, for Julius II. had
-granted the Church's dispensation, notwithstanding
-the fact of Catherine's union with Henry's
-brother. Clement had been also informed that
-Henry's object was only to gratify the wish of a
-woman who was already living in adultery with
-him. But this was rebutted by a letter already
-received from Wolsey, assuring the Pope that
-Anne Boleyn was a lady of unimpeachable character.
-Driven from this point, Clement still
-demurred as to the formidable bull; and only consented,
-after consultation with a convocation of
-cardinals and theologians, to issue an order for a
-commission to inquire into the validity of the
-dispensation granted by Pope Julius, and to
-revoke it, if it was found to have been by any
-means surreptitiously obtained.</p>
-
-<p>Campeggio, who had most reluctantly undertaken
-the appointment of commissioner in this
-case, was all this time slowly, very slowly, progressing
-towards England. He was an eminent
-professor of the canon law, and an experienced
-statesman. He had been a married man, and had
-a family; but, on the death of his wife, in 1509,
-he had taken orders, was made cardinal in 1517,
-and had been employed by Leo and his successors
-in various arduous cases to their highest satisfaction.
-Campeggio arrived in London at last,
-on the 7th of October, 1528, but in such exhaustion,
-from violent and long attacks of the
-gout, that he was carried in a litter to his
-lodgings, and remained for some time confined to
-his bed. Henry, with his characteristic hypocrisy,
-on the approach of the legate, again sent
-away his mistress, and recalled his obliging wife,
-with whom he appeared to be living on the
-most affectionate terms. They had the same bed
-and board, and went regularly through the same
-devotions. The arrival of the legate raised the
-courage of the people, who were unanimous in the
-favour of the queen, and, though Wolsey made
-every exertion to silence and restrain them, they
-loudly declared that, let the king marry whom he
-pleased, they would acknowledge no successor in
-prejudice to Mary.</p>
-
-<p>It was a fortnight before the legate was ready
-to see the king. On the 22nd of October he made
-his visit, and was, of course, most graciously
-received by Henry and the cardinal, but they
-could extract from him no opinion as to the
-probable result of the inquiry which was at
-hand. Henry and Wolsey exerted all their arts
-to win over the great man. The king paid him
-constant visits; and to mollify and draw him
-out heaped all sorts of flatteries upon him, and
-made him the most brilliant promises. He had
-already made him Bishop of Salisbury, and presented
-him with a splendid palace in Rome;
-and he now offered to confer on him the rich
-bishopric of Durham, and knighted his son
-Ridolfo, by whom he was accompanied. But
-nothing moved the impenetrable ecclesiastic; for
-if favours were heaped on him here, terrors
-awaited him at Rome if he betrayed the trust
-of his master, the Pope. He replied to all
-solicitations that he had every disposition to
-serve the king, so far as his conscience would
-permit him. To produce a favourable bias in
-the opinions of the inexorable man, the judgments
-of eminent divines and doctors of the
-canon law on the king's case were laid before
-him. These he read, but still kept his own
-ideas locked in his breast.</p>
-
-<p>Henry next endeavoured to obtain from Campeggio
-the publication of the decretal bull, or,
-at least, that it should be shown to the Privy
-Council, but the legate remained firm to his
-instructions. The king's agents at the same
-time plied Clement with persuasives to the same
-end, but with the same result. So far from
-giving way, the agents informed Henry that the
-Emperor had given back to the Pope Civita
-Vecchia and all the fortresses which he had
-taken from the Holy See, and that it was to be
-feared that there was a secret understanding
-between the Pope and Charles. At this news
-Henry despatched Sir Francis Bryan, Master of
-the Henchmen, and Peter Vannes, his secretary
-of the Latin tongue, to Francis I., upbraiding
-him with his neglect in permitting this to go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
-on; and they then proceeded to Italy, and requested
-the Pope to cite all Christian princes to
-meet in Avignon and settle their differences.
-In the meantime these agents were to consult
-the most celebrated canonists at Rome on the
-following extraordinary points:&mdash;"1. Whether,
-if a wife were to make a vow of chastity, and
-enter a convent, the Pope could not, in the
-plenitude of his power, authorise the husband to
-marry again. 2. Whether, if the husband were
-to enter into a religious order, that he might
-induce the wife to do the same, he might not
-afterwards be released from his vow, and have
-liberty to marry. 3. Whether, for reasons of
-State, the Pope could not license a prince to have,
-like the ancient patriarchs, two wives, of whom
-one only should be publicly acknowledged, and
-enjoy the honours of royalty."</p>
-
-<p>On the 6th of February, 1529, the intelligence
-arrived that Clement was dying, and by that time
-was probably dead. Now was the time to place
-Wolsey in the Papal chair, and thus end all difficulties.
-Francis promised cordially to aid in the
-attempt; but, to their dismay, Clement revived,
-and dashed their hopes to the ground. Made
-desperate by these chances, Henry now gave the
-invalid Pope no rest from his solicitations. His
-agents forced themselves into his very sick chamber,
-and demanded that the fatal mandate of dispensation
-granted by Julius II.&mdash;a copy of which
-Catherine had obtained from Spain&mdash;should be
-revoked, or that Charles should be compelled to
-exhibit the original. But the Pope remained
-firm. He declared that he could not depart
-from the course already prescribed, that Catherine
-had even entered a protest in his Court against
-the persons of her judges, and he recommended
-Henry to lose no time, but to try to determine
-the matter in his own realm.</p>
-
-<p>The Court which was to try the cause met
-in the Parliament chamber in the Blackfriars, and
-summoned the king and queen to appear before
-it on the 18th of June. Henry appeared by
-proxy; Catherine obeyed the summons in person,
-but only to protest against the judges as the
-subjects of Henry, her accuser, and to appeal to
-the Pope. This appeal was overruled, and the
-Court adjourned to the 21st of June. On this
-day both Henry and Catherine appeared, the king
-sitting in state on the right hand of the cardinal
-and legate, and Catherine sat on their left, attended
-by four friendly bishops. On their names
-being called, Henry answered "Here!" but Catherine
-was unable to reply. On being again cited,
-however, she rose and repeated her protest on
-three grounds,&mdash;first, as being a stranger;
-secondly, because the judges were subjects, and
-held benefices, the gift of her adversary; and last,
-because from such a Court she could not expect
-impartiality. This protest being held inadmissible,
-she rose again, crossed herself, and, leaning
-on her maids, approached the king, threw herself
-at his feet, and addressed him in a pathetic
-speech.</p>
-
-<p>On the 25th of June Catherine was summoned
-before the Court again, but she refused to appear,
-sending in, however, and causing to be read, her
-appeal to the Pope. On this she was declared
-contumacious; and the king's counsellors asserted
-that the following points had been clearly proved:&mdash;That
-her marriage with Prince Arthur had been
-consummated, and, therefore, her marriage with
-Henry was unlawful; that the dispensation of
-Julius II. had been obtained under false pretences
-and a concealment of facts; and that the Papal
-brief which had been sent from Spain was a
-forgery. They therefore called on the judges
-to pronounce for the divorce. But even had all
-this been proved, which it had not, Campeggio
-was not intending to do anything of the kind.
-The peace which had been rumoured between the
-Pope and the Emperor had been signed on the
-29th of June, and Clement was now much at his
-ease. On the 23rd of July, no progress being
-made, Henry summoned the Court, and demanded
-judgment in imperious terms. But Campeggio
-replied with unmoved dignity:&mdash;"I have not
-come so far to please any man for fear, meed, or
-favour, be he king or any other potentate. I am
-an old man, sick, decayed, looking daily for death;
-what should it then avail me to put my soul in
-the danger of God's displeasure, to my utter damnation,
-for the favour of any prince or high estate
-in this world? Forasmuch, then, that I perceive
-that the truth in this case is very difficult to be
-known; that the defendant will make no answer
-thereunto, but hath appealed from our judgment;
-therefore, to avoid all injustice and obscure doubts,
-I intend to proceed no further in this matter until
-I have the opinion of the Pope and such others of
-his council as have more experience and learning.
-I, for this purpose, adjourn this Court till the
-commencement of the next term, in the beginning
-of October."</p>
-
-<p>It would be difficult to conceive the state of
-agitation into which the Court of Henry was now
-thrown. Instead of receiving a decision, it was
-put off till October; and this was not the worst,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
-for in a few days news arrived that the commission
-of the cardinals had been revoked by the
-Pope on the 15th of July, or eight days previous
-to the adjournment, and that the Papal Court
-had entertained the appeal of Queen Catherine,
-and recalled Campeggio. Thus, not even in
-October was there any chance of a decision, and
-had such been arrived at now it would have
-been null, the commission having previously expired.
-Still worse, while Henry was in the
-highest state of irritation, there came an instrument
-from Rome, forbidding him to pursue his
-cause by the legates, but citing him to appear by
-attorney in the Papal Court, under a penalty of
-10,000 ducats. Campeggio departed from England
-at the commencement of Michaelmas term.
-At the interview in which he took his leave of the
-king, Henry behaved with much politeness to the
-Italian legate, but treated Wolsey with marked
-coldness. Showing a disposition to relent later on
-in the same day, Henry was at once so worked
-upon by the Boleyn faction that he undertook
-never more to see the cardinal, whose fall was now
-certain.</p>
-
-<p>Indeed, on account of his failure to obtain the
-divorce, Wolsey was doomed to destruction. On
-the 9th of October, the same month as he opened
-the Court of Chancery, he perceived a deadly
-coldness as of winter frost around him. No one
-did him honour&mdash;the sun of Royal favour had set
-to him for ever. On the same day Hales, the
-attorney-general, filed two bills against him in the
-King's Bench, charging him with having incurred
-the penalty of Præmunire by acting in the kingdom
-as the Pope's legate. This was a most barefaced
-accusation, for he had accepted the legatine
-authority by Henry's express permission; had
-exercised it for many years with his full knowledge
-and approbation, and, in the affairs of the
-divorce, at the earnest request of the king. But
-Henry VIII. had no law but his own will, and
-never wanted reasons for punishing those who
-had offended him.</p>
-
-<p>Of Wolsey, as he appeared at this moment,
-scathed and stunned by the thunderbolt of the
-royal wrath, we have a striking picture. The
-Bishop of Bayonne, the French ambassador, says
-in a letter:&mdash;"I have been to visit the cardinal
-in his distress, and I have witnessed the most
-striking change of fortune. He explained to me
-his hard case in the worst rhetoric that was ever
-heard. Both his tongue and his heart failed him.
-He recommended himself to the pity of the king
-and madame [Francis I. and his mother] with
-sighs and tears; and at last left me, without
-having said anything near so moving as his appearance.
-His face is dwindled to one-half its
-natural size. In truth, his misery is such that
-his enemies, Englishmen as they are, cannot help
-pitying him. Still, they will carry things to
-extremities. As for his legation, the seals, his
-authority, etc., he thinks no more of them. He
-is willing to give up everything, even the shirt
-from his back, and live in a hermitage, if the
-king would but desist from his displeasure."</p>
-
-<p>On the 17th of October Henry sent the Dukes
-of Norfolk and Suffolk to demand the Great Seal;
-and they are said to have done that duty with
-some ungenerous triumph. But Wolsey delivered
-up his authority without complaint, and only sent
-in an offer surrendering all his personal estate to
-his gracious master, on condition that he might
-retire to his diocese on his church property. But
-the property of Wolsey had long been riveting
-the greedy eye of Henry, and, next to Anne
-Boleyn, that was, probably, the "weight which
-pulled him down." A message was soon brought
-him by the same noblemen that the king expected
-an entire and unconditional submission, whereupon
-he granted to the king the yearly profits of his
-benefices, and threw himself on his mercy. It
-was then intimated that His Majesty meant to
-reside at York Place (Whitehall) during the
-Parliament, and that Wolsey might retire to
-Esher Place, in Surrey, a house belonging to his
-bishopric of Winchester.</p>
-
-<p>On the 3rd of November, after the long intermission
-of seven years, a Parliament was called
-together. The main object of this unusual occurrence
-was to complete the ruin of Wolsey, and
-place it beyond the power of the king to restore
-him to favour&mdash;a circumstance of which the
-courtiers were in constant dread. The committee
-of the House of Lords presented to the king a
-string of no less than forty-four articles against
-the fallen minister, enumerating and exaggerating
-all his offences, and calling upon the monarch to
-take such order with him "that he should never
-have any power, jurisdiction, or authority hereafter,
-to trouble, vex, and impoverish the commonwealth
-of this your realm, as he hath done heretofore,
-to the great hurt and damage of almost every
-man, high or low." This address was carried to
-the Commons for their concurrence; but there
-Thomas Cromwell, who by the favour of Wolsey
-had risen from the very lowest condition to be his
-friend and steward, and was now advanced to the
-king's service by the particular recommendation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
-of the cardinal, attacked the articles manfully, and
-caused the Commons to reject them, as the members
-were persuaded that Cromwell was acting by
-suggestion of the king; which is very probable,
-for so far from Henry showing Cromwell any
-dislike for this proceeding, he continued to promote
-him, till he became his prime minister, and
-was created Earl of Essex.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_153big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_153.jpg" width="500" height="555" alt="" title="THE DISMISSAL OF WOLSEY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE DISMISSAL OF WOLSEY. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_1">152.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Henry, having now seized upon all the cardinal's
-property, the incomes of his bishoprics,
-abbeys, and other benefices, his colleges at Ipswich
-and Oxford, with all their furniture and revenues,
-his pensions, clothes, and even his very tomb,
-seemed contented to leave him his life. He, therefore,
-on the 12th of February, 1530, granted him
-a full pardon for all his real and pretended crimes.
-He allowed him, moreover, to retain the revenues
-of York. He gave him also a pension of 1,000
-marks a year out of the bishopric of Winchester,
-and soon after sent him a present of £3,000 in
-money; and in plate, furniture, &amp;c., the value of
-£3,374 3s. 7d., and gave him leave to reside at
-Richmond.</p>
-
-<p>This new flow of royal favour wonderfully revived
-the cardinal's hopes, and as vividly excited
-the fears of the Boleyn party. To have this formidable
-man residing so near them as Richmond
-was too perilous to be thought of. Some fine
-morning the king might suddenly ride over
-there, and all be undone. Henry was, therefore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
-besieged with entreaties to remove him farther
-from the Court, and to such a distance as should
-prevent the possibility of an interview. They prevailed,
-and Wolsey received an order through his
-friend Cromwell to go and reside in his archbishopric
-of York. To the cardinal, who felt a
-strong persuasion that if he could but obtain an
-interview with the king all would be set right,
-this was next to a death-warrant. He entreated
-Cromwell to obtain leave for him to reside at
-Winchester, but this was refused, and the Duke
-of Norfolk, Anne's uncle, sent Wolsey word that
-if he did not get away immediately into the North
-he would come and tear him in pieces with his
-teeth. "Then," said Wolsey, "it is time for me
-to be gone."</p>
-
-<p>Delighted with their metropolitan, the clergy
-of York waited upon him in a body, and begged
-that he would allow himself to be installed in his
-cathedral, according to the custom of his predecessors.
-Wolsey, after taking time to consider
-of it, consented, on condition that it should be done
-with as little splendour as possible. No sooner,
-however, was this news divulged than the noblemen,
-gentlemen, and clergy of the county sent into York
-great quantities of provisions, and made preparations
-for a most magnificent feast. But this was
-suddenly prevented by a very unexpected event.
-On the 4th of November, only three days before
-the grand installation was to come off, the Earl of
-Northumberland, accompanied by Sir William
-Walsh and a number of horsemen, arrived at
-Cawood. Wolsey, believing in good news, went
-out to receive the Earl with a cheerful countenance;
-and, observing his numerous retinue, he
-said, "Ah! my lord, I perceive that you observe
-the precepts and instructions which I gave you,
-when you were abiding with me in your youth, to
-cherish your father's old servants." He then took
-the earl affectionately by the hand, and led him
-into a bed-chamber. There he no doubt expected
-to hear good tidings; but the earl, though greatly
-affected and embarrassed, laid his hand on the old
-man's shoulder, and said, "My lord, I arrest you
-of high treason." Wolsey was struck dumb, and
-stood motionless as a statue. He then bowed to
-the order, and prepared for his journey. On his
-way to London he was seized with dysentery at
-Sheffield Park, the mansion of the Earl of Shrewsbury.
-The attack left him so weak that he was
-glad to accept the hospitality of Leicester Abbey,
-where the abbot, at the head of a procession of
-the monks, with lighted torches, received him.
-He was completely worn out, and being lifted from
-his mule, said, "I am come, my brethren, to lay
-my bones amongst you." The monks carried him
-to his bed, where he swooned repeatedly; and the
-second morning his servants, who had watched
-him with anxious affection, saw that he was
-dying. He called to his bedside Sir William
-Kingston, and amongst others, addressed to him
-these remarkable words:&mdash;"Had I but served God
-as diligently as I have served the king, he would
-not have given me over in my grey hairs. But
-this is the just reward that I must receive for my
-diligent pains and study, not regarding my service
-to God, but only to my prince. Let me advise
-you to take care what you put in the king's head,
-for you can never put it out again. I have often
-kneeled before him, sometimes three hours together,
-to persuade him from his will and appetite,
-but could not prevail. He is a prince of most
-royal courage, and hath a princely heart; for,
-rather than miss or want any part of his will, he
-will endanger one half of his kingdom." On the
-29th of November, 1530, thus died Thomas, Lord
-Cardinal Wolsey, one of the most extraordinary
-characters that was ever raised up and again overthrown
-by the mere will of a king, and who unconsciously
-contributed to one of the most extensive
-revolutions of human mind and government
-which the world has known.</p>
-
-<p>In following the story of Wolsey to its close, we
-have a little overstepped the progress of affairs.
-As soon as the great man was out of the way, a
-ministry was formed of the leading persons of the
-Boleyn party. The Duke of Norfolk, Anne's uncle,
-was made President of the Council, Brandon,
-Duke of Suffolk, Lord Marshal, and the Earl of
-Wiltshire, the father of Anne Boleyn, had a principal
-place. Sir Thomas More, unfortunately for
-him as it proved, was made Lord Chancellor instead
-of Wolsey, a promotion which he reluctantly accepted.
-Amongst the king's servants, Stephen
-Gardiner, who had been introduced and much employed
-by Wolsey, still remained high in the king's
-favour, and occupied the post of his secretary.
-Gardiner, a bigoted Catholic, and afterwards one
-of the most bloody persecutors of the Reformers,
-now, however, in trying to promote the wishes of
-the king for the divorce, unconsciously promoted
-the Reformation.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_154big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_154.jpg" width="560" height="375" alt="From the Painting by Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S. At the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington" title="CARDINAL WOLSEY AT LEICESTER ABBEY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p class="left">CARDINAL WOLSEY AT LEICESTER ABBEY.</p>
-
-<p class="left"><span class="smcap">From the Painting by Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S.<br />
-At the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The king, returning from the progress which he
-had made to Moore Park, and to Grafton, remained
-one night at Waltham. Gardiner and Fox were
-lodged in the house of a Mr. Cressy, a gentleman
-of good family. After supper the conversation
-turned on the grand topic of the day&mdash;the king's
-divorce, and Gardiner and Fox detailed the difficulties
-that surrounded it, and the apparent impossibility
-of getting the Pope to move in it. A
-grave clergyman, the tutor of the family, of the
-name of Thomas Cranmer, after listening to the
-discourse, was asked by Fox and Gardiner what he
-thought of the matter. At first he declined to
-give his opinion on so high a matter, but being
-pressed, he said, he thought they were wrong altogether
-in the way they were seeking the divorce.
-As the Pope evidently would not commit himself
-upon the subject, his opinion was that they
-should not waste any more time in fruitless solicitations
-at Rome, but submit this plain question to
-the most learned men and chief universities of
-Europe: "Do the laws of God permit a man to
-marry his brother's widow?" If, as he imagined,
-the answers were in the negative, the Pope would
-not dare to pronounce a sentence in opposition to
-the opinions of all these learned men and learned
-bodies.</p>
-
-<p>On the return of the Court to Greenwich, Fox
-and Gardiner related this conversation to the king,
-who instantly swore that "the man had got the
-right sow by the ear," and ordered him instantly
-to be sent for to Court. Cranmer, on his arrival,
-maintained his opinion in a manner which wonderfully
-delighted Henry, and raised his hope of
-having at length hit on the true mode of solving
-the difficulty.</p>
-
-<p>Agents were despatched to obtain the required
-opinion from the different universities, both in
-England and on the Continent, well provided with
-that most persuasive of rhetoricians&mdash;money. At
-his own universities, however, Henry found no
-little opposition. On the Continent, where Henry's
-menaces had no weight, his purse was freely
-opened; and the universities of Bologna, Padua,
-and Ferrara, as well as many learned men, were
-prevailed on to take the view that Henry wished.
-In Germany his agents were far less successful.
-Both Protestants and Catholics in general condemned
-his proposed divorce; and Luther and
-Melanchthon said he had much better follow the
-example of the patriarchs, and take a second wife,
-than put away the first without any crime on her
-part. From France and its fourteen universities
-Henry expected much more compliance, but he
-was disappointed. From Orleans, Toulouse, and
-Bourges, and from the civilians of Angers, doubtful
-decisions were procured, but the theologians of
-the last city maintained the validity of the existing
-marriage. The answers from other universities
-were either not received or were suppressed.</p>
-
-<p>The scheme of Cranmer had not worked particularly
-well; the opinions of the universities
-were for the most part either adverse, or were
-forced, and those of learned men more opposed
-than coinciding. There needed a more determined
-spirit than that of Cranmer to break the way
-through the wood of embarrassments in which
-they were involved, and the right man now stepped
-forward in Thomas Cromwell, the former secretary
-of Wolsey. He sought an interview with
-Henry, and determined, according to his own
-phrase, "to make or mar," thus addressed him:&mdash;"It
-was not," he observed, "for him to affect to
-give advice where so many wise and abler men
-had failed, but when he saw the anxiety of his
-sovereign, he could no longer be silent, whatever
-might be the result. There was a clear and
-obvious course to pursue. Let the king do just
-what the princes of Germany had done, throw off
-the yoke of Rome; and let him, by the authority,
-declare himself, as he should be, the head of the
-Church within his own dominions. At present
-England was a monster with two heads. But let
-the king assume the authority now usurped by a
-foreign pontiff, an authority from which so many
-evils and confusions to this realm had flowed, and
-the monstrosity would be at an end; all would be
-simple, harmonious, and devoid of difficulty. The
-clergy, sensible that their lives and fortunes were
-in the hands of their own monarch&mdash;hands which
-could be no longer paralysed by alien interference&mdash;from
-haughty antagonists would instantly become
-the obsequious ministers of his will."</p>
-
-<p>Henry listened to this new doctrine with
-equal wonder and delight, and he thanked Cromwell
-heartily, and had him instantly sworn of his
-privy council.</p>
-
-<p>No time was lost in trying the efficacy of Cromwell's
-daring scheme. To sever that ancient union,
-which had existed so many ages, and was hallowed
-in the eyes of the world by so many proud recollections
-was a task at which the stoutest heart
-and most iron resolution might have trembled;
-but Cromwell had taken a profound survey of the
-region he was about to invade, and had learned its
-weakest places. He relied on the unscrupulous
-impetuosity of the king's passion to bear him
-through; he relied far more on the finesse of his
-own genius. With the calmest resolution, he laid
-his finger on one single page of the statute-book,
-and knew that he was master of the Church. The
-law which rendered any one who received favours
-direct from the Pope guilty of a breach of the
-Statute of Præmunire, permitted the monarch to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
-suspend the action of this Statute at his discretion.
-This he had done in the case of Wolsey. When
-he accepted the legatine authority, the cardinal
-took care to obtain a patent under the Great Seal,
-authorising the exercise of this foreign power.
-But Wolsey, when he was called in question for
-the administration of an office thus especially
-sanctioned by the Crown, neglected to produce
-this deed of indemnity, hoping still to be restored
-to the royal favour, and unwilling to irritate the
-king by any show of self-defence. There lay
-the concealed weapon which the shrewd eye of
-Cromwell had detected, and by which he could
-overturn the ecclesiastical fabric of ages. He declared,
-to the consternation of the whole hierarchy,
-that not only had Wolsey involved himself in all
-the penalties of Præmunire, but the whole of the
-clergy with him. They had admitted his exercise
-of the Papal authority, and thereby were become,
-in the language of the Statute, his "fautors and
-abettors."</p>
-
-<p>Dire was the dismay which at this charge
-seized on the whole body of the clergy. The
-council ordered the Attorney-General to file an
-information against the entire ecclesiastical body.
-Convocation assembled in haste, and offered, as the
-price of a full pardon, £100,000. But still greater
-were the amazement and dismay of the clergy,
-when they found that this magnificent sum was
-rejected unless Convocation consented to declare,
-in the preamble to the grant, that the king was
-"the protector and only supreme head of the
-Church of England." By the king's permission,
-however, the venerable Archbishop Warham introduced
-and carried an amendment in Convocation,
-by which the grant was voted with this clause
-in the preamble:&mdash;"Of which church and clergy
-we acknowledge His Majesty to be the chief protector,
-the only and supreme lord, and, <em>as far as
-the law of God will allow</em>, the supreme head."
-The wedge was introduced; the severance was
-certain: the perfect accomplishment of it only
-awaited another opportunity for an easier issue.
-The northern convocation adopted the same language,
-and voted a grant of £18,840.</p>
-
-<p>Henry, under the guidance of Cromwell, now
-procured an act to be passed by Parliament,
-abolishing the annates, or first-fruits, which furnished
-a considerable annual income to the Pope,
-and another abrogating the authority of the clergy
-in Convocation, and attaching that authority
-to the Crown. Feeling that in this struggle he
-should need the friendship of Francis, he proposed
-a new treaty with France, which was signed in
-London on the 23rd of June, 1532; and the more
-to strengthen the alliance the two monarchs met
-between Calais and Boulogne. Great preparations
-were made on both sides, and Henry begged
-Francis to bring his favourite mistress with him.
-This was as an excuse for Henry to bring Anne
-Boleyn, who was now created the Marchioness of
-Pembroke, and without whom he could go nowhere.
-It is said that Francis, during the interview,
-had urged Henry to wait no longer for
-the permission of the Pope, but to marry the
-Marchioness of Pembroke without further delay;
-but it is quite certain that another counsellor was
-more urgent, and that was&mdash;Time. It was high
-time, indeed, that the marriage should take place if
-they meant to legitimatise her offspring, for Anne
-Boleyn was with child. Accordingly, the marriage
-took place on the 25th of January, 1533. The
-ceremony, however, was strictly private. In fact
-the marriage was kept so secret that it was not
-even communicated to Cranmer, who had just returned
-from Germany, and taken up his abode in
-the family of Anne Boleyn. Cranmer, whilst in
-Germany, had married, Catholic priest as he was,
-the niece of Osiander, the Protestant minister of
-Nuremberg. This lady he had brought secretly
-to England, and was now living a married
-priest, in direct violation of the Church that he
-belonged to.</p>
-
-<p>Archbishop Warham was now dead, and Henry
-nominated Cranmer to the vacant primacy. He
-was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on the
-30th of March, 1533, and he was immediately
-ordered to proceed with the divorces. The new
-primate, therefore, wrote on the 11th of April,
-a formal letter to the king, soliciting the issue
-of a commission to try that cause, and pronounce
-a definite sentence. This was immediately done;
-and Cranmer, as the head of this commission,
-accompanied by Gardiner, now Bishop of Winchester,
-the Bishops of London, Lincoln, Bath,
-and Wells, with many other divines and canonists,
-opened their court at Dunstable, in the monastery
-of St. Peter, six miles from Ampthill, where the
-queen resided. On the 12th of May Cranmer pronounced
-Catherine contumacious, and on the 23rd,
-he declared her marriage was null and invalid from
-the beginning. On the 28th, in a court held at
-Lambeth, the archbishop pronounced the king's
-marriage with Anne Boleyn to be good and valid.
-On the 1st of June, being Whit Sunday, Anne
-was crowned with every possible degree of pomp
-and display.</p>
-
-<p>Henry, notwithstanding his separation from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
-Rome, was anxious to obtain the sanction of his
-marriage by the Pope; but, instead of that,
-Clement fulminated his denunciations against him
-over Europe. He annulled Cranmer's sentence
-on Henry's first marriage, and published a bull
-excommunicating Henry and Anne, unless they
-separated before the next September, when the
-new queen expected her confinement. Henry
-despatched ambassadors to the different foreign
-courts to announce his marriage, and the reasons
-which had led him to it; but from no quarter did
-he receive much congratulation.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_157big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_157.jpg" width="400" height="532" alt="" title="THE TOWER OF LONDON: SKETCH IN THE GARDENS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE TOWER OF LONDON: SKETCH IN THE GARDENS.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>However sincere and earnest the two principals
-in this contest, the Pope and Henry, might be,
-there were at work in the Court of England and
-the Court of Rome parties really more powerful
-than their principals, who were resolved that the
-two desiderata to this pacification never should be
-yielded. Cromwell and his party commenced an
-active campaign in Parliament for breaking beyond
-remedy the tie with Rome, and establishing
-an independent church in this country. This able
-man, who for his past services was now made
-Chancellor of the Exchequer for life, framed a series
-of bills, and introduced them to Parliament, soon
-after the Christmas holidays. These included an
-act establishing the title of the king as supreme
-head of the English Church, and vesting in him
-the right to appoint to all bishoprics, and to decide
-all ecclesiastical causes. Payments or appeals to
-Rome were strictly forbidden by the confirmation
-of the Annates Act, the Act against "Peter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
-Pence," and that "in Restraint of appeals" whereby
-the whole Roman jurisdiction in England was
-decisively repudiated.</p>
-
-<p>By a further bill, the marriage of Catherine&mdash;strangely
-enough at the very moment that Henry
-had conceded its final decision at Rome&mdash;was declared
-unlawful, and that of Anne Boleyn confirmed.
-The issue by the first marriage was declared
-illegitimate, and excluded from the succession,
-and the issue of the marriage of Anne was
-made inheritable of the crown, and that only, and
-any one casting any slander on this marriage,
-or endeavouring to prejudice the succession of its
-issue, was declared guilty of high treason, if by
-writing, printing, or deed, and misprision of treason
-if by word. Thus was a new power established by
-the Crown; every person of full age, or on hereafter
-coming to full age, was to be sworn to obey
-this act. Not only new powers were thus created,
-but a new crime was invented; and though this
-statute was swept away in the course of a few
-years, yet it is a remarkable one, for it became
-the precedent for many a succeeding and
-despotic government.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-
-<blockquote><p>The Maid of Kent and Her Accomplices&mdash;Act of Supremacy and Consequent Persecutions&mdash;The "Bloody Statute"&mdash;Deaths
-of Fisher and More&mdash;Suppression of the Smaller Monasteries&mdash;Trial and Death of Anne Boleyn&mdash;Henry Marries Jane
-Seymour&mdash;Divisions in the Church&mdash;The Pilgrimage of Grace&mdash;Birth of Prince Edward&mdash;Death of Queen Jane&mdash;Suppression
-of the Larger Monasteries&mdash;The Six Articles&mdash;Judicial Murders&mdash;Persecution of Cardinal Pole&mdash;Cromwell's
-Marriage Scheme&mdash;Its Failure and his Fall.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>The discontent aroused in the country amongst
-those attached to the church of Rome, by the
-separation, and by the seizure of church property,
-with the fear of still greater spoliation, excited
-many murmurings. The king, aware that his
-proceedings were regarded with disapprobation by
-a vast body of people both at home and abroad,
-grew suspicious of every rumour, jealous, and
-vindictive. Amongst the singular conspiracies
-against the royal transactions, one of the earliest
-arose out of the visions of a young woman of
-Addington, in Surrey, of the name of Elizabeth
-Barton, who was of a nervous temperament, and
-whose mind was greatly excited by the sufferings
-of Queen Catherine. The rector of the parish,
-struck by many of the words which fell from her in
-her trances, regarded her as a religiously inspired
-person, and recommended her to quit the village,
-and enter the convent of St. Sepulchre at Canterbury.
-There her ecstacies and revelations, probably
-strengthened by the atmosphere of the place,
-became more frequent and strong. The nuns regarded
-her declarations as prophecies, and the fame
-of her soon spread round the country, where she
-acquired the name of the "Holy Maid of Kent."
-It was observed that her visions had all a
-tendency to exalt the power of the Pope and the
-clergy, and to denounce the vengeance of Heaven
-on all who disobeyed or attempted to injure them.
-At length Henry considered that the words of the
-maid, which were sedulously taken down and circulated
-through the press, were a powerful means
-of stirring up the popular feeling against him, and
-he therefore ordered the arrest of herself and the
-chief of her accomplices.</p>
-
-<p>In November they were brought into the Star
-Chamber and carefully examined by Cranmer, the
-archbishop, Cromwell, and Hugh Latimer, who
-soon after was made Bishop of Worcester. This
-tribunal appears to have intimidated both the
-maid and her abettors into a confession of the
-imposture, and they were condemned to stand
-during the sermon on Sunday at St. Paul's Cross,
-and there acknowledge the fraud. After that they
-were remanded to prison, and it was thought that,
-having disarmed these people by this exposure, he
-would be satisfied with the punishment they had
-received. But Henry was now become every day
-more and more addicted to blood, and ready to shed
-it for any infringement of those almost Divine
-rights which the supremacy of the Church had
-conferred on him. On the 21st of February,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
-1534, therefore, a bill of attainder was brought
-into the House of Lords against the maid and
-her abettors, on the plea that their conspiracy
-tended to bring into peril the king's life and
-crown. The bill, notwithstanding that it was regarded
-with horror by the public as a strange and
-cruel stretch of authority, was passed by the
-slavish Parliament; and on the 21st of April,
-1534, the seven accused were drawn to Tyburn
-and hanged. Besides the persons who suffered
-immediately with her, there were also accused of
-corresponding with her, Edward Thwaites, gentleman,
-Thomas Lawrence, registrar to the Archdeacon
-of Canterbury, the venerable Fisher,
-Bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More.</p>
-
-<p>Fisher, who was in his seventy-sixth year, confessed
-that he had seen and conversed with Elizabeth
-Barton; that he had heard her utter her
-prophecies concerning the king; and that he had
-not mentioned them to the sovereign, because her
-declarations did not refer to any violence against
-him, but merely to a visitation of Providence;
-and because, also, he knew that the king had
-received the communication of the prophecies from
-the maid herself, who had had for that purpose
-a private audience with Henry. He was, therefore,
-he said, guiltless of any conspiracy, and as
-he would answer it before the throne of Christ,
-knew not of any malice or evil that was intended
-by her or by any other earthly creature unto
-the king's highness.</p>
-
-<p>The name of Sir Thomas More was erased from
-this bill, though he could not be more innocent
-than Fisher, but not more than a fortnight passed
-before the bloodthirsty tyrant had contrived a
-more deadly snare for them both. He had them
-summoned, and commanded to take the new oath
-of allegiance. They were both of them ready to
-swear to the king's full temporal authority, and
-to the succession of his children, but they could
-not conscientiously take the oath which declared
-Henry the supreme head of the English Church,
-and the marriage with Anne Boleyn lawful.
-Cranmer, who on this occasion showed more mildness
-and liberality than he had shown honest principles
-in his elevation, would fain have admitted
-these illustrious men to take the oath so far as
-it applied to temporal, and to dispense with it as
-regarded spiritual matters. But he pleaded in
-vain, and they were both committed to the
-Tower.</p>
-
-<p>Henry, having got the Acts of Parliament for
-the Supremacy and the Succession, was not of a
-temper to let them become a dead letter. Whether
-it was owing to the carelessness of Parliament
-or the carefulness of the Crown, the oath of the
-Succession had not been verbally defined, and
-Henry now availed himself of this emission to
-alter and add to it so as to please himself. From
-the clergy he took care to obtain an oath including
-the full recognition of his supremacy in the
-Church, omitting the qualifying clause in the
-former one; and an assertion that the Bishop of
-Rome had no more authority within the realm
-than any other bishop. He spent the summer in
-administering this oath to the monks, friars, and
-nuns, also to all clergymen and clerical bodies
-whatever, and in obtaining decisions against the
-papal authority from the two convocations and the
-universities. The oath to the laity was administered
-to men and women alike. Remembering the
-mental reservation of Cranmer when he swore
-obedience to the Pope, he now demanded from
-every prelate an oath of renunciation of every
-protest previously or secretly made contrary to the
-oath of supremacy. He ordered that the very
-word Pope should be obliterated carefully out
-of all books used in public worship.</p>
-
-<p>If Henry had been a zealous Reformer, a
-disciple of the new creed, we might have attributed
-his proceedings to an arbitrary and uncharitable
-earnestness for what he deemed the
-truth; but he was just as bigoted in the old faith as
-ever. His Bloody Statute, as it was called, the
-Statute of Six Articles, maintained that the actual
-presence was in the sacramental bread and wine;
-that priests were forbidden to marry; that vows
-of chastity were to be observed; and that mass
-and auricular confession were indispensable. Those
-who opposed any of these dogmas were to suffer
-death; no doctrine was to be believed contrary to
-the Six Articles; no persons were to sing or rhyme
-contrary to them; no book was to be possessed by
-any one against the Holy Sacrament; no annotations
-or preambles were to exist in Bibles or Testaments
-in English; and nothing was to be taught
-contrary to the king's command. In fact, the
-country had only got rid of an Italian Pope and
-got an English one in his stead&mdash;Pope Henry
-VIII.</p>
-
-<p>The first-fruits of this awful concession to a
-vain and selfish man of the usurpation of God's
-own dominion in the soul, were an indiscriminating
-mass of Lollards, Lutherans, Anabaptists, and
-Roman Catholics committed to the flames. On
-the 22nd of July, during the prorogation of
-Parliament, Firth, a young man of singular learning,
-who had written a book against purgatory,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
-transubstantiation, and consubstantiation, was
-burnt in Smithfield; and a poor tailor, Andrew
-Hewett, who simply affirmed that he thought
-Firth was right, was burnt with him. Several
-Anabaptists underwent the same fate.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_160big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_160.jpg" width="450" height="559" alt="After the Portrait by Holbein" title="SIR THOMAS MORE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR THOMAS MORE. (<i>After the Portrait by Holbein.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>As that year closed in blood, so the next opened.
-The priors of the then Charterhouses of London,
-Axholm, and Belleval, waited on Cromwell to
-explain their conscientious scruples; but Cromwell,
-who was become the harsh and unhesitating
-instrument of Henry's despotism, instead of listening
-to them, committed them to the Tower on a
-charge of high treason, for refusing the king "the
-dignity, style, and name of his Royal estate."
-When he brought them to trial the jury shrank
-from giving such a verdict against men of their
-acknowledged virtue and character. Cromwell
-hastened to the court in person, and threatened
-to hang them instead of the prisoners, if they did
-not without further delay pronounce them guilty.
-Five days later these three dignitaries were executed
-at Tyburn, with Richard Reynolds, a doctor
-of divinity and monk of Sion, and John Hailes,
-Vicar of Thistleworth. They were all treated
-with savage barbarity, being hanged, cut down
-alive, embowelled, and dismembered. On the
-18th of June, nearly a fortnight afterwards,
-Exmew, Middlemore, and Newdigate, three Carthusian
-monks from the Charterhouse, were
-executed, with the same atrocities.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_161big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_161.jpg" width="419" height="560" alt="" title="THE PARTING OF SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE PARTING OF SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_162">162.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Whilst these horrors struck with consternation
-all at home, Henry proceeded to a deed which
-extended the feeling of abhorrence all over Europe.
-He shed the blood of Fisher and More. We have
-stated that Parliament had not enacted the precise
-oath for the refusal of which Fisher and More were
-arraigned. But this made no difference: the king
-willed it, and the submissive legislature passed a
-bill of attainder for misprision of treason against
-them both. On this they and their families were
-stripped of everything they had. The poor old
-bishop was left in a complete state of destitution,
-and had not even clothes to cover his nakedness.
-Sir Thomas More was dependent wholly for the
-support of his life on his married daughter, Margaret
-Roper. They were repeatedly called up
-after their attainder, and treacherously examined
-as to any act or word that they might have done
-or uttered contrary to the king's supremacy, as if
-to aggravate their crime and justify a more rigorous
-sentence. The Pope Clement was dead, and was
-succeeded by Paul III., who, hearing of the sad
-condition of the venerable Fisher, sent him a
-cardinal's hat, thinking it might make Henry
-less willing to proceed to extremities with him.
-But the effect on the tyrant was quite the contrary.
-On hearing of the Pope's intention, he
-exclaimed, "Ha! Paul may send him a hat, but
-I will take care that he have never a head to
-wear it on."</p>
-
-<p>Accordingly, the aged prelate was brought out
-of the Tower on the 22nd of June, 1535, and
-beheaded. His head was stuck upon London
-Bridge, with his face turned towards the Kentish
-hills, amid which he had spent so many pleasant
-years. The body of the old bishop was stripped,
-and left naked on the spot till evening, when it
-was carried away by the guards, and buried in
-Allhallows churchyard at Barking. Such was
-the manner in which this supreme head of the
-Church treated his former tutor, and one of
-the most accomplished and pious men in Christendom.</p>
-
-<p>More, the scholar, the wit, the genius, raised
-reluctantly to the chancellorship, had there so
-far deteriorated from the noble mood in which
-he had written his "Utopia" as to have become,
-contrary to all its doctrines and spirit, a persecutor.
-On the 14th of June he was visited in the Tower
-by Doctors Aldridge, Layton, Curwen, and Mr.
-Bedle, and there strictly interrogated in the
-presence of Pelstede, Whalley, and Rice, as to
-whether he had held any correspondence since he
-came into the Tower with Bishop Fisher, or others,
-and what had become of the letters he had received.
-He replied that George, the lieutenant's
-servant, had put them into the fire, against his
-wish, saying there was no better keeper than the
-fire. He was then asked whether he would not
-acknowledge the lawfulness of the king's marriage,
-and his headship of the Church. He declined to
-give an answer.</p>
-
-<p>At length, on the 1st of July, he was brought
-out of the Tower, and was conducted on foot
-through the streets of London to Westminster.
-He was wrapped only in a coarse woollen garment,
-his hair had grown grey, his face was pale and
-emaciated, for he had been nearly a year a close
-prisoner. This was thought well calculated to
-teach a lesson of obedience to the people; when
-they saw how the king handled even ex-chancellors
-and cardinals. When he arrived, bowed with
-suffering, and supporting himself on a staff, in that
-hall where he had presided with so much dignity,
-all who saw him were struck with astonishment.
-In order to confound him, and prevent the dreaded
-effect of his eloquence, his enemies had caused the
-indictment against him to be drawn out an immense
-length, and the charges to be grossly
-exaggerated and enveloped in clouds of words.
-Sentence of death was pronounced upon him, and
-he rose to address the Court. In the rudest
-manner they attempted to silence him, and twice,
-by their clamour, they succeeded; but the firmness
-of the noble victim at length triumphed, and he
-told them that he could now openly avow what he
-had before concealed from every human being,
-that the oath of supremacy was contrary to
-English law. He declared that he had no enmity
-against his judges. There would, he observed,
-have always been a scene of contention, and he
-prayed that as Paul had consented to the death of
-Stephen, and yet was afterwards called to tread
-in the same path, and ascend to the same heaven,
-so might he and they yet meet there. "And so,"
-he added, in conclusion, "may God preserve you
-all, and especially my lord the king, and send him
-good counsel."</p>
-
-<p>As he turned from the bar, his son rushed
-through the hall, fell upon his knees, and
-implored his blessing; and, on approaching the
-Tower Wharf, his daughter, Margaret Roper,
-forced her way through the guard which surrounded
-him, and, clasping him round the neck,
-wept and sobbed aloud. The noble man, now
-clothed with all the calm dignity of the Christian
-philosopher, summoned fortitude enough to take a
-loving and a final farewell of her; but as he was
-moved on, the distracted daughter turned back,
-and, flying once more through the crowd, hung on
-his neck in the abandonment of grief. This was
-too much for his stoicism; he shed tears, whilst
-with deep emotion he repeated his blessing, and
-uttered words of Christian consolation. The people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
-and the guards were so deeply affected, that they
-too burst into tears, and it was some time before
-the officers could summon resolution to part the
-father and his child.</p>
-
-<p>On the 6th of July he was summoned to execution,
-and informed that the king, as an especial
-favour, had commuted his punishment from hanging,
-drawing, and quartering, to decapitation. On
-this Sir Thomas, who had now taken his leave of
-the world, and met death with the cheerful humour
-of a man who is well assured that he is on the
-threshold of a better, replied with his wonted
-promptitude of wit, "God preserve all my friends
-from such favour." As he was about to ascend
-the scaffold, some one expressed a fear lest it
-should break down, for it appeared weak. "Mr.
-Lieutenant," said More, smiling, "see me safe up,
-and for my coming down let me shift for myself."
-The executioner then approached, and asked his
-forgiveness. More embraced him, and said,
-"Friend, thou wilt render me the greatest service
-in the power of any mortal; but," putting an angel
-into his hand, "my neck is so short, that I fear
-thou wilt gain little credit in the way of thy profession."
-The same fear of the eloquence of the
-illustrious victim which had attempted to stop his
-mouth on the trial, now forbade him to address
-the multitude; he therefore contented himself with
-saying that he died a faithful subject to the king,
-and a true Catholic before God. He then prayed,
-and, laying his head upon the block, bade the executioner
-stay his hand a moment while he put
-back his beard. For "that," said he, "has never
-committed any treason." His head was severed
-at a single blow, and was, like Fisher's, fixed on
-London Bridge.</p>
-
-<p>But it was not merely in lopping off the heads
-of honest statesmen and prelates that Henry VIII.
-now displayed the powers of supreme head over
-the Church. There was a more tempting prey
-which allured his avaricious soul, and promised
-to recruit his exhausted treasury. These were the
-monasteries, convents, and abbeys. These institutions
-had grown excessively corrupt through
-time. Without depending on the reports of
-Henry's commissioners, whose business it was to
-make out a case for him against them, there is
-abundant evidence in contemporary writings that
-the monks, nuns, and friars were grown extremely
-sensual and corrupt. Rage and cupidity alike
-urged Henry to imitate the Reformers of Germany,
-and seize the spoils of this wealthy body.
-Cromwell&mdash;whom he had appointed Vicar-General,
-a strange office for a layman&mdash;went the whole
-length with him in those views; nay, he was the
-man who first turned his eyes on this great
-attractive mass of wealth, and hallooed him to
-the spoil. He had told him that, if once he was
-established by Parliament as head of the Church,
-all that opulence was his. There can be no doubt
-that it was to carry out this seizure that Cromwell
-was put into that very office of Vicar-General, as the
-only man to do the business, and he went to work
-upon it with right good will.</p>
-
-<p>The first thing was to appoint a commission,
-and to obtain such a report as should induce
-Parliament to pass an act of suppression of the
-religious houses, and the forfeiture of all their
-property to the Crown. The Archbishop of
-Paris, years before, had confidently affirmed,
-that whenever Wolsey should fall, the spoliation
-of the Church would quickly follow. To expedite
-this matter as much as possible, the
-whole kingdom was divided into districts, and to
-each district was appointed a couple of commissioners,
-who were armed with eighty-six questions
-to propound to the monastic orders. As acknowledgment
-of the supremacy of the king and
-approbation of his marriage were made requisites
-of compliance, there was little chance of escape
-for any monastery, be its morals what they might.</p>
-
-<p>The visitors had secret instructions to seek, in
-the first place, the lesser houses, and to exhort the
-inmates voluntarily to surrender them to the king,
-and, where they did not succeed, to collect such a
-body of evidence as should warrant the suppression
-of those houses; but after zealously labouring at
-this object through the winter, they could only
-prevail on seven small houses to surrender. A
-report was then prepared, which considerably surprised
-the public by stating that the lesser houses
-were abandoned to the most shameful sloth and
-immorality, but that the large and more opulent
-ones, contrary to all human experience, were more
-orderly. The secret of this representation was,
-that the abbots and priors of the great houses were
-lords of Parliament, and were, therefore, present
-to expose any false statement.</p>
-
-<p>On the 4th of March, 1536, a bill was passed
-hastily through both Houses, transferring to the
-king and his heirs all monastic establishments the
-clear value of which did not exceed £200 per
-annum. It was calculated that this bill&mdash;which,
-however, did not pass the Commons till Henry
-had sent for them, and told them that he would
-apply his favourite remedy for stiff necks&mdash;would
-dissolve no less than 380 communities, and add
-£32,000 to the annual income of the Crown,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
-besides the presents received of £100,000 in money,
-plate, and jewels. The cause of these presents
-was a clause in the Act of Parliament, which left
-it to the discretion of the king to found any of
-these houses anew; a clause which was actively
-worked by Cromwell and his commissioners, and,
-by the hopes they inspired, drew large sums from
-the menaced brethren, part of which lodged in the
-pockets of the minister and his agents, and part
-reached the Crown. Cromwell amassed a large
-fortune from such sources.</p>
-
-<p>The Parliament, which had now sat seven years,
-and which was one of the most slavish and base
-bodies that ever were brought together&mdash;having
-yielded every popular right and privilege which
-the imperious monarch demanded, and augmented
-the Royal prerogative to a pitch of actual absolutism;
-having altered the succession, changed the
-system of ecclesiastical government, abolished a
-great number of the ancient religious houses without
-thereby much benefiting the Crown&mdash;was now
-dismissed, having done that for this worthless
-king which should cost some of his successors
-their thrones or their heads, and a braver and
-more honourable generation the blood of its best
-men to undo again.</p>
-
-<p>Anne Boleyn, on hearing of Catherine's death,
-which occurred in January, 1536, was so rejoiced
-that she could not help crying out, "Now I am
-indeed a queen!" And yet, in truth, never had
-she less cause for triumph. Already the lecherous
-eye of her worthless husband had fallen on one
-of <em>her</em> maids, as it had formerly fallen on one
-of Catherine's in her own person. This was
-Jane Seymour, a daughter of a knight of Wiltshire,
-who was not only of great beauty, but
-was distinguished for a gentle and sportive
-manner, equally removed from the Spanish
-gravity of Catherine and the French levity of
-Anne Boleyn. Before the death of Catherine,
-this fresh amour of Henry's was well known in
-the palace to all but the reigning queen; and,
-according to Wyatt, Anne only became aware
-of it by entering a room one day, and beholding
-Jane Seymour seated on Henry's knee, in a
-manner the most familiar, and as if accustomed
-to that indulgence. She saw at once that not
-only was Henry ready to bestow his regards on
-another, but that other was still more willing
-to step into her place than she had been to
-usurp that of Catherine. Anne was far advanced
-in pregnancy, and was in great hopes
-of riveting the king's affections to her by the
-birth of a prince; but the shock which she now
-received threw her into such agitation that she
-was prematurely delivered&mdash;of a boy, indeed,
-but dead. Henry, the moment that he heard
-of this unlucky accident, rushed into the queen's
-chamber, and upbraided her savagely "with the
-loss of his boy." Anne, stung by this cruelty,
-replied that he had to thank himself and "that
-wench Jane Seymour" for it. The fell tyrant
-retired, muttering his vengeance, and the die
-was now cast irrevocably for Anne Boleyn, if it
-were not before.</p>
-
-<p>It was a great misfortune for Anne that she
-had never been able to lay aside that levity of
-manner which she had acquired by spending her
-juvenile years at the French Court. After her
-elevation to the throne, she was too apt to
-forget, with those about her, the sober dignity
-which belonged to the queen, and to converse
-with the officers about her more in the familiar
-manner of the maid-of-honour which she had
-once been. This freedom and gaiety had been
-caught at by the Court gossips, and now scandals
-were whispered abroad, and, as soon as the way
-was open by the anger and fresh love affair of
-the king, carried to him. Such accusations were
-precisely what he wanted, as a means to rid
-himself of her. A plot was speedily concocted,
-in which she was to be charged with criminal
-conduct towards not only three officers of the
-Royal household&mdash;Brereton, Weston, and Norris&mdash;but
-also with Mark Smeaton, the king's musician,
-and, still more horrible, with her own
-brother, the Viscount Rochford. A court of
-inquiry was at once appointed, in which presided
-Cromwell, the Lord Chancellor, and the Dukes of
-Norfolk and Suffolk, Anne's determined enemies.
-On the 28th of April they began with Brereton,
-and committed him to the Tower. On Sunday,
-the 31st, they examined Smeaton, and sent him
-also to the same prison. The following day,
-being the 1st of May, the court was suspended
-to celebrate the gaieties usual on that day; and
-these were used for the purpose of obtaining a
-public cause of accusation against Sir Henry
-Norris. There was to be held a tournament at
-Greenwich that day, in which the Viscount
-Rochford was to be opposed by Norris as the
-principal defendant.</p>
-
-<p>In the midst of the tournament, Henry, who,
-no doubt, was watching for some opportunity to
-entrap his victims, suddenly found one. The
-queen, leaning over the balcony, witnessing the
-tournament, accidentally let fall her handkerchief.
-Norris took it up, and, it was said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
-presumptuously wiped his face with it, and then
-handed it to the queen on his spear. The thing
-is wholly improbable, the true version most likely
-being that the courtly Norris kissed the handkerchief
-on taking it up&mdash;an ordinary knightly
-usage&mdash;and that this was seized upon as a
-pretended charge against him. Henry, however,
-suddenly frowned, rose abruptly from his seat,
-and, black as a thunder-cloud, marched out of
-the gallery, followed by his six attendants. Every
-one was amazed; the queen appeared terror-stricken,
-and immediately retired. Sir Henry
-Norris, and not only Norris but Lord Rochford,
-who had had nothing whatever to do with the
-handkerchief (showing, therefore, that the matter
-was preconcerted), was arrested at the barriers
-on a charge of high treason. The queen herself
-was taken to her lodgings in the Tower.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_165big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_165.jpg" width="437" height="550" alt="After the Portrait by Holbein" title="ANNE BOLEYN" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ANNE BOLEYN. (<i>After the Portrait by Holbein.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Left alone in her prison, Anne's affliction
-seemed to actually disturb her intellect. She
-would sit for hours plunged in a stupor of
-melancholy, shedding torrents of tears, and then
-she would abruptly burst into wild laughter.
-To her attendants she would say that she should
-be a saint in heaven; that no rain would fall on
-the earth till she was delivered from prison;
-and that the most grievous calamities would
-oppress the nation in punishment for her death.
-At other times she became calm and devotional,
-and requested that a consecrated host might be
-placed in her closet.</p>
-
-<p>But the unhappy queen was not suffered to
-enjoy much retirement. It was necessary for
-Henry to establish a charge against her sufficiently
-strong to turn the feeling of the nation
-against her, and from him; and for this purpose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
-no means were neglected which tyranny and
-harshness of the intensest kind could suggest.
-Whilst the accused gentlemen were interrogated,
-threatened, cajoled, and even put to the torture
-in their cells, to force a confession of guilt from
-them, two women were set over Anne to watch
-her every word, look, and act, to draw from her
-in her unguarded conversation everything they
-could to implicate her, and, no doubt, to invent
-and colour where the facts did not sufficiently
-answer the purpose required. These were Lady
-Boleyn, the wife of Anne's uncle, Sir Edward
-Boleyn, a determined enemy of hers, and Mrs.
-Cosyns, the wife of Anne's master of the horse,
-a creature of the most unprincipled character.</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. Cosyns asked her why Norris had told his
-almoner on the preceding Saturday "that he could
-swear the queen was a good woman?" "Marry,"
-replied Anne, "I bade him do so, for I asked him
-why he did not go on with his marriage, and he
-made answer that he would tarry awhile. 'Then,'
-said I, 'you look for dead men's shoes. If aught
-but good should come to the king [who was then
-afflicted with a dangerous ulcer], you would look
-to have me.' He denied it, and I told him I
-could undo him if I would." Again, the queen
-expressed some apprehension of what Weston
-might say in his examination, for he had told
-her on Whit Monday last that Norris came into
-her chamber more for her sake than for Madge,
-one of her maids of honour. She had told him
-he did love her kinswoman, Mrs. Skelton, and
-that he loved not his wife; and he answered
-again that he loved one in his house better than
-them both. She asked him who, and he said,
-"Yourself," on which she defied him. Such was
-the stuff which Kingston gathered at the hands
-of these wretched spies, to be used against the
-queen, who was to be got rid of.</p>
-
-<p>Anne exhorted Kingston to convey a letter
-from her to Cromwell, but he declined such a
-responsibility; she contrived, however, by some
-means, on the fourth day of her imprisonment,
-to forward a letter, which conveys a very different
-impression from the conversation reported by the
-female spies, through Cromwell to the king.</p>
-
-<p>"Never," she wrote, "did I at any time so
-far forget myself in my exaltation or received
-queenship, but that I always looked for such alteration
-as I now find; for the ground of my preferment
-being on no surer foundation than your
-grace's fancy, the least alteration was fit and sufficient
-(I knew) to draw that fancy to some other
-object.</p>
-
-<p>"Try me, good king, but let me have a lawful
-trial, and let not my sworn enemies sit as my accusers
-and as my judges; yea, let me receive an
-open trial, for my truth shall fear no open shame.
-Then shall you see either mine innocency cleared,
-your suspicions and conscience satisfied, the
-ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my
-guilt openly declared."</p>
-
-<p>This letter, a copy of which was found amongst
-the papers of Cromwell, when his turn came to
-pay the penalty of serving that remorseless tyrant,
-is the letter of an innocent woman, and forms a
-strange contrast to the dubious language put into
-her mouth by those who reported her speech on
-the scaffold.</p>
-
-<p>On the 10th of May an indictment for high
-treason was found by the grand jury of Westminster
-against Anne and the five gentlemen accused;
-and on the same day the four commoners
-were put upon their trial in Westminster Hall, for
-the alleged offences against the honour and life of
-their sovereign lord. A true bill was also found
-against them by the grand juries of Kent and
-Middlesex, some of the offences being laid in those
-counties, at Greenwich, Hampton Court, &amp;c.
-Smeaton, the musician, was the only one who could
-be brought to confess his guilt; and it is declared
-by Constantyne, who was in attendance on the
-trials, and wrote an account of the proceedings,
-that he "had been grievously racked" to bring
-him to that confession. According to Grafton's
-chronicle, he was beguiled into signing the deposition
-which criminated the queen as well as himself,
-by an offer of pardon like that so repeatedly
-made to Norris. The weak man fell into the
-snare; the rest of the accused stood firmly by
-their innocence, and neither threats nor promises
-could move them from it. Norris was a great
-favourite with the king, who still appeared anxious
-to save his life, and sent to him, offering him
-again full pardon if he would confess his guilt.
-But Norris nobly declared that he believed in his
-conscience that the queen was wholly innocent of
-the crimes charged upon her; but whether she
-were so or not, he could not accuse her of anything,
-and that he would rather die a thousand
-deaths than falsely accuse the innocent. On this
-being told to Henry, he exclaimed, "Let him
-hang then! hang him up then!" All the four
-were condemned to death.</p>
-
-<p>On the 16th of May Queen Anne and her brother,
-Lord Rochford, were brought to trial in the great
-hall in the Tower, a temporary court being erected
-within it for the purpose. The Duke of Norfolk,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
-a known and notorious enemy of the accused, was
-created Lord High Steward for the occasion, and
-presided&mdash;a sufficient proof, if any were needed,
-that no justice was intended. His son, the Earl
-of Surrey, sat as Deputy Earl-Marshal beneath
-him. Twenty-six peers, as "lords-triers," constituted
-the court, and amongst these appeared the
-Duke of Suffolk, a nobleman still more inveterate
-in his hatred of the queen than the chief judge
-himself. The Earl of Northumberland, Anne's
-old lover, was one of the lords-triers; but he was
-seized with such a disorder, no doubt resulting
-from his memory of the past, that he was obliged
-to quit the court before the arraignment of Lord
-Rochford, and did not live many months. Henry,
-by his tyranny, had forcibly rent asunder his engagement
-with Anne; had embittered his life; and
-tired of the treasure which would have made
-Northumberland happy, he now called upon that
-injured man to assist in destroying one whom he
-had already lost.</p>
-
-<p>Lord Rochford defended himself with such
-courage and ability that even in that packed
-court there were many who, by their sense of
-justice, were led to brave the vengeance of the terrible
-king, and voted for his acquittal. The chief
-witness against him was his own wife, who had
-hated Anne Boleyn from the moment that she
-became the king's favourite; and now with a
-most monstrous violation of all nature and decency,
-strove to destroy her queen and her own
-husband together. Spite of the impression which
-the young viscount made on some of his judges, he
-was condemned, for Henry willed it, and that was
-enough.</p>
-
-<p>When he was removed Anne, Queen of England,
-was summoned into court, and appeared attended
-by her ladies and Lady Kingston, and was conducted
-to the bar by the Constable and Lieutenant
-of the Tower. She stood alone, without counsel
-or adviser; yet in that trying moment she displayed
-a dignified composure worthy of her station
-and of the character of an innocent woman.
-Crispin, Lord of Milherve, who was present,
-says that "she presented herself at the bar with
-the true dignity of a queen, and curtsied to her
-judges, looking round upon them all without any
-signs of fear." When the indictment against her,
-charging her with adultery and incest, had been
-read, she held up her hand and pleaded not
-guilty.</p>
-
-<p>Anne seems to have shown great ability
-and address on the occasion. She is said to
-have spoken with extraordinary force, wit, and
-eloquence, and so completely scattered all the vile
-tissue of lies that was brought against her, that
-the spectators imagined that there was nothing for
-it but to acquit her. "It was reported without
-doors," says Wyatt, "that she had cleared herself
-in a most wise and noble speech." But, alas! it
-was neither wisdom, wit, truth, innocence, eloquence,
-nor all the powers and virtues which could
-be assembled in one soul, which could draw an
-acquittal from that assembly of slaves bound by
-selfish terror to the yoke of the remorseless despot
-who now disgraced the throne. "Had the peers
-given their verdict, according to the expectation of
-the assembly," says Bishop Godwin, "she had
-been acquitted." But they knew they must give
-it according to the expectation of their implacable
-master, and she was condemned.</p>
-
-<p>Henry lost no time in getting rid of the woman,
-to obtain whom he had moved heaven and earth
-for years&mdash;threatening the peace of kingdoms, and
-rending the ancient bonds of the Church. The
-very day on which she was condemned, he signed
-her death-warrant, and sent Cranmer to confess
-her. There is something rather hinted at than
-proved in this part of these strange proceedings.
-Anne, when she was conveyed from Greenwich to
-the Tower, told her enemies proudly that nothing
-could prevent her dying their queen; and now,
-when she had seen Cranmer, she was in high
-spirits, and said to her attendants that she believed
-she should be spared after all, and that she understood
-that she was to be sent to Antwerp. The
-meaning of this the event of next day sufficiently
-explained. In the morning, on a summons from
-Archbishop Cranmer, she was conveyed privately
-from the Tower to Lambeth, where she
-voluntarily submitted to a judgment that her marriage
-with the king had been invalid, and was,
-therefore, from the first null and void. Thus she
-consented to dethrone herself, to unwife herself,
-and to bastardise her only child. Why? Undoubtedly
-from the promise of life, and from fear
-of the horrid death by fire. As she had received
-the confident idea of escape with life from the visit
-of Cranmer, there can be no rational doubt that he
-had been employed by the king to tamper with her
-fears of death and the stake, and draw this concession
-from her. Does any one think this impossible
-or improbable in Cranmer&mdash;the great Reformer
-of the Church? Let him weigh his very next
-proceeding.</p>
-
-<p>Cranmer had formerly examined the marriage of
-Henry and Anne carefully by the canon law, and
-had pronounced it good and valid. He now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
-proceeded to contradict every one of his former
-arguments and decisions, and pronounced the same
-marriage null and void. A solemn mockery of
-everything true, serious, and Divine was now gone
-through. Henry appointed Dr. Sampson his proctor
-in the case; Anne had assigned her the Drs. Wotton
-and Barbour. The objections to the marriage
-were read over to them in the presence of the queen.
-The king's proctor could not dispute them; the
-queen's were, with pretended reluctance, obliged to
-admit them, and both united in demanding a judgment.
-Then the great Archbishop and Reformer,
-"having previously invoked the name of Christ,
-and having God alone before his eyes," pronounced
-definitively that the marriage formally contracted,
-solemnised, and consummated between Henry and
-Anne was from the first illegal, and, therefore, no
-marriage at all; and the poor woman, who had
-been induced to submit to this deed of shame and
-of infamous deception, was sent back, not to life,
-not to exile at Antwerp&mdash;but to the block!</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_168big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_168.jpg" width="560" height="427" alt="" title="ANNE BOLEYN'S LAST FAREWELL OF HER LADIES" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ANNE BOLEYN'S LAST FAREWELL OF HER LADIES. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_168">168.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Friday, the 19th of May, was the day fixed for
-her execution, and on that morning she rose at two
-o'clock and resumed her devotions with her almoner.
-She sent for Sir William Kingston to be witness to
-her last solemn protest of her innocence before
-taking the sacrament. A few minutes before
-twelve o'clock she was led forth by the Lieutenant
-of the Tower to the scaffold. "Never," said a
-foreign gentleman present, "had the queen looked
-so beautiful before." Her composure was equal to
-her beauty. She removed her hat and collar herself,
-and put a small linen cap upon her head, saying,
-"Alas! poor head, in a very brief space thou wilt
-roll in the dust on the scaffold; and as in life thou
-didst not merit to wear a crown, so in death thou
-deserved not better doom than this." She then took
-a very affectionate farewell of her ladies. Having
-given to Mary Wyatt, the sister of Sir Thomas
-Wyatt, who attended her through all her trouble,
-the little book of devotions which she held in her
-hand, and whispered to her some parting words,
-she laid her head on the block. One of the
-ladies then covered her eyes with a bandage, and
-as the poor queen was saying, "O Lord, have
-mercy on my soul," the executioner, who had
-been sent for from Calais, severed her head from
-her body at one stroke of the sword. Her body<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
-was thrust into a chest used for keeping arrows in,
-and buried in the same grave with that of her
-brother, Lord Rochford, no coffin being provided.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_169big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_169.jpg" width="431" height="560" alt="" title="ST. PETER'S CHAPEL, TOWER GREEN, LONDON, WHERE ANNE BOLEYN WAS BURIED" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ST. PETER'S CHAPEL, TOWER GREEN, LONDON, WHERE ANNE BOLEYN WAS BURIED.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Henry now repealed the late act of settlement,
-and passed a new one through the compliant Parliament,
-entailing the crown on the issue by Jane
-Seymour, whom he married on the morning after
-Anne's execution. He obtained, moreover, a power
-to bequeath the succession by letters patent, or by
-his last will, in case of having no fresh issue of his
-own, on any person whom he thought proper. In
-life and in death he demanded absolute power
-over every principle of the Constitution, and this
-Parliament, which would have granted him anything,
-conceded it. It was well understood that
-he meant to cut off his daughters, and to confer
-the crown on his illegitimate son, the Duke of
-Richmond. But as if Providence would punish
-him in the very act, this son died before he could
-give his Royal assent to the bill.</p>
-
-<p>But if Henry had found a very submissive body
-in the Parliament, there was much discontent
-amongst the people, who were encouraged in their
-murmurs by the monks who had been dispossessed
-of their monasteries or who feared the approach
-of their fall, and by the clergy, who were equally
-alarmed at the progress of the opinions of the
-Reformers in the nation. There were two great
-factions in the Church and the Government, the
-opposed members of which were denominated the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
-men of the Old and the New learning. At the head
-of the Old or Romanist faction were Lee, Archbishop
-of York; Stokesley, Bishop of London;
-Tunstal, Bishop of Durham; Gardiner, of Winchester;
-Sherbourne, of Chichester; Nix, of Norwich;
-and Kite, of Carlisle. These received the
-countenance and support of the Duke of Norfolk
-and of Wriothesley, the premier secretary. The
-leaders of the Reforming faction were Cranmer, the
-Primate; Latimer, Bishop of Worcester; Shaxton,
-of Salisbury; Hilsey, of Rochester; Fox, of Hereford;
-and Barlow, of St. David's. These were
-especially patronised by Cromwell, whose power as
-Vicar-General was great, and who was now made
-Lord Cromwell by the king.</p>
-
-<p>Each of these parties, supported by a large body
-in the nation, endeavoured to make their way by
-flattering the vanity or the love of power of the
-capricious king. The Papist party swayed him to
-their side by his love of the old doctrines and rites;
-the Reformers, by his pride in opposing the Pope,
-and the gratification of his love of power as the
-independent head of the Church. In this transition
-state of things, the doctrines of the English Church,
-as settled by Convocation, exhibited a singular
-medley, and were liable at any moment to be disturbed
-by the momentary bias of the king, whose
-word was the only law of both Church and State.
-The Reformers succeeded in having the standard
-of faith recognised as existing in the Scriptures
-and the three creeds&mdash;the Apostolic, Nicene, and
-Athanasian; but then the Romanists had secured
-the retention of auricular confession and penance.
-As to marriage, extreme unction, confirmation, or
-holy orders, it was found that there could be no
-agreement in the belief in them as sacraments, and,
-therefore, they remained unmentioned, every one
-following his own fancy. The Real Presence was
-admitted in the sacrament of the Supper. The
-Roman Catholics asserted the warrant of Scripture
-for the use of images; but the Protestants denied
-this, and warned the people against idolatry in
-praying to them. The use of holy water, the ceremonies
-practised on Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday,
-Good Friday, and other Festivals, were still maintained,
-but Convocation, yielding to the Reformers,
-admitted that they had no power to remit sin.</p>
-
-<p>The Church being in this divided state, each
-party pushed its own opinions and practice where
-it could, with the certain consequence that there
-was much feud and heart-burning, and the people
-were pulled hither and thither. In those places
-where the Reformers prevailed, they saw the
-images thrown down or removed, the ancient rites
-neglected or despised; and they felt themselves
-aggrieved, but more especially with the ordinances
-of Cromwell as Vicar-General, who retrenched
-many of their ancient holidays. He also incensed
-the clergy, by prohibiting the resort to places of
-pilgrimage, and the exhibition of relics. These
-greatly reduced the emoluments of the clergy,
-whom he on the other hand compelled to lay aside
-a considerable portion of their revenues for the
-repairs of the churches, and the assistance of the
-poor. This caused them to foment the discontents
-of the people, and the thousands of monks now
-wandering over the country, without home or
-subsistence, found ready listeners in the vast
-population which had been accustomed to draw
-their main support from the daily alms of the
-convents and monasteries. The people, seeing
-all these ancient sources of a lazy support suddenly
-cut off by Government, grew furious; and their
-disaffection was strengthened by observing that
-many of the nobility and gentry were equally malcontent,
-whose ancestry had founded monasteries,
-and who, therefore, looked upon them with feelings
-of family pride, and, moreover, regarded them as a
-certain provision for some of their younger children.
-There were many of all classes who thought with
-horror of the souls of their ancestors and friends,
-who, they believed, would now remain for ages in
-all the torments of purgatory, for want of masses
-to relieve them.</p>
-
-<p>All these causes operating together produced
-formidable insurrections, both in the north and
-south. The first rising was in Lincolnshire. It
-was headed by Dr. Mackrel, the Prior of Barlings,
-who was disguised like a mechanic, and by another
-man in disguise, calling himself Captain Cobbler.
-The first attack was occasioned by the demand of
-a subsidy for the king, but the public mind was
-already in a state of high excitement, and this was
-only the spark that produced the explosion. Twenty
-thousand men quickly rose in arms, and forced
-several lords and gentlemen to be their leaders.
-Such as refused, they either threw into prison or
-killed on the spot. Amongst the latter was the
-Chancellor of Longland, an ecclesiastic by no
-means popular. The king sent a force against
-them under the Duke of Suffolk, attended by
-the Earls of Shrewsbury, Kent, Rutland, and
-Huntingdon.</p>
-
-<p>Suffolk found the insurgents in such force that
-he thought it best to temporise, and demanded of
-them what they had to complain of. Thereupon
-the men of Lincolnshire drew up and presented
-to him a list of six articles of grievance. These<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
-consisted, first and foremost, of the suppression
-of the monasteries, by which they said great
-numbers of persons were put from their livings,
-and the poor of the realm were left unrelieved.
-Another complaint was of the fifteenth voted
-by Parliament, and of having to pay fourpence
-for a beast, and twelvepence for every twenty
-sheep. They affirmed that the king had taken
-into his councils personages of low birth and
-small reputation, who had got the forfeited lands
-into their hands, "most especial for their singular
-lucre and advantage." This was aimed by name,
-and with only too much justice, at Cromwell and
-Lord Rich, who had grown wealthy on the spoils
-of the abbeys. To these men they added the
-names of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
-Bishops of Rochester, Salisbury, St. David's, and
-Dublin, whom they accused of having perverted
-the faith of the realm; and they especially attributed
-the severe exactions on the people to the
-Bishop of Lincoln and the officers of Cromwell,
-of whom it was rumoured that they meant to take
-the plate, jewels, and ornaments of the parish
-churches, as they had taken those of the religious
-houses.</p>
-
-<p>The king answered by flatly refusing their petition,
-bidding them meddle no more in the affairs
-of their undoubted prince, but deliver up their
-ringleaders, and leave governing to him and his
-counsellors and noblemen. This bluster appears
-to have frightened the simple clodhoppers of the
-Fens; for we have, a few days later, another
-letter from the same swelling hand, telling them
-that he has heard from the Earl of Shrewsbury
-that they have shown a fitting repentance and
-sorrow for their folly and their heinous crimes;
-and assuring them that in any other Christian
-country they, their wives and children, would have
-been exterminated with fire and sword. He orders
-them to pile their arms in the market-place of
-Lincoln, and get away to their proper habitations
-and business, or, if they remain a day longer in arms,
-he will execute on them, their wives and children,
-the most terrible judgments that the world had
-ever known.</p>
-
-<p>On the 30th of October, this frightened rabble,
-which seems to have been led on and then deserted
-by the clergy and gentry, dispersed, having first
-delivered up to the king's general fifteen of their
-ringleaders, amongst whom were Dr. Mackrel, the
-Prior of Barlings, and Captain Cobbler, said to
-have been a man of the name of Melton. These
-prisoners were afterwards executed as traitors, with
-all the barbarities of the age.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely, however, was the disturbance in Lincolnshire
-suppressed, when a far more formidable
-one broke out in the north. The people there
-were much more accustomed to arms, and their
-vicinity to the Scots created alarm at Court, lest
-the latter should take advantage of the rising to
-make an inroad into the country. The insurrection
-quickly spread over Northumberland, Durham,
-Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Lancashire.
-The Lord Darcy was conspicuous in it on the
-Borders, and there were calculated to be not less
-than 40,000 men in arms. Henry was this time
-seriously aroused, and sent Cromwell to the Jewel-house
-in the Tower to take as much plate as he
-thought could possibly be spared, and have it
-coined to pay troops, for he had no money in his
-coffers, notwithstanding all the monasteries which
-he had seized. Wriothesley, the Secretary of
-State, wrote from Windsor to Cromwell to expedite
-this business, superscribing his letter, "<cite>In
-haste&mdash;haste for thy life</cite>;" and telling him that
-the king appeared to fear much this matter,
-especially if he should want money, "for on the
-Lord Darcy his Grace had no great trust."</p>
-
-<p>As soon as money could be coined, a good sum
-was sent to the Duke of Suffolk, who was posted
-at Newark, and who made free use of it in buying
-over some of the ringleaders, and in sowing dissensions
-among the insurgents. Meanwhile the Earl
-of Shrewsbury was made the king's Lord-Lieutenant
-north of the Trent, and the Duke of Norfolk was
-despatched into Yorkshire, to command there with
-5,000 men. Robert Aske, a gentleman of ability,
-was at the head of the rebel forces, and he had
-given a religious character to the movement
-by styling it "The Pilgrimage of Grace." Priests
-marched in the van, in the habits of their various
-orders, carrying crosses and banners, on which
-were emblazoned the figure of Christ on the
-cross, the sacred chalice, and the five wounds
-of the Saviour. On their sleeves, too, were embroidered
-the five wounds, and the name of Christ
-on their centre. They had all sworn an oath that
-they had entered into the pilgrimage from no
-other motive than the love of God, the care of
-the king's person and issue, the desire of purifying
-the nobility, of driving base persons from the
-king, of restoring the Church, and suppressing
-heresy.</p>
-
-<p>Wherever they came, they compelled the people
-to join their ranks, as they would answer it at
-the day of judgment, as they would bear the
-pulling down of their houses, and the loss of
-their goods and of their lives. They restored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
-the monks and nuns to their houses as they
-went along. The cities of York, Hull, and Pontefract
-had opened their gates, and taken the
-prescribed oaths. The Archbishop of York, the
-Lords Darcy, Lumley, Latimer, and Neville, with
-a vast number of knights and gentlemen,
-gathered to their standard, either by free will or
-compulsion, and the army presented a formidable
-aspect. But there was already disunion in the
-host. The money of the Duke of Suffolk was
-doing its work, and Wriothesley soon wrote that
-the insurgents were falling to talking amongst
-themselves, and, if that went on, a pair of light
-heels would soon be worth five pairs of hands to
-them. The Earl of Cumberland repulsed them
-from his castle of Skipton; Sir Ralph Evers defended
-Scarborough against them; Courtenay,
-Marquis of Exeter, the Earls of Huntingdon,
-Derby, and Rutland, took the field against them;
-and they only managed to take Pomfret Castle,
-because the Lord Darcy and the Archbishop of
-York, lying there, were supposed to be secretly in
-league with them, and only made a show of force,
-which they might plead in case of failure.</p>
-
-<p>The insurgents, quite aware that the Government,
-which was attempting to sow dissension
-among them by pretended negotiations, was but
-waiting to seize and crush the leaders, again took
-the field in the very midst of winter. On the
-23rd of January, 1537, bills were stuck on the
-church doors by night, calling on the commoners
-to come forth and to be true to one another, for
-the gentlemen had deceived them, yet they should
-not want for captains. There was great distrust
-lest the gentlemen had been won over by the
-pardon and by money. The rebels, however,
-marched out under two leaders of the name of
-Musgrave and Tilby, and, 8,000 strong, they laid
-siege to Carlisle, where they were repulsed; and,
-being encountered in their retreat by Norfolk,
-they were defeated and put to flight. All their
-officers, except Musgrave, were taken and put to
-death, to the number of seventy. Sir Francis
-Bigot and one Hallam attempted to surprise Hull,
-but failed; and other risings in the north proving
-equally abortive, the king now bade Norfolk
-spread his banner, march through the northern
-counties with martial law, and, regardless of the
-pardon he had issued, punish the rebels without
-mercy.</p>
-
-<p>As the monks had obviously been at the
-bottom of this commotion, Henry let loose his
-vengeance especially upon them. He ordered
-Norfolk to go to Sawley, Hexham, Newminster,
-Lanercost, St. Agatha, and all other places
-that had made resistance, and there seize certain
-priors and canons and send them up to him, and
-immediately to hang up "all monks and canons
-that be in any wise faulty, without further delay
-or ceremony." He ordered the Earl of Surrey
-and other officers in the north to charge the
-monks there with grievous offences, to try their
-minds, and see whether they would not submit
-themselves gladly to his will. Under these sanguinary
-orders the whole of England north of the
-Trent became a scene of horror and butchery, and
-ghastly heads and mangled bodies, or corpses
-swinging from the trees. Nor did this admirable
-reformer of religion neglect to look after the property
-of his victims. Their lands and goods were
-all to be forfeited and taken possession of; "for
-we are informed," he says, "that there were
-amongst them divers freeholders and rich men,
-whose lands and goods, well looked unto, will
-reward others that with their truth have deserved
-the same."</p>
-
-<p>Besides Aske, Sir Thomas Constable, Sir John
-Bulmer, Sir Thomas Percy, Sir Stephen Hamilton,
-Nicholas Tempest, William Lumley, and others,
-though they had taken the benefit of the pardon,
-were found guilty, and most of them were
-executed. Lord Hussey was found guilty of
-being an accomplice in the Lincolnshire rising,
-and was executed at Lincoln. Lord Darcy,
-though he pleaded compulsion, and a long life
-spent in the service of the Crown, was executed
-on Tower Hill. Lady Bulmer, the wife of Sir
-John Bulmer, was burnt in Smithfield; and
-Robert Aske was hung in chains on one of the
-towers of York. Having thus satiated his vengeance,
-and struck a profound terror into all the
-disaffected, Henry once more published a general
-pardon, to which he adhered; and even complied
-with one of the demands which the insurgents had
-made, that of erecting by patent a court of justice
-at York, for deciding lawsuits in the northern
-counties.</p>
-
-<p>On the 12th of October, 1537, Jane Seymour
-gave birth to the long-desired prince, so well
-known afterwards as King Edward VI. This
-event took place at the palace of Hampton
-Court, and the infant was immediately proclaimed
-Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of
-Chester. The joy on so greatly desired an occurrence
-may be imagined, though it was somewhat
-dashed by the death of the queen, which took
-place only twelve days afterwards. During the
-confinement there was some question whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
-the life of the mother or of the child should be
-sacrificed, and on the question being put to the
-king, which should be spared, he characteristically
-replied, "The child by all means, for
-other wives can be easily found." The queen's
-death, however, was occasioned by the absurd
-exposure which the pompous christening necessitated.
-Henry appeared to be grieved when her
-death really took place, and put on mourning,
-which he had never done for his wives before,
-and never did again. He wore it three months.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_173big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_173.jpg" width="560" height="414" alt="" title="THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_171">171.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>By the accession of Queen Jane a new family,
-greedy and insatiable of advancement, was
-brought forward, whom we shall soon find figuring
-on the scene. The queen's brothers, sisters,
-uncles, and cousins presently filled every great
-and lucrative office at Court; closely imitating
-the unpopular precedent of the relations of
-Elizabeth Woodville. Her eldest brother, Edward
-Seymour, was immediately made Lord Beauchamp
-and Earl of Hertford; and, in the joy
-of having an heir, Henry created Sir William
-Paulet Lord St. John and Sir John Russell
-Lord Russell. Sir William Fitzwilliam was
-made Earl of Southampton, and High-Admiral.
-Russell and Paulet were sworn of the Privy
-Council; and John Russell, now in high favour
-with the king, attended the wedding, flattered
-the bride, and became, in the next reign, Earl
-of Bedford. Queen Jane received all the rites of
-the Roman Catholic Church on her death-bed;
-thus clearly denoting that neither she nor her
-husband was of the Protestant faith.</p>
-
-<p>Any grief which might have affected Henry
-for his wife's death did not prevent him from
-prosecuting his favourite design of seizing rich
-monasteries and destroying heretics. The great
-amount of property which Henry had obtained
-from the dissolution of monastic houses only
-stimulated him and his courtiers to invade the
-remainder. The insurrections laid the inmates
-of these houses open to a general charge that
-they had everywhere fomented, and in many
-places taken public part in, these attempts to
-resist Government. Prosecutions for high treason
-and menaces of martial law induced many of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
-more timid abbots and priors to resign their
-trusts into the hands of the king and his heirs
-for ever. Others&mdash;like the prior of Henton, in
-Somersetshire&mdash;resisted, declaring that it did not
-become them "to be light and hasty in giving
-up those things which were not theirs to give,
-being dedicated to Almighty God, for service to
-be done unto His honour continually, with many
-other good deeds of charity which be daily done
-in their houses to their Christian brethren."</p>
-
-<p>To grapple the more effectually with these
-sturdy remonstrants, a new visitation was appointed
-of all the monasteries in England; and,
-as a pretence only was wanted for their suppression,
-it was not difficult to find one where
-so many great men were eager to share in the
-spoils. But, while the destruction of the
-monasteries found many advocates, there were
-not wanting some who recommended the retention
-of those convents for women which had maintained
-order and a good reputation. But the
-king would hear of nothing but that all should
-be swept away together; and the better to prepare
-the public mind for so complete a revolution
-in social life, every means was employed to
-represent these establishments as abodes of
-infamy, and to expose the relics preserved in
-their shrines to ridicule, as impostures which
-deluded the ignorant people.</p>
-
-<p>The work of suppressing the monasteries
-and convents went on briskly, for, says Bishop
-Godwin, "the king continued much prone to
-reformation, especially if anything might be
-gotten by it." The Earl of Sussex and a body
-of Commissioners were despatched to the north, to
-inquire into the conduct of the religious houses
-there, and great stress was laid on the participation
-of the monks in the insurrection of the
-Pilgrimage of Grace. The abbeys of Furness and
-Whalley were particularly rich; and though little
-concern with the rebellion could be traced to the
-inmates, yet the Commissioners never rested till,
-by persuasion and intimidation, they had induced
-the abbots to surrender these houses into their
-hands. The success of the Earl of Sussex and
-his associates led to similar Commissions in the
-south, and for four years the process was going on
-without an Act of Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>The system generally adopted was this:&mdash;First,
-tempting offers of pensions were held out to the
-superiors and the monks or nuns, and in proportion
-to the obstinacy in complying was the
-smallness of the pension. The pensions to superiors
-varied, according to the wealth and rank
-of their houses, from £266 to £6 per annum.
-The priors of cells received generally £13. A
-few, whose services merited the distinction, £20.
-The monks received from £2 to £6 per annum,
-with a small sum in hand for immediate need.
-Nuns got about £4. That was the first and
-persuasive process; but, if this failed, intimidation
-was resorted to. The superior and his
-monks, tenants, servants, and neighbours, were
-subjected to a rigorous and vexatious examination.
-The accounts of the house were called for, and
-were scrutinised minutely, and all moneys, plate,
-and jewels ordered to be produced. There was a
-severe inquiry into the morals of the members,
-and one was encouraged to accuse another.
-Obstinate and refractory members were thrown
-into prison, and many died there&mdash;amongst them,
-the monks of the Charterhouse, London.</p>
-
-<p>In 1539 a bill was brought into Parliament,
-vesting in the Crown all the property, movable and
-immovable, of the monastic establishments which
-were already, or which should be hereafter, suppressed,
-abolished, or surrendered, and, by 1540,
-the whole of this branch of the ecclesiastical property
-was in the hands of the king, or of the courtiers
-and parasites who surrounded him, like vultures,
-gorging themselves with the fallen carcase.
-The total number of such establishments suppressed
-from first to last by Henry was 655 monasteries&mdash;of
-which 28 had abbots enjoying a seat in
-Parliament&mdash;90 colleges, 2,374 chantries and free
-chapels, and 110 hospitals. The whole of the
-revenue of this property, as paid to superiors
-of these houses, was £161,000. The whole income
-of the kingdom at that period was rated at
-£4,000,000, so that the monastic property was
-apparently one twenty-fifth of the national estate;
-but as the monastic lands were let on long leases,
-and at very low rents, in the hands of the new
-proprietors it would prove of vastly higher value.</p>
-
-<p>Henry distributed the property among his
-greedy courtiers as fast as it came, and never
-was so magnificent a property so speedily dissipated.
-What did not go amongst the Seymours,
-the Essexes, the Howards, the Russells,
-and the like, went in the most lavish manner on
-the king's pleasures and follies. He is said to
-have given a woman who introduced a pudding to
-his liking the revenue of a whole convent. Pauperism,
-instead of being extinguished, was increased
-to a degree which astonished every one.
-Such crowds had been supported by the monks and
-nuns as the public had no adequate idea of, till
-they were thrown destitute and desperate into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
-the streets and the highways, and at length became
-such a national burden and nuisance as in
-the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth to cause
-the introduction of the poor-law system. The
-aristocracy, in fact, usurped the fund for the
-support of the poor, and threw them on the nation
-at large.</p>
-
-<p>Education received an equal shock. The schools
-supported by the monasteries fell with them. The
-new race of noblemen who got the funds did
-nothing to continue them. Religion suffered also,
-for the wealth which might have founded efficient
-incomes for good preachers was gone into private
-hands, and such miserable stipends were paid to
-the working clergy, that none but poor and unlettered
-men would accept them.</p>
-
-<p>It is only justice to Cranmer to say that he saw
-this waste of public property with concern, and
-would have had it appropriated to the purposes
-of education and religion, and the relief of the
-poor; but he was too timid to lay the matter
-before the Royal prodigal. Yet the murmurs
-of the people induced Henry to think of establishing
-a number of bishoprics, deaneries, and colleges,
-with a portion of the lands of the suppressed
-monasteries. He had an act passed through
-Parliament for the establishment of eighteen
-bishoprics, but it was found that the property
-intended for these was cleverly grasped by some
-of his courtiers, and only six out of the eighteen
-could be erected, namely, Westminster, Oxford,
-Peterborough, Bristol, Chester, and Gloucester;
-and some of these were so meagrely endowed that
-the new prelates had much ado for a considerable
-time to live. At the same time Henry converted
-fourteen abbeys and priories into cathedral and
-collegiate churches, attaching to each a deanery
-and a certain number of prebendaries. These
-were Canterbury, Rochester, Westminster, Winchester,
-Bristol, Gloucester, Worcester, Chester,
-Burton-upon-Trent, Carlisle, Durham, Thornton,
-Peterborough, and Ely. But he retained a good
-slice of the property belonging to them, and, at the
-same time, imposed on the chapters the obligations
-of paying a considerable sum to the repair of the
-highways, and another sum to the maintenance of
-the poor.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time that Henry had been
-squandering the monastic property, and had
-falsified his promises of making the Crown independent
-of taxation, by coming to Parliament
-within twelve months for a subsidy of two-tenths
-and two-fifteenths, he had all along been riveting
-the doctrines of the Church of Rome faster on the
-nation, and persecuting those who questioned them.
-The Lower House of Convocation drew up a list
-of fifty-nine propositions, which it denounced as
-heresies, extracted from the publications of
-different Reformers, and presented it to the Upper
-House. On this, Henry, who believed himself a
-greater theologian than any in either house of
-Convocation, drew up, with the aid of some of the
-prelates, a book of "Articles" which was presented
-by Cromwell to Convocation, and there
-subscribed. This was then carried through Parliament,
-and became termed too justly the "Bloody
-Statute," for a more terrible engine of persecution
-never existed.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner had the statute of the Six Articles
-passed, than Latimer and Shaxton, the Bishops of
-Worcester and Salisbury, resigned their sees; and
-Cranmer, who had been living openly with his
-wife and children, seeing the king's determination
-to enforce the celibacy of the clergy, sent off his
-family to Germany, and made himself outwardly
-conformable to the law. At the end of the year
-1539, the king put to death, in Smithfield, three
-victims of his intolerance. The first two were a
-man and a woman who were Anabaptists. The
-third was John Lambert, formerly a priest, who
-had become a schoolmaster in London. He was a
-Reformer, and denied the doctrine which Henry
-was now enforcing under the penalty of death,
-that the Real Presence existed in the bread and
-wine.</p>
-
-<p>During the whole of the years 1538 and 1539
-Henry was, nevertheless, not only grown suspicious
-of his subjects, but greatly alarmed at the rumours
-of a combination between the Pope, the Emperor,
-and the King of France against him. It was
-rumoured that Cardinal Pole, his relative, who had
-rigorously opposed the divorce, was assisting in
-this scheme, and as Henry could not reach him, on
-account of Pole's flight to the Continent, he determined
-to take vengeance on his relatives and
-friends in England. A truce for ten years was
-concluded under the Papal mediation, between
-Charles and Francis, at Nice, in June, 1538. The
-two monarchs urged Paul to publish his bull of
-excommunication against Henry, which had been
-reserved so long, and Henry, whose spies soon
-conveyed to him these tidings, immediately ordered
-his fleet to be put in a state of activity, his
-harbours of defence strengthened, and the whole
-population to be called under arms, in expectation
-of a combined attack.</p>
-
-<p>But at this conference Cardinal Pole had been
-present, and Henry directly attributed the scheme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
-of invasion to him. At once, therefore, he let
-loose his fury on his relatives and friends in England.
-Becket, the usher, and Wrothe, server of
-the Royal chamber, were despatched into Cornwall
-to collect some colour of accusation against
-Henry Courtenay, the Marquis of Exeter, and his
-adherents and dependents. The marquis and
-marchioness were soon arrested, as well as Sir
-Geoffrey Pole and Lord Montagu, brothers of the
-cardinal, and Sir Edward Neville, a brother of
-Lord Abergavenny. Two priests, Croft and
-Collins, and Holland, a mariner, were also arrested,
-and lodged in the Tower. On the last day
-of 1538 the marquis and Lord Montagu were
-tried before some of the peers, but not before
-their peers in Parliament, for Parliament was
-not sitting. The commoners were brought to
-trial before juries; and all on a charge of having
-conspired to place Reginald Pole, late Dean of
-Exeter, the king's enemy, on the throne. The
-king's ministers declared that the charge was well
-proved, but no such proofs were ever published,
-which, we may be sure, would have been had they
-existed.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_176big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_176.jpg" width="560" height="340" alt="" title="GATEWAY OF KIRKHAM PRIORY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>GATEWAY OF KIRKHAM PRIORY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The fact was, those noblemen were descended
-directly from the old Royal line of England:
-Courtenay was grandson to Edward IV., through
-his daughter Catherine, and the Poles were grandsons
-to George, Duke of Clarence, the brother of
-Edward. All had a better title to the throne
-than Henry, and this, combined with their connection
-with the cardinal, was the cause of the
-tyrant's enmity. If these prisoners had been inclined
-to treason, they had had the fairest opportunity
-of showing it during the northern insurrection,
-but they had taken no part in it whatever.
-But Henry had determined to wreak his
-vengeance, which could not reach the cardinal, on
-them; and the servile peers and courts condemned
-them. It was said that Sir Geoffrey Pole, to
-save his own life, consented to give evidence
-against the rest&mdash;secretly it must have been, for
-it was never produced. His life, therefore, was
-spared, but the rest were executed. Lord Montagu,
-the Marquis of Exeter, and Sir Edward
-Neville were beheaded on Tower Hill on the 9th
-of January, 1539, and Sir Nicholas Carew, master
-of the king's horse, was also beheaded on the
-3rd of March, on a charge of being privy to the
-conspiracy. The two priests and the mariner
-were hanged and quartered at Tyburn. A commission
-was then sent down into Cornwall, which
-arraigned, condemned, and put to death two
-gentlemen of the names of Kendall and Quintrell,
-for having said, some years before, that Exeter
-was the heir apparent, and should be king, if
-Henry married Anne Boleyn, or it should cost
-a thousand lives.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_177big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_177.jpg" width="396" height="560" alt="" title="BEAUCHAMP TOWER, AND PLACE OF EXECUTION WITHIN THE TOWER OF LONDON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>BEAUCHAMP TOWER, AND PLACE OF EXECUTION
-WITHIN THE TOWER OF LONDON.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the sanguinary fury of Henry was not yet
-sated. The cardinal was sent by the Pope to the
-Spanish and French courts to concert the carrying
-out of the scheme of policy against England.
-Henry defeated this by means of his agents,
-and neither Charles nor Francis would move:
-but not the less did Henry determine further
-to punish the hostile cardinal. Judgment of
-treason was pronounced against him; the Continental
-sovereigns were called upon to deliver
-him up; and he was constantly surrounded by
-spies, and, as he believed, ruffians hired to
-assassinate him. Meanwhile it was said that a
-French vessel had been driven by stress of
-weather into South Shields, and in it had been
-taken three emissaries&mdash;an English priest of the
-name of Moore, and two Irishmen, a monk and
-a friar, who were said to be carrying treasonable
-letters to the Pope and to Pole. The Irish
-monks were sent up to London, and tortured in
-the Tower&mdash;a very unnecessary measure, if they
-really possessed the treasonable letters alleged.
-On the 28th of April Parliament was called
-upon to pass bills of attainder against Margaret,
-Countess of Salisbury, the mother of Cardinal
-Pole; Gertrude, the widow of the Marquis of
-Exeter; the son of Lord Montagu, a boy of tender
-years; Sir Adam Fortescue, and Sir Thomas
-Dingley. This was a device of Cromwell's, who
-demanded of the judges whether persons accused
-of treason might not be attainted and condemned
-by Parliament without any trial! The judges&mdash;who,
-like every one else under this monster of a
-king, had lost all sense of honour and justice in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
-fears for their own safety&mdash;replied that it was
-a nice question, and one that no inferior tribunal
-could entertain, but that Parliament was supreme,
-and that an attainder by Parliament would be
-good in law! Such a bill was accordingly passed
-through the servile Parliament, condemning the
-whole to death without any form of trial
-whatever.</p>
-
-<p>The two knights were beheaded on the 10th
-of July; the Marchioness of Exeter was kept in
-prison for six months, and then dismissed; the
-son of Lord Montagu, the grandson of the
-countess, was probably, too, allowed to escape,
-for no record of his death appears; but the
-venerable old lady herself, the near relative of
-the king, and the last direct descendant of the
-Plantagenets, after having been kept in prison for
-nearly two years, was brought out, and on the
-27th of May, 1541, was condemned to the scaffold.
-There she still showed the determination of her
-character. Unlike many who had fallen there
-before her, so far from making any ambiguous
-speech, or giving any hypocritical professions of
-reverence for the king, she refused to do anything
-which appeared consenting to her own death.
-When told to lay her head on the block, she
-replied, "No, my head never committed treason;
-if you will have it, you must take it as you can."
-The executioner tried to seize her, but she moved
-swiftly round the scaffold, tossing her head from
-side to side. At last, covered with blood, for the
-guards struck her with their weapons, she was
-seized, and forcibly held down, and whilst exclaiming,
-"Blessed are they who suffer persecution for
-righteousness' sake," the axe descended, and her
-head fell.</p>
-
-<p>But, the time of Cromwell himself was coming.
-The block was the pretty certain goal of Henry's
-ministers. The more he caressed and favoured
-them, the more certain was that result. Reflecting
-anxiously on the critical nature of his
-position, the deep and unprincipled minister came
-to the conclusion that the only mode of regaining
-his influence with the king was to promote
-a Protestant marriage. For a time at least
-Henry allowed himself to be governed by a new
-wife, and that time gained might prove everything
-to Cromwell. Circumstances seemed to
-favour him at this moment. The king was in
-constant alarm at the combination between France
-and Spain; and a new alliance with the Protestant
-princes of Germany, if accomplished, would
-equally serve the purposes of the king and of
-Cromwell. Now was the time for Cromwell,
-while Henry was chagrined by these difficulties.
-He informed him that Anne, daughter of John
-III., Duke of Cleves, Count of Mark, and Lord
-of Ravenstein, was greatly extolled for her beauty
-and good sense; that her sister Sybilla, the wife
-of Frederick, Duke of Saxony, the head of the
-Protestant confederation of Germany, called the
-Schmalkaldic League, was famed for her beauty,
-talents, and virtues, and universally regarded as
-one of the most distinguished ladies of the time.
-He pointed out to Henry the advantages of thus,
-by this alliance, acquiring the firm friendship of
-the princes of Germany, in counterpoise to the
-designs of France and Spain; and he assured
-him that he heard that the sisters of the Electress
-of Saxony, educated under the same wise
-mother, were equally attractive in person and in
-mind, and waited only a higher position to give
-them greater lustre, especially the Princess Anne.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Cleves died on the 6th of February,
-1539, and Henry despatched Hans Holbein
-to take the lady's portrait. Being delighted with
-the portrait&mdash;which agreed so well with the many
-praises written of the lady by his agents&mdash;he
-acceded to the match; and in the month of September
-the count palatine and ambassadors from
-Cleves arrived in London, where Cromwell received
-them with real delight, and the king bade
-them right welcome. The treaty was soon concluded;
-and Henry, impatient for the arrival of
-his wife, despatched the Lord Admiral Fitzwilliam,
-Earl of Southampton, to receive her at
-Calais, and conduct her to England.</p>
-
-<p>On the 27th of December, 1539, Anne landed
-at Deal, having been escorted across the Channel
-by a fleet of fifty ships. She was a thorough
-Protestant, going into the midst of as thoroughly
-Papist a faction, and to consort with a monarch
-the most fickle and dogmatic in the world. She
-could speak no language but German, and of
-that Henry did not understand a word. It
-would have required a world of charms to have
-reconciled all this to Henry, even for a time,
-and of these poor Anne of Cleves was destitute.
-That she was not ugly, many contemporaries
-testify; but she was at least plain in person,
-and still plainer in manners. Both she and her
-maidens, of whom she brought a great train, are
-said to have been as homely and as awkward a
-bevy as ever came to England in the cause of
-royal matrimony.</p>
-
-<p>The impatient though unwieldy lover, accompanied
-by eight gentlemen of his privy chamber,
-rode to Rochester to meet the bride. They were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
-all clad alike, in coats "of marble colour;" for
-Henry, with a spice of his old romance, was going
-incognito, to get a peep at his queen without her
-being aware which was he. He told Cromwell
-that "he intended to visit her privily, to nourish
-love." On his arrival, he sent Sir Anthony
-Browne, his master of the horse, to inform Anne
-that he had brought her a new year's gift, if she
-would please to accept it. Sir Anthony, on being
-introduced to the lady who was to occupy the
-place of the two most celebrated beauties of the
-day, the Boleyn and the Seymour, was, he afterwards
-confessed, "never so much dismayed in
-his life," but of course said nothing. So now
-the enamoured king, whose eyes were dazzled
-with the recollection of what his queens had
-been, and what Holbein and his ambassadors
-had promised him should again be, entered the
-presence of Anne of Cleves, and was thunderstruck
-at the first sight of the reality. Lord
-John Russell, who was present, declared "that he
-had never seen his highness so marvellously
-astonished and abashed as on that occasion."</p>
-
-<p>Instead of presenting himself the new year's
-gift which he had brought&mdash;a muff and tippet of
-rich sables&mdash;he sent them to her with a very cold
-message, and rode back to Greenwich in high
-dudgeon. There, the moment that he saw Cromwell,
-he burst out upon him for being the means
-of bringing him, not a wife, but "a great Flanders
-mare." Cromwell excused himself by not having
-seen her, and threw the blame on Fitzwilliam, the
-lord admiral, who, he said, when he found the
-princess at Calais so different from the pictures
-and reports, should have detained her there till he
-knew the king's pleasure; but the admiral replied
-brusquely that he had not had the choosing of her,
-but had simply executed his commission; and if
-he had in his dispatches spoken of her beauty, it
-was because she was reckoned beautiful, and it
-was not for him to judge of his queen.</p>
-
-<p>No way out of the marriage being found, orders
-were given for the lady to proceed from Dartford,
-and at Greenwich she was received outwardly
-with all the pomp and rejoicings the most welcome
-beauty could have elicited. But still the mind
-of the mortified king revolted at the completion
-of the wedding, and once more he summoned his
-council, and declared himself unsatisfied about the
-contract, and required that Anne should make a
-solemn protestation that she was free from all
-pre-contracts. Probably Henry hoped that, seeing
-that she was far from pleasing him, she might
-be willing to give him up; but though her just
-pride as a woman must have been wounded
-by his treatment, and her fears excited by the
-recollection of the fates of Catherine and Anne
-Boleyn, the princess could be no free agent in the
-matter. The ambassadors would urge the impossibility
-of her going back, thus insulting all Protestant
-Germany, and her own pride would second
-their arguments on that side too. The ignominy
-of being sent back, rejected as unattractive and
-unwelcome, was not to be thought of. She made
-a most clear and positive declaration of her freedom
-from all pre-contracts. On hearing this,
-the surly monarch fell into such a humour that
-Cromwell got away from his presence as quickly
-as he could. Seeing no way out of it, the marriage
-was celebrated on the 6th of January, 1540,
-but nothing could reconcile Henry to his German
-queen. He loathed her person, he could not even
-talk with her without an interpreter; and he soon
-fell in love with Catherine Howard, niece to the
-Duke of Norfolk, a young lady who was much
-handsomer than Anne, but not well educated, and
-greatly wanting in principle. From the moment
-that Henry cast his eyes on this new favourite, the
-little remains of outward courtesy towards the
-queen vanished. He ceased to appear with her
-in public. He began to express scruples about
-having a Lutheran wife. He did not hesitate
-to propagate the most shameful calumnies against
-her, declaring that she had not been virtuous
-before her marriage.</p>
-
-<p>Anne, in need of counsel, could find none in
-those who ought to have stood by her. Cranmer,
-the Reformer, and Cromwell, the advocate of
-Protestantism, and who had, in fact, brought
-about the marriage, kept aloof from her. She
-sent expressly to Cromwell, and repeatedly, but
-in vain; he refused to see her, for he knew that
-he stood on the edge of a precipice already; that
-he had deeply offended the choleric monarch by
-promoting this match; and that he was surrounded
-by spies and enemies, who were watching
-for occasion for his ruin. There is no doubt
-whatever that his ruin was already determined,
-but Cromwell was an unhesitating tool of the
-quality which Henry needed; for it was just at
-this time that Henry executed the relatives of
-Cardinal Pole, and probably it was an object
-of his to load that minister with as much of the
-odium of that measure as he could before he
-cast him down. Cromwell still, then, apparently
-retained the full favour of the king, notwithstanding
-this unfortunate marriage, but the conduct
-of his friends precipitated his fate.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Bishop Gardiner, a bigoted Papist, and one
-who saw the signs of the times as quickly as any
-man living, did not hear Henry's scruples about a
-Lutheran wife with unheeding ears. On the 14th
-of February, 1540, he preached a sermon at St.
-Paul's Cross, in which he unsparingly denounced
-as a damnable doctrine the Lutheran tenet of
-justification by faith without works. Dr. Barnes,
-a dependent of Cromwell's, but clearly a most
-imprudent one, on the 28th of February, just a
-fortnight afterwards, mounted the same pulpit,
-and made a violent attack on Gardiner and his
-creed. Barnes could never have intimated to
-Cromwell his intention to make this assault on a
-creed which was as much the king's as Gardiner's,
-or he would have shown him the fatality of it.
-But Barnes, like a rash and unreflecting zealot, not
-only attacked Gardiner's sermon, but got quite excited,
-and declared that he himself was a fighting-cock,
-and Gardiner was another fighting-cock, but
-that the <em>garden</em>-cock lacked good spurs. As was
-inevitable, Henry, who never let slip an opportunity
-to champion his own religious views, summoned
-Barnes forthwith before a commission of
-divines, compelled him to recant his opinion, and
-ordered him to preach another sermon, in the
-same place, on the first Sunday after Easter, and
-there to read his recantation, and beg pardon of
-Gardiner. Barnes obeyed. He read his recantation,
-publicly asked pardon of Gardiner, and then,
-getting warm in his sermon, reiterated in stronger
-terms than ever the very doctrine he had recanted.</p>
-
-<p>The man must have made up his mind to punishment
-for his religious faith, for no such daring
-conduct was ever tolerated for a moment by
-Henry. He threw the offender into the Tower,
-together with Garret and Jerome, two preachers
-of the same belief, who followed his example.</p>
-
-<p>The enemies of Cromwell rejoiced in this event,
-believing that his connection with Barnes would
-not fail to influence the king. So confidently did
-they entertain this notion, that they already
-talked of the transfer of his two chief offices, those
-of Vicar-General and Keeper of the Privy Seal,
-to Tunstal, Bishop of Durham, and Clarke, Bishop
-of Bath. But the king had not yet come to his
-own point of action. Cromwell's opponents were,
-therefore, astonished to see him open Parliament
-on the 12th of April, as usual, when he announced
-the king's sorrow and displeasure at the religious
-dissensions which appeared in the nation, his subjects
-branding each other with the opprobrious
-epithets of Papists and heretics, and abusing the
-indulgence which the king had granted them of
-reading the Scriptures in their native tongue.
-To remedy these evils his Majesty had appointed
-two committees of prelates and doctors&mdash;one
-to set forth a system of pure doctrine, and the
-other to decide what ceremonies and rites should
-be retained in the Church or abandoned; and, in
-the meantime, he called on both houses to assist
-him in enacting penalties against all who treated
-with irreverence, or rashly and presumptuously
-explained, the Holy Scriptures.</p>
-
-<p>Never did Cromwell appear so fully to possess
-the favour of his sovereign. He had obtained a
-grant of thirty manors belonging to suppressed
-monasteries; the title of Earl of Essex was revived
-in his favour, and the office of Lord-Chamberlain
-was added to his other appointments. He
-was the performer of all the great acts of the
-State. He brought in two bills, vesting the property
-of the Knights Hospitallers in the king, and
-settling an adequate jointure on the queen. He
-obtained from the laity the enormous subsidy
-of four-tenths and fifteenths, besides ten per
-cent. of their income from lands, and five per
-cent. on their goods; and from the clergy two-tenths,
-and twenty per cent. of their incomes for
-two years. So little did there appear any prospect
-of the fall of Cromwell, that his own conduct
-augured that he never felt himself stronger in his
-monarch's esteem. He dealt about his blows on
-all who had offended himself or the king, however
-high. He committed to the Tower the Bishop of
-Chichester and Dr. Wilson, for relieving prisoners
-confined for refusing to take the oath of supremacy;
-and menaced with the royal displeasure
-his chief opponents, the Duke of Norfolk, and
-the Bishops of Durham, Winchester, and Bath.</p>
-
-<p>Yet all this time Henry had determined, and
-was preparing for his fall. He appointed Wriothesley
-and Ralph Sadler Secretaries of State, and
-divided the business between them. The king had
-met Catherine Howard, it is said, at dinner at
-Gardiner's, who was Bishop of Winchester. As
-she was a strict Papist, and niece to Norfolk, it
-was believed that this had been concerted by the
-Catholic party; and they were not mistaken. She
-at once caught the fancy of Henry. Every opportunity
-was afforded the king of meeting her at
-Gardiner's; and no sooner did that worldly prelate
-perceive the impression she had made, than
-he informed Henry that Barnes, whom neither
-Gardiner nor Henry could forget, had been Cromwell's
-agent in bringing about the marriage of
-Anne of Cleves; that Cromwell and Barnes had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
-done this, without regard to the feelings of the
-king, merely to bring in a queen pledged to German
-Protestantism; and that, instead of submitting
-to the king's religious views, they were bent
-on establishing in the country the detestable
-heresies of Luther.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_181big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_181.jpg" width="400" height="499" alt="After the Portrait by Holbein" title="THOMAS CROMWELL, EARL OF ESSEX" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THOMAS CROMWELL, EARL OF ESSEX. (<cite>After the Portrait by Holbein.</cite>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Henry, whose jealousy was now excited, recollected
-that when he proposed to send Anne of
-Cleves back, Cromwell had strongly dissuaded
-him, and as Anne had now changed her insubordinate
-behaviour to him, he immediately suspected
-that it was at the suggestion of Cromwell. No
-sooner had this idea taken full possession, than
-down came the thunderbolt on the head of the
-great minister. The time was come, all was prepared,
-and, without a single note of warning&mdash;without
-the change of look or manner in the king&mdash;Cromwell
-was arrested at the council-board on a
-charge of high treason. In the morning he was
-in his place in the House of Lords, with every
-evidence of power about him; in the evening he
-was in the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>In his career, from the shop of the fuller to the
-supreme power in the State, next to the king,
-Cromwell had totally forgotten the wise counsel
-of Wolsey. He had not avoided, but courted,
-ambition. He had leaned to the Reformed doctrines
-secretly, but he had taken care to enrich himself
-with the spoils of the suppressed monasteries,
-and many suspected that these spoils were the
-true incentives to his system of reformation. The
-wealth he had accumulated was, no doubt, a
-strong temptation to Henry, as it was in all such
-cases, and thus Cromwell's avarice brought its
-own punishment. In his treatment of the unfortunate
-Romanists whom he had to eject from their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
-ancient houses and lands, his conduct had been
-harsh and unsparing; and by that party, now in
-power, he was consequently hated with an intense
-hatred; and this was a second means of self-punishment.
-But above all, in the days of his
-power, he had been perfectly reckless of the liberties
-and securities of the subject. He had broken
-down the bulwarks of the Constitution, and advised
-the king to make his own will the sole law,
-carrying for him through Parliament the monstrous
-doctrine embodied in the enactment that
-the royal proclamation superseded Parliamentary
-decrees, and that the Crown could put men to
-death without any form of trial. Under the
-monstrous despotism which he had thus erected,
-he now fell himself, and had no right whatever to
-complain. Yet he did complain most lamentably.
-The men who never feel for others, concentrate
-all their commiseration on themselves; and Cromwell,
-so ruthless and immovable to the pleadings
-of his own victims, now sent the most abject
-and imploring letters to Henry, crying, "Mercy,
-mercy!"</p>
-
-<p>His experience might have assured him that,
-when once Henry seized his victim, he never
-relented; and there was no one except Cranmer
-who dared to raise a voice in his favour, and
-Cranmer's interference was so much in his own
-timid style, that it availed nothing. His papers
-were seized, his servants interrogated, and out of
-their statements, whatever they were&mdash;for they
-were never produced in any court&mdash;the accusations
-were framed against him. These consisted in the
-charges of his having, as minister, received
-bribes, and encroached on the royal authority by
-issuing commissions, discharging prisoners, pardoning
-convicts, and granting licences for the exportation
-of prohibited merchandise. As Vicar-General,
-he was charged with having not only held heretical
-opinions himself, but also with protecting
-heretical preachers, and promoting the circulation
-of heretical books. Lastly, there was added one
-of those absurd, gratuitous assertions, which
-Henry always threw in to make the charge amount
-to high treason, namely, that Cromwell had expressed
-his resolve to fight against the king himself,
-if necessary, in support of his religious
-opinions; and Mount was instructed to inform the
-German princes that Cromwell had threatened to
-strike a dagger into the heart of the man who
-should oppose the Reformation, which, he said,
-meant the king. He demanded a public trial, but
-was refused, being only allowed to face his accusers
-before the Commissioners. Government then
-proceeded against him by bill of attainder, and
-thus, on the principle that he had himself established,
-he was condemned without trial, even
-Cranmer voting in favour of the attainder. His
-fate was delayed for more than a month, during
-which time he continued to protest his innocence,
-with a violence which stood in strong contrast to
-his callousness to the protestations of others, wishing
-that God might confound him, that the vengeance
-of God might light upon him, that all the
-devils in hell might confront him, if he were
-guilty. He drew the most lamentable picture of
-his forlorn and miserable condition, and offered to
-make any disclosures demanded of him; but
-though nothing would have saved him, unluckily
-for him, Henry discovered among his papers his
-secret correspondence with the princes of Germany.
-He gave the royal assent to the bill of
-attainder, and in five days&mdash;namely, on the 28th
-of July&mdash;Cromwell was led to the scaffold, where
-he confessed that he had been in error, but had now
-returned to the truth, and died a good Catholic.
-He fell detested by every man of his own party,
-exulted over by the Papist section of the community,
-and unregretted by the people, who were
-just then smarting under the enormous subsidy he
-had imposed. As if to render his execution the
-more degrading, Lord Hungerford, a nobleman
-charged with revolting crimes, was beheaded with
-him.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (<i>concluded</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Divorce of Anne of Cleves&mdash;Catherine Howard's Marriage and Death&mdash;Fresh Persecutions&mdash;Welsh Affairs&mdash;The Irish Insurrection
-and its Suppression&mdash;Scottish Affairs&mdash;Catholic Opposition to Henry&mdash;Outbreak of War&mdash;Battle of Solway Moss&mdash;French
-and English Parties in Scotland&mdash;Escape of Beaton&mdash;Triumph of the French Party&mdash;Treaty between England
-and Germany&mdash;Henry's Sixth Marriage&mdash;Campaign in France&mdash;Expedition against Scotland&mdash;Capture of Edinburgh&mdash;Fresh
-Attempt on England&mdash;Cardinal Beaton and Wishart&mdash;Death of the Cardinal&mdash;Struggle between the Two Parties in
-England&mdash;Death of Henry.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>The death of Cromwell was quickly followed by
-the divorce of Anne of Cleves. The queen was
-ordered to retire to Richmond, on pretence that
-the plague was in London. Marillac, the French
-ambassador, writing to Francis I., said that the
-reason assigned was not the true one, for if there
-had been the slightest rumour of the plague,
-nothing would have induced Henry to remain;
-"for the king is the most timid person in the world
-in such cases." It was the preliminary step to the
-divorce, and as soon as she was gone, Henry put in
-motion all his established machinery for getting rid
-of wives. The Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop
-of Canterbury, the Duke of Norfolk, and others of
-the king's ministers, procured a petition to be got
-up and presented to his Majesty, stating that the
-House had doubts of the validity of the king's
-marriage, and consequently were uneasy as to the
-succession, and prayed the king to submit the
-question to Convocation. Of course, Henry could
-refuse nothing to his faithful peers, and Convocation,
-accordingly, took the matter into consideration.
-The marriage was declared&mdash;like his two
-former ones with Catherine and Anne Boleyn&mdash;to
-be null and void; and the same judgment
-of high treason was pronounced on any one who
-should say or write to the contrary. The queen
-being a stranger to the English laws and customs,
-was not called upon to appear personally, or even
-by her advocates, before Convocation.</p>
-
-<p>All this being settled, the Duke of Suffolk, the
-Earl of Southampton, and Wriothesley proceeded
-to Richmond, to announce the decision to the
-queen. On the sight of these ministers, and on
-hearing their communication, that the marriage
-was annulled by Parliament, the poor woman, supposing
-that she was going to be treated like Anne
-Boleyn, fainted, and fell on the floor. On her
-return to consciousness, the messengers hastened to
-assure her that there was no cause of alarm; that
-the king had the kindest and best intentions towards
-her; that, if she would consent to resign the
-title of queen, he proposed to give her the title of
-his sister; to grant her precedence of every lady
-except the future queen and his daughters, and to
-endow her with estates to the value of £3,000 per
-annum.</p>
-
-<p>Anne received some of the spoils of the fallen
-Cromwell in different estates which were made
-over to her for life, including Denham Hall, in
-Essex. She resided principally at her palace of
-Richmond, and at Ham House; but we find her
-living at different times at Bletchingley, Hever
-Castle, Penshurst, and Dartford. Though she was
-queen only about six months, she continued to live
-in England for seventeen years&mdash;seeing two queens
-after her, and Edward VI. and Queen Mary on the
-throne&mdash;greatly honoured by all who knew her,
-and much beloved by both the princesses Mary and
-Elizabeth. Not in seventeen years, but in sixteen
-months, she saw the fall and tragedy of the queen
-who supplanted her; so that one of her maids of
-honour, Elizabeth Bassett, could not help exclaiming
-at the news, "What a man the king is!
-how many wives <em>will</em> he have?" For which very
-natural expression the poor girl was very near
-getting into trouble. As for Anne herself, she
-appeared quite a new woman when she had got
-clear of her terrible and coarse-minded tyrant, so
-that the French ambassador, Marillac, wrote to
-his master that "Madame of Cleves has a more
-joyous countenance than ever. She wears a great
-variety of dresses, and passes all her time in
-sports and recreations." No sooner was she
-divorced than Henry paid her a visit, and was so
-delighted by her pleasant and respectful reception
-of him, that he supped with her merrily, and
-not only went often again to see her, but invited
-her to Hampton, whither she went, not at all
-troubling herself that another was acting the
-queen.</p>
-
-<p>Anne's marriage was annulled by Parliament
-on the 9th of July, and on the 8th of August
-Catherine Howard appeared at Court as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
-acknowledged queen. For twelve months all went
-on well, and the king repeatedly declared that he
-had never been happy in love or matrimony till
-now; that the queen was the most perfect of
-women, and the most affectionate of wives. To
-gratify his new queen, and to accomplish some
-objects of importance, Henry this summer made a
-progress into the north, and took Catherine with
-him. One object was to judge for himself of the
-state of the northern counties, where the late
-insurrections in favour of the old religion had
-broken out. He promised himself that his presence
-would intimidate the disaffected; that he
-should be able to punish those who remained troublesome,
-and make all quiet; but still more was he
-anxious for an interview with his nephew, James
-V. of Scotland. The principles of the Reformation
-had been making rapid progress in that country,
-and the fires of persecution had been lit up by the
-clergy. Patrick Hamilton, a young man of noble
-family, who had imbibed the new doctrines abroad,
-and Friar Forrest, a zealous preacher of the same,
-had suffered at the stake. But far more dangerous
-to the stability of the Catholic Church, was the
-fact that the Scottish nobility, poor and ambitious,
-had learnt a significant lesson from what
-had been going on in England. The seizure of
-the monastic estates there by the king, and their
-liberal distribution amongst the nobility, excited
-their cupidity, and they strongly urged James to
-follow the example of his royal uncle. In this
-counsel they found a staunch coadjutor in Henry,
-who never ceased exciting James to follow his
-example, and, to make sure of his doing so, invited
-him to an interview at York, to which he
-consented.</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding great preparations had been
-made, the King of Scots excused his coming. The
-very first announcement of such a project had
-struck the clergy of Scotland with consternation.
-They hastened to point out to James the dangers
-of innovation&mdash;the certain mischief of aggrandising
-the nobility, already too powerful, with the
-spoils of the Church&mdash;the jeopardy of putting
-himself into the hands of Henry and the English,
-and the loss of the friendship of all foreign
-powers, if he was induced by Henry to attack the
-Church, which would render him almost wholly
-dependent on England. They added force to these
-arguments by presenting him with a gratuity of
-£50,000; promised him a continuance of their
-liberality, and pointed out to him a certain source
-of income of at least £100,000 per annum in the
-confiscations of heretics. These representations
-and gifts had the desired effect. James sent an
-excuse to Henry for not being able to meet him at
-York; and the disappointed king turned homeward
-in great disgust. The fascinations of the
-young queen, however, soon restored his good
-humour, and they arrived at Windsor, on the 26th
-of October, in high spirits.</p>
-
-<p>Little did the uxorious monarch dream that he
-was at this moment standing on a mine that would
-blow all his imagined happiness into the air and
-send his idolised wife to the block. But at the very
-time that he and Catherine had been showing
-themselves as so beautifully conjugal a couple to
-the good people of the north, the mine had been
-preparing. It was the misfortune of all the
-queens of Henry VIII. that they had not only to
-deal with one of the most vindictive and capricious
-tyrants that ever existed, but that they were invariably,
-and necessarily, the objects of the hatred of
-a powerful and merciless party, which was ready
-to destroy its antagonist, and, as the first and
-telling stroke in that progress, to pull down the
-queen. Catherine Howard was now the hope of
-the Romanists. She was the niece of the Duke of
-Norfolk, the most resolute lay-Papist in the kingdom,
-and the political head of that party. The
-public evidences of the growing influence of Catherine
-with the king in the northern progress, had
-been marked by the Catholics with exultation,
-and by the Protestants with proportionate alarm.
-Both Rapin and Burnet assert that Cranmer felt
-convinced, from what he saw passing, that unless
-some means were found to lessen the influence of
-the queen, and thus dash the hopes of the Catholics,
-he must soon follow Cromwell to the block. A
-most ominous circumstance which reached him
-was, that the royal party took up their quarters
-for a night at the house of Sir John Gorstwick,
-who, but in the preceding spring, had denounced
-Cranmer in open Parliament, as "the root of all
-heresies," and that at Gorstwick's there had been
-held a select meeting of the Privy Council, at
-which Gardiner, the unhesitating leader of the
-Romanists, presided. It was the signal for the
-Protestants to bring means of counter-action into
-play, and such means, unfortunately for the
-queen, were already stored up and at hand.</p>
-
-<p>It was discovered that the queen had been
-guilty of numerous improprieties before marriage,
-chiefly with a man called Derham, and it was now
-alleged that an intrigue had been going on between
-Catherine and her cousin, Thomas Culpepper, in
-the northern progress, at Lincoln and York, and
-that one night Culpepper was in the same room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
-with the queen and Lady Rochford for three
-hours. But when it was attempted to establish
-this fact on the evidence of women in attendance,
-Catherine Tylney and Margaret Morton, this evidence
-dwindled to mere surmise. Tylney deposed
-that on two nights at Lincoln, the queen went to
-the room of Lady Rochford, and stayed late, but
-affirmed "on her peril that she never saw who
-came unto the queen and my Lady Rochford, nor
-heard what was said between them." Morton's
-evidence amounted only to this, that, at Pontefract,
-Lady Rochford conveyed letters between the
-queen and Culpepper, <em>as was supposed</em>; and one
-night when the king went to the queen's chamber,
-the door was bolted, and it was some time before
-he could be admitted. This circumstance must
-have been satisfactorily accounted for to Henry at
-the time, jealous person as he was, yet on such
-paltry grounds was it necessary to build the charge
-of criminal conduct in the queen.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_185big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_185.jpg" width="560" height="422" alt="" title="CATHERINE HOWARD BEING CONVEYED TO THE TOWER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CATHERINE HOWARD BEING CONVEYED TO THE TOWER. (<i>See p.</i> 185.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 21st of January, 1542, a bill of attainder
-of Catherine Howard, late Queen of England, and
-of Jane, Lady Rochford, for high treason; of
-Agnes, Duchess of Norfolk, Lord William Howard,
-the Lady Bridgewater, and four men and five
-women, including Derham and Culpepper, already
-executed, was read in the Lords. On the 28th,
-the Lord Chancellor, impressed with a laudable
-sense of justice, proposed that a deputation of
-Lords and Commons should be allowed to wait on
-the queen to hear what she had to say for herself.
-He said it was but just that a queen, who was no
-mean or private person, but a public and illustrious
-one, should be tried by equal laws like themselves
-and thought it would be acceptable to the king
-himself if his consort could thus clear herself.
-But that did not suit Henry: he was resolved to
-be rid of his lately beloved model queen; and as
-there was no evidence whatever of any crime on
-her part against him, he did not mean that she
-should have any opportunity of being heard in her
-defence. The bill was, therefore, passed through
-Parliament, passing the Lords in three and the
-Commons in two days. On the 10th of February
-the queen was conveyed by water to the Tower,
-and the next day Henry gave his assent to the bill
-of attainder. The persons sent to receive the queen's
-confession were Suffolk, Cranmer, Southampton,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
-Audley, and Thirlby. "How much she confessed
-to them," Burnet says, "is not very clear, neither
-by the journal nor the Act of Parliament, which
-only say she confessed." If she had confessed the
-crime alleged after marriage, that would have
-been made fully and officially known. Two days
-afterwards, February 12th, she was brought to
-the block.</p>
-
-<p>Thus fell Catherine Howard in the bloom of her
-youth and beauty, being declared by an eye-witness
-to be the handsomest woman of her time, paying
-for youthful indiscretions the forfeit of her life
-to the king, though some think she had not sinned
-against him. So conscious was Henry of this, that
-he made it high treason, in the Act of Attainder,
-for any one to conceal any such previous misconduct
-in a woman whom the sovereign was about to
-marry. With Catherine fell the odious Lady
-Rochford, who had long deserved her fate, for
-her false and murderous evidence against her own
-husband and Anne Boleyn.</p>
-
-<p>Having thus destroyed his fifth wife, Henry
-now turned his attention to the regulation of religious
-affairs and opinions. In 1539 he had attempted
-to set up a standard of orthodoxy by
-the publication of "The Institution of a Christian
-Man," or "The Bishops' Book," as it was called,
-because compiled by the bishops under his direction.
-After that he published his "Necessary Doctrine
-and Erudition for any Christian Man," which was
-called "The King's Book." In this it was observable
-that, instead of approaching nearer to the
-Protestant creed, he was going fast back into the
-strictest principles of Romanism. He had allowed
-the people to read the Bible, but he now declared
-that, though the reading of it was necessary to the
-teachers of religion, it was not so necessary for the
-learners; and he decreed, by Act of Parliament,
-that the Bible should not be read in public, or be
-seen in any private families but such as were of
-noble or gentle birth. It was not to be read privately
-by any but householders and women who
-were well-born. If any woman of the ordinary
-class, any artificer, apprentice, journeyman, servant,
-or labourer dared to read the Bible, he or
-she was to be imprisoned for one month.</p>
-
-<p>Gardiner and the Papist party were more and
-more in the ascendant, and the timid Cranmer and
-the more liberal bishops were compelled not only
-to wink at these bigoted rules, but to order "The
-King's Book," containing all the dogmas which
-they held to be false and pernicious, to be published
-in every diocese, and to be the guide of every
-preacher. By this means it was hoped to quash
-the numerous new sects which were springing from
-the reading of the Bible, and the earnest discussions
-consequent upon it. Such a flood of new
-light had poured suddenly into the human mind,
-that it was completely dazzled by it. Opinion becoming
-in some degree free, ran into strange forms.
-There were Anabaptists, who held that every man
-ought to be guided by the direct inspiration of the
-Holy Ghost, and that, consequently, there was no
-need of king, judge, magistrate, or civil law, or
-war, or capital punishment. There were Antinomians,
-who contended that all things were free
-and allowable to the saints without sin. There
-were Fifth-Monarchy men; members of the
-Family of Love, or Davidians, from one David
-George, their leader; Arians, Unitarians, Predestinarians,
-Libertines, and other denominations,
-whom we shall find abundant in the time of the
-Commonwealth. What was strangest of all was
-to see King Henry, who would allow no man's
-opinion to be right but his own, and who burnt
-men for daring to differ from him, lecturing these
-contending sects on their animosities in his speech
-in Parliament, and bidding them "behold what
-love and charity there was amongst them, when
-one called another heretic and Anabaptist, and he
-called him again Papist, hypocrite, and pharisee;"
-and the royal peacemaker threatened to put an
-end to their quarrellings by punishing them all.
-During the four remaining years of his reign, he
-burnt or hanged twenty-four persons for religion&mdash;that
-is, six annually&mdash;fourteen of them being Protestants.
-During these years "The King's Book"
-was the only authorised standard of English orthodoxy.</p>
-
-<p>It is now necessary to take a brief glance at the
-proceedings of Henry's government in Ireland and
-Wales, and towards Scotland. In the Principality
-of Wales the measures of the king were marked
-by a far wiser spirit than those which predominated
-in religion. Being descended from the natives of
-that country, it was natural that it should claim
-his particular attention. Wales at that time might
-be divided into two parts, one of which had been
-subjected by the English monarchs, and divided
-into shires, the other which had been conquered
-by different knights and barons, thence called the
-lords-marchers. The shires were under the royal
-will, but the hundred and forty-one small districts
-or lordships which had been granted to the petty
-conquerors, excluded the officers and writs of the
-king altogether. The lords, like so many counts
-palatine, exercised all sovereign rights within their
-own districts, had their own courts, appointed their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
-own judges, and punished or pardoned offenders at
-pleasure. This opened up a source of the grossest
-confusion and impunity from justice; for criminals
-perpetrating offences in one district had only to
-move into another, and set the law at defiance.
-Henry, by enacting, in 1536, that the whole of
-Wales should thenceforth be incorporated with
-England, should obey the same laws and enjoy the
-same rights and privileges, did a great work. The
-Welsh shires, with one borough in each, were empowered
-to send members to Parliament, the judges
-were appointed solely by the Crown, and no lord
-was any longer allowed to pardon any treason,
-murder, or felony in his lordship, or to protect the
-perpetrators of such crimes. The same regulations
-were extended to the county palatine of Chester.</p>
-
-<p>The proceedings of Henry in Ireland were
-equally energetic, if they were not always as
-just; and in the end they produced an equally
-improved condition of things there. Quiet and
-law came to prevail, though they prevailed with
-severity. On the accession of Henry to the throne,
-the portion of the island over which the English
-authority really extended was very limited indeed.
-It included merely the chief sea-ports, with the
-five counties of Louth, Westmeath, Dublin, Kildare,
-and Wexford. The rest of the country was almost
-independent of England, being in the hands of no
-less than ninety chieftains&mdash;thirty of English
-origin, and the rest native&mdash;who exercised a wild
-and lawless kind of sway, and made war on each
-other at will. Wolsey, in the height of his power,
-determined to reduce this Irish chaos to order.
-He saw that the main causes of the decay of
-the English authority lay in the perpetual feuds
-and jealousies of the families of Fitzgerald and
-Butler, at the head of which were the Earls
-of Kildare and of Ormond. The young Earl
-of Kildare, the chief of the Fitzgeralds, who
-succeeded his father in 1520, was replaced by
-the Earl of Surrey, afterwards the Duke of
-Norfolk, whom we have seen so disgracefully
-figuring in the affairs of Anne Boleyn and
-Catherine Howard, his nieces. During the two years
-that he held the Irish government, he did himself
-great credit by the vigour of his administration,
-repressing the turbulence of the chiefs, and winning
-the esteem of the people by his hospitality and
-munificence.</p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately for Ireland, Surrey had acquired
-great renown by his conduct under his father
-at Flodden, and when Henry, in 1522, declared
-war against France, he was deemed the only
-man fitted to take command of the army. The
-government of Ireland, on his departure, was
-placed in the hands of Butler, Earl of Ormond.
-In the course of ten years it passed successively
-from Ormond again to Kildare, from Kildare to
-Sir William Skeffington, and back for the third
-time to Kildare.</p>
-
-<p>Kildare, relieved from the fear of Wolsey, who
-had now fallen, gave way to the exercise of such
-acts of extravagance, that his own friends attributed
-them to insanity. At the earnest recommendations,
-therefore, of his hereditary rivals, the
-Butlers, he was called to London in 1534, and
-sent to the Tower. Still, he had left his Irish
-government in the hands of his son, Lord Thomas
-Fitzgerald&mdash;a young man of only one-and-twenty,
-brave, generous, but with all the impetuosity of Irish
-blood. Hearing a false report that his father was
-beheaded in the Tower, young Fitzgerald flew
-to arms. He appeared at the head of 140 followers
-before the council, resigned the sword of State,
-and demanded war against Henry of England.</p>
-
-<p>Cromer, the Archbishop of Armagh, earnestly
-entreated him not to plunge himself into a quarrel
-so hopeless as that with England; but in vain.
-The strains of an Irish minstrel, uttered in his
-native tongue, had more influence with him, for
-they called on him to revenge his father, to free
-Ireland; and the incensed youth flew to arms.
-For a time success attended him. He overran the
-rich district of Fingal; the natives flocked to his
-standard; the Irish minstrels, in wild songs, stirred
-the people to frenzy; and surprising Allen, the
-Archbishop of Dublin, on the very point of escaping
-to England, and supposed to be one of the accusers
-of the Earl of Kildare, they murdered him in presence
-of the young chief and his brothers. He then
-sent a deputation to Rome, offering, on condition
-that the Pope should give him the support of his
-sanction, to defend Ireland against an apostate
-prince, and to pay a handsome annual tribute to
-the Holy See. He sent ambassadors also to the
-Emperor, demanding assistance against the prince
-who had so grossly insulted him by divorcing his
-aunt, Queen Catherine. Five of his uncles joined
-him, but he was repulsed from the walls of Dublin.
-The strong castle of Maynooth was carried by
-assault by the new deputy, Sir William Skeffington;
-and in the month of October Lord Leonard Gray,
-the son of the Marquis of Dorset, arriving from
-England at the head of fresh forces, chased him
-into the fastnesses of Munster and Connaught.
-On hearing of this ill-advised rebellion, the poor
-Earl of Kildare, already stricken with palsy,
-sickened and died in the Tower.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Lord Gray did not trust simply to his arms
-in the difficult country into which the Fitzgeralds
-had retired; he employed money freely to bribe
-the natives, who led him through the defiles of the
-mountains, and the passable tracks of the morasses,
-into the retreats of the enemy. He found the
-county of Kildare almost entirely desolated. Six
-out of the eight baronies were burnt; and where
-this was not the case, the people had fled, leaving
-the corn in the fields. Meath also was ravaged;
-and the towns throughout the south of Ireland,
-besides the horrors of civil war, found fever
-and pestilence prevailing, Dublin itself being
-more frightfully decimated than the provincial
-towns. The English Government sent very little
-money to the troops, and left them to subsist
-by plunder; and they first seized all the cattle,
-corn, and provisions, and then laid waste the
-country by fire. By March, 1535, Lord Thomas
-Fitzgerald was reduced to such extremity that he
-wrote to Lord Gray, begging him to become intercessor
-between the king and himself. Lord Gray,
-there can be little doubt, promised Fitzgerald
-a full pardon, on which he surrendered. But
-Skeffington wrote to the king that, finding that
-O'Connor, his principal supporter, had come in
-and yielded, "the young traitor, Thomas Fitzgerald,
-had done the same, without condition of
-pardon of life, lands, and goods."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_188big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_188.jpg" width="560" height="430" alt="" title="CAPTURE OF THE FITZGERALDS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CAPTURE OF THE FITZGERALDS. (<i>See p.</i> 189.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But this assertion is clearly contradicted by the
-council in Dublin, who wrote entreating the king
-to be merciful to the said Thomas, to whom they
-had given comfortable promises. O'Connor had
-been too wise to put himself into the power of
-Henry on the strength of any promises: he delivered
-only certain hostages as security for his
-good behaviour; but Lord Thomas was carried
-over to England by Lord Gray, where he was committed
-to the Tower. Gray was immediately sent
-back to Ireland, with the full command of the
-army there, and he was instructed above all things
-to secure the persons of the five uncles of Lord
-Fitzgerald. Accordingly, on the 14th of February,
-1536, the council of Ireland sent to Cromwell, then
-minister, an exulting message, that Lord Gray, the
-chief justice, and others, had captured the five
-brethren, which they pronounced to be the "first
-deed that ever was done for the weal of the king's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
-poor subjects of that land." They added, "We
-assure your mastership that the said lord justice,
-the treasurer of the king's wars, and such others as
-his grace put in trust in this behalf, have highly
-deserved his most gracious thanks for the politic
-and secret conveying of the matter." But the
-truth was, that this politic and secret management
-was one of the most disgraceful pieces of treachery
-which ever was transacted&mdash;the Fitzgeralds being
-seized at a banquet to which both parties had proceeded
-under the most solemn pledges of mutual
-faith. They were conveyed at once to London,
-and in February, 1537, the young earl and his five
-uncles were beheaded, after a long and cruel imprisonment
-in the Tower. Their unprincipled betrayer,
-however, did not long enjoy the fruits
-of his treachery. He was made Lord-Lieutenant
-of Ireland as a reward for his dishonourable service,
-but was soon removed on charges of misconduct,
-committed to one of the very cells which his
-victims had occupied, and was beheaded on Tower
-Hill, as a traitor, on the 28th of June, 1541, ending
-his life, according to Godwin, very quietly and
-godlily. Gray certainly deserved better treatment
-from Henry; for, though his conduct was infamous
-to the Fitzgeralds, it was most useful to the English
-king. The rival factions of Fitzgeralds and Butlers
-continuing to resist the English power, Gray contended
-against them till, by his brilliant victory at
-Bellahoe, he broke the power of O'Neill, the northern
-chieftain, and confirmed the power of England.
-Yet, being uncle, by his sister, to the last surviving
-male heir of the Fitzgeralds&mdash;Gerald, the youngest
-brother of the unfortunate Lord Thomas, a boy of
-only twelve years of age&mdash;he was accused of favouring
-his escape, and all his services were forgotten
-by his ungrateful sovereign. The young Gerald
-Fitzgerald escaped to the Continent by the aid of
-a sea captain of St. Malo, and ultimately to Italy,
-where he lived under the patronage and protection
-of his kinsman, Cardinal Pole, till he eventually
-recovered the honours and estates of his ancestors,
-in the reign of Queen Mary, at the suggestion of
-the cardinal.</p>
-
-<p>After the recall of Lord Gray, O'Connor,
-O'Neill, M'Murdo, and the O'Tooles excited fresh
-insurrections, but they were speedily put down,
-and in 1541 Anthony St. Leger found both the
-Irish chiefs and the lords of the pale eagerly
-outstripping each other in professions of loyalty.
-In 1541 Henry raised Ireland from the rank of
-a lordship to that of a kingdom, and granted
-letters patent to the Irish chiefs, by the advice
-of Sir Thomas Cusake, though unwillingly. Thus,
-by securing them in possession of their lands, and
-raising them to new honours, he gained their
-devoted attachment. Henry gave them houses in
-Dublin, which they were to inhabit when summoned
-as peers of the Irish Parliament. Ulick
-Burke was made Earl of Clanricarde, Murroch
-O'Brien Earl of Thomond, and the great O'Neill
-became henceforth known by his new title of Earl
-of Tyrone. The Irish council was instructed to
-proceed with the suppression of the monasteries,
-though cautiously, not urging the monks too rigorously,
-lest they stirred up opposition, but desirably
-persuading them that "the lands of the
-Church were his proper inheritance." These
-matters were so well carried out, that the ascendency
-of England had never appeared so firmly
-established since the first invasion of the island
-by Henry II.</p>
-
-<p>In Scotland the French and Catholic party was
-all powerful. James V. married a French wife,
-Mary of Guise, in 1538, and in 1539 David
-Beaton succeeded his uncle, James Beaton, in the
-primacy, when the Pope, to add additional
-honours to so devoted a servant, presented him
-with a cardinal's hat. It was at this crisis that
-the Pope, acting in concert with France and
-Spain, sent Cardinal Pole to co-operate with the
-Scots in annoying Henry, and James being
-applied to by the Pontiff Paul, declared himself
-willing to unite with Francis I. and the Emperor
-in the endeavour to convert or punish the heretical
-English king. As if to show Henry that there
-was no prospect of any co-operation of James
-with him, the fires of persecution were kindled by
-Beaton and his coadjutors against the Protestants
-in that kingdom, and this again drove the Reformers
-to make common cause with the Earl of
-Angus and other Scottish exiles in England.
-Henry, to encourage the Protestants, and to warn
-James if possible, sent to him his rising diplomatist,
-Sir Ralph Sadler, who represented to
-James that Henry was much nearer related to
-him than were any of the Continental sovereigns,
-and who endeavoured to prevent there the publication
-of the bill of excommunication.</p>
-
-<p>But it became necessarily a pitched battle
-between the Papist party in Scotland and Henry.
-They beheld with natural alarm his destruction of
-the Papal Church in England, an example of the
-most terrible kind to all other national churches
-of the same creed; and Henry, on the other
-hand, knew that so long as that faith was in the
-ascendant in Scotland, there would be no assured
-quiet in his own kingdom. It was the one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
-proximate and exposed quarter through which the
-Pope and his abettors on the Continent could
-perpetually assail him. From this moment, therefore,
-Henry spared no money, no negotiation, no
-pains to break down the Roman Catholic ascendency
-in Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>In the spring of 1541 Cardinal Beaton, and
-Panter, the Royal secretary, were despatched to
-Rome with secret instructions. This alarmed
-Henry, and yet afforded him a hope of making an
-impression on his nephew whilst the cardinal was
-away. Once more, therefore, he invited James to
-meet him at York. Lord William Howard, who
-was his envoy on the occasion, induced James to
-promise to meet Henry there, and we have seen
-him on his way accompanied by his bride, Catherine
-Howard, to the place of rendezvous. But
-James came not; and Henry, enraged, vowed that
-he would compel James by force to do that which
-he would not concede to persuasion.</p>
-
-<p>The Romanist party in Scotland were better
-pleased with a hostile than a pacific position, for
-they greatly dreaded that Henry might at length
-warp the king's mind towards his own views.
-The leaders on both sides were, in fact, never at
-peace. On the one side, the exiled Douglases
-were always on the watch to recover their estates
-by their swords, and the fugitives in Scotland, on
-account of the Pilgrimage of Grace, were equally
-ready to fight their way back to their homes and
-fortunes. In the August of 1542, accordingly,
-there were sharp forays, first from one side of the
-Border, and then from the other. Sir James
-Bowes, the warden of the east marches, accompanied
-by Sir George Douglas, the Earl of Angus,
-and other Scottish exiles, and 3,000 horsemen,
-rushed into Teviotdale, when they were met at
-Haddenrig by the Earl of Huntly and Lord Home,
-who defeated them, and took 600 prisoners.</p>
-
-<p>Henry, having issued a proclamation declaring
-the Scots the aggressors, ordered a levy of 40,000
-men, and appointed the Duke of Norfolk the
-commander of this army. He was attended by
-the Earls of Shrewsbury, Derby, Cumberland,
-Surrey, Hertford, Rutland, with many others of
-the nobility. This imposing force was joined by
-the Earl of Angus and the rest of the banished
-Douglases who had escaped the slaughter at
-Haddenrig. After some delay at York the royal
-army, issuing a fresh proclamation, in which
-Henry claimed the crown of Scotland, advanced
-to Berwick, where it crossed into Scotland, and,
-advancing along the northern bank of the Tweed
-as far as Kelso, burned two towns and twenty
-villages. Norfolk did not venture to advance
-farther into the country, as he heard that James
-had assembled a powerful force, whilst Huntly,
-Home, and Seton were hovering on his flanks.
-He therefore contented himself with ravaging the
-neighbourhood, and then crossed again at Kelso
-into England.</p>
-
-<p>James, indignant at the invasion and the
-injuries inflicted on his subjects, marched from the
-Burghmuir at Edinburgh, where he was encamped
-at the head of 30,000 men, in pursuit of the
-English. But he soon found that different causes
-paralysed his intended chastisement. Many of
-the nobles were in favour of the Reformation, and
-held this martial movement as a direct attempt to
-maintain the Papal power and the influence of
-Beaton and his party. Others were in secret
-league with the banished Douglases, who were on
-the English side; and there were not wanting those
-who sincerely advised a merely defensive warfare,
-and pointed out the evils which had always followed
-the pursuit of the English into their own
-country. They urged the fact that Norfolk and
-his army, destitute of provisions and suffering
-from the inclemency of the weather, were already
-in full retreat homewards. But James would not
-listen to these arguments; he burned to take vengeance
-on the English, and after halting on Fala
-Muir, and reviewing his troops, he gave the
-order to march in pursuit of Norfolk; but, to his
-consternation, he found that nearly every nobleman
-refused to cross the Border. They pleaded
-the lateness of the season, the want of provisions
-for the army, and the rashness of following the
-English into the midst of their own country,
-where another Flodden Field might await them.</p>
-
-<p>James was highly exasperated at this defection,
-and denounced the leaders as traitors and cowards,
-pointing out to them their unpatriotic conduct,
-when they saw all around them the towns and
-villages burnt, the farms ravaged, and the people
-expelled or exterminated along the line of Norfolk's
-march. It was in vain that he exhorted or
-reproved them; they stole away from his standard,
-and the indignant king found himself abandoned
-by the chief body of his army. For himself, however,
-he disdained to give up the enterprise. He
-despatched Lord Maxwell with a force of 10,000
-men to burst into the western marches, ordering
-him to remain in England laying waste the
-country as long as Norfolk had remained in
-Scotland. James himself awaited the event at
-Caerlaverock Castle; but, discontented with the
-movements of Lord Maxwell, whom he suspected
-of being infected by the spirit of the other insubordinate
-nobles, he sent his favourite, Oliver Sinclair,
-to supersede Lord Maxwell in the command.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_190big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_190.jpg" width="560" height="404" alt="From the Painting by S. E. Waller, in the National Gallery of British Art" title="SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES. Moss-troopers returning from a Foray" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p class="left">SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES.</p>
-
-<p class="left">Moss-troopers returning from a Foray.</p>
-
-<p class="left"><span class="smcap">From the Painting by S. E. Waller, in the National Gallery of British Art.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>This was an imprudent step, calculated to
-excite fresh discontent, as it very effectually did.
-The proud nobles who surrounded Maxwell threw
-down their arms, swearing that they would not
-serve under any such royal minion; the troops
-broke out into open mutiny; and in the midst of
-this confusion, a body of 500 English horse riding
-up under the Lords Dacre and Musgrave, the Scots
-believed it to be the vanguard of Norfolk's army,
-and fled in precipitate confusion. The English,
-charging furiously at this unexpected advantage,
-surrounded great numbers of the fugitives, and
-took 1,000 of them prisoners. All these were
-sent to London, and given into the custody of different
-English noblemen. Many of the prisoners
-were believed to surrender willingly, as disaffected
-men who were ready to sell their country to
-England; and others are said to have been seized
-by border freebooters, and sold to the enemy.
-This was the battle of Solway Moss.</p>
-
-<p>The king was so overwhelmed with grief and
-resentment at this disgraceful defeat, through the
-disloyalty of his nobility, that he returned to
-Edinburgh in deep dejection. From Edinburgh
-he proceeded to the palace of Falkland, where he
-shut himself up, brooding on his misfortunes; and
-such hold did this take upon him, that he began
-to sink rapidly in health. He was in the prime
-of his life, being only in his thirty-first year; of a
-constitution hitherto vigorous, having scarcely
-known any sickness; but his agonised mind producing
-fever of body, he seemed hastening rapidly
-to the grave. At this crisis his wife was confined.
-She had already borne him two sons, who had died
-in their infancy, and an heir might now have given
-a check to his melancholy; but it proved a
-daughter&mdash;the afterwards celebrated and unfortunate
-Queen of Scots. On hearing that it was a
-daughter, he turned himself in his bed, saying,
-"The crown came with a woman, and it will go
-with one. Many miseries await this poor kingdom.
-Henry will make it his own, either by
-force of arms or by marriage." On the seventh
-day after the birth of Mary, he expired, December
-14th, 1542.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner did Cardinal Beaton and his party
-learn that the king had expired than, guessing
-all that Henry and his party in Scotland would
-attempt, they took measures to secure the
-young queen and the sovereign power. Beaton
-produced a will as that of James, appointing him
-regent and guardian of the young queen, assisted
-by a council of the Earls of Argyll, Huntly, and
-Murray. The Earl of Arran, James Hamilton,
-on the other hand, declared this will to be a
-forgery, and being himself the next heir to the
-throne, after the infant queen, he assumed the
-right to make himself her guardian, and to order
-the kingdom for her. By means of the Protestant
-nobles, as well as the vassals of his own house, and
-the prevailing opinion that Beaton had forged the
-will, Arran succeeded in establishing himself as
-regent on the 22nd of December, 1542, and the
-Protestant influence was in the ascendant. It
-was now conceded that Angus and the Douglases
-should be recalled from their exile, and they
-quitted England in the following January, the
-Earl of Arran giving them a safe-conduct.</p>
-
-<p>It was a deadly warfare between the Protestant
-and Papal parties. A list of 360 of the nobles
-and gentry was produced by Arran, which was
-said to have been found on the person of the king,
-all of whom were proscribed as heretics, and
-doomed to confiscation of their estates and other
-punishments. This list, which the Romanists in
-their turn denounced as forged, was vehemently
-charged on Beaton, who was said to have drawn
-it up when the heads of the army refused to
-march into England. The Earl of Arran himself
-stood at the head of the list. The cardinal,
-who saw the imminent danger of his cause and
-party, despatched trusty agents to France to
-solicit instant aid in money and troops, to defend
-the interests and guard the persons of the queen-dowager,
-Mary of Guise, and the royal infant. To
-hasten the movements of the house of Guise, he
-represented the certain dependence of Scotland on
-England if the king of England succeeded in
-accomplishing the marriage of the infant queen
-with his son.</p>
-
-<p>To silence the cardinal, he was seized and incarcerated
-in the castle of Blackness, under the care
-of Lord Seton; and a negotiation was actively
-carried on through Sir Ralph Sadler for the marriage
-of the infant queen and the Prince of
-Wales. It was agreed that Mary should remain
-in Scotland till she was ten years of age; that she
-should then be sent to England to be educated;
-that six Scottish noblemen should be at once
-delivered to Henry as hostages for the fulfilment
-of the contract; and when the union of the two
-kingdoms should take place, Scotland should retain
-all its own laws and privileges.</p>
-
-<p>But though Beaton was in prison, his spirit was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
-abroad. The clergy had the highest faith in the
-talents and influence of the cardinal. They considered
-his liberation as necessary to avert the
-ruin of their party, and they put in motion all
-their machinery for rousing the people. They
-shut up the churches, and refused to administer
-the sacraments or bury the dead; and the priests
-and monks were thus set at liberty from all other
-duties to harangue and influence the passions of
-the people. Everywhere it was declared that
-Arran, the regent, had formed a league with
-Angus and the Douglases, who had been so long
-in England, to sell the country and the queen
-to England under the pretence of a marriage;
-that this was what the English monarchs had
-long been seeking; and that not only the Douglases,
-but Arran himself, were pensioned by
-Henry for the purpose. That this was but too
-true, the State Papers amply prove. Henry and
-his successors spared no money for this end;
-and the traitorous bargaining of a great number
-of the Scottish nobles with the English monarchs
-stands too well evidenced under their own hands.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_192big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_192.jpg" width="444" height="550" alt="" title="THE FIRST LEVEE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE FIRST LEVEE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.)</p>
-
-<p>(<cite>After the Picture by W. B. Hole, R.S.A.</cite>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At this juncture Cardinal Beaton managed to
-escape from his prison, from which he had never
-ceased to correspond with and inspirit his party.
-How he came to escape has been considered
-a mystery; but perhaps that mystery is not
-very deep when we reflect that Lord Seton, in
-whose custody he was, was a man, though related
-to the Hamiltons, yet of a most loyal temper,
-and a decided Romanist. Seton negotiated with
-Beaton to give up his castle of St. Andrews; and,
-as if this could not be accomplished without the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
-cardinal's presence on the spot, Seton allowed
-him to accompany him, but with so small a force,
-that the moment the cardinal stood in his own
-castle he declared himself at liberty, and Seton
-had no power to say nay had he wished it. As no
-punishment or even censure befell Lord Seton on
-this account, it is most probable that Arran himself
-was cognisant of the scheme. What makes
-this more likely is that Hamilton, the abbot of
-Paisley, the natural brother of Arran, the Regent,
-had returned just before from France; and that
-he was at the bottom of the plot may not unreasonably
-be supposed, from the fact that he
-very soon exercised a powerful influence over
-the weaker mind of the Regent. Through the
-means of the abbot, Beaton even attempted to
-accommodate matters with Henry. He declared
-that he was sincerely desirous of the union of
-the young queen and the Prince of Wales, so
-that there should be peace between the countries,
-yet a peace preserving the independence of each.
-But this independence of Scotland was the very
-thing which Henry was determined to annihilate,
-and he pressed his desires for it with such violence
-that all hopes of an amicable arrangement
-vanished.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_193big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_193.jpg" width="560" height="425" alt="" title="VIEW IN ST. ANDREWS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>VIEW IN ST. ANDREWS.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Arran, alienated from the English Government
-by the imperious demands of Henry, and alarmed
-at the progress of the Papist faction, took care to
-proclaim his resolute resolve to oppose the aims
-of Henry, even to the extremity of war, and he
-dismissed his Protestant chaplains, friar Williams
-and John Rough; and such was the spirit of the
-people that Glencairn and Cassillis, the most
-devoted partisans of England, declared that they
-would sooner die than agree to the surrender of
-the French alliance. Such, in fact, was the
-popular exasperation that Sadler dared not appear
-in the streets; and the peers in the interest of
-Henry were equally the objects of the public
-resentment.</p>
-
-<p>To induce Henry to pause in his fatal career,
-Sir George Douglas hastened to London, and
-prevailed on him to abate the extravagance of his
-demands. The immediate delivery of the infant
-queen, the surrender of the fortresses and of the
-Government into the hands of Henry, were
-waived, and Douglas returned to Scotland, bearing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
-proposals of marriage of a more reasonable
-kind. Henry, however, did not abandon his
-schemes in secret. In the Public Record office there
-is a memorandum in the hand of Wriothesley,
-saying that "the articles be so reasonable, that if
-the ambassadors of Scotland will not agree to
-them, then it shall be mete the king's majesty
-follow out his purpose by force." Sir George
-Douglas renewed the offer formerly made by
-Henry to Arran, of marrying the Princess Elizabeth
-and his eldest son, and Sir George and
-Glencairn were sent to London to assist the ambassadors
-in bringing the negotiation to a close.</p>
-
-<p>But Arran was assailed as vehemently on the
-other side by the cardinal, and the queen-dowager,
-who was the real head of the party. They sent
-Lennox to endeavour to win him over to their
-side, so that all Scotland might unite against
-Henry. Lennox delivered a very flattering message
-from Francis I. to the Regent, offering him
-both men and money to resist any attempt of
-invasion by the English; but this failing, the
-queen-dowager and Beaton prosecuted the negotiation
-with France, and it was agreed that 2,000
-men, under Montgomerie, Sieur de Lorges, should
-be sent to Scotland. The queen and cardinal
-called on their partisans to assemble their followers
-and garrison their castles, whilst Grimani,
-the Pope's legate, was entreated to hasten to
-Scotland with a formidable store of anathemas
-and excommunications. The clergy assembled in
-convention at St. Andrews, and so ardent were
-they in the cause which they believed to be that
-of the very existence of the Church, that they
-pledged themselves to raise the sum required for
-the war against England, and, if necessary, not
-only to melt down the church plate, and to
-sacrifice their private fortunes, but to fight in
-person.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst public opinion was in this state of fermentation,
-Henry VIII., irritated at the conduct
-of the cardinal and a large body of the nobles,
-committed one of those rash and foolish acts, into
-which the wild fury of his temper often precipitated
-him. After the proclamation of peace, a
-fleet of Scottish merchant vessels, driven by a
-storm, took refuge in an English port, where,
-under the recent treaty, they deemed themselves
-safe. But Henry had just proclaimed war on
-France and, making that a pretence, he accused
-them of carrying provisions to his enemies, and
-detained them. At this outrage the people of
-Edinburgh surrounded the house of Sadler the
-English ambassador, and threatened to burn him
-in it if the ships were not restored. Arran, the
-governor, came in for his share of the odium as
-the staunch ally of Henry; and the common friends
-of Arran and Henry, the traitorous faction of
-Angus, Cassillis, Glencairn, and the other barons
-under secret bond to England, proposed to call
-out their forces for immediate war. These base
-sons of a brave country asserted that the time
-was come for Henry to send a great army into
-Scotland, with which they would co-operate, "for
-the conquest of the realm."</p>
-
-<p>Everything boded the immediate outbreak of a
-bloody war, when a surprising revolution took
-place. On the 3rd of September, Arran declared
-to Sir Ralph Sadler that he was devotedly attached
-to the interests of Henry, and within a
-week afterwards he met the cardinal at Callender
-House, the seat of Lord Livingston, and entered
-into a complete reconciliation with him. A short
-time before Beaton had refused to hold any
-intercourse with him for fear of his life, and
-now he was seen riding amicably with him
-towards Stirling. This singular exhibition was
-followed by Arran's renunciation of Protestantism;
-his return, with full absolution, into communion
-with the Roman Church; his surrender
-of the treaties with England, and the delivery
-of his son as a pledge of his sincerity. So marvellous
-a conversion must have had powerful
-causes, and they are only to be explained by the
-weakness of Arran's character, and the artful and
-alarming representations of his more able brother,
-the abbot of Paisley. This zealous partisan of
-both France and the cardinal is said to have persuaded
-him that by renouncing the Papal supremacy,
-and allying himself with the arch-enemy
-of Rome, Henry of England, he was running
-imminent danger of the total loss of his titles,
-estates, and claim to the Regency, which could
-only be maintained by the Pope declaring valid
-the divorce of his father from his former wife.
-All Scotland was now united in its enmity to
-England.</p>
-
-<p>The year 1544 found Henry bent on war both
-with Scotland and France. Francis had deeply
-offended him by disapproving of his divorce and
-murder of Anne Boleyn, and by his refusal to
-follow his advice in repudiating his allegiance to
-the Pope. Francis had declared that he was
-Henry's friend, but only as far as the altar.
-Charles V., aggravated as had been the conduct of
-Henry towards him, by his divorce of his aunt
-Catherine, and the stigma of illegitimacy which
-he had cast on her daughter the Princess Mary,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
-was yet by no means displeased to observe the
-growing differences between Henry and his rival
-Francis. He, therefore, like a genuine politician,
-dropped his resentment on account of Catherine,
-and professed to believe that it was time to bury
-these remembrances in oblivion. The only obstacle
-to peace between them was the declared illegitimacy
-and exclusion from the succession of Mary.
-Henry lost no time in getting over this point. He
-had no need to confess himself wrong; he had a
-staunch Parliament who would do anything he
-required. Parliament, therefore, passed an Act
-restoring both Mary and Elizabeth to their political
-rights. Nothing was said of their illegitimacy,
-but they were restored to their place in the succession.
-Thus the Parliament had gone backward
-and forward at Henry's bidding to such an extent
-that now it was treason to assert the legitimacy of
-the princesses, and it was treason to deny it; for
-if they were illegitimate they could not claim the
-throne. It was treason to be silent, according to
-the former Act on this head, and it was now
-treason to refuse to take an oath on it when required.
-To such infamy did honourable members
-of Parliament stoop under this extraordinary
-despot.</p>
-
-<p>This sorry compromise having been accepted
-by the necessities rather than the will of the Emperor,
-Henry and he now made a treaty on these
-terms: 1st, That they should jointly require the
-French king to renounce his alliance with the
-Turks, and to make reparation to the Christians
-for all the losses which they had sustained in
-consequence of that alliance; 2nd, That Francis
-should be compelled to pay up to the King of
-England the arrears of his pension, and give
-security for a more punctual payment in future;
-3rd, That if Francis did not comply with these
-terms within forty days, the Emperor should seize
-the duchy of Burgundy, Henry all the territories
-of France which had belonged to his ancestors, and
-that both monarchs should be ready to enforce
-their claims at the head of a competent army.</p>
-
-<p>As Francis refused to listen to these terms, and
-would not even permit the messengers of the
-newly allied sovereigns to cross his frontiers, the
-Emperor, who was now desirous of recovering the
-towns which he had lost in Flanders, obtained
-from Henry a reinforcement of 6,000 men under
-Sir John Wallop, who laid siege to Landrecies;
-whilst Charles himself, with a still greater force,
-overran the duchy of Cleves, and compelled the
-duke, the devoted partisan of France, to acknowledge
-the Imperial allegiance. Charles then
-marched to the siege of Landrecies, and Francis
-approached at the head of a large army. A great
-battle now appeared inevitable; but Francis,
-man&oelig;uvring as for a fight, contrived to throw
-provisions into the town and withdrew. Imperialists
-and English pursued the retiring army; and
-the English, by too much impetuosity, suffered
-considerable loss. Henry promised himself more
-decided advantage in the next campaign, which he
-intended to conduct in person. This he had not
-been able to make illustrious by his presence; for
-he had been busily engaged with his approaching
-marriage to a sixth wife.</p>
-
-<p>The lady who had this time been elevated to
-this perilous eminence was the Lady Catherine
-Latimer, the widow of Lord Latimer, already mentioned
-for his concern in the Pilgrimage of Grace.
-She was born Catherine Parr, a daughter of Sir
-Thomas Parr. She was fourth cousin to Henry
-himself, and had been twice married previous to
-his wedding her. She was the widow of Lord
-Borough, of Gainsborough, at fifteen, and was about
-thirty when Henry married her, only a few months
-after the death of her second husband, Lord
-Latimer.</p>
-
-<p>Catherine Parr, as she still continues to be
-called, was educated under the care of her mother
-at Kendal Castle, and received a very learned
-education for a woman of those times. She read
-and wrote Latin fluently, had some knowledge of
-Greek, and was mistress of several modern languages.
-She is said to have been handsome, but
-of very small and delicate features. At all times
-she appears to have been of remarkable thoughtfulness
-and prudence, extremely amiable, and
-became thoroughly devoted to Protestantism; and
-she may, indeed, justly be styled the first Protestant
-Queen of England, for Anne of Cleves,
-though educated in the Protestant faith, became a
-decided Papist in this country. It was not till
-after the death of Lord Latimer that her Protestant
-tendencies, however, were known; yet then,
-she seems to have made no secret of them, for
-her house became the resort of Coverdale, Latimer,
-Parkhurst, and other eminent Reformers, and
-sermons were frequently preached in her chamber
-of state, which it is surprising did not attract the
-attention of the king. The marriage took place on
-the 12th of July, 1543, in the queen's closet at
-Hampton Court.</p>
-
-<p>The spring of 1544 opened with active preparations
-for Henry's campaign in France. During
-the winter, Gonzaga, the viceroy of Sicily, was
-despatched to London by Charles, to arrange the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
-plan of operations. An admirable one was devised,
-had Henry been the man to assist in carrying it
-out. The emperor was to enter France by Champagne,
-and Henry by Picardy, and, instead of
-staying to besiege the towns on the route, they
-were to dash on to Paris where, their forces
-uniting, they might consider themselves masters of
-the French capital, or in a position to dictate
-terms to Francis. In May the Imperialists were
-in the field, and Henry landed at Calais in June,
-and by the middle of July he was within the
-bounds of France, at the head of 20,000 English
-and 15,000 Imperialists.</p>
-
-<p>But neither of the invaders kept to the original
-plan. Charles stopped by the way to reduce
-Luxembourg, Ligne, and St. Didier. Had Henry,
-however, pushed on with his imposing army to
-Paris, Francis would have been at the mercy of the
-allies. But Henry, ambitious to rival the military
-successes of Charles, and take towns too, instead
-of making the capital his object, turned aside
-to besiege Boulogne and Montreuil. The Imperial
-ambassador, sensible of the fatality of this proceeding,
-urged Henry with all his eloquence
-during eleven days to push on: and Charles, to
-take from him any further excuse for delay, hastened
-forward along the right bank of the Marne,
-avoiding all the fortified towns. But when once
-Henry had undertaken an object, opposition only
-increased his resolution, and he lost all consciousness
-of everything but the one idea of asserting his
-mastery. In vain, therefore, did Charles send
-messengers imploring him to advance; for more
-than two months he continued besieging Boulogne,
-and the golden opportunity was lost.</p>
-
-<p>Francis seized on the delay to make terms with
-Charles. He sent to him a Spanish monk of the
-name of Guzman, and a near relative of Charles's
-confessor, proposing terms of accommodation.
-Charles readily listened to them, and sent to
-Henry to learn his demands. These demands were
-something enormous, and whilst Francis demurred,
-Charles continued his march, and arrived at
-Château-Thierry, almost in the vicinity of Paris.
-The circumstances of both Francis and Charles
-now mutually inclined them to open separate negotiations.
-Francis saw a foreign army menacing
-his capital, but Charles, on the other hand, saw the
-French army constantly increasing between him
-and his strange ally, whom nothing could induce
-to move from the walls of Boulogne. Under these
-circumstances Charles consented to offer Francis
-the terms which he had demanded before the war,
-and which he had refused; but now came the
-news that the English had taken Boulogne, and
-the French king at once accepted them. The
-Treaty of Crépy, as this was called, bound the
-two sovereigns to unite for the defence of Christendom
-against the Turks, and to unite their families
-by the marriage of the second son of Francis with
-a daughter of Charles. Henry, on his part, having
-placed a strong garrison in Boulogne, raised the
-siege of Montreuil, and returned to England, like
-a great conqueror, as he always did, from his
-distant campaigns.</p>
-
-<p>By the end of April a scheme to assassinate
-Cardinal Beaton, of which Henry was cognisant,
-having failed, he was prepared to pour on Scotland
-the vial of his murderous wrath. A fleet
-of a hundred sail, under the command of Lord
-Lisle, the High Admiral of England, appeared
-suddenly in the Forth. The Scots seem to have
-by no means been dreaming of such a visitant,
-and it threw the capital into the greatest consternation.
-In four days, such was the absence
-of preparation, such the public paralysis, that
-Hertford was permitted to land his troops and
-his artillery without the sight of a single soldier.
-He had advanced from Granton to Leith when
-Arran and the cardinal threw themselves in his
-way with a miserable handful of followers, who
-were instantly dispersed and Leith was given up
-to plunder.</p>
-
-<p>The citizens of Edinburgh, finding themselves
-deserted by the governor, flew to arms, under the
-command of Otterburn of Redhall, the provost of
-the city. Otterburn proceeded to the English
-camp and, obtaining an interview with Lord
-Hertford, complained of this unlooked-for invasion,
-and offered to accommodate all differences. But
-Hertford returned a haughty answer that he was
-not come to negotiate, for which he had no power,
-but to lay waste town and country with fire and
-sword unless the young queen were delivered to
-him. The people of Edinburgh, on hearing this
-insolent message, vowed to perish to a man rather
-than condescend to such baseness. They set about
-to defend their walls and sustain the attack of
-the enemy; but they found that Otterburn, who
-had tampered secretly with the English before
-this, had stolen unobserved away. They appointed
-a new provost, and manned their walls so stoutly
-that they compelled Hertford to fetch up his battering
-ordnance from Leith. Seeing very soon
-that it was impossible to defend their gates from
-this heavy ordnance, they silently collected as
-much of their property as they could carry, and
-abandoned the town. Hertford took possession of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
-it; and then sought to reduce the castle. But
-finding this useless, he set fire to the city; and,
-reinforced by 4,000 horse, under Lord Eure, he
-employed himself in devastating the surrounding
-country with a savage ferocity, which no doubt
-had been commanded by the bitter malice of the
-English king.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 411px;"><a href="images/i_197big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_197.jpg" width="411" height="550" alt="From the Portrait in the Louvre, attributed to the Elder Clouet" title="FRANCIS I" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>FRANCIS I.</p>
-
-<p>(<cite>From the Portrait in the Louvre, attributed to the Elder Clouet.</cite>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 15th of May, Arran, having assembled a
-considerable force, and liberated Angus and his
-brother, Sir George Douglas, in the hope of winning
-them over by such clemency, marched rapidly
-towards Edinburgh. The English, however, did
-not wait for his arrival. Lord Lisle embarked a
-portion of the troops at Leith again, and Lord
-Hertford led away the remainder by land. Both
-by land and water the English commanders continued
-their buccaneering outrages, doing all the
-mischief and inflicting all the misery they
-could. Lord Lisle seized the two largest Scottish
-vessels in the harbour of Leith, and burnt the
-rest; he then sailed along the coast, plundering
-and destroying all the villages and country
-within reach. Lord Hertford, on his part, laid
-Port Seaton, Haddington, Renton, and Dunbar
-in ashes, and returned into England, leaving behind
-him a trail of desolation. Such was the insane
-and ridiculous manner in which Henry VIII.
-wooed the little Queen of Scotland for his son. A
-border war ensued, and Scotland was mercilessly
-ravaged.</p>
-
-<p>Francis I. could not rest satisfied so long as
-Boulogne was in the hands of the English, and
-he resolved in 1545, to make a grand effort to recover
-not only that town but Calais, which had
-been for centuries in the possession of England.
-Large galleys were built at Rouen, and as many
-vessels were collected as possible from Marseilles
-and other ports in the Mediterranean for this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
-enterprise. He hired soldiers from the Venetian
-and other Italian States, and he determined to
-send a body of troops to Scotland to assist in
-making a diversion in that country. But he
-was not contented with endeavouring to regain his
-own towns; his coasts had often been harassed by
-the English vessels, and he now ventured to carry
-the war to Henry's own shores. Henry, aware of
-his intentions, raised fortifications on the banks of
-the Thames, and along the shores of Kent, Sussex,
-and Hampshire. The French fleet, consisting of
-130 ships, set sail on the 16th of July, and fell
-down the Channel. Francis flattered himself that
-he could seize the Isle of Wight, and perhaps maintain
-garrisons there, if he should not be able to get
-possession of Portsmouth. Henry had himself proceeded
-to Portsmouth, where he had sixty ships
-lying, under the command of Lord Lisle. The
-French fleet sailed into the Solent, and anchored
-at St. Helen's. The sea being very calm, the
-French admiral put out his flat-bottomed boats
-and galleys that drew little water, and sailed into
-the very mouth of Portsmouth Harbour, daring
-the English admiral to come out. But Henry
-commanded Lord Lisle to lie still. The French
-admiral, firing into the port, sank the <em>Mary Rose</em>
-with her commander, Sir George Carew, and 700
-men. On the turn of the tide Lord Lisle bore
-down on the enemy, and sank a galley with its
-men, and the French vessels then bore away to the
-main fleet.</p>
-
-<p>As the French could not provoke the English to
-come out of harbour, though they burned the
-villages and farmhouses along the coast, they held
-a council of war, and resolved to attempt the conquest
-of the Isle of Wight. The invasion of the
-island was essayed in three places, but the inhabitants
-repulsed with great spirit the soldiers as they
-landed; and, after committing some ravages, the
-French thought it best to retire. They then
-sailed along the coast of Sussex, making occasional
-descents, and finally anchored before Boulogne, to
-prevent the entrance of supplies for the army there.
-Another object was to hinder reinforcements of
-ships from the Thames reaching Portsmouth, but
-in both these endeavours the superior vigilance of
-the English prevailed; provisions were conveyed
-into Boulogne, and a reinforcement of thirty ships
-arrived at Portsmouth. At length Lord Lisle received
-orders from Henry to put to sea and attack
-the enemy; he expressed himself highly delighted,
-but nothing came of it, for the two fleets man&oelig;uvred
-for some time in the face of each other, exchanged
-a few shots, and then retired to their respective
-ports. And thus ended the boastful enterprise of
-Francis. Henry, as we have seen, had only succeeded
-in capturing Boulogne, and was accordingly
-glad to make peace with Francis in 1546, on terms
-fairly advantageous to England.</p>
-
-<p>As Scotland was included in the peace with
-France, the French party appeared to be entirely
-triumphant. But Beaton's end was near, and
-it was hastened on by his religious persecutions.
-Notwithstanding the endeavours of
-Cardinal Beaton, and the apostacy of Arran, the
-Reformation had now made great progress in
-Scotland, and it was while the struggle was going
-on between the party of Angus and the party of
-the cardinal, backed by the money and the arms
-of England, that there came upon the scene the remarkable
-preacher, George Wishart. Wishart is
-supposed to have been the son of James Wishart
-of Pitarro, justice-clerk to James V., and he was
-patronised by John Erskine, Provost of Montrose.
-In Montrose he became master of a school, and
-was expelled for teaching Greek to his boys,
-avowedly as the original tongue of the New Testament.
-He fled to England, and in Bristol was
-condemned as a heretic for preaching against the
-offering of prayers to the Virgin. He then recanted
-to avoid death, but remained some years
-in England, returning to all and more than the
-opinions he had renounced in sight of the fagot.
-He boldly preached the insufficiency of outward
-ceremonies when the heart itself was not touched.
-He admitted only the sacraments recorded in the
-Scriptures; derided auricular confession; condemned
-the invocation of saints and the doctrine
-of purgatory, though he approved of fasting, and
-maintained that the Lord's Supper was a Divine
-and comfortable institution. The doctrines, conduct,
-and corruptions of his opponents he denounced
-with unsparing severity.</p>
-
-<p>These traits had made him a welcome agent of
-opposition to the cardinal with the lords of the
-English party; and Beaton, at once hostile to his
-religious views and to him personally, as the ally
-of those who were seeking his life by the most
-abominable means, soon turned his resentment
-upon him. Twice he is said to have escaped from
-the emissaries of the cardinal lying in wait to
-seize him. How far he was aware of the plots
-and mercenary villainy of those about him is uncertain;
-but living in the very midst of the traitor
-lords, and often under the very roof of the busy
-agent of Beaton's proposed murder, Brunston, he
-was so far cognisant of the preparations for the
-invasion of Scotland and the destruction of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
-cardinal's party, that he frequently announced in
-his sermons the approach of the horrors which at
-length arrived, and thus acquired the reputation
-of a prophet. Under the protection of the Angus
-party, he preached in the towns of Montrose,
-Dundee, Perth, and Ayr, and produced such a
-spirit of hostility to the old religion, that at
-Dundee the houses of the Black and Grey Friars
-were destroyed, and similar attempts were made
-in Edinburgh.</p>
-
-<p>While the friends of Wishart were seeking the
-life of Beaton, Beaton, aware of this, was seeking the
-life of Wishart, and Wishart in his addresses to the
-people repeatedly declared that he should perish a
-martyr to the cause of truth. At length Cassillis
-and the gentlemen of Kyle and Cunningham sent
-for him to meet them at Edinburgh, where they
-proposed that he should have an opportunity for
-public disputation with the bishop. Wishart proceeded
-to the capital where, Cassillis and the confederates
-not having arrived, he soon began to
-preach to the people, under the protection of the
-barons of Lothian. At Leith, Sir George Douglas
-bore public testimony to the truth of his doctrine,
-and declared his resolution to protect the preacher.
-There, too, he converted John Knox, who was
-destined to establish the Reformation in Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>In the midst of these proceedings arrived the
-cardinal and the governor in Edinburgh, and
-Beaton lost no time in endeavouring to secure
-the person of the popular apostle. Brunston removed
-Wishart to West Lothian to be out of the
-way till the arrival of Cassillis, who was the chief
-conspirator against the cardinal; but Wishart was
-not a man to lie concealed. He preached in the
-very face of danger, though a two-handed sword
-was constantly borne before him on these occasions;
-and at length, after a remarkable sermon at Haddington,
-where he prognosticated deep miseries
-about to fall upon the country, he took leave
-affectionately of his audience, and set out for
-the house of Ormiston, accompanied by Brunston,
-Sandilands of Calder, and Ormiston. That night
-the house of Ormiston was surrounded by a party
-of horse under the command of the Earl of Bothwell.
-Wishart, Sandilands, and Cockburn were
-seized. Cockburn and Sandilands were conducted
-to the castle of Edinburgh, Wishart to Hailes, the
-house of Bothwell, who for some time refused
-to give him up to the cardinal, but at length
-did so under promise of a great reward. Brunston
-had managed to escape.</p>
-
-<p>Beaton was anxious to have Wishart tried and
-condemned on a civil charge; but to this Arran
-would not consent, and the cardinal was therefore
-obliged to forego his vengeance, or arraign him as
-a heretic. He was sentenced to be burnt, and
-this sentence was carried out at St. Andrews,
-on the 28th of March, 1546. In this execution
-the cardinal's malice far outran his usually
-sound policy. Nothing could be more mischievous
-to his own cause than the murder of Wishart.
-Till then, the people, whatever their religious
-opinions, regarded the political views of Beaton as
-patriotic, and they supported him as the great
-bulwark against the power and designs of England.
-But now they regarded him as a horrible
-persecutor, and they shrank from him and his
-power fell. The meekness and patience with
-which Wishart, whom they now honoured with
-the name of martyr, bore his horrible fate, made a
-lasting impression on the public mind.</p>
-
-<p>While the people thus unequivocally condemned
-this barbarous deed, and only the more
-eagerly inquired into the principles of the sufferer,
-the immediate confederates against the cardinal
-found in this event a grand warrant for carrying
-out their own murderous intentions. Cassillis,
-Glencairn, and the rest of the nobles had delayed
-the desperate deed, because they could not extract
-from Henry a distinct statement of the pay
-they were to receive for it. But now Norman
-Leslie, the Earl of Rothes, and John Leslie, his
-uncle, began to vow publicly that they would
-have the blood of Beaton as an atonement for
-that of the martyred Wishart. They opened
-anew an active correspondence with England,
-and associated themselves with a number of
-others who were exasperated at the cardinal's
-deed.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, the partisans of Beaton
-lauded him to the skies as the saviour of the
-Church in Scotland, and strong in the alliance of
-France and the late ill-success of the English
-party, the cardinal appeared to enjoy a season of
-triumph; but it was a triumph quickly quenched
-in blood. Elated with his temporary success, the
-cardinal made a progress into Angus, and celebrated
-the marriage of one of his natural
-daughters, Margaret Béthune, to David Lindsay,
-Master of Crawford, at Finhaven Castle, bestowing
-upon her a dowry worthy of a princess. The
-cardinal was disturbed in his festivities by the
-news that Henry VIII. was pushing on his preparations
-for a new invasion, and he hastened to St.
-Andrews to put his castle into a perfect state of
-defence. On his arrival he summoned the barons
-of the neighbouring coast to consult on the best<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
-means of fortifying it against any attack of the
-enemy. But while thus busily engaged in warding
-off the assault of a foreign enemy, a domestic
-foe was eagerly at work close at hand for his
-destruction. The Laird of Brunston was stimulating
-Henry to give the necessary assurance to
-those who were ready at a word to plunge the
-sword into the body of the cardinal. A quarrel
-arising between Beaton and the Leslies brought
-the matter to a crisis. Norman Leslie, the
-Master of Rothes, had given up to Beaton the
-estate of Easter Wemyss and, at a meeting in St.
-Andrews, had found the cardinal indisposed to
-make the promised equivalent for it. High words
-arose, and Leslie hastened to his uncle John; and
-both of them deeming that there was no longer
-any safety after the words Norman Leslie in his
-rage had let fall, they immediately summoned
-their confederates, and resolved to put the cardinal
-to death without delay.</p>
-
-<p>On the evening of the 28th of May, Norman
-Leslie, attended by five followers, entered the
-city of St. Andrews, and rode, without exciting
-any suspicion, in his usual manner to his inn.
-Kirkaldy of Grange was awaiting him there, and
-after nightfall, John Leslie, whose enmity to
-Beaton was most notorious, stole quietly in and
-joined them. At daybreak the next morning,
-Norman Leslie and three of his attendants entered
-the gates of the castle court, the porter
-having lowered the drawbridge to admit the workmen
-who were employed on the cardinal's fresh
-fortifications. Norman inquired if the cardinal
-were yet up, as if he had business with him;
-and while he held the porter in conversation,
-Kirkaldy of Grange, James Melville, and their
-followers entered unobserved; but presently the
-porter, catching sight of John Leslie crossing the
-bridge, instantly suspected treason, and attempted
-to raise the drawbridge; but Leslie was too
-nimble for him; he leaped across the gap, and the
-conspirators, closing round the porter, despatched
-him with their daggers, seized the keys, and threw
-the body into the fosse, without any noise or
-alarm. They then proceeded to dismiss the workmen
-as quietly from the castle, and Kirkaldy, who
-was well acquainted with the castle, stationed
-himself at the only postern through which an
-escape could be made. The conspirators then
-went to the apartments of the different gentlemen
-composing the household of the cardinal,
-awoke them, and, under menace of instant death
-if they made any noise, conducted them silently
-out of the castle and dismissed them. Thus were
-150 workmen and fifty household servants removed
-without any commotion by this little band
-of sixteen determined men, and, the portcullis
-being dropped, they remained masters of the
-castle.</p>
-
-<p>The cardinal, who had slept through the greater
-part of this time, at length awoke at the unusual
-bustle, threw open his chamber window and demanded
-the cause of it. The reply was that
-Norman Leslie had taken the castle, on which the
-cardinal rushed to the postern to escape; but
-finding it in possession of Kirkaldy, he returned
-as rapidly to his chamber and, assisted by a page,
-pushed the heaviest furniture against the door to
-defend the entrance till an alarm could be given.
-But the conspirators did not allow him time for
-that. They called for fire to burn down the door,
-and Beaton, finding resistance useless, threw open
-the door, when John Leslie and Carmichael rushed
-upon him, as he cried for mercy, and stabbed him
-in several places. Melville, however, with a
-mockery of justice, bade them desist, saying that
-though the deed was done in secret, it was an act
-of national justice not that of mercenary assassins,
-and must be executed with all due decorum.
-Then, turning the point of the sword towards the
-wretched cardinal, he said, with formal gravity,
-"Repent thee, thou wicked cardinal, of all thy
-sins and iniquities, especially of the murder of
-Wishart, that instrument of God for the conversion
-of these lands. It is his death which now
-cries for vengeance on thee. We are sent by God
-to inflict the deserved punishment. For here,
-before the Almighty, I protest that it is neither
-hatred of thy person, nor love of thy riches, nor
-fear of thy power, which moves me to seek thy
-death; but only because thou hast been, and still
-remainest, an obstinate enemy to Christ Jesus and
-His holy Gospel." With that he plunged his sword
-repeatedly into the prelate's body, and laid him
-dead at his feet.</p>
-
-<p>The death of Cardinal Beaton was at the same
-time the death-blow to the Church in Scotland.
-Though he was a man of corrupt moral life and
-of a persecuting disposition, he was one of the
-most able men of his time, and resisted the designs
-of Henry for the subjugation of his native
-country, with a vigour and perseverance which
-made Henry feel that whilst he lived Scotland
-was independent. The death of Beaton, so ardently
-desired, and so highly paid for by Henry,
-did not, however, bring him nearer to the reduction
-of the country, or the accomplishment of his
-son's marriage with the queen. On the contrary,
-so intense was the hatred of him and of England,
-which his tyrannic and detestable conduct had
-created in every rank and class of the Scottish
-people, that these objects were now farther off
-than ever. Henry's own embarrassments were,
-in consequence of his Scottish and French wars,
-become so intolerable, that he was compelled, as
-we have already seen (p. 198), to make peace
-with France in the month of June, by a treaty
-called the Treaty of Boulogne, and to agree to
-deliver up Boulogne, on condition that Francis
-paid up the arrears of his pension, and to submit
-a claim of 500,000 crowns upon him to arbitration.
-Francis took care to have Scotland
-included in the peace, and Henry bound himself
-not to interfere with it except on receiving some
-fresh provocation.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 405px;"><a href="images/i_201big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_201.jpg" width="405" height="560" alt="" title="THE ASSASSINATION OF CARDINAL BEATON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE ASSASSINATION OF CARDINAL BEATON. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_200">200.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Henry was now drawing to a close of that life
-which might have been so splendid, and which he
-had made so horrible. To the last moment he
-was employed in base endeavours to elude the
-peace which he had submitted to with Scotland;
-in the struggles between the two great religious
-factions, and in still further shocking executions
-for treason and heresy. Henry himself was become
-in mind and person a most loathsome object.
-A life of vile pleasures, and furious and unrestrained
-passions, succeeded, as other appetites
-decayed, by a brutal habit of gormandising, had
-swollen him to an enormous size, and made his
-body one huge mass of corruption. The ulcer in
-his leg had become revoltingly offensive; his
-weight and helplessness were such that he could
-not pass through any ordinary door, nor be removed
-from one part of the house to another,
-except by the aid of machinery and by the help of
-numerous attendants. The constant irritation of
-his festering legs made his terrible temper still
-more terrible.</p>
-
-<p>Of those about him, his queen, Catherine Parr,
-had the most miraculous escape. With wonderful
-patience, she had borne his whims, his rages, and
-his offensive person. She had shown an affectionate
-regard for his children, and had assisted
-with great wisdom in the progress of their education,
-living all the time as with a sword suspended
-over her head by a hair. She was devotedly
-attached to the Reformed principles, and loved to
-converse with sincere Protestants. She had made
-Miles Coverdale her almoner, and rendered him
-every assistance in his translation of the Bible.
-She employed the learned Nicholas Udal, Master
-of Eton, to edit the translations of Erasmus's
-"Paraphrases on the Four Gospels," which,
-according to Strype, she published at her own cost.
-Stimulated by her example, many ladies of rank
-pursued the study of the learned languages and of
-Scriptural knowledge.</p>
-
-<p>Of this school, and one of Catherine's own
-pupils, was Lady Jane Grey; and another lovely
-and noble victim, Anne Askew, whose turn it was
-to fall under the destroying hand of Henry VIII.
-at this moment, was highly esteemed and encouraged
-by her. She was tortured and then
-burnt (July 6, 1546) for denying the Real Presence,
-and it is said that the Chancellor Wriothesley
-assisted in the application of the rack in the hope
-of wringing a confession from her.</p>
-
-<p>An attempt to involve the Queen in similar
-charges was a complete failure, and Henry never
-forgave Gardiner for this attempt to deprive him
-of his true wife and unrivalled nurse. Catherine
-is said to have treated these her deadly enemies
-with great magnanimity; but she seems to have
-become quite aware that Gardiner's was the daring
-hand that was lifted to ruin her with the king,
-and it was probably this clear understanding between
-the king and queen which destroyed Gardiner's
-influence with Henry for ever. Henry
-struck Gardiner's name out of the list of his
-council, and on perceiving him one day on the
-terrace at Windsor amongst the other courtiers, he
-turned fiercely on Wriothesley, and said, "Did I
-not command you that <em>he</em> should come no more
-amongst you?" "My Lord of Winchester," replied
-the chancellor, "has come to wait upon your
-highness with the offer of a benevolence from his
-clergy." That was a deeply politic stroke of Gardiner's;
-he knew that if anything could redeem
-the lost favour of Henry, it was a sacrifice to his
-avarice next to his vanity. Henry took the
-money, but turned away from the bishop without
-a word or a look, and immediately struck his name
-from amongst his executors, as well as that of
-Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster, who, he said, was
-schooled by Gardiner. A deadly feud had grown
-up between the house of Seymour and the house of
-Howard. The house of Howard was old, and
-proud, not only of its ancient lineage, but of its
-grand deeds. The glory of Flodden lay like a
-great splendour on their name. Two queens had
-been selected from this house during the present
-reign, and the Princess Elizabeth was a partaker of
-its blood. The Seymours, on the other hand, were
-of no great lineage; but the two heads of it, Sir
-Thomas Seymour and Edward, who had been
-created Earl of Hertford, and whom we have seen
-executing the king's sanguinary pleasure more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
-than once in Scotland, were the uncles to the
-heir-apparent, Prince Edward. They had been
-lifted into greatness entirely through the marriage
-of their sister with Henry and the birth of the
-prince; they had no natural connection, therefore,
-amongst the old nobility, and were regarded by them
-with jealousy as fortunate upstarts. But there
-was a circumstance which gave them power besides
-the alliance with the Crown and the heir to it, and
-this was the Protestant faith which they held, and
-which, therefore, bound the Protestant party in
-England to their cause, and in hope, through their
-nephew, the future king. The Howards, on the
-other hand, held by the ancient faith, and were
-among its most positive assertors. Thus the
-feud between these rival houses was not only the
-feud of the old and new aristocracy, but that
-of the old and new faith; and the rival factions
-looked up to them as their natural lords and
-leaders.</p>
-
-<p>The question, therefore, which of these families
-should become the guardians and ministers of the
-new king was every day acquiring a more intense
-interest. The Howards, from their old standing,
-and their great employments under the Crown,
-naturally regarded themselves as entitled to that
-distinction, and in this view they were, of course,
-supported by the whole Papist party most
-anxiously. But the Seymours, as the uncles of the
-prince, were equally bent on securing the preference.
-They had little connection, as we have
-stated, amongst the aristocracy, but had the whole
-Protestant party in their interest. They therefore
-regarded the Howards with the deepest
-jealousy and alarm, and they lost no time or opportunity
-in securing their ruin during the present
-king's life. There were many things which they
-could so bring before Henry's mind as to excite
-his most deadly fear. The Howards were the
-determined supporters of the Roman faith. What
-chance, therefore, was there under them of the
-preservation of the supremacy? What chance
-was there that they would leave the young king
-to his own unbiassed choice in matters of religion
-and of Church government? But still more, the
-Howards had not escaped his secret dislike through
-the conduct of Catherine Howard, the queen.
-A little thing could stimulate this dislike into
-something fearful. Again, the Duke of Norfolk
-was rich, and never were the riches of a
-subject overlooked or unlonged for by Henry
-Tudor. All these motives were brought successfully
-into play. Bishop Gardiner was the man
-most to be feared in the Howard interest, as
-it regarded the Church, and this had, unquestionably,
-much to do with his disgrace and banishment
-from Court.</p>
-
-<p>A few days after that event, namely, on the
-12th of December, the Duke of Norfolk and his
-son the Earl of Surrey, were, unknown to each
-other, arrested on a charge of high treason, and sent
-to the Tower, the one by water and the other by
-land. Surrey had never forgiven the Earl of
-Hertford for having superseded him in command
-of the army at Boulogne; he had in his irritation
-spoken with biting contempt of the parvenu Seymour,
-and declared that after the king's death he
-would take his revenge. But Henry was soon
-persuaded that the designs of Surrey went further.
-His fears, in his morbid and sinking state, were
-easily excited, and he was made to believe that
-there was a conspiracy of the Howards to seize the
-reins of government during his illness, and make
-themselves masters of the person of the prince.
-Surrey, with all the rash and lofty spirit of the
-poet, denied every charge of disloyalty or treason
-with the utmost vehemence, and offered to fight
-his accuser in his shirt.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Norfolk wrote to the king from the
-Tower, expressing his astonishment at the sudden
-arrest, and saying, "Sir, God doth know that in
-all my life I never thought one untrue thought
-against you, or your succession; nor can no more
-judge nor cast in my mind what should be laid to
-my charge, than the child that was born this
-night." The only thing which he thought his
-enemies might bring against him was for "being
-quick against such as had been accused for sacramentaries,"
-that is, Protestants. He prayed earnestly
-to have a fair hearing before the king or his
-council, face to face with his accusers. His gifted
-son, one of the finest poets of the age, and whose
-fame still makes part of England's glory, was
-brought to trial first, for he was young and full of
-talent, and, therefore, more dreaded than his
-father. On the 13th of December he was arraigned
-for treason in Guildhall, before the Lord
-Chancellor, the Lord Mayor, and other Commissioners,
-and a jury of commoners, and beheaded on
-the 19th of January. The Seymours pursued
-Norfolk with relentless ferocity. The king was
-rapidly sinking, there was no time to lose; a bill
-of attainder was passed through the Peers on the
-26th of January, 1547; on the 27th the Royal
-assent was given in due form, and an order was
-despatched to the Tower to execute the Duke at
-an early hour next morning. Before that
-morning the soul of the tyrant was called to its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
-dread account, and the life of the old nobleman
-was saved as by a miracle.</p>
-
-<p>Henry VIII. was fifty-five years and seven
-months old at his death, and had reigned thirty-seven
-years, nine months, and six days. His
-will was dated December 30th, 1546. He was
-authorised by Act of Parliament to settle the succession
-by his will, and he now named his son
-Prince Edward, as his lawful successor, then, in
-default of heirs, the Princess Mary and her
-heirs; these failing, the Princess Elizabeth, and her
-heirs. After Elizabeth, was named the Lady
-Frances, the eldest daughter of his sister, the
-Queen of France, and her heirs; and such failing,
-the Lady Eleanor, the youngest daughter of the
-late Queen of France. On the failure of all these,
-then the succession was to be to his heirs-at-law;
-but no particular mention was made in the succession
-of his sister Margaret, Queen of Scotland, and
-of her issue.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE REIGN OF EDWARD VI.</p>
-
-
-<blockquote><p>Accession of Edward VI.&mdash;Hertford's Intrigues&mdash;He becomes Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector&mdash;War with Scotland&mdash;Battle
-of Pinkie&mdash;Reversal of Henry's Policy&mdash;Religious Reforms&mdash;Ambition of Lord Seymour of Sudeley&mdash;He marries Catherine
-Parr&mdash;His Arrest and Death&mdash;Popular Discontents&mdash;Rebellion in Devonshire and Cornwall&mdash;Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk&mdash;Warwick
-Suppresses it&mdash;Opposition to Somerset&mdash;His Rapacity&mdash;Fall of Somerset&mdash;Disgraceful Peace with France&mdash;Persecution
-of Romanists&mdash;Somerset's Efforts to regain Power&mdash;His Trial and Execution&mdash;New Treason Law&mdash;Northumberland's
-Schemes for Changing the Succession&mdash;Death of Edward.</p>
-</blockquote>
-
-<p>The country was doomed once more to experience
-the inconveniences of a regal minority, to witness
-the struggles and manifold mischiefs of ambitious
-nobles, while the hand of the king was too
-feeble to keep them in restraint. The execution
-of Surrey, and the imprisonment and attainder of
-the great Duke of Norfolk, left the Seymours completely
-in the ascendant; and having recently
-risen into note and power, they very soon showed
-all the inflated ambition of such parvenus. The
-Earl of Hertford, as uncle of the king, was in
-reality the man now in possession of the chief
-power. The king was but a few months more
-than nine years of age. Henry, his father,
-acting on the discretion given him by an Act of
-Parliament of the twenty-eighth year of his reign,
-had by will settled the crown on Edward, and had
-appointed sixteen individuals as his executors, who
-should constitute also the Privy Council, and exercise
-the authority of the Crown till the young
-monarch was eighteen years of age. To enable
-these executors, or rather, to enable Hertford, to
-secure the person of the king, and take other measures
-for the establishment of their position, the
-death of Henry was kept secret for four days.
-Parliament, which was virtually dissolved by his
-death, met on the 29th of January, and proceeded
-to business as usual, so that any acts passed under
-these circumstances would have clearly become
-null. On the 31st Edward entered London amid
-the applause of the people.</p>
-
-<p>On the day after his arrival at the Tower, that
-is, on February 1st, 1547, the greater part of the
-nobility and the prelates were summoned, and
-assembled there about three o'clock in the afternoon,
-in the presence-chamber, where they all
-successively knelt and kissed his majesty's hands,
-saying every one of them, "God save your grace!"
-Then Wriothesley, the Chancellor, produced
-Henry's will, and announced from it that sixteen
-persons were appointed to be his late majesty's
-executors, and to hold the office of governors of
-the present king and of the kingdom till he was
-eighteen years of age. To these were added
-twelve others, who were to aid them in any
-case of difficulty by their advice. Yet, although
-these formed a second council, it was totally
-destitute of any real authority and could only
-tender advice when asked.</p>
-
-<p>The announcement of these names excited much
-animadversion and some censure. It was remarked
-that the greater part of them were new
-men; and the chief council consisted of those who
-had been about Henry in his last illness. But what
-next was disclosed was more extraordinary.
-The executors, when assembled in the Tower on
-the day of the young king's proclamation, declared
-that "they were resolved not only to stand to and
-maintain the last will and testament of their
-master, the late king, and every part and parcel
-of the same, to the uttermost of their powers,
-wits, and cunning, but also that every one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
-them present should take a corporal oath upon a
-book, for the more assured and effectual accomplishment
-of the same." And now it was announced
-that the Privy Council, for the better
-despatch of business, had resolved to place the
-Earl of Hertford at their head. This was so
-directly in opposition to the will, which had
-invested every member of the council with equal
-power, that it was received with no little
-wonder. The fact was that Hertford&mdash;who, before
-the old king's death, had determined to
-seize the supreme power during the minority of
-his nephew&mdash;had secured a majority in the
-council, who, as we shall soon find, had their
-object to attain. Wriothesley was the only one
-who stood out. He assured them that such an
-act invalidated the whole will. But he argued
-in vain and, finding it useless, he gave way;
-and thus Hertford was now proclaimed Protector
-of the realm and guardian of the king's person,
-with the understood but empty condition, that he
-should attempt nothing which had not the assent
-of a majority of the council. His triumph was
-completed by the titles of Duke of Somerset and
-Lord Protector of England.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_205.jpg" width="421" height="500" alt="" title="EDWARD VI" />
-<div class="caption"><p>EDWARD VI.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Essex, that is Parr, brother of the late queen,
-became Marquis of Northampton; Lisle, Earl of
-Warwick; Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton;
-Sir Thomas Seymour, Baron Seymour of Sudeley,
-and Lord High Admiral; Rich became Baron
-Rich; Willoughby, Baron Willoughby; Sheffield,
-Baron Sheffield. Southampton was, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
-soon compelled to resign office on the charge of
-having illegally put the Great Seal in commission.</p>
-
-<p>Having thus seized and secured the actual
-sovereign power in England, Somerset began to
-turn his attention to foreign affairs. Henry VIII.
-had left it as a strict injunction to his council to
-secure the marriage of the Queen of Scots with his
-son Edward. Somerset, therefore, addressed a
-letter to the Scottish nobility, calling upon them
-to complete an arrangement which he recommended
-as equally advantageous with that to
-which they were bound by oaths, promises, and
-seals. The Scots took little notice of this communication
-from the man who had carried the
-commands of the late king through their land
-with fire and sword. The castle of St. Andrews,
-which the murderers of Cardinal Beaton held out
-against Arran, had in the course of this summer
-been surrendered to a French force, and the
-conspirators were conveyed to France. Some of
-them were confined in fortresses on the coast of
-Brittany, and others, amongst whom was John
-Knox, were sent to work in the galleys, whence
-they were not released till 1550. By the month
-of August, Somerset was once more prepared to
-invade Scotland, and to force, if possible, the
-young queen from the hands of Arran and the
-queen-mother. The forces were reviewed, and on
-the 29th they commenced their march. On the
-2nd of September they were at Berwick, where
-they found Lord Clinton with the fleet, and from
-that point the army marched along the shore,
-supported by the ships at sea. Somerset took
-Douglas Castle, the property of Sir George Douglas,
-without resistance. The castle being rifled, was
-then blown up with gunpowder, as were also the
-peels of Thornton and Anderwick. Passing by
-Dunbar and the castle of Tantallon, the army, on
-Friday, the 8th of September, sat down near
-Prestonpans, the fleet being stationed opposite
-the town of Musselburgh.</p>
-
-<p>To meet this invasion, Arran had sent the Fiery
-Cross from clan to clan through the Highlands,
-and had ordered every Scot capable of bearing
-arms to meet at Musselburgh. The two armies
-now lay at Pinkie, not much more than a couple of
-miles from each other. On the 9th the Scottish
-horse were seen parading themselves boldly on the
-height which lay between the hosts, called
-Falside, or Fawside Brae. The two armies had
-the sea to the north, while Falside rose facing
-the west, and having on its summit a castellated
-keep and a few huts.</p>
-
-<p>Somerset and Warwick resolved to occupy the
-height on which stood St. Michael's Church, and
-for this purpose, early on the morning of the 10th,
-long called "Black Saturday" in Scotland, they
-advanced upon it about eight o'clock. But the
-Scots had also concluded to advance, and on the
-English approaching the first height, they were
-astonished to find that the Scots had quitted their
-strong position beyond the river, and were occupying
-the ground they had intended for themselves.
-It seems that the Scots had somehow got the idea
-that the English meant to retreat and escape
-them, and to prevent this they determined to
-surprise them in their camp, and were on the way
-for this purpose. At the sight of the English, the
-Scots pushed forward impetuously, hoping to get
-possession of Fawside Brae, but they were checked
-by a sharp discharge of artillery from the admiral's
-galley, which mowed down about thirty of them,
-as they defiled over the bridge near the sea.
-Seeing the English posted on the height with
-several pieces of artillery, the Scots halted in
-a fallow field, having in their front a deep ditch.
-The English, however, reckless of this obstacle,
-dashed on and, with Lord Grey at their head,
-made their way up to them. Standing in an
-almost impenetrable mass, the Scots kept crying,
-"Come here, loons! come here, tykes! come here,
-heretics!" and the like, and the English charging
-upon them, seemed for a moment to have disconcerted
-them, but soon were fain to turn and
-retreat. The flight became general, and the Scots
-rushing on expected to reap an easy victory.
-Lord Grey himself was severely wounded in the
-mouth, and the Scottish soldiers pressing on seized
-the Royal standard, when a desperate struggle
-ensued and, the staff of the standard being broken,
-part of it remained in the hands of the enemy, but
-the standard itself was rescued.</p>
-
-<p>The fight now became general and fierce, and
-there was a hand-to-hand contest in which many
-fell on both sides; but the English commanders
-were men proved in many a great battle, and
-exerted themselves to restore order amongst their
-troops. Warwick was seen everywhere encouraging,
-ordering, and ranking his men afresh; while
-the artillery from the height, directed over the
-heads of their own regiments, mowed down the
-assailing Scots. The ardour of the soldiers
-restored, advantage was taken of the position
-of a large body of the enemy who in their
-impetuosity had rushed forward beyond the
-support of the main army. They were surrounded
-and attacked on all sides. Confounded
-by this unexpected occurrence, the Scots were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
-thrown into confusion, and began to take to
-flight. Arran himself soon put spurs to his
-horse; Angus followed, and the Highland clans&mdash;who
-had never been engaged&mdash;fled <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">en masse</i>.
-The rout was general and the slaughter terrible,
-some making for Leith, some direct for Edinburgh,
-by fields or woods as they could, and others
-endeavoured to cross the marsh and reach Dalkeith.</p>
-
-<p>Now was the time to push the object for which
-this expedition had been undertaken&mdash;the securing
-the young queen for the king. Somerset had
-attained a commanding position. He held the
-capital, as it were, under his hand, and fresh
-forces brought up, and judiciously employed, must
-have put the country so far into his power as to
-enable him to treat on the most advantageous
-terms for the accomplishment of this great
-national object; or if he could not obtain it by
-treaty, he might make himself master of her
-person by arms. But all this demonstration,
-this signal victory, this sanguinary butchery,
-which must add finally to the antipathy of the
-Scottish people if no real gain followed it,
-was cast aside with a strange recklessness which
-shewed that though Somerset could conquer in
-the field, he was totally destitute of the qualities
-of a statesman. Instead of making his success the
-platform of wise negotiation, and of a great national
-union, he converted it into a fresh aggravation of
-the ill-will of the Scots, by depriving it of all
-rational result. Being, it is supposed, apprised
-of some machinations of his brother, the admiral,
-in his absence, he commenced an instant march
-homeward, like a man that was beaten rather than
-a victor. On the 17th of September, only a week
-from the battle of Pinkie, he took his departure
-southwards. On entering England, he made the
-best of his way to London, the whole term of his
-absence having been only some six weeks. A
-Parliament was then summoned, and the Protector
-proceeded to carry out the contemplated
-reform in the Church. Already an ecclesiastical
-commission had been busily engaged in visitation
-of dioceses. For this purpose, the kingdom was
-divided into six circuits, to each of which was
-appointed a certain number of visitors, partly
-laymen partly clergymen, who, the moment they
-arrived in a diocese, became the only ecclesiastical
-authority there. They were empowered to call
-before them the bishop, the clergy, and five, six,
-or eight of the principal inhabitants of each
-parish, and put into their hands a body of royal
-injunctions, seven-and-thirty in number. These
-injunctions regarded religious doctrines and practice,
-and the visitors required an answer upon
-oath to every question which they chose to put
-concerning them. The injunctions were similar
-to those which had been framed and used by
-Cromwell, but the present practice of joining the
-laity with the clergy was an innovation of a more
-sweeping character. The commission promptly
-imprisoned Bonner and Gardiner, the leaders of
-the Roman Catholic party.</p>
-
-<p>Parliament assembled on the 4th of November,
-and proceeded to mitigate some of the severities of
-the last reign. It repealed those monstrous acts
-of Henry VIII., which gave to Royal proclamations
-all the force of Acts of Parliament; likewise all
-the penal statutes against the Lollards, and all the
-new felonies created in the last reign, including
-the statute of the Six Articles. It admitted the
-laity as well as the clergy to receive the sacrament
-of the Lord's Supper in both kinds. It determined
-that the old fiction of electing bishops by "congé
-d'élire" should cease, and that all such appointments
-should proceed directly by nomination of
-the Crown; that all processes in the episcopal
-courts should be carried on in the king's name,
-and all documents issuing thence should be sealed,
-not with the bishop's seal, but with that of the
-Crown. The claim of spiritual supremacy was
-placed on the same level as the other rights of the
-Crown, and it was made a capital offence to deny
-that the king was supreme head of the Church;
-but with this distinction, that what was printed of
-that nature was direct high treason&mdash;what was
-merely spoken only became so by repetition. A
-bill for legalising the marriages of the clergy was
-brought into the Commons, and carried by a large
-majority; but, from some cause, was not carried
-to the Lords during the present session.</p>
-
-<p>Parliament terminated its sitting on the 24th of
-December, and the council, carrying forward its
-measures for the advancement of the Reformation,
-issued an order prohibiting the burning of candles
-on Candlemas-Day, and the use of ashes on Ash
-Wednesday, and of palms on Palm Sunday. The
-order against images was repeated, and the clothes
-covering them were directed to be given to the poor.
-The people, however, who delighted in religious ceremonies,
-processions, and spectacles, and thought
-the sermons very dull, were by no means pleased
-with these innovations. There was to be no elevation
-of the Host, and the whole service was to be
-in English.</p>
-
-<p>Cranmer employed himself in composing a catechism,
-which was published "for the singular profit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
-and instruction of children and young people;"
-and a committee of bishops and divines sat to
-compile a new liturgy for the use of the English
-Church. They took the Latin missals and breviaries
-for the groundwork, omitting whatever they deemed
-superfluous or superstitious, and adding fresh matter.
-Before Christmas they had compiled a book
-of common prayer, differing in various particulars
-from the one now in use, and all ministers were
-ordered to make use of that book, under penalty,
-on refusal, of forfeiture of a year's income, and six
-months' imprisonment for the first offence; for the
-second, loss of all preferments, with twelve
-months' imprisonment; and for the third, imprisonment
-for life. Any one taking upon him to preach,
-except in his own house, without licence from the
-king's visitors, the Archbishop of Canterbury, or
-the bishop of the diocese, was liable to imprisonment.
-Latimer, who had resigned his bishopric in
-1539, was now called forward again, and appointed
-to preach at St. Paul's Cross, and also in the king's
-privy garden, where Edward, attended by his court,
-used to listen to his bold and quaint eloquence for
-an hour together.</p>
-
-<p>Towards the close of 1547, as we have seen, a bill
-passed the Commons authorising the marriage of the
-clergy, but on the 9th of February, 1548, a different
-bill for the same object was carried in the House
-of Lords, and accepted by the Commons.</p>
-
-<p>While these events had been taking place in
-England, the war had been steadily prosecuted
-against Scotland, and led to the result which
-might naturally be expected, but which was least
-expected by the Protector&mdash;that of the passing
-of the young queen of Scotland into the hands of
-the French. Very soon after the battle of Pinkie,
-a council was summoned at Stirling, where the
-queen-dowager proposed that, to put an end to
-those barbarous inroads of the English on pretence
-of seeking the hand of the queen, they should apply
-to France for its assistance; that as a means of engaging
-it in effectual aid, they should offer the
-young queen in marriage to the Dauphin; and that
-for her better security she should be educated in
-the French court. There, in August, 1548, she
-was solemnly contracted to the Dauphin, afterwards
-Francis II.</p>
-
-<p>But during the session of Parliament commencing
-on the 24th of November, a question
-of most serious import was brought forward concerning
-the Protector's brother. The lord high
-admiral, Thomas Seymour, had all the ambition
-of his elder brother, the Protector, but from some
-cause he had failed to acquire the same position
-at court. Henry VIII. had not only employed
-Somerset in great commissions, but had given him
-such marks of his confidence that, on his death,
-he easily engrossed all the power of the State
-under his son. The admiral did not witness this
-with indifference. The Protector, to satisfy him,
-got him created Baron Seymour of Sudeley, and
-with this title he received in August, 1548, the
-lordship of Sudeley in Gloucestershire, together
-with other lands and tenements in no less than
-eighteen counties. He made him, moreover, high
-admiral, a post which had been held by the Earl
-of Warwick, who received instead of it that
-of lord great chamberlain. These honours and
-estates might have well contented a man of even
-high ambition, but the aspiring of the Seymours
-brooked no limits. As he did not seem to succeed
-in his desire of rising to a station as lofty as that
-of his brother the Protector, through the Council
-and political alliance, he sought to achieve this by
-means of marriage. There were several ladies on
-whom he cast his eyes for this purpose. The
-Princesses Mary and Elizabeth were the next in
-succession, and he did not hesitate to aim at
-securing the hand of one of them, which would
-have realised his soaring wishes, or plunged him
-down at once to destruction. He seems then to
-have weighed the chances which a union with
-Lady Jane Grey might give him; but, as if not
-satisfied with the prospect, he suddenly determined
-on the queen-dowager. He had, indeed,
-paid his addresses to Catherine Parr before her
-marriage with Henry VIII., and Catherine was
-so much attached to him that she at first listened
-with obvious reluctance to Henry's proposal. No
-sooner was Henry dead than Seymour seems to
-have renewed his addresses to Catherine, and,
-with all her piety and prudence, the queen-dowager
-seems to have listened to him as promptly and
-readily. Though Henry only died at the end of
-January, 1547, in a single month, according to
-Leti, she had consented to a private contract of
-marriage, and she and Seymour had exchanged
-rings of betrothal. According to King Edward's
-journal, their marriage took place in May, but the
-courtship had been going on long before, and was
-only revealed to him when it was become dangerous
-to conceal it any longer, and they were
-privately married long before that. The marriage
-was publicly announced in June&mdash;a rapidity for
-such a transaction as strange as it was indecorous.
-Catherine Parr gave birth to a daughter on the
-30th of August, 1548, and on the 7th of September,
-only eight days after, she died of puerperal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
-fever. Rumours that her husband had poisoned
-her to enable him to aspire to the hand of the
-Princess Elizabeth, were spread by his enemies,
-but there does not appear the slightest foundation
-for the horrible charge.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_209.jpg" width="500" height="243" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD VI" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD VI.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The lord admiral, who had found it difficult to
-keep out of danger during the life of his wife,
-partly through his own rash ambition, and partly
-through the malice of his near relatives, soon fell
-into it after her death. In July of 1548, he had
-been called before the Council on the charge of
-having endeavoured to prevail on the king to
-write a letter, complaining of the arbitrary conduct
-of the Protector and of the restraint in
-which he was kept by him. Seymour was
-seeking, in fact, to supersede the Protector, and
-was threatened with imprisonment in the Tower;
-but the matter for that time was made up, and
-the Protector added £800 per annum to his
-income, by way of conciliating him.</p>
-
-<p>But with Catherine departed his good genius.
-He gave a free play to his ambitious desires, and
-renewed his endeavours to compass a clandestine
-marriage with the Princess Elizabeth, as he had
-done with Catherine. Finding, however, that
-such a marriage would annul the claims of Elizabeth
-to the throne, he next devised means to
-extort from the Council a consent, which he was
-well aware it would never yield voluntarily. For
-this purpose he is said to have courted the friendship
-of the discontented section of the nobility,
-and made such a display of his wealth and retainers
-as was calculated to alarm the Protector
-and his party. The Protector now resolved
-to get rid of so dangerous an enemy, though he
-was his own brother. Sharrington, master of the
-mint at Bristol being accused of gross peculation
-by clipping the coin, issuing testoons, or shilling
-pieces, of a false value, and making fraudulent
-entries in his books, was boldly defended by the
-admiral, who owed him £3,000. But Sharrington,
-to save his life, ungratefully betrayed that of his
-advocate. He confessed that he had promised to
-coin money for the admiral, who could reckon on
-the services of 10,000 men, with whose aid he
-meant to carry off the king and change the
-government. This charge, made, no doubt, solely
-to save his own life, was enough for Somerset.
-Seymour was arrested on the 16th of January,
-1549, on a charge of high treason, and committed
-to the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>There was no lack of charges against him, true
-or false. It was stated that he had resolved to
-seize the king's person, and carry him to his castle
-of Holt, in Denbighshire, which had come to him
-in one of the royal grants; that he had confederated
-for this purpose with various noblemen and
-others, and had laid in large stores of provisions
-and a mass of money at that castle. He was
-also charged with having abused his authority
-as lord admiral, and encouraged piracy and smuggling,
-and with having circulated reports against
-the Lord Protector and Council too vile to be
-repeated. But the most remarkable were the
-charges against him of endeavouring, both before
-and after his marriage with the queen-dowager, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
-compass a marriage with the king's sister, the
-Lady Elizabeth, second inheritor to the Crown, to
-the peril of the king's person and danger to the
-throne. A Bill of Attainder was brought in
-against him; he was condemned without a hearing
-and executed on the 27th of March.</p>
-
-<p>The Protector no sooner had put his brother out
-of his path into a bloody grave, than he was called
-upon to contend with a whole host of enemies. A
-variety of causes had reduced the common people
-to a condition of deep distress and discontent.
-The depreciation of the coinage by Henry VIII.
-had produced its certain consequence&mdash;the proportionate
-advance of the price of all purchasable
-articles. But with the rise in price of food and
-clothing, there had been no rise in the price of
-labour. The dissolution of the monasteries had
-thrown a vast number of people on the public
-without any resource. Besides the large number
-of monks and nuns who, instead of affording alms,
-were now obliged to seek a subsistence of some
-kind, the hundreds of thousands who had received
-daily assistance at the doors of convents and
-monasteries were obliged to beg, work, or starve.
-But the new proprietors who had obtained the
-abbey and chantry lands, found wool so much in
-demand, that instead of cultivating the land, and
-thus at once employing the people and growing
-corn for them, they threw their fields out of
-tillage, and made great enclosures where their
-profitable flocks could range without even the
-superintendence of a shepherd.</p>
-
-<p>The people thus driven to starvation were still
-more exasperated by the change in the religion
-of the country, by the destruction of their images,
-and the desecration of the shrines of their saints.
-Their whole public life had been changed by the
-change of their religion. Their oldest and most
-sacred associations were broken. Their pageants,
-their processions, their pilgrimages were all rudely
-swept away as superstitious rubbish; their gay
-holidays had become a gloomy blank. What their
-fathers and their pastors had taught them as
-peculiarly holy and essential to their spiritual
-well-being, their rulers had now pronounced to be
-damnable doctrines and the delusions of priest-craft;
-and whilst smarting under this abrupt
-privation of their bodily and spiritual support,
-they beheld the new lords of the ancient church
-lands greedily cutting off not only the old streams
-of benevolence, but the means of livelihood by
-labour, and showing not the slightest regard for
-their sufferings. The priests, the monks, the
-remaining heads of the Papist party did not fail
-to point assiduously at all these things, and to fan
-the fires of the popular discontent.</p>
-
-<p>The timidity of the Protector forced the ferment
-to a climax by the very means which he
-resorted to in order to mitigate it. He ordered all
-the new enclosures to be thrown open by a certain
-day. The people rejoiced at this, believing that
-now they had the Government on their side. But
-they waited in vain to see the Protector's order
-obeyed. The Royal proclamation fully bore out
-the complaints of the populace. It declared that
-many villages, in which from one hundred to two
-hundred people had lived, were entirely destroyed;
-that one shepherd now dwelt where numerous
-industrious families dwelt before; and that the
-realm was injured by turning arable land into
-pasture, and letting houses and families decay
-and lie waste. Hales, the commissioner, stated
-that the laws which forbade any one to keep more
-than 2,000 sheep, and which commanded the
-owners of church lands to keep household on the
-same, were disobeyed, the result being that
-numbers of the king's subjects had diminished.
-But though the Government admitted all this, it
-took no measures to make its proclamation
-effective; the landowners disregarded it, and the
-people, believing that they were only seconding
-the law, assembled in great numbers, chose their
-captains or leaders, broke down the enclosures,
-killed the deer in the parks, and began to spoil
-and waste, according to Holinshed, after the
-manner of an open rebellion. The day approached
-when the use of the old liturgy was to cease,
-and instead of the music, the spectacle, and all
-the imposing ceremonies of high Mass, they
-would be called on to listen to a plain sermon.
-Goaded to desperation by these grievances, the
-people rose in almost every part of the country.</p>
-
-<p>In Wiltshire, Sir William Herbert raised a body
-of troops and dispersed the insurgents, killing
-some, and executing others according to martial
-law. The same was done in other quarters by the
-resident gentry. The Protector, alarmed, sent out
-commissioners to hear and decide all causes about
-enclosures, highways, and cottages. These commissioners
-were armed with great powers, the
-exercise of which produced as much dissatisfaction
-amongst the nobility and gentry as the
-enclosures had done amongst the people. The
-spirit of remonstrance entered into the very
-Council, and the Protector was checked in his
-proceedings; whereupon the people, not finding
-the redress they expected, again rose in rebellion.</p>
-
-<p>In Devonshire the religious phase of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
-movement appeared first, and rapidly assumed a
-very formidable air. The new liturgy was read
-for the first time in the church of Sampford
-Courtenay, on Whit Sunday, and the next day
-the people compelled the clergyman to perform
-the ancient service. Having once resisted the
-law, the insurgents rapidly spread. Humphrey
-Arundel, the governor of St. Michael's Mount,
-took the lead, and a few days brought ten thousand
-men to his standard. As the other risings had
-been easily dispersed, the Government were rather
-dilatory in dealing with this; but finding that it
-steadily increased, Lord Russell was despatched
-with a small force against the malcontents, accompanied
-by three preachers, Gregory, Reynolds,
-and Coverdale, who were licensed to preach in
-such public places as Lord Russell should appoint.</p>
-
-<p>The rebels had sat down before Exeter when
-Russell came up with them; but conscious of the
-great inferiority of his force, and expecting no
-miracles from the eloquence of his preachers, he
-adopted the plan of the Duke of Norfolk in the
-late reign, and offered to negotiate. Upon this,
-Arundel and his adherents drew up and presented
-fifteen articles, which went, indeed, to restore
-everything of the old faith and ritual that had
-been taken away. The Statute of the Six Articles
-was to be put in force, the Mass to be in Latin,
-the Sacrament to be again hung up and worshipped,
-all such as refused it homage were to be
-treated as heretics, souls in purgatory should be
-prayed for, images again be set up, the Bible be
-called in, and Cardinal Pole was to be of the
-king's Council. Half of the Church lands were
-to be restored to two of the chief abbeys in each
-county; in a word, Popery was to be restored and
-Protestantism abolished.</p>
-
-<p>All this time Lord Russell lay at Honiton, not
-venturing to attack, the Government sending him
-instead of troops only proclamations, by one of
-which a free pardon was offered to all who would
-submit; by another, the lands, goods, and chattels
-of the insurgents were given to any who chose
-to take them; by a third, punishment of death
-by martial law was ordered for all taken in arms;
-and by a fourth, the commissioners were commanded
-to break down all illegal enclosures. None
-of these produced the least effect. Lord Russell
-had sent Sir Peter Carew to urge the Protector
-and Council to expedite reinforcements;
-but the Protector and Rich charged Sir Peter with
-having been the original cause of the outbreak.
-The bold baronet resented this imputation so
-stoutly, and charged home the Protector in a style
-so unaccustomed in courts, with his own neglect,
-that men and money were promised. Nothing,
-however, but the proclamations just mentioned
-arrived, and at length the rebels despatched a
-force to dislodge Russell from his position at
-Honiton. To prevent this, he advanced to Feniton
-Bridge, where he encountered the rebel
-detachment and defeated it. Soon after Lord
-Grey arrived with 300 German and Italian infantry,
-with which assistance he marched on
-Exeter, and again defeated the rebels. They
-rallied on Clifton Downs, and Lord Grey coming
-suddenly upon them and fearing they might overpower
-him, he ordered his men to despatch all the
-prisoners they had in their hands, and a sanguinary
-slaughter took place. A third and last encounter
-at Bridgewater completed the reduction of the
-Rising of the West.</p>
-
-<p>But the most formidable demonstration was
-made by the rebels in Norfolk. It commenced at
-Aldborough, and appeared at first too insignificant
-for notice. But the rumours of what had been
-done in Kent, where the new enclosures had been
-broken down, gradually infected the people far
-and wide. They did not trouble themselves about
-the religious questions, but they expressed a particular
-rancour against gentlemen, for their insatiable
-avarice and their grasping at all land, their
-extortionate rents, and oppressions of the people.
-They declared that it was high time that not only
-the enclosure mania should be put a stop to, but
-abundance of other evils should be reformed.</p>
-
-<p>On the 6th of July, at Wymondham, a few
-miles from Norwich, on occasion of a play which
-was annually performed there, the people, stimulated
-by what was being done elsewhere, began
-to throw down the dykes, as they were called, or
-fences round enclosures, and they found a leader
-in one Robert Ket, a tanner. Under an oak
-tree, called the Tree of Reformation, which stood
-on Mousehold Hill, near Norwich, Ket erected his
-throne, and established courts of chancery, king's
-bench, and common pleas, as in Westminster Hall;
-and, with a liberality which shamed the Government
-of that and of most succeeding times,
-he allowed not only the orators of his own but of
-the opposite party to harangue them from this
-tree. Ket, it is clear, was a man far beyond his
-times, sincerely seeking the reform of abuses, and
-not destruction of the constituted authority.
-The tree was used as a rostrum, and all who
-had anything to say climbed into it. Into the
-tree mounted frequently Master Aldrich, the
-mayor of Norwich, and others, who used all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
-possible persuasions to the insurgents to desist
-from spoliation and disorderly courses. Clergymen
-of both persuasions preached to them from
-the oak, and Matthew Parker, afterwards Archbishop
-of Canterbury, one day ascended it, and
-addressed them in the plainest possible terms on
-the unwisdom of their attempt, and the ruin it
-was certain to bring upon them.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_212big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_212.jpg" width="560" height="417" alt="" title="THE ROYAL HERALD IN KET'S CAMP" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE ROYAL HERALD IN KET'S CAMP. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_212">212.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At length on the 31st of July, a Royal herald
-appeared in the camp, "and, standing before the
-Tree of Reformation, apparelled in his coat-of-arms,
-pronounced there, before all the multitude,
-with loud voice, a free pardon to all that would
-depart to their houses and, laying aside their
-armour, give over their traitorous enterprise."
-Some of the insurgents, who were already weary
-of the affair, and only wanted a good excuse for
-drawing off safely, took the offered pardon and
-disappeared; but Ket and the chief part of the
-people held their ground, saying they wanted no
-pardon, for they had done nothing but what was
-incumbent on true subjects.</p>
-
-<p>Expecting that now some attack would soon be
-made upon them, they marched into Norwich to
-seize on all the artillery and ammunition they
-could, and carry it to their camp. The herald
-made another proclamation to them in the market-place,
-repeating the offer of pardon, but threatening
-death to all who did not immediately accept it.
-They bade him begone, for they wanted no such
-manner of mercy. From that day the number of
-Ket's followers grew again rapidly, for he seemed
-above the Government; and the herald returning
-to town, dissipated at Court any hope of the rebels
-dispersing of themselves. A troop of 1,500
-horse, under the Marquis of Northampton, accompanied
-by a small force of mounted Italians, under
-Malatesta, were, therefore, sent down to Norwich,
-of which they took possession. But the next day
-Ket and his host descended from their hill, found
-their way into the city, engaged, defeated, and
-drove out the king's troops, killing Lord Sheffield
-and many gentlemen, and, their blood being up, set
-fire to the town, and plundered it as it burnt.</p>
-
-<p>Northampton retreated ignominiously to town,
-where the Protector now saw that the affair was
-of a character that demanded vigorous suppression.
-An army of 8,000 men, 2,000 of whom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
-were Germans, under the Earl of Warwick, about
-to proceed against Scotland, was directed to march
-to Norwich and disperse the rebels. Warwick
-arriving, made an entrance, after some resistance,
-into the city. But there he was assailed on every
-side with such impetuosity, that he found it all
-that he could do to defend himself, being deficient
-in ammunition. On the 26th of August, however,
-arrived a reinforcement of 1,400 lansquenets,
-with store of powder and ball, and the next day
-he marched out, and the enemy having imprudently
-left their strong position on the hill, he
-attacked them in the valley of Dussingdale, and at
-the first charge broke their ranks. They fled, their
-leader, Ket, galloping off before them. They were
-pursued for three or four miles, and the troopers
-cut them down all the way with such ruthless vengeance,
-that 3,500 of them were said to have
-perished. The rest, however, managed to surround
-themselves by a line of waggons, and, hastily
-forming a rampart of a trench and a bank fortified
-with stakes, resolved to stand their ground. Warwick,
-perceiving the strength of the place, and apprehensive
-of a great slaughter of his men, offered
-them a pardon; but they replied that they did not
-trust to the offer; they knew the fate that awaited
-them, and they preferred to die with arms in their
-hands rather than on the gallows. Warwick renewed
-his offer, and went himself to assure them
-of his sincerity, on which they laid down their
-arms, or retired with them in their hands. Ket
-alone was hanged on the walls of Norwich Castle,
-his brother on the steeple of Wymondham Church,
-and nine of the ringleaders on the Oak of Reformation.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_213big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_213.jpg" width="560" height="428" alt="" title="OLD SOMERSET HOUSE, LONDON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>OLD SOMERSET HOUSE, LONDON.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Circumstances were now fast environing the
-Protector with danger. The feebleness of his
-government, his total want of success, both in
-Scotland and France, with which country he had
-become involved in an undeclared war, emboldened
-his enemies, who had become numerous and determined
-from the arrogance of his manners and his
-endeavours to check the enclosures of the aristocracy.
-Henry VIII. had never drawn any signal
-advantages from his hostile expeditions; but the
-forces which he collected and the determined character
-of the man impressed his foreign foes
-with a dread of him. It was evident that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
-neighbouring nations had learned Somerset's weakness,
-and therefore despised him. He had driven
-the Queen of Scots into the hands of the French,
-and they had driven him out of the country. He
-was on the very verge of losing Boulogne, which
-Henry had prided himself so much on conquering.
-At home the whole country had been thrown into
-a state of anarchy and insubordination by the reforms
-in religion, of which he was the avowed
-patron, and in the meantime he had allowed
-another to reap the honour of restoring order.</p>
-
-<p>It was intended that the Protector himself
-should have proceeded against the rebels; but
-probably he thought that the man who had encouraged
-them to pull down the enclosures would
-appear with a very bad grace to punish them for
-doing it. Dudley, Earl of Warwick, was, therefore,
-selected for this office&mdash;a man quite as ambitious,
-quite as unprincipled, and far more daring
-than Somerset. He returned from Norfolk like a
-victor, and his reputation rose remarkably from
-that moment. He was looked up to as the able
-and successful man, and his ambitious views were
-warmly seconded by the wily old ex-Chancellor,
-Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, who hated
-Somerset for having dismissed him from office, and
-for having banished him from the Council. He
-now took up Warwick as a promising instrument
-for his revenge. He flattered him with the idea
-that he was the only man to restore the credit
-and peace of the nation.</p>
-
-<p>Nor was it Warwick only whom Southampton
-stimulated to enmity against Somerset. He had
-arguments adapted to all; and where he found any
-seemingly resolved to stand by the Protector, he
-would significantly ask what friendship they hoped
-from a man who had murdered his own brother.
-Little art was needed to influence the old nobility
-against Somerset, and his hostility to the enclosures
-had raised up a host of enemies amongst
-the new, who should have been his natural
-friends. The people he had lost favour with,
-from his total want of success against the enemies
-of the country, and if there were any whom all
-these causes had not alienated, these were disgusted
-with his insolence and rapacity. He had
-bargained for large slices from the manors of
-bishoprics and cathedrals as the price of promotion
-to the clergy. He had obtained from
-the puppet king in his hands, grants of extensive
-Church lands for his services in Scotland,
-services which now were worse than null; and
-in the patent which invested him with these
-lands, drawn up under his own eye, he had himself
-styled "Duke of Somerset, <em>by the grace of God</em>,"
-as if he were a king. He was accused of having
-sold many of the chantry lands to his friends at
-nominal prices, because he obtained a heavy premium
-upon the transaction; but what more than
-all shocked the public sense of religious decorum
-was that he had erected for himself a splendid
-palace in the Strand, where the one called from
-him Somerset House now stands, and had spared
-no outrage upon public rights and decencies in its
-erection. Not only private houses, but public
-buildings, and those of the most sacred character,
-had been displaced to make room for his proud
-mansion. To clear the ground for its site and to
-procure materials for its building, he pulled down
-three episcopal houses and two churches on the
-spot, St. Mary's and a church of St. John of Jerusalem,
-also a chapel, a cloister, and a charnel-house
-in St. Paul's Churchyard, and he carted away the
-remains of the dead by whole loads, and threw
-them into a pit in Bloomsbury. When he attempted
-to pull down St. Margaret's Church in
-Westminster, for the stones, the parishioners rose
-in tumult and drove his men away. Whatever
-profession of Reformed religion he might make,
-such proceedings as these stamped it as a pretence,
-hollow and even impious, in the minds of the
-public.</p>
-
-<p>The feeling (which originated out of doors) had
-now made its way into the heart of the Council.
-Somerset's friends were silenced. His enemies
-spoke out boldly. During September there were
-great contentions in the Council; and by the
-beginning of October the two parties were ranged
-in hostile attitudes under their chiefs. Warwick
-and his followers met at Ely Place; the Protector
-was at Hampton Court, where he had the king.
-On the 5th of October, Somerset, in the king's
-name, sent the Secretary of the Council to know
-why the lords were assembling themselves in that
-manner, and commanding them, if they had anything
-to lay before him, to come before him
-peaceably and loyally. When this message was
-despatched, Somerset, fearful of the spirit in
-which this summons might be complied with,
-ordered the armour to be brought down out of
-the armoury at Hampton Court, sufficient for
-500 men, to arm his followers, and had the
-doors barricaded, and people fetched in for the
-defence. But, instead of coming, Warwick and
-his party ordered the Lieutenant of the Tower,
-and the Lord Mayor and aldermen, to be summoned,
-who duly attended and proffered their
-obedience. They then despatched letters to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
-nobility and gentry in different parts of the kingdom,
-informing them of their doings and the
-motives for them. Alarmed at the aspect of
-affairs, Somerset conveyed the king to Windsor,
-under escort of 500 men; Cranmer and Sir
-William Paget alone, of all the Council, accompanying
-them. Finding himself rapidly deserted
-by his friends, Somerset judiciously submitted
-and signed a confession of his guilt, his presumption,
-and incapacity. Having signed this, he was
-promised his life, on condition that he should
-forfeit all his appointments, his goods and chattels,
-and so much of his estates as amounted to £2,000
-a year. A bill to this effect passed both Houses of
-Parliament in January, 1550. Somerset remonstrated
-against the extent of this forfeiture,
-but the Council replied to him with so much sternness
-that the abject-spirited man shrank in terror,
-and on the 2nd of February signed a still more
-ignominious submission, disclaiming all idea of
-justifying himself, and expressing his gratitude to
-the king and Council for sparing his life and being
-content with a fine. On the 6th of February he
-was discharged from the Tower, and ten days
-after received a formal pardon. His officers and
-servants, who had been imprisoned, also recovered
-their liberty, but were heavily fined.</p>
-
-<p>Warwick had humbled Somerset, but he could
-not prevent the country from being humbled with
-him. His party had blamed the Protector for
-proposing to surrender Boulogne, but they were
-now compelled, by the exhausted and disordered
-state of the nation, to accept even more disgraceful
-terms. During the winter the French
-had cut off all communication between Boulogne
-and Calais, and the Earl of Huntingdon found
-himself unable to re-open it, though he led against
-the enemy all his bands of mercenaries and 3,000
-English veterans. His treasury and his storehouses
-were empty, and the French calculated
-confidently on taking the place at spring. Unable
-to send the necessary aid, a fresh proposal was
-made to the Emperor to occupy it, and this not
-tempting him, the Council next offered to cede
-it to him in full sovereignty, on condition that it
-should never be surrendered to France. Charles
-declined, and as a last resource a Florentine merchant,
-Antonio Guidotti, was employed to make
-the French aware that England was not averse
-from a peace. The French embraced the offer,
-but under such circumstances they were not
-likely to be very modest in their terms of accommodation.</p>
-
-<p>The conference between the ambassadors was
-opened on the 21st of January, and the English
-proposed that, as an equivalent for the surrender
-of Boulogne, Mary of Scotland should be contracted
-to Edward. To this the French bluntly replied
-that that was impossible, as Henry had already
-agreed to marry her to the Dauphin. The next
-proposition was that the arrears of money due
-from the Crown of France should be paid up, and
-the payment of the fixed pension continued. To
-this the ambassadors of Henry replied, in a very
-different tone to that which English monarchs had
-been accustomed to hear from those of France, that
-their king would never condescend to pay tribute
-to any foreign Crown; that Henry VIII. had
-been enabled by the necessities of France to extort
-a pension from Francis; and that they would now
-avail themselves of the present difficulties of
-England to compel Edward to renounce it. The
-English envoys appeared, on this bold declaration,
-highly indignant, and as if they would break off
-the conference; but every day they receded more
-and more from their pretensions, and they ended by
-subscribing, on the 24th of March, to all the demands
-of their opponents.</p>
-
-<p>These conditions were that there should be peace
-and union between the two countries, not merely
-for the lives of the present monarchs, but to the
-end of time; that Boulogne should be surrendered
-to the King of France with all its stores and ordnance;
-and that, in return for the money expended
-on the fortifications, they should pay to Edward
-200,000 crowns on the delivery of the place, and
-200,000 more in five months. But the English
-were previously to surrender Douglas and Lauder
-to the Queen of Scots, or, if they were already in
-the hands of the Scots, to raze the fortresses of
-Eyemouth and Roxburgh to the ground. Scotland
-was to be comprehended in the treaty if the
-queen desired it, and Edward bound himself not to
-make war on Scotland unless some new provocation
-were given.</p>
-
-<p>So disgraceful was this treaty, such a surrender
-was it of the nation's dignity, that the people regarded
-it as an eternal opprobrium to the country;
-and from that hour the boastful claims of England
-on the French Crown were no more heard of,
-except in the ridiculous retention of the title of
-King of France by our sovereigns.</p>
-
-<p>Freed from the embarrassments of foreign politics,
-the Council now proceeded with the work of
-Church reform; and during 1550 and part of
-1551 was busily engaged checking on the one
-hand the opposition of the Romanist clergy, and
-on the other the latitudinarian tendencies of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
-Protestants. Bonner and Gardiner were the most
-considerable of the uncomplying prelates, and they
-were first brought under notice. Bonner had been
-called before the Council in August of 1549, for
-not complying with the requisitions of the Court
-in matters of religion; and in April, 1550,
-he was deprived of his see of London, and remanded
-to the Marshalsea, where he remained till
-the king's death. Ridley was appointed to the
-bishopric of London. Gardiner and Heath, Bishop
-of Worcester, were also imprisoned.</p>
-
-<p>From the bishops, the reforming Council proceeded
-to higher game. The Princess Mary, the
-king's eldest sister, from the first had expressed
-her firm resolution of not adopting the new faith
-or ritual. She had, moreover, declared to Somerset,
-that during Edward's minority things ought
-to remain as the king her father had left
-them. Somerset replied that, on the contrary, he
-was only carrying out the plans which Henry had
-already settled in his own mind, but had not had
-time to complete. On the introduction of the new
-liturgy, she received in June, 1549, an intimation
-that she must conform to the provisions of the
-statute. Mary replied with spirit, that her conscience
-would not permit her to lay aside the practice
-of the religion that she believed in, and reminded
-the lords of the Council that they were
-bound by their oaths to maintain the Church as
-left by her father; adding, that they could not,
-with any decency, refuse liberty of worship to the
-daughter of the king who had raised them to what
-they were. The appeal to the liberality, the consciences,
-or the gratitude of these statesmen producing
-no effect, she next applied to a more
-influential person, the Emperor, Charles V., her
-great relative. He intervened on her behalf with
-such vigour that war between England and Germany
-seemed at one time inevitable, and the
-Council gave way. The persecutions were shortly
-afterwards renewed, but Mary remained firm, and
-finally was completely victorious.</p>
-
-<p>The ungenerous conduct of the Warwick party
-towards Mary, and the disgraceful conditions of
-the peace with France, naturally caused a considerable
-revival of Somerset's influence at Court,
-and the remainder of the summer was spent by
-him in intriguing for the increase of his favour.
-He surrounded himself with a strong body of
-armed men; there were secret debates among his
-friends on the possibility of raising the City in his
-behalf, and he did not hesitate to drop hints that
-assassination only could free him from his implacable
-enemies. But whilst the irresolute Somerset
-plotted, Warwick acted. He secured for himself
-the appointment of warden of the Scottish marches,
-thus cutting off the danger which had lately appeared
-of Somerset's retreat thither. Armed
-with the preponderating influence which that office
-conferred in the northern districts, on the 27th of
-September or the 17th of October he was announced
-as Duke of Northumberland, a title venerated
-by the Border people, and which had been
-extinct since the attainder of Earl Percy in 1527.
-In this formidable position of power and dignity
-he was strengthened by his friends and partisans
-being at the same time elevated in the peerage.
-The Marquis of Dorset was created Duke of
-Suffolk, the Earl of Wiltshire, Marquis of Winchester,
-and Sir William Herbert, Baron of Cardiff
-and Earl of Pembroke. Cecil, Cheke, Sidney, and
-Nevil received the honour of knighthood.</p>
-
-<p>This movement in favour of Warwick was followed
-by consequences of still more startling character
-to the Duke of Somerset. His enemies now
-felt safe, and on the 16th of October, 1551,
-the news flew through London that he was arrested
-on a charge of conspiracy and high treason, and
-committed to the Tower. He had been apprised
-that depositions of a serious character had been
-made against him by Sir Thomas Palmer, a partisan
-of Warwick's, whereupon he sent for Palmer,
-and strictly interrogated him, but on his positive
-denial, let him go. Not satisfied, however, he
-wrote to Cecil, telling him that he suspected something
-was in agitation against him. Cecil replied
-with his characteristic astuteness, that if he were
-innocent he could have nothing to fear; if he were
-guilty, he could only lament his misfortune.
-Piqued at this reply, he sent a letter of defiance,
-but took no means for the security of his person.
-Palmer, notwithstanding his denial, had, however,
-it seems, really lodged this charge against him on
-the 7th of the month with Warwick:&mdash;That in a
-conference with Somerset in April last, in his
-garden, the duke assured him that at the time that
-the solemn declaration of Sir William Herbert had
-prevented him from going northward, he had sent
-Lord Grey to raise their friends there; that
-after that he had formed the design of inviting
-Warwick, Northampton, and the chiefs of that
-party, and of assassinating them, either there, or
-on their return home; that at this very moment
-he was planning to raise an insurrection in London,
-to destroy his enemy, and to seize the direction
-of Government; that Sir Miles Partridge
-was to call out the apprentices of the City, kill
-the City guard, and get possession of the Great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
-Seal; and that Sir Thomas Arundel had secured the
-Tower, and Sir Ralph Vane had a force of 2,000
-men ready to support them.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a href="images/i_217big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_217.jpg" width="450" height="546" alt="THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. After the Portrait by Holbein" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. (<i>After the Portrait by Holbein.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Probably this was a mixture of some truth with
-a much larger portion of convenient falsehood.
-The duke was accordingly arrested, and the next
-day the duchess, with her favourites, Mr. and Mrs.
-Crane, Sir Miles Partridge, Sir Thomas Arundel,
-Sir Thomas Holcroft, Sir Michael Stanhope, and
-others of the duke's friends, were also arrested,
-and committed to the Tower. The king was
-already brought up from Hampton Court to Westminster
-for greater security and convenience
-during the trials of the conspirators. A message
-was sent in the king's name to the Lord Mayor and
-Corporation, informing them that the conspirators
-had agreed to seize the Tower, kill the guards of
-the City, seize the Great Seal, set fire to the town,
-and depart for the Isle of Wight; and they
-were, therefore, ordered to keep the gates well, and
-maintain a strong patrol in the streets.</p>
-
-<p>The trial of the duke, such as it was, took place
-on the 1st of December, in Westminster Hall.
-Twenty-seven peers were summoned to sit as his
-judges, the Marquis of Winchester being appointed
-Lord High Steward, to preside. On that morning
-Somerset was brought from the Tower, with the
-axe borne before him; whilst a great number of
-men carrying bills, glaives, halberds, and poll-axes,
-guarded him. A new platform was raised in
-the hall, on which the lords, his judges, sat; and
-above them was the Lord High Steward, on a
-raised seat ascended by three steps, and over it a
-canopy of State. The judges consisted almost
-wholly of the duke's enemies, and conspicuous
-amongst them were Northumberland, Northampton,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
-and Pembroke. The witnesses against him were
-not produced, but merely their depositions
-read. Somerset denied the whole of the charges
-respecting his intention to raise the City of
-London, declaring that the idea of killing the City
-guard was worthy only of a madman. As to the
-accusation of proposing to assassinate the Duke of
-Northumberland and others, he admitted that he
-had thought of it, and even talked of it, but on
-mature consideration had abandoned it for ever.</p>
-
-<p>On this confession the judges declared him
-guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. They
-were desirous to adjudge it treason, but this
-Northumberland himself overruled. When this
-sentence was pronounced, Somerset fell on his
-knees, and thanked the lords for the fair trial they
-had given him, and implored pardon from Northumberland,
-Northampton, and Pembroke, for his
-design against their lives, entreating them to pray
-the king's mercy to him and his grace towards his
-wife, his children, and his servants. On the sentence
-being pronounced only felony, the axe of the
-Tower was withdrawn; and the people, seeing him
-returning without that fatal instrument, imagined
-that he was acquitted, and gave such shouts,
-that they were heard from Charing Cross to the
-hall. According to Holinshed, the Duke of Somerset
-landed from the river "at the crane of the
-Vine-tree, and so passed through London, where
-were both acclamations&mdash;the one cried for joy
-that he was acquitted, the other cried that he was
-condemned."</p>
-
-<p>Six weeks after his sentence, the warrant for his
-execution was signed. The chronicler quaintly remarks
-that "Christmas being thus passed and
-spent with much mirth and pastime, it was
-thought now good to proceed to the execution of
-the judgment against the Duke of Somerset." The
-day of execution was the 22nd of January, 1552.
-To prevent the vast concourse which, from the
-popularity of his character among the common
-people, from his opposition to enclosures during his
-Protectorship, was sure to take place, the Council
-had issued a precept to the Lord Mayor, commanding
-him to take all necessary measures for
-restraining the rush towards Tower Hill. The
-constables in every ward had, therefore, strictly
-charged every one not to leave their houses before
-ten o'clock that morning. But, by the very dawn,
-Tower Hill was one mass of heads, assembled more
-in expectation of the duke's reprieve than of his
-execution. At eight o'clock he was delivered to
-the sheriffs of London, who led him out to the
-scaffold on Tower Hill. He died calmly and nobly.</p>
-
-<p>Parliament met the day after the execution of
-Somerset; and as it had been originally summoned
-by him, it appeared to act as inspired with a spirit
-which resented his treatment and his death; and
-this spirit tended greatly during this session to revive
-that ancient independence which Henry
-VIII. had so completely quelled during his life.
-Most deserving of notice was the enactment which
-ordered the churchwardens in every parish to
-collect contributions for the support of the poor.
-This, though it appeared at first sight a voluntary
-contribution under the sanction of Government,
-was in reality a compulsory one, for the bishop of
-the diocese had authority to proceed against such
-as refused to subscribe. From this germ grew the
-English poor-law, with all its machinery and consequences.</p>
-
-<p>The Crown attempted to re-enact some of the
-most arbitrary and oppressive laws of Henry
-VIII., though they had been repealed in the first
-Parliament of this reign. A bill was sent to the
-Lords, making it treason to call the king, or any of
-his heirs, a heretic, schismatic, tyrant, or usurper.
-The Lords passed it without hesitation, for it most
-probably proceeded from Warwick, and the Lords
-were strongly devoted to him; but the Commons
-drew the same line which had been drawn regarding
-the deniers of the supremacy. They would
-admit the offence to be treason only when it was
-done by "writing, printing, carving, or graving,"
-which indicated deliberate purpose; but what was
-spoken, as it might result from indiscretion or
-sudden passion, they decreed to be only a minor
-offence, punishable by fine or forfeiture, and only
-rendered treasonable by a third repetition. The
-Commons also added a most invaluable clause, the
-necessity of which had been constantly pressing on
-the public attention, and had just been strikingly
-demonstrated by the trial of Somerset. It was
-now enacted that no person should be arraigned,
-indicted, convicted, or attainted of any manner of
-treason unless on the oath of two lawful accusers,
-who should be brought before him at the time of
-his arraignment, and there should openly maintain
-their charges against him.</p>
-
-<p>But in prosecuting the reforms of the Church,
-the Parliament proceeded with a far more arbitrary
-spirit. The Common Prayer Book underwent
-much revision, and an Act was passed by which
-the bishops were empowered to compel attendance
-on the amended form of service by spiritual censures,
-and the magistrates to punish corporally all
-who used any other. Any one daring to attend
-any other form of worship was liable to six<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
-months' imprisonment for the first offence, twelve
-months for the second, and confinement for life for
-the third. So little did our Church reformers of
-that day understand of the rights of conscience.
-In the same spirit Cranmer proceeded to frame a
-collection of the articles of religion, and a code of
-ecclesiastical constitutions.</p>
-
-<p>Parliament, proving too independent, was dissolved, and in preparing
-for a new Parliament, Northumberland took such measures as showed
-that his own power and aggrandisement were the first things in his
-thoughts, the Constitution of the kingdom the last. Letters were sent
-in the king's name to all the sheriffs, directing them, in the most
-straightforward manner, to abuse their powers in order to return a
-Parliament completely subservient to the Government.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_219.jpg" width="500" height="249" alt="" title="SILVER CROWN OF EDWARD VI" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SILVER CROWN OF EDWARD VI.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The only object which the Duke of Northumberland had in view in
-calling the new Parliament together was to procure liberal supplies.
-The appropriation of the monastic and chartered lands had left the
-Crown nearly as poor as it had found it. Such portions of these lands
-as still remained in its possession were totally inadequate to meet
-the annual demands of the Government. Northumberland, therefore, asked
-for two-tenths and two-fifteenths; but even with his care to pack the
-Commons he found it no easy task to obtain supplies, and the friends of
-Somerset again assembled in considerable force in the House, resenting
-in strong terms the pretence thrown out in the preamble to the bill
-that it was owing to the extravagance and improvidence of the late Duke
-of Somerset, to his involving the country in needless wars, debasing
-the coin, and occasioning a terrible rebellion.</p>
-
-<p>But the king's health was fast failing, and it was high time for
-Northumberland to make sure his position and fortune. The constitution
-of Edward had long betrayed symptoms of frailty. In the early spring of
-the past year he was successively attacked by measles and small-pox.
-In the autumn, through incautious exposure to cold, he was attacked
-by inflammation of the lungs, and so enfeebled was he become by the
-meeting of Parliament on the 1st of March, 1553, that he was obliged
-to receive the two Houses at his palace of Whitehall. He was greatly
-exhausted by the exertion, being evidently far gone in a consumption,
-and harassed with a troublesome cough.</p>
-
-<p>Northumberland, from the day on which he rose into the ascendant
-at Court, had shown that he was the true son of the old licensed
-extortioner. He had laboured assiduously not only to surround himself
-by interested adherents, but to add estate to estate. He inherited
-a large property, the accumulations of oppression and crimes of the
-blackest dye. But during the three years in which he had enjoyed all
-but kingly power, he had been diligently at work creating a kingly
-demesne. He was become the Steward of the East Riding of Yorkshire, and
-likewise of all the Royal manors in the five northern counties. He had
-obtained Tynemouth and Alnwick in Northumberland, Barnard Castle in
-Durham, and immense estates in Warwick, Worcester, and Somerset shires.
-The more he saw the king fail, the more anxious he was to place his
-brother, his sons, his relatives, and most devoted partisans in places
-of honour and profit around him at Court. This done, he advanced to
-bolder measures, to which these were only the stepping-stones. Lady
-Jane Grey was the daughter of Frances, Duchess of Suffolk, whose mother
-was Mary, the sister of Henry VIII. Mary first married Louis XII. of
-France, by whom she had no children, and next, Charles Brandon, Duke of
-Suffolk, by whom she had two daughters. The younger of these married
-Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, but the elder, Frances, whose claim came
-first, had by the Marquis of Dorset (afterwards Duke of Suffolk) three
-daughters, Jane, Catherine, and Mary.</p>
-
-<p>Northumberland, casting his eye over the descendants
-of Henry VIII., saw the only son, King
-Edward, dying, and the two daughters, Mary and
-Elizabeth, bastardised by Acts of Parliament still
-unrepealed. A daring scheme seized his ambitious
-mind&mdash;a scheme to set aside these two princesses,
-the elder of whom, and immediate heir to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
-throne, was especially dangerous to the permanence
-of the newly-established Protestantism. It was
-true that Margaret of Scotland, the sister of
-Henry VIII., was older than his sister Mary, and
-her grand-daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, would
-have taken precedence of the descendants of Mary,
-but she and her issue had been entirely passed over
-in the will of Henry. Leaving out, then, this line,
-and setting aside the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth
-as legally illegitimate, Lady Jane Grey would
-become heir to the throne. Northumberland resolved,
-therefore, to secure Lady Jane in marriage
-for his son Lord Guilford Dudley; to obtain Lady
-Jane's sister, Catherine, for Lord Herbert, son of
-the Earl of Pembroke, who owed title, estates, and
-everything to the favour of Northumberland; and
-to marry his own daughter Catherine to the eldest
-son of the Earl of Huntingdon. The marriages
-were celebrated at Durham House, the Duke of
-Northumberland's new residence in the Strand.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_220a.jpg" width="500" height="228" alt="" title="SIXPENCE OF EDWARD VI" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SIXPENCE OF EDWARD VI.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_220b.jpg" width="500" height="255" alt="" title="SHILLING OF EDWARD VI" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SHILLING OF EDWARD VI.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Northumberland's next step was to induce the
-king to bequeath the crown to Lady Jane. The
-dying prince listened with a mind which had long
-been under the influence of the more powerful will
-of Dudley, and saw nothing but the most patriotic
-objects in his recommendations. He no doubt considered
-it a great kingly duty to decide the succession
-by will as his father had done; and that
-the whole responsibility might rest on himself, and
-not on Northumberland, who had so much at stake,
-he was easily induced to sketch the form of his
-devise of the Crown with his own pen. In this
-rough draft he entailed the succession on "the
-Lady Frances's heirs masles," next on "Lady Jane's
-heirs masles," and then on the heirs male of her
-sisters. This, however, did not accord with the
-plans of Northumberland, for none of the ladies
-named had any heirs male; and, therefore, on the
-death of Edward, the Crown would have passed
-over the whole family, and would go to the next of
-kin. A slight alteration was accordingly made.
-The letter "s" at the end of "Jane's" was scored
-out, the words "and her" inserted, and thus the bequest
-stood "to the Lady Jane and her heirs masles."
-Northumberland then compelled the judges to
-draw out letters patent under the Great Seal confirming
-the disposition of the Crown.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_220c.jpg" width="500" height="268" alt="" title="POUND SOVEREIGN OF EDWARD VI" />
-<div class="caption"><p>POUND SOVEREIGN OF EDWARD VI.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_220d.jpg" width="500" height="271" alt="" title="TRIPLE SOVEREIGN OF EDWARD VI" />
-<div class="caption"><p>TRIPLE SOVEREIGN OF EDWARD VI.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But Northumberland, not satisfied with the will
-of the king and the act of the Crown lawyer,
-produced another document, to which he required
-the signatures of the members of the Council and
-of the legal advisers of the Crown, who pledged, to
-the number of four-and-twenty, their oaths and
-honour to support this arrangement. The legal instrument,
-being prepared, was engrossed on parchment,
-and was authenticated by the Great Seal.
-Northumberland was preparing to secure his
-position by force of arms, when the poor young
-king, whose mind had been overtaxed by his advisers,
-died on the 6th of July, 1553.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_221big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_221.jpg" width="560" height="419" alt="" title="QUEEN MARY AND THE STATE PRISONERS IN THE TOWER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>QUEEN MARY AND THE STATE PRISONERS IN THE TOWER. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_223">223.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE REIGN OF MARY.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Proclamation of Lady Jane Grey&mdash;Mary's Resistance&mdash;Northumberland's Failure&mdash;Mary is Proclaimed&mdash;The Advice of Charles
-V.&mdash;Execution of Northumberland&mdash;Restoration of the Roman Church&mdash;Proposed Marriage with Philip of Spain&mdash;Consequent
-Risings throughout England&mdash;Wyatt's Rebellion&mdash;Execution of Lady Jane Grey&mdash;Imprisonment of Elizabeth&mdash;Marriage
-of Philip and Mary&mdash;England Accepts the Papal Absolution&mdash;Persecuting Statutes Re-enacted&mdash;Martyrdom of
-Rogers, Hooper, and Taylor&mdash;Di Castro's Sermon&mdash;Sickness of Mary&mdash;Trials of Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer&mdash;Martyrdom
-of Ridley and Latimer&mdash;Confession and Death of Cranmer&mdash;Departure of Philip&mdash;The Dudley Conspiracy&mdash;Return of
-Philip&mdash;War with France&mdash;Battle of St. Quentin&mdash;Loss of Calais&mdash;Death of Mary.</p>
-</blockquote>
-
-<p>As Mary fled from the emissaries of Northumberland
-on the 7th of July, after learning the death
-of her brother, she arrived on the ensuing evening
-at Sawston Hall, near Cambridge, the seat of
-Mr. Huddlestone, a zealous Romanist, one of
-whose kinsmen was a gentleman of Mary's
-retinue. There she passed the night, but was compelled
-to resume her journey early in the morning,
-the Protestant party in Cambridge having heard
-of her arrival, and being on the march to attack
-her. She and her followers were obliged to make
-the best of their way thence in different disguises,
-and turning on the Gogmagog Hills to take a look
-at the hall, she saw it in flames: her night's
-sojourn had cost her entertainer the home of his
-ancestors. On seeing this, she exclaimed, as quite
-certain of her fortunes, "Well, let it burn, I will
-build him a better;" and she kept her word. She
-passed through Bury St. Edmunds, and the next
-night reached the seat of Kenninghall, in Norfolk.
-Thence without delay she despatched a messenger
-to the Privy Council, commanding them to desist
-from the treasonable scheme which she knew that
-they were attempting, and ordering them to proclaim
-her their rightful sovereign, in which case all
-that was past should be pardoned. The messenger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
-arrived just in time to see the rival queen proclaimed
-on the 10th, and to bring back a reply
-peculiarly insulting for its gross language, asserting
-her illegitimacy, and calling upon her to submit to
-her sovereign, Queen Jane.</p>
-
-<p>Mary on this occasion displayed the strong
-spirit of the Tudor. Though Northumberland had
-all the powers of the Government, the military
-strength, the influence of party, and the support of
-the nobility of the nation apparently under his
-hand, and possessed the reputation of being an
-able and most successful general, and though she
-had nobody with her but Sir Thomas Warton, the
-steward of her household, Andrew Huddlestone,
-and her ladies; though she had neither troops nor
-money, Mary did not hesitate. Kenninghall was
-but a defenceless house in an open country; she,
-therefore, rode forward to Framlingham Castle,
-not far from the Suffolk coast, where, in a
-strong fortress, she could await the result of an
-appeal to her subjects and, were she forced to
-fly, could easily escape across to Holland, and
-put herself under the protection of her Imperial
-kinsman.</p>
-
-<p>Once within the lofty walls of Framlingham, she
-commanded the standard of England to be cast
-loose to the winds, and caused herself to be proclaimed
-Queen-regnant of England and Ireland.
-The effect was soon seen. Sir Henry Jerningham
-and Sir Henry Bedingfeld had joined her with a
-few followers before she quitted Kenninghall, and
-had served her as a guard in her ride of twenty
-miles to Framlingham. Sir John Sulyard now
-arrived, and was appointed captain of her guard.
-He was speedily followed by the tenants of Sir
-Henry Bedingfeld, to the number of 140. By the
-influence of Sir Henry Jerningham, Yarmouth
-declared for her; and soon after flocked in, with
-more or less of followers, Lord Thomas Howard, a
-grandson of the old Duke of Norfolk; Sir William
-Drury; Sir Thomas Cornwallis, High Sheriff of
-Suffolk; Sir John Skelton; and Sir John Tyrrel.
-These were all zealous Papists; and the people of
-Norfolk and Suffolk hurried to her standard, impelled
-by the memory of Northumberland's sanguinary
-extinction of Ket's rebellion, the horrors
-of which still kept alive a deep detestation of the
-unprincipled duke in those counties. In a very
-short time Mary beheld herself surrounded by an
-army of 13,000 men, all serving without pay, but
-confidently calculating on the certain recompense
-which, as queen, she would soon be able to award
-them. Lord Derby rose for her in Cheshire, and
-Carew proclaimed her in Devonshire.</p>
-
-<p>Northumberland saw that no time was to be lost.
-It was necessary that forces should be instantly
-despatched to check the growth of Mary's army,
-and to disperse it altogether. But who should
-command it? There was no one so proper as himself;
-but he suspected the fidelity of the Council,
-and was unwilling to remove himself to a distance
-from them; he therefore recommended the Duke
-of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane, to the command
-of the expedition. The Council, who were
-anxious to get rid of Northumberland in order
-that they might themselves escape to Mary's camp,
-represented privately that Suffolk was a general of
-no reputation, that everything depended on decisive
-proceedings in the outset, and that he alone was
-the man for the purpose. They, moreover, so excited
-the fears of Lady Jane that she entreated in
-tears that her father might remain with her.</p>
-
-<p>Northumberland consented, though with many
-misgivings. He equally distrusted the Council and
-the citizens. On the 13th of July he set out,
-urging on the Council at his departure fidelity
-to the trust reposed in them, and receiving from
-them the most earnest protestations of zeal and
-attachment. At every step some expectation was
-falsified, or some disastrous news met him. The
-promised reinforcements did not arrive, but he
-heard of them taking the way to the camp of
-Mary instead of to his own. He heard of the defection
-of the fleet; and lastly, a prostrating blow,
-of the Council having gone over to Queen Mary.
-Struck with dismay at this accumulation of evil
-tidings, he retreated from Bury St. Edmunds,
-which he had reached, to Cambridge, and there betrayed
-pitiable indecision.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had he left London before the Council,
-whilst outwardly professing much activity for the
-interests of Queen Jane, set to work to terminate
-as soon as possible the perilous farce of her
-royalty. On the evening of Sunday, the 16th, the
-Lord Treasurer left the Tower, and made a visit to
-his own house, contrary to the positive order of
-Northumberland, who had strictly enjoined Suffolk
-to keep the whole Council within its walls. On
-the 19th the Lord Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal,
-the Earls of Arundel, Shrewsbury, and Pembroke,
-Sir Thomas Cheney, and Sir John Mason, left the
-Tower, on the plea that it was necessary to levy
-forces, and to receive the French ambassador, and
-that Baynard's Castle, the residence of the Earl of
-Pembroke, was a much more convenient place for
-these purposes. As they professed to be actuated
-by zeal for the cause of his daughter, Suffolk, a
-very weak person, was easily duped. No sooner
-had they reached Baynard's Castle than they
-unanimously declared for Queen Mary.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_222big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_222.jpg" width="560" height="428" alt="" title="LADY JANE GREY'S RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT THE CROWN OF ENGLAND" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>LADY JANE GREY'S RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT THE CROWN OF ENGLAND.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From the Painting by C. R. Leslie, R.A.
-In the possession of the Duke of Bedford.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Immediately after proclaiming the new queen,
-the Council sent to summon the Duke of Suffolk
-to surrender the Tower, which he did with all
-alacrity, and, proceeding to Baynard's Castle,
-signed the proclamations which the Council were
-issuing. Poor Lady Jane resigned her uneasy and
-unblessed crown of nine days with unfeigned joy,
-and the next morning returned to Sion House.
-This brief period of queenship, which had been
-thrust upon her against her own wishes and better
-judgment, had been embittered not only by her
-own sense of injustice towards her kinswoman, the
-Princess Mary, and by apprehension of the consequences
-to herself and all her friends, but still
-more by the harshness and insatiate ambition of
-her husband and his mother.</p>
-
-<p>The Council despatched a letter to Northumberland
-by Richard Rose, the herald, commanding him
-to disband his army, and return to his allegiance to
-Queen Mary, under penalty of being declared a
-traitor. But before this reached him he had submitted
-himself, and in a manner the least heroic
-and dignified possible. On the Sunday he had induced
-Dr. Sandys, the vice-chancellor of the university,
-to preach a sermon against the title and
-religion of Mary. The very next day the news of
-the revolution at London arrived, and Northumberland,
-proceeding to the market-place, proclaimed
-the woman he had thus denounced, and flung up
-his cap as if in joy at the event, whilst the tears
-of grief and chagrin streamed down his face.
-Turning to Doctor Sandys, who was again with
-him, he said, "Queen Mary was a merciful woman,
-and that, doubtless, all would receive the benefit of
-her general pardon." But Sandys, who could not
-help despising him, bade him "not flatter himself
-with that; for if the queen were ever so inclined
-to pardon, those who ruled her would destroy him,
-whoever else were spared." Immediately after, Sir
-John Gates, one of his oldest and most obsequious
-instruments, arrested him, when he had
-his boots half-drawn on, so that he could not help
-himself; and, on the following morning, the Earl
-of Arundel, arriving with a body of troops, took
-possession of Northumberland, his captor, Gates,
-and Dr. Sandys, and sent them off to the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>Mary dismissed her army, which had never exceeded
-15,000, and which had had no occasion to
-draw a sword, before quitting Wanstead, except
-3,000 horsemen in uniforms of green and white,
-red and white, and blue and white. These, too,
-she sent back before entering the City gate, thus
-showing her perfect confidence in the attachment
-of her capital. From that point her only guard
-was that of the City, which brought up the rear
-with bows and javelins. As Mary and her sister
-Elizabeth rode through the crowded streets, they
-were accompanied by a continuous roar of acclamation;
-and on entering the court of the Tower
-they beheld, kneeling on the green before St.
-Peter's Church, the State prisoners who had been
-detained there during the reigns of Henry VIII.
-and Edward VI. These were Courtenay, the son
-of the Marquis of Exeter, who was executed in
-1538; the old Duke of Norfolk, still under sentence
-of death; and the Bishops of Durham and
-Winchester, Tunstall and Gardiner. Gardiner
-pronounced a congratulation on behalf of the
-others; and Mary, bursting into tears at the sight,
-called them to her, exclaiming, "Ye are all my
-prisoners!" raised them one by one, kissed them,
-and set them at liberty. To extend the joy of her
-safe establishment upon the throne of her ancestors,
-she ordered eighteen pence to be distributed
-to every poor householder in the City.</p>
-
-<p>It was Mary's misfortune that she had been
-educated to place so much reliance on the wisdom
-and friendship of her great relative, the Emperor
-Charles V. He had been her champion, as he had
-been that of her mother. When pressed on the
-subject of her religion during the last reign, he had
-menaced the country with war if the freedom of
-her conscience were violated. It was natural,
-therefore, that she should now look to him for
-counsel, seeing that almost all those whom she
-was obliged to employ or to have around her had
-been her enemies during her brother's reign.
-Charles communicated his opinions through Simon
-Renard, his ambassador, who was to be the
-medium of their correspondence, and to advise her
-in matters not of sufficient importance to require
-the Emperor's judgment, or not allowing of sufficient
-time to obtain it. Renard was ordered to
-act warily, and to show himself little at Court, so
-as to avoid suspicion.</p>
-
-<p>Charles advised her to make examples of the
-chief conspirators, and to punish the subordinates
-more mildly, so as to obtain a character of moderation.
-He insisted upon it as necessary, however,
-that Lady Jane Grey should be included in
-the list for capital punishment, and to this Mary
-would by no means consent. She replied that
-"she could not find in her heart or conscience
-to put her unfortunate kinswoman to death, who
-had not been an accomplice of Northumberland,
-but merely an unresisting instrument in his hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
-If there were any crime in being his daughter-in-law,
-even of that her cousin Jane was not
-guilty, for she had been legally contracted to
-another, and, therefore, her marriage with Lord
-Guilford Dudley was not valid. As to the danger
-existing from her pretensions, it was but imaginary,
-and every requisite precaution should be taken
-before she was set at liberty."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_224.jpg" width="500" height="240" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF PHILIP AND MARY" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF PHILIP AND MARY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Mary's selection of prisoners was remarkably
-small considering the number in her hands, and
-the character of their offence against her. She
-contented herself with putting only seven of them
-on their trial&mdash;namely, Northumberland, his son
-the Earl of Warwick, the Marquis of Northampton,
-Sir John Gates, Sir Henry Gates, Sir
-Andrew Dudley, and Sir Thomas Palmer&mdash;his
-chief councillors and his associates. Northumberland
-submitted to the court whether a man could
-be guilty of treason who acted on the authority
-of Council, and under warrant of the Great Seal;
-or could they, who had been his chief advisers and
-accomplices during the whole time, sit as his
-judges? The Duke of Norfolk, who presided at
-the trial as High Steward, replied that the
-Council and Great Seal which he spoke of were
-those of a usurper, and, therefore, so far from
-availing him, only aggravated the offence, and
-that the lords in question could sit as his judges,
-because they were under no attainder.</p>
-
-<p>Finding that his appeal had done him no
-service, Northumberland and his fellow-prisoners
-pleaded guilty. The duke prayed that his sentence
-might be commuted into decapitation, as
-became a peer of the realm, and he prayed the
-queen that she would be merciful to his children
-on account of their youth. He desired also that
-an able divine might be sent to him for the
-settling of his conscience, thereby intimating
-that he was at heart a Romanist, in hopes, no
-doubt, of winning upon the mind of the queen,
-for he was very anxious to save his life. He
-professed, too, that he was in possession of
-certain State secrets of vital importance to her
-Majesty, and entreated that two members of the
-Council might be sent to him to receive these
-matters from him. What his object was became
-manifest from the result, for Gardiner and
-another member of the Council being sent to
-him in consequence, he implored Gardiner passionately
-to intercede for his life. Gardiner
-gave him little hope, but promised to do what
-he could, and on returning to the queen so much
-moved her, that she was inclined to grant the
-request; but others of the Council wrote through
-Renard to the Emperor, who strenuously warned
-her, if she valued her safety, or the peace of her
-reign, not to listen to the arch-traitor. On
-Tuesday, the 22nd of August, Northumberland,
-Gates, and Palmer were brought from the Tower
-for execution on Tower Hill. Of the eleven condemned,
-only these three were executed&mdash;an
-instance of clemency, in so gross a conspiracy
-to deprive a sovereign of a throne, which is
-without parallel. When the Duke of Northumberland
-and Gates met on the scaffold, they each
-accused the other of being the author of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
-treason. Northumberland charged the whole
-design on Gates and the Council; Gates laid
-it more truly on Northumberland and his high
-authority. They protested, however, that they
-entirely forgave each other, and Northumberland,
-stepping to the rail, made a speech, praying
-for a long and happy reign to the queen,
-and calling on the people to bear witness
-that he died in the true Catholic faith.
-Though he condemned it, he said, in his
-heart, ambition had led him to conform to
-the new faith, the adoption of which had filled
-both England and Germany with constant dissensions,
-troubles, and civil wars. After repeating
-the "Miserere," "De Profundis," and the
-"Paternoster," with some portion of another
-psalm, concluding with the words, "Into thy
-hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit," he laid his
-head on the block, saying that he deserved a
-thousand deaths, and it was severed at a stroke.
-Gates and Palmer died professing much penitence.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 414px;"><a href="images/i_225big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_225.jpg" width="414" height="580" alt="" title="VIEW FROM THE CONSTABLE'S GARDEN, TOWER OF LONDON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>VIEW FROM THE CONSTABLE'S GARDEN,
-TOWER OF LONDON.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The accession of Mary was a joyful event to the
-Papal Court. Julius III. appointed Cardinal Pole
-his legate to the queen; but Pole was by no
-means in haste, without obtaining further information,
-to fill this office in a country where the
-people, whose sturdy character he well knew, had
-to so great an extent imbibed the doctrines of the
-Reformation. Dandino, the Papal legate at
-Brussels, therefore despatched a gentleman of his
-suite to proceed to London and cautiously spy
-out the land. Before making himself known,
-this emissary, Gianfrancesco Commendone, went
-about London for some days gathering up all
-evidences of the public feeling on the question<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>
-of the Church. He then procured a private interview
-with Mary, and was delighted to hear from
-her own lips that she was fully resolved on reconciling
-her kingdom to the Papal See, and meant
-to obtain the repeal of all laws restricting the
-doctrines or discipline of the Roman Church; but
-that it required caution, and that no trace of any
-correspondence with Rome must come to light.</p>
-
-<p>Mary was, however, inclined to go faster and
-farther than some of her advisers, and Gardiner,
-though so staunch a Papist, was too much of an
-Englishman to wish to see the supremacy restored
-to the Pontiff. But others were not so patriotic.
-Throughout the kingdom the Protestant preachers
-were silenced. The great bell at Christ Church,
-Oxford, was just recast, and the first use of it
-was to call the people to Mass. "That bell then
-rung," says Fuller, "the knell of Gospel truth
-in the city of Oxford, afterwards filled with
-Protestant tears."</p>
-
-<p>Four days after her coronation, on October 1st,
-Mary opened her first Parliament; and she opened
-it in a manner which showed plainly what was to
-come. Both peers and commoners were called
-upon to attend her majesty at a solemn Mass
-of the Holy Ghost. This was an immediate test
-of what degree of compliance was to be expected
-in the attempt to return to the ancient order of
-things; and the success of the experiment was
-most encouraging. With the exception of Taylor
-Bishop of Lincoln, and Harley Bishop of Hereford,
-the whole Parliament&mdash;peers, prelates, and
-commoners&mdash;fell on their knees at the elevation
-of the Host, and participated with an air of devotion
-in that which in the last reign they had
-declared an abomination. But such was the zeal
-now for the lately abhorred Mass, that the two
-noncomplying bishops were thrust out of the
-queen's presence, and out of the abbey altogether.
-There were those who insinuated that the Emperor
-furnished Mary with funds to bribe her Parliament
-on this occasion; but, besides that Charles
-was not so lavish of his money, events soon showed
-that the Parliament, though so exceedingly pliant
-in the matter of religion, was stubborn enough
-regarding the estates obtained from the Church,
-and also concerning Mary's scheme of a Spanish
-marriage.</p>
-
-<p>The first act of legislation was to restore the
-securities to life and property which had been
-granted in the twenty-fifth year of Edward III.,
-and which had been so completely prostrated by
-the acts of Henry VIII. Such an Act had been
-passed at the commencement of the last reign, but
-had been again violated in the cases of the two
-Seymours. The Parliament, looking back on the
-sanguinary lawlessness of that monarch, did not
-think the country sufficiently safe from charges
-of constructive treason and felony without a fresh
-enactment. It next passed an Act annulling the
-divorce of Queen Catherine of Aragon, by Cranmer,
-and declaring the present queen legitimate.
-This Act indeed tacitly declared Elizabeth illegitimate,
-but there was no getting altogether out
-of the difficulties which the licentious proceedings
-of Henry VIII. had created, and it was deemed
-best to pass that point over in silence, leaving the
-queen to treat her sister as if born in genuine
-wedlock.</p>
-
-<p>The next Act went to restore the Papal Church
-in England, stopping short, however, of the supremacy.
-This received no opposition in the House
-of Lords, but occasioned a debate of two days in
-the Commons. It passed, however, eventually
-without a division, and by it was swept away at
-once the whole system of Protestantism established
-by Cranmer during the reign of Edward
-VI. The Reformed liturgy, which the Parliament
-of that monarch had declared was framed
-by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, was now
-pronounced to be "a new thing, imagined and
-devised by a few of singular opinions." This
-abolished the marriages of priests and illegitimatised
-their children. From the 20th day of
-November divine worship was to be performed,
-and the sacraments were to be administered, as
-in the last year of Henry VIII. Thus were the
-tyrannic Six Articles restored, and all but the
-Papal supremacy. Even the discussion of the
-ritual and doctrines of Edward VI. became so
-warm, that the queen prorogued Parliament for
-three days. On calling the House of Commons
-together again, and proceeding with the Bill, no
-mention was made of the restoration of the
-Church property, though the queen was anxious
-to restore all that was in the hands of the Crown;
-for the Lords, and gentlemen even of the House
-of Commons, who were in possession of those
-lands, would have raised a far different opposition
-to that which was manifested regarding the State
-religion. No sooner were these Bills passed than
-the clergy met in Convocation, and passed decrees
-for the speedy enforcement of all the new regulations.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_226big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_226.jpg" width="560" height="338" alt="By permission, from the Painting in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington" title="CRANMER AT TRAITORS' GATE. 1553. By F. GOODALL, R.A" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>By permission, from the Painting in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington.</i></p>
-
-<p>CRANMER AT TRAITORS' GATE. 1553.</p>
-
-<p>By F. GOODALL, R.A.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The persecution of the Reformed clergy who had
-stood firm became vehement. The married clergy
-were called upon to abandon their wives, and
-there was a rush of the expelled priests again
-to fill their pulpits. In the cities there was considerable
-opposition, for there the people had
-read and reflected, but generally throughout the
-agricultural districts the change took place with
-the ease and rapidity of the scene-shifting at a
-theatre. Many of the married priests, however,
-would not abandon their wives and children, and
-were turned adrift into the highways, or were
-thrust into prison. Many fled abroad, hoping for
-more Christian treatment from the Reformed
-churches there, but in vain, for their doctrines
-did not accord with those of the foreign Reformers,
-who deemed them heretical.</p>
-
-<p>About half the English bishops conformed; the
-rest were ejected from their sees, and several of
-them were imprisoned. Soon after Cranmer,
-Latimer, and Ridley were sent to the Tower,
-Holgate, Archbishop of York, was sent thither
-also. Poynet, who was Bishop of Winchester
-during Gardiner's expulsion, was imprisoned for
-having married. Taylor of Lincoln and Harley
-of Hereford, for refusing to kneel on the elevation
-of the Host at the queen's coronation, and for
-other heresies, were committed to prison. On the
-13th of October Cranmer was brought to trial in
-the Guildhall, on a charge of treason, with Lady
-Jane Grey, her husband Lord Guilford Dudley,
-and Lord Ambrose Dudley, his brother. They
-were all condemned to death as traitors, and a
-bill of attainder was passed through Parliament
-against them. Lady Jane's sentence was to be
-beheaded or burnt at the queen's pleasure, which
-was then the law of England in all cases where
-women committed high treason, or petty treason
-by the murder of their husbands. The fate of
-Lady Jane, who pleaded guilty, and exhibited the
-most mild and amiable demeanour on the occasion,
-excited deep sympathy, and crowds followed her
-as she was reconducted to the Tower, weeping and
-lamenting her hard fate. It was well understood,
-however, that the queen had no intention of carrying
-the sentence into effect against any of the
-prisoners; but she deemed it a means of keeping
-quiet her partisans to hold them in prison under
-sentence of death. She gave orders that they
-should receive every indulgence consistent with
-their security, and Lady Jane was permitted to
-walk in the queen's garden at the Tower, and even
-on Tower Hill.</p>
-
-<p>The subject which created the greatest difficulty
-to this Parliament was that of the queen's marriage.
-The wily Renard suggested to Mary as a possible
-husband Philip the heir of Charles V., and she
-eagerly seized on the idea though she knew that
-it would be very unpopular. The first to remonstrate
-with Mary on the subject was Gardiner,
-her Chancellor, who boldly pointed out to her the
-repugnance of the nation to a Spanish marriage;
-that she would be the paramount authority if she
-married a subject, but that it would be difficult to
-maintain that rank with a Spanish king; that the
-arrogance of the Spanish had made them odious to
-all nations, and that this quality had shown
-itself conspicuously in Philip. He was greatly
-disliked by his own people, and it was not likely
-that he would be tolerated by the English; moreover,
-alliance with Spain meant perpetual war
-with France, which would never suffer the Netherlands
-to be annexed to the crown of England.
-The rest of Mary's Council took up the same
-strain, with the exception of the old Duke of Norfolk,
-and the Lords Arundel and Paget. The Protestant
-party out of doors were furious against
-the match, declaring that it would bring the Inquisition
-into the country, to rivet Popery upon
-it, and to make England the slave of taxation
-to the Spaniards. The Parliament took up the
-subject with equal hostility, and the Commons
-sent their Speaker to her, attended by a deputation
-of twenty members, praying her Majesty not
-to marry a foreigner.</p>
-
-<p>Noailles, the French ambassador, was delighted
-with this movement, and took much credit to himself
-for inciting influential parties to it; but Mary
-believed it to originate with Gardiner, and the
-lion spirit of her father coming over her, she
-vowed that she would prove a match for the
-cunning of the Chancellor. That very night she
-sent for the Spanish ambassador, and bidding
-him follow her into her private oratory, she there
-knelt down before the altar, and after chanting
-the hymn, "Veni Creator Spiritus," she made a
-vow to God that she would marry Philip of Spain,
-and whilst she lived, no other man but him.
-Thus she put it out of her power, if she kept her
-vow, to marry any other person should she outlive
-Philip, showing the force of the paroxysm of
-determination which was upon her. The effort
-would seem to have been very violent, for immediately
-after she was taken ill, and continued
-so for some days.</p>
-
-<p>It was on the last day of October that this
-curious circumstance took place, and on the 17th
-of November she sent for the House of Commons,
-when the Speaker read the address giving her
-their advice regarding her marriage. Instead
-of the Chancellor returning the answer, as was the
-custom, Mary replied herself, thanking them for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
-their care that she should have a succession in her
-own children, but rebuking them for presuming to
-dictate to her the choice of a husband. She
-declared that the marriages of her predecessors
-had always been free, a privilege which, she
-assured them, she was resolved to maintain. At
-the same time, she added, she should be careful to
-make such a selection as should contribute both to
-her own happiness and to that of her people.</p>
-
-<p>The plain declaration of the queen to her
-Parliament was not necessary to inform those
-about her who were interested in the question;
-they had speedy information of her having
-favoured the Spanish suit, and Noailles was
-certainly mixed up in conspiracies to defeat it.
-It was proposed to place Courtenay, the young
-Earl of Devon, who had long been a prisoner in
-the Tower, at the head of the Reformed party, and
-if Mary would not consent to marry him, to
-assassinate Arundel and Paget, the advocates of
-the Spanish match; to marry Elizabeth to Courtenay,
-and raise the standard of rebellion in Devonshire.
-It appears from the despatches of Noailles
-that the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane
-Grey, was in this conspiracy. But the folly and
-the unstable character of their hero, Courtenay,
-was fatal to their design, and of that Noailles
-very soon became sensible. It was suggested by
-some of the parties that Courtenay should steal
-away from Court, get across to France, and
-thence join the conspirators in Devonshire; but
-Noailles opposed this plan, declaring that the
-moment Courtenay quitted the coast of England
-his chance was utterly lost; and he wrote to his
-own government, saying that the scheme would
-fall to nothing; for although Courtenay and
-Elizabeth were fitting persons to cause a rising,
-such was the want of decision of Courtenay, he
-would let himself be taken before he would act&mdash;the
-thing which actually came to pass.</p>
-
-<p>On the 2nd of January, 1554, a splendid embassy,
-sent by the Emperor, headed by the Counts
-Egmont and Lalain, the Lord of Courrieres,
-and the Sieur de Nigry, landed in Kent, to
-arrange the marriage between Mary and Philip.
-The unpopularity of this measure was immediately
-manifested, for the men of Kent, taking Egmont
-for Philip, rose in fury, and would have torn him
-to pieces if they could have got hold of him.
-Having, however, reached Westminster in safety,
-on the 14th of January, a numerous assembly of
-nobles, prelates, and courtiers was summoned to
-the queen's presence-chamber, where Gardiner,
-who had found it necessary to relinquish his
-opposition, stated to them the proposed conditions
-of the treaty. The greatest care was evidently
-taken to disarm the fears of the English, and
-nothing could appear more moderate than the
-terms of this alliance. Philip and Mary were to
-confer on each other the titles of their respective
-kingdoms, but each kingdom was still to be
-governed by its own laws and constitution. None
-but English subjects were to hold office in this
-country, not even in the king's private service.
-If the queen had an heir, it was to be her successor
-in her own dominions, and also in all
-Philip's dominions of Burgundy, Holland, and
-Flanders, which were for ever to become part and
-parcel of England. This certainly, on the face of
-it, was a most advantageous condition for England,
-but had it taken effect, it would undoubtedly
-have proved a most disastrous one, involving
-us perpetually in the wars and struggles
-of the Continent, and draining these islands to defend
-those foreign territories.</p>
-
-<p>Another condition of the treaty was that Mary
-was not to be carried out of the kingdom except
-at her own request, nor any of her children, except
-by the consent of the peers. The Commons
-were totally ignored in the matter. Philip was
-not to entangle England in the Continental wars
-of his father, nor to appropriate any of the naval
-or military resources of this country, or the
-property or jewels of the Crown, to any foreign
-purposes. If there was no issue of the marriage,
-all the conditions of the treaty at once became
-void, and Philip ceased to be king even in name.
-If he died first, which was not very probable,
-Mary was to enjoy a dower of 60,000 ducats per
-annum, secured on lands in Spain and Flanders.
-No mention was made of any payment to Philip
-if he happened to be the survivor. But there
-was one little clause which stipulated that Philip
-should <em>aid</em> Mary in governing her kingdom&mdash;an
-ominous word, which might be made of vast
-significance.</p>
-
-<p>Within five days came the startling news that
-three insurrections had broken out in different
-quarters of the kingdom. One was a-foot in the
-midland counties, where the Duke of Suffolk and
-the Grey family had property and influence.
-There the cry was for the Lady Jane. Mary had
-been completely deceived by the Duke of Suffolk,
-whom she had pardoned and liberated from
-the Tower. In return for her leniency he
-affected so hearty an approval of her marriage,
-that she instantly thought of him as the man to
-put down the other rebellions, and sending for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
-him, found that he and his brothers, Lord Thomas
-and Lord John Grey, had ridden off with a strong
-body of horse to Leicestershire, proclaiming Lady
-Jane in every town through which they passed.
-They found no response to their cry, a fact which
-any but the most rash speculators might have
-been certain of. The Earl of Huntingdon, a
-relative of the queen's, took the field against the
-Greys, who by their folly brought certain death to
-Lady Jane, and defeated them near Coventry,
-upon which they fled for their lives.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 562px;"><a href="images/i_229big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_229.jpg" width="562" height="420" alt="From the View of London, made by Van der Wyngarde, for Philip II" title="OLD LONDON BRIDGE, WITH NONSUCH PALACE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>OLD LONDON BRIDGE, WITH NONSUCH PALACE.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the View of London, made by Van der Wyngarde, for Philip II.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The second insurrection was in the west, under
-Sir Peter Carew, whose project was to place
-Elizabeth and Courtenay, Earl of Devon, on the
-throne, and restore the Protestant religion.
-These parties, as well as the third under Sir
-Thomas Wyatt, had consented to act together,
-and thus paralyse the efforts of Mary, by the
-simultaneous outbreak in so many quarters. But
-the miserable folly of their plans became evident
-at once. They did not even unite in the choice of
-the same person as their future monarch, and had
-they put down Mary, must then have come to blows
-amongst themselves. Carew found Devonshire
-as indifferent to his call as the Greys had found
-Leicestershire. Courtenay was to have put himself
-at their head, but never went; and Carew,
-Gibbs, and Champernham called on the people of
-Exeter to sign an address to the queen, stating
-that they would have no Spanish despot. The
-people of Devon gave no support to the movement.
-The Earl of Bedford appeared at the
-head of the queen's troops. A number of the
-conspirators were seized, and Carew with others
-fled to France.</p>
-
-<p>But the most formidable section of this tripartite
-rebellion was that under Sir Thomas
-Wyatt. He fixed his headquarters at Rochester,
-having a fleet of five sail, under his associate
-Winter, which brought him ordnance and ammunition.
-Wyatt was only a youth of twenty-three,
-but he was full of both courage and enthusiasm,
-and endeavoured to rouse the people of Canterbury
-to follow him. There, however, he was not
-successful, and this cast a damp upon his adherents.
-Sir Robert Southwell defeated a party
-of the insurgents under Knevet, and the Lord
-Abergavenny another party under Isley, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
-spirits of Wyatt's troops began to sink rapidly.
-Many of his supporters sent to the Council,
-offering to surrender on promise of full pardon,
-and a little delay would probably have witnessed
-the total dispersion of his force.</p>
-
-<p>But on the 29th of January, the Duke of Norfolk
-marched from London with a detachment of
-the guards under Sir Henry Jerningham. On
-reaching Rochester they found Wyatt encamped
-in the ruins of the old castle, and the bridge
-bristling with cannon, and with well-armed
-Kentishmen. Norfolk endeavoured to dissolve
-the hostile force by sending a herald to proclaim a
-pardon to all that would lay down their arms, but
-Wyatt would not permit him to read the paper.
-Norfolk then ordered his troops to force the
-bridge; but this duty falling to a detachment of
-500 of the train-bands of the city under Captain
-Brett, the moment they reached the bridge Brett
-turned round, and addressed his followers thus:&mdash;"Masters,
-we go about to fight against our
-native countrymen of England, and our friends,
-in a quarrel unrightful and wicked; for they, considering
-the great miseries that are like to fall
-upon us, if we shall be under the rule of the proud
-Spaniards, or strangers, are here assembled to
-make resistance to their coming, for the avoiding
-the great mischiefs likely to alight not only upon
-themselves, but upon every of us and the whole
-realm; wherefore I think no English heart ought
-to say against them. I and others will spend our
-blood in their quarrel."</p>
-
-<p>On hearing this, his men shouted, one and all,
-"A Wyatt! a Wyatt!" and turned their guns
-not against the bridge, but against Norfolk's forces.
-At this sight Norfolk and his officers, imagining
-a universal treason, turned their horses and fled at
-full speed, leaving behind them their cannon and
-ammunition. The train-bands crossed the bridge
-and joined Wyatt's soldiers, followed by three-fourths
-of the queen's troops, and some companies
-of the guard. Norfolk and his fugitive officers
-galloping into London carried with them the direst
-consternation. In City and Court alike the most
-terrible panic prevailed. The lawyers in Westminster
-Hall pleaded in suits of armour hidden
-under their robes, and Dr. Weston preached
-before the queen in Whitehall Chapel, on Candlemas
-Day, in armour under his clerical vestments.
-Mary alone seemed calm and self-possessed. She
-mounted her horse, and, attended by her ladies
-and her Council, rode into the City, where, summoning
-Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor and
-tailor, and the aldermen to meet, who all came
-clad in armour under their civic livery, she
-ascended a chair of State, and with her sceptre in
-hand addressed them, declaring she would never
-marry except with leave of Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>Her courage gained the day. From some cause
-the insurgents had not pushed forward with the
-celerity which the flight of Norfolk appeared to
-make easy. Instead of marching on the City and
-taking advantage of its panic, Wyatt was three
-days in reaching Deptford and Greenwich, and he
-then lay three more days there, though his success
-was said to have raised his forces to 15,000 men.
-Meantime the City had recovered its courage by
-the valiant bearing of the queen, and the news of
-the dispersion of the other two divisions of the
-rebels. The golden opportunity was irrevocably
-lost. On the 3rd of February Wyatt marched
-along the river side to Southwark. Coming to the
-end of London Bridge, he found the drawbridge
-raised, the gates closed, and the citizens, headed
-by the Lord Mayor and aldermen in armour,
-in strong force ready to resist his entrance. He
-was surprised to find the Londoners determined
-not to admit him, for he had been led to believe
-that they were as hostile to the marriage as himself.
-He planted two pieces of artillery at the
-foot of the bridge, but this was evidently with the
-view of defending his own position, and not of
-forcing the gates, for he cut a deep ditch between
-the bridge and the fort which he occupied, and
-then protected his flanks from attack by other
-guns, one pointing down Bermondsey Street, one
-by St. George's Church, and the third towards
-the Bishop of Winchester's house. He must still
-have hoped for a demonstration in the City in his
-favour, for he remained stationary two whole days,
-without making an attack on the bridge. On the
-third morning this inaction was broken by the
-garrison in the Tower opening a brisk cannonade
-against him with all their heavy ordnance, doing
-immense damage to the houses in the vicinity of
-the bridge fort, and to the towers of St. Olave's
-and St. Mary Overy's.</p>
-
-<p>The people of Southwark, seeing the inaction of
-Wyatt and the mischief done to their property,
-now cried out amain, and desired him to take himself
-away, which he did. He told the people that
-he would not have them hurt on his account, and
-forthwith commenced a march towards Kingston,
-hoping to be able to cross the bridge there, which
-he supposed would be unguarded, and that so he
-might fall on Westminster and London on the
-side where they were but indifferently fortified.
-He reached Kingston about four o'clock in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
-afternoon of the 6th of February, where he found
-a part of the bridge broken down, and an armed
-force ready to oppose his passage. His object
-being to cross here, and not, as at London Bridge,
-to await a voluntary admission, he brought up his
-artillery, swept the enemy from the opposite bank,
-and by the help of some sailors, who brought up
-boats and barges, he had the bridge made passable,
-and his troops crossed over. By this time it was
-eleven o'clock at night; his troops were extremely
-fatigued by their march and their labours here,
-but he now deemed it absolutely necessary to push
-on, and allow the Government no more time than
-he could help to collect forces into his path, and
-strengthen their position. He marched on, therefore,
-through a miserable winter night, and
-staying most imprudently to re-mount a heavy
-gun which had broken down, it was broad daylight
-when he arrived at what is now Hyde Park,
-where the Earl of Pembroke was posted with the
-royal forces to receive him.</p>
-
-<p>Lord Clinton headed the cavalry, and took his
-station with a battery of cannon on the rising
-ground opposite to the palace of St. James's, at
-the top of the present St. James's Street, and
-his cavalry extended from that spot to the present
-Jermyn Street. All that quarter of dense
-building, including Piccadilly, Pall Mall, and St.
-James's Square, was then open and called St.
-James's Fields. About nine o'clock appeared the
-advance guard of Wyatt's army. The morning
-was dismal, gloomy, and rainy, and his troops,
-who had been wading through muddy roads all
-night, were in no condition to face a fresh army.
-Many had deserted at Kingston, many more had
-dropped off since, and seeing the strength of the
-force placed to obstruct him, he divided his own
-into three parts. One of these, led by Captain
-Cobham, took the way through St. James's Park
-at the back of the palace, which was barricaded at
-all points, guards being stationed at the windows,
-even those of the queen's bed-chamber and with
-drawing-rooms. Cobham's division fired on the
-palace as it passed, whilst another division under
-Captain Knevet, holding more to the right, assaulted
-the palaces of Westminster and Whitehall.</p>
-
-<p>But Wyatt, at the head of the main division,
-charged Clinton's cavalry; the cannon were
-brought up, and a general engagement took place
-between the rebel army and the troops under
-Clinton and the infantry under Pembroke.
-Wyatt's charge seemed to make the cavalry give
-way, but it was only a stratagem on the part of
-Clinton, who opened his ranks to let Wyatt and
-about four hundred of his followers pass, when he
-closed and cut off the main body from their commander.
-In all Wyatt's proceedings he displayed
-great bravery, but little military experience or
-caution.</p>
-
-<p>His main forces, now deprived of their leader,
-wavered and gave way, but instead of breaking
-took another course to reach the City. Wyatt,
-as if unconscious that he had left the bulk of
-his army behind him, and had now the enemy
-between it and himself, rushed along past Charing
-Cross and through the Strand to Ludgate, in the
-fond hope still that the citizens would admit him
-and join him. In the passages of the Strand were
-posted bodies of soldiers under the Earl of Worcester
-and the contemptible Courtenay, who, on
-the sight of Wyatt, fled.</p>
-
-<p>On reaching Ludgate, Wyatt found the gates
-closed, and instead of the citizens who had promised
-to receive him, Lord William Howard appeared
-over the gate, crying sternly, "Avaunt,
-traitor! avaunt; you enter not here!" Finding
-no access there, the unhappy man turned to rejoin
-and assist his troops, but he was met by those of
-Pembroke, who had poured after him like a flood.
-With the energy of despair he fought his way
-back as far as the Temple, where he found only
-twenty-four of his followers surviving. At
-Temple Bar he threw away his sword, which was
-broken, and surrendered himself to Sir Maurice
-Berkeley, who immediately mounted him behind
-him and carried him off to Court.</p>
-
-<p>Mary had displayed the most extraordinary
-clemency on the termination of the former conspiracy,
-for which not only the Emperor but her
-own Ministers had blamed her. Her Council now
-urged her to make a more salutary example of
-these offenders, to prevent a repetition of rebellion.
-On the previous occasion she had permitted only
-three of the ringleaders to be put to death. On
-this occasion five of the chief conspirators were
-condemned, and four of them were executed, Croft
-being pardoned. Suffolk fell without any commiseration.
-It was difficult to decide whether his
-folly or his ingratitude had been the greater. He
-had twice been a traitor to the queen, the second
-time after being most mercifully pardoned. He
-had twice put his amiable and excellent daughter's
-life in jeopardy; the second time after seeing how
-hopeless was the attempt to place her on the
-throne, and therefore, to a certainty, by the second
-revolt, involving her death; and to add to his
-infamy, he endeavoured to win escape for himself
-by betraying others. He was beheaded on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
-23rd of February. Wyatt was kept in the Tower
-till the 11th of April, when he was executed.
-Unlike Suffolk, he tried to exculpate others,
-declaring in his last moments that neither the
-Princess Elizabeth nor Courtenay, who were suspected
-of being privy to his designs, knew anything
-of them. Wyatt seems to have been a brave and
-honest man, who believed himself acting the part
-of a patriot in endeavouring to preserve the country
-from the Spanish yoke, and who, in the sincerity
-of his own heart, had too confidently trusted to
-the assurances of faithless men. Had he succeeded,
-and placed the Protestant Princess Elizabeth
-on the throne, his name, instead of remaining
-that of a traitor, would have stood side by side
-with that of Hampden. His body was quartered
-and exposed in different places. His head was
-stuck on a pole at Hay Hill, near Hyde Park,
-whence it was stolen by some of his friends.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was the sixth, who
-was tried at Guildhall on the 17th of April, the
-very day of Lord Grey's execution. His condemnation
-and death were regarded as certain; but on
-being brought to the bar he adroitly pleaded that
-the recent statute abolishing all treasons since the
-reign of Edward III., covered anything which he
-could possibly have done, and that his offence
-being only words, were by the same statute declared
-to be no overt act at all. He stated this
-with so much skill and eloquence, at the same time
-contending that there was not a particle of evidence
-of his having been an active accomplice of the
-rebels, that the jury acquitted him.</p>
-
-<p>The execution which caused and still causes the
-deepest interest, and which always appears as a
-shadow on the character of Queen Mary, was that
-of her cousin, Lady Jane Grey. Till this second
-unfortunate insurrection, Mary steadily refused to
-listen to any persuasions to shed the blood of Lady
-Jane. She had had her tried and condemned to
-death, but she still permitted her to live, gave her
-a considerable degree of liberty and unusual indulgences,
-and it was generally understood that she
-meant eventually to pardon her. The ambassadors
-of Charles V. had strenuously urged her to prevent
-future danger by executing her rival, but she had
-replied that she could not find it in her conscience
-to put her unfortunate kinswoman to death, who
-had not been an accomplice of Northumberland,
-but merely an instrument in his hands; but now
-that the very mischief had taken place which the
-Emperor and her own Council had prognosticated;
-she was importuned on all sides to take what they
-described as the only prudent course. Poynet, the
-Bishop of Winchester, says that those lords of the
-Council who had been the most instrumental at the
-death of Edward VI. in thrusting royalty on Lady
-Jane&mdash;namely, Pembroke and Winchester&mdash;and
-who had been amongst the first to denounce Mary
-as illegitimate, were now the most remorseless
-advocates for Lady Jane's death.</p>
-
-<p>Accordingly, the day after the fall of Wyatt,
-Mary signed the warrant for the execution of
-"Guilford Dudley and his wife," to take place
-within three days. On the morning of the execution
-the queen sent Lady Jane permission to have
-an interview with her husband, but she declined
-the favour as too trying, saying she should meet
-him within a few hours in heaven. She saw her
-husband go to execution from the window of the
-lodging in Master Partridge's house, and beheld
-the headless trunk borne back to be buried in the
-chapel. Lord Guilford Dudley was executed on
-Tower Hill in sight of a vast concourse, but a
-scaffold was erected for her on the Tower green.
-Immediately after his corpse had passed she was
-led forth by the Lieutenant of the Tower, and
-appeared to go to her fate without any discomposing
-fear, but in a serious frame, not a tear dimming
-her eye, though her gentlewomen, Elizabeth Tilney
-and Mistress Helen, were weeping greatly. She
-continued engaged in prayer, which she read from
-a book, till she came to the scaffold; there she
-made a short speech to the spectators, declaring
-that she deserved her punishment for allowing herself
-to be made the instrument of the ambition of
-others. "That device, however," she said, "was
-never of my seeking, but by the counsel of those
-who appeared to have better understanding of such
-things than I. As for the procurement or desire
-of such dignity by me, I wash my hands thereof
-before God and all you Christian people this day."
-She caused her gentlewomen to disrobe her, bandaged
-her own eyes with a handkerchief, and
-laying her head on the block, at one stroke it was
-severed from the body (February 12, 1554).</p>
-
-<p>But this conspiracy had approached the queen
-much more nearly than in the person of Wyatt or
-the friends of Lady Jane Grey. It was discovered
-by intercepted letters of Wyatt, of Noailles, the
-French ambassador, and by one supposed to have
-been written by Elizabeth herself to the French
-king; that she was deeply implicated, and that the
-design of marrying her and Courtenay and placing
-them on the throne was well known, and apparently
-quite agreeable to her.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 408px;"><a href="images/i_233big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_233.jpg" width="408" height="560" alt="" title="LADY JANE GREY ON HER WAY TO THE SCAFFOLD" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>LADY JANE GREY ON HER WAY TO THE SCAFFOLD. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_232">232.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The refusal of Elizabeth to join her sister at the
-outbreak of the insurrection, and the flight of
-Courtenay at the moment of Wyatt's entry of
-London, excited suspicion, and this suspicion was
-soon converted into something very like fact by
-the three despatches of Noailles, written in cipher,
-and dated January 26th, 28th, and 30th. These
-despatches detailed the steps taken in her favour.
-Besides these there were two notes sent by Wyatt
-to Elizabeth, the first advising her to remove to
-Donington, the next informing her of his successful
-entry into Southwark. Then came what appeared
-clearly a letter of Elizabeth to the King of
-France. The Duke of Suffolk's confession was
-again corroborative of these details, namely, that
-the object of the insurrection was to depose Mary
-and place Elizabeth on the throne. William
-Thomas supported this, adding that it was intended
-to put the queen immediately to death. Croft
-confessed that he had solicited Elizabeth to return
-to Donington; Lord Russell said he had conveyed
-letters from Wyatt to Elizabeth, and another witness
-deposed to his knowledge of a correspondence
-between Courtenay and Carew respecting Courtenay's
-marriage with the princess.</p>
-
-<p>With all these startling facts in her possession,
-Mary wrote to Elizabeth with an air of unsuspicious
-kindness, requesting her to come to her from Ashridge,
-informing her that malicious and ill-disposed
-persons accused her of favouring the late insurrection;
-but appearing not to believe it, and giving
-as a reason for her wishing her to be nearer, that
-the times were so unsettled that she would be
-in greater security with her. Elizabeth pleaded
-illness for not complying; but the queen sent
-Hastings, Southwell, and Cornwallis, members of
-Council, whom she received in her bed, and complained
-of being afflicted with a severe and
-dangerous malady. Mary, well acquainted with
-the deep dissimulation of her sister's character,
-then sent three of her own physicians, accompanied
-by Lord William Howard; and the physicians
-having given their opinion that she was quite able
-to travel, she was obliged to accompany them by
-short stages, borne in a litter. She appeared pale
-and bloated. It was said that she had been
-poisoned; but in a week she was quite well,
-and demanded an audience of the queen; but
-Mary had so much evidence in her hands of Elizabeth's
-proceedings, that she sent her word that it
-was necessary first to prove her innocence.</p>
-
-<p>Courtenay had been arrested on the 12th of
-February, at the house of the Earl of Essex, and
-committed to the Tower. Mary was averse from
-sending her sister there, and asked each of the
-lords of the Council in rotation to admit Elizabeth
-to their houses, and take charge of her. All
-declined the dangerous office; she was, therefore,
-compelled to sign the warrant for her committal,
-and Elizabeth was conducted to the Tower
-by the Earl of Sussex and another nobleman on
-the 18th of March. Even whilst performing this
-duty, it appears that Elizabeth had influence
-enough with these noblemen to make them dilatory
-in the execution of their office, to the great anger
-of the queen, who upbraided them with their remissness,
-telling them they dared not have done
-such a thing in her father's time, and wishing that
-"he were alive for a month." Elizabeth on entering
-the Tower was dreadfully afraid that she was
-doomed to leave it as so many princes and nobles
-had done, without a head. She inquired whether
-Lady Jane's scaffold were removed, and was
-greatly relieved to hear that it was. But what
-alarmed Elizabeth still more, was that the Constable
-of the Tower was discharged from his office,
-and Sir Henry Bedingfield, a zealous Romanist,
-appointed in his place. The fact of Sir Robert
-Brackenbury having been seventy years before, in
-like manner, removed, and Sir James Tyrell put
-in, when the princes were murdered, appeared an
-ominous precedent, but there was no real cause for
-apprehension; Mary had no wish to shed her
-sister's blood. Elizabeth, spite of the evidence
-against her, protested vehemently her innocence,
-and wished "that God might confound her eternally
-if she was in any manner implicated with
-Wyatt."</p>
-
-<p>The Court of Spain, through Renard the ambassador,
-urged perseveringly the execution of
-Elizabeth and Courtenay. Renard represented
-from his sovereign that there could be no security
-for her throne so long as Elizabeth and Courtenay
-were suffered to live. But Mary replied that
-though they had both of them, no doubt, listened
-willingly to the conspirators, and would have been
-ready had they succeeded to step into her throne,
-yet they had been guilty of no overt act, and,
-therefore, by the constitutional law of England
-which had been enacted in her first Parliament,
-they could not be put to death, but could only be
-imprisoned, or suffer forfeiture of their goods.</p>
-
-<p>In spite of the many warnings and the most
-universal expression of dislike to the match, Mary
-persisted in her engagement of marriage with
-Philip of Spain, though he himself showed no
-unequivocal reluctance to the completion of it;
-never writing to her, but submitting to his fate,
-as it were, in obedience to the parental command.
-At the end of May the unwilling bridegroom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
-resigned his government of Castile&mdash;which he held
-for his insane grandmother, Juana&mdash;into the
-hands of his sister, the Princess-Dowager of
-Portugal, and bade adieu to his family. He
-embarked at Corunna on the 13th of July for
-England, and landed at Southampton on the 20th,
-after a week's voyage. He married his wife, who
-was much older than himself, and whose importunate
-love soon began to annoy him, at Winchester.</p>
-
-<p>On the 11th of November the third Parliament
-of Mary's reign was summoned, and she and her
-Royal husband rode from Hampton Court to
-Whitehall to open the session. The king and
-queen rode side by side, a sword of State being
-borne before each to betoken their independent
-sovereignties. The queen was extremely anxious
-to restore the lands reft from the Church by her
-father and brother to their ancient uses, but she
-must have known little of the men into whose
-hands those lands had fallen, if she could seriously
-hope for such a sacrifice. The Earl of Bedford,
-than whom no one had more deeply gorged himself
-with Church plunder, on hearing the proposition,
-tore his rosary from his girdle and flung it
-into the fire, saying he valued the abbey of
-Woborn more than any fatherly counsel that could
-come from Rome. All the rest of the Council
-were of the same way of thinking as Bedford,
-and Mary saw that it was a hopeless case to move
-them on that point, though she set them a very
-honourable example by surrendering the lands
-which still remained in the hands of the Crown,
-to the value of £60,000 a year.</p>
-
-<p>Though Mary could not recover the property for
-the Church, she resolved to restore that Church
-to unity with Rome. She expressed her earnest
-desire to have the presence of her kinsman, Cardinal
-Pole, in her kingdom, and he now set out
-for England, from which he had been banished so
-many years. He rendered this return the more
-easy, by bringing with him from the Pope a bull
-which confirmed the nobles in their possession
-of the Church property, on condition that the
-Papal supremacy was restored. The queen despatched
-Sir Edward Hastings to accompany
-the cardinal; and Sir William Cecil, who had
-been Edward's unhesitating minister in stripping
-the Church, set out of his own accord to pay
-homage to the Papal representative. Cecil's only
-real religion was ambition, and Mary knew that
-so well that, in spite of all his time-serving,
-she never would place any confidence in him,
-whence his bitter hostility to her memory.</p>
-
-<p>Pole, on his arrival, ascended the Thames from
-Greenwich in a splendid State barge, at the prow
-of which he fixed a large silver cross, thus
-marking the entrance of the legatine and Papal
-authority into the country, as it were, in a triumphal
-manner. On the 24th of November the
-king and queen met the united Parliament in the
-presence-chamber of the palace of Whitehall: this
-was owing to the indisposition of the queen.
-Gardiner introduced the business, which, he told
-them, was the weightiest that ever happened in
-this realm, and begged their utmost attention
-to Cardinal Pole. Pole then made a long speech,
-reverting to his own history as well as that of
-the nation. All listened in solemn seriousness
-and yet apprehension when he announced to them
-the fact that the Pope was ready to absolve the
-English from their crimes of heresy and contumacy.
-But when he added that this was to be
-done without any reclamation of the Church lands,
-there was a unanimous vote of both Houses for
-reconciliation with Rome.</p>
-
-<p>The next morning, the king, queen, and Parliament
-met again in the presence-chamber, when,
-Pole presenting himself, Philip and Mary rose,
-and, bowing profoundly to him, presented him
-with the vote of Parliament. The cardinal, on
-receiving it, offered up thanks to God for this
-auspicious event, and then ordered his commission
-to be read. The Peers and Commons then fell on
-their knees and received absolution and benediction
-from the hands of the cardinal, and thus
-for a time again was the great breach between
-England and the Papacy healed.</p>
-
-<p>Parliament proceeded to pass Acts confirming all
-that was now done, and repealing all the statutes
-which had been passed against the Roman Church
-since the 20th of Henry VIII., while the clergy
-in Convocation made formal resignation of the
-possessions which had passed into the hands of
-laymen. The legate also issued decrees authorising
-all cathedral churches, hospitals, and schools
-founded since the schism, to be preserved, and
-that all persons who had contracted marriage
-within prescribed degrees should remain married
-notwithstanding.</p>
-
-<p>The year 1555 opened with dark and threatening
-features. The queen's health was failing;
-and, under the idea that she was merely suffering
-maternal inconvenience, she was rapidly advancing
-in a dropsy which, in less than four years, was
-destined to sink her to the tomb. The king,
-gloomy, despotic, and, consequently, unpopular,
-though he often endeavoured to act against his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
-nature, and assume a popular character, still
-hoping for an heir to the English crown, had
-obtained from Parliament an Act constituting him
-regent, in case Mary should die after the birth
-of a child, during the minority of that child.
-Thus, whether the queen lived or died, he
-appeared to possess a reasonable prospect of
-obtaining the supreme power in this country;
-and how he would have used it, we may judge
-from his government of Spain and the Netherlands.
-If the child was a female, he was made
-governor till her fifteenth year; if a male, till
-his eighteenth year. Philip protested on his
-honour that he would give up the government
-faithfully when the child came of age; but Lord
-Paget asked "who was to sue the bond if he did
-not?"&mdash;a suggestion never forgiven. With this
-flattering but illusive prospect before him, the
-tempest of persecution soon burst forth; and,
-had Providence permitted, England would soon
-have exhibited the same scene of tyranny, bloodshed,
-and insult which Flanders did under his
-rule. As it was, for a short period, terrible war
-for conscience' sake burst forth, the prisons were
-thronged, and the fires of death blazed out in
-every quarter of the island. Mary, with failing
-health, and doting absurdly on her husband, was
-easily drawn to acquiesce in deeds and measures
-which made her name a byword to all future
-times.</p>
-
-<p>We are now called upon to pass through a reign
-of terror, a time of fire and blood, such as has no
-parallel in the history of England. The statutes
-against the Lollards enacted in the reigns of
-Richard II., Henry IV., and Henry V., were
-revived and were to come into force on the
-20th of January. Bonner, accompanied by eight
-bishops and 160 priests, made a grand procession
-through the streets of London, and held services
-of public thanksgiving for the happy restoration
-of Catholicism. A commission was then held in
-the Church of St. Mary Overy, in Southwark,
-for the trial of heretics. The first man brought
-before this court, over which Gardiner presided,
-was John Rogers, a prebendary of St. Paul's,
-who had nobly distinguished himself by defending
-the first priest sent by Mary to preach Papacy
-at St. Paul's Cross. The Court condemned him
-to be burnt, and on the 4th of February this
-horrible sentence was executed in the most
-barbarous manner. The day of his death was
-kept a profound secret from him, and early that
-morning he was suddenly awakened out of a
-sound sleep and informed that he was to be
-burnt that day. The condemned man, so far
-from sinking under the appalling announcement,
-only calmly observed, "Then I need not truss
-my points." He requested to be permitted to
-take leave of his wife and children, of whom
-he had eleven&mdash;one still at the breast&mdash;but this
-Bonner refused. As he was led by the sheriffs
-towards Smithfield, where he was to suffer, he
-sang the "Miserere." His wife and children were
-placed where he would have a full view of them
-at the stake, and it was expected that this would
-induce him to recant and save his life, and thus
-induce others to follow his example; but outwardly
-unmoved, he maintained the most sublime
-fortitude.</p>
-
-<p>Bishop Hooper, Ferrar, Bishop of St. David's,
-Dr. Rowland Taylor of Hadleigh, in Suffolk, and
-Lawrence Saunders, Rector of Allhallows, Coventry,
-were all condemned to the same death, and,
-like Rogers, were offered their lives on recantation,
-which one and all refused. The treatment of the
-pious Bishop Hooper was a most glaring case
-of ingratitude. Decided Protestant as he was,
-and of the most primitive simplicity of faith, he
-had from the first manifested the most staunch
-loyalty to Mary. In his own account of himself
-he says, "When Mary's fortunes were at the
-worst, I rode myself from place to place, as is
-well known, to win and stay the people to her
-party. And whereas when another was proclaimed
-[Lady Jane Grey] I preferred our queen,
-notwithstanding the proclamations. I sent horses
-in both shires [Gloucestershire and Worcester] to
-serve her in great danger, as Sir John Talbot and
-William Lygon, Esq., can testify." Hooper was
-sent down to Gloucester, his own diocese, to suffer,
-where he was burnt on the 9th of February, in
-a slow fire, to increase and prolong his agonies to
-the utmost. On the same day Dr. Taylor was
-burnt at Hadleigh.</p>
-
-<p>This shocking state of things was interrupted
-for some time by the sudden and extraordinary
-outbreak of Alphonso di Castro, the confessor of
-King Philip, a Spanish friar, who preached before
-the Court a sermon in which he most vehemently
-and eloquently inveighed against the wickedness
-and inhumanity of burning people for their
-opinions. He declared that the practice was not
-learned in the Scriptures, but the contrary; for
-it was decidedly opposed to both the letter and
-the spirit of the New Testament; that it was
-the duty of the Government and the clergy to
-win men to the Gospel by mildness, and not
-to kill but to instruct the ignorant. A mystery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
-has always hung over this singular demonstration.
-Some thought Philip, some that Mary,
-had ordered him to preach this sermon, but it is
-far more probable that it was the spontaneous act
-of zeal in a man who was enlightened beyond
-his age and his country. It is not probable
-that it proceeded from Philip, for he could at
-once have commanded this change; it is besides
-contrary to his life-long policy. Had it been the
-will of the sovereigns it would have produced a
-permanent effect. As it was, it took the Court
-and country by surprise. The impression on the
-Court was so powerful that all further burnings
-ceased for five weeks, by which time the good
-friar's sermon had lost its effect; and the religious
-butcheries went on as fiercely as ever, till more
-than two hundred persons had been slaughtered
-on account of their faith in this short reign.
-Miles Coverdale, the venerable translator of the
-Bible, was saved from this death by the King
-of Denmark writing to Mary and claiming him
-as his subject.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_237.jpg" width="407" height="500" alt="From the Portrait in the Collection at Lambeth Palace" title="ARCHBISHOP CRANMER" />
-<div class="caption"><p>ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the Portrait in the Collection at Lambeth Palace.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Mary had now, according to the custom of
-English queens, formally taken to her chamber
-in expectation of giving birth to an heir to the
-throne. She chose Hampton Court as the scene
-of this vainly-hoped-for event, and went there on
-the 3rd of April, where she continued secluded
-from her subjects, only being seen on one occasion,
-till the 21st of July, after she had again returned
-to St. James's. This occasion was on the 23rd
-of May, St. George's Day, when she stood at a
-window of the palace to see the procession of the
-Knights of the Garter with Philip at their head,
-attended by Gardiner the Lord Chancellor, and a
-crowd of priests with crosses, march round the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
-courts and cloisters of Hampton Court. A few
-days afterwards there was a report that a prince
-was born, and there was much ringing of bells and
-singing <em>Te Deum</em> in the City and other places.
-But it soon became known, that there was no hope
-of an heir, but that the queen was suffering under
-a mortal disease, and that such was her condition,
-"that she sat whole days together on the ground
-crouched together with her knees higher than her
-head." On the 21st of July she removed for her
-health from London to Eltham Palace.</p>
-
-<p>Gardiner took advantage of the pause in persecution
-caused by the sermon of Di Castro to withdraw
-from his odious office of chief inquisitor.
-Might <em>he</em> not have instigated the friar to express
-his opinion so boldly, for it is obvious that he
-wanted to be clear of the dreadful work of murdering
-his fellow-subjects for their faith? He
-therefore withdrew from the office, and a more
-sanguinary man took it up. This was Bonner,
-Bishop of London. He opened his inquisitorial
-court in the consistory court of St. Paul's, and
-compelled the Lord Mayor and aldermen to attend
-and countenance his proceedings. Burnet gives a
-letter written in the name of Philip and Mary
-exhorting him to increased activity; but from
-what we have seen of Mary's condition we may
-safely attribute the spur to Philip. Cardinal Pole
-did all in his power to put an end to the persecutions,
-but in vain.</p>
-
-<p>It was now resolved to proceed to extremities
-with the three eminent prelates, Cranmer, Ridley,
-and Latimer. But the charge of high treason
-was dropped, undoubtedly because it was hoped
-that they might, by the prospect of the flames,
-be brought as heretics to recantation. On the 15th
-of April, 1554, they were led from their prisons
-to St. Mary's Church, Oxford, where the doctors
-of the university sat in judgment upon them.
-They were promised a free and fair discussion
-of their tenets, and the still more vain assurance
-was given that if they could convince their opponents
-they should be set free. The so-called
-disputation continued three days, but it more truly
-represented a bear-baiting than the discussion of
-men in quest of the truth.</p>
-
-<p>On the 16th of April, the day appointed, Cranmer
-appeared before this disorderly assembly in
-the divinity school. He was treated with peculiar
-indignity, for they had a deep hatred of him from
-the long and conspicuous part which he had
-enacted in the work of Reformation. It was in
-vain that he attempted to state his views, for
-he was interrupted at every moment by half a
-dozen persons at once; and whenever he advanced
-anything particularly difficult of answer, the
-doctors denounced him as ignorant and unlearned,
-and the students hissed and clapped their hands
-outrageously. The next day Ridley experienced
-the same treatment, but he was a man of a much
-more bold and determined character, of profound
-learning, and ready address, and, in spite of the
-most disreputable clamour and riot, he made
-himself heard above all the storm, and with telling
-effect. When his adversaries shouted at him five
-or six at a time, he calmly observed, "I have but
-one tongue, I cannot answer all at once."</p>
-
-<p>Latimer was not only oppressed by age but
-by sickness, and he was scarcely able to stand.
-He appealed to his base judges to pity his weakness
-and give him a fair hearing. "Ha! good
-master," he said to Weston, the moderator, "I
-pray ye be good to an old man; ye may be once
-as old as I am: ye may come to this age and
-this debility." But he appealed in vain; his
-judges and hearers were lost to all sense of what
-was due to truth and religion, of what was due to
-the age and spirit of a veteran servant of God,
-whatever might have been his errors or failings.
-The rude students only laughed, hissed, clapped
-their hands, and mocked the old man the more.
-Seeing that all hopes of a hearing were vain,
-he told the rabble of his judges and spectators,
-for such they truly were, "that he had spoken
-before attentive kings for two and three hours
-at a time, but that he could not declare his mind
-there for a quarter of an hour for mockings,
-revilings, checks, rebukes, and taunts, such as
-he had not felt the like in such an audience all
-his life long." The three insulted and unheard
-prisoners wrote to the queen that they had been
-silenced by the noise, not by the arguments of
-their opponents, and Cranmer in his letter said,
-"I never knew nor heard of a more confused
-disputation in all my life; for albeit there was
-one appointed to dispute against me, yet every
-man spake his mind, and brought forth what him
-liked without order; and such haste was made
-that no answer could be suffered to be given."</p>
-
-<p>On the 28th of April they were all three
-brought again into St. Mary's Church, and asked
-by Weston whether they were willing to conform,
-and on replying in the negative, were condemned
-as obstinate heretics, and returned to their prison.
-There they lay till the October of the following
-year (1555), when Ridley and Latimer
-were ordered to prepare for the stake. On the
-16th of that month a stake was erected in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>
-town ditch opposite to Balliol College. Soto, a
-Spanish priest, had been sent to them in person
-to try to convert them, but in vain; Latimer
-would not even listen to him; and now at the
-stake a Dr. Smith, who had renounced Popery
-in King Edward's time, and was again a pervert,
-preached a sermon on the text, "Though I give
-my body to be burned and have not charity, it
-profiteth me nothing." The two martyrs cheered
-each other, and exhorted one another to be
-courageous. Ridley, on approaching the pile,
-turned to Latimer who was following him,
-embraced and kissed him, saying, "Be of good
-heart, brother, for God will either assuage the
-fury of the flame, or strengthen us to bear it;"
-and when Latimer was tied to the stake back
-to back with his fellow-sufferer, he returned the
-consolation, exclaiming, "Be of good comfort,
-Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this
-day light such a candle, by God's grace, in
-England, as I trust shall never be put out." A
-lighted faggot was placed at the feet of Ridley, and
-matches were applied to the pile. Bags of gunpowder
-were hung round their necks to shorten
-their sufferings, and as the flames ascended
-Latimer quickly died, probably through suffocation
-in the smoke; but Ridley suffered long. His
-brother-in-law had piled the faggots high about
-him to hasten his death, but the flames did not
-readily find their way amongst them from their
-closeness, and a spectator hearing him cry out that
-he could not burn opened the pile, and an explosion
-of gunpowder almost instantly terminated his
-existence.</p>
-
-<p>Cranmer was reserved for a future day. The
-punctilios of ecclesiastical form were strictly
-observed, and as he enjoyed the dignity of Primate
-of England, it required higher authority to decide
-his fate than that which had pronounced judgment
-on his companions. Latimer and Ridley had been
-sentenced by the commissioners of the legate,
-Cranmer must only be doomed by the Pontiff
-himself. He was therefore waited on in his
-cell by Brooks, Bishop of Gloucester, as Papal
-sub-delegate, and two Royal commissioners, and
-there cited to appear before him at Rome within
-eighty days, and answer for his heresies. As this
-was impossible, the citation was a mockery and an
-insult. When the archbishop saw his two friends
-led forth to their horrible death, his resolution,
-which never was very great, began to fail, and he
-now presented a woful image of terror and irresolution,
-very different to the bravery of his
-departed friends. He expressed a possibility
-of conversion to Rome, and desired a conference
-with Cardinal Pole. But soon he became ashamed
-of his own weakness, and wrote to the queen
-defending his own doctrines, which she commissioned
-the cardinal to answer. When the eighty
-days had expired, and the Pope had pronounced
-his sentence, and had appointed Bonner, and
-Thirlby, Bishop of Ely, to degrade him, and see
-his sentence executed, he once more trembled with
-apprehension, and gave out that he was ready to
-submit to the judgment of the queen; that he
-believed in the creed of the Catholic Church, and
-deplored and condemned his past apostacy. He
-forwarded this submission to the Council, which
-they found too vague, and required a more full
-and distinct confession, which he supplied. When
-the Bishops of London and Ely arrived to degrade
-him, he appealed from the judgment of the Pope
-to that of a general Council, but that not being
-listened to, he sent two other papers to the commissioners
-before they left Oxford, again fully and
-explicitly submitting to all the statutes of the
-realm regarding the supremacy, and professing his
-faith in all the doctrines and rites of the Romish
-Church.</p>
-
-<p>On the 21st of March, 1556, Cranmer was conducted
-to St. Mary's Church, Oxford, where Dr.
-Cole, provost of Eton College, preached a sermon, in
-which he stated that notwithstanding Cranmer's
-repentance, he had done the Church so much
-mischief that he must die. That morning Garcina,
-a Spanish friar, had waited on him before leaving
-his cell, and presented him with a paper making
-a complete statement of his recantation and
-repentance, which he requested him to copy
-and sign. It seems that his enemies calculated
-that, having so fully committed himself, the fallen
-Primate would not, at the last hour, depart from
-his confession; but they were mistaken. Cranmer
-now saw nothing but death before him, and he
-most bitterly repented of his weakness and the
-renunciation of what he felt to be the holy
-truth. He therefore transcribed once more the
-paper which had been brought to him, but in
-place of the latter part of it he wrote in a very
-different conclusion. Accordingly, when he read
-his paper at the conclusion of the sermon, there
-was a profound silence till he came to the fifth
-article of it, which went on to declare that
-through fear of death, and beguiled by hopes of
-pardon, he had been led to renounce his genuine
-faith, but that he now declared that all his recantations
-were false; that he recalled them every one,
-rejected the Papal authority, and confirmed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>
-whole doctrine contained in his book. The amazement
-was intense, the audience became agitated
-by various passions, there were mingled murmurings
-and approbation. The Lord Williams of
-Thame called to him to "remember himself and
-play the Christian." That was touching a string
-which woke the response of the hero and the
-martyr in the Primate. He replied that he did
-remember; that it was now too late to dissemble,
-and he must now speak the truth.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_240big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_240.jpg" width="560" height="430" alt="" title="THE PLACE OF MARTYRDOM, OLD SMITHFIELD" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE PLACE OF MARTYRDOM, OLD SMITHFIELD.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>When the first astonishment at this unlooked-for
-declaration had passed, there was a rush to
-drag down Cranmer, and hurry him to the stake
-in the same spot where his friends Ridley and
-Latimer had suffered. There he was speedily
-stripped to the shirt and tied to the stake;
-through it all he was firm and calm. He no
-longer trembled at his fate; he declared that he
-had never changed his belief; hope of life only
-had wrung from him his recantation; and the
-moment that the flames burst out he thrust
-his right hand into them, saying, "This hath
-offended." The writers of those times say that
-he stood by the stake whilst the fire raged round
-him, as immovable as the stake itself, and lifting
-up his eyes to heaven, exclaimed, "Lord, receive
-my spirit," and very soon expired.</p>
-
-<p>The day after the death of Cranmer, Cardinal
-Pole, who had now taken priest's orders, was consecrated
-Archbishop of Canterbury; and showed
-his anxiety to check this fierce and impolitic persecution,
-but, as we shall find, with no great result.</p>
-
-<p>While these terrible transactions had been
-taking place King Philip had quitted the kingdom.
-With all his endeavours to become popular
-with the English, Philip never could win their
-regard. He conformed to many national customs,
-and affected to enjoy the national amusements;
-threw off much of his hauteur, especially in his
-intercourse with the nobles, and conferred pensions
-on them on the plea that they had stood
-by the queen during the insurrection. But
-nothing could inspire the English with confidence
-in him. They had always an idea that the object
-of the Spaniards was to introduce the Spanish rule
-and dominance here. They had always the persuasion
-that it was no longer their own queen, but
-the future King of Spain and the Netherlands who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
-ruled. It was clearly seen that Philip never had
-any real affection for Mary; it was the public
-opinion that he had now less than ever, whilst the
-poor invalid Mary doated on him, and was ready
-to yield up everything but the actual sovereignty
-to him. And now came a very sufficient cause for
-the departure of Philip from England. His
-father, Charles V., wearied of governing his vast
-empire, was anxious to abdicate in favour of his
-son. Philip embarked at Dover on the 4th of
-September, 1555. Mary accompanied him from
-Hampton to Greenwich, riding through London
-in a litter, in order, as the French ambassador
-states, "that her people might see that she was
-not dead." The queen was anxious to proceed
-as far as Dover, and see him embark, but her
-health did not permit this; and after parting from
-him with passionate grief, she endeavoured to console
-herself by having daily prayers offered for his
-safety and speedy return.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_241.jpg" width="417" height="500" alt="" title="MARY I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>MARY I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Charles V., at the age of only fifty-five, had
-now resigned his vast empire to his son and his
-brother Ferdinand; and Spain, the Netherlands,
-Naples, Sicily, Milan, and the new lands of South
-America, owned Philip as their lord. On the
-25th of October, 1555, Charles, in an assembly
-of the States of the Netherlands, resigned these
-countries to Philip, and in a few months later he
-also put him in possession of the government of
-other parts of his dominions, Ferdinand succeeding
-to the Imperial crown. Charles then retired
-to the monastery of St. Just, near Placentia, on
-the borders of Spain and Portugal, where this
-great king, who had so long exercised so strong an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
-influence on the destinies of Europe, lived as a
-simple private gentleman, retaining only a few
-servants and a single horse for his own use, and
-employing his now abundant leisure in religious
-exercises, in gardening, and clock-making.</p>
-
-<p>During Philip's absence, a series of insurrections
-took place which disturbed the quiet of the queen,
-and in which the King of France seems to have
-borne no inconsiderable part. His assiduous
-minister, Noailles, disseminated reports that Mary,
-hopeless of issue, had resolved to settle the Crown
-on her husband. This having produced its effect,
-a conspiracy was set on foot to put Elizabeth
-on the throne, and depose Mary. Sir Henry
-Dudley, a relative of the late Duke of Northumberland,
-was to head it and the French king,
-to secure his interest, had settled a pension on him.
-The worthless Courtenay, who was at this moment
-on his way to Italy, whence he never returned,
-was still to play the part of husband to Elizabeth,
-though the management of the plot was to be
-consigned to Dudley. Elizabeth had again, it is
-said, fully consented to this plot, though the health
-of Mary was such as must have promised her the
-throne at no distant day. Dudley was already
-on the coast of Normandy with some of his fellow-conspirators,
-making preparations, when the King
-of France unexpectedly concluded a truce for five
-years with Philip. He therefore advised Dudley
-and his accomplices to lie quiet for a more favourable
-opportunity. This was a paralysing blow to
-the scheme of insurrection, and the coadjutors in
-England had gone so far that they did not think
-it safe to stop. Kingston, Uedale, Throgmorton,
-Staunton, and others of the league determined to
-seize the treasure in the Tower, and, once in possession
-of that, to raise forces and drive the queen
-from the throne. But one of them revealed the
-design; several of them were seized and executed,
-and others escaped to France. Mary applied by
-her ambassador, Lord Clinton, to Henry II. to
-have them delivered up, and received a polite
-promise of endeavour to secure them, which there
-was in reality no intention to fulfil. Amongst the
-conspirators arrested were two officers of the
-household of Elizabeth, Peckham and Werne, who
-made very awkward confessions; but again the
-princess escaped, it is said at the intercession of
-Philip, who was apprehensive, if Elizabeth was
-removed from the succession, of the claims of the
-French king on behalf of his daughter-in-law, the
-Queen of Scots. Elizabeth at all events escaped,
-protesting her innocence as stoutly as ever, but
-receiving from the Council in place of those two
-officers executed, two other trusty ones, Sir
-Thomas Pope and Robert Cage.</p>
-
-<p>But if Elizabeth was uneasy, Mary was still
-more so. The disquiets which surrounded her,
-and the wretched state of her health, made her
-very anxious for the return of her husband. She
-had lost her able minister, Gardiner, who died in
-November, 1555, and his successor, Heath, Archbishop
-of York, by no means supplied his place.
-Mary, therefore, wrote long and repeated letters
-to urge the return of Philip, and, finding them
-unavailing, she despatched Lord Paget to represent
-the urgent need of his presence in the kingdom.
-At last his difficulties with France and the
-Pope brought Philip home to his wife when all
-conjugal persuasions on her part had failed. He
-sent over, to announce his approach, Robert
-Dudley, son of the late Duke of Northumberland,
-whom Mary had liberated from the Tower, and
-who already, it seems, had contrived to win so
-much favour as to be taken into the royal
-service, in which he continued to mount till, in
-the next reign, he became the notorious Earl
-of Leicester and favourite of Queen Elizabeth.
-On the 20th of March, 1556, Philip himself
-arrived at Greenwich. As he wanted to win the
-English to join him in the war against France, he
-paid particular respect to the City of London.
-During this visit there appeared at Court the
-novel sight of a Duke of Muscovy, in the character
-of ambassador from Russia, who astonished the
-public by the enormous size of the pearls and
-jewels that he wore, and the richness of his
-dress.</p>
-
-<p>Philip used all his influence to induce the queen
-and her Council to declare war against Henry
-of France, who had broken that five years' truce
-into which he had so recently entered. But the
-finances of the country were not such as to render
-either the queen or her Council willing to go to
-war with France, which, connected as France was
-now with Scotland, was sure to occasion a war
-also with that country. Cardinal Pole and nearly
-the whole Council were strongly opposed to it.
-They assured her that to engage lightly in Philip's
-wars was to make England a dependency of Spain,
-and Philip, on the other hand, protested to the
-queen that if she did not aid him against France
-he would take his leave of her for ever.</p>
-
-<p>While matters were in this position a circumstance
-occurred which turned the scale in Philip's
-favour. Henry II. of France, on deciding to
-accept the Pope's invitation, and to make war
-on Philip, called on Dudley and his adherents to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
-renew their attempts on England. Dudley and
-his coadjutors opened a communication with the
-families of the Reformers in Calais and the surrounding
-district, who had suffered from the persecution
-of the English Government, or who were
-indignant at the cruelties practised on their fellow
-professors, and they concurred in a plan to betray
-Hammes and Guines to the French. This scheme
-was defeated by the means of an English spy who
-became cognisant of the secret. The mischief,
-though stopped there, soon showed itself in
-another quarter. Thomas Stafford, the second
-son of Lord Stafford, and grandson of the late
-Duke of Buckingham, mustered a small army of
-English, French, and Scots, and, sailing from
-Dieppe, landed at Scarborough in Yorkshire, and
-surprised the castle there. But he soon found
-that, however much the public might dislike the
-Spanish match, they were not at all inclined to
-rebel against their queen. Wotton, the English
-ambassador in France, had duly warned his court
-of the designs of Stafford, and on the fourth day
-the Earl of Westmoreland appeared with a strong
-body of troops before the castle, and compelled
-Stafford to surrender at discretion. Stafford,
-Saunders, and three or four others were sent to
-London, and committed to the Tower, where,
-under torture, they were made to confess that the
-King of France had instigated and assisted their
-enterprise. Stafford was beheaded on Tower Hill
-on the 28th of May, 1557, and the next day three
-of his confederates were hanged at Tyburn.</p>
-
-<p>The Council had been averse from the war,
-and had advised that, instead of appearing as
-principals, we should merely confine ourselves to
-the furnishing that aid which we were bound to
-by our ancient treaties with the House of Burgundy.
-Now, however, it felt itself justified in
-proclaiming open war against the King of France,
-as the violator of the treaty between the nations,
-in having harboured the traitors against the queen,
-and in having sent them over in French ships to
-Scarborough with arms, ammunition, and money.
-Philip, having obtained what he wanted, hastened
-over to Flanders, and neither Mary nor England
-ever saw him again.</p>
-
-<p>The Earl of Pembroke, accompanied by Lord
-Robert Dudley as his master of ordnance, followed
-Philip at the end of July with 7,000 men. They
-joined the army of Philip, consisting of men of many
-nations&mdash;Germans, Italians, Flemings, Dalmatians,
-Croats, Illyrians, and others&mdash;making altogether a
-force of 40,000 men, the supreme command of
-which was given to the rejected suitor of the
-Princess Elizabeth, Philibert Duke of Savoy.
-The duke successfully threatened an attack upon
-Marienberg, Rocroi, and Guise, but he finally
-drew up before St. Quentin, on the right bank of
-the Somme. There he won a great victory. The
-English fleet made descents upon France at
-various points, menaced Bordeaux and Bayonne,
-and plundered the defenceless inhabitants of the
-coasts. This was all that was achieved, except
-what Philip probably most looked for, the drawing
-of the Duke of Guise out of Italy. But this, while
-it removed all danger from Philip's Transalpine
-possessions, led to a loss on the part of his English
-ally which might be termed the crowning mischief
-of his union with Mary.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Guise, disappointed of his laurels
-in Italy, was now planning an attack on Calais.
-The English were never less prepared for the invasion.
-The fleet which had ravaged the coasts
-of France, and the troops sent to Flanders, had
-totally exhausted the exchequer of Mary, which at
-no time was well supplied. To victual that navy
-the queen had seized all the corn she could find in
-Norfolk without paying for it, and to equip the
-army sent to aid Philip, she had made a forced
-loan on London, and on people of property in
-different places; she had levied the second year's
-subsidy voted by Parliament before its time, and
-now was helpless at the critical moment. Lord
-Wentworth, the Governor of Calais, foreseeing the
-approaching storm, sent repeated entreaties for
-reinforcements for its defence. They were wholly
-unattended to.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Guise, after entering the English
-pale, sent a detachment of his army along the
-downs to Rysbank, and led the other himself, with
-a very heavy train of artillery, towards Newnham
-Bridge. He forced the outwork at the village of
-St. Agatha, at the commencement of the causeway,
-drove the garrison into Newnham, and took
-possession of the outwork. The bulwarks of
-Froyton and Nesle were abandoned, for the lord-deputy
-could send no forces to defend them. At
-Newnham Bridge the garrison withdrew so
-silently that the French continued firing upon the
-fort when the men were already in Calais; but at
-Rysbank the garrison surrendered with the fort.
-Thus, in a couple of days, the Duke of Guise was
-in possession of two most important forts, one
-commanding the harbour, the other the causeway
-across the marshes from Flanders. A battery on
-the heath of St. Pierre played on the wall to
-create a false alarm, whilst another in real earnest
-played on the castle. A breach was made in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
-wall near the water-gate, and, while the garrison
-was busy in repairing it, Guise cannonaded the
-castle (which was in a scandalous state of neglect)
-with fifteen double cannons. A wide breach was
-speedily made. Lord Wentworth, well aware that
-the castle could not be maintained, had ordered
-mines to be prepared, and calculated on blowing the
-castle and the Frenchmen into the air together as
-soon as they were in. Guise, seeing no garrison
-defending the breach, ordered one detachment to
-occupy the quay, and another, under Strozzi, to
-take up a position on the other side of the harbour.
-Strozzi was repulsed; but at ebb-tide in the
-evening, Grammont, at the head of 100 arquebusiers,
-marched up to the ditch opposite to the
-breach. No one being seen in the castle, Guise
-ordered plenty of hurdles to be thrown into the
-ditch, and, putting himself at the head of his men,
-forded the ditch, finding it not deeper than his
-girdle. The lord-deputy, seeing the French in the
-castle, ordered the train to be fired; but there
-was no explosion. The soldiers crossing from the
-ditch to the breach, with their clothes deluging
-the ground with water, had wet the train, and
-defeated Wentworth's design. The next morning
-Guise sent his troops to assault the town, calculating
-on as easy a conquest of it; but Sir
-Anthony Agar, with a handful of men, not only
-repulsed the French, but chased them back into
-the castle. The brave Sir Anthony, with a larger
-force, would have driven the French from the decayed
-old castle too, but he had the merest little
-knot of followers, and in the vain attempt to force
-the enemy out of the castle, he fell at the gate
-with his son, and eighty of his chief officers.
-Lord Wentworth perceiving the impossibility of
-continuing the defence, destitute of a garrison,
-and having waited in vain for reinforcements from
-Dover, that night demanded a parley, and surrendered.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_244big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_244.jpg" width="560" height="421" alt="" title="THE HÔTEL DE VILLE AND OLD LIGHTHOUSE, CALAIS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE HÔTEL DE VILLE AND OLD LIGHTHOUSE, CALAIS.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The fall of Calais necessitated, as a matter of
-course, the loss of the whole Calais district.
-Having put Calais into a state of defence,
-Guise marched on the 13th of January, 1558, to
-Guines, about five miles distant, to reduce the
-town and fort there. These were defended stoutly
-by Lord Grey de Wilton, who had received about
-400 Spanish and Burgundian soldiers from King<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
-Philip, but they were in too miserable a state of
-repair to be long held. The walls in a few days
-were knocked to pieces; the Spanish soldiers were
-nearly all killed, and the remaining force compelled
-their officers to surrender. The little castle
-of Hammes now only remained, and situated in the
-midst of extensive marshes, it might have given
-the enemy some trouble; but its governor, Lord
-Edward Dudley, the moment he heard of the surrender
-of Guines, abandoned it, and fled with his
-few soldiers into Flanders. The French were as
-elated at their success as the English were
-mortified with it, and the poor queen felt the loss
-so deeply, that she declared that if her body were
-opened after her death, the name of Calais would
-be found graven on her heart.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_245a.jpg" width="526" height="250" alt="" title="SHILLING OF PHILIP AND MARY" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SHILLING OF PHILIP AND MARY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In England, during the spring, preparations
-were made for the invasion of France. Seven
-thousand troops were raised and diligently drilled.
-One hundred and forty ships were hired, which
-the Lord-Admiral Clinton collected in the harbour
-of Portsmouth, to be ready to join the fleet of
-Philip, and, in conjunction, to ravage the coasts of
-France; whilst Philip, with an army of Spanish,
-French, and English, should enter the country by
-land. But this fleet and the English army,
-instead of aiming to recover Calais, sailed to
-make an attack on Brest. But their progress
-had been so dilatory that the French had made
-ample preparations to receive them, and despairing
-of effecting any impression on Brest,
-they fell on the little port of Le Conquêt, which
-they took and pillaged, with a large church and
-several hamlets in its immediate neighbourhood.
-They then marched some miles up the country,
-burning and plundering, and the Flemings, in the
-eager quest of booty, going too far ahead, were
-surrounded, and 400 of them cut off.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_245b.jpg" width="488" height="250" alt="" title="REAL OF MARY I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>REAL OF MARY I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It appeared as if the war would be brought to
-a conclusion by a pitched battle between the
-sovereigns of France and Spain. Philip had
-joined his general, the Duke of Savoy, and they
-lay near Dourlens with an army of 45,000 men.
-Henry had come into the camp of the Duke of
-Guise near Amiens, who had an army of nearly
-equal strength. All the world looked now for a
-great and decisive conflict. But Philip, though
-superior in numbers, as well as crowned with the
-prestige of victory, listened to offers of accommodation
-from Henry, and dismissing their armies
-into winter quarters, they betook themselves to
-negotiation. From the first no agreement appeared
-probable. Philip demanded the restoration
-of Calais, Henry that of Navarre, and they were
-still pursuing the hopeless phantom of accommodation,
-when the news of Queen Mary's death
-changed totally the position of Philip, and put
-an end to the attempt. She died, desolate and
-broken-hearted, on the 17th of November, 1558.</p>
-
-<p>With all her bigotry, Mary had many excellent
-and amiable qualities. No English monarch ever
-maintained a less expensive and less corrupt
-court. She avoided all unnecessary taxation, and
-treated the cost of her war with France as largely
-a private charge of her own. She lived unostentatiously,
-went about amongst the poor with
-her maids, inquiring into their wants and relieving
-them. She was an enlightened patron of
-learning, and was the first to propose a hospital
-for old and invalid soldiers, leaving a legacy for
-this purpose, which was, however, never appropriated.
-Except in the matter of religious
-toleration, she showed a scrupulous regard for the
-maintenance of the Constitution and the law.
-Under her the administration of justice was pure
-and without respect of person. Nor were the
-interests of trade neglected. She was the first to
-make a commercial treaty with Russia, and she revoked
-the privileges of the Hanse Town merchants,
-who had exercised them to the hurt of her own
-people. By nature she was mild, but the persecution
-of her own faith in the persons of her mother
-and herself, and, above everything, the fatal Spanish
-marriage, produced a reaction which entailed all
-the calamities of her short and miserable reign.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Accession of Elizabeth&mdash;Sir William Cecil&mdash;The Coronation&mdash;Opening of Parliament&mdash;Ecclesiastical Legislation&mdash;Consecration
-of Parker&mdash;Elizabeth and Philip&mdash;Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis&mdash;Affairs in Scotland&mdash;The First Covenant&mdash;Attitude of
-Mary of Guise&mdash;Riot at Perth&mdash;Outbreak of Hostilities&mdash;The Lords of the Congregation apply to England&mdash;Elizabeth
-hesitates&mdash;Siege of Leith&mdash;Treaty of Edinburgh&mdash;Return of Mary to Scotland&mdash;Murray's Influence over her&mdash;Beginning
-of the Religious Wars in France&mdash;Elizabeth sends Help to the Huguenots&mdash;Peace of Amboise&mdash;English Disaster at Havre&mdash;Peace
-with France&mdash;The Earl of Leicester&mdash;Project of his Marriage with Mary&mdash;Lord Darnley&mdash;Murder of Rizzio&mdash;Birth
-of Mary's Son&mdash;Murder of Darnley&mdash;Mary and Bothwell&mdash;Carberry Hill&mdash;Mary in Lochleven&mdash;Abdicates in favour of
-Her Infant Son&mdash;Mary's Escape from Lochleven&mdash;Defeated at Langside&mdash;Her Escape into England.</p>
-</blockquote>
-
-<p>Parliament had met on the morning of the 17th
-of November, 1558, unaware of the decease of the
-queen; but before noon, Dr. Heath, the Archbishop
-of York and Lord Chancellor of England, sent a
-message to the House of Commons, requesting the
-Speaker, with the knights and burgesses of the
-Lower House, to attend in the Lords to give
-their assent in a matter of the utmost importance.
-On being there assembled, the Lord Chancellor
-announced to the united Parliament the demise
-of Mary, and, though by that event the Commons
-were dissolved by the law as it remained till the
-reign of William III., he called upon them to
-combine with the Lords, before taking their
-departure, for the safety of the country, by
-proclaiming the Lady Elizabeth queen of the
-realm. Whatever might have been the fears of
-any portion of the community as to the recognition
-of the title of Elizabeth on the plea of
-illegitimacy, or from suspicion of her religion,
-that question had long been settled by the flocking
-of the courtiers of all creeds and characters
-to Hatfield, where she resided; and now on this
-announcement there was a loud acclamation from
-the members of both Houses of "God save Queen
-Elizabeth! Long may she reign over us!"</p>
-
-<p>For two days Elizabeth, as if from due respect
-to her deceased sister and sovereign, remained
-quiescent at Hatfield; but thousands of people
-of all ranks were flocking thither; and on the
-19th her Privy Council proceeded thither also,
-and, after announcing to her her joyful and
-undisputed accession, they proclaimed her with
-all state before the gates of Hatfield House.
-They then sat in council with her, and she
-appointed her own ministers, having, no doubt,
-made all these arrangements with the man whom
-she had long marked out for her prime minister,
-Sir William Cecil. He had for years been her
-confidential counsellor. By his shrewd and
-worldly guidance, she had shaped her future
-course; and in appointing her ministers now,
-she showed by her address to Cecil that it was for
-him that she designed the chief post.</p>
-
-<p>Besides Cecil, she named Sir Thomas Parry, her
-cofferer, Cave, and Rogers of her Privy Council.
-Cecil immediately entered on his duties as her
-Secretary of State, and submitted to her a programme
-of what was immediately necessary to be
-done, which she accepted; and thus began that
-union between Elizabeth and her great minister,
-which only terminated with his life.</p>
-
-<p>On the 23rd the new queen commenced her
-progress towards the metropolis, attended by a
-magnificent throng of nobles, ladies, and gentlemen,
-and a vast concourse of people from London
-and from the country round. At Highgate she
-was met by the bishops, who kneeled by the
-wayside, and offered their allegiance. She received
-them graciously, and gave them all her
-hand to kiss, except to Bonner, whom she treated
-with a marked coldness, on account of his
-atrocious cruelties: an intimation of her own intentions
-on the score of religion which must have
-given satisfaction to the people. At the foot of
-Highgate Hill, the Lord Mayor and his aldermanic
-brethren, in their scarlet gowns, were waiting to
-receive her, and conducted her to the Charter
-House, then the residence of Lord North, where
-Heath, the Lord Chancellor, and the Earls of
-Derby and Shrewsbury received her. There she
-remained five days to give time for the necessary
-preparations, when she proceeded to take up her
-residence in the Tower, prior to her coronation,
-which took place on the 15th of January, 1559.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 445px;"><a href="images/i_246big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_246.jpg" width="445" height="560" alt="" title="QUEEN ELIZABETH. From the painting by Zucchero at Hatfield House" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>QUEEN ELIZABETH.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the painting by Zucchero at Hatfield House.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>On the 25th of January Elizabeth proceeded
-to open her first Parliament. She had prepared
-to carry the decisive measures of religious reform
-which she contemplated, by adding five new peers
-of the Protestant faith to the Upper House, and
-by sending to the sheriffs a list of Court candidates
-out of which they were to choose the members.
-Like all other public proceedings, this was
-a strange medley of Romanism and Protestantism.
-High mass was performed at the altar in Westminster
-Abbey before the queen and the assembled
-Houses, and this was followed by a sermon
-preached by Dr. Cox, the Calvinistic schoolmaster
-of Edward VI., who had just returned from
-Geneva. The Lord Keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon,
-then opened the session by a speech, the queen
-being present, in which he held very high prerogative
-language, assuring both Lords and Commons
-that they might take measures for a uniform
-order of religion, and for the safety of the State
-against both foreign and domestic enemies; not that
-it was absolutely necessary, for she could do everything
-of her own authority, but she preferred having
-the advice and counsel of her loving subjects.</p>
-
-<p>The first thing which the Commons proposed
-was the very last thing which she would have
-wished them to meddle with&mdash;that is, an address
-recommending her to marry, so as to secure a
-legitimate heir to the throne. Elizabeth, as we
-have seen, had had many suitors, none of whom, if
-we except the unfortunate Lord Admiral Seymour,
-or the handsome but imbecile Courtenay, Earl
-of Devon, had she shown any willingness to marry.
-There have been many theories regarding the refusal
-of Elizabeth to enter into wedlock. The
-only one which will bear a moment's examination
-is, that her love of power was so strong as to
-absorb every other feeling and consideration. She
-made a long speech in reply to the address,
-glancing towards the close of it at her coronation
-ring, and then saying that when she received
-that ring, she became solemnly bound in marriage
-to the realm, and that she took their address in
-good part, but more for their good will than for
-their message.</p>
-
-<p>Without referring to the questionable marriage
-of her mother, Anne Boleyn, an Act was passed
-restoring Elizabeth in blood, and rendering her
-heritable to her mother and all her mother's line.
-She was declared to be lawful and rightful queen,
-lineally and lawfully descended of the blood royal,
-and fully capable of holding, and transmitting to her
-posterity, the possession of the crown and throne.</p>
-
-<p>Next came the regulations for the government
-of the Church, which Elizabeth had so prudently
-avoided making upon her own responsibility, but
-left to the authority of Parliament. By it the
-tenths and first-fruits resigned by Mary were
-again restored to her. The statutes passed in
-Mary's reign for the maintenance of strict
-Romanism were repealed, and those of Henry
-VIII. for the rejection of the Papal authority,
-and of Edward VI. for the reformation of the
-Church ritual were revived. The Book of Common
-Prayer, considerably modified, was to be in
-uniform and exclusive use. The old penalties
-against seeking any ecclesiastical authority or
-ordination from abroad were re-enacted, and the
-queen was declared absolute head of the Church
-by a new Act of Supremacy.</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding the softening of the parts and
-expressions in the liturgy most offensive to the
-Papists, such as the prayer "to deliver us from
-the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities,"
-and the modification of the terms in administration
-of the sacrament, to avoid offence
-to other Protestant churches, the bishops opposed
-these measures most resolutely. Convocation
-presented to the House of Lords a declaration of
-its belief in the Real Presence, transubstantiation,
-the sacrifice of the Mass, and the supremacy of
-the Pope. On the other hand, the Protestants
-were grievously disappointed in other particulars,
-especially as to restoration of the married clergy,
-and of the restoration to their sees of Bishops
-Barlow, Scorey, and Coverdale. Both these petitions
-failed on the question of marriage, for Elizabeth
-never could tolerate married priests or
-bishops, and these expelled bishops were all
-married men. The Protestants were equally disappointed
-in the failure of a Bill to nominate a
-commission to draw a code of canon law for the
-Anglican Church. Elizabeth, like her father,
-rather preferred deciding all such matters herself
-than allowing any other body to be authority.</p>
-
-<p>But to give an air of liberality to what was
-not meant to involve any concession, permission
-was given for the Papist and Protestant divines
-to argue certain great points in public. Five
-bishops and three doctors on the part of the
-former, and as many Protestant divines, were
-appointed to dispute before the Lord Keeper, Sir
-Nicholas Bacon, and the debates of the two
-Houses were suspended, that the members might
-attend the controversy. The Roman Catholics
-were to have the privilege of opening the conference,
-and the Protestants were to reply; but it
-was speedily discovered that this gave immense advantage
-to the Protestants. The Roman Catholics
-called for a change of this mode; the Lord Keeper
-refused to grant it; the bishops, therefore,
-protested that the conditions were not equal, and
-refused to attend. For this disobedience the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
-Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln were committed
-to the Tower, and the other six disputants
-were bound to make their appearance at the bar
-of the Lords till judgment was pronounced, and
-they were compelled to do so till the end of the
-session, when they were fined in sums from £500
-to forty marks. Parliament was dissolved on the
-8th of May, and within a week Elizabeth summoned
-the bishops and other dignitaries before
-herself and the Privy Council, and admonished
-them to make themselves conformable to the laws
-just passed regarding religion. Heath, the archbishop,
-replied by boldly advising her Majesty to
-remember her own coronation oath, not to alter
-the religion which she found by law established;
-adding that his conscience could not permit him
-to conform to the new regulations, and all the
-other prelates and dignitaries declared the same.
-The Council then charged Heath and Bonner,
-on the evidence of certain papers, with having,
-during the reign of Edward VI., carried on secret
-conspiracies with Rome, with the intent to overthrow
-the Government. To this they replied by
-pleading two general pardons, and the Council
-then proceeded to administer to them the oath
-of supremacy. This they all refused except
-Kitchen, the Bishop of Llandaff, who had clung
-to his see through all changes for the last fourteen
-years, and clung to it still. They were then
-deprived of their sees, and a considerable number
-of other Church dignitaries were also deprived
-by the same test. The bulk of the clergy, however,
-conformed, and to those who were ejected
-pensions for life were allowed&mdash;a policy far more
-considerate than had ever prevailed in such circumstances
-before. The refugees on account of
-the Marian persecution, who had now flocked
-home from Switzerland and Germany, were installed
-in the vacant livings, and before the end
-of this year the Church of Rome had lost the
-State patronage in Great Britain for ever. Two
-statutes&mdash;the Act enforcing the oath of Supremacy,
-and the other the Act of Uniformity&mdash;became
-law, during this session. The latter Act
-prohibited under heavy penalties the use by a
-minister of any but the established liturgy, and
-confirmed the revised Book of Common Prayer of
-Edward VI.</p>
-
-<p>To replace the expelled bishops was no very
-easy matter, not from the paucity of candidates,
-but from the revolutions which had taken place in
-the ordinal of the Church. Dr. Matthew Parker,
-who had been the chaplain of Anne Boleyn, and
-who had stood so faithfully by her, was appointed
-by Elizabeth Archbishop of Canterbury, but how
-was he to be consecrated? His election was to
-be confirmed by four bishops, and his consecration
-to be performed by them. Where were they
-to be found? There was not a bishop left,
-except Llandaff. Still more, Mary had abolished
-the ordinal of Edward VI., and Elizabeth had
-abolished that of Mary. The difficulty was, at
-first sight, insurmountable, and no way out of
-it presented itself for four months. It was then
-recollected that Barlow, Hodgkins, Scorey, and
-Coverdale, the deprived Bishops of Bath, Bedford,
-Chichester, and Exeter, had been consecrated
-by the Reformed ordinal, and that restoration
-which had been denied them at the petition
-of their friends, because they were married men,
-was now accorded as an escape from this dilemma.
-They were reinstated, and confirmed the election
-of Parker, consecrated him according to the
-form of Edward VI., and helped to confirm
-and consecrate all the newly elected prelates.</p>
-
-<p>While Elizabeth and her ministers had been
-thus engaged in settling the constitution of the
-Church, they had also been occupied with effecting
-a Continental peace. Philip had refused to conclude
-a treaty with France previous to the death
-of Mary, without including in it the restoration
-of Calais to England, and to Philibert the Duke
-of Savoy his hereditary estates. The death of
-Mary at once cut the actual connection of Philip
-with England, but he remained firm in his demand,
-for he had formed the design of obtaining the hand
-of Elizabeth. He lost no time in making the
-offer, observing that though they were within the
-proscribed degrees of affinity the Pope would readily
-grant a dispensation, and the union of England and
-Spain would give them the command of Europe.
-But, independent of the partnership in power
-which this marriage would create, Elizabeth entertained
-schemes of Church arrangement very
-different to any which would accord with Philip's
-ideas. She, therefore, courteously excused herself
-on the plea of scruples of conscience, and this
-refusal was followed by the non-appearance of
-Feria, Philip's ambassador, at her coronation.
-Philip, however, did not give up the suit without
-employing all the eloquence and the arguments
-that he could muster; he kept up a brisk correspondence
-for some time with the new queen, and
-even when the attempt appeared hopeless, he still
-offered to assist her in the treaty with France.
-He settled his own disputes with France by
-marrying the daughter of the King of France, as
-soon as he saw the hand of Elizabeth unattainable,
-and procured the sister of Henry II. for his friend
-Philibert.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 419px;"><a href="images/i_249big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_249.jpg" width="419" height="560" alt="" title="ELIZABETH'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO LONDON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ELIZABETH'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO LONDON. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_246">246.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The great demand of Elizabeth was the restoration
-of Calais, and at Cateau-Cambresis a treaty
-was concluded on the 2nd of April, 1559, by which
-the King of France actually engaged to surrender
-that town to England at the end of eight years, or
-pay to Elizabeth 500,000 crowns; and he agreed
-to deliver, as guarantee for this sum, four French
-noblemen and the bonds of eight foreign merchants.
-But to this article was appended another
-which, to any one in the least familiar with
-diplomacy, betrayed the fact that the whole was
-illusory, and that the French would have no difficulty,
-at the end of the prescribed term, in showing
-that England had in some way broken the
-contract. The article stipulated that if, within
-that period, Henry of France, or Mary of Scotland,
-should make any attempt against the realm
-or subjects of Elizabeth, they should forfeit
-all claim to the retention of that town; and
-if Elizabeth should infringe the peace with either
-of those monarchs, she should forfeit all claim
-to its surrender or to the penalty of 500,000
-crowns. The public at once saw that the French
-would never relinquish their hold on Calais from
-the force of any such condition, and the indignation
-was proportionate. The Government, to
-divert the attention of the people from this flimsy
-pretence of eventual restoration, ordered the impeachment
-of Lord Wentworth, the late governor
-of the castle and of the Rysbank, on a charge of
-cowardice and treason. Wentworth, as he
-deserved, was acquitted by the jury; the captains
-were condemned, but the object of the trial being
-attained, their sentence was never carried into
-effect.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, at her accession, had assumed the
-title of Queen of France. Henry II. immediately,
-by way of retaliation, caused his daughter-in-law
-Mary (she had married the Dauphin in
-1558) to be styled Queen of Scotland and England,
-and had the arms of England quartered with those
-of Scotland. Elizabeth, with her extreme sensitiveness
-to any claims upon her crown, and
-regarding this act as a declaration of her own
-illegitimacy and of Henry's assertion of Mary's
-superior right to the English throne, resented the
-proceeding deeply, and from that moment never
-ceased to plot against the peace and power of
-Mary till she drove her from her throne, made
-her captive, and finally deprived her of her life.</p>
-
-<p>We have already shown that Henry VII.
-commenced, and Henry VIII. and Edward VI.
-continued, the system of bribing the Scottish
-nobility against their sovereign. Elizabeth, in
-pursuance of her plans against the Queen of Scots,
-now adopted the same practice, and kept in pay
-both the nobles and the Protestant leaders of
-Scotland. To understand fully her proceedings,
-we must, however, first take a hasty glance at the
-progress of the Reformation in Scotland. That kingdom
-received the Reformation in its simplest, most
-rigid, and severe form. The doctrines which had
-sprung up in republican Switzerland, under Calvin
-and Zwingli, were imbibed there by Knox and
-others in their most unbending hardness. There
-was little of the gentle and the pliant in their
-tenets, but a stern asceticism, which suited well
-with the grave and earnest character of the Scots.
-When summoned by Mary of Guise to appear in
-Edinburgh and answer for their conduct, the
-preachers, attended by thousands of the respective
-congregations, presented themselves in such a
-formidable shape, that the Regent declared that
-she meant no injury to them. A period of such
-tranquillity succeeded, that the leaders of the
-Reform party&mdash;the Earl of Glencairn, Lord Lorne,
-son of the Earl of Argyll, Erskine of Dun, Lord
-James Stuart, afterwards the Regent Murray&mdash;on
-the 3rd of December, 1557, drew up that League
-and Covenant which was destined to work such
-wonders in Scotland, to rouse the suffering Reformers
-into a church militant, to put arms into
-the hands of the excited peasants, brace the
-sword to the side of the preacher, and, through
-civil war and scenes of strange suffering, bloodshed,
-and resistance on moor and mountain, to
-work out the freedom of the faith for ever in
-Scotland. The Covenant engaged all who subscribed
-it, in a solemn vow, "in the presence of
-the Majesty of God and His congregation," to
-spread the Word by every means in their power,
-to maintain the Gospel and defend its ministers
-against all tyranny; and it pronounced the most
-bitter anathemas against the superstition, the
-idolatry, and the abominations of Rome. This
-bond received the signatures of the Earls of Glencairn,
-Argyll, and Morton, Lord Lorne, Erskine
-of Dun, and many other nobles and gentlemen, who
-assumed the name of the Lords of the Congregation:
-and from this hour it became a scandalous apostacy
-for any one to flinch or fall away from this
-"Solemn League and Covenant."</p>
-
-<p>Mary at first temporised, but eventually determined
-to stand firm. In a convention of the
-clergy held in Edinburgh, in March, 1559, the
-Lords of the Congregation demanded that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
-bishops should be elected by the gentlemen of the
-diocese, and the clergy by the people of each parish.
-This was peremptorily refused, and it was decreed
-that the practice of using English prayers should
-cease, no language should be permitted in public
-worship but Latin, and this was followed by a
-proclamation of the Queen-Regent, ordering all
-people to conform strictly to the established
-religion and to attend Mass daily; and, in an interview
-with the leaders of the Protestants, she
-showed them the commands which she had
-received on these heads from France, and summoned
-the chief ministers of the Reformed body to
-appear before a Parliament to be held at Stirling
-to answer for their conduct in introducing heretical
-practices and doctrines.</p>
-
-<p>At this moment Knox arrived from France. It
-was determined by the Lords of the Congregation
-to attend their ministers to Stirling in such
-numbers as to overawe the Government, and Knox
-volunteered to take his part with the other
-preachers. The nobles and the people mustered
-at Perth. There Knox preached a stirring sermon;
-a riot was the result, and some religious houses
-were sacked.</p>
-
-<p>The Queen-Regent, at the news of this destruction,
-became furious. She vowed she would raze
-the town of Perth to the ground, and sow it with
-salt as a sign of eternal desolation. She summoned
-to her aid Arran, now Duke of Chatelherault, the
-Earl of Athole, and D'Oyselles, the French commander,
-and being joined by two of the Lords of
-the Congregation, Argyll and Lord James Stuart,
-who were averse from the outrages committed, on
-the 18th of May she marched to Perth. The Congregation
-hastened to address letters both to the
-Queen-Regent and the two Lords of the Congregation,
-who, to their indignation, had joined her. They
-told Mary of Guise that hitherto they had served her
-willingly; but if she persisted in her persecutions,
-they should abandon her and defend themselves.
-They would obey the queen and her husband if
-permitted to worship in their own way, otherwise
-they would be subject to no mortal man. To the
-two Lords of the Congregation they wrote first in
-mild expostulation, but they soon advanced their
-tone to threats of excommunication, and the doom
-of traitors, if they did not come from amongst the
-persecutors. They addressed another letter "To
-the generation of Anti-Christ, the pestilent prelates
-and their shavelings in Scotland;" and they
-warned them that, if they did not desist from
-their persecutions, they would exterminate them,
-as the Israelites did the wicked Canaanites.</p>
-
-<p>Matters were proceeding to extremity when
-Glencairn arrived in the Protestant camp with
-2,500 men. This made the Queen-Regent pause,
-and an agreement was effected by means of Argyll
-and the Lord James, by which toleration was again
-granted, and the Queen-Regent engaged that no
-Frenchman should approach within three miles of
-Perth, a condition which she characteristically
-evaded by garrisoning it with Scottish troops in
-French pay. Knox and Willock had an interview
-with Argyll and the Lord James, and sharply upbraided
-them with appearing in arms against their
-brethren, to which these nobles replied that they
-had done it only as a means of arbitrating for
-peace; but the Congregation took means to bind
-them in future by framing a new covenant, to
-which every member swore obedience, engaging to
-defend the Congregation or any of its members
-when menaced by the enemies of their religion.</p>
-
-<p>They were soon called upon to prove their
-sincerity. The Queen-Regent&mdash;totally regardless
-of the treaty just entered into&mdash;the very same day
-that the Lords of the Congregation quitted Perth,
-entered it with Chatelherault, D'Oyselles, and a
-body of French soldiers. She deprived the chief
-magistrates of their authority because they
-favoured the Reformation; made Charteris of
-Kinfauns, a man of infamous character, provost
-of the city, and left a garrison of troops in French
-pay to support him.</p>
-
-<p>The Lords of the Congregation assembled at
-St. Andrews, and with them Knox, who had come,
-as he said, to the conclusion that to be rid of the
-rooks it was necessary to pull down their nests.
-Their action was prompt; Perth surrendered at
-the first assault. Argyll and the Lord James had
-succeeded in checking the march of the Queen-Regent;
-and on their advance to Linlithgow, she
-and the French forces evacuated Edinburgh,
-falling back to Dunbar; whilst the Covenanting
-army, entering Linlithgow, pulled down the altars
-and images, destroyed the relics, and then advanced
-on Edinburgh, which they entered in
-triumph on the 29th of June, 1559.</p>
-
-<p>It was at this crisis that the progress of the
-Reformers in Scotland arrested the attention of
-the Government in England, and a letter was received
-from Sir Henry Percy by Kirkaldy of
-Grange, inquiring into the real objects of the
-Lords of the Congregation. Kirkaldy replied that
-they meant nothing but the reformation of religion;
-that they had purged the churches of
-imagery and other Popish stuff wherever they had
-come, and that they pulled down such friaries and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
-abbeys as would not receive the Reformed faith;
-but that they had not meddled with a pennyworth
-of the Church's property, reserving the appropriation
-of that to the maintenance of godly ministers
-hereafter; that if the Queen-Regent would grant
-them spiritual liberty and send away the Frenchmen,
-they would obey her; if not, they would hear
-of no agreement. Knox also wrote to Percy in the
-name of the whole Congregation, and entreated
-that England should aid them in their struggle,
-telling them, in his sturdy way, that if it did it
-would be better for it; if not, though Scotland
-might suffer, England could not escape her share
-of the trouble.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_252.jpg" width="500" height="579" alt="From the Portrait by Isaac Oliver" title="ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>ELIZABETH. (<i>From the Portrait by Isaac Oliver.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The parsimony of Elizabeth, however, and the
-caution of her minister Cecil, withheld all efficient
-aid from the Scottish Reformers at the time that
-it was most essential. Whilst the Queen-Regent
-delayed any active proceedings in the hope of
-the arrival of fresh troops from France, and the
-knowledge that the irregular army brought into
-the field by the Scottish barons could not long
-be kept together, Elizabeth deferred the promised
-subsidies. In this predicament, the Lords of the
-Congregation made still more impassioned appeals
-to Cecil, and Knox wrote to him entreating him
-to abate the prejudice of Elizabeth towards him.
-But that prejudice was of the most bitter and
-unconquerable kind in the heart of Elizabeth.
-Knox had perpetrated the unpardonable offence
-to Elizabeth in writing his "First Blast of
-the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of
-Women." While Elizabeth hesitated, the Regent
-was fortifying Leith.</p>
-
-<p>At last the English queen determined to help
-her fellow-religionists, and by the treaty of Berwick
-agreed to aid them in an attack on the
-Regent. The Covenanters prepared for an assault
-on Leith, by constructing scaling-ladders in the
-High Church of St. Giles, Edinburgh, to the
-great scandal of the preachers, who prognosticated
-that proceedings begun in sacrilege would end in
-defeat. This soon appeared likely to be the
-result, for the money sent from England being
-exhausted, the soldiers clamoured for pay, and the
-army of 12,000 was on the verge of melting away
-very rapidly. In great alarm, the leaders vehemently
-entreated Elizabeth for more money, and
-making a struggle with her natural parsimony,
-she sent £4,000 to Cockburn of Ormiston, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
-undertook the perilous office of conveying it to
-headquarters. But a man who afterwards became
-notorious for the audacity of his crimes, the
-Earl of Bothwell, who now professed to be a
-zealous supporter of the Congregation, and had
-by this means obtained the knowledge of the
-transmission of the treasure, waylaid Cockburn,
-and carried off the money. This was a severe
-blow to the Congregation, and was speedily
-followed by another. Haliburton, provost of
-Dundee, had led a party of Reformers to attack
-Leith. He had planted his heavy artillery on an
-eminence near Holyrood; but whilst the majority
-of the leaders were attending a sermon, the
-French garrison attacked the battery, and drove
-the Reformers back into the city with great
-slaughter.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_253.jpg" width="560" height="268" alt="" title="AUTOGRAPH OF ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>AUTOGRAPH OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Even the arrival of an English army did not
-mend matters. The siege was carried on against
-Leith in a manner little creditable to the ancient
-fame of the English; as for the Scots, Sadler said,
-"they could climb no walls:" that is, they were
-not famous for conducting sieges and taking
-towns by assault. The English, who had acquired
-great fame in that kind of warfare, now seemed
-to have forgotten their skill, though they had lost
-none of their courage. Their lines of circumvallation
-were ill-drawn, their guns were ill-directed,
-their trenches were opened in ground unfit for
-the purpose, and they were repeatedly thrown
-into disorder by sorties of the enemy. To make
-matters worse, the supplies of the Scots became
-exhausted, and they began to make their usual
-cries to the English for more money. But from
-the English court came, instead of the all-needful
-money, signs of discouragement. Elizabeth still
-maintained her equivocal conduct, and the Lords
-of the Congregation were greatly alarmed to find
-her actually negotiating with the sick Queen-Regent
-for an accommodation. At the very time
-that the Scots and the English were engaged in
-a smart action at Hawkhill, near Lochend, during
-the siege, Sir James Croft and Sir George Howard
-were with the dying Mary of Guise in the castle of
-Edinburgh. Elizabeth still declared that she was
-not fighting against Francis and Mary, the king
-and queen of France and Scotland, but against
-their Ministers in the latter country, and simply
-for the defence of her own realm against their
-attempts. She desired Sir Ralph Sadler to
-express her willingness to treat, and to make it
-clear that she was no party to any design to
-injure or depose the rightful queen. What she
-aimed at was the expulsion of the French from
-Scotland as dangerous to her own dominions, and
-he was instructed, if the old plea was raised&mdash;namely,
-that the French only remained there to
-maintain the throne of their mistress against disaffected
-subjects&mdash;to state that his sovereign would
-not admit this plea, as it was a mere pretence,
-and would not lay down her arms till the Queen of
-Scots was also secured in her just power and claims.</p>
-
-<p>On the 10th of June, 1560, the Queen-Regent
-died in the castle of Edinburgh. On her
-death-bed she entreated Lord James Stuart, and
-some others of the Lords of the Congregation,
-as well as her own courtiers, to support the
-rightful power of her daughter: but, as the
-events showed, and the treacherous, ambitious
-character of the bastard brother of Queen Mary
-rendered probable, to very little purpose. The
-Queen-Regent's decease, however, opened a way
-to negotiation. The insurrectionary feeling in
-France made the French court readily support<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>
-such a proposition, and it was agreed that the
-French and English commissioners should meet
-at Berwick on the 14th of June. The English
-commissioners were Cecil and Dr. Wotton, Dean
-of Canterbury; the French, Monluc, Bishop of
-Valence, and Count de Randon. Perhaps four
-more acute diplomatists never met. On the 16th
-of June, they proceeded to Edinburgh, passing
-through the English camp on the way, where
-they were saluted by a general discharge of firearms.
-By the 6th of July all the conditions
-of peace were settled, and it was announced both
-to the besiegers and besieged that hostilities were
-at an end.</p>
-
-<p>The French commissioners stood stoutly for the
-rights and prerogatives of the Crown, but they
-were compelled to yield many points to the imperturbable
-firmness of Cecil. Dunbar and Inchkeith
-were surrendered as well as Leith. The
-French troops, excepting a small garrison in
-Dunbar and another in Inchkeith, were to be
-sent home and no more to be brought over. An
-indemnity for all that had passed since March,
-1558, in Scotland, was granted; every man was
-to regain the post or position which he held before
-the struggle, and no Frenchman was to hold any
-office in that kingdom. A Convention of the
-three Estates was to be summoned by the king
-and queen, and four-and-twenty persons were
-to be named by this Convention, out of whom
-should be chosen a Council of twelve for the
-government of the country, of whom the Queen
-should name seven, and the Estates five. The
-king and queen were not to declare war, or conclude
-peace, without the concurrence of the
-Estates; neither the Lords nor the members of
-the Congregation should be molested for what
-they had done, and Churchmen were to be
-protected in their persons, rights, and properties,
-and to receive compensation for their losses according
-to the award of the Estates in Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>On one point, and that the chief point of the
-quarrel, the leaders of the Congregation did not
-obtain their demand, which naturally was for
-the establishment of their religion. We may
-suppose that Cecil and his colleague were not
-very desirous of carrying this; for the Queen of
-England regarded the Scottish Reformers as fanatical
-and she especially abominated the character
-and doctrines of Knox. It was conceded, however,
-that Parliament should be summoned without
-delay, and that a deputation should lay this
-request before the king and queen.</p>
-
-<p>By a second treaty between England and
-France, it was determined that the right to the
-crowns of England and Ireland lay in Elizabeth,
-and that Mary should no longer bear the arms
-or use the style of these two kingdoms. Another
-proposition, however, was refused in this treaty,
-and that was the surrender of Calais to England.</p>
-
-<p>It remained now to obtain the consent of
-Francis and Mary to these decisions; and Sir
-James Sandilands, a knight of Malta, was despatched
-to Paris for this purpose. His reception
-was such as might be expected. Mary refused
-to sanction the proceedings of a Parliament
-which had been summoned without her authority,
-and which had acted in the very face of the
-treaty, by seeking to destroy the religion in
-which she had been educated. Thereupon the
-Estates established Protestantism on their own
-authority.</p>
-
-<p>All speculations as to what the Guises would
-do were cut short by the death of Francis II.,
-the husband of Mary, on the 5th of December,
-1560. He had always been a sickly personage,
-and his reign had lasted only eighteen months.
-His successor, Charles IX., was only nine years
-of age, and had a mind and constitution not exhibiting
-more promise of health and vigour than
-those of his late brother. His mother, Catherine
-de Medici, became regent, and his uncles of
-Lorraine lost the direction of affairs. Catherine
-and Mary were no friends; the young Queen-Dowager
-of France, only nineteen, was now
-treated harshly and contemptuously by the Lady-Regent,
-and she retired to Rheims, where she
-spent the winter amongst her relatives of Lorraine.</p>
-
-<p>Mary now prepared to make her way home
-by sea. Her false half-brother, the Lord James,
-instead of being to her, at this trying moment,
-a friend and staunch counsellor, was, and had
-long been, leagued with her most troublesome
-and rebellious subjects, and was expecting, by
-the aid of Elizabeth of England, to engross the
-chief power in the State, if not eventually to
-push his unsuspecting sister from the throne.
-The Roman Catholics of Scotland were quite
-alive to the dangers which attended their sovereign
-in such company, and deputed Leslie the
-Bishop of Ross, a man of high integrity&mdash;which,
-through a long series of troubles, he manifested
-towards his queen&mdash;to go over to France and
-return with her. Leslie was so much alarmed by
-the dangers which menaced her amongst her turbulent
-and zeal-excited subjects, that he advised her
-in private to extend her voyage to the Highlands,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
-and put herself under the protection of the Earl
-of Huntly, who, at the head of a large army,
-would conduct her to her capital and place her
-in safety on her throne, at the same time that he
-enabled her to protect the ancient religion. But
-Mary would not listen to anything like a return
-by force. She determined to throw herself on
-the affections of her subjects, and to go amongst
-them peaceably.</p>
-
-<p>Mary embarked at Calais on the 15th of
-August, 1561. She eluded the ships sent to
-prevent her, and on the 19th she landed on her
-native shore at Leith. She had come a fortnight
-earlier than she had fixed, to checkmate the
-schemes of her enemies; but the people flew
-to welcome her and crowded the beach with
-hearty acclamations: the lords, however, says a
-contemporary, had taken small pains to honour
-her reception and "cover the nakedness of the
-land." Instead of the gay palfreys of France
-to which she had been accustomed, in their rich
-accoutrements, she saw a wretched set of Highland
-shelties prepared to convey her and her
-retinue to Holyrood; and when she surveyed
-their tattered furniture and mounted into the
-bare wooden saddle, the past and the present
-came so mournfully over her, that her eyes filled
-with tears. The honest joy of her people, however,
-was an ample compensation, had she not
-known what ill-will lurked in the background
-against her amongst the nobles and clergy.</p>
-
-<p>Mary was the finest woman of her time.
-Tall, beautiful, accomplished, in the freshness
-of her youth, not yet nineteen, distinguished
-by the most graceful manners and the most
-fascinating disposition, she was formed to captivate
-a people sensible to such charms. But she
-came into her country, in every past age turbulent
-and independent, at a crisis when the public
-spirit was divided and embittered by religious controversy,
-and she was exposed to the deepest suspicion
-of the Reforming party, by belonging to a
-family notorious for its bigoted attachment to
-the old religion. Yet the candour of her disposition
-and her easy condescension seemed to make
-a deep impression on the masses. They not only
-cheered her enthusiastically on the way to her
-ancestral palace of Holyrood, but about 200 of the
-citizens of Edinburgh, playing on three-stringed
-fiddles, kept up a deafening serenade under her
-windows all night; and such was her good-natured
-appreciation of the motive, that she thanked
-them in the morning for having really kept
-her awake after her fatiguing voyage. Not
-quite so agreeable, though, was the conduct of her
-liege subjects on the Sunday in her chapel, where,
-having ordered her chaplain to perform Mass, such
-a riot was raised, that had not her natural brother,
-the Lord James Stuart, interfered, the priest
-would have been killed at the altar.</p>
-
-<p>This was a plain indication that, although the
-Reformers demanded liberty of conscience for
-themselves, they meant to allow none to others;
-and a month afterwards the same riot was renewed
-so violently in the royal chapel at Stirling, that
-Randolph, writing to Cecil, said that the Earl of
-Argyll and the Lord James himself this time "so
-disturbed the quire, that some, both priests and
-clerks, left their places with broken heads and
-bloody ears."</p>
-
-<p>Mary bore this rude and disloyal conduct with
-an admirable patience. She had the advantage
-of the counsels of D'Oyselles, who had spent some
-years in the country, and had learned the character
-of the people. She placed the leaders of
-the Congregation in honour and power around
-her, making the Lord James her chief minister,
-and Maitland of Lethington her Secretary of
-State, both of whom, however, were in the pay
-and interests of the English queen. It was
-not in the nature of Knox to delay long appearing
-in her presence, and opening upon her the battery
-of his fierce zeal.</p>
-
-<p>It is, perhaps, impossible to imagine a situation
-more appalling than that of this young and accomplished
-girl suddenly thrown into the midst
-of this effervescence of spiritual pride and boorish
-dogmatism, which was so insensible to the finer
-influences of social life, so unconscious of the
-rights of conscience in those of a different opinion.
-Mary showed a far more Christian spirit. She
-reminded Knox of his offensive and contemptuous
-book against women, gently admonished
-him to be more liberal to those who could not
-think as he did, and to use more meekness of
-speech in his sermons.</p>
-
-<p>But the Scottish clergy at that moment received
-a severe recompense for their contempt of the
-social amenities, in their aristocratic coadjutors
-treating them as men who had no need of temporal
-advantages. The nobles used them to overturn
-by their preaching the ancient Church; and
-that done, they quietly but firmly appropriated
-the substance of it to themselves. The example
-of the English hierarchy had not been lost upon
-them. When the clergy put in their claim for a
-fair share of the booty, the nobles affected great
-surprise at such a worldly appetite in such holy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
-men. The clergy proposed that the property of
-the Church should be divided into three portions:
-one-third for the pastors of the new Church, one-third
-for the poor, and one-third for the endowment
-of schools and colleges. Maitland of
-Lethington asked Knox, "Where, then, was the
-portion of the nobles? Were they to become
-hod-bearers in this building of the Kirk?" Knox
-replied that they might be worse employed. But
-he and his fellow-ministers had different material
-to operate upon in the hard-fisted nobles. They
-might browbeat and insult a young queen, but
-they could not force the plunder from the grip of
-their aristocratic patrons. The whole sum which
-they could obtain for the maintenance of 1,000
-parish churches was only about £4,000, or about
-£6 sterling as the annual income of a parish
-priest.</p>
-
-<p>As for the unhappy queen, she was equally
-vexed by clergy and aristocracy. She was soon
-called upon for extensive favours by her ambitious
-brother, the Lord James, prior of St. Andrews.
-She created him Earl of Mar, and she further contemplated
-conferring on him the ancient earldom
-of Murray, which had been forfeited to the Crown
-in the reign of James II. A great part of the
-property, however, of this earldom had been taken
-possession of by the Earl of Huntly, the head of
-the most powerful family in the north. Huntly
-had offered, if Mary would land in the Highlands,
-to conduct her to Edinburgh at the head of 20,000
-men, and enable her to put down the whole body
-of Reformers. Mary had declined this offer, as
-the certain cause of a civil war, if accepted.
-Huntly, therefore, stood aloof from the present
-Government, and was especially hostile to the
-Earl of Mar, who was the leading person in it.
-Mar determined to break the power of this
-haughty chief, and thus wrest from him the lands
-he claimed for his new earldom. Mary was
-anxious to advance her brother, and did not
-need much persuasion to sanction this design
-of Mar; and the son of Huntly, Sir John
-Gordon, having committed some feudal outrage,
-was seized and imprisoned for a short term.
-This punishment was regarded as an indignity by
-the house of Gordon, and the symptoms of disaffection
-towards the Government were increased.
-Mary, therefore, took the field with her brother,
-the Lord James, and marched into the Highlands
-at the head of her troops. The Earl of Huntly,
-dismayed at this spirit in the young queen, who
-appeared to enjoy the excitement and the inconveniences
-of a campaign, hastened to make
-overtures of accommodation; and the matter would
-probably have been soon amicably arranged, but,
-unfortunately, a party of Huntly's vassals refused
-Mary and her staff entrance into the castle of Inverness,
-and made a show of holding it against
-her. They were, however, soon compelled to surrender,
-and the governor was executed as a traitor.
-At this time, Sir John Gordon, escaping from his
-prison, flew to arms, roused the vassals of the clan
-Gordon far and wide; and his father, seeing no
-longer any chance of agreement, led his forces
-into the field. He advanced towards Aberdeen,
-and met Mar, who had now exchanged that title
-for the title of Earl of Murray, encamped on the
-hill of Fare near Corrichie. There Murray, as
-an excellent soldier, defeated Huntly, who was
-killed on the field, or died soon after. His son,
-Sir John Gordon, was seized, and executed at
-Aberdeen, three days after the battle. Murray
-was thus placed in full possession of his title and
-new estate, and Mary, with so able and powerful
-a relative as her chief minister, appeared in a
-position to command obedience from her refractory
-subjects. But now a new danger menaced her
-from the rival queen of England, who was still
-bent on seeing Mary so married as to give her no
-additional power.</p>
-
-<p>In the spring of 1562 Elizabeth became engaged
-in the support of the Huguenots, or Protestants
-of France, against their Government, as she had
-supported the Covenanters of Scotland. After the
-failure of a conspiracy to surprise the court at
-Amboise, and the accession of Catherine de Medici
-to the Regency, the heads of the party again flew
-to arms; but Catherine making concessions, in
-order to engage the Huguenot chiefs Condé and
-Coligny to assist her in counteracting the influence
-of the house of Guise, a treaty was entered
-into by which the Protestants were to be allowed
-free exercise of their religion. But the Duke of
-Guise becoming possessed of the person of the king,
-soon persuaded Catherine&mdash;his mother and Regent&mdash;to
-break the treaty. The Huguenots again
-rose in defence of their lives and principles, and
-no less than fourteen armies were soon on foot in
-one part or another of France. The Duke of
-Guise headed the Catholics; the Prince of Condé,
-Admiral Coligny, Andelot, and others, commanded
-the Huguenots. The Parliament of Paris issued
-an edict, authorising the Papists to massacre the
-Protestants wherever they found them; the Protestants
-retaliated with augmented fury, and
-carnage and violence prevailed throughout the devoted
-country. The Duke of Guise found himself
-so hard driven by the Protestants, in whose
-ranks the very women and children fought fiercely,
-that he entreated Philip of Spain to come to his
-aid. Philip gladly engaged in a work so congenial,
-his own Protestant subjects having had
-bloody experience of his bigotry, and sent into
-France 6,000 men, besides money. On this the
-Prince of Condé appealed to Elizabeth for support
-against the common enemies of their religion. To
-induce her to act promptly in their favour, he
-offered to put Havre-de-Grâce immediately into
-her hands. Nowadays, in such a case, the English
-Government would take the public means of
-endeavouring by negotiation to lead its ally to
-concede their rights to its subjects. But Elizabeth
-took her favourite mode of privately aiding
-the discontented subjects of a power with whom
-she was at peace, against their sovereign. She
-made no overtures to Catherine de Medici, as
-Queen-Regent. She made no declaration of war,
-but despatched Sir Henry Sidney, the father of
-the afterwards celebrated Sir Philip Sidney,
-ostensibly to mediate between the Roman
-Catholics and Protestants, but really to enter into
-a compact with Condé. She was to furnish him
-with 100,000 crowns, and to send over 6,000 men,
-under Sir Edward Poynings, to take possession of
-the forts of Havre and Dieppe.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_256big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_256.jpg" width="560" height="421" alt="From the Painting by SIR DAVID WILKIE, R.A., in the National Gallery of British Art" title="THE PREACHING OF JOHN KNOX BEFORE THE LORDS OF THE CONGREGATION, 10th JUNE, 1559" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><span class="smcap">THE PREACHING OF JOHN KNOX BEFORE THE LORDS OF THE CONGREGATION, 10th JUNE, 1559.</span></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From the Painting by SIR DAVID WILKIE, R.A., in the National Gallery of British Art.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_257big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_257.jpg" width="560" height="422" alt="" title="MARS' WORK, STIRLING" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>MARS' WORK, STIRLING.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 3rd of October a fleet carried over the
-stipulated force, took possession of the ports, and
-Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, the brother of
-the favourite Lord Robert Dudley, was made commander-in-chief
-of the English army in France.
-The French ambassador, with the treaty of
-Cateau-Cambresis in his hand, demanded the
-cause of the infringement of the thirteenth article
-of this treaty, and reminded the queen that, by
-proceeding to hostilities, she would at once forfeit
-all claim to Calais at the expiration of the prescribed
-period. Elizabeth replied that she was in
-arms, in fact, on behalf of the King of France,
-who was a prisoner in the hands of Guise,
-and when the ambassador required her, in the
-name of his sovereign, to withdraw her troops,
-she refused to believe that the demand came
-from the king, because he was not a free agent,
-and that it was the duty of Charles IX. to
-protect his oppressed subjects, and to thank a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>
-friendly power for endeavouring to assist him in
-that object.</p>
-
-<p>But these sophisms deceived nobody. The
-nobility of France regarded Guise, who had driven
-the English out of France by the capture of
-Calais, as the real defender of the country; and
-Condé, who had brought them in again by the surrender
-of Havre and Dieppe, was considered a
-traitor. Numbers flocked to the standard of
-Guise and the Queen-Regent, who were joined by
-the King of Navarre. The Royal army, with
-Charles in person, besieged Rouen, to which
-Poynings, the English commander at Havre, sent
-a reinforcement. The governor of the city defended
-it obstinately against this formidable combination,
-and the Englishmen, mounting a breach
-which was made, fought till their last man fell.
-Two hundred of them thus perished, and the
-French, rushing in over their dead bodies, pillaged
-the place for eight days with every circumstance
-of atrocity.</p>
-
-<p>The fall of Rouen and the massacre of a detachment
-of her troops was news that no one dared to
-communicate to Elizabeth. The ministers induced
-her favourite, Lord Robert Dudley, to undertake
-the unwelcome task; but even he dared only at
-first to hint to her that a rumour of defeat was
-afloat. When at length he disclosed the truth,
-Elizabeth blamed nobody but herself, confessing
-that it was her own reluctance to send sufficient
-force which had caused it all. She determined to
-send fresh reinforcements; commissioned Count
-Oldenburg to raise 12,000 men in Germany, and
-ordered public prayers for three days in succession
-for a blessing on her arms in favour of the Gospel.</p>
-
-<p>Condé, who had been engaged near Orleans, on
-the arrival of 6,000 mercenaries from Germany,
-advanced towards Paris; and at Dreux, on the
-banks of the Eure, where the Duke of Guise
-achieved a victory over the Huguenots, Condé and
-Montmorency, a leader of each party, were taken
-prisoners; and Coligny, who now became the
-chief Huguenot general, fell back on Orleans, and
-sent pressing entreaties to Elizabeth for the supplies
-which she was bound by the treaty to
-furnish. The English queen, never fond of
-parting with her money, had at this crisis none in
-her exchequer. But money must be forthcoming,
-or the cause of Protestantism must fail through
-her bad faith. The German mercenaries were
-clamorous for their pay, none of which they had
-received, and the representations of Coligny were
-so urgent that Elizabeth was compelled to summon
-a Parliament and ask for supplies.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile affairs in France had been anything
-but satisfactory. The Huguenot chiefs had promised
-Elizabeth, as the price of her assistance, the
-restoration of Calais. Elizabeth, on her part,
-ordered the Earl of Warwick not to advance with
-his troops beyond the walls of Hammes; and
-when Coligny reduced the chief towns of Normandy,
-he gave up their plunder to his German
-auxiliaries, and, instead of awarding any share to
-the English, complained loudly of the neutrality
-of Warwick's troops, and the more so when he
-saw the Duke of Guise preparing to lay siege
-to Orleans. But Guise was assassinated (February
-24, 1563) by Poltrot, a deserter from the Huguenot
-army, and this circumstance produced a great
-change amongst the belligerents on both sides.
-The Catholics were afraid of the English uniting
-with Coligny, and gaining still greater advantages
-in Normandy; and, on the other hand, Condé was
-anxious to make peace, and secure the position in
-the French Government which Guise had held.
-A peace was accordingly concluded at Amboise on
-the 6th of March, in which freedom for the
-exercise of their religion was conceded to the
-Huguenots in every town of France, Paris excepted;
-and the Huguenots, in return, promised
-to support the Government.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, in her anger at this treaty, made
-without any reference to her, appeared to abandon
-her own shrewd sense. Though the French
-Government offered to renew the treaty of
-Cateau, to restore Calais at the stipulated time,
-Havre being of course surrendered, and to repay
-her all the sums advanced to the Huguenots, she
-refused, and declared that she would maintain
-Havre against the whole realm of France. But
-when she saw that the two parties were united to
-drive the English troops out of France, she
-thought better of it. She despatched Throgmorton
-to act for her in conjunction with Sir
-Thomas Smith, her ambassador. But Throgmorton
-arrived too late. The united parties were now
-pretty secure of the surrender of Havre, and, as
-Throgmorton's intrigues in France were notorious,
-to prevent a repetition of them they seized him
-on pretence of having no proper credentials, and
-delayed audience to Sir Thomas Smith from day
-to day, while they pushed on the siege.</p>
-
-<p>To prevent insurrection, or co-operation with
-the French outside, Warwick had expelled most
-of the native inhabitants from Havre. He had
-about 5,000 men with him, and during the siege
-Sir Hugh Paulet threw in a reinforcement
-of about 800 more. Elizabeth had now the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
-mortification of seeing her old allies take the command
-against her. Montmorency, the constable,
-had the chief command; and Condé, who had been
-the principal means of leading her into the war,
-served under him. It was clear that the place
-could not hold out long, yet the English manned
-the walls, defended the breaches and, till the
-whole garrison was reduced to less than 1,500
-men, gave no sign of surrender. The Constable
-made the first proposals for a capitulation, which
-Warwick agreed to accept; but such was the fury
-of the French soldiers, or rather, the rabble collected
-from all quarters to the siege, that, in spite
-of the truce, they fired on the besieged repeatedly,
-and shot the Earl of Warwick through the thigh,
-as he stood in the breach. The next day the
-capitulation was signed, the garrison and people of
-the town being allowed to retire within six days,
-with all their effects. The chief marshal, Edward
-Randall, caused the sick to be carried on board,
-that they might not be left to the mercy of the
-French, and himself lent a helping hand. But the
-infected troops and people carried out the plague
-with them; it spread in various parts of England,
-and raged excessively in London. The inns of
-court were closed; those who could fled into the
-country. To the plague was added scarcity of
-money and of provisions. There were earthquakes
-in Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and other
-places; terrific thunders and lightnings&mdash;and all
-these terrors were attributed by the Papists to
-the heresies which were in the ascendant.</p>
-
-<p>Thus terminated Elizabeth's demonstration in
-favour of the Huguenots. She contemplated the
-humiliating result with indignation, which she
-was unable to conceal even in the presence of
-Castelnau, the French ambassador. At one moment
-she declared that she would not consent to
-peace, at another she vowed that she would make
-her Commissioners pay with their heads for
-offering to accept conditions which were gall to
-her haughty spirit. But there was no alternative.
-She first attempted to compel the French court
-to liberate Throgmorton, by seizing the French
-envoy De Foix, and offering him in exchange;
-but the French would not admit that Throgmorton
-was a duly appointed ambassador, and in
-retaliation for the seizure of De Foix, they
-arrested Sir Thomas Smith, and consigned him
-to the castle of Mélun. Elizabeth still held the
-bonds for 500,000 crowns, or the restoration of
-Calais, and the hostages; and in the end she
-submitted to surrender the hostages for the
-return of Throgmorton, and reduced her claim
-of 500,000 crowns to one-fourth of that sum.
-Thus, not only Havre but Calais was virtually
-resigned, though Elizabeth still claimed to negotiate
-on that point. The proud English queen
-was, in fact, most mortifyingly defeated, both in
-the cabinet and the field. The treaty was signed
-on April 11th, 1564.</p>
-
-<p>This French campaign terminated, Elizabeth
-turned her attention again to Scotland, and the
-subject on which she was most anxious was the
-marriage of the Scottish queen. To Elizabeth,
-who abhorred the idea of any one ever succeeding
-her on the throne, it was of much consequence how
-Mary, her presumptive heir, should wed. If to a
-foreign prince, it might render the claim on
-the English throne doubly hazardous. By this
-time it was pretty clear that Elizabeth herself
-was resolved to take no partner of her power, as
-the hands of numerous other princely suitors had
-been refused besides that of Philip. Of all the long
-array of the lovers of this famous queen, foreign
-or English, none ever acquired such a place in her
-regard and favour as the Lord Robert Dudley, one
-of the sons of the Duke of Northumberland, who
-had been attainted, with his father and family,
-for his participation in the attempt to place Lady
-Jane Grey on the throne, to the exclusion of
-Queen Mary and of this very Elizabeth. The
-queen restored him in blood, made him Master of
-the Horse, installed him Knight of the Garter,
-and, soon after this period, Earl of Leicester.
-This maiden queen, who had rejected so many
-kings and princes, soon grew so enamoured of this
-young nobleman, that their conduct became the
-scandal of the Court and country, but probably
-it was nothing more than indiscreet. The reports
-were believed of their living as man and wife, even
-whilst Leicester was still the husband of Amy
-Robsart, whom he is said, though falsely, to have
-murdered. The Queen of Scots, in one of her
-letters, tells her that she hears this asserted, and
-that she had promised to marry him before one of
-the ladies of the bed-chamber. Throgmorton, her
-ambassador, sent his secretary, Jones, to inform
-Elizabeth privately, and at the suggestion of Cecil
-and the other ministers, of the common remarks on
-this subject by the Spanish and Venetian ambassadors
-at Paris. Elizabeth, listening to Jones's
-recital, including the account of the murder of
-Amy Robsart, sometimes laughed, sometimes hid
-her face in her hands, but replied that she had heard
-it all before, and did not believe in the murder.
-From the evidence on this subject, it appears
-that Elizabeth had promised Dudley to marry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
-him, and was this time very near being involved
-in the trammels of matrimony; but she escaped
-to have another long string of princely suitors.</p>
-
-<p>Careful to avoid the bonds of matrimony herself,
-Elizabeth was, however, bent on securing in
-them the Queen of Scots. Since Mary of Scotland
-had become a widow, the suitors of Elizabeth had
-transferred their attentions to her. She was
-younger and much handsomer; her kingdom was
-much less important, but then she was by no
-means so haughty and immovable. She was of a
-warm, a generous, a poetic nature, and would soon
-have found a congenial husband, but either her
-own subjects or her rival Elizabeth had something
-in each case to object. Her French relatives
-successively proposed Don Carlos, the son of
-Philip, and heir of Spain; the Duke of Anjou, one
-of the brothers of her late husband; the Cardinal
-de Bourbon, who had not yet taken priest's orders;
-the Duke of Ferrara, and some others. But none
-of these would suit her Scottish subjects, for they
-were all Papists; and they suited Elizabeth as little,
-for they would create too strong a foreign coalition.
-Mary, with an extraordinary amiability, listened
-to all the objections of Elizabeth, and expressed
-herself quite disposed to accept such a husband as
-should be agreeable to her. Be it understood,
-however, that Mary was not without policy in this
-condescension. She hoped to induce Elizabeth,
-by thus being willing to oblige her in this particular,
-to acknowledge her right to succeed her,
-but in this she was grievously disappointed.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_260.jpg" width="560" height="294" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Mary at last sent Sir James Melville to London
-to consult with Elizabeth, in personal interview,
-fully and candidly as to the person that she would
-really recommend as her consort. Elizabeth
-received him at her palace at Westminster, at
-eight o'clock, in her garden. She asked Melville
-if his queen had made up her mind regarding the
-man who should be her husband. He replied that
-she was just now thinking more of some disputes
-upon the Borders, and that she was desirous that
-her Majesty should send my Lord of Bedford and
-my Lord Dudley to meet her and her Commissioners
-there. Elizabeth affected to be hurt at
-Melville naming the Earl of Bedford first. She
-said that "it appeared to her as if I made but
-small account of Lord Robert, seeing that I named
-Bedford before him; but ere it were long she
-would make him a greater earl, and I should see
-it done before me, for she esteemed him as one
-whom she should have married herself, if she had
-ever been minded to take a husband. But being
-determined to end her life in virginity, she wished
-that the queen her sister should marry him, for
-with him she might find it in her heart to declare
-Queen Mary second person, rather than any other;
-for, being matched with him, it would best remove
-out of her mind all fear and suspicion of usurpation
-before her death."</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth immediately carried into effect her
-word that she would make Dudley an earl, by
-creating him, whilst Melville was present, Earl
-of Leicester and Baron Denbigh. "This was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
-done," he says, "with great state at Westminster,
-herself helping to put on his robes, he sitting on
-his knees before her, and keeping a great gravity
-and discreet behaviour; as for the queen, she could
-not refrain from putting her hand in his neck to
-tickle him, smilingly, the French ambassador and
-I standing beside her. Then she asked me 'how
-I liked him.' I said, 'as he was a worthy subject,
-so he was happy in a great prince, who could discern
-and reward good service.' 'Yet,' she replied,
-'ye like better of yon long lad,' pointing towards
-my Lord Darnley, who, as nearest prince of the
-blood, that day bare the sword before her. My
-answer was, 'that no woman of spirit would make
-choice of <em>sic</em> a man, that was liker a woman than
-a man, for he was lusty, beardless, and lady-faced.'
-I had no will that she should think I liked him,
-though I had a secret charge to deal with his
-mother, Lady Lennox, to purchase leave for him
-to pass to Scotland."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_261big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_261.jpg" width="434" height="560" alt="From a Contemporary Portrait on Wood" title="MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From a Contemporary Portrait on Wood.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Lord Darnley, "the long lad," as Elizabeth
-called him, was the son of that Earl of Lennox
-who in the time of Henry VIII. joined with
-Glencairn, Cassillis, and others in attempting to
-betray Scotland to Henry. For these services,
-and especially for attempting to betray Dumbarton
-Castle to the English, he was banished and suffered
-forfeiture of his estates, but received from Henry
-VIII., as the promised reward for his treason,
-the hand of the Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter
-of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, and sister of
-Henry VIII., one of the lewdest and most turbulent
-women of the age. Thus Darnley was the
-son of Mary's aunt, the Lady Margaret Douglas,
-and grandson of Elizabeth's aunt, Margaret Tudor.
-He was thus near enough to have laid claim to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
-the crown of England, and of Scotland too, in case
-of the failure of issue by the present queens. His
-nearness to the thrones of both kingdoms seems to
-have suggested the idea of marrying him to the
-Queen of Scots, whereby her claim on the English
-throne would receive added force. Mary was
-induced to favour the family, her near relatives.
-She corresponded with the Countess of Lennox,
-and invited Lennox to return to Scotland, and
-reversed his attainder. He did not recover the
-patrimony of Angus, his father, for that was in
-possession of the powerful Earl of Morton, Chancellor
-of the kingdom, but Mary promised to make
-that up to him by other means. Once restored to
-favour and rank in Scotland, Lennox pushed on
-the scheme of marrying his son Darnley to the
-queen. Melville was commissioned to intercede
-for his return to Scotland, but Elizabeth, who
-could not be blind to the danger of Darnley's
-wedding the Queen of Scots, for a time would not
-listen to it. We may believe too that Cecil did
-his best to prevent this, for of all his desires, the
-most earnest was that of the removal of Leicester
-from the Court, and therefore he used all his eloquence
-to get Leicester chosen for that honour.</p>
-
-<p>On returning from Hampton Court, Leicester
-conducted Melville to London by water, and on
-the way he asked him what the Queen of Scots
-thought of him as a husband. The answer of
-Melville, who did not care so nicely to flatter the
-favourite, was not very complimentary, and thereupon
-Leicester made haste to assure the Scottish
-envoy that he had never presumed so much as to
-think of marrying so great a queen; that he knew
-he was not worthy to wipe her shoes, but that it
-was the plot of Cecil to ruin him with both the
-queens.</p>
-
-<p>Melville, on his return to Edinburgh, assured
-the Queen of Scots that she could never expect
-any real friendship from the Queen of England,
-for that she was overflowing with jealousy, and
-was made up of falsehood and deceit. These
-royal courtships and rivalries went on still for
-some time: Queen Mary finally determined to
-refuse the Archduke Charles of Austria, probably
-to avoid giving umbrage to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth
-received one more suitor in no less a personage
-than the young King of France. This was a
-scheme of the busy and intriguing Catherine de
-Medici, who thought it would be a fine thing to
-link England and France together by marriage,
-but Elizabeth was not likely to perpetrate anything
-so shallow. The king was only fourteen, and
-Elizabeth replied that "her good brother was too
-great and too small; too great as a king, and too
-small, being but young, and she already thirty."
-Catherine, however, again pressed it, by De Foix
-the ambassador; but Elizabeth, laughing, said, she
-thought her neighbour Mary Stuart would suit
-him better; this, however, was only thrown out
-because Elizabeth had heard of some such project,
-which, if real, she would oppose resolutely. But
-a circumstance now took place which it seems difficult
-to account for. Having refused to permit
-Lord Darnley to go to Scotland, lest he should
-marry the Queen of Scots, and add to her claims
-on the English throne, all at once her objection
-seemed to vanish, and in February, 1565, she
-permitted him to travel to Edinburgh. Darnley
-was at this time in his twenty-fourth year, tall
-and handsome, possessing the courtly accomplishments
-of the age, and free in the distribution of
-his money. He waited on the young queen at
-Wemyss Castle, in Fife, and was well received by
-Mary, who was now about the same age. There
-appears no doubt but that the marriage had been
-planned and promoted by the Lennox party, and it
-is said that Murray encouraged it, thinking that
-with a young man of Darnley's weak and pleasure-loving
-character, he could easily retain the power
-of the State in his hands. Be that as it may,
-Darnley soon proposed, and was rejected; but
-Elizabeth, contrary to her own intentions, contributed
-to alter Mary's resolution. Elizabeth,
-probably apprehensive that Darnley being present
-might obtain the queen's goodwill, again sent Randolph
-to press the marriage with Leicester; on
-which Mary, bursting into tears, declared that the
-Queen of England treated her as a child, and immediately
-favoured the pretensions of Darnley.
-The marriage took place on the 29th of July, 1565.</p>
-
-<p>As Darnley was a Catholic, the Protestant
-party was much alarmed. The lords, headed by
-Murray, assembled at Stirling, and entered into
-a bond to stand by each other. They sent off a
-messenger to urge speedy aid from Elizabeth, and
-actively diffused reports that Lennox had plotted
-to take away the life of Murray. This, both
-Lennox and Darnley stoutly denied, and the
-queen, to leave no obscurity in the case, gave
-Murray a safe conduct for himself and eighty
-others, and ordered him to attend in her presence
-and produce his proofs. She declared that such
-a thing as enforcement of the religion or consciences
-of her subjects had never entered her
-mind, and she called on her loyal subjects to
-hasten to her defence. This call was promptly
-and widely responded to, and Mary, finding herself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
-now in security, declared the choice of Darnley
-as her husband, created him Duke of Albany, and
-married him openly, in the chapel of Holyrood.
-He was by proclamation declared king during the
-time of their marriage, and all writs were ordered
-to run in the joint names of Henry and Mary,
-King and Queen of Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, meanwhile, had complied with the
-demands of the Scottish lords; sent off money,
-appointed Bedford and Shrewsbury her lieutenants
-in the north, and reinforced the garrison of Berwick
-with 2,000 men. Finding, however, that
-the call of Mary on her subjects had brought out
-such a force around her as would require still
-more money and men to cope with it, she despatched
-Tamworth, a creature of Leicester's, to
-Scotland, to deter Mary by menaces and reproaches.
-It was too late; and Mary, assuming
-the attitude of a justly incensed monarch, compelled
-the ambassador to deliver his charge in
-writing, and answered it in the same manner,
-requesting Elizabeth to content herself with the
-government of her own kingdom, and not to
-interfere in the concerns of monarchs as independent
-as herself. When Tamworth took leave,
-he refused the passport given him bearing the
-joint names of the king and queen, out of fear
-of his imperious mistress, for which Mary ordered
-him to be apprehended on the road by Lord Home
-as a vagrant, and detained a couple of days; and
-on Randolph remonstrating, she informed him
-that unless he ceased to intrigue with her subjects,
-she would treat him the same. This bold rebuff
-to the meddling Queen of England, and the
-demonstration of affection on the part of the
-people, confounded the disaffected lords, and their
-resistance collapsed.</p>
-
-<p>The Queen of Scots, victorious by arms over
-her enemies, determined to call together a Parliament,
-and there to procure the forfeiture of
-Murray and his adherents. This threw the rebel
-lords into the utmost consternation; for, in the
-then temper of the nation at large, the measure
-would have been passed, and they would have
-been stripped of their estates and entirely crushed.
-To prevent this catastrophe no time was lost. It
-was actively spread amongst the people that Mary,
-having signed the league, it was the intention,
-through the Kings of France and Spain, to put
-down the Reformation in Scotland. It was represented
-that David Rizzio, a Milanese, who had
-become Mary's secretary for the French language,
-was the agent of the league and a pensioner of
-Rome, and that it was necessary to have him
-removed. Unfortunately for Rizzio, he had incurred
-the hatred not only of these Protestant
-lords, but of Darnley, the queen's husband. That
-young man had soon displayed a character which
-could bring nothing but misery to the queen. He
-was a man of shallow intellect, but of violent
-passions, and, as is usually the case with such
-persons, of a will as strong as his judgment was
-weak. He was ambitious of the chief power, and
-sullenly resentful because it was denied. Mary,
-who was of a warm and impulsive temperament,
-in the ardour of her first affection, had promised
-Darnley the crown matrimonial, which would have
-invested him with an equal share of the royal
-authority; but soon unhappily perceiving that she
-had lavished her regard on a weak, headstrong,
-and dissipated person, she refused to comply, fully
-assured of the mischiefs which such power in his
-hands would produce. Darnley resented this denial
-violently. He reproached the queen with her
-insincerity in most intemperate language; treated
-her in public with scandalous disrespect; abandoned
-her society for the lowest and worst company,
-and threw himself into the hands of his
-enemies, who soon made him their tool. They
-persuaded him that Rizzio, who, in his quarrels
-with the queen, always took her part, and who, as
-the keeper of the privy purse, was obliged to resist
-his extravagant demands upon it, was not only the
-enemy of the nation, the spy and paid agent of
-foreign princes, but was the queen's paramour, and
-the author of the resolve to keep him out of
-all real power. The scheme took the effect that
-was desired. Darnley became jealous and furious
-for revenge. His father, the Earl of Lennox,
-joined him in his suspicions, and it was resolved to
-put Rizzio out of the way.</p>
-
-<p>Darnley, in his blind fury, sent for Lord Ruthven,
-imploring him to come to him on a matter of
-life and death. Ruthven was confined to his bed
-by a severe illness, yet he consented to engage in
-the conspiracy for the murder of Rizzio, on condition
-that Darnley should engage to prevent the
-meeting of Parliament, and to procure the return
-of Murray and the rebel chiefs. Darnley was in
-a mood ready to grant anything for the gratification
-of his resentment against Rizzio; he agreed
-to everything; a league was entered into, a new
-covenant sworn, the objects of which were the
-murder of Rizzio, the prevention of the assembling
-of Parliament, and the return of Murray and his
-adherents. Randolph, the English ambassador,
-now banished from Scotland for his traitorous
-collusion with the insurgents, yet had gone no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
-farther than Berwick, where he was made fully
-acquainted with the plot, and communicated it
-immediately to Leicester in a letter, dated February
-13th, 1566, which yet remains. He assured
-him that the murder of Rizzio would be accomplished
-within ten days; that the crown would be
-torn from Mary's dishonoured head, and that
-matters of a still darker nature were meditated
-against her person which he dared not yet allude
-to.</p>
-
-<p>Mary was not without some warnings of what
-was being prepared, but she could not be made
-sensible of her danger, neither could Rizzio; though
-Damiot, an astrologer, whom he was in the habit
-of consulting, bade him beware of the bastard.
-The obscurity attending all such oracles led Rizzio
-to believe that Damiot alluded to Murray, and
-Rizzio laughed at any danger from him, a banished
-man; but we shall see that he received his first
-wound from another bastard, George Douglas, the
-natural son of the Earl of Angus.</p>
-
-<p>On the 3rd of March Parliament was opened,
-and a statute of treason and of forfeiture against
-Murray and his accomplices was immediately introduced
-on the Thursday, which was to be passed
-on the following Tuesday. But on the Saturday
-evening, the queen, sitting at supper in a small
-closet adjoining her chamber, attended by her
-natural sister the Countess of Argyll, the Commendator
-of Holyrood, Beaton Master of the
-Household, Arthur Erskine captain of the guard,
-and her secretary Rizzio, was surprised by the
-apparition of Darnley suddenly putting aside the
-arras which concealed the door, and standing for a
-moment gloomily surveying the group. Behind
-him came a still more startling figure; it was that
-of Ruthven, in complete armour, just come from
-his sick bed, and with a face pale and ghastly as
-that of a ghost. Mary, who was seven months
-gone with child, started up at this terrible sight,
-and commanded Ruthven to be gone; but at this
-moment Darnley put his arm round her waist as if
-to detain her, and other conspirators entered, one
-after another, with naked weapons, into the room.
-Ruthven drew his dagger, and crying that their
-business was with Rizzio, endeavoured to seize
-him. But Rizzio, rushing to his mistress, caught
-the skirt of her robe, and shouted, "Giustizia!
-giustizia! sauve ma vie&mdash;Madame, sauve ma vie!"</p>
-
-<p>Darnley forced himself between the queen and
-Rizzio, to separate them from one another, and
-probably the intention was to drag him out of her
-presence, and dispatch him. But George Douglas,
-the bastard, in his impetuosity, drove his dagger
-into the back of Rizzio over the queen's shoulder,
-and the rest of the conspirators&mdash;Morton, Car of
-Faudonside, and others&mdash;dragged him out to the
-entrance of the presence-chamber, where, in their
-murderous fury, they stabbed him with fifty-six
-wounds, with such blind rage that they wounded
-one another, and left Darnley's dagger sticking in
-the body as an evidence of his participation in the
-deed. This done, the hideous Ruthven, exhausted
-with the excitement, staggered into the presence
-of the shrieking queen, and, sinking upon a seat,
-demanded a cup of wine. Mary upbraided him
-with his brutality; but he coolly assured her that
-it was all done at the command of her husband
-and king. At that moment one of her ladies
-rushed in crying that they had killed Rizzio.
-"And is it so?" said Mary; "then farewell tears,
-we must now study revenge."</p>
-
-<p>It was about seven in the evening when this
-savage murder was perpetrated. The palace was
-beset by troops under the command of Morton.
-There was no means of rousing the city, the queen
-was kept close prisoner in her chamber, whilst the
-king, assuming the sole authority, issued letters
-commanding the three Estates to quit the capital
-within three hours, on pain of treason, whilst
-Morton with his guards was ordered to allow no
-one to leave the palace. Notwithstanding this,
-Huntly, Bothwell, Sir James Balfour, and James
-Melville, made their escape in the darkness and
-confusion; and as Melville passed under the
-queen's window, she suddenly threw up the sash,
-and entreated him to give the alarm to the city.
-Her ruffianly guards immediately seized her, and
-dragged her back, swearing they would cut her
-to pieces; and Darnley was pushed forward to
-harangue the people, and assure them that both
-the queen and himself were safe, and commanding
-them to retire in peace, which they did.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;"><a href="images/i_265big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_265.jpg" width="413" height="560" alt="" title="THE MURDER OF RIZZIO" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE MURDER OF RIZZIO. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_264">264.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But Mary was not long left alone with Darnley,
-before she convinced him of the dupe he had made
-of himself. She asked him whether he was so
-mad as to expect that after they had secured her,
-after they had imperilled the life of his child, they
-would spare him? And she bade him look at their
-conduct now, where they usurped all authority
-and did not even allow him to send his own
-servants to her. Darnley became thoroughly
-alarmed; he vowed he had had no hand in the
-conspiracy, and offered to call the conspirators
-into her presence, and declare that the queen was
-ready to pardon them, on condition that they
-withdrew their guards, replaced her own servants,
-and treated her as their true queen. The noble
-traitors were this time over-reached in their turn;
-probably trembling for the consequences of their
-daring conduct, on seeing Darnley and the queen
-reconciled, they consented, and in the night the
-queen and Darnley mounted fleet horses and fled
-to Dunbar. The consternation of the murderers
-in the morning may be imagined. The outraged
-and insulted queen had escaped their hands, and
-the news came flying that already the nobles and
-the people were hurrying from all sides to her
-standard. Huntly, Athole, Bothwell, and whole
-crowds of barons and gentlemen flew to her, and
-at Dunbar a numerous army stood as if by magic
-ready to march on the traitors and execute the
-vengeance due. They fled. Morton, Ruthven&mdash;the
-grisly, pale-faced assassin&mdash;Brunston, and Car
-of Faudonside, escaped to England. Maitland of
-Lethington betook himself to the hills of Athole,
-and Craig, the colleague of Knox, dived into the
-darksome recesses of the city wynds.</p>
-
-<p>The spirit of Mary was not of a character long
-to brood over revenge; that belonged rather to
-such men as Ruthven, Murray, and Morton. They
-vowed deadly vengeance on Darnley, and from
-that hour his destruction was settled, and never
-lost sight of. As for Elizabeth of England, she
-was loud in denunciation of the outrage on the
-queen, and wrote expressing deep sympathy; and
-the virtuous Murray was indignant at the villainy
-in which he had been engaged, but now only
-seemed to perceive the full extent of. The assurances
-of the friendship of England and France
-seemed, however, to tranquillise the queen's mind,
-and the hour of her confinement drawing nigh,
-she called her councillors around her, became
-reconciled to the king, and prepared everything
-for her own life or death. On the 19th of June
-she was, however, safely delivered, in the castle of
-Edinburgh, of a son, who was named James, and
-Sir James Melville was dispatched to carry the
-tidings to Elizabeth. The messenger arrived as
-the English queen was dancing after supper at
-Greenwich. Cecil, who had seen Sir James, took
-the opportunity to whisper the news to her in
-preparation. No sooner did she hear the news
-than she seemed struck motionless. She ceased,
-sat down, leaning her cheek on her hand, and
-when her ladies hastened to ascertain what ailed
-her, burst out, "The Queen of Scots is mother of
-a fair son, and I am a barren stock!" Her
-agitation was so visible that the music stopped,
-and there was general wonder and confusion.
-There were not wanting spies to carry this to
-Melville, and, aware of the truth, he was curious
-to mark the official look which the great dissembler
-wore the next morning. She was then
-all smiling and serene, and even received the
-message, he says, with a "merry volt," that is,
-we suppose, a caper of affected joy. She declared
-that she was so delighted with the news, that it
-had quite cured her of a heavy sickness which
-she had had for fifteen days. Melville was too
-much of a courtier to congratulate her on being
-able to dance merrily in sickness; but he wanted
-her to become godmother, which office she accepted
-cheerfully, by proxy. She expressed quite an
-ardent desire to go and see her fair sister, but as
-she could not she sent the Earl of Bedford, with
-a font of gold for its christening and £1,000.
-With Bedford and Mr. Carey, son of her kinsman,
-Lord Hunsdon, she sent a splendid train of
-knights and gentlemen to attend the christening.
-The ceremony was performed at Stirling by the
-Archbishop of St. Andrews, according to the
-rites of the Romish Church, the Kings of France
-and the Duke of Savoy being godfathers by their
-ambassadors. The English embassy remained outside
-the chapel during the service, for they dared
-not take part in the idolatries of the mass. They
-reported that Mary looked very melancholy, and
-Darnley was not present, it was supposed for fear
-the officers of Elizabeth should not give him the
-homage of royalty; for Elizabeth had still refused
-to acknowledge his title as King of Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>The attention of Elizabeth and her ministers
-was soon attracted to Scotland by the startling
-events in progress there. The birth of the young
-prince had only for the moment had the effect of
-softening the wayward temper of Darnley. It
-became absolutely necessary for Mary to construct
-a strong Government if she was to enjoy the
-slightest power or tranquillity. Had she known
-the villainous materials out of which, at best, she
-must erect such a Government, she would have despaired.
-All the men of talent and influence were
-more or less tainted by treason, and in the enjoyment
-of bribery to work her evil. She leaned on
-Murray as on a brother, and he was at heart a
-very Judas. He advised her to recall Morton and
-reinstate Maitland. By his efforts Bothwell and
-Maitland were reconciled; the Lairds of Brunston,
-Ormiston, Hatton, and Calder, the heads of the
-Church party, were admitted to favour. But the
-prospect of so many of the traitors, cognisant of
-his own treason, assembling about the throne,
-rendered Darnley desperate. He resolved on
-throwing himself into the arms of the Roman
-Catholic party, and actually wrote to the Pope,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>
-blaming the queen for not taking measures for the
-restoration of the Mass. His letters were intercepted
-and, in his indignation, he gave out that
-he would quit the kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing availed to show Darnley the folly of
-his proceedings, everything tended rather to aggravate
-his waywardness. He persisted in his declarations
-that he would leave the kingdom, yet he
-never went. He denounced Maitland, Bellenden
-the justice-clerk, and Macgill the clerk register,
-as principal conspirators against Rizzio, and insisted
-that they should be deprived of office. He
-opposed the return of Morton, and thus embittered
-his associates, Murray, Bothwell, Argyll,
-and Maitland. There was no party, except the
-Roman Catholics, which did not regard him with
-suspicion or aversion. The Reformers hated him
-for his intriguing with their enemies; Cecil suspected
-him of plotting with the Papists of England;
-the Hamiltons had detested him from the
-first for coming in between them and the succession.
-The queen now became grievously impatient
-of his intractable stupidity, and deeply deplored
-her union with the man who had already endangered
-the life of herself and her child, and now
-kept the Government in a constant state of
-struggle and uncertainty.</p>
-
-<p>Matters were in this state when, in the commencement
-of October, 1566, disturbances on the
-Borders rendered it necessary for the queen to go
-thither in person. Her lieutenant, the Earl of
-Bothwell, in attempting to reduce the Borderers
-to subordination, was severely wounded, and left
-for dead on the field. He was not dead, however,
-and was conveyed to Hermitage Castle. Mary
-arrived at Jedburgh on the 7th of October, and
-the next day opened her Court. The trials of the
-marauders lasted till the 15th, when she rode over
-to Hermitage, a distance of twenty miles, to visit
-her wounded lieutenant. This visit excited much
-observation and remark amongst her subjects, and
-the events which succeeded have given deep
-significance to it. Bothwell was a bold and impetuous
-man, who had from the first maintained a
-sturdy attachment to the service of the queen,
-even when all others had deserted and betrayed
-her. This had won him a high place in Mary's
-estimation, and she was not of a character to conceal
-such preference. He was a man of loose
-principles, which he had indulged freely on the
-Continent. Ambition and gallantry, united to
-unabashed audacity, made up a forcible but dangerous
-character. The manifest favour of his
-young, beautiful, and unhappy sovereign seems
-very soon to have inspired him with the most
-daring designs, which still lay locked in his own
-heart. There is little doubt that he had entered
-into the conspiracy to kill Darnley, for he was
-mixed up with that clique; and the miserable and
-irritating conduct of Darnley towards the queen
-was now rousing the indignation of far better men
-than Bothwell. The favour in which Bothwell
-was with the queen was early observed and encouraged
-by Murray, Maitland, and their associates,
-because it tended to punish and might
-eventually lead to the dismissal of Darnley. Sir
-James Melville, indeed, attributes Bothwell's
-scheme for murdering Darnley and gaining possession
-of the queen to this time.</p>
-
-<p>There is, however, no reason to believe that
-Mary consciously encouraged the unhallowed
-passion of Bothwell at this period. As an officer
-high in her Court, and in her esteem for his
-fidelity, it was not out of the generous course
-of Mary's usual proceedings to pay him a visit,
-which, moreover, was only of two hours, for she
-rode back to Jedburgh the same day, ordering
-a mass of official papers to be immediately sent
-after her. Immediately on reaching Jedburgh
-she was seized with a fever so severe and rapid,
-that for ten days her physicians despaired of her
-life. This was ascribed to the fatigue of her long
-ride to Hermitage and back; but it probably
-arose from that fatigue operating on a mind and
-body already shaken by deep anxiety. She recovered,
-but her peace of mind and cheerfulness
-were gone. Darnley never went to see her during
-the extremity of her illness; and though he made
-her two visits during her convalescence, they were
-not visits of peace or regard. They left her in a
-state of great melancholy, and she often wished
-that she was dead. The recollection of what
-Darnley had shown himself capable of in the
-plot against Rizzio, and his duplicity on that
-occasion, seemed now to inspire her with a dread
-that he would conspire against her life, and she
-never saw him speaking to any of the lords but
-she was in alarm.</p>
-
-<p>Bothwell, Murray, and Maitland, now invited
-Huntley and Argyll to meet them at Craigmillar
-Castle, and there proposed that a divorce should
-be recommended to the queen, on condition that
-she pardoned Morton and his accomplices in the
-death of Rizzio. Mary listened to the scheme
-with apparent willingness, on the understanding
-that the measure was not to prejudice the rights
-of her son; but when it was proposed that
-Darnley should live in some remote part of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
-country, or retire to France, the idea appeared
-to realise their separation too vividly. She
-evidently cherished a lingering affection for him,
-and expressed a hope that he might return to
-better mind. She even offered to pass over to
-France herself, and remain there till he became
-sensible of his faults. On this Maitland exclaimed
-that, sooner than that she should banish
-herself, they would substitute death for divorce.
-This effectually startled Mary, and she commanded
-them to let the matter be, for that she
-should wait and see what God in His goodness
-would do to remedy the matter.</p>
-
-<p>The conspirators expressed their obedience to
-the queen's demands, but they still proceeded with
-the plot. At Craigmillar they met again, and
-drew up a bond or covenant for the murder of
-Darnley, which was signed by Huntly, Maitland,
-Argyll, and Sir James Balfour, of which Bothwell,
-kept possession. It declared Darnley a young
-fool and tyrant, and bound them to cut him off
-as an enemy to the nobility, and for his unbearable
-conduct to the queen.</p>
-
-<p>Soon after the Earl of Bedford arrived to attend
-the baptism of the child. As we have stated,
-Darnley, though in the palace, did not attend the
-ceremony, and the queen was observed to be
-oppressed with melancholy and to shed tears.
-The ministers now prevailed on the queen to
-pardon all the murderers of Rizzio, except Car
-of Faudonside, who had held a pistol to her
-breast, and George Douglas, who was the first
-to stab Rizzio. This gave such offence to Darnley
-that he quitted Edinburgh, and went to his
-father's, at Glasgow. There he was seized with
-a severe attack of illness, and an eruption which
-came out all over his body. It was believed to be
-poison, but proved to be the small-pox.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst he was lying ill, Morton returned to
-Edinburgh. Bothwell and Maitland met him
-at Whittingham, the seat of Archibald Douglas,
-where they pressed him to join the conspiracy
-for the murder of Darnley, professing that it was
-all done at the queen's desire. Morton insisted
-that they should bring him the queen's warrant,
-under her own hand, but this they failed to do.
-At the time that these plottings were going on,
-in the month of January, 1567, the queen set out
-to visit Darnley, who had received some hints
-of the plots against him, and was greatly alarmed
-by the tidings that the queen, whose severe
-censure of him he was well acquainted with,
-was on the way to see him. He sent a messenger
-to meet her, apologising for not waiting
-on her in person. The queen replied there was
-no medicine against fear, and rode on. She
-went direct to his father's, entered his room,
-and greeted him kindly. Darnley professed deep
-repentance of his faults, pleading his youth and
-the few friends and advisers that he had. He
-complained of a plot got up at Craigmillar, and
-that it was said that the queen knew of it but
-would not sign it. He entreated that all should
-be made up, and that she should not withdraw
-herself from him, as he complained she had done.
-Mary conducted him by short journeys to Edinburgh,
-herself travelling on horseback, and
-Darnley being carried in a litter. They rested
-two days at Linlithgow, and reached Edinburgh
-on the last day of January. It was intended to
-take Darnley to Craigmillar, on account of Holyrood
-being thought to lie too low for a convalescent;
-but probably Darnley, after what he
-had heard, objected to go thither, and he was
-therefore taken to a suburb called Kirk-of-Field,
-an airy situation, where the Duke of Chatelherault
-had a palace. The attendants proceeded
-to the duke's house, but the queen told them the
-lodging prepared for the king was not there, but
-in a house just by, and also by the city wall, near
-the ruinous monastery of the Black Friars.</p>
-
-<p>The place appeared a singular one for a king,
-for it was confined in size and not over well
-furnished. What was more suspicious was, that
-it was the property of Robert Balfour, the brother
-of that Sir James Balfour who was of the league
-sworn to destroy Darnley, and the same who drew
-up the document. He was a dependent of Bothwell's,
-who held the bond, and who met the king
-and queen a little way before they reached the
-capital, and accompanied them to this place.
-These circumstances taken along with those which
-followed, show that the whole had reference to
-the catastrophe, and the great question which has
-divided historians to this hour is, how far the
-queen was a party to the proceedings. For
-the present, so far as Mary was concerned, all
-appeared fair and sincere. She seemed to have
-resumed all her interest in her husband. She was
-constantly with him, and attended to everything
-necessary for his comfort and restoration. She
-passed the greater part of the day in his chamber,
-and slept in the room under his. Though Darnley
-was apprehensive of danger from the circumstance
-that his mortal enemies were now in power
-and about the Court, the constant presence and
-affection of the queen were a guarantee for his
-safety, and appeared to give him confidence.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But the conspirators were watching assiduously
-for an opportunity to destroy him. Morton,
-Maitland, and Balfour, had now gathered into the
-plot the Earls of Huntly, Argyll, and Caithness,
-Archibald Douglas, the Archbishop of St. Andrews,
-and many other lords and leading men
-of the bench and bar. Murray alone seemed to
-stand aloof; though, from the evidence existing,
-there can be no question that he was privy to the
-whole affair.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_269big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_269.jpg" width="560" height="418" alt="From a photograph by J. Valentine, Dundee" title="HOLYROOD PALACE, EDINBURGH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>HOLYROOD PALACE, EDINBURGH. (<i>From a photograph by J. Valentine, Dundee.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Darnley during this time received a warning
-of his danger from the Earl of Orkney, who,
-finding opportunity, told him that if he did not
-get quickly out of that place it would cost him
-his life. Darnley told this to the queen, who
-questioned the earl, and he then denied having
-said so. This was precisely what Morton stated
-would take place, when on his death-bed, confessing
-a knowledge of the plot, he was asked
-why he had not revealed it. He replied, that
-there was nobody to tell it to; that it was no
-use telling it to the queen, for he was assured
-that she was in the plot; and that if he had
-told Darnley, he was such a fool that he would
-immediately tell it to the queen. The circumstance,
-however, startled the conspirators, and
-determined them to expedite the terrible business.
-The desired opportunity arrived. The queen
-agreed to be present on the evening of the 9th
-of February at the marriage of Sebastiani and
-Margaret Carwood, two of her servants, which
-was to be celebrated with a masque. The queen
-remained with the king the greater part of the
-day, which was passed in the most apparent
-cordiality, and Mary declared her intention of
-remaining all night at Kirk-of-Field. However,
-she suddenly recollected her promise to attend
-the marriage, and taking leave of Darnley, kissed
-him, and taking a ring from her finger placed
-it on his own. It was now that the hired
-assassins executed their appointed task. How
-Darnley and his page were murdered is yet a
-disputed point. The house was blown up with
-gunpowder, but the bodies of the king and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
-page were found in the orchard adjoining the
-garden wall, the king only in his night-dress, his
-pelisse lying by his side, and no marks of fire upon
-the body.</p>
-
-<p>However doubtful may be other matters, there
-is no question of the presence of Bothwell at the
-tragedy. He attended the queen from Kirk-of-Field
-to Holyrood, but about midnight quitted the
-palace, changed his rich dress, and in disguise
-joined the murderers, who were waiting for him.
-About two o'clock two of them entered the house
-and lit a slow-burning match, the other end of
-which was placed amongst the powder. They
-remained some time expecting the catastrophe, till
-Bothwell grew so impatient that he was with difficulty
-withheld from entering the house to ascertain
-whether the match still burnt. This was
-done by one of the fellows, who looked through a
-window and perceived the match alight. The
-explosion soon after took place, and with a concussion
-which seemed to shake the whole city.
-Bothwell hurried away and got to bed before a
-servant rushed in with the news. He then
-started up with well-acted astonishment, and
-rushed forth shouting, "Treason! treason!"
-Huntly, and some others of the conspirators
-then proceeded to the queen's chamber, and
-informed her of what had taken place. She
-seemed petrified with horror, gave herself up to
-the most violent expression of grief, and, shutting
-herself up in her chamber, continued as if paralysed
-by so diabolical a tragedy.</p>
-
-<p>The demands of the outraged people for inquiry
-were loud. The city was placarded with the
-names of Bothwell, James Balfour, David Chambers,
-black John Spens, Signors Francisco, Joseph
-Rizzio&mdash;the brother of David&mdash;Bartiani, and
-John de Bourdeaux, as the leading murderers.
-The Earl of Lennox, the father of Darnley, called
-on the queen to bring them to trial; but he demanded
-in vain. Bothwell, the man whom the
-whole public denounced, continued the first in
-favour with the queen. Everything demonstrated
-the necessity of the queen exerting herself to discover
-the murderers of her husband. Sir Harry
-Killigrew arrived from Elizabeth, bearing a message
-of condolence, but at the same time urging
-the absolute necessity of the trial of Bothwell.
-Killigrew found the capital in a most excited
-state, clamorous for inquiry, and loud in its censures
-of the queen. At the same time a letter
-arrived from Bishop Beaton, her ambassador in
-France, stating in plainest terms that she was
-publicly accused there of being herself the chief
-mover in the whole dark business, and telling her
-that if she did not exert herself to take a rigorous
-vengeance she had better have lost life and all.
-Mary promised Killigrew that Bothwell should be
-brought to strict trial; but as soon as he was gone
-means were taken to secure Bothwell more completely
-from any effectual inquiry. The Earl of
-Mar was induced to give up the possession of the
-castle of Edinburgh to Bothwell, Morton had his
-lands and his castle of Tantallon restored to him,
-and in return supported Bothwell with all his
-influence. The castle of Blackness, the Inch, and
-the superiority of Leith, were conferred on Bothwell;
-and Murray&mdash;who neither liked to play the
-second to the aspiring favourite, nor to run any
-risk of exposure in those inquiries which must
-sooner or later ensue&mdash;requested permission to
-visit France.</p>
-
-<p>Mary could not possibly be happy in such circumstances.
-Whatever might be the state of her
-conscience, her character was fearfully implicated,
-and on all sides came calls for inquiry, which she
-did not seem to have the power or the will to
-make. The climax to her trouble was put by the
-queen-mother of France and her uncle, the cardinal,
-sending her the most cutting message of
-reproach; calling on her without delay to avenge
-the death of the king, and to clear her own reputation,
-or regard them as no longer her friends, but
-the proclaimers of her utter disgrace. There was
-no possibility of delaying inquiry any longer, but
-every means was adopted to make it a mockery.
-Lennox was forbidden to appear with more than
-six followers, and his efforts to obtain a postponement
-were fruitless. In his absence Bothwell
-was unanimously acquitted.</p>
-
-<p>Rumours now arose that Bothwell was about
-to divorce his wife, the sister of Huntly&mdash;to whom
-he had been married only six months&mdash;and to
-marry the queen; and in the face of these reports
-Mary conferred on him the castle and lordship of
-Dunbar, with extension of his powers as Lord
-High Admiral. As tidings of the queen's intended
-marriage grew, Murray, her brother, stole
-away out of contact with danger or responsibility
-and retired to France. But, nevertheless,
-she did not lack warning. Her ambassador at the
-French Court entreated her, in the most serious
-manner, to punish her husband's murderers, and
-not allow the world to use such freedom with her
-character as it did. She had equally strong letters
-from her friends in England, which Melville
-showed to her, and was advised by Maitland of
-Lethington to get away from Court for fear of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
-Bothwell. Bothwell, however, soon put the
-matter beyond doubt. He invited the principal
-nobility to a tavern, kept by one Ainslie, and
-there he drew out of his pocket a bond expressing
-his innocence of the murder of Darnley, as established
-by the bench and the legislature, and his
-intention to marry the queen, and containing, it
-is said, her written warrant empowering him to
-propose the matter to the nobility. The company
-was composed partly of his friends and accomplices.
-The rest were taken with confusion, but
-they had all been deeply drinking, and they
-found the house surrounded by 200 of Bothwell's
-hackbutters. Under constraint, eight bishops, nine
-earls, and seven lords, subscribed the paper.</p>
-
-<p>But the daring ambition of the man now roused
-even his old accomplices to conspire against him,
-for the safety of the young prince and Government.
-Morton, Argyll, Athole, and Kirkaldy of
-Grange, were at the head of this plot; and they
-wrote to Bedford the day after the supper at
-Ainslie's, saying it was high time that his dangerous
-career was checked, and engaging by Elizabeth's
-aid to avenge the murder of the king.
-Kirkaldy, who was the scribe, added that the
-queen had been heard to say that "she cared not
-to lose France, England, and her own country for
-him, and would go with him to the world's end
-in a white petticoat, before she would leave him."</p>
-
-<p>An anonymous letter, but undoubtedly from
-some of this party, soon followed, declaring that
-the queen had concerted with Bothwell the seizure
-of her person. The correctness of this information
-was immediately proved. On Monday, the 21st
-of April, the very day foretold, Mary rode to
-Stirling to visit her son, where the Earl of Mar,
-entertaining strong suspicions of her intentions,
-refused to allow her access to him with more than
-two attendants, to her great indignation. On her
-return, as had been foreseen in the letter quoted,
-Bothwell met her at the head of 1,000 horse, at
-Almond Bridge, six miles from Edinburgh; and,
-according to Melville, who was in the queen's
-train, taking the queen's bridle, he boasted that
-"he would marry the queen, who could or who
-would not; yea, whether she would herself or
-not." He says that Captain Blackadder, one of
-Bothwell's men, told him that it was with the
-queen's own consent. Whether this were so or
-not, has been argued eagerly on both sides, but
-it is probable from what we have seen, that Mary
-really was a consenting party. The royal retinue
-was suffered to continue its journey, with the
-exception of Melville, Maitland, and Huntly, who
-were conducted along with the queen to the castle
-of Dunbar, the recent gift of Mary to Bothwell.
-The queen seems to have made no loud
-outcries against her apparently forcible abduction,
-and the country was so convinced of the sham
-nature of the affair, that there was no attempt to
-rescue her.</p>
-
-<p>The divorce of Bothwell from his wife was now
-hastened, and after detaining the queen five days
-at the castle of Dunbar, he conducted her to Edinburgh,
-and led her to the castle, where she was
-received with a salute of artillery, Bothwell holding
-her train as she dismounted. The ministers
-of the Church were ordered to proclaim the banns
-of marriage between the queen and Bothwell, but
-they declined; and Craig, the colleague of Knox,
-who was absent, declared that he had no command
-from her Majesty, who was held in disgraceful
-constraint by Bothwell. This brought to him the
-Justice Clerk with a letter under the queen's own
-hand, stating that the assertions he had made
-were false and commanding him to obey. Craig
-still refused till he had seen the queen herself;
-and, before the Privy Council, charged Bothwell
-with murder, rape, and adultery. No punishment
-followed so daring a charge, and the preacher
-having done his duty, obeyed the Royal mandate
-and published the banns, at the same time exclaiming,
-"I take heaven and earth to witness
-that I abhor and detest this marriage, as odious
-and slanderous to the world; and I would exhort
-the faithful to pray earnestly that a union against
-all reason and good conscience may yet be overruled
-by God to the conform of this unhappy
-realm."</p>
-
-<p>Nothing moved by these public expressions of
-censure and disgust, the queen appeared, on the
-12th of May, at the high court of Edinburgh, and
-informed the Chancellor, the judges, and the nobility
-that, though she was at first incensed against
-the Earl of Bothwell for the forcible detention of
-her person, she had now quite forgiven him for
-his subsequent good conduct. That day she created
-Bothwell Duke of Orkney and Shetland, and
-with her own hand placed the coronet on his head.
-On the 15th they were married, at four o'clock in
-the morning, in the Presence Chamber of Holyrood.
-The ceremony was performed by the Bishop
-of Orkney, according to the Protestant form,
-Craig being present; and afterwards privately,
-according to the Romish rite.</p>
-
-<p>Very soon circumstances hastened the inevitable
-insurrection in Scotland. Mary had summoned
-her nobles to accompany her on an expedition to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>
-Liddesdale, but many disobeyed the order. Murray
-had now arrived in England, and was using
-all his influence with Elizabeth to make a movement
-for the expulsion of Bothwell from his usurpation;
-and even Maitland, who to the last had
-remained at Court, wearing the air of a staunch
-supporter of the queen, slipped away and joined
-the opposition. These were ominous circumstances,
-and suddenly, while the queen and Bothwell
-were at Borthwick Castle, about ten miles
-from Edinburgh, the conspirators made a rapid
-night march, and morning saw the castle surrounded
-by nearly 1,000 Borderers, under the
-command of Hume and other Border chiefs, with
-whom were Morton, Mar, Lindsay, Kirkaldy, and
-others of the nobles.</p>
-
-<p>The confederates deemed the queen and Bothwell
-now safe in their hands, but they were deceived.
-Bothwell escaped through a postern to
-Haddington, whence he reached Dunbar; and the
-queen also eluding them disguised as a man, rode
-booted and spurred after him. The confederates,
-disappointed of their grand prize, marched on the
-capital, forced the gates, and entered, proclaiming
-that they came to revenge the death of the king,
-and to rescue the queen from the murderer. There
-the Earl of Athole and Maitland joined them, and
-a banner was displayed on which was painted the
-body of the murdered king lying under a tree, and
-the young prince kneeling beside it, exclaiming,
-"Judge and avenge my cause, O Lord!" The
-people flocked to this exciting standard, and the
-leaders speedily commanded a strong force.</p>
-
-<p>Mary and Bothwell, meanwhile, summoned the
-nobles and people around Dunbar, and the Lords
-Seton, Yester, and Borthwick, appeared in arms,
-with a body of 2,000 men. Impatient to quell the
-confederates at once, they marched to Seton,
-where Mary issued a proclamation, declaring that all
-the pretences of the confederates were false; that
-her husband, the duke, was no murderer but had,
-as they knew, been fully acquitted; she was under
-no restraint but freely married to Bothwell, by
-consent and approbation of these very nobles; nor
-was her son in any danger, unless it were from
-them, for he was in their hands. Mary advanced
-and entrenched herself on Carberry Hill, in the
-old works which the English had thrown up before
-the battle of Pinkie.</p>
-
-<p>The confederates marched out of Edinburgh and
-confronted the Royal army, eager for the battle.
-De Croc, the French ambassador, now attempted
-to mediate between the two parties, and carried a
-message to Morton and Glencairn, offering the
-queen's pardon, on condition that they all returned
-to their allegiance; but Glencairn replied that
-they were not come there to seek pardon, but
-rather to give it those who had sinned; and
-Morton added, "We are not in arms against our
-queen, but the Duke of Orkney, the murderer of
-her husband, and are prepared to yield her our
-obedience, on condition that she dismisses him
-from her presence and delivers him up to us."</p>
-
-<p>It was clear that these terms must be complied
-with or they must fight; and it was soon perceived
-that the soldiers of the queen's army began
-to show symptoms of disaffection. Bothwell,
-therefore, rode forward, and defied any one who
-dared to accuse him of the king's murder. His
-challenge was accepted by James Murray of
-Tullibardine, the baron who was said to have
-charged Bothwell with the murder, in a placard
-affixed to the Tolbooth gate. Bothwell declined
-to enter the lists with Murray, on the plea that he
-was not his peer, whereupon Lord Lindsay of the
-Byres offered himself and was accepted, but at the
-moment of action the queen forbade the fight.
-By this time the defection in the queen's army
-became so conspicuous that Mary rode among her
-men to encourage them, assuring them of victory;
-but her voice had lost its charm, and the soldiers
-refused to fight in defence of the alleged murderer
-of the king. Whilst this was passing, it was observed
-that Kirkaldy of Grange was wheeling his
-forces round the hill to turn their flank, and the
-panic becoming general, the queen and Bothwell
-found themselves abandoned by all but about sixty
-gentlemen and the band of hackbutters.</p>
-
-<p>To prevent Kirkaldy from advancing his troops
-so as to cut off their retreat towards Dunbar,
-the queen demanded a parley, which was granted.
-Kirkaldy went forward and assured the queen that
-they were all prepared to obey her authority, provided
-she put away the man who stood by her
-side stained with the blood of the king. The
-queen promised to acquiesce, and she held a
-moment's conversation with Bothwell, gave him
-her hand, and followed Kirkaldy; Bothwell turning
-his horse's head and riding off to Dunbar.
-This brutal and unheroic man afterwards became
-a rover in the North Sea, and died in prison in
-Denmark in 1578. Mary did not follow Kirkaldy
-of Grange far till she saw Bothwell out of
-danger, when she reminded him that she relied
-on the assurances of the lords, on which Grange,
-kissing her Majesty's hand, took her horse by
-the rein, and led her towards the camp. On
-reaching the lines, the confederate lords received<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
-the queen on their knees, and vowed to obey and
-defend her as loyally as ever the nobility of the
-realm did her ancestors; but they very soon
-showed the hollowness of these professions, and
-the common soldiers assailed her ears with the
-most opprobrious language.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_273big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_273.jpg" width="560" height="422" alt="" title="MARY SIGNING THE DEED OF ABDICATION IN LOCHLEVEN CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>MARY SIGNING THE DEED OF ABDICATION IN LOCHLEVEN CASTLE. (<i>See p.</i> 273.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The unfortunate but guilty queen at every step
-learned more plainly her real situation, and the
-faith which she was to put in these nobles. She
-was conducted like a captive into Edinburgh, the
-soldiers constantly waving before her eyes the
-banner on which was painted the murdered king.
-The mob was crowding round in thousands, shouting
-and yelling in execration, and the women
-heaped on her all the coarsest epithets of adulteress
-and murderess. On arriving in the city,
-instead of conducting her to her own palace, the
-patriot nobles shut her up as a solitary prisoner
-in the house of the Provost, not even allowing her
-to have her women to attend her; and in the
-morning she was greeted by a repetition of the
-scenes of the previous day&mdash;the same hideous
-banner was hung out opposite her window, and
-the yells of the mob were furious. Driven to
-actual delirium by this treatment, she rent the
-clothes from her person, and almost naked attempted
-to speak to the raving populace. This
-shocking spectacle roused the sympathy of the
-better class of citizens, and they determined on a
-rescue of the insulted queen, when the watchful
-nobles removed her to Holyrood. There they
-held a Council, and concluded to send her prisoner
-to Lochleven Castle, at Kinross, under the stern
-guardianship of Lindsay and the savage Ruthven.
-While there she was persuaded (July 23, 1567),
-to resign in favour of her baby, and Murray, who
-was summoned home, became Regent.</p>
-
-<p>The queen, seeing herself destined by Murray
-to perpetual captivity, resolved to exert every
-faculty to effect her escape. After several unsuccessful
-efforts, she succeeded in May, 1568,
-through the ingenuity of a page called Little
-Douglas. The news of Mary's escape flew like
-lightning in every direction; the people, forgetting
-her crimes in her beauty and her sufferings,
-gathered to her standard; and she who a few days
-before was a deserted captive, now beheld herself
-at the head of 6,000 men. Many of the nobility,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>
-and some of those who had sinned deeply against
-her, now flocked around her. Murray, on the
-first news of their movement, marched out of
-Glasgow, and took possession of a small hamlet
-called Langside, surrounded by gardens and orchards,
-which occupied each side of a steep narrow
-lane directly in the way of the queen's army.
-Instead of avoiding this position, and making
-their way to Dumbarton by another course, Lord
-Claud Hamilton charged the troops there posted
-with his cavalry, 2,000 strong, in perfect confidence
-of driving them thence; but the hackbutters,
-who had screened themselves behind walls and
-trees, poured in on the cavalry a deadly fire
-which threw them into confusion. Lord Claud
-cheered them on to renew the charge, and with
-great valour they pushed forward and drove the
-enemy before them. But, pursuing them up the
-steep hill, they suddenly found themselves face to
-face with Murray's advance, composed of the
-finest body of Border pikemen, and commanded by
-Morton, Home, Ker of Cessford, and the barons
-of the Merse, all fighting on foot at the heads of
-their divisions.</p>
-
-<p>The battle was unequal, for the troops of
-Murray were fresh, while those of the queen were
-out of breath with their up-hill fight. Notwithstanding,
-the main body of the queen's forces
-coming up, there was a severe struggle, and the
-right of the Regent's army began to give way.
-Grange, who was watching the field from above,
-quickly brought up reinforcements from the main
-body, and made so furious a charge on the queen's
-left as to scatter it into fragments; and Murray,
-who had waited with the reserve for the decisive
-moment, rushed forward with so much impetuosity,
-that the main battle of the queen was
-broken, and the flight became general (May 13,
-1568). Mary, who had surveyed the conflict from
-the castle of Crookston, on a neighbouring height,
-about four miles from Paisley, beholding the rout
-of her army, turned her horse and fled, and never
-drew bit till she reached the abbey of Dundrennan,
-in Galloway. She then set sail in a
-boat, and landed at Workington, in Cumberland.
-Here she wrote to Elizabeth, expressing her strong
-confidence that Elizabeth would receive her and
-protect her against her rebellious subjects. She
-concluded her letter with these words:&mdash;"It is my
-earnest request that your majesty will send for me
-as soon as possible, for my condition is pitiable,
-not to say for a queen, but even for a simple
-gentlewoman. I have no other dress than that in
-which I escaped from the field. My first day's
-ride was sixty miles across the country, and I
-have not since dared to travel except by night."</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">REIGN OF ELIZABETH (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Elizabeth Determines to Imprison Mary&mdash;The Conference at York&mdash;It is Moved to London&mdash;The Casket Letters&mdash;Mary is sent
-Southwards&mdash;Remonstrances of the European Sovereigns&mdash;Affairs in the Netherlands&mdash;Alva is sent Thither&mdash;Elizabeth
-Aids the Insurgents&mdash;Proposed Marriage between Mary and Norfolk&mdash;The Plot is Discovered&mdash;Rising in the North&mdash;Its
-Suppression&mdash;Death of the Regent Murray&mdash;Its Consequences in Scotland&mdash;Religious Persecutions&mdash;Execution of Norfolk&mdash;Massacre
-of St. Bartholomew&mdash;Siege of Edinburgh Castle&mdash;War in France&mdash;Splendid Defence of La Rochelle&mdash;Death
-of Charles IX.&mdash;Religious War in the Netherlands&mdash;Rule of Don John&mdash;The Anjou Marriage&mdash;Deaths of
-Anjou and of William the Silent.</p>
-</blockquote>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, on reading Mary's letter, felt that she
-was now entirely in her power; and all her art
-was exerted to draw her over into the heart of the
-kingdom, so that she could neither retreat nor
-escape to France. She took every measure to
-avoid alarming her. She dispatched letters to the
-sheriff of Cumberland, commanding him to treat
-the Scottish queen with all honour, but to keep
-the strictest watch over her, and to prevent any
-possibility of escape. Nothing was farther from
-Elizabeth's intentions than to enter on friendly
-terms with the Queen of Scots. She had never
-forgiven her the offence of insisting on her
-claims of succession to the crown of England.
-She had a personal jealousy of the fame of her
-superior beauty; and, with such a counsellor as
-Cecil, it was certain that a selfish and suspicious
-policy would prevail. In those days, honour and
-high principle were of little account: expediency
-was the only statesmanship. It was, therefore,
-easy for Elizabeth and her ministers to plead the
-accusations against Mary&mdash;the imprudence of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>
-conduct, and her still unabated infatuation for the
-murderer Bothwell. Mary was a firm Papist,
-Murray was a high professing Protestant, and to
-favour him and his party was to be the champion
-of Protestantism. To let Mary escape to France
-was not to be thought of, for of all things it was
-essential to keep asunder the union of French and
-Scottish interests. It was clear, therefore, that
-Mary must be detained in England, at least for
-the present; after she had been sufficiently discredited
-she might be allowed to return to Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, after some consideration, determined
-that Mary's conduct should be submitted to a
-formal inquiry. When Mary learned that a
-message was actually on its way to call Murray
-and his accomplices to England, to prefer their
-charges against her, she protested vehemently
-against such a proceeding and declared that she
-would rather die than submit to such indignity.
-Murray received his summons with his usual
-artfulness. He was required by Elizabeth to
-prefer his charges against the Queen of Scots,
-but in the meantime to refrain from hostilities.
-He obeyed the requisition; placed his soldiers in
-quarters; but demanded to know what was to be
-the result of the inquiry. If the queen was
-declared innocent, what guarantee was he to
-receive for his own security? If guilty, what
-then? He said he had already sent copies of
-his proofs by his servant Wood; and if they
-were found to be faithful to the originals, would
-they be deemed conclusive?</p>
-
-<p>Thus the cunning Regent was seeking to ascertain
-whether he had already evidence deemed
-by the selected judge sufficiently damnatory, or
-whether he should fabricate more. Nothing could
-be cleverer than Elizabeth's dealings in reply.
-She assured Murray, and also Mary, that she did
-not set herself up as a judge of the Scottish
-queen, far less as an accuser; that her sole
-object was to settle the disputes between Mary
-and her subjects, and to reinstate her at once in
-their good opinion and in her full power; but
-in secret she assured Murray, as we learn from
-Goodall and Anderson, that, whatever were her
-assurances to Mary, she really meant to try her
-and, if she could find her guilty, to retain her in
-perpetual imprisonment.</p>
-
-<p>After considerable delay Murray appointed his
-commissioners&mdash;the Earl of Morton, the Bishop
-of Orkney, Lord Lindsay, and the commendator
-of Dunfermline, who were to be assisted by
-Maitland, Buchanan, and Macgill. Elizabeth
-appointed, as hers, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl
-of Sussex, and Sir Ralph Sadler. Maitland, at
-this juncture, while engaged on the part of
-Murray, sent Mary copies of the letters which
-Murray intended to present against her, and
-begged her to say what he could do to assist her.
-She replied, that he should use his influence to
-abate the rigour of Murray, influence the Duke
-of Norfolk as much as possible in her favour, and
-rely on the Bishop of Ross as her sincere friend.
-She then named, on her part, the said Bishop
-of Ross, the Lords Herries, Boyd, Livingston,
-the abbot of Kilwinning, Sir John Gordon of
-Lochinvar, and Sir John Cockburn of Stirling.</p>
-
-<p>The Commissioners, Murray attending in person
-with his own, met at York, on the 4th of October.
-Some obstruction of business was occasioned by
-the Duke of Norfolk insisting that, as the Regent
-had consented to plead before Elizabeth, he must
-first do homage to the English crown. This was
-refused, and was therefore waived; but the step
-discovered the desire of Elizabeth to seize on
-this occasion to achieve what none of her ancestors
-could accomplish&mdash;the acknowledgment of the
-feudal vassalage of Scotland. The next betrayed
-the duplicity of her promises to the two parties.
-Mary's commissioners claimed that the engagement
-of Elizabeth to place Mary on the throne of Scotland
-in any case, should appear in their powers;
-and Murray's, on the contrary, pleaded the queen's
-promise that if Mary were pronounced guilty she
-should remain a prisoner. These contradictory
-powers were granted, and Mary's commissioners
-opened the conference with their charges that
-Murray and his associates had rebelliously risen
-in arms against their lawful sovereign, had
-deposed and imprisoned her, and compelled her
-to seek justice from her royal kinswoman.</p>
-
-<p>Murray was now called upon to reply, but,
-instead of openly and boldly stating his reasons
-for the course he had pursued, and producing
-and substantiating, as Elizabeth hoped and expected,
-the charges of her participating in her
-husband's murder, which he had so long and
-loudly vaunted, he solicited a private interview
-with the English commissioners, before whom he
-stated his defence. In this defence, to the unmitigated
-astonishment and disappointment of
-Elizabeth and her ministers, he made no charge
-against Mary of participation in the murder of
-Darnley; but reiterated the charges against her
-of marrying Bothwell, and the danger thereby
-incurred by the prince. Nor was this all. Mary's
-commissioners did not so far excuse him; they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
-accused him boldly of complicity with Bothwell
-and the murderers, and of being on the most
-friendly terms with Bothwell whilst the marriage
-with the queen was in progress. Murray, with all
-his art, was confounded and silenced.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_276big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_276.jpg" width="456" height="560" alt="From the Portrait by Mark Gerard" title="LORD BURLEIGH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>LORD BURLEIGH. (<i>From the Portrait by Mark Gerard.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It is said that the arguments and disclosures
-of the Duke of Norfolk had, at this moment,
-greatly staggered him. Norfolk had conceived
-the design of marrying the Queen of Scots; and,
-in order to deter Murray from pressing the worst
-charges, intimated to him privately that he was
-pursuing a dangerous course, for that Elizabeth,
-it was well known, never meant to decide against
-Mary. Murray was rendered sufficiently cautious
-to abstain from the public accusation of the queen;
-but he laid privately before Norfolk, Suffolk, and
-Sadler, the alleged contents of the celebrated silver
-casket, consisting of love-letters and sonnets,
-addressed by Mary to Bothwell, and a contract of
-marriage in the handwriting of Huntley. Copies
-of these were transmitted to Elizabeth.</p>
-
-<p>Being now in possession of Murray's charges,
-Elizabeth determined to compel him to make them
-openly, her grand object being to establish an accusation
-of Mary sufficiently atrocious to warrant
-her in keeping her a perpetual prisoner. For
-this reason she summoned the Commission to Westminster,
-alleging that York was too distant for a
-quick transaction of business. When Murray
-appeared before Elizabeth, he found, to his dismay,
-that she was perfectly informed of his private
-interviews with Norfolk, and she insisted that he
-should make a public accusation of Mary, threatening
-in case of refusal, to transfer her interests
-to the Duke of Chatelherault, and to favour the
-latter's claim to the Regency. But Murray was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
-not inclined to make this accusation, unless
-assured that Elizabeth would pronounce sentence
-on Mary, which Norfolk had led him to doubt.
-Mary, on the other hand, received information
-from Hepburn of Riccarton, a confederate of
-Bothwell's, that Elizabeth was of all things really
-anxious to compel Murray to this accusation. To
-prevent this, she ordered her commissioners, if any
-such attempt was made at accusing her, to demand
-her immediate admission to the presence of Elizabeth,
-and, if that were refused, to break up the
-conference.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_277a.jpg" width="400" height="169" alt="" title="FARTHING OF ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>FARTHING OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_277b.jpg" width="400" height="183" alt="" title="HALFPENNY OF ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>HALFPENNY OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_277c.jpg" width="420" height="197" alt="" title="PENNY OF ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>PENNY OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_277d.jpg" width="450" height="216" alt="" title="TWOPENCE OF ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>TWOPENCE OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>These conferences were opened in the Painted
-Chamber at Westminster, the commissioners of
-Mary refusing to meet in any judicial court; and,
-acting on the instruction of their queen, they at
-once demanded the admission of Mary to Elizabeth's
-presence, on the reasonable plea that that
-privilege had been granted to Murray. This was
-again declined, on the old ground that Mary must
-first clear herself; and on the retirement of the
-commissioners it was demanded of Murray to put in
-his accusation in writing, Bacon, the Lord Keeper,
-assuring him that, if Mary were found guilty, she
-should be either delivered to him, or kept safe in
-England. To this Murray replied, that he had
-prepared his written accusation, but that before
-he would give it in he must have an assurance,
-under the hand of Elizabeth, that she would pronounce
-judgment. On this Cecil said, "Where
-is your accusation?" and Murray's secretary,
-Wood, taking it imprudently from his bosom,
-replied, "Here it is, and here it must remain till
-we have the queen's written assurance." But
-while he spoke the paper was snatched from
-his hand by Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, who
-rushed over the table, pursued by Wood, and
-handed it to the English commissioners. It was
-received amid roars of laughter, and Cecil, who
-had now gained his great object, became radiant
-with exultation. The confusion of the scene was
-extraordinary; Lord William Howard, a blunt
-sea-officer, shouting aloud in his glee, and Maitland
-whispering to Murray that he had ruined his cause
-for ever.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_277e.jpg" width="500" height="266" alt="" title="HALF-CROWN OF ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>HALF-CROWN OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_277f.jpg" width="500" height="250" alt="" title="HALF-SOVEREIGN OF ELIZABETH" />
-<div class="caption"><p>HALF-SOVEREIGN OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But as there was now no going back, the paper
-was read, and found to contain the broadest and
-most direct charge against Mary, not only of
-being an accomplice in the murder of her husband,
-but even of inciting Bothwell to it, and then
-marrying the murderer. This was totally different
-from Murray's former declaration to the English
-ministers; but it was now backed by a similar
-one from Lord Lennox, demanding vengeance
-for the death of his son. No sooner did the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
-commissioners of the Queen of Scots hear this than
-they most indignantly condemned the conduct of
-the English commissioners, declared themselves prepared
-to prove that Murray and his friends themselves
-were the actual authors, and some of them
-the perpetrators of the murder. They demanded
-instant admittance to the presence of Elizabeth;
-complained loudly of the breach of the contract
-that nothing should be received in prejudice of
-their queen's honour, in her absence; demanded
-the instant arrest of the authors of the foul
-charge, and, on that being refused, broke off the
-conference.</p>
-
-<p>Here, indeed, the conference really ceased.
-Elizabeth, despite the withdrawal of Mary's commissioners,
-summoned Murray to produce his
-proofs; and the pretended love-letters and sonnets,
-of which Elizabeth had already had copies, were
-spread before her commissioners. The originals of
-these celebrated documents have long disappeared,
-but the copies which remained have evidently been
-tampered with, and have been pronounced most
-suspicious by all who have examined them.
-Mary, on hearing this, demanded by her commissioners
-the right to see these papers, declaring
-that she would prove the exhibitors of them the
-real murderers, and expose them as liars and traitors.
-This most reasonable request was refused,
-and Elizabeth, having now all she wanted, delivered
-by her Council this extraordinary decision on
-the 10th of January, 1569:&mdash;That neither against
-the Queen of Scotland, nor against Murray, had
-any convincing charge of crime, on the one hand,
-or treason on the other, been shown; and that the
-Queen of England saw no cause to conceive an ill
-opinion of her good sister of Scotland. It was
-conceded that Mary should have copies of the
-papers in the casket, on condition that she should
-reply to them, which she consented to do, provided
-that Murray and her accusers were detained to
-abide the consequence. This, however, did not
-suit the object of Elizabeth. Murray and his associates
-were permitted to retire to Scotland, but
-it was declared that, on many grounds, the Queen
-of Scots must remain in England.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Elizabeth had removed Mary farther
-from the Scottish border. She evidently doubted
-the security of the Queen of Scots so near her
-Scottish subjects, and in a part of the country so
-extremely Popish. Mary, on her part, was quite
-sensible of the views of Elizabeth, and protested
-against going farther into the interior of
-England. She did not hesitate to express her
-opinion that it was the intention of Cecil to make
-away with her. But resistance on her part was
-now hopeless. She was in the hands of a powerful
-and unscrupulous woman, who every day felt more
-and more the difficult position in which she had
-placed herself by thus making herself the gaoler,
-against all right and honour, of an independent
-queen. She sent express orders to Scrope and
-Knollys to permit no person to approach the
-Queen of Scots who was likely to dissuade her
-from her removal, and furnished them with a list
-of such well-affected gentlemen as should attend
-her on her way through the different counties. On
-the 26th of January, 1569, in wintry weather,
-Mary and her attendants were obliged to quit
-Bolton Castle and, mounted on miserable horses,
-to take their way southward. On the 2nd of
-February they reached Ripon, and thence proceeded
-to Tutbury Castle, a ruinous house belonging
-to the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was now
-her keeper. The castle lay high above the valley
-of the Dove, and was a wretched abode for a
-crowned head; and Mary was watched and
-guarded with the utmost anxiety lest some of her
-partisans should find means of communicating
-with her.</p>
-
-<p>Not only were the Roman Catholic subjects
-of Elizabeth greatly discontented with the detention
-of the Scottish queen&mdash;whom Elizabeth had
-again removed to Wingfield Manor, in Derbyshire,
-in April&mdash;but the sovereigns of the Continent
-also remonstrated with Elizabeth on the
-injustice of treating a queen&mdash;as much a sovereign
-as herself&mdash;as a captive and a criminal. Elizabeth,
-however, feeling that she had now little to
-fear from them, replied that they were labouring
-under a mistake; and that so far from treating the
-Queen of Scots as a captive, she was giving her
-refuge and protection against her rebellious subjects,
-who sought her life, and laid the most
-grievous crimes to her charge.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Norfolk, and the Earls of Arundel
-and Pembroke, as friends of Mary, were extremely
-hostile to Cecil, regarding him as the real mover
-and influencer of the queen against her. They
-succeeded in securing the favour of Leicester to
-their design against him, who ventured to lay
-their complaints, as the complaints of the country,
-before Elizabeth, representing the clamour against
-the measures of Cecil, and the belief that his
-policy was prejudicial to her reputation and injurious
-to the interests of the realm, as universal.
-Elizabeth defended her favourite minister with
-zeal; but the politic Cecil was struck with a
-degree of alarm at their combination, which might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
-have eventually proved formidable, had they not
-stumbled on the scheme of marrying Norfolk to
-Mary. The results of that scheme, however, we
-must postpone till we have noticed some anterior
-affairs.</p>
-
-<p>We have seen how Elizabeth assisted the Huguenots
-in France. In the Netherlands she was
-not less active. The commercial natives of these
-countries had not only grown rich under the
-mild sway of the Dukes of Burgundy, but they
-had exercised privileges which did not accord with
-the bigoted and despotic notions of Philip II.
-Both Protestants and Romanists murmured at
-his harsh and arbitrary government. The latter
-complained that opulent abbeys in the possession
-of natives were dissolved to form bishoprics for
-Spaniards. The Protestants groaned under a
-stern persecution, and every class of subjects beheld
-with horror and disgust the Spanish Inquisition
-introduced. Protestants and Papists alike
-united to put down this odious institution. The
-league, from including both religious parties,
-was named the Compromise, and the Prince
-of Orange and the Counts Egmont and Horn
-took the lead in it. The Duchess of Parma, who
-governed the country, gave way before the storm,
-and abolished the Inquisition, which had the effect
-of separating the Roman Catholics from the Protestants.
-The latter deemed it necessary, when
-thus deserted, to conduct their worship with arms
-in their hands; and the duchess, alarmed at this
-hostile attitude, issued a proclamation forbidding
-all such assemblies. In Antwerp and other
-cities where the English and German Protestants
-greatly abounded, no notice was taken of her proclamation;
-but it was resolved no longer to remain
-on the defensive, but to carry the war into
-the enemy's quarters.</p>
-
-<p>The people, assembling in April, 1567, in vast
-crowds, proceeded to demolish the images and
-altars in the churches, and even to pull the
-churches down. On the feast of the Assumption,
-as the priests were carrying an image of the
-Virgin through the streets, the crowd made terrible
-menaces against it, and the procession was
-glad to hasten back to the church from which
-it had set out. But a few days afterwards
-the people rushed to the cathedral, which was
-filled with rich shrines, treasures, and works of
-art, and set systematically to work to smash and
-destroy every image that it contained. Amongst
-these was a crucifix, placed aloft, the work of
-a famous artist, which they dragged down with
-ropes, and knocked in pieces. The pictures, many
-of them very valuable, they cut to shreds, and the
-altars and shrines they tore down and utterly
-destroyed. From the desecrated cathedral they
-proceeded to the other churches, where they perpetrated
-the same ruin, and thence to the convents
-and monasteries, driving the monks and nuns
-destitute into the streets. The example of Antwerp
-was zealously followed in every other province
-in the Netherlands, except in the Walloons.
-The iconoclasts were at length interrupted in their
-work by the Duchess of Parma, who fell upon
-them near Antwerp, and defeated them with great
-slaughter. Philip dispatched the notorious Duke
-of Alva to take vengeance on the turbulent
-heretics, and overran the Netherlands with his
-butcheries. The Prince of Orange retired to his
-province of Nassau, but Horn and Egmont were
-seized and beheaded on the 5th of June, 1568.</p>
-
-<p>The Huguenots in France, alarmed at this success
-of Alva, and believing that he was appointed
-to carry into execution the secret league of
-Bayonne, for compelling the Protestants of France,
-Spain, and Flanders, to give up their religion or
-their lives, rose under Condé, and attempted to
-seize the king, Charles IX., at Monceaux. Charles,
-however, was rescued by his Swiss guards, who,
-surrounding him in a body, beat off the Huguenots,
-and conducted him in safety to Paris.
-There, he was, nevertheless, a prisoner, till he was
-released by the defeat of the Huguenots at the
-battle of St. Denis, where his principal general,
-the constable Montmorency, was killed. Condé
-had fallen in the battle of Jarnac (March 15,
-1569). Norris, the English ambassador, was accused
-of giving encouragement and aid to the insurgents,
-and the king was compelled to make a
-treaty with his armed subjects. In the spring of
-1568, 3,000 of these French Huguenots marched
-into Flanders, to join the Prince of Orange,
-who had taken the field against Alva. After
-various successes, the prince, at the close of
-the campaign, was obliged to retreat across
-the Rhine.</p>
-
-<p>Throughout these struggles, both in France and
-Belgium, Elizabeth lent much aid and encouragement
-in the shape of money; but, with her usual
-caution, she would take no public part in the
-contest, and all the while professed herself the
-friend of Philip, and most hostile to rebellion.</p>
-
-<p>The summer of 1569 was distinguished by
-a remarkable scheme for the marriage of the
-Duke of Norfolk to the Queen of Scots, which
-ended fatally for that nobleman, and increased
-the rigour of Mary's incarceration. The scheme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
-was said to have originated in the ever-busy
-brain of Maitland. Murray fell into it, probably
-under the idea that Mary would then content
-herself with living in England, and leave the
-government of Scotland in his hands; or it might
-have entered into his calculations that it would,
-on discovery, so exasperate Elizabeth, as to lead
-to what it did, the closer imprisonment of the
-Queen of Scots, which would be equally acceptable
-to him. Elizabeth was not long in catching the
-rumours of this plot, and she burst out on the
-duke in her fiercest style; but Norfolk had the
-art to satisfy her of the folly of such an idea,
-by replying that such a thing had, indeed, been
-suggested to him, but that it was not a thing
-likely to captivate him, who loved to sleep on a
-safe pillow. The plan, however, went on, and
-from one motive or another, it eventually included
-amongst its promoters the Earls of Pembroke,
-Arundel, Bedford, Shrewsbury, Northumberland,
-and Westmoreland. Leicester and Throgmorton
-were induced to embrace it, and even Cecil was
-made aware of it and favoured it. In Scotland,
-Murray, Maitland, the Bishop of Ross, and Lord
-Boyd, were favourable to the measure. Mary was
-sounded on the subject, and professed her readiness
-to be divorced from Bothwell; but as to marriage,
-from her past sorrowful experience, she would
-rather retain her solitary life; yet, if the sanction
-of Elizabeth was obtained, she would consent to
-take Norfolk&mdash;but not, since all her miseries had
-flowed from her marriage with Darnley, contrary
-to the Queen of England's pleasure. The duke,
-on his part, when it was proposed to him, had recommended
-Leicester rather, and on his declining,
-his own brother Lord Henry Howard. How far
-either party was sincere in these statements
-matters little; the promoters were urgent and
-they acquiesced.</p>
-
-<p>The Bishop of Ross, with the apparent approbation
-of Murray, undertook to negotiate with
-Elizabeth for the restoration of the Scottish
-queen, on condition that neither she nor her
-issue should lay claim to the English throne
-during the life of Elizabeth; and that Mary should
-enter into a perpetual league, offensive and
-defensive, with England, and establish the Reformed
-religion in Scotland. Elizabeth affected
-to listen to these proposals, and the matter went
-so far that, on the assembling of the Scottish
-Parliament in July, 1569, Murray professed to be
-quite agreeable to the liberation of Mary, but took
-care to reject the proposals approved of by Elizabeth,
-and opposed the appointment to examine
-the queen's marriage with Bothwell. Maitland
-at once fathomed the long-concealed deceit of the
-Regent, and dreading his vengeance on those who
-had committed themselves in the matter, took a
-hasty flight into the fastnesses of Athole.</p>
-
-<p>And now befell what, no doubt, Murray had
-calculated upon. He despatched an envoy to the
-English queen, bearing full details of the propositions
-laid before the Scottish Parliament, and
-the consent received from Bothwell in Denmark
-to the divorce. The marriage with Norfolk,
-which was the end and object of all these plottings,
-had never been communicated to Elizabeth;
-for though Leicester had promised to impart it
-to her, he had not ventured to do it. Elizabeth
-immediately invited Norfolk to dine with her
-at Farnham, and, on rising from table, reminded
-him, in a very significant tone, of his speech when
-charged with such a design some time before,
-saying, "My lord duke, beware on what pillow
-you lay your head." Alarmed at this expression,
-Norfolk urged Leicester to redeem his promise,
-and speak to the queen on the subject; and this
-he did, under pretence of being seriously ill,
-while the queen was sitting by his bedside. The
-rage of Elizabeth was unbounded, but on Leicester
-expressing the deepest regret for his meddling in
-the matter, she forgave him, but sent for Norfolk
-and poured out on him her wrath and scorn.
-Norfolk expressed himself perfectly indifferent to
-the alliance, though so strongly recommended by
-his friends; but his words and manner did not
-deceive the deep-sighted queen. She continued
-to regard him with stern looks, and the courtiers
-immediately avoided him as a dangerous person.
-Leicester, who had promised him so much, lowered
-upon him as a public disturber. Norfolk felt it
-most agreeable to withdraw from Court, and his
-example was followed by his staunch friends
-Pembroke and Arundel. From Norfolk he wrote
-to Elizabeth excusing his absence, and expressing
-fears of the acts and slanders of his enemies.
-Elizabeth immediately commanded him to return
-to London. Her first information from Murray
-had been increased by the treachery of that
-nobleman and of Leicester, who had hastened
-to reveal to her the secret correspondence of
-Norfolk with them. His friends advised him to
-fly, but he did not venture on this, but wrote to
-Cecil to intercede with the queen. Cecil assured
-him there was no danger; the duke, therefore,
-proceeded to London, and was instantly arrested
-and committed to the Tower in October, 1569.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time Elizabeth joined the Earl of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
-Huntingdon, an avowed enemy of the Queen
-of Scots, in commission with her keeper, the Earl
-of Shrewsbury, and Viscount Hertford, to secure
-more completely the person of Mary, who was
-again removed to Tutbury, and to examine her
-papers for further proofs of the correspondence
-with Norfolk. Her confidential servants had
-been dismissed; her person surrounded by an
-armed force; and her cabinets and apartments
-were strictly searched for this correspondence, but
-without effect. It is also asserted that it was
-determined to put her to death, if, as had been
-expected, the Duke of Norfolk should attempt her
-rescue by force. The friends of Mary blamed the duke
-for not having taken arms for her rescue, declaring
-that a short time would have brought whole hosts
-to his standard, but Norfolk must have too well
-known the hopelessness of such an enterprise.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_281big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_281.jpg" width="560" height="442" alt="" title="THE DUKE OF NORFOLK'S INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE DUKE OF NORFOLK'S INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_280">280.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The disclosure of the plot produced consternation
-and distrust on all sides. Murray, in revealing
-the correspondence with Norfolk, had not been
-able to escape suspicion himself. Elizabeth saw
-enough to believe that he had been an active
-promoter of the scheme; she saw still clearer that
-Maitland had been the originator of it; she was,
-moreover, incensed at the double-faced part which
-Murray's secretary, Wood, had been playing in
-the matter in London; and she ordered Lord
-Hunsdon, and her other agents in the North, to
-keep a sharp eye on Murray, and the movements
-of the leading Scots. To propitiate Elizabeth
-Murray determined to sacrifice Maitland; he,
-therefore, lured him from his retreat by some
-plausible artifice, when, on the demand of Lennox,
-he was arrested in the Council as one of the murderers
-of his son Darnley. Sir James Balfour,
-whom Lennox also accused, was seized with his
-brother George, in spite of the pardon which had
-been granted him on this head. In the midst of
-Murray's exultation over his success, Kirkaldy of
-Grange, dreading fresh disclosures, attacked the
-house where Maitland was kept, and carried him off.</p>
-
-<p>As the autumn approached, there were repeated
-rumours of rebellion in the North, which alarmed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
-the Court of Elizabeth. On inquiry, however, no
-trace of such a thing could be discovered, and the
-Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland,
-when questioned, gave such apparently honest
-and satisfactory answers, that the Government
-was perplexed. Suddenly, however, at the beginning
-of October, the two earls received a
-summons to York on the queen's business, and
-the Earl of Sussex was instructed, when he had
-secured them, to forward them to London. The
-fate of Norfolk, and consciousness of their actual
-secret proceedings, determined them to disobey
-the summons. But, unfortunately for them, their
-plans of action were yet so immature that they
-were not prepared to take up arms. While consulting
-what course to follow, the summons of
-Sussex arrived, and at the same time a rumour
-that a force was on the march to arrest Northumberland
-at Topcliffe. He and his countess
-hastened to Branspeth Castle, where the Earl
-of Westmoreland had already assembled around
-him his guests and retainers. Northumberland
-was still of opinion that they should avoid
-hostilities, for which they were unprepared; but
-others, and amongst them the Countess of Westmoreland,
-the sister of Norfolk, the Markenfields
-and Nortons, demanded war. Northumberland
-still dissented, and resolved to set out for Alnwick;
-but was detained by force, and the banner of revolt
-was unfurled.</p>
-
-<p>The first step of the insurgents was to occupy
-the city of Durham. So insignificant was their
-number at this moment, that only sixty horsemen
-followed the banner of the two earls. But their
-appeals to rise and defend the ancient faith
-found a strong response. Mass was celebrated in
-the cathedral before some thousands of people,
-who tore up the English Bible and destroyed the
-Communion table. They then, continually increasing
-in numbers, marched through Staindrop, Darlington,
-Richmond, and Ripon, everywhere turning
-out the appliances of the Reformed worship from
-the churches, and reinstating the ancient ritual.</p>
-
-<p>They proceeded as far as Bramham Moor, or,
-according to other authorities, Clifford Moor, near
-Wetherby, where their forces were found to amount
-to 1,700 horse, and something less than 4,000 foot,
-but many of them badly armed. The earls, who
-were famous for their hospitality, had but little
-ready money; Northumberland bringing only 8,000
-crowns, and Westmoreland nothing at all. The
-Roman Catholics did not rise in their favour, as
-they had calculated. The insurgents had sent to
-the Spanish ambassador soliciting his help, but
-he referred them to the Duke of Alva, and the
-duke waited for orders from Philip. This aid
-not arriving cast a damp on the Romanists, who
-now, doubting of the expedition, lay still, or
-went over to the Royal army under the Earl
-of Sussex. To add to their confusion, 800 horse,
-whom they had despatched to Secure the Queen
-of Scots at Tutbury, returned with the news that
-she was removed thence to Coventry. They were
-confounded by this intelligence, and still more
-by the rumours of the numerous forces which were
-being raised under Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick,
-and the Lord Admiral, whilst Lord Hunsdon
-from Berwick was hastening down upon them with
-his garrison and Royalists from the Borders.</p>
-
-<p>Dissension now began to appear in their ranks
-and amongst the leaders. The Earl of Westmoreland,
-who at first was the most daring, now
-began to hesitate; and Northumberland, who
-was, in a manner, dragged into the rising, on
-the contrary, counselled bold measures, as they
-had committed themselves. The result, however,
-was that they retreated to the Earl of Westmoreland's
-castle of Branspeth. They there issued
-a new manifesto; and as the Papists had not
-come forward as they expected, they now dropped
-the argument of religion, and took up the plea
-that there was a determination at Court to exercise
-arbitrary power over the lives and liberties
-of the subject, and that it was necessary to drive
-from her Majesty's counsels the persons who gave
-her pernicious advice.</p>
-
-<p>But this retreat had shaken the confidence of
-the people; and the different noblemen to whom
-they sent messengers followed the example of the
-Earl of Derby, and arrested them and sent them
-to the queen. The measures on the part of
-Elizabeth's Government were active and effectual.
-Orders were issued to muster a large army in the
-south. The Earl of Bedford was despatched to
-maintain quiet in Wales. A regiment of well-disciplined
-troops was marched from the Isle
-of Wight to defend the person of the sovereign,
-and suspected persons were arrested. To prevent
-any communication with the foreign princes, the
-mail-bags of the Spanish and French ambassadors
-were stopped and examined. Leicester entreated
-to be sent against the rebels, but Elizabeth would
-not risk his precious life, and kept him near her
-as her chief adviser, Cecil being indisposed.</p>
-
-<p>The patience of Elizabeth was greatly tried by
-the cautious delay of the Earl of Sussex, who
-was her commander in the north, and especially
-as his procrastination allowed the two earls to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
-besiege Sir George Bowes in Barnard Castle for
-eleven days, which then opened its gates. There
-were even insinuations that Sussex was in secret
-league with the rebel earls. On the approach of
-the army of the Earl of Warwick, 12,000 in
-number, the insurgents held a council at Durham,
-on the 16th of December, 1569; but dissension
-again broke out between Westmoreland and
-Northumberland to such a degree that the forces
-scattered, and the enterprise was at an end. The
-foot got away to their homes, and the earls fled
-across the Border with 500 horse.</p>
-
-<p>In England no severity was spared in punishing
-the fallen insurgents. Those who possessed property
-were reserved for trial in the courts, to
-secure the forfeiture of their estates. These, and
-the fugitives together, amounted to fifty-seven
-noblemen, gentlemen, and freeholders, so that
-their wealth would form a good fund for the payment
-of the expenses of the campaign, and the
-reward of the officers and soldiers. On the poorer
-class Sussex let loose his vengeance with a fury
-which was intended to convince Elizabeth of his
-before-questioned loyalty. In the county of
-Durham he put to death more than 300 individuals,
-hanging at Durham at one time sixty-three
-constables; and Sir George Bowes made
-his boast that, for sixty miles in length, and
-fifty miles in breadth, between Newcastle and
-Wetherby, there was hardly a town or village
-in which he did not gibbet some of the inhabitants
-as a warning to the rest; a cruelty, says Bishop
-Percy, "which exceeds that practised in the West
-after Monmouth's rebellion; but this was not the
-age of tenderness or humanity." Sussex, in writing
-to Cecil, says, "I gesse it will not be under
-six or seven hundred at leaste of the common sort
-that shall be executed, besides the prisoners taken
-in the field."</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the Regent Murray, finding that
-there would never be any rest for either England
-or Scotland while the Queen of Scots was detained
-in her unjust captivity, entered into serious negotiations
-with Elizabeth, to have her surrendered
-to his own custody, when it would have been
-in his power to get rid of her on some pretence.
-Knox, in no equivocal language, in a letter to
-Cecil which still remains, had recommended her
-being put out of the way, telling him, "If ye strike
-not at the root, the branches that appear to be
-broken will bud again, and this more quickly than
-man can believe, with greater force than we
-could wish." On the day on which this letter
-was dated, Murray despatched Elphinstone to
-Elizabeth, to impress upon her the absolute necessity
-of some immediate and decisive dealing with
-Mary. He assured her that the faction in her
-favour both at home and abroad was daily
-acquiring fresh force; that the Spaniards and
-the Pope were intriguing with the Romanists of
-England and Scotland, and that daily succours
-were expected from France. He demanded that
-she should, therefore, at once exchange the Queen
-of Scots for Northumberland, and enable him,
-by a proper supply of money and arms, to resist
-their common foes. He entreated her to remember
-that the heads of all these troubles&mdash;no doubt
-meaning Mary and Norfolk&mdash;were at her command,
-and that if she declined this arrangement,
-he must forbear to adventure his life as he had
-done.</p>
-
-<p>These negotiations, however private, did not
-escape the knowledge of Mary's friends. The
-Bishop of Ross immediately entered a protest
-before Elizabeth against the scheme, which he
-declared would be tantamount to signing the death-warrant
-of the Queen of Scots. He induced the
-ambassadors of France and Spain to enter like
-protests; but whether they would have been effective
-remains a mystery, for Elizabeth had despatched
-Sir Henry Gates to the Regent on the
-subject, when the news of Murray's end altered
-the whole position of affairs.</p>
-
-<p>Private revenge and public had combined to
-accomplish this tragedy. James Hamilton, of
-Bothwellhaugh, an estate adjoining the celebrated
-Bothwell-brig, was one of the Hamilton clan who
-fought at Langside, and was there taken and condemned
-to death, but let off with the forfeit of
-his estate. The loss of his property might have
-been cause enough of discontent to a proud and
-high-spirited gentleman, but this was rendered
-tenfold more intolerable by the seizure of that of
-his wife, and her ejectment from it in the most
-brutal manner. He determined to have revenge.</p>
-
-<p>Murray was about to proceed from Stirling to
-Edinburgh, and had arranged to pass through
-Linlithgow. The Archbishop of St. Andrews, the
-uncle of Bothwellhaugh, had an old palace in the
-High Street of that town, through which Murray
-must pass. Bothwellhaugh took possession of this,
-and made all his preparations for the murder
-with the coolest exactness. He barricaded the
-front door, so that no one could, without considerable
-delay, force their way in to seize him. In the
-back yard he placed a powerful and swift horse,
-ready bridled and saddled for flight; and even
-removed the head of the doorway, so as to admit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>
-him to spring upon his steed, and ride through it
-without the moment's delay of leading the horse
-there. He then cut a hole for the barrel of
-his gun through a panel below a window, in a
-sort of wooden gallery, from which he could
-survey the procession. To prevent his booted
-steps from being heard, he laid a feather bed on
-the floor, and to prevent the possible casting of a
-shadow, hung up behind him a black cloth. These
-preparations being made, he stood ready, with his
-piece loaded with four bullets.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_284.jpg" width="448" height="560" alt="From the Portrait in the Collection at Holyrood Palace" title="THE REGENT MURRAY" />
-<div class="caption"><p>THE REGENT MURRAY.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the Portrait in the Collection at Holyrood Palace.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Regent had been duly warned of his danger
-by a faithful servant named John Herne, who
-seems to have had full knowledge of Bothwellhaugh's
-plan and place of ambush, and offered to
-take the Regent where he could seize the assassin
-on the spot. With that fatal neglect which so
-often attends such victims, Murray agreed to avoid
-the public street, but took no means to secure the
-murderer. The crowd on entering the town became
-so great that he allowed himself to be densely
-surrounded&mdash;as it were, borne irresistibly along
-the fatal street. The throng, moreover, compelled
-him to move slowly, giving his enemy ample time
-to take aim. As he passed the archbishop's house,
-Bothwellhaugh fired so accurately that he shot
-him through the body, and killed the horse of the
-person riding next to him (January 23, 1570).
-The confusion which followed allowed the assassin
-to escape before his barricade could be forced,
-and he was just seen galloping away towards
-Hamilton. There the archbishop, the Lord
-Arbroath, and the whole clan of the Hamiltons,
-received him in triumph, as the liberator of his
-country from an unnatural tyrant who was plotting
-the murder of his sister and sovereign. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
-immediately flew to arms, and resolved to march
-to Edinburgh, liberate the Duke of Chatelherault,
-and assume the government.</p>
-
-<p>The assassination of Murray greatly disconcerted
-the policy of Elizabeth. The wily diplomatist who
-had such strong reasons for securing her co-operation
-in detaining the Queen of Scots from the
-throne, being gone, there was a serious danger of
-the two parties combining, and, by the aid of
-France, placing Mary, if not on the throne, at
-least at their head during the minority of her son.
-The Hamiltons, Maitland, Herries, Huntly, and
-Argyll, were all on the side of the Queen of Scots,
-and Morton and his associates were in no condition
-of themselves to resist them. They were on the
-march to secure the castles of Dumbarton and
-Edinburgh; the French were already on the
-Clyde; the Kers and Scots, friends of Mary, had
-burst across the Border, accompanied by the
-refugee Earl of Westmoreland; and an emissary
-from the Duke of Alva had arrived, bringing
-money, and promise of substantial help from
-Philip. It was necessary to sow instant dissension
-in Scotland, and for this purpose Elizabeth
-dispatched that subtle intriguer, Sir Thomas Randolph,
-to that country only three days after
-Murray's death, and resolved to recommend
-Lennox, whom the Hamiltons hated, as Regent.
-The young king, indeed, was his grandson, and
-therefore he had a natural claim to that position,
-if his abilities had been adequate to its responsibilities.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_285big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_285.jpg" width="560" height="382" alt="" title="HIGH STREET, LINLITHGOW" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>HIGH STREET, LINLITHGOW.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Fortune seemed to favour Elizabeth. At the
-very moment that Cecil was recommending these
-measures, Lord Hunsdon, the Governor of Berwick,
-wrote to inform her that Morton was
-anxious to secure her support, and that nobleman
-lost no time in waiting on Sir Henry Gates and
-Sir William Drury, who had arrived on a mission
-to Murray, just before he was killed. He represented
-that his party trusted to the Queen of
-England not to liberate the Queen of Scotland, or
-the foreigners would soon possess the chief power
-in Scotland, but to send them Lennox as Regent,
-and assist them as she had assisted Murray, and
-they would pledge themselves to pursue the same
-policy. Randolph, on his arrival, promised them
-the queen's aid, and encouraged them to refuse
-any connection with the Hamiltons, who had
-warned them to acknowledge no authority but that
-of the queen. Morton and his friends replied by a
-proclamation, maintaining the rights of the king,
-and forbidding any one, on pain of treason, to hold
-communication with the Hamiltons. As they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
-wanted a clever head, they liberated Maitland
-from the castle; and on his declaration of innocence
-of the murder of Darnley&mdash;a notorious untruth&mdash;they
-reinstated him in his old post of Secretary,
-and made Morton Chancellor. Randolph
-assured them of Elizabeth's determination to increase
-the rigour of the imprisonment of the Queen
-of Scots, and promised them both money and
-soldiers on condition that they should take care
-that the young king should not be carried off to
-France, that they should maintain the Protestant
-religion, and deliver up Westmoreland and Northumberland.
-These conditions were readily accepted,
-and letters were dispatched to hasten the
-arrival of Lennox.</p>
-
-<p>On the queen's side were now ranged the whole
-power of the Hamiltons, the Earls of Argyll,
-Huntly, Athole, Errol, Crawford, and Marshall;
-Caithness, Cassillis, Sutherland, and Eglinton; the
-Lords Home, Seton, Ogilvy, Ross, Borthwick,
-Oliphant, Yester, and Fleming; Herries, Boyd,
-Somerville, Innermeith, Forbes, and Gray. But
-more than all, their strength lay in the military
-abilities of Kirkaldy of Grange, and the diplomatic
-abilities of Maitland, who was no sooner at liberty
-than he went over to them. On the side of the
-king were Lennox, Mar, the governor of his youthful
-majesty, Glencairn, Buchanan, and the Lords
-Glammis, Ruthven, Lindsay, Cathcart, Methven,
-Ochiltree, and Saltoun.</p>
-
-<p>The friends of Mary, encouraged by promise of
-support from Spain and France, liberated Chatelherault
-from the castle of Edinburgh, and compelled
-Randolph to fly to Berwick. They then
-addressed a memorial to Elizabeth, calling upon
-her to put an end to the miseries of Scotland by
-liberating the queen. But Elizabeth was in no
-humour to listen to such requests. She had excited
-all Mary's friends at home and abroad, and
-a perpetual succession of intrigues, plots, and
-menaces of invasion kept her in no enviable
-condition. The intrigues of Norfolk for obtaining
-Mary, the successive rebellions in the northern
-shires, the invasions of the Borderers under Buccleuch
-and Ferniehurst&mdash;who had announced the
-death of Murray before it took place&mdash;and the
-constant rumours of expeditions from France or
-Spain, wrought her to such a pitch, that on
-pretence of seizing her rebels Northumberland and
-Westmoreland, she sent the Earl of Sussex into
-Scotland at the head of 7,000 men, the real object
-being to take vengeance on the allies of Mary, and
-to devastate the country with fire and sword.</p>
-
-<p>This excessive fury so roused the indignation of
-all parties in Scotland, and such loud remonstrances
-were made by Maitland, the Bishop of
-Ross, and the French ambassador, that Elizabeth
-began to fear that she had gone too far and,
-instead of ruining Mary's party, had created her
-one out of her old enemies. She wrote to Sussex,
-commanding him to stop the siege of Dumbarton,
-and to Randolph, ordering him to proceed again
-from Berwick to Edinburgh, and to inform the
-two parties that, having reasonably chastised her
-rebels, she had listened to the request of Mary's
-ambassador the Bishop of Ross, and was about to
-arrange at Chatsworth for the liberation and
-restoration of the Queen of Scots. On this Sussex
-retired with his forces, and the commissioners for
-the adjustment of the terms with Mary proceeded
-to the Peak. Cecil and Mildmay were then the
-agents of Elizabeth; the Bishop of Ross that of
-Mary. The Scottish queen, who had been
-removed about four months to this palace of the
-Peak, then one of the houses of the Earl of
-Shrewsbury, her keeper, during these negotiations
-showed herself a complete match for the deep and
-practical diplomatists of Elizabeth; but of course
-she was under the necessity of complying with
-many things which she would never have listened
-to at liberty. Elizabeth expressed herself quite
-satisfied; still the assent of the two parties in
-Scotland had to be obtained, and that was not at
-all likely, so that Elizabeth's offer could appear
-fair, and even liberal, with perfect safety. Morton,
-the head of the opponents to Mary, advocated
-the right of subjects to depose their sovereigns
-where they infringed the rights of the community&mdash;a
-doctrine which was abominable to the ears of
-Elizabeth, and called forth her unqualified censure.
-On the other hand, the guarantees to be given by
-and on account of the Queen of Scots were such as
-never could be settled, from Elizabeth's fears of
-the resentment of Mary if once she became free.
-Thus the discussion was prolonged till Cecil found
-a way out of it without the liberation of the
-Scottish Queen. He represented that if Elizabeth
-were to marry a French prince, she would almost
-entirely annihilate any hopes of the English crown
-in Mary: for if she had issue her claims would be
-superseded; if she had not, then the French
-would be directly interested in keeping Elizabeth
-firm on her throne. The Duke of Anjou was the
-prince this time proposed, and Elizabeth appeared,
-as she generally did at first, to listen with pleasure
-to the proposal. No sooner was this scheme
-entertained than she caused the commissioners on
-the part of the King of Scotland to be dismissed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
-for the present, on pretence that they were not
-furnished with sufficient credentials, by which she
-left herself at liberty to renew the treaty if
-necessary, or to take no further notice of it if she
-came to an arrangement with the French prince.
-Prolonged negotiations with the French Court
-were set on foot, but neither party was sincere,
-and eventually the marriage project was abandoned,
-though it was subsequently revived in
-favour of Anjou's brother Alençon.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner had the Scottish commissioners withdrawn
-than Elizabeth summoned a Parliament, in
-which she proceeded to the enactment of severities
-against both Romanists and Protestants. Pope
-Pius V. had had the folly to cause a bull of
-excommunication against Elizabeth to be published.
-This now effete instrument of Papal
-vengeance could only serve to enrage the heretic
-Queen, and to cause her wrath to fall heavily on
-some zealous unfortunate. The lawyers being
-amongst those who clung the longest to the old
-faith, a search was made in the inns of court for
-copies of the offensive paper. One was found in
-the chambers of a poor student, who, being
-stretched on the rack to force a confession from
-him of the party from whom he had received it, to
-save himself from torture, confessed that it was
-given to him by John Felton, a gentleman living
-near Southwark. Felton was seized, and confessed
-to the fact of delivering the bull to the student:
-and to force a revelation of his accomplices from
-him he was tortured, but to no purpose&mdash;he would
-confess nothing more. He was committed to the
-Tower on the 25th of May, and kept till the 4th
-of August, when he was tried at Guildhall on
-a charge of high treason, condemned, and executed
-with the disgusting cruelties of being cut down
-alive, and then embowelled and quartered in St.
-Paul's Churchyard, before the gates of the palace
-of the Bishop of London.</p>
-
-<p>On the 2nd of April, 1571, Parliament met at
-Westminster. A subsidy of two shillings and
-eightpence in the pound was granted by the
-Commons, and of five shillings in the pound by the
-clergy, towards defraying the charges of suppressing
-the rebellion in the North, and of pursuing
-the rebels and their abettors into Scotland. This
-obtained, a bill was introduced to make it high
-treason for any one to claim a right to the
-succession of the Crown during the lifetime of
-the queen, or to say that it belonged to any
-other person than the queen. A second bill was
-passed this session enacting that any one was guilty
-of high treason who not merely obtained any bull
-from, or entered any suit in, the Court of Rome,
-but who was merely absolved by the Pope, or by
-means of any Papal instrument; and that all
-persons should suffer the pains of Præmunire who
-received any <em>Agnus Dei</em>, cross, bead, or picture,
-which had been blessed by the Pope, or any one
-deriving authority from him; and their aiders and
-abettors the same. All persons whatsoever, of a
-certain age, were bound to attend the Protestant
-worship, and receive the Sacrament as by law
-established; and all such as had fled abroad in
-order to escape this most despotic state of things
-were ordered to return within six months and
-submit themselves, under penalty of suffering the
-forfeiture of all property or rents from land.
-This Parliament was distinctly Puritan in its
-temper, and introduced several bills for the reform
-of religious worship, which were dropped in the
-House of Lords, or failed to receive the royal
-assent.</p>
-
-<p>The result of the friendship between England
-and France was that many of the English
-Catholics turned to Spain, and the dangerous
-conspiracy was hatched which is known as the
-Ridolfi plot. In the month of April, 1571,
-Charles Bailly, a servant of the Queen of Scots,
-who was coming from Brussels to Dover, was
-arrested at the latter place, and upon him was
-discovered a packet of letters, which being written
-in cipher created suspicion. The Bishop of Ross,
-Mary's staunch and vigilant friend, who knew
-very well whence they came, on the first rumour
-of their seizure, contrived to obtain them from Lord
-Cobham, in whose hands they were, from a pretended
-curiosity to read them before they were
-sent to the Council. Having obtained his desire,
-he dexterously substituted others, and very innocent
-ones, in their place in a like cipher: but
-Bailly being sent to the Tower and placed on the
-rack, at length confessed that he had written the
-letters from the dictation of Ridolfi, of Brussels,
-formerly an Italian banker in London, and then
-had been commissioned by him to convey them to
-England. He further confessed that they contained
-assurances from the Duke of Alva of his
-warm sympathy with the cause of the captive
-queen, and approved of the plan of a foreign
-invasion of England; that if his master the King
-of Spain authorised him, he should be ready to
-co-operate with "30" and "40." Who these "30"
-and "40" were Bailly said he did not know, but
-that all that was explained by a letter enclosed to
-the Bishop of Ross, who was requested to deliver
-them to the right persons.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>One of these persons was immediately believed
-to be the Duke of Norfolk. When he had been
-ten months a prisoner without any matter having
-been brought against him of more consequence
-than that of his having desired to marry the
-Queen of Scots, provided the Queen of England
-was willing&mdash;which was no treason&mdash;and had been
-brought to no trial, he petitioned to be liberated,
-contending that though he was wrong in not communicating
-everything fully to the queen, yet
-that he had neither committed nor intended any
-crime, and that his health and circumstances were
-suffering greatly from his close imprisonment. In
-consequence, he was removed from the Tower on
-the 4th of August, 1570, to one of his own
-houses, under the custody of Sir Henry Neville.
-He certainly then obtained sufficient variety of
-prisons, but no more liberty, for he was repeatedly
-removed from one house to another. He petitioned
-to be restored to his seat in the Council,
-but was refused; and in August of 1571 circumstances
-transpired which occasioned his return to
-the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>A man of the name of Brown, of Shrewsbury,
-on the 29th of August carried to the Privy
-Council a bag of money which he said he had
-received from Hickford, the Duke of Norfolk's
-secretary, to carry to Bannister, the duke's
-steward. The money on being counted in presence
-of the Council was found to amount to
-£600. But besides the money there were two
-papers in cipher; and on this suspicious appearance
-Hickford, the secretary, was at once
-arrested, and ordered to decipher the notes, which
-then showed that the money was intended to be
-sent to Lord Herries in Scotland, to assist in
-making fresh efforts on behalf of Mary. Here
-was treason, and the duke was immediately sent
-back to the Tower in the custody of Sir Ralph
-Sadler, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Henry Neville his
-old keeper, and Dr. Wilson. The duke denied all
-knowledge of it; but Bannister, and Barker,
-another secretary of Norfolk's, being now apprehended,
-as well as the Bishop of Ross, the rack
-forced a confession from them. The result was
-the destruction of the entire conspiracy. The
-Bishop of Ross, who was immediately arrested,
-made such revelations, that when the Duke of
-Norfolk, who had hitherto stoutly denied everything
-laid to his charge, saw the depositions of
-the bishop, of Hickford, and Barker, he exclaimed
-that he had been betrayed and ruined by those in
-whom he put confidence. On comparing the
-various answers of these men and of the duke, it
-would appear that several plans had been in agitation
-for the liberation of the Queen of Scots;
-that Norfolk, though he would confess to nothing
-of the kind, had taken active part in them; that
-the money lately taken from Hickford had been
-sent from France for the Scottish friends of Mary.
-But the most fatal to the duke was the revelation
-of the mission of Ridolfi, who had it appeared
-been sent by him to Alva, to the King of Spain,
-and to the Pope&mdash;or rather by Mary, with the
-cognisance and approbation of the duke.</p>
-
-<p>From further disclosures it appeared that the
-Pope placed a sum of money at the disposal of
-Mary, and accompanied it by a letter to Norfolk,
-regretting that he could send him no further aid
-this year. Thence Ridolfi hastened to Spain, and
-reaching Madrid on the 3rd of July, 1571, he
-delivered his letters to Philip. Meanwhile Philip
-had received letters from both the Pope and Alva.
-The Pope urged him to accept the enterprise and
-rescue England from heresy. The more astute
-Alva advised him to have nothing to do with it,
-for he had no faith in the men engaged in it, nor
-in the soundness of their plans. Philip, however,
-listened to the scheme, and was so much impressed
-by it as to determine to undertake the expedition,
-and to appoint Vitelli its commander. Ridolfi
-assured the king that he would find plenty ready
-to co-operate with his forces in England; that
-he might calculate on an army of 20,000 infantry
-and 3,000 cavalry meeting his troops on landing,
-led on by the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of
-Worcester and Southampton, the Lords Montague,
-Windsor, and Lumley, with many others; that it
-was intended to dispatch Elizabeth while on a
-visit to some country house, and also to destroy
-with her Cecil, Bacon, Leicester, and Northampton.
-All this Ridolfi wrote to communicate;
-but the scheme was suddenly scattered to the
-winds by the discovery of his money and letters.</p>
-
-<p>At length the queen determined to bring
-Norfolk to the bar. She named the Earl of
-Shrewsbury High Steward, and he summoned six-and-twenty
-peers, who were in the first place
-chosen by the ministers, to attend on the 16th of
-January, 1572, in Westminster Hall. Thither
-Norfolk was brought by the Lieutenant of the
-Tower and Sir Peter Carew, and was charged
-with having compassed and imagined the death of
-the queen, and with levying war upon her within
-the realm&mdash;1st, By endeavouring to marry the
-Queen of Scots, and supplying her with money, well
-knowing that she claimed the Crown of England;
-2nd, By sending sums of money to the Earls of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
-Westmoreland and Northumberland and other
-persons concerned in the rebellion in the North,
-enemies to the queen, and attainted of high
-treason; 3rd, By despatching Ridolfi to the Pope,
-Alva, and the King of Spain, recommending them
-to send forces to depose the queen, and set up the
-Queen of Scots in her place; he himself marrying
-the said Queen of Scots. Norfolk was found
-guilty on the fullest evidence, and the complicity
-of Mary was also brought to light.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_289big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_289.jpg" width="560" height="431" alt="" title="KENILWORTH CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>KENILWORTH CASTLE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On Saturday, the 8th of February, Elizabeth
-signed the warrant for Norfolk's execution on the
-Monday; but late on Sunday night she sent for
-Cecil&mdash;now more commonly called Burleigh&mdash;and
-commanded the execution to be stayed, revoking
-the warrant, to the great disappointment of the
-good citizens of London, who had seen all the
-preparations made for the spectacle. Elizabeth
-soon after signed a fresh warrant which, as the
-time of execution approached, she also revoked.
-As she herself hung back, the preachers and the
-Commons took it up, and demanded the duke's
-death, for the security of both the sovereign and
-the State. When the public excitement had
-reached its height, then the queen slowly and
-reluctantly yielded, and issued a third warrant,
-which she did not revoke, for now it was
-become the act of the nation rather than her own.
-On the 2nd of June, 1572, at eight o'clock in the
-morning, the duke was brought out of the Tower
-to a scaffold on Tower Hill, the drawing to
-Tyburn and all its revolting accompaniments being
-dispensed with on account of his high rank. He
-addressed the people, confessing the justice of his
-sentence, though he still denied all treason. On
-being offered a handkerchief to bind his eyes, he
-refused, saying he was not afraid of death; and
-after a prayer he stretched his head across the
-block, and it was severed at a stroke.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Elizabeth had been making a gay
-procession amongst her subjects, and had been
-royally feasted at the castle of her favourite,
-Leicester, at Kenilworth, and was at Woodstock,
-on her return towards town, when she was met
-by one of the most horrible pieces of news which
-ever flew across affrighted Europe. This was the
-massacre of St. Bartholomew.</p>
-
-<p>The pacification which had been patched up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
-between the Romanists and the Huguenots in
-France had no sincerity in it. All the old hatred
-and resentment were fomenting beneath the surface.
-The Huguenots had no faith in the Papists,
-and the Papists longed to annihilate the Huguenots
-as heretics. None thirsted so much for their
-blood as the queen-mother, Catherine de Medicis.
-She entered into the most subtle and daring
-schemes for their destruction, and the imbecile
-Charles IX. was mere wax in her hands. Her
-plans ripened, the massacre broke out on St.
-Bartholomew's day, August 24th, 1572, and it
-continued until many Protestants of all ages had
-been cruelly murdered.</p>
-
-<p>A sensation of horror was diffused all over
-Europe by the news of this unexampled atrocity
-of bigotry, which was greatly augmented in
-England by the crowds of Protestants who fled
-thither for refuge. The body of the nation called
-for instant war, to avenge on the sanguinary
-French Government this infamous treatment of
-the Reformed church. The French ambassador
-hastened to apologise to the Queen of England for
-what he termed this unfortunate accident. Burleigh
-carefully impressed upon Elizabeth the
-necessity of the death of Mary as "the only means
-of preventing her own deposition and murder;"
-and Sandys, the Bishop of London, sent in a paper
-of necessary precautions to be adopted, the first
-and foremost of which was to "forthwith cut off
-the Scottish queen's head." The nation also
-clamoured for her execution. Elizabeth listened
-to the advice, but was too politic to imbrue her
-hands in the blood of the Queen of Scotland,
-without exerting herself first to transfer the odium
-to some other person. Killigrew was therefore
-sent down to Scotland to see if the execution of
-the queen could not be effected there. His ostensible
-mission was to arrange, if possible, the
-terms of an armistice between the adherents of
-Mary and those of the young king in Scotland,
-at the head of which parties were Huntly and
-Morton. But the private and real object was to
-lead the Protestant lords to the point of removing
-Mary from the hands of Elizabeth, "to receive
-that she had deserved by order of justice." But
-before an answer could be received the Regent
-Mar died suddenly. This occurred on the 28th of
-October, 1572, and on the 9th of November
-Morton, by the influence of Elizabeth, was elected
-Regent in his place. Thus Elizabeth had obtained
-the appointment to be guardian of the young king
-of the very man who had for many years been in
-her pay, and was ready to execute any designs
-demanded by her policy. Both Mary and her son
-might now be said to be in her hands. No sooner
-was Morton in power than he managed, with
-the help of Elizabeth, who had always <em>weighty</em>
-persuasions at hand, to bring over Mary's chief
-friends the Hamiltons, and Huntley's people the
-Gordons, and he demanded the immediate and unconditional
-surrender of the castle of Edinburgh.
-Kirkaldy, Maitland, and Hume, who held it,
-however, refused to give it up, and thus put them
-at the mercy of their enemies. On this, Elizabeth
-ordered Drury, the marshal of Berwick, to advance
-to Edinburgh with a strong force furnished
-with a powerful battering train, and, if necessary,
-lay the castle in ashes. In this extremity the
-besieged lords, and Mary from her prison in
-England, implored the King of France to hasten
-to their assistance, and not to allow Elizabeth to
-extinguish the last spark of opposition in Scotland.
-But Charles replied that it was quite out
-of his power, for Elizabeth, on the very first movement,
-would send a fleet to La Rochelle, where
-he was besieging the Huguenots. The castle was
-consequently compelled to surrender on the 9th
-of June, 1573, after a siege of thirty-four days,
-and the King's party was for the time being
-triumphant.</p>
-
-<p>Though the French king had refused to assist
-Mary's party in Scotland in their last extremity,
-for fear of Elizabeth's affording aid to the Huguenots
-besieged in La Rochelle by the Duke of
-Anjou, that did not prevent Elizabeth assisting the
-Rochellais. She allowed a strong fleet of Englishmen,
-under the nominal command of the Count de
-Montgomery, to assemble in Plymouth for their
-relief, and she promised them further help. To
-avert this, Charles IX. endeavoured to flatter
-Elizabeth into neutrality. He requested her
-to stand godmother to his infant daughter. The
-French Protestants, however, were so incensed
-at Elizabeth's compliance, which they regarded
-as an act of apostacy, that they attacked the
-squadron which conveyed the English ambassador,
-Elizabeth's proxy, seized one of his ships, slew
-some of his attendants, and put his own life
-in peril. Charles IX. saw in this a favourable
-opportunity for inducing Elizabeth to cause the
-Plymouth fleet to disperse. He therefore despatched
-an ambassador before the queen's anger
-could cool, requesting her to refuse a promised
-loan to these audacious Rochellais, and to disperse
-the hostile fleet at Plymouth. But
-Elizabeth referred the envoy to her ministers on
-that point, who assured him that they had no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
-power whatever to impede the sailing of the fleet,
-for that Englishmen sailed on the plea of traffic
-wherever they pleased; and if they committed any
-acts of hostility on friendly powers, they were at
-the mercy of those powers to seize them and treat
-them as pirates.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth was soon, however, punished for this
-flagrant equivocation. Montgomery sailed in
-April; but on discovering the strength of the
-French fleet moored under the forts and batteries
-of La Rochelle he was seized with terror, and
-returned to Plymouth without striking a blow.
-Elizabeth, indignant at his failure, then sent him
-word that she was highly displeased at his presuming
-to unfurl the English flag, and forbade his
-access to any of the English ports. In June,
-1574, he was taken prisoner in Normandy, and
-on the 26th of that month he was executed as a
-traitor in Paris. The bravery of the people of La
-Rochelle, however, and the election of the Duke
-of Anjou to the throne of Poland, saved that city.
-A new pacification was entered into, but the peace
-of France was again disturbed by a coalition
-between the heads of the Huguenots and the
-Marshals Montmorency, De Cossé, and Damfont,
-the Papal leaders called the Politiques. This
-league was formed to get possession of the king,
-whose health was now fast failing, remove Catherine
-and the Duke of Guise from power, and proclaim
-Alençon as the successor to the crown in the
-absence of Anjou in Poland. Elizabeth was
-actively engaged in all these movements, especially
-in advising Alençon to place himself at the head
-of affairs. But the watchful genius of Catherine
-discovered and defeated the plot: Montmorency
-and Cossé were committed to the Bastille, Alençon
-and the King of Navarre were so closely watched
-that they were stopped in five attempts to escape,
-and numbers of the inferior actors were put to
-death.</p>
-
-<p>In May, 1574, Charles IX. of France died a
-miserable death, full of remorse and horror, worn
-out with consumption, in the twenty-sixth year of
-his age. By the management of Catherine, the
-throne was secured by her next son, Anjou, notwithstanding
-his being absent in Poland. Anjou
-as ended the French throne under the title of
-Henry III., detested by all the Protestants for
-his share in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. In
-the following year a new plot was formed between
-the Protestant council at Millaud in Rovergne
-and the Romanists under Damville, to place
-Alençon on the throne&mdash;a scheme cordially supported
-by Elizabeth, in favour of her present
-lover, Alençon. Alençon effected his escape from
-Court in September, 1575; and Elizabeth, notwithstanding
-her recent renewal of the treaty of
-Blois, advanced him money to raise him an army
-of German Protestants. In February, 1575, the
-King of Navarre also escaped, and the two princes
-called on Elizabeth to declare war in their favour;
-but the demand was overruled in the Council, and
-Elizabeth offered herself as mediatrix between the
-king and his brother, Alençon, who was grown
-jealous of the ascendency of Navarre.</p>
-
-<p>On the 21st of April a treaty was concluded by
-which the exercise of the Protestant religion was
-permitted to a certain extent; the king promised
-to call an assembly of the States to regulate the
-affairs of the kingdom, and Alençon succeeded to
-the appanage of his elder brother, and hence-forward
-was styled Anjou.</p>
-
-<p>This settlement of the differences of creeds was
-of very short duration. The Protestant league of
-Millaud stimulated the Roman Catholics to counter-leagues,
-which entered into obligation under
-oath to maintain the ascendency of the ancient
-faith, and to resist all the encroachments of the
-Protestants. Henry III., who beheld his own
-authority usurped by these leagues, determined to
-place himself at the head of a great combined
-league of the Catholics, which he did in February,
-1577, the deputies of the assemblies of the States,
-for the most part, following his example, and
-annulling the bulk of the privileges lately conceded
-to the Protestants. The consequence was
-another religious war, followed by as short-lived a
-peace, by which the privileges revoked were again
-restored.</p>
-
-<p>But our narrative of the French contests
-between the two parties has passed ahead of the
-disturbances in the Netherlands. A furious war
-had been raging there between the Protestant and
-Papist interests, which also represented the interests
-of the native Netherlanders and Spain.
-The Duke of Alva had waded through oceans of
-blood to maintain the bigoted and cruel power of
-his master, Philip; but the natives had found a
-resolute and skilful champion in the Protestant
-Prince of Orange. He succeeded in establishing
-the independence of Holland and Zealand; and
-Philip, angry with Alva for his want of success,
-recalled him, and treated him with a stern neglect,
-which, however ungrateful in the king, was perhaps
-the best reward for the commission of such
-crimes as Alva had given himself up to work for
-him. In the place of Alva, Philip despatched
-Requescens, who adopted a more conciliatory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
-policy towards the people, and thus weakened the
-influence of the Prince of Orange.</p>
-
-<p>In these circumstances William applied to
-Elizabeth for help; but, since he had assumed the
-government of Holland and Zealand, Elizabeth
-had begun to regard him with jealousy. She felt
-sure that, from his connection with the Protestants
-of France, he would seek for their assistance, and
-this once gained would afford a pretext for Henry
-III. invading Holland; and the extension of
-the sway of France into the Netherlands by no
-means offered a pleasing prospect to the commerce
-and tranquillity of England. Instead of granting
-aid to the struggling Protestants of Flanders, she
-withdrew her forces from Flushing, and entered
-into negotiations with the Spaniards. Requescens,
-rejoiced at this change, conceded what he
-could, agreed to expel the English refugees from
-the Netherlands, and obtained, in return, an
-order to arrest all the vessels of the insurgents
-in her ports, and for their exclusion from England.</p>
-
-<p>This change of policy greatly mortified the
-Prince of Orange and the Protestant interests in
-the Netherlands, but Elizabeth represented it as
-her object to mediate between them and France.
-The Prince of Orange, however, would listen to no
-such mediation, till the civil war breaking out
-again in France put an end to all hope of assistance
-thence. To effectually secure the aid of
-Elizabeth, the prince sent over deputies to make
-her an offer of the sovereignty of Holland and
-Zealand, as the representative of the ancient
-princes of those countries by descent from Philippa
-of Hainault. This proposal flattered her; but,
-after much discussion and diversity of opinion
-in her Council, it was deemed best to decline
-it, but she intimated that she would do all in
-her power to reconcile them to their sovereign,
-Philip.</p>
-
-<p>About a month after this decision, Requescens
-died, and was succeeded towards the end of the
-year by Don John of Austria, the bastard brother
-of Philip, attended by all the reputation of his
-victory over the Turks at the great battle of
-Lepanto. He was compelled to ratify an accommodation
-which had just taken place between
-Holland and Zealand and the Popish states of the
-Netherlands, which was styled the Pacification of
-Ghent, and provided that no foreign soldiers should
-be permitted in the States, and that they should
-help each other against all opponents. This treaty
-was known as the "perpetual edict," but it appeared
-very likely to be broken immediately.
-Don John, without a foreign army, found himself
-impotent to contend with the independent
-Belgians. He therefore sent for the Spanish army
-from Italy, and the Prince of Orange also appealed
-to Elizabeth for men and money to resist this
-direct violation of the edict. Elizabeth recommended
-both parties to abide by that contract, but
-the Prince of Orange, hopeless of any justice or
-toleration with a Spanish army in the country,
-threatened to transfer the sovereignty of his estates
-to Alençon, Elizabeth's suitor, now Anjou. He
-moreover despatched an envoy to communicate a
-grand design of Don John of Austria against
-England. He represented that Don John was of
-a restless and ambitious character, that he had
-been disappointed of becoming King of Tunis by
-the commands of Philip, and that he now found
-that he had conceived a plan for making himself
-monarch of England and Scotland. This plan had
-already received the sanction of the Pope, who
-had engaged to aid him with 6,000 mercenaries on
-pretence of assisting the knights of Malta. The
-prince assured her that the recall of the Spanish
-army was for the invasion of her realm; that the
-Pope's reinforcement was to meet them at sea,
-and together they were to land in England and,
-aided by the friends of the Queen of Scotland,
-liberate that princess, who was to marry Don
-John, and they were to reign as John and Mary,
-King and Queen of England and Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth must have credited the reality of this
-design, for she agreed to guarantee a loan of
-£100,000 to the States, and to furnish 1,000 horse
-and 5,000 foot, on condition that they should not
-make peace without her approbation, nor allow
-her rebels to find an asylum amongst them. This
-was not a defence of her own country, but an invasion
-of her ally Philip's; and she was obliged to
-assure him that she had no hostile intention, but
-to compel the observance of the Pacification of
-Ghent, and to defend her own territory against
-the designs of his brother, Don John. Philip
-affected to hope that her mediation might be successful,
-but probably trusted to the talents of Don
-John and the army from Italy to subdue the insurgent
-people, in spite of the English aid. The
-Netherlanders, notwithstanding the money which
-they had raised on Elizabeth's guarantee, wanted
-yet more; and they put into her hands the jewels
-and plate which Matthias of Austria, the brother
-of the Emperor Rudolph and nominal governor of
-the States, had pledged to them. On this pledge
-Elizabeth advanced them £50,000. Animated
-by this supply, the Dutch proceeded to attack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
-the army of Don John, but were defeated in the
-great battle of Gembloux, an overthrow which
-spread consternation throughout the Netherlands.
-Once more they appealed to Elizabeth, to the
-Protestant princes of Germany, and to the Duke
-of Anjou.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_293big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_293.jpg" width="560" height="442" alt="After the Picture by P. H. Calderon, R. A" title="THE HOUSE OF THE ENGLISH AMBASSADOR DURING THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE HOUSE OF THE ENGLISH AMBASSADOR DURING THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. (<i>After the Picture by P. H. Calderon, R. A.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Casimir, brother of the Elector Palatine, marched
-across the Rhine with 12,000 men, paid with
-English gold, and Anjou also advanced at the head
-of 10,000. The Protestant followers of Casimir,
-however, seemed to act rather as invading an
-enemy's country than as come to succour friends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
-and the people, wherever they came, declared
-that they had better remain under Philip than
-under such allies. The Prince of Orange, despairing
-of being able to resist such commanders
-as Don John and Farnese, Duke of Parma, formed
-a confederation of the Northern States alone,
-afterwards known as the United Provinces; and
-Don John dying (not, it has been said, without a
-suspicion of having been poisoned) on the 1st of
-October, 1578, the Duke of Parma won over the
-Walloon States to Philip by promising to observe
-the Perpetual Edict, and replacing the foreign
-army by native troops.</p>
-
-<p>However, the contest in the Netherlands went
-on. On March 15th, 1580, Philip published a
-ban, offering 25,000 crowns for the head of the
-Prince of Orange; and Anjou, on the other hand,
-prosecuted his claim to the Netherlands. Elizabeth,
-who probably was now looking for a plausible
-excuse for dismissing Anjou, professed to doubt
-how far, if he succeeded in making himself master
-of those provinces, she could keep her engagement
-to marry him, as it would, probably, be dangerous
-to the trade and independence of England; and
-moreover, if she did marry Anjou, would not such
-a marriage be as hateful to her subjects as that of
-Mary with Philip? Yet, immediately afterwards,
-she consented to his acceptance of the government
-of the Netherlands, and made him a present of
-100,000 crowns, by means of which he put his
-army in motion.</p>
-
-<p>In April, 1581, in consequence of this return of
-regard for Anjou, a distinguished embassy was
-sent over from France, and was received by the
-nobles and the authorities of the city of London
-with great <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">éclat</i>. The ambassadors persuaded
-themselves that this time success would attend
-them; but they were much astonished to find that
-the queen had now discovered a new objection to
-the match: that it would involve her in a war
-with Philip, who had lately become additionally
-formidable by the acquisition of Portugal, and
-proposed to enter, instead of marriage, into a
-league, offensive and defensive, with France. By
-the perseverance of the ambassadors, however,
-these scruples were also overcome, and the marriage
-was definitively settled to take place in six
-weeks, provided that the league of perpetual amity
-were signed within that time. The six weeks
-having expired, and Elizabeth still continuing undetermined,
-Anjou, who had crossed the frontier
-with 16,000 men, and expelled the Prince of
-Parma from Cambray, hastened over to settle
-matters with his wavering mistress.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth received him with every demonstration
-of affection, and probably would have married
-him had it not been for the public indignation.
-She let her vengeance fall on the author of a
-pamphlet called "The Gaping Gulf," showing the
-dangers of this marriage. The author was one
-John Stubbs, a student of Lincoln's Inn. Elizabeth
-laid hold on him, his printer and publisher,
-and had them condemned in the Court of Queen's
-Bench to have their right hands cut off. The
-printer was suffered to depart, but the sentence
-was executed on Stubbs and his publisher in the
-market-place of Westminster, by driving a cleaver
-through the wrist with a mallet. The foolish
-Stubbs, the moment his hand was off, waving his
-cap with the left, cried&mdash;"Long live the queen!"
-At the end of three months Anjou grew weary of
-this silly farce, and announced his determination
-to depart. Even then Elizabeth would not permit
-him to go without exacting a promise that he
-would soon return. She stormed, she raved, she
-called the States of the Netherlands, which summoned
-him to his duties there, <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">des coquins</i>, and
-accompanied the duke to Canterbury, where she
-parted from him weeping like a girl.</p>
-
-<p>On his arrival in the Netherlands, Anjou found
-plenty of employment in contending with the
-genius and the forces of the Prince of Parma. He
-found, also, that the real authority in the country
-was centred in the Prince of Orange, and resolving
-to make himself the actual master of it, he laid a
-plan of seizing all the chief towns in the states on
-the same day. But this extraordinary scheme
-failed. The Dutch, resenting the attempt,
-attacked his troops on all sides, and soon compelled
-him to fly back to France, where he terminated
-his existence at Château-Thierry, on the
-10th of June, 1584, not without suggestion of
-foul play. So great was Elizabeth's fondness for
-this prince, whom she might have married, and
-would not, that even at this period no one dare
-for some time inform her of his death, which
-she appeared to bewail with all the symptoms of
-deep grief.</p>
-
-<p>Within one month of the death of Anjou there
-fell a far more noble and important man.
-William the Silent, Prince of Orange, the great
-champion and founder of the independence of
-Holland, perished by the hand of an assassin.
-The ban of Philip had not failed to operate,
-though at a distance of four years. Balthazar
-Gerard, impelled by fanaticism and the 25,000
-crowns offered by the unscrupulous Spanish King,
-shot him on the 10th of July, 1584.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">REIGN OF ELIZABETH (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote><p>Affairs of Ireland: Shane O'Neil's Rebellion&mdash;Plantation of Ulster&mdash;Spanish Descent on Ireland&mdash;Desmond's Rebellion&mdash;Religious
-Conformity&mdash;Campian and Parsons&mdash;The Anabaptists&mdash;Affairs of Scotland&mdash;Death of Morton&mdash;Success of
-the Catholics in Scotland&mdash;The Raid of Ruthven&mdash;Elizabeth's Position&mdash;Throgmorton's Plot&mdash;Association to Protect
-Elizabeth&mdash;Mary removed to Tutbury&mdash;Support of the Protestant Cause on the Continent&mdash;Leicester in the Netherlands&mdash;Babington's
-Plot&mdash;Trial of Mary&mdash;Her Condemnation&mdash;Hesitation of Elizabeth&mdash;Execution of Mary.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>It is now necessary to trace the course of events
-in Ireland during the years we have just passed
-over. A great work had been going on in that
-country, the object of which was to reduce the turbulent
-native chiefs to obedience, and to establish
-English settlers in the lands of those who were
-driven out or exterminated.</p>
-
-<p>The most distinguished of those chiefs was
-Shane O'Neil, the Earl of Tyrone. Henry VIII.
-had granted the succession to Matthew, an illegitimate
-son of the old earl's; but Shane, the eldest
-legitimate son, would not submit to this arrangement.
-He was supported in his claims by the
-people, and vindicated his rights. By the persuasion
-of the Earl of Sussex, at that time
-governor, he was induced to appear at the Court of
-Elizabeth in 1562. He laid his claims before her,
-and excited a great sensation by appearing in his
-native costume, attended by a guard armed with
-battle-axes, and clad in saffron-coloured vests.
-Elizabeth did not grant all his requests, but expressed
-herself highly pleased with his presence,
-and made him great promises. But Shane was
-too sensitive and independent in his feelings and
-ideas to be a very orderly subject. Frequently he
-did essential service as the ally of the English
-Government, but more frequently was compelled to
-seek vengeance for injuries and encroachments.
-In 1565, three years after his appearance at the
-English Court, he was driven into open rebellion;
-and after a severe struggle, was compelled to seek
-refuge in the wilds of Ulster amongst the Scots.
-There, at the instigation of Piers, an English
-officer, he was assassinated (1567), his estates
-were confiscated, with those of all his followers,
-comprising one-half of Ulster, and the name and
-dignity of O'Neil were abolished for ever.</p>
-
-<p>That which was done in Ulster had to be done
-in every other province of Ireland. Whenever
-insurrection broke out and was suppressed, the
-lands were forfeited to the Crown. But so long
-as the Crown held nominally these lands, the
-natives continued to hold them really. To remedy
-this, and to ensure a certain forfeiture by the
-rebels, and a reward to the English conquerors,
-Sir Thomas Smith proposed that these lands
-should be granted in various portions to English
-settlers, who, in prosecution of their own claims,
-would drive out the rebel natives and cultivate
-the soil. It needs no reflection to perceive
-that this system must be fruitful beyond conception
-in crimes, murders, and miseries. Lands
-were granted to a bastard son of the projector's,
-and to numerous other adventurers. They drove
-out the Irish, and these came back in infuriated
-numbers, with fire and desolation. Under this
-frightful system the country soon became a desert.
-To put an end to these sanguinary scenes, Walter
-Devereux, Earl of Essex, represented that it
-needed only a sufficient force on the part of the
-English. He offered to bring under subjection,
-and to colonise, the district of Clandeboy in Ulster.
-His proposals were that the queen and himself
-should furnish equal shares of the charge, and the
-colony, being organised, should be divided equally
-between them. The courtiers who had envied him
-his favour with Elizabeth pretended to promote
-his design till he had embarked all his fortune in
-it, when they threw all possible obstacles in his
-way. Through these hindrances, it was late in
-the summer of 1573 before he arrived in Ireland,
-and then only to find that the Lord-deputy Fitzwilliam
-questioned his powers; and on proceeding
-to the lands of Clandeboy, Phelim O'Neil and his
-adherents contended with him for its possession
-fort by fort. He maintained his ground, however,
-through the winter, though grievously suffering
-from the bad quality of the provisions furnished by
-the queen's contractors, and from the ill-armed
-condition of his troops&mdash;for the evils which mowed
-down our army in the Crimea were among the
-most ancient evils of the English Government.
-Essex is said to have invited Phelim O'Neil to a
-banquet, and there assassinated him and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
-attendants; but this did not mend his position.
-The Lords Dacre and Rich, and many gentlemen,
-abandoned the enterprise and returned home.
-Though deserted and unable to conquer his own
-allotted territory, he assisted the Lord-Deputy to
-suppress the rebels in other parts of the island.
-He returned to England in 1575, and was appointed
-Earl Marshal of Ireland, but with no
-adequate force; and ultimately died, September
-22nd, 1576, at Dublin.</p>
-
-<p>After the death of Essex, the system of planting
-Ireland, as it was called, still went on. The destruction
-of the O'Neils all the other clans regarded
-as only preliminary to their own. They
-therefore appealed to the Kings of Spain and
-France for assistance; and on their declaring
-themselves unable, from their own dangers and
-insurrections at home, to assist them, they implored
-the protection of the Pope, Gregory XIII.
-His holiness launched a bull at the heretic queen,
-declaring Ireland forfeited, as previous bulls had
-declared England and Wales forfeited. Under
-his encouragement two adventurers, Thomas
-Stukely and James Fitzmaurice, set out to proclaim
-the bull, and to carry the arms of his
-holiness all over Ireland. Stukely, however,
-having obtained a ship of war, 600 soldiers, and
-3,000 stand of arms, carried them to the service of
-the King of Portugal, and died fighting in his
-wars against the Moors. Fitzmaurice, a brother of
-the Earl of Desmond, and a deadly enemy of the
-English invaders, was more faithful; and after
-suffering shipwreck on the coast of Galicia, landed
-at Smerwick, in Kerry, in June, 1579. He had
-with him, however, only eighty Spanish soldiers,
-and a few Irish and English refugees; and his
-expedition proved an utter failure, for the inhabitants
-had no faith in so insignificant a knot of
-adventurers. Fitzmaurice being killed in a private
-quarrel, his followers fled into the territories of
-his brother, the Earl of Desmond.</p>
-
-<p>The Earl of Desmond professed himself a loyal
-subject; but he was suspected of favouring the
-insurgents, and the English marched into his
-demesnes, and plundered them. Another detachment
-from the Pope, however, landed at Smerwick,
-the port which Fitzmaurice had made. It
-consisted of several hundred men, having a large
-sum of money, and 5,000 stand of arms, under the
-command of San Giuseppe, an Italian. Lord
-Grey de Wilton, the new Lord-Deputy, had recently
-suffered a defeat in the vale of Glandaclough;
-but he managed to besiege this foreign
-force in their newly-erected fort, while Admiral
-Winter blockaded them on the sea side. After
-three days' resistance, the handful of Italians and
-Spaniards put out a flag of truce, and offered to
-surrender on condition that their lives were
-spared. Foreign writers all assert that this was
-granted them; but Sir Richard Bingham, who
-was present, says that they surrendered one
-night at the pleasure of the Lord-Deputy, to have
-mercy or not, as he willed. Sir Walter Raleigh
-and Spenser, the poet, were in Grey's army, and
-their conduct reflects no honour upon them. Sir
-Walter entered the fort to receive their arms,
-and then ordered them all to be massacred (1580);
-and this proceeding Spenser endeavours to vindicate.
-He was Lord Grey's secretary; and while
-he styles him "a most gentle, affable, loving, and
-temperate lord," he gives this account of his
-act:&mdash;"The enemy begged that they might be
-allowed to depart with their lives and arms
-according to the law of nations. He asked to see
-their commission from the Pope or the King of
-Spain. They had none: they were the allies of
-the Irish. 'But the Irish,' replied Grey, 'are
-traitors, and you must suffer as traitors. I will
-make no terms with you; you may submit or not.'
-They yielded, craving only mercy, which it not
-being thought good to show them, for danger of
-them, if being saved, they should afterwards join
-the Irish, who were much emboldened by those
-foreign successes, and also put in hope of more
-ere long. There was no other way but to make
-that short end of them as was made."</p>
-
-<p>This was a fatal precedent to the French and
-Spaniards, against whom our own countrymen
-were fighting in the very same manner by the
-orders of Elizabeth, in France, in the Netherlands,
-and in South America; and whilst we denounce
-the savage slaughter of English adventurers in the
-trans-Atlantic lands of Spain wherever they were
-found without mercy or quarter, we are bound to
-remember that we thus set the Spaniards the example,
-and furnished them with warrant.</p>
-
-<p>After this butchery Grey and his myrmidons
-combined to chase Desmond from spot to spot
-in his mountain fastnesses. Three years later
-(1583) a party of the English, attracted by a
-light, entered a hut, where they found a venerable
-old man lying on the hearth before the fire, quite
-alone. On their demanding who he was, he
-replied, "The Earl of Desmond," when Kelly of
-Moriarty instantly struck off his head, which he
-sent as a grateful present to Elizabeth, by whom
-it was fixed on London Bridge. With Desmond
-fell for some time the resistance of the hunted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
-natives in Ireland. From the forfeited lands of
-these immolated Irish, Sir Walter Raleigh received
-42,000 acres, other gentlemen from 5,000 to
-18,000, and Spenser the poet 3,000 and a castle
-of the unfortunate Desmond's&mdash;Kilcolman&mdash;which
-the exasperated natives burnt over his head, and
-with it one of his children. Spenser's concern in
-this bloody affair proved, in fact, his ruin.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_297big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_297.jpg" width="560" height="422" alt="" title="MURDER OF THE EARL OF DESMOND" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>MURDER OF THE EARL OF DESMOND. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Returning to England, we find that Elizabeth
-during this period had been persecuting every
-form of Christianity which did not agree with her
-own. There were three parties against whom she
-felt herself aggrieved&mdash;the Puritans, the Papists,
-and the Anabaptists; and she set to work resolutely
-to squeeze them into the mould of her
-orthodoxy, or to crush them. Many of the
-Puritans who had imbibed the sternest spirit of
-Geneva had got into the pulpits of the State
-Church and refused to wear the robes, to perform
-the rites, or to preach the exact doctrines as
-prescribed by law. If they did not accord with
-that Church, they certainly had no business there,
-and had no right to complain that Elizabeth
-turned them out. The time to complain was
-when she had expelled them, and they set up a
-Church of their own, which she would not allow.
-Their freedom was their birthright; but the queen
-would not suffer them to exercise it. She had but
-one word in her religious vocabulary&mdash;conform;
-and this rigid conformity was carried out ruthlessly
-by the very ministers and clergy who had so
-manfully complained of compulsion in the last
-reign. They purged one diocese after another by
-expelling Puritan clergy. These acts of arbitrary
-power were loudly denounced in the House of
-Commons, where there was a strong Puritan party,
-and numerous bills were brought in to advance
-the Reformation. Out of doors, Parker, the old
-Archbishop of Canterbury, faithfully executed the
-will of the sovereign; and opinion, suppressed in
-the Church and in Parliament, where the queen
-even sent personal and most dictatorial messages
-stopping all religious discussion, now burst forth
-through the press. Pamphlets of a most inflammatory
-nature and abusive style issued in shoals;
-and one Burchell, a student of the Middle Temple,
-became so inflamed by zeal that he murdered
-Hawkins, an officer, mistaking him for Hatton,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
-the queen's new favourite. In prison he also
-killed his keeper under the delusion that he was
-Hatton; and though palpably insane, he was
-hanged for murder.</p>
-
-<p>Parker died in 1575 and was succeeded by
-Grindal, who, Elizabeth soon discovered, was too
-much of a Puritan himself to persecute them
-severely, and she suspended him, and harassed
-him to such a degree that he died in 1583. To
-him succeeded Whitgift, a man after Elizabeth's
-own heart, who framed a test of orthodoxy, which
-he put to all clergymen or others whom he suspected,
-which consisted of these three notable
-dogmas&mdash;the queen's supremacy, the perfection of
-the Ordinal and Book of Common Prayer, and the
-complete accordance of the Thirty-nine Articles
-with the Scriptures. All those clergymen who
-refused to subscribe to this he expelled; and in
-defiance of clamour and intrigue in Council or
-Convocation, he held on his way immovably. Nor
-did the queen long satisfy herself with mere expulsion.
-Thacker and Copping, two Brownists,
-were indicted for objecting to the Book of Common
-Prayer, which was treated as an attack on
-the royal supremacy, and were put to death. The
-persecution of the Catholics was still more severe
-than that of the Puritans.</p>
-
-<p>The fury of persecution in England stimulated
-the Roman Catholics abroad to a corresponding
-enthusiasm of martyrdom. Gregory XIII. followed
-the example of William Allen&mdash;who had founded
-an English seminary at Douay&mdash;and established a
-second English seminary in the hospital of Santo
-Spirito, in Rome, from which emissaries were despatched
-into the heretical kingdom. First and
-foremost the general of the Jesuits selected in
-1580 two Englishmen of distinguished abilities,
-and sent them from this college. Robert Parsons
-and Edmund Campian arrived with a reputation,
-and with rumours of the dark conspiracy in which
-they were engaged, which roused all the alarm
-and the vigilance of the Government. Rewards
-were offered for their discovery, and menaces of
-punishment issued for remissness in tracing them
-out. The queen sent forth a proclamation, calling
-on every person who had children, wards, or
-relatives gone abroad for education to make a
-return of their names to the ordinary, and to
-recall them within three months; and all persons
-whatsoever who knew of any Jesuit or seminarist
-in the kingdom, and failed to give information,
-were to be punished as abettors of treason.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as Parliament met in January of 1581,
-still more stringent laws were passed for the
-punishment of Roman Catholics. It was made
-high treason merely to possess the power of absolution,
-or to receive any person into the church
-of Rome. The fines for hearing or saying Mass
-were re-enacted. Absence from church was
-made punishable at the rate of twenty pounds
-per month, and, if prolonged to a whole
-year, besides the penalty, the offender must
-produce two securities for his good behaviour
-of £200 each. The concealment of Roman
-Catholic tutors, schoolmasters, or priests entailed
-a year's imprisonment, a priest or tutor being
-also amenable to the same punishment, and the
-employer of them to a fine of ten pounds per
-month. There was but one step possible beyond
-this outrageous despotism, and that was to the
-stake, as in Mary's time; but the very fury of
-legal punishment defeated its own object.</p>
-
-<p>Parsons and Campian put into the hands of
-their friends written statements of their objects in
-coming into the country, which they declared to
-be solely to exercise their spiritual functions as
-priests, not to interfere with any worldly concerns
-or affairs of State; but they declared that all
-the Jesuits in the world had entered into a league
-to maintain the Catholic religion at the risk of
-imprisonment, torture, or death. This announcement
-excited the greatest alarm, and the most
-fiery persecution burst forth on the whole body of
-the Romanists, whilst every means was exerted to
-discover and secure these missionaries. The
-names of all the recusants in the kingdom,
-amounting to 50,000, were returned to Government,
-and no man included in that number had
-any longer the least security or privacy in his own
-house. The doors were broken open without
-notice given, and the pursuivants, rushing in,
-spread themselves all over the dwelling. Cabinets,
-cupboards, drawers, closets were forced and ransacked,
-beds torn open, tapestry or wainscot
-was dragged down, and every imaginable place
-explored, for the purpose of obtaining evidence
-by vessels, vestments, books, or crosses, of
-heretical worship. The inmates were put under
-strict watch, till they had been searched and
-interrogated; and many were driven nearly or
-wholly out of their senses by the rudeness and the
-insults which they received from brutal officers.
-Lady Neville was frightened to death in Holborn,
-and Mrs. Vavasour was deprived of her reason at
-York.</p>
-
-<p>In July, Campian was taken at Lyfford, in
-Berkshire, and was committed to the Tower; and
-Parsons, seeing no prospect of long escaping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>
-pursuit, contrived to get over again to the Continent.
-Campian was repeatedly racked, and under
-the force of torture and the promises that no injury
-should be done to his entertainers, he related the
-whole course of his peregrinations in Yorkshire,
-Lancashire, Denbigh, Northampton, Warwick,
-Bedford, Buckingham, and elsewhere, and the
-names of those who had given him hospitality.
-No sooner, however, had the Council the names
-than they summoned all those who had harboured
-him, and fined some and imprisoned others.</p>
-
-<p>In November, Campian and twelve other priests
-and a layman were put upon their trial, and
-were charged with a horrible conspiracy to
-murder the queen and to overturn Church and
-State. Rome and Rheims were declared to be
-the places where this direful plot had been
-hatched. The astonishment of the prisoners,
-several of whom had never been out of England,
-was extreme. Not an atom of evidence was produced
-to authenticate these charges, yet the whole
-were pronounced guilty. One of them was saved
-by an <em>alibi</em> established by Lancaster, a Protestant
-barrister; the rest were executed as traitors,
-except those who were still kept prisoners. On
-the scaffold (December 1, 1581), Campian lamented
-that the weakness of the flesh on the rack had
-forced him to disclose the names of some of his
-entertainers, by which they had been brought
-into trouble.</p>
-
-<p>The Anabaptists, who had created great scandals
-and disturbance in Germany, made repeated visits
-to London under pretence of belonging to the
-Dutch Church. They denied the propriety of
-infant baptism; they also denied that Christ
-assumed the flesh of the Virgin; they believed it
-wrong to take an oath, or to accept the office of a
-magistrate. In some of these tenets they resembled
-the Society of Friends which afterwards
-rose, and their creed did not interfere with the
-quiet of the State; yet numbers of them were imprisoned,
-ten of them were sent out of the kingdom,
-and two, Peters and Turwert, were burnt in
-Smithfield in July, 1575. Again, in 1579, Matthew
-Hammond, a ploughman, was burnt at
-Norwich.</p>
-
-<p>In no quarter had Elizabeth for a long time any
-security except in Scotland. There Morton was
-her faithful ally, inasmuch as she held fast the
-King of Scots, and so guaranteed the chief means
-of his own tranquil enjoyment of power. But
-Morton's rule was not such as any country would
-long tolerate. He was essentially a base and selfish
-man, and his severity and rapacity alienated
-the public from him more and more. He debased
-the coin, multiplied forfeitures to enrich himself,
-appropriated the estates of the Church, and at
-the same time was so subservient to Elizabeth,
-that the national pride resented it. In 1578,
-Athole and Argyll made their way to the presence
-of the young king, who was now approaching
-thirteen years of age, and assured him that it was
-now quite time that he freed himself from the
-tutelage of Morton and ruled the country himself.
-James readily listened to them, and sent Morton
-an order to resign, and to attend a council at
-Stirling, where the friends of Athole and Argyll
-were summoned.</p>
-
-<p>Morton, though taken by surprise, appeared to
-obey with perfect acquiescence; but he lost no
-time in intriguing with the Erskines, and in three
-months had again possessed himself of the person
-of the king, and resumed his authority in the
-State. Athole and Argyll mustered their friends
-to force the reins from the hands of Morton, who
-boldly met them in the field, when the ambassador
-of England appeared as a mediator, and persuaded
-them to a reconciliation. But it was not in the
-nature of Morton to forget the opponents of his
-power, although they now appeared as nominal
-friends. He invited Athole, the chief actor in his
-late fall, to a banquet, from which he retired, as
-Mar had done, to die. Like Mar, he was poisoned.
-Secure as he now seemed, Morton let loose his
-vengeance on his enemies; and the Hamiltons, the
-friends of Mary, were compelled, in spite of the
-treaty of Perth, to fly to England for security; and
-being freed from their restraint he indulged freely
-his insatiable avarice at the expense of the country.</p>
-
-<p>But justice reached this minister of evil when it
-was least expected. Esmé Stuart, the Lord of
-Aubigny, a son of the younger brother of the Earl
-of Lennox, who had become naturalised in France,
-returned to Scotland. With a handsome person
-and French accomplishments, he soon captivated
-the young monarch, who could not live at any
-period of his life without a favourite. He created
-Aubigny captain of the guard, first lord of the
-bed-chamber, and finally Duke of Lennox, being
-the nephew of the late earl, and cousin of Darnley.
-Associated with Lennox was another and far more
-deep and designing Stuart&mdash;James, commonly
-called Captain Stuart, the second son of Lord
-Ochiltree. He was also related to the king, and
-lent essential aid to Lennox, not only from his
-genius for intrigue, but because Lennox was suspected
-of being an emissary of the Duke of Guise.
-Lennox and his friend Stuart, who was now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>
-created by James Earl of Arran, instilled every
-possible suspicion into the king's mind against
-Morton, who, they averred, intended to convey
-him to England and give him up to Elizabeth.
-To seize Morton, and arraign him for the multitude
-of illegal acts which he had perpetrated in
-his position of Regent, might not succeed, for the
-wily offender had taken care to procure bills of
-indemnity for whatever he had done. They
-determined, therefore, to accuse him of Darnley's
-murder, of which he was notoriously guilty in
-common with others.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_300big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_300.jpg" width="560" height="424" alt="" title="THE EARL OF ARRAN ACCUSING MORTON OF THE MURDER OF DARNLEY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE EARL OF ARRAN ACCUSING MORTON OF THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>One morning, therefore, Captain Stuart, now
-Earl of Arran, fell on his knees in the Council,
-and charged Morton to the king with the murder
-of his (the king's) father. Morton, thunderstruck
-at this bold and sudden act, stoutly denied
-the charge, but he was ordered to be guarded in
-his own house, and soon after sent off to the Castle
-of Dumbarton. Morton despatched a messenger
-to his trusty friend the Queen of England, who
-forthwith despatched Randolph to intercede with
-the king, the Council, and the Parliament for
-the precious life of this vile murderer. Elizabeth,
-as she had not been ashamed to countenance
-and support him, so neither was she now
-ashamed to plead for him, and to beg that he
-might be set at liberty as a special favour to her,
-in recompence of the many services she had rendered
-Scotland. She accused Lennox of being in
-league with the French Government for the invasion
-of England, and Randolph produced
-documents to prove it. On examining these
-papers, the Council pronounced them forgeries,
-and the trial was ordered to proceed. On perceiving
-his failure with the king and Council,
-Randolph had recourse to his old arts of endeavouring
-to stir up sedition, and did his utmost
-to rouse Mar and the Earl of Angus to rise in
-arms for Morton's rescue. This becoming known,
-Randolph, who had been twice sent out of the
-country for his traitorous meddling, was now glad
-to flee for his life.</p>
-
-<p>To save this execrable villain, but very useful
-tool, Elizabeth induced the Prince of Orange and
-the King of Navarre to support the exertions of
-her ambassador on his behalf, but all in vain.
-James was firm in following out the advice given<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>
-him. Elizabeth ordered a body of troops to march
-to the Border, as if she were resolved to invade
-Scotland for the rescue of Morton; but James,
-far from being intimidated, called all his subjects
-to arms, ordered Angus to retire beyond the Spey,
-Mar to surrender the charge of Stirling Castle,
-and demanded of Elizabeth whether she meant
-peace or war.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_301big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_301.jpg" width="560" height="393" alt="" title="DUMBARTON ROCK, WITH VIEW OF CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>DUMBARTON ROCK, WITH VIEW OF CASTLE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>This bold attitude put an end to her efforts.
-Randolph suddenly found out that Morton was
-accused of murder with a fair show of proof, and
-Elizabeth then pretended to think that if it were
-so it did not become her any longer to defend him.
-Deserted by his great patron Elizabeth, the hoary
-criminal was brought to trial, and charged not
-only with the murder of Darnley, but that of
-Athole. Besides verbal and personal evidence of
-his guilt, his bond of manrent, or guarantee of indemnity
-for the murder, given to Bothwell, was
-exhibited, together with a paper purporting to be
-a confession of Bothwell made on his death-bed in
-Denmark, in which he accused Morton as a principal
-contriver of the murder, and exonerated the
-Queen of Scots. Whether this paper were genuine
-or not, there was abundant proof without it; he
-was condemned by the unanimous verdict of the
-peers, and executed (June 3, 1581).</p>
-
-<p>The fall of Morton and the display of independence
-in the young King James opened up the most
-extravagant hopes in the minds of the friends of
-Queen Mary, and of the Papists in general. They
-were ready to believe that James would soon show
-his regard for his mother, and a deep sense of her
-wrongs. Morton had been the stern adherent of
-Protestantism, scandalous as he was; but who
-should say that Aubigny, educated in France, and
-with many friends and relatives there, would not
-incline to favour the Papists, and that James, under
-his guidance, though educated by the disciples of
-Knox, might not, young as he was, return to the
-religion of his ancestors? Parsons, the Jesuit,
-was enthusiastic in this behalf, and he despatched
-Waytes, an English Popish clergyman, to Holyrood,
-and soon afterwards Creighton, a Scottish
-Jesuit. These emissaries returned with the most
-flattering accounts of their reception by James
-and his ministers. Probably, in prospect of no
-very friendly relations with Elizabeth, the advisers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
-of James might adopt the policy of conciliating
-the Romanists, and thus securing the ancient
-support of France, and also of Spain. Be that as
-it may, James professed to feel deeply the wrongs
-of his mother, and to cherish great filial affection
-for her. He assured them that he would always
-receive with favour such persons as came with an
-introduction from her, and he consented to receive
-an Italian Catholic into his Court as his tutor in
-that language.</p>
-
-<p>Elated by these tidings, Parsons and Creighton
-hastened to Paris in May of 1582. There happened
-to be present an extraordinary number of
-persons interested in the cause of Popery&mdash;the
-Duke of Guise; Castelli, the Papal nuncio; Tassis,
-the Spanish ambassador; Beaton, Archbishop of
-Glasgow; Matthieu, the Provincial of the French
-Jesuits; and Dr. Allen, the provost of the seminary
-of Douay. They all agreed that Mary ought
-to be restored without deposing James; that they
-should reign jointly; and Parsons was sent to
-Spain to solicit assistance, and Creighton to the
-Pope for the same object. Both missions were
-successful: Philip gave 12,000 crowns to relieve
-the necessities of James, and the Pope engaged to
-pay the expenses of his body-guard for twelve
-months. Both Mary and James assented to this
-proposal, Mary offering to leave all the exercise of
-power in James's hands.</p>
-
-<p>Successful as this scheme appeared, every movement
-in it had been watched by the Court of
-England, and a counterplot of a most startling
-kind was set on foot. In August, 1581, the Earl
-of Gowrie, the son of the murderer Ruthven,
-was induced to invite the king to his castle of
-Ruthven, when he made him prisoner. The government
-was then seized by the Earl of Mar, the
-Master of Glamis, the Lord Oliphant, and others.
-Lennox, the king's chief minister, escaped to
-France, but died soon after, as was suspected,
-from poison. Arran, the successful destroyer of
-Morton, was thrown into prison. The pulpit was
-set to work to proclaim that there had been a plot
-to restore "the limb of Satan," the lewd Queen
-Mary, with all the ceremonial of the Mass; and
-that Lennox was at the bottom of it, though he
-died professing himself a staunch Protestant.</p>
-
-<p>But the position of affairs in Scotland was calculated
-to excite the utmost vigilance of both France
-and England. Henry III. saw with terror the
-young King of Scotland in the hands of the English
-faction, and sent thither La Motte Fenelon
-and Maigneville to encourage James to call together
-the Estates, to insist by their means on his
-liberty, and on the liberation of his mother to govern
-with him. The English Court, on the other hand,
-instructed its agents, Bowes and Davidson, to
-demand the dismissal of the French envoys, and to
-show him the danger of the measures which they
-proposed. James appeared to listen to both
-parties; and ostensibly in order to consult on
-their advice, he summoned a council of the nobility
-to meet at the castle of St. Andrews. Once in
-their midst, James felt his freedom; and to prevent
-any contest on the question, published a
-pardon to all who had been concerned in the
-Raid of Ruthven, as it was called, or the conspiracy
-of Gowrie. This bold stroke of the young
-king so took the English Court by surprise that
-Walsingham was sent, notwithstanding his age
-and important duties at home, to the Scottish
-Court. Walsingham must have been amazed at
-the small success which attended his mission, for
-James received him with little consideration,
-appeared to regard his communications with indifference,
-and dismissed him with a paltry present
-on his departure. Elizabeth could not help complaining
-of the palpable slight to her ambassador,
-and the friends of Queen Mary drew fresh hope
-from the circumstance.</p>
-
-<p>But little solid hope could be entertained of
-Mary's enfranchisement by any one who considered
-the real situation of affairs. The King of
-France was far from sincere in his wish for her
-release. So long as she was in the hands of
-Elizabeth, he was secure from any further
-meddling of Elizabeth in the internal affairs of
-France. At any moment he could alarm her by
-rumours of designs to set the Scottish queen free,
-at the same time that James, as a young man,
-was open to influence from France against England.
-For these reasons a fresh conference in
-Paris on Mary's behalf came to nothing. The
-Duke of Guise, Castelli, the Archbishop of Glasgow,
-and Matthieu met again, this time with the
-addition of Morgan, a Welsh gentleman, one of
-the commissioners of her dower in France. They
-proposed that Guise should land in the south of
-England with an army, while James should
-simultaneously enter it at the north. James at
-once assented to the project; but Mary, who
-knew very well that her life would be sacrificed
-at once if there were a formidable attempt at her
-rescue, resorted to the hopeless course of endeavouring
-to persuade Elizabeth to treat with France for
-her release on safe terms. Elizabeth appeared to
-listen; but the rumours of the invasion speedily
-caused her to abandon any such negotiation, on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
-plea that, once at liberty, Mary could not be trusted.
-Revenge might induce her to ally herself with
-France and Spain, to the great peril of England.</p>
-
-<p>No situation in the world could be conceived
-more miserable than that of Elizabeth. The
-captive queen had become to her a source of perpetual
-alarms&mdash;alarm of invasion from France
-and from Scotland&mdash;alarm at insurrections among
-the Papists, whom persecutions kept in a state of
-the deepest disaffection. For two years the
-prisons had been crowded with Catholics, and the
-scaffolds drenched with their blood. They had
-been persecuted and insulted till they must
-have been more than mortal to have felt no
-desire for revenge. Therefore the country
-swarmed with spies and informers; and Walsingham,
-as a skilful unraveller of plots, was kept hard
-at work to trace, by his secret emissaries, every
-concealed movement of sedition. Both at home
-and abroad he had a host of agents under a
-multitude of disguises. The Jesuits never had
-a more expert and fearless general, nor a more
-varied army of informers. They presented themselves
-in the shape of travelling noblemen, of
-physicians, of students in Popish seminaries.
-They swarmed in sea-ports lying between England
-and the different Continental routes. There
-was scarcely a Roman Catholic gentleman or nobleman
-into whose house they had not found their
-way. To those whom they suspected of a leaning
-towards the Queen of Scots they professed to be
-confidential agents of her or of her adherents, and
-presented forged letters by which they might
-entrap the unwary into compromising answers.</p>
-
-<p>At length the chief of the conspirators was
-brought to justice in the person of Thomas
-Throgmorton, the son of Sir John Throgmorton,
-Chief Justice of Chester. Walsingham intercepted
-letters, and by his spies made his way into
-every abode and company. He received from his
-trusty emissaries the information that Charles
-Paget, one of the commissioners of the Queen of
-Scots' dower&mdash;Morgan, just mentioned, being the
-other&mdash;had landed on the coast of Sussex under
-the name of Mope. A letter of Morgan's was
-also intercepted, and from something in its contents
-the two sons of Sir John Throgmorton,
-Thomas and George, were immediately arrested
-and committed to the Tower. The Earl of
-Northumberland, with his son the Earl of
-Arundel, his countess, uncle, and brothers,
-were summoned before the Privy Council and
-repeatedly questioned. The Lord Paget, brother
-of Charles Paget, and Charles Arundel, escaped
-to the Continent, but sent a declaration that they
-had fled, not from any sense of guilt, but from
-the utter hopelessness of acquittal where Leicester
-had any influence. Northumberland and Lord
-Arundel, with their wives and relatives, stoutly
-denied all concern with plots or any species of
-disloyalty, and no proof could be brought against
-them. Meanwhile it was asserted that the Duke
-of Guise was proceeding with his scheme of
-invasion, and that many English noblemen and
-gentlemen were co-operating in it; that a letter
-had been intercepted from the Scottish Court to
-Mary, informing her that James was quite
-ready to perform his part of the scheme by invading
-the kingdom from the north, having had
-the promise of 20,000 crowns; but that he was
-desirous to know who were the influential persons
-in England that might be calculated upon for
-support. All this was soon wonderfully corroborated
-by the confession of Thomas Throgmorton,
-in whose trunks were found two catalogues, one
-of the chief ports, and the other of the principal
-Romanists in the kingdom. He admitted that
-these were for the use of Mendoza, the Spanish
-minister, and that he had devised a plan with that
-ambassador to raise troops in the name of the
-queen through the Catholics, who were then to
-call on her to tolerate Catholicism, or to depose
-her. This was a strong case indeed against the
-prisoners and the fugitives; and Burleigh, with
-Throgmorton's confession in his hand, charged
-the Spanish ambassador with his breach of all
-the laws of nations and of his office. Mendoza
-had the impudence to deny the charges; but he
-was ordered to withdraw from England, and
-Throgmorton was hanged (1583). From that
-hour war with Spain was inevitable.</p>
-
-<p>The patriotism of England was now awake.
-An association was formed, under the influence of
-the Government, by which all the members bound
-themselves to pursue and kill every person who
-should attempt the life of the queen, and every
-person for whose advantage it should be attempted.
-This palpably pointed at the Scottish
-Queen. The bond of association was shown to
-Mary as a means of intimidating her. At the
-first glance she perceived that it was aimed at her
-life; but, after a moment of astonishment, she
-proposed to sign the bond herself so far as she
-was concerned, which, of course, was not permitted,
-as it would have neutralised the whole
-intention, but it was industriously circulated for
-signature amongst those who dared not well do
-otherwise.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The same object was pursued in the Parliament,
-which met on the 23rd of November. After
-the clergy had granted an aid of six shillings in
-the pound to be paid in three years, and the
-Commons a subsidy and two-fifteenths, an Act
-was passed condemning as traitors any one who
-had been declared by a court of twenty-four
-commissioners cognisant of any treasonable designs
-against the queen; and Mary and her
-issue were excluded from the succession in case
-of the queen coming to a violent death. The
-Roman Catholics were also treated with increased
-severity, in consequence of the alleged plots. No
-Popish clergyman was to be allowed to remain
-in the kingdom; if found there after forty days
-he was pronounced guilty of high treason; any
-one knowing of his being in the country, and
-not giving information within twelve days, was
-to be fined and imprisoned during the queen's
-pleasure; and any one receiving or relieving him
-was guilty of felony. All students in Popish
-seminaries were called on to return to their native
-country within six months after proclamation;
-parents sending their children to such seminaries
-without licence were to forfeit for every such
-offence a hundred pounds; and the students themselves
-forfeited all right to the property of their
-parents.</p>
-
-<p>To avoid, if possible, the fate which the bill of
-this Session prepared for them, the Roman
-Catholics drew up an earnest and loyal memorial
-to the queen, declaring it as their settled and
-solemn conviction that she was their sovereign
-<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">de jure</i> and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">de facto</i>; that neither Pope nor priest
-had power to license any one to lift their hand
-against her, nor to absolve them were such a
-crime committed, and that they renounced and
-abominated any one who held a contrary doctrine.</p>
-
-<p>All these transactions only tended to aggravate
-the situation of the Queen of Scots. She was
-now taken out of the hands of the Earl of
-Shrewsbury, and consigned to the custody of
-Sir Amyas Paulet, a dependent of Leicester's, a
-man of a rigid, gaoler-like disposition, but not
-destitute of honour. She was removed from
-Sheffield Park to the ruinous stronghold of
-Tutbury. Finding that all appeals to Elizabeth
-and all protestations of her innocence
-of any participation in, and even ignorance of,
-the plots charged on different persons were
-alike disregarded, she turned to her son, but
-only to receive from that quarter a disregard
-still harder to bear. James coldly announced
-to her that he had nothing to do with her
-concerns, nor she with his: he was now, in
-fact, in the pay of Elizabeth. He bade her
-remember that she was only the queen-mother,
-and enjoyed no authority in Scotland, though she
-bore the empty title of queen. Abandoning all
-hope of assistance from him, Mary now demanded
-of Elizabeth to liberate her on any conditions she
-pleased&mdash;she asked only liberty and life. But her
-requests were unheeded.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Elizabeth was supporting Protestantism
-abroad. Henry of Navarre had become
-the next in succession to the crown of France, by
-the death of the Duke of Anjou in 1584. Being
-well known as a Protestant, the Roman Catholics
-in France, with the Duke of Guise at their head,
-reorganised their league, and compelled the
-French King to subscribe to it. The King
-of Spain, a member of the league, promised it all
-his support. On the other hand, Elizabeth,
-anxious to see a Protestant prince on the throne
-of France, sent Henry large remittances, and
-invited him to make England his home in case his
-enemies should compel him to retreat for a time,
-when he could wait the turn of events. In all
-this there was nothing to complain of. Henry
-had a clear right to the throne of France, and
-justice as well as the Reformed faith called upon
-her to support it; but not so honourable were
-her proceedings in the Netherlands. There she
-secretly urged to insurrection the subjects of a
-power with whom she was at peace, and maintained
-them by repeated supplies of money.</p>
-
-<p>Sympathising as she did with the oppressed
-Protestants of the Netherlands, her course was
-quite obvious. She could call on Philip to give
-to them free exercise of their religion, and if he
-refused, she had a fair plea to break with him
-and to support the cause of the common religion.
-But Elizabeth had too much politic regard for
-the rights of kings openly to support against
-them the rights of the people; and, what was
-still more embarrassing, she was practising the
-very intolerance and persecution against her
-Roman Catholic subjects that Philip was against
-his Protestant ones.</p>
-
-<p>The Primate, when appealed to, stated broadly
-this fact, and declared that Philip had as much
-right to send forces to aid the English Roman
-Catholics as Elizabeth had to support the Belgian
-Protestants. When, therefore, in June of 1585
-the deputies of the revolted provinces of the
-Netherlands besought Elizabeth to annex them
-to her own dominions, she declined; but in
-September she signed a treaty with them, engaging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
-to send them 6,000 men, and received in
-pledge of their payment the towns of Brielle and
-Flushing, and the strong fortress of Rammekens.
-This was making war on Philip without any
-declaration of it; but she still persisted that she
-was not assisting the Flemings to throw off
-their allegiance to their lawful prince, but was only
-helping them to recover undoubted privileges of
-which they had been deprived.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_305big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_305.jpg" width="447" height="560" alt="From the Portrait in the Possession of the Marquis of Salisbury" title="THE EARL OF LEICESTER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE EARL OF LEICESTER.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the Portrait in the Possession of the Marquis of Salisbury.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the fact was, that Elizabeth had long been
-warring on Spain, and it was the fault of Spain
-that it had not declared open war in return.
-In 1570 she had sent out the celebrated Admiral
-Drake, to scour the coasts of the West Indies
-and South America, on the plea that Spain had
-no right to shut up the ports of those countries,
-and to exclude all other flags from those seas.
-Under her commission, Drake and other captains
-had ravaged the settlements of Spain in the New
-World, had plundered Carthagena, St. Iago, and
-St. Domingo, and almost every town on the coasts
-of Chili and Peru. They had intercepted the
-Spanish galleons, or treasure vessels, and carried
-off immense booty of silver and other precious
-articles. But as Drake had received special
-marks of royal favour&mdash;the queen had dined on
-board his vessel, the <em>Golden Hind</em>, when it lay
-at Deptford, and had knighted him (1581) for his
-services,&mdash;and as there was no declaration of
-war, all these were clear cases of piracy; but
-Philip was too much engaged at home to defend
-these trans-Atlantic possessions from the daring
-sea captains of Elizabeth, and if he did declare
-war he at once sanctioned her interference<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
-both in the Spanish seas and in the Netherlands.</p>
-
-<p>To conduct her campaign in the Netherlands,
-Elizabeth had appointed the Earl of Leicester.
-The way in which he conducted himself there was
-not calculated to increase his reputation for
-honesty or military talent. No sooner did he
-arrive, than, without consulting the queen, he
-induced the States to nominate him governor-general
-of the United Provinces, with the title of
-Excellency, and with supreme power over the
-army, the State, and the executive. In fact, his
-ambition rested with nothing short of being a
-king: with nothing but possessing all the title
-and authority enjoyed by the Duke of Anjou.
-When this news reached Elizabeth she flew into
-a terrible rage, charged him with presumption and
-vanity, with contempt of her authority, and
-"swore great oaths that she would have no more
-Courts under her abeyance than one;" desired
-him to remember the dust from which she had
-raised him, and let him know if he were not
-obedient to her every word, she would beat him
-to the ground as quickly as she had raised him.</p>
-
-<p>The unfortunate States, who thought they were
-gratifying the Queen of England when they
-were honouring her favourite, were confounded
-at this discovery; but Leicester, as if he really
-thought that he could render himself independent
-of his royal patroness, remained lofty, insolent,
-and silent. Trusting to the position into which
-he had thus stepped, he left it to the ministers
-at home to pacify the queen. He had so long
-ruled her that he appeared to think he could
-still do as he pleased. The great Burleigh and
-the cunning Walsingham were at their wits' end
-to satisfy Elizabeth: the only letter which they
-got from Leicester being one to Hatton, so
-insolent and arrogant that they dared not present
-it till they had remodelled it. Meanwhile, Elizabeth
-continued to write to the new captain-general
-the most bitter reproaches and menaces,
-and to heap upon his friends fierce epithets
-which could not reach him and produced no effect
-on him. With all the airs of a great monarch,
-Leicester progressed from one city to another,
-receiving solemn deputations, and giving grand
-entertainments in return.</p>
-
-<p>In the field his conduct was as contemptible
-as in the government. He had an accomplished
-general, Alexander Farnese, the Prince of Parma,
-to contend with, and never did an English general
-present so pitiable a spectacle in a campaign as
-did Leicester. His great object appeared to be
-to avoid a battle, and the only conflict which he
-engaged in, which has left a name, is the attack
-upon Zutphen, on September 22, 1586, because
-there fell the gallant and gifted Sir Philip Sidney,
-in the thirty-second year of his age.</p>
-
-<p>As autumn approached Leicester marched back
-his forces to the Hague, and was greatly disgusted
-and astonished to be called to account
-by what he pleased to name an assembly of
-shopkeepers and artisans. Not the less loudly,
-however, did the merchants and shopkeepers of
-the Netherlands upbraid him with the utter
-failure of the campaign, with the waste of their
-money, the violation of their privileges, the ruin
-of their trade, and the extorting of the people's
-money in a manner equally arbitrary and irritating.
-In a fit of ineffable disgust he broke up the
-assembly: the assembly continued to sit. He
-next resorted to entreaties and promises; it
-regarded these as little. He announced his intention
-of returning to England, and in his absence
-nominated one of his staff to exercise the supreme
-government. The assembly insisted on his resigning
-that charge to them; he complied, yet, by a
-private deed, reserved it to himself; and thus did
-this proud, empty, inefficient upstart dishonour
-the queen who had raised him, the country which
-had tolerated him, and which had long impatiently
-witnessed his arrogance, and his abuse of the
-queen's favour. At length, on the approach of
-winter, he obeyed the call of his sovereign
-and returned home. Scarcely had he quitted
-the Netherlands when the officers whom he had
-left in command surrendered the places of strength
-to the Prince of Parma, and went over to the
-Spaniards. The campaign was, from first to last,
-a scandal and a disgrace to the English name and
-government.</p>
-
-<p>Mary had now been removed, in the early part
-of this year, to Chartley Castle, in Staffordshire,
-under the care of Sir Amyas Paulet; and the
-gentlemen in England whom the foreign adherents
-of the Queen of Scots had pitched upon to
-carry out their plan, were a young enthusiastic
-Papist&mdash;Anthony Babington, of Dethick, near
-Matlock, in Derbyshire&mdash;and his friends and
-companions, all men of fortune, family, and
-education. Babington had long been an ardent
-admirer of the Queen of Scots, had corresponded
-with her whilst she was at Sheffield
-Park, and was ready to devote himself to the
-death in her cause. At the same time he had
-such an idea of the peril of meddling with the
-government of Elizabeth, that he despaired of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
-accomplishing Mary's enfranchisement during
-Elizabeth's life. Ballard, a Jesuit, assured him
-that Elizabeth would be taken off, by command
-of the Pope; that Savage, an officer who had
-served in Flanders, and was exasperated at the
-death of Throgmorton, had determined to do
-it; and that the Prince of Parma would land
-simultaneously with that event, and set Mary at
-liberty. The plan was made known to Mary, and
-received her sanction. "When all is ready," she
-wrote, "the six gentlemen must be set to work."</p>
-
-<p>Walsingham, who had long been on the
-watch, was now in possession of all the evidence
-that he was likely to get, for Babington soon
-discovered that he had been betrayed by somebody,
-whom he could not tell; and though he
-remained in London as though there were no
-danger, he made preparations for the escape of
-Ballard to the Continent, by procuring him a
-passport under a feigned name. Every moment
-might throw fresh light on the deception, and
-allow the escape of the victims. On the 4th of
-August, therefore, Babington found his house
-entered by the pursuivants of Walsingham, and
-Ballard, who had not got off, was there seized.
-Babington escaped for the moment, but was
-arrested on the 7th, and was taken to the country
-house of Walsingham, but escaped from the
-servants into whose charge he was given. With
-his friends and accomplices, Gage, Charnock,
-Barnewell, and Donne, he concealed himself in
-St. John's Wood, till they were compelled by
-hunger to make their way to the house of their
-common friend Bellamy, at Harrow, who concealed
-them in his outhouses and gardens. But
-the cunning Walsingham had his agents on their
-trail the whole time, and on the 15th they walked
-into the premises of Bellamy, secured the concealed
-conspirators, together with their host, his
-wife and brother, and conveyed them, amid the
-shouts and execrations of the populace, and the
-universal ringing of bells, to the Tower, whither
-also were soon brought Abingdon, Tichbourne,
-Tilney, Travers; the only one of the friends of
-Babington that escaped being Edward Windsor,
-the brother of Lord Windsor.</p>
-
-<p>On the 13th of September, Babington, Ballard,
-Savage, Donne, Barnewell, and Tichbourne were
-put upon their trial, charged with a conspiracy
-to murder Elizabeth, and raise a rebellion in
-favour of the Queen of Scots. They pleaded
-guilty to one or other of the charges, and seven
-others pleaded not guilty; but all were alike convicted,
-and condemned to the death of traitors.
-The greater part of them appear to have taken no
-part in the blacker part of the conspiracy, the
-design to murder Elizabeth; and some of them, as
-Tichbourne and Jones, declared that they had
-taken no part whatever, but merely kept the
-secret for the sake of their friends. Bellamy
-was condemned for affording them an asylum;
-his wife escaped through a flaw in the indictment.
-Pooley, the decoy, was imprisoned as
-a blind, and then liberated; and Gifford was
-already in prison in Paris, where, three years
-later, he died. On the 20th and 21st of September,
-1586, they were executed in Lincoln's Inn Fields,
-because they used there to hold their meetings.</p>
-
-<p>Though no mention was made on the trial of
-any participation of the Queen of Scots in this
-conspiracy, nothing was farther from the intention
-of Elizabeth and her ministers than her escape.
-They had already prepared for her death by the
-bill passed empowering twenty-four or more of
-the Lords of the Council and other peers to sit in
-judgment on any one concerned in attempts to
-raise rebellion, or to injure the queen's person.
-To procure every possible evidence for this end
-the following stratagem was used:&mdash;The Queen of
-Scots was kept in total ignorance of the seizure
-of the conspirators, and on the copy of her letter
-to Babington being laid before the Council, an
-order was sent down to Sir Amyas Paulet to seize
-all her papers and keep her in more rigorous confinement.
-Accordingly, one morning, Mary took
-a drive in her carriage, accompanied, as was her
-custom, by Paulet, but with a larger attendance.
-When Mary desired to return, Paulet told her
-that he had orders to convey her to Tixall, a
-house belonging to Sir Walter Aston, about three
-miles distant. Astonished and alarmed, Mary
-refused to go, and declared that if they took her
-there it should be by force. She must have suspected
-the design of searching her cabinets during
-her absence; but, in spite of her protestations
-and her tears, she was compelled to proceed.
-There she was confined to two rooms only, was
-guarded in the strictest manner, and debarred
-the use of pen, ink, and paper. Meanwhile Sir
-William Wade arrived at Chartley, and proceeded
-to break open the cabinets and take possession of
-all her letters and papers, as well as those of her
-secretaries. A large chest was filled with these
-papers, amongst which were Mary's own minute
-of the answer to Babington, and other damning
-proofs. It was determined to bring her to a public
-trial.</p>
-
-<p>Mary was now removed to Fotheringay Castle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
-in Northamptonshire, in preparation for her trial.
-It was first proposed to convey her to the Tower,
-but they feared her friends in the City; then the
-castle of Hertford was suggested, but that also
-was thought too near the capital; and Grafton,
-Woodstock, Coventry, Northampton, and Huntingdon
-were all proposed and rejected, showing
-that her enemies were well aware of the seriousness
-of the business they contemplated.</p>
-
-<p>On the 5th of October a commission was issued
-to forty-six persons, peers, privy councillors, and
-judges, constituting a court competent to inquire
-into and determine all offences committed against
-the statute of the 27th of the Queen, either by
-Mary, daughter and heiress of James V., late of
-Scotland, or by any other person whomsoever.
-The moment this was known, Chasteauneuf, the
-French ambassador, demanded in the name of his
-sovereign that Mary should be allowed counsel,
-according to the universal practice of civilised
-nations. But Elizabeth sent him a message
-by Hatton, that "she did not require the advice
-or schooling of foreign powers to instruct her
-how she ought to act."</p>
-
-<p>On the 12th the commissioners arrived at the
-castle. They were the Lord Chancellor Bromley,
-the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, and many other
-magnates.</p>
-
-<p>On the 14th the Court assembled in the great
-hall of Fotheringay, at the upper end of which
-was placed a chair of State with a canopy, as for
-the queen of England; and below it, at some
-distance, a chair without a canopy, for the Queen
-of Scots. The Chancellor, Bromley, opened the
-Court by informing Mary that the Queen of
-England, having heard that she had conspired
-against her state and person, had deputed them to
-inquire into the fact. Upon this Mary, who had
-at first refused to plead at all, entered her solemn
-protest against their authority, declaring that she
-had come as a friendly sovereign to seek aid from
-her cousin, the Queen of England, and had been
-unjustly detained by her as a prisoner; on that
-ground she denied their authority to try her. It
-was permitted to record her protest, together with
-the Chancellor's reply.</p>
-
-<p>The charges against her were two: first, that
-she had conspired with traitors and foreigners to
-invade the realm, and secondly, to compass the
-death of the queen. As to the first charge Mary
-pleaded guilty to it, and justified it. They
-grounded this charge on a host of letters intercepted
-or found in her cabinets, to and from
-Mendoza, Paget, Morgan, and others. From these
-it appeared that she had sanctioned an invasion
-on her behalf, had offered to raise her friends
-to support it, and had requested that those in
-Scotland should make themselves master of the
-person of her son, and prevent any aid from being
-sent to the Government of England. When they
-came to the second charge, the conspiracy to
-murder Elizabeth, she denied any participation
-in it totally, indignantly, and with tears.
-She called God to witness the truth of her assertion,
-and prayed Him, if she were guilty of such
-a crime, to grant her no mercy. The proofs produced
-to establish her approval of this design
-were&mdash;first, the copy of the letter of Babington,
-in which was this passage:&mdash;"For the dispatch of
-the usurper, from the obedience of whom, by the
-excommunication of her, we are made free, there
-be six noble gentlemen, all my private friends,
-who, for the zeal they bear to the Catholic cause
-and your majesty's service, will undertake the
-tragical execution." Next there was a copy of
-seven points, which were professedly derived from
-her answer to Babington, the sixth of which was,
-"By what means do the six gentlemen deliberate
-to proceed?" After these came the confessions
-of Mary's secretaries, and, finally, reported admissions
-in her letters to her foreign correspondents
-of having received these intimations
-of their intention to assassinate the queen, and
-of having given them cautions and instructions
-on this point.</p>
-
-<p>Mary at first denied any correspondence with
-Babington, but she soon saw enough to convince
-her that they had the correspondence in their
-possession, and admitted having written the note
-of the 18th, but not any such answer to Babington
-on the 17th of July, as they asserted. She
-demanded the production of the original letters,
-and the production of her secretaries Nau and
-Curle face to face with her, for that Nau was
-timid and simple, and Curle so accustomed to obey
-Nau, that he would not do otherwise; but she was
-sure that in her presence they would not venture
-to speak falsely. But neither of these things, no
-doubt for the strongest of reasons, was consented
-to. As to her letters, she said it was not the
-first time that they had been garbled and interpolated.
-It was easy for one man to imitate the
-writing and ciphers of another; and she greatly
-feared that Walsingham had done it in this
-instance, to practise against the lives of both herself
-and her son. In fact, her defence was most ingenious
-but quite unconvincing.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_309big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_309.jpg" width="560" height="413" alt="" title="TRIAL OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS IN FOTHERINGAY CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>TRIAL OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS IN FOTHERINGAY CASTLE. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_308">308.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>On this the commissioners adjourned their
-sitting to the 15th of October, and from Fotheringay
-to the Star Chamber at Westminster.
-There the secretaries were re-examined, and
-finally the commissioners unanimously signed
-Mary's condemnation, the sentence running as
-follows:&mdash;"For that since the conclusion of
-the session of Parliament, namely, since the
-first day of June, in the twenty-seventh year of
-her Majesty's reign and before the date of the
-commission, divers matters have been compassed
-and imagined within this realm of England by
-Anthony Babington and others, with the privity
-of the said Mary, pretending a title to the Crown
-of this realm of England, tending to the hurt,
-death, and destruction of the royal person of our
-lady the queen; and also for that the aforesaid
-Mary, pretending a title to the Crown, hath
-herself compassed and imagined within this realm
-divers matters tending to the hurt, death, and
-destruction to the royal person of our sovereign
-lady the queen, contrary to the form of the statute
-in the commission aforesaid specified." Nau and
-Curle were declared abettors, so that it was a sentence
-of death to all the three. To this a provision
-was added that the sentence should in no way
-derogate from the right or dignity of her son,
-James King of Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>On the 29th of October&mdash;that is, four days
-after the passing of this sentence&mdash;Elizabeth
-assembled her Parliament. She had summoned
-it for the 15th, anticipating quicker work at
-Fotheringay, but prorogued it to this date. The
-proceedings of the trial were laid before each
-house, and both Lords and Commons petitioned
-Elizabeth to enforce the execution of the Queen of
-Scots without delay. Serjeant Puckering, the
-Speaker of the Commons, in communicating the
-prayer of the House, reminded Elizabeth of the
-wrath of God against persons who neglected to
-execute His judgments, as in the case of Saul,
-who had spared Agag, and Ahab, who had spared
-Benhadad. Elizabeth replied with perfect serenity
-that she was unwilling to shed the blood of that
-wicked woman, the Queen of Scots, though she
-had so often sought her life, for the preservation
-of which she expressed her deep gratitude
-to Almighty God. She wished that she and Mary
-were two milkmaids, with pails upon their arms,
-and then she would forgive her all her wrongs.
-As for her own life, she had no desire on her
-own account to preserve it; she had nothing left
-worth living for; but for her people she could
-endure much. Still, the call of her Council, her
-Parliament, and her people to execute justice on
-her own kinswoman, had brought her into a great
-strait and struggle of mind. But then, she said,
-she would confide to them a secret: that certain
-persons had sworn an oath within these few days
-to take her life or be hanged themselves. She
-had written proof of this, and she must, therefore,
-remind them of their own oath of association
-for the defence of her person. "She thought it
-requisite," she said, "with earnest prayer to
-beseech the Divine Majesty so to illuminate her
-understanding, and to inspire her with His
-grace, that she might see clearly to do and
-determine that which would serve to the establishment
-of His Church, the preservation of
-their estates, and the prosperity of the commonwealth."</p>
-
-<p>She sent a message to the two Houses, expressing
-the great conflict which she had had in her
-own mind, and begging to know whether they
-could not devise some means of sparing the life of
-her relative. Both Houses, on the 25th, returned
-answer that this was impossible. To this declaration
-of Parliament she returned to them one of
-her enigmatical answers, "If I should say that I
-meant not to grant your petition, by my faith, I
-should say unto you more perhaps than I mean.
-And if I should say that I mean to grant it, I
-should tell you more than it is fit for you to know.
-Thus I must deliver to you an answer answerless."</p>
-
-<p>On the 6th of December proclamation of the
-judgment of the commissioners against the Queen
-of Scots was made through London by sound of
-trumpet, whereupon the populace made great rejoicings,
-kindled large bonfires, and rang the bells
-all day as if some joyful event had occurred.
-They were so fully persuaded that the Queen of
-Scots was at the bottom of all the alleged and
-real plots for the overturn of the Government, the
-bringing in of the King of Spain, and the Roman
-Catholic religion, that their exultation was boundless.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, in spite of the eagerness of the
-nation, Elizabeth hesitated to put Mary to death.
-Her conduct was tortuous, for she was devising to
-escape the opprobrium. At length Lord Howard
-of Effingham persuaded her that she could delay
-no longer. She went about continually muttering
-to herself, "<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Aut fer aut feri: ne feriare feri</i>"
-("Either endure or strike: strike lest thou be
-stricken"). Instead of proceeding to sign the
-death-warrant and let the execution take its course,
-she had it again debated in the Council whether
-it were not better to take her off by poison.
-Walsingham, who saw that the responsibility<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
-would be certainly thrown on somebody near the
-queen, got away from Court; and the warrant,
-drawn up by Burleigh, was handed by him to
-Davison, the queen's secretary, to get it engrossed
-and presented to the queen for signature.
-When he did this, she bade him keep it awhile,
-and it lay in his hands for five or six weeks. But
-both Leicester and Burleigh were impatient for its
-execution; and directly after the departure of
-James's ambassadors in February, he was ordered
-to present it; and then Elizabeth signed it, bidding
-him take it to the Great Seal, "and trouble her no
-more with it." Then, as if suddenly recollecting
-herself, she said, "Surely Paulet and Drury might
-ease me of this burden. Do you and Walsingham
-sound their dispositions." Burleigh and Leicester,
-to whom Davison showed the warrant, urged him to
-send it to Fotheringay without a moment's delay;
-but Davison had a feeling that he certainly should
-get into trouble if he did so. He therefore went
-on to Walsingham, and after showing him the
-warrant, they then and there made a rough draft
-of a letter to Sir Amyas Paulet and Sir Drew
-Drury, Mary's additional keeper, proposing that
-they should act on their own authority, as the
-queen requested. While Walsingham made a fair
-copy, Davison went to the Lord Chancellor and
-got the great seal affixed to the warrant. Davison
-the next day had confirmation doubly strong that
-Elizabeth was watching to entrap him in the matter.
-She asked him if the warrant had passed the Great
-Seal. He said it had; on which she immediately
-said, "Why such haste?" He inquired whether,
-then, she did not wish the affair to proceed. She
-replied, certainly; but that she thought it might
-be better managed, as the execution of the warrant
-threw the whole burden upon her. Davison said
-he did not know who else could bear it, as her
-laws made it murder to destroy the meanest subject
-without her warrant. At this her patience
-appeared exhausted, and she uttered a wish that
-she had but two such subjects as Morton and
-Archibald Douglas.</p>
-
-<p>Davison was terrified at the gulf on the edge of
-which he saw himself standing, with the queen
-ready and longing to drag him in. He went to
-Hatton, and told him that though he had her
-orders to send off the warrant to Fotheringay at
-once, he would not do it of himself. They therefore
-went together to Burleigh, who coincided
-with them in the demand for caution. He therefore
-summoned the Council the next morning, and
-it was there unanimously agreed, as the queen had
-discharged her duty, to do theirs, and to proceed
-on joint responsibility. The warrant was therefore
-issued.</p>
-
-<p>On the 7th of February the order for Mary's
-death reached Fotheringay. The Earl of Shrewsbury,
-who had guarded her so many years, as Earl
-Marshal, had now the painful office of carrying
-into effect her execution. There had been for
-some time a growing feeling at Fotheringay that
-the last day of Mary was at hand, for there had
-been a remarkable coming and going of strangers.
-When Shrewsbury was announced, his office proclaimed
-the fatal secret. The Scottish queen rose
-from her bed, and was dressed to receive him,
-having seated herself at a small table with her
-servants disposed around her. The Earl of Shrewsbury
-entered, followed by the Earls of Kent,
-Cumberland, and Derby, as well as by the sheriff
-and several gentlemen of the county. Beale, the
-clerk of the Council, read the order for the execution,
-to which Mary listened with the utmost
-apparent equanimity. When it was finished she
-crossed herself, bade them welcome, and assured
-them that she had long waited for the day which
-had now arrived; that twenty years of miserable
-imprisonment had made her a burden to herself
-and useless to others; and that she could conceive
-no close of life so happy or so honourable as that
-of shedding her blood for her religion. She recited
-her injuries and the frauds and perjuries of
-her enemies, and then laying her hand on the
-Testament upon her table, called God to witness
-that she had never imagined, much less attempted,
-anything against the life of the Queen of England.
-A long conversation followed, and Mary asked
-whether the foreign powers had made no efforts in
-her behalf, and whether her only son had forgotten
-her; and finally, when she was to suffer. The
-Earl of Shrewsbury replied with much emotion,
-"To-morrow morning, at eight o'clock." Mary
-received this announcement with a calm dignity
-which awed and even affected the beholders. And
-on the scaffold, which was erected in the hall of
-Fotheringay, she played her part with the same perfection
-of acting, posing as a religious martyr and
-wholly ignoring the political crimes of which she
-had been guilty (February 8, 1587).</p>
-
-<p>The Earl of Shrewsbury sent his son with
-the intelligence of the execution of Mary, which
-reached Court the next day. Burleigh, who
-received the letter, immediately sent for Davison
-and several of the Privy Council, and it was resolved
-to keep the fact from the queen for a short
-time. But such a fact, though it might be
-officially, could not be otherwise concealed. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
-news flew abroad, and the Protestant population
-gave the reins to their joy by the ringing
-of bells and kindling of bonfires. Elizabeth
-neither could nor did remain ignorant of the
-cause of this noisy exultation. She inquired why
-the bells rang so merrily, and was told, says
-Davison, "for the execution of the Queen of
-Scots;" but she took no notice of it, having not
-been officially informed. Far from displaying any
-emotion of any kind, she took her usual airing,
-and on her return appeared to be enjoying herself
-in the company of Don Antonio, the pretender to
-the Crown of Portugal. But in the morning,
-being then officially informed, she flew into very
-well-acted paroxysms of rage and grief. She
-declared that she had never contemplated or
-sanctioned such a thing; that Davison had betrayed
-her, whom she had charged not to let the
-warrant go out of his hands; and that the whole
-Privy Council had acted most unjustifiably.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_312big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_312.jpg" width="560" height="487" alt="" title="MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS RECEIVING INTIMATION OF HER DOOM" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS RECEIVING INTIMATION OF HER DOOM. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_311">311.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Davison, who fondly hoped that he had secured
-himself under the shield of the Privy Council,
-made his appearance at Court; but the councillors,
-who saw there must be a victim, advised
-him to keep out of sight for a few days; and the
-consequence was, that his amiable friends of the
-Council most likely made him their scapegoat,
-for he was immediately arrested and committed
-to the Tower. But the ministers themselves did
-not escape their share of the storm. For four
-days the matter was before the Council, and they
-received the severest and most unmeasured upbraidings
-from their royal mistress, the burden
-being naturally thrown on poor Davison, who was
-actually dismissed from the public service and
-condemned to pay a large fine.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_313big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_313.jpg" width="560" height="378" alt="By permission, from the Painting in the City of Manchester Art Gallery" title="THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA, 1588. By ALBERT GOODWIN, R.W.S" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>By permission, from the Painting in the City of Manchester Art Gallery.</i></p>
-
-<p>THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA, 1588.</p>
-
-<p>By ALBERT GOODWIN, R.W.S.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">REIGN OF ELIZABETH (<i>concluded</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>State of Europe on the Death of Mary&mdash;Preparations of Philip of Spain&mdash;Exploits of English Sailors&mdash;Drake Singes the King of
-Spain's Beard&mdash;Preparations against the Armada&mdash;Loyalty of the Roman Catholics&mdash;Arrival of the Armada in the
-Channel&mdash;Its Disastrous Course and Complete Destruction&mdash;Elizabeth at Tilbury&mdash;Death of Leicester&mdash;Persecution of the
-Puritans and Catholics&mdash;Renewed Expeditions against Spain&mdash;Accession of Henry of Navarre to the French Throne&mdash;He
-is helped by Elizabeth&mdash;Essex takes Cadiz&mdash;His Quarrels with the Cecils&mdash;His Second Expedition and Rupture with the
-Queen&mdash;Troubles in Ireland&mdash;Essex appointed Lord-Deputy&mdash;His Failure&mdash;The Essex Rising&mdash;Execution of Essex&mdash;Mountjoy
-in Ireland&mdash;The Debate on Monopolies&mdash;Victory of Mountjoy&mdash;Weakness of Elizabeth&mdash;Her last illness and
-Death.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>Among all these equivocations Elizabeth displayed
-her usual ability, and prevented the only
-thing which she feared&mdash;a coalition between
-Scotland, France, and Spain, to avenge the death
-of the Scottish queen. James of Scotland was
-readily checked, being of a pusillanimous character,
-and fonder of money than of the life and
-honour of his mother. Henry III. of France, as
-Elizabeth well knew, was too much beset by difficulties
-to be formidable. His course was now fast
-running to a close. Civil war was raging in his
-kingdom; and we may here anticipate a little to
-take a view of his end. His feud with the Guises
-grew to such a pitch, that, to rid himself of them,
-he determined to assassinate their leaders, the
-duke and cardinal, the cousins of the late Queen
-of Scots. For this purpose, near the close of
-1588, he assembled a body of assassins in the
-Castle of Blois, where he privately distributed
-daggers to forty-five of them. The Duke of Guise
-was invited to the fatal feast, and murdered at the
-very door of the king's chamber (December 23).
-The next day his brother, the cardinal, was also
-slain. But this infamous action only procured
-the destruction of Henry himself. The Papists,
-exasperated by the murder of their chiefs, were
-infuriated. The Pope excommunicated the king,
-and the clergy absolved the people from their oath
-of allegiance; and on August 2, 1589, Henry was
-assassinated by a fanatic monk of the name of
-Jacques Clement, whilst besieging his own capital.</p>
-
-<p>But not so readily was Philip of Spain disposed
-of. He was crafty and powerful, and remembered
-the conduct of Elizabeth, who, from the very commencement
-of her reign, while professing friendship
-and high regard for him, had done all in her
-power to strip him of the Netherlands. She had
-supported his insurgent subjects with both money
-and troops; and at this time her favourite,
-Leicester, at the head of an army, was enjoying
-the rule of the revolted territory called the United
-Provinces, as governor-general. Not only in
-Europe, but in the new regions of South America,
-she carried on the same system of invasion and
-plunder by some of the greatest naval captains of
-the age&mdash;all still without any declaration of war.
-Besides, Mary had left to him her claim on the
-English throne, and Philip had accepted it, thereby
-alienating the King of Scotland. Philip
-did not hesitate to denounce Elizabeth as a
-murderer, and excited amongst his subjects a
-most intense hatred of her, both as a heretic and a
-woman oppressive and unjust, and stained with
-kindred and regal blood. In vain did she attempt
-to mollify his resentment by recalling Leicester
-from the Netherlands, and alluring a native prince,
-the Prince of Orange, to take his place. She
-opened, through Burleigh, negotiations with Spain,
-and sent a private mission to the Prince of Parma,
-in the Netherlands. There was a great suspicion
-in the minds of the Dutch and Flemings that
-she meant to give up the cause of Protestantism
-there, and to sell the cautionary towns which she
-held to Spain. But fortunately for them, Philip
-was too much incensed to listen to her overtures,
-and had now made up his mind to the daring
-project of invading England. News of actual
-preparations for this purpose on a vast scale convinced
-Elizabeth that pacification was hopeless,
-and she resumed her predatory measures against
-Spain and its colonies.</p>
-
-<p>To obtain a clear idea of the causes which, independent
-of the continual attempts of Elizabeth
-to break the yoke of Spain in the Low Countries,
-had so exasperated Philip, we must refer to the
-marauding expeditions of Hawkins, Cavendish,
-and Drake&mdash;men whose names have descended to
-our day as types of all that is enterprising,
-daring, and successful in the naval heroes of
-England. They were men who, like most of the
-prominent persons of that time, had no very nice
-ideas of international justice or honesty, but had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>
-courage which shrank from no attempt, however
-arduous, and ability to achieve what even now
-are regarded as little short of miracles. Whilst in
-Europe they were Royal commanders, in the distant
-seas of America they were, to all intents and
-purposes, pirates and buccaneers.</p>
-
-<p>Sir John Hawkins has the gloomy fame of being
-the originator of the African slave trade (1562).
-He made three voyages to the African coast,
-where he bartered his goods for cargoes of negroes,
-which he carried to the Spanish settlements in
-America, and sold them for hides, sugar, ginger,
-and pearls. This traffic, which afterwards increased
-to such terrific and detestable dimensions,
-was so extremely profitable that Elizabeth fitted
-out two ships and sent them under his command.
-On this his third voyage, however, Hawkins was
-surprised by the Spanish admiral in the Bay of
-St. Juan de Ulloa. A desperate engagement took
-place, and Hawkins's fleet, with all his treasure,
-was captured or destroyed except two, one of
-which afterwards went down at sea, the only one
-returning home being a little bark of fifty tons,
-called <em>Judith</em>, and commanded by one Francis
-Drake. Elizabeth, of course, lost her whole venture
-in the slave trade.</p>
-
-<p>But this Francis Drake, destined to win a great
-name, could not rest under the defeat in the bay
-of Ulloa and the loss of his booty. He obtained
-interest enough to fit out a little fleet, and also
-made three voyages, like Hawkins, to the Spanish
-American settlements. In the logic of that age,
-it was quite right to plunder any people of a particular
-nation in return for a loss by aggrieved
-persons of another nation; and Drake felt himself
-authorised to seize Spanish property wherever he
-could find it. In his first two voyages he was not
-eminently successful; but the third, in 1572, made
-him ample amends. He took and plundered the
-town of Nombre de Dios, captured about 100
-little vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, and made an
-expedition inland, where, ascending a mountain in
-Darien, he caught sight of the Pacific, and became
-inflamed with a desire to sail into that sea and
-plunder the Spanish settlements there. He captured
-in March of 1573 a convoy of mules laden
-with gold and silver, and in October reached
-England with his plunder.</p>
-
-<p>This success awoke the cupidity of his countrymen.
-Elizabeth embarked 1,000 crowns in a
-fresh expedition, which was supported by Walsingham,
-Hatton, and others of her ministers. In
-1577 Drake set out for the Spanish Main with
-five ships and 160 men. In this voyage he
-pursued steadily his great idea of adventures in
-the Pacific, coasted the Brazils, passed the straits
-of Magellan, and reached Santiago, from which
-place to Lima he found the coast unprotected, and
-took the vessels and plundered the towns at will.
-Among his prizes was a Spanish merchantman of
-great value, which he captured in the spring of
-1579. By this time, however, the Spaniards had
-sent out a squadron to meet and intercept him at
-the straits; and Drake, becoming aware of it,
-took the daring resolution of sailing to the
-Moluccas, and so home by the Cape of Good Hope.
-The hardihood of this determination we can
-scarcely at this day realise, for it implied the circumnavigation
-of the globe, which had never yet
-been accomplished, Magellan himself having
-perished on his voyage at the Philippines.
-Drake, however, reached Plymouth safely, on the
-3rd of November, 1580, after a voyage of three
-years. The dangers and hardships which he had
-endured in this unprecedented exploit may be conceived
-from the fact that only one of his five
-vessels reached home with him; but that vessel
-contained a treasure of £800,000.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth was in a great strait. The wealth
-which Drake had brought, and of which she expected
-an ample share, was too agreeable a thing
-to allow her to quarrel with the acquirer; but the
-ravages which he had committed on a Power not
-openly at war with her, were too flagrant to be
-acknowledged. For four months, therefore, Drake
-remained without any public acknowledgment of
-his services, further than his ship being placed in
-the dock at Plymouth, as a trophy of his bold circumnavigation
-of the globe. At length the queen
-consented to be present at a banquet which Drake
-gave on board, and she there broke from her
-duplicity by knighting him on the spot (1581).
-A tithe of the enormous amount of money was
-distributed as prize among the officers and men;
-the Spanish ambassador, who had laid claim to
-the whole as stolen property, was appeased by a
-considerable sum; and the huge remainder was
-shared by the queen, her favourites, and the
-fortunate commander.</p>
-
-<p>It was not long before Sir Francis Drake was
-placed in commission and sent out as the queen's
-own admiral against Spain. In 1585 he sailed
-for the West Indies with a fleet of twenty-one
-ships, where he burnt down the town of St.
-Iago, ravaged Carthagena and St. Domingo, and
-committed other mischief. The following year
-Thomas Cavendish followed in Drake's track, with
-three ships which he had built out of the wreck of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>
-his fortune, and reaching the Spanish Main, committed
-many depredations. In 1587 he secured
-the freight of gold and silver of a large Manila
-merchantman, and returned home by the new
-route which Drake had pointed out.</p>
-
-<p>These terrible chastisements of the Spanish
-colonies had embittered the mind of Philip and his
-subjects even beyond the warfare of the Netherlands;
-and he was now steadily preparing that
-mighty force and that host of vessels by which he
-vowed to prostrate the power of the heretic queen,
-and reduce the British Islands to the Spanish
-yoke and to the yoke of the Papal Church.
-Elizabeth, having endeavoured in vain to arrange
-a peace, buckled on the armour of her spirit, and
-determined to meet the danger with a fearless
-front. She despatched Drake with a fleet of
-thirty vessels to examine the Spanish harbours
-where these means of invasion were preparing,
-and to destroy all that he could come at. No
-task could have delighted him more. On the
-18th of April, 1587, he entered the roads of
-Cadiz, and discovering upwards of eighty vessels,
-attacked, sank, and destroyed them all. He then
-sailed out again, and running along the coast as
-far as Cape St. Vincent, demolished above a
-hundred vessels, and, besides other injuries,
-battered down four forts. This Drake called
-"singeing the King of Spain's beard." In the
-Tagus he encountered the Grand Admiral of
-Spain, Santa Cruz, but could not bring him to
-an engagement, owing to the orders which the
-admiral had received; but he captured, in his very
-teeth, the <em>St. Philip</em>, one of the finest ships of
-Spain, and laden with the richest merchandise.
-Santa Cruz took it so much to heart that he was
-not permitted to engage Drake, that he is said to
-have died shortly afterwards of sheer mortification.</p>
-
-<p>When Drake returned from this expedition he
-was received by the public with acclamation; but
-Elizabeth was perfectly frightened by the extent
-of the calamities inflicted, believing that they
-would only rouse Philip to more inveterate
-hostility&mdash;and in that she was right. She
-actually made an apology to the Prince of Parma,
-Philip's general in the Netherlands, for the deeds
-of Drake, assuring him that she had sent him
-out only to guard against any attacks on herself.
-Farnese replied that he could well believe anything
-of a man bred as Drake had been in
-piracy, and professed still to be ready to make
-peace. But Philip was in no pacific mood. He
-was now eagerly employed in forwarding his huge
-preparations; and the name of the Spanish
-Armada began to sound familiarly in England.
-He prevailed on the Pope to issue a new bull of
-excommunication against Elizabeth, and to advance
-him large sums of money for this holy
-enterprise, which was to restore these rich but
-recreant islands to the Holy See. He collected
-his best vessels into the Spanish ports, and went
-on industriously building others in all the ports of
-Spain, Portugal, and those portions of the Netherlands
-now belonging to him. He collected all the
-vessels that his Sicilian and Neapolitan subjects
-could furnish, and hired others from Genoa and
-Venice. In Flanders he prepared an immense
-shoal of flat-bottomed boats to carry over an army
-of 30,000 men to the coasts of England, under the
-command of the Prince of Parma.</p>
-
-<p>The time appeared to have arrived which was to
-avenge all the injuries and insults which, during
-twenty years, the English queen had heaped upon
-him. She had, in the first place, refused his
-hand; she had year after year incited and encouraged
-his subjects in the Netherlands to rebel
-against his rule; she had supplied them first
-secretly, then openly, with money; she had hired
-mercenary troops against him; and, finally, sent
-the Earl of Leicester to assume the position of a
-viceroy for herself. While this state of intolerable
-interference on land had been growing, she
-had sent out men to attack and plunder his
-colonies, intercept his treasure ships, and chase
-from the high seas the merchant vessels of his
-nation. All this time she had been with an iron
-hand crushing the Church which he believed the
-only true one, and had ended by putting to death
-a queen who was regarded as the champion of
-that Church in Britain. We are apt, in thinking
-of the Spanish Armada and the attempt of Philip
-to invade this kingdom, to overlook these provocations,
-which were certainly sufficient to rouse
-any monarch to such an enterprise.</p>
-
-<p>While carrying matters with so high a hand,
-Elizabeth's parsimony had prevented her from
-making those preparations for defence which
-such an enemy dictated. In November, 1587,
-the danger had grown so palpable that a great
-council of war was summoned to take into consideration
-the grand plan of defence, and the
-mode of mustering an adequate force both at land
-and at sea. It was well known that the dockyards
-of Antwerp, Newport, Gravelines, and Dunkirk
-had long been alive with the building of boats,
-and that the forest of Waes had been felled to
-supply material. Farnese, reputed one of the
-ablest generals in Europe, had at his command,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
-besides the forces necessary to garrison the
-Spanish Netherlands, 30,000 infantry and 1,800
-cavalry; whilst the Spanish fleet consisted of
-135 men-of-war, prepared to carry over 8,000
-seamen, and 19,000 soldiers. Both in Spain and
-in the Netherlands the enthusiasm of volunteers
-for the service had been wonderful; not only the
-members of the noblest families had enrolled
-themselves, but the fame of this expedition, which
-was to be a second conquest of England, yielding
-far more riches and glory than that of William of
-Normandy, had drawn adventurers from every
-corner of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>What had England to oppose to all this force
-and animating spirit of anticipation? It was discovered
-that the whole navy of England amounted
-to only thirty-six sail. As to the army, it did not
-amount to 20,000 men, and those chiefly raw
-recruits, the order for the muster of the main
-body of the forces even having been issued only
-in June. Courage Elizabeth undoubtedly possessed
-in an eminent degree; but such was her
-parsimony, that though the army which was to
-serve under Leicester was ordered to assemble in
-June, that which, under Lord Hunsdon, was to
-follow particularly the movements of the queen,
-did not receive orders for enrolment till August.
-What was to be done with such raw recruits
-against the disciplined and tried troops of Parma,
-and his military experience? It was the same as
-regarded the sailors to man the fleet. In the
-autumn of 1586 she ordered a levy of 5,000 seamen;
-but in January she thought more of the
-expense than the danger, and insisted on 2,000 of
-them being disbanded. The rumours of growing
-danger, however, enabled the Council to dissuade
-her from this impolitic measure, and even obtain
-an increase to 7,000.</p>
-
-<p>In the war council held in November, 1587,
-Sir Walter Raleigh earnestly advocated what
-his quick genius had seen at a glance&mdash;that the
-defence of the country must depend on the
-navy. The enemy must not be suffered to land.
-At sea, even then, England was a match for
-almost any amount of force; and never did she
-possess admirals who had more of that daring and
-indomitable character which has for ages distinguished
-the seamen of Great Britain. Sir
-Walter Raleigh prevailed: and at once was seen
-that burst of enthusiasm which, on all occasions
-when Britain has been menaced with invasion,
-has flamed from end to end of the
-country. Merchantmen offered their vessels, the
-people fitted them out at their own expense, and
-very soon, instead of thirty-six ships of war, there
-were 191, of various sizes and characters, with
-not 7,000, but 17,400 sailors on board of them.
-To the thirty-six Government ships of war were
-added 18 volunteer vessels of heavy burden, forty-three
-hired vessels, and fifty-three coasters. The
-<em>Triumph</em> was a ship of 1,100 tons; there was
-another of 1,000, one of 900, two of 800 each,
-three of 600, five of 500, five of 400, six of 300,
-six of 250, twenty of 200, besides numbers of
-smaller size, the total amount of tonnage being
-31,985.</p>
-
-<p>But the main strength, after all, was in the
-character of the men who commanded and
-animated this fleet. Supreme in command was
-the Lord Admiral, Howard of Effingham, a man
-of undaunted courage, of firm and independent
-resolution, and very popular with the sailors.
-Under him served the Earl of Cumberland and
-the Lords Henry Seymour, Thomas Howard, and
-Edmund Sheffield, as volunteers; and the want of
-experience in these aristocrats was amply overbalanced
-by the staunch men whose fame was
-world-wide&mdash;Drake, who was lieutenant of the
-fleet, Hawkins, Frobisher, and others of those
-marine heroes who had made themselves a terror
-to the remotest shores of the earth.</p>
-
-<p>The neighbouring Protestant States, who were
-naturally called on to aid in this struggle,
-which was not so much for the conquest of
-England as for the annihilation of the Reformed
-Church, were Scotland and the Netherlands. But
-James of Scotland was the worst possible subject to
-depend on in such an emergency, and no assistance
-could be secured from him. Very different was
-the conduct of the Dutch. Though Leicester had
-wasted their wealth in useless campaigns, abused
-their confidence, abridged their privileges, encumbered
-their trade, and insulted their honour;
-though Elizabeth had appeared quite ready to sell
-them to Spain, and in their distress had called
-upon them to raise £100,000 to pay for fresh
-soldiers, or declared she would abandon them;&mdash;yet
-knowing that it was not Elizabeth or the
-worthless Leicester they had to support, but the
-very existence of that faith for which they had
-fought so long and so bravely, and for their
-country, which, if England fell, must fall inevitably
-too, they at once "came roundly in,"
-says Stowe, "with threescore sail, brave ships of
-war, firm and full of spleen, not so much in
-England's aid as in just occasion for their own
-defence, foreseeing the greatness of the danger that
-must ensue if the Spaniards should chance to win<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
-the day and get the mastery over them." They
-engaged to block up the mouth of the Scheldt
-with ten ships of war, and sent the others to unite
-with the English fleet. That fleet was dispersed
-to watch as much as possible all points of
-approach, for rumours confounded the people by
-naming a variety of places on which the descent
-was to be made. Lord Howard put the division
-of the fleet immediately under his command in
-three squadrons on the western coast; Drake
-was stationed in the direction of Ushant; Hawkins,
-a regular adventurer, who had not long
-ago offered his services to Philip and had been
-rejected, now thirsting for revenge on him, cruised
-between the Land's End and the Scilly Isles;
-Lord Henry Seymour scoured the coast of
-Flanders, blockading the Spanish ports to prevent
-the passage of the Prince of Parma's army; and
-other commanders sailed to and fro in the Channel.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_317.jpg" width="403" height="500" alt="" title="SIR FRANCIS DRAKE" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On land there was at first a haunting fear of
-the Roman Catholics. Their oppression had been
-of a character which was not thought likely to
-nourish patriotism; and the very invasion was
-professedly for their relief and revenge. But the
-moment that the common country was menaced
-with danger, they forgot all but the common
-interest. There was no class which displayed
-more zeal for the national defence. Yet to the
-very last moment their loyalty was tried to the
-utmost. Few could believe that they would not
-seize this opportunity to retaliate those severities
-which had been practised upon them; and there
-were those who even advised an English St.
-Bartholomew, or at least the putting to death of
-the leading Roman Catholics. This bloody project
-Elizabeth rejected; but they were, nevertheless,
-subjected to the most cruel treatment out of
-fear. A return was ordered of those suspected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
-of this religion in London, who were found to
-amount to 17,000. All such as were convicted
-of recusancy were put in prison. Throughout
-the land the old domiciliary searches were made,
-and thousands of every rank and class, men and
-women, were dragged off to gaol to keep them
-safe, while the Protestant clergy inveighed in
-awful terms against the designs of the Pope and
-the terrible intentions of the Papists. All commands,
-with few exceptions, amongst which were
-those entrusted to the Lord Admiral Howard and
-his family, were placed in the hands of Protestants;
-yet this did not prevent the Papists
-from offering their services, and gentlemen of
-family and fortune from serving in the ranks, or
-as sailors at sea. The peers armed their tenants
-and servants, and placed them at the disposal of
-the queen; and gentlemen fitted out vessels and
-put Protestants into command of them. The
-ministers themselves, in the famous "Letter to
-Mendoza," which they published in almost every
-language of Europe, confessed that they could see
-no difference between the Romanists and the
-Protestants in their enthusiasm for the defence of
-the country. They mention the Viscount Montague,
-his son, and grandson, appearing before the
-queen with 200 horse which they had raised to
-defend her person, and add that the very prisoners
-for their religion in Ely signed a memorial to her,
-declaring that they were ready to fight to the
-death for her against all her enemies, whether
-they were Pope, priests, kings, or any power
-whatever.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the muster throughout the kingdom
-had brought together 130,000 men. True, the
-greater part of them were raw recruits without
-discipline and experience, and could not have
-stood for a moment before the veterans of Parma,
-had he landed; but they were instructed to lay
-waste the country before him, to harass his march
-day and night by hanging on his skirts, and obstructing
-his way; and as not a town would have
-surrendered without a violent struggle, the event,
-with the dogged courage and perseverance of an
-English population, could only have been one of
-destruction to the invaders. This great but
-irregular force was dispersed in a number of
-camps on the east, west, and southern coasts. At
-Milford Haven were stationed 2,200 horse; 5,000
-men of Cornwall and Devon defended Plymouth;
-the men of Dorset and Wiltshire garrisoned
-Portland; the Isle of Wight swarmed with
-soldiers, and was fortified at all points. The
-banks of the Thames were fortified under the
-direction of a celebrated Italian engineer, Federico
-Giambelli, who had deserted from the Spaniards.
-Gravesend was not only fortified, but was defended
-by a vast assemblage of boats, and had a
-bridge of them, which at once cut off the passage
-of the river, and opened a constant passage for
-troops between Essex and Kent. At Tilbury,
-opposite to Gravesend, there was a camp for
-22,000 foot and 2,000 horse, under the command
-of the Earl of Leicester, and Lord Hunsdon
-defended the capital with an army of 28,000 men,
-supported by 10,000 Londoners.</p>
-
-<p>Such were the preparations for the vaunted
-Invincible Armada. With all the courage of
-Elizabeth, however, she continued to negotiate
-anxiously for peace to the very last minute, and
-to the great chagrin of Leicester and Walsingham,
-who assured her that such a proceeding was
-calculated to encourage her enemies and depress
-her own subjects. Burleigh, with his more
-cautious nature, supported her, and even so
-late as February, 1588, she sent commissioners
-to Bourbourg, near Calais, to meet the commissioners
-of Philip, and they vainly continued their
-negotiations for peace till the Armada appeared
-in the Channel.</p>
-
-<p>And now the time for the sailing of this dread
-fleet had arrived. The King of Spain, tired of
-delays, ordered its advance. It was in vain that
-the wisdom of further postponement seemed to
-be suggested by the sudden death of his experienced
-Admiral Santa Cruz, and his excellent
-Vice-Admiral the Duke of Paliano; he immediately
-gave the command to the Duke of
-Medina Sidonia, a man wholly without such
-experience, and the second command to Martinez
-de Ricaldez, a good seaman. In vain the Prince of
-Parma entreated that he might reduce Flushing
-before he carried such a force out of the country,
-and Sir William Stanley, who had deserted to
-Spain from the Netherlands army, recommended
-the occupation of Ireland before the descent on
-England. The Pope had delivered his bull for
-the deposition of Elizabeth, had collected the
-money which he promised to advance, had made
-Dr. Allen a cardinal, and appointed his legate in
-England to confer on Philip the investiture of
-the kingdom; the fleet was at anchor in the
-Tagus, and he commanded it to put forth.</p>
-
-<p>This famous Armada consisted of 130 vessels of
-different sizes. There were forty-five galleons and
-larger vessels of from 500 to 1,000 tons each;
-twenty-five were pink-built ships, and thirteen
-were frigates. It carried 2,680 pieces of artillery,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>
-and 19,295 troops, exclusive of the crews which
-worked the vessels, of whom 2,000 were volunteers
-of the highest families in Spain. The
-English fleet outnumbered the Armada by about
-sixty vessels, but its entire tonnage did not
-amount to half that of the Armada.</p>
-
-<p>On May the 30th, 1588, this formidable and
-long-prepared fleet issued from the Tagus. The
-spectacle was of such grandeur, that no one could
-behold it without the strongest emotions and the
-most flattering expectations of success. But
-these were of very brief duration: one of those
-tempests which in every age, since the Norman
-Conquest, as if indicating the steady purpose of
-Providence, have assailed and scattered the fleets
-of England's enemies, burst on the Armada off
-Cape Finisterre, scattered its vessels along the
-coast of Galicia, ran three large ships aground,
-dismasted and shattered eight others, and compelled
-the proud fleet to seek shelter in Corunna,
-and other ports along the coast. The damage to
-the ships was so considerable, that it occasioned
-the admiral a delay of three weeks at Corunna.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner was this news announced in London,
-than Elizabeth, amid her most warlike movements
-never forgetting the expense, immediately ordered
-the Lord Admiral to dismantle four of his largest
-ships, as if the danger were over. Lord Howard
-had the wise boldness to refuse, declaring that he
-would rather take the risk of his sovereign's displeasure,
-and keep the vessels afloat at his own
-cost, than endanger the country. To show that
-all his vessels were needed, he called a council of
-war, and proposed that they should sail for
-the Spanish coast, and fall on the fleet whilst
-it was thus disordered. At sea they saw and
-gave chase to fourteen Spanish ships. The wind
-veered and became at once favourable to his
-return, and also to the sailing of the Armada.
-He turned back to Plymouth, lest some of the
-Spanish vessels should have reached his unprotected
-station before him.</p>
-
-<p>The event proved that his caution was not vain.
-He had scarcely regained Plymouth and moored
-his fleet, when a Scottish privateer, named Fleming
-sailed in after him and informed him he had discovered
-the Armada off the Lizard. Most of the
-officers were at the moment playing at bowls on
-the Hoe, and Drake, who was one of them, bade
-them not hurry themselves, but play out the game
-and then go and beat the Spaniards. The wind,
-too, was blowing right into harbour, but having
-with great labour warped out their ships they
-stood off, and the next day, being the 20th of
-July, they saw the Spanish fleet bearing down
-full upon them. It was drawn up in the form
-of a crescent, the horns of which were seven
-miles apart, and a nobler or more imposing sight
-was never seen on the ocean. Lord Howard
-deemed it hazardous to measure strength with
-ships of such superior size and weight of metal,
-and he was soon relieved from the necessity, for
-the Duke of Medina, on perceiving the English
-fleet, called a council of his officers&mdash;who were impatient
-to attack and destroy the enemy at once&mdash;and
-showed them his instructions, which bound
-them strictly to avoid all chance of damage to his
-vessels by a conflict before he had effected the
-main object of seeing the Flemish army landed
-on the English coast. The Grand Armada, therefore,
-swept on in stately magnificence up the
-Channel, the great galeasses, with their huge
-hulks, their lofty prows, and their slow imposing
-motion, making a brave show. To the experienced
-eyes of the English sailors, however, this
-immediately communicated encouragement, for
-they saw at once that they were not calculated,
-like their own nimbler vessels, to tack and obey
-the helm promptly.</p>
-
-<p>And now began, as it were, a strange chase of
-the mighty Armada by the lesser fleet. The Duke
-of Medina pressed on with all sail to reach
-Dunkirk, and make a junction with the fleet of
-flat-bottomed boats of the Prince of Parma, which
-were to carry over the army; but some of his
-vessels soon fell behind, and in spite of his signalling
-for them to come up, they could not do so
-before the nimbler English vessels were upon
-them, and fired into them with right good will.
-The <em>Disdain</em>, a pinnace commanded by Jonas
-Bradbury, was the first to engage, and was
-speedily seconded by the Lord Admiral himself,
-who attacked a great galleon, and Drake in the
-<em>Revenge</em>, Hawkins in the <em>Victory</em>, and Frobisher
-in the <em>Triumph</em>, closed in with the others.
-Ricaldez, the Rear Admiral, was in this affray,
-and encouraged his men bravely, but it was soon
-found that the Spaniards, though so much more
-gigantic in size, had no chance with the more
-manageable English ships. Their heavy artillery,
-from their uncommon height, fired over the
-enemies' heads, and did little mischief, whilst the
-undaunted English tacked about and hit them first
-in one place and then in another. Drake justified
-his fame by boarding a great galleon, the mast of
-which was shot away, and taking her with 55,000
-ducats on board. The Duke of Medina was compelled
-to heave-to till the jeopardised squadron<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>
-could come up; but night set in, and there
-was seen another of the galleons blazing on the
-water, having, it was said, been purposely set on
-fire by a Flemish gunner, whom the captain had
-accused of cowardice or treachery. In the confusion
-the neighbouring vessels ran foul of each
-other, there being a heavy sea, and a third vessel
-was separated from the fleet, and captured near
-the French coast.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_320big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_320.jpg" width="560" height="419" alt="From a Photograph by W. Heath, Plymouth" title="THE HOE, PLYMOUTH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE HOE, PLYMOUTH.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From a Photograph by W. Heath, Plymouth.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Lord Howard on the 23rd again came up with
-the Armada off Portland. He was now reinforced
-by forty fresh sail, and had on board this
-accession Sir Walter Raleigh. The weather was
-still adverse to the advance of the Spaniards,
-and the English kept them well engaged by
-pouring in ever and anon a broadside, and then
-dropping out of range. Sometimes, the wind
-lulling, they were compelled to stand the full fire
-of the great ships, and in one of these encounters
-Frobisher was surrounded in the <em>Triumph</em>, and
-had to sustain an unequal combat for two hours.
-By direction of the Admiral, however, a number
-of vessels moved to his rescue, and reserving their
-fire till they were close in with the enemy, they
-poured such a broadside into the Spaniards as
-turned the scale. Many of the Spanish ships were
-completely disabled in this day's fight, and a
-Venetian argosy and several transports remained
-in possession of the English.</p>
-
-<p>The next day the English fleet could not renew
-the action, for they had burnt all their powder,
-and the time to prevent the junction of Medina
-with Parma was totally lost. The next, the 25th,
-having in the meantime procured a fresh supply of
-ammunition from shore, the Admiral renewed the
-fight off the Isle of Wight, where Hawkins took
-a large Portuguese galleon, and the Duke of
-Medina's ship had its mainmast shot away, and
-was much shattered; but in the midst of the
-engagement the powder of the English again
-failed, and they were obliged to draw off. Fortunately
-the Spanish admiral also found that he
-had expended his heavy shot, and sent to the
-Prince of Parma to hold himself in readiness and
-send him back some shot. On the 26th the
-Armada held on its way with a fair breeze up the
-Channel, and Howard, who had received fresh
-ammunition, besides continual reinforcements
-of small vessels and men from the ports as
-they passed, directly pursued. In the Straits
-of Dover he expected to be joined by a strong
-squadron under Lord Henry Seymour and Sir
-Thomas Winter, and, therefore, he reserved
-his fire. On the following day, the Duke of
-Medina, instead of making at once for Dunkirk,
-as he wished, was prevailed on to cast anchor
-before Calais. It was represented that there was
-a Dutch and English fleet blockading Newport
-and Dunkirk, the only outlets for Parma's flat-bottoms,
-and that the Armada would then be
-enclosed between the two hostile fleets. It was
-necessary first to beat off the fleet which hung on
-his rear, and he had already found it impracticable
-with his huge unwieldy vessels. He therefore
-despatched a messenger to the Prince of Parma
-over land, urging him to send him a squadron of
-fly-boats to beat off the English ships, and to be
-ready embarked, that he might land in England
-under his fire as soon as he could come up.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_321big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_321.jpg" width="560" height="393" alt="From the Painting by Mr. Seymour Lucas, R.A., by permission of Mr. Arthur Lucas, Publisher" title="THE ARMADA IN SIGHT" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE ARMADA IN SIGHT. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_319">319.</a>)</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the Painting by Mr. Seymour Lucas, R.A., by permission of Mr. Arthur Lucas, Publisher.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But Parma sent the discouraging news that
-it was impossible for him to move or even to
-transport his troops till the grand fleet came up
-to his assistance. Fourteen thousand troops, he
-informed him, had been embarked at Newport,
-and the other division at Dunkirk had been
-held in readiness for the word of command, in
-expectation of the arrival of the fleet; but
-having been so long delayed, their provisions
-were exhausted, the boats, which had been built
-in a hurry with green wood, had warped and
-become unseaworthy, and with the hot weather
-fever had broken out among his troops. Were
-he, however, otherwise able to stir, there lay a
-force of Dutch and English vessels at anchor
-large enough to send every boat to the bottom.</p>
-
-<p>Under these circumstances there was nothing
-for it but to make for Dunkirk, force the blockades
-at the mouth of the Scheldt, and effect the
-junction with Parma. But now the expected
-junction of Winter and Lord Henry Seymour had
-taken place with the Lord Admiral's squadron,
-and the Spaniards found themselves closely
-hemmed in by 140 English sail, crowded with
-sailors and soldiers eager for the fray, and there
-was clearly no avoiding a general engagement.
-This being inevitable, the Spaniards placed their
-great ships in front, anchored the lesser between
-them and the shore, and awaited the next morning
-for the decisive battle. But such captains as
-Drake and Hawkins saw too well the strong
-position of the Armada to trust to their fighting,
-and they determined to throw the enemy into
-confusion by stratagem. They therefore prepared
-eight fire-ships, and the wind being in
-shore, they sent them, under the management of
-Captain Young and Prouse, at midnight, down
-towards the Spanish lines. The brave officers
-effected their hazardous duty, and took to their
-boats. Presently, there was a wild cry as the
-eight vessels in full blaze, and sending forth
-explosion after explosion, bore right down upon
-the Spaniards. Remembering the terrible fire-ships
-which the Dutch had formerly sent amongst
-them, the sailors shouted&mdash;"The fire of Antwerp!
-the fire of Antwerp!" and every vessel was put in
-motion to escape in the darkness as best it might.
-The confusion became terrible, and the ships were
-continually running foul of each other. One of
-the largest galeasses had her rudder carried away
-by coming in contact with her neighbour, and,
-floating at the mercy of the waves, was stranded.
-When the fire-ships had exhausted themselves, the
-Duke of Medina fired again to recall his scattered
-vessels; but few heard it, flying madly as they
-were in fear and confusion, and the dawn found
-them scattered along the coast from Ostend to
-Calais. A more horrible night no unfortunate
-creatures ever passed, for a tempest had set in,
-a furious gale blowing from the south-west, the
-rain falling in torrents, and the pitchy gloom
-being lit up only by the glare of lightning.</p>
-
-<p>A loud cannonade in the direction of Gravelines
-announced that the hostile fleets were engaged
-there, and it became the signal for the
-fugitives to draw together, but all along the
-coast the active English commanders were ready
-to receive them, and Drake, Hawkins, Raleigh,
-Frobisher, Seymour, and Cumberland vied in their
-endeavours to win the highest distinction. Terrible
-scenes were presented at the different
-stranded galeasses. One was boarded off Calais
-after a desperate engagement, its crew and troops
-were cut to pieces or pushed overboard, and
-50,000 ducats were taken out of her. Another
-galleon sank under the English fire; a third, the
-<em>San Matteo</em>, was compelled to surrender; and
-another, dismantled and in miserable plight,
-drifted on shore at Flushing and was seized by the
-sailors. Some of the battered vessels foundered
-at sea, and the duke, calling a council, proposed
-to return home. This was vehemently opposed
-by many officers and the seamen, who had fought
-furiously and now cried for revenge; but the
-admiral said that it was impossible long to hold
-out against such an enemy, and gave the order
-to make for Spain. But how? The English now
-swarmed in the narrow seas, and the issue of the
-desperate conflict which must attend the attempt
-the whole way was too clear. The only means of
-escape he believed was to sail northward, round
-Scotland and Ireland. Such a voyage, through
-tempestuous seas and along dangerous coasts, to
-men little, if at all, acquainted with them, was so
-charged with peril and hardships, that nothing
-but absolute necessity could have forced them to
-attempt it. The fragments of the Armada, no
-longer invincible, and already reduced to eighty
-vessels, were now, therefore, seen with a favourable
-wind in full sail northward. With such men as
-Drake and the rest it might have been safely calculated
-that not a ship would ever return to Spain.
-A strong squadron sent to meet the Spanish
-fleet on the west coast of Ireland, and another
-following in pursuit, would have utterly destroyed
-this great naval armament. But here again the
-parsimony of Elizabeth, and the strange want of
-providence in her Government, became apparent.
-Instead of pursuing, the English fleet returned to
-port on the 8th of August, for want of powder and
-shot, and, as if satisfied with getting rid of the
-enemy, no measures whatever were taken to intercept
-the fugitive fleet! "If," says Sir William
-Monson, "we had been so happy as to have
-followed their course, as it was both thought and
-discoursed of, we had been absolutely victorious
-over this great and formidable navy, for they were
-brought to that necessity that they would willingly
-have yielded, as divers of them confessed
-that were shipwrecked on the coast of Ireland."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_323big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_323.jpg" width="560" height="354" alt="From the Painting by Seymour Lucas, R.A" title="THE SURRENDER AN INCIDENT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA." /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>"THE SURRENDER:" AN INCIDENT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.</p>
-
-<p>(Don Pedro de Valdes, Commander of the Andalusian Squadron of the Spanish Armada,
-delivering up his sword to Sir Francis Drake.)</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From the Painting by Seymour Lucas, R.A.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>This gross piece of misgovernment occasioned
-much disappointment amongst the brave seamen,
-both officers and men, a few ships only being able
-to follow the Spaniards as far as the Frith of
-Forth. Walsingham, in a letter to the Lord
-Chancellor at the time, said, "I am sorry the Lord
-Admiral was forced to leave the prosecution of the
-enemy through the want he sustains. Our half
-doings doth breed dishonour, and leaveth the
-disease uncured." But the winds and waves did
-for the English what they themselves had left
-undone. A terrible tempest assailed the flying
-Armada to the north of Scotland, and scattered
-its unhappy ships amongst the iron-bound islands
-of the Orkneys and Hebrides. To save themselves
-the Spaniards threw overboard their horses,
-mules, artillery, and baggage, and in many
-instances to no purpose. On many a wild spot
-of the shores of the Western Isles, and those
-of Scotland and Ireland, you are still told,
-"Here was stranded one of the great ships
-of the Invincible Armada." Innumerable summer
-tourists hear this at Tobermory, in the Isle of
-Mull; and the hosts of visitors to the Giant's
-Causeway are shown the terrible cliffs of Port-na-Spagna,
-whose very name commemorates the
-awful catastrophe which occurred there. More
-than thirty of these vessels were stranded on the
-Irish coast; others went down at sea, every soul
-on board perishing; and others were driven to
-Norway and stranded there.</p>
-
-<p>Never was there so fearful a destruction; and
-well might the triumphant Protestants exult in
-the idea that the wrath of an avenging Deity was
-let loose against this devoted navy. No mercy
-was shown to the wretched sufferers in general
-who escaped to land. In Ireland the fear of their
-joining the natives made the Government scandalously
-cruel. Instead of taking those prisoners
-who came on shore they cut them down in cold
-blood, and upwards of 200 are said to have been
-thus mercilessly butchered. Some of the scattered
-vessels were compelled to fight their way back
-down the English Channel, and were the prey of
-the English, the Dutch, and of French Huguenots,
-who had equipped a number of privateers to have
-a share in the destruction and plunder of their
-hated enemies. The Duke of Medina eventually
-reached the port of St. Andero in September,
-with the loss of more than half his fleet, and of
-10,000 men, those who survived looking more like
-ghosts than human beings.</p>
-
-<p>Philip, though he must have been deeply
-mortified by this signal failure of his costly and
-ambitious enterprise, was too proud to show it.
-He received the news without a change of countenance,
-and thanked God that his kingdom was so
-strong and flourishing that it could well bear
-such a loss. He gave 50,000 crowns to relieve
-the sufferers; forbade any public mourning,
-assigning the mishap, not to the English, but the
-weather; and wrote to the Prince of Parma&mdash;whom
-the English Government had tempted at
-this crisis to throw off his allegiance, and make
-himself master of the Catholic provinces of the
-Netherlands, as the Prince of Orange had done of
-the Protestant ones&mdash;to thank him for his readiness
-to have carried out his design, and to assure
-him of his unshaken favour.</p>
-
-<p>In following the fate of the Spanish fleet, and
-the bravery and address of England's naval commanders,
-we have left unnoticed the less striking
-proceedings of the army on shore. The chief
-camp at Tilbury, which would have come first into
-conflict with the Spanish army had it effected a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>
-landing, was put under the command of Leicester&mdash;a
-man who had been tried in the Netherlands,
-and found wanting in every qualification of a
-general. There, a few days after the defeat of
-the Armada, Elizabeth held a grand review.
-Leicester and the new stripling favourite, Essex,
-led her bridle rein, whilst she is said to have
-delivered this fine speech: "My loving people!
-we have been persuaded by some that are careful
-of our safety, to take heed how we commit
-ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of
-treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to
-live to distrust my faithful and loving people.
-Let tyrants fear! I have always so behaved
-myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest
-strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and
-good-will of my subjects; and, therefore, I am
-come amongst you at this time not as for my
-recreation and sport, but being resolved, in the
-midst and heat of the battle, to live or die
-amongst you all&mdash;to lay down for my God, for my
-kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my
-blood, even in the dust. I know that I have but
-the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have
-the heart of a king, and a King of England too,
-and think foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, or
-any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the
-borders of my realm: to which, rather than any
-dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take
-up arms&mdash;I myself will be your general&mdash;the
-judge and rewarder of every one of your virtues
-in the field. I already know by your forwardness
-that you have deserved rewards and crowns;
-and we do assure you, on the word of a prince,
-they shall be duly paid to you. In the meantime
-my lieutenant-general shall be in my stead&mdash;than
-whom never prince commanded a more
-noble or more worthy subject; nor will I suffer
-myself to doubt that, by your obedience to my
-general, by your concord in the camp, and your
-valour in the field, we shall shortly have a
-famous victory over those enemies of my God, of
-my kingdom, and my people."</p>
-
-<p>On Lord Howard, as admiral of the fleet, rewards
-and favours were conferred; but neither he,
-nor the other heroes of his immortal contest at
-sea, received a tithe of the honour of Leicester,
-who had done nothing but write a love-letter to
-the queen from Tilbury camp. Nothing that she
-had done or could do appeared adequate to his incomprehensible
-merits. She determined to create
-a new and most invidious office in his favour; and
-the warrant for his creation of Lord Lieutenant
-of England and Ireland lay ready for the royal
-signature, when the remonstrances of Burleigh
-and Hatton delayed, and the sudden death of the
-favourite put an end to it. In ten days after the
-queen's visit to the camp he had disbanded the
-army, and was on his way to his castle of Kenilworth,
-when he was seized with sickness at Cornbury
-Park, in Oxfordshire, and died on the 4th of
-September, of a fever. His enemies declared he
-had been poisoned, and invented the following
-story:&mdash;He had discovered or suspected a criminal
-connection between his wife, the Countess of
-Essex, and Sir Christopher Blount. He had
-attempted to assassinate Blount, but failed; and
-his countess, profiting by his own instructions in
-getting rid of her former husband, administered
-the fatal dose. This and other stories against
-Leicester are now discredited.</p>
-
-<p>The first use which Elizabeth made of her
-victory was to take vengeance on the Papists&mdash;not
-because they had done anything disloyal, but
-because they were of the same religion as the
-detested Spaniards. All their demonstrations of
-devotion to the cause of their country and their
-queen during the attempted invasion went for
-nothing. A commission was appointed to try
-those already in prison; and six priests, four laymen,
-and a lady of the name of Ward, for having
-harboured priests, other four laymen, for having
-been reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church,
-and fifteen persons, charged with being connected
-with them, in all thirty individuals, were,
-within a period of three months, condemned as
-traitors, and executed with all the disembowelling
-and other atrocities attending that sentence.
-Their only crime was the practice of their religion,
-or the succouring their clergymen. Elizabeth,
-however, treated their proceedings as
-political offences, and her efforts to dragoon the
-nation into conformity continued the greater part
-of her life; old age alone appearing to abate her
-virulence, as it dimmed her faculties and subdued
-her spirits. Sixty-one Roman Catholic clergymen,
-forty-seven laymen, and two ladies suffered death
-for their religion. The fines for recusancy were
-levied with the utmost rigour, £20 per lunar
-month being the legal sum, so that many gentlemen
-were fleeced of their entire income. Besides
-this, they were liable to a year's imprisonment and
-a fine of 100 marks every time they heard Mass.
-The search for concealed priests was carried on
-with great avidity, because it gave occasion for
-plunder, and on conviction of such concealment,
-forfeiture of the whole of their property followed,
-with ample gleaning to the informers. The poorer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>
-recusants were for some time imprisoned; but the
-prisons becoming full, officers were sent through
-the country, visiting all villages and remote places,
-and extorting what they could.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_325.jpg" width="396" height="500" alt="After Titian" title="PHILIP II" />
-<div class="caption"><p>PHILIP II. (<i>After Titian.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>As Elizabeth grew in years she more and more
-resembled her father, and persecuted the Puritans
-as zealously as the Papists, and for similar reasons.
-In these Reformers, however, she found a sturdy
-class of men, who would not endure so quietly her
-oppressions. Hume blames the Nonconformists
-for not setting up separate congregations of their
-own; but he forgot the £20 a month, which
-would have been levied on every individual that
-could pay, and the imprisonments and harassing of
-others. Where, however, the Nonconformists
-could not preach, they printed. Books and
-pamphlets flew in all directions; and there was
-set up a sort of ambulatory press, which was
-conveyed from place to place, till at length it was
-hunted down and destroyed near Manchester. In
-1590, Sir Richard Knightley, Hooles, of Coventry,
-and Wigmore and his wife, of Warwick, were fined,
-in the Star Chamber, as promulgators of a book
-called "Martin Marprelate," the first £2,000, the
-second 1,000 marks, the third 500, the fourth 100,
-and to be imprisoned during the queen's pleasure.</p>
-
-<p>In 1591 Udal, a Nonconformist minister, was
-condemned to death for publishing a book called
-"A Demonstration of Discipline," but died in
-prison. Mr. Cartwright, fellow of Trinity College,
-Cambridge, for pointing out defects in the system
-of the Church, was deprived of his fellowship, expelled
-the university, and in 1591 was summoned
-before the ecclesiastical commission with some of
-his friends, and committed to prison because they
-would not answer interrogatories on oath&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>
-practice clearly contrary to law. In 1593 Barrow,
-Greenwood, and Penry, Independent ministers, or
-Brownists, were put to death for writings said to
-reflect on the queen. But no suppression produced
-the desired effect.</p>
-
-<p>In the spring of 1589 Parliament and Convocation
-assembled, and Elizabeth laid before them a
-statement of the heavy expenses incurred in beating
-off the Spaniards. She had already levied a
-forced loan, to which the recusants had been made
-to contribute heavily, and she now received most
-liberal grants from both Parliament and Convocation.
-Having given this freely, the House of
-Commons prayed the queen to send out a strong
-force and take vengeance on the Spaniards for
-their attack on this country. Elizabeth was perfectly
-agreeable that they should punish Philip to
-their hearts' content, but not out of the supplies
-they had granted. She said there were great
-demands on her exchequer; that she could only
-furnish ships and soldiers, and they must pay the
-cost. The proposal of retaliation was so much to
-the taste of the public that an association was
-formed under the auspices of Drake and Norris,
-and very soon they had a fleet of 100 sail at
-Plymouth, carrying 21,000 men. Elizabeth had
-long been patronising Don Antonio, prior of Crato,
-an illegitimate branch of the Royal family of
-Portugal. This pretender was now sent out in
-this fleet in royal state, and the expedition was
-directed to land in Portugal, and call on the
-people to throw off the Spanish yoke, and restore
-their government under a native, and, as Elizabeth
-boldly asserted, legitimate prince. If the
-Portuguese would not receive Don Antonio, the
-fleet was then to scour the roads of Spain, and
-inflict on the territory of Philip all the damage
-possible.</p>
-
-<p>The fascination of this expedition under so
-renowned a commander as Drake, seized on the
-fancy of a young noble, who had now become
-Elizabeth's prime favourite&mdash;the Earl of Essex.
-This was the son of the Countess of Essex whom
-Leicester had secretly married, much to Elizabeth's
-indignation, in 1578. Leicester introduced
-the young earl to Elizabeth, who, for a time,
-hated him on account of his mother, for the
-queen, in spite of her numerous quarrels with
-Leicester, was never able to free herself wholly
-from her early attachment to him. However,
-some time before Leicester's death, the graces and
-lively disposition of the young earl had made a
-strong impression on her heart or head, and she
-lavished blandishments on the handsome boy in
-public, even in the face of the camp at Tilbury,
-which must have been eminently ludicrous. After
-Leicester's death he was installed as the chief
-favourite, and she could scarcely bear him out of
-her sight. Her consternation was great when she
-found that he had slyly eloped, and had set off
-after the fleet bound for Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Drake made first for Corunna, where he seized
-a number of merchantmen and ships of war, made
-himself master of the suburbs or marine part of
-the town, with large stores of oil and wine, but
-failed to take the town itself, though he succeeded
-in making a breach in the wall, at the cost of
-many lives. Norris, meantime, attacked the
-forces of the Condé d'Andrada, posted at the
-Puente de Burgos, and drove them before him for
-some miles; but sickness and shortness of powder
-compelled them to embark again. Drake and
-Norris, as famous for their bulletins as Napoleon
-in our day, wrote home that they had killed 1,000
-of the enemy, with the loss of only three men!
-but Lord Talbot, writing at the same time to his
-father, said that they had lost a great number of
-men, quite as many as the Spaniards. From
-Corunna they coasted to Peniche, about thirty
-miles north of Lisbon. At Peniche the young
-Earl of Essex, who kept out at sea till the commanders
-could say in their dispatches that they
-had heard nothing of him, was the first to spring
-on shore, and showed great gallantry. They
-quickly took the castle, and the fleet then proceeded
-along the shore to the Tagus, while the
-army marched by land to Lisbon through Torres
-Vedras and St. Sebastian.</p>
-
-<p>The garrison in Lisbon was but weak, and Essex
-knocked at the gates, and summoned the commander
-to surrender; but the Spaniards had
-taken the precaution to lay waste the neighbourhood
-and destroy all the provisions, or carry them
-into the city, so that famine, fever, and want of
-powder soon compelled the English to retire.
-They found that their pretender, Don Antonio,
-was everywhere treated as a pretender&mdash;not a
-man would own him; and they marched to
-Cascaes, which they found already plundered by
-Drake and his squadron. They there embarked
-for England, but were soon dispersed by a storm,
-and reached Plymouth in straggling disorder, one
-of the sections of the fleet having, before leaving
-Spain, plundered the town of Vigo. It was found
-that out of their 21,000 men, they had lost one-half.
-Out of the 1,100 gentlemen who accompanied
-the expedition one-third had perished.
-Elizabeth secretly grumbled at the expense and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>
-loss, but publicly boasted of the chastisement she
-had given to Philip.</p>
-
-<p>On the death of Henry III. of France by assassination,
-as we have previously related, Henry of
-Navarre, a lineal descendant of St. Louis, by his
-youngest son Robert, Count of Clermont, assumed
-the crown as Henry IV. But Henry's known
-Protestantism placed him in extreme difficulty,
-even with those who had hitherto supported himself
-or the late king. The Papist followers of
-that monarch insisted that he should sign an engagement
-to maintain their worship, and that to
-the exclusion of every other, except in the places
-in which the Protestant form was already established.
-They bound Henry to hunt out and
-punish the murderers of the late king; to give no
-offices in the State, in cities or corporations,
-except to Papists, and to permit the nobles of the
-Roman Catholic league to defend to the Pope
-their proceedings. But by conceding these conditions,
-he mortally offended the Protestants, who
-had hitherto faithfully adhered to him, and who
-refused any longer to fight under the banners of a
-prince who had thus, as they deemed it, abandoned
-their cause. Nine regiments deserted his standard,
-whilst a regiment of Papists on the other side, not
-sufficiently satisfied with the concessions thus
-dearly purchased, also marched out of his camp.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the extent of the disaffection, that
-instead of being able to take Paris, he was compelled
-to raise the siege and retreat into Normandy.
-Thither the Duke of Mayenne, the leader
-of the Guise party, and his fanatic rabble pursued
-him, but Henry, advantageously encamping
-his little army, which did not amount to a fourth
-of the enemy, on a slope opposite to the castle
-and village of Arques, a few miles from Dieppe,
-defeated his assailants with great slaughter. The
-battle was fought on the 21st of September, 1589,
-and the spot is now marked by a lofty column.</p>
-
-<p>On the heels of this victory came a most timely
-aid from Elizabeth of England, of £20,000 in
-gold and 4,000 troops under Lord Willoughby.
-Henry now retraced his steps to Paris, where he
-made himself master of the suburbs on the left
-bank of the Seine, and continued to act on the
-offensive during the remainder of the year. At
-the commencement of 1591 the English army was
-dismissed, having suffered heavy losses, and displayed
-marked bravery.</p>
-
-<p>But they only returned home for Henry to
-solicit fresh assistance; the Spaniards and the
-Duke of Merc&oelig;ur put in claims for the province
-of Brittany, and united their forces to obtain it.
-Elizabeth, who professed to desire the Protestant
-ascendency in France, sorely rued the expense
-of supporting that interest, and her old and cunning
-minister Burleigh, threw his weight into the
-scale of parsimony, because he delighted to see
-France depressed. But now that the hated
-Spaniards had actually landed in that country
-over against her very coasts, she was roused to do
-something. She advanced a fresh loan and sent
-over a small reinforcement of 3,000 men. Essex
-was impatient to have the command of this force,
-but the queen, listening to Burleigh, gave it to Sir
-John Norris, and Essex quitted the Court in a pet.
-Fresh forces were, however, solicited, and Essex,
-to his great delight, received the appointment. In
-August he landed at Dieppe, and finding Henry
-engaged in the distant Champagne, he pitched his
-tent at Arques, near the scene of Henry's triumph,
-and remained there for two months doing nothing
-but knighting his officers to keep them contented.
-His whole force consisted only of 300 horse, 300
-gentlemen volunteers, and 3,000 infantry. On
-the king's arrival the siege of Rouen was begun,
-where the English army suffered terrible hardships,
-and in the spring of 1592, the siege
-having been raised on the approach of the Prince
-of Parma, Essex left his troops with Sir
-Roger Williams, having lost his brother, Walter
-Devereux, in the campaign.</p>
-
-<p>This unsatisfactory state of things in France
-continued till the midsummer of 1593. Henry
-was continually demanding fresh aid, fresh advances
-of money, fresh troops, which he did not
-employ, as was stipulated with Elizabeth, solely
-against the Spaniards, but against his rebellious
-subjects. Elizabeth was greatly enraged at his
-breach of faith, but still found it impossible to
-refuse him, lest the Spaniards should get the upper
-hand, and Henry, calculating on this, went on
-doing with her troops just what he pleased. Elizabeth
-was further incensed, and went into the worst
-of tempers on this account, and for this cause not
-only dealt sharp words, but heavy blows about her
-on her attendants. But worst of all came the
-news that Henry IV. was about to embrace the
-Roman Catholic faith. The fact was he saw that
-it was impossible otherwise to maintain himself on
-the throne. She sent off a strong remonstrance
-composed by Burleigh, but before its arrival the
-deed was done, nor is it to be supposed that its
-arrival would have prevented it. Elizabeth's
-limited aid could not enable him to overcome the
-tremendous opposition arrayed against him. On
-the 15th of July, 1593, Henry publicly abjured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>
-the Protestant and embraced, if not the Roman
-Catholic faith, the profession of it. On hearing
-that this was done, Elizabeth burst into one of her
-violent passions, and heaped on him her choicest
-terms of abuse. She wrote to him after four
-months had somewhat abated her fury, but still in
-a strain of high remonstrance.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, after getting over her resentment
-against Henry IV. on account of his lapse of faith,
-found it convenient to make a league offensive and
-defensive with him against Philip. The consequence
-was that the Spaniards speedily poured
-into France from the Netherlands. Velasco, the
-constable of Castile, penetrated into Champagne,
-and directed his attack against Franche-Comté.
-Fuentes marched into Picardy, defeated Henry's
-army, took Dourlens and Cambray, and threw the
-King of France into the greatest alarm. In vain
-he sent to demand aid of Elizabeth: she had heard
-of preparations in the Spanish ports for a second
-invasion of her kingdom; and so far from aiding
-Henry, she withdrew her troops from Brittany,
-complaining dreadfully of all the money and men
-which she had foolishly wasted on the apostate
-monarch of France. In March, 1596, the Archduke
-Albert, who had become Governor of the
-Netherlands, suddenly marched on Calais, pretending
-that his object was to raise the siege of La
-Fere. By this ruse he was already under the
-walls of Calais with 15,000 men. The outstanding
-forts were soon won, and as Elizabeth was one
-Sunday at church at Greenwich, the distant report
-of the Archduke's cannonade on the walls of
-Calais was plainly heard. Elizabeth sprang up in
-the midst of the service, and vowed that she would
-rescue that ancient town. She sent off post-haste
-to order the Lord Mayor of London to immediately
-impress 1,000 men, and send them on to
-Calais; but the fit of enthusiasm was soon over,
-and the next morning she countermanded the
-order. When Henry's ambassadors urged her for
-assistance, she coolly proffered it on condition that
-she should garrison Calais with an English army.
-When the proposal was made to Henry, he was so
-incensed that he actually turned his back on her
-ambassador, Sir Robert Sidney, saying he would
-rather receive a box on the ear from a man than a
-fillip from a woman. In a few days&mdash;namely, on
-the 14th of April&mdash;the town was carried by storm,
-and Elizabeth had the mortification of seeing the
-Spaniards in possession of a port so calculated to
-enable them to invade England. Henry, on his
-part, was excessively enraged at her duplicity and
-selfishness, and spoke in no sparing terms of her.
-Nevertheless, his necessities soon compelled him to
-lower his tone, and even to condescend to flatter
-her in the most extravagant manner of the age,
-with the result that 2,000 troops were sent to
-garrison Boulogne.</p>
-
-<p>The hostile preparations in the ports of Spain at
-this time occupied all the attention of Elizabeth
-and her Government, and the more so as during
-the past years she had lost her two famous commanders,
-Drake and Hawkins. They had been
-sent out on one of their predatory expeditions
-against the Spanish settlements in South America
-and the West Indies. But circumstances in these
-quarters had become greatly changed. The colonies
-had acquired population and strength: the
-former ravages of these commanders had put the
-people and the Government on their guard.
-Wherever the English fleet appeared, it found the
-ports and coasts well guarded and defended. Their
-attacks were repulsed, and such was the deplorable
-failure of the expedition, and the contrast of their
-former profitable and splendid exploits, that both
-commanders sank under their mortification. Hawkins
-died in 1595, and Drake in the following year.
-The survivors only returned to experience the
-anger of the queen, who felt with equal sensibility
-the loss of reputation and of the accustomed booty.</p>
-
-<p>The Lord Howard of Effingham, the brave High
-Admiral who had so successfully commanded the
-fleet against the Armada, recommended at this
-crisis that the English Government should adopt
-the advice which he had given on the former
-occasion, to anticipate the intentions of Spain, and
-attack and destroy the menacing fleet ere it left
-the port. In this counsel he was ardently seconded
-by Essex, who loved above all things an expedition
-of a bold and romantic character, and the
-more so, because it was directly opposed to the
-cold and cautious policy of his enemies, the Cecils.
-He prevailed, and a fleet of 130 sail was fitted out
-to carry over an army of 14,000 land forces. The
-fleet was confided to the command of Lord
-Howard, the army to Essex; but to put some
-check on his fiery enthusiasm he was required to
-take, on all great occasions, the advice of a council
-of war consisting of the Lord Admiral, Lord
-Thomas Howard, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis
-Vere, Sir George Carew, and Sir Coniers Clifford.</p>
-
-<p>On the 1st of June, 1596, the fleet issued
-from Plymouth, and being joined by twenty-two
-ships from Holland, it amounted to 150 sail, carrying
-14,000 men. On the 20th the fleet cast
-anchor at the mouth of the harbour of Cadiz, and
-there discovered fifteen men-of-war, and about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>
-forty merchantmen. The next morning a fierce
-battle took place, which lasted from seven in the
-morning till one o'clock at noon. The English
-sailed right into the harbour, despite the fire from
-the ships and forts, and the Spaniards, finding
-the contest going against them, attempted to run
-their vessels ashore and burn them. The galleons
-got out to sea, while the merchantmen having
-reached Puerto Real, discharged their cargo and
-were burnt by order of the Duke of Medina. Two
-large ships with an argosy were taken, and much
-booty fell to the captors. The Earl of Essex displayed
-the utmost gallantry. Instead of remaining
-with the army, he went on board and fought
-in the thick of the danger. The sea-fight over, he
-landed 3,000 men and marched into Cadiz. A
-body of horse and foot was posted to oppose his
-progress, but fled at his approach; and, finding
-that the inhabitants in their terror had closed the
-gates, they made their way over a ruinous wall,
-and the English without delay followed them.
-In spite of the fire kept up from the tops of the
-houses, Essex led his men to the market-place,
-where they were speedily joined by the Lord
-Admiral, who had found his way through a portal.
-The city capitulated, paying 120,000 crowns for
-the lives of the people, the town and all its wealth
-being abandoned to the plunder of the troops.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_329big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_329.jpg" width="438" height="560" alt="" title="BEAUCHAMP TOWER, WARDERS HOUSES, AND YEOMAN GAOLERS LODGINGS: TOWER OF LONDON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>BEAUCHAMP TOWER, WARDERS' HOUSES, AND YEOMAN GAOLERS' LODGINGS: TOWER OF LONDON.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Essex proposed to strike a great blow while the
-panic of their victory paralysed the country. He
-recommended that they should march into the
-heart of Andalusia; and such was the destitution
-of disciplined troops from the drain which
-the wars of France and the Netherlands had
-occasioned, such were the discontent of the nobles
-and the disaffection of the Moriscoes, that much
-mischief might have been done before they could
-have been successfully opposed. The plan, however,
-was resisted by the other commanders, and
-Essex then offered to remain in the Isla de Leon
-with 4,000 men, and defend it against the whole
-force of the enemy. But the other leaders would
-hear of nothing but hastening home. They had
-laid the town in ruins, with the exception of two
-or three churches; they had nearly annihilated
-the fleet, had collected a vast booty, and inflicted
-on the Spaniards a loss of 20,000,000 ducats.</p>
-
-<p>The conquerors returned home, having dealt the
-severest blow at Spain that it had received for
-generations. They had raised the prestige of the
-English arms, amply avenged the attempt at the
-invasion of their country, and sunk the reputation
-of Spain in no ordinary degree. Foreigners regarded
-the exploit with wonder, and the people
-raised thunders of acclamations as the victorious
-vessels sailed into port. But the gallant and
-magnanimous deeds of Essex had been gall and
-wormwood to the Cecils, and they had neglected
-no means of injuring him in his absence. Essex
-had succeeded ever since the death of Walsingham&mdash;that
-is, for six years&mdash;in preventing the dearest
-wish of Burleigh's heart, to see his son, Sir Robert,
-established in his post. While Essex was away
-he carried this point with the queen; and the
-courtiers, now auguring the ascendency of the
-Cecils, united in defaming Essex to win favour
-with them. They talked freely of his vainglory,
-rashness, extravagance, and dissipation.</p>
-
-<p>Day after day the queen subjected Essex to the
-scrutiny and cross-questioning of his enemies in
-the Council, till, luckily for him, there came the
-news that the Spanish treasures from the New
-World had just arrived safely in port with
-20,000,000 of dollars. This put the climax to
-Elizabeth's exasperation; and Essex, who, since
-his return from the expedition, as if to take away
-every ground for the censure of the courtiers, had
-assumed a totally new character, and was no longer
-the gay and pleasure-seeking young nobleman, but
-the grave and religious man; who lived at home
-with his countess, attended her to church, and exhibited
-the most pious demeanour; who, instead of
-his haughty and irritable temper, had displayed the
-utmost patience and forbearance under the galling
-examination of the Council, now broke out at
-once with the declaration that he had done everything
-in his power to persuade his colleagues to
-permit him to sail to Terceira to intercept this
-very fleet; that the creatures of the Cecils had
-opposed him resolutely, defeated the enterprise,
-and robbed the queen of this princely treasure.</p>
-
-<p>Instantly the whole current of Elizabeth's feelings
-underwent a change. It was deemed necessary
-to send out an expedition to Spain to hunt up
-the hostile fleet and destroy it as before. Essex
-stood undoubted in the queen's confidence, and she
-gave him the command of the fleet for this purpose,
-with Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Walter
-Raleigh under him. This time there was no
-subjection to a council of war. On the 11th of
-July, 1597, the fleet set sail; but had not sailed
-more than forty leagues when it was driven back
-by a tempest, which raged for four days. Essex
-himself disdained to turn back, but, with his utter
-contempt of danger and dogged obstinacy, he, to
-use his own words, beat up his ship in the teeth of
-the storm, till it was actually falling asunder,
-having a leak which obliged them to pump eight
-tons of water per day out of her; her main and
-foremast being cracked, and most of her beams
-broken and reft. The gentlemen volunteers were
-so completely satisfied with sailing with such a
-man, that on reaching land at Falmouth they all
-stole away home. But Essex himself was as
-resolved as ever to prosecute the voyage, though
-the queen would advance nothing more for refitting
-the fleet. He got as many of his ships into
-order as he could, and on the 17th of August was
-enabled to sail again, though the men by this
-time had consumed most of their provisions. He
-made now, not for the coast of Spain, but the
-Azores, where they took Fayal, Graciosa, and
-Flores&mdash;useless conquests, as they could not keep
-them, and which led to immediate quarrels, for
-Raleigh, with his indomitable ambition, took
-Fayal himself without orders, which Essex deeming
-an honour stolen from him, resented greatly.
-He ordered several of the officers concerned to be
-arrested; but when he was advised to try Raleigh
-by a court-martial, he replied, "So I would had
-he been one of my friends." What was worse
-than this dispute, however, was that the Spanish
-treasure vessels returning from America, which
-Elizabeth had expressly ordered them to lay wait
-for, had escaped into Terceira, and they were
-obliged to return with the capture of three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span>
-Spanish ships and other plunder, valued at
-£100,000.</p>
-
-<p>Essex, on landing, hastened to Court, but the
-queen was in the worst of humours at the missing
-of the treasure ships, and complained that he had
-done nothing to discharge the expenses of the
-expedition. She laid all the blame of failure on
-him, and gave all the credit to Sir Walter Raleigh,
-whom she accused him of oppressing and insulting.
-With his usual choleric petulance, he
-hastily left the Court and retired to his own house
-at Wanstead. He was so far from admitting that
-he was in the wrong, that he demanded satisfaction
-for the injuries which he considered had been
-done him in his absence. The Chancellorship of
-the Duchy of Lancaster, which he had asked for
-a dependent, had been conferred on Cecil, and the
-Lord Admiral Howard had been created Earl of
-Nottingham, and thus had obtained an official
-precedency over him. Worse still, and more
-unjust, the honour of the capture of Cadiz was
-allowed to be usurped by Lord Howard in his
-new patent, though it really belonged to Essex.
-The passionate favourite was so enraged that he
-offered to fight Nottingham in vindication of his
-claim, or one of his sons, or any gentleman of the
-name of Howard. However, he bridled his
-resentment, and on the 18th of December all was
-made smooth, and Essex again appeared at Court,
-being created Earl Marshal, by which he regained
-precedency over the new Earl of Nottingham.</p>
-
-<p>The King of France, in the commencement of
-the year 1598, announced to the Queen of England
-his intention to seek peace with Spain.
-This was news by no means agreeable to Elizabeth,
-as such a peace would leave Philip at liberty
-to pursue his designs against her; and she endeavoured
-by her ambassador to dissuade Henry
-from such a measure. But Henry had now for
-thirteen years been harassed by the cares of a
-kingdom involved on two sides in war with Philip,
-and rent in every quarter by religious dissension.
-The death of the Guises had broken up, in a great
-measure, the Roman Catholic League, but the
-spirit of opposition was still as much alive as
-ever, and was fanned into flame by a Protestant
-League, formed on the same principles. He
-longed intensely for peace, that he might more
-fully exert himself to abate this religious discord.
-His anxiety for it had been doubled by the
-capture of Amiens by the Spaniards in February,
-1597; and his recovery of it in the following
-September only rendered him the more willing to
-treat, because he could do it on better terms. It
-was necessary to send over Sir Robert Cecil as
-ambassador extraordinary, to attend the negotiations:
-and fearing the influence of Essex in his
-absence, the cunning minister had been induced to
-favour his advancement to the post of Earl
-Marshal, and he sought to win the Earl over
-more completely by moving the queen to present
-Essex with a cargo of cochineal worth £7,000, and
-a contract for the sale of a much larger amount
-out of the royal stores. Greatly pleased by these
-instances of Cecil's friendship, as he deemed it,
-Essex transacted the business of the Secretaryship
-for Sir Robert in his absence, and that politic
-gentleman took his departure for France on the
-10th of February, 1598.</p>
-
-<p>At the conference both Cecil and the Dutch
-deputies did everything in their power to prevent
-the peace, but in vain. Henry was resolved on
-giving tranquillity to his kingdom; and when
-reproached by Cecil for deserting Elizabeth, he
-replied that in aiding him she had served her own
-interests. On the 20th of April he published
-the edict of Nantes, giving security and toleration
-to the Protestants; and on May the 2nd he signed,
-at Vervins, the treaty with Spain, which was so
-advantageous that he recovered Calais and all
-places which had been taken during the war.
-Elizabeth was in reality a gainer, for she thus
-became free from a charge of £126,000 per
-annum in holding the cautionary towns; and the
-States gave an acknowledgment of a debt of
-£800,000, which they engaged to pay by instalments.</p>
-
-<p>On the return of Cecil he submitted to the
-queen the proposals which Philip had made for
-the extension of the peace to England, and
-Burleigh and Sir Robert contended that Spain
-having made peace with France, it was wise for
-this kingdom to do the same. Essex, on the contrary,
-contended for war, and for still punishing
-the Spaniards for their attempt at invasion. In
-the midst of one of the debates in the Council,
-Burleigh put his pocket Bible gently before him,
-open at these words in the Psalms:&mdash;"Blood-thirsty
-men shall not live out half their days."
-Essex took no apparent notice of it, but after his
-death the circumstance came to be looked on as
-prophetic. The Council was in favour of peace.
-The nation sympathised with Essex, and especially
-the army and navy, who hated the Spaniards, and
-thought Essex stood up for the honour of the
-country. But if Essex's favour rose with the
-people, it was in utmost peril at Court.</p>
-
-<p>A scene soon occurred in the Council chamber<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>
-which hastened the rupture. There was a warm
-debate on the appointment of a new Lord Deputy
-for Ireland. That country was in such a cruelly
-distracted state, and the population, both English
-and Irish, so hostile to the English Government,
-that no one would willingly accept the office. At
-this moment the Cecils were warmly recommending
-Sir William Knollys to that unenviable post,
-Essex still more vehemently urging the appointment
-on Sir George Carew. But each party was
-not striving to confer the post as a favour, but
-as an annoyance. Sir William Knollys was the
-uncle of Essex, and, therefore, when the queen
-named him, the Cecils supported the nomination;
-and Essex, on the contrary, named Sir George
-Carew as a partisan of the Cecils. The debate
-grew vehement, and Essex, without regard to the
-wishes of the queen, spoke violently against the
-appointment of Sir William. The queen made a
-sarcastic observation on Essex's advocacy, and
-the petted favourite turned his back upon her
-with an expression neither respectful nor prudent.
-The soul of the great queen rose in all its Tudor
-fury, and she fetched the rash and forgetful youth
-a sound buffet on the ear. Instead of being
-called to his senses by this action, the fiery Earl
-started to his feet and clapped his hand on
-his sword; but the Lord Admiral threw himself
-between the ungallant Earl and the queen; and
-Essex exclaiming that "it was an insult which he
-would not have taken from her father, much less
-from a king in petticoats," rushed out of the room.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_332big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_332.jpg" width="560" height="413" alt="" title="THE QUARREL BETWEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF ESSEX" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE QUARREL BETWEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF ESSEX. (<i>See p.</i> 332.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The rupture took place in June, and not till the
-6th of November did the haughty favourite and
-the offended queen become reconciled; and it is
-not probable that the reconciliation was ever
-sincere on the part of Elizabeth. Meanwhile,
-death had removed two persons of great consequence
-in the history of Elizabeth&mdash;her aged
-minister Burleigh, and Philip of Spain (1598).
-Sir Robert Cecil, Burleigh's son, succeeded him
-in the councils of the queen, much to the disgust
-of Essex, and perpetuated his father's cautious
-principles.</p>
-
-<p>Ireland was now at such a pitch of confusion
-that the English Government was at its wit's end
-about it, and no one liked to undertake its vice-royalty.
-It was come to such a pass that it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>
-even worse than when Walsingham wished it four-and-twenty
-hours under water. The Lord Grey,
-though eulogised by Spenser, had left it with the
-character of a cruel and rapacious tyrant. Sir
-John Perrot, reputed to be an illegitimate brother
-of Elizabeth, succeeded him, and dispensed justice
-with a stern hand. He was as ready to punish
-the English for their excesses as to do justice to
-the Irish under their wrongs; and the enmity of
-his own domineering and avaricious countrymen
-became much more effective than the respect of
-the natives. In 1592 the clamours and intrigues
-of his enemies occasioned his recall. At home,
-however, he suffered himself to speak incautiously
-of the queen and of Chancellor Hatton, and a
-secret inquiry was instituted into his late administration
-of Ireland. All sorts of charges of a
-treasonable nature were advanced against him by
-those whose rapacity he had punished during his
-deputyship&mdash;such as favouring the Roman Catholic
-clergy, plotting with Parma and the Spaniards,
-and encouraging the insurrections of the O'Rourkes
-and the Burkes. They could establish none of
-these, but they managed to touch him in a still
-more dangerous quarter. They proved that in his
-irritation at the obstructions thrown in his way by
-the Court, he had spoken sometimes freely of the
-queen and her ministers. Essex, whose sister Perrot's
-son had married, exerted all his influence in his
-favour; but where Elizabeth's vanity was wounded
-she was unforgiving. Sir John was condemned to
-death, and soon after died in the Tower from
-chagrin at his unjust treatment, or, as was suspected,
-from poison.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_333.jpg" width="422" height="500" alt="From the Portrait by Isaac Oliver" title="THE EARL OF ESSEX" />
-<div class="caption"><p>THE EARL OF ESSEX.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the Portrait by Isaac Oliver.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The most formidable Irish chieftain with whom
-the English had to contend was Hugh, the son of
-the late Baron of Dungannon. This active and
-ambitious chief, who had been rewarded for his
-services in the war against the Earl of Desmond
-with the earldom of Tyrone, soon proclaimed himself
-not merely the successor to the earldom of
-O'Neil, but the genuine O'Neil himself. The
-natives of Ulster, in need of such a champion, admitted
-his claims, and were ready to support him
-in all his pretensions. As these were not admitted
-by the English, he became their enemy, and by his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>
-military talents proved a terrible thorn in their
-side. He demanded for the natives liberty of conscience
-and all their old lands, rights, and privileges;
-and the successive deputies found themselves
-engaged in a most harassing and destructive war
-with this subtle chief and his followers, in which
-he wore them out by constant skirmishes and surprises
-amongst the woods, bogs, and mountains of
-his wild territories. Sir John Norris, who had
-served with so much honour in the Netherlands
-and France, sank under it; and in August of 1598
-Sir Henry Bagenal was defeated and slain in a
-pitched battle at Blackwater, in Tyrone, his
-baggage and artillery being lost, and 1,500 men
-killed. The consequence of this victory was that
-nearly all Ireland rushed into a state of open rebellion,
-and the great question in the English
-cabinet was, who was the man capable of reducing
-the insurgents. It required no common man; for
-the Irish everywhere proclaimed the Earl of
-Tyrone the saviour of his country, and looked to
-him to drive the English wholly out of Ireland.
-The Earl of Essex dwelt so much in the Council
-on the necessary bravery and address of the man
-who should be appointed, that the Cecils, anxious
-to remove him to a distance from the Court, declared
-that he himself was by far the most fitting
-for the office. His friends warned him of the
-dangers and difficulties of a Government which
-had been the ruin of so many; but the queen,
-seconding the recommendations of the Cecils, to
-induce him to accept the post, remitted him a debt
-of £8,000, and made him a present of nearly three
-times that sum. He was furnished with an army
-of 18,000 men, many of them veteran troops who
-had fought in the Netherlands, and with the
-fullest powers that had ever been conferred on
-any Irish Deputy. He had full authority to continue
-the war or to make peace; to pardon all
-crimes and treasons at his pleasure, and to determine
-all his own appointments.</p>
-
-<p>Such were the terms of his commission; but in
-one particular the queen had laid a strict injunction
-upon him, in conversation, which was, that
-he should not give the command of the cavalry,
-as he wished, to his friend and the friend of
-Shakespeare, the Earl of Southampton, with
-whom Elizabeth had the old cause of quarrel,
-that of presuming to marry without her consent.
-In March, 1599, Essex marched out of London,
-surrounded by the flower of the young nobility, and
-followed by the acclamations and good wishes of the
-populace, of whom he was the idol for his military
-reputation and his frank and generous disposition.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner did he arrive in Ireland than he set
-at defiance the orders of the queen, and placed
-Southampton at the head of the horse. Elizabeth
-sent an angry command for his removal, and
-Essex reminded her of the terms of his commission,
-and wished to know whether she meant to revoke
-it. Worse was to follow. Sickness, from the
-wretched and unwholesome supplies of provisions&mdash;the
-worst enemy of the British soldier in all
-ages being frequently the commissariat officers&mdash;soon
-decimated them; and by the month of August
-his 18,000 men showed no more than 3,500 foot,
-and 300 horse. He was compelled to demand a
-reinforcement of 2,000 men before he could march
-into Ulster, the chief seat of the rebellion. The
-queen sent the soldiers, but accompanied the order
-by very bitter letters, complaining of his waste of
-her troops, her money, and of her time, which was
-so precious. Essex defended himself by representing
-the difficulties of the task which he had to
-encounter, and which had mastered so many before
-him. He assured her that he acted entirely by
-the advice of the Lords of the Irish Council; but
-"these rebels," he said, "are far more numerous
-than your Majesty's army, and have&mdash;though I do
-unwillingly confess it&mdash;better bodies, and more
-perfect use of their arms, than those men your
-Majesty sends over." He added, that for his part
-he received nothing from home but "discomfort
-and soul-wounds."</p>
-
-<p>When he came up with Tyrone on the 5th of
-September, encamped with his whole army in the
-county of Louth, that chief demanded a parley, and
-instead of a battle, as was expected, an armistice
-was agreed upon for six weeks, which was to be
-renewed from six weeks to six weeks till the following
-May, to give time for full inquiry. His
-enemies thereupon insinuated that Essex was at
-heart a traitor, and was in collusion with the Irish
-to betray his trust and make himself independent.
-Still worse, they declared that he was waiting for
-a descent of the Spaniards on the island to assist
-in the design. Certain that his destruction was determined
-upon by his foes, and that no justice was
-to be expected whilst he was at such a distance,
-he formed the sudden resolve to hasten to London
-and defend his policy in person. His first idea was
-to take with him such a body of troops as should
-overawe the adverse party, and secure his own
-person; but Sir Christopher Blount, who had now
-married the mother of Essex, convinced him of the
-fatality of such a proceeding. He departed, therefore,
-with a small attendance; and arriving in London
-on the 28th of September, 1599, and finding the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>
-queen was at Nonsuch, he lost no time in hastening
-thither, to prevent any one from prejudicing
-her against him. But he found that, quick as
-he had been, his enemies had been quicker, and
-that one of the most hostile of them, Lord Grey of
-Wilton, was on the way at full speed. Essex
-knew what the effect would be if Cecil got the
-news before his arrival, that he had left his government
-contrary to the positive order of the queen;
-and if time were allowed to excite the queen's resentment,
-he would undoubtedly be arrested the
-moment of his arrival. For this reason he rode
-like a madman, through mud and mire, but hate
-travelled faster, and Grey had been closeted a good
-quarter of a hour with Cecil when he reached the
-palace.</p>
-
-<p>Without pausing to alter his dress, Essex
-rushed into the queen's privy chamber, and not
-finding her there, did not hesitate to rush into her
-bed-chamber, though it was only ten o'clock in
-the morning. The queen was just up, and sat
-with her hair all about her face in the hands of
-her tire-woman. She was naturally excessively
-astonished at this unexpected apparition; but
-Essex threw himself on his knees before her,
-covered her hands with kisses, and did not rise
-till she had given him evidence of her good-will.
-He retired to make his toilet in such good humour
-at his reception that he thanked God that after so
-many troublous storms abroad, "he found a sweet
-calm at home." Within an hour he returned, and
-had a long interview with her Majesty, who was
-so kind and gracious, that the courtiers, who had
-carefully watched how this rude entrance would
-be taken, persuaded themselves that love would
-carry the day against duty with the queen; and
-they all, except the Cecil party, were very
-courteous towards him. But by the evening
-the poison of the venomous minister had been
-instilled and done its work. Essex was received
-by the queen with a stern and distant
-air, and she began to demand of him why he
-had thus left Ireland without her permission,
-affairs being in so disordered and dangerous a
-state. He received an order at night to consider
-himself a prisoner in his room; and the next day,
-at two o'clock in the afternoon, he was summoned
-to give an account of himself to the Council. On
-entering the Council the lords arose and saluted
-him, but reseated themselves, leaving him standing
-at the end of the board. It was demanded
-why he had left his charge in Ireland without
-leave; why he had made so many knights there,
-contrary to the express desire of the queen; why
-he had written such presumptuous letters to her
-Majesty; and how he had dared to enter her
-Majesty's bedroom. After awhile he was allowed
-a certain amount of freedom, but the queen never
-saw him again.</p>
-
-<p>In June of 1600 she put Essex on his trial
-before a court of eighteen commissioners, whom
-she empowered to pass "censure," but not judgment.
-The result of this trial was that Essex was
-condemned to forfeit every office which he held by
-patent from the Crown, and to remain a prisoner
-at the royal pleasure. Elizabeth trusted that now
-she had broken the proud spirit of the Lord
-Deputy, and that the sentence of the court would
-bring him humbly to sue for forgiveness. But
-the great failing of Essex was his high spirit,
-his indignant sense of wrong, and his obstinate
-refusal to surrender his own will when he felt
-himself right, though there was no other way
-of appeasing his equally self-willed sovereign.
-He only begged to be dismissed, and that she
-"would let her servant depart in peace." He
-declared that all the pleasures and ambitions of
-this world had palled upon his mind; that he saw
-their vanity, and desired only to live in retirement
-with his wife, his friends, and his books in
-the country. Had that wish been real, few men
-were better qualified, by their refined and elevated
-taste and their love of literature, to have adorned
-such a life; but Essex, if he truly longed for
-private and domestic life, did not know himself,
-for he was one of those restless and quick spirits
-of whom the poet said "quiet is a hell." However,
-on the 26th of August he was released from
-custody, but informed that he must not appear at
-Court.</p>
-
-<p>Essex, once at large, cast off his pretences of
-retirement and contempt of the world, and petitioned
-the queen for a continuation of his patent
-for a monopoly of sweet wines. Elizabeth replied
-that she would first inquire into the value of this
-privilege, which she understood was worth £50,000
-per annum. She accompanied this message with
-an ominous remark that when horses became
-unmanageable it was necessary to stint them in
-their corn. Accordingly, she refused his request,
-and appointed commissioners to manage the tax
-for herself.</p>
-
-<p>Essex now became beside himself. Hitherto he
-had lived in privacy, but now he came to Essex
-House, in the Strand, where he gave free entertainment
-to all sorts of people. His secretary Cuffe
-and other dangerous persons encouraged him in
-the belief that by his popularity with the people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>
-it would be no difficult matter to force Cecil,
-Raleigh, and his other enemies from office; and
-that once removed from the queen, all would be
-right. He therefore kept open house, and was
-soon surrounded by crowds of military men and
-adventurers, by Roman Catholics and Puritans.
-His military friends formed themselves into a
-sort of guard; and it was remarked that many
-of the nobility also visited him, as the Earls
-of Worcester, Southampton, Sussex, Rutland,
-and Bedford. There were daily preachings in
-his house, and he proposed to some of the theologians
-the question whether it were not lawful,
-in case of mal-administration, to compel a sovereign
-to govern according to law. He moreover
-sent to the king of Scotland, assuring him that
-there was a design at Court to exclude him in
-favour of the Infanta of Spain, and urged James
-to send an ambassador to demand a distinct
-declaration of his right to the succession. James,
-who was in great anxiety on this head already,
-appears to have listened to the advice of Essex,
-and to have taken measures to act upon it.</p>
-
-<p>Essex was now stimulated by his passions into a
-most perilous position. He was actively engaged
-in dangerous courses; and though some pains were
-taken to conceal his real designs, by the chief
-coadjutors in the conspiracy meeting at the Earl
-of Southampton's, and communicating privately
-by letter with Essex, the proceedings could not
-escape the ever-open ears of Cecil and his party.
-The conspirators had concluded that the safest
-thing to do in the first instance was for Sir
-Christopher Blount, Sir John Davis, and Sir
-Charles Davers to head three parties, and to take
-possession of the gate of Westminster palace, the
-guard, and the presence chamber, whilst Essex
-threw himself on his knees before the queen, and
-refused to rise till she had complied with his petition,
-and dismissed the obnoxious ministers. But
-while they were planning, Cecil and his friends
-acted. The secretary Herbert arrived with a
-summons for Essex to appear before the Council.
-He replied that he was too unwell to attend; and
-while he was thus evading the summons, he
-received an anonymous note warning him to
-escape as he valued his life; and this was
-immediately followed by the intelligence that the
-guard had been doubled at the palace. It was
-high time now to act, as his arrest was certain.
-In the night he despatched messages to collect
-his friends; and it was resolved that the next
-morning, which was Sunday, the 8th of February,
-1601, the Earls of Southampton and Rutland, the
-Lords Sandys and Mounteagle, and about 600
-gentlemen, should enter the City with Essex
-during sermon time, and assembling at St. Paul's
-Cross, where the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and
-Companies were wont to attend, to call upon them
-to accompany them to the palace to assist in
-obtaining the removal of the pernicious advisers
-of the Crown.</p>
-
-<p>When they were on the point of executing this
-plan they were interrupted by a visit from the
-Lord Keeper Egerton, the Earl of Worcester,
-Knollys, the comptroller of the household, and the
-Lord Chief Justice. Essex ordered them to be
-admitted through the wicket, but without any of
-their attendants, except the purse-bearer. When
-the officers of the Crown found themselves in the
-midst of an armed company, Egerton demanded
-what was the meaning of it; on which Essex
-replied in a loud and excited tone, "There is a
-plot laid for my life. Letters have been counterfeited
-in my name; men have been hired to
-murder me in my bed. We are met to defend our
-lives, since my enemies cannot be satisfied without
-sucking my blood."</p>
-
-<p>"If such be the case," said the Lord Chief
-Justice Popham, "let it be proved. We will
-relate it fairly, and the queen will do impartial
-justice." "Impartial justice!" said the Earl of
-Southampton; "then why is it not done on Lord
-Grey?" Grey had attacked Southampton in the
-Strand with a number of followers on account of
-an old grudge, Southampton having only a foot-boy
-with him, whose hand was struck off, and
-Southampton himself was in great danger, till a
-number of people with clubs came to his help.
-Popham replied that Grey was imprisoned for the
-offence; and Egerton desired Essex to explain his
-grievances in private, when there was a cry of
-"They abuse you, my lord; they are undoing
-you; you lose your time!" Egerton put on his
-cap, and commanded every man, in the queen's
-name, to lay down his arms and depart. The
-crowd outside continued to shout, "Kill them,
-kill them! Keep them for hostages! Throw
-the great seal out of the window!" The queen's
-officers, being shown into a back room guarded
-by musketeers, Essex begged them to have
-patience for half an hour and locking the door
-upon them, left them. Sir John Davis, Sir Gilly
-Merrick, Francis Tresham, and Owen Salisbury
-were left in charge of them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_337big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_337.jpg" width="410" height="560" alt="" title="LORD GREY AND HIS FOLLOWERS ATTACKING THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>LORD GREY AND HIS FOLLOWERS ATTACKING THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_336">336.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Then Essex, rushing into the street, drew his
-sword, and followed by Southampton, Rutland,
-Sandys, Mounteagle, and most of the knights and
-gentlemen, he made for the City. They were
-joined on the way by the Earl of Bedford and
-Lord Cromwell, with 200 others. At Ludgate
-the guard suffered them to pass, Essex declaring
-that he was endeavouring to save his life from
-Raleigh, Cobham, and their accomplices. To
-their great disappointment they found nobody at
-St. Paul's Cross, the queen having warned the
-Corporation to keep away, and to see that the
-people remained within their houses. Essex rode
-along shouting, "For the queen, my mistress!
-a plot is laid for my life!" and called upon
-the citizens to come and follow him. He had
-relied on his popularity with the masses;
-but he now found himself miserably deceived.
-The common people shouted "God bless your
-honour!" but no man joined him. He returned
-crestfallen to his house; but it was presently
-surrounded by a military force with a battering
-train, and not a soul rose in his defence. The
-case was hopeless, and about ten o'clock at night
-Essex and Southampton held a parley from the
-top of the house with Sir Robert Sidney, and
-surrendered on promise of a fair trial. They
-were conveyed for the night to Lambeth Palace.
-The next day Essex and Southampton were committed
-to the Tower, and the other prisoners
-to different gaols in London and Westminster.
-Essex was tried, and on the whole fairly, for
-his technical guilt was obvious; and, after the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>
-usual hesitation on the part of Elizabeth, suffered
-the penalty of the law on the 25th of February,
-1601. Southampton was imprisoned for life.</p>
-
-<p>Lord Mountjoy, the friend of Essex, though advanced
-to the deputyship of Ireland in his room,
-knew that Elizabeth had become aware of his offer
-to attempt a release of Essex from his confinement
-before his last rash outbreak, and he was prepared
-to escape to the Continent on the first symptom of
-an attempt to arrest him; but to his agreeable
-surprise he received a very gracious letter from
-Elizabeth, in which she stated that the defection
-and death of Essex had caused her deep grief, but
-his, Mountjoy's, loyalty and success in Ireland had
-been a comfort to her. This had been done at the
-suggestion of Cecil, who represented to her that
-Mountjoy's loyalty might be secured by not seeming
-to doubt it, and it was a great consequence to
-have so able a general in Ireland, as the Spaniards
-were now meditating a descent on the coast of
-that island. Indeed, in September, 4,000 Spaniards
-landed at Kinsale, under Don Juan D'Aguilar,
-fortified the town, and called on the people to join
-them against the heretic and excommunicated
-Queen of England, their oppressor. Whilst
-Mountjoy marched his forces to Kinsale and shut
-up the Spaniards in their own lines, Elizabeth
-summoned her last Parliament. She opened it
-in person on the 27th of October, 1601, but
-she was now so enfeebled that she was actually
-sinking under the weight of the robes of State,
-when the nobleman who stood nearest to her
-caught her in his arms and supported her. Notwithstanding
-this exhibition of her weakness, her
-determined will enabled her to rally and to go
-through the ceremony. The Session was a very
-stormy one. The great object of calling it together
-was to obtain money. Money the House of Commons
-expressed its willingness to grant, but at the
-same time called for the abolition of a number of
-monopolies which were sapping the very vitals of
-the nation. These monopolies were patents granted
-to her courtiers, for the exclusive sale of some
-article of commerce. It was a custom which had
-commenced in the seventeenth year of her reign,
-and by the greediness of her favourites had grown
-into a monstrous abuse. Scarcely a man about
-her but had one or more of these monopolies in
-his hand, by which the price of all sorts of the
-necessities of life was doubled, or more than
-doubled. Sometimes the patentee exercised the
-monopoly himself, sometimes he farmed it out to
-others, whose only object was to screw as much as
-possible out of it. The members for counties and
-boroughs had been repeatedly called on by their
-constituents to demand the abolition of these
-detestable abuses; but they had always been
-silenced by Ministers, on the ground that the
-queen would highly resent any interference with
-her prerogatives.</p>
-
-<p>On the 18th of November a motion to put
-an end to these monopolies was made, which received
-the regular Ministerial answer, with the
-addition that it was useless to endeavour to tie the
-Royal hands, because, even if it were done by
-both Houses, the queen could loose them at her
-pleasure. Cecil said that the Speaker was very
-much to blame to admit of such a motion at the
-commencement of a Session, knowing that it was
-contrary to the Royal command. But, nothing
-daunted, the members of the Commons replied
-that they had found, however useless it was to
-petition for the removal of these grievances, that
-the remedy lay in their own hands, and the
-patentees were such blood-suckers of the commonwealth,
-that the people would no longer bear the
-burden of them. When the list of the monopolies
-was read over, a member asked if bread were
-not amongst them. The House appeared amazed
-at the question. "Nay," said he, "if no remedy
-be found for these, bread will be there before next
-Parliament." Bacon and Cecil still talked loudly
-of prerogative, but the House went on with so
-much resolution that the favourites began to
-tremble, and Raleigh, who had monopolies of tar
-and various other commodities, saw such a storm
-brewing that he offered to give them all up. For
-four days the debate continued with such an agitation
-as had not been witnessed through the
-whole reign; and Cecil found it necessary to give
-way, and the monopolies were withdrawn. On
-the 25th the queen sent for the Speaker, and in
-the presence of the Council, addressed him in a
-truly noble speech, saying that she had rather her
-heart and hand should perish than that either
-heart or hand should allow such privileges to
-monopolists as might injure her people.</p>
-
-<p>While these events had been taking place in
-Parliament, Mountjoy had defeated the queen's
-enemies in Ireland. He had united his forces
-with those of the President of Munster, and kept
-the Spaniards shut up in Kinsale. On Christmas
-Eve the Earl of Tyrone advanced to the assistance
-of the besieged, with 6,000 Irish and 200 fresh
-Spaniards, who had landed at Castlehaven under
-the command of Ocampo. His plan was to surprise
-the English before daylight, and to have a
-second division of his army ready with a supply oprovisions to throw into the town. But Mountjoy
-was already aware of his approach, which was delayed
-by the fears of Ocampo&mdash;only too well
-founded&mdash;of the fatal want of discipline amongst
-the natives, and by his endeavours to bring them
-into some regularity. Mountjoy surprised these
-wild hordes as they were crossing a stream, and
-thoroughly routed them. The Spaniards, left on
-the field alone, surrendered, and Tyrone retreated
-northwards with the remnant of his army. About
-500 Irish were killed.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_338big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_338.jpg" width="560" height="373" alt="From the Picture by Seymour Lucas, R.A" title="A STORY OF THE SPANISH MAIN" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>A STORY OF THE SPANISH MAIN</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From the Picture by Seymour Lucas</span>, R.A.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Spaniards in Kinsale yielded the place on
-this defeat of their allies, on condition of being
-allowed to return home with their arms and
-ammunition. Tyrone was then pursued by Mountjoy
-with great vigour, and after a number of
-defeats retired still more northward. Munster
-was reduced, and Tyrone offered to submit on
-favourable terms; but Mountjoy could obtain no
-such terms from the queen; she insisted on unconditional
-surrender. Her ministers strongly
-advised her to concede and settle the state of
-Ireland, which was now costing her £300,000 a
-year to defend it against the natives. Sometimes
-she appeared disposed to comply, and then again
-was as obstinate as ever; and matters remained in
-this position till 1603, when Mountjoy, hearing
-that the queen was not likely to live long, agreed
-to receive Tyrone's submission, to grant him and
-his followers a full pardon, and restore the whole
-of his territories, with some few exceptions.
-Tyrone then accompanied Mountjoy to Dublin,
-where they heard of the death of Elizabeth; and
-Tyrone burst into tears and regretted his too hasty
-surrender. The deed, however, was done, and
-tranquillity ensured to Ireland for a short time.</p>
-
-<p>The last warlike demonstration of the reign of
-Elizabeth was an expedition to the coast of Spain
-to prevent the passage of fresh fleets to Ireland.
-Admirals Levison and Monson proceeded thither
-with a fleet; but, tempted by a carrack of immense
-value in the harbour of Sesimbria, they seized
-it and returned home. This desertion of their duty
-to satisfy their greed of prize-money, would, in
-Elizabeth's days of vigour, have cost the commanders
-dearly. While they were guarding their
-treasure homewards the Spanish fleet might
-have made sail. Therefore no time was lost
-in sending back the fleet under Monson, who
-found six Spanish galleys out, and stealing along
-the French coast. Before he could pursue
-them they were met by a squadron of Dutch and
-English ships, and after some hard fighting three
-of them were sunk, and three escaped into Sluys.</p>
-
-<p>The reign of Queen Elizabeth was now drawing
-to a close. She was approaching her seventieth
-year, and till lately had still listened to the voice
-of flattery as if she were yet in the glory of her
-youth. But nature had begun to give her stern
-warnings, and the failing of her strength brought
-deep melancholy. At one time she affected an
-unnatural gaiety; at another she withdrew into
-solitude, and was often found in tears. One of
-her household says in a letter&mdash;"She sleepeth not
-so much by day as she used, neither taketh rest by
-night. Her delight is to sit in the dark, and
-sometimes with shedding tears to bewail Essex."</p>
-
-<p>Yet she still strove against the advancing infirmities
-of age. She would insist to the last on
-making her annual progress and on hunting.
-Only five months before her death Lord Henry
-Howard wrote to the Earl of Mar&mdash;"The queen
-our sovereign was never so gallant many years,
-nor so set upon jollity." A letter of April 7th,
-1602, says&mdash;"The queen walks often on Richmond
-Green with greater show of ability than can well
-stand with her years. Mr. Secretary sways all of
-importance, albeit of late much absent from the
-Court and about London, but not omitting in his
-absence daily to present Her Majesty with some
-jewel or toy that may be acceptable. The other
-of the Council or nobility estrange themselves
-from Court by all occasions, so as, besides the
-master of the horse, vice-chamberlain, and comptroller,
-few of account appear there."</p>
-
-<p>When Cecil was present it required all his art
-to conceal his correspondence with the King of
-Scotland. One day a packet was delivered to
-him from James in the queen's presence. She
-ordered him instantly to open it, and show its
-contents to her. It was a critical moment, and
-none but a long-practised diplomatist could have
-escaped the exposure which it would probably
-occasion; but recollecting her excessive dislike of
-bad smells and terror of contagion, he observed as
-he was cutting the string that "it had a strange
-and evil smell," and hinted that it might have
-been in contact with infected persons or goods.
-Elizabeth immediately ordered the cunning Minister
-to take it away and have it purified, and no
-doubt he did purify it of any dangerous contents
-before displaying them to Her Majesty.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, not only Cecil and Howard, but
-another clique, was busy paying court to James.
-These were Raleigh, Cobham, and the Earl of
-Northumberland. They met at Durham House,
-and kept up a warm correspondence with James;
-but they were as zealously counteracted by Cecil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>
-and Howard, who warned James of all things
-not to trust to them, Howard declaring that
-as for Raleigh and Cobham, "hell did never
-spew up such a couple when it cast up Cerberus
-and Phlegethon."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_340big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_340.jpg" width="560" height="583" alt="" title="ELIZABETH'S PROMENADE ON RICHMOND GREEN" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ELIZABETH'S PROMENADE ON RICHMOND GREEN. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_339">339.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>While these self-seeking courtiers were thus
-anxiously labouring to stand first with the heir,
-Elizabeth was sinking fast into a most pitiable
-condition. She was weighed down by a complication
-of complaints, and her mind was affrighted
-by strange spectres. When the Lord Admiral
-urged her to go to bed, she said, "No, no; there
-were spirits there that troubled her;" and added
-that, "if he were in the habit of seeing such
-things in his bed as she did in hers, he would
-not try to persuade her to go there." Cecil hearing
-this, asked if Her Majesty had seen any
-spirits. At this she cast one of her old lightning
-flashes at him, and said, "I shall not answer <em>you</em>
-such a question." Cecil then said she must go to
-bed to content the people. "Must," she said,
-smiling scornfully; "<em>must</em> is a word not to be used
-to princes;" adding, "Little man! little man! if
-your father had lived you durst not have said so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>
-much, but you know I must die, and that makes
-you so presumptuous." She now saw Cecil's
-real character, and ordering him and all the rest
-except the Lord Admiral out of her chamber, she
-said, "My lord, I am tied with a chain of iron
-round my neck." He endeavoured to dissipate
-the idea, but she only said, "I am tied! I am
-tied! and the case is altered with me."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_341big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_341.jpg" width="560" height="424" alt="" title="RICHMOND PALACE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>RICHMOND PALACE. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_382">382.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"The queen," says Lady Southwell, "kept her
-bed fifteen days, besides the three days she sat
-upon a stool, and one day, when, being pulled up
-by force, she obstinately stood upon her feet for
-fifteen hours." What a most miserable scene was
-the death-bed of this glorious woman! Surely
-nothing was ever more melancholy and terrible in
-its mixture of mental decay, dark remorse, and
-indomitable hardiness and self-will. At one and
-the same time around her bed were men urging
-her to take broth, to name her successor, and to
-hear prayers. The kings of France and Scotland
-were mentioned to her, but without eliciting the
-slightest notice; but when they named Beauchamp,
-the son of the Earl of Hertford and
-Catherine Grey, one of Elizabeth's victims, she
-fired up and exclaimed, "I will have no rascal's
-son in my nest, but one worthy to be a king!"</p>
-
-<p>At length they persuaded her to listen to a
-prayer by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and
-when he had once begun she appeared unwilling
-to let him leave off; half-hour after half-hour she
-kept the primate on his knees. She then sank
-into a state of insensibility, and died at three
-o'clock in the morning of the 24th of March,
-1603, in the seventieth year of her age, and the
-forty-fifth of her reign. Robert Carey, afterwards
-Earl of Monmouth, was anxiously waiting
-under the window of Elizabeth's room at Richmond
-Palace for the first news of her death,
-which Lady Scrope, his sister, communicated to
-him by silently letting fall, as a signal, a sapphire
-ring, afterwards celebrated as "the blue ring,"
-which he caught, and the moment after was
-galloping off towards Scotland to be the first
-herald of the mighty event to the expecting
-James. Three hours later Cecil, the Lord Keeper,
-and the Lord Admiral were with the Council in
-London, and it was resolved to proclaim James
-VI. of Scotland James I. of England.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>The Tudors and the Nation&mdash;The Church&mdash;Population and Wealth&mdash;Royal Prerogative&mdash;Legislation of Henry VIII.&mdash;The Star
-Chamber&mdash;Beneficial Legislation&mdash;Treason Laws&mdash;Legislation of Edward and Mary&mdash;Elizabeth's Policy&mdash;Religion and the
-Church&mdash;Sketch of Ecclesiastical History under the Tudors&mdash;Literature, Science, and Art&mdash;Greatness of the Period&mdash;Foundation
-of Colleges and Schools&mdash;Revival of Learning&mdash;Its Temporary Decay&mdash;Prose Writers of the Period&mdash;The
-Poets&mdash;Scottish Bards&mdash;Music&mdash;Architecture&mdash;Painting and Sculpture&mdash;Furniture and Decorations&mdash;Arms and Armour&mdash;Costumes,
-Coins, and Coinage&mdash;Ships, Commerce, Colonies, and Manufactures&mdash;Manners and Customs&mdash;Condition of the
-People.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>The century of which we have just traced the
-events was a period marked by vast progress and
-by changes which were the springs of still more
-wonderful progress in after ages. Though the
-character of the Tudors was absolutely despotic,
-no dynasty since the days of Alfred and Magna
-Charta wrought out such revolutions in the constitution
-of England. These revolutions were
-partly effected by the very efforts of the Tudor
-monarchs to establish their own power and gratify
-their own self-will, but were due also to the fact
-that the Tudor despotism was essentially popular,
-and encouraged manifestations of the national will.
-These revolutions extended not only into the
-political constitution of the nation, but into its
-religious one; into its literature, its philosophy,
-and its morals; and that simply because the spirit
-of the age was of that tone and strength that,
-though outward powers could agitate it, nothing
-but its own momentum could direct its tendency.
-Henry VII., with an indifferent title, succeeded
-to the crown, because the nation was weary of the
-conflicts of the York and Lancaster monarchs,
-and longed for peace, which his disposition promised.
-Cold, cautious, and penurious, he took
-care not to raise a fresh race of powerful barons in
-place of that which the Wars of the Roses had
-destroyed, but hoarded up money; and beyond the
-injustice practised in its collection, left his people
-to pursue their trades and their agriculture, and
-thus renew their strength. Henry VIII.&mdash;violent,
-passionate, sensual, and intensely arbitrary,
-but fond of parade, and in his youth boastful
-of his prowess&mdash;gratified the pride of the
-nation, whilst he ruled it with a rod of iron. In
-the gratification of his lusts he did not hesitate to
-renounce allegiance to that great spiritual power
-which for above a thousand years had ruled
-haughtily over Europe and all its kings and
-warriors. By this act he set free for ever the
-mind and conscience of England. In vain did
-he endeavour to bind the nation in a knot of his
-own making. Though he hurled his fiercest terms
-against those who claimed a universal liberty
-which he intended only for himself, he had broken
-the mighty spell of ages&mdash;a power and a mystery
-before which the world had bowed in impotent
-awe; and no chains which he could forge, no creed
-which he could set up, no hierarchy which he
-could frame, could possess more than the strength
-of the fire-scorched flax against the will of the
-enfranchised people. The moment that Henry
-perished, the soul of the nation showed itself alive.
-The very Reformers around his throne, who had
-cowered beneath the fell and deadly ire of the
-tyrant, rose, with Cranmer at their head and,
-under the mild auspices of the religious Edward,
-gave free vent to the spirit and the doctrines of
-the Reformation. The return of theologic despotism
-under Mary only added force to the spirit
-of reform, by showing how terrible and bloody was
-the animus of ancient superstition. The fires of
-Smithfield lit up the dark places of spiritual
-tyranny to the remotest corners of the nation,
-and gave the blow to the tottering Bastille of
-restringent faith in Great Britain. Elizabeth,
-with all the self-will of her father, lived to see
-both in people and Parliament, a spirit that made
-her lion-heart shrink with awe, and own, however
-reluctantly, a power looking already gigantically
-down upon her own. She felt more than once, in
-the pride of her might, the terror of that national
-will which, in less than half a century from her
-death, shattered the throne of her successor, and
-gave to the world the unheard-of spectacle of a
-king decapitated for treason to his people.</p>
-
-<p>The grand underlying impulse of the forward
-movement of this age was that of the general progress
-of the world in knowledge&mdash;knowledge of its
-rights and of the force inherent in popular association.
-The restoration of classical literature,
-and especially of the Greek, had rekindled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>
-lofty and independent sentiments of antiquity;
-but still more, the knowledge of the doctrines,
-principles, and promises of the Bible, which had
-been disseminated among the people by the
-Reformers, had spread like a flame amongst them,
-and had given them totally new ideas of human
-prerogative and dignity. Henry VIII., after
-being induced to make public the Scriptures, saw
-so clearly their effect that he withdrew the boon
-as far as was possible, and pronounced the
-severest penalties on any of the common people
-who should consult that Divine fountain of truth
-and freedom. Throughout the civilised world,
-far even beyond the countries in which the Reformation
-had established itself, the stimulating
-boon of this knowledge was diffused, and gave a
-perilous and uneasy feeling to the most slavish
-nations and the most despotic sovereigns.</p>
-
-<p>But in England many other causes had co-operated
-to raise the power and condition of the
-people. The long civil wars had, by the time of
-the accession of Henry VII., reduced the old
-nobility to a mere fragment. Such extraordinary
-specimens of baronial wealth and dominion as the
-Warwicks, Beauchamps, and Shrewsburys, no
-longer existed. In the first Parliament of Henry
-VII., the peers amounted to only twenty-eight;
-in that of Henry VIII. they had risen only
-to thirty-six. With their extinction had lapsed
-their vast estates to the Crown, and this property
-had in part been sold to defray the costs by which
-the throne had maintained its straggles against
-various claimants and their factions. Henry VII.,
-as we have said, carefully kept down this haughty
-class to the limits into which it had fallen. His
-son, Henry VIII., like him, pursued the policy of
-Edward IV., who had established a system of fine
-and recovery to cut off entails; and by liberal use
-of attainders, with their consequent forfeitures of
-title and estate, made the nobility entirely subservient
-to the Crown, which augmented its wealth
-and power on their ruin. By conferring their
-estates in part on new aspirants to the peerage
-from the families of the lesser gentry, and in
-many cases&mdash;as in those of Wolsey and Cromwell&mdash;from
-the ranks of the common people, he divided
-the aristocracy against itself, and thus added fresh
-influence to the throne.</p>
-
-<p>This predominance of the Crown once established,
-Henry VIII. proceeded to a still more
-startling blow at a power hitherto equal and often
-paramount to that of the Crown&mdash;the Church.
-To the terror and astonishment of the whole of
-Papal Christendom, he stretched his hand not only
-against the supreme rule, but the vast property of
-that august and time-honoured institution. In
-1532 he abolished the annates, or first-fruits,
-before that time paid to the court of Rome&mdash;an
-act in itself proclaiming his independence of that
-court. In the following year he declared by Act
-of Parliament that his subjects might discuss the
-claims and condemn the acts and opinions of the
-Pope without incurring any charge of heresy.
-Another year, and he caused himself to be proclaimed
-"Supreme head of the Church" in his own
-realms, and prohibited not only all payments to
-the Pope, but all appeals to or recognition of his
-authority. In 1535, the very next year, he confiscated
-the property of the lesser monasteries; and
-this course, once begun, never stopped, till he had
-made himself master of all the vast demesnes of
-the monasteries, the collegiate churches, hospitals,
-and houses of the order of the Knights of St.
-John of Jerusalem; the bulk of which he appropriated
-to his own use, turning adrift 150,000
-monks, priests, and nuns into the world. So
-daring a sweep of ecclesiastical property, power,
-and privilege never was made by any other man
-or in any other era of the world; and nothing
-could have emboldened even this impious and
-lawless monarch to so astounding a deed but the
-clear consciousness that the spirit of the age
-was with him.</p>
-
-<p>By this unexampled stroke Henry made himself
-master of 644 convents, 90 colleges, 2,374
-chantries and free chapels, and 110 hospitals; the
-whole of which property, with trifling exception,
-was speedily conveyed to the vast swarm of
-hungry upstarts&mdash;the Russells, the Brownes, the
-Seymours, and the like&mdash;who rapidly bloomed
-into aristocratic greatness, and constituted an
-impregnable barrier against any restoration of
-this affluent but corrupt ecclesiastical princedom.</p>
-
-<p>These new men, in their turn, were compelled
-to subdivide a portion, more or less, among their
-followers, to establish their own position; and
-other large areas of lands were sold in minor
-amounts to the successful merchants and traders,
-so that by this means there grew up again a new
-power in the country&mdash;that of small but sturdy
-freeholders, who, at once independent of the
-Crown and the aristocracy, soon made their might
-felt in the community, and added to the House of
-Commons that popular infusion of authoritative
-life which speedily electrified the Government by
-its tone, and prostrated it by its measures.</p>
-
-<p>That a large number of such men of substance,
-whose wealth was the produce of industry, existed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>
-at the period, is an indication that the nation had
-grown rich by trade, and had also advanced in
-population. When we talk of the England and
-other countries of Europe of former ages, we are
-scarcely aware of what extremely different countries
-they were, both in regard to the cultivation
-of their lands, the arts, aspects, and habits of their
-cities, their general knowledge, their polish of
-speech, and their amount of population. It will
-scarcely be credited that at the close of the Wars
-of the Roses, the whole population of England and
-Wales did not exceed two millions and a half&mdash;far
-less than the present population of London. But
-in 1575, that is, in the seventeenth year of Elizabeth,
-the men fit to bear arms alone amounted to
-1,172,674, and the entire population to not less
-than 5,000,000. Harrison, in his "Description of
-England" at this time, says that "Some do grudge
-at the great increase of people in these days,
-thinking a necessary herd of cattle far better than
-a superfluous augmentation of mankind. They
-laid," he says, "the cause upon God, as though He
-were in fault for sending such increase of people,
-or want of wars that should consume them; affirming
-that the land was never so full." So little
-did they comprehend that the multitude of people,
-properly employed, were the strength and wealth
-of the nation.</p>
-
-<p>But we shall have occasion to notice that with
-this wealth and strength there also existed
-much poverty, owing to the derangements of
-society in the days of Henry VIII., and to the
-great tendency to leave the land in pasture to
-supply the growth of wool necessary for the
-large demand for the Netherlands and the rapidly
-increasing one at home, where the manufacture
-of both coarse and fine cloths had been growing
-from the time that Edward III., at the instigation
-of his queen Philippa of Hainault, invited the
-weavers of fine woollens over from that country.
-Still the rise in the value of all kinds of articles
-of life, including wages, during the whole of this
-period, is a proof of the enlarged demand for
-skilled workmen, and the capacity to pay much
-more than formerly, which could only be the case
-with augmented means in the bulk of the population.
-At various times, as in 1496 and 1514,
-Acts were passed with the vain object of keeping
-down wages&mdash;attempts which, though they show
-little progress in political economy, prove with
-equal clearness that employers were more numerous
-than they had been in proportion to labour.
-In 1500 the wages of a master mason were 6d. a
-day; in 1575 they were doubled; and in 1590
-they had reached 1s. 2d. The wages of common
-labourers had risen from 6d. a day to 10d. In
-1511 the salary of a domestic priest was £3 6s. 8d.
-a year; in 1545 it had risen to £4 14s. 6d. In
-1544 the wages of sailors were advanced from 5s.
-per month, in the Royal navy, to 6s. 8d., and all
-other trades and professions exhibited the similar
-advance of payment.</p>
-
-<p>This, of course, was the result of the like
-advance in the prices of provisions, rents, and
-clothing&mdash;another proof that the people had become
-not only more numerous, but more luxurious,
-and, therefore, demanded better diet and accommodation.
-Wheat, the staple of the people's
-food, had advanced from 3s. 4d. a quarter in 1485
-to 17s. in 1589; £2 2s. in 1596; and £1 7s. in
-1599. It is true the price of wheat varied a great
-deal in this period, but except in a very few
-seasons it never approached the low price of the
-previous century; and in 1587, a year of scarcity,
-it rose to £5 4s. In 1500 a dozen pigeons were
-4d., in 1541 they were 10d., in 1590 they were
-1s., and in 1597, a year of scarcity, 4s. 3d. In
-1500 a hundred eggs could be had for 6d., in 1541
-they were 1s. 2d., and in 1597 they were 3s. A
-good fat goose in 1500 was only 4d., but in 1541
-it was 8d., in 1589 it was 1s. 2d. A fat sheep in
-1500 was 1s. 8d., in 1549 from 2s. 4d. to 4s., and
-in 1597, the dear year, it could not be had under
-14s. 6d. In 1500 an ox could be purchased for
-11s. or 12s., in 1541 its price had advanced from
-£1 to £2; in 1597 a single stone of beef was 2s.,
-and a whole fat ox upwards of £5.</p>
-
-<p>In "Stafford's Dialogue," published in 1581, all
-the speakers agree in respect to this advance of
-prices in their time. "I am fain," says the
-capper, "to give my journeymen twopence in a
-day more than I was wont to do, and yet they
-say they cannot sufficiently live thereon." "Such
-of us," says the knight, "as do abide in the
-country, still cannot, with £200 a year, keep that
-house that we might have done with 200 marks
-but sixteen years past. Cannot you, neighbour,"
-he adds, addressing the farmer, "remember that
-within these thirty years I could in this town
-buy the best pig or goose that I could lay my hand
-on for 4d., which now costeth 12d., a good capon
-for 3d. or 4d., a chicken for 1d., a hen for 2d.,
-which now costeth me double and triple the
-money? It is likewise in greater ware, as in beef
-and mutton. I have seen a cap for 13d. as good
-as I can get now for 2s. 6d.; of cloth ye have
-heard how the price is risen. Now a pair of
-shoes costs 12d., yet in my time I have bought a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>
-better for 6d. Now I can get never a horse shoed
-under 10d. or 12d., when I have also seen the
-common price was 6d."</p>
-
-<p>This steady advance of prices of all articles is a
-sufficient test of the progress of the nation in
-general wealth, and in notions of comfort and style
-of living; for though undoubtedly a vast mass of
-pauperism existed during this period, no people
-could go on paying higher and higher rates for
-everything, who had not the means of doing so.
-A poor nation might have suffered distress or
-scarcity, but could not have raised the means of
-living to such a degree as is here shown, if they
-had not had the money to purchase on such a
-scale.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_345big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_345.jpg" width="560" height="425" alt="" title="TOWN AND COUNTRY FOLK OF ELIZABETHS REIGN" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>TOWN AND COUNTRY FOLK OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But we have abundant other evidence, with
-some degree of detail, of the progress of wealth
-in the splendour maintained by the Court, in the
-cost of dress, jewellery, horses, and household
-establishments, in the amount of taxation and revenue,
-in the extent of shipping and foreign commerce,
-and in the rank and influence which the
-nation had assumed in Europe. We now proceed
-to notice these tokens of advance.</p>
-
-<p>The Tudors were a race who had the highest
-possible idea of their power and prerogative.
-Under Henry VIII. especially the sentiment of
-Louis XIV. of France was thoroughly realised
-though the phrase was not yet coined, "L'état?
-c'est moi!"&mdash;"I am the State." If he did not
-actually annihilate the Constitution, he reduced
-it to a mockery and a mere machine, which
-moved only at his will. Yet in truth, paralysed
-as the nation appeared then under the terror of
-the axe and the gallows, its spirit only waited: it
-was never extinguished, and under his successors
-it showed itself again unmistakably. It has been
-asserted that the people in the time of Henry
-VIII. were most cowardly, for that he had
-no means of maintaining his arbitrary course
-against them, as he had no standing army. But
-this is not altogether true, for though he had
-no actual standing army, he had such authority
-over the minds of both aristocracy and people,
-that&mdash;as we have seen on all occasions in which
-the people revolted, chiefly on account of religion,
-and when they were instigated and supported by
-the Roman Catholic nobles&mdash;he speedily mustered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>
-sufficient forces to put them down. In contemplating
-the strange mystery of the base submission
-of the Parliament and people to the reckless
-caprices and bloodthirsty despotism of Henry
-VIII., we must ever bear in mind that the whole
-nation was rent into two most antagonistic parts
-by the schism in religion. The Roman Catholics
-feared the loss of their estates, the Protestants
-were eager to secure them. Of the few noblemen
-remaining in the country from the sanguinary
-decimation of the civil wars, some of the wealthiest
-were still staunch Roman Catholics, and were
-watched with greedy eyes by the host of poor but
-ambitious adventurers who were ready to second
-every scheme of spoliation meditated by the
-monarch. When the ancient Church was going
-to the ground, with all its proud establishments and
-enormous estates, the nobles who belonged to it
-felt the very earth shaking under their feet, and
-saw no means of safety but in the most implicit
-obedience. On the other hand, the numerous
-swarm of courtiers&mdash;whose only law was the word
-of the prince, and their only real creed the belief
-in plunder and in the acquisition of the lands of
-nobles, prelates, abbots, and chantries, as the
-reward of subservience&mdash;were ever ready to rush
-to arms or to the execution of the most fierce and
-unconstitutional orders of the king. No mercy
-was shown by the members of families to one
-another, where the terror of the monarch and the
-hope of his favour intervened. And at that day,
-when the country swarmed with vagabonds, who
-had no home and no ties, who had been increasing
-ever since the abolition of villenage, there was no
-difficulty in mustering numbers of soldiers, where
-there was the chance of liberal pay and more
-liberal plunder.</p>
-
-<p>This state of things, this facility of drawing
-forces to the field on the shortest notice, and on
-the most certain basis, was particularly provided
-for by Henry VII. He took care to save money
-by all means, and to hoard it, so that though no
-man was more reluctant to spend, and none ever
-incurred so much odium by his parsimony where
-the military fame of the nation was concerned; yet
-he gained at least the reputation of ample means,
-and the credit for a disposition to punish promptly
-and severely any disloyalty or adverse claims on
-his Crown. He moreover passed two statutes
-for the purpose of bringing his nobles and dependents
-rapidly to his standard on any emergency.
-By the Acts 2 Henry VII. c. 18, and 19
-Henry VII. c. 1, every one who possessed an
-office, fee, or annuity, by grant from the Crown,
-was required to attend the king whenever he went
-to war, under penalty, in case of failure, of
-forfeiture of all such grants. There were, of
-course, certain exemptions. Some obtained the
-king's licence, for an equivalent consideration, to
-remain at home, and such as could prove any disqualifying
-infirmity were excused. The clergy, as
-a matter of course, were exempt, also the judges
-and principal officers of the law; and by the latter
-Act this privilege was extended to the members of
-the king's Council, to such persons as had bought
-their patents for a certain sum, and to all persons
-under twenty and above sixty years of age. The
-exemptions extended to comparatively a small
-number of persons, the fear of forfeiture applied
-to the majority. To render this more effectual,
-Henry VII. was rigorous in prohibiting a large
-array of retainers by the nobles, whilst he
-was strenuous to enforce the attendance of the
-feoffees of the Crown. This process was carried
-farther by Henry VIII. by the free use of
-attainders, by which, at will, he struck down
-the most wealthy and exalted nobles, and appropriated
-their demesnes; so that eventually there
-was not a foot of land in the kingdom nor an
-individual life which was not held at the king's
-mercy.</p>
-
-<p>But still more than by the passing of attainders
-were the lives, liberties, and property of the nobles
-submitted to the will of the king, by the institution
-of the Court of the Star Chamber. This
-court set aside all other courts at will, and by
-abandoning the use of juries in it, laid Magna
-Charta and the life and fortune of every man, at
-the foot of the throne. From the moment, in fact,
-that this court was formally erected by the 3 Henry
-VII., c. 1, there was an end of the Constitution,
-the privilege of Habeas Corpus was suspended, and
-Parliament legislated in vain. The king was the
-State, and ruled in this arbitrary court by the
-officers of his Privy Council. This court was so
-called from the stars which ornamented the ceiling
-of the room in which it met.</p>
-
-<p>Henry VII., in his original enactment, plainly
-avowed his reason for establishing this court to be,
-that he might reach and punish such persons as by
-one means or another escaped sentence in the ordinary
-courts, through the bribery or "remissness"
-of juries, and check the evils of "maintenance,"
-or the overriding of justice through the assistance
-of a powerful neighbour, and the granting of
-"liveries" for the same purpose. The court was,
-therefore, directed against the licence of the
-nobility, and though arbitrary was at first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>
-popular. It consisted in its original form of the
-Chancellor, Treasurer, and Keeper of the Privy
-Seal, or any two of them, with a bishop and a temporal
-lord of the council and the chief justices of
-the King's Bench and Common Pleas, or two other
-justices in their absence. Ultimately it developed
-into a mere gathering of privy councillors, and its
-jurisdiction at first accurately defined, and for the
-most part beneficial, became extremely vague and
-was exercised at haphazard.</p>
-
-<p>In the reign of Henry VII. the privilege of
-benefit of clergy was greatly modified. This privilege,
-which originally exempted all clergymen from
-the authority of lay tribunals, had become extended
-to all such laymen as could read, and were
-therefore capable of becoming "clerks." To
-restrict this abuse, Henry VII., in 1488, enacted
-that such privilege should be allowed to laymen
-only once; and afterwards&mdash;when a man had
-murdered his master&mdash;a statute was passed to
-deprive all murderers of their lords and masters
-of benefit of clergy. Where it was admitted, the
-culprit, if a layman, did not entirely escape
-punishment, for he was burnt with a hot iron
-in the brawn of the left thumb.</p>
-
-<p>The statutes in this reign were drawn up in
-English, and printed as they came out, by De
-Worde, Pynson, and Faques, a signal step in
-progress towards a public knowledge of the laws.</p>
-
-<p>Under Henry VIII. the principle of arbitrary
-government arrived at its culmination. The freedom
-from restraint which his father had prepared
-for him, the passionate and imperious nature of
-this prince led him to exercise to the utmost. By
-the means which we have described&mdash;terror of
-death to those who offended, and participation in
-the spoils of nobles and the Church, and hope of
-new honours to those who served him regardless
-of law or conscience&mdash;he put himself above all
-control of Parliament or statute, and ruled as
-royally, according to his own fancy, as any Eastern
-despot. Out of this monstrous evil came, nevertheless,
-much good to the nation. By his own
-daring act he broke up the ancient system of the
-Church, with its accumulated wealth, superstitions,
-and abuses, and cleared the ground for a
-new and more liberal state of things. By the distribution
-of this property he founded a new and
-influential class of freeholders, and enabled the
-affluence of trade to flow into land, and to give to
-the mercantile class a new status and influence.
-His motive was his own selfishness, but the result
-was the public good.</p>
-
-<p>Among the useful Statutes which he passed may
-be mentioned the Statute of Uses and the Statute
-of Bankruptcy. By the former he put an end to
-a most mischievous practice of conveying property
-for the use of certain parties or corporate bodies,
-which had been introduced to evade the Statute of
-Mortmain. So many secret modes of conveyance,
-so many legal fictions had been introduced into the
-transfer of this property, that it was difficult to
-ascertain the real owner; and creditors thus became
-defrauded, widows were deprived of their
-dowers, and husbands of their estates, by the
-courtesy. But the great feudal lords also were
-defrauded of their dues on wardships, marriages,
-and reliefs. By an Act of the twenty-seventh
-year of his reign (1536), it was decreed that whoever
-was found in the possession of such property
-should be deemed its <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">bonâ-fide</i> owner, and liable
-to the charges leviable upon it. By this means
-the dubious and fraudulent practice of uses was
-abolished, and the lawyers were compelled to
-resort to the more tangible theory of trusts.
-The nature of the tenure still remained the
-same, for the use was but a trust; but it was
-simplified, and brought more into the region of
-common sense and common observation.</p>
-
-<p>By the preamble to the Statute of Bankruptcy,
-we find that the progress of commerce had led to
-frauds. Men by means of credit got the property
-of others into their hands and absconded with it.
-In the 34 and 35 of Henry VIII., therefore, it
-was enacted that the Chancellor or Keeper of the
-great seal, with the Lord Treasurer, Lord President,
-Privy Seal, and others of the privy council,
-and chief justices, or any three of them&mdash;the
-Chancellor, Keeper, President, or Privy Seal being
-one&mdash;should have power to constitute a court,
-before which, on complaints from a party aggrieved,
-they should summon the defaulter, should
-take possession of all his property, should hear all
-necessary evidence on oath, and should make a
-distribution of his effects amongst the creditors
-according to their claims. Persons concealing
-effects of the offender were to forfeit double their
-value; and claimants making fraudulent claims
-were to forfeit double the amount demanded.</p>
-
-<p>This was the first outline and foundation of our
-court and law of bankruptcy, the main principles
-of which are still in force, but considerably modified
-by the greater development of the action of trade,
-and a spirit of increased enlightenment and
-humanity. The bankrupt is no longer treated
-necessarily as a criminal, but as one who has
-suffered from misfortune; and where he is innocent
-of dishonest conduct, is discharged from such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>
-obligations as he has no means of fulfilling, and
-the way opened for future enterprise.</p>
-
-<p>But the laws of Henry were rarely so rational
-or innocent as these. We have seen, in tracing
-the events of his reign, that, to stop the mouths of
-his subjects regarding his many criminal deeds, the
-cruel calumnies on and divorces of his wives, followed
-by their execution, and the perpetration of
-fresh marriages equally revolting, he was continually
-creating new species of treasons, and
-loading the Statute book with the most atrocious
-specimens of legislation which ever disgraced the
-annals of any nation, Christian or pagan.</p>
-
-<p>The first of these extraordinary enactments was
-the Statute 25 Henry VIII., c. 22, passed on the
-occasion of his divorce of Catherine of Aragon,
-and his marriage of Anne Boleyn. In this he
-declared that any one who dared to write, print,
-or circulate anything to the prejudice of this
-marriage, or the queen herself, or the issue of such
-marriage, should be guilty of high treason. The
-same was to be the fate of any one who endeavoured
-to dispute this alliance by advocating
-the validity of the former marriage with Catherine,
-and every one was to take an oath to obey this
-Act fully; and if any refused to take such oath,
-they were to be also guilty of misprision of treason.
-As, however, the tyrant could not prevent people
-from thinking and speaking their minds in private,
-next Session he got from his pliant Parliament a
-fresh Act, forbidding all persons to speak or even
-think a slander against the king; for if they
-thought, they could have the oath put to them,
-and must either deny their very thought, or be
-found guilty of treason.</p>
-
-<p>But by the twenty-eighth year of his reign the
-fickle despot had cut off the head of this very
-queen, against whom nobody had on any account
-been allowed to whisper the slightest fault, on
-peril of their lives (1536). The marriage with
-her, as well as that with Catherine, was declared
-void, and never to have been otherwise; the issue
-of both was pronounced illegitimate, and the same
-penalties were enacted against every one who
-called in question the tyrant's marriage with Jane
-Seymour. Thus, on every occasion that this Royal
-sensualist thought fit to destroy or divorce a wife
-and marry another, did he compel the whole of his
-subjects to swear and forswear at his pleasure.
-In a Statute of the thirty-first of his reign, c. 8,
-he clearly enunciated that doctrine of Divine right
-which the Stuarts, his successors, upheld to their
-perdition. It is worthy of note, too, that by
-abolishing the authority of the Pope, to serve his
-own selfish ends, he let loose the human mind
-from its long thraldom, and prepared the way&mdash;a
-necessary sequence&mdash;for that political rebellion
-which was certain to be assumed by a people who
-had once triumphed in a religious one. Thus was
-political freedom the consequence of this lawless
-monarch's attempt to crush it, as much as the
-Reformation was that of his rejection of the
-Papacy for the gratification of his passions.</p>
-
-<p>It is needless to follow Henry VIII. through
-the still repeated progress of those contradictory
-oaths as he slew or wedded fresh wives. It was
-the same in the divorce of Anne of Cleves, on the
-decapitation of Catherine Howard; but growing
-perfectly frantic with wrath and shame on finding
-himself married to an unchaste woman whom he
-had proclaimed an angel, he went a step farther,
-and denounced the terrors of high treason against
-any woman who should dare to marry him if she
-had been incontinent before marriage, and against
-all such persons as should know of this and should
-not warn the king in time. When to these
-hideous Statutes we add that of 31 Henry VIII.,
-c. 14, which abolished all "Diversity of opinions,"
-and that of 34 and 35 Henry VIII., c. 1, for the
-"Advancement of true religion and abolishment of
-the contrary," we have exhibited the most perfect
-example of what a man may become by the intoxication
-of unlimited power.</p>
-
-<p>Besides particular laws, Henry VIII. erected
-two new courts of justice&mdash;the Court of the
-Steward of the Marshalsea, for the trial of all
-treasons, murders, manslaughters, and blows by
-which blood was shed in any of the palaces or
-houses of the king during his residence there; and
-the Court of the President and Council of the
-North. This latter court was established in the
-thirty-first year of his reign to try the rioters who
-had risen against his suppression of the lesser
-monasteries; but it included all the powers vested
-in the king's own Council, and not only decided
-such civil cases as were brought before it, but was
-armed with authority, by secret instructions from
-the Crown, to inquire into presumed illegalities,
-and to bring before it alleged offenders against the
-prerogatives of the king. Such oppressive use
-was made of it by Strafford in the time of
-Charles I., that it was abolished in the sixteenth
-year of that monarch's reign.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_349big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_349.jpg" width="560" height="413" alt="" title="STATE TRIAL IN WESTMINSTER HALL IN THE TIME OF ELIZABETH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>STATE TRIAL IN WESTMINSTER HALL IN THE TIME OF ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>To the honour of Edward VI. and his counsellors,
-all these arbitrary Acts of his father were
-repealed by him: the law of treason was restored
-to its state under the Statute of 25 Edward III.;
-religion was again set free, and proclamations by
-the king in council were declared to have no
-longer the force of Acts of Parliament. A few
-years, however, introduced Queen Mary, and a
-reversal of the State religion and all its laws.
-That dreadful persecution which we have narrated,
-and which is one of the darkest spots in the
-history of the world, was carried on to force the
-human mind into its former thraldom; and an
-attempt was made by the Spanish power which
-was then introduced to restore arbitrary rule by a
-singular suggestion. Charles V. presented, through
-his ambassador, a book to the queen, in which the
-principle was laid down that as she was the first
-queen regnant, none of the limitations which had
-been set to the prerogative of her ancestors the
-kings of England, applied to her, but to kings
-only; and that by consequence she was free and
-absolute. This book Mary showed to Gardiner,
-and asked his opinion of it, which was that it was
-a pernicious book, and could work her no good.
-Thereupon Mary threw the book into the fire;
-and Gardiner, on the plea of defining and establishing
-her authority, brought in an Act which,
-giving her the <em>same</em> powers as the kings before her
-possessed, consequently restrained her within the
-same limits.</p>
-
-<p>Mary confirmed the Act of her late brother, confining
-the law of treason to the Statute of the 25th
-of Edward III.; nor does she seem to have created
-fresh treasons, except in one instance&mdash;making it
-treasonable to counterfeit not merely the coin of
-the realm, but also such coins as circulated there
-by Royal consent.</p>
-
-<p>On the accession of Elizabeth the Reformed religion
-was once more restored; and, like her father,
-she was not only declared supreme head of the
-Church, but she assumed all his claims of supreme
-authority in the State. She frequently told her
-Parliament that it existed entirely by her will and
-pleasure; and when the members entered on
-matters disagreeable to her, she snubbed them in
-language which sounds oddly enough in these days
-of high Parliamentary privilege. By the very
-first Statute passed in her reign, she proceeded to
-set up a new Court, ignored everything like Magna
-Charta and the right of jury, making her own will
-the entire law, and placing every subject, with his
-life and property, at her mercy. This was the
-Court of High Commission, which assumed all the
-pretensions of the Star Chamber, but was directed
-more especially to ecclesiastical affairs. The queen
-was empowered to appoint by letters patent, whenever
-she thought proper, such persons, being
-natural-born subjects, as she pleased, to execute
-all jurisdiction concerning spiritual matters, and
-to visit, reform, and redress all errors, heresies,
-schisms, abuses, offences, &amp;c., which by any ecclesiastical
-authority might be lawfully ordered or
-corrected. The Reformers were only too eager
-to put this formidable engine into her hands,
-because it was to crush the Romish hierarchy;
-but they did not reflect that it could on occasion
-be employed against themselves, as Laud and
-Strafford afterwards demonstrated to their children.
-This inquisitorial court was armed with
-authority to employ torture to effect the necessary
-confessions, and its jurisdiction was extended to
-the punishment of breaches of the marriage vow,
-and all misdemeanours and disorders in that
-state. It was, therefore, sanctioned in forcing
-its operations into the very bosom of social and
-domestic life.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, indeed, was fully as arrogant and
-despotic as her father; and nothing but her lion-like
-resolution, her choice of able and unscrupulous
-ministers, and the cunning of her Government,
-could have enabled her to maintain her sway so
-successfully as she did. The homage due to her
-sex no doubt also contributed essentially to this
-result. Yet not all these circumstances could
-prevent her from perceiving that her power was
-silently and even rapidly waning before that of
-the people. She frequently had to tell persons
-that they dared not have done or said certain
-things in her father's time. She had repeatedly
-to concede the point to the pertinacity of her
-Parliament; especially so when, towards the end
-of her reign, the House of Commons called so
-boldly upon her to abolish the monstrous list of
-monopolies which had been granted to her
-favourites, commencing from the seventeenth
-year of her reign. Amongst these monopolies
-were those for the exclusive sale of salt, currants,
-iron, powder, cards, calf-skins, felts, poledavy (a
-kind of canvas), ox shin-bones, train-oil, lifts of
-cloth, potash, anise-seed, vinegar, sea-coal, steel,
-aqua-vitæ, brushes, pots, bottles, saltpetre, lead,
-accidences (or books of the rudiments of Latin
-grammar), oil, calamine stone, oil of blubber,
-glasses, paper, starch, tin, sulphur, new drapery,
-dried pilchards; the exportation of iron, ham,
-beer, and leather; the importation of Spanish
-wool and Irish linen; such an astonishing list,
-in fact, that when it was read over in the
-Commons in 1601, but two years before her
-death, a member in amazement asked, as already
-stated, whether bread was not of the number.</p>
-
-<p>These grants had been obtained from her by her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span>
-courtiers through the weak side of the woman;
-but in the expenses of her government, considering
-the aid she had to render to her Protestant
-allies in Scotland, France, and the Netherlands,
-and the enemies she had to contend with, necessitating
-costly armaments and navies, her administration
-shows most favourably. She would
-never incur debt, but paid off that incurred by her
-predecessors, Edward and Mary. Instead of debasing
-the coin, like her father, she increased its
-purity; and the annual outlay of her government
-averaged only about £65,000 per annum.</p>
-
-<p>In fact, the more we recede from the personal
-history of Elizabeth, and approach her great
-political measures, the more we perceive the true
-evidences of her glory. She was courageous,
-beyond the power of a world in arms to terrify
-her; she was moderate in her demands on her
-subjects, though vain in her person and showy in
-her court; shrewd in her choice of ministers,
-though weak in her indulgence of favourites; she
-was ambitious of the reputation of her country;
-and she rendered to the labouring people their
-birthright in the land, which her father had
-stripped them of in levelling the monastic institutions
-by enacting the Poor Law, the celebrated
-Statute of the forty-third of her reign (1601),
-on which yet rests the whole fabric of parochial
-right to support in age and destitution. In
-nothing did she display her sagacity so much as
-in her repeated declaration that money in her
-subjects' purse was as good as in her own exchequer.
-It was better, for there it would be
-growing tenfold in the ordinary augmentation of
-traffic, ready to yield the State proportionate
-interest on any real emergency.</p>
-
-<p>The great struggle between the Papacy and the
-growing Protestant forces was nearly ended, but
-complete and terrible as was the overthrow of the
-ancient hierarchy in England and Scotland, it
-came at last with a rapidity which astonished even
-the friends of the change. From the time of
-Richard II. hatred of the Papacy had been
-afloat among the people, and even in his day had
-availed to shake the throne, and fill the public
-mind with prognostics of Papal decay. Yet reign
-after reign had passed, and the Church had not
-only maintained its position, but had seemed to
-crush with a successful hand the Protestant
-schismatics. The fires which consumed the more
-daring advocates of the new opinions seemed to
-scare the rest into obscurity. The triumphant
-Church of Rome still presented a front of determined
-strength, and lorded it over the land with
-a magnificence which seemed destined to endure
-for ever.</p>
-
-<p>Henry VII. was a firm upholder of the Roman
-Catholic hierarchy. "He advanced churchism,"
-says Bacon; "he was tender of the privileges of
-sanctuaries, though they did him much mischief;
-he built and endowed many religious foundations,
-besides his memorable hospital of the Savoy; and
-yet he was a great alms-giver in secret, which
-showed that his works in public were rather dedicated
-to God's glory than his own." The fact was
-that Henry VII. was too cautious a man to
-become a reformer. He was too fond of money to
-risk its loss by the most distant chance of an unsuccessful
-enterprise, and he was too recently
-placed on the throne of a vanquished dynasty to
-venture on so bold a measure of ecclesiastical
-revolution had he been thus inclined, which he
-was far enough from being. On the contrary, his
-ministers were almost all great and able churchmen.
-Cardinals Bourchier and Morton, Archbishops
-Deane and Warham, were the accomplished
-churchmen who conducted the governmental
-affairs of Henry; and when the public outcry
-against the worldly and dissolute lives of the
-clergy, both secular and regular, became too loud
-to be disregarded, these clerical ministers of the
-king endeavoured with one hand to reduce the
-corruption by advice and remonstrance, and to
-check the progress of heresy by the stake and
-fagot. Henry VII. permitted this mode of extinguishing
-opinion by destroying the entertainers
-of it. In the ninth year of his reign Joan
-Boughton was burnt in Smithfield, and this auto-da-fé
-was followed by that of William Tylsworth,
-at Amersham, whose daughter was compelled to
-set fire to the pile which destroyed her father,
-and that of Laurence Guest at Salisbury. In
-addition to the victims of these odious crimes,
-many persons were burnt in the cheek, imprisoned,
-and otherwise cruelly treated. These atrocities
-so far from diminishing the heresy, only excited
-the abhorrence of the people and weakened their
-attachment to the Church.</p>
-
-<p>Henry VIII. continued the persecuting practices
-of his father with unabated rigour. In his earlier
-days he appeared determined to do honour to the
-Church beyond most of his predecessors. He
-raised up and created in Cardinal Wolsey such a
-colossus of ecclesiastical pomp and greatness as
-the world had rarely seen. In 1513 Wolsey was
-made Bishop of Tournay, in France; in 1514,
-Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of York; in
-1515, the king's almoner, Cardinal, and Lord High<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>
-Chancellor of the kingdom; in 1518 he became the
-Pope's legate <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">à latere</i> and Bishop of Bath and
-Wells; in 1521, he was made Abbot of St.
-Albans; in 1523, Bishop of Durham, in exchange
-for the bishopric of Bath and Wells; and in 1529,
-Bishop of Winchester, in exchange for that of
-Durham. Besides these dignities, he had pensions
-from the King of France, the Emperor of Germany,
-the Pope, and other princes. The whole
-power of the kingdom was in his hands; for
-Henry, so far from being jealous of his greatness,
-only felt himself the greater for having a servant
-who in pride and splendour rivalled the greatest
-monarchs. The state which Wolsey kept would
-lead us to infer that the Church had reached a
-higher pitch of power and grandeur than ever in
-this country. His palaces were more gorgeous,
-and filled with more evidences of enormous wealth,
-than those of kings. His retinue of servants and
-attendants, many of the latter being nobles or the
-sons of nobles, was inconceivable. It was only
-at Hampton Court that the whole train of his
-servants and the crowd of his visitors, including
-the nobility and ambassadors of foreign courts,
-could be suitably lodged and entertained. For a
-long course of years the whole government of
-England was in his hands. The king did nothing
-without him; and as prime minister and Lord
-Chancellor of England, Archbishop of York, and
-chief judge in the court of Star Chamber, there
-was no man or his estate that was not in his
-power. His revenues from a hundred sources
-were immense, and such was the magnificence of
-his position and influence, that he might well
-forget himself and utter the famous words of
-unparalleled egotism&mdash;"Ego et rex meus."</p>
-
-<p>Who could have deemed that the Papal Church
-was near its end as the State religion of England,
-whilst the king thus honoured its dignitaries?
-The very greatness of Wolsey hastened the fall of
-the Church as well as of himself. The arrogance,
-the rapacity, and the frequent injustice
-of the proud minister made for him and his
-Church deadly enemies. "For," says Strype, "he
-disobliged not only the inferior sort by his pride
-and haughty behaviour, but by laying his hands
-upon the rights, privileges, and profits of the
-gentry and clergy, he made them his implacable
-enemies too. He took upon him to bestow benefices,
-though the real right of patronage lay in
-others. He called all offending persons before him,
-whether of the laity or clergy, and compelled them
-to compound as his officers thought fit."</p>
-
-<p>But in spite of all his grandeur, Wolsey was
-but the creature of the most violent and capricious
-of men. A single word and he fell headlong,
-assuredly shaking in his fall the great
-hierarchy of which he had seemed the most gorgeous
-pillar and ornament; for the whole system
-was corrupt and rotten to the core. The wealth
-of the monastic orders had especially demoralised
-them. Both the regular and secular clergy were
-accused of not only spending their time in taverns
-and gambling-houses, but of abandoning in such
-resorts the very costume which distinguished them
-from the laity, of wearing daggers, gowns, and
-hoods of silk and embroidery, and of letting their
-hair grow long and fall on their shoulders. The
-interiors of the monastic houses were described as
-dens of licentiousness, both in monks and nuns.
-We have it, on the evidence of one of the letters
-of reproof addressed by Archbishop Morton to
-the Abbot of St. Albans, that that famous
-abbey was filled with every species of vice and
-sensuality. He further charges them with cutting
-down the woods, wasting and embezzling the
-property of the Church, stealing the plate, and
-even picking out the jewels from the shrine of the
-patron saint.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst such was the corruption of the clergy,
-these infatuated men fell to quarrelling amongst
-themselves. The most remarkable circumstance,
-moreover, in this schism, is the very question
-which in these latter days has furnished such a
-fiery theme of discussion in both Romanist and
-Protestant Churches&mdash;the Immaculate Conception
-of the Virgin.</p>
-
-<p>With the blind tenacity which often induces
-falling bodies to assert their prerogatives with
-arrogant obstinacy, the Church, in the fourth year
-of Henry VIII., commenced a daring opposition
-to the Government, in defence of the benefit of
-clergy. Henry VII., as we have stated, had
-limited this much abused privilege, by his Statute
-ordering such laymen as claimed it under charge
-of murder, to be burnt in the brawn of the thumb
-with the letter M. Henry VIII. had a Bill introduced
-into Parliament for the purpose of still
-further limiting this mischievous right, and denying
-benefit of clergy to all murderers and robbers
-whatever. This the clergy opposed in Parliament
-and preached against in the pulpit. The Lords
-and Commons were unanimously in favour of
-the Bill as well as the people, but the clergy
-determined not to yield. Whilst the public
-mind was in a ferment on this subject, a tailor of
-London, of the name of Hunne, was brought into
-conflict with the incumbent of his parish, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>
-account of mortuary dues. Being sued in the
-spiritual court, with a boldness which marked the
-rising spirit of the times and which the clergy
-ought to have noted seriously, he took out a writ
-of Præmunire against his prosecutor, for appealing
-to a foreign jurisdiction, the spiritual court, still
-under the authority of the Pope. Enraged at
-this audacity they put the tailor into prison on
-a charge of heresy, and there he was discovered
-hanging dead. A coroner's inquest found the
-officers of the prison guilty of murder, and it appeared
-that the Bishop of London's chancellor, the
-sumner, and bell-ringer had perpetrated the crime.
-This threw the deepest odium on the clergy, and
-alienated the people from them; yet they did not
-cease to prosecute their claim of privilege, and
-after much contest, Wolsey prayed the king
-to refer the matter to the Pope. But even then
-Henry showed that he was tenacious of his
-power, and gave a striking foretaste of what he
-would one day do. He replied, "By permission
-and ordinance of God, we are King of England;
-and the king of England in times past hath
-never had any superior but God only. Therefore
-know you well that we will maintain the right
-of our crown, and of our temporal jurisdiction,
-as well in this as in all other points, in as ample
-a manner as any of our progenitors have done
-before our time."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_353.jpg" width="478" height="500" alt="From a Portrait of the Period" title="JOHN KNOX" />
-<div class="caption"><p>JOHN KNOX. (<i>From a Portrait of the Period.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Whilst Edward VI. thoroughly established Protestantism,
-Mary as completely reinstated Popery,
-and with a series of horrors which for ever stamped
-terror and aversion of Roman Catholic ascendency
-deep on the spirit of the nation. The
-number of persons who died in the flames in that
-awful reign, for their faith and the freedom of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span>
-conscience, is stated to have been 288; but Lord
-Burleigh estimated those who perished by fire,
-torture, famine, and imprisonment at not less than
-400. Besides these, vast numbers suffered cruelly
-in a variety of ways. "Some of the professors,"
-says Coverdale, "were thrown into dungeons,
-noisome holes, dark, loathsome and stinking corners;
-others lying in fetters and chains, and
-loaded with so many irons that they could scarcely
-stir. Some tied in the stocks with their heels
-upwards; some having their legs in the stocks,
-with their necks chained to the wall with gorgets
-of iron; some with hands and legs in the stocks
-at once; sometimes both hands in and both legs
-out; sometimes the right hand with the left leg,
-or the left hand with the right leg, fastened in the
-stocks with manacles and fetters, having neither
-stool nor stone to sit on to ease their woful bodies;
-some standing in Skevington's gyves [commonly
-called "Skevington's daughter"]&mdash;which were most
-painful engines of iron&mdash;with their bodies doubled;
-some whipped and scourged, beaten with rods, and
-buffeted with fists; and some having their hands
-burned with a candle to try their patience, and
-force them to relent; some hunger-pined, and some
-miserably famished and starved." The leading Reformers
-fled out of the kingdom, chiefly to Frankfort
-and to Switzerland; and 800 or more lived to
-become the heads of the restored Church under
-Elizabeth; amongst these were Poynet, Bishop
-of Winchester; Grindal, afterwards Bishop of
-London, and finally Primate of England; Sandys,
-afterwards Archbishop of York; Ball, Bishop of
-Ossory; Pilkington, afterwards Bishop of Durham;
-Bentham, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield;
-Scorey, Bishop of Chichester, and afterwards of
-Hereford; Young, afterwards Archbishop of York;
-Cox, afterwards of Ely; Jewel, afterwards of
-Salisbury; Coverdale, the translator of the Bible,
-Bishop of Exeter; Horn, Dean of Durham; Knox,
-the apostle of Scotland; and Foxe, the martyrologist.
-Besides these eminent men, there were
-Sir John Cheke, the famous Greek scholar, Sir
-Anthony Cooke, and Sir Francis Knollys, afterwards
-Elizabeth's vice-chamberlain.</p>
-
-<p>On Elizabeth's accession to the throne she was
-by no means disposed to go so far as her brother
-Edward had gone, much less as far as the refugees&mdash;who
-now flocked back again from Geneva&mdash;would
-have carried her. They had imbibed the
-rigid independent notions of Calvin and Zwinglius,
-and that probably before their departure from
-England&mdash;a circumstance which there is little
-doubt directed their course to Switzerland, for the
-Reformers who resorted to Frankfort were much
-nearer to her standard&mdash;a standard very much
-the same as that of her father. She renounced all
-allegiance to the Pope and the Church of Rome,
-though she hesitated to declare herself the supreme
-head of the Church till it was conferred on her by
-Parliament. She issued orders to restrain the
-zeal of the Protestants, who began to pull down
-the images, and to restore the service to its state
-in King Edward's time. She gave directions that
-a part of the service should be read in English,
-and forbade the elevation of the Host; but at the
-same time she suspended all preaching.</p>
-
-<p>Parliament, on meeting, passed an Act asserting
-the supremacy of the Crown over the Church, revived
-the Acts of Henry VIII. which abolished the
-power and jurisdiction of the Pope in England, and
-authorised the use of King Edward's Book of
-Common Prayer, with some alterations, chiefly in
-the Communion Service. Thus they cast off the
-Roman Catholics who would not conform, but did
-not go far enough for the more zealous Reformers.
-The oath of Supremacy was presented to the
-bishops, and it had the effect of clearing the
-Church of all but Kitchen of St. Asaph. The inferior
-clergy, however, were not so firm, and only
-six abbots, twelve deans, twelve archdeacons,
-fifteen heads of colleges, fifty prebendaries, and
-eighty rectors refused compliance. The monks
-returned to secular life, but the nuns mostly went
-abroad. The clergy were ordered to wear the
-habits in use in the latter part of King Edward's
-time; and their marriages, against which the
-queen showed a strong repugnance, were put
-under stringent regulations. The press also was
-laid under the most rigorous restrictions, and no
-book was to be printed or published without the
-licence of the queen, or of six of her privy council,
-or of her ecclesiastical commissioners, or the two
-archbishops, the Bishop of London, the chancellors
-of the universities, and the bishop and archdeacons
-of the place where it was produced. All persons
-were commanded to attend their parish churches
-under severe penalties. In 1562 the articles of
-religion of King Edward were reduced from forty-two
-to thirty-nine. In 1571 they underwent a
-further revision, and were made binding on the
-clergy before they could be admitted to orders.</p>
-
-<p>Like her father, the longer she lived the more
-resolute she became to enforce her own dogmas on
-the whole body of her subjects. In the twenty-third
-year of her reign the penalty for non-attendance
-of the Established Church was raised to £20
-per month. In the same year another Act was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>
-passed, declaring it high treason to attempt to
-draw any one to the Church of Rome; and the
-persons thus drawn were equally guilty of treason,
-and all their aiders, abettors, and concealers were
-made guilty of misprision of treason. These arbitrary
-laws against the freedom of opinion went on
-increasing in severity. In 1585 an Act was
-passed which made traitors of all Jesuits and
-other Popish priests who had been ordained
-abroad, and of all subjects whatever educated in
-Papal seminaries who did not immediately return
-home and take the oath of supremacy. The receivers
-of any such persons were declared felons
-without benefit of clergy. Whoever sent money
-to any foreign Jesuits or priests was liable to
-Præmunire; and parents sending their children to
-school abroad without licence from her Majesty
-were liable to a penalty of £100. Fresh Acts
-were added in 1581 and 1593, the former to make
-void all conveyances of property by Popish recusants,
-with the object of escaping the penalties
-imposed upon them, and to decree that the penalty
-of £20 a month for non-attendance at church
-should be levied by distress to the extent of all
-the offenders' goods and two-thirds of their lands;
-the latter ordered all Popish recusants above
-sixteen to repair to their proper places of abode,
-and never more to go more than five miles from
-them without special licence from the bishop of
-the diocese or lieutenant of the county, under
-penalty of forfeiture of their goods and of the
-profits of their lands for life; those having no
-goods or lands to be deemed felons.</p>
-
-<p>But if the atrocities committed by the Roman
-Catholics in the reign of Mary, and the fears of
-their recurrence should the Papists regain the
-power, afforded some plea for these persecutions,
-what is to be said of the same rigours applied to
-the Reformers, who simply desired to form their
-religious opinions on the Bible&mdash;the Divine charter
-of Humanity? Thousands of these, from the
-earliest days of the Reformation, had claimed this
-privilege as their birthright; and many of those
-who came back from the Continent on the termination
-of the Marian persecution, were surprised and
-discouraged to find themselves equally excluded
-with the Catholics from the exercise of their own
-judgments by a Protestant queen. They were
-required to attend the preaching of those against
-whose doctrines they protested, and suffered the
-same monstrous fines if they absented themselves.
-Instead of that "glorious liberty of
-the gospel" which they had promised themselves,
-they had to accept with all homage the
-cut out and prescribed pattern of opinion dictated
-by an autocratic woman, who made a desperate
-stand against the removal of images from the
-churches, and practised many Popish ceremonies
-in her own private chapel. Instead of the form of
-service which the English refugees had established
-at Geneva, in which there were no Litany, no responses,
-and scarcely any rites or ceremonies, they
-were commanded to adopt a form which appeared
-to them little removed from Popery. The Genevan
-refugees&mdash;who, from their demand for the utmost
-purity and primitive simplicity in worship, were
-styled Puritans&mdash;would, had they been permitted,
-have planted a church far more like the church as
-it came to exist in Scotland than that which was
-established for England. They opposed the claims
-of the bishops to a superior rank or authority
-to the presbyters; they denied that they possessed
-the sole right of ordination, and exercise of church
-discipline; they objected to the titles and dignities
-which had been copied by the Anglican Church
-from the Roman, of archdeacons, deans, canons,
-prebendaries; to the jurisdiction of Spiritual
-Courts; to an indiscriminate admission of all
-persons to the Communion; to many parts of the
-liturgy, and of the offices of marriage and burial,
-including the use of the ring in marriage; they
-repudiated set forms of prayers, and the use of
-godfathers and godmothers, the rite of confirmation,
-the observance of Lent and holidays, the
-cathedral worship, the use of the organ, the retention
-of the reading of apocryphal books in
-church, pluralities, non-residence, the presentation
-to livings by the Crown, or any other patron, or
-by any mode but the free election of the people.</p>
-
-<p>But in that age no conception of religious
-liberty was entertained. The Puritans were as
-resolute in their ideas of conformity to their
-notions as Elizabeth was to hers; and had they
-had the power, would have used the same compulsion.
-Knox exhibited that spirit of exclusiveness
-to the extreme in Scotland, even calling for
-the deposition of the queen as a "Jezebel" and
-"an idolatress," because she would not adopt his
-peculiar tenets and view of things. The Puritans
-exhibited the same spirit long after in America
-for the exercise of their faith. In fact, the great
-and divine principle of the entire liberty of the
-gospel was too elevated to be arrived at suddenly
-after so many ages of spiritual despotism, and required
-long and earnest study of the spirit and
-example of Christ. Severe struggles, bloody
-deaths, and incredible sufferings in those who came
-to see the truth, had to be undergone before the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>
-battle of religious freedom was fought out, and
-all parties could admit the plain fact which had
-revealed itself to Charles V. after his abdication
-of the throne, when he amused himself with
-clock making&mdash;that as no two clocks can be
-made to go precisely alike, it is folly to expect
-<em>all</em> men to think precisely alike. "Both parties,"
-says Neal, in his "History of the Puritans,"
-"agreed too well in asserting the necessity of
-a uniformity of public worship, and in using
-the sword of the magistrate for the support
-and defence of their respective principles, which
-they made an ill use of in their turns whenever
-they could grasp the power in their hands. The
-standard of uniformity, according to the bishops,
-was the queen's supremacy, and the laws of the
-land; according to the Puritans, the decrees of
-provincial and national synods, allowed and enforced
-by the civil magistrate: but neither party
-were for admitting that liberty of conscience and
-freedom of profession which is every man's right
-as far as is consistent with the peace of the civil
-Government he lives under." Heresy was, in fact,
-punished by the Government as a purely political
-offence.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, having the power, compelled all those
-clergymen who conformed sufficiently to accept
-livings and bishoprics, not only to conform but
-more or less to persecute their brethren. Even
-men like Parker and Grindal, naturally averse
-from compulsion, were obliged to do her bidding,
-till Grindal rebelled and was set aside; but their
-places were supplied by Sandys, who had himself
-fled from Popish compulsion, and by Whitgift,
-who rigorously enforced the laws. Sandys actually
-sentenced the anabaptists who, in 1575, were
-burnt at the stake by order of the queen&mdash;for to
-this pass it came: Hammond, a ploughman, being
-burnt at Norwich in 1579, and Kett, a member of
-one of the universities, in the same place, ten years
-afterwards, under Elizabeth.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the state of the Protestant Church at
-the termination of the period we are now reviewing.
-The queen discouraged preaching and instruction
-of the people, allowing many bishoprics,
-prebends, and livings to be vacant, and receiving
-their incomes. She declared that one or two
-preachers in a county was enough, probably fearing
-the prevalence of the more advanced opinions.
-Parker in his time had been ordered to enforce
-strict compliance with the rubric, and numbers of
-the most eminent and eloquent clergymen resigned
-their livings and travelled over the country, and
-preached where they could, "as if," says Bishop
-Jewell, "they were apostles; and so they were
-with regard to their poverty, for silver and gold
-they had none." Being, however, continually
-brought before the authorities and fined and otherwise
-punished, they determined to break off all
-connection with the public churches, and form
-themselves into an avowed separate communion,
-worshipping God in their own way and being
-ready to suffer for His sake. Here, then, commenced
-the great cause of Nonconformity, and the
-formation of all those sects which from time to
-time have since appeared, each claiming&mdash;and
-justly&mdash;the right to worship God and to regulate
-their particular church as seems conformable to
-their understanding of the Scriptures. These
-separate assemblies, however, were stigmatised as
-conventicles, and from this time many were the
-laws passed to put them down, as we shall hereafter
-find. Among the Nonconformists a most
-zealous and resolute sect arose called Brownists,
-from Robert Brown, a preacher in the diocese of
-Norwich, a man of good family, and said to be a
-relative of Lord Burleigh. His followers soon
-acquired the name of Independents, which they
-afterwards changed for that of Congregationalists,
-from their denial of all ecclesiastical dignities and
-authority whatever, asserting that each congregation
-constitutes a complete church, with the right
-to nominate their own minister and conduct their
-own affairs. This body of Christians, at this day
-so extensive and respectable, of course felt the
-especial weight of the persecution of the Established
-Church, with which it refused to hold the
-slightest communion; yet to such a degree did it
-flourish&mdash;a proof of the onward spirit of the time,
-that Sir Walter Raleigh declared in Parliament
-that there were before the death of Elizabeth not
-less than 20,000 members of that body in Norfolk,
-Essex, and the neighbourhood of London.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_357big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_357.jpg" width="382" height="560" alt="" title="REDUCED FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE GREAT BIBLE, ALSO CALLED CROMWELLS BIBLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>REDUCED FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE GREAT BIBLE, ALSO CALLED CROMWELL'S BIBLE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In the narration of the struggles of this period
-in Scotland we have sufficiently traced the persecution
-of the Protestants by the Romish Church&mdash;the
-martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton, George
-Wishart, Walter Mill, and others; the murder of
-Cardinal Beaton, and the final triumph of Knox
-and his compeers, from which period the organisation
-of the Protestant Church of Scotland went
-on rapidly. In 1560 the Lords of the Congregation
-entered Edinburgh in arms; and Parliament
-assembling, abolished for ever the Pope's jurisdiction,
-abolished the celebration of Mass, and authorised
-"The Confession of the Faith and Doctrine
-believed and professed by the Protestants of Scotland."
-An Act also was passed to pull down all
-cloisters and abbey-churches still left standing:
-and the Church, not waiting for any further enactment
-of the Parliament or Crown, went on exercising
-its own proper functions as an independent
-church, governed, not by the State, but by presbyteries,
-synods, and general assemblies. In 1580
-the General Assembly, after having at various
-times diminished the power and rank of bishops,
-declared that episcopacy was unscriptural and
-unlawful&mdash;a dictum which the Parliament fully
-ratified in 1592, establishing the Presbyterian
-Church as the national one, with general assembly,
-provincial synods, presbyteries, and kirk sessions.
-In 1597 the Parliament admitted certain representatives
-of the clergy to seats in it, to which the
-General Assembly assented at its next meeting;
-and thus was completed the system of Church
-government in Scotland at that time.</p>
-
-<p>The sixteenth century produced as great a
-revolution in Literature and Science as in religion.
-We still look back to this era for some of the
-greatest names and greatest works which have
-adorned and enlightened not only our own country,
-but the whole civilised world. When we enumerate
-Sir Thomas More, Lord Surrey, Roger
-Ascham, Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, Shakespeare,
-Marlowe, Bacon, Buchanan, Gawin Douglas,
-Dunbar, and Sir David Lyndsay, we remind our
-readers that we are moving amid a constellation
-of genius, than which Time has scarcely any
-brighter. But in the two words Shakespeare
-and Bacon, we pronounce the names and glorious
-births of dramatic and philosophic genius, which
-have placed England on the summit of intellectual
-fame, by works never surpassed before or
-since in any nation, and by discoveries in science
-and art which have flowed from the "Novum
-Organum" of Bacon as from an eternal and ever-strengthening
-fountain. True it is both men
-belong, by their works, rather to the succeeding
-period than to the present; but Bacon had,
-long before the death of Elizabeth, sketched
-out the plan of his immortal work, though he
-had not dared to publish it; and Shakespeare
-had not only written his poems, but had also
-written and acted in many of his most brilliant
-and original plays. By these great writers
-the English language was established as a
-classical language; and though it has since
-extended and connected itself with the progress
-of knowledge and most astonishing and varied
-discoveries, we can produce no purer, no stronger,
-nor more eloquent specimens of it than from the
-pages of Shakespeare, which continue to be read
-and listened to on our stage, the genuine speech
-of Englishmen&mdash;somewhat quaint occasionally,
-but always musical to the ear, familiar to the
-sense, and animating to the spirit.</p>
-
-<p>The violent changes and spoliations of the
-Reformation did not check the foundation of
-new colleges and seminaries of learning&mdash;the
-fountains, under a more liberal order of things,
-certain to produce noble results. Even Henry
-VIII., in his wholesale destruction of endowed
-property, and though college property was included
-in the Acts which he procured from his
-obsequious Parliament, for the most part spared
-the resources of education. His reign was distinguished
-by the foundation, in Oxford, of
-Brazenose College, in 1509, by Sir William
-Smith, Bishop of Lincoln, and Sir Richard Sutton,
-of Prestbury, in Cheshire. Old Richard Fox,
-Bishop of Winchester, who had been prime
-minister of Henry VII., and still was of the
-council of his son, in 1516 founded Corpus
-Christi. The only exception to Henry VIII.'s
-patronage of the colleges occurred in those founded
-by Wolsey&mdash;his Cardinal College at Oxford, and
-his college at Ipswich, which both fell with him.
-In 1545 Henry himself founded Christ Church
-instead of that of Wolsey, which he then dissolved.
-In 1554 Trinity College was founded on the basis
-of Durham College by Sir Thomas Pope. In
-1555 Sir Thomas White, alderman and merchant
-tailor of London, founded St. John's College, on
-the site of Bernard College. These were in the
-reign of Queen Mary. In Elizabeth's time rose
-Jesus College, in 1571, from funds furnished by
-Dr. Hugh Price, and augmented by the queen
-herself.</p>
-
-<p>In Cambridge three colleges arose during the
-reign of Henry VII.&mdash;the only educational endowments
-of any note during that period. In
-1496 John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, founded Jesus
-College. In 1505 Margaret Countess of Richmond,
-mother of Henry VII., founded Christ's
-College, and also in 1511, very shortly before her
-son's death, St. John's College. In 1519 Edward
-Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, commenced the
-College of Magdalene; but as he was executed for
-high treason in 1521, Lord Audley, the Lord
-Chancellor, completed it. Henry VIII. founded
-Trinity College in 1546, and at the same time
-four new professorships in the university; namely,
-for theology, law, Greek, and Hebrew. Henry
-was proud of his learning, and had the good sense
-to support, with all the imperative force of his
-character, the new study of Greek, when it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>
-violently assailed by the Church and professors.
-Dr. Caius founded the college named after him,
-and popularly pronounced "Keys," on the basis
-of the old hall of Gonville, in 1558&mdash;the only
-extension of Cambridge University under Queen
-Mary. Sir Walter Mildmay founded Emmanuel
-College in 1584, and in 1598 Sidney-Sussex
-College was founded by Lady Frances Sidney,
-widow of Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex.</p>
-
-<p>The universities of Scotland were greatly
-extended during this period. That of Aberdeen
-was founded in 1494 under the name of King's
-College, James IV. having procured a bull for
-that purpose from Pope Alexander VI., though
-the bishop was the main benefactor. In 1593
-Marischal College, in the same university, was
-erected by George, Earl Marischal. At St.
-Andrews the college of St. Leonard's was established
-in 1512 by Archbishop Stuart and John
-Hepburn, prior of the metropolitan church. This
-was afterwards united with that of St. Salvator
-(founded in 1456), and together bore the name of
-the United College. St. Mary's, in the same
-university, was founded, in 1537, by Beaton.
-In 1582 James VI. founded the University
-of Edinburgh. In 1591 Elizabeth founded in
-Dublin the University of Trinity College.</p>
-
-<p>Contemporaneous with these colleges and universities
-rose a great number of grammar-schools,
-designed to extend the knowledge of Latin to
-the mass of the people. Among the magnificent
-endowments, since too much withdrawn,
-by the influence of wealth, from the poor and
-the orphan, for whom they were designed, and
-devoted to the use of the affluent, for whom they
-were not designed, we may name St. Paul's
-School, London, founded by Dean Colet in
-1509; Christ's Hospital, London, founded by
-Edward VI. in 1553, the year of his death;
-Westminster School, established by Elizabeth,
-1560; and Merchant Taylors School, founded by
-that guild in 1561. In Scotland the High School
-of Edinburgh was founded by the magistrates of
-that city in 1577.</p>
-
-<p>It is a curious fact that the revival of the
-Greek language and literature was coincident
-with the Reformation. Widely opposed as the
-spirit of Christianity and of the Greek mythology
-are, yet in one particular they are identical,
-in breathing a spirit of liberty and popular
-dominance which were not long in showing
-their effects in Great Britain. The Scriptures
-were now translated and made familiar to the
-people, at least by means of Puritan preachers,
-who were thus proclaiming that God had made
-of one blood all the nations of the earth, and that
-He was no respecter of persons; thereby laying
-the foundations of eternal justice in the
-public mind, and teaching, as a necessary consequence,
-that the end and object of all human
-government was not the good of kings or nobles,
-but of the collective people. The poets, the historians,
-the dramatists, and the philosophers of
-republican Greece were made to bring all the
-force of their fiery eloquence, their glowing narratives,
-and their subtle reasoning to bear upon the
-same theme; presenting not only arguments for
-general liberty and a popular polity, but examples
-of the most sublime struggles of a small but
-glorious people against domestic tyrants and the
-vast hordes of barbarism without, of noblest
-orators thundering against the oppression of the
-mighty, of awful tragedians steeping their stage
-in the imaged blood of tyrants and of traitors,
-of patriots perishing in joy for the salvation of
-their country.</p>
-
-<p>It was not to be wondered at that on the
-bursting of these novel elements like a sudden and
-strong torrent into the arena of human life, there
-should arise a fearful struggle and combat between
-the old intellectual ideas and the new. The two-fold
-inundation pouring from the hills of Palestine
-and of Greece, and in united vastness deluging
-Europe, threatened to destroy all the old land-marks
-of the schoolmen, and to drown Duns
-Scotus and Aquinas along with the owls and
-bats of the monkish cells and dream chambers.
-It was soon seen that this new language was the
-language of the very book from which the Reformers
-drew their words winged with the fire of
-destruction to the ancient slavery of popular ignorance
-and popular dependence on priests and
-Popes, and no time was lost in denouncing it as a
-gross and new-fangled heresy. It was a heresy
-from which not only freedom in Church but in
-State was to spring; the seed from which grew, in
-the next age, our Hampdens, Marvels, Pyms,
-Prynnes, Cromwells, and Miltons.</p>
-
-<p>Yet it is only due to Henry VIII., to his ministers
-Wolsey, Fox, and More, and to other eminent
-dignitaries&mdash;amongst them Cardinal Pole in Queen
-Mary's reign&mdash;to state that they were zealous
-advocates and promoters of the Greek learning.
-The very first public school in which Greek is
-said to have been taught in England was the
-new foundation of Dean Colet, St. Paul's school,
-where the celebrated scholar William Lilly, who
-had studied in Rhodes, was the master. Wolsey<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>
-introduced it into his new colleges, and Henry
-VIII. being at Woodstock, and hearing of a
-furious harangue made at Oxford against the
-study of the Greek Testament in the University,
-immediately ordered the teaching of it, and established
-a professorship of it also in Cambridge.</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding, a violent opposition arose
-against the study of Greek in consequence of the
-authority it gave to the doctrines of the Reformers,
-rendering an appeal to the original
-text invincible. Erasmus informs us that the
-preachers and declaimers against his edition of
-the Greek Testament really appeared to believe
-that he was by its means attempting to introduce
-some new kind of religion. The book was prohibited
-in the University of Cambridge, and a
-heavy penalty decreed for any one found with it
-in his possession. Erasmus attempted to teach the
-Greek grammar of Chrysoloras there, but a terrible
-outcry was raised against him, and his
-scholars soon deserted his benches. As the contest
-went on, however, the Universities, both here
-and abroad, became divided into the factions of the
-Greeks and Trojans, the Trojans being those who
-were advocates for Latin, but not for Greek. The
-Greeks, however, victorious, as of old, expelled the
-works of the famous Duns Scotus from the
-schools; they were torn up and trodden under
-foot; and the King sent down a Commission
-which altogether abolished the study of this old
-scholastic philosophy which had had so long and
-absolute a reign.</p>
-
-<p>Yet the new knowledge appears for some
-time after the first excitement to have made less
-progress in the schools than at Court and amongst
-the aristocracy. On the surface, therefore, the
-age appeared a very learned one. All the chief
-churchmen on both sides of the question in the
-reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI.&mdash;Wolsey,
-Fox, Gardiner, Cranmer, Ridley, Tunstall, Cardinal
-Pole&mdash;were men of great acquirements. Henry
-was a fine scholar, and, despite his harsh treatment
-of his wives and children, gave to the
-latter educations perhaps superior to those of any
-princes or princesses of the time. Edward was
-steeped in learning, to the injury of his overtaxed
-constitution. Mary and Elizabeth were
-both accomplished linguists, speaking Latin,
-French, and Spanish fluently; and Elizabeth
-adding to these Greek and Italian, with a
-smattering of Dutch and German. Mary was
-studiously instructed in the originals of the
-Scriptures, and made a translation of the Latin
-paraphrase of St. John, by Erasmus, which was
-printed and read as part of the Church service, till
-it was ordered to be burnt by herself in her own
-reign with other heretical books. She was deeply
-read in the fathers, and in the works of Plato,
-Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, and selected portions of
-Horace, Lucan, and Livy. Elizabeth was a
-poetess of no mean pretensions and, besides her
-knowledge of the classical and modern languages,
-read by preference immense quantities of history.
-Roger Ascham, the teacher of Lady Jane Grey,
-said that "numberless honourable ladies" of
-the time surpassed the daughters of Sir Thomas
-More, but that none could compete with the
-Princess Elizabeth; that she spoke and wrote
-Greek and Latin beautifully; that he had read
-with her the whole of Cicero, and great part of
-Livy; that she devoted her mornings to the New
-Testament in Greek, select orations of Isocrates,
-and the tragedies of Sophocles, whilst she drew
-religious knowledge from St. Cyprian and the
-"Common-places" of Melanchthon; that she was
-skilful in music, but did not greatly delight in it.</p>
-
-<p>With such examples, no wonder that there
-were such learned ladies at Court as Lady Jane
-Grey, Lady Tyrwhit, Mary Countess of Arundel,
-Joanna Lady Lumley, and her sister Mary the
-Duchess of Norfolk&mdash;all learned in Greek and
-Latin, and authoresses of translations from them;
-the two daughters of Sir Thomas More, and the
-three daughters of the learned Sir Anthony Cooke&mdash;one
-of them the wife of the all-powerful statesman
-Burleigh, another the mother of the illustrious
-Francis Bacon, and the third, Lady Killigrew, a
-famous Hebrew scholar, as well as profound in
-Latin and Greek. It is extraordinary that
-learning, which had been so ardently taken up by
-these accomplished women, should have languished
-in the schools and amongst the people. Yet such
-was the fact, and is explained by the violent
-and continual changes which were taking place in
-Church and State. A great part of the reign of
-Henry VIII. was engrossed by the conflict with
-the Court of Rome regarding his divorce from
-Catherine, and then by his stupendous onslaught
-on the monastic and cathedral property. As no
-man at the Universities could tell where promotion
-was to come from in the Church under a king who
-equally took vengeance on Romanist and Protestant
-who dared to differ from him, and as it was
-equally uncertain whether, in some new fit of
-anger or caprice, he might not suppress the colleges
-as he had suppressed monasteries, ministers, and
-chantries, it is not surprising to hear Latimer
-exclaim, "It would pity a man's heart to hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>
-what I hear of the state of Cambridge. There be
-few that study divinity, but so many as of necessity
-must furnish the college."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_361big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_361.jpg" width="560" height="424" alt="" title="CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, LONDON 1899" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, LONDON (1899).</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Under Edward VI. things became far worse.
-Then it was a scramble amongst his courtiers who
-should get the most of the property devoted to
-religion or learning. Bishoprics, good livings,
-the rest of the monastic lands which yet remained
-with the Crown did not suffice. These
-cormorants clutched at the University resources.
-They appropriated exhibitions and pensions, and,
-says Warton, in his "History of English Poetry,"
-"Ascham, in a letter to the Marquis of Northampton,
-dated 1550, laments the ruin of grammar-schools
-throughout England, and predicts the
-speedy extinction of the universities from this
-growing calamity. At Oxford the schools were
-neglected by the professors and pupils, and allotted
-to the lowest purposes. Academical degrees were
-abrogated as anti-Christian. Reformation was
-soon turned into fanaticism. Absurd refinements,
-concerning the inutility of human learning,
-were superadded to the just and rational purgation
-of Christianity from the Papal corruption." He
-adds that the Government visitors of the University
-totally stripped the public library, established
-by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, of all
-its books and manuscripts; and Latimer, in one of
-his sermons about that time, declared his belief
-that there were then 10,000 fewer students than
-there had been twenty years before.</p>
-
-<p>Classical literature did not fare better during
-the persecuting reign of Mary, though Cardinal
-Pole was a warm friend of the introduction of
-Greek, notwithstanding the use made of it by the
-Protestants. When he urged Sir Thomas Pope to
-establish a professorship of that language in his
-new college of Trinity, Sir Thomas replied, "I
-fear the times will not bear it now. I remember,
-when I was a young scholar at Eton, the Greek
-tongue was growing apace, the study of which is
-now a-late much decayed." Nor was it likely
-when Elizabeth discouraged preaching even, saying
-that "one or two preachers in a county was
-enough," that Classical studies would be much encouraged.
-In fact, nothing could be lower than
-the condition into which both learning and
-preaching had fallen in Elizabeth's Church. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>
-Bishop of Bangor stated that he had but two
-preachers in all his diocese. Numbers of churches
-stood vacant, according to Neal, where there was
-no preaching, nor even reading of the homilies for
-months together, and in many parishes there could
-be found no one to baptise the living or bury the
-dead; in others, unlearned mechanics, and even
-the gardeners of those who had secured the
-clerical glebes and income, performed the only
-service that there was. But no doubt this afforded
-good scope to the Puritans, who had now the Bible
-in English, Cranmer's, Coverdale's, and Parker's,
-or the Bishops' Bible; and these zealous men,
-despite the crushing penalties, would find constant
-opportunities of diffusing their knowledge.
-In Oxford there were only three divines in 1563
-who were considered able to preach a sermon, and
-these three were Puritans. The knowledge of the
-Classics was fallen so low that all that Archbishop
-Parker required of the holders of his three
-new scholarships in Cambridge, in 1567, was that
-they should be well instructed in grammar and be
-able to make a verse. The classical qualifications
-in the two Universities were below contempt.</p>
-
-<p>It is a satisfaction to turn from this humiliating
-state of things to the great lights of genius and
-learning which were burning brightly amid this
-thick darkness. Here there meets us the illustrious
-constellation of names of More, Ascham,
-Puttenham, Sidney, Hooker, Bacon, Barclay, Skelton,
-Sackville, Heywood, Surrey, Wyatt, Spenser,
-Shakespeare, Marlowe, and others&mdash;names which
-cast a lustre over this period, and in whose blaze
-all its faults and failings are forgotten.</p>
-
-<p>Of the prose writers Sir Thomas More (<i>b</i>. 1480,
-<i>d</i>. 1535) is one of the earliest and most famous.
-He was equally remarkable for the suavity of his
-manners, his wit, his independence of character,
-and the eloquence and originality of his writings.
-We have seen how he served and was served by
-Henry VIII. Erasmus, who stayed some time at
-his house, says, "With him you might imagine
-yourself in the academy of Plato. But I should
-do injustice to his house by comparing it to the
-academy of Plato, where numbers and geometrical
-figures, and sometimes moral virtues, were the
-subjects of discussion. It would be more just
-to call it a school, and an exercise of Christian
-religion. All its inhabitants, male and female,
-applied their leisure to liberal studies and profitable
-reading, although piety was their first care.
-No wrangling, no angry word was heard in it, no
-one was idle; every one did his duty with alacrity,
-and not without a temperate cheerfulness."</p>
-
-<p>More's chief work is his "Utopia," and it may
-be pronounced the first enunciation of a system of
-Socialism since the Apostolic age. It may surprise
-many, but More, in fact, was the forerunner of
-Proudhon and Fourrier. His "Utopia" describes
-an island in which a commonwealth is established
-completely on Socialistic principles. No one is
-allowed to possess separate property; because such
-possession produces an unequal division of the
-necessaries of life, demoralising those who become
-inordinately rich and, in a different direction, depraving
-and degrading those who are obliged to
-labour incessantly. What is remarkable, More in
-his imaginary commonwealth admits the fullest
-toleration of religious belief, though he fell so far
-in practice as to join in the persecutions of his
-time. His principles were too noble for his practice;
-yet with this one flaw he was one of the
-most admirable men who ever lived. His
-"Utopia" was written by him in Latin, but was
-translated into English in 1551, afterwards by
-Bishop Burnet, and in 1808 by Arthur Cayley.
-In addition to this, he wrote a life of Richard III.,
-and various compositions in Latin and English,
-besides a number of letters which have been published
-in his collected works. As a specimen of
-the prose style and state of the language in the
-early part of the reign of Henry VIII., we may
-quote a short passage from a letter to his second
-wife, Alice Middleton, in 1528, on hearing that
-his house at Chelsea was burnt down:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Maistress Alyce, in my most harty wise I recommend
-me to you; and whereas I am enfourmed
-by my son Heron of the losse of our barnes and of
-our neighbours also, with all the corne that was
-therein, albeit (saving God's pleasure) it is grit
-pitie of so much good corne loste; yet sith it hath
-liked Hym to sende us such a chaunce, we must
-and are bounden, not only to be content, but also
-to be glad of His visitacion. He sente us all that
-we have loste; and sith He hath by such a chaunce
-taken it away againe, His pleasure be fulfilled.
-Let us never grudge thereat, but take in good
-worth, and hartily thank Him, as well for adversitie
-as for prosperite; and peradventure we have
-more cause to thank Him for our losse than for
-our winning; for His wisdome better seeth what is
-good for us than we do our selves. Therefore I
-pray you be of good chere, and take all the howshold
-with you to church, and there thanke God,
-both for what He hath given us, and for that
-He hath taken from us, and for that He hath left
-us, which, if it please Hym He can encrease when
-He will. And if it please Hym to leave us yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>
-lesse, at His pleasure be it. I pray you to make
-some good insearche what my poore neighbours
-have loste, and bid them take no thought therefore;
-for an I shold not leave myself a spone,
-there shal no poore neighboure of mine bere no
-losse by any chaunce happened in my house. I
-pray you be with my children, and your howshold
-mery in God."</p>
-
-<p>Latimer (<i>b.</i> 1470, <i>d.</i> 1555) was the son of a
-Leicestershire farmer, and rose to be Bishop of
-Worcester, and to the far higher rank of a martyr
-for his faith. He has been pronounced by writers
-of this age as a good but not a great man. To
-our mind he was a very great man. Not in
-worldly wisdom, for he was simple as a child;
-but he was a genius, true, racy, and original.
-He was made, as his sermons show, for a preacher
-to the people rather than to princes, though to
-them he bore a bold and unblenching testimony.
-But to the people he was a prophet and an
-awakener. He had been amongst them; he knew
-their deepest feelings, their most secret thoughts
-their language and their desires; and he addressed
-them from the pulpit with the loving and picturesque
-familiarity which he used at their firesides.
-There is occasionally much rudeness in his
-discourses, his images are often bizarre, his allusions
-grotesque; but there is a life that kindles,
-there is a poetry that warms, a spirit that arouses,
-a bold aggressive truth which must have made his
-hearers look into their souls and think. We take
-a short passage from a sermon preached before
-Edward VI. in 1549&mdash;twenty-one years after the
-composition of More just given, and yet how much
-more old-fashioned is the language. After telling
-the king that so plain was his preaching that it
-had been called seditious, and that his friends,
-with tears in their eyes, assured him he would get
-into the Tower, he says:&mdash;"There be more of
-myne opinion than I. I thought I was not alone.
-I have now gotten one felowe more, a companyon
-of sedytyon, and wot ye who is my felowe? Esaye
-the prophete. I spake but of a lytle preaty shyllynge;
-but he speaketh to Hierusalem after
-another sorte, and was so bold to meddle with
-theyr coine (Isaiah i. 22). Thou proude, thou
-covetous, thou hautye cytye of Hierusalem, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">argentum
-tuum versum est in scoriam</i>; thy sylver is
-turned into what? into testyiers. <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Scoriam</i>&mdash;into
-drosse. Ah, sediciouse wretch, what had he to do
-wyth the mynte? Why should not he have lefte
-that matter to some master of policy to reprove?
-Thy sylver is drosse, it is not fine, it is counterfeit,
-thy sylver is turned, thou haddest good sylver.
-What pertayned that to Esaye? Mary, he espyeth
-a piece of divinity in that policie; he threatened
-them God's vengeance for it. He went to the
-rote of the matter, which was covetousness. He
-espyed two poyntes in it: that eythere it came of
-covetousnesse, whych became hym to reprove; er
-els that it tended to the hurte of the pore people,
-for the naughtyness of the sylver was the occasion
-of dearth to all thynges in the realme. He imputeth
-it to them as a great cryme. He may be
-called a mayster of sedicion in dede. Was this
-not a sidicyouse varlet to tell them thys to theyr
-beardes, to theyr face?"</p>
-
-<p>Amongst writers of this age who tended to
-purify and perfect the language were Sir Thomas
-Wilson, and Puttenham, who wrote the "Art of
-English Poesy," which was published in 1582.
-Wilson (<i>b.</i> 1520, <i>d.</i> 1581) wrote his "Art of Rhetorique"
-thirty years before, only three years later
-than the sermon of Latimer's just quoted; yet
-what an advance in both style and orthography:&mdash;"What
-maketh the lawyer to have such utterance?
-Practice. What maketh the preacher to
-speake so soundly? Practice. Yea, what maketh
-women go so fast awai with their wordes? Marie,
-practice, I warrant you. Therefore in all faculties,
-diligent practice and earnest exercise are the
-only thynges that make men prove excellent."</p>
-
-<p>Contemporary with More was Sir Thomas Elyot
-(<i>b.</i> 1495, <i>d.</i> 1546), whose treatise called "The
-Governor" is a fine example of vigorous English.
-Cranmer and Ridley were not less distinguished
-for their fine style than for their liberal principles;
-and Roger Ascham (<i>b.</i> 1515, <i>d.</i> 1568), the instructor
-of Lady Jane Grey and Queen Elizabeth,
-was equally famed for his caligraphy, his musical
-talents, his proficiency in the new learning&mdash;Greek&mdash;for
-his classical Latin, and his English
-composition. To relieve the severities of study he
-practised archery, and wrote his "Toxophilus,
-the Schole of Shootinge," to recommend that old
-English art. In it he strongly advocated the old
-English language, and the abstinence from foreign
-terms, a recommendation which succeeding generations
-wisely declined, to the vast enrichment
-of the language. But Ascham was a genuine
-Englishman, and advised his countrymen to follow
-the counsel of Aristotle, and "speak as the common
-people do, but think as wise men do." His
-next principal work was the "Scholemaster: a
-plaine and perfite way of teaching children to
-understand, write, and speak the Latin tong"&mdash;a
-work which has become more known than any
-other of his, because in it he mentions his visit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>
-to Lady Jane Grey at Bradgate Park, near
-Leicester, where he found her deep in Plato's
-"Phædo" while the rest of the family were
-hunting. But besides these works he wrote on
-the affairs of Germany; and Latin poems, Latin
-letters, and his celebrated Apology for the Lord's
-Supper, in opposition to the Mass.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_364.jpg" width="560" height="384" alt="From a Woodcut in Foxe's Martyrs, 1563" title="LATIMER PREACHING BEFORE EDWARD VI" />
-<div class="caption"><p>LATIMER PREACHING BEFORE EDWARD VI. (<i>From a Woodcut in Foxe's "Martyrs," 1563.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>As a prose writer Edmund Spenser (<i>b.</i> 1553,
-<i>d.</i> 1599), the author of the "Faerie Queene," must
-be mentioned for his "View of the State of
-Ireland," which contained many judicious recommendations
-for the improvement of that country,
-and presents in its serious statesmanlike views a
-curious contrast to the allegorical fancy of his
-great poem. But far greater as prose writers of
-the latter portion of this period stand forth Sir
-Philip Sidney and the "judicious Hooker." Sir
-Philip Sidney (<i>b.</i> 1554, <i>d.</i> 1586), who was celebrated
-as the most perfect gentleman of his time,
-or as, in the phrase of the age, "the Mirror of
-Courtesy," was killed at the age of thirty-three
-at Zutphen. Yet he left behind him the
-"Arcadia," a romance; the "Defence of Poesie,"
-and various minor poems and prose articles, which
-were published after his death. The person
-and writings of Sidney have been the theme of
-unbounded panegyric. He was a gentleman
-finished and complete, in whom mildness was
-associated with courage, erudition mollified by
-refinement, and courtliness dignified by truth.
-He is a specimen of what the English character
-was capable of producing when foreign admixtures
-had not destroyed its simplicity, or politeness
-debased its honour. In his own day he was the
-object of the most enthusiastic praises, and has
-been lauded in the most vivid terms by writers of
-every period since. Near his own times Nash,
-Lord Brooke, Camden, Ben Jonson, Naunton,
-Aubrey, Milton, and Cowley, were his eulogists;
-Wordsworth and the writers of our own day are
-equally complimentary. Perhaps, after so continuous
-and high-toned a hymning, a modern
-reader, taking up his "Arcadia" for the first
-time, would find it stiff, formal, and pedantic.
-He might miss that fervid spirit which animates
-the fictions of the great masters of our own age,
-and wonder at the warmth of so many great
-authorities upon what failed to warm him. In
-fact, it must be confessed, that it is a noble
-specimen of what pleased the taste of the time
-in which it was written. It displays imagination,
-though often on stilts instead of on wings, and
-breathes the spirit which animated its author, of
-a refined nature, a chivalrous temperament, a
-generous heart, and the instincts of the perfect
-scholar. Of that period it is a noble monument;
-in this it is a unique work of art, which, however,
-strikes us as fair, mild, and antiquated. "The
-Defence of Poesie," with much of the same
-mannerism, is worthy of a poet, and of a man
-whose life was the finest poem, from its generous
-patronage of talent, its high literary taste,
-and the hero's death, in the very agonies of
-which he gave from his own scorched lips the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span>
-draught of cold water to the dying soldier at his
-side.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_365big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_365.jpg" width="560" height="566" alt="" title="ROGER ASCHAM'S VISIT TO LADY JANE GREY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ROGER ASCHAM'S VISIT TO LADY JANE GREY. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_364">364.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The list of the prose writers of this period
-presents no more honourable name than that of
-the great champion of the Church of England,
-Richard Hooker (<i>b.</i> 1553, <i>d.</i> 1600), whose composition
-is as remarkable for its cogent reasoning
-and elevated style, as Sidney's is for fancy and
-grace of sentiment. His "Ecclesiastical Polity,"
-in eight books, is regarded as the most able
-defence of church establishments that ever appeared.
-From the breadth of its principles it
-drew the applause of Pope Clement VIII. as well
-as of the royal pedant, James I. To those who
-study it as an example of the intellect, learning,
-and language of the time, it presents itself, even
-to such as dissent from its conclusions, as a
-labour most honourable to the country and age
-which produced it.</p>
-
-<p>A still greater man was yet behind. Bacon
-(<i>b.</i> 1561, <i>d.</i> 1626) was figuring as the great lawyer,
-the eloquent advocate and senator; but under
-the duties of these offices lay hid the master
-who was to revolutionise philosophy and science;
-the father of the new world of discovery, and the
-most marvellous career of social and intellectual
-advance. To this period he is the sun sending its
-rays above the horizon, but not yet risen. His
-speeches, his "Essays Civil and Moral," and
-"Maxims of Law," already foretold his fame.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>A very different writer was John Lyly, the
-Euphuist (<i>b.</i> 1553, <i>d.</i> 1601). Lyly was a poet
-and dramatist of repute; but in 1579 he published
-"Euphues; or, Anatomy of Wit," which
-was followed, in 1581, by a second part, called
-"Euphues and his England." In this he invented
-a style and phraseology of his own,
-which seized the fancy of the public like a mania,
-and set the Court, the ladies, the dandies, and
-dilettanti of the day speaking and writing in a
-most affected, piebald, and fantastic style. Sir
-Philip Sidney, in his "Arcadia," ridiculed it, not
-without being in a considerable degree affected by
-it himself. Shakespeare, in "Love's Labour's Lost,"
-and Sir Walter Scott, in his Sir Piercie Shafton,
-in "The Monastery," have made the modern public
-familiar with it. Yet, after all, probably Lyly
-was only laughing in his sleeve at the follies of
-others, and was, as has been asserted, aiming at
-the purification of the language; for in his
-dramas his diction is simple enough, considering
-the taste of the age.</p>
-
-<p>Among the rising writers was also Sir Walter
-Raleigh; but his literary reputation belongs
-rather to the age that was coming. On the whole,
-the period from the reign of Henry VII. to the
-end of that of Elizabeth was a period more
-kindred to our own than any which had gone
-before it. It produced prose writers whose minds
-still hold communion with and influence those of
-to-day. Its philosophy had assumed a more
-practical stamp, and was full of the elements of
-change and progress. Its poetry, which we have
-now to consider, reached the very highest pitch of
-human genius.</p>
-
-<p>The earliest poet who has left any name of
-note is Stephen Hawes, whose principal work was
-"The Pastime of Pleasure," which was printed
-by Wynkyn de Worde in 1517. Hawes was a
-native of Suffolk, had travelled much, and by his
-proficiency in French and French literature
-acquired the favour of Henry VII. Another
-poem, "The Temple of Glass," has been ascribed
-to Hawes, but is most probably Lydgate's, who,
-Hawes tells us, composed such a poem.</p>
-
-<p>Next to Hawes comes Alexander Barclay, the
-author of numerous works in prose and poetry,
-as "The Castell of Labour," wherein is "Rychesse,
-Vertue, and Honour," an allegorical poem,
-translated from the French; "The Shyp of Foles
-of the Worlde," translated from Sebastian Brandt's
-German poem, "Das Narren Schiff;" "Egloges;
-or, the Miseries of Courts and Courtiers;" a
-treatise against Skelton the poet; a translation of
-Livy's "Wars of Jugurtha;" "Life of St. George,"
-&amp;c. &amp;c. The work, however, which has handed
-down his name to posterity is the "Ship of
-Fools," which, by interspersing it with original
-touches on the follies of his countrymen, he made
-in some degree his own. But the chief merit of
-the poem in our time is the evidence of the
-polish which the English language had acquired,
-and to which Barclay probably contributed, for
-he had travelled through Germany, Holland,
-France, and Italy, studying diligently the best
-authors of those countries. He was successively
-a prebendary of the college of Ottery St.
-Mary, a Benedictine monk, Vicar of Great
-Barlow, in Essex, of Wokey, in Somersetshire,
-and Rector of All Hallows, London, terminating
-his life at Croydon. A stanza or two
-will suffice to show the state of the language
-at the close of the reign of Henry VII. A
-man in orders is speaking:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Eche is not lettred that nowe is made a lorde,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Nor eche a clerke that hath a benefice:</div>
-  <div class="i0">They are not all lawyers that plees do recorde,</div>
-  <div class="i0">All that are promoted are not fully wise.</div>
-  <div class="i0">On such chaunce nowe fortune throwes her dice</div>
-  <div class="i0">That, though one knowe but the Yrishe game,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Yet would he have a gentleman's name.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i3">*&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">I am like other clerkes which so frowardly them gyde,</div>
-  <div class="i0">That after they are once come unto promotion,</div>
-  <div class="i0">They give them to pleasure, their study set aside,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Their avarice covering with fained devotion.</div>
-  <div class="i0">Yet daily they preache, and have great derision</div>
-  <div class="i0">Against the rude lay men, and all for covetise,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Though their own conscience be blinded with that vice."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The reign of Henry VIII. was distinguished
-chiefly by satirists: and it says much for the
-courage of poets that they were almost the only
-men in that terrible period who dared open their
-mouths on the crying sins of Government. Skelton,
-Heywood, and Roy were men who amused themselves
-with the follies and vices of their contemporaries.
-When the sun of poetry rose in a more
-glowing form in Surrey, the ferocious king, so
-ready with the headsman's axe, quenched it in
-blood. John Skelton (<i>b.</i> 1460, <i>d.</i> 1529) was a
-clergyman, educated at Oxford. Erasmus declared
-him to be "Britannicarum Literarum
-Lumen et Decus"&mdash;"the light and ornament of
-Britain." He became Rector of Diss, in Norfolk;
-but, like Sterne at a later day, Skelton was overflowing
-with humour and satire rather than
-sermons, and so fell under the resentment of
-Nykke, Bishop of Norwich. He lashed with all
-the wonderful power of his merry muse the licentious
-ignorance of the monks and friars; and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span>
-soaring at higher game, attacked the swollen
-greatness of Cardinal Wolsey in a strain of the
-most daring invective. The incensed cardinal endeavoured
-to lay hold on him, and he would
-not have escaped scatheless out of his hands, had
-not the venerable John Islip, Abbot of Westminster,
-opened the sanctuary to him; and there
-Skelton lived secure for the remainder of his days,
-neither stinting his stinging lashes at the cardinal,
-nor suppressing his overflowing humour, which
-welled forth in a torrent of the most wild, sparkling,
-random, and rodomontade character. His
-amazing command of language, his never-failing
-and extraordinary rhymes, remind us of one man
-only, and that of last century&mdash;Hood. The
-airiness and irregularity of his lyrical measures
-equally suggest a comparison with that most untranslatable
-Swedish poet, Bellmann.</p>
-
-<p>His friend Thomas Churchyard, in a eulogium
-on him, enumerates a number of poets of that and
-preceding times, some of them now little known:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Peirs Plowman was full plaine,</div>
-  <div class="i1">And Chaucer's spreet was great;</div>
-  <div class="i0">Earl Surrey had a goodly veine,</div>
-  <div class="i1">Lord Vaux the marke did beat.</div>
-  <div class="i0">And Phaer did hit the pricke</div>
-  <div class="i1">In things he did translate,</div>
-  <div class="i0">And Edwards had a special gift;</div>
-  <div class="i1">And divers men of late</div>
-  <div class="i0">Have helped our English tongue,</div>
-  <div class="i1">That first was base and brute.</div>
-  <div class="i0">Oh! shall I leave out Skelton's name?&mdash;</div>
-  <div class="i1">The blossom of my fruit!"</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The "Pithy, Pleasant, and Profitable Works of
-Maister Skelton, Poet Laureate to Henry VIII.,"
-contain "The Crowne of Laurell," by way of introduction;
-"The Bouge of the Courte," in which
-this unique poet laureate attacks the vices of the
-Court without mercy; "The Duke of Albany," a
-poem equally severe on the Scots; "Ware the
-Hawk," a castigation of the clergy; "The Tunning
-of Eleanor Rumming," a wild rattling string of
-rhymes on an old ale-wife and her costume; and
-"Why come ye not to Court?" an unsparing satire
-on Wolsey. There is no part of the cardinal's
-history or character that he lets escape. His
-mean origin, his puffed-up pride, his sensuality,
-his lordly insolence, his covetousness and cruelties,
-run on in a strain of loose yet vivid jingle that
-was calculated to catch the ear of the people. The
-gentlest word that Skelton has for him is that&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"He regardeth lords</div>
-  <div class="i0">No more than potsherds;</div>
-  <div class="i0">He is in such elation</div>
-  <div class="i0">Of his exaltation</div>
-  <div class="i0">Of our sovereign lord</div>
-  <div class="i0">That God to record,</div>
-  <div class="i0">He ruleth all at will,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Without reason or skill,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Howbeit they be primordial</div>
-  <div class="i0">Of his wretched original</div>
-  <div class="i0">And his base progeny,</div>
-  <div class="i0">And his greasy genealogy.</div>
-  <div class="i0">He came of the sink royal</div>
-  <div class="i0">That was cast out of a butcher's stall.</div>
-  <div class="i0">But however he was born,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Men would have the less scorn</div>
-  <div class="i0">If he could consider</div>
-  <div class="i0">His birth and room together."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>He tells us that the king,</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i4">"Of his royal mind,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Thought to do a thing</div>
-  <div class="i0">That pertaineth to a king&mdash;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To make up one of nought,</div>
-  <div class="i0">And made to him be brought</div>
-  <div class="i0">A wretched poor man,</div>
-  <div class="i0">With his living wan,</div>
-  <div class="i0">With planting leeks,</div>
-  <div class="i0">By the days and by the weeks;</div>
-  <div class="i0">And of this poor vassal</div>
-  <div class="i0">He made a king royal!"</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>We cannot afford space for the wild riot of Skelton's
-description of old Eleanor Rumming&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">Droupy and drowsy,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Scurvy and lousy,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Her face all bowsy;</div>
-  <div class="i0">Comely crinkled,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Wonderfully wrinkled,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Like roast pig's ear,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Bristled with hair.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But Skelton has shown that he could praise in
-strains not unworthy the fair and noble, and buoyant
-with music of their own. Such is his canzonet to</p>
-
-<p class="p6">MISTRESS MARGARET HUSSEY.</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">Merry Margaret</div>
-  <div class="i0">As midsummer flower,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Gentle as falcon,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Or hawk of the tower.</div>
-  <div class="i0">With solace and gladness,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Mirth and no madness,</div>
-  <div class="i0">All good and no badness:</div>
-  <div class="i0">So joyously,</div>
-  <div class="i0">So maidenly,</div>
-  <div class="i0">So womanly,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Her demeanour</div>
-  <div class="i0">In everything</div>
-  <div class="i0">Far, far passing</div>
-  <div class="i0">That I can indite,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Or suffice to write</div>
-  <div class="i0">Of Merry Margaret,</div>
-  <div class="i0">As midsummer flower,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Gentle as falcon,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Or hawk of the tower, etc.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>A far more grave and not less vengeful satirist
-of Wolsey and the clergy was William Roy, the
-coadjutor of Tyndale in the translation of the
-Bible. He was originally a friar, but joining the
-Reformers, he wrote a poem against Wolsey, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span>
-had ordered the burning of Tyndale's New Testament.
-It is called&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Rede me, and be not wrothe,</div>
-  <div class="i0">For I saye no thynge but trothe."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In this work he placed on the title a coat of arms
-for Wolsey in black and crimson, with a description
-in verse at the back of the title, of which the
-following stanza, alluding to the deaths of the
-Duke of Buckingham (the swan) and the Duke
-of Norfolk (the white lion), may serve as a
-specimen:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Of the proude Cardinall this is the shelde,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Borne up betweene two angels of Sathan.</div>
-  <div class="i0">The sixe bloody axes in a bare felde</div>
-  <div class="i0">Sheweth the cruelty of the red man,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Which hath devoured the beautiful swan,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Mortal enemy of the white lion,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Carter of York, the vile butcher's sonne."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The burning of Tyndale's New Testament is denounced
-by Roy in many verses of the bitterest
-feeling, every stanza repeating his indignation at
-the unhallowed deed:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"O miserable monster, most malicious</div>
-  <div class="i1">Father of perversitie, patron of hell!</div>
-  <div class="i0">O terrible tyrant, to God and man odious,</div>
-  <div class="i1">Advocate of antichrist, to Christ rebell;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To thee I speak, O caytife cardinall so cruell,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Causeles chargynge by thy coursed commandment</div>
-  <div class="i0">To burne Godde's worde, the wholly Testament."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Besides these satirists there was John Heywood,
-in the time of Henry VIII., Edward, and Mary,
-who wrote "Six Centuries of Epigrams," of a pious
-nature, a considerable number of plays, and an
-allegory called "The Spider and the Fly." Of
-course, he was a favourite with Henry and Mary,
-and is said to have been more amusing in his conversation
-than in his books. Heywood has the
-honour commonly assigned him of being the first
-author of interludes; the stepping-stones from the
-old mysteries and moralities to the regular drama.
-With the Church passed away these grotesque
-performances called religious; and the drama
-quickly expanded in all its fair proportions before
-the eyes of the public. Shakespeare arose, and
-the dates of the appearance of his plays show us
-that they were many of them produced before
-1603, the close of the reign of Elizabeth. In fact,
-Shakespeare seems to have retired from the stage
-in the very year of Elizabeth's death. Before him,
-however, a number of dramatic writers had appeared;
-but the greater part of them overlived
-the termination of Elizabeth's reign, or their
-works began after that period to take their due
-rank. Of these dramatic writers some may be
-noted in passing. Heywood had been preceded by
-Skelton in the line of interlude, whose strange
-"Nigromansia" was printed by Wynkyn de
-Worde as early as 1505. Heywood wrote various
-interludes, but his chief one was the "4 P's,"
-namely, a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary, and a
-Pedlar. On the heels of this appeared the first
-regular comedy, "Gammer Gurton's Needle,"
-written by John Hill, and printed in 1551. Ten
-years after was acted the first English tragedy,
-"Gorboduc," written by Thomas Norton and the
-celebrated poet Thomas Sackville, afterwards Lord
-Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset. Passing over the
-"Damon and Pythias" of Richard Edwards, the
-"Promos and Cassandra" of George Whetstone,
-which, borrowed from an Italian novel, contains
-the rude outline of Shakespeare's "Measure for
-Measure," we come to Robert Greene, who with
-Kyd, Lyly, Peele, Nash author of "Queen Dido,"
-and Marlowe, constituted a remarkable constellation
-of genius. Greene's chief plays are "Friar
-Bacon and the Friar of Bungay," and "A Looking
-Glasse for London," written in conjunction with
-his friend Thomas Lodge. He also wrote much
-poetry. The principal dramas of George Peele
-are "David and Bethsabe, with the Tragedy of
-Absolon," written in 1579, which is a real mystery
-play, and "The Famous Chronicle of Edward I.,"
-"The Old Wives' Tales, a Comedy," &amp;c. Lyly,
-the Euphuist, wrote nine plays, amongst them
-"Alexander and Campaspe," "Sappho and
-Phaon," "Midos," "Gallathea," etc. Lyly was
-fond of Greek subjects, but he could also enjoy
-English comedy, as in "Mother Bombie," and
-others, which are regular comedies, divided into acts
-and scenes, and interspersed with agreeable songs.</p>
-
-<p>Contemporary with the preceding, as well as
-with Shakespeare, Marlowe (<i>b.</i> 1564, <i>d.</i> 1593) is the
-greatest name which precedes that of the supreme
-dramatist. We can do no more here than name
-some of his chief tragedies, for Marlowe was
-essentially a tragedian. These were "Tamburlaine
-the Great," in two parts, "The Massacre of Paris,"
-"Edward II.," including the fall of Mortimer and
-Gaveston, "Doctor Faustus," "The Rich Jew of
-Malta," and "Lust's Dominion; or, the Lascivious
-Queen." Marlowe was, moreover, a beautiful
-lyrical poet, as is evident by his charming madrigal
-"Come live with me and be my love," given in
-Walton's "Angler." Greene, Peele, Marlowe,
-Nash, and that whole company were dissipated
-in their lives, and lived and died in deep poverty.
-To these we must add, as dramatic poets of
-this era whom it is essential to a continuous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>
-view of the progress of the drama to mention
-with the rest, Decker; Kyd, author of "Jeronimo"
-and the "Spanish Tragedy;" Lodge,
-author of "The Wounds of Civil War," &amp;c.;
-Gascoine; Chapman, also the celebrated author of
-the translation of Homer; Jasper Heywood, son
-of John Heywood; Weston, Marston, &amp;c. So
-much was the drama now advanced in estimation,
-that even Elizabeth's Lord Chancellor, Hatton,
-was in part author of the tragedy of "Tancred
-and Sigismunda," founded on the story of
-Boccaccio.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_369.jpg" width="405" height="500" alt="" title="EDMUND SPENSER" />
-<div class="caption"><p>EDMUND SPENSER.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Amongst the lyrical poets, the reign of Henry
-VIII. presents us with a remarkable trio, who
-were associated as well by their genius as their
-position and fate. These were Sir Thomas Wyatt,
-the early lover of Anne Boleyn, her brother,
-George Boleyn, afterwards the unfortunate Earl
-of Rochford, and the equally unfortunate Henry
-Howard, Earl of Surrey, the last victim of the
-sanguinary Henry VIII. Surrey was the cousin-german
-of the Boleyns, Wyatt was their early
-neighbour and playfellow; together they all
-figured amongst the most accomplished courtiers:
-two of them lost their heads, the third only
-narrowly escaping; and their poetry was printed
-together in one volume.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Thomas Wyatt (<i>b.</i> 1503, <i>d.</i> 1542, and
-called the Elder, to distinguish him from his son,
-who was executed for rebellion in the reign of
-Queen Mary) was one of the most illustrious men
-of the Court of Henry VIII. His country-house
-was Allington Castle, in Kent, and its vicinity to
-the residence of the Boleyns made him a youthful
-companion of Anne and her brother and sister.
-He became attached to Anne, but was obliged to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span>
-give way to the king, of whose wrath he was in
-some danger. After that he was long employed
-abroad in embassies to France, Spain, Italy, and
-the Netherlands. Incurring the king's displeasure
-for aiding Cromwell in the promotion of the
-marriage with Anne of Cleves, he prudently withdrew
-from Court to his castle in Kent. He had
-never ceased writing poetry even when engaged in
-his diplomatic missions, and he now more than
-ever cultivated the muses. His amatory verses
-are polished and elegant, but his satires display
-more vigour, and are remarkable as containing the
-earliest English version of "The Town and Country
-Mouse." Besides his poems he has left letters, in
-which he not only gives us many insights into the
-state of the Courts where he resided, but various
-particulars regarding the fate of Anne Boleyn,
-and some addressed to his son, which place him in
-a most favourable light as a man and a father.
-His prose has been greatly admired. A short
-lyric, which we may give, addressed to Anne
-Boleyn, when her creation of Marchioness of
-Pembroke warned him that he saw in her the
-future queen, clearly informs us that he had been
-her accepted lover:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Forget not yet the tried intent</div>
-  <div class="i0">Of such a truth as I have meant;</div>
-  <div class="i0">My great travail so gladly spent,</div>
-  <div class="i10">Forget not yet.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Forget not yet when first began</div>
-  <div class="i0">The weary life ye know; since when</div>
-  <div class="i0">The suit, the service none tell can,</div>
-  <div class="i10">Forget not yet.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Forget not yet the great assays,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The cruel wrongs, the scornful ways,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The painful patience and delays,</div>
-  <div class="i10">Forget not yet.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Forget not, O! forget not this,</div>
-  <div class="i0">How long ago had been and is</div>
-  <div class="i0">The love that never meant amiss,</div>
-  <div class="i10">Forget not yet.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Forget not now thine own approved,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The which so constant hath thee loved,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Whose steadfast faith hath never moved,</div>
-  <div class="i10">Forget not yet."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>His friend George Boleyn was, perhaps, a more
-spirited poet than himself, and is said to have sung
-the night before his execution (May 17, 1536)
-a lyric which had been printed some time, along
-with the poems of Wyatt, called, "Farewell, my
-lute," the refrain of which was too strikingly
-applicable to his situation:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Farewell, my lute, this is the last</div>
-  <div class="i0">Labour that thou and I shall waste,</div>
-  <div class="i0">For ended is that we began;</div>
-  <div class="i0">Now is the song both sung and passed;</div>
-  <div class="i0">My lute, be still, for I have done."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the most famous of these was the Earl of
-Surrey (<i>b.</i> 1516, <i>d.</i> 1547). Like Wyatt, he had
-travelled in Italy, and formed a high admiration
-of the great Italian poets, Dante, Ariosto, and
-Petrarch, on whose model he formed his taste.
-Like his ancestor, the conqueror of Flodden, he
-was brave and high-spirited but seems to have had
-a facility for getting into scrapes, both with his
-own family and the Government. As a gay
-courtier, however, he was much admired by the
-ladies, and still more by people of taste for his
-poems, which went through four editions in two
-months, and through seven more in the thirty
-years after their appearance. They are supposed
-to have strongly influenced the taste of Spenser
-and Milton. The theme of his lyrics was the fair
-Geraldine, but who she was precisely neither
-critics nor historians have quite determined,
-though believed to be a lady of the Irish family of
-Fitzgerald. A single stanza will indicate the
-spirit with which he proclaimed her beauty:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Give place, ye lovers, here before</div>
-  <div class="i1">That spent your boasts and brags in vain!</div>
-  <div class="i0">My lady's beauty passeth more</div>
-  <div class="i1">The best of yours, I dare well say'n,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Than doth the sun the candle-light,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Or brightest day the darkest night."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the most important fact in Surrey's poetical
-history is his introduction of blank verse into the
-English language, a simple but, in its consequences,
-most eventful innovation, liberating both
-the heroic and the dramatic muse from the
-shackles of rhyme, and leading the way to the
-magnificent works of Shakespeare and Milton in
-that free form. There has been much dispute
-among critics as to whether Surrey invented
-blank verse, or merely copied it from some other
-language; but the only wonder seems that some
-one of our poets had not attempted it before.
-What so likely as that Surrey, in translating the
-first and fourth books of the "Æneid," should
-adopt the blank verse in which the original was
-written, not exactly the hexameter but a measure
-more suitable to the English language? All the
-verse of the ancient Greeks and Romans is of this
-blank species; and it is extraordinary that men
-well read in these tongues had so long omitted the
-experiment; especially as the Italians, the French,
-and the Spaniards had tried it. Gonsalvo Perez,
-secretary to Charles V., had translated Homer's
-"Odyssey" into blank verse; and in 1528 Trissino,
-in order to root out the <em>terza rima</em> of Dante,
-had published his "Italia Liberata di Goti"&mdash;"Italy
-delivered from the Goths"&mdash;in blank<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span>
-verse. In the reign of Francis I. two of the most
-popular poets of France, Jodelle and De Baif,
-wrote poems in this style. Gawin Douglas, Bishop
-of Dunkeld, had already translated the "Æneid'
-into Scots metre, and it would seem as if Surrey,
-in trying his hand on two books of the same poem,
-had been induced to make the essay of blank verse
-at the same time. Whatever was the immediate
-cause, nothing could exceed the success of Surrey's
-experiment. His verse flows with a stately dignity
-full of music and strength. We take a specimen
-from the fourth book of the "Æneid," where
-Dido, who has vowed never to marry again, perceives
-her new passion for Æneas, and discloses her
-pain to her sister:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Ne to her lymmes care graunteth quiet rest.</div>
-  <div class="i0">The next morrowe with Ph&oelig;bus' lampe the erthe</div>
-  <div class="i0">Alightened clere, and eke the dawning daye,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The shadowe danke gan from the pole remove,</div>
-  <div class="i0">When all unsownd her sister of like minde,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Thus spoke she to: 'O sister An, what dremes</div>
-  <div class="i0">Be these that me tormenten, thus afraide?</div>
-  <div class="i0">What newcome gest unto our realm ys come?</div>
-  <div class="i0">What one of chere? How stowt of harte in arms?</div>
-  <div class="i0">Truelie I think, ne vaine ys my beliefe,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Of goddishe race some of springe should he seeme.</div>
-  <div class="i0">Cowardie noteth harts swarved owt of kinde</div>
-  <div class="i0">He driven, lord, with how hard destinie!</div>
-  <div class="i0">What battells eke atchieved did he tell!</div>
-  <div class="i0">And but my minde was fixt immovablie</div>
-  <div class="i0">Never with wight in wedlocke for to joine,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Sithe my first love me lefte by deth disseverid,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Yf bridal bowndes and bed me lothed not,</div>
-  <div class="i0">To this one fawlt perchaunce yeet might I yeld;</div>
-  <div class="i0">For I will graunt sith wretched Syche's dethe,</div>
-  <div class="i0">My spouse and hawse with brother slaughter stained,</div>
-  <div class="i0">This onley man hath made my senses bend,</div>
-  <div class="i0">And pricketh forthe the minde that gan to slide:</div>
-  <div class="i0">Feelinglie I taste the steppes of mine old flame.</div>
-  <div class="i0">But first I wishe the erth me swallow downe,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Or with thunder the mighty Lord me send</div>
-  <div class="i0">To the pale gostes of hell and darkness depe,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Or I thee stayne shamefastness, or the lawes.'"</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>If we turn to Sackville's "Gorboduc," acted
-before Queen Elizabeth in 1561, we shall see how
-thoroughly blank verse had asserted its freedom of
-the language. Even Greene, in his "Friar
-Bacon," in 1594, has passages that in their rich
-and harmonious diction display the wonderful
-power of blank verse. The true vehicle for the
-deathless dramas of Shakespeare was established,
-and already he had taken possession of it with
-some of his noblest imaginings, for Nash, as early
-as 1589, alludes to "Hamlet."</p>
-
-<p>But before coming to Shakespeare, we must add
-another word regarding Sackville (<i>b.</i> 1527, <i>d.</i>
-1608). In 1559 he published "The Mirrour for
-Magistrates." The poetical preface to this work,
-which he called "The Induction," and the
-"Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham,"
-displayed the most remarkable powers of poetry,
-and at once arrested the public attention. The
-work itself was a mere series of the lives of
-personages prominent in English history; it is
-supposed to be an imitation of Lydgate's "Fall
-of Princes," but is expanded by the loftier genius
-of the author, while the induction is so illustrated
-by allegory, as to give rise to the belief that
-Spenser was indebted to him.</p>
-
-<p>Edmund Spenser, the greatest of our allegoric
-poets, was born (1553) in East Smithfield, in
-London, and was educated at Pembroke Hall,
-Cambridge. He had the good fortune to secure
-the friendship of the all-powerful Earl of Leicester,
-of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Walter Raleigh.
-By their introduction to Queen Elizabeth, he
-obtained an annuity of £50 a year; and besides
-being employed by Leicester on a mission to
-France, went to Ireland in 1580 with Lord Grey
-de Wilton. We have already mentioned his
-"View of the State of Ireland," and for that able
-work, as well as for other services, he received a
-grant of the abbey and manor of Enniscorthy in
-Wexford, which the same year, probably under
-pressure of necessity, he transferred to a Mr.
-Lynot. The estate, at the time of Gilbert's
-survey of Ireland, was worth £8,000 a year.
-Afterwards Spenser obtained the grant of the
-castle of Kilcolman, in the county of Cork, part
-of the estate of the unfortunate Earl of Desmond,
-with 3,000 acres of land. On this property
-the poet went to live, and his dear friend Sir
-Philip Sidney being just then killed at the battle
-of Zutphen, he wrote his pastoral elegy of "Astrophel"
-in his honour. He also wrote his great
-work the "Faerie Queene" there; but in 1597 he
-was chased by the exasperated Irish from his
-castle, which was burned over his head, his
-youngest child perishing in the cradle. He
-reached London, with his wife and two boys and a
-girl, and thus broken down by his misfortunes, he
-sank and died in 1599 at an inn or lodging-house
-in King Street, Westminster. Ben Jonson says
-"he died for lake of bread, yet refused twenty
-pieces sent to him by my Lord of Essex, adding
-he was sorry he had not time to spend them."</p>
-
-<p>It has been asked how he could die of "lack of
-bread" with an annuity of £50 a year. The thing
-is very possible. Burleigh was his life-long enemy.
-He hated him as the commonplace soul instinctively
-hates the man of genius, and this hatred
-was aggravated by his being patronised by Leicester,
-Essex, and Raleigh, all men whom Burleigh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>
-detested. Nothing was, therefore, easier than for
-Burleigh to withhold the dying poet's pension, or
-his son Robert Cecil, who now possessed his power,
-for Burleigh was in his last days, and Cecil inherited
-all his meanness. Spenser has recorded
-the malice of Burleigh in various places. In his
-"Ruins of Time" he says:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"The rugged foremost that with grave foresight</div>
-  <div class="i0">Wields kingdoms' causes and affairs of state,</div>
-  <div class="i0">My looser verse, I wot, doth sharply wite</div>
-  <div class="i0">For praising love."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>And at the close of the sixth book of "The Faerie
-Queene," he declares there is no hope of escaping
-"his venomous despite." Spenser's verses in
-"Mother Hubbard's Tales," describing the miseries
-of Court dependence, have often been quoted:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Full little knowest thou that hast not tryed</div>
-  <div class="i0">What hell it is in suing long to byde;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To lose good days that might be better spent;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To waste long nights in pensive discontent;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To have thy prince's grace, yet want her peeres';</div>
-  <div class="i0">To have thy asking, yet wait many years;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To eat thy heart with comfortless despairs;</div>
-  <div class="i0">To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,</div>
-  <div class="i0">To spend, to give, to want, to be undone."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The minor poems of Spenser beside the "Astrophel,"
-are the "Epithalamium" on his own marriage;
-four "Hymns to Love and Beauty;"
-"Sonnets;" "Colin Clout come Home again;"
-"The Tears of the Muses;" "Mother Hubbard's
-Tales," which refer to Court characters of the
-time; "The Ruins of Time;" "Petrarch's
-Visions," "Bellaye's Visions," &amp;c. In all these
-there is much beauty and fancy, mingled with
-much that is far-fetched and fantastic&mdash;the inevitable
-fault of that age. The "Faerie Queene"
-rises above them all as the cathedral over the
-lesser churches of a great city. It was written in
-a stanza which from him has ever since been
-called the Spenserian, a stanza so capable of every
-grace, strength, and harmony, that there are few
-poets who have not essayed it: Thomson's "Castle
-of Indolence," Beattie's "Minstrel," Mrs. Tighe's
-"Psyche," Campbell's "Gertrude of Wyoming,"
-and Byron's "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," have
-made it the vehicle of many immortal thoughts.</p>
-
-<p>To the modern reader, nevertheless, the "Faerie
-Queene" would prove a tedious task in a continuous
-perusal. It is of a fashion and taste so
-entirely belonging to the age in which it was
-written&mdash;that of courtly tourneys, of parade of
-knighthood, at least in books, and of fondness of
-high-flown allegory&mdash;that it unavoidably strikes a
-reader of this more realistic age as visionary, formal
-in manner, and descriptive not of actual human life,
-but of an impossible style of existence. It is dedicated
-to Queen Elizabeth as "The Most High,
-Mightie, and Magnificent Empresse," and in a
-letter to Sir Walter Raleigh he explains its plan.
-Following the example of Ariosto in his "Orlando,"
-he endeavours to exalt worthy knighthood by portraying
-Prince Arthur before he was king, under
-the image of a brave knight, perfected in the
-twelve private moral virtues, as Aristotle hath devised,
-in which is the purpose of these first twelve
-books. From the arguments of "Despair" to the
-"Red-Crosse Knight," we may take a specimen
-of the "Faerie Queene:"</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i1">&nbsp; "'Who travailes by the wearie, wandering way,</div>
-  <div class="i2">To come unto his wished home in haste,</div>
-  <div class="i2">And meets a flood that doth his passage stay,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Is not great grace to help him over past,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Or free his feet that in the myre sticke fast?</div>
-  <div class="i2">Most envious man that grieves at neighbour's good,</div>
-  <div class="i2">And fond, that joyest in the woe thou hast,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Why wilt not let him passe, that long hath stood</div>
-  <div class="i0">Upon the bancke, yet wilt thyselfe not pas the flood?</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i1">&nbsp; "'He there does now enjoy eternall rest,</div>
-  <div class="i2">And happy ease, which thou dost want and crave,</div>
-  <div class="i2">And further from it daily wanderest:</div>
-  <div class="i2">What if some little payne the passage have,</div>
-  <div class="i2">That makes frayle flesh to feare the bitter wave?</div>
-  <div class="i2">Is that not payne well borne, that bringes long ease,</div>
-  <div class="i2">And lays the soul to sleepe in quiet grave?</div>
-  <div class="i2">Sleepe after toyle, port after stormie seas,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Ease after warre, deathe after life, does greatly please.'</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i1">&nbsp; "The knight much wondered at his suddeine wit,</div>
-  <div class="i2">And sayst, 'The terme of life is limited,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Ne may a man prolong, nor shorten it;</div>
-  <div class="i2">The soldier may not move from watchful steed,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Nor leave his stand, until his captaine bid.'</div>
-  <div class="i2">'Who life did limit by Almightie doome,'</div>
-  <div class="i2">Quoth he, 'knows best the terms established;</div>
-  <div class="i2">And he that points the centenel his roome,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Doth license his depart at sound of morning droome.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i1">&nbsp; "'Is not his deed, whatever thing is done,</div>
-  <div class="i2">In heaven and earth? Did he not all create</div>
-  <div class="i2">To die againe? All ends, that was begoune,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Their times in his eternall booke of fate</div>
-  <div class="i2">Are written sure, and have their certain date.</div>
-  <div class="i2">Who, then, can strive with strong necessitie?</div>
-  <div class="i2">That holds the world in its still changing state,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Or shunne the death ordayned by destinee?</div>
-  <div class="i0">When houre of death is come, let none aske whence nor why.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i1">&nbsp; "'The longer life, I wote, the greater sin;</div>
-  <div class="i2">The greater sin, the greater punishment.</div>
-  <div class="i2">All those great battles which thou boasts to win,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Through strife, and bloodshed, and avengement,</div>
-  <div class="i2">Now praysed, hereafter deare thou shalt repent&mdash;</div>
-  <div class="i2">For life must life, and blood must blood repay.</div>
-  <div class="i2">Is not enough thy evill life forespent?</div>
-  <div class="i2">For he that once hath missèd the right way,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The further he doth goe, the further he doth stray.'"</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The language of Spenser must not be held to
-be the language of the time; he purposely used
-an antiquated diction to give a quaint and piquant
-tone to his romance. A modern critic has denied
-that the language is thus treated by the poet;
-but it must be allowed that Sir Philip Sidney,
-living at the moment, was a competent judge of
-this fact, and in his "Defence of Poesie" he
-complains of this very circumstance in the "Faerie
-Queene."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_373big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_373.jpg" width="560" height="425" alt="" title="THE HOUSE AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS BORN" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE HOUSE AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS BORN.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>We arrive now at the last name which we
-intend to introduce in our review of the literature
-of England at this period, and it is the greatest;
-perhaps the greatest which has yet diffused its
-glory over this or any other country. The genius
-of Shakespeare appears to penetrate into all
-departments of human knowledge, and his instincts
-possess a universal accuracy. Whether he
-describes the beauties of Nature at large, or
-enters the haunts of busy life, high or low, royal,
-noble, or plebeian, or sends his all-searching
-glance into the depths of the human mind, or the
-strange intricacies of human nature, we are equally
-astonished at the clearness of his perceptive
-faculties, and the justness of his conclusions. We
-shall not here discuss the various guesses, for
-such to a great degree they are, which have
-been indulged in by his host of critics and biographers,
-regarding his little known life. It is
-sufficient that we know that he was born at
-Stratford-on-Avon in 1564; that his father was
-in the Town Council, and a man of property;
-that William was said to have been apprenticed
-to a butcher, or that one of his father's trades
-was that of a butcher; that at the age of nineteen
-he married Anne Hathaway, who was eight
-years his senior; that at the age of twenty-two
-he was driven by increasing poverty, and it is
-said through a disturbance about poaching in
-Sir Thomas Lucy's park, to London, where
-he became connected with the theatre, and so
-early as 1589 we find that he had written
-"Hamlet," if no other of his dramas, though
-none of them seem to have been published till
-1597, eight years afterwards. The first of his
-poems, "Venus and Adonis," was printed in
-1593, four years earlier, and the "Rape of
-Lucrece" in the following year. From that time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span>
-to 1603, the year of the death of Elizabeth, a
-great number of his dramas was published, but
-"King Lear," "Macbeth," "Cymbeline," "The
-Winter's Tale," the "Tempest," "Troilus and
-Cressida," "Henry VIII.," "Coriolanus," "Julius
-Cæsar," and "Antony and Cleopatra," would
-appear to have been the glorious products of his
-ten or thirteen years of leisure in his native
-town. One of the first labours of his retirement
-seems to have been the collection of his Sonnets,
-for they were published in 1609.</p>
-
-<p>We mention these facts here merely as historical
-data; because it will be necessary to
-notice his plays in the next centennial period
-of our history, in connection with the drama at
-large; but we shall confine our notice of Shakespeare
-on this occasion solely to his poetical
-character.</p>
-
-<p>The poems of Shakespeare are "Venus and
-Adonis," "The Rape of Lucrece," "Sonnets,"
-"A Lover's Complaint," and "The Passionate
-Pilgrim." The poems for the most part, if not
-altogether&mdash;"The Passionate Pilgrim" and some
-of the sonnets excepted&mdash;would appear to have
-been his earliest productions. He dedicates
-"Venus and Adonis" to Lord Southampton, and
-styles it "the first heir of my invention." This
-poem, "The Rape of Lucrece," and the "Lover's
-Complaint," bear marks of youthful passion.
-They burn with a voluptuous fire, yet they
-are at the same time equally prodigal of a
-masterly vigour, imagination, and the faculty of
-entering into and depicting the souls of others.
-They as clearly herald the great poet of the age,
-as a morning sun in July announces what will be
-its intensity at noon. The language, in its
-purity and eloquence, is so perfect that it might
-have been written, not in the days of Elizabeth,
-but in those of Victoria, and presents a singular
-contrast to that of Spenser. "The Passionate
-Pilgrim" is an extraordinary production; it
-has no thread, not even the slightest, of story
-or connection, and seems to be merely a stringing
-together of various passages of poetry, which
-he had struck off at different moments of
-inspiration, and intended to use in his dramas.
-Some of them indeed we find there. It opens
-with a commencement of the legend of "Venus
-and Adonis," apparently his first rude sketch of
-the poem he afterwards wrote more to his mind.
-It then breaks suddenly off with those well-known
-lines, beginning&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Crabbed age and youth</div>
-  <div class="i0">Cannot live together;"</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>soon after as suddenly changes into&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"It was a lording's daughter, the fairest one of three;"</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>as abruptly gives us those charming stanzas
-opening with&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Take, oh, take those lips away</div>
-  <div class="i0">That so sweetly were forsworn;"</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>and presents us with a number of disjointed
-passages which are found in "Love's Labour's
-Lost."</p>
-
-<p>But the Sonnets are the most interesting,
-because they give us glimpses into his own life
-and personal feelings. Many of them are plainly
-written in the characters of others; some express
-the sentiments of women towards their
-lovers, but others are unmistakably the deepest
-sentiments and feelings of his own life. From
-these we learn that Shakespeare was not exempt
-from the dissipations and aberrations incident on
-a town life at that time, but his true and noble
-nature led him to abandon the immoral city as
-early as possible, and retire to his own domestic
-roof in his own native place. We may select
-one specimen of these sonnets, which probably
-was addressed to his wife, and which at once
-betrays his dislike of his profession of an actor,
-and his regret over the influence which it had
-had on his mind, and the stigma which it had
-cast on his name; for the profession of a player
-was then so low as to stamp actors as "vagabonds."</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Oh, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,</div>
-  <div class="i0">That did not better for my life provide</div>
-  <div class="i0">Than public means which public manners breeds:</div>
-  <div class="i0">Thence came it that my name receives a brand,</div>
-  <div class="i0">And almost thence my nature is subdued</div>
-  <div class="i0">To what it works in, like the dyer's hand.</div>
-  <div class="i0">Pity me then, and wish I were renewed;</div>
-  <div class="i0">Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink</div>
-  <div class="i0">Potions of eysell<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> 'gainst my strong infection;</div>
-  <div class="i0">No bitterness that I will bitter think,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Nor double penance to correct correction.</div>
-  <div class="i0">Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Even that your pity is enough to cure me."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But if the great dramatist and inimitable poet
-shrank with disgust from the profession of
-acting, because of the estimation in which the
-actor then was held and the pollutions which
-surrounded the stage, he held a very different
-opinion of the vocation of a dramatist. In the
-peaceful and virtuous retirement of his country
-residence he still occupied himself with the composition
-of the noblest dramas of all time; and
-whilst he was so free from the petty egotism of
-a small mind that he left scarcely any record of
-himself, he boldly avowed his assurance of the
-immortality of his fame:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Now with the drops of this most balmy time,</div>
-  <div class="i0">My love looks fresh, and Death to me subscribes;<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></div>
-  <div class="i0">Since, spite of him, I'll live in this poor rhyme,</div>
-  <div class="i0">While he insults o'er dull and speechless tribes:</div>
-  <div class="i0">And thou in this shalt find thy monument,</div>
-  <div class="i0">When tyrants' crests and tombs of brass are spent."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;"><a href="images/i_374big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_374.jpg" width="452" height="560" alt="From the Painting known as the Chandos Portrait" title="WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From the Painting known as the Chandos Portrait,
-attributed to Richard Burbage,
-in the National Portrait Gallery.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>We shall have occasion to show that Shakespeare
-had much to do in shaping and raising the
-drama out of that chaotic state in which he found
-it, and the wonder has always been that, with
-his apparently imperfect education, he could
-accomplish so much. But there is no education
-like self-education; this was William Shakespeare's,
-and his genius was of that brilliant and
-healthy kind that gave him all the advantages of
-such a tuition. In history and in society he
-found the materials of the drama, but the wealth
-and power of the poet he found in the great
-school of Nature.</p>
-
-<p>In Scotland the language had remained much
-more stationary than in England. In this period
-we find the chief Scottish poets writing in a diction
-far more unintelligible to the English reader than
-Chaucer's or Gower's was in the middle of the
-fourteenth century. Two of the Scots poets of
-that period&mdash;Barbour and King James I.&mdash;wrote
-in English, and, therefore, in a language far in
-advance of Gawin Douglas, Dunbar, and Sir
-David Lyndsay in the sixteenth century. One
-great reason of this probably was the constant
-strife and enmity between the nations, which
-made the Scots cling in confirmed nationality
-to their own language and customs, for the works
-and merits of the English poets were known and
-acknowledged. James I. called Chaucer and
-Gower "his maisters dear." Henryson, a succeeding
-poet, even wrote a continuation of
-Chaucer's "Troilus and Cresseide," under the
-names of the "Testament," and the "Complaint
-of Cresseide;" and Gawin, or Gavin, Douglas,
-the famous Bishop of Dunkeld, pronouncing his
-vernacular tongue barbarous, declared that rather
-than remain silent through the scarcity of
-Scottish terms, he would use bastard Latin,
-French, or English. A still greater and later
-poet, Dunbar, expresses repeatedly his admiration
-of "Chawcer of Makars flowir," of "the Monck
-of Berry," "Lydgate," and "Gowyr." Yet if
-we use the very language which he did to utter
-his admiration in, we find no advance towards the
-polish of these poets:</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"O reverend Chawcer, rose of rethouris all,</div>
-  <div class="i0">As in our toung the flowir imperiall,</div>
-  <div class="i0">That ever raise in Brittane, quha reids richt,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Those biers of makars the triumphs ryall,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The fresche enamallit termes celestiall;</div>
-  <div class="i0">This matter thou couth haif ilumint bricht,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Was thou not of our <em>Inglis</em> all the licht;</div>
-  <div class="i0">Surmounting every toung terrestiall,</div>
-  <div class="i0">As far as Mayis fair morning does midnight.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"O morale Gower and Lidgate laureat,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Zour suggurat toungs and lipps aureat</div>
-  <div class="i0">Bene till our eirs cause of grit delyte."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It is curious that Dunbar calls this English and
-not Scots. He also enumerates a long list of
-Scottish poets who were deceased, as Sir Hew of
-Eglintoun, Etrick, Heriot, Wyntoun, Maister
-John Clerk, James Afflek, Holland, Barbour,
-Sir Mungo Dockhart of the Lie, Clerk of Tranent,
-who wrote the adventures of Sir Gawayn, Sir
-Gilbert Gray, Blind Harry, and Sandy Traill,
-Patrick Johnstone, Mersar, Rowll of Aberdeen,
-and Rowll of Corstorphine, Brown of Dunfermline,
-Robert Henryson, Sir John the Ross, Stobo,
-Quinten Schaw, and Walter Kennedy. Of these
-little is now known, except of Henryson, and
-that chiefly for his ballad of "Robert and
-Makyn," given by Bishop Percy in his "Reliques
-of English Poetry."</p>
-
-<p>Gawin Douglas, third son of the celebrated
-fifth Earl of Angus, called Bell-the-Cat, was
-born in 1474. He lived a troubled life in those
-stormy times, and died a refugee in London, of
-the Plague, in 1522. He was patronised by
-Queen Margaret, sister of Henry VIII., and
-richly deserved it, for his learning, his virtues,
-and his genius. He was most celebrated in his
-own time for his translation of Virgil's "Æneid,"
-the first metrical version of any ancient classic
-in either English or Scots. He also translated
-Ovid's "De Remedio Amoris." But his original
-poems, "The Palace of Honour," "King Hart,"
-and his "Com&oelig;diæ Sacræ," or dramatic poems
-from the Scriptures, are now justly esteemed the
-real trophies of his genius. "The Palace of
-Honour" and "King Hart" are allegoric poems,
-abounding with beautiful descriptions and noble
-sentiments.</p>
-
-<p>The principal poems of William Dunbar (<i>b.</i>
-1465, <i>d.</i> 1530,) are "The Golden Terge," or
-target; "The Thistle and the Rose," in honour of
-the marriage of Margaret of England with James
-IV. of Scotland; "The Fained Friar;" the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span>
-"Lament of the Death of the Makars," or poets,
-and a number of other poems, chiefly lyrical,
-which display versatile genius&mdash;comic, satirical,
-grave, descriptive, and religious&mdash;and place him in
-the first rank of Scotland's poets, notwithstanding
-the obsolete character of his language; and
-not the least of his distinctions is the absence
-of that grossness which disfigured the writings of
-the poets of those times. A few lines may
-denote the music of his versification:</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Be merry, man, and tak nocht far in mynd</div>
-  <div class="i0">The waivering of this wrechit world of sorrow,</div>
-  <div class="i0">To God be humill, and to thy freynd be kynd,</div>
-  <div class="i0">And with thy nychtbouris glaidly len and borrow;</div>
-  <div class="i0">His chance to-nycht, it may be thyne to-morrow."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_376.jpg" width="409" height="500" alt="From the Portrait by Droeshout in the First Folio" title="SHAKESPEARE" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SHAKESPEARE. (<i>From the Portrait by Droeshout in the First Folio.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The last poet of this period that we must notice
-is Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount, Lyon King-at-Arms,
-whom Sir Walter Scott, in "Marmion,"
-has made so familiar to modern readers, predating,
-however, Sir David's office of Lyon
-King by seventeen years. Sir David was born
-about 1490, and is supposed to have died about
-1567; so that he lived in the reigns of Henry
-VII. of England and of Elizabeth, through the
-whole period of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and
-Mary. His life was cast in times most eventful,
-and Sir David, as Lyon-Herald of Scotland,
-occupied a prominent position in the shaping of
-those events. At the time of the battle of
-Flodden in 1513, both Pitscottie and Buchanan
-assure us that he was with James IV. when the
-ghost appeared to him in the church at Linlithgow,
-warning him against the battle. Lyndsay
-was then only three-and-twenty. He was appointed
-page to the young king, and continued
-about him and in his service during the king's
-life. In his "Complaynt," addressing the king,
-he says:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"How as are chapman beres his pack,</div>
-  <div class="i0">I bore thy grace upon my back,</div>
-  <div class="i0">And sometymes stridlingis on my neck,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Dansand with mony bend and beck:</div>
-  <div class="i0">The first syllabis that thou did mute,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Pa-da-lyn upon the lute;</div>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>
-  <div class="i0">Pa-da-lyn upon the lute;</div>
-  <div class="i0">For play, thou leit me never rest,</div>
-  <div class="i0">But gyngertoun, thou luffit ay best.</div>
-  <div class="i0">And ay quhen thou come from the scule,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Then I luffit to play the fule."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Lyndsay went to France on embassies of royal
-marriage; and after the king's early death, under
-the Regency, he was again sent to the Low
-Countries on a mission to the Emperor Charles
-V. In 1548 he went as Lion-King to Denmark,
-to King Christian, to seek aid against the
-English, and afterwards lived to see the great
-struggle between the old Church and the Reformation,
-the murder of Cardinal Beaton, the
-return of Knox, and must have died about the
-time of the murder of Darnley.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_377big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_377.jpg" width="560" height="427" alt="" title="THE ACTING OF ONE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS IN THE TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE ACTING OF ONE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS IN THE TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Sir David, though bred a courtier, was a
-thorough Reformer; and his poems abound with
-the most unrestrained exposure of the corruptions
-of Courts and of the Church. On the
-flagitious lives of monks, nuns, and clergy, he
-pours forth the most trenchant satire and denunciation;
-and in this respect he may be styled
-the Chaucer of Scotland. His poems are "The
-Dreme," "The Complaynt," "The Complaynt
-of Papingo," "The Complaynt of Bagsche," "Ane
-Pleasant Satyre of the Three Estatis," "The
-Answer to the King's Flyting," "Kittie's Confession,"
-"The Tragedie of the Cardinal," "The
-Historie and Testament of Squire Meldrum,"
-"Monarchie," and "The Epistill Nuncupatorie."</p>
-
-<p>"The Dreme" reminds one of the dreams of
-former poets, of Chaucer, William Langland's,
-"The Vision of Piers Plowman," and of those of
-Douglas and Dunbar. Probably "The Golden
-Terge" of Dunbar suggested this poem, for just
-as Dunbar goes out, as "the stern of day began
-to schyne," and lying under a <em>roseir</em>, or arbour of
-roses, lulled by the songs of birds and the sound of
-a river, dreams, so does Lyndsay dream, passing,
-with Dame Remembrance as his guide, through
-earth, hell, purgatory, heaven, paradise, and "the
-planets seven," hearing and seeing all the works
-of God, and the rewards and punishments of
-the good and the evil. "The Complaynt"
-describes the degenerate manners of the Court
-whilst Lyndsay was banished from it, and the
-grapes were sour. "The Complaynt of the
-Papingo," or the king's parrot, deals out the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span>
-measure to the hierarchy as Lyndsay had given to
-the State, and in it Cardinal Beaton, the Pope and
-the clergy in general, are soundly rated. Next
-comes "The Three Estatis," a morality play
-in which all kinds of emblematical personages&mdash;Rex
-Humanitas, Sensualitie, Chastitie, &amp;c.&mdash;act
-their parts. Its scope may be inferred from
-its being declared to be "in commendation of
-vertew and vituperation of vyce." This is the
-great work of Lyndsay, and was acted before the
-king and queen, who sat out nine mortal hours in
-its performance, in which they successively heard
-every order in the State&mdash;Court, nobility, Church,
-and people&mdash;severely criticised. Lyndsay's play
-has the merit of preceding both "Gorboduc" and
-"Gammer Gurton's Needle;" and it certainly
-possesses the moral of the former and the wit of
-the latter. "The Answer to the King's Flyting"
-is a very curious example of what the indulgence
-of a professional fool at Court led to: it produced
-not only the jester but the poet laureate. The
-king condescended to flyte, or jibe, with his jester;
-the jester in return became the satirist, and the
-poet laureate healed all wounds by his eulogies.
-James V. flyted with Lyndsay, and Lyndsay
-answered with interest. In "Kittie's Confession"
-Lyndsay ridicules auricular confession. In "The
-Cardinal" he sings a song of triumph over the fall
-of Beaton. In the "Legend of Squire Meldrum"
-the poet dresses up the adventures of a domestic
-of Lord Lyndsay's of that name in the manner of
-an ancient romance, and it was extremely popular.
-It has been declared by critics of note to be the
-best of Lyndsay's poems, and equal to the most
-polished pieces of Drayton, who lived a century
-after him.</p>
-
-<p>We have taken thus much notice of the Lyon
-King-at-Arms, because nowadays he does not
-enjoy, perhaps, his due fame in comparison with
-that of our Chaucer and our early dramatists; yet
-a perusal of his works is necessary to a real knowledge
-of the times in which he lived. The reader,
-however, must be warned that in the search after
-this knowledge he will have to wade through much
-filth, and language now astonishing for its naked
-coarseness. On the other hand, he will occasionally
-find scientific theories of modern pretension
-quite familiar to our Lyon-King. For instance,
-Kirwan in his "Elements of Mineralogy"&mdash;a
-work published in 1794 and marking a considerable
-advance in knowledge&mdash;claimed the geologic
-discovery that the currents which broke up
-the hills in Europe came from the south-west,
-leaving the diluvial slopes declining to the
-north-east. But hear Lyndsay three hundred
-years ago:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"I reid how clerkis dois conclude,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Induryng that maist furious flude</div>
-  <div class="i0">With quhilk the erth was sa opprest,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The wynd blew feorth of the south-west,</div>
-  <div class="i0">As may be sene be experience,</div>
-  <div class="i0">How, throw the watter's violence,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The heich montanis, in every art,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Ar bain fornenst the south-west part;</div>
-  <div class="i0">As the montanis of Pyreneis,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The Alpis, and rochis in the seis;</div>
-  <div class="i0">Richt sa the rochis gret and gray</div>
-  <div class="i0">Quhilk standis into Norroway.</div>
-  <div class="i0">The heichest hillis, in every art,</div>
-  <div class="i0">And in Scotland, for the maist part,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Throuch weltryng of that furious flude,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The craigis of erth war maist denude.</div>
-  <div class="i0">Travelling men may considder best</div>
-  <div class="i0">The montanis bair nixt the south-west."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The sixteenth century was nearly as distinguished
-for its Music as its poetry. The reproach
-which has been cast on England in our own time
-for not being a musical or music-producing nation
-did not apply then. On the contrary, we stood at
-the head of Europe in original musical composition.
-The monarchs of that age, like their most illustrious
-predecessors from Alfred downwards, were
-highly educated in music. Henry VIII. was himself
-a composer of Church music. It must be
-recollected that Henry, being but the second son
-of Henry VII., was originally educated for the
-Church, whose dignities were then princely; and,
-as a matter of course, he was made familiar with
-its music, which occupied so prominent a part in
-its worship. Erasmus bears testimony to the fact
-of Henry having composed Offices for the Church&mdash;a
-fact confirmed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury
-and Bishop Burnet; and Sir John Hawkins in his
-"History of Music," and Boyce, in his "Cathedral
-Music of English Masters," have preserved specimens
-of the Royal composition. Boyce gives a
-fine anthem of Henry's, "O Lord, the Maker of
-all things." The king's musical establishment for
-his chapel consisting of 114 persons cost annually
-upwards of £2,000, and was continued by
-Edward. Mary and Elizabeth were equally learned
-in music, though they do not appear to have
-patronised it as royally.</p>
-
-<p>Under these circumstances great composers,
-both of sacred and social music flourished in the
-sixteenth century. The names of Tye, Marbeck,
-Tallis, Bird, Farrant, Dowland, Bennet, Wilbye,
-Ford, &amp;c., stand in superb array as composers of
-some of our finest Church music, or of madrigals
-and part songs.</p>
-
-<p>Tye was so much esteemed by Henry VIII.,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>
-that he was made music preceptor to Edward VI.,
-and was afterwards organist to Elizabeth. He
-composed both anthems and madrigals; and his
-motett, "Laudate nomen Domini," is still famous.
-Marbeck composed the notes to the Preces and
-Responses, which, with some alterations, are still
-in use in our cathedrals. He was organist at
-Windsor, and was very nearly losing his life under
-the ferocious Henry, being found to be a member
-of a society for religious reformation. He and his
-three accomplices were condemned to the stake;
-but Marbeck was saved by his musical genius,
-Henry observing, on Marbeck's "Latin Concordance,"
-on which he had been employed, being
-shown to him, "Poor Marbeck! it would be well
-for thine accusers if they employed their time
-no worse." His fellows were burnt without
-mercy, though no more guilty than himself.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_379.jpg" width="450" height="285" alt="" title="QUEEN ELIZABETHS CITHER AND MUSIC-BOOK" />
-<div class="caption"><p>QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CITHER AND MUSIC-BOOK.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Tallis was indebted to Marbeck for the notes
-just mentioned in his compositions for the Church.
-His entire service, including prayers, responses,
-Litany, and nearly all of a musical kind, are preserved
-in Boyce's collections. They became the
-most celebrated of any of that remarkable age. In
-conjunction, also, with his pupil William Bird, he
-published, in 1575, "Cantiones Sacræ"&mdash;perfect
-of their kind; one of them, "O sacrum convivium,"
-since adapted by Dean Aldrich to the
-words "I call and cry," still continues to be frequently
-performed in our cathedrals. The "Cantiones"
-are also remarkable as having been the
-first things of the sort protected by a patent for
-twenty-one years, granted by Elizabeth.</p>
-
-<p>Bird was the author of the splendid canon,
-"Non nobis, Domine," which has been claimed by
-composers of Italy, France, and the Netherlands,
-but, as sufficiently proved, without any ground.
-The names of Tallis and Bird are of themselves an
-ample guarantee to the claim of musical genius by
-this country. Richard Farrant and Dr. Bull&mdash;the
-first a chorister in Edward VI.'s chapel, and
-the latter organist to Queen Elizabeth&mdash;added
-greatly to the sacred music of the period. Farrant's
-compositions especially are remarkable for their
-deep pathos and devotion. His anthem, preserved
-by Boyce, "Lord, for Thy tender mercy's
-sake." is unrivalled.</p>
-
-<p>In social music the poetical Surrey stands conspicuous,
-having set his own sonnets to music.
-Madrigals and other part songs&mdash;since better
-known as glees&mdash;were carried to a brilliant height
-in this country. The madrigal was originally
-invented by the Flemings, but glee singing seems
-to be English, though no doubt derived from the
-madrigal. Morley's first book of madrigals was
-published in 1594, Weelkes's in 1597, Wilbye's in
-1598, Bennet's in 1599, and soon after Ward's and
-Orlando Gibbons'. Dowland's and Ford's are more
-properly glees than madrigals; the former appeared
-in 1597, and the latter in 1607. Morley,
-one of the gentlemen of Queen Elizabeth's chapel,
-appears, like Dowland, to have studied the works
-of the great composers abroad; and the harmony
-and science which he evinces are eminent.
-His canzonets for two voices are especially lively
-and pleasing. Dowland not only travelled in
-France, Italy, and Germany, but, at the request of
-King Christian IV., who saw him in England, he
-went to reside in Denmark. Fuller declares that
-he was the rarest musician of the age. In 1598
-Wilbye published thirty madrigals, and a second
-book, applicable to instrumental as well as vocal
-music, in 1609, amongst which are, "Lady, when
-I behold the roses sprouting," "As fair as morn,"
-"Down in a valley," &amp;c.; and in 1599 John
-Bennet published a set of madrigals, including the
-admirable ones of "O sleep, fond Fancy!" "Flow,
-O my tears!" Lastly, John Milton, the father
-of the poet, who also composed several psalm
-tunes, was a contributor to "The Triumphs of
-Oriana," a set of madrigals in praise of Queen
-Elizabeth. Altogether this century was brilliant
-in both Church and convivial music; and if we
-are to judge from some specimens to be found in
-"The Dancing Master" and "Queen Elizabeth's
-Virginal Book," the popular airs were in many
-instances of a superior character, among which
-we may mention Bird's "Carman's Whistle" and
-the "Newe Northern Ditty of Ladye Green
-Sleeves."</p>
-
-<p>The change which marked religion and literature
-in this country extended itself as strikingly
-into Architecture. We have no longer to record<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>
-the rise of new Orders of ecclesiastical building,
-nor to direct the attention of the reader to splendid
-churches as examples of them. The unity of the
-Church, which had enabled it to erect such a host
-of admirable cathedrals and abbeys, was broken
-up; the wealth which had supplied the material
-and engaged the skill was dispersed into other
-hands, and destined not only to produce new
-orders of society, but new forms of architecture.
-Churches must give way to palaces and country
-halls, as full of innovations as the very faith of
-the country. From this period to our own time
-the taste for ecclesiastical architecture continued
-to decline, till the very principles of what is called
-Gothic architecture were forgotten. The architects,
-as Wren and Jones, went back to classic
-models, so little adapted to the spirit of Christian
-worship that, in spite of the genius expended upon
-them, they have remained few in number and,
-from the revival of the knowledge of Anglo-Gothic
-amongst us, are not likely to increase.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_380big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_380.jpg" width="560" height="412" alt="From a Photograph by Bedford, Lemere and Co" title="HOLLAND HOUSE, KENSINGTON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>HOLLAND HOUSE, KENSINGTON. (<i>From a Photograph by Bedford, Lemere &amp; Co.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But it is even a question whether the Gothic
-style had not reached its full development at the
-period of the Reformation; for we find in most
-European countries that the noblest buildings of
-this kind are for the most part anterior to this
-epoch. It is at the same time true that the same
-causes which brought our ecclesiastical architecture
-to a sudden stand in the sixteenth century strongly
-affected all Europe, even where Roman Catholicism
-managed to maintain its ground. Everywhere the
-conflict was raging&mdash;everywhere the rending influence
-was felt; and the ancient power and
-wealth of the Church were broken and diminished.
-In England a few churches might be pointed to of
-this period, but they exhibit the influence of the
-age in marks of decline, and to none can we turn
-as examples to be named with our Westminsters,
-Yorks, and Winchesters. Bath Abbey was in
-progress of erection when the Reformation burst
-forth and arrested its progress. It was not completed
-till 1616&mdash;more than ten years after the
-death of Elizabeth&mdash;and cannot be named as one
-of our finest erections.</p>
-
-<p>The wealth which was diverted from the Church
-into the hands of the Crown and the aristocracy,
-reappeared in palaces and country halls; and a
-totally new genius displayed itself in these. The
-old Tudor, so called, which marked the baronial
-residences even before the Tudors reached the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span>
-throne, the mixture of castle and manor-house,
-with its small windows, battlemented roofs, and
-flanking turrets, began to enlarge and exaggerate
-most of these features, and to mix with them new
-elements clearly brought into the country by
-foreign architects, and in a great measure from
-Italy. The windows rapidly augmented themselves,
-till they soon occupied a predominant portion
-of the towers and fronts; the turrets became
-surmounted by domes, and by those bulbous domes
-which were often piled one above another. There
-was soon seen one tier of pillared or pilastered
-storey above another, in the Palladian or Paduan
-fashion. Turrets often gave way to scroll-work
-parapets; and instead of the house standing as heretofore
-on a level plain, it was elevated on a terrace,
-with broad and balustraded flights of steps, and
-all the adjuncts of fountains, statues, and balustraded
-esplanades essential to the Italian garden.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_381big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_381.jpg" width="560" height="484" alt="" title="THE GREAT COURT OF KIRBY HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE GREAT COURT OF KIRBY HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The houses were still built round a court or
-quadrangle, and adorned with outer and inner
-gateways, while groined roofs and rich oriels
-still demonstrated the connecting link of descent
-from the Gothic. In fact, the architecture of the
-Tudor period is a singular yet often superb mixture
-of the Gothic and the Italian, with profusion
-of ornaments and ingraftment of parts which tell
-strongly of a more Eastern origin. Nor does it appear
-that these foreign elements were introduced at
-the latter portion of this period only&mdash;they stand
-forth conspicuously in the very commencement
-of it. In the later years of the reign of Elizabeth
-we can point to noble houses which are
-more allied to the ancient Tudor, with its small
-windows and simple towers and roofs, than those
-of the Henrys VII. and VIII., who in their
-earlier days had a gorgeous and even fantastic
-taste for palatial architecture. For example,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span>
-Hampton Court is far more simple and chaste
-than Richmond Palace (<i>see</i> p. 341), built by
-Henry VII., or Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII.
-In family mansions, Wimbledon House, built in
-1588, with its open court, its two terraces, clearly
-Italian in character, is yet so chaste and simple,
-with its flat roof, its square slated towers, and
-mixture of small and large windows, that, compared
-to Nonsuch, as it has been, you at once
-see the violent contrast of the fanciful and the
-grave. Again, in Charlton House, in Kent, with
-its central entrance of Italian character, with two
-tiers of engaged columns, its ornamented parapets
-just verging into scroll-work, its turret windows of
-medium size, and its turret domes simple, and
-still plainer chimneys; or in Holland House (<i>see</i> p.
-380), built in 1607, without domes, but with ogee-gables;
-or in Campden House, as it was built in
-1612, with roof of plainest character, and pilastered
-entrance, we mark a far less ornate style than in
-the days of the Henrys. The whole of this period
-was one of a mixed style, in which different architects
-indulged themselves in employing more or
-less of one or other of the prevailing elements,
-according to their tastes. What is more strictly
-called Elizabethan may be seen in such houses as
-Wollaton or Hardwicke, in which the ample
-square windows, the square towers superseding the
-octagon ones of Nonsuch, the absence of the
-Eastern-looking domes, and the presence of superb
-scroll-work, give a fine distinctive style.</p>
-
-<p>The Palace of Richmond, as built by Henry VII.,
-with its projecting towers occupied almost entirely
-with windows, and its roof presenting an immense
-number of double domes, a smaller one surmounting
-a lantern placed on the larger domes, had an
-air more Saracenic than English; but the Palace
-of Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII., outdid that in
-the singularity of its style, and was the wonder of
-its age. It was built round a quadrangle; the front
-was flanked by octagonal towers which, at the
-height of the ordinary roof, rose, by a demi-arch
-expanding over the lower one, into three more
-storeys, and upon these were lesser towers of two
-storeys, surmounted by domes and fanes. All the
-lower storeys were divided into compartments
-by pilasters and bands, these compartments embellished
-by figures and groups in bas-relief. The
-lower part of this palace was of stone, the upper
-of wood. Hentzner, the German traveller, became
-quite enthusiastic in describing it as a palace in
-which everything that architecture could perform
-seemed to have been accomplished; and says that
-it was "so encompassed with parks full of deer,
-delicious gardens, groves ornamented with trellis-work,
-cabinets of verdure, and walks so embowered
-by trees, that it seemed to be a place pitched
-upon by Pleasure herself to dwell in along with
-Health."</p>
-
-<p>But there were two men in the reign of
-Henry VIII. who drew him off from this more
-florid and fanciful style to others of a very different,
-but equally imposing character, and full of
-rich detail. These were Wolsey and John of Padua.
-Wolsey appeared to have an especial fondness
-for brick-work, and Hampton and the gatehouse
-of his mansion at Esher remain as proofs of the
-admirable masonry which he used. In Hampton
-Court (<i>see</i> p. 121) we go back from the barbaric
-pomp of Nonsuch to the castellated style; to
-small windows, pointed archways, castellated
-turrets and battlements, mingled with rich oriel
-windows over the entrances, rich groined roofs
-in the archways, but a very sparing use of the
-ordinary aid of the bulbous dome. In this and
-the other buildings of this class, as Hengrave in
-Suffolk, the richly cross-banded chimneys are a
-conspicuous ornament. John Thorpe, or John of
-Padua, who became chief architect to Henry
-VIII., and afterwards built Somerset House for
-the Protector, seems to have been unknown in
-his own country, but originated a modified Italian
-style here which bears his name, possessing great
-grace and dignity, and of which Stoneyhurst
-College in Lancashire, Longleat in Wiltshire, and
-Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire (built for Sir
-Christopher Hatton), are fine examples.</p>
-
-<p>In the smaller houses of town and country there
-continued to be little change. They were chiefly of
-timber, and displayed much more picturesqueness
-than they afforded comfort. In towns the different
-storeys, one over-hanging another till the inhabitants
-could almost shake hands out of the attic
-windows across the narrow streets, and their want
-of internal cleanliness and ventilation, caused the
-plague periodically to visit them. The Spaniards
-who accompanied Philip, in Mary's reign, were
-equally amazed at the good living of the English
-people and the dirt about their houses. One great
-improvement about this time was the introduction
-of chimneys; and in good country-houses the ample
-space of their staircases, often finely ornamented
-with balustrade work, diffused a pure atmosphere
-through them.</p>
-
-<p>In other arts, however, the sixteenth century in
-England was almost destitute of native talent. In
-Statuary and Carving the preceding century had
-made great progress, but the destruction of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span>
-churches, and the outcry raised against images and carving on tombs as
-idolatry and vain-glory, gave a decided check to their development. As
-for Painting, it had never, except in illumination, flourished much
-among the English, and now that the Italian and Flemish schools had
-taken so high a position, it became the fashion of the princes and
-nobility, not to call forth the skill of natives, but to import foreign
-art and artists. In the reign of Henry VII. a Holbein, supposed to
-be the uncle of the great Hans Holbein, visited England, but we know
-little of his performance here. There is a picture at Hampton Court,
-called a Mabuse, of the Children of Henry VII.&mdash;Prince Arthur,
-Prince Henry, and the Princess Margaret. As Prince Henry appears to
-be about seven years old, that would fix the painting of the picture
-about 1499. But its authenticity is doubtful, as, according to some,
-Mabuse was born that year. In Castle Howard there is a painting by him
-of undoubted authority, "The Offering of the Magi," containing thirty
-principal figures. It is in the highest state of preservation, and Dr.
-Waagen, who was well acquainted with the productions of this artist
-in the great galleries of the Continent, pronounced it of the highest
-excellence. He is said to have painted the children of Henry VIII.,
-but if he did so, the picture has perished. The date of his visit is
-quite uncertain, and the attribution to him of portraits is at the best
-no more than conjectural. Mabuse was a very dissipated man, and had
-fled from Flanders on account of his debts or delinquencies, yet the
-character of his performances is that of the most patient industry and
-painstaking. His works done in England could not have been many, as his
-abode here is supposed to have been only a year. He died in 1532.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_383big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_383.jpg" width="500" height="497" alt="" title="ENTRANCE FROM THE COURTYARD OF BURLEIGH HOUSE, STAMFORD" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ENTRANCE FROM THE COURTYARD OF BURLEIGH HOUSE, STAMFORD.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Besides Mabuse, the names of several other
-foreign artists are known as having visited
-England; but little or nothing is known of the
-works of Toto del Nunziata, an Italian, or of
-Corvus, Fleccius, Horrebout or Horneband, or of
-Cornelius, Flemish artists; but another Fleming
-was employed, in the early part of the reign of
-Henry VIII., by Bishop Sherbourne, in painting
-a series of English kings and bishops in Chichester
-Cathedral.</p>
-
-<p>Of the celebrated Hans Holbein, the case is better authenticated.
-He resided in England nearly thirty years, and died in London of the
-plague in 1543. There is an obscurity about both the time and place of
-his birth, but the latter appears now to be settled to be Grünstadt,
-formerly the residence of the Counts of Leiningen-Westerburg. He
-accompanied his father to Basle, receiving from him instructions in his
-art. There he became acquainted with Erasmus, who gave him letters to
-Sir Thomas More. He arrived in England in 1526, and lived and worked in
-the house of his noble patron, Sir Thomas, for three years. The learned
-chancellor invited Henry VIII. to see his pictures, who was so much
-delighted with them, that he took him instantly into his service. It is
-related of him that while busily engaged with his works for the king,
-he was so much annoyed and interrupted by a nobleman of the court, that
-he ordered him to quit his studio, and on his refusing, pushed him
-downstairs. When the nobleman complained to Henry of this rudeness,
-Henry bluntly told him that the painter had served him right, and
-warned him to beware of seeking any revenge. "For," added he, "remember
-you now have not Holbein to deal with,
-but me: and I tell you, that of seven peasants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span>
-I can make as many lords, but I cannot make
-one Holbein."</p>
-
-<p>The demand of portraits from Holbein by the
-Court and nobility was so constant and extensive,
-that he completed comparatively few historical
-compositions. He has left us various portraits of
-Henry, and adorned the walls of a saloon at
-Whitehall with two large paintings representing
-the triumphs of riches and poverty. He also
-painted Henry as delivering the charter of the
-barber-surgeons, and Edward VI. delivering that
-for the foundation of Bridewell Hospital. The
-former piece is still at the hall of that guild.
-Amongst the finest of Holbein's paintings on the
-Continent is that of "The Burgomaster and his
-Family" in the gallery at Dresden. There is
-less of the stiffness of his manner in that than in
-most of his pieces; but in spirited design, clearness
-and brilliancy of tone, and perfection of
-finish, few painters excel Holbein; he wanted
-only a course of study in the Italian school to
-have placed him among the greatest masters of
-any age.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_384big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_384.jpg" width="560" height="380" alt="From a Photograph by Carl Norman and Co., Tunbridge Wells" title="ELIZABETHS DRAWING-ROOM, PENSHURST PLACE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ELIZABETH'S DRAWING-ROOM, PENSHURST PLACE.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From a Photograph by Carl Norman and Co., Tunbridge Wells.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the reign of Mary, Sir Antonio More, a
-Flemish artist, was the great portrait-painter.
-In that of Elizabeth, though she was not more
-liberal to the arts than to literature, yet her
-personal vanity led her to have her own portrait
-repeatedly painted, and the artists, chiefly
-Flemings, were much employed by the nobility
-in the same department. Some of the foreign
-artists also executed historical and other pieces.
-Among these artists may be named Frederic
-Zuccaro, an Italian portrait-painter; Luke van
-Heere, who executed a considerable number of
-orders here, including a series of representations
-of national costume for the Earl of Lincoln;
-and Cornelius Vroom, who designed the defeat
-of the Spanish Armada, for the tapestry which
-adorned the walls of the House of Lords, and
-which was destroyed by the fire in 1834. In
-Elizabeth's reign also two native artists distinguished
-themselves: Nicolas Hilliard, a miniature-painter;
-and Isaac Oliver (<i>b.</i> 1556, <i>d.</i> 1617), his
-pupil, who surpassed his master in portraits, and
-also produced historical works of merit.</p>
-
-<p>Among the sculptors were Pietro Torregiano,
-from Florence, who, assisted by a number of
-Englishmen, executed the bronze monument of
-Henry VII., and is supposed also to be the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span>
-author of the tomb of Henry's mother in his
-chapel. John Hales, who executed the tomb of
-the Earl of Derby at Ormskirk, was one of
-Torregiano's English assistants. Benedetto Rovezzano
-designed the splendid bronze tomb of Henry
-VIII., which was to have exhibited himself and
-Jane Seymour, as large as life, in effigy, an
-equestrian statue, figures of the saints and
-prophets, the history of St. George, amounting
-to 133 statues and forty bas-reliefs. This
-monument of Henry's egotism none of his children
-or successors respected him enough to complete;
-and Parliament, in 1646, ordered the portion
-already executed to be melted down.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_385big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_385.jpg" width="513" height="560" alt="" title="SOLDIERS OF THE TUDOR PERIOD" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SOLDIERS OF THE TUDOR PERIOD.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In Scotland during this period the arts were
-still less cultivated. The only monarch who
-had evinced a taste for their patronage was
-James V., who improved and adorned the royal
-palaces, by the aid of French architects, painters,
-and sculptors whom he procured from France,
-with which he was connected by marriage and
-alliance. His chief interest and expenditure
-were, however, devoted to the palace at Linlithgow,
-which he left by far the noblest palace<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span>
-of Scotland, and worthy of any country in
-Europe.</p>
-
-<p>The furniture of noble houses in the sixteenth
-century was still quaint; but in many instances
-rich and picturesque. The walls retained their
-hangings of tapestry, on which glowed hunting-scenes,
-with their woodlands, dogs, horsemen,
-and flying stags, or resisting boars, or lions;
-scenes mythological or historical. In one of the
-finest preserved houses of that age, Hardwicke, in
-Derbyshire, the state-room is hung with tapestry
-representing the story of Ulysses; and above this
-are figures, rudely executed in plaster, of Diana
-and her nymphs. The hall is hung with very
-curious tapestry, of the fifteenth century, representing
-a boar-hunt and an otter-hunt. The chapel
-in this house gives a very vivid idea of the furniture
-of domestic chapels of that age; with its
-brocaded seats and cushions, and its curious
-altar-cloth, thirty feet long, hung round the rails
-of the altar, with figures of saints, under canopies,
-wrought in needlework. You are greatly struck
-as you pass along this noble old hall, which has
-had its internal decorations and furniture carefully
-retained, with the air of rude abundance, and
-what looks now to us nakedness and incompleteness,
-mingled with old baronial state, and
-rich and precious articles of use and show. There
-are vast and long passages, simply matted; with
-huge chests filled with coals, which formerly were
-filled with wood, and having ample crypts in the
-walls for chips and firewood. There are none of
-the modern contrivances to conceal these things;
-yet the rooms, which were then probably uncarpeted,
-or only embellished in the centre with a
-small Turkey carpet bearing the family arms, or
-perhaps merely with rushes, are still abounding
-with antique cabinets, massy tables, and high
-chairs covered with crimson velvet, or ornamental
-satin. You behold the very furniture used by the
-Queen of Scots; the very bed, the brocade of
-which she and her maidens worked with their own
-fingers. In the entrance hall the old feudal
-mansion still seems to survive with its huge
-antlers, its huge escutcheons, and carved arms
-thrust out of the wall, intended to hold lights.
-But still more does its picture gallery, extending
-along the whole front of the house, give you a
-feeling of the rude and stately grandeur of those
-times. This gallery is nearly 200 feet long, of
-remarkable loftiness, and its windows are stupendous,
-comprising nearly the whole front, rattling
-and wailing as the wind sweeps along them, whilst
-the walls are covered with the portraits of the
-most remarkable personages of that and prior
-times. You have Henry VIII., Elizabeth, the
-Queen of Scots, with many of the statesmen and
-ladies of the age.</p>
-
-<p>In such old houses we find abundance of furniture
-of the period. The chairs are generally
-high-backed, richly carved, and stuffed and
-covered with superb velvet or satin. At Charlcote
-House, near Stratford-on-Avon, the seat of the
-Lucys, there are eight fine ebony chairs, inlaid
-with ivory, two cabinets, and a couch of the same,
-which were given by Queen Elizabeth to Leicester,
-and made part of the furniture of Kenilworth.
-At Penshurst, Kent, the seat of the Sidneys, in
-the room called Elizabeth's room, remain the
-chairs which it is said she herself presented, with
-the rest of the furniture. They are fine, tall, and
-capacious; the frames are gilt, the drapery is yellow
-and crimson satin, richly embroidered, and the
-walls of each end of the room are covered with
-the same embroidered satin. In the Elizabethan
-room at Greenwich Court are chairs as well as other
-articles of that age. In Winchester Cathedral is
-yet preserved the chair, a present from the Pope,
-in which Queen Mary was crowned and married.</p>
-
-<p>At Penshurst we have, in the old banqueting-hall,
-the furniture and style which still prevailed
-in many houses in Sir Philip Sidney's time: the
-dogs for the fire in the centre of the room, from
-which the smoke ascended through a hole in
-the roof, the rude tables, the raised daïs, and the
-music gallery, such as Sir Philip Sidney, Spenser,
-Shakespeare, and Bacon, as well as the Royal
-Elizabeth, witnessed them. In this house is also
-preserved a manuscript catalogue of all the furniture
-of Kenilworth in Leicester's time, a document
-which throws much light on the whole
-paraphernalia of a great house and household of
-that day.</p>
-
-<p>Looking-glasses were now superseding mirrors
-of polished steel. Sir Samuel Meyrick had a
-fine specimen of the looking-glass of this age at
-Goodrich, as well as a German clock, fire-dogs, a
-napkin-press, and an "arriere-dos" or "rere-dosse,"
-and a small brass fender of that age. He
-also possessed the box containing the original
-portraits of Henry VIII. and Anne of Cleves.
-The clock, like the large one over the entrance
-at Hampton Court, had the Italian face, with
-two sets of figures, twelve each, thus running
-the round of the twenty-four hours, such as
-Shakespeare alludes to in "Othello:"&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"He'll watch the horologe <em>a double set</em>,</div>
-  <div class="i0">If drink rock not his cradle."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Richly carved wardrobes and buffets adorned
-the Tudor rooms: some of these buffets were of
-silver and of silver gilt. Engravings of these, as
-well as of tables with folding tops, round tables
-with pillar and claw, and many beds of that period
-may still be seen in old houses, and are represented
-in engravings in Montfaucon, Shaw, and
-Willemin. The beds at Hardwicke, the great
-bed at Ware, a bedstead of the time of Henry
-VIII. at Lovely Hall, near Blackburn, are
-good specimens. Forks, though known, were
-not generally used yet at table, and spoons of
-silver and gold were made to fold up, and were
-carried by great people in their pockets for their
-own use. Spoons of silver&mdash;apostle-spoons, having
-the heads of the twelve apostles on the handles&mdash;were
-not unfrequent, but spoons of horn or wood
-were more common.</p>
-
-<p>The armour of every period bears a coincident
-resemblance to the civil costume of the time, and
-is in this period rather noticeable by its fashion
-than by any material change of another kind.
-The breastplate was still globose, as in the reign
-of Edward IV., but was beautifully fluted in that
-of Henry VII. In the reign of Henry VIII., the
-breastplate being still globose, the old fashion
-revived of an edge down the centre, called a tapul;
-and in this reign puffed and ribbed armour, in
-imitation of the slashed dresses of the day, was
-introduced. In the reign of Elizabeth the breastplate
-was thickened to resist musket-balls. The
-helmet in all these reigns assumed the shape of
-the head, having movable plates at the back to
-guard the neck, and yet allow free motion to the
-head. In the reign of Elizabeth the morions
-were much ornamented by engraving. In the
-time of Henry VII. the panache which had
-appeared on the apex of the bassinets of Henry
-V. was changed for plumes, descending from the
-back of the helmet almost to the rider's saddle.
-A new feature in armour also came in with
-Henry VII., called "lamboys" from the French
-"lambeaux," being a sort of skirt or petticoat of
-steel, in imitation of the puckered skirts of cloth
-or velvet worn at that time, and this fashion, with
-variations in form, continued through the whole
-period. In the reign of Henry VIII. the armour
-altogether became very showy and rich, in keeping
-with the ostentation of that monarch. A
-magnificent suit of the armour of Henry is preserved
-in the Tower, which was presented to
-him by the Emperor Maximilian, on his marriage
-with Catherine of Aragon, and is the fellow to a
-suit of Maximilian's preserved in the Little
-Belvedere Palace in Vienna. It covers both
-horse and man, and is richly engraved with
-legendary subjects, badges, mottoes, and the like.
-The seal of Henry presents a fine figure of him
-on horseback, in armour, with his tabard and
-crowned helmet, and its depending plumes.</p>
-
-<p>The tilting helmet disappeared altogether in the
-time of Henry VIII., and a coursing-hat was worn
-instead, with a "mentonnière," or defence for the
-lower part of the face. In the reign of Mary we
-learn that the military force of the kingdom consisted
-of demi-lancers, who supplied the place of
-the men-at-arms; pikemen, who wore back and
-breast-plates, with tassets, gauntlets, and steel hats;
-archers, with steel skull-caps and brigandines;
-black-billmen or halberdiers, who wore armour
-called almain rivet and morions; and harquebussiers,
-similarly appointed. In Elizabeth's reign
-the armour was seldom worn on the legs and
-thighs, except in jousting, and not always then.</p>
-
-<p>There were various changes in the shapes of
-swords and glaives; the battle-axe changed into
-the halberd in the time of Edward IV., which
-became general in that of Henry VII. In the
-reign of Henry VIII. was added the partisan, a
-kind of pike or spontoon; but the great change was
-in firearms, the hand-gun making several steps towards
-its modern termination in the musket and
-rifle, with detonating caps. The first improvement
-was to place a cock to the gun-barrel, to hold and
-apply the match instead of the soldier holding it
-in his hand. This was called an arc-a-bousa,
-thence corrupted into the arquebuse, much used
-by Henry VII. In his son's reign the wheel-lock
-was invented by the Italians, in which a wheel
-revolving against a piece of sulphuret of iron
-ignited the powder in the pan by its sparks.
-Pistols were also introduced now, and called
-pistols or dags, according to the shape of the butt-ends;
-the pistol finishing with a knob, the dag&mdash;or
-tacke&mdash;having its butt-end slanting. Pistols at
-first more resembled carabines in length, and the
-pocket pistol was of a considerable bulk. Cartridges
-were first used in pistols, and were carried
-in a steel case called a patron. In the reign of
-Elizabeth we hear of carabines, petronels, and
-dragons. Carabines were a sort of light, Spanish
-troops, who, probably, used this kind of arm;
-petronels were so called because their square butt-end
-was placed against the chest, or "poitrine;"
-and the dragon received its name from its muzzle
-being terminated with the head of that fabulous
-monster, and gave the name of "dragoon" to the
-soldiers who fought with them. Bandoliers, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span>
-leathern cases, each containing a complete charge
-of powder for a musket, were used till the end of
-the seventeenth century, when they gave way to
-the cartridge-box.</p>
-
-<p>With the progress of firearms, it is almost needless
-to say that the famous art of archery, by
-which the English had won such fame in the
-world, was gradually superseded. During the
-reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., bows
-were much used in their armies as well as firearms,
-but it was impossible long to maintain the
-bow and arrow in the presence of the hand-gun
-and powder. In vain did Henry VIII. pass
-severe laws against the disuse of the bow; by the
-end of his reign it had fallen, for the most part,
-from the hands of the warrior into that of the
-sportsman. In vain did Henry forbid the use
-even of the cross-bow to encourage the practice of
-archery, and Roger Ascham in his "Toxophilus"
-endeavour to prolong the date of the bow. By
-the end of the reign of Elizabeth, the endeavour to
-protract the existence of archery by statute was
-abandoned, and its long reign, except as a graceful
-amusement, was over.</p>
-
-<p>The costumes of this age come down to us depicted
-by great masters, and are displayed to
-us in their full effect, at least this much can
-be said for those of the aristocracy. Looking
-at these ladies and gentlemen, they appear as little
-like plain matter-of-fact English people as possible.
-There is a length and looseness of robes
-about the men which has more the air of a holiday,
-gala garb, than the attire of people who had
-serious affairs to carry through, and you would
-scarcely credit them to be the ancestors of the
-present prosaic, buttoned-up, and busy generation.
-In a MS. called the "Boke of Custome," the
-chamberlain is commanded to provide against his
-master's uprising, "a clene sherte and breche, a
-pettycotte, a doublette, a long cotte, a stomacher,
-hys hosen, hys socks, and his shoen." And the
-"Boke of Kervynge," quoted by Strutt, says to the
-chamberlain, "Warme your soverayne his pettycotte,
-his doublette, and his stomacher, and then
-put on his hosen, and then his schone or slyppers,
-then stryten up his hosen mannerly, and tye them
-up, then lace his doublette hole by hole." Barclay,
-in the "Ship of Fools," printed by Pynson in
-1508, mentions some who had their necks</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Charged with collars and chaines,</div>
-  <div class="i0">In golden withs, their fingers full of rings,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Their necks naked almost to the raines,</div>
-  <div class="i0">Their sleeves blazing like unto a crane's winges."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Their coats were generally loose and with broad
-collars, and turned back fronts, with loose hanging
-sleeves, often slashed, and sometimes without
-sleeves at all, but the sleeves of their doublets
-appearing through them, laced tight to the elbow
-and puffed out above. Hats and caps were of
-various fashions in the time of Henry VII.
-There was the square turned-up cap, a round hat
-something like the present wide-awake, but the
-more gay and assuming wore large felt hats, or
-bonnets of velvet, fur, or other materials, with
-great spreading plumes of party-coloured feathers.
-They wore the showy hats so much on one side, as
-to display under them close-fitting caps, often of
-gold network. Others, again, wore only the small
-cap, and let the large plumed hat hang on their
-shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>The hose, when the dress was short enough to
-show them, were close-fitting, and of gay, often of
-two different colours; the long-toed shoes had
-given way to others, with toes called duck-bills,
-from their shape, being wider in front than they
-were long. Top-boots were worn for riding. The
-face was close shaven, except in the case of soldiers
-or old men, and the hair was suffered to hang
-long and flowing. The first mention of a collar of
-the garter occurs in this reign, and a collar is seen
-on the effigy of Sir George Daubeny, of this date.</p>
-
-<p>In the costume of the ladies the sleeves were
-as wide as they were in that of the men, and have
-been imitated in modern times, being called
-"bishop's sleeves" in London. The gown was cut
-square in the neck, and they wore stomachers, belts,
-and buckles, girdles with long pendents in front, and
-hats and feathers. Others wore caps and cauls of
-gold net, or embroidery, from beneath which the
-hair hung down the shoulders half way to the
-ground. The morning dress was a full, loose, flowing
-robe, with cape and hood, and the extent and
-material of it was regulated by Royal ordinance.</p>
-
-<p>Every one is familiar with the costume of the
-reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. The
-ordinary costume of bluff Harry was a full-skirted
-jacket, or doublet, with large sleeves to the wrists;
-over which was worn a short but equally full cloak
-or coat, with loose, hanging sleeves, and a broad,
-rolling collar of fur. Many, however, still wore
-the doublet sleeves, as in the last reign: tight to
-the elbow, puffed out about the shoulders, and the
-coat sleeveless, allowing this to appear. The cap
-was square or round, and still worn somewhat side-ways,
-jewelled, and plumed with ostrich feathers.
-The hose were now often divided into hose and
-stockings, and the shoes, though sometimes square-toed,
-yet often resembling the modern shape.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span>
-The Norman "chausses" were revived under the
-older name of "trousses," being close hose, fitting
-exactly to the limbs.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_389big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_389.jpg" width="515" height="560" alt="" title="THE WEDDING OF JACK OF NEWBURY: THE BRIDE'S PROCESSION" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE WEDDING OF JACK OF NEWBURY: THE BRIDE'S PROCESSION. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_390">390.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Henry VIII. was most extravagant in dress,
-and was followed with so much avidity by his subjects
-in his ostentation, that in the twenty-fourth
-year of his reign he was obliged to pass a sumptuary
-law to restrain them, and the style and
-quality of dress for every different rank was prescribed&mdash;as
-we may suppose with indifferent success.
-No person of less degree than a knight was
-to wear crimson or blue velvet or embroidered
-apparel, broched or guarded with goldsmith's
-work, except sons and heirs of knights and
-barons, who might use crimson velvet, and tinsel
-in their doublets. Velvet gowns, jackets and
-coats, furs of martens, &amp;c., chains, bracelets, and
-collars of gold, were proscribed to all but persons
-possessing two hundred marks per annum; except
-the sons and heirs of such persons, who might
-wear black velvet doublets, coats of black
-damask, etc.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Henry's own dress was of the most gorgeous
-kind. He is described at a banquet at Westminster
-as arrayed in a suit of short garments of
-blue velvet and crymosine, with long sleeves all
-cut and lined with cloth of gold, and the outer
-garments powdered with castles and sheaves of
-arrows&mdash;the badges of Queen Catherine&mdash;of fine
-ducat gold; the upper part of the hose of like
-fashion, the lower parts of scarlet, powdered with
-timbrels of fine gold. His bonnet was of damask
-silver, flat, "woven in the stall," and therefore
-wrought with gold, and rich feathers on it. When
-he met Anne of Cleves he had tricked himself out
-in a frock of velvet embroidered all over with
-flatted gold of damask, mixed with a profusion of
-lace; the sleeves and breast being cut and lined
-with cloth of gold, and tied together with great
-buttons of diamonds, rubies, and orient pearls.
-The king was deemed to be the best dressed
-sovereign in the world, for he put on new clothes
-every holy day.</p>
-
-<p>Henry ordered his subjects to cut off their
-long hair; beards and moustaches were now worn
-at pleasure.</p>
-
-<p>The reigns of Edward and Mary did not vary
-much in the costume of the men. The dress
-worn now by the boys of Christ's Hospital
-(familiarly known as the Bluecoat School), founded
-by Edward, is very much that which was worn by
-the London apprentices of that period&mdash;blue coats
-and yellow stockings being also common to the
-citizens generally. The square-toed shoes were
-banished by proclamation in the reign of Queen
-Mary.</p>
-
-<p>The costume of the ladies of the reign of
-Henry VIII. is extremely familiar, from the
-numerous portraits of his six wives, engravings
-of which are in Lodge's "Portraits." With
-the exception of the bonnet or coif&mdash;which,
-though worn by Catherine of Aragon, came
-to be called the Anne Boleyn cap&mdash;the dress
-of the ladies of this reign bears a striking
-resemblance to one of the later Victorian
-fashions, though differing of course in material.
-You find the gown fitting close to the bust
-of the natural length of waist, and cut square
-at the chest, where it is edged with narrow
-lace. The sleeves, tight at the shoulder, widened
-to the elbow, where they hung deep, showing an
-under-sleeve of fine lawn or lace extending to the
-wrist, and terminated by lace ruffles. On the
-neck was generally worn a pearl necklace, with
-a jewelled cross. The skirts were full, the train
-long, according to rank. Seven yards of purple
-cloth of damask gold were allowed for a kirtle for
-Queen Catherine, in a wardrobe account of the
-eighth year of Henry's reign. The sleeves of ladies'
-garments, like those of gentlemen's dresses, could
-be changed at pleasure, being separate and attached
-at will. They were extremely rich; and we find
-in one lady's inventory three pair of purple satin
-sleeves, one of linen paned with gold over the
-arms, quilted with black silk, and wrought with
-flounces between the panes and at the hands; one
-pair of purple gold tissue damask wire, each sleeve
-tied with aglets of gold; one pair of crimson
-satin, four buttons of gold on each sleeve, and in
-every button nine pearls.</p>
-
-<p>The coif was of various materials, from simple
-linen to rich velvet and cloth of gold; either with
-the round front, as in Mary and Elizabeth as princesses,
-in Catherine Parr and Catherine Howard,
-or dipping in front, which came to be called the
-"Queen of Scots" bonnet; but the commonest
-shape was the five-cornered one. This last was
-indeed the hood of the time of Henry VII., in which
-we have a portrait of his queen, Elizabeth of York;
-the lappets of the hood depending on the bosom, embroidered
-and edged with pearls; the scarf behind
-hanging on the shoulders. In the portrait of Catherine
-of Aragon, the front, embroidered and jewelled,
-had become shorter, touching the neck only; but
-the scarf behind still spread on the shoulder. In
-Anne Boleyn's portrait the coif had reached its extreme
-of elegance; the frontlet, consisting of the
-five-pointed frame, is still shorter, only covering the
-ears, and is faced with a double row of pearls (<i>see</i>
-p. 165). Her hair is scarcely seen, being concealed
-by an under-coif, which shows as a band in a
-slanting direction over the forehead. The back
-consists of a green velvet hood, with broad scarf
-lappets, of which one is turned up over the back of
-the head, and the other hangs on the left shoulder.
-Of the dress of the ladies of the citizen class we
-have a curious account in the bride of John of
-Winchcomb, the famous clothier, called "Jack
-of Newbury." "She was habited in a gown of
-sheep's russet, and a kirtle of fine worsted, her
-head attired with a billiment of gold, and her hair,
-as yellow as gold, hanging down behind her, which
-was curiously combed and plaited. She was led to
-church by two boys with bride laces and rosemary
-tied about their silken sleeves. When she in after
-years came out of her widow's weeds, she appeared
-in a fair train gown stuck full of silver pins,
-having a white cap on her head, with cuts of
-curious needlework under the same, and an apron
-before her as white as driven snow."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>With Elizabeth came in a totally new fashion,
-not only of women's but of men's costumes. The
-large trunk hose made their appearance; the long-waisted
-doublet, the short cloak or mantle, with its
-standing collar, the ruff, the hat, the band and
-feather, the roses in the shoes, are all of this
-period. To such a degree did the fashion of
-puffed and stuffed breeches obtain, which had
-begun to swell in the prior reigns, that about the
-thirty-third of Elizabeth, over the seats in the
-Parliament House, were certain holes, some two
-inches square, in the walls, in which were placed
-posts to uphold scaffolds round about the house for
-those to sit upon who wore great breeches stuffed
-with hair, like woolsacks.</p>
-
-<p>As to ruffs, Stubbs, in his "Anatomie of
-Abuses," tells us that sooner than go without
-them, men would mortgage their lands, or risk
-their lives at Tyburn; and he adds, "They have
-now newly (1595) found out a more monstrous
-kind of ruff of twelve, yea, sixteen lengths apiece,
-set three or four times double, thence called three
-steps and a half to the gallows." The French or
-Venetian hose, he tells us, cost often £100 a pair,
-probably from being cloth of gold and set with
-jewels. To these were added boot hose of the
-finest cloth, also splendidly embroidered with birds,
-beasts, and antiques. The doublets, he says, grew
-longer and longer in the waist, stuffed and quilted
-with four, five, or six pounds of bombast, the exterior
-being of silk, satin, taffeta, gold, or silver
-stuff, slashed, jagged, covered, pinched, and laced
-with all kinds of costly devices. Over these
-were their coats and jerkins, some with collars,
-some without, some close to the body, some
-loose, called mandilions; some buttoned down
-the breast, some under the arm, some down
-the back. They had cloaks also&mdash;white, red,
-tawny, yellow, green, violet&mdash;of cloth, silk,
-or taffeta, and of French, Spanish, or Dutch
-fashion, ornamented with costly lace of gold, silver,
-or silk. These cloaks were as costly inside as
-out. Their slippers or "pantoufles" were of
-all colours, and yet, says Stubbs, they were
-difficult to keep on, and went flap-flap up and
-down in the dirt, casting the mire up to their
-knees. Their hats, he states, were sharp at the
-crown, peaking up like the shaft of a steeple a
-quarter of a yard above the crown of their heads,
-some more, some less; others were flat and broad on
-the crown; some had round crowns and bands of
-all colours; and these hats or caps were of velvet,
-taffeta, or sarcenet, ornamented with big bunches
-of feathers; and finally we hear of <em>beaver hats</em>,
-costing from twenty to forty shillings apiece,
-brought from beyond seas.</p>
-
-<p>But if such was the dress of gentlemen to please
-the strange taste of the maiden queen, that of this
-famous queen herself, as evinced by her numerous
-portraits, has nothing like it in all the
-annals of fashion. In an early portrait of Elizabeth
-we have her dressed in a costume very little
-different to that of a man. Over her gown or
-doublet she wore a coat with the enormous
-shoulder-points standing up six inches, and with a
-close upright collar completely enveloping her
-neck, and surmounted by a ruff; her coat cut and
-slashed all over, and on her head a round hat,
-pulled down to a peak in front, and thickly
-jewelled. Stubbs, alluding to this particular
-fashion, says, "The women have doublets and
-jerkins as the men have, buttoned up to the
-breast, and made with wings, welts, and pinions on
-the shoulder-points, as men's apparel in all respects....
-Yet they blush not to wear it."</p>
-
-<p>But it was about the middle of her reign that
-Elizabeth introduced that astounding style of
-dress in which she figures in most of her portraits,
-and in which the body was imprisoned in whalebone
-to the hips; the partlet or habit-shirt, which
-had for some time been in use, and covered the
-whole bosom to the chin, was removed, and an
-enormous ruff, rising gradually from the front of
-the shoulders to nearly the height of the head behind,
-encircled the wearer like the enormous wings
-of some nondescript butterfly. In fact, there was
-ruff beyond ruff; first, a crimped one round the
-neck like a collar; and then a round one standing
-up from the shoulders behind the head; and,
-finally, the enormous circular fans towering high
-and wide. The head of the queen is seen covered
-with one of her eighty sets of false hair, and
-hoisted above that a jaunty hat, jewelled and
-plumed.</p>
-
-<p>In order to enable this monstrous expanse of
-ruff to support itself, it was necessary to resort to
-starch, and, as Stubbs tells us, also to a machinery
-of wires, "erected for the purpose, and whipped all
-over with gold thread, silver, or silk." This was
-called a "supportasse, or underpropper." The
-queen sent to Holland for women skilled in the
-art of starching; and one Mistress Dingham
-Vander Plasse came over and became famous in
-the mystery of tormenting pride with starch.
-"The devil," says Stubbs, "hath learned them to
-wash and dress their ruffs, which, being dry, will
-then stand inflexible about their necks."</p>
-
-<p>From the bosom, now partly left bare, descended<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span>
-an interminable stomacher, and then the farthingale
-spread out its enormous breadth, like the
-Victorian crinoline. Stockings of worsted yarn
-and silk had now become common; and Mistress
-Montague presented Her Majesty, in the third
-year of her reign, with a pair of silk stockings
-knit in England; thereupon she would never wear
-any else. A fashion of both ladies and gentlemen
-of this time was to wear small looking-glasses
-hanging at their sides or inserted in the fan
-of ostrich feathers.</p>
-
-<p>The history of the coinage from Henry VII. to
-the reign of Elizabeth is one of depreciation and
-adulteration, as it had been in the preceding century.
-Not till Elizabeth did it begin to return to
-a sound and honest standard.</p>
-
-<p>Henry VII. made several variations in the
-money of the realm. He preserved the standard
-of Edward IV. and Richard III., coining 450
-pennies from the pound of silver, or thirty-seven
-nominal shillings and sixpences. He introduced
-shillings as actual money, being before only
-nominal, and used in accounts. These shillings,
-struck in 1504&mdash;called at first large groats, and
-then testons, from the French "teste," or "tête,"
-a head&mdash;bore the profile of the king instead of the
-full face; a thing unknown since the reign of
-Stephen, but ever after followed, except by Henry
-VIII. and Edward VI., who, however, used the
-profile in their groats. Henry coined also a novel
-coin&mdash;the sovereign, or "double rose noble," worth
-twenty shillings, and the "rose rial," or half-sovereign.
-These gold coins are now very rare.
-On the reverse of his coins he for the first time
-placed the Royal arms.</p>
-
-<p>The gold coins of Henry VIII. were sovereigns,
-half-sovereigns, or rials, half and quarter rials,
-angels, angelets, or half angels, and quarter-angels,
-George nobles&mdash;so called from bearing on
-the reverse St. George and the dragon&mdash;crowns,
-and half-crowns. His silver coins were shillings,
-groats, half-groats, and pennies. Amongst these
-appeared groats and half-groats coined by Wolsey
-at York, in accordance with a privilege, exercised
-by the Church long before. In his impeachment
-it was made a capital charge that he had placed the
-cardinal's hat on the groats under the king's arms.
-The groats also bore on each side of the arms his
-initials, "T. W.," and the half-groats "W. A."&mdash;Wolsey
-Archiepiscopus.</p>
-
-<p>Not only did Henry adulterate the coin in the
-most scandalous manner, but he also depreciated
-the value of the silver coins, by coining a much
-larger number of pennies out of a pound of
-the base alloy. Before his time the mixed mint
-pound had consisted of eleven ounces two pennyweights
-of silver, and eighteen pennyweights of
-alloy; but Henry, in 1543, altered it to ten
-ounces of silver and two ounces of alloy. Two
-years later he added as much alloy as there was
-silver; and not content with that, in 1546, or one
-year after, he left only four ounces of silver in
-the pound, or eight ounces of alloy to the four
-ounces of silver! But this even did not satisfy
-him: he next proceeded to coin his base metal
-into a larger amount than the good metal had ever
-produced before. Instead of 37s. 6d., or 450
-pennies, into which it had been coined ever since
-the reign of Edward IV., he made it yield 540
-pennies, or 45s., in 1527, and in 1543 he extended
-it to 48s., or 576 pennies. He thus, instead of
-450 pennies out of a pound containing eleven
-ounces two pennyweights of silver, coined 576
-pennies out of only four ounces of silver! Such
-were the lawless robberies which "Bluff Harry"
-committed on his subjects. Any one of the smallest
-debasements by a subject would have sent him to
-the gallows. He certainly was one of the most
-wholesale issuers of bad money that ever lived.</p>
-
-<p>The counsellors of his son Edward&mdash;a most
-rapacious set of adventurers&mdash;however, even out-Harryed
-Harry; for though Edward restored at
-first the value of the mint mixture in some degree,
-in 1551 the amount of silver in a pound of that
-alloy was only three ounces, or an ounce less than
-the worst coin of his father. And still worse,
-instead of 48s., the largest number coined by his
-father out of a pound, he coined 72s., or instead of
-450 pennies out of four ounces of silver, 864
-pennies were coined out of three ounces. The
-ruin, the confusion of prices, and the public outcry,
-however, consequent upon this violent public
-fraud, at length compelled Government to restore
-the amount of silver in the pound to nearly what
-it was at the beginning of the reign of Henry
-VIII., and the number of shillings was reduced
-from seventy-two to sixty. The gold, which was
-equally debased, was also restored to the same
-extent.</p>
-
-<p>Queen Mary, while she issued a proclamation
-at the commencement of her reign denouncing
-the dishonest proceedings of her predecessors, again
-increased the alloy in a pound of mint silver to an
-ounce instead of nineteen pennyweights; and she
-added two pennyweights more of alloy to the
-ounce of gold. The coins issued by Philip and
-Mary bear both their profiles.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth honourably restored the coinage to its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span>
-ancient value. She fixed the alloy in a pound of
-silver at only eighteen pennyweights; but she
-coined sixty-two shillings out of the pound instead
-of sixty, at which it remained till 1816, when it
-became sixty-six, as it still remains. The standard
-mixture of Elizabeth has continued the same to
-our own day. She called in and melted down the
-base money of her father and brother to the
-nominal value of £638,000, but of real value only
-£244,000. The gold coins of Elizabeth are rials,
-angels, half-angels, and quarter-angels, crowns and
-half-crowns, nobles and double nobles. Some of
-her coins were the first which had milled edges,
-both of gold and silver. Besides shillings, sixpences,
-groats, and pence, Elizabeth coined a
-crown, for the use of the East India Company,
-called portcullis crowns, in imitation of the Spanish
-dollar. These were valued at four shillings and
-sixpence, and are now rare.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_393big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_393.jpg" width="560" height="418" alt="" title="SHIPS OF ELIZABETHS TIME" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SHIPS OF ELIZABETH'S TIME.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In Scotland the alloy of the silver at the mint
-was not so great as in England during this period;
-but the number of shillings coined out of one
-pound of silver was astonishingly increased. This
-kind of depreciation had been going on for two
-centuries before this period; but from 1475, when
-only 144 shillings were coined out of the pound of
-silver, the number was rapidly augmented every
-few years, till in 1601 no less than 720 shillings
-were coined out of it, or, in other words, the
-original value of one pound was made to pass for
-thirty-six pounds.</p>
-
-<p>In tracing the historical events of these reigns,
-we have had occasion to show the increasing
-strength of the Royal navy of England. Both in
-the reigns of Henry VIII. and of Elizabeth the
-sea fights were of a character and attended by
-results which marked out England as a maritime
-power growing ever more formidable. In the
-fourth year of his reign Henry drove the French
-fleet from the Channel with forty-two ships, Royal
-and others. He chastised the Scots, who, under
-James V., had become daring at sea; and on
-various occasions during his reign he showed his
-superiority to the French and Spaniards.</p>
-
-<p>But it was the victory over the Armada under
-Elizabeth, and the exploits of Drake, Essex,
-Raleigh, and others in the Spanish ports, and
-of Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher in the Spanish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span>
-settlements of America, that raised the fame of
-the British fleet to a pitch which it had never
-reached before. For, after all, the amount of
-Henry's fleet never was large. We are told,
-indeed, that at first he had only one ship of war,
-the <em>Great Harry</em>, till he took the <em>Lion</em>, a large
-Scottish ship, with its commander, the celebrated
-Andrew Barton; but probably this is meant of
-such size as to merit the name of man-of-war.
-Parsimonious as was Henry VII., and careful to
-avoid any collisions with foreign powers, we cannot
-suppose he left the kingdom totally destitute
-of a navy. But Henry VIII. was not contented
-with owning merely a mediocre fleet; he had an
-ambition of building large vessels, and in 1512 he
-built one of 1,000 tons, called the <em>Regent</em>. This
-was blown up in a battle with the French fleet off
-Brest, and instead of it he built another called
-<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Grâce de Dieu</i>. The rivalry of Henry was excited
-by the King of Scotland building a much larger
-ship than his <em>Regent</em>, which was said to carry 300
-seamen, 120 gunners, and 1,000 soldiers. This
-ship, like Henry's <em>Regent</em>, was unfortunately lost
-at sea. By the end of Henry's reign, his fleet
-altogether amounted to 12,500 tons.</p>
-
-<p>Besides building of ships, Henry seems to have
-planned all the necessary offices for a naval
-system. He established the Navy Office, with a
-sort of Board of Admiralty for its management,
-and he also founded, in the fourth year of his
-reign, the Corporation of the Trinity House at
-Deptford, for managing everything relating to the
-education, selection, and appointment of pilots, the
-putting down of buoys, and erecting beacons and
-lighthouses. Similar establishments were created
-by him at Hull and Newcastle. He built at
-great cost the first pier at Dover, and passed an
-Act of Parliament for improving the harbours of
-Plymouth, Dartmouth, Teignmouth, Falmouth, and
-Fowey, which had been choked up by the refuse of
-certain tin-works, which he prohibited. But perhaps
-his greatest works of the kind were his
-establishment of the navy-yards and storehouses
-at Woolwich and Deptford. No monarch, in fact,
-had hitherto planned so efficiently and exerted
-himself so earnestly to found an English navy.
-Great merit is due to him for his advancement of
-the maritime interests of the nation.</p>
-
-<p>The manner in which the different monarchs of
-the Tudor dynasty advanced or neglected the
-navy is well shown by the returns of the Navy
-Office to Parliament in 1791. At the end of
-the reign of Henry VIII. it amounted to 12,500
-tons, at the end of that of Edward VI. to only
-11,065 tons, and at the end of Mary's to 7,110
-tons, but at the end of Elizabeth's it rose to
-17,110. At the time of the Armada, Elizabeth
-had at sea 150 sail, of which, however, only forty
-were the property of the Crown; the rest belonged
-to the merchants who were liable to be called
-upon on such emergencies to furnish their largest
-craft for the public service. Thirty-four of these
-ships were from 500 to 1,100 tons each, and
-these larger vessels are said to have carried 300
-men and forty cannon each. Besides the vessels
-thus called out for war, the mercantile navy at
-this time amounted to another 150 sail of various
-capacity, averaging each 150 tons, and carrying
-forty seamen.</p>
-
-<p>This extent of Royal and mercantile navy had
-not been reached without much fostering care on
-the part of the queen. With all her parsimony
-and dread of expense, it was one of the finest parts
-of her very mixed character, that she saw the
-necessity of a strong power at sea and had all the
-pride of her father to maintain it. Whilst on
-land she introduced the manufacture of gunpowder,
-and raised the pay of the soldiers, she extended
-her care to the fleet, and made it in the end the
-best equipped navy in Europe. She raised the
-pay of the sailors as she had done that of the
-soldiers, and the merchants entered so readily into
-her service that she had no longer occasion to hire
-vessels, as her predecessors had done, from the
-Hanse Towns, or from Venice and Genoa. She
-built a fort on the Medway, somewhere near the
-present Sheerness, to protect her fleet, and justly
-acquired the name of the Queen of the North
-Seas. Many circumstances combined to give a
-new and wonderful development in her time to
-commerce&mdash;the discovery and partial settlement of
-the New World; the way opened by the Cape to
-India; the extension of commercial inquiry and
-enterprise into the north of Europe and to the
-banks of Newfoundland. But ere this stirring
-period arrived, commerce had had to struggle
-with many severe restrictions, the fruit of the
-ignorance of political economy.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_394big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_394.jpg" width="560" height="385" alt="" title="THE WORLD" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE WORLD</p>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Henry VII. is praised by Hall, the chronicler,
-as a prince who "by his high policy marvellously
-enriched his realm and himself, and left his
-subjects in high wealth and prosperity; as is
-apparent by the great abundance of gold and
-silver yearly brought into the kingdom, in plate,
-money, and bullion, by merchants passing and repassing."
-But the true reason of the rapid
-advance of commerce under Henry VII. was,
-undoubtedly, the quietness and stability of affairs
-which he introduced; for Henry was too fond of
-hoarding to be a very munificent patron of trade.
-Amongst the very first measures which he passed
-was one against usury, totally forbidding the loan
-of money on interest, which, if it could have been
-really carried out, would have nearly extinguished
-commerce altogether. In this, however, Henry
-was but continuing the practice of his predecessors,
-who, though great warriors, were no merchants.
-So severe was Henry's enactment against usury,
-that, by the Act of the third year of his reign,
-every offender was, on discovery, to be fined £100,
-and the bargain to be made void. Henry VIII.
-abrogated this law, and allowed usury under
-ten per cent.; it was again put in force by
-Edward VI. in terms of the utmost severity, declaring
-it to be "a vice most odious and detestable,
-and utterly prohibited by the Word of God."
-Elizabeth, however, again restored the law of her
-father in 1571, permitting interest under ten
-per cent.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst Henry VII. endeavoured to extinguish
-usury, he was equally jealous of foreign merchants&mdash;of
-their bringing their foreign manufactures and
-carrying out English goods&mdash;lest our wealth should
-be drained away by them. The careful old king
-could not see that it mattered little by whom the
-exchanges of commerce were made, so that merchants
-were left to make their own bargains;
-whence the result would be that they would only
-purchase such things as they wanted, and sell
-such as they did not want, with benefit to everybody.
-It accorded, however, with Henry's ideas,
-and was so far beneficial as to induce the settling
-of English merchants in foreign countries, with
-the object of endeavouring to drain them of their
-wealth. Therefore, he was careful to heal the
-breach with the Netherlands which the patronage
-of Perkin Warbeck by the Duchess of Burgundy
-had made, and the company of Merchant Adventurers
-was again established in Antwerp. The
-treaty on this occasion was termed by the rejoicing
-Flemings the "Intercursus Magnus," or Great
-Treaty of Intercourse; but Henry, in 1506, on
-intercepting the Archduke Philip at Weymouth,
-forced from him a less liberal treaty, which the
-Flemings branded as the "Intercursus Malus,"
-or Evil Treaty.</p>
-
-<p>In the same one-sided spirit of trade, Henry,
-in 1489, concluded a treaty with Denmark, by
-which English companies were authorised to purchase
-lands in Bergen in Norway, Lund and
-Landskrona in Sweden, and Lowisa in Finland,
-on which to erect factories and warehouses, to
-remain theirs in perpetuity for the purposes of
-trade. He also renewed a similar treaty at the
-same time with the great trading republic of
-Venice, by which the English companies were
-to enjoy all the privileges of the citizens of
-Florence and Pisa, where they were established,
-and were privileged to export English wool, and
-re-ship the spices and valuable articles which
-were brought by the Venetians overland from
-India.</p>
-
-<p>It was not long, however, before Henry was
-called on to check the effects of monopoly in his
-English companies. The Merchant Adventurers
-of London soon showed so strongly these effects,
-that they compelled the king to interfere with a
-view to counteract them.</p>
-
-<p>The markets of Europe were now fast growing
-in importance and demand. The wealth of South
-America was flowing into Spain, in the shape of
-gold, to the amount of a million sterling annually,
-and the spices and riches of the East Indies into
-Portugal, since the discovery of the way round the
-Cape. Amsterdam became the great mercantile
-depôt of these commodities in Europe, and the
-benefit of it was felt nowhere more sensibly
-than in England. Henry VII., who had let
-slip the opportunity of securing South America
-and the West Indies by neglecting the offers of
-Columbus, now endeavoured to repair the mischief
-by granting patents to the Cabots and others for
-the discovery of new lands. He could not open
-his heart or his coffers sufficiently to assist the
-adventurers with funds, but he was ready to reap
-his share of the benefit, which was to consist of all
-the countries discovered and a fifth of the immediate
-proceeds. Under such patents the Cabots,
-father and son, in the course of several voyages,
-discovered Labrador in 1497, and afterwards ran
-along the whole coast of North America, to the
-Gulf of Mexico.</p>
-
-<p>From this moment the spirit of mercantile enterprise
-rapidly developed itself. In 1562 we find
-Captain Hawkins trading to Guinea for elephants'
-teeth, and to Brazil, to which coasts voyages soon
-became common. Trading to all parts of the
-Mediterranean was frequent during the reign of
-Henry VIII.; taking out wool, cloth, and skins,
-and importing silks, drugs, wines, cotton-wool,
-spices, and Turkey carpets. The voyages of Cabot
-had opened up a new trade&mdash;that of cod-fishing&mdash;on
-the coasts of Newfoundland, which was eagerly
-engaged in; and the voyages of Willoughby and
-Richard Chancellor, by exploring the White Sea,
-at the suggestion of Cabot, opened a new trade<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span>
-with Russia. A Russian company was formed by
-Edward VI., and fully incorporated by Mary, who
-vigorously prosecuted that trade; and in 1556 an
-ambassador arrived at London from the Czar.
-Jenkinson, an agent of this company afterwards
-descended the Volga to Astrakhan, and crossing
-the Caspian Sea, reached Bokhara, the great
-resort of the merchants of Russia, Persia, India,
-and China. He is said to have made six other
-voyages to Bokhara by that route&mdash;a striking
-proof of the growing enterprise of the English
-merchant. The loss of Calais by Mary was a
-circumstance which, as was to be expected, exerted
-an injurious influence on commerce in her unfortunate
-reign.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_396big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_396.jpg" width="560" height="411" alt="" title="THE FIRST ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON (FOUNDED BY SIR THOMAS GRESHAM)" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE FIRST ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON (FOUNDED BY SIR THOMAS GRESHAM).</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The earliest European trade with India was
-Venetian, and was conducted by way of the Black
-Sea. On the discovery by Vasco da Gama of the
-passage by the Cape of Good Hope, in 1497, the
-Dutch claimed the exclusive right of navigating
-those seas. The Spaniards again were equally
-exclusive with regard to their own subsequent
-discovery of a passage by the Straits of Magellan.
-These monopolies, so strange in their contrast to our
-modern conceptions and practice, left the English
-the sole alternative of a north-west or north-east
-passage. About 1500, a Portuguese named Corte
-Real attempted to discover a north-west passage,
-and was followed by a similar effort on the part
-of the English in 1553. The idea received the
-greatest encouragement from Queen Elizabeth,
-and a company was formed in 1585, called the
-"Fellowship for the discovery of the North-West
-Passage." Sir Hugh Willoughby's last voyage,
-which was entered on with a view to discover a
-north-east passage to China, was fatal to him and
-his brave comrades, who perished in the ice. The
-instructions given to Sir Hugh by Sebastian Cabot,
-Grand Pilot of England by appointment of Henry
-VII., are extant, and furnish a curious and interesting
-specimen of naval regulation. No dicing,
-carding, tabling, nor other such practices were to
-be allowed on ship-board; morning and evening
-prayers were to be diligently observed. On the
-other hand, the natives of strange countries were
-to be "enticed on board and made drunk with
-your beer and wine, for then you shall know the
-secrets of their hearts:" and they were to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span>
-cautious with regard to "certain creatures with
-men's heads and the tails of fishes, who swim with
-bows and arrows about the fords and bays, and
-live on human flesh."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_397.jpg" width="432" height="560" alt="" title="SIR THOMAS GRESHAM" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR THOMAS GRESHAM.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>During the long reign of Elizabeth foreign trade
-made gigantic strides. Among the very first acts
-of this queen was one to abolish the restriction
-of English merchants to English ships in the
-transport of goods. The Act states that this
-restriction had provoked the natural adoption of
-like restrictions by foreign princes. This was the
-first acknowledgment of the mischief of meddling
-with the freedom of trade; and our foreign trade
-had now acquired an importance which demanded
-respect. With the Netherlands alone our trade
-was extraordinary, its value amounting to nearly
-two millions and a half sterling annually; and we
-find at this time the first mention of insurance of
-goods on their voyage. In 1562 we hear also of
-that detestable commerce the slave trade, which
-was introduced by John Hawkins, so well known
-afterwards as the daring compeer of Drake and
-Frobisher, and one of the heroic conquerors of the
-Armada. Hawkins carried out English goods,
-called at the Guinea Coast, and took in slaves,
-sailed to Hispaniola, and brought thence sugar,
-ginger, hides, and pearls.</p>
-
-<p>During the reign of Elizabeth the many voyages
-which were made in order to discover a north-west
-passage to India led to a more intimate knowledge
-of the North American coasts. In these Frobisher,
-Cavendish, and Davis distinguished themselves.
-From 1576 to the end of Elizabeth's reign, Raleigh
-and his step-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, made
-repeated attempts to colonise North America,
-and particularly Virginia&mdash;so called in honour of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span>
-Elizabeth&mdash;but in vain. Equally strenuous and
-unsuccessful efforts were made to open a direct sea
-communication with India by the English; and it
-was not till the close of Elizabeth's reign that the
-incorporation of an East India Company, destined
-to establish that trade, was effected. The charter
-was granted by Elizabeth in 1600. Elizabeth also
-chartered a company in 1579 for the exclusive
-right of trading to all the countries of the Baltic.</p>
-
-<p>As regarded the domestic manufactures of this
-period, the woollen manufactures were the most
-important, and extended themselves greatly on
-account of the foreign demand. This manufacture
-had to contend with many old charters and restrictions
-which were introduced to monopolise the
-practice of it to certain towns and persons; but
-these were gradually broken through after much
-contest, and people in both town and country were
-allowed to make cloths and other woollen goods.
-Originally London, Norwich, Bristol, Gloucester,
-and Coventry were the privileged places. Essex
-became a clothing county; but by degrees the
-trade spread into those quarters where it still prevails.
-Berks, Oxford, Surrey, and Yorkshire
-made coarse kerseys for exportation; Wales manufactured
-fringes and coarse cloths; but Tiverton,
-Bridgewater, Chard, and other towns of Wilts,
-Gloucester, and Somerset were famous for their
-broad-cloths; those of Kidderminster, Bromwich,
-Coventry, Worcester, Evesham, Droitwich, as
-also of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, were in
-esteem. Manchester and Halifax were already
-noted for rugs and fringes, Norfolk for coverlets,
-and Lincolnshire and Chester for what were called
-"cottons," but which were a species of woollen.
-There was much complaint at that day of the
-adulteration of these fabrics by intermixture of
-inferior yarns, and by not taking the proper means
-to prevent them from shrinking on being exposed
-to wet. Norwich had manufactures of woollen
-different to ordinary cloth, in which it excelled all
-other places; and in Elizabeth's reign the Norwich
-manufacturers introduced new kinds under the
-name of Norwich satins and fustians.</p>
-
-<p>The art of dyeing received a new impulse and
-new colours from the discovery of Brazil and other
-distant countries. Soap-making was also introduced,
-soap having before 1524 been chiefly
-imported. Many manufacturing processes in
-weaving, dyeing, and cleaning cloths were brought
-over by the refugees from the Netherlands,
-driven to England by the Spanish persecutions.
-During Elizabeth's reign the smelting of iron,
-which had been chiefly carried on in Kent, Sussex,
-and Surrey, became restricted there on account of
-the consumption of wood. Copper mines and
-alum pits were discovered in the time of Elizabeth,
-in Cumberland and Yorkshire, which contributed
-to the extension of the manufacturing arts.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Thomas Gresham, the chief financial leader
-of the day, although a protégé of the Duke of
-Northumberland's, was received with much favour
-by Elizabeth on her accession. The great merchant
-then gave her advice&mdash;the following of
-which may well be called an epoch in the history
-of this country. He told her that all the debased
-coin should be converted into fine coin of a certain
-weight; that their monopoly should not be restored
-to the Steelyard merchants; that licences
-should be granted as seldom as possible; that
-she should incur no debt, or as little debt as
-possible, beyond the seas; and that she should
-keep her credit with her own merchants, as they
-would be her best and most powerful friends.
-These wise measures of reform were gradually
-carried out. Elizabeth probably perceived their
-value, but she could not find it in her heart to
-act altogether with the necessary self-denial and
-liberality. Thus she would not give up her power
-to reward favourites by means of special grants
-and licences. The monopoly of sweet wines which
-Essex enjoyed is an instance of her influence in
-this respect.</p>
-
-<p>Gresham himself superintended the restoration
-of the coinage, and his advice with regard to the
-Steelyard merchants was also carried into practice.
-It was to him that the merchants of that day owed
-their first place of meeting for the transaction of
-business. Before that they had been "constrained
-either to endure all extremities of weather, namely,
-heat and cold, snow and rain, or else to shelter
-themselves in shops." Gresham therefore built a
-house for them, which the queen visited in 1570
-and called the Royal Exchange. This building,
-like many others belonging to the City companies,
-was destroyed in the Great Fire. It was designed
-after the model of the Bourse of Antwerp, and
-was Flemish also in its architect, its workmen, and
-its materials. The commerce of Scotland during
-this century was affected by precisely the same
-circumstances as that of England.</p>
-
-<p>During this century much progress was made in
-the improvement of London. Henry VIII. passed
-various Acts for the paving of the thoroughfares,
-which before were horrible sloughs, "very foul and
-full of pits."</p>
-
-<p>The public amusements of the nation underwent
-as great a revolution during this century as its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>
-religion or its literature. The fall of the Church
-and the introduction of firearms were fatal to the
-spirit of chivalry, and the whole host of religious
-pageants and plays. Henry VIII. and Elizabeth
-exerted themselves to prolong the exercises of
-chivalry, but they had lost their spirit, and fell
-lifeless to the ground. In vain was the tournament
-of the Cloth of Gold, or the jousts at which
-Elizabeth presided at Greenwich. They were
-become mere mockeries of what once had been the
-all-engrossing contests of knightly honour. In
-vain did they endeavour to keep alive the long
-bow and the feats of archery. The musket and
-the sportsman's gun had made the bow and quiver
-mere playthings. The tournament made way for
-the joust, in which the contest was conducted with
-headless lances, and fighting at the barriers with
-blunted axes; and that gave way to "riding at the
-ring," in which the gentlemen did not run their
-lances through their antagonists, but through a ring
-suspended for the purpose. The last of the ancient
-exercises was the contest with the sword and
-buckler; but the sword was deprived of both
-edge and point, and as the combatants were not
-allowed to lunge, but only to strike, the practice
-was perfectly harmless. In the time of Henry
-VIII., however, the art of fencing was introduced;
-and in the time of Elizabeth the use of the
-rapier and the deadly thrust rendered the acquirement
-of the art of fence a matter of the first
-importance.</p>
-
-<p>But though the chivalric exercises went out in
-this age, never was the love of pageant and display
-more alive. The revival of the Greek literature
-brought forward a crowd of gods and goddesses,
-who figured in public processions and galas; and
-the strangest allegoric absurdities were gazed upon
-by grave princes and their counsellors, as well as
-by the ladies, with all the enthusiasm of country
-lads and lasses gaping at a strolling theatre or a
-puppet-show.</p>
-
-<p>Strange masquerades and allegoric pageants
-were got up in London for Mary and Elizabeth;
-and readers of worthy Laneham's description of
-the nineteen days in which Queen Bess was entertained
-at Kenilworth by Leicester, will find plenty
-of giants, distressed Ladies of the Lake, "salvage
-men," presents from Bacchus, Pomona, Ceres,
-floating islands, and sham Arions riding on sham
-dolphins. More healthy but little less romantic
-were the holiday sports which had survived the
-Church, and were mingled in by both princes,
-nobles, and people. The old Mystery did not for
-some time disappear before the secular drama, and
-the Coventry Play was played before Elizabeth at
-Kenilworth. May-day had its grand may-pole
-still; and Henry VIII. did not disdain, on May-day,
-1515, to go a-maying to Shooter's Hill, with
-his queen and his sister, the Queen-Dowager of
-France. May-day was also the great day of the
-milkmaids, who danced from door to door with a
-pyramid of plates on their heads.</p>
-
-<p>Stubbs&mdash;who, Puritan as he was, seems to have
-enjoyed what he describes so well&mdash;gives us the
-following description of the amusements of the
-merry gentlemen of the Temple in those days:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"First, all the wild heads of the parish covening
-together, choose them a grand captain of mischief,
-whom they ennoble with the title of My Lord of
-Misrule, and him they crown with great solemnity
-and adopt for their king. This king anointed
-chooseth for him twenty, forty, threescore, or a
-hundred lusty guts like to himself to wait upon
-his lordly majesty and to guard his noble person.
-Then every one of these his men he investeth with
-his liveries of green, yellow, or some other wanton
-colour. And, as though they were not gaudy
-enough, they bedeck themselves with scarfs, ribbons,
-and laces, hanged all over with gold rings,
-precious stones, and other jewels; this done, they
-tie about either leg twenty or forty bells, with rich
-handkerchiefs in their hands, and sometimes laid
-across over their shoulders and necks, borrowed
-for the most part of their pretty Mopsies and
-loving Bessies.... Thus all things set in
-order, then have they their hobby-horses, dragons,
-and other antics, together with their pipers and
-thundering drummers to strike up the devil's
-dance withal; then march these heathen company
-towards the church and churchyard, their pipers
-piping, their drummers thundering, their stumps
-dancing, their bells jingling, their handkerchiefs
-swinging about their heads like madmen, their
-hobby-horses and other monsters skirmishing
-amongst the throng; and in this sort they go to
-the church (though the minister be at prayer or
-preaching), dancing and swinging their handkerchiefs
-over their heads in the church like devils
-incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man
-can hear his own voice. Then the foolish people
-they look, they stare, they laugh, they fleer, and
-mount upon forms and pews to see these goodly
-pageants solemnised in this sort. Then, after
-this, about the church they go again and again,
-and so forth into the churchyard, where they
-have commonly their summer halls, their bowers,
-arbours, and banqueting-houses set up, wherein
-they feast, banquet, and dance all that day, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span>
-peradventure all that night, too. And thus these
-terrestrial furies spend the Sabbath-day in the
-country."</p>
-
-<p>To relate all the jollity with which Christmas
-was celebrated is beyond our space. The Christmas
-carols with which the waits awoke all the
-sleeping people for a fortnight before; the yule-log
-dragged into the hall and piled on the fire;
-the boar's-head feast, with plum-pudding and
-mince-pies, and all the dances and games, were
-as much in fashion as in the days of the ancient
-Church. Plough Monday, Valentine Day, Easter
-and Whitsuntide, St. John's Eve, and all the
-charities of Maundy Thursday, were still maintained.
-Even Palm Sunday, when the figure of
-Christ went on its procession mounted on a
-wooden ass, resisted the Reformation till the
-year 1548.</p>
-
-<p>The drama, which was now shaping itself into
-freedom and splendour under such men as Shakespeare
-and Marlowe, was yet conducted in a very
-rough style. The theatres were mostly of wood;
-the actors were rarely arrayed in proper costume;
-women's parts were represented by boys; any
-scenery which the play had, remained, like a
-picture on a country fair booth, through the
-whole piece. The aristocratic frequenters sate on
-the stage, for there were no boxes or dress-circle,
-and the commonalty sate on stools and enjoyed
-their pipes and beer during the performance.
-What was worse, the theatre had to contend, in
-the affections of the public, with the bear-garden,
-bull-baiting, and cock-fighting. This was true&mdash;and
-to us the fact must seem deplorable&mdash;of the
-very highest classes among the people.</p>
-
-<p>As Sunday had been the great day of the
-Church plays or Mysteries, so Sunday was the
-chief day of the theatre, which brought it into
-disrepute with the serious portion of the community;
-and when there was bull-baiting, the
-theatre was closed that it might not interfere.
-Queen Elizabeth was especially fond of the bear-garden,
-and that sport was consequently included
-by Leicester in the recreations which he provided
-for her at Kenilworth. In truth, bear-gardens,
-cock-pits, bowling-greens, tennis-courts, dicing-houses,
-taverns, smoking ordinaries, and the like
-abounded, giving us a fair idea of the grade of
-taste of that age. Hunting and hawking were
-still pastimes of the gentry, and horse-racing became
-a great rage. The first notice we have of
-this latter pastime is on the occasion before mentioned,
-when Henry went a-maying in 1515; after
-which it is said that he and his brother-in-law, the
-Duke of Suffolk, diverted themselves by "racing
-on great coursers."</p>
-
-<p>But amid the pleasures of this century there
-must have existed a large intermixture of a more
-moral class, for the Bible had become extensively
-read, and the Reformers must have been numerous
-to enable the Government to effect the ecclesiastical
-changes which they did; and the advance
-of physical improvement must not be judged of
-by the popular condition of to-day, but of previous
-times. In the course of the century the condition
-of the people considerably advanced. At the
-beginning the houses of farmers were generally
-of timber, and those of labourers of mud, or wattle
-and mud. In many of them were no chimneys,
-except one for cooking. Wooden trenchers and
-wooden spoons were used instead of pewter or
-earthenware; and a yeoman who had half a dozen
-pewter dishes in his house was looked on as
-wealthy. Their lodging was equally mean. Straw
-beds and pillows of chaff were most common; flock
-beds were a rural luxury; and the farm servants
-lay on straw, and often had not even a coverlet
-to throw over them. The bread of the common
-people was made of rye, barley, or oats, and in
-many districts of peas or beans. The gentry only
-ate wheaten bread. The men by the fire in the
-evening, after their day's work, made their own
-shoes, or prepared the yokes for oxen, and their
-plough-gear. The women made the wool and
-the hemp or flax ready for the weaver at the
-spinning-wheel. As they do now on the Continent,
-the countrywomen worked much in the fields.
-Fitzherbert, the first of our writers on husbandry,
-says that it was the business of the farmer's wife
-"to winnow all manner of corn, to make malt, to
-wash, to make hay, to shear corn, and, in time of
-need, to help her husband to fill the muck-wain,
-or dung-cart, drive the plough, to load hay or corn,
-to go to market and sell butter or pigs or fowls."</p>
-
-<p>Latimer, who was a farmer's son, describes the
-advance in the value of land in his time. When
-he was young, he says, his father's farm was
-rented by him at £4 a year; that he employed
-half-a-dozen men upon it, and had 100 sheep and
-thirty cows; that his father managed to send him
-to school and college, and to give to each of his
-daughters £5 on her marriage. But, continues
-Latimer, at the time he wrote this, the same farm
-was charged £16 a year, or fourfold, and then the
-farmer of it could do nothing for his prince, himself,
-or his children, nor give a cup of drink to
-the poor. The cause of this was the increased
-demand for wool, which had occasioned great
-enclosures, and a decrease of tillage in favour of
-pasturage. This pressed greatly on the labouring
-class who were not employed; for the gentlemen
-had flocks of from 10,000 to 20,000, and a few
-shepherds were all they needed in their great
-enclosures. The gentry, who thus occupied the
-land, we are told, did not reside on it, but
-crowded up to London and hung about the Court.
-"Hence," says Roger Ascham, "so many families
-dispersed, so many houses ruined. Hence the
-honour and strength of England, the noble yeomanry,
-are broken up and destroyed."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_401big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_401.jpg" width="415" height="560" alt="" title="THE FROLIC OF MY LORD OF MISRULE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE FROLIC OF MY LORD OF MISRULE. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_399">399.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The evils of this state of things compelled the
-Legislature to put restrictions on the extent of
-pasturage, to insist on the tillage of sufficient
-land for the wants of the community; and
-penalties were enacted for such as did not build
-proper cottages for their labourers, with four acres
-of land each, or who allowed more than one family
-in one cottage. The evil produced its own remedy.
-The scarcity of tillage land raised the price of
-produce, and that stimulated to the manuring
-and better culture of the land. We learn from
-Harrison and Norden, writers of the period, that
-towards the end of the century things were greatly
-improved. The farmers and small builders were
-become more painstaking and skilful. They collected
-manure and even the sweepings of streets,
-burnt lime, and carted sea sand, as in Cornwall
-and Devon. The consequence was that they had
-better cattle and better crops, they had milk from
-their cows, ewes, and goats; and they used much
-more meat. In the autumn they cured bacon and
-beef for the winter; and in summer they had
-abundance of veal, beef, and mutton, which, says
-Harrison, they ceased to baste with lard, but
-basted with butter, or suffered the fattest to baste
-itself.</p>
-
-<p>With their living, their houses improved. Wood
-or wattle gave way to stone or brick, the wooden
-trenchers were superseded at substantial tables by
-pewter, and with the pewter were sometimes
-seen articles of silver. Feather beds replaced
-the straw and chaff mattresses; there was
-more abundant linen, bed-covers, and better
-clothing. Coal was beginning to make the scarcity
-of wood less felt.</p>
-
-<p>The vast increase of foreign trade and of manufactures
-which has been described must have
-proved the most effectual means, far more than
-enactments, for encouraging tillage, from the augmented
-demand of provisions and luxuries; and
-the same causes would provide employment and
-good wages for increased numbers. The land as
-well as every other thing in the kingdom was in a
-transition state, and as the large estates of nobles
-and the Church, now divided amongst a multitude,
-came to be settled and cultivated, the diffusion
-of life and prosperity through the rural districts
-was no doubt proportional. At this time there
-must have been a great flow of population from
-the agricultural to the manufacturing districts, as
-the latter were making increased demands on the
-strength of the nation; yet it appears that the
-produce both of the tilled ground and of pasturage
-grew steadily. The small cottagers, who
-had probably been but poor farmers, being now
-gradually absorbed into the growing artisan
-population, gave place to greater and wealthier
-men, who laid out the ground in large grazing
-farms. This gave rise to the false impression
-that the population was decreasing, and the
-statistics of the period give frequent evidence of
-the alarm thus occasioned. The evidence, however,
-for the increase of the population is incontestable;
-and the wage for ordinary labour seems
-to have been quite double its old amount in this
-century. It may be interesting to record some
-of the salaries of the period. In the household
-of the Earl of Northumberland, in 1511, the
-principal priest of the chapel received £5 a year;
-a chaplain graduate, £3 6s. 8d.; a chaplain, not
-a graduate, £2; a minstrel, £4; a serving-boy,
-13s. 4d.; all these being lodged and fed in
-addition. In 1500 a mason received 4d. a day,
-and 2d. for diet. In 1575 a master mason
-received 1s. a day, and a common labourer 8d.
-In 1601 a master mason had 1s. 2d. a day, and a
-labourer 10d. The long continuance of internal
-peace had increased the population from two
-millions and a half in the commencement of the
-fifteenth century, to six millions and a half at
-the end of the sixteenth; but the increase of
-trade, of commerce, and of tillage, had not been
-able to absorb a tithe of the homeless and
-destitute people who had been increasing since
-the abolition of villenage and the destruction of
-the monasteries, which had fed swarms of them.
-We have had occasion to show that these wandering
-tribes overran the country like a flood&mdash;"vagabonds,
-rogues, and sturdy beggars"&mdash;carrying
-terror and crime everywhere. Henry VIII.,
-Harrison tells us, in the course of his reign,
-hanged of robbers, thieves, and vagabonds, no
-fewer than 72,000, and Elizabeth, toward the
-latter part of her reign, sent 300 or 400 of
-them annually to the gallows.</p>
-
-<p>We find a statute of the first year of Edward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span>
-VI. containing the following:&mdash;"Idleness and
-vagabondry is the mother and root of all thefts,
-robberies, and all evil acts and other mischiefs, and
-the multitude of people given thereto hath always
-been here within this realm very great and more
-in number, as it may appear, than in other regions;
-the which idleness and vagabondry all the
-king's highness' noble progenitors, kings of this
-realm, and this high court of Parliament hath
-often and with great travail gone about and
-assayed with godly acts and statutes to repress;
-yet until this our time it hath not had that success
-which hath been wished; but&mdash;partly by foolish
-pity and mercy of them which should have seen
-the said godly laws executed, partly by perverse
-natures and long-accustomed idleness of the persons
-given to loitering&mdash;the said godly statutes
-hitherto hath had small effect, and idle and
-vagabond persons hath been suffered to remain
-and increase, and yet so do." "If," continues the
-Act, "they should be punished by death, whipping,
-imprisonment, or with other corporal pain,
-it were not without their desert, for the example
-of others and to the benefit of the commonwealth;
-yet if they could be brought to be made profitable
-and do service, it were much to be wished and
-desired." Such words would lead us to conclude
-that they were about to adopt conciliatory
-measures with regard to this troublesome class,
-but we find on the contrary the harshest enactments
-put in execution. Thus, every person found
-idle and wandering without any effort to obtain
-work was to be considered a vagabond, and was
-liable to be seized by any one and forced to labour,
-for which he was to receive only his daily food.
-If he attempted to run away, he was to be branded
-on the breast with the letter "V" and made the
-slave of his owner for two years. If he made a
-second attempt for liberty, he was to be branded
-on the forehead or cheek with the letter "S" and
-made his master's slave for ever; while a third
-effort at escape was punishable by death. The
-severity of this law prevented it from being properly
-executed, and caused its repeal in two years.
-After various futile enactments, Henry VIII., in
-1530, gave the sick and impotent permission to
-beg; and in 1536 the magistrates and the clergy
-were ordered to make collections for their relief.
-These were the first approaches to a poor-law, and
-in the year 1562 Queen Elizabeth passed an Act
-making parochial assessments for the poor compulsory.
-The poor-law, therefore, in reality dates
-from that period; but in the year 1601, the celebrated
-Act of the 43rd of Elizabeth organised and
-completed that system of employing and maintaining
-the destitute poor, which&mdash;with its subsequent
-modifications&mdash;has remained ever since the
-law of England.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_403.jpg" width="434" height="400" alt="" title="PUNISHMENT OF THE STOCKS" />
-<div class="caption"><p>PUNISHMENT OF THE STOCKS.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE REIGN OF JAMES I.</p>
-
-
-<blockquote><p>The Stuart Dynasty&mdash;Hopes and Fears caused by the Accession of James&mdash;The King enters England&mdash;His Progress to London&mdash;Lavish
-Creation of Peers and Knights&mdash;The Royal Entrance into the Metropolis&mdash;The Coronation&mdash;Popularity of Queen
-Anne&mdash;Ravages of the Plague&mdash;The King Receives Foreign Embassies&mdash;Rivalry of the Diplomatists of France and
-Spain&mdash;Discontent of Raleigh, Northumberland, and Cobham&mdash;Conspiracies against James&mdash;"The Main" and
-"The Bye"&mdash;Trials of the Conspirators&mdash;The Sentences&mdash;Conference with Puritans&mdash;Parliament of 1604&mdash;Persecution
-of Catholics and Puritans&mdash;Gunpowder Plot&mdash;Admission of fresh Members&mdash;Delays and Devices&mdash;The Letter to Lord
-Mounteagle&mdash;Discovery of the Plot&mdash;Flight of the Conspirators&mdash;Their Capture and Execution&mdash;New Penal Code&mdash;James's
-Correspondence with Bellarmine&mdash;Cecil's attempts to get Money&mdash;Project of Union between England and Scotland&mdash;The
-King's Collisions with Parliament&mdash;Insurrection of the Levellers&mdash;Royal Extravagance and Impecuniosity&mdash;Fresh Disputes
-with Parliament and Assertions of the Prerogative&mdash;Death of Cecil&mdash;Story of Arabella Stuart&mdash;Death of Prince
-Henry.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>With the Stuart dynasty begins a new order of
-things. The direct line of the Tudors ceased in
-Elizabeth, and the collateral one of the Stuarts
-introduced the kings of Scotland to the English
-throne. After all the ages of conflict to unite the
-two kingdoms under one crown, it was effected,
-but in the reverse direction to that in which
-the monarchs of England had striven. They had
-not mounted the throne of Scotland, but Scotland
-sent her king to rule over England. With Elizabeth
-and the Tudors terminated the reign of
-almost unresisted absolutism; with James commenced
-that mighty struggle for constitutional
-liberty which did not cease till it had expelled his
-dynasty from the throne, and placed on a firm
-basis the independence of the people.</p>
-
-<p>With great haste various messengers flew to
-Scotland to announce the demise of Elizabeth; the
-winner in the race of loyalty, or, in other words,
-of self-interest, being, as we have seen, Sir Robert
-Carey, to whom the artifice of his sister, Lady
-Scrope, had communicated the earliest news of
-the queen's decease. He reached Edinburgh four
-days before Sir Charles Percy and Thomas Somerset,
-who were despatched officially by the Council.
-Meanwhile, on March 24th, 1603, Cecil assembled
-thirty-five individuals&mdash;members of Council, peers,
-prelates, and officers of State&mdash;at Whitehall, and
-accompanied by the lord mayor and aldermen,
-proclaimed James VI. of Scotland James I. of
-England, first in front of Westminster Palace,
-and then at the High Cross, in Cheapside.</p>
-
-<p>There were some who were apprehensive that
-the accession of James might be opposed by the
-noblemen who had been so active in the death of
-his mother. But these had taken care to make
-their peace with the facile James, whose filial
-affection was not of an intensity to weigh much in
-the scales with the crown of England. On the
-contrary, his accession was hailed with apparent
-enthusiasm by all parties, for all parties believed
-that they should reap decided advantages from his
-government. The persecuted Catholics felt certain
-that the son of the queen of Scots would at least
-tolerate their religion, as he had many a time
-privately assured their agents. The Puritans were
-equally confident that a king who had been educated
-in the strictest faith of Calvinism, would
-place them in the ascendant. The Episcopal
-church&mdash;as it deemed, on equally good grounds&mdash;rejoiced
-in the advent of a prince who had protested
-to its friends that he was heartily sick of a
-religion which had domineered over both his
-mother and himself with an iron rigidity. The
-populace, in the hope of a milder yoke than that
-of the truculent Tudors, gave vent to their joy in
-loud acclamations, by bonfires and ringing of bells,
-while Elizabeth was lying a corpse, scarcely cold,
-on her bier.</p>
-
-<p>James, who was in his thirty-seventh year, was
-transported at the prospect of his escape from the
-poverty and religious restraint of Scotland, to the
-affluence of so much more extensive an empire,
-and one impediment alone checked his flight southward&mdash;the
-want of money for the journey. He
-sent a speedy message to Cecil for the necessary
-funds, and also added a request for the transmission
-of the Crown jewels for the adornment of
-his wife. The money was forwarded, but the
-jewels were prudently withheld till he reached
-his future capital. Once in possession of the
-means of locomotion, James did not conceal his
-pleasure at escaping from the control of his Presbyterian
-clergy and the haughty rudeness of his
-nobles, to an accession of wealth and power which
-he imagined would make him as absolute as Henry
-VIII., a condition for which he had an intense
-yearning.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>On the 5th of April James commenced his
-journey towards London, but however much he
-rejoiced in the prospect of his new kingdom, he
-was in no haste to reach the capital. The moment
-that he set foot in England he seemed to have
-realised the full luxury of his new sovereignty,
-and announced to those about him that they had
-indeed at last arrived at the Land of Promise.
-At Berwick he fired a piece of ordnance himself
-in his joy, which seemed for the moment to have
-raised him above his constitutional timidity; and
-he then sate down and wrote to Cecil, informing
-him of his progress, and of his intention to take
-York and other places on his way. As he intended
-to enter York and pass through other
-towns in state, he pressed on the obsequious
-minister the necessity of forwarding to him
-coaches, litters, horses, jewels, and all that was
-requisite for regal dignity, as well as a lord chamberlain;
-and he forthwith appointed to that office
-the lord Thomas Howard. He stayed three days
-at York, and did not reach Newark till the 21st
-of the month. Cecil had met him at York, and
-accompanied his progress; and as he rode forward
-the people crowded around to welcome their new
-sovereign with the most hearty acclamations. To
-express his satisfaction to the gentry, he made
-almost every man of any standing who approached
-him a knight; so that by the time he reached
-London he is said to have created two hundred
-and fifty, and before he had been in England
-three months, seven hundred knights, a profusion
-which much diminished the value of the gift.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_405.jpg" width="437" height="500" alt="" title="JAMES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>JAMES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The truth was that James, who made himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span>
-very free and easy in his immediate circle, disliked
-exposure to the mob, and dealt about his
-smiles and knighthoods to get rid of his throngers
-as soon as possible. By the time he had reached
-Berwick he had knighted three persons; at Widdrington
-he knighted eleven, at York thirty-one,
-at Worksop in Nottinghamshire eighteen, at
-Newark eight, on the road thence to Belvoir Castle
-four, at Belvoir forty-five. Yet gracious as he
-was and agreeable as he wanted to make himself,
-his new subjects did not behold his person and
-manner without considerable astonishment. His
-ungainly figure and his equally uncouth dialect
-no little amazed the stately courtiers of Elizabeth,
-but nevertheless they paid him the most devoted
-homage, as the dispenser of all honours and of
-every good.</p>
-
-<p>At Theobalds Cecil had the opportunity of
-studying James's character and of ingratiating
-himself with him. A new Council was formed,
-and whilst James introduced six of his own
-countrymen, Cecil recommended six of his partisans
-to balance them. During his correspondence
-with James Cecil had managed to fix in the
-king's mind a deep and ineradicable aversion to the
-men whom he himself regarded with jealous and
-hostile feelings&mdash;Raleigh, Cobham, and Grey. It was
-in vain that they paid their court; they were treated
-with coldness, and Raleigh, instead of receiving
-the promotion to which he aspired, was even deprived
-of the valuable office of warden of the
-Stannaries. Northumberland was equally the
-object of Cecil's dislike, but Bacon was warmly in
-his favour, and the king received him graciously.</p>
-
-<p>On the 7th of July James set out for his capital,
-and at Stamford Hill was met by the lord mayor
-and aldermen in their scarlet robes, followed
-by a great crowd, and with these he entered the
-City, and proceeded to the Charterhouse. He
-immediately caused a proclamation to be made
-that all licences and monopolies granted by Elizabeth,
-and which had excited so much discontent,
-should be suspended till they had been examined by
-the Council; that all protections from the Crown
-to delay the progress of justice in the courts of law
-should cease, as well as the abuses of purveyance,
-and the oppressions of saltpetre-makers and officers
-of the household. From the Charterhouse he
-proceeded, according to routine, to the Tower, and
-thence to Greenwich and back to Whitehall, at
-every step making more knights and creating
-peers. He had sent for the Earl of Southampton
-to meet him at York, and he now restored both
-him and the son of his friend the Earl of Essex to
-their honours and estates. Mountjoy and three
-of the Howards were raised to the rank of
-earls; nine new barons were created, amongst
-them Cecil, who was made Lord Cecil, and afterwards
-Viscount Cranbourne, and finally Earl of
-Salisbury. Buckhurst and Egerton were promoted;
-and eventually, besides his seven hundred
-spick-and-span new knights, he added
-sixty-two fresh members to the peerage. So extravagant
-was his distribution of honours that a
-pasquinade was affixed to the door of St. Paul's,
-offering to teach weak memories the art of recollecting
-the titles of the nobility.</p>
-
-<p>The coronation took place on the 25th of July.
-James's wife, Anne of Denmark, was crowned
-with him. The weather had been intensely hot,
-but it now set in very rainy. To spoil the
-pleasure of the people, the plague was raging in the
-City, and the inhabitants were by proclamation
-forbidden to enter Westminster. No queen-consort
-had been crowned since Anne Boleyn, nor
-had any king and queen been crowned together
-since Henry VIII. and Catherine of Aragon, and
-therefore the restriction was the more mortifying.
-Queen Anne went to the coronation "with her
-seemly hair down hanging on her princely
-shoulders, and on her head a coronet of gold. She
-so mildly saluted her new subjects, that the
-women, weeping, cried out with one voice, 'God
-bless the royal queen! Welcome to England,
-long to live and continue!'"</p>
-
-<p>That week there died in London and the
-suburbs eight hundred and fifty-seven persons of
-the plague. On the 5th of August James ordered
-morning and evening prayers and sermons, with
-bonfires all night to drive away the pestilence, not
-forgetting to order that all men should praise God
-for his Majesty's escape that day three years
-before, from the Gowrie conspiracy; and on the
-10th of August he commanded that a fast, with
-sermons of repentance, should be held, and repeated
-every week on Wednesday so long as the
-plague continued.</p>
-
-<p>James's pride was soon gratified by the flocking
-in of ambassadors from all the great nations of
-Europe, soliciting his alliance; and on the first
-intimation of their approach he appointed Sir
-Lewis Lewknor master of the ceremonies, to
-receive and entertain these distinguished persons.
-This was the first establishment of such an office
-in England. First arrived, from Holland and the
-United Provinces, Prince Frederick of Nassau
-son of the Prince of Orange, attended by the
-three able diplomatists Valck, Barneveldt, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span>
-Brederode. James, with equally high notions of the
-royal prerogative, had not the sympathy of Elizabeth
-with the struggles of Protestantism abroad,
-and therefore regarded the revolted Netherlanders
-as rebels and traitors, and did not fail amongst
-his courtiers to pronounce them so; the more particularly
-as they owed the English crown large
-sums for past assistance, which they were in
-no hurry to pay. He, therefore, framed various
-excuses to defer their audiences till the arrival
-of the envoy of the King of Spain, Count Aremberg,
-who was not long in appearing, bringing the
-agreeable news that the Archduke had liberated
-all English prisoners, as the subjects of a friendly
-power. Two days after Aremberg's arrival,
-Henry IV.'s great minister, the Duke of Sully,
-reached London. Aremberg was in no condition
-to negotiate on any positive terms till he received
-instructions from Spain; and Sully seized time by
-the forelock, by distributing amongst the courtiers
-sixty thousand crowns, a considerable part of
-which found its way into the queen's purse. He
-prevailed on James to make a treaty with Henry
-IV., in which he engaged to send money to the
-States in aid against the Spaniards, and join
-France in open hostilities should Philip attempt
-to invade that country. Sully, delighted with his
-success&mdash;for Henry feared nothing more than
-James's making peace with Spain, and leaving
-him to assist Holland alone&mdash;returned to France.
-But a little time convinced the French court that
-nothing in reality had been secured by it, for
-James had no money to send to Holland had he
-been really so disposed, which is doubtful, and
-that he merely temporised with them as he had
-done with different States before.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime the Court of Spain, notwithstanding
-the activity of France, was slow in deciding the
-course of policy to be adopted towards England
-under the new king. After the decided hostility
-towards it under Elizabeth, and the signal defeats
-experienced, pride forbade Philip to solicit a
-peace, lest it should look like weakness. And,
-indeed, Spain had never recovered from the
-severe blow received in the loss of its Armada,
-and the other ravages of its ports and colonies by
-the English, added to the loss of a great portion of
-the Low Countries; and this consciousness made
-it more tardy in its proceedings. But while
-engaged in prolonged discussions on this head,
-two Englishmen arrived at the court of Spain,
-whose mission was of a nature to bring it to a
-decision. These were Wright and Fawkes, who
-were soon to assume a conspicuous position in the
-strife between the Catholics and Protestants of
-England. Previous to the death of Elizabeth,
-Thomas Winter had negotiated with the Spanish
-Court a plan for the invasion of England, which
-had been abandoned on her decease. Now, however,
-the scheme was revived, and these two
-emissaries were despatched to sound the present
-disposition of the Court of Madrid. This direct
-appeal from the conspirators seems to have
-startled the Spanish Government from its wavering
-policy. It was not prepared for anything so
-desperate, and replied that it had no cause of
-complaint against James, but, on the contrary,
-regarded him as a friend and ally, and had appointed
-the Condé de Villa Mediana as ambassador
-to his Court.</p>
-
-<p>This was decisive, and the way now seemed
-open towards a more friendly tone between Spain
-and England; but at the same moment a secret
-and mysterious correspondence seems to have
-been going on between Aremberg, the agent of
-the King of Spain, and a discontented party in
-England. Northumberland, Cobham, and Raleigh
-were ill at ease under the disappointment which
-they had met with in their hopes of favour at
-James's Court. Northumberland had been to a
-certain degree graciously received, and even entertained
-with promises by James; but he felt that
-while Cecil was so completely in the ascendant
-there was little hope of a cordial feeling towards
-him in the monarch's heart. Cobham and Raleigh
-were undisguisedly in disgrace, and were shunned
-by the courtiers as fallen men. The three friends,
-therefore, entered into intrigues with the Court of
-France through the resident minister Beaumont,
-and Sully the envoy extraordinary. For a time
-their suggestions were listened to, but the apparent
-success of Sully with James put an end to
-further overtures, and there Northumberland was
-prudent enough to desist. But Cobham and
-Raleigh, disappointed of Court favour and burning
-with resentment against Cecil&mdash;whom they felt
-to be the cause of their disgrace&mdash;plotted for the
-overthrow of the crafty minister.</p>
-
-<p>Sully, the French envoy, had, while in London,
-done his best to inspire James with distrust
-of Cecil; and there is little doubt that this
-was at the suggestion, or with the co-operation
-of Cobham, Northumberland, and Raleigh. When
-Northumberland drew back, these two held communication
-with Aremberg, to whom they offered
-their services in promoting the objects he sought on
-behalf of Spain and the Netherlands. Aremberg,
-who did not know what was going on at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span>
-Spanish Court, communicated the proposal to his
-master, who instructed him to give a favourable
-answer. What the scheme proposed by Cobham
-and Raleigh precisely was seems never to have
-been known, but we may suppose that in return
-for aid from the Continent, these ambitious men
-were to attempt the removal of Cecil by some
-means, and on their succeeding to power, their
-influence was to be exerted with the king on
-behalf of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>This was designated by those in the secret as
-"The Main" conspiracy; but there was also
-another going on simultaneously, of which these
-gentlemen are supposed to have been cognisant,
-but not mixed up with. This was called "The
-Bye" conspiracy, and was composed of an extraordinary
-medley of the discontented, the most
-determined of whom aimed at nothing less than
-the seizure of the king, and the government
-of the country in his name, for their own party
-purposes.</p>
-
-<p>The grand cause of discontent was the disappointment
-of both Catholics and Puritans in
-James. Before his coming to the English crown
-he had held out the most flattering expectations
-to the Catholics that he would grant them toleration,
-whilst the Puritans calculated on his
-Presbyterian education for a decided adhesion to
-their views. But no sooner did he reach England
-than he threw himself into the arms of the High
-Church party, declaring that it was the only
-religion fit for a king. To the Catholics he declared
-he would grant no toleration&mdash;rather would
-he fight to the death against it; and he took no
-pains to conceal his disgust at the Presbyterian
-clergy amongst whom he had spent his youth.
-The antagonism of Catholic and Puritan was forgotten
-in the resentment against this disclosure of
-the king's disposition. Instantly plans were
-cogitated to avenge themselves of the royal perfidy,
-as it was termed, and to secure themselves against
-the threatened storm. Sir Griffin Markham, a
-Catholic gentlemen of no great property or influence,
-concerted with two priests, Watson and
-Clarke, the means of raising the Catholics against
-the Government. Watson had been sent into
-Scotland, to James, on behalf of the Catholics,
-before the death of Elizabeth, and he indignantly
-represented that James had given them, through
-him, the most solemn promises of toleration,
-which he had now broken. He, therefore,
-threw himself with the greatest heat into the
-conspiracy: he drew up an awful oath of secrecy,
-and he and Clarke travelled far and wide amongst
-the Catholic families, calling upon them to come
-forward in the name of their religion and their
-property.</p>
-
-<p>But their success was trivial; few or none of
-the Catholics of weight and station would engage
-in the enterprise. Failing there, Watson turned
-his attention to the Puritans; and with them he
-was more successful, by artfully concealing from
-them the paucity of the Catholics who had joined
-the conspiracy, and the full extent of his own
-intentions. Lord Grey de Wilton, who was a
-leading Puritan, and had his discontent from the
-same causes as Cobham and Raleigh, was induced
-by Watson to join the conspiracy, under the impression
-that a strong Catholic body was engaged
-in it. He agreed to furnish a troop of a hundred
-horse, but he was not long in discovering that he
-had been imposed upon, and advised the conspirators
-to defer the execution of their design to
-a more favourable opportunity.</p>
-
-<p>The conspirators proposed to meet during the
-darkness of night at Greenwich; but the reflection
-that there were three hundred armed gentlemen
-within the Palace, made that appear too
-hazardous; they, therefore, altered their plan, and
-concluded to seize James as he was hunting at
-Hanworth, and where he was accustomed to call
-for refreshment at a gentleman's house. The plan,
-as communicated by Watson to the conspirators,
-was to assemble in a numerous body under pretence
-of presenting a petition to James as he
-went out hunting, seize the king, and convey him
-to a place of safety, where they were to extort
-from him a declaration of liberty of conscience.
-With the king in their hands, they would then
-wreak their vengeance on Cecil and Sir George
-Howe; and it was afterwards charged against
-them in the indictment, that they meant to make
-Watson lord chancellor, Brooke, the brother of
-Cobham&mdash;who was a most unprincipled man, and
-has been suspected of being Cecil's spy and tool on
-the occasion&mdash;lord treasurer, Markham secretary,
-and Grey earl marshal. Probably this was the
-scheme devised for them by the accusers, for it
-appears too wild for belief; but be that as it may,
-the 24th of June was the day named for the
-attempt, when the refusal of Lord Grey caused it
-to be abandoned, and the party separated with
-much mutual recrimination.</p>
-
-<p>But Watson had already proceeded to a length
-which led to the revelation of the plot to Cecil.
-He had endeavoured to engage in it the Society of
-the Jesuits, and had communicated his plans to a
-Jesuit of the name of Gerard. The Society not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span>
-only refused to sanction the conspiracy, but the
-archpriest went at once and revealed it to Cecil.
-The crafty minister kept his information close, and
-resolved to let the conspirators go on till the very
-day for the execution of their design, so that he
-might the more summarily convict them; but the
-failure of their plan left him no further reason for
-delay, and Anthony Copley, one of the "Bye,"
-was arrested, as a man well known to be of a
-timid character and likely in his terror to betray
-his associates. Cecil had probably plenty of intelligence
-of both the plan and its agitators from
-others as well as from Gerard, and most probably
-from Brooke. But with great judgment he
-neglected no means of making the conspirators
-furnish evidence against each other, and thus
-he kept his own sources of knowledge secret. On
-the heels of Copley's arrest, followed, as a natural
-consequence, the arrest of Griffin, Markham,
-the priests Watson and Clarke, and the rest of
-Copley's associates. Cecil said that the mere fact
-of Brooke being in the conspiracy made him feel
-certain that Cobham, Raleigh, and Northumberland
-were in it. They were therefore apprehended
-separately; and, by playing on the fears of the
-fallen Cobham, Cecil speedily made him incriminate
-Raleigh.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_409.jpg" width="550" height="345" alt="" title="ST. THOMAS'S TOWER AND TRAITORS' GATE, TOWER OF LONDON" />
-<div class="caption"><p>ST. THOMAS'S TOWER AND TRAITORS' GATE, TOWER OF LONDON.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The coronation of the king, which took place
-on the 25th of July, being his saint's day, the
-festival of St. James, and the violence of the
-plague, which caused the king to flee into the
-country, postponed the trials of the conspirators.
-The Court, followed by the judges and their
-suitors, fled from place to place for several
-months, pursued by the plague; and it was not
-till November that the trials took place in the
-castle at Winchester. Another cause had, perhaps still
-more than the plague, deferred them.
-Aremberg was deeply implicated, but his intrigues
-could not be opened up whilst he was in the
-country, nor could an order be issued directing
-him to leave, without embarrassing the public
-relations with Spain. But in October he left,
-and on the 15th of November the trials of the
-conspirators commenced. The accomplices of the
-"Bye"&mdash;Brooke, Brookesby, Markham, Copley,
-Watson, and Clarke, with others&mdash;were all condemned
-on their own confessions, for they had
-been so managed that they not only accused each
-other, but made the most ample confessions of
-their own guilt, as if each thought he should
-obtain pardon by discovering most. These confessions,
-which had been carefully compiled, were
-put in as evidence against them. Sir Edward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span>
-Parham only was acquitted, for he pleaded that he
-joined solely to rescue the king from the hands
-of those who held him in captivity; Cecil threw
-in his word in his favour, suggesting that the
-king's dignity consisted as much in freeing the
-innocent as condemning the guilty. This conduct
-gave an air of impartiality&mdash;of which no one
-could estimate the effect more fully than the astute
-Cecil&mdash;to the proceedings.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Walter Raleigh was next put upon his trial.
-His extraordinary ability, and his knowledge of
-Court secrets, made it too dangerous an attempt
-to connect him with the "Bye," and arraign him
-along with the unhappy and weak members of
-that part of the conspiracy. He was not placed
-at the bar even along with Cobham, for the only
-evidence against him which the Court dared to
-bring forward, was that of Cobham; and they
-knew too well that in Raleigh's presence, the
-wavering Cobham would be worse than useless.
-Already repenting of his accusation of Raleigh in
-the surprise of his resentment, Cobham had retracted
-his accusations; and when pressed and
-cross-questioned by the Council, had so contradicted
-himself, that to bring him into public would
-be to render his evidence worthless. True, the
-Council had the intercepted letters, which had
-passed between Aremberg and the Spanish authorities,
-which were sufficiently criminatory of
-Raleigh and Cobham; but these could not be
-produced without an exposure of the fact that
-the correspondence of ambassadors and their
-principals was not safe in England. Indeed,
-Coke, who was of course duly instructed in the
-particulars of this correspondence, having made
-some too intelligible reference to Aremberg, Cecil
-compelled him to apologise to the ambassador, and
-hastened to assure the other ambassadors of
-foreign courts that Aremberg had no notion of the
-purpose for which Cobham and Raleigh had
-solicited money from Spain.</p>
-
-<p>Coke's device was to mix the two plots. He
-went into the case at length, and what he lacked
-in proof he endeavoured to supply by abuse.
-He described in inflated language the intentions
-of the agitators of the "Bye," and declared that
-amongst other things, they meant to make proclamation
-against monopolies, as if that were absolute
-treason. Raleigh calmly reminded him
-that he was not charged with the "Bye." "You
-are not," replied Coke; "but it will be seen that
-all these treasons, though they consisted of several
-parts, closed in together like Samson's foxes, which
-were joined in their tails, though their heads were
-separated." Raleigh still insisted that the "Bye"
-was the treason of the priests, and said, "What
-is the treason of the priest to me?" "I will
-then come close to you," said Coke. "I will prove
-you to be the most notorious traitor that ever
-came to the bar; you are, indeed, upon the
-'Main,' but you have followed them upon the
-'Bye' in imitation."</p>
-
-<p>Raleigh in reply demanded that his accuser
-should be brought face to face with him. He demanded
-it on the authority of the statute law and
-the law of God, both of which required that this
-should be done to prove an offence. But Lord
-Chief Justice Popham told him that the Statutes of
-Edward VI. to which he appealed, were cancelled
-by Philip and Mary; that he must take his
-trial by the common law, as settled by Edward
-III., under which a trial by jury and written
-evidence was as valid as a trial by jury and witnesses;
-and that at most one witness was sufficient.
-But Raleigh replied that his case was peculiar,
-and that there was not a single witness against
-him; for even the man who had borne testimony
-against him had retracted his assertions. He,
-therefore, reiterated his demand for the production
-of Cobham; declaring that if Cobham dared in
-his presence to reaffirm a single charge, he would
-submit to his doom, and would not add another
-word. When this challenge was passed over
-without any notice, he produced a letter which
-Cobham had written to him about a fortnight
-before, in which he said:&mdash;"To free myself
-from the cry of blood, I protest, upon my
-soul and before God and His angels, I never had
-conference with you in any treason, nor was ever
-moved by you to the things I heretofore accused
-you of; and, for anything I know, you are as
-innocent and as clear from any treasons against
-the king as is subject living. And God so deal
-with me and have mercy on my soul, as this is
-true."</p>
-
-<p>This appeared a strong avowal, but Cecil was
-prepared for this, having, no doubt, already seen
-this letter on its passage; and Coke produced in
-defeat of it another letter written by Cobham to
-the Council but the day before. In this letter
-Cobham stated that Raleigh had twice sent letters
-to him in the Tower, which had been thrown into
-his window-sash in an apple, and that in these
-letters he entreated him to do him right by denying
-what he had said as to his wishing him to come
-from the Continent by Jersey, and in other particulars.
-Cobham replied that he retracted the
-assertion about Jersey, but went on to state<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span>
-that Raleigh had been the original cause of his
-ruin, for that he had no dealings with Aremberg
-but at Sir Walter's instigation. He added that at
-Aremberg's coming Raleigh was to receive a pension
-of fifteen hundred pounds a year, for which
-he was to keep the king of Spain informed of all
-designs against the Indies, the Netherlands, or
-Spain; that he (Cobham) also counselled him (Raleigh)
-not to be overtaken by preachers as Essex
-was, and that the king would better allow of a
-constant denial than of the accusation of any one.</p>
-
-<p>During the reading of this letter Raleigh could
-not conceal his astonishment and confusion. When
-it was finished, he admitted that there had been
-some talk of a pension, but mere talk and nothing
-more. But the fact made a deep impression on
-the minds of the jury, and the prisoner probably
-being conscious of it, repeated his demand for
-the production of Cobham himself. "My lords,"
-he exclaimed, "let Cobham be sent for; I know
-he is in this very house! I beseech you let him be
-confronted with me! Let him be here openly
-charged&mdash;upon his soul&mdash;upon his allegiance to
-the king&mdash;and if he will then maintain his accusations
-to my face, I will confess myself guilty!"
-But no notice was taken of this appeal: Coke
-still strove to bear him down by the coarsest
-brow-beating, shouting fiercely, "I will have
-the last word for the king!" "Nay," retorted
-Raleigh, "I will have the last word for my life!"
-"Go to," said the insolent lawyer; "I will lay thee
-upon thy back for the confidentest traitor that
-ever came to the bar." Cecil here interposed,
-telling Coke that he was too impatient and
-severe; but Coke cried, "I am the king's sworn
-servant, and must speak. You discourage the
-king's counsel, my lord, and encourage traitors."</p>
-
-<p>The jury, but with evident reluctance, returned
-a verdict of guilty. On being asked, in the usual
-form, whether he had anything to say why judgment
-should not be pronounced against him, he
-replied that he was perfectly innocent of the
-charges of Cobham, but that he submitted himself
-to the king's mercy, and recommended to the
-compassion of his majesty his wife and his son of
-tender years. After the sentence of high treason,
-with all its disgusting details, had been pronounced,
-Raleigh asked to speak privately with Cecil,
-Lord Henry Howard, and the Earls of Suffolk and
-Devonshire, entreating them that, in consideration
-of the position which he had held under the crown,
-his death might not be so ignominious as the strict
-sentence required. They promised to use their
-influence, and he was taken back to his quarters.</p>
-
-<p>The charges of complicity which were made
-against Arabella Stuart, in the indictment against
-Raleigh, were of a nature which called for denial on
-her part. She was present at the trial in a gallery;
-and Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, who
-was sitting by her, arose, and in her name protested,
-on her salvation, that she had never
-meddled in any such matters. There appeared, indeed,
-no disposition at this moment to implicate the
-Lady Arabella, though her relation to the Crown
-made her an object of anxiety to James, as we
-shall soon have occasion to see. Cecil himself
-acquitted her of any concern in this treason, admitting
-that though she had received a letter
-from Cobham, entreating her to countenance it,
-she only laughed at it and at once sent it to the
-king. Of the actual extent of Raleigh's participation,
-and what was his real object, we have no
-means of judging, for though James was in possession
-of the letters between the accused parties and
-Aremberg, they could not, as already stated, be
-produced.</p>
-
-<p>Cobham and Grey were arraigned before a
-tribunal of their peers, consisting of eleven earls
-and nineteen barons. Nothing could be more
-striking than the cowardice and meanness of
-Cobham, and the noble dignity of Grey. They
-were both condemned.</p>
-
-<p>The two priests were first conducted to execution.
-They suffered all the bloody horrors of the
-law at Winchester, on the 29th of November. It
-was surmised that James was glad to be rid of
-Watson as one of the individuals to whom, before
-coming to the English throne, he had promised
-toleration to the Catholics. There was an attempt
-to prove the non-existence of such a promise, but
-it was crude and convinced nobody. At the
-gallows both Watson and Clarke declared that
-they were convinced they owed their death to their
-priesthood. They were cut down alive and their
-bowels torn out&mdash;a revolting practice which but
-too well illustrates the vindictive spirit of the age.</p>
-
-<p>The next execution was that of Brooke. He
-was simply beheaded, also at Winchester, on the
-5th of December. The people expressed great
-sympathy for him, under a belief that he had first
-been employed by Cecil in the troubled waters of
-these conspiracies, and then victimised by him.
-Markham, Grey, and Cobham were brought to the
-scaffold, induced to confess, and, after an interval
-of suspense, reprieved. Raleigh was imprisoned
-in the Tower of London for many years.</p>
-
-<p>The effect of this conspiracy was to deepen
-James's suspicion of the Catholics and his dislike<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span>
-of the Puritans. The Catholics, since his coming
-to the English throne, had conducted themselves
-with more policy than their robustious rivals, the
-Puritans. They had claimed, indeed, the fulfilment
-of his promises whilst merely King of Scotland,
-to favour them as the staunch friends of his
-mother and serious sufferers on her account; but
-they had preferred their claims with a degree of
-courtesy and moderation to which the brusque
-Reformers were strangers. The pope, Clement
-VIII., probably led by the same expectations, had
-by two breves addressed to the archpriest and
-provincial of the Jesuits, strictly enjoined the
-missionaries to confine themselves to their spiritual
-duties, and on no account to mix themselves up
-with the agitators for political change. He condemned
-unequivocally the conduct of Watson and
-Clarke, and sent a secret envoy to the English
-Court, expressing his abhorrence of all acts of disloyalty,
-and offering to withdraw any missionary
-from the kingdom who was in any way obnoxious
-to the king and Council. James appeared so far
-influenced by this moderation, that though he
-stoutly refused all application for a free exercise
-of the Catholic worship, and even committed
-individuals to the Tower who offended in this
-respect, yet he invited the Catholics to frequent
-his Court, he conferred knighthood on some of
-them, and assured them generally that they should
-not suffer for recusancy so long as they abstained
-from a breach of the laws as regarded religion,
-and from all acts of political insubordination.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_412big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_412.jpg" width="470" height="560" alt="From the Portrait by Zucchero" title="SIR WALTER RALEIGH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR WALTER RALEIGH. (<i>From the Portrait by Zucchero.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But towards the Puritans he was by no means
-so courteous. He could never forget that they
-had kept him in restraint in his infancy and
-youth; that they had been the defamers and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span>
-persecutors of his mother; and that to the very
-hour in which he escaped into the larger field of
-English power, they had goaded him with their
-demands and defied his authority. As he drew
-nearer to the English throne, the charms of the
-English church increased in his imagination. A
-church which set up the king as its head was a
-church as much after James's own heart as after
-that of Henry VIII. Like that monarch, he
-dearly loved to shine in polemics, and long before
-he arrived in England, it required no great
-shrewdness to perceive where his affections lay.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_413big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_413.jpg" width="560" height="426" alt="" title="THE DISSENTING DIVINES PRESENTING THEIR PETITION TO JAMES" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE DISSENTING DIVINES PRESENTING THEIR PETITION TO JAMES. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_4">416.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>No sooner was he in England than he spoke
-his mind roundly as to his real feelings towards the
-Puritans. He said to the bishops and courtiers:
-"I will tell you, I have lived amongst this sect of
-men ever since I was ten years old; but I may
-say of myself as Christ said of Himself, though I
-lived amongst them, yet, since I had ability to
-judge, I was never of them." And this was at
-least sincere. He had grown more undisguisedly
-Episcopalian as he saw Elizabeth sinking, and felt
-his hold on the throne through her own ministers.
-He had given seats in parliament to a certain number
-of clergymen, thus making them bishops without
-the name; but it was in his "Basilicon Doron"&mdash;a
-manual for the instruction of his son, published
-in 1779&mdash;that he had let loose his deep dislike
-of the Presbyterians. He tells his son to "take
-heed to such Puritans, very pests in the church
-and commonwealth, whom no deserts can oblige,
-neither oaths nor promises bind, breathing nothing
-but sedition and calumnies, aspiring without
-measure, ruling without reason, making their own
-imaginations, without any warrant of the Word,
-the square of their conscience. I protest," he
-added, "before the great God, and since I am here
-upon my testament, it is no place for me to lie in,
-that you shall never find with any Highland or
-Border thieves greater ingratitude, and more lies
-and perjuries than with these fanatic spirits; and
-suffer not the principal of them to brook your
-land, if ye list to sit at rest; except you would
-keep them for trying your patience, as Socrates
-did an evil wife."</p>
-
-<p>But whilst the royal Solomon thus plainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span>
-enunciated his hatred of Puritanism, he was
-cautious not to let the English bishops too early
-into his fixed intention to patronise them. He
-liked to feel himself the undoubted head of that
-Church, and to see those dignitaries in fear and
-trembling prostrate at his feet; and it was not
-till they had sufficiently humbled themselves before
-him, that he revived their spirits with the declaration
-of his real sentiments. The Puritans precipitated
-this avowal, by urging on James a
-further reform of the Church, and its purgation
-from ceremonies. In their millenary petition (so
-called because it was expected it would have a
-thousand signatures, but in reality it had only
-about eight hundred) they demanded a conference,
-in which to settle the form and doctrines of the
-Church. This, of all things, delighted James. It
-was the very arena in which to display his theological
-knowledge; he gladly consented to it, and
-appointed it to take place at Hampton Court
-early in January, 1604. On the 14th of that
-month the first assembly took place; and the
-bishops, who were first admitted to the royal
-presence alone, were so alarmed at the prospect of
-a conference which had been demanded by Dissenters,
-that they threw themselves on their knees,
-and earnestly entreated the king not to alter the
-constitution of the Church, nor to give the
-Puritans the triumph in the coming debate, lest
-the Popish recusants should rejoice over and
-declare them justly punished for their repulsion
-and persecution of them. Then James condescended
-to lift the weight of fear from their
-hearts. He avowed to them that he was a sincere
-convert to the Church of England, and thanked
-God "who had brought him to the promised land,
-to a country where religion was purely professed,
-and where he sate among grave, reverend, and
-learned men; not as before, elsewhere, a king
-without state, without honour, and without order,
-and braved to his face by beardless boys under
-the garb of ministers."</p>
-
-<p>The delight of the bishops and dignitaries at
-this gracious confession may be imagined. They
-were nearly twenty in number, whilst the Reformers
-summoned numbered only four&mdash;namely,
-Doctors Reynolds and Sparkes, divinity professors
-of Oxford, and Doctors Knewstub and Chatterton,
-of Cambridge. James somewhat cooled the raptures
-of the Churchmen, by adding that he knew
-all things were not perfect, and that, as some
-modifications of the ritual and the ecclesiastical
-courts were, in his opinion, needed, he had called
-them together in the first instance, in order that
-they might settle what concessions should be made
-to the Puritans. It was necessary to show some
-compliance; and after the day's discussion it was
-agreed that some explanatory words should be
-added in the Book of Common Prayer to the forms
-of general absolution and of confirmation; that
-the Chancellor and the Chief Justice should reform
-the practice of the commissary court; that excommunication
-should only be inflicted for particularly
-serious offences; that the bishops should neither
-confer ordinations nor pronounce censures, without
-the assistance and concurrence of other eminent
-divines; that baptism should not be administered
-by women or by laymen.</p>
-
-<p>These points being determined, on the 16th the
-four Puritan divines were admitted, and instructed
-to state their demands. These embraced
-a general revision of the Book of Common Prayer,
-the withdrawal of excommunication, of baptism by
-women, of the use of the ring in marriage, of bowing
-at the name of Jesus, of confirmation, of the
-wearing of the cap and surplice, of the reading of
-the Apocrypha. They further required that pluralities
-and non-residence should cease, that obligation
-to subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles be
-abrogated, as well as the commendatories held
-by bishops. The bishops defended such parts of
-the church service and practices as the king
-had agreed should remain, and the prelates of
-London and Winchester argued in their behalf
-long and vehemently. As the Puritan doctors
-were not thus to be satisfied, and had by much
-the best of the argument, James himself took up
-the debate, and conducted it in that royal style
-which admits of no contradiction. He was now
-in his true element: theological discussion was his
-pride and glory, and he believed himself capable
-of silencing all Christendom. Dr. Reynolds,
-however, who was the chief speaker, undaunted by
-his crowned opponent, insisted boldly on various
-points; but when he came to the demand for the
-disuse of the Apocrypha in the Church service,
-James could bear it no longer. He called for a
-Bible, read a chapter out of Ecclesiasticus, and
-expounded it according to his own views; then
-turning to the lords of his Council, he said,
-"What trow ye makes these men so angry with
-Ecclesiasticus? By my soul, I think Ecclesiasticus
-was a bishop, or they would never use him so."
-The bishops and courtiers applauded the royal wit.
-James continued to hold forth on all sorts of
-topics&mdash;baptism, confirmation, absolution, which
-he declared to be apostolical, and a very good
-ordinance&mdash;and assured the anti-episcopal divines<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span>
-that in his opinion, if there were no bishops, there
-would soon be no king.</p>
-
-<p>When he had tired himself out with talking,
-Dr. Reynolds again ventured to open his mouth,
-and inquired how ordinances of the Church agreed
-with Christian liberty. This was touching James
-closely: it brought back to his memory the
-harangues on the same liberty which he had heard
-from his clergy in Scotland. He declared that he
-would not argue that point, but answer as kings
-were wont to do in parliament, "<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Le roy s'avisera</i>."
-Without pretending to treat the matter as one of
-conviction, he treated it as one of authority. He
-exclaimed, "I will have none of that: I will have
-one doctrine and one discipline, one religion in
-substance and in ceremony." He was resolved to
-be as absolute over every man's conscience and
-understanding as Henry VIII. had been. "If that
-is what you be at, then I tell you that a Scottish
-presbytery agreeth with monarchy as well as God
-with the Devil. Then shall Jack and Tom and
-Dick meet, and at their pleasure censure me and
-my council and all our proceedings. Then Will
-shall stand up and say, 'It must be thus;' then
-Dick shall reply and say, 'Nay, marry, but we
-will have it thus;' and therefore, here I must
-once more reiterate my former speech, and say,
-<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Le roy s'avisera</i>."</p>
-
-<p>It was in vain that Dr. Reynolds, who was
-reputed one of the most able divines and logicians
-of the age, attempted to state his views and
-opinions. The king constantly interrupted him
-and scoffed at him, treating him in the most
-insolently overbearing manner, and when he
-paused, asked him, "Well, doctor, have you anything
-more to say?" Reynolds, perceiving it
-useless, replied, "No, please your majesty;" on
-which James told these brow-beaten divines, that
-had they disputed no better in college, and he had
-been moderator, he would have had them all
-fetched up and flogged for dunces; that if that
-was all they had to say for themselves, he would
-make them conform, or hurry them out of the
-kingdom, or worse. With this scandalous treatment
-they were dismissed till the 18th, when the
-Conference met again. The greater part of the day
-was consumed by the king, the Council, and prelates
-in inquiring into the abuses of the high commission
-court, and devising means for checking
-them. At a late hour the Dissenting delegates
-were again admitted, not to continue the discussion,
-but to hear the fixed decision of the king.
-On hearing it they prayed that a certain time
-might be allowed before the new regulations were
-enforced. This was granted, but not strictly kept,
-for the new Book of Common Prayer was immediately
-prepared and published by authority.</p>
-
-<p>Thus ended this curious Conference, in a complete
-triumph for the High Church party. The
-Reformers complained bitterly of this, but James
-himself was incapable of feeling the force of public
-opinion. He was inflated with the idea of his own
-unrivalled eloquence and ability. He boasted that
-he had "peppered the Dissenters soundly. They
-fled me," he said, "from argument to argument
-like schoolboys." The bishops and ministers of
-his Council added to his absurd egotism, by actually
-pouring deluges of the most fulsome adulation
-upon him. Bancroft, Bishop of London, flung
-himself on his knees before him, and exclaimed
-"that his heart melted with joy, and made haste
-to acknowledge unto Almighty God His singular
-mercy in giving them such a king, as since
-Christ's time the like had not been"; and Whitgift,
-the primate, protested "that his majesty
-spake by the special assistance of God's spirit."
-The Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, emulating the
-sycophants of the Church, said that "the king and
-the priest had never been so wonderfully united
-in the same person;" and the peers echoed the
-plaudits, declaring that his majesty's speeches
-proceeded from the spirit of God operating on an
-understanding heart. "I wist not what they
-mean," wrote Harrington, in "Nugæ Antiquæ";
-"but the spirit was rather foul-mouthed."</p>
-
-<p>All parties connected with the Church having
-thus admitted that the king was acting under the
-most luminous effusion of the Divine spirit, ought
-not, therefore, to have murmured when soon afterwards,
-without waiting for ecclesiastical sanction,
-he made his own alterations in the Book of Common
-Prayer, and then issued a proclamation,
-warning all men neither to attempt nor expect
-any further alterations in the Church, and commanding
-all ecclesiastical and civil authorities to
-enforce the strictest conformity. Whitgift soon
-after died (1604), and many attributed the acceleration
-of his death to his mortification at the
-king's ordering the affairs of the Church by his
-own will and wisdom, which Whitgift had been
-one of the first to extol as infallible. Bancroft
-succeeded him in the primacy, and showed himself
-a capable instrument of James's bigotry,
-and ready to enforce whatever cruelty he would
-attempt.</p>
-
-<p>James spent fully half of his year in hunting,
-and if any person or party had an urgent matter
-to prefer, the only opportunity of doing so was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span>
-by waylaying him in his rides to the forest. The
-Dissenters, as the time approached for the enforcement
-of the new canons of the Church, presented
-a petition to him near Newmarket, praying
-a prolongation of the time allowed them for conforming.
-James received them with savage
-fierceness; told them that it was from such
-petitions that the rebellion in the Netherlands
-originated; that his mother and he had been
-haunted by Puritan devils from their cradles;
-that he would sooner lose his crown than encourage
-such malicious spirits; and if he thought
-his son would tolerate them in his time, he would
-wish to see him that moment lying in his grave.
-The Nonconformists complained that he persecuted
-the disciples whilst he favoured the enemies of the
-Gospel. This was referring to his reception of
-Catholics at court, and his promises not to molest
-them if they abstained from the open prosecution
-of their worship. But James left them under no
-mistake on that head. He expressed an equally
-vehement hatred of Papists; and on the 22nd of
-February he issued a proclamation enjoining the
-banishment of all Catholic missionaries. He went
-to the Star Chamber, framed regulations for the
-discovery and prosecution of recusants, and issued
-orders to magistrates to see the penal laws
-put in force against all persons, of whatever
-faith, who did not fully conform to the rites and
-ordinances of the Church. Thus the miseries and
-oppressions of religious persecution were renewed
-with all their virulence; and the only consolation
-for those who refused to conform was that they
-might persecute one another.</p>
-
-<p>In the midst of this state of things James was
-compelled to call a Parliament. This assembled
-on the 19th of March, 1604. It was one of the
-most remarkable Parliaments in our history, for it
-came together, on the part of both King and
-Commons, prepared to contest the great principles
-of absolutism and constitutional liberty; a contest
-which never again ceased till the people had
-triumphed over the Crown, and prescribed for it
-those limits within which it continues still to exist.
-The Tudors had made themselves absolute, but
-rather by acting than talking. They had willed,
-but had only occasionally boasted of the supremacy
-of their will. Whenever they had done so,
-especially in the person of Elizabeth, they received
-a protest so spirited from Parliament, that they
-wisely again veiled their pretensions. But James,
-possessing all their personal vanity and love of
-unlimited power, had not the policy to keep his
-pretensions in the background. He obtruded
-them on the public notice; he vaunted his towering
-belief of his earthly divinity, declaring that as
-God killed or made alive, so had He ordained kings
-to do the same at pleasure. Years before he came
-to England, he published these imperious and imprudent
-doctrines in a discourse "On the True
-Law of Free Monarchies; or, the Reciprogue and
-Mutual Duty betwixt a Free King and his Natural
-Subjects." He was, in short, a firm believer in
-the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, which
-had taken such a firm root in Europe.</p>
-
-<p>In the proclamation calling this Parliament,
-James took care to set forth the supremacy of his
-prerogative, and commanded the sheriffs and other
-officers to make no returns of members but such
-as were wholly agreeable to his views; there were
-to be no "persons noted for their superstitious
-blindness in religion one way, or for their turbulent
-humour the other." That is, neither
-Puritans nor Catholics were to be elected. Instructions
-were sent down to the various counties
-and boroughs, naming such persons for candidates
-as were agreeable to the Court. But the Puritans
-were in no humour to comply with such unconstitutional
-orders. They were justly filled with
-resentment at the treatment of their representatives
-at Hampton Court, and put forward their
-own men and returned them in great numbers in
-defiance of the Government. One case led to a
-direct and vehement collision between the Crown
-and the House of Commons. Sir John Fortescue,
-a member of the Privy Council, had been named
-by the Court as a member for the county of
-Buckingham. The people of Buckinghamshire,
-afterwards so conspicuous in the struggles between
-the Stuarts and Parliament, elected Sir
-Francis Goodwin. The clerk of the Crown refused
-to receive the return, and sent it back to
-the sheriff as contrary to the proclamation; for
-Goodwin had formerly been outlawed, and James
-had forbidden the return of outlaws. A second
-writ was issued, and under it Sir John Fortescue
-was elected. But the Commons refused to admit
-him, declaring that as Goodwin's outlawry had
-been reversed, the proclamation did not apply to
-him, and that his return was good and should stand.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_417big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_417.jpg" width="512" height="560" alt="" title="THE OLD PALACE, WESTMINSTER, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE OLD PALACE, WESTMINSTER, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>Showing the Hall, Parliament House, Painted Chamber, and St. Stephen's Chapel.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Government, in the name of the Lords,
-proposed to the Commons that there should be a
-conference between the two Houses on the subject
-before any other business was proceeded with;
-but the Commons, with a clear insight into their
-privileges, where the constitution and functions
-of their own body were concerned, replied that it
-did not consist with the honour of their House to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span>
-give an account of their proceedings and doings.
-On this they received a second message, in which
-they were informed, through Coke, that his majesty
-being apprised of their objection, conceived that
-his honour was touched, and desired that there
-should be some conference between the Houses.
-On this the Commons sent a deputation of their
-members, headed by the Speaker, to represent to
-the king why they could not confer with the
-Lords on any subject. The king was exceedingly
-high, and let them know that they held all their
-privileges by the royal favour; but the members
-stoutly denied that doctrine, as the House at large
-had already this session denied it, saying "that
-new laws could not be instituted, nor imperfect
-laws reformed, nor inconvenient laws abrogated,
-by any other power than that of the High Court
-of Parliament, that is, by the agreement of the
-Commons, the accord of the Lords, and the assent
-of the Sovereign; that to him belonged the right
-either negatively to frustrate, or affirmatively to
-ratify, but that he could not institute; every bill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span>
-must pass through the two Houses before it could
-be submitted to his pleasure."</p>
-
-<p>This was a doctrine that clashed disagreeably
-with James's absolute notions, and he upbraided
-the Commons with their presumption. But they
-stood firmly to their position and, what was extremely
-humiliating to the new monarch, excused
-his unconstitutional ideas through ignorance or
-misinformation of the custom and laws of England;
-the privileges of their house, they said, were the
-birthright of Englishmen and could not be surrendered.
-James claimed that all disputed matters
-should be referred to his court of chancery; but
-they claimed to settle all such themselves, as the
-essential to the government of their estate.</p>
-
-<p>When James found that nothing would induce
-the Commons to confer with the Lords, he ordered
-them to confer with the judges, and this command
-the deputation carried back to the House. But
-the House, after a warm debate, unanimously
-refused to refer the question to the judges; they
-drew up an answer to all the king's arguments,
-and sent it to the Lords, requesting them to present
-it to his majesty, and be mediators between them.
-James, now finding that he could make no impression
-by express command, sent for the Speaker and
-endeavoured to coax him over to his views; but
-that being unsuccessful, he ordered him to deliver
-to the House his command, "as an absolute king,"
-to confer with the judges. This was a direct
-challenge to the popular element to try its strength
-with the royal one&mdash;language which was sure to
-put a high-spirited people on its mettle: the first
-utterance of that language, which no warning, no
-experience could teach a Stuart to abandon, till the
-utterance was quenched in blood.</p>
-
-<p>When the Speaker delivered this command, there
-fell a profound silence on the House&mdash;an augury
-and foreboding, as it were, of the gigantic struggle
-which was commencing. At length the ominous
-silence was broken by a member starting up and
-exclaiming that "the prince's command was like a
-thunderbolt; his command over our allegiance," he
-said, "is like the roaring of a lion! To his command
-there is no contradiction; but how, or in
-what manner we should proceed to perform obedience,
-that will be the question." It was finally
-agreed to send a deputation to confer with the
-judges in the presence of the king and Council. At
-the conference there appeared no better prospect of
-success, when the king happily proposed that both
-Goodwin and Fortescue should be set aside, and a
-new writ issued. The Commons gladly acceded to
-this proposal. The House was rejoiced at this
-solution of the difficulty, but out of doors those
-they represented were far from satisfied, and reproached
-the House with having yielded the right
-which they had boldly claimed. But in reality,
-the Commons had done no such thing, for they
-proceeded, by their Speaker's warrant, to issue the
-new writ themselves, and they have ever since
-exercised the right which they then assumed, of
-deciding all cases of contested elections.</p>
-
-<p>The king, on his part, was as little satisfied as
-the people. He laboured under no mistake as to
-where the victory lay: he felt keenly that he was
-defeated in his soaring claims of prerogative, and
-the Commons went on to let him know that they
-were resolved on an exercise of power still greater.
-They attacked the monopolies which James had
-declared by proclamation that he would abolish,
-but towards which not a step was taken. They
-complained of the continuance of the feudal
-grievances of assarts, wardships, aids for royal
-marriages, and purveyance. The right of guardianship
-of minors of estate continued a source of vast
-emolument to the Crown, which received the proceeds
-of these estates and rendered no account. This
-was, moreover, a source of equal peculation to the
-minister for the time being, and Cecil was thought
-to draw enormous wealth from this abuse; and as
-for purveyance, it seems to have been as recklessly
-and insolently pursued as under any of the kings
-of York or Lancaster. The royal purveyors seized
-the property of the subject just as they pleased;
-took horses, carts, carriages, and provisions at will;
-called out men to labour for the royal pleasure,
-paying or not as suited them, felling trees, and
-committing sundry other depredations.</p>
-
-<p>After much debate these grievances were referred
-to a committee; but as the Lords would
-have nothing to do with it, the matter was obliged
-to be dropped. Bacon, who was assiduously climbing
-into royal favour, played a contemptible part
-on this occasion in the House. He affected the
-character of a patriot, and discoursed feelingly of
-abuses and the sufferings of the people, while in
-the Council, before the king, he declared that his
-majesty was the voice of God in man, the good
-spirit of God in the mouth of man.</p>
-
-<p>The struggle continued between the Crown and
-the Commons through the whole session. As the
-Crown would not agree to reform the abuses complained
-of, the Commons declined to grant the king
-any money beyond the usual rate of tonnage and
-poundage. So apprehensive, in fact, was the king
-of another defeat in the present temper of the
-House, that he sent a message requesting them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span>
-not to enter on the business of subsidy, notwithstanding
-his urgent need of money.</p>
-
-<p>The struggle regarding religious liberty was
-carried on by the Puritans in the House with equal
-obstinacy. Convocation sitting at the same time
-with Parliament occupied itself in framing a
-new code of ecclesiastical canons. In spite
-of the resolution of the Conference at Hampton
-Court, which declared that no excommunication
-should issue except for very grave offences, these
-canons&mdash;one hundred and forty-one in number&mdash;equalled
-in ecclesiastical despotism anything which
-had been decreed under Henry VIII. Excommunication
-was pronounced against all who denied
-the supremacy of the king or the orthodoxy of the
-Church; who affirmed the Book of Common Prayer
-to be superstitious or unlawful, that any one of
-the Thirty-nine Articles was erroneous, or that the
-ordinal was opposed to the Word of God. All
-who should separate from the Established Church,
-or established conventicles, were equally denounced,
-and this bigoted code James ratified by letters
-patent under the Great Seal. But it did not pass
-without severe comment from the Puritan members
-of the House, in the midst of which the king
-prorogued Parliament; and so remained the
-question of the canon law of England, which in
-reality was and is a law binding only on the clergy,
-having received their own sanction and that of
-their head the king, but not that of the Legislature;
-for which reason the judges have always held
-that it binds the clergy who framed, but not the
-people whose representatives refused it.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner was the canon law promulgated and
-Parliament prorogued, than Bancroft, the new
-archbishop, let loose the fury of the Church against
-nonconformists, whether Catholic or Protestant.
-All were called on to conform to the new regulations,
-and no less than three hundred clergymen
-were forced from their livings. The Catholics, on
-their part, were equally harassed, fined, and insulted.
-The legal penalty of twenty pounds a month
-for recusancy was again enforced, notwithstanding
-James had promised to overlook this; and it was
-executed with a new rigour of barbarity, the fines
-for the whole period during which James had been
-professing leniency being levied. Thus the sufferers
-were called on to make thirteen payments at one
-time, which at once reduced a vast number of
-families to absolute beggary.</p>
-
-<p>The Puritans did not submit to the outrages
-perpetrated on them without sturdy resistance and
-remonstrance. The Catholics, or at least a section
-of them, proceeded to something more dangerous.
-Smarting under their renewed persecution, they
-felt it useless to remonstrate like the Puritans, for
-both the Church party and Nonconformists were
-against them. They, therefore, as a body, brooded
-in silence over their sufferings; but there were
-amongst the oppressed spirits those who could not
-thus endure in patience, but planned a desperate
-revenge. Amongst these was Robert Catesby, the
-descendant of an ancient Catholic family, seated
-for centuries at Ashby St. Legers, in Northamptonshire,
-and also possessing considerable property in
-Warwickshire. Catesby's father had been a great
-sufferer for recusancy, having several times been
-imprisoned, in addition to the plundering of his
-substance. In his youth, the younger Catesby,
-who was wild and extravagant, was not disposed
-to sacrifice his jollity for the maintenance of a
-persecuted faith. He embraced Protestantism, but
-in 1598 he returned to his original belief, and,
-feeling the bitter force of persecution, he became
-stimulated to an active hatred of the Government.
-He aided the insurrection of Essex on condition
-that he should enjoy full religious freedom; and
-escaping the fate of his leader by the forfeiture
-of three thousand pounds, he then secretly joined
-himself to the Spanish party amongst the Catholics,
-in order to prevent the succession of the Scottish
-prince. This hope being defeated, and the Catholics
-not only seeing James prepared to falsify his promises
-of Catholic indulgence, but all the heads of
-the Catholic world abroad&mdash;the kings of France
-and Spain, and the Pope himself&mdash;seeking the
-friendship of the king, Catesby conceived the gloomy
-idea that deliverance could only proceed from the
-English Catholics themselves. In following out
-this desperate idea, he gradually evolved a scheme
-of vengeance and annihilation of all the persecutors
-of his faith. This was no other than to blow up
-the king and Parliament with gunpowder.</p>
-
-<p>Catesby first made a confidant in his terrible
-project of Thomas Winter, the younger brother of
-Robert Winter, of Huddington, in Worcestershire.
-Winter was the intimate friend of Catesby, and had
-been long associated with him in the plans for the
-relief of the Catholics. He had been a volunteer
-in the wars of the Netherlands, and then was sent
-to Madrid as the secret agent of the Spanish party
-in England, amongst whom his friend Catesby was
-an active partisan. But familiar as Winter was
-with the sufferings and projects of the Catholics,
-this bloody revelation struck him with horror, and
-he denounced it vehemently as most criminal and
-inhuman. But Catesby spared no labour to reconcile
-his mind to the idea; he painted in vivid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span>
-colours the long, the pitiless, and the unmerited
-cruelties inflicted on the Catholics. He enumerated
-the numbers who had been exterminated by the
-axe and the rope of the executioner; who had
-perished in their prisons, or who had been reduced
-from affluence and honour to beggary by the
-relentless bigotry of the Government. He demanded
-whence relief was to come, what hope
-there was left of effectual intercession from abroad,
-or of resolute resistance from the dispirited
-Catholics at home. He appealed to him whether
-God had not given to every man the right to repel
-force by force, and whether the whole world
-besides afforded them any other chance.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_420.jpg" width="500" height="242" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF JAMES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF JAMES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Winter was staggered but not convinced, and
-declared that he would not consent to any such
-frightful measure until fresh attempts had been
-made to procure a mitigation of their sufferings by
-milder means. He, therefore, hastened over to
-the Netherlands, where the Spanish ambassador,
-Velasco, had arrived, in order to conclude a peace
-between England and Spain. At Bergen, near
-Dunkirk, he had an interview with the ambassador,
-and urged upon him to demand a clause in
-the treaty for the protection of the Catholics. He
-was soon convinced that Velasco, though promising
-to use his influence for that end, would not risk
-the completion of the peace by the advocacy of
-such a stipulation.</p>
-
-<p>Indignant at this apathy, he hastened to Ostend
-on his return, where he accidentally encountered
-an old comrade in the Netherland wars, of the
-name of Guido or Guy Fawkes, a native of Yorkshire,
-and a man of determined courage, as well
-as of great experience and address. He had been
-Winter's companion in his mission to Madrid,
-and he now solicited him to accompany him to
-England, and unite his endeavours with other
-friends for Catholic relief. Winter, it would
-seem, had now made up his mind to enter into
-Catesby's plot, but did not let Fawkes into the
-full secret for some time.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Catesby had been ardently at work in
-the prosecution of his idea. He had communicated
-his plan to Percy and Wright. Thomas Percy
-was of the Northumberland family, and steward
-to the earl, and John Wright was brother-in-law
-to Percy, and reputed to be the best swordsman
-in England. Percy had joined the Catholics
-about the same time as Catesby returned to
-them, and like a zealous proselyte had, during
-the latter days of Elizabeth, gone to James at
-Edinburgh and endeavoured to draw from him
-a promise of favour to the Catholics on his
-accession. James is reported to have assured
-Percy that he would at least tolerate the mass in
-a corner. This James afterwards denied, but his
-denial can go for very little, for it was perfectly
-in keeping with his king-craft to promise what
-served to secure his ends for the time; and almost
-every monarch in Europe had to make that
-complaint against him. Percy, on the breaking
-out of the persecution under James, felt that he
-had been made the dupe of James's duplicity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span>
-He presented a remonstrance to the king, to
-which no answer was deigned, and Catesby found
-him in a mood of great resentment against the
-king, and in a favourable temper for his views.
-He not only agreed to co-operate but brought in
-his brother-in-law Wright, who was also a recent
-proselyte to Catholicism.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_421big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_421.jpg" width="413" height="560" alt="" title="GUY FAWKES'S CELLAR UNDER PARLIAMENT HOUSE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>GUY FAWKES'S CELLAR UNDER PARLIAMENT HOUSE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Percy appears to have been of a very excitable
-nature: the embryo conspirators assembled at
-Catesby's lodging, and Percy demanded whether
-they were merely to talk and never to act.
-Catesby said that before he would open his plan
-to them, he must demand from every one an oath
-of secrecy. This was assented to, and a few days
-afterwards, as appears by the confession of Winter,
-the five&mdash;that is, Catesby, Winter, Percy, Wright,
-and Fawkes&mdash;"met at a house in the fields beyond
-St. Clement's Inn, where they did confer and
-agree upon the plot, and there they took a solemn
-oath and vows by all their force and power to
-execute the same, and of secrecy not to reveal
-it to any of their fellows but of such as should be
-thought fit persons to enter into that action."
-When they had all sworn and perfectly understood
-what was proposed, Catesby led them into an
-upper chamber of the house, where they received<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span>
-the sacrament from Gerard, the Jesuit missionary,
-but who, according to Winter's confession, was
-not let into the secret.</p>
-
-<p>This dreadful oath was taken on the 1st of May,
-1604, but the conspirators resolved to wait for
-the remotest chance of any good arising out of
-the negotiations between England and Spain.
-But the treaty was concluded on the 18th of
-August, without any clause protective of the
-Catholics. Peace and commercial relations were
-restored between the two countries, and James
-was left at liberty to do as he pleased with the
-cautionary towns if the States did not redeem
-them. After the ratification of the treaty, the
-Spanish ambassador solicited in the name of his
-sovereign the goodwill of James towards his
-Catholic subjects; but James assured Velasco that
-however much he might be disposed to such indulgence,
-he dared not grant it, such was the
-terror of his Protestant subjects of any return to
-power of the Catholics. Velasco took his leave,
-and fresh orders were issued to judges and magistrates
-to enforce the laws against the Catholics
-with all rigour. This put an end to the patience
-of the conspirators, and they protested that it was
-but a fitting retribution to bury the authors of
-their oppressions under the ruins of the edifice in
-which they enacted such diabolical laws.</p>
-
-<p>They now sought for a proper place to commence
-their operations, and they soon found
-a house adjoining the Parliament House in the
-possession of one Ferris, the tenant of Whinyard,
-the keeper of the king's wardrobe. This
-Percy hired, in his own name, of Ferris, on
-pretence that his office of gentleman pensioner
-compelled him to reside part of the year in the
-vicinity of the Court. But the conspirators were
-debarred from immediate operations, by the commissioners
-appointed by James to consider a
-scheme for the union of the two kingdoms, taking
-possession of this house where they sate for
-several months. Not wholly, however, to lose
-time, the conspirators hired another house in
-Lambeth, on the banks of the river, where they
-stored up wood, gunpowder, and other combustibles,
-which they could easily remove by night
-in boats, as occasion served, to their house in
-Westminster, as soon as it was in their hands.
-They confided the charge of this house in Lambeth
-to Thomas Kay, a Catholic gentleman of reduced
-means, who took the oath and entered into the plot.</p>
-
-<p>On the 11th of December the conspirators obtained
-possession of their house, when they again
-swore to be faithful to each other, and they began
-their preparations by night. Behind the house,
-in a garden and adjoining the Parliament House,
-stood an old building. Within this they began to
-perforate the wall, one keeping watch while the
-others laboured. The watching was allotted to
-Fawkes, whose person was unknown, and who
-assumed the name of Johnson and appeared as the
-servant of Percy. Three of the others worked
-whilst the fourth rested. During the day they
-toiled at undermining the wall, and during the
-night they buried the rubbish under the earth in
-the garden. They had laid in a store of eggs,
-dried meats, and the like, so that no suspicion
-should be excited in the neighbourhood by their
-going in and out, or by there being brought
-in provisions for so many persons. They thus
-laboured indefatigably for a fortnight, when
-Fawkes brought them the intelligence that Parliament
-was prorogued from the 7th of February to
-the 3rd of October. On this they resolved to
-suspend their work till after the Christmas holidays,
-and to retire to their respective residences,
-agreeing neither to meet in the interim, nor to
-correspond or send messages to each other regarding
-the plot.</p>
-
-<p>During their late labours, as they discussed
-various matters, Catesby, to his dread and mortification,
-discovered a strong tendency amongst his
-associates to doubt the lawfulness of their attempt,
-because innocent people must perish with the
-guilty, Catholics amid the persecuting Protestants.
-In vain he employed all his ingenuity in reasoning;
-he saw the feeling remain, and he endeavoured to
-secure a plausible argument before their coming
-together again. He therefore consulted Garnet,
-the provincial of the Jesuits, on this point.
-Catesby had accepted a commission as captain in a
-regiment of cavalry, to be commanded by Sir
-Charles Percy, in the service of Spain. He now
-observed to Garnet in a large company that he
-had no doubt about the justice of the war on
-the side of Spain, but as he might be called on
-to make attacks in which the innocent might fall
-with the guilty, women and children with armed
-soldiers, could he do that lawfully in the sight of
-the Almighty? Garnet replied certainly, otherwise
-an aggressor could always defeat the object
-of the party invaded by placing innocent persons
-amongst guilty ones in his ranks. This was
-enough for Catesby, the principle was admitted;
-and on the meeting of the conspirators after the
-recess, he was prepared to banish their scruple
-by assuring them that it was decided to be groundless
-by competent ecclesiastical authority.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>On the 30th of January, 1605, they resumed
-their operations. They found the wall through
-which they had to dig was no less than three yards
-thick, and composed of huge stones, so that the
-labour was intense, and the danger of their blows
-being heard began to alarm them. They had an
-accession of force to their numbers, the brothers of
-Wright and Winter, and one John Grant, of Norbrook
-in Warwickshire, who had married a sister of
-the Winters. He had suffered much from persecution
-under Elizabeth, and his house was large and
-strongly fortified, offering a good depot for horses
-and ammunition. Besides these, Catesby had admitted
-Bates, his confidential servant, into the
-secret, believing he had more than half guessed it,
-and sent him with arms and ammunition to Grant's
-house in Worcestershire.</p>
-
-<p>But at this point the operations of the conspirators
-received a severe check. There arose a difficulty
-which seemed to be insurmountable; which so disheartened
-some of the band that they were in favour
-of abandoning their project altogether&mdash;or at least
-for a time. This formidable obstacle appeared in the
-shape of ordinary water, which now began to ooze in
-from the river, and put a stop to all hope of making
-the passage. Fortune came to their aid, however.
-Whilst they were in this state of dejection, they
-were extremely alarmed by a loud noise, which
-appeared to come from a room just over their
-heads. Fawkes went to endeavour to learn the
-cause of it, and returned with the intelligence that
-it proceeded from the selling of the stock in trade
-of Bright, a coal merchant, who was evacuating
-the cellar, which would be in a few days unoccupied.
-At this joyful news, the mining of the
-foundation was abandoned; the cellar, which lay
-directly under the House of Lords, was immediately
-taken by Fawkes in the name of his
-pretended master, Percy. In a short time they
-had removed thirty-six barrels of gunpowder from
-the house in Lambeth in the darkness of night, and
-had covered them over in the cellar with faggots
-and billets of wood. All being prepared, they
-once more separated till September, a few days
-before the assembling of Parliament. They dispersed
-themselves to avoid all suspicion, and
-Fawkes went over to Flanders to endeavour to
-procure a supply of military stores, and to
-win over Sir William Stanley, Captain Owen,
-and other officers of the regiment in the pay
-of the archduke. Catesby was an officer of
-this regiment; most of these officers were Catholics
-and his personal friends, and he informed
-them through Fawkes, that things were come
-to that pass that it was reported that the
-Catholics were to be utterly exterminated throughout
-England, and that if they could not defend
-themselves by peaceable means, they must do it
-by the sword; and he enjoined them to engage
-as many of their brethren as possible to aid them
-in their deliverance. Sir William Stanley was
-absent in Spain and Owen promised that he would
-communicate with him; but little effect appears
-to have been produced by Fawkes's mission, except
-that of exciting the attention of Cecil, who
-received repeated intimations from Flanders that
-the English exiles had some secret enterprise in
-agitation, though what it was the informants could
-not discover.</p>
-
-<p>Catesby at home was in constant activity. He
-had obtained a fresh accomplice in Keyes, an intimate
-friend of his, who had been stripped of his
-property and was prepared for the worst, being a
-man of determined disposition; and he had his
-eye on others who appeared in a mood for it. At
-the same time the growing excitement of Catesby
-endangered the secret. There was a tone and
-a restlessness about him which attracted the
-notice of his friends. He still delayed joining
-his regiment in Flanders, and Garnet, the Jesuit,
-came to suspect that he was engaged in some plot
-and warned him against such attempts. This
-only excited the anger of Catesby, and Garnet
-wrote to Rome and obtained letters from the Pope
-and the generals of his Order, strongly enjoining
-on the Catholics submission to the Government.
-Catesby, uneasy in his conscience, at length confessed
-to Garnet the existence of some plot. The
-Jesuit refused to hear anything of it, but endeavoured
-to impress on the conspirator the
-necessity of obedience to the breves from Rome.
-At length he prevailed on him to promise that
-nothing should be done till they had sent a
-messenger to the Pope fully detailing the condition
-of the Catholics in England, and had received
-an answer. But Catesby had no intention of deferring
-his enterprise on such grounds. Fawkes
-returned to England in September, and they
-resolved to proceed. A second prorogation of
-Parliament, however, from October to the 5th of
-November, disconcerted the conspirators, and
-induced them to fear that their designs had
-become known to Government. To ascertain
-this, if possible, Thomas Winter was deputed to
-attend in the House of Lords and watch the
-countenances and behaviour of the commissioners
-during the ceremony of prorogation. He returned,
-assuring them that their secret was still safe, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span>
-the commissioners walked about and conversed
-in the utmost unconsciousness of danger on the
-very surface of the prepared volcano&mdash;the six-and-thirty
-barrels of gunpowder.</p>
-
-<p>These repeated delays, however, ensured the
-defeat of the plot. All the conspirators except
-Catesby were now ruined by fines, exactions, and
-persecutions on account of their faith. They had
-depended for support for the last twelve months on
-the assistance of relations and friends. Catesby had
-purchased the military stores and other requisites:
-his means were now exhausted, and yet more
-money must be in hand against the day of explosion
-if they meant to take full advantage of it.
-This induced them to extend the number of their
-accomplices, a perilous proceeding in anything
-demanding secrecy; and yet Catesby ventured on
-divulging the scheme to no less than three fresh
-associates, men of family and fortune. The first
-was Sir Everard Digby, of Drystoke in Rutlandshire,
-Gotehurst in Buckinghamshire, and of
-other large estates. Digby had been left as a boy
-a ward of Queen Elizabeth's and had been educated
-at her court as a Protestant. But a little
-before the death of the queen he embraced the
-Catholic faith, and thus abandoning the brilliant
-prospects before him, retired to his estates in the
-country. At the time of the conspiracy he had
-a young wife and two children, was only twenty-five
-himself, and thus had every imaginable earthly
-good within his reach. Subtle must have been
-the persuasion which could have induced such
-a man to risk all this in a desperate enterprise,
-and bold the spirit of Catesby who could venture
-to tempt him to do it. It was not effected without
-difficulty. Digby could not avoid seeing
-the hazard and doubting the innocence of such
-a proceeding, but eventually he gave way, and
-promised to assemble his Catholic friends on the
-opening of Parliament to hunt with him on Dunsmoor
-in Warwickshire, and to advance one
-thousand five hundred pounds.</p>
-
-<p>The next was Ambrose Rookwood of Coldham
-Hall, Suffolk, the head of an ancient and wealthy
-family, who had suffered like his neighbours, but
-was still affluent. He had a fine stud of horses,
-which made him a very desirable coadjutor, independent
-of other considerations. He seems to
-have had as little ambition as he had motive for
-conspiracy, being, despite his share of persecutions,
-able to enjoy a quiet life; but his attachment to
-Catesby was his snare. Like the rest, he at first
-recoiled from the prospect of so much bloodshed;
-but Catesby managed to reconcile him to the idea,
-and he removed his family to Clopton Hall, near
-Stratford-on-Avon, in order to be near the Catholic
-rendezvous at Dunsmoor.</p>
-
-<p>The third new accomplice was Sir Francis
-Tresham. His father, Sir Thomas Tresham, had
-long been severely handled on account of his
-religion, in Elizabeth's reign, and his son Francis,
-who succeeded him, had been engaged in several
-plots. He was in that of Essex in conjunction
-with Catesby and Percy, and escaped by a prompt
-distribution of three thousand pounds amongst
-the queen's favourites. His chief seat was at
-Rushton, in Northamptonshire. The selection of
-Tresham was especially imprudent, for he had the
-character of being selfish, reserved, and fickle;
-but he had money, which induced Catesby to trust
-him. From the moment, however, that he did so,
-he had no more peace of mind. Terrible fears and
-suspicions seized him, dreams as terrible haunted
-him at night. His comrades had no confidence
-in Tresham, whose character was well known; but
-the thing was done, and there was no retracing the
-step which was to bring destruction upon them.
-Tresham promised a contribution of two thousand
-pounds, and Percy also engaging to advance four
-thousand pounds from the rents of the Earl of
-Northumberland, whose steward he was, the
-pecuniary provision appeared ample, and they
-proceeded to organise their plan of operations.</p>
-
-<p>A list of all the peers and commons who were
-Catholics, or who had opposed the penal statutes
-and other harsh measures against the Catholics,
-was made out, and these were at the last moment
-on the fatal morning to be called away from the
-House by some urgent message. Guy Fawkes
-was appointed to fire the train with a slow burning
-match, which should allow of his escape before
-the explosion; and a ship was to lie ready in the
-river to carry him over to Flanders, where he was
-to publish a manifesto justifying the deed and
-calling on the Catholic powers for aid. Percy, as a
-gentleman pensioner, was to enter the palace and
-secure the person of the young Prince Charles&mdash;it
-seems they were willing to let Prince Henry perish&mdash;and
-on pretence of placing him in security, convey
-him away to the appointed rendezvous at Dunchurch.
-Digby, Tresham, Grant, and others, were
-to hasten to Combe Abbey, and secure the Princess
-Elizabeth, whom, if the two young princes should
-not be saved, they were at once to proclaim queen.
-Catesby was to proclaim the heir-apparent, whoever
-it was, at Charing Cross; and on reaching
-Warwickshire a declaration was to be issued
-abolishing monopolies, purveyance, and wardships.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span>
-A protector was to be appointed to conduct the
-Government during the minority of the sovereign.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_425big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_425.jpg" width="560" height="422" alt="" title="LORD MONTEAGLE AND THE WARNING LETTER ABOUT THE GUNPOWDER PLOT" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>LORD MONTEAGLE AND THE WARNING LETTER ABOUT THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_426">426.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There were circumstances enough in these regulations
-to have alarmed all but fanatics in the
-cause. Messages at the last moment to so many
-members of the two Houses must have created
-suspicion, and the endeavour to secure the royal
-children was full of hazard. But there were
-greater dangers than these. As the time drew
-nigh, almost every one had friends amongst the
-members of Parliament, and they were not contented
-with the general plan of drawing them
-away at the critical moment. Each wished to
-convey a particular warning to his own friends or
-relatives, which should make their safety certain.
-Every such warning, however, menaced the discovery
-of the whole scheme. Tresham was
-excessively anxious to rescue the Lords Mordaunt
-and Monteagle, who had married two of his
-sisters. Percy was equally desirous to save his
-relative, the Earl of Northumberland; Keyes, the
-old gentleman who had the custody of the house at
-Lambeth, was importunate to save Lord Mordaunt,
-who sheltered and maintained his wife and
-children after his own ruin; and all were eager to
-warn the young Earl of Arundel.</p>
-
-<p>Catesby, extremely alarmed by these proposals,
-declared that means enough were in operation to
-keep those that they wished to save away; but
-that rather than endanger the result, he would
-have all blown up, though they were as dear to
-him as his own son. He and Fawkes, as the day
-drew near, retired to a solitary house in Enfield
-Chase, called White Webbs, where, as they were
-in consultation with Thomas Winter, Tresham suddenly
-made his appearance. He appeared excited
-and embarrassed, and demanded that he should
-be allowed to put Lord Monteagle, on his guard.
-When Catesby and his associates protested against
-it, he advanced reasons for delay, declaring that
-he should not be prepared with the promised
-advance of money till he had sold some property.
-He pleaded that the explosion would be as
-effectual at the end of the session as at the
-beginning; that in the meantime the conspirators
-might live in Flanders, whither his ship should
-convey them, and where he would supply them
-with the necessary funds for maintenance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span>
-Catesby was confirmed in his fears of Tresham by
-these proposals, but thought it best to dissemble
-and appear to acquiesce. Tresham returned to
-town, and would seem to have warned not only
-Monteagle but others, most likely including Lord
-Mordaunt. Digby and others of the conspirators
-are supposed to have warned their own friends,
-so that the danger of discovery was hourly increasing.
-Tresham, in his examination, alleged
-that his real object at this moment was not to
-delay but to put an end to the plot, as the only
-means he could devise to save the lives of all concerned,
-and to preserve his own life, fortune, and
-reputation.</p>
-
-<p>The movements of Lord Monteagle warranted
-the belief that he had received a warning of some
-kind that there was danger in town, for he removed
-from his house in London to one which he had at
-Hoxton, and on the 26th of October, six days
-before the proposed opening of Parliament, he,
-much to the surprise of his own family, ordered a
-good supper to be prepared there. Monteagle had
-formerly been engaged in the Spanish treason, and
-had written to Baynham, who was the emissary at
-Rome, and therefore was probably aware of some
-plot in agitation, but he had latterly obtained the
-confidence of the king and was one of the commissioners
-for the late prorogation.</p>
-
-<p>As he sat at table about seven o'clock in the
-evening, a page handed to him a letter, which he
-said he had received from a tall man whose features
-he could not recognise in the dark. Monteagle
-opened the letter and seeing that it had neither
-date nor signature, he handed it to Thomas Ward,
-a gentleman of his establishment, to read aloud.
-It was as follows:&mdash;"My lord out of the love i
-beare to some of youer frends i have a caer of your
-preservacion therefor i would advyse yowe as
-yowe tender youer lyfe to devyse some exscuse to
-shift of youer attendance at this parleament for
-god and man hath concurred to punishe the
-wickednes of this tyme and think not slightlye of
-this advertisement but retyere to youre self into
-youre contri wheare you may expect the event in
-safeti for thowghe theare be no apparance of
-anni stir yet i saye they shall receyve a terrible
-blowe this parleament and yet they shall not seie
-who hurts them this cowncel is not to be contemned
-because it may do yowe good and can do yowe no
-harme for the danger is passed as soon as yowe
-have burnt the letter and i hope God will give
-yowe the grace to mak good use of it to whose
-holy protecion i comend yowe."</p>
-
-<p>The astonishment of the guests at the hearing
-of this letter may be imagined. Lord Monteagle
-immediately hastened to town, and laid the letter
-before Cecil and some of the other ministers, the
-king being away still at Royston, hunting. Cecil
-determined that nothing should be done till the
-king's return. The next morning Ward, who
-had read the letter publicly at the supper-table,
-communicated the circumstance to Thomas Winter,
-and said the letter was in the possession of Cecil.
-Winter was thunderstruck, but put the best face
-upon the matter that he could, and pretended to
-laugh at the whole affair as a hoax on the credulity
-of Lord Monteagle; but no sooner was Ward gone
-than he flew to White Webbs and imparted the
-news to Catesby. Catesby at once attributed the
-letter to Tresham, and the more so as he had
-absented himself for several days on the pretence
-of having business in Northamptonshire. The
-question was whether he had revealed the particulars
-of the plot and the names of the conspirators.
-To ascertain the extent of the mischief
-and of the guilt of Tresham, he sent him an imperative
-message to come to White Webbs.
-Tresham obeyed the summons on the 30th of
-October, and met Catesby and Winter at this
-lonely house in Enfield Chase. They had made
-up their minds if they found him guilty, to shoot
-him on the spot. They charged him point blank
-with the discovery of the plot, and kept a searching
-gaze upon his countenance as he received their
-declaration. Had he faltered or shown any confusion,
-his doom would have been instant. But
-he exhibited the utmost calmness and firmness of
-expression, protesting most solemnly that he was
-innocent of the charge.</p>
-
-<p>That Tresham was the writer of the letter, and
-that he had entered into a confidential understanding
-with Monteagle for the defeat of the
-plot, there appears every reason to conclude. His
-own avowal on the examination that such was his
-intention is borne out by all the examinations.
-The delivery of the letter whilst Monteagle was
-at supper with his friends, if it was done by
-Tresham, shows an intention that it should thus
-be made irrevocably public. The instant communication
-of Lord Monteagle's servant with
-Winter the conspirator, in order to warn them,
-confirms the idea that all this was planned between
-Tresham and Monteagle; but there is no reason
-to believe that Tresham had betrayed the names
-of his accomplices.</p>
-
-<p>Catesby and Winter returned with Tresham to
-town, and Guy Fawkes was despatched to the
-cellar under the Parliament House to discover<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span>
-whether all was right there. Not a thing or a
-secret mark was disturbed. They then first told
-him why they had sent him, on which Fawkes
-complained of their distrust of his courage, and
-said he would visit the cellar every day till the
-5th of November. Had Cecil not been still more
-cunning than the conspirators, had he made a stir
-and an inquisition, the aim of Tresham would
-have been effected, the conspirators would have
-escaped, and the plot have been put an end to
-without any catastrophe. But the artifice of
-Cecil lulled their suspicions and lured them on
-to their doom.</p>
-
-<p>On the 31st of October James returned to town,
-and the letter was laid before him, with the particulars
-of its delivery. The king was struck by
-the account, read the letter several times over,
-and discussed the matter for two hours with
-his ministers. He boasted to Parliament on
-its opening, that it was his own bright suggestion
-that the receiving of the letter sent to
-Lord Monteagle implied that they were all to be
-blown up, and that he in consequence ordered the
-search of the cellars under the Parliament House.
-But this was a piece of consummate flattery on
-the part of his ministers, to make it appear the
-result of his superior sagacity; for we have direct
-evidence in the circular of the Earl of Salisbury,
-that the ministers were in possession of the secret,
-but he observes, "we all thought fit to forbear to
-impart it to the king until some three or four
-days before the sessions." In fact, the intelligence
-that the letter was in the hands of the king, and
-that the Council was consulting on it, was immediately
-conveyed to Winter by Monteagle's servant.
-Upon this Winter waited on Tresham at his house
-in Lincoln's Inn Walks, where Tresham, in great
-agitation, assured him that the existence of the
-mine was known to the ministers; that he knew
-certainly, but denied any knowledge of the person
-by whom the discovery had been made. He declared
-that they were all lost if they did not
-escape at once. From the moment the affair was
-known, Tresham had avoided further intercourse
-with the conspirators, meaning to appear ignorant
-of their concerns, for which reason he went about
-openly, and even offered his services to the Council.</p>
-
-<p>The conspirators met to decide on their plan of
-action. Some of them advised instant flight to
-the Continent; Catesby, Winter, and others were
-perfectly convinced that Tresham was in communication
-with Monteagle, and perhaps with Cecil;
-but some of them would not believe such treason,
-and the arguments of Percy finally nailed them to
-their fate. This discussion took place on the 3rd
-of November. Percy conjured them to wait and
-see what the next day would bring forth, the very
-last day before the grand crisis. He represented
-all the labour, the anxieties, the plannings they
-had gone through, the costs they had incurred, the
-difficulties they had overcome, and he demanded
-whether, on the very point of complete success,
-they were to abandon their enterprise through the
-fears of a recreant colleague, who probably described
-what only his affrighted fancy pictured to
-him. He reminded them that his vessel still lay
-in the Thames at their service, and on the first
-positive proof of danger, they had only to hasten
-on board and drop down the river out of reach of
-their enemies.</p>
-
-<p>These arguments prevailed, but they changed
-their plan of operations. Fawkes was still to
-keep guard in the cellar, Percy and Winter to
-superintend the necessary operations in London;
-but Catesby and John Wright were to hasten to
-Dunchurch and put Sir Everard Digby and the
-party on their guard.</p>
-
-<p>On the evening of Monday the 4th of November,
-the Earl of Suffolk, in prosecution of his duty as
-Lord Chamberlain, to see all necessary preparations
-made for the opening of Parliament, went down to
-the House accompanied by Lord Monteagle.</p>
-
-<p>After they had been some time in the Parliament
-chamber, on pretence that some necessary
-articles were missing, they went down to the
-cellars to make a search. They entered the vault
-where the mine was prepared and where Fawkes
-was at his post. The Lord Chamberlain, casually
-casting his eyes round the place, inquired by
-whom it was occupied, and who Fawkes was.
-The staunch traitor replied that it was occupied
-by Mr. Percy, whose servant he was; on which
-Suffolk observed in a careless manner, "Your
-master has laid in a good stock of fuel;" and he
-and Monteagle left the cellar. No sooner were
-they off the ground, than Fawkes hastened to
-inform Percy of what had occurred, but the
-warning was lost upon him. He persuaded himself
-that all was yet undiscovered, and Fawkes
-returned to the cellar to await the fatal hour.</p>
-
-<p>A little after midnight, being now actually the
-5th of November, Guy Fawkes had occasion to
-open the door of the vault, and he was immediately
-seized by Sir Thomas Knevett a magistrate of
-Westminster, who, with a party of soldiers, had
-silently invested the place. Fawkes was found
-to be booted and spurred, ready for a precipitate
-flight after lighting the train; three matches were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span>
-found in his pocket, and a dark lantern containing
-a light was placed behind the door. The least
-delay in seizing the desperado, and he would have
-blown himself and the guard all into the air together.
-But he was instantly pinioned, bound
-hand and foot, and conveyed to Whitehall, where
-the Council had assembled in the king's bed-chamber
-by four o'clock to interrogate him. Fast
-fettered as he was, the determined look of the undaunted
-traitor struck terror into the spectators.
-He appeared quite self-possessed, calm in aspect,
-and bold, though respectful in speech. Nothing
-could be drawn from him regarding the conspiracy.
-He said his name was Johnson, and
-that Percy was his master. He avowed that his
-object was to annihilate King and Parliament, as
-the only possible means of ridding the Catholics
-of their persecutions. When asked who were his
-accomplices, he replied that should never be known
-from him. Finding that nothing could be extracted
-from the conspirator, on the morning of
-the 6th of November he was sent to the Tower,
-accompanied by orders that the secret was to be
-extorted from him by torture. The instructions
-of James directed that the gentle tortures were
-to be tried first, with gradual resort to the severer
-forms if necessary. For three or four days this
-man of iron nerve and will endured the utmost
-agony they could put him to, without divulging
-a syllable, nor did he relax till he learned for
-certain that the conspirators had proclaimed themselves
-by appearing in arms.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_428big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_428.jpg" width="560" height="400" alt="" title="ARREST OF GUY FAWKES" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ARREST OF GUY FAWKES. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_427">427.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Catesby and John Wright had left on the
-evening of the 4th for Dunchurch as agreed;
-Percy and Christopher Wright maintained their
-watch in London till they heard of the arrest of
-Fawkes, when they mounted and rode after
-Catesby and John Wright. Keyes and Rookwood
-still waited till morning, when finding the
-whole known and all London in a state of terror,
-Keyes got away after the rest. Rookwood lingered
-in town till near noon, as he had a relay of
-vigorous horses ready, and when mounted, he
-rode furiously, overtook Keyes on Finchley Common,
-whence they rode to Turvey in Bedfordshire.
-Rookwood still pursued his gallop till he
-overtook first Percy and Christopher Wright, and
-then Catesby and John Wright, and the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span>
-troop rode on together till they came to Lady
-Catesby's, at Ashby St. Legers, in Northamptonshire.
-They arrived there at six o'clock in the
-evening, Rookwood having ridden the whole eighty
-miles from London in little more than six hours.
-A party of conspirators, with whom was Winter,
-were just sitting down to supper when the fugitives
-came in, covered with mud and sinking with
-fatigue. Yet no time was to be lost. After a
-hasty refreshment, the whole company got to
-horse, and rode with all speed to Dunchurch.</p>
-
-<p>The strange, haggard, and dejected appearance
-of the conspirators, and their eager closeting with
-Sir Everard Digby, awoke the suspicions of the
-hunting party. Before midnight, a whisper of
-treason and its failure flew amongst them, and
-they quickly got to horse and rode off each his
-own way. In the morning there remained only
-Catesby, Digby, Percy, the Wrights, Winter, and
-a few servants.</p>
-
-<p>Catesby now advised that they should strike
-across Worcestershire for Wales, where he flattered
-himself they might assemble the Catholic gentry
-and make a formidable stand. In pursuance of
-this romantic plan, they mounted and rode to
-Warwick, whence, after obtaining fresh horses
-for their jaded ones, they made for Grant's house
-at Norbrook, and thence rode on through Warwickshire
-and Worcestershire to Holbeach House, on
-the borders of Staffordshire. All the way they
-had called on the Catholics to arm and join
-them for the rescue of their faith, but not a man
-would listen to the appeal. On this decided
-failure, instead of pushing for the mountains
-of Wales, they resolved to make a stand at
-Holbeach.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Sir Richard Walsh the sheriff of
-Worcestershire, with the whole <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">posse comitatus</i>
-and a number of volunteer gentlemen, was in
-chase of them. They had diverged from their
-original route in the hope of being joined by the
-gentry, who only drove them from their doors;
-and now, no sooner did Stephen Littleton, the
-owner of Holbeach, learn the real facts, than,
-horrified at the certain destruction impending over
-these desperate men, he escaped at the earliest
-opportunity from the house. He was soon followed
-by Sir Everard Digby, on the plea of endeavouring
-to muster assistance. The remaining
-conspirators&mdash;who, with servants, did not amount
-to more than forty men&mdash;put the house in a state
-of defence; but as they were drying some powder
-before the fire, it exploded, scorching Catesby and
-some others of the bystanders.</p>
-
-<p>This accident so appalled them, impressing them
-with the idea that their enterprise was displeasing
-to God, that Robert Winter, Bates the servant of
-Catesby, and others got away. About noon Sir
-Richard Walsh came up with his troop, surrounded
-the house, and summoned them to surrender.
-But preferring death in arms to the
-gallows, they defied their assailants, and resolved
-to fight to the last. On this the sheriff ordered
-one part of his followers to set fire to the house,
-and the other to batter in the gates. Catesby,
-blackened and nearly blinded by the powder, called
-on the rest to make a rush and die hand to hand
-with their assailants. In the courtyard, Catesby,
-the two Wrights, and Percy were mortally
-wounded. Catesby crawled on hands and knees
-into the house to a crucifix, which he seized in
-his hands and expired. Rookwood, dreadfully
-burnt and wounded, was seized as well as Winter,
-whose arm was broken. Percy died the next day.
-The rest of them were soon taken. Robert Winter
-had overtaken Stephen Littleton in a wood, and
-together they made their way to the house of a
-Mrs. Littleton, near Hagley, where they were
-secreted, without her knowledge, by her cousin
-Humphrey Littleton, but were betrayed by a
-servant of Mrs. Littleton. Sir Everard Digby
-was pursued and taken in a wood near Dudley.
-They were all captured, with Keyes and Bates
-Catesby's servant, who was taken in Staffordshire.
-Four days after the seizure of the captives at Holbeach,
-Tresham was arrested in London, notwithstanding
-his affected innocence and his offers of
-assistance to the Council; and thus were the authors
-of this conspiracy destroyed, or safe in the hands
-of Government. Soon afterwards Garnet was
-discovered hiding at Hendip in a secret chamber.</p>
-
-<p>The trials, of course, excited intense interest,
-and the king, queen, and prince were said to be
-present, where they could see and hear without
-attracting public notice. The prisoners were eight,
-Sir Everard Digby, Robert and Thomas Winter,
-Rookwood, Grant, Guido Fawkes, Keyes, and
-Bates. Sir Everard Digby pleaded guilty, all the
-rest not guilty, on the ground that many things
-were included in the indictments which were not
-true. There were no witnesses called, but the
-written depositions of the prisoners and of a
-servant of Sir Everard's were taken as sufficient
-proof. The accused, for the most part, denied that
-the three Jesuits (Garnet and two others who had
-been implicated) had any part in the plot, though
-they might more or less be aware of it; nor was
-there any proof brought forward or admission<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>
-made which affected the Catholic body generally.
-On the contrary, it was too notorious that the
-Catholics had everywhere shrunk from the conspirators
-with horror; and Sir Everard Digby, in
-his letters to his wife, written from the Tower,
-pathetically laments that the Catholics so far
-from supporting the conspiracy, shunned and
-condemned them, and adds that he would never
-have engaged in it if he had not thought it
-lawful. The prisoners who pleaded not guilty,
-excused their conduct by the cruelty of the persecutions
-which they were enduring, the ruin and
-sufferings of their families, the violated promises
-of the king, and their consequent despair of any
-other termination of their oppressions, as well as
-their natural desire to effect the restoration of
-what they deemed the only true church. The
-Earls of Salisbury and Northampton denied, on
-the part of the king, the breach of any promises;
-and the prisoners were condemned to the death of
-traitors, which they endured, in all its revolting
-severity, at the west end of St. Paul's Churchyard.
-Digby, Robert Winter, Grant, and Bates, on the
-31st of January, and Thomas Winter, Fawkes,
-Rookwood, and Keyes, next day.</p>
-
-<p>The Jesuits Garnet and Oldcorne and their
-two servants, Owen and Chambers, who had been
-captured in Worcestershire, were lodged in the
-Tower, and there underwent the strictest examination,
-and Oldcorne, Owen, and Chambers were
-placed upon the rack. Garnet was not racked, but
-was threatened with it, to which he replied, "<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Minate
-ista pueris</i>"&mdash;"Threats are only for boys." As
-it was probably thought that nothing was to be
-hoped from Garnet through torture, a stratagem
-worthy of the Inquisition was resolved on. The
-warder in whose custody the Jesuits lay, received
-an order from the lieutenant of the Tower to assume
-a friendly demeanour towards them; to
-express his sympathy for their sufferings, and his
-respect for their undaunted maintenance of their
-faith. Having made a favourable impression, he
-proceeded to offer them all the indulgence in his
-power, consistent with their safe custody. The
-Jesuits fell into the snare. The warder offered to
-take charge of any letters that they wished to
-convey to their friends. His sincerity seemed so
-genuine that the offer was accepted; a correspondence
-with several Catholics was commenced,
-and the letters each way were regularly carried
-to the commissioners, opened, and copied before
-delivery. Many of the letters being found to
-have secret notes appended in lemon juice, which
-only became visible when heated, were retained,
-and exact copies sent. Some of these letters
-still remain in the Public Record Office. But
-this correspondence, notwithstanding the sympathetic
-ink, was so guarded, that it furnished no
-new facts and another plan was adopted. The
-warder, as if growing more willing to serve them by
-longer acquaintance, showed them that by leaving
-an intermediate door unlocked between their cells,
-the two Jesuits could meet and converse at freedom.
-Still confiding entirely in their apparent
-friend the warder, who recommended extreme
-caution, Garnet and Oldcorne gladly embraced this
-opportunity of intercourse. But in secret recesses
-in the passage were placed Lockerson the private
-secretary of Cecil, and Forsett a magistrate of
-the Tower, who heard and noted down the conversations
-of the prisoners. Five times were these
-treacherous interviews permitted, and the reported
-conversations of four of them are still
-preserved.</p>
-
-<p>As might be expected, the conversations chiefly
-turned on the best mode of conducting their defence.
-In these conversations Garnet admitted
-that though he had denied it, he had still been at
-White Webbs, in Enfield Chase, with the conspirators,
-and would still maintain that he had not
-been there since Bartholomew-tide. On another
-occasion he let fall things which still further
-betrayed his knowledge of the plot. It is possible
-that he might even yet have escaped had he not,
-at his trial, avowed that he considered equivocation
-and mental reservation on any point that might
-incriminate him, perfectly justifiable. After that
-declaration popular sympathy was no longer in his
-favour. A verdict of guilty was pronounced
-against him, and he was hanged, drawn and
-quartered on the 3rd of May, 1606.</p>
-
-<p>A Parliament was summoned for the double
-purpose of raising money and of extending additional
-punishment over the Catholics generally.
-The whole country was in that state of alarm and
-hostility to them, that James found it necessary
-to restrain rather than encourage the mania. Such
-was the public excitement, that even he was not
-exempt from blame on account of this lenity. He
-had chosen this inauspicious moment to make
-overtures to Spain for the Infanta as a wife for
-Prince Henry, and the Puritans at once ascribed
-his moderation to this cause, and declared that he
-was little better than a secret Papist himself.
-James was alarmed and obliged to give way. It
-was in vain that Henry IV. of France remonstrated
-against a bigotry which had already driven
-some of the Catholics to such desperate lengths.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span>
-His ambassador represented that the king his
-master had learnt from experience that persecution
-only stimulated zealots to a temper in which they
-gloried in suffering, and that far more could be
-effected by kindness than by severity; that James
-should, if he loved peace, make himself their protector
-instead of their persecutor. But Parliament
-soon showed how useless at the moment was such
-advice. Both Houses appeared to be carried
-beyond all reason by their fears and their resentment.
-On the 3rd of February every member of
-the Commons was ordered to stand up in his place
-and propound such measures as appeared to him
-most desirable. The most extravagant propositions
-seemed the most acceptable, and after
-impetuous debates upon them, they were communicated
-by conferences to the other House, and
-in both Lords and Commons motions of the
-severest description were made and carried by
-triumphant majorities. Catholic recusants were
-now forbidden to appear at Court, to dwell within
-its boundaries, or within ten miles of the boundaries
-of London; or to remove on any occasion
-more than five miles from their homes, under particular
-penalties, unless in the latter case they had
-a licence from four neighbouring magistrates.
-They were rendered incapable of practising in
-surgery, physic, or common or civil law; of acting
-as judges, clerks, officers, in any court or corporation;
-of presenting to church livings, schools, or
-hospitals in their gift; or of exercising the functions
-of executors or guardians; where persons
-were married by Catholic priests, the husband, if
-a Catholic, could not claim the property of the
-wife, nor the wife, if a Catholic, that of the
-husband; and if a child born was not baptised by
-a Protestant minister within a month, the penalty
-was one hundred and fifty pounds; and for every
-corpse not buried in a Protestant cemetery, the
-penalty was twenty pounds. All existing penalties
-for absence from church were retained, with the
-addition that whoever received Catholic visitors, or
-kept Catholic servants, must pay for each such
-individual ten pounds per lunar month. Every
-recusant was declared to be excommunicated; his
-house might be broken open and searched at any
-time, his books and any articles belonging to "his
-idolatrous worship" might be burnt, and his arms
-and horses seized by the order of a single magistrate.</p>
-
-<p>A new oath of allegiance was framed recognising
-absolute renunciation of the right of the Pope to
-interfere in the temporal affairs of the kingdom.
-The Catholics who submitted to take this oath
-were to be liable <em>only</em> to the penalties now
-enumerated; but they who refused were to be imprisoned
-for life, and to suffer forfeiture of their
-personal property and the rents of their lands.</p>
-
-<p>The publication of these terrible enactments
-carried astonishment and dismay through the
-nation; many Protestants as well as Catholics
-condemned them. The French minister Villeroy
-declared that they were characteristic of barbarians
-rather than of Christians. Many Catholics
-made haste to quit their native country, and the
-rest prepared to sacrifice both property and personal
-liberty. The Pope Paul V. despatched a
-secret emissary to James, imploring him to relax
-the rigour of the new laws, but without success.
-And the Pontiff, resenting the repulse, then published
-a breve, denouncing the oath of allegiance
-as unlawful, "because contrary to faith and salvation."
-The publication of this imprudent breve
-only made matters worse. The Catholic clergy
-were before its arrival divided in their opinions as
-to the lawfulness of taking it; the archpriest
-Blackwall himself, with many of his brethren, were
-prepared to take it. The authority of the Pope
-extinguished theirs and decided the majority; yet
-Blackwall took the oath himself, and advised the
-Catholics, by a circular letter, to take it.</p>
-
-<p>But no submission on the part of a portion of
-the Catholics could mitigate the wrath of James at
-the conduct of the Pope. He ordered the bishops
-in their several dioceses to tender the oath, and to
-enforce the penalties on all recusants. Three
-missionaries lying under sentence of death for the
-exercise of their priestly functions, were called
-upon to take it; they refused. Two of them
-were saved by the earnest intercession of the
-Prince de Joinville and the French ambassador.
-The third, named Drury, was hanged, drawn, and
-quartered. Blackwall the archpriest himself was
-thrown into prison, though he had both taken
-the oath and advised the rest of the Catholics to
-take it; and though James pitied him, he could
-do nothing more in his behalf than prevent him
-from being brought to trial and capitally condemned.
-The case of Blackwall was extremely
-hard, for, on the other hand, he had excited the
-resentment of the Pope by his concession. He
-was called on by letters from Cardinals Bellarmine
-and Arrigoni, and the Jesuits Parsons and Holtby
-to retract; but as he would not, he was superseded
-by Birket. He was then in his seventieth year,
-and remained in prison till his death, in 1613.</p>
-
-<p>A second breve from the Pope roused the spirit
-of James; he determined to try whether he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span>
-not silence the clamour of the papal party by his pen. He abandoned
-even the pleasures of the chase, refused to listen to his ministers,
-and calling his favourite divines around him, he shut himself up
-with them, and produced a tract called "An Apologie for the Oath of
-Allegiance," which was immediately translated into French and Latin.
-But as the royal <em>brochure</em> did not convince the Catholics, six priests
-were condemned for refusing the oath, and three of them were executed,
-one at York and two at Tyburn. Moreau, Bellarmine, and Parsons,
-published replies to the royal treatise; and again James closeted
-himself with his divines, revised his publication, and prefaced it
-with a "Premonition to all Christian Princes." It was in vain that the
-kings of Denmark and France counselled him to desist from a contest
-so unworthy of a great monarch, in vain that the queen urged the same
-advice. He condescended to declare that the fittest answer to Parsons
-would be a rope; and as for Bellarmine, who had written under a feigned
-name, he dubbed him "a most obscure author, a very desperate fellow
-in beginning his apprentisage, not only to refute, but to rail at a
-king." The flatterers of the king applauded his "immortal labours," as
-they were pleased to call them; and James continued to toil at them,
-revise, and remodel his arguments till 1609. The Catholic peers, with
-the exception of Lord Teynham, all took the oath on different occasions
-in the Upper House.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_432.jpg" width="450" height="223" alt="" title="POUND SOVEREIGN OF JAMES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>POUND SOVEREIGN OF JAMES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_432a.jpg" width="450" height="210" alt="" title="UNIT OR LAUREL OF JAMES I. (GOLD)" />
-<div class="caption"><p>UNIT OR LAUREL OF JAMES I. (GOLD).</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_432b.jpg" width="420" height="211" alt="" title="SPUR RIAL OF JAMES I. (GOLD)" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SPUR RIAL OF JAMES I. (GOLD).</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_432c.jpg" width="350" height="172" alt="" title="THISTLE CROWN OF JAMES I. (GOLD)" />
-<div class="caption"><p>THISTLE CROWN OF JAMES I. (GOLD).</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>To dismiss for the present the religious controversies which kept
-the kingdom in a ferment of bitterness, we have a little overstepped
-the progress of general events. In the spring of 1606 James called
-together Parliament, for he was in much distress for money. As usual,
-the Commons had their list of complaints to set off against his demands
-and as James showed no eagerness to redress no less than sixteen
-subjects of grievance, the Commons made no haste with the supplies. At
-length, in the month of May, whilst the question of the subsidy was
-dragging its slow length along, and Cecil was endeavouring in vain to
-quicken the motion of the House, by making promises which meant nothing
-beyond inducing the members to vote, a sudden rumour ran through the
-court that the king was assassinated at Oaking in Berkshire, where he
-was hunting along with his favourites, the Earl of Montgomery, Sir
-John Ramsay, and Sir James Hay. The mode of his death was variously
-reported. One version was that he had been stabbed with a poisoned
-knife, and another that he had been shot with a pistol, and a third
-that he was smothered in his bed. The murderers were differently
-represented to be the Jesuits, Scotsmen in women's clothes, Frenchmen,
-and Spaniards. There was great consternation both in the City and the
-Parliament. The Lords displayed the utmost loyalty; and the
-Commons suddenly closed their money debate by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span>
-voting three subsidies and six fifteenths. In the midst of the
-panic James arrived safe and sound in London, and was received with
-proportionate enthusiasm. As the sensation went off, many began to
-suspect that Cecil, and perhaps the king himself, could have explained
-the origin of the <em>ruse</em>&mdash;that it was but a spur to the tardy
-liberality of the Commons. At all events, James, having obtained his
-supplies, prorogued Parliament to the 18th of November.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_433big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_433.jpg" width="448" height="560" alt="From the Portrait by Zucchero" title="SIR ROBERT CECIL, AFTERWARDS EARL OF SALISBURY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR ROBERT CECIL, AFTERWARDS EARL OF SALISBURY. (<i>From the Portrait by Zucchero.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The great business of Parliament now for several
-sessions&mdash;that is, from 1604 to 1607&mdash;was that of
-discussing James's suggestion for the union of the
-two kingdoms. This very suggestion, so immediately
-brought forward, was a glaring proof of
-James's want of solid judgment. The least
-reflection might have satisfied the least reflecting
-mind, that two nations which had for so many
-ages been inflamed against each other by wars,
-injustice, mutual cruelties, political jealousies, and
-the taunts which embittered passions had caused
-them to fling at each other, would require a long
-time to reconcile them to the idea of entire amalgamation.
-The centuries of attempted usurpation
-on the part of the English, and the determined
-resistance, even to death, of the Scots, made the
-latter sensitively apprehensive of the union. They
-saw in it only the accomplishment of the same
-end by different means. They were the less disposed
-to it in consequence of the foolish boastings
-of James of his absolute power. His high notions
-of prerogative appeared to have grown wonderfully
-since his accession to the English throne. He
-compared himself to a god upon earth, and had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span>
-already given out his style and title as king of
-Great Britain. The Scots were, therefore, naturally
-suspicious of a union which would very
-largely augment his powers. Still more, his
-new and excessive leaning towards Episcopacy
-alarmed the Scots. They saw nothing but its
-attempted imposition on them in the union of
-the kingdoms, and they were not inclined thus
-easily to give up their freedom of conscience which
-they had fought out at so much cost. On the
-other hand, James's imprudent bestowal of posts
-and honours on Scotsmen in England, offended
-and disgusted the English. They asked whether
-they were to be overrun by a regular inundation
-of proud and hungry adventurers from the North.
-In the Commons the expressions of contempt and
-aversion to the Scottish race grew to the height
-of insolence and insult, and were sure to excite
-the most indignant feeling in that people. Sir
-Christopher Pigot, the member for Buckinghamshire,
-especially distinguished himself by the
-vituperation of Scotsmen. He professed the
-utmost horror at the idea of union between a
-rich and fertile country like England, and a
-sterile and poor one like Scotland; between a
-people wealthy, frank, and generous, and one at
-once haughty, beggarly, and penurious. This put
-the climax to the patience of Scotland, and James
-declared he could no longer tolerate language
-which insulted himself as a Scot.</p>
-
-<p>Cecil at the command of the king took up
-the matter warmly, and the House of Commons,
-persuaded by him, expelled Pigot, and he was
-committed to the Tower. Defeated in the Commons,
-James betook himself to the courts of law.
-He had proposed to the Commons to pass an Act
-naturalising all Scots, even those born before his
-accession to the English throne; but when they
-rejected this, he obtained a decision from the
-judges sanctioning the admission of the inhabitants
-of each kingdom to all the rights of subjects in
-both. This would in a few years have made the
-Scots as much subjects of the English Crown as
-the English themselves, but James was not content
-with this. He used very angry and impudent
-language, threatening to leave London and fix his
-court at York or Berwick; telling his English
-subjects to remember that he was a king, who had
-to govern them and to answer for their errors;
-who was made of flesh and blood like themselves,
-and might be tempted to do what they would not
-like.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons resented this language: they sent
-their Speaker to desire that the king would receive
-no reports of their proceedings except from
-themselves, and that they might be permitted to
-feel that they were at liberty to deliver their
-opinions in their own House without restraint or
-fear. James, who was easily alarmed, professed
-to have no desire to encroach on their liberty of
-speech, but no sooner did they put him to the test
-than he renewed his interference. A petition
-being presented to the House complaining of the
-oppressions upon the Puritans, and the abuses of
-the Church, James sent an order to the Speaker
-to inform the House that they were meddling
-with what belonged alone to him. The members
-declared this to be a violation of their privileges,
-but the Speaker informed them that there were
-plenty of precedents for such restraint on the
-House by the Crown. The House on this proposed
-to appoint a committee to inquire into
-these precedents, and how far they were founded
-in constitutional right; but here again, James,
-fearing he had gone too far, sent them word
-that although the matter in question properly
-belonged to him, he should not object to their
-reading the petition.</p>
-
-<p>But the Crown and the House very soon came
-into collision on the subject of the powers of the
-Commons. A petition was presented from the
-merchants, representing the injuries their ships
-and commerce received from Spain, particularly
-on the coasts of South America, the ports of
-which the Spanish were endeavouring to close
-against all other nations. The Commons thought
-it a subject of that national character that they
-should have the co-operation of the Peers with
-them, and therefore sent to the Upper House
-proposing a conference. But the Lords demurred,
-thinking it a subject which the Commons were
-scarcely authorised to enter upon. The difficulty,
-however, was mutually obviated; the Lords
-agreed to the conference. But it proved only an
-occasion for the Crown to deliver a lecture to the
-Commons on their aspiring to deal with subjects
-too high for them. James was, in fact, contemplating
-an alliance with Spain, and was by no
-means disposed to offend its rulers. Cecil, therefore,
-and Lord Henry Howard, now Earl of Northampton,
-read the Commons a very plain lecture,
-instructing them that all matters appertaining to
-peace or war, and all such topics as led to these
-results, belonged especially to the Crown; which
-indeed occasionally consulted the Commons, not
-out of right or necessity but as a matter of
-favour and also of policy, when it was advisable
-to have the sympathy and active support of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span>
-representatives of the people. But the declaration
-of war or concession of peace was the absolute
-prerogative of the Crown; the business of the
-Commons was more private and local, such as the
-furnishing of funds&mdash;and when money was wanted,
-they never failed to hear of it.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons allowed the petition of the
-merchants to stand over for the time, but out of
-doors the spirit of dissatisfaction rose high, and
-the leaning of James towards Spain was narrowly
-watched and commented upon.</p>
-
-<p>While the Government and the Commons were
-engaged in this discussion, a serious insurrection
-called the attention of the Council another way.
-The lucky courtiers who had obtained amongst
-them the estates of the gentlemen who had forfeited
-them for their share in the Gunpowder Plot,
-whilst dividing and enclosing, like their predecessors
-who had obtained the estates of the Church,
-cast greedy eyes on the adjacent common lands,
-and enclosed as much as they could of them with
-the rest. The people, deprived of their right of
-pasturage, rose in resistance, as they had done in
-the reign of Edward VI. They had the statutes
-regarding enclosures in their favour, and assembling
-in numbers from one to five thousand, they broke
-down the new fences, filled up the ditches, and
-restored the usurped fields to their ancient state as
-common. Like the agrarian reformer, Ket of Norfolk,
-they confined themselves strictly to their
-legitimate object. They conducted themselves
-with perfect order, committed no depredations on
-really private property, nor perpetrated any excesses,
-to which their numbers might have tempted
-them. They appeared in great force at Hill
-Morton, in Warwickshire, an estate of Tresham's,
-and in their largest force of five thousand at
-Coleshill. Their leaders, whoever they were,
-appeared in masks, except one man of the name
-of Reynolds, who was an enthusiast and set all
-danger at defiance; declaring that he was sent
-of God to satisfy men of all degrees, and had,
-moreover, authority from the king to level all
-the new fences. He acquired the name of
-Captain Pouch, from a large pocket which he
-wore at his side, and in which he boasted that he
-carried a charm which not only made him invulnerable
-to sword or bullet, but which would protect
-them from all harm.</p>
-
-<p>The insurgents broke out about the middle of
-May, having in vain previously presented their
-memorials to the Council, the members of which
-were too much interested in the lands in question
-to pay any attention to them. At first James
-and the Court were greatly alarmed, supposing it
-to be a demonstration of Catholics or Puritans.
-The guards at Westminster palace were doubled,
-and orders were issued to the Lord Mayor to
-watch the movements of the apprentices in the
-City. A little time, however, revealed the real
-nature of the rising, and the insurgents were
-ordered to disperse; but they stood their
-ground, assuring the magistrates that they were
-only executing the statutes against enclosures,
-and were under orders not to violate the law in
-any manner, nor even to indulge in swearing.
-The lieutenants then endeavoured to raise the
-counties, but the yeomanry displayed no desire to
-interfere in such a cause; and many gentlemen
-even contended that it was best to concede the
-matter to the poor, advice which, if followed,
-would no doubt have ensured speedy quietness
-without bloodshed. But this did not suit the
-views of the interested Council, and the Earls of
-Huntingdon and Exeter and Lord Zouch were
-sent with a considerable force to quell them. Sir
-Edward Montague and Sir Anthony Mildmay
-came upon a number of them busy levelling the
-enclosures at Newton, another estate forfeited by
-Tresham. They found them well armed with
-bills and bows, pikes and stones. The officers
-commanded them to disperse, but they refused,
-and after twice reading the Riot Act in vain, a
-charge was ordered. The trained bands showed no
-relish for the business; but the regular cavalry,
-and the servants of Mildmay and Montague,
-attacked them briskly. The insurgents returned
-the attack with much bravery, but at the second
-onset broke and fled. Forty or fifty of them
-were killed, and a great number wounded. Sir
-Henry Fookes, who led on the infantry against
-them, was severely wounded. After this defeat
-"the levellers," as they were called, were pursued
-in all directions and everywhere put down and
-dispersed. Many prisoners were made and a
-commission, with Sir Edward Coke at its head,
-was appointed to try them.</p>
-
-<p>James, with a feeling that did him honour,
-instructed the Commission to use moderation
-in punishing the prisoners, declaring that the
-Council had been more to blame than they,
-for neglecting their petitions. Had they not
-intercepted them, he pretended to say that they
-would have received redress from him. He maintained
-that they had been oppressed and driven to
-resistance by the rapacity of the gentry and the
-neglect of ministers. Pouch and some of his
-associates were condemned and executed as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span>
-traitors on the 28th of June; and some of the
-others were hanged as felons because they had
-not dispersed on the reading of the Riot Act.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_436.jpg" width="450" height="222" alt="" title="SHILLING OF JAMES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SHILLING OF JAMES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The king on the 4th of July prorogued Parliament
-till November, but having got a considerable
-amount of money from it, and little other satisfaction,
-he did not summon it again till February,
-1610. Could he have found sufficient funds
-any other way, it is quite certain that he would
-never have called it any more. In his suit of
-Lincoln green, with a little feather in his hat, and
-a horn by his side instead of a sword, he followed
-his hounds through the forest, happy as Nimrod
-himself, so long as the means lasted. But James's
-Court was altogether on an extravagant scale.
-Like a youthful heir whose guardians have kept
-him close, and who makes up for a long abstinence
-by tenfold profuseness on coming to his estate,
-James, escaped from the poverty of his Scottish
-establishment where he had mainly lived on his
-pension from Elizabeth, now gave rein to extravagance
-as if nothing could exhaust the affluence of
-England. He had a most expensive household,
-and he gave money to his favourites as though he
-had the wishing-cap of Fortunatus.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_436a.jpg" width="500" height="248" alt="" title="CROWN OF JAMES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>CROWN OF JAMES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Not only was his own household lavishly
-managed, but even those of Henry and Elizabeth,
-two of his children, consisted of one hundred
-and forty personages. In 1610, but three years
-after this period, that of Prince Henry was increased
-to four hundred and twenty-six individuals,
-of whom two hundred and ninety-seven were in
-receipt of salaries, besides a number of workmen
-employed under Inigo Jones, the architect.</p>
-
-<p>But above all the presents to his favourites
-would have given the idea that his resources were
-interminable. At the marriage of Sir Philip
-Herbert with Lady Susan Vere, he gave him an
-estate valued at £500 a year. At the marriage of
-Ramsay, Viscount Haddington, with Lady Elizabeth
-Ratcliffe, he paid his debts, amounting to
-£10,000, having already endowed him with an
-estate of £1,000 per annum; and he presented to
-the bride a gold cup containing the patent of a
-grant of lands worth £600 a year. His gifts
-at different times to Lord Dunbar amounted to
-£15,262; to the Earl of Mar, to £15,500; and to
-Viscount Haddington, to £31,000.</p>
-
-<p>This Viscount Haddington was the Sir John
-Ramsay who stabbed the Earl of Gowrie, at the
-time of the singular Gowrie conspiracy; and
-James went on promoting him till he became Earl
-of Holderness, with many grants of lands, gifts,
-and pensions. The second in James's regard,
-in the early part of his reign, was
-another Scotsman, James Hay,
-whom he successively created Lord
-Hay, Viscount Doncaster, and Earl
-of Carlisle. Clarendon says that
-this man, in the course of a very
-licentious career, spent above four
-hundred thousand pounds and left
-neither house nor child to be remembered
-by. James, in England,
-also chose several English favourites.
-The first of those was Sir Philip
-Herbert, brother of the Earl of Pembroke
-and son of the sister of Sir
-Philip Sidney. He was created Earl
-of Montgomery, and was especially agreeable to
-James because he despised learned men&mdash;for
-James was jealous of all such&mdash;and took pleasure
-only, like his royal master, in dogs and horses.
-Montgomery was in the ascendant till the king's
-eye fell on one Robert Carr, destined to a strange
-history; and the English and Scottish favourites,
-by their mutual hatred of each other, their
-quarrels and duels, gave James sufficient trouble.
-Haddington and Montgomery had an affray in
-which Montgomery showed the white feather, and
-James sent Haddington for a short time to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span>
-Tower. Douglas, the Master of the Horse, was
-killed in one of these squabbles; and some years
-later Lord Sanquhar had an eye thrust out by a
-fencing master, for which his lordship killed
-him, and was executed for the deed. Such was
-the disgraceful condition of the court of the
-British Solomon.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_437big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_437.jpg" width="560" height="497" alt="" title="JAMES AND HIS COURTIERS SETTING OUT FOR THE HUNT" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>JAMES AND HIS COURTIERS SETTING OUT FOR THE HUNT. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_436">436.</a>)</p>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p>During the years 1608 and 1609, negotiations
-were pending between the United Provinces of the
-Netherlands and Spain. James, who had a claim
-on these Provinces for above eight hundred thousand
-pounds on account of advances and services
-by Elizabeth, for which he held the towns of
-Flushing, Brell, and Rammekens, would have been
-glad to obtain possession of the money. So well
-was this known, that there were rumours that, as
-he could not obtain the sum due, he was intending
-to sell the towns to Philip III. of Spain. The
-Archduke Albert was still in Flanders, not having
-abandoned the hope of recovering the revolted
-States; and Catholics from England were in the
-habit of volunteering to assist him in undoing
-what Queen Elizabeth had done there. But much
-as James was pressed for money, he was scarcely
-daring enough to aid Spain in its views. The
-spirit of Protestantism was too strong in England
-tamely to witness such an anti-Protestant policy;
-and, in fact, James himself was rather afraid of
-an attack from Spain, than hoping for a coalition
-with it. The Earl of Tyrone had fallen under
-suspicion of fresh rebellion, and had fled to the
-Spaniards in the Netherlands for security. Cecil
-apprehensive that Philip might be disposed to
-attempt his restoration, instructed Sir Charles
-Cornwallis, at Madrid, to use bold language on
-the occasion. This appears to have had effect, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span>
-Tyrone retired to Italy. But a new danger presented
-itself in the rumour of negotiations for
-peace between Holland and Spain. Cecil dreaded
-a pacification between these Powers, as it would
-allow Philip more opportunity to turn his attention
-to Ireland, if so disposed.</p>
-
-<p>The English Government was surprised and
-mortified to learn that such negotiations were
-actually proceeding, and that the King of France
-had been invited to join in them. At length
-James, who had so deep a stake in the Netherlands,
-received a formal notice to the same effect,
-soliciting his co-operation. These negotiations were
-conducted at the Hague, but it was not till March,
-1609, that they were brought to a conclusion.
-The result was a truce for twelve years, which
-was, in fact, equivalent to a peace, acknowledging
-the independence of the Dutch States, after a
-brave conflict for liberty of forty years. The debt
-of James, amounting to eight hundred and
-eighteen thousand pounds, was acknowledged, and
-engagements entered into for its payment by
-annual instalments of sixty thousand pounds.
-But the first payment was not to be made till the
-end of two years, and James was still to retain
-the cautionary towns till the whole was discharged.</p>
-
-<p>The postponement of the payment of the debt
-of Holland was extremely embarrassing to Cecil.
-On the death of the Earl of Dorset, in 1608, he
-succeeded to the office of Treasurer, and to the
-clamorous demands which had been made upon
-Dorset. His carriage had been stopped in the
-streets by the servants of the king's household,
-who were loud in their demands for their long
-arrears of wages, and the purveyors refused to
-bring in any more supplies till they were paid
-their advances. Cecil, on examining the accounts,
-found James one million three hundred thousand
-pounds in debt, and exceeding his income at the
-rate of upwards of eighty thousand pounds per
-annum. He set to work resolutely to curtail this
-expenditure and to devise means of raising money.
-James always claimed an authority paramount
-to all laws; and Cecil ventured to put in practice
-the idea of prerogative in raising the necessary
-funds. He called in rigorously the unpaid remains
-of the last voted subsidies, and then proceeded
-to lay on duties and impose monopolies of
-the most odious nature, without any sanction of
-Parliament. His predecessor Dorset had set him
-the example by levying an import duty on currants
-by letters patent. This illegal demand had
-been resisted, and Bates, a Turkey merchant, was
-proceeded against for refusal to pay, in the Court
-of Exchequer. This court was base enough to
-decide in favour of this unconstitutional stretch of
-power, and James was delighted at so auspicious
-a concession of the justice of his doctrine of prerogative.
-Cecil pressed on in the path thus
-opened, and laid on import and export duties
-on various articles by orders under the Great
-Seal. He imposed a feudal aid towards the
-knighting of the Prince Henry, of twenty shillings
-on each knight's fee; but this produced only
-twenty-eight thousand pounds. He then extended
-his duties to almost every species of imported
-and exported goods, at the rate of five pounds per
-cent. on the value of the goods, which he calculated
-would produce three hundred thousand pounds
-per annum; and he sold to the Dutch a right of
-fishing on the coasts of England and Scotland.
-Cecil himself was the farmer of these duties.
-They were, however, of a character to excite the
-utmost dissatisfaction; trade fell off under their
-influence, fewer ships came into the English ports,
-and there was at length no alternative but to
-summon a Parliament, which met on the 24th of
-February, 1610.</p>
-
-<p>The great topics which occupied this Parliament
-were, of course, the king's want of money
-and his continual violations of Magna Charta.
-Cecil, seeing the desperate state of the royal
-finances, made a bold demand that six hundred
-thousand pounds should be at once voted to liquidate
-his debts, and that an annual addition of two
-hundred thousand pounds should be consented to
-as a permanent pension, to prevent him from
-getting into debt again. But Cecil committed a
-great blunder both in routine and in sound
-policy, by proposing this money measure to the
-Lords instead of to the Commons, whose proper
-business it was. The Commons resented this
-course, and were more determined than ever in
-demanding an abandonment of the unconstitutional
-practice of imposing duties without their consent.
-They declared that the imprisonment of Bates for
-opposing this practice, though sanctioned by the
-Exchequer, was nevertheless illegal. Francis
-Bacon and Sir John Davis endeavouring to justify
-the despotic proceeding, only increased the exasperation
-of the House. It was declared that
-if the taxing of merchandise by prerogative was
-permitted, the taxing of their lands would soon
-follow. James sent them word to desist from
-such discussions; but the Commons were not to
-be thus silenced, whereupon James sent for both
-Houses to Whitehall, and delivered a most blasphemous
-speech in vindication of his inflated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span>
-notions of kingly authority. "Kings," said he,
-"are justly called gods, for they exercise a manner
-or resemblance of divine power upon earth. For
-if you will consider the attributes of God, you
-shall see how they agree in the person of a king.
-God hath power to create or destroy, to make or
-unmake, at His pleasure; to give life or send
-death, to judge all, and to be judged of nor accountable
-to none; to raise low things, and to
-make high things low at His pleasure; and to God
-both body and soul are due. And the like power
-have kings. They make and unmake their subjects;
-they have power of raising and casting
-down, of life and of death; judges over all their
-subjects, and in all cases, and yet accountable to
-none but God only. They have power to exalt low
-things and abase high things, and make of their subjects
-like men of chess&mdash;a pawn to take a bishop or
-a knight; and to cry up or down any of their subjects
-as they do their money. And to the king is
-due both the affection of the soul, and the service
-of the body of his subjects." To resist the king in
-any of his acts or impositions, he declared was
-sedition; for the king was above all law, and
-laws were, in fact, but granted by kings to the
-people as a matter of favour.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons would not listen to such insane
-language. They told the king that in extolling
-the power of kings, he forgot the existence of
-Magna Charta, which set eternal and impassable
-bounds to that power; and they appointed a
-committee to search for the legality or illegality
-of all the practices complained of. The Crown
-lawyers in committee argued that "the reverence
-of past ages, and the possession of present times,"
-sanctioned the king's doctrine; and that the
-right of imposing duties had been exercised by
-the three first Edwards by their own will, and independent
-of Parliament; and that if it had been
-interrupted from Richard II. to Mary, yet that
-princess had reassumed the royal privilege, and
-that it was continued by Elizabeth. But the
-Commons replied that in all these cases the
-monarchs had violated Magna Charta, the Statute
-<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">de tallagio non concedendo</i>, and twelve other
-Parliamentary enactments; that no time or practice
-could establish a right against those great
-bulwarks of popular liberty. And the Commons
-therefore demanded that a law should be made
-during this Session, declaring that all such impositions
-of duties or taxes, without consent of Parliament,
-should be pronounced for ever void. And
-they accordingly passed such a Bill, which, however,
-was rejected by the more subservient Lords.</p>
-
-<p>James writhed under this plain and direct
-denial of his assumed authority, and refused to
-surrender the question. He found in the bishops
-a body, on the whole, ready to co-operate with
-him in his attempt to destroy the Constitution;
-and Bancroft, the Primate, led the way with
-unblushing baseness. Under his leadership the
-whole High Church party echoed the king's most
-absolute dogmas, and claimed for him all the
-divinity which he professed to possess. The
-king, according to their creed, being divine, so
-were the bishops who were appointed by him, and
-therefore this divine Crown and Church were above
-all law. The ecclesiastical courts carried this
-theory into daily practice, and encroached on
-the temporal courts as pertinaciously as the king
-did on Parliament. There was a grand struggle
-between the common and the civil law. The judges,
-who saw this arrogance of the clergy with jealousy
-and disgust, began to relax their enmity against
-the Puritans and to regard them as the natural
-allies of law against absolutism.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, the king and bishops sought
-out fresh means in support of their doctrine, and
-one of these was to bring forward Dr. Cowell
-who, in his "Interpreter, or Law Dictionary,"
-broached unmitigated maxims of despotism. He
-declared that the king inherited all the powers
-which had been exercised by the Emperors of
-Rome; as if the empire of the Romans had never
-ceased in England, or as if the civil law being
-still used by the Church, it became in all its forms
-imperative on the nation. This work was dedicated
-to Bancroft, and he and the king eulogised
-it as maintaining all the rampant maxims of
-absolutism which James had ever uttered. The
-king, Cowell declared, was "<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">solutus à legibus</i>,"
-"freed from all restraint of laws;" and though
-he took an oath at his coronation to maintain all
-the laws unchanged, yet he was at full liberty
-to quash any laws that he pleased; and, in a word,
-he contended "that the King of England is
-an absolute king."</p>
-
-<p>The Commons called upon the Lords to unite
-with them in punishing this apologist, who, not
-content with selling his own birthright for a mess
-of pottage, was endeavouring to sell that of the
-nation too. The case was so flagrant that the
-Lords could not decline the challenge. And
-Bacon, who had shortly before been the advocate
-of the royal prerogative, now conducted the case
-for the Commons in the conference against Cowell,
-who was sent to prison for a time; his book
-was suppressed by the king's proclamation, poor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span>
-James himself being obliged to condemn his own
-champion.</p>
-
-<p>Having triumphed in this particular, the
-Commons proceeded to much older grievances.
-They demanded the abolition of that den of
-injustice and extortion, the Court of High Commission,
-in which the king exercised that unrestrained
-despotism which he claimed over the
-whole kingdom; where men were sentenced and
-fined at the arbitrary will of the king and its
-council, without jury or evidence admitted in
-their defence: but this was an institution so dear
-to James's heart, that he would not listen to any
-abatement of its power. They next complained
-of the growing abuse of substituting royal
-proclamations for established law, "by reason of
-which," said the Commons, "there is a general
-fear conceived and spread amongst your majesty's
-people, that proclamations will, by degrees, grow
-up and increase to the strength and nature of
-laws." To this James simply replied that his
-proclamations should not exceed the warranty of
-law. They further complained of the delay of the
-courts in granting writs of <em>habeas corpus</em> and
-prohibition, and of the encroachment of the
-Council of Wales, which extended its jurisdiction
-over neighbouring counties where it had no real
-authority; as well as of various monopolies, taxes
-on public-houses and on sea-coal.</p>
-
-<p>The licenses to public-houses he agreed to
-revoke, but he demanded a perpetual revenue in
-lieu of the income thence derived. This the
-Commons refused, alleging that he had no right
-to impose that tax in the first instance; and they
-further demanded that the feudal burthens of
-tenure by knights' service, wardships, and purveyance,
-should cease. As to the first, James
-absolutely refused compliance, on the plea that
-he would not reduce all his subjects, "rich and
-poor, noble and base, to hold their lands in the
-same ignoble manner;" but as to wardships,
-the marriages of infants and widows, and other
-odious services, including purveyance, he was
-willing to barter them for a sum of money. The
-sum which he demanded was three hundred
-thousand pounds per annum. The Commons only
-offered one hundred thousand pounds, but after a
-long course of haggling, like chapmen in a fair,
-the king descended to two hundred and twenty
-thousand pounds, and the Commons rose to one
-hundred and eighty thousand pounds. Here the
-matter paused till James moved a dissolution, when
-the Commons advanced to two hundred thousand
-pounds, and the king accepted the sum. But
-here again the king and his advocates had boasted
-so much of his being above the law, and of his
-power to quash, of his own will, any statute to
-which he had consented, that the Commons were
-cautious in their proceedings, and they had moreover
-to determine out of what funds this revenue
-should be raised. These discussions had now
-driven on the Session to the middle of July, and
-it was agreed that they should vote one subsidy,
-and one tenth and fifteenth for the present Session,
-and defer the final settlement of the other grant
-till the next.</p>
-
-<p>The interval was utilised by James and his
-ministers in attempts to corrupt some of the
-members of the Opposition, and thus to enable
-him to concede less and obtain more; but the
-Commons had employed the time in weighing the
-slippery nature of the man with whom they had
-to deal. His continual boasts of his superiority
-to all laws, and of an actually divine power of
-dispensing with his most solemn obligations,
-made them doubtful of the possibility of binding
-him to any terms; and the growing extravagance
-and rapacity of both king and courtiers deepened
-their fears.</p>
-
-<p>When they met they were in a far less compliant
-humour than when they separated. They
-insisted on seeing the promised reforms before
-they voted the two hundred thousand pounds.
-James was growing desperate for money; his
-coffers were empty, and the officers of the Crown
-were clamorous for their arrears of salary. He
-therefore sent for them to Whitehall, and a
-deputation of about thirty members attended.
-The king demanded of them whether they thought
-that he was really in want of money, as his
-Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer
-had informed them? "Whereto," says Winwood,
-"when Sir Francis Bacon had begun to answer in
-a more extravagant style than his majesty did
-delight to hear, he picked out Sir Henry Neville,
-commanding him to answer according to his
-conscience. Thereupon Sir Henry Neville did
-directly answer that he thought his majesty was
-in want. 'Then,' said the king, 'tell me whether
-it belongeth to you, that are my subjects, to
-relieve me or not?' 'To this,' quoth Sir Henry,
-'I must answer with a distinction: where your
-majesty's expense groweth by the commonwealth,
-we are bound to maintain it, otherwise not.'" Sir
-Henry reminded the king that in this one
-Parliament they had already given four subsidies
-and seven fifteenths, which was more than any
-Parliament at any time had given, and yet they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span>
-had no relief of their grievances. James demanded
-what these grievances were&mdash;as though
-he had not heard them enumerated often enough
-before&mdash;and desired Sir Henry to give him a
-catalogue of them. Sir Henry adverted to the difficulties
-of obtaining justice in courts of law, to the
-usurped jurisdiction in the marches of Wales, and
-would have gone through the whole list had not
-Sir Herbert Croft interrupted him.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_441big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_441.jpg" width="560" height="407" alt="" title="THE STAR CHAMBER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE STAR CHAMBER.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Finding that nothing was to be drawn from the
-resolute House, James again prorogued them for
-nine weeks, in order to try every means of drawing
-over to him individual members. But these efforts
-were as abortive as the former: the Commons
-were determined not to part with their money
-till they had a guarantee for the redress of their
-grievances, and James about this time lost his two
-right-hand men, Bancroft and Cecil. Bancroft,
-had died in November, 1610, staunch to the last
-in his exhortations to James not to give up the
-High Court of Commission; assuring him that
-though the Lords had thrown out the Bill, the
-Commons would bring it in again, and that
-nothing but unflinching firmness would defeat
-them. Cecil died on the 24th of May, 1612. He
-was grievously chagrined at the failure of his
-favourite scheme for setting the king above all his
-difficulties. In default of that, the old expedient
-of the sale of Crown lands was resorted to for
-the raising of money, and privy seals for loans of
-money were despatched into different counties.
-Meanwhile James was subsisting on a subsidy
-of six shillings in the pound granted by the
-clergy, and both king and ministers were in
-terror lest the privy seals should be "refused
-by the desperate hardness of the people." They
-raised, however, one hundred and eleven thousand
-pounds.</p>
-
-<p>The end of Cecil has been supposed to have been
-hastened by these anxieties; but probably he was
-worn out by the incessant cares which have pulled
-down other ministers besides him; for in his last
-moments he said to Sir Walter Cope, "Ease and
-pleasures quake to hear of death; but my life, full
-of cares and miseries, desireth to be dissolved." He
-had sought benefit at Bath, but without effect,
-and died at Marlborough on his return. Like his
-father, he had great talents, applied in a cold and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span>
-ungenerous manner; but with all his faults he was
-a great minister.</p>
-
-<p>We must now introduce the story of a lady
-whose fate was very hard&mdash;Arabella Stuart.
-Lady Arabella (born in 1577) was descended from
-Henry VII.'s eldest daughter Margaret, like
-James himself, and therefore was to him an
-object of suspicion. Her proximity to the Crown
-had drawn upon her the attention of both princes
-and conspirators at various times. When she
-was only about ten years of age, Elizabeth used to
-show her at Court as the person she meant to make
-her heir. This she did to provoke James, whose
-pretensions were nearly as odious to her as those
-of his mother. But in after years Elizabeth
-treated her with extreme severity. James, indeed,
-contributed to this, by asking her in
-marriage for his favourite, Esmé Stuart, Duke of
-Lennox, who was Arabella's cousin, also of the
-same royal descent. Elizabeth was extremely
-chagrined at such a proposal, reprimanded James
-sharply, forbade the marriage, and imprisoned the
-unoffending maiden. Again, Raleigh and Cobham
-were accused on their trial of having designed to
-depose James and place her on the throne in his
-stead. Lady Arabella did not wait to be questioned
-on the subject, but on receiving a letter of
-such purport from Cobham, immediately sent it
-to the king, and only laughed at the proposal.
-Again her name was mentioned in the Gunpowder
-Plot. James does not seem to have had
-any fear of her on these occasions. But he was
-more afraid of aspirants to her hand than of conspirators;
-and had, no doubt, settled in his mind
-that she should never marry. Like Elizabeth, he
-repulsed all offers of the kind, both from subjects
-and foreign princes, lest from the marriage should
-issue claimants to his throne. Cecil took care, on
-the death of Elizabeth, to secure the person of
-Arabella till James had been proclaimed and had
-taken possession of the throne. The king himself
-appeared disposed to act liberally towards her,
-except in not permitting her to marry. He settled
-a pension upon her, allowed her apartments in the
-palace, and she was recognised while the Princess
-Elizabeth was in her tutelage as first lady of the
-Court. The year after James's accession, the King
-of Poland sent an ambassador to demand her in
-marriage; but even Poland was not distant
-enough for royal fears. Next came a proposal
-from Count Maurice, titular Duke of Guelders,
-but James would not listen to it; and Lady
-Arabella, who was a clever woman, made it her
-policy&mdash;both under Elizabeth and James&mdash;to
-appear averse from any marriage whatever. She
-devoted herself to literature, poetry, and even
-theology, which became fashionable at Court from
-the predilections of James.</p>
-
-<p>Queen Anne appears to have had a great regard
-for the Lady Arabella, who was handsome, of
-a lively and affectionate disposition, and ready to
-enter into all the taste for masques and pageants
-which distinguished her royal mistress. She was,
-in fact, the great ornament of the Court of James;
-but her attractions were only the more dangerous
-to her safety, considering her descent. The feeling
-that she excited increased James's alarm, and she
-was kept under the close surveillance of Elizabeth
-Cavendish the Countess of Shrewsbury, who was
-her aunt. The countess appears to have treated
-her with much harshness, and James to have paid
-her salary very badly. On the whole, no situation,
-with all its splendour, could be more miserable
-than that of Lady Arabella. No wonder, then,
-that she sought to escape from it. In her childhood
-she had been acquainted with Sir William
-Seymour, the son of Lord Beauchamp. They
-met again at Court, and their early attachment
-was renewed and rapidly grew into love. The
-Lady Arabella was now watched and harassed
-more than ever by her shrewish guardian Lady
-Shrewsbury, and matters came to such a pass
-between them that James was obliged to interfere.
-He paid up the arrears of her pension to enable
-her to discharge her debts, and to soothe her
-made her a present of a cupboard of plate, worth
-two hundred pounds. The chief cause of Lady
-Arabella's discontent was supposed to arise from
-her pressing necessities; but there was a deeper
-cause&mdash;the restraint upon her affections; and it
-was not long before some officious Court spy conveyed
-to James the alarming intelligence that
-there was an engagement of marriage plighted
-between Seymour and Lady Arabella. Seymour
-was also descended from Henry VII., and such a
-marriage in prospect was enough to terrify James
-beyond conception. He instantly summoned the
-offenders before his Council, where they were
-severely snubbed and forbidden to marry without
-the king's permission. They both promised to
-abandon the idea, but this was only to disarm
-suspicion till they could effect their marriage.
-In July, 1610, it was discovered that they were
-already wedded, and James issued an immediate
-order for their arrest. Seymour was committed to
-the Tower, and Arabella to the keeping of Sir
-Thomas Parry at Lambeth.</p>
-
-<p>The youthful couple were so much pitied that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span>
-they did not find it difficult to meet. Seymour
-bribed his keeper so effectually that he suffered
-him frequently to go out of the Tower, and he met
-Lady Arabella in the garden at Lambeth, and
-even in the house, unknown to Sir Thomas Parry.
-Meanwhile the friends of the young people were
-not inactive. They used all the means they could
-imagine to soften the mind of the king towards
-them; and the queen, who loved Arabella and
-received the most eloquent letters from her, praying
-her to exert her influence in her behalf, did
-her utmost to procure the liberation of her and
-her husband. Unfortunately, whispers of their
-stolen interviews reached James, and he sent
-instant orders to guard Seymour better, and to
-remove Lady Arabella to Durham, where she was
-to be in the keeping of the bishop. When the
-order reached Lady Arabella, she positively refused
-to go; but the officers carried her forcibly out in
-her bed, placed her in a boat, and rowed her up
-the river. In spite of her resistance, her keepers
-set forward on their journey; but by the time
-that they reached Barnet, her agitation of mind
-had thrown her into a fever, and the doctor
-declared that nothing but the discontinuance of
-the journey could save her life. He waited on
-the king himself and assured him of this. But
-though James confessed that carrying her away
-in her bed was enough to make her ill if she had
-been well, he was peremptory in his commands
-that she should proceed. To Durham she should
-go, he said, if he were king. To this the physician
-replied that the lady would obey if the king
-required it. "Obedience!" repeated James; "is
-that required?" But when his first anger was
-over he relented, and allowed her to remain for a
-month at Highgate in the house of the Earl of
-Essex. There she was closely watched; but on
-the 3rd of June, 1611, the very day that the
-Bishop of Durham set out northward to prepare
-for her reception, she effected her escape.</p>
-
-<p>The plan of flight to the Continent had been
-carefully concerted between herself and her husband
-in the Tower, through the medium of two
-of Seymour's friends. It was arranged that
-Arabella should get away in male attire, and
-Seymour in the garb of a physician. A French
-vessel was engaged to lie off Gravesend to receive
-the fugitives, and carry them to the Continent.
-All was in readiness, and Arabella, says Winwood,
-"disguising herselfe by drawing a great pair of
-French-fashioned hose over her petticoats, putting
-on a man's doublet, a man-lyke peruque, with long
-locks over her hair, a black hat, black cloake,
-russet bootes with red tops, and a rapier by her
-syde, walked forth between three and four o'clock
-with Mr. Markham. After they had gone on
-foot a mile and a halfe to a sorry inne, where
-Crompton attended with their horses, she grew
-very sicke and fainte; so as the ostler that held
-the styrrup said that gentleman would hardly hold
-out to London. Yet being set on a good gelding
-a-stryde in an unwonted fashion, the stirring of
-the horse brought blood enough into her face, and
-so she rode on towards Blackwall."</p>
-
-<p>Lady Arabella found boats and attendants ready
-to row her down to Gravesend, where she expected
-to find her husband. But Seymour had not been
-quite so expeditious in making his way out of the
-Tower. He had indeed effected it, and was on
-his way, but Lady Arabella, on getting on board,
-found that he had not arrived; and the French
-captain, aware of the serious nature of his commission,
-grew afraid, and in spite of Arabella's entreaties
-dropped down the river towards its mouth.
-Seymour, on finding that the vessel had sailed
-without him, engaged the captain of a collier for
-forty pounds to land him in Flanders.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner was the news of Arabella's flight
-from Highgate conveyed to Court, than the utmost
-consternation prevailed. A messenger was despatched
-to the Tower to order the strictest surveillance
-of Seymour, but the man brought back
-the appalling tidings that he also had escaped.
-The terrors of a new conspiracy seized James and
-the courtiers. It was soon asserted that it was a
-design of the King of Spain and the Papists;
-that the fugitives were to be received in the
-Netherlands by the Spanish commander, and were
-to be brought to London at the head of a Catholic
-host.</p>
-
-<p>Couriers were hurried off in all likely directions
-to intercept the culprits, and the Thames was
-astir with ships and boats to discover them on
-board any vessel there. In spite of this sharp pursuit,
-the collier put Seymour safe on shore in
-Flanders; but Lady Arabella was not so fortunate.
-The French vessel was chased and brought to in
-mid-channel. After some resistance it was
-boarded, and the unhappy princess seized, brought
-back, and secured in the Tower. Meanwhile
-James had written very angry letters to the
-archduke of Austria and the authorities of the
-Netherlands, as well as to the king and queen-regent
-of France, accusing them roundly of being
-accessory to the plot, and demanding them to
-send the fugitives back.</p>
-
-<p>For a time Lady Arabella bore imprisonment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span>
-better than could have been expected. She declared
-that she did not mind captivity for herself,
-so that her husband had escaped. Yet not the
-less did she appeal to the generosity of James for
-her liberty, nor relax her efforts to that end
-through the kind offices of the queen. But all
-such endeavours were useless: James had had
-too great a fright to risk anything more. He
-sent the lady word that as she had eaten of the
-forbidden fruit, she must now pay the penalty of
-it. All hope of moving the relentless soul of the
-royal pedant gradually forsook her, and then her
-splendidly sensitive mind gave way. She became
-a pitiable lunatic, and died in her prison on the
-27th of September, 1615. James had thrown the
-Countess of Shrewsbury into the Tower at the
-same time with the Lady Arabella, on suspicion of
-being a party to the scheme; but that high-spirited
-lady refused to give an answer to any interrogatories
-put to her, notwithstanding menaces of the
-Star Chamber and heavy fines. On the death of
-Lady Arabella she was set at liberty.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_444big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_444.jpg" width="560" height="429" alt="" title="PLIGHT OF THE LADY ARABELLA STUART" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>FLIGHT OF THE LADY ARABELLA STUART. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_4">443.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In pursuing the fate of this ill-used lady to its
-close, we have passed over another tragedy, that
-of the popular but dissipated King Henry IV. of
-France. Notwithstanding his adoption of Catholicism,
-from motives of policy, it was believed that
-his heart was still with the Protestant cause, and
-the death of John, Duke of Cleves, Juliers, and
-Berg, which occurred in 1609, gave him an opportunity
-of serving that interest under the plea of
-political necessity. The Duke of Cleves had died
-without issue, and the Emperor of Germany seized
-it as a fief of the imperial crown. The Electors
-of Brandenburg and Saxony, and the Duke of
-Neuburg, also laid claim to it. Jealousy of the
-already too powerful and ambitious house of
-Austria combined against it the Protestant
-princes of Germany and Holland, and they were
-joined by Henry of France on the same political
-ground, whilst the King of Spain, the archduke,
-and other Catholic and kindred princes, supported
-the claims of Austria. James of England engaged
-to furnish four thousand infantry, and the
-King of France the same. The Protestant princes
-of Germany and Holland were to supply nine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span>
-thousand foot and two thousand horse, and it was
-agreed that the Elector of Brandenburg should be
-acknowledged as the real heir.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_445big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_445.jpg" width="408" height="560" alt="" title="NOTRE DAME, CAUDEBEC" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>NOTRE DAME, CAUDEBEC.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Henry IV. did not confine himself to
-his quota of four thousand infantry. The moment
-appeared to him favourable for extending his own
-territory and power, and he appeared at the head
-of a splendid army of thirty thousand men, with
-a great train of artillery and camp supplies.
-Rumour was very busy on the appearance of this
-great force, that Henry was for apostatising a
-second time, or rather now going back to his original
-faith; and the priests diligently propagated
-the belief that he meant to make war on the Pope
-and restore Protestantism. These representations
-seem to have excited the brain of a mad young friar,
-of the name of Francis Ravaillac, who stabbed
-him in the streets of Paris, three days before his intended
-departure for the campaign (May 14, 1610).
-The murderer was put to the torture to force from
-him the names of his accomplices or instigators;
-but he persisted to the last in denying that he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span>
-any. Three times before had the life of Henry
-IV. been attacked by assassins: in 1593 by
-Pierre Barrière, in 1597 by Pierre Ouen, and in
-1605 by Jean de l'Isle. Ravaillac succeeded,
-and suffered the reward of his deed in a terrible
-death. This horrible tragedy renewed the
-terror of the Catholics in England, and both
-the Parliament of England and the Council of
-Scotland called on James to secure himself by
-fresh persecution of them. The Scottish Council
-saw in the French assassins the frogs foretold
-in the Revelation, to be sent out by the
-devil against the head of the Church, and
-prayed the king to protect his precious life by
-fresh guards while he indulged himself in
-hunting.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst James was earnestly engaged in suppressing
-any rival claims to the Crown by persecuting
-to death the Lady Arabella, he was
-equally busy in endeavouring to secure a succession
-in his own family. Though he persecuted the
-Catholics as a dangerous, sinful, and abominable
-body, he had no objection whatever to marry
-his children to Catholic princes, because they
-were by far the most considerable in Europe.
-Accordingly he made overtures for the marriage
-of his son Henry, and his daughter Elizabeth,
-both to France and Spain. Queen Anne was
-most bent on the Spanish matches for both son
-and daughter, and was therefore vehemently
-suspected of Popery, though her motives were
-the same as those of her husband&mdash;the rank and
-prestige of the alliance.</p>
-
-<p>Prince Henry was the darling of his mother and
-of the nation. In appearance, temper, and aspirations
-the very opposite of his father. All
-persons, and especially all princes, who die young,
-are remembered with a peculiar affection; their
-virtues are exaggerated and live in memory as the
-roots of brilliant hopes cut off by fate. Time has not
-allowed the adverse influences of life and of royal
-power to corrupt them. Had Henry VIII. died
-young, he would have left a regretted name as a
-model of chivalric spirit and generous enthusiasm;
-yet we have no right to infer that Henry Prince
-of Wales, the eldest son of James, would have
-developed into such a character as the eighth
-Henry. He was a handsome, brave, and right-minded
-youth of eighteen, possessed of none of
-the timidity or the bookishness of his father,
-and very fond of all sorts of martial exercises&mdash;pitching
-the bar, handling the pike, riding,
-and shooting with the bow. Though extremely
-fond of horses, he was not, like his father,
-addicted to the chase, revolting from its cruelty.
-He seemed to have set before him as models
-Henry V. and the Black Prince; models which
-might have led him to inflict serious evils on his
-country had he lived, by the spirit of conquest.
-Young as he was, he displayed all the tastes of
-such a hero. He fired off cannon with his own
-hands, and had new pieces cast on improved
-models. He conversed with unceasing pleasure
-with engineers and men who had seen distinguished
-service, and he imported the finest horses
-from the Continent that could be procured. In
-his private character he was serious, modest, and
-devout. He attended the best preachers, and
-listened with a quiet sobriety in striking contrast
-to his father, who was always excited when listening
-to a preacher and wanting to preach himself.
-Henry abhorred profanity and swearing, and had
-a box in each of his houses at Richmond, Nonsuch,
-and St. James's to receive the fines for swearing
-from his household, which were rigorously levied,
-the money being given to the poor.</p>
-
-<p>As these traits became known, the people
-flocked after the prince in a manner which
-much piqued his father, who could not help exclaiming&mdash;"Will
-he bury me alive!" The Reformers
-conceived great hopes of him, and there
-was a prophecy regarding him in every one's
-mouth:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Henry the Eighth pulled down abbeys and cells,</div>
-  <div class="i0">But Henry the Ninth shall pull down bishops and bells."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Had James succeeded in obtaining the Spanish
-Infanta for Henry, he would have effectually
-neutralised this popularity. But though Henry
-did not stubbornly oppose his father's plans, he is
-said to have declared amongst his own friends that
-he had made up his mind never to marry a Popish
-princess, and the Puritans had the firmest faith
-that he never would.</p>
-
-<p>It was regarded as a good sign that the young
-prince was extremely averse from his father's
-favourites, and especially from Carr, who was
-rapidly rising, and had now been created Viscount
-Rochester. The queen, who shared this
-aversion, strengthened him in it with all her
-influence. But he was not destined to wear the
-crown of England: he was now attacked with
-symptoms of premature decay. It was supposed
-that he had grown too fast for his strength, having
-reached the stature of six feet at seventeen, and
-his chivalrous exercises had been too violent and
-imprudent for such rapid growth. He was accustomed
-to take his exercises in the greatest heat of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[447]</a></span>
-summer, to expose himself to all sorts of weather,
-and to bathe for a long time together after supper.
-While James was planning marriages for him, the
-prince was fast hastening out of the world. The
-Spanish match still lingering, after years of negotiation,
-James listened to a proposal of Mary de
-Medici, the widow of Henry IV., and now Queen-Regent
-of France, for a wedding between Prince
-Henry and the Princess Christine, the second
-daughter of France, on the understanding that
-she should be educated as a Protestant. About
-the same time James agreed to a marriage between
-his daughter Elizabeth and the Protestant
-Elector Palatine. These marriages had been in
-accordance with the policy of Cecil, who wished
-to make them the basis of a Protestant alliance
-against the Catholic Powers. But the first of
-them was never to take place. In the spring of
-1612 the health of Prince Henry began to fail.
-In the October of that year the Elector Palatine
-arrived in England to complete his marriage with
-Elizabeth, who was still only sixteen. Henry
-roused himself to receive his proposed brother-in-law;
-he rode to town from Richmond, and most
-imprudently, in his infirm state of health, engaged
-in the sports and pastimes of the occasion. On
-the 24th of October he played a great match at
-tennis with the Count Henry of Nassau in his
-shirt. He had been suffering from typhus already,
-and this brought it to a crisis. He was seized in
-the night with a violent pain in his head, and an
-oppressive languor; yet the next day, being Sunday,
-he would rise and attend two services, one in
-his own chapel at St. James's, and another at the
-king's in Whitehall. The text of the preacher
-at St. James's was remarkable:&mdash;"Man, that is
-born of a woman, is of short continuance and full
-of trouble." In the afternoon, after dinner, he
-was compelled to yield to the complaint, and
-hastened home to bed. By the 29th he was
-so ill that there was great dismay amongst the
-people, and this was immensely aggravated by a
-lunar rainbow, which appeared to span that part
-of the Palace of St. James's where the sick prince
-lay. The most fatal auguries were drawn from
-this phenomenon.</p>
-
-<p>The fever now assumed a putrid form, and was
-declared by the medical men highly infectious;
-and his parents and sister were debarred from
-entering his room. He grew daily worse, was
-highly delirious, calling for his clothes and his
-arms, and saying he must be gone. On the 5th
-of November, the anniversary of the Gunpowder
-Plot, James was informed that all hope was
-extinct. Unable to bear his feelings so near the
-scene of sorrow, the king hastened away to Theobalds;
-but the queen would only retire to Somerset
-House, whence she sent continual messengers to
-inquire after her son's symptoms. The prince had
-entertained a romantic admiration of Sir Walter
-Raleigh, declaring that no prince but his father
-would keep such a bird in a cage, and he had
-joined with his mother in entreating for his
-liberty. To Sir Walter the life or death of the
-prince was life or death to himself. The agonised
-mother was now seized with a desperate desire to
-obtain from Raleigh a nostrum which he possessed,
-and which she had herself formerly taken in a fit
-of ague. Sir Walter sent it, with the assurance
-that it would cure any mortal malady except
-poison. After taking Raleigh's nostrum he
-seemed to revive for a time, but again became
-worse, and expired at eight o'clock on Friday
-night, the 6th of November.</p>
-
-<p>Perhaps a more extraordinary 5th of November
-was never passed than the one preceding Henry's
-death. The people were assembled in dense
-crowds around the palace, eagerly listening for
-news of the prince's condition, while all around
-them were the noises&mdash;the firing, and the bonfires&mdash;of
-the celebration of the Gunpowder Plot. They
-were still remaining there the following day, and
-when the cry of the prince's servants was heard in
-the palace on beholding him dead, the people
-groaned and wept in agony. The Catholics, on
-their part, regarded the death of the first-born of
-the royal house as a manifest judgment for the
-persecution of their Church.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[448]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">JAMES I. (<i>concluded</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Reign of Favourites&mdash;Robert Carr&mdash;His Marriage&mdash;Death of Overbury&mdash;Venality at Court&mdash;The Addled Parliament&mdash;George
-Villiers&mdash;Fall of Somerset&mdash;Disgrace of Coke&mdash;Bacon becomes Lord Chancellor&mdash;Position of England Abroad&mdash;The
-Scottish Church&mdash;Introduction of Episcopacy&mdash;Andrew Melville&mdash;Visit of James to Scotland&mdash;The Book of Sports&mdash;Persecution
-of the Irish Catholics&mdash;Examination into Titles&mdash;Rebellion of the Chiefs&mdash;Plantation of Ulster&mdash;Fresh
-Confiscations&mdash;Quarrel between Bacon and Coke&mdash;Prosperity of Buckingham&mdash;Raleigh's Last Voyage&mdash;His Execution&mdash;Beginnings
-of the Thirty Years' War&mdash;Indecision of James&mdash;Despatch of Troops to the Palatinate&mdash;Parliament
-of 1621&mdash;Impeachment of Bacon&mdash;His Fall&mdash;Floyd's Case&mdash;James's Proceedings during the Recess&mdash;Dissolution
-of Parliament&mdash;Reasons for the Spanish Match&mdash;Charles and Buckingham go to Spain&mdash;The Match is Broken Off&mdash;Punishment
-of Bristol&mdash;Popularity of Buckingham&mdash;Change of Foreign Policy&mdash;Marriage of Charles and Henrietta Maria&mdash;Death
-of James.</p></blockquote>
-
-
-<p>From the death of Cecil we may date the reign
-of favourites, which continued as long as the king
-lived. That cautious and able minister was too
-fond of power himself to allow it to pass into the
-hands of much weaker men. James, while Cecil
-lived, had indeed no lack of favourites on whom
-he lavished affluence and honours; but his
-cunning minister had the address to prevent
-him from giving them places of real power and
-responsibility. James therefore, so long as Cecil
-remained, was content to make his favourites his
-companions and left Cecil to conduct public
-affairs; but no sooner was Salisbury in his grave,
-than James became the slave of his favourites,
-who ruled both him and the kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>The first of these was Robert Carr, or Ker,
-a young border Scot of the Kers of Fernihurst.
-He had been some years in France, and being
-a handsome youth&mdash;"straight-limbed, well-formed,
-strong-shouldered, and smooth-faced"&mdash;he had been
-led to believe that if he cultivated his personal
-appearance and a gaiety and courtliness of
-address, he was sure of making his fortune at the
-Court of James. Accordingly he managed to
-appear as page to Lord Dingwall at a grand
-tilting match at Westminster, in 1606. According
-to chivalric usage, it became his duty to
-present his lord's shield to his Majesty; but in
-man&oelig;uvring his horse on the occasion, it fell and
-broke his leg. That fall was his rise. James
-was immediately struck with the beauty of the
-youth who lay disabled at his feet, and had him
-straightway carried into a house near Charing
-Cross, and sent his own surgeon to him. As
-soon as he could get away from the tilt-yard,
-he hastened to him himself. He renewed his
-visits daily, waiting upon him himself, and displaying
-to the whole Court the intensity of his
-sudden regard for him. "Lord!" says Weldon,
-"how the great men flocked then to see him, and
-to offer to his shrine in such abundance, that the
-king was forced to lay a restraint, lest it might
-retard his recovery."</p>
-
-<p>The lad's fortune was made; and though James,
-in conversing with him, found that he was very
-ignorant&mdash;the whole of his education having been
-directed to his outside&mdash;this did not abate his
-regard, for he condescended to be at once his
-nurse and schoolmaster. "The prince," says
-Harrington, "leaneth on his arm, pinches his
-cheek, smooths his ruffled garments. The young
-man doth study much art and device; he hath
-changed his tailors and tiremen many times, and
-all to please the prince. The king teaches him
-Latin every morning, and I think some one
-should teach him English too, for he is a Scotch
-lad, and hath much need of better language."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_449.jpg" width="410" height="500" alt="From the Portrait by Van Somer" title="SIR FRANCIS BACON (VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS)" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR FRANCIS BACON (VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS).</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the Portrait by Van Somer.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>James found that Carr had been his page in
-Scotland, and that his father had suffered much
-in the cause of the unhappy Mary Stuart; these
-were additional causes of favour. On Christmas-day,
-1607, James knighted him and made him a
-gentleman of the bed-chamber, so as to have him
-constantly about his person. Such was his favour
-that every one pressed around him to obtain their
-suits with the king. He received rich presents;
-the ladies courted his attention; the greatest lords
-did him the most obsequious and disgusting
-homage. Carr, however, had an eye to pleasing
-the public and therefore, Scotsman as he was,
-he turned the cold shoulder to his countrymen,
-and associated with and favoured the English;
-probably, too, finding this the most profitable.
-Those about him were almost wholly English;
-and his affairs were in the hands of one Sir
-Thomas Overbury, a man of an evil look, and
-with a countenance said to be shaped like that
-of a horse. The dark ability of this man supplied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[449]</a></span>
-the lack of talent in his patron, and became a
-mine of wealth to Overbury himself. Even Cecil
-and the Earl of Suffolk strove to avail themselves
-of his services; and when Cecil quitted the scene,
-Carr, through Overbury's management, carried all
-before him. In March, 1611, he had been created
-Viscount Rochester; in April, 1612, he became
-a member of the Privy Council, and was invested
-with the order of the Garter. The Earl of Suffolk
-succeeding to Cecil's post of Lord Treasurer, Carr
-stepped into Suffolk's office of Lord Chamberlain,
-at the same time discharging the duties of the
-post of Secretary by the aid of Sir Thomas Overbury.
-The favourite's favourite, however, was no
-favourite of the king, who was jealous of having
-so much of the time and confidence of Carr occupied
-by Overbury, and this feeling was probably
-much heightened by the queen, who had an
-instinctive aversion to the man. On one occasion
-the queen succeeded in obtaining his expulsion
-from Court, for alleged discourtesy to her, but he
-soon returned; and though the king appointed
-Sir Ralph Winwood and Sir Thomas Lake to
-occupy jointly the office of Secretary of State, yet
-Carr, by the king's favour and Overbury's ability,
-remained lord paramount in the Court; Overbury
-himself being the avenue to every favour. On
-April 21, 1613, Overbury boasted to Sir Henry
-Wotton of his good fortune, and his flattering
-prospects, yet that very day saw him committed
-close prisoner to the Tower. Adept as he was
-in all Court intrigues, he had yet committed an
-irremediable blunder, and aroused a spirit of vengeance
-which nothing but his blood could quench.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[450]</a></span>
-This spirit lived in the bosom of a beautiful girl
-not yet twenty years of age.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Frances Howard, the daughter of the
-Earl of Suffolk, had been married at the age of
-thirteen to the Earl of Essex, the son of Elizabeth's
-unfortunate favourite, who was only a year
-older. It was a match promoted by the king out
-of regard, as he said, for the memory of the young
-earl's father. The ceremony being performed, the
-bride returned to the care of her mother, and the
-boy bridegroom proceeded, under care of a tutor,
-on his travels. At the end of four years he
-returned, and claimed his wife, whom he found
-the beauty and pride of the Court. But whilst he
-was enraptured with her loveliness, he was mortified
-to find that she treated him with every mark
-of aversion. It was only by the stern command
-of her father that she consented to live with him
-at all, and he soon discovered that in his absence
-her affections had been stolen away by the profligate
-favourite Rochester, who had won her even
-from another and a royal suitor, Prince Henry.</p>
-
-<p>This discovery, and the constant bickerings
-which took place between the earl and countess,
-made Essex willing that a divorce should be
-obtained. There were others who were glad
-of this expedient: Lady Howard's father, Lord
-Suffolk, and the Earl of Northampton, Lord Privy
-Seal, saw in her marriage with Rochester a mode
-of putting an end to the rivalry which existed
-between them, and the king was equally eager
-for this result. But to Overbury the scheme
-boded the destruction of his power, which would
-be at an end if his patron coalesced with his
-enemies. He therefore commenced a determined
-opposition to the match. He it was who had
-written the glowing and eloquent love-letters of
-Rochester, and had promoted the <em>liaison</em> to the
-utmost of his power; but he had never dreamt
-of its leading to a marriage which must work
-his own ruin. He therefore represented to
-Rochester the odium of such a marriage; the
-base and abandoned character of the woman, who
-might do for his mistress, but was not to be
-thought of as a wife. When he found that his
-arguments did not produce the effect which he
-wished, he took the dangerous step of menaces,
-and declared that he could and would throw an
-insuperable bar in the way of the divorce from
-Essex, without which there could be no marriage.
-This bar was undoubtedly Overbury's knowledge
-of the adulterous connection which had existed
-between the parties, and which would certainly
-ruin the countess's demand of a separation.</p>
-
-<p>The master of deep policy could not see the
-rock upon which he was running, and which
-would have been very clear to him in another
-person's case. Rochester repeated to the countess
-all that he said, and the rage of a sinful woman,
-proverbially fierce as hell, seized upon her. She
-vowed that she would have his life. In her first
-fury she offered £1,000 to Sir John Wood to
-kill him in a duel, but her friends interposed,
-and suggested a less hazardous and less criminal
-method of getting Overbury out of the way, which
-was to send him on an embassy to France or Russia.
-If he accepted the office, he would be detained
-abroad till the divorce was effected; if he refused,
-it would be easy to construe his conduct into a
-contempt of the king's service.</p>
-
-<p>Overbury was sounded on the subject of a
-mission to Russia, and listened to it with apparent
-pleasure; but the young beauty could not
-thus satisfy her revenge, and at her instigation
-Rochester affected to feel his projected absence
-intolerable. He declared his presence and counsel
-were indispensable to him, and he promised to
-satisfy the king, if he agreed to decline the offer.
-No sooner did Overbury consent than Rochester,
-so far from excusing him to the king, represented
-his conduct as not only disobedient to his Majesty,
-but as insolent and intolerable to himself. James
-was only too glad to clear the Court of the hated
-man; a warrant was immediately issued, and
-Overbury was committed to the Tower. By the
-arrangement of Rochester and the Earl of Northampton,
-the lieutenant of the Tower, Sir William
-Wade, was removed, and a creature of theirs, Sir
-Jervis Elwes, was installed in his place. Under
-the care of Elwes, Sir Thomas Overbury was at
-once cut off from all communication with the
-outer world. Neither servant nor relative was
-permitted to see him; he was already dead to the
-world, and the world was soon to be dead to him.</p>
-
-<p>The dangerous man secured, the measures for
-the divorce commenced. The countess petitioned
-for it, alleging serious grounds, and her father
-signed the petition. But no one was more forward
-and determined in carrying this disgraceful
-transaction through than the king. He appointed
-without delay a commission to try the cause. The
-commissioners were Abbot the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, the bishops of London, Winchester,
-Rochester, Ely, Lichfield, and Coventry; Sir
-Julius Cæsar, Sir John Barry, Sir Daniel Dunne,
-Sir John Bennet, Francis James and Thomas
-Edwards, doctors of civil law.</p>
-
-<p>The Earl of Essex was only too glad to be rid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[451]</a></span>
-of his virago, and consented to anything, even to
-the most humiliating imputations on his manhood.
-The real causes of the vile business were sufficiently
-notorious; and the Primate, though at
-the head of the commission, revolting at being
-made a tool for the accommodation of aristocratic
-licentiousness, strongly opposed the divorce. But
-James took him sharply to task, telling him in
-so many words that it was his duty to resign his
-own judgment and follow that of his sovereign.
-"If," he wrote, in a most imperative letter, "a
-judge should have a prejudice in respect of
-persons, it should become you rather to have a
-kind of implicit faith in my judgment, as well
-in respect of some skill I have in divinity, as also
-that I hope no honest man doubts the uprightness
-of my conscience; and the best thankfulness that
-you, that are so far my creature, can use towards
-me, is to reverence and follow my judgment and
-not to contradict it, except where you may demonstrate
-unto me that I am mistaken or wrong
-informed."</p>
-
-<p>But James did not content himself with recommending
-implicit obedience; he influenced and
-controlled the proceedings, and intimidated the
-judges by all means in his power. His zeal was
-quickened by the receipt of twenty-five thousand
-pounds from Rochester, at a moment when his
-officers were at their wits' end for money. But
-do what he would, he could not bend the integrity
-of the Primate, who to the last resisted the
-divorce, and three of the doctors of law supported
-him. The Bishop of London also voted with him,
-but the rest of the bishops and civil lawyers voted
-for the divorce, which was carried by seven voices
-against five. The Bishop of Winchester showed
-himself so servile on the occasion, that the king
-knighted his son, who was ever afterwards dubbed
-by the people Sir Nullity Bilson. The other
-judges and bishops who voted according to his
-wish were also rewarded by James, and the
-sentence of divorce was pronounced on the 25th
-of September.</p>
-
-<p>The public at large, to whom the facts of the
-case were no secret, condemned the whole proceeding
-in no measured terms, and this reprobation
-rose into actual horror when the news oozed
-out that, the very day before the verdict for the
-divorce, Sir Thomas Overbury was found dead in
-his cell in the Tower. He was buried in all
-haste, and with profound secrecy, the officials
-diligently propagating a report that he died of a
-loathsome and contagious disease: but the public
-entertained no doubt of his perishing of poison.</p>
-
-<p>In the face of all this, James proceeded immediately
-to raise Rochester to the dignity of Earl
-of Somerset, that he might equal in rank, if not
-in iniquity, the murder-breathing countess. The
-marriage, moreover, was celebrated on the 26th
-of December, at the royal chapel in Whitehall,
-the king making it his own affair, being himself
-present, with Prince Charles, and a great crowd
-of bishops and noblemen. The queen kept herself
-commendably apart from the whole infamous
-business. The blood-stained bride, with a shamelessness
-unparalleled, appeared with her hair
-hanging loose on her shoulders, in the character
-of a virgin! Montague, Bishop of Bath and
-Wells, married the guilty couple, and Mountain,
-Dean of Westminster, pronounced a blessing upon
-them. Then the king gave a series of banquets
-and masques at Whitehall in honour of them,
-which continued till the 4th of January, 1614;
-and, as if all classes of public men were eager
-to disgrace themselves by sanctioning this Court
-wickedness, the Lord Mayor and aldermen invited
-the adulterous couple to a splendid banquet, given
-at the Merchant Taylors' Hall, on the same 4th of
-January, whither they were accompanied by the
-Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Northampton, Lord
-Privy Seal, the Lord Chamberlain, and the Earls
-of Worcester, Pembroke, and Montgomery.</p>
-
-<p>From his gaieties James was called, by his
-eternal want of money, to face his Parliament.
-Since 1611, when he dissolved his last House
-of Commons, he had endeavoured to carry on
-by any illegal and unconstitutional means that
-the people would submit to. But the Dutch
-did not keep their engagement to pay off their
-debt of upwards of eight hundred thousand
-pounds by annual instalments of sixty thousand
-pounds, and James was too pusillanimous to
-adopt the means which a Cromwell would have
-done. He threatened war, and threatened only;
-and therefore became despised by his debtors, who
-thenceforth made no movement towards paying.
-Disappointed here, the only alternative was to
-fleece his own subjects. He resorted to the
-scandalous measure of selling all the places of
-honour and trust, and all kinds of dignities, for
-money. He sold several peerages for high prices.
-Every place under Government was to be had
-only for cash; nor did the proceeds of this infamous
-traffic always reach the king's hands, but
-fell into those of his minion Somerset, and the
-Howards, the relatives of Somerset's wife. The
-wicked Countess of Somerset, and Lady Suffolk,
-her mother, got four thousand pounds as a bribe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[452]</a></span>
-from Sir Fulke Greville, for the Chancellorship
-of the Exchequer. The example thus set at Court
-ran through all departments, and the whole
-management of the country was given up to
-corruption and venality. So little of these proceeds
-of iniquity came to the king, and that little
-was so foolishly and recklessly given away amongst
-his hangers-on, that the salaries of all who were
-not in a situation to be bribed, and thus pay themselves,
-remained unpaid. In this difficulty, James
-hit upon a notable scheme, and originated a new
-order of aristocracy&mdash;namely baronets, or little
-barons, a link between the barons, or lowest peers,
-and knights. These new titles he sold at one
-thousand pounds apiece. Sir Nicholas Bacon was
-the first created for England, and Sir Francis
-Blundell for Ireland, in 1620. Baronets for
-Nova Scotia, of whom Sir Robert Gordon was
-first, were added by Charles I., to extend this
-source of income, in 1625.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_452big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_452.jpg" width="560" height="406" alt="" title="THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>James was now compelled to summon a Parliament,
-and Sir Francis Bacon concocted a scheme
-for managing the House of Commons. Bacon's
-plan was this, and he had regularly weighed it
-and drawn it up for the king's consideration:
-that, according to a principle afterwards made a
-maxim by Sir Robert Walpole, every one had his
-price; that the leaders of the late opposition,
-Neville, Yelverton, Hyde, Crew, and Sir Dudley
-Digges, were chiefly lawyers, and there were
-plenty of means, by prospects of promotion skilfully
-applied, to bring them zealously to the king's
-side; that they being once brought over, he had
-the talking, persuasive power of the House; and
-that much might be done beforehand also with
-the city men and country gentlemen, and where
-any obstinate man appeared, means might be used
-to keep him out. At the same time Bacon
-assured James that it was necessary to make a
-show of some concession. It was suggested that
-as he had promised to abolish abuses, he should
-at least give up some of the lesser ones; and on
-his accepting this plan, he and his friends were
-ready to "undertake" to manage Parliament, and
-to guarantee his Majesty plenty of money and
-little trouble, provided James would only avoid
-irritating speeches.</p>
-
-<p>James's Parliament met on the 5th of April<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[453]</a></span>
-1614, and he endeavoured to put in practice the
-Machiavellian instructions of Bacon by delivering
-a very popular speech&mdash;popular because it promised
-plentiful persecution for religion, which was
-the spirit of the day, and a liberal removal of
-grievances; but, as usual, first of all he placed the
-supply of his necessities. But the Undertakers
-had not succeeded in their first out-of-door efforts;
-there was a sturdy assemblage of popular members,
-and such faces appeared amongst them, according
-to a writer of the time, as made the Court to
-droop. The House of Commons at once reversed
-the topics of the king's speech, placing the grievances
-in the front and making the supplies conditional
-on their abolition. The royal party which
-the Undertakers had got together, found their
-pleas for slavish obedience drowned in a storm
-of angry demand for justice; and the House demanded
-a conference with the Lords on the
-subject. The Lords asked the opinion of the
-judges on the question, and especially that of
-Coke the Lord Chief Justice. Coke, who remembered
-the endeavours of Bacon to supplant him
-in the good graces of the king, and who hoped
-for no higher preferment, took the opportunity
-to throw cold water on the conference, asserting
-that the judges, after consultation among themselves,
-felt that they were bound by their office
-to decide between the king and his subjects, and
-were therefore equally bound not to appear as
-disputants or partisans on either side. The Lords
-on hearing this declined the conference, and
-Neale, who had recently been transferred from
-the see of Lichfield to the wealthier one of Lincoln,
-for his services in procuring the Countess
-of Essex's divorce, rose and uttered a most unbecoming
-tirade against the Commons, charging
-them with striking at the root of the royal prerogative,
-and anticipating that if admitted to a
-conference, they might use very disloyal and
-seditious language.</p>
-
-<p>This roused the indignation of the Commons:
-they did not understand the etiquette of our time,
-which supposes what passes in one House unknown
-in the other; but they immediately demanded of
-the Lords the punishment of the man who had
-thus dared to slander their loyalty. On this the
-bishop, who was as cowardly as he was insolent,
-and who was hated by the Puritans as a merciless
-persecutor, instantly recanted in his place; and
-with many tears, and fervent declarations of his
-high respect for the Commons, denied many of
-the offensive expressions attributed to him. But
-the House was not thus to be appeased. The
-members were greatly exasperated at the plan
-of managing them, which had become public,
-and fell on Bacon as the author of the scheme.
-The versatile Sir Francis pretended to ridicule
-the very idea of any such scheme being in
-existence, as the king had done in his opening
-speech, but the House gave him no credit; they
-proceeded to question even his right to sit in
-their House, on his accepting the office of
-Attorney-General, and only permitted it as a
-special indulgence, which was not to be drawn
-into a precedent.</p>
-
-<p>The king, who saw no chance of supplies in the
-present temper of the House, sent them a sharp
-message, desiring them to proceed to the business
-of the supplies, attended with a threat of immediate
-dissolution in case of non-compliance. This
-produced no effect, and the House was dissolved
-on the 7th of June. Having thus broken the
-immediate power of retaliation in the House, he,
-the next morning, arrested the most refractory
-members and committed five of them to the
-Tower, amongst whom was Wentworth, a lawyer,
-destined to act a very prominent part in the next
-reign. These members were not discharged till
-they had, by their admissions, occasioned the king
-to arrest others, who were committed in their turn.
-This Parliament obtained the name of the Addled
-Parliament, because it had not passed a single bill,
-but it had displayed a spirit which was pregnant
-with the most momentous consequences. It had
-laid the foundation of the rights of the Commons,
-and at the same time had displayed its rigid
-temperament, by issuing an order which excluded
-all Catholics, and by making it necessary for every
-member, before taking his seat, to receive the
-Sacrament according to the form of the Church
-of England.</p>
-
-<p>James had indeed got from the determined
-tone of the House a fright which lasted him
-nearly seven years. He returned to his usual
-unconstitutional modes of extorting revenue.
-Besides the sale of monopolies and privileges, he
-compelled the payment of benevolences, an odious
-tax, not only because raised without sanction of
-Parliament, but because its name implied a free
-gift. Those who resisted these modes of royal
-robbery were dragged into the Star Chamber, and
-there sentenced to enormous fines. Mr. Oliver St.
-John, a gentleman who had not only refused such
-payment, but had vindicated his conduct in an
-able letter, in which he commented freely on the
-king's violation of Magna Charta, was fined by
-the tyrannic Star Chamber five thousand pounds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[454]</a></span>,
-and ordered to be imprisoned during the king's
-pleasure.</p>
-
-<p>A new era now arrived in the history of the
-king's favourites. Though the Countess of
-Somerset was hardened enough to stalk through
-adultery and poison to the gratification of her
-desires, and show no remorse, it appears that her
-new husband was not altogether of so callous a
-nature. From the moment of the death of Overbury,
-he was a totally changed man. All pleasure
-in life had deserted him; he had lost all his gaiety
-and went about moody and morose. His person
-became neglected, his dress disorderly, and even in
-the king's company he was absent of mind and
-took no pains to please him. This was not lost
-on those courtiers who envied the favour of the
-Howards, who now enjoyed complete ascendency
-through their wicked kinswoman. The Earls of
-Bedford, Pembroke, and Hertford maintained a
-sharp watch for a new favourite to bring before
-James, confident that a suitable man once found,
-the day of Somerset was over. This man soon
-appeared in a youth of the name of George
-Villiers, the younger son of Sir George Villiers
-of Brooksby, in Leicestershire. Sir George was
-dead, and young Villiers had been brought up
-under the care of his mother, who was at once one
-of the most beautiful and infamous women of her
-time. She saw in the beauty and grace of this
-boy the means of advancing the fortunes of the
-whole family. She therefore carefully educated
-him to win the favour of the favourite-loving
-king, confident that if he once attracted his attention,
-the result was sure. This far-seeing and
-ambitious woman therefore sent the lad to France,
-to acquire the gay and easy manner of that Court.</p>
-
-<p>His courtly education being considered perfect,
-at the age of one-and-twenty, the post of cup-bearer
-to his Majesty was purchased amongst the
-lavish sale of offices of the time, as one that must
-unavoidably place him under the eye of the king.
-Accordingly, he appeared in that employment
-with a fine suit of French clothes on his back, and
-as many French graces as any silly modern Solomon
-could desire. He was a fine, tall young
-fellow, and pre-eminently handsome, at the same
-time that he was one of the emptiest, haughtiest,
-and most profligate men that ever lived. Time,
-however, was yet to display these qualities; they
-were at present concealed under a garb of finished
-courtesy and agreeable manners. The Herberts,
-the Russells, and the Seymours were delighted;
-and it was planned that young Villiers should
-discharge his office of cup-bearer at a supper
-entertainment at Baynard's Castle, in such a
-manner as must strike the imagination of the king.
-James was, according to expectation, smitten with
-the looks of the youth, and pointed out his imagined
-likeness to a beautiful head of St. Stephen
-at Whitehall, whence he gave him the pet name
-of "Steenie," which he always after used.</p>
-
-<p>Villiers once installed in James's good graces,
-the fall of Somerset was easy, and no time was
-lost in effecting it. Somerset was not so lost to
-observance of what passed around him as to be
-unaware of some danger; probably his vigilant
-spouse brought the fact to his attention. He
-therefore solicited a pardon of the king, in full and
-formal style, of all and everything which he might
-have done, or should hereafter do, which might
-subject him to a charge of treason, misprision
-of treason, felony, or other accusation. James,
-who had not yet been incited to his destruction,
-with his usual facility in such matters, especially
-when under certain genial influences, freely
-granted it; but the Lord Chancellor Ellesmere
-refused to put the Great Seal to such a document,
-declaring that it would subject him to a Præmunire.
-After all, it might be a <em>ruse</em> of James to
-grant this pardon, thus still preserving an appearance
-of favour to Somerset, as he did to the last
-moment, knowing that a hint to Ellesmere, who
-was a very compliant creature of his, would prevent
-the deed taking effect. James went further;
-he sent Villiers to Somerset, to assure him that
-he desired not in any way to interfere between
-him and the king's favour, but would seek preferment
-only through his means and be "his servant
-and creature;" to which Somerset, with the moroseness
-which had become his manner, replied, "I
-will have none of your service, and you shall have
-none of my favour. I will, if I can, break your
-neck."</p>
-
-<p>Matters now being ripe, Mr. Secretary Winwood
-was induced by Archbishop Abbot, under promise
-of protection from the queen, to communicate to
-James the popular rumour that Overbury had
-been poisoned in the Tower, and that this had
-been confirmed by some admissions of Elwes, the
-lieutenant of that fortress, in conversation with
-the Earl of Shrewsbury. That the old favourite
-had lost his place in James's heart was immediately
-evident. He took up the matter with his
-usual avidity where a mystery was to be probed.
-He put a number of questions to Elwes in writing,
-and demanded, on pain of his life, a faithful
-answer. The answer satisfied James that Somerset
-and his wife were guilty of this foul murder. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[455]</a></span>
-immediately sent for the Lord Chief Justice Coke,
-and ordered him to arrest them. Coke demurred
-till the king had named several others in commission
-with him. This being settled, this extraordinary
-royal dissembler set out to Royston to
-hunt, and took Somerset with him, showing him
-all his old marks of fondness. In the days of
-his real favour he had refused him not the most
-iniquitous request. Even when the wife of Sir
-Walter Raleigh, on his first condemnation for
-treason, had gone down on her knees to him, to
-implore him to spare his castle and estate at
-Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, for his children, James
-had ruthlessly replied, "Na, na; I maun hae the
-land; I maun hae it for Carr." And at this moment,
-when he was dooming the same Carr to
-destruction, he was pretending the same infatuated
-regard. When the Chief Justice's
-messenger arrived at Royston with the warrant,
-he found the king hanging about Somerset's neck,
-kissing him in the true Judas style, and saying,
-"When shall I see thee again? When shall I see
-thee again?"</p>
-
-<p>When the warrant was delivered to Somerset,
-in the midst of these disgusting affectations of
-endearment, he exclaimed that never had such an
-affront been offered to a peer of England in presence
-of his sovereign. "Nay, man," replied the
-royal hypocrite, coaxingly, "if Coke sends for <em>me</em>,
-I maun go;" and as soon as Somerset's back was
-turned, he added, "Now the deil go with thee, for
-I will never see thy face mair." Soon after Coke
-himself arrived, to whom James indignantly complained
-that Somerset and his wife had made him
-a go-between in their adultery and murder. Even
-his enormous self-conceit was so far overcome, as
-to compel him to admit that he had been grossly
-duped. He commanded Coke to search the affair
-to the bottom, and to spare no man or woman
-that he found guilty, however great or powerful.
-"And," added he, "may God's curse be upon you
-and your house if you spare any of them; and
-God's curse be upon me and mine, if I pardon any
-of them."</p>
-
-<p>Coke seemed quite willing to act as vigorously
-and unsparingly as the king could desire. The
-commissioners, of whom he was the chief, subjected
-the adulterous pair to no less than three
-hundred examinations, and then announced that
-they found ample proofs of their guilt; that
-Frances Howard, formerly Countess of Essex, had
-resorted to sorcery to incapacitate her then
-husband, the Earl of Essex, and to procure the
-love of Lord Rochester; that, finding Sir Thomas
-Overbury an obstacle to their criminal designs,
-they had, by the assistance of the countess's late
-uncle, the Earl of Northampton, procured the
-commitment of Sir Thomas to the Tower, and
-the removal of the lieutenant, and the appointment
-in his place of their creature Elwes, and of
-one Weston to be the warder of the prisoner;
-that this Weston had formerly been the servant
-of Mrs. Turner, a woman famous for the introduction
-of yellow starch for ruffs, and an early
-companion of the said Lady Frances Howard;
-that, through Weston and Mrs. Turner, the
-countess had procured three kinds of poison from
-one Franklin, an apothecary; and that Weston
-had administered these poisons to his prisoner
-Overbury, and thus procured his death. Coke
-added that, from private memorandum books and
-letters which he had found amongst the papers of
-the prisoners, he had discovered that Somerset had
-undoubtedly poisoned Prince Henry. The queen
-is said to have been greatly excited by this intelligence,
-and had all her former belief of this
-poisoning revived. She declared her full conviction
-that Somerset and his clique had planned
-the removal of herself, and her son Charles also, in
-order to marry the Princess Elizabeth to the son
-of the Earl of Suffolk, brother to the countess.
-But James was too well satisfied by the <em>post
-mortem</em> examination of the body of Prince Henry,
-and by the insufficiency of Coke's proof, to be led
-into this absurd belief, though he admitted a
-persuasion that Somerset had received money from
-Spain on condition of delivering up the Prince
-Charles to that monarch.</p>
-
-<p>Though the minor confederates were promptly
-hanged, the trial of Somerset and his wife was
-deferred till April, 1616. The real cause of delay
-was probably the fear of bringing a man like
-Somerset, who had been so long in all James's
-secrets, to trial, lest he should avow something
-in his despair to the damage of the royal reputation.
-Certain it is that, when the time of trial
-approached, James betrayed the most extreme
-terror and uneasiness, and omitted no means to
-induce Somerset to make a full confession in
-private, offering him both life and restoration to
-his estates. He sent messenger after messenger to
-Somerset in prison, the Attorney-General Bacon
-being the principal, James Hay, afterwards Earl
-of Carlisle, another, with whom was employed
-Somerset's late private secretary. They did all
-in their power to induce Somerset to accept the
-king's terms, but he remained obstinate, replying,
-when offered life and fortune, "Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[456]</a></span>
-what use is life when honour is gone?" He
-demanded earnestly to be permitted to see the
-king himself, declaring that in half an hour's interview
-he could place all in so clear a light as
-should perfectly satisfy his majesty. This interview
-James declined, as well as a proposal to send
-a private letter to the king. These requests being
-refused, he assumed an attitude of menace, declaring
-that whenever he was brought into court,
-he would make such avowals as should astonish the
-country, and cause the king to rue his rejection
-of his offers. James displayed much alarm on
-hearing of this.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_456big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_456.jpg" width="560" height="422" alt="" title="GREENWICH PALACE IN THE TIME OF JAMES I" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>GREENWICH PALACE IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 24th of May the countess was brought
-before the Peers, where, as she had already confessed,
-she had only to plead guilty. She was
-extremely agitated, pale, spiritless. She trembled
-greatly all the time that the clerk was reading the
-indictment, and put her fan before her face at
-the mention of Weston. Her words were nearly
-inaudible, through weeping, as she pleaded guilty,
-and threw herself on the royal mercy. This done,
-she was removed from the bar before the sentence
-was pronounced, during which interval Bacon
-delivered a perfectly unnecessary speech, as she
-had pleaded guilty, detailing the damning facts
-which he was prepared to produce, had he been
-compelled by her denying her guilt. This
-man&oelig;uvre was intended to criminate Somerset,
-without the hazard of his wife's declaring his
-innocence on hearing him implicated. Bacon's
-purpose being served, she was recalled, and the
-Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, who acted as High
-Steward on the trials, pronounced sentence of
-death upon her.</p>
-
-<p>That day Somerset was informed that he would
-go to trial on the morrow: they had not deemed it
-safe to try him and his wife together. On hearing
-this he went into a great rage, declaring that the
-king had assured him that he should never go
-to trial, and protesting that if they took him
-there, it should be by force and in his bed. He
-repeated his former threats, adding the king
-dared not bring him into open court. More, the
-lieutenant of the Tower, was so alarmed at this
-temper and language, that he hastened away to
-James at Greenwich, though it was getting late,
-and was midnight when he reached the palace.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[457]</a></span>
-He was hastily admitted to the king's chamber,
-and James, on hearing his statement, burst into
-an agony of tears, and exclaimed: "On my soul,
-More, I wot not what to do. Thou art a wise
-man: help me in this great strait, and thou shalt
-find thou dost it for a thankful master." More
-promised to do his best, and was afterwards
-actually rewarded for his services on this occasion
-with a suit worth to him fifteen hundred pounds,
-though the Earl of Annandale, his great friend,
-managed to get half of it.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_457.jpg" width="395" height="500" alt="From the Portrait by Cornelius Janssen" title="SIR EDWARD COKE" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR EDWARD COKE.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>From the Portrait by Cornelius Janssen.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The lieutenant hastened back to the Tower,
-and told Somerset that he had communicated his
-wishes to the king, who was in the most gracious
-disposition towards him, and sent him assurance
-that though for form's sake he must appear in
-court, he should not be detained there by any proceedings;
-but whilst he had there an opportunity
-of seeing his enemies and their malice towards
-him, the royal power should protect him from
-any harm.</p>
-
-<p>This appeased the rage of Somerset, and he
-prepared calmly to make his appearance in the
-morning. But even then the officers of the court
-were by no means secure of the result when he
-should find himself compelled to plead, notwithstanding
-the royal promise. Bacon had planned
-all necessary cautions for this emergency, as we
-find from his "Particular Remembrances for his
-Majesty," preserved in the State Trials. "It were
-good," he says, "that after he is come into the
-hall, so that he may perceive that he must go to
-trial, and shall be retired to the place appointed
-till the court call for him, then the lieutenant
-shall tell him roundly that, if in his speeches
-he shall tax the king, the justice of England<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[458]</a></span>
-is that he shall be taken away, and the evidence
-go on without him; and then all the people will
-cry away with him, and then it shall not be in the
-king's power to save his life, the people will be so
-set on fire."</p>
-
-<p>The lieutenant had carefully acted on this plan,
-and had provided two servants, each with a cloak
-on his arm, to stand behind Somerset, so that if
-More's representations did not after all prevent
-Somerset from speaking out to the discredit of the
-king, they should throw the cloaks instantly over
-his head, and drag him from the bar, from all
-consequence of which proceeding he promised to
-protect them.</p>
-
-<p>These singular precautions, which betrayed an
-awful terror on the part of the king of some
-withering exposure from the exasperated favourite,
-so far prevailed, that Somerset stood upon his trial
-with apparent calmness, but refused steadfastly to
-plead guilty. Bacon, on his part, was careful in
-stating the charges against him, to do it so mildly
-that the prisoner should not be excited to any
-dangerous pitch. Somerset never mentioned the
-king, but he defended himself resolutely and with
-consummate ability. He analysed the whole
-string of charges brought against him, explained
-away whatever appeared to tell most forcibly to
-his disadvantage, and for eleven hours prolonged
-the trial and the intolerable agony and suspense
-of the king, who, during the whole time, was in
-the most pitiable condition of terror. "But who
-had seen," says Sir Anthony Weldon, in a passage
-which is fully borne out by the letters of More,
-the lieutenant, "the king's restless motion all that
-day, sending to every boat landing at the bridge,
-cursing all that came without tidings, would have
-easily judged that all was not right, and that
-there had been some grounds for his fears of
-Somerset's boldness; but at last, one bringing him
-word that he was condemned, all was quiet."</p>
-
-<p>In the course of a few weeks James actually
-granted a pardon to the murder-stained countess,
-on the plea that she was not tried as a principal,
-but as an accessory before the fact; though
-all the facts of the case go to show that she was
-the chief instrumental instigator of the death of
-Overbury. He also offered the same grace to
-Somerset; but the proud, though fallen, favourite
-haughtily refused it, saying that he was an innocent
-man, who therefore needed no pardon, but
-expected a reversal of his sentence.</p>
-
-<p>Time, however, showed him that the favour of
-the prince had passed on to others, and that his
-enemies were working for further injury to him;
-he therefore condescended in the autumn of 1624
-to petition for the pardon formerly rejected. It
-was granted on the 24th of October, with a
-promise of the restoration of his property. James
-meanwhile allowed him an income of four thousand
-pounds a year, and protected him from the infamy
-attaching to his condemnation. He would not
-allow him to be expelled from the Order of St.
-George, nor his arms to be reversed in the chapel
-of that saint at Windsor.</p>
-
-<p>The guilty earl and countess are said to have
-retired together into the country, not to the
-felicity of innocent affection but, as it was said,
-to mutual hatred and recrimination. The countess
-died in 1632; the earl, who never recovered his
-estates, lived on thirteen years longer. Their only
-child, Lady Ann Carr, who was born in the
-Tower, was married to William, the fifth Earl,
-and afterwards Duke, of Bedford, and became the
-mother of the celebrated Lord William Russell,
-who perished on the scaffold under Charles II.
-Out of such a soil can rise such plants; nay, even
-the daughter of this infamous couple is declared
-to have been a woman of the purest and noblest
-character; and so carefully was the horrible
-history of her parents kept from her, that it never
-reached her ears till a few years before her own
-death. The Earl of Essex, so cruelly treated in
-this revolting affair, lived to lead with high distinction
-the army of the Commonwealth.</p>
-
-<p>Fast on the fall of Somerset followed that of
-the Chief Justice Coke. He had rendered distinguished
-service to James in hunting out the
-evidence and bringing to punishment the favourite
-and his wife; but he had neutralised this benefit
-by his haughtiness and opposition to the royal
-authority in other respects. Coke and Bacon
-had pursued two opposite systems of policy in
-their courses towards the highest honours of the
-State. Bacon had affected liberalism and a
-championship of popular rights, which the higher
-he rose the more he sacrificed to the pleasure of
-the monarch. There was a profound flattery in
-this, for it seemed to give an additional value to
-his growing attachment to the Crown, that it
-was won from his original bias towards the
-people. On the other hand, Coke commenced as
-a thorough-going supporter of the prerogative,
-and as his abilities were pre-eminent, and his
-prosecution of State offenders unrestrained by
-any scruples of conscience, he did the work of
-that despotic prince with a gusto and a ruthlessness
-which highly delighted his employer. No
-lawyer, except Jeffreys, in a later age, ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[459]</a></span>
-indulged in the same unsparing abuse of those
-against whom he was retained. His disposition
-was not merely unfeeling, it was truculent, and
-the insolence of his language was beyond all
-former experience. When let loose on a victim,
-he certainly was no respecter of persons; an
-Arabella Stuart or a Raleigh were abused in a
-style which would not now be tolerated towards
-the most abject criminal. But when Coke had
-reached the summit of his ambition, and thought
-the height to which he had climbed secure, he
-began to display the inherent pride of his nature,
-by assuming an independence of manner and a
-haughtiness of opinion, exhibited even towards the
-Throne, which astonished and irritated James.
-In the Commons he openly opposed the claims of
-prerogative, came out in defence of popular rights,
-and ended where Bacon had begun. From abject
-servility he rapidly passed to daring opposition.
-On the subject of the late benevolences, he stood
-forward as a patriot in the Commons; in the case
-of Peacham, that which was prosecuted as treason,
-Coke declared was only defamation; and in that
-of Owen, he agreed with the prisoner that he had
-committed no treason in saying that the king, if
-excommunicated, might lawfully be killed, because
-the king not having been excommunicated, the
-opinion could not apply to him. These declarations,
-both in Parliament and on the Bench, roused
-James to a keen resentment, and this was continually
-augmented. He set his own court of the
-King's Bench above every other, and threatened
-with the penalties of a Præmunire the judges of
-the Court of Chancery, and all other judges who
-should grant relief in Equity after judgment had
-been pronounced in the King's Bench; and he
-extended the same menace to all suitors who
-sought for such relief. The judges of the Courts
-of Admiralty, of High Commission, of Requests, of
-the Duchy of Lancaster, and even the presidents
-of the Councils of the North and of Wales, felt
-their jurisdictions invaded and repressed by his
-pretensions. The Court of Star Chamber even,
-hitherto above all law, was called in question by
-him, and its power to levy fines in many cases
-denied. He went farther, and, as in the case
-of Owen and Peacham, dictated to the Privy
-Council, and contradicted the Sovereign to his
-very face.</p>
-
-<p>It would seem as if at the moment when Coke was
-hunting down his former benefactor Somerset, the
-secret decree had gone out from the king against
-the Lord Chief Justice himself. Somerset was condemned
-on the 25th of May, and on the 30th of June
-Coke received an order from the king to absent
-himself from the Council chamber, and not to
-proceed on his circuit, but to employ himself in
-correcting the errors in his Book of Reports. He
-had outraged James's sense of his own supreme
-authority, by opposing him in the matter of
-Commendams and bishoprics, and had, moreover,
-contended with Villiers, the new favourite, respecting
-a patent place at Court. Long before
-he received this startling order for the suspension
-of his diplomatic and judicial functions, the Archbishop,
-the Chancellor, and Mr. Attorney-General
-Bacon had been employed by royal command to
-collect charges against him. He was now charged
-with concealing a debt of twelve thousand pounds,
-due from the late Chancellor Hatton to the
-Crown; with contempt of the king's authority in
-declaring from the Bench that the Common Law
-would be overthrown by proceedings in Equity, or
-by claims of prerogative; and for disrespect to the
-Crown in the affair of the Commendams.</p>
-
-<p>The charge regarding the money Coke refuted
-when brought before the Council, and confirmed
-his case by a decision at law; as to the second
-charge, he explained it as in no way reflecting on
-the king; and for the third, he humbly solicited
-his majesty's forgiveness. James professed to retain
-the highest regard for the Lord Chief Justice,
-and intended, on his showing a proper humility,
-to continue to him his favour; but when Coke
-brought in his Book of Reports, and maintained
-that he could only find five trivial errors in it,
-James, in great anger for his "deceit, contempt,
-and slander of government," dismissed him from
-the Bench, and made Montague, the Recorder of
-London, chief justice in his place. Coke, with all
-his harshness and cutting style to others, felt for
-himself keenly, and is said to have wept like a
-child on receiving his dismissal. Bacon displayed
-anything but a philosophical magnanimity
-on the fall of his rival. He not only joked
-with Villiers on the disgrace of the great man
-who had offended the favourite, but he wrote a
-most insulting letter to the fallen judge, which
-was particularly odious from being garnished with
-the cant of piety.</p>
-
-<p>Bacon now looked confidently towards the
-Chancellorship, and in March of the next year
-(1617) Brackley resigning from age, the Great Seal
-was transferred to him, with the title of Lord
-Keeper. Sir Francis had reached the elevation to
-which he had so long and so ardently aspired, by
-a slavish advocacy of the most unlimited claims
-of prerogative and, as far as in him lay, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[460]</a></span>
-restriction of constitutional liberty&mdash;a deplorable
-instance of how completely the most transcendent
-talents can be united in an ignoble and mercenary
-nature. Indeed, the conduct of Bacon on
-this occasion was vain and weak to a pitiable
-degree. Though he had now reached the mature
-age of fifty-four, and drew an enormous income
-from his grants and offices, he was so profuse of
-expenditure that he was a needy man, pressed
-with difficulties, which he saw in the Chancellorship
-an exhaustless means of dispersing. His
-vanity burst forth to a surprising extent and
-he assumed all the state of a Wolsey. He rode
-to Westminster Hall on horseback, in a gown
-of rich purple satin, and attended by a crowd
-of nobles, judges, great law officers, lawyers, and
-students, rivalling even the splendour of the
-king.</p>
-
-<p>While these affairs were progressing at home,
-the credit of James abroad had sunk very low.
-At the conference for effecting a truce between
-Holland and Spain, held at the Hague&mdash;a conference
-which established the independence of the
-Low Countries&mdash;the English ministers had been
-made to feel the ignominy of their position, compared
-with the dignity of the ambassadors of
-Elizabeth. Prince Maurice told them openly that
-their master dare not open his mouth in contradiction
-to the King of Spain; and their allies,
-the French, in consequence assumed a superiority
-throughout the negotiations which mortified
-deeply the English envoys. Nor was that the
-only slight which James's truckling policy brought
-on him abroad. He was anxious to ally his son
-to the Court of Spain, notwithstanding the intense
-aversion of his subjects from the idea of a Catholic
-Princess. But Spain declined the offer. He next
-applied for the hand of Madame Christine, sister
-to Louis XIII. of France; but here again he was
-met with the contempt which his mean and insecure
-character merited: France preferred the
-suit of the Duke of Savoy. It was never before
-the fortune of England to have to go begging to
-the Continental states for wives for its princes:
-they had hitherto been only too officiously pressed
-on its acceptance.</p>
-
-<p>We must now trace the proceedings of James in
-Scotland and Ireland, where he was anxious to
-establish his principles of Church and State
-supremacy as thoroughly as in England, and
-where the seed he sowed rapidly grew into the
-same harvest of bloodshed and revolution as on
-the south side of the Tweed.</p>
-
-<p>The Church of Scotland, as established by Knox
-and his contemporaries, was, like Switzerland
-(from which they brought the idea), a republic.
-It acknowledged no head but Christ, nor any
-concern which the State had with it, except to
-furnish the support of the ministers whose lives
-were devoted to the civilisation and religious improvement
-of the community. The minister and
-the lay elders of a parish constituted the parochial
-assembly, which governed all the spiritual affairs
-of that little circle; a certain number of these
-assemblies constituted a presbytery, which heard
-all appeals from the parochial assemblies, and
-sanctioned the appointment, suspension, or dismissal
-of their ministers. Beyond the presbytery
-extended the provincial synod, and the General
-Assembly claimed the supreme management of the
-affairs of the Church under God.</p>
-
-<p>This free form of the Scottish Church had
-always been extremely repugnant to James's
-despotic notions. Even when he professed to
-admire its constitution as the purest and most
-perfect on earth, he was writhing under its
-authority; and no sooner did he ascend the
-English throne than he avowed his real opinion
-of its inconsistency with monarchy. The hierarchy
-of England delighted him; he regarded it
-as the surest bulwark of the Throne, and bishops
-he seemed to regard as the guarantees of royal
-security. "No bishop no king," was his favourite
-motto; and the hatred of presbytery which he
-expressed at Hampton Court led him to seek its
-utter overthrow in Scotland. He knew the
-sturdy materials that he had to deal with in the
-Scottish ministry and people, who had driven
-out his mother in their hatred of Catholicism;
-yet this did not deter him from endeavouring to
-plant episcopacy as firmly in Scotland as in
-England. He looked on the spirit and form of
-the Scottish Church but as one remove from republicanism
-in the State; and his first step,
-taken in 1605, was a bold one, being no less
-than to assume the right to prorogue the General
-Assembly at will. This was at once annihilating
-the theocratic constitution of the Assembly, and
-placing the king at its head. This measure was
-carried out by Sir George Home the Lord
-Treasurer of Scotland, afterwards Earl of Dunbar.
-The ministers, though prorogued, met again in
-defiance of the royal fiat, but were dissolved again
-and again. The ministers from nine presbyteries
-still boldly met in assertion of the paramount
-right of the Church, at Aberdeen, called themselves
-"an Assembly," appointed a moderator, and
-before dissolving at the command of the Council,
-adjourned their sitting to a fixed time that
-year.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[461]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_461big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_461.jpg" width="410" height="560" alt="" title="ANDREW MELVILLE BEFORE THE SCOTTISH PRIVY COUNCIL" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ANDREW MELVILLE BEFORE THE SCOTTISH PRIVY COUNCIL. (<i>See p.</i> 462.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[462]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Thirteen of the most prominent ministers were
-immediately arrested on the charge of having
-violated the Act of 1584, "for maintenance of
-the royal power over all estates." The jury
-was packed by Dunbar, and six of the most refractory
-clergy were condemned as guilty of high
-treason, and banished for life. They retired into
-Holland and France, and were followed thither by
-numbers of their admirers. Meanwhile, at home,
-undaunted by this lawless exercise of power, the
-ministers offered up prayers for their exiled brethren,
-whom they boldly proclaimed from their pulpits
-as martyrs to the freedom of the faith; and unsilenced
-by the menaces of the Court, loudly
-warned the people of the impending danger to
-the Church.</p>
-
-<p>But James, with the blind hardihood of a true
-Stuart, went on, and in 1606 appointed thirteen
-clergymen to the ancient abolished bishoprics, and
-gave them precedency in the synods and Assembly.
-The ministers refused to submit to their authority,
-and, as they were unsupported by the old
-reverence, treated their assumed dignity with
-contempt. But James went on to repeal the Act
-which had confiscated the episcopal estates, endowed
-the bishops, and made them moderators
-of both synods and presbyteries within their own
-districts. He erected two courts of High Commission,
-and indeed gave them a power such as
-their predecessors had never possessed. In 1610
-three of these bishops went to England, and received
-episcopal ordination from the English prelates,
-and on their return conferred it on their colleagues.
-And finally, in 1612, it was enacted by
-the Scottish Parliament that all General Assemblies
-should only be appointed by the Crown; that the
-bishops only should present to livings; that they
-should admit no one who would not first take the
-Oath of Supremacy to the king, and of canonical
-obedience to the bishop; that they should possess
-the power of deprivation and the right of
-visitation, each in his own diocese.</p>
-
-<p>Andrew Melville, the successor of Knox, boldly
-though respectfully denied these innovations, asserting
-the freedom of conscience, and its immunity
-from the power of any earthly potentate.
-When pressed by some slavish Scottish lords to
-conform, he said: "My lords, I am a free subject
-of Scotland, a free kingdom, that has laws and
-privileges of its own. By these I stand. No
-legal citation has been issued against me; nor
-are you and I in our own country, where such
-an inquisition, so oppressive as the present, is
-condemned by Parliament. I am bound by no
-law to criminate or to furnish accusations against
-myself. My lords, remember what you are;
-mean as I am, remember that I am a free-born
-Scotsman, to be dealt with as you would be
-dealt with yourselves, according to the laws of the
-Scottish nation."</p>
-
-<p>This was noble and patriotic language; but
-Melville had to deal with a vain despot, who
-declared himself above all laws. He insisted on
-their attending the royal chapel to hear the
-preaching of his bishops. The plain presbyterian
-Scots were scandalised at both what they saw and
-heard there: at the ceremonies, the gilded altar,
-the chalices, and tapers, but above all, at the
-slavish doctrines of those courtly preachers. The
-Scottish ministers did not hesitate to express their
-contempt and indignation at the whole spectacle,
-and Melville ridiculed the entire service in a
-Latin epigram. For this audacity James summoned
-him before his Privy Council; but the
-preacher's blood was now chafed beyond restraint,
-for he and his colleagues, though they were impatient
-to get away from what they considered
-this idolatrous scene, where the conduct of the
-bishops and clergy was by no means edifying, had
-been compelled to stay. So far from expressing
-any regret for his satire on the royal mode of
-worship, he denounced in the strongest terms the
-whole system of the Anglican Church, and in his
-excitement seized the surplice of the primate, and
-shook angrily what he called the Romish rags of
-the Archbishop of Canterbury.</p>
-
-<p>James committed him to the Tower for his
-contumacy (1606), where he kept him four years,
-and then banished him for life. He went to reside
-at Sedan, where he died in 1622. His nephew,
-James Melville, was shut up at Berwick, and
-died six years before his uncle; the rest of the
-preachers were banished to remote districts of
-Scotland, wide apart from each other.</p>
-
-<p>To put the finish to this daring change, James
-determined to make a journey to Scotland himself
-in 1617. On leaving that country he had
-assured his Scottish subjects that he would visit
-his ancient capital at least once in three years:
-fourteen years had now elapsed without his redeeming
-his word, his poverty having hitherto
-presented an insurmountable obstacle. But he
-had now consented to yield up the cautionary
-towns, Brell, Flushing, and Rammekens, for
-2,728,000 florins instead of 8,000,000, which were
-due to him. He had been induced to this by his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[463]</a></span>
-necessities and the persuasions of Secretary Winwood,
-who was said to have received £29,000
-from the Dutch for his services on the occasion.
-James now discharged some of his most pressing
-debts, and obtained a loan of £96,000, with which
-he set forward to Scotland in the spring of 1617.</p>
-
-<p>On the 7th of June the Scottish Estates met,
-and James excluded such of the representatives as
-he knew were hostile to his object of establishing
-the English Church in all its forms and authority,
-as the State Church of Scotland for ever. But
-the Peers, alarmed lest he should restore to his
-pet church the lands of which they now were
-in possession, rejected the articles which he
-recommended. To win over these nobles, James
-invited them to a secret conference, in which he
-assured them that no revocation of these lands
-should be made. Reassured on this head, the Peers
-were ready to vote as he pleased, and he opened
-the Estates in one of his vaunting speeches about
-his power, in which he told his audience that "he
-had nothing more at heart than to reduce their
-barbarity to the sweet civility of their neighbours;
-and if the Scots would be as docible to learn the
-goodness of the English as they were teachable to
-limp after their ill, then he should not doubt of
-success; for they had already learnt of the English
-to drink healths, to wear coaches and gay clothes,
-to take tobacco, and to speak a language which
-was neither English nor Scottish."</p>
-
-<p>In this insolent speech the king might have
-included himself both as to clothes and language;
-but these were small matters in comparison with
-those which he had in view. He brought in a
-Bill to enact that what the king might determine
-upon regarding the Church, with the concurrence
-of the bishops and a certain number of the clergy,
-should be good in law. At this proposition the
-ministers were instantly in arms, and presented so
-determined a remonstrance against it, that he
-became afraid and gave it up, saying it was
-unnecessary to give him that by statute which
-was already his by authority of the Crown. He
-managed, however, to carry a Bill adding chapters
-to the bishoprics, regulating the appointment of
-bishops, and also one for converting the hereditary
-offices of sheriffs into annual ones, which he would
-thus be able to influence. Never, surely, with a
-spirit so essentially cowardly, was there a monarch
-so ingrained with the bigotry of absolutism, or
-who so perseveringly laboured to annihilate every
-liberty of the subject, and leave the nation a base
-and soulless heritage of the Crown. But the
-nation was not thus to be trodden into a horde
-of serfs; and though James escaped to a quiet
-tomb, it took a terrible vengeance on his children,
-whom he had inoculated with his incorrigible lust
-of absolutism.</p>
-
-<p>As nothing more was to be obtained from Parliament,
-the uncouth tyrant wended his way to St.
-Andrews, where he had planned a severe retribution
-for the remonstrant ministers, from a more
-obsequious tribunal. There the ministers having
-met at his summons, he singled out Simpson,
-Ewart, and Calderwood, who had signed the remonstrance
-which baulked him of his full intentions,
-and brought them before the High
-Commission Court, and condemned Simpson and
-Ewart to suspension and imprisonment. Calderwood,
-who by his influence and ability excited
-most of all his dread and resentment, he banished
-for life. Having thus given the ministers a sharp
-lesson, he now announced to them that it was
-his will that the whole ritual of the English
-Church should be adopted in Scotland in five
-articles, the name of which afterwards became
-famous, namely:&mdash;1st, That the Eucharist should
-be received in a kneeling, and not in a sitting,
-posture, as had been hitherto the mode in Scotland;
-2nd, That the Sacrament should be given
-to the sick at their own houses when they were
-in danger of death; 3rd, That baptism should, in
-like cases, be administered in private houses;
-4th, That the youth should be confirmed by the
-bishops; and 5th, That the festivals of Christmas,
-Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Whit-Sunday,
-should be observed in Scotland just as in
-England. These commands were received with unequivocal
-marks of displeasure by the ministers, but
-the fate of the three remonstrants availed to keep
-them silent for a time, and James regarded his
-plans as fully accomplished; but presently the
-preachers fell on their knees and implored him to
-refer the Five Articles to the General Assembly
-of the Kirk. James for some time refused to
-listen to them, but on Patrick Galloway assuring
-him that matters should be so managed that all
-should go right, he consented.</p>
-
-<p>He then kept his Whitsuntide in the English
-fashion, with all his crouching prelates and
-courtiers around him; and afterwards took his
-way homeward, in the full persuasion that he
-had succeeded in his object. Time told a very
-different tale; nor was he himself long in perceiving
-that, though he had overawed, he had
-not subdued the sturdy Scottish clergy. Scarcely
-had he reached England when he learned that
-the Scots, both clergy and laity, were loud in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[464]</a></span>
-denouncing the administration of the Eucharist in
-private houses as a remnant of Popery; the revival
-of the festivals of Christmas as the return
-to the ancient Saturnalia; and of those of Easter
-and Whitsuntide as the renewal of the feasts of
-the Jews. And on the 24th of November the
-ministers, in their assembly at St. Andrews, confirmed
-none of the Five Articles except that of
-the administration of the Sacrament at the houses
-of the sick, provided that the sick person first took
-an oath that he or she did not expect to recover.
-James was highly enraged. He ordered the observance
-of the Five Articles to be commanded
-by proclamation, and withdrew the promised
-augmentations of stipend. Nor did the king
-give way in the slightest degree. The next
-year he managed the Assembly so far, through
-Lord Binning, as to carry the Articles by a
-majority of eighty-six against forty-one; and in
-1621, three years later, he obtained an Act of
-Parliament enforcing these Articles on the repugnant
-spirit of the people. Dr. Laud, whose
-name we now meet for the first time, afterwards
-to become so notorious, even urged James to go
-further lengths; but his fatal advice was destined
-to act with more force on the next generation.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst James's hand was in, however, he hit
-upon another mode of incensing the Puritans,
-and showing his dislike of them. He had been
-extremely annoyed by the severity of the Presbyterian
-manners during his visit; and when,
-on returning, the Catholics of Lancashire presented
-to him petitions complaining of the strictness
-of the Puritans, who forbade those sports
-and recreations to which they had been accustomed
-on Sundays after service, adding that it
-drove men to the ale-house, a bright idea occurred
-to him, and he determined to publish a Book of
-Sports, encouraging the people on Sundays, after
-church, to play at running, leaping, archery,
-morris-dances, and to enjoy their church-ales and
-festivities as aforetime. These sports, however,
-were not to be indulged in by the recusants, nor
-any who had not attended Church in the morning.
-He also prohibited on Sundays bull and bear-baitings,
-interludes, and bowls; the last, probably,
-because they led to gambling. He restored all
-the jollity of may-poles and rush-bearings.</p>
-
-<p>Many of the established clergy were conscientiously
-opposed to this mode of spending the
-Sunday, which appeared to them to savour greatly
-of Papacy; but James persisted in his scheme,
-and not only published his Book of Sports, but
-ordered the bishops, each in his own diocese, to
-publish his ordinance regarding the Sunday amusements.
-Abbot, the Primate, is said to have
-steadfastly refused to read the book in his own
-church at Croydon, but the other bishops complied.
-Laud was zealous in its promulgation,
-and in after years roused the stern and undaunted
-spirit of the reformers by recommending the revival
-of the Book to Charles I.</p>
-
-<p>In Ireland the same system had been pursued
-by James from the commencement of his reign,
-of endeavouring to force the consciences of his
-subjects into the mould of his own ideas. On
-the death of Elizabeth the Irish had openly resumed
-the Catholic worship in most of the South
-of Ireland. Mountjoy, the Lord-Deputy, issued a
-proclamation for its immediate suppression; but
-the fear of the old lioness of a queen being removed,
-they treated his orders with contempt and
-defiance. Mountjoy marched down upon them,
-and compelled submission at the point of the
-bayonet, and then passed over to England,
-having with him the two great chiefs, Tyrone
-and O'Donnell, with a number of their followers.</p>
-
-<p>These chieftains being well received by James,
-Tyrone being restored to his honours and estates,
-and O'Donnell created Earl of Tyrconnel, the Irish
-conceived wonderful hopes of the clemency and
-liberality of James. They sent a deputation to
-join the two earls in petitioning for the full
-enjoyment of their religion, but they found themselves
-grievously deceived. James declared that
-he would never consent to anything of the kind,
-but so long as he had a hundred men left, he
-would fight to the death to put down so idolatrous
-a worship. In his anger he committed four of the
-delegates to the Tower, where he kept them three
-months; and this practice of committing Irish
-deputies to prison for daring to present petitions
-on such subjects, became his regular practice.</p>
-
-<p>The British Solomon never relaxed his war upon
-the religion of his subjects, if it were not of the
-same colour and shape as his own, so long as
-breath was left in him. It was in his eyes akin
-to the sin against the Holy Ghost to differ from
-or doubt the infallibility of his wisdom, for he
-deemed himself, according to his open avowal, a
-god upon earth. In 1605, two years only after
-ascending the throne of England, he issued a
-proclamation, commanding all Catholic priests to
-quit Ireland on pain of death; and he commanded
-all officers, magistrates, and chief citizens of
-Dublin to attend the Established Church, or
-suffer the fine of twenty pounds a month, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[465]</a></span>
-moreover, imprisonment. The nobility prayed
-to be permitted the exercise of their religion,
-but the ill-fated presenters of the petition were
-thrown into the Castle of Dublin, and their
-spokesman, Sir Patrick Barnewell, was sent over
-to England, and incarcerated in the Tower.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_465big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_465.jpg" width="560" height="420" alt="" title="KEEPING SUNDAY, ACCORDING TO KING JAMES'S BOOK OF SPORTS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>KEEPING SUNDAY, ACCORDING TO KING JAMES'S BOOK OF SPORTS. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_464">464.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>James now hit on a bold scheme for breaking
-down the clanship of Ireland, and so weakening
-the opposition of the people to his despotic will.
-He ordered all possessors of lands to bring in
-their titles to commissioners appointed for the
-purpose, on the promise that they should receive
-them again in a more valid and advantageous
-form. As, from the disturbed state of the
-country for ages past, many of these titles were
-defective, the landowners accepted the offer in
-good faith, but they found that the commissioners,
-instead of returning them of the same value, and
-bearing the same conditions, only returned them
-freehold titles of such lands as were in their own
-hands. All such lands as were in the hands of
-tenants, were made over to these tenants, only
-subject to the rent charges and dues which they
-had formerly paid. Thus the great bulk of the
-tenantry of Ireland was freed from its dependence
-on the will of the chief <em>in capite</em>, and now set
-him at naught. But though the power of the
-chiefs was broken, the commonalty showed no
-more inclination to adhere to a Government
-which persecuted them on account of their faith.
-They were now more at liberty, and readier than
-ever to follow some bold and defiant leader who
-promised them protection and vengeance on their
-tyrants. The great lords, thus tricked out of
-their hereditary rights, were converted into deadly
-enemies of the English Government.</p>
-
-<p>Tyrone and Tyrconnel, on taking leave of the
-English Court to return to Ireland, professed
-extreme gratitude for the kindness of their reception,
-but in reality they were full of the
-most hostile sentiments. They looked on this
-transfer of their seigneurial rights as a measure
-intended to sever their vassals from them, and
-thus to subjugate the whole island to the yoke
-of the English hierarchy. No sooner did they
-land in Ireland, than Richard Nugent, Lord<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[466]</a></span>
-Delvin, invited them to meet him at his Castle
-of Maynooth. They unanimously agreed that the
-destruction of the hereditary faith of Ireland
-was planned, and they bound themselves by oath
-to act together for its defence.</p>
-
-<p>Two years later, intelligence was gathered by
-some one at Brussels, in the service of the archduke,
-that Tyrone had renewed his relations with
-the Court of Spain; and, in order to decoy him
-into England, a pretender to a large extent of his
-lands was set up, and both parties were summoned
-over to have the cause tried before the Privy
-Council. Tyrone, aware of the design, avoided the
-snare by sending an attorney with full powers to
-act in his behalf. This stratagem did not succeed.
-Tyrone received from the Lord-Deputy information
-that his presence would be necessary in
-London to defeat the pretensions of his opponent.
-Tyrone, feigning to comply, only solicited a delay
-of a month, in order to settle his affairs and raise
-money for his journey and sojourn at Court. The
-request being acceded to, he escaped in a vessel
-sent on purpose from Dunkirk, with two of his
-sons and nephew, accompanied by Tyrconnel, with
-his son, and Lord Dungannon, his brother, with
-thirty of their retainers, and reached in a few
-days Quillebeque in Normandy.</p>
-
-<p>On the discovery of the escape of these nobles,
-James was greatly alarmed, believing that they
-had gone to Spain to join the Armada which
-during the summer had been collecting in the
-Spanish ports, and to conduct it to Ireland.
-The news of their real resort abated his fears.
-He demanded their delivery from France, and
-then from the Netherlands, whither they betook
-themselves, describing them as traitors, and men
-of mean birth, who had been merely ennobled for
-purposes of State. He accused them of an intention
-to excite a rebellion, and returning to
-Ireland with foreign confederates, to put to death
-all Irishmen of English descent. The Court of
-Brussels declined to give up men exiled only on
-account of their religion, and admitted them into
-the Spanish army of Brabant. Tyrone himself
-proceeded to Rome, where the King of Spain
-allowed him a pension of six hundred crowns per
-month, and the Pope one hundred.</p>
-
-<p>Active search was made in Ireland for the
-accomplices of the fugitives; many were arrested
-in Ulster, some were sent over for trial
-to England. Lord Delvin, with the eldest son
-of Tyrone, and Sir Christopher St. Lawrence,
-were secured and lodged in Dublin Castle.
-Delvin was tried and condemned as a traitor,
-but he escaped on the morning fixed for his
-execution; and no trace of him could be found
-till he suddenly appeared at the English Court,
-and throwing himself on his knees before the
-king, presented such a list of real wrongs inflicted
-on himself and his father, as compelled
-James to pardon him and to make him amends
-by creating him Earl of Westmeath; a clemency,
-as it proved, well bestowed, and which might have
-taught the king a more successful way to secure
-obedience and loyalty from his subjects, than those
-which he unhappily pursued.</p>
-
-<p>Another Irish chief, O'Dogherty of Inishowen,
-having received a mortal insult from Paulet, the
-Governor of Derry, surprised him at table, and
-by the aid of his followers succeeded in killing
-him and five others. The avengers captured
-alive Hart, the governor of the Fortress of Culmore,
-and leading him to the gates of the
-Castle, called on the governor's wife to surrender
-the place, or see her husband murdered on the
-spot. Conjugal affection prevailed, and O'Dogherty
-found himself in possession of the stronghold.
-Possessed by this means of arms and ammunition,
-O'Dogherty marched with a strong force to Derry,
-and received the submission of the castle and
-town. The hopes of the exiles were wonderfully
-raised by so unexpected an event. They despatched
-messengers instructing O'Dogherty to
-hold the place, if possible, till their arrival with
-foreign aid; but after two unsuccessful attacks,
-the place was evacuated on the approach of Wingfield,
-the marshal of the camp, and O'Dogherty fled
-to the mountains. There, in the month of June,
-1608, he was accidentally discovered, and shot.</p>
-
-<p>The rebellion of these great chiefs, by throwing
-into the hands of the Crown an immense territory,
-suggested to James the planting of a new English
-Colony. Undeterred by the failure of Elizabeth's
-plantation of Ulster, he proceeded to divide the
-confiscated region, which included nearly the
-whole of the northern counties of Cavan, Fermanagh,
-Armagh, Derry, Tyrone, and Tyrconnel,
-amounting to two millions of acres, into four
-great divisions. Two of these were again divided
-into lots of one thousand acres each, a third into
-lots of fifteen hundred acres, and the fourth into
-lots of two thousand acres. The two thousand
-acre lots were appropriated to a class of men
-called "undertakers and servitors," adventurers
-of capital from England and Scotland, with the
-civil and military officers of the Crown. The
-lesser lots went amongst these and the natives of
-the province also; but the natives were only to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[467]</a></span>
-receive their lots in the plains and open country,
-not in the hills and fastnesses, where they might
-become formidable to Government. The possessors
-were bound to pay a mark a year for every sixty
-acres, and the lesser ones besides to take the Oath
-of Supremacy, and engage to admit no recusant as
-tenant.</p>
-
-<p>By these means some hundred thousand acres
-were planted; but whole districts in the hills were
-never divided at all, whilst many of the undertakers
-managed to get immensely more land than
-they had any right to. It was at this time (1611)
-that the scheme, already mentioned, of creating
-baronets was proposed to James by Sir Anthony
-Shirley, as a means of raising money for the
-support of the army in Ulster. James caught
-eagerly at the idea, coined upwards of one hundred
-thousand pounds out of it, but neither sent
-any of the money to Ireland, nor gave a handsome
-gratuity to Shirley for the suggestion, as he
-promised.</p>
-
-<p>After these measures, James ventured to call a
-Parliament in Ireland, in 1613, the first for seven-and-twenty
-years. He wanted money, and he
-wanted also to enact new laws. But the
-Catholics were naturally apprehensive of these
-intended laws, for the whole of James's policy
-went to crush their religion out of the majority of
-the inhabitants, and impose on them his own model
-church. So little had this shallow sovereign
-profited by the lessons of history, that he expected
-to convert a whole nation by the sword and confiscation.
-But Ireland had by all former English
-monarchs, down to Elizabeth, been taught to regard
-the Pope as the lord paramount of the
-island; it was a doctrine that secured the obedience
-of the people under all their oppressions.
-But since Elizabeth had separated from
-the Catholic Church, and stood excommunicated
-by the pontiff, this maxim, so convenient before,
-was become extremely inconvenient. To the
-political causes of discontent was now added the
-far more irritating one of violated religious faith,
-which has continued till our time.</p>
-
-<p>Under these circumstances the Lord-Deputy
-summoned the Parliament, and soon found that,
-though he had a majority of more than twenty
-Protestants, the spirit of the Catholics was such
-that he did not dare to proceed. Since the former
-Parliament, no less than seventeen new counties
-and forty new boroughs had been created, and
-these had been filled by men devoted to the
-measures of the Crown; the boroughs, the
-Catholics complained, had been put into the
-hands of attorneys' clerks and servants, and
-they expected to find on the projected new
-plantations only evil-disposed persons, ready to
-insult and injure the old inhabitants. They objected
-to many of the returns; they complained
-that obsolete statutes had been revived for the
-purposes of oppression; that Catholics of noble
-birth were excluded from posts of honour; that
-they were expelled from the magistracy; that they
-were forbidden to educate their children abroad;
-that Catholic barristers were not permitted to
-practise; that Catholic citizens were excluded
-from all influence in the corporations; and that
-the whole community was subjected to fines, excommunications,
-and punishments, which spread
-poverty and misery over the island.</p>
-
-<p>The Lord-Deputy prorogued the impracticable
-assembly, and both parties appealed to the king.
-The Catholics sent as deputies the Lords Gormansbury
-and Dunboyne, and two knights and
-two barristers to plead their cause. The expense
-of the mission was defrayed by a general collection,
-which was made in spite of a severe proclamation
-against it. James received them at
-first graciously, but his anger soon broke out
-when he found them impervious to his controversial
-eloquence; and, as usual, he threw two of
-them into prison&mdash;Luttrel into the Fleet, and
-Talbot into the Tower. He soon had Talbot
-before the Star Chamber, and strictly interrogated
-him on the point of loyalty to the Crown, and he
-severely reprimanded the whole deputation on the
-same ground; but Lord Delvin on his knees declared
-that he would ever be faithful to the king
-as his rightful liege, yet that nothing should ever
-induce him to abandon his religion. James
-dismissed them, after having appointed a commission
-of inquiry regarding the representatives of
-the new Irish boroughs, which decided that none
-of the four boroughs incorporated after the writs
-were issued had a right to sit that Session.</p>
-
-<p>As to the religious grievances, no concession
-was made, and scarcely had the deputies reached
-home, when a proclamation appeared ordering all
-the Catholic clergy to quit Ireland on pain of death.
-When Parliament met again in Dublin, in 1615,
-there was an outward air of conciliation; the
-two parties avoided the grand subjects of discord,
-except that both Houses joined in a petition that
-Catholic barristers might be permitted to plead.
-The attainders of Tyrone, Tyrconnel, and O'Dogherty
-were confirmed, as well as the plantation of
-Ulster, and all distinctions between the two races
-of the Irish&mdash;that is, the native Irish and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[468]</a></span>
-Anglo-Irish&mdash;were abolished by statute, and a
-liberal subsidy was obtained.</p>
-
-<p>The conciliatory air did not long continue.
-The Lord-Deputy Chichester made a cautious
-attempt to enforce the fines for absence from
-church, beginning with a few timid persons in
-each county, whose compliance might influence
-others. In 1623, Lord Falkland, then Lord-Deputy,
-repeated the proclamation ordering all
-Catholic priests to leave the kingdom on pain of
-death; but they only retired into the mountains
-and morasses and defied his authority. James
-saw that it was useless to hope for success in his
-scheme of crushing out Catholicism, till he had
-planted the whole island after the Ulster fashion,
-and this was set about in good earnest. Commissions
-were issued for the examination of all grants
-and titles, and, by the most iniquitous proceedings,
-hardly a single foot of land was exempted from
-the claim of forfeiture to the Crown. It was
-found that the proprietors of the vast counties of
-Connaught, Galway, and Clare, had been induced
-to surrender their titles to Elizabeth, on condition
-that they should receive fresh ones, and that they
-had paid three thousand pounds for the enrolment
-of these titles, but had never got them. On this
-discovery James was advised to claim the whole
-island, with the exception of the small portion
-which he had himself planted; but the owners
-declared on all hands that they would defend
-their lands with their swords rather than admit
-such a claim; and James preferred getting a sum
-of money. His pretensions were commuted for a
-double annual rent and a fine of ten thousand
-pounds. He, however, proceeded to plant the
-coast between Dublin and Wexford, then the
-counties of Leitrim and Longford, and finally
-Westmeath, and King's and Queen's Counties.
-In this business all law and justice were set
-aside. James gave orders that three-fourths
-of the lands should be settled on the original
-proprietors, but no regard was paid to
-this. Few of the old possessors obtained above
-a quarter of their lands again, and many were
-stripped of every acre which they had inherited
-from their fathers. Whole septs were removed to
-the parts most distant from their native localities.
-Seven such septs were transported from Queen's
-County to King's, and menaced with instant death
-by martial law if they dared return. Sir Patrick
-Crosby received the seigniory of Tarbert, on condition
-that he leased out one-fourth of it to those
-unhappy exiles, but very few of them got anything;
-and, in a word, Carte declares that the
-injustice and cruelty then committed are scarcely
-to be paralleled in the history of any age or
-country. At the same time, the north of Ireland,
-hitherto a mere wilderness, began immediately to
-assume an appearance of prosperity.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the condition of Ireland as left by
-James. He imagined that he had pacified it;
-it was only the sullen lull before the storm
-which burst forth in the days of his successor,
-with a fury only the more terrible from its
-temporary delay.</p>
-
-<p>During the king's absence in Scotland, Bacon
-had shown such arrogance in the Council, that
-he had disgusted everybody. He had appeared
-to imagine himself king, took up his quarters
-in Whitehall, and gave audiences in the great
-Banqueting-house at Whitehall. Mr. Secretary
-Winwood was so incensed at his presumption
-that he quitted the Council Chamber, declaring,
-that he would not enter it again till the king's
-return; and he wrote at once an account of
-Bacon's proceedings, assuring the king that it
-was high time that he returned, for his throne
-was already occupied. The vain, foolish conduct
-of the Lord Keeper was watched by an
-eye which owed him no favour, and a spirit
-smarting with envy, which was relentless in his
-revenge. Coke, by offending the favourite, lost
-his position, but he now saw a way to turn this
-opposition to Buckingham against Bacon. Buckingham,
-since his rising into favour, had taken
-care to promote the fortunes of his friends and
-relatives. He had cast his eyes on the daughter
-of the fallen Chief Justice Coke, by Lady Hatton,
-the widow of Queen Elizabeth's Chancellor; this
-young lady, who was likely to have a large fortune
-from her mother, he determined to obtain for his
-brother John Villiers, a sickly and nearly idiotic
-youth. Coke, who despised the favourite, and was
-at feud with him respecting the already mentioned
-patent place at Court, opposed the match, which
-was agreeable neither to the young lady nor her
-mother. But when Coke found himself deprived
-of his office, and his rival, Bacon, advanced,
-he bethought himself that by the means of his
-daughter he had the power of regaining the goodwill
-of the favourite, and pulling down the arrogant
-Lord Keeper. Before Buckingham had left
-for Scotland, Coke had had a private interview
-with him, in which he agreed to consent to the
-marriage on condition of regaining his honours and
-position in the Council and on the Bench.</p>
-
-<p>During the absence of the Court in Scotland,
-and while Bacon was in the full tide of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[469]</a></span>
-assumed greatness, he discovered this compact,
-which boded him nothing but destruction. Without
-delay he incited the Lady Hatton, who was in
-almost everything violently opposed to her husband,
-to make haste and secure her daughter by secreting
-her with herself in the house of Sir Edward
-Withipole near Oxford, and by contracting her in
-marriage to Henry de Vere, Earl of Oxford, for
-whom the young lady really entertained a regard.
-Coke, enraged at this flight, and at the attempt to
-marry his daughter contrary to his own plans,
-applied for a search-warrant to enter the house
-where she was secreted. Bacon refused it, but
-Winwood was only too happy to grant it. Coke,
-supported by twelve armed men, made a forcible
-entry and carried away his daughter. On this
-Bacon procured the new Attorney-General, Yelverton,
-to file an information against Coke in the
-Star Chamber for a breach of the peace. Bacon
-also wrote to the king and the favourite in Scotland,
-representing to Buckingham that it was by
-no means to his honour or interest to ally his
-family to that of Coke, a fallen, disgraced man,
-and disliked of the king, especially as much
-better matches might be found. To James he
-represented the trouble which Coke had given to
-his majesty, his fondness for opposing the king's
-wishes, and the disturbances there had been in
-the kingdom and courts of justice so long as Coke
-had been in power. Sir Francis added that now
-everything was quiet, and that his majesty knew
-that he had in him an officer always anxious to do
-his will.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 560px;"><a href="images/i_469big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_469.jpg" width="560" height="412" alt="" title="PARLIAMENT HOUSE, DUBLIN, IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>PARLIAMENT HOUSE, DUBLIN, IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The answer of the king struck him at once to
-the earth. The great philosopher was not aware
-how far the compact with Coke had really gone;
-and when he read the king's letter, reprimanding
-his presumption, accompanied by another from
-Buckingham, in which he rated him for his
-officious meddling, and telling him that the same
-hand which had made him could unmake him,
-he saw the gulf into which he had plunged. At
-once he wrote off to both monarch and minion,
-imploring the humblest pardon for this unworthy
-offence, which he would now do all in his power
-to wipe away. Accordingly, he stopped the
-proceedings before the Council and in the Star
-Chamber against Coke, and assured Lady Hatton<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[470]</a></span>
-and her friends that he could not assist them in
-a course so opposed to the wishes of the young
-lady's father.</p>
-
-<p>On the return of the Court, Bacon hastened to
-pay his homage to the proud favourite; but he
-was then made to feel how much it is in the
-power of a base and little-souled man in favour, to
-humiliate the most gigantic mind when it forgets
-to be submissive. The great renovator of science,
-the proud and vaunting Lord Keeper, was made
-to wait for two whole days in the lobby of the
-upstart. This is Weldon's account of it:&mdash;"He
-attended two days at Buckingham's chamber,
-being not admitted to any better place than
-the room where trencher-scrapers and lackeys
-attended, there sitting upon an old wooden chest,
-amongst such as for his baseness were only fit
-for his companions, although the honour of his
-place did merit far more respect, with his purse
-and Seal lying by him on that chest. Myself told
-a servant of my Lord of Buckingham, it was a
-shame to see the purse and Seal of so little value
-or esteem in his chamber, though the carrier
-without it merited nothing but scorn, being worst
-amongst the basest. But the servant told me they
-had command it must be so. After two days he
-had admittance. At his first entrance he fell
-down flat at the duke's foot, kissing it, and vowing
-never to rise till he had his pardon; and thus
-was he again reconciled. And since that time so
-very a slave to the duke and all that family, that
-he durst not deny the command of the meanest of
-the kindred, nor yet oppose anything. By which
-you see a base spirit is even most concomitant
-with the proudest mind; and surely, never so
-many brave parts, and so base and abject a spirit,
-tenanted together in any one earthen cottage, as
-in this one man."</p>
-
-<p>Buckingham condescended to forgive the suppliant
-Lord Keeper: the projected marriage was
-accomplished, and Bacon soon after&mdash;that is, on the
-4th of January, 1618&mdash;was raised to the dignity of
-Lord Chancellor, with a pension of twelve hundred
-pounds a year and the title of Baron Verulam.
-For, provided he threw no obstacle in the
-way of the marriage, both James and Buckingham
-preferred his pliancy to the sturdy spirit of Coke.</p>
-
-<p>The consequences of this forced and unnatural
-marriage were as deplorable as the means of
-effecting it were vile. The brother of Villiers
-was created Viscount Purbeck; but no title could
-give him a sound body or a healthy intellect. It
-was not long before he was pronounced utterly
-mad, was shut up in an asylum, and Buckingham
-took possession of Lady Purbeck's property under
-pretence of managing it for her and Lord Purbeck,
-but spent it for his own purposes; and Coke's
-daughter, outraged in all her feelings as a woman
-and her rights as a subject, became a degraded
-and abandoned character.</p>
-
-<p>Buckingham now reigned supreme at Court.
-He had rapidly risen from a simple country youth
-into a baron, viscount, earl, and marquis; he was
-a member of the Privy Council, Knight of the
-Garter, had been a Master of the Horse, and
-was now Lord High Admiral; the Earl of Nottingham&mdash;the
-brave old Howard, hero of the
-Armada&mdash;having been compelled to resign to
-make way for him. He and his mother disposed
-of all places about Court, in the Church,
-in the courts of law, and in the Government.
-Peers, prelates, and men of all degrees courted
-humbly his favour, and paid him large sums
-of money for the places they sought, or agreed
-to annuities out of their salaries and emoluments.
-The king seemed to rejoice in the wealth
-which flowed in on his favourite from these
-corrupt services, and could not bear him out of
-his sight.</p>
-
-<p>Let us take Weldon's account of this state of
-things:&mdash;"And now Buckingham, having the
-Chancellor or Treasurer, and all great officers,
-his very slaves, swells in the height of pride, and
-summons up all his country kindred, the old
-countess providing a place for them to learn to
-carry themselves in a Court-like garb." The old
-countess, as Weldon calls her, was far from old,
-but a woman yet in her prime, and of singular
-beauty and notorious wickedness. She was
-another Elizabeth Woodville in looking out for
-rich heirs and heiresses, and marrying her kin
-to them. The brothers, half-brothers, cousins of
-Buckingham, were all matched to rich women,
-and the women were matched to the eldest sons
-of earls, barons, and men of large estate. And
-where there was no title, such was soon conferred.
-The madman that they gave to Coke's daughter,
-as we have seen, was made Lord Purbeck; another
-brother was created Earl of Anglesea. Fielding,
-who married Buckingham's sister, was made Earl
-of Denbigh, and his brother Earl of Desmond.
-Cranfield, who married a female relative, was
-made Earl of Middlesex. But the most shameful
-case of all, perhaps, was that of Williams, Dean
-of Westminster, a paramour of the countess's, who
-was made Bishop of Lincoln, and allowed to retain
-not only the deanery of Westminster, but
-the rectories of Dinam, Waldgrave, Grafton, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[471]</a></span>
-Peterborough; the prebends of Asgarbie and
-Nonnington, besides other dignities; so that,
-says Heylin, he was a perfect diocese in himself,
-being bishop, dean, prebendary, residentiary, and
-parson, and these all at once. Other livings and
-bishoprics were sold as highly as these were freely
-given. Fotherby of Salisbury paid three thousand
-five hundred pounds for his see, and all other
-dignities and benefices in the Church were equally
-at the disposal of this upstart and his venal,
-lascivious mother. "There were books of rates,"
-says Weldon, "on all offices, bishoprics, and
-deaneries in England, that could tell you what
-fines and pensions were to pay." He adds, "that
-Buckingham's female relatives were numerous
-enough to have peopled any plantation. So that
-King James, that naturally in former times hated
-women, had his lodgings replenished with them,
-and all of the kindred, and little children did run
-up and down the king's lodgings like rabbits
-startled out of their burrows. Here was a strange
-change, that the king, who formerly would not
-endure his queen and children in his lodgings, now
-you would have judged that none but women frequented
-them. Nay, this was not all; but the
-kindred had all the houses about Whitehall, as
-if bulwarks and flankers to that citadel."</p>
-
-<p>Buckingham himself, in time, seemed to clothe
-himself with half the offices in the country. He
-became Warden of the Cinque Ports, chief justice
-in eyre of all the parks and forests south of the
-Trent, Master of the King's Bench Office, High
-Steward of Westminster, and Constable of Windsor
-Castle. In his person he was lavish and showy
-even to tawdriness. He was skilled in dancing,
-and therefore kept the Court one scene of balls
-and masques. He had his clothes trimmed at
-even an ordinary dance with great buttons of
-diamond, with diamond hatbands, cockades, and
-earrings; "he was yoked with manifold ropes
-and knots of pearl; in short, he was accustomed
-to be manacled, fettered, and imprisoned in
-jewels."</p>
-
-<p>But one of the most interesting and painful
-events of the reign of James, and one which
-does him little credit, now occurred. Sir Walter
-Raleigh, deprived (as we have seen, to gratify the
-favourite Carr) of his beautiful estate of Sherborne
-in Dorsetshire&mdash;"which he had beautified
-with orchards, gardens, and groves, of much
-variety and delight"&mdash;had remained in the Tower
-from the time of his trial in 1603, that is, thirteen
-years. His captivity was rendered less severe by
-the presence in the Tower of other prisoners of
-intelligence, and, more than all the rest, of the
-Earl of Northumberland, who gathered around
-him in his prison men of science and literature,
-and thus was instrumental in converting his cell
-into a palace of knowledge and refined delight.
-Northumberland was another of those men who
-revelled in learning, whom a king really wise
-and learned would have rejoiced to honour.
-But James's love was not a love of learning or
-literature on its own account, it was a love of
-himself. It was the vanity of passing for a
-sagacious and learned king which he possessed,
-and not the sagacity and the learning themselves.
-Therefore, so far from cherishing science and
-learning, and loving the possessor of them, James
-was too shallow to comprehend the one, and so
-egotistical that he hated the other. Northumberland
-had been in prison ever since the
-year of the Gunpowder Plot, 1605, eleven years,
-a victim to the suspicions of the king and
-the tyranny of the Star Chamber, for no participation
-in the plot was ever proved against him.
-Amongst his visitants and pensioners were the
-most profound mathematicians of the age, Allen,
-Hariot, Warner&mdash;"the Atlantes of the mathematical
-world," Burchill&mdash;the celebrated Greek and
-Hebrew scholar, and other noted characters.
-Amongst them Sir Walter found the pleasure
-of cultivating inquiries which his busy public
-and Court life had before kept unknown to him.
-He commenced a series of chemical experiments,
-and the celebrated Lucy Hutchinson, who was the
-daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, Lieutenant of the
-Tower, in the preface to her interesting life of her
-husband, Colonel Hutchinson, says:&mdash;"Sir Walter
-Raleigh and Mr. Ruthin, being prisoners in the
-Tower, and addicting themselves to chemistry, my
-mother suffered them to make their rare experiments
-at her cost, partly to comfort and divert
-the poor prisoners, and partly to gain the knowledge
-of their experiments and the medicines, to
-help such poor people as were not able to seek
-physicians."</p>
-
-<p>In these chemical inquiries, Sir Walter imagined
-that he had discovered a universal panacea.
-The queen in an illness had taken it, and appeared
-cured by it, and afterwards, as we have seen,
-tried it in the case of Prince Henry, but without
-effect.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[472]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_472big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_472.jpg" width="410" height="560" alt="" title="SIR FRANCIS BACON WAITING AN AUDIENCE OF BUCKINGHAM" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR FRANCIS BACON WAITING AN AUDIENCE OF BUCKINGHAM. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_470">470.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[473]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Sir Walter next turned his attention to history,
-and commenced a History of the World, a gigantic
-undertaking, but no doubt one that offered great
-consolation to the mind of a prisoner for life, from
-the very fact of its immensity, thus promising to
-him a constant forgetfulness of his captivity, and
-a busy discursiveness amid the peoples of the
-whole globe. Such men as Burchill, who was not
-only a great classical scholar but a distinguished
-Latin poet, could furnish him with books and translations,
-by which means he has displayed so vast an
-acquaintance with Greek and Rabbinical writers.
-Raleigh commenced his History for the instruction
-of Prince Henry, who had a high regard for the
-author, but the death of that prince in 1612, gave
-a check to the undertaking, and all that Raleigh
-has completed extends from the Creation to about
-a century and a half before the Christian era.</p>
-
-<p>The fall of Somerset and the rise of Buckingham
-awoke new hopes of liberty in Raleigh. His
-friends made zealous applications to the favourite,
-which for a time produced little effect because
-the true persuasive with the greedy Villiers family
-was not applied. In the meantime, however,
-Raleigh managed to interest Secretary Winwood
-in a grand scheme which he had for discovering
-and working gold mines in Guiana.
-Raleigh, as our readers are aware, was of a
-romantic and adventurous turn. The Admirals
-Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, with whom he
-had had the honour of defeating the Grand Armada,
-had brought home immense treasures from
-the Spanish and Portuguese territories of South
-America. Raleigh himself had been engaged in
-the scheme of settling Virginia in North America,
-in the year 1584, when he procured a patent
-from Elizabeth&mdash;a copy of one granted still
-earlier to his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert&mdash;with
-full power to discover and settle any
-heathen lands not already in the possession of
-any Christian prince. In consequence, he had
-equipped various expeditions to the coast of Virginia,
-which, however, had all proved failures,
-and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who conducted one of
-them, lost his life at sea. Sir Walter's enterprises,
-which had cost him much money, were
-immediate failures&mdash;failures to himself and his
-associates, but ultimate successes to the country,
-for they led to the settlement of that great
-Federated Republic of Northern America.</p>
-
-<p>But still earlier, in 1595, he had made a voyage
-to Guiana. The glories of Drake and the other
-piratical admirals, and the wondrous legend of the
-golden empire of Guiana, with its inconceivable
-affluence, and the reported splendours of its
-capital, Manoa, called by the Spaniards El
-Dorado, or the golden city, inflamed his imagination.
-He sailed thither, touching at Trinidad, as
-if on his way to Virginia; and the Spaniards,
-deluded by this belief, entered into friendly relations
-and bartered various commodities with him.
-But suddenly Raleigh, watching his opportunity,
-fell on the garrison, killed the guard, and secured
-the person of Berrio the governor, whom he
-carried away as guide to Guiana, Berrio having
-already settled a colony there. This transaction,
-which was in the true spirit of Drake and the
-rest, who acted in those regions as if the Spaniards
-were at war, though they were at entire peace
-with England, was one of the charges afterwards
-brought against him. To this Raleigh replied
-that Berrio, at Trinidad, had formerly made
-prisoners of eight Englishmen, and that to leave
-him at his back when he was about to ascend the
-Orinoco, was to have been an ass. Whether the
-story of the eight Englishmen was true or not,
-it was clearly no business of Raleigh's, and the
-real motive was partly the last assigned&mdash;to secure
-so dangerous a person as Berrio, and at the same
-time so valuable a guide. In fact, Raleigh, with
-all his genius, was never renowned for very
-scrupulous ideas of right and wrong, and shared
-in all the loose maritime notions of the age.</p>
-
-<p>Thus provided, he sailed for the Orinoco and
-advanced up it three hundred miles in boats. He
-seemed to have heard many wonderful rumours of
-gold mines, and cities built of gold and silver and
-embossed with precious stones; but he discovered
-no magnificent Manoa, with pinnacles blazing with
-diamonds and rubies, nor any gold mines, only
-signs of gold in the mountains beyond the Spanish
-town of St. Thomas. He gave out to the natives
-that he was come to relieve them of the Spaniards,
-and by their assistance explored the country for a
-month, when the waters of the mighty Orinoco
-rose so suddenly and with such impetuosity, that
-they were carried down at the peril of their lives
-to their ships.</p>
-
-<p>On his return, Raleigh, although he brought
-no riches, brought marvellous descriptions of
-them. Though he had seen nothing but a
-pleasant country and friendly natives, he did not
-hesitate to publish the most amazing stories to
-draw fresh colleagues to the enterprise. He described
-the country and the climate in colours of
-heaven, and as for its riches, "the common
-soldier," he said&mdash;detailing the discovery of the
-large, rich, and beautiful empire of Guiana, with
-relations of the great and golden city, Manoa&mdash;"shall
-here fight for gold, and pay himself, instead
-of pence, with plates of half a foot broad, whereas
-he breaks his bones in other wars for provant
-and penury. Those commanders and chieftains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[474]</a></span>
-that shoot at honour and abundance, shall find
-here more rich and beautiful cities, more temples
-adorned with golden images, more sepulchres filled
-with treasure, than either Cortez found in Mexico,
-or Pizarro in Peru."</p>
-
-<p>Probably Raleigh believed all this himself, on
-the faith of the natives; but though several expeditions
-went out nothing of the kind was discovered.
-Yet these failures in no degree abated the enthusiasm
-of Raleigh. He represented to objectors
-that the adventurers sent out were ignorant alike
-of the locality and of the art of conciliating the
-natives. Were <em>he</em> permitted to go, he would make
-Guiana to England what Peru was to Spain.</p>
-
-<p>His glowing descriptions at length captivated
-the imagination of Winwood, who did his best to
-excite the cupidity of James on the subject, and
-not without effect, for he began to speak of
-Raleigh as a very clever and gallant fellow. The
-scheme suited James extremely well, as he was
-always in want of money, and Raleigh asked for
-nothing, not even a ship to accomplish the enterprise,
-but guaranteed to the king one-fifth of the
-gold. Still there was one obstacle; James dared
-not issue the desired commission without the
-approbation of the favourite, and this Raleigh and
-his friends were obliged to purchase by a present
-of fifteen hundred pounds to Buckingham's uncles,
-Sir Edward Villiers and Sir William St. John.</p>
-
-<p>In the month of August, 1616, Sir Walter
-issued from his thirteen years' captivity in the
-Tower, and commenced preparations for the
-voyage. Plenty of adventurers and co-operators
-were found: the Countess of Bedford advanced
-eight thousand pounds, and Lady Raleigh sold
-her estate at Mitcham for two thousand five
-hundred pounds. A fleet of fourteen sail was
-equipped and manned. But before Raleigh could
-get out to sea, the Spanish ambassador, Gondomar,
-had caught wind of the real destination of the
-squadron. The Spaniard was a deep politician,
-who assumed an air of gaiety and freedom which
-won on the courtiers, and not less on James, whose
-vanity he flattered to the utmost; often speaking
-false Latin, that James might correct him, he
-would reply, "Ah, your majesty speaks Latin like
-a pedant, but I only speak it like a gentleman."</p>
-
-<p>On making the discovery, Gondomar rushed into
-the presence of the king, exclaiming, "Pirates!
-pirates! pirates!" James, who was always paralysed
-at the very idea of war, sent in a hurry
-for Raleigh, took back the patent which he
-had granted him, and altered it with his own
-hand. He strictly prohibited the adventurers
-from invading any territories in possession of
-his allies, especially of the King of Spain, but
-commanded that they should confine their enterprise
-to countries still in the hands of the
-heathen. They were allowed to trade and to
-defend themselves if attacked, but not to act
-on the offensive. He moreover demanded from
-Raleigh a memorandum under his own hand, of
-the places with which he meant to trade, and the
-force he proposed to take out. All this James is
-said to have shown to Gondomar, so that, fully
-forewarned, the Spanish ambassador despatched a
-squadron with troops to St. Thomas, of which his
-brother was governor.</p>
-
-<p>In all this, it is clear that Raleigh was imposing
-on the king. This Raleigh himself admits in his
-address to Lord Carew:&mdash;"I acquainted his
-majesty with my intention to land in Guiana,
-yet I never made it known to his majesty that the
-Spaniards had any footing there. Neither had I
-any authority from my patent to remove them
-thence." But this was a point on which Gondomar
-could and probably did enlighten James.</p>
-
-<p>After the guarantees given by Raleigh, Gondomar
-appears to have ceased his opposition;
-having, moreover, taken measures to guard against
-any attack in Guiana. On the 28th of March,
-1617, the fleet set sail, but owing to bad weather
-was obliged to put into Cork, where they lay till
-August, and did not reach the coast of Guiana
-till November 12th, after a troublesome voyage of
-four months. On arriving, two of his ships were
-missing: disease had reduced his men to a state of
-miserable weakness, forty-two on board Raleigh's
-own vessel having died. He himself was disabled
-for active service, and to his mortification he
-learned that a Spanish fleet was cruising near in
-order to intercept them. He wrote to his wife,
-that reduced as they were, he deemed himself in
-sufficient force to accomplish the enterprise if the
-care taken at home to let the Spaniards know of
-their numbers, had not caused all approaches to be
-fortified against them.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_474big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_474.jpg" width="560" height="304" alt="From an Engraving after the picture by A. W. Bayes" title="THE DEPARTURE OF THE MAYFLOWER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE DEPARTURE OF THE MAYFLOWER.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From an Engraving after the picture by A. W. Bayes.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[475]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Being unable to proceed immediately, he sent
-Captain Keymis up the river in boats to discover
-the mine, while he lay at its mouth to ward off
-the Spanish squadron. Keymis was said to have
-been at the mine they were in search of in the
-expedition of 1595. He began the ascent of the
-river on the 10th of December, under orders to
-make straight for the mine, and if he found it rich
-to fix himself there; if but poor, to bring away a
-basket of the ore to convince the king that they
-had gone out after a reality. The exploring force
-landed near St. Thomas, but found the Spaniards
-prepared for them; a battle ensued, in which the
-governor, the brother of Gondomar, was killed,
-but at the same time also fell the eldest son of Sir
-Walter, Captain Walter Raleigh. This enraged
-the soldiers, who carried the town of St. Thomas
-by storm and set fire to it. They expected to find
-in it great wealth, but all that they discovered
-was two ingots of gold and four refining houses,
-whence any ore that there might have been was
-carried off. The Spaniards entrenched themselves
-in formidable positions amongst the hills&mdash;as the
-invaders supposed, between them and the mines;
-but Keymis was so much discouraged by the death
-of young Raleigh, and the violent discontent of
-the men on discovering the emptiness of the place,
-and the preparations of the enemy, who again fired
-upon and killed several of them, that he gave up
-the enterprise and dropped down the river again.</p>
-
-<p>When Keymis reached the ships with the news
-of their ill success and of the death of Raleigh's
-son, Sir Walter was beside himself. Though
-Keymis had been a faithful officer and friend of
-his for many years, sharing the dangers and hardships
-of his former adventures, he upbraided him
-bitterly with his ruin. Keymis replied that when
-the young captain was dead, the men set him at
-defiance, and that to have attempted to reach the
-mines with them would have been an act of madness;
-had it succeeded even, it would only have
-enriched these murderous villains; had it failed,
-both himself, and probably Sir Walter, would have
-fallen their victims. Recollecting the feeble condition
-of his commander-in-chief, he deemed it his
-duty to return to him.</p>
-
-<p>All was lost on Raleigh, who, feeling the acutest
-grief for the death of his son, and seeing nothing
-but destruction await him at home from the wrath
-of the Spaniards and the disappointed cupidity of
-the king, raved against Keymis like a madman.
-The unfortunate officer drew up a statement of the
-real facts of the case, addressed to the Earl of
-Arundel, and asked Raleigh to sign it in justice
-to him: he peremptorily refused. Some days
-passed on, but instead of moderating his bitterness
-when Keymis again urged him to sign the statement,
-he refused, heaping upon him reproaches of
-imbecility or cowardice. Stung by this ungenerous
-conduct, the unhappy officer retired to his cabin,
-and shot himself with a pocket-pistol, and as that
-had not killed him, finished the bloody deed by a
-stab with a long knife.</p>
-
-<p>Horror took possession of the fleet at the
-news of Keymis's suicide, and discord and mutiny
-broke out on all sides. The officers and men alike
-expressed their indignation. Captain Whitney, in
-whom Raleigh reposed the most confidence, and
-who was under great obligations to him, sailed
-for England. Others followed his example, and
-Raleigh soon found himself with only five ships.
-Yet still he had a larger fleet, manned with a
-stronger force of daring fellows than the brave
-crews who had done amazing things under Drake,
-Hawkins, and others, had Raleigh been in a mood
-to lead them. Death and disgrace awaited his
-return home; death or the acquisition of wealth
-capable of appeasing the royal resentment, was
-the alternative which attended a bold onslaught
-on the Spanish shores. But Raleigh's spirit was
-crushed. In a letter to his wife he declared that
-"his brains were broken;" and he sailed away
-to Newfoundland, where he refitted his ships.</p>
-
-<p>He now contemplated the chance of intercepting
-one of the Spanish treasure-ships, which he felt
-assured would set all right with James; but fresh
-mutinies arose and he took his course homewards.
-In the month of June, 1618, after much hesitation,
-he entered the harbour of Plymouth, where he
-was met with the news that a royal warrant was
-out for his apprehension. Gondomar, furious at
-the fate of his brother, demanded condign punishment
-for Raleigh's outrages on the subjects of his
-most Catholic majesty in Guiana. There were
-many reasons why the Spanish Court should long
-for the destruction of Raleigh. He was by far
-the ablest naval commander that James possessed.
-He had been one of those who led the English
-fleet to the triumph over the Armada. He had
-committed terrible depredations in the Azores and
-Canary Isles when he sailed with Essex, besides
-his seizure of the Governor of Trinidad.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Walter was advised by his friends to fly
-instantly to France, a vessel lying ready to carry
-him over. But he seemed to have lost all power
-of self-direction, or it might be that, as his younger
-son Carew relates, the Earls of Arundel and
-Pembroke were sureties for his return, and it
-was a point of honour to keep faith with
-them. He landed, and was arrested by his near
-kinsman, Sir Lewis Stukeley, Vice-Admiral of
-Devon, who conducted him to the house of Sir
-Christopher Harris, near the port, where he detained
-him for nearly a week, till he received the
-royal order for his disposal. No sooner was it
-announced at Court that Raleigh was secured,
-than Buckingham wrote, by direction of the king,
-to inform the Spanish ambassador of the fact, and
-to assure him that he would give him up to him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[476]</a></span>
-to be sent to Spain, and dealt with as his royal
-master should see fit, unless his most Catholic
-majesty preferred that he should suffer the
-penalty of his crimes here. Gondomar sent off a
-special messenger to learn the decision of the
-King of Spain, and meantime Stukeley was
-ordered to proceed to London with his prisoner.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_476big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_476.jpg" width="560" height="418" alt="" title="SIR WALTER RALEIGH RE-ARRESTED BY STUKELEY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR WALTER RALEIGH RE-ARRESTED BY STUKELEY. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_477">477.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Struck now with awe at the prospect of once
-more being immured in the Tower, and with only
-the most gloomy prospect of his exit thence, Sir
-Walter procured some drugs from Manourie a
-Frenchman, with which he brought on violent
-sickness, and aquafortis, with which he produced
-blisters and excoriations on his face, arms, breast,
-and legs. He was found in his shirt on all fours,
-gnawing the rushes on the floor and affecting
-madness; the physicians pronounced him to be in
-considerable danger, and James, who was then
-at Salisbury, ordered him to be conveyed for a
-short time to his own house in London, lest he
-should convey some infection into the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>This was Raleigh's object, and he now employed
-the time afforded him to effect his escape
-in earnest. He despatched his faithful friend,
-Captain King, to provide a ship for his purpose.
-This was arranged, but Raleigh, not aware that
-Manourie was a spy upon him, confided the secret
-to him, and it was immediately communicated to
-Stukeley. Raleigh, observing the strict watch
-which Stukeley kept over him, and deeming him
-worthy of his confidence, gave him a valuable
-jewel and a bond for one thousand pounds, on
-condition that he allowed him to escape. Stukeley
-took the bribe, but while pretending to be now
-his sworn friend, only the more effectually played
-the traitor. He was commissioned to procure all
-possible evidence of Raleigh's connection with
-France, and circumstances favoured him. At
-Brentford Raleigh received a visit from De
-Chesne, the secretary of the French Envoy in
-London, offering him, from Le Clerk, his master,
-the use of a French barque and a safe-conduct
-to the Governor of Calais. On arriving in
-London, Le Clerk himself waited on him and renewed
-the offer. Raleigh expressed his gratitude,
-but concluded to take the vessel engaged by
-Captain King, and lying near Tilbury Fort. All
-this Stukeley communicated daily to the Council.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[477]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>At the time fixed, Raleigh in disguise, and
-accompanied by King and Stukeley, who expressed
-much interest in seeing his relative safely
-off, took a boat and dropped down the river to
-reach the vessel at Gravesend. But from the
-moment that they were on the water, the quick
-eye of Raleigh noticed a wherry which kept
-steadily in their wake; and the tide failing, it
-was judged useless to proceed to Gravesend.
-They went, therefore, into Greenwich; the wherry
-also lay to there, and Sir Walter found himself
-immediately re-arrested by the traitor Stukeley,
-whose men were in the wherry. King also was
-arrested, and Sir Walter was conveyed next
-morning to the Tower. The French Envoy was
-forbidden the Court and soon after ordered to
-leave the country.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_477big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_477.jpg" width="560" height="413" alt="" title="SIR WALTER RALEIGH BEFORE THE JUDGES" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR WALTER RALEIGH BEFORE THE JUDGES. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_478">478.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The answer from the King of Spain did not
-arrive for five weeks. It stated that in his
-opinion the punishment of Raleigh's offences
-should take place where his commission&mdash;which
-he had violated&mdash;was issued. It was, therefore,
-necessary to bring him to trial in London. Meanwhile,
-he had been subjected to close and repeated
-interrogations before a commission appointed for
-the purpose, composed of Lord Chancellor Bacon,
-the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Edward Coke,
-and several other members of Council. He was
-charged with having imposed upon the king, by
-representing that his object was to discover a
-gold mine, when he only wanted to get out of
-prison and commence piracy; that he had endeavoured
-to provoke a war with Spain; that he
-had barbarously deserted his ships' companies, and
-pushed them into unnecessary danger; that he
-had ridiculed and maligned the king; that he had
-feigned madness to deceive his majesty; and that
-he had attempted to escape in defiance of his
-authority.</p>
-
-<p>Raleigh denied the charge of treating the name
-of the king disrespectfully; asserted that nothing
-proved his sincerity in expecting to reach mines so
-completely, as his having expended two thousand
-pounds in the necessary apparatus for refining the
-ore; that he had never exposed his men to any
-danger that he did not share himself, except when
-illness incapacitated him; and that as to feigning
-madness and trying to escape, the charges were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[478]</a></span>
-true, but they were, under the circumstances,
-perfectly natural and pardonable.</p>
-
-<p>The commissioners, finding that they could
-establish no real case against him of sufficient
-gravity to implicate his life, resorted to the usual
-stratagem of Government in those times, as well
-as in times long after&mdash;and set a spy upon him
-under the colour of a friend. The individual
-who accepted this dirty office&mdash;such villains are
-always plentifully at hand&mdash;was one Sir Thomas
-Wilson, Keeper of the State Paper Office. He
-appeared to be hit upon because he had as much
-learning and ingenuity as he had little principle,
-and could therefore easily draw out Raleigh to
-talk by assuming a kindly interest in him. Sir
-Walter appeared to talk freely, and related his
-adventures, and also what daily took place before
-the commission; yet this government pump could
-bring up nothing very criminating. Raleigh declared
-that had he fallen in with one of the
-Spanish galleons, he would have seized it with
-the same freedom that Drake had done; but his
-mere intention to do what had won so much fame
-and favour for other commanders, was not a
-charge likely to go down with the public. Raleigh
-remarked that when he made that avowal before
-the commission, Bacon said, "Why, you would
-have been a pirate!" and that he had replied,
-"Oh, my lord, did you ever know of any that were
-pirates for millions? They that work for small
-things are pirates."</p>
-
-<p>Finding that there was nothing in Raleigh's
-proceedings on this occasion which had not been
-done, and far more than done, with high public
-approbation, by the greatest commanders of the
-British Navy, they dared not attempt to condemn
-him on that score, and therefore James demanded
-of his Council what other mode they could suggest
-to take his life. Coke and Bacon proposed that
-they should fall back simply on the plea of his old
-sentence, and the king sent to the Tower an order
-for his execution. The judges, therefore, received
-an order to issue a warrant for his immediate
-beheading, but they wisely shrank from such
-a responsibility, declaring that after such a lapse
-of time neither a writ of privy seal nor a warrant
-under the Great Seal would be legal without
-calling on the party to show cause against it.
-They accordingly summoned him before them by
-<em>habeas corpus</em>, and Raleigh, who was suffering
-from fever and ague, real enough this time, was
-the next day brought before them at the King's
-Bench, Westminster. Yelverton, the Attorney
-General, reminded the Court that Sir Walter
-had been sentenced to death for high treason,
-fifteen years before; that the king, in his
-clemency, had deferred the execution of the
-prisoner, but now deemed it necessary to call for
-it. He observed that Sir Walter had been a
-statesman, and a man who, in respect to his
-talents, was to be pitied, and that he had been
-as a star at which the world had gazed; but
-"stars," he continued, "may fall; nay, they
-must fall when they trouble the spheres wherein
-they abide." He called, therefore, at the command
-of his majesty, for their order for his
-execution. On being asked what he had to say
-against it, Raleigh replied that the judgment
-given against him so many years ago could not
-with any reason be brought against him then, for
-he had since borne his majesty's commission, which
-was equivalent to a pardon; and that no other
-charge was made against him. The Chief Justice
-told him that this pleading would not avail him;
-that in cases of treason nothing but a pardon in
-express words was sufficient. Raleigh then said,
-if that were the case, he could only throw himself
-on the king's mercy; but that he was certain
-that, had the king not been afresh exasperated
-against him, he might have lived a thousand years,
-if nature enabled him, without hearing anything
-more of the old sentence.</p>
-
-<p>Montague, the Chief Justice, admitted this by
-saying that "new offences had stirred up his
-majesty's justice to revive what the law had
-formerly decreed;" and he ended with the fatal
-words&mdash;"Execution is granted."</p>
-
-<p>Thus Raleigh was put to death to oblige the
-King of Spain, with whom James was anxious
-to form an alliance by his son's marriage to the
-Infanta. The old sentence was but the stalking-horse
-for the occasion, the Court not daring to
-allege as the true offence that he died for having
-invaded the territories of the King of Spain. The
-public having a strong repugnance to both Spain
-and any matrimonial alliance with it, which must
-introduce a Popish queen, would have gloried
-in the real chastisement of that nation and the
-capture of its treasure-ships. Sir Walter was
-executed on the 29th of October, 1618.</p>
-
-<p>Hitherto James had contrived to avoid war for
-sixteen years. He now saw himself dragged into
-a hopeless contest by the folly of his son-in-law,
-Frederick, the Elector of the Palatinate.
-Frederick was a Calvinistic Protestant, and the
-Protestants of Bohemia, anxious to prevent the
-Catholic Emperor of Austria from acquiring their
-Crown, offered it to him, and the Elector was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[479]</a></span>
-imprudent enough to accept it. James was thunderstruck
-by the news, and instantly avowed that
-the Elector had entered on an enterprise which
-would involve him in utter ruin. To enable the
-reader, however, to understand the question, we
-must take a brief review of the antecedents of the
-case. Bohemia, a country inhabited by a branch of
-the great Sclavonic race called Czechs, had early
-imbibed the doctrines of Protestantism. The
-people resisted the imposition of the Papal yoke
-by the Austrian princes, and insurrection and
-carnage were the consequences. At length the
-Emperor Rudolph was obliged to cede to the
-sturdy Bohemians the right of enjoying their
-own religious faith, and it was stipulated that
-they should be at liberty to erect churches on the
-Crown lands. The Calvinists, the most resolute
-sect of the Bohemian Protestants&mdash;for they were
-divided into Calvinists and Lutherans&mdash;declared
-the Church lands were in fact Crown lands, and
-began to build churches on estates belonging to
-the Archbishop of Prague and the Abbot of
-Braunau. These prelates appealed to the Emperor
-Matthias, who decided against the Protestants;
-and an order was issued to pull down
-again the churches both at Prague and Braunau.
-At Braunau the people made resistance, and
-some of their leaders were thrown into prison.
-This created a great excitement, and Count
-Thurm, the head of the Evangelical Church, called
-an assembly of the Protestants at Prague, on the
-6th of March, 1618, to take measures for the
-maintenance of their privileges; but the enthusiasm
-with which this step was attended, from
-all parts of the country, much alarming the
-Austrians, menaces of punishment were issued by
-Imperial brief against those who took part in it.
-This roused the wrath of the people, who, headed
-by Count Thurm, on the 23rd of May, 1618,
-marched to the royal palace, seized two obnoxious
-councillors, and hurled them out of the
-window of the council chamber, which was eighty
-feet from the ground. These men had been the
-servile tools of the Austrian Court, and had
-thereby excited the hatred of the people. They
-refused the rites of marriage, baptism, and burial
-to all who would not consent to become Catholics;
-they were accused of having drawn up the
-threatening letter which came signed by the
-Emperor, and of hunting the Protestants into
-the Catholic churches with dogs. Luckily for
-them there was plenty of mud in the palace
-ditch, and they escaped with their lives to scourge
-the people at a later date.</p>
-
-<p>This bold deed kindled a flame throughout all
-Bohemia, Moravia, Lusatia, and Silesia. Thurm
-sent forth a proclamation assuring the Protestants
-that the die was cast; that they had nothing but
-vengeance and oppression to expect from Austria;
-and therefore the time was come to throw off the
-Austrian yoke, to resume the independence of
-Bohemia, and make common cause with the Protestants
-of Germany and the Netherlands. The
-people flocked to Prague; the palace was occupied
-by the troops of the different provinces; an oath
-was taken from the magistrates and officials to
-obey the States alone; the taxes were ordered
-to be paid only to those appointed by them; the
-Jesuits were chased from the country; a council
-of thirty members was elected to assume the
-government, and Thurm placed at their head.
-All this passed with lightning rapidity and caused
-the utmost consternation in Vienna.</p>
-
-<p>Matthias was sickly and feeble both in body
-and mind, but his cousin Ferdinand&mdash;who had
-already assumed the title of King of Bohemia,
-a bigot of the very first water, and whose name
-soon became the rallying cry of all bigotry in
-Europe&mdash;caught at the opportunity as one sent by
-Heaven, to enable him to exterminate Protestantism
-in Austria. He sent off to the Spanish
-Court in the Netherlands demands for co-operation
-in this great work, and armies were prepared
-in Austria; whilst Thurm and the Bohemians,
-on their part, mustered with all eagerness
-their forces. Matthias proposed to settle the
-difference by arbitration, but Ferdinand rejected
-any such means, seized Cardinal Klesel the Emperor's
-adviser, and sent him prisoner into the
-Tyrol, so that the poor invalid Matthias remained
-a puppet in their hands. He died in March,
-1619. Ferdinand, the prince of bigots, to whom
-whole nations of lives were only as so much dust
-in comparison with the sacredness of his dogmas,
-mounted the throne, being elected emperor in
-August of that year. Now all Europe stood in
-expectation of the bloody decision of this quarrel,&mdash;a
-quarrel which was destined to spread over all
-Germany, draw into its vortex Sweden, Denmark,
-Holland, France, and England, and to be for ever
-remembered in the world as the most terrible of
-contests, the "Thirty Years' War."</p>
-
-<p>At this moment, when the Protestants of
-Germany were joined in a Union for the maintenance
-of their principles, but were opposed by
-the far more powerful League of the Catholic
-princes; when Ferdinand, Emperor of Austria,
-supported by the Elector Maximilian of Bavaria,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[480]</a></span>
-the head of the League in Germany, was promised
-the co-operation of Spain; at this moment
-the Crown of Bohemia was offered to Frederick,
-the palsgrave, and he foolishly accepted it. He
-was a mere youth of twenty, with more ambition
-than ability; but he was spurred on by his wife,
-Elizabeth of England, who told him he had
-courage enough to aspire to the hand of a king's
-daughter, but not to grasp a crown when offered,
-and who, when reminded by him of the electoral
-province which they possessed in safety, exclaimed,
-"Better a crown with a crust, than a
-petty electorate with abundance."</p>
-
-<p>This fatal crown, which Elizabeth came to wear,
-and to have the crust speedily afterwards, had
-been already offered to John George, Elector of
-Saxony, who was too shrewd to accept it. Count
-Thurm had for a time carried all before him, and
-had even marched into Austria and besieged the
-Emperor in Vienna; but this success was soon
-over. The Catholic princes had armed in defence
-of the Emperor; the students of Vienna and fifteen
-hundred citizens volunteered in his cause; the
-distinguished Spanish General Spinola was already
-on his march to invade the palsgrave's hereditary
-State, so despised by the Princess Elizabeth; and
-Count Mansfeld, the general of the German Protestants,
-was defeated on the Bohemian soil, when
-Frederick the Elector was crowned king of that
-country in Prague, on the 25th of October, 1619.
-He reigned only till the 8th of November of the
-following year, when he was expelled from his
-capital by the Austrian and Bavarian forces
-under Maximilian and General Bucquoi. They
-had defeated the Protestant generals in Upper
-Austria and Bohemia, while Frederick&mdash;who
-obtained the name of the "Winter King,"
-because he only reigned one winter&mdash;had lost
-the confidence of his subjects by his luxurious
-effeminacy, his inattention to government, his
-impolitic treatment of the native nobles and
-generals, and his bigoted partiality to the Calvinistic
-party. Even the Protestant Elector of
-Saxony, who had refused the crown, allied himself
-to the Catholic Emperor against him. He was
-roused from table only by the news of the battle
-before his walls, rushed out only to see his army
-scattered, and fled. The Counts Thurm and
-Hohenlohe counselled him still to make a stand
-in Glatz, but he was no hero to fight, even for a
-kingdom; he continued his flight to Breslau,
-thence to Berlin, and did not stop till he reached
-Holland. Elizabeth, his queen, now reduced to
-the crust, far advanced in pregnancy, and deeply
-pitied by all generous and chivalric minds, accompanied
-him in his ignominious flight.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, James had been a prey to the most
-conflicting interests. His Protestant subjects, as
-ill informed of the state of parties on the Continent
-as the unfortunate Frederick himself, had
-received with an outburst of joy the news of the
-palsgrave being crowned King of Bohemia; and
-Archbishop Abbot gave the very text from the
-Apocalypse in which this event, so favourable to
-the Reformed faith, was predicted. James was
-urged to send an army to his son-in-law's support,
-but he saw no chance of keeping him on the
-Bohemian throne. The Bohemians were divided
-into three violent parties&mdash;Calvinists, Lutherans,
-and Catholics. The Protestants of Germany were
-equally divided; some of them had voluntarily
-offered their aid to the Emperor, and others
-had submitted to his victorious generals. Spinola
-was marching on the Palatinate, and James was
-distracted by the fear of his daughter and son-in-law
-being reduced to beggary. Yet if he
-attempted to prop the King of Bohemia on his
-tottering throne, he should offend the Catholic
-King of Spain, the sworn ally of the Emperor,
-and with whom he was at this very time seeking
-an alliance. Without being able to save his Protestant
-son-in-law, he should thus lose a Catholic
-daughter-in-law. If he lay still, all men would
-call him an unnatural father, all Protestants
-would declare him an apostate to his religion.
-Never was man in such a strait. One moment
-he declared to the Spanish ambassador that the
-Elector was a fool and a villain, and that he
-would abandon him to his fate; at another he
-assured the Protestant envoys from Germany
-that he would support him to the utmost. At
-length he hit upon the only rational course;
-which was, not to attempt an impossibility&mdash;the
-support of Frederick on the baseless throne of
-Bohemia&mdash;but to send a force to defend his
-patrimonial territories from the Spaniards. The
-first enterprise was, in fact, soon out of the
-question: Prague had fallen, his son-in-law and
-daughter were fugitives; but the second object
-was still possible, and more necessary than ever.</p>
-
-<p>He sent an army of four thousand men under
-the Earls of Oxford and Essex to the rescue of
-the Palatinate. This force was altogether inadequate
-to cope with the numerous army of
-the able Spinola; and yet James had exhausted
-all his means and all his efforts in raising it.
-Money he had none, and had been compelled to
-seek a loan and a voluntary subscription. By<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[481]</a></span>
-the autumn the Lower Palatinate was overrun
-by the Spaniards, and Bohemia had sought and
-received pardon from the Imperial Court. James's
-real hope was that Spain would join him in
-mediating a peace.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_481big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_481.jpg" width="560" height="429" alt="" title="THE FRANZENSRING, VIENNA" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE FRANZENSRING, VIENNA.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In this state of affairs James was compelled
-to summon a Parliament. It assembled on the
-30th of January, 1621, the king having used all
-the unconstitutional means in his power to influence
-the return of members. In his opening
-speech he now admitted what he had so stoutly
-denied before, the presence of Undertakers in the
-last Parliament, "a strange kind of beasts which
-had done mischief." In that shallow, wheedling
-tone, that rather showed the hollowness of the
-man than conciliated, as it was meant to do,
-he even enlarged his confessions and admitted
-that he had been swayed by evil counsellors.
-He then demanded liberal supplies to carry on
-the war in the Palatinate, for which the people
-had indeed loudly called. The Commons expressed
-their readiness, but first demanded that
-the king should enforce the penalties against the
-Papists with additional rigour, observing that they
-were the Papists in Germany who had deprived
-the Elector Palatine of his crown, and were now
-seeking to deprive him of his hereditary domains.
-They recommended that no recusants should be
-allowed to come within ten miles of London, that
-they should not be permitted to attend Mass in
-their own houses or in the chapels of ambassadors;
-and they offered to pass a Bill, giving to the
-Crown two-thirds of the property of recusants.
-They then granted him two subsidies, but no
-tenths or fifteenths&mdash;a sum wholly inadequate to
-the necessities of the war, much less of his expenditure
-in general. Yet James, to keep them
-in good humour&mdash;hoping to obtain more before the
-close of the Session&mdash;professed to be more satisfied
-with it than if it had been millions, because it was
-so freely granted.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons showed more alacrity in complaining
-of the breach of their privileges. They
-reminded the king of the four members of their
-House whom he had imprisoned after the last
-Session of Parliament, and insisted that such a
-practice rendered the liberty of speech amongst
-them a mere fiction. As it was James's policy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[482]</a></span>
-to remain on good terms with them, he made
-a solemn assurance that he would respect their
-freedom in that matter. Yet, the next day, the
-House, as if to show that they themselves were
-ready to destroy the liberty within, which they
-so warmly contended against being infringed
-from without, expelled one of their members
-named Shepherd, for declaring, in a speech against
-a Bill for restraining the abuses of the Sabbath,
-that the Sabbath was Saturday, and not Sunday;
-that the Scriptures recommended dancing on the
-Sabbath day; and that this Bill was in direct
-opposition to the king's ordinances for the keeping
-of Sunday.</p>
-
-<p>From their own members they next extended
-their prosecutions to public officers. They had
-appointed a committee of inquiry into public
-abuses, and now summoned witnesses. The
-conduct of public officers, judges, and their dependents,
-was subjected to a severe scrutiny.
-They first examined into the abuses of patents,
-and three of these incurred particular censure:
-the one for the licensing of ale-houses, another
-for the inspection of inns and hostelries, and the
-third for the exclusive manufacture of gold and
-silver thread. Patents, to secure to inventors
-the fruits of their discoveries in arts and manufactures,
-are beneficial, stimulating to improvement
-and extending traffic. But these patents
-were of a directly contrary nature, being grants,
-for money or through Court favour, to individuals
-to monopolise some particular business; thus
-checking competition, and defrauding the fair
-trader of his legitimate profits. The inquiry laid
-open a scene of the most extraordinary fraud,
-corruption, and oppression. The three patents
-just mentioned were denounced as national injuries,
-and Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis
-Michell, a justice of the peace, his partner in
-them, were arrested as offenders. The culprits
-sought protection from the Government, Buckingham
-having sold them the patents and divided
-the profits with his half-brother, Sir Edward
-Villiers. The Court was in great tremor, and
-it was proposed to dissolve Parliament to save
-the patentees. But Williams, Dean of Westminster,
-represented this as a very imprudent
-measure, and another course was adopted at his
-recommendation. Buckingham affected a patriotic
-air, as if he himself had been no way concerned
-in it, and said if his brother had shared the
-emolument, let him also share the punishment.
-But this was safely said, for Villiers was
-already abroad out of the reach of Parliament;
-and means were not long wanting to let Mompesson
-escape out of the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms.
-Michell was not so fortunate; he was
-secured and lodged in the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>In these prosecutions Coke was extremely
-active, for he saw a prospect of taking a signal
-revenge on Bacon, who had not only supplanted
-him, but insulted him in his fall. Bacon was
-notoriously mixed up with the corruptions of
-the Court of Chancery; and Coke informed the
-Commons that it was not within their jurisdiction
-to punish offenders not of their own House,
-but that they could punish all offences against the
-State in co-operation with the Lords. Accordingly
-they invited the Upper House to take
-cognisance of these offences, with which they
-readily complied, and sentenced Mompesson and
-Michell to be degraded from their knighthood,
-fined, and imprisoned. James, who had done his
-best to screen the offenders, then in a fit of
-affected patriotism expressed his indignation at
-having had his credulity imposed on by these
-men, and by an illegal stretch of prerogative
-converted Mompesson's sentence into perpetual
-banishment. Buckingham, the guiltiest party of
-all, did not quite escape observation. Yelverton,
-the Attorney-General, who was accused of participation
-in these illegal practices, and who was
-condemned to severe fines and imprisonment for
-life, boldly accused Buckingham, before the House
-of Lords, of his master share in them. But that
-favourite was too strongly fortified by the royal
-favour, and by those who must have fallen with
-him, to be seriously endangered. But lesser men
-did not escape so well. Sir John Bennet, Judge
-of the Prerogative Court, was impeached, as well
-as Dr. Field, Bishop of Llandaff, for bribery and
-corruption. Bennet was charged with having
-granted administration of wills for money, contrary
-to law; but he escaped his punishment by
-obtaining time to prepare his defence, during
-which Parliament was prorogued; but he was
-afterwards fined twenty thousand pounds in the
-Star Chamber, for which, however, he obtained a
-pardon. Field of Llandaff had bound a suitor in
-Chancery to pay him over six thousand pounds, if
-he obtained his suit for him, through Buckingham.
-At the entreaty of the archbishop, however, he,
-too, escaped, under the pretence of being left to
-the dealing of the Church.</p>
-
-<p>But the great offender, at whom Coke and
-others were directing their main efforts, was the
-Lord Chancellor Bacon. Bacon had managed to
-make his way from a moderate position to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[483]</a></span>
-highest honours of the State. He was not only
-Lord Chancellor of the kingdom, and a baron,
-but in January, 1621, became Viscount St. Albans.
-Besides this elevation, he possessed a far higher
-one in the fame of his philosophical works; and
-had he possessed as much real greatness of mind
-as talent, might have stood in the admiration of
-posterity as Milton does&mdash;poor, but glorious
-beyond the tinsel glory of Courts; and it might
-have been said of him as of the great poet&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="center">"His soul was like a star and dwelt apart."</p>
-
-<p>But Bacon, who had placed his name high on the
-scroll of immortality by his genius, was destined,
-like Lucifer, to become more notorious by his
-fall than by his standing. Brilliant as were
-his powers, superb as were his accomplishments,
-he had not hesitated to trail his finest qualities
-through the mire of Courts and corruption, in
-the eager quest of worldly distinction. He had
-risen, perhaps, more by his base flatteries, and
-his calumnious envy of his contemporaries, than
-by his abilities; and he had continued, whilst
-rising, to make enemies on all sides. The king
-and Buckingham had both conceived a deep
-dislike to him. James hated all men of genius
-with the jealousy of a pedant, and was only
-rendered tolerant of Bacon by his abject adulation,
-and his services in punishing Coke and
-carrying out relentlessly the fiats of prerogative.
-Buckingham probably never forgot what he had
-done in the matter of Coke's daughter. The
-Lords hated him for his upstart vanity and
-ostentation, and the Commons for his desertion
-of the public cause for that of the despotic king.
-But perhaps not all these causes together would
-have availed to pull him down, if Buckingham
-had not wanted the Great Seal for his creature
-Williams, now Bishop of Lincoln.</p>
-
-<p>The Parliamentary Committee inquiring into
-the abuses of office, recommended the House
-of Commons to impeach the Lord Chancellor
-for bribery and corruption in the court over
-which he presided; and the Commons accordingly
-presented to the Upper House a Bill of Impeachment
-against him, consisting of two-and-twenty
-instances of bribery and corruption in his own
-person, and of allowing the same in his officers.
-The corruption of the Chancellor was notorious;
-and out of doors it was asserted that he had
-received in presents no less than one hundred
-thousand pounds in the three years of his Chancellorship.
-This he denied in a letter to Buckingham;
-but the charges brought against him by the
-Commons, who were prepared to support them,
-were so formidable that they completely struck
-down the guilty man. He felt that his ruin
-was at hand, and either feeling or feigning
-sickness, he took to his bed. If he had not
-perceived sufficient indications of his impending
-fate from other quarters, the conduct of the
-king left him in no doubt. James informed the
-Lords that he trusted the Chancellor might clear
-himself, but that if he did not, he would punish
-him with the utmost severity.</p>
-
-<p>It must not be supposed, however, that Bacon
-was the first to introduce bribery into the Court
-of Chancery; it was an old and well-known
-practice, which had been both familiar to Elizabeth
-and sanctioned by her. But Bacon ought
-to have had a soul above it, whereas he had
-indulged in the villainous custom the more profusely
-because his mode of living was so extravagant
-and ostentatious, that he saved not a penny
-of his enormous gain, but was always in need.</p>
-
-<p>Bacon, on the presentation of the Bill of Impeachment,
-on the 21st of March, prayed for
-time to prepare his defence, and this was granted
-him, the House adjourning till the 17th of April.
-On the 24th of that month, the humbled statesman
-drew up a general confession of his guilt,
-which was presented by Prince Charles. In this
-letter he threw himself on the mercy of the House
-and the king, and pleaded, with a strange mixture
-of humility and ingenuity, his very crimes as
-meritorious, since their punishment would deter
-others from them. He represented his spirit as
-broken, his mind as overwhelmed by his calamities;
-but he added that he found a certain gladness
-in the fact that "hereafter the greatness of a
-judge or magistrate shall be no sanctuary or
-protection to him against guiltiness; which is the
-beginning of a golden work&mdash;the purgation of the
-courts of justice. And," he added, "in these
-two points, God is my witness, though it be my
-fortune to be the anvil upon which these two
-effects are broken and wrought, I take no small
-comfort." After this edifying spectacle of exhibiting
-his punishment as a public benefit, he proceeded
-to apply that unctuous adulation to the
-Sovereign and to the Peers in which he was so
-unabashed a master. He implored mercy at the
-hands of the king&mdash;"a king of incomparable
-clemency, whose heart was inscrutable for wisdom
-and goodness&mdash;a prince whose like had not been
-seen these hundred years!" And then the Lords
-were equally bepraised, "compassion ever beating
-in the veins of noble blood;" nor were the bishops<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[484]</a></span>
-forgotten, "the servants of Him who would not
-break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking
-flax."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_484big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_484.jpg" width="560" height="417" alt="" title="INTERVIEW BETWEEN BACON AND THE DEPUTATION FROM THE LORDS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>INTERVIEW BETWEEN BACON AND THE DEPUTATION FROM THE LORDS. (<i>See p.</i> 484.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But all this cringing to the Crown, the coronet,
-and the mitre, did not serve him: he was required
-by the Peers to make a separate and distinct
-answer to each charge. He complied fully with
-the demand, confessing everything; and when a
-deputation from the Lords waited on him to know
-whether this was his own voluntary act&mdash;for they
-excused him the humiliation of appearing at the
-bar of the House&mdash;he replied with tears, "It is
-my act&mdash;my hand&mdash;my heart. Oh, my lords,
-spare a broken reed!" This full and explicit
-confession being read in the House, on the 3rd
-of May the Commons, headed by their Speaker,
-attended to demand judgment, which the Lord
-Chief Justice, acting as Speaker of the Upper
-House, declared to this effect:&mdash;That the Lord
-Chancellor being found guilty of many acts of
-bribery and corruption, both by his own confession
-and the evidence of witnesses, he was
-condemned to pay a fine of forty thousand pounds,
-to be imprisoned in the Tower during the king's
-pleasure, to be dismissed from all his offices, and
-deemed incapable of either holding office again
-or sitting in Parliament, and to be prohibited
-from coming within twelve miles of the seat of
-Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>The king remitted the fine, for the best of
-reasons&mdash;that Bacon had nothing to pay it with;
-he also liberated him from the Tower after a mere
-<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">pro formâ</i> imprisonment of a few days, and Bacon
-retired to hide his dishonour at his house at
-Gorhambury, near St. Albans. Nor had his fall
-extinguished all admiration for him as a great
-lawyer and philosopher. Even in the House Sir
-Robert Philips, Sir Edward Sackville, and others,
-reminded the public of the Lord Chancellor's
-wonderful genius and acquirements; and as Prince
-Charles returned from hunting one day, he beheld
-"a coach accompanied by a goodly troop of
-horsemen," escorting the ex-Lord Chancellor to
-his house at Gorhambury.</p>
-
-<p>In that beautiful retreat, it was in Bacon's
-power to have so lived and so written, that his
-disgrace as a statesman would have been soon lost
-in the splendour of his genius and the dignified<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[485]</a></span>
-wisdom of his latter years. But unfortunately
-Bacon was steeped to the core in the love of
-worldly greatness, and the five years that he lived
-were rendered still more miserable and still more
-contemptible by his incessant hankering after
-restoration to place and honour, and his persevering
-and cringing importunities to the king
-and Buckingham for these objects. To such a
-length did the wretched man proceed, that his
-letters became actually impious. He told the
-prince that as the king, his father, had been his
-creator, he had hoped that he would be his redeemer.
-The works which he completed after his
-disgrace were only such as could result from so
-miserable a condition of mind. They were suggested
-to him by the king, but were not executed
-with the zest of his own inclination. They consisted
-chiefly of a life of Henry VII., a revision of
-his former works, and the superintendence of a
-Latin translation of them. At length, finding
-all his efforts vain to move the king towards his
-restoration, his health and temper gave way, and
-he died on the 9th of April, 1626, the melancholy
-victim of an unworthy ambition.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_485.jpg" width="444" height="520" alt="" title="GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.</p>
-
-<p>(<i>After the Portrait by Van Dyck.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Commons had rendered a very valuable
-service by these impeachments of public men, and
-one which has since then operated as a precedent
-in the hands of Parliament to check and punish
-on a large scale the too daring and unprincipled
-servants of the Crown. But, as if carried beyond
-themselves by their success, they now fell into
-a grievous error, and displayed a spirit as aggressive
-in themselves, as it was cruel, bigoted, and
-unconstitutional. One Edward Floyd, a Catholic
-barrister, a prisoner in the Fleet, was reported to
-have exulted in the success of the Catholics in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[486]</a></span>
-Germany over the Elector Palatine. This being
-mentioned in the Commons, that august body
-took immediately such violent offence, that it
-was proposed by members to nail him by the
-ears, bore him through the tongue, set him in
-the pillory, and so forth. On inquiry, all that
-could be substantiated against him was, that he
-had said "that goodman Palsgrave and goodwife
-Palsgrave had been driven from Prague."</p>
-
-<p>For this paltry offence&mdash;which would not now
-attract a passing notice in a newspaper&mdash;the
-Commons adjudged Floyd to pay a fine of one
-thousand pounds, to stand in the pillory in three
-different places, and to be carried from place to
-place on a horse without a saddle, and with his
-face to the tail. The Commons had clearly
-stepped out of their jurisdiction to adjudge a
-man who was no member of their House, and
-Floyd instantly appealed to the king against the
-proceeding. James, who had so often been checked
-in his prerogative by the Commons, did not
-neglect this grand opportunity of rebuking their
-error. He sent the very next morning to demand
-by what authority they condemned one who did
-not belong to them, nor had committed any breach
-of their privileges; and still more, by what right
-they sentenced him without evidence taken on
-oath?</p>
-
-<p>This was a posing inquiry. The House was
-greatly disconcerted, for they were clearly in the
-wrong, and the king in the right. It was a hard
-matter, however, to confess their fault: the
-case was debated warmly for several days; but
-at length it was agreed to confer with the Peers,
-who asserted that the Commons had invaded their
-privilege of pronouncing judgment in such cases.
-The Commons still contended that they had a
-right to administer an oath, and therefore to pass
-judgment. But the Lords would not admit this,
-and it was agreed that the Lords should sentence
-Floyd, which they proceeded to do, as exercising
-their own exclusive right, the Commons contending
-that the Lords now judged him by a
-similar right by which they had already judged
-him. The sentence was severe enough to satisfy
-the Commons. The fine was increased from one
-to five thousand pounds, Floyd was to be flogged
-at the cart's tail from the Fleet to Westminster
-Hall, to sit in the pillory, to be degraded from
-the rank of a gentleman, to be held infamous, and
-to be imprisoned in Newgate for life.</p>
-
-<p>Perhaps so atrocious a sentence was never
-pronounced for so trivial an offence. It showed
-how little either the Lords or Commons were yet
-to be trusted with the lives and liberties of the
-subject, and how ill-defined were still their
-functions. The public expressed its abhorrence
-of the barbarous proceeding, and Prince Charles
-exerted himself to procure a mitigation of the
-punishment, but could only succeed in obtaining
-the remission of the flogging. The Commons
-having executed so much justice and so much
-injustice, but making no approach to a vote of
-further supplies, James adjourned Parliament on
-the 4th of June to November. Vehement as
-had been the wrath of the Commons against a
-disrespectful allusion to the Palsgrave, they had
-done nothing towards the defence of his territory.
-As the public were by no means so indifferent
-on this point, the fear of their constituents
-suddenly flashed on the Commons, and they then
-made a declaration that if nothing effectual was
-done during the recess for the restoration of the
-Elector Palatine and the Protestant religion, they
-would sacrifice their lives and fortunes in the
-cause. This was not only carried by acclamation,
-but Coke, falling on his knees, with many tears
-and signs of deep emotion, read aloud the collect
-for the king and royal family from the Book of
-Common Prayer.</p>
-
-<p>Parliament being adjourned, James proceeded
-to appoint a new Lord Chancellor in the place of
-Bacon. There were three public candidates for
-the office&mdash;Ley and Hobart, the two Chief Justices,
-and Lord Cranfield, the Treasurer, who had been
-originally a city merchant, but had risen by
-marrying a relative of Buckingham's. But there
-was another and still more extraordinary competitor
-determined on by Buckingham and James
-for the Chancellorship&mdash;no other than a clergyman&mdash;Williams,
-late Dean of Westminster, now
-Bishop of Lincoln. That a clergyman should
-be placed at the head of the Court of Chancery
-instead of a lawyer, was enough to astonish not
-only the members of the legal profession, but
-the whole public. Williams himself was openly
-professing to support the claims of Cranfield, and
-expressed astonishment when the post was offered
-to him. He declared so strongly his sense of his
-incapacity for the office, being inexperienced in
-matters of law, that he would only accept of it
-on trial for eighteen months, and on condition
-that two judges should sit with him to assist
-him. Yet this truly scandalous appointment was
-actually made, the real cause out of doors being
-assigned that "his too grate familiarity with
-Buckingham's mother procured him these grate
-favours and preferments one a suddaine." It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[487]</a></span>
-some time ere the barristers would plead before
-him.</p>
-
-<p>But not the less did another event confound
-the dignitaries of the Church. Abbot, the Archbishop
-of Canterbury, hunting with Lord Zouch
-in Bramshill Park, in Hampshire, accidentally
-shot the keeper of the Park in aiming at a buck.
-The verdict of the coroner's inquest was unintentional
-homicide; but still the clergy contended
-that by the canon law the shedding of
-blood had disqualified him for discharging any
-ecclesiastical functions. Much censure was also
-expressed on his engaging in hunting at all;
-and as there were just then four bishops-elect who
-awaited consecration, they refused to receive it
-at his hands. Amongst these were Williams, the
-Lord Keeper, and Laud, Bishop of St. David's,
-who were supposed to be partly influenced by a
-hope of securing the primacy, if Abbot were pronounced
-disqualified. A commission, however, of
-prelates and canonists proposed that the archbishop
-should be absolved from all irregularity,
-and James, as head of the Church, granted him
-a pardon and appointed eight bishops to give him
-absolution; but from this time forward he seldom
-appeared at Court.</p>
-
-<p>During the recess the king performed an act
-calculated to conciliate the Commons. By the
-advice, as it was said, of Williams, the Lord
-Keeper, he had abolished thirty-seven of the
-most oppressive of the patents and monopolies,
-of which the Commons had so long complained.
-But the effect of this was totally neutralised by
-other measures of a contrary tendency. Complaints
-had been made of the growing audacity
-of the Algerine pirates, who had not only seized
-several English merchant ships in the Mediterranean,
-but even on the British coast. James
-requested Spain, which also was a sufferer from
-these robbers, to join in an expedition to burn
-all their ships and destroy Algiers itself. Sir
-Robert Monsell was sent with a squadron for
-this purpose, but the Spaniards did not join
-him, and he was said to have a royal order not
-to risk his ships. Under such circumstances,
-nothing very vigorous was to be expected, yet
-on the 24th of May Monsell sailed up to the
-fort, and the sailors set fire to the ships and
-then retired. No attack was made on the town,
-and the firing of the vessels was so imperfectly
-done, that the Algerines soon put out the flames,
-and threw booms across the harbour to prevent
-the re-entrance of the English. Only two of the
-pirate vessels were consumed, and the Algerines,
-like a swarm of hornets irritated in their nest but
-not injured, rushed forth soon afterwards in such
-force and fury, that they speedily captured no less
-than five-and-thirty English merchantmen. Loud
-and bitter were the complaints in the country of
-this worse than useless proceeding.</p>
-
-<p>To add to the ill-humour generated by this
-imbecile transaction, the public had been greatly
-incensed by the arrest of a number of liberal-minded
-men&mdash;the Earls of Oxford and Southampton,
-Sutcliffe, Dean of Exeter, Brise, a
-Puritan preacher, Sir Christopher Neville, Sir
-Edward Sandys, and Selden, the great lawyer
-and antiquary; and a prosecution had been commenced
-against Sir Edward Coke, on no less than
-eleven charges of misdemeanour during the time
-that he was a judge. Coke, unlike Bacon, had
-amassed great wealth during his official life, and it
-was understood that these charges of peculation
-and bribery had been got up at the suggestion of
-Bacon and Coke's own wife, Lady Hatton.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons took up zealously the cause of
-their members, Sandys and Coke. Sandys had
-been examined on some secret charge before the
-Council, and after a month's detention was discharged.
-Being confined to his bed at the commencement
-of the Session, two members were
-appointed to wait on him and learn the cause of
-his arrest, notwithstanding the assurance of the
-Secretary of State that it had no connection with
-his conduct in the House. They also ordered the
-Serjeant-at-Arms to take into custody the accusers
-of Coke, and appointed a committee to examine
-witnesses. They felt assured that the proceedings
-against these gentlemen originated with their
-popular conduct in Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time, Coke, in the Commons,
-proposed a petition to the king against the increase
-of Popery and the marriage of the Prince
-of Wales to a Catholic. It represented that the
-success in Germany against the Elector Palatine
-had so encouraged the Papists, that they flocked
-in crowds to the chapels of the foreign ambassadors;
-sent their children abroad for education,
-and were treated with so much lenity that, if not
-prevented, they would soon again be in the ascendant.
-Spain was represented, without directly
-naming it, as the worst enemy of England,
-and the king was implored to recall all the
-children of Catholic noblemen and gentlemen from
-abroad, to marry his son to a Protestant princess,
-and to enforce the laws with rigour against the
-Papists.</p>
-
-<p>James received a private copy of this petition,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[488]</a></span>
-and was thrown into a paroxysm of rage at its
-perusal. To dictate to him how he should marry
-his son; to recommend that he should invade
-the territories of Spain, and to reflect on the
-honour of his ally, the Spanish king, were examples
-of intolerable interference with his dearly valued
-prerogative. He wrote at once to the Speaker,
-denouncing certain "fiery, popular, and turbulent
-spirits" in the House, and desiring them not to
-concern themselves about such matters as were
-included in the petition. Adverting to Sandys,
-he denied that his offence was connected with the
-House of Commons, but at the same time declared
-that the Crown possessed a right to punish subjects,
-whether members of Parliament or not, and
-would not fail to exercise it.</p>
-
-<p>The House received this missive with much
-dissatisfaction, but with dignity, and vindicated
-their right of liberty of speech in a firm memorial.
-James replied that though their privileges were no
-undoubted right, but were derived from the grace
-of his ancestors on the throne, yet so long as they
-kept them within the limits of duty, he should not
-exercise his prerogative and withdraw those privileges.
-The House declared its high resentment
-at this language, which reduced their right into
-mere matter of royal favour, and the expression of
-feeling ran so high that James became alarmed,
-and wrote to Secretary Calvert, instructing him to
-qualify his assertions a little. But the House was
-not thus to be satisfied where the question of its
-privileges was directly raised, and on the 18th
-of December it drew up the following protest:&mdash;"That
-the liberties and jurisdictions of Parliament
-are the most ancient and undoubted birthright
-and inheritance of the subjects of England; that
-arduous and urgent affairs concerning the king,
-the State, and defence of the realm, and the
-Church of England, the making and maintenance
-of laws, and the redress of grievances, are proper
-subjects of counsel and debate in Parliament; that
-in the handling of these businesses every member
-hath and ought to have freedom of speech; that
-the Commons in Parliament have like liberty to
-treat of these matters in such order as they think
-proper; that every member hath like freedom
-from all impeachment, imprisonment, and molestation,
-other than by the censure of the House itself,
-concerning any Bill, speaking or reasoning
-touching Parliament matters; and that if any
-be complained of for anything said or done in
-Parliament, the same is to be showed to the
-king by assent of the Commons before the king
-give evidence to any private information."</p>
-
-<p>This was speaking out; the Parliament threw
-down the gage and James, in his wrath, took it
-up. Forgetting that he was represented as ill,
-he rode up to London in a fury and ordered the
-clerk of the Commons to bring him the Journals
-of the House. According to Rushworth, he tore
-out the obnoxious protest with his own hands, in
-full Council, and in presence of the judges; at all
-events he cancelled it; had what he had done
-entered in the Council-book; and on the 6th of
-January, 1622, by an insulting proclamation, dissolved
-Parliament, assuring the public that it
-was on account of its evil temper that he had
-dissolved the House of Commons, and not with
-any intention of doing without one; that he
-should soon call another; and in the meantime
-the country might rest assured that he would
-endeavour to govern well.</p>
-
-<p>The first proof of his notions of governing well
-was the summoning of the Earls of Oxford and
-Southampton from the House of Peers, of Coke,
-Philip, Pym, and Mallory from the Commons, and
-of Sir John Selden, to appear before the Council.
-Some were committed to the Tower, some to the
-Fleet, and others to the custody of private individuals.
-Though nothing in either House could
-have occasioned these arrests, various reasons
-were assigned for them. Moreover, Selden was
-not a member of the Commons, and he therefore
-could have incurred no blame there. But he was
-the legal adviser of Sandys and others, who had
-made themselves prominent in the popular cause,
-and he was known as one of the ablest legal advocates
-of Parliamentary and public rights. The
-two Peers were also at the head of a popular party
-which had sprung up in the Lords, and the whole
-matter was too palpable for mistake. Nothing
-could, however, be fixed on any of the prisoners
-which the Government dared to charge as a crime,
-and after a sharp rebuke they were liberated.
-There were still other members whose conduct
-had excited the anger of the Court, but against
-whom no specific charge could be established.
-These were Sir Dudley Digges, Sir James Parrott,
-Sir Nathaniel Rich, and Sir Thomas Carew. To
-punish them a singular mode was devised. They
-were appointed to a commission in Ireland to
-inquire into the state of the army and navy,
-into the condition of the Church and of public
-schools, into the abuses in the collection of revenue
-and in the settlement of the plantations, and into
-the existence of illegal and mischievous patents.
-As it was extremely inconvenient for these gentlemen
-to absent themselves on such business, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[489]</a></span>
-protested decidedly against it; but they were told
-that the king had a right to the services of his
-subjects, in any way that he pleased; and though
-these gentlemen had stood boldly with their
-fellows in a collective capacity for the rights of
-the subject, they were not sufficiently screwed up
-to the pitch of martyrdom to stand upon their
-individual freedom, and refuse at all costs. Coke,
-who had now taken the lead in the popular cause,
-because the Court had repelled and dismissed him,
-offered to accompany them, and assist them with
-his legal advice and experience, but his offer was
-declined. The subjects of inquiry, of themselves,
-were of a nature to furnish much strength and
-information to the reformers, and the mode of
-punishing these men was as short-sighted as it was
-arbitrary. But the great contest was now fully
-begun, in which the blindness and tyranny of the
-Stuarts, and the firm intelligence of the people,
-were to fight out the grand question of constitutional
-government. Those who regard this as a
-matter only of Charles I.'s reign have strangely
-overlooked the doings and doctrines of James, who
-was the real author of the conflict, and opened it
-himself with all the dogmatism which distinguished
-the royal side to the end. This very
-session Prince Charles had been a diligent attender
-of the House of Lords, but seems to have
-had no perception whatever of the spirit which
-was dominant in the House of Commons, and
-rapidly diffusing its electric fire through the
-nation. The names of Pym, Coke, Wentworth,
-and Laud, were already in men's mouths, the
-heralds of that mighty host, which, for good or
-for evil, was soon to engage in terrible combat;
-the issue of which was to be the morning-star of
-governmental science to the nations, determining
-the true powers, uses, and limitations of governments,
-as well as the liberty of the people protected,
-by its own popular safeguards, from
-licence and anarchy.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_489big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_489.jpg" width="560" height="423" alt="" title="THE FLEET PRISON" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE FLEET PRISON.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In foreign affairs James was placed in particular
-difficulties. The two objects which he
-had more than all others at heart, were the
-marriage of his son, the Prince of Wales, to the
-Infanta of Spain, and the restoration of the
-Elector Palatine to his hereditary possessions. He
-had tried too late to secure the Princess Christine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[490]</a></span>
-of France. She was already affianced to Philip of
-Spain. He had since negotiated for the hand of
-Donna Maria of Spain. If he could accomplish
-this marriage, he should be at once able to secure
-by it his other grand desire&mdash;the restoration of
-the Palsgrave,&mdash;for Spain would then be induced
-to withdraw its forces from the assistance of the
-Emperor against the Palatinate, and to add its
-earnest co-operation in arranging for the Palsgrave's
-re-instatement.</p>
-
-<p>But against this project of marriage&mdash;the stepping-stone
-to these measures in Germany&mdash;stood
-the aversion of the people in England to a match
-with so pronouncedly Catholic a country as Spain,
-and so bigoted a family as that of its Sovereign.
-Just as adverse were the Spaniards, and especially
-the priests, to the young Infanta coming into a
-heretical country, and to any impediment thrown
-in the way of the Emperor of Germany exterminating
-the Protestants there. During the life of
-Philip III., the father of Donna Maria, little progress
-was made in these negotiations, but on the
-accession of his son Philip IV., in 1621, the
-prospect brightened. Both James and Charles
-wrote to the new king and his favourite Olivarez.
-In England Gondomar, the Spanish minister, was
-warmly in favour of the alliance, seeing in it a
-guarantee for the relief of the Catholics and of
-increased strength against France. Lord Digby,
-now Earl of Bristol, late ambassador at Madrid,
-was equally zealous for the marriage; and James
-was the more eager for it as he saw no hope of
-aid in his German project from France. There
-the feeble monarch, Louis XIII., was wholly in
-the hands of a despicable favourite, De Luynes,
-who was insolently opposed to the English interests,
-though the French people, from the hereditary
-hatred of the house of Austria, would have gladly
-marched against the invaders of the Palatinate.</p>
-
-<p>The affairs of Frederick, the Elector Palatine,
-were desperate. The Palatinate, in fact, was
-already lost. Count Mansfeldt&mdash;the ablest general
-who had fought for the Elector's interests&mdash;and
-the Prince Christian of Brunswick, had evacuated
-the Palatinate; Heidelberg and Mannheim were
-in the hands of the enemy; and these generals had
-entered the service of the Dutch. The Emperor,
-in reward for the successful services of Maximilian
-of Bavaria, had conferred on him the Electorate
-of the Palatinate with the greater part of the
-territory.</p>
-
-<p>James himself, to get rid of the maintenance
-of the garrison, had given up Frankenthal to the
-Spaniards, on condition that if, within eighteen
-months, a satisfactory peace were not made, it
-should be returned. Everything, therefore, was
-lost, and James fondly hoped that the Spanish
-match might yet recover everything.</p>
-
-<p>Circumstances appeared to favour his hopes.
-The young King of Spain and his minister,
-Olivarez, responded cordially to James's proposal;
-Gondomar hastened on to Madrid to promote the
-object, and was soon followed by the Earl of
-Bristol, equally earnest for the accomplishment
-of the marriage. It was, however, necessary to
-procure a dispensation for this union from the
-Pope, and this the King of Spain undertook to
-procure through his ambassador at Rome. James
-was not to appear at all in the affair, but with
-the unconquerable propensity to be meddling personally
-in every negotiation, he could not help
-despatching George Gage, a Catholic, with letters
-to the Pontiff, as well as to the Cardinals Ludovisio
-and Bandini; and Buckingham, to complete
-the intercession, sent Bennet, a Catholic priest, on
-the same errand.</p>
-
-<p>The Pope was not likely to grant the favour to
-James without a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">quid pro quo</i>, and therefore, as
-might have been expected, replied that the canons
-of the Church could only be suspended for the
-benefit of the Church; that the King of England
-had been very liberal of his promises to the late
-King of Spain, but had performed nothing; he
-must now give proof of his sincerity by relieving
-the English Catholics from the pressure of his
-penal laws, and the request would be accorded.
-This was a demand <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">in limine</i> which would have
-shown to any prudent monarch the dangerous path
-he was entering upon; but James trusted to his
-tortuous art of king-craft, and rashly set to work
-to undo all that he had done throughout his reign
-against the Catholics. He caused an order under
-the Great Seal to be issued, granting pardons to
-all recusants who should apply for them within
-five years; and the judges were commanded to
-discharge from prison those who gave security for
-their compliance with these terms.</p>
-
-<p>There was a glad and universal acceptance of
-the proffered lenity by the Catholics. The doors
-of the prisons were opened, and the astonished
-Puritans saw thousands on thousands of the
-dreaded Papists once more coming abroad. There
-was instantly a cry of terror and indignation
-from John O'Groat's to the Land's End. The
-pulpits resounded with the execrations of enthusiastic
-preachers on the traitorous dealing of
-the Court, and the depicted horrors of Catholic
-and Spanish ascendency. James trembled, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[491]</a></span>
-ordered the Lord Keeper Williams and the Bishop
-of London to assure the public that he was only
-seeking to gain better treatment for the Protestants
-abroad, whom the Continental princes
-declared they would punish with the same rigour
-as James had punished the Catholics in England,
-unless the British severity was somewhat mitigated;
-and that, moreover, there was no danger;
-for the recusants, though out of prison, had still
-the shackles about their heels, and could at any
-moment be remanded. This, without satisfying
-the Puritans, undid all confidence amongst the
-Catholics. They recalled the habitual duplicity of
-James and felt no longer any security; and when
-Gondomar boasted in Spain that four thousand
-Catholics had been released in England, those
-Catholics only remarked, "Yes; but we have
-still the shackles about our heels, and may at any
-moment be thrust again into our dungeons."</p>
-
-<p>His only consolation was that the Spanish
-match now seemed really to progress. On the
-5th of January, 1623, the twenty articles securing
-the freedom of her worship to the Infanta in
-England, the cessation of persecution of the
-Catholics, and the exercise of their religious rites
-in their own houses, were signed by James and
-Prince Charles. The dower of the princess was
-to be two millions of ducats. The espousals were
-to take place at Madrid by proxy, within forty
-days from the receipt of the dispensation; and
-the princess was to set out for England within
-three weeks. The time for the final consummation
-of the marriage, and the intervals between
-the several payments of the dower, were all
-fixed, and Gondomar and Bristol congratulated
-themselves on the completion of their arduous
-negotiation.</p>
-
-<p>At this crisis, however, arrived two Englishmen
-at the Earl of Bristol's residence at Madrid, under
-the names of John and Thomas Smith. To the
-ambassador's astonishment and chagrin, on appearing
-before him, they turned out to be no other
-than the Prince of Wales and Buckingham, who
-had arrived in disguise, and with only three
-attendants. But how this extraordinary and
-imprudent journey had come about requires
-to be told with some detail. It was said to
-have originated with Gondomar; it had been
-planned on his visit to London the preceding
-summer, and had since been stimulated by his
-letters. He is declared to have represented to
-the prince, who complained of delay, that all
-obstacles would vanish at once if he were to suddenly
-appear and press his own suit. The idea
-caught the imagination of the prince, and was
-warmly seconded by Buckingham, who not only
-longed to seek adventures among the beauties of
-Madrid, but also hoped to snatch the achievement
-of the match out of the hands of Bristol,
-whom he hated. If it were really the scheme of
-the wily Spaniard, he must have prided himself
-greatly on its success; a success, however, which
-produced its own ruin.</p>
-
-<p>When the plan was first opened to James by
-Charles and Buckingham, he gave in to them
-without hesitation so much did he desire to
-have the affair settled. But on thinking it over
-alone, he was immediately sensible of the danger
-and the impolitic character of the enterprise. He
-therefore begged the prince and the favourite to
-give it up, pointing out, with great justice, how
-much they would put themselves in the power
-of the Spaniards, what advantages they would give
-them over them, and what a storm of anger and
-alarm would break out at home as soon as it
-became known. The two knights-errant bade him
-dismiss his fears, saying that all would go well
-and that they had selected Sir Francis Cottington
-and Sir Endymion Porter to attend them. James
-approved their choice, but commanded Cottington
-to tell him plainly what he thought of the project.
-Cottington, who did not seem yet to have been
-let into the secret, on hearing it, was much
-agitated and declared that it was a rash and
-perilous adventure; whereupon James threw himself
-upon his bed in an agony, crying&mdash;"I told you
-so; I told you so before. I shall be undone, and
-lose baby Charles." The prince and Buckingham
-were furious at the behaviour of Cottington,
-and handled him severely; but after all, James,
-with his usual weakness, gave his consent, and the
-travellers set forward on the 17th of February,
-1623, and after an adventurous journey arrived at
-their destination.</p>
-
-<p>Lord Bristol had despatched a messenger immediately
-on the prince reaching his house, informing
-the king that his son and friend were
-safe in Madrid, after a journey of sixteen days.
-Meanwhile, strange rumours began to run about
-the Spanish capital that some great man from
-England had arrived, supposed to be the king
-himself; and it was deemed best to make the fact
-known to the Court. Accordingly they sent for
-Gondomar, who hurried off to Court with the
-welcome news. There were first private but
-stately interviews, and then a public reception.
-The prince was first privately conducted to the
-Monastery of St. Jerome, from which the Spanish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[492]</a></span>
-kings proceed to their coronation, and was then
-brought back publicly by the king, his two
-brothers, and the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">élite</i> of the Spanish nobility.
-Charles rode at the king's right hand through
-the whole city to the palace, when he was conducted
-to the apartments appropriated to him.
-He had then a formal introduction to the queen
-and Infanta. Charles had two keys of gold given
-him, by which he could pass into the royal apartments
-at all hours, yet Spanish etiquette did not
-allow him to converse with the Infanta except
-in public. Tired of this restraint, Charles determined
-to break through the Court formality, and
-speak unceremoniously with his proposed wife;
-wherefore, hearing that Donna Maria used to go
-to the Casa de Campo on the other side of the
-river to gather Maydew, he rose early and went
-thither also. He passed through the house and
-garden, but found that the princess was in the
-orchard, and between him and her a high wall,
-and the door strongly bolted. Without further
-ceremony he got over the wall, dropped down,
-and seeing the princess at a distance, hastened
-towards her. But the princess, on perceiving him,
-gave a shriek and ran off; and the old marquis,
-her guardian, falling on his knees before the
-prince, entreated him to retire, as he should lose
-his head if he permitted the interview. Accordingly
-he let him out and rebolted the door.</p>
-
-<p>Great were the public rejoicings, however, on
-account of this chivalric visit. The king professed
-to feel himself much complimented by the reliance
-of the English prince on the Spanish honour,
-on the earnestness it evinced in the prosecution
-of his suit; and the people as firmly calculated on
-his conversion to the Catholic faith. The prisons
-were thrown open; presents and favours were
-heaped upon him, the king insisted on his taking
-precedence of himself, and assured him that any
-petition which he presented to him for a whole
-month should be granted. There were bull-fights,
-tournaments, fencing matches, feasts, and
-religious processions, held in his honour and for
-his amusement.</p>
-
-<p>But at home, dire was the consternation
-when it was known that Charles had gone off
-with slight attendance to Spain. It was stoutly
-declared that he would never escape alive from
-amongst the inquisitions and monks of that priest-ridden
-country, or if he did, it would only be as a
-Papist. The freedom of comment on the occasion
-in the pulpits caused James to issue an order
-through the Bishop of London that the clergy
-should not in their prayers "prejudicate the
-prince's journey, but only pray to God to return
-him home in safety again to us, and no more."
-Whereupon a preacher, with an air of great
-simplicity, prayed that the prince might return
-in safety again, and <em>no more</em>&mdash;that is, as it was
-understood, without a Catholic wife. Yet to
-pacify his subjects, the king informed them that
-he had sent after them two Protestant chaplains,
-together with all the stuff and ornaments fit for
-the service of God. And he added, "I have fully
-instructed them, so as all their behaviour and
-service shall, I hope, prove decent and agreeable
-to the purity of the primitive Church, and yet
-so near the Roman form as can lawfully be done.
-For," says this stern persecutor of Catholicism,
-"it hath ever been my way to go with the Church
-of Rome <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">usque ad aras</i>."</p>
-
-<p>In so very complying a mood was James at
-this moment, that when these chaplains asked
-him what they were to do if they met the Host
-in the streets, he replied they must avoid meeting
-it whenever they could; when they could
-not, they must do as the people did there. And
-poor James soon found that he had need of all his
-moral pliability. The Spanish Court, as might
-have been foreseen, once having the prince in
-their power, resolved to benefit by it. They soon
-let the prince and Buckingham know that the
-Pope made grave difficulty about the dispensation,
-and the Papal nuncio was sternly set against it,
-and it was inquired how far the prince could go in
-concession. Buckingham wrote, therefore, to the
-king in these ominous words:&mdash;"We would gladly
-have your directions how far we may engage you
-in the acknowledgment of the Pope's special
-power, for we almost find, if you will be contented
-to acknowledge the Pope chief head under
-Christ, that the match will be made without him."</p>
-
-<p>This was asking everything and James was
-brought to a stand. He wrote in reply that
-he did not know what they meant by acknowledging
-the Pope's spiritual supremacy. He
-was sure they would not have him renounce
-his religion for all the world. "Perhaps," he
-wrote, "you allude to a passage in my book
-against Cardinal Bellarmine, where I say that if
-the Pope would quit his godhead and usurping
-over kings, I would acknowledge him for chief
-bishop, to whom all appeals of Churchmen ought
-to lie <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">en dernier ressort</i>. That is the farthest my
-conscience would permit me to go; for I am not
-a monsieur who can shift his religion as easily as
-he can shift his shirt when he cometh from
-tennis."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[493]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_493big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_493.jpg" width="409" height="560" alt="" title="PUBLIC RECEPTION OF PRINCE CHARLES IN MADRID" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>PUBLIC RECEPTION OF PRINCE CHARLES IN MADRID. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_492">492.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[494]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>That Buckingham would have advised Charles
-to abandon his religion for the achievement of
-his object, had he dared, there is little question,
-for his mother was an avowed Papist and was his
-constant prompter in his policy. Before leaving
-London, the two adventurers had obtained the
-king's solemn promise in writing, that whatever
-they agreed to with the Spanish monarch he
-would ratify; so that James might well be
-alarmed at their suggestion. Charles, in fact,
-did not hesitate, in reply to a letter from the
-Pope, to pledge himself to abstain from every act
-hostile to the Catholic religion, and to seek every
-opportunity of accomplishing the reunion of the
-Church of England with that of Rome. The
-letter&mdash;which, Lord Clarendon truly says, "is,
-by your favour, more than a compliment"&mdash;may
-be seen in the Hardwicke papers. Charles afterwards
-said that it was only a promise that he
-never meant to keep; we may therefore see that
-already his father's notions of king-craft had taken
-full possession of him, which, with his large self-esteem
-and a persevering disposition, produced in him that
-fatal mixture of determination and unscrupulous insincerity
-which ruined him. Instead of a firm
-resistance to the palpable schemes of the Pope
-and the Spaniard, and a truthful candour which
-would have convinced them that they had no
-chance of moving him, he led them by his apparent
-acquiescence to believe that they could
-win him over; and when they had carried him
-beyond the bounds of prudence, and much beyond
-those of honesty, he had no alternative but to steal
-away and repudiate his own solemn words and
-acts. Is it at all to be wondered at that neither
-foreign nations nor his own could ever after put
-faith in him? The sophistry and absolutism of
-the father had already destroyed the son, by perverting
-his moral constitution. It is probable
-that Charles also acquired a strong taste for
-ecclesiastical pomp and circumstance during this
-visit and its religious shows and ceremonies,
-which falling in afterwards with the ambitious
-taste of Laud, also tended to direct him towards
-the same "<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">facilis descensus Averni</i>."</p>
-
-<p>James had despatched after the prince a great
-number of people, to form a becoming attendance
-on the heir of England. Others flocked thither of
-their own accord and especially Catholic refugees,
-who swarmed in the prince's court, and particularly
-about Buckingham. The Jesuits did their
-best to convert them, and were encouraged by
-every appearance of success. Though James had
-sent what he called the "stuff and ornaments"
-for public Protestant worship, we are informed
-that these were never used; for though the Prince
-had the Earl of Carlisle, and the Lords Mountjoy,
-Holland, Rochfort, Andover, Denbigh, Vaughan,
-and Kensington, besides a number of other
-courtiers and their dependents around him, they
-had no public worship, as if they were ashamed
-of their heretical faith, or feared to offend their
-Catholic friends. Charles contented himself
-with bed-chamber prayers. The consequence was,
-as Howell, who was there, wrote, that the
-Spaniards, hardly believing the English Christians
-and seeing no evidence of worship, set them down
-as little better than infidels. This occasioned
-great discontent amongst the more conscientious
-of the retinue, and they did not hesitate to
-avow their religious belief, and their contempt
-of the mummery which they saw around them,
-which led to much scandal and anger. Archie, or
-Archibald, Armstrong, the famous Court fool,
-whom oddly enough James had sent as well as
-the Church plate and vestments, seemed to think
-himself privileged by his office to say what he
-pleased, and he did not hesitate to laugh at the
-religious ceremonies, and argue on religious points
-with all the zeal of a Scottish Presbyterian, as he
-was. Others even proceeded to blows. Sir Edward
-Varney, finding a priest at the bedside of a sick
-Englishman, struck him under the ear and they
-fell to fighting till they were thrust asunder.</p>
-
-<p>This state of things would not have been
-tolerated so near the Inquisition except for the
-great end in view&mdash;the belief that Charles would
-become a Catholic. Gregory XV. had written
-to the Inquisitor-General to this effect:&mdash;"We
-understand that the Prince of Wales, the King
-of Great Britain's son, is lately arrived there,
-carried with a hope of Catholic marriage. Our
-desire is that he should not stay in vain in the
-courts of those to whom the defence of the Pope's
-authority, and care of advancing religion, hath procured
-the renowned name of Catholic. Wherefore,
-by apostolic letters, we exhort his Catholic majesty
-that he would gently endeavour sweetly to reduce
-the prince to the obedience of the Roman Church,
-to which the ancient kings of Great Britain,
-with Heaven's approbation, submitted their
-crowns and sceptres. Now, to the attaining of
-this victory, which to the conquered promiseth
-triumphs and principalities of heavenly felicity,
-we need not exhaust the king's treasures, nor
-levy armies of furious soldiers, but we must
-fetch from heaven the armour of light, whose
-divine splendour may allure the prince's eye,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[495]</a></span>
-and gently expel all errors from his mind.
-Now, in the managing of these businesses, what
-power and art you have, we have well known
-long ago; wherefore, we wish you to go like a
-religious counsellor to the Catholic king, and
-to try all ways which, by this present occasion,
-may benefit the kingdom of Britain and the
-Church of Rome. The matter is of great weight
-and moment, and therefore not to be amplified
-with words. Whoever shall inflame the mind of
-this royal youth with a love of the Catholic religion,
-and breed a hate in him of heretical impiety,
-shall begin to open the kingdom of heaven
-to the Prince of Britain, and to gain the kingdom
-of Britain to the Apostolic See."</p>
-
-<p>It was easy to foresee that this absurd journey
-would lead to these determined attempts to regain
-the rich islands of Great Britain to the Catholic
-Church. The Catholics everywhere regarded the
-rupture to have been occasioned by Henry
-VIII.'s Protestant marriage, and nothing appeared
-so likely as that a Catholic marriage
-would heal it. It was not so easy to foresee
-that Charles, at the age of twenty-three, should
-so consummately act the hypocrite. He wrote
-to the Pope, in reply to a most gracious and
-paternal letter from his holiness, calling him
-"Most Holy Father," telling him how much he
-deplored the division of the Churches and longed
-to restore union. Gregory was dead before this
-extraordinary epistle arrived at Rome, but Urban
-VIII., the new Pope, lifted up his hands in joyful
-astonishment on reading it, and "gave thanks to
-the Father of Mercies, that on the very entrance
-of his reign a British prince performed this kind
-of obeisance to the Pope of Rome." Having
-apparently so favourable a subject to operate
-upon, Olivarez now told Charles that the treaty
-entered into through the Earl of Bristol had
-been rather for show than use, and that now,
-as the prince and his able adviser were there
-themselves, they should make a real and effective
-compact. Accordingly, in spite of the strenuous
-remonstrances of the two British ambassadors
-against re-opening the question already settled,
-Charles and Buckingham permitted it; and the
-Spanish minister found little difficulty in introducing
-several new and more favourable clauses.
-There was, in fact, a public and a private treaty
-agreed to. By the public one the marriage was
-to be celebrated in Spain and afterwards in
-England; the children were to remain in the
-care of their mother till ten years of age; the
-Infanta, was to have an open church and chapel
-for the free exercise of her religion, and her
-chaplains were to be Spaniards under the control
-of their own bishops. By the private treaty it
-was engaged that the penal laws against Catholics
-should be suspended; that Catholic worship should
-be freely performed in private houses; that no
-attempts should be made to entice the princess
-to abandon her hereditary faith; and that the
-king should swear to obtain the repeal of the
-penal Statutes by Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>When this treaty was sent home, James was
-struck with consternation. He had pledged
-himself to Charles and Buckingham not to communicate
-any of their proceedings to the Council;
-but the present responsibility was overwhelming
-and he therefore opened his difficulty to the
-Council. After making what the Secretary of
-the Council calls "a most sad, fatherly, kind,
-wise, pious, manly, stout speech as ever was
-heard," the lords of the Council came to the conclusion,
-though reluctantly and with fear, that
-the prince's honour must be maintained and the
-oath to keep the treaty taken. This, however,
-was only the public treaty; James kept the
-private one to himself and swore to it separately.</p>
-
-<p>Having got the English Court, as they supposed,
-thus secured, both the Pope and the
-Spaniard raised their heads still higher and
-showed that they meant to exact the utmost
-possible concession. In Spain the Papal dispensation
-for the marriage was already in the
-hands of the nuncio, but he refused to deliver
-it till the King of England, according to his
-oath, had obtained the repeal of the penal Statutes
-by Parliament; while in England James refused
-to go a step farther till the marriage was celebrated
-and the first instalment of the dower paid.
-When the king's resolve was known, it was conceded
-that the marriage should at once take place,
-but that the princess and the dower should remain
-in Spain till the stipulated indulgence to the
-English Catholics was obtained from Parliament.
-James refused this, and sent word that the marriage
-must be celebrated and the prince bring
-home his bride, or come without the wedding:
-this brought the Spaniards down a little. The
-ambassadors in London assured James that a
-royal proclamation would satisfy them, but he
-replied that a proclamation without the added
-sanction of Parliament was no law; that, however,
-he would issue an order for Catholic indulgence
-under the Great Seal. This they were
-obliged to be satisfied with; but when it came,
-to the Lord Keeper Williams, he refused to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[496]</a></span>
-put the Great Seal to it, as a most dangerous
-act, without precedent.</p>
-
-<p>As there was no prospect of a speedy settlement,
-Charles, who had probably grown tired of
-a princess surrounded by such a hedge of difficulties
-and delays, desired his father to send
-him an order for his recall. It would appear as
-if the prince had planned the mode of his retreat,
-for the preparations for the marriage of the Infanta
-proceeded, on the understanding that she
-was to continue in Spain till spring. James was
-apparently occupied in preparing grand wedding
-presents for the bride, and a small fleet to bring
-her home. This, if carried out, must have been
-very onerous to him; for he had already made
-doleful representations to Charles and Buckingham,
-of the exhaustion of his treasury by his
-remittance of five thousand pounds, and three
-thousand pounds for their "tilting stuff," &amp;c. At
-Madrid the marriage articles were signed and confirmed
-by oath, the Infanta assumed the title of
-Princess of England, and had a Court formed of
-corresponding importance.</p>
-
-<p>Never was the marriage so far off. Charles
-and Buckingham had resolved to steal away and
-abandon the whole affair. They felt that they
-were regularly entrapped through their folly;
-and other causes rendered a speedy exit necessary.
-Buckingham&mdash;vain, empty, and sensual&mdash;had
-given way without caution or control to his
-licentiousness and love of parade. To make
-him more fitting for the companion of his son,
-James had raised him to the rank of duke since
-his departure. His extravagance, his amours,
-his haughty bearing, and unceremonious treatment
-of both his own prince and the grandees of Spain,
-astonished all Madrid. He introduced the very
-worst people, men and women, into the palace,
-and would sit with his hat on when the prince
-himself was uncovered. His behaviour in the
-presence of the King of Spain was just as irreverent,
-and the minister Olivarez was so incensed
-at his insolence that he detested him. He had the
-soul of an upstart lackey under the title of a duke,
-and was never easy unless he could outshine all
-the grandees at the Spanish Court. He was perpetually
-importuning the king to supply orders,
-jewels, and money. Georges and garters were sent
-over in numbers to confer on different courtiers,
-and the constant cry of Buckingham's letters was
-"Jewels, jewels, jewels." He represented how rich
-the Spaniards were in jewels, and how poor those
-looked which they themselves already had. He described
-the prince as quite mean in his appearance,
-compared with the Spanish splendour. "Sir, he
-hath neither chain nor hatband, and I beseech
-you consider first how rich they are in jewels here;
-then in what a poor equipage he came in; how
-he hath no other means to appear like a king's
-son; how they are usefullest at such a time as
-this, when you may do yourself, your son, and the
-nation honour; and lastly, how it will neither cost
-nor hazard you anything. These reasons, I hope,
-since you have already ventured your chiefest
-jewel, your son, will serve to persuade you to let
-loose these more after him:&mdash;first, your best hatband,
-the Portugal diamond, the rest of the
-pendent diamonds to make up a necklace to give
-his mistress, and the best rope of pearl, with a
-rich chain or two for himself to wear, or else
-your dog must want a collar, which is the ready
-way to put him into it. There are many other
-jewels, which are of so mean quality as deserve
-not that name, but will save much in your purse,
-and serve very well for presents."</p>
-
-<p>The prince quite aware that he had entangled
-himself in engagements that he could only keep at
-the risk of his father's crown, and Buckingham
-equally aware of the hatred which he had excited
-in a proud and vengeful nation, the two agreed to
-put the most honest possible face on the matter,
-and get away. Charles, therefore, presented his
-father's order for their return, and pledging himself
-to fulfil the marriage according to the articles;
-nay, appearing most eager for its accomplishment
-before Christmas, they were permitted to take
-their leave, loaded with valuable presents. The
-king gave the prince a set of fine Barbary horses,
-a number of the finest pictures by Titian and
-Correggio, a diamond-hilted sword and dagger, and
-various other arms of the richest fashion and
-ornament. The queen gave him a great many
-bags of amber, dressed kid-skins, and other
-articles; and Olivarez also presented him with a
-number of fine Italian pictures and costly articles
-of furniture. In return, Charles gave the king
-diamond-studded hilts for a sword and dagger, to
-the queen a pair of rich earrings, and to the
-Infanta the string of pearls recommended by
-Buckingham, to which was attached a diamond
-anchor, as an <em>emblem of his constancy</em>. He
-affected the utmost distress at leaving his bride
-even for a short time only, and the princess
-ordered a Mass for his safe journey home.</p>
-
-<p>Never did appearances look more real, never
-were they more hollow. The Spaniards had
-endeavoured by every act, into which the sacred
-name of religion had been dragged, to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[497]</a></span>
-the most of their advantage in the presence
-of the prince, and to extort terms beyond the
-original contract; they were, therefore, properly
-punished. But nothing could justify the deep
-and deliberate falsehood, and repeated perjury of
-a young Protestant prince, whose conduct stamped
-a deep stain on his country and on Protestantism
-itself. The Protestants had long and loudly denounced
-the jesuitry of the Catholics, and asserted
-that no faith could be put in their most solemn
-engagements. Here, however, was a voluntary
-surrender of the pure and lofty morality of Protestantism,
-a willing abasement of its honour to
-the level of the worst Catholic duplicity. We
-shall see that the whole of Charles's conduct
-was lamentably in keeping with this unprincipled
-beginning.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_497big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_497.jpg" width="471" height="560" alt="" title="PRINCE CHARLES'S FAREWELL OF THE INFANTA" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>PRINCE CHARLES'S FAREWELL OF THE INFANTA. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_496">496.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Buckingham was impatient to be in England,
-from news which he had received that certain
-courtiers were busily at work in endeavouring
-to undermine his credit with the king. Behind
-him he left nothing but detestation, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[498]</a></span>
-Olivarez, the chief minister, took no pains to
-conceal. When the prince and he set out they
-were attended by the king himself, and a brilliant
-assemblage of the nobles, who added to
-the prince's presents a number of fine Andalusian
-horses and mules. They halted for several days
-at the Escurial, where they were splendidly
-entertained, and then the king rode on with
-them as far as Campillo. The parting of the
-affianced brothers-in-law was of the most affectionate
-kind, and the king ordered a column to
-be erected on the spot, as a lasting monument
-of it. So Charles rode on, attended by several
-nobles and entertained most honourably at their
-castles. He visited the cell of a celebrated nun
-at Carrion, who was held to be a saint, and to
-whom Donna Maria had given him a letter.</p>
-
-<p>Arrived at the port where the English fleet was
-waiting for him, he no sooner stepped on board
-than he laughed at the credulity of the Spaniards,
-called them fools, and wondered at his easy escape
-from them. They landed at Portsmouth on the
-5th of October, and there and all the way to and
-through London their reception was one piece of
-exultation at the safe return of the prince from
-the clutches of the dreaded Spaniards. The
-country resounded with the ringing of bells,
-the firing of cannon, the whizzing of fireworks,
-and the shouts of the people. The clergy, without
-waiting for royal orders, put up thanksgiving in
-the churches for the prince's happy arrival.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, the prince's perfidy was awaking
-the Spaniards from a trance of astonishment to a
-tempest of rage. From Segovia, he had sent back
-Clerk, a creature of Buckingham's, to the Earl of
-Bristol. Calculating that the Papal dispensation
-would by that time have arrived, Clerk was to
-hand to Bristol an order from the prince not to
-present the proxies left in his hands&mdash;which were
-to be given up immediately after the delivery of
-the dispensation&mdash;till he received further orders
-from home. The reason alleged by Charles was
-that he feared on the marriage by proxy the
-Infanta would retire into a convent. The idea
-was so absurd that Bristol saw at once that it
-was a mere pretence to break off the match. As
-his honour as well as the honour of the nation was
-implicated, he at once hastened to the king and
-laid the doubts of the prince before him. The
-astonishment of the king may be conceived. He
-had fixed the 29th of November for the espousals,
-the 29th of December for the marriage: orders for
-public rejoicings were already issued, a platform
-covered with tapestry was erected from the
-palace to the church, and the nobility had been
-summoned to attend. He gave Bristol every
-assurance that the princess should be delivered
-to the English without delay, and Bristol despatched
-these assurances in all haste to James.
-Meanwhile, the Countess Olivarez communicated
-privately to the Infanta the prince's message, at
-which she laughed heartily, saying that she never,
-in all her life, had a mind to be a nun, and
-thought she should hardly turn one now merely
-to avoid the Prince of Wales.</p>
-
-<p>Only four days before the one appointed for
-the espousals, three couriers on the heels of each
-other arrived from England, bearing from James
-the message that he was perfectly willing for the
-marriage to proceed, on condition that the King
-of Spain pledged himself, under his own hand,
-to take up arms for the restoration of the
-Palatine and to fix the day for hostilities to
-commence. At an early period of the negotiation,
-Philip had declared that on the completion of the
-agreement for the marriage, he would give James
-a <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">carte blanche</i> regarding the affairs of the Elector
-Palatine, and whatever terms James required, he
-pledged himself to accede to. Now he repeated
-that although he could not in honour proclaim war
-against his nephew the Emperor&mdash;being engaged
-as mediator between him and the Palsgrave, at
-the instance of James&mdash;yet he would pledge himself
-in writing never to cease, by intercession
-or by warfare, till he had restored the Palatine
-to his hereditary dominion. Bristol and his
-fellow ambassador thought this assurance amply
-satisfactory; they sent off a messenger in hot
-haste, bearing their assurances that all possible
-difficulty was removed; and they went on putting
-their households into velvet and silver lace, to
-do honour to the marriage ceremony, as if it were
-really to take place. Bristol wrote more earnestly
-to the king, reminding him that the honour
-of king, prince, and ambassadors was most
-solemnly pledged; that the matters of the Palsgrave
-had been treated of separately, and that
-his majesty had always represented to Bristol
-himself that he regarded the marriage as a certain
-pledge of the Palatine's restoration. He added
-that the prince and my lord duke had also acted
-entirely on that opinion during their stay there.
-Charles and Buckingham, in fact, seem to have
-taken very little trouble about the ex-King and
-Queen of Bohemia.</p>
-
-<p>But all was in vain; the prince had determined
-not to complete the marriage. It was believed
-that the view which he had had of the Princess<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[499]</a></span>
-Henrietta at Paris had, even before his reaching
-Spain, changed his intentions; and a courier
-brought from James an order for Bristol not to
-deliver the proxy till Christmas, "because that
-holy and joyful time was best fitting so notable
-and blessed an action as the marriage." When
-we add that the proxy was well known to
-the king and prince to expire before Christmas,
-we can duly estimate this awful language of
-hypocrisy. The King of Spain saw at once that
-he had been imposed upon; he gave instant orders
-to stop the preparations for the marriage, for the
-Infanta to drop the title of Princess of England,
-which she is said to have done with tears, and to
-return to her usual state. The fury of indignation
-against the English in Spain may readily be
-conceived.</p>
-
-<p>The Earl of Bristol had acted too much the
-part of a faithful and honourable servant of the
-Crown to escape the censure of such a Court, and
-the vengeance of such a man as Buckingham. He
-had not hesitated, in spite of the remonstrances of
-the prince, to represent to James, during their
-sojourn in Madrid, the disgraceful conduct of that
-despicable libertine. James had the folly or the
-wickedness to show to the favourite these letters,
-and Bristol received his recall. The ambassador
-wrote to James requesting a remittance sufficient
-to bear him home, having pledged all his lady's
-jewels, and incurred a debt of fifty thousand
-crowns for Prince Charles, so that he had not
-funds even for his journey.</p>
-
-<p>It does not appear that James or Charles took
-any notice of this most reasonable appeal; but
-Philip not only exonerated Bristol from any share in
-the disgraceful proceedings, but warned him of the
-danger which threatened him at home, and offered
-to make him one of the most distinguished men of
-his own realm, if he would take up his abode in
-Spain. Bristol, however, declined the noble offer,
-saying that he would rather lose his head in England,
-conscious as he was of innocence, than live a duke
-or Infantado in Spain with the imputation of
-treason, which was sure in such a case to be cast
-on him. Though he was ordered to quit Spain
-without delay, he was instructed to travel slowly,
-and on his landing he was commanded to retire to
-his house in the country, and consider himself a
-prisoner. The malicious Buckingham did his best
-to have him committed to the Tower, but the
-Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Pembroke
-opposed this injustice with effect.</p>
-
-<p>James had got his baby Charles and his dog
-Steenie home again, but he soon found that they
-had involved him in troubles and debts, which
-very much abated the pleasure of their company.
-They had brought home neither wife nor her much
-desired money; on the contrary, they had spent
-his last shilling, increased his debts, thrown
-away the greater part of his jewels, had left the
-cause of his daughter and son-in-law in a worse
-position than before, and now were vehement to
-engage him in a war with Spain. Under the
-gloomy oppression of these embarrassments, he
-lost even his appetite for hunting and hawking,
-shut himself up alone at Newmarket, and wrote
-to the Palatine, recommending him to make his
-submission to the Emperor; to offer his eldest son,
-who was to be educated in England, to him for his
-daughter; to accept the administration of his
-hereditary territory, and to allow the Duke of
-Bavaria the title of Elector for life. Under the
-advice of Charles and Buckingham the Palsgrave
-positively declined any such arrangement.</p>
-
-<p>The only resource now was to call a Parliament,
-but this was a step which had rarely brought him
-satisfaction. Before doing this he took the
-opinion of the Privy Council during the Christmas
-holidays on these points:&mdash;Whether the King of
-Spain had acted sincerely in the negotiations for
-the marriage? and whether he had given sufficient
-provocation to call for war? The Council
-unanimously supported the idea of the King of
-Spain's sincere dealing, and a majority declared
-that there was no just cause for war.</p>
-
-<p>This result, so hostile to the wishes of Buckingham,
-filled him with chagrin, and his wrath fell
-with especial weight on Williams the Lord
-Keeper, and Cranfield the Treasurer. These men
-had been his most servile creatures; they were, in
-fact, altogether his creatures; but during his
-absence they had seen such evidence of displeasure
-in the king towards him, that they
-imagined his power was about at an end and they
-were emboldened to oppose him. But his fierce
-displeasure and the symptoms of even growing
-popularity which showed themselves round him,
-terrified them and they made the most humble
-submission.</p>
-
-<p>On the 2nd of February, 1624, Williams wrote
-a most abject letter to Buckingham, begging
-him to forgive his past conduct, "to receive his
-soul in gage and pawn:" they were reconciled.
-People who before hated Buckingham now looked
-upon him as a patriot, for having broken off the
-Papist match, and for seeking to punish Spain by
-war. The heads of the Opposition in the House
-of Commons, the Earl of Southampton, the Lord<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[500]</a></span>
-Say and Sele, and others came over to him; and
-through Preston, a Puritan minister and chaplain
-to the prince, he was brought in favour with
-many other members of the country party.
-Buckingham and Charles assured James that the
-demand of war with Spain was the only cry for
-him, as nothing would so readily draw money from
-the Commons. Accordingly, though trembling
-and reluctant, James summoned Parliament, which
-met on the 19th of February.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_500big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_500.jpg" width="560" height="414" alt="From a photograph by Frith, Reigate" title="THE ROYAL PALACE, MADRID" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE ROYAL PALACE, MADRID. (<i>From a photograph by Frith, Reigate.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>He opened it in much humbler tones than ever
-before. He expressed a great desire to manifest
-his love for his people. He then informed them
-that he had long been engaged in treaties with
-different countries for the public good, and had
-actually sent his son and the man whom he most
-trusted to Spain, and all that had passed there
-should be laid before them; and he asked them to
-judge him charitably, and to give him their advice
-on the whole matter. One thing he begged to
-assure them of, that in everything, public and
-private, he had always made a reservation for the
-cause of religion; and though he had occasionally
-relaxed the penal statutes against Catholics a
-little, yet as to suspending or altering any of
-them, "I never," he exclaimed, "promised or
-yielded; I never thought it with my heart or
-spoke it with my mouth!" And this notwithstanding
-that on the 20th of July previous, he had
-sworn in the Spanish treaty to procure the
-abolition of all those laws from Parliament; a
-fact notorious not only to Charles, Buckingham,
-and Bristol, but to all the Lords of the Council,
-and the Spanish ambassadors still in London.
-He concluded by begging them to remember
-that time was precious, and to avoid all impertinent
-and irritating inquiries.</p>
-
-<p>On the 24th of February, a conference of
-both Houses was held at Whitehall, at which
-Buckingham went into the detail of the journey
-of the prince and himself to Spain. Bristol was prohibited
-from attending Parliament, and the duke
-gave his own version of the affair. According to
-him&mdash;for he produced only such despatches as had
-been in a private conference with the Lord Keeper
-Williams deemed safe; "his highness wishing,"
-says Williams, "to draw on a breach with
-Spain without ripping up of private despatches"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[501]</a></span>&mdash;the
-Spaniards behaved in a most treacherous
-manner. He asserted that after long years of
-negotiation the king could bring the court of
-Spain to nothing; that the Earl of Bristol had
-merely got from them professions and declarations;
-that though the prince had gone himself to
-test their sincerity, he had met with nothing but
-falsehood and deceit; and that as to the restitution
-of the Palatinate, he had found it hopeless
-from that quarter.</p>
-
-<p>Perhaps no minister bronzed in impudence by
-years of crooked dealing ever presented such a
-tissue of base and arrant fictions to the Commons of
-England. The despatches, had they been produced,
-would have covered the king, the prince, and
-the favourite, with confusion. Bristol could
-have proved, had he been allowed, that he had
-actually completed the treaty when the prince and
-Buckingham came and put an end to it. So indignant
-were the Spanish ambassadors at this
-shameful misrepresentation of the real facts, that
-they protested vehemently against the whole of the
-statement, and declared that had any nobleman in
-Spain spoken thus of the King of England, he
-should have paid with his head for the slander.</p>
-
-<p>Buckingham was not only defended but applauded.
-The prince during the whole time stood
-at his elbow, and aided his memory or his ingenuity.
-Coke declared that Buckingham was
-the saviour of his country; and out of doors the
-people kindled bonfires in his honour, sung songs
-to his glory, and insulted the Spanish ambassadors.
-The two Houses, in an address to the Throne, declared
-that neither the treaty with Spain for the
-marriage, nor that for the restitution of the Palatinate,
-could be continued with honour or safety.</p>
-
-<p>Of all things James dreaded war: he complained
-of his poverty, his debts, of his desire of
-quietness at his years; but he had not the
-resolution to resist the importunities of Buckingham
-and the prince, backed by a strong cry
-from the deluded people, especially as he saw no
-other mode of obtaining the money so necessary
-to him. In addressing Parliament, he stated
-candidly the many reasons against the war; the
-emptiness of his exchequer and the impoverished
-condition of his allies; that Ireland would demand
-large sums, and the repairs of the navy
-more; and then he put to them these questions&mdash;whether
-he could with honour engage in a war
-which concerned his own family exclusively? and
-whether the means would be found for prosecuting
-it vigorously?</p>
-
-<p>A deputation from both Houses answered these
-queries by calling for war, and offering to support
-him in it with their persons and fortunes. This
-address was read by Abbot, the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, who but six months before had most
-reluctantly sworn to the Spanish treaty. This
-was, indeed, a triumph to the archbishop, but did
-not make the singularity the less of putting an
-address for war into the hands of a clergyman;
-and one, moreover, who had so lately fallen into
-great difficulty on account of his own accidental
-shedding of blood. When the archbishop came to
-the passage where James was congratulated on
-"his having become sensible of the insincerity of
-the Spaniards&mdash;" "Hold!" exclaimed the king;
-"you insinuate what I have never spoken. Give
-me leave to tell you that I have not expressed
-myself to be either sensible or insensible of their
-good or bad dealing. Buckingham hath made
-you a relation on which you are to judge, but
-I never yet declared my mind upon it."</p>
-
-<p>James, indeed, knew very well to the contrary;
-the Spaniards had been too grasping, and had thus
-overshot themselves, but they meant to complete
-the marriage; and it was a most unjustifiable
-thing in James to go to war with them on the
-ground of their insincerity, if he did not believe
-in its existence. But James was desirous that
-as Buckingham had so strenuously called for war
-to avenge his own petty, private piques, he
-should bear the blame of it.</p>
-
-<p>James told them plainly that if he went to
-war he should demand ample advances, and when
-five days afterwards the question of supplies came
-on, he demanded seven hundred thousand pounds
-to commence the war with, and an annual sum
-of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds towards
-the liquidation of his debts. The amount startled
-the Commons, in spite of their magniloquent offer
-to support him with life and fortune; but
-Buckingham and the prince, who were as mad for
-war as they had before been for their foolish adventure,
-let the Commons know that a much less
-sum would be accepted, and they voted three
-hundred thousand pounds for the year, which the
-king consented should be put into the hands of
-the treasurers appointed by the House, who were
-to pay money only on a warrant from the Council
-of War. James also agreed that he would not
-end the war without their consent. The vote
-was accompanied by another address, vindicating
-Buckingham from the censures of the Spanish ambassadors,
-and then the king issued a proclamation
-announcing that both the treaties with Spain were
-at an end.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[502]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Thus was James, after twenty years of peace,
-except in the character of an ally of his son-in-law,
-launched into a war. The Spaniards ridiculed the
-idea; for on the authority of Gondomar, they had
-conceived not only a very contemptible idea of
-James, but that the kingdom was poor, torn with
-religious factions, and feeble from the timid and
-vacillating character of the king. Only one peer,
-the Earl of Rutland, had the good sense to oppose
-the vote for the war.</p>
-
-<p>The restraint of the desire to please Spain
-during the negotiations for the marriage being
-removed, the Houses of Parliament indulged their
-old hatred of the Catholics by uniting in a petition
-to the king to renew their persecution. James
-again protested that he never intended to abolish
-those laws, and would never consent to the insertion
-of a clause in any treaty whatever, binding
-him to an indulgence of Catholics. And Charles
-also bound himself by an oath, that "whenever it
-should please God to bestow upon him any lady
-that were Popish, she should have no further
-liberty but for her own family, and no advantage
-to any recusants at home."</p>
-
-<p>Accordingly a proclamation was issued, ordering
-all missionaries to quit the kingdom by a
-certain day under penalty of death; judges and
-magistrates were ordered to enforce the laws as
-aforetime; the Lord Mayor was enjoined to arrest
-all persons coming from Mass in the houses of the
-ambassadors, and the bishops were called upon to
-advise the king how the children of the Papists
-might be brought up Protestants. The Commons
-called on every member to name all Catholics
-holding office in his town or county, and prepared
-a list of them, which they sent to the
-Lords; but the Lords declared that before they
-could unite in a prayer for the dismissal of any
-one, they must have evidence of his guilt; and
-thus the vindictive scheme fell to the ground.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons, checked in this quarter, turned
-their attention to their more legitimate prosecution
-of jobbers and holders of injurious patents.
-They presented a list of eleven such grievances
-to the king, who replied that he had his grievances
-too: they had encroached on his prerogatives;
-they had condemned patents of unquestionable
-usefulness; and had been guided in their quest
-after them by lawyers, who, he would say it to
-their faces, were in the whole kingdom the
-greatest grievances of all; for where a suit was
-of no benefit to either litigant, they made
-it so to themselves. But this did not prevent
-them from flying at high game. Buckingham
-had never forgiven Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex
-and Lord Treasurer, for turning against him in
-his absence; and the Opposition party, with
-whom the duke was now connected, took the lead
-in prosecuting him on a charge of bribery, oppression,
-and neglect of duty. James was indignant
-at this attack, but had not resolution enough
-to ward it off; though he told Buckingham that
-he was a fool, and making a rod for his own
-breech, and Charles that he would live to have
-his bellyful of impeachments. Cranfield was
-condemned to a fine of fifty thousand pounds, to
-be imprisoned during his majesty's pleasure, and
-for ever excluded from office, from Parliament,
-and the verge of the Court. Williams, the Lord
-Keeper, had also a narrow escape. Notwithstanding
-his cringing at the feet of Buckingham, the
-favourite had by no means forgiven him; petitions
-against him were presented to the Committee of
-Inquiry, but he again sued humbly to Buckingham,
-and having had the opportunity during the
-Session of doing him a service, the duke let him
-off with the proud remark, "I shall not seek your
-ruin, but I shall cease to study your fortune."</p>
-
-<p>Buckingham and Charles now persuaded the
-king to change his foreign policy. They sent
-envoys all over Europe to engage the different
-powers by any argument and by rich presents to
-co-operate in the war against Spain and Austria
-for the restitution of the Palatinate. To Sweden,
-Denmark, and the Protestant States of Germany,
-they urged the necessity of reducing the power
-of the Catholic princes on the Continent. Promises
-of liberal subsidies were added, and the
-concurrence of these States was pledged. It was
-a more difficult matter to influence the Catholic
-countries of France, Venice, and Savoy to a war
-which was actually aimed at the existence of their
-own religion. But the ancient enmity of these
-States against Austria prevailed over their religious
-scruples, and they undertook to assist indirectly,
-by making a show of hostilities against
-Spain, so as to prevent her from giving effectual
-aid to Austria, and by allowing soldiers to be
-raised within their territories, as well as by
-furnishing money.</p>
-
-<p>With Holland they had effected a league, and
-undertaken to send troops to resist the invasion
-of Spain and Austria, when the news of a
-frightful tragedy, perpetrated by the Dutch in
-the East, upon the English there, arrived in
-England. This was what has become so well
-known in history as the massacre of Amboyna.</p>
-
-<p>Since the Dutch had enjoyed their long truce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[503]</a></span>
-with Spain, they had been zealously colonising
-and trading to the East. Besides Batavia, they
-laid claim to all the Spice Islands in the Indian
-Archipelago, from which they had expelled the
-Portuguese. On one of these islands, Amboyna,
-the English East India Company had, in 1612,
-established a small settlement, to trade with the
-natives for cloves. The Dutch compelled them
-to retire, but in consequence of a treaty in
-1619, the English had returned thither, and
-established a settlement at Cambello. In the
-whole population there were only about twenty
-English and about thirty Japanese, whilst there
-were two hundred Dutch soldiers besides other
-Dutchmen in the Civil Service. Yet on pretence
-of a conspiracy between the English and
-Japanese to surprise the garrison and expel the
-Dutch, in 1623 the latter seized Captain Towerson
-and nine other Englishmen, nine Japanese, and
-one Portuguese, and after torturing them into a
-confession, cut off their heads.</p>
-
-<p>The horror with which the news of this
-atrocious deed was received, threatened to ruin
-Buckingham's plans. But the English minister
-made a strong complaint on the subject; the
-States made humble apologies and promises of
-ample redress, and thus it was contrived for
-the moment to smooth over the difficulty. It
-was the more readily done because the unpopular
-Spaniards had already laid siege to
-Breda; and six thousand troops were despatched
-from England to enable Prince Maurice of
-Orange to cope with the able Spanish general
-Spinola. Spinola carried Breda in defiance of
-the Dutch and English; and the Prince of
-Orange, hearing that Antwerp had been left
-without a sufficient garrison, marched thither
-to surprise it but with equally ill success. To
-obtain fresh men and money, Count Mansfeldt,
-the Palatine's old auxiliary general, came over
-to England in the autumn. He was promised
-twenty thousand pounds a month, and twelve
-thousand Englishmen were pressed into his
-service. With these he set sail, to reach as
-soon as possible his army of French and German
-mercenaries on the borders of the Palatinate.
-But the French, who had agreed to allow this
-force to pass through their territory, refused,
-on account of their disorderly character; for
-they were the scum of their own country, and
-several, on their march through it, had been
-hanged for their outrages. Mansfeldt conducted
-them to the island of Zealand, but there also
-the authorities were averse from their landing;
-and while remaining cooped up in small miserable
-transports, in bad weather, and on a
-swampy shore, they began to perish of fever.
-Five thousand of them had died before they
-reached the borders of the Palatinate, and the
-united force was still too feeble to accomplish
-anything. Maurice of Orange, meanwhile, having
-done nothing at Antwerp, retired into winter
-quarters, and soon after died at the Hague;
-whereupon the Earl of Southampton and other
-English officers returned home. Such was the
-miserable result of the campaign into which
-James had been hurried by the folly of Charles
-and Buckingham.</p>
-
-<p>The melancholy thoughts of James were diverted
-from dwelling on these wretched affairs
-by the prospect of the marriage of Charles and
-Henrietta Maria, the youngest sister of the
-King of France.</p>
-
-<p>It was a curious fact that at the time of
-Charles's looking out for a wife from one of the principal
-houses of Europe, the prospect of an English
-royal marriage was made gloomy by the most
-awful reflections to both France and Spain. The
-last Spanish Queen of England was Catherine
-of Aragon, who had found such a tyrant in
-the sanguinary Henry VIII., and suffered divorce
-and severe usage; the last French queen
-was Margaret of Anjou, who had been driven
-from the country after the most heroic endeavours
-to maintain her husband on the throne.
-Besides these sombre memories, the question
-presented formidable difficulties from the temper
-of the English people regarding Popery. Politically
-the alliance was attractive, and this is
-generally all-sufficient in regal matrimony. But
-it was singular that the present marriage with
-a French princess was followed by similar and
-even more fearful results than the former.
-Henrietta Maria married Charles only to engage
-in a similar contest for the retention of the
-throne as Margaret of Anjou, and not only to
-see her husband deposed but put to death.</p>
-
-<p>Charles is supposed by many to have been
-struck by the young Princess of France at his
-visit to the French Court on his way to Spain,
-and to have gone there prepared to break off
-the match. It is probable, however, that the
-thought of Henrietta came back more strongly
-upon him after he found himself disappointed
-in Donna Maria of Spain; for independently of
-the other difficulties already related attending
-Charles's Spanish courtship, it is very likely
-that he was not extremely fascinated by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[504]</a></span>
-Infanta. On the way to Spain, Henrietta, as
-seen by him, was merely a girl of little more
-than fourteen years of age, of short stature,
-and visible but for a brief space. The impression
-which she left could not be very vivid;
-but the Queen of France, the elder sister of
-Donna Maria, was extremely beautiful and, as
-Charles himself said in his letters to his father
-at the time, had so much struck him as to inspire
-him "with a greater desire to see her sister."
-There can be little doubt that Charles was disappointed
-in his expectation, for he was of that
-romantic turn that had he been strongly fascinated
-by the lady, he would have broken through all
-difficulties for her sake. But at the Court of
-Spain he met with another queen, the sister of
-Louis of France and of Henrietta, who not
-only cast the Infanta into the shade by her
-beauty and grace, but actually suggested to
-Charles the more desirable union with her sister
-of France. The rigid etiquette of the Spanish
-Court prevented much intercourse between Charles
-and the queen; she dared not even converse with
-him in French without express permission, and
-one opportunity to do so having been obtained,
-she begged him never to speak to her again, for
-that it was the custom in Spain to poison all
-gentlemen who were very marked in their attentions
-to the queen. But she seized that one
-opportunity to say that "she wished he would
-marry her sister Henrietta, which indeed he
-would be able to do, because his engagement with
-the Infanta would be certainly broken."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_504big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_504.jpg" width="560" height="427" alt="" title="THE LADIES OF THE FRENCH COURT AND THE PORTRAIT OF PRINCE CHARLES" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE LADIES OF THE FRENCH COURT AND THE PORTRAIT OF PRINCE CHARLES. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_5">506.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the other hand, there was a decided desire
-in the French Court for this alliance, despite past
-experience. Mary de Medici, the queen-mother of
-France, had acquired a predominating influence in
-the government of her son, Louis XIII., by means
-of her clever and intriguing almoner Richelieu,
-who soon mounted into vast power in the State.
-She entertained a strong hope of effecting a marriage
-for her daughter with the heir of England,
-and was no doubt early informed of the probability
-of the failure of the Spanish courtship.
-It was soon conveyed to Charles by the English
-ambassador at Paris, that Henrietta had said,
-"The Prince of Wales need not have gone so far
-as Madrid to look for a wife." This following the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[505]</a></span>
-suggestion of the Queen of Spain, left no doubt
-of the wishes of the Court of France, and the
-bait seems to have been soon taken. Buckingham
-would certainly promote the idea to spite the
-Spaniards; and Henry Rich, Lord Kensington,
-appeared in Paris before the Spanish match was
-formally broken off, to open the subject to the
-queen-mother.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_505big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_505.jpg" width="401" height="560" alt="" title="HENRIETTA MARIA" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>HENRIETTA MARIA.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Mary de Medici, though extremely anxious for
-the marriage, played the part of the politician well
-under Richelieu, and gave no decided encouragement
-to the hints of the English envoy, till he
-assured her plainly that the match with Spain
-was positively broken off. Even then, she told
-Lord Kensington that "she could not consider the
-matter seriously, as she had received no intimation
-of such proposal from the King of England, and
-that the princess could not make advances; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[506]</a></span>
-must be sought." On this, Kensington spoke out
-with authority, and received a favourable answer.
-It is asserted that a great sensation was excited
-at the French Court, and the ladies crowded round
-Lord Kensington to have a view of the prince's
-portrait, which he carried in a locket; and the
-locket was soon privately borrowed by the princess
-and kept for a good long observation, she
-expressing her satisfaction with the looks of her
-royal lover. Kensington, by his courtly assiduity
-at Paris and his letters to Charles, endeavoured
-to create a strong personal interest in the prince
-and princess towards each other. Hay, Earl of
-Carlisle, one of James's favourites, a handsome,
-empty fop, who prided himself on adorning his
-person with lace and jewels to the amount of
-forty thousand pounds, was sent as a formal
-ambassador for the marriage negotiation, the
-real conductor of it still being Kensington.
-A miniature portrait of Henrietta was sent to
-Charles, who appeared to be enraptured with it.</p>
-
-<p>So far all went well. But notwithstanding
-the anxious desire for the marriage on the part
-of the French Court, it was not likely that so
-crafty a diplomatist as Richelieu would make an
-easy bargain for the English. The portion of the
-princess was settled at eight hundred thousand
-crowns. She was pledged to renounce all claims
-for herself and her descendants on the crown of
-France. Then came the question of religion.
-James and Charles had lately bound themselves
-by the most solemn oaths that a Catholic wife
-of the prince should have indulgence in that
-respect only for her own private worship; and
-that no toleration whatever should be extended
-to the English Catholics on account of such a
-marriage. But this was not likely to pass. The
-Pope Urban, in the first place, was extremely
-unfriendly to the match. He expected little good
-from a prince who had shown such duplicity in
-the Spanish courtship; and he predicted that the
-alliance, if effected, would be disastrous; being
-fully informed by the seminary priests who were
-in England, secretly prosecuting the support of
-Catholicism, of the determined temper of the
-people on that score, and assured by them that if
-the king dared to relax the penal laws he would
-not be king long; and if he did not soften their
-rigour, the Pope argued, what prospect of happiness
-could there be for a Catholic queen? He was,
-therefore, averse from granting a dispensation.</p>
-
-<p>Under these circumstances the negotiation
-appeared for some time at a stand. On the part
-of the English people, the opposition was scarcely
-perceptible. They saw that they were pretty
-certain to have a Catholic queen; the Stuart
-family did not incline to stoop to the alliance of
-any further petty Protestant princes; the experiment
-of the Palatinate was not encouraging. The
-people, therefore, were far more disposed to
-receive a daughter of great Henry IV., who had
-been a Protestant at heart even when he had
-yielded the profession of his faith to political
-necessity, than a grand-daughter of Philip II., who
-had rendered his memory so odious in England
-and all over the world by bloody persecutions of
-the Protestants. On the part of the French, however,
-the proceedings every day seemed involved in
-growing difficulties.</p>
-
-<p>Richelieu, who, up to the time of the breaking
-off the Spanish match, was most compliant, now
-insisted on the concession to the Catholics of all
-the advantages stipulated for by Spain. He
-declared that it would be an affront to his sovereign
-to offer less. James, despite his recent oath,
-signed a paper, promising indulgence to the
-Catholics, which Kensington and Carlisle assured
-Richelieu was quite sufficient; but it had no effect
-on the astute French minister. "We did sing a
-song to the deaf," wrote the ambassadors, "for he
-would not endure to hear of it." In vain did
-they remind him that the French Court had
-promised that if they gave toleration to the
-Catholics, it would send soldiers to the Palatinate,
-and unite their interests with those of England entirely.
-Richelieu did not deny this, but contended
-that the security was not sufficient; they must
-have an actual treaty. Meanwhile Lord Nithsdale,
-a Catholic, was sent post haste to Rome, to make
-promises of favour to the English Catholics in
-order to procure the dispensation.</p>
-
-<p>At length the French Court agreed to accept the
-secret agreement of James, which was to the effect
-that the English Catholics should enjoy a greater
-freedom of religion than had been guaranteed by
-the Spanish contract. This was signed by James,
-Charles, and the Secretary of State, on the 8th of
-November, and Louis placed his signature on the
-12th to the treaty of marriage. By this treaty it
-was provided, not indeed expressly, as many historians
-have asserted, that the children of the marriage
-should be brought up Roman Catholics till
-their thirteenth year, and that they should remain
-under the queen's care till that age; a stipulation
-amounting very much to the same thing; for
-though Charles chose to construe the article in his
-own way, the mother used her opportunity thus
-guaranteed to fix the Catholic faith firmly in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[507]</a></span>
-hearts of her sons, as was too well and too disastrously
-shown in the end.</p>
-
-<p>If the English Court thought the difficulties
-all surmounted, they were vastly mistaken; for
-the French ministers now expressed themselves as
-not satisfied with James's secret engagement. It
-was, they contended, too vague, and they called
-upon him to specify precisely the indulgences
-which he intended towards the Catholics. At
-this proposition Carlisle expressed his astonishment,
-and wrote to James in a tone of unequivocal
-indignation. He advised the king to
-make no further concessions; feeling sure that if
-he were firm, the French would give way rather
-than hazard the failure of the match. But to
-preach firmness to James was to expect solidity
-from a mist. He was alarmed at the obstinacy
-of the Pope; at the declaration of Philip of Spain,
-that he held the marriage contract with Charles as
-still valid, from a private agreement between the
-prince and himself; and at the strenuous efforts
-made by Philip to bring the Court of France to
-this persuasion. To complete his dismay, the
-Huguenots of France, just at this moment, made
-a rising under the leadership of Soubise. They
-demanded a better observance of the edicts in
-favour of the Protestants, seized the Isle of Rhé,
-near La Rochelle, placed it in a state of defence,
-sent out a fleet to range the coast, and vowed not
-to lay down their arms till their demands were
-granted. James consented to add these express
-stipulations to his secret bond&mdash;That all Catholics
-imprisoned on account of their religion, since the
-rising of Parliament, should be liberated; that all
-fines levied on recusants since that period should
-be repaid; and that for the future they should
-suffer no interruption to the free exercise of their
-religious faith.</p>
-
-<p>All obstacles on the part of the French Court
-were now removed, and the young princess
-prepared for her journey to England. But the
-Pope continued his opposition, still presaging misfortune
-from the marriage, and refusing to deliver
-the dispensation. The patience of the queen-mother
-was exhausted; the ministers of France
-proposed to proceed on a dispensation from the
-ecclesiastic authorities in their own realm; but to
-this James demurred, lest the validity of the
-marriage might hereafter be called in question.
-At length the Pope was satisfied by an oath taken
-by Louis, binding himself and his successors to
-compel James and his son, by all the power of
-France if necessary, to keep their engagement.
-The dispensation was delivered by Spada, the
-Papal Nuncio; the Duke of Chevreuse, a prince
-of the House of Guise, and a near relative of
-James and Charles, through the Queen of Scots,
-was appointed proxy by Charles, and Buckingham
-was ordered to go over and receive the bride.
-But James was destined not to see the completion
-of the marriage, after all his trouble through nine
-years of matrimonial negotiations.</p>
-
-<p>On the 13th of March, 1625, he returned to
-Theobalds from the hunt with an illness upon him,
-which was regarded as the tertian ague, but which
-soon developed itself as gout in the stomach. He
-had long been so thoroughly undermined in constitution
-by his habits of eating and drinking, that
-it required no fierce attack of sickness to carry
-him off. He had always had a strong repugnance
-to doctors and physic, but now the Court physicians
-were hurried to his bedside. At this moment
-appeared the mother of Buckingham with an infallible
-specific&mdash;a plaster and a posset obtained
-from an Essex quack. These were pronounced
-marvellous in the cure of ague, and though the
-physicians protested against their use, they were
-applied. They did not delay, if they did not
-accelerate the catastrophe. On the eleventh day
-of his illness, James received the Sacrament.
-Williams, bishop and Lord Keeper, preached his
-funeral sermon, and said that, having told the
-king "that holy men in holy orders in the Church
-of England doe challenge a power as inherent in
-their functions, and not in their person, to pronounce
-and declare remission of sins to such as
-being penitent doe call for the same, he had
-answered suddenly, 'I have ever believed there
-was that power in you that be in orders in the
-Church of England, and therefore I, a miserable
-sinner, doe humbly desire Almighty God to absolve
-me my sinnes, and you, that are His servant in
-that high place, to affoard me this heavenly comfort.'
-And after the absolution read and pronounced,
-he received the sacrament with that zeal
-and devotion, as if he had not been a fraile man,
-but a Christian cloathed with flesh and blood."</p>
-
-<p>On Sunday, the 27th of March, the fourteenth
-day of his illness, Charles was hastily called before
-daylight to go to him, but before he reached the
-chamber the king had lost the power of speech.
-He appeared extremely anxious to communicate
-something to him but could not, and soon after
-expired. He was in the fifty-ninth year of his
-age, and the twenty-third of his reign. Two only
-of his seven children, three sons and four
-daughters, Charles and the ex-queen of Bohemia,
-survived him.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[508]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">REIGN OF CHARLES I.</p>
-
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Accession of Charles&mdash;His Marriage&mdash;Meeting of Parliament&mdash;Loan of Ships to Richelieu&mdash;Dissolution of Parliament&mdash;Failure
-of the Spanish Expedition&mdash;Persecution of the Catholics&mdash;The Second Parliament&mdash;It appoints three Committees&mdash;Impeachment
-of Buckingham&mdash;Parliament dissolved to save him&mdash;Illegal Government&mdash;High Church Doctrines&mdash;Rupture
-with France&mdash;Disastrous Expedition to Rhé&mdash;The Third Parliament&mdash;The Petition of Right&mdash;Resistance and Final
-Surrender of Charles&mdash;Parliament Prorogued&mdash;Assassination of Buckingham&mdash;Fall of La Rochelle&mdash;Parliament Reassembles
-and is dissolved&mdash;Imprisonment of Offending Members&mdash;Government without Parliament&mdash;Peace with France and Spain&mdash;Gustavus
-Adolphus in Germany&mdash;Despotic Proceedings of Charles and Laud.</p>
-</blockquote>
-
-<p>Within a quarter of an hour after the decease of
-James, Charles was proclaimed by the Knight-Marshal,
-Sir Edward Zouch, at the court-gate at
-Theobalds. He was in his twenty-fifth year, and
-so far as the admission of his title and the substantial
-prosperity of the kingdom were concerned,
-few monarchs have mounted the throne with
-more favourable auspices. But though there was
-entire submission to his right to reign, and the
-state of parties was such that no immediate
-change of executive was needed, yet there were at
-work feelings and principles which required the
-nicest wisdom to estimate their nature and their
-force, and the most able policy to deal with them.
-The battle between prerogative and popular rights
-had to be fought out, and it depended on the
-capacity of the monarch to perceive what was
-capable of modulation, and what was immovable,
-whether the result should be success or ruin.
-Charles was equally prepared by his father's
-maxims, his father's practice, and his habit of
-favouritism, to convert one of the grandest opportunities
-in history into one of the most terrible of
-its catastrophes. The first thing which augured
-ill for him was his continuing in the post of chief
-favourite and chief counsellor, the vain, incapable,
-and licentious Buckingham. The next matter to
-which Charles turned his attention was his
-marriage with the Princess Henrietta Maria,
-sister of Louis XIII. of France, the contract for
-which was already signed. The third day after
-his accession, he ratified the treaty as king which
-he had signed as prince. The Pope Urban, as we
-have stated, seeing that he could not prevail on
-the royal family of France to give up the marriage
-with the heretic prince of England, at length had,
-through his nuncio, delivered the breve of dispensation.</p>
-
-<p>Louis of France, the queen-mother, the bride,
-Gaston Duke of Orleans, and the Duke of
-Chevreuse, Charles's proxy, signed the document
-with the English ambassadors, on the 8th of May,
-1625, and the marriage took place on a platform
-in front of the ancient cathedral of Notre Dame
-on the 11th. The Duke of Buckingham arrived
-to conduct the young queen to England, attended
-by a numerous and splendid retinue of English
-nobility. The showy and extravagant upstart
-appeared at the French Court in a style which
-threw even the monarch into the shade. He wore
-"a rich white satin uncut velvet suit, set all over,
-suit and cloak, with diamonds, the value whereof,"
-say the Hardwicke Papers, "is thought to be
-worth fourscore thousand pounds; besides a feather
-made with great diamonds, with sword, girdle,
-hatband, and spurs with diamonds, and he had
-twenty-seven other suits, all rich as invention
-could frame or art fashion." His conduct was as
-devoid of modesty as his dress, and threw discredit
-on the king who could entrust his honour
-and his counsels to such a man.</p>
-
-<p>The king, queen, and queen-mother, accompanied
-by the whole Court, set out to conduct the
-young <em>fiancée</em> to the port where she should embark
-for England. The procession was made as gorgeous
-and imposing as possible, and at each
-halting place the Court was amused by a variety
-of pageants and entertainments drawn from a past
-age. One alone of these deserves remark, being
-afterwards deemed ominous&mdash;a representation of
-all the French princesses who had become queens
-of England. They presented a group distinguished
-by their misfortunes, the only one necessary
-to complete the number being herself yet a
-spectator, the girlish Henrietta, little more than
-fifteen years of age, who was destined to exceed
-them all in calamity. The king was, however,
-seized with an illness, which compelled him to
-discontinue the journey, and at Compiègne the
-queen-mother was also taken so ill as to detain the
-procession a fortnight at Amiens. There the queen
-and queen-mother took leave of Henrietta. Charles,
-during the delay at Amiens, had been awaiting his
-Buckingham. No sooner did that most impudent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[509]</a></span>
-of libertines reach the French Court than he had
-the audacity to fall in love with the Queen of
-France, the beautiful Anne of Austria. He
-lost no opportunity of pressing his insolent suit
-on the way in the absence of the king, and had
-the presumption to imagine that his daring
-passion was returned. No sooner did he reach
-Boulogne, than pretending that he had received
-some despatches of the utmost importance, he
-hurried back to Amiens, where the French procession
-yet remained, and rushing into the bed-chamber
-of the queen, threw himself on his knees
-before her, and, regardless of the presence of
-two maids of honour, poured out the infamous
-protestations of his polluted passion. The queen
-repulsed him with an air of deep anger, and
-bade him begone in a tone of cutting severity,
-the reality of which, however, was doubted
-by Madame de Motteville, who recorded the
-occurrence.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_509.jpg" width="500" height="243" alt="" title="GREAT SEAL OF CHARLES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>GREAT SEAL OF CHARLES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The sensation excited by this unparalleled circumstance
-in the French Court was intense. The
-king ordered the arrest of a number of the queen's
-attendants, and dismissed several of them. Yet
-Buckingham, on reaching England, does not
-appear to have received any serious censure from
-his infatuated master, for this breach of all
-ambassadorial decency and etiquette; and in spite
-of the resentment of the French king and Court,
-continued to maintain all the character of a
-devoted lover of the French queen.</p>
-
-<p>On the 23rd of June the report of ordnance
-wafted over from Boulogne announced the embarkation;
-and on Sunday evening the queen
-landed at Dover, after a stormy passage. Mr.
-Tyrwhitt, a gentleman of the household, rode post
-haste to Canterbury to inform Charles, who was
-at Dover Castle by ten o'clock the next morning
-to greet his bride. Henrietta Maria was at
-breakfast when the king was announced, and
-instantly rose, and hastened downstairs to meet
-him. On seeing him, she attempted to kneel and
-kiss his hand, but he prevented her, by folding her
-in his arms and kissing her. She had studied a
-little set speech to address him with, but could
-only get out so much of it as, "<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Sire, je suis
-venue en ce pays de votre majesté, pour être commandée
-de vous</i>"&mdash;"Sire, I am come into your
-majesty's country to be at your command"&mdash;but
-at that point she burst into tears.</p>
-
-<p>Charles was delighted with the beauty and
-vivacity of the young queen. They set out for
-Canterbury, and on their way thither were met
-on Barham Downs by the English nobility;
-pavilions being pitched there for the purpose of
-the refreshment of the royal pair, and the introduction
-of the queen to her court. After the
-wedding, at which the celebrated English composer,
-Orlando Gibbons, performed on the organ, the
-royal cavalcade took its way to Gravesend, and
-thence ascended the Thames, so as to avoid the
-city, in which the plague was then raging.</p>
-
-<p>On the 28th of June, the day after the arrival
-of the queen in London, Charles met his first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[510]</a></span>
-Parliament. The king had not yet been crowned,
-but he appeared on the throne with his crown on
-his head. He ordered one of the bishops to read
-prayers before proceeding to business, and this was
-done so adroitly, that the Catholic members were
-compelled to remain during the heretical service.
-They betrayed great uneasiness, some kneeling,
-some standing upright, and one unhappy individual
-continuing to cross himself the whole time.</p>
-
-<p>Charles was not an eloquent speaker, and,
-moreover, was afflicted with stammering; but he
-plunged boldly into a statement which it was very
-easy for the two Houses to understand. He informed
-them that his father had left debts to the
-amount of seven hundred thousand pounds; that
-the money voted for the war against Spain and
-Austria was expended, and he therefore called
-upon them for liberal supplies. He declared his
-resolution to prosecute the wars which they had so
-loudly called for with vigour, but it was for them
-to furnish the means.</p>
-
-<p>As he was beginning his reign, and had not
-plunged himself into very heavy debt, or preached
-up, like his father, the claims of the prerogative,
-he had a right to expect a more generous treatment
-than James. But, notwithstanding the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">éclat</i>
-of a new reign, and the usual desire on such occasions
-to stand well with the throne, the Commons
-displayed no enthusiasm in voting their money.
-There were many causes, even under a new king,
-to produce this coolness. Charles had won their
-popularity by abandoning the Spanish match, but
-he had now neutralised that merit by taking a
-Catholic queen from France. To please the
-Commons and the public generally, he should
-have selected a wife from one of the Protestant
-houses of Germany or the Netherlands; but for
-this he had displayed no desire. In the second
-place, he had retained the hated Buckingham in
-all his former eminence, both as a minister of
-the Crown, and as his own associate. Besides,
-they had no faith in his abilities, either as a
-commander or a statesman, and beheld with disgust
-his reckless extravagance and the unconcealed
-infamy of his life at home. No talent
-whatever had been shown in the war in Germany
-for the restoration of the Palatinate; and, therefore,
-the Commons, instead of voting money to
-defray the late king's debts and to carry on
-the war efficiently, restricted their advances to
-two subsidies, amounting to about one hundred
-and forty thousand pounds, and to the
-grant of tonnage and poundage, not for life
-as aforetime, but merely for the space of one year.</p>
-
-<p>But still more apprehensive were they on the
-subject of religion. The breach with Spain had
-naturally removed any delicacy on the part of
-the Spaniards to conceal the treacherous concessions,
-in perfect contradiction to the public professions
-of both the late and the present king,
-which had been made on that head. It was now
-freely whispered that the like had been made to
-France, and the sight of the crowd of priests
-and Catholic courtiers who had flocked over with
-the queen, and the performance of the Mass in the
-king's own house, led the zealous Reformers to
-believe that there was a tacit intention on the
-part of the king to restore the Catholic religion.</p>
-
-<p>What rendered the Commons more sensitive on
-this point were the writings of Dr. Montague, one
-of the king's chaplains and editor of his father's
-works. In a controversy with a Catholic missionary,
-he had disowned the Calvinistic doctrines
-of the Puritans with which his church was
-charged, and declared for the Arminian tenets
-of which Laud was the great champion. This
-gave much offence; he was accused of being a
-concealed Papist, and two Puritan ministers,
-Yates and Ward, prepared a charge against him
-and laid it before Parliament. Montague denied
-that he was amenable to Parliament and "appealed
-unto Cæsar." Charles informed the Commons
-that the cognisance of his chaplains belonged
-to him, and not to them. But they asserted their
-right to deal with all such cases, and summoned
-him to appear at the bar of the House, where they
-bound him in a bond of two thousand pounds to
-appear when called for.</p>
-
-<p>Charles endeavoured to direct their attention
-to the state of the finances, showing them the
-inadequacy of their votes, the fitting out of the
-navy amounting alone to three hundred thousand
-pounds. He was beyond all indignant at the
-grant of tonnage and poundage for only one
-year, seeing that his predecessors from the time
-of Henry VI. had enjoyed it for life; and the
-Lords threw out that part of the vote for this
-reason, so that he had no Parliamentary right
-to collect it at all. To make matters worse,
-instead of attending to the pleading of Lord
-Conway, the Chief Secretary, for further grants,
-they presented to the king, after listening to
-four sermons one day and taking the Sacrament
-the next, a "pious petition" praying him&mdash;as he
-valued the maintenance of true religion and
-would discourage superstition and idolatry&mdash;to put
-in force the penal Statutes against Catholics.</p>
-
-<p>To this demand Charles could only return an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[511]</a></span>
-evasive answer. He had recently bound himself
-by the most solemn oaths to do nothing of the
-kind; and under the sanction of the marriage
-treaty with France, the Mass was every day
-celebrated under his own roof, and his palace
-and its immediate vicinity swarmed with Catholics
-and their priests. Nay, he had, just before summoning
-Parliament, been called on by France to
-send a fleet in virtue of this treaty to assist in
-putting down the Huguenots. Soubise, the
-General of the Huguenots, still retained possession
-of La Rochelle and the island of Rhé, and
-their fleet scoured the coasts in such force that
-the French fleet dared not attempt to cope with
-it. Richelieu, therefore, requested Charles to
-give Louis assistance. Charles delayed until he
-received news, which proved to be premature, that
-peace had been concluded with the Huguenots.
-Thereupon he concluded that the ships might be
-sent without danger. Accordingly, though the
-affairs of the English fleet had been wofully misconducted
-ever since Buckingham had been Lord
-Admiral, he mustered seven merchant vessels, and
-sent them with the <em>Vanguard</em>, the only ship of the
-line that was fit for sea, under the command of
-Admiral Pennington, to La Rochelle. The destination
-of the fleet was declared to be Genoa, but
-on reaching Dieppe, the officers and crew were
-astonished to receive orders to take on board
-French soldiers and sailors, and proceed to La
-Rochelle to fight against the Protestants. They
-refused to a man, and notwithstanding the imperative
-commands of the Duke of Montmorency
-the Lord Admiral of France, they compelled their
-own admiral to put back to the Downs.</p>
-
-<p>On this ignominious return, Pennington requested
-to be permitted to decline this service,
-and his desire was much favoured by the remonstrances
-of the Huguenots, who sent over
-an envoy, entreating the king not to give such a
-triumph to Popery as to fight against the Protestants.
-Charles, with that fatal duplicity
-which he had learned so early under his father,
-sent fair words to Soubise, the Duke of Rohan,
-and the other leaders of the Huguenots; but
-Buckingham, by speaking out more plainly, exposed
-the hollowness of his master. He assured
-the navy that they were bound by treaty, and
-fight they must for the king of France. Both
-officers and owners of the ships declared that
-as they were chartered for the service of the
-king of England, they should not be handed
-over to the French without an order from the
-king himself. Thereupon Buckingham hastened
-down to Rochester, accompanied by the French
-ambassador, who offered to charter the vessels
-for his Government. Men, owners, and officers,
-refused positively any such service.</p>
-
-<p>Disappointed by this display of true English
-spirit, Charles ordered Secretary Conway to write
-to Vice-Admiral Pennington in his name, commanding
-him that he should proceed to Dieppe
-and take on board as many men as the French
-Government desired, for which this letter was his
-warrant. At the same time Pennington received
-an autographic letter from Charles, commanding
-him to make over the <em>Vanguard</em> to the French
-admiral at Dieppe, and to order the commanders
-of the seven merchant ships to do the same, and in
-case of refusal to compel them by force. All this
-appears to have been imposed on Pennington as a
-matter of strict secrecy; and that officer had not
-the virtue to refuse so degrading a service. The
-fleet again sailed to Dieppe: the men must have
-more than suspected the object; and when
-Pennington made over the <em>Vanguard</em>, and delivered
-the royal order to the captains of the
-seven merchant vessels, they declined to obey,
-and weighed anchor to return home. On this
-Pennington, who proved himself the fitting tool
-of such a king, fired into them, and overawed
-all of them except Sir Ferdinand Gore, in the
-<em>Neptune</em>, who kept on his way, disdaining to
-disgrace himself by such a deed. The French
-were taken on board and conveyed to La Rochelle.
-But that was all that was accomplished; for
-the English seamen instantly deserted on reaching
-land, and many of them hastened to join the
-ranks of the Huguenots, the rest returning home
-overflowing with indignation and spreading everywhere
-the disgrace of the royal conduct.</p>
-
-<p>In the whole of this transaction the headstrong
-fatality of Charles was conspicuous, and foreboded
-the miseries that were to follow. In the midst of
-the public excitement from this cause, the Parliament
-met at Oxford on the 1st of August. The
-result was as might have been expected. On the
-king demanding the restoration of the vote of
-tonnage and poundage, negatived by the Lords,
-or that other subsidies should be granted in lieu of
-it, the Commons refused both. In reply to the
-king's inquiry how the war was to be carried on,
-they replied that they must first be satisfied
-against whom the war was really to be directed.
-They complained that the penal statutes against
-the Papists were not enforced as promised, and
-proceeded to their favourite avocation of attacking
-public grievances. On this topic Coke came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[512]</a></span>
-forward with an eloquence and a boldness which
-astonished the Court. With an unsparing vigour
-worthy of his earlier years&mdash;but in a much
-better cause than that in which his abilities
-were then often exercised&mdash;he denounced the
-new offices created, the monopolies granted, and
-the lavish waste of the public money, all for
-the benefit of Buckingham and his relations. He
-insisted that the useless pensions which had been
-recently granted should be stopped till the late
-king's debts were paid, and that a system of
-strict economy should be substituted for the now
-extravagant expenditure of the royal household.
-Others followed in the same strain, denouncing
-the odious practice of selling offices, of which
-Buckingham and his mother were the chief
-vendors.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_512big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_512.jpg" width="560" height="424" alt="" title="CHARLES WELCOMING HIS QUEEN TO ENGLAND" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CHARLES WELCOMING HIS QUEEN TO ENGLAND. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_509">509.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>A third party showed that they were armed
-with dangerous matter by the still disgraced and
-restrained Earl of Bristol. They charged Buckingham
-with his mal-administration of affairs, with his
-incompetency as Lord High Admiral, and with
-having involved this country in an unnecessary
-war with Spain, merely in revenge of a private
-quarrel with the Spanish minister, Olivarez.
-They demanded an inquiry into that affair. One
-of the members of the House venturing to defend
-the Government, and condemning the licence
-of speech against the Crown, was speedily brought
-upon his knees and compelled to implore pardon
-at the Bar. Sir Robert Cotton, the founder of
-the Cottonian Library, applauded the wisdom
-and spirit of the House in thus summarily
-dealing with this unworthy member; and after
-giving a description of the conduct of the late
-favourite, Somerset, and of the follies and crimes
-of favourites of former reigns, as the Spencers,
-the Gavestons, the Poles, and others, pronounced
-Buckingham as far more insolent, mischievous,
-and incompetent than any of them.</p>
-
-<p>The favourite, thus rudely handled, was quietly
-enjoying himself at Woodstock; but the king
-made him aware of the necessity of defending
-himself. He hastened to town, and delivered in
-his place in the Peers, a statement of the accounts
-of the navy, and a stout denial of any personal
-motives in the quarrel with Spain. He clearly
-showed that he felt whence the danger came,
-and alluding to the Earl of Bristol, said, "I am
-minded to leave that business asleep, but if it
-should awake, it will prove a lion to devour him
-who co-operated with Olivarez."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 432px;"><a href="images/i_512abig.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_512a.jpg" width="432" height="560" alt="" title="ILLUMINATED PAGE, WITH BORDERING" /></a>
-<div class="caption">
-<p class="smaller"><i>From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum.</i> &nbsp; &nbsp; <i>Reproduced by André &amp; Sleigh, Ld., Bushey, Herts.</i></p>
-
-<p>ILLUMINATED PAGE, WITH BORDERING.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">THE ILLUMINATION SHOWS THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY, WENCESLAUS, AND CHARLES VI OF FRANCE SITTING IN COUNCIL (PROBABLY IN THE CATHEDRAL
-OF RHEIMS) TO DEVISE MEANS FOR TERMINATING THE SCHISM IN THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[513]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_513.jpg" width="460" height="520" alt="" title="CHARLES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>CHARLES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>To cut short these awkward debates, the king
-sent word to the Commons that as the plague was
-already in Oxford, it was necessary to make quick
-work, and that they should finish the grant of
-supplies. He offered to accept for the present
-forty thousand pounds; but the House refused
-even this, saying that if that was all that was
-necessary, it might readily be raised by a loan
-to the Crown. This put the king beyond his
-patience, and he menaced them with a speedy
-dissolution; adding if they were not afraid of
-their health, he would take care of it for them,
-by releasing them from the plague-invaded city,
-and find some means of helping himself. The
-Commons were not in a temper to be intimidated;
-on the contrary, they went into a most warm and
-spirited debate on the king's message, and appointed
-a committee to prepare a reply. In this
-they thanked him for his care of their health,
-and of the religion of the nation, and promised
-supplies when the abuses of the Government were
-redressed; and they called upon him not to suffer
-himself to be prejudiced against the greatest safeguard
-that a king could have&mdash;the faithful and
-dutiful Commons&mdash;by interested persons. Before
-they had time, however, to present this address,
-Charles dissolved the Parliament, which had only
-sat in this Oxford Session twelve days.</p>
-
-<p>Thus deprived of all the necessary funds for
-a war, none but so infatuated a monarch as
-Charles would have persisted in plunging into
-it. War had not yet been proclaimed against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[514]</a></span>
-Spain; it was neither necessary nor expedient;
-on the contrary, every motive of political wisdom
-warned him to peace in that quarter, if he really
-wished to be at liberty to prosecute the interests
-of the Elector and the Protestant cause. But led
-by the splenetic imbecility of Buckingham, so far
-was he from seeing the folly of a war with Spain,
-that he was soon pushed into one with France.
-In fact, he took every step which would have been
-avoided by a wise prince, and speedily involved
-himself in a labyrinth of inextricable difficulties.
-Spain quieted and even soothed; France cultivated
-with the object of obtaining its influence
-and aid in the recovery of the Palatinate; and
-the Protestants of Germany sympathised with, if
-not aided substantially in their severe struggle
-against Austrian bigotry, Charles might have
-eventually restored his sister and her husband
-to their old estate, and have won a place in the
-European world superior to any king of his time.
-Instead of this, he took the surest means to
-exasperate his own people and his most powerful
-neighbour that his worst enemies could have
-suggested.</p>
-
-<p>To raise money for the prosecution of the war
-against Spain, he ordered the duties of tonnage
-and poundage to be levied, notwithstanding they
-were not voted by the Peers. He issued writs of
-Privy Seal to the nobility, gentry, and clergy, for
-loans of money, and menaced vengeance if they
-were not complied with. All salaries and fees
-were suspended, and to such a strait was he
-reduced by his efforts to man and supply the
-fleet, that he was obliged to borrow three
-thousand pounds from the corporations of Southampton
-and Salisbury to enable him to meet the
-expenses of his own table.</p>
-
-<p>At length the fleet was ready to sail with a
-force of ten thousand men; the English fleet
-consisted of eighty sail, and the Dutch sent an
-addition of sixteen sail. In weight and armament
-of ships such a force had scarcely ever before
-left an English port. But formidable as was
-this naval power, it was rendered perfectly inert
-by the same utter want of judgment and genius
-which marked all the measures of Buckingham.
-Its destination was to have been kept secret,
-so that it might take the Spaniards by surprise;
-but it was well known, not only to that nation,
-but to the whole Continent. In spite of this, such
-a force, in the hands of a Drake or a Nottingham,
-might have struck a ruinous blow at the Spanish
-navy and seaports; but Buckingham, for his own
-selfish purposes, appointed to the command Sir
-Edward Cecil, now created Viscount Wimbledon,
-a man who had, indeed, grown grey in the service
-of the States of Holland, but only to make himself
-known as most incompetent to such an enterprise.
-He was, moreover, a land officer, whilst the admiral
-to whom the command regularly fell, in case
-the Lord High Admiral himself did not take it&mdash;Sir
-Robert Mansell, Vice-Admiral of England&mdash;had
-a high reputation and the confidence of the
-men as an experienced officer.</p>
-
-<p>On the 3rd of October this noble but ill-used
-fleet sailed from Plymouth, and took its way
-across the Bay of Biscay, where it encountered
-one of its storms, and received considerable
-damage, one vessel foundering with a hundred
-and seventy men. The admiral had instructions
-to intercept the treasure ships from America, to
-scour the coasts of Spain, and destroy the shipping
-in its harbours. But instead of doing that
-first which must be done then if at all&mdash;attack the
-ships in the ports&mdash;he called a council, and was
-completely bewildered by the conflicting opinions
-given. The conclusion was to make for Cadiz
-and seize its ships, but the Spaniards were already
-aware of and prepared for them. Instead of keeping,
-moreover, a sharp watch for the Plate ships,
-Wimbledon let several of them escape into
-port, which of themselves were thought, says
-Howell, rich enough to have paid all the expenses
-of the expedition. There was still nothing to prevent
-a brave admiral from attacking the vessels in
-harbour; but more accustomed to land service,
-the commander landed his forces, and took the
-Fort of Puntal. Making next a rapid march
-towards the bridge of Suazzo, in order to cut off
-the communication between the Isle de Leon and
-the mainland, his soldiers discovered some wine
-cellars by the way and became intoxicated and
-incapable of preserving order. Alarmed at this
-circumstance, their incapable leader conducted
-them back to the ships. Not daring to attack
-the port, he determined to look out for the
-treasure ships. But while cruising for this
-purpose, a fever broke out on board the vessel
-of Lord Delaware; and as if it were his intention
-to diffuse the contagion through the whole fleet,
-the admiral had the sick men distributed among
-the healthy ships. A dreadful mortality accordingly
-raged through the whole fleet. No Plate
-ships could be seen, for they appear to have been
-aware of their enemies and held away towards
-the Barbary coast; and after waiting fruitlessly
-for eighteen days, Wimbledon made sail again
-for England. No sooner did this imbecile quit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[515]</a></span>
-the coast than fifty richly laden vessels entered
-the port of Lisbon. On landing at Plymouth,
-with the loss of a thousand men in this most
-ignominious voyage, the people received the admiral
-with hisses and execrations.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Charles, who was in straits with
-his Parliament and subjects, was compelled to
-try again the more than dubious resort to Parliament
-for money. To prepare the way for
-any success with the Commons, he was obliged
-to do that which must certainly embroil him
-with his French allies, and add fresh fuel to the
-fire of domestic discord which consumed him.
-Certainly never had any man a more arduous
-part to play, and the king had rendered his
-position all the harder by the imprudence of his
-measures; for nothing is easier than for men, by
-their folly or absurd resentments, to knit themselves
-up into a web of difficulties. He now
-resolved to break his marriage oath to France,
-and persecute the Catholics to conciliate the
-Protestants. Orders were accordingly issued to
-all magistrates to put the penal laws in force,
-and a commission was appointed to levy the
-fines on the recusants. All Catholic priests and
-missionaries were warned to quit the kingdom
-immediately, and all parents and guardians to
-recall their children from Catholic schools, and
-young men from Catholic colleges on the Continent.
-But worse than all, because personally
-insulting and irritating to the higher classes, who
-constituted the House of Peers, and who hitherto
-had exhibited much forbearance, he accepted
-the advice of his Council that the Catholic
-aristocracy should be disarmed.</p>
-
-<p>Certainly no proceedings could indispose the
-House of Peers to the king more than such as
-these; but meanwhile Charles was active in endeavouring
-by other measures to win a party
-there. The Earl of Pembroke had for some time
-made himself head of the Opposition, and on
-great occasions brought with him on a vote no
-less than ten proxies, Buckingham himself being
-only able to command thirteen. He prevailed on
-Pembroke to be reconciled to the favourite; and
-at the same time in order to punish the Lord
-Keeper Williams who had quarrelled with Buckingham
-and had told him that he should go over
-to Pembroke, and labour for the redress of the
-grievances of the people&mdash;he dismissed him and
-gave the Great Seal to Sir Thomas Coventry,
-the Attorney-General.</p>
-
-<p>To manage the Commons, and to prevent the
-threatened impeachment of Buckingham, when
-the judges presented to him the lists of sheriffs
-Charles struck out seven names and wrote in their
-places seven of the most able and active of the
-leaders of Opposition in the Commons, the most
-determined enemies of the favourite:&mdash;Sir Edward
-Coke, Sir Thomas Wentworth, Sir Francis Seymour,
-Sir Robert Philips, Sir Grey Palmer, Sir
-William Fleetwood, and Edward Alford. As this
-office disqualified them from sitting in Parliament,
-the king thus got rid of them for that year; but
-Coke contended that though a sheriff could not sit
-for his own county he could for another, and got
-himself elected for the county of Norfolk, but did
-not venture to take his seat.</p>
-
-<p>All these measures, it will be seen, were dictated
-not by a desire to conciliate, but to override
-the Parliament, and therefore could not promise
-much good to a mind of any depth of penetration.
-Parliament was summoned for the 6th of February,
-1626, and the 2nd was appointed for the coronation.
-With the knowledge of a discontented
-people, Charles went to meet his Parliament, and
-this consciousness would, in a monarch capable of
-taking a solemn warning, have operated to produce
-conciliation, at least of tone; but Charles
-was one of that class of men who illustrated the
-striking words of the Latin fatalist "Whom
-God intends to destroy He first drives mad."
-Accordingly, he opened the sitting with a curt
-speech, referring them to that of the new Lord
-Keeper Coventry, which was in the worst possible
-taste. He said, "If we consider aright, and think
-of the incomparable distance between the supreme
-height and majesty of a mighty monarch, and the
-submissive awe and lowliness of loyal subjects, we
-cannot but receive exceeding comfort and contentment
-in the frame and constitution of this
-highest Court, wherein not only prelates, nobles,
-and grandees, but the commons of all degrees have
-their part; and wherein that high majesty doth
-descend to admit, or rather to invite, the humblest
-of his subjects to conference and council with
-him."</p>
-
-<p>Of all language this was, in the temper of
-the Commons, the most adapted to incense them.
-Such talk of the condescension of the Crown, at
-the moment when they were entering on a desperate
-conflict against its abuse of the prerogative,
-only the more stimulated their resolution to
-their task. They immediately formed themselves
-into three committees: one of religion, a second
-of grievances, and a third of evils. They again,
-by the Committee of Religion, canvassed the subject
-of Popery; resolving to enact still severer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[516]</a></span>
-laws against it, as the origin of many of the
-worst evils that afflicted the nation. They summoned
-schoolmasters from various and remote
-parts of the kingdom, and put searching questions
-to them, as to the doctrines which they held and
-taught to their scholars; and every member of the
-House was called upon in turn to denounce all
-persons in authority or office, known to them as
-holding the tenets of the ancient faith. In fact,
-in their vehement zeal for religious liberty, the
-zealots of the House were on the highway to
-extinguish every spark of toleration, and to
-convert the House of Commons into an inquisition,
-instead of the bulwark of popular right.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_516big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_516.jpg" width="560" height="423" alt="" title="" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>RECEPTION OF VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON AT PLYMOUTH. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_515">515.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>They again summoned Dr. Montague to redeem
-his bail, and receive punishment on account of his
-book, in which they charged him with having admitted
-that the Church of Rome was the true
-Church, and that the articles on which the two
-churches did not agree were of minor importance.
-Laud advocated the cause of Montague at Court,
-for he was of precisely the same opinions, and
-urged the king and Buckingham to protect him.
-But both Charles and the favourite saw too many
-difficulties in their own way to care to interfere
-in defence of the chaplain. They left him to his
-fate, and he would have been no doubt severely
-dealt with, had not higher matters seized the
-attention of the House, and caused the offending
-Churchman to be overlooked.</p>
-
-<p>This was the impeachment of Buckingham.
-The Committee of Grievances had drawn up, after
-a tedious investigation, a list of sixteen grievances,
-consisting of such as had so often been warmly
-debated in the last reign. Of these the most prominent,
-in their opinion, were the practice of purveyance,
-by which the officers of the household still
-collected provisions at a fixed price for sixty miles
-round the Court, and the illegal conduct of the
-Lord Treasurer, who went on collecting tonnage
-and poundage though unsanctioned by Parliament.
-They charged the maintenance of these evils to the
-advice and influence of a "great delinquent" at
-Court; who had, moreover, occasioned all the
-disgraces to the national flag, both by land and
-sea, which had for some years occurred, and who
-ought to be punished accordingly.</p>
-
-<p>The time was now actually arriving of which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[517]</a></span>
-James had warned his son and Buckingham,
-when they urged the impeachment of the Earl
-of Middlesex, but choosing to forget all that,
-Charles sent down word to the House that he
-did not allow any of his servants to be called in
-question by them, especially such as were of
-eminence and near unto his person. He remarked
-that of old the desire of subjects had been to know
-what they should do with him whom the king
-delighted to honour, but their desire now appeared
-to be to do what they could against him whom the
-king honoured. That they aimed at the Duke of
-Buckingham, he said, he saw clearly, and he
-wondered much what had produced such a
-change since the former Parliament; assuring
-them that the duke had taken no step but by
-his order and consent; and he concluded by
-requesting them to hasten the question of Supply,
-"or it would be worse for them."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_517big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_517.jpg" width="560" height="434" alt="" title="YORK HOUSE (THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S MANSION)" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>YORK HOUSE (THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S MANSION).</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 29th of March he repeated the menace;
-but the Commons went on preparing their charges
-against Buckingham, declaring that it was the
-undoubted right of Parliament to inquire into the
-proceedings of persons of any estate whatever,
-who had been found dangerous to the Commonwealth,
-and had abused the confidence reposed in
-them by the Crown.</p>
-
-<p>Seeing them bent on proceeding, Charles sent
-down to the House the Lord Keeper to acquaint
-them with his majesty's express command that
-they should cease this inquiry, or that he would
-dissolve them; and Sir Dudley Carleton, who
-had been much employed as ambassador to foreign
-states, and had recently returned from France,
-warned them not to make the king out of love
-with parliaments, and then drew a most deplorable
-picture of the state of those countries where such
-had come to be the case. In all Christian countries,
-he said, there were formerly parliaments;
-but the monarchs, weary of their turbulence, had
-broken them up, except in this kingdom; and now
-he represented the miserable subjects as resembling
-spectres rather than men, miserably clad, meagre
-of body, and wearing wooden shoes.</p>
-
-<p>This caricature of foreigners, had it been true,
-was the very thing to make the Commons cling
-to their freedom, and keep their affairs in their
-own hands; and as such arguments had no effect.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[518]</a></span>
-Charles summoned the House to the bar of the
-Lords, and there addressed to them a most royal
-reproof, letting them know that it depended entirely
-on him whether he would call and when he
-would dismiss Parliament, and, therefore, as they
-conducted themselves so should he act. Their very
-existence depended, he assured them, on his will.</p>
-
-<p>This was language which might have done in
-the mouth of Henry VIII., who by the possession
-of the vast plunder of the Church had made himself
-independent of parliaments and trod on them
-at his pleasure; but the times and circumstances
-were entirely changed. The Commons had learned
-their power and the king's weakness, and would
-no longer tolerate the insolence of despotism.
-They returned to their own House, and, to show
-that they were about to discuss the king's speech
-in a spirit which admitted of no interruption or
-interference, they locked the door and put the key
-in the hands of Sir John Finch, their Speaker.
-This ominous proceeding struck terror into the
-king, and a conference with the Upper House was
-proposed and accepted. There Buckingham endeavoured
-to smooth down the royal speeches and
-messages into something like a bearable and
-constitutional shape, and to defend his own conduct.
-But by this time the Committee of Evils,
-Causes and Remedies, had come to the conclusion
-that the only mode of preventing the recurrence
-of such mal-administration as Buckingham had
-been guilty of was to impeach and punish him.
-The House accordingly passed a resolution to that
-effect on the 8th of May.</p>
-
-<p>As if Charles were actually inspired by madness,
-at this moment, when he needed all the
-assistance of the Peers to screen his favourite from
-the impeachment of the Commons, he made a
-direct attack on their privileges. Lord Arundel,
-the Earl Marshal, had given some offence to
-Buckingham, and was well known to be decidedly
-hostile to him. As he possessed six proxies, it
-was thought a grand stroke of policy to get him
-out of the House at the approaching impeachment;
-and a plea was not long wanting. Arundel's son,
-Lord Maltravers, had married a daughter of the
-Duke of Lennox without consent of the king, and
-as Lennox was of blood-royal, this was deemed
-offence enough to involve Arundel himself. He
-was charged with not having prevented it, but he
-replied that the match had been made unknown
-to him; that it had been secretly planned between
-the mothers of the young people. This was not
-admitted, and Arundel was arrested by a royal
-warrant and lodged in the Tower. The real
-offender, if real offence there were, was Maltravers,
-but it was Arundel's absence which was wanted.
-The Lords, however, took up the matter as an
-infringement of their privileges; they passed a
-resolution that "no lord of Parliament, the Parliament
-sitting, or within the usual times of privilege
-of Parliament, is to be imprisoned or restrained,
-without sentence or order of the House, unless it
-be for treason or felony, or for refusing to give
-surety for the peace."</p>
-
-<p>They sent an address to Charles demanding
-Arundel's immediate liberation; he returned
-an evasive answer: they sent a second address;
-Charles then ordered the Attorney-General to
-plead the royal prerogative, and to declare the
-Earl Marshal as personally offensive to the king
-and as dangerous to the State. The Peers
-would not admit the plea, but passed a resolution
-to suspend business till their colleague was set
-at large; and after a contest of three months the
-king was forced to yield, and the Earl Marshal
-resumed his seat in the House amid cheers and
-acclamations.</p>
-
-<p>But this most imprudent conflict with the Peers
-had another and still more damaging result. The
-Earl of Bristol, who had been so unjustly and ungraciously
-received, or rather, not received, on his
-return from his Spanish embassy, to enable
-Buckingham and Charles to maintain their charge
-against Spain, had remained an exile from Court
-and Parliament, but not without keeping a watchful
-eye on the progress of events. He was not a
-man to sit down quietly under misrepresentation
-and injury; and now, seeing that the Peers had
-roused themselves from their subserviency, and
-were prepared to take vengeance on the common
-enemy, he complained to the House of Peers
-that, as one of their order and possessed of all
-their privileges, his writ of summons to Parliament
-had been wrongfully withheld. To have withstood
-this demand at this moment might have led
-to a dangerous excitement. The writ was therefore
-immediately issued, but Bristol at the same
-time received a private letter, charging him on
-pain of the king's high displeasure not to attempt
-to take his place. The earl at once forwarded the
-letter to the Peers, requesting their advice upon it,
-on the ground that it affected their rights, being a
-case which might reach any other of them, and
-demanding that he might be permitted to take his
-seat in order to accuse the man who, to screen his
-own high crimes and misdemeanours, had for
-years deprived a peer of the realm of his liberty
-and right.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[519]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>This alarming claim of the earl's struck both the
-king and Buckingham with terror; and to prevent,
-if possible, the menaced charge, the Attorney-General
-was instantly despatched to the Lords to
-prefer a plea of high treason against Bristol. But
-the Peers were not thus to be circumvented. They
-replied that Bristol's accusation was first laid and
-must be first heard; and that without the counter-charge
-being held to prejudice his testimony.
-Bristol, thus at liberty to speak out, proceeded to
-town and to the House of Peers in triumph, his
-coach drawn by eight horses, caparisoned in cloth
-of gold or tissue; and Buckingham, as if to present
-a contrast of modesty, a quality wholly alien to
-his nature, drove thither in an old carriage with
-only three footmen and no retinue.</p>
-
-<p>Bristol charged him with having concerted with
-Gondomar to inveigle the Prince of Wales into
-Spain, in order to procure his conversion to Popery
-prior to his marriage with the Infanta; with
-having complied with Popish ceremonies himself;
-with having, whilst at Madrid, disgraced the king,
-his country, and himself, by his contempt of all
-decency and the vileness of his profligacy. He
-stated that "As for the scandal given by his behaviour,
-as also his employing his power with the
-King of Spain for the procuring of favours and
-offices, which he conferred on base and unworthy
-persons, for the recompense and hire of his lust&mdash;these
-things, as neither fit for the Earl of
-Bristol to speak, nor, indeed, for the House to
-hear, he leaveth to your lordships' wisdoms how
-far it will please you to have them examined."
-He went on to charge him with breaking off the
-treaty of marriage solely through resentment,
-because the Spanish ministers, disgusted with his
-conduct, refused any negotiation with so infamous
-a person; and declared that, on his return, he had
-deceived both king and Parliament by a most
-false statement. All this the earl pledged himself
-to prove by written documents and other most
-undeniable evidence.</p>
-
-<p>Instead of Buckingham attempting to clear himself
-as an innocent man so blackened by terrible
-charges would, it was sought to deprive the testimony
-of Bristol of all value by making him a
-criminal and a traitor to the king whilst his representative
-in Spain. Charles went so far as to send
-the Lord Keeper Coventry, a most pliant courtier,
-to inform the Lords that he would of his own
-knowledge clear the duke, the duke himself
-reserving his defence till after the impeachment by
-the Commons. Charles not only guaranteed to
-vindicate Buckingham, but accused Bristol of
-making a direct charge against himself, inasmuch
-as he himself had been with Buckingham all the
-time in Spain, and had verified his narrative
-on his return. The Peers passed this royal charge
-courageously by; and Charles then ordered the
-cause between Bristol and Buckingham to be
-removed from the Peers to the court of King's
-Bench; but the Lords would not permit such
-an infringement of their privileges. They put
-these questions themselves to the judges&mdash;"Whether
-the king could be a witness in a case
-of treason? And whether, in Bristol's case, he
-could be a witness at all, admitting the treason
-done with his privity?" The king sent the
-judges an order not to answer these questions,
-and in the midst of these proceedings the charges
-against Bristol were heard, and answered by him
-with a spirit and clearness which were perfectly
-satisfactory to the House. The charges
-against him amounted to this:&mdash;That he had
-falsely assured James of the sincerity of the
-Spanish Cabinet; had concurred in a plan for
-inducing the prince to change his religion; that he
-had endeavoured to force the marriage on Charles
-by delivering the procuration; and had given the
-lie to his present sovereign by declaring false
-what he had vouched in Buckingham's statement
-to be true. These were so palpably untenable
-positions that the House ordered Bristol's answer
-to be entered on the journals, and there left the
-matter.</p>
-
-<p>But now the impeachment of Buckingham by
-the Commons was brought up to the Lords. It
-consisted of thirteen articles; the principal of
-which were that he had not only enriched himself
-with several of the highest offices of the State
-which had never before been held by one and the
-same person, but had purchased for money those
-of High Admiral and Warden of the Cinque Ports;
-that he had in those offices neglected the trade
-and the security of the coasts of the country;
-that he had perverted to his own use the revenues
-of the Crown; had filled the Court and dignities
-of the land with his poor relations; had
-put a squadron of English ships into the hands
-of the French, and on the other hand, by detaining
-for his own use a vessel belonging to the
-King of France, had provoked him to make
-reprisals on British merchants; that he had extorted
-ten thousand pounds from the East India
-Company; and even charged him with being
-accessory to the late king's death, by administering
-medicine contrary to the advice of the royal
-physicians.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[520]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Eight Managers were appointed by the Commons
-to conduct the impeachment&mdash;Sir Dudley
-Digges, Sir John Eliot, Serjeant Glanville,
-Selden, Whitelock, Pym, Herbert, and Wandsford.
-Digges opened the case, and was followed
-by Glanville, Selden, and Pym. While these
-gentlemen were speaking and detailing the main
-charges against him, Buckingham, confident in
-the power and will of the king to protect him,
-displayed the most impudent recklessness, laughing
-and jesting at the orators and their arguments.
-Serjeant Glanville, on one occasion,
-turned brusquely on him, and exclaimed, "My
-lord, do you jeer at me? Are these things to
-be jeered at? My lord, I can show you when
-a man of a greater blood than your lordship, as
-high in place and power, and as deep in the
-favour of the king as you, hath been hanged
-for as small a crime as the least of these articles
-contain."</p>
-
-<p>Sir John Eliot wound up the charge, and
-compared Buckingham to Sejanus; as proud,
-insolent, rapacious, an accuser of others, a base
-adulator and tyrant by turns, and one who
-conferred commands and offices on his dependants.
-"Ask England, Scotland, and Ireland," exclaimed
-Sir John, "and they will tell you whether this
-man doth not the like. Sejanus's pride was so
-excessive, as Tacitus saith, that he neglected all
-counsel, mixed his business and service with the
-prince, and was often styled <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Imperatoris laborum
-socius</i>. My lords," he said, "I have done. You
-see the man: by him came all evils; in him we
-find the cause; on him we expect the remedies."</p>
-
-<p>The direct inference that if Buckingham was
-a Sejanus the king was a Tiberius, and a rumour
-that Eliot and Digges had hinted that in the
-death of the late king there was a greater than
-Buckingham behind, transported Charles with
-rage, and urged him on to another of those acts
-of aggression which ultimately brought him to
-actual battle with his Parliament. He had the
-two offending members called out of the House
-as if the king required their presence, when they
-were seized and sent to the Tower. This outrage
-on the persons of their fellow members and
-delegated prosecutors came like a thunder-clap on
-the House. There was instantly a vehement cry
-of "Rise! rise! rise!" The House was in a state
-of the highest ferment.</p>
-
-<p>Charles hurried to the House of Lords to
-denounce the imputations cast upon him, and
-to defend Buckingham; and Buckingham stood
-by his side whilst he spoke. He declared that
-he had punished some insolent speeches, and that
-it was high time, for that he had been too lenient.
-He would give his evidence to clear Buckingham,
-he said, in every one of the articles, and he would
-suffer no one with impunity to charge himself
-with having any concern in the death of his
-father. But all this bravado was wasted on
-the Commons: again with closed doors they
-discussed the violation of their privileges, and
-resolved to proceed with no further business till
-their members should be discharged. In a few
-days this was done, and the House passed a
-resolution that the two members had only fulfilled
-their bounden duty.</p>
-
-<p>On the 8th of June, Buckingham opened his
-defence in the House of Lords. In this he had
-been assisted by Sir Nicholas Hyde. He divided
-the charges against him into three classes: such as
-were unfounded in fact; such as might be true,
-but did not affect <em>him</em>; and lastly, those in which
-he had merely been the servant of the king or
-of the Executive. In all the circumstances which
-could be proved, he simply acted in obedience to
-the late or the present king, with one exception,
-the purchase of the office of Warden of the Cinque
-Ports, which he admitted that he had bought,
-but which he thought might be excused on the
-ground of public utility. As to the grave charge
-of the delivery of the king's ships to the French
-admiral, he did not mean to go into it, not but
-that he could prove his own innocence in the
-affair, but that he was bound not to reveal the
-secrets of the State; and he pleaded a pardon
-which had been granted by the king on the 10th
-of February, that is, four days after the opening
-of the present Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>Thus Charles had kept his word: he had
-allowed the duke to throw the total responsibility
-of his deeds on himself, and he had granted him
-a pardon by anticipation to forestall the conclusions
-of Parliament. This defence by no
-means satisfied the Commons, and they proceeded
-to reply; but in this they were stopped
-short by the king, who the very next day sent
-a message to the Speaker, desiring the House to
-hasten and come at once to the subject of Supply,
-or that he would "take other resolutions." The
-Commons set themselves, without loss of time, to
-prepare a remonstrance in strong terms, praying
-for the dismissal of the favourite; but whilst
-employed upon it, they were suddenly summoned
-to the Upper House, where they found Commissioners
-appointed to pronounce the dissolution of
-Parliament. Anticipating this movement, the
-Speaker had carried the resolutions of remonstrance
-in his hand, and before the Commissioners
-could declare Parliament dissolved, the Speaker
-held up the paper and declared its contents.
-The Lords, on this, apprehending unpleasant
-consequences, sent to implore Charles to a short
-delay, but received the king's energetic answer&mdash;"No,
-not for one minute!"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[521]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_521big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_521.jpg" width="413" height="560" alt="" title="TRIAL OF BUCKINGHAM" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>TRIAL OF BUCKINGHAM. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_520">520.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[522]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Charles was left by his own wild devices to
-try how his fancied right divine would furnish
-him funds to discharge his debts at home and
-his obligations abroad. That he was not insensible
-to his danger, or to the price which
-he had paid for the support of his favourite, is
-made plain to us by Meade, the careful chronicler
-of the time. "The duke," he says, "being in the
-bed-chamber private with the king, his majesty was
-overheard, as they say, to use these words: 'What
-can I do more? I have engaged mine honour
-to mine uncle of Denmark and other princes. I
-have, in a manner, lost the love of my subjects,
-and what wouldst thou have me do?' Whence
-some think the duke meant the king to dissolve
-the Parliament." But however he might feel this,
-he was in no disposition to take warning; the
-spirit and the inculcations of his father worked
-in him victorious over any better instincts. No
-sooner had he dismissed Parliament, than he
-seized the Earl of Bristol, and Arundel, the Earl
-Marshal, and thrust Bristol into the Tower. This
-bit of petty spite enacted, he set about boldly to
-do everything that the Commons had been striving
-against. The Commons had published their remonstrance;
-he published a counter-declaration,
-and commanded all persons having that of the
-Commons to burn it, or expect his resentment.
-He then issued a warrant, levying duties on all
-exports and imports; ordered the fines from the
-Catholics to be rigorously enforced, but offering to
-compound with rich recusants for an annual sum,
-so as to procure a fixed income from that source.
-A Commission was issued to inquire into the proceeds
-of the Crown lands, and to grant leases,
-remit feudal services, and convert copyholds into
-freeholds, on certain charges. Privy seals were
-again issued to noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants,
-for the advance of loans, and London was
-called on to furnish one hundred and twenty
-thousand pounds; and as if the king already
-feared that his arbitrary acts might produce disturbance,
-he ordered the different seaports, under
-the plea of protecting the coasts, to provide and
-maintain during three months a certain number of
-armed vessels, and the lord-lieutenants of counties
-to muster the people, and train troops to arms to
-prevent internal riot or foreign invasion.</p>
-
-<p>At the moment that the king was thus daringly
-setting both Parliament and the country at defiance,
-came the news that a terrible battle had
-been fought at Lutter between the Austrians
-under Tilly, and the Protestant allies under
-Charles's uncle, the King of Denmark; that the
-allies were defeated and driven across the Elbe;
-all their baggage and ammunition lost, and the
-whole circle of Lower Saxony left exposed to
-the soldiers of Ferdinand. This was the death-blow
-to the cause of the Elector Palatine. But
-Charles seized the occasion to raise money by a
-fresh forced loan on a large scale, on pretence
-of the necessity of aiding Protestantism, and as if
-to make the lawless demand the more intolerable,
-the Commissioners were armed with the most
-arbitrary powers. All who refused to comply
-with this illegal demand, this body was authorised
-to interrogate on oath, as to their reasons, and
-who were their advisers, and they were bound by
-oath never to divulge what passed between them
-and the Commissioners.</p>
-
-<p>Charles issued a proclamation, excusing his
-conduct by alleging that the necessities of the
-State did not admit of waiting for the reassembling
-of Parliament, and assuring his loving
-subjects that whatever was now paid would be
-remitted in the collection of the next subsidy.
-He also addressed a letter to the clergy, calling
-on them to exhort their parishioners from the
-pulpit to obedience and liberality. But such
-were the relative positions of king and Parliament,
-that people were not very confident of
-any speedy grant from that body, and the good
-faith of both Charles and his favourite had become
-so dubious, that many refused to pay. The names
-of these were transmitted to the Council, and the
-vengeance of the Court was let loose upon them.
-The rich were fined and imprisoned, the poor were
-forcibly enrolled in the army or navy, that "they
-might serve with their bodies, since they refused
-to serve with their purses." In vain were appeals
-made to the king against this intolerable tyranny;
-he would listen to no one. Amongst the names of
-those who suffered on this occasion, stand those of
-Sir John Eliot and John Hampden, as well as
-of Wentworth, soon to become the staunch upholder
-of Absolutism.</p>
-
-<p>In towns the people did not conceal their
-indignation at these proceedings. "Six poor
-tradesmen at Chelmsford stood out stiffly, notwithstanding
-the many threats and promises<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[523]</a></span>
-made them;" and the Londoners loudly shouted,
-"A Parliament! a Parliament! No Parliament
-no money!" Still Charles went on in his mad
-course; no voice, mortal or immortal, could even
-for a moment break the spell of his delusion.
-Those judges and magistrates who were averse
-from enforcing the detestable orders were summarily
-dismissed. Sir Randolph Carew, the Chief
-Justice of the King's Bench, must give way to the
-more pliant Sir Nicholas Hyde, the adviser of Buckingham.
-But the lawyers in general were ready
-enough to break the laws by order of the Court,
-and the clergy were still more so. Laud was now
-advanced, for his Absolutist and Popish predilections,
-to the see of Bath and Wells, and sent forth a
-circular to the clergy enjoining them to preach up
-zealously the advance of money to the Crown, as a
-work meriting salvation. He openly advocated a
-strict league and confederacy between the Church
-and State, by which they might trample upon all
-schism, heresy, and disloyalty. There was no lack
-of time-servers to second his efforts. Roger Mainwaring,
-one of the king's chaplains, a true high-priest
-to the golden calf, with the most shameless
-prostitution of the pulpit, declared before the king
-and Court at Whitehall, that the power of the
-king was above all courts and parliaments; that
-parliament was but an inferior kind of council,
-entirely at the king's will; that the king's
-order was sufficient authority for the raising of
-money, and that all who refused it were guilty
-of unutterable sin and liable to damnation. He
-insulted the Scriptures by dragging them in to
-prove all this, and would have sold, not his own
-soul only, but the souls of the whole nation to
-obtain a bishopric. He had his desire; and the
-success of such religious toadyism inflamed the
-clergy in the country with a like abjectness.
-One Robert Sibthorpe, vicar of Brackley, in an
-assize sermon preached at Northampton, declared
-that even if the king commanded people to resist
-the Law of God, they were to obey him, to show
-no resistance, no railing, no reviling, to be all
-passive obedience. To demonstrate the Scriptural
-soundness of his doctrine, he quoted this verse of
-the Book of Ecclesiastes (viii. 4.): "Where the
-word of a king is, there is power: and who
-may say unto him, What doest thou?"</p>
-
-<p>Abbot, the Archbishop, was applied to, to
-license the printing of this sermon; but the old
-man, who had always had a Puritan leaning,
-which his high post alone prevented him from more
-fully demonstrating, declined to do it. In vain
-the king insisted: the archbishop was suspended
-and sent to his country house; and Laud, who
-was hankering earnestly after the Primacy,
-licensed the sermon. Sibthorpe did not fail of his
-reward; he was appointed chaplain in ordinary,
-and received a prebend in Peterborough, and
-the goodly living of Burton Latimer. Andrew
-Marvell designated these model Churchmen as
-"exceedingly pragmatical, intolerably ambitious,
-and so desperately proud that scarcely any
-gentleman might come near the tails of their
-mules." The subserviency of the clergy was not
-one of the least evils which a tyrannic court
-fostered. The people saw more clearly than ever
-that the Church under such circumstances would
-become the staunch ally of despotism; and many
-even of its own honourable members, in the higher
-walks of life, shrank away from it and joined
-the ranks of the Puritans, for no other reason
-than that they were resolute for the liberty of
-the subject.</p>
-
-<p>The state of feeling on both sides of the Channel
-meanwhile hastened an open rupture. The French
-were highly incensed at the treatment of the
-queen's retinue, who, having become an intense
-nuisance, were packed off to Paris. Thereupon
-the most sinister reports were spread among the
-people, who eagerly imbibed the idea that their
-princess was a victim in the hands of her heretic
-husband; and they were ready to avenge themselves
-on England or on the Protestants of
-their own country. On the other hand, Charles
-ascribed his disasters, the defeat of his brother-in-law's
-allies in Germany, and his consequent
-unpopularity at home, to the failure of Louis of
-France in giving the aid which he had promised.
-Through this default Charles considered that he
-had sunk a million of money, ten thousand soldiers,
-and lost the favour of his people. In these
-ideas he was strengthened by the emissaries of the
-French Protestants; and very soon Devic and
-Montague were despatched by Charles to concert
-measures with the Huguenots, and Soubise and
-Brancard were received at London as their
-envoys. It was finally determined that Charles
-should send a fleet and army to La Rochelle, which
-the Duke de Rohan should join with four thousand
-men. It was rumoured that it was planned for
-a Protestant state to be established between the
-Loire and Garonne, at the head of which Buckingham
-should be placed. That there was some
-great scheme of the kind is certain, for Charles,
-in dismissing ambassadors from his uncle the King
-of Denmark, said that he kept his full design from
-them; "for," he remarked, "I think it needless, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[524]</a></span>
-rather hurtful, to discover my main intent in this
-business, because divulging it, in my mind, must
-needs hazard it."</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile France, on its side, had not been inactive.
-Richelieu had listened not only to the
-discontent of the French at the concessions made
-by Bassompierre, the French ambassador, in the
-matter of the number of the queen's religious
-advisers, but to the urgent entreaties of the
-Pope's nuncio, who had never ceased, since the
-expulsion of Henrietta's priests, to call on Louis
-to avenge that insult to the Church, and had concluded
-a treaty with Spain, for mutual defence
-and for the punishment of England. They regarded
-the fleet preparing in the English ports,
-on the pretence of chastising the Algerines and
-giving aid to the Palsgrave, as really destined
-against France and Spain, and they planned not
-only a defence of their own coasts but a descent
-on the shores of England. It was agreed that
-Spanish ships should be received in French ports
-and French ones in those of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>The English, on their part, swept the ships of
-all nations from the sea, on the plea that they
-might contain Spanish goods. Letters of mark
-were issued, and no nations were spared by the
-cruisers, not even those in alliance with England.
-The Hanse Towns, the Dutch States, and even
-the King of Denmark, had to make zealous remonstrances.
-Louis of France had not confined himself
-to remonstrances even before signing the
-treaty with Spain, but had laid an embargo on all
-English ships in French harbours. But now
-orders were issued by both the French and English
-Courts for the suspension of commercial intercourse
-between the two nations.</p>
-
-<p>On the 27th of June, 1627, the English fleet
-sailed out of Portsmouth. It consisted of forty-two
-ships of war, thirty-four transports, and
-carried seven regiments of infantry, of nine
-hundred men each, a squadron of cavalry, and a
-numerous body of French Protestants, altogether
-about seven or eight thousand men. That it might
-this time succeed, the Duke of Buckingham took
-command of it, for in his self-conceit he attributed
-former failures to his not being on the
-spot in person, to give the troops the advantage
-of his consummate genius and experience; the
-whole of his military genius, if he had any,
-being yet to be discovered, and the whole of his
-experience amounting to having seen soldiers on
-parade. His plans were kept so secret&mdash;even
-from the friends with whom he was to co-operate&mdash;that
-arriving on the 11th of July before
-La Rochelle, the inhabitants refused to permit him
-to land. It was in vain that Sir William Beecher
-and their own envoy Soubise entreated them to
-receive those who were come as their allies and
-defenders: the people distrusted Buckingham,
-and declared that they would make no hostile
-demonstration against Louis till they had consulted
-the other churches and got in their
-harvest. This displayed a dreadful want of
-management on the part of the English; and
-Buckingham, thus shut out by those whom he
-came to support, turned his attention to the
-neighbouring isles of Rhé and Oléron, which the
-Huguenots had some time ago surrendered to
-their king. He decided to invade Rhé, and made
-his descent the very next day, on the 12th of
-July. His sudden diversion in this direction took
-Toyras, the governor of the island, by surprise;
-the small force with which he attempted to prevent
-their landing was defeated; but Buckingham,
-loitering on the shore for four or five days, in
-landing the remainder of his troops, allowed
-Toyras to convey the provisions, wine, and ammunition
-on the island into the strong citadel
-of the town of St. Martin. A small fort called
-La Prée lay in Buckingham's path, but he did not
-stay to take that, but pushed on to St. Martin.
-The castle stood on a rock overlooking the town
-and bay, and experienced officers were struck
-with great misgivings at the sight of it. Buckingham
-talked of taking it by a <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">coup de main</i>, but
-Sir John Burroughs, an officer who had acquired
-a real knowledge of war and sieges in the Netherlands,
-shook his head and pronounced the place next
-to impregnable, and that an attempt to storm it
-would be a useless waste of lives. It was then
-determined to invest the place in force; but
-Burroughs was equally dissatisfied with the unscientific
-construction of the trenches and batteries
-which were prepared. Buckingham, instead of
-benefiting by the counsels of this experienced
-officer, reprimanded him with a sternness which
-silenced more compliant men. In a few days
-a shot silenced altogether the honestly officious
-Burroughs, and the duke went on with his siege
-only to find that, as that officer had predicted,
-the fort defied all his efforts.</p>
-
-<p>The news of this attack on France spread consternation
-amongst the allies of the Palsgrave;
-the prince himself, the States of Holland, and
-the King of Denmark, all hastened to express
-their astonishment and dismay at this rupture
-between the two great powers who should have
-enabled them by their united efforts to re-conquer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[525]</a></span>
-the Palatinate. They would not admit Charles's
-representation of his obligation to support the
-French Protestants as of sufficient moment to
-induce him to destroy the hopes of Protestantism
-in Germany, and of his own sister and brother-in-law.
-They begged to be permitted to mediate
-between the two crowns: Denmark sent ambassadors
-instantly to Paris, to use its influence for
-that purpose with the French Court; and the
-Dutch deprived of their commissions all English
-officers in their service, who had joined the expedition
-to La Rochelle.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_525big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_525.jpg" width="560" height="419" alt="" title="INTERIOR OF THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>INTERIOR OF THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But they could not move Charles. He wrote
-to Buckingham, congratulating him on the success
-of his attempt on Rhé, which was yet no
-success at all; promising him fresh reinforcements
-and provisions, and exhorting him to prosecute
-the war with vigour and to listen to no proposals
-of peace. He applauded a proclamation which
-Buckingham had prepared, to assure the French
-Protestants that the King of England had no intention
-of conquest, his sole object being to compel
-the King of France to fulfil his engagements
-towards the French Protestants into which he
-had entered with them; that, despite these engagements,
-he had not dismantled Fort Louis, in
-the vicinity of La Rochelle; but, on the contrary,
-had endeavoured to surprise the town and reduce
-it by force to comply with his own religious demands.
-Charles, however, ordered Buckingham
-to make an alteration in the manifesto, so that
-instead of the defence of the Protestants being
-the sole cause of his coming, it should be the
-chief cause, and allow him to put forward other
-reasons for his hostilities as occasion might
-require.</p>
-
-<p>With this proclamation in his hand, the Duke
-de Rohan made a tour amongst the Huguenot
-churches in the south of France, where the people
-listened to him with enthusiasm, and all who dissented
-from the vow to live and die with the
-English liberators were denounced as traitors.
-Rohan was empowered to raise forces and advance
-to the support of La Rochelle; but La Rochelle
-was in no haste to declare itself, for Richelieu had
-marched an army into the neighbourhood, and
-kept it in check. It was the last to hoist the
-flag of revolt, and it was for the last time.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[526]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But all this time Buckingham was experiencing
-the truth of the warnings of Burroughs: no impression
-whatever was made on the citadel of
-St. Martin. Charles's promised reinforcements
-did not arrive. He wrote to explain the causes
-of the delay&mdash;being the difficulty of obtaining
-mariners, and the slowness of the Commissioners
-of the Navy; but he assured him that the Earl
-of Holland was preparing to bring out fresh forces.
-On the 12th of August there was a rumour of an
-attempt to assassinate Buckingham by a Jesuit,
-with a thick three-edged knife; but a real wound
-was inflicted on his reputation by a French flotilla
-bursting the boom which he had drawn across the
-harbour, despite his fleet, and throwing provisions
-into Fort St. Martin, in spite of himself. This
-disaster produced violent altercations between
-his ill-managed army and fleet. The army
-charged the misfortune to the sheer negligence of
-the fleet, and the fleet only answered by loud
-clamours for pay, having, it appeared, received
-nothing the whole time.</p>
-
-<p>Under these circumstances Buckingham displayed
-all the wavering confusion of mind which
-characterises an inefficient commander. One day
-he was ready to comply with the written requisition
-of the officers of the army to abandon the
-siege; the next, he determined to stay and assault
-the place. This miserable vacillation was ended
-by the arrival of the Earl of Holland on the 27th
-of October, with fifteen hundred men; and the
-La Rochelle folk sending eight hundred more,
-it was resolved to make a general assault on the
-place. On the 6th of November this assault
-began, but the cannonade produced no effect on
-the adamantine works and solid walls of the
-fort; the slaughter of the troops on all sides
-was terrible, and the attempt was abandoned.
-Buckingham then wished himself safe on board
-his fleet; but unfortunately for him and his
-army, Marshal Schomberg had now posted himself
-with a strong force on the island between
-him and his vessels. He had occupied and garrisoned
-Fort la Prée, which Buckingham had so
-imprudently left in his rear, and compelled him
-now to defile his army along a narrow causeway
-across the marshes, connecting the small island of
-Oie with that of Rhé. Nothing could demonstrate
-more forcibly the utter incompetence of Buckingham
-for military command than thus suffering the
-enemy to land and lodge in the line of his retreat.
-Schomberg now attacked the defiling troops in
-the rear with his ordnance, and the cavalry.
-The cavalry was thrown into confusion, and the
-pressure and disorder on the causeway became
-frightful; the artillery played upon them with
-dreadful effect, and numbers were pushed off into
-the bordering bogs and salt pits and suffocated.
-The destruction soon amounted to twelve hundred
-men, and twenty pairs of colours were taken.
-There was no want of bravery exhibited by either
-Buckingham or his men. Courage, it has been
-well said, was the sole qualification for a general
-which he possessed; he was the last to leave
-the beach; and the men once off the causeway,
-turned resolutely and offered battle to Schomberg.
-But that prudent general was satisfied to let them
-go away, which they prepared to do, to the consternation
-of the people of La Rochelle, who had
-risen on the strength of their promises, and were
-now exposed to a formidable army under the command
-of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, and Schomberg.</p>
-
-<p>A really good general, though he had suffered
-serious loss, would still have thrown himself into
-La Rochelle and, with the sea kept open by his
-fleet for supplies, might have done signal service in
-defence of the place. But Buckingham was no
-such general. He determined to withdraw, contemplating
-another enterprise equally impossible
-to him as the taking of the citadel of St. Martin.
-He had an idea of the glory and popularity of
-recovering Calais, and communicated this notable
-project to the king. Charles was charmed with
-the project, and as he had assured Buckingham
-that he had done wonders, and almost impossibilities
-on the island of Rhé, so he anticipated
-an equally splendid result: this in any other man,
-except Charles, would have looked like bitter
-irony. In the eyes of the more sensible officers
-of the fleet and army, the notion of attempting
-the surprise of Calais with a reduced and defeated
-force, and under such a general, was scouted as
-madness. Buckingham turned the prows of his
-fleet homewards, and arrived towards the end of
-November. The fleet and army were indignant
-at the disgraceful management of the campaign;
-the people at home were equally so
-at the waste of public money, and the ruin
-of national honour; but Charles received Buckingham
-with undiminished affection, and took to
-himself the blame of the failure of the expedition,
-because he had not been able to send sufficient
-reinforcements and provisions. But he speedily
-received an impressive reminder of the consequences
-of this scandalously managed attempt.
-The people of La Rochelle sent over envoys to represent
-to him their condition, in consequence
-of listening to his promises; the French were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[527]</a></span>
-beleaguering their town, and the most terrible
-fate awaited them if they were thus deceived
-and abandoned. Charles gave them comfortable
-words, and entered into a solemn engagement
-to stand by them so long as their forts could
-resist the enemy, and to make no peace without
-the guarantee of all their ancient liberties.</p>
-
-<p>But how were these grandiloquent words to be
-redeemed? He had exhausted all the resources of
-his arbitrary exactions, and had incurred an additional
-amount of unpopularity by seizing and
-imprisoning numbers of those who refused to
-submit to a forced loan; and when they demanded
-a fair hearing through the exercise of
-the <em>Habeas corpus</em>, they were told that the king's
-command superseded that. The Crown lawyers,
-in fact, vaunted the royal will as the supreme
-law, whilst Selden, Coke, and the constitutional
-lawyers referred them to Magna Charta, which
-had been thirty times confirmed by the kings, and
-thus aroused a wonderful feeling of popular right
-in the kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst such was the state of public feeling, the
-usual pressure for money rendered it necessary to
-adopt some means of raising it. Besides the requirements
-of the home government, the proposed
-aid to the people of La Rochelle made immediate
-funds necessary. To attempt extorting supplies
-by the modes which had so exasperated the
-public, was a course which all reasonable men
-regarded with repugnance and apprehension.
-Charles himself would have braved any danger
-rather than that of meeting Parliament, with
-all its remonstrances and demands of redress of
-public grievances; but his Council urged him
-to make another trial of the Commons, and he
-consented. The writs were issued on the 29th
-of January, 1628, for the assembling of Parliament
-on the 17th of March. Yet in the course of
-that very week the king proceeded to repeat the
-conduct which Parliament had so strongly condemned,
-and which must render its meeting the
-more formidable. He required one hundred and
-seventy-three thousand four hundred and eleven
-pounds for the outfit of the expedition to La
-Rochelle, and instead of waiting for a grant from
-Parliament, he ordered the money to be raised by
-a Commission from the counties, and that within
-three weeks. With that irritating habit which he
-had inherited from his father, he added a menace,
-saying that if they paid this tax cheerfully, he
-would meet his Parliament; if not, "he would
-think of some more speedy way."</p>
-
-<p>Conduct so restless and insulting on the very
-eve of the opening of Parliament raised the
-wildest ferment in the public: the Commissioners
-shrank in terror from their task, and Charles
-hastened to revoke the Commission, saying that
-"he would rely on the love of his people in
-Parliament." This was on the 16th of February,
-but like Pharaoh, Charles repented himself of his
-momentary concession, and on the 28th he issued
-an order to raise the money which the counties
-had refused, by a duty on merchandise. The
-merchants were, however, not a whit more
-willing to submit to an illegal imposition, nor
-more timid than the counties. The ministers
-trembled before the storm, and anticipated certain
-impeachment; the judges pronounced the duty
-illegal, and once more Charles recalled his order.</p>
-
-<p>What rendered the public more sensitive to
-these acts of royal licence was, that a number
-of foreign troops were about to be brought into the
-kingdom, on the plea of employing them against
-France, but which the people saw might be turned
-against themselves or their representatives. They
-were, therefore, worked up to a pitch of extreme
-excitement, and bestirred themselves to send up
-to the House of Commons a body of such men as
-should not be readily intimidated. Never before
-had Parliament assembled under such favourable
-circumstances. Daring as had been the king's
-assaults on the public liberties, this had only
-served to rouse the nation to a resolute resolve
-to withstand his contempt of Magna Charta at
-all hazards. Westminster elected one Bradshaw,
-a brewer, and Maurice, a grocer. Huntingdon
-sent up a far more remarkable man, one Oliver
-Cromwell, the first time that he had been returned
-to Parliament by any place. There was
-a general enthusiasm to turn out all such members
-as had been inert, indifferent, or ready to betray
-their trusts out of terror or a leaning towards the
-Court. When the members assembled the House
-was crowded; there were four hundred such men
-as had rarely sat in any English Parliament
-before. Both county and town had selected such
-brave, patriotic, and substantial freeholders, merchants,
-and traders, as made sycophants and time-servers
-tremble. They were no longer the timid
-Commons who had formerly scarcely dared to look
-the lords or even the knights in the face; they
-were well aware of their power, and in wealth
-itself they were said to be three times superior to
-the House of Peers. In running his eye over
-them, a spectator would see such men as Cromwell,
-Hampden, Selden, Pym, Hollis, Eliot, Dudley
-Digges, Coke, Wentworth (soon to apostatise),<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[528]</a></span>
-and others, with intellects illumined by the study
-of the orators, lawgivers, and philosophers of republican
-Greece, animated with the great principles
-of Christianity, and with resolutions like
-iron. Many of these men had been attended to
-London by trains of their neighbours, sturdy freeholders
-and substantial shopkeepers, more numerous
-than the retinues of any lords, such was the
-intense expectation of what might ensue, and the
-prompt resolve to stand by their representatives.
-And they were not deceived, for this third Parliament
-of Charles I. marked itself out as one
-of the grand land-marks of English history.</p>
-
-<p>The king was conscious that if he hoped to gain
-his chief object from them&mdash;money&mdash;he must curb
-his haughty temper and assume a conciliating
-manner. He therefore, just before the opening of
-the Session, liberated seventy-eight gentlemen who
-had been imprisoned for refusing to pay the forced
-loan; he let the Earl of Bristol out of the Tower,
-though he lay under an impeachment for high
-treason; accorded the same favour to Bishop Williams,
-whom Buckingham had caused to be lodged
-there; and restored Archbishop Abbot, who had
-been suspended for refusing to license Sibthorpe's
-base sermon. But when he had made these
-concessions to popular opinion, Charles could not
-command his inveterate habit of threatening, and
-so spoilt all. In his opening speech he said:&mdash;"I
-have called you together, judging a Parliament
-to be the ancient, speediest, and best way
-to give such supply as to secure ourselves and
-save our friends from imminent ruin. Every man
-must now do according to his conscience; wherefore,
-if you, which God forbid, should not do your
-duties in contributing what this State at this time
-needs, I must, in discharge of my conscience, use
-those other means which God hath put into my
-hands, to save that which the follies of other men
-may otherwise hazard to lose. Take not this as
-threatening&mdash;I scorn to threaten any but my
-equals&mdash;but as an admonition from him that, both
-out of nature and duty, hath most care of your
-preservation and properties."</p>
-
-<p>This was followed by an equally impolitic speech
-from the Lord Keeper Coventry, who informed the
-Commons that the king had come to Parliament,
-not because it was at all necessary, not because
-he was destitute of other means, but because it
-was more agreeable to the goodness of his most
-gracious disposition. And then he unwisely
-enough added, "If this be deferred, necessity and
-the sword may make way for others. Remember
-his majesty's admonition; I say, remember it."</p>
-
-<p>Surely if the veriest novices in government
-had been set to talk to Parliament, they could
-not have done it in a more insane, blundering
-style. If the Commons had had as little tact as
-the king and his minister, there would have been
-hard words hurled back again, and the Parliament
-would have not been many days ere it
-ceased to exist. But the Commons had men as
-profound as these were shallow. They took all
-patiently, and set about quietly to determine
-on the question of Supplies. They came to the
-resolution to offer ample ones&mdash;no less than
-five subsidies, the whole to be paid within one
-year&mdash;but they tagged this simple condition to
-them, that the king should give them a guarantee
-against any further invasion of their rights.</p>
-
-<p>As we have already stated, during the past year
-many gentlemen had been imprisoned for refusing
-to pay the demands of the king made without
-sanction of Parliament. Five of them had been,
-at their own request, brought before the King's
-Bench by writ of <em>Habeas corpus</em>, and their counsel
-demanded that, as they were charged with no
-particular offence, but merely committed at the
-particular command of the king, they should be
-discharged or admitted to bail; but both were
-refused. The question was now discussed by the
-House, and it was resolved that no subsidy should
-pass without a remedy granted against this royal
-licence. "It will in us be wrong done to ourselves,"
-said Sir Francis Seymour, "to our posterity,
-to our consciences, if we forego this just
-claim and pretension."</p>
-
-<p>"We must vindicate what?" demanded Wentworth;
-"new things? No; our ancient, legal,
-and vital liberties, by enforcing the laws enacted
-by our ancestors; by setting such a stamp upon
-them that no licentious spirit shall dare henceforth
-to invade them." In the repeated debates which
-followed, Sir Edward Coke particularly distinguished
-himself, old as he was, by his powerful
-and undaunted speeches. He called upon the
-members to stand by the ancient laws, and was
-seconded by other members, who narrated the
-breaking of those laws by the abuses of raising
-money by loans, by benevolences, and privy seals;
-by billeting soldiers, by imprisonment of men for
-refusing these illegal demands, and by withholding
-from them the benefit of <em>Habeas corpus</em>. In
-vain were the speakers warned by the Court party
-to beware of distrusting the king, who had been
-driven to these measures by necessity, and by
-others, who declared that such was the king's
-goodness that it was next only to that of God<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[529]</a></span>.
-But Coke cried out, "Let us work whilst we
-have time! I am absolutely for giving supply
-to his majesty, but yet with some caution. Let
-us not flatter ourselves. Who will give subsidies
-if the king may impose what he will? I know he
-is a religious king, free from personal vices, but he
-deals with other men's hands, and sees with other
-men's eyes."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_529.jpg" width="404" height="500" alt="From the Port Eliot Portrait" title="SIR JOHN ELIOT" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR JOHN ELIOT. (<i>From the Port Eliot Portrait.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>This was approaching the subject of the
-favourite, which even the boldest were afraid of
-touching, but which Coke soon after entered upon
-plainly, and with all courage.</p>
-
-<p>On the 8th of May the House passed the four
-following resolutions, without a dissentient voice
-even from the courtiers&mdash;1st, That no freeman
-ought to be restrained or imprisoned, unless some
-lawful cause of such restraint or imprisonment be
-expressed; 2nd, That the writ of <em>Habeas Corpus</em>
-ought to be granted to every man imprisoned or
-restrained, though it be at the command of the
-king or Privy Council, if he pray for the same;
-3rd, That when the return expresses no cause of
-commitment or restraint, the party ought to be
-delivered or bailed; 4th, That it is the ancient
-and undoubted right of every free man, that he
-hath a full and absolute property in his goods and
-estates, and that no tax, loan, or benevolence ought
-to be levied by the king or his ministers, without
-common consent by Act of Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>It was clear, from these resolutions, that unless
-Charles chose to forego his illegal practices of
-raising money without consent of Parliament, and
-of imprisoning subjects without any warrant but
-his own will, he must abandon all idea of the five
-subsidies; but his necessities were too great, and
-the difficulties in the way of continuing to plunder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">[530]</a></span>
-people at his pleasure too formidable to allow him
-lightly to give up the tempting offer. The Lords
-were less determined than the Commons, and this
-gave him some encouragement. The matter was
-argued in the Commons on his behalf by the
-Attorney-General and the King's Counsel, but
-they found the leading members of the House
-too strong in their knowledge of constitutional
-law to be moved from their grand propositions.
-In the course of the debate the interference of
-Buckingham was felt, and the brave Sir John
-Eliot did not let that pass without criticism. "I
-know not," he said, "by what fatality or importunity
-it has crept in, but I observe in the close of
-Mr. Secretary's relation, mention made of <em>another</em>
-in addition to his majesty, and that which hath
-been formerly a matter of complaint, I find here
-still&mdash;a mixture with his majesty, not only in
-business, but in name. Let me beseech you, sir,
-let no man hereafter within these walls take this
-boldness to introduce it."</p>
-
-<p>On the 28th of May the Commons presented to
-his majesty their celebrated Petition of Right; a
-document destined to become celebrated, a confirmation
-of Magna Charta, and the origin of the
-Bill of Rights secured in 1688, on which rests all
-the fabric of our present liberties. This Petition
-was based on the four resolutions. It commenced by
-reminding the monarch of the great statutes passed
-by some of the most illustrious of his ancestors,
-which he had been so long and pertinaciously outraging;
-that the statute <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">De Tallagio non concedendo</i>,
-made in the reign of Edward I., provided
-that no tallage nor aid could be levied by the king
-without consent of Parliament; that by another
-statute of the 25th year of Edward III., no person
-could be compelled to make any loan to the king
-without such sanction; such loans being against
-reason and the charters of the land. There could
-be no dispute here&mdash;the king stood palpably convicted,
-and had he acted in ignorance, could do so
-no longer. It then went on: "And by other laws
-of this realm, it is provided that none shall be
-charged by any charge or imposition called a benevolence,
-nor by such like charge; by which statutes
-before mentioned, and the other good laws and
-statutes of the realm, your subjects have inherited
-this freedom, that they should not be compelled to
-contribute to any tax, tallage, aid, or other like
-charge, not set by common consent in Parliament:
-yet, nevertheless, of late, divers commissions, directed
-to sundry commissioners, in several counties,
-with instructions, have issued, by pretext whereof
-your people have been in divers places assembled,
-and required to lend certain sums of money unto
-your majesty; and many of them, upon their
-refusal to do so, have had an unlawful oath administered
-unto them, not warrantable by the
-laws and statutes of this realm, and have been
-constrained to become bound to make appearance
-and give attendance before your Privy Council in
-other places; and others of them have therefore
-been imprisoned, confined, and sundry other ways
-molested and disquieted; and divers other charges
-have been laid and levied upon your people in
-several counties, by lords-lieutenant, commissioners
-for musters, justices of peace, and others, by command
-or direction from your majesty or your
-Privy Council, against the laws and free customs
-of this realm."</p>
-
-<p>The Petition next set forth that divers persons
-refusing to pay these impositions had been imprisoned
-without cause shown, and on being
-brought up by <em>Habeas Corpus</em> to have their cause
-examined, had been sent back to prison without
-such fair trial and examination. From this it
-proceeded to the fact that numbers of soldiers
-had been billeted in private houses, contrary to the
-law, and persons tried by martial law in cases
-where they were only amenable to the common
-law of the land; and moreover, officers and
-ministers of the king had screened soldiers and
-sailors who had committed robberies, murders, and
-other felonies, on the plea that they were only
-responsible to military tribunals. All these
-breaches of the statutes, the Petition prayed the
-king to cause to cease, as being contrary to the
-rights and liberties of the subject, as secured by
-the laws of the land.</p>
-
-<p>The Petition was so clear, and the statutes
-quoted were so undeniable, that Charles was
-puzzled what to do. To refuse the prayer of the
-Commons was to forfeit the five tempting subsidies;
-to admit it simply and fully was to confess that
-he had hitherto been altogether wrong, and to
-leave himself no loop-hole of excuse for the future.
-Instead, therefore, of adopting the established
-form of saying, in the old Norman words, "<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Soit
-droit fait comme il est désiré</i>," he wrote at the
-foot of the petition this loose and most absurd
-assent&mdash;"The king willeth that right be done
-according to the laws and customs of the realm;
-and that the statutes be put in due execution, that
-his subjects may have no cause to complain of any
-wrongs or oppressions, contrary to their just rights
-and liberties, to the preservation whereof he holds
-himself in conscience as well obliged as of his own
-prerogative."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[531]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>This left the matter precisely where it was,
-for the king had always contended that he did
-nothing but what was warranted by his prerogative.
-The House felt this, and at once expressed
-their grievous disappointment. To add to their
-chagrin, Charles sent a message to them, informing
-them that he should dissolve Parliament on the
-11th of June, it now being the 5th. A deep and
-melancholy silence pervaded the House, which
-locked the doors to prevent interruption, and
-debated the matter in all earnestness. A second
-message from his majesty, commanding them not
-to cast or lay aspersions on any minister of his
-majesty, added greatly to the concern of the
-House. On the day but one before Sir John
-Eliot had urged the necessity of a "declaration"
-to his majesty, showing the decay and contempt
-of religion, and the insufficiency of his ministers,
-the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster had
-styled Sir John's speech "strange language," and
-had declared that if Sir John went on, he would
-go out; upon which the House told him plainly
-to take himself off. This had brought down the
-king's second message. The debate went on
-amid tears and deep emotion from strong and
-long-practised men; as if they perceived that
-the great crisis of the nation was come, and
-foresaw the bloodshed and misery which were
-to follow if they stood firm to their knowledge
-of the right; the slavery and degradation of
-England if they did not.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Robert Philips, interrupted by sobs and
-weeping, said:&mdash;"I perceive that towards God
-and towards man there is little hope, after our
-humble and careful endeavours, seeing our sins
-are many and so great. I consider my own
-infirmities, and if ever my passions were wrought
-upon, it is now. This message stirs me up,
-especially when I remember with what moderation
-we have proceeded." These earnest and
-religious men feared that God was hardening the
-heart of the king as he had done that of Pharaoh,
-in order to punish the nation for its backslidings
-and wickedness. "Our sins," said Sir John
-Eliot, "are so exceeding great, that unless we
-speedily turn to God, God will remove Himself
-farther from us. You know with what affection
-and integrity we have proceeded hitherto, to gain
-his majesty's heart; and, out of the necessity of
-our duty, were brought to that course we were
-in: I doubt a misrepresentation to his majesty
-hath drawn this mark of his displeasure upon us.
-I observe in the message, amongst other sad
-particulars, it is conceived that we were about to
-lay some aspersions upon the Government. Give
-me leave to protest that so clear were our intentions,
-that we desire only to vindicate these
-dishonours to our king and country. It is said
-also as if we cast some aspersions on his majesty's
-ministers; I am confident no minister, how dear
-soever, can&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>Eliot was interrupted by Sir John Finch, the
-Speaker, who had for some time been more and
-more sidling away to the favour of the king,
-starting up and exclaiming, "There is a command
-laid upon me, to interrupt any that shall
-go about to lay an aspersion on the ministers of
-State." This was a clear infringement of the
-privilege of Parliament, which the House was not
-disposed to pass by. Sir John, thus snubbed, sat
-down, and there remained a significant silence
-for some minutes. Then Sir Dudley Digges rose
-and said, "Unless we may speak of these things,
-let us arise, and begone, or sit still and do nothing."
-There was another deep silence, at length
-broken by Sir Nathaniel Rich, who said, "We
-must now speak, or for ever hold our peace.
-For us to be silent when king and kingdom are
-in this calamity, is not fit. The question is,
-whether we shall secure ourselves by our silence&mdash;yea
-or no? Let us go to the Lords and show
-our dangers, that we may then go to the king together
-with our representation thereof." Prynne,
-Coke, and others, spoke to the same effect,
-and Coke was so overwhelmed with his feelings,
-grown old as he was, at the Bar, on the Bench
-and in the House, that he was obliged to resume
-his seat.</p>
-
-<p>The House resolved itself into a committee for
-more freedom of discussion, and put Mr. Whitly
-into the chair. Finch, the Speaker, begged leave,
-as he was quitting the chair, for half an hour's
-absence. The House knew very well that he
-only wanted to run off and tell the king what
-was going on, but they let him go, and away
-he bustled to Whitehall. The House then passed
-an order, declaring that no man should leave the
-House under penalty of being committed to the
-Tower. Then Mr. Kirton rose, and declaring that
-the king in himself was as good a prince as ever
-reigned, said "it was high time to find out the
-enemies of the Commonwealth, who had so prevailed
-with him, and then he doubted not but God would
-send them hearts, hands, and swords, to cut all
-their throats." He added that the Speaker to
-desire to leave the House as he had done, was
-unprecedented, and to his mind ominous. Sir
-Edward Coke once more endeavoured to say what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[532]</a></span>
-he had not been able to say before, but which must
-be said, and none so proper as this veteran statesman
-to say it. "I now see," he observed, "that
-God has not accepted our humble and moderate
-carriages and fair proceedings; and I fear the
-reason is that we have not dealt sincerely with the
-king, and made a true representation of the causes
-of all these miseries. Let us take this to heart.
-In the time of Edward III. had Parliament any
-doubt as to naming men that misled the king?
-They accused John of Gaunt, the king's son, Lord
-Latimer, and Lord Neville, for misadvising the
-king; and they went to the Tower for it. And
-now, when there is such a downfall of the State,
-shall we hold our tongues? Why," continued he,
-"may we not name those who are the cause of all
-our evils?" And he added, "Let us palliate no
-longer; if we do, God will not prosper us. I think
-the Duke of Buckingham is the cause, and till the
-duke be informed thereof, we shall never go out
-with honour, nor sit with honour here. That
-man is the grievance of grievances! Let us set
-down the causes of all our disasters, and they
-will all reflect upon him. As to going to the
-Lords, that is not <i xml:lang="it" lang="it">via regia</i>; our liberties are now
-impeached; we are deeply concerned; it is not <i xml:lang="it" lang="it">via
-regia</i>, for the Lords are not participant with our
-liberties. It is not the king but the duke that
-saith, 'We require you not to meddle with state
-affairs, or the ministers thereof.' Did not his
-majesty, when prince, attend the Upper House in
-our prosecution of Lord Chancellor Bacon and the
-Lord Treasurer Middlesex?"</p>
-
-<p>The secret was out; the word was spoken!
-The name at which Charles and the duke had
-trembled, lest it should come into discussion, was,
-in spite of threats and messages, named; and the
-naming, and the charging with all the disgraces
-and miseries of the nation, were received with
-sudden and general acclamation of "Yea! yea!
-'Tis he! 'tis he!" The day was come that James
-had so solemnly warned both Charles and Buckingham
-of&mdash;when they should have their bellyful
-of impeachments; having, as Coke now reminded
-them, themselves set the ball rolling. Aldred, in
-the letter just quoted, says:&mdash;"As when one good
-hound recovers the scent, the rest come in with
-full cry, so one pursued it, and every one came
-home and laid the blame where he thought the
-fault was, on the Duke of Buckingham, to wit."
-The duke was speedily accused of treachery and
-incapacity, both as High Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
-All the disgraceful failures, at Cadiz,
-at La Rochelle, on the Isle of Rhé, and even in
-Germany, were charged upon his evil counsels
-or worse management.</p>
-
-<p>Selden proposed a declaration to his majesty
-under four heads, expressive of the dutiful devotion
-of the House, of the violation of the
-nation's liberties, of the intentions of the House,
-and of the interference of the duke to prevent
-inquiry. He declared that all this time they had
-been casting a mantle over the accusation made
-against Buckingham, and that it was time to
-revert to that. "At this moment," says Aldred,
-"as we were putting the question, the Speaker,
-having been, not half an hour, but three hours
-absent, and with the king, returned, bringing this
-message&mdash;that the House should then rise&mdash;being
-about eleven o'clock&mdash;adjourn till the morrow
-morning, and no committees to sit, or other business
-to go on in the interim."</p>
-
-<p>The next day the House met, when Finch
-apologised for his absence, and his going to the
-king, declaring that he had communicated nothing
-but what was to the honour of the House; and
-wishing that his tongue might cleave to the roof
-of his mouth before he spoke a word to the disparagement
-of any member. He informed them
-that his majesty had no desire to fetter their deliberations,
-so that they did not interfere with his
-ministers, and added words of courtesy from the
-king. The Commons observed that they had no
-intention of charging anything on the king, but
-must insist on inquiring when necessary into the
-conduct of his ministers; and the words of Mr.
-Kirton being found fault with, which intimated
-a hope that all those found guilty might have
-their throats cut, the House resolved that "he
-had said nothing beyond the bounds of duty and
-allegiance, and that they all concurred with him
-therein."</p>
-
-<p>On the following day they went into committee,
-and commenced their labours of inquiry into the
-proceedings of the executive. They examined
-Burlemachi, a foreign speculator, as to a commission
-which he was alleged to have, for engaging
-and bringing into this kingdom troops of
-German horse. He confessed to such warrant,
-and to having received thirty thousand pounds for
-this purpose; one thousand of these horse being,
-as he admitted, already raised and armed, and
-waiting their passage in Holland. "And the intention
-of bringing over these mercenaries," said
-one of the members, "is to cut our throats, or to
-keep us in obedience!" Another member declared
-that twelve of the commanders were already
-arrived, and had been seen in St. Paul's. The
-House next fell upon a new scheme of excise,
-which it was proposed to levy without consent of
-Parliament, and voted that any member who had
-any information regarding this new imposition
-and did not disclose it, was an enemy to the State,
-and no true Englishman.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[533]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_533big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_533.jpg" width="414" height="560" alt="" title="ASSASSINATION OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ASSASSINATION OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_535">535</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[534]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The danger which was obviously approaching
-Buckingham in the proceedings of this Committee
-alarmed the king; and the same day, the 7th of
-June, he commanded the Commons to meet him in
-the House of Lords, and then observing that he
-thought he had given a full and specific answer to
-their Petition of Right, but as they were not
-satisfied, he desired them to read the Petition
-again, and he would give them an answer which
-should satisfy them. Taking his seat on the
-throne, this was done, and he then ordered the
-former answer to be cut off, and the following, in
-the established form, to be inscribed&mdash;"Let right
-be done as is desired." "Now," he added, "I
-have performed my part; wherefore, if this Parliament
-have not a happy issue, the sin is yours. I
-am free of it."</p>
-
-<p>Thus was passed the Petition of Right, the
-most important document since the acquirement
-of Magna Charta. The rejoicing for this conquest,
-this assurance of quieter days and secure firesides,
-sped through the City, and thence over the kingdom,
-and was everywhere demonstrated by acclamations,
-ringing of bells, and bonfires. On the
-10th of June, three days afterwards, the king, as
-if pleased with this public expression of satisfaction,
-sent Sir Humphrey May to inform the
-House of Commons that he was graciously pleased
-that their Petition of Right, with his answer,
-should be recorded not only on the journals of
-Parliament, but in those of the courts of Westminster,
-and should, moreover, be printed for his
-honour and the content of the people. On the
-12th the Commons showed their content by voting
-the king the five subsidies, and hastening to pass
-the Bill for five other subsidies granted by the
-clergy.</p>
-
-<p>But the exultation over this great triumph did
-not prevent the Commons from pursuing their
-labours of inquiry into abuses. They obtained a
-judgment from the Lords against Dr. Mainwaring
-for his encouragement of kingly absolutism in his
-sermons, and censured Laud and Neale of Winchester,
-for licensing similar sermons; they then
-came to Buckingham himself, and voted a strong
-remonstrance against his undue influence and unconstitutional
-doings, which was presented by the
-Speaker to the king. The House felt itself highly
-aggrieved by a speech which the favourite was
-reported to have made at his own table&mdash;"Tush!
-it makes no matter what the Commons or Parliament
-doth; for without my leave and authority,
-they shall not be able to touch the hair of a dog."
-Buckingham protested that he had never uttered
-such words, and called upon the House of Lords
-to demand that the members of the Commons who
-had thus reported it should be called in to prove
-it; but the duke was forced to content himself
-with entering his protest on the journals of the
-Lords.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons not having voted the tonnage
-and poundage, calculated that the king would not
-hastily dissolve the House, and therefore prayed
-him to remove Buckingham from his counsels, as
-the author of so many calamities; and they took
-the opportunity to remind him that tonnage and
-poundage could not be collected without their consent,
-as the king's concession of the Petition of
-Right testified. This called forth Charles again
-as hotly as ever. Though he had admitted, in
-granting this Petition, that no kind of duty could
-be imposed without consent of Parliament, he now
-sought to except the tonnage and poundage from
-this condition. He therefore, on the 26th of
-June, suddenly went to the House of Lords, and
-summoned the attendance of the Commons. The
-action had been so impromptu, that the Lords had
-no notice of it, and neither he nor they had time
-to robe themselves, when the Commons at nine
-o'clock in the morning made their appearance.
-All unrobed as he was, Charles seated himself on
-the throne, and lectured the Commons on their
-already beginning to put false constructions on his
-passing the Petition of Right. "As for the
-tonnage and poundage, it is a thing I cannot
-want, and was never intended by you to ask, nor
-meant by me, I am sure, to grant." And he
-called on them, but more especially the Lords,
-who were the judges, to take notice of what he
-declared his meaning to be when he granted the
-Petition.</p>
-
-<p>The mischief had been done by former Parliaments
-granting this impost, now called customs
-duties, for life; and though Parliament had never
-altogether surrendered the power of voting it,
-nor had voted it for life to Charles, he had
-come to consider it as merged into a matter of
-prerogative, and not to be affected by his general
-concession just made. The Commons, however,
-meant nothing less than that this, as well as every
-other grant of taxes on the subject, should be void
-without their assent. Here, therefore, as so often<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[535]</a></span>
-afterwards, they found themselves just where they
-were with the king as matter of dispute, though
-they had settled the question as matter of right.
-No man was ever so hard as Charles I. to be made
-to see what he did not like. He therefore gave his
-assent to the subsidies, and prorogued the Parliament
-till October; and, as if to mark how far he
-was from intending to submit to what he had thus
-so solemnly in the face of the whole nation bound
-himself to, he proceeded to reward the men who
-had so shamefully advocated absolute power in
-him. He made bishops of both Montague and
-Mainwaring, and promoted Sibthorpe to coveted
-livings.</p>
-
-<p>The king's attention was soon drawn from the
-battle with the Commons to the demands of the
-unfortunate people of La Rochelle upon him. He
-had solemnly pledged his honour to assist them,
-and they now sorely needed it. Since Buckingham
-left them to their fate, La Rochelle had been
-invested by the French army under the king
-and Richelieu, and the besieged loudly called on
-the King of England to succour them according
-to his promise. The Earl of Denbigh was despatched
-thither with a numerous fleet, yet had
-done nothing; but having shown himself before
-the town for seven days, returned, to the great
-mortification of the Rochellais. Denbigh had
-been raised to his rank and title simply for
-marrying a sister of Buckingham's, and the
-people murmured loudly at the fleet being put
-into such incompetent hands. The hatred of the
-duke rose higher and higher, and on the same day
-that he was pronounced by the Commons the cause
-of all these national calamities, his physician, Dr.
-Lambe, was murdered by a mob in London, and a
-placard was affixed on the walls in these words:&mdash;"Who
-rules the kingdom?&mdash;The king. Who
-rules the king?&mdash;The duke. Who rules the
-duke?&mdash;The devil. Let the duke look to it, or
-he will be served as his doctor was served." A
-doggerel rhyme was in the mouths of the common
-people:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="container">
-<div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
-  <div class="i0">"Let Charles and George do what they can,</div>
-  <div class="i0">The duke shall die like Dr. Lambe."</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The king was extremely concerned when the
-placard was shown him, and added double guard
-at night; but the duke treated the whole with contempt,
-and prepared to proceed himself with the
-fleet to relieve La Rochelle. Charles went with
-him to Deptford to see the ships, and is reported
-to have said to Buckingham on beholding them,
-"George, there are those who wish that both these
-and thou may perish; but we will both perish
-together, if thou dost." Buckingham proceeded
-to Portsmouth, where he was to embark. Clarendon
-relates that the ghost of Buckingham's
-father had appeared to an officer of the king's
-wardrobe three times, urging him to go to his
-son and warn him to do something to abate the
-hatred of the people, or that he would not be
-allowed to live long. Since the demonstrations
-in London, it needed no ghost to show his
-danger. But he was never gayer than on the
-eve of the verification of the omens and the
-menaces.</p>
-
-<p>The duke, on the 23rd of August, rose in high
-spirits, even dancing in his gaiety, and went to
-breakfast with a great number of his officers.
-Whilst he was at breakfast, M. Soubise, the
-envoy of the people of La Rochelle, went to him,
-and was seen in earnest private conversation. It
-is supposed that Soubise had come to the knowledge
-of certain negotiations between England and
-France, in which, though both monarchs showed
-every tendency to listen to an accommodation,
-neither had yet ventured to propose it; but that it
-was the object of Buckingham rather to treat than
-to fight when he got to La Rochelle. At that
-very moment Mr. Secretary Carleton had arrived
-from the king with instructions to Buckingham to
-open by some means a communication with Richelieu,
-and thus, as it were, accidentally to bring
-about a treaty. Probably Soubise had acquired
-hints of these things, for both he and many other
-Frenchmen about Buckingham appeared greatly
-discontented, and vociferated and gesticulated
-energetically. The duke, it is said, had been endeavouring
-to persuade Soubise that La Rochelle
-was already relieved, which he was too well informed
-to credit.</p>
-
-<p>The duke now prepared to go out to his
-carriage, which was waiting at the door, and as
-he went through the hall, still followed by the
-French gentlemen, Colonel Friar whispered something
-in his ear. He turned to listen, and at the
-same moment a knife was plunged into his heart,
-and there left sticking. Plucking it out, with
-the word "Villain!" he fell, covered with blood.
-His servants, who caught him as he was falling,
-thought it was a stroke of apoplexy, but the blood,
-both from the wound and his mouth, quickly undeceived
-them. Then an alarm was raised; some
-ran to close the gates, and others rushed forth to
-spread the news. The Duchess of Buckingham
-and her sister, the Countess of Anglesea, heard the
-noise in their chamber, and ran into the gallery of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">[536]</a></span>
-the lobby, where they saw the duke lying in
-his gore. He was only in his six-and-thirtieth
-year.</p>
-
-<p>The first suspicion fell upon the French, and
-they were in great danger from the duke's people;
-but when a number of officers came rushing in,
-crying out, "Where is the villain? Where is the
-butcher?" a man stepped calmly forward, saying,
-"I am the man&mdash;here I am!" He had quietly
-withdrawn into the kitchen as soon as he had
-done the deed, and might have escaped had he so
-willed. On hearing him avow the murder the
-officers drew their swords, and would have despatched
-him, but were prevented by the Secretary
-Carleton, Sir Thomas Morton, and others, who
-stood guard over him till a detachment of soldiers
-arrived and conveyed him to the Governor's
-house.</p>
-
-<p>The assassin turned out to be John Felton, a
-gentleman by birth and education, who had been a
-lieutenant in the army during the expedition to
-the Isle of Rhé. He had thrown up his commission
-because he could not obtain the arrears of his
-pay, and had seen another at the same time promoted
-over his head. He had, therefore, most
-likely, a personal grudge against the duke, but had
-also been led on by religious fanaticism. He was
-a stout, dark, military-looking man, from Suffolk;
-but according to his own account, was first excited
-to the deed by reading the remonstrance of the
-Parliament against the duke, when it seemed to
-him that that remonstrance was a sufficient warrant
-for the act, and that by ridding the country of him
-he should render a real service to it. He described
-himself as walking in London on Tower Hill, when
-he saw a broad hunting-knife on a cutler's stall,
-and that it was suggested to him instantly to buy
-it for this purpose.</p>
-
-<p>At Portsmouth one of the royal chaplains was
-sent to him in his dungeon, where he lay heavily
-ironed; but Felton, supposing the chaplain sent to
-draw something from him, rather than for his consolation,
-said, "Sir, I shall be brief with you; I
-killed him for the cause of God and my country!"
-The chaplain, to mislead him, told him what was
-not true, that the surgeons gave hopes of his life;
-but Felton promptly replied, "That is impossible!
-I had the power of forty men, assisted by Him
-who guided my hand." On being removed to
-London, the people crowded to see him, showering
-blessings on him as the deliverer of his country;
-and one old woman at Kingston said, "Now, God
-bless thee, little David!" meaning that he had
-killed Goliath. Felton was lodged in the Tower,
-and threatened with the rack to make him confess
-his accomplices, but he steadfastly replied that he
-had no accomplices or abettors but the remonstrance
-of the Commons. The Earl of Dorset
-went to see him, accompanied, as reported, by
-Laud, and menaced him with the rack if he
-would not reveal his colleagues. Felton replied,
-"I am ready, but I must tell you that I will
-then accuse you my lord of Dorset, and no one
-but you." Charles urged his being racked, but
-the judges, who saw better than he did the
-spirit that was abroad, refused to sanction it,
-declaring that torture, however used, had always
-been contrary to the law of England. Felton
-gloried in his deed, but at length, through the
-exertions of the clergy, came to confess that he
-had been misled by a bad spirit; yet it has been
-doubted whether he ever really abandoned inwardly
-the persuasion of having done a great
-and patriotic deed. When the Attorney-General
-on the trial lauded the virtues, the abilities,
-wisdom, and public services of Buckingham to
-the skies, Felton, on being asked what he had
-to say why judgment should not be passed on
-him, replied that if he had deprived his majesty
-of so faithful a servant as Mr. Attorney-General
-described, he was sorry, and extending his arm
-exclaimed, "This is the instrument that did the
-deed, let it be cut off for it!" He was hanged
-at Tyburn, and then gibbeted at Portsmouth, the
-scene of his crime.</p>
-
-<p>In place of the duke, the Earl of Lindsay was
-ordered to take command of the expedition for the
-relief of La Rochelle, and he was accompanied by
-Walter Montague, the second son of the Earl of
-Manchester, who was to open a negotiation with
-Richelieu. Montague was already a Catholic at
-heart, and afterwards became so avowedly, and
-was made commendatory Abbot of Pontoise, and
-a member of the Council of Anne of Austria. No
-doubt it was from this known tendency that he
-had been chosen for this mission. For five days the
-fleet man&oelig;uvred before La Rochelle, and after
-two ineffectual, and probably rather pretended
-than actual, endeavours to force an entrance, returned
-to Spithead. Montague, meanwhile, had
-been introduced to Louis, had hurried back to
-London, and was on the point of returning, when
-the news came of the surrender of La Rochelle.
-This event put an end to the dreams of a Protestant
-State in France, and greatly consolidated
-the power of that country. To the Rochellais it
-was a terrible lesson against putting faith in
-English kings. When they were prevailed upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_537" id="Page_537">[537]</a></span>
-to surrender their peace and prosperity to the
-promises of protection and religious liberty, the
-town contained fifteen thousand souls; when they
-opened their gates to their own sovereign, they
-were reduced to four thousand. All this misery
-was the work of Charles and Buckingham.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_537big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_537.jpg" width="560" height="444" alt="" title="TYBURN IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>TYBURN IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>This event had greatly grieved the Protestants
-in England, and it was whilst the public was
-brooding over these matters, and over fresh acts
-of arbitrary oppression in the Star Chamber and
-Court of High Commission, as well as by the
-continued levy of tonnage and poundage and other
-duties, that Charles called together Parliament.
-It had been prorogued to the 20th of October, but
-met on the 20th of January, 1629. The king sent
-the Commons a message, desiring them to proceed
-to vote the tonnage and poundage without delay,
-this having been neglected by the Parliament in
-the last Session; but the House insisted on going
-first into the grievances. These were two-fold&mdash;such
-as related to the constitution, and such as
-affected the faith of the nation. Charles had
-not only persisted in the enforcement of revenue
-without Parliament, and dared to tamper even
-with the Petition of Rights after he had granted
-it, but had issued a new edition of the Articles of
-the Church, into which he had introduced a clause
-to suit the intentions of himself and his great
-ecclesiastical adviser, Laud. The Commons agreed
-to take the religious question first, declaring
-that the business of the kings of this earth
-should give place to the business of the King of
-Heaven.</p>
-
-<p>Popery and Arminianism were the things which
-the Puritans held in almost equal horror. In reference
-to Popery they inquired what was the
-reason that the laws regarding it were relaxed?
-and why out of ten individuals who had been
-arraigned for receiving ordination in the Church
-of Rome, only one had been condemned, and the
-execution of that one respited? Two Committees
-were appointed to inquire of the judges on
-what grounds they had refused to receive evidence
-tendered against the recusants at their trial, and
-of the Attorney-General by what authority he had
-discharged the persons in question, on their giving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_538" id="Page_538">[538]</a></span>
-bail for their re-appearance. Every member was
-bound to give all the information to the House in
-his power regarding the relaxation of the penal
-laws, and all attempts or warrants to stay proceedings
-against the Papists.</p>
-
-<p>But the growth and favour of Arminianism in
-high places was the most absorbing subject of
-animadversion. Laud, now Bishop of London,
-was bent not only on introducing Arminianism
-to its fullest extent, but ceremonies and rites
-merging fast into Catholicism. Therefore the
-Puritans declared the heresy of Arminianism to
-be the spawn of Popery. Laud had notions of
-Church government as absolute as Charles had
-of civil government. All the promotions by him
-were of Arminian clergymen. Montague was
-become Bishop of Chichester, Mainwaring was a
-bishop, and all those who meant to get preferment
-saw plainly that they must profess Arminianism,
-and the love of gorgeous ceremonies and plenty of
-surplices.</p>
-
-<p>There were difficulties, however, for the Articles
-drawn up in 1562, under Elizabeth, stated:&mdash;"The
-Church hath power to decree rites and
-ceremonies, and hath authority in matters of
-faith." Mr. Pym called upon the House to take
-a covenant for the maintenance of their religious
-rites, which were in danger; and both he and
-others denounced the introduction of idolatrous
-ceremonies into the Church by Charles and others.
-Sir John Eliot protested vehemently against the
-introduction of the new clause into the Articles.
-He called on the House to enter not a mere resolution
-but a "vow" on its Journals against it,
-which was done; namely, "that the Commons of
-England claimed, professed, and avowed for truth,
-that sense of the Articles of Religion which were
-established in Parliament in the thirteenth year of
-Queen Elizabeth, which by the public acts of the
-Church of England, and by the general and current
-exposition of the writers of that Church, had
-been declared unto them, and that they rejected
-the sense of the Jesuits, Arminians, and all others
-wherein they differed from it."</p>
-
-<p>The king sent the House a message, desiring
-them to leave matters of religion, and proceed to
-pass the vote for tonnage and poundage. This led
-to a sharp debate between the Court party and the
-Opposition. The courtiers lauded the goodness of
-the king, and the enlargement of their liberties
-which he had granted; but Mr. Coriton replied
-bluntly, "When men speak here of neglect of duty
-towards his majesty, let them know we know no
-such thing, nor what they mean. I see not how
-we neglect the same. I see it is all our heart's
-desire to expedite the Bill of tonnage and poundage
-in due time. Our business is still put back by
-their messages, and the business in hand is God's.
-And his majesty's things are certainly amiss, and
-every one sees it; but woe be unto us if we present
-not the same to his majesty!" On the 2nd
-of February the House, instead of the vote of
-tonnage and poundage, presented to the king "an
-apology" for delaying that Bill, and containing a
-complaint of his majesty's encroaching on the
-orders and privileges of their House by three
-messages in two days, urging them to change
-inconveniently the orders of their proceedings.
-Charles replied by a message through Secretary
-Coke that he was as zealous for the faith as they
-were, but must again think it strange that the
-business of religion should be an obstruction to
-his business. He once more desired them to pass
-the vote for the tonnage and poundage, adding one
-of his mischievous and most impolitic threats, of
-quickening them by other means if they did not.</p>
-
-<p>The House, resenting this ill-advised message,
-went on discussing the affairs of the Church. Mr.
-Kirton, who had in the last Session talked of cutting
-the throats of all traitorous Ministers, now
-declared Laud and Neale, Bishop of Winchester,
-to be at the bottom of all the troubles that were
-now come upon them and their religion. On the
-11th of February, in the Committee on Religion,
-Oliver Cromwell made his first appearance as a
-speaker in that House, a circumstance of great
-mark, seeing what the honourable member afterwards
-grew into. He said, "He had heard by
-relation from one Dr. Beard that Dr. Alabaster
-had preached flat Popery at Paul's Cross, and that
-the Bishop of Winchester had commanded him, as
-his diocesan, that he should preach nothing to the
-contrary. Mainwaring, so justly censured in this
-House for his sermons, was by the same bishop's
-means preferred to a rich living. If these are the
-steps to Church preferment, what are we to expect?"
-Whereupon the Committee ordered Dr.
-Beard to be written to by Mr. Speaker, to come
-up and testify against the bishop; "the order for
-Dr. Beard to be delivered to Mr. Cromwell."
-After severe animadversions on Neale, who, Mr.
-Kirton said, had leaped through many bishoprics,
-but always left Popery behind him, the House
-passed to the consideration of the Petition of
-Right.</p>
-
-<p>Selden called the attention of the House to this
-subject, and showed that though Charles had
-promised that the Petition of Right should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_539" id="Page_539">[539]</a></span>
-printed, and that the king's printer had struck off
-fifteen hundred copies of that document, the king
-had sent for and destroyed them, and had then had
-printed and circulated another copy, from which
-the king's assent was removed, his first evasive
-answer restored, and his sophistical explanation at
-the close of the Session, that it did not apply
-to tonnage and poundage, introduced. This
-flagrant violation of his word and of all the
-forms of Parliament, struck the House with ominous
-doubts of ever binding the king by any law
-or by any principle. They summoned the king's
-printer to their bar, and demanded by what
-authority he had thus substituted a false for the
-true Petition. He replied that the day after the
-Session the Attorney-General had sent for him, and
-forbade him to publish the copy printed, as did
-also the Earl of Worcester, Lord Privy Seal; and
-that he was sent for again to Court, furnished
-with the new copy, and ordered to print and
-publish it in that form.</p>
-
-<p>The House was in the highest state of indignation
-and astonishment. Such a deliberate falsification
-of a document passed by the House and
-ratified by himself, branded the king as capable of
-any act of duplicity, and went to destroy all confidence
-in not merely his word but his most solemn
-legislative act. The chief speakers of the Commons
-expressed their horror and disgust at the
-deed in no measured terms. Selden exclaimed,
-"For this Petition of Right, we see how it has
-been invaded since our last meeting. Our liberties
-of life, person, and freehold have been invaded;
-men have been committed contrary to that Petition.
-No man ought to lose life or limb but by
-the law, and hath not one lately lost his ears by
-order of the Star Chamber? Next, they will take
-away our arms, and then our legs, and so our
-lives. Let all see we are sensible of this. Evil
-customs creep in upon us: let us make a just
-representation thereof to his majesty."</p>
-
-<p>The case of a merchant and member of the
-House, Mr. Rolles, was then related. His goods
-had been seized by the officers of the Customs for
-refusing to pay the rates demanded, though he
-told them that whatever was declared due by law,
-he would discharge. This case, amongst a multitude
-of others, threw the House into a great ferment.
-"They knew the party was a Parliament
-man," said Sir Robert Philips; "nay, they said if
-all the Parliament was with him, or concerned in
-the goods, they would seize them just the same."</p>
-
-<p>The king, perceiving the storm he had raised,
-sent word by Secretary Coke to stay further
-debate on that case till three o'clock the next day,
-when he would speak with both Houses at Whitehall.
-Accordingly, meeting them there, Charles,
-after complimenting the Lords at the expense of
-the Commons, then said, addressing the members
-of the Lower House, "The complaint of staying
-men's goods for tonnage and poundage may have
-a short and easy conclusion. By passing the Bill
-as my ancestors have had it, my past actions will
-be concluded, and my future proceedings authorised.
-I take not these duties as appertaining to
-my hereditary prerogative. It ever was, and still
-is, my meaning, by the gift of my subjects to
-enjoy the same. In my speech of last Session I
-did not challenge them as right, but showed you
-the necessity by which I was to take them, till
-you had granted them, assuring myself that you
-wanted only time, and not good will. So make
-good your professions, and put an end to all
-questions arising from the subject."</p>
-
-<p>These assertions were in direct contradiction to
-his declaration in that very speech which we have
-already quoted, that the tonnage and poundage
-was a thing that Parliament had nothing to do
-with. But the concession gratified the Commons;
-still they did not grant the Customs duties, but
-employed themselves strenuously in calling to
-account those who had been concerned in furthering
-or executing the king's illegal orders. They
-summoned to their bar Acton, the Sheriff of
-London, who had seized the goods of Rolles and
-other merchants, and sent him to the Tower.
-They summoned also the officers of the Customs
-who made the seizure, who pleaded the king's
-warrant, and also his own express command; and
-the king declared, through Secretary Coke, that he
-would defend them. This caused loud outcries in
-the House, but did not check their proceedings, for
-they sent messages to the Chancellor and Barons of
-the Exchequer, who excused themselves by saying
-all those aggrieved had their remedy at law. Thus
-they did not attempt to justify their proceedings.</p>
-
-<p>On the 25th of February, two days later than
-these determined inquisitions, showing that the
-Commons were assuming high and most ominous
-ground, the Committee of Religion presented to the
-House a report, entitled "Heads of Articles agreed
-upon, and to be insisted on by the House." In
-these they complained that the bishops licensed
-books in favour of Popery, and suppressed books
-opposed to Popery; that such books as those of
-Mainwaring and Montague should be burnt, and
-some better order taken for the licensing of books.
-They demanded that candlesticks should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_540" id="Page_540">[540]</a></span>
-removed from the communion-tables, which were
-now impiously styled high altars; that pictures,
-lights, images, should be taken away; and crossing
-and praying towards the East
-forbidden; that more learned,
-pious, and orthodox men
-should be put into livings,
-and that better provision
-should be made for a good
-minister in every parish.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_540.jpg" width="450" height="217" alt="" title="BROAD OF CHARLES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>BROAD OF CHARLES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Again Charles sent them an order to adjourn to the 2nd of March,
-which they did, but only to assemble on that day in the same resolute
-and unbending spirit. Sir John Eliot immediately denounced Neale of
-Winchester, as a rank abettor of Arminianism, and thence passed on to
-the Lord Treasurer Weston, whom he declared to be his grand supporter
-in it. This Sir Richard Weston had been seeking his fortune at Court
-many years, and had nearly spent a private fortune of his own before
-he obtained any promotion. At last he got employed as ambassador to
-Archduke Albert in Flanders, and afterwards to the court of Germany,
-in which he discharged his trust so well that on his return he was
-made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and a few months before the death of
-Buckingham, Charles had removed the Earl of Marlborough from the office
-of Lord Treasurer, and given it to him. Weston was highly elated,
-and devoted himself with all his ardour to succeed to the place of
-favourite which Buckingham had held. But though Charles showed him much
-favour, and eventually made him Earl of Portland, he allowed Weston to
-succeed to the arbitrary offices and public odium of the duke, but not
-to the ascendency which Buckingham had possessed over him.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_540a.jpg" width="412" height="200" alt="" title="THREE POUND PIECE OF CHARLES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>THREE POUND PIECE OF CHARLES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Sir John Eliot now pointed out Weston's
-criminal subservience to the worst designs of the
-king. "In his person," he said, "all evil is concentrated,
-both for the innovation of religion, and
-the invasion of our liberties. He is now the
-great enemy of the Commonwealth. I have traced
-him in all his actions, and I find him building
-on those grounds laid by his master, the great
-duke. He secretly is moving for this interruption;
-and from this fear they go about to
-break Parliament, lest Parliament should
-break them."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_540b.jpg" width="407" height="190" alt="" title="BRIOT SHILLING OF CHARLES I" />
-<div class="caption"><p>BRIOT SHILLING OF CHARLES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>This was tender ground, and Sir John
-Finch the Speaker, who was a regular
-courtier, immediately said he had a command
-from his majesty to adjourn the House till
-the following Tuesday week. Several members
-declared the message to be vexatious and
-out of order, for that adjournment was a
-function of their own; but since the Speaker
-had delivered the message and that was sufficient,
-they would settle a few matters, and do as his
-majesty desired. Sir John Eliot produced a
-remonstrance addressed to the king against levying
-tonnage and poundage, and desired the Speaker
-to read it; but he refused, saying the House was
-adjourned by the king. Eliot then desired the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_541" id="Page_541">[541]</a></span>
-Clerk of the House to read it, but he also refused,
-and so Sir John read it himself; but the Speaker
-refused to put it to the vote. Selden then told
-the Speaker that if he would not put the question
-to the vote, they would all continue sitting still.
-The Speaker, however, declared that he had his
-majesty's command immediately to rise when he
-had delivered the message; whereupon he was
-rising, but Holles, the son of the Earl of Clare,
-and Valentine, who had placed themselves on
-each side of him for the purpose, held him down
-in his chair. He made a great outcry and resistance:
-several of the courtiers rushed to his assistance,
-but Holles swore that he should sit as long
-as they pleased. The doors were locked, and there
-was a scuffle and blows, but the Opposition
-members compelled the Speaker to continue sitting,
-notwithstanding his struggles, tears, and entreaties.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_541.jpg" width="435" height="550" alt="From the Portrait by the Elder Mytens" title="JOHN SELDEN" />
-<div class="caption"><p>JOHN SELDEN. (<i>From the Portrait by the Elder Mytens.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Selden delivered an address to the imprisoned
-Speaker on his duties and his obedience owed to
-the House which sat under the Great Seal, and
-had power of adjournment as the king had that of
-prorogation. Sir Peter Hayman told him that he
-blushed at being his kinsman, that he was a blot
-on his family, and would be held in scorn and
-contempt by posterity; and concluded by recommending
-that if he would not do his duty, he
-should be brought to the bar of the House, dismissed,
-and another chosen at once in his place.
-Mr. Holles proceeded to read the following set
-of resolutions, which were loudly cheered, and
-assented to by the House, namely:&mdash;1, That whoever
-shall seek to bring in Popery, Arminianism,
-or other opinions, disagreeing from the true and
-orthodox Church, shall be reputed a capital enemy
-to this kingdom and Commonwealth; 2, Whoever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_542" id="Page_542">[542]</a></span>
-shall advise the taking of tonnage and poundage,
-not being granted by Parliament, or shall be an
-actor or instrument therein, shall be reputed a
-capital enemy to this kingdom and Parliament; 3,
-Whatever merchant or other person shall pay
-tonnage and poundage, not being granted by Parliament,
-shall be reputed a betrayer of the liberties
-of England, and an enemy to the same.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst these extraordinary scenes were acting,
-the king had come down to the House of Lords, but
-not finding the Speaker there as he expected, sent
-a messenger to bring away the sergeant with his
-mace, without which there could be no House.
-The doors were locked, and the messenger could
-get no admittance. Charles then sent the Usher
-of the Black Rod to summon the Commons to his
-presence, but he could no more obtain an entrance
-than the messenger. On hearing this, in a transport
-of rage, the king ordered the Captain of the
-Guard to break open the door; but this catastrophe
-was prevented by the House just then
-adjourning to the 10th of March, according to the
-king's message.</p>
-
-<p>On the 10th of March the king went to the
-House of Lords, and, without summoning the
-Commons, proceeded to dissolve Parliament. He
-then addressed the Lords, complaining grievously
-of the conduct of the Commons, which compelled
-him at that time to dissolve Parliament. He
-expressed much comfort in the Lords, and conceded
-that there were in the Commons many who
-were as dutiful and loyal subjects as any in the
-world, but that they had some "vipers" amongst
-them that created all this trouble. He intimated
-that these evil-disposed persons would meet with
-their rewards, and bade the Lord Keeper do as
-he had commanded. Then the Lord Keeper said,
-"My lords, and gentlemen of the Commons, the
-king's majesty doth dissolve this Parliament;"
-though the Commons, with the exception of a few
-individuals, were not there, nor represented by
-their Speaker.</p>
-
-<p>This question of the right of the Commons to
-determine their own adjournment, and to deny to
-the king the right of preventing the Speaker
-from putting any question from the Chair, was a
-vital one, and hitherto undetermined. If the king
-could at any moment adjourn the Commons as
-well as prorogue Parliament altogether, and could
-decide what topics should be entertained by the
-House, there was an end of the existence of the
-Commons as an independent branch of the Legislature:
-it sunk at once into the mere creature of
-the Crown. There was a great battle for this as
-for other popular rights, and the determined conduct
-of the members showed that things were
-coming fast to a crisis. But at this moment
-Charles was as resolved to conquer the Parliament,
-as Parliament was not to be conquered.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner did this unprecedented scene with
-the Speaker take place, than he adopted measures
-to punish those most prominently concerned in it.
-The compulsory detention of the Speaker took
-place on the 2nd of March; on the 5th he issued
-warrants to arrest the "vipers"&mdash;Eliot, Selden,
-Holles, Valentine, Hobart, Hayman, Coriton,
-Long, and Stroud&mdash;and commit them to the Tower
-or other prisons. Stroud and Long were not
-immediately caught, but on the issue of a proclamation
-for their apprehension they surrendered.
-The houses of Eliot, Holles, Selden, Long, and
-Valentine were forcibly entered, their desks broken
-open, and their papers seized. On the first day of
-Michaelmas term they were brought into court,
-and ordered to find bail, and also to give security
-for their good behaviour. They were all ready to
-give bail, but all positively refused to give security
-for good behaviour, as that implied the commission
-of some crime, which they denied. They were
-then put upon their trial, but excepted to the jurisdiction
-of the court, being amenable only to their
-own high court of Parliament for what was done
-therein. But they were told that their conduct
-had not been parliamentary, and that the common
-law could deal with all offences there by word or
-deed, as well as anywhere else. This was another
-attack on the privileges of Parliament, which, if
-allowed, would have finished its independence;
-and these were not the men to surrender any
-of the outworks and defences of Parliament.
-They were then sentenced as follows:&mdash;Sir John
-Eliot to be imprisoned in the Tower, the others
-in other prisons at the king's pleasure. None
-of them were to be delivered out of prison till
-they had given security for their good behaviour,
-acknowledged their offence, and paid the following
-fines:&mdash;Sir John Eliot, as the ring-leader and
-chief offender, two thousand pounds; Holles,
-one thousand marks; Valentine, five hundred
-pounds. Long was not included in this trial, but
-was prosecuted in the Star Chamber, on the plea
-that he had no business in Parliament, being
-pricked for sheriff of his county, and by his oath
-was bound to have been there. He was fined one
-thousand marks. This, however, deceived nobody:
-every one knew that the offence for which
-he suffered was for his conduct in Parliament.
-The prisoners lay in gaol for eighteen months.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_543" id="Page_543">[543]</a></span>
-Sir John Eliot never came out again. His noble
-conduct had made deadly enemies of the king and
-his courtiers, and even when he was dying, in
-1632, after three years' confinement, they rejoiced
-in his melancholy fate and refused all petitions
-for his release.</p>
-
-<p>Charles called no more Parliaments till 1640,
-but went on for eleven years fighting his way
-towards the block, through the most maniacal
-attempts on the constitution and temper of the
-nation. Laud was in the ascendant, and Wentworth,
-lately a member of the Opposition, who
-had now changed sides from motives that it would
-be absurd not to call conscientious, gave his great
-talents to the Court party. Laud was as much a
-stickler for the power of the Church as Charles
-was of the State; their views coincided, and
-Charles, Laud, and Wentworth, worked shoulder
-to shoulder in governing without a Parliament.
-They invented a cant term between them to express
-what they aimed at, and the means by
-which they pursued it. It was "Thorough."</p>
-
-<p>Laud had introduced a passage into the ceremonial
-even of the coronation, which astonished
-the hearers, and showed even then that he aimed
-at an ecclesiastical despotism: "Stand and hold
-fast from henceforth the place to which you have
-been heir by the succession of your forefathers,
-being now delivered to you by the authority of
-God Almighty, and by the hands of us all, and all
-the bishops and servants of God. And as you see
-the clergy to come nearer the altar than others, so
-remember that, in all places convenient, you give
-them greater honour," etc. This haughty prelate
-now promulgated such absolute doctrines of divine
-right of king and priest, and began to run in ceremonies
-and Church splendour so fast towards
-actual Popery, that the daughter of the Earl of
-Devonshire being asked by him why she had
-turned Catholic replied, "Because I hate to travel
-in a crowd. I perceive your Grace and many
-others are making haste to Rome, and therefore,
-in order to prevent being crowded, I have gone
-before you."</p>
-
-<p>Under this undaunted leader, the pulpits now
-resounded with the most flaming advocacy of
-divine right. A pamphlet was discovered by the
-Reformers, which had been written for King
-James, and was now printed, urging the king to
-do as Louis XI. of France had done&mdash;dispense
-with Parliaments altogether, and secure his predominance
-by a standing army. The queen's
-advice was precisely of this character: often crying
-up the infinite superiority of the kings of her
-own country and family, whom she styled real
-kings, while the English were only sham ones.
-But though Charles was greatly soothed by these
-doctrines, and strengthened in his resolve to
-trouble himself no more with Parliaments, he was
-careful to strengthen his Government by inducing
-as many of the ablest men of the Opposition as he
-could to join him. The first with whom he succeeded
-were Wentworth and Sir John Savile.
-They were both from Yorkshire, and both men
-of considerable property. Savile had been persuaded
-by Cottington the Lord Chancellor, to
-desert his patriotic friends and professions at
-the close of the second Parliament for a place
-in the Privy Council and the office of Comptroller
-of the Household.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Thomas Wentworth was a much more considerable
-man. He claimed to be descended from
-the royal line of the Plantagenets, and had no
-superior in ability in the House. The position
-which he had assumed in the Parliamentary resistance
-to the royal encroachments had been uncompromising
-and most effective. So much were his
-eloquence and influence dreaded, that he had been,
-amongst others, appointed sheriff to keep him out
-of the House. For his continual opposition he
-was deprived of the office of Custos Rotulorum
-and thrown into prison. Yet, when tempted by
-the offer of rank and power, he fell suddenly,
-utterly, and hopelessly, and became one of the most
-unflinching advocates and actors of absolutism
-that ever lived. On the 21st of July, 1628,
-Savile was created a baron, and on the morrow
-Wentworth was raised to the same dignity, as
-Baron Wentworth; and before the end of the year
-he was made a viscount and Lord President of
-the Council of the North. From the moment that
-Wentworth put his hand to the plough of despotism
-he never looked back. He became as prominent
-and as resolute in the destruction of
-liberty and the prosecution of his former colleagues
-as he had been for its advancement and
-for their friendship.</p>
-
-<p>The contagion of this conversion spread. Sir
-Dudley Digges had taken a conspicuous part in
-the contests which we have described, and had distinguished
-himself by his abilities in debate, sufficient
-to render him worth purchasing. His colleagues
-had long felt, notwithstanding his zeal,
-that he would not be proof to temptation. He was
-offered the post of Master of the Rolls, and he
-at once accepted it. Noye and Littleton, both
-lawyers, were as ready to advocate despotism as
-liberty, and the offer of the Attorney-Generalship<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_544" id="Page_544">[544]</a></span>
-to Noye, and the Solicitor-Generalship to Littleton,
-convinced them instantly that the Court was
-right, and their old cause and companions were
-wrong. They testified their capacity for seeing
-both sides of an argument, by persecuting their
-old opinions and associates with the red hot zeal
-of proselytes.</p>
-
-<p>The rest of Charles's ministers were the Lord
-Keeper Coventry, who, though he appeared on
-several occasions as the instrument of Charles's
-arbitrary measures, was thought not to approve
-very much of them, and who therefore kept himself
-as much as possible from mixing in political
-matters. The Earls of Holland and Carlisle,
-the pusillanimous Earl of Montgomery, his
-brother the Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl of
-Dorset were rather men of pleasure than of
-business, and attended the Council without caring
-for office. The Earl of Arundel was Earl Marshal,
-a proud and empty man, whom Clarendon
-the historian describes as living much abroad, because
-the manners of foreign nations suited him
-better than his own, and who "resorted sometimes
-to Court, because there only was a greater man
-than himself, and went thither the seldomer because
-there was a greater man than himself." He
-was careless of pleasing favourites, and was therefore
-almost always in disgrace. Lord Weston,
-already mentioned, was Lord Treasurer, and the
-Earl of Manchester Privy Seal. Weston was an
-able lawyer, who succeeded Coke as Lord Chief
-Justice, and then purchased the office of Lord
-Treasurer for twenty thousand pounds, only to
-have it wrested from him again by Buckingham
-in about twelve months; but he was courtier
-enough to suppress his resentment, and had now
-again ascended to his present office, in which he
-was a very pliant servant of the king. Besides
-these, Sir John Coke or Cooke, and Sir Dudley
-Carleton, were Secretaries of State. Carleton
-had spent too much time in foreign embassies to
-understand well the state of parties at home, but
-he understood the will of the king, and took good
-care to obey and promote it. Coke was "of
-narrow education, and narrower nature," says
-Clarendon, who adds that "his cardinal perfection
-was industry, his most eminent infirmity covetousness."
-He knew as little of foreign relations as
-Carleton did of domestic ones; but their office was
-one of far less rank and importance than such
-office is now, their real business being to enter the
-minutes and write the despatches of the Council,
-not to participate in its discussions. Such were
-the instruments by which Charles trusted to
-render Parliaments superfluous. By their aid, but
-far more so by that of Laud and Wentworth, he
-soon raised the nation to a state of exasperation,
-which was only appeased by the blood of all three.</p>
-
-<p>During the violent transactions with his Parliament
-at home, Charles had made peace with
-France. In fact, neither France nor Spain had
-shown a disposition to prosecute the disputes
-which the King of England had entered into with
-them. Louis sent home the prisoners he had
-taken in the La Rochelle expedition, under the
-name of a present to his sister, and Philip also
-released those who had been captured at Cadiz.
-Buckingham had been at the bottom of both wars,
-and now that he was gone all differences were
-soon arranged. Louis of France made a demand
-for the restoration of a man-of-war, the <em>St. Esprit</em>,
-which had been illegally captured by Sir Sackville
-Trevor; but he gave up the claim, and Charles
-was not very importunate in his demands of protection
-for the French Protestants. Richelieu,
-however, treated them far better than Charles
-treated the Puritans in England. He took
-measures to prevent the possibility of another
-coalition, by destroying the castles of the nobles
-and the fortifications of the towns, prohibited the
-convention of deputies from the churches, and
-abolished the military organisation of the Huguenots
-in the South of France; but he left them the
-exercise of their worship, and attached no disability
-to a profession of it. This peace was concluded
-in the spring of 1629, and in the following
-year that with Spain was also accomplished. The
-Queen Henrietta was violently opposed to this
-peace with Spain, because France was still at war
-with that country and the kindred House of Austria.
-When she found that she could not prevail on
-Charles, she is said to have shed tears of vexation.</p>
-
-<p>It is curious that the first overtures to this
-peace were made through two Flemish painters;
-the celebrated Sir Peter Paul Rubens, and Gerbier,
-a native of Antwerp, who had been Master
-of the Horse to Buckingham. Cottington was
-despatched to Spain, in spite of the strenuous endeavours
-of the queen and the French ambassador;
-and in November, 1630, Coloma arrived as ambassador
-from Madrid. Philip accepted the same
-terms as were proposed in 1604, pledging himself
-to restore such parts of the Palsgrave's territory as
-were occupied by the troops of Spain&mdash;no very important
-extent&mdash;and never to cease his endeavours
-to procure from the Emperor the restitution of the
-whole. In consideration of this, Charles once more
-agreed to that mysterious treaty against Holland<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_545" id="Page_545">[545]</a></span>
-which had been in negotiation during the visit of
-Charles and Buckingham to Spain. This was no
-other than to assist Philip to regain possession of
-the seven United States of the Netherlands, which
-had cost Elizabeth so much to aid in the establishment
-of their independence, and which had always
-been, as Protestant States, so much regarded by
-the English public; with which a great trade was,
-moreover, carried on. The knowledge of such a
-piece of treachery on the part of Charles would
-have excited a terrible commotion amongst the
-people. For his share of the booty he was to
-receive a certain portion of the provinces, including
-the Island of Zealand. Luckily for the
-king, his treason to Protestantism remained a
-profound secret, and at length himself perceiving
-the difficulties and dilemmas in which it would
-involve him, after Olivarez and Cottington had
-signed the treaty he withheld his ratification. By
-this prudent act, however, he forfeited all right to
-demand from Philip aid in regaining the patrimony
-of the Prince Palatine.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_545big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_545.jpg" width="560" height="440" alt="" title="SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: THE SPEAKER COERCED" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: THE SPEAKER COERCED. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_541">541</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Whether prudence, a rare virtue in Charles, or
-other more congenial motives, determined him
-in withdrawing from the compact with Spain
-regarding Holland is doubtful, for in the very
-next year he was found busily engaged with the
-Catholic States of Flanders and Brabant in a project
-to drive thence his new ally Philip of Spain.
-France and Holland were equally eager to assist
-in this design; but the people of Flanders were suspicious
-of them, dreading to find in such powerful
-allies only fresh masters. They therefore applied
-to the King of England, and a correspondence
-took place in which Secretary Coke was at
-great pains to show how much more to the advantage
-of the people of Flanders and Brabant
-would be the alliance of England, than that of
-the ambitious French, or of the Calvinistic farmers
-of Holland. In religion Coke was zealous to
-prove that the Catholic and Anglican Churches
-were almost identical; but his efforts ended,
-not in offering support in the coming struggle,
-but in promising to protect them against everyone
-except the King of Spain. Charles having
-recently made peace with the Spanish
-sovereign, "it would be against honour and
-conscience to debauch his subjects from their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_546" id="Page_546">[546]</a></span>
-allegiance." But if what Coke proposed were not
-that very fact of tampering with them, it would
-be difficult to imagine what could be; and, moreover,
-it was just the King of Spain against whom
-they required protection. Coke advised them to
-declare their independence, and then the King of
-England, he told them, could help them as an independent
-State; and Philip would not then have
-cause of offence from Charles, but ought rather
-to be obliged to him for endeavouring to prevent
-the States from falling into the hands of France,
-or some other of his powerful enemies. This
-duplicity, however, was not by any means encouraging
-to revolt, and in the meantime Philip,
-learning what was going on, settled the question
-by sending into the Provinces an overwhelming
-force of soldiers.</p>
-
-<p>But the war which ought to have excited the
-deepest interest in Charles as a Protestant prince,
-and as the brother-in-law of the Protestant Prince
-Palatine, was the great war&mdash;since called the
-Thirty Years' War&mdash;which was raging in Germany.
-It was a war expressly of Catholicism for
-the utter extirpation of Protestantism. The resistance
-had begun in Bohemia: the Protestants
-had invited Frederick of the Palatinate to become
-their king and defend them against the power of
-Austria and the exterminating Catholic emperor.
-We have seen that Frederick had, without weighing
-the hazards of the enterprise sufficiently, accepted
-the crown, lost it immediately, together
-with his hereditary dominions; and that all the
-efforts of England, Denmark, and of an allied host
-in Germany, had failed to make head against
-Austria, Spain, and Bavaria. Germany was overrun
-with the victorious troops of Austria, led on
-by the ruthless and victorious Generals Wallenstein,
-Piccolomini, Tilly, and Pappenheim. Horrible
-desolation had followed the march of their
-armies all over Germany; the most important of
-its cities were sacked or plundered; its fields were
-laid waste; its cultivation was stopped; its
-people were destroyed or starving; and, with the
-exception of Saxony and Bavaria, the power of
-the princes was prostrated, and they were thoroughly
-divided amongst themselves, and therefore
-the more readily trodden upon by their oppressors.</p>
-
-<p>But at this moment relief came out of an unexpected
-quarter. Christian IV. of Denmark had
-attempted a diversion in favour of the German
-Protestant princes, and had not only been repulsed,
-but had drawn the Austrian generals into
-his own kingdom with fire and sword. But in
-Sweden had risen up a king, able, pious, earnestly
-desirous of the restoration of Protestantism, and
-qualified by long military experience, though yet
-a young man, to cope with any general of the age.
-Gustavus Adolphus had mounted the Swedish
-throne at the age of eighteen, and was now only
-seven-and-thirty; yet he had already maintained
-a seventeen years' war against Poland, backed by
-the power of Austria. But now an armistice of
-six years was settled with Poland. Wallenstein,
-the ablest general of Austria, had been removed
-from the command, in consequence of the universal
-outcry of the German princes, in an Imperial
-Council at Ratisbon, against his cruelties
-and exactions; and the far-seeing Richelieu, who
-was attacking the Spaniards in Italy and the
-Netherlands, perceiving the immense advantage of
-such division in Germany, had offered to make an
-alliance with the Swede.</p>
-
-<p>On the 23rd of June, 1630, Gustavus embarked
-fifteen thousand of his veteran troops, and crossed
-into Pomerania. On the 17th of September the
-Swedish king gave battle to Tilly and Pappenheim
-before Leipsic, and routed them with great
-slaughter. This turned the scale of war: the
-cowed German princes once more raised their
-heads and entered into league with Gustavus, who
-soon drove the Austrians from the larger part of
-the country, took Hanau and Frankfort-on-the-Main,
-when Frederick the Palsgrave joined him,
-hoping to be established by Gustavus in his patrimony.
-But the brave Swedish king, who was
-highly incensed against Charles for not joining at
-his earnest entreaty in this enterprise, in which he
-himself was hazarding life, crown, and everything,
-of putting down the Catholic intolerance, and
-placing a Protestant emperor on the throne,
-though he received the Palsgrave kindly, gave him
-no immediate hope of restoration. The English
-ambassador was there, pressing this vehemently
-on Gustavus; but the Swede told him he regarded
-him only as a Spaniard in disguise, and said
-bluntly, "Let the King of England make a league
-with me against Spain. Let him send me twelve
-thousand men, to be maintained at his own cost,
-and which shall be placed entirely at my command,
-and I will engage to compel from both Spain and
-Bavaria full restoration of the Palsgrave's rights."</p>
-
-<p>Gustavus was perfectly right. Had Charles
-dealt honourably and wisely with his Parliament
-and people, and husbanded his resources, here
-was the great opportunity to have re-established
-his sister and brother-in-law, and have had a
-glorious share in the victory of Protestantism on
-the Continent. Gustavus recovered Darmstadt,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_547" id="Page_547">[547]</a></span>
-Oppenheim, and Mainz, and then took up his winter
-quarters. Meanwhile, the Saxon field-marshal, Von
-Arnim, invaded Bohemia and took Prague; whilst
-the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and Duke Bernhard
-of Weimar, defeated several bodies of Tilly's
-troops in Westphalia and the Upper Rhine lands.</p>
-
-<p>This sweeping reverse compelled the Emperor
-to recall Wallenstein to the chief command.
-Assembling forty thousand men at Znaim in
-Bohemia, he marched on Prague, and drove the
-Saxons not only thence but out of Bohemia altogether.
-Meanwhile Gustavus, issuing from his
-winter quarters on the Rhine, directed his course
-to Nuremberg, and so to Donauwörth, and at
-Rain on the Lech fought with Tilly and the Duke
-of Bavaria. Tilly was killed (April 30, 1632);
-and Gustavus advanced and took Augsburg in
-April, Munich on the 27th of May, and after in
-vain attacking Wallenstein before Nuremberg, he
-encountered him at Lützen, in Saxony, and beat
-him, but fell himself in the hour of victory
-(November 16, 1632). He had, however, saved
-Protestantism. Wallenstein lost favour after his
-defeat, was suspected by the emperor, and finally
-assassinated by his own officers (February 25,
-1634). The generals of Gustavus, under the orders
-of Gustavus's great Minister Oxenstierna, continued
-the contest, and enabled the German Protestant
-princes to establish their power and the exercise
-of their religion, at the peace of Westphalia in 1648.</p>
-
-<p>Charles, shamed into some degree of co-operation,
-had despatched the Marquis of Hamilton
-with six thousand men to the assistance of Gustavus;
-but the whole affair was so badly managed,
-the commissariat and general care of the men were
-so miserable, that the little army speedily became
-decimated by disease and was of no service.
-Hamilton returned home, and the remains of his
-forces under the command of the Prince Charles
-Louis, son of the Elector Frederick, were routed
-in Westphalia. Frederick himself, deprived of all
-hope by the fall of Gustavus, only survived him
-about a fortnight; and thus ended the dream of
-the restoration of the Palatinate.</p>
-
-<p>At home Charles had determined to rule without
-a Parliament, but this necessarily drove him upon all
-those means of raising an income which Parliament
-had protested against, and which must, therefore,
-continue to exasperate the people. Between the
-dissolution of the Parliament in 1629, and the
-summons of another in 1640, these proceedings
-had apparently advanced the cause of despotism,
-but in reality they promoted the cause of liberty;
-the nation had been scourged into a temper which
-left no means but the sword of appeasing it. The
-first unceremonious violation of his pledge to the
-public conveyed in the granting of the Petition of
-Right was levying as unscrupulously as ever the
-duties of tonnage and poundage; and the goods
-of all such as refused the illegal payment were
-immediately distrained upon and sold.</p>
-
-<p>The king next appointed a Committee to inquire
-into the encroachments on the royal forests,
-a legitimate and laudable object if conducted in
-a spirit of fairness and liberality. In every
-age gross encroachments have been made on
-these Crown lands, and especially in the reckless
-reign of James. But it would seem that the Commissioners
-proceeded in an arbitrary spirit, and,
-relying on the power of the Crown, often ruined
-those who resisted their decisions by the costs of
-law. The Earl of Holland&mdash;a noted creature of
-the king's&mdash;was made head of this Commission,
-and presided in a court established for the purpose.
-Under its operations vast tracts were recovered to
-the Crown, and heavy fines for trespasses levied.
-Rockingham Forest was enlarged from a circuit of
-six miles to one of sixty, and the Earl of Southampton
-was nearly ruined by the king's resumption
-of a large estate adjoining the New Forest. Even
-where these recoveries were made with right, they
-exasperated the aristocracy, who had been the
-chief encroachers, and injured the king in their
-goodwill. Clarendon says, "To recompense the
-damage the Crown sustained by the sale of old
-lands, and by the grant of new pensions, the old
-laws of the forest are revived; by which not only
-great fines are imposed, but great annual rents
-intended, and like to be settled by way of contract,
-which burden lighted most upon persons of quality
-and honour, who thought themselves above ordinary
-oppressions, and therefore like to remember
-it with more sharpness."</p>
-
-<p>Besides the tonnage and poundage, obsolete laws
-were revived, and other duties imposed on merchants'
-goods; and all who resisted were prosecuted,
-fined, and imprisoned. But a still more plausible
-scheme was hit upon for extorting money. The
-old feudal practice, introduced by Henry III. and
-Edward I., of compelling persons holding lands
-under the Crown worth twenty pounds per annum,
-to receive knighthood, or to compound by a fine,
-had been enforced by Elizabeth and James, and
-was not likely to be passed over in this general
-inquisition after the means of income independent
-of Parliament. All landed proprietors worth forty
-pounds a year were called on to accept the title of
-knight and pay the fees, or were fined, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_548" id="Page_548">[548]</a></span>
-default of payment thrown into prison. "By this
-ill-husbandry," says Clarendon, "which, though it
-was founded in right, was most grievous from the
-mode of proceeding, vast sums were drawn from
-the subject. And no less unjust projects of all
-kinds&mdash;many ridiculous, many scandalous, all very
-grievous&mdash;were set on foot, the damage and reproach
-of which came to the king, the profit to
-other men; inasmuch as of twenty thousand
-pounds a year, scarcely one thousand five hundred
-pounds came to the king's use or account."</p>
-
-<p>A great commotion was raised by the king depriving
-many freeholders arbitrarily of their lands
-to enlarge Richmond Park, and he saw the necessity
-of making some compensation.</p>
-
-<p>Another mode of raising money was by undoing
-in a great measure what the Parliament had done
-by abolishing monopolies. True, Charles took
-care not to grant these monopolies to individuals,
-but to companies; but this, whilst it arrested the
-odium of seeing them in the hands of courtiers and
-favourites, increased their mischief by augmenting
-the number and power of the oppressors. These
-companies were enabled to dictate to the public
-the price of the articles included in their patent,
-and restrain at their pleasure their manufacture
-or sale. One of the most flagrant cases was that
-of the Company of Soap-boilers, who purchased a
-monopoly of the manufacture of soap for ten
-thousand pounds, and a duty of eight pounds per
-ton on all the soap they made. The scheme was
-that of the renegade Noye; and all who presumed
-to make soap for themselves, regardless of the
-monopoly, were fined, the company being authorised
-to search the premises of all soap-boilers, seize any
-made without a licence, and prosecute the offender
-in the Star Chamber. There was a similar monopoly
-granted to starch-makers.</p>
-
-<p>King James had formed the idea that London
-was become too large, and that its size was the
-cause of the prevalence of the plague and contagious
-fevers. He had not penetrated the fact that the
-real cause lay in the want of drainage and cleanliness,
-and he issued repeated proclamations forbidding
-any more building of houses in the Metropolis.
-The judges declared the proclamations
-illegal, and building went on as fast as ever.
-Here was a splendid opportunity for putting on
-the screw. Charles therefore appointed a Commission
-to inquire into the extent of building done
-in defiance of his father's orders. Such persons
-who were willing to compound for their offences,
-got off by paying a fine amounting to three years'
-rental of the premises. Those who refused,
-pleaded in vain the decision of the judges, for
-Charles had a court independent of all judges
-but himself, namely, the Star Chamber; and those
-who escaped this fell into another inquisition
-as detestable&mdash;the Court of the Earl Marshal.
-Sturdy resisters, therefore, had their houses
-actually demolished, and were then fleeced in
-those infamous courts to complete their ruin. A
-Mr. Moore had erected forty-two houses of an
-expensive class, with coach-houses and stables,
-near St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. He was fined one
-thousand pounds, and ordered to pull them down
-before Easter, under penalty of another thousand
-pounds, but refusing, the sheriffs demolished the
-houses, and levied the money by distress. This
-terrified others, who submitted to a composition,
-and by these iniquitous means one hundred
-thousand pounds were brought into the Treasury.</p>
-
-<p>Simultaneously with these proceedings, Laud,
-Bishop of London, pursued the same course in
-the Church. He had long been the most abject
-flatterer of the royal power, and now, supported
-by Wentworth, went on boldly to reduce all
-England to the most complete slavery to Church
-and State. He was supposed to have the intention
-of restoring the Papal power; but such
-was far from his design. Neither Laud nor
-Charles dreamt for a moment of returning to the
-union with Rome, for the simple reason that they
-loved too well themselves the enjoyment of absolute
-power. Like Henry VIII., they could tolerate
-no Pope but one disguised under the name
-of an English king. Never did the Church
-more egregiously deceive itself than by suspecting
-Laud or Charles of any design to put on again
-the yoke of the Roman Pontiff. That spiritual
-potentate, deluded by such empty imagination,
-offered Laud a cardinal's hat, which was rejected
-with scorn.</p>
-
-<p>On the 29th of May, 1630, the queen gave birth
-to a son, afterwards Charles II., who was baptised
-on the 2nd of July, the ceremony being performed
-by Laud, who composed a prayer for the
-occasion.</p>
-
-<p>Charles had issued a proclamation forbidding
-any one to introduce into the pulpit any remarks
-bearing on the great Arminian controversy which
-was raging in the kingdom&mdash;Laud and his party
-in the Church on one side, the zealous Puritans on
-the other. Both sides were summoned with an
-air of impartiality into the Star Chamber or High
-Commission Court, but came out with this difference&mdash;that
-the orthodox divines generally confessed
-their fault, and were dismissed with a reprimand;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_549" id="Page_549">[549]</a></span>
-but the Puritan ministers could not bend in that
-manner and sacrifice conscience to fear, so they
-were fined, imprisoned, and deprived without
-mercy. Davenant (Bishop of Salisbury), Dr.
-Burgess, Dr. Prideaux, Dr. Hall (Bishop of Norwich,
-whose poetry and liberality of spirit will
-long be held in honourable remembrance), and
-many others, were harassed because they did not
-preach exactly to the mind of Charles and Laud;
-but the treatment of Dr. Alexander Leighton, a
-Scottish Puritan preacher, was brutality itself.
-He had published a pamphlet called "An Appeal
-to Parliament, or Zion's Plea against Prelacy." It
-attracted the notice of the Government, which in
-June, 1630, had him dragged before the Star
-Chamber, where he was condemned to the following
-horrible punishment, than which the
-records of the Inquisition preserve nothing more
-infernal:&mdash;That he should be imprisoned for life,
-should pay a fine of ten thousand pounds, be degraded
-from his ministry, whipped, set in the
-pillory, have one of his ears cut off, one side of his
-nose slit, and be branded on the forehead with a
-double S.S., as a "sower of sedition." He was then
-to be carried back to prison, and after a few days
-to be pilloried again, whipped, have the other side
-of his nose slit, the other ear cut off, and shut up
-in his dungeon, to be released only by death.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_549big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_549.jpg" width="401" height="560" alt="" title="INTERIOR OF OLD ST. PAULS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>INTERIOR OF OLD ST. PAUL'S.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_550" id="Page_550">[550]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
-
-<p class="p6">THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. (<i>continued</i>).</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-<p>Visit of Charles to Scotland&mdash;Laud and the Papal See&mdash;His Ecclesiastical Measures&mdash;Punishment of Prynne, Bastwick, and
-Burton&mdash;Disgrace of Williams&mdash;Ship-money&mdash;Resistance of John Hampden&mdash;Wentworth in the North&mdash;Recall of Falkland
-from Ireland&mdash;Wentworth's Measures&mdash;Inquiry into Titles&mdash;Prelacy Riots in Edinburgh&mdash;Jenny Geddes's Stool&mdash;The
-Tables&mdash;Renewal of the Covenant&mdash;Charles makes Concessions&mdash;The General Assembly&mdash;Preparations for War&mdash;Charles
-at York&mdash;Leslie at Dunse Hill&mdash;A Conference held&mdash;Treaty of Berwick&mdash;Arrest of Loudon&mdash;Insult from the
-Dutch&mdash;Wentworth in England&mdash;The Short Parliament&mdash;Riots in London&mdash;Preparations of the Scots&mdash;Mutiny in the
-English Army&mdash;Invasion of England&mdash;Treaty of Ripon&mdash;Meeting of the Long Parliament&mdash;Impeachment of Strafford&mdash;His
-Trial&mdash;He is Abandoned by Charles&mdash;His Execution&mdash;The King's Visit to Scotland.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>Having reduced the refractory members of the
-Church and of Parliament in England to silence
-for the present, Charles determined to make a
-journey into Scotland, there to be crowned, to
-raise revenue, and to establish the Anglican
-hierarchy in that part of his dominions. For
-the latter purpose he took Laud with him. He
-reached Edinburgh on the 12th of June, 1633,
-where he was received by the inhabitants with
-demonstrations of lively rejoicing, as if they were
-neither aware of the character and views of the
-monarch, nor remembered the consequences of the
-visit of his father. On the 18th he was crowned
-in Edinburgh by the Archbishop of St. Andrews;
-but Laud did not let that opportunity pass without
-giving them a foretaste of what was coming. "It
-was observed," says Rushworth, "that Dr. Laud
-was high in his carriage, taking upon him the
-order and managing of the ceremonies; and, for
-instance, Spotswood, Archbishop of St. Andrews,
-being placed at the king's right hand, and Lindsey,
-Archbishop of Glasgow, at his left, Bishop Laud
-took Glasgow and thrust him from the king
-with these words:&mdash;'Are you a Churchman, and
-want the coat of your order?'&mdash;which was an
-embroidered coat, which he scrupled to wear,
-being a moderate Churchman&mdash;and in place of
-him put in the Bishop of Ross at the king's right
-hand."</p>
-
-<p>This question of the embroidered robes of the
-Roman hierarchy, with the high altar, the tapers,
-chalices, genuflections, and oil of unction, was
-introduced into Parliament, and forced on the
-reluctant Scots. They had voted supplies with
-a most liberal spirit, and laid on a land tax
-of four hundred thousand pounds Scots for six
-years; but when the king proposed to pass
-a Bill authorising the robes, ceremonies, and
-rites just mentioned, there was a stout opposition.
-Lord Melville said plainly to Charles,
-"I have sworn with your father and the whole
-kingdom to the confession of faith in which
-the innovations intended by these Articles were
-solemnly abjured." And the Bishop of the Isles
-told him at dinner that it was said amongst the
-people that his entrance into the city had been
-with hosannas, but that it would be changed, like
-that of the Jews to our Saviour, into, "Away
-with him, crucify him!" Charles is said to have
-turned thoughtful, and eaten no more. Yet the
-next day he as positively as ever insisted on the
-Parliament passing the Articles, and, pointing to a
-paper in his hand, said, "Your names are here; I
-shall know to-day who will do me service and who
-will not."</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding this, the House voted against
-it by a considerable majority, there being opposed
-to it fifteen Peers and forty-five Commoners; yet
-the Lord Register, under influence of the Court,
-audaciously declared that the Articles were accepted
-by Parliament. The Earl of Rothes had
-the boldness to deny this and to demand a
-scrutiny of the votes; but Charles intimidated
-both him and all dissentients by refusing any
-scrutiny unless Rothes would arraign the Lord
-Register of the capital crime of falsifying the
-votes. This was a course too perilous for any
-individual under the circumstances. Rothes was
-silent, the Articles were ratified by the Crown,
-and Parliament was forthwith dissolved on the
-28th of June.</p>
-
-<p>Having thus carried his point with the Parliament,
-Charles took every means, except that
-which had brought upon him so much odium in
-England&mdash;namely, imprisoning and prosecuting
-the members who opposed him&mdash;to express his dissatisfaction
-with them. He distributed lands and
-honours upon those who had fallen in with his
-wishes, and treated the dissentients with sullen
-looks, and even severe words, when they came in
-his way. They were openly ridiculed by his
-courtiers, and dubbed schismatics and seditious.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_551" id="Page_551">[551]</a></span>
-Lord Balmerino was even condemned to death
-for a pamphlet being found in his possession
-complaining of the king's arbitrary conduct in
-these concerns; but the sentence was too atrocious
-to be executed.</p>
-
-<p>Charles and Laud erected Edinburgh into a
-bishopric, with a diocese extending even to
-Berwick, and richly endowed with old Church
-lands, which were obtained from the noblemen
-who held them. A set of singing men was
-also appointed for Holyrood Chapel; and Laud,
-who had been made a Privy Councillor, preached
-there in full pontificals, to the great scandal
-of the Presbyterians. Thence Charles and his
-apostle made a tour to St. Andrews, Dundee,
-Falkland, Dunblane, etc., to the singular discomfort
-of Laud amongst the rough fastnesses of the
-Highlands.</p>
-
-<p>Immediately after this, Charles posted to London
-in four days, leaving Laud to travel more at leisure.
-No doubt both master and man thought they had
-made a very fine piece of work in this forcing of
-the Scottish consciences: they were destined in a
-while to feel what it actually was, in rebellion and
-the sharp edge of the axe.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had they reached London, when they
-heard the news of the death of Archbishop Abbot,
-and Charles was thus enabled to reward Laud for
-all his services in building up despotism and superstition
-by making him Primate, which he did on
-the 6th of August, 1633. It was a curious coincidence
-that about the same time Laud received a
-second offer of a cardinal's hat, and he seems to
-have been greatly tempted by it. He says that he
-acquainted his majesty with the offer, and that
-the king rescued him from the trouble and danger;
-for, he adds, there was something dwelling in him
-which would not suffer him to accept the offer till
-Rome was other than she was. To have accepted
-a cardinal's hat was to have gone over to the
-Church of Rome, and the Church of England
-was for him a much better thing now he was
-Primate.</p>
-
-<p>There undoubtedly did at this precise time take
-place an active private negotiation between
-the courts of Rome and England on this topic.
-The queen was anxious to have the dignity of
-cardinal conferred on a British subject. Probably
-she thought that the residence of the English
-cardinal at London would be a stepping-stone to
-the full restoration of Catholicism. Towards the
-end of August, immediately after Laud's elevation
-to the Primacy, Sir Robert Douglas was sent to
-Rome as envoy from the queen, with a letter of
-credence, signed by the Earl of Stirling, Secretary
-of State for Scotland. His mission was this proposal
-of an English cardinal, as a measure which
-would contribute greatly to the conversion of the
-king. To carry out this negotiation, Leander,
-an English Benedictine monk, was despatched to
-England, followed soon after by Panzani an Italian
-priest.</p>
-
-<p>From the despatches of Panzani we find that
-there existed a strong party at the English court
-for the return to the allegiance of Rome, amongst
-whom were Secretary Windebank; Lord Chancellor
-Cottington; Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester; and
-Montague, Bishop of Chichester. He was informed
-that none of the bishops except three&mdash;those
-of Durham, Salisbury, and Exeter&mdash;would
-object to a purely spiritual supremacy of the Pope,
-and very few of the clergy.</p>
-
-<p>Douglas was followed to Rome by Sir William
-Hamilton, to prosecute this secret business, but it
-all came to nothing, for the king, who was sincere
-in his attachment to the English Church, was not
-likely to listen to any proposal for submitting
-again to the yoke of Rome; and the Pope, on his
-part, would not comply with Charles's request to
-exert his influence with Catholic Austria for the
-restoration of his sister and her son in the Palatinate
-so long as they continued Protestants.
-Laud was therefore relieved from his temptation
-to receive the cardinal's hat by the resolve of the
-king to yield not one jot of his spiritual or political
-power; and a Scottish Catholic named Conn being
-at Rome, was mentioned as candidate for the purple
-instead. He came to England and was graciously
-received, not only by the queen, but the king too.
-He resided in England three years, but without
-the cardinal's hat, and was succeeded by Count
-Rossetti as the Pope's envoy. The rumours of
-the offers of the scarlet hat to Laud, and the residence
-of these Papal envoys in London, excited
-the jealousy of the people and added immensely
-to Charles's unpopularity; for no one felt sure of
-his real faith.</p>
-
-<p>As Laud, however, could not array himself in
-scarlet as a cardinal, he determined to make the
-Anglican Church as Popish, and himself as much
-of a Pope, as possible. Before reaching the Primacy
-he had gone a good way. The spoliation of
-the Church by Henry VIII. and Edward VI., and
-their greedy nobility, had deprived it of the means
-of keeping the ecclesiastical buildings in repair.
-The Catholic Church in England had devoted the
-property of the Establishment to three objects: one,
-to the maintenance of the clergy and religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_552" id="Page_552">[552]</a></span>
-orders; the second, to the maintenance of the
-buildings of the churches and cathedrals; and the
-third to the support of the poor. Thus the patrimony
-of the poor was swallowed up by the aristocracy,
-and the maintenance of the poor thrown
-upon the country; and fixed there by the 43rd of
-Elizabeth. The patrimony of the public for the
-maintenance of Church buildings being equally
-shared by the Russells, Villierses, Seymours,
-Dudleys, and a thousand other Court leeches,
-neither Charles nor Laud, with all their stickling
-for the Church, dared to call upon them to disgorge
-their prey; but a proclamation was issued
-to the bishops for the repairs of all the churches
-and chapels, and they were to levy the necessary
-rates on the parishioners at large, and to exert the
-powers of the ecclesiastical courts against all such
-as resisted.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_552big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_552.jpg" width="560" height="404" alt="" title="DUNBLANE IN THE 17TH CENTURY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>DUNBLANE IN THE 17TH CENTURY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>This excited a serious ferment amongst the
-people, which was greatly increased by the
-general opinion that these repairs should be done
-out of the tithes which they paid either to lay or
-clerical personages. Laud carried matters with
-far too high a hand to pay the slightest regard to
-these complaints, and he proceeded to consecrate
-such churches as were thus repaired, with all the
-splendid ceremony of Catholicism, as if they had
-been desecrated by their neglect.</p>
-
-<p>He obtained a commission under the Great Seal
-for the repair of St. Paul's Cathedral. The judges
-of the prerogative courts, and their officials
-throughout England and Wales, were ordered to
-pay into the chamber in London all moneys derived
-from persons dying intestate, to be applied
-to the restoration of this church. The clergy were
-called on by the bishops in their several dioceses
-to furnish an annual subsidy for this object. The
-king contributed at various times ten thousand
-pounds, Sir Paul Pindar four thousand pounds,
-and Laud gave one hundred pounds a year.
-He was bent on making St. Paul's a rival of
-St. Peter's; and as more money became necessary,
-he summoned wealthy people into the High
-Commission Court on all possible pleas, and fined
-them heavily; so that there was a plentiful crop
-of money and of murmurs against the Primate,
-who was said to be building the church out of
-the sins of the people.</p>
-
-<p>Laud had obtained for his devoted adherents
-Windebank and Juxon, Dean of Westminster, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_553" id="Page_553">[553]</a></span>
-posts of Secretary of State and of Clerk of the King's
-Closet respectively; thus, as Heylin observes, the
-king was so well watched by his staunch friends
-that it was not easy for any one to insinuate anything
-to Laud's disadvantage; and the Primate
-went on most sweepingly in his own way. He
-put down all evening lecturing, evening meetings,
-and extemporary praying. He re-introduced in
-the churches painted glass, pictures, and surplices,
-lawn-sleeves, and embroidered caps; had the communion-tables
-removed, and altars placed instead,
-and railed in; and he carried his innovations with
-such an arbitrary hand that many who might
-have approved of them in themselves were set
-against them. The stricter reformers complained
-of the looseness with which the Sabbath was
-kept, and the Lord Chief Justice Richardson
-and Baron Denham issued an order in the western
-circuit to put an end to the disorders attending
-church-ales, bid-ales, clerk-ales, and the like. But
-no sooner did Laud hear of it than he had the
-Lord Chief Justice summoned before the Council
-and severely reprimanded as interfering with
-the commands of King James for the practice
-of such Sunday sports, as recommended in his
-Book of Sports, and since confirmed by Charles.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_553.jpg" width="406" height="500" alt="" title="ARCHBISHOP LAUD" />
-<div class="caption"><p>ARCHBISHOP LAUD.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The country magistrates, who had seen the
-demoralisation consequent on these sports and
-Sunday gatherings at the ale-houses, petitioned
-the king to put them down; and the petition was
-signed by Lord Paulet, Sir William Portman, Sir
-Ralph Hopeton, and many other gentlemen of distinction.
-But they were forestalled by the agility
-of Laud, who procured from the king a declaration
-sanctioning all the Sunday amusements to be
-found in the Book of Sports, and commanding all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_554" id="Page_554">[554]</a></span>
-judges on circuit, and all justices of the peace, to
-see that no man was molested on that account.
-This declaration was ordered to be read in all
-parish churches by the clergy. Many conscientious
-clergy, who had seen too much of the dissolute
-riots resulting from these rude gatherings on
-Sundays, refused to read the declaration, and
-were suspended from their duties, and prosecuted
-to such a degree that they had no alternative but
-to emigrate to America.</p>
-
-<p>This dictation of Laud extended over the whole
-kingdom, into Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
-Charles was urged to issue proclamation after
-proclamation interfering in things entirely beyond
-the range of his episcopal jurisdiction, such
-as regulating the price of poultry and the retailing
-of tobacco. In Ireland, Wentworth, now made
-Lord Deputy, went hand-in-hand with him. That
-he might the better interfere in all kinds of
-matters Laud was appointed in 1634 Chief of the
-Board of Commissioners of the Exchequer, and&mdash;on
-the death of Weston, Lord Portland&mdash;the
-Lord High Treasurer. He then got his friend
-Juxon made Bishop of London, and in about a
-year surrendered to him the Treasurership, to the
-surprise and murmuring of many, for Juxon, till
-the primate brought him forward, was a man
-of no mark whatever. Lord Chancellor Cottington,
-who had been a fast friend of Laud's, and
-calculated on the white staff of the Treasurer, now
-fell away from Laud, and many noblemen who had
-had an eye to it began to prophesy what the end
-of his career would be. But the University of
-Oxford, going the whole way with him in his advances
-towards Popery, styled him "His Holiness
-<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Summus Pontifex, Spiritu Sancto effusissime plenus,
-Archangelus et nequid minus</i>!" And Laud accepted
-all this base adulation, and declared that
-these revolting titles were quite proper, because
-they had been applied to the popes and fathers of
-the Romish Church. In fact, he desired to be the
-pope of England.</p>
-
-<p>And in this great Papal authority he was fain
-to stretch his coercing hand over the churches
-wherever they were. He procured an order in
-Council to shut the English factories in Holland,
-and compel the troops serving there to conform to
-the Liturgy of the Church of England. Most of
-the merchants and many of these soldiers had gone
-thither expressly to enjoy their own forms of religion;
-but no matter, they must conform. And
-says Heylin, "The like course was prescribed for
-our factories in Hamburg, and those farther off,
-that is to say in Turkey, in the Mogul's dominions,
-the Indian islands, the plantations in Virginia, the
-Barbadoes, and all other places where the English
-had any standing residence in the way of trade."
-This order was to be carried into the houses and
-establishments of all ambassadors and consuls
-abroad.</p>
-
-<p>William Prynne was a young graduate of Oxford,
-originally from Painswick, near Bath, but
-now an outer barrister of Lincoln's Inn. He was
-a thorough Puritan, grave, stern in his ideas, and
-rigid in his morals, a man who was ready to
-sacrifice reputation, life, and everything, for his
-high ideal of religious truth. He was persuaded
-that much of the dissoluteness of the young men
-around him arose from the debasing effect of frequenting
-the theatres; and in that he was probably
-correct, for the theatres were not in that age,
-nor for long after, fitting schools for youth. He
-therefore wrote (1632) a volume of a thousand
-pages against the stage, called "Histriomastix."
-He stated that forty thousand copies of plays had
-been exposed for sale within two years, and were
-eagerly bought up; that the theatres were the
-chapels of Satan, the players his ministers, and
-their frequenters were rushing headlong into hell.
-Dancing was, in his opinion, an equally diabolical
-amusement, and every pace was a step nearer to
-Tophet. Dancing made the ladies of England
-"frizzled madams," polluted their modesty, and
-would destroy them as it had done Nero, and led
-three Romans to assassinate Gallienus. He went
-on to attack everything that Laud had been supporting&mdash;Maypoles,
-public festivals, church-ales,
-music, and Christmas carols: the cringings and
-duckings at the altar which Laud had so much
-fostered, and all the silk and satin divines, their
-pluralities, and their bellowing chants in the
-Church.</p>
-
-<p>Laud had made two vain attempts to lay hold
-on this pestilent satirist, but the lawyers had
-defeated him by injunctions from Westminster
-Hall. But the third time, by accusing him more
-exclusively of reflecting on the king and queen by
-his strictures on dancing, he obtained an order for
-the Attorney-General Noye to indict him in the
-Star Chamber. There he was condemned to be
-excluded from the bar and from Lincoln's Inn, to
-be deprived of his University degree, to pay a fine
-of five thousand pounds, to have his book burnt
-before his face by the hangman, to stand in the
-pillory at Westminster and in Cheapside, at each
-place to lose an ear, and afterwards to be imprisoned
-for life. This most detestable sentence
-was carried into effect in May, 1634, with brutal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_555" id="Page_555">[555]</a></span>
-ferocity, although the queen interceded earnestly
-in his favour, and the nation denounced the barbarity
-in no equivocal language.</p>
-
-<p>Prynne, undaunted, nay, exasperated to greater
-daring by this cruelty, resumed the subject in his
-prison, whence he issued a tract (1637) styled
-"News from Ipswich," in which he charged the
-prelates with being the bishops of Lucifer,
-devouring wolves, and execrable traitors, who had
-overthrown the simplicity of the Gospel to introduce
-the superstitions of Popery. He had found
-in prison a congenial soul, Dr. Bastwick, a physician,
-who had written a treatise against the bishops,
-called "<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Elenchus papismi et flagellum episcoporum
-Latialium</i>," for which he had been condemned to
-pay a fine of one thousand pounds to the king, to
-be imprisoned two years, and to make recantation.
-He now, that is in 1636, wrote a fresh tract:
-"<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Apologeticus ad præsules Anglicanos</i>," and (in
-1637) the "Litanie of John Bastwick, doctor of
-physic, lying in <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Limbo patrum</i>," in which he attacked
-both the bishops' and Laud's service books.</p>
-
-<p>A third person was Henry Burton, who had
-been chaplain to Charles when on his journey to
-Spain; but being now incumbent of St. Matthew's,
-in London, he had preached against the bishops as
-"blind watchmen, dumb dogs, ravening wolves,
-anti-Christian mushrooms, robbers of souls, limbs
-of the beast, and factors of antichrist."</p>
-
-<p>These zealous religionists, whom the cruelties
-and follies of Laud and his bishops had driven
-almost beside themselves, were condemned in the
-Star Chamber to be each fined five thousand
-pounds, to stand two hours in the pillory, where
-they were to have their ears cut off, to be branded
-on both cheeks with the letters S.L., for "seditious
-libeller," and then imprisoned for life.</p>
-
-<p>This sentence, than which the Spanish Inquisition
-has nothing worse to show, was fully executed
-in Old Palace Yard, on the 30th of June,
-1637. Prynne from the pillory defied all Lambeth,
-with the Pope at its back, to prove to him that
-such doings were according to the law of England;
-and if he failed to prove them violators of that
-law and the law of God, they were at liberty to
-hang him at the door of the Gate House prison.
-On hearing this the people gave a great shout;
-but the executioner, as if incited to more cruelty,
-cut off their ears as barbarously as possible, rather
-sawing than cutting them. Prynne, who is
-said to have had his ears sewed on again on the
-former occasion, had them now gouged out, as it
-were; yet as the hangman sawed at them he cried
-out, "Cut me, tear me, I fear thee not. I fear
-the fire of hell, but not thee!" Burton, too,
-harangued the people for a long time most eloquently;
-but the sun blazing hotly in their faces
-all the time, he was near fainting, when he was
-carried into a house in King Street, saying, "It is
-too hot! Too hot, indeed!"</p>
-
-<p>This most disgraceful exhibition made a terrible
-impression on the spectators, of whom the king
-was informed that there were one hundred thousand;
-whilst the executioner sawed at the ears of the
-prisoners they assailed him with curses, hisses, and
-groans. Both Charles and Laud were unpleasantly
-surprised at the effect produced; and to remove
-the sufferers from public sympathy, they determined
-to send them to distant and solitary prisons,
-far separate from each other&mdash;to Launceston, Carnarvon,
-and Lancaster. But the king and his
-high priest were still more amazed and alarmed
-when they found on the removal of the prisoners
-the crowds were equally immense, and that they
-went along from place to place in a kind of triumph.
-To attend Burton from Smithfield to two miles
-beyond Highgate, there were again at least one
-hundred thousand people, who testified their deep
-sympathy, and threw money into the coach to his
-wife as she drove along. Money and presents
-were also offered to Prynne, but he refused them.
-Gentlemen of wealth and station pressed to
-see and condole with the prisoners, whom they
-honoured and applauded as martyrs. When
-Prynne reached Chester, on his way to Carnarvon,
-one of the sheriffs, attended by a number of gentle
-men, met him, invited him to a good dinner, discharged
-the cost, and gave him some hangings to
-furnish his dungeon with in Carnarvon Castle.</p>
-
-<p>This popular demonstration still more startled
-Laud, who summoned the sheriff, as well as the
-other gentlemen, before the High Commission
-Court at York, where they were fined in sums
-varying from two hundred and fifty pounds to five
-hundred pounds, and condemned to acknowledge
-their offence before the congregation in the cathedral
-and the Corporation in the town hall of
-Chester. The prisoners themselves were ordered
-to be removed farther still, and accordingly Bastwick
-was sent to the Isle of Scilly, Burton to the
-Castle of Cornet in Guernsey, and Prynne to that
-of Mount Orgueil in Jersey. But the king and
-archbishop had now roused a spirit, by their cutting
-off of ears, which would be satisfied ere long
-with nothing less than their whole heads.</p>
-
-<p>To stop the outcry against their cruelties, they
-next determined to gag the press. An order was
-therefore issued by the Star Chamber, forbidding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_556" id="Page_556">[556]</a></span>
-all importation of foreign books, and the printing
-of any at home without licence. All books on
-religion, physic, literature, and poetry must be
-licensed by the bishops, so that all truths unpleasant
-to the Church would thus be suppressed.
-There were to be allowed only twenty master
-printers in the kingdom, except those of his
-majesty and the universities; no printer was to
-have more than two presses nor two apprentices,
-except the warden of the Company. There were
-to be only four letter-founders; and whoever presumed
-to print without licence was to be whipped
-through London and set in the pillory. All this
-time the High Commission Court kept pace with
-the Star Chamber in its prosecutions and arbitrary
-fines, under pretence of protecting public morals.</p>
-
-<p>Laud soon had delinquents against the atrocious
-order for gagging the press. In about six months
-after the infliction of the sentence on Prynne and
-his associates, he cited into the Star Chamber John
-Lilburne and John Warton, for printing Prynne's
-"News from Ipswich" and other books called
-libellous (1638). The accused refused to take
-the oath proposed to them, protesting against the
-lawfulness of the court. Being called up several
-times, and still obstinately refusing, they were
-condemned to be fined five hundred pounds apiece,
-Lilburne to be whipped from the Fleet to the
-pillory, and both to be bound to their good behaviour.
-Lilburne was one of the most determined
-of men. He continued to declaim violently
-against the tyranny of Laud and his bishops whilst
-he was standing in the pillory and undergoing
-his whipping. He drew from his pockets a number
-of the very pamphlets he was punished for
-printing, and scattered them from the pillory
-amongst the crowd. The court of Star Chamber
-being informed of his conduct, sent and had him
-gagged; but he then stamped with his feet to
-intimate that he would still speak if he could. He
-was then thrown into the Fleet, heavily ironed
-and in solitude.</p>
-
-<p>To complete Laud's attacks on all persons and
-parties, there lacked only an onslaught on the
-episcopal bench, and there he found Williams,
-formerly Lord Keeper, and still Bishop of Lincoln,
-for a victim. Williams, with all his faults, had
-been a true friend of Laud's at a time when he
-had very few, and the wily upstart had declared
-that his very life would be too short to demonstrate
-his gratitude: but he took full occasion to
-display towards him his ingratitude. From the
-moment that Laud was introduced to the king,
-Williams could ill conceal his disgust at the clerical
-adventurer's base adulation. But Laud continued
-to ascend and Williams to descend. Williams
-having lost the seals, retired to his diocese, where
-he made himself very popular by his talents, his
-agreeable manners, his hospitality, and still more
-by his being regarded as a victim of the arbitrary
-spirit of the king and of Laud. Williams, who
-had a stinging wit, launched a tract at the head
-of the Primate, called the "Holy Table," in which
-he unmercifully satirised Laud's parade of high
-altars and Popish ceremonies. The Primate very
-speedily had him in the Star Chamber, where he
-received private information that if he would give
-up to Laud his deanery of Westminster, that disinterested
-prelate would let the prosecution slip.
-Williams refused, and then commenced one of the
-most disgraceful scenes in history. Laud, Windebank,
-and the king were determined to force the
-deanery and a heavy fine from him. They browbeat
-his witnesses; threw them into prison to
-compel them to swear falsely; removed Chief
-Justice Heath to put in a more pliant man; and
-at length, through the medium of Lord Cottington,
-induced Williams, from terror of worse, to give up
-the deanery and pay a fine of ten thousand pounds.
-His servants and agents, Walker, Catlin, and Lunn,
-were fined three hundred pounds apiece, and Powell
-two hundred pounds.</p>
-
-<p>This being done, Laud uttered a most hypocritical
-speech, professing high admiration of the
-talents, wisdom, learning, and various endowments
-of Williams, and his sorrow to see him
-thus punished, declaring that he had gone five
-times on his knees to the king to sue for his
-pardon. But even so Williams was not destined
-to escape. The officers who went to take possession
-of his effects, found amongst his papers
-two letters from Osbaldeston, master of Westminster
-School, in one of which he said that
-the great leviathan&mdash;the late Lord Treasurer,
-Portland&mdash;and the little urchin&mdash;Laud&mdash;were in
-a storm; and in the other, that "there was great
-jealousy between the leviathan and the little
-meddling hocus-pocus."</p>
-
-<p>This, which was no crime of Williams, but of
-Osbaldeston, was, however, made a crime of both.
-Williams was condemned on the charge of concealing
-a libel on a public officer, and fined eight
-thousand pounds more, and to suffer imprisonment
-during the king's pleasure. The chief offender,
-Osbaldeston, could not be found; he had left a
-note saying he was "gone beyond Canterbury;"
-but he was sentenced to deprivation of his office,
-to be branded, and stand opposite to his own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_557" id="Page_557">[557]</a></span>
-school in the pillory, with his ears nailed to it.
-He took good care, however, not to fall into such
-merciless hands.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_557big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_557.jpg" width="560" height="423" alt="" title="JOHN LILBURNE ON THE PILLORY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>JOHN LILBURNE ON THE PILLORY. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_556">556</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Besides those means of raising a permanent
-revenue for the Crown, independent of Parliament,
-which we have already detailed&mdash;as tonnage
-and poundage, the fees on compulsory knighthood,
-and the resumption of forest lands,&mdash;there
-was discovered another which was owing to the
-ingenuity of Attorney-General Noye. The landed
-proprietors had been much alarmed by the
-rumours that the king would lay claim to the
-greater part of every county in England except
-Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, but the whole public
-was struck with consternation at the additional
-project of the Attorney-General. As he had been
-always of a surly and morose disposition, he
-carried this ungracious manner with him into
-his apostacy. Formerly he had acted like a rude
-ill-tempered patriot, now he was the more odious
-from being at once obsequious to the Crown,
-and coarsely insolent to those whose rights he
-had invaded.</p>
-
-<p>In the Records of the Tower he discovered writs
-compelling the ports and maritime counties to provide
-a certain number of ships during war, or for
-protecting the coasts from pirates. It was now
-declared that the seas were greatly infested with
-Turkish corsairs, who not only intercepted our
-merchantmen at sea, but made descents on the
-coast of Ireland and carried off the inhabitants
-into slavery. The French and Dutch mariners,
-it was added, were continually interrupting our
-trade, and making prizes of our trading vessels.
-It was necessary to assert our right to the
-sovereignty of the narrow seas, which, it was contended,
-"our progenitors, Kings of England, had
-always possessed, and that it would be very
-irksome to us if that princely honour in our time
-should be lost, or in anything diminished."</p>
-
-<p>But the real cause was that Charles was at that
-time, 1634, engaged in the treaty with Spain to
-assist it against the United Provinces of Holland,
-on condition that Philip engaged to restore
-the Palsgrave. Noye's scheme was highly
-approved and supported by the Lord Keeper
-Coventry. On the 20th of October, 1634, a
-writ was issued by the Lords of the Council,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_558" id="Page_558">[558]</a></span>
-signed by the king, to the city of London, commanding
-it to furnish before the 1st of March
-next, seven ships, with all the requisite arms,
-stores, and tackling, and wages for the men for
-twenty-six weeks. One ship was to be of nine
-hundred tons, and to carry three hundred and
-fifty men; another of eight hundred tons, with
-two hundred and sixty men; four ships of five
-hundred tons, with two hundred men each; and
-one of three hundred tons, with one hundred and
-fifty men. The Common Council and citizens
-humbly remonstrated against the demand as one
-from which they were exempt by their charters,
-but the Council treated their objections with contempt,
-and compelled them to submit.</p>
-
-<p>In the spring of 1635 similar writs were issued
-to the maritime counties, and even sent into the
-interior, a most unheard-of demand; and instructions
-were forwarded to all parts, signed by Laud,
-Coventry, Juxon, Cottington, and the rest of the
-Privy Council, ordering the sheriffs to collect the
-money which was to be levied instead of ships, at
-the rate of three thousand three hundred pounds
-for every ship. They were to distrain on all who
-refused, and take care that no arrears were left
-to their successors. The demand occasioned both
-murmuring and resistance. The deputy-lieutenants
-of some inland counties wrote to the
-Council, begging that the inhabitants might be
-excused this unprecedented tax; but they were
-speedily called before the Council, and severely
-reprimanded. The people on the coasts of Sussex
-absolutely refused to pay, but they were soon
-forced by the sheriffs to submit. Noye died
-before this took place, and squibs regarding him
-were publicly placarded, saying that his body
-being opened, a bundle of proclamations was
-found in his head, worm-eaten records were discovered
-in his stomach, and a barrel of soap, alluding
-to the enforcement of the monopoly on that
-article, was found in his paunch.</p>
-
-<p>To put an end to all murmurs or resistance,
-Charles determined to have the sanction of the
-judges, knowing that he could not have that
-of Parliament. He therefore removed Chief
-Justice Heath on this and other accounts,
-and put in his place the supple Sir John Finch,
-lately conspicuous as Speaker of the Commons.
-The questions submitted to the judges were
-whether, when the good and safety of the realm
-demanded it, the king could not levy this ship-money,
-and whether he was not the proper and
-sole judge of the danger and the necessity. Finch
-canvassed his brethren of the Bench individually
-and privately. The judges met in Serjeant's Inn
-on the 12th of February, 1636, when they were all
-perfectly unanimous except Croke and Hutton,
-who, however, subscribed, on the ground that the
-opinion of a majority settled the matter.</p>
-
-<p>To obtain this opinion, Charles had let the
-judges know through Finch, that he only required
-their decision for his private satisfaction;
-but they were startled to find their sanction immediately
-proclaimed by the Lord Keeper Coventry
-in the Star Chamber, order given that
-it should be enrolled in all the courts at Westminster,
-and themselves required to make it
-known from the Bench on their circuits through
-the country. Nor was this all, for Wentworth,
-now become a full-fledged agent of despotism,
-contended that "since it is lawful for the king
-to impose a tax towards the equipment of the
-navy, it must be equally so for the levy of an
-army; and the same reason which authorises him
-to levy an army to resist, will authorise him to
-carry that army abroad, that he may prevent
-invasion. Moreover, what is law in England is
-also law in Ireland and Scotland. This decision
-of the judges will, therefore, make the king
-absolute at home, and formidable abroad. Let
-him," he observed, "only abstain from war a few
-years, that he may habituate his subjects to the
-payment of this tax, and in the end he will find
-himself more powerful and respected than any of
-his predecessors."</p>
-
-<p>Such were the principles of Wentworth, ready
-on the smallest concession to grant a dozen other
-assumptions upon it, and such the counsellors,
-himself and Laud, who encouraged the already
-too fatally despotic king to his destruction. The
-judges were, for the most part, equally traitorous
-to the nation, and preached the most absolute
-doctrines and passed the most absolute sentences.
-Richard Chambers, the London merchant, who
-had already suffered so severely for resisting the
-king's illegal demands, also refused payment of
-this, and brought an action against the Lord
-Mayor for imprisoning him for his refusal. But
-Judge Berkeley would not hear the counsel of
-Chambers in his defence; and afterwards, in his
-charge to the grand jury at York, described
-ship-money as the inseparable flower of the
-Crown. But they were not so easily to override
-the rights of the people of England. There
-were numbers of stout hearts only waiting a fitting
-opportunity to unite and crush the spirit
-of despotism now growing so rampant. One of
-the most distinguished of these patriots was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_559" id="Page_559">[559]</a></span>
-John Hampden, a gentleman of Buckinghamshire,
-whose name has become a world-wide synonym
-for sturdy constitutional independence. He determined
-not only to resist the payment of ship-money,
-but to try the question, so as to make
-known far and wide its illegality. He consulted
-his legal friends, Holborne, St. John, Whitelock,
-and others, on the best means of dealing with it,
-and encouraged by his example, thirty freeholders
-of his parish of Great Kimble, in Buckinghamshire,
-also refused payment. No sooner, therefore,
-had Charles obtained the opinion of the
-judges, than he determined to proceed against
-Hampden in the Court of Exchequer. The case
-was conducted for the Crown by the Attorney-General,
-Sir John Banks, and the Solicitor-General,
-Sir Edward Littleton. The sum at
-which Hampden was assessed was only twenty
-shillings: the trial lasted for twelve days before
-the twelve judges, that is, from the 6th to the
-18th of December, 1637.</p>
-
-<p>It was argued on the part of the Crown that
-the practice was sanctioned by the annual tax
-of Dane-gelt, imposed by the Saxons; by former
-monarchs having pressed ships into their service,
-and compelled the maritime counties to equip
-them; and that the claim on the part of the
-king was reasonable and patriotic, for if he did
-not exercise this right of the Crown, in cases of
-danger, before the Parliament could be assembled
-serious damage might accrue. The Crown lawyers
-ridiculed the refusal of a man of Mr. Hampden's
-great estates to pay so paltry a sum as twenty
-shillings; and declared that the sheriffs of Bucks
-ought to be fined for not putting upon him twenty
-pounds. But it was replied upon the part of
-Hampden, that the amount of the assessment was
-not in question, it was the principle of it. Nor
-could the Dane-gelt give evidence in the case,
-the imperfect accounts to be drawn on the subject
-from our ancient writers being too vague
-and uncertain. Moreover, the practice of monarchs
-before or after Magna Charta could not
-establish any law on the subject, for Magna
-Charta abrogated any arbitrary customs that had
-gone before, and strictly and clearly forbade them
-afterwards. No breach of that great Charter
-could be pleaded against it, for it was paramount
-and perpetual in its authority. Again, various
-statutes since, and last of all the Petition of
-Right, assented to by the king himself, made
-any such taxation without consent of Parliament
-illegal and void; while the very asking of loans
-and benevolences by different monarchs was
-sufficient proof of this, for if they had the right
-to tax, they would have taxed, and not borrowed.
-The most arbitrary prince that ever sat on the
-English throne&mdash;Henry VIII.,&mdash;when he had
-borrowed, and was not disposed to repay, did
-not consider his own fiat sufficient to cancel the
-debt, but called in Parliament to release him
-from the obligation. They reminded the judges
-of Edward I.'s confirmation of the charters, and
-of the statute <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">De Tallagio non concedendo</i>. As
-to the plea of imminent danger from foreign
-invasion, as in the case of the great Armada, as
-the Crown lawyers had mentioned, such cases,
-they argued, were next to impossible; notices of
-danger, as in the instance of the Armada itself,
-being obtained in ample time to call together
-Parliament. In this case there was no urgency
-whatever to forestall the measures of Parliament;
-for neither the insolence of a few Turkish
-pirates, nor even the threats of neighbouring
-States, were of consequence enough to warrant
-the forestalling of the constitutional functions of
-Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>The Crown lawyers, baffled by this unanswerable
-statement, then unblushingly took their stand
-on the doctrine that the king was bound by no
-laws, but all laws proceeded from the grace of
-the king, and that this was a right which all
-monarchs had reserved from time immemorial.
-Justice Crawley declared that the right of such
-impositions resided <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ipso facto</i> in the king as king,
-that you could not have a king without these
-rights&mdash;no, not by Act of Parliament. "The
-law," said Judge Berkeley, "knows no such king-yoking
-policy. The law is an old and trusty
-servant of the king's; it is his instrument or
-means which he useth to govern his people by. I
-never read or heard that <em>Lex</em> was <em>Rex</em>, but it is
-common and most true that <em>Rex</em> is <em>Lex</em>." The
-pliable Finch said, "Acts of Parliament are void
-to bind the king not to command the subjects,
-their persons, and goods, and, I say, their money,
-too, for no Acts of Parliament make any difference."
-Certainly they made no difference to
-him; and if these base lawyers could have talked
-away the rights of the people of England, they
-would have done it for their own selfish interests.
-When Holborne contended that it was not only
-for themselves, but for posterity, that they were
-bound to preserve the constitution intact, Finch
-testily exclaimed, "It belongs not to the Bar to
-talk of future governments; it is not agreeable to
-duty to have you bandy what is the hope of succeeding
-princes, when the king hath a blessed issue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_560" id="Page_560">[560]</a></span>
-so hopeful to succeed him in his crown and virtues."
-But Holborne replied, "My lord, for that whereof
-I speak, I look far off&mdash;many ages off; five hundred
-years hence!"</p>
-
-<p>But all the judges were not of like stamp.
-Hutton and Croke, who had dissented when the
-opinion of the judges was first taken, now made a
-bold stand against the illegal practice. As the
-ruin of a judge who thus dared to act in upright
-independence was pretty certain at that time, we
-may estimate the degree of virtue necessary to
-such decision, and the noble self-sacrifice of Lady
-Croke, who bade her husband give no thought to
-the consequences of discharging his duty, for that
-she would be content to suffer want, or any misery
-with him, rather than he should do or say anything
-against his judgment and conscience.</p>
-
-<p>The case was not decided till the Trinity Term,
-the third term from the commencement of the
-trial, when, on the 12th of June, 1638, judgment
-was entered against Hampden in the Court of
-Exchequer. But even then five of the judges
-had the courage to decide for Hampden, though
-three of them did this only on technical grounds,
-conceding the main and vital question. The decision
-of this most important trial was apparently
-in favour of the king, and there was, accordingly,
-much triumphing at Court; but in reality, it was
-in favour of the people, for it had been so long
-before the public, and the arguments of Hampden's
-counsel were so undeniable, those of the Crown so
-absolutely untenable, and opposed to all the history
-of the nation, that the matter was everywhere discussed,
-and men's opinions made up that, without
-a positive resistance to such claims and such doctrines
-as had here been advanced, the country was a
-place of serfdom, and the bloodshed and the labour
-of all past patriots had been in vain. It was
-accordingly found that people were more averse
-than ever from paying these demands; and even
-the courtly Clarendon confesses that "the pressure
-was borne with much more cheerfulness before
-the judgment for the king than ever it was after."
-Lord Say made a determined stand against it in
-Warwickshire, and would fain have brought on
-another trial like that of John Hampden; but the
-king would not allow another damaging experiment;
-and events came crowding after it of such a
-nature, as showed how deep the matter had sunk
-into the public mind.</p>
-
-<p>The course which matters were taking was exceedingly
-disgusting to the ministers of King
-Charles&mdash;Laud and Wentworth. The latter had
-been appointed Lord President of the North, where
-he had ruled with all the overbearing self-will of
-a king. The Council of the North had been appointed
-by Henry VIII., to try and punish the
-insurgents concerned in the Pilgrimage of Grace,
-and it had been continued ever since on as lawless
-a basis as that of the Star Chamber itself. In
-fact, it was the Star Chamber of the five most
-northern counties of England, summoning and
-judging the subjects without any jury, but at the
-will of the Council itself. Wentworth had risen
-from a simple baronet to be Privy Councillor,
-baron and viscount, and President of the North,
-with more rapidity than Buckingham himself had
-done. On accepting this last office, his power and
-jurisdiction were enlarged, and he displayed such
-an unflinching spirit in exercising the most despotic
-will, that on difficulties arising in Ireland,
-he was, without resigning his Presidency of the
-North, transferred thither, where Charles had
-resolved to introduce the same subjection to his
-sole will as in England and Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>When the unfortunate expedition to Cadiz had
-been made, and the king feared the Spaniards
-would retaliate by making a descent on Ireland,
-he ordered the Lord-Deputy, Lord Falkland, to
-raise the Irish army to five thousand foot and five
-hundred horse. There was no great difficulty in
-that, but the question how they were to be maintained
-was not so easy. Lord Falkland, who was
-one of the most honourable and conscientious of
-men, called together the great landed proprietors,
-and submitted the matter to their judgment. These,
-who were chiefly Catholics, offered to advance the
-necessary funds on condition that certain concessions
-should be made to the people of Ireland.
-These were, that, besides the removal of many
-minor grievances, the recusants should be allowed
-to practise in the courts of law, and to sue the
-livery of their lands out of the court of wards on
-their taking the oath of Allegiance without that of
-Supremacy; that the Undertakers on the several
-plantations should have time to fulfil the conditions
-of their leases; that the claims of the
-Crown should be confined to the last sixty years,
-the inhabitants of Connaught being allowed a new
-enrolment of their estates; and finally, that a
-parliament should be held to confirm these graces,
-as they were called.</p>
-
-<p>Delegates were sent to London to lay these proposals
-before the king, and on the agreement to
-pay one hundred and twenty thousand pounds by
-instalments in three years, Charles readily granted
-these articles of grace, amounting to fifty-one.
-But meanwhile, a rumour of these concessions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_561" id="Page_561">[561]</a></span>
-having got out, the Irish Established Church had
-made a great opposition, and though the parliament
-was called, nothing was done, nor did Charles
-intend to do more than get the money. As Lord
-Falkland was the last man in the world to be a
-party to anything so dishonourable, he was recalled,
-and Wentworth was sent over, in the July
-of 1632, to do the work.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_561big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_561.jpg" width="398" height="560" alt="" title="THE BIRMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE BIRMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Wentworth's arrival in Ireland was tantamount
-to a revolution there. He introduced all the regulations
-of the English Court at the Castle, assumed
-a guard like the king, which no Deputy before him
-had done, and carried himself with a haughty
-demeanour which made the Irish lords stand
-amazed. The only good which he effected was in
-putting down the multitude of minor tyrants, but
-then he combined all their tyranny and oppressions
-in himself. He was ready to bear any amount of
-odium, because he trusted to the king's support.
-His object was to raise a large permanent
-revenue, and Wentworth soon informed Charles
-that if this was to be done, there must be an end
-to making grants to needy English nobles, who
-absorbed what should flow to the Crown. Charles
-had promised such grants to the Duke of Lennox,
-the Earl of Arundel, and others; but on learning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_562" id="Page_562">[562]</a></span>
-Wentworth's views, Secretary Windebank wrote,
-at the king's command, that Wentworth was at
-liberty to refuse them these grants, provided that
-he took "the refusing part" on himself.</p>
-
-<p>As a first measure to raise money, he informed
-Charles that it would be necessary to call a Parliament.
-The king, who had found Parliaments
-too much for him, and was endeavouring to live
-without them, heard the proposal with consternation,
-and warned Wentworth against such an
-attempt; but the Lord Deputy informed him that
-he had a plan by which he could manage them,
-and Charles wrote to him, consenting, but still
-warning. "As for that hydra, take good heed,
-for you know that here I have found it as well
-cunning as malicious. It is true that your grounds
-are well laid, and I assure you that I have a great
-trust in your care and judgment; yet my opinion
-is, that it will not be the worse for my service
-though their obstinacy make you to break them,
-for I fear they have some ground to demand more
-than it is fit for me to give."</p>
-
-<p>Wentworth knew that very well, but meant to
-grant nothing of the kind. He sent out a hundred
-letters of recommendation in favour of the return
-of candidates on whom he could rely, and procured
-a royal order for the absent peers to send blank
-proxies, which he might fill up as he pleased.
-These were considerable in number, and consisted
-chiefly of Englishmen who had obtained their
-estates or titles from Charles or his father. Thus
-he secured a majority; and on opening Parliament
-he informed the members that he meant to
-hold two Sessions&mdash;one for the benefit of the king,
-the other for redressing the grievances of the
-people. Had the Irish noticed what had been
-going forward in England, they would have
-augured no good from such an arrangement, and
-might have followed the example of the English
-Commons, who would always insist on stating
-their grievances before parting with their money.
-But the unfortunate Irish listened to the dulcet
-tones of the Lord-Deputy, who assured them that
-if they put their trust in him and the king they
-would have the happiest Parliament that had ever
-sat in that kingdom. He talked of the misfortunes
-which had happened to the English Parliament
-through distrusting the king&mdash;he himself
-having been one of the chief actors in these distrusts&mdash;and
-on his assuring them that he was
-anxious to hasten to the second Session and the
-removal of all their grievances they voted him out
-of the fulness of their confidence six subsidies of
-larger amount than had ever been granted before.</p>
-
-<p>But when they came to the second Session,
-awful was the astonishment, and terrible the consternation,
-of the liberal granters of subsidies.
-The shameless trickster coolly informed them that
-of the fifty-one graces promised them by the king,
-very few were of a kind which he, who knew the
-circumstances of the country, could grant. In vain
-they reminded him of his promises, and called on
-him to fulfil them. He gave them menaces
-instead of promises, launched at them the most
-biting sarcasms, and made them appear a set of
-criminals rather than deceived and insulted
-legislators. His majority carried everything as he
-pleased, and after passing a few insignificant
-graces, he negatived the bulk of them, including
-all the important ones, and dismissed the Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>He had been equally successful with the Convocation.
-He obtained from it eight subsidies of
-three thousand pounds each, but he then refused
-to grant the conditions promised. It was the
-settled plan of the king, supported by Laud, to
-conform both the Scottish and Irish Churches to
-the English, and Wentworth was the most unscrupulous
-agent in such a work that they could
-have. The Irish prelates informed him that their
-Church was wholly independent of that of England,
-had its own Articles, of the Calvinistic class, and
-owed no obedience to the See of Canterbury. He
-insisted, however, that they must admit the Thirty-nine
-Articles of England; it was not necessary to
-parade them before the people, but they must be
-admitted, and the old Irish Articles might quietly
-die out. The prelates set about to frame a new
-code of ecclesiastical discipline; but to his surprise,
-he learned that they had rejected the English
-Articles and retained their own. He sent for the
-Archbishop and the Committee, upbraided the
-Chairman with suffering such a proceeding, took
-possession of the minutes, and ordered Archbishop
-Ussher himself to frame a canon authorising the
-English Articles. Ussher's production, however,
-did not satisfy him; he therefore drew up a form
-himself, and sent it to the Convocation, commanding
-that no debate should take place, but the
-Articles should be at once adopted, and informing
-them that every one's vote should be reported to
-him. Only one member of the whole Convocation
-dared to vote against his will; the rest submitted,
-but with the utmost indignation.</p>
-
-<p>Having thus with a high hand carried his
-measures&mdash;refused the confirmation of the graces,
-conformed the Irish to the English Church in one
-Session, and obtained such an amount of money as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_563" id="Page_563">[563]</a></span>
-would not only pay off the debts of the Crown, but
-would supply for some years the extraordinary demands
-of the Government, he wrote exultingly to
-England, declaring that the king was as absolute
-in Ireland as any king in the world, and might be
-the same in England if they did their duty there.
-He boldly demanded an earl's coronet, on account
-of these services, which, however, Charles deferred
-for awhile, thinking that he should hold such a
-man to his work rather by the hope than the
-possession of high preferment. Wentworth was so
-delighted with his overruling the Irish Parliament,
-that he proposed to the king to merely prorogue
-and not dissolve it, as being the most convenient
-instrument for effecting his further designs on the
-country. But Charles would not listen to it, remarking
-that parliaments were like cats, they ever
-grew cursed with age, and it was better to put an
-end to them early, young ones being most tractable.
-He thanked him for what he had done, and
-especially for saving him from the odium of breaking
-his promise about the graces.</p>
-
-<p>How little did this bold bad man see that, whilst
-he was serving the king's worst purposes, he was
-preparing his own destruction. In fact, though
-he had stunned the Irish for a moment by the
-audacity of his bearing, he had struck deep into
-their souls a resentment that no man, however
-powerful or subtle, could withstand. He was,
-however, only on the threshold of the sweeping
-changes which he contemplated in that country,
-for he was resolved to reduce it to a condition of
-absolute dependence on the Crown. He was not
-content with forcing the English Articles on the
-Irish Church, but he refused to the Catholics every
-relief that Charles had pledged himself to in order
-to get their money. Instead of abolishing, as
-promised, the oppressive power of the court of
-wards, he gave them a more virulent activity.
-The Catholic heir was still obliged to sue out the
-livery of his lands, and before he could obtain
-them, to take the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy.
-To obtain his rightful property, he was
-thus compelled to abjure his religion. But he
-entertained a still more gigantic design, which was
-to seize on the fee simple of the greater part of
-Ireland, on pretence of defective title.</p>
-
-<p>We have seen that in the reigns of Elizabeth
-and James the titles of the great landed proprietors
-both in Connaught and Ulster had been
-called in question, and those monarchs had pretended
-to renew them on condition of certain
-payments. These conditions had been repeatedly
-fulfilled by the proprietors, but not by the Crown.
-Charles, in 1628, amongst the other benefits promised,
-had engaged to ratify these titles; but
-Wentworth showed him the folly of doing that
-while by alarming them on the point he might
-draw immense sums from them, or get possession
-of the lands. To this proposal Charles consented,
-and the experiment was begun with Connaught.
-Wentworth proceeded (1635) at the head of a
-commission, to hold an inquisition in every county
-of Connaught. He opened his proceedings at
-Roscommon, where he summoned a jury of
-"gentlemen of the best estates and understandings,"
-that more weight might attach to their
-decisions if favourable, or that, if adverse, he
-might levy heavy fines upon them. He assured
-the jury that his majesty merely meant to ascertain
-the condition of all titles, in order that if
-defective he might render them legal. It was
-on this plea that the freeholders had been
-wheedled into the surrender of their deeds and
-patents by Elizabeth and James; but Wentworth
-added another alarming fiction. He contended
-that Henry III., reserving only five cantreds
-to himself, had given the remainder to
-Richard de Burgh, to be holden of him and his
-heirs of the Crown, and that those tenures had
-now descended to the present king, by the marriage
-of the heirs of De Burgh with the royal
-line. According to this the king was the rightful
-owner of every acre of land in Ireland. He
-assured the jury, therefore, that it was their best
-interest to give a general verdict for the king, as
-he could without their consent establish his right,
-and if compelled to do that in opposition to them,
-the result might be much worse for them. By
-these means he induced the juries in Roscommon,
-Sligo, Mayo, Clare, and Limerick, to return a
-verdict in favour of the Crown, but the people
-of Galway stoutly resisted. They declared that
-the title of the king, through Edward IV., from
-Richard de Burgh, could not be proved; there
-was a hiatus in the genealogy. They were all
-Catholics, and were the more resolute from having
-been so shamefully deluded in the matter of
-wardship. Wentworth was rather glad to be able
-to make an example of them, and he therefore
-fined the sheriff one thousand pounds for returning
-so obstinate and perverse a jury, and dragged the
-jury into his Star Chamber, the chamber of the
-Castle, and fined them four thousand pounds
-apiece. He fell with especial vindictiveness on
-the old Earl of Clanricarde, and other great landowners
-of Galway, and set about to seize the fort
-of Galway, march a body of troops into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_564" id="Page_564">[564]</a></span>
-country, and compel it to submit to the king's
-will. The proprietors, disbelieving that the king
-could know of or sanction such infamous breaches
-of faith and acts of oppression, sent over a deputation
-to Charles to lay the matter before him.
-But the king received them with reproaches, declared
-his full approval of the proceedings of the
-Lord-Deputy, and sent them back to Ireland as
-State prisoners. The old Earl of Clanricarde,
-whose son had been the head of the deputation,
-died soon after receiving the news of this conduct
-of the monarch, and Wentworth wrote to Charles
-that he was accused of being the cause of his
-death. "They might as well," he remarked
-haughtily, "impute to me the crime of his
-being threescore and ten." He was still busily
-pursuing other noblemen with the same rancour&mdash;the
-Earl of Cork, Lord Wilmot, and others&mdash;when
-the Catholic party in England, who had a friend
-in Queen Henrietta, made their complaints heard
-at Whitehall. Laud, who was acting as outrageously
-himself in England, informed Wentworth
-of it, and even hinted more caution, observing
-that if he could find a way to do all those great
-services without raising so many storms, it would
-be excellently well thought of. But Wentworth
-was as little disposed to avoid storms as his adviser
-himself. He proceeded in the same autocratic
-style both towards the public and individuals.
-It had been the original intention to
-return to the proprietors three-fourths of their
-lands, and retain one-fourth for the Crown,
-amounting to about one hundred and twenty
-thousand acres, which were to be planted with
-Englishmen, on condition of yielding a large
-annual income to the Crown. But now it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_565" id="Page_565">[565]</a></span>
-resolved to retain a full half of Galway as a
-punishment of its obstinacy, and Wentworth was
-proceeding with the necessary measurements, when
-his career proved at an end.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_564.jpg" width="444" height="550" alt="" />
-<div class="caption"><p>SIR THOMAS WENTWORTH (EARL OF STRAFFORD).</p>
-
-<p>(<i>After the Portrait by Vandyke.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The individual acts of injustice which he perpetrated
-were done at the suggestion of his
-profligate desires or personal revenge, with the
-most unabashed hardihood. He had seduced the
-daughter of Loftus, the Lord Chancellor of
-Ireland, wife of Sir John Gifford, and wanted to
-confer a good post on her relative Sir Adam
-Loftus. Such an opportunity soon occurred by
-an inadvertent expression of Lord Mountnorris,
-Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. It happened one day
-that Annesley, a lieutenant in the army, accidentally
-set a stool on the foot of the Lord-Deputy,
-when he was suffering from the gout.
-This Lieutenant Annesley had some time before
-been caned by Wentworth in a paroxysm of
-passion, and Mountnorris hearing the incident of
-the stool mentioned at the table of Chancellor
-Loftus, said, "Perhaps Annesley did it as his
-revenge, but he has a brother who would not
-have taken such a revenge." This being repeated
-to Wentworth, he treated the observation as a
-suggestion to Annesley to perpetrate a more
-bloody revenge; and though he dissembled his
-resentment for some time, he then accused
-Mountnorris, who was also an officer in the
-army, of mutiny, founded on this expression.
-Wentworth attended the court-martial to overawe
-its proceedings, and obtained a sentence of
-death against Mountnorris. The sentence was
-too atrocious to be carried into execution, but
-it served Wentworth's purpose, for he cashiered
-Mountnorris and gave his office to Loftus.
-Much as the Irish had suffered before, this most
-lawless act excited a loud murmur of indignation
-throughout the land; but Wentworth had secured
-himself from any censure from the king by handing
-him six thousand pounds as the price of the
-transfer of Mountnorris's treasurership to Sir
-Adam Loftus.</p>
-
-<p>The resentment of the Irish was becoming so
-strong against Wentworth, that the king thought
-it safest for him to come to England for a time;
-but he soon returned thither, with the additional
-favour of the monarch, where he remained till
-summoned by Charles to assist him by his counsels
-against the Scots. But the fatal and memorable
-year 1640 was at hand, to close the story of his
-tyrannies. We must now retrace our steps, and
-bring up the conflicts of Scotland with the
-same blind and determined despots to that period.</p>
-
-<p>The storm against the despotism of Charles had
-broken out in that country. From the moment of
-his visit to Edinburgh with his great apostle Laud,
-he had never ceased pushing forward his scheme of
-conforming the Presbyterian Church to Anglican
-episcopacy. He had restored the bishops on that
-occasion, given them lands, erected deans and
-chapters, and Laud had consecrated St. Giles's
-Church as a Cathedral. As he could not persuade
-the Scottish Peers to submit to the liturgy
-as used in England, which his father had attempted
-in vain before him, he consented that a
-liturgy should be drawn up by four Scottish
-bishops, who were also to form a code of ecclesiastical
-canons. They were to introduce into the
-latter some of the acts of the Scottish assemblies,
-and some more ancient canons, to make the whole
-more palatable. These laws and the liturgy were
-afterwards revised by the Archbishop of Canterbury
-and the Bishops of London and Norwich,
-and Charles ordered the amended copies to be
-published and preserved.</p>
-
-<p>None but a monarch so foolhardy as Charles
-would have dared such an experiment on the
-Scots who had resisted so stoutly his father,
-and had driven his grandmother from the country
-for her adhesion to Popery. The people received
-the publication of the canon with unequivocal indications
-of their temper; and when, therefore,
-the first introduction, of the liturgy was fixed for
-the 23rd of July, 1637, in St. Giles's Church, they
-went thither in crowds, to give a characteristic reception.
-The archbishops and bishops, the Lords
-of Session, and the magistrates went in procession,
-and appeared there in all their official splendour.
-This display, however, so far from imposing on the
-people of Edinburgh, only excited their wrath and
-contempt, as the trumpery finery of the woman
-of Babylon. A considerable riot ensued, during
-which a woman named Jenny Geddes is said to
-have thrown a stool at the bishop's head. The
-story is, however, supported by indifferent evidence.</p>
-
-<p>But it was not merely the base multitude, the
-nobility were as violent against the new Liturgy
-as the people, and came to high words with the
-bishops and their favourers amongst the clergy.
-Four ministers&mdash;Alexander Henderson, of Leuchars;
-John Hamilton, of Newburn; James Bruce,
-of Kingsbarns, and another&mdash;petitioned the Council
-on the 23rd of August, to give them time to
-show the anti-Christian and idolatrous nature of
-this ritual, and how near it came to the Popish
-mass, reminding them that the people of Scotland<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_566" id="Page_566">[566]</a></span>
-had established the independence of their own
-Church at the Reformation, which had been confirmed
-by Parliament and General Assemblies, and
-that the people, instructed in their religion from
-the pulpit, were not likely to adopt what their
-fathers had rejected as contrary to the simplicity
-of the Gospel. But the Bishop of Ross, Laud's
-right-hand man, replied for the Council that the
-liturgy was neither superstitious nor idolatrous, but
-according to the formula of the ancient Churches,
-and they must submit to that or to "horning,"
-that is, banishment. Still the Council delayed,
-and the people were pretty quiet during the
-harvest time, but that over, the news having
-arrived of a peremptory message from the king,
-commanding the enforcement of the liturgy, and
-the removal of the Council from Edinburgh to
-Linlithgow, thence in the following term to Stirling,
-and for the next to Dundee, the people
-flocked into Edinburgh, and, incensed at the idea
-of their ancient capital being deprived of its
-honours as the seat of government, they became
-extremely irritated, attacked the bishops when
-they could see them, and nearly tore the clothes
-from the back of the Bishop of Galway. He
-escaped into the Council House, and the members
-of the Council in their turn sent to demand protection
-from the magistrates, who could not even
-protect themselves.</p>
-
-<p>For greater security the Council removed to
-Dalkeith, and the Marquis of Hamilton recommended
-to Charles to make some concessions; but
-far from giving way, a more positive order for the
-enforcement of the obnoxious liturgy arrived from
-the king. But it was found impossible to enforce
-it: the Earl of Traquair was summoned up to
-London, sharply questioned as to the causes of
-the delay, and was sent back with more arbitrary
-commands. On the 18th of October these
-were made known, and fresh riots took place,
-Traquair and two of the bishops nearly losing
-their lives. The king then consented to the petitioners
-above mentioned being represented by a
-deputation personally resident in Edinburgh. The
-object was to induce the crowds of strangers to
-withdraw to their homes, when it was thought the
-people of Edinburgh alone might be better dealt
-with; but the advocates of the people seized on
-the plan, and converted it into one of the most
-powerful engines of opposition imaginable.</p>
-
-<p>At the head of these able politicians, and
-the contrivers of this profoundly sagacious
-scheme, were the Lords Rothes, Balmerino,
-Lindsay, Lothian, Loudon, Yester, and Cranstoun.
-Balmerino had been severely treated by Charles,
-and had thus become hardened into the most
-positive opponent of the episcopal movement. In
-his possession in 1634 was a copy of a petition to
-the Scottish Parliament, too strong in its language
-even for the Scottish dissentients to present. He
-had, under pledge of strictest secrecy, lent this to
-a friend. For this he was committed to prison,
-and at the instigation of Spottiswood, Archbishop
-of St. Andrews, it was resolved to prosecute him
-for high treason, and a verdict was procured
-against him. But the people were so enraged
-that they assembled in vast crowds, vowing to
-murder both the jurors who had given the verdict
-and the judges who had accepted it. Government
-was alarmed, and the king was reluctantly induced
-to grant Balmerino a pardon. From that moment
-he became the champion of the people.</p>
-
-<p>He and his colleagues the nobles, the gentry,
-the Presbyterian clergy, and the inhabitants of
-the burghs, formed themselves into four "Tables"
-or Committees, each of four persons, and each Table
-sent a representative to a fifth Table, a Committee
-of superintendence and government. Thus in the
-capital there were sitting five Tables or Committees,
-to receive complaints and information from the
-people, and decide on all these matters. Throughout
-the country were speedily established similar
-Tables, with whom they corresponded. Thus, instead
-of that mere representation of the petitioners
-which the king contemplated as an expedient for
-getting rid of the immediate pressure of the people,
-one of the most perfect and most powerful systems
-of popular agitation was organised that the world
-had ever seen. There was the most instant attention
-to the suggestions of the people by the provincial
-Tables, and the most prompt and respectful
-consideration of their reports by the Tables in the
-capital. A permanent government of the people
-was, in fact, erected, to which the public looked
-with the utmost confidence, and by which step its
-whole weight was brought to bear on the unpopular
-government of the king.</p>
-
-<p>The formidable nature of this novel engine of
-the popular will was quickly perceived by the
-Court; and Traquair was ordered to issue a proclamation
-declaring the Tables to be unlawful,
-commanding all people to withdraw to their own
-homes, and menacing the penalties of treason
-against all who disobeyed. This proclamation
-was made by Traquair at Stirling, on the 19th
-of February, 1638; but it was disregarded. The
-Tables had procured early information of the
-forthcoming proclamation, and had summoned the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_567" id="Page_567">[567]</a></span>
-provincial Tables from all parts to assemble in
-Edinburgh and Stirling. These cities were thus
-crowded with the very life and soul of the whole
-agitation. They had already risen in their demands
-as they perceived their strength, and had
-ceased to petition for time and some trifling alterations
-in "the buke." They demanded the formal
-revocation of the liturgy, the canons, and the
-Court of High Commission. Now, no sooner had
-the herald read the royal proclamation than the
-Lords Hume and Lindsay read a counter proclamation,
-saw it affixed to the market cross, and
-copies sent to Edinburgh and Linlithgow, to be
-read and publicly placarded there.</p>
-
-<p>Traquair, who had clearly foreseen these consequences,
-and in vain warned the king to avoid
-them by timely concession, wrote to Hamilton,
-informing him of what had taken place, and that
-there was no power in the kingdom capable of
-forcing the liturgy down the people's throats;
-that they would receive the Mass as soon. His
-words received a speedy confirmation. The Tables
-determined to publish a Solemn Covenant between
-the people and the Almighty to stand by their
-religion to the death. Their fathers, at the time
-of the Reformation, had adopted such an instrument.
-The great nobles of the time had sworn to
-maintain the principles of Wishart and Knox, and
-to defend the preachers of those doctrines against
-the powers of Antichrist and the monarchy. James
-had sworn to adhere to this confession of faith,
-with all their households and all classes of people,
-in the years 1580, 1581, and 1590. The name of
-Covenant was thus become a watchword to the
-whole nation, which roused them like a trumpet.
-This document had been composed by Alexander
-Henderson, one of the four ministers who had
-petitioned, and Archibald Johnstone, an advocate,
-the legal adviser of the party; and had been revised
-by Balmerino, Loudon, and Rothes.</p>
-
-<p>This famous document began by a clear exposition
-of the tenets of the Reformed Scottish Church,
-and as solemn an abjuration of all the errors and
-doctrines of the Pope, with his "vain allegories,
-rites, signs, and traditions." It enumerated the
-anti-Christian tenets of Popery&mdash;the denial of salvation
-to infants dying without baptism; the receiving
-the Sacrament from men of scandalous
-lives; the devilish Mass; the canonisation of men;
-the invocation of saints; the worshipping of imaginary
-relics and crosses; the speaking and praying
-in a strange language; auricular confession; the
-shaveling monks; bloody persecutions; and a
-hundred other abominations. All these were made
-as great offences against the Anglican hierarchy,
-which was fast running back into those "days
-of bygone idolatry." The various classes&mdash;"noblemen,
-barons, gentlemen, burgesses, ministers,
-and commons"&mdash;bound themselves by the
-Covenant to defend and maintain the reformed
-faith before God, His angels, and the world, till it
-was again established by free Assemblies and
-Parliaments, in the same full purity and liberty of
-the Gospel as it had been heretofore.</p>
-
-<p>On the 1st of March, 1638, the church of St.
-Giles, which had witnessed so lately the hasty
-flight of the bishops, was thronged with the Covenanters
-of all ranks and from all parts of the
-country. The business was opened by a fervent
-prayer from Henderson, and then the people were
-addressed in a stirring harangue by the Earl of
-Loudon, the most eloquent man in Scotland. The
-effect was such that the whole assembly rose
-simultaneously, and with outstretched arms, amid
-torrents of tears, swore to the contents of the
-Covenant. That done, they turned and embraced
-each other, wept, and shouted aloud their exultation
-over this great victory, for such they felt it,
-in the united energy and religious dedication of the
-nation.</p>
-
-<p>Dispersing to their various homes, the delegates
-carried the fire of this grand enthusiasm with
-them. Over moor and mountain it flew, across
-the green pastoral hills of the South, through the
-dark defiles of the Highlands, and to the sea-swept
-isles. Thousands continued to pour into the capital
-to add their signatures to the Covenant; and in
-every parish on the Sunday the people streamed
-to listen to the fiery harangues from the pulpits,
-and to give in their names, with the same tears,
-emotions, and embraces as in Edinburgh. It
-was soon found that, except in the county of Aberdeen,
-the Covenanters outnumbered their opponents
-in the proportion of one hundred to one.</p>
-
-<p>Nor did these determined reformers readily
-admit of any dissent or lukewarmness. Where
-they found any opposed or inert, they roused them
-by threats, and often by blows and coercion. Some
-they threw into prison, and some they set in the
-stocks for refusing to sign. The Catholics were
-those who principally stood aloof; but these were
-not calculated at a thousand in all Scotland. Of
-such they entered the names in a list, and made
-calculations of their property, with a view to confiscation.
-In Lanark and other places the contending
-factions came to blows before the lists
-were filled up. Active subscriptions were levied
-for the maintenance of the Cause, and before the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_568" id="Page_568">[568]</a></span>
-end of April there was scarcely a single Protestant
-who had not signed the Covenant. The bishops
-had fled to England, and all Scotland stood ready
-to fight for its faith.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_568big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_568.jpg" width="560" height="356" alt="" title="THE PEOPLE SIGNING THE COVENANT IN ST. GILES S CHURCH, EDINBURGH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE PEOPLE SIGNING THE COVENANT IN ST. GILES'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_567">567.</a>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Here was a spectacle which would have shown
-the folly of his career to any other monarch; but
-all reason or representation was wasted on Charles.
-Traquair entreated him, before plunging into war,
-to listen to the counsels of his most experienced
-Scottish Ministers; but Charles seldom listened to
-anything except his own self-will, or any person
-except his fatal counsellors, Laud and Wentworth.
-He is said on this occasion to have consulted with
-a small council of Scotsmen living in England,
-which had been formed by James on his accession
-to the English throne, and in accordance with
-their advice and in opposition to that of the
-Council in Scotland, he resolved on suppressing
-the Covenant by force.</p>
-
-<p>In May he sent the Marquis of Hamilton to
-Scotland, with orders to endeavour to soothe the
-people by assuring them that the liturgy and
-canons should only be exercised in a fair and
-gentle manner, and that the High Commission
-Court should be so remodelled as to be no
-grievance. If these promises did not satisfy
-them, as Hamilton must have known they would
-not, for Charles's promises were too notorious to
-be of any value, he was to resort to any exercise
-of force that he thought necessary.</p>
-
-<p>On the 3rd of June he arrived at Berwick, and
-sent to the nobility to meet him at Haddington;
-but no one appeared except the Earl of Roxburgh,
-who assured him that anything but a full revocation
-of the canons and liturgy was hopeless. On
-reaching Dalkeith he was waited on by Lord
-Rothes, who, on the part of the Covenanters, invited
-him to take up his abode in Holyrood as
-more convenient for discussion.</p>
-
-<p>Hamilton objected to enter a city swarming
-with Covenanters, where the castle was already
-invested by their guards. These, it was promised
-him, should be removed and the city kept quiet,
-on which he consented; and on the 8th of June he
-set forward. But he found the whole of the way,
-from Musselburgh to Leith and from Leith to
-Edinburgh, lined with Covenanters, fifty thousand
-in number. There were from five to seven hundred
-clergymen collected; and all the nobility
-and gentry assembled in the capital, amounting to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_569" id="Page_569">[569]</a></span>
-five thousand, came out to meet and escort him
-in. All this he was informed was to do him
-honour, but he felt that its real design was to impress
-him with the strength of the Covenant
-party.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_569big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_569.jpg" width="560" height="435" alt="" title="ST. GILES S CHURCH, EDINBURGH, IN THE 17TH CENTURY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ST. GILES'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH, IN THE 17TH CENTURY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Being settled in Holyrood, Hamilton received a
-deputation of the heads of the League, and asked
-them what they required to induce them to surrender
-opposition. They replied that in the first
-place they demanded the summons of a General
-Assembly and a Parliament. They then renewed
-the guard at the castle, and doubled the guards
-and watches of the city. The preachers warned
-the people to be on their guard against propositions.
-They informed the marquis that no English
-Service Book must be used in the royal chapel, and
-they nailed up the organ as an "abomination to
-the Lord." They then waited on Hamilton, requesting
-him and his officers to sign the Covenant,
-as they hoped to be regarded as patriots and
-Christians. The ministers whom the oppressions
-of Wentworth had chased out of Ulster to make
-way for the Anglican service were in Edinburgh,
-inflaming the people by their details of the
-cruelties and broken promises of Charles and his
-Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland.</p>
-
-<p>Hamilton saw that it was useless to publish
-Charles's proclamation, but wrote advising him to
-grant them their demands, or to lose no time in
-appearing with a powerful army. Charles replied
-desiring him to amuse the Covenanters with any
-promises that he pleased, so that he did not commit
-the king himself. He was to avoid granting
-an Assembly or Parliament, but he added, "Your
-chief end being now to win time, they may commit
-public follies until I be ready to suppress them."
-The marquis, therefore, endeavoured to spin out
-the time by coaxing and deluding the Covenanters.
-He promised to call a General Assembly and a
-Parliament, and redress all their grievances.
-When pressed too closely, he declared that he
-would go to London himself and endeavour to
-set all right with the king; but this was part only
-of the plan of gaining time whilst Charles was
-preparing a fleet and army. But the Scots were
-too wary to be thus deceived. They had information
-that troops were being raised in England, and
-they too made preparations. At the same time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_570" id="Page_570">[570]</a></span>
-they waited on the marquis, professing the most
-unabated loyalty, but resolute to have free exercise
-of their religion. Hamilton promised to present
-their address to the king, and set out on the 4th of
-July for England. He informed Charles of the real
-state of the country, and that the very members
-of the Privy Council were so infected by the Covenant
-that he had not dared to call them together.
-But Charles was not to be induced to take any
-effective measures for pacifying the public mind of
-Scotland. His instructions to the marquis were
-to amuse the people with hopes, and to allow
-of the sitting of a General Assembly, but not before
-the 1st of November. He was even to publish
-the order for discharging the use of the Service
-Book, the canons, and the High Commission Court,
-but was to forbid the abolition of bishops, though
-the bishops were for the present not to intrude
-themselves into the Assembly. They were, however,
-to be privately held to be essentially
-members of the Assembly, and were to be one
-way or other provided for till better times.</p>
-
-<p>These half measures were not likely to be
-accepted, but they would serve Charles's grand
-object of gaining time, and the marquis arrived
-with them in Edinburgh on the 10th of August.
-Three days after his arrival the Covenanters waited
-upon him to learn how the king had received their
-explanations, and the marquis assured them with
-much grace and goodness; but when they heard
-that the bishops were not to be abolished, they
-treated his other offers with contempt, and
-Hamilton once more proposed to journey to
-England to endeavour to obtain a full and free
-recall of all the offensive ordinances. Before
-taking his leave, as a proof of his earnestness,
-he joined with the Earls of Traquair, Roxburgh,
-and Southesk, in a written solicitation to his
-Majesty to remove all innovations in religion
-which had disturbed the peace of the country.
-By the 17th of September Hamilton was again
-at Holyrood. On the 21st he received the
-Covenanters and informed them that he had
-succeeded; that the king gave up everything;
-that an Assembly was to be called immediately,
-and a Parliament in the month of May next; and
-that the king revoked the Service Book, the
-Book of Canons, the five Articles of Perth, and
-the High Commission. The Covenanters were
-about to express their unbounded satisfaction and
-loyal gratitude, when the marquis added that his
-Majesty only required them to sign the old confession
-of faith as adopted by King James in
-1580 and 1590. This single reservation broke
-the whole charm; their countenances fell, and
-they declared that they looked upon this as an
-artifice merely to set aside their new bond of the
-Covenant.</p>
-
-<p>In all Charles's most solemn acts the cloven foot
-showed itself. Even when seeming most honest,
-there was something which awoke a distrust in
-him. He was not sincere, and he had not the art
-to look so. In any other monarch the positive
-assurance that the innovations on the religion of
-Scotland should be abandoned, would have settled
-the matter at once; but Charles had so utterly
-lost character for truth and good faith that it was
-believed throughout the country that he was still
-only deluding them, and seeking time ultimately
-to come down resistlessly upon them. And we
-know from his own correspondence preserved in
-the Strafford Papers that it was so. These words
-addressed to Hamilton, "Your chief end is to win
-time, that they may commit public follies, until I
-be ready to suppress them," are an everlasting
-proof of it. Besides, they had ample information
-from friends about the Court in England that this
-was the case, and that in a few months the king
-meant to visit them with an irresistible force.
-The people of England were suffering too much
-from the same species of oppression not to sympathise
-warmly with the Scottish patriots, and
-keep them well informed of what was going on
-there. We find it asserted in the Hardwicke State
-Papers that the Government was very jealous of
-the number of people who went about England
-selling Scottish linen, and it was recommended to
-open all letters going between the countries at
-Berwick.</p>
-
-<p>The Covenanters therefore determined to hold
-together and be prepared. On the 22nd of September,
-1638, the Marquis of Hamilton caused the
-royal proclamation to be read at the market-cross
-at Edinburgh, abandoning the Anglican Service
-and the High Commission Court; but as it required
-subscription to the old confession of faith,
-there was no rejoicing on the occasion. There
-were two particulars in this proclamation which
-fully justified the Scots in refusing to comply with
-it. It stated that the vow of the Covenant was
-unauthorised by Government, and therefore illegal;
-and it professed to grant a pardon for that
-act to all who signed the confession, which would
-have acknowledged that the nation had been guilty
-of a crime in accepting the Covenant, a thing they
-were not likely to admit, for in that case they
-could not have refused the re-admission of the very
-liturgy against which they were at war. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_571" id="Page_571">[571]</a></span>
-therefore published a protest against the proclamation,
-founded on these reasons.</p>
-
-<p>The marquis having obtained the signature of
-the Lords of the Secret Council to the new bond,
-which Charles had previously signed, though it
-contained many clauses repugnant to Arminianism,
-issued the proclamation for the meeting of the
-Assembly in Glasgow on the 21st of November,
-1638, and for that of the Parliament on the 17th
-of May, 1639. In a few days afterwards, the
-Council published an act discharging the Book of
-Common Prayer, the Book of Canons, etc., and
-called for the subscription of all his Majesty's subjects.
-The municipal bodies, the ministers, and
-the people hastened to thank the Council, and to
-express their joy at the revocation of the obnoxious
-orders, but they refused to sign the confession.</p>
-
-<p>The marquis wrote to Charles, informing him of
-the determined spirit of the people, and advising
-him to hasten his military preparations. He also
-represented to him the protests of the bishops
-against the holding of the Assembly; but the king
-bade him persist in holding it, so that he might
-not appear to break faith with the public and thus
-precipitate matters, but to counteract the effect
-of the Assembly by sowing discord amongst the
-members, and protesting against their tumultuary
-proceedings.</p>
-
-<p>But the Scots did not give Hamilton much time
-for such machinations before the meeting of the
-Assembly. They were warned by a trusty correspondent&mdash;notwithstanding
-the waylaying of the
-post was carried into effect&mdash;that vigorous preparations
-were being made to invade Scotland. There
-were arms for twenty thousand men, including
-forty pieces of ordnance and forty carriages; but
-the writer did not believe they would get two
-hundred men for the service, such was the desire
-of all parties&mdash;nobles, gentry, and people&mdash;for
-their success, which if obtained, he said, would
-lead many of all ranks to settle in Scotland for
-freedom of conscience. He added that Wentworth
-had made large offers of assistance to the king
-from Ireland, but that the Irish were themselves
-so injured that he doubted whether any considerable
-help would be had from Wentworth against
-them; yet if Charles could muster sufficient force,
-they might expect no terms from him but such
-as they would get at the cannon's mouth.</p>
-
-<p>At the end of October the Earl of Rothes
-demanded from Hamilton a warrant citing the
-bishops as guilty of heresy, perjury, simony, and
-gross immorality, to appear before the approaching
-Assembly. The marquis refused, on which the
-Presbytery of Edinburgh cited them. Charles
-had ordered, as a sign of his favour, the restoration
-of the Lords of Session of Edinburgh, but
-on condition of their signing the confession of
-faith. Nine out of the fifteen were induced with
-much difficulty to sign, but from that moment
-they were in terror of their lives from the exasperation
-of the people.</p>
-
-<p>When Hamilton arrived on the 17th of November
-in Glasgow to open the Assembly, he
-found the town thronged with people from all
-quarters, evidently in intense excitement. The
-Tables had secured the most popular elections of
-representatives to the Assembly, sending one lay
-elder and four lay assessors from every Presbytery.
-The marquis therefore found himself
-overruled on all points. In his opening speech
-he read them the king's letter, in which Charles
-complained of having been misrepresented, as
-though he desired innovations in laws and religion;
-and to prove how groundless this was,
-he had granted this free Assembly, for settling
-all such matters to the satisfaction of his good
-subjects. He then of himself protested against
-the foul and devilish calumnies against his sacred
-Majesty, purporting that even this grant of the
-Assembly was but to gain time whilst he was
-preparing arms to force on the nation the abhorred
-ritual. The marquis, whilst he was
-making these solemn asseverations, being well
-assured, as were most of his hearers, that the
-king was all the while casting cannon and ball,
-and mustering soldiers for this "foul and devilish
-purpose," the Assembly must have been perfectly
-satisfied that no good was to be expected but from
-their own firmness. They at once proceeded to
-elect Alexander Henderson as their Moderator,
-and Hamilton protested as vigorously against it,
-but in vain. They next elected as clerk-register
-Archibald Johnstone, the clerk of the Edinburgh
-Tables, against which Hamilton again protested
-with as little effect, Johnstone declaring that he
-would do his best to "defend the prerogative of
-the Son of God."</p>
-
-<p>Defeated on these important points, the marquis
-the next day entered a protest against the return
-of lay members to the Assembly; and the proctor
-on behalf of the bishops added their protest, declining
-the authority of the Assembly, which he
-contended ought to be purely ecclesiastical. James
-had, in fact, put the lay members out of the Assembly,
-and the king therefore treated this original
-constitution of the Assembly, as settled at the
-Reformation, as an innovation, turning the charge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_572" id="Page_572">[572]</a></span>
-of innovation on the Covenanters. The marquis
-would then have read the protests of the bishops
-with which he was furnished; but the Assembly
-declined to hear them, and repeated that they
-would pursue the charges against the bishops so
-long as they had lives and fortunes. On this
-Hamilton dissolved the Assembly, and the same
-day wrote a most remarkable letter to Charles,
-which appears to leave little ground for the suspicions
-of the royal party that he was secretly
-inclined to the Covenant. He informed the king
-that he had done his utmost, but to no purpose,
-with that rebellious nation. He seemed to apprehend
-danger to his life, and that this might be the
-last letter he should ever write to his Majesty.
-He blamed the bishops for persuading the king
-to bring in the English liturgy and canons in so
-abrupt and violent a manner; that their pride was
-great, their folly greater. He gives the king his
-opinion of the character and degrees of the trustworthiness
-of the different Ministers, and bids him
-beware of the Earl of Argyle, whom he declares to
-be the most dangerous man in the State; so far from
-favouring episcopacy, as had been supposed, that
-nobleman wished it abolished with all his soul. This
-was immediately afterwards, as we shall see, made
-clear by Argyle himself. Hamilton then proceeded
-to instruct the king how best to proceed to quell
-what he deemed not merely a contest for religion,
-but an incipient rebellion. It was to blockade the
-ports, and thus cut off all trade, by which the
-burghs, the chief seats of the agitation, lived.
-As fast as these burghs felt their folly and returned
-to their allegiance, they should be restored
-to favour, and their ports opened, which would
-make the rest anxious to follow. He said he
-had done his best to garrison the castle of Edinburgh,
-though it was in a precarious state, but
-that the castle of Dumbarton might be readily
-garrisoned by troops from Ireland. If he preserved
-his life, which he seemed to doubt, he
-would defend his post to the utmost, though "he
-hated the place like hell," and as soon as he was
-free of it would forswear the country. He recommended
-his brother to the king's favour and
-his children to his protection if they lived; and to
-these, if they did not prove loyal, he left his curse.
-His daughters, he desired, might never marry into
-Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>The marquis clearly saw the dreadful conflict
-which was approaching, and his tears and emotion
-on dismissing the Assembly struck every one with
-that impression. But the Assembly had no intention
-of dispersing. Like the Commons of England,
-they entertained too high an estimate of their
-right, and of their duty in such a crisis. They
-therefore passed a resolution declaring the Kirk
-independent of the civil powers, and the dissolution
-of the Assembly by the Royal Commissioner
-illegal and void. They said that if the Commissioner
-should see fit to quit the country, and leave
-the Church and kingdom in that disorder, it was
-their duty to sit; and that they would continue to
-sit till they had settled all the evils which came
-within their lawful and undoubted jurisdiction.</p>
-
-<p>Laud, in reply to Hamilton, lamented that fear
-of giving umbrage to the Covenanters too soon had
-too long delayed the means to crush them. He
-thanked him for having conveyed the bishops to
-Hamilton Castle to protect them, and trusted that
-his own life would yet be preserved from the
-diabolical fury of the Scots. What Hamilton had
-foreseen in the meantime had come to pass. The
-Earl of Argyle declared plainly in the Council that
-he would take the Covenant and sanction the
-Assembly. Accordingly, though not a member of
-it, he took his place in the Assembly as their chief
-director; and thus encouraged, they proceeded to
-abolish episcopacy for ever, to deprive all the
-bishops, and to excommunicate the greater part of
-them and all their abettors. Charles, and James
-before him, had completely conferred all the power
-of Parliament on the bishops, making eight of
-them the Lords of the Articles, with authority to
-choose eight of the nobles, and these sixteen having
-power to choose all the rest, so that all depended
-on the bishops, and they, again, on the king. This
-effectually ranged the nobles against them. The
-Marquis of Hamilton, notwithstanding his fears,
-was permitted quietly to withdraw to England,
-whence he was soon to return against them at the
-head of the fleet. The people received the news
-of the proceedings of the Assembly with transports
-of joy, and celebrated the downfall of episcopacy
-by a day of thanksgiving. Charles, on the other
-hand, issued a proclamation declaring all its acts
-void, and hastened his preparations for marching
-into Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>But the Covenanters were not the less active on
-their part, and everything tended to a civil war,
-the result of Charles's incessant attacks on the
-liberties of the nation. They made collections of
-arms, and as early as December they received six
-thousand muskets from Holland. These had been
-stopped by the Government of that country, but
-Cardinal Richelieu had suddenly shown himself a
-friend, by ordering the muskets as if for his own
-use, receiving them into a French port, and thence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_573" id="Page_573">[573]</a></span>
-forwarding them to Scotland. However impolitic
-it might appear for France to assist subjects
-against their prince, it must be remembered
-that Charles had managed to create nearly as
-strong a feeling against him in Louis and his
-minister Richelieu as in his own subjects. He
-had set the example by assisting the Huguenots
-against their prince, and had provoked France
-by defeating its plan of dividing the Spanish
-Netherlands between that country and Holland.
-The present opportunity, therefore, was eagerly
-seized to make Charles feel the error he had
-committed. Richelieu, moreover, ordered the
-French Ambassador in London to pay over to
-General Leslie, one of Gustavus Adolphus's old
-officers, who had been engaged by the Assembly,
-one hundred thousand crowns. This last transaction,
-however, was kept a profound secret, for
-the Scots, when advised to seek the assistance of
-France and Germany, had indignantly refused,
-saying the Lutherans of Germany were heretics,
-and the people of France Papistical idolaters;
-that it became them to seek support from God
-alone, and not from the broken reed of Egypt.
-The preachers thundered from the pulpits against
-the bishops, and the determination of the king still
-to force them on the country; and they refused
-the Communion to all who had not signed the
-Covenant. The Tables called on the young men
-in every quarter of the country to come forward
-and be trained to arms, and the Scottish officers
-who had been engaged in the wars in Germany
-flocked over and offered their services for the
-support of the popular cause. The nobles contributed
-plate to be melted down, the merchants
-in the towns sent in money, and an army of
-determined men was fast forming.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_573big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_573.jpg" width="560" height="425" alt="" title="THE OLD COLLEGE, GLASGOW, IN THE 17TH CENTURY" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE OLD COLLEGE, GLASGOW, IN THE 17TH CENTURY.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Charles, on his part, was not the less busy preparing
-for the campaign, and he was persuaded by
-many of the courtiers that he had only to appear,
-to pacify the Scots. If we are to believe Clarendon,
-the Treasury was in a flourishing condition, a most
-unlikely circumstance, considering the unpopular
-mode of raising funds without a Parliament; and
-we are assured of the contrary by a letter of the
-Earl of Northumberland, addressed to Wentworth
-in January, 1639. He says, "I assure your lordship,
-to my understanding, to my sorrow I speak<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_574" id="Page_574">[574]</a></span>
-it, we are altogether in as ill a posture to invade
-others or to defend ourselves as we were a twelve-month
-since, which is more than any one can
-imagine that is not an eye-witness of it. The discontents
-here at home do rather increase than
-lessen, there being no course taken to give any
-kind of satisfaction. The king's coffers were never
-emptier than at this time, and to us that have the
-honour to be near about him, no way is yet known
-how he will find means either to maintain or begin
-a war without the help of his people." Cottington
-wrote to Wentworth in the same strain.</p>
-
-<p>So far from consulting Parliament, Charles had
-not even opened his difficulties to his Council. He
-was now compelled to do the latter, and on this
-occasion Laud was found entreating for peaceful
-measures. It is probable that he had taken a
-more rational view of the belligerent temper of the
-Scots, and saw more danger in the king's attempt
-to coerce them, than he generally discerned in
-pushing on arbitrary counsels. His advice was
-rejected, and the rest of the Council acquiesced in
-the determination of the king. By the beginning
-of the year 1639, Charles had named his
-generals and officers, had issued orders to the
-Lords-Lieutenant to muster the trained bands of
-their several counties, and the nobles to meet him
-at York on the 1st of April with such retinues as
-belonged to their rank and fortune. To procure
-money he suspended the payment of all pensions,
-borrowed where he could, and judges, lawyers, and
-the clergy were called upon to contribute from
-their salaries and livings in lieu of their personal
-service. The clergy were in general extremely
-liberal. They considered that the cause was their
-own, and that if the Presbyterians of Scotland
-became triumphant, the Puritans of England might
-deal in similar fashion with the Church of
-England. Laud, moreover, ordered the names
-of all clergymen who refused to be returned to
-him. The queen also lent her aid by calling on
-the Catholics to assist, reminding them that aid
-given to the king in this emergency was the
-most likely means to securing future advantages
-to themselves. When the knowledge of the
-queen's circular letter to the Catholics became
-known to the Puritans, they were greatly scandalised;
-and the Catholics responding readily to the
-call, and holding a meeting in London presided
-over by the Pope's Nuncio, tended to strengthen
-their opinion of the papistical bias of Charles and
-his Church.</p>
-
-<p>The king, on his part, sought to take advantage
-of the ancient antipathies between the two
-kingdoms, and issued proclamations calling on all
-good subjects to resist the attempts of the Scots,
-who were contemplating, he asserted, the invasion
-and plunder of the kingdom and the destruction of
-the monarchy. But he found this was an empty
-alarm. The reformers of England knew too well
-that the cause of the Scots and their own were
-identical; that the purpose of the king was to
-destroy the constitutional rights and freedom
-of religion in both kingdoms alike. The Scottish
-nobles, as well as the English public, rejected
-all attempts to divide them in this Cause. There
-was a time when they could be bought by the
-money of England, which had been freely and
-successfully employed by the Tudors. But Charles
-had little money to give; and to the honour
-of the Scottish peers, when other temptations
-were tried, for the most part the sacred cause of
-their religion triumphed over them. They exhorted
-one another to stand fast by the Covenant.
-The most intimate communication between the
-Scottish and English reformers was maintained by
-pamphlets secretly circulated, by emissaries traversing
-all classes and all quarters. The earliest
-information of the movements of the Court was
-transmitted; and before Charles commenced his
-march towards York, General Leslie, the elected
-Commander-in-Chief, took the initiative, and surprised
-the castle of Edinburgh, on the 21st of
-March, at the head of a thousand musketeers,
-and without losing a single man. The next day,
-Saturday, the castle of Dalkeith was given over
-by Traquair, with all the regalia and a large
-quantity of ammunition and arms. It was thought
-that Traquair had shown great timidity, to surrender
-so strong a castle almost without a blow;
-but he complained of having been left alone, without
-countenance or advice. The Earls of Rothes
-and Balmerino took the castle, and conveyed the
-regalia safely to the castle of Edinburgh. The
-following day, Sunday, did not prevent even
-Scotsmen and Covenanters from seizing the
-castle of Dumbarton. The governor was surprised
-on his return from church, and threatened
-with instant death if he did not surrender the
-keys to the provost of the town, a zealous Covenanter.
-Stirling was in the hands of the Earl of
-Mar, who had taken the Covenant; and of all
-the royal fortresses, only Carlaverock, the least important,
-remained in the hands of the Crown.
-The Marquis of Huntly, who had undertaken to
-hold the Highlands for the king, was overpowered
-or entrapped by Leslie and Montrose, who at
-the head of seven thousand men compelled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_575" id="Page_575">[575]</a></span>
-reluctant professors of Aberdeen to accept the Covenant,
-when Leslie returned to Edinburgh, carrying
-Huntly with him. The Earl of Antrim, who
-was to have invaded the domains of Argyle from
-Ireland, was unable to fulfil his engagement, and
-thus every day brought the news of rapid disasters
-to Charles on his march towards York. Hamilton,
-who had been despatched with a fleet, appeared in
-the Forth on the 13th of April. He had five
-thousand troops on board, and was expected to
-secure Leith, the port of Edinburgh, and overawe
-if he could not take the capital; but he found
-the place strongly fortified, and twenty thousand
-men were posted on the shores to hinder his
-landing. All classes, from the noble to the
-peasant, had been labouring industriously to repair
-fortifications and throw up batteries, and
-ladies had carried materials for them. The
-marquis saw no chance of effecting a landing,
-and therefore disembarked his men on the islands
-in the Forth, to prevent them from perishing
-in the ships, for they were landsmen, and had
-been hastily pressed into the service, and were
-both sickly and mutinous. No prospect was
-ever more discouraging; even Wentworth could
-not send him the small aid of five hundred musketeers
-in time, and strongly advised Charles to
-avoid coming to an engagement with his raw
-levies against the enthusiastic Scots and their
-practical generals, but to garrison Berwick and
-Carlisle to prevent incursions, and wait till the
-next year if necessary.</p>
-
-<p>Charles arrived at York on the 19th of April,
-and proceeded to administer to the lords who there
-awaited him with their followers, an oath of allegiance,
-binding them to oppose all conspiracies and
-seditions, even if they were veiled under the pretence
-of religion. The Lords Say and Brooke declined
-to take the oath, saying they were willing
-to accompany their sovereign from loyalty and
-affection; but that, as they were ignorant of the
-laws and customs of Scotland, they could not
-undertake to say that the Scots were rebels, or
-the war was just. Charles with indignation
-ordered them to be arrested, but the Attorney
-and Solicitor-Generals on being consulted declaring
-that there was no ground for their
-prosecution, they were dismissed with the royal
-displeasure and desired to return home. Nor
-had the king much more satisfaction with the
-lords who had taken the oath, for they qualified
-it by signing a paper stating in what sense they
-took it. To perform an act calculated to please
-the people whom he was leaving behind, at
-York he issued a proclamation, revoking no less
-than thirty-one monopolies and patents, pretending
-that he had not discovered before how
-grievous they were to his subjects; but the real
-fact was, that most of them had been granted
-to Scotsmen who had now forfeited his favour.</p>
-
-<p>On leaving York he complimented the Recorder,
-who had paid him the most fulsome flattery, and
-the municipal authorities, by telling them that he
-had there experienced more love than he ever
-had in London on which he had showered so
-many benefits. At Durham by the bishop and
-clergy, and at Newcastle by the corporation, he
-was magnificently entertained, and at every halting-place
-fresh quotas of horse and foot came in.
-"But," remarks Clarendon, "if there had been
-none in the march but soldiers, it is most probable
-that a noble peace would have quickly ensued,
-even without fighting; but the progress was more
-illustrious than the march, and the soldiers were
-the least part of the army, and the least consulted
-with. For," he adds, "the king more intended
-the pomp of his preparations than the strength of
-them." The certain proof, he might have added,
-of a very foolish king, as Charles was. But the
-"ifs" which Clarendon summons up on this occasion
-to explain the want of success are amusing.
-"If the war had been vigorously pursued, it had
-been as soon ended as begun." "If he had been
-duly informed of what was going on in Scotland,"
-of course he would have known. "If the whole
-nation of Scotchmen had been entirely united in
-the rebellion, and all who stayed in the Court had
-marched in their army, the king or kingdom could
-have sustained no damage by them; but the
-monument of their presumption and their shame
-would have been razed together, and no other
-memory preserved of their rebellion but in their
-memorable and infamous defeat." That is, there
-would have been no Scottish traitors about him
-to keep him misinformed. This is just as true as
-the treasury being well furnished, for we know
-that Hamilton and Traquair kept the king
-punctually informed of everything the whole
-time. "If," however, Charles had more wisely
-chosen his generals,&mdash;but Arundel, his general,
-was a man, says this veracious historian, "who
-had nothing martial about him but his presence
-and his looks, and therefore was thought to be
-made choice of for his negative qualities. He
-did not love the Scots; he did not love the Puritans;
-which good qualities were allayed by another
-negative&mdash;he did love nobody else." The lieutenant-general,
-the Earl of Essex, was too proud<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_576" id="Page_576">[576]</a></span>
-and uncompromising, and the Earl of Holland,
-general of the horse, was just no general at all,
-"a man fitter for a show than a field." Yet, says
-Clarendon, "If the king himself had stayed at
-London, or, which had been the next best, kept
-his court and resided at York, and sent the army
-on its proper errand, and left the matter of the
-war solely to them, in all human reason his
-enemies had been speedily subdued." With such
-generals as Arundel and Holland&mdash;for Essex was
-a brave commander, though, as afterwards appeared,
-no great tactician&mdash;it is not so easy to
-see that. But Clarendon might have safely
-reduced all his "ifs" into one&mdash;if Charles had
-been a wise king he would not have got into a
-quarrel with his subjects at all.</p>
-
-<p>With such generals, and an army of raw levies,
-hastily dragged reluctantly from the plough and
-the mattock, to fight in a cause with which they
-had no sympathy, and encumbered by heaps of
-useless nobles and gentry, Charles marched on to
-Berwick, and encamped his forces on an open field
-called the Birks. He had besides the garrison of
-Berwick three thousand two hundred and sixty
-horse, and nineteen thousand six hundred and
-fourteen foot. But, on the other hand, Leslie,
-says Clarendon, had drawn up his forces on the
-side of a hill at Dunse, so as to make a great
-show. "The front only could be seen, but it was
-reported that Leslie and the whole army were
-there; and it was very true, they were all there
-indeed&mdash;but it was as true that all did not
-exceed the number of nine thousand men, very
-ill armed, and mostly country fellows, who were on
-the sudden got together to make that show."
-Leslie, he informs us, had so dispersed his knot of
-ragamuffins, with great herds of cattle on the hills
-around, that it was naturally supposed that there
-was a large army, the bulk of it concealed behind
-the hill; and he assures us that had the royal
-army pushed forward the whole illusion would
-have vanished.</p>
-
-<p>This account is as thoroughly opposed to all the
-credible historians of the time, Rushworth, Nalson,
-Burnet, Baillie, and the letters of distinguished
-persons engaged, as the whole array of "ifs." We
-are assured that Leslie had pitched his camp at
-Dunglas, and twelve thousand volunteers had
-crowded to his standard. The preachers everywhere
-called on their hearers to advance the cause
-of God and the Kirk. Those in the camp wrote
-and disseminated letters to the same effect. One
-demanded that every true Scot should go forward
-to extort a reasonable peace from the king, or to
-do battle with his and their common enemies, the
-prelates and papists of England. Another denounced
-the curse of Meroz on all who did not
-come to the help of the Lord, and of His champions.
-Another ironically bade those who would
-not fight for God and their country to bring
-spades and bury the saints whom they had abandoned
-to the swords of the Amalekites. They
-had chosen for the motto on their banners the
-words, "For Christ's Crown and the Covenant,"
-and over every captain's tent waved the arms of
-Scotland and these words. Soldiers therefore
-flocked in on all sides to the sacred standard, and
-by the time that Leslie marched for Dunse Hill
-his army numbered nearly twenty thousand men,
-many of them new to arms, but all enthusiastic
-patriots. Twice a day they were summoned by
-sound of drum to drill and to sermon; and when
-they were not listening to the exciting harangues
-of the ministers, they were solacing themselves
-with singing psalms and reading the Scriptures, or
-with extempore prayer. "Had you lent your
-ear," says one of them, "and heard in the tents
-the sounds of some singing psalms, some praying,
-some reading Scripture, you would have been
-refreshed. For myself, I never found my mind in
-better temper than it was. I was as a man who
-had taken leave from the world, and was resolved
-to die in that service without return. I found the
-favour of God shining upon me, and a sweet,
-meek, humble, yet strong and vehement spirit
-leading me all along."</p>
-
-<p>Leslie was joined by the Earl of Montrose, who
-had been posted at Kelso, and the first of their
-proceedings was to issue proclamations, declaring
-that they had no intention to invade England if
-their reasonable demands were granted; and that
-their only object was to obtain from the king the
-confirmation of his promises for the free enjoyment
-of their religion. Whatever was done in the Scottish
-camp was freely circulated in the royal camp,
-for they had plenty of friends there, and the
-strength, the spirits, and resolution of their army
-were abundantly set forth daily.</p>
-
-<p>It was the fortune of the Earl of Holland to
-lead the way first against them. He passed the
-Tweed near Twizel, where the English army
-had crossed to the battle of Flodden, and advanced
-towards the detachment of the army near
-Kelso. He had with him the bulk of the horse
-and about three thousand infantry. As if no
-enemy had been in the country, he trotted on with
-his horse, till he found himself on the hill of
-Maxwellhaugh, above Kelso, and not only saw the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_577" id="Page_577">[577]</a></span>
-tents of the enemy, but his way barred by an
-advanced post of one hundred and fifty horse and
-five or six thousand foot. He then discovered
-that his foot and artillery were three or four miles
-behind. On this he sent a trumpet to the enemy,
-commanding them not to cross the Border, to
-which they replied by asking whose trumpet that
-was, and being told the Earl of Holland's, they
-said the earl had better take himself off; which it
-appears he lost no time in doing, and rode back to
-the general camp without striking a blow. The
-Scots, when they saw him retreating, sent after
-him a number of squibs and letters of ridicule,
-which were speedily circulated through the English
-army. The generals wrote letters to Essex, Holland,
-and Arundel, entreating them to intercede
-with the king that matters might be accommodated
-without bloodshed. Essex is said to have
-sent on their letters to the king without a word of
-reply to their messengers. Arundel and Holland
-were more gracious.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_577big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_577.jpg" width="560" height="414" alt="" title="CHARLES AND THE SCOTTISH COMMISSIONERS" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CHARLES AND THE SCOTTISH COMMISSIONERS. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_578">578</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>During this marching and countermarching it
-was that Leslie had posted his army on Dunse
-Hill, opposite Charles's camp, and the king, who
-had hitherto despised the Scottish force, now felt
-alarmed at their close proximity, and the hasty
-retreat of Holland. He blamed Lord Arundel for
-giving him no notice of the approach of the rebels,
-Arundel blamed the scout-master, and the scout-master
-blamed the scouts. There were earthworks
-suddenly thrown up to protect his camp and intimation
-given that overtures would be listened to.
-Accordingly, on the 6th of June, 1639, the Earl
-of Dunfermline, attended by a trumpet, arrived in
-the royal camp, bearing a humble petition to his
-majesty, entreating him to appoint a few suitable
-persons to confer with a deputation from the
-Scots, so that all misunderstandings might be removed,
-and the peace of the kingdom preserved.
-The petition was received, for besides the ill-success
-of Holland, the ill-success of Hamilton and
-his fleet was notorious; and it was, moreover,
-rumoured that the mother of Hamilton, a most
-zealous covenanter, had paid him a visit on board
-his vessel, and that he was much disinclined by
-her persuasions to press the Scots closely. There
-were daily rumours of a descent from Ireland, on
-the other hand and of a rising of the Royalists<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_578" id="Page_578">[578]</a></span>
-in the Highlands under Lord Aboyne, son of the
-Earl of Huntly, which rendered the Covenanters
-more desirous of an accommodation. On the part
-of the Crown the Earls of Essex, Holland, Salisbury,
-and Berkshire, Sir Henry Vane, and Mr.
-Secretary Coke, were appointed commissioners; on
-that of the Covenanters the Earls of Rothes and
-Dunfermline, the Lord Loudon, and Sir William
-Douglas, sheriff of Teviotdale. To these afterwards,
-much to the displeasure of the king, were
-added Alexander Henderson, late moderator of
-the assembly, and Johnstone, the clerk-register.
-They met in Arundel's tent; but before they
-could proceed to business, the king suddenly
-entered, and telling the Scottish commissioners
-that as he understood they complained that they
-could not be heard, he had determined to hear
-them himself, and he demanded what it was they
-wanted. The Earl of Rothes replied simply, to be
-secured in their religion and liberty. Loudon
-made some apology for the boldness of the proceedings
-of the Scots, but Charles cut him short,
-telling him that he could admit of no apologies
-for what was past, but that if they came to implore
-pardon, they must put down what they had
-to say in writing, and in writing he would answer
-them.</p>
-
-<p>This was Charles's peculiar style, by which the
-negotiation appeared likely to come to a speedy
-end; but the Scots were firm, and adhered to
-their old sound principle, declaring that they had
-sought nothing but their own native rights, and
-the advancement of his majesty's service, and desired
-to have those severely punished who had misrepresented
-them to the king. Some historians
-assert that Hamilton at this juncture came into
-the camp from the Forth, and strongly advised the
-king to close with the Scots; though Clarendon
-affirms that he did not arrive till after the agreement
-was signed, and found much fault with it.
-However this may be, after much debate, and
-several attempts to overreach the Scots, which
-their caution defeated, it was agreed that the king
-should ratify all that had been done by his commissioner,
-which was next to nothing, though he
-would not recognise the acts of what he called the
-pretended General Assembly. But the main and
-only important concession was that all disputes
-should be settled by another Assembly, to be held
-on the 6th of August, and by a Parliament which
-should ratify its proceedings, to be held on the
-20th of August, when an act of oblivion should
-be passed. Both parties were to disband their
-armies; the king's forts were to be restored, with
-all the ammunition; the fleet was to be withdrawn;
-Scottish merchant vessels and goods
-were to be returned; and the honours and
-privileges of the subjects replaced. The king resisted,
-however, any mention of episcopacy in the
-agreement; for he was as resolved as ever to
-reinstate the bishops. And indeed, that same
-duplicity guided him in this as in other actions
-of his life, being determined to break the whole
-agreement on the first possible opportunity.
-The Covenanters strongly suspected as much; and
-when Charles, before returning, invited fourteen
-of the leaders to meet him in Berwick, they had
-the fear of the Tower before their eyes, and declined
-the honour, and sent as their commissioners
-the Earls of Loudon, Lothian, and Montrose.
-Charles represented that it had been his intention
-to proceed to Edinburgh, and hold the Parliament
-in person, but that fresh instances of "the
-valyance of the godly females" deterred him;
-his chief officers not being able to show themselves
-in the streets of Berwick without insult
-from these good women.</p>
-
-<p>What Charles had failed to do in the Convention
-at large, he managed to effect to a certain
-degree with the nobles. Loudon and Lothian
-were said to be greatly softened by the king's conversation,
-but Montrose was won over altogether.</p>
-
-<p>The two armies were disbanded on the 24th of
-June, and the Earl of Traquair was appointed the
-king's commissioner in Scotland, Hamilton firmly
-declining to return thither. Charles reached
-London on the 1st of August, and one of the first
-things which he did was to write to the Scottish
-bishops, telling them that he would never abandon
-the idea of reinstating them, and would in the
-meantime provide for their support. He forbade
-them to present themselves at the approaching
-Assembly or Parliament, as that would ruin everything;
-but he advised them to send in a protest
-against the infringement of their rights, and get
-it presented by some mean person, so as to create
-not too much notice. Such was Charles's perfidious
-conduct, at the very moment that he was
-promising the Covenanters the contrary. Accordingly
-the bishops fixed themselves in the
-vicinity of the borders, some at Morpeth, some in
-Holy Island, some in Berwick itself, keeping up a
-correspondence with their adherents in the Scottish
-capital, and ready to rush in again on the
-first favourable chance.</p>
-
-<p>If we are to believe Clarendon, however, "The
-king was very melancholy, and quickly discovered
-that he had lost reputation at home and abroad,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_579" id="Page_579">[579]</a></span>
-and those counsellors who had been most faulty
-either through want of courage or wisdom&mdash;for at
-that time few of them wanted fidelity&mdash;never
-afterwards recovered spirit enough to do their
-duty, but gave themselves up to those who so
-much had outwitted them, every man shifting the
-fault from himself." On the contrary, he says,
-"The Scots got so much benefit and advantage by
-it, that they brought all their other mischievous
-devices to pass with ease, and a prosperous gale in
-all they went about." They declared that "they
-did not intend by anything contained in the
-treaty, to vacate any of the proceedings which had
-been in the late General Assembly at Glasgow, by
-which all the bishops were excommunicated, and
-renewed all their menaces against them by proclamation,
-and imposed grievous penalties on all who
-should presume to harbour any of them, so that
-by the time the king came to London, it appeared
-plainly that the army was disbanded without a
-peace being made, and the Scots in more reputation
-and equal inclination to affront his majesty
-than ever." The fact was, that whilst Charles
-was pretending to concede, meaning to revoke
-when he had the power, the Scots were conscious
-of their advantage and did not mean to allow him
-to do so. They were earnest and outspoken in
-their resolves, and therefore Charles seized a paper
-in which they published what had really been
-promised in the treaty, and had it burned by the
-common hangman.</p>
-
-<p>The Assembly was opened on the 12th of August
-in Edinburgh, and in spite of what Charles had
-assured the bishops, they were given up in the
-instructions to Traquair, for he meant to resist the
-abolition of the bishops, and to restore them when
-he had the power, but endeavoured to make
-political capital out of this concession. Traquair
-was to obtain, if possible, the admission of fourteen
-ministers into Parliament instead of the bishops,
-or, if that were not possible, as many lay members
-whom the king was to appoint, and who were to
-choose the lords of the articles. By these perpetual
-finesses, Charles continually sought to
-withdraw the concessions that he made, as
-though those whom he tried to overreach were
-not as wide awake as himself. He thought, if he
-could select the Lords of the Articles, and fourteen
-others devoted to him, he could revoke in the Parliament
-what he gave up in the Assembly&mdash;the
-characteristic of short-sighted cunning.</p>
-
-<p>The bishops presented their protest to the Commissioner,
-which, without being read, was to serve
-as a proof of their not having yielded up their
-claims; and the commissioner, finding the Covenanters
-firm to all their demands&mdash;for every
-member of the Assembly before entering it had
-sworn to support all the acts of the Assembly of
-Glasgow&mdash;gave the royal assent to all the proceedings,
-and the news of the overthrow of episcopacy
-was received with shouts of acclamation by
-the people.</p>
-
-<p>The Parliament of Scotland met on the day
-appointed, the 20th of August. There the Covenanters
-displayed their determination not to stickle
-for small matters, but to destroy the scheme by
-which that body had been made dependent on the
-royal will. They would no longer admit the
-bishops nor the Lords of the Articles whom the
-bishops had chosen, and who selected the topics,
-under the direction of the Crown, which should or
-should not come before the House. They proposed
-that the lesser barons, the commissioners of the
-shires, should take the place of the bishops, and
-that the Lords of the Articles should be selected
-from men of each estate, by those estates themselves.
-In order not to appear obstinate, they
-permitted the Commissioner to name the Lords of
-the Articles for this once, not as an act of
-right, but of grace, from themselves. They then
-decreed that all acts in favour of episcopacy
-should be rescinded; that patents of peerage
-should for the future be granted to none but such
-as possessed a rental of ten thousand marks from
-land in Scotland; that proxies should never again
-be admitted; and that the fortresses of Edinburgh,
-Stirling, and Dumbarton, should be entrusted to
-none but Scotsmen.</p>
-
-<p>These measures would have completely enfranchised
-Scotland from the shackles of the Crown,
-and Traquair, unable to avoid the necessity of
-ratifying them, prorogued the Parliament to the
-14th of November, so that he could receive
-the instructions of the king. Charles, to get
-rid of the demands of the Covenanters altogether,
-prorogued it for six months. The members,
-who saw the intention, protested against
-the prorogation under circumstances so vital
-to the country, but obeyed after naming a
-deputation to go to the king on the subject.
-This deputation, headed by the Lords Loudon
-and Dunfermline, on arriving at Whitehall were
-refused audience, because they had not come
-with the sanction of the royal Commissioner;
-and Traquair was immediately summoned to court
-to answer for having conceded so much to the
-Scots. He had, indeed, conceded nothing but
-what Charles himself had instructed him to do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_580" id="Page_580">[580]</a></span>
-but the king was angry because he had not been
-able to recover in Parliament, as he had vainly
-hoped, what was lost in the Assembly.</p>
-
-<p>Traquair, who was aware that having implicitly
-followed these instructions would avail him little
-with the king in his mortification, thought of an
-expedient to divert Charles's anger into another
-channel. He had discovered a letter addressed by
-the Covenanters to the King of France, complaining
-of the miserable condition of Scotland
-through the attempts of the king to root out the
-religion of the people; of his having violated the
-late treaty at Berwick, and dissolved Parliament
-contrary to the will of the states and to all
-national precedent, and entreating him to mediate
-in their favour. This letter was signed by seven
-lords, and addressed <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Au Roi</i>. The letter had been
-publicly declined by Louis, but privately answered,
-though in very cautious terms.</p>
-
-<p>The production of this letter had all the effect
-that Traquair hoped for. The wrath of the king
-was immediately turned on the Covenanters, and
-Traquair deepened the impression by assuring the
-king that nothing but war would pacify the Covenanters,
-and declaring this discovery to be a perfect
-justification.</p>
-
-<p>The Scots demanded an opportunity of vindicating
-themselves, and requested leave to send up
-deputies for that purpose. It was granted, and Dunfermline
-and Loudon were sent up. No sooner did
-they arrive than Loudon, whose name was one of
-those appended to the intercepted letter, was instantly
-seized and brought before the Council. The
-letter being addressed simply <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Au Roi</i>, which was the
-manner from subjects to their own sovereign, and
-not as from foreigners, it was deemed treasonable
-on that ground, if on no other. Loudon asserted that
-the letter had been written before the pacification at
-Berwick, and, not being approved, had never been
-sent, but the contents contradicted that statement;
-and, moreover, William Colvill, who had
-carried it to the French court, was in London,
-and was taken prisoner. Loudon thereupon insisted
-on his safe conduct, and demanded liberty
-to return, contending that, if he had done anything
-wrong, it was in Scotland and not there
-that he ought to be interrogated. But the king
-sent both him and Colvill to the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>The Covenanters were greatly incensed at the
-seizure of their envoy, and demanded his release,
-but Charles signed a warrant for his execution and
-was prevented from putting him to death only by
-the solemn declaration that if he did Scotland was
-lost for ever. After this it became plain that
-nothing could avert a conflict between the infatuated
-king and the Scottish people. Charles's
-object was to obtain funds; that of the Scots
-to divide the king's attention by exciting discontent
-nearer home. England itself had abundant
-causes of dissatisfaction. The disuse of Parliaments,
-the continued illegal levying of taxes by
-the king's own will, the rigorous and ruinous prosecutions
-in the Star Chamber and the High Commission
-Court, the brandings, scourgings, and mutilations
-of such as dared to dispute the awful
-tyranny of the Government, portended a storm
-at home ere long, and the Scots found many
-well-wishers and friends amongst the English
-patriots. These were everyday drawing into their
-ranks men of the highest position and the most
-distinguished talents. The Earls of Essex, Bedford,
-and Holland were secretly connected with
-them; the Lord Say, Hampden, Pym, Cromwell,
-and other men of iron nerve and indomitable
-will, were watching with deep interest movements
-in the North so congenial to their own.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst the king was pondering on the means of
-raising money, an event took place which for the
-moment promised to present him with a considerable
-sum. A Spanish fleet of seventy sail was
-discovered by the Dutch admiral, De Witt, off the
-Land's End. As it was bearing troops from Spain
-to Flanders, which were hard pressed by the
-Dutch, De Witt followed it up the Channel, firing
-guns to harass its rear, but still more to awake
-the attention of Van Tromp, who was lying off
-Dunkirk. The two celebrated Dutch admirals
-were soon in full chase of the Spaniards. Sixteen
-of the ships, having four thousand troops on
-board, bore away with all speed for the coast of
-Flanders, but the rest fled for shelter into the
-Downs. Charles sent the Earl of Arundel to
-inquire of Oquendo the Spanish admiral, what
-was his destination, being apprehensive lest the
-fleet might be intended for a descent on Ireland,
-or in aid of his disaffected subjects of Scotland.</p>
-
-<p>Oquendo satisfied Arundel that they were really
-on their way to Flanders, and demanded the protection
-of Charles as a friendly king. Charles
-was willing to grant it for a consideration, and
-the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds
-was the price named in ready cash. For this
-Charles was to send the Spanish fleet under protection
-of his own to Flanders; but the two Dutch
-admirals, having now no less than one hundred
-sail, from continued fresh arrivals, attacked the
-Spaniards in the English roads, sank and burned
-five of the largest vessels, drove twenty-three more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_581" id="Page_581">[581]</a></span>
-on shore, and pursued the rest across the Channel,
-suffering only ten of them to escape. All
-this time the English admiral lay near at hand,
-but made no movement in protection of the
-Spaniards. The English people on shore beheld
-the destruction of the Spanish fleet with the
-utmost exultation, the memory of the great
-Armada being yet so strong amongst them; but
-Charles had lost his much desired money, and
-with the loss had acquired an immense amount of
-foreign odium. To have suffered the vessels of a
-friendly Power, which had fled to him for shelter,
-to be attacked and chased from his own harbour,
-lowered him greatly in the estimation of Continental
-nations.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_581.jpg" width="405" height="500" alt="From an Engraving by Houbraken" title="JOHN HAMPDEN" />
-<div class="caption"><p>JOHN HAMPDEN. (<i>From an Engraving by Houbraken.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At the time of this untoward occurrence Charles
-had sent for Wentworth from Ireland, to assist
-him by his counsels as to the best mode of dealing
-with his difficulties at home, and the Scots in the
-North. Wentworth had overridden all obstacles
-in Ireland, and had forced an income out of the
-reluctant people there; he was thought, therefore,
-by Charles the only man whose wisdom and resolution
-were equal to the crisis. Wentworth had
-strongly advised Charles not to march against
-the Scots, knowing that the king's raw levies
-would have no chance against them; and he had
-gone on actively drilling ten thousand men, to
-prepare them for the campaign, which he felt must
-come, even after all seemed settled at Berwick.</p>
-
-<p>Clarendon, who is a regular Royalist and inclined
-to see more virtues in Wentworth than
-other historians of the time, is yet obliged to
-sketch this picture of the enmities which he justly
-provoked:&mdash;"He was a man of too high and
-severe deportment, and too great a contemner of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_582" id="Page_582">[582]</a></span>
-ceremony, to have many friends at court, and
-therefore could not but have enemies enough. He
-had two that professed it, the Earl of Holland and
-Sir Henry Vane." Besides having said that "the
-king would do well to cut off Holland's head," he
-had insulted the Earl in various ways. He had
-done all he could to prevent Sir Henry Vane from
-being made secretary in place of Sir John Coke,
-whom the king removed on his return from Scotland;
-but, worse still, Charles now creating him
-Earl of Strafford, nothing would satisfy him but
-that he must be also made Baron of Proby, Vane's
-own estate, from which he himself hoped to derive
-that title. "That," continues Clarendon, "was an
-act of the most unnecessary provocation that I
-have known, and though he contemned the man
-with marvellous scorn, I believe it was the loss of
-his head. To these a third adversary, like to be
-more pertinacious than the other two, was the
-Earl of Essex, naturally enough disinclined to his
-person, his power, and his parts." This enmity
-in Essex, we are told, was increased by Wentworth's
-insolent conduct to Lord Bacon, for whom
-Essex had a friendship; and he openly vowed
-vengeance. "Lastly, he had an enemy more terrible
-than all the others, and like to be more fatal,
-the whole Scottish nation, provoked by the declaration
-he had procured of Ireland, and some high
-carriage and expressions of his against them
-in that kingdom." Moreover, Wentworth had
-no friend in the queen, from his persecution
-of the Catholics in Ireland, and was continually
-thwarted by her.</p>
-
-<p>But all these councillors could devise no way to
-raise funds but by the old and irritating mode of
-ship-money, for which writs to the amount of two
-hundred thousand pounds were immediately issued,
-and this bearing no proportion to the requirements
-of a campaign against the Scots, they advised
-Charles to call together a Parliament. To this
-he demurred; but when they persisted in that
-advice, he ordered a full Council to be called, and
-put to it this question:&mdash;"If this Parliament
-should prove as untoward as some have lately
-been, will you then assist me in such extraordinary
-ways as in that extremity should be thought fit?"</p>
-
-<p>Charles was thus bent on extraordinary ways,
-and the Council promised him its support. Wentworth
-returned to Ireland, being not only created
-Earl of Strafford, but made Lord-lieutenant of that
-country. He promised to obtain a liberal vote
-from the Irish Parliament, which it was thought
-might act as a salutary example for England.
-Accordingly, no one daring to oppose his wishes,
-he obtained four subsidies, with a promise of more
-if found necessary. The English Parliament was
-delayed till this was effected, and was then summoned
-for the 13th of April. To assist the king
-and council in what was felt to be a critical
-emergency, Wentworth, now Strafford, returned,
-though suffering from a painful complaint. He
-left orders for the immediate levy of an army of
-eight thousand men, and Charles took measures
-for the raising in England of fifteen thousand foot
-and four thousand horse, which he thought would
-serve to overawe Parliament; and, what is singular,
-the order for the raising of these troops
-and providing artillery and ammunition was
-signed by Laud, so little had he an idea of an archbishop
-being a minister of the Prince of Peace.
-Before the arrival of Strafford, Charles read to the
-Council the account of the liberal subsidies and
-the loyal expressions which Strafford had put into
-the mouths of the enslaved Irish Commons. This
-he did at the request of Strafford himself, to prove
-not only the loyalty of the Irish, but his own
-popularity there, in spite of the assertions of his
-being hated in that country.</p>
-
-<p>When the king met the Parliament on the 13th
-of April he had not abated one jot of his high-flown
-notions of his divine right, and of the slavish
-obedience due from Parliament. The Lord Keeper
-Finch formerly Speaker of the House but now
-more truly in his element as a courtier, made a
-most fulsome speech, describing the king as "the
-most just, the most pious, the most gracious king
-that ever was." He informed them that for many
-years in his piety towards them he had taken
-all the annoyances of government from them, and
-raised the condition and reputation of the country
-to a wonderful splendour; that, notwithstanding
-such exemplary virtues and exhibitions of goodness,
-some sons of Belial had blown the trumpet
-of rebellion in Scotland, and that it was now
-necessary to chastise that stiff-necked people;
-that they must therefore lay aside all other
-subjects, and imitate the loyal Parliament of
-Ireland in furnishing liberal supplies; that had
-not the king, upon the credit of his servants and
-out of his own estate, raised three hundred thousand
-pounds, he could not have made the preparations
-already in progress; and that they must
-therefore grant him tonnage and poundage from
-the beginning of his reign, and vote the subsidies
-at once, when his Majesty would pledge his royal
-word that he would take into his gracious consideration
-their grievances. And all this attempt
-to get the supplies before the discussion of
-grievances, from sturdy commoners who had
-never yet given way to force or flattery!</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_582big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_582.jpg" width="341" height="560" alt="" title="VISIT OF CHARLES I TO THE GUILDHALL" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>VISIT OF CHARLES I. TO THE GUILDHALL.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">From the Wall Painting in the Royal Exchange,
-by Solomon J. Solomon, A.R.A</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_583" id="Page_583">[583]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Charles then produced the intercepted letters of
-the Scottish lords to the King of France, to show
-the treason of the Scots and the necessity of
-taking decisive measures with them. But the
-Commons were not likely to be moved from their
-settled purpose by any such arguments. They
-elected Serjeant Glanvil as Speaker, and proceeded
-first and foremost to the discussion of the
-grievances of the nation. Amongst their old
-members&mdash;though the brave Sir John Eliot had
-perished in prison, and Sir Edward Coke, who
-by his later years of patriotism had effaced the
-memory of the arbitrary spirit of his earlier ones,
-was also dead&mdash;there were Oliver Cromwell, now
-sitting for Cambridge, Pym, Hampden, Denzil
-Holles, Maynard, Oliver St. John, Strode, Corriton,
-Hayman, and Haselrig. There were amongst
-the new ones, Harbottle Grimston, Edmund
-Waller, the poet, Lord George Digby, the son of
-the Earl of Bristol, a young man of eminent
-talent, and other men destined to become prominent.
-Sir Benjamin Rudyard and Grimston delivered
-speeches recommending at once courtesy
-and respect towards the Crown, but unflinching
-support of the rights of the people. Harbottle
-Grimston described the commonwealth as miserably
-torn and massacred, all property and liberty
-shaken, the Church distracted, the Gospel and
-professors of it persecuted, Parliament suspended,
-and the laws made void. Sir Benjamin Rudyard
-protested that he desired nothing so much as that
-they might proceed with moderation, but that if
-Parliaments were gone, they were lost. A
-remarkable feature of this Parliament was the
-number of petitions sent in by the people. These
-were poured in against ship-money and other
-abuses, as the Star Chamber and High Commission
-Court, from the counties of Hertford, Essex,
-and Sussex. After these matters had been warmly
-debated for four days, for the king had many
-advocates in the House, on the 17th Mr. Pym
-delivered a most eloquent and impressive speech,
-in which he narrated the many attacks on the
-privileges of Parliament and the liberty of the
-subject, and laid down the constitutional doctrine
-"that the king can do no wrong," thus bringing
-the conduct and counsels of his ministers under
-the direct censure of the House, and loading
-them with the solemn responsibility&mdash;an awful
-foreshadowing of the judgments to come on
-Laud and Wentworth. From that point the debate
-turned on the arbitrary treatment of the
-members of the Commons, and orders were issued
-for a report of the proceedings of the Star
-Chamber and the Court of King's Bench against
-Sir John Eliot, Mr. Holles, and Mr. Hampden, to
-be laid on the table of the House. The conduct
-of the late Speaker Finch, in adjourning the
-House at the command of the king, was declared
-unconstitutional.</p>
-
-<p>The king could no longer restrain his impatience,
-and summoned both Houses before him in
-the Banqueting Hall. There the Lord Keeper
-Finch, in the presence of Charles, recalled their
-attention to the necessity of voting the supplies,
-and repeated the king's promises. He endeavoured
-to excuse the raising of ship-money as a
-necessity for chastising the Algerine pirates who
-infested the seas, and again recommended the
-liberal example of the Irish Parliament. The only
-effect produced by this was a most vivid and
-trenchant speech the next day by Waller, in which
-he told the House that the king was personally
-beloved, but that his mode of extorting his
-subjects' money was detested; and that neither
-the admiration of his majesty's natural disposition,
-nor the pretended consent of the judges, could ever
-induce them to consent to such unconstitutional
-demands. He then severely castigated the conduct
-of the bishops and clergy who preached the
-divine right of monarchs to plunder the public at
-their own pleasure. "But," said he, "they gain
-preferment by it, and then it is no matter, though
-they neither believe themselves nor are believed
-by others. But since they are so ready to let loose
-the consciences of their kings, we are bound the
-more carefully to provide against this pulpit law,
-by declaring and enforcing the municipal laws of
-this kingdom."</p>
-
-<p>This again roused the king, who went down to
-the Lords, and read them a sharp lesson on their
-not supporting him in his just demands of supplies
-from the Commons. Thereupon the Lords sent
-for the Commons to a conference on the 29th of
-April, and recommended them to pass the votes
-and take the king's word for the redress of grievances;
-but the Commons resented their intruding
-their advice about money matters as an infringement
-of the privileges of the House; and on the
-1st of May, the Lords, through the Lord Keeper,
-disclaimed any intention of encroaching on any
-of the well-known rights of the Commons, but that
-the Lords had felt bound to comply with the
-request of the king. The Commons returned to
-their debate on ship-money, and on Saturday, the
-2nd of May, Charles sent a message by Sir Henry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_584" id="Page_584">[584]</a></span>
-Vane, now Secretary of State and Treasurer of the
-Household, desiring an immediate answer regarding
-the supplies. Lord Digby reminded the
-House that the demand was that of a hasty and
-immediate answer to a call for funds to involve the
-nation in a civil war with the Scots, a people
-holding the same religion and subjects of the same
-king as themselves. The debate was continued
-for two days, Clarendon accusing Vane of deliberately
-keeping from the House the fact entrusted
-to him, that the king, though asking for twelve
-subsidies, would consent to take eight.</p>
-
-<p>But it was not so much the amount as the principle
-involved in the subsidies which was the
-question; for, on the 4th of May, Charles sent
-Vane again with the remarkable offer to abolish
-ship-money for ever, and by any means that
-they should think fit, on condition that they
-granted him twelve subsidies, valued at eight
-hundred and fifty thousand pounds, to be paid in
-three years, with an assurance that the House
-should not be prorogued till next Michaelmas.
-This was a mighty temptation: here was the
-direct offer of at once getting rid of one of the
-monster grievances for ever; but it did not escape
-the attention of the more sagacious that, by accepting
-the bargain, they were conceding the
-king's right to set aside the most established laws,
-to force his own notions of religion on his subjects,
-and to make war on them if they refused. They
-rejected the snare, and maintained the debate for
-some hours against all the arguments of the Court
-party. On rising, they informed Vane that they
-would resume the debate the next morning at
-eight o'clock; but Sir Henry, seeing very well how
-it would terminate, assured the king in Council
-that he was certain that the House would not
-grant him a penny for the war against the Scots.</p>
-
-<p>On this Charles adopted one of his stratagems.
-Early in the morning he sent for Glanvil the
-Speaker, before the Commons had assembled, and
-detained him at Whitehall, so that the Commons
-without him could not vote against the supplies,
-nor protest against the war; and suddenly
-hastening to the House of Lords, he sent for the
-Commons and dismissed them. In doing this, he
-praised the peers at the expense of the Commons,
-and declared that as to the liberties of the people
-which the Commons made so much talk of, they
-had not more regard for them than he had.</p>
-
-<p>This was the last Parliament which Charles was
-ever to dissolve, and the folly of his conduct
-became speedily palpable. The Parliament had
-only sat about three weeks, having met on
-the 13th of April, and being now dissolved on
-May 5th. By this hasty act the king had put
-himself wholly on the army. Had he allowed
-the Commons to vote against the supplies, many
-would have sympathised with him; now he
-had only himself to blame. His enemies rejoiced,
-exceedingly, and his friends deplored the deed
-with gloomy auguries.</p>
-
-<p>The king was made to feel his mistake, on
-applying to the City of London for a loan and
-receiving a cool and evasive answer. The Scots
-were greatly elated. They had their agents in
-close though secret communication with the
-leaders of the opposition, and now saw the king
-deprived of the means of effectually contending
-with them, and felt that they had numerous
-friends of their cause in England. The passion of
-the king only increased their advantages. He
-issued a proclamation declaring why he had dismissed
-the Parliament, charging the Commons
-with malice and disaffection to the State, and with
-designing to bring government and magistracy
-into contempt; and he gave fresh proofs of his
-vindictive feeling by arresting a number of the
-members the day after the dissolution. The
-public had not forgotten the cruelty practised on
-their faithful servant Sir John Eliot, and they
-now saw Sir John Hotham and Mr. Bellasis committed
-to the Fleet, Mr. Crew, afterwards Lord
-Crew, to the Tower, and the house of Lord Brooke
-forced, and his study and cabinets broken open in
-a search for papers.</p>
-
-<p>To add to the general exasperation, Laud,
-who had summoned Convocation previous to the
-meeting of Parliament, continued its sessions after
-the dissolution, contrary to all custom; and its
-sitting was employed to pass a series of seventeen
-new canons of the most offensive and slavish kind.
-The public excitement was so great against the
-innovation that the Lord Keeper Finch and some
-of the judges had to furnish a written opinion declaring
-the right of Convocation to sit after the
-close of Parliament, and a new commission was
-issued with the usual words, "during the Parliament,"
-altered to "during our pleasure." But a
-guard of soldiers was deemed necessary to protect
-the sittings, in which the clergy first voted six
-subsidies to the king, and then passed to the
-canons, one of which ordered that every clergyman
-once a quarter should instruct his parishioners in
-the divine right of kings, and the damnable sin of
-resisting authority. Others fulminated the most
-flaming intolerance of Catholics, Socinians, and
-Separatists. All clergymen and graduates of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_585" id="Page_585">[585]</a></span>
-universities were called on to take an oath declaring
-the sufficiency of the doctrines and discipline
-of the Church of England, in opposition to Presbyterianism
-and Popery.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_585big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_585.jpg" width="560" height="564" alt="" title="GUILDHALL, LONDON, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>GUILDHALL, LONDON, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the publication of these canons, great was
-the ferment in the country, and petitions and
-remonstrances from Northampton, Kent, Devon,
-and other counties, were sent up against them.
-The code was most ungracious as regarded the
-Catholics, who had just presented to the king, at
-the suggestion of the queen, fourteen thousand
-pounds. The queen remonstrated against it, and
-the king gave orders to Laud to desist from
-further annoyance in that direction. But anger
-and discontent were spreading throughout the
-country, from the outrageous measures to raise
-money. Fresh writs of ship-money were issued, and
-many victims were dragged into the Star Chamber
-for refusal to pay, and fined, so that their money
-was obtained by one process or the other. The
-names of the richest citizens were picked out in
-order to demand loans from them. Bullion, the
-property of foreign merchants, was seized at the
-Mint, and forty thousand pounds were extorted for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_586" id="Page_586">[586]</a></span>
-its release; and bags of pepper on the Exchange
-were sold at whatever they would fetch. It was
-next proposed to coin four hundred thousand
-pounds' worth of bad money; but the merchants
-and other intelligent men came forward and drew
-such a picture of the ruin and confusion that such
-an act would produce, that the king was alarmed,
-and gave the project up. The Council, however,
-hit upon the scheme of purchasing goods at
-long credit, and selling them at a low price for
-ready money. All this time large sums of money
-were levied throughout the land by violence,
-for the support of the troops collected for the
-campaign against the Scots. Carts, horses, and
-forage were seized at the sword's point; and whoever
-dared to represent these outrages to the king
-was branded as an enemy to the Government.
-The Corporation of London was dealt with
-severely, because it showed no fondness for enforcing
-the king's arbitrary demands. The Lord
-Mayor and sheriffs were cited into the Star
-Chamber for remissness in levying the ship-money;
-and several of the aldermen were committed to
-prison for refusing to furnish the names of such
-persons in their wards as were able to contribute
-to Charles's forced loans. Strafford said things
-would never go right till a few fat London aldermen
-were hanged.</p>
-
-<p>These desperate measures inflamed the public
-mind beyond expression, and greatly strengthened
-the league of the discontented with the Scots.
-All except the insane tyrants who were thus
-forcing the nation to rebellion, could see tempests
-ahead; and the Earl of Northumberland, writing
-to a friend, said, "It is impossible that all things
-can long remain in the condition they are now in:
-so general a defection in this kingdom hath not
-been known in the memory of man." The disaffection
-began to find expression, and, according
-to Clarendon, inflammatory placards were scattered
-about the City and affixed on gates and
-public places, denouncing the king's chief advisers.
-Laud, Strafford, and Hamilton, were the marks of
-the most intense hatred, and the London apprentices
-were invited, by a bill posted on the Royal
-Exchange, to demolish the episcopal palace at
-Lambeth and "haul out William the fox."</p>
-
-<p>The train-bands assembled and kept the peace
-by day, but at night a mob of five hundred assembled
-and attacked Lambeth Palace, and demolished
-the windows, vowing that they would
-tear the archbishop to pieces. In a couple of
-hours the train-bands arrived, fired on them, and
-dispersed the multitude. Laud got away to
-Whitehall, where he remained some days, till the
-damages were repaired and the house was fortified
-with cannon. Another crowd, said to be two
-thousand in number, entered St. Paul's, where the
-High Commission Court sat, tore down the
-benches, and cried out, "No bishop! no High
-Commission!" A number of rioters were seized
-by the train-bands and lodged in the White Lion
-Prison; but the prison was forced open by the
-insurgents, and their associates released all but
-two, a sailor and a drummer, who were executed,
-according to some authorities; according to others,
-only one was thus disposed of.</p>
-
-<p>The king was greatly alarmed at this outbreak.
-He removed the queen to Greenwich, as she was
-near her confinement, and placed a strong guard
-over the palace with sixteen pieces of cannon; nor
-was he easy till he saw a force of six thousand
-men at hand.</p>
-
-<p>The time for the meeting of the Scottish Parliament
-had now arrived, and Charles sought to prevent
-it by another prorogation; but the Scots were
-not to be put off in any such manner. The king
-had for some time been treating them like a nation
-at war; he had prohibited all trade with Scotland,
-and his men-of-war had been ordered to seize
-its merchantmen, wherever found. The Scots
-therefore met on the 2nd of January, set aside the
-king's warrant of prorogation on the plea of informality,
-and the members took their seats,
-elected a president, an officer hitherto unknown,
-and passed the new Acts. They then voted a
-tax of ten per cent. on all rents, and five per
-cent. on interest of money to open the inevitable
-campaign; and, before rising, appointed a
-Committee of Estates for the government of the
-kingdom till the next meeting of Parliament.
-This Committee was to sit either at Edinburgh or
-at the place where the headquarters of the army
-should be, and a bond was entered into to support
-the authority of Parliament, and to give to the
-statutes which it had passed or should pass the
-same force as if they had received the royal assent.</p>
-
-<p>But they had not waited for Parliament to take
-the necessary steps for organisation of the army.
-They had retained in full pay the experienced
-officers whom they had invited from Germany, and
-the soldiers who had disbanded at the pacification
-of Berwick returned with alacrity to their colours
-in March and April. Leslie was still commander-in-chief,
-and determined to reduce the castle of
-Edinburgh before marching south. It was in vain
-that Charles issued his proclamations, warning
-them of the treasonable nature of their proceedings;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_587" id="Page_587">[587]</a></span>
-they went on as if animated by one spirit,
-and determined not only to strike the first blow,
-but to advance into England instead of waiting to
-be attacked at home.</p>
-
-<p>Charles, on his part, was far from being so early
-ready or so well served. His plans for the campaign
-were grand. He proposed to attack Scotland
-on three sides at once&mdash;with twenty thousand
-men from England, with ten thousand from the
-Highlands under the Marquis of Hamilton, and
-with the same number from Ireland under Strafford.
-But his total want of funds prevented his
-progress, and the resort to the lawless practices
-which we have related for raising them, was
-alienating the hearts of his English subjects from
-him in an equal degree. It was not till the
-month of July, and the loan of three hundred
-thousand pounds by the Lords, that he dared to
-issue writs for the number of forces. Thus the
-Scots were ready for action when the king was
-only mobilising an army.</p>
-
-<p>In the appointment of commanders gross
-blunders were committed. The Earls of Essex,
-Holland, and Arundel were set aside, and this,
-with personal affronts to Essex, tended to throw
-these officers into the interest of the opposition.
-Essex and Holland were at undisguised hostility
-with Strafford, and as he was to take a leading
-part in the campaign, they were kept out of it to
-oblige him. The Earl of Northumberland was
-appointed commander-in-chief instead of Arundel,
-but was prevented by a severe illness from acting;
-and Strafford was desired to leave Ireland in the
-charge of the Earl of Ormond, and take the chief
-command, which he consented to do, but nominally
-only as lieutenant to Northumberland. Lord
-Conway was made general of the horse, partly
-because he had been born a soldier in his father's
-garrison of Brell, and had held several subordinate
-commands; but still more from the causes which
-put incompetent generals at the head of our
-armies in later times&mdash;Court influence.</p>
-
-<p>On the 29th of June Leslie collected his army
-at Chouseley Wood, near Dunse, his former
-camp, and drilled them there three weeks. He
-had entrusted the siege of the castle of Edinburgh
-to a select party, and had the pleasure soon after
-this period to hear of its surrender to his officers.
-Meanwhile, Conway was advancing northward, and
-soon gave evidence of his gross incapacity, by
-writing in all his despatches to Windebank, the
-Secretary of State, "that the Scotch had not
-advanced their preparations to that degree, that
-they would be able to march that year." But the
-king, Clarendon says, had much better information,
-and ought to have distrusted the vigilance of such
-a commander. Moreover, his soldiers displayed a
-most decided aversion to the service. They were
-evidently leavened with the same leaven of reform
-as the Parliament. They wanted to know whether
-their officers were Papists, and would not be
-satisfied till they saw them take the Sacrament.
-"They laid violent hands," says May, "on divers
-of their commanders, and killed some, uttering in
-bold speeches their distaste to the cause, to the
-astonishment of many, that common people should
-be sensible of public interest and religion, when
-lords and gentlemen seemed not to be."</p>
-
-<p>Strafford was so well aware of the readiness of
-the Scots, and the unreadiness and disaffection of
-the English soldiery, that he issued strict injunctions
-to Conway not to attempt to cross the Tyne,
-and expose his raw and wavering recruits in the
-open country between that river and the Trent, but
-to fortify the passage of the Tyne at Newburn, and
-prevent the Scots from crossing. The Scots, however,
-did not leave him time for his defences. On
-the 20th of August, Leslie crossed the Tweed with
-twenty thousand infantry and three thousand
-cavalry. He had been strongly advised to this
-step by the leaders of the English opposition
-themselves, and "the Earls of Essex, Bedford,
-Holland, the Lord Say, Hampden, and Pym," says
-Whitelock, "were deeply in with them." No
-sooner were the Scots on English ground, than the
-preachers advanced to the front of the army with
-their Bibles in their hands, and led the way. The
-soldiers followed with reversed arms, and a proclamation
-was issued by Leslie that the Scots had
-undertaken this expedition at the call of Divine
-Providence, not against the people of England, but
-against the "Canterbury faction of Papists,
-Atheists, Arminians, and Prelates." God and
-their consciences bore them witness that they
-sought only the peace of both kingdoms by putting
-down the "troublers of Israel, the fire-brands
-of hell, the Korahs, the Balaams, the Doegs, the
-Rhabshakehs, the Hamans, the Tobiahs, the Sanballats
-of the times," and that done, they would
-return with satisfaction to their own country.</p>
-
-<p>On the 27th of August they arrived at Heddon-law,
-near Newburn, on the left bank of the Tyne,
-and found Conway posted on the opposite side,
-between Newburnhaugh and Stellahaugh. The
-Scots kindled that night great fires round their
-camp, thus giving the English an imposing idea of
-its great extent; and we are told that numbers of
-the English soldiers went over during the night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_588" id="Page_588">[588]</a></span>
-amongst them, and were well received by them,
-for they assured them that they only came to
-demand justice from the king against the men who
-were the pest of both nations. The next day the
-Scots attempted to ford the river, but were driven
-back by a charge of six troops of horse; these
-horse were, however, in their turn repulsed by the
-discharge of artillery, and a second attempt of the
-Scots succeeded. "As for Conway," says Clarendon,
-"he soon afterwards turned his face towards
-the army, nor did anything like a commander,
-though his troops were quickly brought together
-again, without the loss of a dozen men [the real
-loss was about sixty], and were so ashamed of
-their flight, that they were very willing, as well as
-able, to have taken what revenge they could upon
-the enemy."</p>
-
-<p>This was not true, for though "our whole army
-made the most shameful and confounding flight
-that was ever heard of," they had no chance of
-taking revenge with such a commander, being only
-about four thousand five hundred altogether, horse
-and foot, while the Scots were twenty-six thousand
-strong. Moreover, the English had no heart
-for the work, while the Scots were resolute as
-one man, and commanded by officers who had
-grown grey in the service of the victorious Swede,
-the great Gustavus Adolphus. When the English
-forces reached Newcastle, they did not feel able to
-defend it against such an army, and they fled on
-to Durham. The Scots could scarcely believe
-their eyes when they found Newcastle evacuated.</p>
-
-<p>The retreating English army, under the panic-stricken
-Conway, meantime dared not even stop at
-Durham, but continued their flight to Darlington,
-where they met Strafford coming up with reinforcements.
-He was suffering from gout and
-stone, and in a marvellously bad humour at the
-late scandalous disaster; and he must have seen
-enough of the demoralisation of Conway's troops,
-for he turned back with him to Northallerton,
-where Charles was lying with the bulk of his
-army. Altogether, Charles had now twenty
-thousand men and sixty pieces of cannon wherewith
-to face the Scots; but the disaffection became
-so manifest, the desertions so frequent, and
-the whole condition of the force so unsatisfactory,
-that though Strafford professed to speak with contempt
-of the Scots, he assured Charles that it
-would require two months to put his army into
-fighting order. They therefore fell back upon
-York, intending to entrench a camp under its
-walls, and to send the cavalry to Richmond or
-Cleveland to guard the passes of the Tees.</p>
-
-<p>The Scots had meanwhile taken unopposed
-possession of Newcastle, Durham, Shields, Tynemouth,
-and other towns, and were masters of the
-four northern counties of England, without having
-lost twenty men. In this position it has been
-matter of wonder that they did not still advance,
-and drive the king before them; but those writers
-who have thus imagined have greatly mistaken
-the whole business. The object of the Scots was
-not, as of old, to annoy and devastate, much less
-to conquer England; it was simply to force from
-the king and his evil ministers the recognition and
-the guarantee of their just national rights. They
-had advanced into England with this plain declaration;
-they had attempted not to fight except
-so far as to force their way to the king's presence.
-To this they were, in fact, now come. They had
-achieved a vantage-ground from which to treat,
-and, though strongly posted, and possessed of the
-whole country north of the Tees, they had refrained
-from all ravages and impositions on the
-people with whom they had no quarrel, paying for
-whatever they needed. To have done otherwise,
-would have broken faith with the people of
-England, who were seeking the same redress of
-grievances as themselves, and have at once roused
-the jealousy of the English public, who would
-have regarded them as invaders instead of friends,
-and thus strengthened the hands of the king. The
-Scots knew perfectly well what they were about,
-and how best to obtain their just demands. They
-now therefore sent Lord Lanark, Secretary of
-State for Scotland, and brother of the Marquis of
-Hamilton, to present the petition of the Covenanters
-to the king, who was plainly in a strait
-and therefore compelled to listen to it. They
-respectfully repeated their pacific designs, and implored
-the king to assemble a Parliament, and by
-its wisdom to settle peace between the two kingdoms.
-This was precisely what the people of
-England were earnestly seeking, and demonstrates
-the perfect concert between the leaders of the two
-nations. To assemble a Parliament was of all
-things the last which Charles was disposed to consent
-to, but he was in no condition to refuse altogether.
-He therefore took three days to consider
-their request, and on the 5th of September returned
-to Lord Lanark the answer, that he would
-assemble a great council of English Peers in York
-to settle the matters in dispute between them, and
-that he had already summoned this Assembly for
-the 24th of that month. By this means Charles
-endeavoured to escape the necessity of calling a
-Parliament, but his hesitation did not avail him.
-All parties were too much interested to let this
-opportunity slip. Twelve peers&mdash;Bedford, Essex,
-Hertford, Warwick, Bristol, Mulgrave, Say and
-Sele, Howard, Bolingbroke, Mandeville, Brooke,
-and Paget&mdash;presented a petition, urgently representing
-the necessity of a Parliament, and describing
-the sufferings of the nation from the lawlessness
-of the soldiers, the damage done to trade
-by the arbitrary levies on merchants, and the
-danger of bringing in wild Irish troops. The
-citizens of London prepared a similar one, which
-Laud endeavoured to quash, but in vain; they
-obtained ten thousand signatures, and despatched
-some of the Aldermen and members of the
-Common Council to present it at York. The
-gentry of Yorkshire presented another, detailing
-their sufferings from the support of the army, and
-their cry, too, was for a Parliament. Strafford,
-who was desired to present it, endeavoured to
-persuade them to leave the prayer for a Parliament
-out, on pretence that he knew the king
-meant to call one; but they would on no account
-omit it. Thus pressed on all sides, Charles was
-reluctantly compelled to promise, and on the
-meeting of the great council of Peers on the 24th,
-announced to them that he had issued the writs
-for the meeting of a Parliament on the 3rd of
-November.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_589" id="Page_589">[589]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_589big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_589.jpg" width="406" height="560" alt="" title="ADVANCE OF THE COVENANTERS ACROSS THE BORDER INTO ENGLAND" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ADVANCE OF THE COVENANTERS ACROSS THE BORDER INTO ENGLAND. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_587">587</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_590" id="Page_590">[590]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Scots had comprised their demands under
-seven heads, the chief of which were the full and
-free exercise of their religion; the total abolition
-of episcopacy; the restoration of their ships and
-goods; the recall of the offensive epithet of
-traitors; and the punishment of the evil counsellors
-who had created all these troubles. The
-Lords, delighted at the prospect of a Parliament,
-saw no difficulty in coming to terms with the
-Scots. They named sixteen of their own body to
-meet with eight Commissioners of the Covenanters
-at Ripon, to negotiate the terms of a peace, and
-sent a deputation of six other lords to London, to
-raise for the king a loan of two hundred thousand
-pounds, on their own securities. Charles would
-have drawn the Conference from Ripon to York,
-where his army lay, but the Scots were too
-cautious to be caught in such a snare. They represented
-the danger of their putting their Commissioners
-into the power of an army commanded
-by Strafford, one of the very incendiaries against
-whom they were complaining, and who termed
-them rebels and traitors in the Parliament in
-Ireland, and had recommended the king to subdue
-and destroy them. The Conference was opened at
-Ripon, but got no further from the 1st to the 16th
-of October, than the settlement of the question of
-the maintenance of the Scottish army till all was
-concluded. Charles offered to leave them at
-liberty to make assessments for themselves, but
-this they declined, as looking too much like
-plundering; and it was finally agreed that they
-should retain their position in the four northern
-counties, and receive eight hundred and eighty
-pounds for two months, binding themselves to
-commit no depredations on any party; and the
-time for the meeting of Parliament approaching,
-the Conference was adjourned to London on the
-24th.</p>
-
-<p>The last Parliament had been called the Short
-Parliament; this was destined to acquire the name
-of the Long Parliament, never to be dissolved till
-it had dissolved the monarchy&mdash;the most memorable
-Parliament that ever sat. "The Parliament,"
-says Clarendon, "met on the 3rd of November,
-1640. It had a sad and a melancholie aspect
-upon the first entrance, which presaged some
-unusual and unnatural events. The king himself
-did not ride with his accustomed equipages, nor in
-his usual majesty to Westminster, but went privately
-in his barge to the Parliament stairs, and so
-to the church, as if it had been a return of a prorogued
-or adjourned Parliament. There was likewise
-an untoward, and, in truth, an unheard of
-accident, which broke many of the king's measures,
-and infinitely disordered his service beyond
-a capacity of reparation."</p>
-
-<p>This was the defeat in the City of the man on
-whom he had fixed as Speaker of the Commons,
-Sir Thomas Gardiner, the Recorder of London, a
-lawyer on whom Charles greatly calculated for
-managing the House. But that very morning he
-learned that Gardiner had been thrown out as one
-of the four members, and he was so confounded
-that it was afternoon before he could go to the
-House. There Lenthall, a bencher of Lincoln's
-Inn, was immediately elected Speaker, and Charles,
-believing him well affected to the Church and
-State, when two days afterwards he was, according
-to custom, presented to him, confirmed the choice,
-which he afterwards most bitterly repented. But
-it was not only in the case of the Speaker that the
-king was doomed to see himself disappointed.
-The whole body of the House was of a new
-character and spirit. "There was," says Clarendon,
-"observed a marvellous elated countenance in
-most of the members of Parliament before they
-met together in the House. The same men,
-who six months before were observed to be of
-very moderate tempers, and to wish that gentle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_591" id="Page_591">[591]</a></span>
-remedies might be applied without opening the
-wound too wide and exposing it to the air, and
-rather to excuse what was amiss than too strictly
-make inquisition into the causes and origin of the
-malady, talked now in another dialect both of
-things and persons. Mr. Hyde, who was returned
-to serve for a borough in Cornwall, met Mr. Pym
-in Westminster Hall some days before the Parliament,
-and conferring together on the state of
-affairs, Pym told Hyde that 'they now must be of
-another temper than they were the last Parliament;
-that they must not only sweep the house
-clean below, but must pull down the cobwebs
-which hung on the tops and corners, that they
-might not breed dust, and so make a foul house
-hereafter. That they had now an opportunity to
-make their country happy by removing all grievances,
-and pulling up the causes of them by the
-roots, if all men would do their duties;' and used
-much other sharp discourse to the same purpose,
-by which it was discerned that the warmest and
-boldest counsels and overtures would find a much
-better reception than those of a more temperate
-allay, which fell out accordingly."</p>
-
-<p>Charles opened Parliament, as usual, by promising
-freely redress of grievances on the granting
-of the necessary subsidies, and called on the two
-Houses to abandon all suspicions, and put confidence
-in him; but, after fifteen years of constant
-struggle and constant breaches of faith, this was
-impossible. The Commons saw the certainty at
-length of achieving their objects, not from any goodwill
-towards constitutional freedom in the king,
-but from the stringent necessity in which he had
-placed himself. His creeping into Parliament, as
-it were, by the back door, instead of coming there
-in the usual state, showed that he was anxious and
-depressed, and his advisers were in an equal state
-of terror. His latest hope&mdash;the selection of the
-Speaker&mdash;had failed him, and he saw the Commons
-commence their work by passing altogether over
-the question of supplies, and falling in ominous
-earnestness on the grievances.</p>
-
-<p>On the fourth day of their session they proceeded
-from acts to deeds. They passed an order
-that those victims of the Star Chamber, Prynne,
-Bastwick, and Burton, whose horrible mutilations
-had revolted the whole civilised world, putting the
-Reformed Church of England on a par with persecuting
-and murdering Rome in her worst days,
-should be sent for from their distant prisons, and
-called on to state by whose authority they had
-been thus mutilated, branded, and imprisoned.
-This order spread a wonderful joy amongst the
-Reformers everywhere. The three lopped and tortured
-men were welcomed with acclamations at all
-places on their journey, and on the 28th of November
-they entered London attended by hundreds of
-carriages, and by five thousand people on horseback,
-both men and women, all wearing in their
-hats and caps bays and rosemary, and followed by
-great multitudes, with boughs and flowers, and
-strewing flowers and herbs as they passed. This
-was a change from the day when Laud pulled off
-his cap at the passing of Prynne's horrible sentence,
-and thanked God for it. The House of
-Commons, after hearing their statement, voted
-them damages to the amount of six thousand
-pounds to Burton, and five thousand pounds each
-to Prynne and Bastwick, which was to be paid by
-Archbishop Laud and his associates in the High
-Commission and Star Chamber.</p>
-
-<p>But they did not stop there; from compensating
-the sufferers they passed on to the punishment of
-the oppressors. The Committee of Religion proceeded
-to inquire into the loose lives of the clergy,
-their cruelties towards the Puritans, and their
-introduction of papistical ceremonies. "Their
-first care," says May in his "History of Parliament,"
-"was to vindicate distressed ministers, who
-had been imprisoned or deprived by the bishops,
-and all others who in the cause of religion had
-been persecuted by them. Many of those ministers
-were released from durance and restored to
-their livings, with damages from their oppressors.
-Many doctors and divines that had been most
-busy in promoting the late church innovations
-about altars and other ceremonies, and therefore
-most gracious and flourishing in the State, were
-then questioned and committed, inasmuch as the
-change, and the suddenness of it, seemed wonderful
-to own, and may serve worthily as a document
-to all posterity, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">quam fragili loco starent
-superbi</i>&mdash;how insecure are the proud." On the
-18th of December, Denzil Holles was sent to the
-Upper House to demand the impeachment of
-Laud. On hearing this the Archbishop rose, and,
-with his usual warmth declaring his own innocence,
-was proceeding to charge his accusers with
-various offences, when he was promptly called to
-order by the Earl of Essex and the Lord Say, and
-was stopped by the House and consigned to the
-Usher of the Black Rod. He apologised, and
-obtained leave, under surveillance of the gentleman
-usher, to fetch some papers from his house,
-necessary to his defence; and after remaining in
-the custody of the Black Rod for ten weeks he
-was committed to the Tower (February 24, 1641).</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_592" id="Page_592">[592]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_592.jpg" width="406" height="500" alt="From an Engraving by Houbraken" title="JOHN PYM" />
-<div class="caption"><p>JOHN PYM. (<i>From an Engraving by Houbraken.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the Commons had been all this time more
-deeply engaged in securing the most daring and
-dangerous offender of all, the Earl of Strafford.
-Laud, who was generally in London, was more
-safely within their power at any moment; but
-Strafford was left in the North, where he was
-lieutenant-general of the army, Lord President of
-the Council of the North, and could at any instant
-slip away to Ireland, where he had still more
-authority, and a considerable army. Laud, once
-caged, could wait; but Strafford must be both
-secured and promptly dealt with. His own
-friends in London, and his own sagacity, sufficiently
-apprised Strafford of the danger which
-awaited him if he came to town. He represented
-to the king that it were much better on all
-accounts that he should remain where he was;
-that in London he should by his presence remind
-the opposition of their enmity towards him; and
-that he would only further embarrass the king's
-affairs if he came, whilst he could be of service
-with the army, and, if necessary, escape to Ireland,
-where he might do the king real service. But
-Charles, who felt his weakness without Strafford,
-in whose judgment and power of overruling
-men he had the highest faith, would not hear
-of it, but insisted on his coming to London:
-and pledged himself to guarantee his safety, reminding
-him that he was King of England, and
-that Parliament should not touch a hair of his
-head. Strafford was rather bound to obey as a
-subject and servant of the Crown, than assured of
-his safety by those solemn pledges. He went to
-town, and on the third day after his arrival he was
-arrested, and placed in the custody of the Keeper
-of the Black Rod.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_593" id="Page_593">[593]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_593big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_593.jpg" width="560" height="426" alt="" title="ARREST OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>ARREST OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. (<i>See p.</i> 593.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the 11th of November, 1640, assuming an
-outward air of unconcern, Strafford went to take
-his seat in the House of Lords. The Earl of
-Northumberland, writing to the Earl of Leicester
-on the 13th, declared that "a greater and more
-universal hatred was never contracted by any
-person than he has drawn upon himself, yet he is
-not at all dejected." Before he appeared in the
-House, the impeachment had been carried thither
-from the Commons. Strafford at once hastened
-to meet his enemies. Baillie, who was one of
-the Scottish commissioners, gives this striking
-account of his arrest:&mdash;"He calls rudely at the
-door: James Maxwell, Keeper of the Black Rod,
-opens. His lordship, with a proud, gloomy countenance,
-makes towards his place at the board
-head; but at once many bid him avoid the House,
-so he is forced in confusion to go back till he is
-called. After consultation, being called in, he
-stands, but is commanded to kneel, and on his
-knees to hear the sentence. Being on his knees
-he is delivered to the Keeper of the Black Rod, to
-be prisoner, till he was cleared of these crimes the
-House of Commons had charged him with. He
-offered to speak, but was commanded to be gone
-without a word. In the outer room James
-Maxwell, required him, as prisoner, to deliver his
-sword. When he had got it, he cries with a loud
-voice for his man to carry my Lord-lieutenant's
-sword. This done, he makes through a number of
-people towards his coach, all gazing, no man capping
-him, before whom, that morning, the greatest
-of England would have stood uncovered, all
-crying, 'What is the matter?' He said, 'A small
-matter, I warrant you.' They replied, 'Yes,
-indeed, high treason is a small matter.' Coming
-to his place where he expected his coach, it was
-not there, so he behoved to return the same way,
-through a crowd of gazing people. When at last
-he found his coach, and was entering, James
-Maxwell told him, 'Your lordship is my prisoner,
-and must go in my coach;' so he behoved to do."
-In a few days he was committed to the Tower,
-and the Commons proceeded to deal with those
-next in degree. But Windebank, Secretary of
-State, and Finch the Lord Keeper, fled from the
-reach of their vengeance.</p>
-
-<p>This, then, was the marvellous state of affairs at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_594" id="Page_594">[594]</a></span>
-this moment. "Within less than six weeks," says
-Clarendon, "these terrible Reformers had caused
-the two greatest councillors of the kingdom&mdash;Laud
-and Strafford, whom they most feared, and
-so hated&mdash;to be removed from the king, and imprisoned
-under an accusation of high treason; and
-frightened away the Lord Keeper of the Great
-Seal of England and one of the principal Secretaries
-of State into foreign kingdoms for fear of
-the like, besides preparing all the Lords of the
-Council, and very many of the principal gentlemen
-throughout England, who had been sheriffs and
-deputy-lieutenants, to expect such measure of
-punishment from their general votes and resolutions
-as their future demeanour should draw upon
-them for their past offences." And thus ended the
-ever memorable year 1640, in which the Parliament
-had secured the ascendency after fifteen
-years' determined struggle with the present king,
-and many more with his father; had humbled the
-proud and obstinate monarch; imprisoned his two
-arch-counsellors; impressed a salutary terror on
-the whole royal party; and initiated changes of
-the most stupendous kind.</p>
-
-<p>The House of Commons commenced the year
-1641 with an endeavour to secure annual Parliaments,
-and succeeded in obtaining triennial ones.
-They proposed that the issuing of the writs should
-take place at a fixed time, and to prevent the Crown
-from defeating this intention, they demanded, in
-case the king did not order the writs at the
-regular time, it should be imperative on the Lord
-Keeper or Lord Chancellor to do it; in case they
-neglected it, it should become the duty of the
-House of Lords to do so; if the Lords failed, then
-the sheriffs, and if the sheriffs neglected or refused,
-the people should proceed to elect their own representatives
-without any writs at all. To frustrate
-in future any hasty prorogations, by which the
-House of Commons was liable at any moment to
-be stopped by the Crown, they proposed that the
-king should not have power to prorogue or dissolve
-Parliament within fifty days of its meeting
-without its own consent.</p>
-
-<p>At one time Charles would have resented so
-bold a measure most indignantly, and would have
-dissolved the audacious body at once; but now he
-condescended to reason with them in a far different
-tone. He protested against the measure as
-a direct encroachment on his prerogative, by which
-sheriffs and constables were to be endowed with
-powers that hitherto had been only kingly; but he
-was fain at last to give way, and the Bill, so far as
-regarded triennial Parliaments, was passed, and a
-Bill securing the Houses from hasty prorogation
-followed in May. By that act Charles tied up his
-hands from dissolving Parliament at all without
-its own consent, so that he could no longer defeat
-its measures as he had done. Thus a real and
-most momentous infringement on the prerogative
-was made, being brought about by the king's resistance
-to the cession of just rights. In obstinately
-claiming the people's privileges, he was
-driven to forfeit his own. He was now in a
-dilemma. The army of the Scots still lay in the
-North, and both the English Commons and the
-Scottish Commissioners in London were in no
-hurry to have it disbanded. Whilst it lay there
-well supported by Parliamentary allowance, the
-king and his friends were overawed and powerless,
-and both parties, the Commons of England and
-the Covenanters of Scotland, were the better able
-to press their claims and support each other.
-Both parties were bent on abolishing or reducing
-episcopacy.</p>
-
-<p>The Scottish Commissioners exerted themselves
-with the leaders of the English Commons to
-move for the total abolition of episcopacy in
-England, and the establishment of Presbyterianism;
-but this led only to the development of a
-variety of views in the Commons. Some of the
-members favoured the Scottish proposal, and of
-these were the supporters of the petition with
-fifteen thousand signatures, brought in from
-London by Alderman Pennington, called the "root
-and branch petition." Others, as the Lords Wharton,
-Say, and Brooke, preferred the still more levelling
-system of the Independents. On the other
-hand, some of the most prominent Reformers&mdash;the
-Lords Digby and Falkland, and Selden and
-Rudyard&mdash;were opposed to the extinction of the
-bishops. Digby compared the London petition to
-a comet portending nothing but anarchy, and with
-its tail pointing to the North, meaning that it was
-a Scottish comet; and Lord Falkland was for
-relieving the bishops of their temporal cares, but
-not removing them from the Church altogether.
-The question was warmly debated for two days,
-but the fate of the bishops was deferred awhile by
-that of Strafford.</p>
-
-<p>All being prepared, Strafford was brought from
-the Tower on the 22nd of March, 1641, and placed
-before the tribunal appointed to try him in Westminster
-Hall. He had been about three months
-in prison, and meanwhile a deputation had arrived
-from Ireland. They brought a petition, calling on
-the Commons of England to join them in obtaining
-his condign punishment. They enumerated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_595" id="Page_595">[595]</a></span>
-their grievances and sufferings from his lawless
-violence under sixteen heads. The Commons
-welcomed the deputation, as may be supposed,
-and to obtain full evidence of Strafford's
-doings in Ireland, not only accused his most
-active instrument&mdash;Sir George Ratcliffe&mdash;of
-high treason, too, but almost every one of his
-willing subordinates, and secured all of them that
-they could, and kept them in readiness to be
-questioned, by which means they also prevented
-them from doing mischief with the army. The
-Scottish Commissioners were equally vehement in
-demanding justice against him for having counselled
-the king to put down their religion and
-government by force, and for offering to supply an
-army of Irish for the purpose. Thus all three kingdoms
-were arrayed against the common enemy.</p>
-
-<p>After much debate, it had been concluded that
-the trial should take place in Westminster Hall,
-before the Lords and Commons. The Earl of
-Arundel was appointed to preside as Lord High
-Steward. On each side of the throne was erected
-a cabinet, where the king, queen, and Prince of
-Wales could sit without being seen, these cabinets
-having trellis work in front, and being hung with
-arras. Before the throne ran lines of seats for
-the peers, and woolsacks for the judges, and on
-each side of the peers were ranged seats for the
-Commons, who consented to sit uncovered there.
-Near them were the Scottish and Irish deputies,
-and there was a desk or dock enclosed for the
-prisoner and his counsel. One-third of the Hall
-was left open to the public, the rest being defended
-by a bar; and there was a gallery near for
-ladies, which was crowded by those of highest
-rank. There was an intense interest, indeed, felt
-by all classes, and the hall was daily so crowded,
-that Mr. Principal Baillie, minister of Kilwinning,
-whom we have already mentioned, says in the
-quaint manner of his time, "We always behoved
-to be there before five in the morning: the house
-was full before seven."</p>
-
-<p>Strafford was brought from the Tower guarded
-by a hundred soldiers, who filled, with the officers,
-six barges; and on landing at Westminster he was
-received and conducted forward by two hundred
-of the train-band. All cross streets and entries
-were occupied by a strong force of constables and
-watchmen, placed there as early as four in the
-morning. The king, queen, and prince arrived
-about nine o'clock, and about the same time the
-prisoner was conducted into the Hall. On his
-appearance the porter demanded of the Usher of
-the Black Rod whether the axe should be borne
-before him; but the Usher said no, the king had
-expressly forbidden it.</p>
-
-<p>The bishops did not appear amongst the lords,
-for their presence had been strongly objected to
-by the House of Commons, on the plea that
-the canons forbade their taking part in any
-trial which involved bloodshed&mdash;"<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">clericus non
-debet interesse sanguini</i>." But the real fact was
-that they were supporters of Laud, and Williams,
-of Lincoln, very adroitly volunteered a motion as
-from the prelates themselves, that they should be
-excused. The Commons had objected to those
-who had been made peers since Strafford had been
-impeached, as they were his avowed friends. All,
-except Lord Lyttelton, who had been made a
-baron and Lord Keeper in the place of the
-fugitive Finch, refused to comply and took their
-seats; and so says Clarendon, might the bishops,
-too, had they had the same spirit.</p>
-
-<p>All being ready, the impeachment was read,
-consisting of twenty-eight capital articles, and
-then Strafford's reply to it, which filled two
-hundred sheets of paper. This occupied the first
-day. The court rose about two o'clock, and the
-prisoner was reconducted to the Tower. This was
-the routine of each day during the trial, which
-lasted eighteen days. On entering the court at
-nine o'clock, Strafford made three obeisances to
-the Earl of Arundel, the High Steward, two of
-which might be interpreted as intended for the
-king and queen, though they were not at first
-visible, nor during the whole time were supposed
-to be so; but the interest of the proceedings
-quickly made the king impatient of the trellis
-work, and, according to Baillie, he pulled it down
-with his own hands. "It was daily the most
-glorious assembly," continues Baillie, "that the
-isle could afford; yet the gravity was not such as
-I expected. After ten, much public eating, not
-only of confections, but of flesh and bread; bottles
-of beer and wine going thick from mouth to
-mouth without cups, and all this in the king's
-eye.... There was no outgoing to return, and
-often the sitting was till two, three, or four o'clock
-at night."</p>
-
-<p>As Strafford went and came, the crowd conducted
-themselves towards him with forbearance
-and courtesy, and he returned their greetings
-with humility and politeness. Few of the lords
-at first returned his obeisances, and the managers,
-thirteen in number, showed him no favour.
-When the Lord Steward ordered the Committee
-of Management to proceed on the second morning,
-Pym opened the case with an eloquent charge,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_596" id="Page_596">[596]</a></span>
-commencing with these words:&mdash;"My lords, we
-stand here by the commandment of the knights,
-citizens, and burgesses, now assembled for the
-Commons in Parliament, and we are ready to
-make good that impeachment whereby Thomas,
-Earl of Strafford, stands charged in their
-name, and in the name of all the Commons of
-England, with high treason. This, my lords, is
-a great cause, and we might sink under the weight
-of it, and be astonished with the lustre of this
-noble assembly, if there were not in the cause
-strength and vigour to support itself, and to encourage
-us. It is the cause of the king; it concerns
-his majesty in the honour of his government,
-in the safety of his person, in the stability
-of his crown. It is the cause of the kingdom:
-it concerns not only the peace and prosperity,
-but even the being of the kingdom. We have
-that piercing eloquence, the cries, and groans,
-and tears of all the subjects assisting us. We
-have the three kingdoms, England, and Scotland,
-and Ireland, in travail and agitation with
-us, bowing themselves, like the hinds spoken of
-in Job, to cast out their sorrows. Truth
-and goodness, my lords, they are the beauty of
-the soul, they are the perfection of all created
-natures, they are the image and character of God
-upon the creatures. This beauty, evil spirits and
-evil men have lost; but yet there are none so
-wicked, but they desire to march under the show
-and shadow of it, though they hate the reality of
-it. This unhappy earl, now the object of your
-lordships' justice, hath taken as much care, hath
-used as much cunning, to set a face and countenance
-of honesty in the performance of all these
-actions. My lords, it is the greatest baseness of
-wickedness, that it dares not look in its own
-colours, nor be seen in its natural countenance.
-But virtue, as it is amiable in all aspects, so the
-least is not this, that it puts a nobleness, it puts a
-bravery upon the mind, and lifts it above hopes
-and fears, above favour and displeasure: it makes
-it always uniform and constant to itself. The
-service commanded to me and my colleagues, is to
-take off those vizards of truth and uprightness,
-which hath been sought to be put upon this cause,
-and to show you his actions and intentions in
-their own natural blackness and deformity."</p>
-
-<p>Pym, after this passage, went one by one through
-the pleas of Strafford in his reply, and rent away
-ruthlessly the arguments by which he endeavoured
-to veil the flagrancy of his actions; but he dwelt
-for this time more especially on his conduct in
-Ireland, representing him there as treading on all
-the rights, privileges, and property of the people
-in a manner utterly regardless of any constitution
-or compacts. He then produced as witnesses Sir
-Pierce Crosby, Sir John Clotworthy, Lord Ranelagh,
-Lord Mountnorris, and Mr. Barnwell, who
-had suffered insult, loss of office and honour from
-the Lord-Lieutenant's overbearing despotism. To
-this Strafford replied in a long and able speech.
-The subject of Ireland was resumed the next day,
-and then from day to day.</p>
-
-<p>After the Managers had gone through some
-particular charge, and produced their witnesses,
-the court adjourned for half an hour, when Strafford
-made his defence and produced his witnesses;
-the Managers then commented on the evidence,
-and the court closed for the day. Thus it
-went on for thirteen days. "All the hasty and
-proud expressions that he had uttered at any
-time," says Clarendon, "since he was first made a
-privy councillor; all the acts of passion or power
-that he had exercised in Yorkshire, from the time
-that he was first President there; his engaging
-himself in projects in Ireland, as the sole making
-of flax and selling tobacco in that kingdom; his extraordinary
-proceedings against Lord Mountnorris
-and the Lord Chancellor Loftus; his assuming a
-power of judicature at the Council table to determine
-private interest, and matter of inheritance;
-some rigorous and extrajudicial determinations in
-cases of Plantations; some high discourses at the
-Council table in Ireland; and some casual and
-light discourses at his own table and at public
-meetings; and, lastly, some words spoken in secret
-Council in this kingdom, after the dissolution of
-the last Parliament, were urged and pressed
-against him to make good the general charge of
-an endeavour to overthrow the fundamental
-government of the kingdom, and to introduce an
-arbitrary power." "In his defence," continues the
-same historian, "the earl behaved himself with
-great show of humility and submission, but yet
-with such a kind of courage, as would lose no
-advantage; and, in truth, made his defence with
-all imaginable dexterity, answering this and
-evading that with all possible skill and eloquence;
-and though he knew not till he came to the bar
-upon what parts of his charge they would proceed
-against him, or what evidence they would produce,
-he took very little time to recollect himself, and
-left nothing unsaid that might make for his own
-justification."</p>
-
-<p>Though this is the language of the royalist
-historian, it is borne out by all accounts of this
-extraordinary trial. Strafford was one of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_597" id="Page_597">[597]</a></span>
-most eloquent, able, and imposing men of any age.
-His commanding person, and persuasive and impressive
-manner, had made his influence paramount
-wherever he had appeared. He had the
-faculty vastly developed of making the worse
-appear the better reason; and never had his
-splendid talents been so successfully displayed as
-on this great occasion, when all the ability, the
-patriotism, and the elocution of the time were
-arrayed against him. The very weight and vastness
-of the opposition bearing upon him acted in
-his favour. There he stood, alone, as it were,
-against the three kingdoms, dauntless, and unsubdued;
-laden with growing infirmities, and the
-deadly hatred of innumerable hosts, yet disdaining
-to succumb to them; and with a readiness of
-wit, a promptness of reply, an adroitness of application
-or of evasion, a keenness of ridicule, a
-weight of reason, and a rich eloquence, that raised
-admiration even in those who most loathed him.
-The sympathies of the ladies were every day more
-and more enlisted in his cause. They were seen&mdash;those
-of the highest rank&mdash;taking notes, discussing
-the proceedings, and discovering their vivid
-interest in him by a thousand signs. The courtiers
-were enraptured; the lords, even the sternest,
-rapidly relaxed, and at length were almost all on
-his side. The clergy were unanimous in their
-plaudits of him, and the Managers saw with dismay
-a change which threatened their defeat.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_597big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_597.jpg" width="560" height="409" alt="" title="WESTMINSTER HALL AND PALACE YARD, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>WESTMINSTER HALL AND PALACE YARD, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Maynard and Glynne, two acute lawyers, were
-the Managers who chiefly brought forward the
-accusations, and directed the evidence against
-him; but they appeared no match for Strafford's
-intellect and address. They endeavoured to
-establish a charge of constructive treason, that is,
-of treason not founded on one clear and palpable
-act, but on accumulated evidence, the aggregate of
-many offences; but the prisoner's answer to this
-was triumphant. They had not his letters, which
-we have; and though they could point to a long
-course of arbitrary and unconstitutional conduct,
-amounting to high misdemeanours, they could not
-lay their fingers on the damning proofs of his
-avowed intentions under his own hand, as we now
-can in the Strafford Papers. But even had they
-possessed these, it would still have been technically
-impossible to establish a charge of high<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_598" id="Page_598">[598]</a></span>
-treason according to any definition of law, or
-idea of treason then existing. All the statutes of
-high treason had heretofore been directed against
-designs or attempts to injure or remove the king,
-or any of his family; to subvert the Government,
-or change the possession of the Crown. That
-there might be such a thing as treason against the
-people and their rights had never entered into
-governing heads.</p>
-
-<p>In vain would Pym or Selden then search Coke
-upon Littleton, or the statutes at large, for any
-definition of a treason that would serve them.
-The statute of 25 Edward III. c. 2 was the great
-landmark of English history in those matters, and
-amongst the seven distinct declarations of treasonable
-offences, they would look in vain for one to
-fit Wentworth, for most assuredly against none
-of them had Strafford offended. He was working
-with the king and his officers; his acts and
-intentions pointed in a totally different direction.
-His object was to strengthen the king's
-government beyond all precedent; to make him,
-as we now have it under his own hand, the most
-absolute and independent monarch that ever lived.
-True, from the reign of Henry IV. to that of
-Queen Mary, many other species of high treason
-had been created by the Crown, and especially by
-Henry VIII. But in none of these reigns, when
-almost every imaginable or unimaginable thing
-affecting kingship was made treason, had it ever
-entered the royal or legal head to conceive of
-the possibility of treason against the people.
-Therefore, had all these descriptions of treason
-been yet existent, none of them would have
-availed against Strafford, who was most loyal to
-the king and his government.</p>
-
-<p>The matter was too palpable to be denied, but
-at this crisis an event occurred which gave fresh
-hope to the accusers. The younger Sir Henry
-Vane communicated to Pym a paper which he
-had discovered in the cabinet of his father, the
-Secretary of State. The account which he gave
-of the occurrence, according to Whitelock, was
-this:&mdash;His father being out of town, had sent him
-the key of his study, desiring him to search
-for some papers which he wanted. In this
-search he came upon one paper of such extraordinary
-contents, that he held himself bound in
-duty to secure it. The paper was a minute of
-what had passed in the Privy Council on the
-morning of the day on which the last Parliament
-had been dissolved. The question before the
-Council was offensive or defensive war with the
-Scots. The king said, "How can I undertake a
-war without money?" And Strafford was made
-to reply, "Borrow one hundred thousand pounds
-of the City. Go rigorously on to levy ship-money.
-Your majesty having tried the affections of your
-people, you are absolved and loosed from all rules
-of government, and may do what power will
-admit. Having tried all ways, you shall be acquitted
-before God and man. You have an army
-in Ireland, which you may employ to reduce this
-kingdom to obedience, for I am confident the Scots
-cannot hold out five months." Laud and Cottington
-declared with similar vehemence that the king
-was absolved from all law.</p>
-
-<p>Pym, having obtained from young Vane a copy
-of this paper, on the 10th of April informed the
-Commons of the fact. After hearing it read,
-Vane the younger rose and confirmed the relation,
-excusing himself on the ground that it had appeared
-his bounden duty to make the matter
-known, and that Mr. Pym had confirmed him in
-this opinion. After giving Mr. Pym the copy, he
-had returned the original paper to its proper place
-in the cabinet. Sir Henry Vane, the father, here
-rose, and remarked, with much sign of resentment
-against his son, that he now saw whence all this
-mischief came, and that he could give no further
-particulars of the matter but found himself in
-an ill condition from its testimony.</p>
-
-<p>On the 12th, charge was made against Strafford
-in court, who replied that old Vane was his most inveterate
-enemy; that, as was most probable, if
-he had delivered this paper to his son, he had been
-guilty of an unpardonable breach of his oath
-as a Privy Councillor, to preserve the king's
-secrets, and was therefore totally unworthy of
-credit; that he had been strictly examined on
-what passed at that Council, and at first denied all
-memory of any such words spoken by him, Strafford,
-on that occasion; and even on his third examination,
-after having been shown this paper,
-he had only recollected he had spoken these
-words, or some like them; that such words and
-such counsel were not likely to be soon forgotten;
-yet, of eight Privy Councillors then present, none
-of those whose evidence could be obtained could
-remember any such words, except the Earl of
-Northumberland, who thought he recollected such
-words as those&mdash;"of being absolved from all rules
-of government." The Archbishop of Canterbury
-and Windebank were not present to give their evidence;
-but the Marquis of Hamilton, Bishop
-Juxon, and Lord Cottington, could remember
-no such words. Even had he used the words,
-it depended much on whether the phrase "this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_599" id="Page_599">[599]</a></span>
-kingdom" meant England or Scotland; that the
-country under debate was Scotland, and he had
-demanded of Vane, whether the word used was
-really "this" or "that." And further, could the
-authority of this paper be established, it would
-not establish a charge of treason, for the law demanded
-the evidence of two witnesses, and this
-was but the evidence of one.</p>
-
-<p>Pym therefore put in the verified copy of the
-paper, for the paper itself having been laid on the
-table of the Committee of Commons, had been
-purloined, and was never afterwards recovered.
-That in the possession of Charles was in the handwriting
-of Digby, which brought him under suspicion.
-Pym contended that the evidence of the
-minute itself, and that of Sir Henry Vane,
-amounted to the required proofs of the law, being
-two witnesses against the earl. The Lord
-Steward, Arundel, then called on Strafford to say
-whether he had any observations to make on this
-additional proof, and he replied most eloquently:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Where has this species of guilt lain so long
-concealed? Where has this fire been so long
-buried during so many centuries, that no smoke
-should appear till it burst out at once, to consume
-me and my children? Better it were to live
-under no law at all, than to fancy we have a law
-on which we can rely, and find at last that this
-law preceded its promulgation, and try us by
-maxims unheard of till the moment of the prosecution.
-If I sail on the Thames, and split my vessel
-on an anchor, in case there be no buoy to give
-warning, the party shall pay me damages; but if
-the anchor be marked out, then is the striking on
-it at my own peril. But where is the mark set
-upon this crime? Where the token by which I
-should discover it?</p>
-
-<p>"It is now full two hundred and forty years
-since treasons were defined, and so long has it
-been since any man was touched to this extent
-upon this crime before myself. We have lived,
-my lords, happily to ourselves at home; we have
-lived gloriously abroad in the world; let us be
-content with what our fathers have left us; let
-not an ambition carry us to be more learned than
-they were in these killing and destructive acts.
-My lords, be pleased to give that regard to the
-peerage of England, as never to expose yourselves
-to such moot points, such constructive interpretations
-of law. If there must be a trial of wits, let
-the subject matter be of somewhat else than the
-lives and honours of peers. It will be wisdom for
-yourselves, for your posterity, and for the whole
-kingdom, to cast into the fire these bloody and
-mysterious volumes of constructive and arbitrary
-treason, as the primitive Christians did their books
-of curious arts, and betake yourselves to the plain
-letter of the statute, which tells you where the
-crime is, and points out the path by which you
-may avoid it....</p>
-
-<p>"My lords, I have now troubled your lordships
-a great deal longer than I should have done, were
-it not for the interest of these pledges which a saint
-in heaven left me. I should be loth&mdash;&mdash;" here
-he pointed to his children, and his weeping
-stopped him. "What I forfeit for myself is
-nothing, but that my indiscretion should extend
-to my posterity, I confess, wounds me very deeply.
-You will be pleased to pardon my importunity.
-Something I should have said, but I see I shall not
-be able, and therefore I shall leave it. And now,
-my lords, I thank God that I have been by His
-blessing sufficiently instructed in the vanity of all
-temporary enjoyments, compared to the importance
-of an eternal duration. And so, my lords, even so
-with all tranquillity of mind, I submit clearly
-and freely to your judgment; and whether that
-righteous doom shall be life or death, I shall repose
-myself, full of gratitude and confidence, in
-the arms of the great Author of my existence&mdash;'<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">In
-te Domine confido: non confundar in æternum</i>.'"</p>
-
-<p>What the effect of this address must have been,
-may be inferred from the observations of Whitelock,
-the chairman of the Committee which was
-conducting the prosecution:&mdash;"Certainly, never
-any man acted such a part on such a theatre,
-with more wisdom, constancy, and eloquence;
-with greater reason, judgment, and temper; and
-with a better grace in all his words and actions,
-than did this great and excellent person, so that
-he moved the hearts of all his auditors, some few
-excepted, to remorse and pity."</p>
-
-<p>The Commons were alarmed at the effect of the
-trial. The production of Vane's paper had been a
-blow enough to have sunk another man, but the
-extraordinary eloquence and address of Strafford
-seemed to have effaced even that; they had little
-faith in procuring a verdict from the Lords in
-their present course, and they resolved to change
-their plan, and proceed against the offender by a
-Bill of Attainder. They have been accused of
-adopting the arbitrary measures of Henry VIII.
-in so doing, and of depriving Strafford of the fair
-influence of his trial; but we, who enjoy the
-benefit of their deed, ought not to join in that cry.
-Strafford was guilty, if ever man was, of the most
-atrocious attempt that a man can entertain&mdash;that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_600" id="Page_600">[600]</a></span>
-of destroying the liberties of his country. The
-laws had been so framed, from royal bias, as not
-duly to designate his crime; but not for that, nor
-for any temporary feeling of pity raised by his
-admirable defence, did these patriots mean to
-allow of his escape. But in the House of Commons
-the Bill of Attainder met with unexpected
-opposition from one of the most zealous of the
-Reformers, Lord Digby. He saw, like the rest,
-that technically they could not condemn Strafford
-for high treason as the law then stood, and he
-feared the precedent of condemning men under a
-show of law that did not exist. It was, in fact,
-too much imitating the king. It was a real difficulty,
-which the patriots had not sufficiently foreseen.
-Instead of charging him with treason,
-as it was then defined, they should first have remodelled
-the law, or have charged Strafford with
-the violation of the national guarantee of Magna
-Charta, on which there could be no doubt, and for
-which he was well worthy of death; but it was
-too late to retrace their steps, and they were
-obliged to condemn him for the unquestionable
-crime of treason against the nation, making the
-act of the Legislature in all its branches an extension
-of the law. Digby himself did not question
-his guilt. He said "he believed him still that
-grand apostate to the commonwealth, who must
-not expect to be pardoned in this world till he be
-despatched to the other;" but he pleaded that on
-the ground of law he should have his life spared.
-But the Commons knew that while he lived there
-was no security. On the first occasion the king
-would pardon and restore him, and all their
-labour would be thrown away. They sought,
-therefore, to erect Parliament in so great an
-emergency into a court of equity as well as of law,
-believing that what was decreed by both Houses,
-and had the sanction of the Crown, was and would
-be a law of itself. They did not, like the Tudors
-and the Stuarts, seek to condemn him by setting
-aside the established courts and trial by jury;
-they gave him the highest court in the realm,
-and a full trial by his peers, and by their Bill
-they now called for a verdict.</p>
-
-<p>But that verdict was not obtained without a
-great struggle. In the Commons it was warmly
-debated, and it was not till the eleventh day, the
-21st of April, that it was carried by a vast
-majority. Only fifty-four, or, according to Whitelock,
-fifty-nine members voted against the Bill,
-and the next morning the names of these were
-placarded in the streets as "Straffordians," who,
-to allow a traitor to escape, would betray their
-country. The Lords, who had been greatly influenced
-by Strafford's speeches, and his confident
-exposition of the law, displayed no alacrity to pass
-the Bill of Attainder through their House; but
-they soon found themselves exposed to the pressure
-from without. The nation had made up its
-mind to the punishment of the man who had
-advised the king to reduce them to the condition
-of serfs; and the Lords could not appear anywhere
-without being pursued by cries of "Justice!
-justice on the traitor!" Vast crowds surrounded
-the Parliament House, uttering the same demands,
-and a petition was carried up from the City,
-signed by many thousands. The country was
-terrified by rumours of insurrections and invasions,
-which were made plausible by the lately
-discovered plot for marching the army of York on
-London, and the Court preparations for rescuing
-and getting away Strafford. There is also clear
-evidence from the despatches of Rosetti, who was
-in the confidence of the queen, that the king had
-ordered the fortifications of Portsmouth to be
-strengthened; and the command of the fortress
-was given to Goring, that Charles might have a
-place of retreat if he was obliged to quit London,
-and an opening for the landing of troops from
-France or Holland, whom he might prevail on to
-come to his assistance.</p>
-
-<p>In carrying up the Bill to the Lords, the
-Attorney-General, St. John, had endeavoured to
-get rid of the legal objections to the death of
-Strafford, by saying that laws were made for the
-protection of the peaceable and the innocent, not
-for those who broke all law for the destruction of
-the people. This was a dangerous doctrine, and
-did not at all mend the matter; he did not see
-that the real strength and justification of the case
-lay in the three branches of the Legislature interpreting
-the law as extending to the State and
-Constitution altogether, and by their united act
-rendering it law.</p>
-
-<p>In the meantime, the anxiety and perplexity of
-the king became excruciating. He had clearly, by
-his confident assertions of protection, drawn Strafford
-into the snare, and if the Lords passed the
-Bill, how was he, by his own decayed authority, to
-defend him? He had previously sought the aid
-of the Earl of Bedford, who was the most influential
-of the peers, and promised him the disposal
-of all the great offices of State, on condition
-that Strafford's life should be spared. Bedford
-had accepted it, but just at this crisis he fell sick
-and died. Clarendon says, of his own knowledge,
-that it was the plan of Bedford to give<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_601" id="Page_601">[601]</a></span>
-the king the excise as a settled source of income,
-and thus extricate him out of all his troubles,&mdash;the
-very thing which was afterwards granted
-to his son, Charles II. On Bedford's death,
-Lord Say accepted the same position on the
-same terms; and it is asserted by Clarendon
-that it was by his advice that Charles now took a
-step that proved very fatal. He proceeded to the
-House of Lords on the 1st of May, whilst the Bill
-of Attainder was still before it, and calling for the
-Commons, informed them that having, as they
-knew, been constantly present at the trial of Strafford,
-he was perfectly familiar with all that had
-been advanced on both sides, and that the serious
-conclusion at which he had arrived was that he was
-not guilty of treason, and, therefore, in his conscience,
-he could not condemn him if the Bill were
-passed and came to him. "It was not," he said,
-"for him to argue the matter with them; his
-place was to utter a single decision. But," he
-continued, "I must tell you three great truths:&mdash;First,
-I never had any intention of bringing over
-the Irish army into England, nor ever was advised
-by any one to do so. Second, there never was
-any debate before me, either in public council or
-private committee, of the disloyalty or disaffection
-of my English subjects. Third, I was never
-counselled by any to alter the least of any of the
-laws of England, much less alter all the laws."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_601big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_601.jpg" width="492" height="560" alt="" title="CHARLES SIGNING THE COMMISSION OF ASSENT TO STRAFFORDS ATTAINDER" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CHARLES SIGNING THE COMMISSION OF ASSENT TO STRAFFORD'S ATTAINDER. (<i>See p.</i> <a href="#Page_603">603</a>.)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>After the long breach of the law that the king<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_602" id="Page_602">[602]</a></span>
-shall not levy taxes without consent of Parliament;
-after the long exercise of the arbitrary
-power of the Star Chamber and the High Commission
-Court, where Magna Charta was utterly
-set aside; after the brandings, the lopping off of
-ears, the slitting of noses, and the fining and imprisonment
-of the subject at the king's pleasure,
-these assertions show how utterly regardless of
-truth this king was. He then admitted that Strafford
-was guilty of great misdemeanours. "Therefore,"
-he said, "I hope you may find some middle
-way to satisfy justice and your own fears, and not
-to press upon my conscience. My lords, I hope
-you know what a tender thing conscience is. To
-satisfy my people I would do great matters, but in
-this of conscience, no fear, no respect whatever,
-shall ever make me go against it. Certainly, I
-have not so ill-deserved of the Parliament this time
-that they should press me on this tender point."
-He proposed that Strafford should be rendered
-incapable hereafter of holding any place of trust
-or honour under the Crown.</p>
-
-<p>But the very declarations which he had made
-in this address were so untrue, that every one
-must have felt that as long as Strafford lived there
-was no security against his return to power. The
-Commons, however, took up the matter in another
-manner. On their return to their own House&mdash;the
-king had not recognised their presence by a
-single observation in the other&mdash;they instantly
-passed a resolution, declaring the king's interference
-with any bill before either House of Parliament,
-a most flagrant abuse of their privileges.
-This was Saturday, and the next day the ministers,
-Scottish and Puritan, took up the subject in
-their pulpits, and roused their hearers to a sense
-of their danger, only to be averted by the death
-of the arch-traitor. On Monday the population
-poured out in a vast concourse, and directed their
-steps towards Westminster. Six thousand infuriated
-people surrounded the Houses of Parliament,
-armed with clubs and staves, crying out for
-justice on the prisoner.</p>
-
-<p>At this moment Pym was haranguing the
-House of Commons on the discovery of the plot to
-debauch the army, and informing them, moreover,
-that there was already a strong body of French
-troops assembled on the opposite coast, and that it
-was declared to be their intention to take possession
-of Jersey and Guernsey, and to land at
-Portsmouth. This was so far true that Montague,
-a favourite of the queen's, had been despatched
-to the French court, a fleet had assembled
-on the coast of Brittany, and an army in
-Flanders. Montreuil had endeavoured to convince
-the popular leaders, through the Earl of
-Holland, that the army was destined for the war
-in the Netherlands, and the fleet to protect the
-coasts of Portugal. Their being so near this
-country, however, was sufficient to justify the
-popular suspicion, and the public excitement continued
-to increase. Montague was advised to seek
-his safety by flight, and the queen was so terrified
-that she ordered her carriages to Whitehall to
-flee to Portsmouth. The Lords, however, prevented
-this by a remonstrance to the king, and
-thereby probably saved the queen's life from the
-enraged mob; for it was now that the disclosures
-of Colonel Goring of the Army Plot became public.</p>
-
-<p>Pym seized the opportunity of this occurrence
-to press on the Commons a resolution to the effect
-that the seaports should be closed, and that the
-king should command that neither the queen, the
-prince, nor any person attending upon his majesty,
-should leave London without the permission of the
-king, acting on the advice of his Parliament.
-This was passed, and Pym then called on them to
-make a solemn Protestation, after the manner of
-the Scottish Covenant, which should be taken by
-the whole House, binding them by a vow, in the
-presence of God, to maintain and defend his
-majesty's royal person and estate, as well as the
-power and privileges of Parliament, the lawful
-rights and liberties of the subject, the peace and
-union of the three kingdoms against all plots, conspiracies,
-and evil practices, and that neither hope,
-fear, nor any other respect, should induce them to
-relinquish this promise, vow, and protestation.
-It was instantly signed by the Speaker, and by
-every member present.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons next addressed a letter to the
-army in the North, assuring them that, notwithstanding
-the attempts to corrupt them, Parliament
-relied on their fidelity, and would take care to
-furnish their pay. They ordered the forces in
-Wiltshire and Hampshire to advance nearer to
-Portsmouth, and those in Kent and Sussex to
-draw towards Dover, and declared any man
-advising the introduction of foreign troops to be
-an enemy to his country. These resolutions they
-despatched with the Protestation to the Upper
-House by Denzil Holles, calling on the whole
-House to subscribe to the Protestation. The next
-morning, being the 4th of May, the Lords desired
-a conference with the Commons, and informed
-them of a message from the king, desiring that the
-intimidation of the mobs might be withdrawn, that
-the deliberation of the Parliament might be free;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_603" id="Page_603">[603]</a></span>
-and as the peers proposed to take the Protestation
-unanimously, Dr. Burgess, a popular preacher, was
-sent out to inform the people of this, and to desire
-that they would peaceably withdraw to their own
-homes. The crowds, on this assurance, melted
-rapidly away. The Protestation was then sent out
-to be subscribed by the whole nation, as the Covenant
-had been in Scotland, and with the intimation
-that any one declining to adopt it should be looked
-upon as an enemy to his country. To complete
-their security, the Commons passed a Bill that
-Parliament should on no account be dissolved
-without the consent of both Houses.</p>
-
-<p>The next day, on a false alarm that the House
-of Commons was in danger, the train-bands,
-headed by Colonel Mainwaring, marched with beat
-of drum to Westminster; it proved an unnecessary
-caution, but one that convinced the peers and
-the king that any resistance to the Commons,
-backed by the public, was useless. The very next
-day the news was circulated in Parliament that
-six or eight dangerous conspirators had fled,
-amongst them Jermyn, the queen's favourite, and
-Percy, both members of the Commons, and that
-the queen was still bent, if opportunity could be
-found, of escaping too. On the following day, May
-7th, the peers voted by a majority that the fifteenth
-and nineteenth charges against Strafford
-were proved, namely, that he had quartered
-soldiers on the peaceable inhabitants of Ireland
-contrary to law, and had imposed on his own
-authority an illegal oath on all Scotsmen living
-in that country. Thereupon they consulted the
-judges, who unanimously decided that Strafford
-deserved to suffer the pains and penalties of
-treason. The Catholics kept away from the
-House because they would not take the Protestation,
-and therefore bore no part in Strafford's condemnation.
-The Bill was passed by a majority of
-twenty-six to nineteen. The following morning,
-May 8th, the Bill of Attainder was read a third
-time and passed; and, at the same time, the Lords
-also passed the Bill of the Commons against the
-dissolution of Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>Charles was now reduced to a pitiable condition.
-On the one hand, he had solemnly pledged
-himself, both to Strafford and to Parliament, never
-to consent to the earl's death; but, on the other
-hand, the two Houses had pronounced against him,
-and the public was waiting with impatience for his
-ratification of the sentence. He had lately seen
-the ominous assemblage of the people, and the
-march of the City bands to support Parliament;
-the Scots still lay in the North, waiting with fierce
-desire for the fall of their enemy; one signal, and
-the whole country would be in a blaze. The Bill
-was passed on Saturday, and perhaps never was a
-Sunday spent by any man, or any house, in so
-dreadful a state as that passed by Charles and his
-family. The only alternative left him was to
-summon his Privy Council, and submit to them
-his difficulty. But from them he derived very
-little comfort. The members in general urged on
-him the necessity of complying with the demand
-of both Houses of Parliament, and the manifest
-desire of the public, who were again loudly declaring
-that they would have either the head of
-Strafford or the king's. The bishops strongly
-urged the same arguments; the terror of the Parliament
-and the people was upon them.</p>
-
-<p>Williams, the old bishop of Lincoln, who had
-been treated with stern severity by both Strafford
-and Laud, told the king, when he talked of his
-conscience, that there was a public as well as a
-private conscience; that he had discharged his
-private conscience by doing all in his power to save
-the earl, and he might now exercise his public conscience
-by conceding to the decision of his Parliament;
-that the question now was not about saving
-Strafford, but about saving himself, his queen,
-and family. Juxon, Bishop of London, alone had
-the courage to tell him boldly not to consent to
-the shedding of the blood of a man whom in
-his conscience he felt to be innocent. Ussher
-of Armagh, Morton of Durham, and another
-bishop, advised him to be guided by the opinion of
-the judges. The judges being then asked, repeated
-their judgment that the case, as put to them by
-the Lords, amounted to treason. Thus borne
-down by all parties, Charles reluctantly gave way,
-and late in the evening, though he would not
-directly sign his assent to the Bill, he signed a
-commission to several lords to give the assent.
-Even in this last act his friends endeavoured to
-console him with the assurance that "his own
-hand was not in it." It was a miserable subterfuge,
-for the deed was equally valid, and he executed
-it with tears, declaring the condition of
-Strafford happier than his own.</p>
-
-<p>The day of execution was fixed for Wednesday,
-the 12th of May, and on Monday, the 10th, the
-commission to this effect passed the Great Seal.
-But still Charles could not give up the hope of
-saving the unhappy man. He sent to the two
-Houses to inform them that he would instantly
-disband the Irish army; and the next morning,
-having appeared to have made a favourable impression
-on the Commons, who had returned a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_604" id="Page_604">[604]</a></span>
-very flattering message, he sent the Prince of
-Wales to the Lords with a letter once more imploring
-them to consult with the Commons, and
-grant him "the unspeakable contentment" of
-changing the sentence of the earl to perpetual
-imprisonment, with a pledge never to interfere in
-his behalf; and if the earl should ever seek his
-liberty, especially by any application to himself,
-his life should be forfeited. If, however, it could
-not be done with satisfaction to the people, he said
-"<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Fiat justitia</i>." In a postscript, stated to have
-been added at the suggestion of the queen, he
-appended the fatal words, "If he must die, it were
-charity to reprieve him till Saturday;" words which
-seemed to imply that, though he asked, he really
-did not hope to save him. Nothing, however,
-could have saved him. The House, after reading
-the letter twice, and after "sad and serious consideration,"
-sent a deputation to inform him that
-neither of the requests could be complied with.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_604big.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_604.jpg" width="560" height="423" alt="" title="THE OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE, EDINBURGH" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>THE OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE, EDINBURGH.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Strafford, on the previous Tuesday, hearing of
-the king's extreme agitation and trouble on his
-account, had sent him a letter which was full of
-magnanimity. He informed him that the hearing
-of the king's unwillingness to pass the Bill, on the
-ground that he did not believe him guilty, and of
-the excitement of the people against him on that
-account, had brought him into a great strait;
-that the ruin of his family on the one side, and
-fear of injury to the king on the other, had greatly
-troubled him; that to say that there had not
-been a great strife in him, would be to say that he
-was not made of flesh and blood; yet considering
-that the chief thing was the prosperity of the
-realm and the king, he had, with a natural sadness,
-come to the conclusion to desire the king to
-let matters take their course rather than incur the
-ill that refusing to sign the Bill might bring on
-his sacred majesty. Whitelock assures us that
-the king sent Carleton to him, to inform him that
-he had been compelled to pass the Bill, and adding
-that he had been the more reconciled to it by his
-willingness to die. On hearing this, Strafford
-started up from his chair, lifted up his eyes to
-heaven, laid his hand upon his heart, and said,
-"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of
-men, for in them there is no salvation."</p>
-
-<p>The night before the day fixed for his execution,
-Archbishop Ussher visited the prisoner, who
-begged him to go to his fellow-prisoner, Archbishop
-Laud, and beg his prayers for him that
-night, and his blessing when he should go forth in
-the morning. He had in vain endeavoured to
-persuade the Lieutenant Balfour to permit him to
-have an interview with the fallen prelate. In the
-morning, when led out to the scaffold, on approaching
-the window of the archbishop's prison,
-he begged the lieutenant to allow him to make his
-obeisance towards the prelate's room, though he
-could not see him himself.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i_604abig.jpg">
-<img src="images/i_604a.jpg" width="560" height="456" alt="After the Painting by Paul Delaroche, in the possession of the Duke of Sutherland" title="STRAFFORD ON HIS WAY TO EXECUTION" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>STRAFFORD ON HIS WAY TO EXECUTION.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">After the Painting by Paul Delaroche, in the possession of the Duke of Sutherland.</span></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_605" id="Page_605">[605]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_605.jpg" width="406" height="500" alt="From a contemporary print by Faithorne" title="THE MARQUIS OF MONTROSE" />
-<div class="caption"><p>THE MARQUIS OF MONTROSE. (<i>From a contemporary print by Faithorne.</i>)</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Laud, however, was on the watch, and putting
-forth his hands from his window, bestowed his
-blessing. That was all that his weakness and his
-emotion permitted. He sank, overcome with his
-grief, to the floor. Strafford made a profound
-obeisance, and the procession moved on. But
-after a few steps the earl turned round again,
-bowed to the ground once more, saying, "Farewell,
-my lord! God protect your innocence!"
-Then proceeding again, he assumed a lofty and
-dignified air, more even than was usual to him.
-At the Tower gate the lieutenant requested him to
-enter a coach, lest the people should wreak their
-hatred upon him; but he declined, saying, "No,
-Master lieutenant, I dare look death in the face,
-and I hope the people, too. Have you a care that
-I do not escape, and I care not how I die, whether
-by the executioner, or the madness of the people.
-If that give them better satisfaction, it is all one
-to me." He was accompanied to the scaffold by
-Archbishop Ussher, the Earl of Cleveland, and his
-brother, Sir George Wentworth, and others of his
-friends were there to take their leave of him.
-The crowd assembled to see their great enemy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_606" id="Page_606">[606]</a></span>
-depart was immense, and he made a speech from
-notes which he had prepared, still protesting his
-innocence; declaring that so far from wishing to
-put an end to Parliaments, he had always regarded
-them, under God, as the best means to
-make the king and his people happy. His head
-fell at a single blow, and the astonished people
-could scarcely believe that they had seen the
-last of their foe. They retired in quietness, as
-if overcome by the greatness of the satisfaction;
-but they testified their joy in the evening by bonfires
-in the streets (May 12, 1641).</p>
-
-<p>The fall of Strafford carried terror through the
-Court. Many began to think of flying. Cottington
-had given up his office of Master of the
-Wards, and Lord Say and other noblemen of the
-popular party were introduced into the Ministry.
-The Marquis of Hertford was made Governor to
-the Prince, the Earl of Essex Lord Chamberlain,
-the Earl of Leicester the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland.
-The king was wholly averse from the new
-ministers, but hoped to win upon them as he had
-done upon Strafford, Loudon, and Montrose; and
-indeed, after their appointment, a bolder and
-more independent spirit seemed to awaken in the
-Lords. They threw out several Bills sent up from
-the Commons, amongst others, one for excluding
-the bishops from their House. Essex, though
-a reformer, was by no means hostile to the
-hierarchy, and always obliged his servants to
-accompany him to church, and kept a chaplain
-who was a thorough conformist. The Lords did
-not object to the bishops and clergy in general
-being excluded from the Star Chamber, the Privy
-Council, and the Commissions of the Peace; but
-they contended that bishops had always formed
-a part of their body, and that the Commons might
-next take it into their heads to exclude barons.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons, however, pressed on the Lords
-Bills for the abolition of the two greatest engines
-of tyranny in the country, the Star Chamber and
-the High Commission Court. These, with another
-for a poll-tax for the maintenance of the armies,
-the Lords passed; but Charles hesitated. He
-had given up much this Session: the right of
-prorogation without consent of Parliament, thus
-making Parliament perpetual if it pleased; the
-right to demand tonnage and poundage without
-the same consent; he had limited the forest laws;
-granted to the judges their places during good
-behaviour; and withdrawn the commission for the
-Presidency of the North as illegal. But to give
-up the civil and ecclesiastical inquisitions, those
-ready and terrible torture houses of the Crown,
-went hard with him. The poll-tax he passed at
-once, because he thought it would be unpopular,
-but he refused to sanction the others. The
-Commons came to a resolution that he should
-pass all three or none; and the tone of both
-Parliament and the people was so menacing, that
-on the 5th of July he gave his consent, and put
-an end to those un-English abominations.</p>
-
-<p>The Commons having granted the king six subsidies,
-and tonnage and poundage for the year, he
-now proposed to proceed to Scotland to hold a
-Parliament. He was aware that a reaction had
-taken place there. The Marquis of Montrose
-had exerted himself to form a party amongst such
-noblemen and gentlemen as had grown to regard
-the popular leaders both in Scotland and England
-as bearing too insolently on the prerogatives of the
-Crown. He had prevailed on nineteen noblemen
-to subscribe a bond, pledging themselves "to
-oppose the particular and indirect practices of a
-few, and to study all public ends which might
-tend to the safety of religion, laws, and liberty."
-They were careful that the language of this bond
-should not clash openly with that of the Covenant;
-but the real design did not escape the vigilance of
-the Committee of Estates. They called on Montrose
-and his associates to clear themselves, and
-obtaining the bond, burn it publicly. Notwithstanding
-this, the confederates opened a secret
-correspondence with the king, and assured him of
-their confidence of victory over the Covenanters, if
-he would honour the Parliament with his presence,
-confirm his former concessions, and delay the distribution
-of offices and honours to the end of the
-session. But this correspondence also was discovered.
-Walter Stuart, the messenger of Montrose
-to the king, was seized near Haddington, and
-the letter of the marquis to the king, with various
-other suspicious papers, was found concealed
-in the pommel of his saddle. Montrose, Lord
-Napier, Sir George Stirling, and Sir Archibald
-Stuart, were arrested, examined, and sent to the
-castle of Edinburgh.</p>
-
-<p>These events rendered Charles still more impatient
-for his northern journey. Not only
-Traquair, and the other four of his officers who
-had been excepted from pardon as incendiaries,
-but these, his new allies, demanded his assistance.
-By the beginning of August the treaty of pacification
-was signed by the Scots. They had received
-an engagement from the English Parliament for
-the payment of a balance of two hundred and
-twenty thousand pounds of "the brotherly assistance."
-Charles had granted an amnesty and an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_607" id="Page_607">[607]</a></span>
-act of oblivion of all that was past, having cost
-the kingdom about one million one hundred thousand
-pounds, and both armies were ordered to be
-disbanded. The Parliament, however, looked on
-this journey with no friendly eye. Even amongst
-his own friends, the wily old Bishop of Lincoln,
-Williams, whom the king, in the absence of
-Laud, and the loss of Strafford, had taken into
-favour, and who was soon to be Archbishop of
-York, advised Charles to keep away from the
-Scots. He assured him that they would ferret
-out any secret negotiations that might pass between
-himself and the royal party, and make the
-English Commons acquainted with them; and that
-he would do much better to remain, and employ
-himself in corrupting and winning over as many
-as he could of the Parliamentary leaders. The
-Commons insisted on his appointing a Regency,
-if he should go, to act during his absence; but
-he consented only to the naming of a Commission.
-It was not till the 10th of August that he got
-permission for his journey, and he was not destined
-to depart without having another proof of
-the animus of the House of Commons. On the
-4th, Serjeant Wild presented to the Lords a Bill
-of Impeachment against thirteen of the bishops&mdash;Laud's
-name being put among them&mdash;for their
-recent manufacturing of canons and constitutions
-contrary to law. Their grant of a benevolence
-to the king was made an offence under the name
-of a bribe, and by this means, though they had
-not been able to exclude all the bishops from
-the Upper House for ever, they excluded these
-thirteen for a time.</p>
-
-<p>At length Charles was enabled to set out. He
-had made the Earl of Holland commander-in-chief
-of the Forces, much to the disgust of the
-friends of Essex, who was appointed commander
-only of those south of the Trent. He was
-attended in his coach by his nephew, Charles
-Louis, the nominal Elector Palatine, the Duke of
-Lennox, now Duke of Richmond, and the Marquis
-of Hamilton&mdash;rather ominous associates. The king
-had not been gone a week, however, when Holland
-having quarrelled with the queen, and the king
-having refused to make a baron at his suggestion,
-by which he would have got ten thousand pounds,
-sent a letter to the House of Lords, obscurely intimating
-some new practices and designs against
-Parliament. The Lords communicated to the
-Commons this letter, and the two Houses immediately
-appointed a commission to proceed to
-Scotland, ostensibly to procure the ratification of
-the late treaty, but really to keep watch over the
-king and his partisans. To this duty were named
-the Earl of Bedford, Lord Edward Howard, Sir
-William Almayne, Sir Philip Stapleton, Mr.
-Hampden, and Nathaniel Fiennes. The king endeavoured
-to get rid of this unwelcome commission,
-declaring it needless, and refused to sign
-the commission when sent to him; but the Parliament
-still pressing it, he allowed the commissioners
-to proceed to Scotland to attend him; all of whom
-did so except the Earl of Bedford.</p>
-
-<p>Charles had set out with the resolve to win
-over as many of his enemies as possible, and to
-please the Scots at large, thereby to raise up
-a counter influence to that at home. At the
-northern camp, which was not yet broken up,
-he did all that he could to corrupt the officers,
-went to dine with old Leslie, the Scottish general,
-and soon after ennobled him. At Edinburgh he
-flattered the Covenanters by attending their
-preachings, and went so far as to appoint
-Alexander Henderson, the stout champion of the
-Covenant, his chaplain, appearing to take especial
-delight in his conversation, and having him constantly
-about him. He ratified all the acts of
-the last Session of the Scottish Parliament. As
-regarded the incendiaries, as they were called&mdash;that
-is, Charles's former ministers&mdash;who had been
-imprisoned for executing his commands, he promised
-on their release to give their offices to such
-persons as had pleased the Parliament. He submitted
-to them a list of forty-two councillors, and
-nine great officers of State. The Parliament conceded
-so far as to release all the incendiaries but
-five, and these were to be referred to a committee
-for trial, and their sentence to be pronounced by
-the king. So far, all promised well, but the
-Covenanters were desirous to have the Earl of
-Argyll, who had so openly espoused their cause in
-the General Assembly, appointed to the chief post
-in the ministry, that of Chancellor; but Charles
-conferred it on Loudon. Argyll strove for the
-next, that of Treasurer, a post of great emolument,
-but Charles gave it to Lord Ormond; but the
-Parliament would not consent, and the contest for
-this appointment had gone on ten days, when the
-feud thus commenced was rent still wider by what
-is known in Scottish history as the "Incident."</p>
-
-<p>Since Charles had come to Edinburgh, he had
-continued to keep up his correspondence with the
-Marquis of Montrose, who was still prisoner in the
-castle, and who, notwithstanding his known intrigue
-with the king, had by concert with him
-kept up a pretence of being a zealous Covenanter.
-A letter from Montrose, revealing the progress of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_608" id="Page_608">[608]</a></span>
-this correspondence, had been found by some traitorous
-person about the king, supposed, indeed, to
-have been taken from his pocket, and had been
-sent by the Marquis of Hamilton to the Covenanters.
-Montrose found means to convey to the
-king his ideas about it, and to warn him especially
-of the treasonable proceedings and intentions of
-Hamilton and Argyll. Hamilton, since his having,
-at Charles's request, assumed the part of a
-favourer of the Covenanters, had become suspected
-of being more really of that party than he
-pretended. The king had grown cool in his
-manner to him: the letters of Montrose, conveyed
-through William Murray, a groom of the bed-chamber,
-urged the king to make away with the
-traitors Hamilton and Argyll. At this juncture
-young Lord Kerr sent by the Earl of Crawford a
-challenge of treason to Hamilton, who appealed to
-Parliament in his justification, and Kerr was compelled
-to make an apology. But if we are to
-believe Hamilton himself, this did not prevent
-the prosecution of the plot to assassinate or carry
-them off to some place of concealment. He says,
-in a letter to his brother, Lord Lanark, that he
-was sent for suddenly by his brother and Argyll,
-as he was engaged with some company, desiring
-him to go to them on matters of the utmost consequence.
-When he went he was told by them
-that they had been desired to go to General Leslie,
-at his house, who informed them of a plot to kill
-or carry them away. On this being confirmed to
-Hamilton by Colonel Hurrie and Captain Stuart,
-the three lost no time in escaping from the city
-to Hamilton House, at Kinneil; whilst the
-rumour of the plot spreading, the burghers of
-Edinburgh had closed their gates, and armed
-themselves for the defence of the Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>As this was a direct charge of a most black
-and murderous design on the part of the king,
-he lost no time, on receiving letters from the
-fugitive noblemen stating why they had fled, in
-marching to the Parliament House at the head of
-five hundred soldiers, to demand an explanation.
-The Parliament was justly alarmed at this menacing
-movement, and insisted that a commission
-should immediately be given to Leslie to guard
-Parliament with all the city bands, the regiments
-of foot near at hand, and some troops of horse.</p>
-
-<p>Charles was loud in his complaints of the
-scandal cast upon him by the needless flight of the
-three noblemen and the arming of the citizens, and
-demanded an instant examination before Parliament
-for his clearance. The Parliament would not
-consent to a trial before the whole House; but in
-spite of the king's remonstrances, referred it to a
-committee, and ordered the immediate arrest of
-the Earl of Crawford, Colonel Cochrane, William
-Murray, and others. What the committee discovered
-is not known, for its proceedings were conducted
-with the profoundest secrecy; and they
-finally came to the conclusion that there was
-nothing which touched the king personally; and
-yet that the noblemen did not flee without sufficient
-cause, and were falsely accused by Montrose.
-Montrose himself, when examined regarding the
-letter to the king, declared that he meant to accuse
-nobody in particular; and Crawford, Murray, and
-the rest, gave confused and disordered answers.
-All was involved in mystery, and this was no little
-increased by Hamilton and Argyll returning to
-Edinburgh in the course of a few weeks, and
-Hamilton declaring that there was nothing in the
-affair which reflected any dishonour on the king.
-Still more to confound all reasoning on the
-matter, the plotters not only were liberated on
-bail, but Argyll was placed at the head of the
-Treasury, was created a marquis, Hamilton a
-duke, and Leslie an earl, with the title of Leven.</p>
-
-<p>The news of the plot had been despatched with
-all speed to the Parliament in England, and had
-created great alarm in London, many being of
-opinion that a conspiracy was on foot to get rid of
-all the king's opponents. Parliament, which had
-adjourned to the 20th of October, had just met
-again, and the Council sent urgent requests for
-the return of the king to the capital.</p>
-
-<p>The king, however, appeared in no haste. He
-remained entertaining all parties in great festivity,
-distributing the forfeited church lands amongst influential
-persons, not excepting his covenanting
-chaplain, Henderson. Honours were as freely
-bestowed. It was found that Charles had carried
-the Crown jewels with him: it was now well
-known that the great collar of rubies was pawned
-in Holland, and it was believed that Charles was
-buying up his enemies with others of the jewels,
-afterwards to be exchanged for money. These
-unpleasant suspicions were greatly increased by
-the fact that five companies of foot had, by the
-king's especial command, been detained at Berwick,
-notwithstanding the order for disbandment.
-The Council sent six ships to fetch away the
-artillery and ammunition from Berwick and
-Holy Isle, and again represented to Charles the
-necessity of his presence in London.</p>
-
-<p>His departure, however, was at length determined
-by startling news out of another quarter,
-namely, of rebellion in Ireland.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_609" id="Page_609">[609]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
-
-
-<ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">Abbott Bishop, Primate, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Addled Parliament," The, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Albany, Duke of, assumes title of Alexander, King of Scotland, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Albany, Duke of, proclaimed joint king with Mary of Scotland, assassination of Rizzio, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">flees to Dunbar with Mary, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">unpopularity among the nobles, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">plot against him, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">murdered, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Darnley, Lord.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Amboise, Peace of, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Amiens, Truce of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Archery, Decay of, 16th century, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Architecture, 15th century, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">16th century, decline of Gothic, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">old Tudor, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Argyle, Earl of, chief director of the Assembly, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Armada, The Spanish, preparation by Philip, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">English fleet, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">strength of Armada, preparation for defence, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">sets sail, driven back by storm, sails up Channel, chased by English, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">fight renewed, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">fire ships, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">retreat of Armada, English land forces, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arms and Armour, 16th century, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arran, Earl of, Regent, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">relations with England, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">with France, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">reconciled to Beaton, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arthur, Prince, married to Catherine of Aragon, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death and character, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ascham, Roger, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aske, Robert, executed, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Askew, Anne, tortured and burnt, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Audley, Lord, the Cornish rising, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Babington, Anthony, plot against Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">execution, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bacon, Sir Francis, scheme for managing Commons, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Attorney General, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">undignified conduct on fall of Coke, Lord Keeper, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Buckingham and Coke's daughter, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord Chancellor, Baron Verulam, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Verulam, Baron.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bacon, Sir Nicholas, first Baronet created, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bancroft, Bishop of London, Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">animosity to Catholic and Protestant Nonconformists, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">supports James's claim to Royal Prerogative, <a href="#Page_439">439</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bankruptcy, Statute of, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barnet, Battle of, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baronet, new title created by James I.: its abuse, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Basilicon Doron," <a href="#Page_413">413</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bastwick, Dr., <a href="#Page_555">555</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beaton, Cardinal, sent to Rome, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">claims regency, solicits aid from France, imprisonment, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">escape, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">plot to assassinate, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">burns Wishart, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assassinated, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Benevolences," <a href="#Page_453">453</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Black Saturday," <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blackwater, Battle of, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Bloody Statute," The, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boleyn, Anne, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">created Marchioness of Pembroke, married privately to Henry VIII., crowned, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">plot against, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">indicted for high treason, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">her defence, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">beheaded, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bonner, Bishop of London, imprisoned by Ecclesiastical Commission, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">deprived of his see, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">restoration of Catholicism, inhumanity, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">chief inquisitor, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">treated coldly by Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bosworth, Battle of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bothwell, Earl of, murder of Darnley, mock trial and acquittal, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">divorce from his wife, created Duke of Orkney and Shetland, marriage with Mary, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">rising of nobility, flight and death, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bothwell, Lord, intrigues to capture Scottish king, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">spy in Scottish camp, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brackenbury, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brandon, Sir Charles, Lord Lisle. (<i>See</i> Suffolk, Duke of.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Buckingham, Duke of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">harangues citizens of London in favour of Gloucester, offers crown to him, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">instigates revolt to set Edward V. on the throne: his descent, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">proclaimed traitor by Richard III., <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marches to join Richmond, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">executed at Salisbury, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Buckingham, Duke of, executed on charge of practising astrology, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his power, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">in Spain, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at conference of Houses, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">impeachment, <a href="#Page_519">519</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">French expedition, <a href="#Page_524">524</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assassinated, <a href="#Page_536">536</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Buckingham's Flood," <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bulmer, Lady, burnt at Smithfield, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burleigh, Lord, Norfolk's execution, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">urges death of Mary, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Mendoza, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord Treasurer, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Mary's death-warrant, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">counsels assistance to Henry of Navarre, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Bye Plot," The, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Carr, Robert, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> Rochester, Viscount.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Casket Letters, The, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cateau-Cambresis, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Catesby, Robert, Gunpowder Plot, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Catherine of Aragon, married to Prince Arthur, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">betrothed to Prince Henry, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">married, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">regent during Henry's absence in France, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">treatment by the King, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">divorce, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cavendish, Thomas, successful expedition to Spanish Main, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Caxton, William, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cecil, Sir Robert, assembles council to proclaim James King, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">enmity to Raleigh, Cobham, and Gray, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">created Lord Cecil, Viscount Cranbourne, Earl of Salisbury, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conspiracy against, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Catesby's conspiracy, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord Treasurer, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cecil, Sir William, confidential counsellor of Elizabeth, Secretary of State, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">policy to Scottish reformers, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Cecil and Elizabeth's relations to Leicester, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Cecil and Murray, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">hostility to Mary Stuart's friends, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Cecil and Knox, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Scottish policy, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Duke of Norfolk and Ridolfi plot, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Burleigh, Lord.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles, Prince, Spanish match, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Henrietta of France, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles I., First Parliament, <a href="#Page_509">509</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">tonnage and poundage, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">scheme to prevent Buckingham's impeachment, Second Parliament, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">illegal government, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">failure of expedition to Rhé, <a href="#Page_524">524</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Third Parliament, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">the subsidies, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Petition of Right, resistance of Charles, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">passed, <a href="#Page_534">534</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">force sent under Buckingham to aid the Rochellais, <a href="#Page_535">535</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">crowned at Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">adherence to Anglican Church, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Bishop Williams, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">ship money, treaty with Spain against Holland, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">treatment of Irish, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">renewal of the covenant, temporises, <a href="#Page_570">570</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">letter to general assembly, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conference, <a href="#Page_578">578</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Wentworth, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">the Short Parliament, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">illegal extortions, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Scottish Parliament, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">the Long Parliament, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial of Strafford, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">visits Scotland, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charolais, Count of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chimneys, Introduction of, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Clarence, Duke of, marries Isabel of Warwick, retires to Calais, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Olney, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">secret agreement with Edward to desert Warwick, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">joined in regency with Warwick, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">deserts to Edward on eve of Barnet, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">quarrel with Gloucester, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">act of resumption, death of Isabel, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">suitor of Mary of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at feud with Edward, charged with treason, death in the Tower, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cleves, Anne of, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">her reception by, and marriage to Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">divorced, retires to her estates, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coins and coinage, 15th century, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">16th century, their debasement, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">restitution of value by Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coke, Lord, indicts Raleigh, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial of Somerset, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">supports royal prerogative, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">disgrace, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">restored, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">popular leader, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">speeches in Parliament, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Colonies, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Commerce, 16th century, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Complaints of the Commons of Kent," <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Congregationalists, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Costumes, 16th century, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Courtenay, Earl of Devon, plot to marry Elizabeth and dethrone Mary, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coverdale, Miles, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cranmer, Thomas, plan for settlement of King's divorce, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Chancellor of the Exchequer, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">introduces bill for the supremacy and the succession, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">confesses Anne Boleyn, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">head of reforming party, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conforms outwardly to statute of Six Articles, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Anne of Cleves, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">fall of Cromwell, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Catherine Howard, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">catechism, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">frames articles and canons, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial at St. Mary's, Oxford, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">cited to appear at Rome, renouncement and recantation, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">burnt at Oxford, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cromwell, Oliver, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cromwell, Thomas, successful advice on divorce to Henry VIII., Privy Councillor, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Archbishop of Canterbury, pronounces Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn valid, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Vicar General, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord Cromwell, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">proposes royal marriage with Anne of Cleves, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Earl of Essex and Lord Chamberlain, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">bill of attainder, execution, character, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Culpepper, Thomas, alleged intrigue with his cousin, Catherine Howard, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted and executed, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Darnley, Lord, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Mary Queen of Scots, created Duke of Albany, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> Albany, Duke of.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Daubeny, Lord, suppresses Cornish rising, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">commands Royal forces against Warbeck, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"De Tallagio non concedendo," <a href="#Page_530">530</a>, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Desmond, Earl of, rebellion, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Digby, Sir Everard, Gunpowder Plot, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dighton, John, murders Princes in the Tower, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Douglas, Archibald, Earl of Angus, "Bell the Cat," puts to death Earl of Mar, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Drake, Sir Francis, sent by Elizabeth to harass Spanish settlements, special favours from the Queen, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">exploits against the Spaniards, circumnavigates the globe, knighted, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">destruction of ships in Cadiz harbour, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">fights against the Armada, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">expedition to Portugal, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">failure of expedition against Spanish settlements, death, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dudley, Sir Henry, plots to set Princess Elizabeth on the throne, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">plan to betray Hammes and Guines to the French, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dudley, Robert, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Master of Ordnance, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">announces loss of Rouen to Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">her attachment to him, special favours, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> Leicester, Earl of.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dymoke, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">East India Company chartered, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ecclesiastical History under Tudors, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edgecote, Battle of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward, Prince of Wales, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">saved by an outlaw, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Anne of Warwick, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">crown settled on by Warwick's Parliament, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death at Tewkesbury, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward IV. crowned, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">secret marriage with Elizabeth Woodville, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">alliance of his sister Margaret and embassy to France, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">insurrection against him, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">unpopularity of the Woodvilles, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_610" id="Page_610">[610]</a></span></li>
- <li class="isub1">taken prisoner at Olney by Warwick, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marriage of daughter to George Neville, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">escapes from the Moor to Windsor, insurrections in Lincolnshire, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">detaches Clarence from Warwick, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">escapes to Court of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">lands at Ravenspur, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defeats Warwick at Barnet, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">triumphant return to London, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">alliance with Burgundy against France, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Treaty of Amiens, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">dissatisfaction of English, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">projected alliances, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">anger against Louis, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, burial at Westminster, character, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">children, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward V., <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">proposal for his coronation by Queen Mother, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">seized by Gloucester, conducted in state to London and removed to the Tower, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">murder in the Tower, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Sir Thomas More's account, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward VI., <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">repeal of Penal Acts of Henry, changes in doctrines and Church discipline, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Catechism and Liturgy, Book of Common Prayer, war with Scotland, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">public discontent and risings, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Fall of Somerset, surrender of Boulogne, Church reform, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">new law of treason, revision of Prayer-Book, Act for compulsory attendance at church, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Cranmer's Articles of Religion and Code, failing health, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">change in the succession, death, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Eliot, Sir John, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">speech in Parliament, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">imprisoned, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elizabeth, ecclesiastical legislation, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Philip's proposed marriage, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assumes title of Queen of France, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">relations with Mary Queen of Scots, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">indignation at Peace of Amboise, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">imprisons Mary, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Commission of Inquiry, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">aids Protestants of France and Belgium, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">anger at proposed marriage of Duke of Norfolk, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">religious persecutions, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Ridolfi plot, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Duke of Anjou, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">religious conformity, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">relations with James VI., <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">treaty with Protestants of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">hesitation to sign death-warrant of Mary, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">sends Drake to harass Spanish Armada, betrays parsimony, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">negotiations with Philip's commissioners, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">reviews troops at Tilbury, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">persecution of Catholics and Puritans, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">sends Drake to Portugal, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assists Henry IV. against Catholic League, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">rupture with Essex, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Empson and Dudley, agents of Henry VII.'s avarice, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Erpingham, Battle of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Essex, Earl of, created Marquis of Northampton, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Essex, Earl of, Walter Devereux, plan to subjugate and colonise Ireland, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">appointed Earl Marshal of Ireland, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Essex, Earl of, favourite of Elizabeth, gallant conduct at Peniche, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Cadiz, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">hostility of Cecils, commands Spanish expedition, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Earl Marshal, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">quarrel with the queen, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord-Deputy in Ireland, failure, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conspiracy, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">tried and executed, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Étaples, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Falkland, Lord, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, recalled, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fawkes, Guido, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">gunpowder plot, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">arrested, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">executed, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Felton, John, <a href="#Page_536">536</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ferrybridge, Battle of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Field of the Cloth of Gold, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Finch, Sir John, Speaker of the Commons, Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">speech at opening of Short Parliament, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Firearms, 16th century, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, refuses to take new oath of allegiance, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted and beheaded, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fitzgerald, Lord Thomas, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">surrenders to Lord Gray, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fitzhugh, Lord, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fitzwilliam, Sir William, created Earl of Southampton and Lord High Admiral, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">receives Catherine Howard's confession of infidelity, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Five Articles," The, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Flodden Field, Battle of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Forest, Miles, murders princes in the Tower, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">rewarded by Richard III., <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fox, Bishop, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">France, Louis XI., <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">invaded by Edward IV., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">expedition against Charles VIII. by Henry VII., <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">invasion by Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marriage of Princess Mary and Louis, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">alliance sought by Francis, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">war with England, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">treaty with Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">advantageous peace, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Calais regained, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Frobisher, Martin, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">bravery against Armada, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Furniture and Decoration, 16th century, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Gardiner, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">preaches at St. Paul's Cross against Lutheran doctrines, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">growing influence, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">impolitic conduct, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">disgrace and banishment from Court, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">imprisoned by Ecclesiastical Commission, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">liberated by Mary, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">patriotic caution, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Chancellor, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">proposes reconciliation with Rome, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">President of Commission to try heretics, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">withdraws from the office, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garnet (Gunpowder plot) hanged, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gloucester, Richard, Duke of, accompanies Edward IV. in his flight to the Continent, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">visits his brother Clarence the night before Barnet, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">quarrel with Clarence over Warwick estates, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Anne of Warwick, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">pays court to Louis XI., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">hostile conduct towards Clarence, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">commands army against Scotch, enters Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">pledges support to Edward V., <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">arrests Lords Grey and Rivers and others, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">seizes the king, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">and his brother, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">holds London in subjection, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">accepts Crown at Baynard's Castle, proclaims amnesty, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">crowned, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Richard III.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gondamar, Spanish Ambassador, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gordon, Lady Catherine, marries Warbeck, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attached to Queen's Court, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gowrie Conspiracy, The, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gresham, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grey, Lady Jane, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Lord Guildford Dudley, and is made Queen, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">beheaded, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guinegate, Battle of. (<i>See</i> "Spurs," <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guise, Duke of, head of Catholic League, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assassinated, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gunpowder Plot, The, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>-<a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Hamilton, Marquis of, sent by Charles to Covenanters, <a href="#Page_568">568</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">concessions, <a href="#Page_570">570</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">opens General Assembly, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">letter to Charles, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">ill-success of fleet, <a href="#Page_577">577</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assassinates Murray, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hampden, John, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">ship money, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hampton Court Conference, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hastings, Lord, confidant of Gloucester, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hawkins, Sir John, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">originates slave trade, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hedgeley Moor, Battle of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry VI., his imbecility, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">York appointed Protector, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defeated at St. Albans, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Great Council of Coventry, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Conference at London, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Ludiford, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defeated at Northampton, Parliament for redress of grievances, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assents to bill of succession, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted by Parliament, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Harlech Castle, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">captured and imprisoned, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">restored to throne by Warwick, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defeat of Barnet, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death in the Tower, burial at Chertsey Abbey, body removed by Richard III. to Windsor, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry VII., defective title, Parliament and attainted members, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">claims acknowledged by Parliament, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marriage, Lord Lovel's rising, Lambert Simnel, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">failure of rebellion, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">battle of Lincoln Stoke, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">coronation of Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">origin of Star Chamber, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his avarice, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">discontent in England, invasion of France, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Treaty of Étaples, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Perkin Warbeck, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Scottish affairs, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Cornish revolt, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">fresh invasion of the Scots, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">visits France, affiance of daughter Margaret to James of Scotland, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marriage of Prince Arthur to Catherine of Aragon, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">matrimonial schemes, death of Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">exactions, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Philip of Flanders and his wife Joanna at Windsor, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry VIII., marries Catherine of Aragon, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">meets Maximilian, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Wolsey, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">meets Charles V. at Dover and Field of the Cloth of Gold, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">secret treaty with Charles, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">"Defender of the Faith," seeks divorce, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">refers question to Clement VII., <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">claims supremacy as head of the Church, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">suppresses the monasteries, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">execution of Anne Boleyn, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Jane Seymour, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Statute of the Six Articles, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">execution of relatives of Cardinal Pole, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Anne of Cleves, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">disgraces Cromwell, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Catherine Howard, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Royal progress in the North, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">publishes Bishops' Book and the King's Book, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">claims Crown of Scotland, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Catherine Parr, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, children, succession, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry of Navarre, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assisted by Elizabeth against Catholic League, abjures Protestant faith, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">league with Elizabeth against Spain, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assassinated, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry, Prince, son of James I., popularity and character, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">proposed alliance with Princess Christine of France, illness and death, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herbert, Lord, besieges Terouenne, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">created Earl of Somerset, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hertford, Earl of, takes title of Lord Protector and Duke of Somerset, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> Somerset.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hewett, Andrew, burnt at Smithfield, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hexham, Battle of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">High Commission, Court of, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holbein, Hans, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holles imprisoned, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">demands impeachment of Laud, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Holy Maid of Kent," <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, burnt, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Howard, Lord, Earl Marshal, and Duke of Norfolk, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">falls at Bosworth, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Howard, Lord, of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">created Earl of Nottingham, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Howard, Lord Thomas, Lord Admiral, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Flodden, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Earl of Surrey, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">war with France, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">sentenced to death, but escapes execution, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Howard, Sir Edward, Lord Admiral, commands fleet against French, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">blockades Brest, brave death, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Huguenots and Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">rise under Condé, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">massacre of St. Bartholomew, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">horror excited by, Elizabeth assists the Rochellais, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">expedition to Isle of Rhé, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Independents, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ireland, Simnel in, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Warbeck in, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">insurrection, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">made a kingdom, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">plantation of Ulster, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Desmond's rebellion, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Essex in, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Tyrone's revolt, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">inquiry into titles, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">oppression of Catholics, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Wentworth, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his "Thorough" policy, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Jack Cade, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">takes possession of London,</li>
- <li class="isub1">slain by Iden, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jacquetta of Luxembourg, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">James I., wholesale creation of peers and knights, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">"Main" and "Bye" plots, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Hampton Court conference, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">abuse of royal prerogative at elections, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Gunpowder Plot, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">royal treatise, Cardinal Bellarmine, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">collisions with Parliament, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">extravagance and impecuniosity, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">exaction of duties, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lady Arabella Stuart, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Prince Henry, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marriage of daughter Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">reign of favourites, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">venality at Court, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">George Villiers, fall of Somerset, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">episcopacy in Scotland, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">plantation of Ulster, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">execution of Raleigh, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">thirty years' war, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his indecision, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">inquiry by Parliament into abuse of patents, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">"governing well," <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">the Spanish match, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">negotiations with the Pope, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">public and private treaty with Spain, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">match between Henrietta and Prince Charles, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">secret arrangement with France, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">James II. of Scotland, slain at Roxburgh, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">James III. of Scotland, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">James IV. of Scotland, slain at Flodden, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_611" id="Page_611">[611]</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jane Shore, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jesuits, Campian and Parsons, Elizabeth's proclamation against, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">their schemes and plots, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"John Amend All," <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Juxon, Dean of Westminster, Bishop of London, Lord High Treasurer, <a href="#Page_554">554</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Ket, Robert, rising in Norfolk, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">repulses royal troops, burns Norwich, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defeat at Dussingdale, hanged, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"King's Book," The, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Knox, John, arrives from France, promotes the Reformation in Scotland, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">urges on Cecil death of Mary Stuart, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Lambert, John, reformer, put to death, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Latimer, Bishop, sent to Tower, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">tried at Oxford and burnt, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Laud, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Bishop of Bath and Wells, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">chief ecclesiastical adviser, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Bishop of London, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">"Thorough," <a href="#Page_543">543</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">offered Cardinal's hat by Pope, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Arminian controversy, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">visits Scotland with Charles, erects Edinburgh into a bishopric, Primate of England, relations with Papal see, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">ecclesiastical measures, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord High Treasurer, <a href="#Page_554">554</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">cruel treatment of Prynne, Bastwick, Burton, Lilburne, and Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">admonishes Wentworth, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">counsels peaceful measure in Scotland, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">publishes new canons, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lambeth Palace attacked by mob, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">impeachment demanded by Commons, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Learning, Revival of, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leicester, Earl of, scandal, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">supports scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart to Duke of Norfolk, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">expedition to Netherlands, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">commands forces at Tilbury, proposed honours, death, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Dudley, Robert.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lenthall, Speaker of Long Parliament, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leslie, General, surprises Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Dunse Hill, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">crosses the Tweed, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">ennobled by Charles, <a href="#Page_607">607</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Levellers," The, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lilburne, sentence of Star Chamber, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lincoln Stoke, Battle of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Literature and science, 16th century, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Long Parliament, The, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">temper of the new House, awards compensation to Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick, demands impeachment of Laud, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">impeachment of Strafford, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">reforms demanded, "root and branch" petition, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial of Strafford, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Pym's indictment, <a href="#Page_596">596</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">passes Bill of Attainder, <a href="#Page_600">600</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">intervention of Charles, <a href="#Page_601">601</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Star Chamber and High Commission Court abolished, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lovel, Lord, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ludiford, Battle of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Luther, Martin, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">"Main" Plot, The, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maintenance, Act of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maitland of Lethington, Secretary of State to Mary Stuart, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conspiracy against Rizzio, flees, reinstated, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart with Norfolk, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">betrayed by Murray, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Malevolences," <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mar, Earl of, hostilities with Earl of Huntley and the Gordons, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">exchanges his title for Earl of Murray, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">March, Edward, Earl of, declared king by Great Council of Yorkists, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Edward IV.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI., queen's party, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">machinations against York, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">flees with son to Scotland, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">gains victory at Wakefield, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">struggle with Edward IV., <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">her efforts to regain the throne, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">sails for England, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defeat at Hexham, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">flees to Scotland with Prince Edward, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">reconciliation with Warwick, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Battle of Tewkesbury ransomed by Louis, retires to Castle of Reculé, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Martin Marprelate," <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mary, Princess, treatment by Warwick's party, interposition of Charles V., <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">claims the crown from the Privy Council, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">rising in her favour, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Council in Northumberland's absence declares for Mary, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Mary, Queen.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mary, Queen, triumphal entry into London, appeals to Charles V. for guidance, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">her clemency, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Papal See, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">restoration of Roman Church, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">persecution of the reformed clergy, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">opposition of Council and Protestant party, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">terms of marriage treaty, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">insurrections, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Mary's marriage with Philip, repeal of penal statutes against Catholics, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">persecution of Protestants, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">false report of birth of a prince, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Philip's departure, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conspiracy to place Elizabeth on throne, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conspiracy under Stafford, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">war against France, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">loss of Calais, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, character, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mary Queen of Scots, marries Dauphin, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death of Francis II., <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">returns to Scotland, person and character, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Darnley, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">asserts her prerogative as queen, connection with Rizzio, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">birth of James, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">murder of Darnley, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">her unpopularity, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">seizure by Bothwell and marriage, insurrection of nobles, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">captured, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, resigns throne in favour of James, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">flight to England, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conference at York, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Westminster, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">removed by Elizabeth from Scottish border, Act against her, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Babington's plot, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">hesitation of Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">execution, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mechlin, League of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Medina Sidonia, Duke of, commands Spanish Armada, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Melville, Andrew, succeeds Knox, refuses to conform, committed to Tower, dies in banishment at Sedan, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mercantile Marine, 16th century, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Merchant Adventurers of London, The, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Monteagle, Lord, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Montrose, Marquis of, joins Leslie at Dunse Hill, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">won over to Royal party, <a href="#Page_578">578</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">arrested, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">More, Sir Thomas, Speaker House of Commons, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">question of Henry's divorce submitted to him, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord Chancellor, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">beheaded, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his "Utopia," <a href="#Page_362">362</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mortimer's Cross, Battle of, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Morton, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Morton, Regent of Scotland, ordered to resign, regains power, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">charged with murder of Darnley, intercession of Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial and execution, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mountjoy, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Murray, Earl of, threatened forfeiture, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Bothwell, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">retires to France, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Regent, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Commission of Inquiry on Mary Stuart, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">entrapped by Cecil, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">party to scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart with Duke of Norfolk, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">betrays Maitland, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">negotiations with Elizabeth for surrender of Mary, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">assassinated, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Music of the 16th century, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"My Lord of Misrule," Stubbs quoted, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Nantes, Edict of, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navy office, founded by Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_394">394</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navy, The Royal, 16th century, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Netherlands, Protestant revolt, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Elizabeth's aid to, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nonconformists, The, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Norfolk, Duke of, president of the council, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">condemned for treason, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">miraculous escape, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Norfolk, Duke of, a commissioner to try Mary Stuart, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">secret design to marry Mary, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">hostility to Cecil, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">displeasure of Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">tried for treason, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">executed, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Northampton, Battle of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Northumberland, Duke of, Dudley, disgraceful peace with France, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">avarice, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">scheme for changing the succession, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">insurrection in favour of Mary, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial with chief associates on the council, beheaded, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Warwick, Dudley, Earl of.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Novum Organum," The, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Noye, Attorney General, proposes ship-money, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">O'Neill, created Earl of Tyrone, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Overbury, Sir Thomas, connection and influence with Carr, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">committed to Tower, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parma, Prince of, opposes army under Leicester, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">private mission from Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">preparations to invade England, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parr, Catherine, wife of Henry VIII., her Protestant sympathies, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">her narrow escape, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries privately Baron Seymour, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pavia, Battle of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Petition of Right, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_534">534</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip of Spain, marries Mary, his unpopularity, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Act constituting him Regent, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">succeeds Charles V., <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">quits England, revisits it to urge war against France, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">incursions of English ships on Spanish Main, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">makes preparation to invade England, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">dispersion of his Armada, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pilgrimage of Grace, The, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Poets, Tudor Period, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pinkie, Battle of, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plagues in London, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pole, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Papal legate to Queen Mary, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">addresses Parliament and grants Papal absolution, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">endeavours to check persecutions, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Primate, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">opposes war with France, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Poor Law Act, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Presbyterians, persecution of, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conference with, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">their resistance, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">James I. and, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Printing, Origin and progress of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prose Writers, Elizabethan, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prynne, William, barrister, writes "Histriomastix," indicted by Laud, cruel sentence on, <a href="#Page_554">554</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">publishes "News from Ipswich," increased severity of sentence, popular demonstrations of sympathy, <a href="#Page_555">555</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">awarded compensation by Long Parliament, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Puritans, The, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pym, John, speech at opening of Short Parliament, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">opens case against Strafford, <a href="#Page_596">596</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Raleigh, Sir Walter, serves in Grey's army, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Armada, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">sails under Lord Howard in Spanish expedition, quarrel with Essex, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">monopolies, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Cecil's animosity, the "Bye" conspiracy, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial, committed to Tower, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">life in Tower, writes "History of the World," <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">voyages, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">return and arrest, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Gondamar, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attempted escape, betrayed by Stukeley, trial, executed on old charge of treason, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reformation in England, events in, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reformation in Scotland, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Requests," The, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reynolds, Dr., Puritan delegate at Hampton</li>
- <li class="isub1">Court. Conference, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Richard III., coronation repeated at York, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">murder of princes in the Tower, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">counter movement to Richmond's plot, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">proclaims Duke of Buckingham and others, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Parliament proclaims him king and entails Crown on issue;</li>
- <li class="isub1">wholesale attainders, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">designs on Queen Dowager, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">armistice with Scottish king, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death of Anne of Warwick, proposes to marry Elizabeth of York, public execration, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defection of adherents, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">battle of Bosworth, and death, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">buried at Grey Friars Church, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Gloucester.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Richmond, Earl of, at court of Duke of Brittany, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">risings in his favour, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">descent, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">raises army in France, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">lands at Milford Haven, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conquers at Bosworth, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">enters Leicester in state as Henry VII.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> Henry VII.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ridolfi Plot, The, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ridley, Bishop of London, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">sent to Tower, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">tried at Oxford and burnt, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rivers, Lord, rival to Clarence for Mary of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">welcomes Gloucester at Northampton, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">executed at Pontefract Castle, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">patron of learning, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rizzio, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his murder, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Robsart, Amy, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rochester, Viscount, further honours, Lord Chamberlain, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marriage with divorced wife of Essex, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Somerset, Earl of.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rogers, John, Prebendary of St. Paul's, burnt at Smithfield, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Root and Branch" Petition, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roses, War of, origin of rival badges, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_612" id="Page_612">[612]</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Russell, Sir John, first historical notice of the Russells, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">created Lord Russell, Duke of Bedford, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Scotland, Berwick ceded, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attacked by Edward IV., <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Warbeck at court, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">war with England, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">invasion by Henry VII., <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">inroads on England, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">faction rule, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Albany and Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Papist party, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">war with England, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">first covenant, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">treaty with England, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Mary's reign, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">James VI. and Presbyterians, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">introduction of Episcopacy, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">the Tables, <a href="#Page_566">566</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">civil war, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">march into England, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Charles in Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_607">607</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scottish poets, 16th century, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scottish coins, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Selden, Sir John, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">opposes Arminian doctrine, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">imprisoned, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seton, Lord, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seymour, Edward, created Lord Beauchamp, and Earl of Hertford, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seymour, Jane, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">birth of son, and death, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seymour, Sir Thomas, created Baron Seymour of Sudeley and Lord High Admiral, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">private marriage with Queen Dowager, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">seeks hand of Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted and executed, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shakespeare, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his works, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>-<a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ship money, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">protests against writs, sanction of judges, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Richard Chambers and John Hampden resist payment, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Hampden's case tried in Court of Exchequer, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">judgment against him, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ships, 15th century, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">16th century, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Short Parliament, The, its members, numerous petitions, speech of Pym, Star Chamber and Queen's Bench, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conflict with Charles over supply, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sidney, Sir Philip, falls at Zutphen, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">"Arcadia," <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Simnel, Lambert, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Six Articles, The statute of, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Solemn League and Covenant, <a href="#Page_567">567</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Solway Moss, Battle of, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Somerset, Duke of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted by Commons, challenge to York, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">committed by Parliament to Tower, reinstated, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">joins Queen Margaret at York, commands at Wakefield, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Towton, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted second time, unsuccessful embassage for Margaret to Louis XI., <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Somerset, Duke of, lack of statesmanship, reform in the Church, ecclesiastical commission, the "Royal injunctions," <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his avarice, Somerset House, defection of council, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">disgrace, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial and execution, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Somerset, Earl of, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">changed manner, supplanted by Villiers, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">charge of poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">condemned, pardoned by king, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Rochester.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spain, treaty with England, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">hostilities against England, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">capture of Cadiz, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">descent on Ireland, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">intrigues against England, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Spanish match, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">treaty with Charles I., <a href="#Page_557">557</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spenser, Edmund, poet, serves in army of Lord Grey, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">receives forfeited Irish estate, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">"Faerie Queen," <a href="#Page_371">371</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Sports, Book of," The, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spurs, Battle of, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Albans, Battle of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">second battle, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stanley, Lord, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">imprisoned in Tower by Gloucester, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">constable of England, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">secret treaty with Elizabeth of York, deserts Richard at Bosworth, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">places crown on Henry's head, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Star Chamber, the, Origin of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">why named, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">abuse of, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">abolition of, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Quentin, Battle of, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Strafford, Earl of, public indignation against, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lieutenant General of the army, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">impeachment, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">reply to indictment, <a href="#Page_597">597</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">letter to king, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">execution, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Wentworth.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stuart, Lady Arabella, history, marriage with Seymour, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Seymour sent to Tower, stolen interviews, flight and capture, lodged in Tower, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">insanity, death, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stuart, Lord James, half-brother to Mary Queen of Scots, Prior of St. Andrews, his treachery, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">chief minister, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> Mar, Earl of.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Suffolk, Charles Brandon, Duke of, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">marries Mary, widow of Louis of France, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">commands English troops, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord Marshal, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">sent to suppress Catholic insurrections, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">receives Catherine Howard's confession, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Suffolk, Duke of, father of Lady Jane Grey, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his rebellion, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">beheaded, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sully, Duke of, Envoy Extraordinary to James I., bribes courtiers and makes treaty with James, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sunday Sports, Petition of magistrates against, declaration of Charles, <a href="#Page_553">553</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Supremacy, Act of, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Tewkesbury, Battle of, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Thirty Years War, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Throgmorton, Sir Nicholas, tried for treason and acquitted, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Throgmorton, Thomas, plots against queen, hanged, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Towton, Battle of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trinity House, Corporation of, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tudor, Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tudor, Owen, ancestor of Tudor line, beheaded at Hereford, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tyrone, Hugh, Earl of, rebellion of, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Uniformity, Act of, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Uses, Statute of, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Usury, Laws against, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Vane, Sir Henry, sent by Charles to Commons, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Strafford's trial, <a href="#Page_598">598</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vauclerc, Lieutenant of Calais, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Verulam, Baron, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">trial of Raleigh, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Viscount St. Albans, his genius, impeachment, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">retires to Gorhambury, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Bacon, Sir Francis.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Villiers, George, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Buckingham, Duke of.)</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Wakefield, Battle of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wales incorporated with England, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Warbeck, Perkin, origin, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">adventures in France, Ireland, and Burgundy, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">in Scotland, marries Lady Gordon, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">lands at Cork, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">in Cornwall, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defeated, takes sanctuary in monastery of Beaulieu, at the Royal Court, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">escapes to Sheen Priory, placed in stocks in London, and imprisoned in Tower, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">plots with Warwick, hanged at Tyburn, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Warwick, Earl of, battle of St. Albans, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Governor of Calais, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">retires to Calais, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attacks fleet of Lübeck merchantmen in Channel, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Attainted, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">lands in Kent with Cospini the Pope's legate, Northampton, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">defeated at St. Albans, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">at Ferrybridge, and Towton, commands the North, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Ambassador at the Scottish Court, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Ambassador to France for Bona of Savoy, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">his chagrin at marriage of Edward to Elizabeth Woodville, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">visits France to negotiate marriage of Margaret the king's sister with son of Louis XI. of France, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">indignation at rejection of the proposed alliance, accused of secret partisanship with Lancastrians, restored to royal favour, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">retires to Calais, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">takes the king prisoner at Olney, defeats Lancastrian insurgents under Sir Humphrey Neville, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">meets Edward at the Moor, flees to Calais after failure of insurrection of Sir Robert Wells, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">received by Louis XI., alliance with the Lancastrian party and Queen Margaret, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Anne, his daughter, married to the Prince of Wales, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">proclaims Henry king, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">summons Parliament, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">battle of Barnet and death, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Warwick, son of Duke of Clarence, heir apparent of York, imprisoned in the Tower, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">exhibited to the people as the real earl by Henry VII., plot with Warbeck, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">tried and beheaded, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Warwick, Dudley, Earl of, rivalry with Somerset, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">ungenerous conduct of party to Princess Mary, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">warden of the Scottish Marches, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wentworth, arbitrary action in Ireland, <a href="#Page_554">554</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Lord President of the North, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">dishonourable treatment of Irish Parliament and Convocation, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">inquiry into Irish titles, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Mountnorris, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">recalled from Ireland to advise Charles, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">returns as Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>.</li>
- <li class="isub1">(<i>See</i> also Strafford, Earl of.)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">William the Silent, assassination of, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Williams, Bishop, Lord Chancellor, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wishart, George, Scottish Reformer, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">burnt, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wolsey, Cardinal, receives bishopric of Tournay, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Bishop of Lincoln, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">origin and rise, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Archbishop of York, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Cardinal, Papal Legate, and Chancellor, favours learning and the arts, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conduct of foreign affairs, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">power and magnificence, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">conference with the emperor, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">candidature for the Papacy, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">forced loans for king, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">disappointed of Popedom a second time, legatine and increased powers granted for life by Clement VII., suppresses monasteries, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">unpopularity, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">treaty with French envoys, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">seeks to dissuade Henry from marriage with Anne Boleyn, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">joined in Commission with Papal legate to try divorce, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">fall of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Woodvilles, The, their unpopularity, and aggrandisement of the family, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">their influence, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wyatt, Sir Thomas, revolt under, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">York, Battle of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">York, Archbishop of, Edward Neville, peacemaker between Woodvilles and Nevilles, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">invites king to the Moor to meet Warwick and Duke of Clarence, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">confirmed in Chancellorship by Warwick, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">York, Richard, Duke of, lineal descent, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">in Ireland, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">proposed as successor to Crown, Protector, rupture with king, battle of St. Albans, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Protector again, resigns, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Council of Coventry, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">Conference in London, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">attainted, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">claims the Crown at Westminster, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li>
- <li class="isub1">slain at Wakefield, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Zutphen, Battle of, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>.</li>
-</ul>
-
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Printed by Cassell &amp; Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.</span></p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Vinegar.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Submits.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="transnote">
-
-<p class="p5">Transcriber's note:</p>
-
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_12">12</a>. 'perferment' changed to 'preferment'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_44">44</a>. 'peithet' changed to 'epeithet'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_295">295</a>. 'Campion' changed to 'Campian'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_326">326</a>. 'slily' changed to 'slyly'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_342">342</a>. 'Bastile' changed to 'Bastille'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_348">348</a>. 'Arragon' changed to 'Aragon'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_417">417</a>. 'eing' changed to 'being'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_490">490</a>. 'negociations' changed to 'negotiations'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_549">549</a>. 'nothi' changed to 'nothing'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_611">611</a>. 'Campion' changed to 'Campian'.</p>
-<p>P.<a href="#Page_612">612</a>. 'bishopric o' changed to 'bishopric of'.</p>
-<p>Corrected various punctuation errors.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<hr class="full" />
-<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASSELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, VOL. II (OF 8)***</p>
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, Cassell's History of England, Vol. II (of 8),
-by Anonymous
-
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-
-Title: Cassell's History of England, Vol. II (of 8)
-       From the Wars of the Roses to the Great Rebellion
-
-
-Author: Anonymous
-
-
-
-Release Date: December 17, 2015  [eBook #50710]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
-
-
-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASSELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, VOL.
-II (OF 8)***
-
-
-E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Jane Robins, and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
-available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
-
-
-
-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
-      file which includes the numerous original illustrations.
-      See 50710-h.htm or 50710-h.zip:
-      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50710/50710-h/50710-h.htm)
-      or
-      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50710/50710-h.zip)
-
-
-      Images of the original pages are available through
-      Internet Archive. See
-      https://archive.org/details/cassellshistoryo02londuoft
-
-
-Transcriber's note:
-
-      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-
-
-
-
-CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND
-
-
-CASSELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND
-
-From the Wars of the Roses to the Great Rebellion
-
-With Numerous Illustrations, Including Coloured and Rembrandt Plates
-
-VOL. II
-
-The King's Edition
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Cassell and Company, Limited
-London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
-MCMIX
-
-All Rights Reserved
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-     CHAPTER I.
-
-     WARS OF THE ROSES.                                            PAGE
-
-     Cade's Rebellion--York comes over from Ireland--His Claims
-     and the Unpopularity of the Reigning Line--His First
-     Appearance in Arms--Birth of the Prince of Wales--York made
-     Protector--Recovery of the King--Battle of St. Albans--York's
-     second Protectorate--Brief Reconciliation of Parties--Battle of
-     Blore Heath--Flight of the Yorkists--Battle of Northampton--York
-     Claims the Crown--The Lords Attempt a Compromise--Death of York
-     at Wakefield--Second Battle of St. Albans--The Young Duke of York
-     Marches on London--His Triumphant Entry                         1
-
-
-     CHAPTER II.
-
-     REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
-
-     The Battle of Towton--Edward's Coronation--Henry escapes to
-     Scotland--The Queen seeks aid in France--Battle of Hexham--Henry
-     made Prisoner--Confined in the Tower--Edward marries Lady
-     Elizabeth Grey--Advancement of her Relations--Attacks on the
-     Family of the Nevilles--Warwick negotiates with France--Marriage
-     of Margaret, the King's Sister, to the Duke of Burgundy--Marriage
-     of the Duke of Clarence with a Daughter of Warwick--Battle of
-     Banbury--Rupture between the King and his Brother--Rebellion of
-     Clarence and Warwick--Clarence and Warwick flee to France--Warwick
-     proposes to restore Henry VI.--Marries Edward, Prince of Wales,
-     to his Daughter, Lady Ann Neville--Edward IV.'s reckless
-     Dissipation--Warwick and Clarence invade England--Edward
-     expelled--His return to England--Battle of Barnet--Battle
-     of Tewkesbury, and ruin of the Lancastrian Cause--Rivalry
-     of Clarence and Gloucester--Edward's Futile Intervention in
-     Foreign Politics--Becomes a Pensioner of France--Death of
-     Clarence--Expedition to Scotland--Death and Character of the King
-                                                                    17
-
-
-     CHAPTER III.
-
-     EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.
-
-     Edward V. proclaimed--The Two Parties of the Queen and of
-     Gloucester--Struggle in the Council--Gloucester's Plans--The Earl
-     Rivers and his Friends imprisoned--Gloucester secures the King and
-     conducts him to London--Indignities to the young King--Execution
-     of Lord Hastings--A Base Sermon at St. Paul's Cross--Gloucester
-     pronounces the two young Princes illegitimate--The Farce at
-     the Guildhall--Gloucester seizes the Crown--Richard crowned
-     in London and again at York--Buckingham revolts against
-     him--Murder of the two Princes--Henry of Richmond--Failure
-     of Buckingham's Rising--Buckingham beheaded--Richards title
-     confirmed by Parliament--Queen Dowager and her Daughters quit the
-     Sanctuary--Death of Richard's Son and Heir--Proposes to Marry his
-     Niece, Elizabeth of York--Richmond lands at Milford Haven--His
-     Progress--The Troubles of Richard--The Battle of Bosworth--The
-     Fallen Tyrant--End of the Wars of the Roses                    46
-
-
-     CHAPTER IV.
-
-     PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
-
-     The Study of Latin and Greek--Invention of Printing--Caxton--New
-     Schools and Colleges--Architecture, Military, Ecclesiastical,
-     and Domestic--Sculpture, Painting, and Gilding--The Art of
-     War--Commerce and Shipping--Coinage                            64
-
-
-     CHAPTER V.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VII.
-
-     Henry's Defective Title--Imprisonment of the Earl of Warwick--The
-     King's Title to the Throne--His Marriage--Love Rising--Lambert
-     Simnel--Henry's prompt Action--Failure of the Rebellion--The
-     Queen's Coronation--The Act of Maintenance--Henry's Ingratitude
-     to the Duke of Brittany--Discontent in England--Expedition to
-     France and its Results--Henry's Second Invasion--Treaty of
-     Etaples--Perkin Warbeck--His Adventures in Ireland, France,
-     and Burgundy--Henry's Measures--Descent on Kent--Warbeck in
-     Scotland--Invasion of England--The Cornish Rising--Warbeck
-     quits Scotland--He lands in Cornwall--Failure of the
-     Rebellion--Imprisonment of Warbeck and his subsequent
-     Execution--European Affairs--Marriages of Henry's Daughter and
-     Son--Betrothal of Catherine and Prince Henry--Henry's Matrimonial
-     Schemes--Royal Exactions--A Lucky Capture--Henry proposes for
-     Joanna--His Death                                              76
-
-
-     CHAPTER VI.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
-
-     The King's Accession--State of Europe--Henry and Julius
-     II.--Treaty between England and Spain--Henry is duped by
-     Ferdinand--New Combinations--Execution of Suffolk--Invasion of
-     France--Battle of Spurs--Invasion of England by the Scots--Flodden
-     Field--Death of James of Scotland--Louis breaks up the Holy
-     League--Peace with France--Marriage and Death of Louis XII.--Rise
-     of Wolsey--Affairs in Scotland--Francis I. in Italy--Death of
-     Maximilian--Henry a Candidate for the Empire--Election of
-     Charles--Field of the Cloth of Gold--Wolsey's Diplomacy--Failure
-     of his Candidature for the Papacy--The Emperor in London      102
-
-
-     CHAPTER VII.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_continued_).
-
-     The War with France--The Earl of Surrey Invades that Country--Sir
-     Thomas More elected Speaker--Henry and Parliament--Revolt
-     of the Duke of Bourbon--Pope Adrian VI. dies--Clement VII.
-     elected--Francis I. taken Prisoner at the Battle of Pavia--Growing
-     Unpopularity of Wolsey--Change of Feeling at the English
-     Court--Treaty with France--Francis I. regains his liberty--Italian
-     League, including France and England, established against the
-     Emperor--Fall of the Duke of Bourbon at the Siege of Rome--Sacking
-     of Rome, and Capture of the Pope--Appearance of Luther--Henry
-     writes against the German Reformer--Henry receives from the
-     Pope the style and Designation of "Defender of the Faith"--Anne
-     Boleyn--Henry applies to the Pope for a Divorce from the
-     Queen--The Pope's Dilemma--War declared against Spain--Cardinal
-     Campeggio arrives in England to decide the Legality of Henry's
-     Marriage with Catherine--Trial of the Queen--Henry's Discontent
-     with Wolsey--Fall of Wolsey--His Banishment from Court and
-     Death--Cranmer's advice regarding the Divorce--Cromwell cuts the
-     Gordian Knot--Dismay of the Clergy--The King declared Head of the
-     Church in England--The King's Marriage with Anne Boleyn--Cranmer
-     made Archbishop--The Pope Reverses the Divorce--Separation of
-     England from Rome                                             130
-
-
-     CHAPTER VIII.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_continued_).
-
-     The Maid of Kent and Her Accomplices--Act of Supremacy and
-     Consequent Persecutions--The "Bloody Statute"--Deaths of Fisher
-     and More--Suppression of the Smaller Monasteries--Trial and Death
-     of Anne Boleyn--Henry Marries Jane Seymour--Divisions in the
-     Church--The Pilgrimage of Grace--Birth of Prince Edward--Death
-     of Queen Jane--Suppression of the Larger Monasteries--The
-     Six Articles--Judicial Murders--Persecution of Cardinal
-     Pole--Cromwell's Marriage Scheme--Its Failure and his Fall    158
-
-
-     CHAPTER IX.
-
-     REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_concluded_).
-
-     Divorce of Anne of Cleves--Catherine Howard's Marriage and
-     Death--Fresh Persecutions--Welsh Affairs--The Irish Insurrection
-     and its Suppression--Scottish Affairs--Catholic Opposition
-     to Henry--Outbreak of War--Battle of Solway Moss--French and
-     English Parties in Scotland--Escape of Beaton--Triumph of the
-     French Party--Treaty between England and Germany--Henry's Sixth
-     Marriage--Campaign in France--Expedition against Scotland--Capture
-     of Edinburgh--Fresh Attempt on England--Cardinal Beaton and
-     Wishart--Death of the Cardinal--Struggle between the two Parties
-     in England--Death of Henry                                    183
-
-
-     CHAPTER X.
-
-     REIGN OF EDWARD VI.
-
-     Accession of Edward VI.--Hertford's Intrigues--He becomes Duke
-     of Somerset and Lord Protector--War with Scotland--Battle of
-     Pinkie--Reversal of Henry's Policy--Religious Reforms--Ambition
-     of Lord Seymour of Sudeley--He marries Catherine Parr--His
-     Arrest and Death--Popular Discontents--Rebellion in
-     Devonshire and Cornwall--Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk--Warwick
-     Suppresses it--Opposition to Somerset--His Rapacity--Fall
-     of Somerset--Disgraceful Peace with France--Persecution of
-     Romanists--Somerset's Efforts to regain Power--His Trial and
-     Execution--New Treason Law--Northumberland's Schemes for Changing
-     the Succession--Death of Edward                               204
-
-
-     CHAPTER XI.
-
-     REIGN OF MARY.
-
-     Proclamation of Lady Jane Grey--Mary's
-     Resistance--Northumberland's Failure--Mary is Proclaimed--The
-     Advice of Charles V.--Execution of Northumberland--Restoration
-     of the Roman Church--Proposed Marriage with Philip of
-     Spain--Consequent Risings throughout England--Wyatt's
-     Rebellion--Execution of Lady Jane Grey--Imprisonment of
-     Elizabeth--Marriage of Philip and Mary--England Accepts the Papal
-     Absolution--Persecuting Statutes Re-enacted--Martyrdom of Rogers,
-     Hooper, and Taylor--Di Castro's Sermon--Sickness of Mary--Trials
-     of Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer--Martyrdom of Ridley and
-     Latimer--Confession and Death of Cranmer--Departure of Philip--The
-     Dudley Conspiracy--Return of Philip--War with France--Battle of
-     St. Quentin--Loss of Calais--Death of Mary                    221
-
-
-     CHAPTER XII.
-
-     REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
-
-     Accession of Elizabeth--Sir William Cecil--The Coronation--Opening
-     of Parliament--Ecclesiastical Legislation--Consecration of
-     Parker--Elizabeth and Philip--Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis--Affairs
-     in Scotland--The First Covenant--Attitude of Mary of Guise--Riot
-     at Perth--Outbreak of Hostilities--The Lords of the Congregation
-     apply to England--Elizabeth hesitates--Siege of Leith--Treaty
-     of Edinburgh--Return of Mary to Scotland--Murray's Influence
-     over her--Beginning of the Religious Wars in France--Elizabeth
-     sends Help to the Huguenots--Peace of Amboise--English Disaster
-     at Havre--Peace with France--The Earl of Leicester--Project of
-     his Marriage with Mary--Lord Darnley--Murder of Rizzio--Birth
-     of Mary's Son--Murder of Darnley--Mary and Bothwell--Carberry
-     Hill--Mary in Lochleven--Abdicates in favour of her Infant
-     Son--Mary's Escape from Lochleven--Defeated at Langside--Her
-     Escape into England                                           246
-
-
-     CHAPTER XIII.
-
-     REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_continued_).
-
-     Elizabeth Determines to Imprison Mary--The Conference at
-     York--It is Moved to London--The Casket Letters--Mary is sent
-     Southwards--Remonstrances of the European Sovereigns--Affairs
-     in the Netherlands--Alva is sent Thither--Elizabeth Aids the
-     Insurgents--Proposed Marriage between Mary and Norfolk--The
-     Plot is Discovered--Rising in the North--Its Suppression--Death
-     of the Regent Murray--Its Consequences in Scotland--Religious
-     Persecutions--Execution of Norfolk--Massacre of St.
-     Bartholomew--Siege of Edinburgh Castle--War in France--Splendid
-     Defence of La Rochelle--Death of Charles IX.--Religious War in the
-     Netherlands--Rule of Don John--The Anjou Marriage--Deaths of Anjou
-     and of William the Silent                                     274
-
-
-     CHAPTER XIV.
-
-     REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_continued_).
-
-     Affairs of Ireland: Shane O'Neil's Rebellion--Plantation of
-     Ulster--Spanish Descent on Ireland--Desmond's Rebellion--Religious
-     Conformity--Campian and Parsons--The Anabaptists--Affairs
-     of Scotland--Death of Morton--Success of the Catholics in
-     Scotland--The Raid of Ruthven--Elizabeth's Position--Throgmorton's
-     Plot--Association to Protect Elizabeth--Mary removed
-     to Tutbury--Support of the Protestant Cause on the
-     Continent--Leicester in the Netherlands--Babington's Plot--Trial
-     of Mary--Her Condemnation--Hesitation of Elizabeth--Execution of
-     Mary                                                          295
-
-
-     CHAPTER XV.
-
-     REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_concluded_).
-
-     State of Europe on the Death of Mary--Preparations of Philip
-     of Spain--Exploits of English Sailors--Drake Singes the King
-     of Spain's Beard--Preparations against the Armada--Loyalty of
-     the Roman Catholics--Arrival of the Armada in the Channel--Its
-     Disastrous Course and Complete Destruction--Elizabeth at
-     Tilbury--Death of Leicester--Persecution of the Puritans and
-     Catholics--Renewed Expeditions against Spain--Accession of Henry
-     of Navarre to the French Throne--He is helped by Elizabeth--Essex
-     takes Cadiz--His Quarrels with the Cecils--His Second Expedition
-     and Rupture with the Queen--Troubles in Ireland--Essex appointed
-     Lord-Deputy--His Failure--The Essex Rising--Execution of
-     Essex--Mountjoy in Ireland--The Debate on Monopolies--Victory of
-     Mountjoy--Weakness of Elizabeth--Her last Illness and Death   313
-
-
-     CHAPTER XVI.
-
-     THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
-
-     The Tudors and the Nation--The Church--Population and
-     Wealth--Royal Prerogative--Legislation of Henry VIII.--The Star
-     Chamber--Beneficial Legislation--Treason Laws--Legislation
-     of Edward and Mary--Elizabeth's Policy--Religion and
-     the Church--Sketch of Ecclesiastical History under the
-     Tudors--Literature, Science, and Art--Greatness of the
-     Period--Foundation of Colleges and Schools--Revival of
-     Learning--Its Temporary Decay--Prose Writers of the Period--The
-     Poets--Scottish Bards--Music--Architecture--Painting and
-     Sculpture--Furniture and Decorations--Arms and Armour--Costumes,
-     Coins, and Coinage--Ships, Commerce, Colonies, and
-     Manufactures--Manners and Customs--Condition of the People    342
-
-
-     CHAPTER XVII.
-
-     REIGN OF JAMES I.
-
-     The Stuart Dynasty--Hopes and Fears caused by the Accession of
-     James--The King enters England--His Progress to London--Lavish
-     Creation of Peers and Knights--The Royal Entrance into the
-     Metropolis--The Coronation--Popularity of Queen Anne--Ravages
-     of the Plague--The King Receives Foreign Embassies--Rivalry
-     of the Diplomatists of France and Spain--Discontent of
-     Raleigh, Northumberland, and Cobham--Conspiracies against
-     James--"The Main" and "The Bye"--Trials of the Conspirators--The
-     Sentences--Conference with Puritans--Parliament of
-     1604--Persecution of Catholics and Puritans--Gunpowder
-     Plot--Admission of Fresh Members--Delays and Devices--The
-     Letter to Lord Mounteagle--Discovery of the Plot--Flight of the
-     Conspirators--Their Capture and Execution--New Penal Code--James's
-     Correspondence with Bellarmine--Cecil's attempts to get
-     Money--Project of Union between England and Scotland--The King's
-     Collisions with Parliament--Insurrection of the Levellers--Royal
-     Extravagance and Impecuniosity--Fresh Disputes with Parliament and
-     Assertions of the Prerogative--Death of Cecil--Story of Arabella
-     Stuart--Death of Prince Henry                                 404
-
-
-     CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-     REIGN OF JAMES I (_concluded_).
-
-     Reign of Favourites--Robert Carr--His Marriage--Death of
-     Overbury--Venality at Court--The Addled Parliament--George
-     Villiers--Fall of Somerset--Disgrace of Coke--Bacon becomes
-     Lord Chancellor--Position of England Abroad--The Scottish
-     Church--Introduction of Episcopacy--Andrew Melville--Visit
-     of James to Scotland--The Book of Sports--Persecution of the
-     Irish Catholics--Examination into Titles--Rebellion of the
-     Chiefs--Plantation of Ulster--Fresh Confiscations--Quarrel
-     between Bacon and Coke--Prosperity of Buckingham--Raleigh's
-     Last Voyage--His Execution--Beginning of the Thirty Years'
-     War--Indecision of James--Despatch of Troops to the
-     Palatinate--Parliament of 1621--Impeachment of Bacon--His
-     Fall--Floyd's Case--James's Proceedings during the
-     Recess--Dissolution of Parliament--Reasons for the Spanish
-     Match--Charles and Buckingham go to Spain--The Match is Broken
-     Off--Punishment of Bristol--Popularity of Buckingham--Change of
-     Foreign Policy--Marriage of Charles and Henrietta Maria--Death
-     of James                                                      448
-
-
-     CHAPTER XIX.
-
-     REIGN OF CHARLES I.
-
-     Accession of Charles--His Marriage--Meeting of Parliament--Loan
-     of Ships to Richelieu--Dissolution of Parliament--Failure of
-     the Spanish Expedition--Persecution of the Catholics--The
-     Second Parliament--It appoints three Committees--Impeachment
-     of Buckingham--Parliament dissolved to save him--Illegal
-     Government--High Church Doctrines--Rupture with France--Disastrous
-     Expedition to Rhe--The Third Parliament--The Petition of
-     Right--Resistance and Final Surrender of Charles--Parliament
-     Prorogued--Assassination of Buckingham--Fall of La
-     Rochelle--Parliament Reassembles and is Dissolved--Imprisonment
-     of Offending Members--Government without Parliament--Peace
-     with France and Spain--Gustavus Adolphus in Germany--Despotic
-     Proceedings of Charles and Laud                               508
-
-
-     CHAPTER XX.
-
-     Reign of Charles I (_continued_).
-
-     Visit of Charles to Scotland--Laud and the Papal See--His
-     Ecclesiastical Measures--Punishment of Prynne, Bastwick, and
-     Burton--Disgrace of Williams--Ship-money--Resistance of John
-     Hampden--Wentworth in the North--Recall of Falkland from
-     Ireland--Wentworth's Measures--Inquiry into Titles--Prelacy
-     Riots in Edinburgh--Jenny Geddes's Stool--The Tables--Renewal
-     of the Covenant--Charles makes Concessions--The General
-     Assembly--Preparations for War--Charles at York--Leslie at
-     Dunse Hill--A Conference held--Treaty of Berwick--Arrest of
-     Loudon--Insult from the Dutch--Wentworth in England--The Short
-     Parliament--Riots in London--Preparations of the Scots--Mutiny in
-     the English Army--Invasion of England--Treaty of Ripon--Meeting of
-     the Long Parliament--Impeachment of Strafford--His Trial--He is
-     abandoned by Charles--His Execution--The King's Visit to
-     Scotland                                                      550
-
-[Illustration: DANDY OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I.
-
-(_From a Broadside, dated 1646._)]
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
-                                                                PAGE
-
-    Dandy of the Time of Charles I.                               IX
-
-    Eltham Palace, from the North-east                             1
-
-    The Duke of York Challenged to Mortal Combat                   5
-
-    View in Luebeck: The Church of St. Aegidius                     9
-
-    Clifford's Tower: York Castle                                 12
-
-    Rutland beseeching Clifford to spare his Life                 13
-
-    The Quarrel in the Temple Gardens                             17
-
-    Edward IV.                                                    20
-
-    Dunstanburgh Castle                                           21
-
-    Great Seal of Edward IV.                                      25
-
-    Gold Rose Noble of Edward IV.                                 28
-
-    Preaching at St. Paul's Cross                                 29
-
-    Battle of Barnet: Death of the King-maker                     33
-
-    Burial of King Henry                                          37
-
-    Louis XI. and the Herald                                      41
-
-    St. Andrews, from the Pier                                    45
-
-    Great Seal of Edward V.                                       48
-
-    Edward V.                                                     49
-
-    The Tower of London: Bloody and Wakefield Towers              52
-
-    Great Seal of Richard III.                                    53
-
-    The Princes in the Tower                                      56
-
-    Richard III.                                                  57
-
-    Richard III. at the Battle of Bosworth                        61
-
-    Facsimile of Caxton's Printing in the "Dictes and Sayings
-      of Philosophers," (1477)                                    65
-
-    Earl Rivers Presenting Caxton to Edward IV.                   65
-
-    The Quadrangle, Eton College                                  68
-
-    Interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge                  69
-
-    Street in London in the Fifteenth Century                     73
-
-    Cannon of the End of the Fifteenth Century                    75
-
-    Great Seal of Henry VII.                                      77
-
-    Henry VII.                                                    80
-
-    The Last Stand of Schwarz and his Germans                     81
-
-    Penny of Henry VII. Angel of Henry VII. Noble of Henry VII.
-      Sovereign of Henry VII.                                     85
-
-    Stirling Castle                                               89
-
-    St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall                                 92
-
-    Lady Catherine Gordon before Henry VII.                       93
-
-    The Byward Tower, Tower of London                             97
-
-    King Henry's Departure from Henningham Castle                100
-
-    Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey                       101
-
-    Great Seal of Henry VIII.                                    105
-
-    Meeting of Henry and the Emperor Maximilian                  108
-
-    Henry and the captured French Officers                       109
-
-    Edinburgh after Flodden                                      113
-
-    Archbishop Warham                                            117
-
-    Hampton Court Palace                                         121
-
-    Henry VIII.                                                  125
-
-    Great Ship of Henry VIII.                                    129
-
-    Stirling, from the Abbey Craig                               132
-
-    Cardinal Wolsey                                              133
-
-    Silver Groat of Henry VIII. Gold Crown of Henry VIII.
-      George Noble of Henry VIII.                                136
-
-    Pound Sovereign of Henry VIII. Double Sovereign of
-      Henry VIII.                                                137
-
-    Surrender of Francis on the Battle-field of Pavia            141
-
-    Martin Luther                                                145
-
-    The Trial of Queen Catherine                                 149
-
-    The Dismissal of Wolsey                                      153
-
-    The Tower of London: Sketch in the Gardens                   157
-
-    Sir Thomas More                                              160
-
-    The Parting of Sir Thomas More and his Daughter              161
-
-    Anne Boleyn                                                  165
-
-    Anne Boleyn's Last Farewell of her Ladies                    168
-
-    St. Peter's Chapel, Tower Green, London, where Anne
-      Boleyn was Buried                                          169
-
-    The Pilgrimage of Grace                                      173
-
-    Gateway of Kirkham Priory                                    176
-
-    Beauchamp Tower, and Place of Execution within the
-      Tower of London                                            177
-
-    Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex                               181
-
-    Catherine Howard being conveyed to the Tower                 185
-
-    Capture of the Fitzgeralds                                   188
-
-    The First Levee of Mary Queen of Scots                       192
-
-    View in St. Andrews: North Street                            193
-
-    Francis I.                                                   197
-
-    The Assassination of Cardinal Beaton                         201
-
-    Edward VI.                                                   205
-
-    Great Seal of Edward VI.                                     209
-
-    The Royal Herald in Ket's Camp                               212
-
-    Old Somerset House, London                                   213
-
-    The Duke of Somerset                                         217
-
-    Silver Crown of Edward VI.                                   219
-
-    Sixpence of Edward VI. Shilling of Edward VI. Pound
-      Sovereign of Edward VI. Triple Sovereign of Edward VI.     220
-
-    Queen Mary and the State Prisoners in the Tower              221
-
-    Great Seal of Philip and Mary                                224
-
-    View from the Constable's Garden, Tower of London            225
-
-    Old London Bridge, with Nonsuch Palace                       229
-
-    Lady Jane Grey on her way to the Scaffold                    233
-
-    Archbishop Cranmer                                           237
-
-    The Place of Martyrdom, Old Smithfield                       240
-
-    Mary I.                                                      241
-
-    The Hotel de Ville and Old Lighthouse, Calais                244
-
-    Shilling of Philip and Mary. Real of Mary I.                 245
-
-    Elizabeth's Public Entry into London                         249
-
-    Elizabeth                                                    252
-
-    Autograph of Elizabeth                                       253
-
-    Mar's Work, Stirling                                         257
-
-    Great Seal of Elizabeth                                      260
-
-    Mary, Queen of Scots                                         261
-
-    The Murder of Rizzio                                         265
-
-    Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh                                   269
-
-    Mary Signing the Deed of Abdication in Lochleven Castle      273
-
-    Lord Burleigh                                                276
-
-    Farthing of Elizabeth. Halfpenny of Elizabeth. Penny
-      of Elizabeth. Twopence of Elizabeth. Half-crown
-      of Elizabeth. Half-sovereign of Elizabeth                  277
-
-    The Duke of Norfolk's Interview with Elizabeth               281
-
-    The Regent Murray                                            284
-
-    High Street, Linlithgow                                      285
-
-    Kenilworth Castle                                            289
-
-    The House of the English Ambassador during the Massacre
-      of St. Bartholomew                                         293
-
-    Murder of the Earl of Desmond                                297
-
-    The Earl of Arran accusing Morton of the Murder of Darnley   300
-
-    Dumbarton Rock, with view of Castle                          301
-
-    The Earl of Leicester                                        305
-
-    Trial of Mary Queen of Scots in Fotheringay Castle           309
-
-    Mary Queen of Scots receiving Intimation of her Doom         312
-
-    Sir Francis Drake                                            317
-
-    The Hoe, Plymouth                                            320
-
-    The Armada in Sight                                          321
-
-    Philip II.                                                   325
-
-    Beauchamp Tower, Warders' Houses, and Yeoman Gaolers'
-      Lodgings: Tower of London                                  329
-
-    The Quarrel between Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex          332
-
-    The Earl of Essex                                            333
-
-    Lord Grey and his Followers Attacking the Earl of
-      Southampton                                                337
-
-    Elizabeth's Promenade on Richmond Green                      340
-
-    Richmond Palace                                              341
-
-    Town and Country Folk of Elizabeth's Reign                   345
-
-    State Trial in Westminster Hall in the Time of Elizabeth     349
-
-    John Knox                                                    353
-
-    Reduced Facsimile of the Title-page of the Great Bible,
-      also called Cromwell's Bible                               357
-
-    Christ's Hospital, London                                    361
-
-    Latimer Preaching before Edward VI.                          364
-
-    Roger Ascham's Visit to Lady Jane Grey                       365
-
-    Edmund Spenser                                               369
-
-    The House at Stratford-on-Avon in which Shakespeare was Born 373
-
-    Shakespeare                                                  376
-
-    The Acting of one of Shakespeare's Plays in the Time of
-      Queen Elizabeth                                            377
-
-    Queen Elizabeth's Cither and Music-book                      379
-
-    Holland House, Kensington                                    380
-
-    The Great Court of Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire              381
-
-    Entrance from the Courtyard of Burleigh House, Stamford      383
-
-    Elizabeth's Drawing-room, Penshurst Place                    384
-
-    Soldiers of the Tudor Period                                 385
-
-    The Wedding of Jack of Newbury: The Bride's Procession       389
-
-    Ships of Elizabeth's Time                                    393
-
-    The First Royal Exchange, London (Founded by Sir Thomas
-      Gresham)                                                   396
-
-    Sir Thomas Gresham                                           397
-
-    The Frolic of My Lord of Misrule                             401
-
-    Punishment of the Stocks                                     403
-
-    James I.                                                     405
-
-    St. Thomas's Tower and Traitor's Gate, Tower of London       409
-
-    Sir Walter Raleigh                                           412
-
-    The Dissenting Divines Presenting their Petition to James    413
-
-    The Old Palace, Westminster, in the time of Charles I.       417
-
-    Great Seal of James I.                                       420
-
-    Guy Fawkes's Cellar under Parliament House                   421
-
-    Lord Monteagle and the Warning Letter about the Gunpowder
-      Plot                                                       425
-
-    Arrest of Guy Fawkes                                         428
-
-    Pound Sovereign of James I. Unit or Laurel of James I.
-      (Gold). Spur Rial of James I. (Gold).
-      Thistle Crown of James I. (Gold)                           432
-
-    Sir Robert Cecil, afterwards Earl of Salisbury               433
-
-    Shilling of James I. Crown of James I.                       436
-
-    James and his Courtiers setting out for the Hunt             437
-
-    The Star Chamber                                             441
-
-    Flight of the Lady Arabella Stuart                           444
-
-    Notre Dame, Caudebec                                         445
-
-    Sir Francis Bacon (Viscount St. Albans)                      449
-
-    The Banqueting House, Whitehall                              452
-
-    Greenwich Palace in the time of James I.                     456
-
-    Sir Edward Coke                                              457
-
-    Andrew Melville before the Scottish Privy Council            461
-
-    Keeping Sunday, according to King James's Book of Sports     465
-
-    Parliament House, Dublin, in the Seventeenth Century         469
-
-    Sir Francis Bacon waiting an Audience of Buckingham          472
-
-    Arrest of Sir Walter Raleigh                                 476
-
-    Sir Walter Raleigh before the Judges                         477
-
-    The Franzensring, Vienna                                     481
-
-    Interview between Bacon and the Deputation from the Lords    484
-
-    George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham                          485
-
-    The Fleet Prison                                             489
-
-    Public Reception of Prince Charles in Madrid                 493
-
-    Prince Charles's Farewell of the Infanta                     497
-
-    The Royal Palace, Madrid                                     500
-
-    The Ladies of the French Court and the Portrait of
-      Prince Charles                                             504
-
-    Henrietta Maria                                              505
-
-    Great Seal of Charles I.                                     509
-
-    Charles welcoming his Queen to England                       512
-
-    Charles I.                                                   513
-
-    Reception of Viscount Wimbledon at Plymouth                  516
-
-    York House (The Duke of Buckingham's Mansion)                517
-
-    Trial of Buckingham                                          521
-
-    Interior of the Banqueting House, Whitehall                  525
-
-    Sir John Eliot                                               529
-
-    Assassination of the Duke of Buckingham                      533
-
-    Tyburn in the time of Charles I.                             537
-
-    Three Pound Piece of Charles I. Broad of Charles I.
-      Briot Shilling of Charles I.                               540
-
-    John Selden                                                  541
-
-    Scene in the House of Commons: The Speaker Coerced           545
-
-    Interior of Old St. Paul's                                   549
-
-    Dunblane                                                     552
-
-    Archbishop Laud                                              553
-
-    John Lilburne on the Pillory                                 557
-
-    The Birmingham Tower, Dublin Castle                          561
-
-    Sir Thomas Wentworth (Earl of Strafford)                     564
-
-    The People Signing the Covenant in St. Giles's Church,
-      Edinburgh                                                  568
-
-    St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, in the 17th Century           569
-
-    The Old College, Glasgow, in the 17th Century                573
-
-    Charles and the Scottish Commissioners                       577
-
-    John Hampden                                                 581
-
-    Guildhall, London, in the time of Charles I.                 585
-
-    Advance of the Covenanters across the Border into England    589
-
-    John Pym                                                     592
-
-    Arrest of the Earl of Strafford                              593
-
-    Westminster Hall and Palace Yard in the time of Charles I.   597
-
-    Charles Signing the Commission of Assent to Strafford's
-      Attainder                                                  601
-
-    The Old Parliament House, Edinburgh                          604
-
-    The Marquis of Montrose                                      605
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF PLATES
-
-
-    DEPARTURE OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO
-      CHASTISE THE BARBARY CORSAIRS.
-     (_From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum_)     _Frontispiece_
-
-    THE CROWN OF ENGLAND BEING OFFERED TO RICHARD, DUKE OF
-      GLOUCESTER, AT BAYNARD'S CASTLE, IN 1483.
-      (_By Sigismund Goetze_)                            _To face p._ 50
-
-    CAXTON SHOWING THE FIRST SPECIMEN OF HIS PRINTING TO KING
-      EDWARD IV., AT THE ALMONRY, WESTMINSTER.
-      (_By Daniel Maclise, R.A._)                               "     64
-
-    THE GRAND ASSAULT UPON THE TOWN OF AFRICA BY THE ENGLISH
-      AND FRENCH. (_From the Froissart MS.
-      in the British Museum_)                                   "     72
-
-    FROISSART PRESENTING HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS TO RICHARD II.,
-      IN 1395.--THE LANDING OF THE LADY DE COUCY AT BOULOGNE.
-      (_From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum_)          "     74
-
-    CARDINAL WOLSEY GOING IN PROCESSION TO WESTMINSTER HALL.
-      (_By Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S._)                   "    118
-
-    CARDINAL WOLSEY AT LEICESTER ABBEY. (_By Sir John Gilbert,
-      R.A., P.R.W.S._)                                          "    154
-
-    SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES. (MOSS-TROOPERS RETURNING FROM A
-      FORAY.) (_By S. E. Waller_)                               "    190
-
-    LADY JANE GREY'S RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT THE CROWN OF ENGLAND.
-      (_By C. R. Leslie, R.A._)                                 "    222
-
-    CRANMER AT TRAITORS' GATE. (_By F. Goodall, R.A._)          "    226
-
-    QUEEN ELIZABETH. (_By F. Zucchero_)                         "    246
-
-    THE PREACHING OF JOHN KNOX BEFORE THE LORDS OF THE
-      CONGREGATION, 10TH JUNE, 1559. (_By Sir David Wilkie,
-      R.A._)                                                    "    256
-
-    THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. (_By Albert Goodwin, R.W.S._)        "    312
-
-    "THE SURRENDER": AN INCIDENT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
-      (_By Seymour Lucas, R.A._)                                "    322
-
-    A STORY OF THE SPANISH MAIN. (_By Seymour Lucas, R.A._)     "    338
-
-    WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. (_From the Painting known as the
-      Chandos Portrait, and attributed to Richard Burbage,
-      in the National Portrait Gallery_)                        "    374
-
-    MAP OF THE WORLD AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY,
-      SHOWING THE DISCOVERIES OF BRITISH AND OTHER EXPLORERS    "    394
-
-    THE DEPARTURE OF THE "MAYFLOWER." (_By A. W. Bayes_)        "    474
-
-    ILLUMINATED PAGE, WITH BORDERING. (_From the Froissart MS.
-      in the British Museum_)                                   "    512
-
-    VISIT OF CHARLES I. TO THE GUILDHALL.
-      (_By Solomon J. Solomon, R.A._)                           "    582
-
-    STRAFFORD GOING TO EXECUTION. (_By Paul Delaroche_)         "    604
-
-[Illustration:
-
-    _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-    _Reproduced by Andre & Sleigh, Ld., Buskey, Herts._
-
-DEPARTURE OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO CHASTISE THE
-BARBARY CORSAIRS.
-
-THE PERSONAGE IN THE PLACE OF HONOUR IN THE ROWING-BOAT IS BELIEVED TO
-BE THE DUKE OF BOURBON. THE VESSEL IN THE CENTRE CONTAINS SEVERAL FRENCH
-KNIGHTS: IN THAT ON THE LEFT IS HENRY DE BEAUFORT (A NATURAL SON OF THE
-DUKE OF LANCASTER), WITH ENGLISH KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: ELTHAM PALACE, FROM THE NORTH-EAST. (_After an Engraving
-published in 1735._)]
-
-CASSELL'S
-
-ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE WARS OF THE ROSES.
-
-     Cade's Rebellion--York comes over from Ireland--His Claims
-     and the Unpopularity of the Reigning Line--His First
-     Appearance in Arms--Birth of the Prince of Wales--York made
-     Protector--Recovery of the King--Battle of St. Albans--York's
-     second Protectorate--Brief Reconciliation of Parties--Battle of
-     Blore Heath--Flight of the Yorkists--Battle of Northampton--York
-     Claims the Crown--The Lords Attempt a Compromise--Death of York
-     at Wakefield--Second Battle of St. Albans--The Young Duke of York
-     Marches on London--His Triumphant Entry.
-
-
-Henry the Sixth and his queen were plunged into grief and consternation
-at the extraordinary death of Suffolk in 1450. They saw that a powerful
-party was engaged in thus defeating their attempt to rescue Suffolk
-from his enemies by a slight term of exile; and they strongly suspected
-that the Duke of York, though absent in his government of Ireland, was
-at the bottom of it. It was more than conjectured that he entertained
-serious designs of profiting by the unpopularity of the Government to
-assert his claims to the crown. This ought to have made the king and
-queen especially circumspect, but, so far from this being the case,
-Henry announced his resolve to punish the people of Kent for the murder
-of Suffolk, which had been perpetrated on their coast. The queen was
-furious in her vows of vengeance. These unwise demonstrations incurred
-the anger of the people, and especially irritated the inhabitants of
-Kent. To add to the popular discontent, Somerset, who had lost by his
-imbecility the French territories, was made minister in the place of
-Suffolk, and invested with all the favour of the court. The people in
-several counties threatened to rise and reform the Government; and the
-opportunity was seized by a bold adventurer of the name of John Cade,
-an Irishman, to attempt a revolution. He selected Kent as the quarter
-more pre-eminently in a state of excitement against the prevailing
-misrule, and declaring that he belonged to the royal line of Mortimer,
-and was cousin to the Duke of York, he gave himself out to be the son of
-Sir John Mortimer, who, on a charge of high treason, had been executed
-in the beginning of this reign, without trial or evidence. The lenity
-which Henry V. had always shown to the Mortimers--their title being
-superior to his own, their position near the throne was of course an
-element of danger--had not been imitated by Bedford and Gloucester, the
-infant king's uncles, and their neglect of the forms of a regular trial
-had only strengthened the opinions of the people as to the Mortimer
-rights. No sooner, therefore, did Jack Cade assume this popular name,
-than the people, burning with the anger of the hour against the unlucky
-dynasty, flocked, to the number of 20,000, to his standard, and advanced
-to Blackheath. Emissaries were sent into London to stir up the people
-there, and induce them to open their gates and join the movement. As the
-Government, taken by surprise, was destitute of the necessary troops on
-the spot to repel so formidable a body of insurgents, it put on the same
-air of moderation which Richard II. had done in Tyler's rebellion, and
-many messages passed between the king and the pretended Mortimer, or, as
-he also called himself, John Amend-all.
-
-In reply to the king's inquiry as to the cause of this assembly, Cade
-sent in "The Complaints of the Commons of Kent, and the Causes of the
-Assembly on Blackheath." These documents were ably and artfully drawn.
-They professed the most affectionate attachment to the king, and demanded
-the redress of what were universally known to be real and enormous
-grievances. The wrongs were those under which the kingdom had long been
-smarting--the loss of the territories in France, and the loss of the
-national honour with them, through the treason and mal-administration of
-the ministers; the usurpation of the Crown lands by the greedy courtiers,
-and the consequent shifting of the royal expenditure to the shoulders of
-the people, with the scandals, offences, and robberies of purveyance.
-The "Complaints" asserted that the people of Kent had been especially
-victimised and ill-used by the sheriffs and tax-gatherers, and that the
-free elections of their knights of the shire had been prevented. They
-declared, moreover, that corrupt men were employed at court, and the
-princes of the blood and honest men kept out of power.
-
-Government undertook to examine into these causes of complaint, and
-promised an answer; but the people soon were aware that this was only
-a pretence to gain time, and that the answer would be presented at the
-point of the sword. Jack Cade, therefore, sent out what he called "The
-Requests of the Captain of the Great Assembly in Kent." These "Requests"
-were based directly on the previous complaints, and were that the king
-should renew the grants of the Crown, and so enable himself to live on
-his own income, without fleecing the people; that he should dismiss all
-corrupt councillors, and all the progeny of the Duke of Suffolk, and
-take into his service his right trusty cousins and noble peers, the
-Duke of York, now banished to Ireland, the Dukes of Exeter, Buckingham,
-and Norfolk. This looked assuredly as if those who drew up those papers
-for Cade were in the interest of the York party, and the more so as the
-document went on to denounce the traitors who had compassed the death of
-that excellent prince the Duke of Gloucester, and of their holy father
-the cardinal, and who had so shamefully caused the loss of Maine, Anjou,
-Normandy, and our other lands in France. The assumed murder of the
-cardinal, who had died almost in public, and surrounded by the ceremonies
-of the Church, was too ridiculous, and was probably thrown in to hide the
-actual party at work. The "Requests" then demanded summary execution on
-the detested collectors and extortioners, Crowmer, Lisle, Este, and Sleg.
-
-The court had now a force ready equal to that of the insurgents, and
-sent it under Sir Humphrey Stafford to answer the "Requests" by cannon
-and matchlock. Cade retreated to Sevenoaks, where, taking advantage of
-Stafford's too hasty pursuit, with only part of his forces, he fell upon
-his troops, put them to flight, killed Stafford, and, arraying himself
-in the slain man's armour, advanced again to his former position on
-Blackheath.
-
-This unexpected success threw the court into a panic. The soldiers
-who had gone to Sevenoaks had gone unwillingly; and those left on
-Blackheath now declared that they knew not why they should fight their
-fellow-countrymen for only asking redress of undoubted grievances.
-The nobles, who were at heart adverse to the present ministers, found
-this quite reasonable, and the court was obliged to assume an air of
-concession. The Lord Say, who had been one of Suffolk's most obsequious
-instruments, and was regarded by the people as a prime agent in the
-making over of Maine and Anjou, was sent to the Tower with some inferior
-officers. The king was advised to disband his army, and retire to
-Kenilworth; and Lord Scales, with a thousand men, undertook to defend the
-Tower. Cade advanced from Blackheath, took possession of Southwark, and
-demanded entrance into the city of London.
-
-The lord mayor summoned a council, in which the proposal was debated;
-and it was concluded to offer no resistance. On the 3rd of July Cade
-marched over the bridge, and took up his quarters in the heart of the
-capital. He took the precaution to cut the ropes of the drawbridge with
-his sword as he passed, to prevent his being caught, as in a trap; and,
-maintaining strict discipline amongst his followers, he led them back
-into the Borough in the evening. The next day he reappeared in the same
-circumspect and orderly manner; and, compelling the lord mayor and
-the judges to sit in Guildhall, he brought Lord Say before them, and
-arraigned him on a charge of high treason. Say demanded to be tried by
-his peers; but he was hurried away to the standard in Cheapside, and
-beheaded. His son-in-law, Crowmer, sheriff of Kent, was served in the
-same manner. The Duchess of Suffolk, the Bishop of Salisbury, Thomas
-Daniel, and others, were accused of the like high crimes, but, luckily,
-were not to be found. The bishop had already fallen at the hands of his
-own tenants at Edington, in Wiltshire.
-
-On the third day Cade's followers plundered some of the houses of the
-citizens; and the Londoners, calling in Lord Scales with his 1,000 men to
-aid them, resolved that Cade should be prevented from again entering the
-city. Cade received notice of this from some of his partisans, and rushed
-to the bridge in the night to secure it. He found it already in the
-possession of the citizens. There was a bloody battle, which lasted for
-six hours, when the insurgents drew off, and left the Londoners masters
-of the bridge.
-
-On receiving this news, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, who were
-in the Tower, determined to try the ruse which had succeeded with the
-followers of Wat Tyler. They therefore sent the Bishop of Winchester to
-promise redress of grievances, and a full pardon under the great seal,
-for every one who should at once return to their homes. After some demur,
-the terms were gratefully accepted; Cade himself embraced the offered
-grace, according to the subsequent proclamation against him, dated the
-10th of July; but quickly repenting of his credulity, he once more
-unfurled his banner, and found a number of men ready to rejoin it. This
-mere remnant of the insurgent host, however, was utterly incapable of
-effecting anything against the city; they retired to Deptford, and thence
-to Rochester, hoping to gather a fresh army. But the people had now
-cooled; the rioters began to divide their plunder and to quarrel over it;
-and Cade, seeing all was lost, and fearing that he should be seized for
-the reward of 1,000 marks offered for his head, fled on horseback towards
-Lewes. Disguising himself, he lurked about in secret places, till, being
-discovered in a garden at Heathfield, in Kent, by Alexander Iden, the
-new sheriff; he was, after a short battle, killed by Iden, and his body
-carried to London.
-
-That the party of the Duke of York had some concern in Cade's rebellion,
-the Government not only suspected, but several of Cade's followers when
-brought to execution, are said to have confessed as much. But stronger
-evidence of the fact is, that there was an immediate rumour that the duke
-himself was preparing to cross over to England. The court at once issued
-orders in the king's name, to forbid his coming, and to oppose any armed
-attempt on his part. The duke defeated this scheme by appearing without
-any retinue whatever, trusting to the good-will of the people. His
-confidence in thus coming at once to the very court put the Government,
-which had shown such suspicion of him, completely in the wrong in the eye
-of the public.
-
-We are now on the eve of that contest for the possession of the crown,
-which figures so eminently in history as the Wars of the Roses. The
-accession of Henry IV., productive of very bloody consequences at the
-time, had nearly been forgotten through the brilliant successes of his
-son, Henry V.; but still the heirs of the true line, according to the
-doctrine of lineal descent, were in existence. The Mortimers, Earls of
-March, had been spared by the usurping family; and Richard, Duke of
-York, was now the representative of that line. To understand clearly
-how the Mortimers, and from them Richard, Duke of York, took precedence
-of Henry VI., according to lineal descent, we must recollect that Henry
-IV. was the son of John of Gaunt, who was the fourth son of Edward III.
-On the deposition of Richard II., who was the son of the Black Prince,
-the eldest son of Edward III., there was living the Earl of March, the
-grandson of Lionel, the _third_ son of Edward III., who had clearly the
-right to precede Henry. This right had been, moreover, recognised by
-Parliament. But Henry of Lancaster, disregarding this claim, seized on
-the crown by force, yet took no care to destroy the true claimant. Now,
-the Duke of York, who was paternally descended from Edmund of Langley,
-the fifth son of Edward III., was also maternally the lineal descendant
-of Lionel, the third son through the daughter and heiress of Mortimer,
-the Earl of March. By this descent he preceded the descendants of Henry
-IV., and was by right of heirship the undoubted claimant of the English
-crown.
-
-The Marches had shown no disposition whatever to assert that right, and
-this had proved their safety. They had been for several generations a
-particularly modest and unambitious race; and so long as the descendants
-of Henry IV. had proved able or popular monarchs, their claim would
-have lain in abeyance. But they were never forgotten; and now that the
-imbecility and long minority of Henry VI. had created strong factions,
-and disgusted the people, this claim was zealously revived. Henry IV. had
-but one real and indefeasible claim to the throne--namely, that of the
-election of the people, had he chosen to accept it; but this he proudly
-rejected, and took his stand on his lineal descent from Edward III.,
-where the heirs of his uncle Lionel had entirely the advantage of him.
-
-The people who had favoured, and would have adopted Henry IV., had now
-become alienated from the house of Lancaster, through the incapacity
-of the present king, by which they had lost the whole of their ancient
-possessions, as well as their conquests in France. Nothing remained but
-heavy taxation and national exhaustion, as the net result of all the
-wars in that kingdom. In this respect the very glory of Henry V. became
-the ruin of his son. While the people complained of their poverty and
-oppression in consequence of those wars, they were doubly harassed by the
-factious quarrels of the king's relatives. They had attached themselves
-to the Duke of Gloucester, and he had been murdered by these cliques,
-and, as was generally believed, at the instigation of the queen. Queen
-Margaret, indeed, completed the alienation of the people from the house
-of Lancaster. She was not only French--a nation now in the worst odour
-with the people of England--but through her they had lost Maine and Anjou.
-
-These circumstances now drew the hearts of the people as strongly
-towards the Duke of York, as they had formerly been attracted to the
-house of Lancaster. They began to regard him with interest, as a person
-whose rights to the throne had been unjustly overlooked. He was a man
-who seemed to possess much of the modest and amiable character of the
-Marches. He had been recalled from France, where he was ably conducting
-himself, by the influence of the queen, as was believed, and sent as
-governor into Ireland, as a sort of honourable banishment. But though
-treated in a manner calculated to provoke him, he had retained the
-unassuming moderation of his demeanour. He had yet made no public
-pretensions to the crown, and though circumstances seemed to invite him,
-showed no haste to seize it. There were many circumstances, indeed,
-which tended to make all parties hesitate to proceed to extremities.
-True, the queen was highly unpopular, but Henry, though weak, was so
-amiable, pious, and just, that the people, although groaning under the
-consequences of his weakness, yet retained much affection for him. There
-were also numbers of nobles of great influence who had benefited by the
-long minority of the king, and who, much as they disliked the queen's
-party, were afraid of being called on, in case another dynasty was
-established, to yield up the valuable grants which they had obtained.
-
-Thus the kingdom was divided into three parties: those who took part with
-Somerset and the queen, those who inclined to the Duke of York, and those
-who, having benefited by the long reign of corruption, were afraid of any
-change, and endeavoured to hold the balance betwixt the extreme parties.
-Almost all the nobles of the North of England were zealous supporters of
-the house of Lancaster, and with them went the Earl of Westmoreland, the
-head of the house of Neville, though the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick,
-the most influential members of the family, were the chief champions of
-the cause of York. With the Duke of Somerset also followed, in support of
-the crown, Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, Stafford, Duke of Buckingham,
-the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the Lords Clifford, Dudley, Scales, Audley,
-and other noblemen. With the Duke of York, besides the Earls of Salisbury
-and Warwick, went many of the southern houses.
-
-[Illustration: THE DUKE OF YORK CHALLENGED TO MORTAL COMBAT. (_See p._
-6.)]
-
-Such was the state of public feeling and the position of parties when
-the insurrection of Cade occurred. The Duke of York had made himself
-additionally popular by his conduct in Ireland. He had shown great
-prudence and ability in suppressing the insurrections of the natives;
-and thus made fast friends of all the English who had connections in
-that island. No doubt the members of his own party used every argument
-to incite the duke to assert his right to the throne, and so to free the
-country from the dominance of the queen and her favourites. That it was
-the general opinion that the Cade conspiracy was a direct feeler on the
-part of the Yorkists, is clear from Shakespeare, who wrote so much nearer
-to that day. But when York appeared upon the scene, Cade had already paid
-the penalty of his outbreak. On his way to town, York, passing through
-Northamptonshire, sent for William Tresham, the late Speaker of the House
-of Commons, who had taken an active part in the prosecution of Suffolk.
-But, on his way to the duke, Tresham was fallen upon by the men of Lord
-Grey de Ruthin, and murdered. York proceeded to London, as related, and
-appeared before the king, where he demanded of him to summon a Parliament
-for the settlement of the disturbed affairs of the realm. Henry promised,
-and York meanwhile retired to his castle at Fotheringay.
-
-Scarcely had York retired when Somerset arrived from France, and the
-queen and Henry hailed him as a champion sent in the moment of need
-to sustain the court party against the power and designs of York. But
-Somerset came from the loss of France, and, therefore, loaded with an
-awful weight of public odium; and with her vindictive disregard of
-appearances, Queen Margaret immediately transferred to him all her old
-predilection for Suffolk. When the Parliament met, the temper of the
-public mind was very soon apparent. Out of doors the life of Somerset
-was threatened by the mob, and his house was pillaged. In the Commons,
-Young, one of the representatives of Bristol, moved that, as Henry had
-no children, York should be declared his successor. This proposal seemed
-to take the house by surprise, and Young was committed to the Tower. But
-a bill was carried to attaint the memory of the Duke of Suffolk, and
-another to remove from about the king the Duchess of Suffolk, the Duke
-of Somerset, and almost all the party in power. Henry refused to accede
-to these measures, any further than promising to withdraw a number of
-inferior persons from the court for twelve months, during which time
-their conduct might be inquired into. On this the Duchess of Suffolk
-and the other persons indicted of high treason during the insurrection,
-demanded to be heard in their defence, and were acquitted.
-
-The spirit of the opposite factions ran very high; the party of Somerset
-accusing that of York of treasonable designs, and that of York declaring
-that the court was plotting to destroy the duke as they had destroyed
-Gloucester. York retired to his castle of Ludlow, in Shropshire, where
-he was in the very centre of the Mortimer interest, and under plea
-of securing himself against Somerset, he actively employed himself
-in raising forces, at the same time issuing a proclamation of the
-most devoted loyalty, and offering to swear fealty to the king on the
-sacrament before the Bishop of Hereford and the Earl of Shrewsbury. The
-court paid no attention to his professions, but an army was led by the
-king against him. York, instead of awaiting the blow, took another road,
-and endeavoured to reach and obtain possession of London in the king's
-absence. On approaching the capital, he received a message that its gates
-would be shut against him, and he then turned aside to Dartford, probably
-hoping for support from the same population which had followed Cade.
-The king pursued him, and encamping on Blackheath, sent the Bishops of
-Ely and Winchester to demand why he was in arms. York replied that he
-was in arms from no disloyal design, but merely to protect himself from
-his enemies. The king told him his movements had been watched since the
-murder of the Bishop of Chichester by men supposed to be in his interest,
-and still more since his partisans had openly boasted of his right to
-the crown; but for his own part, he himself believed him to be a loyal
-subject, and his own well-beloved cousin.
-
-York demanded that all persons "noised or indicted of treason" should be
-apprehended, committed to the Tower, and brought to trial. All this the
-king, or his advisers, promised, and as Somerset was one of the persons
-chiefly aimed at by York, the king gave an instant order for the arrest
-and committal of Somerset, and assured York that a new council should
-be summoned, in which he himself should be included, and all matters
-decided by a majority. At these frank promises York expressed himself
-entirely satisfied, disbanded his army, and came bareheaded to the king's
-tent. What occurred, however, was by no means in accordance with the
-honourable character of the king, and savoured more of the councils of
-the queen. No sooner did York present himself before Henry, and begin to
-enter upon the causes of complaint, than Somerset stepped from behind a
-curtain, denied the assertions of York, and defied him to mortal combat.
-So flagrant a breach of faith showed York that he had been betrayed. He
-turned to depart in indignant resentment, but he was informed that he was
-a prisoner. Somerset was urgent for his trial and execution, as the only
-means of securing the permanent peace of the realm. Henry had a horror
-of spilling blood; but in this instance York is said to have owed his
-safety rather to the fears of the ministers than any act of grace of the
-king, who was probably in no condition of mind to be capable of thinking
-upon the subject. There was already a report that York's son, the Earl
-of March, was on the way towards London with a strong army of Welshmen,
-to liberate his father. This so alarmed the queen and council that they
-agreed to set free the duke, on condition that he swore to be faithful to
-the king, which he did at St. Paul's, Henry and his chief nobility being
-present. York then retired to his castle of Wigmore.
-
-In the autumn of 1453 the queen was delivered of a son, who was called
-Edward. There was a cry in the country that this was no son of the
-king--a cry zealously promoted by the partisans of York--but it did not
-prevent the young prince from being recognised as the heir-apparent, and
-created Prince of Wales, Earl of Cornwall and Chester. But the king had
-now fallen into such a state of imbecility, with periods of absolute
-insanity, that those who had denied the legitimacy of his mother, Queen
-Catherine, might well change their opinion; for Henry's malady seemed
-to be precisely that of his reputed grandfather, Charles VI. of France.
-Such was his condition, that Parliament would no longer consent to leave
-him in the hands of the queen and Somerset. In the autumn the influence
-of Parliament compelled the recall of York to the council; and this, as
-might have been expected, was immediately followed by the committal of
-Somerset to the Tower. In February Parliament recommenced its sittings,
-and York appeared as lieutenant or commissioner for the king, who was
-incapable of opening it in person. It had been the policy of the queen to
-keep concealed the real condition of the king, but with York at the head
-of affairs, this was no longer possible. The House of Lords appointed a
-deputation to wait on Henry at Windsor. The Archbishop of Canterbury,
-who was also Lord Chancellor, was dead; and the Lords seized upon the
-occasion as the plea for a personal interview, according to ancient
-custom, with the king. Twelve peers accordingly proceeded to Windsor,
-and would not return without seeing the monarch. They found him in such
-a state of mental alienation that, though they saw him three times,
-they could perceive no mark of attention from him. They reported him
-utterly incapable of transacting any business; and the Duke of York was
-thereupon appointed protector, with a yearly salary of 2,000 marks. The
-Lancastrian party, however, took care to define the duties and the powers
-of this office, so as to maintain the rights of the king. The title of
-protector was to give no authority, but merely precedence in the council,
-and the command of the army in time of rebellion or invasion. It was
-to be revocable at the will of the king, should he at any time recover
-soundness of mind; and, in case that he remained so long incapacitated
-for Government, the protectorate was to pass to the prince Edward on his
-coming of age. The command at sea was entrusted to five noblemen, chosen
-from the two parties; and the Government of Calais, a most important
-post, was taken from Somerset, and given to York.
-
-With all this change, the session of Parliament appears to have been
-stormy. The Duke of York had instituted an action for trespass against
-Thorpe, the Speaker of the Commons, and one of the Barons of the
-Exchequer, and obtained a verdict with damages to the amount of L1,000,
-and Thorpe was committed to prison till he gave security for that sum,
-and an equal fine to the Crown. In vain did the Commons petition for the
-release of the Speaker. The Lords refused; and they were compelled to
-elect a new one. Many of the Lords, not feeling themselves safe, absented
-themselves from the House, and were compelled to attend only by heavy
-fines. The Duke of Exeter was taken into custody, and bound to keep
-the peace; and the Earl of Devonshire, a Yorkist, was accused of high
-treason and tried, but acquitted. So strong was the opposition of the
-court party, that even York himself was compelled to stand up and defend
-himself.
-
-These angry commotions were but the prelude to a more decisive act.
-The king was found something better, and the fact was instantly seized
-on by the queen and her party to hurl York from power, and reinstate
-Somerset. About Christmas the king demanded from York the resignation
-of the protectorate, and immediately liberated Somerset. This was not
-done without Somerset being at first held to bail for his appearance
-at Westminster to answer the charges against him. But he appealed to
-the council, on the ground that he had been committed without any
-lawful cause; and the court party being now in the ascendant, he was
-at once freed from his recognisances. The king himself seemed anxious
-to reconcile the two dukes, a circumstance more convincing of his good
-nature than of his sound sense--for it was an impossibility. He would not
-restore the government of Calais to the Duke of Somerset, but he took it
-from York and retained it in his own hands. York perceived that he had
-been regularly defeated by the queen, and he retired again to his castle
-of Ludlow to plan more serious measures.
-
-The Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Salisbury and his son, the celebrated
-Earl of Warwick, destined to acquire the name of the "King-maker,"
-hastened there at his summons, and it was resolved to attempt the
-suppression of the court party by force of arms. They were quickly at the
-head of a large force, with which they hoped to surprise the royalists.
-But no sooner did the news of this approaching force reach the court,
-than the king was carried forth at the head of a body of troops equal
-to those of York, and a march was commenced against him. The royal army
-had reached St. Albans, and on the morning of the 22nd of May, 1455, as
-it was about to resume its progress, the hills bordering on the high
-road were covered with the troops of York. This army marching under
-the banners of the house of York, now for the first time displayed in
-resistance to the sovereign, halted in a field near the town, and sent
-forward a herald announcing that the three noblemen were come in all
-loyalty and attachment to the king; but with a determination to remove
-the Duke of Somerset from his councils, and demanding that he and his
-pernicious associates should be at once delivered up to them. The
-Yorkists declared that they felt this to be so absolutely necessary, that
-they were resolved to destroy those enemies to the peace of the country,
-or to perish themselves. An answer was returned by or for the king, "that
-he would not abandon any of the lords who were faithful to him, but
-rather would do battle upon it, at the peril of life and crown."
-
-It would have appeared that the royal army had a most decided advantage
-by being in possession of the town, which was well fortified, and where
-a stout resistance might have been made in the narrow streets; but,
-spite of this, the superior spirit of the commanders on the side of
-York triumphed over the royalists. York himself made a desperate attack
-on the barriers at the entrance of the town, while Warwick, searching
-the outskirts of the place, found, or was directed by some favouring
-persons to a weak spot. He made his way across some gardens, burst into
-the city, and came upon the royal forces where he was little expected.
-Aided by this diversion, York redoubled his attack on the barriers,
-and, notwithstanding their resolute defence by Lord Clifford forced an
-entrance. Between the cries of "A York! a York!" "A Warwick! a Warwick!"
-confusion spread amongst the king's forces, they gave way, and fled out
-of the town in utter rout. The slaughter among the leaders of the royal
-army was terrible. The Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland, and
-Lord Clifford were slain; the king himself was wounded in the neck, the
-Duke of Buckingham and Lord Dudley in the face, and the Earl of Stafford
-in the arm. All these were arrow wounds, and it was plain that here again
-the archers had won the day. The fall or wounds of the leaders, indeed,
-settled the business, and saved the common soldiers; for though Hall
-reports that 8,000, Stowe that 5,000 men fell, yet Crane, in a letter to
-his cousin, John Paston, written at the time, declares that there were
-only six-score, and Sir William Stonor states that only forty-eight were
-buried in St. Albans.
-
-The king was found concealed in the house of a tanner; and there York
-visited him, on his knees renewed his vows of loyal affection, and
-congratulated Henry on the fall of the traitor Somerset. He then led the
-king to the shrine of St. Albans, and afterwards to his apartment in the
-abbey. It might have been supposed that the fallen king, being now in the
-hands of York and his party, the claims of York to the crown would have
-been asserted. But at this time York either had not really determined
-on seizing the throne, or did not deem the public fully prepared for so
-great a change. On the meeting of Parliament it was reported that York
-and his friends sought only to free the king from the unpopular ministers
-who surrounded him, and to redress the grievances of the nation. That
-party complained--with what truth does not appear--that, on the very
-morning of the battle, they had sought to explain these views and
-intentions in letters, which the Duke of Somerset and Thorpe, the late
-Speaker of the Commons, had withheld from his grace. The king acquitted
-York, Salisbury, and Warwick of all evil intention, pronounced them good
-and loyal subjects, granting them a full pardon. The peers renewed their
-fealty, and Parliament was prorogued till the 12th of November. Thus
-the first blood in these civil wars had been drawn at the battle of St.
-Albans and all appeared restored to peace. But it was a deceitful calm;
-rivers of blood were yet to flow.
-
-Scarcely had Parliament reassembled when it was announced that the king
-had relapsed into his former condition. Both Lords and Commons refused
-to proceed with business till this matter was ascertained and settled.
-The Lords then requested York once more to resume the protectorate for
-the good of the nation; but this time he was not to be caught in his
-former snare. He professed his insufficiency for the onerous office, and
-begged of them to lay its responsibilities on some more able person. He
-was quite safe in this course, for he had now acquired a majority in the
-council, and the office of chancellor and the Governorship of Calais
-were in the hands of his two stout friends, Salisbury and Warwick. Of
-course, the reply was that no one was so capable or suitable as he; and
-then he expressed his willingness to accept the protectorate, but only
-on condition that its revocation should not lie in the mere will of
-the king, but in the king with the consent of the Lords spiritual and
-temporal in Parliament assembled. The protectorate was to devolve, as
-before, on the Prince of Wales, in case the malady of the king continued
-so long.
-
-York might think that he was now secure from the machinations of the
-queen, but he was deceived. This never-resting lady was at that very
-moment actively preparing for his defeat; and no sooner did Parliament
-meet after the Christmas recess than Henry again presented himself
-in person, announcing his restoration to health, and dissolved the
-protectorate. The Duke of York resigned his authority with apparent
-good-will. Calais and the chancellorship passed from Salisbury and
-Warwick to the friends of the queen; the whole Government was again on
-its old footing. Two years passed on in apparent peace to the nation, but
-in the most bitter party warfare at court. The queen and her associates
-could never rest while the Duke of York and his friends were permitted to
-escape punishment for the late outbreak. The relatives of Somerset and
-the Earl of Northumberland, and of the other nobles slain at St. Albans,
-were encouraged to demand with eagerness vengeance on the Yorkists.
-Both parties surrounded themselves more and more with armed retainers,
-and everything portended fresh acts of bloodshed and discord. The king
-endeavoured to avert this by summoning a great council at Coventry in
-1457. There the Duke of Buckingham made a formal rehearsal of all the
-offences committed by York and his party; at the conclusion of which the
-peers fell on their knees and entreated the king to make a declaration
-that he would never more show grace to the Duke of York, or any other
-person who should oppose the power of the crown or endanger the peace
-of the kingdom. To this the king consented; and then the Duke of York,
-Salisbury, and Warwick renewed their oaths of fealty, and all the lords
-bound themselves never for the future to seek redress by arms, but only
-from the justice of the sovereign.
-
-[Illustration: VIEW IN LUeBECK: THE CHURCH OF ST. AEGIDIUS.]
-
-At the close of this council, the Duke of York retired to Wigmore,
-Salisbury to Middleham, and Warwick to Calais. It was soon found that,
-notwithstanding all these oaths and these royal endeavours, the same
-animosity was alive in the two hostile parties, and the king tried still
-further the hopeless experiment of reconciliation. He prevailed on the
-leaders to meet him in London. On the 26th of January, 1458, the leaders
-of the York and Lancaster factions appeared in the metropolis, but they
-came attended by armed retainers--the Duke of York with 140 horse, the
-now Duke of Somerset with 200, and Salisbury with 400, besides fourscore
-knights and esquires. York and his friends were admitted into the city,
-probably as being more under the control of the authorities; for the lord
-mayor, at the head of 5,000 armed citizens, undertook to maintain the
-peace. The Lancastrian lords were lodged in the suburbs. Every day the
-Yorkists met at the Blackfriars and the Lancastrians at the Whitefriars,
-and after communicating with each other, the result was sent to the king,
-who lay at Berkhampstead with several of the judges. The result of their
-deliberations was this:--The king, as umpire, awarded that the Duke of
-York, and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, should, within two years,
-found a chantry for the good of the souls of the three lords slain in
-battle at St. Albans, that both those who slew, and those who were slain
-at that battle should be reputed faithful subjects; that the Duke of York
-should pay to the dowager Duchess of Somerset and her children the sum
-of 5,000, and the Earl of Warwick to the Lord Clifford 1,000 marks; and
-that the Earl of Salisbury should release to Percy Lord Egremont all the
-damages he had obtained against him for an assault, on condition that the
-said Lord Egremont should bind himself to keep the peace for ten years.
-
-The next day, March 25th, the king came to town, and went to St. Paul's
-in procession, followed by the whole court, the queen conducted by the
-Duke of York, and the lords of each party walking arm-in-arm before
-them, in token of perfect reconciliation. But real reconciliation was as
-distant as ever. The causes of contention lay too deep for the efforts
-of the simple and well-intentioned king, or even for the subtlest acts
-of diplomacy. It was the settled strife for a crown; and swords, not
-oaths, could alone decide it. The whole show was a mocking pageant.
-The slightest spark might any day light up a flame which would rage
-through the whole kingdom; and in a little more than a month such a
-spark fell into the combustible mass. News arrived that a large fleet of
-merchantmen from Luebeck had been attacked by Warwick as it passed down
-the Channel, and five sail of them captured after a severe contest, and
-carried into Calais. As Luebeck was a town of the Hanseatic League, that
-powerful association--which was in amity with England--speedily sent
-commissioners to London demanding redress. Warwick was summoned to appear
-before the council; and, whilst in attendance, a quarrel arose betwixt
-his followers and those of the court. Warwick believed, or feigned--to
-escape out of the scrape into which he had fallen--that there was a
-design upon his life. He fled to his father, Salisbury, and York, and
-they resolved that their only safety lay in arms. There was a story
-circulated, and thoroughly believed in by the Yorkist party, that the
-queen, who never forgot or forgave an enemy, kept a register, written in
-blood, of all the Yorkist chiefs, and had vowed never to rest till they
-were exterminated. In fact, both parties were arrived at that pitch of
-rancour which nothing could appease but the blood of their opponents. The
-feud was no longer confined to the nobles and their immediate retainers;
-the leaven of discord had pervaded the whole mass of the nation. The
-conflicting claims had been discussed till they had penetrated into every
-village, every family, into the convents of the monks, and the cottages
-of the poor. One party asserted that the Duke of York was an injured
-prince, driven from his hereditary right by a usurping family, and now
-marked to be destroyed by them. The other contended that, though Henry
-IV. had deposed Richard II., he had been the choice of the nation; that
-his son had made the name of England glorious; that more than sixty
-years' possession of the crown was itself sufficient warrant for its
-retention; that the Duke of York had, over and over again, sworn eternal
-fealty to Henry VI., which was in itself a renunciation of any claim he
-might previously possess; and that, in seeking now to deprive the king of
-his throne, he was a perjured and worthless man. One party argued that
-York owed his life to the clemency of the king; and the other replied
-that the king equally owed his to that of York, who had him in his power
-at St. Albans.
-
-While the nation was thus heating its blood in these disputes, the heads
-of the different factions were busy preparing to meet each other in the
-field. The three lords spent the winter in arousing their partisans.
-Warwick called around him at Calais the veterans who had fought in
-Normandy and Guienne. On the other hand, the court distributed in
-profusion collars of white swans, the badge of the young prince; and the
-friends of the king were invited by letters, under the privy seal, to
-meet him in arms at Leicester. The spring and summer had come and gone,
-however, before the rival parties proceeded to actual extremities. The
-finances of the court impeded its proceedings; and the Yorkist party
-still averred that it had no object but its own defence and the rescue of
-the Government from traitors.
-
-At length, on the 23rd of September, 1459, the Earl of Salisbury marched
-forth from his castle of Middleham, in Yorkshire, to form a junction with
-York on the borders of Wales. Lord Audley, with a force of 10,000 men,
-far exceeding that of Salisbury, sought to intercept his progress at
-Blore Heath in Staffordshire; but the veteran Salisbury was too subtle
-for his antagonist. He pretended to fly at the sight of such unequal
-numbers; and having thus seduced Audley to pass a deep glen and torrent,
-he fell upon his troops when part only were over, and, throwing them into
-confusion, made a dreadful slaughter of them. Some writers contend that
-Salisbury had only 500 men with him; but this appears incredible, for
-they left Lord Audley with 2,000 of his men dead on the field, and took
-prisoner Lord Dudley, with many knights and esquires. The earl pursued
-his way unmolested to Ludlow, where York lay, and where they were joined
-in a few days by Warwick with his large reinforcement of veterans under
-Sir John Blount and Sir Andrew Trollop.
-
-The king, queen, and lords of their party had assembled an army of 60,000
-men. With these they advanced to within half a mile of Ludiford, the
-camp of York, near Ludlow, on the 10th of October; and Henry, after all
-his experience, had the goodness, or the weakness, once more to renew
-his offers of pardon and reconciliation on condition that his opponents
-should submit within six days. York and his colleagues replied that they
-had no reliance on his promises because those about him did not observe
-them, and that the Earl of Warwick, trusting to them last year, nearly
-lost his life. Yet they still protested that nothing but their own
-security caused them to arm, and that they had determined not to draw
-the sword against their sovereign unless they were compelled. It was
-concluded by the royal party to give battle on the 13th, but they found
-York posted with consummate military skill. His camp was defended by
-several batteries of cannon, which played effectively on the royal ranks
-as they attempted to advance. The royalists, therefore, deferred the
-engagement till the next morning, and were relieved from that necessity
-by Sir Andrew Trollop, who was marshal of the Yorkist army, going over
-in the night with all his Calais auxiliaries to the king. Trollop had
-hitherto believed the assurances of the Yorkist leaders that they sought
-only Government redress, and not subversion of the throne; but something
-had now opened his eyes, and, as he was a staunch royalist, he acted
-accordingly. This event struck terror and confusion through the Yorkist
-army. Every man was doubtful of his fellow; the confederate lords made a
-hasty retreat into Wales, whence York and one of his sons passed over to
-Ireland, and the rest followed Warwick, who hastened to Devonshire, and
-thence escaped again to Calais.
-
-Nothing shows so strikingly the feeble councils of the royal camp as that
-these formidable foes should have been permitted to decamp without any
-pursuit. A vigorous blow at the now panic-struck enemy might for ever
-have rid the king of his mortal antagonists. But Henry, always averse
-from shedding blood, was, no doubt, glad of this unexpected escape from
-it, and his generals were weak enough to acquiesce. The court returned
-to London, and satisfied themselves with passing an act of attainder
-against the Duke and Duchess of York, and their sons, the Earls of March
-and Rutland, against the Earl and Countess of Salisbury, and their son
-the Earl of Warwick, the Lord Clinton, and various knights and esquires.
-Even this was painful to the morbidly tender mind of Henry. He reserved
-to himself the right to reverse the attainder, if he thought proper, and
-refused to permit the confiscation of the property of Lord Powis, and two
-others who had thrown themselves on his clemency.
-
-Meanwhile the insurgent chiefs, though dispersed, were not crushed. York
-had great popularity in Ireland; Warwick had a strong retreat in Calais.
-To deprive him of this, the Duke of Somerset was appointed governor, and,
-encouraged by the conduct of the Calais veterans at Ludiford, set out to
-drive Warwick from that city. But he met with a very different reception
-to that which he had calculated upon. He was assailed by a severe fire
-from the batteries, and compelled to stand out. On making an attempt to
-reach Calais from Guisnes, he found himself deserted by his sailors, who
-carried his fleet into Calais, and surrendered it to their favourite
-commander. Warwick stationed a sufficient force to watch Somerset in
-Guisnes, and, so little did he care for him, set out with his fleet,
-and dispersed two successive armaments sent to the relief of Somerset
-from the ports of Kent. When this had been done, he sailed to Dublin, to
-concert measures with York, and returned in safety to Calais, having met
-the high-admiral, the Duke of Exeter, who at sight of him escaped into
-Dartmouth.
-
-In the spring of 1460 the Yorkists, who had fled so rapidly from the
-royal army at Ludiford, and had seemed to vanish as a mist, were again
-on foot, and in a threatening attitude. They had sedulously scattered
-proclamations throughout the country, still protesting that they had no
-designs on the crown; that the king was so well assured of it that he
-refused to ratify the act of attainder, but that he was in the hands
-of the enemies of the nation. These documents concluded by saying that
-the maligned lords were resolved now to prove their loyalty in the
-presence of the sovereign. Following up this, Warwick landed in June, in
-Kent--next to the marches of Wales the great stronghold of the house of
-York. He had brought only 1,500 men with him, but he was accompanied by
-Coppini, the Pope's legate, who had been sent indeed to Henry, but was
-gained over by Warwick. In Kent they were joined by the Lord Cobham with
-400 men; by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had received his preferment
-from York during his protectorate; and by a large number of knights and
-gentlemen of the county. As he advanced towards the capital, people
-flocked to him from all sides till his army amounted to 30,000, some say
-40,000, men. He entered London on the 2nd of July, and, proceeding to the
-convocation, prevailed on no less than five bishops to accompany him to
-an interview with the king, who was lying at Coventry. The legate issued
-a letter to the clergy, informing them that he had laid it before the
-king; that the Yorkists demanded nothing but personal security, peaceable
-enjoyment of their property, and the removal of evil counsellors. All
-this was calculated to turn the credulous, or to prevent them from
-swelling the forces of the court.
-
-[Illustration: CLIFFORD'S TOWER: YORK CASTLE.
-
-(_From a photograph by Frith and Co., Reigate._)]
-
-Henry advanced to Northampton, where he entrenched himself in a strong
-camp. On arriving before it, Warwick made three successive attempts
-to obtain an interview with the king, but finding it unavailing, the
-legate excommunicated the royal party, and set up the papal banner in
-the Yorkist camp. For this he was afterwards recalled by the Pope,
-imprisoned, and degraded; but for the time it had its effect. Warwick
-gave the king notice that, as he would not listen to any overtures, he
-must prepare for battle at two in the afternoon on the 10th of July,
-1460. The royal party made themselves certain of victory, but were this
-time confounded by Lord Grey of Ruthin going over to the enemy, as Sir
-Andrew Trollop had deserted the other party at Ludlow. Grey introduced
-the Yorkists into the very heart of Henry's camp, and the contest was
-speedily decided. Warwick ordered his followers to spare the common
-soldiers, and direct their attacks against the leaders; and accordingly
-of these there were slain 300 knights and gentlemen, including the
-Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the Lords Beaumont and
-Egremont. A second time Henry fell into the hands of his rebellious
-subjects, but they treated him with all respect. The queen and her son
-escaped into Wales, and thence into Scotland, after having been plundered
-on the way by their own servants.
-
-[Illustration: RUTLAND BESEECHING CLIFFORD TO SPARE HIS LIFE. (_See p._
-15.)]
-
-The victors then marched back to London, carrying the king along with
-them a captive, but with studied appearance of being still at the head of
-his loving subjects. He entered the city, as in triumph, Warwick riding
-bareheaded before him, carrying the sword. Writs were issued in his name,
-applauding the loyalty of the very man who had made war on and seized
-his person, and a Parliament was summoned for the redress of grievances,
-the chief of these being the acts issued last year in the Parliament
-at Coventry, attainting the Yorkist leaders, which, of course, were
-abolished. This had scarcely been effected when the Duke of York arrived
-from Ireland, at the head of 500 horse. He rode into Westminster, entered
-the House of Lords, and advancing to the throne laid his hand on the gold
-cloth, and seemed to wait as in expectance that he should be invited to
-seat himself there. But no such invitation was given. To do so would
-have been to act in opposition, on the part of the peers, to all the
-assurances that from first to last had been made by York and his friends,
-that he sought no such thing. It was now, however, the intention of York
-to throw off the mask, and openly lay claim to the crown. The manner
-in which the public, both aristocracy and people, had flocked to the
-standard of Warwick, led him to believe that it was now safe to declare
-himself; but he had himself defeated, in a great measure, his own object.
-His constant assertions that he sought only reform, not the subversion
-of the royal authority, his repeated oaths of fealty, had convinced all
-parties, except that of his own private friends, that he was sincere in
-his declarations, and they esteemed him for his honourable conduct to
-the gentle and inoffensive king. When, therefore, he did declare his
-intention of seizing the crown, the astonishment and disapprobation were
-proportionate.
-
-As all remained silent when he laid his hand on the throne, he turned and
-looked, as if for help, towards the assembled nobles. The Archbishop of
-Canterbury, to put an end to the embarrassing dilemma, asked him if he
-would not pay his respects to the king, who was in the queen's apartment.
-York replied that he knew no one to whom he owed that title; that he was
-subject to no man in that realm, but, under God, was himself entitled to
-the sovereignty. The peers preserved a profound and discouraging silence;
-and York, not finding that response which he had hoped, left the house.
-It was, however, only to take possession of the palace as his hereditary
-right. Thence he sent to the peers a written demand of the crown, tracing
-his descent, showing its priority to that of the line of Lancaster, and
-that, by every plea of right, law, and custom, the possession of the
-throne centred in him. To this he requested an immediate answer. This
-demand was carried by the lords to the king, who, on hearing it, said,
-"My father was king: his father also was king. I have worn the crown
-forty years from my cradle; you have all sworn fealty to me as your
-sovereign; and your fathers have done the same to my fathers; how, then,
-can my right be disputed?"
-
-The Lords resolved to take the matter into consideration, as if it
-were a thing to be decided by evidence, without any heat or violence.
-They called upon the judges to defend, to the best of their ability,
-the claims of the king. But the judges objected that they were judges,
-not advocates; that it was their business not to produce arguments,
-but merely to decide on such as were advanced. They declared this to
-be a case above the law, and only to be decided by the high court
-of Parliament. The Lords then called upon the king's serjeants and
-attorneys, who also endeavoured to escape from the dangerous task, but
-were not permitted, their office being, in reality, to give advice to the
-Crown.
-
-The Peers then proceeded to the discussion of this great question. They
-objected to York's claims, that he had really renounced any right given
-him by descent, by repeatedly swearing fealty to Henry; that the many
-Acts of Parliament passed to sanction the right of the house of Lancaster
-themselves were sufficient, and had authority to defeat any measure of
-title; that the duke bore the arms of Edmund, the fifth son of Edward
-III., and not those of Lionel, the third son, from whom he claimed,
-showing that he himself held that to be his true descent. York replied
-to all these arguments, but especially to that wherein he knew the main
-force to lie, the effect of his own oaths. This he declared nugatory,
-inasmuch as those oaths were of necessity and constraint, and, therefore,
-acknowledged by all men in all ages to be utterly void.
-
-The result was that the Lords came to the conclusion which the power
-of outward circumstances rather than their real convictions, dictated.
-They attempted a compromise, which, had Henry had no issue, might have
-succeeded, but which, as it went to disinherit the son of Henry, and much
-more the son of Margaret, was certain to produce fresh conflicts. The
-queen, whose resolute spirit would have been worthy of all admiration had
-it been accompanied by a spirit of liberality and conciliation, was sure
-never to acquiesce in the rejection of her own son while she could move a
-limb, or raise a soldier. The verdict of the Lords was that York's claim
-was just, but should not take effect during the lifetime of the present
-king. The decision of the Peers was accepted by York and his two sons,
-March and Rutland, who swore not to molest the king, but to maintain him
-on his throne; and, on the other hand, Henry gave his assent to the Bill,
-declared any attempt on the duke high treason, and settled estates on him
-and his sons as the succeeding royal line.
-
-But Margaret of Anjou never for a moment conceded this repudiation of the
-rights of her son. She upbraided Henry for his unnatural conduct, and
-quitting her retreat in Scotland, appeared in the midst of her northern
-friends, calling on them by every argument of loyalty to the throne, and
-security to themselves, to take the field against the traitor York. The
-Earl of Northumberland, the Lords Dacre, Clifford, and Neville were soon
-in arms. They assembled at York; and Margaret, roused to the highest
-state of indignation by the disinheriting of her son, put forth all
-her powers to attach adherents to her standard. She assumed the most
-fascinating affability, and lavished her caresses and her promises on all
-whom she came near. She excited the jealousy of the northern barons by
-depicting the bold assumption of the southern nobles, who had presumed to
-give away the crown as if it were their own; and she promised to every
-one unlimited plunder of the estates and property of the people south of
-the Trent. These arts and allurements speedily brought 30,000 men to her
-standard, which was now joined by the Earls of Somerset and Devon.
-
-York and Salisbury set out in haste from London to oppose this growing
-force. They seem not to have been duly informed of its real strength, for
-they pushed forward with only 5,000 men. They received a rude admonitory
-attack at Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, on the 21st of December; but,
-still advancing, York threw himself, before Christmas, into the strong
-castle of Sandall. Here it was the evident policy of York to await the
-arrival of his son, the Earl of March, who was collecting forces in the
-marches of Wales; but either he was straitened for provisions, or was
-weak enough to be influenced by the taunts of the queen, who sent him
-word that it did not become the future king of England to coop himself
-up in a fortress, but to dare to meet those whom he dared to depose. He
-issued into the open country, in defiance of the warnings of Salisbury
-and Sir David Hall, and gave battle, on the 30th of December, to the
-queen's troops near Wakefield. The Duke of Somerset commanded the queen's
-army. He led the main body himself, and gave the command of one wing to
-the Earl of Wiltshire, and the other to Lord Clifford, ordering them to
-keep concealed till the action had commenced, and then to close in upon
-York. This was done with such success that York, who fell with great fury
-on Somerset, found himself instantly surrounded. Two thousand of his men
-were speedily slain, and the greater part of the remainder compelled
-to surrender. He himself, with most of his commanders, was left dead
-upon the field; the veteran Salisbury was taken, conveyed to Pontefract
-Castle, with several knights and gentlemen, and there beheaded.
-
-When the body of York was found, his head was cut off and carried to
-Queen Margaret, who rejoiced excessively at the sight, uttered most
-unfeminine reproaches upon it, and ordered it to be crowned with a paper
-crown in mockery, and placed upon the walls of York. Whethamstede, a
-cotemporary, says that the duke was taken alive, and beheaded on the
-field. At all events, Lord Clifford brought the head to the queen, stuck
-upon a spear; and this ferocious nobleman, whose father was killed at the
-battle of St. Albans, not satisfied with this revenge, perpetrated the
-murder of York's son, Rutland, with a fell barbarity which has covered
-his name with infamy. This youth, who was but about seventeen years of
-age, handsome and amiable, was met by Clifford as he was endeavouring
-to escape across the bridge of Wakefield in the care of his tutor, Sir
-Robert Aspall. The poor boy, seeing the bloody Clifford, fell on his
-knees, and entreated for mercy. The savage demanded who he was; and
-Aspall, thinking to save him by the avowal, said it was the younger
-son of York. Then swore Clifford--"As thy father slew mine, so will I
-slay thee, and all thy kin;" and plunging the dagger into his heart,
-ruthlessly bade the tutor go and tell his mother what he had done.
-
-The spirit of the "she-wolf of France" seemed to animate all her army
-on this occasion. There was nothing but butchery, and exultation in it.
-Margaret thought she had now removed the danger in destroying York.
-"At this deadly blood-supping," says Hall, "there was much joy and
-great rejoicing: but many laughed then that sore lamented after--as the
-queen herself and her son; and many were glad of other men's deaths,
-not knowing that their own were near at hand, as the Lord Clifford and
-others."
-
-The revenge soon came. The Earl of March, York's eldest son, was
-advancing to prove that York was still alive in the new possessor of
-the title. Yet, before his blow of vengeance fell, Margaret had one
-more triumph. She had pursued her march on London after the battle of
-Wakefield, and had reached St. Albans. But there she came in contact
-with the army of Warwick. Flushed with victory, her forces fell upon the
-enemy. Warwick had posted himself on the low hills to the south-east of
-the town. The royalists penetrated to the very town cross, where they
-were repulsed by a strong body of archers. But they soon made their way
-by another street through the town, and the battle raged on the heaths
-lying betwixt St. Albans and Barnet. The last troops which made a stand
-were a body of Kentish men, who, maintaining the conflict till night,
-enabled the Yorkists to retreat from the victorious van, and disperse.
-The king was found in his tent, under the care of Lord Montague, his
-chamberlain, where he was visited by Margaret and his son, whom he
-received with the liveliest joy. The Yorkists in this second battle of
-St. Albans, fought February 17th, 1461, lost about 2,000 men. Edward,
-called "the late Earl of March," was proclaimed a traitor, and rewards
-offered for his apprehension. But the success of this action was defeated
-by the insubordination of the troops. They were chiefly borderers, who
-had been led on by hopes of plunder, and had been freely promised it by
-Margaret and her allies. Nothing could induce them to advance farther.
-They were only bent on ravaging the neighbourhood, and the citizens of
-London closed their gates against them and held out for York.
-
-Edward was rapidly marching to the capital. He was at Gloucester when the
-news of the fall of his father and the atrocious murder of his brother
-reached him; and the intelligence arousing the Welsh borderers, they
-flocked to his standard, breathing vengeance. His march was harassed
-by a party of royalists--consisting chiefly of Welsh and Irish--under
-Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, the king's half-brother. To free himself
-of them, Edward turned upon them, on the 2nd of February, at Mortimer's
-Cross, near Hereford. A dreadful battle ensued, in which Edward gained
-a complete victory, slaying nearly 4,000 of the royalists. Jasper Tudor
-escaped; but his father Owen Tudor, the second husband of Catherine of
-Valois, and ancestor of the Tudor line of sovereigns, was taken prisoner,
-and with Throgmorton and seven other captains, was beheaded at Hereford,
-in retaliation for those who had been similarly put to death after the
-battle of Wakefield. The news of this butchery reaching Margaret before
-the battle of St. Albans, instigated her to reply with the execution
-of Lord Bonville and Sir Thomas Kyriel, who had so much distinguished
-himself in France. The spirit of deadly malice was now raging betwixt the
-contending parties, and one deed of cruelty provoked another.
-
-Edward found no further obstacle on his march towards London. The
-terrible chastisement of the royalists made a deep impression. His force
-grew as he advanced. He soon joined Warwick, and collected his dispersed
-troops. Once united, they were more than a match for the royalists. When
-Edward approached London, he was welcomed as a deliverer. The lawless
-army of the queen had carried terror, wherever they came. The queen
-was as impolitic as her soldiers. She sent from Barnet into the city
-demanding supplies; and though the lord mayor was inclined to comply, the
-people stoutly refused to let any provisions pass. A party of 400 horse
-were sent to enforce the demand; they plundered the northern suburbs,
-and would have continued their depredations in London itself, but the
-people fell upon them, and drove them out. Such was the situation of
-affairs when Edward and Warwick appeared. The gates were joyfully thrown
-open, and Edward rode in triumph into the city. He was still but in his
-nineteenth year, of a remarkably handsome person, of a gay and affable
-disposition, and reputed to be highly accomplished. The fate of his
-father and brother, and the recent conduct of the queen, added greatly
-to the interest which he excited. While Lord Falconbridge reviewed a
-body of troops in the fields of Clerkenwell, Neville, the Bishop of
-Exeter, seized the opportunity to harangue the crowded spectators. He
-drew a miserable picture of the imbecility of the king, of the haughty
-and bloody spirit of the queen, and of the calamities which had resulted
-from both; and maintained that Henry, by joining the queen's forces, had
-forfeited the crown. He then demanded whether they would still have him
-for king. They shouted--"No, no!" He then asked whether they would have
-Edward for king, and they cried--"Yes, yes! long live King Edward!"
-
-The popular feeling being thus ascertained, a great council was convoked
-by the Yorkists, on the 3rd of March, 1461, which confirmed the verdict
-of the public, declared Henry to have justly forfeited the crown by
-breaking his oath and joining in proceedings against the Duke of York,
-who had thus been slain; and on the 4th Edward rode in procession to
-Westminster Hall, where he mounted the throne, and made a speech to the
-thronging thousands, detailing the just claims of his family, according
-to hereditary succession. He then adjourned to the abbey church, where he
-repeated the same harangue to the same consenting audience, and was duly
-proclaimed by the style and title of King Edward IV.
-
-[Illustration: THE QUARREL IN THE TEMPLE GARDENS. (_See p._ 18.)]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
-
-     The Battle of Towton--Edward's Coronation--Henry escapes to
-     Scotland--The Queen seeks aid in France--Battle of Hexham--Henry
-     made Prisoner--Confined in the Tower--Edward marries Lady
-     Elizabeth Grey--Advancement of her Relations--Attacks on the
-     Family of the Nevilles--Warwick negotiates with France--Marriage
-     of Margaret, the King's Sister, to the Duke of Burgundy--Marriage
-     of the Duke of Clarence with a Daughter of Warwick--Battle of
-     Banbury--Rupture between the King and his Brother--Rebellion of
-     Clarence and Warwick--Clarence and Warwick flee to France--Warwick
-     proposes to restore Henry VI.--Marries Edward, Prince of Wales,
-     to his Daughter, Lady Ann Neville--Edward IV.'s reckless
-     Dissipation--Warwick and Clarence invade England--Edward
-     expelled--His return to England--Battle of Barnet--Battle
-     of Tewkesbury, and ruin of the Lancastrian Cause--Rivalry
-     of Clarence and Gloucester--Edward's Futile Intervention in
-     Foreign Politics--Becomes a Pensioner of France--Death of
-     Clarence--Expedition to Scotland--Death and Character of the King.
-
-
-Edward IV., at this period of his great success, and his acknowledgment
-by the people of London and the council as king, was only in his
-twentieth year. Handsome of person and of popular manners, he was not
-restrained by any such conscientious scruples as guided his father, but
-was bold and impetuous. He was fond of pleasure, addicted to gallantry,
-and at the same time as ready to shed blood as he was to make love
-and revel in courtly pageants. The reluctant approaches to sanguinary
-measures which had marked the earlier proceedings of his father, had
-long since vanished in the heated progress of the strife, and Edward
-might be regarded as the representative of the leaders now on both sides,
-with the exception of the gentle and forgiving Henry. But on this side
-Queen Margaret was as energetic as she was ambitious, and as resolute as
-her husband was the contrary. The circumstances into which she had been
-thrown had roused in her the spirit of a tigress fighting for its young.
-
-Margaret, on the warm reception of Edward by the Londoners, had retired
-northward with her marauding soldiers, who had so fatally damaged her
-cause by their outrages. Three days after his reception in London, Edward
-despatched Warwick, the chief bulwark of his cause, in pursuit of her,
-and on the 12th of March, only five days afterwards, he followed himself.
-On reaching the Earl of Warwick, their combined troops amounted to
-40,000. The queen was exerting all her activity and eloquence amongst her
-northern friends, and lay at York with 60,000 men. Everything denoted the
-eve of a bloody conflict.
-
-This civil war was now known all over the world as the War of the Roses,
-a name said to be derived from a circumstance which took place in a
-dispute in the Temple Gardens betwixt Warwick and Somerset, at an early
-period of the rival factions. Somerset, in order to collect the suffrages
-of those on the side of Lancaster, is said to have plucked a red rose
-from a bush, and called upon every man who held with him to do the like.
-Warwick, for York, plucked a white rose, and thus the partisans were
-distinguishable by these differing badges.
-
-The vanguard of the two armies met at Ferrybridge, the passage of the
-river Aire. The Duke of Somerset was commander-in-chief of the royal
-army. The king, queen, and prince remained at York. Lord Clifford led
-the vanguard, and was opposed by Lord Fitzwalter on the part of the
-Yorkists. The battle at the bridge was furious; Fitzwalter was killed.
-Lord Falconbridge was instantly sent forward to replace him, and instead
-of opposing Clifford in front in his strong position, allowing the troops
-there to hold him in play, he himself crossed the Aire, some miles above
-Ferrybridge, and falling unexpectedly on the rear of Clifford, routed his
-force, and revenged the death of Fitzwalter by that of Clifford himself.
-The Yorkists poured over the bridge, took possession of the town, and
-advanced towards Towton. Meantime, Warwick, excited by the temporary
-repulse at the bridge under Fitzwalter, had called for his horse, stabbed
-him in sight of the whole army, and kissing the hilt of his bloody
-sword, swore that he would fight on foot, and share every fatigue and
-disadvantage with the common soldiers.
-
-With minds inflamed to the utmost pitch of animosity, the two armies met
-on the morning of Palm Sunday, March 29th, in the fields betwixt the
-villages of Saxton and Towton, about ten miles south of York. Edward
-issued orders that no quarter should be given, no prisoners taken. The
-action began at nine o'clock in the morning, under circumstances most
-unfortunate for the Lancastrians. A snowstorm was blowing full in their
-faces; and Lord Falconbridge seized at once on this circumstance by an
-adroit stratagem. He ordered the archers to advance, discharge their
-arrows, and again retire out of the reach of those of the enemy. The
-Lancastrians, believing themselves within bow-shot of the enemy, whose
-arrows did great execution amongst them, returned the compliment without
-being able to see where their arrows reached for the snowflakes. The
-Yorkist archers were now out of their range, and they fell useless. Again
-the Yorkists advanced, and poured in a fresh flight with such effect that
-the Lancastrians, probably doubting of the success of their own arrows,
-rushed forward and came hand to hand with their opponents. It was now one
-terrible clash of swords, battle-axes, and spears, amid the thick-falling
-and blinding storm; and thus the two infuriated armies continued fighting
-desperately for nearly five hours. Towards evening the Lancastrians,
-disheartened by the fall of their principal commanders, broke and fled.
-They were pursued as far as Tadcaster with the fiercest impetuosity, and
-fearful slaughter. It was one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in
-Britain. According to a contemporary historian, those who were employed
-to number and bury the dead, declared them to be 38,000.
-
-After celebrating the feast of Easter at York, Edward marched to
-Newcastle, and, leaving Warwick there to keep the north in order,
-returned to London on the 26th of June.
-
-On reaching Scotland, Margaret placed Henry in a secure retreat at
-Kirkcudbright, and then hastened to Edinburgh, to try what could be
-done towards renewing the contest, which no dispersion of her friends
-and forces could ever teach her to relinquish. There she found a
-boy sovereign, a divided court, and a country which had suffered by
-factions almost as deadly as her own. James I., who had seemed to
-return to his kingdom after his long captivity under such auspicious
-circumstances--full of intelligence and plans for the improvement of his
-country, married to the woman of his affections, and courted by both
-England and France,--was soon murdered by the rude and lawless nobles
-whom he endeavoured to reduce to some degree of order and subordination.
-His son, James II., when arrived at years of maturity, endeavoured to
-recover from distracted England some of the places it had reft from
-Scotland formerly, but in besieging Roxburgh in 1460, he was killed by
-the bursting of a cannon. His son was at this time a child of only eight
-years old, and the kingdom was governed by a council of regency; but the
-care of the king's person was committed to the queen-mother, Mary of
-Guelders, who was ambitious of engrossing not only that duty, but the
-actual powers of the government. In this she was opposed by the powerful
-family of Douglas.
-
-Margaret had no willing listeners amongst parties who were occupied with
-their own schemes and feuds. She had the difficult task of appealing to
-their various interests; and she found no one thing capable of fixing
-their attention till she hit on the idea of proposing the surrender of
-Berwick as the price of Scotland's assistance. That key of the northern
-frontiers of England, for the possession of which so much blood had been
-spilled from age to age, was an object the proposed recovery of which at
-once gave her the command of the ears of the whole court. In addition to
-this, she offered a marriage betwixt her son, Edward, Prince of Wales,
-and the eldest sister of the young King of Scotland. These treaties were
-carried into effect, and Berwick was put into the hands of the Scots on
-the 25th of April, 1461.
-
-Edward, on his return to London, was crowned on the 29th of June. He then
-summoned a Parliament to meet at Westminster on the 6th of July, but
-an invasion appearing not improbable, he prorogued it till the 4th of
-November. The sword and the scaffold had already so thinned the nobility
-that only one duke, four earls, one viscount, and twenty-nine barons
-were summoned to this Parliament. The great battle of Towton, which had
-laid so many of them low, had rendered the rest very submissive. There
-was no longer any hesitating betwixt the two families, or seeking of
-those compromises which, in the end, only produced more discord. Whatever
-Edward dictated was accepted as law and constitution. Of course Henry
-IV. was declared to have been an arrant usurper; and his posterity were
-held incapable, not only of wearing the crown, but of enjoying any estate
-or dignity in any portion of the British dominions for ever. Henry VI.,
-Margaret, Edward, called Prince of Wales, the Dukes of Somerset and
-Exeter, the Earls of Northumberland, Devonshire, and Pembroke, and a
-vast number of lords, knights, and gentlemen, were attainted. Edward IV.
-was proclaimed to be the only rightful king; and all those of the York
-party who had been declared traitors by the Lancaster party when it was
-uppermost, and expelled from honours and estates, were restored.
-
-Meanwhile, nothing daunted, Margaret was exerting her ingenuity to
-rouse a party in Scotland. She pleaded to deaf ears. Her surrender of
-Berwick brought her no real assistance; and she now sent over Somerset
-to endeavour to obtain succour from France. All these efforts were
-equally vain. Charles VII. died in 1461, and his successor, Louis
-XI., was immovable. Somerset, her ambassador, returned completely
-unsuccessful. He and his attendants had, indeed, been arrested by Louis
-when they attempted to escape in the guise of merchants, for fear of
-the despicable king giving them up to Edward to propitiate his favour.
-It was only through the earnest intercession of the Count of Charolais,
-the son of the Duke of Burgundy, that they were liberated. Louis XI. was
-cousin-german to both Margaret and Henry VI.; but such relationships
-weigh nothing with selfish men, in comparison to their own immediate
-interests. While this unwelcome news was arriving, Margaret was rendered
-the more uneasy and unsafe by the appearance of Warwick at the court
-of Scotland, proposing a marriage betwixt the Scottish queen and the
-victorious Edward of England. Under these circumstances, neither Margaret
-nor Henry was safe. She resolved, therefore, to make one more effort
-with Louis of France, and a personal one. By means of a French merchant,
-who owed her some kindness for past benefit, she managed to get over to
-France, where she threw herself at the feet of Louis, who was at Chinon
-in Normandy. She was only able to reach his court by the assistance of
-the Duke of Brittany, who gave her 12,000 crowns.
-
-Margaret agreed to surrender the rights of the crown in Calais, and
-that Henry should do the same. And what was to be the price of this
-sacrifice--this sacrifice of this proud stronghold of England, this
-sacrifice of her own honour, and this last remaining fragment of her
-good fame in Britain? The paltry sum of 20,000 livres! That was all she
-could squeeze from the miserable French king for this intensely desired
-object. True, he had it still to win, for it was not in the possession
-of Margaret or her husband; but the acknowledged purchase from the
-Lancastrian king would give him great weight in any attempts to compel
-the surrender, and if Henry did again recover his throne, Calais must be
-made over to him at once.
-
-[Illustration: EDWARD IV.]
-
-With her 20,000 livres Margaret was enabled to engage the services
-of Pierre de Breze, the seneschal of Normandy. He had been an old
-admirer of Margaret's, and now offered to follow her with 2,000 men.
-With this force, after an absence of five months, she set sail for
-England, and attempted to land at Tynemouth, in October, 1462, but was
-repelled by the garrison. The fleet was now attacked by a terrible
-storm; the very elements seemed to fight against her. Many of her
-ships ran ashore near Bamborough. Yet, spite of all her difficulties,
-Margaret effected a landing, and gained possession of the castles of
-Bamborough, Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick. She sent for Henry from his safe
-hiding-place at Harlech Castle in Merionethshire, where she had left him
-while she went to France, and was gathering some considerable forces
-of Scots and French when Warwick drew near with 20,000 men, and news
-was received that Edward was approaching with an equal number. Edward
-halted at Newcastle, but Warwick advancing, divided his forces into three
-bodies, and simultaneously invested the three strongholds. Somerset
-surrendered Bamborough on condition that himself and Sir Ralph Percy,
-and others, should be allowed to take the oath of fealty to Edward, and
-be restored to all their honours and estates; and that the rest of the
-two garrisons, with the Earl of Pembroke, and some others, whose lands
-had been conferred on Edward's friends, and could not, therefore, be
-now restored, should be conveyed in safety to Scotland. This defection
-of her chief supporters was a dreadful blow to the queen, and, to add
-to her misfortunes, 500 of her French followers, who had established
-themselves in Holy Island were attacked and cut to pieces by Sir Robert
-Ogle. Alnwick Castle still held out in the hands of the brave De Breze
-and Lord Hungerford; but the Earl of Angus coming up with a party of
-relief, the besieged took the opportunity to make a sally and escape from
-the castle to their friends. Bamborough and Dunstanburgh were restored by
-the king to Lord Percy; but Alnwick he gave to Sir John Ashley, to the
-great offence of Sir Ralph Grey, who had formerly won it for Edward, and
-now expected to have had it.
-
-[Illustration: DUNSTANBURGH CASTLE.]
-
-It might have been supposed that all hope of ever restoring the
-Lancastrian cause was now at an end. But in the soul of Margaret hope
-never seemed to die. With an admirable and indomitable resolution, she
-again turned her efforts to reconstruct a fresh army. She traversed
-Scotland, drew together her scattered friends, joined them to her French
-auxiliaries, whom she again mustered on the Continent: and by the spring
-of 1464 was in a condition once more to march into England. For some time
-her affairs wore a promising aspect. She retook the castles of Alnwick,
-Bamborough, and Dunstanburgh. Somerset, Sir Ralph Percy, and the rest who
-had made their peace with Edward, hearing of her successes, again flew to
-her standard. Sir Ralph Grey, who resented the preference given to Sir
-John Ashley by Edward in the disposal of Alnwick, came over to her, and
-was made commander of Bamborough.
-
-Edward, on the news of these reverses, dispatched the Lord Montague,
-the brother of Warwick, into the north to raise his forces there, and
-make head against the never-resting queen. He met with Sir Ralph Percy
-on Hedgeley Moor, near Wooler, on the 25th of April, defeated his
-forces, and killed Sir Ralph. Having received fresh reinforcements from
-the south, he advanced towards Margaret's main army, and encamped on a
-plain, called the Levels, near Hexham. There, on the 15th of May, the two
-armies came to a general action, and after a long and bloody conflict the
-Lancastrians were again completely routed. Poor King Henry fled for his
-life, and this time managed not to be left in the hands of his enemies.
-
-Margaret and her son, with a few attendants, were meanwhile flying
-wildly through the neighbouring forests from the tender mercies of
-this sanguinary young king. She was endeavouring to reach the Scottish
-borders, when they were met by a party of marauders, with whom the Border
-country abounded. The queen on her knees implored mercy, and avowed who
-she was; but the villains who had hold of her, seeing their associates
-busy dividing the rich booty, turned to them, and she seized the
-opportunity, while they were quarrelling over it, to fly with her son.
-The fugitives rushed onward, not knowing whither they were going, till
-night overtook them. Nearly fainting with terror, fatigue, and hunger,
-as the moon broke through the clouds they beheld a huge man, armed, and
-with threatening gestures hastening towards them. Imagining it was one
-of the band that had robbed them who had now overtaken her, she expected
-nothing but death; but, mustering her characteristic resolution, she bade
-the man see that if he hoped for booty it was useless, for she and her
-child had been stripped even of their upper garments for their value.
-The man appeared to be one of the numerous outlaws harboured in that
-locality, and many of whom had seen better days. He was touched by her
-appeal, and Margaret, perceiving it, said, "Here, my friend, save the
-son of your king! I charge thee to preserve from violence that innocent
-royal blood. Take him, and conceal him from those who seek his life. Give
-him a refuge in thine obscure hiding-place, and he will one day give
-thee free access to his royal chamber, and make thee one of his barons."
-The man, struck by the majestic presence of the queen, the pleading
-innocence of the prince, and the words of Margaret, knelt, and vowed he
-would rather die a thousand deaths than injure or betray them. He carried
-the young prince in his arms to his cave, on the south bank of a little
-stream which runs at the foot of Blockhill, and, from this circumstance,
-still called "Queen Margaret's cave." There the man's wife made them
-right welcome, and, after two days' concealment, the outlaw succeeded in
-meeting with De Breze, and his followers soon afterwards discovered the
-Duke of Exeter and Edward Beaufort--from the execution of his brother now
-Duke of Somerset; and with them Margaret escaped to Scotland, and, after
-many adventures, reached France. There Margaret received the melancholy
-news of the capture and imprisonment of her husband. For about twelve
-months the unfortunate monarch had contrived to elude the eager quest
-of his enemies. He went from place to place amongst the friends of the
-house of Lancaster in Westmoreland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. At the
-various halls and castles where he sojourned, tradition has to this day
-retained the memory of his presence. He was at length betrayed by a monk
-of Abingdon, and he was taken by the servants of Sir John Harrington,
-as he sat at dinner at Waddington Hall. He was treated with the utmost
-indignity on his way to London. He was mounted on a miserable hack, his
-legs being tied to his stirrups, and an insulting placard fixed on his
-back. At Islington Warwick met the fallen king, and disgraced himself by
-commanding the thronging spectators to show no respect to him. To enforce
-his command by his own example, he led the unhappy man three times round
-the pillory, as if he had been a common felon, crying, "Treason! treason!
-Behold the traitor!"
-
-Edward, now freed from his enemies, considered himself as established
-on the throne beyond all doubt. He created Lord Montacute Earl of
-Northumberland for his services at Hexham, and Lord Herbert Earl of
-Pembroke. He issued a long list of attainders to exhaust the resources
-of his opponents and increase those of his adherents. He then passed an
-Act for the resumption of the Crown lands to supply a royal income; but
-this was clogged by so many exceptions that it proved fruitless. He then
-gave himself up to mirth and jollity, and in the pursuit of his pleasures
-made himself so affable and agreeable, especially with the Londoners,
-that, in spite of his free gallantries, he was very popular. So strongly
-did he now seem to be grounded in the affections of his subjects, that he
-ventured to make known a private marriage, which he had contracted some
-time before, though he knew that it would give deep offence in several
-quarters.
-
-It is a curious circumstance that in the early part of the reign of Henry
-VI., two ladies of royal lineage, and one of them of royal rank, had
-condescended to marry private gentlemen, to the great scandal of their
-high-born connections. One of these was Catherine of Valois, the widow of
-Henry V., and mother of Henry VI., who married Owen Tudor. The other was
-Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the widow of the great Duke of Bedford, Regent
-of France, who married Sir Richard Woodville. Both Tudor and Woodville
-were men of remarkable beauty; and both were imprisoned and persecuted
-for the offence of marrying, without permission of the Crown, princesses
-who chose to fall in love with them. Woodville regained his liberty by
-the payment of a fine of 1,000 crowns. Tudor's persecutions were more
-severe and prolonged. Yet, from these two scandalous _mesalliances_, as
-they were regarded by the Court and high nobility, sprang a line of the
-most remarkable princes that ever sat upon the English throne. The blood
-of both these ladies mingled in the burly body of Henry VIII. and his
-descendants. We have seen how Tudor became the grandfather of Henry VII.;
-we have now to observe how Woodville became the grandfather of Henry's
-wife, Elizabeth of York.
-
-Jacquetta had several children by Sir Richard Woodville, one of whom,
-Elizabeth, was a woman of much beauty and great accomplishments. She had
-been married to Sir John Grey of Groby, a Lancastrian, who fell at the
-second battle of St. Albans. His estate was consequently confiscated;
-his widow, with seven children, returned to her father, and was living
-at his seat at Grafton, in Northamptonshire. Edward being out on a
-hunting party in the neighbourhood, took the opportunity to call on the
-Duchess of Bedford. There he saw and was greatly struck with the beauty
-of the Lady Grey. She, on her part, seized the occasion to endeavour to
-secure some restitution of their property for her children. The whole
-of her subsequent life showed that she was not a woman to neglect such
-opportunities. She threw herself at the feet of the gay monarch, and
-with many tears besought him to restore to her innocent children their
-father's patrimony.
-
-Lady Grey made more impression than she probably intended. Edward was
-perfectly fascinated by her beauty and spirit. He raised her from her
-suppliant posture, and promised her his favour. He soon communicated to
-her the terms on which he would grant the restitution of her property;
-but he found in Elizabeth Woodville, or Grey, a very different person to
-those he had been accustomed to meet. She firmly refused every concession
-inconsistent with her honour, and the king, piqued by the resistance he
-encountered, became more and more enamoured.
-
-On the 1st of May, 1464, he married her at Grafton, in the presence
-only of the priest, the clerk, the Duchess of Bedford, and two female
-attendants. Within a few days after the marriage he set out to meet the
-Lancastrians in the north; but the battles of Hedgeley Moor and Hexham
-were fought before his arrival; and on his return he became anxious to
-open the matter to his council, and to obtain its sanction. Accordingly,
-at Michaelmas, he summoned a general council of the peers at the abbey
-of Reading, where he announced this important event. Amongst the Peers
-present were Edward's brother the Duke of Clarence, and the great
-king-maker, Warwick. To neither of these individuals was the transaction
-agreeable. To Clarence it appeared too inferior a choice for the King of
-England, though Elizabeth Grey, by her mother's side, was of princely
-blood. But to Warwick there was offence in it, personal and deep. He had
-been commissioned by Edward to solicit for him the hand of Bona of Savoy,
-the sister of the Queen of France. The proposal had been accepted; the
-King of France had given his consent; the treaty of marriage was actually
-drawn; and there lacked nothing but the ratification of the terms agreed
-upon, and the bringing over of the princess to England. At this moment
-came the order to pause in the proceedings, and the mystery was soon
-cleared up by the confident rumour of this sudden matrimonial caprice of
-the king. Warwick returned in high dudgeon; from Edward he did not try
-to conceal it; but the time for revenge of his injured honour was not
-yet come; and therefore, after the royal announcement in the council,
-Clarence and Warwick took Elizabeth by the hand, and introduced her to
-the rest of the peers. A second council was held at Westminster, in
-December, and the income of the new queen was settled at 4,000 marks a
-year.
-
-It was not to be expected that this sudden elevation of a simple knight's
-daughter to the throne would pass without murmuring and discontent,
-which was probably the more fully expressed as it was shared by the
-all-powerful Warwick and the king's brothers. There were busy rumours
-that the politic old duchess, Jacquetta, and her daughter, had practised
-magical arts upon the king, and administered philtres; and that,
-recovering from their effect, he had grievously repented, and endeavoured
-to free himself. But Edward's whole conduct towards the queen showed the
-falsity of this jealous gossip; and to make it obvious that she was of no
-mean parentage, he invited to the coronation her mother's brother, John
-of Luxembourg, with a retinue of a hundred knights and gentlemen.
-
-But if the king had made apparent her noble birth and his continued
-affection for her, it became speedily as apparent that the marriage of a
-subject was to be followed by all its inconveniences. Elizabeth, though
-raised to the throne, might still be said to be on her knees, imploring
-the favour of the king. There was nothing which she thought too much for
-her numerous relations, and the king displayed a marvellous facility in
-complying with her requests. Her father was created Earl Rivers, and soon
-after the Lord Mountjoy, a partisan of the Nevilles, was removed to make
-way for him as Treasurer of England; and again, on the resignation of
-the Earl of Worcester, the office of Lord High Constable was conferred
-on him. That was very well for a beginning, but it was nothing to what
-followed; every branch of the queen's family must be aggrandised without
-delay. She had five sisters, and each of them was married to one of the
-highest noblemen in the realm: one to the Duke of Buckingham; one to the
-heir of the Earl of Essex; a third to the Earl of Arundel; a fourth to
-Lord Grey de Ruthin, who was made Earl of Kent; and the fifth to Lord
-William Herbert, created Earl of Huntingdon. Her brother Anthony was
-married to the heiress of the late Lord Scales, and endowed with her
-estate and title. Her younger brother John, in his twentieth year, was
-married to the wealthy old dowager Duchess of Norfolk, in her eightieth
-year; such was the shameless greed of this family. The queen's son,
-Thomas Grey, was married to the king's niece, the daughter and heiress
-of the Duke of Exeter. The Nevilles looked on all these extraordinary
-proceedings with ominous gloom.
-
-Fresh cause of disunion arose between the king and Warwick. A marriage
-had for some time been in agitation between Margaret, the king's sister,
-and the Count of Charolais, son and heir of the Duke of Burgundy. The
-count was sprung from the house of Lancaster, and even when his father
-showed the most settled coolness towards Henry VI. and Margaret, had
-displayed a warm sympathy for them. It was a good stroke of policy,
-therefore, to win him over by this marriage to the reigning dynasty.
-But Warwick, who in his former intercourse with Burgundy in France had
-conceived a deep dislike to him, opposed this match, and represented
-one with a son of Louis XI. as far more advantageous. To Warwick's
-arguments was opposed the evident policy of maintaining our commercial
-intercourse with the Netherlands, and of possessing so efficient an
-ally on the borders of France against the deep and selfish schemes of
-Louis. But in the end Warwick prevailed. He was sent over to France to
-negotiate the affair with Louis. Warwick went attended with a princely
-train, and with all the magnificence which distinguished him at home,
-more like that of a great sovereign than of a subject. Louis, who never
-lost an opportunity of sowing jealousies amongst his enemies, even while
-he appeared to be honouring them, met Warwick at Rouen, attended by the
-queen and princesses. The inhabitants, obeying royal orders, went out and
-escorted Warwick into the city with banners and processions of priests,
-who conducted the earl to the cathedral, and then to the lodgings
-prepared for him at the Jacobins. There also Louis and the court took up
-their quarters, and for twelve days, during which the conference lasted,
-Louis used to visit the earl in private, passing through a side door into
-his apartments. With all this secret and familiar intercourse, no pains
-were taken to conceal its existence; and the consequence was such as the
-astute and mischievous Louis intended. Reports were forwarded to Edward
-from those whom he had placed in Warwick's train, which roused his ever
-uncalculating anger. He hastened to the house of Warwick's brother--the
-Archbishop of York and Chancellor of the kingdom--demanded the instant
-surrender of the seals; and, enforcing the act of resumption of Crown
-lands lately passed, deprived the archbishop of two manors formerly
-belonging to the Crown.
-
-Warwick returned, as may be supposed, in no very good humour, but still
-with every prospect of success in his mission. The court of France was
-agreeable to the match. And on the heels of the earl came the Archbishop
-of Narbonne and the Bastard of Bourbon to complete the arrangements. They
-were prepared to offer an annual pension to Edward from Louis, and to
-pledge the king to submit to the Pope Edward's demand for the restoration
-of Normandy and Aquitaine, which should be decided within four years.
-But the importance of these propositions, and the evident prudence of at
-least appearing to listen to the terms of a monarch like that of France,
-had no weight with Edward, who was far more distinguished for petulance
-and rashness than for policy. He treated the French ambassadors with the
-most insulting coldness; and unceremoniously quitted the capital, leaving
-his ministers to deal with the ambassadors, and, in fact, to get rid of
-them. His resentment against Warwick made him not only thus forget the
-courtesy due to the envoys of a great foreign prince--conduct sure to
-create its own punishment,--but he gave all the more favour to the suit
-of the Count of Charolais from the same cause.
-
-The count had sent over his relative, the Bastard of Burgundy, ostensibly
-to hold a tournament with Lord Scales, the queen's brother, but really to
-press forward the match with the English princess. The Duke of Burgundy
-dying at this juncture, all difficulties vanished. The princess was
-affianced to the new Duke of Burgundy.
-
-This completed the resentment of Warwick. The open insult offered to the
-court of France, and the rejection of the alliance which he had effected,
-sunk deep into his proud mind. He retired to his castle of Middleham, in
-Yorkshire; and occasion was taken of his absence from court to accuse
-him, on the evidence of one of Queen Margaret's emissaries taken in
-Wales, of being a secret partisan of the Lancastrian faction. The charge
-failed; but Edward, resolved to mortify and humiliate the man to whom
-he owed his throne, affected still to believe him a secret ally of the
-Lancastrians, and that his own safety was threatened by him. He therefore
-summoned a body-guard of 200 archers, without whose attendance he never
-stirred abroad. He expelled the Nevilles from court, and took every means
-to express his dislike and suspicion of that house. On the other hand,
-the Nevilles repaid the hatred of the upstart family of Woodville with
-interest; and from this moment, whatever might be the outward seeming,
-the feud betwixt these rival families was settled, deadly, and never
-terminated till it had completed the ruin of all parties.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD IV.]
-
-At present the Archbishop of York, though suffering under the immediate
-severity of the king, was too wise to give way to his resentment. He
-justly feared the influence of the Woodvilles with the king, and that it
-might prove most injurious to his own family. He therefore stood forth as
-a peacemaker. He volunteered a visit to Earl Rivers, the queen's father;
-met him at Nottingham, and agreed on terms of reconciliation between
-the families. The king, queen, and court were keeping the Christmas of
-1467 at Coventry. The archbishop hastened to his brother at Middleham,
-and prevailed upon him to accompany him to Coventry, where he was
-graciously received by Edward; all subjects of offence betwixt him and
-the relatives of the queen--especially her brothers-in-law, the Lords
-Herbert, Stafford, and Audley--were arranged; and the king expressed
-himself so much pleased with the conduct of the archbishop, that he
-restored to him his two manors. This pacific state of things lasted for
-little more than a year. On the 18th of June, 1468, the king's sister set
-out on her journey to meet her husband in Flanders. The king accompanied
-her to the coast; and, as a proof that Warwick at this moment held his
-old position of honour at court, the princess rode behind him through
-the streets of London. A conspiracy having been discovered, or supposed,
-of several gentlemen with Queen Margaret, Warwick and his brother, the
-Earl of Northumberland, were joined with the king's brothers, Clarence
-and Gloucester, in a commission to try them; and the two Nevilles
-certainly executed their part of the trust with a zeal which looked like
-anything but disaffection. Very arbitrary measures were used towards the
-prisoners, several of whom were condemned and executed.
-
-This calm was soon broken. The Duke of Clarence had from the first
-shown as deep a dislike to the ascendency of the Woodvilles as the
-Nevilles themselves. This drew him into closer intimacy with Warwick.
-He frequently withdrew for long periods from court, and was generally
-to be found at one of the residences of Warwick. It soon came out that
-there was a cause still more influential than his dislike of the queen's
-relations; it was his admiration of the Earl's eldest daughter, Isabella,
-who was co-heiress of his vast estates. Warwick was delighted with the
-prospect of this alliance, for as yet the king, having no male heir, and
-his only daughter being but four years old, Clarence stood as the next
-male heir to his brother. Edward, on the contrary, beheld this proposed
-connection with the utmost alarm. The Nevilles were already too powerful;
-and should Warwick succeed, through Clarence, in placing his descendants
-so near the throne, it might produce the most dangerous consequences
-to his own line. He therefore did all in his power to frustrate the
-marriage, but in vain. Clarence and Warwick retired to Calais, of which
-Warwick remained the governor; and there the marriage was celebrated, in
-the Church of St. Nicholas, on the 11th of July, 1469.
-
-With the exception of this annoying event, at this moment Edward appeared
-so firmly seated on his throne, and so well secured by foreign treaties
-with almost all the European powers, and especially with the Dukes of
-Burgundy and Brittany, the latter of whom had recently become his ally,
-that he actually contemplated the enterprise of recovering by his arms
-the territories which his weak predecessor had lost in France. His hatred
-of the cold-blooded Louis XI., who in political cunning was infinitely
-Edward's superior, probably urged him to this idea. To draw off the
-attention of the different factions at home, and find some common medium
-of uniting them in action abroad, might be another. The most remarkable
-circumstance of all was, that Parliament, after its experience of the
-drain which these French wars had been to the blood and resources of the
-nation, received the king's proposal with cordial approbation.
-
-But these dreams of martial glory were very quickly swept from the brain
-of the king by domestic troubles. At first these troubles appeared to
-originate in private and local causes, but there was such food for
-combustion existing throughout the kingdom, that the farther they went,
-the wider they opened, and at every step onwards assumed more and more
-the aspect of a Warwick and Clarence conspiracy. Nothing could be farther
-removed from such an appearance than the opening occurrence.
-
-The hospital of St. Leonard, near York, had possessed, from the reign of
-King Athelstan, a right of levying a thrave of corn (twenty-four sheaves)
-from every ploughland in the county. There had long been complaints that
-this grant was grossly abused, and instead of benefiting the poor, as
-it was intended, was converted to the emolument of the managers. During
-the last reign many had refused in consequence to yield the stipulated
-thrave, and Parliament had passed an act to compel the delivery. Now
-again the refusal to pay the demand was become general. The vassals
-had their goods distrained, and were themselves thrown into prison.
-This raised the peasantry, who were all of the old Lancastrian party,
-and regarded the present dynasty as usurpers and oppressors. They flew
-to arms, under the leadership of one Robert Hilyard, called by the
-insurgents Robin of Redesdale, and vowed that they would march south and
-reform the Government. Lord Montague, Earl of Northumberland, brother
-of Warwick, marched out against them, forming as they now did a body of
-15,000 men, and menacing the city of York. He defeated them, seized their
-leader Hilyard, and executed him on the field of battle.
-
-So far there appeared certainly no hand of the Nevilles in this movement.
-Northumberland did his best to crush it, and Warwick and Clarence
-were away at Calais, thinking, apparently, not of rebellion, but of
-matrimonial festivities. But the very next move revealed a startling fact.
-
-The insurgents, though dispersed, were by no means subdued. They had lost
-their peasant head, but they reappeared in still greater forces, with two
-heads, and those no other than the Lords Fitzhugh and Latimer, the nephew
-and the cousin-german of Warwick. Northumberland contented himself with
-protecting the city of York. He made no attempt to pursue this still more
-menacing body, who, dropping their cry of the hospital and the thrave of
-corn, declared that their object was to meet the Earl of Warwick, and by
-his aid and advice to remove from the councils of the king the swarm of
-Woodvilles, whom they charged with being the authors of the oppressive
-taxes, and of all the calamities of the nation. The young noblemen who
-headed the insurrection were assisted by the military abilities of an old
-and experienced officer, Sir William Conyers. At the name of Warwick,
-his tenants came streaming from every quarter, and in a few days, the
-insurgent army numbered 60,000 men.
-
-Edward, on the news of this formidable movement, called together what
-troops he could, and fixed his headquarters at the castle of Fotheringay.
-Towards this place the insurgent army marched, growing, as they
-proceeded, in numbers and boldness. The whole outcry resolved itself into
-a capital charge against the Woodvilles, and the movement being headed
-by the Nevilles, there could not be much mystery about the matter. Yet
-Edward, after advancing as far as Newark, and becoming intimidated by the
-spirit of disaffection which everywhere prevailed, wrote imploringly to
-Warwick and Clarence to hasten from Calais to his assistance. The result
-was such as might have been expected. Warwick and Clarence, instead of
-complying with the king's urgent entreaty, summoned their friends to meet
-them at Canterbury, on the following Sunday, to proceed with them to the
-king to lay before him the petitions of the Commons.
-
-In this alarming extremity, Edward looked with impatience for the arrival
-of the Earls of Devonshire and Pembroke, who had been mustering forces
-for his assistance. Devon was at the head of a strong body of archers,
-and Pembroke of 10,000 Welshmen. They met at Banbury, where the demon of
-discord divided them in their quest of quarters, and made them forget
-the critical situation of their sovereign. Pembroke, leaving Devon in
-possession, advanced to Edgecote. There he came in contact with the
-insurgents, who, falling upon him, deprived as he was of the assistance
-of Devon's archers, easily routed him. In this engagement 2,000 of his
-soldiers are said to have perished, and Pembroke and his brother were
-taken and put to death, with ten other gentlemen, on the field. Devon
-made no attempt to restore the fortunes of his party.
-
-This fatal defeat completely annihilated the hopes of Edward. At the news
-of it, all his troops stole away from their colours, and his favourites
-fled for concealment. But the queen's father, Earl Rivers, was discovered
-in the Forest of Dean, with his son, Sir John Woodville; and the Earl
-of Devon, late Earl Stafford, the queen's brother-in-law, abandoned by
-his soldiers, was taken at Bridgewater. The whole of them were executed,
-Rivers and his son Woodville being conveyed to their own neighbourhood,
-and beheaded at Northampton.
-
-Warwick, Clarence, and Northumberland, who had, no doubt, conducted all
-these movements from a distance, now appeared as principals on the scene.
-They marched forward from Canterbury at the head of a powerful force, and
-overtook Edward at Olney, plunged in despair at the sudden ruin which had
-surrounded him. They approached him with an air of sympathy and loyal
-obeisance; and Edward, imposed upon by this, with his usual unguarded
-anger, upbraided them with being the real authors of his troubles. He
-very soon perceived his folly, for he found himself, not their commander,
-but their captive. Warwick dismissed the insurgent army to their homes,
-who retired laden with booty, and sensible that they had executed all
-that was expected of them. Under protection of their Kentish troops,
-they then conducted Edward to Warwick Castle, and thence, for greater
-security, to Middleham.
-
-Thus England had at the same time two kings, and both of them captive;
-Henry in the Tower of London, Edward at Middleham, in Yorkshire. Men now
-expected nothing less than that Warwick would proclaim Clarence as king,
-but probably the measures of Warwick and Clarence were deranged by a
-fresh insurrection which broke out. This time it was the Lancastrians,
-who seized the opportunity to raise again the banner of Henry. They
-appeared in the marches of Scotland, under Sir Humphrey Neville, one of
-the fugitives from the battle of Hexham. Warwick advanced against him in
-the king's name, but he found that the soldiers refused to fight until
-they were assured of the king's safety. Warwick was therefore compelled
-to produce Edward to the army at York. After that they followed him
-against the Lancastrians, whom they defeated, and taking their leader,
-brought him to the king, who ordered his instant execution.
-
-Edward was now permitted to return to London, accompanied by several
-leaders of the party. There a council of peers was summoned, and then
-it appeared that though Warwick's faction had probably not accomplished
-all they had intended, they bound the king to terms which, while they
-neutralised the hopes of Clarence in some degree, still were calculated
-to add to the greatness of the house of Neville. The king announced that
-he had proposed to give his daughter, yet only four years old, to George,
-the son of the Earl of Northumberland, and presumptive heir of all the
-Nevilles. The council gave its unanimous approbation of the measure,
-and the young nobleman, to raise his name to a level with his affianced
-bride, was created Duke of Bedford.
-
-Outwardly everything was so harmonious, that not only was a general
-pardon granted to all who had been in any way concerned in the late
-disturbances, but the king and his reconciled friends were again
-proposing to invade France in concert with the Duke of Burgundy. The
-French court was so convinced of the reality of this invasion that it
-commanded a general muster of troops for the 1st of May, 1470.
-
-But the designs of the Nevilles lay nearer home in reality. The
-Archbishop of York invited the king to meet Clarence and Warwick at
-his seat--the Moor--in Hertfordshire. As Edward was washing his hands
-preparatory to supper, John Ratcliff, afterwards Lord Fitzwalter,
-whispered in his ear that 100 armed men were on the watch to seize him
-and convey him to prison. Edward, having been once before trepanned by
-his loving friends, gave instant credence to the information, stole out,
-mounted a horse, and rode off to Windsor. This open confession of his
-opinion of the Nevilles produced a fresh scene of discord, which, with
-some difficulty, was appeased by the king's mother, the Duchess of York,
-and the parties were reconciled with just the same sincerity as before.
-
-[Illustration: GOLD ROSE NOBLE OF EDWARD IV.]
-
-The Nevilles were now in too critical a position to pause. They or the
-king must fall. At any hour some stratagem might surprise them, and
-give the advantage to their injured and deadly enemies, the Woodvilles.
-Insurrection, therefore, was not long in showing itself again. This time
-it broke out in Lincolnshire, and, as in the case of the hospital of St.
-Leonard, appeared to have nothing whatever to do with Warwick or his
-party. Its ostensible cause was the old grievance of purveyance, and Sir
-Robert Burgh, one of the purveyors, was attacked, his house burnt down,
-and himself chased out of the county. Had the cause been really local,
-there the mischief would have ended; but now again stepped forward a
-partisan of Warwick, Sir Robert Wells, who encouraged the rioters to keep
-together, and proceed to redress, not the evils of one county, but of the
-nation. He put himself at their head, and they soon amounted to 30,000
-men. The king required a number of nobles to raise troops with all speed,
-and so well did Warwick and Clarence feign loyalty that they were amongst
-this number.
-
-Edward summoned Lord Wells, the father of the insurgent chief, and Sir
-Thomas Dymoke, the Champion, both Lincolnshire men, to the council, in
-order to obtain information of the extent of the insurrection, and to
-engage them to exert their influence to check it. Both these gentlemen,
-as if conscious of guilt, fled to sanctuary, but, on a promise of pardon,
-repaired to court. Edward insisted that Lord Wells should command his
-son to lay down his arms, and disperse his followers, with which order
-Lord Wells complied; but Sir Robert Wells received at the same time
-letters from Warwick and Clarence, encouraging him to hold out, assuring
-him that they were on the march to support him. When Edward reached
-Stamford, bearing Lord Wells and Dymoke with him, he found Sir Robert
-still in arms, and in his anger he wreaked his vengeance on his father,
-Lord Wells, and on Dymoke, beheading them in direct violation of his
-promise. He then sent a second order to Sir Robert to lay down his arms,
-but he replied that he scorned to surrender to a man destitute of honour,
-who had murdered his father. Edward then fell upon the insurgents at
-Empingham, in Rutlandshire, and made a terrible slaughter of them. The
-leaders, Wells and Sir Thomas Delalaunde, were taken and immediately
-executed. The inferior prisoners, as dupes to the designs of others, were
-dismissed.
-
-Warwick and Clarence made for Calais. But there Warwick's lieutenant,
-Vauclerc, a Gascon knight, to whom he had entrusted the care of the city,
-refused to admit them. When they attempted to enter, the batteries were
-opened upon them; and when they remonstrated on this strange conduct,
-Vauclerc sent secretly to inform Warwick that the garrison, aware of what
-had taken place in England, were ill affected, and would certainly seize
-him if he entered; that his only chance of preserving the place for him
-was to appear at present hostile; and he prayed him to retire till a more
-favourable opportunity. To Edward, however, Vauclerc sent word that he
-would hold the town for him as his sovereign against all attempts--for
-which Edward rewarded him with the government of the place, and the Duke
-of Burgundy added a pension of a thousand crowns. Warwick and Clarence,
-enraged at this unexpected repulse, sailed along the coast towards
-Normandy, seizing every Flemish merchantman that fell in their way in
-revenge against Burgundy, and entered Harfleur, where they were received
-with all honour by the admiral of France.
-
-[Illustration: PREACHING AT ST. PAUL'S CROSS. (_See p._ 50.)]
-
-Low as were now the fortunes of Warwick and Clarence, decided as had
-been the failure of their attempts against Edward IV., Louis of France
-thought he had, in the possession of these great leaders, a means of
-consolidating a formidable party against Edward, who had treated his
-alliance with such contempt, and who entered into the closest relations
-with his most formidable opponent, the Duke of Burgundy. He therefore
-received them at Amboise, where he was holding his court, with the most
-marked honours, and ordered them and their ladies to have the best
-accommodations that could be procured in the neighbourhood. He proposed
-to these two chiefs to coalesce with the Lancastrian party, by which
-means they would be sure to gain the instant support of all that faction.
-He sent for Queen Margaret, who was then at Angers, and assured her that
-Providence had at length prepared the certain means of the restoration of
-King Henry and his family.
-
-Warwick engaged, by the assistance of Louis and of the Lancastrians, to
-replace Henry again upon the throne. By this means Warwick was to depose,
-and if possible to destroy, Edward of York. But Warwick never forgot the
-suggestions of his ambition. He must, if possible, sit on the throne
-of England in the persons of his descendants. For this he had married
-one daughter to Clarence. When the success of Edward had enfeebled his
-chance, he had succeeded in affiancing his nephew to the daughter of
-Edward, so that if not a Warwick at least a Neville might reign. He
-now sacrificed both these hopes to that of placing another daughter on
-the throne, as the queen of Margaret's son, the Prince of Wales. This
-alliance was the price of Warwick's assistance, and, however bitter might
-be the necessity, Margaret submitted to it, and the young Prince of
-Wales was forthwith married to Anne, the daughter of Warwick. Warwick
-then acknowledged Henry VI. as the rightful sovereign of England, and at
-the same time entered into solemn engagements to exert all his power to
-reinstate and maintain him on the throne. Margaret on her part swore on
-the holy Gospels never to reproach Warwick with the past, but to esteem
-him as a loyal and faithful subject. The French king, on the completion
-of this reconciliation, engaged to furnish the means necessary for the
-expedition.
-
-Edward, on hearing of the extraordinary meeting and negotiations of
-Warwick and Margaret, of the active agency of the French king, and the
-proposed marriage of Edward, Prince of Wales, and Anne of Warwick, sent
-off a lady of pre-eminent art and address, who belonged to the train of
-the Duchess of Clarence, but who had somehow been left behind. The clever
-dame no sooner reached the court of Clarence than she expressed to him
-and the duchess her amazement at their permitting such a coalition as
-the present; that in every point of view it was destructive to their own
-hopes, and even security; that the continued adhesion of Warwick and
-Margaret was impossible. Their mutual antipathies were too deeply rooted
-ever to be eradicated.
-
-Clarence was only one-and-twenty years of age. He was of a slender
-capacity, easily guided or misguided, and he agreed, on the first
-favourable opportunity, to abandon Warwick and go over to the king.
-
-On the other hand, Warwick was as actively and secretly engaged in
-preparing the defection of partisans of the king in England. His
-brother, Montague, though he had not deemed it prudent to join Warwick
-and Clarence in their unfortunate attempt to raise the country against
-Edward, had been suspected by him, and stripped of the earldom of
-Northumberland. He was still an ostensible adherent of the king, but
-he was watched. Warwick apprised him of the new and wonderful turn of
-affairs, and engaged him to keep up a zealous show of loyalty that his
-defection at an important moment might tell with the more disastrous
-effect on the Yorkist cause.
-
-Edward, satisfied with having detached Clarence from Warwick's interests,
-continued as careless as ever. The Duke of Burgundy, more sagacious
-than his brother-in-law, the King of England, did all that he could to
-arouse him to a sense of his danger, and to obstruct the progress of the
-expedition. He sent ambassadors to Paris to complain of the reception
-given to the enemies of his brother and ally. He menaced Louis with
-instant war if he did not desist from aiding and protecting the English
-traitors. He sent spies to watch the proceedings of Vauclerc, in Calais,
-and dispatched a squadron to make reprisals on the French merchantmen for
-the seizures made by Warwick, and to blockade the mouth of the Seine.
-Edward laughed at the fears and precautions of Burgundy. He bade him take
-no pains to guard the Channel, for that he should enjoy nothing better
-than to see Warwick venture to set foot in England.
-
-He was not long without that pleasure. A tempest dispersed the Burgundian
-fleet, and the fleet of Warwick and Clarence, seizing the opportunity,
-put to sea, crossed the Channel, and landed on the 13th of September,
-1470, without opposition, at Portsmouth and Dartmouth. Warwick had
-prepared his own way very skilfully. Edward was deluded by a ruse on the
-part of Lord Fitzwalter, the brother-in-law of Warwick, who appeared
-in arms in Northumberland, as if meditating an insurrection; by which
-means the unwary king was induced to march towards the north, leaving
-the southern counties exposed to the invaders. This was the object of
-Warwick, and, as soon as it was effected, Fitzwalter retreated into
-Scotland. Meantime, the real danger was growing rapidly in the south. The
-men of Kent rose in arms; London was thrown into a ferment by Dr. Goddard
-preaching at St. Paul's Cross in favour of Henry VI.; and from every
-quarter people hastened to the standard of Warwick with such eagerness
-that he speedily found himself at the head of 60,000 men.
-
-As London and the southern counties appeared safe, Warwick proclaimed
-Henry, and set out to encounter Edward without delay. He advanced towards
-Nottingham. Edward, who had taken up his headquarters at Doncaster, had
-issued his orders for all who could bear arms to join his banner. They
-came in slowly; and Edward, who had ridiculed the idea of the return
-of Warwick, saying Burgundy would take care that he did not cross the
-sea, was now rudely aroused from his fancied security. He was compelled
-with unequal forces to advance against Warwick. A great battle appeared
-imminent in the neighbourhood of Nottingham; but the rapid defection
-of Edward's adherents rendered that unnecessary. The speedy movements
-of Warwick, and the general demonstration in favour of Henry, had not
-permitted Clarence to carry into effect his intended transit from
-Warwick to Edward, when a startling act of desertion occurred to the
-king's side, which completed Edward's ruin. Before Edward could reach
-Nottingham, and while lying near the river Welland, in Lincolnshire,
-Montague, Warwick's brother, from whom Edward had taken the earldom of
-Northumberland, now revenged himself by suddenly marching from York at
-the head of 6,000 men, and in the night, and in full concert with his
-officers, advancing upon Edward's quarters, his men wearing the red rose
-instead of the white, and with loud cries of "God bless King Henry!"
-
-Edward commanded his troops to be put in array to meet the traitor; but
-Lord Hastings told him that he had not a regiment that he could rely
-upon; that nothing was to be thought of but his personal safety, and that
-on the instant. Accordingly, he took horse with the Duke of Gloucester,
-the Earl Rivers, seven or eight other noblemen, and a small troop of the
-most reliable followers, with whom he rode away. A guard was posted on a
-neighbouring bridge to prevent the crossing of Warwick, for he also was
-within a day's march of him; and with all haste Edward and his little
-band rode at full speed till he reached Lynn, in Norfolk. It is probable
-that the royal party had made for this small port on the Wash, knowing
-that some vessels which had brought provisions for the troops still lay
-there. They found, indeed, a small English ship, and two Dutch vessels,
-on board of which they hurried, and put to sea. Edward, on starting from
-his quarters, had recommended his army to declare at once for Warwick, as
-the best means of saving themselves, and of again rejoining his standard
-when opportunity should offer.
-
-The fugitives made sail for the coast of Holland, but no sooner had the
-king escaped from his enemies on land than he fell amongst fresh ones
-at sea. These were the Easterlings, or mariners of Ostend, who were now
-at war with both France and England. The Easterlings were at this time
-as terrible at sea as the pirates of Algiers were afterwards. They had
-committed great ravages on the English coast, while the nation was thus
-engaged in suicidal intestine warfare, and no sooner did they perceive
-this little fleet than they immediately gave chase. There were eight
-vessels to Edward's three, and to escape the unequal contest, he ran his
-vessels aground on the coast of Friesland, near Alkmaar. To ascertain
-how Vauclerc, the Governor of Calais, was disposed, in case Warwick
-resolved to attack the duke in his own territories, he sent an envoy
-to him to sound him. The envoy found all the garrison wearing the red
-rose. This discovery added to the alarm and chagrin of Burgundy, and,
-while he conceded to Edward a place of refuge, he publicly declared
-himself the ally, not of this power or that, but of England, and avowed
-himself adverse to Edward's designs, who was to expect no aid from him in
-endeavouring to recover his crown.
-
-On the other hand Louis of France was thrown into ecstasies of delight.
-He sent for Queen Margaret and her son, the Prince of Wales, who had
-been living for years totally neglected, and almost forgotten in their
-poverty, and received her in Paris with the most splendid and expensive
-pageants and rejoicings. He at the same time despatched a splendid
-embassy to Henry at London, and immediately concluded with him a treaty
-of peace and commerce for fifteen years.
-
-Warwick and Clarence made their triumphal entry into London on the 6th
-of October, 1470. Warwick proceeded to the Tower, and brought forth
-King Henry, who had lain there as a captive for five years. Henry was
-proclaimed lawful king, and conducted with great pomp through the streets
-of London to the bishop's palace, where he resided till the 13th, when
-he walked in solemn procession, with the crown upon his head, attended
-by his prelates, nobles, and great officers, to St. Paul's, where solemn
-thanksgivings were offered up for his restoration.
-
-All this time Clarence was looking on, an immediate spectator of
-proceedings which pushed him farther from the throne. To keep him quiet,
-Warwick heaped every favour but the actual possession of the kingdom upon
-him. He joined him with himself in the regency which was to continue
-till the majority of the Prince of Wales; he made him Lord-Lieutenant of
-Ireland, and conferred upon him all the estates of the house of York.
-Warwick retained himself the offices of Chamberlain of England, Governor
-of Calais, High Admiral of the seas; his brother, the archbishop, was
-continued Chancellor; and his other brother, Montague, returned to the
-Wardenship of the Marches.
-
-Warwick summoned a Parliament, which, surrounded by his troops and his
-partisans, of course passed whatever acts he pleased. The crown was
-settled on Edward, the Prince of Wales, and his issue; but that failing,
-it was to devolve upon Clarence.
-
-Queen Margaret might have been expected, from her characteristic energy
-and rapidity of action, to have been in London nearly as soon as Warwick;
-but this was not the case. In the first place, she was in want of the
-necessary funds. Louis, who was chary of his money, probably thought he
-had done sufficient in enabling the victorious armament of Warwick to
-reach England; and poor King Rene, Margaret's father, was in no condition
-to assist her. In the meantime all the exiled Lancastrians flocked to
-her; and all were destitute. In February, 1471, she set sail to cross
-the Channel, but was driven back by tempests. Three times did she make
-the daring attempt to cross, though warned against it by the seamen of
-Harfleur; and every time she was driven back with such fury and damage,
-that many declared it was the will of Heaven she should not pass over;
-nor was she able to do so till the following month. Till that time
-Warwick held England in the name of Henry, and appeared established, if
-not exactly on the throne, in the seat of supreme and settled power.
-
-The mock restoration of Henry VI. was not destined to be of long
-continuance. The ups and downs of royalty at this period were as rapid
-and strange as the shifting scenes of a theatre. There is no part of
-our history where we are left so much in the dark as to the real moving
-causes. It is difficult to see how Warwick, with his vast popularity,
-should, in the course of a single winter, become so unpopular as to
-render his fall and the success of Edward so easy. It must be remembered,
-however, that there was a secret schism in his party. Clarence was only
-waiting to seize a good opportunity to overthrow his father-in-law,
-Warwick, and climb the throne himself. Though he was by no means
-high-principled, Clarence was not so weak as to build any hopes on
-Warwick's having given him the succession in case of the issue of the
-Prince of Wales failing. Warwick had married another of his daughters to
-the prince, and it was his strongest interest to maintain that line on
-the throne.
-
-All these causes undoubtedly co-operated to produce what soon followed.
-Burgundy determined to assist Edward to regain his throne, and thus
-destroy the ascendency of Warwick. While, therefore, issuing a
-proclamation forbidding any of his subjects to follow Edward in his
-expedition, he privately sent to him the cross of St. Andrew; and a gift
-of 50,000 florins furnished him with four large ships, which were fitted
-up and stored for him at Vere, in Walcheren. Besides these, he hired for
-him fourteen ships from the merchants of the Hanse Towns, to transport
-his troops from Flushing to England. These transactions could leave no
-question in the minds of the subjects of Burgundy which way lay the real
-feelings of their sovereign. But the number of troops embarking with
-Edward was not such as to give to the enterprise a Burgundian appearance.
-The soldiers furnished him were only 2,000. Edward undoubtedly relied on
-information sent him from England as to the forces there ready to join
-him.
-
-The fleet of Edward steered for the Suffolk coast. It was in the south
-that the Yorkist influence lay, and Clarence was posted in that quarter
-at the head of a considerable force. But Warwick's preparations were too
-strong in that quarter; an active body of troops, under a brother of
-the Earl of Oxford, deterred the invaders from any attempt at landing.
-They proceeded northward, finding no opportunity of successfully
-getting on shore till they reached the little port of Ravenspur, in
-Yorkshire--singularly enough, the very place where Henry IV. landed when
-he deposed Richard II. From this same port now issued the force which was
-to terminate his line.
-
-At first, however, the undertaking wore anything but a promising
-aspect. The north was the very stronghold of the Lancastrian faction,
-and openly was displayed the hostility of the inhabitants towards the
-returned Yorkist monarch. But Edward, with that ready dishonesty which
-is considered defensible in the strife for crowns, solemnly declared
-that he had abandoned for himself all claims on the throne; that he saw
-and acknowledged the right of Henry VI. and his line, and for himself
-only desired the happy security of a private station. His real and
-most patriotic design, he gave out, was to put down the turbulent and
-overbearing power of Warwick, and thus give permanent tranquillity to the
-country, which never could exist so long as Warwick lived. He exhibited
-a forged safe-conduct from the Earl of Northumberland; he declared that
-he sought for himself nothing but the possessions of the Duke of York,
-his father; he mounted in his bonnet an ostrich feather, the device of
-the Prince of Wales, and ordered his followers to shout "Long live King
-Henry!" in every place through which they passed.
-
-These exhibitions of his untruth were too barefaced to deceive any one.
-The people still stood aloof, and, on reaching the gates of York, Edward
-found them closed against him. But by the boldest use of the same lying
-policy, Edward managed to prevail on the mayor and aldermen to admit
-him. He swore the most solemn oath that he abjured the crown for ever,
-and would do all in his power to maintain Henry and his issue upon it.
-Not satisfied with this, the clergy demanded that he should repeat this
-oath most emphatically before the high altar in the cathedral. Edward
-assented with alacrity, and would undoubtedly have sworn anything and any
-number of oaths to the same effect. He then marched in with that bold
-precipitance which was the secret of his success, and which, as in the
-case of the great Napoleon, always threw his enemies into consternation
-and confusion. At Pontefract lay the Marquis of Montague, Warwick's
-brother, with a force superior to that of Edward, and all the world
-looked to see him throw himself across the path of the invader, and to
-set battle against him. Nothing of the kind; Montague lay still in the
-fortress, and Edward, marching within four miles of this commander, went
-on his way without any check from him.
-
-[Illustration: BATTLE OF BARNET: DEATH OF THE KING-MAKER. (_See p._ 34.)]
-
-As Edward approached the midland counties, and especially when he had
-crossed the Trent, the scene changed rapidly in his favour. He had
-left the Lancastrian districts behind, and reached those where Yorkism
-prevailed. People now flocked to his standard. At Nottingham the Lord
-Stanley, Sir Thomas Parr, Sir James Harrington, Sir Thomas Montgomery,
-and several other gentlemen, came in with reinforcements. Edward felt
-himself strong enough to throw off the mask: he assumed the title of
-king, and marched towards Coventry, where lay Warwick and Clarence with a
-force sufficient to punish this odious perjury. But a fresh turn of the
-royal kaleidoscope was here to astonish the public. Edward challenged
-the united army of Warwick and Clarence on the 29th of March, 1471. In
-the night, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, paid a visit to his brother
-Clarence. The two brothers flew into each other's arms with a transport
-which, if not that of genuine affection, was at least that of successful
-conspiracy. The morning beheld the army of Clarence, amounting to 12,000
-men, arrayed, not on the part of Warwick, but of Edward, the soldiers
-wearing, not the red, but the white rose over their gorgets.
-
-Here, then, was fully disclosed the secret which had induced Edward to
-march on so confidently through hostile districts, and people standing
-aloof from his banners. Clarence, whether in weak simplicity, or under
-the influence of others, sent to Warwick to apologise for his breach of
-his most solemn oaths, and offered to become mediator betwixt him, his
-father-in-law, and Edward his brother. Warwick rejected the offer with
-disdain, refusing all further intercourse with the perjured Clarence;
-but he was now too weak to engage him and Edward, and the Yorkist king
-then boldly advanced towards the capital. The gates of the city, like
-those of York, he found closed against him, but he possessed sufficient
-means to unlock the one as he had done the other. There were upwards
-of 2,000 persons of rank and influence, including no less than 400
-knights and gentlemen, crowded into the various sanctuaries of London
-and Westminster, who were ready not only to declare, but to act in his
-favour. The ladies, who were charmed with the gay and gallant disposition
-of Edward, were avowedly his zealous friends; and perhaps still more
-persuasive was the fact that the jovial monarch owed large sums to the
-merchants, who saw in his return their only chance of payment. Edward
-even succeeded in securing the Archbishop of York, who was, in his
-brother Warwick's absence, the custodian of the city and the person
-of King Henry. All regard to oaths, and all fidelity to principle or
-party, seemed to have disappeared at this epoch. By permission of the
-archbishop, Edward was admitted on Thursday, April 2nd, by a postern into
-the bishop's palace, where he found the poor and helpless King Henry, and
-immediately sent him to the Tower.
-
-So confident now was Edward of victory, that he disdained to shelter
-himself any longer within the walls of the city, but marched out against
-the enemy. It was late on Easter eve when the two armies met on Barnet
-Common. Both had made long marches, Edward having left London that day.
-The Earl of Warwick, being first on the ground, had chosen his position.
-Edward, who came later, had to make his arrangements in the dark, the
-consequence of which was, that he committed a great error. His right
-wing, instead of confronting the left wing of Warwick, was opposed to his
-centre, and the left wing of Edward consequently had no opponents, but
-stretched far away to the west. Daylight must have discovered this error,
-and most probably fatally for Edward; but day--the 14th of April--came
-accompanied by a dense fog, believed to have been raised by a celebrated
-magician, Friar Bungy. The left wing of each army, advancing through the
-obscurity of the fog, and finding no enemy, wheeled in the direction of
-the main body. By this movement the left wing of Warwick trampled down
-the right wing of Edward, and defeating it, pursued the flying Yorkists
-through Barnet on the way to London.
-
-Meantime, the left wing of the Yorkists, instead of encountering the
-right of the Lancastrians, came up so as to strengthen their own centre,
-where Edward and Warwick were contending with all their might against
-each other. Both chiefs were in the very front of the battle, which was
-raging with the utmost fury. Warwick, contrary to his custom, had been
-persuaded by his brother Montague to dismount, send away his horse, and
-fight on foot.
-
-The battle commenced at four o'clock in the morning, and lasted till
-ten. The rage of the combatants was terrible, and the slaughter was
-proportionate, for Edward, exasperated at the commons, who had shown such
-favour to Warwick on all occasions, had, contrary to his usual custom,
-issued orders to spare none of them, and to kill all the leaders if
-possible. The conflict was terminated by a singular mistake. The device
-of the Earl of Oxford, who was fighting for Warwick, was a star with
-rays, emblazoned both on the front and back of his soldiers' coats. The
-device of Edward's own soldiers on this occasion was a sun with rays.
-Oxford had beaten his opponents in the field, and was returning to assist
-Warwick, when Warwick's troops, mistaking through the mist the stars of
-Oxford for the sun of Edward, fell upon Oxford's followers, supposing
-them to be Yorkists, and put them to flight. Oxford fled with 800 of
-his soldiers, supposing himself the object of some fatal treachery,
-while, on the other hand, Warwick, weakened by the apparent defection of
-Oxford, and his troops thrown into confusion, rushed desperately into the
-thickest of the enemy, trusting thus to revive the courage of his troops,
-and was thus slain, fighting.
-
-No sooner was the body of Warwick, stripped of its armour and covered
-with wounds, discovered on the field, than his forces gave way, and fled
-amain. Thus fell the great "king-maker," who so long had kept alive the
-spirit of contention, placing the crown first on one head and then on
-another. With him perished the power of his faction and the prosperity of
-his family. On the field with him lay all the chief lords who fought on
-his side, except the Earl of Oxford and the Duke of Somerset, who escaped
-into Wales, and joined Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, who was in
-arms for Henry. The Duke of Exeter was taken up for dead, but being found
-to be alive, he was conveyed by his servants secretly to the sanctuary
-at Westminster; but the holiness of the sanctuary does not appear to
-have proved any defence against the lawless vengeance of Edward, for,
-some months after, his dead body was found floating in the sea near
-Dover. On the side of Edward fell the Lords Say and Cromwell, Sir John
-Lisle, the son of Lord Berners, and many other squires and gentlemen.
-The soldiers who fell on both sides have been variously stated at from
-1,000 to 10,000; the number more commonly credited is about 1,500. The
-dead were buried where they fell, and a chapel was erected near the spot
-for the repose of their souls. The battle-field is now marked by a stone
-obelisk. The bodies of Warwick and Montague were exposed for three days,
-naked, on the floor of St. Paul's Church, as a striking warning against
-subjects interfering with kings and crowns. They were then conveyed to
-the burial-place of their family in the abbey of Bilsam, in Berkshire.
-
-In the fall of Warwick Edward might justly suppose that he saw the only
-real obstacle to the permanency of his own power; but Margaret was still
-alive. She was no longer, however, the elastic and indomitable Margaret
-who had led her forces up to the battles of St. Albans, Northampton,
-Wakefield, Towton, and Hexham. On the day that she landed at Weymouth,
-imagining she had now nothing to do but to march in triumph to London,
-and resume with her husband their vacant throne, the fatal battle of
-Barnet was fought. The first news she received was of the total overthrow
-of her party and the death of Warwick. The life of the great king-maker
-might have caused her future trouble; his fall was her total ruin.
-Confounded by the tidings, her once lofty spirit abandoned her, and she
-sank on the ground in a swoon.
-
-It was the plan of her generals to hasten to Pembroke; and, having
-effected a junction with him, to proceed to Cheshire, to render the army
-effective by a good body of archers. But Edward, always rapid in his
-movements, allowed them no time for so formidable a combination. He left
-London on the 19th of April, and reached Tewkesbury on the 3rd of May.
-Margaret and her company set out from Bath, and prepared to cross the
-Severn at Gloucester, to join Pembroke and Jasper Tudor. But the people
-of Gloucester had fortified the bridge, and neither threats nor bribes
-could induce them to let her pass. She then marched on to Tewkesbury,
-near which they found Edward already awaiting them.
-
-The troops being worn down by the fatigue of a long and fearful march,
-Margaret was in the utmost anxiety to avoid an engagement, and to press
-on to their friends in Wales. But Somerset represented that such a thing
-was utterly impossible. For a night and a day the foot-soldiers had been
-plunging along for six-and-thirty miles through a foul country--all
-lanes, and stony ways, betwixt woods, and having no proper refreshment.
-To move farther in the face of the enemy was out of the question. He must
-pitch his camp in the park, and take such fortune as God should send.
-
-The queen, as well as the most experienced officers of the army, were
-much averse from this, but the duke either could not or would not move,
-and Edward presented himself in readiness for battle. Thus compelled to
-give up the cheering hope of a junction with the Welsh army, Margaret and
-her son did all in their power to inspire the soldiers with courage for
-this most eventful conflict. The next morning, being the 4th of May, the
-forces were drawn out in order. The Duke of Somerset took the charge of
-the main body. The Prince of Wales commanded the second division under
-the direction of Lord Wenlock and the Prior of St. John's. The Earl of
-Devonshire brought up the rear. The Lancastrian army was entrenched
-in a particularly strong position on the banks of the Severn; having,
-both in front and on the flanks, a country so deeply intersected with
-lanes, hedges, and ditches, that there was scarcely any approaching it.
-This grand advantage, however, was completely lost by the folly and
-impetuosity of the Duke of Somerset, who, not content to defend himself
-against the superior forces and heavier artillery of Edward, rushed
-out beyond the entrenchments, where he was speedily taken in flank by
-a body of 200 spearsmen, and thrown into confusion. The Lancastrians
-were utterly defeated, and the Prince of Wales fell on the field, or,
-according to other accounts, was put to death immediately after the
-battle. Somerset was condemned and beheaded.
-
-No fate can be conceived more consummately wretched than that of
-Margaret now--her cause utterly ruined, her only son slain, her husband
-and herself the captives of their haughty enemies. They who had thus
-barbarously shed the blood of the prince might, with a little cunning,
-shed that of her husband and herself. No such good fortune awaited
-Margaret. She was doomed to hear of the death of her imprisoned consort,
-and to be left to long years of grief over the utter wreck of crown,
-husband, child, and friends--a great and distinguished band.
-
-Edward returned to London triumphant over all his enemies, and the next
-morning Henry VI. was found dead in the Tower. It was given out that he
-died of grief and melancholy, but nobody at that day doubted that he was
-murdered, and it was generally attributed to Richard of Gloucester, but
-probably without reason. The continuator of the chronicles of Croyland
-prays that the doer of the deed, whoever he was, may have time for
-repentance, and declares that it was done by "an agent of the tyrant" and
-a subject of the murdered king. Who was this? The chronicler in Leland
-points it out plainly. "That night," he says, "King Henry was put to
-death in the Tower, the Duke of Gloucester and divers of his men being
-there." Fabyan, also a contemporary, says, "Divers tales were told, but
-the most common fame went that he was sticked with a dagger by the hands
-of the Duke Gloucester."
-
-To satisfy the people the same means were resorted to as in the case of
-Richard II. The body of the unfortunate king was conveyed on a bier, with
-the face exposed, from the Tower through Cheapside to St. Paul's. Four
-of the principal chroniclers of the day assert that the fresh blood from
-his wounds "welled upon the pavement," giving certain evidence of the
-manner of his death; and the same thing occurred when he was removed to
-Blackfriars. To get rid of so unsatisfactory a proof of Henry's natural
-death the body was the same day put into a barge with a guard of soldiers
-from Calais, and thus, says the Croyland chronicler, "without singing or
-saying, he was conveyed up the dark waters of the Thames at midnight, to
-his silent interment at Chertsey Abbey, where it was long pretended that
-miracles were performed at his tomb."
-
-Henry's reputation for holiness during his life, and his tragical death,
-occasioned such a resort to his tomb, that Gloucester, on mounting
-the throne as Richard III., caused the remains of the poor king to be
-removed, it was said, to Windsor. Afterwards, when Henry VII. wished
-to convey them to Westminster, they could not be found, having been
-carefully concealed from public attention.
-
-Margaret, who was conveyed to the Tower the very night on which her
-husband was murdered there, was at first rigorously treated. There
-had been an attempt on the part of the Bastard of Falconberg, who was
-vice-admiral under Warwick, to liberate Henry, during the absence
-of Edward and Gloucester, at the battle of Tewkesbury. He landed at
-Blackwall with a body of marines, and, calling on the people of Essex and
-Kent to aid him, made two desperate attempts to penetrate to the Tower,
-burning Bishopsgate, but was repulsed, and on the approach of Edward,
-retreated. To prevent any similar attempt in favour of Margaret she was
-successively removed to Windsor, and lastly to Wallingford. She remained
-a prisoner for five years, when at the entreaty of King Rene, she was
-ransomed by Louis of France, and retired to the castle of Recule, near
-Angers. She died at the chateau of Dampierre, near Saumur, in 1482, in
-the fifty-third year of her age.
-
-The two brothers, Clarence and Gloucester, came now, on the first return
-of peace, to quarrel at the very foot of the throne for the vast property
-of Warwick. Edward would fain have forgotten everything else in his
-pleasures. The blood upon his own hands gave him no concern; he was only
-anxious to devote his leisure hours to Jane Shore, the silversmith's
-wife, whom he had, like numbers of other ladies, seduced from her duty.
-But Clarence and Gloucester broke through his gaieties with their
-wranglings and mutual menaces.
-
-The fact was, that Clarence having, as we have seen, married Isabella,
-the eldest daughter, was determined, if possible, to monopolise all the
-property of Warwick, as if the eldest daughter were sole heiress. But
-Gloucester, who was always on the look out for his own aggrandisement,
-now cast his eyes on Anne, the other daughter, who had been married to
-the Prince of Wales. Clarence, aware that he should have a daring and a
-lawless rival in Gloucester, in regard to the property, opposed the match
-with all his might. On this point they rose to high words and much heat.
-Clarence declared at length that Richard might marry Anne if he pleased,
-but that he should have no share whatever in the property; but only let
-Richard get the lady, and he would soon possess himself of the lands.
-The question was debated by the two brothers with such fury before the
-council, that civil war was anticipated.
-
-All this time the property was rightfully that of the widow of Warwick,
-the mother of the two young ladies. Anne, the Countess of Warwick,
-was the sole heiress of the vast estates of the Despensers and the
-Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick. To all the great court party, who had
-once been her friends--as the world calls friendship--and many of them
-her humble flatterers and admirers, she applied from her sanctuary at
-Beaulieu, in the most moving terms, for their kind aid in obtaining a
-modicum of freedom and support out of her own lands, the most wealthy
-in England. But it was not her that the two princes courted, it was her
-property; and nobody dared or cared to move a finger in favour of the
-once great Anne of Warwick. The daughter, Anne, so far from desiring to
-marry Richard of Gloucester, detested him. Cooperating, therefore, with
-the wishes and interests of Clarence, she, by his assistance, escaped
-out of the sanctuary of Beaulieu, where she had been with the countess,
-her mother, and disappeared. For some time no trace of her could be
-discovered; but Gloucester had his spies and emissaries everywhere; and,
-at length, the daughter of Warwick, and the future queen of England, was
-found in the guise of a cookmaid in London. Gloucester removed her to the
-sanctuary of St. Martin's-le-Grand. Afterwards she was allowed to visit
-her uncle, the Archbishop of York, before his disgrace, and the Queen
-Margaret in the Tower. All this was probably conceded by Gloucester in
-order to win Anne's favour; but Anne still repelling with disgust his
-addresses, he refused her these solaces, and procuring the removal of her
-mother from Beaulieu, sent her, under the escort of Sir John Tyrrell,
-into the north, where he is said to have kept her confined till his own
-death, even while she was his mother-in-law. Anne was at length compelled
-to marry the hated Gloucester; and her hatred appeared to increase from
-nearer acquaintance, for she was soon after praying for a divorce.
-
-[Illustration: BURIAL OF KING HENRY. (_See p._ 36.)]
-
-The king was compelled to award to Gloucester a large share of Warwick's
-property; and the servile Parliament passed an act in 1474, embodying the
-disgraceful commands of these most unnatural and unprincipled princes.
-The two daughters were to succeed to the Warwick property, as though
-their mother, the possessor in her own right, were dead. If either of
-them should die before her husband, he should continue to retain her
-estates during his natural life. If a divorce should take place between
-Richard and Anne, for which Anne was striving, Richard was still to
-retain her property, provided he married or did his best to marry her to
-some one else. Thus, by this most iniquitous arrangement, while Richard
-kept his wife's property, they made it a motive with her to force her
-into some other alliance, if not so hateful, perhaps more degrading. It
-is impossible to conceive the tyranny of vice and selfishness carried
-farther than in these odious transactions. But this was not all. There
-was living a son of the Marquis of Montague, Warwick's brother; and to
-prevent any claim from him as next heir male, all such lands as he might
-become the claimant of were tied upon Clarence and Gloucester, and their
-heirs, so long as there should remain any heirs male of the marquis. By
-these means did these amiable brothers imagine that they had stepped into
-the full and perpetual possession of the enormous wealth of the great
-Warwick. Edward, having rather smoothed over than appeased the jealousies
-of his brothers, now turned his ambition to foreign conquest.
-
-In all his contests at home, Edward had shown great military talents.
-He had fought ten battles, and never lost one; for at the time of the
-treason of Lord Montague in 1470, he had not fought at all, but, deserted
-by his army, had fled to Flanders. He had always entertained a flattering
-idea that he could emulate the martial glory of the Edwards and of Henry
-V., and once more recover the lost territories of France, and the lost
-prestige of the British arms on the Continent. His relations with France
-and Burgundy were such as encouraged this roseate notion. Louis XI. had
-supported the claims of Henry, and accomplishing the alliance of Margaret
-and his most formidable enemy Warwick, had sent them to push him from his
-throne. The time appeared to be arrived for inflicting full retribution.
-Burgundy was his brother-in-law, and had aided him in recovering his
-crown. True, the assistance of Burgundy had not been prompted by love to
-him, but by enmity to Warwick and Louis; nor had his reception of him in
-his distress been such as to merit much gratitude, but he did not care to
-probe too deeply into the motives of the prince; the great matter was,
-that Burgundy was the antagonist of Louis, and their interests were,
-therefore, the same.
-
-The Duke of Burgundy, formerly Count of Charolais--called Charles le
-Temeraire, or the Bold--was no match for the cold and politic Louis XI.
-He and his ally, the Duke of Brittany, fancied themselves incapable of
-standing their ground against Louis, and now made an offer of mutual
-alliance to Edward, for the purpose of enforcing their common claims
-in France. Nothing could accord more with the desires of Edward than
-this proposition. He had employed 1473 in settling his disputes with
-the Hanse Towns, in confirming the truce with Scotland, and renewing
-his alliances with Portugal and Denmark. His Parliament had granted
-him large supplies. They voted him a tenth of rents, or two shillings
-in the pound, calculated to produce at that day L31,460, equal to more
-than L300,000 of our present money. They then added to this a whole
-fifteenth, and three-quarters of another. But when Edward entered into
-the scheme of Burgundy and Brittany for the French conquest, they
-granted him permission to raise any further moneys by what were called
-_benevolences_, or free gifts--a kind of exaction perhaps more irksome
-than any other, because it was vague, arbitrary, and put the advances of
-the subjects on the basis of loyalty. Such a mode of fleecing the people
-had been resorted to under Henry III. and Richard II. Now there was added
-a clause to the Act of Parliament, providing that the proceeds of the
-fifteenth should be deposited in religious houses, and, if the French
-campaign should not take place, should be refunded to the people: as if
-any one had ever heard of taxes, once obtained, ever being refunded to
-the payers!
-
-All being in readiness, Edward passed over from Sandwich to Calais, where
-he landed on the 22nd of June, 1475. He had with him 1,500 men-at-arms,
-and 15,000 archers, an army with which the former Edwards would have
-made Louis tremble on his throne. He dispatched Garter-king-at-arms with
-a letter of defiance to Louis, demanding nothing less than the crown of
-France. The position of Louis was to all appearance most critical. If
-Burgundy, Brittany, and the Count of St. Pol, the Constable of France,
-who had entered into the league against him, had acted wisely and
-faithfully together, the war must have been as dreadful, and the losses
-of France as severe, as in the past days. But probably Louis was well
-satisfied of the crumbling character of the coalition. Comines, who was
-at the time in the service of Louis, has left us ample accounts of these
-transactions and, according to them, the conduct of the French king was
-masterly in the extreme. Instead of firing with resentment at the proud
-demands of the letter, he took the herald politely into his private
-closet, and there, in the most courteous and familiar manner, told him
-he was sorry for this misunderstanding with the King of England; that,
-for his part, he had the highest respect for Edward, and desired to be
-on amicable terms with him, but that he knew very well that all this was
-stirred up by the Duke of Burgundy and the Constable St. Pol, who would
-be the very first to abandon Edward, if any difficulty arose, or after
-they had got their own turn served. He put it to the herald how much
-better it would be for England and France to be on good terms, and gave
-the greatest weight to his arguments by smilingly placing in Garter's
-hand a purse of 300 crowns, assuring him that if he used his endeavours
-effectually to preserve the peace between the two kingdoms, he would add
-to it a thousand more.
-
-The herald was so completely captivated by the suavity, the sound
-reasons, and the money of Louis, that he promised to do everything in his
-power to promote a peace, and advised the king to open a correspondence
-with the Lords Howard and Stanley, noblemen not only high in the favour
-of Edward, but secretly adverse to this expedition. This being settled,
-Louis committed Garter-king-at-arms to the care of Philip de Comines,
-telling him to give the herald publicly a piece of crimson velvet thirty
-ells in length, as though it were the only present, and to get him away
-as soon as he could, with all courtesy, without allowing him to hold any
-communication with the courtiers. This being done, Louis summoned his
-great barons and the rest of the courtiers around him, and ordered the
-letter of defiance to be read aloud, all the time sitting with a look of
-the greatest tranquillity, for he was himself much assured by what he had
-heard from the herald.
-
-The words of Louis came rapidly to pass as regarded Edward's allies.
-Nothing could equal the folly of Burgundy and the treachery of the
-others. Charles the Rash, instead of coming up punctually with his
-promised forces, and in his usual wild way, led them to avenge some
-affront from the Duke of Lorraine, and the princes of Germany, far away
-from the really important scene of action. When the duke appeared in
-Edward's camp, with only a small retinue instead of a large army, and
-there was no prospect of his rendering any effective aid that summer,
-Edward was highly chagrined. All his officers were eager for the
-campaign, promising themselves a renewal of the fame and booty which
-their fathers had won. But when Edward advanced from Peronne, where he
-lay, to St. Quentin, on the assurances of Burgundy that St. Pol, who held
-it, would open its gates to him, and when, instead of such surrender, St.
-Pol fired on his troops from the walls, the king's wrath knew no bounds;
-he upbraided the duke with his conduct in thus deceiving and making a
-laughing-stock of him, and Burgundy retired in haste from the English
-camp. To add to Edward's disgust, Burgundy and his subjects had from the
-first landing of the English betrayed the utmost reluctance to admit the
-British forces into any of their towns. Artois and Picardy were shut
-against them, as if they came, not as allies, but as intending conquerors.
-
-Precisely at this juncture, the herald returned with his narrative of
-his kind reception, and the amiable disposition of Louis. This was by
-no means unwelcome in the present temper of Edward. It gave him the
-most direct prospect of punishing his perfidious allies. On the heels
-of Garter-king-at-arms arrived heralds from Louis, confirming all he
-had stated, and offering every means of pacification. The king called a
-council in the camp of Peronne, in which it was resolved to negotiate a
-peace with France on three grounds--the approach of winter, the absence
-of all supplies for the army, and the failure of assistance from the
-allies. For two months, while the terms of this treaty were being
-discussed, the agents and money of Louis were freely circulating amongst
-the courtiers and ministers of Edward.
-
-The plenipotentiaries found all their labours wonderfully smoothed by the
-desire of Louis to see the soil of France as soon as possible clear of
-the English army. The French King agreed to almost everything proposed,
-never intending to fulfil a tithe of his contracts. A truce for seven
-years was concluded at Amiens. The King of France agreed to pay the
-King of England 75,000 crowns within the next fifteen days; and 50,000
-crowns a year during their joint lives, to be paid in London. Apparently
-prodigal of his money, it was at this time that Louis paid 50,000 crowns
-for the ransom of Queen Margaret. To bind the alliance still more firmly,
-Edward proposed that the dauphin should marry his eldest daughter,
-Elizabeth, which was readily assented to. To testify his great joy in the
-termination of this treaty, Louis sent 300 cart-loads of the best wines
-of France into the English camp, and proposed, in order to increase the
-feeling of friendship between the two monarchs, that they should have a
-personal interview before Edward's departure.
-
-The treaty being signed, Gloucester and some others of the chief nobility
-who were averse from the peace, and therefore would not attend the
-meeting of the kings, now rode into Amiens to pay their court to him, and
-Louis received them with that air of pleasure which he could so easily
-put on, entertained them luxuriously, and presented them with rich gifts
-of plate and horses.
-
-Thus was this singular treaty concluded, and each monarch thought most
-advantageously to himself. Edward had paid off the Duke of Burgundy for
-neglecting to fulfil his agreement as to the campaign, and he now sent
-the duke word, patronisingly, that if he wished, he would get a similar
-truce for him; to which Burgundy sent an indignant answer. Edward had,
-moreover, got a good round sum of money to pay his army, and a yearly
-income of 50,000 crowns for life. Like Charles II. afterwards, he did
-not trouble himself about the disgrace and disadvantage of having made
-himself a pensioner of France. Besides this, he had arranged to set his
-eldest daughter on the French throne after Louis' decease.
-
-The people were very much of the French king's opinion, that their own
-monarch had been sadly over-reached. The army, which on its return was
-disbanded, promoted this feeling everywhere. The soldiers came back
-disappointed of the plunder of France, and accordingly vented their
-chagrin on the king and his courtiers, who for their private emolument
-had sold, they said, the honour of the nation. As to the general terms of
-the peace, the people had good cause to be satisfied. It was much better
-for the nation to be left at liberty to pursue its profitable trade than
-to be year after year drained of its substance to carry on a useless war.
-But the real cause of discontent was the annual bribe, which bound the
-king and his court to wink at any proceedings of France on the Continent
-against our allies and commercial connections, and even to suffer
-intrusions on our own trade, rather than incur the danger of losing the
-pay of the French king.
-
-Edward endeavoured to silence these murmurs by severity. He sent amongst
-the people spies who reported any obnoxious language, and he punished
-offenders without mercy. At the same time, he extended an equally stern
-hand towards all disturbers of the peace; the disbanded soldiers having
-collected into hordes, and spread murder and rapine through several of
-the counties. Seeing, however, that the general discontent was such
-that, should some Wat Tyler or Jack Cade arise, the consequences might
-be terrible, he determined to ease the burdens of the people at the
-expense of the higher classes. He therefore ordered a rigorous exaction
-of the customs; laid frequent tenths on the clergy; resumed many of the
-estates of the Crown; and compelled the holders of estates to compound by
-heavy fines for the omission of any of their duties as feudal tenants.
-He moreover entered boldly into trade. Instead of permitting his ships
-to lie rotting in port--since he had no occasion for them as transport
-vessels,--he sent out in them wool, tin, cloth, and other merchandise,
-and brought back from the ports of the Levant the produce of the East.
-By these means Edward became the wealthiest monarch of Europe, and while
-he soon grew popular with the people, who felt the weight of taxation
-annually decreasing, he became equally formidable to those who had more
-reason to complain.
-
-But however generally prosperous was the remainder of Edward's reign,
-it was to himself filled with the deepest causes of grief and remorse.
-The part which his brother Clarence had taken, his allying himself
-to Warwick, with the design to depose Edward and secure the crown to
-himself, could never be forgotten. He had been named the successor to
-the Prince of Wales, the son of Henry VI., and, should anything happen
-to Edward, might assert that claim to the prejudice of his own son.
-Still further, Clarence had given mortal offence to the queen. Her
-father and her brother had been put to death in Clarence's name. Her
-brother Anthony, afterwards, had narrowly escaped the same fate from
-the orders of Clarence. He had been forward in the charge of sorcery
-against her mother, the Duchess Jacquetta. Scarcely less had he incensed
-his brother Richard of Gloucester, the vindictive and never forgiving,
-by his opposition to his marriage with Anne of Warwick, and to sharing
-any of Warwick's property with him. Clarence was immensely rich, from
-the possession of the bulk of Warwick's vast estates, and he seems to
-have borne himself haughtily, as if he were another Warwick. He was at
-the head of a large party of malcontents, those who hated and envied the
-queen's family, and those who had been made to yield up their valuable
-grants from the crown under Henry VI. Clarence himself was one of the
-reluctant parties thus forced to disgorge some of his lands, under the
-act of resumption, on Edward's return from France. While brooding over
-this offence, his wife Isabella of Warwick died, on the 22nd of December,
-1476, just after the birth of her third child. Clarence, who was so
-extremely attached to her that he was almost beside himself at the loss,
-accused, brought to trial, and procured the condemnation of one of her
-attendants, on the charge of having poisoned her.
-
-Directly after this, January 5th, 1477, the Duke of Burgundy fell at
-the battle of Nancy, in his vain struggle against the Duke of Lorraine,
-backed by the valiant Swiss. His splendid domains fell to his only
-daughter, Mary, who immediately became the object of the most eager
-desire to numerous princes. Louis of France disdained to sue for her
-hand for the Dauphin, but attacked her territories, and hoped to secure
-both them and her by conquest. There had been some treaty for her by the
-Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, for his son during the late duke's life;
-but now Clarence aroused himself from his grief for the loss of his wife,
-and made zealous court, on his own account, to this great heiress. Her
-mother, Margaret, the sister of Clarence, favoured his suit warmly, but
-the idea of such an alliance struck Edward with dismay. Clarence already
-was far too powerful. Should he succeed in placing himself at the head
-of one of the most powerful states on the Continent, and with his avowed
-claims on the English crown, and his undisguised enmity to Edward's queen
-and family, the mischief he might do was incalculable.
-
-[Illustration: LOUIS XI. AND THE HERALD. (_See p._ 38.)]
-
-Edward, therefore, lost no time in putting in his most decided
-opposition. In this cause he was zealously seconded by Gloucester. But if
-ever there was a choice of a rival most unfortunate, and even insulting,
-it was that put forward by Edward against Clarence, in the person of
-Lord Rivers, the queen's brother. This match was rejected by the court
-of Burgundy with disdain, and only heightened the hatred of the queen in
-England--an odium which fell heavily on her in after years. She was now
-regarded as a woman who, not content with filling all the chief houses of
-England with her kin, aimed at filling the highest Continental thrones
-with them. The result was that Edward succeeded in defeating Clarence
-without gaining his own, or rather his wife's, object.
-
-From this moment Clarence became at deadly feud with Edward and all his
-family. The king, the queen, and Gloucester, united in a league against
-him, which, where such men were concerned--men never scrupling to destroy
-those who opposed them--boded him little good. The conduct of Clarence
-was calculated to exasperate this enmity, and to expose him to its
-attacks. He vented his wrath against all the parties who had thwarted
-him, king, queen, and Gloucester, in the bitterest and most public
-manner; and on the other side, occasions were found to stimulate him to
-more disloyal conduct. They began with attacking his friends and members
-of his household. John Stacey, a priest in his service, was charged with
-having practised sorcery to procure the death of Lord Beauchamp, and
-being put to the torture was brought to confess that Thomas Burdett,
-a gentleman of Arrow, in Warwickshire, also a gentleman of the duke's
-household, and greatly beloved by Clarence, was an accomplice. It was
-well understood why this confession was wrung from the poor priest.
-Thomas Burdett had a fine white stag in his park, on which he set great
-value. Edward in hunting had shot this stag, and Burdett, in his anger at
-the deed, had been reported to have said that he wished the horns of the
-deer were in the stomach of the person who had advised the king to insult
-him by killing it. This speech, real or imaginary, had been carefully
-conveyed to the king, and he thus took his revenge. Thomas Burdett was
-accused of high treason, tried, and, by the servile judges and jury,
-condemned, and beheaded at Tyburn.
-
-Clarence had exerted himself to save the lives of both these persons
-in vain. They both died protesting their innocence, and the next day
-Clarence entered the council, bringing Dr. Goddard, a clergyman, who
-appeared on various occasions in those times as a popular agitator.
-Goddard attested the dying declarations of the sufferers; and Clarence,
-with an honourable but imprudent zeal, warmly denounced the destruction
-of his innocent friends. Edward and the court were at Windsor, and these
-proceedings were duly carried thither by the enemies of Clarence. Soon
-it was reported that, having for many days sat sullenly silent at the
-council-board, with folded arms, he had started up and uttered the most
-disloyal words, accusing the queen of sorcery, which she had learned of
-her mother, and even implicating the king in the accusation.
-
-The fate of Clarence was sealed. The queen and Gloucester were vehement
-against him. Edward hurried to Westminster; Clarence was arrested and
-conducted by the king himself to the Tower. On the 16th of January a
-Parliament was assembled, and Edward himself appeared as the accuser
-of his brother at the bar of the Lords. He charged him with a design
-to dethrone and destroy him and his family. He retorted upon him the
-charge of sorcery, and of dealing with masters of the black art for
-this treasonable purpose; that to raise a rebellion he had supplied his
-servants with vast quantities of money, wine, venison, and provisions, to
-feast the people, and to fill their minds at such feasts with the belief
-that Burdett and Stacey had been wrongfully put to death; that Clarence
-had engaged numbers of people to swear to stand by him and his heirs as
-rightful claimants of the throne--asserting that Edward was, in truth, a
-bastard, and had no right whatever to the crown; that to gain the throne,
-and support himself upon it, he had had constant application to the arts
-for which his queen and her mother were famous, and had not hesitated
-to poison and destroy in secret. As for himself--Clarence--he pledged
-himself to restore all the lands and honours of the Lancastrians, when he
-gained his own royal rights.
-
-To these monstrous charges Clarence made a vehement reply, but posterity
-has no means of judging of the truth or force of what he said, for the
-whole of his defence was omitted in the rolls of Parliament. Not a soul
-dared to say a word on his behalf. Edward brought forward witnesses to
-swear to everything he alleged; the duke was condemned to death; and the
-Commons being summoned to attend, confirmed the sentence. No attempt was
-made to put the sentence into execution, but about ten days later it was
-announced that Clarence had died in the Tower. The precise mode of his
-death has never been clearly ascertained. The generally received account
-is that of Fabyan, a cotemporary, who says that he was drowned in a butt
-of Malmsey wine.
-
-Edward now again gave himself up to his pleasures, and would have been
-glad, in the midst of his amorous intrigues, to have forgotten public
-affairs altogether. But for this the times were too much out of joint.
-It was not in England alone that the elements of faction had been in
-agitation. Nearly the whole of Europe had witnessed the contentions of
-overgrown nobles and vassal princes by which almost every crown had
-been endangered, and the regal authority in many cases brought into
-contempt. The changes consequent on the accession of Henry IV. we have
-fully detailed; those storms which raged around the throne of France we
-have partially seen; but similar dissensions betwixt the Electors of
-Germany and the Emperor Sigismund prevailed; the Netherlands were divided
-against each other; and Spain was equally disturbed by the conspiracies
-of the nobles against the crown. Edward of England, as if sensible of the
-weakness of his position, strove anxiously to strengthen it by foreign
-alliances. Though his children were far too young to contract actual
-marriages, he made treaties which should place his daughters on a number
-of the chief thrones. Some of these contracts were entered into almost
-as soon as those concerned in them were born. Elizabeth, the eldest,
-was affianced to the Dauphin of France; Cecilia, the second, to the
-eldest son and heir of the King of Scotland; Anne, to the infant son
-of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, and husband of Mary of Burgundy;
-Catherine, to the heir of the King of Spain. His eldest son was engaged
-to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Brittany. On the other hand, all
-these royal negotiators appear to have been equally impressed with the
-precarious character of Edward's power, and were ready at the first
-moment to annul the contracts.
-
-That subtle monarch, Louis of France, never from the first moment
-seriously meant to adhere to his engagement; and in a very few years all
-these anxiously-planned marriages were blown away like summer clouds.
-Edward was not long in suspecting the hollowness of the conduct of
-Louis XI. Though repeatedly reminded that the time was come to fetch
-the Princess of England, in order to complete her education in France,
-preparatory to her occupying the station assigned to her there, Louis
-took no measures for this purpose; and when Edward remonstrated on
-the subject, threatened to withdraw the payment of the annual 50,000
-crowns. Edward boiled with indignation, and vowed, amongst his immediate
-courtiers that he would hunt up the old fox in his own cover if he did
-not mind. But that wily prince was not so easily dealt with. He saw
-with chagrin the proposed alliances betwixt Edward and his dangerous
-neighbours, the Duke of Brittany and Maximilian of Austria, now, through
-his wife, the ruler of Burgundy. Edward, in his resentment at the threat
-of Louis to withdraw his annual payment, made offers of closer union
-with Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy, and engaged, on condition that they
-should pay him the 50,000 crowns which he now had from Louis, to assist
-them against that monarch. But Louis was not to be out-manoeuvred in
-this manner; he was a profounder master in all the arts of diplomatic
-stratagem than Edward. He, therefore, made secret and tempting advances
-to Maximilian and Mary, one article of which devoted the Dauphin to their
-infant daughter, despite of her engagement to the English heir. At the
-same time he stirred up sufficient trouble in Scotland to occupy Edward
-for some time.
-
-The circumstances of Scotland were at this time very favourable to the
-mischievous interference of Louis. James III. was a monarch far beyond
-his age. He was of a pacific and philosophic turn. Surrounded by a rude
-and ignorant nobility, he conceived an infinite contempt for them, and
-was not politic enough to conceal it. They were received at court with
-coldness and neglect, while they saw men of science and letters admitted
-to the king's most intimate conversation. To avenge their slighted
-dignity, they stirred up the king's two brothers, the Duke of Albany,
-and the Earl of Mar, to rebellion. James, however, showed that, though
-pacifically disposed, he did not lack energy. He seized Mar and Albany,
-and confined them--Mar in Craigmillar Castle, and Albany in that of
-Edinburgh. Albany managed to escape, and made his way, by means of a
-French vessel, to France. Mar, who was of a vehement temper, was seized
-in his prison with fever and delirium. He was, therefore, removed from
-Craigmillar to a house in the Canongate, at Edinburgh, where, having
-been bled, he is said on a return of the paroxysm to have torn off his
-bandages while in a warm bath, and died from loss of blood. The incident
-was suspicious; but public opinion, for the most part, exonerated the
-king from the charge of any criminal intention; and even when he was
-afterwards deposed, no such charge was preferred against him by the
-hostile faction.
-
-It was at this crisis that Edward--roused to indignation by the conduct
-of the French king, who neglected to fetch the Princess of England,
-and withdrew his annual payment of the 50,000 crowns, and still more
-by tracing Louis' hand in Scottish affairs--invited over Albany from
-Paris, promising to set him on the throne of Scotland. Albany, smarting
-with his brother's treatment, was but too ready to accept the proposal.
-Edward launched reproaches against the King of Scotland for his perfidy
-in listening to Louis of France, whilst under the closest engagements
-with himself. Three years' payments of the dowry of Edward's daughter,
-Cecilia, had already been paid to the Scottish monarch, and yet he had
-thrown constant obstacles in the way of a marriage agreed upon between
-the sister of James and the Earl Rivers, the brother-in-law of Edward. In
-reply to Edward's reproaches, James flung at him the epeithet of reiver,
-or robber, alluding to his seizure of the English crown.
-
-Edward despatched an army to the borders of Scotland, under his brother
-Gloucester and Albany. He engaged to place Albany on the throne of James,
-and, in return, Albany, who was believed already to have two wives, was
-to marry one of Edward's daughters. With upwards of 22,000 men Gloucester
-and Albany reached Berwick, which speedily surrendered, though the castle
-held out.
-
-James, to meet this formidable attack, summoned the whole force of his
-kingdom to meet him on the Burghmuir, near Edinburgh, and at the head of
-50,000 men advanced first to Soutra, and thence to Lauder. But sedition
-was in his camp. Edward and Albany had opened communications with the
-discontented nobles. Albany, at the treaty of Fotheringay, where the
-Scottish scheme was made matter of compact, had assumed the title of
-Alexander, King of Scotland, and the adhesion of the principal chiefs
-of Scotland was confirmed by the impolicy of James, who had not only
-given to his favourite Cochrane, the architect, the bulk of the estates,
-along with the title of the Earl of Mar, but now placed him in command
-of the artillery, and permitted him to excite the envy and indignation
-of the great barons by the splendour of his appointments. Cochrane was,
-therefore, put to death by a band of conspirators, headed by Archibald
-Douglas, Earl of Angus, known, therefore, as Archibald "Bell-the-Cat."
-
-Albany and Gloucester quickly followed the conspirators to the Scottish
-capital, and there appeared now every prospect of the crown being placed
-on the head of Albany; but this was suddenly prevented by a new movement.
-The whole body of the Scottish nobles had joined in the destruction of
-the favourites, but there was a strong party of them who contemplated
-nothing further. The loyalty of this section of the aristocracy being
-well known to Angus and his friends, they had not ventured to communicate
-to them their design of deposing James. The moment that this became
-known to them, they quitted Edinburgh, collected an army, and planted
-themselves near Haddington, determined to keep in check any proceedings
-against the king. At the head of this loyal party were the Archbishop
-of St. Andrews, the Bishop of Dunkeld, the Earl of Argyll, and Lord
-Evandale. They called on all loyal Scots to gather to their standard,
-and, being posted betwixt Edinburgh and the English border, threw
-Gloucester and his adherents into considerable anxiety as to their
-position. Albany, Gloucester, and the insurgent lords were glad to come
-to an accommodation. It was agreed that James should retain the crown;
-that Albany should receive a pardon and the restoration of his rank and
-estates; that the money paid by Edward as part of the dowry of Cecilia
-should be repaid by the citizens of Edinburgh, and that Berwick and its
-castle should be ceded to England. Gloucester thereupon marched homeward,
-and Albany laid siege to the castle of Edinburgh, where the Earls of
-Atholl and Buchan still detained the king. He soon compelled them to
-capitulate, and James being now in the hands of Albany, the two brothers,
-in sign of perfect reconciliation, rode together on the same horse to the
-palace of Holyrood, and slept together in the same bed. The treason of
-Albany, however, only hid itself in his bosom for a season.
-
-The Scottish difficulty being settled, Edward now turned his attention
-to Louis of France. Whilst the Scottish campaign had been proceeding,
-an occurrence had taken place which raised Edward's wrath to its pitch.
-Mary of Burgundy had one day gone out hawking in the neighbourhood of
-Bruges, when her horse, in leaping a dyke, broke his girths, and threw
-her violently against a tree. She died in consequence, leaving three
-infant children, one of whom, Margaret, was a little girl two years
-old. Mary herself was only twenty-five at the time of her death. No
-sooner did Louis hear of this, than he immediately demanded the infant
-Margaret for his son the Dauphin, totally regardless of the long-standing
-engagement with Edward for the Princess Elizabeth. Maximilian of Austria,
-the father of Margaret, was strongly opposed to the match, seeing too
-well that Louis only wanted to make himself master of the territories of
-the children. Louis, however, had intrigued with the people of Ghent,
-and they would insist upon the alliance. Margaret was delivered to the
-commissioners of Louis, who settled on her the provinces which he had
-taken from her mother. The French, who regarded this event as bringing to
-the kingdom some very fine territories, without the trouble and expense
-of a conquest, received the infant princess with great rejoicings.
-
-[Illustration: ST. ANDREWS FROM THE PIER.]
-
-The rage of Edward knew no bounds. He had been so often warned, both
-by his courtiers and by Parliament, that the crafty Louis would play
-him false, that he now vowed to take the most consummate vengeance
-upon him. The best means of inflicting the severest punishment on the
-King of France engrossed his whole soul, and occupied him day and
-night. This violent excitement, operating upon a constitution ruined
-by sensual indulgence, brought on an illness, which, not attended to
-at first, soon terminated his existence. He died on the 9th of April,
-1483, in the twenty-third year of his reign and the forty-first of his
-age. The approach of death awoke in him feelings of deep repentance. He
-ordered full restitution to be made to all whom he had wronged, or from
-whom he had extorted benevolences. But such orders were not likely to
-receive much attention from Gloucester, who became the source of power.
-Immediately after his death he was exposed on a board, naked from the
-waist upwards, for ten hours, so that the lords spiritual and temporal,
-and the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London, might see that he had received
-no violence. He was then buried in Westminster Abbey, with great pomp and
-ceremony.
-
-Edward IV. was a man calculated to make a great figure in rude and
-martial times. He was handsome, lively of disposition, affable, and
-brave. So long as circumstances demanded daring and exertion in the
-field, he was triumphant and prosperous. Rapid in his resolves and in his
-movements, undaunted in his attacks, he was uniformly victorious; but
-peace at once unmanned him. With the last stroke of the sword and the
-last sound of the trumpet he flung down his arms, and flew to riot and
-debauchery. Ever the conqueror in the field, he was always defeated in
-the city. He never could become conqueror over himself. By unrestrained
-indulgence he destroyed his constitution, and hurried on to early death.
-Whether in the battle-field or in the hour of peace, he was unrestrained
-by principle, and sullied his most brilliant laurels with the blood of
-the young, the innocent, and the victim incapable of resistance. He was
-magnificent in his costume, luxurious at table, and most licentious in
-his amours. As he advanced in years he grew corpulent and unhealthy.
-He had the faculty of never forgetting the face of any one whom he had
-once seen, or the name of any one who had done him an injury. There was
-no person of any prominence of whom he did not know the whole history;
-and he had a spy in almost every officer of his government, even to the
-extremities of his kingdom. By this means he was early informed of the
-slightest hostile movement, and by a rapid dash into the enemy's quarters
-he soon extinguished opposition. Such a man might be a brilliant, but
-could never be a good monarch. He attached no one to his fortunes;
-therefore all his attempts to knit up alliances and his other projects
-failed; and his sons, left young and unprotected, speedily perished.
-
-His children were Edward, his eldest son and successor, born in the
-Sanctuary in 1470; Richard, Duke of York; Elizabeth, who was contracted
-to the Dauphin, but who became the queen of Henry VII.; Cecilia,
-contracted to James, afterwards IV. of Scotland, but married to John,
-Viscount Wells; Anne, contracted to the son of Maximilian of Austria, but
-married to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk; Bridget, who became a nun at
-Dartford; and Catherine, contracted to the Prince of Spain, but married
-to William Courtney, Earl of Devonshire.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.
-
-     Edward V. Proclaimed--The Two Parties of the Queen and of
-     Gloucester--Struggle in the Council--Gloucester's Plans--The Earl
-     Rivers and his Friends imprisoned--Gloucester secures the King and
-     conducts him to London--Indignities to the young King--Execution
-     of Lord Hastings--A Base Sermon at St. Paul's Cross--Gloucester
-     pronounces the two young Princes illegitimate--The Farce at
-     the Guildhall--Gloucester seizes the Crown--Richard crowned
-     in London and again at York--Buckingham revolts against
-     him--Murder of the Two Princes--Henry of Richmond--Failure
-     of Buckingham's Rising--Buckingham beheaded--Richard's Title
-     confirmed by Parliament--Queen Dowager and her Daughters quit the
-     Sanctuary--Death of Richard's Son and Heir--Proposes to marry his
-     Niece, Elizabeth of York--Richmond lands at Milford Haven--His
-     Progress--The Troubles of Richard--The Battle of Bosworth--The
-     Fallen Tyrant--End of the Wars of the Roses.
-
-
-By the death of Edward IV. England was destined once more to witness all
-the inconveniences which attend the minority of a king. Edward V. was a
-boy of only thirteen. His mother and her family had made themselves many
-enemies and few friends by their undisguised ambition and cupidity. The
-Greys and Woodvilles had been lifted above the heads of the greatest
-members of the aristocracy, enriched with the estates, and clothed with
-the honours of ancient houses. They had been posted round the throne as
-if to keep aloof all other candidates for favour and promotion. At the
-time of the death of Edward IV., Richard of Gloucester was in the North,
-attending to his duties as commander against the army in the Scottish
-marches. He immediately commenced his proceedings with that consummate
-and hypocritical art of which he was a first-rate master. He at once
-put his retinue into deep mourning, and marched to York attended by 600
-knights and esquires. There he ordered the obsequies of the departed king
-to be performed with all solemnity in the cathedral. He then summoned
-the nobility and gentry of the country to take the oath of allegiance to
-his nephew, Edward V., and he led the way by first taking it himself.
-He wrote to the queen-mother to condole with her on her loss, and to
-assure her of his zealous support of the rights of his beloved nephew.
-He expressed his ardent desire for the close friendship of the queen,
-of Earl Rivers, her brother, and of all her family. He announced his
-intention of proceeding towards London to attend the coronation, and if
-Elizabeth had not already known the man, she might have congratulated
-herself on the enjoyment of so affectionate a brother-in-law, and so
-brave and faithful a guardian of her son.
-
-But there is every reason to believe that the same messenger who carried
-these letters of condolence and professed friendship to the queen,
-carried others of a different tone to a hostile section of her council.
-The Lords Howard, Hastings, and Stanley, though personal friends of
-the late king, and Hastings, the chosen confidant and associate of his
-pleasures, were at heart bitter enemies of the queen's family. It was
-only the authority of Edward which had maintained peace between them, and
-now they showed an undisguised hostility to them at the council-board.
-The Earl Rivers, the queen's brother, and the Marquis of Dorset, her
-son by her former marriage, occupied the chief seats at that board, and
-Edward was no stranger to their real sentiments. This knowledge had led
-him, on perceiving his health failing, to bring these rivals together,
-and to state to them how much it concerned his son's peace and security
-that they should forget all past causes of difference, and unite for
-that loyal purpose. This they promised, but only with the tongue. No
-sooner was the king dead, than all the old animosity and jealousy showed
-themselves in aggravated form.
-
-Elizabeth now proposed that the young king should be brought up to town
-in order to be crowned, and that he should be attended by a strong body
-of soldiery for the safety of his person. At this, Hastings, who, in
-common with three-fourths of the nobility, was jealous of the design of
-the queen and her party to make themselves masters of the government
-during the king's minority, no longer concealed his real feelings. Edward
-had been kept on the borders of Wales, where the power of the Mortimers
-and the Yorkists lay. It was believed that the object was to give a
-preponderance to the royal family through the Welsh and the borderers;
-and now to march up to London, attended by a Welsh army, appeared
-a direct attempt to control the capital by these means. Hastings,
-therefore, warmly demanded--"What need of an army? Who were the enemies
-they had to dread? Was it the king's own uncle, Gloucester? Was it Lord
-Stanley, or himself? Was this force meant by the Woodvilles to put an end
-to all liberty in the council and the government, and thus to break the
-very union the king, on his death-bed, had pledged them to?" Hastings
-concluded his speech by hotly declaring that if the king was brought to
-London by an army, he would quit the council and the kingdom.
-
-Deterred by this open opposition, Elizabeth yielded, and reduced the
-proposed guard to 2,000 cavalry. But she did it with deep and too
-well-founded anxiety. She had had too much opportunity of studying the
-character of Gloucester to trust him, and the event very soon justified
-her conviction. Secret messages had, during this interval, been passing
-between Gloucester and Hastings and the Duke of Buckingham, a weak
-man, descended from Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward
-III. No doubt he had instructed them to defeat any measures of the
-Woodville family, which could leave the king in their hands. The moment
-was accurately calculated; and, accordingly, when the Lords Rivers and
-Grey, on their way to London with the young king, arrived at Stony
-Stratford, they found Gloucester had already reached Northampton, only
-ten miles from them. Gloucester had increased his forces on the way to
-a formidable body, and he was there joined by the Duke of Buckingham
-with 500 horse. The Lords Rivers and Grey, on learning the presence of
-Gloucester at Northampton, immediately rode over to him to welcome him
-in the king's name, and to consult with him on the plan of their united
-entrance into London. Gloucester received them with all the marks of
-that friendship which he had written to avow. They were invited to dine
-and spend the night, the Dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham promising
-to ride with them in the morning to pay their respects to the king.
-Morning appeared, and Gloucester and Buckingham set out with them in the
-best of humours. They rode in pleasant converse till, arriving at the
-entrance of Stony Stratford, Gloucester suddenly accused Rivers and Grey
-of having estranged the affections of the king from him. They denied the
-charge with as much vehemence as astonishment; but they were immediately
-arrested and conducted to the rear. Gloucester and Buckingham rode on
-to the king, where the two dukes humbly on their knees professed their
-loyalty and attachment. This they proceeded to make manifest by arresting
-also the king's faithful servants, Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard
-Hawse. In spite of the poor young king's entreaties, he led him away with
-him to Northampton, his relatives and friends, Rivers, Grey, Vaughan,
-and Hawse, following in the rear as prisoners. These prisoners of State
-were sent off by Gloucester, under a strong guard, to his castle of
-Pontefract--that blood-stained fortress, the very entrance to which, in
-bondage, was equivalent to a death-warrant.
-
-At midnight following the very day of these transactions, being the 1st
-of May, the appalling tidings reached the court that Gloucester, followed
-by a large army, had seized the king, and sent prisoners the queen's
-brother and son no one knew whither. Struck with consternation, and
-deeply rueing her weakness in giving up her own plans of caution, the
-queen, hastily seizing her younger son by the hand, and followed by her
-daughters, rushed from the palace of Westminster to the Sanctuary, which
-had protected her before; but not against a person so base and deadly
-in his ruthless ambition as this her brother-in-law of Gloucester. She
-knew the man, and she dreaded everything. Her eldest son, Dorset, who
-was Keeper of the Tower, in his turn weakly abandoned that important
-stronghold, and also fled to the Sanctuary. Rotherham, the Archbishop
-of York and Chancellor of the realm, hastening thither, found the queen
-seated on the rushes with which the floors at that time were strewn, an
-image of abandonment and woe.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD V.]
-
-Meanwhile, London was thrown into the utmost dismay and confusion. Many
-of the nobles and citizens flew to arms, and some flocked to the queen at
-Westminster, and others to Lord Hastings in London. Hastings continued to
-assure them that there was no cause of alarm; that Gloucester was a true
-man; and he was most likely the more ready to believe this himself from
-his own dislike of the queen's family.
-
-On the 4th of May Gloucester conducted his royal captive into the
-capital. At Hornsey Park, the lord mayor and corporation, in scarlet, met
-the royal procession, followed by 400 citizens, all in violet. The Duke
-of Gloucester, habited, like his followers, in mourning, rode into the
-city before the king, with his cap in hand, bowing low to the people, and
-pointing out to their notice the king, who rode in a mantle of purple
-velvet. Edward V. was first conducted to Ely Place, to the bishop's
-palace; but he was soon removed to the Tower, on the motion of the Duke
-of Buckingham, on pretence that it was the proper place in which to await
-his coronation. That ceremony Elizabeth and her council had ordered to
-take place this very day, but the crafty Gloucester prevented that by not
-arriving in time. He took up his quarters in Crosby Place, Bishopsgate,
-where one part of the council constantly sat, while another, but lesser
-portion of it, assembled with Lord Hastings and others in the Tower.
-The day of the coronation was then fixed for the 22nd of June, leaving
-an interval of nearly seven weeks in which the schemes of Gloucester
-might be perfected. The first object of this man had been to impress the
-queen and her party with his friendly disposition, till he had secured
-their persons; this being, in a great measure, effected, the next was
-to persuade the public of his loyalty to his nephew. For this purpose
-he conducted him with such state into the capital, and so assiduously
-pointed him out as their king to the people. To have openly proclaimed
-his designs upon the crown would have united all parties against him. He
-averted that by his calling on all men to swear fealty to his nephew,
-and by first swearing it himself. Having now procured full possession
-of the king's person, the next step was to secure that of his younger
-brother, without which his plans would all be vain. He was surrendered by
-the queen, and also placed in the Tower.
-
-[Illustration: EDWARD V.]
-
-The victims were secured. Gloucester had feigned himself a kind relation
-till he had got them into prison; now he yearned to put forth his claws
-and devour them. But for this it required that the public should be duly
-prepared. His followers, and especially his imbecile tool, Buckingham,
-busily spread through town and country reports of the most terrible
-plots on the part of the queen and her friends to destroy Gloucester,
-Buckingham, and other great lords, in order that she and her family might
-have the king, and through him, the whole government, in their power.
-They exhibited quantities of arms, which they declared the queen's party
-had secreted in order to destroy Gloucester and the other patriotic
-lords, as they pleased to represent them. This did not fail to produce
-its effect on the people without, and it was promptly followed up by a
-picture of treason in the very council.
-
-Lord Stanley, who was sincerely attached to Edward IV.'s family, had
-often expressed his suspicions of what was going on at Crosby Hall; but
-Hastings had replied, that he had a trusty agent there who informed him
-of all that passed. But Hastings, who had been completely duped by
-Gloucester, had been unconsciously playing into his hands, till his own
-turn came. While he imagined that Richard was punishing the assumption
-of the queen and her relations, the latter was preparing the bloody acts
-of one of the most daring dramas of historic crime ever acted before the
-world. Richard, no doubt, had thought Hastings ready to go the whole way
-with him. At this crisis, however, he became aware that he was an honest
-though misguided man, who would stand staunchly by his young sovereign,
-and must therefore be removed. The tyrant was now beginning to feel
-secure of his object, and prepared to seize it at whatever cost of crime
-and infamy. Accordingly, on the 13th of June, says Sir Thomas More, he
-came into the council about nine in the morning, "in a very merry humour.
-After a little talking with them, he said to the Bishop of Ely, 'My lord,
-you have very good strawberries in your garden in Holborn: I request
-you let us have a mess of them.' 'Gladly, my lord,' quoth he; 'would to
-God I had some better things as ready to your pleasure as that!' and
-then, with all haste, he sent his servant for a mess of strawberries.
-The protector set the lords fast in communing, and thereupon praying
-them to spare him a little while, departed thence, and, soon after one
-hour, between ten and eleven, he returned into the chamber amongst them
-all, changed, with a wonderful sour, angry countenance, knitting his
-brows, frowning and fretting, gnawing on his lips, and so sat him down
-in his place. Soon after he asked, 'What those persons deserved who had
-compassed and imagined his destruction.' Lord Hastings answered that they
-deserved death, whoever they might be; and then Richard affirmed that
-they were that sorceress, his brother's wife (meaning the queen), with
-others with her; 'and,' said the protector, 'we shall see in what wise
-that sorceress, and that other witch of her councils, Shore's wife, with
-their affinity, have by their sorcery and witchcraft wasted my body.'
-So saying, he plucked up his doublet sleeve to his elbow upon his left
-arm, where the arm appeared to be withered and small, as it was never
-other." He then included Hastings in the charge. The unfortunate man was
-hurried out by the armed ruffians of the tyrant, and scarcely allowing
-him time to confess to the first priest that came to hand, they made
-use of a log which accidentally lay on the green at the door of the
-chapel, and beheaded him at once. Lord Stanley, the Archbishop of York,
-and the Bishop of Ely, were kept close prisoners in the Tower. Shortly
-afterwards the queen's brother and son, Earl Rivers and Lord Grey, were
-executed at Pontefract.
-
-The united troops of Gloucester and Buckingham, to the amount of 20,000,
-now held the metropolis in subjection; the terror of the protector's
-deeds enchained it still more. On the following Sunday, June 22nd, the
-day which had been fixed for the coronation, instead of that ceremony
-taking place, a priest was found base enough--tyrants never fail of such
-tools--to ascend St. Paul's Cross, and preach from this text, from the
-Book of Wisdom, "Bastard slips shall not strike deep root."
-
-This despicable man was one Dr. Shaw, brother of the Lord Mayor. He
-drew a broad picture of the licentious life of Edward IV., and asserted
-that his mode of destroying such ladies as he found unwilling to incur
-dishonour was to promise them marriage, and occasionally to go through
-a mock or real ceremony with them. He declared that Edward had thus, in
-the commencement of his reign, really contracted a marriage with the
-Lady Eleanor Butler, the widow of Lord Butler, of Sudeley, and daughter
-of the Earl of Shrewsbury; that he afterwards contracted a private and
-illegal marriage with Elizabeth Woodville, which, however it might be
-real and legal in other respects, was altogether invalid and impossible,
-from the fact that Edward was already married to Lady Butler. Hence he
-contended that Elizabeth Woodville, though acknowledged by Parliament,
-was, in reality, nothing more than a concubine; that she and the king had
-been living in open and scandalous adultery; and that, of consequence,
-the whole of their children were illegitimate, and the sons incapable of
-wearing the crown.
-
-But the preacher went further. Determined to destroy the claims of
-the young Edward V. to the crown, he boldly asserted not only his
-illegitimacy, but that of his father, Edward IV. This could only be done
-at the expense of the honour of the proud Cicely, Duchess of York, the
-mother of Gloucester, as well as of Edward. But the man who was wading
-his way to the throne through the blood of his own nephews, and of the
-best men in the country, was not likely to be stopped by the honour of
-his mother. The son of Clarence was living, and in case of the deaths of
-Edward's sons had a prior right to Gloucester. That right was at present
-in abeyance, through Clarence's attainder, but would revive on reversion
-of the attainder, and the possibility of this must be destroyed.
-
-[Illustration: THE CROWN OF ENGLAND BEING OFFERED TO RICHARD, DUKE OF
-GLOUCESTER, AT BAYNARD'S CASTLE, IN 1483.
-
-FROM THE WALL PAINTING BY SIGISMUND GOETZE, IN THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.]
-
-The preacher, therefore, stoutly maintained that both Edward IV. and
-Clarence were the children of other men, not of the late Duke of York;
-that it was notorious, and that their striking likeness to their reputed
-fathers fully confirmed it. Gloucester, he contended, was alone the son
-of the Duke of York; and this vile prostitutor of the pulpit exclaimed,
-"Behold this excellent prince, the express image of his noble father--the
-genuine descendant of the house of York; bearing no less in the virtues
-of his mind than in the features of his countenance the character of the
-gallant Richard!" At this moment Gloucester, by concert, was to have
-passed, as if accidentally, through the audience to his place, and the
-preacher exclaimed, "Behold the man entitled to your allegiance! He must
-deliver you from the dominion of all intruders!--he alone can restore the
-lost glory and honour of the nation!"
-
-Here it was expected that the people would cry out "Long live King
-Richard!" but they stared at one another in amazement, and the more
-so that Gloucester did not appear at the nick of time, but after the
-preacher's apostrophe was concluded; so that, when Gloucester did appear,
-he was obliged to repeat his lesson, which threw such an air of ridicule
-upon the whole, that Gloucester could not conceal his chagrin, and the
-preacher--perceiving that the odium of the attempt, as it had failed,
-would fall upon him--stole away home, and, it is said, never again
-recovered his standing. Gloucester, of course, would be the first to
-fling him by as a worthless tool, and he received that reward of public
-contempt which it would be better for the world if it always measured out
-to such vile subserviency.
-
-But Gloucester was now fully prepared to complete his necessary amount
-of crime for the attainment of the throne, and was not to be daunted by
-one failure. The preacher, having broken the ice, he renewed his attempt
-in another quarter--the council chamber of the city. The Lord Mayor--as
-great a sycophant as his brother the preacher--lent himself, as he had
-probably done before, to the scheme. On the next Tuesday, the 24th of
-June, the Duke of Buckingham appeared upon the hustings at Guildhall, and
-harangued the citizens. He called upon them to recollect the dissolute
-life of the late king; his frequent violation of the sanctity of their
-homes; the seduction of most respectable ladies; the extent of his
-extortions of their money under the name of benevolences. In fact, he
-repeated, in another form, the whole sermon of Shaw, and went through the
-whole story of the marriage of Lady Butler, by the king, previous to that
-with Lady Grey, of which he assured them Stillington, Bishop of Bath, was
-a witness. Stillington, however, was never called to give such evidence.
-He then asked whether they would have the illegitimate progeny of such
-a man to rule over them. He assured them that he would never submit to
-the rule of a bastard, and that both the aristocracy and the people of
-the northern counties had sworn the same. But there, he observed, was
-the Duke of Gloucester, a man calculated to rescue England from such a
-stigma, and from all its losses--a man valiant, wise, patriotic, and
-of true blood, the genuine descendant of the great Edward III. On this
-the servants of Buckingham and Gloucester incited some of the meanest
-apprentices to cry out, and there was a feeble voice raised of "God save
-King Richard!" That was enough. Buckingham returned the people thanks
-for their hearty assent, and invited them to attend him the next morning
-to the duke's residence of Baynard's Castle, near Blackfriars Bridge, to
-tender him the crown. After a show of refusal Gloucester accepted it.
-
-Thus ended this scene, which Hume calls a ridiculous farce, but which
-was, in fact, a most diabolical one, to be followed by as revolting a
-tragedy. The next day this monster in human form went to Westminster
-in state. There he entered the great hall, and seated himself on the
-marble seat, with Lord Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, on his right
-hand, and the Duke of Suffolk on his left. He stated to the persons
-present that he chose to commence his reign in that place, because the
-administration of justice was the first duty of a king. Every one who
-heard this must have felt that if there were any justice in him he could
-not be there. It is clear that the spirit of the nation was with the poor
-boy Edward, but there was no man who dared to lift up his voice for him.
-The axe of Gloucester had already lopped off heads enough to render the
-others dumb, and London was invested by his myrmidons. He was already
-a dictator, and could do for a while what he pleased. He proclaimed
-an amnesty to all offenders against him up to that hour, and he then
-proceeded to St. Paul's, to return thanks to God. Thus, on the 26th of
-June, 1483, successful villainy sat enthroned in the heart of London.
-
-[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON: BLOODY (A) AND WAKEFIELD (B) TOWERS.]
-
-On the 6th of July, not a fortnight after his acceptance of the crown at
-Baynard's Castle Richard was crowned with all splendour. The terror of
-the blood-stained despot was all-potent, and was evidenced in the fact
-that few of the peers or peeresses ventured to absent themselves. With
-consummate tact Richard, the Yorkist usurper, appointed the heads of the
-Lancastrian line to bear the most prominent part in the ceremony, next to
-royalty itself. Buckingham bore his train, and the Countess of Richmond
-bore that of his queen. Both these persons were descendants of John of
-Gaunt, and the countess was the wife of that Lord Stanley who had been
-wounded at the very council board by Richard's ruffian guards, at the
-time of the seizure of Hastings. There can be little doubt but that it
-was the intention of Gloucester to have thus got rid, as by accident,
-of that respectable and powerful nobleman, who had great influence in
-the north; but having failed in that, he now made a merit of liberating
-him and his fellows, the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Ely, from
-the Tower. On Stanley he conferred the stewardship of the household, and
-soon after made him Constable of England. Probably, it not only entered
-the mind of Richard that it would be politic to secure the favour of
-a nobleman so much esteemed in Cheshire and Lancashire, but that, by
-ingratiating himself with the Countess of Richmond, the wife of Stanley,
-and the mother of the young Earl of Richmond, who, during the reign of
-Edward IV., had been a cause of anxiety, as a probable aspirant to the
-throne, he might succeed in beguiling Richmond into his hands; and this
-is the more probable because he was, at the very time, negotiating some
-private matters with the Duke of Brittany, at whose court Richmond was.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF RICHARD III.]
-
-Besides the promotion of Stanley, the Lord Howard was made Earl Marshal
-and Duke of Norfolk, his son was created Earl of Surrey, Lord Lovel was
-made a viscount, and many others of the nobility now received higher
-rank. The vast wealth which Edward IV. had left he distributed lavishly
-amongst those who had done his work, and those whom he sought to win
-over. The troops who had come from the north, and were seen with wonder
-and ridicule by the Londoners from their mean and dirty appearance, and
-called a rascal rabble, but who were ready at a word to do desperate
-things, he amply rewarded, and sent home again, as soon as the coronation
-was over.
-
-This great display over, Richard called no Parliament, but merely
-assembled the nobility before their returning to their respective
-counties, and enjoined them to maintain the peace there, and to assist
-his officers in putting down all offenders and disturbers. But he did
-not satisfy himself with injunctions. He set out to make a wide circuit
-through his kingdom, in order to awe all malcontents by his presence.
-He proceeded by slow journeys to Oxford, Woodstock, Gloucester, and
-Worcester. At Warwick he was joined by the queen; and as she was the
-daughter of the late Earl of Warwick, she might be considered as
-presiding in her ancestral home; and there, therefore, a considerable
-court was held for the space of a week, the Spanish ambassadors and
-members of the English nobility coming there. Thence the royal pair
-advanced by Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham, and Pontefract to York. The
-inhabitants of that stronghold of Lancastrian feeling had been warned to
-receive the king "with every mark of joy;" and to conciliate the northern
-population, Richard sent for the royal wardrobe from London, and once
-more repeated the coronation in York, as if to intimate that he scarcely
-felt himself sovereign till he had their sanction and homage.
-
-But after all the crimes perpetrated by Richard, the public had been
-terrified into silence, not into approval. No sooner was the south
-relieved from his presence than it at once recovered breath and language.
-As if the oppression of a nightmare were withdrawn, people began to utter
-their true feelings. Some were for marching in thousands upon the Tower,
-and forcibly liberating the innocent victims; others suggested that it
-were wise to enable the daughters of Edward to escape to the Continent,
-so that Richard should never be free from the fear of legitimate
-claimants to the crown. All the foreign potentates had shrunk from
-entering into alliance with so blood-stained a character, and would be
-ready to cherish these princesses as a means of annoying or controlling
-him.
-
-But Richard had thought of all these things long before the public, and
-had taken such measures to prevent them as would soon make the ears of
-all England tingle at their discovery. On attempting to communicate with
-Elizabeth and her daughters in the sanctuary, they found that asylum
-invested by a strong body of soldiers under one John Nesfield, and that
-there was no approaching the royal family. The only alternative was to
-endeavour to liberate the young princes.
-
-For this purpose private meetings were held in nearly all the counties
-of the south and west. The nobility and gentry bound themselves by
-oath to take arms and unite for the restoration of Edward V. In the
-midst of these movements the agitators were agreeably astonished to
-find themselves in possession of a most unexpected and powerful ally.
-This was no other than the Duke of Buckingham, the man who had so
-unscrupulously taken the lead in putting down all who were formidable
-obstacles to Richard's plans, and in bringing London to declare for him.
-The circumstances which produced this marvellous change have rather been
-guessed at than ever satisfactorily known.
-
-Buckingham was descended from Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, sixth son of
-Edward III. His claims to the throne were far superior to those of the
-Earl of Richmond, who was of an exactly parallel descent from John of
-Gaunt, but with a flaw of illegitimacy through that prince's connection
-with Catherine Swynford. Buckingham not only stood higher amongst the
-princes of the Lancastrian blood than Richmond, but he was married to
-the sister of Queen Elizabeth, and was thus closely connected with the
-imprisoned prince. Yet he had at once supported the most unscrupulous of
-the Yorkists, and helped more than any other man to dethrone his near
-relative. If this were strange, his sudden conversion was stranger.
-For his signal services to Richard he had received signal rewards.
-The Earl of Gloucester, Buckingham's ancestor, had married one of the
-daughters and co-heiresses of Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford. Their
-property, on the Yorkist family ascending the throne, had been seized by
-it. Buckingham had probably made it his bargain for what he was to do
-for Richard, that these estates should be restored to him. They were,
-accordingly, restored, and beyond that he was made Constable of England,
-Justiciary of Wales, and many other honours were heaped upon him. Why,
-then, this sudden revolt? The real causes were most likely those which
-have ever separated successful villains--distrust of each other, and the
-desire of the principal to be rid of his too knowing and, therefore,
-dangerous accessory. Buckingham was the confidant in many and terrible
-State secrets. He knew why Hastings was suddenly hurried to his death,
-and all the dark work by which the true prince had been thrust down to a
-dungeon, and the false one set up.
-
-He resolved, therefore, to reinstate Edward V.; and circular letters
-were addressed to all those chiefs who were likely to unite in the
-enterprise. In Kent, Essex, Sussex, Berkshire, Hants, Wilts, and
-Devonshire, preparations were made for the purpose; and Buckingham was
-about to move forward to put himself at their head, when the confederates
-were thunderstruck with the news that the king and his brother had been
-already murdered in the Tower.
-
-The account which has been generally followed of this horrid event, is
-that of Sir Thomas More. According to the learned chancellor, Richard,
-while making his holiday progress through the country, was plotting the
-death of the young princes in the Tower. From Gloucester he despatched
-one of his pages to Sir Robert Brackenbury, the Governor of the Tower,
-commanding him to get them quietly made away with. Sir Robert refused the
-office of assassin. Richard, however, from Warwick sent Sir James Tyrell,
-with orders to command the Tower for one night. This Tyrell had been
-vice-Constable under Edward IV., and always employed by him to execute
-illegal commissions, like Tristan, the tool of Louis XI. Tradition holds
-that the Portcullis Tower was the one in which the young princes were
-confined, and it is stated that they were under the constant surveillance
-of four keepers, and waited on by a fellow called Black Will, or Will
-Slaughter.
-
-The murderer Richard is said to have roused Tyrell from his bed at
-midnight, and sent him off; and Brackenbury, though he would not stain
-his own hands with innocent blood, had to give the keys by the king's
-command to the man who would. "Then," says Sir Thomas More, "Sir James
-Tyrell desired that the princes should be murdered in bed, to the
-execution whereof he appropriated Miles Forest, one of their keepers,
-a fellow flesh-bred in murder, and to him he joined one John Dighton,
-his own horse-keeper, a big, broad, square knave. The young king had
-certainly a clear apprehension of his fate, for he was heard sighingly to
-say, 'I would mine uncle would let me have my life, though he taketh my
-crown.' After which time the prince never tied his points nor anything
-attended to himself, but with that young babe his brother, lingered in
-thought and heaviness, till the traitorous deed delivered them from their
-wretchedness.
-
-"All their other attendants being removed from them, and the harmless
-children in bed, these men came into their chamber, and suddenly lapping
-them in the clothes, smothered and stifled them till thoroughly dead.
-Then laying out their bodies on the bed, they fetched Sir James to see
-them, who caused the murderers to bury them at the stairfoot, deep in
-the ground under a heap of stones. Then rode Sir James in great haste
-to King Richard, and showed him the manner of the murder, who gave him
-great thanks, but allowed not their bodies in so vile a corner, but would
-have them buried in consecrated ground. Sir Robert Brackenbury's priest
-then took them up, and where he buried them was never known, for he died
-shortly afterwards. But when the news was brought to the unfortunate
-mother, yet being in sanctuary, that her two sons were murdered, it
-struck to her heart like the sharp dart of death; she was so suddenly
-amazed that she swooned and fell to the ground, and there lay in great
-agony, yet like to a dead corpse."
-
-This dismal news, however, probably did not reach the unhappy queen till
-some time after the perpetration of the murder, for the tyrant kept the
-deed close till it suited his purpose to disclose it.
-
-The whole of this circumstantial account has been called in question
-by some modern historians, on the plea that the history of Richard
-was written by men after his death, who invented half the crimes and
-repulsive features of Richard to please the court of Henry VII. But
-perhaps two more highly credible historians could not be found than
-Sir Thomas More and the continuator of the Croyland Chronicle, the
-latter of whom wrote immediately after the death of Richard; and every
-circumstance known confirms their accounts. We shall see that the younger
-of these princes was supposed to reappear in the reign of Henry VII. as
-Perkin Warbeck. But, unfortunately for this story, the bodies of the
-two murdered children were discovered buried in one coffin or box. This
-occurred so late as 1674, when workmen were digging down the stairs which
-led from the king's lodgings to the chapel in the Tower, where, about ten
-feet deep, they came upon this chest containing the bones of two youths
-"proportionable to the ages of the two brothers; namely, about thirteen
-and eleven years."
-
-What is more, all those said to be concerned in this diabolical deed
-were afterwards specially patronised by Richard. Greene, the messenger,
-was made receiver of the lordships of the Isle of Wight and Porchester
-Castle; Tyrell and Brackenbury received numerous grants of lucrative
-offices, money, and lands, as may be seen in Strype's notes to Bucke's
-history, in Kennet. Dighton, one of the murderers, was made bailiff
-for life of the manor of Aiton, in Staffordshire; and Forest dying in
-possession of a lucrative post in Bernard Castle, his widow and son
-received an annuity of five marks. Still, further, Sir Thomas More says,
-"Very truth it is, and well known, that at such times as Sir James Tyrell
-was in the Tower for treason against King Henry VII., both Dighton and
-him were examined, and confessed the murder in manner above written."
-Henry, in consequence, sought for the bodies, but at that time they could
-not be found, the chaplain, the depositary of the secret, being dead.
-
-When, in addition to this, it shall be seen that Richard was anxious
-to marry Elizabeth of York, the sister of these young princes, and to
-prevent Richmond from marrying her, nothing can be more conclusive of the
-death of the boys as described--for, otherwise, the issue of Elizabeth
-could not succeed rightfully to the throne. Moreover, Richard is himself
-stated to have allowed the fact of the murder to come out, in order to
-crush the rising of Buckingham and his confederates in their behalf.
-Under all these circumstances, we conceive no event of history stands
-more strongly authenticated.
-
-It is said to have been in the midst of the gaieties of the coronation
-at York that Richard received the news of Buckingham's movement, and of
-the confederation of the southern counties. The circumstances were so
-alarming that, notwithstanding the execration which he was conscious such
-an avowal would bring down upon him, he permitted the account of the
-princes' death to be published. One universal burst of horror, both from
-friend and foe, went through the kingdom; and from that hour, instead of
-saving him, the knowledge of that cruel deed repelled all hearts from him.
-
-For the moment, the nobles, marching forward to rescue the young king,
-were taken aback: the tyrant had anticipated them; the king they would
-restore had perished. But the astute Bishop of Ely reminded them that
-there was Henry of Richmond, descended from John of Gaunt, who might
-marry Elizabeth of York, and thus, uniting the two rival houses, put
-an end to the divisions of the nation. This uniting all parties would
-annihilate the murderer. The idea was seized upon with avidity. Reginald
-Bray, the steward to the Countess of Richmond, was instructed to open
-the project to her, who immediately embraced it in favour of her son.
-Dr. Lewis, a Welsh physician, who attended the queen-dowager in the
-sanctuary, was made the bearer of the scheme to her. Elizabeth was well
-prepared by the wrongs heaped upon her, the murder of her brother and
-her three sons, and her own confinement and degradation, to forget her
-opposition to the house of Lancaster. She fully agreed to the project, on
-the condition of Richmond swearing to marry her daughter Elizabeth on his
-arriving in England. She even borrowed a sum of money and sent it to him,
-to aid his enterprise. A messenger was despatched to Henry in Brittany
-to inform him of the agreement, and to hasten his arrival, the 18th of
-October being fixed for the general rising in his favour.
-
-[Illustration: THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER. (_See p._ 54.)
-
-(_After the picture by Paul Delaroche._)]
-
-But it was not to be supposed that all these arrangements could
-escape the suspicious vigilance of Richard. He proceeded from York to
-Lincolnshire as if he were only attending to the ordinary affairs of the
-kingdom. But on the 11th of October--a week before the day appointed for
-the rising of the confederates--he summoned all his adherents to meet him
-at Leicester. Four days afterwards he proclaimed Buckingham a traitor,
-and set a reward of L1,000, or of L100 a year in land, on his head. For
-those of the Marquis of Dorset and of the two bishops he offered 1,000
-marks, or 100 marks a year in land each; and for the head of any hostile
-knight half that sum. He sent at the same time to London for the great
-seal to authenticate these and similar acts.
-
-On the day fixed, the rising, notwithstanding, took place. The Marquis
-of Dorset proclaimed Henry VII. at Exeter; the Bishop Of Salisbury
-proclaimed him in that city; the men of Kent at Maidstone; those of
-Berkshire at Newbury, and the Duke of Buckingham raised his standard
-at Brecon. Few revolutions ever opened with more favourable auspices.
-But untoward events made wholly abortive this well-planned popular
-attempt. The Duke of Richmond set sail from St. Malo on the 12th of
-October for England, with a fleet of forty sail, carrying 5,000 men; but
-tempestuous weather prevented him from reaching the coast of Devonshire
-till the dispersion of his unfortunate allies. He therefore put back.
-In the meantime Richard had joined his army at Leicester, and issued a
-proclamation which reads nowadays like the ravings of a madman.
-
-[Illustration: RICHARD III.]
-
-To draw off the followers of the confederates, while he offered rewards
-for the heads of their leaders, he granted free pardons to all who
-would abandon them. And the elements at this moment fought for Richard.
-Buckingham set out on his march to unite his forces to those of the other
-leaders, but there fell such heavy and continuous rains during the whole
-of his march from Brecon through the Forest of Dean to the Severn, that
-the bridges were carried away, and all the fords rendered impassable.
-Such rains and floods had not been known in the memory of man; and the
-inundation of the Severn was long after remembered as _Buckingham's
-Flood_.
-
-The Welsh, struck with a superstitious dread from this circumstance, and
-pressed by famine, dispersed, and Buckingham turned back to Weobly, the
-seat of Lord Ferrers. The news of Buckingham's failure confounded all
-the other confederates, and every man made the best of his way towards
-a place of safety. Merton, Dorset, Courtenay the Bishop of Exeter, and
-others, escaped to Flanders and Brittany. Weobly was closely watched,
-on one side by Sir Humphrey Stafford, and on the other by the clan of
-the Vaughans, who were promised the plunder of Brecon if they secured
-the duke. Buckingham, in disguise, escaped from Weobly, and hid himself
-near Shrewsbury, in the hut of a fellow of the name of Bannister, an old
-servant of the duke's family. This wretch, to secure the reward, betrayed
-his master to John Mitton, the sheriff of Shropshire, who conducted him
-to Richard at Salisbury, who ordered his head to be instantly struck off
-in the market-place. Amongst others who shared the same fate, Richard
-had the satisfaction of thus silencing a witty rhymester, William
-Collingbourne, who had dared to say that,
-
-    "The rat, the cat, and Lovel the dog,
-    Ruled all England under the hog."
-
-That is, Ratcliffe, Catesby, and Lord Lovel; the hog being in allusion to
-Richard's crest, the boar.
-
-Richard, thus relieved, marched into Devonshire, where he put to
-death, amongst others, Sir Thomas St. Leger, a knight who had married
-the Duchess of Exeter, his own sister. He then traversed the southern
-counties in triumph, and, arriving in London, he ventured to do what
-hitherto he had not dared, that is, call a Parliament. This assembly,
-prostrate at the feet of the prosperous despot, did whatever he proposed.
-They pronounced him "the undoubted king of England, as well by right
-of consanguinity and inheritance, as by lawful election, consecration,
-and coronation;" and they entailed the crown on his issue; the Lords,
-spiritual and temporal, binding themselves to uphold the succession of
-his son, the Prince of Wales. They attainted his enemies by wholesale,
-and beyond all precedent. One duke, one marquis, three earls, three
-bishops, with a whole host of knights and gentlemen, were thus deprived
-of honour, title, and estate; and their lands, forfeited to the Crown,
-were bestowed by Richard liberally on his northern adherents, who were
-thus planted in the south to act as spies on the southern nobles and
-gentry. The Countess of Richmond, though attainted, was permitted to hold
-her estates for life, or rather, they were thus conceded for that term to
-her husband, Lord Stanley, to bind him to the usurper.
-
-To avenge himself on the queen-dowager for her acceptance of the proposal
-to bring over Henry of Richmond and unite him to her daughter, Richard
-now deprived her and her daughters of all title, property, and honour. He
-treated them, not as the legitimate wife and children of Edward IV., but
-as what he had before proclaimed them. He had ordered the late murdered
-king to be called officially "Edward the bastard, lately called Edward
-V." The queen-dowager was styled "Elizabeth, late wife of Sir John Gray,"
-and her daughters were treated and addressed as simple gentlewomen.
-
-But the design of placing Henry of Richmond on the throne, Richard knew
-well, though for the moment defeated, was not abandoned. At the last
-festival of Christmas Henry had met the English exiles, to the number of
-500, at Rhedon, in Brittany, and had there sworn to marry Elizabeth of
-York as soon as he should subdue the usurper; and thereupon the exiles
-had unanimously sworn to support him as their sovereign. Henry was, as
-we have observed, descended on the father's side merely from Owen Tudor,
-a yeoman of the royal guard, and Catherine, the widow of Henry V. On
-the mother's side he was descended from Edward III. through John of
-Gaunt, but from an illegitimate branch. The bar of illegitimacy, though
-legally removed, would always have operated against his claim to the
-crown; but, independent of this, there were still various princes and
-princesses of Spain and Portugal, descendants of John of Gaunt, whose
-titles to the English crown were much superior to his. Yet, from his very
-infancy, there seems to have been a singular feeling that one day he
-would mount the throne of this kingdom. Henry VI. is said to have laid
-his hand on his head as a child, and declared that one day the crown
-would sit there. Edward IV. had evinced a perpetual fear of him, and had
-not only bargained for his secure detention at the court of Brittany,
-but on one occasion he had bribed the Duke of Brittany to give him up on
-the pretence of his intending to marry him to his eldest daughter--that
-daughter, in fact, he was destined eventually to marry. The duke,
-however, at the last moment, feeling a strong misgiving, had followed
-Henry to St. Malo, and there stopped him from embarking. Richard, on
-succeeding to the throne, had tried to purchase the surrender of Henry
-from the Duke of Brittany. In short, Henry assured the historian,
-Comines, that from the age of five years he had either been a captive or
-a fugitive. With this long traditionary presentiment that he was to reign
-in England attached to him, his marriage to Elizabeth of York would at
-once obviate all scruples as to his complete title. He would come in on
-the strength of her title, as William of Orange afterwards did on that of
-his queen, Mary Stuart.
-
-As the prospect of this event became more imminent--as Richard felt more
-deeply that the heart of the nation was not with him, but that all men
-were looking to this alliance as the hope of better times, he set himself
-to defeat it. Though he had so lately robbed, degraded, and insulted
-Queen Elizabeth and her family--though he had murdered her children and
-usurped their throne, he now suddenly turned round, and fawned on them.
-He began to smile most kindly on Elizabeth, and wished her to quit the
-sanctuary and come to court--a court dyed in the blood of her sons and
-brothers. He made her the most flattering promises; and, when they failed
-to draw her forth, he followed them by the most deadly threats. Elizabeth
-Woodville had never been found insensible to prospects of advantage for
-herself and family; but to put herself into the power of so lawless
-a butcher, and to unite her daughter with the son of the murderer of
-her children, was by no means reconcilable to her feelings. She stood
-out stoutly; but fear of worse consequences at length compelled her to
-succumb, and a private contract was concluded. Richard, in the presence
-of a number of the nobles and prelates, as well as of the Lord Mayor and
-aldermen, swore that the lives of Elizabeth and her daughters should be
-safe; that the mother should receive an annuity of 700 marks for life,
-and each of the daughters lands to the value of 200 marks on their
-marriage, which should be to none but gentlemen.
-
-When this bitter draught was swallowed, she had to endure another not
-the less sorrowful--that was, to appear at the court of the usurper,
-and behold him sitting in the seat of her murdered son, and receiving
-that homage which was his right. But this strange patron now smiled
-sunnily upon her. She and her daughters were received with every mark of
-distinction, and especially Elizabeth, the eldest, whom he was intending
-to pluck from the hopes of Richmond, by wedding her to his own son. But
-these views were suddenly destroyed by the death of this, Richard's only
-legitimate, son. He died at Middleham, where Richard was often residing,
-but was then with his queen absent at Nottingham. His death, which took
-place about the 9th of April, had something so remarkable about it, that
-Rous, the family chronicler, calls it "an unhappy death." Both Richard
-and his queen were so overwhelmed by this unexpected blow, that the
-continuator of the Croyland Chronicle says that they almost went mad.
-
-It was indeed a fatal stroke. The son on whom Richard had built the
-hopes of his family's succession, and for whom he killed his nephews,
-was now gone, and he was left without an heir, and without any prospect
-of one. It might be supposed that this event would raise the confidence
-of the Richmond party; and Richard, appearing to entertain the same
-idea, conceived the design of securing Richmond, and, no doubt, dealing
-with him as effectually as he had done with all others who stood in his
-way. For this purpose he opened secret communications with Francis, Duke
-of Brittany. That prince, who had been so long the generous protector
-of Richmond, was now in a feeble and failing state of health, and his
-minister, Peter Landois, administered his affairs pretty much at his
-own will. The interest of Landois was purchased by heavy sums, and he
-agreed to deliver Richmond into the hands of Richard. But the sagacious
-Morton, Bishop of Ely, gave him timely warning, and Richmond fled for
-his life. He reached France with only five attendants, and went at once
-to the French court at Angers, where he was cordially received by the
-sister of Charles VIII., then acting as regent. He accompanied the French
-court to Paris, where he again repeated his oath to marry Elizabeth of
-York, in case of deposing the tyrant, and he was immediately hailed by
-the students of Paris as King of England. He was promised assistance
-by the princess regent for his enterprise, and while these things were
-proceeding, Francis of Brittany, who had recovered his health, and was
-made acquainted with the villainy of Landois, sent a messenger to offer
-him aid in his design.
-
-Thus Richard had driven his enemy into a more safe and formidable
-position, instead of capturing him, and he taxed his subtle genius to
-thwart this dangerous rival by other means. To prepare for any serious
-attack from France, he put an end to a miserable state of plunder and
-reprisal betwixt Scotland and his subjects. He concluded an armistice
-with James of Scotland; and having since his son's death nominated John
-Earl of Lincoln the son of his sister the Duchess of Suffolk heir to the
-crown, he now contracted Anne de la Pole, the sister of the young earl,
-to the eldest son of the King of Scotland.
-
-But Richard had designs more profound than this. He determined, as
-he could not marry Elizabeth of York to his son, he would snatch her
-from Richmond by wedding her himself. True, he had already a wife;
-but monarchs have frequently shown how soon such an obstacle to a
-fresh alliance can be removed. Richard now held a magnificent court at
-Westminster. There was a constant succession of balls, feastings, and
-gaieties. In the midst of these no one was so conspicuous as Elizabeth of
-York; and what very soon excited the attention and the speculations of
-the court, she always appeared in precisely the same dress as the queen.
-
-The poor queen, Anne of Warwick, who began with hating Richard most
-cordially, and even disguised herself as a cookmaid to escape him,
-since the death of her son, had never recovered from her melancholy
-and depression. Probably, knowing the real character of her ruthless
-Bluebeard, she foresaw what must take place, and was too weary of life to
-care to retain it. Though she penetrated the designs of the king, these
-never influenced her in her conduct to Elizabeth, to whom she was kind as
-became an aunt. And now she fell ill, and Richard is said to have assured
-Elizabeth that the queen would "die in February," and that she should
-succeed her.
-
-Anne of Warwick, the last queen of the Plantagenet line, did not die in
-February, but she did not survive through March. Yet that event did not
-in any degree contribute to Richard's marriage with Elizabeth. Whether we
-are to suppose with Sir Thomas More, and others, that Elizabeth herself
-manifested a steady repugnance to so abhorrent a union, or whether
-Richard deemed her in greater security there, he sent her under close
-guard to the castle of Sheriff-Hutton, in Yorkshire, and no sooner did
-he permit it to be whispered that such a marriage was probable, than
-the rumour was received with universal horror. No persons were more
-resolutely opposed to it than Ratcliffe and Catesby, Richard's great
-confidants in his crimes. They naturally dreaded the idea of Elizabeth,
-the sister of the murdered princes and the representative of a family on
-which they had heaped such injuries, becoming queen, and in a position
-to wreak her vengeance upon them. But they also saw, quite as clearly,
-the ruin which the king would certainly bring down upon himself by such
-a measure, in which they must also be inevitably involved.
-
-The instinct of self-preservation in these men led them to remind the
-king that a marriage with his own niece would be regarded as incestuous,
-would be reprobated by the clergy, and abhorred by the people; that
-there was a general persuasion abroad that he had poisoned his wife, and
-this union would convert that persuasion into absolute conviction; that
-the men of the northern counties, on whom he chiefly depended, and who
-adhered to him, more than for any other cause, through their attachment
-to the late queen, as the daughter of the great Earl of Warwick, would be
-totally lost, and nothing but ruin could await him.
-
-This strong and undisguised feeling, displayed thus both in public and
-private, drove Richard from this design. Just before Easter, he called
-a meeting of the city authorities in the great hall of St John's,
-Clerkenwell, and there declared that he had no such intention as that of
-marrying his niece, and that the report was "false and scandalous in a
-high degree." He also sent a letter to the citizens of York, dated the
-11th of April, contradicting such slanderous tales, and commanding them
-to apprehend and punish all who should be found guilty of propagating
-them.
-
-But the time was fast drawing near which must decide whether Richard or
-Henry of Richmond should wear the crown. Richard was informed by his
-agents on the Continent that Charles of France had permitted the Earl
-of Richmond to raise an army in that country. They amounted to 3,000
-men, consisting of English refugees and Norman adventurers. Richard
-pretended to be delighted at the news, as confident that now he should
-speedily annihilate his enemy. He was, however, so impoverished by his
-lavish gifts and grants to secure the faith of his adherents, that he
-was unprovided with the means of maintaining an army; neither had he
-a fleet to intercept that of Henry. He dared not call a Parliament to
-ask for supplies, for he had expended those granted by the only one he
-had called. In that Parliament, to cast odium upon the memory of his
-brother Edward, he had called on his subjects to remember his tyranny in
-extorting benevolences; yet now he resorted to the very same thing; and
-the people, in ridicule of his pretended denunciation of benevolences,
-called them _malevolences_. By these arbitrary exactions he destroyed
-the last trace of adhesion to his Government. On all sides he felt
-coldness--on all sides he saw defection. The brave old Earl of Oxford,
-John De Vere, who had been a prisoner twelve years in the prison of
-Ham, in Picardy, was set at liberty by Sir James Blount, the governor
-of the castle, and they fled together to Henry. Sir John Fortescue, the
-Porter of Calais, followed their example, and numbers of young English
-gentlemen, students of the University of Paris, flocked to his standard.
-The same process was going on in England. Several sheriffs of counties
-abandoned their charge, and hastened over to France; and numerous parties
-put off from time to time from the coast. But no nobleman occasioned,
-however, so much anxiety as Lord Stanley. His connection with Richmond,
-having married his mother, made Richard always suspicious. He had
-lavished favours upon him to attach him, and had made him steward of
-the household to retain him under his eye. Stanley had always appeared
-sincere in his service, but it was a sincerity that Richard could not
-comprehend. This nobleman now demanded permission to visit his estates
-in Cheshire and Lancashire, to raise forces for the king; but Richard so
-little trusted him that he detained his son, Lord Strange, as a hostage
-for his fidelity. We have already seen that Stanley had long secretly
-pledged himself to Elizabeth of York in her cause, and only waited the
-proper occasion to go over.
-
-[Illustration: RICHARD III. AT THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH. (_See p._ 63.)]
-
-On the 1st of August, 1485, Henry of Richmond set sail from Harfleur,
-with the united fleet of France and Brittany, and an army of 3,000 men,
-on that memorable expedition which was to terminate the fatal wars of
-the Roses, and introduce into England a new dynasty, and a new era of
-civilisation. On the seventh of that month he landed at Milford Haven. He
-himself and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, went on shore at
-a place called Dale, while his army was disembarking. The Welsh accosted
-the old earl with this significant welcome on his setting foot on his
-native shore, "Welcome! for thou hast taken good care of _thy_ nephew!"
-
-Having refreshed his forces, Henry marched on through Haverfordwest and
-Pembroke to Cardigan. Everywhere he was received with manifest delight;
-but his forces did not increase till he reached Cardigan, where Richard
-Griffith and Richard Thomas, two Welsh gentlemen, joined his standard
-with their friends. His old friend Sir Walter Herbert, who had been
-expressly sent by Richard into that quarter with Rice ap Thomas to raise
-the country in his behalf, though he did not join him, suffered him to
-pass unmolested. Rice ap Thomas, on receiving a promise of the Government
-of Wales, went over at once to Henry. When the army reached Newport Sir
-Gilbert Talbot, with a decision of character in keeping with the account
-of him by Brereton, came at the head of the tenantry of his nephew, the
-Earl of Shrewsbury, 2,000 in number, and there, too, he was followed by
-Sir John Savage. The invading force now amounted to more than 6,000 men.
-
-Henry crossed the Severn at Shrewsbury. Richard now advanced to
-Leicester, whence he issued despatches to all his subjects to join him
-on the instant, accompanied by the most deadly menaces against all
-defaulters. The Duke of Norfolk was there with the levies of the eastern
-counties; the Earl of Northumberland with those from the north; Lord
-Lovel commanded those from London; and Brackenbury those from Hampshire.
-Stanley alone held aloof, and sent word, in reply to Richard's summons,
-that he was ill in bed with the sweating sickness. Richard received this
-ominous message with the utmost rage; and, as he had vowed that, on the
-first symptom of disaffection on his part, he would cut off the head of
-Lord Strange, his son, Strange made an instant attempt at flight. He was
-brought back, and frankly confessed that he and his uncle, Sir William
-Stanley, chamberlain of North Wales, had agreed to join the invaders;
-but protested that his father knew nothing of their intention, but was
-loyal, and his forces were already on the way to the royal camp. Richard
-compelled him to write to his father, bidding him come up at once, or
-that his son was a dead man.
-
-On the 21st of August Richard rode forward from Leicester, and encamped
-about two miles from Bosworth. He was mounted in the march on a
-magnificent white courser, and clad in the same rich suit of burnished
-steel which he wore at his victorious field of Tewkesbury. On his helmet
-blazed a regal crown, which he had displayed there since he took up his
-headquarters at Nottingham. His countenance is represented as stern and
-frowning; his manner haughty, and as if putting on an air of bravado,
-rather than of calm confidence; for, though his troops amounted to
-30,000, and his cavalry was the finest in Europe, he well knew that there
-was secret and wide-spread disaffection under all that martial show.
-Were his followers true to him, the little army of Richmond would be
-shivered in the first shock, and trodden under foot. But, perhaps, not
-a man except the Duke of Norfolk was really stanch in his devotion; and
-that night Norfolk's followers found pinned upon his tent this ominous
-couplet:--
-
-    "Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,
-    For Dickon thy master is bought and sold."
-
-That night Henry, who had reached Tamworth, marched to Atherstone. His
-army did not amount to half that of Richard: yet all were earnest in the
-cause, and the number of men of rank and character in it gave it a very
-imposing air in the eyes of the soldiers. On the contrary, Richard's
-soldiers, if we are to believe "Twelve Strange Prophecies"--still in
-the British Museum--had been discouraged, not only by the warning to
-John, or--as he was familiarly called--Jocky of Norfolk, but by the
-following singular incident. As the king rode out of Leicester by the
-south gate, at the head of his cavalry, a blind old man, well known as
-a superannuated wheelwright, sat begging at the foot of the bridge. In
-reply to the remarks of the soldiers as to the weather, the old man cried
-out just as the king was at hand--"If the moon change again to-day, which
-has changed once in the course of nature, King Richard will lose life
-and crown." This was supposed to allude to Lord Percy, whose crest was a
-crescent, and of whose faith Richard was sorely in doubt. When Richard
-passed, his foot struck against a low post placed to defend the corner
-of the bridge, and the beggar said, "His head will strike there as he
-returns at night."
-
-The night before the battle, Henry of Richmond had a secret meeting near
-Atherstone with Lord Stanley, who assured him of his adherence, but
-showed him how impossible it was that he could join him till Richard was
-engaged in arraying the battle, or his son's life would immediately be
-sacrificed. Stanley had 5,000 men, and engaged to appear for Richard till
-the moment for battle, when his defection would do Henry the most signal
-service.
-
-On the evening of the 21st of August, the two armies lay encamped
-near the little town of Bosworth, opposite to each other. Richard
-is represented by the chroniclers as passing that night in the most
-agonising state of restlessness and uncertainty. The deeply-rooted
-disaffection of his troops destroyed his confidence, though his 30,000
-were only opposed by Richmond's 6,000. He went through the camp examining
-secretly the state of his outposts, and finding at one of them a sentinel
-asleep, he stabbed him to the heart, saying, "I find him asleep, and I
-leave him so." His own slumbers are said to have been broken, and the
-chroniclers express his state by saying he "was most terribly pulled and
-haled by devils."
-
-But other agents than those thus troubling the tyrant's mind were active
-throughout the camp. Many of his soldiers stole away to Richmond, and
-probably some of these left the warning to Jocky of Norfolk. These
-desertions produced dismay in Richard's ranks, and confidence in those of
-his rival.
-
-When morning broke, Richmond's little army was discovered already drawn
-up. The van, consisting of archers, was led by the Earl of Oxford; the
-right wing by Sir Gilbert Talbot; the left by Sir John Savage. In the
-main body Henry posted himself, accompanied by the Earl of Pembroke.
-Richard confronted the foe with his numerous lines, taking his place also
-in the main body, opposite to Richmond, but giving the command of the van
-to the Duke of Norfolk. Lord Stanley took his station on one wing, and
-Sir William on the other, so that, thus disposed, they could flank either
-their own side or the opposed one. The battle was begun by the archers
-of both armies, and soon became furious. No sooner was this the case,
-than the Stanleys, seizing the critical moment, wheeling round, joined
-the enemy, and fell on Richard's flanks. This masterly manoeuvre struck
-dismay through the lines of Richard; the men who stood their ground
-appeared to fight without heart, and to be ready to fly. Richard, who saw
-this, and beheld the Duke of Northumberland, sitting at the head of his
-division, and never striking a single stroke, became transported with
-fury. His only hope appeared to be to make a desperate assault on Henry's
-van, and, if possible, to reach and kill him on the spot. With this
-object he made three furious charges of cavalry; and, at the third, but
-not before he had seen his chief companion, the Duke of Norfolk, slain,
-he broke into the midst of Henry's main body, and, catching sight of
-him, dashed forward, crying frantically, "Treason! treason! treason!" He
-killed Sir William Brandon, Henry's standard-bearer, with his own hand;
-struck Sir John Cheyney from his horse; and, springing forward on Henry,
-aimed a desperate blow at him; but Sir William Stanley, breaking in at
-that moment, surrounded Richard with his brave followers, who bore him to
-the ground by their numbers, and slew him, as he continued to fight with
-a bravery as heroic as his political career had been--in the words of
-Hume--"dishonourable for his multiplied and detestable enormities." The
-blood of Richard tinged a small brook which ran where he fell, and the
-people are said to this day never to drink of its water.
-
-The body of the fallen tyrant was speedily stripped of his valuable
-armour and ornaments, and the soldier who laid hands upon the crown hid
-it in a hawthorn bush. But strict quest being made after it, it was
-soon discovered and carried to Lord Stanley, who placed it upon the
-head of Henry, and the victor was immediately saluted by the general
-acclamations of the army with "Long live King Henry!" and they sang
-_Te Deum_, in grand chorus, on the bloody heath of Bosworth. From the
-poetical circumstance of the hawthorn bush, the Tudors assumed as their
-device a crown in a bush of fruited hawthorn. Lord Strange, the son of
-Lord Stanley, being deserted by his guards, as soon as the defeat was
-known, made his way to the field, and joined his father and the king at
-the close of the battle.
-
-King Henry VII. advanced from the decisive field of Bosworth, at the head
-of his victorious troops, to Leicester, which he entered with the same
-royal state that Richard had quitted it. The statements of the numbers
-who fell on this field vary from 1,000 to 4,000, but of the leaders, the
-Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Ferrars of Chartley, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Sir
-Robert Percy, and Sir Robert Brackenbury, fell with the king. On the side
-of Henry fell no leaders of note.
-
-Henry used his victory mildly; he shed no blood of the vanquished, except
-that of the notorious Catesby, and two persons of the name of Brecher,
-who were probably men of like character and crimes. Thus, in one day,
-the world was relieved of the presence of Richard and of his two base
-commissioners of murder, Catesby and Ratcliffe.
-
-Richard's naked body, covered with mud and gore, was, according to the
-local traditions of Leicester, flung carelessly across a horse, and thus
-carried into that town; his head, say these historic memories, striking
-against the very post which the blind beggar had said it should, and the
-rude populace following it with shouts of mockery. The corpse was begged
-by the nuns of the Grey Friars, to whom Richard had been a benefactor,
-and was decently interred in their church.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
-
-     The Study of Latin and Greek--Invention of Printing--Caxton--New
-     Schools and Colleges--Architecture, Military, Ecclesiastical,
-     and Domestic--Sculpture, Painting, and Gilding--The Art of
-     War--Commerce and Shipping--Coinage.
-
-
-It might be very reasonably supposed that during a century spent almost
-entirely in war, and during the second half of it in the most rancorous
-intestine strife, there could not be much national progress. There is no
-doubt but that the population was greatly decreased. It was calculated
-that at the beginning of the century the population of England and Wales
-amounted to about 2,700,000. At the end of it, it is supposed that there
-were not 2,500,000.
-
-In these depopulating wars, there can be no question that, besides
-the actual destruction of so many men, there must have been terrible
-sufferings inflicted, and an immense interruption of all those peaceful
-transactions by which nations become wealthy and powerful.
-
-During this century, two events of the highest importance to art and
-learning took place--the introduction of the knowledge of Greek and the
-invention of printing.
-
-[Illustration: CAXTON SHOWING THE FIRST SPECIMEN OF HIS PRINTING TO KING
-EDWARD IV., AT THE ALMONRY, WESTMINSTER.
-
-AFTER THE PAINTING BY DANIEL MACLISE, R.A.]
-
-If the knowledge of Greek had not entirely died out in western Europe,
-it had nearly so till this century. The crusades, leading the Christians
-of western Europe to the east, had opened up an acquaintance betwixt the
-people of the Greek empire and those of the West. The destruction of that
-empire in this century drove a number of learned men into Italy, where
-they taught their language and literature. Amongst these were Theodore
-Gaza, Cardinal Bessarion, George of Trebizond, Demetrius Chalcondyles,
-John Argyropulus, and Johannes Lascaris. Before that time some knowledge
-of the Greek philosophy had reached us through the Arabians, but till
-the fourteenth century very little of the literature of Greece was known
-in the western nations, not even the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of Homer.
-In Italy Petrarch and Boccaccio learned the language and studied the
-writings of Greece, and an enthusiasm for Greek literature spread over
-all Europe. Grocyn studied it in Italy in 1488, under Chalcondyles, and
-came and taught it in England.
-
-[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF CAXTON'S PRINTING IN THE "DICTES AND SAYINGS
-OF PHILOSOPHERS" (1477).]
-
-At the same moment that Greek began to be studied, Latin in Europe was
-in the lowest and most degraded state. Though it still continued the
-language of divines, lawyers, philosophers, historians, and even poets,
-it had lost almost every trace of its original idiom and elegance. Latin
-words were used, but in the English order, and where words were wanting,
-they Anglicised them.
-
-[Illustration: EARL RIVERS PRESENTING CAXTON TO EDWARD IV. (_From MS. in
-the Library of Lambeth Palace._)]
-
-But that wonderful art which was destined to chase this darkness like a
-new sun was already on its way from Germany to this country. The Chinese
-had printed from engraved wooden blocks for many centuries, when the same
-idea suggested itself to a citizen of Haarlem, named Laurent Janszoon
-Coster. Coster, who was keeper of the cathedral, first cut his letters in
-wood, then made separate wooden letters, and employed them in printing
-books by tying them together with strings. From wood he proceeded to cut
-his letters in metal, and finally to cast them in the present fashion.
-Coster concealed his secret with great care, and was anxious to transmit
-it to his children; but in this he was disappointed, for at his death
-one of his assistants, John Gensfleisch, the Gutenberger, went off to
-Mayence, carrying with him movable types of Coster's casting.
-
-That is the Dutch story, but the Germans insist on Gutenberg being the
-originator of printing. They contend that Coster's were only the wooden
-blocks which had long been in use for the printing of playing cards, and
-manuals of devotion. They even insinuate that all that the Dutch claim
-had probably been brought from China by Marco Polo in the thirteenth
-century, who had seen the paper-money thus printed there in letters of
-vermilion, and that Holland had no share in the invention at all. But we
-know that the Germans have a vast capacity for claiming. It is notorious
-that all the earliest block-printing, the Bibliae Pauperum, the Bibles of
-the Poor, the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, with its fifty pictures, and
-other block works, were all done in the Low Countries in the century we
-are reviewing.
-
-Taking a broad view, however, it is certain that Gutenberg, Fust, and
-Schoeffer, were the men who first printed any known works in movable
-types, and from Mayence, in 1445, diffused very soon the knowledge of
-the present art of printing over the whole world. The first work which
-they are supposed to have printed was the Bible, an edition of the Latin
-Vulgate, known by the name of the Mazarin Bible, of which various copies
-remain, though without date or printer's name.
-
-Printing was introduced into England in 1474, according to all the chief
-authorities of or near that time, by William Caxton. Caxton was a native
-of the weald of Kent. He served his apprenticeship to a mercer of London,
-and left England in 1441 to transact business in the Low Countries. There
-he was greatly regarded by Margaret, the Duchess of Burgundy, Edward
-IV.'s sister, who retained him as long as she could at her court. Caxton
-was now upwards of fifty years of age, but his inquisitive and active
-temperament led him to learn, amongst other things, the whole art of
-printing from one Colard Manson. He saw its immense importance, and he
-translated Raoul le Feure's "Recueil des Histoires de Troye," and printed
-it in folio. This great work he says himself that he began in Bruges,
-and finished in Cologne in 1471. The first work which he printed in
-England was the "Game and Playe of Chesse," which was published in 1475.
-From this time till 1490, or till nearly the date of his death in 1491
-or 1492, a period of sixteen years, the list of the works which Caxton
-passed through his press is quite wonderful. Thomas Milling, the Abbot
-of Westminster, was his most zealous patron; and at Westminster, in the
-Almonry, he commenced his business. Earl Rivers, brother to the queen of
-Edward IV., another of his friends and patrons, translated the "Dictes
-and Sayings of the Philosophers" for his nephew, the Prince of Wales, and
-introduced Caxton, when it was printed, to present it to the king and
-royal family.
-
-But while Caxton was thus busy he saw others around him also as hard at
-work with their presses: Theodore Rood, John Lettow, William Machelina,
-and Wynkyn de Worde, foreigners, and Thomas Hunt, an Englishman. A
-schoolmaster of St. Albans set up a press there, and several books were
-printed at Oxford in 1478, and to the end of the century. There is
-no direct evidence of any work being printed in Scotland during this
-century, though such may have been the case, and all traces of the fact
-obliterated in the almost universal destruction of the cathedral and
-conventual libraries at the Reformation. James III. was known to collect
-the most superb specimens of typography, and Dr. Henry mentions seeing
-a magnificent edition of "Speculum Moralitatis," which had been in that
-king's possession, and contained his autograph.
-
-Not less meritorious benefactors of their country, next to the writers
-and printers of books, were those who collected them into libraries, and
-the most munificent patron and encourager of learning in this manner was
-the unfortunate Duke Humphrey of Gloucester. He gave to the University
-of Oxford a library of 600 volumes in 1440, valued at L1,000. Some of
-these very volumes yet remain in different collections. Duke Humphrey
-not only bought books, but he employed men of science and learning to
-translate and transcribe. He kept celebrated writers from France and
-Italy, as well as Englishmen, to translate from the Greek and other
-languages; and is said to have written himself on astronomy, a scheme of
-astronomical calculations under his name still remaining in the library
-of Gresham College. The great Duke of Bedford, likewise, when master of
-Paris, purchased and sent to this country the royal library, containing
-853 volumes, valued at 2,223 livres.
-
-The schools and colleges founded during this century were the
-following:--Lincoln College, Oxford, founded in 1427, by Richard Fleming,
-Bishop of Lincoln, and completed by Thomas Scott, of Rotherham, Bishop of
-Lincoln, in 1475. All Souls' College, Oxford, was founded by Chicheley,
-Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1437. He expended upon its erection L4,545,
-and procured considerable revenues for it out of lands of the alien
-priories dissolved just before that time. Magdalene College, Oxford, was
-founded by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, in 1458, and soon
-became one of the richest colleges in Europe. King's College, Cambridge,
-was founded by Henry VI. in 1441. Queens' College, Cambridge, was
-founded by Margaret of Anjou, in 1448; and Catherine Hall, Cambridge, was
-founded by Robert Woodlark, third provost of King's College, in 1473.
-
-Besides these, Henry VI. founded Eton College, and Thomas Hokenorton,
-Abbot of Osney, founded the schools in Oxford, in 1439. Before that
-time the professors of several sciences in both universities read
-their lectures in private houses, at very inconvenient distances from
-each other. To remedy this inconvenience, schools were erected in
-both universities at this period. Hokenorton's schools comprehended
-the teaching of divinity, metaphysics, natural and moral philosophy,
-astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, music, logic, rhetoric, and grammar.
-They required liberal aid from other benefactors, and they found these
-in the noble Humphrey of Gloucester, and the two brothers Kemp, the one
-Archbishop of York and the other Bishop of London. They were completed
-in 1480, including Duke Humphrey's noble library, the nucleus of the
-present Bodleian, which was refounded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1597. The
-quadrangle, containing the schools of Cambridge, was completed in 1475.
-
-Up to this period Scotland had possessed no university whatever, and
-its youth had been obliged to travel to foreign universities for their
-education. But now the University of St. Andrews was founded in 1410,
-and obtained a charter in 1411 from Bishop Wardlaw, which was confirmed
-by the Pope in 1412, and by James I. in 1431. The great need of such an
-institution was soon evidenced by the university becoming famous. In 1456
-Kennedy, the successor of Wardlaw, founded the College of St. Salvator in
-that city; and in 1450 William Turnbull, the Bishop of Glasgow, founded
-the University of that city; and in the same year was founded the college
-or faculty of arts in Glasgow, King James II. taking both college and
-university under his especial patronage and protection. This college
-received a handsome endowment from James, Lord Hamilton, and his lady,
-Euphemia, Countess of Douglas, in 1459.
-
-The castles erected during this period are few. The wars of the
-Roses brought the force of cannon and gunpowder against the massive
-erections of the barons of past ages, and many a terrible stronghold
-was demolished. But there was, from the beginning of these wars, little
-leisure for repairing, or for building new castles. The proprietors, for
-the most part, were killed or reduced to ruin, and the workmen shared
-the same fate, so that labour became too scarce and dear for such great
-undertakings. Scotland was affected by similar circumstances.
-
-The castles of this period bear unmistakable traces of the Perpendicular
-style, which was prevalent in the ecclesiastical architecture of the
-age. That portion of Windsor built by William of Wykeham, though much
-altered, retains some marked and good features of this age. The exterior
-of Tattershall Castle, in Lincolnshire, remains nearly unaltered. All the
-castles of this time blend more or less of the domestic character, and
-tended towards that style which prevailed in the next century under the
-name of Tudor. Another great change in the castellated architecture of
-this period was the use of brick in their construction. Bricks, though
-introduced into Britain by the Romans, had gone almost out of use till
-the reign of Richard II.; now they were in such favour that the castles
-of Tattershall, Hurstmonceux, and Caistor were built chiefly of them, as
-Thornbury Castle was in the next century. Hurstmonceux, in Sussex, was
-erected in 1448 on the plan of Porchester Castle. It was a stupendous
-building, of which the ruins now remain, forming a regular parallelogram
-of 180 feet square, flanked by seventeen octagon towers, and with a fine
-machicolated gateway forming the keep. Tattershall, in Lincolnshire,
-built in 1455, is erected in the style of the ancient keep, a huge square
-tower with polygonal turrets at the angles. Caistor, in Norfolk, erected
-about 1450, was remarkable for two very large circular brick towers at
-the northern angle, one of which remains.
-
-But the castles and the mansions of this period possessed frequently
-so many features and qualities in common, that some of them are actual
-hybrids, the uniting links of the two kinds of houses. They had alike
-towers, battlements, and moats, and the chief apartments looked into the
-interior quadrangle as the safest. Oxburgh Hall, in Norfolk, is one of
-this mixed class. Though called a hall, it is moated, and has a massive
-gateway of a remarkable altitude. Raglan Castle, built in the reign of
-Edward IV., has more of the true castellated style; Warwick and Windsor,
-more of the union of the two styles. At the same time such castles as
-had their gateways battered down, and rebuilt at this period, present
-in them all the older characteristics of castellated buildings. Such is
-the gateway of Carisbrooke Castle, built in the reign of Edward IV., and
-the west gate of Canterbury, built towards the close of the fourteenth
-century, which retain the stem old circular towers, lighted only by mere
-loopholes and _oeillets_.
-
-The style of ecclesiastical architecture prevailing through this century,
-and to the middle of the next, is that called the Perpendicular. It
-appears to have commenced about 1377, or at the commencement of the
-reign of Richard II., just twenty years prior to this century, and
-it terminated at the Reformation, in the reign of Henry VIII. The
-Reformation was anything but a reformation in architecture. That great
-convulsion broke up the period of a thousand years, during which, from
-the first introduction of Christianity into this island, this peculiar
-character of architecture, often called Gothic, but more properly
-Christian, had been progressing and perfecting itself. The Western
-princes and prelates, evidently copying the Grecian in their columns,
-but adding curves and ornaments unknown to the Greeks, and introducing
-principles of pliancy, and of long and lofty aisles, from the suggestions
-of the forests, in which they were accustomed to wander, and the linden
-groves which they planted, originated a new school of architecture, in
-many particulars far exceeding that of the classic nations. No church
-took up and perpetuated this noble Christian architecture more cordially
-and more inspiredly than the Catholic. Over the whole of Europe, wherever
-the Roman Church prevailed, it erected its churches and monasteries in
-a spirit of unrivalled grandeur and beauty. In architecture, in music,
-and in painting, it acquitted itself royally towards the public, however
-it might fail in spirit, in doctrine, or in discipline. The remains
-of painted windows, to say nothing of the productions of such men as
-Raphael, Michael Angelo, Guido, and a host of others, who drew their
-inspiration from the devotions of that church, are sufficient to excite
-our highest admiration; and the sublime anthems which resounded through
-their august and poetical temples, through what are called "the Dark
-Ages," were well calculated to enchain the imagination of minds not
-deeply reflective or profoundly informed.
-
-[Illustration: THE QUADRANGLE: ETON COLLEGE.]
-
-In every country we find, moreover, a different style in all these
-arts--music, painting, and architecture; demonstrating the exuberance
-of genius turned into these channels during long centuries, when all
-others, except warfare, seemed closed. England had its distinctive style
-in these matters, and in architecture this Perpendicular style was the
-last. During its later period it considerably deteriorated, and with
-the Reformation it went out. In England sufficient power and property
-were left to the Anglican Church to enable it to preserve the majority
-of its churches, and many of its conventual buildings: in Scotland the
-destruction was more terrible. There public opinion took a great leap
-from Catholicism to the simplicity and sternness of the school of John
-Knox; and in consequence of his celebrated sermon at Perth, in which he
-told his congregation that to effectually drive away the rooks they must
-pull out their nests, almost every convent and cathedral, except that of
-Glasgow, was reduced to a ruin.
-
-[Illustration: INTERIOR OF KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE.]
-
-Of the Perpendicular style we have many churches throughout the country,
-and still more into which it has been more or less introduced into
-those of earlier date in repairs and restorations. Every county, and
-almost every parish, can show us specimens of this style, if it be only
-in a window, a porch, or a buttress. Rickman is of opinion that half
-the windows in English edifices over the kingdom are of this style.
-Whilst our neighbours on the Continent were indulging themselves in the
-_flamboyant_ style, and loading their churches with the most exuberant
-ornament, as in the splendid cathedrals of Normandy and Brittany, our
-ancestors were enamoured of this new and more chaste style. There are
-writers who regard the perpendicular lines of this style as an evidence
-of a decline in the art. We cannot agree with that opinion. The straight,
-continuous mullions of the Perpendicular are--combined with the rich and
-abundant ornaments of other portions of the buildings, as the spandrils
-enriched with shields, the finely-wrought and soaring canopies, and
-crocketed finials, the canopied buttresses, the groined roofs and
-fan-tracery of ceilings--a pleasure to the eye, when chastely and richly
-designed.
-
-The windows of this style at once catch the observation of the spectator.
-The mullions, running through from bottom to top, give you, instead of
-the flowing tracery of the Decorated style, a simple and somewhat stiff
-heading; but the stiffness is in most instances relieved by the heading
-of each individual section being cuspated, and the upper portions of
-the window presenting frequent variations, as in the grand western
-window of Winchester Cathedral. Some of these windows, with their
-cinquefoils and quatrefoils, approach even to the Decorative. Amongst
-the finest windows of this kind are those of St. George's, Windsor, of
-four lights; the clerestory windows of Henry the Seventh's Chapel, of
-five. The east window of York Cathedral is of superb proportions. The
-window of the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, is extremely rich and peculiar
-in its character. Those of the Abbey Church of Bath have the mullions
-alternating, by the perpendicular line being continued from the centre of
-each arch beneath it.
-
-The mullions in this style are crossed at right angles by transoms,
-converting the whole window into a series of panels; for panelling in the
-Perpendicular style is one of its chief characteristics, being carried
-out on walls, doors, and, in many cases, even roofs and ceilings. Take
-away the arched head of a window, and you convert it at once into an
-Elizabethan one.
-
-Every portion of a Perpendicular building has its essential
-characteristics: its piers, its buttresses, its niches, its roofs,
-porches, battlements, and ornaments, which we cannot enumerate here.
-They must be studied for themselves. We can only point out one or two
-prominent examples.
-
-Many of the buildings of this style are adorned with flying buttresses,
-which are often pierced, and rich in tracery, as those of Henry VII.'s
-Chapel. The projection of the buttresses in King's College Chapel,
-Cambridge, is so great that chapels are built between them. Many of these
-buttresses are very rich with statuary niches and wrought canopies.
-Pinnacles are used profusely in this style; but in St. George's,
-Windsor, and the Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick, the buttresses run up, and
-finish square.
-
-Panelling, as we have said, is one of the most striking features of the
-Perpendicular style. This is carried to such an extent in most of the
-richly-ornamented buildings, that it covers walls, windows, roofs; for
-the doors and windows are only pierced panels. St. George's, Windsor, is
-a fine example of this; but still finer is Henry VII.'s Chapel, which,
-within and without, is almost covered with panelling. King's College
-Chapel, Cambridge, is another remarkable example, which is all panelled,
-except the floor. The roof of this chapel is one of the richest specimens
-of the fan-tracery in the kingdom. Amongst the most graceful ornaments of
-this style are the angels introduced into cornices, and as supporters of
-shields and corbels for roof-beams, rich foliated crockets, and flowers
-exquisitely worked, conspicuous amongst them being the Tudor flower.
-
-Some of the finest steeples in the country belong to this style. First
-and foremost stands the unrivalled open-work tower of St. Nicholas,
-Newcastle-on-Tyne. This forms a splendid crown in the air, composed of
-four flying buttresses, springing from the base of octagonal turrets, and
-bearing at their intersection an elegant lantern, crowned with a spire.
-From this have been copied that of St. Giles's, Edinburgh, that of the
-church of Linlithgow, and the college tower of Aberdeen. Boston, Derby,
-Taunton, Doncaster, Coventry, York, and Canterbury boast noble steeples
-of this style.
-
-The arches of the Perpendicular are various; but none are so common
-as the flat, four-centred arch. This in doors, and in windows also,
-is generally enclosed by a square plane of decoration, appearing as a
-frame, and this mostly surmounted by a dripstone; the spandrels formed
-betwixt the arch and frame being generally filled by armorial shields,
-or ornamental tracery. In some doorways there is an excess of ornament.
-The Decorative style in this country, or the florid abroad, has nothing
-richer. Every part is covered with canopy-work, flowers, heraldic
-emblems, and emblazoned shields. Such is the doorway of King's College
-Chapel, Cambridge; and such are the chapels of Henry V. and Henry VII. at
-Westminster.
-
-The groined roofs of the Perpendicular style are noble, and often
-profusely ornamented. The intersections of the ribs of these groined
-roofs are often shields richly emblazoned in their proper colours. The
-vaulted roof of the cloisters of Canterbury Cathedral is studded with
-above 800 shields, of kings and other benefactors; and the whole presents
-a perfect blaze of splendour. Some of these groined roofs are adorned
-with a ramification of ribs, running out in a fan-shape, circumscribed by
-a quarter or half-circle rib, the intervals filled up with ornament. The
-cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral present, perhaps, the first specimen of
-the fan-tracery roof; and after that King's College Chapel, Cambridge,
-Henry VII.'s Chapel, and the Abbey Church at Bath. The Red Mount Chapel,
-at Lynn, in Norfolk, is a unique and very beautiful specimen of the
-Perpendicular, not only having a richly ornamental roof of this kind,
-but though much injured by time, displaying in every part of it design
-and workmanship equally exquisite. Henry VII.'s Chapel and the Divinity
-School at Oxford have pendants which come down as low as the springing
-line of the fans.
-
-A simpler roof, but quaint and impressive in its appearance, is the open
-one--that is, open to the roof framing. Here, as all is bare to the eye,
-the whole framework of beams and rafters has been constructed for effect.
-The wood-work forms arches, pendants, and pierced panels of various form
-and ornament. Such are the roofs of Westminster Hall, Crosby Hall (just
-removed), Eltham Palace, the College of Christ Church, Oxford, and many
-an old baronial hall and church throughout the country.
-
-Specimens of this style of architecture in whole or in part will meet
-the reader in every part of England, Wales, and Scotland; and it should
-be remembered that it is an especial and exclusively English style, no
-other country possessing it. In Scotland Melrose Abbey and Roslin Chapel
-present fine specimens of the Perpendicular, the latter one displaying
-some singular variations, the work of foreign artists.
-
-When we descend from the military castle to more domestic architecture,
-we find the large houses of the gentry, or nobility, though totally
-incapable of resisting cannon, yet frequently battlemented, flanked
-with turrets, and surrounded by the flooded moat. The large houses of
-this period were generally built round one or two quadrangles. These
-buildings often possessed much variety of exterior detail: a great
-arched gateway with the armorial escutcheon above it; projections,
-recesses, tall chimneys, flanking buttresses, handsome oriel windows, and
-pointed gables, terminated by some animal belonging to the emblazonry
-of the family. They were commonly adorned with fanes, in the form of
-the military banner of the chief, duly emblazoned in proper colours.
-Within, the great hall, with its open groined roof, the kitchen, and
-the buttery, cut the principal figure. At the upper end of the hall was
-the dais or raised part, on which stood the table of the lord and his
-immediate family or particular guests; and below the great salt-cellar
-sat the remainder of the establishment. At the lower end was commonly a
-music gallery. The fire was still frequently in the centre of the hall,
-and there was a hole in the roof to permit the smoke to escape, as at
-Penshurst, where the front of the music gallery is true Perpendicular. In
-other houses there were large open fireplaces, the mantelpieces of which
-were frequently richly carved with the armorial shields of the family.
-
-The floors were still strewn with fresh rushes instead of a carpet, and
-the walls were hung with arras, which clothed them, and at the same
-time kept out cold draughts. Plaster ceilings were yet unknown. The
-greater portion of these houses, however, was required for the sleeping
-apartments of the numerous retainers.
-
-In the humbler halls, granges, and farmhouses, the same plan of building
-round a quadrangle was mostly adhered to, and a large number of such
-houses were of framed timber, with ornamental gables and porches, and
-displaying much carving. Great Chatfield manor-house in Wiltshire,
-Harlaxton in Lincolnshire, Helmingham Hall, Norfolk, Moreton Hall in
-Cheshire, and probably some of the framed timber houses of Lancashire, as
-the Hall-in-the-Wood, Smithell's, Speke Hall, &c., in whole or in part,
-date from this period. Ockwells, in Berkshire, is another of the fine old
-timber houses of this century.
-
-In the towns the houses were also chiefly of wood. The streets were
-extremely narrow, and the upper storeys of the houses projected over
-the lower ones, so that you might almost shake hands out of the third
-or fourth storey windows. This was the cause of such frequent fires as
-occurred in London. Many of the small houses in these narrow streets
-were adorned with abundance of carving. The houses or inns of the great
-barons, prelates, and abbots were extensive, and surrounded inner courts.
-Here, during Parliament, and on other grand occasions, the owners came
-with their vast retinues. We are told that the Duke of York lodged with
-400 men in Baynard's Castle, in 1457. The Earl of Warwick had his house
-in Warwick Lane, still called after it, where he could lodge 800 men.
-At another house of his called the Herber, meaning an inn, the Earl of
-Salisbury, his father, lodged with 500 men. Still more extensive must
-have been the abodes of the Earls of Exeter and Northumberland, who
-occasionally brought retinues of from 800 to 1,500 men. The sites of
-these great houses are yet known, and bear the names of their ancient
-owners, but the buildings themselves have long vanished. The great houses
-of Scotland still kept up the show of feudal strength and capability of
-defence. The peels, or Border towers, yet bear evidence of the necessity
-of stout fortification in those times. We may form some idea of the
-devastation made amongst private dwellings in the Wars of the Roses,
-from the statement of John Rous, the Warwick antiquary, who says that
-no fewer than sixty villages, some of them large and populous, with
-churches and manor-houses, had been destroyed within twelve miles of that
-town. From all that we can learn, the common people of this age were but
-indifferently lodged, and the mansions of the great were more stately
-than comfortable.
-
-Though such extensive destruction of the statuary which adorned both the
-exterior and interior of our churches took place at the Reformation,
-sufficient yet remains to warrant us in the belief that the fifteenth
-surpassed every prior century in its sculpture. The very opposition
-which the Wycliffites had raised to the worship and even existence of
-images, seems to have stimulated the Church only the more to put forth
-its strength in this direction. Sculptors, both foreign and English,
-therefore received the highest encouragement, and were in the fullest
-employ. The few statues which yet remain in niches, on the outside of our
-cathedrals, especially those on the west end of the Cathedral of Wells,
-though probably not the best work of the artists, are decided proofs
-of their ability. The effigies of knights and ladies extended on their
-altar tombs received grave damage, with the rest of the ecclesiastical
-art, from the misguided zeal of the reformers, yet many such remain of
-undoubted beauty, and the chantries, which were in this century erected
-over the tombs of great prelates, are of the most exquisite design and
-workmanship. Such are those in Winchester Cathedral of Bishops Wykeham,
-Beaufort, and Waynflete. The shrine of Bishop Beaufort, in particular,
-is a mass of Portland stone, carved like the finest ivory, and is a most
-gorgeous specimen of a tomb of the Perpendicular period. Henry V.'s
-chantry, in Westminster Abbey, is the only one erected in this period to
-royalty, and it is a monument of high honour to the age.
-
-The names of some of the artists of this era are preserved. Thomas Colyn,
-Thomas Holewell, and Thomas Poppehowe, executed, carried over, and
-erected in Nantes, in 1408, the alabaster tomb of the Duke of Brittany.
-Of the five artists who executed the celebrated tomb of Richard, Earl
-of Warwick, in the Beauchamp Chapel, four were English, and the fifth
-was a Dutch goldsmith. Besides the great image of the earl, there were
-thirty-two images on this monument. These were all cast by William
-Austin, a founder of London, clearly a great genius, on the finest latten
-(brass), and gilded by Bartholomew Lambespring the Dutch goldsmith. The
-monument and the superb chapel in which it stands cost L2,481 4s. 7d.,
-equivalent to L24,800 now.
-
-Most of the monumental brasses which abound in our churches were the
-work of this period. There are some of much older date, but, during this
-century they were multiplied everywhere, and afforded great scope for the
-talents of founders, engravers, and enamellers.
-
-In painting, the age does not appear to have equally excelled. There
-was, unquestionably, abundance of religious pictures on the walls of our
-churches, and the images themselves were painted and gilt; but there
-do not seem to have existed artists who had a true conception of the
-sublimity of their pursuit. The painting of such works was undertaken by
-the job, by painters and stainers. John Prudde, glazier in Westminster,
-undertook to "import from beyond seas glass of the finest colours, blue,
-yellow red, purple, sanguine, and violet," and with it glaze the windows
-of the Beauchamp Chapel. Brentwood, a stainer of London, was to paint
-the west wall of the chapel "with all manner of devices and imagery;"
-and Christian Coliburne, painter, of London, was to "paint the images in
-the finest oil colours." The great Earl of Warwick bargained with his
-tailor to paint the scenes of his embassy to France, for which he was to
-receive L1 8s. 6d. The "Dance of Death," so common on the Continent in
-churches and churchyards, made also so famous by Holbein, was copied from
-the cloister of the Innocents in Paris, and painted on the walls of the
-cloister of St. Paul's. It was a specimen of the portrait painting of the
-age, for it contained the portraits of actual persons, in different ranks
-of life, in their proper dresses. The portraits of our kings, queens, and
-celebrated characters, done at this time, are of inferior merit.
-
-[Illustration: _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-    _Reproduced by Andre & Sleigh, Ltd., Bushey, Herts._
-
-THE GRAND ASSAULT UPON THE TOWN OF AFRICA BY THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH.
-
-THE TOWN OF AFRICA, SOME SEVENTY MILES FROM TUNIS, WAS THE OBJECTIVE OF
-THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO CHASTISE THE BARBARY
-CORSAIRS, AS DEPICTED IN ANOTHER OF THE FROISSART ILLUMINATIONS. THE VIEW
-OF THE TOWN IS CLEARLY IMAGINARY, THE ARTIST BEING PROBABLY FAMILIAR WITH
-NONE BUT FLEMISH OR FRENCH ARCHITECTURE.]
-
-Gilding was in great request, not only for ornamenting churches and their
-monuments, but for domestic use, the precious metals being very scarce,
-and therefore copper and brass articles were commonly silvered or gilt.
-But it was in the illumination of manuscripts that the artistic genius
-of the time was, more than almost in any other department, displayed.
-The colours used are deemed inferior in splendour to those of the
-fourteenth century, but the illuminations are superior in drawing and
-power of expression. The terror depicted in the faces of the Earl of
-Warwick's sailors in expectation of shipwreck, and the grief in those who
-witnessed his death, are evidences of the hand of a master. Many of the
-portraits of the leading characters of the age are to be found in these
-illuminations; and they afford us the most lively views of the persons
-and dresses of our ancestors of that day--their arms, ships, houses,
-furniture, manners, and employments. But the art of printing was already
-in existence, and before it the beautiful art of illumination fell and
-died out.
-
-[Illustration: STREET IN LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-The deadly arts of destruction were more practised during this century
-than all others. First the English turned their arms against the French,
-and then against each other, and though many of their armies were hastily
-raised, and therefore ill-disciplined, they not only showed their
-accustomed bravery, but many advances were made in the manner of raising,
-forming, paying, and disciplining troops, as well as in the modes of
-attacking fortifications and towns. Henry V. was a consummate master in
-this, his favourite art, and was, perhaps, the first of our kings who
-introduced a scheme of superior discipline, teaching his troops to march
-in straight lines at proper distances, with a steady, measured pace; to
-advance, attack, halt, or fall back without breaking, or getting into
-confusion. This, combined with his mode of employing his archers, which
-we have described in the account of his battles, gave him an invincible
-superiority over his enemies.
-
-As the feudal system decayed, the kings of England no longer depended
-on their barons appearing in the field with their vassals, but they
-bargained with different leaders to furnish men at stated prices,
-which, as we have shown, were high. It was only in cases of rebellion
-and intestine struggle that they summoned all their military tenants
-to raise the people in mass, and the same summonses were issued to the
-archbishops, bishops, and all the principal clergy, to arm all their
-followers, lay and clerical, and march to the royal standard.
-
-The pictures of battles and sieges at this period give us an odd medley
-of bows and arrows, crossbows, spears, cannon, and hand-guns. The old
-weapons were not left off, because the new ones were too imperfect and
-too difficult of locomotion to supersede them. The cannons, though
-often of immense bore and weight, throwing balls of from one to five
-hundredweight, were, for the most part, without carriages, and therefore
-difficult and tardy in their operations. The Scots were the first to
-anticipate the modern gun-carriage, by what they called their "carts of
-war," which carried two guns each, while many of the guns of the English
-required fifty horses to drag them. They had, however, smaller guns; as
-culverins, serpentines, basilisks, fowlers, scorpions, &c. The culverins
-were a species of hand-gun in general, fired from a rest, or from the
-shoulder. The Swiss had 10,000 culverins at the famous battle of Morat.
-These hand-guns are said to have been first brought into England by
-Edward IV. on his return from Flanders in 1471. Ships were also supplied
-with small guns.
-
-The trade of England continued to flourish and extend itself through
-this century, in spite of the obstacles and ruinous effects of almost
-perpetual war. Our kings, however warlike they might be, were yet very
-sensible of the advantages of commerce, and during this century made
-numerous treaties in its favour. At the same time, it is curious that,
-even when two countries were at war, such was the spirit of trade, that
-the merchants went on trading whenever they could, just as if there
-was no war at all. This was the case, especially between England and
-Flanders. Our monarchs were already ambitious of reigning supreme masters
-of the seas, and this doctrine was as jealously urged upon them by the
-nation. In a rhyming pamphlet, written about 1433, and to be found in
-Hakluyt (Vol. I., p. 167), the writer says, that "if the English keep the
-seas, especially the main seas, they will compell all the world to be at
-peace with them, and to court their friendship."
-
-Henry IV., though harassed by the difficulties of a usurped crown,
-strenuously set himself to promote commerce, and to put an end to the
-continual depredations committed upon each other by the English and the
-merchants of the Hanse Towns, as well as those of Prussia and Livonia,
-subject to the grand master of the Teutonic order of knights.
-
-Henry V. was as victorious at sea as on land; and by his fleet, under his
-brother, the great Duke of Bedford, in 1416, and again in 1417, the Earl
-of Huntingdon being his admiral, swept the seas of the united fleets of
-France and Genoa, and made himself complete master of the ocean during
-his time. This ascendency was lost under the disastrous reign of Henry
-VI., but was regained by Edward IV., a monarch who, notwithstanding his
-voluptuous character, was fully alive to the vast benefits accruing to
-a nation from foreign trade, and thought it no dishonour to be, if not
-a merchant-prince, a prince-merchant. He had ships of his own, and in
-time of peace he did not suffer them to remain useless in harbour, but
-freighted them with goods on his own account, and grew rich by traffic.
-
-Notwithstanding all this, the nation was not yet much more enlightened
-as to the real principles of trade than it was in the previous century.
-The same absurd restrictions were in force against foreign merchants.
-Such foreign merchants were required to lay out all the money received
-for goods imported in English merchandise. No gold or silver coin, plate
-or bullion, was, on any account, to be carried out of the kingdom. Banks
-were now established in most countries, and bills of exchange had been
-in use since the thirteenth century--so that these remedied, to a large
-extent, this evil; but it is clear that where the exports of a country
-exceeded its imports, the balance must be remitted in cash; and the
-commercial men were clever enough to evade all the laws of this kind. No
-fact was so notorious as that the coinage of England abounded in all the
-countries to which she traded.
-
-Besides the prohibition of carrying out any English coin or even bullion,
-foreign merchants were to sell all the goods they brought within
-three months, but they were not to sell any of them to other merchant
-strangers, and when they arrived in any English town they were assigned
-to particular hosts, and were to lodge nowhere else. Yet, under all these
-obstacles, our commerce grew, and our merchants extended their voyages to
-ports and countries which they had not hitherto frequented. In 1413 they
-fitted out ships in the port of London for Morocco, having a cargo of
-wool and other merchandise valued at L24,000, or L240,000 of our money.
-This raised the ire of the Genoese, who seized these precious ships; but
-Henry IV. soon made ample reprisals by granting to his subjects letters
-of marque to seize the ships and goods of the Genoese wherever they could
-be found. And so well did the English kings follow this up, that we find
-them in Richard III.'s reign not only successfully competing with the
-Genoese, but obtaining a footing in Italy itself, and establishing a
-consul at Pisa. Consuls, or, as they were then called, governors, of the
-English traders abroad, were also employed during this period in Germany,
-Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Holland, and Flanders.
-
-[Illustration: _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-FROISSART PRESENTING HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS TO RICHARD II. IN 1395.
-
-ON HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND IN 1395, AFTER AN ABSENCE OF TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS,
-SIR JOHN FROISSART HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING, TO WHOM HE PRESENTED
-HIS BOOK OF LOVE POEMS. "THE ROMANCE OF MELIADOR."]
-
-[Illustration: _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-THE LANDING OF THE LADY DE COUCY AT BOULOGNE.
-
-THE LADY DE COUCY, WHO IS FOLLOWED BY HER WAITING MAID, HAD BEEN IN
-ATTENDANCE UPON QUEEN ISABELLA, CONSORT OF RICHARD II AND SHE IS HERE
-SEEN RETURNING SADLY TO FRANCE (IN 1399) BEARING TIDINGS OF THE KING'S
-DOWNFALL.]
-
-Wool, woollens, tin, hides, and corn, were still our chief exports.
-Slaves, says the historian, were no longer an article of commerce; but
-the conveyance of pilgrims to foreign shrines was a source of great
-emolument to merchants. A curious pamphlet of the middle of this century,
-called "The Prologue of English Policy," gives us a complete view of
-our imports:--The commodities of Spain were figs, raisins, wines, oils,
-soap, dates, liquorice, wax, iron, wool, wadmote, goatfell, redfell,
-saffron, and quicksilver--a valuable importation. Those of Portugal were
-very much the same. Brittany sent wine, salt, crest-cloth or linen, and
-canvas; Germany, Scandinavia, and Flanders, iron, steel, copper, osmond,
-bowstaves, boards, wax, corn, pitch, tar, flax, hemp, felting, thread,
-fustian, buckram, canvas, and wool-cards; Genoa, gold, cloth of gold,
-silk, cotton, oil, black pepper, rockalum, and wood; Venice, Florence,
-and other Italian states, all kinds of spices and grocery wares, sweet
-wines, sugar, dates.
-
-The age abounded with great merchants. The Medici of Florence; Jacques
-le Coeur, the greatest merchant that France ever produced, who had
-more wealth and trade than all the other merchants of that country
-together, and who supplied Charles VII. with money by which he recovered
-his country from the English. In our own country John Norbury, John
-Hende, and Richard Whittington, were the leading merchants of London,
-the last of whom was so far from a poor boy making his fortune by a cat
-that he was the son of Sir William Whittington, knight. In Bristol
-also flourished at this time William Cannynge, who was five times mayor
-of that city, and who had, for some cause not explained, 2,470 tons of
-shipping taken from him at once by Edward IV., including one ship of 400
-tons, one of 500, and one of 900. The name of this Cannynge is familiar
-to readers of Chatterton's ingenious Rowley poems.
-
-Of the ships and shipping of the age we need not say more than that, with
-all the characteristics of the past age, there was an attempt to build
-larger vessels in rivalry of the Genoese. John Taverner, of Hull, had a
-royal licence granted him in 1449, conferring on him great privileges
-and exemptions as a merchant, for building one as large as a Venetian
-carrack, one of their first-class ships, or even larger. And Bishop
-Kennedy, of St. Andrews, was as much celebrated for building a ship of
-unusual size, called the _Bishop's Berge_, as for building and endowing
-a college.
-
-In Scotland the state of the shipping interest was much the same as in
-England. James I. displayed enlightened views of trade. He made various
-laws to ascertain the rate of duty on all exports and imports, to secure
-the effects of any traders dying abroad, and permitted his subjects to
-trade in foreign ships when they had no vessels of their own. In both
-countries great care was taken to protect and promote their fisheries.
-
-The coin of those times in England was chiefly of gold and silver.
-The gold coin consisted of nobles, half-nobles, and quarter-nobles,
-originally equivalent to guineas (the exact value of a noble in Henry
-IV.'s reign was 21s. 1-1/2d.), half-guineas, and quarter-guineas, or
-dollars of 5s. 3d. The silver coins were groats, half-groats, and
-pennies. But it must be remembered that all these coins were of ten times
-the intrinsic value of our present money; so that the labourer who in the
-fifteenth century received 1-1/2d. per day, received as much as fifteen
-pence of the present money. But the great historical fact regarding
-the money of this age was its continual adulteration, and consequent
-depreciation.
-
-[Illustration: CANNON OF THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. (_From an
-Engraving by I. van Mechlin._)]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE REIGN OF HENRY VII.
-
-     Henry's Defective Title--Imprisonment of the Earl of Warwick--The
-     King's Title to the Throne--His Marriage--Lovel's Rising--Lambert
-     Simnel--Henry's prompt Action--Failure of the Rebellion--The
-     Queen's Coronation--The Act of Maintenance--Henry's Ingratitude
-     to the Duke of Brittany--Discontent in England--Expedition to
-     France and its Results--Henry's Second Invasion--Treaty of
-     Etaples--Perkin Warbeck--His Adventures in Ireland, France,
-     and Burgundy--Henry's Measures--Descent on Kent--Warbeck in
-     Scotland--Invasion of England--The Cornish Rising--Warbeck
-     quits Scotland--He lands in Cornwall--Failure of the
-     Rebellion--Imprisonment of Warbeck and his subsequent
-     Execution--European Affairs--Marriages of Henry's Daughter and
-     Son--Betrothal of Catherine and Prince Henry--Henry's Matrimonial
-     Schemes--Royal Exactions--A Lucky Capture--Henry proposes for
-     Joanna--His Death.
-
-
-Though Henry Tudor had conquered Richard III. on the field of Bosworth,
-he had no title whatever to the crown of England, except such as the
-people, by their own free choice, should give him. He was descended, it
-is true, from Edward III., through John of Gaunt, but from the offspring
-of not only an illicit, but an adulterous connection. When the natural
-children of John of Gaunt, therefore, were legitimatised by Act of
-Parliament, that Act expressly declared them incapable of inheriting the
-crown. Still more, the true hereditary claim lay in the house of York;
-and had that line been totally extinct, and had the bar against his line
-not existed, the royal house of Portugal at least had a superior title in
-point of descent from John of Gaunt. Further still, he stood attainted
-as a traitor by Act of Parliament, and could not, therefore, assert a
-Parliamentary right. Yet, as we have said, for years public expectation,
-overlooking the claims of all others of both the contending lines, had
-turned towards him, as the individual destined by Providence to put an
-end to the sanguinary broils of York and Lancaster, and unite them in
-peace.
-
-The only son of the late Duke of Clarence, who, next to the children
-of Edward IV., was the heir apparent of the line of York, had been
-confined by his uncle, Richard III., in the castle of Sheriff Hutton,
-in Yorkshire. Richard had at first treated this poor boy with kindness;
-he had created him Earl of Warwick, the title of his illustrious
-grandfather, the king-maker. On the death of his own son, he had at first
-proposed to nominate him his heir; but, fearing that he might be too
-dangerous a competitor, he had omitted that favour, and conferred it on
-the Earl of Lincoln, John de la Pole, the son of his sister the Duchess
-of Suffolk, and therefore nephew both of himself and Edward IV. Henry,
-the very first day after the battle of Bosworth, despatched Sir Robert
-Willoughby to take the young earl from Sheriff Hutton, and convey him to
-the Tower of London. Henry then put himself at the head of his victorious
-troops, and commenced his march towards the capital. Everywhere he was
-received, not as a conqueror, but a deliverer.
-
-He arrived safely at Kennington, and after dining with Thomas Bourchier,
-Archbishop of Canterbury, he proceeded with a splendid attendance of
-lords, both spiritual and temporal, towards the city. The nobles,
-imitating the absurd custom of France, rode two together on one horse,
-to show how completely the rival parties had amalgamated, and in this
-ridiculous style they passed through the city to the Tower, where Henry
-for the present took up his residence. On the 30th of October he was
-crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he immediately appointed a
-body-guard of fifty archers to attend upon him. This was an indication of
-distrust in his subjects or of the state of a conqueror, which astonished
-and dismayed the public; but Henry assured them that it was merely the
-state which, on the Continent, was now deemed essential to a king.
-
-The Parliament assembled on the 7th of November, to settle the new order
-of things. Before proceeding to business they found themselves in a great
-dilemma. No less than 107 of the members were persons attainted during
-the last two reigns, and were therefore disqualified for acting. They
-were the most zealous partisans of the house of Lancaster, and immediate
-application was made to the judges for their decision on this new and
-singular case. They came to the conclusion that the attainted members
-could not take their seats till their attainders were reversed, and a
-bill was passed by the remaining members accordingly.
-
-When Henry met his duly qualified Parliament, he informed them that
-"he had come to the throne by just title of inheritance, and by the
-sure judgment of God, who had given him the victory over his enemies in
-the field." In this declaration he was careful, while he asserted what
-was not true, to avoid what would alarm the pride and the fears of the
-nation. He had no just title of inheritance, as we have shown, and he
-dared not use the words "right of conquest," for such right was held
-to imply a lapse of all the lands in the nation to the Crown, since
-they had been held of the prince who had been conquered. Lest he had,
-even in speaking of victory, gone too far, he immediately added, that
-"every man should continue to enjoy his rights and hereditaments, except
-such persons as in the present Parliament should be punished for their
-offences against his royal majesty."
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF HENRY VII.]
-
-Another claim to the crown, which Henry was still more careful to ignore,
-though it was one on which he secretly placed confidence, was the right
-of Elizabeth of York, whom he had pledged himself to marry, and who was
-the undoubted owner of the throne. But as Henry would not owe his throne
-to his people, so he would not owe it to his wife. He therefore used
-every means to establish his own title to the throne before he in any
-way alluded to hers, or took any steps towards fulfilling his pledge
-of marriage. He renewed that pledge, indeed, on arriving in London, to
-satisfy the York party; but he proceeded to have his claims to the throne
-acknowledged by Parliament without any reference to hers. If he had
-mentioned the right of Elizabeth of York, his extreme caution suggested
-that he would be held to possess the throne, not by his own claims, but
-by hers, an idea which equally offended his pride, and alarmed him for
-the security of the succession in his offspring. Should Elizabeth die
-without children, in that case the right would die with her; and any
-issue of his by another marriage might be accounted intruders in the
-succession, and they might be removed for the next heirs of Edward IV.
-If she should die childless, and even before him, even his own retention
-of the throne might be disputed. All these points the mind of Henry saw
-clearly; and in a moment, and as if no such person as Elizabeth existed,
-and as if no pledge to marry her had helped him to his success, he
-procured an Act of Parliament, which provided that "the inheritance of
-the crown should be, rest, remain, and abide in the most royal person
-of the then sovereign lord, King Henry VII., and the heirs of his body
-lawfully coming, perpetually with the grace of God so to endure, and in
-none other."
-
-But this excess of caution and this nicely balanced policy had not been
-carried through without alarming all parties, and greatly disgusting
-that of York. The whole country looked to the union of the houses by
-the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth as the only means of putting an
-end to the civil wars which had so long rent the nation. Still Henry,
-though now securely seated on the throne, evinced no haste to fulfil
-his pledge of placing Elizabeth of York upon it. It was not, therefore,
-till the feeling of the public became strongly manifested at his neglect
-of the princess, and till the Commons presented him a petition praying
-him "to take to wife the Princess Elizabeth, which marriage they hoped
-God would bless with a progeny of the race of kings;" and till the
-Lords, spiritual and temporal, had testified their participation in this
-wish, by rising simultaneously and bowing as it was uttered, that Henry
-consented to the celebration of the marriage.
-
-The marriage took place on the 18th of January, 1486, and the rejoicings
-in London, Westminster, and other cities were of the most lively kind.
-They were heartfelt, for now all parties concluded that there was hope
-of peace and comfort. They were far more ardent than at the king's
-accession or coronation, and the mean-souled monarch saw it with sullen
-displeasure, for it seemed to imply that though he had taken such pains
-to place foremost his right to the throne, the people recognised,
-spontaneously, the superior title of the house of York, and that of
-his beautiful, and by him superciliously treated wife. Lord Bacon,
-who is the great historian of this period, and who may be supposed to
-be sufficiently informed, does not hesitate to add that the manifest
-affection of the people for the queen produced in him towards her
-additional coldness and dislike.
-
-Henry, before dismissing his Parliament, conferred favours and promotions
-on many of his friends. The two persons, however, whose counsels and
-administrative services he chiefly valued, were Bishops Morton and Fox,
-the latter of whom he raised to the see of Exeter. They had shared in
-all his adversities, and were now admitted to participate in his high
-fortune. Morton was, on the death of Bourchier, made Primate of England;
-and Fox was entrusted with the Privy Seal, and successively made Bishop
-of Bath and Wells, Durham, and finally, Winchester. These two able
-prelates were Henry's ministers and constant advisers. "He loved," says
-the historian of the time, "to have a convenient number of right grave
-and wise priests to be of his council; because," adds Bacon, "having rich
-bishoprics to bestow, it was easy to reward their services."
-
-Having dismissed his Parliament, and left all in order, Henry set out
-on a progress through the kingdom. The people of the northern counties
-had been the most devoted to Richard, and he sought, by spending some
-time amongst them, to remove their prejudices and attach them to his
-interests. He had advanced as far as Lincoln, and was there keeping
-his Easter, on the 2nd day of April, when he learned that Lord Lovel,
-formerly chamberlain to Richard, with Humphrey and Thomas Stafford,
-had left the sanctuary at Colchester, and were gone with dangerous
-intentions, no man knew whither. The news did not seem to give him much
-concern, and he proceeded towards York. At Nottingham, more pressing and
-alarming intelligence reached him, that Lord Lovel was advancing towards
-York with 4,000 men, and that the two Staffords were besieging Worcester
-with another army.
-
-At Nottingham, Henry received an embassy from the King of the Scots;
-and despatching his uncle, the Duke of Bedford, with about 3,000 men
-in pursuit of Lord Lovel, on the 6th of April he quitted Northampton
-in the same direction. At Pontefract he was met, on the 17th, by the
-news that Lovel had passed him on the road, had raised a force in the
-neighbourhood of Ripon and Middleham, and was preparing to surprise him
-on his entrance into York. Henry's courage did not fail him; he was
-now surrounded by most of the northern and southern nobility, who had
-brought up considerable forces. But the man who always trusted more to
-his shrewd knowledge of human nature than to arms, now hit on a means
-of dispersing the insurgent army without a blow. He sent on his uncle,
-Jasper of Bedford, to offer a free pardon to all who would desert Lovel's
-standard, and the whole host dispersed as by magic. It was, in fact, the
-magic of the right incentive applied at the right moment. Lovel, who was
-as much affected by the proclamation of pardon as his followers--for it
-instantly struck him with the fear of universal desertion--fled at once
-to the house of his friend, Sir Thomas Broughton, in Lancashire; and,
-after lying concealed there some days, contrived to escape to the court
-of the Duchess of Burgundy, in Flanders. Some of his followers, as it
-would seem, in defiance of the king's offer of pardon, were seized and
-executed by the Earl of Northumberland.
-
-On the 30th of September the queen was prematurely delivered of a
-son, who, however, was pronounced a strong and healthy child, and was
-christened by the name of Arthur, after Prince Arthur of the ancient
-Britons, from whom Henry pretended to derive his descent. But the birth
-of an heir-apparent tried too severely the temper of the numerous
-malcontents who still existed. Though Henry had put himself to much
-trouble, and to some cost, to win over the people of the northern
-counties, his conduct in general had not been such as to conciliate the
-enemies of the Lancastrian line.
-
-However, the Yorkist party, though roused to disturb the quiet of the
-king, prepared their measures of annoyance with a lack of acumen which
-was more likely to irritate than overturn. Perhaps they did not want to
-dethrone him, because that would overturn also the head, and most popular
-representative of their own party--Elizabeth; especially as she was now
-the mother of a legitimate prince, capable of uniting all interests.
-Perhaps they wished rather to show the cold and unforgiving monarch
-that he was more at their mercy than he supposed, and that they could
-embitter, if they did not proceed to terminate, his reign. Such, in fact,
-whether this was their purpose or not, were the character and tendency of
-the plots and impostures which, for so many years, kept Henry in disquiet
-and anxiety.
-
-The first attempt was to bring forward a youth as the Earl of Warwick,
-the son of Clarence, whom Henry was keeping confined in the Tower. So
-little depth was there in this plot, that at first it was evidently the
-plan to bring the impostor forward as the Duke of York, the younger of
-the two princes supposed to be murdered in the Tower. It was given out
-that though his elder brother had been murdered, the younger had been
-allowed to escape. Had this story been adhered to, and well acted, it
-might have raised a most formidable rebellion; but, for some unknown
-reason, it was as speedily abandoned as adopted, and the Earl of Warwick
-pitched upon as the preferable impersonation. Nothing, however, could be
-more absurd, for the true earl being really alive, Henry could at any
-moment bring him forward.
-
-Towards the close of the year 1486, there appeared at the castle of
-Dublin a priest of Oxford named Richard Simon, attended by a boy of
-about fifteen years of age. The boy was of a peculiarly handsome and
-interesting appearance; and Simon, who was a total stranger in Ireland,
-presented him to the lord-deputy, the Earl of Kildare, as Edward
-Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, who, he represented, had fortunately
-escaped from his dungeon in the Tower of London, and had come to throw
-himself under the protection of the earl and his friends. Thomas
-Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, was a zealous Yorkist; his brother was
-chancellor, and almost all the bishops and officers in the Irish
-Government had been appointed by Edward IV. or Richard. It is most likely
-that the lord-deputy and the party were already cognisant of the whole
-scheme of this agitation; for it is neither likely that Simon the priest
-should have originated so daring and arduous an enterprise as that of
-presenting a new claimant for the throne in opposition to the astute
-and determined Henry Tudor, nor that he should have so particularly
-singled out Ireland as the opening ground of his operations, and the
-lord-deputy as his patron and coadjutor. What sufficiently proved this
-was, that simultaneously the Earl of Lincoln, of whom we have lately made
-mention, son to the eldest sister of the two late kings, had disappeared
-from England and gone over to his aunt Margaret, Duchess-Dowager of
-Burgundy, Henry's most inveterate enemy. This satisfied the king that
-the plot which showed itself in Ireland was produced in England, and was
-fomented by the Yorkist party at large. It was soon found that Simon had
-been diligently instructing the young pretender, whose name was Lambert
-Simnel, before he produced him in public, in all the arcana of the
-character he had to support.
-
-The loyalty of the lord-deputy had been already questionable. Henry had
-sent him a summons to attend in London, but he evaded that by a petition
-from the spiritual and temporal peers of Ireland, stating strongly the
-absolute necessity of his presence there. No sooner did Simon present
-his _protege_ to Kildare, than that nobleman received him without any
-apparent reluctance to put faith in his story.
-
-When Henry received this news, he hastened to do what he ought to have
-done long before. He took the Earl of Warwick out of the Tower, conducted
-him publicly to St. Paul's, so that all might see him, and all who
-desired it were allowed to approach him, and converse with him. The
-nobility and gentry were personally introduced to him, and the king then
-took him with him to Sheen, where he held his court, and gave familiar
-access to all those who had seen or known him before. By this politic
-act he completely satisfied the people of England, who laughed at the
-impostor in Ireland; but the Irish, on the contrary, declared that
-Henry's Warwick was the impostor, and theirs the real one. To consult on
-the best measures for defeating this plot, Henry called a great council
-at Sheen; but at its breaking up, the public were thrown into still
-greater surprise and perplexity by the king, who, instead of offering to
-crown the queen, seized her mother, the queen-dowager, confiscated her
-property, and consigned her to the custody of the monks of Bermondsey.
-The reason assigned was, that the queen-dowager, in the last reign,
-had promised her daughter to Henry, and then put her into the hands of
-Richard. Such a reason, if really put forward, was a simple absurdity,
-because since then Elizabeth Woodville had been living at court as
-the queen-mother, in all public honour. The real cause was presumably
-connected with the business in hand--the Simnel conspiracy. This is the
-opinion of Lord Bacon, who, living a hundred years later, nevertheless
-had access to sources of information not available to the modern student,
-though his authority may easily be overrated. Speaking of Simon, he
-says:--"It cannot be but that some great person, that knew particularly
-and familiarly Edward Plantagenet, had a hand in the business, from whom
-the priest might take his aim. That which is most probable out of the
-preceding and subsequent acts is, that it was the queen-dowager from whom
-this action had the principal source and motion; for certain it is that
-she was a busy, negotiating woman, and in her withdrawing-chamber had
-the fortunate conspiracy for the king against Richard III. been hatched,
-which the king knew, and remembered, perhaps, but too well; and was at
-this time extremely discontented with the king, thinking her daughter--as
-the king handled the matter--not advanced but depressed; and none could
-hold the book so well to prompt and instruct this stage play as she
-could."
-
-[Illustration: HENRY VII.]
-
-But the most formidable and unwearied enemy of Henry VII. was Margaret,
-the Dowager-Duchess of Burgundy. As the sister of Edward IV. and of
-Richard, no circumstance could induce her to tolerate Henry Tudor, in her
-eyes a low-born man, who had thrust the Yorkist line from the throne. To
-her Lord Lovel had fled, and to her also fled the Earl of Lincoln. To her
-the Irish party sent emissaries for aid; and she despatched 2,000 veteran
-German troops, under a brave and experienced general, Martin Schwarz,
-accompanied by the Earl of Lincoln.
-
-The moment that Henry Tudor learned the flight of the Earl of Lincoln,
-he set out on a progress through the counties of Essex, Suffolk,
-and Norfolk, in which the chief interest of the earl lay. He was at
-Kenilworth when news was brought him that the Earl of Lincoln and Lord
-Lovel had landed with the pretended Edward VI., supported by Martin
-Schwarz and his German legion, at the pile of Foudray, an old keep in the
-southern extremity of Furness. Henry advanced by Coventry and Leicester
-to Nottingham; Lincoln had already approached Newark. The royal army
-advancing to oppose the whole force lost its way between Nottingham and
-Newark, and there was such confusion in consequence, and such rumours
-of the enemy being upon them, that numbers deserted. But five guides
-were procured from Ratcliff-on-Trent, and soon afterwards the vanguard
-of Henry's army, led by the Earl of Oxford, encountered the forces of
-Lincoln at Stoke, a village near Newark. The battle lasted for three
-hours, and was obstinately contested. The veteran Germans, under Schwarz,
-fought till they were exterminated almost to a man. The Irish displayed
-not the less valour; but, being only armed with darts and skeans--for
-the English settlers had adopted the arms of the natives--were no match
-for the royal cavalry. The whole of the troops of the insurgents,
-expecting no mercy if they were taken, seemed prepared to perish rather
-than to yield. Four thousand of the insurgents and 2,000 of the king's
-best troops are said to have fallen in this desperate engagement; but
-nearly all the leaders of the rebel army, the Earl of Lincoln, Sir
-Thomas Broughton, the brave Schwarz, and the Lords Thomas and Maurice
-Fitzgerald, having fallen, the victory on Henry's part became complete.
-
-[Illustration: THE LAST STAND OF SCHWARZ AND HIS GERMANS]
-
-The pretender Lambert Simnel and the priest Simon were captured by Sir
-Robert Bellingham, one of the king's esquires; but nothing was seen
-of Lord Lovel. He was believed to have escaped, but no traces of him
-were discoverable; many thought that he had perished in attempting to
-swim his horse across the Trent. But nearly two centuries afterwards
-a subterranean chamber was discovered accidentally by some workmen at
-Minster Lovel, in Oxfordshire, the ancient seat of his family. In this
-chamber was seated a skeleton in a chair, with its head resting on a
-table; and this was supposed to be the remains of this same Lord Lovel,
-who had reached his house, and secreted himself in this apartment, where
-he had perished by some unknown cause.
-
-After the battle, Henry travelled northward to ascertain that all was
-secure in the tract through which the insurgents had passed, and to
-punish such as had aided the rebels, and those who just before the battle
-had spread the rumour of his defeat. The royal punishments did not
-consist in putting his enemies to death, but in fining them severely, for
-Henry Tudor much preferred making a profit of a man to killing him. The
-late insurrection had taught him that if he did not wish for a repetition
-of it, he must concede something to the Yorkist party, and must pay
-some respect to the queen. Accordingly, on the 25th of November, 1487,
-Elizabeth was crowned with much state at Westminster.
-
-Having thus made this _amende_ to public opinion, Henry, instead of
-giving Simnel consequence by putting him to death, or making a State
-prisoner of him in the Tower, turned him into his kitchen as a scullion,
-thus showing his contempt of him. "He would not take his life," says Lord
-Bacon, "taking him but as an image of wax that others had tempered and
-moulded;" and considering that if he was made a continual spectacle, he
-would be "a kind of remedy against the like enchantments of people in
-time to come." The priest Simon he shut up in a secret prison, saying
-he was but a tool, and did not know the depths of the plot. He even
-professed to regret the death of the Earl of Lincoln, who, had his life
-been spared, he said, "might have revealed to him the bottom of his
-danger." In his peculiar way he threw much mystery over the matter, for
-mystery was one of his greatest pleasures.
-
-Having settled these matters, which he did on his own authority, Henry
-summoned a Parliament to grant him supplies, and to increase those
-supplies by bill of attainder against all those who had been engaged in
-the late conspiracy. To prevent similar risings, he demanded that the law
-should be rigorously put in force against the practice of maintenance.
-This maintenance was the association of numbers of persons under a
-particular chief or nobleman, whose badge or livery they wore, and to
-whom they were bound by oath to support him in his private quarrels
-against other noblemen. But the instrument was too convenient not to
-be turned on occasion against the Crown, whenever rich chiefs took
-up the opposite party, and by this means it was that such numbers of
-troops could be brought at the shortest notice into the field against
-the monarch. Various laws had been passed on this subject, and heavy
-penalties decreed; but now it was ordained that, instead of calling
-such offenders before the royal council, as had been the custom, a
-particular Court should be established for the purpose. The chancellor,
-the treasurer, the keeper of the privy seal, or two of them, one bishop,
-one lay peer, and the judges of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, were
-empowered to summon all such persons before them, and to punish the
-guilty just as if they had been convicted by ordinary course of law. This
-was the origin of what came to be called the Court of the Star Chamber,
-from the walls or ceiling of the room where it met being decorated with
-stars.
-
-The affairs on the Continent were now in a state which demanded the most
-serious attention, but which were by no means likely to be settled to the
-honour of the country by a monarch of the penurious character of Henry
-VII. If ever a monarch was bound by gratitude to succour another prince,
-it was Henry VII. He had been protected in Brittany from all the attempts
-of the Yorkist monarch for years. The Duke Francis, who had been his
-host and friend during his long exile, was now growing old. He appears
-never to have been of a very vigorous mind, and now mind and body were
-failing together. He had two daughters, and the hope of securing the
-patrimony of the eldest, Anne, drew the attention of many suitors, the
-chief of whom were Maximilian, King of the Romans; the Duke of Orleans,
-the first prince of the blood in France; and the Count D'Albret, a
-powerful chieftain, at the foot of the Pyrenees. But hostile alike to
-all these wooers was Charles VIII. of France, who, though he was under
-engagement to marry the daughter of Maximilian, and therefore apparently
-debarred from the hand of Anne of Brittany, was resolved, if possible, to
-secure her territory. In this dilemma, Francis sent repeated importunate
-entreaties to Henry to come to his rescue. France, at the same time, sent
-to him, praying him to be neutral, alleging that Charles was only seeking
-to drive his revolted subjects out of Brittany. Henry was bound by honour
-to give prompt succour to his old friend; he had received from Parliament
-two-fifteenths for the purpose, and was urged by it to send efficient
-aid to prevent France from seizing this important province. But Henry
-could not find it in his heart to spend the money in active service; he
-proposed to mediate between the parties. This suited the views of France
-exactly, because while Henry was negotiating they could continue to press
-on their victories. The poor Duke Francis was compelled to submit to a
-treaty, in August, at Verger, by which he surrendered to the French all
-the territory they had conquered, and was bound never again to call in
-assistance from England or any other country, nor to marry either of
-his daughters without the consent of the King of France. Having signed
-this humiliating treaty, the duke died of a broken heart, on the 7th of
-September, 1488, only three weeks afterwards.
-
-The people of England received these tidings with undisguised
-indignation. Twice had they voted large sums to enable their ungrateful
-and pusillanimous king to aid his old benefactor and the ally of
-England; twice had he put the money in his coffers, and sold the
-honour of the country and the fortunes of the unfortunate ally to the
-French, wholly insensible to honour or shame. But whilst the public
-were foaming in wrath over this despicable conduct, the indefatigable
-French were pressing on. Anne, the young orphan duchess, was a mere
-child of only twelve years of age. Around her were contending rivals and
-their adherents. But all this time the French were seizing town after
-town. The news of this awoke such a fermentation in England, and Henry
-was upbraided in such vehement terms for thus, as the sovereign of a
-great people, sacrificing the honour of the nation, and permitting the
-helpless orphan of his benefactor to become the prey of France, that he
-was compelled to rouse himself. He determined to send ambassadors to
-Maximilian, to his son, the Archduke Philip, to the Kings of Spain and
-Portugal, inviting them to act in concert with him for the repression of
-French ambition. Having taken this magnanimous, and, if it had really
-been intended to follow it up vigorously, most admirable step, Henry
-called a Parliament, and demanded more money to carry on the war.
-
-The pretences of this huckstering king were now become too transparent
-to deceive any one. All the money hitherto voted for a war that never
-took place was still in Henry's coffers. The people thought that he ought
-first to bring out that before he asked for more. Parliament, therefore,
-made strong opposition, and finally reduced his demand of L100,000 to
-L75,000. But, when they had voted, the indignant people refused to pay
-it, considering that the selfish monarch had their cash already in hand.
-Great disturbances arose in the endeavour to enforce the collection of
-the tax. This manifested itself especially in the north, where Henry had
-used such endeavours to soothe and win the inhabitants.
-
-The Earl of Northumberland directed the collection to be enforced,
-accompanying the command with such menaces as he deemed necessary to
-procure obedience. But these had a contrary effect. The people flew
-to arms, and, turning their vengeance first against the earl, as the
-rigorous instrument of an imperious monarch, they stormed his house and
-put him to death. They then declared war against the tyrant, as they
-termed Henry, himself. Their leader was a fiery fellow of the common
-order, named John a Chambre, but, as they assumed a formidable aspect,
-Sir John Egremont, one of the Yorkist faction, put himself at their head.
-Henry lost no time in despatching Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who
-soon suppressed the insurrection, and hanged John a Chambre and some of
-his accomplices. Sir John Egremont escaped to Flanders to the Duchess of
-Burgundy.
-
-Henry now sent over to Brittany a body of 6,000 men under Lord Willoughby
-de Broke; but he limited their service to six months, which was, in fact,
-to render them nearly useless, especially when they had instructions not
-to fight, and he would not even afford that aid until he had exacted from
-the poor orphan girl, the young duchess, the surrender of her two best
-sea-ports in security of payment. He moreover compelled the duchess to
-bind herself by the like oath to him as she had taken to the French king,
-not to marry without his consent. Before the end of the year Anne found
-herself invested by the French army in Rennes; and rather than fall a
-helpless and humiliated captive into the hands of Charles, she consented
-to marry him, having not a single soul left to stand by her in her
-resolute opposition. She was married to Charles on the 13th of December,
-1491, at Rennes, was crowned in the abbey church of St. Denis, and made
-her entrance into Paris amid the acclamations of a vast multitude, who
-regarded this event as one of the most auspicious which had ever happened
-to France.
-
-The rage of Maximilian may be imagined. He had lost Brittany, his
-daughter had lost the throne of France, and he was duped and insulted in
-the most egregious manner before all Europe. He made his complaints ring
-far and wide, but they were only echoed by the laughter of his enemies,
-and he proceeded to vow revenge by the assistance of Spain and England.
-
-Henry was now bent, according to all appearance, on war. He was too
-clear-sighted not to perceive the immense advantage France had obtained
-over him in securing Brittany, and how the political foresight and
-sagacity on which he prided himself had suffered from the paltry
-promptings of his avarice. He therefore put on a most belligerent
-attitude. He summoned a Parliament at Westminster, and addressed it in
-the most heroic strain. He commented on the insolence of France, elated
-with the success of her late perfidy, and on--what he no doubt felt more
-deeply than anything else--her refusal to pay what he called the tribute
-agreed by Louis XI. to be paid to Edward IV., and hitherto continued
-to himself. Two-fifteenths were at once granted him, and the nobility
-were on fire with the anticipation of realising all the glories and the
-plunder of the past ages.
-
-He availed himself of the paroxysm of the moment, not only to gather
-in and garner the two-fifteenths newly granted, but the remains of the
-benevolence voted last session. Whilst the fresh tax fell on the nation
-generally, this fell on the monied and commercial capitalists. London
-alone furnished L10,000 of it or L100,000 of our money. The wily old
-archbishop, Morton, instructed the commissioners to employ this dilemma,
-which was called "Morton's fork." They were to urge upon people who lived
-in a modest and careful way, that they _must_ be rich in consequence of
-their parsimony; on those who indulged in expensive abodes and styles of
-living, that they _must_ be opulent, because they had so much to expend.
-To afford ample time for harvesting these riches, Henry found perpetual
-causes for delaying his expedition. The nobles were already crowding to
-his standard with their vassals, and impatient to set out, but Henry
-had always some plausible excuse for lingering. At one time it was the
-unsafe state of Scotland, and four months were occupied in negotiating
-an extension of the truce; then it was the necessity of contracting for
-fresh levies of troops. These troops, however, were ready in June and
-July, but still they were not allowed to move. "The truth was," says
-Bacon, "that though the king showed great forwardness for a war, not
-only to his Parliament and Court, but to his Privy Council, except the
-two bishops (Fox and Morton), and a few more, yet, nevertheless, in his
-secret intentions, he had no purpose to go through with any war upon
-France. But the truth was, that he did but traffic with that war to make
-money."
-
-At length, in the beginning of October, 1492, he landed at Calais, with
-a fine army of 25,000 foot, and 1,600 horse, which he gave in command
-to the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Oxford. This was a force capable
-of striking an alarming blow, but the whole affair was a sham. In fact,
-Henry had entered into a treaty of peace before he had set out, and the
-only difficulty now was how to get out of the war without incurring too
-much resentment at home. To guard against this, the odium of the abortive
-expedient must be carefully removed from himself to other parties. The
-machinery for this was already prepared. His ambassadors appeared in the
-camp at Boulogne, informing them that their visit to his previous ally
-Maximilian had been useless; he was incapable of joining him. These were
-followed by others from Spain, bringing the intelligence that Ferdinand
-had concluded a peace with France, Roussillon and Cerdagne being ceded to
-him by Charles. But with Henry's fine army, and the defenceless state of
-France, the defection of these allies, from whom little or nothing had
-been expected, would have scarcely cost him a thought had he been a Henry
-V. As it was, after all his boasts, it was not even for him to propose
-an abandonment of the enterprise, and therefore, the Marquis of Dorset
-and twenty-three other persons of distinction were employed to present to
-him a request that he would also make a peace with France. They urged,
-as they were instructed for this purpose, the defection of these allies,
-the approach of winter, the difficulty of obtaining supplies at Calais at
-that season, and the obstinacy of the siege of Boulogne. All these were
-circumstances that had been foreseen from the first, and treated with
-indifference, as they deserved to be; but now Henry affected to listen
-to the desires of his army, and sent off the Bishop of Exeter and the
-Lord Daubeney to confer with the Marshal de Cordes, who had been sent as
-plenipotentiary on the part of Charles to Etaples. They soon returned,
-bringing the rough draft of a treaty, by which peace and amity were to
-be maintained betwixt the two sovereigns during their lives, and a year
-afterwards. Even this Henry affected to decline, and only consented to
-give way at the earnest entreaty of his already-mentioned four-and-twenty
-officers.
-
-After having thus assumed all this pretence to exonerate himself from
-censure, Henry signed a peace on the following terms:--Charles was to
-retain Brittany for ever, and he was to pay Henry 620,000 crowns in gold
-for the money advanced by Henry on account of Brittany and his present
-expenses, and 125,000 crowns in gold as arrears of the pension paid to
-Edward IV. by Louis XI. He was also to continue this pension of 25,000
-crowns to Henry and his heirs. The whole amount which Henry sacked was
-745,000 crowns, equal to L400,000 of our present money. The members of
-his council, who openly acted the part of petitioners of this peace, are
-said not only to have been instructed by Henry to perform this obnoxious
-duty, but to have been gained by the bribes of the French king, who was
-anxious to make short work of it, that he might proceed on an expedition
-which he had set his mind upon against Naples. They went about declaring
-that it was the most glorious peace that any king of England ever made
-with France, and that if Henry's subjects presumed to censure it, they
-were ready to take the blame upon themselves.
-
-[Illustration: PENNY OF HENRY VII.]
-
-[Illustration: ANGEL OF HENRY VII.]
-
-Having used these precautions to ward off the reproaches of his subjects,
-Henry ratified the peace on the 6th of November, and led back his army
-to England. There, though he had the money safely in his chests, the
-disappointment and indignation of the people were extreme, and tended
-to diminish his sordid satisfaction. The people protested that he had
-been trading on the honour of the nation, and had sold its interests and
-reputation for his own vile gain, and his enemies did not neglect to
-avail themselves of his unpopularity. During the past year, a young man
-had landed in Cork, of a singularly fascinating exterior and insinuating
-address. He represented himself to be no other than the Duke of York,
-the younger of the two princes who were supposed to have been murdered
-in the Tower. He was a fine young man, apparently exactly of the age of
-the Duke of York, and bearing a striking likeness to Edward IV. "Such
-a mercurial," says Bacon, "as the like hath seldom been known; and he
-had such a crafty and bewitching fashion, both to move pity and induce
-belief, as was like a kind of fascination or enchantment." What would
-appear to have been the real story of this remarkable pretender, so far
-as we can gather from the records of the time, is this:--
-
-Margaret, the Duchess-Dowager of Burgundy, having played off Lambert
-Simnel, devised this scheme, or was supplied with it by the Yorkist
-refugees at her Court, who had immediate and constant communion with
-the heads of the York faction in England. A young man was industriously
-sought after who should well represent the Duke of York, though she knew
-him to be dead. Such a youth was found in the son, or reputed son, of
-one John Osbeck, or Warbeck, a renegade Jew of Tournay. This Warbeck
-had lived and carried on business in the time of Edward IV., and had
-dealings with the king, who was so free with him that the Jew prevailed
-on him to become godfather to his child, who was called Peter, and whose
-name became converted into the diminutive Peterkin or Perkin. Others
-assert that Warbeck's wife had been amongst the numerous favourites of
-Edward, and that this Perkin was really his son--whence the striking
-resemblance, the cleverness and liveliness of his character. Warbeck had
-returned to Flanders, and there, in course of time, his son had attracted
-the attention of the Yorkist conspirators as the very youth, in all
-respects, for their purpose. He was introduced to the duchess, who found
-him already familiar with the whole story of Edward's Court from the past
-affairs and position there of his parents.
-
-[Illustration: NOBLE OF HENRY VII.]
-
-[Illustration: SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VII.]
-
-The scheme being now matured and the chief actor ready, they only waited
-for the true moment for his appearance. That came in the prospect
-of Henry being involved in war with France. As soon as this seemed
-inevitable, the pretended Duke of York landed in Ireland. The York
-faction was still strong in that country, and, despite the failure of
-the former pretender, Simnel, the Irish were ready, to a certain extent,
-to embrace another claimant of Henry's crown. He landed at Cork, where
-the mayor and others of that city received him as the true Richard
-Plantagenet, as, no doubt, they had previously agreed to do. Many of the
-credulous people flocked after him, but the more prudent stood aloof.
-He wrote to the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, inviting them to join his
-standard, but those powerful noblemen kept a cautious distance. Kildare
-had been disgraced by Henry for his reception of Simnel, and dreaded
-his more deadly vengeance in case of a second failure. But Warbeck,
-undismayed, spread everywhere the exciting story of his escape from the
-cruelty of his uncle Richard, and was gradually making an impression on
-the imaginative mind of Ireland, when a summons came to a new scene.
-
-Charles VIII. of France was now menaced by Henry with invasion. He knew
-the man too well to doubt the real object of his menace, and the power of
-money to avert it, but it was of consequence to reduce the bribe as much
-as possible; and every instrument which promised to assist in effecting
-that was most valuable. Such an instrument was this self-styled Duke
-of York, who had suddenly appeared in Ireland. The watchful Duchess of
-Burgundy is said to have adroitly turned Charles's attention to this
-mysterious individual through the agency of one Frion, a man who had been
-a Secretary of Henry, but who had been won over by his enemies. Charles
-caught at the idea; an invitation was instantly despatched to Perkin
-Warbeck to hasten to the French Court, where he was "to hear of something
-to his advantage," and he was received by the king as the undoubted
-Duke of York and true monarch of England. Perkin's person, talents, and
-address, being worthy of a real prince, won him the admiration of all
-who approached him; and not only the Court and capital, but the whole of
-France, soon rang with praise of the accomplishments, the adventures,
-and the unmerited misfortunes of this last of the Plantagenets. The king
-settled upon him a princely income; a magnificent abode was assigned him,
-and a body-guard befitting a royal personage was conferred upon him, of
-which the Lord of Concressault was made captain.
-
-The news of this cordial reception of the reputed Duke of York by the
-French Court flew to England, and Sir George Neville, Sir John Taylor,
-and above a hundred gentlemen hastened to Paris, and offered to him
-their devoted services. This decided and rapidly-growing demonstration
-had the effect which Charles contemplated. Henry was greatly alarmed,
-and hastened to close the negotiations for peace. These once signed,
-the puppet had done its work in France. Henry made earnest demands to
-have Warbeck handed over to him, but Charles, who, no doubt, was bound
-by agreement with the Duchess of Burgundy to refuse any such surrender,
-declared that to do so would be contrary to his honour; but he gave the
-pretender a hint to quit the kingdom, and he retired to the Court of
-Burgundy.
-
-The duchess now heaped on Perkin all the marks of affection and the
-honours which she would have deemed due to her own nephew. She ordered
-every one to give him the homage belonging to a real king; she appointed
-him a guard of thirty halberdiers, and styled him the "White Rose of
-England." On all occasions her conduct towards him was that of an
-affectionate aunt, who regarded him as the head of her family, and the
-heir of the brightest crown in Europe.
-
-It is not to be supposed that the tempest which was gathering around
-Henry had escaped his attention. On the contrary, he was aware of all
-that was passing, and with the caution and concealment of his character,
-he was at work to counteract the operations of his enemies. The first
-object with him was to convince the public that the real Duke of York
-had perished at the same time as his brother, Edward V. Nothing, he
-concluded, would be so effectual for this purpose as the evidence of
-those who had always been held to be concerned in the death of the young
-princes. Of five implicated, according to universal belief, two only
-now survived, namely, Sir James Tyrell--who had taken the place of Sir
-Robert Brackenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower, during the night of the
-murder--and John Dighton, one of the actual assassins. These two were
-secured and interrogated, and their evidence was precisely that which
-we have stated when relating the murder of the princes. The bodies,
-therefore, were sought for, but as the chaplain was dead who was supposed
-to have witnessed their removal, according to the order of Richard III.,
-they could not then be found and produced. The testimony of Tyrell and
-Dighton, however, was published and circulated as widely as possible,
-and these two miscreants, after their full and frank avowal of the
-perpetration of this diabolical murder, were, to the disgrace of the
-king and of public justice, again allowed to go free. Everyone, however,
-must perceive at once how important it was to Henry that the real
-witnesses of that murder should exist, and be forthcoming to confound any
-one pretending to be either of these princes.
-
-Henry next applied to the Archduke Philip, the son of Maximilian and
-Mary of Burgundy, and now sovereign of the Netherlands in his own
-right, to deliver up to him the impostor, Warbeck, who, he contended,
-was entertained in his dominions contrary to the existing treaties, and
-the amity betwixt the two sovereigns. But Margaret had the influence to
-render his application abortive. Philip professed to have every desire
-to oblige his great ally, Henry of England, but he pleaded that Margaret
-was sole ruler in her own states, and, though he might advise her in
-this matter, he could not control her. Henry resented the polite evasion
-by stopping all commercial intercourse between England and the Low
-Countries, by banishing all Flemings from his dominions, and recalling
-his own subjects from Flanders; and Philip retaliated by issuing similar
-edicts.
-
-In 1494, several Yorkist lords were arrested and executed, but there
-remained a conspirator far higher than any who had yet been unveiled--a
-conspirator where it was least expected, in the immediate vicinity of
-the throne, and in the person who more than all others, perhaps, had
-contributed to place Henry upon it. His name stood in the secret list of
-traitors furnished by spies, but he had been left for a more striking
-and dramatic discovery, for a denouement calculated to produce the most
-startling and profound impression.
-
-After the festivities of Christmas the king took up his residence in the
-Tower, where he held his council on the 7th of January, 1495. If there
-was one man more distinguished than another by the royal favour in that
-august circle, he was Stanley, Lord Chamberlain. Sir William Stanley
-had burst upon Richard III. at Bosworth Field, at the critical moment,
-slain his standard-bearer, and, by his followers, killed the tyrant. His
-brother, Lord Stanley, had put the crown of the fallen monarch on Henry's
-head. For this he had been created Earl of Derby, and had been allowed
-to ally himself to the throne by the marriage of Henry's mother, the
-Countess of Richmond. Sir William had been made Lord Chamberlain, and
-both brothers had been glutted, as it were, with the wealth and estates
-of proscribed families. There were no men--not even Fox and Morton--who
-were supposed to stand so high, not merely in the favour, but in the
-friendship of Henry. He was suddenly arrested at the council chamber and
-executed, his vast wealth passing to the Crown.
-
-The fall of Stanley was a paralysing blow to the partisans of Warbeck.
-They saw that even that great nobleman, while apparently living in the
-very centre and blaze of royal favour, had been surrounded by spies
-who watched all his actions, heard his most secret communications, and
-carried them all to the king. No man who was in any degree implicated
-felt himself safe. Henry's cautious and severe temper, while it made him
-hated, made him proportionately feared. Assured by the success which had
-attended all his measures, Henry every day displayed more and more the
-grasping avarice of his disposition, and accusations and heavy fines fell
-thickly around. He fined Sir William Capel, Alderman of London, for some
-offence, L2,743; and, though he failed to secure the whole, he obtained
-L1,615. Encouraged by this, he repeated the like attempts; and, while he
-depressed the nobility, he especially countenanced unprincipled lawyers,
-as the ready tools of his rapacity. Whilst this conduct, however, kept
-alive the rancour of many influential people, it rendered the common
-people passive; for they escaped the oppressions of many petty tyrants,
-who were kept in check by the one great one. Warbeck's party, therefore,
-was much disabled. It was now three years since he made his appearance,
-but, with the exception of his brief visit to Ireland, he had attempted
-nothing in Henry's dominions. But the Flemings, who were smarting under
-the restrictions put upon their trade with England, began to murmur
-loudly, and the Archduke Philip to remonstrate warmly with Margaret on
-account of the countenance given to the English insurgents.
-
-Under these circumstances it was necessary for Warbeck and his adherents
-to make an effort of some kind. Taking advantage, therefore, of the
-absence of Henry on a visit to his mother at Latham House, in Lancashire,
-Warbeck and a few hundred followers made a descent in July on the
-coast of Kent, near Deal. It was hoped that Henry's severity would
-have made numbers ready to join them. The people, indeed, assembled
-under the guidance of some gentlemen of property, and, professing to
-favour Warbeck, invited him to come on shore. But he, or those about
-him, observing that the forces collected had nothing of that tumultuous
-impetuosity about them which usually characterises insurgents in earnest,
-kept aloof, and the men of Kent perceiving that they could not draw
-Warbeck into the snare, fell on his followers already on land, and,
-besides killing many of them, took 169 prisoners. The rest managed to
-get on board again, and Warbeck, seeing what sort of a reception England
-gave him, sailed back with all speed to Flanders. The prisoners were tied
-together like teams of cattle, and driven to London, where they were all
-condemned and executed to a man, in various places, some at London and
-Wapping, some on the coasts of Kent, Sussex, Essex, and Norfolk, where
-they were gibbeted, as a warning to any fresh adventurers who might
-appear on those shores.
-
-Flanders was now become no durable place of sojourn for Perkin and his
-party. The Flemings would no longer submit to the interruption of their
-trade; and the archduke entered into a treaty with Henry, which contained
-a stipulation that Philip should restrain the Duchess Margaret from
-harbouring any of the king's enemies, and that the two princes should
-expel from their territories all the enemies of each other. This treaty
-was ratified on the 24th of February, 1496, and thereupon Warbeck betook
-himself to Ireland. But there he found a sensible change had taken place
-since his former visit. The king had sent over Sir Edward Poynings as
-lord-deputy, who had taken such measures that the people were much
-satisfied. On landing at Cork, therefore, the Irish refused to recognise
-their late idol, and from Cork he sailed away to Scotland. There a new
-and surprising turn of fortune awaited him. For a long time his interest
-had been on the decline. In Flanders the public had grown weary of him;
-in England they had endeavoured to entrap him; from Ireland they had
-repulsed him. He is said to have presented letters of recommendation from
-Charles VIII. of France, and from his great patroness the Duchess-Dowager
-of Burgundy; and James IV. of Scotland received him with open arms.
-
-James IV. of Scotland was a brave, generous, and patriotic monarch. When
-Henry offered him his daughter Margaret, he, therefore, unceremoniously
-rejected the offer. The disposition which Henry was said to have shown
-to encourage his subjects, during the truce, to molest the Scottish
-merchantmen at the very mouth of the Forth, was highly resented by
-James, who supported his admiral--Wood of Largo--in severely chastising
-the pirates, and did not fail to warn Henry that such practices must
-not be repeated. The dislike which James entertained for the insidious
-character of Henry--who began that system of bribing the nobles around
-the throne of Scotland which was never discontinued so long as a Tudor
-reigned, and which ended in the destruction of Mary, Queen of Scots--was
-violently aggravated by a base attempt of Henry in 1490. This was no
-other than a scheme to seize and carry off James to England, which failed
-ignominiously.
-
-In this temper of the Scottish King, nothing could come more opportunely
-than such a person as Perkin Warbeck. James had, from the first moment
-of mounting his throne, been careful to strengthen his alliances with
-the whole European continent. With France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, and
-Flanders, his intercourse, both official and mercantile, was active and
-constant. Of course, James was kept in full information of all that was
-agitating England. With the Duchess of Burgundy, the inveterate enemy of
-Henry, it is clearly provable that James was in secret correspondence
-only five months after his accession. In 1488, even, there were busy
-messengers and heralds passing to and fro betwixt Flanders, Ireland, and
-Scotland.
-
-From these circumstances, which are attested by the "Treasurer's
-Accounts," and other records of Scotland, it is manifest that James was
-intimately informed of everything which could be known about Warbeck.
-There could be no mistake made by James in his reception of that
-personage, when, in November, 1495, he presented himself at the palace of
-Stirling. Whatever James did he did with his eyes wide open and his mind
-fully made up. Yet from the very first he received him apparently with
-the most undoubting faith as to his being the true Plantagenet.
-
-Warbeck was welcomed into Scotland with much state and rejoicing as the
-veritable Duke of York. James addressed him as "cousin," and celebrated
-tournaments and other courtly gaieties in his honour. The reputed
-prince, by his noble appearance, the simple dignity of his manners, and
-the romance of his story and supposed misfortunes, everywhere excited
-the highest admiration. James made a grand progress with him through
-his dominions, and beheld him wherever he appeared produce the most
-favourable impression. If James did not himself really believe Warbeck
-to be the Duke of York before he came to Scotland, his conduct during
-his abode there seems to have convinced him of it. At no time was he
-known to express a doubt of it, and on all occasions he spoke and acted
-as if morally certain of it. Nothing could be more convincing than his
-giving him to wife one of the most beautiful and high-born women of
-Scotland, Lady Catherine Gordon, daughter of the Earl of Huntly, and
-grand-daughter of James I. James now mustered his forces for the grand
-expedition which he hoped would drive Henry from the throne of England,
-and establish there the son of Edward IV., in the person of Warbeck.
-
-[Illustration: STIRLING CASTLE.
-
-(_From a Photograph by G. W. Wilson & Co., Aberdeen._)]
-
-Meantime, Henry VII. was diligently at work at his favourite plans of
-bribing and undermining. He had an active agent in Lord Bothwell, whom
-James had weakly forgiven for his numerous conspiracies. By his means
-Henry had won over the king's brothers, the Duke of Ross, the Earl of
-Buchan, and the Bishop of Moray. These traitors engaged to do everything
-in their power to defeat the expedition. The Duke of Ross promised to
-put himself under the protection of the King of England the moment his
-brother crossed the borders. Nor did the plot stop there. Again there was
-a scheme to seize James at night in his tent, suggested by Henry, and
-entered into by Bothwell, Buchan, and Wyat, an English emissary. This
-disgraceful plot was defeated by the vigilance of the royal guard, but
-not the less actively did the paid spies of Henry Tudor, including some
-of the most powerful barons in Scotland, labour to defeat the success of
-the enterprise. They accompanied the army only with the hope of betraying
-it, while their efforts were essentially aided by the remonstrances of
-more honest counsellors, who doubted the wisdom of the expedition, and
-did all they could to dissuade James from it.
-
-Burning with resentment at the base and insidious attempts of Henry to
-disturb the security of his government, and to seize upon his person,
-and coveting the glory of restoring the last noble scion of a great
-race to the throne of his ancestors, James was deaf alike to warnings
-of secret treason or more public danger. He made his last muster of his
-forces at Ellam Kirk, near the English border and, proclaiming war on
-Henry, marched forward. Warbeck, as Richard Duke of York, at the same
-time issued a proclamation calling upon all true Englishmen to assemble
-beneath the banner of the true inheritor of the crown. He denounced Henry
-Tudor as a usurper, and as the murderer of Sir William Stanley, Sir Simon
-Montfort, and others of the ancient nobility; he charged him with having
-invaded the liberties and the franchises of both Church and people; and
-with having plundered the subjects by heavy and illegal impositions. He
-pledged himself to remedy all these abuses; to restore and defend the
-rights and privileges of the Church, the nobles, the corporations, and
-the commerce and manufactures of the country. He related the dangers
-through which he had passed since his escape from the Tower to this
-moment, and he set a price of a thousand pounds in money, and land to the
-value of a hundred marks per annum, for the capture or destruction of
-Henry Tudor.
-
-But however judiciously the proclamation was drawn up, James was
-confounded as he advanced to see that it produced not the slightest
-effect. In vain had it been protested in the proclamation that James came
-only as the friend of the rightful King of England; that he sought no
-advantage to himself--though he had really bargained for the restoration
-of Berwick, and was to be paid 1,000 marks for the expenses of the
-war--and that he would retire the moment a sufficient English force
-appeared in the field. No such force was likely to present itself. If
-Warbeck had met with no success when supported by Englishmen, it was
-not to be expected when followed by an army of the hereditary foes of
-the kingdom--Scots and French, backed by Germans, Flemings, and other
-foreigners.
-
-When James saw that, instead of being welcomed as deliverers, they were
-avoided, and that the expedition was altogether hopeless, he gave way to
-his wrath, and began to plunder the country, or to permit his troops to
-do it. Warbeck remonstrated against the devastations committed on the
-English with all the ardour of a true prince, declaring that he would
-rather lose the throne than gain it by the sufferings of his people. But
-James replied that his cousin of York was too considerate of the welfare
-of a nation that hesitated to acknowledge him either as king or subject.
-All this time the diligent Bothwell was duly informing Henry of the state
-of the Scottish camp, and of everything said and done in it. He now
-assured him that the Scottish army would soon beat a retreat, for that
-the inhabitants, in expectation of the visit, had driven off all their
-cattle, and removed their stores; so that the army was on the point of
-starvation. This was soon verified. The Scots, finding no supporters,
-about the end of the year retreated into their own country.
-
-The invasion from Scotland afforded Henry another pretext for raising
-more money. He summoned a Parliament in the February of 1497, to which he
-uttered bitter complaints of the inroad and devastations of the Scots;
-of the troubles created by the impostor, and the manifold insults to the
-crown and nation. All this was now apparently blown over; but Parliament
-gratified the king by voting L120,000, together with two-fifteenths.
-Happy in the prospect of such supplies, Henry recked little of Warbeck or
-the Scots; but the tax roused the especial wrath of the Cornish people,
-who, knowing that the king only wanted to add their money to his already
-immense and useless hoards, wanted to know what they had to do with
-inroads of the Scots, who were never likely to come near them, and who
-had retired of themselves without so much as waiting for the sight of
-an army. This excitement of the brave and industrious, but hard-living
-Cornish men was fanned into a flame by Michael Joseph, a farrier of
-Bodmin, and one Thomas Flammock, an attorney, who assured the people that
-the tax was totally illegal, though voted by Parliament; for that the
-northern counties were bound by the tenures of their estates to defend
-that frontier; and that if they submitted to the avarice of Henry and his
-ministers there would be no end to it.
-
-Flammock told them that they must deliver the king a petition, seconded
-by such numbers as to give it authority; but at the same time he assured
-them that to procure the concurrence of the rest of the kingdom they
-must conduct themselves with all order, and refrain from committing any
-injuries to person or property, demonstrating that they had only the
-public good in view. Armed with bills, bows, axes, and other country
-weapons that they could command, they marched into Devonshire 16,000
-strong, and called on the people to accompany them, and demand the heads
-of Archbishop Morton and Sir Reginald Bray, who were declared to be the
-advisers of the obnoxious impost. At Taunton they made an example of an
-insolent and overbearing commissioner of the tax of the name of Perin. At
-Wells they were joined by Lord Audley, a man of an ancient family, but
-said to be of a vain and ambitious character.
-
-Proud of having a nobleman at their head, they marched through Salisbury
-and Winchester into Surrey, and thence to Kent, the people of which,
-Flammock told them, had in all ages been noted for their independence
-and patriotism, and were sure to join them. They pitched their camp on
-Blackheath, near Eltham, but not a man joined them. The people of Kent
-had their causes of complaint; but they had lately shown what was their
-spirit by repelling Perkin Warbeck, and they were too enlightened to join
-in the expedition.
-
-Henry had now received the new levies raised to oppose any further motion
-of the Scots, and he sent them forward to attack and disperse the rebels.
-He always regarded Saturday as his fortunate day; therefore, on Saturday,
-the 22nd of June, 1497, he gave the order for the attack. He divided
-his forces into three divisions. The first, under Lord Daubeney, pushed
-forward to attack the insurgents in front; the second, under the Earl
-of Oxford, was to take a compass, and assail them in the rear; and the
-king himself took post with the third division in St. George's Fields,
-to secure the city. To throw the insurgents off their guard, he had
-given out that he should not take the field for some days; and to give
-probability to this notion, he did not send out his advanced forces till
-the latter part of the day. Lord Daubeney beat an advanced guard of the
-rebels from Deptford Bridge, and before the main body was prepared to
-receive him, he charged them with fury. Though they were brave men, and
-16,000 strong, thus taken at advantage, and naturally ill-disciplined,
-ill-armed, and destitute of cavalry and artillery, they were soon broken
-and compelled to fly. Two thousand of them were slain, and 1,500 made
-prisoners. The prisoners Henry gave up to the captors, who allowed them
-to ransom themselves for a few shillings each.
-
-Lord Audley, Flammock, and Joseph only were executed. The peer was
-beheaded, the commoners were hanged; and Joseph seemed to glory in the
-distinction, saying he should figure in history. Henry on this occasion
-displayed great clemency, which some have ascribed to his desire to
-make a good impression on the Cornish people; others for joy that Lord
-Daubeney had escaped, for at one time he was surrounded by the enemy
-but was soon rescued. But the most probable reason was that assigned by
-Lord Bacon:--"That the harmless behaviour of this people that came from
-the west of England to the east, without mischief almost, or spoil of
-the country, did somewhat mollify him, and move him to compassion; or,
-lastly, that he made a great difference between people that did rebel
-upon wantonness, and them that did rebel upon want."
-
-James of Scotland seized on the opportunity created by the Cornish
-insurrection to make a fresh inroad into England. He laid siege to the
-castle of Norham, and plundered the country round. Henry despatched the
-Earl of Surrey, with an army of 20,000 men, to drive back the Scots,
-and punish them by carrying the war of devastation into their country.
-As Surrey advanced, James retired, and Surrey, following him across
-the Tweed, took and demolished the little castle of Ayton, ravaged the
-borders, and returned to Berwick. These useless and worse than useless
-raids, with no hope of permanent advantage on either side, but only of
-mischief to the unoffending inhabitants on both, were worthy only of the
-most savage and unenlightened times. The spies of Henry, however, soon
-informed him that James was really sick of the war, and he repeated the
-offer made before of the hand of his daughter Margaret. This he made
-through the Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro d'Ayala, who came forward
-as a friendly mediator, thus sparing both kings the humiliation of
-making the first move. D'Ayala found James quite disposed for peace,
-but in a somewhat cavalier humour as to the terms. By the advice of
-D'Ayala, commissioners were appointed to meet at Ayton, where, under the
-management of Fox, Bishop of Durham, on the part of England, a truce was
-agreed upon to last for the lives of the two kings, and a year after the
-death of the longer liver. Though agreed upon, this important truce was
-not ratified for some years afterwards.
-
-Meantime, James privately admonished Warbeck to quit the kingdom, as he
-could no longer assist him, and his presence would only tend to endanger
-the truce. Warbeck is said to have received this intimation with much
-true dignity and good feeling. He thanked the king for the great effort
-he had made on his account, for all the honours and favours that he had
-conferred upon him, and for which he declared he should ever remain
-deeply grateful. A vessel was prepared for his departure at Ayr, and
-every comfort was provided for his accommodation which James could have
-offered to the true prince. His beautiful and accomplished wife would not
-be left behind--a proof that she was really attached to him, whatever
-she might think of his pretensions. She quitted rank, fortune, a high
-position in the Scottish Court, to embrace with him a homeless life and a
-dark prospect. Flanders was closed to Perkin by the fresh league betwixt
-that country and England. Ireland was a more than dubious resort, yet
-thither he turned his prow, and landed at Cork on the 30th of July, 1497,
-with about 100 followers. The attempt to rouse again the enthusiasm of
-Ireland was vain; but at this juncture the last gleam of Warbeck's waning
-fortune seemed to fall upon him.
-
-The Cornish rebels, let off so easily by Henry, had returned to their
-own county, proclaiming by the way that the king had not dared to put
-them to death because the whole of his subjects were in the same state
-of discontent. The people of Cornwall and Devon, reassured by this,
-again took up arms against the commissioners, who were still collecting
-the tax with great severity, and, it is said, despatched a message to
-Warbeck to come over and head them. On the 7th of September, 1497, he
-accordingly landed at Whitsand Bay, with four or five small barques, and
-his 100 fighting men. Being joined by 3,000 of the insurgents at Bodmin,
-he issued a proclamation similar to his former one. Bodmin was the native
-place of Michael Joseph, their great orator and leader, and the people
-there were burning to revenge his death. Warbeck set out on his march
-towards Devonshire, and thousands of those who had lost friends and
-relations in the bloody battle of Blackheath joined him on the way. He
-sent his wife to Mount St. Michael for security, and directing his course
-towards Exeter, he invested that city on the 17th of September with a
-rude, wild force of about 10,000 men. He announced himself as Richard IV.
-of England, and called on the inhabitants to surrender; but, having sent
-notification of his approach to King Henry, they determined to defend
-themselves, if needful, till succour arrived.
-
-[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, CORNWALL.]
-
-Warbeck had no artillery or engines of any kind to carry on a siege, he
-therefore attempted to break down the gates. At the one he was repulsed
-with considerable loss, the other he managed to burn down, but the
-citizens availed themselves of the fire, feeding it as it failed, till
-they had dug a deep trench behind the flames. When, the next morning,
-Warbeck returned to force a passage by that gate, the citizens received
-him with such spirit that they slew 200 of his men, and daunted the rest.
-Assistance was now also flowing in from the country to the city, and
-Warbeck was in danger of being attacked both in front and rear. Seeing
-this, he demanded a suspension of hostilities, and, depressed by this
-failure, his Devonshire followers began rapidly to fall away, and steal
-home as quickly as they could. His Cornish adherents, however, more
-intrepid, encouraged him to persevere, and vowed that they would perish
-in his cause. In this state of desperation the pretender marched on
-towards Taunton, where he arrived on the 20th of September. The country
-people on their way, smarting under the infliction of the hated tax,
-wished them success, but did not attempt to help them.
-
-[Illustration: LADY CATHERINE GORDON BEFORE HENRY VII. (_See p._ 94.)]
-
-At Taunton, instead of any encouragement, they met the vanguard of the
-royal army, under the command of Lord Daubeney, the lord chamberlain, and
-Lord Broke, the steward of the household. The Duke of Buckingham was just
-behind with a second division, and Henry was declared to be following
-with a still larger force. The brave Cornish men, scarcely clothed, and
-still worse armed, shrank not a moment from the hopeless combat. They
-vowed to perish to a man in behalf of their newly-adopted king, and
-Warbeck, with an air as if he would lead them into battle in the morning,
-rode along their lines encouraging them, and made all ready for the
-attack.
-
-But Warbeck, who had never shown any want of courage, perceived the
-utter madness of contending with his undisciplined followers against
-such overwhelming odds, and in the night he mounted a fleet steed and
-rode off. In the morning the Cornish men, seeing themselves without a
-leader, submitted to the king, and, with the exception of a few of the
-ringleaders, they were dismissed and returned homewards as best they
-might. Meanwhile, Lord Daubeney despatched 500 horsemen in pursuit of
-Warbeck, to prevent, if possible, his entrance into sanctuary; but the
-fugitive succeeded in reaching the monastery of Beaulieu, in the New
-Forest.
-
-Henry sent a number of horsemen, in all haste, to St. Michael's Mount, in
-Cornwall, to obtain possession of the Lady Catherine Gordon, the wife of
-Warbeck. This they easily accomplished, and brought her to the king, on
-entering whose presence she blushed and burst into tears. Henry received
-her kindly--touched, for once in his life, with tenderness, by beauty
-in distress; or, probably, bearing in mind that the lady was the near
-kinswoman of the King of Scots, with whom he was desirous to stand well.
-He sent her to the queen, by whom she was most cordially received, and in
-whose court she remained attached to her service. She was still called
-the White Rose of Scotland, on account of her beauty. Lady Gordon was
-afterwards, it appears, three times married, but lies buried by the side
-of her second husband, Sir Matthew Cradock, in Swansea church.
-
-Henry proceeded to Exeter, where he had the ringleaders of the Cornish
-insurrection brought in procession before him, with halters round their
-necks. Some of them he hanged, the rest he pardoned; but he, at the
-same time, appointed commissioners to proceed into the country through
-which Perkin had passed, and to fine all such people of property as
-had furnished him with aid or refreshment. They did not confine their
-scrutiny to those who had assisted Perkin in his march, but extended it
-to all who had relieved the famishing fugitives; "so that," says Bacon,
-"their severity did much obscure the king's mercy in sparing of blood,
-with the bleeding of so much treasure." They extorted altogether L10,000.
-
-The next business was to get Warbeck out of his sanctuary and into the
-hands of the king. Beaulieu was surrounded by an armed force, and all
-attempts at escape made impossible. Some of Henry's council urged him to
-omit all ceremony, and take the pretender from the sanctuary by force;
-but this he declined, preferring to lure him thence by fair promises.
-After hesitating for some time, Warbeck at length threw himself upon the
-king's mercy. Henry then set out to London with his captive in his train.
-Warbeck rode in the king's suite through the city, along Cheapside,
-Cornhill, and to the Tower, and thence to Westminster. As the king had
-promised him his life, he kept his word. He was repeatedly examined by
-the Privy Council, but it seems as if something had transpired there
-which Henry deemed better concealed, for a profound silence was preserved
-on the subject of these disclosures. So far from even being degraded,
-like Lambert Simnel, to some menial occupation, Warbeck was suffered to
-enjoy a certain degree of liberty, and was treated as a gentleman. The
-probability is, that the king satisfied himself that this mysterious
-personage was in reality a son of Edward IV., by the handsome Jewess,
-Catherine de Faro, his birth being in Flanders, and agreeing exactly with
-the time of Edward's exile there. This might account for his admirable
-support of the character of a prince, for his confidence in his assertion
-of it for so many years, and the power he had of winning the strong
-attachment of persons of the highest rank and education. If this were
-true, he was, moreover, the queen's brother, though an illegitimate one,
-and might win the interest of herself and sisters by his resemblance in
-person, and in spirit and ambition, to her father.
-
-But however this might be, he was too dangerous a person to be allowed
-to get loose again. He lived at Court under a strict surveillance, and
-he grew so weary of it, that he contrived to make his escape on the
-8th of June, 1498. The alarm was instantly given; numbers of persons
-were out in pursuit of him; every road by which he might escape to sea
-was vigilantly beset, and the unhappy man, finding himself pressed on
-all sides, surrendered himself to the Prior of Sheen, near Richmond.
-The prior exercised the right of sanctuary possessed by the house, and
-refused to give him up to the king, except under pledge that his life
-should be spared. Henry agreed, but he confirmed the public opinion,
-which, excited by the mystery of the Court, fully believed Warbeck a son
-of Edward's, by now endeavouring to degrade him, and to fix upon him the
-old story. For this purpose he compelled him to sit in the stocks two
-whole days, on the 14th of June at Westminster Hall, and on the 15th
-in Cheapside, and there to read aloud to the people a confession made
-up of the account of him published in Henry's former proclamation, but
-with some very contradictory additions. This confession was then printed
-and circulated amongst the people, but failed entirely to satisfy any
-one. When this bitter purgatory had been passed through, the bitterest
-conceivable to a man of Warbeck's character, pretensions, and superior
-mind, he was committed to the Tower.
-
-Warbeck had not been long in the Tower when there was an attempt to
-liberate the Earl of Warwick, who was still in confinement there; and
-it failed only through the conspirators not having properly informed
-themselves of the real quarter in which he was kept. Soon after that
-a fresh plot was set on foot for the same object. In this the King of
-France was said to be concerned. It was said that he had declared his
-regret for ever having countenanced the usurpation of Henry Tudor, and
-that he offered money, ships, and even troops, to the friends of Warwick
-to enable them to release him, and place him on the throne. The Yorkist
-malcontents were once more active. They wrote to the retainers of the
-late Duke of Clarence, the father of Warwick, and to Lady Warwick,
-to come forward and see justice done to the oppressed prince; and an
-invitation was sent from the Court of France to a distinguished leader
-of the house of York to go over to that country and assume the command
-of the expedition. This also failing, a report was then spread of the
-death of the Earl of Warwick: then it was said that he had escaped, and a
-person of the name of Ralph Wulford, or Wilford, the son of a shoemaker
-in Sussex, was taught by one Patrick, an Augustinian friar, to personate
-the earl.
-
-Whether the Yorkists were determined to give Henry no repose, but to
-haunt and harass him with a perpetual succession of impostors, or
-whether Henry himself planned this latter improbable scheme as a pretext
-for getting rid of the Earl of Warwick altogether, seems never to have
-been satisfactorily cleared up. All that is known is, that Wulford and
-the friar were speedily arrested, whereupon Wulford was put to death, and
-the friar consigned to prison for life.
-
-Scarcely had this blown over, when it was reported that Warbeck and
-Warwick had endeavoured to escape from the Tower together. Warbeck must
-have been allowed to have free access to Warwick after he was sent to the
-Tower--a circumstance not likely to have been permitted by the cautious
-and vigilant Henry VII. had he not had some ulterior purpose in it. Once
-together, however, Warbeck won the favour of the simple and inexperienced
-Warwick, who was as ignorant of the world as a child, having passed
-nearly all his life in prison. Warbeck, however, exercised the same
-fascination over the highest and most intelligent persons whenever he had
-access to them. To the Tower he carried his active spirit of intrigue
-and adventure, and we soon find him in the enjoyment, for so dangerous
-a character, of extraordinary liberty and range in that State prison.
-He had not only completely won over the Earl of Warwick, but their
-keepers, Strangways, Astwood, Long Roger, and Blewet. These men engaged
-to murder their master, Sir John Digby, the Governor of the Tower, to get
-possession of the keys, and to conduct Warbeck and Warwick to the Yorkist
-partisans, by whom Warbeck was to be proclaimed King Richard IV., and
-Warwick to be restored to his titles and estates.
-
-This plot, it is said, was discovered in time; and this was another
-circumstance which caused the public to suspect that the whole thing had
-been of the contriving, or, at least, of the permission of Henry, to rid
-him of these troublesome aspirants. The two offenders were immediately
-confined in separate cells. The servants of the Governor were brought
-to trial, and Blewet and Astwood were condemned and hanged. On the 16th
-of November, Warbeck was arraigned in Westminster Hall for sundry acts
-of high treason, since as a foreigner he had come into these kingdoms.
-They were, in fact, the attempts on the crown which we have related. He
-was condemned and hanged at Tyburn on the 23rd of November, 1499. On the
-scaffold his confession was read, and he declared it, on the word of a
-dying man, to be wholly true. Such was the end of this extraordinary
-adventurer. Bacon describes his enterprise as "one of the largest
-plays of the kind that hath been in memory; and might, perhaps, have
-had another end if he had not met with a king both wise, stout, and
-fortunate."
-
-On the 21st of November, the Earl of Warwick was brought to trial before
-the peers, though he had been attainted from his birth, and had never
-taken his oath and seat as a peer of the realm. The charge against
-him was his conspiracy with Warbeck to dethrone the king. The poor
-youth pleaded guilty, either as weary of a life which had been but one
-long injury and wrong, in consequence of his birth, or because he was
-destitute, from his perpetual confinement, of the activity of mind to
-comprehend his situation. Probably he imagined that if he confessed
-himself guilty, he would be pardoned, and sent back to his cell. But
-Henry had no such intention. The Earl of Oxford, as Lord Steward,
-pronounced judgment, and three days afterwards he was beheaded on Tower
-Hill. Thus perished the last legitimate descendant of the Plantagenets
-who could alarm the fears of Henry Tudor.
-
-A few months after these tragic events, a plague broke out in London,
-which the people considered as a direct judgment from Heaven for such
-wicked bloodshed. Henry got out of town, but not feeling himself safe,
-after several changes of residence, he went over to Calais, and whilst
-there he had an interview with the Archduke Philip of Burgundy. Henry
-invited the archduke to take up his quarters in Calais, but it is a proof
-of the distrust which even his own allies entertained of the politic
-Henry, that the archduke declined putting himself into his power, and
-agreed to meet him at St. Pierre, near that city. What the archduke was
-particularly anxious to see Henry for, was to excite his jealousy of
-France, and secure his co-operation in counteracting its ambition.
-
-Charles VIII. of France, an ambitious youth, had made a grand expedition
-into Italy to seize on the two Sicilies, having contrived to make out a
-claim upon them, which, though empty in itself, was good enough for an
-excuse for conquest. He had passed over the Alps with an army of upwards
-of 30,000 men. At first all gave way before him, but an extensive league
-was soon formed against the French encroachment, including Ferdinand of
-Spain, Maximilian, the King of the Romans, the father of Philip, the Duke
-of Milan, and the Doge of Venice. Charles, who had led a most dissipated
-life, died suddenly in 1498 at the castle of Amboise, and the Duke of
-Orleans succeeded as Louis XII. Louis was as fully bent as Charles had
-been on prosecuting the conquest of Naples and Sicily, and in 1499
-marched with a fresh army into the south of Italy.
-
-It was to secure Henry's assistance in the league against the aggression
-of France, which alarmed all Europe, that Philip used his most eloquent
-persuasives, but the only persuasives with Henry were moneys, and these
-Louis had already extended. He renewed the peace of Etaples, paid up
-the arrears of Henry's pension, and secured the interest of the Pope,
-with whom Henry was desirous to stand well, by paying him 20,000 ducats
-for a dispensation enabling him to divorce his wife, and marry Anne of
-Brittany, the widow of Charles VIII., and an old flame of his. He had
-also made over the Valentinois, in Dauphine, with a pension of 20,000
-livres, to the Pope's son, the vile Caesar Borgia. The Pope, moreover,
-was coquetting with Henry, inviting him, by an express nuncio, to join a
-league for an imaginary crusade to the Holy Land, which Henry was ready
-to do for the cession of some real ports in Italy as places for the
-retreat and security of his fleet in those seas.
-
-It was not likely that Philip of Burgundy would make much progress with
-Henry, except so far as he could serve him by keeping certain matters,
-well known at the Courts of Burgundy and Flanders, concerning the real
-history of Perkin Warbeck, secret; and his anxiety on this head more and
-more convinced people that Warbeck had been something more than the son
-of a Jew.
-
-Henry VII. having succeeded in ridding himself of all the pretenders to
-his crown, now set himself to complete the marriages of his children,
-and to make money with redoubled ardour. Negotiations had been going
-on with James of Scotland for the marriage of Henry's eldest daughter,
-Margaret. In 1496 James, who had previously declined the match, now in
-communication with Fox, Bishop of Durham, offered to enter into that
-contract. Henry gladly assented, and, when some of his council suggested
-that in case of the failure of the male line in England, a Scottish
-prince, born of this marriage, would become the heir, and England a mere
-appendage of Scotland, "No," replied Henry, "Scotland will become an
-appendage of England, for the smaller must follow the larger kingdom."
-And, no doubt, this idea had from the first actuated the calculating mind
-of the Tudor. On the 29th of January, 1502, the parties were solemnly
-affianced in the queen's chamber, the Earl of Bothwell having come to
-London as proxy for James. Margaret, at the time of this affiancing, was
-but just turned twelve years of age, and it was agreed that she should
-remain twenty months longer under the roof of her parents. Accordingly,
-it was not till the 8th of July, 1503, that she set out on her journey to
-Scotland.
-
-[Illustration: THE BYWARD TOWER: TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-Simultaneously had been proceeding the negotiations with the Spanish
-Court for the marriage between Henry's eldest son, Arthur, and Catherine,
-the daughter of Ferdinand, King of Aragon. The negotiations for this
-marriage had commenced so early as 1489, when the young prince was not
-yet three years old, and Catherine but four. In 1496 a further step was
-taken; and Ferdinand then promised to give the princess a portion of
-200,000 crowns, and Henry engaged that his son should endow her with
-one-third of his present income, and the same of the income of the Crown,
-if he should live to be king. It was stipulated that so soon as Prince
-Arthur reached his twelfth year, a dispensation should be obtained to
-empower him to make the contract; and, accordingly, the marriage was
-performed by proxy, the Spanish ambassador assuming this part, in the
-chapel of the prince's manor of Bewdley. These two children, who were
-at this period, the one ten, and the other eleven years of age, were
-educated in the highest possible degree by their respective parents; and
-at the time of their actual marriage, in 1501, when Arthur was fifteen,
-and Catherine nearly sixteen, they were perhaps the two most learned
-persons of their years in the two kingdoms of Spain and England. The
-festivities over, Arthur retired to his castle of Ludlow with his bride,
-and there kept a Court modelled on that of the king. Great hopes and
-auguries were drawn from this marriage, and wonderful futures to them
-and their descendants were promised them by the astrologers. But little
-more than five months sufficed to falsify all the earthly predictions;
-for the young prince fell suddenly ill and died. Various reasons for his
-death are assigned by different authorities. Some assert that he died of
-consumption; others declare that he was perfectly sound and robust, and
-that he died of some epidemic--the sweating sickness, or, as the Spanish
-historian says, the plague. Great sickness of some kind was prevailing
-in the neighbourhood, so that at Worcester the funeral, according to the
-Spanish herald, was but thinly attended. Prince Arthur died on the 2nd
-of April, 1502. He was a prince of great promise, and the beauty of his
-person, the sweetness of his manner, and his brilliant accomplishments,
-won him universal favour, which was equally shared by his young bride.
-
-The death of Arthur was a shock to the political arrangements, as well
-as to the affections of the royal parties on both sides. Ferdinand was
-anxious to retain a close alliance with England, as a counterpoise to
-the ascendency of France. He therefore proposed to Henry that Catherine
-should be affianced to Henry Duke of York, Prince Arthur's younger
-brother. This was a very legitimate project according to the Jewish
-law, but not so much in accordance with the practice of the Christian
-world. Henry VII. appeared to hesitate--it may safely be surmised with
-no intention of allowing the young princess, and her dowry of 200,000
-crowns, to escape him; but rather, it may be supposed, with a design
-to exact something more. To hasten his decision, however, the Spanish
-monarch announced as the alternative that Catherine must be at once
-restored to her parents, with half of the marriage portion already paid.
-This had immediate effect on the deliberations of Henry. He showed
-himself ready to assent, if there were an additional incentive in the
-shape of another sum. Ferdinand and Isabella were firm. They declared
-themselves ready to pay the remaining 100,000 crowns on the contract of
-the marriage, which should take effect two months after the receipt of
-a dispensation from the Pope. Henry tried every art to extort a larger
-sum, and it was not till June, 1503, that this proposition was finally
-accepted. The solemnisation of the marriage was to take place on the
-young Prince Henry completing his fourteenth year. But the difficulties
-were not yet over. The two monarchs continued, like two skilful players,
-to try every move which might delay the payment of the money, or compel
-it with an augmentation. In this state the matter remained till 1504,
-when Henry and Catherine, on the 25th of June, were betrothed, but still
-not married, at the house of the Bishop of Salisbury, in Fleet Street.
-
-Scarcely had the eyes of Elizabeth of York closed (she died in 1503), at
-the early age of thirty-seven, than Henry was on the look-out for another
-wife, for it was another opportunity of making a profit. His eyes glanced
-over the courts and courtly dames of Europe; and the lady who struck him
-as the most attractive in the world was the widow of the late King of
-Naples--for the deceased monarch had bequeathed her an immense property.
-Her ducats were charms that told on the gold-loving heart of Henry most
-ravishingly. He posted off three private gentlemen, well skilled in such
-delicate inquiries, to Naples, to learn from real sources whether all
-was safe as to this grand dowry. Poor Catherine was even made to play a
-part in this notable scheme of courtship, by furnishing the emissaries
-with a letter to her relative, the queen-dowager. The gentlemen reported
-in the most glowing terms the charms of the queen-dowager's person, the
-sweetness of her disposition, and the brilliant endowments of her mind,
-but they were obliged to add that, though the lady's fortune was in
-justice as large as fame reported it, the present king refused to carry
-out the will by which it was conferred. This one unlucky fact at once
-blotted out all the rest, and Henry, giving not another thought to the
-dowager-queen of Naples, turned his attention to the dowager-duchess of
-Savoy, who was also reported to be rich.
-
-While Henry, however, was traversing Europe with the design of adding to
-his ever-growing hoards, he was equally diligent at home in prosecuting
-every art by which he could add another mark to his heap. He sought
-out and kept in his pay clever and unprincipled lawyers to search the
-old statute-books for laws grown obsolete, but which had never been
-formally repealed; and he had another set of spies in correspondence
-with them, who went to and fro throughout the whole kingdom to mark out
-all such persons of property as had transgressed these slumbering laws.
-Such a state of things could never have been tolerated in any former
-reign; but the wars of the Roses had cut off all the chief nobility,
-and the House of Commons, terrified by the summary proceedings against
-offenders, had become utterly cowed, and trembled at the mere word of
-this imperious monarch. Never, therefore, was the English people at any
-time so completely prostrated beneath the talons of a royal vampire as at
-this period. The rich merchants of London found themselves accused of
-malpractices in the discharge of their civic offices, and were subjected
-to the same process of squeezing in Henry's universal press.
-
-To drain the coffers of the landed aristocracy, Henry's agents brought
-up against them all the old obsolete feudal charges of wardships, aids,
-liveries, premier seizins, and scutages. Their estates had long been
-held under a different tenure, obtained from former monarchs. No matter:
-all those marked out for legal bleeding were brought into the private
-inquisition of the king's commissioners, and compelled to pay whatever
-was demanded, or to suffer worse inconveniences. Even his own friends
-were not exempted from the ever-watchful eyes and schemes of this
-money-making king. The law which he had enacted against the practice of
-"maintenance" was a prolific source of emolument. A striking example of
-this species of royal sharp practice was given in the case of John de
-Vere, Earl of Oxford. This nobleman having entertained the king on one
-occasion for several days magnificently at his castle of Henningham, to
-do the utmost honour to him at his departure, summoned all his friends
-and retainers, arrayed in all their livery coats and cognisances, and
-ranged them in two rows leading from the reception rooms to the royal
-carriage. Henry's eye was instantly struck with this prodigious display
-of wealth and of men, and his mind as suddenly leapt to a felicitous
-conclusion. There was money to be made out of it. The king said: "By my
-faith, my lord, I thank you for your good cheer, but I may not endure to
-have my laws thus broken in my sight: my attorney must speak to you." The
-earl was prosecuted for thus seeking to flatter the vanity of his master,
-and compelled to gratify Henry's avarice by a fine of 15,000 marks.
-
-Whilst the king himself set so notable an example of extortion, we may
-be sure that his commissioners, spies, and tools of all sorts were not
-slack in this abominable business of ferreting out and putting through
-the cruel torture of their secret courts, the unhappy subjects of
-every corner of the kingdom who had any substance to prey upon. "The
-king," says Bacon, "had gotten for his purpose, or beyond his purpose,
-two instruments, Empson and Dudley, whom the people esteemed as his
-horse-leeches and shearers: bold men, and careless of fame, and that took
-toll of their master's grist. Dudley was of a good family, eloquent,
-and one that could put hateful business into good language. But Empson,
-that was the son of a sieve-maker, triumphed always upon the deed done,
-putting off all other respects whatsoever."
-
-The tempestuous weather of January, 1506, which brought to others the
-disastrous news of vessels wrecked and lives lost, brought to Henry VII.
-tidings of a most exciting and elating kind. It was no other than that
-amongst the foreign vessels driven into the port of Weymouth, were some
-containing the Archduke Philip of Flanders and his wife Joanna, the
-elder sister of Catherine of Aragon, his daughter-in-law, and daughter
-of his friend and ally Ferdinand of Spain. The Archduke Philip knew his
-man; and at their meeting near Calais, in 1500, though he attempted to
-hold Henry's stirrup, and heaped upon him the titles of his father and
-protector, he took good care to keep out of his clutches; nothing would
-induce him to enter the city. But now circumstances were greatly changed;
-and the archduke and his wife Joanna would be a much more valuable prize.
-The mother of Joanna, the Queen Isabella of Spain, was dead, and Joanna
-was, in her own right, Queen of Castile, and Philip, by hers, king. There
-was a number of things, any one of which Henry would have been only too
-happy to extort from Philip.
-
-The prince soon found himself received with much magnificence at the
-castle of Windsor; but he was not suffered to remain long without feeling
-that he was in the hands of a man who would have his full advantage
-out of him. The insatiable old miser went to work and propounded his
-demands, and there was nothing for it but for Philip to comply, if he
-ever meant to see Spain. First, Henry informed him that he was intending
-to marry, and that Philip's sister, the dowager-duchess of Savoy, was
-the woman of his choice. He demanded with her the sum of 300,000 crowns,
-of which 100,000 should be paid in August--it was already the 10th of
-March--and the remainder in six years by equal instalments. Besides
-this, Margaret, the duchess, was in the annual receipt of two dowries;
-one as the widow of John, Prince of Spain, and the other as widow of
-Philibert, Duke of Savoy, for she had been twice married already. This
-income Henry stipulated should be settled upon himself, and the princess
-was to receive instead an income as queen of England. That meant that
-Henry would have an income certain, and give her one most uncertain, for
-at this very time Catherine, the widow of his son Arthur, and betrothed
-bride of his son Henry, was kept by him in a condition of the most
-shameful destitution.
-
-Philip consented--for what could he do?--and that point settled, Henry
-informed Philip that he had also a son, whom he, Henry, proposed to
-marry to his youngest daughter, Mary. This must have been a still more
-bitter draught for the poor Spanish monarch than the former. Henry had
-already made this very proposal, and it had been at once rejected. This
-son of Philip, the future celebrated Emperor Charles V., was now a child
-of six years of age, and the little Princess Mary was just three! Philip,
-however much he might inwardly rebel, and however differently he had
-planned the destiny of his son, was in the miser's vice, and the thing
-was done.
-
-[Illustration: KING HENRY'S DEPARTURE FROM HENNINGHAM CASTLE. (_See p._
-99.)]
-
-Soon there came about fresh complications. Philip of Flanders, or, as
-he was oftener called, Philip the Fair of Austria, was but an invalid
-when he set out on his unlucky voyage to Spain. His detention in England
-during the three most trying months of its trying climate, January,
-February, and March, added to the vexation of the engagement forced
-upon him by the relentless Henry, is said to have completely broken
-his constitution; he sank and died in about six months. No sooner did
-King Henry hear this news, than, throwing aside all further thoughts of
-the Duchess of Savoy, he applied for the hand of Joanna, the widow of
-Philip. With Joanna, Queen of Castile, married to himself, and Charles,
-her son, the heir of all Spain, the Netherlands, and Austria, married
-to his daughter Mary, what visions of greatness and empire must have
-swum before the keen eyes of Henry, and excited his intense passion of
-acquisitiveness! Ferdinand returned for answer, that the proposal would
-have been well pleasing to him, but that Queen Joanna, from violent grief
-for the loss of her husband, was become permanently insane. This answer,
-which would have been all-sufficient for most men, was treated as a mere
-trifle by Henry, who replied that he knew the queen, having seen her in
-England; that her derangement of mind was not the effect of grief, but of
-the harsh treatment of Philip; that she would soon be all right, and that
-he was quite ready to marry her. Ferdinand reiterated the certainty of
-the lady's fixed madness, and Henry rejoined that if he was not allowed
-to marry her, the king's other daughter, Catherine, should never marry
-his son.
-
-There is no doubt that, could Henry have secured the hand of
-Joanna--"the Mad Queen," as she came to be called--he would have broken
-off the contract between Henry, his son, and Catherine, and kept her and
-her dower in England nevertheless. But the marriage of Henry VII. with
-Joanna being an impossibility, Ferdinand promised to send the remaining
-half of Catherine's dower by instalments, and Henry consented that the
-marriage of the two young people should take place as soon as the money
-was paid. Catherine, whose letters to her father had, for the most part,
-been intercepted and detained by Henry, at length gave up her opposition
-also to the wedding, declaring, in one of these letters, that it was
-better for her to marry the prince than remain in the woful condition
-of destitution and dependence in which her father-in-law kept her. The
-remainder of the dower, however, was never paid up during Henry's time,
-and therefore the marriage did not take place till after his death.
-
-[Illustration: HENRY VII.'S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.]
-
-In the midst of his grasping, his hoarding, and his scheming, the king's
-end was drawing on, though he was far from an old man. The gout had
-long visited him with its periodical attacks. He was liable, during the
-cold and variable weather of spring, to complaints of the chest, which
-assumed the appearance of consumption, and occasionally reduced him very
-low. When the sickness was strong upon him he ordered Empson and Dudley
-to cease their villainies; as he got worse he commanded them even to
-make restitution to those whom they had pillaged and imprisoned; but as
-he grew better again, he instructed them that it was only necessary to
-recompense such as had not been dealt with according to the regular forms
-of law--so that as these vultures generally tore their victims in a legal
-fashion, and as they themselves were made the judges of the necessary
-restitution, very little was done. Henry VII. died at his palace of
-Richmond on the 21st of April, 1509, in the fifty-fourth year of his age
-and the twenty-fourth of his reign.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
-
-     The King's Accession--State of Europe--Henry and Julius
-     II.--Treaty between England and Spain--Henry is duped by
-     Ferdinand--New Combinations--Execution of Suffolk--Invasion of
-     France--Battle of Spurs--Invasion of England by the Scots--Flodden
-     Field--Death of James of Scotland--Louis breaks up the Holy
-     League--Peace with France--Marriage and Death of Louis XII.--Rise
-     of Wolsey--Affairs in Scotland--Francis I. in Italy--Death
-     of Maximilian--Henry a Candidate for the Empire--Election of
-     Charles--Field of the Cloth of Gold--Wolsey's Diplomacy--Failure
-     of his Candidature for the Papacy--The Emperor in London.
-
-
-No prince ever ascended a throne under more auspicious circumstances
-than Henry VIII. While his father had strengthened the throne, he had
-made himself extremely unpopular. The longer he lived, the more the
-selfish meanness and the avarice of his character had become conspicuous,
-and excited the disgust of his subjects. Henry was young, handsome,
-accomplished, and gay. He was in many respects the very opposite of
-his father, and the people always give to a young prince every virtue
-under the sun. Accordingly, Henry, who was only eighteen, was regarded
-as a fine, buxom young fellow; frank, affable, generous, capable of
-everything, and disposed to the best.
-
-Fox was grown old, and under Henry VII. had grown habitually
-parsimonious. He, therefore, attempted to keep a tight reign on the young
-monarch, and discouraged all mere schemes of pleasure which necessarily
-brought expense. But the old proverb that a miser is sure to be succeeded
-by a spendthrift, was not likely to be falsified in Henry. He was full
-of health, youth, vigour, and affluence. He was disposed to enjoy all
-the gaieties and enjoyments which a brilliant Court and the resources of
-a great kingdom spread around him, and in this tendency he found in the
-Earl of Surrey a far more facile counsellor than in Fox.
-
-All this made deep inroads into his parental treasures, but it augmented
-his popularity, which he vastly extended by bringing to justice the
-two hated extortioners of Henry VII.'s reign. To prepare for this, he
-appointed commissioners to hear the complaints of those who had suffered
-from the grievous exactions of the late reign; but these complaints
-were so loud and so universal that he was soon convinced that it would
-be impossible to make full restitution; and he therefore resolved to
-appease the injured in some degree by punishing the injurers. A number of
-the most notorious informers were therefore seized, set on horses, and
-paraded through the streets of London, on the 6th of June, with their
-faces to the horses' tails. This done, they were set in the pillory, and
-left to the vengeance of the people, who so maltreated them that they all
-died soon after in prison. The fate of Dudley and Empson--the two main
-instruments of popular oppression--was suspended by the coronation, which
-took place on the 24th of the same month. After it was over they were
-tried and beheaded.
-
-Henry had been married to Catherine of Aragon on the 3rd of the month at
-Greenwich. Whatever pretences Henry made in after years of his scruples
-about this marriage--Catherine having been the wife of his elder brother
-Prince Arthur--he seems to have felt or expressed none now. Archbishop
-Warham had protested against it on that ground in Henry VII.'s time; but
-though the princess was six years older than himself, there is every
-reason to believe that Henry was now anxious for the match. Catherine
-was at this time very agreeable in person, and was distinguished for the
-excellence of her disposition and the spotless purity and modesty of her
-life. She was the daughter of one of the most powerful sovereigns of
-Europe; and the alliance of Spain was held to be essentially desirable
-to counteract the power of France. Besides this, the princess had a
-large dower, which must be restored if she were allowed to return home.
-The majority of his council, therefore, zealously concurred with him in
-his wish to complete this marriage; and his grandmother, the sagacious
-Countess of Richmond, was one of its warmest advocates. "There were
-few women," says Lord Herbert, "who could compete with Queen Catherine
-when in her prime;" and Henry himself, writing to her father a short
-time after the marriage, sufficiently expresses his satisfaction at the
-union:--"As regards that sincere love which we have to the most serene
-queen, our consort, her eminent virtues daily more shine forth, blossom,
-and increase so much, that if we were still free, her would we yet
-choose for our wife before all others." The conduct of Henry for many
-years bore out this profession.
-
-To make the general satisfaction complete, Henry summoned a Parliament,
-in which the chief topic was the prevention in future of the abominable
-exactions of the past; and the obsolete penal statutes on which the
-extortioners had acted were formally repealed. The whole number
-of temporal peers who were summoned to this Parliament was only
-thirty-six--one duke, one marquis, eight earls, and twenty-six barons.
-
-Henry was now at peace with all the world. At home and abroad, so far as
-he was concerned, everything was tranquil. No English monarch had ever
-been more popular, powerful, and prosperous. Nothing could show more the
-advance which England had made of late in strength and importance than
-the deference paid to Henry by the greatest princes on the Continent, and
-their anxiety to cultivate his alliance. The balance of power in Europe
-appeared more widely established than at any former period. England had
-freed herself of her intestine divisions, and stood compact and vigorous
-from united political power and the active spirit of commerce. The people
-were thriving; the Crown, owing to the care of Henry VII., was rich.
-Spain had joined its several provinces into one potent state, which was
-ruled by the crafty but able Ferdinand. France had begun the same work of
-consolidation under Louis XII., by his marriage with Anne of Brittany,
-and the union of Brittany with the Crown. Maximilian, the Emperor of
-Germany, with his hereditary dominions of Austria, possessed the weight
-given him by his Imperial office over all Germany; and his grandson
-Charles, heir at once of Austria, Spain, and the Netherlands, was at this
-time the ruler of Burgundy and the Netherlands, under the guardianship
-of his aunt Margaret of Savoy, a princess of high character for sense
-and virtue. Henry had taken the earliest opportunity of renewing the
-treaties made by his father with all these princes, and with Scotland,
-and declared that he was resolved to maintain peace with them, and to
-cultivate the interests of his subjects at home. But this promise he
-speedily broke.
-
-The first means of exciting him to mingle in the distraction of the
-Continent were found in the fact that Louis XII. of France was reluctant
-to continue the annual payment of L80,000 which he made to his father.
-Henry had made a considerable vacuum in the paternal treasury chests, and
-was not willing to forego this convenient subsidy. There were those on
-the watch ready to stimulate him to hostile action. Pope Julius II. and
-Ferdinand of Spain had their own reasons for fomenting ill-will between
-Louis of France and Henry. Louis had added Milan and part of the north
-of Italy to the French crown. Ferdinand had become possessed of Naples
-and Sicily, first, by aiding the French in conquering them, and then by
-driving out the French. Julius II. was equally averse from the presence
-of the French and Spaniards in Italy, but he was, at the same time,
-jealous of the spreading power of Venice, and therefore concealed his
-ultimate designs against France and Spain, so that he might engage Louis
-and Ferdinand to aid him in humbling Venice. For this purpose he engaged
-Louis, Ferdinand, and Maximilian of Austria to enter into a league at
-Cambray, as early as December, 1508, by which they engaged to assist him
-in regaining the dominions of the church from the Venetians. Henry, who
-had no interest in the matter, was induced, in course of time, to add his
-name to this League, as a faithful son of the Church.
-
-No sooner had Julius driven back the Venetians and reduced them to seek
-for peace, than he found occasion to quarrel with the French, and a new
-league was formed to protect the Pope from what he termed the ambitious
-designs of the French, into which Ferdinand, Maximilian, and Henry
-entered. Louis XII., seeing this powerful alliance arrayed against him,
-determined to carry a war of another nature into the camp of the militant
-Pope Julius. He induced a number of the cardinals to declare against the
-violence and aggressive spirit of the pontiff, as totally unbecoming his
-sacred character. But Julius, who, though now old, had all the resolution
-and the ambition of youth, set this schismatic conclave at defiance.
-He declared Pisa, where the opposing cardinals had summoned a council,
-and every other place to which they transferred themselves, under an
-interdict. He excommunicated all cardinals and prelates who should attend
-any such council, and not only they, but any temporal prince or chief who
-should receive, shelter, or countenance them.
-
-At the same time that Julius launched his thunders thus liberally at
-his disobedient cardinals, he made every court in Europe ring with his
-outcries against the perfidy and lawless ambition of Louis, who, not
-content with seizing on Milan, he now asserted, was striving to make
-himself master of the domains of the holy Mother Church. Henry was
-prompt in responding to this appeal. He regarded the claims of the
-Church as sacred and binding on all Christian princes; he had his own
-demands on Louis, and he was naturally disposed to co-operate with his
-father-in-law, Ferdinand. But beyond this, he was greatly flattered by
-the politic Pope declaring him "the head of the Italian league;" and
-assuring him that Louis by his hostility to the Church, having forfeited
-the title of the "Most Christian King," he would transfer it to him.
-
-Henry was perfectly intoxicated by these skilful addresses to his vanity,
-and condescended to a piece of deception which, though often practised
-by potentates and statesmen, is at all times unworthy of any Englishman;
-he joined the Kings of Scotland and Spain, in recommending Louis to make
-peace with the Pope, on condition that Bologna should be restored to the
-Church, the council of cardinals at Pisa dissolved, and the cause of
-Alphonso, the Duke of Ferrara--whose territories Julius, the fighting
-Pope, had invaded--referred to impartial judges. These propositions
-on the part of Henry were made by Young, the English ambassador; but
-Louis, on his part, was perfectly aware at this very time that Henry was
-not only in alliance with the Pope and Spain, but had engaged to join
-Ferdinand in an invasion of France in the spring. He therefore treated
-the hollow overture with just contempt.
-
-Henry was at this time in profound peace with Louis. He had but a few
-months before renewed his treaty with him, yet he was at the very time
-that he sent his hypocritical proposal of arbitration, diligently, though
-secretly, preparing for war with him. He sent a commission to gentlemen
-in each county on June 20th, 1511, to array and exercise all the
-men-at-arms and archers in their county, and to make a return of their
-names, and the quality of their arms, before the 1st of August.
-
-On opening his plans to his council, he there met with strong dissuasion
-from war against France, and on very rational grounds. It was contended
-that "the natural situation of islands seems not to consort with
-conquests on the Continent. If we will enlarge ourselves, let it be in
-the way for which Providence hath fitted us, which is by sea." Never
-was sounder or more enlightened counsel given to an English king. But
-such language was in vain addressed to the ears of Henry, which had been
-assiduously tickled by the emissaries of Pope Julius and Ferdinand the
-Catholic, who assured him that nothing would be more easy, while they
-attacked France in other quarters, than to recover all the provinces
-once possessed there. He hastened to form a separate treaty with his
-cunning father-in-law, who had his own scheme in it, and this treaty was
-signed on the 10th of November, 1511. The preamble of this treaty was a
-fine specimen of the solemn pretences with which men attempt to varnish
-over their unprincipled designs. It represented Louis as an enemy to God
-and religion, a cruel and unrelenting persecutor of the Church, one who
-despised all admonition, and had rejected the generous offer of the Pope
-to pardon his sins.
-
-And what was this pious scheme, so greatly to the glory of God and of
-heaven? It was professedly to seize on the French province of Guienne, in
-which Ferdinand promised to help Henry, but in reality to seize Navarre,
-in which Ferdinand meant Henry to help him, but took care not to say so.
-The old man, long practised in every art of royal treachery, was far too
-knowing for the vainglorious young man, his son-in-law.
-
-Things being put into this train, Henry sent a herald to Louis, to
-command him not to make war upon the Pope, whom he styled "the father
-of all Christians." Louis, who was well acquainted with what was going
-on, knew that Pope Julius was as much a soldier and a politician as a
-Pope. He was the most busy, scheming, restless, and ambitious old man
-of his time. He not only made war on his neighbours, but attended the
-field in person, watched the progress of sieges, saw his attendants
-fall by his very side, and inspected his outposts with the watchful
-diligence of a prudent general. Louis knew that he was at the bottom of
-all these leagues against him, and he only smiled at Henry's message.
-This herald was therefore speedily followed by another demanding the
-surrender of Anjou, Maine, Normandy, and Guienne, as Henry's lawful
-inheritance. This, of course, was tantamount to a declaration of war, and
-the formal declaration only awaited the sanction of Henry by Parliament.
-Parliament was therefore summoned by him on the 4th of February, 1512,
-and was opened by Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, with a sermon, the
-extraordinary text of which was--"Righteousness and peace have kissed
-each other" (Psalm lxxxv. 10). Two-tenths and two-fifteenths were
-cheerfully granted Henry for prosecuting the war, and the clergy in
-convocation voted a subsidy of L23,000.
-
-Thus zealously supported and encouraged, Henry despatched a declaration
-of war, and sent an army of 10,000 men, chiefly archers, with a train of
-artillery, under command of the Marquis of Dorset, to co-operate with
-the Spaniards for the reduction of Guienne. These troops embarked at
-Southampton, May 16th, 1512, and soon landed safely at Guipuscoa, whilst
-the fleet under the Lord Admiral, Sir Edward Howard, cruised during the
-summer off the coast. But Ferdinand's real object was a very different
-one; his intention, as we have seen, was not to secure Guienne for his
-duped son-in-law, but Navarre for himself.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-Navarre was a separate kingdom in possession of John d'Albret, who had
-married its heiress, the Infanta Catherine; and, justly suspicious of
-the covetous intentions of the King of Spain, he had sought to fortify
-himself by a secret treaty with the King of France. While, therefore, the
-Marquis of Dorset, the English general, and his army were impatiently
-waiting for the Spanish reinforcements, they received from Ferdinand a
-message that it would not be safe for them to quit the Spanish frontiers
-until they had secured the neutrality of the King of Navarre, who was
-also Lord of Bearn, on the French side of the Pyrenees. The English had
-thus to wait while Ferdinand demanded of D'Albret a pledge of strict
-neutrality during the present war. D'Albret readily assented to this;
-but Ferdinand then demanded security for his keeping this neutrality. To
-this also John of Navarre freely acceded; which was again followed by a
-demand from Ferdinand that this security should consist of the surrender
-of six of the most considerable places in his dominions into the hands
-of the Spaniards, and of his son as a hostage. The King of Navarre
-was compelled to refuse so unreasonable a requisition, and therefore
-Ferdinand, professing to believe that D'Albret meant to cut off the
-communication of the Spanish army with Spain if it ventured into France,
-and showing that he had obtained a copy of the secret treaty of D'Albret
-with Louis, immediately ordered the Duke of Alva to invade Navarre. The
-Duke soon made himself master of the smaller towns and the open country,
-and then summoned, to their profound astonishment, the English to march
-into Navarre, and assist him in reducing Pampeluna.
-
-Dorset now perceived the real game that was being played. Having no
-orders, however, to do anything but attack Guienne, he refused to move a
-foot for the reduction of Navarre, and demanded afresh the supplies of
-artillery and horse which had been guaranteed for the former enterprise.
-But Ferdinand replied that it was quite out of the question to furnish
-him with any till Navarre was made secure; that was the first necessary
-step, and that effected, he should be prepared to march with him to
-Bayonne, Bordeaux, and to the conquest of all Guienne.
-
-These representations only increased the disgust of Dorset and his army:
-but they could do nothing but await the event, and saw themselves thus
-most adroitly posted by Ferdinand, as the necessary guard of his position
-against the French, whilst he accomplished his long-desired acquisition
-of Navarre. So Alva went on leisurely reducing Pampeluna, Ferdinand
-still calling on Dorset to accelerate the business by marching to Alva's
-support.
-
-Henry did not yet perceive how grossly he had been deluded by his loving
-father-in-law, who had only used him to secure a kingdom for himself
-most essential to the compactness and power of Spain; and he would have
-been led by him to assist in his still contemplated aggressions. In the
-meantime Louis, more cognisant of the game, marched his troops into
-Bearn, and left them, professedly for his ally, whilst the remnant of
-the English army reached home, shorn of its anticipated honours, reduced
-in numbers, in rags, and more than half-famished. Henry was disposed to
-charge upon Dorset the disasters and disappointments of the expedition,
-but the officers succeeded in convincing him that they could not have
-done differently, consistent with their orders; but the time was yet far
-off when the vainglorious young king was to have his eyes opened to the
-selfish deceptions which his Machiavelian father-in-law was practising
-upon him.
-
-At sea, the fleet under Sir Edward Howard had not been more successful
-than the forces on land. Sir Edward harassed the coasts of Brittany
-during the spring and summer, and on the 10th of August fell in with
-a fleet of thirty-nine sail. Sir Charles Brandon, afterwards the Duke
-of Suffolk, bore down upon the _Cordelier_, of Brest, a vessel of huge
-bulk, and carrying 900 men. Brandon's vessel was soon dismasted, and fell
-astern, giving place to the _Regent_, the largest vessel in the English
-navy, a ship of 1,000 tons. The _Regent_ was commanded by Sir Thomas
-Knevet, a young officer of a daring character. He continued the contest
-for more than an hour, when another ship coming to his aid, the French
-commander set fire to the _Cordelier_, the flames of which soon catching
-the _Regent_, which lay alongside of her in full action, both vessels
-were wrapt in fire, amid which the crews continued their desperate fight
-till the French admiral's ship blew up, destroying with it the _Regent_;
-and all the crews went down with the commanders, amid the horror of the
-spectators. The rest of the French fleet then escaped into Brest; and Sir
-Edward Howard made a vow to God that he would never see the king's face
-again till he had avenged the death of the valiant Knevet.
-
-But though Henry had been duped by the wily Ferdinand, and had suffered
-at sea, his efforts had inflicted serious evil on the King of France. The
-menace of Louis' dominions in the south, and the English fleet hovering
-upon his coasts, had prevented him from sending into Italy the necessary
-force to ensure lasting advantage there. Before Christmas Julius had
-fulfilled his boast that he would drive the barbarians beyond the Alps.
-He had done it, says Muratori, without stopping a moment to ask himself
-whether this was the precise function of the chief pastor of the Church.
-
-Louis, convinced that the Holy League, as it was called, was proving
-too strong for him, employed the ensuing winter in devising means to
-break it up, or to corrupt some of its members. Julius, the soul of the
-League, died--a grand advantage to Louis--in February, 1513, and the new
-pontiff, Leo X., who was Cardinal John de Medici, though he prosecuted
-the same object of clearing Italy of the foreigner, did not possess the
-same belligerent temperament as his predecessor. Leo laboured to keep
-the League together, but at the same time he was engaged in schemes for
-the aggrandisement of his own family, and especially of securing to it
-the sovereignty of Florence. In pursuing this object, Venice felt itself
-neglected in its claims of support against the emperor, and went over
-to the alliance with France. Yet the plan of a renewed league between
-the Pope, the emperor, the kings of Spain and England, against Louis,
-which had long been secretly concocting at Mechlin, was signed by the
-plenipotentiaries on the 5th of April, 1513. By this league Leo engaged
-to invade France in Provence or Dauphine, and to launch the thunders of
-the Church at Louis. He had managed to detach the emperor from the French
-king, and engaged him to attack France from his own side, but not in
-Italy. To enable him to take the field, Henry of England was to advance
-him 100,000 crowns of gold. Ferdinand engaged to invade Bearn, for which
-he particularly yearned, or Languedoc; Henry to attack Normandy, Picardy,
-or Guienne. The invading armies were to be strong and well appointed, and
-none of the confederates were to make a peace without the consent of all
-the rest.
-
-Henry, in his self-confident ardour, blinded by his vanity, little read
-as yet in the wiles and selfish cunning of men, was delighted with this
-accomplished league. To him it appeared that Louis of France, encompassed
-on every side, was certain of utter defeat, and thus as certain to
-be compelled to restore all the rich provinces which his fathers had
-wrested from England. But little did he dream that at the very moment
-he was empowering his plenipotentiary to sign this league, his Spanish
-father-in-law was signing another with Louis himself, in conjunction
-with James of Scotland and the Duke of Gueldres. By this Ferdinand
-engaged to be quiet, and do Louis no harm. In fact, none of the parties
-in that league meant to fight at all. Their only object was to obtain
-Henry's money, or to derive some other advantage from him, and they would
-enjoy the pleasure of seeing him expending his wealth and his energies
-in the war on France, and thus reducing his too formidable ascendency in
-Europe. Ferdinand's intention was to spend the summer in strengthening
-his position in the newly acquired kingdom of Navarre, and Maximilian,
-the emperor, having got the subsidy from Henry, would be ready to reap
-further benefits whilst he idly amused the young king with his pretences
-of service. Henry alone was all on fire to wipe away the disgrace of
-his troops and the disasters of his navy; to win martial renown, and to
-restore the ancient Continental possessions of the Crown.
-
-The war commenced first at sea. Sir Edward Howard, burning to discharge
-his vow by taking vengeance for the death of Admiral Knevet, blockaded
-the harbour of Brest. On the 23rd of April he attempted to cut away a
-squadron of six galleys, moored in the bay of Conquet, a few leagues
-from Brest, and commanded by Admiral Prejeant. With two galleys, one
-of which he gave into the command of Lord Ferrers, and four boats, he
-rowed up to the admiral's galley, leaped upon its deck, and was followed
-by one Carroz, a Spanish cavalier, and sixteen Englishmen. But the
-cable which bound the vessel to that of Prejeant being cut, his ship,
-instead of lying alongside, fell astern, and left him unsupported. He
-was forced overboard, with all his gallant followers, by the pikes of
-an overwhelming weight of the enemy, and perished. Sir Thomas Cheney,
-Sir John Wallop, and Sir William Sidney, seeing the danger of Sir Edward
-Howard, pressed forward to his rescue, but in vain, and the English
-fleet, discouraged by the loss of their gallant commander, put back
-to port. Prejeant sailed out of harbour after it, and gave chase, but
-failing in overtaking it, he made a descent on the coast of Sussex, where
-he was repulsed, and lost an eye, being struck by an arrow. Henry, on
-hearing the unfortunate affair of Brest, appointed Lord Thomas Howard to
-his brother's post, and bade him go out and avenge his death; whereupon
-the French fleet again made sail for Brest, and left the English masters
-of the Channel.
-
-In June, Henry deemed himself fully prepared to cross with his army to
-Calais. Lord Howard was ordered to bring his fleet into the Channel, to
-cover the passage, and on the 6th of June, 1513, the vanguard of the army
-passed over, under the command of the Earl of Shrewsbury, accompanied by
-the Earl of Derby, the Lords Fitzwalter, Hastings, Cobham, and Sir Rice
-ap Thomas. A second division followed on the 16th, under Lord Herbert,
-the Chamberlain, accompanied by the Earls of Northumberland and Kent; the
-Lords Audley and Delawar, with Carew, Curson, and many other gentlemen.
-Henry himself followed on the 30th, with the main body and the rear of
-the army. The whole force consisted of 25,000 men, the majority of which
-was composed of the old victorious arm of archers.
-
-Before leaving Dover, to which place the queen attended him, Henry
-appointed her regent during his absence, and constituted Archbishop
-Warham and Sir Thomas Lovel her chief counsellors and ministers. On
-the plea of leaving no cause of disturbance behind him to trouble her
-Majesty, he cut off the head of the Earl of Suffolk. Henry VII. had
-inveigled this nobleman into his hands at the time of the visit of the
-Archduke Philip, on the assurance that he would not take his life; but
-he seems to have repented of this show of clemency, for on his death-bed
-the king left an order that his son should put him to death. The earl
-had remained till now prisoner in the Tower, and Henry had been fatally
-reminded of him and of his father's dying injunction by the imprudence of
-Richard de la Pole, the brother of Suffolk, who had not only attempted to
-revive the York faction, but had taken a high command in the French army.
-
-Henry himself, instead of crossing direct to Calais, ran down the coast
-as far as Boulogne, firing continually his artillery to terrify the
-French, and then returning, entered Calais amid a tremendous uproar of
-cannon from ships and batteries, announcing rather prematurely that
-another English monarch was come to conquer France. In order to effect
-this conquest, however, he found none of his allies fulfilling their
-agreements, except the Swiss, who, always alive at the touch of money,
-and having fingered that of Henry, were in full descent on the south of
-France, elated, moreover, with their victory over the French in the last
-Italian campaign. Maximilian, who had received 120,000 crowns, was not
-yet visible. But Henry's own officers had shown no remissness. Before
-his arrival, Lord Herbert and the Earl of Shrewsbury had laid siege to
-Terouenne, a town situate on the borders of Picardy, where they found a
-stout resistance from the two commanders, Teligni and Crequi. The siege
-had been continued a month, and Henry, engaged in a round of pleasures
-and gaieties in Calais amongst his courtiers, seemed to have forgotten
-the great business before him, of rivalling the Edwards and the fifth of
-his own name. But news from the scene of action at length roused him. The
-besieged people of Terouenne, on the point of starvation, contrived to
-send word of their situation to Louis, who despatched Fontrailles with
-800 Albanian horses, each soldier carrying behind him a sack of gunpowder
-and two quarters of bacon. Coming unawares upon the English camp, they
-made a sudden dash through it, up to the town fosse, where, flinging
-down their load, which was as quickly snatched up by the famishing
-inhabitants, they returned at full gallop, and so great was the surprise
-of the English that they again cut their way out and got clear off.
-
-[Illustration: MEETING OF HENRY AND THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. (_See p._
-108.)]
-
-On arriving before Terouenne, on the 4th of August, Henry was soon
-joined by Maximilian, the emperor. This strange ally, who had received
-120,000 crowns to raise and bring with him an army, appeared with only
-a miserable complement of 4,000 horse. Henry had taken up his quarters
-in a magnificent tent, blazing in silks, blue damask, and cloth of gold,
-but the bad weather had driven him out of it into a wooden house. To
-do honour to his German ally--who, by rank, was the first prince in
-Christendom--Henry arrayed himself and his nobles in all their bravery of
-attire. They and their horses were loaded with gold and silver tissue;
-the camp glittered with the display of golden ornaments and utensils;
-and, in this royal splendour, he rode at the head of his Court and
-commanders to meet and escort his guest. They encountered the emperor and
-his attendants clad in simple black, mourning for the recent death of
-the empress. But there was little opportunity for comparisons--for the
-weather was terrible; and they exchanged their greetings amid tempests
-of wind and deluges of rain. Maximilian, to prevent any too-well founded
-complaints as to the smallness of his force compared with the greatness
-of his position, his promises in the alliance, and his princely pay,
-declared himself only the king's volunteer, ready to serve under him as
-his own soldier, for the payment of 100 crowns a day. He adopted Henry's
-badge of the red rose, was adorned with the cross of St. George, and, by
-flattering Henry's vanity, made him forget all his deficiencies.
-
-The pleasure of receiving his great ally was somewhat dashed with bitter
-by the arrival of the Scottish Lion king-at-arms with the declaration of
-war from James IV., accompanied by the information that his master was
-already in the field, and had sent a fleet to the succour of the French
-king. Henry proudly replied that he left the Earl of Surrey to entertain
-James, who would know very well how to do it.
-
-[Illustration: HENRY AND THE CAPTURED FRENCH OFFICERS. (_See p._ 110.)]
-
-The French still continued to throw succours into Terouenne, in spite of
-the vigilance of the English. In this service no one was more active than
-the Duke of Angouleme, the heir-apparent to the crown, and afterwards
-Francis I. When the siege had lasted about six weeks, and the whole
-energy of the British army was roused to cut off these supplies of
-provisions and ammunition, the French advanced in great force to effect
-a diversion in favour of the place. A formidable display of cavalry
-issued from Blangy, and marched along the opposite bank of the Lis.
-As they approached Terouenne they divided into two bodies, one under
-Longueville, the other under the Duke of Alencon. Henry wisely followed
-the advice of Maximilian, who knew the country well, and had before this
-won two victories over the French in that very quarter. The troops were
-drawn out, and Maximilian crossed the river with his German horse and
-the English archers, also mounted on horseback. Henry followed with the
-infantry.
-
-The French cavalry, who had won a high reputation for bravery and address
-in the Italian campaigns, charged the united army brilliantly; but
-speedily gave way and rode off. The English archers and German horse gave
-chase; the French fled faster and faster, till in hot pursuit they were
-driven upon the lines of the main body, and threw them into confusion.
-This was, no doubt, more than was intended; for the probable solution
-of the mystery is, that the retreat of the advanced body of cavalry was
-a feint, to enable the Duke of Alencon to seize the opportunity of the
-pursuit by the English to throw the necessary supplies into the town.
-This he attempted. Dashing across the river, he made for the gates of the
-town, whence simultaneously was made an impetuous sally. But Lord Herbert
-met and beat back Alencon; and the Earl of Shrewsbury chased back the
-sallying party. In the meantime the feigned retreat of the decoy cavalry,
-by the brisk pursuit of the German and English horse, had become a real
-one. After galloping almost four miles before their enemies, they rushed
-upon their own main body with such fiery haste that they communicated
-a panic. All wheeled about to fly; the English came on with vehement
-shouts of "St. George!" "St. George!" The French commanders called in
-vain to their terror-stricken men to halt, and face the enemy; every
-man dashed his spurs into the flanks of his steed, and the huge army,
-in irretrievable confusion, galloped away, without striking a single
-blow. The officers, while using every endeavour to bring the terrified
-soldiers to a stand, soon found themselves abandoned and in the hands of
-the enemy. The Duke de Longueville, the famous Chevalier Bayard, Bussy
-d'Amboise, the Marquis of Rotelin, Clermont, and La Fayette, men of the
-highest reputation in the French army, were instantly surrounded and
-taken, with many other distinguished officers. La Palice and Imbrecourt
-were also taken, but effected their escape.
-
-When these commanders, confounded by the unaccountable flight of their
-whole army, were presented to Henry and Maximilian, who had witnessed
-the sudden rout with equal amazement, Henry, laughing, complimented them
-ironically on the speed of their men, when the light-hearted Frenchmen,
-entering into the monarch's humour, declared that it was only a battle
-of spurs, for they were the only weapons that had been used. The Battle
-of Spurs has ever since been the name of this singular action, though it
-is sometimes called the Battle of Guinegate, from the place where the
-officers were met with. This event took place on the 16th of August.
-
-The garrison of Terouenne, seeing that all hope of relief was now over,
-surrendered; but, instead of leaving a sufficient force in the place to
-hold it, Henry, at the artful suggestion of the emperor, who was anxious
-to destroy such a stronghold on the frontiers of his grandson Charles,
-Duke of Burgundy, first wasted his time in demolishing the fortifications
-of the town, and then, under the same mischievous counsel, perpetrated a
-still grosser error. Instead of marching on Paris, he sat down before
-Tournay, which Maximilian wished to secure for his grandson Charles. It
-fell after eight days' siege.
-
-Here ended this extraordinary campaign, where so much had been
-prognosticated, and what was done should have only been the
-stepping-stones to infinitely greater advantages. But Henry entered
-the city of Tournay with as much pomp as if he had really entered into
-Paris instead. Wolsey received the promised wealthy bishopric, and
-Henry gratified his overweening vanity by his favourite tournaments and
-revelries. Charles, the young Duke of Burgundy, accompanied by his aunt
-Margaret, the Duchess-Dowager of Savoy, and Regent of the Netherlands,
-hastened to pay his respects to the English monarch, who had been so
-successfully fighting for his advantage.
-
-During the reign of Henry VII., Charles had been affianced to Mary, the
-daughter of Henry, and sister of the present King of England. As he was
-then only four years of age, oaths had been plighted, and bonds to a
-heavy amount entered into by Henry and Maximilian for the preservation
-of the contract. The marriage was to take place on Charles reaching his
-fourteenth year. That time was now approaching; and, therefore, a new
-treaty was now subscribed, by which Maximilian, Margaret, and Charles
-were bound to meet Henry, Catherine, and Mary in the following spring to
-complete this union.
-
-Meantime, the Swiss, discovering what sort of an ally they had got,
-entered into a negotiation with Tremouille, the Governor of Burgundy,
-who paid them handsomely in money, promised them much more, and saw
-them march off again to their mountains. Relieved from those dangerous
-visitants, Louis once more breathed freely. He concentrated his forces
-in the north, watched the movements of Henry VIII. with increasing
-satisfaction, and at length saw him embark for England with a secret
-resolve to accumulate a serious amount of difficulties in the way of his
-return. France had escaped from one of the most imminent perils of its
-history by the folly of the vainglorious English king. Yet he returned
-with all the assumption of a great conqueror, and utterly unconscious
-that he had been a laughing-stock and a dupe.
-
-We have seen that James IV. of Scotland sent his declaration of war to
-Henry whilst he was engaged at the siege of Terouenne. Among the causes
-of complaint which James deemed he had against Henry was the refusal to
-deliver up the jewels left by Henry's father to the Queen Margaret of
-Scotland--a truly dishonest act on the part of the English monarch, who,
-with all the wasteful prodigality peculiar to himself, inherited the
-avaricious disposition of his father. No sooner, therefore, did Henry
-set out for France, than James despatched a fleet with a body of 3,000
-men to the aid of Louis, and by his herald at Terouenne, after detailing
-the catalogue of his own grievances, demanded that Henry should evacuate
-France. This haughty message received as haughty a reply, but James did
-not live to receive it.
-
-In August, whilst Henry still lay before Terouenne, on the very same
-day that the Scottish herald left that place with his answer, the peace
-between England and Scotland was broken by Lord Home, chamberlain to
-King James, who crossed the Border, and made a devastating raid on the
-defenceless inhabitants. His band of marauders, on their return, loaded
-with plunder, was met by Sir William Bulmer, who slew 500 of them upon
-the spot, and took 400 prisoners. Called to action by this disaster,
-James collected on the Burghmuir, to the south of Edinburgh, such an army
-as, say the writers of the time, never gathered round a king of Scotland.
-Some state it at 100,000 men; the lowest calculation is 80,000.
-
-James passed the Tweed on the 22nd of August, and on that and the
-following day encamped at Twizel-haugh. On the 24th, with the consent
-of his nobles, he issued a declaration that the heirs of all who were
-killed or who died in that expedition, should be exempt from all charges
-for wardship, relief, or marriage, without regard to their age. He
-then advanced up the right bank of the Tweed, and attacked the Border
-castle of Norham. This strong fortress was expected to detain the army
-some time, but the governor, rashly improvident of his ammunition, was
-compelled to surrender on the fifth day, August 29th. Wark, Etall,
-Heaton, and Ford Castles, places of no great consequence, soon followed
-the example of Norham. That accomplished, James fixed his camp on Flodden
-Hill, the east spur of the Cheviot Mountains, with the deep river Till
-flowing at his feet to join the neighbouring Tweed. In that strong
-position he awaited the approach of the English army.
-
-The Earl of Surrey, commissioned by Henry on his departure expressly to
-arm the northern counties and defend the frontiers from an irruption
-of the Scots, no sooner heard of the muster of James on the Burghmuir,
-than he despatched messages to all the noblemen and gentlemen of those
-counties to assemble their forces, and meet him on the 1st of September
-at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He marched out of York on the 27th of August,
-and, though the weather was wet and stormy, and the roads consequently
-very bad, he marched day and night till he reached Durham. There he
-received the news that the Scots had taken Norham, which the commander
-had bragged he would hold against all comers till Henry returned from
-France. Receiving the banner of St. Cuthbert from the Prior of Durham,
-Surrey marched to Newcastle, where a council of war was held, and the
-troops from all parts were appointed to assemble on the 4th of September
-at Bolton, in Glendale, about twenty miles from Ford, where the Scots
-were said to be lying.
-
-On the 4th of September, before Surrey had left Alnwick, which he had
-reached the evening before, he was joined, to his great encouragement,
-by his gallant son, Lord Thomas Howard, the Admiral of England, with a
-choice body of 5,000 men, whom Henry had despatched from France. From
-Alnwick the earl sent a herald to the Scottish king to reproach him with
-his breach of faith to his brother, the King of England, and to offer him
-battle on Friday, the 9th, if he dared to wait so long for his arrival.
-
-On the 6th of September, the Earl of Surrey had reached Wooler-haugh,
-within three miles of the Scottish camp.
-
-When Surrey came in sight, he was greatly struck with the formidable
-nature of James's position, and sent a messenger to him charging him
-with having shifted his ground after having accepted the challenge, and
-calling upon him to come down into the spacious plain of Millfield,
-where both armies could contend on more equal terms, the army of Surrey
-amounting to only 25,000 men. James, resenting this accusation, refused
-to admit the herald to his presence, but sent him word that he had sought
-no undue advantage, should seek none, and that it did not become an earl
-to send such a message to a king.
-
-This endeavour to induce James by his high and often imprudent sense
-of honour to weaken his position not succeeding, on the 8th Surrey at
-the suggestion of his son the Lord Admiral adopted a fresh stratagem.
-He marched northward, sweeping round the hill of Flodden, crossed the
-Till near Twizel Castle, and thus placed the whole of his army between
-James and Scotland. From that point they directed their march as if
-intending to cross the Tweed, and enter Scotland. On the morning of
-Friday, the 9th, leaving their night halt at Barmoor Wood, they continued
-this course, till the Scots were greatly alarmed lest the English
-should plunder the fertile country of the Merse, and they implored the
-king to descend and fight in defence of his country. Moved by these
-representations, and this being the day on which Surrey had promised to
-fight him, he ordered his army to set fire to their tents with all the
-litter and refuse of the camp, so as to make a great smoke, under which
-they might descend, unnoticed, on the English. But no sooner did the
-English perceive this, than also availing themselves of the obscurity
-of the smoke, they wheeled about, and made once more for the Till. As
-the reek blew aside, they were observed in the very act of crossing the
-narrow bridge of Twizel, and Robert Borthwick, the commander of James's
-artillery, fell on his knees and implored his sovereign to allow him
-to turn the fire of his cannon on the bridge, which he would destroy,
-and prevent the passage of Surrey's host. But James, with that romantic
-spirit of chivalry which seems to have possessed him to a degree of
-insanity, is said to have replied, "Fire one shot on the bridge, and I
-will command you to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. I will have all my
-enemies before me, and fight them fairly."
-
-Thus the English host defiled over the bridge at leisure, and drew up in
-a long double line, consisting of a centre and two wings, with a strong
-body of cavalry, under Lord Dacre, in the rear. They beheld the Scots,
-in like form, descending the hill in solemn silence. The two conflicting
-armies came into action about four o'clock in the afternoon by the mutual
-discharge of their artillery. The thunder and concussion were terrific,
-but it was soon seen that the guns of the Scots being placed too high,
-their balls passed over the heads of their opponents, whilst those of
-the English, sweeping up the hill, did hideous execution, and made the
-Scots impatient to come to closer fight. The master gunner of Scotland
-was soon slain, his men were driven from their guns, whilst the shot of
-the English continued to strike into the heart of the battle. The left
-wing of the Scots, under the Earl of Huntly and Lord Home, came first
-into contact with the right wing of the English, and fighting on foot
-with long spears, they charged the enemy with such impetuosity, that Sir
-Edmund Howard, the commander of that wing, was borne down, his banner
-flung to the earth, and his lines broken into utter confusion. But at
-this moment Sir Edmund and his division were suddenly succoured by the
-Bastard Heron. This movement was supported by the advance of the second
-division of the English right wing, under the Lord Admiral, who attacked
-Home and Huntly, and these again were followed by the cavalry of Lord
-Dacre's reserve.
-
-The Highlanders, under Home and Huntly, when they overthrew Sir Edmund
-Howard, imagined that they had won the victory, and fell eagerly to
-stripping and plundering the slain; but they soon found enough to do to
-defend themselves, and the battle then raged with desperate energy. At
-length the Scottish left gave way, and the Lord Admiral and the cavalry
-of Dacre next fell on the division under the Earls of Crawford and
-Montrose, both of whom were slain.
-
-On the extreme right wing of the Scottish army fought the clans of the
-Macleans, the Mackenzies, the Campbells, and Macleods, under the Earls
-of Lennox and Argyle. These encountered the stout bowmen of Lancashire
-and Cheshire, under Sir Edward Stanley, who galled the half-naked
-Highlanders so intolerably with their arrows, that they flung down their
-targets, and dashed forward with claymore and axe pell-mell amongst the
-enemy. The French commissioner, De la Motte, who was present, astounded
-at this display of wild passion and savage insubordination, assisted
-by other French officers, shouted, stormed, and gesticulated to check
-the disorderly rabble, and restrain them in their ranks. In vain! The
-English, for a moment surprised by this sudden furious onslaught, yet
-kept their ranks unbroken, and, advancing like a solid wall, flung back
-their disintegrated assailants, swept them before them, and despatched
-them piece-meal. The Earls of Argyle and Lennox perished in the midst of
-their unmanageable men.
-
-The two main bodies of the armies only were now left where James and
-Surrey were contending at the head of their troops, but with this
-difference, that the Scottish right and left were now unprotected, and
-those of James's centre were attacked on each side by the victorious
-right and left wings of the English. On one side Sir Edward Stanley
-charged with archers and pikemen, on the other Lord Howard, Sir Edmund
-Howard, and Lord Dacre were threatening with both horse and foot.
-
-[Illustration: EDINBURGH AFTER FLODDEN. (_See p._ 114.)]
-
-James and all his nobility about him in the main body were fighting on
-foot, and being clad in splendid armour, they suffered less from the
-English archers, who were opposed to them in the ranks of Surrey. On
-James's right hand fought his natural son, the accomplished Archbishop of
-St. Andrews. Soon the combatants became engaged hand to hand in deadly
-struggle with their swords, spears, pikes, and other instruments of
-death. Whilst hewing and cutting each other down in furious strife, face
-to face, life for life, showers of English arrows fell amid the Scottish
-ranks, and dealt terrible destruction to the less stoutly protected. When
-the Earls of Bothwell and Huntly rushed to the support of the main body
-on the one side, and Stanley, the Howards, and Dacre came to the aid of
-Surrey on the other, the strife became terrible beyond description, and
-the slaughter awful on every side of the environed Scots. Before the
-arrival of the reserves the Scots appeared at one time to have the best
-of it, and to be on the very edge of victory; and even after that James
-and the gallant band around him seemed to make a stupendous effort, as if
-they thought their sole hope was to force their way to Surrey and cut him
-down. James is said to have reached within a spear's length of him, when,
-after being twice wounded with arrows, he was despatched by a bill. This
-decided the day; the Scots, after suffering fearful losses, retreated
-next morning from the field, after holding Flodden Hill during the night.
-
-When the news of the Scottish overthrow reached Edinburgh, it plunged
-the inhabitants into terrible grief and dismay. Women, weeping and
-seeking for tidings of their friends, thronged the streets. But the
-civic authorities kept their heads in the crisis. They ordered all the
-inhabitants capable of bearing arms to assemble for the defence at the
-tolling of a bell. Women and strangers were required to remain at their
-work and not to frequent the streets "clamorand and cryand;" while women
-of higher station were to repair to church, to offer up prayers "for our
-Sovereign Lord and his army, and the townsmen who are with the army." The
-crisis soon passed. No invasion was ever likely in view of the serious
-losses which the English themselves had suffered, and the city in due
-course regained its wonted aspect.
-
-James IV., who fell at Flodden in the forty-first year of his age,
-and the twenty-fifth of his reign, was a prince of quick, generous,
-and chivalric character. Like his father, he had a taste for the
-arts, particularly those of civil and naval architecture; he built
-the great ship _St. Michael_, and several churches, and maintained a
-Court far superior in its elegance and refinement to that of any of his
-predecessors. On such a nature, Henry, by kind and even just treatment,
-might have operated so as to excite the most devoted friendship. As it
-was, a neighbouring nation, instead of a firm ally, had been made a
-more embittered enemy; its prince had been slain, and his kingdom left
-exposed, in the peculiar weakness of a long minority, to the ambitious
-cupidity of his royal uncle, whose overbearing designs only tended to
-defeat that union of the crowns which he was most anxious to ensure,
-and to perpetuate crimes, heartburnings, and troubles between the two
-governments, for two eventful generations yet to come. Henry, however,
-overlooking all these things, on returning home elate with his own
-useless campaign, and this brilliant but cruel victory, rewarded Surrey
-by restoring to him the title of Duke of Norfolk, forfeited by his father
-for his adherence to Richard III., and Lord Thomas Howard, his son,
-succeeded, for his part, to the title of Earl of Surrey, which had been
-his father's. Lord Herbert was made Earl of Somerset; and Sir Edward
-Stanley, Lord Monteagle. At the same time, his favourite, Sir Charles
-Brandon, Lord Lisle, the king elevated to the dignity of Duke of Suffolk.
-Wolsey, his growing clerical favourite, he made Bishop of Lincoln, in
-addition to his French bishopric of Tournay.
-
-Henry VIII. had returned from the Continent as much inflated with the
-idea of his military greatness as if he had been Henry V.; his allies, in
-the meantime, were laughing in their sleeves at the success with which
-they had duped him. It was true that he had seriously distressed Louis,
-but it was for the benefit of those allies, who had all reaped singular
-advantages from Henry's campaign and heavy outlay. The Pope had got Italy
-freed from the French; Ferdinand of Spain had got Navarre, and leisure
-to fortify and make it safe; and Maximilian had got Terouenne, Tournay,
-and command of the French frontiers on the side of Flanders, with a fine
-pension from England. It was now time to see what acknowledgment those
-allies were likely to make him for his expensive services, and they did
-not permit him to wait long. While he had been so essentially obliging
-to the Pope, his Holiness had sent four bulls into his kingdom, by every
-one of which he had violated the statutes of the realm, especially that
-of Provisors, taking upon himself to nominate bishops and to command the
-persecution of heretics. The pontiff now went farther, and made a secret
-treaty with Louis of France, by which he removed the excommunication from
-Louis, and the interdict from his kingdom, on condition that Louis should
-withdraw his countenance from the schismatic council of cardinals; but
-knowing Henry's vain character, the Pope, to prevent him from expressing
-any anger, sent him a consecrated sword and banner, with many fulsome
-compliments on his valour and royal greatness.
-
-Henry's father-in-law, Ferdinand, was growing old, and having obtained
-all that he wanted--Navarre--was most ready to listen to Louis' proposals
-for peace. Louis tempted him by offering to marry his second daughter,
-Renee, to his grandson Charles, and to give her as her portion his claim
-on the duchy of Milan. Ferdinand not only accepted with alacrity these
-terms, without troubling himself about what Henry might think of such
-treachery, but engaged to bring over Maximilian, Henry's ally and paid
-agent, but still the grandfather of Charles. When the news of these
-transactions, on the part of his trusty confederates, reached Henry,
-he was for a while incredulous, and then broke into a fury of rage. He
-complained that his father-in-law had been the first to involve him with
-France by his great promises and professions, not one of which he had
-kept, and now, without a moment's warning, had not only sacrificed his
-interests for his own selfish purposes, but had drawn over the Emperor
-of Germany, who lay under such signal obligations to him. He vowed the
-most determined revenge. Here was Maximilian, for whom he had conquered
-Terouenne and Tournay, whom he had subsidised to the amount of 200,000
-crowns, and whose grandson Charles was affianced to his sister Mary, who
-had in a moment forgotten all these benefits and his engagement. As the
-time was come for the marriage of Charles and the Princess Mary, Henry
-sent a demand for its completion; Maximilian, who had already agreed to
-Louis' offer of his daughter Renee, sent an evasive answer, and Henry's
-wrath knew no bounds. It was impossible for even his egregious vanity to
-blind him any longer to the extent to which he had been duped all round.
-
-Louis, having thus destroyed Henry's confederacy of broken reeds, next
-took measures to secure a peace with him. The Duke of Longueville, who
-was one of the prisoners taken at the Battle of Spurs, was in London, and
-instructed by Louis, kept his ears open to Henry's angry denunciations
-of his perfidious allies. He represented to him that Anne, the Queen of
-France, being dead, there was a noble opportunity of avenging himself on
-these ungrateful princes, and of forming an alliance with Louis which
-would make them all tremble. Mary, the Princess of England, might become
-Queen of France, and thus a league be established between England and
-France which would decide the fate of Europe.
-
-Henry's resentment and wounded honour would of themselves have made him
-close eagerly with this proposal; but he saw in it the most substantial
-advantages, and in a moment made up his mind. He had the policy, however,
-to appear to demur, and said his people would never consent for him to
-renounce his hereditary claims on France, which must be the case if such
-an alliance took place. They would ask themselves what equivalent they
-should obtain for so great a surrender. The shrewd Frenchman understood
-the suggestion; he communicated what passed to his Government, and
-proposals were quickly sent to meet Henry's views. Louis agreed to pay
-Henry a million crowns in discharge of all arrears due to Henry VII.
-from Charles VIII., &c.; and Henry engaged to give his sister a dower
-of 200,000 crowns, to pay the expenses of her journey, and to supply
-her with jewels--probably those of which he had defrauded the Scottish
-queen. The two kings agreed to assist each other, in case of any attack,
-by a force of 14,000 men, or, in case of any attack by either of them on
-another power, by half that number. This treaty was to continue for the
-lives of the two kings, and a year longer.
-
-Thus was the Holy League, as it had been called, for the defence of the
-Pope and the Church against the King of France entirely done away with;
-and this great pretence was not so much as mentioned in any one of these
-treaties which put an end to it. The King of France strove hard to obtain
-Tournay again; but, though it was evidently Henry's interest to restore
-it, his favourite Wolsey, apprehensive of losing the profits of the
-bishopric, successfully opposed its restoration. Wolsey and Fox of Durham
-were Henry's plenipotentiaries for the management of the treaty, which
-was signed on the 7th of August, 1514.
-
-By this treaty, Mary Tudor, Princess Royal of England, a remarkably
-beautiful young woman of sixteen, and passionately attached to Charles
-Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the handsomest and most accomplished man of
-Henry's Court, was handed over to the worn-out Louis of France, who was
-fifty-three in years, and much older in constitution.
-
-But this unnatural political _mesalliance_ was not destined to be of long
-duration. Louis wrote in the course of December to Henry, expressing his
-happiness in possessing so excellent and amiable a wife, and on the
-1st of January he expired. The dissipation at Court, consequent on his
-marriage, is stated in the "Life of Bayard" to have precipitated his end.
-"For the good king, on account of his wife, had changed the whole manner
-of his life. He had been accustomed to dine at eight o'clock, now he had
-to dine at noon; he had been accustomed to retire to rest at six in the
-evening, and now he had often to sit up till midnight." Louis was greatly
-beloved by his subjects, who regarded him as a brave, upright, and wise
-prince, and gave him the honourable title of "the Father of his People."
-Mary promptly married her old lover, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
-Henry was angry at first, but the storm soon lulled. Wolsey is said
-to have been in the secret from the first, and such was his influence
-now, that a much more difficult matter would have given way before it.
-The young couple were received into favour, and ordered by Henry to be
-re-married before him at Greenwich--an event which took place on the 13th
-of May, 1515. So far was the part which Francis I. had taken in this
-matter from being resented, that he and Henry renewed all the engagements
-which existed between Louis and Henry, and so satisfactorily that they
-boasted that they had made a peace which would last for ever.
-
-We have had frequent occasion already to introduce the name of Wolsey;
-we shall have still more frequent and more surprising occasion to repeat
-that name: and it is therefore necessary to take a complete view of the
-man who was now rapidly rising into a prominence before Europe and the
-world, such as has few examples in history, in one whose origin was as
-mean as his ascent was dazzling, and his fall sudden and irrevocable.
-
-In the reign of Henry VII. we find first the name of Thomas Wolsey coming
-to public view as the private secretary of the king at the time of the
-forced visit of the Archduke Philip to the English Court. This originally
-obscure clergyman was born in 1471 at Ipswich, where his father was
-a wealthy butcher, and, therefore, could afford to give his son an
-education at the university. Probably the worthy butcher was induced to
-this step by a perception of the lad's uncommon cleverness, for at Oxford
-he displayed so much talent that he was soon distinguished by the title
-of the "Boy Bachelor." He became teacher of the grammar-school adjoining
-Magdalen College, and among his pupils were the sons of the Marquis of
-Dorset, on whom he so far won that he gave him the somewhat valuable
-living of Lymington, in Somersetshire. This might seem substantial
-promotion for the butcher's son, but an eagle, though hatched in the nest
-of a barn-door fowl, is sure to soar up towards the sun. Thomas Wolsey
-was not destined to the obscurity of a country parish. The same abilities
-and address which won him the favour of the marquis were capable of
-attracting far higher patrons.
-
-Leaving his country parish, he seems to have been introduced to Fox, the
-Bishop of Winchester, and minister to Henry VII., who introduced him to
-the king, who was so much satisfied with him that he made him one of the
-royal chaplains. In this position the extraordinary talents and Court
-aptitude of Wolsey soon became apparent to the cautious old king. He
-employed him in sundry matters requiring secrecy and address. He was soon
-advanced to the deanery of Lincoln, and office of the king's almoner.
-Wolsey was Henry VII.'s envoy to the Duchess of Savoy when that amorous
-monarch had fallen in love with her fortune.
-
-On the accession of Henry VIII., Wolsey rose still higher in the favour
-of the youthful monarch. Henry was but nineteen. Wolsey was forty; yet
-not a young gallant about the Court could so completely adapt himself
-to the fancy of the young pleasure-loving and power-loving king. In
-a very few months he was Henry's bosom friend--the associate in all
-his gaieties, the repository of all his secrets, the dispenser of all
-his favours, and, in reality, his only confidential minister. Henry
-seemed wrapped in admiration at the union of intellect and courtly
-accomplishment in the wonderful man. He gave him a grant of all
-deodands and forfeitures of felony, and went on continually adding to
-these other offices, benefices, and grants. In November, 1510, he was
-admitted a member of the Privy Council, and from that time he was really
-Prime Minister. Henry could move nowhere without his great friend and
-counsellor. He took him with him on his expedition to France in 1513,
-there conferred on him the wealthy bishopric of Tournay, and on his
-return made him Bishop of Lincoln, and gave him the opulent Abbey of St.
-Albans _in commendam_.
-
-The ascent of Wolsey was now rapid. From the very commencement of his
-career at Court no man had been able to stand before him. Bishop Fox
-had first recommended his introduction into the Privy Council because,
-growing old himself, he perceived that the Earl of Surrey, afterwards
-conqueror of Flodden, and Duke of Norfolk, was winning higher favour
-with the king than the ancient bishop; because his martial tastes and
-more courtly character were more attractive to Henry. Wolsey soon showed
-himself so successful that he not only cast Surrey, but his own patron,
-into the shade. In everything Wolsey could participate in the monarch's
-pursuits and amusements. Henry had already an ambition of literary and
-polemic distinction. He had studied the school divinity, and was an
-ardent admirer of Thomas Aquinas. Here Wolsey was quite at home; for he
-was a widely read man, and would, as a matter of course, soon refresh
-himself on any learned topic which was his master's hobby. While he
-flattered the young king's vanity, he was ready to contribute to his
-whims and his pleasures.
-
-[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP WARHAM. (_From the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-On the 14th of July, 1514, Leo X. addressed a letter to Henry, informing
-him that his ambassador, Cardinal Bambridge, the Archbishop of York,
-had died that day; and that, at the request of the deceased, he had
-promised not to appoint a successor till he had learnt the pleasure of
-his Majesty. This pleasure, there can be no doubt, was already known;
-and that the Pope, like every one now, perceiving the power of the
-favourite, was ready to conciliate him. The king at once named Wolsey
-to his Holiness, and showed that he was quite satisfied that that
-nomination would be confirmed by at once placing the archbishopric and
-all its revenues in the custody of the favourite. Thus was this great
-son of fortune at once possessed of the Archbishopric of York, the
-Bishoprics of Tournay and Lincoln, the administration of the Bishoprics
-of Worcester, Hereford, and Bath, the possessors of which were Italians,
-who resided abroad, and were glad to secure a portion of their revenues
-by resigning to the native prelate the rest. Henry even allowed Wolsey,
-with the See of York, to unite that of Durham, as he afterwards did that
-of Winchester. The Pope, seeing more and more the marvellous influence
-of the man, before this year was out made him a cardinal. "For," says
-Hall, "when he was once archbishop, he studied day and night how to be
-a cardinal, and caused the king and the French king to write to Rome
-for him." Leo found a strong opposition amongst the cardinals to this
-promotion; but, desirous to oblige both Henry and Francis, he declared
-him a cardinal in full consistory, on September 11th.
-
-My Lord Cardinal Wolsey almost immediately received a fresh favour
-from the Pope, who appointed him legate in England. This commission
-was originally limited to two years, but Wolsey never relinquished the
-office. He obtained from succeeding Popes a continuation of the post,
-asking from time to time even fresh powers, till he at length exercised
-within the realm almost all the prerogatives of the Pontiff. The only
-step above him now was the Papacy itself, and on that dignity he had
-already fixed his ambitious eye.
-
-From the moment that Wolsey saw himself a cardinal and Papal legate,
-as well as chief favourite of the king, his ambition displayed itself
-without restraint, and we shall have to paint, in his career, one of the
-most amazing instances of the pride, power, and grandeur of a subject.
-When his cardinal's hat was brought to England, he sent a splendid
-deputation to meet the bearer of it at Blackheath, and to conduct him
-through London, as if he had been the Pope himself. He gave a reception
-of the hat in Westminster Hall, which more resembled a coronation than
-the official investiture of a subject and a clergyman. His arrogance and
-ostentation disgusted the king's old ministers and courtiers. The Duke of
-Norfolk, with all his military glory, found himself completely eclipsed,
-and absented himself from Court as much as possible, though he still held
-the office of Treasurer. Fox, the venerable Bishop of Winchester, who
-had been the means of introducing Wolsey, found himself superseded by
-him, and, resigning his office of Keeper of the Privy Seal, retired to
-his diocese. On taking his leave, the aged minister was bold enough to
-caution Henry not to make any of his subjects greater than himself, to
-which the bluff king replied that he knew how to keep his subjects in
-order. The resignation of Fox was followed by that of Archbishop Warham,
-who delivered the Great Seal on the 22nd of December, 1515, resigning his
-office of Chancellor. Henry immediately handed over the seal to Wolsey,
-who now stood on the pinnacle of power, almost alone. He was like a great
-tree which withered up every other tree which came within its shade, and
-even the kingly power itself seemed centred in his hands. For the next
-ten years he may be said to have reigned in England, and Henry himself
-to have been the nominal, and Wolsey the real king. Well might he, in
-addressing a foreign power, say, "_Ego et rex meus_:" "I and my king."
-
-Whilst the great looked on all this grandeur in obsequious but resentful
-silence, the people settled it in their own minds that the wonderful
-power of the priest over the fiery nature of the monarch was the effect
-of sorcery. But Wolsey was no mean or ordinary man. His talents and his
-consummate address were what influenced the king, who was proud of the
-magnificence which was at once his creation and his representative; and
-Wolsey had a grasp, an expanse, and an elevation in his ambition, which
-had something sublime in them. Though he was in the receipt of enormous
-revenues, he had no paltry desire to hoard them. He employed them in this
-august state and mode of living, which he regarded as reflecting honour
-on the monarch whose chief minister he was, and on the Church in which
-he held all but the highest rank. He devoted his funds liberally to the
-promoting of literature. He sent learned men to foreign courts to copy
-valuable manuscripts, which were made accessible by his vast influence.
-He built Hampton Court Palace, a residence fit only for a monarch, and
-presented it to Henry as a gift worthy such a subject to such a king. He
-built a college at Ipswich, his native place, and was in the course of
-erecting Christ Church at Oxford when his career was so abruptly closed.
-Besides that, he endowed seven lectureships in Oxford.
-
-The peace which Henry had made with the young monarch of France was not
-destined to be of long continuance. Francis I. soon had the misfortune to
-offend both Henry and Wolsey, and in their separate interests. James IV.
-of Scotland had left by his will the regency of his kingdom to his widow.
-The Convention of the States confirmed this arrangement, but on condition
-that the queen remained unmarried. James V., her son, of whom she was
-to retain the guardianship, was on his father's death an infant of only
-a year-and-a-half old. In less than seven months after the death of her
-husband, Margaret was delivered of a second son, Alexander, Duke of Ross;
-and in less than three months after that she married, in defiance of the
-Convention of the States, Douglas, Earl of Angus, a young man of handsome
-person, but of an ambitious and headstrong character. This marriage gave
-great offence to a large number of the nobility, especially those who had
-a leaning to France. They asserted that Henry of England, the queen's
-brother, notwithstanding that he had deprived her of her husband, and
-notwithstanding her difficult position as the widowed mother of an infant
-king, so far from supporting her, took every opportunity to attack her
-borders. They therefore recommended that they should recall from France
-John, Duke of Albany, the son of Alexander, who had been banished by his
-brother James III., and place the regency in his hands. Albany, though of
-Scottish origin, was a Frenchman by birth, education, and taste. He had
-not a foot of land in Scotland, but in France he had extensive demesnes,
-and stood high in favour of the monarch.
-
-[Illustration: _By permission, from the Painting in the City of London
-Corporation Art Gallery._
-
-CARDINAL WOLSEY GOING IN PROCESSION TO WESTMINSTER HALL
-
-_By Sir John Gilbert_, R.A., P.R.W.S.]
-
-At the head of the party in opposition to the queen was Lord Home, on
-whose conduct at Flodden aspersions had been cast. By him and his party
-it was that Albany was invited to Scotland. Henry was greatly alarmed at
-this proposition, and for some time the fear of a breach induced Francis
-I. to restrain Albany from accepting the offer. Yet in May, 1515, Albany
-made his appearance in Scotland. He found that kingdom in a condition
-which required a firm and determined hand to govern it. The nobility,
-always turbulent, and kept in order with difficulty by the strongest
-monarchs, were now divided into two factions, for and against the queen
-and her party. Lord Home, by whom Albany had chiefly been invited, had
-the ill-fortune to be represented to Albany, immediately on his arrival,
-as, so far from a friend, one of the most dangerous enemies of legitimate
-authority in the kingdom. Home, apprised of this representation, and of
-its having taken full effect on the mind of Albany, threw himself into
-the party of the queen, and urged her to avoid the danger of allowing
-the young princes to fall into the hands of Albany, who was the next
-heir to the crown after them, and was, according to his statement, a
-most dangerous and ambitious man. Moved by these statements, Margaret
-determined to escape to England with her sons, and put them under the
-powerful protection of their uncle Henry.
-
-Henry had himself made similar representations to her, for nothing would
-suit his views on the crown of Scotland so well as to have possession
-of the infant heirs. But Albany was quickly informed of the queen's
-intentions; he besieged the castle of Stirling, where she resided with
-the infant princes, compelled her to surrender, and obtaining possession
-of the princes, placed them in the keeping of three lords appointed by
-Parliament. Margaret herself, accompanied by her husband Angus, and Lord
-Home, succeeded in escaping to England, where she was delivered of a
-daughter.
-
-The part which Francis I. evidently had in permitting the passage of
-Albany to Scotland, and in supporting his party there, had given great
-offence to Henry. He sent strong remonstrances through his ambassador
-to Francis, complaining that Albany had been permitted to leave France
-and usurp the government of Scotland, contrary to the treaty; and that
-by this means the Queen of Scotland, the sister of the King of England,
-had been driven from the regency of the kingdom and the guardianship of
-her children. Francis I. endeavoured to pacify Henry by assurances that
-Albany's conduct had received no countenance from him, but that he had
-stolen away at the urgent solicitation of a strong body of nobles in
-Scotland. Henry was not convinced, but there was nothing to be obtained
-by further remonstrances, for Francis was at this moment at the head of a
-powerful army, while Henry, having spent his father's hoards, was not in
-a condition for a fresh war without the sanction of Parliament.
-
-Francis was bent on prosecuting the vain scheme of the conquest of
-Milan, which had already cost his predecessors and France so much. He
-had entered into alliance with Venice and Genoa, and trusted to be able
-easily to overcome Maximilian Sforza the native Prince; Sforza, on his
-part, depended upon the support of the Pope and the Swiss. Francis
-professed, in the first place, that his design was to chastise the
-hostile Swiss. These hardy people had fortified those passes in the Alps
-by which they calculated that the French would attempt to pass towards
-Milan, but Francis made his way with 60,000 troops over the mountains
-in another direction, a large part of his army taking the way to the
-left of Mount Genevre, a route never essayed by any army before. The
-Swiss mercenaries in the service of Sforza, thus taken by surprise, were
-rapidly defeated by the French, and were on the point of capitulation,
-when their countrymen, who had been watching to intercept Francis and his
-army, seeing that he had stolen a march upon them, descended from their
-mountains, 20,000 strong, and came to the relief of their countrymen
-under the walls of Milan. At Marignano, Francis won a great victory over
-them on September 13th, 1515.
-
-The effect at the English Court of this brilliant success was to heighten
-extremely that discontent with Francis which Henry had shown at the very
-moment that the chivalric young French king had set out for Italy. Henry,
-who was ambitious of military renown, was stung to the quick by it, and
-his envious mood was artfully aggravated by the suggestions of Wolsey.
-
-On the 12th of November, 1515, Parliament was summoned to meet. Henry
-had caught a very discouraging glimpse of the iron at the bottom of his
-father's money-chests, and was, therefore, obliged to ask supplies from
-his subjects. His application does not appear to have been successful,
-and Parliament was therefore dissolved on the 22nd of December, and was
-never called again till the 31st of July, 1523, an interval of eight
-years. A Parliament which would not grant money was not likely to be a
-very favourite instrument with Henry, and this still less so, because it
-had involved him in a contention with the Convocation. The Convocation
-had dared to claim exemption for the clergy from the jurisdiction of
-the secular courts. The clergy in Henry's interest resisted this claim;
-it was brought before Parliament, and both the Lords and Commons, as
-well as the judges, decided against the Convocation. Henry, who was at
-once as fond of power and as bigoted as the Church, found himself in
-a most embarrassing dilemma, but declared that he would maintain the
-prerogatives of the Crown, and was glad to get rid of the dispute by the
-dismissal of Parliament.
-
-On the 8th of February, 1516, Queen Catherine gave birth to a daughter,
-who was named Mary, and who survived to wear the crown of England. In
-the previous month died the queen's father, Ferdinand of Spain, one of
-the most cunning, grasping, and unprincipled monarchs that ever lived,
-but who had by his Machiavelian schemes united Spain into one great
-and compact kingdom, and whose sceptre Providence had extended, by the
-discovery of Columbus, over new and wonderful worlds. His grandson
-Charles, already in possession of the territories of the house of
-Burgundy, and heir to those of Austria, succeeded him, as Charles V.
-Henry had just entered into a commercial treaty with Charles, as regarded
-the Netherlands, and perceiving the vast power and greatness which must
-centre in Charles--for on the death of Maximilian, who was now old, he
-would also become Emperor of Germany--he was anxious to unite himself
-with him in close bonds of interest and intimacy. To this end, he gave
-a commission to Wolsey, assisted by the Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop
-of Durham, to cement and conclude a league with the Emperor Maximilian
-and Charles, the avowed object of which was to combine for the defence
-of the Church, and to restrain the unbridled ambition of certain
-princes--meaning Francis.
-
-The sordid Emperor Maximilian, who had so often and so successfully made
-his profit out of the vanity of Henry, seeing him so urgent to cultivate
-the favour of his grandson Charles, thought it a good opportunity to
-draw fresh sums from him. Maximilian was now tottering towards his
-grave, but he was not the less desirous to pave his way to it with gold.
-In a confidential conversation, therefore, with Sir Robert Wingfield,
-the English ambassador at his Court, he delicately dropped a hint
-that he was grown weary of the toils and cares attending the Imperial
-office. Pursuing the theme, he pretended great admiration for the King
-of England; he declared that amongst all the princes of Christendom,
-he could see none who was so fitted to succeed him in his high office,
-and at the same time become the champion and protector of Holy Church
-against its enemies. He therefore proposed to adopt Henry as his son,
-for a proper consideration. According to his plan, Henry was to cross
-the Channel with an army. From Tournay he was to march to Treves, where
-Maximilian was to meet him, and resign the empire to him, with all the
-necessary formalities. Then the united army of English and Germans was to
-invade France, and, whilst they thus sufficiently occupied the attention
-of Francis, Henry and Maximilian, with another division, were to march
-upon Italy, crossing the Alps at Coire, to take Milan, and, having
-secured that city, make an easy journey to Rome, where Henry was to be
-crowned emperor by the Pope.
-
-In this wild-goose scheme--which equally ignored the fact that Charles
-V. was the grandson of Maximilian, heir of his kingdom, and therefore
-neither by the natural affection of the emperor, nor by the will of
-his subjects, likely to be set aside for a King of England; and the
-difficulty, the impossibility almost, of the accomplishment of the
-enterprise by two such monarchs as Maximilian and Henry--only one thing
-was palpable, that Maximilian would give his blessing to the stipulated
-son for these impossible honours, and then would as quickly find a reason
-for abandoning the extravagant scheme as he had already done that of
-taking Milan. Yet it is certain that, for the moment, it seized on the
-imagination of Henry, and he despatched the Earl of Worcester and Dr.
-Tunstall, afterwards Bishop of Durham, to the Imperial Court, to settle
-the conditions of this notable scheme. Tunstall, who was not only an
-accomplished scholar, but a solid and shrewd thinker, no sooner reached
-the Court of Maximilian than he saw at a glance the hollowness of the
-plot and of the Imperial plotter. He, as well as Dr. Richard Pace, the
-ambassador at Maximilian's Court, quickly and honestly informed Henry
-that it was a mere scheme to get money.
-
-[Illustration: HAMPTON COURT PALACE.]
-
-These honest and patriotic statements perfectly unmasked the wily old
-Maximilian, and Henry escaped the snare. Francis I., having also now
-secured the duchy of Milan, set himself to conciliate two persons whose
-amity was necessary to his future peace and security. These were the
-Pope and Henry of England. The balance of power on the Continent, it was
-clear, would lie between Francis and Charles V., the King of Spain. On
-the death of Maximilian, Charles would be ruler of Austria, and, in all
-probability, Emperor of Germany. It would be quite enough for Francis
-to contend with the interests of Charles, whose dominions would then
-stretch from Austria, with the Imperial power of Germany, through the
-Netherlands to France, and reappear on the other boundary of France, in
-Spain, without having that gigantic dominion backed by the co-operation
-of England. Francis had seen with alarm the cultivation of friendship
-recently between these two formidable neighbours. To counteract these
-influences, the French king whilst in Italy had an interview with the
-Pope at Bologna, where he so won upon his regard that the Pontiff agreed
-to drop all opposition to the possession of Milan by the French.
-
-Having secured himself in this quarter, Francis returned to France, and
-knowing well that the only way to the good graces of Henry was through
-the all-powerful Cardinal Wolsey, he caused his ambassador in England
-to endeavour to win the favour of the great minister. This was not to
-be done otherwise than by substantial contributions to his avarice, and
-promises of service in that greatest project of Wolsey's ambition, the
-succession to the Popedom. Wolsey was at this time in the possession of
-the most extraordinary power in England. His word was law with both king
-and subject. To him all men bowed down, and while he conferred favours
-with regal hand, he did not forget those who had offended him in the days
-of his littleness. Not only English subjects, but foreign monarchs sought
-his favour with equal anxiety. The young King of Spain, to secure him to
-his views, and knowing his grudge against the King of France, conferred
-on him a pension of 3,000 livres a year, styling him, in the written
-grant, "his most dear and especial friend."
-
-Thus were the kings of Spain and France paying humble homage to this
-proud churchman and absolute minister of England at the same moment.
-But Francis felt that he must outbid the King of Spain, and he resolved
-to do it. He commenced, then, by reminding him how sincerely he had
-rejoiced at his elevation to the cardinalate, and how greatly he
-desired the continuance and increase of their friendship, and promised
-him whatever it was in his power to do for him. These were mighty and
-significant words for the man who could signally aid him in his designs
-on the Popedom, and who could settle all difficulties and doubts about
-the bishopric of Tournay, hitherto such a stumbling-block between them.
-The letters of Francis were spread with the most skilful, if not the
-most delicate flatteries; he called him his lord, his father, and his
-guardian, told him he regarded his counsels as oracles; and whilst they
-increased the vanity of the cardinal most profusely, he accompanied his
-flatteries by presents of many extremely valuable and curious things.
-
-Being assured by Villeroi, his resident ambassador at London, that the
-cardinal lent a willing ear to all these things, Francis instructed the
-ambassador to enter at once into private negotiation with Wolsey for the
-restoration of Tournay, and an alliance between the two crowns. This
-alliance was to be cemented by the affiancing of Henry's daughter, Mary,
-then about a year-and-a-half old, to the infant dauphin of France, but
-recently born! The price which Wolsey was to receive for these services
-being satisfactorily settled between himself and Francis, the great
-minister broke the matter to his master in a manner which marks the
-genius of the man, and his profound knowledge of Henry's character. He
-presented some of the superb articles which Francis had sent him to the
-king, saying, "With these things hath the King of France attempted to
-corrupt me. Many servants would have concealed this from their masters,
-but I am resolved to deal openly with your grace on all occasions. This
-attempt, however," added he, "to corrupt a servant is a certain proof
-of his sincere desire for the friendship of the master." Oh! faithful
-servant! Oh! open and incorruptible man! Henry's vanity was so flattered
-that he took in every word, and looked on himself as so much the greater
-prince to have a minister thus admired and courted by the most powerful
-monarchs.
-
-The way to negotiation was now entirely open. Francis appointed William
-Gouffier, Lord of Bonivet, Admiral of France; Stephen Ponchier, Bishop
-of Paris; Sir Francis de Rupecavarde and Sir Nicholas de Neuville his
-plenipotentiaries. They set out with a splendid train of the greatest
-lords and ladies of France, attended by a retinue of 1,200 officers
-and servants. Francis knew that the way to ensure Henry's favourable
-attention was to compliment him by the pomp and splendour of his embassy.
-The French plenipotentiaries were introduced to Henry at Greenwich,
-on the 22nd of September, 1518, and Wolsey was appointed to conduct
-the business on the part of the King of England. When they went to
-business the ambassadors of Francis prepared the way for the greater
-matters by producing a grant, already prepared, and, therefore, clearly
-agreed upon beforehand, which they presented to Wolsey, securing him a
-pension of 12,000 livres a year, in compensation for the cession of the
-bishopric of Tournay. This was a direct and palpable bribe; but there
-was no troublesome and meddlesome Opposition in the House of Commons in
-those days to demand the production of papers, and the impeachment of
-corrupt ministers. With such a beginning the terms of treaty were soon
-settled. They embraced four articles:--A general contract of peace and
-amity betwixt the two kings and their successors, _for ever_; a treaty
-of marriage betwixt the two little babies, the Dauphin and Mary Tudor;
-the restitution of Tournay to France for 600,000 crowns; and, lastly, an
-agreement for a personal interview between the two monarchs, which was to
-take place on neutral ground between Calais and Ardres, before the last
-day of July, 1519.
-
-But while Wolsey was deeply occupied in his plans and preparations for
-the royal meeting, an event occurred which for a time arrested the
-attention of Europe. This was the death of the Emperor Maximilian, and
-the vacancy in the Imperial office. Francis I. and Charles of Spain
-were the two candidates for its occupation, and the rivalry of these two
-monarchs seems to have again awakened in Henry the same wish, though
-the plain statements of Bishop Tunstall had for a time suppressed it.
-He despatched a man of great learning, Dr. Richard Pace, to Germany, to
-see whether there were in reality any chance for him. The reports of
-Pace soon extinguished all hope of such event, and Henry, with a strange
-duplicity, then sent off his "sincere longings for success" to both of
-the rival candidates, Francis and Charles!
-
-Francis declared to Henry's ambassador, Sir Thomas Boleyn, that he would
-spend three millions of gold, but he would win the Imperial crown; but
-though the German electors were notoriously corrupt, and ready to hold
-out plausible pretences to secure as much of any one's money as they
-could, from the outset there could be no question as to who would prove
-the successful candidate. The first and indispensable requisite for
-election was, that the candidate must be a native of Germany, and subject
-of the Empire, neither of which Francis was, and both of which Charles
-was. Charles was not only grandson of Maximilian, and his successor to
-the throne of Austria, and therefore of a German royal house, but he was
-sovereign of the Netherlands, which were included in the universal German
-empire.
-
-Even where Francis placed his great strength--the power of bribing the
-corrupt German electors, the petty princes of Germany, for the _people_
-had no voice in the matter--Charles was infinitely beyond him in the
-power of bribery. He was now monarch of Spain, of the Netherlands,
-of Naples and Sicily, of the Indies, and of the gold regions of the
-newly-discovered America. Nor was Francis at all a match for Charles in
-the other power which usually determines so much in these contests--that
-of intrigue. Francis was open, generous, and ardent; Charles cool,
-cautious, and, though young, surrounded by ministers educated in the
-school of the crafty Ferdinand and the able Ximenes to every artifice
-of diplomatic cunning. Still more, the vulpine Maximilian, at the very
-time that he was attempting to wheedle Henry of England out of his money,
-on pretence of securing the Imperial dignity for him, had paved the way
-for his own grandson, by assiduous exertions and promises amongst the
-electors--promises which Charles was amply able to fulfil. Accordingly,
-after a lavish distribution of both French and Spanish gold amongst the
-elector-princes of Germany, Charles was declared emperor on the 28th of
-June, 1519. Francis, though he professed to carry off his disappointment
-with all the gaiety of a Frenchman, was deeply and lastingly chagrined by
-the event; and though he and Charles must, under any circumstances, have
-been rivals for the place of supremacy on the Continent of Europe, there
-is no doubt that this circumstance struck much deeper the feeling which
-led to that gigantic struggle between them, which, during their lives,
-kept Europe in a constant state of warfare and agitation.
-
-Both Charles and Francis were intensely anxious to secure the preference
-of Henry, because his weight thrown into either balance must give it a
-dangerous preponderance. Both, therefore, paid assiduous court to him,
-and still more, though covertly, to his all-powerful minister, Wolsey.
-Francis, aware of the impulsive temperament of Henry, prayed for an early
-fulfilment of the visit agreed upon of Henry to France. It was decided
-that the interview should take place in May. The news of this immediately
-excited the jealousy of Charles, and his ambassadors in London expressed
-great dissatisfaction at the proposal. Wolsey found he had a difficult
-part to play, for he had great expectations from both monarchs, and he
-took care to make such representations to each prince in private, as to
-persuade him that the real affection of England lay towards him, the
-public favour shown to the rival monarch being only a matter of political
-expedience. When the Spanish ambassadors found they could not put off
-the intended interview, they proposed a visit of their master to the
-King of England previously, on his way from Spain to Germany. This was
-secretly arranged with the cardinal, but was to be made to appear quite
-an unpremeditated occurrence.
-
-Accordingly, before the king set out for Calais, Charles, according to
-the secret treaty with Wolsey, sent that minister a grant under his privy
-seal, from the revenue of the two bishoprics of Badajoz and Placentia,
-of 7,000 ducats. Henry set forward from London to Canterbury, on his
-way towards Dover and Calais, attended by his queen and court, with a
-surprising degree of splendour. Whilst lying there, he was surprised, as
-it was made to appear, by the news that the emperor had been induced by
-his regard for the king to turn aside on his voyage towards his German
-dominions, and had anchored in the port of Hythe, on the 26th of May,
-1520. As soon as this news reached Henry, he despatched Wolsey to receive
-the emperor and conduct him to the castle of Dover, and Henry himself
-set out and rode by torchlight to Dover, where he arrived in the middle
-of the night. It must have been a hospitably inconvenient visit at that
-hour, for Charles, fatigued by his voyage, had gone to bed, and was awoke
-from a sound sleep by the noise and bustle of the king's arrival. He
-arose, however, and met Henry at the top of the stairs, where the two
-monarchs embraced, and Henry bade his august relative welcome. The next
-day, being Whitsunday, they went together to Canterbury, the king riding
-with the emperor on his right hand, the Earl of Derby carrying before
-them the sword of State.
-
-From the cathedral the emperor was conducted by his royal host to the
-palace of the archbishop, where he was for the time quartered. For three
-days the archiepiscopal palace was a scene of the gayest festivities;
-nothing was omitted by Henry to do honour to his august relative; and
-nothing on the part of Charles to win upon Henry, and detach him from the
-interests of France. Nor the less assiduously did the politic emperor
-exert himself to secure the services of Wolsey. He saw that ambition was
-the great passion of the cardinal, and he adroitly infused into his mind
-the hope of reaching the Popedom through his influence and assistance.
-Nothing could bind Wolsey like this fascinating anticipation. Leo X.
-was a much younger man than himself; but this did not seem to occur to
-the sanguine spirit of the cardinal, for "all men think all men mortal
-but themselves;" whilst to Charles the circumstance made his promise
-peculiarly easy, as he could scarcely expect to be called upon to fulfil
-it.
-
-On the fourth day Charles embarked at Sandwich for the Netherlands,
-less anxious regarding the approaching interview of Henry and Francis,
-for he had made an ardent impression on the king, and had put a strong
-hook into the nose of his great leviathan--the hope of the triple crown.
-Simultaneously with the departure of Charles, Henry, his queen and court,
-embarked at Dover for Calais; and on the 4th of June, 1520, Henry, with
-his queen, the Queen Dowager of France, and all his court, rode on to
-Guines, where 2,000 workmen, most of them clever artificers from Holland
-and Flanders, had been busily engaged for several months in erecting a
-palace of wood for their reception.
-
-The meeting-place was called, from the splendour of the retinues of the
-two monarchs, the "Field of the Cloth of Gold," but it did little to
-cement the alliance between England and France.
-
-On the 25th of June the English Court returned to Calais; half the
-followers of the nobles were sent home, and then preparations were made
-for visiting the emperor at Gravelines, and receiving a visit from him
-at Calais. By the 10th of July all was ready, and Henry set out with a
-splendid retinue. He was met on the way, and conducted into Gravelines by
-Charles, with every circumstance of honour and display. Charles, whose
-object was avowedly to efface any impression which Francis and the French
-might have made on the mind of Henry at the late interview, had given
-orders to receive the English with every demonstration of friendship and
-hospitality, and his orders were so well executed that the English were
-enchanted with their visit.
-
-On the departure of Charles, Henry and his court embarked for Dover,
-returning proud of his sham prowess and mock battles, and of all his
-finery, but both himself and his followers loaded with a fearful amount
-of debt for this useless and hypocritical display. When the nobles
-and gentlemen got home, and began to reflect coolly on the heavy
-responsibilities they had incurred for their late showy but worthless
-follies, they could not help grumbling amongst themselves, and even
-blaming Wolsey, as loudly as they dared, as being at the bottom of the
-whole affair. One amongst them was neither nice nor cautious in his
-expressions of chagrin at the ruinous and foolish expense incurred, and
-denounced the proud cardinal's ambition as the cause of it all. This was
-the Duke of Buckingham. He was executed in 1521 on the absurd charge of
-having intercourse with astrologers.
-
-The various causes of antipathy between Francis I. and Charles V., which
-had been long fomenting, now reached that degree of activity when they
-must burst all restraint. War was inevitable. The first breach was made
-by Francis. At this crisis Charles appealed to Henry to act as mediator,
-according to the provisions of the treaty of 1518. Henry at once accepted
-the office, and entered upon it with high professions of impartiality and
-of his sincere desire to promote justice and amity, but really with about
-the same amount of sincerity as was displayed by each of the contending
-parties. Francis had certainly been the aggressor, and Charles, having
-intercepted some of his letters, had already convinced Henry, to whom he
-had shown them, that the invasion of both Spain and Flanders was planned
-in the French cabinet. Henry's mind, therefore, was already made up
-before he assumed the duty of deciding; and Charles, from being aware of
-this, proposed his arbitration. Henry, moreover, was anxious to invade
-France on his own account, spite of treaties and the dallyings of the
-Field of the Cloth of Gold, but he had not yet the funds necessary. With
-these feelings and secrets in his own heart, Henry opened his proposal
-of arbitration to Francis by declarations of the extraordinary affection
-which he had contracted for him at the late interview.
-
-[Illustration: HENRY VIII. (_After the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-There was no alternative for the French king but to acquiesce in the
-proposal; the place of negotiations was appointed to be Calais, and,
-of course, Wolsey was named as the only man able and fitting to decide
-between two such great monarchs--Wolsey, who was bound hand and foot to
-the emperor by the hope of the Popedom. It was a clear case that Francis
-must be victimised, or the negotiation must prove abortive. Wolsey set
-out with something more than regal state to decide between the kings.
-In addition to his dignity of Papal legate _a latere_, he received the
-extraordinary powers of creating fifty counts-palatine, fifty knights,
-fifty chaplains, and fifty notaries; of legitimising bastards, and
-conferring the degree of doctor in medicine, law, and divinity. By
-another bull, he was empowered to grant licences to such as he thought
-proper to read the heretical works of Martin Luther, in order that some
-able man, having read them, might refute them. This was to pave the
-way for a royal champion of the Catholic Church against Luther and the
-devil, and that such a champion was already at work we shall shortly have
-occasion to show. Such were the pomp and splendour of the cardinal, that
-when he continued his journey into the Netherlands, with his troops of
-gentlemen attending him, clad in scarlet coats, with borders of velvet
-of a full hand's breadth, and with massive gold chains: when they saw
-him served on the knee by these attendants, and expending money with
-the most marvellous profusion, Christian, King of Denmark, and other
-princes then at the Court of the Emperor at Bruges, were overwhelmed with
-astonishment, for such slavish homage was not known in Germany.
-
-Wolsey landed at Calais on the 2nd of July, 1521, and was received
-with great reverence. The ambassadors of the emperor had taken care to
-be there first, that they might secretly settle with Wolsey all the
-points to be insisted on. The French embassy arrived the next day, and
-the discussions were at once entered upon with all that air of solemn
-impartiality and careful weighing of propositions which such conferences
-assume, when the real points at issue have been determined upon privately
-beforehand by the parties who mean to carry out their own views. The
-French plenipotentiaries alleged that the emperor had broken the treaty
-of Noyon of 1516, by retaining possession of Navarre, and by neglecting
-to do homage for Flanders and Artois, fiefs of the French crown. On
-the other hand, the Imperial representatives retorted on the French
-the breach of the treaty of Noyon, and denounced in strong terms the
-late invasion of Spain and the clandestine support given to the Duke of
-Bouillon. The cardinal laboured to bring the fiery litigants to terms,
-but the demands of the emperor were purposely pitched so high that it was
-impossible. The differences became only the more inflamed; and on the
-Imperial chancellor, Gattinara, declaring that he could not concede a
-single demand made by his master, and that he came there to obtain them
-through the aid of the King of England, who was bound to afford it by the
-late treaty, Wolsey said that there, of necessity, his endeavours must
-end, unless the emperor could be induced to modify his expectations; and
-that, as his ambassador had no power to grant such modification, rather
-than all hope of accommodation should fail, he would himself take the
-trouble to make a journey to the Imperial Court, and endeavour to procure
-better terms. Nothing could appear more disinterested on the part of
-the cardinal, but the French ambassadors were struck with consternation
-at the proposal. They were too well aware of the cardinal's leaning
-towards Charles; they did not forget the coquetting of the English and
-the emperor both before and after the meeting at the Field of the Cloth
-of Gold; and they opposed this proposal of Wolsey with all their power.
-But their opposition was useless. There can be no doubt that the prime
-object of Wolsey in his embassy was to make this visit to Charles for his
-own purpose, and that it had been agreed upon between himself and Charles
-before he left London. In vain the French protested that such a visit,
-made by the umpire in the midst of the conference to one of the parties
-concerned, was contrary to all ideas of the impartiality essential to a
-mediator; and they declared that, if the thing was persisted in, they
-would break off the negotiation and retire. But Wolsey told them that if
-they did not remain at Calais till his return, he would pronounce them in
-the wrong, as the real aggressors in the war, and the enemies to peace
-and to the King of England. There was nothing for it but to submit.
-
-The cardinal set out on his progress to Bruges on the 12th of August,
-attended by the Imperial ambassadors and a splendid retinue of prelates,
-nobles, knights, and gentlemen, amounting altogether to 400 horsemen.
-The emperor met him a mile out of Bruges, and conducted him into the
-city in a kind of triumph. Thirteen days--a greater number than had been
-occupied at Calais--were spent in the pretended conferences for reducing
-the emperor's demands on France, but in reality in strengthening Wolsey's
-interest with Charles for the Popedom, and in settling the actual
-terms of a treaty between Charles, the Pope, and the King of England
-for a war against France. So deep was the hypocrisy of these parties,
-that before Wolsey had quitted the shores of England he had received a
-commission from Henry investing him with full authority to make a treaty
-of confederacy with the Pope, the emperor, the King of France, or any
-other potentate, offensive or defensive, which the king bound himself
-to ratify; the words "King of France, or other king, prince, or state,"
-being clearly inserted to cover with an air of generality the particular
-design. The proposed marriage between the Dauphin and the Princess Mary
-was secretly determined to be set aside, and a marriage between Charles
-and that princess was agreed upon; and, moreover, it was settled that
-Charles should pay another visit to England on his voyage to Spain.
-Writing from Bruges to Henry, Wolsey told him all this, and added that
-it was to be kept a profound secret till Charles came to England, so
-that, adds Wolsey, "convenient time may be had to put yourself in good
-readiness for war."
-
-After all this scandalous treachery--called in State language
-diplomacy--Wolsey returned to Calais, and resumed the conferences, as
-if he were the most honest man in the world, and was serving two kings
-about as honest as himself. He proposed to the plenipotentiaries a plan
-of a pacification, the conditions of which he knew the French would never
-accept. All this time hostilities were going on between Francis and the
-emperor. The emperor had taken Mouzon and laid siege to Mezieres, and
-Francis, advancing, raised the siege, but was checked in his further
-pursuit of the enemy by the Count of Nassau. At this crisis Wolsey
-interposed, insisting that the belligerents should lay down their arms,
-and abide the award of King Henry; but this proposal was by no means
-likely to be met with favour on the part of the French, after what had
-been going on at Bruges, and therefore Wolsey pronounced that Francis was
-the aggressor, and that Henry was bound by the treaty to aid the emperor.
-
-This was but a very thin varnish for the proceedings which immediately
-took place at Calais, and revealed the result of the interview at Bruges,
-in an avowed treaty between the Pope, the emperor, and Henry, by which
-they arranged--in order to promote an intended demonstration against the
-Turks, and to restrain the ambition of Francis--that the three combined
-powers should, in the spring of 1523, invade France simultaneously from
-as many different quarters; that, if Francis would not conclude a peace
-with the emperor on the arrival of Charles in England, Henry should
-declare war against France, and should break off the proposed marriage
-between the Dauphin and the Princess Mary.
-
-In the meantime, the united forces of the Pope and Charles had prevailed
-in Italy, and expelled the French from Milan; the emperor had made
-himself master of Tournay, for which Francis had lately paid so heavy
-a price, and all the advantages that the French could boast of in
-the campaign to balance these losses were the capture of the little
-fortresses of Hesdin and Bouchain. Wolsey landed at Dover on the 27th
-of November, after the discharge of these important functions, having
-laid the foundation of much trouble to Europe, by destroying the balance
-of power between France, the Empire, and Spain, which it was the real
-interest of Henry to have maintained; and having equally inconvenienced
-the Government at home by carrying the Great Seal with him, so that those
-who had any business with it were obliged to go over to Calais, and so
-that there could be no nomination of sheriffs that year. But his power
-at this period was unlimited, and nothing could open Henry's eyes to his
-mischievous and inflated pride--not even his placing himself wholly on
-a par with the king in the treaty just signed, when he made himself a
-joint-guarantee, as if he had been a crowned head.
-
-Wolsey had laboured assiduously and unscrupulously for Charles V. in
-furtherance of his own ambitious views. What convulsions disorganised
-Europe, what nations suffered or triumphed, troubled him not, so long
-as he could pave the way to the Papal chair. The time which was to test
-the gratitude of Charles came much sooner than any one had anticipated.
-Leo X., who was in the prime of life, elated with the expulsion of the
-French from Italy, was occupied in celebrating the triumph with every
-kind of public rejoicing. The moment he heard of the fall of Milan he
-ordered a _Te Deum_, and set off from his villa of Magliana to Rome,
-which he entered in triumph; but that very night he was seized with a
-sudden illness, and on the 1st of December, but a few days afterwards,
-it was announced that he was dead, at the age of only forty-six. Strong
-suspicions of poison were entertained, and it was believed that it had
-been administered by his favourite valet, Bernabo Malaspina, who was
-supposed to have been bribed to it by the French party.
-
-The news of Leo's death travelled with speed to England, and Wolsey, who,
-amid all his secret exertions to attain the Papal tiara, had declared
-with mock humility that he was too unworthy for so great and sacred a
-station, now threw off his garb of indifference, and despatched Dr. Pace
-to Rome, with the utmost celerity, to promote his election; and he sent
-to put the emperor in mind of his promises. On the 27th of December the
-conclave commenced its sittings. Another of the Medici family, Cardinal
-Giulio, appeared to have the majority of votes, but for twenty-three days
-the election remained undecided. The French cardinals opposed Giulio with
-all the persevering virulence of enemies smarting under national defeat.
-Numbers of others were opposed to electing a second member of the same
-family, and Giulio, growing impatient of the stormy and interminable
-debates which kept him from attending to pressing affairs out of doors,
-suddenly nominated Cardinal Adrian, a Belgian. This extraordinary stroke
-was supposed to be intended merely to prolong the time, till Giulio
-could throw more force into his own party; but Cardinal Cajetan, a
-man of great art and eloquence, who knew and admired the writings of
-Adrian, and had probably suggested his name to Giulio, advocated his
-election with such persuasive power, that Adrian, though a foreigner,
-and personally unknown, was carried almost by acclamation. And thus, as
-Lingard observes, within nine years from the time when Julius drove the
-barbarians out of Italy, a barbarian was seated as his successor on the
-Papal throne.
-
-The cardinals had no sooner elected the new Pope than they appeared to
-wake from a dream, and wondered at their own work. The act appeared to be
-one of those sudden impulses which seize bodies of people in a condition
-of great and prolonged excitement, and they declared that it must have
-been the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. As for Wolsey, it does not appear
-that his sincere friend the emperor, who had protested that he would have
-him elected if it were at the head of his army, moved a finger in his
-behalf. The proud cardinal, however, was obliged to swallow his chagrin,
-and wait for the next change, Adrian being already an old man; and Dr.
-Pace remained at Rome to congratulate the new Pontiff on his arrival, and
-solicit a renewal of his legatine authority.
-
-Francis at this crisis made strenuous efforts to regain the friendship of
-Henry. Probably he thought that the disappointment of Wolsey might cool
-his friendship for the emperor, or, which was the same thing, diminish
-his confidence in his promises; whilst Charles was very well aware that
-Wolsey was much more serviceable to him as minister of England than he
-could be or would be as Pope. Francis attacked Henry on his weakest
-side--his vanity. He heaped compliments upon him, and entreated that if
-he could not be his fast and avowed friend, he would, at least, abstain
-from being his enemy. To give force to his flatteries, he held out hopes
-of increasing his annual payments to England; and when that did not
-produce the due effect, he stopped the disbursements of that which he had
-been wont to remit. Finding that even this did not influence Henry, who
-was kept steady by Wolsey, he laid an embargo on the English shipping in
-his ports, and seized the property of the English merchants.
-
-At this act of decided hostility Henry was transported with one of those
-fits of rage which became habitual in after years. As if he had not long
-been plotting against Francis, and preparing to make war upon him--as
-if he had not coolly and even insolently repulsed all his advances and
-offers of advantage and alliance--he regarded Francis as an aggressor
-without any cause, ordered the French ambassador to be confined to his
-house, all Frenchmen in London to be arrested, and despatched an envoy to
-Paris with a mortal defiance. What particularly exasperated Henry was the
-news that a whole fleet, loaded with wine, had been seized at Bordeaux,
-and the merchants and seamen thrown into prison. The English were ordered
-to make reprisals, and this was the actual state of things when Sir
-Thomas Cheney, his ambassador, announced by dispatch that the envoy had
-declared war on the 21st of May at Lyons; to which the king had replied,
-"_I_ looked for this a great while ago; for, since the cardinal was at
-Bruges, I looked for nothing else." The wily manoeuvres of Wolsey had
-deceived nobody.
-
-On the 26th of May, only five days after the declaration of war with
-France, the Emperor Charles V. landed at Dover. The passion of Henry had
-precipitated the outbreak of hostilities, for it was not intended that
-war should be declared till Charles was on the eve of departure from
-England, so that he might continue his voyage in safety to Spain. The
-king, however, received his illustrious guest with as much gaiety and
-splendour as if nothing but peace were in prospect. Wolsey waited on
-Charles at the landing-place, and, after embracing him, led him by the
-arm to the castle, where Henry soon welcomed him with great cordiality.
-Charles calculated much, in the approaching war, on the fleet of Henry;
-and, to show him its extent and equipment, Henry conducted him to the
-Downs, and led him over all his ships, especially his great ship, _Henri,
-Grace a Dieu_, which was considered one of the wonders of the world. He
-then conducted his Imperial guest by easy journeys to Greenwich, where
-the Court was then residing, and introduced him to his aunt, the queen,
-and her infant daughter, whom it was arranged that he should marry.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SHIP OF HENRY VIII. (_From the Drawing by Holbein._)]
-
-On the 6th of June Henry conducted the emperor with great state into
-London, where the inhabitants received him with a variety of shows and
-pageants. Sir Thomas More spoke the emperor's welcome in a learned
-oration, and there was a profusion of Latin verses in honour of the
-occasion. The two monarchs feasted, hunted, and rode at tournaments,
-whilst their ministers were busily employed in carrying out the terms
-agreed upon at Bruges into a treaty, which was signed on the 19th at
-Windsor. The subject of this treaty was the marriage of Charles with
-the infant Princess Mary, which the two monarchs bound themselves to
-see completed, under a penalty, in case of breach of engagement, of
-400,000 crowns. Charles also engaged to indemnify Henry for the sums of
-money due to him from Francis; and, what was most extraordinary, both
-monarchs bound themselves to appear before Cardinal Wolsey in case of
-any dispute, and submit absolutely to his decision, thus making a subject
-the arbiter of monarchs.
-
-The emperor also engaged to indemnify the cardinal for _his_ losses
-in breaking with Francis, by a grant of 9,000 crowns annually; thus
-paying this proud priest for being the author of the war. Yet, after
-all his courting and flattering of Wolsey, after again assuring him of
-his determination to set him in the Papal chair, it is certain that he
-hated the man, and used him only as a tool. His aunt, Queen Catherine,
-had deeply resented the cardinal's pursuit of the Duke of Buckingham to
-death, for whom she entertained a high regard; and Wolsey was aware of
-it, and never forgave her. It was, probably, in reply to Catherine's
-relation of this tragic event that Charles, whilst on this visit, was
-overheard to say, "Then the butcher's dog has pulled down the fairest
-buck in Christendom"--a witticism which flew all over the Court, and was
-not forgotten by the vindictive Wolsey.
-
-Having agreed that each was to bring 40,000 men into the field, that
-France was to be attacked simultaneously on the north and the south, and
-that Charles was to co-operate with the English for the re-conquest of
-Guienne, the emperor embarked on the 6th of July, and pursued his voyage
-to Spain.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_continued_).
-
-     The War with France--The Earl of Surrey Invades that Country--More
-     elected Speaker--Henry and Parliament--Revolt of the Duke of
-     Bourbon--Pope Adrian VI. dies--Clement VII. elected--Francis
-     I. taken Prisoner at the Battle of Pavia--Wolsey grows
-     unpopular--Change of Feeling at the English Court--Treaty with
-     France--Francis I. regains his Liberty--Italian League, including
-     France and England, against the Emperor--Fall of the Duke of
-     Bourbon at the Siege of Rome--Sacking of Rome, and Capture of the
-     Pope--Appearance of Luther--Henry writes against him--Is styled
-     by the Pope "Defender of the Faith"--Anne Boleyn--Henry applies
-     to the Pope for a Divorce from the Queen--The Pope's Dilemma--War
-     declared against Spain--Cardinal Campeggio arrives in England to
-     decide the Legality of Henry's Marriage with Catherine--Trial of
-     the Queen--Henry's Discontent with Wolsey--Fall of Wolsey--His
-     Banishment from Court, and Death--Cranmer's Advice regarding the
-     Divorce--Cromwell cuts the Gordian Knot--Dismay of the Clergy--The
-     King declared Head of the Church of England--The King's Marriage
-     with Anne Boleyn--Cranmer made Archbishop--The Pope Reverses the
-     Divorce--Separation of England from Rome.
-
-
-On the departure of the emperor, Henry commanded the Earl of Surrey to
-scour the Channel before him; and Charles, out of compliment to Henry,
-named Surrey, who was Lord Admiral of England, also admiral of his own
-fleet of one hundred and eighty sail. Surrey, having seen Charles safely
-landed in Spain, returned along the coast of France, ravaging it on all
-accessible points. He landed at Cherbourg, in Normandy, burnt the town
-of Morlaix, in Brittany, and many other maritime villages, houses of
-the people, and castles of the aristocracy. This was preparatory to the
-great invasion which Henry contemplated. For this purpose he had recalled
-Surrey from Ireland, where he had conducted himself with much ability,
-repressed the disorders of the natives, and won the esteem of the chief
-population. Henry now gave him the command of the army destined to invade
-France. That army, Henry boasted, should consist of forty thousand men;
-but the question was, whence the money was to come for its assembly and
-payment. The Field of the Cloth of Gold, and the entertainment of the
-emperor, following on many other extravagances, had entirely dissipated
-the treasures which his father had left him; and, as he was now
-endeavouring to rule without a parliament, he was compelled to resort to
-those unconstitutional measures of forced loans, which had always covered
-with odium the monarchs who used them.
-
-In this unpopular attempt Wolsey was his instrument, and the work he
-had now to do ensured him a plentiful growth of dislike. In the first
-place, he exacted a loan of L20,000 from the merchants of London, and
-scarcely had he obtained possession of it, when he summoned the leading
-citizens before him, and demanded fresh advances. On the 20th of August,
-1522, the lord mayor, aldermen, and the most substantial merchants
-of London appeared before him, to whom he announced that the king had
-sent commissioners into the whole realm, to inquire into the actual
-rents of the lands in each township, what were the names of the owners
-and occupiers, and what was the value of each man's movable property.
-According to his account, a new Domesday Book was in preparation; and
-he, moreover, informed them that his Majesty had ordered a muster in the
-maritime counties of all the men betwixt the ages of sixteen and sixty,
-to enrol their names, and the names of the lords of whom they held their
-lands.
-
-The deputation returned to the city in deep dejection, and made out their
-lists of such as were merchants and dealers and reputed men of substance.
-These men, then, themselves waited on the cardinal, and besought him not
-to put them to their oath as to their real amount of property, for that
-it was difficult for themselves to make a correct estimate of it, and
-that, in fact, many an honest man's credit was more than his substance.
-Wolsey replied that he "dare swear that the substance of London was
-no less than two millions of gold." From this it was obvious that the
-cardinal expected from them at least L200,000. But the citizens replied,
-"Would to God the city were so rich, but it is sore afflicted by the
-occupying of strangers!" The cardinal promised to see that that should be
-rectified, and that their loans should be repaid them out of the first
-subsidy voted by Parliament, which it was intended to call. But the
-victims did not appear much cheered by these assurances: they knew that
-Henry was not fond of calling parliaments. If he meant it, why borrow
-money when it could be voted? And they went away, saying that for the
-last loan some lent a fifth, and now to ask a tenth again was too much.
-
-By these means, however, money enough was raised to put an army in
-motion. About the middle of August the Earl of Surrey landed at Calais
-with 12,000 men, paid by the king, and 3,000 volunteers. There he was
-joined by a body of German, Flemish, and Spanish horse, making a total
-force of 16,000. At the head of these he advanced through Picardy and
-Artois, desolating the country as he went, burning the defenceless towns,
-the castles of the nobles, and the huts of the peasants, and destroying
-whatever they could not carry off as spoil. They left the fortified
-cities, making no attempt except against Hesdin, which they soon quitted,
-finding their artillery not of weight enough. The French, under the
-Duke de Vendome, avoided a general engagement, but they harassed the
-outskirts of the army, cut off the supplies, and occasionally a number
-of stragglers. The weather was the great ally of the French, for it was
-extremely rainy and cold, and occasioned dysentery to break out in the
-camp. On the appearance of this fatal foe, the foreign troops hastily
-retired into Bethune, and Surrey soon after led back his main body to
-Calais, having done the French much mischief, but obtained no single
-advantage except the seizure of a quantity of booty.
-
-Francis, meantime, had not only kept his army hovering in front of the
-invaders, but he had sent active emissaries to rouse the Irish and Scots,
-and thus to distract the attention of the English. In Ireland he turned
-his attention to the Earl of Desmond, who still maintained in a great
-measure his independence of the English Crown. Francis offered him an
-annual pension, on condition that he should take up arms in Ireland
-against the English power, and the earl, moreover, seduced by the promise
-that a French army would be sent over, engaged to join it, and never
-to lay down his arms till he had won for himself a strong dominion in
-the island, and the remainder for Richard de la Pole, the heir of the
-house of York. But Francis, having obtained his object by the very alarm
-created by this negotiation, never sent any troops, never paid the Earl
-of Desmond any annuity, and the unfortunate chieftain was left to pay the
-penalty of his rash credulity in the vengeance of the English Government.
-
-In Scotland affairs assumed a more formidable aspect. After the return of
-Margaret, the queen-mother, from England, she quarrelled with her weak
-but headstrong husband, the Earl of Angus, and in 1521 sent and invited
-her old antagonist, the Duke of Albany, to return to Scotland from
-France, promising to support him at the head of the Government. Nothing
-could suit the views of France better than this, for it was already
-menaced by Henry of England. Albany landed at Gairloch on the 19th of
-November, and thence hastened to the queen at Stirling. This strange,
-bold, and dissimulating woman, who had all the imperiousness and the
-sensuality of a Tudor, received him with open arms, and entered at once
-on such terms of familiarity with him as scandalised all Scotland.
-
-Her husband and his relatives, the Douglases, being summoned by the
-regent before Parliament, fled towards the Borders, and took refuge in
-the kirk of Steyle. By means of the celebrated Gawin Douglas, the Bishop
-of Dunkeld, and one of Scotland's finest poets, who was the uncle of
-Angus, the fugitives opened a communication with Henry of England. The
-bishop represented the conduct of Margaret as of the most flagitious
-kind, attributing to her the design of marrying Albany, and setting aside
-her own son. It was even asserted, and Lord Dacre, warden of the Western
-Marches, joined in the assertion, that the life of the young king was
-in danger, and as much from his own mother as from Albany. There is no
-question that the conduct of Margaret was most disgraceful; and though
-Albany was anxious to establish quietness and order in Scotland, and to
-obtain peace with England, the emissaries of Henry took care to foment
-strife between the nobles and the Government. Lord Dacre was--according
-to the system introduced by Henry VII., and continued so long as there
-was a Tudor on the throne of England--plentifully supplied with money
-to bribe the most powerful nobles, especially the Homes, to harass the
-Government by their factions.
-
-[Illustration: STIRLING FROM THE ABBEY CRAIG.
-
-(_From a 'photograph by G. W. Wilson and Co., Aberdeen._)]
-
-It was in vain, therefore, that Queen Margaret wrote to her brother, the
-King of England, protesting that the accusations against her were base
-and abominable calumnies, that the Duke of Albany ruled by the choice
-and advice of Parliament, and that without him there would be no peace
-in Scotland, nor safety for the king or herself. Henry only replied by
-upbraiding her with living in shameful adultery, and insisting that
-Albany should quit Scotland, or that he would make war upon it. He did
-not stop there--he made the same demand of Parliament, and hearing that
-Margaret was applying to the Pope for a divorce from Angus, in order to
-marry Albany, he exerted all his influence with the Church to prevent it.
-The Scottish Parliament, notwithstanding it contained many traitors, made
-such by Henry's gold, yet rejected his proposition for the dismissal of
-Albany; whereupon Henry ordered all Scottish subjects found in England
-to be driven with insult over the Borders, having a white cross marked
-upon their backs. And at the same time that he sent Surrey to France,
-in the spring of 1522, he also bade the Earl of Shrewsbury march across
-the Tweed to punish the Scots. Shrewsbury obeyed the order with great
-celerity, and speedily laid waste the fine pastoral country round Kelso,
-but was met by a superior force and driven back, not however before he
-had aroused great indignation among the people at the wantonness of his
-attack and the outrages upon innocent folk and their property with which
-it was accompanied.
-
-[Illustration: CARDINAL WOLSEY. (_From the Portrait by Holbein_).]
-
-Instead, therefore, of an invasion of Scotland by the English, Henry was
-threatened with a descent of the Scots on his own kingdom, whilst the
-gallant Surrey was absent in France. The Duke of Albany, incensed at the
-reproaches of Henry regarding his connection with Queen Margaret, at the
-demands for his extradition, and at the ferocious inroad of the Earl of
-Shrewsbury, declared war against England, with the consent of Parliament.
-He called for the muster of all the feudal force of the kingdom, and the
-call was answered with such promptness that he beheld himself at the head
-of 80,000 men. With such a force, nothing would have been easier to all
-appearance than to have overrun the north of England, left almost wholly
-destitute of defence. But though the Scottish people were in earnest,
-there was treason not only in the camp, but in the very tent of Albany.
-The money of Dacre was in the pockets of the most powerful nobles, who
-silently but actively spread disunion through his host; and worst of
-all, Margaret, who, like her brother, was continually roving in her
-affections from one person to another, was already weary of Albany, and
-was in covert communication with Lord Dacre, and betraying the secrets
-and plans of Albany to him. It is said that Henry, through Lord Dacre,
-had completely corrupted the queen, probably by assisting her with money,
-but still more by offering to receive her again to his favour, and to
-secure her interests by marrying Mary, the Princess of England, to her
-son, the young King of Scots. Influenced by these hopes, the unprincipled
-queen exerted herself to weaken the measures of Albany, and to diminish
-the influence of France in the country as much as possible.
-
-Albany, therefore, though he advanced to the banks of the Tweed, and even
-reached within a few miles of Carlisle, found the spirit of his host
-continually on the decline. On the other hand, Lord Dacre had expended
-his money in extensive bribery, and was almost destitute of soldiers; yet
-he pretended that a great army was on the march to him, which would show
-the Scots another Flodden Field, and so imposed on Albany that he was
-willing to treat instead of being ready to fight. He engaged to disband
-his forces if Dacre would engage to keep back the imaginary advancing
-troops of England. Wolsey, who was watching in the northern counties with
-deep anxiety the result of this contest between military multitudes and
-political cunning, could not sufficiently express his astonishment, as
-he saw the stupendous armament of Scotland melt away before the empty
-bugbears of Lord Dacre's creation. "By the great wisdom and policy of my
-Lord Dacre, and by means of the safe-conduct lately sent at the desire
-and contemplation of the Queen of Scots, the said Duke of Albany hath,
-our Lord be praised, not only forborne his invasion, but also dissolved
-his army; which, being dispersed, neither shall nor can, for this year,
-be gathered or assembled again." And the cardinal proceeds to give us a
-specimen of the easy nature of his political morality, in saying, "And
-yet the said abstinence [armistice] concluded by my Lord Dacre, _he_ not
-having your authority for the same, _nothing bindeth your grace_; but,
-at your liberty, ye may pursue your wars against the said Scots, if it
-shall be thought to your highness convenable." On the 11th of September,
-1522, the treaty between Albany and Dacre was concluded, and Albany went
-over to France for fresh supplies of men and money, leaving the Earls of
-Huntly, Arran, and Argyle to administer affairs during his absence. Thus,
-about the same time, Henry saw his French and his Scottish campaign for
-that year terminated.
-
-His great and difficult business was now to raise the necessary funds for
-prosecuting his further designs against France. For eight years he had
-forborne to call a Parliament, but to postpone longer a summons of this
-engine of supply was not possible. He had pushed to the extreme point
-all the modes, legal and illegal, of extracting funds from his subjects;
-and the reluctance with which his last forced loan had been conceded,
-and the solemn promises which he had made to call a Parliament, left
-him no alternative. No king who ever reigned had a higher notion of the
-royal prerogative, and the hearty commendation he afterwards bestowed on
-Charles V. for destroying the last vestiges of free institutions in Spain
-showed plainly what he would fain have carried out in England. But sturdy
-as was his Tudor soul, he found that the English people had an equally
-stubborn will, and on the 15th of April, 1523, he summoned a Parliament
-at Blackfriars, London, where Wolsey sat at his feet as Chancellor.
-
-The Commons chose, as was supposed through the influence of the Court,
-Sir Thomas More as Speaker. Sir Thomas was not only a man of profound
-learning, but a felicitous genius, and extremely witty. His conversation
-was greatly relished by the queen, who had introduced him to the private
-suppers with the king, who became as much fascinated by his society. Sir
-Thomas was evidently well aware of the difficult part which he would
-have to sustain in such a post, for he hung back from it, declaring
-how unfit he was for it. But Wolsey, who calculated greatly on his
-genius, protested that he was qualified for it by his great abilities
-and judgment more than almost any man. After a few days' session of
-Parliament, Wolsey went down to the House, contrary to all custom and
-privilege, and presented a royal message, to the effect that Francis,
-by his conduct, had made a war absolutely necessary, that the honour of
-the country was deeply concerned, and that it was a fine opportunity for
-England to recover all that it had lost in that country. He concluded his
-address by recommending them to vote immediately a property-tax of twenty
-per cent., which would raise the sum of L800,000.
-
-Such a sum had never before been asked by any English king in his wildest
-dreams of foreign conquest. The House sat as if thunderstruck, and in
-profound silence. Wolsey had imagined that his presence, surrounded by
-all the symbols of his grandeur, would completely overawe the House; and
-that with a Court favourite of such distinction as Sir Thomas More, he
-should carry the monstrous demand by surprise. He had, therefore, come
-environed by his pompous retinue of prelates and nobles, and with his
-silver pillars and crosses, his maces, his poleaxes, his hat and Great
-Seal borne before him. But not all his magnificence moved the Commons
-where its privileges had been thus grossly invaded, and its money was
-thus boldly demanded. The whole House sat as silent as the senate of
-Rome when Brennus and his savage Gauls burst in upon it. Wolsey gazed
-upon them in amazement, looking from one to another. The proud cardinal
-then addressed a member by name. The member arose, bowed, and sat down
-again without uttering a word. Still more surprised at this dumb show,
-Wolsey called upon another member for an explanation, but obtained none.
-Growing wrathful, for he was not accustomed to such treatment, he broke
-out:--"Masters, as I am sent here by the king, it is not unreasonable to
-expect an answer. Yet, unless it be the manner of your House, as very
-likely it may, by your Speaker only in such cases to express your mind,
-here is, without doubt, a most marvellous silence."
-
-Whilst he said this, he looked fixedly and angrily at Sir Thomas More,
-unquestionably expecting different conduct from him. But Sir Thomas,
-dropping on his knee, said that the House felt abashed in the presence of
-so great a personage--which, he added, was enough to amaze the wisest and
-most learned men of the realm; that the House, according to its ancient
-privileges, was not bound to return any answer; and as for himself,
-unless all the members present could put their several thoughts into his
-head, he was unable to give his grace an answer on so weighty a matter.
-The cardinal then retired, much displeased with the House, and still more
-with the Speaker.
-
-After the great minister had retired, the House went into a warm debate.
-Some of the members affirmed that there was not above L800,000 of cash
-in the kingdom; and if the money were gathered into the king's hands,
-no trade could be carried on except by barter. The courtiers urged all
-the ingenious arguments that they could invent, or with which they were
-supplied, to show the necessity of the grant; and the king was in such
-a rage that he is said to have even threatened some of the members with
-death. It was, in fact, a stout resistance to oppression of the people,
-and one of the most determined stands for privilege of Parliament ever
-made in this country.
-
-The contest grew to such a pitch that the cardinal, fearful of the
-result, determined to go to the House a second time, notwithstanding the
-clear intimation given him that his presence was considered a breach of
-privilege. He made them a speech, going over all the arguments which had
-been advanced by the opposition, and then begged them to tell him what
-they had to object; but they only returned him the answer, through the
-Speaker, that they would hear his grace with humility, but could only
-reason amongst themselves; and he was obliged to go away as he came.
-
-When he had departed, they resumed the debate; and at length, at the
-earnest entreaty of the Speaker, they voted two shillings in the pound
-on all who enjoyed twenty pounds a year or upwards; one shilling on all
-who possessed from two pounds to twenty; and on all subjects with incomes
-below that scale, a groat a head. This was not a moiety of what the king
-had demanded, and the payment was spread over four years, so that it did
-not really amount to above sixpence in the pound. The lesson which Henry
-here received did not incline him to call another Parliament speedily.
-He had summoned none for eight years before; and there is no doubt that
-he asked for this extravagant sum that he might dispense with Parliament
-for another term as long. He did not, as it was, call another for seven
-years.
-
-The king, in his anger at the Commons, boasted to the mayor and aldermen
-of London that he should find a very different spirit amongst the
-clergy; but even these he tried beyond their patience. He demanded no
-less than fifty per cent. of the incomes of their benefices, to make up
-the deficiency from the laity. But the clergy were not disposed to be
-mulcted of half their incomes at a blow; they made as stout a resistance
-as the House of Commons. Wolsey, to make sure of them, summoned the
-convocations of the two provinces, which had met in their usual manner,
-by his legatine authority, to assemble in a national synod in Westminster
-Abbey. But there the proctors declared that they had only power to grant
-money in regular convocation, not in synod; and he was obliged to permit
-them to depart, and vote in their ordinary way. The convocation of the
-cardinal's own province of York waited to see what Canterbury would
-first do, which was more independent of Wolsey's power. In the Lower
-House the resistance was resolute, and was kept alive by the eloquence
-of a preacher of the name of Philips, till he was won over to the Court
-by substantial promotion. In the Upper House, the Bishops of Winchester
-and Rochester animated the prelates to such opposition, that the grant
-was not carried for four months, and then, being spread over five years,
-amounted, not to fifty, but only to ten per cent.
-
-[Illustration: SILVER GROAT OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-The money obtained at all this cost of difficulty in Parliament, and
-of unpopularity with the people, was lavishly expended in repelling
-the attempts of the Scots, in furnishing aid to the allies in Italy,
-and in preparing for another expedition into France. It was of the
-first importance, before sending the army across the Channel, to obtain
-security on the side of Scotland. To this end Henry made fresh overtures
-to his sister, Queen Margaret, offering to place her at the head of
-the Government, and to enable her to put down the party of Albany, who
-was now absent in France collecting fresh means for maintaining the
-war. He sent the Earl of Surrey, son of the victor of Flodden Field, to
-co-operate with her, to win over as many as possible of the nobles with
-money, and to lay waste the Borders, so that they should be incapable of
-furnishing supplies to an invading army.
-
-[Illustration: GOLD CROWN OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-Margaret now had every opportunity which a woman of spirit and reputation
-could wish. She was strongly supported by the power of England, and her
-great opponent was for ever defeated. She proclaimed her son, and assumed
-the regency; but her worst enemy was herself. She fell into her old
-habits; and her scandalous attachment to Henry Stuart, the son of Lord
-Evandale, soon ruined her prospects. Henry once more abandoned her, and
-raised her husband, the Earl of Angus, to the chief power. It was in
-vain that Margaret applied for assistance to Francis I., and humiliated
-herself so far as to solicit the return of Albany. From this moment there
-was more tranquillity in Scotland. The French faction, seeing support
-from France hopeless, were compelled to remain quiet. Truce after truce
-was established with England; and for eighteen years the Borders rested
-from hostilities.
-
-[Illustration: GEORGE NOBLE OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-The position of the King of France was, at this crisis, becoming more
-and more critical. His kingdom was environed with perils, and menaced
-with ruin, which could only be averted by singular courage and address.
-Against him was arrayed a most formidable confederacy of the Pope, the
-emperor, the King of England, and the various states of Italy. He had
-not a single ally, except the King of Scotland, a minor, and without
-authority. The internal condition of France was extremely discouraging.
-The wars of Francis in Italy and at home, his gay life and expensive
-pleasures, with his extravagant grants to his favourites, had exhausted
-his treasury, and involved him in grave embarrassment. The troops were
-ill-paid, and, as is usual in such cases, became disorderly and infested
-the highways, plundered the peasantry, and filled the whole kingdom with
-alarm and discontent. The Court partook of the licence and distraction
-of the nation; it was rent by faction, and the most dangerous secret
-conspiracy was at work in it. This was the doing of the Duke of Bourbon,
-Constable of France, who had been wronged in a lawsuit with the king.
-
-Charles V. and Henry of England thereupon entered into a secret treaty
-with the disaffected prince to betray his sovereign and his native
-country. The transaction was a disgraceful one to all parties concerned.
-In Bourbon, notwithstanding his grievous wrongs, it was a base as well as
-an impolitic deed; in Henry and Charles, it was one destructive of the
-security of the throne, and of every principle of honour which should
-guide the counsels of kings. Henry felt the vileness of the proceeding,
-but endeavoured to justify it as a fair retaliation, for that Francis had
-tampered with his Irish subject, the Earl of Desmond.
-
-[Illustration: DOUBLE SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-The Lord of Beaurain had been employed as the secret agent of the
-emperor; and Sir John Russell--this being one of the first public notices
-of the Russells in history--as that of Henry. A private treaty was
-concluded, of which the substance was as follows:--The emperor and the
-King of England were to invade France simultaneously, the one in the
-north, the other in the south, while Bourbon himself was to excite a
-rebellion in the heart of the kingdom, supported by all the connections
-of his family, whom he calculated at 200 knights and gentlemen, with
-their retainers. The attempt was to be made the moment Francis had
-crossed the Alps; and when the conquest of France was complete, Bourbon,
-in addition to his appanage of the Bourbonnais and Auvergne, was to
-receive Provence and Dauphine, which together were to constitute a
-kingdom for him. He was, moreover, to receive the hand of the emperor's
-sister, Eleanor, Queen-Dowager of Portugal. The emperor was to have, as
-his share of the spoil, Languedoc, Burgundy, Champagne, and Picardy, and
-Henry VIII. the rest of France.
-
-Such was the traitorous scheme which was now opened up to the astonished
-gaze of Francis. Had he crossed the Alps before he received the
-intelligence, it might have been fatal. He had received some dark hints
-of mischief to be apprehended from Bourbon previously; and on his way
-south, he had suddenly presented himself at the duke's castle, and called
-upon him to accompany the expedition to Italy; but the duke made it
-appear that the state of his health rendered that impossible. Francis,
-not by any means satisfied, set a strict but secret guard upon his
-castle, and proceeded to Lyons; but there the news reached him that the
-pretended sick man had managed to escape in disguise, and was on his way,
-through the intricacies of the mountains of Auvergne and Dauphine, to
-join the emperor's army in Italy.
-
-[Illustration: POUND SOVEREIGN OF HENRY VIII.]
-
-The Powers of England and the Netherlands appeared, in pursuance of the
-secret treaty with Bourbon, on the soil of France about the same time.
-The Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon, the commander of the English army,
-landed at Calais on the 24th of August, and, joining to his troops those
-collected from the garrisons of Calais, Ham, and Guines, found himself
-at the head of 13,000 men. He marched on the 19th of September, and the
-next day fell in with the Imperial troops from the Netherlands, under
-Van Buren. The allies now amounted to 20,000; but instead of marching
-to join the Imperial forces coming from Germany, they remained under
-the walls of St. Omer, debating whether they should do this or invest
-Boulogne. After having wasted a precious month, they decided to leave
-Boulogne, and endeavour to form a junction with the Germans. But they
-had now allowed Francis ample time to thwart all their objects. He had
-sent a strong detachment, under the Duke of Guise, to throw themselves
-in the way of the Germans; whilst the Dukes of Vendome and Tremouille
-kept a sharp watch over the movements of the allied army. Suffolk and Van
-Buren traversed Artois and Picardy, crossed the Somme and the Oise, and
-alarmed Paris by pitching their tents near Laon, within twenty miles of
-the capital. They had stopped by the way to invest Bray, Montdidier, and
-some other small places, and now confidently expected the arrival of the
-German army.
-
-But the Germans by this time were in full flight before the Duke of
-Guise, and Vendome and Tremouille manoeuvred more menacingly on the
-front and flank of the Allies. Tremouille, in particular, grew more and
-more audacious, beat up their quarters with his cavalry, harassed them by
-frequent skirmishes, and intercepted their convoys. The position of the
-allied troops became every day more critical. They were threatened with
-a growing force in their rear, drawn from the garrisons of Picardy, and
-there was danger of their supplies, which were all derived from Calais,
-being cut off. The troops were become sickly, and discontented with their
-situation. It was high time to retrace their steps, and they commenced
-their march by way of Valenciennes. But the weather was very rainy, the
-roads were almost impassable, cold and frost succeeded, and the sickness
-and murmurs of the troops augmented every day. Numbers perished on the
-march; all were eager to reach their homes; and, as the Flemings drew
-near their frontiers, they deserted in shoals. The armies then separated,
-and Suffolk reached Calais in December, with his forces greatly reduced,
-and all in miserable condition.
-
-On the 14th of September, whilst the Duke of Suffolk was advancing on
-Paris, an event occurred which arrested the attention of Cardinal Wolsey
-even more than the engrossing moves on the great chess-board of war. This
-was the death of the Pope Adrian. He had occupied the papal chair only
-about twenty months; and so impatient were the Italians of the Flemish
-pope and his strict economy, that they styled the doctor who attended him
-in his last sickness the "saviour of his country." Wolsey lost no time in
-putting in his claim; and wrote to Dr. Clark, the English ambassador at
-Rome, telling him to spare neither money nor promises, for that it was
-by command of the king, who would undoubtedly see all his engagements
-performed. This time Wolsey was put in nomination, and obtained a
-considerable number of votes; but there was no real chance for him, for
-the Italians were clamorous to have no more ultramontane, or, as they
-styled them, barbarian popes. Charles V., despite his promises to Wolsey,
-not only did not move a finger in his favour, but threw all his influence
-into the scale to carry the election of Julius de Medici; whilst the
-French cardinals, to a man, were opposed to Wolsey as the most dangerous
-enemy to their sovereign. The conclave met in October, and the discussion
-was continued through six stormy weeks. The election at length was seen
-to lie between Jacovaccio Romano and Julius de Medici. Cardinal Pompeo
-Colonna, who held the most decisive influence in the conclave, threw his
-weight into the scale for Romano, and the balance hung undecided; but all
-at once it gave way. Colonna, although he hated the Medici, gave up his
-opposition, and Julius was unanimously elected.
-
-Wolsey, to all appearance, bore this second disappointment with the
-equanimity of a philosopher; yet we may justly imagine that it produced
-a deep change in his feelings towards the emperor, and led to a hostile
-policy against his interests and those of Queen Catherine, his aunt,
-in England. But Wolsey had prepared for either event, his election
-or rejection; and the moment the latter became certain, the whole of
-the influence of the English Government was employed in favour of the
-election of Julius de Medici. On the strength of this, the English
-ambassadors congratulated Julius on his elevation, and solicited the
-continuance of the legatine commission to Wolsey. The Pope, who assumed
-the name of Clement VII., not only renewed the commission, but granted
-it for life, with augmented powers; and added to it a commission to
-reform or suppress certain religious houses in England. This was a
-dangerous power, and as Wolsey, in 1525--only two years afterwards--by
-this authority suppressed a number of monasteries, it is by no means
-improbable that it led Henry to think of those more sweeping changes of
-the same kind which he afterwards effected. The money thus procured was
-devoted, notwithstanding the necessities of the State, to the erection of
-colleges, where both Wolsey and his master declared they were anxious to
-educate able men in order to oppose effectually the fast-growing heresies
-of Martin Luther.
-
-The campaign in Italy opened in the spring of 1524, with wonderfully
-increased difficulties for the French. Charles V. had appointed the
-renegade Duke of Bourbon his generalissimo in that country against his
-own sovereign and compatriots. Henry of England engaged to furnish
-100,000 crowns for the first month's pay of the duke's army, and to make
-a diversion by invading Picardy in July. The emperor promised to defray
-the cost of the Italian army for the remainder of the campaign, and to
-invade Languedoc at the same time. Thus supported, Bourbon took the field
-early in the spring; and by the end of May the duke had completely freed
-Italy of his countrymen, and driven them across the Alps. The losses
-of the French in this retreat were dreadful, and perhaps the greatest
-calamity was the death of the famous Chevalier Bayard, the knight "sans
-peur et sans reproche," who was killed as he was protecting the rear of
-the army, on the banks of the Sesia (April 30, 1524.)
-
-Bourbon, ardent and impatient to secure the kingdom which had been
-promised him in France, as well as thirsting with desire to take the
-utmost vengeance on Francis I., entreated the emperor to allow him
-to quit Italy and enter France with his victorious army. The emperor
-consented, and the Imperial forces soon found themselves descending
-from the Alps. Unfortunately, Charles had divided the command of this
-expedition between Bourbon and the Marquis of Pescara, and the certain
-result was divided councils. Bourbon urged to push forward to Lyons,
-calculating on his friends and dependants in France flocking to him
-there; but Pescara had probably different instructions, and accordingly
-advised that they should descend on Provence, and lay siege to
-Marseilles. This was palpably the suggestion of the emperor, for he was
-ambitious of securing Marseilles, and holding it as a key to the south of
-France, as Calais was to the north, in the hands of the English. Thither,
-therefore, they marched, entered Provence on the 2nd of July, and on the
-19th of August they sat down before Marseilles with an army of 16,000 men.
-
-But the situation of the Imperial troops soon became extremely hazardous
-there. The place was strongly fortified; it contained a garrison of 3,200
-men, and these were zealously supported by 9,000 of the inhabitants,
-who, detesting the Spaniards, took up arms and fought most gallantly.
-Bourbon and Pescara spent forty days in mining and bombarding the place,
-when they became aware of a tempest gathering which boded their utter
-destruction. This was Francis marching from Avignon at the head of 40,000
-men. Neither Henry nor the emperor had made those diversions in Languedoc
-and Picardy which they had promised, and thus the whole weight of the
-army of France was at liberty to descend upon them. Bourbon and Pescara
-precipitately abandoned the siege, made for the Alps, and regained Italy.
-
-At this moment Francis committed a military error, which probably
-deprived him of the triumph of thoroughly routing his enemies. To
-have continued the pursuit was almost certain to have destroyed the
-Imperialist force, for it was worn down by its severe marches, and the
-road to Lodi by which Pescara retreated was actually strewn with his
-exhausted horses. The army of Pescara was the sole Imperial force now
-in Italy, and its defeat would have been the immediate recovery of the
-Milanese territory. But Francis was beguiled into the delay of besieging
-Pavia, in which Pescara had left a strong garrison, under Antonio da
-Leyva. Pavia was a well-fortified city, situated on the deep and rapid
-Ticino, in a peculiarly strong position, and had repeatedly defied
-armies for a long time together, particularly those of the Lombards
-and of Charlemagne. The moment Pescara heard of Francis sitting down
-before it, he exclaimed that he was saved! Every exertion was made by
-the Imperialists to profit by the time thus given them. The Duke of
-Bourbon hastened over the Alps to Germany to raise 12,000 men, for which
-purpose he had pawned his jewels. Lannoy, the viceroy of Naples, pledged
-the regular revenues of that kingdom for ready cash for the hiring of
-troops, and great activity was displayed in raising an army and posting
-it betwixt the Adda and the Ticino.
-
-For three months Francis continued lying before Pavia, and committed the
-further error of weakening his forces, by detaching 6,000 of them, under
-Albany, the late regent of Scotland, to menace the kingdom of Naples.
-
-In the beginning of February, 1525, the Imperialist generals thought
-themselves strong enough to attack the French in their entrenchments.
-These entrenchments were very formidable. The rear-guard was posted in
-the beautiful castle of Mirabello, in the midst of an extensive park,
-enclosed by high and solid walls. But Leyva, who commanded the garrison,
-found means to communicate with the Imperial generals outside, and
-he sent them word that they must either relieve him or that he must
-attempt to cut his way out, for famine was urgent amongst his troops.
-The generals themselves were suffering from want of provisions and pay
-for their troops. In the French camp the wisest commanders counselled
-Francis to raise the siege and retire to Milan, confident that the enemy
-must soon disband from want of pay. But Bonivet treated this counsel as
-mean and dastardly; and, unfortunately, this was the tone most likely to
-captivate the chivalrous mind of the French king. He resolved to stand
-his ground.
-
-On the 24th of February, Bourbon, Pescara, and Lannoy, having distracted
-the attention of the French for several days previously by false
-attacks, at midnight led out their troops silently to the park. A body
-of pioneers commenced operations on the wall, and before daylight they
-had effected a breach of a hundred paces in length, and at dawn they
-carried the castle by surprise. Francis drew his troops out of their
-entrenchments and made a push across the Ticino, but he found the bridge
-demolished, and a strong body of the Spaniards closely drawn up on the
-banks. Attacked fiercely by the garrison in the rear, and hemmed in by
-the Imperial army in front, the battle became desperate. Francis had
-his horse killed under him; the Swiss, contrary to their wont, turned
-and fled at the first charge; and the Germans, who fought with singular
-valour, were annihilated to a man. The Spanish musketeers then broke the
-French ranks; and the king, being already wounded twice in the face, and
-once in the hand, refused to surrender to the Spaniards who environed
-him. Fortunately, Pomperant, a French gentleman in the service of the
-Duke of Bourbon, recognised him, and called Lannoy, to whom the king
-resigned his sword. Lannoy, kneeling, kissed the king's hand, took the
-sword, and gave him his own in return, saying it did not become a monarch
-to appear unarmed in the presence of a subject. The king was relieved of
-his helmet by James D'Avila; and the Spanish soldiers, who admired his
-valour, came crowding around him, and snatched the feathers from it, and,
-when they were all gone, even cut pieces from his clothes, to keep as
-memorials that they had fought hand to hand with him. Francis was soon
-left standing in his jerkin and hose, and, despite his misfortune, could
-not help laughing at his situation, and at the eagerness of the soldiers
-for something belonging to him.
-
-The amazement and consternation which fell on France at the news of this
-terrible disaster are scarcely to be imagined. Nothing, indeed, could be
-more melancholy than the situation of that kingdom. Her king was captive,
-her most distinguished generals and the flower of the army were taken or
-slain; powerful and triumphant enemies on all sides were ready to seize
-her as a spoil, and she was equally destitute of allies, of money, of
-troops, or wise counsel. Scarcely less was the terror of the princes and
-the states of Italy, for their only safety--the balance of power--was
-destroyed, and there appeared no defence against the predominant power of
-the emperor.
-
-Charles himself assumed an air of singular composure and moderation on
-the receipt of this brilliant news. He had been daily expecting to hear
-of the defeat of his army, when, on the 10th of March, came the tidings
-of this great victory. We may imagine, therefore, his real joy. But
-such was his command of his feelings that nothing of this appeared in
-his manner. He perused the dispatches with the most perfect composure,
-affected even to commiserate the fall of his rival, and moralised
-sagely on the uncertainty of human greatness. A little time, however,
-was sufficient to show that this was dissimulation, and his conduct to
-Francis was ample proof that he had neither pity nor generosity.
-
-Henry of England, on the contrary, gave freedom to his expressions of
-joy. Though he was actually on his way to coalesce with Francis against
-Charles, he saw at once the immense advantages this defeat and capture
-offered for aggressions on his kingdom, and he therefore ordered the most
-public rejoicings in London and other cities, and rode himself in state
-to St. Paul's, where Wolsey performed mass, assisted by eleven bishops,
-in presence of the Court and all the foreign ambassadors; and afterwards
-_Te Deum_ was sung. Henry then posted off Tunstall, Bishop of London, and
-Sir Richard Wingfield, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, into Spain
-to congratulate the emperor on his splendid triumph, and modestly to
-propose that they should divide France between them.
-
-To induce Charles to consent to this improbable arrangement, Henry
-proposed at once to put the Princess Mary, who was betrothed to Charles,
-into his hands--in fact, to make the exchange of her person for that of
-Francis. Henry was the more buoyed up in these wild notions by the fact
-that the ambassador of Charles had just been applying for the delivery of
-the princess.
-
-[Illustration: SURRENDER OF FRANCIS ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF PAVIA. (_See
-p._ 140.)]
-
-So confident was Henry of the cession of his claims by the emperor,
-that he instantly took measures to raise the money necessary for the
-invasion of France. As he had resolved to rule without the interference
-of parliaments, he sent out commissioners to every part of the country to
-levy the sixth part of the goods of the laity and a fourth of those of
-the clergy. The scheme was entirely unconstitutional, the commissioners
-performed their part in a harsh and overbearing manner, trusting thus to
-intimidate the people into compliance, and the consequence was universal
-resentment and resistance. Clergy and laity, rich and poor, all alike
-denounced the arbitrary and illegal impost. "How the great men took it,"
-says Hall, "was a marvel: the poor cursed, the rich repugned, the lighter
-sort railed, and, in conclusion, all men execrated the cardinal as the
-subverter of the laws and liberties of England. For, said they, if men
-should give their goods by a commission, then were it worse than the
-taxes of France, and so England would be bond, and not free." This was
-the more just because the cardinal in person acted as commissioner in
-London, and lent all the weight of his office and position to sanction
-the oppression. He used all his arts to prevail on the citizens to
-comply, but neither threats nor blandishments moved them. The resistance
-was obstinate and universal.
-
-In London the excitement became excessive; the people placarded the walls
-with their complaints, and the clergy preached against the arbitrary
-tax, and declared that for themselves they would pay no money which
-was not voted in Convocation. From London the fire spread through the
-other towns, the people began to take up arms, the clergy to encourage
-them, and Henry, who was soon terrified, with all his bluster, took the
-alarm, and declared that he wanted nothing from his loving subjects but
-as a benevolence. But the very word benevolence awoke a host of hateful
-recollections. The tumult was only increased by it; and a lawyer in
-the city published the passage from the Act of Richard III., by which
-benevolences were abolished for ever. This seemed to arouse the lion
-spirit in Henry. The prospect of the crown of France was too fascinating
-to be lightly surrendered; he therefore called together the judges,
-and demanded their opinion on his power to tax his subjects without
-Parliament. The venal judges reminded the king that Richard III. was a
-usurper, and that his Parliament was a factious Parliament, the acts
-of which were illegal and void, and could in no wise bind a legitimate
-and _absolute_ king, who, like him, held the Crown by hereditary right.
-This bold and base doctrine was loudly echoed by the Privy Council, but
-vain were such authorities with the people. On hearing this decision,
-they again flew to arms. In Kent they speedily drove the commissioners
-and tax-gatherers out of the county; in Suffolk they marched in an armed
-body of 4,000 or 5,000 men, and even threatened the duke of the county,
-Brandon, the king's brother-in-law, who was the chief commissioner there,
-with death. Surrey, who stood high in the estimation of the people,
-interfered to calm them, and to prevent mischief; and Henry saw that the
-contest was hopeless, and by proclamation retracted his demand. Wolsey,
-who had been extremely prominent in endeavouring to enforce the detested
-tax, now caused a report to be industriously circulated, that he had, in
-truth, never been favourable to it, but the people only replied when they
-heard it, "God save the king! we know the cardinal well enough."
-
-But Henry might have spared himself this tumult and unpopularity. The
-emperor was never less likely than now to concede such favours and
-advantages to him. He was a deep and subtle prince; no man could see more
-intuitively and instantly the wonderful change in his power and position
-which the battle of Pavia created. Charles had calculated upon Henry
-for large subsidies during the war, but instead of receiving these, he
-had found Henry as much straitened for money as he was himself. It was
-now discovered that the emperor had already made a truce of six months
-with France, and he coolly advised the ambassadors to seek from their
-sovereign power, not negotiations for the invasion of France, but the
-terms on which the French king should be liberated. To crown all, and
-leave no question of the feeling which Henry's late conduct had produced
-in Charles's Court, he wrote to Henry, no longer styling himself his
-loving uncle and penning the grossest flatteries with his own hand, but
-he simply and curtly signed himself Charles to official communications
-duly and officially prepared.
-
-This was a rebuff not to be received complacently by a man of Henry's
-vain and volcanic spirit. He read the astounding dispatches with an
-amazement which burst into a tempest of rage. At once a tide of impetuous
-revulsion flowed over his whole soul. He abandoned in a moment all ideas
-of conquests, invasions, and the crown of France, and determined to do
-everything in his power to procure the liberation of Francis, and to
-unite with him against the perfidious and insulting Spaniard. He had
-dismissed the French envoys, who were residing privately in London, on
-the news of the capture of Francis, but he now let it be understood
-that their presence would be heartily welcome. Louise, the mother of
-Francis, accepted the hint, and John Brenon, president of the council
-of Normandy, and her favourite envoy, Giovanni Joacchino, were again
-despatched to London. A truce for four months was immediately concluded,
-and Wolsey, who fanned the new flame in Henry's bosom for objects and
-resentments of his own, soon arranged the terms of a treaty with them.
-These terms were extremely acceptable to Henry, as they furnished him
-with a prospect of a considerable addition to his income, without the
-disagreeable necessity of having to go to Parliament for it. The treaty
-consisted of six articles. By the first, the contracting parties engaged
-to guarantee the integrity of each other's territories against all
-the princes in the world. The object of this was to prevent Francis
-from bartering any of his provinces with Charles for his liberty. By
-the second, Francis and his heirs were made to guarantee to Henry the
-payment of 2,000,000 crowns, by half-yearly instalments, and 100,000
-crowns for life, after the payment of that amount. Nine of the chief
-noblemen of France, and nine of the richest cities also, gave up their
-bonds for the security of these payments. By the third article, the
-King of France engaged to pay up all the arrears of the dowry of Mary,
-the Queen-Dowager of France. The rest of the articles were for the
-prevention of depredations at sea, for comprehending the King of Scots in
-the treaty, and for the prevention of the return of the Duke of Albany
-to Scotland during the minority of James V. This treaty was signed at
-the king's house in Hertfordshire, on the 30th of August. The cardinal,
-who never forgot himself on these occasions, was well rewarded for his
-trouble in promoting and arranging this alliance. He received a grant of
-100,000 crowns for his good offices in the affair, and the arrears of his
-pension in lieu of his surrender of the bishopric of Tournay, the whole
-to be paid in equal instalments in the course of seven years and a half.
-
-But whilst the French regent, Louise, made these liberal concessions
-for the friendship of Henry, and showed every apparent disposition to
-guarantee the conditions, Louise swearing to them, and Francis ratifying
-them, care was taken to leave a loophole of escape at any future period.
-The attorney and solicitor-general entered a secret protest against the
-whole treaty, so that Francis might, if occasion required, plead the
-illegality of the whole transaction.
-
-But it was not so easy to procure the liberation of the captive King
-of France. Moderate as Charles had professed to be, and sympathetic
-regarding the misfortunes of Francis, he soon showed that he was
-determined to extort every possible advantage from having the royal
-captive in his hands. He had been detained in the strong castle of
-Pizzighettone, near Cremona; but, thinking that he should be able to
-influence the emperor by his presence, he petitioned to be removed to the
-Alcazar of Madrid. At length, however, on the 14th of January, 1526, was
-signed the famous treaty called the Concord of Madrid, one of the most
-grasping and impudent pieces of extortion which one prince ever forced
-from another in his necessity. By this treaty Francis gave up all that he
-had offered before--namely, all claims of superiority over Flanders and
-Artois, and the possession of Naples, Milan, Genoa, and the other Italian
-territories, for which France had spent so much blood and treasure. But
-besides this, Francis was to deliver to the emperor his two sons, the
-Dauphin and the Duke of Orleans, as hostages, and also bind himself, if
-he did not, or could not, fulfil his engagements within four months,
-to return and yield himself once more prisoner. He was to marry Queen
-Eleanora of Portugal, the sister of Charles, and the Dauphin was to marry
-the Princess Maria, the daughter of Eleanora. But these were but a small
-part of the demands. Francis was bound to persuade the King of Navarre
-to surrender his rights in that kingdom to Charles, and the Duke of
-Gueldres to appoint Charles the heir to his dominions; and if he failed
-to persuade them, he was to give them no aid when the emperor invaded
-their states. Next, Francis was to lend his whole navy, 500 men-at-arms,
-and 6,000 foot-soldiers, to put down the princes of Italy, who were
-uniting to effect his own freedom! Then, Francis was to pay to the King
-of England all those sums which the emperor himself had engaged to pay.
-Still more, he was to restore Bourbon and the rest of the rebels to their
-estates and honours. The whole of the conditions were so monstrous,
-that they cannot be read without astonishment at the rapacity of this
-triumphant prince. But to gain his liberty Francis signed the Treaty.
-
-Henry VIII. was one of the first amongst princes to send ambassadors to
-congratulate Francis on his restoration to freedom, and to urge him to
-break every article of the infamous terms which had been forced upon him.
-Sir Thomas Cheney was sent from England to meet Dr. Taylor, the English
-ambassador at Paris; and together they proceeded to Bayonne, and were
-introduced to Francis, who told them he greatly felt the friendship of
-Henry, who had, indeed, remonstrated with Charles on his behalf, though
-Charles had not paid much respect to the intercession. There was no need
-of any arguments from the two English casuists to induce Francis to break
-the engagements he had entered into. He had never meant to keep them.
-Before signing the document, he had protested, before two notaries and a
-few confidential friends, that he had acted under restraint, and that he
-should hold himself bound to observe none of the conditions which were
-not just and reasonable.
-
-Two ambassadors had attended him from Spain to take his signature of
-the Treaty, when he was free and on his own soil, as a ratification of
-it, which he had engaged to give; but when the ambassadors presented
-themselves for this purpose, Francis declined, affirming that he could
-not enter into any such engagements without the advice of his council and
-the approbation of his subjects. He assured them, however, that he would
-immediately summon an assembly of the notables at Cognac, and requested
-them to attend him thither, to learn the decision of the assembly. This
-body met at that place in June, and declared, with one voice, that the
-king had no right or power to sever Burgundy from the kingdom without
-their consent, and such consent they would never give. The Spanish
-ambassadors were present when this decision was pronounced, and they said
-that the king, not being able to fulfil his contract, was bound to return
-to his captivity, and they called upon him to obey. Instead of a direct
-answer to this demand, a treaty betwixt the King of France, the Pope,
-the Venetians, and the Duke of Milan, which had been secretly concluded
-a few days before, was produced, and published in their hearing. As this
-was tantamount to a declaration of war, the ambassadors demanded their
-passports, and returned to Spain. The Pope, on entering into this league,
-absolved Francis from all the forced oaths that he had sworn.
-
-This confederacy of Francis and the Italian princes and states against
-the emperor, bound the Allies to raise and pay an army of 30,000 foot
-and 3,000 horse, with a certain number of ships and galleys. The King of
-France was to be put in possession of the county of Asti and the lordship
-of Genoa; and Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, engaged to pay him 50,000
-crowns annually. Naples was to be wrested from Charles, and its crown
-placed at the disposal of the Pope; but the king whom he appointed was to
-pay an annuity of 75,000 crowns to the King of France. Henry of England,
-though he declined to take any active part in the league, but consented
-merely to be nominated its protector, was to have a principality in
-Naples, with 36,000 ducats a year; and the cardinal, who always came in
-for his share of spoil, was to have a lordship worth 10,000 ducats.
-
-So closed the year 1526; and the new year opened with preparations
-for still more terrors for devoted Italy. The Emperor Charles had no
-money to maintain the troops necessary for the extensive domination
-that he aimed at, and he therefore allowed the mercenary troops in his
-employment, rather than in his pay, to indemnify themselves by the
-plunder of the wretched inhabitants of the countries where they were
-collected. These troops consisted of a mob of vagabonds, outlaws, and
-marauders, from every country in Europe, who, by their long course of
-licentious freedom, were become utterly callous to the sufferings which
-they inflicted. Freundsberg, a German soldier of fortune, was at the head
-of 15,000 of these adventurers, consisting of Germans, Spaniards, and
-Swiss; and Bourbon, at the head of 10,000 more half-starved and half-clad
-mercenaries, was in possession of the whole duchy of Milan, but with
-no means of supporting his position. These two ferocious hordes having
-formed a junction under his banner, clamoured for their pay; Bourbon told
-them he had no money, and that Milan had been so repeatedly overrun and
-ravaged, that it was destitute of all means of supporting them; but that
-he would lead them into the enemy's country--into the richest cities
-of Italy--where they might amply indemnify themselves for all their
-past sufferings. Animated by these assurances, they swore to follow him
-whithersoever he might lead them. They marched on Rome, and sacked it,
-losing, however, their leader, who fell in the attack.
-
-The news of the sacking of Rome, and the imprisonment of the Pope,
-excited the most lively sensations of horror and indignation throughout
-the Christian, and especially the Catholic, world. None appeared more
-affected than the emperor, by whose troops the sacrilegious deed had been
-perpetrated. He put himself and his Court into the deepest mourning,
-forbade rejoicing for the birth of his son, and commanded prayers to
-be offered in the churches throughout Spain for the liberation of His
-Holiness. No one could play off a piece of solemn hypocrisy more solemnly
-than Charles V. Francis and Henry, who were making a fresh treaty of
-alliance, were at once affected with real or pretended horror. They
-agreed immediately to invade Italy with 30,000 foot, and 1,000 horse, to
-join the confederate army there, and drive out the troops of Spain, and
-liberate the Pope from the Castle of St. Angelo.
-
-[Illustration: MARTIN LUTHER.
-
-(_After the Portrait by Lucas Cranach, at Florence._)]
-
-But the time was now approaching which was to interrupt the friendship
-of Henry with the head of the Church of Rome. The Reformation in Germany
-had made an immense progress, and produced the most astonishing events.
-The whole mind and intellect of that country had been convulsed by the
-preaching of the doctrines of Luther. State had been set against state,
-prince against prince; and the bold monk of Wittenberg had only escaped
-the vengeance of the Church of Rome by the undaunted championship of the
-Elector of Saxony. Henry, fond of school divinity from his youth, and a
-great reader and admirer of Thomas Aquinas, had looked across to Germany
-with a grim and truculent glance, which seemed to rest on the blunt and
-unconventional Reformer with an expression of one who longed to strike
-down the daring heretic, and rid the world of him. As this was out of
-his power, he determined to annihilate him by his pen; and for this
-purpose he had written a book against him, with the title of "A Treatise
-on the Seven Sacraments, against Martin Luther, the Heresiarch, by the
-Illustrious Prince Henry VIII." This he had caused to be presented to the
-Pope by the English ambassador, beautifully written and magnificently
-bound, and Leo X. received it with the most extravagant laudations, and
-conferred on Henry in 1521 the title of "Defender of the Faith," in a
-bull signed by himself and twenty-seven cardinals. Henry really believed
-that he had crushed Luther and all his sect; but the free-mouthed
-Reformer, who paid no flatteries to king or Pope, soon convinced the
-literary monarch that he was as much alive as ever. He wrote a reply to
-Henry, in which, giving him commendation for writing in elegant language,
-he abused him and his work as broadly as he would have done that of the
-obscurest mortal. Henry, in his estimation, was "fool," "liar," "ass,"
-"blasphemer." The correspondence which ensued was acrimonious.
-
-The great defender of the faith, at the time at which we are now arrived,
-was growing dissatisfied with his wife, and was about to seek a divorce
-from her, which must necessarily involve the Pope in difficulties with
-the queen's nephew, the Emperor. Henry was married to Catherine when she
-was in her twenty-fifth year. So long as the disparity of their ages did
-not appear, for he was six years younger, and so long as she was pleasing
-in her person, he seemed not only satisfied with, but really attached to
-her. But she was now forty-two years of age, had undergone much anxiety
-in her earlier years in England, had borne the king five children, three
-sons and two daughters, all of whom died in their infancy, except the
-Princess Mary, who lived to mount the throne. Catherine, of late years,
-had suffered much in her health, and we may judge from the best-known
-portrait of her that she had now lost her good looks, and had a
-bowed-down and sorrow-stricken air.
-
-Anne Boleyn had been living in France, at first as attendant on Mary,
-King Henry's sister, the queen of Louis XII., and afterwards in the
-family of the Duke of Alencon. She returned to England on the breaking
-out of the war with Francis I., in 1522; and seems, by her beauty, wit,
-and accomplishments, to have created a great sensation in the English
-Court, where she was soon attached to the service of Queen Catherine.
-Henry is said to have first met her by accident, in her father's garden,
-at Hever Castle, in Kent; and was so charmed with her that he told Wolsey
-that he had been "discoursing with a young lady who had the wit of an
-angel, and was worthy of a crown." She is supposed at that time to have
-been about one-and-twenty, a brunette of tall and most graceful figure,
-and extremely accomplished.
-
-The understanding between Henry and Anne Boleyn soon became obvious
-to the whole Court. The queen saw it as clearly as any one else, and
-upbraided Henry with it, but does not seem to have used any harshness
-to Anne on that account, though she occasionally gave her some sharp
-rubs. For instance, once when the queen was playing at cards with Anne
-Boleyn she thus addressed her, "My Lady Anne, you have the good hap ever
-to stop at a king; but you are like others, you will have all or none."
-Cavendish, Wolsey's secretary, says the queen at this trying crisis
-"behaved like a very patient Grissel."
-
-Henry now having resolved to marry Anne Boleyn, as he found he could
-obtain her on no other terms, felt himself suddenly afflicted with
-lamentable scruples of conscience for being married to his brother's
-widow, and entertaining equally afflicting doubts of the power of the
-Pope to grant a dispensation for such a marriage. For eighteen years
-these scruples had rested in his bosom without disturbing a moment of his
-repose. It is true that these doubts had been started before the marriage
-by Archbishop Warham, but they had no weight with Henry or his father.
-Henry had gone into the marriage at the age of eighteen with his eyes
-open, having some time before, by his father's order, made a protest
-against it for State purposes, and had been ever since, till he saw Anne
-Boleyn, not only contented but jovial. Now, however, he soon ceased to
-be merely scrupulous--he became positive that his marriage was unlawful,
-and set to work to write a book to prove it. The king communicated to
-Wolsey fully his views regarding the divorce, and Wolsey, who had now
-his decided quarrel with Charles for deceiving him in the matter of the
-Papacy, and who was equally the enemy of Catherine, she having openly
-expressed her resentment of his procuring the destruction of the Duke
-of Buckingham, readily fell into the scheme. Wolsey was undoubtedly as
-well aware as any one of the love affair going on between Henry and
-Anne Boleyn; nothing that was moving at Court could escape him; but he
-supposed this affair was only of the same kind as the rest of Henry's
-gallantries, and his notion was that some foreign princess would be
-selected for Henry's second queen.
-
-But during the discussions on the marriage between the English princess
-and the French prince, a circumstance had taken place which showed that
-Henry was resolved to let slip no opportunity of carrying his divorce
-at all costs. The Bishop of Tarbes suddenly asked the question whether
-the legitimacy of the Princess Mary was beyond every legal and canonical
-doubt, considering the nature of the king's marriage with her mother, the
-queen. Henry and Wolsey affected to be much astonished and agitated at
-the question; and the King afterwards made it an argument that the idea
-of the illegality of his marriage, though it had originated with himself,
-had been greatly strengthened by the question of the bishop, as it showed
-how apparent the fact was to strangers and even foreigners. Yet the
-suggestion had undoubtedly been made to the bishop by Wolsey on Henry's
-behalf. The meaning of the question was quite obvious--it was to serve
-the cause of the divorce, which was an object highly pleasing to Francis
-I., in his resentment of the treatment of himself by the Emperor; but it
-was not believed for a moment to indicate real doubt even on the part of
-the French king, or he would not have proceeded to confirm the choice of
-an illegitimate maiden for the Queen of France, or the wife of his son.
-
-At the close of this treaty, Wolsey was sent over to France, rather to
-show to Europe, and particularly to the King of Spain, the intimate
-footing between France and England, than for any real use. It was
-believed that Anne Boleyn and her friends were at the bottom of Wolsey's
-being sent abroad for a time, that the affairs regarding "the king's
-secret" might proceed without his cognisance; and, indeed, before his
-return, it had ceased to be a secret to any one. Anne had become openly
-acknowledged as the king's favourite, and had assumed an air and style
-of magnificence and consequence on account of it. Meantime, Wolsey,
-misled by his idea that the king meant to marry a foreign princess, had
-committed himself deeply, and supplied fresh and serious materials for
-his own destruction. He had given hints of the divorce of Henry, and of
-his probable marriage with a princess of the Court of France. He told
-Louise, the French king's mother, that "if she lived another year, she
-should see as great union on one side, and disunion on the other, as she
-would ask or wish for. These," he added, "were not idle words. Let her
-treasure them up in her memory; time would explain them."
-
-The cardinal had, in fact, been looking round him at the French Court for
-a wife for Henry, and had selected the Princess Renee, sister of the late
-Queen Claude, while Henry himself had settled his choice nearer home. On
-the return of Wolsey, all being now prepared, Henry communicated to the
-astonished man the secret of his intended marriage with Anne. Confounded
-at the disclosure, the proud cardinal dropped on his knees, and, it is
-said, remained there for some hours pleading with the king against this
-infatuation, as he deemed it, and which he saw compromised himself with
-the Court of France, and menaced him darkly in the future, from the
-deep enmity of her who would thus become his queen. His pleadings and
-arguments were vain. His fair enemy had made her ground wholly secure in
-his absence, and Wolsey withdrew with gloomy forebodings.
-
-The communication of the king's secret to Wolsey was immediately followed
-by more active measures, in which Wolsey, however averse, was obliged to
-co-operate. The king's treatise was now submitted to Sir Thomas More,
-who at once saw the peril of acting as a judge in so delicate a matter,
-declared that he was no theologian, and therefore unqualified to decide.
-It was next laid before the Bishop of Rochester, who decided against it.
-Henry then directed Sir Thomas to apply to some other of the bishops;
-but as he was hostile to the treatise himself, he was not likely to be
-a very persuasive pleader for it with others. None of the bishops would
-commit themselves, and Sir Thomas advised Henry to see what St. Jerome,
-St. Augustine, and the other fathers of the Church said upon it. Henry
-then employed the more unscrupulous agency of Wolsey with the prelates,
-who plied them with all his eloquence; but the most that he could
-obtain from them was that the arguments of the king's book furnished a
-reasonable ground for a scruple, and that he had better apply to the Holy
-See, and abide by its decision.
-
-With the nation at large, the proposal of the amorous king was still
-less popular than with the bishops. They had a great veneration for the
-insulted Catherine, who had maintained for so many years the most fair
-and estimable character on the throne, and against whose virtue not a
-word had ever been breathed. They attributed this scheme to the acts
-of the cardinal, who was the enemy of the Emperor and the warm ally of
-France; and they dreaded that the divorce might lead to war and the
-suppression of the profitable trade with the Netherlands.
-
-Unable to obtain much sanction at home, Henry at length referred the
-cause to the Pope; and Stephen Gardiner--then known by the humble name
-of Mr. Stephen--and Bishop Fox went in 1528 to Italy with the Royal
-instructions. The grand difficulty was to effect the divorce in so
-legal and complete a manner that no plea might be able to be brought
-against the legitimacy of the proposed marriage. For three months fresh
-instructions were issued and revoked, and issued in amended form again,
-which were laid before Dr. Knight, the king's agent at the Papal Court,
-and the three brothers Casali, Wolsey's agents, and before Staphilaeo,
-Dean of the Rota, who had been gained over whilst lately in London.
-
-But the Emperor had not been idle. The Pope, as we have seen, had been
-shut up by the Imperial troops in the Castle of St. Angelo; and, in
-negotiation for his liberation, Charles had made it one of the principal
-stipulations of his release that he should not consent to act preparatory
-to a divorce without the previous knowledge of Charles himself. Scarcely
-had the Pope made his escape to Orvieto, when the English emissaries
-appeared before him. Poor Clement was thrown into a terrible dilemma.
-The Imperialists were still in possession of Rome, and if he consented
-to the request of Henry, he had nothing to expect but vengeance from the
-Emperor. To make the matter worse, a French army, under the command
-of Lautrec, and accompanied by Sir Robert Jerningham as the English
-commissary, which had been sent over the Alps to his assistance, and to
-enable him to recover his capital, loitered at Piacenza, and delayed the
-chance of the restoration and defence of Rome.
-
-The English envoys presented to him two instruments, which had been
-prepared by the learned agents above named, by the first of which he
-was to empower Wolsey, or in case of any objection to him, Staphilaeo,
-to hear and decide the case of the divorce; and by the second he was to
-grant Henry a dispensation to marry, in the place of Catherine, any other
-woman soever, even if she were already promised to another, or related
-to him in the first degree of affinity. This was a most extraordinary
-proceeding, an acknowledgment by Henry of the very power in the Pope
-which he affected to doubt and deny. The objection to the marriage of
-Henry with Catherine was that she was within the proscribed degree of
-affinity, having been his brother's wife. Moreover, as Henry was accused,
-and this instrument appeared to admit the charge, of having established
-the same degree of relationship, though illicitly, with Mary Boleyn, the
-_sister_ of Anne, as had existed between Catherine and his _brother_
-legally, this document was to prevent any objections to the marriage with
-Anne.
-
-The Pope signed both instruments, but recommended that Henry should keep
-them secret till the French army, under Lautrec, should arrive, and free
-him from fears, even for his life, of the vengeance of the Emperor. When
-this should have taken place, he promised to issue a second commission of
-the same import, which might at once be publicly proceeded with.
-
-Scarcely, however, had Dr. Knight left Orvieto, when Gregorio da Casali
-brought a request from the English Court that a legate from Rome might be
-joined in the commission with Wolsey. To this Clement observed that the
-King of England was pursuing a very circuitous course. If the king was
-really convinced in his conscience that his present marriage was null, he
-had better marry again, and then he himself or a legate could decide the
-question at once. But if a legate were to sit in jurisdiction, there must
-be appeals to himself in Rome, exceptions, and adjournments, which would
-make it an affair of years. But, after saying this, the Pope signed the
-requisition.
-
-At the instigation of Wolsey, who was anxious that the treaty which
-he had signed with France should be carried into effect, war was now
-declared formally against the Emperor. The news of the war was received
-in England with the utmost disgust and discontent. The people denounced
-the cardinal as the troubler of the kingdom and the interrupter of its
-commerce. The merchants refused to frequent the new marts in France,
-which were appointed instead of their accustomed ones in the Netherlands.
-The wool-combers, spinners, and clothiers were stopped in their sales
-by this resolve on the part of the merchants; their people were all
-thrown out of work; and the spirit of commotion grew so strong that there
-were serious fears of open outbreaks. In the council, the cardinal had
-as little support in his policy as he did elsewhere. There was not a
-member, except himself, who was an advocate of the French alliance; but
-all his colleagues at the council-table were eagerly watching for some
-chance which should hasten his downfall. Even the king himself was averse
-from the war with his nephew; and especially as he was aware that the
-fear of Charles's resentment deterred Clement from cordially proceeding
-with the divorce; and Henry hinted that if peace were restored, Charles
-might be induced to withdraw his opposition. Fortunately, the Flemings
-were as much incommoded by the breach of commercial relations as the
-English; and the Archduchess Margaret, the Governess of the Netherlands,
-had the prudence to make a proposition that peace should be restored.
-Negotiations commenced, and were carried on for some time for a general
-pacification; but this being proved unattainable, a peace was concluded
-with the Netherlands, and the state of war was allowed to remain between
-England and Spain.
-
-But the fact was, the war, so far as regarded these two countries,
-was merely nominal; it raged only in Italy, between the French and
-the Imperialists. Henry had no money for war, and, besides, his whole
-thoughts and energies were occupied in carrying through the divorce,
-which he now found a most formidable affair, fresh difficulties starting
-up at every step. Had Catherine been only an English subject, instead
-of the aunt of the great monarch of Germany, Flanders, and Spain, Henry
-would have made short work of his conscience and of the poor woman who
-was in the way. He would have charged her with some heinous and revolting
-crime, and severed her head from her shoulders at a blow, and all his
-difficulties with it. But he had not only royal blood to deal with, but
-all the ancient prejudices that surrounded it, and which would have
-made him execrated over the whole world had he spilled it. He knew that
-Charles was watching intently to catch him at a disadvantage, and he
-never felt himself safe in his proceedings.
-
-[Illustration: THE TRIAL OF QUEEN CATHERINE. (_See p._ 151.)
-
-(_After the Picture by Laslett J. Pott._)]
-
-It now occurred to him that, though the Pope had granted permission for
-Wolsey and the legate to decide this momentous question, yet he might be
-induced, by the influence of Charles, to revise and reverse the sentence
-pronounced by his delegates: and this might involve him in inextricable
-dilemmas, especially should he have acted on the sentence of divorce, and
-married again.
-
-Clement was placed in a very trying situation. He was anxious to oblige
-Henry, but to grant the bull confirming the sentence to be pronounced
-by Wolsey and the Legate, was to annihilate the dogma of Papal
-infallibility, for Julius II. had granted the Church's dispensation,
-notwithstanding the fact of Catherine's union with Henry's brother.
-Clement had been also informed that Henry's object was only to gratify
-the wish of a woman who was already living in adultery with him. But
-this was rebutted by a letter already received from Wolsey, assuring
-the Pope that Anne Boleyn was a lady of unimpeachable character. Driven
-from this point, Clement still demurred as to the formidable bull; and
-only consented, after consultation with a convocation of cardinals and
-theologians, to issue an order for a commission to inquire into the
-validity of the dispensation granted by Pope Julius, and to revoke it, if
-it was found to have been by any means surreptitiously obtained.
-
-Campeggio, who had most reluctantly undertaken the appointment of
-commissioner in this case, was all this time slowly, very slowly,
-progressing towards England. He was an eminent professor of the canon
-law, and an experienced statesman. He had been a married man, and had a
-family; but, on the death of his wife, in 1509, he had taken orders, was
-made cardinal in 1517, and had been employed by Leo and his successors in
-various arduous cases to their highest satisfaction. Campeggio arrived in
-London at last, on the 7th of October, 1528, but in such exhaustion, from
-violent and long attacks of the gout, that he was carried in a litter to
-his lodgings, and remained for some time confined to his bed. Henry, with
-his characteristic hypocrisy, on the approach of the legate, again sent
-away his mistress, and recalled his obliging wife, with whom he appeared
-to be living on the most affectionate terms. They had the same bed and
-board, and went regularly through the same devotions. The arrival of
-the legate raised the courage of the people, who were unanimous in the
-favour of the queen, and, though Wolsey made every exertion to silence
-and restrain them, they loudly declared that, let the king marry whom he
-pleased, they would acknowledge no successor in prejudice to Mary.
-
-It was a fortnight before the legate was ready to see the king. On the
-22nd of October he made his visit, and was, of course, most graciously
-received by Henry and the cardinal, but they could extract from him no
-opinion as to the probable result of the inquiry which was at hand.
-Henry and Wolsey exerted all their arts to win over the great man. The
-king paid him constant visits; and to mollify and draw him out heaped
-all sorts of flatteries upon him, and made him the most brilliant
-promises. He had already made him Bishop of Salisbury, and presented
-him with a splendid palace in Rome; and he now offered to confer on him
-the rich bishopric of Durham, and knighted his son Ridolfo, by whom
-he was accompanied. But nothing moved the impenetrable ecclesiastic;
-for if favours were heaped on him here, terrors awaited him at Rome
-if he betrayed the trust of his master, the Pope. He replied to all
-solicitations that he had every disposition to serve the king, so far
-as his conscience would permit him. To produce a favourable bias in the
-opinions of the inexorable man, the judgments of eminent divines and
-doctors of the canon law on the king's case were laid before him. These
-he read, but still kept his own ideas locked in his breast.
-
-Henry next endeavoured to obtain from Campeggio the publication of
-the decretal bull, or, at least, that it should be shown to the Privy
-Council, but the legate remained firm to his instructions. The king's
-agents at the same time plied Clement with persuasives to the same end,
-but with the same result. So far from giving way, the agents informed
-Henry that the Emperor had given back to the Pope Civita Vecchia and
-all the fortresses which he had taken from the Holy See, and that it
-was to be feared that there was a secret understanding between the Pope
-and Charles. At this news Henry despatched Sir Francis Bryan, Master of
-the Henchmen, and Peter Vannes, his secretary of the Latin tongue, to
-Francis I., upbraiding him with his neglect in permitting this to go
-on; and they then proceeded to Italy, and requested the Pope to cite all
-Christian princes to meet in Avignon and settle their differences. In
-the meantime these agents were to consult the most celebrated canonists
-at Rome on the following extraordinary points:--"1. Whether, if a wife
-were to make a vow of chastity, and enter a convent, the Pope could not,
-in the plenitude of his power, authorise the husband to marry again. 2.
-Whether, if the husband were to enter into a religious order, that he
-might induce the wife to do the same, he might not afterwards be released
-from his vow, and have liberty to marry. 3. Whether, for reasons of
-State, the Pope could not license a prince to have, like the ancient
-patriarchs, two wives, of whom one only should be publicly acknowledged,
-and enjoy the honours of royalty."
-
-On the 6th of February, 1529, the intelligence arrived that Clement
-was dying, and by that time was probably dead. Now was the time to
-place Wolsey in the Papal chair, and thus end all difficulties. Francis
-promised cordially to aid in the attempt; but, to their dismay, Clement
-revived, and dashed their hopes to the ground. Made desperate by these
-chances, Henry now gave the invalid Pope no rest from his solicitations.
-His agents forced themselves into his very sick chamber, and demanded
-that the fatal mandate of dispensation granted by Julius II.--a copy
-of which Catherine had obtained from Spain--should be revoked, or that
-Charles should be compelled to exhibit the original. But the Pope
-remained firm. He declared that he could not depart from the course
-already prescribed, that Catherine had even entered a protest in his
-Court against the persons of her judges, and he recommended Henry to lose
-no time, but to try to determine the matter in his own realm.
-
-The Court which was to try the cause met in the Parliament chamber in
-the Blackfriars, and summoned the king and queen to appear before it on
-the 18th of June. Henry appeared by proxy; Catherine obeyed the summons
-in person, but only to protest against the judges as the subjects of
-Henry, her accuser, and to appeal to the Pope. This appeal was overruled,
-and the Court adjourned to the 21st of June. On this day both Henry and
-Catherine appeared, the king sitting in state on the right hand of the
-cardinal and legate, and Catherine sat on their left, attended by four
-friendly bishops. On their names being called, Henry answered "Here!" but
-Catherine was unable to reply. On being again cited, however, she rose
-and repeated her protest on three grounds,--first, as being a stranger;
-secondly, because the judges were subjects, and held benefices, the
-gift of her adversary; and last, because from such a Court she could
-not expect impartiality. This protest being held inadmissible, she rose
-again, crossed herself, and, leaning on her maids, approached the king,
-threw herself at his feet, and addressed him in a pathetic speech.
-
-On the 25th of June Catherine was summoned before the Court again, but
-she refused to appear, sending in, however, and causing to be read,
-her appeal to the Pope. On this she was declared contumacious; and the
-king's counsellors asserted that the following points had been clearly
-proved:--That her marriage with Prince Arthur had been consummated, and,
-therefore, her marriage with Henry was unlawful; that the dispensation
-of Julius II. had been obtained under false pretences and a concealment
-of facts; and that the Papal brief which had been sent from Spain was
-a forgery. They therefore called on the judges to pronounce for the
-divorce. But even had all this been proved, which it had not, Campeggio
-was not intending to do anything of the kind. The peace which had been
-rumoured between the Pope and the Emperor had been signed on the 29th
-of June, and Clement was now much at his ease. On the 23rd of July, no
-progress being made, Henry summoned the Court, and demanded judgment in
-imperious terms. But Campeggio replied with unmoved dignity:--"I have
-not come so far to please any man for fear, meed, or favour, be he king
-or any other potentate. I am an old man, sick, decayed, looking daily
-for death; what should it then avail me to put my soul in the danger of
-God's displeasure, to my utter damnation, for the favour of any prince
-or high estate in this world? Forasmuch, then, that I perceive that the
-truth in this case is very difficult to be known; that the defendant
-will make no answer thereunto, but hath appealed from our judgment;
-therefore, to avoid all injustice and obscure doubts, I intend to proceed
-no further in this matter until I have the opinion of the Pope and such
-others of his council as have more experience and learning. I, for this
-purpose, adjourn this Court till the commencement of the next term, in
-the beginning of October."
-
-It would be difficult to conceive the state of agitation into which the
-Court of Henry was now thrown. Instead of receiving a decision, it was
-put off till October; and this was not the worst, for in a few days
-news arrived that the commission of the cardinals had been revoked by
-the Pope on the 15th of July, or eight days previous to the adjournment,
-and that the Papal Court had entertained the appeal of Queen Catherine,
-and recalled Campeggio. Thus, not even in October was there any chance
-of a decision, and had such been arrived at now it would have been null,
-the commission having previously expired. Still worse, while Henry was
-in the highest state of irritation, there came an instrument from Rome,
-forbidding him to pursue his cause by the legates, but citing him to
-appear by attorney in the Papal Court, under a penalty of 10,000 ducats.
-Campeggio departed from England at the commencement of Michaelmas term.
-At the interview in which he took his leave of the king, Henry behaved
-with much politeness to the Italian legate, but treated Wolsey with
-marked coldness. Showing a disposition to relent later on in the same
-day, Henry was at once so worked upon by the Boleyn faction that he
-undertook never more to see the cardinal, whose fall was now certain.
-
-Indeed, on account of his failure to obtain the divorce, Wolsey was
-doomed to destruction. On the 9th of October, the same month as he opened
-the Court of Chancery, he perceived a deadly coldness as of winter frost
-around him. No one did him honour--the sun of Royal favour had set to
-him for ever. On the same day Hales, the attorney-general, filed two
-bills against him in the King's Bench, charging him with having incurred
-the penalty of Praemunire by acting in the kingdom as the Pope's legate.
-This was a most barefaced accusation, for he had accepted the legatine
-authority by Henry's express permission; had exercised it for many years
-with his full knowledge and approbation, and, in the affairs of the
-divorce, at the earnest request of the king. But Henry VIII. had no law
-but his own will, and never wanted reasons for punishing those who had
-offended him.
-
-Of Wolsey, as he appeared at this moment, scathed and stunned by the
-thunderbolt of the royal wrath, we have a striking picture. The Bishop
-of Bayonne, the French ambassador, says in a letter:--"I have been
-to visit the cardinal in his distress, and I have witnessed the most
-striking change of fortune. He explained to me his hard case in the worst
-rhetoric that was ever heard. Both his tongue and his heart failed him.
-He recommended himself to the pity of the king and madame [Francis I. and
-his mother] with sighs and tears; and at last left me, without having
-said anything near so moving as his appearance. His face is dwindled to
-one-half its natural size. In truth, his misery is such that his enemies,
-Englishmen as they are, cannot help pitying him. Still, they will carry
-things to extremities. As for his legation, the seals, his authority,
-etc., he thinks no more of them. He is willing to give up everything,
-even the shirt from his back, and live in a hermitage, if the king would
-but desist from his displeasure."
-
-On the 17th of October Henry sent the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk to
-demand the Great Seal; and they are said to have done that duty with
-some ungenerous triumph. But Wolsey delivered up his authority without
-complaint, and only sent in an offer surrendering all his personal estate
-to his gracious master, on condition that he might retire to his diocese
-on his church property. But the property of Wolsey had long been riveting
-the greedy eye of Henry, and, next to Anne Boleyn, that was, probably,
-the "weight which pulled him down." A message was soon brought him by
-the same noblemen that the king expected an entire and unconditional
-submission, whereupon he granted to the king the yearly profits of his
-benefices, and threw himself on his mercy. It was then intimated that His
-Majesty meant to reside at York Place (Whitehall) during the Parliament,
-and that Wolsey might retire to Esher Place, in Surrey, a house belonging
-to his bishopric of Winchester.
-
-On the 3rd of November, after the long intermission of seven years,
-a Parliament was called together. The main object of this unusual
-occurrence was to complete the ruin of Wolsey, and place it beyond the
-power of the king to restore him to favour--a circumstance of which the
-courtiers were in constant dread. The committee of the House of Lords
-presented to the king a string of no less than forty-four articles
-against the fallen minister, enumerating and exaggerating all his
-offences, and calling upon the monarch to take such order with him "that
-he should never have any power, jurisdiction, or authority hereafter,
-to trouble, vex, and impoverish the commonwealth of this your realm, as
-he hath done heretofore, to the great hurt and damage of almost every
-man, high or low." This address was carried to the Commons for their
-concurrence; but there Thomas Cromwell, who by the favour of Wolsey had
-risen from the very lowest condition to be his friend and steward, and
-was now advanced to the king's service by the particular recommendation
-of the cardinal, attacked the articles manfully, and caused the Commons
-to reject them, as the members were persuaded that Cromwell was acting
-by suggestion of the king; which is very probable, for so far from Henry
-showing Cromwell any dislike for this proceeding, he continued to promote
-him, till he became his prime minister, and was created Earl of Essex.
-
-[Illustration: THE DISMISSAL OF WOLSEY. (_See p._ 152.)]
-
-Henry, having now seized upon all the cardinal's property, the incomes
-of his bishoprics, abbeys, and other benefices, his colleges at Ipswich
-and Oxford, with all their furniture and revenues, his pensions, clothes,
-and even his very tomb, seemed contented to leave him his life. He,
-therefore, on the 12th of February, 1530, granted him a full pardon for
-all his real and pretended crimes. He allowed him, moreover, to retain
-the revenues of York. He gave him also a pension of 1,000 marks a year
-out of the bishopric of Winchester, and soon after sent him a present of
-L3,000 in money; and in plate, furniture, &c., the value of L3,374 3s.
-7d., and gave him leave to reside at Richmond.
-
-This new flow of royal favour wonderfully revived the cardinal's hopes,
-and as vividly excited the fears of the Boleyn party. To have this
-formidable man residing so near them as Richmond was too perilous to be
-thought of. Some fine morning the king might suddenly ride over there,
-and all be undone. Henry was, therefore, besieged with entreaties to
-remove him farther from the Court, and to such a distance as should
-prevent the possibility of an interview. They prevailed, and Wolsey
-received an order through his friend Cromwell to go and reside in his
-archbishopric of York. To the cardinal, who felt a strong persuasion
-that if he could but obtain an interview with the king all would be set
-right, this was next to a death-warrant. He entreated Cromwell to obtain
-leave for him to reside at Winchester, but this was refused, and the Duke
-of Norfolk, Anne's uncle, sent Wolsey word that if he did not get away
-immediately into the North he would come and tear him in pieces with his
-teeth. "Then," said Wolsey, "it is time for me to be gone."
-
-Delighted with their metropolitan, the clergy of York waited upon him in
-a body, and begged that he would allow himself to be installed in his
-cathedral, according to the custom of his predecessors. Wolsey, after
-taking time to consider of it, consented, on condition that it should be
-done with as little splendour as possible. No sooner, however, was this
-news divulged than the noblemen, gentlemen, and clergy of the county
-sent into York great quantities of provisions, and made preparations
-for a most magnificent feast. But this was suddenly prevented by a
-very unexpected event. On the 4th of November, only three days before
-the grand installation was to come off, the Earl of Northumberland,
-accompanied by Sir William Walsh and a number of horsemen, arrived at
-Cawood. Wolsey, believing in good news, went out to receive the Earl with
-a cheerful countenance; and, observing his numerous retinue, he said,
-"Ah! my lord, I perceive that you observe the precepts and instructions
-which I gave you, when you were abiding with me in your youth, to cherish
-your father's old servants." He then took the earl affectionately by the
-hand, and led him into a bed-chamber. There he no doubt expected to hear
-good tidings; but the earl, though greatly affected and embarrassed, laid
-his hand on the old man's shoulder, and said, "My lord, I arrest you of
-high treason." Wolsey was struck dumb, and stood motionless as a statue.
-He then bowed to the order, and prepared for his journey. On his way to
-London he was seized with dysentery at Sheffield Park, the mansion of
-the Earl of Shrewsbury. The attack left him so weak that he was glad to
-accept the hospitality of Leicester Abbey, where the abbot, at the head
-of a procession of the monks, with lighted torches, received him. He was
-completely worn out, and being lifted from his mule, said, "I am come,
-my brethren, to lay my bones amongst you." The monks carried him to his
-bed, where he swooned repeatedly; and the second morning his servants,
-who had watched him with anxious affection, saw that he was dying. He
-called to his bedside Sir William Kingston, and amongst others, addressed
-to him these remarkable words:--"Had I but served God as diligently as I
-have served the king, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs.
-But this is the just reward that I must receive for my diligent pains
-and study, not regarding my service to God, but only to my prince. Let
-me advise you to take care what you put in the king's head, for you can
-never put it out again. I have often kneeled before him, sometimes three
-hours together, to persuade him from his will and appetite, but could not
-prevail. He is a prince of most royal courage, and hath a princely heart;
-for, rather than miss or want any part of his will, he will endanger one
-half of his kingdom." On the 29th of November, 1530, thus died Thomas,
-Lord Cardinal Wolsey, one of the most extraordinary characters that was
-ever raised up and again overthrown by the mere will of a king, and who
-unconsciously contributed to one of the most extensive revolutions of
-human mind and government which the world has known.
-
-In following the story of Wolsey to its close, we have a little
-overstepped the progress of affairs. As soon as the great man was
-out of the way, a ministry was formed of the leading persons of the
-Boleyn party. The Duke of Norfolk, Anne's uncle, was made President of
-the Council, Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Lord Marshal, and the Earl of
-Wiltshire, the father of Anne Boleyn, had a principal place. Sir Thomas
-More, unfortunately for him as it proved, was made Lord Chancellor
-instead of Wolsey, a promotion which he reluctantly accepted. Amongst
-the king's servants, Stephen Gardiner, who had been introduced and
-much employed by Wolsey, still remained high in the king's favour, and
-occupied the post of his secretary. Gardiner, a bigoted Catholic, and
-afterwards one of the most bloody persecutors of the Reformers, now,
-however, in trying to promote the wishes of the king for the divorce,
-unconsciously promoted the Reformation.
-
-[Illustration: CARDINAL WOLSEY AT LEICESTER ABBEY.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR JOHN GILBERT, R.A., P.R.W.S. AT THE VICTORIA AND
-ALBERT MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON.]
-
-The king, returning from the progress which he had made to Moore Park,
-and to Grafton, remained one night at Waltham. Gardiner and Fox were
-lodged in the house of a Mr. Cressy, a gentleman of good family. After
-supper the conversation turned on the grand topic of the day--the king's
-divorce, and Gardiner and Fox detailed the difficulties that surrounded
-it, and the apparent impossibility of getting the Pope to move in it. A
-grave clergyman, the tutor of the family, of the name of Thomas Cranmer,
-after listening to the discourse, was asked by Fox and Gardiner what
-he thought of the matter. At first he declined to give his opinion on
-so high a matter, but being pressed, he said, he thought they were
-wrong altogether in the way they were seeking the divorce. As the Pope
-evidently would not commit himself upon the subject, his opinion was
-that they should not waste any more time in fruitless solicitations at
-Rome, but submit this plain question to the most learned men and chief
-universities of Europe: "Do the laws of God permit a man to marry his
-brother's widow?" If, as he imagined, the answers were in the negative,
-the Pope would not dare to pronounce a sentence in opposition to the
-opinions of all these learned men and learned bodies.
-
-On the return of the Court to Greenwich, Fox and Gardiner related this
-conversation to the king, who instantly swore that "the man had got
-the right sow by the ear," and ordered him instantly to be sent for to
-Court. Cranmer, on his arrival, maintained his opinion in a manner which
-wonderfully delighted Henry, and raised his hope of having at length hit
-on the true mode of solving the difficulty.
-
-Agents were despatched to obtain the required opinion from the different
-universities, both in England and on the Continent, well provided with
-that most persuasive of rhetoricians--money. At his own universities,
-however, Henry found no little opposition. On the Continent, where
-Henry's menaces had no weight, his purse was freely opened; and the
-universities of Bologna, Padua, and Ferrara, as well as many learned
-men, were prevailed on to take the view that Henry wished. In Germany
-his agents were far less successful. Both Protestants and Catholics
-in general condemned his proposed divorce; and Luther and Melanchthon
-said he had much better follow the example of the patriarchs, and take
-a second wife, than put away the first without any crime on her part.
-From France and its fourteen universities Henry expected much more
-compliance, but he was disappointed. From Orleans, Toulouse, and Bourges,
-and from the civilians of Angers, doubtful decisions were procured, but
-the theologians of the last city maintained the validity of the existing
-marriage. The answers from other universities were either not received or
-were suppressed.
-
-The scheme of Cranmer had not worked particularly well; the opinions of
-the universities were for the most part either adverse, or were forced,
-and those of learned men more opposed than coinciding. There needed a
-more determined spirit than that of Cranmer to break the way through the
-wood of embarrassments in which they were involved, and the right man
-now stepped forward in Thomas Cromwell, the former secretary of Wolsey.
-He sought an interview with Henry, and determined, according to his own
-phrase, "to make or mar," thus addressed him:--"It was not," he observed,
-"for him to affect to give advice where so many wise and abler men had
-failed, but when he saw the anxiety of his sovereign, he could no longer
-be silent, whatever might be the result. There was a clear and obvious
-course to pursue. Let the king do just what the princes of Germany
-had done, throw off the yoke of Rome; and let him, by the authority,
-declare himself, as he should be, the head of the Church within his own
-dominions. At present England was a monster with two heads. But let the
-king assume the authority now usurped by a foreign pontiff, an authority
-from which so many evils and confusions to this realm had flowed, and
-the monstrosity would be at an end; all would be simple, harmonious, and
-devoid of difficulty. The clergy, sensible that their lives and fortunes
-were in the hands of their own monarch--hands which could be no longer
-paralysed by alien interference--from haughty antagonists would instantly
-become the obsequious ministers of his will."
-
-Henry listened to this new doctrine with equal wonder and delight, and
-he thanked Cromwell heartily, and had him instantly sworn of his privy
-council.
-
-No time was lost in trying the efficacy of Cromwell's daring scheme.
-To sever that ancient union, which had existed so many ages, and was
-hallowed in the eyes of the world by so many proud recollections was a
-task at which the stoutest heart and most iron resolution might have
-trembled; but Cromwell had taken a profound survey of the region he was
-about to invade, and had learned its weakest places. He relied on the
-unscrupulous impetuosity of the king's passion to bear him through;
-he relied far more on the finesse of his own genius. With the calmest
-resolution, he laid his finger on one single page of the statute-book,
-and knew that he was master of the Church. The law which rendered any
-one who received favours direct from the Pope guilty of a breach of the
-Statute of Praemunire, permitted the monarch to suspend the action of
-this Statute at his discretion. This he had done in the case of Wolsey.
-When he accepted the legatine authority, the cardinal took care to obtain
-a patent under the Great Seal, authorising the exercise of this foreign
-power. But Wolsey, when he was called in question for the administration
-of an office thus especially sanctioned by the Crown, neglected to
-produce this deed of indemnity, hoping still to be restored to the royal
-favour, and unwilling to irritate the king by any show of self-defence.
-There lay the concealed weapon which the shrewd eye of Cromwell had
-detected, and by which he could overturn the ecclesiastical fabric of
-ages. He declared, to the consternation of the whole hierarchy, that not
-only had Wolsey involved himself in all the penalties of Praemunire, but
-the whole of the clergy with him. They had admitted his exercise of the
-Papal authority, and thereby were become, in the language of the Statute,
-his "fautors and abettors."
-
-Dire was the dismay which at this charge seized on the whole body of the
-clergy. The council ordered the Attorney-General to file an information
-against the entire ecclesiastical body. Convocation assembled in haste,
-and offered, as the price of a full pardon, L100,000. But still greater
-were the amazement and dismay of the clergy, when they found that this
-magnificent sum was rejected unless Convocation consented to declare,
-in the preamble to the grant, that the king was "the protector and
-only supreme head of the Church of England." By the king's permission,
-however, the venerable Archbishop Warham introduced and carried an
-amendment in Convocation, by which the grant was voted with this clause
-in the preamble:--"Of which church and clergy we acknowledge His Majesty
-to be the chief protector, the only and supreme lord, and, _as far as
-the law of God will allow_, the supreme head." The wedge was introduced;
-the severance was certain: the perfect accomplishment of it only awaited
-another opportunity for an easier issue. The northern convocation adopted
-the same language, and voted a grant of L18,840.
-
-Henry, under the guidance of Cromwell, now procured an act to be passed
-by Parliament, abolishing the annates, or first-fruits, which furnished
-a considerable annual income to the Pope, and another abrogating the
-authority of the clergy in Convocation, and attaching that authority to
-the Crown. Feeling that in this struggle he should need the friendship
-of Francis, he proposed a new treaty with France, which was signed in
-London on the 23rd of June, 1532; and the more to strengthen the alliance
-the two monarchs met between Calais and Boulogne. Great preparations
-were made on both sides, and Henry begged Francis to bring his favourite
-mistress with him. This was as an excuse for Henry to bring Anne Boleyn,
-who was now created the Marchioness of Pembroke, and without whom he
-could go nowhere. It is said that Francis, during the interview, had
-urged Henry to wait no longer for the permission of the Pope, but to
-marry the Marchioness of Pembroke without further delay; but it is quite
-certain that another counsellor was more urgent, and that was--Time.
-It was high time, indeed, that the marriage should take place if they
-meant to legitimatise her offspring, for Anne Boleyn was with child.
-Accordingly, the marriage took place on the 25th of January, 1533. The
-ceremony, however, was strictly private. In fact the marriage was kept
-so secret that it was not even communicated to Cranmer, who had just
-returned from Germany, and taken up his abode in the family of Anne
-Boleyn. Cranmer, whilst in Germany, had married, Catholic priest as he
-was, the niece of Osiander, the Protestant minister of Nuremberg. This
-lady he had brought secretly to England, and was now living a married
-priest, in direct violation of the Church that he belonged to.
-
-Archbishop Warham was now dead, and Henry nominated Cranmer to the vacant
-primacy. He was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on the 30th of
-March, 1533, and he was immediately ordered to proceed with the divorces.
-The new primate, therefore, wrote on the 11th of April, a formal letter
-to the king, soliciting the issue of a commission to try that cause, and
-pronounce a definite sentence. This was immediately done; and Cranmer,
-as the head of this commission, accompanied by Gardiner, now Bishop of
-Winchester, the Bishops of London, Lincoln, Bath, and Wells, with many
-other divines and canonists, opened their court at Dunstable, in the
-monastery of St. Peter, six miles from Ampthill, where the queen resided.
-On the 12th of May Cranmer pronounced Catherine contumacious, and on the
-23rd, he declared her marriage was null and invalid from the beginning.
-On the 28th, in a court held at Lambeth, the archbishop pronounced the
-king's marriage with Anne Boleyn to be good and valid. On the 1st of
-June, being Whit Sunday, Anne was crowned with every possible degree of
-pomp and display.
-
-Henry, notwithstanding his separation from Rome, was anxious to obtain
-the sanction of his marriage by the Pope; but, instead of that, Clement
-fulminated his denunciations against him over Europe. He annulled
-Cranmer's sentence on Henry's first marriage, and published a bull
-excommunicating Henry and Anne, unless they separated before the next
-September, when the new queen expected her confinement. Henry despatched
-ambassadors to the different foreign courts to announce his marriage, and
-the reasons which had led him to it; but from no quarter did he receive
-much congratulation.
-
-[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON: SKETCH IN THE GARDENS.]
-
-However sincere and earnest the two principals in this contest, the Pope
-and Henry, might be, there were at work in the Court of England and the
-Court of Rome parties really more powerful than their principals, who
-were resolved that the two desiderata to this pacification never should
-be yielded. Cromwell and his party commenced an active campaign in
-Parliament for breaking beyond remedy the tie with Rome, and establishing
-an independent church in this country. This able man, who for his past
-services was now made Chancellor of the Exchequer for life, framed a
-series of bills, and introduced them to Parliament, soon after the
-Christmas holidays. These included an act establishing the title of the
-king as supreme head of the English Church, and vesting in him the right
-to appoint to all bishoprics, and to decide all ecclesiastical causes.
-Payments or appeals to Rome were strictly forbidden by the confirmation
-of the Annates Act, the Act against "Peter Pence," and that "in
-Restraint of appeals" whereby the whole Roman jurisdiction in England was
-decisively repudiated.
-
-By a further bill, the marriage of Catherine--strangely enough at the
-very moment that Henry had conceded its final decision at Rome--was
-declared unlawful, and that of Anne Boleyn confirmed. The issue by
-the first marriage was declared illegitimate, and excluded from the
-succession, and the issue of the marriage of Anne was made inheritable
-of the crown, and that only, and any one casting any slander on this
-marriage, or endeavouring to prejudice the succession of its issue, was
-declared guilty of high treason, if by writing, printing, or deed, and
-misprision of treason if by word. Thus was a new power established by
-the Crown; every person of full age, or on hereafter coming to full age,
-was to be sworn to obey this act. Not only new powers were thus created,
-but a new crime was invented; and though this statute was swept away in
-the course of a few years, yet it is a remarkable one, for it became the
-precedent for many a succeeding and despotic government.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_continued_).
-
-     The Maid of Kent and Her Accomplices--Act of Supremacy and
-     Consequent Persecutions--The "Bloody Statute"--Deaths of Fisher
-     and More--Suppression of the Smaller Monasteries--Trial and Death
-     of Anne Boleyn--Henry Marries Jane Seymour--Divisions in the
-     Church--The Pilgrimage of Grace--Birth of Prince Edward--Death
-     of Queen Jane--Suppression of the Larger Monasteries--The
-     Six Articles--Judicial Murders--Persecution of Cardinal
-     Pole--Cromwell's Marriage Scheme--Its Failure and his Fall.
-
-
-The discontent aroused in the country amongst those attached to the
-church of Rome, by the separation, and by the seizure of church property,
-with the fear of still greater spoliation, excited many murmurings.
-The king, aware that his proceedings were regarded with disapprobation
-by a vast body of people both at home and abroad, grew suspicious of
-every rumour, jealous, and vindictive. Amongst the singular conspiracies
-against the royal transactions, one of the earliest arose out of the
-visions of a young woman of Addington, in Surrey, of the name of
-Elizabeth Barton, who was of a nervous temperament, and whose mind
-was greatly excited by the sufferings of Queen Catherine. The rector
-of the parish, struck by many of the words which fell from her in her
-trances, regarded her as a religiously inspired person, and recommended
-her to quit the village, and enter the convent of St. Sepulchre at
-Canterbury. There her ecstacies and revelations, probably strengthened
-by the atmosphere of the place, became more frequent and strong. The
-nuns regarded her declarations as prophecies, and the fame of her soon
-spread round the country, where she acquired the name of the "Holy Maid
-of Kent." It was observed that her visions had all a tendency to exalt
-the power of the Pope and the clergy, and to denounce the vengeance of
-Heaven on all who disobeyed or attempted to injure them. At length Henry
-considered that the words of the maid, which were sedulously taken down
-and circulated through the press, were a powerful means of stirring up
-the popular feeling against him, and he therefore ordered the arrest of
-herself and the chief of her accomplices.
-
-In November they were brought into the Star Chamber and carefully
-examined by Cranmer, the archbishop, Cromwell, and Hugh Latimer, who
-soon after was made Bishop of Worcester. This tribunal appears to have
-intimidated both the maid and her abettors into a confession of the
-imposture, and they were condemned to stand during the sermon on Sunday
-at St. Paul's Cross, and there acknowledge the fraud. After that they
-were remanded to prison, and it was thought that, having disarmed these
-people by this exposure, he would be satisfied with the punishment they
-had received. But Henry was now become every day more and more addicted
-to blood, and ready to shed it for any infringement of those almost
-Divine rights which the supremacy of the Church had conferred on him. On
-the 21st of February, 1534, therefore, a bill of attainder was brought
-into the House of Lords against the maid and her abettors, on the plea
-that their conspiracy tended to bring into peril the king's life and
-crown. The bill, notwithstanding that it was regarded with horror by the
-public as a strange and cruel stretch of authority, was passed by the
-slavish Parliament; and on the 21st of April, 1534, the seven accused
-were drawn to Tyburn and hanged. Besides the persons who suffered
-immediately with her, there were also accused of corresponding with her,
-Edward Thwaites, gentleman, Thomas Lawrence, registrar to the Archdeacon
-of Canterbury, the venerable Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas
-More.
-
-Fisher, who was in his seventy-sixth year, confessed that he had seen
-and conversed with Elizabeth Barton; that he had heard her utter her
-prophecies concerning the king; and that he had not mentioned them to the
-sovereign, because her declarations did not refer to any violence against
-him, but merely to a visitation of Providence; and because, also, he knew
-that the king had received the communication of the prophecies from the
-maid herself, who had had for that purpose a private audience with Henry.
-He was, therefore, he said, guiltless of any conspiracy, and as he would
-answer it before the throne of Christ, knew not of any malice or evil
-that was intended by her or by any other earthly creature unto the king's
-highness.
-
-The name of Sir Thomas More was erased from this bill, though he could
-not be more innocent than Fisher, but not more than a fortnight passed
-before the bloodthirsty tyrant had contrived a more deadly snare for
-them both. He had them summoned, and commanded to take the new oath of
-allegiance. They were both of them ready to swear to the king's full
-temporal authority, and to the succession of his children, but they could
-not conscientiously take the oath which declared Henry the supreme head
-of the English Church, and the marriage with Anne Boleyn lawful. Cranmer,
-who on this occasion showed more mildness and liberality than he had
-shown honest principles in his elevation, would fain have admitted these
-illustrious men to take the oath so far as it applied to temporal, and to
-dispense with it as regarded spiritual matters. But he pleaded in vain,
-and they were both committed to the Tower.
-
-Henry, having got the Acts of Parliament for the Supremacy and the
-Succession, was not of a temper to let them become a dead letter.
-Whether it was owing to the carelessness of Parliament or the
-carefulness of the Crown, the oath of the Succession had not been
-verbally defined, and Henry now availed himself of this emission to
-alter and add to it so as to please himself. From the clergy he took
-care to obtain an oath including the full recognition of his supremacy
-in the Church, omitting the qualifying clause in the former one; and an
-assertion that the Bishop of Rome had no more authority within the realm
-than any other bishop. He spent the summer in administering this oath to
-the monks, friars, and nuns, also to all clergymen and clerical bodies
-whatever, and in obtaining decisions against the papal authority from
-the two convocations and the universities. The oath to the laity was
-administered to men and women alike. Remembering the mental reservation
-of Cranmer when he swore obedience to the Pope, he now demanded from
-every prelate an oath of renunciation of every protest previously or
-secretly made contrary to the oath of supremacy. He ordered that the very
-word Pope should be obliterated carefully out of all books used in public
-worship.
-
-If Henry had been a zealous Reformer, a disciple of the new creed, we
-might have attributed his proceedings to an arbitrary and uncharitable
-earnestness for what he deemed the truth; but he was just as bigoted
-in the old faith as ever. His Bloody Statute, as it was called, the
-Statute of Six Articles, maintained that the actual presence was in
-the sacramental bread and wine; that priests were forbidden to marry;
-that vows of chastity were to be observed; and that mass and auricular
-confession were indispensable. Those who opposed any of these dogmas
-were to suffer death; no doctrine was to be believed contrary to the Six
-Articles; no persons were to sing or rhyme contrary to them; no book was
-to be possessed by any one against the Holy Sacrament; no annotations or
-preambles were to exist in Bibles or Testaments in English; and nothing
-was to be taught contrary to the king's command. In fact, the country had
-only got rid of an Italian Pope and got an English one in his stead--Pope
-Henry VIII.
-
-The first-fruits of this awful concession to a vain and selfish
-man of the usurpation of God's own dominion in the soul, were an
-indiscriminating mass of Lollards, Lutherans, Anabaptists, and Roman
-Catholics committed to the flames. On the 22nd of July, during the
-prorogation of Parliament, Firth, a young man of singular learning,
-who had written a book against purgatory, transubstantiation, and
-consubstantiation, was burnt in Smithfield; and a poor tailor, Andrew
-Hewett, who simply affirmed that he thought Firth was right, was burnt
-with him. Several Anabaptists underwent the same fate.
-
-[Illustration: SIR THOMAS MORE. (_After the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-As that year closed in blood, so the next opened. The priors of the
-then Charterhouses of London, Axholm, and Belleval, waited on Cromwell
-to explain their conscientious scruples; but Cromwell, who was become
-the harsh and unhesitating instrument of Henry's despotism, instead
-of listening to them, committed them to the Tower on a charge of high
-treason, for refusing the king "the dignity, style, and name of his
-Royal estate." When he brought them to trial the jury shrank from giving
-such a verdict against men of their acknowledged virtue and character.
-Cromwell hastened to the court in person, and threatened to hang them
-instead of the prisoners, if they did not without further delay pronounce
-them guilty. Five days later these three dignitaries were executed at
-Tyburn, with Richard Reynolds, a doctor of divinity and monk of Sion, and
-John Hailes, Vicar of Thistleworth. They were all treated with savage
-barbarity, being hanged, cut down alive, embowelled, and dismembered. On
-the 18th of June, nearly a fortnight afterwards, Exmew, Middlemore, and
-Newdigate, three Carthusian monks from the Charterhouse, were executed,
-with the same atrocities.
-
-[Illustration: THE PARTING OF SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER. (_See p._
-162.)]
-
-Whilst these horrors struck with consternation all at home, Henry
-proceeded to a deed which extended the feeling of abhorrence all over
-Europe. He shed the blood of Fisher and More. We have stated that
-Parliament had not enacted the precise oath for the refusal of which
-Fisher and More were arraigned. But this made no difference: the king
-willed it, and the submissive legislature passed a bill of attainder for
-misprision of treason against them both. On this they and their families
-were stripped of everything they had. The poor old bishop was left in
-a complete state of destitution, and had not even clothes to cover his
-nakedness. Sir Thomas More was dependent wholly for the support of his
-life on his married daughter, Margaret Roper. They were repeatedly
-called up after their attainder, and treacherously examined as to any
-act or word that they might have done or uttered contrary to the king's
-supremacy, as if to aggravate their crime and justify a more rigorous
-sentence. The Pope Clement was dead, and was succeeded by Paul III.,
-who, hearing of the sad condition of the venerable Fisher, sent him a
-cardinal's hat, thinking it might make Henry less willing to proceed
-to extremities with him. But the effect on the tyrant was quite the
-contrary. On hearing of the Pope's intention, he exclaimed, "Ha! Paul may
-send him a hat, but I will take care that he have never a head to wear it
-on."
-
-Accordingly, the aged prelate was brought out of the Tower on the 22nd of
-June, 1535, and beheaded. His head was stuck upon London Bridge, with his
-face turned towards the Kentish hills, amid which he had spent so many
-pleasant years. The body of the old bishop was stripped, and left naked
-on the spot till evening, when it was carried away by the guards, and
-buried in Allhallows churchyard at Barking. Such was the manner in which
-this supreme head of the Church treated his former tutor, and one of the
-most accomplished and pious men in Christendom.
-
-More, the scholar, the wit, the genius, raised reluctantly to the
-chancellorship, had there so far deteriorated from the noble mood in
-which he had written his "Utopia" as to have become, contrary to all its
-doctrines and spirit, a persecutor. On the 14th of June he was visited in
-the Tower by Doctors Aldridge, Layton, Curwen, and Mr. Bedle, and there
-strictly interrogated in the presence of Pelstede, Whalley, and Rice, as
-to whether he had held any correspondence since he came into the Tower
-with Bishop Fisher, or others, and what had become of the letters he
-had received. He replied that George, the lieutenant's servant, had put
-them into the fire, against his wish, saying there was no better keeper
-than the fire. He was then asked whether he would not acknowledge the
-lawfulness of the king's marriage, and his headship of the Church. He
-declined to give an answer.
-
-At length, on the 1st of July, he was brought out of the Tower, and
-was conducted on foot through the streets of London to Westminster. He
-was wrapped only in a coarse woollen garment, his hair had grown grey,
-his face was pale and emaciated, for he had been nearly a year a close
-prisoner. This was thought well calculated to teach a lesson of obedience
-to the people; when they saw how the king handled even ex-chancellors and
-cardinals. When he arrived, bowed with suffering, and supporting himself
-on a staff, in that hall where he had presided with so much dignity, all
-who saw him were struck with astonishment. In order to confound him, and
-prevent the dreaded effect of his eloquence, his enemies had caused the
-indictment against him to be drawn out an immense length, and the charges
-to be grossly exaggerated and enveloped in clouds of words. Sentence
-of death was pronounced upon him, and he rose to address the Court. In
-the rudest manner they attempted to silence him, and twice, by their
-clamour, they succeeded; but the firmness of the noble victim at length
-triumphed, and he told them that he could now openly avow what he had
-before concealed from every human being, that the oath of supremacy was
-contrary to English law. He declared that he had no enmity against his
-judges. There would, he observed, have always been a scene of contention,
-and he prayed that as Paul had consented to the death of Stephen, and
-yet was afterwards called to tread in the same path, and ascend to the
-same heaven, so might he and they yet meet there. "And so," he added, in
-conclusion, "may God preserve you all, and especially my lord the king,
-and send him good counsel."
-
-As he turned from the bar, his son rushed through the hall, fell upon
-his knees, and implored his blessing; and, on approaching the Tower
-Wharf, his daughter, Margaret Roper, forced her way through the guard
-which surrounded him, and, clasping him round the neck, wept and sobbed
-aloud. The noble man, now clothed with all the calm dignity of the
-Christian philosopher, summoned fortitude enough to take a loving and a
-final farewell of her; but as he was moved on, the distracted daughter
-turned back, and, flying once more through the crowd, hung on his neck
-in the abandonment of grief. This was too much for his stoicism; he shed
-tears, whilst with deep emotion he repeated his blessing, and uttered
-words of Christian consolation. The people and the guards were so deeply
-affected, that they too burst into tears, and it was some time before the
-officers could summon resolution to part the father and his child.
-
-On the 6th of July he was summoned to execution, and informed that the
-king, as an especial favour, had commuted his punishment from hanging,
-drawing, and quartering, to decapitation. On this Sir Thomas, who had now
-taken his leave of the world, and met death with the cheerful humour of a
-man who is well assured that he is on the threshold of a better, replied
-with his wonted promptitude of wit, "God preserve all my friends from
-such favour." As he was about to ascend the scaffold, some one expressed
-a fear lest it should break down, for it appeared weak. "Mr. Lieutenant,"
-said More, smiling, "see me safe up, and for my coming down let me shift
-for myself." The executioner then approached, and asked his forgiveness.
-More embraced him, and said, "Friend, thou wilt render me the greatest
-service in the power of any mortal; but," putting an angel into his hand,
-"my neck is so short, that I fear thou wilt gain little credit in the way
-of thy profession." The same fear of the eloquence of the illustrious
-victim which had attempted to stop his mouth on the trial, now forbade
-him to address the multitude; he therefore contented himself with
-saying that he died a faithful subject to the king, and a true Catholic
-before God. He then prayed, and, laying his head upon the block, bade
-the executioner stay his hand a moment while he put back his beard. For
-"that," said he, "has never committed any treason." His head was severed
-at a single blow, and was, like Fisher's, fixed on London Bridge.
-
-But it was not merely in lopping off the heads of honest statesmen and
-prelates that Henry VIII. now displayed the powers of supreme head
-over the Church. There was a more tempting prey which allured his
-avaricious soul, and promised to recruit his exhausted treasury. These
-were the monasteries, convents, and abbeys. These institutions had grown
-excessively corrupt through time. Without depending on the reports of
-Henry's commissioners, whose business it was to make out a case for him
-against them, there is abundant evidence in contemporary writings that
-the monks, nuns, and friars were grown extremely sensual and corrupt.
-Rage and cupidity alike urged Henry to imitate the Reformers of Germany,
-and seize the spoils of this wealthy body. Cromwell--whom he had
-appointed Vicar-General, a strange office for a layman--went the whole
-length with him in those views; nay, he was the man who first turned his
-eyes on this great attractive mass of wealth, and hallooed him to the
-spoil. He had told him that, if once he was established by Parliament as
-head of the Church, all that opulence was his. There can be no doubt that
-it was to carry out this seizure that Cromwell was put into that very
-office of Vicar-General, as the only man to do the business, and he went
-to work upon it with right good will.
-
-The first thing was to appoint a commission, and to obtain such a
-report as should induce Parliament to pass an act of suppression of the
-religious houses, and the forfeiture of all their property to the Crown.
-The Archbishop of Paris, years before, had confidently affirmed, that
-whenever Wolsey should fall, the spoliation of the Church would quickly
-follow. To expedite this matter as much as possible, the whole kingdom
-was divided into districts, and to each district was appointed a couple
-of commissioners, who were armed with eighty-six questions to propound to
-the monastic orders. As acknowledgment of the supremacy of the king and
-approbation of his marriage were made requisites of compliance, there was
-little chance of escape for any monastery, be its morals what they might.
-
-The visitors had secret instructions to seek, in the first place, the
-lesser houses, and to exhort the inmates voluntarily to surrender them
-to the king, and, where they did not succeed, to collect such a body of
-evidence as should warrant the suppression of those houses; but after
-zealously labouring at this object through the winter, they could only
-prevail on seven small houses to surrender. A report was then prepared,
-which considerably surprised the public by stating that the lesser houses
-were abandoned to the most shameful sloth and immorality, but that the
-large and more opulent ones, contrary to all human experience, were more
-orderly. The secret of this representation was, that the abbots and
-priors of the great houses were lords of Parliament, and were, therefore,
-present to expose any false statement.
-
-On the 4th of March, 1536, a bill was passed hastily through both Houses,
-transferring to the king and his heirs all monastic establishments the
-clear value of which did not exceed L200 per annum. It was calculated
-that this bill--which, however, did not pass the Commons till Henry had
-sent for them, and told them that he would apply his favourite remedy
-for stiff necks--would dissolve no less than 380 communities, and add
-L32,000 to the annual income of the Crown, besides the presents received
-of L100,000 in money, plate, and jewels. The cause of these presents
-was a clause in the Act of Parliament, which left it to the discretion
-of the king to found any of these houses anew; a clause which was
-actively worked by Cromwell and his commissioners, and, by the hopes
-they inspired, drew large sums from the menaced brethren, part of which
-lodged in the pockets of the minister and his agents, and part reached
-the Crown. Cromwell amassed a large fortune from such sources.
-
-The Parliament, which had now sat seven years, and which was one of the
-most slavish and base bodies that ever were brought together--having
-yielded every popular right and privilege which the imperious monarch
-demanded, and augmented the Royal prerogative to a pitch of actual
-absolutism; having altered the succession, changed the system of
-ecclesiastical government, abolished a great number of the ancient
-religious houses without thereby much benefiting the Crown--was now
-dismissed, having done that for this worthless king which should cost
-some of his successors their thrones or their heads, and a braver and
-more honourable generation the blood of its best men to undo again.
-
-Anne Boleyn, on hearing of Catherine's death, which occurred in January,
-1536, was so rejoiced that she could not help crying out, "Now I am
-indeed a queen!" And yet, in truth, never had she less cause for triumph.
-Already the lecherous eye of her worthless husband had fallen on one of
-_her_ maids, as it had formerly fallen on one of Catherine's in her own
-person. This was Jane Seymour, a daughter of a knight of Wiltshire, who
-was not only of great beauty, but was distinguished for a gentle and
-sportive manner, equally removed from the Spanish gravity of Catherine
-and the French levity of Anne Boleyn. Before the death of Catherine,
-this fresh amour of Henry's was well known in the palace to all but
-the reigning queen; and, according to Wyatt, Anne only became aware
-of it by entering a room one day, and beholding Jane Seymour seated
-on Henry's knee, in a manner the most familiar, and as if accustomed
-to that indulgence. She saw at once that not only was Henry ready to
-bestow his regards on another, but that other was still more willing to
-step into her place than she had been to usurp that of Catherine. Anne
-was far advanced in pregnancy, and was in great hopes of riveting the
-king's affections to her by the birth of a prince; but the shock which
-she now received threw her into such agitation that she was prematurely
-delivered--of a boy, indeed, but dead. Henry, the moment that he heard of
-this unlucky accident, rushed into the queen's chamber, and upbraided her
-savagely "with the loss of his boy." Anne, stung by this cruelty, replied
-that he had to thank himself and "that wench Jane Seymour" for it. The
-fell tyrant retired, muttering his vengeance, and the die was now cast
-irrevocably for Anne Boleyn, if it were not before.
-
-It was a great misfortune for Anne that she had never been able to lay
-aside that levity of manner which she had acquired by spending her
-juvenile years at the French Court. After her elevation to the throne,
-she was too apt to forget, with those about her, the sober dignity which
-belonged to the queen, and to converse with the officers about her more
-in the familiar manner of the maid-of-honour which she had once been.
-This freedom and gaiety had been caught at by the Court gossips, and now
-scandals were whispered abroad, and, as soon as the way was open by the
-anger and fresh love affair of the king, carried to him. Such accusations
-were precisely what he wanted, as a means to rid himself of her. A plot
-was speedily concocted, in which she was to be charged with criminal
-conduct towards not only three officers of the Royal household--Brereton,
-Weston, and Norris--but also with Mark Smeaton, the king's musician,
-and, still more horrible, with her own brother, the Viscount Rochford. A
-court of inquiry was at once appointed, in which presided Cromwell, the
-Lord Chancellor, and the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, Anne's determined
-enemies. On the 28th of April they began with Brereton, and committed
-him to the Tower. On Sunday, the 31st, they examined Smeaton, and sent
-him also to the same prison. The following day, being the 1st of May,
-the court was suspended to celebrate the gaieties usual on that day; and
-these were used for the purpose of obtaining a public cause of accusation
-against Sir Henry Norris. There was to be held a tournament at Greenwich
-that day, in which the Viscount Rochford was to be opposed by Norris as
-the principal defendant.
-
-In the midst of the tournament, Henry, who, no doubt, was watching for
-some opportunity to entrap his victims, suddenly found one. The queen,
-leaning over the balcony, witnessing the tournament, accidentally
-let fall her handkerchief. Norris took it up, and, it was said,
-presumptuously wiped his face with it, and then handed it to the queen on
-his spear. The thing is wholly improbable, the true version most likely
-being that the courtly Norris kissed the handkerchief on taking it up--an
-ordinary knightly usage--and that this was seized upon as a pretended
-charge against him. Henry, however, suddenly frowned, rose abruptly from
-his seat, and, black as a thunder-cloud, marched out of the gallery,
-followed by his six attendants. Every one was amazed; the queen appeared
-terror-stricken, and immediately retired. Sir Henry Norris, and not only
-Norris but Lord Rochford, who had had nothing whatever to do with the
-handkerchief (showing, therefore, that the matter was preconcerted), was
-arrested at the barriers on a charge of high treason. The queen herself
-was taken to her lodgings in the Tower.
-
-[Illustration: ANNE BOLEYN. (_After the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-Left alone in her prison, Anne's affliction seemed to actually disturb
-her intellect. She would sit for hours plunged in a stupor of melancholy,
-shedding torrents of tears, and then she would abruptly burst into wild
-laughter. To her attendants she would say that she should be a saint in
-heaven; that no rain would fall on the earth till she was delivered from
-prison; and that the most grievous calamities would oppress the nation in
-punishment for her death. At other times she became calm and devotional,
-and requested that a consecrated host might be placed in her closet.
-
-But the unhappy queen was not suffered to enjoy much retirement. It
-was necessary for Henry to establish a charge against her sufficiently
-strong to turn the feeling of the nation against her, and from him; and
-for this purpose no means were neglected which tyranny and harshness
-of the intensest kind could suggest. Whilst the accused gentlemen were
-interrogated, threatened, cajoled, and even put to the torture in their
-cells, to force a confession of guilt from them, two women were set over
-Anne to watch her every word, look, and act, to draw from her in her
-unguarded conversation everything they could to implicate her, and, no
-doubt, to invent and colour where the facts did not sufficiently answer
-the purpose required. These were Lady Boleyn, the wife of Anne's uncle,
-Sir Edward Boleyn, a determined enemy of hers, and Mrs. Cosyns, the
-wife of Anne's master of the horse, a creature of the most unprincipled
-character.
-
-Mrs. Cosyns asked her why Norris had told his almoner on the preceding
-Saturday "that he could swear the queen was a good woman?" "Marry,"
-replied Anne, "I bade him do so, for I asked him why he did not go on
-with his marriage, and he made answer that he would tarry awhile. 'Then,'
-said I, 'you look for dead men's shoes. If aught but good should come to
-the king [who was then afflicted with a dangerous ulcer], you would look
-to have me.' He denied it, and I told him I could undo him if I would."
-Again, the queen expressed some apprehension of what Weston might say
-in his examination, for he had told her on Whit Monday last that Norris
-came into her chamber more for her sake than for Madge, one of her maids
-of honour. She had told him he did love her kinswoman, Mrs. Skelton,
-and that he loved not his wife; and he answered again that he loved one
-in his house better than them both. She asked him who, and he said,
-"Yourself," on which she defied him. Such was the stuff which Kingston
-gathered at the hands of these wretched spies, to be used against the
-queen, who was to be got rid of.
-
-Anne exhorted Kingston to convey a letter from her to Cromwell, but he
-declined such a responsibility; she contrived, however, by some means, on
-the fourth day of her imprisonment, to forward a letter, which conveys a
-very different impression from the conversation reported by the female
-spies, through Cromwell to the king.
-
-"Never," she wrote, "did I at any time so far forget myself in my
-exaltation or received queenship, but that I always looked for such
-alteration as I now find; for the ground of my preferment being on no
-surer foundation than your grace's fancy, the least alteration was fit
-and sufficient (I knew) to draw that fancy to some other object.
-
-"Try me, good king, but let me have a lawful trial, and let not my sworn
-enemies sit as my accusers and as my judges; yea, let me receive an open
-trial, for my truth shall fear no open shame. Then shall you see either
-mine innocency cleared, your suspicions and conscience satisfied, the
-ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my guilt openly declared."
-
-This letter, a copy of which was found amongst the papers of Cromwell,
-when his turn came to pay the penalty of serving that remorseless tyrant,
-is the letter of an innocent woman, and forms a strange contrast to the
-dubious language put into her mouth by those who reported her speech on
-the scaffold.
-
-On the 10th of May an indictment for high treason was found by the grand
-jury of Westminster against Anne and the five gentlemen accused; and on
-the same day the four commoners were put upon their trial in Westminster
-Hall, for the alleged offences against the honour and life of their
-sovereign lord. A true bill was also found against them by the grand
-juries of Kent and Middlesex, some of the offences being laid in those
-counties, at Greenwich, Hampton Court, &c. Smeaton, the musician, was the
-only one who could be brought to confess his guilt; and it is declared by
-Constantyne, who was in attendance on the trials, and wrote an account
-of the proceedings, that he "had been grievously racked" to bring him to
-that confession. According to Grafton's chronicle, he was beguiled into
-signing the deposition which criminated the queen as well as himself,
-by an offer of pardon like that so repeatedly made to Norris. The weak
-man fell into the snare; the rest of the accused stood firmly by their
-innocence, and neither threats nor promises could move them from it.
-Norris was a great favourite with the king, who still appeared anxious
-to save his life, and sent to him, offering him again full pardon if he
-would confess his guilt. But Norris nobly declared that he believed in
-his conscience that the queen was wholly innocent of the crimes charged
-upon her; but whether she were so or not, he could not accuse her of
-anything, and that he would rather die a thousand deaths than falsely
-accuse the innocent. On this being told to Henry, he exclaimed, "Let him
-hang then! hang him up then!" All the four were condemned to death.
-
-On the 16th of May Queen Anne and her brother, Lord Rochford, were
-brought to trial in the great hall in the Tower, a temporary court
-being erected within it for the purpose. The Duke of Norfolk, a known
-and notorious enemy of the accused, was created Lord High Steward for
-the occasion, and presided--a sufficient proof, if any were needed,
-that no justice was intended. His son, the Earl of Surrey, sat as
-Deputy Earl-Marshal beneath him. Twenty-six peers, as "lords-triers,"
-constituted the court, and amongst these appeared the Duke of Suffolk, a
-nobleman still more inveterate in his hatred of the queen than the chief
-judge himself. The Earl of Northumberland, Anne's old lover, was one
-of the lords-triers; but he was seized with such a disorder, no doubt
-resulting from his memory of the past, that he was obliged to quit the
-court before the arraignment of Lord Rochford, and did not live many
-months. Henry, by his tyranny, had forcibly rent asunder his engagement
-with Anne; had embittered his life; and tired of the treasure which would
-have made Northumberland happy, he now called upon that injured man to
-assist in destroying one whom he had already lost.
-
-Lord Rochford defended himself with such courage and ability that even
-in that packed court there were many who, by their sense of justice,
-were led to brave the vengeance of the terrible king, and voted for his
-acquittal. The chief witness against him was his own wife, who had hated
-Anne Boleyn from the moment that she became the king's favourite; and
-now with a most monstrous violation of all nature and decency, strove to
-destroy her queen and her own husband together. Spite of the impression
-which the young viscount made on some of his judges, he was condemned,
-for Henry willed it, and that was enough.
-
-When he was removed Anne, Queen of England, was summoned into court, and
-appeared attended by her ladies and Lady Kingston, and was conducted to
-the bar by the Constable and Lieutenant of the Tower. She stood alone,
-without counsel or adviser; yet in that trying moment she displayed a
-dignified composure worthy of her station and of the character of an
-innocent woman. Crispin, Lord of Milherve, who was present, says that
-"she presented herself at the bar with the true dignity of a queen, and
-curtsied to her judges, looking round upon them all without any signs of
-fear." When the indictment against her, charging her with adultery and
-incest, had been read, she held up her hand and pleaded not guilty.
-
-Anne seems to have shown great ability and address on the occasion. She
-is said to have spoken with extraordinary force, wit, and eloquence,
-and so completely scattered all the vile tissue of lies that was brought
-against her, that the spectators imagined that there was nothing for it
-but to acquit her. "It was reported without doors," says Wyatt, "that
-she had cleared herself in a most wise and noble speech." But, alas! it
-was neither wisdom, wit, truth, innocence, eloquence, nor all the powers
-and virtues which could be assembled in one soul, which could draw an
-acquittal from that assembly of slaves bound by selfish terror to the
-yoke of the remorseless despot who now disgraced the throne. "Had the
-peers given their verdict, according to the expectation of the assembly,"
-says Bishop Godwin, "she had been acquitted." But they knew they must
-give it according to the expectation of their implacable master, and she
-was condemned.
-
-Henry lost no time in getting rid of the woman, to obtain whom he had
-moved heaven and earth for years--threatening the peace of kingdoms, and
-rending the ancient bonds of the Church. The very day on which she was
-condemned, he signed her death-warrant, and sent Cranmer to confess her.
-There is something rather hinted at than proved in this part of these
-strange proceedings. Anne, when she was conveyed from Greenwich to the
-Tower, told her enemies proudly that nothing could prevent her dying
-their queen; and now, when she had seen Cranmer, she was in high spirits,
-and said to her attendants that she believed she should be spared after
-all, and that she understood that she was to be sent to Antwerp. The
-meaning of this the event of next day sufficiently explained. In the
-morning, on a summons from Archbishop Cranmer, she was conveyed privately
-from the Tower to Lambeth, where she voluntarily submitted to a judgment
-that her marriage with the king had been invalid, and was, therefore,
-from the first null and void. Thus she consented to dethrone herself,
-to unwife herself, and to bastardise her only child. Why? Undoubtedly
-from the promise of life, and from fear of the horrid death by fire. As
-she had received the confident idea of escape with life from the visit
-of Cranmer, there can be no rational doubt that he had been employed by
-the king to tamper with her fears of death and the stake, and draw this
-concession from her. Does any one think this impossible or improbable in
-Cranmer--the great Reformer of the Church? Let him weigh his very next
-proceeding.
-
-Cranmer had formerly examined the marriage of Henry and Anne carefully
-by the canon law, and had pronounced it good and valid. He now
-proceeded to contradict every one of his former arguments and decisions,
-and pronounced the same marriage null and void. A solemn mockery of
-everything true, serious, and Divine was now gone through. Henry
-appointed Dr. Sampson his proctor in the case; Anne had assigned her
-the Drs. Wotton and Barbour. The objections to the marriage were read
-over to them in the presence of the queen. The king's proctor could
-not dispute them; the queen's were, with pretended reluctance, obliged
-to admit them, and both united in demanding a judgment. Then the great
-Archbishop and Reformer, "having previously invoked the name of Christ,
-and having God alone before his eyes," pronounced definitively that the
-marriage formally contracted, solemnised, and consummated between Henry
-and Anne was from the first illegal, and, therefore, no marriage at all;
-and the poor woman, who had been induced to submit to this deed of shame
-and of infamous deception, was sent back, not to life, not to exile at
-Antwerp--but to the block!
-
-[Illustration: ANNE BOLEYN'S LAST FAREWELL OF HER LADIES. (_See p._ 168.)]
-
-Friday, the 19th of May, was the day fixed for her execution, and on
-that morning she rose at two o'clock and resumed her devotions with
-her almoner. She sent for Sir William Kingston to be witness to her
-last solemn protest of her innocence before taking the sacrament. A few
-minutes before twelve o'clock she was led forth by the Lieutenant of the
-Tower to the scaffold. "Never," said a foreign gentleman present, "had
-the queen looked so beautiful before." Her composure was equal to her
-beauty. She removed her hat and collar herself, and put a small linen cap
-upon her head, saying, "Alas! poor head, in a very brief space thou wilt
-roll in the dust on the scaffold; and as in life thou didst not merit to
-wear a crown, so in death thou deserved not better doom than this." She
-then took a very affectionate farewell of her ladies. Having given to
-Mary Wyatt, the sister of Sir Thomas Wyatt, who attended her through all
-her trouble, the little book of devotions which she held in her hand, and
-whispered to her some parting words, she laid her head on the block. One
-of the ladies then covered her eyes with a bandage, and as the poor queen
-was saying, "O Lord, have mercy on my soul," the executioner, who had
-been sent for from Calais, severed her head from her body at one stroke
-of the sword. Her body was thrust into a chest used for keeping arrows
-in, and buried in the same grave with that of her brother, Lord Rochford,
-no coffin being provided.
-
-[Illustration: ST. PETER'S CHAPEL, TOWER GREEN, LONDON, WHERE ANNE BOLEYN
-WAS BURIED.]
-
-Henry now repealed the late act of settlement, and passed a new one
-through the compliant Parliament, entailing the crown on the issue by
-Jane Seymour, whom he married on the morning after Anne's execution.
-He obtained, moreover, a power to bequeath the succession by letters
-patent, or by his last will, in case of having no fresh issue of his own,
-on any person whom he thought proper. In life and in death he demanded
-absolute power over every principle of the Constitution, and this
-Parliament, which would have granted him anything, conceded it. It was
-well understood that he meant to cut off his daughters, and to confer the
-crown on his illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond. But as if Providence
-would punish him in the very act, this son died before he could give his
-Royal assent to the bill.
-
-But if Henry had found a very submissive body in the Parliament, there
-was much discontent amongst the people, who were encouraged in their
-murmurs by the monks who had been dispossessed of their monasteries
-or who feared the approach of their fall, and by the clergy, who were
-equally alarmed at the progress of the opinions of the Reformers in the
-nation. There were two great factions in the Church and the Government,
-the opposed members of which were denominated the men of the Old and
-the New learning. At the head of the Old or Romanist faction were Lee,
-Archbishop of York; Stokesley, Bishop of London; Tunstal, Bishop of
-Durham; Gardiner, of Winchester; Sherbourne, of Chichester; Nix, of
-Norwich; and Kite, of Carlisle. These received the countenance and
-support of the Duke of Norfolk and of Wriothesley, the premier secretary.
-The leaders of the Reforming faction were Cranmer, the Primate; Latimer,
-Bishop of Worcester; Shaxton, of Salisbury; Hilsey, of Rochester; Fox, of
-Hereford; and Barlow, of St. David's. These were especially patronised by
-Cromwell, whose power as Vicar-General was great, and who was now made
-Lord Cromwell by the king.
-
-Each of these parties, supported by a large body in the nation,
-endeavoured to make their way by flattering the vanity or the love of
-power of the capricious king. The Papist party swayed him to their side
-by his love of the old doctrines and rites; the Reformers, by his pride
-in opposing the Pope, and the gratification of his love of power as the
-independent head of the Church. In this transition state of things, the
-doctrines of the English Church, as settled by Convocation, exhibited
-a singular medley, and were liable at any moment to be disturbed by
-the momentary bias of the king, whose word was the only law of both
-Church and State. The Reformers succeeded in having the standard of
-faith recognised as existing in the Scriptures and the three creeds--the
-Apostolic, Nicene, and Athanasian; but then the Romanists had secured the
-retention of auricular confession and penance. As to marriage, extreme
-unction, confirmation, or holy orders, it was found that there could
-be no agreement in the belief in them as sacraments, and, therefore,
-they remained unmentioned, every one following his own fancy. The
-Real Presence was admitted in the sacrament of the Supper. The Roman
-Catholics asserted the warrant of Scripture for the use of images; but
-the Protestants denied this, and warned the people against idolatry in
-praying to them. The use of holy water, the ceremonies practised on Ash
-Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and other Festivals, were still
-maintained, but Convocation, yielding to the Reformers, admitted that
-they had no power to remit sin.
-
-The Church being in this divided state, each party pushed its own
-opinions and practice where it could, with the certain consequence
-that there was much feud and heart-burning, and the people were pulled
-hither and thither. In those places where the Reformers prevailed, they
-saw the images thrown down or removed, the ancient rites neglected or
-despised; and they felt themselves aggrieved, but more especially with
-the ordinances of Cromwell as Vicar-General, who retrenched many of their
-ancient holidays. He also incensed the clergy, by prohibiting the resort
-to places of pilgrimage, and the exhibition of relics. These greatly
-reduced the emoluments of the clergy, whom he on the other hand compelled
-to lay aside a considerable portion of their revenues for the repairs of
-the churches, and the assistance of the poor. This caused them to foment
-the discontents of the people, and the thousands of monks now wandering
-over the country, without home or subsistence, found ready listeners
-in the vast population which had been accustomed to draw their main
-support from the daily alms of the convents and monasteries. The people,
-seeing all these ancient sources of a lazy support suddenly cut off by
-Government, grew furious; and their disaffection was strengthened by
-observing that many of the nobility and gentry were equally malcontent,
-whose ancestry had founded monasteries, and who, therefore, looked upon
-them with feelings of family pride, and, moreover, regarded them as a
-certain provision for some of their younger children. There were many
-of all classes who thought with horror of the souls of their ancestors
-and friends, who, they believed, would now remain for ages in all the
-torments of purgatory, for want of masses to relieve them.
-
-All these causes operating together produced formidable insurrections,
-both in the north and south. The first rising was in Lincolnshire. It
-was headed by Dr. Mackrel, the Prior of Barlings, who was disguised like
-a mechanic, and by another man in disguise, calling himself Captain
-Cobbler. The first attack was occasioned by the demand of a subsidy for
-the king, but the public mind was already in a state of high excitement,
-and this was only the spark that produced the explosion. Twenty thousand
-men quickly rose in arms, and forced several lords and gentlemen to
-be their leaders. Such as refused, they either threw into prison or
-killed on the spot. Amongst the latter was the Chancellor of Longland,
-an ecclesiastic by no means popular. The king sent a force against them
-under the Duke of Suffolk, attended by the Earls of Shrewsbury, Kent,
-Rutland, and Huntingdon.
-
-Suffolk found the insurgents in such force that he thought it best to
-temporise, and demanded of them what they had to complain of. Thereupon
-the men of Lincolnshire drew up and presented to him a list of six
-articles of grievance. These consisted, first and foremost, of the
-suppression of the monasteries, by which they said great numbers of
-persons were put from their livings, and the poor of the realm were
-left unrelieved. Another complaint was of the fifteenth voted by
-Parliament, and of having to pay fourpence for a beast, and twelvepence
-for every twenty sheep. They affirmed that the king had taken into his
-councils personages of low birth and small reputation, who had got the
-forfeited lands into their hands, "most especial for their singular
-lucre and advantage." This was aimed by name, and with only too much
-justice, at Cromwell and Lord Rich, who had grown wealthy on the spoils
-of the abbeys. To these men they added the names of the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, the Bishops of Rochester, Salisbury, St. David's, and Dublin,
-whom they accused of having perverted the faith of the realm; and they
-especially attributed the severe exactions on the people to the Bishop of
-Lincoln and the officers of Cromwell, of whom it was rumoured that they
-meant to take the plate, jewels, and ornaments of the parish churches, as
-they had taken those of the religious houses.
-
-The king answered by flatly refusing their petition, bidding them
-meddle no more in the affairs of their undoubted prince, but deliver up
-their ringleaders, and leave governing to him and his counsellors and
-noblemen. This bluster appears to have frightened the simple clodhoppers
-of the Fens; for we have, a few days later, another letter from the same
-swelling hand, telling them that he has heard from the Earl of Shrewsbury
-that they have shown a fitting repentance and sorrow for their folly
-and their heinous crimes; and assuring them that in any other Christian
-country they, their wives and children, would have been exterminated with
-fire and sword. He orders them to pile their arms in the market-place of
-Lincoln, and get away to their proper habitations and business, or, if
-they remain a day longer in arms, he will execute on them, their wives
-and children, the most terrible judgments that the world had ever known.
-
-On the 30th of October, this frightened rabble, which seems to have been
-led on and then deserted by the clergy and gentry, dispersed, having
-first delivered up to the king's general fifteen of their ringleaders,
-amongst whom were Dr. Mackrel, the Prior of Barlings, and Captain
-Cobbler, said to have been a man of the name of Melton. These prisoners
-were afterwards executed as traitors, with all the barbarities of the
-age.
-
-Scarcely, however, was the disturbance in Lincolnshire suppressed, when
-a far more formidable one broke out in the north. The people there were
-much more accustomed to arms, and their vicinity to the Scots created
-alarm at Court, lest the latter should take advantage of the rising to
-make an inroad into the country. The insurrection quickly spread over
-Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Lancashire. The Lord
-Darcy was conspicuous in it on the Borders, and there were calculated
-to be not less than 40,000 men in arms. Henry was this time seriously
-aroused, and sent Cromwell to the Jewel-house in the Tower to take as
-much plate as he thought could possibly be spared, and have it coined to
-pay troops, for he had no money in his coffers, notwithstanding all the
-monasteries which he had seized. Wriothesley, the Secretary of State,
-wrote from Windsor to Cromwell to expedite this business, superscribing
-his letter, "_In haste--haste for thy life_;" and telling him that the
-king appeared to fear much this matter, especially if he should want
-money, "for on the Lord Darcy his Grace had no great trust."
-
-As soon as money could be coined, a good sum was sent to the Duke
-of Suffolk, who was posted at Newark, and who made free use of it
-in buying over some of the ringleaders, and in sowing dissensions
-among the insurgents. Meanwhile the Earl of Shrewsbury was made the
-king's Lord-Lieutenant north of the Trent, and the Duke of Norfolk was
-despatched into Yorkshire, to command there with 5,000 men. Robert Aske,
-a gentleman of ability, was at the head of the rebel forces, and he had
-given a religious character to the movement by styling it "The Pilgrimage
-of Grace." Priests marched in the van, in the habits of their various
-orders, carrying crosses and banners, on which were emblazoned the figure
-of Christ on the cross, the sacred chalice, and the five wounds of the
-Saviour. On their sleeves, too, were embroidered the five wounds, and
-the name of Christ on their centre. They had all sworn an oath that they
-had entered into the pilgrimage from no other motive than the love of
-God, the care of the king's person and issue, the desire of purifying the
-nobility, of driving base persons from the king, of restoring the Church,
-and suppressing heresy.
-
-Wherever they came, they compelled the people to join their ranks,
-as they would answer it at the day of judgment, as they would bear
-the pulling down of their houses, and the loss of their goods and of
-their lives. They restored the monks and nuns to their houses as
-they went along. The cities of York, Hull, and Pontefract had opened
-their gates, and taken the prescribed oaths. The Archbishop of York,
-the Lords Darcy, Lumley, Latimer, and Neville, with a vast number of
-knights and gentlemen, gathered to their standard, either by free will
-or compulsion, and the army presented a formidable aspect. But there
-was already disunion in the host. The money of the Duke of Suffolk was
-doing its work, and Wriothesley soon wrote that the insurgents were
-falling to talking amongst themselves, and, if that went on, a pair of
-light heels would soon be worth five pairs of hands to them. The Earl
-of Cumberland repulsed them from his castle of Skipton; Sir Ralph Evers
-defended Scarborough against them; Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, the
-Earls of Huntingdon, Derby, and Rutland, took the field against them; and
-they only managed to take Pomfret Castle, because the Lord Darcy and the
-Archbishop of York, lying there, were supposed to be secretly in league
-with them, and only made a show of force, which they might plead in case
-of failure.
-
-The insurgents, quite aware that the Government, which was attempting
-to sow dissension among them by pretended negotiations, was but waiting
-to seize and crush the leaders, again took the field in the very midst
-of winter. On the 23rd of January, 1537, bills were stuck on the church
-doors by night, calling on the commoners to come forth and to be true
-to one another, for the gentlemen had deceived them, yet they should
-not want for captains. There was great distrust lest the gentlemen had
-been won over by the pardon and by money. The rebels, however, marched
-out under two leaders of the name of Musgrave and Tilby, and, 8,000
-strong, they laid siege to Carlisle, where they were repulsed; and, being
-encountered in their retreat by Norfolk, they were defeated and put to
-flight. All their officers, except Musgrave, were taken and put to death,
-to the number of seventy. Sir Francis Bigot and one Hallam attempted to
-surprise Hull, but failed; and other risings in the north proving equally
-abortive, the king now bade Norfolk spread his banner, march through the
-northern counties with martial law, and, regardless of the pardon he had
-issued, punish the rebels without mercy.
-
-As the monks had obviously been at the bottom of this commotion, Henry
-let loose his vengeance especially upon them. He ordered Norfolk to go
-to Sawley, Hexham, Newminster, Lanercost, St. Agatha, and all other
-places that had made resistance, and there seize certain priors and
-canons and send them up to him, and immediately to hang up "all monks and
-canons that be in any wise faulty, without further delay or ceremony."
-He ordered the Earl of Surrey and other officers in the north to charge
-the monks there with grievous offences, to try their minds, and see
-whether they would not submit themselves gladly to his will. Under these
-sanguinary orders the whole of England north of the Trent became a scene
-of horror and butchery, and ghastly heads and mangled bodies, or corpses
-swinging from the trees. Nor did this admirable reformer of religion
-neglect to look after the property of his victims. Their lands and goods
-were all to be forfeited and taken possession of; "for we are informed,"
-he says, "that there were amongst them divers freeholders and rich men,
-whose lands and goods, well looked unto, will reward others that with
-their truth have deserved the same."
-
-Besides Aske, Sir Thomas Constable, Sir John Bulmer, Sir Thomas Percy,
-Sir Stephen Hamilton, Nicholas Tempest, William Lumley, and others,
-though they had taken the benefit of the pardon, were found guilty,
-and most of them were executed. Lord Hussey was found guilty of being
-an accomplice in the Lincolnshire rising, and was executed at Lincoln.
-Lord Darcy, though he pleaded compulsion, and a long life spent in the
-service of the Crown, was executed on Tower Hill. Lady Bulmer, the wife
-of Sir John Bulmer, was burnt in Smithfield; and Robert Aske was hung in
-chains on one of the towers of York. Having thus satiated his vengeance,
-and struck a profound terror into all the disaffected, Henry once more
-published a general pardon, to which he adhered; and even complied with
-one of the demands which the insurgents had made, that of erecting by
-patent a court of justice at York, for deciding lawsuits in the northern
-counties.
-
-On the 12th of October, 1537, Jane Seymour gave birth to the long-desired
-prince, so well known afterwards as King Edward VI. This event took
-place at the palace of Hampton Court, and the infant was immediately
-proclaimed Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester. The
-joy on so greatly desired an occurrence may be imagined, though it
-was somewhat dashed by the death of the queen, which took place only
-twelve days afterwards. During the confinement there was some question
-whether the life of the mother or of the child should be sacrificed,
-and on the question being put to the king, which should be spared, he
-characteristically replied, "The child by all means, for other wives
-can be easily found." The queen's death, however, was occasioned by
-the absurd exposure which the pompous christening necessitated. Henry
-appeared to be grieved when her death really took place, and put on
-mourning, which he had never done for his wives before, and never did
-again. He wore it three months.
-
-[Illustration: THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE. (_See p._ 171.)]
-
-By the accession of Queen Jane a new family, greedy and insatiable of
-advancement, was brought forward, whom we shall soon find figuring on
-the scene. The queen's brothers, sisters, uncles, and cousins presently
-filled every great and lucrative office at Court; closely imitating the
-unpopular precedent of the relations of Elizabeth Woodville. Her eldest
-brother, Edward Seymour, was immediately made Lord Beauchamp and Earl of
-Hertford; and, in the joy of having an heir, Henry created Sir William
-Paulet Lord St. John and Sir John Russell Lord Russell. Sir William
-Fitzwilliam was made Earl of Southampton, and High-Admiral. Russell and
-Paulet were sworn of the Privy Council; and John Russell, now in high
-favour with the king, attended the wedding, flattered the bride, and
-became, in the next reign, Earl of Bedford. Queen Jane received all
-the rites of the Roman Catholic Church on her death-bed; thus clearly
-denoting that neither she nor her husband was of the Protestant faith.
-
-Any grief which might have affected Henry for his wife's death did
-not prevent him from prosecuting his favourite design of seizing rich
-monasteries and destroying heretics. The great amount of property
-which Henry had obtained from the dissolution of monastic houses
-only stimulated him and his courtiers to invade the remainder. The
-insurrections laid the inmates of these houses open to a general charge
-that they had everywhere fomented, and in many places taken public part
-in, these attempts to resist Government. Prosecutions for high treason
-and menaces of martial law induced many of the more timid abbots and
-priors to resign their trusts into the hands of the king and his heirs
-for ever. Others--like the prior of Henton, in Somersetshire--resisted,
-declaring that it did not become them "to be light and hasty in giving up
-those things which were not theirs to give, being dedicated to Almighty
-God, for service to be done unto His honour continually, with many other
-good deeds of charity which be daily done in their houses to their
-Christian brethren."
-
-To grapple the more effectually with these sturdy remonstrants, a new
-visitation was appointed of all the monasteries in England; and, as a
-pretence only was wanted for their suppression, it was not difficult to
-find one where so many great men were eager to share in the spoils. But,
-while the destruction of the monasteries found many advocates, there
-were not wanting some who recommended the retention of those convents
-for women which had maintained order and a good reputation. But the king
-would hear of nothing but that all should be swept away together; and
-the better to prepare the public mind for so complete a revolution in
-social life, every means was employed to represent these establishments
-as abodes of infamy, and to expose the relics preserved in their shrines
-to ridicule, as impostures which deluded the ignorant people.
-
-The work of suppressing the monasteries and convents went on briskly,
-for, says Bishop Godwin, "the king continued much prone to reformation,
-especially if anything might be gotten by it." The Earl of Sussex and
-a body of Commissioners were despatched to the north, to inquire into
-the conduct of the religious houses there, and great stress was laid on
-the participation of the monks in the insurrection of the Pilgrimage of
-Grace. The abbeys of Furness and Whalley were particularly rich; and
-though little concern with the rebellion could be traced to the inmates,
-yet the Commissioners never rested till, by persuasion and intimidation,
-they had induced the abbots to surrender these houses into their hands.
-The success of the Earl of Sussex and his associates led to similar
-Commissions in the south, and for four years the process was going on
-without an Act of Parliament.
-
-The system generally adopted was this:--First, tempting offers of
-pensions were held out to the superiors and the monks or nuns, and
-in proportion to the obstinacy in complying was the smallness of the
-pension. The pensions to superiors varied, according to the wealth and
-rank of their houses, from L266 to L6 per annum. The priors of cells
-received generally L13. A few, whose services merited the distinction,
-L20. The monks received from L2 to L6 per annum, with a small sum in hand
-for immediate need. Nuns got about L4. That was the first and persuasive
-process; but, if this failed, intimidation was resorted to. The superior
-and his monks, tenants, servants, and neighbours, were subjected to a
-rigorous and vexatious examination. The accounts of the house were called
-for, and were scrutinised minutely, and all moneys, plate, and jewels
-ordered to be produced. There was a severe inquiry into the morals of
-the members, and one was encouraged to accuse another. Obstinate and
-refractory members were thrown into prison, and many died there--amongst
-them, the monks of the Charterhouse, London.
-
-In 1539 a bill was brought into Parliament, vesting in the Crown all the
-property, movable and immovable, of the monastic establishments which
-were already, or which should be hereafter, suppressed, abolished, or
-surrendered, and, by 1540, the whole of this branch of the ecclesiastical
-property was in the hands of the king, or of the courtiers and parasites
-who surrounded him, like vultures, gorging themselves with the fallen
-carcase. The total number of such establishments suppressed from first
-to last by Henry was 655 monasteries--of which 28 had abbots enjoying a
-seat in Parliament--90 colleges, 2,374 chantries and free chapels, and
-110 hospitals. The whole of the revenue of this property, as paid to
-superiors of these houses, was L161,000. The whole income of the kingdom
-at that period was rated at L4,000,000, so that the monastic property was
-apparently one twenty-fifth of the national estate; but as the monastic
-lands were let on long leases, and at very low rents, in the hands of the
-new proprietors it would prove of vastly higher value.
-
-Henry distributed the property among his greedy courtiers as fast as it
-came, and never was so magnificent a property so speedily dissipated.
-What did not go amongst the Seymours, the Essexes, the Howards, the
-Russells, and the like, went in the most lavish manner on the king's
-pleasures and follies. He is said to have given a woman who introduced a
-pudding to his liking the revenue of a whole convent. Pauperism, instead
-of being extinguished, was increased to a degree which astonished every
-one. Such crowds had been supported by the monks and nuns as the public
-had no adequate idea of, till they were thrown destitute and desperate
-into the streets and the highways, and at length became such a national
-burden and nuisance as in the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth to
-cause the introduction of the poor-law system. The aristocracy, in fact,
-usurped the fund for the support of the poor, and threw them on the
-nation at large.
-
-Education received an equal shock. The schools supported by the
-monasteries fell with them. The new race of noblemen who got the funds
-did nothing to continue them. Religion suffered also, for the wealth
-which might have founded efficient incomes for good preachers was gone
-into private hands, and such miserable stipends were paid to the working
-clergy, that none but poor and unlettered men would accept them.
-
-It is only justice to Cranmer to say that he saw this waste of public
-property with concern, and would have had it appropriated to the
-purposes of education and religion, and the relief of the poor; but
-he was too timid to lay the matter before the Royal prodigal. Yet the
-murmurs of the people induced Henry to think of establishing a number
-of bishoprics, deaneries, and colleges, with a portion of the lands of
-the suppressed monasteries. He had an act passed through Parliament
-for the establishment of eighteen bishoprics, but it was found that
-the property intended for these was cleverly grasped by some of his
-courtiers, and only six out of the eighteen could be erected, namely,
-Westminster, Oxford, Peterborough, Bristol, Chester, and Gloucester; and
-some of these were so meagrely endowed that the new prelates had much
-ado for a considerable time to live. At the same time Henry converted
-fourteen abbeys and priories into cathedral and collegiate churches,
-attaching to each a deanery and a certain number of prebendaries. These
-were Canterbury, Rochester, Westminster, Winchester, Bristol, Gloucester,
-Worcester, Chester, Burton-upon-Trent, Carlisle, Durham, Thornton,
-Peterborough, and Ely. But he retained a good slice of the property
-belonging to them, and, at the same time, imposed on the chapters the
-obligations of paying a considerable sum to the repair of the highways,
-and another sum to the maintenance of the poor.
-
-At the same time that Henry had been squandering the monastic property,
-and had falsified his promises of making the Crown independent of
-taxation, by coming to Parliament within twelve months for a subsidy
-of two-tenths and two-fifteenths, he had all along been riveting the
-doctrines of the Church of Rome faster on the nation, and persecuting
-those who questioned them. The Lower House of Convocation drew up a list
-of fifty-nine propositions, which it denounced as heresies, extracted
-from the publications of different Reformers, and presented it to the
-Upper House. On this, Henry, who believed himself a greater theologian
-than any in either house of Convocation, drew up, with the aid of some
-of the prelates, a book of "Articles" which was presented by Cromwell
-to Convocation, and there subscribed. This was then carried through
-Parliament, and became termed too justly the "Bloody Statute," for a more
-terrible engine of persecution never existed.
-
-No sooner had the statute of the Six Articles passed, than Latimer and
-Shaxton, the Bishops of Worcester and Salisbury, resigned their sees; and
-Cranmer, who had been living openly with his wife and children, seeing
-the king's determination to enforce the celibacy of the clergy, sent off
-his family to Germany, and made himself outwardly conformable to the
-law. At the end of the year 1539, the king put to death, in Smithfield,
-three victims of his intolerance. The first two were a man and a woman
-who were Anabaptists. The third was John Lambert, formerly a priest, who
-had become a schoolmaster in London. He was a Reformer, and denied the
-doctrine which Henry was now enforcing under the penalty of death, that
-the Real Presence existed in the bread and wine.
-
-During the whole of the years 1538 and 1539 Henry was, nevertheless, not
-only grown suspicious of his subjects, but greatly alarmed at the rumours
-of a combination between the Pope, the Emperor, and the King of France
-against him. It was rumoured that Cardinal Pole, his relative, who had
-rigorously opposed the divorce, was assisting in this scheme, and as
-Henry could not reach him, on account of Pole's flight to the Continent,
-he determined to take vengeance on his relatives and friends in England.
-A truce for ten years was concluded under the Papal mediation, between
-Charles and Francis, at Nice, in June, 1538. The two monarchs urged Paul
-to publish his bull of excommunication against Henry, which had been
-reserved so long, and Henry, whose spies soon conveyed to him these
-tidings, immediately ordered his fleet to be put in a state of activity,
-his harbours of defence strengthened, and the whole population to be
-called under arms, in expectation of a combined attack.
-
-But at this conference Cardinal Pole had been present, and Henry directly
-attributed the scheme of invasion to him. At once, therefore, he let
-loose his fury on his relatives and friends in England. Becket, the
-usher, and Wrothe, server of the Royal chamber, were despatched into
-Cornwall to collect some colour of accusation against Henry Courtenay,
-the Marquis of Exeter, and his adherents and dependents. The marquis and
-marchioness were soon arrested, as well as Sir Geoffrey Pole and Lord
-Montagu, brothers of the cardinal, and Sir Edward Neville, a brother of
-Lord Abergavenny. Two priests, Croft and Collins, and Holland, a mariner,
-were also arrested, and lodged in the Tower. On the last day of 1538 the
-marquis and Lord Montagu were tried before some of the peers, but not
-before their peers in Parliament, for Parliament was not sitting. The
-commoners were brought to trial before juries; and all on a charge of
-having conspired to place Reginald Pole, late Dean of Exeter, the king's
-enemy, on the throne. The king's ministers declared that the charge was
-well proved, but no such proofs were ever published, which, we may be
-sure, would have been had they existed.
-
-[Illustration: GATEWAY OF KIRKHAM PRIORY.]
-
-The fact was, those noblemen were descended directly from the old
-Royal line of England: Courtenay was grandson to Edward IV., through
-his daughter Catherine, and the Poles were grandsons to George, Duke
-of Clarence, the brother of Edward. All had a better title to the
-throne than Henry, and this, combined with their connection with the
-cardinal, was the cause of the tyrant's enmity. If these prisoners
-had been inclined to treason, they had had the fairest opportunity of
-showing it during the northern insurrection, but they had taken no part
-in it whatever. But Henry had determined to wreak his vengeance, which
-could not reach the cardinal, on them; and the servile peers and courts
-condemned them. It was said that Sir Geoffrey Pole, to save his own life,
-consented to give evidence against the rest--secretly it must have been,
-for it was never produced. His life, therefore, was spared, but the
-rest were executed. Lord Montagu, the Marquis of Exeter, and Sir Edward
-Neville were beheaded on Tower Hill on the 9th of January, 1539, and Sir
-Nicholas Carew, master of the king's horse, was also beheaded on the 3rd
-of March, on a charge of being privy to the conspiracy. The two priests
-and the mariner were hanged and quartered at Tyburn. A commission was
-then sent down into Cornwall, which arraigned, condemned, and put to
-death two gentlemen of the names of Kendall and Quintrell, for having
-said, some years before, that Exeter was the heir apparent, and should be
-king, if Henry married Anne Boleyn, or it should cost a thousand lives.
-
-[Illustration: BEAUCHAMP TOWER, AND PLACE OF EXECUTION WITHIN THE TOWER
-OF LONDON.]
-
-But the sanguinary fury of Henry was not yet sated. The cardinal was sent
-by the Pope to the Spanish and French courts to concert the carrying out
-of the scheme of policy against England. Henry defeated this by means
-of his agents, and neither Charles nor Francis would move: but not the
-less did Henry determine further to punish the hostile cardinal. Judgment
-of treason was pronounced against him; the Continental sovereigns were
-called upon to deliver him up; and he was constantly surrounded by spies,
-and, as he believed, ruffians hired to assassinate him. Meanwhile it was
-said that a French vessel had been driven by stress of weather into South
-Shields, and in it had been taken three emissaries--an English priest of
-the name of Moore, and two Irishmen, a monk and a friar, who were said to
-be carrying treasonable letters to the Pope and to Pole. The Irish monks
-were sent up to London, and tortured in the Tower--a very unnecessary
-measure, if they really possessed the treasonable letters alleged. On
-the 28th of April Parliament was called upon to pass bills of attainder
-against Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, the mother of Cardinal Pole;
-Gertrude, the widow of the Marquis of Exeter; the son of Lord Montagu,
-a boy of tender years; Sir Adam Fortescue, and Sir Thomas Dingley. This
-was a device of Cromwell's, who demanded of the judges whether persons
-accused of treason might not be attainted and condemned by Parliament
-without any trial! The judges--who, like every one else under this
-monster of a king, had lost all sense of honour and justice in fears for
-their own safety--replied that it was a nice question, and one that no
-inferior tribunal could entertain, but that Parliament was supreme, and
-that an attainder by Parliament would be good in law! Such a bill was
-accordingly passed through the servile Parliament, condemning the whole
-to death without any form of trial whatever.
-
-The two knights were beheaded on the 10th of July; the Marchioness of
-Exeter was kept in prison for six months, and then dismissed; the son of
-Lord Montagu, the grandson of the countess, was probably, too, allowed to
-escape, for no record of his death appears; but the venerable old lady
-herself, the near relative of the king, and the last direct descendant
-of the Plantagenets, after having been kept in prison for nearly two
-years, was brought out, and on the 27th of May, 1541, was condemned to
-the scaffold. There she still showed the determination of her character.
-Unlike many who had fallen there before her, so far from making any
-ambiguous speech, or giving any hypocritical professions of reverence for
-the king, she refused to do anything which appeared consenting to her
-own death. When told to lay her head on the block, she replied, "No, my
-head never committed treason; if you will have it, you must take it as
-you can." The executioner tried to seize her, but she moved swiftly round
-the scaffold, tossing her head from side to side. At last, covered with
-blood, for the guards struck her with their weapons, she was seized, and
-forcibly held down, and whilst exclaiming, "Blessed are they who suffer
-persecution for righteousness' sake," the axe descended, and her head
-fell.
-
-But, the time of Cromwell himself was coming. The block was the pretty
-certain goal of Henry's ministers. The more he caressed and favoured
-them, the more certain was that result. Reflecting anxiously on the
-critical nature of his position, the deep and unprincipled minister came
-to the conclusion that the only mode of regaining his influence with the
-king was to promote a Protestant marriage. For a time at least Henry
-allowed himself to be governed by a new wife, and that time gained might
-prove everything to Cromwell. Circumstances seemed to favour him at this
-moment. The king was in constant alarm at the combination between France
-and Spain; and a new alliance with the Protestant princes of Germany,
-if accomplished, would equally serve the purposes of the king and of
-Cromwell. Now was the time for Cromwell, while Henry was chagrined by
-these difficulties. He informed him that Anne, daughter of John III.,
-Duke of Cleves, Count of Mark, and Lord of Ravenstein, was greatly
-extolled for her beauty and good sense; that her sister Sybilla, the wife
-of Frederick, Duke of Saxony, the head of the Protestant confederation
-of Germany, called the Schmalkaldic League, was famed for her beauty,
-talents, and virtues, and universally regarded as one of the most
-distinguished ladies of the time. He pointed out to Henry the advantages
-of thus, by this alliance, acquiring the firm friendship of the princes
-of Germany, in counterpoise to the designs of France and Spain; and he
-assured him that he heard that the sisters of the Electress of Saxony,
-educated under the same wise mother, were equally attractive in person
-and in mind, and waited only a higher position to give them greater
-lustre, especially the Princess Anne.
-
-The Duke of Cleves died on the 6th of February, 1539, and Henry
-despatched Hans Holbein to take the lady's portrait. Being delighted
-with the portrait--which agreed so well with the many praises written
-of the lady by his agents--he acceded to the match; and in the month
-of September the count palatine and ambassadors from Cleves arrived in
-London, where Cromwell received them with real delight, and the king bade
-them right welcome. The treaty was soon concluded; and Henry, impatient
-for the arrival of his wife, despatched the Lord Admiral Fitzwilliam,
-Earl of Southampton, to receive her at Calais, and conduct her to England.
-
-On the 27th of December, 1539, Anne landed at Deal, having been escorted
-across the Channel by a fleet of fifty ships. She was a thorough
-Protestant, going into the midst of as thoroughly Papist a faction, and
-to consort with a monarch the most fickle and dogmatic in the world. She
-could speak no language but German, and of that Henry did not understand
-a word. It would have required a world of charms to have reconciled all
-this to Henry, even for a time, and of these poor Anne of Cleves was
-destitute. That she was not ugly, many contemporaries testify; but she
-was at least plain in person, and still plainer in manners. Both she and
-her maidens, of whom she brought a great train, are said to have been
-as homely and as awkward a bevy as ever came to England in the cause of
-royal matrimony.
-
-The impatient though unwieldy lover, accompanied by eight gentlemen of
-his privy chamber, rode to Rochester to meet the bride. They were all
-clad alike, in coats "of marble colour;" for Henry, with a spice of his
-old romance, was going incognito, to get a peep at his queen without
-her being aware which was he. He told Cromwell that "he intended to
-visit her privily, to nourish love." On his arrival, he sent Sir Anthony
-Browne, his master of the horse, to inform Anne that he had brought
-her a new year's gift, if she would please to accept it. Sir Anthony,
-on being introduced to the lady who was to occupy the place of the two
-most celebrated beauties of the day, the Boleyn and the Seymour, was,
-he afterwards confessed, "never so much dismayed in his life," but of
-course said nothing. So now the enamoured king, whose eyes were dazzled
-with the recollection of what his queens had been, and what Holbein and
-his ambassadors had promised him should again be, entered the presence of
-Anne of Cleves, and was thunderstruck at the first sight of the reality.
-Lord John Russell, who was present, declared "that he had never seen his
-highness so marvellously astonished and abashed as on that occasion."
-
-Instead of presenting himself the new year's gift which he had brought--a
-muff and tippet of rich sables--he sent them to her with a very cold
-message, and rode back to Greenwich in high dudgeon. There, the moment
-that he saw Cromwell, he burst out upon him for being the means of
-bringing him, not a wife, but "a great Flanders mare." Cromwell excused
-himself by not having seen her, and threw the blame on Fitzwilliam, the
-lord admiral, who, he said, when he found the princess at Calais so
-different from the pictures and reports, should have detained her there
-till he knew the king's pleasure; but the admiral replied brusquely
-that he had not had the choosing of her, but had simply executed his
-commission; and if he had in his dispatches spoken of her beauty, it was
-because she was reckoned beautiful, and it was not for him to judge of
-his queen.
-
-No way out of the marriage being found, orders were given for the lady to
-proceed from Dartford, and at Greenwich she was received outwardly with
-all the pomp and rejoicings the most welcome beauty could have elicited.
-But still the mind of the mortified king revolted at the completion of
-the wedding, and once more he summoned his council, and declared himself
-unsatisfied about the contract, and required that Anne should make a
-solemn protestation that she was free from all pre-contracts. Probably
-Henry hoped that, seeing that she was far from pleasing him, she might be
-willing to give him up; but though her just pride as a woman must have
-been wounded by his treatment, and her fears excited by the recollection
-of the fates of Catherine and Anne Boleyn, the princess could be no free
-agent in the matter. The ambassadors would urge the impossibility of her
-going back, thus insulting all Protestant Germany, and her own pride
-would second their arguments on that side too. The ignominy of being sent
-back, rejected as unattractive and unwelcome, was not to be thought of.
-She made a most clear and positive declaration of her freedom from all
-pre-contracts. On hearing this, the surly monarch fell into such a humour
-that Cromwell got away from his presence as quickly as he could. Seeing
-no way out of it, the marriage was celebrated on the 6th of January,
-1540, but nothing could reconcile Henry to his German queen. He loathed
-her person, he could not even talk with her without an interpreter; and
-he soon fell in love with Catherine Howard, niece to the Duke of Norfolk,
-a young lady who was much handsomer than Anne, but not well educated, and
-greatly wanting in principle. From the moment that Henry cast his eyes
-on this new favourite, the little remains of outward courtesy towards
-the queen vanished. He ceased to appear with her in public. He began to
-express scruples about having a Lutheran wife. He did not hesitate to
-propagate the most shameful calumnies against her, declaring that she had
-not been virtuous before her marriage.
-
-Anne, in need of counsel, could find none in those who ought to have
-stood by her. Cranmer, the Reformer, and Cromwell, the advocate of
-Protestantism, and who had, in fact, brought about the marriage, kept
-aloof from her. She sent expressly to Cromwell, and repeatedly, but in
-vain; he refused to see her, for he knew that he stood on the edge of a
-precipice already; that he had deeply offended the choleric monarch by
-promoting this match; and that he was surrounded by spies and enemies,
-who were watching for occasion for his ruin. There is no doubt whatever
-that his ruin was already determined, but Cromwell was an unhesitating
-tool of the quality which Henry needed; for it was just at this time
-that Henry executed the relatives of Cardinal Pole, and probably it was
-an object of his to load that minister with as much of the odium of
-that measure as he could before he cast him down. Cromwell still, then,
-apparently retained the full favour of the king, notwithstanding this
-unfortunate marriage, but the conduct of his friends precipitated his
-fate.
-
-Bishop Gardiner, a bigoted Papist, and one who saw the signs of the
-times as quickly as any man living, did not hear Henry's scruples about
-a Lutheran wife with unheeding ears. On the 14th of February, 1540, he
-preached a sermon at St. Paul's Cross, in which he unsparingly denounced
-as a damnable doctrine the Lutheran tenet of justification by faith
-without works. Dr. Barnes, a dependent of Cromwell's, but clearly a most
-imprudent one, on the 28th of February, just a fortnight afterwards,
-mounted the same pulpit, and made a violent attack on Gardiner and his
-creed. Barnes could never have intimated to Cromwell his intention to
-make this assault on a creed which was as much the king's as Gardiner's,
-or he would have shown him the fatality of it. But Barnes, like a rash
-and unreflecting zealot, not only attacked Gardiner's sermon, but got
-quite excited, and declared that he himself was a fighting-cock, and
-Gardiner was another fighting-cock, but that the _garden_-cock lacked
-good spurs. As was inevitable, Henry, who never let slip an opportunity
-to champion his own religious views, summoned Barnes forthwith before a
-commission of divines, compelled him to recant his opinion, and ordered
-him to preach another sermon, in the same place, on the first Sunday
-after Easter, and there to read his recantation, and beg pardon of
-Gardiner. Barnes obeyed. He read his recantation, publicly asked pardon
-of Gardiner, and then, getting warm in his sermon, reiterated in stronger
-terms than ever the very doctrine he had recanted.
-
-The man must have made up his mind to punishment for his religious faith,
-for no such daring conduct was ever tolerated for a moment by Henry. He
-threw the offender into the Tower, together with Garret and Jerome, two
-preachers of the same belief, who followed his example.
-
-The enemies of Cromwell rejoiced in this event, believing that his
-connection with Barnes would not fail to influence the king. So
-confidently did they entertain this notion, that they already talked
-of the transfer of his two chief offices, those of Vicar-General and
-Keeper of the Privy Seal, to Tunstal, Bishop of Durham, and Clarke,
-Bishop of Bath. But the king had not yet come to his own point of
-action. Cromwell's opponents were, therefore, astonished to see him open
-Parliament on the 12th of April, as usual, when he announced the king's
-sorrow and displeasure at the religious dissensions which appeared in the
-nation, his subjects branding each other with the opprobrious epithets
-of Papists and heretics, and abusing the indulgence which the king
-had granted them of reading the Scriptures in their native tongue. To
-remedy these evils his Majesty had appointed two committees of prelates
-and doctors--one to set forth a system of pure doctrine, and the other
-to decide what ceremonies and rites should be retained in the Church or
-abandoned; and, in the meantime, he called on both houses to assist him
-in enacting penalties against all who treated with irreverence, or rashly
-and presumptuously explained, the Holy Scriptures.
-
-Never did Cromwell appear so fully to possess the favour of his
-sovereign. He had obtained a grant of thirty manors belonging to
-suppressed monasteries; the title of Earl of Essex was revived in his
-favour, and the office of Lord-Chamberlain was added to his other
-appointments. He was the performer of all the great acts of the State. He
-brought in two bills, vesting the property of the Knights Hospitallers
-in the king, and settling an adequate jointure on the queen. He obtained
-from the laity the enormous subsidy of four-tenths and fifteenths,
-besides ten per cent. of their income from lands, and five per cent. on
-their goods; and from the clergy two-tenths, and twenty per cent. of
-their incomes for two years. So little did there appear any prospect of
-the fall of Cromwell, that his own conduct augured that he never felt
-himself stronger in his monarch's esteem. He dealt about his blows on all
-who had offended himself or the king, however high. He committed to the
-Tower the Bishop of Chichester and Dr. Wilson, for relieving prisoners
-confined for refusing to take the oath of supremacy; and menaced with
-the royal displeasure his chief opponents, the Duke of Norfolk, and the
-Bishops of Durham, Winchester, and Bath.
-
-Yet all this time Henry had determined, and was preparing for his fall.
-He appointed Wriothesley and Ralph Sadler Secretaries of State, and
-divided the business between them. The king had met Catherine Howard, it
-is said, at dinner at Gardiner's, who was Bishop of Winchester. As she
-was a strict Papist, and niece to Norfolk, it was believed that this had
-been concerted by the Catholic party; and they were not mistaken. She at
-once caught the fancy of Henry. Every opportunity was afforded the king
-of meeting her at Gardiner's; and no sooner did that worldly prelate
-perceive the impression she had made, than he informed Henry that Barnes,
-whom neither Gardiner nor Henry could forget, had been Cromwell's agent
-in bringing about the marriage of Anne of Cleves; that Cromwell and
-Barnes had done this, without regard to the feelings of the king, merely
-to bring in a queen pledged to German Protestantism; and that, instead of
-submitting to the king's religious views, they were bent on establishing
-in the country the detestable heresies of Luther.
-
-[Illustration: THOMAS CROMWELL, EARL OF ESSEX. (_After the Portrait by
-Holbein._)]
-
-Henry, whose jealousy was now excited, recollected that when he proposed
-to send Anne of Cleves back, Cromwell had strongly dissuaded him, and as
-Anne had now changed her insubordinate behaviour to him, he immediately
-suspected that it was at the suggestion of Cromwell. No sooner had this
-idea taken full possession, than down came the thunderbolt on the head
-of the great minister. The time was come, all was prepared, and, without
-a single note of warning--without the change of look or manner in the
-king--Cromwell was arrested at the council-board on a charge of high
-treason. In the morning he was in his place in the House of Lords, with
-every evidence of power about him; in the evening he was in the Tower.
-
-In his career, from the shop of the fuller to the supreme power in the
-State, next to the king, Cromwell had totally forgotten the wise counsel
-of Wolsey. He had not avoided, but courted, ambition. He had leaned to
-the Reformed doctrines secretly, but he had taken care to enrich himself
-with the spoils of the suppressed monasteries, and many suspected that
-these spoils were the true incentives to his system of reformation. The
-wealth he had accumulated was, no doubt, a strong temptation to Henry,
-as it was in all such cases, and thus Cromwell's avarice brought its own
-punishment. In his treatment of the unfortunate Romanists whom he had to
-eject from their ancient houses and lands, his conduct had been harsh
-and unsparing; and by that party, now in power, he was consequently hated
-with an intense hatred; and this was a second means of self-punishment.
-But above all, in the days of his power, he had been perfectly reckless
-of the liberties and securities of the subject. He had broken down the
-bulwarks of the Constitution, and advised the king to make his own
-will the sole law, carrying for him through Parliament the monstrous
-doctrine embodied in the enactment that the royal proclamation superseded
-Parliamentary decrees, and that the Crown could put men to death without
-any form of trial. Under the monstrous despotism which he had thus
-erected, he now fell himself, and had no right whatever to complain.
-Yet he did complain most lamentably. The men who never feel for others,
-concentrate all their commiseration on themselves; and Cromwell, so
-ruthless and immovable to the pleadings of his own victims, now sent the
-most abject and imploring letters to Henry, crying, "Mercy, mercy!"
-
-His experience might have assured him that, when once Henry seized his
-victim, he never relented; and there was no one except Cranmer who
-dared to raise a voice in his favour, and Cranmer's interference was so
-much in his own timid style, that it availed nothing. His papers were
-seized, his servants interrogated, and out of their statements, whatever
-they were--for they were never produced in any court--the accusations
-were framed against him. These consisted in the charges of his having,
-as minister, received bribes, and encroached on the royal authority
-by issuing commissions, discharging prisoners, pardoning convicts,
-and granting licences for the exportation of prohibited merchandise.
-As Vicar-General, he was charged with having not only held heretical
-opinions himself, but also with protecting heretical preachers, and
-promoting the circulation of heretical books. Lastly, there was added
-one of those absurd, gratuitous assertions, which Henry always threw
-in to make the charge amount to high treason, namely, that Cromwell had
-expressed his resolve to fight against the king himself, if necessary, in
-support of his religious opinions; and Mount was instructed to inform the
-German princes that Cromwell had threatened to strike a dagger into the
-heart of the man who should oppose the Reformation, which, he said, meant
-the king. He demanded a public trial, but was refused, being only allowed
-to face his accusers before the Commissioners. Government then proceeded
-against him by bill of attainder, and thus, on the principle that he had
-himself established, he was condemned without trial, even Cranmer voting
-in favour of the attainder. His fate was delayed for more than a month,
-during which time he continued to protest his innocence, with a violence
-which stood in strong contrast to his callousness to the protestations of
-others, wishing that God might confound him, that the vengeance of God
-might light upon him, that all the devils in hell might confront him,
-if he were guilty. He drew the most lamentable picture of his forlorn
-and miserable condition, and offered to make any disclosures demanded of
-him; but though nothing would have saved him, unluckily for him, Henry
-discovered among his papers his secret correspondence with the princes
-of Germany. He gave the royal assent to the bill of attainder, and in
-five days--namely, on the 28th of July--Cromwell was led to the scaffold,
-where he confessed that he had been in error, but had now returned to
-the truth, and died a good Catholic. He fell detested by every man of
-his own party, exulted over by the Papist section of the community, and
-unregretted by the people, who were just then smarting under the enormous
-subsidy he had imposed. As if to render his execution the more degrading,
-Lord Hungerford, a nobleman charged with revolting crimes, was beheaded
-with him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-REIGN OF HENRY VIII. (_concluded_).
-
-     Divorce of Anne of Cleves--Catherine Howard's Marriage and
-     Death--Fresh Persecutions--Welsh Affairs--The Irish Insurrection
-     and its Suppression--Scottish Affairs--Catholic Opposition
-     to Henry--Outbreak of War--Battle of Solway Moss--French and
-     English Parties in Scotland--Escape of Beaton--Triumph of the
-     French Party--Treaty between England and Germany--Henry's Sixth
-     Marriage--Campaign in France--Expedition against Scotland--Capture
-     of Edinburgh--Fresh Attempt on England--Cardinal Beaton and
-     Wishart--Death of the Cardinal--Struggle between the Two Parties
-     in England--Death of Henry.
-
-
-The death of Cromwell was quickly followed by the divorce of Anne of
-Cleves. The queen was ordered to retire to Richmond, on pretence that the
-plague was in London. Marillac, the French ambassador, writing to Francis
-I., said that the reason assigned was not the true one, for if there had
-been the slightest rumour of the plague, nothing would have induced Henry
-to remain; "for the king is the most timid person in the world in such
-cases." It was the preliminary step to the divorce, and as soon as she
-was gone, Henry put in motion all his established machinery for getting
-rid of wives. The Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke
-of Norfolk, and others of the king's ministers, procured a petition to be
-got up and presented to his Majesty, stating that the House had doubts
-of the validity of the king's marriage, and consequently were uneasy
-as to the succession, and prayed the king to submit the question to
-Convocation. Of course, Henry could refuse nothing to his faithful peers,
-and Convocation, accordingly, took the matter into consideration. The
-marriage was declared--like his two former ones with Catherine and Anne
-Boleyn--to be null and void; and the same judgment of high treason was
-pronounced on any one who should say or write to the contrary. The queen
-being a stranger to the English laws and customs, was not called upon to
-appear personally, or even by her advocates, before Convocation.
-
-All this being settled, the Duke of Suffolk, the Earl of Southampton, and
-Wriothesley proceeded to Richmond, to announce the decision to the queen.
-On the sight of these ministers, and on hearing their communication, that
-the marriage was annulled by Parliament, the poor woman, supposing that
-she was going to be treated like Anne Boleyn, fainted, and fell on the
-floor. On her return to consciousness, the messengers hastened to assure
-her that there was no cause of alarm; that the king had the kindest and
-best intentions towards her; that, if she would consent to resign the
-title of queen, he proposed to give her the title of his sister; to grant
-her precedence of every lady except the future queen and his daughters,
-and to endow her with estates to the value of L3,000 per annum.
-
-Anne received some of the spoils of the fallen Cromwell in different
-estates which were made over to her for life, including Denham Hall, in
-Essex. She resided principally at her palace of Richmond, and at Ham
-House; but we find her living at different times at Bletchingley, Hever
-Castle, Penshurst, and Dartford. Though she was queen only about six
-months, she continued to live in England for seventeen years--seeing two
-queens after her, and Edward VI. and Queen Mary on the throne--greatly
-honoured by all who knew her, and much beloved by both the princesses
-Mary and Elizabeth. Not in seventeen years, but in sixteen months, she
-saw the fall and tragedy of the queen who supplanted her; so that one
-of her maids of honour, Elizabeth Bassett, could not help exclaiming
-at the news, "What a man the king is! how many wives _will_ he have?"
-For which very natural expression the poor girl was very near getting
-into trouble. As for Anne herself, she appeared quite a new woman when
-she had got clear of her terrible and coarse-minded tyrant, so that the
-French ambassador, Marillac, wrote to his master that "Madame of Cleves
-has a more joyous countenance than ever. She wears a great variety of
-dresses, and passes all her time in sports and recreations." No sooner
-was she divorced than Henry paid her a visit, and was so delighted by
-her pleasant and respectful reception of him, that he supped with her
-merrily, and not only went often again to see her, but invited her to
-Hampton, whither she went, not at all troubling herself that another was
-acting the queen.
-
-Anne's marriage was annulled by Parliament on the 9th of July, and on the
-8th of August Catherine Howard appeared at Court as the acknowledged
-queen. For twelve months all went on well, and the king repeatedly
-declared that he had never been happy in love or matrimony till now;
-that the queen was the most perfect of women, and the most affectionate
-of wives. To gratify his new queen, and to accomplish some objects of
-importance, Henry this summer made a progress into the north, and took
-Catherine with him. One object was to judge for himself of the state of
-the northern counties, where the late insurrections in favour of the old
-religion had broken out. He promised himself that his presence would
-intimidate the disaffected; that he should be able to punish those who
-remained troublesome, and make all quiet; but still more was he anxious
-for an interview with his nephew, James V. of Scotland. The principles
-of the Reformation had been making rapid progress in that country, and
-the fires of persecution had been lit up by the clergy. Patrick Hamilton,
-a young man of noble family, who had imbibed the new doctrines abroad,
-and Friar Forrest, a zealous preacher of the same, had suffered at the
-stake. But far more dangerous to the stability of the Catholic Church,
-was the fact that the Scottish nobility, poor and ambitious, had learnt
-a significant lesson from what had been going on in England. The seizure
-of the monastic estates there by the king, and their liberal distribution
-amongst the nobility, excited their cupidity, and they strongly urged
-James to follow the example of his royal uncle. In this counsel they
-found a staunch coadjutor in Henry, who never ceased exciting James to
-follow his example, and, to make sure of his doing so, invited him to an
-interview at York, to which he consented.
-
-Notwithstanding great preparations had been made, the King of Scots
-excused his coming. The very first announcement of such a project had
-struck the clergy of Scotland with consternation. They hastened to
-point out to James the dangers of innovation--the certain mischief of
-aggrandising the nobility, already too powerful, with the spoils of the
-Church--the jeopardy of putting himself into the hands of Henry and the
-English, and the loss of the friendship of all foreign powers, if he was
-induced by Henry to attack the Church, which would render him almost
-wholly dependent on England. They added force to these arguments by
-presenting him with a gratuity of L50,000; promised him a continuance
-of their liberality, and pointed out to him a certain source of income
-of at least L100,000 per annum in the confiscations of heretics. These
-representations and gifts had the desired effect. James sent an excuse
-to Henry for not being able to meet him at York; and the disappointed
-king turned homeward in great disgust. The fascinations of the young
-queen, however, soon restored his good humour, and they arrived at
-Windsor, on the 26th of October, in high spirits.
-
-Little did the uxorious monarch dream that he was at this moment standing
-on a mine that would blow all his imagined happiness into the air and
-send his idolised wife to the block. But at the very time that he and
-Catherine had been showing themselves as so beautifully conjugal a couple
-to the good people of the north, the mine had been preparing. It was the
-misfortune of all the queens of Henry VIII. that they had not only to
-deal with one of the most vindictive and capricious tyrants that ever
-existed, but that they were invariably, and necessarily, the objects of
-the hatred of a powerful and merciless party, which was ready to destroy
-its antagonist, and, as the first and telling stroke in that progress, to
-pull down the queen. Catherine Howard was now the hope of the Romanists.
-She was the niece of the Duke of Norfolk, the most resolute lay-Papist in
-the kingdom, and the political head of that party. The public evidences
-of the growing influence of Catherine with the king in the northern
-progress, had been marked by the Catholics with exultation, and by the
-Protestants with proportionate alarm. Both Rapin and Burnet assert that
-Cranmer felt convinced, from what he saw passing, that unless some means
-were found to lessen the influence of the queen, and thus dash the hopes
-of the Catholics, he must soon follow Cromwell to the block. A most
-ominous circumstance which reached him was, that the royal party took up
-their quarters for a night at the house of Sir John Gorstwick, who, but
-in the preceding spring, had denounced Cranmer in open Parliament, as
-"the root of all heresies," and that at Gorstwick's there had been held a
-select meeting of the Privy Council, at which Gardiner, the unhesitating
-leader of the Romanists, presided. It was the signal for the Protestants
-to bring means of counter-action into play, and such means, unfortunately
-for the queen, were already stored up and at hand.
-
-It was discovered that the queen had been guilty of numerous
-improprieties before marriage, chiefly with a man called Derham, and it
-was now alleged that an intrigue had been going on between Catherine
-and her cousin, Thomas Culpepper, in the northern progress, at Lincoln
-and York, and that one night Culpepper was in the same room with the
-queen and Lady Rochford for three hours. But when it was attempted to
-establish this fact on the evidence of women in attendance, Catherine
-Tylney and Margaret Morton, this evidence dwindled to mere surmise.
-Tylney deposed that on two nights at Lincoln, the queen went to the
-room of Lady Rochford, and stayed late, but affirmed "on her peril that
-she never saw who came unto the queen and my Lady Rochford, nor heard
-what was said between them." Morton's evidence amounted only to this,
-that, at Pontefract, Lady Rochford conveyed letters between the queen
-and Culpepper, _as was supposed_; and one night when the king went to
-the queen's chamber, the door was bolted, and it was some time before
-he could be admitted. This circumstance must have been satisfactorily
-accounted for to Henry at the time, jealous person as he was, yet on such
-paltry grounds was it necessary to build the charge of criminal conduct
-in the queen.
-
-[Illustration: CATHERINE HOWARD BEING CONVEYED TO THE TOWER. (_See p._
-185.)]
-
-On the 21st of January, 1542, a bill of attainder of Catherine Howard,
-late Queen of England, and of Jane, Lady Rochford, for high treason; of
-Agnes, Duchess of Norfolk, Lord William Howard, the Lady Bridgewater,
-and four men and five women, including Derham and Culpepper, already
-executed, was read in the Lords. On the 28th, the Lord Chancellor,
-impressed with a laudable sense of justice, proposed that a deputation of
-Lords and Commons should be allowed to wait on the queen to hear what she
-had to say for herself. He said it was but just that a queen, who was no
-mean or private person, but a public and illustrious one, should be tried
-by equal laws like themselves and thought it would be acceptable to the
-king himself if his consort could thus clear herself. But that did not
-suit Henry: he was resolved to be rid of his lately beloved model queen;
-and as there was no evidence whatever of any crime on her part against
-him, he did not mean that she should have any opportunity of being heard
-in her defence. The bill was, therefore, passed through Parliament,
-passing the Lords in three and the Commons in two days. On the 10th of
-February the queen was conveyed by water to the Tower, and the next
-day Henry gave his assent to the bill of attainder. The persons sent
-to receive the queen's confession were Suffolk, Cranmer, Southampton,
-Audley, and Thirlby. "How much she confessed to them," Burnet says, "is
-not very clear, neither by the journal nor the Act of Parliament, which
-only say she confessed." If she had confessed the crime alleged after
-marriage, that would have been made fully and officially known. Two days
-afterwards, February 12th, she was brought to the block.
-
-Thus fell Catherine Howard in the bloom of her youth and beauty, being
-declared by an eye-witness to be the handsomest woman of her time, paying
-for youthful indiscretions the forfeit of her life to the king, though
-some think she had not sinned against him. So conscious was Henry of
-this, that he made it high treason, in the Act of Attainder, for any one
-to conceal any such previous misconduct in a woman whom the sovereign was
-about to marry. With Catherine fell the odious Lady Rochford, who had
-long deserved her fate, for her false and murderous evidence against her
-own husband and Anne Boleyn.
-
-Having thus destroyed his fifth wife, Henry now turned his attention
-to the regulation of religious affairs and opinions. In 1539 he had
-attempted to set up a standard of orthodoxy by the publication of "The
-Institution of a Christian Man," or "The Bishops' Book," as it was
-called, because compiled by the bishops under his direction. After that
-he published his "Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian
-Man," which was called "The King's Book." In this it was observable that,
-instead of approaching nearer to the Protestant creed, he was going fast
-back into the strictest principles of Romanism. He had allowed the people
-to read the Bible, but he now declared that, though the reading of it was
-necessary to the teachers of religion, it was not so necessary for the
-learners; and he decreed, by Act of Parliament, that the Bible should
-not be read in public, or be seen in any private families but such as
-were of noble or gentle birth. It was not to be read privately by any but
-householders and women who were well-born. If any woman of the ordinary
-class, any artificer, apprentice, journeyman, servant, or labourer dared
-to read the Bible, he or she was to be imprisoned for one month.
-
-Gardiner and the Papist party were more and more in the ascendant,
-and the timid Cranmer and the more liberal bishops were compelled not
-only to wink at these bigoted rules, but to order "The King's Book,"
-containing all the dogmas which they held to be false and pernicious, to
-be published in every diocese, and to be the guide of every preacher.
-By this means it was hoped to quash the numerous new sects which were
-springing from the reading of the Bible, and the earnest discussions
-consequent upon it. Such a flood of new light had poured suddenly into
-the human mind, that it was completely dazzled by it. Opinion becoming
-in some degree free, ran into strange forms. There were Anabaptists,
-who held that every man ought to be guided by the direct inspiration
-of the Holy Ghost, and that, consequently, there was no need of king,
-judge, magistrate, or civil law, or war, or capital punishment. There
-were Antinomians, who contended that all things were free and allowable
-to the saints without sin. There were Fifth-Monarchy men; members of
-the Family of Love, or Davidians, from one David George, their leader;
-Arians, Unitarians, Predestinarians, Libertines, and other denominations,
-whom we shall find abundant in the time of the Commonwealth. What was
-strangest of all was to see King Henry, who would allow no man's opinion
-to be right but his own, and who burnt men for daring to differ from
-him, lecturing these contending sects on their animosities in his speech
-in Parliament, and bidding them "behold what love and charity there
-was amongst them, when one called another heretic and Anabaptist, and
-he called him again Papist, hypocrite, and pharisee;" and the royal
-peacemaker threatened to put an end to their quarrellings by punishing
-them all. During the four remaining years of his reign, he burnt or
-hanged twenty-four persons for religion--that is, six annually--fourteen
-of them being Protestants. During these years "The King's Book" was the
-only authorised standard of English orthodoxy.
-
-It is now necessary to take a brief glance at the proceedings of
-Henry's government in Ireland and Wales, and towards Scotland. In the
-Principality of Wales the measures of the king were marked by a far
-wiser spirit than those which predominated in religion. Being descended
-from the natives of that country, it was natural that it should claim
-his particular attention. Wales at that time might be divided into two
-parts, one of which had been subjected by the English monarchs, and
-divided into shires, the other which had been conquered by different
-knights and barons, thence called the lords-marchers. The shires were
-under the royal will, but the hundred and forty-one small districts or
-lordships which had been granted to the petty conquerors, excluded the
-officers and writs of the king altogether. The lords, like so many counts
-palatine, exercised all sovereign rights within their own districts, had
-their own courts, appointed their own judges, and punished or pardoned
-offenders at pleasure. This opened up a source of the grossest confusion
-and impunity from justice; for criminals perpetrating offences in one
-district had only to move into another, and set the law at defiance.
-Henry, by enacting, in 1536, that the whole of Wales should thenceforth
-be incorporated with England, should obey the same laws and enjoy the
-same rights and privileges, did a great work. The Welsh shires, with one
-borough in each, were empowered to send members to Parliament, the judges
-were appointed solely by the Crown, and no lord was any longer allowed to
-pardon any treason, murder, or felony in his lordship, or to protect the
-perpetrators of such crimes. The same regulations were extended to the
-county palatine of Chester.
-
-The proceedings of Henry in Ireland were equally energetic, if they were
-not always as just; and in the end they produced an equally improved
-condition of things there. Quiet and law came to prevail, though they
-prevailed with severity. On the accession of Henry to the throne, the
-portion of the island over which the English authority really extended
-was very limited indeed. It included merely the chief sea-ports, with
-the five counties of Louth, Westmeath, Dublin, Kildare, and Wexford.
-The rest of the country was almost independent of England, being in the
-hands of no less than ninety chieftains--thirty of English origin, and
-the rest native--who exercised a wild and lawless kind of sway, and
-made war on each other at will. Wolsey, in the height of his power,
-determined to reduce this Irish chaos to order. He saw that the main
-causes of the decay of the English authority lay in the perpetual feuds
-and jealousies of the families of Fitzgerald and Butler, at the head
-of which were the Earls of Kildare and of Ormond. The young Earl of
-Kildare, the chief of the Fitzgeralds, who succeeded his father in 1520,
-was replaced by the Earl of Surrey, afterwards the Duke of Norfolk, whom
-we have seen so disgracefully figuring in the affairs of Anne Boleyn
-and Catherine Howard, his nieces. During the two years that he held
-the Irish government, he did himself great credit by the vigour of his
-administration, repressing the turbulence of the chiefs, and winning the
-esteem of the people by his hospitality and munificence.
-
-Unfortunately for Ireland, Surrey had acquired great renown by his
-conduct under his father at Flodden, and when Henry, in 1522, declared
-war against France, he was deemed the only man fitted to take command of
-the army. The government of Ireland, on his departure, was placed in the
-hands of Butler, Earl of Ormond. In the course of ten years it passed
-successively from Ormond again to Kildare, from Kildare to Sir William
-Skeffington, and back for the third time to Kildare.
-
-Kildare, relieved from the fear of Wolsey, who had now fallen, gave
-way to the exercise of such acts of extravagance, that his own friends
-attributed them to insanity. At the earnest recommendations, therefore,
-of his hereditary rivals, the Butlers, he was called to London in
-1534, and sent to the Tower. Still, he had left his Irish government
-in the hands of his son, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald--a young man of only
-one-and-twenty, brave, generous, but with all the impetuosity of Irish
-blood. Hearing a false report that his father was beheaded in the Tower,
-young Fitzgerald flew to arms. He appeared at the head of 140 followers
-before the council, resigned the sword of State, and demanded war against
-Henry of England.
-
-Cromer, the Archbishop of Armagh, earnestly entreated him not to plunge
-himself into a quarrel so hopeless as that with England; but in vain.
-The strains of an Irish minstrel, uttered in his native tongue, had more
-influence with him, for they called on him to revenge his father, to free
-Ireland; and the incensed youth flew to arms. For a time success attended
-him. He overran the rich district of Fingal; the natives flocked to his
-standard; the Irish minstrels, in wild songs, stirred the people to
-frenzy; and surprising Allen, the Archbishop of Dublin, on the very point
-of escaping to England, and supposed to be one of the accusers of the
-Earl of Kildare, they murdered him in presence of the young chief and his
-brothers. He then sent a deputation to Rome, offering, on condition that
-the Pope should give him the support of his sanction, to defend Ireland
-against an apostate prince, and to pay a handsome annual tribute to the
-Holy See. He sent ambassadors also to the Emperor, demanding assistance
-against the prince who had so grossly insulted him by divorcing his aunt,
-Queen Catherine. Five of his uncles joined him, but he was repulsed
-from the walls of Dublin. The strong castle of Maynooth was carried by
-assault by the new deputy, Sir William Skeffington; and in the month of
-October Lord Leonard Gray, the son of the Marquis of Dorset, arriving
-from England at the head of fresh forces, chased him into the fastnesses
-of Munster and Connaught. On hearing of this ill-advised rebellion, the
-poor Earl of Kildare, already stricken with palsy, sickened and died in
-the Tower.
-
-Lord Gray did not trust simply to his arms in the difficult country into
-which the Fitzgeralds had retired; he employed money freely to bribe
-the natives, who led him through the defiles of the mountains, and the
-passable tracks of the morasses, into the retreats of the enemy. He
-found the county of Kildare almost entirely desolated. Six out of the
-eight baronies were burnt; and where this was not the case, the people
-had fled, leaving the corn in the fields. Meath also was ravaged; and
-the towns throughout the south of Ireland, besides the horrors of civil
-war, found fever and pestilence prevailing, Dublin itself being more
-frightfully decimated than the provincial towns. The English Government
-sent very little money to the troops, and left them to subsist by
-plunder; and they first seized all the cattle, corn, and provisions,
-and then laid waste the country by fire. By March, 1535, Lord Thomas
-Fitzgerald was reduced to such extremity that he wrote to Lord Gray,
-begging him to become intercessor between the king and himself. Lord
-Gray, there can be little doubt, promised Fitzgerald a full pardon, on
-which he surrendered. But Skeffington wrote to the king that, finding
-that O'Connor, his principal supporter, had come in and yielded, "the
-young traitor, Thomas Fitzgerald, had done the same, without condition of
-pardon of life, lands, and goods."
-
-[Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE FITZGERALDS. (_See p._ 189.)]
-
-But this assertion is clearly contradicted by the council in Dublin, who
-wrote entreating the king to be merciful to the said Thomas, to whom they
-had given comfortable promises. O'Connor had been too wise to put himself
-into the power of Henry on the strength of any promises: he delivered
-only certain hostages as security for his good behaviour; but Lord
-Thomas was carried over to England by Lord Gray, where he was committed
-to the Tower. Gray was immediately sent back to Ireland, with the full
-command of the army there, and he was instructed above all things to
-secure the persons of the five uncles of Lord Fitzgerald. Accordingly,
-on the 14th of February, 1536, the council of Ireland sent to Cromwell,
-then minister, an exulting message, that Lord Gray, the chief justice,
-and others, had captured the five brethren, which they pronounced to
-be the "first deed that ever was done for the weal of the king's poor
-subjects of that land." They added, "We assure your mastership that the
-said lord justice, the treasurer of the king's wars, and such others as
-his grace put in trust in this behalf, have highly deserved his most
-gracious thanks for the politic and secret conveying of the matter."
-But the truth was, that this politic and secret management was one of
-the most disgraceful pieces of treachery which ever was transacted--the
-Fitzgeralds being seized at a banquet to which both parties had proceeded
-under the most solemn pledges of mutual faith. They were conveyed at once
-to London, and in February, 1537, the young earl and his five uncles
-were beheaded, after a long and cruel imprisonment in the Tower. Their
-unprincipled betrayer, however, did not long enjoy the fruits of his
-treachery. He was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland as a reward for his
-dishonourable service, but was soon removed on charges of misconduct,
-committed to one of the very cells which his victims had occupied, and
-was beheaded on Tower Hill, as a traitor, on the 28th of June, 1541,
-ending his life, according to Godwin, very quietly and godlily. Gray
-certainly deserved better treatment from Henry; for, though his conduct
-was infamous to the Fitzgeralds, it was most useful to the English king.
-The rival factions of Fitzgeralds and Butlers continuing to resist the
-English power, Gray contended against them till, by his brilliant victory
-at Bellahoe, he broke the power of O'Neill, the northern chieftain, and
-confirmed the power of England. Yet, being uncle, by his sister, to the
-last surviving male heir of the Fitzgeralds--Gerald, the youngest brother
-of the unfortunate Lord Thomas, a boy of only twelve years of age--he
-was accused of favouring his escape, and all his services were forgotten
-by his ungrateful sovereign. The young Gerald Fitzgerald escaped to the
-Continent by the aid of a sea captain of St. Malo, and ultimately to
-Italy, where he lived under the patronage and protection of his kinsman,
-Cardinal Pole, till he eventually recovered the honours and estates of
-his ancestors, in the reign of Queen Mary, at the suggestion of the
-cardinal.
-
-After the recall of Lord Gray, O'Connor, O'Neill, M'Murdo, and the
-O'Tooles excited fresh insurrections, but they were speedily put down,
-and in 1541 Anthony St. Leger found both the Irish chiefs and the lords
-of the pale eagerly outstripping each other in professions of loyalty.
-In 1541 Henry raised Ireland from the rank of a lordship to that of a
-kingdom, and granted letters patent to the Irish chiefs, by the advice
-of Sir Thomas Cusake, though unwillingly. Thus, by securing them in
-possession of their lands, and raising them to new honours, he gained
-their devoted attachment. Henry gave them houses in Dublin, which they
-were to inhabit when summoned as peers of the Irish Parliament. Ulick
-Burke was made Earl of Clanricarde, Murroch O'Brien Earl of Thomond,
-and the great O'Neill became henceforth known by his new title of
-Earl of Tyrone. The Irish council was instructed to proceed with the
-suppression of the monasteries, though cautiously, not urging the monks
-too rigorously, lest they stirred up opposition, but desirably persuading
-them that "the lands of the Church were his proper inheritance." These
-matters were so well carried out, that the ascendency of England had
-never appeared so firmly established since the first invasion of the
-island by Henry II.
-
-In Scotland the French and Catholic party was all powerful. James V.
-married a French wife, Mary of Guise, in 1538, and in 1539 David Beaton
-succeeded his uncle, James Beaton, in the primacy, when the Pope, to
-add additional honours to so devoted a servant, presented him with a
-cardinal's hat. It was at this crisis that the Pope, acting in concert
-with France and Spain, sent Cardinal Pole to co-operate with the Scots in
-annoying Henry, and James being applied to by the Pontiff Paul, declared
-himself willing to unite with Francis I. and the Emperor in the endeavour
-to convert or punish the heretical English king. As if to show Henry
-that there was no prospect of any co-operation of James with him, the
-fires of persecution were kindled by Beaton and his coadjutors against
-the Protestants in that kingdom, and this again drove the Reformers
-to make common cause with the Earl of Angus and other Scottish exiles
-in England. Henry, to encourage the Protestants, and to warn James if
-possible, sent to him his rising diplomatist, Sir Ralph Sadler, who
-represented to James that Henry was much nearer related to him than were
-any of the Continental sovereigns, and who endeavoured to prevent there
-the publication of the bill of excommunication.
-
-But it became necessarily a pitched battle between the Papist party in
-Scotland and Henry. They beheld with natural alarm his destruction of
-the Papal Church in England, an example of the most terrible kind to
-all other national churches of the same creed; and Henry, on the other
-hand, knew that so long as that faith was in the ascendant in Scotland,
-there would be no assured quiet in his own kingdom. It was the one
-proximate and exposed quarter through which the Pope and his abettors on
-the Continent could perpetually assail him. From this moment, therefore,
-Henry spared no money, no negotiation, no pains to break down the Roman
-Catholic ascendency in Scotland.
-
-In the spring of 1541 Cardinal Beaton, and Panter, the Royal secretary,
-were despatched to Rome with secret instructions. This alarmed Henry, and
-yet afforded him a hope of making an impression on his nephew whilst the
-cardinal was away. Once more, therefore, he invited James to meet him at
-York. Lord William Howard, who was his envoy on the occasion, induced
-James to promise to meet Henry there, and we have seen him on his way
-accompanied by his bride, Catherine Howard, to the place of rendezvous.
-But James came not; and Henry, enraged, vowed that he would compel James
-by force to do that which he would not concede to persuasion.
-
-The Romanist party in Scotland were better pleased with a hostile than
-a pacific position, for they greatly dreaded that Henry might at length
-warp the king's mind towards his own views. The leaders on both sides
-were, in fact, never at peace. On the one side, the exiled Douglases
-were always on the watch to recover their estates by their swords, and
-the fugitives in Scotland, on account of the Pilgrimage of Grace, were
-equally ready to fight their way back to their homes and fortunes. In the
-August of 1542, accordingly, there were sharp forays, first from one side
-of the Border, and then from the other. Sir James Bowes, the warden of
-the east marches, accompanied by Sir George Douglas, the Earl of Angus,
-and other Scottish exiles, and 3,000 horsemen, rushed into Teviotdale,
-when they were met at Haddenrig by the Earl of Huntly and Lord Home, who
-defeated them, and took 600 prisoners.
-
-Henry, having issued a proclamation declaring the Scots the aggressors,
-ordered a levy of 40,000 men, and appointed the Duke of Norfolk the
-commander of this army. He was attended by the Earls of Shrewsbury,
-Derby, Cumberland, Surrey, Hertford, Rutland, with many others of the
-nobility. This imposing force was joined by the Earl of Angus and
-the rest of the banished Douglases who had escaped the slaughter at
-Haddenrig. After some delay at York the royal army, issuing a fresh
-proclamation, in which Henry claimed the crown of Scotland, advanced
-to Berwick, where it crossed into Scotland, and, advancing along the
-northern bank of the Tweed as far as Kelso, burned two towns and twenty
-villages. Norfolk did not venture to advance farther into the country, as
-he heard that James had assembled a powerful force, whilst Huntly, Home,
-and Seton were hovering on his flanks. He therefore contented himself
-with ravaging the neighbourhood, and then crossed again at Kelso into
-England.
-
-James, indignant at the invasion and the injuries inflicted on his
-subjects, marched from the Burghmuir at Edinburgh, where he was encamped
-at the head of 30,000 men, in pursuit of the English. But he soon found
-that different causes paralysed his intended chastisement. Many of the
-nobles were in favour of the Reformation, and held this martial movement
-as a direct attempt to maintain the Papal power and the influence of
-Beaton and his party. Others were in secret league with the banished
-Douglases, who were on the English side; and there were not wanting those
-who sincerely advised a merely defensive warfare, and pointed out the
-evils which had always followed the pursuit of the English into their
-own country. They urged the fact that Norfolk and his army, destitute of
-provisions and suffering from the inclemency of the weather, were already
-in full retreat homewards. But James would not listen to these arguments;
-he burned to take vengeance on the English, and after halting on Fala
-Muir, and reviewing his troops, he gave the order to march in pursuit of
-Norfolk; but, to his consternation, he found that nearly every nobleman
-refused to cross the Border. They pleaded the lateness of the season,
-the want of provisions for the army, and the rashness of following the
-English into the midst of their own country, where another Flodden Field
-might await them.
-
-James was highly exasperated at this defection, and denounced the
-leaders as traitors and cowards, pointing out to them their unpatriotic
-conduct, when they saw all around them the towns and villages burnt,
-the farms ravaged, and the people expelled or exterminated along the
-line of Norfolk's march. It was in vain that he exhorted or reproved
-them; they stole away from his standard, and the indignant king found
-himself abandoned by the chief body of his army. For himself, however,
-he disdained to give up the enterprise. He despatched Lord Maxwell with
-a force of 10,000 men to burst into the western marches, ordering him
-to remain in England laying waste the country as long as Norfolk had
-remained in Scotland. James himself awaited the event at Caerlaverock
-Castle; but, discontented with the movements of Lord Maxwell, whom he
-suspected of being infected by the spirit of the other insubordinate
-nobles, he sent his favourite, Oliver Sinclair, to supersede Lord Maxwell
-in the command.
-
-[Illustration: SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES.
-
-Moss-troopers returning from a Foray.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY S. E. WALLER, IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF BRITISH
-ART.]
-
-This was an imprudent step, calculated to excite fresh discontent, as
-it very effectually did. The proud nobles who surrounded Maxwell threw
-down their arms, swearing that they would not serve under any such royal
-minion; the troops broke out into open mutiny; and in the midst of this
-confusion, a body of 500 English horse riding up under the Lords Dacre
-and Musgrave, the Scots believed it to be the vanguard of Norfolk's army,
-and fled in precipitate confusion. The English, charging furiously at
-this unexpected advantage, surrounded great numbers of the fugitives, and
-took 1,000 of them prisoners. All these were sent to London, and given
-into the custody of different English noblemen. Many of the prisoners
-were believed to surrender willingly, as disaffected men who were ready
-to sell their country to England; and others are said to have been seized
-by border freebooters, and sold to the enemy. This was the battle of
-Solway Moss.
-
-The king was so overwhelmed with grief and resentment at this disgraceful
-defeat, through the disloyalty of his nobility, that he returned to
-Edinburgh in deep dejection. From Edinburgh he proceeded to the palace of
-Falkland, where he shut himself up, brooding on his misfortunes; and such
-hold did this take upon him, that he began to sink rapidly in health. He
-was in the prime of his life, being only in his thirty-first year; of a
-constitution hitherto vigorous, having scarcely known any sickness; but
-his agonised mind producing fever of body, he seemed hastening rapidly to
-the grave. At this crisis his wife was confined. She had already borne
-him two sons, who had died in their infancy, and an heir might now have
-given a check to his melancholy; but it proved a daughter--the afterwards
-celebrated and unfortunate Queen of Scots. On hearing that it was a
-daughter, he turned himself in his bed, saying, "The crown came with a
-woman, and it will go with one. Many miseries await this poor kingdom.
-Henry will make it his own, either by force of arms or by marriage." On
-the seventh day after the birth of Mary, he expired, December 14th, 1542.
-
-No sooner did Cardinal Beaton and his party learn that the king had
-expired than, guessing all that Henry and his party in Scotland would
-attempt, they took measures to secure the young queen and the sovereign
-power. Beaton produced a will as that of James, appointing him regent
-and guardian of the young queen, assisted by a council of the Earls of
-Argyll, Huntly, and Murray. The Earl of Arran, James Hamilton, on the
-other hand, declared this will to be a forgery, and being himself the
-next heir to the throne, after the infant queen, he assumed the right to
-make himself her guardian, and to order the kingdom for her. By means
-of the Protestant nobles, as well as the vassals of his own house, and
-the prevailing opinion that Beaton had forged the will, Arran succeeded
-in establishing himself as regent on the 22nd of December, 1542, and
-the Protestant influence was in the ascendant. It was now conceded that
-Angus and the Douglases should be recalled from their exile, and they
-quitted England in the following January, the Earl of Arran giving them
-a safe-conduct.
-
-It was a deadly warfare between the Protestant and Papal parties. A list
-of 360 of the nobles and gentry was produced by Arran, which was said to
-have been found on the person of the king, all of whom were proscribed
-as heretics, and doomed to confiscation of their estates and other
-punishments. This list, which the Romanists in their turn denounced as
-forged, was vehemently charged on Beaton, who was said to have drawn it
-up when the heads of the army refused to march into England. The Earl
-of Arran himself stood at the head of the list. The cardinal, who saw
-the imminent danger of his cause and party, despatched trusty agents
-to France to solicit instant aid in money and troops, to defend the
-interests and guard the persons of the queen-dowager, Mary of Guise,
-and the royal infant. To hasten the movements of the house of Guise, he
-represented the certain dependence of Scotland on England if the king of
-England succeeded in accomplishing the marriage of the infant queen with
-his son.
-
-To silence the cardinal, he was seized and incarcerated in the castle of
-Blackness, under the care of Lord Seton; and a negotiation was actively
-carried on through Sir Ralph Sadler for the marriage of the infant
-queen and the Prince of Wales. It was agreed that Mary should remain in
-Scotland till she was ten years of age; that she should then be sent to
-England to be educated; that six Scottish noblemen should be at once
-delivered to Henry as hostages for the fulfilment of the contract; and
-when the union of the two kingdoms should take place, Scotland should
-retain all its own laws and privileges.
-
-But though Beaton was in prison, his spirit was abroad. The clergy had
-the highest faith in the talents and influence of the cardinal. They
-considered his liberation as necessary to avert the ruin of their party,
-and they put in motion all their machinery for rousing the people.
-They shut up the churches, and refused to administer the sacraments or
-bury the dead; and the priests and monks were thus set at liberty from
-all other duties to harangue and influence the passions of the people.
-Everywhere it was declared that Arran, the regent, had formed a league
-with Angus and the Douglases, who had been so long in England, to sell
-the country and the queen to England under the pretence of a marriage;
-that this was what the English monarchs had long been seeking; and that
-not only the Douglases, but Arran himself, were pensioned by Henry for
-the purpose. That this was but too true, the State Papers amply prove.
-Henry and his successors spared no money for this end; and the traitorous
-bargaining of a great number of the Scottish nobles with the English
-monarchs stands too well evidenced under their own hands.
-
-[Illustration: THE FIRST LEVEE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. (_See p._ 191.)
-
-(_After the Picture by W. B. Hole, R.S.A._)]
-
-At this juncture Cardinal Beaton managed to escape from his prison, from
-which he had never ceased to correspond with and inspirit his party. How
-he came to escape has been considered a mystery; but perhaps that mystery
-is not very deep when we reflect that Lord Seton, in whose custody he
-was, was a man, though related to the Hamiltons, yet of a most loyal
-temper, and a decided Romanist. Seton negotiated with Beaton to give up
-his castle of St. Andrews; and, as if this could not be accomplished
-without the cardinal's presence on the spot, Seton allowed him to
-accompany him, but with so small a force, that the moment the cardinal
-stood in his own castle he declared himself at liberty, and Seton had
-no power to say nay had he wished it. As no punishment or even censure
-befell Lord Seton on this account, it is most probable that Arran
-himself was cognisant of the scheme. What makes this more likely is that
-Hamilton, the abbot of Paisley, the natural brother of Arran, the Regent,
-had returned just before from France; and that he was at the bottom of
-the plot may not unreasonably be supposed, from the fact that he very
-soon exercised a powerful influence over the weaker mind of the Regent.
-Through the means of the abbot, Beaton even attempted to accommodate
-matters with Henry. He declared that he was sincerely desirous of the
-union of the young queen and the Prince of Wales, so that there should be
-peace between the countries, yet a peace preserving the independence of
-each. But this independence of Scotland was the very thing which Henry
-was determined to annihilate, and he pressed his desires for it with such
-violence that all hopes of an amicable arrangement vanished.
-
-[Illustration: VIEW IN ST. ANDREWS.]
-
-Arran, alienated from the English Government by the imperious demands
-of Henry, and alarmed at the progress of the Papist faction, took care
-to proclaim his resolute resolve to oppose the aims of Henry, even to
-the extremity of war, and he dismissed his Protestant chaplains, friar
-Williams and John Rough; and such was the spirit of the people that
-Glencairn and Cassillis, the most devoted partisans of England, declared
-that they would sooner die than agree to the surrender of the French
-alliance. Such, in fact, was the popular exasperation that Sadler dared
-not appear in the streets; and the peers in the interest of Henry were
-equally the objects of the public resentment.
-
-To induce Henry to pause in his fatal career, Sir George Douglas
-hastened to London, and prevailed on him to abate the extravagance of
-his demands. The immediate delivery of the infant queen, the surrender
-of the fortresses and of the Government into the hands of Henry, were
-waived, and Douglas returned to Scotland, bearing proposals of marriage
-of a more reasonable kind. Henry, however, did not abandon his schemes
-in secret. In the Public Record office there is a memorandum in the hand
-of Wriothesley, saying that "the articles be so reasonable, that if the
-ambassadors of Scotland will not agree to them, then it shall be mete
-the king's majesty follow out his purpose by force." Sir George Douglas
-renewed the offer formerly made by Henry to Arran, of marrying the
-Princess Elizabeth and his eldest son, and Sir George and Glencairn were
-sent to London to assist the ambassadors in bringing the negotiation to
-a close.
-
-But Arran was assailed as vehemently on the other side by the cardinal,
-and the queen-dowager, who was the real head of the party. They sent
-Lennox to endeavour to win him over to their side, so that all Scotland
-might unite against Henry. Lennox delivered a very flattering message
-from Francis I. to the Regent, offering him both men and money to
-resist any attempt of invasion by the English; but this failing, the
-queen-dowager and Beaton prosecuted the negotiation with France, and it
-was agreed that 2,000 men, under Montgomerie, Sieur de Lorges, should
-be sent to Scotland. The queen and cardinal called on their partisans
-to assemble their followers and garrison their castles, whilst Grimani,
-the Pope's legate, was entreated to hasten to Scotland with a formidable
-store of anathemas and excommunications. The clergy assembled in
-convention at St. Andrews, and so ardent were they in the cause which
-they believed to be that of the very existence of the Church, that
-they pledged themselves to raise the sum required for the war against
-England, and, if necessary, not only to melt down the church plate, and
-to sacrifice their private fortunes, but to fight in person.
-
-Whilst public opinion was in this state of fermentation, Henry VIII.,
-irritated at the conduct of the cardinal and a large body of the nobles,
-committed one of those rash and foolish acts, into which the wild fury
-of his temper often precipitated him. After the proclamation of peace,
-a fleet of Scottish merchant vessels, driven by a storm, took refuge in
-an English port, where, under the recent treaty, they deemed themselves
-safe. But Henry had just proclaimed war on France and, making that a
-pretence, he accused them of carrying provisions to his enemies, and
-detained them. At this outrage the people of Edinburgh surrounded the
-house of Sadler the English ambassador, and threatened to burn him in
-it if the ships were not restored. Arran, the governor, came in for
-his share of the odium as the staunch ally of Henry; and the common
-friends of Arran and Henry, the traitorous faction of Angus, Cassillis,
-Glencairn, and the other barons under secret bond to England, proposed
-to call out their forces for immediate war. These base sons of a brave
-country asserted that the time was come for Henry to send a great army
-into Scotland, with which they would co-operate, "for the conquest of the
-realm."
-
-Everything boded the immediate outbreak of a bloody war, when a
-surprising revolution took place. On the 3rd of September, Arran declared
-to Sir Ralph Sadler that he was devotedly attached to the interests of
-Henry, and within a week afterwards he met the cardinal at Callender
-House, the seat of Lord Livingston, and entered into a complete
-reconciliation with him. A short time before Beaton had refused to hold
-any intercourse with him for fear of his life, and now he was seen
-riding amicably with him towards Stirling. This singular exhibition was
-followed by Arran's renunciation of Protestantism; his return, with full
-absolution, into communion with the Roman Church; his surrender of the
-treaties with England, and the delivery of his son as a pledge of his
-sincerity. So marvellous a conversion must have had powerful causes, and
-they are only to be explained by the weakness of Arran's character, and
-the artful and alarming representations of his more able brother, the
-abbot of Paisley. This zealous partisan of both France and the cardinal
-is said to have persuaded him that by renouncing the Papal supremacy,
-and allying himself with the arch-enemy of Rome, Henry of England, he
-was running imminent danger of the total loss of his titles, estates,
-and claim to the Regency, which could only be maintained by the Pope
-declaring valid the divorce of his father from his former wife. All
-Scotland was now united in its enmity to England.
-
-The year 1544 found Henry bent on war both with Scotland and France.
-Francis had deeply offended him by disapproving of his divorce and murder
-of Anne Boleyn, and by his refusal to follow his advice in repudiating
-his allegiance to the Pope. Francis had declared that he was Henry's
-friend, but only as far as the altar. Charles V., aggravated as had been
-the conduct of Henry towards him, by his divorce of his aunt Catherine,
-and the stigma of illegitimacy which he had cast on her daughter the
-Princess Mary, was yet by no means displeased to observe the growing
-differences between Henry and his rival Francis. He, therefore, like
-a genuine politician, dropped his resentment on account of Catherine,
-and professed to believe that it was time to bury these remembrances
-in oblivion. The only obstacle to peace between them was the declared
-illegitimacy and exclusion from the succession of Mary. Henry lost no
-time in getting over this point. He had no need to confess himself
-wrong; he had a staunch Parliament who would do anything he required.
-Parliament, therefore, passed an Act restoring both Mary and Elizabeth
-to their political rights. Nothing was said of their illegitimacy, but
-they were restored to their place in the succession. Thus the Parliament
-had gone backward and forward at Henry's bidding to such an extent that
-now it was treason to assert the legitimacy of the princesses, and it was
-treason to deny it; for if they were illegitimate they could not claim
-the throne. It was treason to be silent, according to the former Act on
-this head, and it was now treason to refuse to take an oath on it when
-required. To such infamy did honourable members of Parliament stoop under
-this extraordinary despot.
-
-This sorry compromise having been accepted by the necessities rather than
-the will of the Emperor, Henry and he now made a treaty on these terms:
-1st, That they should jointly require the French king to renounce his
-alliance with the Turks, and to make reparation to the Christians for
-all the losses which they had sustained in consequence of that alliance;
-2nd, That Francis should be compelled to pay up to the King of England
-the arrears of his pension, and give security for a more punctual payment
-in future; 3rd, That if Francis did not comply with these terms within
-forty days, the Emperor should seize the duchy of Burgundy, Henry all
-the territories of France which had belonged to his ancestors, and that
-both monarchs should be ready to enforce their claims at the head of a
-competent army.
-
-As Francis refused to listen to these terms, and would not even permit
-the messengers of the newly allied sovereigns to cross his frontiers, the
-Emperor, who was now desirous of recovering the towns which he had lost
-in Flanders, obtained from Henry a reinforcement of 6,000 men under Sir
-John Wallop, who laid siege to Landrecies; whilst Charles himself, with a
-still greater force, overran the duchy of Cleves, and compelled the duke,
-the devoted partisan of France, to acknowledge the Imperial allegiance.
-Charles then marched to the siege of Landrecies, and Francis approached
-at the head of a large army. A great battle now appeared inevitable; but
-Francis, manoeuvring as for a fight, contrived to throw provisions into
-the town and withdrew. Imperialists and English pursued the retiring
-army; and the English, by too much impetuosity, suffered considerable
-loss. Henry promised himself more decided advantage in the next campaign,
-which he intended to conduct in person. This he had not been able to make
-illustrious by his presence; for he had been busily engaged with his
-approaching marriage to a sixth wife.
-
-The lady who had this time been elevated to this perilous eminence was
-the Lady Catherine Latimer, the widow of Lord Latimer, already mentioned
-for his concern in the Pilgrimage of Grace. She was born Catherine Parr,
-a daughter of Sir Thomas Parr. She was fourth cousin to Henry himself,
-and had been twice married previous to his wedding her. She was the
-widow of Lord Borough, of Gainsborough, at fifteen, and was about thirty
-when Henry married her, only a few months after the death of her second
-husband, Lord Latimer.
-
-Catherine Parr, as she still continues to be called, was educated
-under the care of her mother at Kendal Castle, and received a very
-learned education for a woman of those times. She read and wrote Latin
-fluently, had some knowledge of Greek, and was mistress of several modern
-languages. She is said to have been handsome, but of very small and
-delicate features. At all times she appears to have been of remarkable
-thoughtfulness and prudence, extremely amiable, and became thoroughly
-devoted to Protestantism; and she may, indeed, justly be styled the first
-Protestant Queen of England, for Anne of Cleves, though educated in the
-Protestant faith, became a decided Papist in this country. It was not
-till after the death of Lord Latimer that her Protestant tendencies,
-however, were known; yet then, she seems to have made no secret of them,
-for her house became the resort of Coverdale, Latimer, Parkhurst, and
-other eminent Reformers, and sermons were frequently preached in her
-chamber of state, which it is surprising did not attract the attention
-of the king. The marriage took place on the 12th of July, 1543, in the
-queen's closet at Hampton Court.
-
-The spring of 1544 opened with active preparations for Henry's campaign
-in France. During the winter, Gonzaga, the viceroy of Sicily, was
-despatched to London by Charles, to arrange the plan of operations. An
-admirable one was devised, had Henry been the man to assist in carrying
-it out. The emperor was to enter France by Champagne, and Henry by
-Picardy, and, instead of staying to besiege the towns on the route, they
-were to dash on to Paris where, their forces uniting, they might consider
-themselves masters of the French capital, or in a position to dictate
-terms to Francis. In May the Imperialists were in the field, and Henry
-landed at Calais in June, and by the middle of July he was within the
-bounds of France, at the head of 20,000 English and 15,000 Imperialists.
-
-But neither of the invaders kept to the original plan. Charles stopped by
-the way to reduce Luxembourg, Ligne, and St. Didier. Had Henry, however,
-pushed on with his imposing army to Paris, Francis would have been at the
-mercy of the allies. But Henry, ambitious to rival the military successes
-of Charles, and take towns too, instead of making the capital his object,
-turned aside to besiege Boulogne and Montreuil. The Imperial ambassador,
-sensible of the fatality of this proceeding, urged Henry with all his
-eloquence during eleven days to push on: and Charles, to take from him
-any further excuse for delay, hastened forward along the right bank of
-the Marne, avoiding all the fortified towns. But when once Henry had
-undertaken an object, opposition only increased his resolution, and he
-lost all consciousness of everything but the one idea of asserting his
-mastery. In vain, therefore, did Charles send messengers imploring him to
-advance; for more than two months he continued besieging Boulogne, and
-the golden opportunity was lost.
-
-Francis seized on the delay to make terms with Charles. He sent to him
-a Spanish monk of the name of Guzman, and a near relative of Charles's
-confessor, proposing terms of accommodation. Charles readily listened
-to them, and sent to Henry to learn his demands. These demands were
-something enormous, and whilst Francis demurred, Charles continued his
-march, and arrived at Chateau-Thierry, almost in the vicinity of Paris.
-The circumstances of both Francis and Charles now mutually inclined them
-to open separate negotiations. Francis saw a foreign army menacing his
-capital, but Charles, on the other hand, saw the French army constantly
-increasing between him and his strange ally, whom nothing could induce
-to move from the walls of Boulogne. Under these circumstances Charles
-consented to offer Francis the terms which he had demanded before the
-war, and which he had refused; but now came the news that the English
-had taken Boulogne, and the French king at once accepted them. The Treaty
-of Crepy, as this was called, bound the two sovereigns to unite for the
-defence of Christendom against the Turks, and to unite their families by
-the marriage of the second son of Francis with a daughter of Charles.
-Henry, on his part, having placed a strong garrison in Boulogne, raised
-the siege of Montreuil, and returned to England, like a great conqueror,
-as he always did, from his distant campaigns.
-
-By the end of April a scheme to assassinate Cardinal Beaton, of which
-Henry was cognisant, having failed, he was prepared to pour on Scotland
-the vial of his murderous wrath. A fleet of a hundred sail, under the
-command of Lord Lisle, the High Admiral of England, appeared suddenly
-in the Forth. The Scots seem to have by no means been dreaming of such
-a visitant, and it threw the capital into the greatest consternation.
-In four days, such was the absence of preparation, such the public
-paralysis, that Hertford was permitted to land his troops and his
-artillery without the sight of a single soldier. He had advanced from
-Granton to Leith when Arran and the cardinal threw themselves in his way
-with a miserable handful of followers, who were instantly dispersed and
-Leith was given up to plunder.
-
-The citizens of Edinburgh, finding themselves deserted by the governor,
-flew to arms, under the command of Otterburn of Redhall, the provost
-of the city. Otterburn proceeded to the English camp and, obtaining an
-interview with Lord Hertford, complained of this unlooked-for invasion,
-and offered to accommodate all differences. But Hertford returned a
-haughty answer that he was not come to negotiate, for which he had no
-power, but to lay waste town and country with fire and sword unless the
-young queen were delivered to him. The people of Edinburgh, on hearing
-this insolent message, vowed to perish to a man rather than condescend
-to such baseness. They set about to defend their walls and sustain the
-attack of the enemy; but they found that Otterburn, who had tampered
-secretly with the English before this, had stolen unobserved away. They
-appointed a new provost, and manned their walls so stoutly that they
-compelled Hertford to fetch up his battering ordnance from Leith. Seeing
-very soon that it was impossible to defend their gates from this heavy
-ordnance, they silently collected as much of their property as they could
-carry, and abandoned the town. Hertford took possession of it; and then
-sought to reduce the castle. But finding this useless, he set fire to
-the city; and, reinforced by 4,000 horse, under Lord Eure, he employed
-himself in devastating the surrounding country with a savage ferocity,
-which no doubt had been commanded by the bitter malice of the English
-king.
-
-[Illustration: FRANCIS I.
-
-(_From the Portrait in the Louvre, attributed to the Elder Clouet._)]
-
-On the 15th of May, Arran, having assembled a considerable force, and
-liberated Angus and his brother, Sir George Douglas, in the hope of
-winning them over by such clemency, marched rapidly towards Edinburgh.
-The English, however, did not wait for his arrival. Lord Lisle embarked
-a portion of the troops at Leith again, and Lord Hertford led away
-the remainder by land. Both by land and water the English commanders
-continued their buccaneering outrages, doing all the mischief and
-inflicting all the misery they could. Lord Lisle seized the two largest
-Scottish vessels in the harbour of Leith, and burnt the rest; he then
-sailed along the coast, plundering and destroying all the villages and
-country within reach. Lord Hertford, on his part, laid Port Seaton,
-Haddington, Renton, and Dunbar in ashes, and returned into England,
-leaving behind him a trail of desolation. Such was the insane and
-ridiculous manner in which Henry VIII. wooed the little Queen of Scotland
-for his son. A border war ensued, and Scotland was mercilessly ravaged.
-
-Francis I. could not rest satisfied so long as Boulogne was in the hands
-of the English, and he resolved in 1545, to make a grand effort to
-recover not only that town but Calais, which had been for centuries in
-the possession of England. Large galleys were built at Rouen, and as many
-vessels were collected as possible from Marseilles and other ports in the
-Mediterranean for this enterprise. He hired soldiers from the Venetian
-and other Italian States, and he determined to send a body of troops to
-Scotland to assist in making a diversion in that country. But he was
-not contented with endeavouring to regain his own towns; his coasts
-had often been harassed by the English vessels, and he now ventured to
-carry the war to Henry's own shores. Henry, aware of his intentions,
-raised fortifications on the banks of the Thames, and along the shores
-of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire. The French fleet, consisting of 130
-ships, set sail on the 16th of July, and fell down the Channel. Francis
-flattered himself that he could seize the Isle of Wight, and perhaps
-maintain garrisons there, if he should not be able to get possession
-of Portsmouth. Henry had himself proceeded to Portsmouth, where he had
-sixty ships lying, under the command of Lord Lisle. The French fleet
-sailed into the Solent, and anchored at St. Helen's. The sea being very
-calm, the French admiral put out his flat-bottomed boats and galleys that
-drew little water, and sailed into the very mouth of Portsmouth Harbour,
-daring the English admiral to come out. But Henry commanded Lord Lisle to
-lie still. The French admiral, firing into the port, sank the _Mary Rose_
-with her commander, Sir George Carew, and 700 men. On the turn of the
-tide Lord Lisle bore down on the enemy, and sank a galley with its men,
-and the French vessels then bore away to the main fleet.
-
-As the French could not provoke the English to come out of harbour,
-though they burned the villages and farmhouses along the coast, they held
-a council of war, and resolved to attempt the conquest of the Isle of
-Wight. The invasion of the island was essayed in three places, but the
-inhabitants repulsed with great spirit the soldiers as they landed; and,
-after committing some ravages, the French thought it best to retire. They
-then sailed along the coast of Sussex, making occasional descents, and
-finally anchored before Boulogne, to prevent the entrance of supplies
-for the army there. Another object was to hinder reinforcements of ships
-from the Thames reaching Portsmouth, but in both these endeavours the
-superior vigilance of the English prevailed; provisions were conveyed
-into Boulogne, and a reinforcement of thirty ships arrived at Portsmouth.
-At length Lord Lisle received orders from Henry to put to sea and attack
-the enemy; he expressed himself highly delighted, but nothing came of it,
-for the two fleets manoeuvred for some time in the face of each other,
-exchanged a few shots, and then retired to their respective ports. And
-thus ended the boastful enterprise of Francis. Henry, as we have seen,
-had only succeeded in capturing Boulogne, and was accordingly glad to
-make peace with Francis in 1546, on terms fairly advantageous to England.
-
-As Scotland was included in the peace with France, the French party
-appeared to be entirely triumphant. But Beaton's end was near, and it was
-hastened on by his religious persecutions. Notwithstanding the endeavours
-of Cardinal Beaton, and the apostacy of Arran, the Reformation had now
-made great progress in Scotland, and it was while the struggle was going
-on between the party of Angus and the party of the cardinal, backed by
-the money and the arms of England, that there came upon the scene the
-remarkable preacher, George Wishart. Wishart is supposed to have been
-the son of James Wishart of Pitarro, justice-clerk to James V., and he
-was patronised by John Erskine, Provost of Montrose. In Montrose he
-became master of a school, and was expelled for teaching Greek to his
-boys, avowedly as the original tongue of the New Testament. He fled to
-England, and in Bristol was condemned as a heretic for preaching against
-the offering of prayers to the Virgin. He then recanted to avoid death,
-but remained some years in England, returning to all and more than the
-opinions he had renounced in sight of the fagot. He boldly preached
-the insufficiency of outward ceremonies when the heart itself was not
-touched. He admitted only the sacraments recorded in the Scriptures;
-derided auricular confession; condemned the invocation of saints and the
-doctrine of purgatory, though he approved of fasting, and maintained
-that the Lord's Supper was a Divine and comfortable institution. The
-doctrines, conduct, and corruptions of his opponents he denounced with
-unsparing severity.
-
-These traits had made him a welcome agent of opposition to the cardinal
-with the lords of the English party; and Beaton, at once hostile to his
-religious views and to him personally, as the ally of those who were
-seeking his life by the most abominable means, soon turned his resentment
-upon him. Twice he is said to have escaped from the emissaries of the
-cardinal lying in wait to seize him. How far he was aware of the plots
-and mercenary villainy of those about him is uncertain; but living in the
-very midst of the traitor lords, and often under the very roof of the
-busy agent of Beaton's proposed murder, Brunston, he was so far cognisant
-of the preparations for the invasion of Scotland and the destruction of
-the cardinal's party, that he frequently announced in his sermons the
-approach of the horrors which at length arrived, and thus acquired the
-reputation of a prophet. Under the protection of the Angus party, he
-preached in the towns of Montrose, Dundee, Perth, and Ayr, and produced
-such a spirit of hostility to the old religion, that at Dundee the houses
-of the Black and Grey Friars were destroyed, and similar attempts were
-made in Edinburgh.
-
-While the friends of Wishart were seeking the life of Beaton, Beaton,
-aware of this, was seeking the life of Wishart, and Wishart in his
-addresses to the people repeatedly declared that he should perish a
-martyr to the cause of truth. At length Cassillis and the gentlemen of
-Kyle and Cunningham sent for him to meet them at Edinburgh, where they
-proposed that he should have an opportunity for public disputation with
-the bishop. Wishart proceeded to the capital where, Cassillis and the
-confederates not having arrived, he soon began to preach to the people,
-under the protection of the barons of Lothian. At Leith, Sir George
-Douglas bore public testimony to the truth of his doctrine, and declared
-his resolution to protect the preacher. There, too, he converted John
-Knox, who was destined to establish the Reformation in Scotland.
-
-In the midst of these proceedings arrived the cardinal and the governor
-in Edinburgh, and Beaton lost no time in endeavouring to secure the
-person of the popular apostle. Brunston removed Wishart to West Lothian
-to be out of the way till the arrival of Cassillis, who was the chief
-conspirator against the cardinal; but Wishart was not a man to lie
-concealed. He preached in the very face of danger, though a two-handed
-sword was constantly borne before him on these occasions; and at length,
-after a remarkable sermon at Haddington, where he prognosticated deep
-miseries about to fall upon the country, he took leave affectionately
-of his audience, and set out for the house of Ormiston, accompanied by
-Brunston, Sandilands of Calder, and Ormiston. That night the house of
-Ormiston was surrounded by a party of horse under the command of the Earl
-of Bothwell. Wishart, Sandilands, and Cockburn were seized. Cockburn and
-Sandilands were conducted to the castle of Edinburgh, Wishart to Hailes,
-the house of Bothwell, who for some time refused to give him up to the
-cardinal, but at length did so under promise of a great reward. Brunston
-had managed to escape.
-
-Beaton was anxious to have Wishart tried and condemned on a civil charge;
-but to this Arran would not consent, and the cardinal was therefore
-obliged to forego his vengeance, or arraign him as a heretic. He was
-sentenced to be burnt, and this sentence was carried out at St. Andrews,
-on the 28th of March, 1546. In this execution the cardinal's malice
-far outran his usually sound policy. Nothing could be more mischievous
-to his own cause than the murder of Wishart. Till then, the people,
-whatever their religious opinions, regarded the political views of Beaton
-as patriotic, and they supported him as the great bulwark against the
-power and designs of England. But now they regarded him as a horrible
-persecutor, and they shrank from him and his power fell. The meekness
-and patience with which Wishart, whom they now honoured with the name of
-martyr, bore his horrible fate, made a lasting impression on the public
-mind.
-
-While the people thus unequivocally condemned this barbarous deed, and
-only the more eagerly inquired into the principles of the sufferer, the
-immediate confederates against the cardinal found in this event a grand
-warrant for carrying out their own murderous intentions. Cassillis,
-Glencairn, and the rest of the nobles had delayed the desperate deed,
-because they could not extract from Henry a distinct statement of the pay
-they were to receive for it. But now Norman Leslie, the Earl of Rothes,
-and John Leslie, his uncle, began to vow publicly that they would have
-the blood of Beaton as an atonement for that of the martyred Wishart.
-They opened anew an active correspondence with England, and associated
-themselves with a number of others who were exasperated at the cardinal's
-deed.
-
-On the other hand, the partisans of Beaton lauded him to the skies as the
-saviour of the Church in Scotland, and strong in the alliance of France
-and the late ill-success of the English party, the cardinal appeared
-to enjoy a season of triumph; but it was a triumph quickly quenched in
-blood. Elated with his temporary success, the cardinal made a progress
-into Angus, and celebrated the marriage of one of his natural daughters,
-Margaret Bethune, to David Lindsay, Master of Crawford, at Finhaven
-Castle, bestowing upon her a dowry worthy of a princess. The cardinal was
-disturbed in his festivities by the news that Henry VIII. was pushing
-on his preparations for a new invasion, and he hastened to St. Andrews
-to put his castle into a perfect state of defence. On his arrival he
-summoned the barons of the neighbouring coast to consult on the best
-means of fortifying it against any attack of the enemy. But while thus
-busily engaged in warding off the assault of a foreign enemy, a domestic
-foe was eagerly at work close at hand for his destruction. The Laird
-of Brunston was stimulating Henry to give the necessary assurance to
-those who were ready at a word to plunge the sword into the body of the
-cardinal. A quarrel arising between Beaton and the Leslies brought the
-matter to a crisis. Norman Leslie, the Master of Rothes, had given up to
-Beaton the estate of Easter Wemyss and, at a meeting in St. Andrews, had
-found the cardinal indisposed to make the promised equivalent for it.
-High words arose, and Leslie hastened to his uncle John; and both of them
-deeming that there was no longer any safety after the words Norman Leslie
-in his rage had let fall, they immediately summoned their confederates,
-and resolved to put the cardinal to death without delay.
-
-On the evening of the 28th of May, Norman Leslie, attended by five
-followers, entered the city of St. Andrews, and rode, without exciting
-any suspicion, in his usual manner to his inn. Kirkaldy of Grange was
-awaiting him there, and after nightfall, John Leslie, whose enmity
-to Beaton was most notorious, stole quietly in and joined them. At
-daybreak the next morning, Norman Leslie and three of his attendants
-entered the gates of the castle court, the porter having lowered the
-drawbridge to admit the workmen who were employed on the cardinal's fresh
-fortifications. Norman inquired if the cardinal were yet up, as if he had
-business with him; and while he held the porter in conversation, Kirkaldy
-of Grange, James Melville, and their followers entered unobserved; but
-presently the porter, catching sight of John Leslie crossing the bridge,
-instantly suspected treason, and attempted to raise the drawbridge;
-but Leslie was too nimble for him; he leaped across the gap, and the
-conspirators, closing round the porter, despatched him with their
-daggers, seized the keys, and threw the body into the fosse, without any
-noise or alarm. They then proceeded to dismiss the workmen as quietly
-from the castle, and Kirkaldy, who was well acquainted with the castle,
-stationed himself at the only postern through which an escape could be
-made. The conspirators then went to the apartments of the different
-gentlemen composing the household of the cardinal, awoke them, and, under
-menace of instant death if they made any noise, conducted them silently
-out of the castle and dismissed them. Thus were 150 workmen and fifty
-household servants removed without any commotion by this little band of
-sixteen determined men, and, the portcullis being dropped, they remained
-masters of the castle.
-
-The cardinal, who had slept through the greater part of this time, at
-length awoke at the unusual bustle, threw open his chamber window and
-demanded the cause of it. The reply was that Norman Leslie had taken
-the castle, on which the cardinal rushed to the postern to escape; but
-finding it in possession of Kirkaldy, he returned as rapidly to his
-chamber and, assisted by a page, pushed the heaviest furniture against
-the door to defend the entrance till an alarm could be given. But the
-conspirators did not allow him time for that. They called for fire to
-burn down the door, and Beaton, finding resistance useless, threw open
-the door, when John Leslie and Carmichael rushed upon him, as he cried
-for mercy, and stabbed him in several places. Melville, however, with a
-mockery of justice, bade them desist, saying that though the deed was
-done in secret, it was an act of national justice not that of mercenary
-assassins, and must be executed with all due decorum. Then, turning
-the point of the sword towards the wretched cardinal, he said, with
-formal gravity, "Repent thee, thou wicked cardinal, of all thy sins and
-iniquities, especially of the murder of Wishart, that instrument of God
-for the conversion of these lands. It is his death which now cries for
-vengeance on thee. We are sent by God to inflict the deserved punishment.
-For here, before the Almighty, I protest that it is neither hatred of thy
-person, nor love of thy riches, nor fear of thy power, which moves me to
-seek thy death; but only because thou hast been, and still remainest,
-an obstinate enemy to Christ Jesus and His holy Gospel." With that he
-plunged his sword repeatedly into the prelate's body, and laid him dead
-at his feet.
-
-The death of Cardinal Beaton was at the same time the death-blow to the
-Church in Scotland. Though he was a man of corrupt moral life and of a
-persecuting disposition, he was one of the most able men of his time, and
-resisted the designs of Henry for the subjugation of his native country,
-with a vigour and perseverance which made Henry feel that whilst he lived
-Scotland was independent. The death of Beaton, so ardently desired, and
-so highly paid for by Henry, did not, however, bring him nearer to the
-reduction of the country, or the accomplishment of his son's marriage
-with the queen. On the contrary, so intense was the hatred of him and
-of England, which his tyrannic and detestable conduct had created in
-every rank and class of the Scottish people, that these objects were now
-farther off than ever. Henry's own embarrassments were, in consequence
-of his Scottish and French wars, become so intolerable, that he was
-compelled, as we have already seen (p. 198), to make peace with France
-in the month of June, by a treaty called the Treaty of Boulogne, and
-to agree to deliver up Boulogne, on condition that Francis paid up the
-arrears of his pension, and to submit a claim of 500,000 crowns upon him
-to arbitration. Francis took care to have Scotland included in the peace,
-and Henry bound himself not to interfere with it except on receiving some
-fresh provocation.
-
-[Illustration: THE ASSASSINATION OF CARDINAL BEATON. (_See p._ 200.)]
-
-Henry was now drawing to a close of that life which might have been so
-splendid, and which he had made so horrible. To the last moment he was
-employed in base endeavours to elude the peace which he had submitted to
-with Scotland; in the struggles between the two great religious factions,
-and in still further shocking executions for treason and heresy. Henry
-himself was become in mind and person a most loathsome object. A life
-of vile pleasures, and furious and unrestrained passions, succeeded, as
-other appetites decayed, by a brutal habit of gormandising, had swollen
-him to an enormous size, and made his body one huge mass of corruption.
-The ulcer in his leg had become revoltingly offensive; his weight and
-helplessness were such that he could not pass through any ordinary door,
-nor be removed from one part of the house to another, except by the
-aid of machinery and by the help of numerous attendants. The constant
-irritation of his festering legs made his terrible temper still more
-terrible.
-
-Of those about him, his queen, Catherine Parr, had the most miraculous
-escape. With wonderful patience, she had borne his whims, his rages,
-and his offensive person. She had shown an affectionate regard for his
-children, and had assisted with great wisdom in the progress of their
-education, living all the time as with a sword suspended over her head
-by a hair. She was devotedly attached to the Reformed principles, and
-loved to converse with sincere Protestants. She had made Miles Coverdale
-her almoner, and rendered him every assistance in his translation of the
-Bible. She employed the learned Nicholas Udal, Master of Eton, to edit
-the translations of Erasmus's "Paraphrases on the Four Gospels," which,
-according to Strype, she published at her own cost. Stimulated by her
-example, many ladies of rank pursued the study of the learned languages
-and of Scriptural knowledge.
-
-Of this school, and one of Catherine's own pupils, was Lady Jane Grey;
-and another lovely and noble victim, Anne Askew, whose turn it was to
-fall under the destroying hand of Henry VIII. at this moment, was highly
-esteemed and encouraged by her. She was tortured and then burnt (July 6,
-1546) for denying the Real Presence, and it is said that the Chancellor
-Wriothesley assisted in the application of the rack in the hope of
-wringing a confession from her.
-
-An attempt to involve the Queen in similar charges was a complete
-failure, and Henry never forgave Gardiner for this attempt to deprive him
-of his true wife and unrivalled nurse. Catherine is said to have treated
-these her deadly enemies with great magnanimity; but she seems to have
-become quite aware that Gardiner's was the daring hand that was lifted
-to ruin her with the king, and it was probably this clear understanding
-between the king and queen which destroyed Gardiner's influence with
-Henry for ever. Henry struck Gardiner's name out of the list of his
-council, and on perceiving him one day on the terrace at Windsor amongst
-the other courtiers, he turned fiercely on Wriothesley, and said, "Did
-I not command you that _he_ should come no more amongst you?" "My Lord
-of Winchester," replied the chancellor, "has come to wait upon your
-highness with the offer of a benevolence from his clergy." That was a
-deeply politic stroke of Gardiner's; he knew that if anything could
-redeem the lost favour of Henry, it was a sacrifice to his avarice next
-to his vanity. Henry took the money, but turned away from the bishop
-without a word or a look, and immediately struck his name from amongst
-his executors, as well as that of Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster, who, he
-said, was schooled by Gardiner. A deadly feud had grown up between the
-house of Seymour and the house of Howard. The house of Howard was old,
-and proud, not only of its ancient lineage, but of its grand deeds. The
-glory of Flodden lay like a great splendour on their name. Two queens had
-been selected from this house during the present reign, and the Princess
-Elizabeth was a partaker of its blood. The Seymours, on the other hand,
-were of no great lineage; but the two heads of it, Sir Thomas Seymour
-and Edward, who had been created Earl of Hertford, and whom we have seen
-executing the king's sanguinary pleasure more than once in Scotland,
-were the uncles to the heir-apparent, Prince Edward. They had been lifted
-into greatness entirely through the marriage of their sister with Henry
-and the birth of the prince; they had no natural connection, therefore,
-amongst the old nobility, and were regarded by them with jealousy as
-fortunate upstarts. But there was a circumstance which gave them power
-besides the alliance with the Crown and the heir to it, and this was
-the Protestant faith which they held, and which, therefore, bound the
-Protestant party in England to their cause, and in hope, through their
-nephew, the future king. The Howards, on the other hand, held by the
-ancient faith, and were among its most positive assertors. Thus the feud
-between these rival houses was not only the feud of the old and new
-aristocracy, but that of the old and new faith; and the rival factions
-looked up to them as their natural lords and leaders.
-
-The question, therefore, which of these families should become the
-guardians and ministers of the new king was every day acquiring a more
-intense interest. The Howards, from their old standing, and their great
-employments under the Crown, naturally regarded themselves as entitled
-to that distinction, and in this view they were, of course, supported by
-the whole Papist party most anxiously. But the Seymours, as the uncles
-of the prince, were equally bent on securing the preference. They had
-little connection, as we have stated, amongst the aristocracy, but had
-the whole Protestant party in their interest. They therefore regarded the
-Howards with the deepest jealousy and alarm, and they lost no time or
-opportunity in securing their ruin during the present king's life. There
-were many things which they could so bring before Henry's mind as to
-excite his most deadly fear. The Howards were the determined supporters
-of the Roman faith. What chance, therefore, was there under them of the
-preservation of the supremacy? What chance was there that they would
-leave the young king to his own unbiassed choice in matters of religion
-and of Church government? But still more, the Howards had not escaped
-his secret dislike through the conduct of Catherine Howard, the queen.
-A little thing could stimulate this dislike into something fearful.
-Again, the Duke of Norfolk was rich, and never were the riches of a
-subject overlooked or unlonged for by Henry Tudor. All these motives were
-brought successfully into play. Bishop Gardiner was the man most to be
-feared in the Howard interest, as it regarded the Church, and this had,
-unquestionably, much to do with his disgrace and banishment from Court.
-
-A few days after that event, namely, on the 12th of December, the Duke
-of Norfolk and his son the Earl of Surrey, were, unknown to each other,
-arrested on a charge of high treason, and sent to the Tower, the one
-by water and the other by land. Surrey had never forgiven the Earl of
-Hertford for having superseded him in command of the army at Boulogne; he
-had in his irritation spoken with biting contempt of the parvenu Seymour,
-and declared that after the king's death he would take his revenge. But
-Henry was soon persuaded that the designs of Surrey went further. His
-fears, in his morbid and sinking state, were easily excited, and he was
-made to believe that there was a conspiracy of the Howards to seize the
-reins of government during his illness, and make themselves masters of
-the person of the prince. Surrey, with all the rash and lofty spirit of
-the poet, denied every charge of disloyalty or treason with the utmost
-vehemence, and offered to fight his accuser in his shirt.
-
-The Duke of Norfolk wrote to the king from the Tower, expressing his
-astonishment at the sudden arrest, and saying, "Sir, God doth know that
-in all my life I never thought one untrue thought against you, or your
-succession; nor can no more judge nor cast in my mind what should be
-laid to my charge, than the child that was born this night." The only
-thing which he thought his enemies might bring against him was for "being
-quick against such as had been accused for sacramentaries," that is,
-Protestants. He prayed earnestly to have a fair hearing before the king
-or his council, face to face with his accusers. His gifted son, one of
-the finest poets of the age, and whose fame still makes part of England's
-glory, was brought to trial first, for he was young and full of talent,
-and, therefore, more dreaded than his father. On the 13th of December
-he was arraigned for treason in Guildhall, before the Lord Chancellor,
-the Lord Mayor, and other Commissioners, and a jury of commoners, and
-beheaded on the 19th of January. The Seymours pursued Norfolk with
-relentless ferocity. The king was rapidly sinking, there was no time to
-lose; a bill of attainder was passed through the Peers on the 26th of
-January, 1547; on the 27th the Royal assent was given in due form, and an
-order was despatched to the Tower to execute the Duke at an early hour
-next morning. Before that morning the soul of the tyrant was called to
-its dread account, and the life of the old nobleman was saved as by a
-miracle.
-
-Henry VIII. was fifty-five years and seven months old at his death, and
-had reigned thirty-seven years, nine months, and six days. His will
-was dated December 30th, 1546. He was authorised by Act of Parliament
-to settle the succession by his will, and he now named his son Prince
-Edward, as his lawful successor, then, in default of heirs, the Princess
-Mary and her heirs; these failing, the Princess Elizabeth, and her heirs.
-After Elizabeth, was named the Lady Frances, the eldest daughter of
-his sister, the Queen of France, and her heirs; and such failing, the
-Lady Eleanor, the youngest daughter of the late Queen of France. On the
-failure of all these, then the succession was to be to his heirs-at-law;
-but no particular mention was made in the succession of his sister
-Margaret, Queen of Scotland, and of her issue.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE REIGN OF EDWARD VI.
-
-     Accession of Edward VI.--Hertford's Intrigues--He becomes Duke
-     of Somerset and Lord Protector--War with Scotland--Battle of
-     Pinkie--Reversal of Henry's Policy--Religious Reforms--Ambition
-     of Lord Seymour of Sudeley--He marries Catherine Parr--His
-     Arrest and Death--Popular Discontents--Rebellion in
-     Devonshire and Cornwall--Ket's Rebellion in Norfolk--Warwick
-     Suppresses it--Opposition to Somerset--His Rapacity--Fall
-     of Somerset--Disgraceful Peace with France--Persecution of
-     Romanists--Somerset's Efforts to regain Power--His Trial and
-     Execution--New Treason Law--Northumberland's Schemes for Changing
-     the Succession--Death of Edward.
-
-
-The country was doomed once more to experience the inconveniences of
-a regal minority, to witness the struggles and manifold mischiefs of
-ambitious nobles, while the hand of the king was too feeble to keep
-them in restraint. The execution of Surrey, and the imprisonment and
-attainder of the great Duke of Norfolk, left the Seymours completely
-in the ascendant; and having recently risen into note and power, they
-very soon showed all the inflated ambition of such parvenus. The Earl of
-Hertford, as uncle of the king, was in reality the man now in possession
-of the chief power. The king was but a few months more than nine years
-of age. Henry, his father, acting on the discretion given him by an
-Act of Parliament of the twenty-eighth year of his reign, had by will
-settled the crown on Edward, and had appointed sixteen individuals as his
-executors, who should constitute also the Privy Council, and exercise
-the authority of the Crown till the young monarch was eighteen years of
-age. To enable these executors, or rather, to enable Hertford, to secure
-the person of the king, and take other measures for the establishment
-of their position, the death of Henry was kept secret for four days.
-Parliament, which was virtually dissolved by his death, met on the 29th
-of January, and proceeded to business as usual, so that any acts passed
-under these circumstances would have clearly become null. On the 31st
-Edward entered London amid the applause of the people.
-
-On the day after his arrival at the Tower, that is, on February 1st,
-1547, the greater part of the nobility and the prelates were summoned,
-and assembled there about three o'clock in the afternoon, in the
-presence-chamber, where they all successively knelt and kissed his
-majesty's hands, saying every one of them, "God save your grace!" Then
-Wriothesley, the Chancellor, produced Henry's will, and announced from it
-that sixteen persons were appointed to be his late majesty's executors,
-and to hold the office of governors of the present king and of the
-kingdom till he was eighteen years of age. To these were added twelve
-others, who were to aid them in any case of difficulty by their advice.
-Yet, although these formed a second council, it was totally destitute of
-any real authority and could only tender advice when asked.
-
-The announcement of these names excited much animadversion and some
-censure. It was remarked that the greater part of them were new men; and
-the chief council consisted of those who had been about Henry in his
-last illness. But what next was disclosed was more extraordinary. The
-executors, when assembled in the Tower on the day of the young king's
-proclamation, declared that "they were resolved not only to stand to and
-maintain the last will and testament of their master, the late king, and
-every part and parcel of the same, to the uttermost of their powers,
-wits, and cunning, but also that every one of them present should
-take a corporal oath upon a book, for the more assured and effectual
-accomplishment of the same." And now it was announced that the Privy
-Council, for the better despatch of business, had resolved to place
-the Earl of Hertford at their head. This was so directly in opposition
-to the will, which had invested every member of the council with equal
-power, that it was received with no little wonder. The fact was that
-Hertford--who, before the old king's death, had determined to seize the
-supreme power during the minority of his nephew--had secured a majority
-in the council, who, as we shall soon find, had their object to attain.
-Wriothesley was the only one who stood out. He assured them that such
-an act invalidated the whole will. But he argued in vain and, finding
-it useless, he gave way; and thus Hertford was now proclaimed Protector
-of the realm and guardian of the king's person, with the understood but
-empty condition, that he should attempt nothing which had not the assent
-of a majority of the council. His triumph was completed by the titles of
-Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England.
-
-[Illustration: EDWARD VI.]
-
-Essex, that is Parr, brother of the late queen, became Marquis of
-Northampton; Lisle, Earl of Warwick; Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton;
-Sir Thomas Seymour, Baron Seymour of Sudeley, and Lord High Admiral;
-Rich became Baron Rich; Willoughby, Baron Willoughby; Sheffield, Baron
-Sheffield. Southampton was, however, soon compelled to resign office on
-the charge of having illegally put the Great Seal in commission.
-
-Having thus seized and secured the actual sovereign power in England,
-Somerset began to turn his attention to foreign affairs. Henry VIII. had
-left it as a strict injunction to his council to secure the marriage of
-the Queen of Scots with his son Edward. Somerset, therefore, addressed
-a letter to the Scottish nobility, calling upon them to complete an
-arrangement which he recommended as equally advantageous with that to
-which they were bound by oaths, promises, and seals. The Scots took
-little notice of this communication from the man who had carried the
-commands of the late king through their land with fire and sword. The
-castle of St. Andrews, which the murderers of Cardinal Beaton held out
-against Arran, had in the course of this summer been surrendered to a
-French force, and the conspirators were conveyed to France. Some of them
-were confined in fortresses on the coast of Brittany, and others, amongst
-whom was John Knox, were sent to work in the galleys, whence they were
-not released till 1550. By the month of August, Somerset was once more
-prepared to invade Scotland, and to force, if possible, the young queen
-from the hands of Arran and the queen-mother. The forces were reviewed,
-and on the 29th they commenced their march. On the 2nd of September they
-were at Berwick, where they found Lord Clinton with the fleet, and from
-that point the army marched along the shore, supported by the ships at
-sea. Somerset took Douglas Castle, the property of Sir George Douglas,
-without resistance. The castle being rifled, was then blown up with
-gunpowder, as were also the peels of Thornton and Anderwick. Passing
-by Dunbar and the castle of Tantallon, the army, on Friday, the 8th of
-September, sat down near Prestonpans, the fleet being stationed opposite
-the town of Musselburgh.
-
-To meet this invasion, Arran had sent the Fiery Cross from clan to clan
-through the Highlands, and had ordered every Scot capable of bearing arms
-to meet at Musselburgh. The two armies now lay at Pinkie, not much more
-than a couple of miles from each other. On the 9th the Scottish horse
-were seen parading themselves boldly on the height which lay between the
-hosts, called Falside, or Fawside Brae. The two armies had the sea to
-the north, while Falside rose facing the west, and having on its summit
-a castellated keep and a few huts.
-
-Somerset and Warwick resolved to occupy the height on which stood St.
-Michael's Church, and for this purpose, early on the morning of the 10th,
-long called "Black Saturday" in Scotland, they advanced upon it about
-eight o'clock. But the Scots had also concluded to advance, and on the
-English approaching the first height, they were astonished to find that
-the Scots had quitted their strong position beyond the river, and were
-occupying the ground they had intended for themselves. It seems that the
-Scots had somehow got the idea that the English meant to retreat and
-escape them, and to prevent this they determined to surprise them in
-their camp, and were on the way for this purpose. At the sight of the
-English, the Scots pushed forward impetuously, hoping to get possession
-of Fawside Brae, but they were checked by a sharp discharge of artillery
-from the admiral's galley, which mowed down about thirty of them, as they
-defiled over the bridge near the sea. Seeing the English posted on the
-height with several pieces of artillery, the Scots halted in a fallow
-field, having in their front a deep ditch. The English, however, reckless
-of this obstacle, dashed on and, with Lord Grey at their head, made
-their way up to them. Standing in an almost impenetrable mass, the Scots
-kept crying, "Come here, loons! come here, tykes! come here, heretics!"
-and the like, and the English charging upon them, seemed for a moment
-to have disconcerted them, but soon were fain to turn and retreat. The
-flight became general, and the Scots rushing on expected to reap an easy
-victory. Lord Grey himself was severely wounded in the mouth, and the
-Scottish soldiers pressing on seized the Royal standard, when a desperate
-struggle ensued and, the staff of the standard being broken, part of it
-remained in the hands of the enemy, but the standard itself was rescued.
-
-The fight now became general and fierce, and there was a hand-to-hand
-contest in which many fell on both sides; but the English commanders were
-men proved in many a great battle, and exerted themselves to restore
-order amongst their troops. Warwick was seen everywhere encouraging,
-ordering, and ranking his men afresh; while the artillery from the
-height, directed over the heads of their own regiments, mowed down the
-assailing Scots. The ardour of the soldiers restored, advantage was taken
-of the position of a large body of the enemy who in their impetuosity had
-rushed forward beyond the support of the main army. They were surrounded
-and attacked on all sides. Confounded by this unexpected occurrence, the
-Scots were thrown into confusion, and began to take to flight. Arran
-himself soon put spurs to his horse; Angus followed, and the Highland
-clans--who had never been engaged--fled _en masse_. The rout was general
-and the slaughter terrible, some making for Leith, some direct for
-Edinburgh, by fields or woods as they could, and others endeavoured to
-cross the marsh and reach Dalkeith.
-
-Now was the time to push the object for which this expedition had been
-undertaken--the securing the young queen for the king. Somerset had
-attained a commanding position. He held the capital, as it were, under
-his hand, and fresh forces brought up, and judiciously employed, must
-have put the country so far into his power as to enable him to treat
-on the most advantageous terms for the accomplishment of this great
-national object; or if he could not obtain it by treaty, he might make
-himself master of her person by arms. But all this demonstration, this
-signal victory, this sanguinary butchery, which must add finally to the
-antipathy of the Scottish people if no real gain followed it, was cast
-aside with a strange recklessness which shewed that though Somerset
-could conquer in the field, he was totally destitute of the qualities
-of a statesman. Instead of making his success the platform of wise
-negotiation, and of a great national union, he converted it into a
-fresh aggravation of the ill-will of the Scots, by depriving it of all
-rational result. Being, it is supposed, apprised of some machinations
-of his brother, the admiral, in his absence, he commenced an instant
-march homeward, like a man that was beaten rather than a victor. On the
-17th of September, only a week from the battle of Pinkie, he took his
-departure southwards. On entering England, he made the best of his way to
-London, the whole term of his absence having been only some six weeks.
-A Parliament was then summoned, and the Protector proceeded to carry
-out the contemplated reform in the Church. Already an ecclesiastical
-commission had been busily engaged in visitation of dioceses. For this
-purpose, the kingdom was divided into six circuits, to each of which was
-appointed a certain number of visitors, partly laymen partly clergymen,
-who, the moment they arrived in a diocese, became the only ecclesiastical
-authority there. They were empowered to call before them the bishop,
-the clergy, and five, six, or eight of the principal inhabitants of
-each parish, and put into their hands a body of royal injunctions,
-seven-and-thirty in number. These injunctions regarded religious
-doctrines and practice, and the visitors required an answer upon oath to
-every question which they chose to put concerning them. The injunctions
-were similar to those which had been framed and used by Cromwell, but the
-present practice of joining the laity with the clergy was an innovation
-of a more sweeping character. The commission promptly imprisoned Bonner
-and Gardiner, the leaders of the Roman Catholic party.
-
-Parliament assembled on the 4th of November, and proceeded to mitigate
-some of the severities of the last reign. It repealed those monstrous
-acts of Henry VIII., which gave to Royal proclamations all the force of
-Acts of Parliament; likewise all the penal statutes against the Lollards,
-and all the new felonies created in the last reign, including the statute
-of the Six Articles. It admitted the laity as well as the clergy to
-receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in both kinds. It determined
-that the old fiction of electing bishops by "conge d'elire" should cease,
-and that all such appointments should proceed directly by nomination of
-the Crown; that all processes in the episcopal courts should be carried
-on in the king's name, and all documents issuing thence should be sealed,
-not with the bishop's seal, but with that of the Crown. The claim of
-spiritual supremacy was placed on the same level as the other rights of
-the Crown, and it was made a capital offence to deny that the king was
-supreme head of the Church; but with this distinction, that what was
-printed of that nature was direct high treason--what was merely spoken
-only became so by repetition. A bill for legalising the marriages of the
-clergy was brought into the Commons, and carried by a large majority;
-but, from some cause, was not carried to the Lords during the present
-session.
-
-Parliament terminated its sitting on the 24th of December, and the
-council, carrying forward its measures for the advancement of the
-Reformation, issued an order prohibiting the burning of candles on
-Candlemas-Day, and the use of ashes on Ash Wednesday, and of palms on
-Palm Sunday. The order against images was repeated, and the clothes
-covering them were directed to be given to the poor. The people, however,
-who delighted in religious ceremonies, processions, and spectacles,
-and thought the sermons very dull, were by no means pleased with these
-innovations. There was to be no elevation of the Host, and the whole
-service was to be in English.
-
-Cranmer employed himself in composing a catechism, which was published
-"for the singular profit and instruction of children and young people;"
-and a committee of bishops and divines sat to compile a new liturgy
-for the use of the English Church. They took the Latin missals and
-breviaries for the groundwork, omitting whatever they deemed superfluous
-or superstitious, and adding fresh matter. Before Christmas they had
-compiled a book of common prayer, differing in various particulars from
-the one now in use, and all ministers were ordered to make use of that
-book, under penalty, on refusal, of forfeiture of a year's income, and
-six months' imprisonment for the first offence; for the second, loss of
-all preferments, with twelve months' imprisonment; and for the third,
-imprisonment for life. Any one taking upon him to preach, except in his
-own house, without licence from the king's visitors, the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, or the bishop of the diocese, was liable to imprisonment.
-Latimer, who had resigned his bishopric in 1539, was now called forward
-again, and appointed to preach at St. Paul's Cross, and also in the
-king's privy garden, where Edward, attended by his court, used to listen
-to his bold and quaint eloquence for an hour together.
-
-Towards the close of 1547, as we have seen, a bill passed the Commons
-authorising the marriage of the clergy, but on the 9th of February, 1548,
-a different bill for the same object was carried in the House of Lords,
-and accepted by the Commons.
-
-While these events had been taking place in England, the war had been
-steadily prosecuted against Scotland, and led to the result which
-might naturally be expected, but which was least expected by the
-Protector--that of the passing of the young queen of Scotland into the
-hands of the French. Very soon after the battle of Pinkie, a council was
-summoned at Stirling, where the queen-dowager proposed that, to put an
-end to those barbarous inroads of the English on pretence of seeking the
-hand of the queen, they should apply to France for its assistance; that
-as a means of engaging it in effectual aid, they should offer the young
-queen in marriage to the Dauphin; and that for her better security she
-should be educated in the French court. There, in August, 1548, she was
-solemnly contracted to the Dauphin, afterwards Francis II.
-
-But during the session of Parliament commencing on the 24th of November,
-a question of most serious import was brought forward concerning the
-Protector's brother. The lord high admiral, Thomas Seymour, had all
-the ambition of his elder brother, the Protector, but from some cause
-he had failed to acquire the same position at court. Henry VIII. had
-not only employed Somerset in great commissions, but had given him such
-marks of his confidence that, on his death, he easily engrossed all
-the power of the State under his son. The admiral did not witness this
-with indifference. The Protector, to satisfy him, got him created Baron
-Seymour of Sudeley, and with this title he received in August, 1548,
-the lordship of Sudeley in Gloucestershire, together with other lands
-and tenements in no less than eighteen counties. He made him, moreover,
-high admiral, a post which had been held by the Earl of Warwick, who
-received instead of it that of lord great chamberlain. These honours
-and estates might have well contented a man of even high ambition, but
-the aspiring of the Seymours brooked no limits. As he did not seem to
-succeed in his desire of rising to a station as lofty as that of his
-brother the Protector, through the Council and political alliance, he
-sought to achieve this by means of marriage. There were several ladies
-on whom he cast his eyes for this purpose. The Princesses Mary and
-Elizabeth were the next in succession, and he did not hesitate to aim at
-securing the hand of one of them, which would have realised his soaring
-wishes, or plunged him down at once to destruction. He seems then to have
-weighed the chances which a union with Lady Jane Grey might give him;
-but, as if not satisfied with the prospect, he suddenly determined on
-the queen-dowager. He had, indeed, paid his addresses to Catherine Parr
-before her marriage with Henry VIII., and Catherine was so much attached
-to him that she at first listened with obvious reluctance to Henry's
-proposal. No sooner was Henry dead than Seymour seems to have renewed
-his addresses to Catherine, and, with all her piety and prudence, the
-queen-dowager seems to have listened to him as promptly and readily.
-Though Henry only died at the end of January, 1547, in a single month,
-according to Leti, she had consented to a private contract of marriage,
-and she and Seymour had exchanged rings of betrothal. According to King
-Edward's journal, their marriage took place in May, but the courtship
-had been going on long before, and was only revealed to him when it
-was become dangerous to conceal it any longer, and they were privately
-married long before that. The marriage was publicly announced in June--a
-rapidity for such a transaction as strange as it was indecorous.
-Catherine Parr gave birth to a daughter on the 30th of August, 1548, and
-on the 7th of September, only eight days after, she died of puerperal
-fever. Rumours that her husband had poisoned her to enable him to aspire
-to the hand of the Princess Elizabeth, were spread by his enemies, but
-there does not appear the slightest foundation for the horrible charge.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-The lord admiral, who had found it difficult to keep out of danger
-during the life of his wife, partly through his own rash ambition, and
-partly through the malice of his near relatives, soon fell into it
-after her death. In July of 1548, he had been called before the Council
-on the charge of having endeavoured to prevail on the king to write a
-letter, complaining of the arbitrary conduct of the Protector and of the
-restraint in which he was kept by him. Seymour was seeking, in fact, to
-supersede the Protector, and was threatened with imprisonment in the
-Tower; but the matter for that time was made up, and the Protector added
-L800 per annum to his income, by way of conciliating him.
-
-But with Catherine departed his good genius. He gave a free play to his
-ambitious desires, and renewed his endeavours to compass a clandestine
-marriage with the Princess Elizabeth, as he had done with Catherine.
-Finding, however, that such a marriage would annul the claims of
-Elizabeth to the throne, he next devised means to extort from the Council
-a consent, which he was well aware it would never yield voluntarily.
-For this purpose he is said to have courted the friendship of the
-discontented section of the nobility, and made such a display of his
-wealth and retainers as was calculated to alarm the Protector and his
-party. The Protector now resolved to get rid of so dangerous an enemy,
-though he was his own brother. Sharrington, master of the mint at
-Bristol being accused of gross peculation by clipping the coin, issuing
-testoons, or shilling pieces, of a false value, and making fraudulent
-entries in his books, was boldly defended by the admiral, who owed him
-L3,000. But Sharrington, to save his life, ungratefully betrayed that of
-his advocate. He confessed that he had promised to coin money for the
-admiral, who could reckon on the services of 10,000 men, with whose aid
-he meant to carry off the king and change the government. This charge,
-made, no doubt, solely to save his own life, was enough for Somerset.
-Seymour was arrested on the 16th of January, 1549, on a charge of high
-treason, and committed to the Tower.
-
-There was no lack of charges against him, true or false. It was stated
-that he had resolved to seize the king's person, and carry him to his
-castle of Holt, in Denbighshire, which had come to him in one of the
-royal grants; that he had confederated for this purpose with various
-noblemen and others, and had laid in large stores of provisions and a
-mass of money at that castle. He was also charged with having abused his
-authority as lord admiral, and encouraged piracy and smuggling, and with
-having circulated reports against the Lord Protector and Council too vile
-to be repeated. But the most remarkable were the charges against him of
-endeavouring, both before and after his marriage with the queen-dowager,
-to compass a marriage with the king's sister, the Lady Elizabeth, second
-inheritor to the Crown, to the peril of the king's person and danger
-to the throne. A Bill of Attainder was brought in against him; he was
-condemned without a hearing and executed on the 27th of March.
-
-The Protector no sooner had put his brother out of his path into a bloody
-grave, than he was called upon to contend with a whole host of enemies.
-A variety of causes had reduced the common people to a condition of
-deep distress and discontent. The depreciation of the coinage by Henry
-VIII. had produced its certain consequence--the proportionate advance
-of the price of all purchasable articles. But with the rise in price of
-food and clothing, there had been no rise in the price of labour. The
-dissolution of the monasteries had thrown a vast number of people on the
-public without any resource. Besides the large number of monks and nuns
-who, instead of affording alms, were now obliged to seek a subsistence of
-some kind, the hundreds of thousands who had received daily assistance
-at the doors of convents and monasteries were obliged to beg, work, or
-starve. But the new proprietors who had obtained the abbey and chantry
-lands, found wool so much in demand, that instead of cultivating the
-land, and thus at once employing the people and growing corn for them,
-they threw their fields out of tillage, and made great enclosures where
-their profitable flocks could range without even the superintendence of
-a shepherd.
-
-The people thus driven to starvation were still more exasperated by
-the change in the religion of the country, by the destruction of their
-images, and the desecration of the shrines of their saints. Their
-whole public life had been changed by the change of their religion.
-Their oldest and most sacred associations were broken. Their pageants,
-their processions, their pilgrimages were all rudely swept away as
-superstitious rubbish; their gay holidays had become a gloomy blank. What
-their fathers and their pastors had taught them as peculiarly holy and
-essential to their spiritual well-being, their rulers had now pronounced
-to be damnable doctrines and the delusions of priest-craft; and whilst
-smarting under this abrupt privation of their bodily and spiritual
-support, they beheld the new lords of the ancient church lands greedily
-cutting off not only the old streams of benevolence, but the means of
-livelihood by labour, and showing not the slightest regard for their
-sufferings. The priests, the monks, the remaining heads of the Papist
-party did not fail to point assiduously at all these things, and to fan
-the fires of the popular discontent.
-
-The timidity of the Protector forced the ferment to a climax by the
-very means which he resorted to in order to mitigate it. He ordered
-all the new enclosures to be thrown open by a certain day. The people
-rejoiced at this, believing that now they had the Government on their
-side. But they waited in vain to see the Protector's order obeyed. The
-Royal proclamation fully bore out the complaints of the populace. It
-declared that many villages, in which from one hundred to two hundred
-people had lived, were entirely destroyed; that one shepherd now dwelt
-where numerous industrious families dwelt before; and that the realm
-was injured by turning arable land into pasture, and letting houses and
-families decay and lie waste. Hales, the commissioner, stated that the
-laws which forbade any one to keep more than 2,000 sheep, and which
-commanded the owners of church lands to keep household on the same,
-were disobeyed, the result being that numbers of the king's subjects
-had diminished. But though the Government admitted all this, it took no
-measures to make its proclamation effective; the landowners disregarded
-it, and the people, believing that they were only seconding the law,
-assembled in great numbers, chose their captains or leaders, broke down
-the enclosures, killed the deer in the parks, and began to spoil and
-waste, according to Holinshed, after the manner of an open rebellion.
-The day approached when the use of the old liturgy was to cease, and
-instead of the music, the spectacle, and all the imposing ceremonies of
-high Mass, they would be called on to listen to a plain sermon. Goaded to
-desperation by these grievances, the people rose in almost every part of
-the country.
-
-In Wiltshire, Sir William Herbert raised a body of troops and dispersed
-the insurgents, killing some, and executing others according to martial
-law. The same was done in other quarters by the resident gentry. The
-Protector, alarmed, sent out commissioners to hear and decide all causes
-about enclosures, highways, and cottages. These commissioners were armed
-with great powers, the exercise of which produced as much dissatisfaction
-amongst the nobility and gentry as the enclosures had done amongst the
-people. The spirit of remonstrance entered into the very Council, and
-the Protector was checked in his proceedings; whereupon the people, not
-finding the redress they expected, again rose in rebellion.
-
-In Devonshire the religious phase of the movement appeared first, and
-rapidly assumed a very formidable air. The new liturgy was read for the
-first time in the church of Sampford Courtenay, on Whit Sunday, and
-the next day the people compelled the clergyman to perform the ancient
-service. Having once resisted the law, the insurgents rapidly spread.
-Humphrey Arundel, the governor of St. Michael's Mount, took the lead,
-and a few days brought ten thousand men to his standard. As the other
-risings had been easily dispersed, the Government were rather dilatory in
-dealing with this; but finding that it steadily increased, Lord Russell
-was despatched with a small force against the malcontents, accompanied by
-three preachers, Gregory, Reynolds, and Coverdale, who were licensed to
-preach in such public places as Lord Russell should appoint.
-
-The rebels had sat down before Exeter when Russell came up with them;
-but conscious of the great inferiority of his force, and expecting no
-miracles from the eloquence of his preachers, he adopted the plan of the
-Duke of Norfolk in the late reign, and offered to negotiate. Upon this,
-Arundel and his adherents drew up and presented fifteen articles, which
-went, indeed, to restore everything of the old faith and ritual that
-had been taken away. The Statute of the Six Articles was to be put in
-force, the Mass to be in Latin, the Sacrament to be again hung up and
-worshipped, all such as refused it homage were to be treated as heretics,
-souls in purgatory should be prayed for, images again be set up, the
-Bible be called in, and Cardinal Pole was to be of the king's Council.
-Half of the Church lands were to be restored to two of the chief abbeys
-in each county; in a word, Popery was to be restored and Protestantism
-abolished.
-
-All this time Lord Russell lay at Honiton, not venturing to attack, the
-Government sending him instead of troops only proclamations, by one of
-which a free pardon was offered to all who would submit; by another, the
-lands, goods, and chattels of the insurgents were given to any who chose
-to take them; by a third, punishment of death by martial law was ordered
-for all taken in arms; and by a fourth, the commissioners were commanded
-to break down all illegal enclosures. None of these produced the least
-effect. Lord Russell had sent Sir Peter Carew to urge the Protector and
-Council to expedite reinforcements; but the Protector and Rich charged
-Sir Peter with having been the original cause of the outbreak. The
-bold baronet resented this imputation so stoutly, and charged home the
-Protector in a style so unaccustomed in courts, with his own neglect,
-that men and money were promised. Nothing, however, but the proclamations
-just mentioned arrived, and at length the rebels despatched a force
-to dislodge Russell from his position at Honiton. To prevent this, he
-advanced to Feniton Bridge, where he encountered the rebel detachment and
-defeated it. Soon after Lord Grey arrived with 300 German and Italian
-infantry, with which assistance he marched on Exeter, and again defeated
-the rebels. They rallied on Clifton Downs, and Lord Grey coming suddenly
-upon them and fearing they might overpower him, he ordered his men to
-despatch all the prisoners they had in their hands, and a sanguinary
-slaughter took place. A third and last encounter at Bridgewater completed
-the reduction of the Rising of the West.
-
-But the most formidable demonstration was made by the rebels in Norfolk.
-It commenced at Aldborough, and appeared at first too insignificant for
-notice. But the rumours of what had been done in Kent, where the new
-enclosures had been broken down, gradually infected the people far and
-wide. They did not trouble themselves about the religious questions,
-but they expressed a particular rancour against gentlemen, for their
-insatiable avarice and their grasping at all land, their extortionate
-rents, and oppressions of the people. They declared that it was high time
-that not only the enclosure mania should be put a stop to, but abundance
-of other evils should be reformed.
-
-On the 6th of July, at Wymondham, a few miles from Norwich, on occasion
-of a play which was annually performed there, the people, stimulated by
-what was being done elsewhere, began to throw down the dykes, as they
-were called, or fences round enclosures, and they found a leader in one
-Robert Ket, a tanner. Under an oak tree, called the Tree of Reformation,
-which stood on Mousehold Hill, near Norwich, Ket erected his throne, and
-established courts of chancery, king's bench, and common pleas, as in
-Westminster Hall; and, with a liberality which shamed the Government of
-that and of most succeeding times, he allowed not only the orators of his
-own but of the opposite party to harangue them from this tree. Ket, it is
-clear, was a man far beyond his times, sincerely seeking the reform of
-abuses, and not destruction of the constituted authority. The tree was
-used as a rostrum, and all who had anything to say climbed into it. Into
-the tree mounted frequently Master Aldrich, the mayor of Norwich, and
-others, who used all possible persuasions to the insurgents to desist
-from spoliation and disorderly courses. Clergymen of both persuasions
-preached to them from the oak, and Matthew Parker, afterwards Archbishop
-of Canterbury, one day ascended it, and addressed them in the plainest
-possible terms on the unwisdom of their attempt, and the ruin it was
-certain to bring upon them.
-
-[Illustration: THE ROYAL HERALD IN KET'S CAMP. (_See p._ 212.)]
-
-At length on the 31st of July, a Royal herald appeared in the camp, "and,
-standing before the Tree of Reformation, apparelled in his coat-of-arms,
-pronounced there, before all the multitude, with loud voice, a free
-pardon to all that would depart to their houses and, laying aside their
-armour, give over their traitorous enterprise." Some of the insurgents,
-who were already weary of the affair, and only wanted a good excuse for
-drawing off safely, took the offered pardon and disappeared; but Ket and
-the chief part of the people held their ground, saying they wanted no
-pardon, for they had done nothing but what was incumbent on true subjects.
-
-Expecting that now some attack would soon be made upon them, they marched
-into Norwich to seize on all the artillery and ammunition they could, and
-carry it to their camp. The herald made another proclamation to them in
-the market-place, repeating the offer of pardon, but threatening death
-to all who did not immediately accept it. They bade him begone, for
-they wanted no such manner of mercy. From that day the number of Ket's
-followers grew again rapidly, for he seemed above the Government; and
-the herald returning to town, dissipated at Court any hope of the rebels
-dispersing of themselves. A troop of 1,500 horse, under the Marquis of
-Northampton, accompanied by a small force of mounted Italians, under
-Malatesta, were, therefore, sent down to Norwich, of which they took
-possession. But the next day Ket and his host descended from their hill,
-found their way into the city, engaged, defeated, and drove out the
-king's troops, killing Lord Sheffield and many gentlemen, and, their
-blood being up, set fire to the town, and plundered it as it burnt.
-
-Northampton retreated ignominiously to town, where the Protector now saw
-that the affair was of a character that demanded vigorous suppression.
-An army of 8,000 men, 2,000 of whom were Germans, under the Earl of
-Warwick, about to proceed against Scotland, was directed to march to
-Norwich and disperse the rebels. Warwick arriving, made an entrance,
-after some resistance, into the city. But there he was assailed on every
-side with such impetuosity, that he found it all that he could do to
-defend himself, being deficient in ammunition. On the 26th of August,
-however, arrived a reinforcement of 1,400 lansquenets, with store of
-powder and ball, and the next day he marched out, and the enemy having
-imprudently left their strong position on the hill, he attacked them in
-the valley of Dussingdale, and at the first charge broke their ranks.
-They fled, their leader, Ket, galloping off before them. They were
-pursued for three or four miles, and the troopers cut them down all the
-way with such ruthless vengeance, that 3,500 of them were said to have
-perished. The rest, however, managed to surround themselves by a line of
-waggons, and, hastily forming a rampart of a trench and a bank fortified
-with stakes, resolved to stand their ground. Warwick, perceiving the
-strength of the place, and apprehensive of a great slaughter of his men,
-offered them a pardon; but they replied that they did not trust to the
-offer; they knew the fate that awaited them, and they preferred to die
-with arms in their hands rather than on the gallows. Warwick renewed his
-offer, and went himself to assure them of his sincerity, on which they
-laid down their arms, or retired with them in their hands. Ket alone was
-hanged on the walls of Norwich Castle, his brother on the steeple of
-Wymondham Church, and nine of the ringleaders on the Oak of Reformation.
-
-[Illustration: OLD SOMERSET HOUSE, LONDON.]
-
-Circumstances were now fast environing the Protector with danger. The
-feebleness of his government, his total want of success, both in Scotland
-and France, with which country he had become involved in an undeclared
-war, emboldened his enemies, who had become numerous and determined from
-the arrogance of his manners and his endeavours to check the enclosures
-of the aristocracy. Henry VIII. had never drawn any signal advantages
-from his hostile expeditions; but the forces which he collected and
-the determined character of the man impressed his foreign foes with a
-dread of him. It was evident that the neighbouring nations had learned
-Somerset's weakness, and therefore despised him. He had driven the Queen
-of Scots into the hands of the French, and they had driven him out of
-the country. He was on the very verge of losing Boulogne, which Henry
-had prided himself so much on conquering. At home the whole country had
-been thrown into a state of anarchy and insubordination by the reforms in
-religion, of which he was the avowed patron, and in the meantime he had
-allowed another to reap the honour of restoring order.
-
-It was intended that the Protector himself should have proceeded against
-the rebels; but probably he thought that the man who had encouraged them
-to pull down the enclosures would appear with a very bad grace to punish
-them for doing it. Dudley, Earl of Warwick, was, therefore, selected
-for this office--a man quite as ambitious, quite as unprincipled, and
-far more daring than Somerset. He returned from Norfolk like a victor,
-and his reputation rose remarkably from that moment. He was looked up
-to as the able and successful man, and his ambitious views were warmly
-seconded by the wily old ex-Chancellor, Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton,
-who hated Somerset for having dismissed him from office, and for having
-banished him from the Council. He now took up Warwick as a promising
-instrument for his revenge. He flattered him with the idea that he was
-the only man to restore the credit and peace of the nation.
-
-Nor was it Warwick only whom Southampton stimulated to enmity against
-Somerset. He had arguments adapted to all; and where he found any
-seemingly resolved to stand by the Protector, he would significantly ask
-what friendship they hoped from a man who had murdered his own brother.
-Little art was needed to influence the old nobility against Somerset,
-and his hostility to the enclosures had raised up a host of enemies
-amongst the new, who should have been his natural friends. The people
-he had lost favour with, from his total want of success against the
-enemies of the country, and if there were any whom all these causes had
-not alienated, these were disgusted with his insolence and rapacity.
-He had bargained for large slices from the manors of bishoprics and
-cathedrals as the price of promotion to the clergy. He had obtained from
-the puppet king in his hands, grants of extensive Church lands for his
-services in Scotland, services which now were worse than null; and in
-the patent which invested him with these lands, drawn up under his own
-eye, he had himself styled "Duke of Somerset, _by the grace of God_,"
-as if he were a king. He was accused of having sold many of the chantry
-lands to his friends at nominal prices, because he obtained a heavy
-premium upon the transaction; but what more than all shocked the public
-sense of religious decorum was that he had erected for himself a splendid
-palace in the Strand, where the one called from him Somerset House now
-stands, and had spared no outrage upon public rights and decencies in
-its erection. Not only private houses, but public buildings, and those
-of the most sacred character, had been displaced to make room for his
-proud mansion. To clear the ground for its site and to procure materials
-for its building, he pulled down three episcopal houses and two churches
-on the spot, St. Mary's and a church of St. John of Jerusalem, also a
-chapel, a cloister, and a charnel-house in St. Paul's Churchyard, and
-he carted away the remains of the dead by whole loads, and threw them
-into a pit in Bloomsbury. When he attempted to pull down St. Margaret's
-Church in Westminster, for the stones, the parishioners rose in tumult
-and drove his men away. Whatever profession of Reformed religion he might
-make, such proceedings as these stamped it as a pretence, hollow and even
-impious, in the minds of the public.
-
-The feeling (which originated out of doors) had now made its way into
-the heart of the Council. Somerset's friends were silenced. His enemies
-spoke out boldly. During September there were great contentions in the
-Council; and by the beginning of October the two parties were ranged in
-hostile attitudes under their chiefs. Warwick and his followers met at
-Ely Place; the Protector was at Hampton Court, where he had the king.
-On the 5th of October, Somerset, in the king's name, sent the Secretary
-of the Council to know why the lords were assembling themselves in that
-manner, and commanding them, if they had anything to lay before him, to
-come before him peaceably and loyally. When this message was despatched,
-Somerset, fearful of the spirit in which this summons might be complied
-with, ordered the armour to be brought down out of the armoury at
-Hampton Court, sufficient for 500 men, to arm his followers, and had the
-doors barricaded, and people fetched in for the defence. But, instead
-of coming, Warwick and his party ordered the Lieutenant of the Tower,
-and the Lord Mayor and aldermen, to be summoned, who duly attended and
-proffered their obedience. They then despatched letters to the nobility
-and gentry in different parts of the kingdom, informing them of their
-doings and the motives for them. Alarmed at the aspect of affairs,
-Somerset conveyed the king to Windsor, under escort of 500 men; Cranmer
-and Sir William Paget alone, of all the Council, accompanying them.
-Finding himself rapidly deserted by his friends, Somerset judiciously
-submitted and signed a confession of his guilt, his presumption, and
-incapacity. Having signed this, he was promised his life, on condition
-that he should forfeit all his appointments, his goods and chattels,
-and so much of his estates as amounted to L2,000 a year. A bill to this
-effect passed both Houses of Parliament in January, 1550. Somerset
-remonstrated against the extent of this forfeiture, but the Council
-replied to him with so much sternness that the abject-spirited man shrank
-in terror, and on the 2nd of February signed a still more ignominious
-submission, disclaiming all idea of justifying himself, and expressing
-his gratitude to the king and Council for sparing his life and being
-content with a fine. On the 6th of February he was discharged from the
-Tower, and ten days after received a formal pardon. His officers and
-servants, who had been imprisoned, also recovered their liberty, but were
-heavily fined.
-
-Warwick had humbled Somerset, but he could not prevent the country from
-being humbled with him. His party had blamed the Protector for proposing
-to surrender Boulogne, but they were now compelled, by the exhausted and
-disordered state of the nation, to accept even more disgraceful terms.
-During the winter the French had cut off all communication between
-Boulogne and Calais, and the Earl of Huntingdon found himself unable to
-re-open it, though he led against the enemy all his bands of mercenaries
-and 3,000 English veterans. His treasury and his storehouses were empty,
-and the French calculated confidently on taking the place at spring.
-Unable to send the necessary aid, a fresh proposal was made to the
-Emperor to occupy it, and this not tempting him, the Council next offered
-to cede it to him in full sovereignty, on condition that it should never
-be surrendered to France. Charles declined, and as a last resource a
-Florentine merchant, Antonio Guidotti, was employed to make the French
-aware that England was not averse from a peace. The French embraced the
-offer, but under such circumstances they were not likely to be very
-modest in their terms of accommodation.
-
-The conference between the ambassadors was opened on the 21st of
-January, and the English proposed that, as an equivalent for the
-surrender of Boulogne, Mary of Scotland should be contracted to Edward.
-To this the French bluntly replied that that was impossible, as Henry had
-already agreed to marry her to the Dauphin. The next proposition was that
-the arrears of money due from the Crown of France should be paid up, and
-the payment of the fixed pension continued. To this the ambassadors of
-Henry replied, in a very different tone to that which English monarchs
-had been accustomed to hear from those of France, that their king would
-never condescend to pay tribute to any foreign Crown; that Henry VIII.
-had been enabled by the necessities of France to extort a pension
-from Francis; and that they would now avail themselves of the present
-difficulties of England to compel Edward to renounce it. The English
-envoys appeared, on this bold declaration, highly indignant, and as if
-they would break off the conference; but every day they receded more and
-more from their pretensions, and they ended by subscribing, on the 24th
-of March, to all the demands of their opponents.
-
-These conditions were that there should be peace and union between the
-two countries, not merely for the lives of the present monarchs, but
-to the end of time; that Boulogne should be surrendered to the King of
-France with all its stores and ordnance; and that, in return for the
-money expended on the fortifications, they should pay to Edward 200,000
-crowns on the delivery of the place, and 200,000 more in five months. But
-the English were previously to surrender Douglas and Lauder to the Queen
-of Scots, or, if they were already in the hands of the Scots, to raze
-the fortresses of Eyemouth and Roxburgh to the ground. Scotland was to
-be comprehended in the treaty if the queen desired it, and Edward bound
-himself not to make war on Scotland unless some new provocation were
-given.
-
-So disgraceful was this treaty, such a surrender was it of the nation's
-dignity, that the people regarded it as an eternal opprobrium to the
-country; and from that hour the boastful claims of England on the French
-Crown were no more heard of, except in the ridiculous retention of the
-title of King of France by our sovereigns.
-
-Freed from the embarrassments of foreign politics, the Council now
-proceeded with the work of Church reform; and during 1550 and part of
-1551 was busily engaged checking on the one hand the opposition of the
-Romanist clergy, and on the other the latitudinarian tendencies of the
-Protestants. Bonner and Gardiner were the most considerable of the
-uncomplying prelates, and they were first brought under notice. Bonner
-had been called before the Council in August of 1549, for not complying
-with the requisitions of the Court in matters of religion; and in
-April, 1550, he was deprived of his see of London, and remanded to the
-Marshalsea, where he remained till the king's death. Ridley was appointed
-to the bishopric of London. Gardiner and Heath, Bishop of Worcester, were
-also imprisoned.
-
-From the bishops, the reforming Council proceeded to higher game. The
-Princess Mary, the king's eldest sister, from the first had expressed
-her firm resolution of not adopting the new faith or ritual. She had,
-moreover, declared to Somerset, that during Edward's minority things
-ought to remain as the king her father had left them. Somerset replied
-that, on the contrary, he was only carrying out the plans which Henry
-had already settled in his own mind, but had not had time to complete.
-On the introduction of the new liturgy, she received in June, 1549, an
-intimation that she must conform to the provisions of the statute. Mary
-replied with spirit, that her conscience would not permit her to lay
-aside the practice of the religion that she believed in, and reminded
-the lords of the Council that they were bound by their oaths to maintain
-the Church as left by her father; adding, that they could not, with
-any decency, refuse liberty of worship to the daughter of the king who
-had raised them to what they were. The appeal to the liberality, the
-consciences, or the gratitude of these statesmen producing no effect,
-she next applied to a more influential person, the Emperor, Charles V.,
-her great relative. He intervened on her behalf with such vigour that
-war between England and Germany seemed at one time inevitable, and the
-Council gave way. The persecutions were shortly afterwards renewed, but
-Mary remained firm, and finally was completely victorious.
-
-The ungenerous conduct of the Warwick party towards Mary, and the
-disgraceful conditions of the peace with France, naturally caused a
-considerable revival of Somerset's influence at Court, and the remainder
-of the summer was spent by him in intriguing for the increase of his
-favour. He surrounded himself with a strong body of armed men; there
-were secret debates among his friends on the possibility of raising
-the City in his behalf, and he did not hesitate to drop hints that
-assassination only could free him from his implacable enemies. But
-whilst the irresolute Somerset plotted, Warwick acted. He secured for
-himself the appointment of warden of the Scottish marches, thus cutting
-off the danger which had lately appeared of Somerset's retreat thither.
-Armed with the preponderating influence which that office conferred in
-the northern districts, on the 27th of September or the 17th of October
-he was announced as Duke of Northumberland, a title venerated by the
-Border people, and which had been extinct since the attainder of Earl
-Percy in 1527. In this formidable position of power and dignity he was
-strengthened by his friends and partisans being at the same time elevated
-in the peerage. The Marquis of Dorset was created Duke of Suffolk, the
-Earl of Wiltshire, Marquis of Winchester, and Sir William Herbert, Baron
-of Cardiff and Earl of Pembroke. Cecil, Cheke, Sidney, and Nevil received
-the honour of knighthood.
-
-This movement in favour of Warwick was followed by consequences of still
-more startling character to the Duke of Somerset. His enemies now felt
-safe, and on the 16th of October, 1551, the news flew through London that
-he was arrested on a charge of conspiracy and high treason, and committed
-to the Tower. He had been apprised that depositions of a serious
-character had been made against him by Sir Thomas Palmer, a partisan
-of Warwick's, whereupon he sent for Palmer, and strictly interrogated
-him, but on his positive denial, let him go. Not satisfied, however, he
-wrote to Cecil, telling him that he suspected something was in agitation
-against him. Cecil replied with his characteristic astuteness, that if
-he were innocent he could have nothing to fear; if he were guilty, he
-could only lament his misfortune. Piqued at this reply, he sent a letter
-of defiance, but took no means for the security of his person. Palmer,
-notwithstanding his denial, had, however, it seems, really lodged this
-charge against him on the 7th of the month with Warwick:--That in a
-conference with Somerset in April last, in his garden, the duke assured
-him that at the time that the solemn declaration of Sir William Herbert
-had prevented him from going northward, he had sent Lord Grey to raise
-their friends there; that after that he had formed the design of inviting
-Warwick, Northampton, and the chiefs of that party, and of assassinating
-them, either there, or on their return home; that at this very moment he
-was planning to raise an insurrection in London, to destroy his enemy,
-and to seize the direction of Government; that Sir Miles Partridge was
-to call out the apprentices of the City, kill the City guard, and get
-possession of the Great Seal; and that Sir Thomas Arundel had secured
-the Tower, and Sir Ralph Vane had a force of 2,000 men ready to support
-them.
-
-[Illustration: THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. (_After the Portrait by Holbein._)]
-
-Probably this was a mixture of some truth with a much larger portion of
-convenient falsehood. The duke was accordingly arrested, and the next
-day the duchess, with her favourites, Mr. and Mrs. Crane, Sir Miles
-Partridge, Sir Thomas Arundel, Sir Thomas Holcroft, Sir Michael Stanhope,
-and others of the duke's friends, were also arrested, and committed
-to the Tower. The king was already brought up from Hampton Court to
-Westminster for greater security and convenience during the trials of the
-conspirators. A message was sent in the king's name to the Lord Mayor and
-Corporation, informing them that the conspirators had agreed to seize the
-Tower, kill the guards of the City, seize the Great Seal, set fire to the
-town, and depart for the Isle of Wight; and they were, therefore, ordered
-to keep the gates well, and maintain a strong patrol in the streets.
-
-The trial of the duke, such as it was, took place on the 1st of December,
-in Westminster Hall. Twenty-seven peers were summoned to sit as his
-judges, the Marquis of Winchester being appointed Lord High Steward,
-to preside. On that morning Somerset was brought from the Tower, with
-the axe borne before him; whilst a great number of men carrying bills,
-glaives, halberds, and poll-axes, guarded him. A new platform was raised
-in the hall, on which the lords, his judges, sat; and above them was the
-Lord High Steward, on a raised seat ascended by three steps, and over
-it a canopy of State. The judges consisted almost wholly of the duke's
-enemies, and conspicuous amongst them were Northumberland, Northampton,
-and Pembroke. The witnesses against him were not produced, but merely
-their depositions read. Somerset denied the whole of the charges
-respecting his intention to raise the City of London, declaring that the
-idea of killing the City guard was worthy only of a madman. As to the
-accusation of proposing to assassinate the Duke of Northumberland and
-others, he admitted that he had thought of it, and even talked of it, but
-on mature consideration had abandoned it for ever.
-
-On this confession the judges declared him guilty of felony without
-benefit of clergy. They were desirous to adjudge it treason, but this
-Northumberland himself overruled. When this sentence was pronounced,
-Somerset fell on his knees, and thanked the lords for the fair trial they
-had given him, and implored pardon from Northumberland, Northampton, and
-Pembroke, for his design against their lives, entreating them to pray
-the king's mercy to him and his grace towards his wife, his children,
-and his servants. On the sentence being pronounced only felony, the
-axe of the Tower was withdrawn; and the people, seeing him returning
-without that fatal instrument, imagined that he was acquitted, and
-gave such shouts, that they were heard from Charing Cross to the hall.
-According to Holinshed, the Duke of Somerset landed from the river "at
-the crane of the Vine-tree, and so passed through London, where were both
-acclamations--the one cried for joy that he was acquitted, the other
-cried that he was condemned."
-
-Six weeks after his sentence, the warrant for his execution was signed.
-The chronicler quaintly remarks that "Christmas being thus passed and
-spent with much mirth and pastime, it was thought now good to proceed to
-the execution of the judgment against the Duke of Somerset." The day of
-execution was the 22nd of January, 1552. To prevent the vast concourse
-which, from the popularity of his character among the common people, from
-his opposition to enclosures during his Protectorship, was sure to take
-place, the Council had issued a precept to the Lord Mayor, commanding him
-to take all necessary measures for restraining the rush towards Tower
-Hill. The constables in every ward had, therefore, strictly charged
-every one not to leave their houses before ten o'clock that morning.
-But, by the very dawn, Tower Hill was one mass of heads, assembled more
-in expectation of the duke's reprieve than of his execution. At eight
-o'clock he was delivered to the sheriffs of London, who led him out to
-the scaffold on Tower Hill. He died calmly and nobly.
-
-Parliament met the day after the execution of Somerset; and as it had
-been originally summoned by him, it appeared to act as inspired with a
-spirit which resented his treatment and his death; and this spirit tended
-greatly during this session to revive that ancient independence which
-Henry VIII. had so completely quelled during his life. Most deserving
-of notice was the enactment which ordered the churchwardens in every
-parish to collect contributions for the support of the poor. This, though
-it appeared at first sight a voluntary contribution under the sanction
-of Government, was in reality a compulsory one, for the bishop of the
-diocese had authority to proceed against such as refused to subscribe.
-From this germ grew the English poor-law, with all its machinery and
-consequences.
-
-The Crown attempted to re-enact some of the most arbitrary and oppressive
-laws of Henry VIII., though they had been repealed in the first
-Parliament of this reign. A bill was sent to the Lords, making it treason
-to call the king, or any of his heirs, a heretic, schismatic, tyrant, or
-usurper. The Lords passed it without hesitation, for it most probably
-proceeded from Warwick, and the Lords were strongly devoted to him; but
-the Commons drew the same line which had been drawn regarding the deniers
-of the supremacy. They would admit the offence to be treason only when
-it was done by "writing, printing, carving, or graving," which indicated
-deliberate purpose; but what was spoken, as it might result from
-indiscretion or sudden passion, they decreed to be only a minor offence,
-punishable by fine or forfeiture, and only rendered treasonable by a
-third repetition. The Commons also added a most invaluable clause, the
-necessity of which had been constantly pressing on the public attention,
-and had just been strikingly demonstrated by the trial of Somerset.
-It was now enacted that no person should be arraigned, indicted,
-convicted, or attainted of any manner of treason unless on the oath of
-two lawful accusers, who should be brought before him at the time of his
-arraignment, and there should openly maintain their charges against him.
-
-But in prosecuting the reforms of the Church, the Parliament proceeded
-with a far more arbitrary spirit. The Common Prayer Book underwent much
-revision, and an Act was passed by which the bishops were empowered to
-compel attendance on the amended form of service by spiritual censures,
-and the magistrates to punish corporally all who used any other. Any one
-daring to attend any other form of worship was liable to six months'
-imprisonment for the first offence, twelve months for the second, and
-confinement for life for the third. So little did our Church reformers
-of that day understand of the rights of conscience. In the same spirit
-Cranmer proceeded to frame a collection of the articles of religion, and
-a code of ecclesiastical constitutions.
-
-Parliament, proving too independent, was dissolved, and in preparing for
-a new Parliament, Northumberland took such measures as showed that his
-own power and aggrandisement were the first things in his thoughts, the
-Constitution of the kingdom the last. Letters were sent in the king's
-name to all the sheriffs, directing them, in the most straightforward
-manner, to abuse their powers in order to return a Parliament completely
-subservient to the Government.
-
-[Illustration: SILVER CROWN OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-The only object which the Duke of Northumberland had in view in calling
-the new Parliament together was to procure liberal supplies. The
-appropriation of the monastic and chartered lands had left the Crown
-nearly as poor as it had found it. Such portions of these lands as
-still remained in its possession were totally inadequate to meet the
-annual demands of the Government. Northumberland, therefore, asked for
-two-tenths and two-fifteenths; but even with his care to pack the Commons
-he found it no easy task to obtain supplies, and the friends of Somerset
-again assembled in considerable force in the House, resenting in strong
-terms the pretence thrown out in the preamble to the bill that it was
-owing to the extravagance and improvidence of the late Duke of Somerset,
-to his involving the country in needless wars, debasing the coin, and
-occasioning a terrible rebellion.
-
-But the king's health was fast failing, and it was high time for
-Northumberland to make sure his position and fortune. The constitution
-of Edward had long betrayed symptoms of frailty. In the early spring of
-the past year he was successively attacked by measles and small-pox.
-In the autumn, through incautious exposure to cold, he was attacked by
-inflammation of the lungs, and so enfeebled was he become by the meeting
-of Parliament on the 1st of March, 1553, that he was obliged to receive
-the two Houses at his palace of Whitehall. He was greatly exhausted by
-the exertion, being evidently far gone in a consumption, and harassed
-with a troublesome cough.
-
-Northumberland, from the day on which he rose into the ascendant
-at Court, had shown that he was the true son of the old licensed
-extortioner. He had laboured assiduously not only to surround himself by
-interested adherents, but to add estate to estate. He inherited a large
-property, the accumulations of oppression and crimes of the blackest
-dye. But during the three years in which he had enjoyed all but kingly
-power, he had been diligently at work creating a kingly demesne. He was
-become the Steward of the East Riding of Yorkshire, and likewise of all
-the Royal manors in the five northern counties. He had obtained Tynemouth
-and Alnwick in Northumberland, Barnard Castle in Durham, and immense
-estates in Warwick, Worcester, and Somerset shires. The more he saw the
-king fail, the more anxious he was to place his brother, his sons, his
-relatives, and most devoted partisans in places of honour and profit
-around him at Court. This done, he advanced to bolder measures, to which
-these were only the stepping-stones. Lady Jane Grey was the daughter
-of Frances, Duchess of Suffolk, whose mother was Mary, the sister of
-Henry VIII. Mary first married Louis XII. of France, by whom she had no
-children, and next, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by whom she had two
-daughters. The younger of these married Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, but
-the elder, Frances, whose claim came first, had by the Marquis of Dorset
-(afterwards Duke of Suffolk) three daughters, Jane, Catherine, and Mary.
-
-Northumberland, casting his eye over the descendants of Henry VIII.,
-saw the only son, King Edward, dying, and the two daughters, Mary
-and Elizabeth, bastardised by Acts of Parliament still unrepealed. A
-daring scheme seized his ambitious mind--a scheme to set aside these
-two princesses, the elder of whom, and immediate heir to the throne,
-was especially dangerous to the permanence of the newly-established
-Protestantism. It was true that Margaret of Scotland, the sister of Henry
-VIII., was older than his sister Mary, and her grand-daughter, Mary Queen
-of Scots, would have taken precedence of the descendants of Mary, but
-she and her issue had been entirely passed over in the will of Henry.
-Leaving out, then, this line, and setting aside the Princesses Mary and
-Elizabeth as legally illegitimate, Lady Jane Grey would become heir to
-the throne. Northumberland resolved, therefore, to secure Lady Jane in
-marriage for his son Lord Guilford Dudley; to obtain Lady Jane's sister,
-Catherine, for Lord Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke, who owed title,
-estates, and everything to the favour of Northumberland; and to marry his
-own daughter Catherine to the eldest son of the Earl of Huntingdon. The
-marriages were celebrated at Durham House, the Duke of Northumberland's
-new residence in the Strand.
-
-[Illustration: SIXPENCE OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-[Illustration: SHILLING OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-Northumberland's next step was to induce the king to bequeath the crown
-to Lady Jane. The dying prince listened with a mind which had long been
-under the influence of the more powerful will of Dudley, and saw nothing
-but the most patriotic objects in his recommendations. He no doubt
-considered it a great kingly duty to decide the succession by will as his
-father had done; and that the whole responsibility might rest on himself,
-and not on Northumberland, who had so much at stake, he was easily
-induced to sketch the form of his devise of the Crown with his own pen.
-In this rough draft he entailed the succession on "the Lady Frances's
-heirs masles," next on "Lady Jane's heirs masles," and then on the heirs
-male of her sisters. This, however, did not accord with the plans of
-Northumberland, for none of the ladies named had any heirs male; and,
-therefore, on the death of Edward, the Crown would have passed over the
-whole family, and would go to the next of kin. A slight alteration was
-accordingly made. The letter "s" at the end of "Jane's" was scored out,
-the words "and her" inserted, and thus the bequest stood "to the Lady
-Jane and her heirs masles." Northumberland then compelled the judges to
-draw out letters patent under the Great Seal confirming the disposition
-of the Crown.
-
-[Illustration: POUND SOVEREIGN OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-[Illustration: TRIPLE SOVEREIGN OF EDWARD VI.]
-
-But Northumberland, not satisfied with the will of the king and the act
-of the Crown lawyer, produced another document, to which he required the
-signatures of the members of the Council and of the legal advisers of the
-Crown, who pledged, to the number of four-and-twenty, their oaths and
-honour to support this arrangement. The legal instrument, being prepared,
-was engrossed on parchment, and was authenticated by the Great Seal.
-Northumberland was preparing to secure his position by force of arms,
-when the poor young king, whose mind had been overtaxed by his advisers,
-died on the 6th of July, 1553.
-
-[Illustration: QUEEN MARY AND THE STATE PRISONERS IN THE TOWER. (_See p._
-223.)]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-THE REIGN OF MARY.
-
-     Proclamation of Lady Jane Grey--Mary's
-     Resistance--Northumberland's Failure--Mary is Proclaimed--The
-     Advice of Charles V.--Execution of Northumberland--Restoration
-     of the Roman Church--Proposed Marriage with Philip of
-     Spain--Consequent Risings throughout England--Wyatt's
-     Rebellion--Execution of Lady Jane Grey--Imprisonment of
-     Elizabeth--Marriage of Philip and Mary--England Accepts the Papal
-     Absolution--Persecuting Statutes Re-enacted--Martyrdom of Rogers,
-     Hooper, and Taylor--Di Castro's Sermon--Sickness of Mary--Trials
-     of Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer--Martyrdom of Ridley and
-     Latimer--Confession and Death of Cranmer--Departure of Philip--The
-     Dudley Conspiracy--Return of Philip--War with France--Battle of
-     St. Quentin--Loss of Calais--Death of Mary.
-
-
-As Mary fled from the emissaries of Northumberland on the 7th of July,
-after learning the death of her brother, she arrived on the ensuing
-evening at Sawston Hall, near Cambridge, the seat of Mr. Huddlestone, a
-zealous Romanist, one of whose kinsmen was a gentleman of Mary's retinue.
-There she passed the night, but was compelled to resume her journey early
-in the morning, the Protestant party in Cambridge having heard of her
-arrival, and being on the march to attack her. She and her followers were
-obliged to make the best of their way thence in different disguises,
-and turning on the Gogmagog Hills to take a look at the hall, she saw
-it in flames: her night's sojourn had cost her entertainer the home of
-his ancestors. On seeing this, she exclaimed, as quite certain of her
-fortunes, "Well, let it burn, I will build him a better;" and she kept
-her word. She passed through Bury St. Edmunds, and the next night reached
-the seat of Kenninghall, in Norfolk. Thence without delay she despatched
-a messenger to the Privy Council, commanding them to desist from the
-treasonable scheme which she knew that they were attempting, and ordering
-them to proclaim her their rightful sovereign, in which case all that was
-past should be pardoned. The messenger arrived just in time to see the
-rival queen proclaimed on the 10th, and to bring back a reply peculiarly
-insulting for its gross language, asserting her illegitimacy, and calling
-upon her to submit to her sovereign, Queen Jane.
-
-Mary on this occasion displayed the strong spirit of the Tudor. Though
-Northumberland had all the powers of the Government, the military
-strength, the influence of party, and the support of the nobility of the
-nation apparently under his hand, and possessed the reputation of being
-an able and most successful general, and though she had nobody with her
-but Sir Thomas Warton, the steward of her household, Andrew Huddlestone,
-and her ladies; though she had neither troops nor money, Mary did not
-hesitate. Kenninghall was but a defenceless house in an open country;
-she, therefore, rode forward to Framlingham Castle, not far from the
-Suffolk coast, where, in a strong fortress, she could await the result
-of an appeal to her subjects and, were she forced to fly, could easily
-escape across to Holland, and put herself under the protection of her
-Imperial kinsman.
-
-Once within the lofty walls of Framlingham, she commanded the standard
-of England to be cast loose to the winds, and caused herself to be
-proclaimed Queen-regnant of England and Ireland. The effect was soon
-seen. Sir Henry Jerningham and Sir Henry Bedingfeld had joined her with
-a few followers before she quitted Kenninghall, and had served her as
-a guard in her ride of twenty miles to Framlingham. Sir John Sulyard
-now arrived, and was appointed captain of her guard. He was speedily
-followed by the tenants of Sir Henry Bedingfeld, to the number of 140.
-By the influence of Sir Henry Jerningham, Yarmouth declared for her;
-and soon after flocked in, with more or less of followers, Lord Thomas
-Howard, a grandson of the old Duke of Norfolk; Sir William Drury; Sir
-Thomas Cornwallis, High Sheriff of Suffolk; Sir John Skelton; and
-Sir John Tyrrel. These were all zealous Papists; and the people of
-Norfolk and Suffolk hurried to her standard, impelled by the memory of
-Northumberland's sanguinary extinction of Ket's rebellion, the horrors
-of which still kept alive a deep detestation of the unprincipled duke in
-those counties. In a very short time Mary beheld herself surrounded by an
-army of 13,000 men, all serving without pay, but confidently calculating
-on the certain recompense which, as queen, she would soon be able to
-award them. Lord Derby rose for her in Cheshire, and Carew proclaimed her
-in Devonshire.
-
-Northumberland saw that no time was to be lost. It was necessary that
-forces should be instantly despatched to check the growth of Mary's
-army, and to disperse it altogether. But who should command it? There
-was no one so proper as himself; but he suspected the fidelity of the
-Council, and was unwilling to remove himself to a distance from them; he
-therefore recommended the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane, to
-the command of the expedition. The Council, who were anxious to get rid
-of Northumberland in order that they might themselves escape to Mary's
-camp, represented privately that Suffolk was a general of no reputation,
-that everything depended on decisive proceedings in the outset, and that
-he alone was the man for the purpose. They, moreover, so excited the
-fears of Lady Jane that she entreated in tears that her father might
-remain with her.
-
-Northumberland consented, though with many misgivings. He equally
-distrusted the Council and the citizens. On the 13th of July he set out,
-urging on the Council at his departure fidelity to the trust reposed in
-them, and receiving from them the most earnest protestations of zeal
-and attachment. At every step some expectation was falsified, or some
-disastrous news met him. The promised reinforcements did not arrive, but
-he heard of them taking the way to the camp of Mary instead of to his
-own. He heard of the defection of the fleet; and lastly, a prostrating
-blow, of the Council having gone over to Queen Mary. Struck with dismay
-at this accumulation of evil tidings, he retreated from Bury St.
-Edmunds, which he had reached, to Cambridge, and there betrayed pitiable
-indecision.
-
-Scarcely had he left London before the Council, whilst outwardly
-professing much activity for the interests of Queen Jane, set to work
-to terminate as soon as possible the perilous farce of her royalty. On
-the evening of Sunday, the 16th, the Lord Treasurer left the Tower,
-and made a visit to his own house, contrary to the positive order of
-Northumberland, who had strictly enjoined Suffolk to keep the whole
-Council within its walls. On the 19th the Lord Treasurer and Lord Privy
-Seal, the Earls of Arundel, Shrewsbury, and Pembroke, Sir Thomas Cheney,
-and Sir John Mason, left the Tower, on the plea that it was necessary to
-levy forces, and to receive the French ambassador, and that Baynard's
-Castle, the residence of the Earl of Pembroke, was a much more convenient
-place for these purposes. As they professed to be actuated by zeal for
-the cause of his daughter, Suffolk, a very weak person, was easily
-duped. No sooner had they reached Baynard's Castle than they unanimously
-declared for Queen Mary.
-
-[Illustration: LADY JANE GREY'S RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT THE CROWN OF ENGLAND.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY C. R. LESLIE, R.A. IN THE POSSESSION OF THE DUKE OF
-BEDFORD.]
-
-Immediately after proclaiming the new queen, the Council sent to summon
-the Duke of Suffolk to surrender the Tower, which he did with all
-alacrity, and, proceeding to Baynard's Castle, signed the proclamations
-which the Council were issuing. Poor Lady Jane resigned her uneasy and
-unblessed crown of nine days with unfeigned joy, and the next morning
-returned to Sion House. This brief period of queenship, which had been
-thrust upon her against her own wishes and better judgment, had been
-embittered not only by her own sense of injustice towards her kinswoman,
-the Princess Mary, and by apprehension of the consequences to herself and
-all her friends, but still more by the harshness and insatiate ambition
-of her husband and his mother.
-
-The Council despatched a letter to Northumberland by Richard Rose, the
-herald, commanding him to disband his army, and return to his allegiance
-to Queen Mary, under penalty of being declared a traitor. But before
-this reached him he had submitted himself, and in a manner the least
-heroic and dignified possible. On the Sunday he had induced Dr. Sandys,
-the vice-chancellor of the university, to preach a sermon against the
-title and religion of Mary. The very next day the news of the revolution
-at London arrived, and Northumberland, proceeding to the market-place,
-proclaimed the woman he had thus denounced, and flung up his cap as if
-in joy at the event, whilst the tears of grief and chagrin streamed
-down his face. Turning to Doctor Sandys, who was again with him, he
-said, "Queen Mary was a merciful woman, and that, doubtless, all would
-receive the benefit of her general pardon." But Sandys, who could not
-help despising him, bade him "not flatter himself with that; for if the
-queen were ever so inclined to pardon, those who ruled her would destroy
-him, whoever else were spared." Immediately after, Sir John Gates, one
-of his oldest and most obsequious instruments, arrested him, when he had
-his boots half-drawn on, so that he could not help himself; and, on the
-following morning, the Earl of Arundel, arriving with a body of troops,
-took possession of Northumberland, his captor, Gates, and Dr. Sandys, and
-sent them off to the Tower.
-
-Mary dismissed her army, which had never exceeded 15,000, and which had
-had no occasion to draw a sword, before quitting Wanstead, except 3,000
-horsemen in uniforms of green and white, red and white, and blue and
-white. These, too, she sent back before entering the City gate, thus
-showing her perfect confidence in the attachment of her capital. From
-that point her only guard was that of the City, which brought up the rear
-with bows and javelins. As Mary and her sister Elizabeth rode through
-the crowded streets, they were accompanied by a continuous roar of
-acclamation; and on entering the court of the Tower they beheld, kneeling
-on the green before St. Peter's Church, the State prisoners who had been
-detained there during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. These were
-Courtenay, the son of the Marquis of Exeter, who was executed in 1538;
-the old Duke of Norfolk, still under sentence of death; and the Bishops
-of Durham and Winchester, Tunstall and Gardiner. Gardiner pronounced a
-congratulation on behalf of the others; and Mary, bursting into tears at
-the sight, called them to her, exclaiming, "Ye are all my prisoners!"
-raised them one by one, kissed them, and set them at liberty. To extend
-the joy of her safe establishment upon the throne of her ancestors, she
-ordered eighteen pence to be distributed to every poor householder in the
-City.
-
-It was Mary's misfortune that she had been educated to place so much
-reliance on the wisdom and friendship of her great relative, the Emperor
-Charles V. He had been her champion, as he had been that of her mother.
-When pressed on the subject of her religion during the last reign, he
-had menaced the country with war if the freedom of her conscience were
-violated. It was natural, therefore, that she should now look to him for
-counsel, seeing that almost all those whom she was obliged to employ
-or to have around her had been her enemies during her brother's reign.
-Charles communicated his opinions through Simon Renard, his ambassador,
-who was to be the medium of their correspondence, and to advise her in
-matters not of sufficient importance to require the Emperor's judgment,
-or not allowing of sufficient time to obtain it. Renard was ordered to
-act warily, and to show himself little at Court, so as to avoid suspicion.
-
-Charles advised her to make examples of the chief conspirators, and to
-punish the subordinates more mildly, so as to obtain a character of
-moderation. He insisted upon it as necessary, however, that Lady Jane
-Grey should be included in the list for capital punishment, and to
-this Mary would by no means consent. She replied that "she could not
-find in her heart or conscience to put her unfortunate kinswoman to
-death, who had not been an accomplice of Northumberland, but merely an
-unresisting instrument in his hands. If there were any crime in being
-his daughter-in-law, even of that her cousin Jane was not guilty, for she
-had been legally contracted to another, and, therefore, her marriage with
-Lord Guilford Dudley was not valid. As to the danger existing from her
-pretensions, it was but imaginary, and every requisite precaution should
-be taken before she was set at liberty."
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF PHILIP AND MARY.]
-
-Mary's selection of prisoners was remarkably small considering the
-number in her hands, and the character of their offence against her. She
-contented herself with putting only seven of them on their trial--namely,
-Northumberland, his son the Earl of Warwick, the Marquis of Northampton,
-Sir John Gates, Sir Henry Gates, Sir Andrew Dudley, and Sir Thomas
-Palmer--his chief councillors and his associates. Northumberland
-submitted to the court whether a man could be guilty of treason who acted
-on the authority of Council, and under warrant of the Great Seal; or
-could they, who had been his chief advisers and accomplices during the
-whole time, sit as his judges? The Duke of Norfolk, who presided at the
-trial as High Steward, replied that the Council and Great Seal which he
-spoke of were those of a usurper, and, therefore, so far from availing
-him, only aggravated the offence, and that the lords in question could
-sit as his judges, because they were under no attainder.
-
-Finding that his appeal had done him no service, Northumberland and his
-fellow-prisoners pleaded guilty. The duke prayed that his sentence might
-be commuted into decapitation, as became a peer of the realm, and he
-prayed the queen that she would be merciful to his children on account
-of their youth. He desired also that an able divine might be sent to
-him for the settling of his conscience, thereby intimating that he was
-at heart a Romanist, in hopes, no doubt, of winning upon the mind of
-the queen, for he was very anxious to save his life. He professed, too,
-that he was in possession of certain State secrets of vital importance
-to her Majesty, and entreated that two members of the Council might be
-sent to him to receive these matters from him. What his object was became
-manifest from the result, for Gardiner and another member of the Council
-being sent to him in consequence, he implored Gardiner passionately to
-intercede for his life. Gardiner gave him little hope, but promised
-to do what he could, and on returning to the queen so much moved her,
-that she was inclined to grant the request; but others of the Council
-wrote through Renard to the Emperor, who strenuously warned her, if
-she valued her safety, or the peace of her reign, not to listen to the
-arch-traitor. On Tuesday, the 22nd of August, Northumberland, Gates,
-and Palmer were brought from the Tower for execution on Tower Hill. Of
-the eleven condemned, only these three were executed--an instance of
-clemency, in so gross a conspiracy to deprive a sovereign of a throne,
-which is without parallel. When the Duke of Northumberland and Gates
-met on the scaffold, they each accused the other of being the author
-of the treason. Northumberland charged the whole design on Gates and
-the Council; Gates laid it more truly on Northumberland and his high
-authority. They protested, however, that they entirely forgave each
-other, and Northumberland, stepping to the rail, made a speech, praying
-for a long and happy reign to the queen, and calling on the people to
-bear witness that he died in the true Catholic faith. Though he condemned
-it, he said, in his heart, ambition had led him to conform to the new
-faith, the adoption of which had filled both England and Germany with
-constant dissensions, troubles, and civil wars. After repeating the
-"Miserere," "De Profundis," and the "Paternoster," with some portion
-of another psalm, concluding with the words, "Into thy hands, O Lord,
-I commend my spirit," he laid his head on the block, saying that he
-deserved a thousand deaths, and it was severed at a stroke. Gates and
-Palmer died professing much penitence.
-
-[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE CONSTABLE'S GARDEN, TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-The accession of Mary was a joyful event to the Papal Court. Julius III.
-appointed Cardinal Pole his legate to the queen; but Pole was by no means
-in haste, without obtaining further information, to fill this office in
-a country where the people, whose sturdy character he well knew, had to
-so great an extent imbibed the doctrines of the Reformation. Dandino,
-the Papal legate at Brussels, therefore despatched a gentleman of his
-suite to proceed to London and cautiously spy out the land. Before making
-himself known, this emissary, Gianfrancesco Commendone, went about
-London for some days gathering up all evidences of the public feeling on
-the question of the Church. He then procured a private interview with
-Mary, and was delighted to hear from her own lips that she was fully
-resolved on reconciling her kingdom to the Papal See, and meant to obtain
-the repeal of all laws restricting the doctrines or discipline of the
-Roman Church; but that it required caution, and that no trace of any
-correspondence with Rome must come to light.
-
-Mary was, however, inclined to go faster and farther than some of her
-advisers, and Gardiner, though so staunch a Papist, was too much of an
-Englishman to wish to see the supremacy restored to the Pontiff. But
-others were not so patriotic. Throughout the kingdom the Protestant
-preachers were silenced. The great bell at Christ Church, Oxford, was
-just recast, and the first use of it was to call the people to Mass.
-"That bell then rung," says Fuller, "the knell of Gospel truth in the
-city of Oxford, afterwards filled with Protestant tears."
-
-Four days after her coronation, on October 1st, Mary opened her first
-Parliament; and she opened it in a manner which showed plainly what
-was to come. Both peers and commoners were called upon to attend her
-majesty at a solemn Mass of the Holy Ghost. This was an immediate test
-of what degree of compliance was to be expected in the attempt to return
-to the ancient order of things; and the success of the experiment was
-most encouraging. With the exception of Taylor Bishop of Lincoln, and
-Harley Bishop of Hereford, the whole Parliament--peers, prelates,
-and commoners--fell on their knees at the elevation of the Host, and
-participated with an air of devotion in that which in the last reign
-they had declared an abomination. But such was the zeal now for the
-lately abhorred Mass, that the two noncomplying bishops were thrust out
-of the queen's presence, and out of the abbey altogether. There were
-those who insinuated that the Emperor furnished Mary with funds to bribe
-her Parliament on this occasion; but, besides that Charles was not so
-lavish of his money, events soon showed that the Parliament, though
-so exceedingly pliant in the matter of religion, was stubborn enough
-regarding the estates obtained from the Church, and also concerning
-Mary's scheme of a Spanish marriage.
-
-The first act of legislation was to restore the securities to life and
-property which had been granted in the twenty-fifth year of Edward III.,
-and which had been so completely prostrated by the acts of Henry VIII.
-Such an Act had been passed at the commencement of the last reign, but
-had been again violated in the cases of the two Seymours. The Parliament,
-looking back on the sanguinary lawlessness of that monarch, did not
-think the country sufficiently safe from charges of constructive treason
-and felony without a fresh enactment. It next passed an Act annulling
-the divorce of Queen Catherine of Aragon, by Cranmer, and declaring the
-present queen legitimate. This Act indeed tacitly declared Elizabeth
-illegitimate, but there was no getting altogether out of the difficulties
-which the licentious proceedings of Henry VIII. had created, and it was
-deemed best to pass that point over in silence, leaving the queen to
-treat her sister as if born in genuine wedlock.
-
-The next Act went to restore the Papal Church in England, stopping short,
-however, of the supremacy. This received no opposition in the House of
-Lords, but occasioned a debate of two days in the Commons. It passed,
-however, eventually without a division, and by it was swept away at once
-the whole system of Protestantism established by Cranmer during the reign
-of Edward VI. The Reformed liturgy, which the Parliament of that monarch
-had declared was framed by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, was now
-pronounced to be "a new thing, imagined and devised by a few of singular
-opinions." This abolished the marriages of priests and illegitimatised
-their children. From the 20th day of November divine worship was to be
-performed, and the sacraments were to be administered, as in the last
-year of Henry VIII. Thus were the tyrannic Six Articles restored, and all
-but the Papal supremacy. Even the discussion of the ritual and doctrines
-of Edward VI. became so warm, that the queen prorogued Parliament
-for three days. On calling the House of Commons together again, and
-proceeding with the Bill, no mention was made of the restoration of the
-Church property, though the queen was anxious to restore all that was in
-the hands of the Crown; for the Lords, and gentlemen even of the House
-of Commons, who were in possession of those lands, would have raised
-a far different opposition to that which was manifested regarding the
-State religion. No sooner were these Bills passed than the clergy met in
-Convocation, and passed decrees for the speedy enforcement of all the new
-regulations.
-
-[Illustration: _By permission, from the Painting in the Victoria and
-Albert Museum, South Kensington._
-
-CRANMER AT TRAITORS' GATE. 1553.
-
-By F. GOODALL, R.A.]
-
-The persecution of the Reformed clergy who had stood firm became
-vehement. The married clergy were called upon to abandon their wives, and
-there was a rush of the expelled priests again to fill their pulpits. In
-the cities there was considerable opposition, for there the people had
-read and reflected, but generally throughout the agricultural districts
-the change took place with the ease and rapidity of the scene-shifting at
-a theatre. Many of the married priests, however, would not abandon their
-wives and children, and were turned adrift into the highways, or were
-thrust into prison. Many fled abroad, hoping for more Christian treatment
-from the Reformed churches there, but in vain, for their doctrines did
-not accord with those of the foreign Reformers, who deemed them heretical.
-
-About half the English bishops conformed; the rest were ejected from
-their sees, and several of them were imprisoned. Soon after Cranmer,
-Latimer, and Ridley were sent to the Tower, Holgate, Archbishop of York,
-was sent thither also. Poynet, who was Bishop of Winchester during
-Gardiner's expulsion, was imprisoned for having married. Taylor of
-Lincoln and Harley of Hereford, for refusing to kneel on the elevation
-of the Host at the queen's coronation, and for other heresies, were
-committed to prison. On the 13th of October Cranmer was brought to
-trial in the Guildhall, on a charge of treason, with Lady Jane Grey,
-her husband Lord Guilford Dudley, and Lord Ambrose Dudley, his brother.
-They were all condemned to death as traitors, and a bill of attainder
-was passed through Parliament against them. Lady Jane's sentence was to
-be beheaded or burnt at the queen's pleasure, which was then the law
-of England in all cases where women committed high treason, or petty
-treason by the murder of their husbands. The fate of Lady Jane, who
-pleaded guilty, and exhibited the most mild and amiable demeanour on
-the occasion, excited deep sympathy, and crowds followed her as she was
-reconducted to the Tower, weeping and lamenting her hard fate. It was
-well understood, however, that the queen had no intention of carrying
-the sentence into effect against any of the prisoners; but she deemed
-it a means of keeping quiet her partisans to hold them in prison under
-sentence of death. She gave orders that they should receive every
-indulgence consistent with their security, and Lady Jane was permitted to
-walk in the queen's garden at the Tower, and even on Tower Hill.
-
-The subject which created the greatest difficulty to this Parliament was
-that of the queen's marriage. The wily Renard suggested to Mary as a
-possible husband Philip the heir of Charles V., and she eagerly seized
-on the idea though she knew that it would be very unpopular. The first
-to remonstrate with Mary on the subject was Gardiner, her Chancellor,
-who boldly pointed out to her the repugnance of the nation to a Spanish
-marriage; that she would be the paramount authority if she married a
-subject, but that it would be difficult to maintain that rank with a
-Spanish king; that the arrogance of the Spanish had made them odious to
-all nations, and that this quality had shown itself conspicuously in
-Philip. He was greatly disliked by his own people, and it was not likely
-that he would be tolerated by the English; moreover, alliance with Spain
-meant perpetual war with France, which would never suffer the Netherlands
-to be annexed to the crown of England. The rest of Mary's Council took
-up the same strain, with the exception of the old Duke of Norfolk, and
-the Lords Arundel and Paget. The Protestant party out of doors were
-furious against the match, declaring that it would bring the Inquisition
-into the country, to rivet Popery upon it, and to make England the slave
-of taxation to the Spaniards. The Parliament took up the subject with
-equal hostility, and the Commons sent their Speaker to her, attended
-by a deputation of twenty members, praying her Majesty not to marry a
-foreigner.
-
-Noailles, the French ambassador, was delighted with this movement, and
-took much credit to himself for inciting influential parties to it; but
-Mary believed it to originate with Gardiner, and the lion spirit of her
-father coming over her, she vowed that she would prove a match for the
-cunning of the Chancellor. That very night she sent for the Spanish
-ambassador, and bidding him follow her into her private oratory, she
-there knelt down before the altar, and after chanting the hymn, "Veni
-Creator Spiritus," she made a vow to God that she would marry Philip
-of Spain, and whilst she lived, no other man but him. Thus she put it
-out of her power, if she kept her vow, to marry any other person should
-she outlive Philip, showing the force of the paroxysm of determination
-which was upon her. The effort would seem to have been very violent, for
-immediately after she was taken ill, and continued so for some days.
-
-It was on the last day of October that this curious circumstance took
-place, and on the 17th of November she sent for the House of Commons,
-when the Speaker read the address giving her their advice regarding her
-marriage. Instead of the Chancellor returning the answer, as was the
-custom, Mary replied herself, thanking them for their care that she
-should have a succession in her own children, but rebuking them for
-presuming to dictate to her the choice of a husband. She declared that
-the marriages of her predecessors had always been free, a privilege
-which, she assured them, she was resolved to maintain. At the same time,
-she added, she should be careful to make such a selection as should
-contribute both to her own happiness and to that of her people.
-
-The plain declaration of the queen to her Parliament was not necessary
-to inform those about her who were interested in the question; they had
-speedy information of her having favoured the Spanish suit, and Noailles
-was certainly mixed up in conspiracies to defeat it. It was proposed to
-place Courtenay, the young Earl of Devon, who had long been a prisoner
-in the Tower, at the head of the Reformed party, and if Mary would not
-consent to marry him, to assassinate Arundel and Paget, the advocates
-of the Spanish match; to marry Elizabeth to Courtenay, and raise the
-standard of rebellion in Devonshire. It appears from the despatches of
-Noailles that the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane Grey, was in
-this conspiracy. But the folly and the unstable character of their hero,
-Courtenay, was fatal to their design, and of that Noailles very soon
-became sensible. It was suggested by some of the parties that Courtenay
-should steal away from Court, get across to France, and thence join the
-conspirators in Devonshire; but Noailles opposed this plan, declaring
-that the moment Courtenay quitted the coast of England his chance was
-utterly lost; and he wrote to his own government, saying that the scheme
-would fall to nothing; for although Courtenay and Elizabeth were fitting
-persons to cause a rising, such was the want of decision of Courtenay, he
-would let himself be taken before he would act--the thing which actually
-came to pass.
-
-On the 2nd of January, 1554, a splendid embassy, sent by the Emperor,
-headed by the Counts Egmont and Lalain, the Lord of Courrieres, and the
-Sieur de Nigry, landed in Kent, to arrange the marriage between Mary and
-Philip. The unpopularity of this measure was immediately manifested,
-for the men of Kent, taking Egmont for Philip, rose in fury, and would
-have torn him to pieces if they could have got hold of him. Having,
-however, reached Westminster in safety, on the 14th of January, a
-numerous assembly of nobles, prelates, and courtiers was summoned to the
-queen's presence-chamber, where Gardiner, who had found it necessary to
-relinquish his opposition, stated to them the proposed conditions of
-the treaty. The greatest care was evidently taken to disarm the fears of
-the English, and nothing could appear more moderate than the terms of
-this alliance. Philip and Mary were to confer on each other the titles
-of their respective kingdoms, but each kingdom was still to be governed
-by its own laws and constitution. None but English subjects were to hold
-office in this country, not even in the king's private service. If the
-queen had an heir, it was to be her successor in her own dominions, and
-also in all Philip's dominions of Burgundy, Holland, and Flanders, which
-were for ever to become part and parcel of England. This certainly, on
-the face of it, was a most advantageous condition for England, but had
-it taken effect, it would undoubtedly have proved a most disastrous one,
-involving us perpetually in the wars and struggles of the Continent, and
-draining these islands to defend those foreign territories.
-
-Another condition of the treaty was that Mary was not to be carried
-out of the kingdom except at her own request, nor any of her children,
-except by the consent of the peers. The Commons were totally ignored in
-the matter. Philip was not to entangle England in the Continental wars
-of his father, nor to appropriate any of the naval or military resources
-of this country, or the property or jewels of the Crown, to any foreign
-purposes. If there was no issue of the marriage, all the conditions of
-the treaty at once became void, and Philip ceased to be king even in
-name. If he died first, which was not very probable, Mary was to enjoy a
-dower of 60,000 ducats per annum, secured on lands in Spain and Flanders.
-No mention was made of any payment to Philip if he happened to be the
-survivor. But there was one little clause which stipulated that Philip
-should _aid_ Mary in governing her kingdom--an ominous word, which might
-be made of vast significance.
-
-Within five days came the startling news that three insurrections had
-broken out in different quarters of the kingdom. One was a-foot in the
-midland counties, where the Duke of Suffolk and the Grey family had
-property and influence. There the cry was for the Lady Jane. Mary had
-been completely deceived by the Duke of Suffolk, whom she had pardoned
-and liberated from the Tower. In return for her leniency he affected so
-hearty an approval of her marriage, that she instantly thought of him as
-the man to put down the other rebellions, and sending for him, found
-that he and his brothers, Lord Thomas and Lord John Grey, had ridden off
-with a strong body of horse to Leicestershire, proclaiming Lady Jane in
-every town through which they passed. They found no response to their
-cry, a fact which any but the most rash speculators might have been
-certain of. The Earl of Huntingdon, a relative of the queen's, took the
-field against the Greys, who by their folly brought certain death to Lady
-Jane, and defeated them near Coventry, upon which they fled for their
-lives.
-
-[Illustration: OLD LONDON BRIDGE, WITH NONSUCH PALACE.
-
-(_From the View of London, made by Van der Wyngarde, for Philip II._)]
-
-The second insurrection was in the west, under Sir Peter Carew, whose
-project was to place Elizabeth and Courtenay, Earl of Devon, on the
-throne, and restore the Protestant religion. These parties, as well as
-the third under Sir Thomas Wyatt, had consented to act together, and
-thus paralyse the efforts of Mary, by the simultaneous outbreak in so
-many quarters. But the miserable folly of their plans became evident at
-once. They did not even unite in the choice of the same person as their
-future monarch, and had they put down Mary, must then have come to blows
-amongst themselves. Carew found Devonshire as indifferent to his call as
-the Greys had found Leicestershire. Courtenay was to have put himself at
-their head, but never went; and Carew, Gibbs, and Champernham called on
-the people of Exeter to sign an address to the queen, stating that they
-would have no Spanish despot. The people of Devon gave no support to the
-movement. The Earl of Bedford appeared at the head of the queen's troops.
-A number of the conspirators were seized, and Carew with others fled to
-France.
-
-But the most formidable section of this tripartite rebellion was that
-under Sir Thomas Wyatt. He fixed his headquarters at Rochester, having
-a fleet of five sail, under his associate Winter, which brought him
-ordnance and ammunition. Wyatt was only a youth of twenty-three, but
-he was full of both courage and enthusiasm, and endeavoured to rouse
-the people of Canterbury to follow him. There, however, he was not
-successful, and this cast a damp upon his adherents. Sir Robert Southwell
-defeated a party of the insurgents under Knevet, and the Lord Abergavenny
-another party under Isley, and the spirits of Wyatt's troops began to
-sink rapidly. Many of his supporters sent to the Council, offering to
-surrender on promise of full pardon, and a little delay would probably
-have witnessed the total dispersion of his force.
-
-But on the 29th of January, the Duke of Norfolk marched from London
-with a detachment of the guards under Sir Henry Jerningham. On reaching
-Rochester they found Wyatt encamped in the ruins of the old castle,
-and the bridge bristling with cannon, and with well-armed Kentishmen.
-Norfolk endeavoured to dissolve the hostile force by sending a herald
-to proclaim a pardon to all that would lay down their arms, but Wyatt
-would not permit him to read the paper. Norfolk then ordered his troops
-to force the bridge; but this duty falling to a detachment of 500 of the
-train-bands of the city under Captain Brett, the moment they reached the
-bridge Brett turned round, and addressed his followers thus:--"Masters,
-we go about to fight against our native countrymen of England, and our
-friends, in a quarrel unrightful and wicked; for they, considering the
-great miseries that are like to fall upon us, if we shall be under the
-rule of the proud Spaniards, or strangers, are here assembled to make
-resistance to their coming, for the avoiding the great mischiefs likely
-to alight not only upon themselves, but upon every of us and the whole
-realm; wherefore I think no English heart ought to say against them. I
-and others will spend our blood in their quarrel."
-
-On hearing this, his men shouted, one and all, "A Wyatt! a Wyatt!" and
-turned their guns not against the bridge, but against Norfolk's forces.
-At this sight Norfolk and his officers, imagining a universal treason,
-turned their horses and fled at full speed, leaving behind them their
-cannon and ammunition. The train-bands crossed the bridge and joined
-Wyatt's soldiers, followed by three-fourths of the queen's troops,
-and some companies of the guard. Norfolk and his fugitive officers
-galloping into London carried with them the direst consternation. In
-City and Court alike the most terrible panic prevailed. The lawyers in
-Westminster Hall pleaded in suits of armour hidden under their robes, and
-Dr. Weston preached before the queen in Whitehall Chapel, on Candlemas
-Day, in armour under his clerical vestments. Mary alone seemed calm and
-self-possessed. She mounted her horse, and, attended by her ladies and
-her Council, rode into the City, where, summoning Sir Thomas White, Lord
-Mayor and tailor, and the aldermen to meet, who all came clad in armour
-under their civic livery, she ascended a chair of State, and with her
-sceptre in hand addressed them, declaring she would never marry except
-with leave of Parliament.
-
-Her courage gained the day. From some cause the insurgents had not pushed
-forward with the celerity which the flight of Norfolk appeared to make
-easy. Instead of marching on the City and taking advantage of its panic,
-Wyatt was three days in reaching Deptford and Greenwich, and he then lay
-three more days there, though his success was said to have raised his
-forces to 15,000 men. Meantime the City had recovered its courage by the
-valiant bearing of the queen, and the news of the dispersion of the other
-two divisions of the rebels. The golden opportunity was irrevocably lost.
-On the 3rd of February Wyatt marched along the river side to Southwark.
-Coming to the end of London Bridge, he found the drawbridge raised, the
-gates closed, and the citizens, headed by the Lord Mayor and aldermen in
-armour, in strong force ready to resist his entrance. He was surprised
-to find the Londoners determined not to admit him, for he had been led
-to believe that they were as hostile to the marriage as himself. He
-planted two pieces of artillery at the foot of the bridge, but this was
-evidently with the view of defending his own position, and not of forcing
-the gates, for he cut a deep ditch between the bridge and the fort which
-he occupied, and then protected his flanks from attack by other guns,
-one pointing down Bermondsey Street, one by St. George's Church, and the
-third towards the Bishop of Winchester's house. He must still have hoped
-for a demonstration in the City in his favour, for he remained stationary
-two whole days, without making an attack on the bridge. On the third
-morning this inaction was broken by the garrison in the Tower opening a
-brisk cannonade against him with all their heavy ordnance, doing immense
-damage to the houses in the vicinity of the bridge fort, and to the
-towers of St. Olave's and St. Mary Overy's.
-
-The people of Southwark, seeing the inaction of Wyatt and the mischief
-done to their property, now cried out amain, and desired him to take
-himself away, which he did. He told the people that he would not have
-them hurt on his account, and forthwith commenced a march towards
-Kingston, hoping to be able to cross the bridge there, which he supposed
-would be unguarded, and that so he might fall on Westminster and London
-on the side where they were but indifferently fortified. He reached
-Kingston about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 6th of February,
-where he found a part of the bridge broken down, and an armed force
-ready to oppose his passage. His object being to cross here, and not,
-as at London Bridge, to await a voluntary admission, he brought up his
-artillery, swept the enemy from the opposite bank, and by the help of
-some sailors, who brought up boats and barges, he had the bridge made
-passable, and his troops crossed over. By this time it was eleven o'clock
-at night; his troops were extremely fatigued by their march and their
-labours here, but he now deemed it absolutely necessary to push on, and
-allow the Government no more time than he could help to collect forces
-into his path, and strengthen their position. He marched on, therefore,
-through a miserable winter night, and staying most imprudently to
-re-mount a heavy gun which had broken down, it was broad daylight when he
-arrived at what is now Hyde Park, where the Earl of Pembroke was posted
-with the royal forces to receive him.
-
-Lord Clinton headed the cavalry, and took his station with a battery of
-cannon on the rising ground opposite to the palace of St. James's, at the
-top of the present St. James's Street, and his cavalry extended from that
-spot to the present Jermyn Street. All that quarter of dense building,
-including Piccadilly, Pall Mall, and St. James's Square, was then open
-and called St. James's Fields. About nine o'clock appeared the advance
-guard of Wyatt's army. The morning was dismal, gloomy, and rainy, and his
-troops, who had been wading through muddy roads all night, were in no
-condition to face a fresh army. Many had deserted at Kingston, many more
-had dropped off since, and seeing the strength of the force placed to
-obstruct him, he divided his own into three parts. One of these, led by
-Captain Cobham, took the way through St. James's Park at the back of the
-palace, which was barricaded at all points, guards being stationed at the
-windows, even those of the queen's bed-chamber and with drawing-rooms.
-Cobham's division fired on the palace as it passed, whilst another
-division under Captain Knevet, holding more to the right, assaulted the
-palaces of Westminster and Whitehall.
-
-But Wyatt, at the head of the main division, charged Clinton's cavalry;
-the cannon were brought up, and a general engagement took place between
-the rebel army and the troops under Clinton and the infantry under
-Pembroke. Wyatt's charge seemed to make the cavalry give way, but it was
-only a stratagem on the part of Clinton, who opened his ranks to let
-Wyatt and about four hundred of his followers pass, when he closed and
-cut off the main body from their commander. In all Wyatt's proceedings he
-displayed great bravery, but little military experience or caution.
-
-His main forces, now deprived of their leader, wavered and gave way, but
-instead of breaking took another course to reach the City. Wyatt, as if
-unconscious that he had left the bulk of his army behind him, and had now
-the enemy between it and himself, rushed along past Charing Cross and
-through the Strand to Ludgate, in the fond hope still that the citizens
-would admit him and join him. In the passages of the Strand were posted
-bodies of soldiers under the Earl of Worcester and the contemptible
-Courtenay, who, on the sight of Wyatt, fled.
-
-On reaching Ludgate, Wyatt found the gates closed, and instead of the
-citizens who had promised to receive him, Lord William Howard appeared
-over the gate, crying sternly, "Avaunt, traitor! avaunt; you enter not
-here!" Finding no access there, the unhappy man turned to rejoin and
-assist his troops, but he was met by those of Pembroke, who had poured
-after him like a flood. With the energy of despair he fought his way back
-as far as the Temple, where he found only twenty-four of his followers
-surviving. At Temple Bar he threw away his sword, which was broken, and
-surrendered himself to Sir Maurice Berkeley, who immediately mounted him
-behind him and carried him off to Court.
-
-Mary had displayed the most extraordinary clemency on the termination
-of the former conspiracy, for which not only the Emperor but her
-own Ministers had blamed her. Her Council now urged her to make a
-more salutary example of these offenders, to prevent a repetition
-of rebellion. On the previous occasion she had permitted only three
-of the ringleaders to be put to death. On this occasion five of the
-chief conspirators were condemned, and four of them were executed,
-Croft being pardoned. Suffolk fell without any commiseration. It was
-difficult to decide whether his folly or his ingratitude had been the
-greater. He had twice been a traitor to the queen, the second time
-after being most mercifully pardoned. He had twice put his amiable and
-excellent daughter's life in jeopardy; the second time after seeing how
-hopeless was the attempt to place her on the throne, and therefore,
-to a certainty, by the second revolt, involving her death; and to add
-to his infamy, he endeavoured to win escape for himself by betraying
-others. He was beheaded on the 23rd of February. Wyatt was kept in the
-Tower till the 11th of April, when he was executed. Unlike Suffolk, he
-tried to exculpate others, declaring in his last moments that neither
-the Princess Elizabeth nor Courtenay, who were suspected of being privy
-to his designs, knew anything of them. Wyatt seems to have been a brave
-and honest man, who believed himself acting the part of a patriot in
-endeavouring to preserve the country from the Spanish yoke, and who,
-in the sincerity of his own heart, had too confidently trusted to the
-assurances of faithless men. Had he succeeded, and placed the Protestant
-Princess Elizabeth on the throne, his name, instead of remaining that of
-a traitor, would have stood side by side with that of Hampden. His body
-was quartered and exposed in different places. His head was stuck on a
-pole at Hay Hill, near Hyde Park, whence it was stolen by some of his
-friends.
-
-Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was the sixth, who was tried at Guildhall on the
-17th of April, the very day of Lord Grey's execution. His condemnation
-and death were regarded as certain; but on being brought to the bar he
-adroitly pleaded that the recent statute abolishing all treasons since
-the reign of Edward III., covered anything which he could possibly have
-done, and that his offence being only words, were by the same statute
-declared to be no overt act at all. He stated this with so much skill and
-eloquence, at the same time contending that there was not a particle of
-evidence of his having been an active accomplice of the rebels, that the
-jury acquitted him.
-
-The execution which caused and still causes the deepest interest,
-and which always appears as a shadow on the character of Queen Mary,
-was that of her cousin, Lady Jane Grey. Till this second unfortunate
-insurrection, Mary steadily refused to listen to any persuasions to shed
-the blood of Lady Jane. She had had her tried and condemned to death,
-but she still permitted her to live, gave her a considerable degree of
-liberty and unusual indulgences, and it was generally understood that
-she meant eventually to pardon her. The ambassadors of Charles V. had
-strenuously urged her to prevent future danger by executing her rival,
-but she had replied that she could not find it in her conscience to
-put her unfortunate kinswoman to death, who had not been an accomplice
-of Northumberland, but merely an instrument in his hands; but now that
-the very mischief had taken place which the Emperor and her own Council
-had prognosticated; she was importuned on all sides to take what they
-described as the only prudent course. Poynet, the Bishop of Winchester,
-says that those lords of the Council who had been the most instrumental
-at the death of Edward VI. in thrusting royalty on Lady Jane--namely,
-Pembroke and Winchester--and who had been amongst the first to denounce
-Mary as illegitimate, were now the most remorseless advocates for Lady
-Jane's death.
-
-Accordingly, the day after the fall of Wyatt, Mary signed the warrant
-for the execution of "Guilford Dudley and his wife," to take place
-within three days. On the morning of the execution the queen sent Lady
-Jane permission to have an interview with her husband, but she declined
-the favour as too trying, saying she should meet him within a few hours
-in heaven. She saw her husband go to execution from the window of the
-lodging in Master Partridge's house, and beheld the headless trunk borne
-back to be buried in the chapel. Lord Guilford Dudley was executed on
-Tower Hill in sight of a vast concourse, but a scaffold was erected for
-her on the Tower green. Immediately after his corpse had passed she was
-led forth by the Lieutenant of the Tower, and appeared to go to her
-fate without any discomposing fear, but in a serious frame, not a tear
-dimming her eye, though her gentlewomen, Elizabeth Tilney and Mistress
-Helen, were weeping greatly. She continued engaged in prayer, which she
-read from a book, till she came to the scaffold; there she made a short
-speech to the spectators, declaring that she deserved her punishment for
-allowing herself to be made the instrument of the ambition of others.
-"That device, however," she said, "was never of my seeking, but by the
-counsel of those who appeared to have better understanding of such things
-than I. As for the procurement or desire of such dignity by me, I wash
-my hands thereof before God and all you Christian people this day."
-She caused her gentlewomen to disrobe her, bandaged her own eyes with
-a handkerchief, and laying her head on the block, at one stroke it was
-severed from the body (February 12, 1554).
-
-But this conspiracy had approached the queen much more nearly than in
-the person of Wyatt or the friends of Lady Jane Grey. It was discovered
-by intercepted letters of Wyatt, of Noailles, the French ambassador, and
-by one supposed to have been written by Elizabeth herself to the French
-king; that she was deeply implicated, and that the design of marrying
-her and Courtenay and placing them on the throne was well known, and
-apparently quite agreeable to her.
-
-[Illustration: LADY JANE GREY ON HER WAY TO THE SCAFFOLD. (_See p._
-232.)]
-
-The refusal of Elizabeth to join her sister at the outbreak of the
-insurrection, and the flight of Courtenay at the moment of Wyatt's entry
-of London, excited suspicion, and this suspicion was soon converted into
-something very like fact by the three despatches of Noailles, written in
-cipher, and dated January 26th, 28th, and 30th. These despatches detailed
-the steps taken in her favour. Besides these there were two notes sent
-by Wyatt to Elizabeth, the first advising her to remove to Donington,
-the next informing her of his successful entry into Southwark. Then came
-what appeared clearly a letter of Elizabeth to the King of France. The
-Duke of Suffolk's confession was again corroborative of these details,
-namely, that the object of the insurrection was to depose Mary and place
-Elizabeth on the throne. William Thomas supported this, adding that it
-was intended to put the queen immediately to death. Croft confessed that
-he had solicited Elizabeth to return to Donington; Lord Russell said
-he had conveyed letters from Wyatt to Elizabeth, and another witness
-deposed to his knowledge of a correspondence between Courtenay and Carew
-respecting Courtenay's marriage with the princess.
-
-With all these startling facts in her possession, Mary wrote to Elizabeth
-with an air of unsuspicious kindness, requesting her to come to her from
-Ashridge, informing her that malicious and ill-disposed persons accused
-her of favouring the late insurrection; but appearing not to believe
-it, and giving as a reason for her wishing her to be nearer, that the
-times were so unsettled that she would be in greater security with her.
-Elizabeth pleaded illness for not complying; but the queen sent Hastings,
-Southwell, and Cornwallis, members of Council, whom she received in
-her bed, and complained of being afflicted with a severe and dangerous
-malady. Mary, well acquainted with the deep dissimulation of her
-sister's character, then sent three of her own physicians, accompanied
-by Lord William Howard; and the physicians having given their opinion
-that she was quite able to travel, she was obliged to accompany them by
-short stages, borne in a litter. She appeared pale and bloated. It was
-said that she had been poisoned; but in a week she was quite well, and
-demanded an audience of the queen; but Mary had so much evidence in her
-hands of Elizabeth's proceedings, that she sent her word that it was
-necessary first to prove her innocence.
-
-Courtenay had been arrested on the 12th of February, at the house of the
-Earl of Essex, and committed to the Tower. Mary was averse from sending
-her sister there, and asked each of the lords of the Council in rotation
-to admit Elizabeth to their houses, and take charge of her. All declined
-the dangerous office; she was, therefore, compelled to sign the warrant
-for her committal, and Elizabeth was conducted to the Tower by the
-Earl of Sussex and another nobleman on the 18th of March. Even whilst
-performing this duty, it appears that Elizabeth had influence enough with
-these noblemen to make them dilatory in the execution of their office, to
-the great anger of the queen, who upbraided them with their remissness,
-telling them they dared not have done such a thing in her father's time,
-and wishing that "he were alive for a month." Elizabeth on entering the
-Tower was dreadfully afraid that she was doomed to leave it as so many
-princes and nobles had done, without a head. She inquired whether Lady
-Jane's scaffold were removed, and was greatly relieved to hear that it
-was. But what alarmed Elizabeth still more, was that the Constable of
-the Tower was discharged from his office, and Sir Henry Bedingfield,
-a zealous Romanist, appointed in his place. The fact of Sir Robert
-Brackenbury having been seventy years before, in like manner, removed,
-and Sir James Tyrell put in, when the princes were murdered, appeared an
-ominous precedent, but there was no real cause for apprehension; Mary
-had no wish to shed her sister's blood. Elizabeth, spite of the evidence
-against her, protested vehemently her innocence, and wished "that God
-might confound her eternally if she was in any manner implicated with
-Wyatt."
-
-The Court of Spain, through Renard the ambassador, urged perseveringly
-the execution of Elizabeth and Courtenay. Renard represented from his
-sovereign that there could be no security for her throne so long as
-Elizabeth and Courtenay were suffered to live. But Mary replied that
-though they had both of them, no doubt, listened willingly to the
-conspirators, and would have been ready had they succeeded to step into
-her throne, yet they had been guilty of no overt act, and, therefore, by
-the constitutional law of England which had been enacted in her first
-Parliament, they could not be put to death, but could only be imprisoned,
-or suffer forfeiture of their goods.
-
-In spite of the many warnings and the most universal expression of
-dislike to the match, Mary persisted in her engagement of marriage with
-Philip of Spain, though he himself showed no unequivocal reluctance to
-the completion of it; never writing to her, but submitting to his fate,
-as it were, in obedience to the parental command. At the end of May the
-unwilling bridegroom resigned his government of Castile--which he held
-for his insane grandmother, Juana--into the hands of his sister, the
-Princess-Dowager of Portugal, and bade adieu to his family. He embarked
-at Corunna on the 13th of July for England, and landed at Southampton on
-the 20th, after a week's voyage. He married his wife, who was much older
-than himself, and whose importunate love soon began to annoy him, at
-Winchester.
-
-On the 11th of November the third Parliament of Mary's reign was
-summoned, and she and her Royal husband rode from Hampton Court to
-Whitehall to open the session. The king and queen rode side by side,
-a sword of State being borne before each to betoken their independent
-sovereignties. The queen was extremely anxious to restore the lands
-reft from the Church by her father and brother to their ancient uses,
-but she must have known little of the men into whose hands those lands
-had fallen, if she could seriously hope for such a sacrifice. The Earl
-of Bedford, than whom no one had more deeply gorged himself with Church
-plunder, on hearing the proposition, tore his rosary from his girdle
-and flung it into the fire, saying he valued the abbey of Woborn more
-than any fatherly counsel that could come from Rome. All the rest of the
-Council were of the same way of thinking as Bedford, and Mary saw that
-it was a hopeless case to move them on that point, though she set them a
-very honourable example by surrendering the lands which still remained in
-the hands of the Crown, to the value of L60,000 a year.
-
-Though Mary could not recover the property for the Church, she resolved
-to restore that Church to unity with Rome. She expressed her earnest
-desire to have the presence of her kinsman, Cardinal Pole, in her
-kingdom, and he now set out for England, from which he had been banished
-so many years. He rendered this return the more easy, by bringing with
-him from the Pope a bull which confirmed the nobles in their possession
-of the Church property, on condition that the Papal supremacy was
-restored. The queen despatched Sir Edward Hastings to accompany the
-cardinal; and Sir William Cecil, who had been Edward's unhesitating
-minister in stripping the Church, set out of his own accord to pay homage
-to the Papal representative. Cecil's only real religion was ambition, and
-Mary knew that so well that, in spite of all his time-serving, she never
-would place any confidence in him, whence his bitter hostility to her
-memory.
-
-Pole, on his arrival, ascended the Thames from Greenwich in a splendid
-State barge, at the prow of which he fixed a large silver cross, thus
-marking the entrance of the legatine and Papal authority into the
-country, as it were, in a triumphal manner. On the 24th of November the
-king and queen met the united Parliament in the presence-chamber of the
-palace of Whitehall: this was owing to the indisposition of the queen.
-Gardiner introduced the business, which, he told them, was the weightiest
-that ever happened in this realm, and begged their utmost attention to
-Cardinal Pole. Pole then made a long speech, reverting to his own history
-as well as that of the nation. All listened in solemn seriousness and
-yet apprehension when he announced to them the fact that the Pope was
-ready to absolve the English from their crimes of heresy and contumacy.
-But when he added that this was to be done without any reclamation
-of the Church lands, there was a unanimous vote of both Houses for
-reconciliation with Rome.
-
-The next morning, the king, queen, and Parliament met again in the
-presence-chamber, when, Pole presenting himself, Philip and Mary
-rose, and, bowing profoundly to him, presented him with the vote of
-Parliament. The cardinal, on receiving it, offered up thanks to God for
-this auspicious event, and then ordered his commission to be read. The
-Peers and Commons then fell on their knees and received absolution and
-benediction from the hands of the cardinal, and thus for a time again was
-the great breach between England and the Papacy healed.
-
-Parliament proceeded to pass Acts confirming all that was now done,
-and repealing all the statutes which had been passed against the Roman
-Church since the 20th of Henry VIII., while the clergy in Convocation
-made formal resignation of the possessions which had passed into
-the hands of laymen. The legate also issued decrees authorising all
-cathedral churches, hospitals, and schools founded since the schism, to
-be preserved, and that all persons who had contracted marriage within
-prescribed degrees should remain married notwithstanding.
-
-The year 1555 opened with dark and threatening features. The queen's
-health was failing; and, under the idea that she was merely suffering
-maternal inconvenience, she was rapidly advancing in a dropsy which,
-in less than four years, was destined to sink her to the tomb. The
-king, gloomy, despotic, and, consequently, unpopular, though he often
-endeavoured to act against his nature, and assume a popular character,
-still hoping for an heir to the English crown, had obtained from
-Parliament an Act constituting him regent, in case Mary should die after
-the birth of a child, during the minority of that child. Thus, whether
-the queen lived or died, he appeared to possess a reasonable prospect of
-obtaining the supreme power in this country; and how he would have used
-it, we may judge from his government of Spain and the Netherlands. If the
-child was a female, he was made governor till her fifteenth year; if a
-male, till his eighteenth year. Philip protested on his honour that he
-would give up the government faithfully when the child came of age; but
-Lord Paget asked "who was to sue the bond if he did not?"--a suggestion
-never forgiven. With this flattering but illusive prospect before
-him, the tempest of persecution soon burst forth; and, had Providence
-permitted, England would soon have exhibited the same scene of tyranny,
-bloodshed, and insult which Flanders did under his rule. As it was, for a
-short period, terrible war for conscience' sake burst forth, the prisons
-were thronged, and the fires of death blazed out in every quarter of the
-island. Mary, with failing health, and doting absurdly on her husband,
-was easily drawn to acquiesce in deeds and measures which made her name
-a byword to all future times.
-
-We are now called upon to pass through a reign of terror, a time of
-fire and blood, such as has no parallel in the history of England. The
-statutes against the Lollards enacted in the reigns of Richard II.,
-Henry IV., and Henry V., were revived and were to come into force on the
-20th of January. Bonner, accompanied by eight bishops and 160 priests,
-made a grand procession through the streets of London, and held services
-of public thanksgiving for the happy restoration of Catholicism. A
-commission was then held in the Church of St. Mary Overy, in Southwark,
-for the trial of heretics. The first man brought before this court, over
-which Gardiner presided, was John Rogers, a prebendary of St. Paul's,
-who had nobly distinguished himself by defending the first priest sent
-by Mary to preach Papacy at St. Paul's Cross. The Court condemned him to
-be burnt, and on the 4th of February this horrible sentence was executed
-in the most barbarous manner. The day of his death was kept a profound
-secret from him, and early that morning he was suddenly awakened out of a
-sound sleep and informed that he was to be burnt that day. The condemned
-man, so far from sinking under the appalling announcement, only calmly
-observed, "Then I need not truss my points." He requested to be permitted
-to take leave of his wife and children, of whom he had eleven--one still
-at the breast--but this Bonner refused. As he was led by the sheriffs
-towards Smithfield, where he was to suffer, he sang the "Miserere." His
-wife and children were placed where he would have a full view of them
-at the stake, and it was expected that this would induce him to recant
-and save his life, and thus induce others to follow his example; but
-outwardly unmoved, he maintained the most sublime fortitude.
-
-Bishop Hooper, Ferrar, Bishop of St. David's, Dr. Rowland Taylor of
-Hadleigh, in Suffolk, and Lawrence Saunders, Rector of Allhallows,
-Coventry, were all condemned to the same death, and, like Rogers,
-were offered their lives on recantation, which one and all refused.
-The treatment of the pious Bishop Hooper was a most glaring case of
-ingratitude. Decided Protestant as he was, and of the most primitive
-simplicity of faith, he had from the first manifested the most staunch
-loyalty to Mary. In his own account of himself he says, "When Mary's
-fortunes were at the worst, I rode myself from place to place, as is well
-known, to win and stay the people to her party. And whereas when another
-was proclaimed [Lady Jane Grey] I preferred our queen, notwithstanding
-the proclamations. I sent horses in both shires [Gloucestershire and
-Worcester] to serve her in great danger, as Sir John Talbot and William
-Lygon, Esq., can testify." Hooper was sent down to Gloucester, his own
-diocese, to suffer, where he was burnt on the 9th of February, in a slow
-fire, to increase and prolong his agonies to the utmost. On the same day
-Dr. Taylor was burnt at Hadleigh.
-
-This shocking state of things was interrupted for some time by the sudden
-and extraordinary outbreak of Alphonso di Castro, the confessor of King
-Philip, a Spanish friar, who preached before the Court a sermon in which
-he most vehemently and eloquently inveighed against the wickedness and
-inhumanity of burning people for their opinions. He declared that the
-practice was not learned in the Scriptures, but the contrary; for it was
-decidedly opposed to both the letter and the spirit of the New Testament;
-that it was the duty of the Government and the clergy to win men to the
-Gospel by mildness, and not to kill but to instruct the ignorant. A
-mystery has always hung over this singular demonstration. Some thought
-Philip, some that Mary, had ordered him to preach this sermon, but it
-is far more probable that it was the spontaneous act of zeal in a man
-who was enlightened beyond his age and his country. It is not probable
-that it proceeded from Philip, for he could at once have commanded this
-change; it is besides contrary to his life-long policy. Had it been the
-will of the sovereigns it would have produced a permanent effect. As it
-was, it took the Court and country by surprise. The impression on the
-Court was so powerful that all further burnings ceased for five weeks, by
-which time the good friar's sermon had lost its effect; and the religious
-butcheries went on as fiercely as ever, till more than two hundred
-persons had been slaughtered on account of their faith in this short
-reign. Miles Coverdale, the venerable translator of the Bible, was saved
-from this death by the King of Denmark writing to Mary and claiming him
-as his subject.
-
-[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.
-
-(_From the Portrait in the Collection at Lambeth Palace._)]
-
-Mary had now, according to the custom of English queens, formally taken
-to her chamber in expectation of giving birth to an heir to the throne.
-She chose Hampton Court as the scene of this vainly-hoped-for event, and
-went there on the 3rd of April, where she continued secluded from her
-subjects, only being seen on one occasion, till the 21st of July, after
-she had again returned to St. James's. This occasion was on the 23rd of
-May, St. George's Day, when she stood at a window of the palace to see
-the procession of the Knights of the Garter with Philip at their head,
-attended by Gardiner the Lord Chancellor, and a crowd of priests with
-crosses, march round the courts and cloisters of Hampton Court. A few
-days afterwards there was a report that a prince was born, and there
-was much ringing of bells and singing _Te Deum_ in the City and other
-places. But it soon became known, that there was no hope of an heir, but
-that the queen was suffering under a mortal disease, and that such was
-her condition, "that she sat whole days together on the ground crouched
-together with her knees higher than her head." On the 21st of July she
-removed for her health from London to Eltham Palace.
-
-Gardiner took advantage of the pause in persecution caused by the sermon
-of Di Castro to withdraw from his odious office of chief inquisitor.
-Might _he_ not have instigated the friar to express his opinion so
-boldly, for it is obvious that he wanted to be clear of the dreadful
-work of murdering his fellow-subjects for their faith? He therefore
-withdrew from the office, and a more sanguinary man took it up. This
-was Bonner, Bishop of London. He opened his inquisitorial court in the
-consistory court of St. Paul's, and compelled the Lord Mayor and aldermen
-to attend and countenance his proceedings. Burnet gives a letter written
-in the name of Philip and Mary exhorting him to increased activity; but
-from what we have seen of Mary's condition we may safely attribute the
-spur to Philip. Cardinal Pole did all in his power to put an end to the
-persecutions, but in vain.
-
-It was now resolved to proceed to extremities with the three eminent
-prelates, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer. But the charge of high treason
-was dropped, undoubtedly because it was hoped that they might, by the
-prospect of the flames, be brought as heretics to recantation. On the
-15th of April, 1554, they were led from their prisons to St. Mary's
-Church, Oxford, where the doctors of the university sat in judgment upon
-them. They were promised a free and fair discussion of their tenets,
-and the still more vain assurance was given that if they could convince
-their opponents they should be set free. The so-called disputation
-continued three days, but it more truly represented a bear-baiting than
-the discussion of men in quest of the truth.
-
-On the 16th of April, the day appointed, Cranmer appeared before
-this disorderly assembly in the divinity school. He was treated with
-peculiar indignity, for they had a deep hatred of him from the long and
-conspicuous part which he had enacted in the work of Reformation. It was
-in vain that he attempted to state his views, for he was interrupted at
-every moment by half a dozen persons at once; and whenever he advanced
-anything particularly difficult of answer, the doctors denounced him as
-ignorant and unlearned, and the students hissed and clapped their hands
-outrageously. The next day Ridley experienced the same treatment, but
-he was a man of a much more bold and determined character, of profound
-learning, and ready address, and, in spite of the most disreputable
-clamour and riot, he made himself heard above all the storm, and with
-telling effect. When his adversaries shouted at him five or six at a
-time, he calmly observed, "I have but one tongue, I cannot answer all at
-once."
-
-Latimer was not only oppressed by age but by sickness, and he was
-scarcely able to stand. He appealed to his base judges to pity his
-weakness and give him a fair hearing. "Ha! good master," he said to
-Weston, the moderator, "I pray ye be good to an old man; ye may be once
-as old as I am: ye may come to this age and this debility." But he
-appealed in vain; his judges and hearers were lost to all sense of what
-was due to truth and religion, of what was due to the age and spirit of a
-veteran servant of God, whatever might have been his errors or failings.
-The rude students only laughed, hissed, clapped their hands, and mocked
-the old man the more. Seeing that all hopes of a hearing were vain, he
-told the rabble of his judges and spectators, for such they truly were,
-"that he had spoken before attentive kings for two and three hours at
-a time, but that he could not declare his mind there for a quarter of
-an hour for mockings, revilings, checks, rebukes, and taunts, such as
-he had not felt the like in such an audience all his life long." The
-three insulted and unheard prisoners wrote to the queen that they had
-been silenced by the noise, not by the arguments of their opponents, and
-Cranmer in his letter said, "I never knew nor heard of a more confused
-disputation in all my life; for albeit there was one appointed to dispute
-against me, yet every man spake his mind, and brought forth what him
-liked without order; and such haste was made that no answer could be
-suffered to be given."
-
-On the 28th of April they were all three brought again into St. Mary's
-Church, and asked by Weston whether they were willing to conform, and
-on replying in the negative, were condemned as obstinate heretics,
-and returned to their prison. There they lay till the October of the
-following year (1555), when Ridley and Latimer were ordered to prepare
-for the stake. On the 16th of that month a stake was erected in the town
-ditch opposite to Balliol College. Soto, a Spanish priest, had been sent
-to them in person to try to convert them, but in vain; Latimer would not
-even listen to him; and now at the stake a Dr. Smith, who had renounced
-Popery in King Edward's time, and was again a pervert, preached a sermon
-on the text, "Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it
-profiteth me nothing." The two martyrs cheered each other, and exhorted
-one another to be courageous. Ridley, on approaching the pile, turned to
-Latimer who was following him, embraced and kissed him, saying, "Be of
-good heart, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flame,
-or strengthen us to bear it;" and when Latimer was tied to the stake
-back to back with his fellow-sufferer, he returned the consolation,
-exclaiming, "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we
-shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I
-trust shall never be put out." A lighted faggot was placed at the feet
-of Ridley, and matches were applied to the pile. Bags of gunpowder were
-hung round their necks to shorten their sufferings, and as the flames
-ascended Latimer quickly died, probably through suffocation in the smoke;
-but Ridley suffered long. His brother-in-law had piled the faggots high
-about him to hasten his death, but the flames did not readily find their
-way amongst them from their closeness, and a spectator hearing him cry
-out that he could not burn opened the pile, and an explosion of gunpowder
-almost instantly terminated his existence.
-
-Cranmer was reserved for a future day. The punctilios of ecclesiastical
-form were strictly observed, and as he enjoyed the dignity of Primate
-of England, it required higher authority to decide his fate than that
-which had pronounced judgment on his companions. Latimer and Ridley had
-been sentenced by the commissioners of the legate, Cranmer must only be
-doomed by the Pontiff himself. He was therefore waited on in his cell
-by Brooks, Bishop of Gloucester, as Papal sub-delegate, and two Royal
-commissioners, and there cited to appear before him at Rome within
-eighty days, and answer for his heresies. As this was impossible, the
-citation was a mockery and an insult. When the archbishop saw his two
-friends led forth to their horrible death, his resolution, which never
-was very great, began to fail, and he now presented a woful image of
-terror and irresolution, very different to the bravery of his departed
-friends. He expressed a possibility of conversion to Rome, and desired
-a conference with Cardinal Pole. But soon he became ashamed of his own
-weakness, and wrote to the queen defending his own doctrines, which she
-commissioned the cardinal to answer. When the eighty days had expired,
-and the Pope had pronounced his sentence, and had appointed Bonner, and
-Thirlby, Bishop of Ely, to degrade him, and see his sentence executed,
-he once more trembled with apprehension, and gave out that he was ready
-to submit to the judgment of the queen; that he believed in the creed of
-the Catholic Church, and deplored and condemned his past apostacy. He
-forwarded this submission to the Council, which they found too vague, and
-required a more full and distinct confession, which he supplied. When the
-Bishops of London and Ely arrived to degrade him, he appealed from the
-judgment of the Pope to that of a general Council, but that not being
-listened to, he sent two other papers to the commissioners before they
-left Oxford, again fully and explicitly submitting to all the statutes of
-the realm regarding the supremacy, and professing his faith in all the
-doctrines and rites of the Romish Church.
-
-On the 21st of March, 1556, Cranmer was conducted to St. Mary's Church,
-Oxford, where Dr. Cole, provost of Eton College, preached a sermon, in
-which he stated that notwithstanding Cranmer's repentance, he had done
-the Church so much mischief that he must die. That morning Garcina, a
-Spanish friar, had waited on him before leaving his cell, and presented
-him with a paper making a complete statement of his recantation and
-repentance, which he requested him to copy and sign. It seems that his
-enemies calculated that, having so fully committed himself, the fallen
-Primate would not, at the last hour, depart from his confession; but they
-were mistaken. Cranmer now saw nothing but death before him, and he most
-bitterly repented of his weakness and the renunciation of what he felt
-to be the holy truth. He therefore transcribed once more the paper which
-had been brought to him, but in place of the latter part of it he wrote
-in a very different conclusion. Accordingly, when he read his paper at
-the conclusion of the sermon, there was a profound silence till he came
-to the fifth article of it, which went on to declare that through fear of
-death, and beguiled by hopes of pardon, he had been led to renounce his
-genuine faith, but that he now declared that all his recantations were
-false; that he recalled them every one, rejected the Papal authority, and
-confirmed the whole doctrine contained in his book. The amazement was
-intense, the audience became agitated by various passions, there were
-mingled murmurings and approbation. The Lord Williams of Thame called to
-him to "remember himself and play the Christian." That was touching a
-string which woke the response of the hero and the martyr in the Primate.
-He replied that he did remember; that it was now too late to dissemble,
-and he must now speak the truth.
-
-[Illustration: THE PLACE OF MARTYRDOM, OLD SMITHFIELD.]
-
-When the first astonishment at this unlooked-for declaration had passed,
-there was a rush to drag down Cranmer, and hurry him to the stake in
-the same spot where his friends Ridley and Latimer had suffered. There
-he was speedily stripped to the shirt and tied to the stake; through it
-all he was firm and calm. He no longer trembled at his fate; he declared
-that he had never changed his belief; hope of life only had wrung from
-him his recantation; and the moment that the flames burst out he thrust
-his right hand into them, saying, "This hath offended." The writers of
-those times say that he stood by the stake whilst the fire raged round
-him, as immovable as the stake itself, and lifting up his eyes to heaven,
-exclaimed, "Lord, receive my spirit," and very soon expired.
-
-The day after the death of Cranmer, Cardinal Pole, who had now taken
-priest's orders, was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury; and showed his
-anxiety to check this fierce and impolitic persecution, but, as we shall
-find, with no great result.
-
-While these terrible transactions had been taking place King Philip
-had quitted the kingdom. With all his endeavours to become popular
-with the English, Philip never could win their regard. He conformed to
-many national customs, and affected to enjoy the national amusements;
-threw off much of his hauteur, especially in his intercourse with the
-nobles, and conferred pensions on them on the plea that they had stood
-by the queen during the insurrection. But nothing could inspire the
-English with confidence in him. They had always an idea that the object
-of the Spaniards was to introduce the Spanish rule and dominance here.
-They had always the persuasion that it was no longer their own queen,
-but the future King of Spain and the Netherlands who ruled. It was
-clearly seen that Philip never had any real affection for Mary; it was
-the public opinion that he had now less than ever, whilst the poor
-invalid Mary doated on him, and was ready to yield up everything but the
-actual sovereignty to him. And now came a very sufficient cause for the
-departure of Philip from England. His father, Charles V., wearied of
-governing his vast empire, was anxious to abdicate in favour of his son.
-Philip embarked at Dover on the 4th of September, 1555. Mary accompanied
-him from Hampton to Greenwich, riding through London in a litter, in
-order, as the French ambassador states, "that her people might see that
-she was not dead." The queen was anxious to proceed as far as Dover, and
-see him embark, but her health did not permit this; and after parting
-from him with passionate grief, she endeavoured to console herself by
-having daily prayers offered for his safety and speedy return.
-
-[Illustration: MARY I.]
-
-Charles V., at the age of only fifty-five, had now resigned his vast
-empire to his son and his brother Ferdinand; and Spain, the Netherlands,
-Naples, Sicily, Milan, and the new lands of South America, owned Philip
-as their lord. On the 25th of October, 1555, Charles, in an assembly of
-the States of the Netherlands, resigned these countries to Philip, and
-in a few months later he also put him in possession of the government
-of other parts of his dominions, Ferdinand succeeding to the Imperial
-crown. Charles then retired to the monastery of St. Just, near Placentia,
-on the borders of Spain and Portugal, where this great king, who had
-so long exercised so strong an influence on the destinies of Europe,
-lived as a simple private gentleman, retaining only a few servants and a
-single horse for his own use, and employing his now abundant leisure in
-religious exercises, in gardening, and clock-making.
-
-During Philip's absence, a series of insurrections took place which
-disturbed the quiet of the queen, and in which the King of France seems
-to have borne no inconsiderable part. His assiduous minister, Noailles,
-disseminated reports that Mary, hopeless of issue, had resolved to settle
-the Crown on her husband. This having produced its effect, a conspiracy
-was set on foot to put Elizabeth on the throne, and depose Mary. Sir
-Henry Dudley, a relative of the late Duke of Northumberland, was to head
-it and the French king, to secure his interest, had settled a pension
-on him. The worthless Courtenay, who was at this moment on his way to
-Italy, whence he never returned, was still to play the part of husband
-to Elizabeth, though the management of the plot was to be consigned to
-Dudley. Elizabeth had again, it is said, fully consented to this plot,
-though the health of Mary was such as must have promised her the throne
-at no distant day. Dudley was already on the coast of Normandy with some
-of his fellow-conspirators, making preparations, when the King of France
-unexpectedly concluded a truce for five years with Philip. He therefore
-advised Dudley and his accomplices to lie quiet for a more favourable
-opportunity. This was a paralysing blow to the scheme of insurrection,
-and the coadjutors in England had gone so far that they did not think
-it safe to stop. Kingston, Uedale, Throgmorton, Staunton, and others of
-the league determined to seize the treasure in the Tower, and, once in
-possession of that, to raise forces and drive the queen from the throne.
-But one of them revealed the design; several of them were seized and
-executed, and others escaped to France. Mary applied by her ambassador,
-Lord Clinton, to Henry II. to have them delivered up, and received a
-polite promise of endeavour to secure them, which there was in reality
-no intention to fulfil. Amongst the conspirators arrested were two
-officers of the household of Elizabeth, Peckham and Werne, who made very
-awkward confessions; but again the princess escaped, it is said at the
-intercession of Philip, who was apprehensive, if Elizabeth was removed
-from the succession, of the claims of the French king on behalf of his
-daughter-in-law, the Queen of Scots. Elizabeth at all events escaped,
-protesting her innocence as stoutly as ever, but receiving from the
-Council in place of those two officers executed, two other trusty ones,
-Sir Thomas Pope and Robert Cage.
-
-But if Elizabeth was uneasy, Mary was still more so. The disquiets
-which surrounded her, and the wretched state of her health, made her
-very anxious for the return of her husband. She had lost her able
-minister, Gardiner, who died in November, 1555, and his successor, Heath,
-Archbishop of York, by no means supplied his place. Mary, therefore,
-wrote long and repeated letters to urge the return of Philip, and,
-finding them unavailing, she despatched Lord Paget to represent the
-urgent need of his presence in the kingdom. At last his difficulties
-with France and the Pope brought Philip home to his wife when all
-conjugal persuasions on her part had failed. He sent over, to announce
-his approach, Robert Dudley, son of the late Duke of Northumberland,
-whom Mary had liberated from the Tower, and who already, it seems, had
-contrived to win so much favour as to be taken into the royal service,
-in which he continued to mount till, in the next reign, he became the
-notorious Earl of Leicester and favourite of Queen Elizabeth. On the 20th
-of March, 1556, Philip himself arrived at Greenwich. As he wanted to win
-the English to join him in the war against France, he paid particular
-respect to the City of London. During this visit there appeared at Court
-the novel sight of a Duke of Muscovy, in the character of ambassador from
-Russia, who astonished the public by the enormous size of the pearls and
-jewels that he wore, and the richness of his dress.
-
-Philip used all his influence to induce the queen and her Council to
-declare war against Henry of France, who had broken that five years'
-truce into which he had so recently entered. But the finances of the
-country were not such as to render either the queen or her Council
-willing to go to war with France, which, connected as France was now with
-Scotland, was sure to occasion a war also with that country. Cardinal
-Pole and nearly the whole Council were strongly opposed to it. They
-assured her that to engage lightly in Philip's wars was to make England
-a dependency of Spain, and Philip, on the other hand, protested to the
-queen that if she did not aid him against France he would take his leave
-of her for ever.
-
-While matters were in this position a circumstance occurred which
-turned the scale in Philip's favour. Henry II. of France, on deciding
-to accept the Pope's invitation, and to make war on Philip, called on
-Dudley and his adherents to renew their attempts on England. Dudley
-and his coadjutors opened a communication with the families of the
-Reformers in Calais and the surrounding district, who had suffered from
-the persecution of the English Government, or who were indignant at the
-cruelties practised on their fellow professors, and they concurred in a
-plan to betray Hammes and Guines to the French. This scheme was defeated
-by the means of an English spy who became cognisant of the secret. The
-mischief, though stopped there, soon showed itself in another quarter.
-Thomas Stafford, the second son of Lord Stafford, and grandson of the
-late Duke of Buckingham, mustered a small army of English, French, and
-Scots, and, sailing from Dieppe, landed at Scarborough in Yorkshire, and
-surprised the castle there. But he soon found that, however much the
-public might dislike the Spanish match, they were not at all inclined to
-rebel against their queen. Wotton, the English ambassador in France, had
-duly warned his court of the designs of Stafford, and on the fourth day
-the Earl of Westmoreland appeared with a strong body of troops before
-the castle, and compelled Stafford to surrender at discretion. Stafford,
-Saunders, and three or four others were sent to London, and committed
-to the Tower, where, under torture, they were made to confess that the
-King of France had instigated and assisted their enterprise. Stafford was
-beheaded on Tower Hill on the 28th of May, 1557, and the next day three
-of his confederates were hanged at Tyburn.
-
-The Council had been averse from the war, and had advised that, instead
-of appearing as principals, we should merely confine ourselves to the
-furnishing that aid which we were bound to by our ancient treaties
-with the House of Burgundy. Now, however, it felt itself justified in
-proclaiming open war against the King of France, as the violator of the
-treaty between the nations, in having harboured the traitors against the
-queen, and in having sent them over in French ships to Scarborough with
-arms, ammunition, and money. Philip, having obtained what he wanted,
-hastened over to Flanders, and neither Mary nor England ever saw him
-again.
-
-The Earl of Pembroke, accompanied by Lord Robert Dudley as his master of
-ordnance, followed Philip at the end of July with 7,000 men. They joined
-the army of Philip, consisting of men of many nations--Germans, Italians,
-Flemings, Dalmatians, Croats, Illyrians, and others--making altogether
-a force of 40,000 men, the supreme command of which was given to the
-rejected suitor of the Princess Elizabeth, Philibert Duke of Savoy.
-The duke successfully threatened an attack upon Marienberg, Rocroi, and
-Guise, but he finally drew up before St. Quentin, on the right bank
-of the Somme. There he won a great victory. The English fleet made
-descents upon France at various points, menaced Bordeaux and Bayonne, and
-plundered the defenceless inhabitants of the coasts. This was all that
-was achieved, except what Philip probably most looked for, the drawing
-of the Duke of Guise out of Italy. But this, while it removed all danger
-from Philip's Transalpine possessions, led to a loss on the part of his
-English ally which might be termed the crowning mischief of his union
-with Mary.
-
-The Duke of Guise, disappointed of his laurels in Italy, was now
-planning an attack on Calais. The English were never less prepared for
-the invasion. The fleet which had ravaged the coasts of France, and the
-troops sent to Flanders, had totally exhausted the exchequer of Mary,
-which at no time was well supplied. To victual that navy the queen had
-seized all the corn she could find in Norfolk without paying for it,
-and to equip the army sent to aid Philip, she had made a forced loan on
-London, and on people of property in different places; she had levied
-the second year's subsidy voted by Parliament before its time, and now
-was helpless at the critical moment. Lord Wentworth, the Governor of
-Calais, foreseeing the approaching storm, sent repeated entreaties for
-reinforcements for its defence. They were wholly unattended to.
-
-The Duke of Guise, after entering the English pale, sent a detachment
-of his army along the downs to Rysbank, and led the other himself, with
-a very heavy train of artillery, towards Newnham Bridge. He forced
-the outwork at the village of St. Agatha, at the commencement of the
-causeway, drove the garrison into Newnham, and took possession of the
-outwork. The bulwarks of Froyton and Nesle were abandoned, for the
-lord-deputy could send no forces to defend them. At Newnham Bridge
-the garrison withdrew so silently that the French continued firing
-upon the fort when the men were already in Calais; but at Rysbank the
-garrison surrendered with the fort. Thus, in a couple of days, the Duke
-of Guise was in possession of two most important forts, one commanding
-the harbour, the other the causeway across the marshes from Flanders. A
-battery on the heath of St. Pierre played on the wall to create a false
-alarm, whilst another in real earnest played on the castle. A breach
-was made in the wall near the water-gate, and, while the garrison
-was busy in repairing it, Guise cannonaded the castle (which was in a
-scandalous state of neglect) with fifteen double cannons. A wide breach
-was speedily made. Lord Wentworth, well aware that the castle could
-not be maintained, had ordered mines to be prepared, and calculated on
-blowing the castle and the Frenchmen into the air together as soon as
-they were in. Guise, seeing no garrison defending the breach, ordered one
-detachment to occupy the quay, and another, under Strozzi, to take up
-a position on the other side of the harbour. Strozzi was repulsed; but
-at ebb-tide in the evening, Grammont, at the head of 100 arquebusiers,
-marched up to the ditch opposite to the breach. No one being seen in the
-castle, Guise ordered plenty of hurdles to be thrown into the ditch, and,
-putting himself at the head of his men, forded the ditch, finding it not
-deeper than his girdle. The lord-deputy, seeing the French in the castle,
-ordered the train to be fired; but there was no explosion. The soldiers
-crossing from the ditch to the breach, with their clothes deluging the
-ground with water, had wet the train, and defeated Wentworth's design.
-The next morning Guise sent his troops to assault the town, calculating
-on as easy a conquest of it; but Sir Anthony Agar, with a handful of
-men, not only repulsed the French, but chased them back into the castle.
-The brave Sir Anthony, with a larger force, would have driven the French
-from the decayed old castle too, but he had the merest little knot of
-followers, and in the vain attempt to force the enemy out of the castle,
-he fell at the gate with his son, and eighty of his chief officers.
-Lord Wentworth perceiving the impossibility of continuing the defence,
-destitute of a garrison, and having waited in vain for reinforcements
-from Dover, that night demanded a parley, and surrendered.
-
-[Illustration: THE HOTEL DE VILLE AND OLD LIGHTHOUSE, CALAIS.]
-
-The fall of Calais necessitated, as a matter of course, the loss of
-the whole Calais district. Having put Calais into a state of defence,
-Guise marched on the 13th of January, 1558, to Guines, about five miles
-distant, to reduce the town and fort there. These were defended stoutly
-by Lord Grey de Wilton, who had received about 400 Spanish and Burgundian
-soldiers from King Philip, but they were in too miserable a state of
-repair to be long held. The walls in a few days were knocked to pieces;
-the Spanish soldiers were nearly all killed, and the remaining force
-compelled their officers to surrender. The little castle of Hammes now
-only remained, and situated in the midst of extensive marshes, it might
-have given the enemy some trouble; but its governor, Lord Edward Dudley,
-the moment he heard of the surrender of Guines, abandoned it, and fled
-with his few soldiers into Flanders. The French were as elated at their
-success as the English were mortified with it, and the poor queen felt
-the loss so deeply, that she declared that if her body were opened after
-her death, the name of Calais would be found graven on her heart.
-
-[Illustration: SHILLING OF PHILIP AND MARY.]
-
-In England, during the spring, preparations were made for the invasion
-of France. Seven thousand troops were raised and diligently drilled.
-One hundred and forty ships were hired, which the Lord-Admiral Clinton
-collected in the harbour of Portsmouth, to be ready to join the fleet
-of Philip, and, in conjunction, to ravage the coasts of France; whilst
-Philip, with an army of Spanish, French, and English, should enter the
-country by land. But this fleet and the English army, instead of aiming
-to recover Calais, sailed to make an attack on Brest. But their progress
-had been so dilatory that the French had made ample preparations to
-receive them, and despairing of effecting any impression on Brest, they
-fell on the little port of Le Conquet, which they took and pillaged,
-with a large church and several hamlets in its immediate neighbourhood.
-They then marched some miles up the country, burning and plundering, and
-the Flemings, in the eager quest of booty, going too far ahead, were
-surrounded, and 400 of them cut off.
-
-[Illustration: REAL OF MARY I.]
-
-It appeared as if the war would be brought to a conclusion by a pitched
-battle between the sovereigns of France and Spain. Philip had joined
-his general, the Duke of Savoy, and they lay near Dourlens with an army
-of 45,000 men. Henry had come into the camp of the Duke of Guise near
-Amiens, who had an army of nearly equal strength. All the world looked
-now for a great and decisive conflict. But Philip, though superior in
-numbers, as well as crowned with the prestige of victory, listened to
-offers of accommodation from Henry, and dismissing their armies into
-winter quarters, they betook themselves to negotiation. From the first no
-agreement appeared probable. Philip demanded the restoration of Calais,
-Henry that of Navarre, and they were still pursuing the hopeless phantom
-of accommodation, when the news of Queen Mary's death changed totally the
-position of Philip, and put an end to the attempt. She died, desolate and
-broken-hearted, on the 17th of November, 1558.
-
-With all her bigotry, Mary had many excellent and amiable qualities.
-No English monarch ever maintained a less expensive and less corrupt
-court. She avoided all unnecessary taxation, and treated the cost of
-her war with France as largely a private charge of her own. She lived
-unostentatiously, went about amongst the poor with her maids, inquiring
-into their wants and relieving them. She was an enlightened patron of
-learning, and was the first to propose a hospital for old and invalid
-soldiers, leaving a legacy for this purpose, which was, however, never
-appropriated. Except in the matter of religious toleration, she showed a
-scrupulous regard for the maintenance of the Constitution and the law.
-Under her the administration of justice was pure and without respect of
-person. Nor were the interests of trade neglected. She was the first to
-make a commercial treaty with Russia, and she revoked the privileges of
-the Hanse Town merchants, who had exercised them to the hurt of her own
-people. By nature she was mild, but the persecution of her own faith in
-the persons of her mother and herself, and, above everything, the fatal
-Spanish marriage, produced a reaction which entailed all the calamities
-of her short and miserable reign.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
-
-     Accession of Elizabeth--Sir William Cecil--The Coronation--Opening
-     of Parliament--Ecclesiastical Legislation--Consecration of
-     Parker--Elizabeth and Philip--Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis--Affairs
-     in Scotland--The First Covenant--Attitude of Mary of Guise--Riot
-     at Perth--Outbreak of Hostilities--The Lords of the Congregation
-     apply to England--Elizabeth hesitates--Siege of Leith--Treaty
-     of Edinburgh--Return of Mary to Scotland--Murray's Influence
-     over her--Beginning of the Religious Wars in France--Elizabeth
-     sends Help to the Huguenots--Peace of Amboise--English Disaster
-     at Havre--Peace with France--The Earl of Leicester--Project of
-     his Marriage with Mary--Lord Darnley--Murder of Rizzio--Birth
-     of Mary's Son--Murder of Darnley--Mary and Bothwell--Carberry
-     Hill--Mary in Lochleven--Abdicates in favour of Her Infant
-     Son--Mary's Escape from Lochleven--Defeated at Langside--Her
-     Escape into England.
-
-
-Parliament had met on the morning of the 17th of November, 1558, unaware
-of the decease of the queen; but before noon, Dr. Heath, the Archbishop
-of York and Lord Chancellor of England, sent a message to the House of
-Commons, requesting the Speaker, with the knights and burgesses of the
-Lower House, to attend in the Lords to give their assent in a matter of
-the utmost importance. On being there assembled, the Lord Chancellor
-announced to the united Parliament the demise of Mary, and, though by
-that event the Commons were dissolved by the law as it remained till
-the reign of William III., he called upon them to combine with the
-Lords, before taking their departure, for the safety of the country, by
-proclaiming the Lady Elizabeth queen of the realm. Whatever might have
-been the fears of any portion of the community as to the recognition of
-the title of Elizabeth on the plea of illegitimacy, or from suspicion of
-her religion, that question had long been settled by the flocking of the
-courtiers of all creeds and characters to Hatfield, where she resided;
-and now on this announcement there was a loud acclamation from the
-members of both Houses of "God save Queen Elizabeth! Long may she reign
-over us!"
-
-For two days Elizabeth, as if from due respect to her deceased sister and
-sovereign, remained quiescent at Hatfield; but thousands of people of all
-ranks were flocking thither; and on the 19th her Privy Council proceeded
-thither also, and, after announcing to her her joyful and undisputed
-accession, they proclaimed her with all state before the gates of
-Hatfield House. They then sat in council with her, and she appointed her
-own ministers, having, no doubt, made all these arrangements with the man
-whom she had long marked out for her prime minister, Sir William Cecil.
-He had for years been her confidential counsellor. By his shrewd and
-worldly guidance, she had shaped her future course; and in appointing her
-ministers now, she showed by her address to Cecil that it was for him
-that she designed the chief post.
-
-Besides Cecil, she named Sir Thomas Parry, her cofferer, Cave, and
-Rogers of her Privy Council. Cecil immediately entered on his duties as
-her Secretary of State, and submitted to her a programme of what was
-immediately necessary to be done, which she accepted; and thus began that
-union between Elizabeth and her great minister, which only terminated
-with his life.
-
-On the 23rd the new queen commenced her progress towards the metropolis,
-attended by a magnificent throng of nobles, ladies, and gentlemen, and
-a vast concourse of people from London and from the country round. At
-Highgate she was met by the bishops, who kneeled by the wayside, and
-offered their allegiance. She received them graciously, and gave them
-all her hand to kiss, except to Bonner, whom she treated with a marked
-coldness, on account of his atrocious cruelties: an intimation of her own
-intentions on the score of religion which must have given satisfaction
-to the people. At the foot of Highgate Hill, the Lord Mayor and his
-aldermanic brethren, in their scarlet gowns, were waiting to receive her,
-and conducted her to the Charter House, then the residence of Lord North,
-where Heath, the Lord Chancellor, and the Earls of Derby and Shrewsbury
-received her. There she remained five days to give time for the necessary
-preparations, when she proceeded to take up her residence in the Tower,
-prior to her coronation, which took place on the 15th of January, 1559.
-
-[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH.
-
-(_From the painting by Zucchero at Hatfield House._)]
-
-On the 25th of January Elizabeth proceeded to open her first Parliament.
-She had prepared to carry the decisive measures of religious reform which
-she contemplated, by adding five new peers of the Protestant faith to the
-Upper House, and by sending to the sheriffs a list of Court candidates
-out of which they were to choose the members. Like all other public
-proceedings, this was a strange medley of Romanism and Protestantism.
-High mass was performed at the altar in Westminster Abbey before the
-queen and the assembled Houses, and this was followed by a sermon
-preached by Dr. Cox, the Calvinistic schoolmaster of Edward VI., who had
-just returned from Geneva. The Lord Keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, then
-opened the session by a speech, the queen being present, in which he held
-very high prerogative language, assuring both Lords and Commons that they
-might take measures for a uniform order of religion, and for the safety
-of the State against both foreign and domestic enemies; not that it was
-absolutely necessary, for she could do everything of her own authority,
-but she preferred having the advice and counsel of her loving subjects.
-
-The first thing which the Commons proposed was the very last thing
-which she would have wished them to meddle with--that is, an address
-recommending her to marry, so as to secure a legitimate heir to the
-throne. Elizabeth, as we have seen, had had many suitors, none of whom,
-if we except the unfortunate Lord Admiral Seymour, or the handsome
-but imbecile Courtenay, Earl of Devon, had she shown any willingness
-to marry. There have been many theories regarding the refusal of
-Elizabeth to enter into wedlock. The only one which will bear a moment's
-examination is, that her love of power was so strong as to absorb every
-other feeling and consideration. She made a long speech in reply to the
-address, glancing towards the close of it at her coronation ring, and
-then saying that when she received that ring, she became solemnly bound
-in marriage to the realm, and that she took their address in good part,
-but more for their good will than for their message.
-
-Without referring to the questionable marriage of her mother, Anne
-Boleyn, an Act was passed restoring Elizabeth in blood, and rendering her
-heritable to her mother and all her mother's line. She was declared to be
-lawful and rightful queen, lineally and lawfully descended of the blood
-royal, and fully capable of holding, and transmitting to her posterity,
-the possession of the crown and throne.
-
-Next came the regulations for the government of the Church, which
-Elizabeth had so prudently avoided making upon her own responsibility,
-but left to the authority of Parliament. By it the tenths and
-first-fruits resigned by Mary were again restored to her. The statutes
-passed in Mary's reign for the maintenance of strict Romanism were
-repealed, and those of Henry VIII. for the rejection of the Papal
-authority, and of Edward VI. for the reformation of the Church ritual
-were revived. The Book of Common Prayer, considerably modified, was to
-be in uniform and exclusive use. The old penalties against seeking any
-ecclesiastical authority or ordination from abroad were re-enacted,
-and the queen was declared absolute head of the Church by a new Act of
-Supremacy.
-
-Notwithstanding the softening of the parts and expressions in the liturgy
-most offensive to the Papists, such as the prayer "to deliver us from the
-Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities," and the modification
-of the terms in administration of the sacrament, to avoid offence to
-other Protestant churches, the bishops opposed these measures most
-resolutely. Convocation presented to the House of Lords a declaration
-of its belief in the Real Presence, transubstantiation, the sacrifice
-of the Mass, and the supremacy of the Pope. On the other hand, the
-Protestants were grievously disappointed in other particulars, especially
-as to restoration of the married clergy, and of the restoration to their
-sees of Bishops Barlow, Scorey, and Coverdale. Both these petitions
-failed on the question of marriage, for Elizabeth never could tolerate
-married priests or bishops, and these expelled bishops were all married
-men. The Protestants were equally disappointed in the failure of a Bill
-to nominate a commission to draw a code of canon law for the Anglican
-Church. Elizabeth, like her father, rather preferred deciding all such
-matters herself than allowing any other body to be authority.
-
-But to give an air of liberality to what was not meant to involve any
-concession, permission was given for the Papist and Protestant divines to
-argue certain great points in public. Five bishops and three doctors on
-the part of the former, and as many Protestant divines, were appointed
-to dispute before the Lord Keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, and the debates
-of the two Houses were suspended, that the members might attend the
-controversy. The Roman Catholics were to have the privilege of opening
-the conference, and the Protestants were to reply; but it was speedily
-discovered that this gave immense advantage to the Protestants. The Roman
-Catholics called for a change of this mode; the Lord Keeper refused to
-grant it; the bishops, therefore, protested that the conditions were
-not equal, and refused to attend. For this disobedience the Bishops of
-Winchester and Lincoln were committed to the Tower, and the other six
-disputants were bound to make their appearance at the bar of the Lords
-till judgment was pronounced, and they were compelled to do so till the
-end of the session, when they were fined in sums from L500 to forty
-marks. Parliament was dissolved on the 8th of May, and within a week
-Elizabeth summoned the bishops and other dignitaries before herself and
-the Privy Council, and admonished them to make themselves conformable to
-the laws just passed regarding religion. Heath, the archbishop, replied
-by boldly advising her Majesty to remember her own coronation oath, not
-to alter the religion which she found by law established; adding that his
-conscience could not permit him to conform to the new regulations, and
-all the other prelates and dignitaries declared the same. The Council
-then charged Heath and Bonner, on the evidence of certain papers, with
-having, during the reign of Edward VI., carried on secret conspiracies
-with Rome, with the intent to overthrow the Government. To this they
-replied by pleading two general pardons, and the Council then proceeded
-to administer to them the oath of supremacy. This they all refused except
-Kitchen, the Bishop of Llandaff, who had clung to his see through all
-changes for the last fourteen years, and clung to it still. They were
-then deprived of their sees, and a considerable number of other Church
-dignitaries were also deprived by the same test. The bulk of the clergy,
-however, conformed, and to those who were ejected pensions for life were
-allowed--a policy far more considerate than had ever prevailed in such
-circumstances before. The refugees on account of the Marian persecution,
-who had now flocked home from Switzerland and Germany, were installed
-in the vacant livings, and before the end of this year the Church
-of Rome had lost the State patronage in Great Britain for ever. Two
-statutes--the Act enforcing the oath of Supremacy, and the other the Act
-of Uniformity--became law, during this session. The latter Act prohibited
-under heavy penalties the use by a minister of any but the established
-liturgy, and confirmed the revised Book of Common Prayer of Edward VI.
-
-To replace the expelled bishops was no very easy matter, not from the
-paucity of candidates, but from the revolutions which had taken place in
-the ordinal of the Church. Dr. Matthew Parker, who had been the chaplain
-of Anne Boleyn, and who had stood so faithfully by her, was appointed by
-Elizabeth Archbishop of Canterbury, but how was he to be consecrated? His
-election was to be confirmed by four bishops, and his consecration to be
-performed by them. Where were they to be found? There was not a bishop
-left, except Llandaff. Still more, Mary had abolished the ordinal of
-Edward VI., and Elizabeth had abolished that of Mary. The difficulty was,
-at first sight, insurmountable, and no way out of it presented itself for
-four months. It was then recollected that Barlow, Hodgkins, Scorey, and
-Coverdale, the deprived Bishops of Bath, Bedford, Chichester, and Exeter,
-had been consecrated by the Reformed ordinal, and that restoration which
-had been denied them at the petition of their friends, because they
-were married men, was now accorded as an escape from this dilemma. They
-were reinstated, and confirmed the election of Parker, consecrated him
-according to the form of Edward VI., and helped to confirm and consecrate
-all the newly elected prelates.
-
-While Elizabeth and her ministers had been thus engaged in settling the
-constitution of the Church, they had also been occupied with effecting a
-Continental peace. Philip had refused to conclude a treaty with France
-previous to the death of Mary, without including in it the restoration
-of Calais to England, and to Philibert the Duke of Savoy his hereditary
-estates. The death of Mary at once cut the actual connection of Philip
-with England, but he remained firm in his demand, for he had formed the
-design of obtaining the hand of Elizabeth. He lost no time in making the
-offer, observing that though they were within the proscribed degrees of
-affinity the Pope would readily grant a dispensation, and the union of
-England and Spain would give them the command of Europe. But, independent
-of the partnership in power which this marriage would create, Elizabeth
-entertained schemes of Church arrangement very different to any which
-would accord with Philip's ideas. She, therefore, courteously excused
-herself on the plea of scruples of conscience, and this refusal was
-followed by the non-appearance of Feria, Philip's ambassador, at her
-coronation. Philip, however, did not give up the suit without employing
-all the eloquence and the arguments that he could muster; he kept up a
-brisk correspondence for some time with the new queen, and even when the
-attempt appeared hopeless, he still offered to assist her in the treaty
-with France. He settled his own disputes with France by marrying the
-daughter of the King of France, as soon as he saw the hand of Elizabeth
-unattainable, and procured the sister of Henry II. for his friend
-Philibert.
-
-[Illustration: ELIZABETH'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO LONDON. (_See p._ 246.)]
-
-The great demand of Elizabeth was the restoration of Calais, and at
-Cateau-Cambresis a treaty was concluded on the 2nd of April, 1559, by
-which the King of France actually engaged to surrender that town to
-England at the end of eight years, or pay to Elizabeth 500,000 crowns;
-and he agreed to deliver, as guarantee for this sum, four French noblemen
-and the bonds of eight foreign merchants. But to this article was
-appended another which, to any one in the least familiar with diplomacy,
-betrayed the fact that the whole was illusory, and that the French would
-have no difficulty, at the end of the prescribed term, in showing that
-England had in some way broken the contract. The article stipulated that
-if, within that period, Henry of France, or Mary of Scotland, should
-make any attempt against the realm or subjects of Elizabeth, they should
-forfeit all claim to the retention of that town; and if Elizabeth should
-infringe the peace with either of those monarchs, she should forfeit
-all claim to its surrender or to the penalty of 500,000 crowns. The
-public at once saw that the French would never relinquish their hold on
-Calais from the force of any such condition, and the indignation was
-proportionate. The Government, to divert the attention of the people from
-this flimsy pretence of eventual restoration, ordered the impeachment of
-Lord Wentworth, the late governor of the castle and of the Rysbank, on a
-charge of cowardice and treason. Wentworth, as he deserved, was acquitted
-by the jury; the captains were condemned, but the object of the trial
-being attained, their sentence was never carried into effect.
-
-Elizabeth, at her accession, had assumed the title of Queen of France.
-Henry II. immediately, by way of retaliation, caused his daughter-in-law
-Mary (she had married the Dauphin in 1558) to be styled Queen of
-Scotland and England, and had the arms of England quartered with those
-of Scotland. Elizabeth, with her extreme sensitiveness to any claims
-upon her crown, and regarding this act as a declaration of her own
-illegitimacy and of Henry's assertion of Mary's superior right to the
-English throne, resented the proceeding deeply, and from that moment
-never ceased to plot against the peace and power of Mary till she drove
-her from her throne, made her captive, and finally deprived her of her
-life.
-
-We have already shown that Henry VII. commenced, and Henry VIII. and
-Edward VI. continued, the system of bribing the Scottish nobility
-against their sovereign. Elizabeth, in pursuance of her plans against the
-Queen of Scots, now adopted the same practice, and kept in pay both the
-nobles and the Protestant leaders of Scotland. To understand fully her
-proceedings, we must, however, first take a hasty glance at the progress
-of the Reformation in Scotland. That kingdom received the Reformation
-in its simplest, most rigid, and severe form. The doctrines which had
-sprung up in republican Switzerland, under Calvin and Zwingli, were
-imbibed there by Knox and others in their most unbending hardness. There
-was little of the gentle and the pliant in their tenets, but a stern
-asceticism, which suited well with the grave and earnest character of the
-Scots. When summoned by Mary of Guise to appear in Edinburgh and answer
-for their conduct, the preachers, attended by thousands of the respective
-congregations, presented themselves in such a formidable shape, that
-the Regent declared that she meant no injury to them. A period of such
-tranquillity succeeded, that the leaders of the Reform party--the Earl
-of Glencairn, Lord Lorne, son of the Earl of Argyll, Erskine of Dun,
-Lord James Stuart, afterwards the Regent Murray--on the 3rd of December,
-1557, drew up that League and Covenant which was destined to work such
-wonders in Scotland, to rouse the suffering Reformers into a church
-militant, to put arms into the hands of the excited peasants, brace the
-sword to the side of the preacher, and, through civil war and scenes of
-strange suffering, bloodshed, and resistance on moor and mountain, to
-work out the freedom of the faith for ever in Scotland. The Covenant
-engaged all who subscribed it, in a solemn vow, "in the presence of the
-Majesty of God and His congregation," to spread the Word by every means
-in their power, to maintain the Gospel and defend its ministers against
-all tyranny; and it pronounced the most bitter anathemas against the
-superstition, the idolatry, and the abominations of Rome. This bond
-received the signatures of the Earls of Glencairn, Argyll, and Morton,
-Lord Lorne, Erskine of Dun, and many other nobles and gentlemen, who
-assumed the name of the Lords of the Congregation: and from this hour it
-became a scandalous apostacy for any one to flinch or fall away from this
-"Solemn League and Covenant."
-
-Mary at first temporised, but eventually determined to stand firm. In a
-convention of the clergy held in Edinburgh, in March, 1559, the Lords
-of the Congregation demanded that the bishops should be elected by the
-gentlemen of the diocese, and the clergy by the people of each parish.
-This was peremptorily refused, and it was decreed that the practice of
-using English prayers should cease, no language should be permitted in
-public worship but Latin, and this was followed by a proclamation of the
-Queen-Regent, ordering all people to conform strictly to the established
-religion and to attend Mass daily; and, in an interview with the leaders
-of the Protestants, she showed them the commands which she had received
-on these heads from France, and summoned the chief ministers of the
-Reformed body to appear before a Parliament to be held at Stirling to
-answer for their conduct in introducing heretical practices and doctrines.
-
-At this moment Knox arrived from France. It was determined by the Lords
-of the Congregation to attend their ministers to Stirling in such numbers
-as to overawe the Government, and Knox volunteered to take his part
-with the other preachers. The nobles and the people mustered at Perth.
-There Knox preached a stirring sermon; a riot was the result, and some
-religious houses were sacked.
-
-The Queen-Regent, at the news of this destruction, became furious. She
-vowed she would raze the town of Perth to the ground, and sow it with
-salt as a sign of eternal desolation. She summoned to her aid Arran, now
-Duke of Chatelherault, the Earl of Athole, and D'Oyselles, the French
-commander, and being joined by two of the Lords of the Congregation,
-Argyll and Lord James Stuart, who were averse from the outrages
-committed, on the 18th of May she marched to Perth. The Congregation
-hastened to address letters both to the Queen-Regent and the two Lords
-of the Congregation, who, to their indignation, had joined her. They
-told Mary of Guise that hitherto they had served her willingly; but if
-she persisted in her persecutions, they should abandon her and defend
-themselves. They would obey the queen and her husband if permitted
-to worship in their own way, otherwise they would be subject to no
-mortal man. To the two Lords of the Congregation they wrote first
-in mild expostulation, but they soon advanced their tone to threats
-of excommunication, and the doom of traitors, if they did not come
-from amongst the persecutors. They addressed another letter "To the
-generation of Anti-Christ, the pestilent prelates and their shavelings in
-Scotland;" and they warned them that, if they did not desist from their
-persecutions, they would exterminate them, as the Israelites did the
-wicked Canaanites.
-
-Matters were proceeding to extremity when Glencairn arrived in the
-Protestant camp with 2,500 men. This made the Queen-Regent pause, and
-an agreement was effected by means of Argyll and the Lord James, by
-which toleration was again granted, and the Queen-Regent engaged that no
-Frenchman should approach within three miles of Perth, a condition which
-she characteristically evaded by garrisoning it with Scottish troops in
-French pay. Knox and Willock had an interview with Argyll and the Lord
-James, and sharply upbraided them with appearing in arms against their
-brethren, to which these nobles replied that they had done it only as a
-means of arbitrating for peace; but the Congregation took means to bind
-them in future by framing a new covenant, to which every member swore
-obedience, engaging to defend the Congregation or any of its members when
-menaced by the enemies of their religion.
-
-They were soon called upon to prove their sincerity. The
-Queen-Regent--totally regardless of the treaty just entered into--the
-very same day that the Lords of the Congregation quitted Perth, entered
-it with Chatelherault, D'Oyselles, and a body of French soldiers. She
-deprived the chief magistrates of their authority because they favoured
-the Reformation; made Charteris of Kinfauns, a man of infamous character,
-provost of the city, and left a garrison of troops in French pay to
-support him.
-
-The Lords of the Congregation assembled at St. Andrews, and with them
-Knox, who had come, as he said, to the conclusion that to be rid of the
-rooks it was necessary to pull down their nests. Their action was prompt;
-Perth surrendered at the first assault. Argyll and the Lord James had
-succeeded in checking the march of the Queen-Regent; and on their advance
-to Linlithgow, she and the French forces evacuated Edinburgh, falling
-back to Dunbar; whilst the Covenanting army, entering Linlithgow, pulled
-down the altars and images, destroyed the relics, and then advanced on
-Edinburgh, which they entered in triumph on the 29th of June, 1559.
-
-It was at this crisis that the progress of the Reformers in Scotland
-arrested the attention of the Government in England, and a letter was
-received from Sir Henry Percy by Kirkaldy of Grange, inquiring into the
-real objects of the Lords of the Congregation. Kirkaldy replied that they
-meant nothing but the reformation of religion; that they had purged the
-churches of imagery and other Popish stuff wherever they had come, and
-that they pulled down such friaries and abbeys as would not receive the
-Reformed faith; but that they had not meddled with a pennyworth of the
-Church's property, reserving the appropriation of that to the maintenance
-of godly ministers hereafter; that if the Queen-Regent would grant them
-spiritual liberty and send away the Frenchmen, they would obey her; if
-not, they would hear of no agreement. Knox also wrote to Percy in the
-name of the whole Congregation, and entreated that England should aid
-them in their struggle, telling them, in his sturdy way, that if it did
-it would be better for it; if not, though Scotland might suffer, England
-could not escape her share of the trouble.
-
-[Illustration: ELIZABETH. (_From the Portrait by Isaac Oliver._)]
-
-The parsimony of Elizabeth, however, and the caution of her minister
-Cecil, withheld all efficient aid from the Scottish Reformers at the time
-that it was most essential. Whilst the Queen-Regent delayed any active
-proceedings in the hope of the arrival of fresh troops from France, and
-the knowledge that the irregular army brought into the field by the
-Scottish barons could not long be kept together, Elizabeth deferred the
-promised subsidies. In this predicament, the Lords of the Congregation
-made still more impassioned appeals to Cecil, and Knox wrote to him
-entreating him to abate the prejudice of Elizabeth towards him. But that
-prejudice was of the most bitter and unconquerable kind in the heart of
-Elizabeth. Knox had perpetrated the unpardonable offence to Elizabeth in
-writing his "First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of
-Women." While Elizabeth hesitated, the Regent was fortifying Leith.
-
-At last the English queen determined to help her fellow-religionists,
-and by the treaty of Berwick agreed to aid them in an attack on the
-Regent. The Covenanters prepared for an assault on Leith, by constructing
-scaling-ladders in the High Church of St. Giles, Edinburgh, to the great
-scandal of the preachers, who prognosticated that proceedings begun
-in sacrilege would end in defeat. This soon appeared likely to be the
-result, for the money sent from England being exhausted, the soldiers
-clamoured for pay, and the army of 12,000 was on the verge of melting
-away very rapidly. In great alarm, the leaders vehemently entreated
-Elizabeth for more money, and making a struggle with her natural
-parsimony, she sent L4,000 to Cockburn of Ormiston, who undertook the
-perilous office of conveying it to headquarters. But a man who afterwards
-became notorious for the audacity of his crimes, the Earl of Bothwell,
-who now professed to be a zealous supporter of the Congregation, and had
-by this means obtained the knowledge of the transmission of the treasure,
-waylaid Cockburn, and carried off the money. This was a severe blow to
-the Congregation, and was speedily followed by another. Haliburton,
-provost of Dundee, had led a party of Reformers to attack Leith. He had
-planted his heavy artillery on an eminence near Holyrood; but whilst the
-majority of the leaders were attending a sermon, the French garrison
-attacked the battery, and drove the Reformers back into the city with
-great slaughter.
-
-[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-Even the arrival of an English army did not mend matters. The siege was
-carried on against Leith in a manner little creditable to the ancient
-fame of the English; as for the Scots, Sadler said, "they could climb
-no walls:" that is, they were not famous for conducting sieges and
-taking towns by assault. The English, who had acquired great fame in
-that kind of warfare, now seemed to have forgotten their skill, though
-they had lost none of their courage. Their lines of circumvallation were
-ill-drawn, their guns were ill-directed, their trenches were opened
-in ground unfit for the purpose, and they were repeatedly thrown into
-disorder by sorties of the enemy. To make matters worse, the supplies
-of the Scots became exhausted, and they began to make their usual cries
-to the English for more money. But from the English court came, instead
-of the all-needful money, signs of discouragement. Elizabeth still
-maintained her equivocal conduct, and the Lords of the Congregation
-were greatly alarmed to find her actually negotiating with the sick
-Queen-Regent for an accommodation. At the very time that the Scots and
-the English were engaged in a smart action at Hawkhill, near Lochend,
-during the siege, Sir James Croft and Sir George Howard were with the
-dying Mary of Guise in the castle of Edinburgh. Elizabeth still declared
-that she was not fighting against Francis and Mary, the king and queen of
-France and Scotland, but against their Ministers in the latter country,
-and simply for the defence of her own realm against their attempts. She
-desired Sir Ralph Sadler to express her willingness to treat, and to make
-it clear that she was no party to any design to injure or depose the
-rightful queen. What she aimed at was the expulsion of the French from
-Scotland as dangerous to her own dominions, and he was instructed, if
-the old plea was raised--namely, that the French only remained there to
-maintain the throne of their mistress against disaffected subjects--to
-state that his sovereign would not admit this plea, as it was a mere
-pretence, and would not lay down her arms till the Queen of Scots was
-also secured in her just power and claims.
-
-On the 10th of June, 1560, the Queen-Regent died in the castle of
-Edinburgh. On her death-bed she entreated Lord James Stuart, and some
-others of the Lords of the Congregation, as well as her own courtiers, to
-support the rightful power of her daughter: but, as the events showed,
-and the treacherous, ambitious character of the bastard brother of Queen
-Mary rendered probable, to very little purpose. The Queen-Regent's
-decease, however, opened a way to negotiation. The insurrectionary
-feeling in France made the French court readily support such a
-proposition, and it was agreed that the French and English commissioners
-should meet at Berwick on the 14th of June. The English commissioners
-were Cecil and Dr. Wotton, Dean of Canterbury; the French, Monluc, Bishop
-of Valence, and Count de Randon. Perhaps four more acute diplomatists
-never met. On the 16th of June, they proceeded to Edinburgh, passing
-through the English camp on the way, where they were saluted by a general
-discharge of firearms. By the 6th of July all the conditions of peace
-were settled, and it was announced both to the besiegers and besieged
-that hostilities were at an end.
-
-The French commissioners stood stoutly for the rights and prerogatives
-of the Crown, but they were compelled to yield many points to the
-imperturbable firmness of Cecil. Dunbar and Inchkeith were surrendered
-as well as Leith. The French troops, excepting a small garrison in
-Dunbar and another in Inchkeith, were to be sent home and no more to be
-brought over. An indemnity for all that had passed since March, 1558, in
-Scotland, was granted; every man was to regain the post or position which
-he held before the struggle, and no Frenchman was to hold any office in
-that kingdom. A Convention of the three Estates was to be summoned by
-the king and queen, and four-and-twenty persons were to be named by this
-Convention, out of whom should be chosen a Council of twelve for the
-government of the country, of whom the Queen should name seven, and the
-Estates five. The king and queen were not to declare war, or conclude
-peace, without the concurrence of the Estates; neither the Lords nor
-the members of the Congregation should be molested for what they had
-done, and Churchmen were to be protected in their persons, rights, and
-properties, and to receive compensation for their losses according to the
-award of the Estates in Parliament.
-
-On one point, and that the chief point of the quarrel, the leaders of
-the Congregation did not obtain their demand, which naturally was for
-the establishment of their religion. We may suppose that Cecil and his
-colleague were not very desirous of carrying this; for the Queen of
-England regarded the Scottish Reformers as fanatical and she especially
-abominated the character and doctrines of Knox. It was conceded, however,
-that Parliament should be summoned without delay, and that a deputation
-should lay this request before the king and queen.
-
-By a second treaty between England and France, it was determined that
-the right to the crowns of England and Ireland lay in Elizabeth, and
-that Mary should no longer bear the arms or use the style of these two
-kingdoms. Another proposition, however, was refused in this treaty, and
-that was the surrender of Calais to England.
-
-It remained now to obtain the consent of Francis and Mary to these
-decisions; and Sir James Sandilands, a knight of Malta, was despatched
-to Paris for this purpose. His reception was such as might be expected.
-Mary refused to sanction the proceedings of a Parliament which had been
-summoned without her authority, and which had acted in the very face of
-the treaty, by seeking to destroy the religion in which she had been
-educated. Thereupon the Estates established Protestantism on their own
-authority.
-
-All speculations as to what the Guises would do were cut short by the
-death of Francis II., the husband of Mary, on the 5th of December,
-1560. He had always been a sickly personage, and his reign had lasted
-only eighteen months. His successor, Charles IX., was only nine years
-of age, and had a mind and constitution not exhibiting more promise of
-health and vigour than those of his late brother. His mother, Catherine
-de Medici, became regent, and his uncles of Lorraine lost the direction
-of affairs. Catherine and Mary were no friends; the young Queen-Dowager
-of France, only nineteen, was now treated harshly and contemptuously by
-the Lady-Regent, and she retired to Rheims, where she spent the winter
-amongst her relatives of Lorraine.
-
-Mary now prepared to make her way home by sea. Her false half-brother,
-the Lord James, instead of being to her, at this trying moment, a friend
-and staunch counsellor, was, and had long been, leagued with her most
-troublesome and rebellious subjects, and was expecting, by the aid of
-Elizabeth of England, to engross the chief power in the State, if not
-eventually to push his unsuspecting sister from the throne. The Roman
-Catholics of Scotland were quite alive to the dangers which attended
-their sovereign in such company, and deputed Leslie the Bishop of Ross,
-a man of high integrity--which, through a long series of troubles, he
-manifested towards his queen--to go over to France and return with her.
-Leslie was so much alarmed by the dangers which menaced her amongst her
-turbulent and zeal-excited subjects, that he advised her in private to
-extend her voyage to the Highlands, and put herself under the protection
-of the Earl of Huntly, who, at the head of a large army, would conduct
-her to her capital and place her in safety on her throne, at the same
-time that he enabled her to protect the ancient religion. But Mary
-would not listen to anything like a return by force. She determined to
-throw herself on the affections of her subjects, and to go amongst them
-peaceably.
-
-Mary embarked at Calais on the 15th of August, 1561. She eluded the
-ships sent to prevent her, and on the 19th she landed on her native
-shore at Leith. She had come a fortnight earlier than she had fixed, to
-checkmate the schemes of her enemies; but the people flew to welcome
-her and crowded the beach with hearty acclamations: the lords, however,
-says a contemporary, had taken small pains to honour her reception and
-"cover the nakedness of the land." Instead of the gay palfreys of France
-to which she had been accustomed, in their rich accoutrements, she saw a
-wretched set of Highland shelties prepared to convey her and her retinue
-to Holyrood; and when she surveyed their tattered furniture and mounted
-into the bare wooden saddle, the past and the present came so mournfully
-over her, that her eyes filled with tears. The honest joy of her people,
-however, was an ample compensation, had she not known what ill-will
-lurked in the background against her amongst the nobles and clergy.
-
-Mary was the finest woman of her time. Tall, beautiful, accomplished, in
-the freshness of her youth, not yet nineteen, distinguished by the most
-graceful manners and the most fascinating disposition, she was formed
-to captivate a people sensible to such charms. But she came into her
-country, in every past age turbulent and independent, at a crisis when
-the public spirit was divided and embittered by religious controversy,
-and she was exposed to the deepest suspicion of the Reforming party, by
-belonging to a family notorious for its bigoted attachment to the old
-religion. Yet the candour of her disposition and her easy condescension
-seemed to make a deep impression on the masses. They not only cheered
-her enthusiastically on the way to her ancestral palace of Holyrood,
-but about 200 of the citizens of Edinburgh, playing on three-stringed
-fiddles, kept up a deafening serenade under her windows all night; and
-such was her good-natured appreciation of the motive, that she thanked
-them in the morning for having really kept her awake after her fatiguing
-voyage. Not quite so agreeable, though, was the conduct of her liege
-subjects on the Sunday in her chapel, where, having ordered her chaplain
-to perform Mass, such a riot was raised, that had not her natural
-brother, the Lord James Stuart, interfered, the priest would have been
-killed at the altar.
-
-This was a plain indication that, although the Reformers demanded liberty
-of conscience for themselves, they meant to allow none to others; and
-a month afterwards the same riot was renewed so violently in the royal
-chapel at Stirling, that Randolph, writing to Cecil, said that the Earl
-of Argyll and the Lord James himself this time "so disturbed the quire,
-that some, both priests and clerks, left their places with broken heads
-and bloody ears."
-
-Mary bore this rude and disloyal conduct with an admirable patience.
-She had the advantage of the counsels of D'Oyselles, who had spent some
-years in the country, and had learned the character of the people. She
-placed the leaders of the Congregation in honour and power around her,
-making the Lord James her chief minister, and Maitland of Lethington her
-Secretary of State, both of whom, however, were in the pay and interests
-of the English queen. It was not in the nature of Knox to delay long
-appearing in her presence, and opening upon her the battery of his fierce
-zeal.
-
-It is, perhaps, impossible to imagine a situation more appalling than
-that of this young and accomplished girl suddenly thrown into the midst
-of this effervescence of spiritual pride and boorish dogmatism, which
-was so insensible to the finer influences of social life, so unconscious
-of the rights of conscience in those of a different opinion. Mary showed
-a far more Christian spirit. She reminded Knox of his offensive and
-contemptuous book against women, gently admonished him to be more liberal
-to those who could not think as he did, and to use more meekness of
-speech in his sermons.
-
-But the Scottish clergy at that moment received a severe recompense
-for their contempt of the social amenities, in their aristocratic
-coadjutors treating them as men who had no need of temporal advantages.
-The nobles used them to overturn by their preaching the ancient Church;
-and that done, they quietly but firmly appropriated the substance of it
-to themselves. The example of the English hierarchy had not been lost
-upon them. When the clergy put in their claim for a fair share of the
-booty, the nobles affected great surprise at such a worldly appetite
-in such holy men. The clergy proposed that the property of the Church
-should be divided into three portions: one-third for the pastors of the
-new Church, one-third for the poor, and one-third for the endowment of
-schools and colleges. Maitland of Lethington asked Knox, "Where, then,
-was the portion of the nobles? Were they to become hod-bearers in this
-building of the Kirk?" Knox replied that they might be worse employed.
-But he and his fellow-ministers had different material to operate upon
-in the hard-fisted nobles. They might browbeat and insult a young queen,
-but they could not force the plunder from the grip of their aristocratic
-patrons. The whole sum which they could obtain for the maintenance of
-1,000 parish churches was only about L4,000, or about L6 sterling as the
-annual income of a parish priest.
-
-As for the unhappy queen, she was equally vexed by clergy and
-aristocracy. She was soon called upon for extensive favours by her
-ambitious brother, the Lord James, prior of St. Andrews. She created
-him Earl of Mar, and she further contemplated conferring on him the
-ancient earldom of Murray, which had been forfeited to the Crown in
-the reign of James II. A great part of the property, however, of this
-earldom had been taken possession of by the Earl of Huntly, the head
-of the most powerful family in the north. Huntly had offered, if Mary
-would land in the Highlands, to conduct her to Edinburgh at the head
-of 20,000 men, and enable her to put down the whole body of Reformers.
-Mary had declined this offer, as the certain cause of a civil war, if
-accepted. Huntly, therefore, stood aloof from the present Government,
-and was especially hostile to the Earl of Mar, who was the leading
-person in it. Mar determined to break the power of this haughty chief,
-and thus wrest from him the lands he claimed for his new earldom. Mary
-was anxious to advance her brother, and did not need much persuasion to
-sanction this design of Mar; and the son of Huntly, Sir John Gordon,
-having committed some feudal outrage, was seized and imprisoned for a
-short term. This punishment was regarded as an indignity by the house
-of Gordon, and the symptoms of disaffection towards the Government were
-increased. Mary, therefore, took the field with her brother, the Lord
-James, and marched into the Highlands at the head of her troops. The Earl
-of Huntly, dismayed at this spirit in the young queen, who appeared to
-enjoy the excitement and the inconveniences of a campaign, hastened to
-make overtures of accommodation; and the matter would probably have been
-soon amicably arranged, but, unfortunately, a party of Huntly's vassals
-refused Mary and her staff entrance into the castle of Inverness, and
-made a show of holding it against her. They were, however, soon compelled
-to surrender, and the governor was executed as a traitor. At this time,
-Sir John Gordon, escaping from his prison, flew to arms, roused the
-vassals of the clan Gordon far and wide; and his father, seeing no longer
-any chance of agreement, led his forces into the field. He advanced
-towards Aberdeen, and met Mar, who had now exchanged that title for the
-title of Earl of Murray, encamped on the hill of Fare near Corrichie.
-There Murray, as an excellent soldier, defeated Huntly, who was killed on
-the field, or died soon after. His son, Sir John Gordon, was seized, and
-executed at Aberdeen, three days after the battle. Murray was thus placed
-in full possession of his title and new estate, and Mary, with so able
-and powerful a relative as her chief minister, appeared in a position
-to command obedience from her refractory subjects. But now a new danger
-menaced her from the rival queen of England, who was still bent on seeing
-Mary so married as to give her no additional power.
-
-In the spring of 1562 Elizabeth became engaged in the support of the
-Huguenots, or Protestants of France, against their Government, as she had
-supported the Covenanters of Scotland. After the failure of a conspiracy
-to surprise the court at Amboise, and the accession of Catherine de
-Medici to the Regency, the heads of the party again flew to arms; but
-Catherine making concessions, in order to engage the Huguenot chiefs
-Conde and Coligny to assist her in counteracting the influence of the
-house of Guise, a treaty was entered into by which the Protestants
-were to be allowed free exercise of their religion. But the Duke of
-Guise becoming possessed of the person of the king, soon persuaded
-Catherine--his mother and Regent--to break the treaty. The Huguenots
-again rose in defence of their lives and principles, and no less than
-fourteen armies were soon on foot in one part or another of France. The
-Duke of Guise headed the Catholics; the Prince of Conde, Admiral Coligny,
-Andelot, and others, commanded the Huguenots. The Parliament of Paris
-issued an edict, authorising the Papists to massacre the Protestants
-wherever they found them; the Protestants retaliated with augmented fury,
-and carnage and violence prevailed throughout the devoted country. The
-Duke of Guise found himself so hard driven by the Protestants, in whose
-ranks the very women and children fought fiercely, that he entreated
-Philip of Spain to come to his aid. Philip gladly engaged in a work so
-congenial, his own Protestant subjects having had bloody experience of
-his bigotry, and sent into France 6,000 men, besides money. On this the
-Prince of Conde appealed to Elizabeth for support against the common
-enemies of their religion. To induce her to act promptly in their favour,
-he offered to put Havre-de-Grace immediately into her hands. Nowadays,
-in such a case, the English Government would take the public means of
-endeavouring by negotiation to lead its ally to concede their rights
-to its subjects. But Elizabeth took her favourite mode of privately
-aiding the discontented subjects of a power with whom she was at peace,
-against their sovereign. She made no overtures to Catherine de Medici,
-as Queen-Regent. She made no declaration of war, but despatched Sir
-Henry Sidney, the father of the afterwards celebrated Sir Philip Sidney,
-ostensibly to mediate between the Roman Catholics and Protestants, but
-really to enter into a compact with Conde. She was to furnish him with
-100,000 crowns, and to send over 6,000 men, under Sir Edward Poynings, to
-take possession of the forts of Havre and Dieppe.
-
-[Illustration: THE PREACHING OF JOHN KNOX BEFORE THE LORDS OF THE
-CONGREGATION, 10TH JUNE, 1559.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR DAVID WILKIE, R.A., IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF
-BRITISH ART.]
-
-[Illustration: MARS' WORK, STIRLING.]
-
-On the 3rd of October a fleet carried over the stipulated force, took
-possession of the ports, and Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, the brother
-of the favourite Lord Robert Dudley, was made commander-in-chief of
-the English army in France. The French ambassador, with the treaty of
-Cateau-Cambresis in his hand, demanded the cause of the infringement of
-the thirteenth article of this treaty, and reminded the queen that, by
-proceeding to hostilities, she would at once forfeit all claim to Calais
-at the expiration of the prescribed period. Elizabeth replied that she
-was in arms, in fact, on behalf of the King of France, who was a prisoner
-in the hands of Guise, and when the ambassador required her, in the name
-of his sovereign, to withdraw her troops, she refused to believe that
-the demand came from the king, because he was not a free agent, and that
-it was the duty of Charles IX. to protect his oppressed subjects, and to
-thank a friendly power for endeavouring to assist him in that object.
-
-But these sophisms deceived nobody. The nobility of France regarded
-Guise, who had driven the English out of France by the capture of Calais,
-as the real defender of the country; and Conde, who had brought them in
-again by the surrender of Havre and Dieppe, was considered a traitor.
-Numbers flocked to the standard of Guise and the Queen-Regent, who were
-joined by the King of Navarre. The Royal army, with Charles in person,
-besieged Rouen, to which Poynings, the English commander at Havre, sent a
-reinforcement. The governor of the city defended it obstinately against
-this formidable combination, and the Englishmen, mounting a breach which
-was made, fought till their last man fell. Two hundred of them thus
-perished, and the French, rushing in over their dead bodies, pillaged the
-place for eight days with every circumstance of atrocity.
-
-The fall of Rouen and the massacre of a detachment of her troops was news
-that no one dared to communicate to Elizabeth. The ministers induced
-her favourite, Lord Robert Dudley, to undertake the unwelcome task;
-but even he dared only at first to hint to her that a rumour of defeat
-was afloat. When at length he disclosed the truth, Elizabeth blamed
-nobody but herself, confessing that it was her own reluctance to send
-sufficient force which had caused it all. She determined to send fresh
-reinforcements; commissioned Count Oldenburg to raise 12,000 men in
-Germany, and ordered public prayers for three days in succession for a
-blessing on her arms in favour of the Gospel.
-
-Conde, who had been engaged near Orleans, on the arrival of 6,000
-mercenaries from Germany, advanced towards Paris; and at Dreux, on the
-banks of the Eure, where the Duke of Guise achieved a victory over the
-Huguenots, Conde and Montmorency, a leader of each party, were taken
-prisoners; and Coligny, who now became the chief Huguenot general, fell
-back on Orleans, and sent pressing entreaties to Elizabeth for the
-supplies which she was bound by the treaty to furnish. The English queen,
-never fond of parting with her money, had at this crisis none in her
-exchequer. But money must be forthcoming, or the cause of Protestantism
-must fail through her bad faith. The German mercenaries were clamorous
-for their pay, none of which they had received, and the representations
-of Coligny were so urgent that Elizabeth was compelled to summon a
-Parliament and ask for supplies.
-
-Meanwhile affairs in France had been anything but satisfactory. The
-Huguenot chiefs had promised Elizabeth, as the price of her assistance,
-the restoration of Calais. Elizabeth, on her part, ordered the Earl
-of Warwick not to advance with his troops beyond the walls of Hammes;
-and when Coligny reduced the chief towns of Normandy, he gave up their
-plunder to his German auxiliaries, and, instead of awarding any share to
-the English, complained loudly of the neutrality of Warwick's troops,
-and the more so when he saw the Duke of Guise preparing to lay siege to
-Orleans. But Guise was assassinated (February 24, 1563) by Poltrot, a
-deserter from the Huguenot army, and this circumstance produced a great
-change amongst the belligerents on both sides. The Catholics were afraid
-of the English uniting with Coligny, and gaining still greater advantages
-in Normandy; and, on the other hand, Conde was anxious to make peace,
-and secure the position in the French Government which Guise had held. A
-peace was accordingly concluded at Amboise on the 6th of March, in which
-freedom for the exercise of their religion was conceded to the Huguenots
-in every town of France, Paris excepted; and the Huguenots, in return,
-promised to support the Government.
-
-Elizabeth, in her anger at this treaty, made without any reference
-to her, appeared to abandon her own shrewd sense. Though the French
-Government offered to renew the treaty of Cateau, to restore Calais at
-the stipulated time, Havre being of course surrendered, and to repay her
-all the sums advanced to the Huguenots, she refused, and declared that
-she would maintain Havre against the whole realm of France. But when
-she saw that the two parties were united to drive the English troops
-out of France, she thought better of it. She despatched Throgmorton to
-act for her in conjunction with Sir Thomas Smith, her ambassador. But
-Throgmorton arrived too late. The united parties were now pretty secure
-of the surrender of Havre, and, as Throgmorton's intrigues in France were
-notorious, to prevent a repetition of them they seized him on pretence of
-having no proper credentials, and delayed audience to Sir Thomas Smith
-from day to day, while they pushed on the siege.
-
-To prevent insurrection, or co-operation with the French outside, Warwick
-had expelled most of the native inhabitants from Havre. He had about
-5,000 men with him, and during the siege Sir Hugh Paulet threw in a
-reinforcement of about 800 more. Elizabeth had now the mortification
-of seeing her old allies take the command against her. Montmorency, the
-constable, had the chief command; and Conde, who had been the principal
-means of leading her into the war, served under him. It was clear that
-the place could not hold out long, yet the English manned the walls,
-defended the breaches and, till the whole garrison was reduced to less
-than 1,500 men, gave no sign of surrender. The Constable made the first
-proposals for a capitulation, which Warwick agreed to accept; but such
-was the fury of the French soldiers, or rather, the rabble collected from
-all quarters to the siege, that, in spite of the truce, they fired on
-the besieged repeatedly, and shot the Earl of Warwick through the thigh,
-as he stood in the breach. The next day the capitulation was signed, the
-garrison and people of the town being allowed to retire within six days,
-with all their effects. The chief marshal, Edward Randall, caused the
-sick to be carried on board, that they might not be left to the mercy of
-the French, and himself lent a helping hand. But the infected troops and
-people carried out the plague with them; it spread in various parts of
-England, and raged excessively in London. The inns of court were closed;
-those who could fled into the country. To the plague was added scarcity
-of money and of provisions. There were earthquakes in Lincolnshire,
-Northamptonshire, and other places; terrific thunders and lightnings--and
-all these terrors were attributed by the Papists to the heresies which
-were in the ascendant.
-
-Thus terminated Elizabeth's demonstration in favour of the Huguenots.
-She contemplated the humiliating result with indignation, which she
-was unable to conceal even in the presence of Castelnau, the French
-ambassador. At one moment she declared that she would not consent to
-peace, at another she vowed that she would make her Commissioners pay
-with their heads for offering to accept conditions which were gall to
-her haughty spirit. But there was no alternative. She first attempted
-to compel the French court to liberate Throgmorton, by seizing the
-French envoy De Foix, and offering him in exchange; but the French would
-not admit that Throgmorton was a duly appointed ambassador, and in
-retaliation for the seizure of De Foix, they arrested Sir Thomas Smith,
-and consigned him to the castle of Melun. Elizabeth still held the bonds
-for 500,000 crowns, or the restoration of Calais, and the hostages; and
-in the end she submitted to surrender the hostages for the return of
-Throgmorton, and reduced her claim of 500,000 crowns to one-fourth of
-that sum. Thus, not only Havre but Calais was virtually resigned, though
-Elizabeth still claimed to negotiate on that point. The proud English
-queen was, in fact, most mortifyingly defeated, both in the cabinet and
-the field. The treaty was signed on April 11th, 1564.
-
-This French campaign terminated, Elizabeth turned her attention again
-to Scotland, and the subject on which she was most anxious was the
-marriage of the Scottish queen. To Elizabeth, who abhorred the idea of
-any one ever succeeding her on the throne, it was of much consequence
-how Mary, her presumptive heir, should wed. If to a foreign prince, it
-might render the claim on the English throne doubly hazardous. By this
-time it was pretty clear that Elizabeth herself was resolved to take no
-partner of her power, as the hands of numerous other princely suitors
-had been refused besides that of Philip. Of all the long array of the
-lovers of this famous queen, foreign or English, none ever acquired such
-a place in her regard and favour as the Lord Robert Dudley, one of the
-sons of the Duke of Northumberland, who had been attainted, with his
-father and family, for his participation in the attempt to place Lady
-Jane Grey on the throne, to the exclusion of Queen Mary and of this
-very Elizabeth. The queen restored him in blood, made him Master of the
-Horse, installed him Knight of the Garter, and, soon after this period,
-Earl of Leicester. This maiden queen, who had rejected so many kings
-and princes, soon grew so enamoured of this young nobleman, that their
-conduct became the scandal of the Court and country, but probably it was
-nothing more than indiscreet. The reports were believed of their living
-as man and wife, even whilst Leicester was still the husband of Amy
-Robsart, whom he is said, though falsely, to have murdered. The Queen of
-Scots, in one of her letters, tells her that she hears this asserted,
-and that she had promised to marry him before one of the ladies of the
-bed-chamber. Throgmorton, her ambassador, sent his secretary, Jones, to
-inform Elizabeth privately, and at the suggestion of Cecil and the other
-ministers, of the common remarks on this subject by the Spanish and
-Venetian ambassadors at Paris. Elizabeth, listening to Jones's recital,
-including the account of the murder of Amy Robsart, sometimes laughed,
-sometimes hid her face in her hands, but replied that she had heard it
-all before, and did not believe in the murder. From the evidence on this
-subject, it appears that Elizabeth had promised Dudley to marry him, and
-was this time very near being involved in the trammels of matrimony; but
-she escaped to have another long string of princely suitors.
-
-Careful to avoid the bonds of matrimony herself, Elizabeth was, however,
-bent on securing in them the Queen of Scots. Since Mary of Scotland had
-become a widow, the suitors of Elizabeth had transferred their attentions
-to her. She was younger and much handsomer; her kingdom was much less
-important, but then she was by no means so haughty and immovable. She
-was of a warm, a generous, a poetic nature, and would soon have found a
-congenial husband, but either her own subjects or her rival Elizabeth
-had something in each case to object. Her French relatives successively
-proposed Don Carlos, the son of Philip, and heir of Spain; the Duke of
-Anjou, one of the brothers of her late husband; the Cardinal de Bourbon,
-who had not yet taken priest's orders; the Duke of Ferrara, and some
-others. But none of these would suit her Scottish subjects, for they
-were all Papists; and they suited Elizabeth as little, for they would
-create too strong a foreign coalition. Mary, with an extraordinary
-amiability, listened to all the objections of Elizabeth, and expressed
-herself quite disposed to accept such a husband as should be agreeable to
-her. Be it understood, however, that Mary was not without policy in this
-condescension. She hoped to induce Elizabeth, by thus being willing to
-oblige her in this particular, to acknowledge her right to succeed her,
-but in this she was grievously disappointed.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-Mary at last sent Sir James Melville to London to consult with Elizabeth,
-in personal interview, fully and candidly as to the person that she would
-really recommend as her consort. Elizabeth received him at her palace at
-Westminster, at eight o'clock, in her garden. She asked Melville if his
-queen had made up her mind regarding the man who should be her husband.
-He replied that she was just now thinking more of some disputes upon the
-Borders, and that she was desirous that her Majesty should send my Lord
-of Bedford and my Lord Dudley to meet her and her Commissioners there.
-Elizabeth affected to be hurt at Melville naming the Earl of Bedford
-first. She said that "it appeared to her as if I made but small account
-of Lord Robert, seeing that I named Bedford before him; but ere it were
-long she would make him a greater earl, and I should see it done before
-me, for she esteemed him as one whom she should have married herself, if
-she had ever been minded to take a husband. But being determined to end
-her life in virginity, she wished that the queen her sister should marry
-him, for with him she might find it in her heart to declare Queen Mary
-second person, rather than any other; for, being matched with him, it
-would best remove out of her mind all fear and suspicion of usurpation
-before her death."
-
-Elizabeth immediately carried into effect her word that she would make
-Dudley an earl, by creating him, whilst Melville was present, Earl of
-Leicester and Baron Denbigh. "This was done," he says, "with great state
-at Westminster, herself helping to put on his robes, he sitting on his
-knees before her, and keeping a great gravity and discreet behaviour; as
-for the queen, she could not refrain from putting her hand in his neck to
-tickle him, smilingly, the French ambassador and I standing beside her.
-Then she asked me 'how I liked him.' I said, 'as he was a worthy subject,
-so he was happy in a great prince, who could discern and reward good
-service.' 'Yet,' she replied, 'ye like better of yon long lad,' pointing
-towards my Lord Darnley, who, as nearest prince of the blood, that day
-bare the sword before her. My answer was, 'that no woman of spirit would
-make choice of _sic_ a man, that was liker a woman than a man, for he was
-lusty, beardless, and lady-faced.' I had no will that she should think
-I liked him, though I had a secret charge to deal with his mother, Lady
-Lennox, to purchase leave for him to pass to Scotland."
-
-[Illustration: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.
-
-(_From a Contemporary Portrait on Wood._)]
-
-Lord Darnley, "the long lad," as Elizabeth called him, was the son of
-that Earl of Lennox who in the time of Henry VIII. joined with Glencairn,
-Cassillis, and others in attempting to betray Scotland to Henry. For
-these services, and especially for attempting to betray Dumbarton Castle
-to the English, he was banished and suffered forfeiture of his estates,
-but received from Henry VIII., as the promised reward for his treason,
-the hand of the Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of Margaret, Queen
-of Scotland, and sister of Henry VIII., one of the lewdest and most
-turbulent women of the age. Thus Darnley was the son of Mary's aunt, the
-Lady Margaret Douglas, and grandson of Elizabeth's aunt, Margaret Tudor.
-He was thus near enough to have laid claim to the crown of England, and
-of Scotland too, in case of the failure of issue by the present queens.
-His nearness to the thrones of both kingdoms seems to have suggested the
-idea of marrying him to the Queen of Scots, whereby her claim on the
-English throne would receive added force. Mary was induced to favour the
-family, her near relatives. She corresponded with the Countess of Lennox,
-and invited Lennox to return to Scotland, and reversed his attainder.
-He did not recover the patrimony of Angus, his father, for that was in
-possession of the powerful Earl of Morton, Chancellor of the kingdom, but
-Mary promised to make that up to him by other means. Once restored to
-favour and rank in Scotland, Lennox pushed on the scheme of marrying his
-son Darnley to the queen. Melville was commissioned to intercede for his
-return to Scotland, but Elizabeth, who could not be blind to the danger
-of Darnley's wedding the Queen of Scots, for a time would not listen to
-it. We may believe too that Cecil did his best to prevent this, for of
-all his desires, the most earnest was that of the removal of Leicester
-from the Court, and therefore he used all his eloquence to get Leicester
-chosen for that honour.
-
-On returning from Hampton Court, Leicester conducted Melville to London
-by water, and on the way he asked him what the Queen of Scots thought
-of him as a husband. The answer of Melville, who did not care so nicely
-to flatter the favourite, was not very complimentary, and thereupon
-Leicester made haste to assure the Scottish envoy that he had never
-presumed so much as to think of marrying so great a queen; that he knew
-he was not worthy to wipe her shoes, but that it was the plot of Cecil to
-ruin him with both the queens.
-
-Melville, on his return to Edinburgh, assured the Queen of Scots that she
-could never expect any real friendship from the Queen of England, for
-that she was overflowing with jealousy, and was made up of falsehood and
-deceit. These royal courtships and rivalries went on still for some time:
-Queen Mary finally determined to refuse the Archduke Charles of Austria,
-probably to avoid giving umbrage to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth received
-one more suitor in no less a personage than the young King of France.
-This was a scheme of the busy and intriguing Catherine de Medici, who
-thought it would be a fine thing to link England and France together by
-marriage, but Elizabeth was not likely to perpetrate anything so shallow.
-The king was only fourteen, and Elizabeth replied that "her good brother
-was too great and too small; too great as a king, and too small, being
-but young, and she already thirty." Catherine, however, again pressed it,
-by De Foix the ambassador; but Elizabeth, laughing, said, she thought
-her neighbour Mary Stuart would suit him better; this, however, was only
-thrown out because Elizabeth had heard of some such project, which, if
-real, she would oppose resolutely. But a circumstance now took place
-which it seems difficult to account for. Having refused to permit Lord
-Darnley to go to Scotland, lest he should marry the Queen of Scots,
-and add to her claims on the English throne, all at once her objection
-seemed to vanish, and in February, 1565, she permitted him to travel to
-Edinburgh. Darnley was at this time in his twenty-fourth year, tall and
-handsome, possessing the courtly accomplishments of the age, and free in
-the distribution of his money. He waited on the young queen at Wemyss
-Castle, in Fife, and was well received by Mary, who was now about the
-same age. There appears no doubt but that the marriage had been planned
-and promoted by the Lennox party, and it is said that Murray encouraged
-it, thinking that with a young man of Darnley's weak and pleasure-loving
-character, he could easily retain the power of the State in his hands. Be
-that as it may, Darnley soon proposed, and was rejected; but Elizabeth,
-contrary to her own intentions, contributed to alter Mary's resolution.
-Elizabeth, probably apprehensive that Darnley being present might obtain
-the queen's goodwill, again sent Randolph to press the marriage with
-Leicester; on which Mary, bursting into tears, declared that the Queen of
-England treated her as a child, and immediately favoured the pretensions
-of Darnley. The marriage took place on the 29th of July, 1565.
-
-As Darnley was a Catholic, the Protestant party was much alarmed. The
-lords, headed by Murray, assembled at Stirling, and entered into a bond
-to stand by each other. They sent off a messenger to urge speedy aid
-from Elizabeth, and actively diffused reports that Lennox had plotted
-to take away the life of Murray. This, both Lennox and Darnley stoutly
-denied, and the queen, to leave no obscurity in the case, gave Murray a
-safe conduct for himself and eighty others, and ordered him to attend
-in her presence and produce his proofs. She declared that such a thing
-as enforcement of the religion or consciences of her subjects had never
-entered her mind, and she called on her loyal subjects to hasten to
-her defence. This call was promptly and widely responded to, and Mary,
-finding herself now in security, declared the choice of Darnley as her
-husband, created him Duke of Albany, and married him openly, in the
-chapel of Holyrood. He was by proclamation declared king during the time
-of their marriage, and all writs were ordered to run in the joint names
-of Henry and Mary, King and Queen of Scotland.
-
-Elizabeth, meanwhile, had complied with the demands of the Scottish
-lords; sent off money, appointed Bedford and Shrewsbury her lieutenants
-in the north, and reinforced the garrison of Berwick with 2,000 men.
-Finding, however, that the call of Mary on her subjects had brought
-out such a force around her as would require still more money and men
-to cope with it, she despatched Tamworth, a creature of Leicester's,
-to Scotland, to deter Mary by menaces and reproaches. It was too late;
-and Mary, assuming the attitude of a justly incensed monarch, compelled
-the ambassador to deliver his charge in writing, and answered it in the
-same manner, requesting Elizabeth to content herself with the government
-of her own kingdom, and not to interfere in the concerns of monarchs
-as independent as herself. When Tamworth took leave, he refused the
-passport given him bearing the joint names of the king and queen, out
-of fear of his imperious mistress, for which Mary ordered him to be
-apprehended on the road by Lord Home as a vagrant, and detained a couple
-of days; and on Randolph remonstrating, she informed him that unless he
-ceased to intrigue with her subjects, she would treat him the same. This
-bold rebuff to the meddling Queen of England, and the demonstration of
-affection on the part of the people, confounded the disaffected lords,
-and their resistance collapsed.
-
-The Queen of Scots, victorious by arms over her enemies, determined
-to call together a Parliament, and there to procure the forfeiture of
-Murray and his adherents. This threw the rebel lords into the utmost
-consternation; for, in the then temper of the nation at large, the
-measure would have been passed, and they would have been stripped of
-their estates and entirely crushed. To prevent this catastrophe no time
-was lost. It was actively spread amongst the people that Mary, having
-signed the league, it was the intention, through the Kings of France
-and Spain, to put down the Reformation in Scotland. It was represented
-that David Rizzio, a Milanese, who had become Mary's secretary for the
-French language, was the agent of the league and a pensioner of Rome,
-and that it was necessary to have him removed. Unfortunately for
-Rizzio, he had incurred the hatred not only of these Protestant lords,
-but of Darnley, the queen's husband. That young man had soon displayed
-a character which could bring nothing but misery to the queen. He was a
-man of shallow intellect, but of violent passions, and, as is usually the
-case with such persons, of a will as strong as his judgment was weak. He
-was ambitious of the chief power, and sullenly resentful because it was
-denied. Mary, who was of a warm and impulsive temperament, in the ardour
-of her first affection, had promised Darnley the crown matrimonial, which
-would have invested him with an equal share of the royal authority;
-but soon unhappily perceiving that she had lavished her regard on a
-weak, headstrong, and dissipated person, she refused to comply, fully
-assured of the mischiefs which such power in his hands would produce.
-Darnley resented this denial violently. He reproached the queen with her
-insincerity in most intemperate language; treated her in public with
-scandalous disrespect; abandoned her society for the lowest and worst
-company, and threw himself into the hands of his enemies, who soon made
-him their tool. They persuaded him that Rizzio, who, in his quarrels with
-the queen, always took her part, and who, as the keeper of the privy
-purse, was obliged to resist his extravagant demands upon it, was not
-only the enemy of the nation, the spy and paid agent of foreign princes,
-but was the queen's paramour, and the author of the resolve to keep him
-out of all real power. The scheme took the effect that was desired.
-Darnley became jealous and furious for revenge. His father, the Earl of
-Lennox, joined him in his suspicions, and it was resolved to put Rizzio
-out of the way.
-
-Darnley, in his blind fury, sent for Lord Ruthven, imploring him to
-come to him on a matter of life and death. Ruthven was confined to his
-bed by a severe illness, yet he consented to engage in the conspiracy
-for the murder of Rizzio, on condition that Darnley should engage to
-prevent the meeting of Parliament, and to procure the return of Murray
-and the rebel chiefs. Darnley was in a mood ready to grant anything
-for the gratification of his resentment against Rizzio; he agreed to
-everything; a league was entered into, a new covenant sworn, the objects
-of which were the murder of Rizzio, the prevention of the assembling
-of Parliament, and the return of Murray and his adherents. Randolph,
-the English ambassador, now banished from Scotland for his traitorous
-collusion with the insurgents, yet had gone no farther than Berwick,
-where he was made fully acquainted with the plot, and communicated
-it immediately to Leicester in a letter, dated February 13th, 1566,
-which yet remains. He assured him that the murder of Rizzio would be
-accomplished within ten days; that the crown would be torn from Mary's
-dishonoured head, and that matters of a still darker nature were
-meditated against her person which he dared not yet allude to.
-
-Mary was not without some warnings of what was being prepared, but she
-could not be made sensible of her danger, neither could Rizzio; though
-Damiot, an astrologer, whom he was in the habit of consulting, bade him
-beware of the bastard. The obscurity attending all such oracles led
-Rizzio to believe that Damiot alluded to Murray, and Rizzio laughed at
-any danger from him, a banished man; but we shall see that he received
-his first wound from another bastard, George Douglas, the natural son of
-the Earl of Angus.
-
-On the 3rd of March Parliament was opened, and a statute of treason
-and of forfeiture against Murray and his accomplices was immediately
-introduced on the Thursday, which was to be passed on the following
-Tuesday. But on the Saturday evening, the queen, sitting at supper in
-a small closet adjoining her chamber, attended by her natural sister
-the Countess of Argyll, the Commendator of Holyrood, Beaton Master of
-the Household, Arthur Erskine captain of the guard, and her secretary
-Rizzio, was surprised by the apparition of Darnley suddenly putting aside
-the arras which concealed the door, and standing for a moment gloomily
-surveying the group. Behind him came a still more startling figure; it
-was that of Ruthven, in complete armour, just come from his sick bed,
-and with a face pale and ghastly as that of a ghost. Mary, who was seven
-months gone with child, started up at this terrible sight, and commanded
-Ruthven to be gone; but at this moment Darnley put his arm round her
-waist as if to detain her, and other conspirators entered, one after
-another, with naked weapons, into the room. Ruthven drew his dagger, and
-crying that their business was with Rizzio, endeavoured to seize him.
-But Rizzio, rushing to his mistress, caught the skirt of her robe, and
-shouted, "Giustizia! giustizia! sauve ma vie--Madame, sauve ma vie!"
-
-Darnley forced himself between the queen and Rizzio, to separate them
-from one another, and probably the intention was to drag him out of her
-presence, and dispatch him. But George Douglas, the bastard, in his
-impetuosity, drove his dagger into the back of Rizzio over the queen's
-shoulder, and the rest of the conspirators--Morton, Car of Faudonside,
-and others--dragged him out to the entrance of the presence-chamber,
-where, in their murderous fury, they stabbed him with fifty-six wounds,
-with such blind rage that they wounded one another, and left Darnley's
-dagger sticking in the body as an evidence of his participation in the
-deed. This done, the hideous Ruthven, exhausted with the excitement,
-staggered into the presence of the shrieking queen, and, sinking upon a
-seat, demanded a cup of wine. Mary upbraided him with his brutality; but
-he coolly assured her that it was all done at the command of her husband
-and king. At that moment one of her ladies rushed in crying that they had
-killed Rizzio. "And is it so?" said Mary; "then farewell tears, we must
-now study revenge."
-
-It was about seven in the evening when this savage murder was
-perpetrated. The palace was beset by troops under the command of Morton.
-There was no means of rousing the city, the queen was kept close prisoner
-in her chamber, whilst the king, assuming the sole authority, issued
-letters commanding the three Estates to quit the capital within three
-hours, on pain of treason, whilst Morton with his guards was ordered to
-allow no one to leave the palace. Notwithstanding this, Huntly, Bothwell,
-Sir James Balfour, and James Melville, made their escape in the darkness
-and confusion; and as Melville passed under the queen's window, she
-suddenly threw up the sash, and entreated him to give the alarm to the
-city. Her ruffianly guards immediately seized her, and dragged her back,
-swearing they would cut her to pieces; and Darnley was pushed forward to
-harangue the people, and assure them that both the queen and himself were
-safe, and commanding them to retire in peace, which they did.
-
-[Illustration: THE MURDER OF RIZZIO. (_See p._ 264.)]
-
-But Mary was not long left alone with Darnley, before she convinced him
-of the dupe he had made of himself. She asked him whether he was so mad
-as to expect that after they had secured her, after they had imperilled
-the life of his child, they would spare him? And she bade him look at
-their conduct now, where they usurped all authority and did not even
-allow him to send his own servants to her. Darnley became thoroughly
-alarmed; he vowed he had had no hand in the conspiracy, and offered to
-call the conspirators into her presence, and declare that the queen was
-ready to pardon them, on condition that they withdrew their guards,
-replaced her own servants, and treated her as their true queen. The noble
-traitors were this time over-reached in their turn; probably trembling
-for the consequences of their daring conduct, on seeing Darnley and
-the queen reconciled, they consented, and in the night the queen and
-Darnley mounted fleet horses and fled to Dunbar. The consternation of the
-murderers in the morning may be imagined. The outraged and insulted queen
-had escaped their hands, and the news came flying that already the nobles
-and the people were hurrying from all sides to her standard. Huntly,
-Athole, Bothwell, and whole crowds of barons and gentlemen flew to her,
-and at Dunbar a numerous army stood as if by magic ready to march on the
-traitors and execute the vengeance due. They fled. Morton, Ruthven--the
-grisly, pale-faced assassin--Brunston, and Car of Faudonside, escaped to
-England. Maitland of Lethington betook himself to the hills of Athole,
-and Craig, the colleague of Knox, dived into the darksome recesses of the
-city wynds.
-
-The spirit of Mary was not of a character long to brood over revenge;
-that belonged rather to such men as Ruthven, Murray, and Morton. They
-vowed deadly vengeance on Darnley, and from that hour his destruction
-was settled, and never lost sight of. As for Elizabeth of England,
-she was loud in denunciation of the outrage on the queen, and wrote
-expressing deep sympathy; and the virtuous Murray was indignant at the
-villainy in which he had been engaged, but now only seemed to perceive
-the full extent of. The assurances of the friendship of England and
-France seemed, however, to tranquillise the queen's mind, and the hour
-of her confinement drawing nigh, she called her councillors around her,
-became reconciled to the king, and prepared everything for her own life
-or death. On the 19th of June she was, however, safely delivered, in
-the castle of Edinburgh, of a son, who was named James, and Sir James
-Melville was dispatched to carry the tidings to Elizabeth. The messenger
-arrived as the English queen was dancing after supper at Greenwich.
-Cecil, who had seen Sir James, took the opportunity to whisper the news
-to her in preparation. No sooner did she hear the news than she seemed
-struck motionless. She ceased, sat down, leaning her cheek on her hand,
-and when her ladies hastened to ascertain what ailed her, burst out, "The
-Queen of Scots is mother of a fair son, and I am a barren stock!" Her
-agitation was so visible that the music stopped, and there was general
-wonder and confusion. There were not wanting spies to carry this to
-Melville, and, aware of the truth, he was curious to mark the official
-look which the great dissembler wore the next morning. She was then
-all smiling and serene, and even received the message, he says, with a
-"merry volt," that is, we suppose, a caper of affected joy. She declared
-that she was so delighted with the news, that it had quite cured her of
-a heavy sickness which she had had for fifteen days. Melville was too
-much of a courtier to congratulate her on being able to dance merrily
-in sickness; but he wanted her to become godmother, which office she
-accepted cheerfully, by proxy. She expressed quite an ardent desire to
-go and see her fair sister, but as she could not she sent the Earl of
-Bedford, with a font of gold for its christening and L1,000. With Bedford
-and Mr. Carey, son of her kinsman, Lord Hunsdon, she sent a splendid
-train of knights and gentlemen to attend the christening. The ceremony
-was performed at Stirling by the Archbishop of St. Andrews, according
-to the rites of the Romish Church, the Kings of France and the Duke
-of Savoy being godfathers by their ambassadors. The English embassy
-remained outside the chapel during the service, for they dared not take
-part in the idolatries of the mass. They reported that Mary looked very
-melancholy, and Darnley was not present, it was supposed for fear the
-officers of Elizabeth should not give him the homage of royalty; for
-Elizabeth had still refused to acknowledge his title as King of Scotland.
-
-The attention of Elizabeth and her ministers was soon attracted to
-Scotland by the startling events in progress there. The birth of the
-young prince had only for the moment had the effect of softening the
-wayward temper of Darnley. It became absolutely necessary for Mary to
-construct a strong Government if she was to enjoy the slightest power or
-tranquillity. Had she known the villainous materials out of which, at
-best, she must erect such a Government, she would have despaired. All the
-men of talent and influence were more or less tainted by treason, and in
-the enjoyment of bribery to work her evil. She leaned on Murray as on
-a brother, and he was at heart a very Judas. He advised her to recall
-Morton and reinstate Maitland. By his efforts Bothwell and Maitland were
-reconciled; the Lairds of Brunston, Ormiston, Hatton, and Calder, the
-heads of the Church party, were admitted to favour. But the prospect of
-so many of the traitors, cognisant of his own treason, assembling about
-the throne, rendered Darnley desperate. He resolved on throwing himself
-into the arms of the Roman Catholic party, and actually wrote to the
-Pope, blaming the queen for not taking measures for the restoration of
-the Mass. His letters were intercepted and, in his indignation, he gave
-out that he would quit the kingdom.
-
-Nothing availed to show Darnley the folly of his proceedings, everything
-tended rather to aggravate his waywardness. He persisted in his
-declarations that he would leave the kingdom, yet he never went. He
-denounced Maitland, Bellenden the justice-clerk, and Macgill the clerk
-register, as principal conspirators against Rizzio, and insisted that
-they should be deprived of office. He opposed the return of Morton, and
-thus embittered his associates, Murray, Bothwell, Argyll, and Maitland.
-There was no party, except the Roman Catholics, which did not regard him
-with suspicion or aversion. The Reformers hated him for his intriguing
-with their enemies; Cecil suspected him of plotting with the Papists
-of England; the Hamiltons had detested him from the first for coming
-in between them and the succession. The queen now became grievously
-impatient of his intractable stupidity, and deeply deplored her union
-with the man who had already endangered the life of herself and her
-child, and now kept the Government in a constant state of struggle and
-uncertainty.
-
-Matters were in this state when, in the commencement of October, 1566,
-disturbances on the Borders rendered it necessary for the queen to go
-thither in person. Her lieutenant, the Earl of Bothwell, in attempting
-to reduce the Borderers to subordination, was severely wounded, and left
-for dead on the field. He was not dead, however, and was conveyed to
-Hermitage Castle. Mary arrived at Jedburgh on the 7th of October, and
-the next day opened her Court. The trials of the marauders lasted till
-the 15th, when she rode over to Hermitage, a distance of twenty miles,
-to visit her wounded lieutenant. This visit excited much observation and
-remark amongst her subjects, and the events which succeeded have given
-deep significance to it. Bothwell was a bold and impetuous man, who had
-from the first maintained a sturdy attachment to the service of the
-queen, even when all others had deserted and betrayed her. This had won
-him a high place in Mary's estimation, and she was not of a character
-to conceal such preference. He was a man of loose principles, which he
-had indulged freely on the Continent. Ambition and gallantry, united
-to unabashed audacity, made up a forcible but dangerous character. The
-manifest favour of his young, beautiful, and unhappy sovereign seems
-very soon to have inspired him with the most daring designs, which still
-lay locked in his own heart. There is little doubt that he had entered
-into the conspiracy to kill Darnley, for he was mixed up with that
-clique; and the miserable and irritating conduct of Darnley towards the
-queen was now rousing the indignation of far better men than Bothwell.
-The favour in which Bothwell was with the queen was early observed and
-encouraged by Murray, Maitland, and their associates, because it tended
-to punish and might eventually lead to the dismissal of Darnley. Sir
-James Melville, indeed, attributes Bothwell's scheme for murdering
-Darnley and gaining possession of the queen to this time.
-
-There is, however, no reason to believe that Mary consciously encouraged
-the unhallowed passion of Bothwell at this period. As an officer high
-in her Court, and in her esteem for his fidelity, it was not out of the
-generous course of Mary's usual proceedings to pay him a visit, which,
-moreover, was only of two hours, for she rode back to Jedburgh the same
-day, ordering a mass of official papers to be immediately sent after her.
-Immediately on reaching Jedburgh she was seized with a fever so severe
-and rapid, that for ten days her physicians despaired of her life. This
-was ascribed to the fatigue of her long ride to Hermitage and back;
-but it probably arose from that fatigue operating on a mind and body
-already shaken by deep anxiety. She recovered, but her peace of mind
-and cheerfulness were gone. Darnley never went to see her during the
-extremity of her illness; and though he made her two visits during her
-convalescence, they were not visits of peace or regard. They left her in
-a state of great melancholy, and she often wished that she was dead. The
-recollection of what Darnley had shown himself capable of in the plot
-against Rizzio, and his duplicity on that occasion, seemed now to inspire
-her with a dread that he would conspire against her life, and she never
-saw him speaking to any of the lords but she was in alarm.
-
-Bothwell, Murray, and Maitland, now invited Huntley and Argyll to meet
-them at Craigmillar Castle, and there proposed that a divorce should be
-recommended to the queen, on condition that she pardoned Morton and his
-accomplices in the death of Rizzio. Mary listened to the scheme with
-apparent willingness, on the understanding that the measure was not to
-prejudice the rights of her son; but when it was proposed that Darnley
-should live in some remote part of the country, or retire to France,
-the idea appeared to realise their separation too vividly. She evidently
-cherished a lingering affection for him, and expressed a hope that he
-might return to better mind. She even offered to pass over to France
-herself, and remain there till he became sensible of his faults. On this
-Maitland exclaimed that, sooner than that she should banish herself, they
-would substitute death for divorce. This effectually startled Mary, and
-she commanded them to let the matter be, for that she should wait and see
-what God in His goodness would do to remedy the matter.
-
-The conspirators expressed their obedience to the queen's demands, but
-they still proceeded with the plot. At Craigmillar they met again, and
-drew up a bond or covenant for the murder of Darnley, which was signed
-by Huntly, Maitland, Argyll, and Sir James Balfour, of which Bothwell,
-kept possession. It declared Darnley a young fool and tyrant, and bound
-them to cut him off as an enemy to the nobility, and for his unbearable
-conduct to the queen.
-
-Soon after the Earl of Bedford arrived to attend the baptism of the
-child. As we have stated, Darnley, though in the palace, did not attend
-the ceremony, and the queen was observed to be oppressed with melancholy
-and to shed tears. The ministers now prevailed on the queen to pardon all
-the murderers of Rizzio, except Car of Faudonside, who had held a pistol
-to her breast, and George Douglas, who was the first to stab Rizzio.
-This gave such offence to Darnley that he quitted Edinburgh, and went
-to his father's, at Glasgow. There he was seized with a severe attack
-of illness, and an eruption which came out all over his body. It was
-believed to be poison, but proved to be the small-pox.
-
-Whilst he was lying ill, Morton returned to Edinburgh. Bothwell and
-Maitland met him at Whittingham, the seat of Archibald Douglas, where
-they pressed him to join the conspiracy for the murder of Darnley,
-professing that it was all done at the queen's desire. Morton insisted
-that they should bring him the queen's warrant, under her own hand, but
-this they failed to do. At the time that these plottings were going on,
-in the month of January, 1567, the queen set out to visit Darnley, who
-had received some hints of the plots against him, and was greatly alarmed
-by the tidings that the queen, whose severe censure of him he was well
-acquainted with, was on the way to see him. He sent a messenger to meet
-her, apologising for not waiting on her in person. The queen replied
-there was no medicine against fear, and rode on. She went direct to his
-father's, entered his room, and greeted him kindly. Darnley professed
-deep repentance of his faults, pleading his youth and the few friends
-and advisers that he had. He complained of a plot got up at Craigmillar,
-and that it was said that the queen knew of it but would not sign it. He
-entreated that all should be made up, and that she should not withdraw
-herself from him, as he complained she had done. Mary conducted him
-by short journeys to Edinburgh, herself travelling on horseback, and
-Darnley being carried in a litter. They rested two days at Linlithgow,
-and reached Edinburgh on the last day of January. It was intended to take
-Darnley to Craigmillar, on account of Holyrood being thought to lie too
-low for a convalescent; but probably Darnley, after what he had heard,
-objected to go thither, and he was therefore taken to a suburb called
-Kirk-of-Field, an airy situation, where the Duke of Chatelherault had a
-palace. The attendants proceeded to the duke's house, but the queen told
-them the lodging prepared for the king was not there, but in a house just
-by, and also by the city wall, near the ruinous monastery of the Black
-Friars.
-
-The place appeared a singular one for a king, for it was confined in size
-and not over well furnished. What was more suspicious was, that it was
-the property of Robert Balfour, the brother of that Sir James Balfour
-who was of the league sworn to destroy Darnley, and the same who drew
-up the document. He was a dependent of Bothwell's, who held the bond,
-and who met the king and queen a little way before they reached the
-capital, and accompanied them to this place. These circumstances taken
-along with those which followed, show that the whole had reference to
-the catastrophe, and the great question which has divided historians to
-this hour is, how far the queen was a party to the proceedings. For the
-present, so far as Mary was concerned, all appeared fair and sincere.
-She seemed to have resumed all her interest in her husband. She was
-constantly with him, and attended to everything necessary for his comfort
-and restoration. She passed the greater part of the day in his chamber,
-and slept in the room under his. Though Darnley was apprehensive of
-danger from the circumstance that his mortal enemies were now in power
-and about the Court, the constant presence and affection of the queen
-were a guarantee for his safety, and appeared to give him confidence.
-
-But the conspirators were watching assiduously for an opportunity to
-destroy him. Morton, Maitland, and Balfour, had now gathered into the
-plot the Earls of Huntly, Argyll, and Caithness, Archibald Douglas, the
-Archbishop of St. Andrews, and many other lords and leading men of the
-bench and bar. Murray alone seemed to stand aloof; though, from the
-evidence existing, there can be no question that he was privy to the
-whole affair.
-
-[Illustration: HOLYROOD PALACE, EDINBURGH. (_From a photograph by J.
-Valentine, Dundee._)]
-
-Darnley during this time received a warning of his danger from the Earl
-of Orkney, who, finding opportunity, told him that if he did not get
-quickly out of that place it would cost him his life. Darnley told this
-to the queen, who questioned the earl, and he then denied having said
-so. This was precisely what Morton stated would take place, when on his
-death-bed, confessing a knowledge of the plot, he was asked why he had
-not revealed it. He replied, that there was nobody to tell it to; that
-it was no use telling it to the queen, for he was assured that she was
-in the plot; and that if he had told Darnley, he was such a fool that
-he would immediately tell it to the queen. The circumstance, however,
-startled the conspirators, and determined them to expedite the terrible
-business. The desired opportunity arrived. The queen agreed to be present
-on the evening of the 9th of February at the marriage of Sebastiani and
-Margaret Carwood, two of her servants, which was to be celebrated with
-a masque. The queen remained with the king the greater part of the day,
-which was passed in the most apparent cordiality, and Mary declared her
-intention of remaining all night at Kirk-of-Field. However, she suddenly
-recollected her promise to attend the marriage, and taking leave of
-Darnley, kissed him, and taking a ring from her finger placed it on his
-own. It was now that the hired assassins executed their appointed task.
-How Darnley and his page were murdered is yet a disputed point. The house
-was blown up with gunpowder, but the bodies of the king and his page
-were found in the orchard adjoining the garden wall, the king only in his
-night-dress, his pelisse lying by his side, and no marks of fire upon the
-body.
-
-However doubtful may be other matters, there is no question of the
-presence of Bothwell at the tragedy. He attended the queen from
-Kirk-of-Field to Holyrood, but about midnight quitted the palace, changed
-his rich dress, and in disguise joined the murderers, who were waiting
-for him. About two o'clock two of them entered the house and lit a
-slow-burning match, the other end of which was placed amongst the powder.
-They remained some time expecting the catastrophe, till Bothwell grew so
-impatient that he was with difficulty withheld from entering the house
-to ascertain whether the match still burnt. This was done by one of the
-fellows, who looked through a window and perceived the match alight.
-The explosion soon after took place, and with a concussion which seemed
-to shake the whole city. Bothwell hurried away and got to bed before
-a servant rushed in with the news. He then started up with well-acted
-astonishment, and rushed forth shouting, "Treason! treason!" Huntly, and
-some others of the conspirators then proceeded to the queen's chamber,
-and informed her of what had taken place. She seemed petrified with
-horror, gave herself up to the most violent expression of grief, and,
-shutting herself up in her chamber, continued as if paralysed by so
-diabolical a tragedy.
-
-The demands of the outraged people for inquiry were loud. The city was
-placarded with the names of Bothwell, James Balfour, David Chambers,
-black John Spens, Signors Francisco, Joseph Rizzio--the brother of
-David--Bartiani, and John de Bourdeaux, as the leading murderers. The
-Earl of Lennox, the father of Darnley, called on the queen to bring
-them to trial; but he demanded in vain. Bothwell, the man whom the
-whole public denounced, continued the first in favour with the queen.
-Everything demonstrated the necessity of the queen exerting herself to
-discover the murderers of her husband. Sir Harry Killigrew arrived from
-Elizabeth, bearing a message of condolence, but at the same time urging
-the absolute necessity of the trial of Bothwell. Killigrew found the
-capital in a most excited state, clamorous for inquiry, and loud in its
-censures of the queen. At the same time a letter arrived from Bishop
-Beaton, her ambassador in France, stating in plainest terms that she was
-publicly accused there of being herself the chief mover in the whole
-dark business, and telling her that if she did not exert herself to take
-a rigorous vengeance she had better have lost life and all. Mary promised
-Killigrew that Bothwell should be brought to strict trial; but as soon
-as he was gone means were taken to secure Bothwell more completely
-from any effectual inquiry. The Earl of Mar was induced to give up the
-possession of the castle of Edinburgh to Bothwell, Morton had his lands
-and his castle of Tantallon restored to him, and in return supported
-Bothwell with all his influence. The castle of Blackness, the Inch, and
-the superiority of Leith, were conferred on Bothwell; and Murray--who
-neither liked to play the second to the aspiring favourite, nor to run
-any risk of exposure in those inquiries which must sooner or later
-ensue--requested permission to visit France.
-
-Mary could not possibly be happy in such circumstances. Whatever might
-be the state of her conscience, her character was fearfully implicated,
-and on all sides came calls for inquiry, which she did not seem to have
-the power or the will to make. The climax to her trouble was put by the
-queen-mother of France and her uncle, the cardinal, sending her the most
-cutting message of reproach; calling on her without delay to avenge
-the death of the king, and to clear her own reputation, or regard them
-as no longer her friends, but the proclaimers of her utter disgrace.
-There was no possibility of delaying inquiry any longer, but every means
-was adopted to make it a mockery. Lennox was forbidden to appear with
-more than six followers, and his efforts to obtain a postponement were
-fruitless. In his absence Bothwell was unanimously acquitted.
-
-Rumours now arose that Bothwell was about to divorce his wife, the
-sister of Huntly--to whom he had been married only six months--and to
-marry the queen; and in the face of these reports Mary conferred on him
-the castle and lordship of Dunbar, with extension of his powers as Lord
-High Admiral. As tidings of the queen's intended marriage grew, Murray,
-her brother, stole away out of contact with danger or responsibility
-and retired to France. But, nevertheless, she did not lack warning.
-Her ambassador at the French Court entreated her, in the most serious
-manner, to punish her husband's murderers, and not allow the world to
-use such freedom with her character as it did. She had equally strong
-letters from her friends in England, which Melville showed to her, and
-was advised by Maitland of Lethington to get away from Court for fear
-of Bothwell. Bothwell, however, soon put the matter beyond doubt. He
-invited the principal nobility to a tavern, kept by one Ainslie, and
-there he drew out of his pocket a bond expressing his innocence of the
-murder of Darnley, as established by the bench and the legislature, and
-his intention to marry the queen, and containing, it is said, her written
-warrant empowering him to propose the matter to the nobility. The company
-was composed partly of his friends and accomplices. The rest were taken
-with confusion, but they had all been deeply drinking, and they found
-the house surrounded by 200 of Bothwell's hackbutters. Under constraint,
-eight bishops, nine earls, and seven lords, subscribed the paper.
-
-But the daring ambition of the man now roused even his old accomplices to
-conspire against him, for the safety of the young prince and Government.
-Morton, Argyll, Athole, and Kirkaldy of Grange, were at the head of this
-plot; and they wrote to Bedford the day after the supper at Ainslie's,
-saying it was high time that his dangerous career was checked, and
-engaging by Elizabeth's aid to avenge the murder of the king. Kirkaldy,
-who was the scribe, added that the queen had been heard to say that "she
-cared not to lose France, England, and her own country for him, and would
-go with him to the world's end in a white petticoat, before she would
-leave him."
-
-An anonymous letter, but undoubtedly from some of this party, soon
-followed, declaring that the queen had concerted with Bothwell the
-seizure of her person. The correctness of this information was
-immediately proved. On Monday, the 21st of April, the very day foretold,
-Mary rode to Stirling to visit her son, where the Earl of Mar,
-entertaining strong suspicions of her intentions, refused to allow her
-access to him with more than two attendants, to her great indignation.
-On her return, as had been foreseen in the letter quoted, Bothwell
-met her at the head of 1,000 horse, at Almond Bridge, six miles from
-Edinburgh; and, according to Melville, who was in the queen's train,
-taking the queen's bridle, he boasted that "he would marry the queen,
-who could or who would not; yea, whether she would herself or not." He
-says that Captain Blackadder, one of Bothwell's men, told him that it
-was with the queen's own consent. Whether this were so or not, has been
-argued eagerly on both sides, but it is probable from what we have seen,
-that Mary really was a consenting party. The royal retinue was suffered
-to continue its journey, with the exception of Melville, Maitland, and
-Huntly, who were conducted along with the queen to the castle of Dunbar,
-the recent gift of Mary to Bothwell. The queen seems to have made no loud
-outcries against her apparently forcible abduction, and the country was
-so convinced of the sham nature of the affair, that there was no attempt
-to rescue her.
-
-The divorce of Bothwell from his wife was now hastened, and after
-detaining the queen five days at the castle of Dunbar, he conducted her
-to Edinburgh, and led her to the castle, where she was received with a
-salute of artillery, Bothwell holding her train as she dismounted. The
-ministers of the Church were ordered to proclaim the banns of marriage
-between the queen and Bothwell, but they declined; and Craig, the
-colleague of Knox, who was absent, declared that he had no command from
-her Majesty, who was held in disgraceful constraint by Bothwell. This
-brought to him the Justice Clerk with a letter under the queen's own
-hand, stating that the assertions he had made were false and commanding
-him to obey. Craig still refused till he had seen the queen herself;
-and, before the Privy Council, charged Bothwell with murder, rape, and
-adultery. No punishment followed so daring a charge, and the preacher
-having done his duty, obeyed the Royal mandate and published the banns,
-at the same time exclaiming, "I take heaven and earth to witness that I
-abhor and detest this marriage, as odious and slanderous to the world;
-and I would exhort the faithful to pray earnestly that a union against
-all reason and good conscience may yet be overruled by God to the conform
-of this unhappy realm."
-
-Nothing moved by these public expressions of censure and disgust, the
-queen appeared, on the 12th of May, at the high court of Edinburgh, and
-informed the Chancellor, the judges, and the nobility that, though she
-was at first incensed against the Earl of Bothwell for the forcible
-detention of her person, she had now quite forgiven him for his
-subsequent good conduct. That day she created Bothwell Duke of Orkney and
-Shetland, and with her own hand placed the coronet on his head. On the
-15th they were married, at four o'clock in the morning, in the Presence
-Chamber of Holyrood. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of Orkney,
-according to the Protestant form, Craig being present; and afterwards
-privately, according to the Romish rite.
-
-Very soon circumstances hastened the inevitable insurrection in Scotland.
-Mary had summoned her nobles to accompany her on an expedition to
-Liddesdale, but many disobeyed the order. Murray had now arrived in
-England, and was using all his influence with Elizabeth to make a
-movement for the expulsion of Bothwell from his usurpation; and even
-Maitland, who to the last had remained at Court, wearing the air of a
-staunch supporter of the queen, slipped away and joined the opposition.
-These were ominous circumstances, and suddenly, while the queen and
-Bothwell were at Borthwick Castle, about ten miles from Edinburgh,
-the conspirators made a rapid night march, and morning saw the castle
-surrounded by nearly 1,000 Borderers, under the command of Hume and other
-Border chiefs, with whom were Morton, Mar, Lindsay, Kirkaldy, and others
-of the nobles.
-
-The confederates deemed the queen and Bothwell now safe in their hands,
-but they were deceived. Bothwell escaped through a postern to Haddington,
-whence he reached Dunbar; and the queen also eluding them disguised as a
-man, rode booted and spurred after him. The confederates, disappointed of
-their grand prize, marched on the capital, forced the gates, and entered,
-proclaiming that they came to revenge the death of the king, and to
-rescue the queen from the murderer. There the Earl of Athole and Maitland
-joined them, and a banner was displayed on which was painted the body
-of the murdered king lying under a tree, and the young prince kneeling
-beside it, exclaiming, "Judge and avenge my cause, O Lord!" The people
-flocked to this exciting standard, and the leaders speedily commanded a
-strong force.
-
-Mary and Bothwell, meanwhile, summoned the nobles and people around
-Dunbar, and the Lords Seton, Yester, and Borthwick, appeared in arms,
-with a body of 2,000 men. Impatient to quell the confederates at once,
-they marched to Seton, where Mary issued a proclamation, declaring that
-all the pretences of the confederates were false; that her husband,
-the duke, was no murderer but had, as they knew, been fully acquitted;
-she was under no restraint but freely married to Bothwell, by consent
-and approbation of these very nobles; nor was her son in any danger,
-unless it were from them, for he was in their hands. Mary advanced and
-entrenched herself on Carberry Hill, in the old works which the English
-had thrown up before the battle of Pinkie.
-
-The confederates marched out of Edinburgh and confronted the Royal army,
-eager for the battle. De Croc, the French ambassador, now attempted to
-mediate between the two parties, and carried a message to Morton and
-Glencairn, offering the queen's pardon, on condition that they all
-returned to their allegiance; but Glencairn replied that they were not
-come there to seek pardon, but rather to give it those who had sinned;
-and Morton added, "We are not in arms against our queen, but the Duke
-of Orkney, the murderer of her husband, and are prepared to yield her
-our obedience, on condition that she dismisses him from her presence and
-delivers him up to us."
-
-It was clear that these terms must be complied with or they must fight;
-and it was soon perceived that the soldiers of the queen's army began
-to show symptoms of disaffection. Bothwell, therefore, rode forward,
-and defied any one who dared to accuse him of the king's murder. His
-challenge was accepted by James Murray of Tullibardine, the baron who was
-said to have charged Bothwell with the murder, in a placard affixed to
-the Tolbooth gate. Bothwell declined to enter the lists with Murray, on
-the plea that he was not his peer, whereupon Lord Lindsay of the Byres
-offered himself and was accepted, but at the moment of action the queen
-forbade the fight. By this time the defection in the queen's army became
-so conspicuous that Mary rode among her men to encourage them, assuring
-them of victory; but her voice had lost its charm, and the soldiers
-refused to fight in defence of the alleged murderer of the king. Whilst
-this was passing, it was observed that Kirkaldy of Grange was wheeling
-his forces round the hill to turn their flank, and the panic becoming
-general, the queen and Bothwell found themselves abandoned by all but
-about sixty gentlemen and the band of hackbutters.
-
-To prevent Kirkaldy from advancing his troops so as to cut off their
-retreat towards Dunbar, the queen demanded a parley, which was granted.
-Kirkaldy went forward and assured the queen that they were all prepared
-to obey her authority, provided she put away the man who stood by her
-side stained with the blood of the king. The queen promised to acquiesce,
-and she held a moment's conversation with Bothwell, gave him her hand,
-and followed Kirkaldy; Bothwell turning his horse's head and riding off
-to Dunbar. This brutal and unheroic man afterwards became a rover in the
-North Sea, and died in prison in Denmark in 1578. Mary did not follow
-Kirkaldy of Grange far till she saw Bothwell out of danger, when she
-reminded him that she relied on the assurances of the lords, on which
-Grange, kissing her Majesty's hand, took her horse by the rein, and
-led her towards the camp. On reaching the lines, the confederate lords
-received the queen on their knees, and vowed to obey and defend her as
-loyally as ever the nobility of the realm did her ancestors; but they
-very soon showed the hollowness of these professions, and the common
-soldiers assailed her ears with the most opprobrious language.
-
-[Illustration: MARY SIGNING THE DEED OF ABDICATION IN LOCHLEVEN CASTLE.
-(_See p._ 273.)]
-
-The unfortunate but guilty queen at every step learned more plainly her
-real situation, and the faith which she was to put in these nobles. She
-was conducted like a captive into Edinburgh, the soldiers constantly
-waving before her eyes the banner on which was painted the murdered
-king. The mob was crowding round in thousands, shouting and yelling in
-execration, and the women heaped on her all the coarsest epithets of
-adulteress and murderess. On arriving in the city, instead of conducting
-her to her own palace, the patriot nobles shut her up as a solitary
-prisoner in the house of the Provost, not even allowing her to have her
-women to attend her; and in the morning she was greeted by a repetition
-of the scenes of the previous day--the same hideous banner was hung
-out opposite her window, and the yells of the mob were furious. Driven
-to actual delirium by this treatment, she rent the clothes from her
-person, and almost naked attempted to speak to the raving populace. This
-shocking spectacle roused the sympathy of the better class of citizens,
-and they determined on a rescue of the insulted queen, when the watchful
-nobles removed her to Holyrood. There they held a Council, and concluded
-to send her prisoner to Lochleven Castle, at Kinross, under the stern
-guardianship of Lindsay and the savage Ruthven. While there she was
-persuaded (July 23, 1567), to resign in favour of her baby, and Murray,
-who was summoned home, became Regent.
-
-The queen, seeing herself destined by Murray to perpetual captivity,
-resolved to exert every faculty to effect her escape. After several
-unsuccessful efforts, she succeeded in May, 1568, through the ingenuity
-of a page called Little Douglas. The news of Mary's escape flew like
-lightning in every direction; the people, forgetting her crimes in her
-beauty and her sufferings, gathered to her standard; and she who a few
-days before was a deserted captive, now beheld herself at the head of
-6,000 men. Many of the nobility, and some of those who had sinned deeply
-against her, now flocked around her. Murray, on the first news of their
-movement, marched out of Glasgow, and took possession of a small hamlet
-called Langside, surrounded by gardens and orchards, which occupied each
-side of a steep narrow lane directly in the way of the queen's army.
-Instead of avoiding this position, and making their way to Dumbarton by
-another course, Lord Claud Hamilton charged the troops there posted with
-his cavalry, 2,000 strong, in perfect confidence of driving them thence;
-but the hackbutters, who had screened themselves behind walls and trees,
-poured in on the cavalry a deadly fire which threw them into confusion.
-Lord Claud cheered them on to renew the charge, and with great valour
-they pushed forward and drove the enemy before them. But, pursuing them
-up the steep hill, they suddenly found themselves face to face with
-Murray's advance, composed of the finest body of Border pikemen, and
-commanded by Morton, Home, Ker of Cessford, and the barons of the Merse,
-all fighting on foot at the heads of their divisions.
-
-The battle was unequal, for the troops of Murray were fresh, while
-those of the queen were out of breath with their up-hill fight.
-Notwithstanding, the main body of the queen's forces coming up, there
-was a severe struggle, and the right of the Regent's army began to give
-way. Grange, who was watching the field from above, quickly brought up
-reinforcements from the main body, and made so furious a charge on the
-queen's left as to scatter it into fragments; and Murray, who had waited
-with the reserve for the decisive moment, rushed forward with so much
-impetuosity, that the main battle of the queen was broken, and the flight
-became general (May 13, 1568). Mary, who had surveyed the conflict from
-the castle of Crookston, on a neighbouring height, about four miles from
-Paisley, beholding the rout of her army, turned her horse and fled, and
-never drew bit till she reached the abbey of Dundrennan, in Galloway. She
-then set sail in a boat, and landed at Workington, in Cumberland. Here
-she wrote to Elizabeth, expressing her strong confidence that Elizabeth
-would receive her and protect her against her rebellious subjects. She
-concluded her letter with these words:--"It is my earnest request that
-your majesty will send for me as soon as possible, for my condition is
-pitiable, not to say for a queen, but even for a simple gentlewoman. I
-have no other dress than that in which I escaped from the field. My first
-day's ride was sixty miles across the country, and I have not since dared
-to travel except by night."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_continued_).
-
-     Elizabeth Determines to Imprison Mary--The Conference at
-     York--It is Moved to London--The Casket Letters--Mary is sent
-     Southwards--Remonstrances of the European Sovereigns--Affairs
-     in the Netherlands--Alva is sent Thither--Elizabeth Aids the
-     Insurgents--Proposed Marriage between Mary and Norfolk--The
-     Plot is Discovered--Rising in the North--Its Suppression--Death
-     of the Regent Murray--Its Consequences in Scotland--Religious
-     Persecutions--Execution of Norfolk--Massacre of St.
-     Bartholomew--Siege of Edinburgh Castle--War in France--Splendid
-     Defence of La Rochelle--Death of Charles IX.--Religious War in the
-     Netherlands--Rule of Don John--The Anjou Marriage--Deaths of Anjou
-     and of William the Silent.
-
-
-Elizabeth, on reading Mary's letter, felt that she was now entirely in
-her power; and all her art was exerted to draw her over into the heart
-of the kingdom, so that she could neither retreat nor escape to France.
-She took every measure to avoid alarming her. She dispatched letters
-to the sheriff of Cumberland, commanding him to treat the Scottish
-queen with all honour, but to keep the strictest watch over her, and to
-prevent any possibility of escape. Nothing was farther from Elizabeth's
-intentions than to enter on friendly terms with the Queen of Scots.
-She had never forgiven her the offence of insisting on her claims of
-succession to the crown of England. She had a personal jealousy of the
-fame of her superior beauty; and, with such a counsellor as Cecil, it
-was certain that a selfish and suspicious policy would prevail. In those
-days, honour and high principle were of little account: expediency was
-the only statesmanship. It was, therefore, easy for Elizabeth and her
-ministers to plead the accusations against Mary--the imprudence of her
-conduct, and her still unabated infatuation for the murderer Bothwell.
-Mary was a firm Papist, Murray was a high professing Protestant, and to
-favour him and his party was to be the champion of Protestantism. To let
-Mary escape to France was not to be thought of, for of all things it was
-essential to keep asunder the union of French and Scottish interests. It
-was clear, therefore, that Mary must be detained in England, at least for
-the present; after she had been sufficiently discredited she might be
-allowed to return to Scotland.
-
-Elizabeth, after some consideration, determined that Mary's conduct
-should be submitted to a formal inquiry. When Mary learned that a message
-was actually on its way to call Murray and his accomplices to England,
-to prefer their charges against her, she protested vehemently against
-such a proceeding and declared that she would rather die than submit to
-such indignity. Murray received his summons with his usual artfulness.
-He was required by Elizabeth to prefer his charges against the Queen of
-Scots, but in the meantime to refrain from hostilities. He obeyed the
-requisition; placed his soldiers in quarters; but demanded to know what
-was to be the result of the inquiry. If the queen was declared innocent,
-what guarantee was he to receive for his own security? If guilty, what
-then? He said he had already sent copies of his proofs by his servant
-Wood; and if they were found to be faithful to the originals, would they
-be deemed conclusive?
-
-Thus the cunning Regent was seeking to ascertain whether he had already
-evidence deemed by the selected judge sufficiently damnatory, or whether
-he should fabricate more. Nothing could be cleverer than Elizabeth's
-dealings in reply. She assured Murray, and also Mary, that she did not
-set herself up as a judge of the Scottish queen, far less as an accuser;
-that her sole object was to settle the disputes between Mary and her
-subjects, and to reinstate her at once in their good opinion and in her
-full power; but in secret she assured Murray, as we learn from Goodall
-and Anderson, that, whatever were her assurances to Mary, she really
-meant to try her and, if she could find her guilty, to retain her in
-perpetual imprisonment.
-
-After considerable delay Murray appointed his commissioners--the Earl
-of Morton, the Bishop of Orkney, Lord Lindsay, and the commendator of
-Dunfermline, who were to be assisted by Maitland, Buchanan, and Macgill.
-Elizabeth appointed, as hers, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex,
-and Sir Ralph Sadler. Maitland, at this juncture, while engaged on the
-part of Murray, sent Mary copies of the letters which Murray intended to
-present against her, and begged her to say what he could do to assist
-her. She replied, that he should use his influence to abate the rigour of
-Murray, influence the Duke of Norfolk as much as possible in her favour,
-and rely on the Bishop of Ross as her sincere friend. She then named, on
-her part, the said Bishop of Ross, the Lords Herries, Boyd, Livingston,
-the abbot of Kilwinning, Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar, and Sir John
-Cockburn of Stirling.
-
-The Commissioners, Murray attending in person with his own, met at York,
-on the 4th of October. Some obstruction of business was occasioned by
-the Duke of Norfolk insisting that, as the Regent had consented to plead
-before Elizabeth, he must first do homage to the English crown. This was
-refused, and was therefore waived; but the step discovered the desire
-of Elizabeth to seize on this occasion to achieve what none of her
-ancestors could accomplish--the acknowledgment of the feudal vassalage
-of Scotland. The next betrayed the duplicity of her promises to the two
-parties. Mary's commissioners claimed that the engagement of Elizabeth
-to place Mary on the throne of Scotland in any case, should appear in
-their powers; and Murray's, on the contrary, pleaded the queen's promise
-that if Mary were pronounced guilty she should remain a prisoner. These
-contradictory powers were granted, and Mary's commissioners opened
-the conference with their charges that Murray and his associates had
-rebelliously risen in arms against their lawful sovereign, had deposed
-and imprisoned her, and compelled her to seek justice from her royal
-kinswoman.
-
-Murray was now called upon to reply, but, instead of openly and boldly
-stating his reasons for the course he had pursued, and producing and
-substantiating, as Elizabeth hoped and expected, the charges of her
-participating in her husband's murder, which he had so long and loudly
-vaunted, he solicited a private interview with the English commissioners,
-before whom he stated his defence. In this defence, to the unmitigated
-astonishment and disappointment of Elizabeth and her ministers, he made
-no charge against Mary of participation in the murder of Darnley; but
-reiterated the charges against her of marrying Bothwell, and the danger
-thereby incurred by the prince. Nor was this all. Mary's commissioners
-did not so far excuse him; they accused him boldly of complicity with
-Bothwell and the murderers, and of being on the most friendly terms with
-Bothwell whilst the marriage with the queen was in progress. Murray, with
-all his art, was confounded and silenced.
-
-[Illustration: LORD BURLEIGH. (_From the Portrait by Mark Gerard._)]
-
-It is said that the arguments and disclosures of the Duke of Norfolk
-had, at this moment, greatly staggered him. Norfolk had conceived the
-design of marrying the Queen of Scots; and, in order to deter Murray
-from pressing the worst charges, intimated to him privately that he was
-pursuing a dangerous course, for that Elizabeth, it was well known,
-never meant to decide against Mary. Murray was rendered sufficiently
-cautious to abstain from the public accusation of the queen; but he laid
-privately before Norfolk, Suffolk, and Sadler, the alleged contents of
-the celebrated silver casket, consisting of love-letters and sonnets,
-addressed by Mary to Bothwell, and a contract of marriage in the
-handwriting of Huntley. Copies of these were transmitted to Elizabeth.
-
-Being now in possession of Murray's charges, Elizabeth determined to
-compel him to make them openly, her grand object being to establish an
-accusation of Mary sufficiently atrocious to warrant her in keeping her
-a perpetual prisoner. For this reason she summoned the Commission to
-Westminster, alleging that York was too distant for a quick transaction
-of business. When Murray appeared before Elizabeth, he found, to his
-dismay, that she was perfectly informed of his private interviews with
-Norfolk, and she insisted that he should make a public accusation of
-Mary, threatening in case of refusal, to transfer her interests to the
-Duke of Chatelherault, and to favour the latter's claim to the Regency.
-But Murray was not inclined to make this accusation, unless assured that
-Elizabeth would pronounce sentence on Mary, which Norfolk had led him
-to doubt. Mary, on the other hand, received information from Hepburn of
-Riccarton, a confederate of Bothwell's, that Elizabeth was of all things
-really anxious to compel Murray to this accusation. To prevent this, she
-ordered her commissioners, if any such attempt was made at accusing her,
-to demand her immediate admission to the presence of Elizabeth, and, if
-that were refused, to break up the conference.
-
-[Illustration: FARTHING OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-[Illustration: HALFPENNY OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-[Illustration: PENNY OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-[Illustration: TWOPENCE OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-These conferences were opened in the Painted Chamber at Westminster,
-the commissioners of Mary refusing to meet in any judicial court; and,
-acting on the instruction of their queen, they at once demanded the
-admission of Mary to Elizabeth's presence, on the reasonable plea that
-that privilege had been granted to Murray. This was again declined, on
-the old ground that Mary must first clear herself; and on the retirement
-of the commissioners it was demanded of Murray to put in his accusation
-in writing, Bacon, the Lord Keeper, assuring him that, if Mary were found
-guilty, she should be either delivered to him, or kept safe in England.
-To this Murray replied, that he had prepared his written accusation,
-but that before he would give it in he must have an assurance, under
-the hand of Elizabeth, that she would pronounce judgment. On this Cecil
-said, "Where is your accusation?" and Murray's secretary, Wood, taking it
-imprudently from his bosom, replied, "Here it is, and here it must remain
-till we have the queen's written assurance." But while he spoke the paper
-was snatched from his hand by Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, who rushed over
-the table, pursued by Wood, and handed it to the English commissioners.
-It was received amid roars of laughter, and Cecil, who had now gained his
-great object, became radiant with exultation. The confusion of the scene
-was extraordinary; Lord William Howard, a blunt sea-officer, shouting
-aloud in his glee, and Maitland whispering to Murray that he had ruined
-his cause for ever.
-
-[Illustration: HALF-CROWN OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-[Illustration: HALF-SOVEREIGN OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-But as there was now no going back, the paper was read, and found to
-contain the broadest and most direct charge against Mary, not only of
-being an accomplice in the murder of her husband, but even of inciting
-Bothwell to it, and then marrying the murderer. This was totally
-different from Murray's former declaration to the English ministers; but
-it was now backed by a similar one from Lord Lennox, demanding vengeance
-for the death of his son. No sooner did the commissioners of the Queen
-of Scots hear this than they most indignantly condemned the conduct of
-the English commissioners, declared themselves prepared to prove that
-Murray and his friends themselves were the actual authors, and some of
-them the perpetrators of the murder. They demanded instant admittance
-to the presence of Elizabeth; complained loudly of the breach of the
-contract that nothing should be received in prejudice of their queen's
-honour, in her absence; demanded the instant arrest of the authors of the
-foul charge, and, on that being refused, broke off the conference.
-
-Here, indeed, the conference really ceased. Elizabeth, despite the
-withdrawal of Mary's commissioners, summoned Murray to produce his
-proofs; and the pretended love-letters and sonnets, of which Elizabeth
-had already had copies, were spread before her commissioners. The
-originals of these celebrated documents have long disappeared, but
-the copies which remained have evidently been tampered with, and have
-been pronounced most suspicious by all who have examined them. Mary,
-on hearing this, demanded by her commissioners the right to see these
-papers, declaring that she would prove the exhibitors of them the real
-murderers, and expose them as liars and traitors. This most reasonable
-request was refused, and Elizabeth, having now all she wanted, delivered
-by her Council this extraordinary decision on the 10th of January,
-1569:--That neither against the Queen of Scotland, nor against Murray,
-had any convincing charge of crime, on the one hand, or treason on
-the other, been shown; and that the Queen of England saw no cause to
-conceive an ill opinion of her good sister of Scotland. It was conceded
-that Mary should have copies of the papers in the casket, on condition
-that she should reply to them, which she consented to do, provided that
-Murray and her accusers were detained to abide the consequence. This,
-however, did not suit the object of Elizabeth. Murray and his associates
-were permitted to retire to Scotland, but it was declared that, on many
-grounds, the Queen of Scots must remain in England.
-
-Meanwhile Elizabeth had removed Mary farther from the Scottish border.
-She evidently doubted the security of the Queen of Scots so near her
-Scottish subjects, and in a part of the country so extremely Popish.
-Mary, on her part, was quite sensible of the views of Elizabeth, and
-protested against going farther into the interior of England. She did
-not hesitate to express her opinion that it was the intention of Cecil
-to make away with her. But resistance on her part was now hopeless.
-She was in the hands of a powerful and unscrupulous woman, who every
-day felt more and more the difficult position in which she had placed
-herself by thus making herself the gaoler, against all right and honour,
-of an independent queen. She sent express orders to Scrope and Knollys
-to permit no person to approach the Queen of Scots who was likely to
-dissuade her from her removal, and furnished them with a list of such
-well-affected gentlemen as should attend her on her way through the
-different counties. On the 26th of January, 1569, in wintry weather,
-Mary and her attendants were obliged to quit Bolton Castle and, mounted
-on miserable horses, to take their way southward. On the 2nd of February
-they reached Ripon, and thence proceeded to Tutbury Castle, a ruinous
-house belonging to the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was now her keeper. The
-castle lay high above the valley of the Dove, and was a wretched abode
-for a crowned head; and Mary was watched and guarded with the utmost
-anxiety lest some of her partisans should find means of communicating
-with her.
-
-Not only were the Roman Catholic subjects of Elizabeth greatly
-discontented with the detention of the Scottish queen--whom Elizabeth
-had again removed to Wingfield Manor, in Derbyshire, in April--but the
-sovereigns of the Continent also remonstrated with Elizabeth on the
-injustice of treating a queen--as much a sovereign as herself--as a
-captive and a criminal. Elizabeth, however, feeling that she had now
-little to fear from them, replied that they were labouring under a
-mistake; and that so far from treating the Queen of Scots as a captive,
-she was giving her refuge and protection against her rebellious subjects,
-who sought her life, and laid the most grievous crimes to her charge.
-
-The Duke of Norfolk, and the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, as friends of
-Mary, were extremely hostile to Cecil, regarding him as the real mover
-and influencer of the queen against her. They succeeded in securing the
-favour of Leicester to their design against him, who ventured to lay
-their complaints, as the complaints of the country, before Elizabeth,
-representing the clamour against the measures of Cecil, and the belief
-that his policy was prejudicial to her reputation and injurious to the
-interests of the realm, as universal. Elizabeth defended her favourite
-minister with zeal; but the politic Cecil was struck with a degree
-of alarm at their combination, which might have eventually proved
-formidable, had they not stumbled on the scheme of marrying Norfolk to
-Mary. The results of that scheme, however, we must postpone till we have
-noticed some anterior affairs.
-
-We have seen how Elizabeth assisted the Huguenots in France. In the
-Netherlands she was not less active. The commercial natives of these
-countries had not only grown rich under the mild sway of the Dukes of
-Burgundy, but they had exercised privileges which did not accord with the
-bigoted and despotic notions of Philip II. Both Protestants and Romanists
-murmured at his harsh and arbitrary government. The latter complained
-that opulent abbeys in the possession of natives were dissolved to
-form bishoprics for Spaniards. The Protestants groaned under a stern
-persecution, and every class of subjects beheld with horror and disgust
-the Spanish Inquisition introduced. Protestants and Papists alike united
-to put down this odious institution. The league, from including both
-religious parties, was named the Compromise, and the Prince of Orange and
-the Counts Egmont and Horn took the lead in it. The Duchess of Parma,
-who governed the country, gave way before the storm, and abolished the
-Inquisition, which had the effect of separating the Roman Catholics from
-the Protestants. The latter deemed it necessary, when thus deserted, to
-conduct their worship with arms in their hands; and the duchess, alarmed
-at this hostile attitude, issued a proclamation forbidding all such
-assemblies. In Antwerp and other cities where the English and German
-Protestants greatly abounded, no notice was taken of her proclamation;
-but it was resolved no longer to remain on the defensive, but to carry
-the war into the enemy's quarters.
-
-The people, assembling in April, 1567, in vast crowds, proceeded to
-demolish the images and altars in the churches, and even to pull the
-churches down. On the feast of the Assumption, as the priests were
-carrying an image of the Virgin through the streets, the crowd made
-terrible menaces against it, and the procession was glad to hasten back
-to the church from which it had set out. But a few days afterwards the
-people rushed to the cathedral, which was filled with rich shrines,
-treasures, and works of art, and set systematically to work to smash and
-destroy every image that it contained. Amongst these was a crucifix,
-placed aloft, the work of a famous artist, which they dragged down with
-ropes, and knocked in pieces. The pictures, many of them very valuable,
-they cut to shreds, and the altars and shrines they tore down and
-utterly destroyed. From the desecrated cathedral they proceeded to the
-other churches, where they perpetrated the same ruin, and thence to the
-convents and monasteries, driving the monks and nuns destitute into the
-streets. The example of Antwerp was zealously followed in every other
-province in the Netherlands, except in the Walloons. The iconoclasts were
-at length interrupted in their work by the Duchess of Parma, who fell
-upon them near Antwerp, and defeated them with great slaughter. Philip
-dispatched the notorious Duke of Alva to take vengeance on the turbulent
-heretics, and overran the Netherlands with his butcheries. The Prince of
-Orange retired to his province of Nassau, but Horn and Egmont were seized
-and beheaded on the 5th of June, 1568.
-
-The Huguenots in France, alarmed at this success of Alva, and believing
-that he was appointed to carry into execution the secret league of
-Bayonne, for compelling the Protestants of France, Spain, and Flanders,
-to give up their religion or their lives, rose under Conde, and attempted
-to seize the king, Charles IX., at Monceaux. Charles, however, was
-rescued by his Swiss guards, who, surrounding him in a body, beat off
-the Huguenots, and conducted him in safety to Paris. There, he was,
-nevertheless, a prisoner, till he was released by the defeat of the
-Huguenots at the battle of St. Denis, where his principal general, the
-constable Montmorency, was killed. Conde had fallen in the battle of
-Jarnac (March 15, 1569). Norris, the English ambassador, was accused
-of giving encouragement and aid to the insurgents, and the king was
-compelled to make a treaty with his armed subjects. In the spring of
-1568, 3,000 of these French Huguenots marched into Flanders, to join the
-Prince of Orange, who had taken the field against Alva. After various
-successes, the prince, at the close of the campaign, was obliged to
-retreat across the Rhine.
-
-Throughout these struggles, both in France and Belgium, Elizabeth lent
-much aid and encouragement in the shape of money; but, with her usual
-caution, she would take no public part in the contest, and all the while
-professed herself the friend of Philip, and most hostile to rebellion.
-
-The summer of 1569 was distinguished by a remarkable scheme for
-the marriage of the Duke of Norfolk to the Queen of Scots, which
-ended fatally for that nobleman, and increased the rigour of Mary's
-incarceration. The scheme was said to have originated in the ever-busy
-brain of Maitland. Murray fell into it, probably under the idea that
-Mary would then content herself with living in England, and leave the
-government of Scotland in his hands; or it might have entered into his
-calculations that it would, on discovery, so exasperate Elizabeth, as
-to lead to what it did, the closer imprisonment of the Queen of Scots,
-which would be equally acceptable to him. Elizabeth was not long in
-catching the rumours of this plot, and she burst out on the duke in her
-fiercest style; but Norfolk had the art to satisfy her of the folly of
-such an idea, by replying that such a thing had, indeed, been suggested
-to him, but that it was not a thing likely to captivate him, who loved to
-sleep on a safe pillow. The plan, however, went on, and from one motive
-or another, it eventually included amongst its promoters the Earls of
-Pembroke, Arundel, Bedford, Shrewsbury, Northumberland, and Westmoreland.
-Leicester and Throgmorton were induced to embrace it, and even Cecil was
-made aware of it and favoured it. In Scotland, Murray, Maitland, the
-Bishop of Ross, and Lord Boyd, were favourable to the measure. Mary was
-sounded on the subject, and professed her readiness to be divorced from
-Bothwell; but as to marriage, from her past sorrowful experience, she
-would rather retain her solitary life; yet, if the sanction of Elizabeth
-was obtained, she would consent to take Norfolk--but not, since all her
-miseries had flowed from her marriage with Darnley, contrary to the Queen
-of England's pleasure. The duke, on his part, when it was proposed to
-him, had recommended Leicester rather, and on his declining, his own
-brother Lord Henry Howard. How far either party was sincere in these
-statements matters little; the promoters were urgent and they acquiesced.
-
-The Bishop of Ross, with the apparent approbation of Murray, undertook
-to negotiate with Elizabeth for the restoration of the Scottish queen,
-on condition that neither she nor her issue should lay claim to the
-English throne during the life of Elizabeth; and that Mary should
-enter into a perpetual league, offensive and defensive, with England,
-and establish the Reformed religion in Scotland. Elizabeth affected
-to listen to these proposals, and the matter went so far that, on the
-assembling of the Scottish Parliament in July, 1569, Murray professed to
-be quite agreeable to the liberation of Mary, but took care to reject
-the proposals approved of by Elizabeth, and opposed the appointment to
-examine the queen's marriage with Bothwell. Maitland at once fathomed
-the long-concealed deceit of the Regent, and dreading his vengeance on
-those who had committed themselves in the matter, took a hasty flight
-into the fastnesses of Athole.
-
-And now befell what, no doubt, Murray had calculated upon. He despatched
-an envoy to the English queen, bearing full details of the propositions
-laid before the Scottish Parliament, and the consent received from
-Bothwell in Denmark to the divorce. The marriage with Norfolk, which was
-the end and object of all these plottings, had never been communicated
-to Elizabeth; for though Leicester had promised to impart it to her,
-he had not ventured to do it. Elizabeth immediately invited Norfolk to
-dine with her at Farnham, and, on rising from table, reminded him, in
-a very significant tone, of his speech when charged with such a design
-some time before, saying, "My lord duke, beware on what pillow you lay
-your head." Alarmed at this expression, Norfolk urged Leicester to
-redeem his promise, and speak to the queen on the subject; and this he
-did, under pretence of being seriously ill, while the queen was sitting
-by his bedside. The rage of Elizabeth was unbounded, but on Leicester
-expressing the deepest regret for his meddling in the matter, she forgave
-him, but sent for Norfolk and poured out on him her wrath and scorn.
-Norfolk expressed himself perfectly indifferent to the alliance, though
-so strongly recommended by his friends; but his words and manner did not
-deceive the deep-sighted queen. She continued to regard him with stern
-looks, and the courtiers immediately avoided him as a dangerous person.
-Leicester, who had promised him so much, lowered upon him as a public
-disturber. Norfolk felt it most agreeable to withdraw from Court, and
-his example was followed by his staunch friends Pembroke and Arundel.
-From Norfolk he wrote to Elizabeth excusing his absence, and expressing
-fears of the acts and slanders of his enemies. Elizabeth immediately
-commanded him to return to London. Her first information from Murray had
-been increased by the treachery of that nobleman and of Leicester, who
-had hastened to reveal to her the secret correspondence of Norfolk with
-them. His friends advised him to fly, but he did not venture on this, but
-wrote to Cecil to intercede with the queen. Cecil assured him there was
-no danger; the duke, therefore, proceeded to London, and was instantly
-arrested and committed to the Tower in October, 1569.
-
-At the same time Elizabeth joined the Earl of Huntingdon, an avowed
-enemy of the Queen of Scots, in commission with her keeper, the Earl
-of Shrewsbury, and Viscount Hertford, to secure more completely the
-person of Mary, who was again removed to Tutbury, and to examine her
-papers for further proofs of the correspondence with Norfolk. Her
-confidential servants had been dismissed; her person surrounded by an
-armed force; and her cabinets and apartments were strictly searched for
-this correspondence, but without effect. It is also asserted that it was
-determined to put her to death, if, as had been expected, the Duke of
-Norfolk should attempt her rescue by force. The friends of Mary blamed
-the duke for not having taken arms for her rescue, declaring that a short
-time would have brought whole hosts to his standard, but Norfolk must
-have too well known the hopelessness of such an enterprise.
-
-[Illustration: THE DUKE OF NORFOLK'S INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH. (_See p._
-280.)]
-
-The disclosure of the plot produced consternation and distrust on all
-sides. Murray, in revealing the correspondence with Norfolk, had not been
-able to escape suspicion himself. Elizabeth saw enough to believe that
-he had been an active promoter of the scheme; she saw still clearer that
-Maitland had been the originator of it; she was, moreover, incensed at
-the double-faced part which Murray's secretary, Wood, had been playing
-in the matter in London; and she ordered Lord Hunsdon, and her other
-agents in the North, to keep a sharp eye on Murray, and the movements
-of the leading Scots. To propitiate Elizabeth Murray determined to
-sacrifice Maitland; he, therefore, lured him from his retreat by some
-plausible artifice, when, on the demand of Lennox, he was arrested in the
-Council as one of the murderers of his son Darnley. Sir James Balfour,
-whom Lennox also accused, was seized with his brother George, in spite
-of the pardon which had been granted him on this head. In the midst of
-Murray's exultation over his success, Kirkaldy of Grange, dreading fresh
-disclosures, attacked the house where Maitland was kept, and carried him
-off.
-
-As the autumn approached, there were repeated rumours of rebellion
-in the North, which alarmed the Court of Elizabeth. On inquiry,
-however, no trace of such a thing could be discovered, and the Earls of
-Northumberland and Westmoreland, when questioned, gave such apparently
-honest and satisfactory answers, that the Government was perplexed.
-Suddenly, however, at the beginning of October, the two earls received
-a summons to York on the queen's business, and the Earl of Sussex was
-instructed, when he had secured them, to forward them to London. The
-fate of Norfolk, and consciousness of their actual secret proceedings,
-determined them to disobey the summons. But, unfortunately for them,
-their plans of action were yet so immature that they were not prepared
-to take up arms. While consulting what course to follow, the summons of
-Sussex arrived, and at the same time a rumour that a force was on the
-march to arrest Northumberland at Topcliffe. He and his countess hastened
-to Branspeth Castle, where the Earl of Westmoreland had already assembled
-around him his guests and retainers. Northumberland was still of opinion
-that they should avoid hostilities, for which they were unprepared;
-but others, and amongst them the Countess of Westmoreland, the sister
-of Norfolk, the Markenfields and Nortons, demanded war. Northumberland
-still dissented, and resolved to set out for Alnwick; but was detained by
-force, and the banner of revolt was unfurled.
-
-The first step of the insurgents was to occupy the city of Durham. So
-insignificant was their number at this moment, that only sixty horsemen
-followed the banner of the two earls. But their appeals to rise and
-defend the ancient faith found a strong response. Mass was celebrated
-in the cathedral before some thousands of people, who tore up the
-English Bible and destroyed the Communion table. They then, continually
-increasing in numbers, marched through Staindrop, Darlington, Richmond,
-and Ripon, everywhere turning out the appliances of the Reformed worship
-from the churches, and reinstating the ancient ritual.
-
-They proceeded as far as Bramham Moor, or, according to other
-authorities, Clifford Moor, near Wetherby, where their forces were found
-to amount to 1,700 horse, and something less than 4,000 foot, but many of
-them badly armed. The earls, who were famous for their hospitality, had
-but little ready money; Northumberland bringing only 8,000 crowns, and
-Westmoreland nothing at all. The Roman Catholics did not rise in their
-favour, as they had calculated. The insurgents had sent to the Spanish
-ambassador soliciting his help, but he referred them to the Duke of
-Alva, and the duke waited for orders from Philip. This aid not arriving
-cast a damp on the Romanists, who now, doubting of the expedition, lay
-still, or went over to the Royal army under the Earl of Sussex. To add to
-their confusion, 800 horse, whom they had despatched to Secure the Queen
-of Scots at Tutbury, returned with the news that she was removed thence
-to Coventry. They were confounded by this intelligence, and still more by
-the rumours of the numerous forces which were being raised under Ambrose
-Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and the Lord Admiral, whilst Lord Hunsdon from
-Berwick was hastening down upon them with his garrison and Royalists from
-the Borders.
-
-Dissension now began to appear in their ranks and amongst the leaders.
-The Earl of Westmoreland, who at first was the most daring, now began
-to hesitate; and Northumberland, who was, in a manner, dragged into the
-rising, on the contrary, counselled bold measures, as they had committed
-themselves. The result, however, was that they retreated to the Earl of
-Westmoreland's castle of Branspeth. They there issued a new manifesto;
-and as the Papists had not come forward as they expected, they now
-dropped the argument of religion, and took up the plea that there was a
-determination at Court to exercise arbitrary power over the lives and
-liberties of the subject, and that it was necessary to drive from her
-Majesty's counsels the persons who gave her pernicious advice.
-
-But this retreat had shaken the confidence of the people; and the
-different noblemen to whom they sent messengers followed the example
-of the Earl of Derby, and arrested them and sent them to the queen.
-The measures on the part of Elizabeth's Government were active and
-effectual. Orders were issued to muster a large army in the south. The
-Earl of Bedford was despatched to maintain quiet in Wales. A regiment of
-well-disciplined troops was marched from the Isle of Wight to defend the
-person of the sovereign, and suspected persons were arrested. To prevent
-any communication with the foreign princes, the mail-bags of the Spanish
-and French ambassadors were stopped and examined. Leicester entreated to
-be sent against the rebels, but Elizabeth would not risk his precious
-life, and kept him near her as her chief adviser, Cecil being indisposed.
-
-The patience of Elizabeth was greatly tried by the cautious delay of the
-Earl of Sussex, who was her commander in the north, and especially as his
-procrastination allowed the two earls to besiege Sir George Bowes in
-Barnard Castle for eleven days, which then opened its gates. There were
-even insinuations that Sussex was in secret league with the rebel earls.
-On the approach of the army of the Earl of Warwick, 12,000 in number,
-the insurgents held a council at Durham, on the 16th of December, 1569;
-but dissension again broke out between Westmoreland and Northumberland
-to such a degree that the forces scattered, and the enterprise was at
-an end. The foot got away to their homes, and the earls fled across the
-Border with 500 horse.
-
-In England no severity was spared in punishing the fallen insurgents.
-Those who possessed property were reserved for trial in the courts,
-to secure the forfeiture of their estates. These, and the fugitives
-together, amounted to fifty-seven noblemen, gentlemen, and freeholders,
-so that their wealth would form a good fund for the payment of the
-expenses of the campaign, and the reward of the officers and soldiers.
-On the poorer class Sussex let loose his vengeance with a fury which
-was intended to convince Elizabeth of his before-questioned loyalty. In
-the county of Durham he put to death more than 300 individuals, hanging
-at Durham at one time sixty-three constables; and Sir George Bowes made
-his boast that, for sixty miles in length, and fifty miles in breadth,
-between Newcastle and Wetherby, there was hardly a town or village in
-which he did not gibbet some of the inhabitants as a warning to the rest;
-a cruelty, says Bishop Percy, "which exceeds that practised in the West
-after Monmouth's rebellion; but this was not the age of tenderness or
-humanity." Sussex, in writing to Cecil, says, "I gesse it will not be
-under six or seven hundred at leaste of the common sort that shall be
-executed, besides the prisoners taken in the field."
-
-Meanwhile the Regent Murray, finding that there would never be any rest
-for either England or Scotland while the Queen of Scots was detained in
-her unjust captivity, entered into serious negotiations with Elizabeth,
-to have her surrendered to his own custody, when it would have been in
-his power to get rid of her on some pretence. Knox, in no equivocal
-language, in a letter to Cecil which still remains, had recommended her
-being put out of the way, telling him, "If ye strike not at the root, the
-branches that appear to be broken will bud again, and this more quickly
-than man can believe, with greater force than we could wish." On the
-day on which this letter was dated, Murray despatched Elphinstone to
-Elizabeth, to impress upon her the absolute necessity of some immediate
-and decisive dealing with Mary. He assured her that the faction in her
-favour both at home and abroad was daily acquiring fresh force; that the
-Spaniards and the Pope were intriguing with the Romanists of England and
-Scotland, and that daily succours were expected from France. He demanded
-that she should, therefore, at once exchange the Queen of Scots for
-Northumberland, and enable him, by a proper supply of money and arms, to
-resist their common foes. He entreated her to remember that the heads
-of all these troubles--no doubt meaning Mary and Norfolk--were at her
-command, and that if she declined this arrangement, he must forbear to
-adventure his life as he had done.
-
-These negotiations, however private, did not escape the knowledge of
-Mary's friends. The Bishop of Ross immediately entered a protest before
-Elizabeth against the scheme, which he declared would be tantamount
-to signing the death-warrant of the Queen of Scots. He induced the
-ambassadors of France and Spain to enter like protests; but whether they
-would have been effective remains a mystery, for Elizabeth had despatched
-Sir Henry Gates to the Regent on the subject, when the news of Murray's
-end altered the whole position of affairs.
-
-Private revenge and public had combined to accomplish this tragedy.
-James Hamilton, of Bothwellhaugh, an estate adjoining the celebrated
-Bothwell-brig, was one of the Hamilton clan who fought at Langside, and
-was there taken and condemned to death, but let off with the forfeit of
-his estate. The loss of his property might have been cause enough of
-discontent to a proud and high-spirited gentleman, but this was rendered
-tenfold more intolerable by the seizure of that of his wife, and her
-ejectment from it in the most brutal manner. He determined to have
-revenge.
-
-Murray was about to proceed from Stirling to Edinburgh, and had arranged
-to pass through Linlithgow. The Archbishop of St. Andrews, the uncle
-of Bothwellhaugh, had an old palace in the High Street of that town,
-through which Murray must pass. Bothwellhaugh took possession of this,
-and made all his preparations for the murder with the coolest exactness.
-He barricaded the front door, so that no one could, without considerable
-delay, force their way in to seize him. In the back yard he placed a
-powerful and swift horse, ready bridled and saddled for flight; and even
-removed the head of the doorway, so as to admit him to spring upon his
-steed, and ride through it without the moment's delay of leading the
-horse there. He then cut a hole for the barrel of his gun through a panel
-below a window, in a sort of wooden gallery, from which he could survey
-the procession. To prevent his booted steps from being heard, he laid
-a feather bed on the floor, and to prevent the possible casting of a
-shadow, hung up behind him a black cloth. These preparations being made,
-he stood ready, with his piece loaded with four bullets.
-
-[Illustration: THE REGENT MURRAY.
-
-(_From the Portrait in the Collection at Holyrood Palace._)]
-
-The Regent had been duly warned of his danger by a faithful servant named
-John Herne, who seems to have had full knowledge of Bothwellhaugh's plan
-and place of ambush, and offered to take the Regent where he could seize
-the assassin on the spot. With that fatal neglect which so often attends
-such victims, Murray agreed to avoid the public street, but took no means
-to secure the murderer. The crowd on entering the town became so great
-that he allowed himself to be densely surrounded--as it were, borne
-irresistibly along the fatal street. The throng, moreover, compelled him
-to move slowly, giving his enemy ample time to take aim. As he passed the
-archbishop's house, Bothwellhaugh fired so accurately that he shot him
-through the body, and killed the horse of the person riding next to him
-(January 23, 1570). The confusion which followed allowed the assassin
-to escape before his barricade could be forced, and he was just seen
-galloping away towards Hamilton. There the archbishop, the Lord Arbroath,
-and the whole clan of the Hamiltons, received him in triumph, as the
-liberator of his country from an unnatural tyrant who was plotting the
-murder of his sister and sovereign. They immediately flew to arms, and
-resolved to march to Edinburgh, liberate the Duke of Chatelherault, and
-assume the government.
-
-The assassination of Murray greatly disconcerted the policy of Elizabeth.
-The wily diplomatist who had such strong reasons for securing her
-co-operation in detaining the Queen of Scots from the throne, being gone,
-there was a serious danger of the two parties combining, and, by the aid
-of France, placing Mary, if not on the throne, at least at their head
-during the minority of her son. The Hamiltons, Maitland, Herries, Huntly,
-and Argyll, were all on the side of the Queen of Scots, and Morton and
-his associates were in no condition of themselves to resist them. They
-were on the march to secure the castles of Dumbarton and Edinburgh;
-the French were already on the Clyde; the Kers and Scots, friends of
-Mary, had burst across the Border, accompanied by the refugee Earl of
-Westmoreland; and an emissary from the Duke of Alva had arrived, bringing
-money, and promise of substantial help from Philip. It was necessary
-to sow instant dissension in Scotland, and for this purpose Elizabeth
-dispatched that subtle intriguer, Sir Thomas Randolph, to that country
-only three days after Murray's death, and resolved to recommend Lennox,
-whom the Hamiltons hated, as Regent. The young king, indeed, was his
-grandson, and therefore he had a natural claim to that position, if his
-abilities had been adequate to its responsibilities.
-
-[Illustration: HIGH STREET, LINLITHGOW.]
-
-Fortune seemed to favour Elizabeth. At the very moment that Cecil was
-recommending these measures, Lord Hunsdon, the Governor of Berwick,
-wrote to inform her that Morton was anxious to secure her support, and
-that nobleman lost no time in waiting on Sir Henry Gates and Sir William
-Drury, who had arrived on a mission to Murray, just before he was killed.
-He represented that his party trusted to the Queen of England not to
-liberate the Queen of Scotland, or the foreigners would soon possess the
-chief power in Scotland, but to send them Lennox as Regent, and assist
-them as she had assisted Murray, and they would pledge themselves to
-pursue the same policy. Randolph, on his arrival, promised them the
-queen's aid, and encouraged them to refuse any connection with the
-Hamiltons, who had warned them to acknowledge no authority but that of
-the queen. Morton and his friends replied by a proclamation, maintaining
-the rights of the king, and forbidding any one, on pain of treason, to
-hold communication with the Hamiltons. As they wanted a clever head,
-they liberated Maitland from the castle; and on his declaration of
-innocence of the murder of Darnley--a notorious untruth--they reinstated
-him in his old post of Secretary, and made Morton Chancellor. Randolph
-assured them of Elizabeth's determination to increase the rigour of
-the imprisonment of the Queen of Scots, and promised them both money
-and soldiers on condition that they should take care that the young
-king should not be carried off to France, that they should maintain the
-Protestant religion, and deliver up Westmoreland and Northumberland.
-These conditions were readily accepted, and letters were dispatched to
-hasten the arrival of Lennox.
-
-On the queen's side were now ranged the whole power of the Hamiltons,
-the Earls of Argyll, Huntly, Athole, Errol, Crawford, and Marshall;
-Caithness, Cassillis, Sutherland, and Eglinton; the Lords Home, Seton,
-Ogilvy, Ross, Borthwick, Oliphant, Yester, and Fleming; Herries, Boyd,
-Somerville, Innermeith, Forbes, and Gray. But more than all, their
-strength lay in the military abilities of Kirkaldy of Grange, and the
-diplomatic abilities of Maitland, who was no sooner at liberty than he
-went over to them. On the side of the king were Lennox, Mar, the governor
-of his youthful majesty, Glencairn, Buchanan, and the Lords Glammis,
-Ruthven, Lindsay, Cathcart, Methven, Ochiltree, and Saltoun.
-
-The friends of Mary, encouraged by promise of support from Spain and
-France, liberated Chatelherault from the castle of Edinburgh, and
-compelled Randolph to fly to Berwick. They then addressed a memorial to
-Elizabeth, calling upon her to put an end to the miseries of Scotland by
-liberating the queen. But Elizabeth was in no humour to listen to such
-requests. She had excited all Mary's friends at home and abroad, and a
-perpetual succession of intrigues, plots, and menaces of invasion kept
-her in no enviable condition. The intrigues of Norfolk for obtaining
-Mary, the successive rebellions in the northern shires, the invasions
-of the Borderers under Buccleuch and Ferniehurst--who had announced
-the death of Murray before it took place--and the constant rumours of
-expeditions from France or Spain, wrought her to such a pitch, that on
-pretence of seizing her rebels Northumberland and Westmoreland, she sent
-the Earl of Sussex into Scotland at the head of 7,000 men, the real
-object being to take vengeance on the allies of Mary, and to devastate
-the country with fire and sword.
-
-This excessive fury so roused the indignation of all parties in
-Scotland, and such loud remonstrances were made by Maitland, the Bishop
-of Ross, and the French ambassador, that Elizabeth began to fear that
-she had gone too far and, instead of ruining Mary's party, had created
-her one out of her old enemies. She wrote to Sussex, commanding him to
-stop the siege of Dumbarton, and to Randolph, ordering him to proceed
-again from Berwick to Edinburgh, and to inform the two parties that,
-having reasonably chastised her rebels, she had listened to the request
-of Mary's ambassador the Bishop of Ross, and was about to arrange at
-Chatsworth for the liberation and restoration of the Queen of Scots.
-On this Sussex retired with his forces, and the commissioners for the
-adjustment of the terms with Mary proceeded to the Peak. Cecil and
-Mildmay were then the agents of Elizabeth; the Bishop of Ross that of
-Mary. The Scottish queen, who had been removed about four months to this
-palace of the Peak, then one of the houses of the Earl of Shrewsbury, her
-keeper, during these negotiations showed herself a complete match for
-the deep and practical diplomatists of Elizabeth; but of course she was
-under the necessity of complying with many things which she would never
-have listened to at liberty. Elizabeth expressed herself quite satisfied;
-still the assent of the two parties in Scotland had to be obtained, and
-that was not at all likely, so that Elizabeth's offer could appear fair,
-and even liberal, with perfect safety. Morton, the head of the opponents
-to Mary, advocated the right of subjects to depose their sovereigns
-where they infringed the rights of the community--a doctrine which was
-abominable to the ears of Elizabeth, and called forth her unqualified
-censure. On the other hand, the guarantees to be given by and on
-account of the Queen of Scots were such as never could be settled, from
-Elizabeth's fears of the resentment of Mary if once she became free. Thus
-the discussion was prolonged till Cecil found a way out of it without the
-liberation of the Scottish Queen. He represented that if Elizabeth were
-to marry a French prince, she would almost entirely annihilate any hopes
-of the English crown in Mary: for if she had issue her claims would be
-superseded; if she had not, then the French would be directly interested
-in keeping Elizabeth firm on her throne. The Duke of Anjou was the prince
-this time proposed, and Elizabeth appeared, as she generally did at
-first, to listen with pleasure to the proposal. No sooner was this scheme
-entertained than she caused the commissioners on the part of the King of
-Scotland to be dismissed for the present, on pretence that they were
-not furnished with sufficient credentials, by which she left herself at
-liberty to renew the treaty if necessary, or to take no further notice
-of it if she came to an arrangement with the French prince. Prolonged
-negotiations with the French Court were set on foot, but neither party
-was sincere, and eventually the marriage project was abandoned, though it
-was subsequently revived in favour of Anjou's brother Alencon.
-
-No sooner had the Scottish commissioners withdrawn than Elizabeth
-summoned a Parliament, in which she proceeded to the enactment of
-severities against both Romanists and Protestants. Pope Pius V. had had
-the folly to cause a bull of excommunication against Elizabeth to be
-published. This now effete instrument of Papal vengeance could only serve
-to enrage the heretic Queen, and to cause her wrath to fall heavily on
-some zealous unfortunate. The lawyers being amongst those who clung the
-longest to the old faith, a search was made in the inns of court for
-copies of the offensive paper. One was found in the chambers of a poor
-student, who, being stretched on the rack to force a confession from
-him of the party from whom he had received it, to save himself from
-torture, confessed that it was given to him by John Felton, a gentleman
-living near Southwark. Felton was seized, and confessed to the fact of
-delivering the bull to the student: and to force a revelation of his
-accomplices from him he was tortured, but to no purpose--he would confess
-nothing more. He was committed to the Tower on the 25th of May, and kept
-till the 4th of August, when he was tried at Guildhall on a charge of
-high treason, condemned, and executed with the disgusting cruelties of
-being cut down alive, and then embowelled and quartered in St. Paul's
-Churchyard, before the gates of the palace of the Bishop of London.
-
-On the 2nd of April, 1571, Parliament met at Westminster. A subsidy of
-two shillings and eightpence in the pound was granted by the Commons,
-and of five shillings in the pound by the clergy, towards defraying
-the charges of suppressing the rebellion in the North, and of pursuing
-the rebels and their abettors into Scotland. This obtained, a bill was
-introduced to make it high treason for any one to claim a right to the
-succession of the Crown during the lifetime of the queen, or to say that
-it belonged to any other person than the queen. A second bill was passed
-this session enacting that any one was guilty of high treason who not
-merely obtained any bull from, or entered any suit in, the Court of
-Rome, but who was merely absolved by the Pope, or by means of any Papal
-instrument; and that all persons should suffer the pains of Praemunire who
-received any _Agnus Dei_, cross, bead, or picture, which had been blessed
-by the Pope, or any one deriving authority from him; and their aiders
-and abettors the same. All persons whatsoever, of a certain age, were
-bound to attend the Protestant worship, and receive the Sacrament as by
-law established; and all such as had fled abroad in order to escape this
-most despotic state of things were ordered to return within six months
-and submit themselves, under penalty of suffering the forfeiture of all
-property or rents from land. This Parliament was distinctly Puritan in
-its temper, and introduced several bills for the reform of religious
-worship, which were dropped in the House of Lords, or failed to receive
-the royal assent.
-
-The result of the friendship between England and France was that many
-of the English Catholics turned to Spain, and the dangerous conspiracy
-was hatched which is known as the Ridolfi plot. In the month of April,
-1571, Charles Bailly, a servant of the Queen of Scots, who was coming
-from Brussels to Dover, was arrested at the latter place, and upon him
-was discovered a packet of letters, which being written in cipher created
-suspicion. The Bishop of Ross, Mary's staunch and vigilant friend, who
-knew very well whence they came, on the first rumour of their seizure,
-contrived to obtain them from Lord Cobham, in whose hands they were, from
-a pretended curiosity to read them before they were sent to the Council.
-Having obtained his desire, he dexterously substituted others, and very
-innocent ones, in their place in a like cipher: but Bailly being sent to
-the Tower and placed on the rack, at length confessed that he had written
-the letters from the dictation of Ridolfi, of Brussels, formerly an
-Italian banker in London, and then had been commissioned by him to convey
-them to England. He further confessed that they contained assurances
-from the Duke of Alva of his warm sympathy with the cause of the captive
-queen, and approved of the plan of a foreign invasion of England; that
-if his master the King of Spain authorised him, he should be ready to
-co-operate with "30" and "40." Who these "30" and "40" were Bailly said
-he did not know, but that all that was explained by a letter enclosed
-to the Bishop of Ross, who was requested to deliver them to the right
-persons.
-
-One of these persons was immediately believed to be the Duke of Norfolk.
-When he had been ten months a prisoner without any matter having
-been brought against him of more consequence than that of his having
-desired to marry the Queen of Scots, provided the Queen of England was
-willing--which was no treason--and had been brought to no trial, he
-petitioned to be liberated, contending that though he was wrong in not
-communicating everything fully to the queen, yet that he had neither
-committed nor intended any crime, and that his health and circumstances
-were suffering greatly from his close imprisonment. In consequence, he
-was removed from the Tower on the 4th of August, 1570, to one of his
-own houses, under the custody of Sir Henry Neville. He certainly then
-obtained sufficient variety of prisons, but no more liberty, for he
-was repeatedly removed from one house to another. He petitioned to be
-restored to his seat in the Council, but was refused; and in August of
-1571 circumstances transpired which occasioned his return to the Tower.
-
-A man of the name of Brown, of Shrewsbury, on the 29th of August carried
-to the Privy Council a bag of money which he said he had received from
-Hickford, the Duke of Norfolk's secretary, to carry to Bannister, the
-duke's steward. The money on being counted in presence of the Council was
-found to amount to L600. But besides the money there were two papers in
-cipher; and on this suspicious appearance Hickford, the secretary, was
-at once arrested, and ordered to decipher the notes, which then showed
-that the money was intended to be sent to Lord Herries in Scotland, to
-assist in making fresh efforts on behalf of Mary. Here was treason, and
-the duke was immediately sent back to the Tower in the custody of Sir
-Ralph Sadler, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Henry Neville his old keeper, and
-Dr. Wilson. The duke denied all knowledge of it; but Bannister, and
-Barker, another secretary of Norfolk's, being now apprehended, as well as
-the Bishop of Ross, the rack forced a confession from them. The result
-was the destruction of the entire conspiracy. The Bishop of Ross, who
-was immediately arrested, made such revelations, that when the Duke of
-Norfolk, who had hitherto stoutly denied everything laid to his charge,
-saw the depositions of the bishop, of Hickford, and Barker, he exclaimed
-that he had been betrayed and ruined by those in whom he put confidence.
-On comparing the various answers of these men and of the duke, it would
-appear that several plans had been in agitation for the liberation of the
-Queen of Scots; that Norfolk, though he would confess to nothing of the
-kind, had taken active part in them; that the money lately taken from
-Hickford had been sent from France for the Scottish friends of Mary. But
-the most fatal to the duke was the revelation of the mission of Ridolfi,
-who had it appeared been sent by him to Alva, to the King of Spain, and
-to the Pope--or rather by Mary, with the cognisance and approbation of
-the duke.
-
-From further disclosures it appeared that the Pope placed a sum of money
-at the disposal of Mary, and accompanied it by a letter to Norfolk,
-regretting that he could send him no further aid this year. Thence
-Ridolfi hastened to Spain, and reaching Madrid on the 3rd of July, 1571,
-he delivered his letters to Philip. Meanwhile Philip had received letters
-from both the Pope and Alva. The Pope urged him to accept the enterprise
-and rescue England from heresy. The more astute Alva advised him to have
-nothing to do with it, for he had no faith in the men engaged in it,
-nor in the soundness of their plans. Philip, however, listened to the
-scheme, and was so much impressed by it as to determine to undertake the
-expedition, and to appoint Vitelli its commander. Ridolfi assured the
-king that he would find plenty ready to co-operate with his forces in
-England; that he might calculate on an army of 20,000 infantry and 3,000
-cavalry meeting his troops on landing, led on by the Duke of Norfolk,
-the Earls of Worcester and Southampton, the Lords Montague, Windsor, and
-Lumley, with many others; that it was intended to dispatch Elizabeth
-while on a visit to some country house, and also to destroy with her
-Cecil, Bacon, Leicester, and Northampton. All this Ridolfi wrote to
-communicate; but the scheme was suddenly scattered to the winds by the
-discovery of his money and letters.
-
-At length the queen determined to bring Norfolk to the bar. She named
-the Earl of Shrewsbury High Steward, and he summoned six-and-twenty
-peers, who were in the first place chosen by the ministers, to attend
-on the 16th of January, 1572, in Westminster Hall. Thither Norfolk was
-brought by the Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir Peter Carew, and was
-charged with having compassed and imagined the death of the queen, and
-with levying war upon her within the realm--1st, By endeavouring to marry
-the Queen of Scots, and supplying her with money, well knowing that she
-claimed the Crown of England; 2nd, By sending sums of money to the Earls
-of Westmoreland and Northumberland and other persons concerned in the
-rebellion in the North, enemies to the queen, and attainted of high
-treason; 3rd, By despatching Ridolfi to the Pope, Alva, and the King of
-Spain, recommending them to send forces to depose the queen, and set
-up the Queen of Scots in her place; he himself marrying the said Queen
-of Scots. Norfolk was found guilty on the fullest evidence, and the
-complicity of Mary was also brought to light.
-
-[Illustration: KENILWORTH CASTLE.]
-
-On Saturday, the 8th of February, Elizabeth signed the warrant for
-Norfolk's execution on the Monday; but late on Sunday night she sent for
-Cecil--now more commonly called Burleigh--and commanded the execution
-to be stayed, revoking the warrant, to the great disappointment of the
-good citizens of London, who had seen all the preparations made for the
-spectacle. Elizabeth soon after signed a fresh warrant which, as the time
-of execution approached, she also revoked. As she herself hung back, the
-preachers and the Commons took it up, and demanded the duke's death,
-for the security of both the sovereign and the State. When the public
-excitement had reached its height, then the queen slowly and reluctantly
-yielded, and issued a third warrant, which she did not revoke, for now
-it was become the act of the nation rather than her own. On the 2nd of
-June, 1572, at eight o'clock in the morning, the duke was brought out
-of the Tower to a scaffold on Tower Hill, the drawing to Tyburn and all
-its revolting accompaniments being dispensed with on account of his high
-rank. He addressed the people, confessing the justice of his sentence,
-though he still denied all treason. On being offered a handkerchief to
-bind his eyes, he refused, saying he was not afraid of death; and after
-a prayer he stretched his head across the block, and it was severed at a
-stroke.
-
-Meanwhile, Elizabeth had been making a gay procession amongst her
-subjects, and had been royally feasted at the castle of her favourite,
-Leicester, at Kenilworth, and was at Woodstock, on her return towards
-town, when she was met by one of the most horrible pieces of news
-which ever flew across affrighted Europe. This was the massacre of St.
-Bartholomew.
-
-The pacification which had been patched up between the Romanists and
-the Huguenots in France had no sincerity in it. All the old hatred and
-resentment were fomenting beneath the surface. The Huguenots had no faith
-in the Papists, and the Papists longed to annihilate the Huguenots as
-heretics. None thirsted so much for their blood as the queen-mother,
-Catherine de Medicis. She entered into the most subtle and daring schemes
-for their destruction, and the imbecile Charles IX. was mere wax in her
-hands. Her plans ripened, the massacre broke out on St. Bartholomew's
-day, August 24th, 1572, and it continued until many Protestants of all
-ages had been cruelly murdered.
-
-A sensation of horror was diffused all over Europe by the news of this
-unexampled atrocity of bigotry, which was greatly augmented in England
-by the crowds of Protestants who fled thither for refuge. The body of
-the nation called for instant war, to avenge on the sanguinary French
-Government this infamous treatment of the Reformed church. The French
-ambassador hastened to apologise to the Queen of England for what he
-termed this unfortunate accident. Burleigh carefully impressed upon
-Elizabeth the necessity of the death of Mary as "the only means of
-preventing her own deposition and murder;" and Sandys, the Bishop of
-London, sent in a paper of necessary precautions to be adopted, the first
-and foremost of which was to "forthwith cut off the Scottish queen's
-head." The nation also clamoured for her execution. Elizabeth listened
-to the advice, but was too politic to imbrue her hands in the blood of
-the Queen of Scotland, without exerting herself first to transfer the
-odium to some other person. Killigrew was therefore sent down to Scotland
-to see if the execution of the queen could not be effected there. His
-ostensible mission was to arrange, if possible, the terms of an armistice
-between the adherents of Mary and those of the young king in Scotland,
-at the head of which parties were Huntly and Morton. But the private and
-real object was to lead the Protestant lords to the point of removing
-Mary from the hands of Elizabeth, "to receive that she had deserved by
-order of justice." But before an answer could be received the Regent
-Mar died suddenly. This occurred on the 28th of October, 1572, and on
-the 9th of November Morton, by the influence of Elizabeth, was elected
-Regent in his place. Thus Elizabeth had obtained the appointment to
-be guardian of the young king of the very man who had for many years
-been in her pay, and was ready to execute any designs demanded by her
-policy. Both Mary and her son might now be said to be in her hands. No
-sooner was Morton in power than he managed, with the help of Elizabeth,
-who had always _weighty_ persuasions at hand, to bring over Mary's
-chief friends the Hamiltons, and Huntley's people the Gordons, and he
-demanded the immediate and unconditional surrender of the castle of
-Edinburgh. Kirkaldy, Maitland, and Hume, who held it, however, refused
-to give it up, and thus put them at the mercy of their enemies. On this,
-Elizabeth ordered Drury, the marshal of Berwick, to advance to Edinburgh
-with a strong force furnished with a powerful battering train, and,
-if necessary, lay the castle in ashes. In this extremity the besieged
-lords, and Mary from her prison in England, implored the King of France
-to hasten to their assistance, and not to allow Elizabeth to extinguish
-the last spark of opposition in Scotland. But Charles replied that it was
-quite out of his power, for Elizabeth, on the very first movement, would
-send a fleet to La Rochelle, where he was besieging the Huguenots. The
-castle was consequently compelled to surrender on the 9th of June, 1573,
-after a siege of thirty-four days, and the King's party was for the time
-being triumphant.
-
-Though the French king had refused to assist Mary's party in Scotland
-in their last extremity, for fear of Elizabeth's affording aid to the
-Huguenots besieged in La Rochelle by the Duke of Anjou, that did not
-prevent Elizabeth assisting the Rochellais. She allowed a strong fleet
-of Englishmen, under the nominal command of the Count de Montgomery, to
-assemble in Plymouth for their relief, and she promised them further
-help. To avert this, Charles IX. endeavoured to flatter Elizabeth into
-neutrality. He requested her to stand godmother to his infant daughter.
-The French Protestants, however, were so incensed at Elizabeth's
-compliance, which they regarded as an act of apostacy, that they attacked
-the squadron which conveyed the English ambassador, Elizabeth's proxy,
-seized one of his ships, slew some of his attendants, and put his own
-life in peril. Charles IX. saw in this a favourable opportunity for
-inducing Elizabeth to cause the Plymouth fleet to disperse. He therefore
-despatched an ambassador before the queen's anger could cool, requesting
-her to refuse a promised loan to these audacious Rochellais, and to
-disperse the hostile fleet at Plymouth. But Elizabeth referred the envoy
-to her ministers on that point, who assured him that they had no power
-whatever to impede the sailing of the fleet, for that Englishmen sailed
-on the plea of traffic wherever they pleased; and if they committed any
-acts of hostility on friendly powers, they were at the mercy of those
-powers to seize them and treat them as pirates.
-
-Elizabeth was soon, however, punished for this flagrant equivocation.
-Montgomery sailed in April; but on discovering the strength of the
-French fleet moored under the forts and batteries of La Rochelle he
-was seized with terror, and returned to Plymouth without striking a
-blow. Elizabeth, indignant at his failure, then sent him word that she
-was highly displeased at his presuming to unfurl the English flag, and
-forbade his access to any of the English ports. In June, 1574, he was
-taken prisoner in Normandy, and on the 26th of that month he was executed
-as a traitor in Paris. The bravery of the people of La Rochelle, however,
-and the election of the Duke of Anjou to the throne of Poland, saved that
-city. A new pacification was entered into, but the peace of France was
-again disturbed by a coalition between the heads of the Huguenots and the
-Marshals Montmorency, De Cosse, and Damfont, the Papal leaders called
-the Politiques. This league was formed to get possession of the king,
-whose health was now fast failing, remove Catherine and the Duke of Guise
-from power, and proclaim Alencon as the successor to the crown in the
-absence of Anjou in Poland. Elizabeth was actively engaged in all these
-movements, especially in advising Alencon to place himself at the head
-of affairs. But the watchful genius of Catherine discovered and defeated
-the plot: Montmorency and Cosse were committed to the Bastille, Alencon
-and the King of Navarre were so closely watched that they were stopped in
-five attempts to escape, and numbers of the inferior actors were put to
-death.
-
-In May, 1574, Charles IX. of France died a miserable death, full of
-remorse and horror, worn out with consumption, in the twenty-sixth year
-of his age. By the management of Catherine, the throne was secured by her
-next son, Anjou, notwithstanding his being absent in Poland. Anjou as
-ended the French throne under the title of Henry III., detested by all
-the Protestants for his share in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. In the
-following year a new plot was formed between the Protestant council at
-Millaud in Rovergne and the Romanists under Damville, to place Alencon
-on the throne--a scheme cordially supported by Elizabeth, in favour of
-her present lover, Alencon. Alencon effected his escape from Court in
-September, 1575; and Elizabeth, notwithstanding her recent renewal of
-the treaty of Blois, advanced him money to raise him an army of German
-Protestants. In February, 1575, the King of Navarre also escaped, and
-the two princes called on Elizabeth to declare war in their favour; but
-the demand was overruled in the Council, and Elizabeth offered herself
-as mediatrix between the king and his brother, Alencon, who was grown
-jealous of the ascendency of Navarre.
-
-On the 21st of April a treaty was concluded by which the exercise of
-the Protestant religion was permitted to a certain extent; the king
-promised to call an assembly of the States to regulate the affairs of the
-kingdom, and Alencon succeeded to the appanage of his elder brother, and
-hence-forward was styled Anjou.
-
-This settlement of the differences of creeds was of very short duration.
-The Protestant league of Millaud stimulated the Roman Catholics to
-counter-leagues, which entered into obligation under oath to maintain
-the ascendency of the ancient faith, and to resist all the encroachments
-of the Protestants. Henry III., who beheld his own authority usurped
-by these leagues, determined to place himself at the head of a great
-combined league of the Catholics, which he did in February, 1577, the
-deputies of the assemblies of the States, for the most part, following
-his example, and annulling the bulk of the privileges lately conceded
-to the Protestants. The consequence was another religious war, followed
-by as short-lived a peace, by which the privileges revoked were again
-restored.
-
-But our narrative of the French contests between the two parties has
-passed ahead of the disturbances in the Netherlands. A furious war had
-been raging there between the Protestant and Papist interests, which also
-represented the interests of the native Netherlanders and Spain. The Duke
-of Alva had waded through oceans of blood to maintain the bigoted and
-cruel power of his master, Philip; but the natives had found a resolute
-and skilful champion in the Protestant Prince of Orange. He succeeded in
-establishing the independence of Holland and Zealand; and Philip, angry
-with Alva for his want of success, recalled him, and treated him with a
-stern neglect, which, however ungrateful in the king, was perhaps the
-best reward for the commission of such crimes as Alva had given himself
-up to work for him. In the place of Alva, Philip despatched Requescens,
-who adopted a more conciliatory policy towards the people, and thus
-weakened the influence of the Prince of Orange.
-
-In these circumstances William applied to Elizabeth for help; but, since
-he had assumed the government of Holland and Zealand, Elizabeth had begun
-to regard him with jealousy. She felt sure that, from his connection
-with the Protestants of France, he would seek for their assistance, and
-this once gained would afford a pretext for Henry III. invading Holland;
-and the extension of the sway of France into the Netherlands by no means
-offered a pleasing prospect to the commerce and tranquillity of England.
-Instead of granting aid to the struggling Protestants of Flanders, she
-withdrew her forces from Flushing, and entered into negotiations with the
-Spaniards. Requescens, rejoiced at this change, conceded what he could,
-agreed to expel the English refugees from the Netherlands, and obtained,
-in return, an order to arrest all the vessels of the insurgents in her
-ports, and for their exclusion from England.
-
-This change of policy greatly mortified the Prince of Orange and the
-Protestant interests in the Netherlands, but Elizabeth represented it
-as her object to mediate between them and France. The Prince of Orange,
-however, would listen to no such mediation, till the civil war breaking
-out again in France put an end to all hope of assistance thence. To
-effectually secure the aid of Elizabeth, the prince sent over deputies
-to make her an offer of the sovereignty of Holland and Zealand, as the
-representative of the ancient princes of those countries by descent
-from Philippa of Hainault. This proposal flattered her; but, after much
-discussion and diversity of opinion in her Council, it was deemed best
-to decline it, but she intimated that she would do all in her power to
-reconcile them to their sovereign, Philip.
-
-About a month after this decision, Requescens died, and was succeeded
-towards the end of the year by Don John of Austria, the bastard brother
-of Philip, attended by all the reputation of his victory over the
-Turks at the great battle of Lepanto. He was compelled to ratify an
-accommodation which had just taken place between Holland and Zealand and
-the Popish states of the Netherlands, which was styled the Pacification
-of Ghent, and provided that no foreign soldiers should be permitted in
-the States, and that they should help each other against all opponents.
-This treaty was known as the "perpetual edict," but it appeared very
-likely to be broken immediately. Don John, without a foreign army,
-found himself impotent to contend with the independent Belgians. He
-therefore sent for the Spanish army from Italy, and the Prince of Orange
-also appealed to Elizabeth for men and money to resist this direct
-violation of the edict. Elizabeth recommended both parties to abide by
-that contract, but the Prince of Orange, hopeless of any justice or
-toleration with a Spanish army in the country, threatened to transfer the
-sovereignty of his estates to Alencon, Elizabeth's suitor, now Anjou. He
-moreover despatched an envoy to communicate a grand design of Don John of
-Austria against England. He represented that Don John was of a restless
-and ambitious character, that he had been disappointed of becoming King
-of Tunis by the commands of Philip, and that he now found that he had
-conceived a plan for making himself monarch of England and Scotland. This
-plan had already received the sanction of the Pope, who had engaged to
-aid him with 6,000 mercenaries on pretence of assisting the knights of
-Malta. The prince assured her that the recall of the Spanish army was
-for the invasion of her realm; that the Pope's reinforcement was to meet
-them at sea, and together they were to land in England and, aided by the
-friends of the Queen of Scotland, liberate that princess, who was to
-marry Don John, and they were to reign as John and Mary, King and Queen
-of England and Scotland.
-
-Elizabeth must have credited the reality of this design, for she agreed
-to guarantee a loan of L100,000 to the States, and to furnish 1,000
-horse and 5,000 foot, on condition that they should not make peace
-without her approbation, nor allow her rebels to find an asylum amongst
-them. This was not a defence of her own country, but an invasion of
-her ally Philip's; and she was obliged to assure him that she had no
-hostile intention, but to compel the observance of the Pacification
-of Ghent, and to defend her own territory against the designs of his
-brother, Don John. Philip affected to hope that her mediation might be
-successful, but probably trusted to the talents of Don John and the army
-from Italy to subdue the insurgent people, in spite of the English aid.
-The Netherlanders, notwithstanding the money which they had raised on
-Elizabeth's guarantee, wanted yet more; and they put into her hands the
-jewels and plate which Matthias of Austria, the brother of the Emperor
-Rudolph and nominal governor of the States, had pledged to them. On this
-pledge Elizabeth advanced them L50,000. Animated by this supply, the
-Dutch proceeded to attack the army of Don John, but were defeated in
-the great battle of Gembloux, an overthrow which spread consternation
-throughout the Netherlands. Once more they appealed to Elizabeth, to the
-Protestant princes of Germany, and to the Duke of Anjou.
-
-[Illustration: THE HOUSE OF THE ENGLISH AMBASSADOR DURING THE MASSACRE OF
-ST. BARTHOLOMEW. (_After the Picture by P. H. Calderon, R. A._)]
-
-Casimir, brother of the Elector Palatine, marched across the Rhine with
-12,000 men, paid with English gold, and Anjou also advanced at the head
-of 10,000. The Protestant followers of Casimir, however, seemed to act
-rather as invading an enemy's country than as come to succour friends
-and the people, wherever they came, declared that they had better remain
-under Philip than under such allies. The Prince of Orange, despairing of
-being able to resist such commanders as Don John and Farnese, Duke of
-Parma, formed a confederation of the Northern States alone, afterwards
-known as the United Provinces; and Don John dying (not, it has been said,
-without a suspicion of having been poisoned) on the 1st of October, 1578,
-the Duke of Parma won over the Walloon States to Philip by promising to
-observe the Perpetual Edict, and replacing the foreign army by native
-troops.
-
-However, the contest in the Netherlands went on. On March 15th, 1580,
-Philip published a ban, offering 25,000 crowns for the head of the
-Prince of Orange; and Anjou, on the other hand, prosecuted his claim
-to the Netherlands. Elizabeth, who probably was now looking for a
-plausible excuse for dismissing Anjou, professed to doubt how far, if he
-succeeded in making himself master of those provinces, she could keep
-her engagement to marry him, as it would, probably, be dangerous to the
-trade and independence of England; and moreover, if she did marry Anjou,
-would not such a marriage be as hateful to her subjects as that of Mary
-with Philip? Yet, immediately afterwards, she consented to his acceptance
-of the government of the Netherlands, and made him a present of 100,000
-crowns, by means of which he put his army in motion.
-
-In April, 1581, in consequence of this return of regard for Anjou, a
-distinguished embassy was sent over from France, and was received by the
-nobles and the authorities of the city of London with great _eclat_. The
-ambassadors persuaded themselves that this time success would attend
-them; but they were much astonished to find that the queen had now
-discovered a new objection to the match: that it would involve her in a
-war with Philip, who had lately become additionally formidable by the
-acquisition of Portugal, and proposed to enter, instead of marriage,
-into a league, offensive and defensive, with France. By the perseverance
-of the ambassadors, however, these scruples were also overcome, and the
-marriage was definitively settled to take place in six weeks, provided
-that the league of perpetual amity were signed within that time. The six
-weeks having expired, and Elizabeth still continuing undetermined, Anjou,
-who had crossed the frontier with 16,000 men, and expelled the Prince of
-Parma from Cambray, hastened over to settle matters with his wavering
-mistress.
-
-Elizabeth received him with every demonstration of affection, and
-probably would have married him had it not been for the public
-indignation. She let her vengeance fall on the author of a pamphlet
-called "The Gaping Gulf," showing the dangers of this marriage. The
-author was one John Stubbs, a student of Lincoln's Inn. Elizabeth laid
-hold on him, his printer and publisher, and had them condemned in the
-Court of Queen's Bench to have their right hands cut off. The printer
-was suffered to depart, but the sentence was executed on Stubbs and
-his publisher in the market-place of Westminster, by driving a cleaver
-through the wrist with a mallet. The foolish Stubbs, the moment his hand
-was off, waving his cap with the left, cried--"Long live the queen!"
-At the end of three months Anjou grew weary of this silly farce, and
-announced his determination to depart. Even then Elizabeth would not
-permit him to go without exacting a promise that he would soon return.
-She stormed, she raved, she called the States of the Netherlands, which
-summoned him to his duties there, _des coquins_, and accompanied the duke
-to Canterbury, where she parted from him weeping like a girl.
-
-On his arrival in the Netherlands, Anjou found plenty of employment in
-contending with the genius and the forces of the Prince of Parma. He
-found, also, that the real authority in the country was centred in the
-Prince of Orange, and resolving to make himself the actual master of
-it, he laid a plan of seizing all the chief towns in the states on the
-same day. But this extraordinary scheme failed. The Dutch, resenting the
-attempt, attacked his troops on all sides, and soon compelled him to fly
-back to France, where he terminated his existence at Chateau-Thierry, on
-the 10th of June, 1584, not without suggestion of foul play. So great was
-Elizabeth's fondness for this prince, whom she might have married, and
-would not, that even at this period no one dare for some time inform her
-of his death, which she appeared to bewail with all the symptoms of deep
-grief.
-
-Within one month of the death of Anjou there fell a far more noble and
-important man. William the Silent, Prince of Orange, the great champion
-and founder of the independence of Holland, perished by the hand of
-an assassin. The ban of Philip had not failed to operate, though at a
-distance of four years. Balthazar Gerard, impelled by fanaticism and the
-25,000 crowns offered by the unscrupulous Spanish King, shot him on the
-10th of July, 1584.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_continued_).
-
-     Affairs of Ireland: Shane O'Neil's Rebellion--Plantation of
-     Ulster--Spanish Descent on Ireland--Desmond's Rebellion--Religious
-     Conformity--Campian and Parsons--The Anabaptists--Affairs
-     of Scotland--Death of Morton--Success of the Catholics in
-     Scotland--The Raid of Ruthven--Elizabeth's Position--Throgmorton's
-     Plot--Association to Protect Elizabeth--Mary removed
-     to Tutbury--Support of the Protestant Cause on the
-     Continent--Leicester in the Netherlands--Babington's Plot--Trial
-     of Mary--Her Condemnation--Hesitation of Elizabeth--Execution of
-     Mary.
-
-
-It is now necessary to trace the course of events in Ireland during the
-years we have just passed over. A great work had been going on in that
-country, the object of which was to reduce the turbulent native chiefs to
-obedience, and to establish English settlers in the lands of those who
-were driven out or exterminated.
-
-The most distinguished of those chiefs was Shane O'Neil, the Earl
-of Tyrone. Henry VIII. had granted the succession to Matthew, an
-illegitimate son of the old earl's; but Shane, the eldest legitimate
-son, would not submit to this arrangement. He was supported in his
-claims by the people, and vindicated his rights. By the persuasion of
-the Earl of Sussex, at that time governor, he was induced to appear
-at the Court of Elizabeth in 1562. He laid his claims before her, and
-excited a great sensation by appearing in his native costume, attended
-by a guard armed with battle-axes, and clad in saffron-coloured vests.
-Elizabeth did not grant all his requests, but expressed herself highly
-pleased with his presence, and made him great promises. But Shane was too
-sensitive and independent in his feelings and ideas to be a very orderly
-subject. Frequently he did essential service as the ally of the English
-Government, but more frequently was compelled to seek vengeance for
-injuries and encroachments. In 1565, three years after his appearance at
-the English Court, he was driven into open rebellion; and after a severe
-struggle, was compelled to seek refuge in the wilds of Ulster amongst the
-Scots. There, at the instigation of Piers, an English officer, he was
-assassinated (1567), his estates were confiscated, with those of all his
-followers, comprising one-half of Ulster, and the name and dignity of
-O'Neil were abolished for ever.
-
-That which was done in Ulster had to be done in every other province of
-Ireland. Whenever insurrection broke out and was suppressed, the lands
-were forfeited to the Crown. But so long as the Crown held nominally
-these lands, the natives continued to hold them really. To remedy this,
-and to ensure a certain forfeiture by the rebels, and a reward to the
-English conquerors, Sir Thomas Smith proposed that these lands should
-be granted in various portions to English settlers, who, in prosecution
-of their own claims, would drive out the rebel natives and cultivate
-the soil. It needs no reflection to perceive that this system must be
-fruitful beyond conception in crimes, murders, and miseries. Lands were
-granted to a bastard son of the projector's, and to numerous other
-adventurers. They drove out the Irish, and these came back in infuriated
-numbers, with fire and desolation. Under this frightful system the
-country soon became a desert. To put an end to these sanguinary scenes,
-Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex, represented that it needed only a
-sufficient force on the part of the English. He offered to bring under
-subjection, and to colonise, the district of Clandeboy in Ulster. His
-proposals were that the queen and himself should furnish equal shares
-of the charge, and the colony, being organised, should be divided
-equally between them. The courtiers who had envied him his favour with
-Elizabeth pretended to promote his design till he had embarked all his
-fortune in it, when they threw all possible obstacles in his way. Through
-these hindrances, it was late in the summer of 1573 before he arrived
-in Ireland, and then only to find that the Lord-deputy Fitzwilliam
-questioned his powers; and on proceeding to the lands of Clandeboy,
-Phelim O'Neil and his adherents contended with him for its possession
-fort by fort. He maintained his ground, however, through the winter,
-though grievously suffering from the bad quality of the provisions
-furnished by the queen's contractors, and from the ill-armed condition
-of his troops--for the evils which mowed down our army in the Crimea
-were among the most ancient evils of the English Government. Essex is
-said to have invited Phelim O'Neil to a banquet, and there assassinated
-him and his attendants; but this did not mend his position. The Lords
-Dacre and Rich, and many gentlemen, abandoned the enterprise and returned
-home. Though deserted and unable to conquer his own allotted territory,
-he assisted the Lord-Deputy to suppress the rebels in other parts of the
-island. He returned to England in 1575, and was appointed Earl Marshal of
-Ireland, but with no adequate force; and ultimately died, September 22nd,
-1576, at Dublin.
-
-After the death of Essex, the system of planting Ireland, as it was
-called, still went on. The destruction of the O'Neils all the other clans
-regarded as only preliminary to their own. They therefore appealed to
-the Kings of Spain and France for assistance; and on their declaring
-themselves unable, from their own dangers and insurrections at home, to
-assist them, they implored the protection of the Pope, Gregory XIII.
-His holiness launched a bull at the heretic queen, declaring Ireland
-forfeited, as previous bulls had declared England and Wales forfeited.
-Under his encouragement two adventurers, Thomas Stukely and James
-Fitzmaurice, set out to proclaim the bull, and to carry the arms of his
-holiness all over Ireland. Stukely, however, having obtained a ship of
-war, 600 soldiers, and 3,000 stand of arms, carried them to the service
-of the King of Portugal, and died fighting in his wars against the Moors.
-Fitzmaurice, a brother of the Earl of Desmond, and a deadly enemy of
-the English invaders, was more faithful; and after suffering shipwreck
-on the coast of Galicia, landed at Smerwick, in Kerry, in June, 1579.
-He had with him, however, only eighty Spanish soldiers, and a few Irish
-and English refugees; and his expedition proved an utter failure, for
-the inhabitants had no faith in so insignificant a knot of adventurers.
-Fitzmaurice being killed in a private quarrel, his followers fled into
-the territories of his brother, the Earl of Desmond.
-
-The Earl of Desmond professed himself a loyal subject; but he was
-suspected of favouring the insurgents, and the English marched into his
-demesnes, and plundered them. Another detachment from the Pope, however,
-landed at Smerwick, the port which Fitzmaurice had made. It consisted
-of several hundred men, having a large sum of money, and 5,000 stand
-of arms, under the command of San Giuseppe, an Italian. Lord Grey de
-Wilton, the new Lord-Deputy, had recently suffered a defeat in the vale
-of Glandaclough; but he managed to besiege this foreign force in their
-newly-erected fort, while Admiral Winter blockaded them on the sea side.
-After three days' resistance, the handful of Italians and Spaniards put
-out a flag of truce, and offered to surrender on condition that their
-lives were spared. Foreign writers all assert that this was granted them;
-but Sir Richard Bingham, who was present, says that they surrendered one
-night at the pleasure of the Lord-Deputy, to have mercy or not, as he
-willed. Sir Walter Raleigh and Spenser, the poet, were in Grey's army,
-and their conduct reflects no honour upon them. Sir Walter entered the
-fort to receive their arms, and then ordered them all to be massacred
-(1580); and this proceeding Spenser endeavours to vindicate. He was
-Lord Grey's secretary; and while he styles him "a most gentle, affable,
-loving, and temperate lord," he gives this account of his act:--"The
-enemy begged that they might be allowed to depart with their lives and
-arms according to the law of nations. He asked to see their commission
-from the Pope or the King of Spain. They had none: they were the allies
-of the Irish. 'But the Irish,' replied Grey, 'are traitors, and you must
-suffer as traitors. I will make no terms with you; you may submit or
-not.' They yielded, craving only mercy, which it not being thought good
-to show them, for danger of them, if being saved, they should afterwards
-join the Irish, who were much emboldened by those foreign successes, and
-also put in hope of more ere long. There was no other way but to make
-that short end of them as was made."
-
-This was a fatal precedent to the French and Spaniards, against whom
-our own countrymen were fighting in the very same manner by the orders
-of Elizabeth, in France, in the Netherlands, and in South America; and
-whilst we denounce the savage slaughter of English adventurers in the
-trans-Atlantic lands of Spain wherever they were found without mercy or
-quarter, we are bound to remember that we thus set the Spaniards the
-example, and furnished them with warrant.
-
-After this butchery Grey and his myrmidons combined to chase Desmond from
-spot to spot in his mountain fastnesses. Three years later (1583) a party
-of the English, attracted by a light, entered a hut, where they found a
-venerable old man lying on the hearth before the fire, quite alone. On
-their demanding who he was, he replied, "The Earl of Desmond," when Kelly
-of Moriarty instantly struck off his head, which he sent as a grateful
-present to Elizabeth, by whom it was fixed on London Bridge. With Desmond
-fell for some time the resistance of the hunted natives in Ireland. From
-the forfeited lands of these immolated Irish, Sir Walter Raleigh received
-42,000 acres, other gentlemen from 5,000 to 18,000, and Spenser the poet
-3,000 and a castle of the unfortunate Desmond's--Kilcolman--which the
-exasperated natives burnt over his head, and with it one of his children.
-Spenser's concern in this bloody affair proved, in fact, his ruin.
-
-[Illustration: MURDER OF THE EARL OF DESMOND. (_See p._ 296.)]
-
-Returning to England, we find that Elizabeth during this period had
-been persecuting every form of Christianity which did not agree with
-her own. There were three parties against whom she felt herself
-aggrieved--the Puritans, the Papists, and the Anabaptists; and she set
-to work resolutely to squeeze them into the mould of her orthodoxy, or
-to crush them. Many of the Puritans who had imbibed the sternest spirit
-of Geneva had got into the pulpits of the State Church and refused to
-wear the robes, to perform the rites, or to preach the exact doctrines
-as prescribed by law. If they did not accord with that Church, they
-certainly had no business there, and had no right to complain that
-Elizabeth turned them out. The time to complain was when she had
-expelled them, and they set up a Church of their own, which she would
-not allow. Their freedom was their birthright; but the queen would
-not suffer them to exercise it. She had but one word in her religious
-vocabulary--conform; and this rigid conformity was carried out ruthlessly
-by the very ministers and clergy who had so manfully complained of
-compulsion in the last reign. They purged one diocese after another by
-expelling Puritan clergy. These acts of arbitrary power were loudly
-denounced in the House of Commons, where there was a strong Puritan
-party, and numerous bills were brought in to advance the Reformation. Out
-of doors, Parker, the old Archbishop of Canterbury, faithfully executed
-the will of the sovereign; and opinion, suppressed in the Church and
-in Parliament, where the queen even sent personal and most dictatorial
-messages stopping all religious discussion, now burst forth through the
-press. Pamphlets of a most inflammatory nature and abusive style issued
-in shoals; and one Burchell, a student of the Middle Temple, became so
-inflamed by zeal that he murdered Hawkins, an officer, mistaking him for
-Hatton, the queen's new favourite. In prison he also killed his keeper
-under the delusion that he was Hatton; and though palpably insane, he was
-hanged for murder.
-
-Parker died in 1575 and was succeeded by Grindal, who, Elizabeth soon
-discovered, was too much of a Puritan himself to persecute them severely,
-and she suspended him, and harassed him to such a degree that he died in
-1583. To him succeeded Whitgift, a man after Elizabeth's own heart, who
-framed a test of orthodoxy, which he put to all clergymen or others whom
-he suspected, which consisted of these three notable dogmas--the queen's
-supremacy, the perfection of the Ordinal and Book of Common Prayer, and
-the complete accordance of the Thirty-nine Articles with the Scriptures.
-All those clergymen who refused to subscribe to this he expelled; and
-in defiance of clamour and intrigue in Council or Convocation, he held
-on his way immovably. Nor did the queen long satisfy herself with
-mere expulsion. Thacker and Copping, two Brownists, were indicted for
-objecting to the Book of Common Prayer, which was treated as an attack
-on the royal supremacy, and were put to death. The persecution of the
-Catholics was still more severe than that of the Puritans.
-
-The fury of persecution in England stimulated the Roman Catholics abroad
-to a corresponding enthusiasm of martyrdom. Gregory XIII. followed
-the example of William Allen--who had founded an English seminary at
-Douay--and established a second English seminary in the hospital of
-Santo Spirito, in Rome, from which emissaries were despatched into
-the heretical kingdom. First and foremost the general of the Jesuits
-selected in 1580 two Englishmen of distinguished abilities, and sent
-them from this college. Robert Parsons and Edmund Campian arrived with
-a reputation, and with rumours of the dark conspiracy in which they
-were engaged, which roused all the alarm and the vigilance of the
-Government. Rewards were offered for their discovery, and menaces of
-punishment issued for remissness in tracing them out. The queen sent
-forth a proclamation, calling on every person who had children, wards,
-or relatives gone abroad for education to make a return of their names
-to the ordinary, and to recall them within three months; and all persons
-whatsoever who knew of any Jesuit or seminarist in the kingdom, and
-failed to give information, were to be punished as abettors of treason.
-
-As soon as Parliament met in January of 1581, still more stringent laws
-were passed for the punishment of Roman Catholics. It was made high
-treason merely to possess the power of absolution, or to receive any
-person into the church of Rome. The fines for hearing or saying Mass were
-re-enacted. Absence from church was made punishable at the rate of twenty
-pounds per month, and, if prolonged to a whole year, besides the penalty,
-the offender must produce two securities for his good behaviour of L200
-each. The concealment of Roman Catholic tutors, schoolmasters, or priests
-entailed a year's imprisonment, a priest or tutor being also amenable to
-the same punishment, and the employer of them to a fine of ten pounds per
-month. There was but one step possible beyond this outrageous despotism,
-and that was to the stake, as in Mary's time; but the very fury of legal
-punishment defeated its own object.
-
-Parsons and Campian put into the hands of their friends written
-statements of their objects in coming into the country, which they
-declared to be solely to exercise their spiritual functions as priests,
-not to interfere with any worldly concerns or affairs of State; but they
-declared that all the Jesuits in the world had entered into a league to
-maintain the Catholic religion at the risk of imprisonment, torture, or
-death. This announcement excited the greatest alarm, and the most fiery
-persecution burst forth on the whole body of the Romanists, whilst every
-means was exerted to discover and secure these missionaries. The names
-of all the recusants in the kingdom, amounting to 50,000, were returned
-to Government, and no man included in that number had any longer the
-least security or privacy in his own house. The doors were broken open
-without notice given, and the pursuivants, rushing in, spread themselves
-all over the dwelling. Cabinets, cupboards, drawers, closets were forced
-and ransacked, beds torn open, tapestry or wainscot was dragged down, and
-every imaginable place explored, for the purpose of obtaining evidence
-by vessels, vestments, books, or crosses, of heretical worship. The
-inmates were put under strict watch, till they had been searched and
-interrogated; and many were driven nearly or wholly out of their senses
-by the rudeness and the insults which they received from brutal officers.
-Lady Neville was frightened to death in Holborn, and Mrs. Vavasour was
-deprived of her reason at York.
-
-In July, Campian was taken at Lyfford, in Berkshire, and was committed
-to the Tower; and Parsons, seeing no prospect of long escaping pursuit,
-contrived to get over again to the Continent. Campian was repeatedly
-racked, and under the force of torture and the promises that no injury
-should be done to his entertainers, he related the whole course of his
-peregrinations in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Denbigh, Northampton, Warwick,
-Bedford, Buckingham, and elsewhere, and the names of those who had given
-him hospitality. No sooner, however, had the Council the names than they
-summoned all those who had harboured him, and fined some and imprisoned
-others.
-
-In November, Campian and twelve other priests and a layman were put upon
-their trial, and were charged with a horrible conspiracy to murder the
-queen and to overturn Church and State. Rome and Rheims were declared to
-be the places where this direful plot had been hatched. The astonishment
-of the prisoners, several of whom had never been out of England, was
-extreme. Not an atom of evidence was produced to authenticate these
-charges, yet the whole were pronounced guilty. One of them was saved by
-an _alibi_ established by Lancaster, a Protestant barrister; the rest
-were executed as traitors, except those who were still kept prisoners. On
-the scaffold (December 1, 1581), Campian lamented that the weakness of
-the flesh on the rack had forced him to disclose the names of some of his
-entertainers, by which they had been brought into trouble.
-
-The Anabaptists, who had created great scandals and disturbance in
-Germany, made repeated visits to London under pretence of belonging to
-the Dutch Church. They denied the propriety of infant baptism; they also
-denied that Christ assumed the flesh of the Virgin; they believed it
-wrong to take an oath, or to accept the office of a magistrate. In some
-of these tenets they resembled the Society of Friends which afterwards
-rose, and their creed did not interfere with the quiet of the State;
-yet numbers of them were imprisoned, ten of them were sent out of the
-kingdom, and two, Peters and Turwert, were burnt in Smithfield in July,
-1575. Again, in 1579, Matthew Hammond, a ploughman, was burnt at Norwich.
-
-In no quarter had Elizabeth for a long time any security except in
-Scotland. There Morton was her faithful ally, inasmuch as she held fast
-the King of Scots, and so guaranteed the chief means of his own tranquil
-enjoyment of power. But Morton's rule was not such as any country would
-long tolerate. He was essentially a base and selfish man, and his
-severity and rapacity alienated the public from him more and more. He
-debased the coin, multiplied forfeitures to enrich himself, appropriated
-the estates of the Church, and at the same time was so subservient to
-Elizabeth, that the national pride resented it. In 1578, Athole and
-Argyll made their way to the presence of the young king, who was now
-approaching thirteen years of age, and assured him that it was now quite
-time that he freed himself from the tutelage of Morton and ruled the
-country himself. James readily listened to them, and sent Morton an order
-to resign, and to attend a council at Stirling, where the friends of
-Athole and Argyll were summoned.
-
-Morton, though taken by surprise, appeared to obey with perfect
-acquiescence; but he lost no time in intriguing with the Erskines, and
-in three months had again possessed himself of the person of the king,
-and resumed his authority in the State. Athole and Argyll mustered their
-friends to force the reins from the hands of Morton, who boldly met them
-in the field, when the ambassador of England appeared as a mediator,
-and persuaded them to a reconciliation. But it was not in the nature of
-Morton to forget the opponents of his power, although they now appeared
-as nominal friends. He invited Athole, the chief actor in his late fall,
-to a banquet, from which he retired, as Mar had done, to die. Like Mar,
-he was poisoned. Secure as he now seemed, Morton let loose his vengeance
-on his enemies; and the Hamiltons, the friends of Mary, were compelled,
-in spite of the treaty of Perth, to fly to England for security; and
-being freed from their restraint he indulged freely his insatiable
-avarice at the expense of the country.
-
-But justice reached this minister of evil when it was least expected.
-Esme Stuart, the Lord of Aubigny, a son of the younger brother of the
-Earl of Lennox, who had become naturalised in France, returned to
-Scotland. With a handsome person and French accomplishments, he soon
-captivated the young monarch, who could not live at any period of his
-life without a favourite. He created Aubigny captain of the guard, first
-lord of the bed-chamber, and finally Duke of Lennox, being the nephew
-of the late earl, and cousin of Darnley. Associated with Lennox was
-another and far more deep and designing Stuart--James, commonly called
-Captain Stuart, the second son of Lord Ochiltree. He was also related
-to the king, and lent essential aid to Lennox, not only from his genius
-for intrigue, but because Lennox was suspected of being an emissary of
-the Duke of Guise. Lennox and his friend Stuart, who was now created by
-James Earl of Arran, instilled every possible suspicion into the king's
-mind against Morton, who, they averred, intended to convey him to England
-and give him up to Elizabeth. To seize Morton, and arraign him for the
-multitude of illegal acts which he had perpetrated in his position of
-Regent, might not succeed, for the wily offender had taken care to
-procure bills of indemnity for whatever he had done. They determined,
-therefore, to accuse him of Darnley's murder, of which he was notoriously
-guilty in common with others.
-
-[Illustration: THE EARL OF ARRAN ACCUSING MORTON OF THE MURDER OF
-DARNLEY. (_See p._ 300.)]
-
-One morning, therefore, Captain Stuart, now Earl of Arran, fell on his
-knees in the Council, and charged Morton to the king with the murder of
-his (the king's) father. Morton, thunderstruck at this bold and sudden
-act, stoutly denied the charge, but he was ordered to be guarded in his
-own house, and soon after sent off to the Castle of Dumbarton. Morton
-despatched a messenger to his trusty friend the Queen of England, who
-forthwith despatched Randolph to intercede with the king, the Council,
-and the Parliament for the precious life of this vile murderer.
-Elizabeth, as she had not been ashamed to countenance and support him, so
-neither was she now ashamed to plead for him, and to beg that he might
-be set at liberty as a special favour to her, in recompence of the many
-services she had rendered Scotland. She accused Lennox of being in league
-with the French Government for the invasion of England, and Randolph
-produced documents to prove it. On examining these papers, the Council
-pronounced them forgeries, and the trial was ordered to proceed. On
-perceiving his failure with the king and Council, Randolph had recourse
-to his old arts of endeavouring to stir up sedition, and did his utmost
-to rouse Mar and the Earl of Angus to rise in arms for Morton's rescue.
-This becoming known, Randolph, who had been twice sent out of the country
-for his traitorous meddling, was now glad to flee for his life.
-
-To save this execrable villain, but very useful tool, Elizabeth induced
-the Prince of Orange and the King of Navarre to support the exertions
-of her ambassador on his behalf, but all in vain. James was firm in
-following out the advice given him. Elizabeth ordered a body of troops
-to march to the Border, as if she were resolved to invade Scotland for
-the rescue of Morton; but James, far from being intimidated, called
-all his subjects to arms, ordered Angus to retire beyond the Spey, Mar
-to surrender the charge of Stirling Castle, and demanded of Elizabeth
-whether she meant peace or war.
-
-[Illustration: DUMBARTON ROCK, WITH VIEW OF CASTLE.]
-
-This bold attitude put an end to her efforts. Randolph suddenly found
-out that Morton was accused of murder with a fair show of proof, and
-Elizabeth then pretended to think that if it were so it did not become
-her any longer to defend him. Deserted by his great patron Elizabeth, the
-hoary criminal was brought to trial, and charged not only with the murder
-of Darnley, but that of Athole. Besides verbal and personal evidence of
-his guilt, his bond of manrent, or guarantee of indemnity for the murder,
-given to Bothwell, was exhibited, together with a paper purporting to be
-a confession of Bothwell made on his death-bed in Denmark, in which he
-accused Morton as a principal contriver of the murder, and exonerated
-the Queen of Scots. Whether this paper were genuine or not, there was
-abundant proof without it; he was condemned by the unanimous verdict of
-the peers, and executed (June 3, 1581).
-
-The fall of Morton and the display of independence in the young King
-James opened up the most extravagant hopes in the minds of the friends
-of Queen Mary, and of the Papists in general. They were ready to believe
-that James would soon show his regard for his mother, and a deep sense
-of her wrongs. Morton had been the stern adherent of Protestantism,
-scandalous as he was; but who should say that Aubigny, educated in
-France, and with many friends and relatives there, would not incline to
-favour the Papists, and that James, under his guidance, though educated
-by the disciples of Knox, might not, young as he was, return to the
-religion of his ancestors? Parsons, the Jesuit, was enthusiastic in
-this behalf, and he despatched Waytes, an English Popish clergyman,
-to Holyrood, and soon afterwards Creighton, a Scottish Jesuit. These
-emissaries returned with the most flattering accounts of their reception
-by James and his ministers. Probably, in prospect of no very friendly
-relations with Elizabeth, the advisers of James might adopt the policy
-of conciliating the Romanists, and thus securing the ancient support of
-France, and also of Spain. Be that as it may, James professed to feel
-deeply the wrongs of his mother, and to cherish great filial affection
-for her. He assured them that he would always receive with favour such
-persons as came with an introduction from her, and he consented to
-receive an Italian Catholic into his Court as his tutor in that language.
-
-Elated by these tidings, Parsons and Creighton hastened to Paris in
-May of 1582. There happened to be present an extraordinary number of
-persons interested in the cause of Popery--the Duke of Guise; Castelli,
-the Papal nuncio; Tassis, the Spanish ambassador; Beaton, Archbishop of
-Glasgow; Matthieu, the Provincial of the French Jesuits; and Dr. Allen,
-the provost of the seminary of Douay. They all agreed that Mary ought
-to be restored without deposing James; that they should reign jointly;
-and Parsons was sent to Spain to solicit assistance, and Creighton to
-the Pope for the same object. Both missions were successful: Philip gave
-12,000 crowns to relieve the necessities of James, and the Pope engaged
-to pay the expenses of his body-guard for twelve months. Both Mary and
-James assented to this proposal, Mary offering to leave all the exercise
-of power in James's hands.
-
-Successful as this scheme appeared, every movement in it had been watched
-by the Court of England, and a counterplot of a most startling kind was
-set on foot. In August, 1581, the Earl of Gowrie, the son of the murderer
-Ruthven, was induced to invite the king to his castle of Ruthven, when
-he made him prisoner. The government was then seized by the Earl of Mar,
-the Master of Glamis, the Lord Oliphant, and others. Lennox, the king's
-chief minister, escaped to France, but died soon after, as was suspected,
-from poison. Arran, the successful destroyer of Morton, was thrown into
-prison. The pulpit was set to work to proclaim that there had been a
-plot to restore "the limb of Satan," the lewd Queen Mary, with all the
-ceremonial of the Mass; and that Lennox was at the bottom of it, though
-he died professing himself a staunch Protestant.
-
-But the position of affairs in Scotland was calculated to excite the
-utmost vigilance of both France and England. Henry III. saw with terror
-the young King of Scotland in the hands of the English faction, and
-sent thither La Motte Fenelon and Maigneville to encourage James to
-call together the Estates, to insist by their means on his liberty,
-and on the liberation of his mother to govern with him. The English
-Court, on the other hand, instructed its agents, Bowes and Davidson, to
-demand the dismissal of the French envoys, and to show him the danger
-of the measures which they proposed. James appeared to listen to both
-parties; and ostensibly in order to consult on their advice, he summoned
-a council of the nobility to meet at the castle of St. Andrews. Once in
-their midst, James felt his freedom; and to prevent any contest on the
-question, published a pardon to all who had been concerned in the Raid of
-Ruthven, as it was called, or the conspiracy of Gowrie. This bold stroke
-of the young king so took the English Court by surprise that Walsingham
-was sent, notwithstanding his age and important duties at home, to
-the Scottish Court. Walsingham must have been amazed at the small
-success which attended his mission, for James received him with little
-consideration, appeared to regard his communications with indifference,
-and dismissed him with a paltry present on his departure. Elizabeth could
-not help complaining of the palpable slight to her ambassador, and the
-friends of Queen Mary drew fresh hope from the circumstance.
-
-But little solid hope could be entertained of Mary's enfranchisement
-by any one who considered the real situation of affairs. The King of
-France was far from sincere in his wish for her release. So long as she
-was in the hands of Elizabeth, he was secure from any further meddling
-of Elizabeth in the internal affairs of France. At any moment he could
-alarm her by rumours of designs to set the Scottish queen free, at the
-same time that James, as a young man, was open to influence from France
-against England. For these reasons a fresh conference in Paris on Mary's
-behalf came to nothing. The Duke of Guise, Castelli, the Archbishop of
-Glasgow, and Matthieu met again, this time with the addition of Morgan,
-a Welsh gentleman, one of the commissioners of her dower in France. They
-proposed that Guise should land in the south of England with an army,
-while James should simultaneously enter it at the north. James at once
-assented to the project; but Mary, who knew very well that her life would
-be sacrificed at once if there were a formidable attempt at her rescue,
-resorted to the hopeless course of endeavouring to persuade Elizabeth to
-treat with France for her release on safe terms. Elizabeth appeared to
-listen; but the rumours of the invasion speedily caused her to abandon
-any such negotiation, on the plea that, once at liberty, Mary could not
-be trusted. Revenge might induce her to ally herself with France and
-Spain, to the great peril of England.
-
-No situation in the world could be conceived more miserable than that
-of Elizabeth. The captive queen had become to her a source of perpetual
-alarms--alarm of invasion from France and from Scotland--alarm at
-insurrections among the Papists, whom persecutions kept in a state of
-the deepest disaffection. For two years the prisons had been crowded
-with Catholics, and the scaffolds drenched with their blood. They had
-been persecuted and insulted till they must have been more than mortal
-to have felt no desire for revenge. Therefore the country swarmed with
-spies and informers; and Walsingham, as a skilful unraveller of plots,
-was kept hard at work to trace, by his secret emissaries, every concealed
-movement of sedition. Both at home and abroad he had a host of agents
-under a multitude of disguises. The Jesuits never had a more expert and
-fearless general, nor a more varied army of informers. They presented
-themselves in the shape of travelling noblemen, of physicians, of
-students in Popish seminaries. They swarmed in sea-ports lying between
-England and the different Continental routes. There was scarcely a Roman
-Catholic gentleman or nobleman into whose house they had not found their
-way. To those whom they suspected of a leaning towards the Queen of Scots
-they professed to be confidential agents of her or of her adherents,
-and presented forged letters by which they might entrap the unwary into
-compromising answers.
-
-At length the chief of the conspirators was brought to justice in the
-person of Thomas Throgmorton, the son of Sir John Throgmorton, Chief
-Justice of Chester. Walsingham intercepted letters, and by his spies
-made his way into every abode and company. He received from his trusty
-emissaries the information that Charles Paget, one of the commissioners
-of the Queen of Scots' dower--Morgan, just mentioned, being the
-other--had landed on the coast of Sussex under the name of Mope. A letter
-of Morgan's was also intercepted, and from something in its contents the
-two sons of Sir John Throgmorton, Thomas and George, were immediately
-arrested and committed to the Tower. The Earl of Northumberland, with
-his son the Earl of Arundel, his countess, uncle, and brothers, were
-summoned before the Privy Council and repeatedly questioned. The Lord
-Paget, brother of Charles Paget, and Charles Arundel, escaped to the
-Continent, but sent a declaration that they had fled, not from any sense
-of guilt, but from the utter hopelessness of acquittal where Leicester
-had any influence. Northumberland and Lord Arundel, with their wives
-and relatives, stoutly denied all concern with plots or any species of
-disloyalty, and no proof could be brought against them. Meanwhile it
-was asserted that the Duke of Guise was proceeding with his scheme of
-invasion, and that many English noblemen and gentlemen were co-operating
-in it; that a letter had been intercepted from the Scottish Court to
-Mary, informing her that James was quite ready to perform his part
-of the scheme by invading the kingdom from the north, having had the
-promise of 20,000 crowns; but that he was desirous to know who were
-the influential persons in England that might be calculated upon for
-support. All this was soon wonderfully corroborated by the confession
-of Thomas Throgmorton, in whose trunks were found two catalogues, one
-of the chief ports, and the other of the principal Romanists in the
-kingdom. He admitted that these were for the use of Mendoza, the Spanish
-minister, and that he had devised a plan with that ambassador to raise
-troops in the name of the queen through the Catholics, who were then to
-call on her to tolerate Catholicism, or to depose her. This was a strong
-case indeed against the prisoners and the fugitives; and Burleigh, with
-Throgmorton's confession in his hand, charged the Spanish ambassador with
-his breach of all the laws of nations and of his office. Mendoza had
-the impudence to deny the charges; but he was ordered to withdraw from
-England, and Throgmorton was hanged (1583). From that hour war with Spain
-was inevitable.
-
-The patriotism of England was now awake. An association was formed,
-under the influence of the Government, by which all the members bound
-themselves to pursue and kill every person who should attempt the
-life of the queen, and every person for whose advantage it should be
-attempted. This palpably pointed at the Scottish Queen. The bond of
-association was shown to Mary as a means of intimidating her. At the
-first glance she perceived that it was aimed at her life; but, after a
-moment of astonishment, she proposed to sign the bond herself so far as
-she was concerned, which, of course, was not permitted, as it would have
-neutralised the whole intention, but it was industriously circulated for
-signature amongst those who dared not well do otherwise.
-
-The same object was pursued in the Parliament, which met on the 23rd
-of November. After the clergy had granted an aid of six shillings in
-the pound to be paid in three years, and the Commons a subsidy and
-two-fifteenths, an Act was passed condemning as traitors any one who
-had been declared by a court of twenty-four commissioners cognisant of
-any treasonable designs against the queen; and Mary and her issue were
-excluded from the succession in case of the queen coming to a violent
-death. The Roman Catholics were also treated with increased severity,
-in consequence of the alleged plots. No Popish clergyman was to be
-allowed to remain in the kingdom; if found there after forty days he was
-pronounced guilty of high treason; any one knowing of his being in the
-country, and not giving information within twelve days, was to be fined
-and imprisoned during the queen's pleasure; and any one receiving or
-relieving him was guilty of felony. All students in Popish seminaries
-were called on to return to their native country within six months after
-proclamation; parents sending their children to such seminaries without
-licence were to forfeit for every such offence a hundred pounds; and the
-students themselves forfeited all right to the property of their parents.
-
-To avoid, if possible, the fate which the bill of this Session prepared
-for them, the Roman Catholics drew up an earnest and loyal memorial to
-the queen, declaring it as their settled and solemn conviction that she
-was their sovereign _de jure_ and _de facto_; that neither Pope nor
-priest had power to license any one to lift their hand against her, nor
-to absolve them were such a crime committed, and that they renounced and
-abominated any one who held a contrary doctrine.
-
-All these transactions only tended to aggravate the situation of
-the Queen of Scots. She was now taken out of the hands of the Earl
-of Shrewsbury, and consigned to the custody of Sir Amyas Paulet, a
-dependent of Leicester's, a man of a rigid, gaoler-like disposition,
-but not destitute of honour. She was removed from Sheffield Park to the
-ruinous stronghold of Tutbury. Finding that all appeals to Elizabeth
-and all protestations of her innocence of any participation in, and
-even ignorance of, the plots charged on different persons were alike
-disregarded, she turned to her son, but only to receive from that quarter
-a disregard still harder to bear. James coldly announced to her that he
-had nothing to do with her concerns, nor she with his: he was now, in
-fact, in the pay of Elizabeth. He bade her remember that she was only
-the queen-mother, and enjoyed no authority in Scotland, though she bore
-the empty title of queen. Abandoning all hope of assistance from him,
-Mary now demanded of Elizabeth to liberate her on any conditions she
-pleased--she asked only liberty and life. But her requests were unheeded.
-
-Meanwhile Elizabeth was supporting Protestantism abroad. Henry of Navarre
-had become the next in succession to the crown of France, by the death of
-the Duke of Anjou in 1584. Being well known as a Protestant, the Roman
-Catholics in France, with the Duke of Guise at their head, reorganised
-their league, and compelled the French King to subscribe to it. The King
-of Spain, a member of the league, promised it all his support. On the
-other hand, Elizabeth, anxious to see a Protestant prince on the throne
-of France, sent Henry large remittances, and invited him to make England
-his home in case his enemies should compel him to retreat for a time,
-when he could wait the turn of events. In all this there was nothing to
-complain of. Henry had a clear right to the throne of France, and justice
-as well as the Reformed faith called upon her to support it; but not so
-honourable were her proceedings in the Netherlands. There she secretly
-urged to insurrection the subjects of a power with whom she was at peace,
-and maintained them by repeated supplies of money.
-
-Sympathising as she did with the oppressed Protestants of the
-Netherlands, her course was quite obvious. She could call on Philip to
-give to them free exercise of their religion, and if he refused, she had
-a fair plea to break with him and to support the cause of the common
-religion. But Elizabeth had too much politic regard for the rights of
-kings openly to support against them the rights of the people; and, what
-was still more embarrassing, she was practising the very intolerance and
-persecution against her Roman Catholic subjects that Philip was against
-his Protestant ones.
-
-The Primate, when appealed to, stated broadly this fact, and declared
-that Philip had as much right to send forces to aid the English Roman
-Catholics as Elizabeth had to support the Belgian Protestants. When,
-therefore, in June of 1585 the deputies of the revolted provinces of the
-Netherlands besought Elizabeth to annex them to her own dominions, she
-declined; but in September she signed a treaty with them, engaging to
-send them 6,000 men, and received in pledge of their payment the towns
-of Brielle and Flushing, and the strong fortress of Rammekens. This
-was making war on Philip without any declaration of it; but she still
-persisted that she was not assisting the Flemings to throw off their
-allegiance to their lawful prince, but was only helping them to recover
-undoubted privileges of which they had been deprived.
-
-[Illustration: THE EARL OF LEICESTER.
-
-(_From the Portrait in the Possession of the Marquis of Salisbury._)]
-
-But the fact was, that Elizabeth had long been warring on Spain, and it
-was the fault of Spain that it had not declared open war in return. In
-1570 she had sent out the celebrated Admiral Drake, to scour the coasts
-of the West Indies and South America, on the plea that Spain had no
-right to shut up the ports of those countries, and to exclude all other
-flags from those seas. Under her commission, Drake and other captains
-had ravaged the settlements of Spain in the New World, had plundered
-Carthagena, St. Iago, and St. Domingo, and almost every town on the
-coasts of Chili and Peru. They had intercepted the Spanish galleons,
-or treasure vessels, and carried off immense booty of silver and other
-precious articles. But as Drake had received special marks of royal
-favour--the queen had dined on board his vessel, the _Golden Hind_, when
-it lay at Deptford, and had knighted him (1581) for his services,--and as
-there was no declaration of war, all these were clear cases of piracy;
-but Philip was too much engaged at home to defend these trans-Atlantic
-possessions from the daring sea captains of Elizabeth, and if he did
-declare war he at once sanctioned her interference both in the Spanish
-seas and in the Netherlands.
-
-To conduct her campaign in the Netherlands, Elizabeth had appointed the
-Earl of Leicester. The way in which he conducted himself there was not
-calculated to increase his reputation for honesty or military talent. No
-sooner did he arrive, than, without consulting the queen, he induced the
-States to nominate him governor-general of the United Provinces, with the
-title of Excellency, and with supreme power over the army, the State, and
-the executive. In fact, his ambition rested with nothing short of being
-a king: with nothing but possessing all the title and authority enjoyed
-by the Duke of Anjou. When this news reached Elizabeth she flew into a
-terrible rage, charged him with presumption and vanity, with contempt of
-her authority, and "swore great oaths that she would have no more Courts
-under her abeyance than one;" desired him to remember the dust from which
-she had raised him, and let him know if he were not obedient to her every
-word, she would beat him to the ground as quickly as she had raised him.
-
-The unfortunate States, who thought they were gratifying the Queen of
-England when they were honouring her favourite, were confounded at this
-discovery; but Leicester, as if he really thought that he could render
-himself independent of his royal patroness, remained lofty, insolent, and
-silent. Trusting to the position into which he had thus stepped, he left
-it to the ministers at home to pacify the queen. He had so long ruled
-her that he appeared to think he could still do as he pleased. The great
-Burleigh and the cunning Walsingham were at their wits' end to satisfy
-Elizabeth: the only letter which they got from Leicester being one to
-Hatton, so insolent and arrogant that they dared not present it till they
-had remodelled it. Meanwhile, Elizabeth continued to write to the new
-captain-general the most bitter reproaches and menaces, and to heap upon
-his friends fierce epithets which could not reach him and produced no
-effect on him. With all the airs of a great monarch, Leicester progressed
-from one city to another, receiving solemn deputations, and giving grand
-entertainments in return.
-
-In the field his conduct was as contemptible as in the government. He
-had an accomplished general, Alexander Farnese, the Prince of Parma, to
-contend with, and never did an English general present so pitiable a
-spectacle in a campaign as did Leicester. His great object appeared to
-be to avoid a battle, and the only conflict which he engaged in, which
-has left a name, is the attack upon Zutphen, on September 22, 1586,
-because there fell the gallant and gifted Sir Philip Sidney, in the
-thirty-second year of his age.
-
-As autumn approached Leicester marched back his forces to the Hague, and
-was greatly disgusted and astonished to be called to account by what he
-pleased to name an assembly of shopkeepers and artisans. Not the less
-loudly, however, did the merchants and shopkeepers of the Netherlands
-upbraid him with the utter failure of the campaign, with the waste of
-their money, the violation of their privileges, the ruin of their trade,
-and the extorting of the people's money in a manner equally arbitrary and
-irritating. In a fit of ineffable disgust he broke up the assembly: the
-assembly continued to sit. He next resorted to entreaties and promises;
-it regarded these as little. He announced his intention of returning to
-England, and in his absence nominated one of his staff to exercise the
-supreme government. The assembly insisted on his resigning that charge to
-them; he complied, yet, by a private deed, reserved it to himself; and
-thus did this proud, empty, inefficient upstart dishonour the queen who
-had raised him, the country which had tolerated him, and which had long
-impatiently witnessed his arrogance, and his abuse of the queen's favour.
-At length, on the approach of winter, he obeyed the call of his sovereign
-and returned home. Scarcely had he quitted the Netherlands when the
-officers whom he had left in command surrendered the places of strength
-to the Prince of Parma, and went over to the Spaniards. The campaign was,
-from first to last, a scandal and a disgrace to the English name and
-government.
-
-Mary had now been removed, in the early part of this year, to Chartley
-Castle, in Staffordshire, under the care of Sir Amyas Paulet; and the
-gentlemen in England whom the foreign adherents of the Queen of Scots
-had pitched upon to carry out their plan, were a young enthusiastic
-Papist--Anthony Babington, of Dethick, near Matlock, in Derbyshire--and
-his friends and companions, all men of fortune, family, and education.
-Babington had long been an ardent admirer of the Queen of Scots, had
-corresponded with her whilst she was at Sheffield Park, and was ready to
-devote himself to the death in her cause. At the same time he had such
-an idea of the peril of meddling with the government of Elizabeth, that
-he despaired of accomplishing Mary's enfranchisement during Elizabeth's
-life. Ballard, a Jesuit, assured him that Elizabeth would be taken
-off, by command of the Pope; that Savage, an officer who had served in
-Flanders, and was exasperated at the death of Throgmorton, had determined
-to do it; and that the Prince of Parma would land simultaneously with
-that event, and set Mary at liberty. The plan was made known to Mary, and
-received her sanction. "When all is ready," she wrote, "the six gentlemen
-must be set to work."
-
-Walsingham, who had long been on the watch, was now in possession of all
-the evidence that he was likely to get, for Babington soon discovered
-that he had been betrayed by somebody, whom he could not tell; and
-though he remained in London as though there were no danger, he made
-preparations for the escape of Ballard to the Continent, by procuring him
-a passport under a feigned name. Every moment might throw fresh light on
-the deception, and allow the escape of the victims. On the 4th of August,
-therefore, Babington found his house entered by the pursuivants of
-Walsingham, and Ballard, who had not got off, was there seized. Babington
-escaped for the moment, but was arrested on the 7th, and was taken to the
-country house of Walsingham, but escaped from the servants into whose
-charge he was given. With his friends and accomplices, Gage, Charnock,
-Barnewell, and Donne, he concealed himself in St. John's Wood, till
-they were compelled by hunger to make their way to the house of their
-common friend Bellamy, at Harrow, who concealed them in his outhouses and
-gardens. But the cunning Walsingham had his agents on their trail the
-whole time, and on the 15th they walked into the premises of Bellamy,
-secured the concealed conspirators, together with their host, his wife
-and brother, and conveyed them, amid the shouts and execrations of the
-populace, and the universal ringing of bells, to the Tower, whither also
-were soon brought Abingdon, Tichbourne, Tilney, Travers; the only one of
-the friends of Babington that escaped being Edward Windsor, the brother
-of Lord Windsor.
-
-On the 13th of September, Babington, Ballard, Savage, Donne, Barnewell,
-and Tichbourne were put upon their trial, charged with a conspiracy
-to murder Elizabeth, and raise a rebellion in favour of the Queen of
-Scots. They pleaded guilty to one or other of the charges, and seven
-others pleaded not guilty; but all were alike convicted, and condemned
-to the death of traitors. The greater part of them appear to have taken
-no part in the blacker part of the conspiracy, the design to murder
-Elizabeth; and some of them, as Tichbourne and Jones, declared that they
-had taken no part whatever, but merely kept the secret for the sake of
-their friends. Bellamy was condemned for affording them an asylum; his
-wife escaped through a flaw in the indictment. Pooley, the decoy, was
-imprisoned as a blind, and then liberated; and Gifford was already in
-prison in Paris, where, three years later, he died. On the 20th and 21st
-of September, 1586, they were executed in Lincoln's Inn Fields, because
-they used there to hold their meetings.
-
-Though no mention was made on the trial of any participation of the Queen
-of Scots in this conspiracy, nothing was farther from the intention of
-Elizabeth and her ministers than her escape. They had already prepared
-for her death by the bill passed empowering twenty-four or more of the
-Lords of the Council and other peers to sit in judgment on any one
-concerned in attempts to raise rebellion, or to injure the queen's
-person. To procure every possible evidence for this end the following
-stratagem was used:--The Queen of Scots was kept in total ignorance
-of the seizure of the conspirators, and on the copy of her letter to
-Babington being laid before the Council, an order was sent down to Sir
-Amyas Paulet to seize all her papers and keep her in more rigorous
-confinement. Accordingly, one morning, Mary took a drive in her carriage,
-accompanied, as was her custom, by Paulet, but with a larger attendance.
-When Mary desired to return, Paulet told her that he had orders to convey
-her to Tixall, a house belonging to Sir Walter Aston, about three miles
-distant. Astonished and alarmed, Mary refused to go, and declared that
-if they took her there it should be by force. She must have suspected
-the design of searching her cabinets during her absence; but, in spite
-of her protestations and her tears, she was compelled to proceed. There
-she was confined to two rooms only, was guarded in the strictest manner,
-and debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper. Meanwhile Sir William
-Wade arrived at Chartley, and proceeded to break open the cabinets and
-take possession of all her letters and papers, as well as those of her
-secretaries. A large chest was filled with these papers, amongst which
-were Mary's own minute of the answer to Babington, and other damning
-proofs. It was determined to bring her to a public trial.
-
-Mary was now removed to Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire, in
-preparation for her trial. It was first proposed to convey her to the
-Tower, but they feared her friends in the City; then the castle of
-Hertford was suggested, but that also was thought too near the capital;
-and Grafton, Woodstock, Coventry, Northampton, and Huntingdon were all
-proposed and rejected, showing that her enemies were well aware of the
-seriousness of the business they contemplated.
-
-On the 5th of October a commission was issued to forty-six persons,
-peers, privy councillors, and judges, constituting a court competent to
-inquire into and determine all offences committed against the statute
-of the 27th of the Queen, either by Mary, daughter and heiress of James
-V., late of Scotland, or by any other person whomsoever. The moment this
-was known, Chasteauneuf, the French ambassador, demanded in the name
-of his sovereign that Mary should be allowed counsel, according to the
-universal practice of civilised nations. But Elizabeth sent him a message
-by Hatton, that "she did not require the advice or schooling of foreign
-powers to instruct her how she ought to act."
-
-On the 12th the commissioners arrived at the castle. They were the Lord
-Chancellor Bromley, the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, and many other magnates.
-
-On the 14th the Court assembled in the great hall of Fotheringay, at the
-upper end of which was placed a chair of State with a canopy, as for
-the queen of England; and below it, at some distance, a chair without
-a canopy, for the Queen of Scots. The Chancellor, Bromley, opened the
-Court by informing Mary that the Queen of England, having heard that she
-had conspired against her state and person, had deputed them to inquire
-into the fact. Upon this Mary, who had at first refused to plead at all,
-entered her solemn protest against their authority, declaring that she
-had come as a friendly sovereign to seek aid from her cousin, the Queen
-of England, and had been unjustly detained by her as a prisoner; on that
-ground she denied their authority to try her. It was permitted to record
-her protest, together with the Chancellor's reply.
-
-The charges against her were two: first, that she had conspired with
-traitors and foreigners to invade the realm, and secondly, to compass the
-death of the queen. As to the first charge Mary pleaded guilty to it, and
-justified it. They grounded this charge on a host of letters intercepted
-or found in her cabinets, to and from Mendoza, Paget, Morgan, and others.
-From these it appeared that she had sanctioned an invasion on her
-behalf, had offered to raise her friends to support it, and had requested
-that those in Scotland should make themselves master of the person of her
-son, and prevent any aid from being sent to the Government of England.
-When they came to the second charge, the conspiracy to murder Elizabeth,
-she denied any participation in it totally, indignantly, and with tears.
-She called God to witness the truth of her assertion, and prayed Him,
-if she were guilty of such a crime, to grant her no mercy. The proofs
-produced to establish her approval of this design were--first, the copy
-of the letter of Babington, in which was this passage:--"For the dispatch
-of the usurper, from the obedience of whom, by the excommunication of
-her, we are made free, there be six noble gentlemen, all my private
-friends, who, for the zeal they bear to the Catholic cause and your
-majesty's service, will undertake the tragical execution." Next there
-was a copy of seven points, which were professedly derived from her
-answer to Babington, the sixth of which was, "By what means do the six
-gentlemen deliberate to proceed?" After these came the confessions of
-Mary's secretaries, and, finally, reported admissions in her letters to
-her foreign correspondents of having received these intimations of their
-intention to assassinate the queen, and of having given them cautions and
-instructions on this point.
-
-Mary at first denied any correspondence with Babington, but she soon
-saw enough to convince her that they had the correspondence in their
-possession, and admitted having written the note of the 18th, but not
-any such answer to Babington on the 17th of July, as they asserted. She
-demanded the production of the original letters, and the production of
-her secretaries Nau and Curle face to face with her, for that Nau was
-timid and simple, and Curle so accustomed to obey Nau, that he would
-not do otherwise; but she was sure that in her presence they would not
-venture to speak falsely. But neither of these things, no doubt for the
-strongest of reasons, was consented to. As to her letters, she said it
-was not the first time that they had been garbled and interpolated. It
-was easy for one man to imitate the writing and ciphers of another; and
-she greatly feared that Walsingham had done it in this instance, to
-practise against the lives of both herself and her son. In fact, her
-defence was most ingenious but quite unconvincing.
-
-[Illustration: TRIAL OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS IN FOTHERINGAY CASTLE. (_See
-p._ 308.)]
-
-On this the commissioners adjourned their sitting to the 15th of October,
-and from Fotheringay to the Star Chamber at Westminster. There the
-secretaries were re-examined, and finally the commissioners unanimously
-signed Mary's condemnation, the sentence running as follows:--"For that
-since the conclusion of the session of Parliament, namely, since the
-first day of June, in the twenty-seventh year of her Majesty's reign and
-before the date of the commission, divers matters have been compassed and
-imagined within this realm of England by Anthony Babington and others,
-with the privity of the said Mary, pretending a title to the Crown of
-this realm of England, tending to the hurt, death, and destruction of
-the royal person of our lady the queen; and also for that the aforesaid
-Mary, pretending a title to the Crown, hath herself compassed and
-imagined within this realm divers matters tending to the hurt, death, and
-destruction to the royal person of our sovereign lady the queen, contrary
-to the form of the statute in the commission aforesaid specified." Nau
-and Curle were declared abettors, so that it was a sentence of death to
-all the three. To this a provision was added that the sentence should
-in no way derogate from the right or dignity of her son, James King of
-Scotland.
-
-On the 29th of October--that is, four days after the passing of this
-sentence--Elizabeth assembled her Parliament. She had summoned it for
-the 15th, anticipating quicker work at Fotheringay, but prorogued it to
-this date. The proceedings of the trial were laid before each house, and
-both Lords and Commons petitioned Elizabeth to enforce the execution of
-the Queen of Scots without delay. Serjeant Puckering, the Speaker of the
-Commons, in communicating the prayer of the House, reminded Elizabeth of
-the wrath of God against persons who neglected to execute His judgments,
-as in the case of Saul, who had spared Agag, and Ahab, who had spared
-Benhadad. Elizabeth replied with perfect serenity that she was unwilling
-to shed the blood of that wicked woman, the Queen of Scots, though she
-had so often sought her life, for the preservation of which she expressed
-her deep gratitude to Almighty God. She wished that she and Mary were
-two milkmaids, with pails upon their arms, and then she would forgive
-her all her wrongs. As for her own life, she had no desire on her own
-account to preserve it; she had nothing left worth living for; but for
-her people she could endure much. Still, the call of her Council, her
-Parliament, and her people to execute justice on her own kinswoman, had
-brought her into a great strait and struggle of mind. But then, she said,
-she would confide to them a secret: that certain persons had sworn an
-oath within these few days to take her life or be hanged themselves. She
-had written proof of this, and she must, therefore, remind them of their
-own oath of association for the defence of her person. "She thought it
-requisite," she said, "with earnest prayer to beseech the Divine Majesty
-so to illuminate her understanding, and to inspire her with His grace,
-that she might see clearly to do and determine that which would serve to
-the establishment of His Church, the preservation of their estates, and
-the prosperity of the commonwealth."
-
-She sent a message to the two Houses, expressing the great conflict which
-she had had in her own mind, and begging to know whether they could not
-devise some means of sparing the life of her relative. Both Houses, on
-the 25th, returned answer that this was impossible. To this declaration
-of Parliament she returned to them one of her enigmatical answers, "If I
-should say that I meant not to grant your petition, by my faith, I should
-say unto you more perhaps than I mean. And if I should say that I mean to
-grant it, I should tell you more than it is fit for you to know. Thus I
-must deliver to you an answer answerless."
-
-On the 6th of December proclamation of the judgment of the commissioners
-against the Queen of Scots was made through London by sound of trumpet,
-whereupon the populace made great rejoicings, kindled large bonfires, and
-rang the bells all day as if some joyful event had occurred. They were
-so fully persuaded that the Queen of Scots was at the bottom of all the
-alleged and real plots for the overturn of the Government, the bringing
-in of the King of Spain, and the Roman Catholic religion, that their
-exultation was boundless.
-
-Meanwhile, in spite of the eagerness of the nation, Elizabeth hesitated
-to put Mary to death. Her conduct was tortuous, for she was devising to
-escape the opprobrium. At length Lord Howard of Effingham persuaded her
-that she could delay no longer. She went about continually muttering
-to herself, "_Aut fer aut feri: ne feriare feri_" ("Either endure or
-strike: strike lest thou be stricken"). Instead of proceeding to sign
-the death-warrant and let the execution take its course, she had it
-again debated in the Council whether it were not better to take her
-off by poison. Walsingham, who saw that the responsibility would be
-certainly thrown on somebody near the queen, got away from Court; and the
-warrant, drawn up by Burleigh, was handed by him to Davison, the queen's
-secretary, to get it engrossed and presented to the queen for signature.
-When he did this, she bade him keep it awhile, and it lay in his hands
-for five or six weeks. But both Leicester and Burleigh were impatient for
-its execution; and directly after the departure of James's ambassadors
-in February, he was ordered to present it; and then Elizabeth signed it,
-bidding him take it to the Great Seal, "and trouble her no more with
-it." Then, as if suddenly recollecting herself, she said, "Surely Paulet
-and Drury might ease me of this burden. Do you and Walsingham sound
-their dispositions." Burleigh and Leicester, to whom Davison showed the
-warrant, urged him to send it to Fotheringay without a moment's delay;
-but Davison had a feeling that he certainly should get into trouble if
-he did so. He therefore went on to Walsingham, and after showing him
-the warrant, they then and there made a rough draft of a letter to Sir
-Amyas Paulet and Sir Drew Drury, Mary's additional keeper, proposing
-that they should act on their own authority, as the queen requested.
-While Walsingham made a fair copy, Davison went to the Lord Chancellor
-and got the great seal affixed to the warrant. Davison the next day
-had confirmation doubly strong that Elizabeth was watching to entrap
-him in the matter. She asked him if the warrant had passed the Great
-Seal. He said it had; on which she immediately said, "Why such haste?"
-He inquired whether, then, she did not wish the affair to proceed. She
-replied, certainly; but that she thought it might be better managed, as
-the execution of the warrant threw the whole burden upon her. Davison
-said he did not know who else could bear it, as her laws made it murder
-to destroy the meanest subject without her warrant. At this her patience
-appeared exhausted, and she uttered a wish that she had but two such
-subjects as Morton and Archibald Douglas.
-
-Davison was terrified at the gulf on the edge of which he saw himself
-standing, with the queen ready and longing to drag him in. He went to
-Hatton, and told him that though he had her orders to send off the
-warrant to Fotheringay at once, he would not do it of himself. They
-therefore went together to Burleigh, who coincided with them in the
-demand for caution. He therefore summoned the Council the next morning,
-and it was there unanimously agreed, as the queen had discharged her
-duty, to do theirs, and to proceed on joint responsibility. The warrant
-was therefore issued.
-
-On the 7th of February the order for Mary's death reached Fotheringay.
-The Earl of Shrewsbury, who had guarded her so many years, as Earl
-Marshal, had now the painful office of carrying into effect her
-execution. There had been for some time a growing feeling at Fotheringay
-that the last day of Mary was at hand, for there had been a remarkable
-coming and going of strangers. When Shrewsbury was announced, his office
-proclaimed the fatal secret. The Scottish queen rose from her bed, and
-was dressed to receive him, having seated herself at a small table
-with her servants disposed around her. The Earl of Shrewsbury entered,
-followed by the Earls of Kent, Cumberland, and Derby, as well as by the
-sheriff and several gentlemen of the county. Beale, the clerk of the
-Council, read the order for the execution, to which Mary listened with
-the utmost apparent equanimity. When it was finished she crossed herself,
-bade them welcome, and assured them that she had long waited for the day
-which had now arrived; that twenty years of miserable imprisonment had
-made her a burden to herself and useless to others; and that she could
-conceive no close of life so happy or so honourable as that of shedding
-her blood for her religion. She recited her injuries and the frauds and
-perjuries of her enemies, and then laying her hand on the Testament upon
-her table, called God to witness that she had never imagined, much less
-attempted, anything against the life of the Queen of England. A long
-conversation followed, and Mary asked whether the foreign powers had
-made no efforts in her behalf, and whether her only son had forgotten
-her; and finally, when she was to suffer. The Earl of Shrewsbury replied
-with much emotion, "To-morrow morning, at eight o'clock." Mary received
-this announcement with a calm dignity which awed and even affected
-the beholders. And on the scaffold, which was erected in the hall of
-Fotheringay, she played her part with the same perfection of acting,
-posing as a religious martyr and wholly ignoring the political crimes of
-which she had been guilty (February 8, 1587).
-
-The Earl of Shrewsbury sent his son with the intelligence of the
-execution of Mary, which reached Court the next day. Burleigh, who
-received the letter, immediately sent for Davison and several of the
-Privy Council, and it was resolved to keep the fact from the queen for a
-short time. But such a fact, though it might be officially, could not be
-otherwise concealed. The news flew abroad, and the Protestant population
-gave the reins to their joy by the ringing of bells and kindling of
-bonfires. Elizabeth neither could nor did remain ignorant of the cause of
-this noisy exultation. She inquired why the bells rang so merrily, and
-was told, says Davison, "for the execution of the Queen of Scots;" but
-she took no notice of it, having not been officially informed. Far from
-displaying any emotion of any kind, she took her usual airing, and on her
-return appeared to be enjoying herself in the company of Don Antonio,
-the pretender to the Crown of Portugal. But in the morning, being then
-officially informed, she flew into very well-acted paroxysms of rage and
-grief. She declared that she had never contemplated or sanctioned such a
-thing; that Davison had betrayed her, whom she had charged not to let the
-warrant go out of his hands; and that the whole Privy Council had acted
-most unjustifiably.
-
-[Illustration: MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS RECEIVING INTIMATION OF HER DOOM.
-(_See p._ 311.)]
-
-Davison, who fondly hoped that he had secured himself under the shield of
-the Privy Council, made his appearance at Court; but the councillors, who
-saw there must be a victim, advised him to keep out of sight for a few
-days; and the consequence was, that his amiable friends of the Council
-most likely made him their scapegoat, for he was immediately arrested and
-committed to the Tower. But the ministers themselves did not escape their
-share of the storm. For four days the matter was before the Council, and
-they received the severest and most unmeasured upbraidings from their
-royal mistress, the burden being naturally thrown on poor Davison, who
-was actually dismissed from the public service and condemned to pay a
-large fine.
-
-[Illustration: _By permission, from the Painting in the City of
-Manchester Art Gallery._
-
-THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA, 1588.
-
-By ALBERT GOODWIN, R.W.S.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-REIGN OF ELIZABETH (_concluded_).
-
-     State of Europe on the Death of Mary--Preparations of Philip
-     of Spain--Exploits of English Sailors--Drake Singes the King
-     of Spain's Beard--Preparations against the Armada--Loyalty of
-     the Roman Catholics--Arrival of the Armada in the Channel--Its
-     Disastrous Course and Complete Destruction--Elizabeth at
-     Tilbury--Death of Leicester--Persecution of the Puritans and
-     Catholics--Renewed Expeditions against Spain--Accession of Henry
-     of Navarre to the French Throne--He is helped by Elizabeth--Essex
-     takes Cadiz--His Quarrels with the Cecils--His Second Expedition
-     and Rupture with the Queen--Troubles in Ireland--Essex appointed
-     Lord-Deputy--His Failure--The Essex Rising--Execution of
-     Essex--Mountjoy in Ireland--The Debate on Monopolies--Victory of
-     Mountjoy--Weakness of Elizabeth--Her last illness and Death.
-
-
-Among all these equivocations Elizabeth displayed her usual ability, and
-prevented the only thing which she feared--a coalition between Scotland,
-France, and Spain, to avenge the death of the Scottish queen. James of
-Scotland was readily checked, being of a pusillanimous character, and
-fonder of money than of the life and honour of his mother. Henry III. of
-France, as Elizabeth well knew, was too much beset by difficulties to be
-formidable. His course was now fast running to a close. Civil war was
-raging in his kingdom; and we may here anticipate a little to take a view
-of his end. His feud with the Guises grew to such a pitch, that, to rid
-himself of them, he determined to assassinate their leaders, the duke
-and cardinal, the cousins of the late Queen of Scots. For this purpose,
-near the close of 1588, he assembled a body of assassins in the Castle
-of Blois, where he privately distributed daggers to forty-five of them.
-The Duke of Guise was invited to the fatal feast, and murdered at the
-very door of the king's chamber (December 23). The next day his brother,
-the cardinal, was also slain. But this infamous action only procured the
-destruction of Henry himself. The Papists, exasperated by the murder of
-their chiefs, were infuriated. The Pope excommunicated the king, and the
-clergy absolved the people from their oath of allegiance; and on August
-2, 1589, Henry was assassinated by a fanatic monk of the name of Jacques
-Clement, whilst besieging his own capital.
-
-But not so readily was Philip of Spain disposed of. He was crafty and
-powerful, and remembered the conduct of Elizabeth, who, from the very
-commencement of her reign, while professing friendship and high regard
-for him, had done all in her power to strip him of the Netherlands.
-She had supported his insurgent subjects with both money and troops;
-and at this time her favourite, Leicester, at the head of an army, was
-enjoying the rule of the revolted territory called the United Provinces,
-as governor-general. Not only in Europe, but in the new regions of
-South America, she carried on the same system of invasion and plunder
-by some of the greatest naval captains of the age--all still without
-any declaration of war. Besides, Mary had left to him her claim on the
-English throne, and Philip had accepted it, thereby alienating the King
-of Scotland. Philip did not hesitate to denounce Elizabeth as a murderer,
-and excited amongst his subjects a most intense hatred of her, both as
-a heretic and a woman oppressive and unjust, and stained with kindred
-and regal blood. In vain did she attempt to mollify his resentment
-by recalling Leicester from the Netherlands, and alluring a native
-prince, the Prince of Orange, to take his place. She opened, through
-Burleigh, negotiations with Spain, and sent a private mission to the
-Prince of Parma, in the Netherlands. There was a great suspicion in the
-minds of the Dutch and Flemings that she meant to give up the cause of
-Protestantism there, and to sell the cautionary towns which she held to
-Spain. But fortunately for them, Philip was too much incensed to listen
-to her overtures, and had now made up his mind to the daring project of
-invading England. News of actual preparations for this purpose on a vast
-scale convinced Elizabeth that pacification was hopeless, and she resumed
-her predatory measures against Spain and its colonies.
-
-To obtain a clear idea of the causes which, independent of the continual
-attempts of Elizabeth to break the yoke of Spain in the Low Countries,
-had so exasperated Philip, we must refer to the marauding expeditions
-of Hawkins, Cavendish, and Drake--men whose names have descended to our
-day as types of all that is enterprising, daring, and successful in the
-naval heroes of England. They were men who, like most of the prominent
-persons of that time, had no very nice ideas of international justice or
-honesty, but had courage which shrank from no attempt, however arduous,
-and ability to achieve what even now are regarded as little short of
-miracles. Whilst in Europe they were Royal commanders, in the distant
-seas of America they were, to all intents and purposes, pirates and
-buccaneers.
-
-Sir John Hawkins has the gloomy fame of being the originator of the
-African slave trade (1562). He made three voyages to the African coast,
-where he bartered his goods for cargoes of negroes, which he carried
-to the Spanish settlements in America, and sold them for hides, sugar,
-ginger, and pearls. This traffic, which afterwards increased to such
-terrific and detestable dimensions, was so extremely profitable that
-Elizabeth fitted out two ships and sent them under his command. On this
-his third voyage, however, Hawkins was surprised by the Spanish admiral
-in the Bay of St. Juan de Ulloa. A desperate engagement took place, and
-Hawkins's fleet, with all his treasure, was captured or destroyed except
-two, one of which afterwards went down at sea, the only one returning
-home being a little bark of fifty tons, called _Judith_, and commanded by
-one Francis Drake. Elizabeth, of course, lost her whole venture in the
-slave trade.
-
-But this Francis Drake, destined to win a great name, could not rest
-under the defeat in the bay of Ulloa and the loss of his booty. He
-obtained interest enough to fit out a little fleet, and also made three
-voyages, like Hawkins, to the Spanish American settlements. In the logic
-of that age, it was quite right to plunder any people of a particular
-nation in return for a loss by aggrieved persons of another nation; and
-Drake felt himself authorised to seize Spanish property wherever he could
-find it. In his first two voyages he was not eminently successful; but
-the third, in 1572, made him ample amends. He took and plundered the
-town of Nombre de Dios, captured about 100 little vessels in the Gulf of
-Mexico, and made an expedition inland, where, ascending a mountain in
-Darien, he caught sight of the Pacific, and became inflamed with a desire
-to sail into that sea and plunder the Spanish settlements there. He
-captured in March of 1573 a convoy of mules laden with gold and silver,
-and in October reached England with his plunder.
-
-This success awoke the cupidity of his countrymen. Elizabeth embarked
-1,000 crowns in a fresh expedition, which was supported by Walsingham,
-Hatton, and others of her ministers. In 1577 Drake set out for the
-Spanish Main with five ships and 160 men. In this voyage he pursued
-steadily his great idea of adventures in the Pacific, coasted the
-Brazils, passed the straits of Magellan, and reached Santiago, from which
-place to Lima he found the coast unprotected, and took the vessels and
-plundered the towns at will. Among his prizes was a Spanish merchantman
-of great value, which he captured in the spring of 1579. By this time,
-however, the Spaniards had sent out a squadron to meet and intercept
-him at the straits; and Drake, becoming aware of it, took the daring
-resolution of sailing to the Moluccas, and so home by the Cape of Good
-Hope. The hardihood of this determination we can scarcely at this day
-realise, for it implied the circumnavigation of the globe, which had
-never yet been accomplished, Magellan himself having perished on his
-voyage at the Philippines. Drake, however, reached Plymouth safely, on
-the 3rd of November, 1580, after a voyage of three years. The dangers
-and hardships which he had endured in this unprecedented exploit may be
-conceived from the fact that only one of his five vessels reached home
-with him; but that vessel contained a treasure of L800,000.
-
-Elizabeth was in a great strait. The wealth which Drake had brought,
-and of which she expected an ample share, was too agreeable a thing to
-allow her to quarrel with the acquirer; but the ravages which he had
-committed on a Power not openly at war with her, were too flagrant to
-be acknowledged. For four months, therefore, Drake remained without any
-public acknowledgment of his services, further than his ship being placed
-in the dock at Plymouth, as a trophy of his bold circumnavigation of the
-globe. At length the queen consented to be present at a banquet which
-Drake gave on board, and she there broke from her duplicity by knighting
-him on the spot (1581). A tithe of the enormous amount of money was
-distributed as prize among the officers and men; the Spanish ambassador,
-who had laid claim to the whole as stolen property, was appeased by a
-considerable sum; and the huge remainder was shared by the queen, her
-favourites, and the fortunate commander.
-
-It was not long before Sir Francis Drake was placed in commission and
-sent out as the queen's own admiral against Spain. In 1585 he sailed for
-the West Indies with a fleet of twenty-one ships, where he burnt down the
-town of St. Iago, ravaged Carthagena and St. Domingo, and committed other
-mischief. The following year Thomas Cavendish followed in Drake's track,
-with three ships which he had built out of the wreck of his fortune,
-and reaching the Spanish Main, committed many depredations. In 1587 he
-secured the freight of gold and silver of a large Manila merchantman, and
-returned home by the new route which Drake had pointed out.
-
-These terrible chastisements of the Spanish colonies had embittered
-the mind of Philip and his subjects even beyond the warfare of the
-Netherlands; and he was now steadily preparing that mighty force and
-that host of vessels by which he vowed to prostrate the power of the
-heretic queen, and reduce the British Islands to the Spanish yoke and
-to the yoke of the Papal Church. Elizabeth, having endeavoured in vain
-to arrange a peace, buckled on the armour of her spirit, and determined
-to meet the danger with a fearless front. She despatched Drake with a
-fleet of thirty vessels to examine the Spanish harbours where these means
-of invasion were preparing, and to destroy all that he could come at.
-No task could have delighted him more. On the 18th of April, 1587, he
-entered the roads of Cadiz, and discovering upwards of eighty vessels,
-attacked, sank, and destroyed them all. He then sailed out again, and
-running along the coast as far as Cape St. Vincent, demolished above a
-hundred vessels, and, besides other injuries, battered down four forts.
-This Drake called "singeing the King of Spain's beard." In the Tagus he
-encountered the Grand Admiral of Spain, Santa Cruz, but could not bring
-him to an engagement, owing to the orders which the admiral had received;
-but he captured, in his very teeth, the _St. Philip_, one of the finest
-ships of Spain, and laden with the richest merchandise. Santa Cruz took
-it so much to heart that he was not permitted to engage Drake, that he is
-said to have died shortly afterwards of sheer mortification.
-
-When Drake returned from this expedition he was received by the public
-with acclamation; but Elizabeth was perfectly frightened by the extent of
-the calamities inflicted, believing that they would only rouse Philip to
-more inveterate hostility--and in that she was right. She actually made
-an apology to the Prince of Parma, Philip's general in the Netherlands,
-for the deeds of Drake, assuring him that she had sent him out only to
-guard against any attacks on herself. Farnese replied that he could
-well believe anything of a man bred as Drake had been in piracy, and
-professed still to be ready to make peace. But Philip was in no pacific
-mood. He was now eagerly employed in forwarding his huge preparations;
-and the name of the Spanish Armada began to sound familiarly in
-England. He prevailed on the Pope to issue a new bull of excommunication
-against Elizabeth, and to advance him large sums of money for this holy
-enterprise, which was to restore these rich but recreant islands to the
-Holy See. He collected his best vessels into the Spanish ports, and went
-on industriously building others in all the ports of Spain, Portugal, and
-those portions of the Netherlands now belonging to him. He collected all
-the vessels that his Sicilian and Neapolitan subjects could furnish, and
-hired others from Genoa and Venice. In Flanders he prepared an immense
-shoal of flat-bottomed boats to carry over an army of 30,000 men to the
-coasts of England, under the command of the Prince of Parma.
-
-The time appeared to have arrived which was to avenge all the injuries
-and insults which, during twenty years, the English queen had heaped upon
-him. She had, in the first place, refused his hand; she had year after
-year incited and encouraged his subjects in the Netherlands to rebel
-against his rule; she had supplied them first secretly, then openly, with
-money; she had hired mercenary troops against him; and, finally, sent the
-Earl of Leicester to assume the position of a viceroy for herself. While
-this state of intolerable interference on land had been growing, she had
-sent out men to attack and plunder his colonies, intercept his treasure
-ships, and chase from the high seas the merchant vessels of his nation.
-All this time she had been with an iron hand crushing the Church which he
-believed the only true one, and had ended by putting to death a queen who
-was regarded as the champion of that Church in Britain. We are apt, in
-thinking of the Spanish Armada and the attempt of Philip to invade this
-kingdom, to overlook these provocations, which were certainly sufficient
-to rouse any monarch to such an enterprise.
-
-While carrying matters with so high a hand, Elizabeth's parsimony had
-prevented her from making those preparations for defence which such an
-enemy dictated. In November, 1587, the danger had grown so palpable that
-a great council of war was summoned to take into consideration the grand
-plan of defence, and the mode of mustering an adequate force both at land
-and at sea. It was well known that the dockyards of Antwerp, Newport,
-Gravelines, and Dunkirk had long been alive with the building of boats,
-and that the forest of Waes had been felled to supply material. Farnese,
-reputed one of the ablest generals in Europe, had at his command,
-besides the forces necessary to garrison the Spanish Netherlands, 30,000
-infantry and 1,800 cavalry; whilst the Spanish fleet consisted of 135
-men-of-war, prepared to carry over 8,000 seamen, and 19,000 soldiers.
-Both in Spain and in the Netherlands the enthusiasm of volunteers for the
-service had been wonderful; not only the members of the noblest families
-had enrolled themselves, but the fame of this expedition, which was to
-be a second conquest of England, yielding far more riches and glory than
-that of William of Normandy, had drawn adventurers from every corner of
-Europe.
-
-What had England to oppose to all this force and animating spirit of
-anticipation? It was discovered that the whole navy of England amounted
-to only thirty-six sail. As to the army, it did not amount to 20,000 men,
-and those chiefly raw recruits, the order for the muster of the main body
-of the forces even having been issued only in June. Courage Elizabeth
-undoubtedly possessed in an eminent degree; but such was her parsimony,
-that though the army which was to serve under Leicester was ordered
-to assemble in June, that which, under Lord Hunsdon, was to follow
-particularly the movements of the queen, did not receive orders for
-enrolment till August. What was to be done with such raw recruits against
-the disciplined and tried troops of Parma, and his military experience?
-It was the same as regarded the sailors to man the fleet. In the autumn
-of 1586 she ordered a levy of 5,000 seamen; but in January she thought
-more of the expense than the danger, and insisted on 2,000 of them being
-disbanded. The rumours of growing danger, however, enabled the Council to
-dissuade her from this impolitic measure, and even obtain an increase to
-7,000.
-
-In the war council held in November, 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh earnestly
-advocated what his quick genius had seen at a glance--that the defence
-of the country must depend on the navy. The enemy must not be suffered
-to land. At sea, even then, England was a match for almost any amount of
-force; and never did she possess admirals who had more of that daring
-and indomitable character which has for ages distinguished the seamen of
-Great Britain. Sir Walter Raleigh prevailed: and at once was seen that
-burst of enthusiasm which, on all occasions when Britain has been menaced
-with invasion, has flamed from end to end of the country. Merchantmen
-offered their vessels, the people fitted them out at their own expense,
-and very soon, instead of thirty-six ships of war, there were 191, of
-various sizes and characters, with not 7,000, but 17,400 sailors on
-board of them. To the thirty-six Government ships of war were added
-18 volunteer vessels of heavy burden, forty-three hired vessels, and
-fifty-three coasters. The _Triumph_ was a ship of 1,100 tons; there was
-another of 1,000, one of 900, two of 800 each, three of 600, five of 500,
-five of 400, six of 300, six of 250, twenty of 200, besides numbers of
-smaller size, the total amount of tonnage being 31,985.
-
-But the main strength, after all, was in the character of the men who
-commanded and animated this fleet. Supreme in command was the Lord
-Admiral, Howard of Effingham, a man of undaunted courage, of firm and
-independent resolution, and very popular with the sailors. Under him
-served the Earl of Cumberland and the Lords Henry Seymour, Thomas Howard,
-and Edmund Sheffield, as volunteers; and the want of experience in these
-aristocrats was amply overbalanced by the staunch men whose fame was
-world-wide--Drake, who was lieutenant of the fleet, Hawkins, Frobisher,
-and others of those marine heroes who had made themselves a terror to the
-remotest shores of the earth.
-
-The neighbouring Protestant States, who were naturally called on to aid
-in this struggle, which was not so much for the conquest of England
-as for the annihilation of the Reformed Church, were Scotland and the
-Netherlands. But James of Scotland was the worst possible subject to
-depend on in such an emergency, and no assistance could be secured from
-him. Very different was the conduct of the Dutch. Though Leicester had
-wasted their wealth in useless campaigns, abused their confidence,
-abridged their privileges, encumbered their trade, and insulted their
-honour; though Elizabeth had appeared quite ready to sell them to Spain,
-and in their distress had called upon them to raise L100,000 to pay for
-fresh soldiers, or declared she would abandon them;--yet knowing that
-it was not Elizabeth or the worthless Leicester they had to support,
-but the very existence of that faith for which they had fought so long
-and so bravely, and for their country, which, if England fell, must
-fall inevitably too, they at once "came roundly in," says Stowe, "with
-threescore sail, brave ships of war, firm and full of spleen, not so much
-in England's aid as in just occasion for their own defence, foreseeing
-the greatness of the danger that must ensue if the Spaniards should
-chance to win the day and get the mastery over them." They engaged to
-block up the mouth of the Scheldt with ten ships of war, and sent the
-others to unite with the English fleet. That fleet was dispersed to
-watch as much as possible all points of approach, for rumours confounded
-the people by naming a variety of places on which the descent was to be
-made. Lord Howard put the division of the fleet immediately under his
-command in three squadrons on the western coast; Drake was stationed in
-the direction of Ushant; Hawkins, a regular adventurer, who had not long
-ago offered his services to Philip and had been rejected, now thirsting
-for revenge on him, cruised between the Land's End and the Scilly Isles;
-Lord Henry Seymour scoured the coast of Flanders, blockading the Spanish
-ports to prevent the passage of the Prince of Parma's army; and other
-commanders sailed to and fro in the Channel.
-
-[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.]
-
-On land there was at first a haunting fear of the Roman Catholics.
-Their oppression had been of a character which was not thought likely
-to nourish patriotism; and the very invasion was professedly for their
-relief and revenge. But the moment that the common country was menaced
-with danger, they forgot all but the common interest. There was no class
-which displayed more zeal for the national defence. Yet to the very last
-moment their loyalty was tried to the utmost. Few could believe that they
-would not seize this opportunity to retaliate those severities which
-had been practised upon them; and there were those who even advised an
-English St. Bartholomew, or at least the putting to death of the leading
-Roman Catholics. This bloody project Elizabeth rejected; but they were,
-nevertheless, subjected to the most cruel treatment out of fear. A
-return was ordered of those suspected of this religion in London, who
-were found to amount to 17,000. All such as were convicted of recusancy
-were put in prison. Throughout the land the old domiciliary searches
-were made, and thousands of every rank and class, men and women, were
-dragged off to gaol to keep them safe, while the Protestant clergy
-inveighed in awful terms against the designs of the Pope and the terrible
-intentions of the Papists. All commands, with few exceptions, amongst
-which were those entrusted to the Lord Admiral Howard and his family,
-were placed in the hands of Protestants; yet this did not prevent the
-Papists from offering their services, and gentlemen of family and fortune
-from serving in the ranks, or as sailors at sea. The peers armed their
-tenants and servants, and placed them at the disposal of the queen; and
-gentlemen fitted out vessels and put Protestants into command of them.
-The ministers themselves, in the famous "Letter to Mendoza," which they
-published in almost every language of Europe, confessed that they could
-see no difference between the Romanists and the Protestants in their
-enthusiasm for the defence of the country. They mention the Viscount
-Montague, his son, and grandson, appearing before the queen with 200
-horse which they had raised to defend her person, and add that the very
-prisoners for their religion in Ely signed a memorial to her, declaring
-that they were ready to fight to the death for her against all her
-enemies, whether they were Pope, priests, kings, or any power whatever.
-
-Meanwhile the muster throughout the kingdom had brought together
-130,000 men. True, the greater part of them were raw recruits without
-discipline and experience, and could not have stood for a moment before
-the veterans of Parma, had he landed; but they were instructed to lay
-waste the country before him, to harass his march day and night by
-hanging on his skirts, and obstructing his way; and as not a town would
-have surrendered without a violent struggle, the event, with the dogged
-courage and perseverance of an English population, could only have been
-one of destruction to the invaders. This great but irregular force was
-dispersed in a number of camps on the east, west, and southern coasts.
-At Milford Haven were stationed 2,200 horse; 5,000 men of Cornwall and
-Devon defended Plymouth; the men of Dorset and Wiltshire garrisoned
-Portland; the Isle of Wight swarmed with soldiers, and was fortified at
-all points. The banks of the Thames were fortified under the direction
-of a celebrated Italian engineer, Federico Giambelli, who had deserted
-from the Spaniards. Gravesend was not only fortified, but was defended by
-a vast assemblage of boats, and had a bridge of them, which at once cut
-off the passage of the river, and opened a constant passage for troops
-between Essex and Kent. At Tilbury, opposite to Gravesend, there was a
-camp for 22,000 foot and 2,000 horse, under the command of the Earl of
-Leicester, and Lord Hunsdon defended the capital with an army of 28,000
-men, supported by 10,000 Londoners.
-
-Such were the preparations for the vaunted Invincible Armada. With all
-the courage of Elizabeth, however, she continued to negotiate anxiously
-for peace to the very last minute, and to the great chagrin of Leicester
-and Walsingham, who assured her that such a proceeding was calculated
-to encourage her enemies and depress her own subjects. Burleigh, with
-his more cautious nature, supported her, and even so late as February,
-1588, she sent commissioners to Bourbourg, near Calais, to meet the
-commissioners of Philip, and they vainly continued their negotiations for
-peace till the Armada appeared in the Channel.
-
-And now the time for the sailing of this dread fleet had arrived. The
-King of Spain, tired of delays, ordered its advance. It was in vain
-that the wisdom of further postponement seemed to be suggested by the
-sudden death of his experienced Admiral Santa Cruz, and his excellent
-Vice-Admiral the Duke of Paliano; he immediately gave the command to the
-Duke of Medina Sidonia, a man wholly without such experience, and the
-second command to Martinez de Ricaldez, a good seaman. In vain the Prince
-of Parma entreated that he might reduce Flushing before he carried such
-a force out of the country, and Sir William Stanley, who had deserted to
-Spain from the Netherlands army, recommended the occupation of Ireland
-before the descent on England. The Pope had delivered his bull for the
-deposition of Elizabeth, had collected the money which he promised to
-advance, had made Dr. Allen a cardinal, and appointed his legate in
-England to confer on Philip the investiture of the kingdom; the fleet was
-at anchor in the Tagus, and he commanded it to put forth.
-
-This famous Armada consisted of 130 vessels of different sizes. There
-were forty-five galleons and larger vessels of from 500 to 1,000 tons
-each; twenty-five were pink-built ships, and thirteen were frigates. It
-carried 2,680 pieces of artillery, and 19,295 troops, exclusive of the
-crews which worked the vessels, of whom 2,000 were volunteers of the
-highest families in Spain. The English fleet outnumbered the Armada by
-about sixty vessels, but its entire tonnage did not amount to half that
-of the Armada.
-
-On May the 30th, 1588, this formidable and long-prepared fleet issued
-from the Tagus. The spectacle was of such grandeur, that no one could
-behold it without the strongest emotions and the most flattering
-expectations of success. But these were of very brief duration: one of
-those tempests which in every age, since the Norman Conquest, as if
-indicating the steady purpose of Providence, have assailed and scattered
-the fleets of England's enemies, burst on the Armada off Cape Finisterre,
-scattered its vessels along the coast of Galicia, ran three large ships
-aground, dismasted and shattered eight others, and compelled the proud
-fleet to seek shelter in Corunna, and other ports along the coast. The
-damage to the ships was so considerable, that it occasioned the admiral
-a delay of three weeks at Corunna.
-
-No sooner was this news announced in London, than Elizabeth, amid her
-most warlike movements never forgetting the expense, immediately ordered
-the Lord Admiral to dismantle four of his largest ships, as if the
-danger were over. Lord Howard had the wise boldness to refuse, declaring
-that he would rather take the risk of his sovereign's displeasure, and
-keep the vessels afloat at his own cost, than endanger the country. To
-show that all his vessels were needed, he called a council of war, and
-proposed that they should sail for the Spanish coast, and fall on the
-fleet whilst it was thus disordered. At sea they saw and gave chase to
-fourteen Spanish ships. The wind veered and became at once favourable
-to his return, and also to the sailing of the Armada. He turned back
-to Plymouth, lest some of the Spanish vessels should have reached his
-unprotected station before him.
-
-The event proved that his caution was not vain. He had scarcely regained
-Plymouth and moored his fleet, when a Scottish privateer, named Fleming
-sailed in after him and informed him he had discovered the Armada off
-the Lizard. Most of the officers were at the moment playing at bowls on
-the Hoe, and Drake, who was one of them, bade them not hurry themselves,
-but play out the game and then go and beat the Spaniards. The wind, too,
-was blowing right into harbour, but having with great labour warped out
-their ships they stood off, and the next day, being the 20th of July,
-they saw the Spanish fleet bearing down full upon them. It was drawn up
-in the form of a crescent, the horns of which were seven miles apart, and
-a nobler or more imposing sight was never seen on the ocean. Lord Howard
-deemed it hazardous to measure strength with ships of such superior size
-and weight of metal, and he was soon relieved from the necessity, for the
-Duke of Medina, on perceiving the English fleet, called a council of his
-officers--who were impatient to attack and destroy the enemy at once--and
-showed them his instructions, which bound them strictly to avoid all
-chance of damage to his vessels by a conflict before he had effected the
-main object of seeing the Flemish army landed on the English coast. The
-Grand Armada, therefore, swept on in stately magnificence up the Channel,
-the great galeasses, with their huge hulks, their lofty prows, and their
-slow imposing motion, making a brave show. To the experienced eyes of the
-English sailors, however, this immediately communicated encouragement,
-for they saw at once that they were not calculated, like their own
-nimbler vessels, to tack and obey the helm promptly.
-
-And now began, as it were, a strange chase of the mighty Armada by the
-lesser fleet. The Duke of Medina pressed on with all sail to reach
-Dunkirk, and make a junction with the fleet of flat-bottomed boats of
-the Prince of Parma, which were to carry over the army; but some of his
-vessels soon fell behind, and in spite of his signalling for them to come
-up, they could not do so before the nimbler English vessels were upon
-them, and fired into them with right good will. The _Disdain_, a pinnace
-commanded by Jonas Bradbury, was the first to engage, and was speedily
-seconded by the Lord Admiral himself, who attacked a great galleon, and
-Drake in the _Revenge_, Hawkins in the _Victory_, and Frobisher in the
-_Triumph_, closed in with the others. Ricaldez, the Rear Admiral, was in
-this affray, and encouraged his men bravely, but it was soon found that
-the Spaniards, though so much more gigantic in size, had no chance with
-the more manageable English ships. Their heavy artillery, from their
-uncommon height, fired over the enemies' heads, and did little mischief,
-whilst the undaunted English tacked about and hit them first in one
-place and then in another. Drake justified his fame by boarding a great
-galleon, the mast of which was shot away, and taking her with 55,000
-ducats on board. The Duke of Medina was compelled to heave-to till the
-jeopardised squadron could come up; but night set in, and there was seen
-another of the galleons blazing on the water, having, it was said, been
-purposely set on fire by a Flemish gunner, whom the captain had accused
-of cowardice or treachery. In the confusion the neighbouring vessels
-ran foul of each other, there being a heavy sea, and a third vessel was
-separated from the fleet, and captured near the French coast.
-
-[Illustration: THE HOE, PLYMOUTH.
-
-(_From a Photograph by W. Heath, Plymouth._)]
-
-Lord Howard on the 23rd again came up with the Armada off Portland. He
-was now reinforced by forty fresh sail, and had on board this accession
-Sir Walter Raleigh. The weather was still adverse to the advance of the
-Spaniards, and the English kept them well engaged by pouring in ever and
-anon a broadside, and then dropping out of range. Sometimes, the wind
-lulling, they were compelled to stand the full fire of the great ships,
-and in one of these encounters Frobisher was surrounded in the _Triumph_,
-and had to sustain an unequal combat for two hours. By direction of the
-Admiral, however, a number of vessels moved to his rescue, and reserving
-their fire till they were close in with the enemy, they poured such a
-broadside into the Spaniards as turned the scale. Many of the Spanish
-ships were completely disabled in this day's fight, and a Venetian argosy
-and several transports remained in possession of the English.
-
-The next day the English fleet could not renew the action, for they had
-burnt all their powder, and the time to prevent the junction of Medina
-with Parma was totally lost. The next, the 25th, having in the meantime
-procured a fresh supply of ammunition from shore, the Admiral renewed
-the fight off the Isle of Wight, where Hawkins took a large Portuguese
-galleon, and the Duke of Medina's ship had its mainmast shot away, and
-was much shattered; but in the midst of the engagement the powder of the
-English again failed, and they were obliged to draw off. Fortunately the
-Spanish admiral also found that he had expended his heavy shot, and sent
-to the Prince of Parma to hold himself in readiness and send him back
-some shot. On the 26th the Armada held on its way with a fair breeze
-up the Channel, and Howard, who had received fresh ammunition, besides
-continual reinforcements of small vessels and men from the ports as
-they passed, directly pursued. In the Straits of Dover he expected to
-be joined by a strong squadron under Lord Henry Seymour and Sir Thomas
-Winter, and, therefore, he reserved his fire. On the following day, the
-Duke of Medina, instead of making at once for Dunkirk, as he wished,
-was prevailed on to cast anchor before Calais. It was represented that
-there was a Dutch and English fleet blockading Newport and Dunkirk, the
-only outlets for Parma's flat-bottoms, and that the Armada would then
-be enclosed between the two hostile fleets. It was necessary first to
-beat off the fleet which hung on his rear, and he had already found it
-impracticable with his huge unwieldy vessels. He therefore despatched
-a messenger to the Prince of Parma over land, urging him to send him a
-squadron of fly-boats to beat off the English ships, and to be ready
-embarked, that he might land in England under his fire as soon as he
-could come up.
-
-[Illustration: THE ARMADA IN SIGHT. (_See p._ 319.)
-
-(_From the Painting by Mr. Seymour Lucas, R.A., by permission of Mr.
-Arthur Lucas, Publisher._)]
-
-But Parma sent the discouraging news that it was impossible for him to
-move or even to transport his troops till the grand fleet came up to his
-assistance. Fourteen thousand troops, he informed him, had been embarked
-at Newport, and the other division at Dunkirk had been held in readiness
-for the word of command, in expectation of the arrival of the fleet; but
-having been so long delayed, their provisions were exhausted, the boats,
-which had been built in a hurry with green wood, had warped and become
-unseaworthy, and with the hot weather fever had broken out among his
-troops. Were he, however, otherwise able to stir, there lay a force of
-Dutch and English vessels at anchor large enough to send every boat to
-the bottom.
-
-Under these circumstances there was nothing for it but to make for
-Dunkirk, force the blockades at the mouth of the Scheldt, and effect
-the junction with Parma. But now the expected junction of Winter and
-Lord Henry Seymour had taken place with the Lord Admiral's squadron,
-and the Spaniards found themselves closely hemmed in by 140 English
-sail, crowded with sailors and soldiers eager for the fray, and there
-was clearly no avoiding a general engagement. This being inevitable,
-the Spaniards placed their great ships in front, anchored the lesser
-between them and the shore, and awaited the next morning for the decisive
-battle. But such captains as Drake and Hawkins saw too well the strong
-position of the Armada to trust to their fighting, and they determined
-to throw the enemy into confusion by stratagem. They therefore prepared
-eight fire-ships, and the wind being in shore, they sent them, under the
-management of Captain Young and Prouse, at midnight, down towards the
-Spanish lines. The brave officers effected their hazardous duty, and took
-to their boats. Presently, there was a wild cry as the eight vessels
-in full blaze, and sending forth explosion after explosion, bore right
-down upon the Spaniards. Remembering the terrible fire-ships which the
-Dutch had formerly sent amongst them, the sailors shouted--"The fire of
-Antwerp! the fire of Antwerp!" and every vessel was put in motion to
-escape in the darkness as best it might. The confusion became terrible,
-and the ships were continually running foul of each other. One of the
-largest galeasses had her rudder carried away by coming in contact with
-her neighbour, and, floating at the mercy of the waves, was stranded.
-When the fire-ships had exhausted themselves, the Duke of Medina fired
-again to recall his scattered vessels; but few heard it, flying madly as
-they were in fear and confusion, and the dawn found them scattered along
-the coast from Ostend to Calais. A more horrible night no unfortunate
-creatures ever passed, for a tempest had set in, a furious gale blowing
-from the south-west, the rain falling in torrents, and the pitchy gloom
-being lit up only by the glare of lightning.
-
-A loud cannonade in the direction of Gravelines announced that the
-hostile fleets were engaged there, and it became the signal for the
-fugitives to draw together, but all along the coast the active English
-commanders were ready to receive them, and Drake, Hawkins, Raleigh,
-Frobisher, Seymour, and Cumberland vied in their endeavours to win the
-highest distinction. Terrible scenes were presented at the different
-stranded galeasses. One was boarded off Calais after a desperate
-engagement, its crew and troops were cut to pieces or pushed overboard,
-and 50,000 ducats were taken out of her. Another galleon sank under the
-English fire; a third, the _San Matteo_, was compelled to surrender; and
-another, dismantled and in miserable plight, drifted on shore at Flushing
-and was seized by the sailors. Some of the battered vessels foundered
-at sea, and the duke, calling a council, proposed to return home. This
-was vehemently opposed by many officers and the seamen, who had fought
-furiously and now cried for revenge; but the admiral said that it was
-impossible long to hold out against such an enemy, and gave the order to
-make for Spain. But how? The English now swarmed in the narrow seas, and
-the issue of the desperate conflict which must attend the attempt the
-whole way was too clear. The only means of escape he believed was to sail
-northward, round Scotland and Ireland. Such a voyage, through tempestuous
-seas and along dangerous coasts, to men little, if at all, acquainted
-with them, was so charged with peril and hardships, that nothing but
-absolute necessity could have forced them to attempt it. The fragments
-of the Armada, no longer invincible, and already reduced to eighty
-vessels, were now, therefore, seen with a favourable wind in full sail
-northward. With such men as Drake and the rest it might have been safely
-calculated that not a ship would ever return to Spain. A strong squadron
-sent to meet the Spanish fleet on the west coast of Ireland, and another
-following in pursuit, would have utterly destroyed this great naval
-armament. But here again the parsimony of Elizabeth, and the strange want
-of providence in her Government, became apparent. Instead of pursuing,
-the English fleet returned to port on the 8th of August, for want of
-powder and shot, and, as if satisfied with getting rid of the enemy,
-no measures whatever were taken to intercept the fugitive fleet! "If,"
-says Sir William Monson, "we had been so happy as to have followed their
-course, as it was both thought and discoursed of, we had been absolutely
-victorious over this great and formidable navy, for they were brought to
-that necessity that they would willingly have yielded, as divers of them
-confessed that were shipwrecked on the coast of Ireland."
-
-[Illustration: "THE SURRENDER:" AN INCIDENT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
-
-(Don Pedro de Valdes, Commander of the Andalusian Squadron of the Spanish
-Armada, delivering up his sword to Sir Francis Drake.)
-
-FROM THE PAINTING BY SEYMOUR LUCAS, R.A.]
-
-This gross piece of misgovernment occasioned much disappointment amongst
-the brave seamen, both officers and men, a few ships only being able
-to follow the Spaniards as far as the Frith of Forth. Walsingham, in a
-letter to the Lord Chancellor at the time, said, "I am sorry the Lord
-Admiral was forced to leave the prosecution of the enemy through the
-want he sustains. Our half doings doth breed dishonour, and leaveth the
-disease uncured." But the winds and waves did for the English what they
-themselves had left undone. A terrible tempest assailed the flying Armada
-to the north of Scotland, and scattered its unhappy ships amongst the
-iron-bound islands of the Orkneys and Hebrides. To save themselves the
-Spaniards threw overboard their horses, mules, artillery, and baggage,
-and in many instances to no purpose. On many a wild spot of the shores
-of the Western Isles, and those of Scotland and Ireland, you are still
-told, "Here was stranded one of the great ships of the Invincible
-Armada." Innumerable summer tourists hear this at Tobermory, in the Isle
-of Mull; and the hosts of visitors to the Giant's Causeway are shown the
-terrible cliffs of Port-na-Spagna, whose very name commemorates the awful
-catastrophe which occurred there. More than thirty of these vessels were
-stranded on the Irish coast; others went down at sea, every soul on board
-perishing; and others were driven to Norway and stranded there.
-
-Never was there so fearful a destruction; and well might the triumphant
-Protestants exult in the idea that the wrath of an avenging Deity was
-let loose against this devoted navy. No mercy was shown to the wretched
-sufferers in general who escaped to land. In Ireland the fear of their
-joining the natives made the Government scandalously cruel. Instead
-of taking those prisoners who came on shore they cut them down in
-cold blood, and upwards of 200 are said to have been thus mercilessly
-butchered. Some of the scattered vessels were compelled to fight their
-way back down the English Channel, and were the prey of the English,
-the Dutch, and of French Huguenots, who had equipped a number of
-privateers to have a share in the destruction and plunder of their hated
-enemies. The Duke of Medina eventually reached the port of St. Andero in
-September, with the loss of more than half his fleet, and of 10,000 men,
-those who survived looking more like ghosts than human beings.
-
-Philip, though he must have been deeply mortified by this signal failure
-of his costly and ambitious enterprise, was too proud to show it. He
-received the news without a change of countenance, and thanked God that
-his kingdom was so strong and flourishing that it could well bear such a
-loss. He gave 50,000 crowns to relieve the sufferers; forbade any public
-mourning, assigning the mishap, not to the English, but the weather; and
-wrote to the Prince of Parma--whom the English Government had tempted at
-this crisis to throw off his allegiance, and make himself master of the
-Catholic provinces of the Netherlands, as the Prince of Orange had done
-of the Protestant ones--to thank him for his readiness to have carried
-out his design, and to assure him of his unshaken favour.
-
-In following the fate of the Spanish fleet, and the bravery and address
-of England's naval commanders, we have left unnoticed the less striking
-proceedings of the army on shore. The chief camp at Tilbury, which would
-have come first into conflict with the Spanish army had it effected a
-landing, was put under the command of Leicester--a man who had been
-tried in the Netherlands, and found wanting in every qualification of a
-general. There, a few days after the defeat of the Armada, Elizabeth held
-a grand review. Leicester and the new stripling favourite, Essex, led her
-bridle rein, whilst she is said to have delivered this fine speech: "My
-loving people! we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our
-safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for
-fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust
-my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear! I have always so behaved
-myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard
-in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and, therefore, I am
-come amongst you at this time not as for my recreation and sport, but
-being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die
-amongst you all--to lay down for my God, for my kingdom, and for my
-people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know that I have but
-the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and
-a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, or
-any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm: to
-which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take
-up arms--I myself will be your general--the judge and rewarder of every
-one of your virtues in the field. I already know by your forwardness
-that you have deserved rewards and crowns; and we do assure you, on the
-word of a prince, they shall be duly paid to you. In the meantime my
-lieutenant-general shall be in my stead--than whom never prince commanded
-a more noble or more worthy subject; nor will I suffer myself to doubt
-that, by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and
-your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over
-those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and my people."
-
-On Lord Howard, as admiral of the fleet, rewards and favours were
-conferred; but neither he, nor the other heroes of his immortal contest
-at sea, received a tithe of the honour of Leicester, who had done
-nothing but write a love-letter to the queen from Tilbury camp. Nothing
-that she had done or could do appeared adequate to his incomprehensible
-merits. She determined to create a new and most invidious office in his
-favour; and the warrant for his creation of Lord Lieutenant of England
-and Ireland lay ready for the royal signature, when the remonstrances
-of Burleigh and Hatton delayed, and the sudden death of the favourite
-put an end to it. In ten days after the queen's visit to the camp he
-had disbanded the army, and was on his way to his castle of Kenilworth,
-when he was seized with sickness at Cornbury Park, in Oxfordshire, and
-died on the 4th of September, of a fever. His enemies declared he had
-been poisoned, and invented the following story:--He had discovered or
-suspected a criminal connection between his wife, the Countess of Essex,
-and Sir Christopher Blount. He had attempted to assassinate Blount, but
-failed; and his countess, profiting by his own instructions in getting
-rid of her former husband, administered the fatal dose. This and other
-stories against Leicester are now discredited.
-
-The first use which Elizabeth made of her victory was to take vengeance
-on the Papists--not because they had done anything disloyal, but because
-they were of the same religion as the detested Spaniards. All their
-demonstrations of devotion to the cause of their country and their
-queen during the attempted invasion went for nothing. A commission was
-appointed to try those already in prison; and six priests, four laymen,
-and a lady of the name of Ward, for having harboured priests, other
-four laymen, for having been reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church,
-and fifteen persons, charged with being connected with them, in all
-thirty individuals, were, within a period of three months, condemned as
-traitors, and executed with all the disembowelling and other atrocities
-attending that sentence. Their only crime was the practice of their
-religion, or the succouring their clergymen. Elizabeth, however, treated
-their proceedings as political offences, and her efforts to dragoon the
-nation into conformity continued the greater part of her life; old age
-alone appearing to abate her virulence, as it dimmed her faculties and
-subdued her spirits. Sixty-one Roman Catholic clergymen, forty-seven
-laymen, and two ladies suffered death for their religion. The fines
-for recusancy were levied with the utmost rigour, L20 per lunar month
-being the legal sum, so that many gentlemen were fleeced of their entire
-income. Besides this, they were liable to a year's imprisonment and a
-fine of 100 marks every time they heard Mass. The search for concealed
-priests was carried on with great avidity, because it gave occasion for
-plunder, and on conviction of such concealment, forfeiture of the whole
-of their property followed, with ample gleaning to the informers. The
-poorer recusants were for some time imprisoned; but the prisons becoming
-full, officers were sent through the country, visiting all villages and
-remote places, and extorting what they could.
-
-[Illustration: PHILIP II. (_After Titian._)]
-
-As Elizabeth grew in years she more and more resembled her father, and
-persecuted the Puritans as zealously as the Papists, and for similar
-reasons. In these Reformers, however, she found a sturdy class of
-men, who would not endure so quietly her oppressions. Hume blames the
-Nonconformists for not setting up separate congregations of their own;
-but he forgot the L20 a month, which would have been levied on every
-individual that could pay, and the imprisonments and harassing of others.
-Where, however, the Nonconformists could not preach, they printed. Books
-and pamphlets flew in all directions; and there was set up a sort of
-ambulatory press, which was conveyed from place to place, till at length
-it was hunted down and destroyed near Manchester. In 1590, Sir Richard
-Knightley, Hooles, of Coventry, and Wigmore and his wife, of Warwick,
-were fined, in the Star Chamber, as promulgators of a book called "Martin
-Marprelate," the first L2,000, the second 1,000 marks, the third 500, the
-fourth 100, and to be imprisoned during the queen's pleasure.
-
-In 1591 Udal, a Nonconformist minister, was condemned to death for
-publishing a book called "A Demonstration of Discipline," but died
-in prison. Mr. Cartwright, fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, for
-pointing out defects in the system of the Church, was deprived of his
-fellowship, expelled the university, and in 1591 was summoned before
-the ecclesiastical commission with some of his friends, and committed
-to prison because they would not answer interrogatories on oath--a
-practice clearly contrary to law. In 1593 Barrow, Greenwood, and Penry,
-Independent ministers, or Brownists, were put to death for writings said
-to reflect on the queen. But no suppression produced the desired effect.
-
-In the spring of 1589 Parliament and Convocation assembled, and Elizabeth
-laid before them a statement of the heavy expenses incurred in beating
-off the Spaniards. She had already levied a forced loan, to which the
-recusants had been made to contribute heavily, and she now received most
-liberal grants from both Parliament and Convocation. Having given this
-freely, the House of Commons prayed the queen to send out a strong force
-and take vengeance on the Spaniards for their attack on this country.
-Elizabeth was perfectly agreeable that they should punish Philip to
-their hearts' content, but not out of the supplies they had granted.
-She said there were great demands on her exchequer; that she could only
-furnish ships and soldiers, and they must pay the cost. The proposal of
-retaliation was so much to the taste of the public that an association
-was formed under the auspices of Drake and Norris, and very soon they
-had a fleet of 100 sail at Plymouth, carrying 21,000 men. Elizabeth
-had long been patronising Don Antonio, prior of Crato, an illegitimate
-branch of the Royal family of Portugal. This pretender was now sent
-out in this fleet in royal state, and the expedition was directed to
-land in Portugal, and call on the people to throw off the Spanish yoke,
-and restore their government under a native, and, as Elizabeth boldly
-asserted, legitimate prince. If the Portuguese would not receive Don
-Antonio, the fleet was then to scour the roads of Spain, and inflict on
-the territory of Philip all the damage possible.
-
-The fascination of this expedition under so renowned a commander
-as Drake, seized on the fancy of a young noble, who had now become
-Elizabeth's prime favourite--the Earl of Essex. This was the son of
-the Countess of Essex whom Leicester had secretly married, much to
-Elizabeth's indignation, in 1578. Leicester introduced the young earl to
-Elizabeth, who, for a time, hated him on account of his mother, for the
-queen, in spite of her numerous quarrels with Leicester, was never able
-to free herself wholly from her early attachment to him. However, some
-time before Leicester's death, the graces and lively disposition of the
-young earl had made a strong impression on her heart or head, and she
-lavished blandishments on the handsome boy in public, even in the face
-of the camp at Tilbury, which must have been eminently ludicrous. After
-Leicester's death he was installed as the chief favourite, and she could
-scarcely bear him out of her sight. Her consternation was great when she
-found that he had slyly eloped, and had set off after the fleet bound for
-Spain.
-
-Drake made first for Corunna, where he seized a number of merchantmen
-and ships of war, made himself master of the suburbs or marine part of
-the town, with large stores of oil and wine, but failed to take the
-town itself, though he succeeded in making a breach in the wall, at the
-cost of many lives. Norris, meantime, attacked the forces of the Conde
-d'Andrada, posted at the Puente de Burgos, and drove them before him for
-some miles; but sickness and shortness of powder compelled them to embark
-again. Drake and Norris, as famous for their bulletins as Napoleon in
-our day, wrote home that they had killed 1,000 of the enemy, with the
-loss of only three men! but Lord Talbot, writing at the same time to his
-father, said that they had lost a great number of men, quite as many
-as the Spaniards. From Corunna they coasted to Peniche, about thirty
-miles north of Lisbon. At Peniche the young Earl of Essex, who kept out
-at sea till the commanders could say in their dispatches that they had
-heard nothing of him, was the first to spring on shore, and showed great
-gallantry. They quickly took the castle, and the fleet then proceeded
-along the shore to the Tagus, while the army marched by land to Lisbon
-through Torres Vedras and St. Sebastian.
-
-The garrison in Lisbon was but weak, and Essex knocked at the gates, and
-summoned the commander to surrender; but the Spaniards had taken the
-precaution to lay waste the neighbourhood and destroy all the provisions,
-or carry them into the city, so that famine, fever, and want of powder
-soon compelled the English to retire. They found that their pretender,
-Don Antonio, was everywhere treated as a pretender--not a man would own
-him; and they marched to Cascaes, which they found already plundered by
-Drake and his squadron. They there embarked for England, but were soon
-dispersed by a storm, and reached Plymouth in straggling disorder, one
-of the sections of the fleet having, before leaving Spain, plundered
-the town of Vigo. It was found that out of their 21,000 men, they had
-lost one-half. Out of the 1,100 gentlemen who accompanied the expedition
-one-third had perished. Elizabeth secretly grumbled at the expense and
-loss, but publicly boasted of the chastisement she had given to Philip.
-
-On the death of Henry III. of France by assassination, as we have
-previously related, Henry of Navarre, a lineal descendant of St. Louis,
-by his youngest son Robert, Count of Clermont, assumed the crown as Henry
-IV. But Henry's known Protestantism placed him in extreme difficulty,
-even with those who had hitherto supported himself or the late king.
-The Papist followers of that monarch insisted that he should sign an
-engagement to maintain their worship, and that to the exclusion of every
-other, except in the places in which the Protestant form was already
-established. They bound Henry to hunt out and punish the murderers of the
-late king; to give no offices in the State, in cities or corporations,
-except to Papists, and to permit the nobles of the Roman Catholic
-league to defend to the Pope their proceedings. But by conceding these
-conditions, he mortally offended the Protestants, who had hitherto
-faithfully adhered to him, and who refused any longer to fight under the
-banners of a prince who had thus, as they deemed it, abandoned their
-cause. Nine regiments deserted his standard, whilst a regiment of Papists
-on the other side, not sufficiently satisfied with the concessions thus
-dearly purchased, also marched out of his camp.
-
-Such was the extent of the disaffection, that instead of being able
-to take Paris, he was compelled to raise the siege and retreat into
-Normandy. Thither the Duke of Mayenne, the leader of the Guise party, and
-his fanatic rabble pursued him, but Henry, advantageously encamping his
-little army, which did not amount to a fourth of the enemy, on a slope
-opposite to the castle and village of Arques, a few miles from Dieppe,
-defeated his assailants with great slaughter. The battle was fought on
-the 21st of September, 1589, and the spot is now marked by a lofty column.
-
-On the heels of this victory came a most timely aid from Elizabeth of
-England, of L20,000 in gold and 4,000 troops under Lord Willoughby.
-Henry now retraced his steps to Paris, where he made himself master
-of the suburbs on the left bank of the Seine, and continued to act on
-the offensive during the remainder of the year. At the commencement of
-1591 the English army was dismissed, having suffered heavy losses, and
-displayed marked bravery.
-
-But they only returned home for Henry to solicit fresh assistance; the
-Spaniards and the Duke of Mercoeur put in claims for the province of
-Brittany, and united their forces to obtain it. Elizabeth, who professed
-to desire the Protestant ascendency in France, sorely rued the expense
-of supporting that interest, and her old and cunning minister Burleigh,
-threw his weight into the scale of parsimony, because he delighted to
-see France depressed. But now that the hated Spaniards had actually
-landed in that country over against her very coasts, she was roused to do
-something. She advanced a fresh loan and sent over a small reinforcement
-of 3,000 men. Essex was impatient to have the command of this force,
-but the queen, listening to Burleigh, gave it to Sir John Norris, and
-Essex quitted the Court in a pet. Fresh forces were, however, solicited,
-and Essex, to his great delight, received the appointment. In August he
-landed at Dieppe, and finding Henry engaged in the distant Champagne,
-he pitched his tent at Arques, near the scene of Henry's triumph, and
-remained there for two months doing nothing but knighting his officers
-to keep them contented. His whole force consisted only of 300 horse, 300
-gentlemen volunteers, and 3,000 infantry. On the king's arrival the siege
-of Rouen was begun, where the English army suffered terrible hardships,
-and in the spring of 1592, the siege having been raised on the approach
-of the Prince of Parma, Essex left his troops with Sir Roger Williams,
-having lost his brother, Walter Devereux, in the campaign.
-
-This unsatisfactory state of things in France continued till the
-midsummer of 1593. Henry was continually demanding fresh aid, fresh
-advances of money, fresh troops, which he did not employ, as was
-stipulated with Elizabeth, solely against the Spaniards, but against
-his rebellious subjects. Elizabeth was greatly enraged at his breach of
-faith, but still found it impossible to refuse him, lest the Spaniards
-should get the upper hand, and Henry, calculating on this, went on doing
-with her troops just what he pleased. Elizabeth was further incensed, and
-went into the worst of tempers on this account, and for this cause not
-only dealt sharp words, but heavy blows about her on her attendants. But
-worst of all came the news that Henry IV. was about to embrace the Roman
-Catholic faith. The fact was he saw that it was impossible otherwise
-to maintain himself on the throne. She sent off a strong remonstrance
-composed by Burleigh, but before its arrival the deed was done, nor is
-it to be supposed that its arrival would have prevented it. Elizabeth's
-limited aid could not enable him to overcome the tremendous opposition
-arrayed against him. On the 15th of July, 1593, Henry publicly abjured
-the Protestant and embraced, if not the Roman Catholic faith, the
-profession of it. On hearing that this was done, Elizabeth burst into one
-of her violent passions, and heaped on him her choicest terms of abuse.
-She wrote to him after four months had somewhat abated her fury, but
-still in a strain of high remonstrance.
-
-Elizabeth, after getting over her resentment against Henry IV. on account
-of his lapse of faith, found it convenient to make a league offensive and
-defensive with him against Philip. The consequence was that the Spaniards
-speedily poured into France from the Netherlands. Velasco, the constable
-of Castile, penetrated into Champagne, and directed his attack against
-Franche-Comte. Fuentes marched into Picardy, defeated Henry's army, took
-Dourlens and Cambray, and threw the King of France into the greatest
-alarm. In vain he sent to demand aid of Elizabeth: she had heard of
-preparations in the Spanish ports for a second invasion of her kingdom;
-and so far from aiding Henry, she withdrew her troops from Brittany,
-complaining dreadfully of all the money and men which she had foolishly
-wasted on the apostate monarch of France. In March, 1596, the Archduke
-Albert, who had become Governor of the Netherlands, suddenly marched on
-Calais, pretending that his object was to raise the siege of La Fere.
-By this ruse he was already under the walls of Calais with 15,000 men.
-The outstanding forts were soon won, and as Elizabeth was one Sunday at
-church at Greenwich, the distant report of the Archduke's cannonade on
-the walls of Calais was plainly heard. Elizabeth sprang up in the midst
-of the service, and vowed that she would rescue that ancient town. She
-sent off post-haste to order the Lord Mayor of London to immediately
-impress 1,000 men, and send them on to Calais; but the fit of enthusiasm
-was soon over, and the next morning she countermanded the order. When
-Henry's ambassadors urged her for assistance, she coolly proffered it on
-condition that she should garrison Calais with an English army. When the
-proposal was made to Henry, he was so incensed that he actually turned
-his back on her ambassador, Sir Robert Sidney, saying he would rather
-receive a box on the ear from a man than a fillip from a woman. In a few
-days--namely, on the 14th of April--the town was carried by storm, and
-Elizabeth had the mortification of seeing the Spaniards in possession
-of a port so calculated to enable them to invade England. Henry, on his
-part, was excessively enraged at her duplicity and selfishness, and spoke
-in no sparing terms of her. Nevertheless, his necessities soon compelled
-him to lower his tone, and even to condescend to flatter her in the most
-extravagant manner of the age, with the result that 2,000 troops were
-sent to garrison Boulogne.
-
-The hostile preparations in the ports of Spain at this time occupied
-all the attention of Elizabeth and her Government, and the more so as
-during the past years she had lost her two famous commanders, Drake and
-Hawkins. They had been sent out on one of their predatory expeditions
-against the Spanish settlements in South America and the West Indies.
-But circumstances in these quarters had become greatly changed. The
-colonies had acquired population and strength: the former ravages of
-these commanders had put the people and the Government on their guard.
-Wherever the English fleet appeared, it found the ports and coasts well
-guarded and defended. Their attacks were repulsed, and such was the
-deplorable failure of the expedition, and the contrast of their former
-profitable and splendid exploits, that both commanders sank under their
-mortification. Hawkins died in 1595, and Drake in the following year. The
-survivors only returned to experience the anger of the queen, who felt
-with equal sensibility the loss of reputation and of the accustomed booty.
-
-The Lord Howard of Effingham, the brave High Admiral who had so
-successfully commanded the fleet against the Armada, recommended at this
-crisis that the English Government should adopt the advice which he had
-given on the former occasion, to anticipate the intentions of Spain,
-and attack and destroy the menacing fleet ere it left the port. In this
-counsel he was ardently seconded by Essex, who loved above all things an
-expedition of a bold and romantic character, and the more so, because it
-was directly opposed to the cold and cautious policy of his enemies, the
-Cecils. He prevailed, and a fleet of 130 sail was fitted out to carry
-over an army of 14,000 land forces. The fleet was confided to the command
-of Lord Howard, the army to Essex; but to put some check on his fiery
-enthusiasm he was required to take, on all great occasions, the advice
-of a council of war consisting of the Lord Admiral, Lord Thomas Howard,
-Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Vere, Sir George Carew, and Sir Coniers
-Clifford.
-
-On the 1st of June, 1596, the fleet issued from Plymouth, and being
-joined by twenty-two ships from Holland, it amounted to 150 sail,
-carrying 14,000 men. On the 20th the fleet cast anchor at the mouth of
-the harbour of Cadiz, and there discovered fifteen men-of-war, and about
-forty merchantmen. The next morning a fierce battle took place, which
-lasted from seven in the morning till one o'clock at noon. The English
-sailed right into the harbour, despite the fire from the ships and forts,
-and the Spaniards, finding the contest going against them, attempted to
-run their vessels ashore and burn them. The galleons got out to sea,
-while the merchantmen having reached Puerto Real, discharged their cargo
-and were burnt by order of the Duke of Medina. Two large ships with an
-argosy were taken, and much booty fell to the captors. The Earl of Essex
-displayed the utmost gallantry. Instead of remaining with the army, he
-went on board and fought in the thick of the danger. The sea-fight over,
-he landed 3,000 men and marched into Cadiz. A body of horse and foot was
-posted to oppose his progress, but fled at his approach; and, finding
-that the inhabitants in their terror had closed the gates, they made
-their way over a ruinous wall, and the English without delay followed
-them. In spite of the fire kept up from the tops of the houses, Essex led
-his men to the market-place, where they were speedily joined by the Lord
-Admiral, who had found his way through a portal. The city capitulated,
-paying 120,000 crowns for the lives of the people, the town and all its
-wealth being abandoned to the plunder of the troops.
-
-[Illustration: BEAUCHAMP TOWER, WARDERS' HOUSES, AND YEOMAN GAOLERS'
-LODGINGS: TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-Essex proposed to strike a great blow while the panic of their victory
-paralysed the country. He recommended that they should march into
-the heart of Andalusia; and such was the destitution of disciplined
-troops from the drain which the wars of France and the Netherlands had
-occasioned, such were the discontent of the nobles and the disaffection
-of the Moriscoes, that much mischief might have been done before they
-could have been successfully opposed. The plan, however, was resisted by
-the other commanders, and Essex then offered to remain in the Isla de
-Leon with 4,000 men, and defend it against the whole force of the enemy.
-But the other leaders would hear of nothing but hastening home. They had
-laid the town in ruins, with the exception of two or three churches;
-they had nearly annihilated the fleet, had collected a vast booty, and
-inflicted on the Spaniards a loss of 20,000,000 ducats.
-
-The conquerors returned home, having dealt the severest blow at Spain
-that it had received for generations. They had raised the prestige of the
-English arms, amply avenged the attempt at the invasion of their country,
-and sunk the reputation of Spain in no ordinary degree. Foreigners
-regarded the exploit with wonder, and the people raised thunders of
-acclamations as the victorious vessels sailed into port. But the gallant
-and magnanimous deeds of Essex had been gall and wormwood to the Cecils,
-and they had neglected no means of injuring him in his absence. Essex had
-succeeded ever since the death of Walsingham--that is, for six years--in
-preventing the dearest wish of Burleigh's heart, to see his son, Sir
-Robert, established in his post. While Essex was away he carried this
-point with the queen; and the courtiers, now auguring the ascendency of
-the Cecils, united in defaming Essex to win favour with them. They talked
-freely of his vainglory, rashness, extravagance, and dissipation.
-
-Day after day the queen subjected Essex to the scrutiny and
-cross-questioning of his enemies in the Council, till, luckily for him,
-there came the news that the Spanish treasures from the New World had
-just arrived safely in port with 20,000,000 of dollars. This put the
-climax to Elizabeth's exasperation; and Essex, who, since his return
-from the expedition, as if to take away every ground for the censure of
-the courtiers, had assumed a totally new character, and was no longer
-the gay and pleasure-seeking young nobleman, but the grave and religious
-man; who lived at home with his countess, attended her to church, and
-exhibited the most pious demeanour; who, instead of his haughty and
-irritable temper, had displayed the utmost patience and forbearance
-under the galling examination of the Council, now broke out at once with
-the declaration that he had done everything in his power to persuade
-his colleagues to permit him to sail to Terceira to intercept this very
-fleet; that the creatures of the Cecils had opposed him resolutely,
-defeated the enterprise, and robbed the queen of this princely treasure.
-
-Instantly the whole current of Elizabeth's feelings underwent a change.
-It was deemed necessary to send out an expedition to Spain to hunt up
-the hostile fleet and destroy it as before. Essex stood undoubted in the
-queen's confidence, and she gave him the command of the fleet for this
-purpose, with Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Walter Raleigh under him. This
-time there was no subjection to a council of war. On the 11th of July,
-1597, the fleet set sail; but had not sailed more than forty leagues
-when it was driven back by a tempest, which raged for four days. Essex
-himself disdained to turn back, but, with his utter contempt of danger
-and dogged obstinacy, he, to use his own words, beat up his ship in the
-teeth of the storm, till it was actually falling asunder, having a leak
-which obliged them to pump eight tons of water per day out of her; her
-main and foremast being cracked, and most of her beams broken and reft.
-The gentlemen volunteers were so completely satisfied with sailing with
-such a man, that on reaching land at Falmouth they all stole away home.
-But Essex himself was as resolved as ever to prosecute the voyage, though
-the queen would advance nothing more for refitting the fleet. He got as
-many of his ships into order as he could, and on the 17th of August was
-enabled to sail again, though the men by this time had consumed most
-of their provisions. He made now, not for the coast of Spain, but the
-Azores, where they took Fayal, Graciosa, and Flores--useless conquests,
-as they could not keep them, and which led to immediate quarrels, for
-Raleigh, with his indomitable ambition, took Fayal himself without
-orders, which Essex deeming an honour stolen from him, resented greatly.
-He ordered several of the officers concerned to be arrested; but when
-he was advised to try Raleigh by a court-martial, he replied, "So I
-would had he been one of my friends." What was worse than this dispute,
-however, was that the Spanish treasure vessels returning from America,
-which Elizabeth had expressly ordered them to lay wait for, had escaped
-into Terceira, and they were obliged to return with the capture of three
-Spanish ships and other plunder, valued at L100,000.
-
-Essex, on landing, hastened to Court, but the queen was in the worst of
-humours at the missing of the treasure ships, and complained that he
-had done nothing to discharge the expenses of the expedition. She laid
-all the blame of failure on him, and gave all the credit to Sir Walter
-Raleigh, whom she accused him of oppressing and insulting. With his
-usual choleric petulance, he hastily left the Court and retired to his
-own house at Wanstead. He was so far from admitting that he was in the
-wrong, that he demanded satisfaction for the injuries which he considered
-had been done him in his absence. The Chancellorship of the Duchy of
-Lancaster, which he had asked for a dependent, had been conferred on
-Cecil, and the Lord Admiral Howard had been created Earl of Nottingham,
-and thus had obtained an official precedency over him. Worse still, and
-more unjust, the honour of the capture of Cadiz was allowed to be usurped
-by Lord Howard in his new patent, though it really belonged to Essex. The
-passionate favourite was so enraged that he offered to fight Nottingham
-in vindication of his claim, or one of his sons, or any gentleman of the
-name of Howard. However, he bridled his resentment, and on the 18th of
-December all was made smooth, and Essex again appeared at Court, being
-created Earl Marshal, by which he regained precedency over the new Earl
-of Nottingham.
-
-The King of France, in the commencement of the year 1598, announced to
-the Queen of England his intention to seek peace with Spain. This was
-news by no means agreeable to Elizabeth, as such a peace would leave
-Philip at liberty to pursue his designs against her; and she endeavoured
-by her ambassador to dissuade Henry from such a measure. But Henry had
-now for thirteen years been harassed by the cares of a kingdom involved
-on two sides in war with Philip, and rent in every quarter by religious
-dissension. The death of the Guises had broken up, in a great measure,
-the Roman Catholic League, but the spirit of opposition was still as much
-alive as ever, and was fanned into flame by a Protestant League, formed
-on the same principles. He longed intensely for peace, that he might
-more fully exert himself to abate this religious discord. His anxiety
-for it had been doubled by the capture of Amiens by the Spaniards in
-February, 1597; and his recovery of it in the following September only
-rendered him the more willing to treat, because he could do it on better
-terms. It was necessary to send over Sir Robert Cecil as ambassador
-extraordinary, to attend the negotiations: and fearing the influence of
-Essex in his absence, the cunning minister had been induced to favour his
-advancement to the post of Earl Marshal, and he sought to win the Earl
-over more completely by moving the queen to present Essex with a cargo
-of cochineal worth L7,000, and a contract for the sale of a much larger
-amount out of the royal stores. Greatly pleased by these instances of
-Cecil's friendship, as he deemed it, Essex transacted the business of the
-Secretaryship for Sir Robert in his absence, and that politic gentleman
-took his departure for France on the 10th of February, 1598.
-
-At the conference both Cecil and the Dutch deputies did everything in
-their power to prevent the peace, but in vain. Henry was resolved on
-giving tranquillity to his kingdom; and when reproached by Cecil for
-deserting Elizabeth, he replied that in aiding him she had served her
-own interests. On the 20th of April he published the edict of Nantes,
-giving security and toleration to the Protestants; and on May the 2nd he
-signed, at Vervins, the treaty with Spain, which was so advantageous that
-he recovered Calais and all places which had been taken during the war.
-Elizabeth was in reality a gainer, for she thus became free from a charge
-of L126,000 per annum in holding the cautionary towns; and the States
-gave an acknowledgment of a debt of L800,000, which they engaged to pay
-by instalments.
-
-On the return of Cecil he submitted to the queen the proposals which
-Philip had made for the extension of the peace to England, and Burleigh
-and Sir Robert contended that Spain having made peace with France, it was
-wise for this kingdom to do the same. Essex, on the contrary, contended
-for war, and for still punishing the Spaniards for their attempt at
-invasion. In the midst of one of the debates in the Council, Burleigh
-put his pocket Bible gently before him, open at these words in the
-Psalms:--"Blood-thirsty men shall not live out half their days." Essex
-took no apparent notice of it, but after his death the circumstance came
-to be looked on as prophetic. The Council was in favour of peace. The
-nation sympathised with Essex, and especially the army and navy, who
-hated the Spaniards, and thought Essex stood up for the honour of the
-country. But if Essex's favour rose with the people, it was in utmost
-peril at Court.
-
-A scene soon occurred in the Council chamber which hastened the rupture.
-There was a warm debate on the appointment of a new Lord Deputy for
-Ireland. That country was in such a cruelly distracted state, and the
-population, both English and Irish, so hostile to the English Government,
-that no one would willingly accept the office. At this moment the Cecils
-were warmly recommending Sir William Knollys to that unenviable post,
-Essex still more vehemently urging the appointment on Sir George Carew.
-But each party was not striving to confer the post as a favour, but as an
-annoyance. Sir William Knollys was the uncle of Essex, and, therefore,
-when the queen named him, the Cecils supported the nomination; and Essex,
-on the contrary, named Sir George Carew as a partisan of the Cecils.
-The debate grew vehement, and Essex, without regard to the wishes of
-the queen, spoke violently against the appointment of Sir William. The
-queen made a sarcastic observation on Essex's advocacy, and the petted
-favourite turned his back upon her with an expression neither respectful
-nor prudent. The soul of the great queen rose in all its Tudor fury,
-and she fetched the rash and forgetful youth a sound buffet on the ear.
-Instead of being called to his senses by this action, the fiery Earl
-started to his feet and clapped his hand on his sword; but the Lord
-Admiral threw himself between the ungallant Earl and the queen; and Essex
-exclaiming that "it was an insult which he would not have taken from her
-father, much less from a king in petticoats," rushed out of the room.
-
-[Illustration: THE QUARREL BETWEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF ESSEX. (_See
-p._ 332.)]
-
-The rupture took place in June, and not till the 6th of November did
-the haughty favourite and the offended queen become reconciled; and it
-is not probable that the reconciliation was ever sincere on the part of
-Elizabeth. Meanwhile, death had removed two persons of great consequence
-in the history of Elizabeth--her aged minister Burleigh, and Philip of
-Spain (1598). Sir Robert Cecil, Burleigh's son, succeeded him in the
-councils of the queen, much to the disgust of Essex, and perpetuated his
-father's cautious principles.
-
-Ireland was now at such a pitch of confusion that the English Government
-was at its wit's end about it, and no one liked to undertake its
-vice-royalty. It was come to such a pass that it was even worse than
-when Walsingham wished it four-and-twenty hours under water. The Lord
-Grey, though eulogised by Spenser, had left it with the character
-of a cruel and rapacious tyrant. Sir John Perrot, reputed to be an
-illegitimate brother of Elizabeth, succeeded him, and dispensed
-justice with a stern hand. He was as ready to punish the English for
-their excesses as to do justice to the Irish under their wrongs; and
-the enmity of his own domineering and avaricious countrymen became
-much more effective than the respect of the natives. In 1592 the
-clamours and intrigues of his enemies occasioned his recall. At home,
-however, he suffered himself to speak incautiously of the queen and of
-Chancellor Hatton, and a secret inquiry was instituted into his late
-administration of Ireland. All sorts of charges of a treasonable nature
-were advanced against him by those whose rapacity he had punished during
-his deputyship--such as favouring the Roman Catholic clergy, plotting
-with Parma and the Spaniards, and encouraging the insurrections of the
-O'Rourkes and the Burkes. They could establish none of these, but they
-managed to touch him in a still more dangerous quarter. They proved that
-in his irritation at the obstructions thrown in his way by the Court, he
-had spoken sometimes freely of the queen and her ministers. Essex, whose
-sister Perrot's son had married, exerted all his influence in his favour;
-but where Elizabeth's vanity was wounded she was unforgiving. Sir John
-was condemned to death, and soon after died in the Tower from chagrin at
-his unjust treatment, or, as was suspected, from poison.
-
-[Illustration: THE EARL OF ESSEX.
-
-(_From the Portrait by Isaac Oliver._)]
-
-The most formidable Irish chieftain with whom the English had to
-contend was Hugh, the son of the late Baron of Dungannon. This active
-and ambitious chief, who had been rewarded for his services in the war
-against the Earl of Desmond with the earldom of Tyrone, soon proclaimed
-himself not merely the successor to the earldom of O'Neil, but the
-genuine O'Neil himself. The natives of Ulster, in need of such a
-champion, admitted his claims, and were ready to support him in all his
-pretensions. As these were not admitted by the English, he became their
-enemy, and by his military talents proved a terrible thorn in their
-side. He demanded for the natives liberty of conscience and all their
-old lands, rights, and privileges; and the successive deputies found
-themselves engaged in a most harassing and destructive war with this
-subtle chief and his followers, in which he wore them out by constant
-skirmishes and surprises amongst the woods, bogs, and mountains of his
-wild territories. Sir John Norris, who had served with so much honour
-in the Netherlands and France, sank under it; and in August of 1598 Sir
-Henry Bagenal was defeated and slain in a pitched battle at Blackwater,
-in Tyrone, his baggage and artillery being lost, and 1,500 men killed.
-The consequence of this victory was that nearly all Ireland rushed into
-a state of open rebellion, and the great question in the English cabinet
-was, who was the man capable of reducing the insurgents. It required no
-common man; for the Irish everywhere proclaimed the Earl of Tyrone the
-saviour of his country, and looked to him to drive the English wholly
-out of Ireland. The Earl of Essex dwelt so much in the Council on the
-necessary bravery and address of the man who should be appointed, that
-the Cecils, anxious to remove him to a distance from the Court, declared
-that he himself was by far the most fitting for the office. His friends
-warned him of the dangers and difficulties of a Government which had been
-the ruin of so many; but the queen, seconding the recommendations of the
-Cecils, to induce him to accept the post, remitted him a debt of L8,000,
-and made him a present of nearly three times that sum. He was furnished
-with an army of 18,000 men, many of them veteran troops who had fought in
-the Netherlands, and with the fullest powers that had ever been conferred
-on any Irish Deputy. He had full authority to continue the war or to
-make peace; to pardon all crimes and treasons at his pleasure, and to
-determine all his own appointments.
-
-Such were the terms of his commission; but in one particular the queen
-had laid a strict injunction upon him, in conversation, which was,
-that he should not give the command of the cavalry, as he wished, to
-his friend and the friend of Shakespeare, the Earl of Southampton,
-with whom Elizabeth had the old cause of quarrel, that of presuming to
-marry without her consent. In March, 1599, Essex marched out of London,
-surrounded by the flower of the young nobility, and followed by the
-acclamations and good wishes of the populace, of whom he was the idol for
-his military reputation and his frank and generous disposition.
-
-No sooner did he arrive in Ireland than he set at defiance the orders of
-the queen, and placed Southampton at the head of the horse. Elizabeth
-sent an angry command for his removal, and Essex reminded her of the
-terms of his commission, and wished to know whether she meant to revoke
-it. Worse was to follow. Sickness, from the wretched and unwholesome
-supplies of provisions--the worst enemy of the British soldier in all
-ages being frequently the commissariat officers--soon decimated them; and
-by the month of August his 18,000 men showed no more than 3,500 foot, and
-300 horse. He was compelled to demand a reinforcement of 2,000 men before
-he could march into Ulster, the chief seat of the rebellion. The queen
-sent the soldiers, but accompanied the order by very bitter letters,
-complaining of his waste of her troops, her money, and of her time, which
-was so precious. Essex defended himself by representing the difficulties
-of the task which he had to encounter, and which had mastered so many
-before him. He assured her that he acted entirely by the advice of the
-Lords of the Irish Council; but "these rebels," he said, "are far more
-numerous than your Majesty's army, and have--though I do unwillingly
-confess it--better bodies, and more perfect use of their arms, than those
-men your Majesty sends over." He added, that for his part he received
-nothing from home but "discomfort and soul-wounds."
-
-When he came up with Tyrone on the 5th of September, encamped with his
-whole army in the county of Louth, that chief demanded a parley, and
-instead of a battle, as was expected, an armistice was agreed upon for
-six weeks, which was to be renewed from six weeks to six weeks till the
-following May, to give time for full inquiry. His enemies thereupon
-insinuated that Essex was at heart a traitor, and was in collusion with
-the Irish to betray his trust and make himself independent. Still worse,
-they declared that he was waiting for a descent of the Spaniards on
-the island to assist in the design. Certain that his destruction was
-determined upon by his foes, and that no justice was to be expected
-whilst he was at such a distance, he formed the sudden resolve to hasten
-to London and defend his policy in person. His first idea was to take
-with him such a body of troops as should overawe the adverse party, and
-secure his own person; but Sir Christopher Blount, who had now married
-the mother of Essex, convinced him of the fatality of such a proceeding.
-He departed, therefore, with a small attendance; and arriving in London
-on the 28th of September, 1599, and finding the queen was at Nonsuch, he
-lost no time in hastening thither, to prevent any one from prejudicing
-her against him. But he found that, quick as he had been, his enemies
-had been quicker, and that one of the most hostile of them, Lord Grey of
-Wilton, was on the way at full speed. Essex knew what the effect would be
-if Cecil got the news before his arrival, that he had left his government
-contrary to the positive order of the queen; and if time were allowed
-to excite the queen's resentment, he would undoubtedly be arrested the
-moment of his arrival. For this reason he rode like a madman, through mud
-and mire, but hate travelled faster, and Grey had been closeted a good
-quarter of a hour with Cecil when he reached the palace.
-
-Without pausing to alter his dress, Essex rushed into the queen's privy
-chamber, and not finding her there, did not hesitate to rush into her
-bed-chamber, though it was only ten o'clock in the morning. The queen was
-just up, and sat with her hair all about her face in the hands of her
-tire-woman. She was naturally excessively astonished at this unexpected
-apparition; but Essex threw himself on his knees before her, covered her
-hands with kisses, and did not rise till she had given him evidence of
-her good-will. He retired to make his toilet in such good humour at his
-reception that he thanked God that after so many troublous storms abroad,
-"he found a sweet calm at home." Within an hour he returned, and had a
-long interview with her Majesty, who was so kind and gracious, that the
-courtiers, who had carefully watched how this rude entrance would be
-taken, persuaded themselves that love would carry the day against duty
-with the queen; and they all, except the Cecil party, were very courteous
-towards him. But by the evening the poison of the venomous minister had
-been instilled and done its work. Essex was received by the queen with
-a stern and distant air, and she began to demand of him why he had thus
-left Ireland without her permission, affairs being in so disordered and
-dangerous a state. He received an order at night to consider himself a
-prisoner in his room; and the next day, at two o'clock in the afternoon,
-he was summoned to give an account of himself to the Council. On entering
-the Council the lords arose and saluted him, but reseated themselves,
-leaving him standing at the end of the board. It was demanded why he had
-left his charge in Ireland without leave; why he had made so many knights
-there, contrary to the express desire of the queen; why he had written
-such presumptuous letters to her Majesty; and how he had dared to enter
-her Majesty's bedroom. After awhile he was allowed a certain amount of
-freedom, but the queen never saw him again.
-
-In June of 1600 she put Essex on his trial before a court of eighteen
-commissioners, whom she empowered to pass "censure," but not judgment.
-The result of this trial was that Essex was condemned to forfeit every
-office which he held by patent from the Crown, and to remain a prisoner
-at the royal pleasure. Elizabeth trusted that now she had broken the
-proud spirit of the Lord Deputy, and that the sentence of the court would
-bring him humbly to sue for forgiveness. But the great failing of Essex
-was his high spirit, his indignant sense of wrong, and his obstinate
-refusal to surrender his own will when he felt himself right, though
-there was no other way of appeasing his equally self-willed sovereign. He
-only begged to be dismissed, and that she "would let her servant depart
-in peace." He declared that all the pleasures and ambitions of this world
-had palled upon his mind; that he saw their vanity, and desired only
-to live in retirement with his wife, his friends, and his books in the
-country. Had that wish been real, few men were better qualified, by their
-refined and elevated taste and their love of literature, to have adorned
-such a life; but Essex, if he truly longed for private and domestic life,
-did not know himself, for he was one of those restless and quick spirits
-of whom the poet said "quiet is a hell." However, on the 26th of August
-he was released from custody, but informed that he must not appear at
-Court.
-
-Essex, once at large, cast off his pretences of retirement and contempt
-of the world, and petitioned the queen for a continuation of his patent
-for a monopoly of sweet wines. Elizabeth replied that she would first
-inquire into the value of this privilege, which she understood was
-worth L50,000 per annum. She accompanied this message with an ominous
-remark that when horses became unmanageable it was necessary to stint
-them in their corn. Accordingly, she refused his request, and appointed
-commissioners to manage the tax for herself.
-
-Essex now became beside himself. Hitherto he had lived in privacy,
-but now he came to Essex House, in the Strand, where he gave free
-entertainment to all sorts of people. His secretary Cuffe and other
-dangerous persons encouraged him in the belief that by his popularity
-with the people it would be no difficult matter to force Cecil, Raleigh,
-and his other enemies from office; and that once removed from the queen,
-all would be right. He therefore kept open house, and was soon surrounded
-by crowds of military men and adventurers, by Roman Catholics and
-Puritans. His military friends formed themselves into a sort of guard;
-and it was remarked that many of the nobility also visited him, as the
-Earls of Worcester, Southampton, Sussex, Rutland, and Bedford. There were
-daily preachings in his house, and he proposed to some of the theologians
-the question whether it were not lawful, in case of mal-administration,
-to compel a sovereign to govern according to law. He moreover sent to
-the king of Scotland, assuring him that there was a design at Court
-to exclude him in favour of the Infanta of Spain, and urged James to
-send an ambassador to demand a distinct declaration of his right to the
-succession. James, who was in great anxiety on this head already, appears
-to have listened to the advice of Essex, and to have taken measures to
-act upon it.
-
-Essex was now stimulated by his passions into a most perilous position.
-He was actively engaged in dangerous courses; and though some pains
-were taken to conceal his real designs, by the chief coadjutors in the
-conspiracy meeting at the Earl of Southampton's, and communicating
-privately by letter with Essex, the proceedings could not escape the
-ever-open ears of Cecil and his party. The conspirators had concluded
-that the safest thing to do in the first instance was for Sir Christopher
-Blount, Sir John Davis, and Sir Charles Davers to head three parties,
-and to take possession of the gate of Westminster palace, the guard, and
-the presence chamber, whilst Essex threw himself on his knees before the
-queen, and refused to rise till she had complied with his petition, and
-dismissed the obnoxious ministers. But while they were planning, Cecil
-and his friends acted. The secretary Herbert arrived with a summons for
-Essex to appear before the Council. He replied that he was too unwell
-to attend; and while he was thus evading the summons, he received an
-anonymous note warning him to escape as he valued his life; and this
-was immediately followed by the intelligence that the guard had been
-doubled at the palace. It was high time now to act, as his arrest was
-certain. In the night he despatched messages to collect his friends;
-and it was resolved that the next morning, which was Sunday, the 8th of
-February, 1601, the Earls of Southampton and Rutland, the Lords Sandys
-and Mounteagle, and about 600 gentlemen, should enter the City with Essex
-during sermon time, and assembling at St. Paul's Cross, where the Lord
-Mayor, Aldermen, and Companies were wont to attend, to call upon them to
-accompany them to the palace to assist in obtaining the removal of the
-pernicious advisers of the Crown.
-
-When they were on the point of executing this plan they were interrupted
-by a visit from the Lord Keeper Egerton, the Earl of Worcester, Knollys,
-the comptroller of the household, and the Lord Chief Justice. Essex
-ordered them to be admitted through the wicket, but without any of their
-attendants, except the purse-bearer. When the officers of the Crown found
-themselves in the midst of an armed company, Egerton demanded what was
-the meaning of it; on which Essex replied in a loud and excited tone,
-"There is a plot laid for my life. Letters have been counterfeited in my
-name; men have been hired to murder me in my bed. We are met to defend
-our lives, since my enemies cannot be satisfied without sucking my blood."
-
-"If such be the case," said the Lord Chief Justice Popham, "let it
-be proved. We will relate it fairly, and the queen will do impartial
-justice." "Impartial justice!" said the Earl of Southampton; "then
-why is it not done on Lord Grey?" Grey had attacked Southampton in
-the Strand with a number of followers on account of an old grudge,
-Southampton having only a foot-boy with him, whose hand was struck off,
-and Southampton himself was in great danger, till a number of people with
-clubs came to his help. Popham replied that Grey was imprisoned for the
-offence; and Egerton desired Essex to explain his grievances in private,
-when there was a cry of "They abuse you, my lord; they are undoing you;
-you lose your time!" Egerton put on his cap, and commanded every man,
-in the queen's name, to lay down his arms and depart. The crowd outside
-continued to shout, "Kill them, kill them! Keep them for hostages! Throw
-the great seal out of the window!" The queen's officers, being shown into
-a back room guarded by musketeers, Essex begged them to have patience
-for half an hour and locking the door upon them, left them. Sir John
-Davis, Sir Gilly Merrick, Francis Tresham, and Owen Salisbury were left
-in charge of them.
-
-[Illustration: LORD GREY AND HIS FOLLOWERS ATTACKING THE EARL OF
-SOUTHAMPTON. (_See p._ 336.)]
-
-Then Essex, rushing into the street, drew his sword, and followed by
-Southampton, Rutland, Sandys, Mounteagle, and most of the knights and
-gentlemen, he made for the City. They were joined on the way by the
-Earl of Bedford and Lord Cromwell, with 200 others. At Ludgate the
-guard suffered them to pass, Essex declaring that he was endeavouring
-to save his life from Raleigh, Cobham, and their accomplices. To their
-great disappointment they found nobody at St. Paul's Cross, the queen
-having warned the Corporation to keep away, and to see that the people
-remained within their houses. Essex rode along shouting, "For the
-queen, my mistress! a plot is laid for my life!" and called upon the
-citizens to come and follow him. He had relied on his popularity with the
-masses; but he now found himself miserably deceived. The common people
-shouted "God bless your honour!" but no man joined him. He returned
-crestfallen to his house; but it was presently surrounded by a military
-force with a battering train, and not a soul rose in his defence. The
-case was hopeless, and about ten o'clock at night Essex and Southampton
-held a parley from the top of the house with Sir Robert Sidney, and
-surrendered on promise of a fair trial. They were conveyed for the night
-to Lambeth Palace. The next day Essex and Southampton were committed
-to the Tower, and the other prisoners to different gaols in London and
-Westminster. Essex was tried, and on the whole fairly, for his technical
-guilt was obvious; and, after the usual hesitation on the part of
-Elizabeth, suffered the penalty of the law on the 25th of February, 1601.
-Southampton was imprisoned for life.
-
-Lord Mountjoy, the friend of Essex, though advanced to the deputyship of
-Ireland in his room, knew that Elizabeth had become aware of his offer
-to attempt a release of Essex from his confinement before his last rash
-outbreak, and he was prepared to escape to the Continent on the first
-symptom of an attempt to arrest him; but to his agreeable surprise he
-received a very gracious letter from Elizabeth, in which she stated that
-the defection and death of Essex had caused her deep grief, but his,
-Mountjoy's, loyalty and success in Ireland had been a comfort to her.
-This had been done at the suggestion of Cecil, who represented to her
-that Mountjoy's loyalty might be secured by not seeming to doubt it, and
-it was a great consequence to have so able a general in Ireland, as the
-Spaniards were now meditating a descent on the coast of that island.
-Indeed, in September, 4,000 Spaniards landed at Kinsale, under Don Juan
-D'Aguilar, fortified the town, and called on the people to join them
-against the heretic and excommunicated Queen of England, their oppressor.
-Whilst Mountjoy marched his forces to Kinsale and shut up the Spaniards
-in their own lines, Elizabeth summoned her last Parliament. She opened
-it in person on the 27th of October, 1601, but she was now so enfeebled
-that she was actually sinking under the weight of the robes of State,
-when the nobleman who stood nearest to her caught her in his arms and
-supported her. Notwithstanding this exhibition of her weakness, her
-determined will enabled her to rally and to go through the ceremony. The
-Session was a very stormy one. The great object of calling it together
-was to obtain money. Money the House of Commons expressed its willingness
-to grant, but at the same time called for the abolition of a number
-of monopolies which were sapping the very vitals of the nation. These
-monopolies were patents granted to her courtiers, for the exclusive sale
-of some article of commerce. It was a custom which had commenced in the
-seventeenth year of her reign, and by the greediness of her favourites
-had grown into a monstrous abuse. Scarcely a man about her but had one or
-more of these monopolies in his hand, by which the price of all sorts of
-the necessities of life was doubled, or more than doubled. Sometimes the
-patentee exercised the monopoly himself, sometimes he farmed it out to
-others, whose only object was to screw as much as possible out of it. The
-members for counties and boroughs had been repeatedly called on by their
-constituents to demand the abolition of these detestable abuses; but they
-had always been silenced by Ministers, on the ground that the queen would
-highly resent any interference with her prerogatives.
-
-On the 18th of November a motion to put an end to these monopolies was
-made, which received the regular Ministerial answer, with the addition
-that it was useless to endeavour to tie the Royal hands, because, even if
-it were done by both Houses, the queen could loose them at her pleasure.
-Cecil said that the Speaker was very much to blame to admit of such a
-motion at the commencement of a Session, knowing that it was contrary
-to the Royal command. But, nothing daunted, the members of the Commons
-replied that they had found, however useless it was to petition for the
-removal of these grievances, that the remedy lay in their own hands,
-and the patentees were such blood-suckers of the commonwealth, that the
-people would no longer bear the burden of them. When the list of the
-monopolies was read over, a member asked if bread were not amongst them.
-The House appeared amazed at the question. "Nay," said he, "if no remedy
-be found for these, bread will be there before next Parliament." Bacon
-and Cecil still talked loudly of prerogative, but the House went on with
-so much resolution that the favourites began to tremble, and Raleigh, who
-had monopolies of tar and various other commodities, saw such a storm
-brewing that he offered to give them all up. For four days the debate
-continued with such an agitation as had not been witnessed through the
-whole reign; and Cecil found it necessary to give way, and the monopolies
-were withdrawn. On the 25th the queen sent for the Speaker, and in the
-presence of the Council, addressed him in a truly noble speech, saying
-that she had rather her heart and hand should perish than that either
-heart or hand should allow such privileges to monopolists as might injure
-her people.
-
-While these events had been taking place in Parliament, Mountjoy had
-defeated the queen's enemies in Ireland. He had united his forces with
-those of the President of Munster, and kept the Spaniards shut up in
-Kinsale. On Christmas Eve the Earl of Tyrone advanced to the assistance
-of the besieged, with 6,000 Irish and 200 fresh Spaniards, who had landed
-at Castlehaven under the command of Ocampo. His plan was to surprise
-the English before daylight, and to have a second division of his army
-ready with a supply oprovisions to throw into the town. But Mountjoy
-was already aware of his approach, which was delayed by the fears of
-Ocampo--only too well founded--of the fatal want of discipline amongst
-the natives, and by his endeavours to bring them into some regularity.
-Mountjoy surprised these wild hordes as they were crossing a stream,
-and thoroughly routed them. The Spaniards, left on the field alone,
-surrendered, and Tyrone retreated northwards with the remnant of his
-army. About 500 Irish were killed.
-
-[Illustration: A STORY OF THE SPANISH MAIN
-
-FROM THE PICTURE BY SEYMOUR LUCAS, R.A.]
-
-The Spaniards in Kinsale yielded the place on this defeat of their
-allies, on condition of being allowed to return home with their arms
-and ammunition. Tyrone was then pursued by Mountjoy with great vigour,
-and after a number of defeats retired still more northward. Munster was
-reduced, and Tyrone offered to submit on favourable terms; but Mountjoy
-could obtain no such terms from the queen; she insisted on unconditional
-surrender. Her ministers strongly advised her to concede and settle the
-state of Ireland, which was now costing her L300,000 a year to defend
-it against the natives. Sometimes she appeared disposed to comply,
-and then again was as obstinate as ever; and matters remained in this
-position till 1603, when Mountjoy, hearing that the queen was not likely
-to live long, agreed to receive Tyrone's submission, to grant him and
-his followers a full pardon, and restore the whole of his territories,
-with some few exceptions. Tyrone then accompanied Mountjoy to Dublin,
-where they heard of the death of Elizabeth; and Tyrone burst into tears
-and regretted his too hasty surrender. The deed, however, was done, and
-tranquillity ensured to Ireland for a short time.
-
-The last warlike demonstration of the reign of Elizabeth was an
-expedition to the coast of Spain to prevent the passage of fresh fleets
-to Ireland. Admirals Levison and Monson proceeded thither with a fleet;
-but, tempted by a carrack of immense value in the harbour of Sesimbria,
-they seized it and returned home. This desertion of their duty to satisfy
-their greed of prize-money, would, in Elizabeth's days of vigour, have
-cost the commanders dearly. While they were guarding their treasure
-homewards the Spanish fleet might have made sail. Therefore no time
-was lost in sending back the fleet under Monson, who found six Spanish
-galleys out, and stealing along the French coast. Before he could pursue
-them they were met by a squadron of Dutch and English ships, and after
-some hard fighting three of them were sunk, and three escaped into Sluys.
-
-The reign of Queen Elizabeth was now drawing to a close. She was
-approaching her seventieth year, and till lately had still listened to
-the voice of flattery as if she were yet in the glory of her youth. But
-nature had begun to give her stern warnings, and the failing of her
-strength brought deep melancholy. At one time she affected an unnatural
-gaiety; at another she withdrew into solitude, and was often found in
-tears. One of her household says in a letter--"She sleepeth not so much
-by day as she used, neither taketh rest by night. Her delight is to sit
-in the dark, and sometimes with shedding tears to bewail Essex."
-
-Yet she still strove against the advancing infirmities of age. She would
-insist to the last on making her annual progress and on hunting. Only
-five months before her death Lord Henry Howard wrote to the Earl of
-Mar--"The queen our sovereign was never so gallant many years, nor so
-set upon jollity." A letter of April 7th, 1602, says--"The queen walks
-often on Richmond Green with greater show of ability than can well stand
-with her years. Mr. Secretary sways all of importance, albeit of late
-much absent from the Court and about London, but not omitting in his
-absence daily to present Her Majesty with some jewel or toy that may be
-acceptable. The other of the Council or nobility estrange themselves
-from Court by all occasions, so as, besides the master of the horse,
-vice-chamberlain, and comptroller, few of account appear there."
-
-When Cecil was present it required all his art to conceal his
-correspondence with the King of Scotland. One day a packet was delivered
-to him from James in the queen's presence. She ordered him instantly to
-open it, and show its contents to her. It was a critical moment, and none
-but a long-practised diplomatist could have escaped the exposure which it
-would probably occasion; but recollecting her excessive dislike of bad
-smells and terror of contagion, he observed as he was cutting the string
-that "it had a strange and evil smell," and hinted that it might have
-been in contact with infected persons or goods. Elizabeth immediately
-ordered the cunning Minister to take it away and have it purified, and no
-doubt he did purify it of any dangerous contents before displaying them
-to Her Majesty.
-
-Meanwhile, not only Cecil and Howard, but another clique, was busy
-paying court to James. These were Raleigh, Cobham, and the Earl
-of Northumberland. They met at Durham House, and kept up a warm
-correspondence with James; but they were as zealously counteracted by
-Cecil and Howard, who warned James of all things not to trust to them,
-Howard declaring that as for Raleigh and Cobham, "hell did never spew up
-such a couple when it cast up Cerberus and Phlegethon."
-
-[Illustration: ELIZABETH'S PROMENADE ON RICHMOND GREEN. (_See p._ 339.)]
-
-While these self-seeking courtiers were thus anxiously labouring to stand
-first with the heir, Elizabeth was sinking fast into a most pitiable
-condition. She was weighed down by a complication of complaints, and her
-mind was affrighted by strange spectres. When the Lord Admiral urged her
-to go to bed, she said, "No, no; there were spirits there that troubled
-her;" and added that, "if he were in the habit of seeing such things
-in his bed as she did in hers, he would not try to persuade her to go
-there." Cecil hearing this, asked if Her Majesty had seen any spirits.
-At this she cast one of her old lightning flashes at him, and said, "I
-shall not answer _you_ such a question." Cecil then said she must go to
-bed to content the people. "Must," she said, smiling scornfully; "_must_
-is a word not to be used to princes;" adding, "Little man! little man! if
-your father had lived you durst not have said so much, but you know I
-must die, and that makes you so presumptuous." She now saw Cecil's real
-character, and ordering him and all the rest except the Lord Admiral out
-of her chamber, she said, "My lord, I am tied with a chain of iron round
-my neck." He endeavoured to dissipate the idea, but she only said, "I am
-tied! I am tied! and the case is altered with me."
-
-[Illustration: RICHMOND PALACE. (_See p._ 382.)]
-
-"The queen," says Lady Southwell, "kept her bed fifteen days, besides
-the three days she sat upon a stool, and one day, when, being pulled up
-by force, she obstinately stood upon her feet for fifteen hours." What
-a most miserable scene was the death-bed of this glorious woman! Surely
-nothing was ever more melancholy and terrible in its mixture of mental
-decay, dark remorse, and indomitable hardiness and self-will. At one and
-the same time around her bed were men urging her to take broth, to name
-her successor, and to hear prayers. The kings of France and Scotland were
-mentioned to her, but without eliciting the slightest notice; but when
-they named Beauchamp, the son of the Earl of Hertford and Catherine Grey,
-one of Elizabeth's victims, she fired up and exclaimed, "I will have no
-rascal's son in my nest, but one worthy to be a king!"
-
-At length they persuaded her to listen to a prayer by the Archbishop of
-Canterbury, and when he had once begun she appeared unwilling to let him
-leave off; half-hour after half-hour she kept the primate on his knees.
-She then sank into a state of insensibility, and died at three o'clock
-in the morning of the 24th of March, 1603, in the seventieth year of her
-age, and the forty-fifth of her reign. Robert Carey, afterwards Earl of
-Monmouth, was anxiously waiting under the window of Elizabeth's room at
-Richmond Palace for the first news of her death, which Lady Scrope, his
-sister, communicated to him by silently letting fall, as a signal, a
-sapphire ring, afterwards celebrated as "the blue ring," which he caught,
-and the moment after was galloping off towards Scotland to be the first
-herald of the mighty event to the expecting James. Three hours later
-Cecil, the Lord Keeper, and the Lord Admiral were with the Council in
-London, and it was resolved to proclaim James VI. of Scotland James I. of
-England.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
-
-     The Tudors and the Nation--The Church--Population and
-     Wealth--Royal Prerogative--Legislation of Henry VIII.--The Star
-     Chamber--Beneficial Legislation--Treason Laws--Legislation
-     of Edward and Mary--Elizabeth's Policy--Religion and
-     the Church--Sketch of Ecclesiastical History under the
-     Tudors--Literature, Science, and Art--Greatness of the
-     Period--Foundation of Colleges and Schools--Revival of
-     Learning--Its Temporary Decay--Prose Writers of the Period--The
-     Poets--Scottish Bards--Music--Architecture--Painting and
-     Sculpture--Furniture and Decorations--Arms and Armour--Costumes,
-     Coins, and Coinage--Ships, Commerce, Colonies, and
-     Manufactures--Manners and Customs--Condition of the People.
-
-
-The century of which we have just traced the events was a period marked
-by vast progress and by changes which were the springs of still more
-wonderful progress in after ages. Though the character of the Tudors
-was absolutely despotic, no dynasty since the days of Alfred and Magna
-Charta wrought out such revolutions in the constitution of England.
-These revolutions were partly effected by the very efforts of the Tudor
-monarchs to establish their own power and gratify their own self-will,
-but were due also to the fact that the Tudor despotism was essentially
-popular, and encouraged manifestations of the national will. These
-revolutions extended not only into the political constitution of the
-nation, but into its religious one; into its literature, its philosophy,
-and its morals; and that simply because the spirit of the age was of
-that tone and strength that, though outward powers could agitate it,
-nothing but its own momentum could direct its tendency. Henry VII., with
-an indifferent title, succeeded to the crown, because the nation was
-weary of the conflicts of the York and Lancaster monarchs, and longed for
-peace, which his disposition promised. Cold, cautious, and penurious,
-he took care not to raise a fresh race of powerful barons in place of
-that which the Wars of the Roses had destroyed, but hoarded up money;
-and beyond the injustice practised in its collection, left his people to
-pursue their trades and their agriculture, and thus renew their strength.
-Henry VIII.--violent, passionate, sensual, and intensely arbitrary, but
-fond of parade, and in his youth boastful of his prowess--gratified
-the pride of the nation, whilst he ruled it with a rod of iron. In the
-gratification of his lusts he did not hesitate to renounce allegiance to
-that great spiritual power which for above a thousand years had ruled
-haughtily over Europe and all its kings and warriors. By this act he
-set free for ever the mind and conscience of England. In vain did he
-endeavour to bind the nation in a knot of his own making. Though he
-hurled his fiercest terms against those who claimed a universal liberty
-which he intended only for himself, he had broken the mighty spell of
-ages--a power and a mystery before which the world had bowed in impotent
-awe; and no chains which he could forge, no creed which he could set up,
-no hierarchy which he could frame, could possess more than the strength
-of the fire-scorched flax against the will of the enfranchised people.
-The moment that Henry perished, the soul of the nation showed itself
-alive. The very Reformers around his throne, who had cowered beneath
-the fell and deadly ire of the tyrant, rose, with Cranmer at their head
-and, under the mild auspices of the religious Edward, gave free vent to
-the spirit and the doctrines of the Reformation. The return of theologic
-despotism under Mary only added force to the spirit of reform, by showing
-how terrible and bloody was the animus of ancient superstition. The fires
-of Smithfield lit up the dark places of spiritual tyranny to the remotest
-corners of the nation, and gave the blow to the tottering Bastille of
-restringent faith in Great Britain. Elizabeth, with all the self-will of
-her father, lived to see both in people and Parliament, a spirit that
-made her lion-heart shrink with awe, and own, however reluctantly, a
-power looking already gigantically down upon her own. She felt more than
-once, in the pride of her might, the terror of that national will which,
-in less than half a century from her death, shattered the throne of her
-successor, and gave to the world the unheard-of spectacle of a king
-decapitated for treason to his people.
-
-The grand underlying impulse of the forward movement of this age was
-that of the general progress of the world in knowledge--knowledge of its
-rights and of the force inherent in popular association. The restoration
-of classical literature, and especially of the Greek, had rekindled
-the lofty and independent sentiments of antiquity; but still more, the
-knowledge of the doctrines, principles, and promises of the Bible, which
-had been disseminated among the people by the Reformers, had spread like
-a flame amongst them, and had given them totally new ideas of human
-prerogative and dignity. Henry VIII., after being induced to make public
-the Scriptures, saw so clearly their effect that he withdrew the boon
-as far as was possible, and pronounced the severest penalties on any of
-the common people who should consult that Divine fountain of truth and
-freedom. Throughout the civilised world, far even beyond the countries
-in which the Reformation had established itself, the stimulating boon of
-this knowledge was diffused, and gave a perilous and uneasy feeling to
-the most slavish nations and the most despotic sovereigns.
-
-But in England many other causes had co-operated to raise the power and
-condition of the people. The long civil wars had, by the time of the
-accession of Henry VII., reduced the old nobility to a mere fragment.
-Such extraordinary specimens of baronial wealth and dominion as the
-Warwicks, Beauchamps, and Shrewsburys, no longer existed. In the first
-Parliament of Henry VII., the peers amounted to only twenty-eight;
-in that of Henry VIII. they had risen only to thirty-six. With their
-extinction had lapsed their vast estates to the Crown, and this property
-had in part been sold to defray the costs by which the throne had
-maintained its straggles against various claimants and their factions.
-Henry VII., as we have said, carefully kept down this haughty class to
-the limits into which it had fallen. His son, Henry VIII., like him,
-pursued the policy of Edward IV., who had established a system of fine
-and recovery to cut off entails; and by liberal use of attainders, with
-their consequent forfeitures of title and estate, made the nobility
-entirely subservient to the Crown, which augmented its wealth and power
-on their ruin. By conferring their estates in part on new aspirants to
-the peerage from the families of the lesser gentry, and in many cases--as
-in those of Wolsey and Cromwell--from the ranks of the common people, he
-divided the aristocracy against itself, and thus added fresh influence to
-the throne.
-
-This predominance of the Crown once established, Henry VIII. proceeded to
-a still more startling blow at a power hitherto equal and often paramount
-to that of the Crown--the Church. To the terror and astonishment of the
-whole of Papal Christendom, he stretched his hand not only against the
-supreme rule, but the vast property of that august and time-honoured
-institution. In 1532 he abolished the annates, or first-fruits, before
-that time paid to the court of Rome--an act in itself proclaiming his
-independence of that court. In the following year he declared by Act of
-Parliament that his subjects might discuss the claims and condemn the
-acts and opinions of the Pope without incurring any charge of heresy.
-Another year, and he caused himself to be proclaimed "Supreme head of the
-Church" in his own realms, and prohibited not only all payments to the
-Pope, but all appeals to or recognition of his authority. In 1535, the
-very next year, he confiscated the property of the lesser monasteries;
-and this course, once begun, never stopped, till he had made himself
-master of all the vast demesnes of the monasteries, the collegiate
-churches, hospitals, and houses of the order of the Knights of St. John
-of Jerusalem; the bulk of which he appropriated to his own use, turning
-adrift 150,000 monks, priests, and nuns into the world. So daring a
-sweep of ecclesiastical property, power, and privilege never was made by
-any other man or in any other era of the world; and nothing could have
-emboldened even this impious and lawless monarch to so astounding a deed
-but the clear consciousness that the spirit of the age was with him.
-
-By this unexampled stroke Henry made himself master of 644 convents,
-90 colleges, 2,374 chantries and free chapels, and 110 hospitals; the
-whole of which property, with trifling exception, was speedily conveyed
-to the vast swarm of hungry upstarts--the Russells, the Brownes, the
-Seymours, and the like--who rapidly bloomed into aristocratic greatness,
-and constituted an impregnable barrier against any restoration of this
-affluent but corrupt ecclesiastical princedom.
-
-These new men, in their turn, were compelled to subdivide a portion, more
-or less, among their followers, to establish their own position; and
-other large areas of lands were sold in minor amounts to the successful
-merchants and traders, so that by this means there grew up again a new
-power in the country--that of small but sturdy freeholders, who, at once
-independent of the Crown and the aristocracy, soon made their might felt
-in the community, and added to the House of Commons that popular infusion
-of authoritative life which speedily electrified the Government by its
-tone, and prostrated it by its measures.
-
-That a large number of such men of substance, whose wealth was the
-produce of industry, existed at the period, is an indication that the
-nation had grown rich by trade, and had also advanced in population. When
-we talk of the England and other countries of Europe of former ages,
-we are scarcely aware of what extremely different countries they were,
-both in regard to the cultivation of their lands, the arts, aspects,
-and habits of their cities, their general knowledge, their polish of
-speech, and their amount of population. It will scarcely be credited that
-at the close of the Wars of the Roses, the whole population of England
-and Wales did not exceed two millions and a half--far less than the
-present population of London. But in 1575, that is, in the seventeenth
-year of Elizabeth, the men fit to bear arms alone amounted to 1,172,674,
-and the entire population to not less than 5,000,000. Harrison, in his
-"Description of England" at this time, says that "Some do grudge at the
-great increase of people in these days, thinking a necessary herd of
-cattle far better than a superfluous augmentation of mankind. They laid,"
-he says, "the cause upon God, as though He were in fault for sending such
-increase of people, or want of wars that should consume them; affirming
-that the land was never so full." So little did they comprehend that the
-multitude of people, properly employed, were the strength and wealth of
-the nation.
-
-But we shall have occasion to notice that with this wealth and strength
-there also existed much poverty, owing to the derangements of society
-in the days of Henry VIII., and to the great tendency to leave the land
-in pasture to supply the growth of wool necessary for the large demand
-for the Netherlands and the rapidly increasing one at home, where the
-manufacture of both coarse and fine cloths had been growing from the time
-that Edward III., at the instigation of his queen Philippa of Hainault,
-invited the weavers of fine woollens over from that country. Still the
-rise in the value of all kinds of articles of life, including wages,
-during the whole of this period, is a proof of the enlarged demand
-for skilled workmen, and the capacity to pay much more than formerly,
-which could only be the case with augmented means in the bulk of the
-population. At various times, as in 1496 and 1514, Acts were passed
-with the vain object of keeping down wages--attempts which, though they
-show little progress in political economy, prove with equal clearness
-that employers were more numerous than they had been in proportion to
-labour. In 1500 the wages of a master mason were 6d. a day; in 1575
-they were doubled; and in 1590 they had reached 1s. 2d. The wages of
-common labourers had risen from 6d. a day to 10d. In 1511 the salary of
-a domestic priest was L3 6s. 8d. a year; in 1545 it had risen to L4 14s.
-6d. In 1544 the wages of sailors were advanced from 5s. per month, in the
-Royal navy, to 6s. 8d., and all other trades and professions exhibited
-the similar advance of payment.
-
-This, of course, was the result of the like advance in the prices of
-provisions, rents, and clothing--another proof that the people had become
-not only more numerous, but more luxurious, and, therefore, demanded
-better diet and accommodation. Wheat, the staple of the people's food,
-had advanced from 3s. 4d. a quarter in 1485 to 17s. in 1589; L2 2s. in
-1596; and L1 7s. in 1599. It is true the price of wheat varied a great
-deal in this period, but except in a very few seasons it never approached
-the low price of the previous century; and in 1587, a year of scarcity,
-it rose to L5 4s. In 1500 a dozen pigeons were 4d., in 1541 they were
-10d., in 1590 they were 1s., and in 1597, a year of scarcity, 4s. 3d. In
-1500 a hundred eggs could be had for 6d., in 1541 they were 1s. 2d., and
-in 1597 they were 3s. A good fat goose in 1500 was only 4d., but in 1541
-it was 8d., in 1589 it was 1s. 2d. A fat sheep in 1500 was 1s. 8d., in
-1549 from 2s. 4d. to 4s., and in 1597, the dear year, it could not be had
-under 14s. 6d. In 1500 an ox could be purchased for 11s. or 12s., in 1541
-its price had advanced from L1 to L2; in 1597 a single stone of beef was
-2s., and a whole fat ox upwards of L5.
-
-In "Stafford's Dialogue," published in 1581, all the speakers agree in
-respect to this advance of prices in their time. "I am fain," says the
-capper, "to give my journeymen twopence in a day more than I was wont to
-do, and yet they say they cannot sufficiently live thereon." "Such of
-us," says the knight, "as do abide in the country, still cannot, with
-L200 a year, keep that house that we might have done with 200 marks but
-sixteen years past. Cannot you, neighbour," he adds, addressing the
-farmer, "remember that within these thirty years I could in this town
-buy the best pig or goose that I could lay my hand on for 4d., which now
-costeth 12d., a good capon for 3d. or 4d., a chicken for 1d., a hen for
-2d., which now costeth me double and triple the money? It is likewise in
-greater ware, as in beef and mutton. I have seen a cap for 13d. as good
-as I can get now for 2s. 6d.; of cloth ye have heard how the price is
-risen. Now a pair of shoes costs 12d., yet in my time I have bought a
-better for 6d. Now I can get never a horse shoed under 10d. or 12d., when
-I have also seen the common price was 6d."
-
-This steady advance of prices of all articles is a sufficient test of the
-progress of the nation in general wealth, and in notions of comfort and
-style of living; for though undoubtedly a vast mass of pauperism existed
-during this period, no people could go on paying higher and higher rates
-for everything, who had not the means of doing so. A poor nation might
-have suffered distress or scarcity, but could not have raised the means
-of living to such a degree as is here shown, if they had not had the
-money to purchase on such a scale.
-
-[Illustration: TOWN AND COUNTRY FOLK OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN.]
-
-But we have abundant other evidence, with some degree of detail, of the
-progress of wealth in the splendour maintained by the Court, in the cost
-of dress, jewellery, horses, and household establishments, in the amount
-of taxation and revenue, in the extent of shipping and foreign commerce,
-and in the rank and influence which the nation had assumed in Europe. We
-now proceed to notice these tokens of advance.
-
-The Tudors were a race who had the highest possible idea of their power
-and prerogative. Under Henry VIII. especially the sentiment of Louis XIV.
-of France was thoroughly realised though the phrase was not yet coined,
-"L'etat? c'est moi!"--"I am the State." If he did not actually annihilate
-the Constitution, he reduced it to a mockery and a mere machine, which
-moved only at his will. Yet in truth, paralysed as the nation appeared
-then under the terror of the axe and the gallows, its spirit only waited:
-it was never extinguished, and under his successors it showed itself
-again unmistakably. It has been asserted that the people in the time of
-Henry VIII. were most cowardly, for that he had no means of maintaining
-his arbitrary course against them, as he had no standing army. But this
-is not altogether true, for though he had no actual standing army, he had
-such authority over the minds of both aristocracy and people, that--as
-we have seen on all occasions in which the people revolted, chiefly on
-account of religion, and when they were instigated and supported by the
-Roman Catholic nobles--he speedily mustered sufficient forces to put
-them down. In contemplating the strange mystery of the base submission
-of the Parliament and people to the reckless caprices and bloodthirsty
-despotism of Henry VIII., we must ever bear in mind that the whole nation
-was rent into two most antagonistic parts by the schism in religion. The
-Roman Catholics feared the loss of their estates, the Protestants were
-eager to secure them. Of the few noblemen remaining in the country from
-the sanguinary decimation of the civil wars, some of the wealthiest were
-still staunch Roman Catholics, and were watched with greedy eyes by the
-host of poor but ambitious adventurers who were ready to second every
-scheme of spoliation meditated by the monarch. When the ancient Church
-was going to the ground, with all its proud establishments and enormous
-estates, the nobles who belonged to it felt the very earth shaking
-under their feet, and saw no means of safety but in the most implicit
-obedience. On the other hand, the numerous swarm of courtiers--whose only
-law was the word of the prince, and their only real creed the belief in
-plunder and in the acquisition of the lands of nobles, prelates, abbots,
-and chantries, as the reward of subservience--were ever ready to rush
-to arms or to the execution of the most fierce and unconstitutional
-orders of the king. No mercy was shown by the members of families to
-one another, where the terror of the monarch and the hope of his favour
-intervened. And at that day, when the country swarmed with vagabonds, who
-had no home and no ties, who had been increasing ever since the abolition
-of villenage, there was no difficulty in mustering numbers of soldiers,
-where there was the chance of liberal pay and more liberal plunder.
-
-This state of things, this facility of drawing forces to the field on
-the shortest notice, and on the most certain basis, was particularly
-provided for by Henry VII. He took care to save money by all means, and
-to hoard it, so that though no man was more reluctant to spend, and none
-ever incurred so much odium by his parsimony where the military fame of
-the nation was concerned; yet he gained at least the reputation of ample
-means, and the credit for a disposition to punish promptly and severely
-any disloyalty or adverse claims on his Crown. He moreover passed two
-statutes for the purpose of bringing his nobles and dependents rapidly
-to his standard on any emergency. By the Acts 2 Henry VII. c. 18, and
-19 Henry VII. c. 1, every one who possessed an office, fee, or annuity,
-by grant from the Crown, was required to attend the king whenever he
-went to war, under penalty, in case of failure, of forfeiture of all
-such grants. There were, of course, certain exemptions. Some obtained
-the king's licence, for an equivalent consideration, to remain at home,
-and such as could prove any disqualifying infirmity were excused. The
-clergy, as a matter of course, were exempt, also the judges and principal
-officers of the law; and by the latter Act this privilege was extended
-to the members of the king's Council, to such persons as had bought
-their patents for a certain sum, and to all persons under twenty and
-above sixty years of age. The exemptions extended to comparatively a
-small number of persons, the fear of forfeiture applied to the majority.
-To render this more effectual, Henry VII. was rigorous in prohibiting
-a large array of retainers by the nobles, whilst he was strenuous to
-enforce the attendance of the feoffees of the Crown. This process
-was carried farther by Henry VIII. by the free use of attainders, by
-which, at will, he struck down the most wealthy and exalted nobles, and
-appropriated their demesnes; so that eventually there was not a foot of
-land in the kingdom nor an individual life which was not held at the
-king's mercy.
-
-But still more than by the passing of attainders were the lives,
-liberties, and property of the nobles submitted to the will of the king,
-by the institution of the Court of the Star Chamber. This court set aside
-all other courts at will, and by abandoning the use of juries in it, laid
-Magna Charta and the life and fortune of every man, at the foot of the
-throne. From the moment, in fact, that this court was formally erected
-by the 3 Henry VII., c. 1, there was an end of the Constitution, the
-privilege of Habeas Corpus was suspended, and Parliament legislated in
-vain. The king was the State, and ruled in this arbitrary court by the
-officers of his Privy Council. This court was so called from the stars
-which ornamented the ceiling of the room in which it met.
-
-Henry VII., in his original enactment, plainly avowed his reason for
-establishing this court to be, that he might reach and punish such
-persons as by one means or another escaped sentence in the ordinary
-courts, through the bribery or "remissness" of juries, and check the
-evils of "maintenance," or the overriding of justice through the
-assistance of a powerful neighbour, and the granting of "liveries" for
-the same purpose. The court was, therefore, directed against the licence
-of the nobility, and though arbitrary was at first popular. It consisted
-in its original form of the Chancellor, Treasurer, and Keeper of the
-Privy Seal, or any two of them, with a bishop and a temporal lord of the
-council and the chief justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, or
-two other justices in their absence. Ultimately it developed into a mere
-gathering of privy councillors, and its jurisdiction at first accurately
-defined, and for the most part beneficial, became extremely vague and was
-exercised at haphazard.
-
-In the reign of Henry VII. the privilege of benefit of clergy was greatly
-modified. This privilege, which originally exempted all clergymen from
-the authority of lay tribunals, had become extended to all such laymen as
-could read, and were therefore capable of becoming "clerks." To restrict
-this abuse, Henry VII., in 1488, enacted that such privilege should be
-allowed to laymen only once; and afterwards--when a man had murdered his
-master--a statute was passed to deprive all murderers of their lords and
-masters of benefit of clergy. Where it was admitted, the culprit, if a
-layman, did not entirely escape punishment, for he was burnt with a hot
-iron in the brawn of the left thumb.
-
-The statutes in this reign were drawn up in English, and printed as they
-came out, by De Worde, Pynson, and Faques, a signal step in progress
-towards a public knowledge of the laws.
-
-Under Henry VIII. the principle of arbitrary government arrived at its
-culmination. The freedom from restraint which his father had prepared
-for him, the passionate and imperious nature of this prince led him to
-exercise to the utmost. By the means which we have described--terror
-of death to those who offended, and participation in the spoils of
-nobles and the Church, and hope of new honours to those who served him
-regardless of law or conscience--he put himself above all control of
-Parliament or statute, and ruled as royally, according to his own fancy,
-as any Eastern despot. Out of this monstrous evil came, nevertheless,
-much good to the nation. By his own daring act he broke up the ancient
-system of the Church, with its accumulated wealth, superstitions,
-and abuses, and cleared the ground for a new and more liberal state
-of things. By the distribution of this property he founded a new and
-influential class of freeholders, and enabled the affluence of trade to
-flow into land, and to give to the mercantile class a new status and
-influence. His motive was his own selfishness, but the result was the
-public good.
-
-Among the useful Statutes which he passed may be mentioned the Statute
-of Uses and the Statute of Bankruptcy. By the former he put an end to a
-most mischievous practice of conveying property for the use of certain
-parties or corporate bodies, which had been introduced to evade the
-Statute of Mortmain. So many secret modes of conveyance, so many legal
-fictions had been introduced into the transfer of this property, that
-it was difficult to ascertain the real owner; and creditors thus became
-defrauded, widows were deprived of their dowers, and husbands of their
-estates, by the courtesy. But the great feudal lords also were defrauded
-of their dues on wardships, marriages, and reliefs. By an Act of the
-twenty-seventh year of his reign (1536), it was decreed that whoever was
-found in the possession of such property should be deemed its _bona-fide_
-owner, and liable to the charges leviable upon it. By this means the
-dubious and fraudulent practice of uses was abolished, and the lawyers
-were compelled to resort to the more tangible theory of trusts. The
-nature of the tenure still remained the same, for the use was but a
-trust; but it was simplified, and brought more into the region of common
-sense and common observation.
-
-By the preamble to the Statute of Bankruptcy, we find that the progress
-of commerce had led to frauds. Men by means of credit got the property
-of others into their hands and absconded with it. In the 34 and 35 of
-Henry VIII., therefore, it was enacted that the Chancellor or Keeper of
-the great seal, with the Lord Treasurer, Lord President, Privy Seal,
-and others of the privy council, and chief justices, or any three of
-them--the Chancellor, Keeper, President, or Privy Seal being one--should
-have power to constitute a court, before which, on complaints from a
-party aggrieved, they should summon the defaulter, should take possession
-of all his property, should hear all necessary evidence on oath, and
-should make a distribution of his effects amongst the creditors according
-to their claims. Persons concealing effects of the offender were to
-forfeit double their value; and claimants making fraudulent claims were
-to forfeit double the amount demanded.
-
-This was the first outline and foundation of our court and law of
-bankruptcy, the main principles of which are still in force, but
-considerably modified by the greater development of the action of trade,
-and a spirit of increased enlightenment and humanity. The bankrupt is no
-longer treated necessarily as a criminal, but as one who has suffered
-from misfortune; and where he is innocent of dishonest conduct, is
-discharged from such obligations as he has no means of fulfilling, and
-the way opened for future enterprise.
-
-But the laws of Henry were rarely so rational or innocent as these. We
-have seen, in tracing the events of his reign, that, to stop the mouths
-of his subjects regarding his many criminal deeds, the cruel calumnies
-on and divorces of his wives, followed by their execution, and the
-perpetration of fresh marriages equally revolting, he was continually
-creating new species of treasons, and loading the Statute book with the
-most atrocious specimens of legislation which ever disgraced the annals
-of any nation, Christian or pagan.
-
-The first of these extraordinary enactments was the Statute 25 Henry
-VIII., c. 22, passed on the occasion of his divorce of Catherine of
-Aragon, and his marriage of Anne Boleyn. In this he declared that any
-one who dared to write, print, or circulate anything to the prejudice
-of this marriage, or the queen herself, or the issue of such marriage,
-should be guilty of high treason. The same was to be the fate of any one
-who endeavoured to dispute this alliance by advocating the validity of
-the former marriage with Catherine, and every one was to take an oath to
-obey this Act fully; and if any refused to take such oath, they were to
-be also guilty of misprision of treason. As, however, the tyrant could
-not prevent people from thinking and speaking their minds in private,
-next Session he got from his pliant Parliament a fresh Act, forbidding
-all persons to speak or even think a slander against the king; for if
-they thought, they could have the oath put to them, and must either deny
-their very thought, or be found guilty of treason.
-
-But by the twenty-eighth year of his reign the fickle despot had cut off
-the head of this very queen, against whom nobody had on any account been
-allowed to whisper the slightest fault, on peril of their lives (1536).
-The marriage with her, as well as that with Catherine, was declared
-void, and never to have been otherwise; the issue of both was pronounced
-illegitimate, and the same penalties were enacted against every one
-who called in question the tyrant's marriage with Jane Seymour. Thus,
-on every occasion that this Royal sensualist thought fit to destroy or
-divorce a wife and marry another, did he compel the whole of his subjects
-to swear and forswear at his pleasure. In a Statute of the thirty-first
-of his reign, c. 8, he clearly enunciated that doctrine of Divine right
-which the Stuarts, his successors, upheld to their perdition. It is
-worthy of note, too, that by abolishing the authority of the Pope, to
-serve his own selfish ends, he let loose the human mind from its long
-thraldom, and prepared the way--a necessary sequence--for that political
-rebellion which was certain to be assumed by a people who had once
-triumphed in a religious one. Thus was political freedom the consequence
-of this lawless monarch's attempt to crush it, as much as the Reformation
-was that of his rejection of the Papacy for the gratification of his
-passions.
-
-It is needless to follow Henry VIII. through the still repeated progress
-of those contradictory oaths as he slew or wedded fresh wives. It was the
-same in the divorce of Anne of Cleves, on the decapitation of Catherine
-Howard; but growing perfectly frantic with wrath and shame on finding
-himself married to an unchaste woman whom he had proclaimed an angel, he
-went a step farther, and denounced the terrors of high treason against
-any woman who should dare to marry him if she had been incontinent before
-marriage, and against all such persons as should know of this and should
-not warn the king in time. When to these hideous Statutes we add that
-of 31 Henry VIII., c. 14, which abolished all "Diversity of opinions,"
-and that of 34 and 35 Henry VIII., c. 1, for the "Advancement of true
-religion and abolishment of the contrary," we have exhibited the most
-perfect example of what a man may become by the intoxication of unlimited
-power.
-
-Besides particular laws, Henry VIII. erected two new courts of
-justice--the Court of the Steward of the Marshalsea, for the trial of
-all treasons, murders, manslaughters, and blows by which blood was shed
-in any of the palaces or houses of the king during his residence there;
-and the Court of the President and Council of the North. This latter
-court was established in the thirty-first year of his reign to try the
-rioters who had risen against his suppression of the lesser monasteries;
-but it included all the powers vested in the king's own Council, and
-not only decided such civil cases as were brought before it, but was
-armed with authority, by secret instructions from the Crown, to inquire
-into presumed illegalities, and to bring before it alleged offenders
-against the prerogatives of the king. Such oppressive use was made of
-it by Strafford in the time of Charles I., that it was abolished in the
-sixteenth year of that monarch's reign.
-
-[Illustration: STATE TRIAL IN WESTMINSTER HALL IN THE TIME OF ELIZABETH.]
-
-To the honour of Edward VI. and his counsellors, all these arbitrary Acts
-of his father were repealed by him: the law of treason was restored to
-its state under the Statute of 25 Edward III.; religion was again set
-free, and proclamations by the king in council were declared to have no
-longer the force of Acts of Parliament. A few years, however, introduced
-Queen Mary, and a reversal of the State religion and all its laws. That
-dreadful persecution which we have narrated, and which is one of the
-darkest spots in the history of the world, was carried on to force the
-human mind into its former thraldom; and an attempt was made by the
-Spanish power which was then introduced to restore arbitrary rule by a
-singular suggestion. Charles V. presented, through his ambassador, a
-book to the queen, in which the principle was laid down that as she was
-the first queen regnant, none of the limitations which had been set to
-the prerogative of her ancestors the kings of England, applied to her,
-but to kings only; and that by consequence she was free and absolute.
-This book Mary showed to Gardiner, and asked his opinion of it, which
-was that it was a pernicious book, and could work her no good. Thereupon
-Mary threw the book into the fire; and Gardiner, on the plea of defining
-and establishing her authority, brought in an Act which, giving her the
-_same_ powers as the kings before her possessed, consequently restrained
-her within the same limits.
-
-Mary confirmed the Act of her late brother, confining the law of treason
-to the Statute of the 25th of Edward III.; nor does she seem to have
-created fresh treasons, except in one instance--making it treasonable
-to counterfeit not merely the coin of the realm, but also such coins as
-circulated there by Royal consent.
-
-On the accession of Elizabeth the Reformed religion was once more
-restored; and, like her father, she was not only declared supreme head of
-the Church, but she assumed all his claims of supreme authority in the
-State. She frequently told her Parliament that it existed entirely by her
-will and pleasure; and when the members entered on matters disagreeable
-to her, she snubbed them in language which sounds oddly enough in these
-days of high Parliamentary privilege. By the very first Statute passed
-in her reign, she proceeded to set up a new Court, ignored everything
-like Magna Charta and the right of jury, making her own will the entire
-law, and placing every subject, with his life and property, at her mercy.
-This was the Court of High Commission, which assumed all the pretensions
-of the Star Chamber, but was directed more especially to ecclesiastical
-affairs. The queen was empowered to appoint by letters patent, whenever
-she thought proper, such persons, being natural-born subjects, as she
-pleased, to execute all jurisdiction concerning spiritual matters, and
-to visit, reform, and redress all errors, heresies, schisms, abuses,
-offences, &c., which by any ecclesiastical authority might be lawfully
-ordered or corrected. The Reformers were only too eager to put this
-formidable engine into her hands, because it was to crush the Romish
-hierarchy; but they did not reflect that it could on occasion be employed
-against themselves, as Laud and Strafford afterwards demonstrated to
-their children. This inquisitorial court was armed with authority to
-employ torture to effect the necessary confessions, and its jurisdiction
-was extended to the punishment of breaches of the marriage vow, and all
-misdemeanours and disorders in that state. It was, therefore, sanctioned
-in forcing its operations into the very bosom of social and domestic life.
-
-Elizabeth, indeed, was fully as arrogant and despotic as her father; and
-nothing but her lion-like resolution, her choice of able and unscrupulous
-ministers, and the cunning of her Government, could have enabled her
-to maintain her sway so successfully as she did. The homage due to her
-sex no doubt also contributed essentially to this result. Yet not all
-these circumstances could prevent her from perceiving that her power
-was silently and even rapidly waning before that of the people. She
-frequently had to tell persons that they dared not have done or said
-certain things in her father's time. She had repeatedly to concede the
-point to the pertinacity of her Parliament; especially so when, towards
-the end of her reign, the House of Commons called so boldly upon her to
-abolish the monstrous list of monopolies which had been granted to her
-favourites, commencing from the seventeenth year of her reign. Amongst
-these monopolies were those for the exclusive sale of salt, currants,
-iron, powder, cards, calf-skins, felts, poledavy (a kind of canvas),
-ox shin-bones, train-oil, lifts of cloth, potash, anise-seed, vinegar,
-sea-coal, steel, aqua-vitae, brushes, pots, bottles, saltpetre, lead,
-accidences (or books of the rudiments of Latin grammar), oil, calamine
-stone, oil of blubber, glasses, paper, starch, tin, sulphur, new drapery,
-dried pilchards; the exportation of iron, ham, beer, and leather; the
-importation of Spanish wool and Irish linen; such an astonishing list, in
-fact, that when it was read over in the Commons in 1601, but two years
-before her death, a member in amazement asked, as already stated, whether
-bread was not of the number.
-
-These grants had been obtained from her by her courtiers through
-the weak side of the woman; but in the expenses of her government,
-considering the aid she had to render to her Protestant allies in
-Scotland, France, and the Netherlands, and the enemies she had to contend
-with, necessitating costly armaments and navies, her administration shows
-most favourably. She would never incur debt, but paid off that incurred
-by her predecessors, Edward and Mary. Instead of debasing the coin,
-like her father, she increased its purity; and the annual outlay of her
-government averaged only about L65,000 per annum.
-
-In fact, the more we recede from the personal history of Elizabeth,
-and approach her great political measures, the more we perceive the
-true evidences of her glory. She was courageous, beyond the power of a
-world in arms to terrify her; she was moderate in her demands on her
-subjects, though vain in her person and showy in her court; shrewd in
-her choice of ministers, though weak in her indulgence of favourites;
-she was ambitious of the reputation of her country; and she rendered to
-the labouring people their birthright in the land, which her father had
-stripped them of in levelling the monastic institutions by enacting the
-Poor Law, the celebrated Statute of the forty-third of her reign (1601),
-on which yet rests the whole fabric of parochial right to support in age
-and destitution. In nothing did she display her sagacity so much as in
-her repeated declaration that money in her subjects' purse was as good
-as in her own exchequer. It was better, for there it would be growing
-tenfold in the ordinary augmentation of traffic, ready to yield the State
-proportionate interest on any real emergency.
-
-The great struggle between the Papacy and the growing Protestant forces
-was nearly ended, but complete and terrible as was the overthrow of
-the ancient hierarchy in England and Scotland, it came at last with a
-rapidity which astonished even the friends of the change. From the time
-of Richard II. hatred of the Papacy had been afloat among the people,
-and even in his day had availed to shake the throne, and fill the public
-mind with prognostics of Papal decay. Yet reign after reign had passed,
-and the Church had not only maintained its position, but had seemed to
-crush with a successful hand the Protestant schismatics. The fires which
-consumed the more daring advocates of the new opinions seemed to scare
-the rest into obscurity. The triumphant Church of Rome still presented
-a front of determined strength, and lorded it over the land with a
-magnificence which seemed destined to endure for ever.
-
-Henry VII. was a firm upholder of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. "He
-advanced churchism," says Bacon; "he was tender of the privileges of
-sanctuaries, though they did him much mischief; he built and endowed
-many religious foundations, besides his memorable hospital of the Savoy;
-and yet he was a great alms-giver in secret, which showed that his works
-in public were rather dedicated to God's glory than his own." The fact
-was that Henry VII. was too cautious a man to become a reformer. He was
-too fond of money to risk its loss by the most distant chance of an
-unsuccessful enterprise, and he was too recently placed on the throne of
-a vanquished dynasty to venture on so bold a measure of ecclesiastical
-revolution had he been thus inclined, which he was far enough from
-being. On the contrary, his ministers were almost all great and able
-churchmen. Cardinals Bourchier and Morton, Archbishops Deane and Warham,
-were the accomplished churchmen who conducted the governmental affairs
-of Henry; and when the public outcry against the worldly and dissolute
-lives of the clergy, both secular and regular, became too loud to be
-disregarded, these clerical ministers of the king endeavoured with one
-hand to reduce the corruption by advice and remonstrance, and to check
-the progress of heresy by the stake and fagot. Henry VII. permitted this
-mode of extinguishing opinion by destroying the entertainers of it. In
-the ninth year of his reign Joan Boughton was burnt in Smithfield, and
-this auto-da-fe was followed by that of William Tylsworth, at Amersham,
-whose daughter was compelled to set fire to the pile which destroyed
-her father, and that of Laurence Guest at Salisbury. In addition to the
-victims of these odious crimes, many persons were burnt in the cheek,
-imprisoned, and otherwise cruelly treated. These atrocities so far from
-diminishing the heresy, only excited the abhorrence of the people and
-weakened their attachment to the Church.
-
-Henry VIII. continued the persecuting practices of his father with
-unabated rigour. In his earlier days he appeared determined to do honour
-to the Church beyond most of his predecessors. He raised up and created
-in Cardinal Wolsey such a colossus of ecclesiastical pomp and greatness
-as the world had rarely seen. In 1513 Wolsey was made Bishop of Tournay,
-in France; in 1514, Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of York; in 1515,
-the king's almoner, Cardinal, and Lord High Chancellor of the kingdom;
-in 1518 he became the Pope's legate _a latere_ and Bishop of Bath and
-Wells; in 1521, he was made Abbot of St. Albans; in 1523, Bishop of
-Durham, in exchange for the bishopric of Bath and Wells; and in 1529,
-Bishop of Winchester, in exchange for that of Durham. Besides these
-dignities, he had pensions from the King of France, the Emperor of
-Germany, the Pope, and other princes. The whole power of the kingdom was
-in his hands; for Henry, so far from being jealous of his greatness, only
-felt himself the greater for having a servant who in pride and splendour
-rivalled the greatest monarchs. The state which Wolsey kept would lead us
-to infer that the Church had reached a higher pitch of power and grandeur
-than ever in this country. His palaces were more gorgeous, and filled
-with more evidences of enormous wealth, than those of kings. His retinue
-of servants and attendants, many of the latter being nobles or the sons
-of nobles, was inconceivable. It was only at Hampton Court that the
-whole train of his servants and the crowd of his visitors, including the
-nobility and ambassadors of foreign courts, could be suitably lodged and
-entertained. For a long course of years the whole government of England
-was in his hands. The king did nothing without him; and as prime minister
-and Lord Chancellor of England, Archbishop of York, and chief judge in
-the court of Star Chamber, there was no man or his estate that was not in
-his power. His revenues from a hundred sources were immense, and such was
-the magnificence of his position and influence, that he might well forget
-himself and utter the famous words of unparalleled egotism--"Ego et rex
-meus."
-
-Who could have deemed that the Papal Church was near its end as the State
-religion of England, whilst the king thus honoured its dignitaries? The
-very greatness of Wolsey hastened the fall of the Church as well as of
-himself. The arrogance, the rapacity, and the frequent injustice of
-the proud minister made for him and his Church deadly enemies. "For,"
-says Strype, "he disobliged not only the inferior sort by his pride and
-haughty behaviour, but by laying his hands upon the rights, privileges,
-and profits of the gentry and clergy, he made them his implacable enemies
-too. He took upon him to bestow benefices, though the real right of
-patronage lay in others. He called all offending persons before him,
-whether of the laity or clergy, and compelled them to compound as his
-officers thought fit."
-
-But in spite of all his grandeur, Wolsey was but the creature of the
-most violent and capricious of men. A single word and he fell headlong,
-assuredly shaking in his fall the great hierarchy of which he had
-seemed the most gorgeous pillar and ornament; for the whole system was
-corrupt and rotten to the core. The wealth of the monastic orders had
-especially demoralised them. Both the regular and secular clergy were
-accused of not only spending their time in taverns and gambling-houses,
-but of abandoning in such resorts the very costume which distinguished
-them from the laity, of wearing daggers, gowns, and hoods of silk and
-embroidery, and of letting their hair grow long and fall on their
-shoulders. The interiors of the monastic houses were described as dens of
-licentiousness, both in monks and nuns. We have it, on the evidence of
-one of the letters of reproof addressed by Archbishop Morton to the Abbot
-of St. Albans, that that famous abbey was filled with every species of
-vice and sensuality. He further charges them with cutting down the woods,
-wasting and embezzling the property of the Church, stealing the plate,
-and even picking out the jewels from the shrine of the patron saint.
-
-Whilst such was the corruption of the clergy, these infatuated men fell
-to quarrelling amongst themselves. The most remarkable circumstance,
-moreover, in this schism, is the very question which in these latter
-days has furnished such a fiery theme of discussion in both Romanist and
-Protestant Churches--the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin.
-
-With the blind tenacity which often induces falling bodies to assert
-their prerogatives with arrogant obstinacy, the Church, in the fourth
-year of Henry VIII., commenced a daring opposition to the Government,
-in defence of the benefit of clergy. Henry VII., as we have stated,
-had limited this much abused privilege, by his Statute ordering such
-laymen as claimed it under charge of murder, to be burnt in the brawn
-of the thumb with the letter M. Henry VIII. had a Bill introduced into
-Parliament for the purpose of still further limiting this mischievous
-right, and denying benefit of clergy to all murderers and robbers
-whatever. This the clergy opposed in Parliament and preached against in
-the pulpit. The Lords and Commons were unanimously in favour of the Bill
-as well as the people, but the clergy determined not to yield. Whilst
-the public mind was in a ferment on this subject, a tailor of London, of
-the name of Hunne, was brought into conflict with the incumbent of his
-parish, on account of mortuary dues. Being sued in the spiritual court,
-with a boldness which marked the rising spirit of the times and which the
-clergy ought to have noted seriously, he took out a writ of Praemunire
-against his prosecutor, for appealing to a foreign jurisdiction, the
-spiritual court, still under the authority of the Pope. Enraged at this
-audacity they put the tailor into prison on a charge of heresy, and there
-he was discovered hanging dead. A coroner's inquest found the officers of
-the prison guilty of murder, and it appeared that the Bishop of London's
-chancellor, the sumner, and bell-ringer had perpetrated the crime. This
-threw the deepest odium on the clergy, and alienated the people from
-them; yet they did not cease to prosecute their claim of privilege, and
-after much contest, Wolsey prayed the king to refer the matter to the
-Pope. But even then Henry showed that he was tenacious of his power, and
-gave a striking foretaste of what he would one day do. He replied, "By
-permission and ordinance of God, we are King of England; and the king of
-England in times past hath never had any superior but God only. Therefore
-know you well that we will maintain the right of our crown, and of our
-temporal jurisdiction, as well in this as in all other points, in as
-ample a manner as any of our progenitors have done before our time."
-
-[Illustration: JOHN KNOX. (_From a Portrait of the Period._)]
-
-Whilst Edward VI. thoroughly established Protestantism, Mary as
-completely reinstated Popery, and with a series of horrors which for
-ever stamped terror and aversion of Roman Catholic ascendency deep on
-the spirit of the nation. The number of persons who died in the flames
-in that awful reign, for their faith and the freedom of conscience, is
-stated to have been 288; but Lord Burleigh estimated those who perished
-by fire, torture, famine, and imprisonment at not less than 400. Besides
-these, vast numbers suffered cruelly in a variety of ways. "Some of
-the professors," says Coverdale, "were thrown into dungeons, noisome
-holes, dark, loathsome and stinking corners; others lying in fetters and
-chains, and loaded with so many irons that they could scarcely stir.
-Some tied in the stocks with their heels upwards; some having their
-legs in the stocks, with their necks chained to the wall with gorgets
-of iron; some with hands and legs in the stocks at once; sometimes both
-hands in and both legs out; sometimes the right hand with the left
-leg, or the left hand with the right leg, fastened in the stocks with
-manacles and fetters, having neither stool nor stone to sit on to ease
-their woful bodies; some standing in Skevington's gyves [commonly called
-"Skevington's daughter"]--which were most painful engines of iron--with
-their bodies doubled; some whipped and scourged, beaten with rods, and
-buffeted with fists; and some having their hands burned with a candle
-to try their patience, and force them to relent; some hunger-pined, and
-some miserably famished and starved." The leading Reformers fled out
-of the kingdom, chiefly to Frankfort and to Switzerland; and 800 or
-more lived to become the heads of the restored Church under Elizabeth;
-amongst these were Poynet, Bishop of Winchester; Grindal, afterwards
-Bishop of London, and finally Primate of England; Sandys, afterwards
-Archbishop of York; Ball, Bishop of Ossory; Pilkington, afterwards Bishop
-of Durham; Bentham, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield; Scorey, Bishop of
-Chichester, and afterwards of Hereford; Young, afterwards Archbishop of
-York; Cox, afterwards of Ely; Jewel, afterwards of Salisbury; Coverdale,
-the translator of the Bible, Bishop of Exeter; Horn, Dean of Durham;
-Knox, the apostle of Scotland; and Foxe, the martyrologist. Besides
-these eminent men, there were Sir John Cheke, the famous Greek scholar,
-Sir Anthony Cooke, and Sir Francis Knollys, afterwards Elizabeth's
-vice-chamberlain.
-
-On Elizabeth's accession to the throne she was by no means disposed
-to go so far as her brother Edward had gone, much less as far as the
-refugees--who now flocked back again from Geneva--would have carried her.
-They had imbibed the rigid independent notions of Calvin and Zwinglius,
-and that probably before their departure from England--a circumstance
-which there is little doubt directed their course to Switzerland,
-for the Reformers who resorted to Frankfort were much nearer to her
-standard--a standard very much the same as that of her father. She
-renounced all allegiance to the Pope and the Church of Rome, though she
-hesitated to declare herself the supreme head of the Church till it was
-conferred on her by Parliament. She issued orders to restrain the zeal of
-the Protestants, who began to pull down the images, and to restore the
-service to its state in King Edward's time. She gave directions that a
-part of the service should be read in English, and forbade the elevation
-of the Host; but at the same time she suspended all preaching.
-
-Parliament, on meeting, passed an Act asserting the supremacy of the
-Crown over the Church, revived the Acts of Henry VIII. which abolished
-the power and jurisdiction of the Pope in England, and authorised the
-use of King Edward's Book of Common Prayer, with some alterations,
-chiefly in the Communion Service. Thus they cast off the Roman Catholics
-who would not conform, but did not go far enough for the more zealous
-Reformers. The oath of Supremacy was presented to the bishops, and it
-had the effect of clearing the Church of all but Kitchen of St. Asaph.
-The inferior clergy, however, were not so firm, and only six abbots,
-twelve deans, twelve archdeacons, fifteen heads of colleges, fifty
-prebendaries, and eighty rectors refused compliance. The monks returned
-to secular life, but the nuns mostly went abroad. The clergy were ordered
-to wear the habits in use in the latter part of King Edward's time; and
-their marriages, against which the queen showed a strong repugnance,
-were put under stringent regulations. The press also was laid under the
-most rigorous restrictions, and no book was to be printed or published
-without the licence of the queen, or of six of her privy council,
-or of her ecclesiastical commissioners, or the two archbishops, the
-Bishop of London, the chancellors of the universities, and the bishop
-and archdeacons of the place where it was produced. All persons were
-commanded to attend their parish churches under severe penalties. In 1562
-the articles of religion of King Edward were reduced from forty-two to
-thirty-nine. In 1571 they underwent a further revision, and were made
-binding on the clergy before they could be admitted to orders.
-
-Like her father, the longer she lived the more resolute she became
-to enforce her own dogmas on the whole body of her subjects. In the
-twenty-third year of her reign the penalty for non-attendance of the
-Established Church was raised to L20 per month. In the same year another
-Act was passed, declaring it high treason to attempt to draw any one
-to the Church of Rome; and the persons thus drawn were equally guilty
-of treason, and all their aiders, abettors, and concealers were made
-guilty of misprision of treason. These arbitrary laws against the freedom
-of opinion went on increasing in severity. In 1585 an Act was passed
-which made traitors of all Jesuits and other Popish priests who had
-been ordained abroad, and of all subjects whatever educated in Papal
-seminaries who did not immediately return home and take the oath of
-supremacy. The receivers of any such persons were declared felons without
-benefit of clergy. Whoever sent money to any foreign Jesuits or priests
-was liable to Praemunire; and parents sending their children to school
-abroad without licence from her Majesty were liable to a penalty of L100.
-Fresh Acts were added in 1581 and 1593, the former to make void all
-conveyances of property by Popish recusants, with the object of escaping
-the penalties imposed upon them, and to decree that the penalty of L20 a
-month for non-attendance at church should be levied by distress to the
-extent of all the offenders' goods and two-thirds of their lands; the
-latter ordered all Popish recusants above sixteen to repair to their
-proper places of abode, and never more to go more than five miles from
-them without special licence from the bishop of the diocese or lieutenant
-of the county, under penalty of forfeiture of their goods and of the
-profits of their lands for life; those having no goods or lands to be
-deemed felons.
-
-But if the atrocities committed by the Roman Catholics in the reign of
-Mary, and the fears of their recurrence should the Papists regain the
-power, afforded some plea for these persecutions, what is to be said of
-the same rigours applied to the Reformers, who simply desired to form
-their religious opinions on the Bible--the Divine charter of Humanity?
-Thousands of these, from the earliest days of the Reformation, had
-claimed this privilege as their birthright; and many of those who came
-back from the Continent on the termination of the Marian persecution,
-were surprised and discouraged to find themselves equally excluded with
-the Catholics from the exercise of their own judgments by a Protestant
-queen. They were required to attend the preaching of those against whose
-doctrines they protested, and suffered the same monstrous fines if they
-absented themselves. Instead of that "glorious liberty of the gospel"
-which they had promised themselves, they had to accept with all homage
-the cut out and prescribed pattern of opinion dictated by an autocratic
-woman, who made a desperate stand against the removal of images from the
-churches, and practised many Popish ceremonies in her own private chapel.
-Instead of the form of service which the English refugees had established
-at Geneva, in which there were no Litany, no responses, and scarcely any
-rites or ceremonies, they were commanded to adopt a form which appeared
-to them little removed from Popery. The Genevan refugees--who, from
-their demand for the utmost purity and primitive simplicity in worship,
-were styled Puritans--would, had they been permitted, have planted a
-church far more like the church as it came to exist in Scotland than
-that which was established for England. They opposed the claims of the
-bishops to a superior rank or authority to the presbyters; they denied
-that they possessed the sole right of ordination, and exercise of church
-discipline; they objected to the titles and dignities which had been
-copied by the Anglican Church from the Roman, of archdeacons, deans,
-canons, prebendaries; to the jurisdiction of Spiritual Courts; to an
-indiscriminate admission of all persons to the Communion; to many parts
-of the liturgy, and of the offices of marriage and burial, including
-the use of the ring in marriage; they repudiated set forms of prayers,
-and the use of godfathers and godmothers, the rite of confirmation,
-the observance of Lent and holidays, the cathedral worship, the use of
-the organ, the retention of the reading of apocryphal books in church,
-pluralities, non-residence, the presentation to livings by the Crown, or
-any other patron, or by any mode but the free election of the people.
-
-But in that age no conception of religious liberty was entertained. The
-Puritans were as resolute in their ideas of conformity to their notions
-as Elizabeth was to hers; and had they had the power, would have used
-the same compulsion. Knox exhibited that spirit of exclusiveness to the
-extreme in Scotland, even calling for the deposition of the queen as a
-"Jezebel" and "an idolatress," because she would not adopt his peculiar
-tenets and view of things. The Puritans exhibited the same spirit long
-after in America for the exercise of their faith. In fact, the great and
-divine principle of the entire liberty of the gospel was too elevated to
-be arrived at suddenly after so many ages of spiritual despotism, and
-required long and earnest study of the spirit and example of Christ.
-Severe struggles, bloody deaths, and incredible sufferings in those
-who came to see the truth, had to be undergone before the battle of
-religious freedom was fought out, and all parties could admit the plain
-fact which had revealed itself to Charles V. after his abdication of the
-throne, when he amused himself with clock making--that as no two clocks
-can be made to go precisely alike, it is folly to expect _all_ men to
-think precisely alike. "Both parties," says Neal, in his "History of the
-Puritans," "agreed too well in asserting the necessity of a uniformity of
-public worship, and in using the sword of the magistrate for the support
-and defence of their respective principles, which they made an ill use
-of in their turns whenever they could grasp the power in their hands.
-The standard of uniformity, according to the bishops, was the queen's
-supremacy, and the laws of the land; according to the Puritans, the
-decrees of provincial and national synods, allowed and enforced by the
-civil magistrate: but neither party were for admitting that liberty of
-conscience and freedom of profession which is every man's right as far
-as is consistent with the peace of the civil Government he lives under."
-Heresy was, in fact, punished by the Government as a purely political
-offence.
-
-Elizabeth, having the power, compelled all those clergymen who conformed
-sufficiently to accept livings and bishoprics, not only to conform
-but more or less to persecute their brethren. Even men like Parker
-and Grindal, naturally averse from compulsion, were obliged to do her
-bidding, till Grindal rebelled and was set aside; but their places were
-supplied by Sandys, who had himself fled from Popish compulsion, and by
-Whitgift, who rigorously enforced the laws. Sandys actually sentenced
-the anabaptists who, in 1575, were burnt at the stake by order of the
-queen--for to this pass it came: Hammond, a ploughman, being burnt at
-Norwich in 1579, and Kett, a member of one of the universities, in the
-same place, ten years afterwards, under Elizabeth.
-
-Such was the state of the Protestant Church at the termination of
-the period we are now reviewing. The queen discouraged preaching and
-instruction of the people, allowing many bishoprics, prebends, and
-livings to be vacant, and receiving their incomes. She declared that one
-or two preachers in a county was enough, probably fearing the prevalence
-of the more advanced opinions. Parker in his time had been ordered to
-enforce strict compliance with the rubric, and numbers of the most
-eminent and eloquent clergymen resigned their livings and travelled over
-the country, and preached where they could, "as if," says Bishop Jewell,
-"they were apostles; and so they were with regard to their poverty, for
-silver and gold they had none." Being, however, continually brought
-before the authorities and fined and otherwise punished, they determined
-to break off all connection with the public churches, and form themselves
-into an avowed separate communion, worshipping God in their own way and
-being ready to suffer for His sake. Here, then, commenced the great cause
-of Nonconformity, and the formation of all those sects which from time
-to time have since appeared, each claiming--and justly--the right to
-worship God and to regulate their particular church as seems conformable
-to their understanding of the Scriptures. These separate assemblies,
-however, were stigmatised as conventicles, and from this time many were
-the laws passed to put them down, as we shall hereafter find. Among the
-Nonconformists a most zealous and resolute sect arose called Brownists,
-from Robert Brown, a preacher in the diocese of Norwich, a man of good
-family, and said to be a relative of Lord Burleigh. His followers soon
-acquired the name of Independents, which they afterwards changed for that
-of Congregationalists, from their denial of all ecclesiastical dignities
-and authority whatever, asserting that each congregation constitutes
-a complete church, with the right to nominate their own minister and
-conduct their own affairs. This body of Christians, at this day so
-extensive and respectable, of course felt the especial weight of the
-persecution of the Established Church, with which it refused to hold
-the slightest communion; yet to such a degree did it flourish--a proof
-of the onward spirit of the time, that Sir Walter Raleigh declared in
-Parliament that there were before the death of Elizabeth not less than
-20,000 members of that body in Norfolk, Essex, and the neighbourhood of
-London.
-
-[Illustration: REDUCED FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE GREAT BIBLE,
-ALSO CALLED CROMWELL'S BIBLE.]
-
-In the narration of the struggles of this period in Scotland we have
-sufficiently traced the persecution of the Protestants by the Romish
-Church--the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, Walter
-Mill, and others; the murder of Cardinal Beaton, and the final triumph
-of Knox and his compeers, from which period the organisation of the
-Protestant Church of Scotland went on rapidly. In 1560 the Lords of
-the Congregation entered Edinburgh in arms; and Parliament assembling,
-abolished for ever the Pope's jurisdiction, abolished the celebration of
-Mass, and authorised "The Confession of the Faith and Doctrine believed
-and professed by the Protestants of Scotland." An Act also was passed to
-pull down all cloisters and abbey-churches still left standing: and the
-Church, not waiting for any further enactment of the Parliament or Crown,
-went on exercising its own proper functions as an independent church,
-governed, not by the State, but by presbyteries, synods, and general
-assemblies. In 1580 the General Assembly, after having at various times
-diminished the power and rank of bishops, declared that episcopacy was
-unscriptural and unlawful--a dictum which the Parliament fully ratified
-in 1592, establishing the Presbyterian Church as the national one, with
-general assembly, provincial synods, presbyteries, and kirk sessions. In
-1597 the Parliament admitted certain representatives of the clergy to
-seats in it, to which the General Assembly assented at its next meeting;
-and thus was completed the system of Church government in Scotland at
-that time.
-
-The sixteenth century produced as great a revolution in Literature and
-Science as in religion. We still look back to this era for some of the
-greatest names and greatest works which have adorned and enlightened not
-only our own country, but the whole civilised world. When we enumerate
-Sir Thomas More, Lord Surrey, Roger Ascham, Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney,
-Shakespeare, Marlowe, Bacon, Buchanan, Gawin Douglas, Dunbar, and
-Sir David Lyndsay, we remind our readers that we are moving amid a
-constellation of genius, than which Time has scarcely any brighter.
-But in the two words Shakespeare and Bacon, we pronounce the names and
-glorious births of dramatic and philosophic genius, which have placed
-England on the summit of intellectual fame, by works never surpassed
-before or since in any nation, and by discoveries in science and art
-which have flowed from the "Novum Organum" of Bacon as from an eternal
-and ever-strengthening fountain. True it is both men belong, by their
-works, rather to the succeeding period than to the present; but Bacon
-had, long before the death of Elizabeth, sketched out the plan of his
-immortal work, though he had not dared to publish it; and Shakespeare had
-not only written his poems, but had also written and acted in many of his
-most brilliant and original plays. By these great writers the English
-language was established as a classical language; and though it has since
-extended and connected itself with the progress of knowledge and most
-astonishing and varied discoveries, we can produce no purer, no stronger,
-nor more eloquent specimens of it than from the pages of Shakespeare,
-which continue to be read and listened to on our stage, the genuine
-speech of Englishmen--somewhat quaint occasionally, but always musical to
-the ear, familiar to the sense, and animating to the spirit.
-
-The violent changes and spoliations of the Reformation did not check the
-foundation of new colleges and seminaries of learning--the fountains,
-under a more liberal order of things, certain to produce noble results.
-Even Henry VIII., in his wholesale destruction of endowed property, and
-though college property was included in the Acts which he procured from
-his obsequious Parliament, for the most part spared the resources of
-education. His reign was distinguished by the foundation, in Oxford, of
-Brazenose College, in 1509, by Sir William Smith, Bishop of Lincoln, and
-Sir Richard Sutton, of Prestbury, in Cheshire. Old Richard Fox, Bishop
-of Winchester, who had been prime minister of Henry VII., and still was
-of the council of his son, in 1516 founded Corpus Christi. The only
-exception to Henry VIII.'s patronage of the colleges occurred in those
-founded by Wolsey--his Cardinal College at Oxford, and his college at
-Ipswich, which both fell with him. In 1545 Henry himself founded Christ
-Church instead of that of Wolsey, which he then dissolved. In 1554
-Trinity College was founded on the basis of Durham College by Sir Thomas
-Pope. In 1555 Sir Thomas White, alderman and merchant tailor of London,
-founded St. John's College, on the site of Bernard College. These were
-in the reign of Queen Mary. In Elizabeth's time rose Jesus College, in
-1571, from funds furnished by Dr. Hugh Price, and augmented by the queen
-herself.
-
-In Cambridge three colleges arose during the reign of Henry VII.--the
-only educational endowments of any note during that period. In 1496 John
-Alcock, Bishop of Ely, founded Jesus College. In 1505 Margaret Countess
-of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., founded Christ's College, and also in
-1511, very shortly before her son's death, St. John's College. In 1519
-Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, commenced the College of Magdalene;
-but as he was executed for high treason in 1521, Lord Audley, the Lord
-Chancellor, completed it. Henry VIII. founded Trinity College in 1546,
-and at the same time four new professorships in the university; namely,
-for theology, law, Greek, and Hebrew. Henry was proud of his learning,
-and had the good sense to support, with all the imperative force of his
-character, the new study of Greek, when it was violently assailed by
-the Church and professors. Dr. Caius founded the college named after
-him, and popularly pronounced "Keys," on the basis of the old hall of
-Gonville, in 1558--the only extension of Cambridge University under
-Queen Mary. Sir Walter Mildmay founded Emmanuel College in 1584, and in
-1598 Sidney-Sussex College was founded by Lady Frances Sidney, widow of
-Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex.
-
-The universities of Scotland were greatly extended during this period.
-That of Aberdeen was founded in 1494 under the name of King's College,
-James IV. having procured a bull for that purpose from Pope Alexander
-VI., though the bishop was the main benefactor. In 1593 Marischal
-College, in the same university, was erected by George, Earl Marischal.
-At St. Andrews the college of St. Leonard's was established in 1512 by
-Archbishop Stuart and John Hepburn, prior of the metropolitan church.
-This was afterwards united with that of St. Salvator (founded in 1456),
-and together bore the name of the United College. St. Mary's, in the same
-university, was founded, in 1537, by Beaton. In 1582 James VI. founded
-the University of Edinburgh. In 1591 Elizabeth founded in Dublin the
-University of Trinity College.
-
-Contemporaneous with these colleges and universities rose a great number
-of grammar-schools, designed to extend the knowledge of Latin to the
-mass of the people. Among the magnificent endowments, since too much
-withdrawn, by the influence of wealth, from the poor and the orphan, for
-whom they were designed, and devoted to the use of the affluent, for whom
-they were not designed, we may name St. Paul's School, London, founded
-by Dean Colet in 1509; Christ's Hospital, London, founded by Edward
-VI. in 1553, the year of his death; Westminster School, established by
-Elizabeth, 1560; and Merchant Taylors School, founded by that guild
-in 1561. In Scotland the High School of Edinburgh was founded by the
-magistrates of that city in 1577.
-
-It is a curious fact that the revival of the Greek language and
-literature was coincident with the Reformation. Widely opposed as the
-spirit of Christianity and of the Greek mythology are, yet in one
-particular they are identical, in breathing a spirit of liberty and
-popular dominance which were not long in showing their effects in
-Great Britain. The Scriptures were now translated and made familiar
-to the people, at least by means of Puritan preachers, who were thus
-proclaiming that God had made of one blood all the nations of the earth,
-and that He was no respecter of persons; thereby laying the foundations
-of eternal justice in the public mind, and teaching, as a necessary
-consequence, that the end and object of all human government was not the
-good of kings or nobles, but of the collective people. The poets, the
-historians, the dramatists, and the philosophers of republican Greece
-were made to bring all the force of their fiery eloquence, their glowing
-narratives, and their subtle reasoning to bear upon the same theme;
-presenting not only arguments for general liberty and a popular polity,
-but examples of the most sublime struggles of a small but glorious people
-against domestic tyrants and the vast hordes of barbarism without, of
-noblest orators thundering against the oppression of the mighty, of awful
-tragedians steeping their stage in the imaged blood of tyrants and of
-traitors, of patriots perishing in joy for the salvation of their country.
-
-It was not to be wondered at that on the bursting of these novel elements
-like a sudden and strong torrent into the arena of human life, there
-should arise a fearful struggle and combat between the old intellectual
-ideas and the new. The two-fold inundation pouring from the hills
-of Palestine and of Greece, and in united vastness deluging Europe,
-threatened to destroy all the old land-marks of the schoolmen, and to
-drown Duns Scotus and Aquinas along with the owls and bats of the monkish
-cells and dream chambers. It was soon seen that this new language was
-the language of the very book from which the Reformers drew their words
-winged with the fire of destruction to the ancient slavery of popular
-ignorance and popular dependence on priests and Popes, and no time was
-lost in denouncing it as a gross and new-fangled heresy. It was a heresy
-from which not only freedom in Church but in State was to spring; the
-seed from which grew, in the next age, our Hampdens, Marvels, Pyms,
-Prynnes, Cromwells, and Miltons.
-
-Yet it is only due to Henry VIII., to his ministers Wolsey, Fox, and
-More, and to other eminent dignitaries--amongst them Cardinal Pole
-in Queen Mary's reign--to state that they were zealous advocates and
-promoters of the Greek learning. The very first public school in which
-Greek is said to have been taught in England was the new foundation of
-Dean Colet, St. Paul's school, where the celebrated scholar William
-Lilly, who had studied in Rhodes, was the master. Wolsey introduced it
-into his new colleges, and Henry VIII. being at Woodstock, and hearing
-of a furious harangue made at Oxford against the study of the Greek
-Testament in the University, immediately ordered the teaching of it, and
-established a professorship of it also in Cambridge.
-
-Notwithstanding, a violent opposition arose against the study of Greek in
-consequence of the authority it gave to the doctrines of the Reformers,
-rendering an appeal to the original text invincible. Erasmus informs
-us that the preachers and declaimers against his edition of the Greek
-Testament really appeared to believe that he was by its means attempting
-to introduce some new kind of religion. The book was prohibited in the
-University of Cambridge, and a heavy penalty decreed for any one found
-with it in his possession. Erasmus attempted to teach the Greek grammar
-of Chrysoloras there, but a terrible outcry was raised against him, and
-his scholars soon deserted his benches. As the contest went on, however,
-the Universities, both here and abroad, became divided into the factions
-of the Greeks and Trojans, the Trojans being those who were advocates for
-Latin, but not for Greek. The Greeks, however, victorious, as of old,
-expelled the works of the famous Duns Scotus from the schools; they were
-torn up and trodden under foot; and the King sent down a Commission which
-altogether abolished the study of this old scholastic philosophy which
-had had so long and absolute a reign.
-
-Yet the new knowledge appears for some time after the first excitement
-to have made less progress in the schools than at Court and amongst the
-aristocracy. On the surface, therefore, the age appeared a very learned
-one. All the chief churchmen on both sides of the question in the reigns
-of Henry VIII. and Edward VI.--Wolsey, Fox, Gardiner, Cranmer, Ridley,
-Tunstall, Cardinal Pole--were men of great acquirements. Henry was a fine
-scholar, and, despite his harsh treatment of his wives and children,
-gave to the latter educations perhaps superior to those of any princes
-or princesses of the time. Edward was steeped in learning, to the injury
-of his overtaxed constitution. Mary and Elizabeth were both accomplished
-linguists, speaking Latin, French, and Spanish fluently; and Elizabeth
-adding to these Greek and Italian, with a smattering of Dutch and German.
-Mary was studiously instructed in the originals of the Scriptures, and
-made a translation of the Latin paraphrase of St. John, by Erasmus, which
-was printed and read as part of the Church service, till it was ordered
-to be burnt by herself in her own reign with other heretical books.
-She was deeply read in the fathers, and in the works of Plato, Cicero,
-Seneca, Plutarch, and selected portions of Horace, Lucan, and Livy.
-Elizabeth was a poetess of no mean pretensions and, besides her knowledge
-of the classical and modern languages, read by preference immense
-quantities of history. Roger Ascham, the teacher of Lady Jane Grey, said
-that "numberless honourable ladies" of the time surpassed the daughters
-of Sir Thomas More, but that none could compete with the Princess
-Elizabeth; that she spoke and wrote Greek and Latin beautifully; that
-he had read with her the whole of Cicero, and great part of Livy; that
-she devoted her mornings to the New Testament in Greek, select orations
-of Isocrates, and the tragedies of Sophocles, whilst she drew religious
-knowledge from St. Cyprian and the "Common-places" of Melanchthon; that
-she was skilful in music, but did not greatly delight in it.
-
-With such examples, no wonder that there were such learned ladies at
-Court as Lady Jane Grey, Lady Tyrwhit, Mary Countess of Arundel, Joanna
-Lady Lumley, and her sister Mary the Duchess of Norfolk--all learned
-in Greek and Latin, and authoresses of translations from them; the two
-daughters of Sir Thomas More, and the three daughters of the learned
-Sir Anthony Cooke--one of them the wife of the all-powerful statesman
-Burleigh, another the mother of the illustrious Francis Bacon, and the
-third, Lady Killigrew, a famous Hebrew scholar, as well as profound in
-Latin and Greek. It is extraordinary that learning, which had been so
-ardently taken up by these accomplished women, should have languished
-in the schools and amongst the people. Yet such was the fact, and is
-explained by the violent and continual changes which were taking place
-in Church and State. A great part of the reign of Henry VIII. was
-engrossed by the conflict with the Court of Rome regarding his divorce
-from Catherine, and then by his stupendous onslaught on the monastic
-and cathedral property. As no man at the Universities could tell where
-promotion was to come from in the Church under a king who equally took
-vengeance on Romanist and Protestant who dared to differ from him, and as
-it was equally uncertain whether, in some new fit of anger or caprice,
-he might not suppress the colleges as he had suppressed monasteries,
-ministers, and chantries, it is not surprising to hear Latimer exclaim,
-"It would pity a man's heart to hear what I hear of the state of
-Cambridge. There be few that study divinity, but so many as of necessity
-must furnish the college."
-
-[Illustration: CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, LONDON (1899).]
-
-Under Edward VI. things became far worse. Then it was a scramble amongst
-his courtiers who should get the most of the property devoted to religion
-or learning. Bishoprics, good livings, the rest of the monastic lands
-which yet remained with the Crown did not suffice. These cormorants
-clutched at the University resources. They appropriated exhibitions
-and pensions, and, says Warton, in his "History of English Poetry,"
-"Ascham, in a letter to the Marquis of Northampton, dated 1550, laments
-the ruin of grammar-schools throughout England, and predicts the speedy
-extinction of the universities from this growing calamity. At Oxford the
-schools were neglected by the professors and pupils, and allotted to the
-lowest purposes. Academical degrees were abrogated as anti-Christian.
-Reformation was soon turned into fanaticism. Absurd refinements,
-concerning the inutility of human learning, were superadded to the just
-and rational purgation of Christianity from the Papal corruption." He
-adds that the Government visitors of the University totally stripped the
-public library, established by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, of all its
-books and manuscripts; and Latimer, in one of his sermons about that
-time, declared his belief that there were then 10,000 fewer students than
-there had been twenty years before.
-
-Classical literature did not fare better during the persecuting reign
-of Mary, though Cardinal Pole was a warm friend of the introduction of
-Greek, notwithstanding the use made of it by the Protestants. When he
-urged Sir Thomas Pope to establish a professorship of that language
-in his new college of Trinity, Sir Thomas replied, "I fear the times
-will not bear it now. I remember, when I was a young scholar at Eton,
-the Greek tongue was growing apace, the study of which is now a-late
-much decayed." Nor was it likely when Elizabeth discouraged preaching
-even, saying that "one or two preachers in a county was enough," that
-Classical studies would be much encouraged. In fact, nothing could be
-lower than the condition into which both learning and preaching had
-fallen in Elizabeth's Church. The Bishop of Bangor stated that he had
-but two preachers in all his diocese. Numbers of churches stood vacant,
-according to Neal, where there was no preaching, nor even reading of the
-homilies for months together, and in many parishes there could be found
-no one to baptise the living or bury the dead; in others, unlearned
-mechanics, and even the gardeners of those who had secured the clerical
-glebes and income, performed the only service that there was. But no
-doubt this afforded good scope to the Puritans, who had now the Bible in
-English, Cranmer's, Coverdale's, and Parker's, or the Bishops' Bible; and
-these zealous men, despite the crushing penalties, would find constant
-opportunities of diffusing their knowledge. In Oxford there were only
-three divines in 1563 who were considered able to preach a sermon, and
-these three were Puritans. The knowledge of the Classics was fallen
-so low that all that Archbishop Parker required of the holders of his
-three new scholarships in Cambridge, in 1567, was that they should be
-well instructed in grammar and be able to make a verse. The classical
-qualifications in the two Universities were below contempt.
-
-It is a satisfaction to turn from this humiliating state of things to
-the great lights of genius and learning which were burning brightly amid
-this thick darkness. Here there meets us the illustrious constellation
-of names of More, Ascham, Puttenham, Sidney, Hooker, Bacon, Barclay,
-Skelton, Sackville, Heywood, Surrey, Wyatt, Spenser, Shakespeare,
-Marlowe, and others--names which cast a lustre over this period, and in
-whose blaze all its faults and failings are forgotten.
-
-Of the prose writers Sir Thomas More (_b_. 1480, _d_. 1535) is one of the
-earliest and most famous. He was equally remarkable for the suavity of
-his manners, his wit, his independence of character, and the eloquence
-and originality of his writings. We have seen how he served and was
-served by Henry VIII. Erasmus, who stayed some time at his house, says,
-"With him you might imagine yourself in the academy of Plato. But I
-should do injustice to his house by comparing it to the academy of Plato,
-where numbers and geometrical figures, and sometimes moral virtues, were
-the subjects of discussion. It would be more just to call it a school,
-and an exercise of Christian religion. All its inhabitants, male and
-female, applied their leisure to liberal studies and profitable reading,
-although piety was their first care. No wrangling, no angry word was
-heard in it, no one was idle; every one did his duty with alacrity, and
-not without a temperate cheerfulness."
-
-More's chief work is his "Utopia," and it may be pronounced the first
-enunciation of a system of Socialism since the Apostolic age. It may
-surprise many, but More, in fact, was the forerunner of Proudhon and
-Fourrier. His "Utopia" describes an island in which a commonwealth is
-established completely on Socialistic principles. No one is allowed to
-possess separate property; because such possession produces an unequal
-division of the necessaries of life, demoralising those who become
-inordinately rich and, in a different direction, depraving and degrading
-those who are obliged to labour incessantly. What is remarkable, More in
-his imaginary commonwealth admits the fullest toleration of religious
-belief, though he fell so far in practice as to join in the persecutions
-of his time. His principles were too noble for his practice; yet with
-this one flaw he was one of the most admirable men who ever lived. His
-"Utopia" was written by him in Latin, but was translated into English
-in 1551, afterwards by Bishop Burnet, and in 1808 by Arthur Cayley.
-In addition to this, he wrote a life of Richard III., and various
-compositions in Latin and English, besides a number of letters which have
-been published in his collected works. As a specimen of the prose style
-and state of the language in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII.,
-we may quote a short passage from a letter to his second wife, Alice
-Middleton, in 1528, on hearing that his house at Chelsea was burnt down:--
-
-"Maistress Alyce, in my most harty wise I recommend me to you; and
-whereas I am enfourmed by my son Heron of the losse of our barnes and of
-our neighbours also, with all the corne that was therein, albeit (saving
-God's pleasure) it is grit pitie of so much good corne loste; yet sith
-it hath liked Hym to sende us such a chaunce, we must and are bounden,
-not only to be content, but also to be glad of His visitacion. He sente
-us all that we have loste; and sith He hath by such a chaunce taken it
-away againe, His pleasure be fulfilled. Let us never grudge thereat, but
-take in good worth, and hartily thank Him, as well for adversitie as for
-prosperite; and peradventure we have more cause to thank Him for our
-losse than for our winning; for His wisdome better seeth what is good
-for us than we do our selves. Therefore I pray you be of good chere, and
-take all the howshold with you to church, and there thanke God, both for
-what He hath given us, and for that He hath taken from us, and for that
-He hath left us, which, if it please Hym He can encrease when He will.
-And if it please Hym to leave us yet lesse, at His pleasure be it. I
-pray you to make some good insearche what my poore neighbours have loste,
-and bid them take no thought therefore; for an I shold not leave myself
-a spone, there shal no poore neighboure of mine bere no losse by any
-chaunce happened in my house. I pray you be with my children, and your
-howshold mery in God."
-
-Latimer (_b._ 1470, _d._ 1555) was the son of a Leicestershire farmer,
-and rose to be Bishop of Worcester, and to the far higher rank of a
-martyr for his faith. He has been pronounced by writers of this age as
-a good but not a great man. To our mind he was a very great man. Not in
-worldly wisdom, for he was simple as a child; but he was a genius, true,
-racy, and original. He was made, as his sermons show, for a preacher
-to the people rather than to princes, though to them he bore a bold
-and unblenching testimony. But to the people he was a prophet and an
-awakener. He had been amongst them; he knew their deepest feelings, their
-most secret thoughts their language and their desires; and he addressed
-them from the pulpit with the loving and picturesque familiarity which
-he used at their firesides. There is occasionally much rudeness in his
-discourses, his images are often bizarre, his allusions grotesque;
-but there is a life that kindles, there is a poetry that warms, a
-spirit that arouses, a bold aggressive truth which must have made his
-hearers look into their souls and think. We take a short passage from a
-sermon preached before Edward VI. in 1549--twenty-one years after the
-composition of More just given, and yet how much more old-fashioned is
-the language. After telling the king that so plain was his preaching
-that it had been called seditious, and that his friends, with tears in
-their eyes, assured him he would get into the Tower, he says:--"There
-be more of myne opinion than I. I thought I was not alone. I have now
-gotten one felowe more, a companyon of sedytyon, and wot ye who is my
-felowe? Esaye the prophete. I spake but of a lytle preaty shyllynge; but
-he speaketh to Hierusalem after another sorte, and was so bold to meddle
-with theyr coine (Isaiah i. 22). Thou proude, thou covetous, thou hautye
-cytye of Hierusalem, _argentum tuum versum est in scoriam_; thy sylver is
-turned into what? into testyiers. _Scoriam_--into drosse. Ah, sediciouse
-wretch, what had he to do wyth the mynte? Why should not he have lefte
-that matter to some master of policy to reprove? Thy sylver is drosse,
-it is not fine, it is counterfeit, thy sylver is turned, thou haddest
-good sylver. What pertayned that to Esaye? Mary, he espyeth a piece of
-divinity in that policie; he threatened them God's vengeance for it. He
-went to the rote of the matter, which was covetousness. He espyed two
-poyntes in it: that eythere it came of covetousnesse, whych became hym
-to reprove; er els that it tended to the hurte of the pore people, for
-the naughtyness of the sylver was the occasion of dearth to all thynges
-in the realme. He imputeth it to them as a great cryme. He may be called
-a mayster of sedicion in dede. Was this not a sidicyouse varlet to tell
-them thys to theyr beardes, to theyr face?"
-
-Amongst writers of this age who tended to purify and perfect the language
-were Sir Thomas Wilson, and Puttenham, who wrote the "Art of English
-Poesy," which was published in 1582. Wilson (_b._ 1520, _d._ 1581) wrote
-his "Art of Rhetorique" thirty years before, only three years later
-than the sermon of Latimer's just quoted; yet what an advance in both
-style and orthography:--"What maketh the lawyer to have such utterance?
-Practice. What maketh the preacher to speake so soundly? Practice. Yea,
-what maketh women go so fast awai with their wordes? Marie, practice, I
-warrant you. Therefore in all faculties, diligent practice and earnest
-exercise are the only thynges that make men prove excellent."
-
-Contemporary with More was Sir Thomas Elyot (_b._ 1495, _d._ 1546), whose
-treatise called "The Governor" is a fine example of vigorous English.
-Cranmer and Ridley were not less distinguished for their fine style than
-for their liberal principles; and Roger Ascham (_b._ 1515, _d._ 1568),
-the instructor of Lady Jane Grey and Queen Elizabeth, was equally famed
-for his caligraphy, his musical talents, his proficiency in the new
-learning--Greek--for his classical Latin, and his English composition.
-To relieve the severities of study he practised archery, and wrote his
-"Toxophilus, the Schole of Shootinge," to recommend that old English art.
-In it he strongly advocated the old English language, and the abstinence
-from foreign terms, a recommendation which succeeding generations wisely
-declined, to the vast enrichment of the language. But Ascham was a
-genuine Englishman, and advised his countrymen to follow the counsel of
-Aristotle, and "speak as the common people do, but think as wise men do."
-His next principal work was the "Scholemaster: a plaine and perfite way
-of teaching children to understand, write, and speak the Latin tong"--a
-work which has become more known than any other of his, because in it he
-mentions his visit to Lady Jane Grey at Bradgate Park, near Leicester,
-where he found her deep in Plato's "Phaedo" while the rest of the family
-were hunting. But besides these works he wrote on the affairs of Germany;
-and Latin poems, Latin letters, and his celebrated Apology for the Lord's
-Supper, in opposition to the Mass.
-
-[Illustration: LATIMER PREACHING BEFORE EDWARD VI. (_From a Woodcut in
-Foxe's "Martyrs," 1563._)]
-
-As a prose writer Edmund Spenser (_b._ 1553, _d._ 1599), the author
-of the "Faerie Queene," must be mentioned for his "View of the State
-of Ireland," which contained many judicious recommendations for the
-improvement of that country, and presents in its serious statesmanlike
-views a curious contrast to the allegorical fancy of his great poem.
-But far greater as prose writers of the latter portion of this period
-stand forth Sir Philip Sidney and the "judicious Hooker." Sir Philip
-Sidney (_b._ 1554, _d._ 1586), who was celebrated as the most perfect
-gentleman of his time, or as, in the phrase of the age, "the Mirror of
-Courtesy," was killed at the age of thirty-three at Zutphen. Yet he
-left behind him the "Arcadia," a romance; the "Defence of Poesie," and
-various minor poems and prose articles, which were published after his
-death. The person and writings of Sidney have been the theme of unbounded
-panegyric. He was a gentleman finished and complete, in whom mildness
-was associated with courage, erudition mollified by refinement, and
-courtliness dignified by truth. He is a specimen of what the English
-character was capable of producing when foreign admixtures had not
-destroyed its simplicity, or politeness debased its honour. In his own
-day he was the object of the most enthusiastic praises, and has been
-lauded in the most vivid terms by writers of every period since. Near his
-own times Nash, Lord Brooke, Camden, Ben Jonson, Naunton, Aubrey, Milton,
-and Cowley, were his eulogists; Wordsworth and the writers of our own day
-are equally complimentary. Perhaps, after so continuous and high-toned
-a hymning, a modern reader, taking up his "Arcadia" for the first time,
-would find it stiff, formal, and pedantic. He might miss that fervid
-spirit which animates the fictions of the great masters of our own age,
-and wonder at the warmth of so many great authorities upon what failed to
-warm him. In fact, it must be confessed, that it is a noble specimen of
-what pleased the taste of the time in which it was written. It displays
-imagination, though often on stilts instead of on wings, and breathes
-the spirit which animated its author, of a refined nature, a chivalrous
-temperament, a generous heart, and the instincts of the perfect scholar.
-Of that period it is a noble monument; in this it is a unique work of
-art, which, however, strikes us as fair, mild, and antiquated. "The
-Defence of Poesie," with much of the same mannerism, is worthy of a poet,
-and of a man whose life was the finest poem, from its generous patronage
-of talent, its high literary taste, and the hero's death, in the very
-agonies of which he gave from his own scorched lips the draught of cold
-water to the dying soldier at his side.
-
-[Illustration: ROGER ASCHAM'S VISIT TO LADY JANE GREY. (_See p._ 364.)]
-
-The list of the prose writers of this period presents no more honourable
-name than that of the great champion of the Church of England, Richard
-Hooker (_b._ 1553, _d._ 1600), whose composition is as remarkable for its
-cogent reasoning and elevated style, as Sidney's is for fancy and grace
-of sentiment. His "Ecclesiastical Polity," in eight books, is regarded as
-the most able defence of church establishments that ever appeared. From
-the breadth of its principles it drew the applause of Pope Clement VIII.
-as well as of the royal pedant, James I. To those who study it as an
-example of the intellect, learning, and language of the time, it presents
-itself, even to such as dissent from its conclusions, as a labour most
-honourable to the country and age which produced it.
-
-A still greater man was yet behind. Bacon (_b._ 1561, _d._ 1626) was
-figuring as the great lawyer, the eloquent advocate and senator;
-but under the duties of these offices lay hid the master who was to
-revolutionise philosophy and science; the father of the new world of
-discovery, and the most marvellous career of social and intellectual
-advance. To this period he is the sun sending its rays above the horizon,
-but not yet risen. His speeches, his "Essays Civil and Moral," and
-"Maxims of Law," already foretold his fame.
-
-A very different writer was John Lyly, the Euphuist (_b._ 1553, _d._
-1601). Lyly was a poet and dramatist of repute; but in 1579 he published
-"Euphues; or, Anatomy of Wit," which was followed, in 1581, by a second
-part, called "Euphues and his England." In this he invented a style
-and phraseology of his own, which seized the fancy of the public like
-a mania, and set the Court, the ladies, the dandies, and dilettanti of
-the day speaking and writing in a most affected, piebald, and fantastic
-style. Sir Philip Sidney, in his "Arcadia," ridiculed it, not without
-being in a considerable degree affected by it himself. Shakespeare, in
-"Love's Labour's Lost," and Sir Walter Scott, in his Sir Piercie Shafton,
-in "The Monastery," have made the modern public familiar with it. Yet,
-after all, probably Lyly was only laughing in his sleeve at the follies
-of others, and was, as has been asserted, aiming at the purification of
-the language; for in his dramas his diction is simple enough, considering
-the taste of the age.
-
-Among the rising writers was also Sir Walter Raleigh; but his literary
-reputation belongs rather to the age that was coming. On the whole, the
-period from the reign of Henry VII. to the end of that of Elizabeth was
-a period more kindred to our own than any which had gone before it.
-It produced prose writers whose minds still hold communion with and
-influence those of to-day. Its philosophy had assumed a more practical
-stamp, and was full of the elements of change and progress. Its poetry,
-which we have now to consider, reached the very highest pitch of human
-genius.
-
-The earliest poet who has left any name of note is Stephen Hawes, whose
-principal work was "The Pastime of Pleasure," which was printed by Wynkyn
-de Worde in 1517. Hawes was a native of Suffolk, had travelled much, and
-by his proficiency in French and French literature acquired the favour
-of Henry VII. Another poem, "The Temple of Glass," has been ascribed to
-Hawes, but is most probably Lydgate's, who, Hawes tells us, composed such
-a poem.
-
-Next to Hawes comes Alexander Barclay, the author of numerous works in
-prose and poetry, as "The Castell of Labour," wherein is "Rychesse,
-Vertue, and Honour," an allegorical poem, translated from the French;
-"The Shyp of Foles of the Worlde," translated from Sebastian Brandt's
-German poem, "Das Narren Schiff;" "Egloges; or, the Miseries of Courts
-and Courtiers;" a treatise against Skelton the poet; a translation of
-Livy's "Wars of Jugurtha;" "Life of St. George," &c. &c. The work,
-however, which has handed down his name to posterity is the "Ship of
-Fools," which, by interspersing it with original touches on the follies
-of his countrymen, he made in some degree his own. But the chief merit
-of the poem in our time is the evidence of the polish which the English
-language had acquired, and to which Barclay probably contributed, for
-he had travelled through Germany, Holland, France, and Italy, studying
-diligently the best authors of those countries. He was successively a
-prebendary of the college of Ottery St. Mary, a Benedictine monk, Vicar
-of Great Barlow, in Essex, of Wokey, in Somersetshire, and Rector of All
-Hallows, London, terminating his life at Croydon. A stanza or two will
-suffice to show the state of the language at the close of the reign of
-Henry VII. A man in orders is speaking:--
-
-    "Eche is not lettred that nowe is made a lorde,
-    Nor eche a clerke that hath a benefice:
-    They are not all lawyers that plees do recorde,
-    All that are promoted are not fully wise.
-    On such chaunce nowe fortune throwes her dice
-    That, though one knowe but the Yrishe game,
-    Yet would he have a gentleman's name.
-
-           *       *       *       *       *
-
-    I am like other clerkes which so frowardly them gyde,
-    That after they are once come unto promotion,
-    They give them to pleasure, their study set aside,
-    Their avarice covering with fained devotion.
-    Yet daily they preache, and have great derision
-    Against the rude lay men, and all for covetise,
-    Though their own conscience be blinded with that vice."
-
-The reign of Henry VIII. was distinguished chiefly by satirists: and it
-says much for the courage of poets that they were almost the only men in
-that terrible period who dared open their mouths on the crying sins of
-Government. Skelton, Heywood, and Roy were men who amused themselves with
-the follies and vices of their contemporaries. When the sun of poetry
-rose in a more glowing form in Surrey, the ferocious king, so ready with
-the headsman's axe, quenched it in blood. John Skelton (_b._ 1460, _d._
-1529) was a clergyman, educated at Oxford. Erasmus declared him to be
-"Britannicarum Literarum Lumen et Decus"--"the light and ornament of
-Britain." He became Rector of Diss, in Norfolk; but, like Sterne at a
-later day, Skelton was overflowing with humour and satire rather than
-sermons, and so fell under the resentment of Nykke, Bishop of Norwich.
-He lashed with all the wonderful power of his merry muse the licentious
-ignorance of the monks and friars; and, soaring at higher game, attacked
-the swollen greatness of Cardinal Wolsey in a strain of the most daring
-invective. The incensed cardinal endeavoured to lay hold on him, and he
-would not have escaped scatheless out of his hands, had not the venerable
-John Islip, Abbot of Westminster, opened the sanctuary to him; and there
-Skelton lived secure for the remainder of his days, neither stinting his
-stinging lashes at the cardinal, nor suppressing his overflowing humour,
-which welled forth in a torrent of the most wild, sparkling, random, and
-rodomontade character. His amazing command of language, his never-failing
-and extraordinary rhymes, remind us of one man only, and that of last
-century--Hood. The airiness and irregularity of his lyrical measures
-equally suggest a comparison with that most untranslatable Swedish poet,
-Bellmann.
-
-His friend Thomas Churchyard, in a eulogium on him, enumerates a number
-of poets of that and preceding times, some of them now little known:--
-
-    "Peirs Plowman was full plaine,
-      And Chaucer's spreet was great;
-    Earl Surrey had a goodly veine,
-      Lord Vaux the marke did beat.
-    And Phaer did hit the pricke
-      In things he did translate,
-    And Edwards had a special gift;
-      And divers men of late
-    Have helped our English tongue,
-      That first was base and brute.
-    Oh! shall I leave out Skelton's name?--
-      The blossom of my fruit!"
-
-The "Pithy, Pleasant, and Profitable Works of Maister Skelton, Poet
-Laureate to Henry VIII.," contain "The Crowne of Laurell," by way of
-introduction; "The Bouge of the Courte," in which this unique poet
-laureate attacks the vices of the Court without mercy; "The Duke
-of Albany," a poem equally severe on the Scots; "Ware the Hawk," a
-castigation of the clergy; "The Tunning of Eleanor Rumming," a wild
-rattling string of rhymes on an old ale-wife and her costume; and "Why
-come ye not to Court?" an unsparing satire on Wolsey. There is no part
-of the cardinal's history or character that he lets escape. His mean
-origin, his puffed-up pride, his sensuality, his lordly insolence, his
-covetousness and cruelties, run on in a strain of loose yet vivid jingle
-that was calculated to catch the ear of the people. The gentlest word
-that Skelton has for him is that--
-
-    "He regardeth lords
-    No more than potsherds;
-    He is in such elation
-    Of his exaltation
-    Of our sovereign lord
-    That God to record,
-    He ruleth all at will,
-    Without reason or skill,
-    Howbeit they be primordial
-    Of his wretched original
-    And his base progeny,
-    And his greasy genealogy.
-    He came of the sink royal
-    That was cast out of a butcher's stall.
-    But however he was born,
-    Men would have the less scorn
-    If he could consider
-    His birth and room together."
-
-He tells us that the king,
-
-            "Of his royal mind,
-    Thought to do a thing
-    That pertaineth to a king--
-    To make up one of nought,
-    And made to him be brought
-    A wretched poor man,
-    With his living wan,
-    With planting leeks,
-    By the days and by the weeks;
-    And of this poor vassal
-    He made a king royal!"
-
-We cannot afford space for the wild riot of Skelton's description of old
-Eleanor Rumming--
-
-    Droupy and drowsy,
-    Scurvy and lousy,
-    Her face all bowsy;
-    Comely crinkled,
-    Wonderfully wrinkled,
-    Like roast pig's ear,
-    Bristled with hair.
-
-But Skelton has shown that he could praise in strains not unworthy the
-fair and noble, and buoyant with music of their own. Such is his canzonet
-to
-
-MISTRESS MARGARET HUSSEY.
-
-    Merry Margaret
-    As midsummer flower,
-    Gentle as falcon,
-    Or hawk of the tower.
-    With solace and gladness,
-    Mirth and no madness,
-    All good and no badness:
-    So joyously,
-    So maidenly,
-    So womanly,
-    Her demeanour
-    In everything
-    Far, far passing
-    That I can indite,
-    Or suffice to write
-    Of Merry Margaret,
-    As midsummer flower,
-    Gentle as falcon,
-    Or hawk of the tower, etc.
-
-A far more grave and not less vengeful satirist of Wolsey and the clergy
-was William Roy, the coadjutor of Tyndale in the translation of the
-Bible. He was originally a friar, but joining the Reformers, he wrote
-a poem against Wolsey, who had ordered the burning of Tyndale's New
-Testament. It is called--
-
-    "Rede me, and be not wrothe,
-    For I saye no thynge but trothe."
-
-In this work he placed on the title a coat of arms for Wolsey in black
-and crimson, with a description in verse at the back of the title,
-of which the following stanza, alluding to the deaths of the Duke of
-Buckingham (the swan) and the Duke of Norfolk (the white lion), may serve
-as a specimen:--
-
-    "Of the proude Cardinall this is the shelde,
-    Borne up betweene two angels of Sathan.
-    The sixe bloody axes in a bare felde
-    Sheweth the cruelty of the red man,
-    Which hath devoured the beautiful swan,
-    Mortal enemy of the white lion,
-    Carter of York, the vile butcher's sonne."
-
-The burning of Tyndale's New Testament is denounced by Roy in many verses
-of the bitterest feeling, every stanza repeating his indignation at the
-unhallowed deed:--
-
-    "O miserable monster, most malicious
-      Father of perversitie, patron of hell!
-    O terrible tyrant, to God and man odious,
-      Advocate of antichrist, to Christ rebell;
-    To thee I speak, O caytife cardinall so cruell,
-    Causeles chargynge by thy coursed commandment
-    To burne Godde's worde, the wholly Testament."
-
-Besides these satirists there was John Heywood, in the time of Henry
-VIII., Edward, and Mary, who wrote "Six Centuries of Epigrams," of a
-pious nature, a considerable number of plays, and an allegory called
-"The Spider and the Fly." Of course, he was a favourite with Henry and
-Mary, and is said to have been more amusing in his conversation than in
-his books. Heywood has the honour commonly assigned him of being the
-first author of interludes; the stepping-stones from the old mysteries
-and moralities to the regular drama. With the Church passed away these
-grotesque performances called religious; and the drama quickly expanded
-in all its fair proportions before the eyes of the public. Shakespeare
-arose, and the dates of the appearance of his plays show us that they
-were many of them produced before 1603, the close of the reign of
-Elizabeth. In fact, Shakespeare seems to have retired from the stage in
-the very year of Elizabeth's death. Before him, however, a number of
-dramatic writers had appeared; but the greater part of them overlived
-the termination of Elizabeth's reign, or their works began after that
-period to take their due rank. Of these dramatic writers some may be
-noted in passing. Heywood had been preceded by Skelton in the line of
-interlude, whose strange "Nigromansia" was printed by Wynkyn de Worde as
-early as 1505. Heywood wrote various interludes, but his chief one was
-the "4 P's," namely, a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary, and a Pedlar. On
-the heels of this appeared the first regular comedy, "Gammer Gurton's
-Needle," written by John Hill, and printed in 1551. Ten years after was
-acted the first English tragedy, "Gorboduc," written by Thomas Norton
-and the celebrated poet Thomas Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurst and
-Earl of Dorset. Passing over the "Damon and Pythias" of Richard Edwards,
-the "Promos and Cassandra" of George Whetstone, which, borrowed from
-an Italian novel, contains the rude outline of Shakespeare's "Measure
-for Measure," we come to Robert Greene, who with Kyd, Lyly, Peele,
-Nash author of "Queen Dido," and Marlowe, constituted a remarkable
-constellation of genius. Greene's chief plays are "Friar Bacon and
-the Friar of Bungay," and "A Looking Glasse for London," written in
-conjunction with his friend Thomas Lodge. He also wrote much poetry.
-The principal dramas of George Peele are "David and Bethsabe, with the
-Tragedy of Absolon," written in 1579, which is a real mystery play, and
-"The Famous Chronicle of Edward I.," "The Old Wives' Tales, a Comedy,"
-&c. Lyly, the Euphuist, wrote nine plays, amongst them "Alexander and
-Campaspe," "Sappho and Phaon," "Midos," "Gallathea," etc. Lyly was fond
-of Greek subjects, but he could also enjoy English comedy, as in "Mother
-Bombie," and others, which are regular comedies, divided into acts and
-scenes, and interspersed with agreeable songs.
-
-Contemporary with the preceding, as well as with Shakespeare, Marlowe
-(_b._ 1564, _d._ 1593) is the greatest name which precedes that of
-the supreme dramatist. We can do no more here than name some of his
-chief tragedies, for Marlowe was essentially a tragedian. These were
-"Tamburlaine the Great," in two parts, "The Massacre of Paris," "Edward
-II.," including the fall of Mortimer and Gaveston, "Doctor Faustus," "The
-Rich Jew of Malta," and "Lust's Dominion; or, the Lascivious Queen."
-Marlowe was, moreover, a beautiful lyrical poet, as is evident by his
-charming madrigal "Come live with me and be my love," given in Walton's
-"Angler." Greene, Peele, Marlowe, Nash, and that whole company were
-dissipated in their lives, and lived and died in deep poverty. To these
-we must add, as dramatic poets of this era whom it is essential to a
-continuous view of the progress of the drama to mention with the rest,
-Decker; Kyd, author of "Jeronimo" and the "Spanish Tragedy;" Lodge,
-author of "The Wounds of Civil War," &c.; Gascoine; Chapman, also the
-celebrated author of the translation of Homer; Jasper Heywood, son of
-John Heywood; Weston, Marston, &c. So much was the drama now advanced in
-estimation, that even Elizabeth's Lord Chancellor, Hatton, was in part
-author of the tragedy of "Tancred and Sigismunda," founded on the story
-of Boccaccio.
-
-[Illustration: EDMUND SPENSER.]
-
-Amongst the lyrical poets, the reign of Henry VIII. presents us with a
-remarkable trio, who were associated as well by their genius as their
-position and fate. These were Sir Thomas Wyatt, the early lover of Anne
-Boleyn, her brother, George Boleyn, afterwards the unfortunate Earl of
-Rochford, and the equally unfortunate Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, the
-last victim of the sanguinary Henry VIII. Surrey was the cousin-german
-of the Boleyns, Wyatt was their early neighbour and playfellow; together
-they all figured amongst the most accomplished courtiers: two of them
-lost their heads, the third only narrowly escaping; and their poetry was
-printed together in one volume.
-
-Sir Thomas Wyatt (_b._ 1503, _d._ 1542, and called the Elder, to
-distinguish him from his son, who was executed for rebellion in the reign
-of Queen Mary) was one of the most illustrious men of the Court of Henry
-VIII. His country-house was Allington Castle, in Kent, and its vicinity
-to the residence of the Boleyns made him a youthful companion of Anne and
-her brother and sister. He became attached to Anne, but was obliged to
-give way to the king, of whose wrath he was in some danger. After that he
-was long employed abroad in embassies to France, Spain, Italy, and the
-Netherlands. Incurring the king's displeasure for aiding Cromwell in the
-promotion of the marriage with Anne of Cleves, he prudently withdrew from
-Court to his castle in Kent. He had never ceased writing poetry even when
-engaged in his diplomatic missions, and he now more than ever cultivated
-the muses. His amatory verses are polished and elegant, but his satires
-display more vigour, and are remarkable as containing the earliest
-English version of "The Town and Country Mouse." Besides his poems he has
-left letters, in which he not only gives us many insights into the state
-of the Courts where he resided, but various particulars regarding the
-fate of Anne Boleyn, and some addressed to his son, which place him in a
-most favourable light as a man and a father. His prose has been greatly
-admired. A short lyric, which we may give, addressed to Anne Boleyn, when
-her creation of Marchioness of Pembroke warned him that he saw in her the
-future queen, clearly informs us that he had been her accepted lover:--
-
-    "Forget not yet the tried intent
-    Of such a truth as I have meant;
-    My great travail so gladly spent,
-                              Forget not yet.
-
-    "Forget not yet when first began
-    The weary life ye know; since when
-    The suit, the service none tell can,
-                              Forget not yet.
-
-    "Forget not yet the great assays,
-    The cruel wrongs, the scornful ways,
-    The painful patience and delays,
-                              Forget not yet.
-
-    "Forget not, O! forget not this,
-    How long ago had been and is
-    The love that never meant amiss,
-                              Forget not yet.
-
-    "Forget not now thine own approved,
-    The which so constant hath thee loved,
-    Whose steadfast faith hath never moved,
-                              Forget not yet."
-
-His friend George Boleyn was, perhaps, a more spirited poet than himself,
-and is said to have sung the night before his execution (May 17, 1536) a
-lyric which had been printed some time, along with the poems of Wyatt,
-called, "Farewell, my lute," the refrain of which was too strikingly
-applicable to his situation:--
-
-    "Farewell, my lute, this is the last
-    Labour that thou and I shall waste,
-    For ended is that we began;
-    Now is the song both sung and passed;
-    My lute, be still, for I have done."
-
-But the most famous of these was the Earl of Surrey (_b._ 1516, _d._
-1547). Like Wyatt, he had travelled in Italy, and formed a high
-admiration of the great Italian poets, Dante, Ariosto, and Petrarch, on
-whose model he formed his taste. Like his ancestor, the conqueror of
-Flodden, he was brave and high-spirited but seems to have had a facility
-for getting into scrapes, both with his own family and the Government.
-As a gay courtier, however, he was much admired by the ladies, and
-still more by people of taste for his poems, which went through four
-editions in two months, and through seven more in the thirty years
-after their appearance. They are supposed to have strongly influenced
-the taste of Spenser and Milton. The theme of his lyrics was the fair
-Geraldine, but who she was precisely neither critics nor historians
-have quite determined, though believed to be a lady of the Irish family
-of Fitzgerald. A single stanza will indicate the spirit with which he
-proclaimed her beauty:--
-
-    "Give place, ye lovers, here before
-      That spent your boasts and brags in vain!
-    My lady's beauty passeth more
-      The best of yours, I dare well say'n,
-    Than doth the sun the candle-light,
-    Or brightest day the darkest night."
-
-But the most important fact in Surrey's poetical history is his
-introduction of blank verse into the English language, a simple but, in
-its consequences, most eventful innovation, liberating both the heroic
-and the dramatic muse from the shackles of rhyme, and leading the way to
-the magnificent works of Shakespeare and Milton in that free form. There
-has been much dispute among critics as to whether Surrey invented blank
-verse, or merely copied it from some other language; but the only wonder
-seems that some one of our poets had not attempted it before. What so
-likely as that Surrey, in translating the first and fourth books of the
-"Aeneid," should adopt the blank verse in which the original was written,
-not exactly the hexameter but a measure more suitable to the English
-language? All the verse of the ancient Greeks and Romans is of this blank
-species; and it is extraordinary that men well read in these tongues had
-so long omitted the experiment; especially as the Italians, the French,
-and the Spaniards had tried it. Gonsalvo Perez, secretary to Charles V.,
-had translated Homer's "Odyssey" into blank verse; and in 1528 Trissino,
-in order to root out the _terza rima_ of Dante, had published his "Italia
-Liberata di Goti"--"Italy delivered from the Goths"--in blank verse. In
-the reign of Francis I. two of the most popular poets of France, Jodelle
-and De Baif, wrote poems in this style. Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld,
-had already translated the "Aeneid' into Scots metre, and it would seem
-as if Surrey, in trying his hand on two books of the same poem, had been
-induced to make the essay of blank verse at the same time. Whatever
-was the immediate cause, nothing could exceed the success of Surrey's
-experiment. His verse flows with a stately dignity full of music and
-strength. We take a specimen from the fourth book of the "Aeneid," where
-Dido, who has vowed never to marry again, perceives her new passion for
-Aeneas, and discloses her pain to her sister:--
-
-    "Ne to her lymmes care graunteth quiet rest.
-    The next morrowe with Phoebus' lampe the erthe
-    Alightened clere, and eke the dawning daye,
-    The shadowe danke gan from the pole remove,
-    When all unsownd her sister of like minde,
-    Thus spoke she to: 'O sister An, what dremes
-    Be these that me tormenten, thus afraide?
-    What newcome gest unto our realm ys come?
-    What one of chere? How stowt of harte in arms?
-    Truelie I think, ne vaine ys my beliefe,
-    Of goddishe race some of springe should he seeme.
-    Cowardie noteth harts swarved owt of kinde
-    He driven, lord, with how hard destinie!
-    What battells eke atchieved did he tell!
-    And but my minde was fixt immovablie
-    Never with wight in wedlocke for to joine,
-    Sithe my first love me lefte by deth disseverid,
-    Yf bridal bowndes and bed me lothed not,
-    To this one fawlt perchaunce yeet might I yeld;
-    For I will graunt sith wretched Syche's dethe,
-    My spouse and hawse with brother slaughter stained,
-    This onley man hath made my senses bend,
-    And pricketh forthe the minde that gan to slide:
-    Feelinglie I taste the steppes of mine old flame.
-    But first I wishe the erth me swallow downe,
-    Or with thunder the mighty Lord me send
-    To the pale gostes of hell and darkness depe,
-    Or I thee stayne shamefastness, or the lawes.'"
-
-If we turn to Sackville's "Gorboduc," acted before Queen Elizabeth in
-1561, we shall see how thoroughly blank verse had asserted its freedom of
-the language. Even Greene, in his "Friar Bacon," in 1594, has passages
-that in their rich and harmonious diction display the wonderful power of
-blank verse. The true vehicle for the deathless dramas of Shakespeare was
-established, and already he had taken possession of it with some of his
-noblest imaginings, for Nash, as early as 1589, alludes to "Hamlet."
-
-But before coming to Shakespeare, we must add another word regarding
-Sackville (_b._ 1527, _d._ 1608). In 1559 he published "The Mirrour for
-Magistrates." The poetical preface to this work, which he called "The
-Induction," and the "Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham," displayed
-the most remarkable powers of poetry, and at once arrested the public
-attention. The work itself was a mere series of the lives of personages
-prominent in English history; it is supposed to be an imitation of
-Lydgate's "Fall of Princes," but is expanded by the loftier genius of the
-author, while the induction is so illustrated by allegory, as to give
-rise to the belief that Spenser was indebted to him.
-
-Edmund Spenser, the greatest of our allegoric poets, was born (1553) in
-East Smithfield, in London, and was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.
-He had the good fortune to secure the friendship of the all-powerful
-Earl of Leicester, of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Walter Raleigh. By their
-introduction to Queen Elizabeth, he obtained an annuity of L50 a year;
-and besides being employed by Leicester on a mission to France, went to
-Ireland in 1580 with Lord Grey de Wilton. We have already mentioned his
-"View of the State of Ireland," and for that able work, as well as for
-other services, he received a grant of the abbey and manor of Enniscorthy
-in Wexford, which the same year, probably under pressure of necessity,
-he transferred to a Mr. Lynot. The estate, at the time of Gilbert's
-survey of Ireland, was worth L8,000 a year. Afterwards Spenser obtained
-the grant of the castle of Kilcolman, in the county of Cork, part of the
-estate of the unfortunate Earl of Desmond, with 3,000 acres of land.
-On this property the poet went to live, and his dear friend Sir Philip
-Sidney being just then killed at the battle of Zutphen, he wrote his
-pastoral elegy of "Astrophel" in his honour. He also wrote his great work
-the "Faerie Queene" there; but in 1597 he was chased by the exasperated
-Irish from his castle, which was burned over his head, his youngest child
-perishing in the cradle. He reached London, with his wife and two boys
-and a girl, and thus broken down by his misfortunes, he sank and died in
-1599 at an inn or lodging-house in King Street, Westminster. Ben Jonson
-says "he died for lake of bread, yet refused twenty pieces sent to him by
-my Lord of Essex, adding he was sorry he had not time to spend them."
-
-It has been asked how he could die of "lack of bread" with an annuity
-of L50 a year. The thing is very possible. Burleigh was his life-long
-enemy. He hated him as the commonplace soul instinctively hates the man
-of genius, and this hatred was aggravated by his being patronised by
-Leicester, Essex, and Raleigh, all men whom Burleigh detested. Nothing
-was, therefore, easier than for Burleigh to withhold the dying poet's
-pension, or his son Robert Cecil, who now possessed his power, for
-Burleigh was in his last days, and Cecil inherited all his meanness.
-Spenser has recorded the malice of Burleigh in various places. In his
-"Ruins of Time" he says:--
-
-    "The rugged foremost that with grave foresight
-    Wields kingdoms' causes and affairs of state,
-    My looser verse, I wot, doth sharply wite
-    For praising love."
-
-And at the close of the sixth book of "The Faerie Queene," he declares
-there is no hope of escaping "his venomous despite." Spenser's verses in
-"Mother Hubbard's Tales," describing the miseries of Court dependence,
-have often been quoted:--
-
-    "Full little knowest thou that hast not tryed
-    What hell it is in suing long to byde;
-    To lose good days that might be better spent;
-    To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
-    To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;
-    To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow;
-    To have thy prince's grace, yet want her peeres';
-    To have thy asking, yet wait many years;
-    To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares;
-    To eat thy heart with comfortless despairs;
-    To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
-    To spend, to give, to want, to be undone."
-
-The minor poems of Spenser beside the "Astrophel," are the "Epithalamium"
-on his own marriage; four "Hymns to Love and Beauty;" "Sonnets;" "Colin
-Clout come Home again;" "The Tears of the Muses;" "Mother Hubbard's
-Tales," which refer to Court characters of the time; "The Ruins of
-Time;" "Petrarch's Visions," "Bellaye's Visions," &c. In all these there
-is much beauty and fancy, mingled with much that is far-fetched and
-fantastic--the inevitable fault of that age. The "Faerie Queene" rises
-above them all as the cathedral over the lesser churches of a great city.
-It was written in a stanza which from him has ever since been called the
-Spenserian, a stanza so capable of every grace, strength, and harmony,
-that there are few poets who have not essayed it: Thomson's "Castle of
-Indolence," Beattie's "Minstrel," Mrs. Tighe's "Psyche," Campbell's
-"Gertrude of Wyoming," and Byron's "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," have
-made it the vehicle of many immortal thoughts.
-
-To the modern reader, nevertheless, the "Faerie Queene" would prove a
-tedious task in a continuous perusal. It is of a fashion and taste so
-entirely belonging to the age in which it was written--that of courtly
-tourneys, of parade of knighthood, at least in books, and of fondness
-of high-flown allegory--that it unavoidably strikes a reader of this
-more realistic age as visionary, formal in manner, and descriptive not
-of actual human life, but of an impossible style of existence. It is
-dedicated to Queen Elizabeth as "The Most High, Mightie, and Magnificent
-Empresse," and in a letter to Sir Walter Raleigh he explains its plan.
-Following the example of Ariosto in his "Orlando," he endeavours to
-exalt worthy knighthood by portraying Prince Arthur before he was king,
-under the image of a brave knight, perfected in the twelve private moral
-virtues, as Aristotle hath devised, in which is the purpose of these
-first twelve books. From the arguments of "Despair" to the "Red-Crosse
-Knight," we may take a specimen of the "Faerie Queene:"
-
-        "'Who travailes by the wearie, wandering way,
-        To come unto his wished home in haste,
-        And meets a flood that doth his passage stay,
-        Is not great grace to help him over past,
-        Or free his feet that in the myre sticke fast?
-        Most envious man that grieves at neighbour's good,
-        And fond, that joyest in the woe thou hast,
-        Why wilt not let him passe, that long hath stood
-    Upon the bancke, yet wilt thyselfe not pas the flood?
-
-        "'He there does now enjoy eternall rest,
-        And happy ease, which thou dost want and crave,
-        And further from it daily wanderest:
-        What if some little payne the passage have,
-        That makes frayle flesh to feare the bitter wave?
-        Is that not payne well borne, that bringes long ease,
-        And lays the soul to sleepe in quiet grave?
-        Sleepe after toyle, port after stormie seas,
-    Ease after warre, deathe after life, does greatly please.'
-
-        "The knight much wondered at his suddeine wit,
-        And sayst, 'The terme of life is limited,
-        Ne may a man prolong, nor shorten it;
-        The soldier may not move from watchful steed,
-        Nor leave his stand, until his captaine bid.'
-        'Who life did limit by Almightie doome,'
-        Quoth he, 'knows best the terms established;
-        And he that points the centenel his roome,
-    Doth license his depart at sound of morning droome.
-
-        "'Is not his deed, whatever thing is done,
-        In heaven and earth? Did he not all create
-        To die againe? All ends, that was begoune,
-        Their times in his eternall booke of fate
-        Are written sure, and have their certain date.
-        Who, then, can strive with strong necessitie?
-        That holds the world in its still changing state,
-        Or shunne the death ordayned by destinee?
-    When houre of death is come, let none aske whence nor why.
-
-        "'The longer life, I wote, the greater sin;
-        The greater sin, the greater punishment.
-        All those great battles which thou boasts to win,
-        Through strife, and bloodshed, and avengement,
-        Now praysed, hereafter deare thou shalt repent--
-        For life must life, and blood must blood repay.
-        Is not enough thy evill life forespent?
-        For he that once hath missed the right way,
-    The further he doth goe, the further he doth stray.'"
-
-The language of Spenser must not be held to be the language of the time;
-he purposely used an antiquated diction to give a quaint and piquant
-tone to his romance. A modern critic has denied that the language is
-thus treated by the poet; but it must be allowed that Sir Philip Sidney,
-living at the moment, was a competent judge of this fact, and in his
-"Defence of Poesie" he complains of this very circumstance in the "Faerie
-Queene."
-
-[Illustration: THE HOUSE AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS
-BORN.]
-
-We arrive now at the last name which we intend to introduce in our review
-of the literature of England at this period, and it is the greatest;
-perhaps the greatest which has yet diffused its glory over this or any
-other country. The genius of Shakespeare appears to penetrate into all
-departments of human knowledge, and his instincts possess a universal
-accuracy. Whether he describes the beauties of Nature at large, or
-enters the haunts of busy life, high or low, royal, noble, or plebeian,
-or sends his all-searching glance into the depths of the human mind,
-or the strange intricacies of human nature, we are equally astonished
-at the clearness of his perceptive faculties, and the justness of his
-conclusions. We shall not here discuss the various guesses, for such to a
-great degree they are, which have been indulged in by his host of critics
-and biographers, regarding his little known life. It is sufficient that
-we know that he was born at Stratford-on-Avon in 1564; that his father
-was in the Town Council, and a man of property; that William was said to
-have been apprenticed to a butcher, or that one of his father's trades
-was that of a butcher; that at the age of nineteen he married Anne
-Hathaway, who was eight years his senior; that at the age of twenty-two
-he was driven by increasing poverty, and it is said through a disturbance
-about poaching in Sir Thomas Lucy's park, to London, where he became
-connected with the theatre, and so early as 1589 we find that he had
-written "Hamlet," if no other of his dramas, though none of them seem to
-have been published till 1597, eight years afterwards. The first of his
-poems, "Venus and Adonis," was printed in 1593, four years earlier, and
-the "Rape of Lucrece" in the following year. From that time to 1603,
-the year of the death of Elizabeth, a great number of his dramas was
-published, but "King Lear," "Macbeth," "Cymbeline," "The Winter's Tale,"
-the "Tempest," "Troilus and Cressida," "Henry VIII.," "Coriolanus,"
-"Julius Caesar," and "Antony and Cleopatra," would appear to have been the
-glorious products of his ten or thirteen years of leisure in his native
-town. One of the first labours of his retirement seems to have been the
-collection of his Sonnets, for they were published in 1609.
-
-We mention these facts here merely as historical data; because it will
-be necessary to notice his plays in the next centennial period of our
-history, in connection with the drama at large; but we shall confine our
-notice of Shakespeare on this occasion solely to his poetical character.
-
-The poems of Shakespeare are "Venus and Adonis," "The Rape of Lucrece,"
-"Sonnets," "A Lover's Complaint," and "The Passionate Pilgrim." The
-poems for the most part, if not altogether--"The Passionate Pilgrim" and
-some of the sonnets excepted--would appear to have been his earliest
-productions. He dedicates "Venus and Adonis" to Lord Southampton, and
-styles it "the first heir of my invention." This poem, "The Rape of
-Lucrece," and the "Lover's Complaint," bear marks of youthful passion.
-They burn with a voluptuous fire, yet they are at the same time equally
-prodigal of a masterly vigour, imagination, and the faculty of entering
-into and depicting the souls of others. They as clearly herald the great
-poet of the age, as a morning sun in July announces what will be its
-intensity at noon. The language, in its purity and eloquence, is so
-perfect that it might have been written, not in the days of Elizabeth,
-but in those of Victoria, and presents a singular contrast to that of
-Spenser. "The Passionate Pilgrim" is an extraordinary production; it has
-no thread, not even the slightest, of story or connection, and seems
-to be merely a stringing together of various passages of poetry, which
-he had struck off at different moments of inspiration, and intended to
-use in his dramas. Some of them indeed we find there. It opens with a
-commencement of the legend of "Venus and Adonis," apparently his first
-rude sketch of the poem he afterwards wrote more to his mind. It then
-breaks suddenly off with those well-known lines, beginning--
-
-    "Crabbed age and youth
-      Cannot live together;"
-
-soon after as suddenly changes into--
-
-    "It was a lording's daughter, the fairest one of three;"
-
-as abruptly gives us those charming stanzas opening with--
-
-    "Take, oh, take those lips away
-    That so sweetly were forsworn;"
-
-and presents us with a number of disjointed passages which are found in
-"Love's Labour's Lost."
-
-But the Sonnets are the most interesting, because they give us glimpses
-into his own life and personal feelings. Many of them are plainly written
-in the characters of others; some express the sentiments of women towards
-their lovers, but others are unmistakably the deepest sentiments and
-feelings of his own life. From these we learn that Shakespeare was not
-exempt from the dissipations and aberrations incident on a town life at
-that time, but his true and noble nature led him to abandon the immoral
-city as early as possible, and retire to his own domestic roof in his own
-native place. We may select one specimen of these sonnets, which probably
-was addressed to his wife, and which at once betrays his dislike of his
-profession of an actor, and his regret over the influence which it had
-had on his mind, and the stigma which it had cast on his name; for the
-profession of a player was then so low as to stamp actors as "vagabonds."
-
-    "Oh, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
-    The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,
-    That did not better for my life provide
-    Than public means which public manners breeds:
-    Thence came it that my name receives a brand,
-    And almost thence my nature is subdued
-    To what it works in, like the dyer's hand.
-    Pity me then, and wish I were renewed;
-    Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink
-    Potions of eysell[A] 'gainst my strong infection;
-    No bitterness that I will bitter think,
-    Nor double penance to correct correction.
-    Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye,
-    Even that your pity is enough to cure me."
-
-But if the great dramatist and inimitable poet shrank with disgust from
-the profession of acting, because of the estimation in which the actor
-then was held and the pollutions which surrounded the stage, he held a
-very different opinion of the vocation of a dramatist. In the peaceful
-and virtuous retirement of his country residence he still occupied
-himself with the composition of the noblest dramas of all time; and
-whilst he was so free from the petty egotism of a small mind that he left
-scarcely any record of himself, he boldly avowed his assurance of the
-immortality of his fame:--
-
-    "Now with the drops of this most balmy time,
-    My love looks fresh, and Death to me subscribes;[B]
-    Since, spite of him, I'll live in this poor rhyme,
-    While he insults o'er dull and speechless tribes:
-    And thou in this shalt find thy monument,
-    When tyrants' crests and tombs of brass are spent."
-
-[Footnote A: Vinegar.]
-
-[Footnote B: Submits.]
-
-[Illustration: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
-
-FROM THE PAINTING KNOWN AS THE CHANDOS PORTRAIT, ATTRIBUTED TO RICHARD
-BURBAGE, IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.]
-
-We shall have occasion to show that Shakespeare had much to do in shaping
-and raising the drama out of that chaotic state in which he found it,
-and the wonder has always been that, with his apparently imperfect
-education, he could accomplish so much. But there is no education like
-self-education; this was William Shakespeare's, and his genius was of
-that brilliant and healthy kind that gave him all the advantages of such
-a tuition. In history and in society he found the materials of the drama,
-but the wealth and power of the poet he found in the great school of
-Nature.
-
-In Scotland the language had remained much more stationary than in
-England. In this period we find the chief Scottish poets writing in a
-diction far more unintelligible to the English reader than Chaucer's or
-Gower's was in the middle of the fourteenth century. Two of the Scots
-poets of that period--Barbour and King James I.--wrote in English, and,
-therefore, in a language far in advance of Gawin Douglas, Dunbar, and
-Sir David Lyndsay in the sixteenth century. One great reason of this
-probably was the constant strife and enmity between the nations, which
-made the Scots cling in confirmed nationality to their own language and
-customs, for the works and merits of the English poets were known and
-acknowledged. James I. called Chaucer and Gower "his maisters dear."
-Henryson, a succeeding poet, even wrote a continuation of Chaucer's
-"Troilus and Cresseide," under the names of the "Testament," and the
-"Complaint of Cresseide;" and Gawin, or Gavin, Douglas, the famous Bishop
-of Dunkeld, pronouncing his vernacular tongue barbarous, declared that
-rather than remain silent through the scarcity of Scottish terms, he
-would use bastard Latin, French, or English. A still greater and later
-poet, Dunbar, expresses repeatedly his admiration of "Chawcer of Makars
-flowir," of "the Monck of Berry," "Lydgate," and "Gowyr." Yet if we use
-the very language which he did to utter his admiration in, we find no
-advance towards the polish of these poets:
-
-    "O reverend Chawcer, rose of rethouris all,
-    As in our toung the flowir imperiall,
-    That ever raise in Brittane, quha reids richt,
-    Those biers of makars the triumphs ryall,
-    The fresche enamallit termes celestiall;
-    This matter thou couth haif ilumint bricht,
-    Was thou not of our _Inglis_ all the licht;
-    Surmounting every toung terrestiall,
-    As far as Mayis fair morning does midnight.
-
-    "O morale Gower and Lidgate laureat,
-    Zour suggurat toungs and lipps aureat
-    Bene till our eirs cause of grit delyte."
-
-It is curious that Dunbar calls this English and not Scots. He also
-enumerates a long list of Scottish poets who were deceased, as Sir Hew
-of Eglintoun, Etrick, Heriot, Wyntoun, Maister John Clerk, James Afflek,
-Holland, Barbour, Sir Mungo Dockhart of the Lie, Clerk of Tranent, who
-wrote the adventures of Sir Gawayn, Sir Gilbert Gray, Blind Harry, and
-Sandy Traill, Patrick Johnstone, Mersar, Rowll of Aberdeen, and Rowll
-of Corstorphine, Brown of Dunfermline, Robert Henryson, Sir John the
-Ross, Stobo, Quinten Schaw, and Walter Kennedy. Of these little is now
-known, except of Henryson, and that chiefly for his ballad of "Robert and
-Makyn," given by Bishop Percy in his "Reliques of English Poetry."
-
-Gawin Douglas, third son of the celebrated fifth Earl of Angus, called
-Bell-the-Cat, was born in 1474. He lived a troubled life in those stormy
-times, and died a refugee in London, of the Plague, in 1522. He was
-patronised by Queen Margaret, sister of Henry VIII., and richly deserved
-it, for his learning, his virtues, and his genius. He was most celebrated
-in his own time for his translation of Virgil's "Aeneid," the first
-metrical version of any ancient classic in either English or Scots. He
-also translated Ovid's "De Remedio Amoris." But his original poems, "The
-Palace of Honour," "King Hart," and his "Comoediae Sacrae," or dramatic
-poems from the Scriptures, are now justly esteemed the real trophies of
-his genius. "The Palace of Honour" and "King Hart" are allegoric poems,
-abounding with beautiful descriptions and noble sentiments.
-
-The principal poems of William Dunbar (_b._ 1465, _d._ 1530,) are "The
-Golden Terge," or target; "The Thistle and the Rose," in honour of the
-marriage of Margaret of England with James IV. of Scotland; "The Fained
-Friar;" the "Lament of the Death of the Makars," or poets, and a number
-of other poems, chiefly lyrical, which display versatile genius--comic,
-satirical, grave, descriptive, and religious--and place him in the first
-rank of Scotland's poets, notwithstanding the obsolete character of his
-language; and not the least of his distinctions is the absence of that
-grossness which disfigured the writings of the poets of those times. A
-few lines may denote the music of his versification:
-
-    "Be merry, man, and tak nocht far in mynd
-    The waivering of this wrechit world of sorrow,
-    To God be humill, and to thy freynd be kynd,
-    And with thy nychtbouris glaidly len and borrow;
-    His chance to-nycht, it may be thyne to-morrow."
-
-[Illustration: SHAKESPEARE. (_From the Portrait by Droeshout in the First
-Folio._)]
-
-The last poet of this period that we must notice is Sir David Lyndsay
-of the Mount, Lyon King-at-Arms, whom Sir Walter Scott, in "Marmion,"
-has made so familiar to modern readers, predating, however, Sir David's
-office of Lyon King by seventeen years. Sir David was born about 1490,
-and is supposed to have died about 1567; so that he lived in the reigns
-of Henry VII. of England and of Elizabeth, through the whole period
-of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Mary. His life was cast in times most
-eventful, and Sir David, as Lyon-Herald of Scotland, occupied a prominent
-position in the shaping of those events. At the time of the battle of
-Flodden in 1513, both Pitscottie and Buchanan assure us that he was with
-James IV. when the ghost appeared to him in the church at Linlithgow,
-warning him against the battle. Lyndsay was then only three-and-twenty.
-He was appointed page to the young king, and continued about him and in
-his service during the king's life. In his "Complaynt," addressing the
-king, he says:--
-
-    "How as are chapman beres his pack,
-    I bore thy grace upon my back,
-    And sometymes stridlingis on my neck,
-    Dansand with mony bend and beck:
-    The first syllabis that thou did mute,
-    Pa-da-lyn upon the lute;
-    For play, thou leit me never rest,
-    But gyngertoun, thou luffit ay best.
-    And ay quhen thou come from the scule,
-    Then I luffit to play the fule."
-
-Lyndsay went to France on embassies of royal marriage; and after the
-king's early death, under the Regency, he was again sent to the Low
-Countries on a mission to the Emperor Charles V. In 1548 he went as
-Lion-King to Denmark, to King Christian, to seek aid against the English,
-and afterwards lived to see the great struggle between the old Church and
-the Reformation, the murder of Cardinal Beaton, the return of Knox, and
-must have died about the time of the murder of Darnley.
-
-[Illustration: THE ACTING OF ONE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS IN THE TIME OF
-QUEEN ELIZABETH.]
-
-Sir David, though bred a courtier, was a thorough Reformer; and his poems
-abound with the most unrestrained exposure of the corruptions of Courts
-and of the Church. On the flagitious lives of monks, nuns, and clergy,
-he pours forth the most trenchant satire and denunciation; and in this
-respect he may be styled the Chaucer of Scotland. His poems are "The
-Dreme," "The Complaynt," "The Complaynt of Papingo," "The Complaynt of
-Bagsche," "Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Three Estatis," "The Answer to the
-King's Flyting," "Kittie's Confession," "The Tragedie of the Cardinal,"
-"The Historie and Testament of Squire Meldrum," "Monarchie," and "The
-Epistill Nuncupatorie."
-
-"The Dreme" reminds one of the dreams of former poets, of Chaucer,
-William Langland's, "The Vision of Piers Plowman," and of those of
-Douglas and Dunbar. Probably "The Golden Terge" of Dunbar suggested
-this poem, for just as Dunbar goes out, as "the stern of day began to
-schyne," and lying under a _roseir_, or arbour of roses, lulled by
-the songs of birds and the sound of a river, dreams, so does Lyndsay
-dream, passing, with Dame Remembrance as his guide, through earth, hell,
-purgatory, heaven, paradise, and "the planets seven," hearing and seeing
-all the works of God, and the rewards and punishments of the good and
-the evil. "The Complaynt" describes the degenerate manners of the Court
-whilst Lyndsay was banished from it, and the grapes were sour. "The
-Complaynt of the Papingo," or the king's parrot, deals out the same
-measure to the hierarchy as Lyndsay had given to the State, and in it
-Cardinal Beaton, the Pope and the clergy in general, are soundly rated.
-Next comes "The Three Estatis," a morality play in which all kinds of
-emblematical personages--Rex Humanitas, Sensualitie, Chastitie, &c.--act
-their parts. Its scope may be inferred from its being declared to be
-"in commendation of vertew and vituperation of vyce." This is the great
-work of Lyndsay, and was acted before the king and queen, who sat out
-nine mortal hours in its performance, in which they successively heard
-every order in the State--Court, nobility, Church, and people--severely
-criticised. Lyndsay's play has the merit of preceding both "Gorboduc"
-and "Gammer Gurton's Needle;" and it certainly possesses the moral of
-the former and the wit of the latter. "The Answer to the King's Flyting"
-is a very curious example of what the indulgence of a professional fool
-at Court led to: it produced not only the jester but the poet laureate.
-The king condescended to flyte, or jibe, with his jester; the jester
-in return became the satirist, and the poet laureate healed all wounds
-by his eulogies. James V. flyted with Lyndsay, and Lyndsay answered
-with interest. In "Kittie's Confession" Lyndsay ridicules auricular
-confession. In "The Cardinal" he sings a song of triumph over the fall
-of Beaton. In the "Legend of Squire Meldrum" the poet dresses up the
-adventures of a domestic of Lord Lyndsay's of that name in the manner of
-an ancient romance, and it was extremely popular. It has been declared by
-critics of note to be the best of Lyndsay's poems, and equal to the most
-polished pieces of Drayton, who lived a century after him.
-
-We have taken thus much notice of the Lyon King-at-Arms, because
-nowadays he does not enjoy, perhaps, his due fame in comparison with
-that of our Chaucer and our early dramatists; yet a perusal of his works
-is necessary to a real knowledge of the times in which he lived. The
-reader, however, must be warned that in the search after this knowledge
-he will have to wade through much filth, and language now astonishing
-for its naked coarseness. On the other hand, he will occasionally find
-scientific theories of modern pretension quite familiar to our Lyon-King.
-For instance, Kirwan in his "Elements of Mineralogy"--a work published
-in 1794 and marking a considerable advance in knowledge--claimed the
-geologic discovery that the currents which broke up the hills in Europe
-came from the south-west, leaving the diluvial slopes declining to the
-north-east. But hear Lyndsay three hundred years ago:--
-
-    "I reid how clerkis dois conclude,
-    Induryng that maist furious flude
-    With quhilk the erth was sa opprest,
-    The wynd blew feorth of the south-west,
-    As may be sene be experience,
-    How, throw the watter's violence,
-    The heich montanis, in every art,
-    Ar bain fornenst the south-west part;
-    As the montanis of Pyreneis,
-    The Alpis, and rochis in the seis;
-    Richt sa the rochis gret and gray
-    Quhilk standis into Norroway.
-    The heichest hillis, in every art,
-    And in Scotland, for the maist part,
-    Throuch weltryng of that furious flude,
-    The craigis of erth war maist denude.
-    Travelling men may considder best
-    The montanis bair nixt the south-west."
-
-The sixteenth century was nearly as distinguished for its Music as its
-poetry. The reproach which has been cast on England in our own time for
-not being a musical or music-producing nation did not apply then. On the
-contrary, we stood at the head of Europe in original musical composition.
-The monarchs of that age, like their most illustrious predecessors from
-Alfred downwards, were highly educated in music. Henry VIII. was himself
-a composer of Church music. It must be recollected that Henry, being but
-the second son of Henry VII., was originally educated for the Church,
-whose dignities were then princely; and, as a matter of course, he was
-made familiar with its music, which occupied so prominent a part in its
-worship. Erasmus bears testimony to the fact of Henry having composed
-Offices for the Church--a fact confirmed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury and
-Bishop Burnet; and Sir John Hawkins in his "History of Music," and Boyce,
-in his "Cathedral Music of English Masters," have preserved specimens of
-the Royal composition. Boyce gives a fine anthem of Henry's, "O Lord, the
-Maker of all things." The king's musical establishment for his chapel
-consisting of 114 persons cost annually upwards of L2,000, and was
-continued by Edward. Mary and Elizabeth were equally learned in music,
-though they do not appear to have patronised it as royally.
-
-Under these circumstances great composers, both of sacred and social
-music flourished in the sixteenth century. The names of Tye, Marbeck,
-Tallis, Bird, Farrant, Dowland, Bennet, Wilbye, Ford, &c., stand in
-superb array as composers of some of our finest Church music, or of
-madrigals and part songs.
-
-Tye was so much esteemed by Henry VIII., that he was made music
-preceptor to Edward VI., and was afterwards organist to Elizabeth. He
-composed both anthems and madrigals; and his motett, "Laudate nomen
-Domini," is still famous. Marbeck composed the notes to the Preces
-and Responses, which, with some alterations, are still in use in our
-cathedrals. He was organist at Windsor, and was very nearly losing his
-life under the ferocious Henry, being found to be a member of a society
-for religious reformation. He and his three accomplices were condemned to
-the stake; but Marbeck was saved by his musical genius, Henry observing,
-on Marbeck's "Latin Concordance," on which he had been employed, being
-shown to him, "Poor Marbeck! it would be well for thine accusers if they
-employed their time no worse." His fellows were burnt without mercy,
-though no more guilty than himself.
-
-[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CITHER AND MUSIC-BOOK.]
-
-Tallis was indebted to Marbeck for the notes just mentioned in his
-compositions for the Church. His entire service, including prayers,
-responses, Litany, and nearly all of a musical kind, are preserved in
-Boyce's collections. They became the most celebrated of any of that
-remarkable age. In conjunction, also, with his pupil William Bird, he
-published, in 1575, "Cantiones Sacrae"--perfect of their kind; one of
-them, "O sacrum convivium," since adapted by Dean Aldrich to the words
-"I call and cry," still continues to be frequently performed in our
-cathedrals. The "Cantiones" are also remarkable as having been the first
-things of the sort protected by a patent for twenty-one years, granted by
-Elizabeth.
-
-Bird was the author of the splendid canon, "Non nobis, Domine," which has
-been claimed by composers of Italy, France, and the Netherlands, but, as
-sufficiently proved, without any ground. The names of Tallis and Bird are
-of themselves an ample guarantee to the claim of musical genius by this
-country. Richard Farrant and Dr. Bull--the first a chorister in Edward
-VI.'s chapel, and the latter organist to Queen Elizabeth--added greatly
-to the sacred music of the period. Farrant's compositions especially are
-remarkable for their deep pathos and devotion. His anthem, preserved by
-Boyce, "Lord, for Thy tender mercy's sake." is unrivalled.
-
-In social music the poetical Surrey stands conspicuous, having set his
-own sonnets to music. Madrigals and other part songs--since better
-known as glees--were carried to a brilliant height in this country. The
-madrigal was originally invented by the Flemings, but glee singing seems
-to be English, though no doubt derived from the madrigal. Morley's first
-book of madrigals was published in 1594, Weelkes's in 1597, Wilbye's
-in 1598, Bennet's in 1599, and soon after Ward's and Orlando Gibbons'.
-Dowland's and Ford's are more properly glees than madrigals; the former
-appeared in 1597, and the latter in 1607. Morley, one of the gentlemen
-of Queen Elizabeth's chapel, appears, like Dowland, to have studied the
-works of the great composers abroad; and the harmony and science which he
-evinces are eminent. His canzonets for two voices are especially lively
-and pleasing. Dowland not only travelled in France, Italy, and Germany,
-but, at the request of King Christian IV., who saw him in England,
-he went to reside in Denmark. Fuller declares that he was the rarest
-musician of the age. In 1598 Wilbye published thirty madrigals, and a
-second book, applicable to instrumental as well as vocal music, in 1609,
-amongst which are, "Lady, when I behold the roses sprouting," "As fair
-as morn," "Down in a valley," &c.; and in 1599 John Bennet published a
-set of madrigals, including the admirable ones of "O sleep, fond Fancy!"
-"Flow, O my tears!" Lastly, John Milton, the father of the poet, who
-also composed several psalm tunes, was a contributor to "The Triumphs
-of Oriana," a set of madrigals in praise of Queen Elizabeth. Altogether
-this century was brilliant in both Church and convivial music; and if
-we are to judge from some specimens to be found in "The Dancing Master"
-and "Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book," the popular airs were in many
-instances of a superior character, among which we may mention Bird's
-"Carman's Whistle" and the "Newe Northern Ditty of Ladye Green Sleeves."
-
-The change which marked religion and literature in this country extended
-itself as strikingly into Architecture. We have no longer to record
-the rise of new Orders of ecclesiastical building, nor to direct the
-attention of the reader to splendid churches as examples of them. The
-unity of the Church, which had enabled it to erect such a host of
-admirable cathedrals and abbeys, was broken up; the wealth which had
-supplied the material and engaged the skill was dispersed into other
-hands, and destined not only to produce new orders of society, but new
-forms of architecture. Churches must give way to palaces and country
-halls, as full of innovations as the very faith of the country. From
-this period to our own time the taste for ecclesiastical architecture
-continued to decline, till the very principles of what is called Gothic
-architecture were forgotten. The architects, as Wren and Jones, went back
-to classic models, so little adapted to the spirit of Christian worship
-that, in spite of the genius expended upon them, they have remained few
-in number and, from the revival of the knowledge of Anglo-Gothic amongst
-us, are not likely to increase.
-
-[Illustration: HOLLAND HOUSE, KENSINGTON. (_From a Photograph by Bedford,
-Lemere & Co._)]
-
-But it is even a question whether the Gothic style had not reached its
-full development at the period of the Reformation; for we find in most
-European countries that the noblest buildings of this kind are for the
-most part anterior to this epoch. It is at the same time true that the
-same causes which brought our ecclesiastical architecture to a sudden
-stand in the sixteenth century strongly affected all Europe, even where
-Roman Catholicism managed to maintain its ground. Everywhere the conflict
-was raging--everywhere the rending influence was felt; and the ancient
-power and wealth of the Church were broken and diminished. In England a
-few churches might be pointed to of this period, but they exhibit the
-influence of the age in marks of decline, and to none can we turn as
-examples to be named with our Westminsters, Yorks, and Winchesters. Bath
-Abbey was in progress of erection when the Reformation burst forth and
-arrested its progress. It was not completed till 1616--more than ten
-years after the death of Elizabeth--and cannot be named as one of our
-finest erections.
-
-The wealth which was diverted from the Church into the hands of the Crown
-and the aristocracy, reappeared in palaces and country halls; and a
-totally new genius displayed itself in these. The old Tudor, so called,
-which marked the baronial residences even before the Tudors reached the
-throne, the mixture of castle and manor-house, with its small windows,
-battlemented roofs, and flanking turrets, began to enlarge and exaggerate
-most of these features, and to mix with them new elements clearly brought
-into the country by foreign architects, and in a great measure from
-Italy. The windows rapidly augmented themselves, till they soon occupied
-a predominant portion of the towers and fronts; the turrets became
-surmounted by domes, and by those bulbous domes which were often piled
-one above another. There was soon seen one tier of pillared or pilastered
-storey above another, in the Palladian or Paduan fashion. Turrets often
-gave way to scroll-work parapets; and instead of the house standing as
-heretofore on a level plain, it was elevated on a terrace, with broad and
-balustraded flights of steps, and all the adjuncts of fountains, statues,
-and balustraded esplanades essential to the Italian garden.
-
-[Illustration: THE GREAT COURT OF KIRBY HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.]
-
-The houses were still built round a court or quadrangle, and adorned
-with outer and inner gateways, while groined roofs and rich oriels still
-demonstrated the connecting link of descent from the Gothic. In fact,
-the architecture of the Tudor period is a singular yet often superb
-mixture of the Gothic and the Italian, with profusion of ornaments and
-ingraftment of parts which tell strongly of a more Eastern origin. Nor
-does it appear that these foreign elements were introduced at the latter
-portion of this period only--they stand forth conspicuously in the very
-commencement of it. In the later years of the reign of Elizabeth we
-can point to noble houses which are more allied to the ancient Tudor,
-with its small windows and simple towers and roofs, than those of the
-Henrys VII. and VIII., who in their earlier days had a gorgeous and even
-fantastic taste for palatial architecture. For example, Hampton Court
-is far more simple and chaste than Richmond Palace (_see_ p. 341), built
-by Henry VII., or Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII. In family mansions,
-Wimbledon House, built in 1588, with its open court, its two terraces,
-clearly Italian in character, is yet so chaste and simple, with its flat
-roof, its square slated towers, and mixture of small and large windows,
-that, compared to Nonsuch, as it has been, you at once see the violent
-contrast of the fanciful and the grave. Again, in Charlton House, in
-Kent, with its central entrance of Italian character, with two tiers of
-engaged columns, its ornamented parapets just verging into scroll-work,
-its turret windows of medium size, and its turret domes simple, and still
-plainer chimneys; or in Holland House (_see_ p. 380), built in 1607,
-without domes, but with ogee-gables; or in Campden House, as it was built
-in 1612, with roof of plainest character, and pilastered entrance, we
-mark a far less ornate style than in the days of the Henrys. The whole
-of this period was one of a mixed style, in which different architects
-indulged themselves in employing more or less of one or other of the
-prevailing elements, according to their tastes. What is more strictly
-called Elizabethan may be seen in such houses as Wollaton or Hardwicke,
-in which the ample square windows, the square towers superseding the
-octagon ones of Nonsuch, the absence of the Eastern-looking domes, and
-the presence of superb scroll-work, give a fine distinctive style.
-
-The Palace of Richmond, as built by Henry VII., with its projecting
-towers occupied almost entirely with windows, and its roof presenting
-an immense number of double domes, a smaller one surmounting a lantern
-placed on the larger domes, had an air more Saracenic than English;
-but the Palace of Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII., outdid that in the
-singularity of its style, and was the wonder of its age. It was built
-round a quadrangle; the front was flanked by octagonal towers which, at
-the height of the ordinary roof, rose, by a demi-arch expanding over
-the lower one, into three more storeys, and upon these were lesser
-towers of two storeys, surmounted by domes and fanes. All the lower
-storeys were divided into compartments by pilasters and bands, these
-compartments embellished by figures and groups in bas-relief. The lower
-part of this palace was of stone, the upper of wood. Hentzner, the German
-traveller, became quite enthusiastic in describing it as a palace in
-which everything that architecture could perform seemed to have been
-accomplished; and says that it was "so encompassed with parks full of
-deer, delicious gardens, groves ornamented with trellis-work, cabinets
-of verdure, and walks so embowered by trees, that it seemed to be a place
-pitched upon by Pleasure herself to dwell in along with Health."
-
-But there were two men in the reign of Henry VIII. who drew him off from
-this more florid and fanciful style to others of a very different, but
-equally imposing character, and full of rich detail. These were Wolsey
-and John of Padua. Wolsey appeared to have an especial fondness for
-brick-work, and Hampton and the gatehouse of his mansion at Esher remain
-as proofs of the admirable masonry which he used. In Hampton Court (_see_
-p. 121) we go back from the barbaric pomp of Nonsuch to the castellated
-style; to small windows, pointed archways, castellated turrets and
-battlements, mingled with rich oriel windows over the entrances, rich
-groined roofs in the archways, but a very sparing use of the ordinary aid
-of the bulbous dome. In this and the other buildings of this class, as
-Hengrave in Suffolk, the richly cross-banded chimneys are a conspicuous
-ornament. John Thorpe, or John of Padua, who became chief architect to
-Henry VIII., and afterwards built Somerset House for the Protector,
-seems to have been unknown in his own country, but originated a modified
-Italian style here which bears his name, possessing great grace and
-dignity, and of which Stoneyhurst College in Lancashire, Longleat in
-Wiltshire, and Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire (built for Sir Christopher
-Hatton), are fine examples.
-
-In the smaller houses of town and country there continued to be
-little change. They were chiefly of timber, and displayed much more
-picturesqueness than they afforded comfort. In towns the different
-storeys, one over-hanging another till the inhabitants could almost shake
-hands out of the attic windows across the narrow streets, and their want
-of internal cleanliness and ventilation, caused the plague periodically
-to visit them. The Spaniards who accompanied Philip, in Mary's reign,
-were equally amazed at the good living of the English people and the
-dirt about their houses. One great improvement about this time was the
-introduction of chimneys; and in good country-houses the ample space of
-their staircases, often finely ornamented with balustrade work, diffused
-a pure atmosphere through them.
-
-In other arts, however, the sixteenth century in England was almost
-destitute of native talent. In Statuary and Carving the preceding century
-had made great progress, but the destruction of the churches, and
-the outcry raised against images and carving on tombs as idolatry and
-vain-glory, gave a decided check to their development. As for Painting,
-it had never, except in illumination, flourished much among the English,
-and now that the Italian and Flemish schools had taken so high a
-position, it became the fashion of the princes and nobility, not to call
-forth the skill of natives, but to import foreign art and artists. In
-the reign of Henry VII. a Holbein, supposed to be the uncle of the great
-Hans Holbein, visited England, but we know little of his performance
-here. There is a picture at Hampton Court, called a Mabuse, of the
-Children of Henry VII.--Prince Arthur, Prince Henry, and the Princess
-Margaret. As Prince Henry appears to be about seven years old, that
-would fix the painting of the picture about 1499. But its authenticity
-is doubtful, as, according to some, Mabuse was born that year. In Castle
-Howard there is a painting by him of undoubted authority, "The Offering
-of the Magi," containing thirty principal figures. It is in the highest
-state of preservation, and Dr. Waagen, who was well acquainted with the
-productions of this artist in the great galleries of the Continent,
-pronounced it of the highest excellence. He is said to have painted the
-children of Henry VIII., but if he did so, the picture has perished.
-The date of his visit is quite uncertain, and the attribution to him of
-portraits is at the best no more than conjectural. Mabuse was a very
-dissipated man, and had fled from Flanders on account of his debts or
-delinquencies, yet the character of his performances is that of the most
-patient industry and painstaking. His works done in England could not
-have been many, as his abode here is supposed to have been only a year.
-He died in 1532.
-
-[Illustration: ENTRANCE FROM THE COURTYARD OF BURLEIGH HOUSE, STAMFORD.]
-
-Besides Mabuse, the names of several other foreign artists are known
-as having visited England; but little or nothing is known of the works
-of Toto del Nunziata, an Italian, or of Corvus, Fleccius, Horrebout
-or Horneband, or of Cornelius, Flemish artists; but another Fleming
-was employed, in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII., by Bishop
-Sherbourne, in painting a series of English kings and bishops in
-Chichester Cathedral.
-
-Of the celebrated Hans Holbein, the case is better authenticated. He
-resided in England nearly thirty years, and died in London of the plague
-in 1543. There is an obscurity about both the time and place of his
-birth, but the latter appears now to be settled to be Gruenstadt, formerly
-the residence of the Counts of Leiningen-Westerburg. He accompanied his
-father to Basle, receiving from him instructions in his art. There he
-became acquainted with Erasmus, who gave him letters to Sir Thomas More.
-He arrived in England in 1526, and lived and worked in the house of his
-noble patron, Sir Thomas, for three years. The learned chancellor invited
-Henry VIII. to see his pictures, who was so much delighted with them,
-that he took him instantly into his service. It is related of him that
-while busily engaged with his works for the king, he was so much annoyed
-and interrupted by a nobleman of the court, that he ordered him to quit
-his studio, and on his refusing, pushed him downstairs. When the nobleman
-complained to Henry of this rudeness, Henry bluntly told him that the
-painter had served him right, and warned him to beware of seeking any
-revenge. "For," added he, "remember you now have not Holbein to deal
-with, but me: and I tell you, that of seven peasants I can make as many
-lords, but I cannot make one Holbein."
-
-The demand of portraits from Holbein by the Court and nobility was so
-constant and extensive, that he completed comparatively few historical
-compositions. He has left us various portraits of Henry, and adorned the
-walls of a saloon at Whitehall with two large paintings representing the
-triumphs of riches and poverty. He also painted Henry as delivering the
-charter of the barber-surgeons, and Edward VI. delivering that for the
-foundation of Bridewell Hospital. The former piece is still at the hall
-of that guild. Amongst the finest of Holbein's paintings on the Continent
-is that of "The Burgomaster and his Family" in the gallery at Dresden.
-There is less of the stiffness of his manner in that than in most of his
-pieces; but in spirited design, clearness and brilliancy of tone, and
-perfection of finish, few painters excel Holbein; he wanted only a course
-of study in the Italian school to have placed him among the greatest
-masters of any age.
-
-[Illustration: ELIZABETH'S DRAWING-ROOM, PENSHURST PLACE.
-
-(_From a Photograph by Carl Norman and Co., Tunbridge Wells._)]
-
-In the reign of Mary, Sir Antonio More, a Flemish artist, was the great
-portrait-painter. In that of Elizabeth, though she was not more liberal
-to the arts than to literature, yet her personal vanity led her to have
-her own portrait repeatedly painted, and the artists, chiefly Flemings,
-were much employed by the nobility in the same department. Some of the
-foreign artists also executed historical and other pieces. Among these
-artists may be named Frederic Zuccaro, an Italian portrait-painter; Luke
-van Heere, who executed a considerable number of orders here, including
-a series of representations of national costume for the Earl of Lincoln;
-and Cornelius Vroom, who designed the defeat of the Spanish Armada, for
-the tapestry which adorned the walls of the House of Lords, and which
-was destroyed by the fire in 1834. In Elizabeth's reign also two native
-artists distinguished themselves: Nicolas Hilliard, a miniature-painter;
-and Isaac Oliver (_b._ 1556, _d._ 1617), his pupil, who surpassed his
-master in portraits, and also produced historical works of merit.
-
-Among the sculptors were Pietro Torregiano, from Florence, who, assisted
-by a number of Englishmen, executed the bronze monument of Henry VII.,
-and is supposed also to be the author of the tomb of Henry's mother in
-his chapel. John Hales, who executed the tomb of the Earl of Derby at
-Ormskirk, was one of Torregiano's English assistants. Benedetto Rovezzano
-designed the splendid bronze tomb of Henry VIII., which was to have
-exhibited himself and Jane Seymour, as large as life, in effigy, an
-equestrian statue, figures of the saints and prophets, the history of St.
-George, amounting to 133 statues and forty bas-reliefs. This monument
-of Henry's egotism none of his children or successors respected him
-enough to complete; and Parliament, in 1646, ordered the portion already
-executed to be melted down.
-
-[Illustration: SOLDIERS OF THE TUDOR PERIOD.]
-
-In Scotland during this period the arts were still less cultivated.
-The only monarch who had evinced a taste for their patronage was James
-V., who improved and adorned the royal palaces, by the aid of French
-architects, painters, and sculptors whom he procured from France, with
-which he was connected by marriage and alliance. His chief interest and
-expenditure were, however, devoted to the palace at Linlithgow, which he
-left by far the noblest palace of Scotland, and worthy of any country in
-Europe.
-
-The furniture of noble houses in the sixteenth century was still
-quaint; but in many instances rich and picturesque. The walls retained
-their hangings of tapestry, on which glowed hunting-scenes, with their
-woodlands, dogs, horsemen, and flying stags, or resisting boars, or
-lions; scenes mythological or historical. In one of the finest preserved
-houses of that age, Hardwicke, in Derbyshire, the state-room is hung
-with tapestry representing the story of Ulysses; and above this are
-figures, rudely executed in plaster, of Diana and her nymphs. The hall is
-hung with very curious tapestry, of the fifteenth century, representing
-a boar-hunt and an otter-hunt. The chapel in this house gives a very
-vivid idea of the furniture of domestic chapels of that age; with its
-brocaded seats and cushions, and its curious altar-cloth, thirty feet
-long, hung round the rails of the altar, with figures of saints, under
-canopies, wrought in needlework. You are greatly struck as you pass
-along this noble old hall, which has had its internal decorations and
-furniture carefully retained, with the air of rude abundance, and what
-looks now to us nakedness and incompleteness, mingled with old baronial
-state, and rich and precious articles of use and show. There are vast and
-long passages, simply matted; with huge chests filled with coals, which
-formerly were filled with wood, and having ample crypts in the walls for
-chips and firewood. There are none of the modern contrivances to conceal
-these things; yet the rooms, which were then probably uncarpeted, or only
-embellished in the centre with a small Turkey carpet bearing the family
-arms, or perhaps merely with rushes, are still abounding with antique
-cabinets, massy tables, and high chairs covered with crimson velvet, or
-ornamental satin. You behold the very furniture used by the Queen of
-Scots; the very bed, the brocade of which she and her maidens worked with
-their own fingers. In the entrance hall the old feudal mansion still
-seems to survive with its huge antlers, its huge escutcheons, and carved
-arms thrust out of the wall, intended to hold lights. But still more
-does its picture gallery, extending along the whole front of the house,
-give you a feeling of the rude and stately grandeur of those times. This
-gallery is nearly 200 feet long, of remarkable loftiness, and its windows
-are stupendous, comprising nearly the whole front, rattling and wailing
-as the wind sweeps along them, whilst the walls are covered with the
-portraits of the most remarkable personages of that and prior times.
-You have Henry VIII., Elizabeth, the Queen of Scots, with many of the
-statesmen and ladies of the age.
-
-In such old houses we find abundance of furniture of the period. The
-chairs are generally high-backed, richly carved, and stuffed and covered
-with superb velvet or satin. At Charlcote House, near Stratford-on-Avon,
-the seat of the Lucys, there are eight fine ebony chairs, inlaid with
-ivory, two cabinets, and a couch of the same, which were given by Queen
-Elizabeth to Leicester, and made part of the furniture of Kenilworth. At
-Penshurst, Kent, the seat of the Sidneys, in the room called Elizabeth's
-room, remain the chairs which it is said she herself presented, with the
-rest of the furniture. They are fine, tall, and capacious; the frames are
-gilt, the drapery is yellow and crimson satin, richly embroidered, and
-the walls of each end of the room are covered with the same embroidered
-satin. In the Elizabethan room at Greenwich Court are chairs as well as
-other articles of that age. In Winchester Cathedral is yet preserved
-the chair, a present from the Pope, in which Queen Mary was crowned and
-married.
-
-At Penshurst we have, in the old banqueting-hall, the furniture and
-style which still prevailed in many houses in Sir Philip Sidney's time:
-the dogs for the fire in the centre of the room, from which the smoke
-ascended through a hole in the roof, the rude tables, the raised dais,
-and the music gallery, such as Sir Philip Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare,
-and Bacon, as well as the Royal Elizabeth, witnessed them. In this
-house is also preserved a manuscript catalogue of all the furniture of
-Kenilworth in Leicester's time, a document which throws much light on the
-whole paraphernalia of a great house and household of that day.
-
-Looking-glasses were now superseding mirrors of polished steel. Sir
-Samuel Meyrick had a fine specimen of the looking-glass of this age at
-Goodrich, as well as a German clock, fire-dogs, a napkin-press, and an
-"arriere-dos" or "rere-dosse," and a small brass fender of that age. He
-also possessed the box containing the original portraits of Henry VIII.
-and Anne of Cleves. The clock, like the large one over the entrance
-at Hampton Court, had the Italian face, with two sets of figures,
-twelve each, thus running the round of the twenty-four hours, such as
-Shakespeare alludes to in "Othello:"--
-
-    "He'll watch the horologe _a double set_,
-    If drink rock not his cradle."
-
-Richly carved wardrobes and buffets adorned the Tudor rooms: some of
-these buffets were of silver and of silver gilt. Engravings of these, as
-well as of tables with folding tops, round tables with pillar and claw,
-and many beds of that period may still be seen in old houses, and are
-represented in engravings in Montfaucon, Shaw, and Willemin. The beds at
-Hardwicke, the great bed at Ware, a bedstead of the time of Henry VIII.
-at Lovely Hall, near Blackburn, are good specimens. Forks, though known,
-were not generally used yet at table, and spoons of silver and gold were
-made to fold up, and were carried by great people in their pockets for
-their own use. Spoons of silver--apostle-spoons, having the heads of the
-twelve apostles on the handles--were not unfrequent, but spoons of horn
-or wood were more common.
-
-The armour of every period bears a coincident resemblance to the civil
-costume of the time, and is in this period rather noticeable by its
-fashion than by any material change of another kind. The breastplate was
-still globose, as in the reign of Edward IV., but was beautifully fluted
-in that of Henry VII. In the reign of Henry VIII., the breastplate being
-still globose, the old fashion revived of an edge down the centre, called
-a tapul; and in this reign puffed and ribbed armour, in imitation of the
-slashed dresses of the day, was introduced. In the reign of Elizabeth
-the breastplate was thickened to resist musket-balls. The helmet in all
-these reigns assumed the shape of the head, having movable plates at the
-back to guard the neck, and yet allow free motion to the head. In the
-reign of Elizabeth the morions were much ornamented by engraving. In the
-time of Henry VII. the panache which had appeared on the apex of the
-bassinets of Henry V. was changed for plumes, descending from the back
-of the helmet almost to the rider's saddle. A new feature in armour also
-came in with Henry VII., called "lamboys" from the French "lambeaux,"
-being a sort of skirt or petticoat of steel, in imitation of the puckered
-skirts of cloth or velvet worn at that time, and this fashion, with
-variations in form, continued through the whole period. In the reign of
-Henry VIII. the armour altogether became very showy and rich, in keeping
-with the ostentation of that monarch. A magnificent suit of the armour
-of Henry is preserved in the Tower, which was presented to him by the
-Emperor Maximilian, on his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, and is
-the fellow to a suit of Maximilian's preserved in the Little Belvedere
-Palace in Vienna. It covers both horse and man, and is richly engraved
-with legendary subjects, badges, mottoes, and the like. The seal of Henry
-presents a fine figure of him on horseback, in armour, with his tabard
-and crowned helmet, and its depending plumes.
-
-The tilting helmet disappeared altogether in the time of Henry VIII.,
-and a coursing-hat was worn instead, with a "mentonniere," or defence
-for the lower part of the face. In the reign of Mary we learn that the
-military force of the kingdom consisted of demi-lancers, who supplied
-the place of the men-at-arms; pikemen, who wore back and breast-plates,
-with tassets, gauntlets, and steel hats; archers, with steel skull-caps
-and brigandines; black-billmen or halberdiers, who wore armour called
-almain rivet and morions; and harquebussiers, similarly appointed. In
-Elizabeth's reign the armour was seldom worn on the legs and thighs,
-except in jousting, and not always then.
-
-There were various changes in the shapes of swords and glaives; the
-battle-axe changed into the halberd in the time of Edward IV., which
-became general in that of Henry VII. In the reign of Henry VIII. was
-added the partisan, a kind of pike or spontoon; but the great change
-was in firearms, the hand-gun making several steps towards its modern
-termination in the musket and rifle, with detonating caps. The first
-improvement was to place a cock to the gun-barrel, to hold and apply the
-match instead of the soldier holding it in his hand. This was called an
-arc-a-bousa, thence corrupted into the arquebuse, much used by Henry
-VII. In his son's reign the wheel-lock was invented by the Italians, in
-which a wheel revolving against a piece of sulphuret of iron ignited the
-powder in the pan by its sparks. Pistols were also introduced now, and
-called pistols or dags, according to the shape of the butt-ends; the
-pistol finishing with a knob, the dag--or tacke--having its butt-end
-slanting. Pistols at first more resembled carabines in length, and the
-pocket pistol was of a considerable bulk. Cartridges were first used in
-pistols, and were carried in a steel case called a patron. In the reign
-of Elizabeth we hear of carabines, petronels, and dragons. Carabines were
-a sort of light, Spanish troops, who, probably, used this kind of arm;
-petronels were so called because their square butt-end was placed against
-the chest, or "poitrine;" and the dragon received its name from its
-muzzle being terminated with the head of that fabulous monster, and gave
-the name of "dragoon" to the soldiers who fought with them. Bandoliers,
-or leathern cases, each containing a complete charge of powder for a
-musket, were used till the end of the seventeenth century, when they gave
-way to the cartridge-box.
-
-With the progress of firearms, it is almost needless to say that the
-famous art of archery, by which the English had won such fame in the
-world, was gradually superseded. During the reigns of Henry VII. and
-Henry VIII., bows were much used in their armies as well as firearms,
-but it was impossible long to maintain the bow and arrow in the presence
-of the hand-gun and powder. In vain did Henry VIII. pass severe laws
-against the disuse of the bow; by the end of his reign it had fallen, for
-the most part, from the hands of the warrior into that of the sportsman.
-In vain did Henry forbid the use even of the cross-bow to encourage the
-practice of archery, and Roger Ascham in his "Toxophilus" endeavour to
-prolong the date of the bow. By the end of the reign of Elizabeth, the
-endeavour to protract the existence of archery by statute was abandoned,
-and its long reign, except as a graceful amusement, was over.
-
-The costumes of this age come down to us depicted by great masters, and
-are displayed to us in their full effect, at least this much can be said
-for those of the aristocracy. Looking at these ladies and gentlemen, they
-appear as little like plain matter-of-fact English people as possible.
-There is a length and looseness of robes about the men which has more the
-air of a holiday, gala garb, than the attire of people who had serious
-affairs to carry through, and you would scarcely credit them to be the
-ancestors of the present prosaic, buttoned-up, and busy generation. In
-a MS. called the "Boke of Custome," the chamberlain is commanded to
-provide against his master's uprising, "a clene sherte and breche, a
-pettycotte, a doublette, a long cotte, a stomacher, hys hosen, hys socks,
-and his shoen." And the "Boke of Kervynge," quoted by Strutt, says to
-the chamberlain, "Warme your soverayne his pettycotte, his doublette,
-and his stomacher, and then put on his hosen, and then his schone or
-slyppers, then stryten up his hosen mannerly, and tye them up, then lace
-his doublette hole by hole." Barclay, in the "Ship of Fools," printed by
-Pynson in 1508, mentions some who had their necks
-
-    "Charged with collars and chaines,
-    In golden withs, their fingers full of rings,
-    Their necks naked almost to the raines,
-    Their sleeves blazing like unto a crane's winges."
-
-Their coats were generally loose and with broad collars, and turned back
-fronts, with loose hanging sleeves, often slashed, and sometimes without
-sleeves at all, but the sleeves of their doublets appearing through them,
-laced tight to the elbow and puffed out above. Hats and caps were of
-various fashions in the time of Henry VII. There was the square turned-up
-cap, a round hat something like the present wide-awake, but the more
-gay and assuming wore large felt hats, or bonnets of velvet, fur, or
-other materials, with great spreading plumes of party-coloured feathers.
-They wore the showy hats so much on one side, as to display under them
-close-fitting caps, often of gold network. Others, again, wore only the
-small cap, and let the large plumed hat hang on their shoulders.
-
-The hose, when the dress was short enough to show them, were
-close-fitting, and of gay, often of two different colours; the long-toed
-shoes had given way to others, with toes called duck-bills, from their
-shape, being wider in front than they were long. Top-boots were worn for
-riding. The face was close shaven, except in the case of soldiers or
-old men, and the hair was suffered to hang long and flowing. The first
-mention of a collar of the garter occurs in this reign, and a collar is
-seen on the effigy of Sir George Daubeny, of this date.
-
-In the costume of the ladies the sleeves were as wide as they were in
-that of the men, and have been imitated in modern times, being called
-"bishop's sleeves" in London. The gown was cut square in the neck, and
-they wore stomachers, belts, and buckles, girdles with long pendents in
-front, and hats and feathers. Others wore caps and cauls of gold net, or
-embroidery, from beneath which the hair hung down the shoulders half way
-to the ground. The morning dress was a full, loose, flowing robe, with
-cape and hood, and the extent and material of it was regulated by Royal
-ordinance.
-
-Every one is familiar with the costume of the reigns of Henry VIII. and
-Edward VI. The ordinary costume of bluff Harry was a full-skirted jacket,
-or doublet, with large sleeves to the wrists; over which was worn a
-short but equally full cloak or coat, with loose, hanging sleeves, and
-a broad, rolling collar of fur. Many, however, still wore the doublet
-sleeves, as in the last reign: tight to the elbow, puffed out about the
-shoulders, and the coat sleeveless, allowing this to appear. The cap
-was square or round, and still worn somewhat side-ways, jewelled, and
-plumed with ostrich feathers. The hose were now often divided into hose
-and stockings, and the shoes, though sometimes square-toed, yet often
-resembling the modern shape. The Norman "chausses" were revived under
-the older name of "trousses," being close hose, fitting exactly to the
-limbs.
-
-[Illustration: THE WEDDING OF JACK OF NEWBURY: THE BRIDE'S PROCESSION.
-(_See p._ 390.)]
-
-Henry VIII. was most extravagant in dress, and was followed with so much
-avidity by his subjects in his ostentation, that in the twenty-fourth
-year of his reign he was obliged to pass a sumptuary law to restrain
-them, and the style and quality of dress for every different rank was
-prescribed--as we may suppose with indifferent success. No person of less
-degree than a knight was to wear crimson or blue velvet or embroidered
-apparel, broched or guarded with goldsmith's work, except sons and heirs
-of knights and barons, who might use crimson velvet, and tinsel in their
-doublets. Velvet gowns, jackets and coats, furs of martens, &c., chains,
-bracelets, and collars of gold, were proscribed to all but persons
-possessing two hundred marks per annum; except the sons and heirs of such
-persons, who might wear black velvet doublets, coats of black damask,
-etc.
-
-Henry's own dress was of the most gorgeous kind. He is described at a
-banquet at Westminster as arrayed in a suit of short garments of blue
-velvet and crymosine, with long sleeves all cut and lined with cloth
-of gold, and the outer garments powdered with castles and sheaves of
-arrows--the badges of Queen Catherine--of fine ducat gold; the upper part
-of the hose of like fashion, the lower parts of scarlet, powdered with
-timbrels of fine gold. His bonnet was of damask silver, flat, "woven
-in the stall," and therefore wrought with gold, and rich feathers on
-it. When he met Anne of Cleves he had tricked himself out in a frock of
-velvet embroidered all over with flatted gold of damask, mixed with a
-profusion of lace; the sleeves and breast being cut and lined with cloth
-of gold, and tied together with great buttons of diamonds, rubies, and
-orient pearls. The king was deemed to be the best dressed sovereign in
-the world, for he put on new clothes every holy day.
-
-Henry ordered his subjects to cut off their long hair; beards and
-moustaches were now worn at pleasure.
-
-The reigns of Edward and Mary did not vary much in the costume of the
-men. The dress worn now by the boys of Christ's Hospital (familiarly
-known as the Bluecoat School), founded by Edward, is very much that which
-was worn by the London apprentices of that period--blue coats and yellow
-stockings being also common to the citizens generally. The square-toed
-shoes were banished by proclamation in the reign of Queen Mary.
-
-The costume of the ladies of the reign of Henry VIII. is extremely
-familiar, from the numerous portraits of his six wives, engravings of
-which are in Lodge's "Portraits." With the exception of the bonnet or
-coif--which, though worn by Catherine of Aragon, came to be called the
-Anne Boleyn cap--the dress of the ladies of this reign bears a striking
-resemblance to one of the later Victorian fashions, though differing of
-course in material. You find the gown fitting close to the bust of the
-natural length of waist, and cut square at the chest, where it is edged
-with narrow lace. The sleeves, tight at the shoulder, widened to the
-elbow, where they hung deep, showing an under-sleeve of fine lawn or
-lace extending to the wrist, and terminated by lace ruffles. On the neck
-was generally worn a pearl necklace, with a jewelled cross. The skirts
-were full, the train long, according to rank. Seven yards of purple
-cloth of damask gold were allowed for a kirtle for Queen Catherine, in
-a wardrobe account of the eighth year of Henry's reign. The sleeves of
-ladies' garments, like those of gentlemen's dresses, could be changed at
-pleasure, being separate and attached at will. They were extremely rich;
-and we find in one lady's inventory three pair of purple satin sleeves,
-one of linen paned with gold over the arms, quilted with black silk, and
-wrought with flounces between the panes and at the hands; one pair of
-purple gold tissue damask wire, each sleeve tied with aglets of gold; one
-pair of crimson satin, four buttons of gold on each sleeve, and in every
-button nine pearls.
-
-The coif was of various materials, from simple linen to rich velvet and
-cloth of gold; either with the round front, as in Mary and Elizabeth as
-princesses, in Catherine Parr and Catherine Howard, or dipping in front,
-which came to be called the "Queen of Scots" bonnet; but the commonest
-shape was the five-cornered one. This last was indeed the hood of the
-time of Henry VII., in which we have a portrait of his queen, Elizabeth
-of York; the lappets of the hood depending on the bosom, embroidered and
-edged with pearls; the scarf behind hanging on the shoulders. In the
-portrait of Catherine of Aragon, the front, embroidered and jewelled,
-had become shorter, touching the neck only; but the scarf behind still
-spread on the shoulder. In Anne Boleyn's portrait the coif had reached
-its extreme of elegance; the frontlet, consisting of the five-pointed
-frame, is still shorter, only covering the ears, and is faced with a
-double row of pearls (_see_ p. 165). Her hair is scarcely seen, being
-concealed by an under-coif, which shows as a band in a slanting direction
-over the forehead. The back consists of a green velvet hood, with broad
-scarf lappets, of which one is turned up over the back of the head,
-and the other hangs on the left shoulder. Of the dress of the ladies
-of the citizen class we have a curious account in the bride of John
-of Winchcomb, the famous clothier, called "Jack of Newbury." "She was
-habited in a gown of sheep's russet, and a kirtle of fine worsted, her
-head attired with a billiment of gold, and her hair, as yellow as gold,
-hanging down behind her, which was curiously combed and plaited. She was
-led to church by two boys with bride laces and rosemary tied about their
-silken sleeves. When she in after years came out of her widow's weeds,
-she appeared in a fair train gown stuck full of silver pins, having a
-white cap on her head, with cuts of curious needlework under the same,
-and an apron before her as white as driven snow."
-
-With Elizabeth came in a totally new fashion, not only of women's but
-of men's costumes. The large trunk hose made their appearance; the
-long-waisted doublet, the short cloak or mantle, with its standing
-collar, the ruff, the hat, the band and feather, the roses in the shoes,
-are all of this period. To such a degree did the fashion of puffed
-and stuffed breeches obtain, which had begun to swell in the prior
-reigns, that about the thirty-third of Elizabeth, over the seats in the
-Parliament House, were certain holes, some two inches square, in the
-walls, in which were placed posts to uphold scaffolds round about the
-house for those to sit upon who wore great breeches stuffed with hair,
-like woolsacks.
-
-As to ruffs, Stubbs, in his "Anatomie of Abuses," tells us that sooner
-than go without them, men would mortgage their lands, or risk their
-lives at Tyburn; and he adds, "They have now newly (1595) found out a
-more monstrous kind of ruff of twelve, yea, sixteen lengths apiece, set
-three or four times double, thence called three steps and a half to the
-gallows." The French or Venetian hose, he tells us, cost often L100 a
-pair, probably from being cloth of gold and set with jewels. To these
-were added boot hose of the finest cloth, also splendidly embroidered
-with birds, beasts, and antiques. The doublets, he says, grew longer
-and longer in the waist, stuffed and quilted with four, five, or six
-pounds of bombast, the exterior being of silk, satin, taffeta, gold,
-or silver stuff, slashed, jagged, covered, pinched, and laced with all
-kinds of costly devices. Over these were their coats and jerkins, some
-with collars, some without, some close to the body, some loose, called
-mandilions; some buttoned down the breast, some under the arm, some
-down the back. They had cloaks also--white, red, tawny, yellow, green,
-violet--of cloth, silk, or taffeta, and of French, Spanish, or Dutch
-fashion, ornamented with costly lace of gold, silver, or silk. These
-cloaks were as costly inside as out. Their slippers or "pantoufles"
-were of all colours, and yet, says Stubbs, they were difficult to keep
-on, and went flap-flap up and down in the dirt, casting the mire up to
-their knees. Their hats, he states, were sharp at the crown, peaking up
-like the shaft of a steeple a quarter of a yard above the crown of their
-heads, some more, some less; others were flat and broad on the crown;
-some had round crowns and bands of all colours; and these hats or caps
-were of velvet, taffeta, or sarcenet, ornamented with big bunches of
-feathers; and finally we hear of _beaver hats_, costing from twenty to
-forty shillings apiece, brought from beyond seas.
-
-But if such was the dress of gentlemen to please the strange taste of
-the maiden queen, that of this famous queen herself, as evinced by her
-numerous portraits, has nothing like it in all the annals of fashion.
-In an early portrait of Elizabeth we have her dressed in a costume very
-little different to that of a man. Over her gown or doublet she wore a
-coat with the enormous shoulder-points standing up six inches, and with
-a close upright collar completely enveloping her neck, and surmounted by
-a ruff; her coat cut and slashed all over, and on her head a round hat,
-pulled down to a peak in front, and thickly jewelled. Stubbs, alluding to
-this particular fashion, says, "The women have doublets and jerkins as
-the men have, buttoned up to the breast, and made with wings, welts, and
-pinions on the shoulder-points, as men's apparel in all respects.... Yet
-they blush not to wear it."
-
-But it was about the middle of her reign that Elizabeth introduced
-that astounding style of dress in which she figures in most of her
-portraits, and in which the body was imprisoned in whalebone to the
-hips; the partlet or habit-shirt, which had for some time been in use,
-and covered the whole bosom to the chin, was removed, and an enormous
-ruff, rising gradually from the front of the shoulders to nearly the
-height of the head behind, encircled the wearer like the enormous wings
-of some nondescript butterfly. In fact, there was ruff beyond ruff;
-first, a crimped one round the neck like a collar; and then a round
-one standing up from the shoulders behind the head; and, finally, the
-enormous circular fans towering high and wide. The head of the queen is
-seen covered with one of her eighty sets of false hair, and hoisted above
-that a jaunty hat, jewelled and plumed.
-
-In order to enable this monstrous expanse of ruff to support itself,
-it was necessary to resort to starch, and, as Stubbs tells us, also to
-a machinery of wires, "erected for the purpose, and whipped all over
-with gold thread, silver, or silk." This was called a "supportasse, or
-underpropper." The queen sent to Holland for women skilled in the art of
-starching; and one Mistress Dingham Vander Plasse came over and became
-famous in the mystery of tormenting pride with starch. "The devil," says
-Stubbs, "hath learned them to wash and dress their ruffs, which, being
-dry, will then stand inflexible about their necks."
-
-From the bosom, now partly left bare, descended an interminable
-stomacher, and then the farthingale spread out its enormous breadth,
-like the Victorian crinoline. Stockings of worsted yarn and silk had
-now become common; and Mistress Montague presented Her Majesty, in the
-third year of her reign, with a pair of silk stockings knit in England;
-thereupon she would never wear any else. A fashion of both ladies and
-gentlemen of this time was to wear small looking-glasses hanging at their
-sides or inserted in the fan of ostrich feathers.
-
-The history of the coinage from Henry VII. to the reign of Elizabeth is
-one of depreciation and adulteration, as it had been in the preceding
-century. Not till Elizabeth did it begin to return to a sound and honest
-standard.
-
-Henry VII. made several variations in the money of the realm. He
-preserved the standard of Edward IV. and Richard III., coining 450
-pennies from the pound of silver, or thirty-seven nominal shillings and
-sixpences. He introduced shillings as actual money, being before only
-nominal, and used in accounts. These shillings, struck in 1504--called
-at first large groats, and then testons, from the French "teste," or
-"tete," a head--bore the profile of the king instead of the full face; a
-thing unknown since the reign of Stephen, but ever after followed, except
-by Henry VIII. and Edward VI., who, however, used the profile in their
-groats. Henry coined also a novel coin--the sovereign, or "double rose
-noble," worth twenty shillings, and the "rose rial," or half-sovereign.
-These gold coins are now very rare. On the reverse of his coins he for
-the first time placed the Royal arms.
-
-The gold coins of Henry VIII. were sovereigns, half-sovereigns, or
-rials, half and quarter rials, angels, angelets, or half angels, and
-quarter-angels, George nobles--so called from bearing on the reverse
-St. George and the dragon--crowns, and half-crowns. His silver coins
-were shillings, groats, half-groats, and pennies. Amongst these appeared
-groats and half-groats coined by Wolsey at York, in accordance with a
-privilege, exercised by the Church long before. In his impeachment it was
-made a capital charge that he had placed the cardinal's hat on the groats
-under the king's arms. The groats also bore on each side of the arms his
-initials, "T. W.," and the half-groats "W. A."--Wolsey Archiepiscopus.
-
-Not only did Henry adulterate the coin in the most scandalous manner,
-but he also depreciated the value of the silver coins, by coining a much
-larger number of pennies out of a pound of the base alloy. Before his
-time the mixed mint pound had consisted of eleven ounces two pennyweights
-of silver, and eighteen pennyweights of alloy; but Henry, in 1543,
-altered it to ten ounces of silver and two ounces of alloy. Two years
-later he added as much alloy as there was silver; and not content with
-that, in 1546, or one year after, he left only four ounces of silver
-in the pound, or eight ounces of alloy to the four ounces of silver!
-But this even did not satisfy him: he next proceeded to coin his base
-metal into a larger amount than the good metal had ever produced before.
-Instead of 37s. 6d., or 450 pennies, into which it had been coined ever
-since the reign of Edward IV., he made it yield 540 pennies, or 45s.,
-in 1527, and in 1543 he extended it to 48s., or 576 pennies. He thus,
-instead of 450 pennies out of a pound containing eleven ounces two
-pennyweights of silver, coined 576 pennies out of only four ounces of
-silver! Such were the lawless robberies which "Bluff Harry" committed
-on his subjects. Any one of the smallest debasements by a subject would
-have sent him to the gallows. He certainly was one of the most wholesale
-issuers of bad money that ever lived.
-
-The counsellors of his son Edward--a most rapacious set of
-adventurers--however, even out-Harryed Harry; for though Edward restored
-at first the value of the mint mixture in some degree, in 1551 the amount
-of silver in a pound of that alloy was only three ounces, or an ounce
-less than the worst coin of his father. And still worse, instead of 48s.,
-the largest number coined by his father out of a pound, he coined 72s.,
-or instead of 450 pennies out of four ounces of silver, 864 pennies were
-coined out of three ounces. The ruin, the confusion of prices, and the
-public outcry, however, consequent upon this violent public fraud, at
-length compelled Government to restore the amount of silver in the pound
-to nearly what it was at the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII., and
-the number of shillings was reduced from seventy-two to sixty. The gold,
-which was equally debased, was also restored to the same extent.
-
-Queen Mary, while she issued a proclamation at the commencement of her
-reign denouncing the dishonest proceedings of her predecessors, again
-increased the alloy in a pound of mint silver to an ounce instead of
-nineteen pennyweights; and she added two pennyweights more of alloy to
-the ounce of gold. The coins issued by Philip and Mary bear both their
-profiles.
-
-Elizabeth honourably restored the coinage to its ancient value. She
-fixed the alloy in a pound of silver at only eighteen pennyweights;
-but she coined sixty-two shillings out of the pound instead of sixty,
-at which it remained till 1816, when it became sixty-six, as it still
-remains. The standard mixture of Elizabeth has continued the same to
-our own day. She called in and melted down the base money of her father
-and brother to the nominal value of L638,000, but of real value only
-L244,000. The gold coins of Elizabeth are rials, angels, half-angels,
-and quarter-angels, crowns and half-crowns, nobles and double nobles.
-Some of her coins were the first which had milled edges, both of gold and
-silver. Besides shillings, sixpences, groats, and pence, Elizabeth coined
-a crown, for the use of the East India Company, called portcullis crowns,
-in imitation of the Spanish dollar. These were valued at four shillings
-and sixpence, and are now rare.
-
-[Illustration: SHIPS OF ELIZABETH'S TIME.]
-
-In Scotland the alloy of the silver at the mint was not so great as in
-England during this period; but the number of shillings coined out of one
-pound of silver was astonishingly increased. This kind of depreciation
-had been going on for two centuries before this period; but from 1475,
-when only 144 shillings were coined out of the pound of silver, the
-number was rapidly augmented every few years, till in 1601 no less than
-720 shillings were coined out of it, or, in other words, the original
-value of one pound was made to pass for thirty-six pounds.
-
-In tracing the historical events of these reigns, we have had occasion to
-show the increasing strength of the Royal navy of England. Both in the
-reigns of Henry VIII. and of Elizabeth the sea fights were of a character
-and attended by results which marked out England as a maritime power
-growing ever more formidable. In the fourth year of his reign Henry drove
-the French fleet from the Channel with forty-two ships, Royal and others.
-He chastised the Scots, who, under James V., had become daring at sea;
-and on various occasions during his reign he showed his superiority to
-the French and Spaniards.
-
-But it was the victory over the Armada under Elizabeth, and the exploits
-of Drake, Essex, Raleigh, and others in the Spanish ports, and of
-Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher in the Spanish settlements of America,
-that raised the fame of the British fleet to a pitch which it had never
-reached before. For, after all, the amount of Henry's fleet never was
-large. We are told, indeed, that at first he had only one ship of war,
-the _Great Harry_, till he took the _Lion_, a large Scottish ship, with
-its commander, the celebrated Andrew Barton; but probably this is meant
-of such size as to merit the name of man-of-war. Parsimonious as was
-Henry VII., and careful to avoid any collisions with foreign powers, we
-cannot suppose he left the kingdom totally destitute of a navy. But Henry
-VIII. was not contented with owning merely a mediocre fleet; he had an
-ambition of building large vessels, and in 1512 he built one of 1,000
-tons, called the _Regent_. This was blown up in a battle with the French
-fleet off Brest, and instead of it he built another called _Grace de
-Dieu_. The rivalry of Henry was excited by the King of Scotland building
-a much larger ship than his _Regent_, which was said to carry 300 seamen,
-120 gunners, and 1,000 soldiers. This ship, like Henry's _Regent_,
-was unfortunately lost at sea. By the end of Henry's reign, his fleet
-altogether amounted to 12,500 tons.
-
-Besides building of ships, Henry seems to have planned all the necessary
-offices for a naval system. He established the Navy Office, with a
-sort of Board of Admiralty for its management, and he also founded, in
-the fourth year of his reign, the Corporation of the Trinity House at
-Deptford, for managing everything relating to the education, selection,
-and appointment of pilots, the putting down of buoys, and erecting
-beacons and lighthouses. Similar establishments were created by him at
-Hull and Newcastle. He built at great cost the first pier at Dover, and
-passed an Act of Parliament for improving the harbours of Plymouth,
-Dartmouth, Teignmouth, Falmouth, and Fowey, which had been choked up by
-the refuse of certain tin-works, which he prohibited. But perhaps his
-greatest works of the kind were his establishment of the navy-yards and
-storehouses at Woolwich and Deptford. No monarch, in fact, had hitherto
-planned so efficiently and exerted himself so earnestly to found an
-English navy. Great merit is due to him for his advancement of the
-maritime interests of the nation.
-
-The manner in which the different monarchs of the Tudor dynasty advanced
-or neglected the navy is well shown by the returns of the Navy Office to
-Parliament in 1791. At the end of the reign of Henry VIII. it amounted
-to 12,500 tons, at the end of that of Edward VI. to only 11,065 tons,
-and at the end of Mary's to 7,110 tons, but at the end of Elizabeth's
-it rose to 17,110. At the time of the Armada, Elizabeth had at sea 150
-sail, of which, however, only forty were the property of the Crown; the
-rest belonged to the merchants who were liable to be called upon on
-such emergencies to furnish their largest craft for the public service.
-Thirty-four of these ships were from 500 to 1,100 tons each, and these
-larger vessels are said to have carried 300 men and forty cannon each.
-Besides the vessels thus called out for war, the mercantile navy at this
-time amounted to another 150 sail of various capacity, averaging each 150
-tons, and carrying forty seamen.
-
-This extent of Royal and mercantile navy had not been reached without
-much fostering care on the part of the queen. With all her parsimony
-and dread of expense, it was one of the finest parts of her very mixed
-character, that she saw the necessity of a strong power at sea and had
-all the pride of her father to maintain it. Whilst on land she introduced
-the manufacture of gunpowder, and raised the pay of the soldiers, she
-extended her care to the fleet, and made it in the end the best equipped
-navy in Europe. She raised the pay of the sailors as she had done that
-of the soldiers, and the merchants entered so readily into her service
-that she had no longer occasion to hire vessels, as her predecessors
-had done, from the Hanse Towns, or from Venice and Genoa. She built a
-fort on the Medway, somewhere near the present Sheerness, to protect her
-fleet, and justly acquired the name of the Queen of the North Seas. Many
-circumstances combined to give a new and wonderful development in her
-time to commerce--the discovery and partial settlement of the New World;
-the way opened by the Cape to India; the extension of commercial inquiry
-and enterprise into the north of Europe and to the banks of Newfoundland.
-But ere this stirring period arrived, commerce had had to struggle
-with many severe restrictions, the fruit of the ignorance of political
-economy.
-
-[Illustration: THE WORLD
-
-in the
-
-XVIth CENTURY
-
-showing
-
-the DISCOVERIES of
-
-BRITISH & other EXPLORERS.]
-
-Henry VII. is praised by Hall, the chronicler, as a prince who "by
-his high policy marvellously enriched his realm and himself, and left
-his subjects in high wealth and prosperity; as is apparent by the
-great abundance of gold and silver yearly brought into the kingdom, in
-plate, money, and bullion, by merchants passing and repassing." But
-the true reason of the rapid advance of commerce under Henry VII. was,
-undoubtedly, the quietness and stability of affairs which he introduced;
-for Henry was too fond of hoarding to be a very munificent patron of
-trade. Amongst the very first measures which he passed was one against
-usury, totally forbidding the loan of money on interest, which, if it
-could have been really carried out, would have nearly extinguished
-commerce altogether. In this, however, Henry was but continuing the
-practice of his predecessors, who, though great warriors, were no
-merchants. So severe was Henry's enactment against usury, that, by the
-Act of the third year of his reign, every offender was, on discovery, to
-be fined L100, and the bargain to be made void. Henry VIII. abrogated
-this law, and allowed usury under ten per cent.; it was again put in
-force by Edward VI. in terms of the utmost severity, declaring it to be
-"a vice most odious and detestable, and utterly prohibited by the Word of
-God." Elizabeth, however, again restored the law of her father in 1571,
-permitting interest under ten per cent.
-
-Whilst Henry VII. endeavoured to extinguish usury, he was equally jealous
-of foreign merchants--of their bringing their foreign manufactures and
-carrying out English goods--lest our wealth should be drained away by
-them. The careful old king could not see that it mattered little by whom
-the exchanges of commerce were made, so that merchants were left to make
-their own bargains; whence the result would be that they would only
-purchase such things as they wanted, and sell such as they did not want,
-with benefit to everybody. It accorded, however, with Henry's ideas, and
-was so far beneficial as to induce the settling of English merchants in
-foreign countries, with the object of endeavouring to drain them of their
-wealth. Therefore, he was careful to heal the breach with the Netherlands
-which the patronage of Perkin Warbeck by the Duchess of Burgundy had
-made, and the company of Merchant Adventurers was again established in
-Antwerp. The treaty on this occasion was termed by the rejoicing Flemings
-the "Intercursus Magnus," or Great Treaty of Intercourse; but Henry, in
-1506, on intercepting the Archduke Philip at Weymouth, forced from him
-a less liberal treaty, which the Flemings branded as the "Intercursus
-Malus," or Evil Treaty.
-
-In the same one-sided spirit of trade, Henry, in 1489, concluded a treaty
-with Denmark, by which English companies were authorised to purchase
-lands in Bergen in Norway, Lund and Landskrona in Sweden, and Lowisa in
-Finland, on which to erect factories and warehouses, to remain theirs in
-perpetuity for the purposes of trade. He also renewed a similar treaty
-at the same time with the great trading republic of Venice, by which the
-English companies were to enjoy all the privileges of the citizens of
-Florence and Pisa, where they were established, and were privileged to
-export English wool, and re-ship the spices and valuable articles which
-were brought by the Venetians overland from India.
-
-It was not long, however, before Henry was called on to check the effects
-of monopoly in his English companies. The Merchant Adventurers of London
-soon showed so strongly these effects, that they compelled the king to
-interfere with a view to counteract them.
-
-The markets of Europe were now fast growing in importance and demand. The
-wealth of South America was flowing into Spain, in the shape of gold, to
-the amount of a million sterling annually, and the spices and riches of
-the East Indies into Portugal, since the discovery of the way round the
-Cape. Amsterdam became the great mercantile depot of these commodities
-in Europe, and the benefit of it was felt nowhere more sensibly than in
-England. Henry VII., who had let slip the opportunity of securing South
-America and the West Indies by neglecting the offers of Columbus, now
-endeavoured to repair the mischief by granting patents to the Cabots and
-others for the discovery of new lands. He could not open his heart or his
-coffers sufficiently to assist the adventurers with funds, but he was
-ready to reap his share of the benefit, which was to consist of all the
-countries discovered and a fifth of the immediate proceeds. Under such
-patents the Cabots, father and son, in the course of several voyages,
-discovered Labrador in 1497, and afterwards ran along the whole coast of
-North America, to the Gulf of Mexico.
-
-From this moment the spirit of mercantile enterprise rapidly developed
-itself. In 1562 we find Captain Hawkins trading to Guinea for elephants'
-teeth, and to Brazil, to which coasts voyages soon became common.
-Trading to all parts of the Mediterranean was frequent during the reign
-of Henry VIII.; taking out wool, cloth, and skins, and importing silks,
-drugs, wines, cotton-wool, spices, and Turkey carpets. The voyages of
-Cabot had opened up a new trade--that of cod-fishing--on the coasts of
-Newfoundland, which was eagerly engaged in; and the voyages of Willoughby
-and Richard Chancellor, by exploring the White Sea, at the suggestion of
-Cabot, opened a new trade with Russia. A Russian company was formed by
-Edward VI., and fully incorporated by Mary, who vigorously prosecuted
-that trade; and in 1556 an ambassador arrived at London from the Czar.
-Jenkinson, an agent of this company afterwards descended the Volga to
-Astrakhan, and crossing the Caspian Sea, reached Bokhara, the great
-resort of the merchants of Russia, Persia, India, and China. He is said
-to have made six other voyages to Bokhara by that route--a striking proof
-of the growing enterprise of the English merchant. The loss of Calais
-by Mary was a circumstance which, as was to be expected, exerted an
-injurious influence on commerce in her unfortunate reign.
-
-[Illustration: THE FIRST ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON (FOUNDED BY SIR THOMAS
-GRESHAM).]
-
-The earliest European trade with India was Venetian, and was conducted by
-way of the Black Sea. On the discovery by Vasco da Gama of the passage by
-the Cape of Good Hope, in 1497, the Dutch claimed the exclusive right of
-navigating those seas. The Spaniards again were equally exclusive with
-regard to their own subsequent discovery of a passage by the Straits of
-Magellan. These monopolies, so strange in their contrast to our modern
-conceptions and practice, left the English the sole alternative of a
-north-west or north-east passage. About 1500, a Portuguese named Corte
-Real attempted to discover a north-west passage, and was followed by a
-similar effort on the part of the English in 1553. The idea received the
-greatest encouragement from Queen Elizabeth, and a company was formed
-in 1585, called the "Fellowship for the discovery of the North-West
-Passage." Sir Hugh Willoughby's last voyage, which was entered on with
-a view to discover a north-east passage to China, was fatal to him and
-his brave comrades, who perished in the ice. The instructions given to
-Sir Hugh by Sebastian Cabot, Grand Pilot of England by appointment of
-Henry VII., are extant, and furnish a curious and interesting specimen of
-naval regulation. No dicing, carding, tabling, nor other such practices
-were to be allowed on ship-board; morning and evening prayers were to be
-diligently observed. On the other hand, the natives of strange countries
-were to be "enticed on board and made drunk with your beer and wine, for
-then you shall know the secrets of their hearts:" and they were to be
-cautious with regard to "certain creatures with men's heads and the tails
-of fishes, who swim with bows and arrows about the fords and bays, and
-live on human flesh."
-
-[Illustration: SIR THOMAS GRESHAM.]
-
-During the long reign of Elizabeth foreign trade made gigantic strides.
-Among the very first acts of this queen was one to abolish the
-restriction of English merchants to English ships in the transport of
-goods. The Act states that this restriction had provoked the natural
-adoption of like restrictions by foreign princes. This was the first
-acknowledgment of the mischief of meddling with the freedom of trade;
-and our foreign trade had now acquired an importance which demanded
-respect. With the Netherlands alone our trade was extraordinary, its
-value amounting to nearly two millions and a half sterling annually; and
-we find at this time the first mention of insurance of goods on their
-voyage. In 1562 we hear also of that detestable commerce the slave trade,
-which was introduced by John Hawkins, so well known afterwards as the
-daring compeer of Drake and Frobisher, and one of the heroic conquerors
-of the Armada. Hawkins carried out English goods, called at the Guinea
-Coast, and took in slaves, sailed to Hispaniola, and brought thence
-sugar, ginger, hides, and pearls.
-
-During the reign of Elizabeth the many voyages which were made in
-order to discover a north-west passage to India led to a more intimate
-knowledge of the North American coasts. In these Frobisher, Cavendish,
-and Davis distinguished themselves. From 1576 to the end of Elizabeth's
-reign, Raleigh and his step-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, made repeated
-attempts to colonise North America, and particularly Virginia--so called
-in honour of Elizabeth--but in vain. Equally strenuous and unsuccessful
-efforts were made to open a direct sea communication with India by the
-English; and it was not till the close of Elizabeth's reign that the
-incorporation of an East India Company, destined to establish that trade,
-was effected. The charter was granted by Elizabeth in 1600. Elizabeth
-also chartered a company in 1579 for the exclusive right of trading to
-all the countries of the Baltic.
-
-As regarded the domestic manufactures of this period, the woollen
-manufactures were the most important, and extended themselves greatly on
-account of the foreign demand. This manufacture had to contend with many
-old charters and restrictions which were introduced to monopolise the
-practice of it to certain towns and persons; but these were gradually
-broken through after much contest, and people in both town and country
-were allowed to make cloths and other woollen goods. Originally London,
-Norwich, Bristol, Gloucester, and Coventry were the privileged places.
-Essex became a clothing county; but by degrees the trade spread into
-those quarters where it still prevails. Berks, Oxford, Surrey, and
-Yorkshire made coarse kerseys for exportation; Wales manufactured fringes
-and coarse cloths; but Tiverton, Bridgewater, Chard, and other towns of
-Wilts, Gloucester, and Somerset were famous for their broad-cloths; those
-of Kidderminster, Bromwich, Coventry, Worcester, Evesham, Droitwich,
-as also of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, were in esteem. Manchester and
-Halifax were already noted for rugs and fringes, Norfolk for coverlets,
-and Lincolnshire and Chester for what were called "cottons," but which
-were a species of woollen. There was much complaint at that day of the
-adulteration of these fabrics by intermixture of inferior yarns, and
-by not taking the proper means to prevent them from shrinking on being
-exposed to wet. Norwich had manufactures of woollen different to ordinary
-cloth, in which it excelled all other places; and in Elizabeth's reign
-the Norwich manufacturers introduced new kinds under the name of Norwich
-satins and fustians.
-
-The art of dyeing received a new impulse and new colours from the
-discovery of Brazil and other distant countries. Soap-making was
-also introduced, soap having before 1524 been chiefly imported. Many
-manufacturing processes in weaving, dyeing, and cleaning cloths were
-brought over by the refugees from the Netherlands, driven to England by
-the Spanish persecutions. During Elizabeth's reign the smelting of iron,
-which had been chiefly carried on in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, became
-restricted there on account of the consumption of wood. Copper mines and
-alum pits were discovered in the time of Elizabeth, in Cumberland and
-Yorkshire, which contributed to the extension of the manufacturing arts.
-
-Sir Thomas Gresham, the chief financial leader of the day, although a
-protege of the Duke of Northumberland's, was received with much favour by
-Elizabeth on her accession. The great merchant then gave her advice--the
-following of which may well be called an epoch in the history of this
-country. He told her that all the debased coin should be converted
-into fine coin of a certain weight; that their monopoly should not be
-restored to the Steelyard merchants; that licences should be granted as
-seldom as possible; that she should incur no debt, or as little debt as
-possible, beyond the seas; and that she should keep her credit with her
-own merchants, as they would be her best and most powerful friends. These
-wise measures of reform were gradually carried out. Elizabeth probably
-perceived their value, but she could not find it in her heart to act
-altogether with the necessary self-denial and liberality. Thus she would
-not give up her power to reward favourites by means of special grants and
-licences. The monopoly of sweet wines which Essex enjoyed is an instance
-of her influence in this respect.
-
-Gresham himself superintended the restoration of the coinage, and his
-advice with regard to the Steelyard merchants was also carried into
-practice. It was to him that the merchants of that day owed their first
-place of meeting for the transaction of business. Before that they had
-been "constrained either to endure all extremities of weather, namely,
-heat and cold, snow and rain, or else to shelter themselves in shops."
-Gresham therefore built a house for them, which the queen visited in 1570
-and called the Royal Exchange. This building, like many others belonging
-to the City companies, was destroyed in the Great Fire. It was designed
-after the model of the Bourse of Antwerp, and was Flemish also in its
-architect, its workmen, and its materials. The commerce of Scotland
-during this century was affected by precisely the same circumstances as
-that of England.
-
-During this century much progress was made in the improvement of London.
-Henry VIII. passed various Acts for the paving of the thoroughfares,
-which before were horrible sloughs, "very foul and full of pits."
-
-The public amusements of the nation underwent as great a revolution
-during this century as its religion or its literature. The fall of the
-Church and the introduction of firearms were fatal to the spirit of
-chivalry, and the whole host of religious pageants and plays. Henry VIII.
-and Elizabeth exerted themselves to prolong the exercises of chivalry,
-but they had lost their spirit, and fell lifeless to the ground. In vain
-was the tournament of the Cloth of Gold, or the jousts at which Elizabeth
-presided at Greenwich. They were become mere mockeries of what once had
-been the all-engrossing contests of knightly honour. In vain did they
-endeavour to keep alive the long bow and the feats of archery. The musket
-and the sportsman's gun had made the bow and quiver mere playthings. The
-tournament made way for the joust, in which the contest was conducted
-with headless lances, and fighting at the barriers with blunted axes; and
-that gave way to "riding at the ring," in which the gentlemen did not run
-their lances through their antagonists, but through a ring suspended for
-the purpose. The last of the ancient exercises was the contest with the
-sword and buckler; but the sword was deprived of both edge and point,
-and as the combatants were not allowed to lunge, but only to strike, the
-practice was perfectly harmless. In the time of Henry VIII., however, the
-art of fencing was introduced; and in the time of Elizabeth the use of
-the rapier and the deadly thrust rendered the acquirement of the art of
-fence a matter of the first importance.
-
-But though the chivalric exercises went out in this age, never was
-the love of pageant and display more alive. The revival of the Greek
-literature brought forward a crowd of gods and goddesses, who figured in
-public processions and galas; and the strangest allegoric absurdities
-were gazed upon by grave princes and their counsellors, as well as by the
-ladies, with all the enthusiasm of country lads and lasses gaping at a
-strolling theatre or a puppet-show.
-
-Strange masquerades and allegoric pageants were got up in London for
-Mary and Elizabeth; and readers of worthy Laneham's description of the
-nineteen days in which Queen Bess was entertained at Kenilworth by
-Leicester, will find plenty of giants, distressed Ladies of the Lake,
-"salvage men," presents from Bacchus, Pomona, Ceres, floating islands,
-and sham Arions riding on sham dolphins. More healthy but little less
-romantic were the holiday sports which had survived the Church, and were
-mingled in by both princes, nobles, and people. The old Mystery did not
-for some time disappear before the secular drama, and the Coventry Play
-was played before Elizabeth at Kenilworth. May-day had its grand may-pole
-still; and Henry VIII. did not disdain, on May-day, 1515, to go a-maying
-to Shooter's Hill, with his queen and his sister, the Queen-Dowager of
-France. May-day was also the great day of the milkmaids, who danced from
-door to door with a pyramid of plates on their heads.
-
-Stubbs--who, Puritan as he was, seems to have enjoyed what he describes
-so well--gives us the following description of the amusements of the
-merry gentlemen of the Temple in those days:--
-
-"First, all the wild heads of the parish covening together, choose them
-a grand captain of mischief, whom they ennoble with the title of My Lord
-of Misrule, and him they crown with great solemnity and adopt for their
-king. This king anointed chooseth for him twenty, forty, threescore, or
-a hundred lusty guts like to himself to wait upon his lordly majesty and
-to guard his noble person. Then every one of these his men he investeth
-with his liveries of green, yellow, or some other wanton colour. And, as
-though they were not gaudy enough, they bedeck themselves with scarfs,
-ribbons, and laces, hanged all over with gold rings, precious stones, and
-other jewels; this done, they tie about either leg twenty or forty bells,
-with rich handkerchiefs in their hands, and sometimes laid across over
-their shoulders and necks, borrowed for the most part of their pretty
-Mopsies and loving Bessies.... Thus all things set in order, then have
-they their hobby-horses, dragons, and other antics, together with their
-pipers and thundering drummers to strike up the devil's dance withal;
-then march these heathen company towards the church and churchyard, their
-pipers piping, their drummers thundering, their stumps dancing, their
-bells jingling, their handkerchiefs swinging about their heads like
-madmen, their hobby-horses and other monsters skirmishing amongst the
-throng; and in this sort they go to the church (though the minister be at
-prayer or preaching), dancing and swinging their handkerchiefs over their
-heads in the church like devils incarnate, with such a confused noise
-that no man can hear his own voice. Then the foolish people they look,
-they stare, they laugh, they fleer, and mount upon forms and pews to see
-these goodly pageants solemnised in this sort. Then, after this, about
-the church they go again and again, and so forth into the churchyard,
-where they have commonly their summer halls, their bowers, arbours, and
-banqueting-houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet, and dance all that
-day, and peradventure all that night, too. And thus these terrestrial
-furies spend the Sabbath-day in the country."
-
-To relate all the jollity with which Christmas was celebrated is beyond
-our space. The Christmas carols with which the waits awoke all the
-sleeping people for a fortnight before; the yule-log dragged into the
-hall and piled on the fire; the boar's-head feast, with plum-pudding and
-mince-pies, and all the dances and games, were as much in fashion as in
-the days of the ancient Church. Plough Monday, Valentine Day, Easter and
-Whitsuntide, St. John's Eve, and all the charities of Maundy Thursday,
-were still maintained. Even Palm Sunday, when the figure of Christ went
-on its procession mounted on a wooden ass, resisted the Reformation till
-the year 1548.
-
-The drama, which was now shaping itself into freedom and splendour under
-such men as Shakespeare and Marlowe, was yet conducted in a very rough
-style. The theatres were mostly of wood; the actors were rarely arrayed
-in proper costume; women's parts were represented by boys; any scenery
-which the play had, remained, like a picture on a country fair booth,
-through the whole piece. The aristocratic frequenters sate on the stage,
-for there were no boxes or dress-circle, and the commonalty sate on
-stools and enjoyed their pipes and beer during the performance. What was
-worse, the theatre had to contend, in the affections of the public, with
-the bear-garden, bull-baiting, and cock-fighting. This was true--and to
-us the fact must seem deplorable--of the very highest classes among the
-people.
-
-As Sunday had been the great day of the Church plays or Mysteries,
-so Sunday was the chief day of the theatre, which brought it into
-disrepute with the serious portion of the community; and when there was
-bull-baiting, the theatre was closed that it might not interfere. Queen
-Elizabeth was especially fond of the bear-garden, and that sport was
-consequently included by Leicester in the recreations which he provided
-for her at Kenilworth. In truth, bear-gardens, cock-pits, bowling-greens,
-tennis-courts, dicing-houses, taverns, smoking ordinaries, and the like
-abounded, giving us a fair idea of the grade of taste of that age.
-Hunting and hawking were still pastimes of the gentry, and horse-racing
-became a great rage. The first notice we have of this latter pastime is
-on the occasion before mentioned, when Henry went a-maying in 1515; after
-which it is said that he and his brother-in-law, the Duke of Suffolk,
-diverted themselves by "racing on great coursers."
-
-But amid the pleasures of this century there must have existed a large
-intermixture of a more moral class, for the Bible had become extensively
-read, and the Reformers must have been numerous to enable the Government
-to effect the ecclesiastical changes which they did; and the advance
-of physical improvement must not be judged of by the popular condition
-of to-day, but of previous times. In the course of the century the
-condition of the people considerably advanced. At the beginning the
-houses of farmers were generally of timber, and those of labourers of
-mud, or wattle and mud. In many of them were no chimneys, except one for
-cooking. Wooden trenchers and wooden spoons were used instead of pewter
-or earthenware; and a yeoman who had half a dozen pewter dishes in his
-house was looked on as wealthy. Their lodging was equally mean. Straw
-beds and pillows of chaff were most common; flock beds were a rural
-luxury; and the farm servants lay on straw, and often had not even a
-coverlet to throw over them. The bread of the common people was made of
-rye, barley, or oats, and in many districts of peas or beans. The gentry
-only ate wheaten bread. The men by the fire in the evening, after their
-day's work, made their own shoes, or prepared the yokes for oxen, and
-their plough-gear. The women made the wool and the hemp or flax ready
-for the weaver at the spinning-wheel. As they do now on the Continent,
-the countrywomen worked much in the fields. Fitzherbert, the first of
-our writers on husbandry, says that it was the business of the farmer's
-wife "to winnow all manner of corn, to make malt, to wash, to make hay,
-to shear corn, and, in time of need, to help her husband to fill the
-muck-wain, or dung-cart, drive the plough, to load hay or corn, to go to
-market and sell butter or pigs or fowls."
-
-Latimer, who was a farmer's son, describes the advance in the value of
-land in his time. When he was young, he says, his father's farm was
-rented by him at L4 a year; that he employed half-a-dozen men upon it,
-and had 100 sheep and thirty cows; that his father managed to send him
-to school and college, and to give to each of his daughters L5 on her
-marriage. But, continues Latimer, at the time he wrote this, the same
-farm was charged L16 a year, or fourfold, and then the farmer of it
-could do nothing for his prince, himself, or his children, nor give a
-cup of drink to the poor. The cause of this was the increased demand for
-wool, which had occasioned great enclosures, and a decrease of tillage
-in favour of pasturage. This pressed greatly on the labouring class who
-were not employed; for the gentlemen had flocks of from 10,000 to 20,000,
-and a few shepherds were all they needed in their great enclosures. The
-gentry, who thus occupied the land, we are told, did not reside on it,
-but crowded up to London and hung about the Court. "Hence," says Roger
-Ascham, "so many families dispersed, so many houses ruined. Hence the
-honour and strength of England, the noble yeomanry, are broken up and
-destroyed."
-
-[Illustration: THE FROLIC OF MY LORD OF MISRULE. (_See p._ 399.)]
-
-The evils of this state of things compelled the Legislature to put
-restrictions on the extent of pasturage, to insist on the tillage of
-sufficient land for the wants of the community; and penalties were
-enacted for such as did not build proper cottages for their labourers,
-with four acres of land each, or who allowed more than one family in one
-cottage. The evil produced its own remedy. The scarcity of tillage land
-raised the price of produce, and that stimulated to the manuring and
-better culture of the land. We learn from Harrison and Norden, writers
-of the period, that towards the end of the century things were greatly
-improved. The farmers and small builders were become more painstaking and
-skilful. They collected manure and even the sweepings of streets, burnt
-lime, and carted sea sand, as in Cornwall and Devon. The consequence was
-that they had better cattle and better crops, they had milk from their
-cows, ewes, and goats; and they used much more meat. In the autumn they
-cured bacon and beef for the winter; and in summer they had abundance of
-veal, beef, and mutton, which, says Harrison, they ceased to baste with
-lard, but basted with butter, or suffered the fattest to baste itself.
-
-With their living, their houses improved. Wood or wattle gave way to
-stone or brick, the wooden trenchers were superseded at substantial
-tables by pewter, and with the pewter were sometimes seen articles of
-silver. Feather beds replaced the straw and chaff mattresses; there was
-more abundant linen, bed-covers, and better clothing. Coal was beginning
-to make the scarcity of wood less felt.
-
-The vast increase of foreign trade and of manufactures which has been
-described must have proved the most effectual means, far more than
-enactments, for encouraging tillage, from the augmented demand of
-provisions and luxuries; and the same causes would provide employment
-and good wages for increased numbers. The land as well as every other
-thing in the kingdom was in a transition state, and as the large estates
-of nobles and the Church, now divided amongst a multitude, came to be
-settled and cultivated, the diffusion of life and prosperity through
-the rural districts was no doubt proportional. At this time there must
-have been a great flow of population from the agricultural to the
-manufacturing districts, as the latter were making increased demands on
-the strength of the nation; yet it appears that the produce both of the
-tilled ground and of pasturage grew steadily. The small cottagers, who
-had probably been but poor farmers, being now gradually absorbed into the
-growing artisan population, gave place to greater and wealthier men, who
-laid out the ground in large grazing farms. This gave rise to the false
-impression that the population was decreasing, and the statistics of the
-period give frequent evidence of the alarm thus occasioned. The evidence,
-however, for the increase of the population is incontestable; and the
-wage for ordinary labour seems to have been quite double its old amount
-in this century. It may be interesting to record some of the salaries
-of the period. In the household of the Earl of Northumberland, in 1511,
-the principal priest of the chapel received L5 a year; a chaplain
-graduate, L3 6s. 8d.; a chaplain, not a graduate, L2; a minstrel, L4;
-a serving-boy, 13s. 4d.; all these being lodged and fed in addition.
-In 1500 a mason received 4d. a day, and 2d. for diet. In 1575 a master
-mason received 1s. a day, and a common labourer 8d. In 1601 a master
-mason had 1s. 2d. a day, and a labourer 10d. The long continuance of
-internal peace had increased the population from two millions and a half
-in the commencement of the fifteenth century, to six millions and a half
-at the end of the sixteenth; but the increase of trade, of commerce,
-and of tillage, had not been able to absorb a tithe of the homeless and
-destitute people who had been increasing since the abolition of villenage
-and the destruction of the monasteries, which had fed swarms of them. We
-have had occasion to show that these wandering tribes overran the country
-like a flood--"vagabonds, rogues, and sturdy beggars"--carrying terror
-and crime everywhere. Henry VIII., Harrison tells us, in the course of
-his reign, hanged of robbers, thieves, and vagabonds, no fewer than
-72,000, and Elizabeth, toward the latter part of her reign, sent 300 or
-400 of them annually to the gallows.
-
-We find a statute of the first year of Edward VI. containing the
-following:--"Idleness and vagabondry is the mother and root of all
-thefts, robberies, and all evil acts and other mischiefs, and the
-multitude of people given thereto hath always been here within this
-realm very great and more in number, as it may appear, than in other
-regions; the which idleness and vagabondry all the king's highness' noble
-progenitors, kings of this realm, and this high court of Parliament hath
-often and with great travail gone about and assayed with godly acts
-and statutes to repress; yet until this our time it hath not had that
-success which hath been wished; but--partly by foolish pity and mercy
-of them which should have seen the said godly laws executed, partly by
-perverse natures and long-accustomed idleness of the persons given to
-loitering--the said godly statutes hitherto hath had small effect, and
-idle and vagabond persons hath been suffered to remain and increase,
-and yet so do." "If," continues the Act, "they should be punished by
-death, whipping, imprisonment, or with other corporal pain, it were not
-without their desert, for the example of others and to the benefit of
-the commonwealth; yet if they could be brought to be made profitable and
-do service, it were much to be wished and desired." Such words would
-lead us to conclude that they were about to adopt conciliatory measures
-with regard to this troublesome class, but we find on the contrary the
-harshest enactments put in execution. Thus, every person found idle
-and wandering without any effort to obtain work was to be considered a
-vagabond, and was liable to be seized by any one and forced to labour,
-for which he was to receive only his daily food. If he attempted to
-run away, he was to be branded on the breast with the letter "V" and
-made the slave of his owner for two years. If he made a second attempt
-for liberty, he was to be branded on the forehead or cheek with the
-letter "S" and made his master's slave for ever; while a third effort
-at escape was punishable by death. The severity of this law prevented
-it from being properly executed, and caused its repeal in two years.
-After various futile enactments, Henry VIII., in 1530, gave the sick and
-impotent permission to beg; and in 1536 the magistrates and the clergy
-were ordered to make collections for their relief. These were the first
-approaches to a poor-law, and in the year 1562 Queen Elizabeth passed an
-Act making parochial assessments for the poor compulsory. The poor-law,
-therefore, in reality dates from that period; but in the year 1601, the
-celebrated Act of the 43rd of Elizabeth organised and completed that
-system of employing and maintaining the destitute poor, which--with its
-subsequent modifications--has remained ever since the law of England.
-
-[Illustration: PUNISHMENT OF THE STOCKS.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-THE REIGN OF JAMES I.
-
-     The Stuart Dynasty--Hopes and Fears caused by the Accession of
-     James--The King enters England--His Progress to London--Lavish
-     Creation of Peers and Knights--The Royal Entrance into the
-     Metropolis--The Coronation--Popularity of Queen Anne--Ravages
-     of the Plague--The King Receives Foreign Embassies--Rivalry
-     of the Diplomatists of France and Spain--Discontent of
-     Raleigh, Northumberland, and Cobham--Conspiracies against
-     James--"The Main" and "The Bye"--Trials of the Conspirators--The
-     Sentences--Conference with Puritans--Parliament of
-     1604--Persecution of Catholics and Puritans--Gunpowder
-     Plot--Admission of fresh Members--Delays and Devices--The
-     Letter to Lord Mounteagle--Discovery of the Plot--Flight of the
-     Conspirators--Their Capture and Execution--New Penal Code--James's
-     Correspondence with Bellarmine--Cecil's attempts to get
-     Money--Project of Union between England and Scotland--The King's
-     Collisions with Parliament--Insurrection of the Levellers--Royal
-     Extravagance and Impecuniosity--Fresh Disputes with Parliament and
-     Assertions of the Prerogative--Death of Cecil--Story of Arabella
-     Stuart--Death of Prince Henry.
-
-
-With the Stuart dynasty begins a new order of things. The direct line of
-the Tudors ceased in Elizabeth, and the collateral one of the Stuarts
-introduced the kings of Scotland to the English throne. After all the
-ages of conflict to unite the two kingdoms under one crown, it was
-effected, but in the reverse direction to that in which the monarchs
-of England had striven. They had not mounted the throne of Scotland,
-but Scotland sent her king to rule over England. With Elizabeth and the
-Tudors terminated the reign of almost unresisted absolutism; with James
-commenced that mighty struggle for constitutional liberty which did not
-cease till it had expelled his dynasty from the throne, and placed on a
-firm basis the independence of the people.
-
-With great haste various messengers flew to Scotland to announce the
-demise of Elizabeth; the winner in the race of loyalty, or, in other
-words, of self-interest, being, as we have seen, Sir Robert Carey, to
-whom the artifice of his sister, Lady Scrope, had communicated the
-earliest news of the queen's decease. He reached Edinburgh four days
-before Sir Charles Percy and Thomas Somerset, who were despatched
-officially by the Council. Meanwhile, on March 24th, 1603, Cecil
-assembled thirty-five individuals--members of Council, peers, prelates,
-and officers of State--at Whitehall, and accompanied by the lord mayor
-and aldermen, proclaimed James VI. of Scotland James I. of England, first
-in front of Westminster Palace, and then at the High Cross, in Cheapside.
-
-There were some who were apprehensive that the accession of James might
-be opposed by the noblemen who had been so active in the death of his
-mother. But these had taken care to make their peace with the facile
-James, whose filial affection was not of an intensity to weigh much in
-the scales with the crown of England. On the contrary, his accession
-was hailed with apparent enthusiasm by all parties, for all parties
-believed that they should reap decided advantages from his government.
-The persecuted Catholics felt certain that the son of the queen of Scots
-would at least tolerate their religion, as he had many a time privately
-assured their agents. The Puritans were equally confident that a king
-who had been educated in the strictest faith of Calvinism, would place
-them in the ascendant. The Episcopal church--as it deemed, on equally
-good grounds--rejoiced in the advent of a prince who had protested to
-its friends that he was heartily sick of a religion which had domineered
-over both his mother and himself with an iron rigidity. The populace, in
-the hope of a milder yoke than that of the truculent Tudors, gave vent to
-their joy in loud acclamations, by bonfires and ringing of bells, while
-Elizabeth was lying a corpse, scarcely cold, on her bier.
-
-James, who was in his thirty-seventh year, was transported at the
-prospect of his escape from the poverty and religious restraint of
-Scotland, to the affluence of so much more extensive an empire, and
-one impediment alone checked his flight southward--the want of money
-for the journey. He sent a speedy message to Cecil for the necessary
-funds, and also added a request for the transmission of the Crown jewels
-for the adornment of his wife. The money was forwarded, but the jewels
-were prudently withheld till he reached his future capital. Once in
-possession of the means of locomotion, James did not conceal his pleasure
-at escaping from the control of his Presbyterian clergy and the haughty
-rudeness of his nobles, to an accession of wealth and power which he
-imagined would make him as absolute as Henry VIII., a condition for which
-he had an intense yearning.
-
-On the 5th of April James commenced his journey towards London, but
-however much he rejoiced in the prospect of his new kingdom, he was in
-no haste to reach the capital. The moment that he set foot in England
-he seemed to have realised the full luxury of his new sovereignty, and
-announced to those about him that they had indeed at last arrived at
-the Land of Promise. At Berwick he fired a piece of ordnance himself
-in his joy, which seemed for the moment to have raised him above his
-constitutional timidity; and he then sate down and wrote to Cecil,
-informing him of his progress, and of his intention to take York and
-other places on his way. As he intended to enter York and pass through
-other towns in state, he pressed on the obsequious minister the necessity
-of forwarding to him coaches, litters, horses, jewels, and all that
-was requisite for regal dignity, as well as a lord chamberlain; and he
-forthwith appointed to that office the lord Thomas Howard. He stayed
-three days at York, and did not reach Newark till the 21st of the month.
-Cecil had met him at York, and accompanied his progress; and as he rode
-forward the people crowded around to welcome their new sovereign with
-the most hearty acclamations. To express his satisfaction to the gentry,
-he made almost every man of any standing who approached him a knight; so
-that by the time he reached London he is said to have created two hundred
-and fifty, and before he had been in England three months, seven hundred
-knights, a profusion which much diminished the value of the gift.
-
-[Illustration: JAMES I.]
-
-The truth was that James, who made himself very free and easy in his
-immediate circle, disliked exposure to the mob, and dealt about his
-smiles and knighthoods to get rid of his throngers as soon as possible.
-By the time he had reached Berwick he had knighted three persons; at
-Widdrington he knighted eleven, at York thirty-one, at Worksop in
-Nottinghamshire eighteen, at Newark eight, on the road thence to Belvoir
-Castle four, at Belvoir forty-five. Yet gracious as he was and agreeable
-as he wanted to make himself, his new subjects did not behold his person
-and manner without considerable astonishment. His ungainly figure and
-his equally uncouth dialect no little amazed the stately courtiers of
-Elizabeth, but nevertheless they paid him the most devoted homage, as the
-dispenser of all honours and of every good.
-
-At Theobalds Cecil had the opportunity of studying James's character and
-of ingratiating himself with him. A new Council was formed, and whilst
-James introduced six of his own countrymen, Cecil recommended six of his
-partisans to balance them. During his correspondence with James Cecil had
-managed to fix in the king's mind a deep and ineradicable aversion to the
-men whom he himself regarded with jealous and hostile feelings--Raleigh,
-Cobham, and Grey. It was in vain that they paid their court; they were
-treated with coldness, and Raleigh, instead of receiving the promotion to
-which he aspired, was even deprived of the valuable office of warden of
-the Stannaries. Northumberland was equally the object of Cecil's dislike,
-but Bacon was warmly in his favour, and the king received him graciously.
-
-On the 7th of July James set out for his capital, and at Stamford Hill
-was met by the lord mayor and aldermen in their scarlet robes, followed
-by a great crowd, and with these he entered the City, and proceeded to
-the Charterhouse. He immediately caused a proclamation to be made that
-all licences and monopolies granted by Elizabeth, and which had excited
-so much discontent, should be suspended till they had been examined by
-the Council; that all protections from the Crown to delay the progress
-of justice in the courts of law should cease, as well as the abuses of
-purveyance, and the oppressions of saltpetre-makers and officers of the
-household. From the Charterhouse he proceeded, according to routine,
-to the Tower, and thence to Greenwich and back to Whitehall, at every
-step making more knights and creating peers. He had sent for the Earl
-of Southampton to meet him at York, and he now restored both him and
-the son of his friend the Earl of Essex to their honours and estates.
-Mountjoy and three of the Howards were raised to the rank of earls; nine
-new barons were created, amongst them Cecil, who was made Lord Cecil, and
-afterwards Viscount Cranbourne, and finally Earl of Salisbury. Buckhurst
-and Egerton were promoted; and eventually, besides his seven hundred
-spick-and-span new knights, he added sixty-two fresh members to the
-peerage. So extravagant was his distribution of honours that a pasquinade
-was affixed to the door of St. Paul's, offering to teach weak memories
-the art of recollecting the titles of the nobility.
-
-The coronation took place on the 25th of July. James's wife, Anne of
-Denmark, was crowned with him. The weather had been intensely hot, but
-it now set in very rainy. To spoil the pleasure of the people, the
-plague was raging in the City, and the inhabitants were by proclamation
-forbidden to enter Westminster. No queen-consort had been crowned since
-Anne Boleyn, nor had any king and queen been crowned together since Henry
-VIII. and Catherine of Aragon, and therefore the restriction was the more
-mortifying. Queen Anne went to the coronation "with her seemly hair down
-hanging on her princely shoulders, and on her head a coronet of gold. She
-so mildly saluted her new subjects, that the women, weeping, cried out
-with one voice, 'God bless the royal queen! Welcome to England, long to
-live and continue!'"
-
-That week there died in London and the suburbs eight hundred and
-fifty-seven persons of the plague. On the 5th of August James ordered
-morning and evening prayers and sermons, with bonfires all night to
-drive away the pestilence, not forgetting to order that all men should
-praise God for his Majesty's escape that day three years before, from the
-Gowrie conspiracy; and on the 10th of August he commanded that a fast,
-with sermons of repentance, should be held, and repeated every week on
-Wednesday so long as the plague continued.
-
-James's pride was soon gratified by the flocking in of ambassadors
-from all the great nations of Europe, soliciting his alliance; and on
-the first intimation of their approach he appointed Sir Lewis Lewknor
-master of the ceremonies, to receive and entertain these distinguished
-persons. This was the first establishment of such an office in England.
-First arrived, from Holland and the United Provinces, Prince Frederick
-of Nassau son of the Prince of Orange, attended by the three able
-diplomatists Valck, Barneveldt, and Brederode. James, with equally high
-notions of the royal prerogative, had not the sympathy of Elizabeth
-with the struggles of Protestantism abroad, and therefore regarded the
-revolted Netherlanders as rebels and traitors, and did not fail amongst
-his courtiers to pronounce them so; the more particularly as they owed
-the English crown large sums for past assistance, which they were in
-no hurry to pay. He, therefore, framed various excuses to defer their
-audiences till the arrival of the envoy of the King of Spain, Count
-Aremberg, who was not long in appearing, bringing the agreeable news that
-the Archduke had liberated all English prisoners, as the subjects of a
-friendly power. Two days after Aremberg's arrival, Henry IV.'s great
-minister, the Duke of Sully, reached London. Aremberg was in no condition
-to negotiate on any positive terms till he received instructions from
-Spain; and Sully seized time by the forelock, by distributing amongst the
-courtiers sixty thousand crowns, a considerable part of which found its
-way into the queen's purse. He prevailed on James to make a treaty with
-Henry IV., in which he engaged to send money to the States in aid against
-the Spaniards, and join France in open hostilities should Philip attempt
-to invade that country. Sully, delighted with his success--for Henry
-feared nothing more than James's making peace with Spain, and leaving him
-to assist Holland alone--returned to France. But a little time convinced
-the French court that nothing in reality had been secured by it, for
-James had no money to send to Holland had he been really so disposed,
-which is doubtful, and that he merely temporised with them as he had done
-with different States before.
-
-Meantime the Court of Spain, notwithstanding the activity of France, was
-slow in deciding the course of policy to be adopted towards England under
-the new king. After the decided hostility towards it under Elizabeth, and
-the signal defeats experienced, pride forbade Philip to solicit a peace,
-lest it should look like weakness. And, indeed, Spain had never recovered
-from the severe blow received in the loss of its Armada, and the other
-ravages of its ports and colonies by the English, added to the loss of a
-great portion of the Low Countries; and this consciousness made it more
-tardy in its proceedings. But while engaged in prolonged discussions on
-this head, two Englishmen arrived at the court of Spain, whose mission
-was of a nature to bring it to a decision. These were Wright and Fawkes,
-who were soon to assume a conspicuous position in the strife between
-the Catholics and Protestants of England. Previous to the death of
-Elizabeth, Thomas Winter had negotiated with the Spanish Court a plan
-for the invasion of England, which had been abandoned on her decease.
-Now, however, the scheme was revived, and these two emissaries were
-despatched to sound the present disposition of the Court of Madrid. This
-direct appeal from the conspirators seems to have startled the Spanish
-Government from its wavering policy. It was not prepared for anything
-so desperate, and replied that it had no cause of complaint against
-James, but, on the contrary, regarded him as a friend and ally, and had
-appointed the Conde de Villa Mediana as ambassador to his Court.
-
-This was decisive, and the way now seemed open towards a more friendly
-tone between Spain and England; but at the same moment a secret
-and mysterious correspondence seems to have been going on between
-Aremberg, the agent of the King of Spain, and a discontented party in
-England. Northumberland, Cobham, and Raleigh were ill at ease under
-the disappointment which they had met with in their hopes of favour at
-James's Court. Northumberland had been to a certain degree graciously
-received, and even entertained with promises by James; but he felt that
-while Cecil was so completely in the ascendant there was little hope of
-a cordial feeling towards him in the monarch's heart. Cobham and Raleigh
-were undisguisedly in disgrace, and were shunned by the courtiers as
-fallen men. The three friends, therefore, entered into intrigues with the
-Court of France through the resident minister Beaumont, and Sully the
-envoy extraordinary. For a time their suggestions were listened to, but
-the apparent success of Sully with James put an end to further overtures,
-and there Northumberland was prudent enough to desist. But Cobham and
-Raleigh, disappointed of Court favour and burning with resentment against
-Cecil--whom they felt to be the cause of their disgrace--plotted for the
-overthrow of the crafty minister.
-
-Sully, the French envoy, had, while in London, done his best to inspire
-James with distrust of Cecil; and there is little doubt that this was at
-the suggestion, or with the co-operation of Cobham, Northumberland, and
-Raleigh. When Northumberland drew back, these two held communication with
-Aremberg, to whom they offered their services in promoting the objects
-he sought on behalf of Spain and the Netherlands. Aremberg, who did not
-know what was going on at the Spanish Court, communicated the proposal
-to his master, who instructed him to give a favourable answer. What the
-scheme proposed by Cobham and Raleigh precisely was seems never to have
-been known, but we may suppose that in return for aid from the Continent,
-these ambitious men were to attempt the removal of Cecil by some means,
-and on their succeeding to power, their influence was to be exerted with
-the king on behalf of Spain.
-
-This was designated by those in the secret as "The Main" conspiracy; but
-there was also another going on simultaneously, of which these gentlemen
-are supposed to have been cognisant, but not mixed up with. This was
-called "The Bye" conspiracy, and was composed of an extraordinary medley
-of the discontented, the most determined of whom aimed at nothing less
-than the seizure of the king, and the government of the country in his
-name, for their own party purposes.
-
-The grand cause of discontent was the disappointment of both Catholics
-and Puritans in James. Before his coming to the English crown he had
-held out the most flattering expectations to the Catholics that he
-would grant them toleration, whilst the Puritans calculated on his
-Presbyterian education for a decided adhesion to their views. But no
-sooner did he reach England than he threw himself into the arms of the
-High Church party, declaring that it was the only religion fit for a
-king. To the Catholics he declared he would grant no toleration--rather
-would he fight to the death against it; and he took no pains to conceal
-his disgust at the Presbyterian clergy amongst whom he had spent his
-youth. The antagonism of Catholic and Puritan was forgotten in the
-resentment against this disclosure of the king's disposition. Instantly
-plans were cogitated to avenge themselves of the royal perfidy, as it
-was termed, and to secure themselves against the threatened storm. Sir
-Griffin Markham, a Catholic gentlemen of no great property or influence,
-concerted with two priests, Watson and Clarke, the means of raising the
-Catholics against the Government. Watson had been sent into Scotland, to
-James, on behalf of the Catholics, before the death of Elizabeth, and he
-indignantly represented that James had given them, through him, the most
-solemn promises of toleration, which he had now broken. He, therefore,
-threw himself with the greatest heat into the conspiracy: he drew up an
-awful oath of secrecy, and he and Clarke travelled far and wide amongst
-the Catholic families, calling upon them to come forward in the name of
-their religion and their property.
-
-But their success was trivial; few or none of the Catholics of weight
-and station would engage in the enterprise. Failing there, Watson turned
-his attention to the Puritans; and with them he was more successful,
-by artfully concealing from them the paucity of the Catholics who had
-joined the conspiracy, and the full extent of his own intentions. Lord
-Grey de Wilton, who was a leading Puritan, and had his discontent from
-the same causes as Cobham and Raleigh, was induced by Watson to join the
-conspiracy, under the impression that a strong Catholic body was engaged
-in it. He agreed to furnish a troop of a hundred horse, but he was not
-long in discovering that he had been imposed upon, and advised the
-conspirators to defer the execution of their design to a more favourable
-opportunity.
-
-The conspirators proposed to meet during the darkness of night at
-Greenwich; but the reflection that there were three hundred armed
-gentlemen within the Palace, made that appear too hazardous; they,
-therefore, altered their plan, and concluded to seize James as he was
-hunting at Hanworth, and where he was accustomed to call for refreshment
-at a gentleman's house. The plan, as communicated by Watson to the
-conspirators, was to assemble in a numerous body under pretence of
-presenting a petition to James as he went out hunting, seize the king,
-and convey him to a place of safety, where they were to extort from him
-a declaration of liberty of conscience. With the king in their hands,
-they would then wreak their vengeance on Cecil and Sir George Howe; and
-it was afterwards charged against them in the indictment, that they meant
-to make Watson lord chancellor, Brooke, the brother of Cobham--who was a
-most unprincipled man, and has been suspected of being Cecil's spy and
-tool on the occasion--lord treasurer, Markham secretary, and Grey earl
-marshal. Probably this was the scheme devised for them by the accusers,
-for it appears too wild for belief; but be that as it may, the 24th of
-June was the day named for the attempt, when the refusal of Lord Grey
-caused it to be abandoned, and the party separated with much mutual
-recrimination.
-
-But Watson had already proceeded to a length which led to the revelation
-of the plot to Cecil. He had endeavoured to engage in it the Society of
-the Jesuits, and had communicated his plans to a Jesuit of the name of
-Gerard. The Society not only refused to sanction the conspiracy, but the
-archpriest went at once and revealed it to Cecil. The crafty minister
-kept his information close, and resolved to let the conspirators go on
-till the very day for the execution of their design, so that he might
-the more summarily convict them; but the failure of their plan left him
-no further reason for delay, and Anthony Copley, one of the "Bye," was
-arrested, as a man well known to be of a timid character and likely
-in his terror to betray his associates. Cecil had probably plenty of
-intelligence of both the plan and its agitators from others as well as
-from Gerard, and most probably from Brooke. But with great judgment he
-neglected no means of making the conspirators furnish evidence against
-each other, and thus he kept his own sources of knowledge secret. On the
-heels of Copley's arrest, followed, as a natural consequence, the arrest
-of Griffin, Markham, the priests Watson and Clarke, and the rest of
-Copley's associates. Cecil said that the mere fact of Brooke being in the
-conspiracy made him feel certain that Cobham, Raleigh, and Northumberland
-were in it. They were therefore apprehended separately; and, by playing
-on the fears of the fallen Cobham, Cecil speedily made him incriminate
-Raleigh.
-
-[Illustration: ST. THOMAS'S TOWER AND TRAITORS' GATE, TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-The coronation of the king, which took place on the 25th of July,
-being his saint's day, the festival of St. James, and the violence of
-the plague, which caused the king to flee into the country, postponed
-the trials of the conspirators. The Court, followed by the judges and
-their suitors, fled from place to place for several months, pursued by
-the plague; and it was not till November that the trials took place in
-the castle at Winchester. Another cause had, perhaps still more than
-the plague, deferred them. Aremberg was deeply implicated, but his
-intrigues could not be opened up whilst he was in the country, nor could
-an order be issued directing him to leave, without embarrassing the
-public relations with Spain. But in October he left, and on the 15th
-of November the trials of the conspirators commenced. The accomplices
-of the "Bye"--Brooke, Brookesby, Markham, Copley, Watson, and Clarke,
-with others--were all condemned on their own confessions, for they had
-been so managed that they not only accused each other, but made the most
-ample confessions of their own guilt, as if each thought he should obtain
-pardon by discovering most. These confessions, which had been carefully
-compiled, were put in as evidence against them. Sir Edward Parham only
-was acquitted, for he pleaded that he joined solely to rescue the king
-from the hands of those who held him in captivity; Cecil threw in his
-word in his favour, suggesting that the king's dignity consisted as much
-in freeing the innocent as condemning the guilty. This conduct gave an
-air of impartiality--of which no one could estimate the effect more fully
-than the astute Cecil--to the proceedings.
-
-Sir Walter Raleigh was next put upon his trial. His extraordinary
-ability, and his knowledge of Court secrets, made it too dangerous an
-attempt to connect him with the "Bye," and arraign him along with the
-unhappy and weak members of that part of the conspiracy. He was not
-placed at the bar even along with Cobham, for the only evidence against
-him which the Court dared to bring forward, was that of Cobham; and
-they knew too well that in Raleigh's presence, the wavering Cobham
-would be worse than useless. Already repenting of his accusation of
-Raleigh in the surprise of his resentment, Cobham had retracted his
-accusations; and when pressed and cross-questioned by the Council, had so
-contradicted himself, that to bring him into public would be to render
-his evidence worthless. True, the Council had the intercepted letters,
-which had passed between Aremberg and the Spanish authorities, which
-were sufficiently criminatory of Raleigh and Cobham; but these could
-not be produced without an exposure of the fact that the correspondence
-of ambassadors and their principals was not safe in England. Indeed,
-Coke, who was of course duly instructed in the particulars of this
-correspondence, having made some too intelligible reference to Aremberg,
-Cecil compelled him to apologise to the ambassador, and hastened to
-assure the other ambassadors of foreign courts that Aremberg had no
-notion of the purpose for which Cobham and Raleigh had solicited money
-from Spain.
-
-Coke's device was to mix the two plots. He went into the case at
-length, and what he lacked in proof he endeavoured to supply by abuse.
-He described in inflated language the intentions of the agitators of
-the "Bye," and declared that amongst other things, they meant to make
-proclamation against monopolies, as if that were absolute treason.
-Raleigh calmly reminded him that he was not charged with the "Bye." "You
-are not," replied Coke; "but it will be seen that all these treasons,
-though they consisted of several parts, closed in together like Samson's
-foxes, which were joined in their tails, though their heads were
-separated." Raleigh still insisted that the "Bye" was the treason of the
-priests, and said, "What is the treason of the priest to me?" "I will
-then come close to you," said Coke. "I will prove you to be the most
-notorious traitor that ever came to the bar; you are, indeed, upon the
-'Main,' but you have followed them upon the 'Bye' in imitation."
-
-Raleigh in reply demanded that his accuser should be brought face to
-face with him. He demanded it on the authority of the statute law and
-the law of God, both of which required that this should be done to prove
-an offence. But Lord Chief Justice Popham told him that the Statutes of
-Edward VI. to which he appealed, were cancelled by Philip and Mary; that
-he must take his trial by the common law, as settled by Edward III.,
-under which a trial by jury and written evidence was as valid as a trial
-by jury and witnesses; and that at most one witness was sufficient. But
-Raleigh replied that his case was peculiar, and that there was not a
-single witness against him; for even the man who had borne testimony
-against him had retracted his assertions. He, therefore, reiterated his
-demand for the production of Cobham; declaring that if Cobham dared in
-his presence to reaffirm a single charge, he would submit to his doom,
-and would not add another word. When this challenge was passed over
-without any notice, he produced a letter which Cobham had written to him
-about a fortnight before, in which he said:--"To free myself from the cry
-of blood, I protest, upon my soul and before God and His angels, I never
-had conference with you in any treason, nor was ever moved by you to the
-things I heretofore accused you of; and, for anything I know, you are as
-innocent and as clear from any treasons against the king as is subject
-living. And God so deal with me and have mercy on my soul, as this is
-true."
-
-This appeared a strong avowal, but Cecil was prepared for this, having,
-no doubt, already seen this letter on its passage; and Coke produced in
-defeat of it another letter written by Cobham to the Council but the day
-before. In this letter Cobham stated that Raleigh had twice sent letters
-to him in the Tower, which had been thrown into his window-sash in an
-apple, and that in these letters he entreated him to do him right by
-denying what he had said as to his wishing him to come from the Continent
-by Jersey, and in other particulars. Cobham replied that he retracted the
-assertion about Jersey, but went on to state that Raleigh had been the
-original cause of his ruin, for that he had no dealings with Aremberg but
-at Sir Walter's instigation. He added that at Aremberg's coming Raleigh
-was to receive a pension of fifteen hundred pounds a year, for which he
-was to keep the king of Spain informed of all designs against the Indies,
-the Netherlands, or Spain; that he (Cobham) also counselled him (Raleigh)
-not to be overtaken by preachers as Essex was, and that the king would
-better allow of a constant denial than of the accusation of any one.
-
-During the reading of this letter Raleigh could not conceal his
-astonishment and confusion. When it was finished, he admitted that there
-had been some talk of a pension, but mere talk and nothing more. But the
-fact made a deep impression on the minds of the jury, and the prisoner
-probably being conscious of it, repeated his demand for the production
-of Cobham himself. "My lords," he exclaimed, "let Cobham be sent for; I
-know he is in this very house! I beseech you let him be confronted with
-me! Let him be here openly charged--upon his soul--upon his allegiance
-to the king--and if he will then maintain his accusations to my face,
-I will confess myself guilty!" But no notice was taken of this appeal:
-Coke still strove to bear him down by the coarsest brow-beating, shouting
-fiercely, "I will have the last word for the king!" "Nay," retorted
-Raleigh, "I will have the last word for my life!" "Go to," said the
-insolent lawyer; "I will lay thee upon thy back for the confidentest
-traitor that ever came to the bar." Cecil here interposed, telling Coke
-that he was too impatient and severe; but Coke cried, "I am the king's
-sworn servant, and must speak. You discourage the king's counsel, my
-lord, and encourage traitors."
-
-The jury, but with evident reluctance, returned a verdict of guilty.
-On being asked, in the usual form, whether he had anything to say why
-judgment should not be pronounced against him, he replied that he was
-perfectly innocent of the charges of Cobham, but that he submitted
-himself to the king's mercy, and recommended to the compassion of his
-majesty his wife and his son of tender years. After the sentence of high
-treason, with all its disgusting details, had been pronounced, Raleigh
-asked to speak privately with Cecil, Lord Henry Howard, and the Earls of
-Suffolk and Devonshire, entreating them that, in consideration of the
-position which he had held under the crown, his death might not be so
-ignominious as the strict sentence required. They promised to use their
-influence, and he was taken back to his quarters.
-
-The charges of complicity which were made against Arabella Stuart, in
-the indictment against Raleigh, were of a nature which called for denial
-on her part. She was present at the trial in a gallery; and Charles
-Howard, Earl of Nottingham, who was sitting by her, arose, and in her
-name protested, on her salvation, that she had never meddled in any
-such matters. There appeared, indeed, no disposition at this moment to
-implicate the Lady Arabella, though her relation to the Crown made her
-an object of anxiety to James, as we shall soon have occasion to see.
-Cecil himself acquitted her of any concern in this treason, admitting
-that though she had received a letter from Cobham, entreating her to
-countenance it, she only laughed at it and at once sent it to the king.
-Of the actual extent of Raleigh's participation, and what was his real
-object, we have no means of judging, for though James was in possession
-of the letters between the accused parties and Aremberg, they could not,
-as already stated, be produced.
-
-Cobham and Grey were arraigned before a tribunal of their peers,
-consisting of eleven earls and nineteen barons. Nothing could be more
-striking than the cowardice and meanness of Cobham, and the noble dignity
-of Grey. They were both condemned.
-
-The two priests were first conducted to execution. They suffered all
-the bloody horrors of the law at Winchester, on the 29th of November.
-It was surmised that James was glad to be rid of Watson as one of
-the individuals to whom, before coming to the English throne, he had
-promised toleration to the Catholics. There was an attempt to prove
-the non-existence of such a promise, but it was crude and convinced
-nobody. At the gallows both Watson and Clarke declared that they were
-convinced they owed their death to their priesthood. They were cut down
-alive and their bowels torn out--a revolting practice which but too well
-illustrates the vindictive spirit of the age.
-
-The next execution was that of Brooke. He was simply beheaded, also at
-Winchester, on the 5th of December. The people expressed great sympathy
-for him, under a belief that he had first been employed by Cecil in
-the troubled waters of these conspiracies, and then victimised by him.
-Markham, Grey, and Cobham were brought to the scaffold, induced to
-confess, and, after an interval of suspense, reprieved. Raleigh was
-imprisoned in the Tower of London for many years.
-
-The effect of this conspiracy was to deepen James's suspicion of the
-Catholics and his dislike of the Puritans. The Catholics, since his
-coming to the English throne, had conducted themselves with more policy
-than their robustious rivals, the Puritans. They had claimed, indeed,
-the fulfilment of his promises whilst merely King of Scotland, to favour
-them as the staunch friends of his mother and serious sufferers on her
-account; but they had preferred their claims with a degree of courtesy
-and moderation to which the brusque Reformers were strangers. The pope,
-Clement VIII., probably led by the same expectations, had by two breves
-addressed to the archpriest and provincial of the Jesuits, strictly
-enjoined the missionaries to confine themselves to their spiritual
-duties, and on no account to mix themselves up with the agitators for
-political change. He condemned unequivocally the conduct of Watson and
-Clarke, and sent a secret envoy to the English Court, expressing his
-abhorrence of all acts of disloyalty, and offering to withdraw any
-missionary from the kingdom who was in any way obnoxious to the king and
-Council. James appeared so far influenced by this moderation, that though
-he stoutly refused all application for a free exercise of the Catholic
-worship, and even committed individuals to the Tower who offended in this
-respect, yet he invited the Catholics to frequent his Court, he conferred
-knighthood on some of them, and assured them generally that they should
-not suffer for recusancy so long as they abstained from a breach of the
-laws as regarded religion, and from all acts of political insubordination.
-
-[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH. (_From the Portrait by Zucchero._)]
-
-But towards the Puritans he was by no means so courteous. He could never
-forget that they had kept him in restraint in his infancy and youth;
-that they had been the defamers and persecutors of his mother; and that
-to the very hour in which he escaped into the larger field of English
-power, they had goaded him with their demands and defied his authority.
-As he drew nearer to the English throne, the charms of the English church
-increased in his imagination. A church which set up the king as its head
-was a church as much after James's own heart as after that of Henry VIII.
-Like that monarch, he dearly loved to shine in polemics, and long before
-he arrived in England, it required no great shrewdness to perceive where
-his affections lay.
-
-[Illustration: THE DISSENTING DIVINES PRESENTING THEIR PETITION TO JAMES.
-(_See p._ 416.)]
-
-No sooner was he in England than he spoke his mind roundly as to his real
-feelings towards the Puritans. He said to the bishops and courtiers: "I
-will tell you, I have lived amongst this sect of men ever since I was
-ten years old; but I may say of myself as Christ said of Himself, though
-I lived amongst them, yet, since I had ability to judge, I was never of
-them." And this was at least sincere. He had grown more undisguisedly
-Episcopalian as he saw Elizabeth sinking, and felt his hold on the
-throne through her own ministers. He had given seats in parliament to
-a certain number of clergymen, thus making them bishops without the
-name; but it was in his "Basilicon Doron"--a manual for the instruction
-of his son, published in 1779--that he had let loose his deep dislike
-of the Presbyterians. He tells his son to "take heed to such Puritans,
-very pests in the church and commonwealth, whom no deserts can oblige,
-neither oaths nor promises bind, breathing nothing but sedition and
-calumnies, aspiring without measure, ruling without reason, making their
-own imaginations, without any warrant of the Word, the square of their
-conscience. I protest," he added, "before the great God, and since I am
-here upon my testament, it is no place for me to lie in, that you shall
-never find with any Highland or Border thieves greater ingratitude, and
-more lies and perjuries than with these fanatic spirits; and suffer not
-the principal of them to brook your land, if ye list to sit at rest;
-except you would keep them for trying your patience, as Socrates did an
-evil wife."
-
-But whilst the royal Solomon thus plainly enunciated his hatred of
-Puritanism, he was cautious not to let the English bishops too early
-into his fixed intention to patronise them. He liked to feel himself
-the undoubted head of that Church, and to see those dignitaries in
-fear and trembling prostrate at his feet; and it was not till they had
-sufficiently humbled themselves before him, that he revived their spirits
-with the declaration of his real sentiments. The Puritans precipitated
-this avowal, by urging on James a further reform of the Church, and
-its purgation from ceremonies. In their millenary petition (so called
-because it was expected it would have a thousand signatures, but in
-reality it had only about eight hundred) they demanded a conference,
-in which to settle the form and doctrines of the Church. This, of all
-things, delighted James. It was the very arena in which to display his
-theological knowledge; he gladly consented to it, and appointed it to
-take place at Hampton Court early in January, 1604. On the 14th of that
-month the first assembly took place; and the bishops, who were first
-admitted to the royal presence alone, were so alarmed at the prospect
-of a conference which had been demanded by Dissenters, that they threw
-themselves on their knees, and earnestly entreated the king not to alter
-the constitution of the Church, nor to give the Puritans the triumph in
-the coming debate, lest the Popish recusants should rejoice over and
-declare them justly punished for their repulsion and persecution of them.
-Then James condescended to lift the weight of fear from their hearts. He
-avowed to them that he was a sincere convert to the Church of England,
-and thanked God "who had brought him to the promised land, to a country
-where religion was purely professed, and where he sate among grave,
-reverend, and learned men; not as before, elsewhere, a king without
-state, without honour, and without order, and braved to his face by
-beardless boys under the garb of ministers."
-
-The delight of the bishops and dignitaries at this gracious confession
-may be imagined. They were nearly twenty in number, whilst the Reformers
-summoned numbered only four--namely, Doctors Reynolds and Sparkes,
-divinity professors of Oxford, and Doctors Knewstub and Chatterton,
-of Cambridge. James somewhat cooled the raptures of the Churchmen, by
-adding that he knew all things were not perfect, and that, as some
-modifications of the ritual and the ecclesiastical courts were, in his
-opinion, needed, he had called them together in the first instance, in
-order that they might settle what concessions should be made to the
-Puritans. It was necessary to show some compliance; and after the day's
-discussion it was agreed that some explanatory words should be added
-in the Book of Common Prayer to the forms of general absolution and of
-confirmation; that the Chancellor and the Chief Justice should reform
-the practice of the commissary court; that excommunication should only
-be inflicted for particularly serious offences; that the bishops should
-neither confer ordinations nor pronounce censures, without the assistance
-and concurrence of other eminent divines; that baptism should not be
-administered by women or by laymen.
-
-These points being determined, on the 16th the four Puritan divines were
-admitted, and instructed to state their demands. These embraced a general
-revision of the Book of Common Prayer, the withdrawal of excommunication,
-of baptism by women, of the use of the ring in marriage, of bowing
-at the name of Jesus, of confirmation, of the wearing of the cap and
-surplice, of the reading of the Apocrypha. They further required that
-pluralities and non-residence should cease, that obligation to subscribe
-the Thirty-nine Articles be abrogated, as well as the commendatories
-held by bishops. The bishops defended such parts of the church service
-and practices as the king had agreed should remain, and the prelates of
-London and Winchester argued in their behalf long and vehemently. As the
-Puritan doctors were not thus to be satisfied, and had by much the best
-of the argument, James himself took up the debate, and conducted it in
-that royal style which admits of no contradiction. He was now in his true
-element: theological discussion was his pride and glory, and he believed
-himself capable of silencing all Christendom. Dr. Reynolds, however,
-who was the chief speaker, undaunted by his crowned opponent, insisted
-boldly on various points; but when he came to the demand for the disuse
-of the Apocrypha in the Church service, James could bear it no longer. He
-called for a Bible, read a chapter out of Ecclesiasticus, and expounded
-it according to his own views; then turning to the lords of his Council,
-he said, "What trow ye makes these men so angry with Ecclesiasticus? By
-my soul, I think Ecclesiasticus was a bishop, or they would never use him
-so." The bishops and courtiers applauded the royal wit. James continued
-to hold forth on all sorts of topics--baptism, confirmation, absolution,
-which he declared to be apostolical, and a very good ordinance--and
-assured the anti-episcopal divines that in his opinion, if there were no
-bishops, there would soon be no king.
-
-When he had tired himself out with talking, Dr. Reynolds again ventured
-to open his mouth, and inquired how ordinances of the Church agreed with
-Christian liberty. This was touching James closely: it brought back to
-his memory the harangues on the same liberty which he had heard from his
-clergy in Scotland. He declared that he would not argue that point, but
-answer as kings were wont to do in parliament, "_Le roy s'avisera_."
-Without pretending to treat the matter as one of conviction, he treated
-it as one of authority. He exclaimed, "I will have none of that: I will
-have one doctrine and one discipline, one religion in substance and in
-ceremony." He was resolved to be as absolute over every man's conscience
-and understanding as Henry VIII. had been. "If that is what you be at,
-then I tell you that a Scottish presbytery agreeth with monarchy as well
-as God with the Devil. Then shall Jack and Tom and Dick meet, and at
-their pleasure censure me and my council and all our proceedings. Then
-Will shall stand up and say, 'It must be thus;' then Dick shall reply and
-say, 'Nay, marry, but we will have it thus;' and therefore, here I must
-once more reiterate my former speech, and say, _Le roy s'avisera_."
-
-It was in vain that Dr. Reynolds, who was reputed one of the most
-able divines and logicians of the age, attempted to state his views
-and opinions. The king constantly interrupted him and scoffed at him,
-treating him in the most insolently overbearing manner, and when he
-paused, asked him, "Well, doctor, have you anything more to say?"
-Reynolds, perceiving it useless, replied, "No, please your majesty;" on
-which James told these brow-beaten divines, that had they disputed no
-better in college, and he had been moderator, he would have had them all
-fetched up and flogged for dunces; that if that was all they had to say
-for themselves, he would make them conform, or hurry them out of the
-kingdom, or worse. With this scandalous treatment they were dismissed
-till the 18th, when the Conference met again. The greater part of the day
-was consumed by the king, the Council, and prelates in inquiring into
-the abuses of the high commission court, and devising means for checking
-them. At a late hour the Dissenting delegates were again admitted, not to
-continue the discussion, but to hear the fixed decision of the king. On
-hearing it they prayed that a certain time might be allowed before the
-new regulations were enforced. This was granted, but not strictly kept,
-for the new Book of Common Prayer was immediately prepared and published
-by authority.
-
-Thus ended this curious Conference, in a complete triumph for the High
-Church party. The Reformers complained bitterly of this, but James
-himself was incapable of feeling the force of public opinion. He was
-inflated with the idea of his own unrivalled eloquence and ability.
-He boasted that he had "peppered the Dissenters soundly. They fled
-me," he said, "from argument to argument like schoolboys." The bishops
-and ministers of his Council added to his absurd egotism, by actually
-pouring deluges of the most fulsome adulation upon him. Bancroft, Bishop
-of London, flung himself on his knees before him, and exclaimed "that
-his heart melted with joy, and made haste to acknowledge unto Almighty
-God His singular mercy in giving them such a king, as since Christ's
-time the like had not been"; and Whitgift, the primate, protested "that
-his majesty spake by the special assistance of God's spirit." The Lord
-Chancellor Ellesmere, emulating the sycophants of the Church, said that
-"the king and the priest had never been so wonderfully united in the same
-person;" and the peers echoed the plaudits, declaring that his majesty's
-speeches proceeded from the spirit of God operating on an understanding
-heart. "I wist not what they mean," wrote Harrington, in "Nugae Antiquae";
-"but the spirit was rather foul-mouthed."
-
-All parties connected with the Church having thus admitted that the king
-was acting under the most luminous effusion of the Divine spirit, ought
-not, therefore, to have murmured when soon afterwards, without waiting
-for ecclesiastical sanction, he made his own alterations in the Book of
-Common Prayer, and then issued a proclamation, warning all men neither to
-attempt nor expect any further alterations in the Church, and commanding
-all ecclesiastical and civil authorities to enforce the strictest
-conformity. Whitgift soon after died (1604), and many attributed the
-acceleration of his death to his mortification at the king's ordering the
-affairs of the Church by his own will and wisdom, which Whitgift had been
-one of the first to extol as infallible. Bancroft succeeded him in the
-primacy, and showed himself a capable instrument of James's bigotry, and
-ready to enforce whatever cruelty he would attempt.
-
-James spent fully half of his year in hunting, and if any person or
-party had an urgent matter to prefer, the only opportunity of doing so
-was by waylaying him in his rides to the forest. The Dissenters, as the
-time approached for the enforcement of the new canons of the Church,
-presented a petition to him near Newmarket, praying a prolongation of
-the time allowed them for conforming. James received them with savage
-fierceness; told them that it was from such petitions that the rebellion
-in the Netherlands originated; that his mother and he had been haunted by
-Puritan devils from their cradles; that he would sooner lose his crown
-than encourage such malicious spirits; and if he thought his son would
-tolerate them in his time, he would wish to see him that moment lying in
-his grave. The Nonconformists complained that he persecuted the disciples
-whilst he favoured the enemies of the Gospel. This was referring to his
-reception of Catholics at court, and his promises not to molest them if
-they abstained from the open prosecution of their worship. But James left
-them under no mistake on that head. He expressed an equally vehement
-hatred of Papists; and on the 22nd of February he issued a proclamation
-enjoining the banishment of all Catholic missionaries. He went to the
-Star Chamber, framed regulations for the discovery and prosecution of
-recusants, and issued orders to magistrates to see the penal laws put
-in force against all persons, of whatever faith, who did not fully
-conform to the rites and ordinances of the Church. Thus the miseries
-and oppressions of religious persecution were renewed with all their
-virulence; and the only consolation for those who refused to conform was
-that they might persecute one another.
-
-In the midst of this state of things James was compelled to call a
-Parliament. This assembled on the 19th of March, 1604. It was one of the
-most remarkable Parliaments in our history, for it came together, on the
-part of both King and Commons, prepared to contest the great principles
-of absolutism and constitutional liberty; a contest which never again
-ceased till the people had triumphed over the Crown, and prescribed for
-it those limits within which it continues still to exist. The Tudors had
-made themselves absolute, but rather by acting than talking. They had
-willed, but had only occasionally boasted of the supremacy of their will.
-Whenever they had done so, especially in the person of Elizabeth, they
-received a protest so spirited from Parliament, that they wisely again
-veiled their pretensions. But James, possessing all their personal vanity
-and love of unlimited power, had not the policy to keep his pretensions
-in the background. He obtruded them on the public notice; he vaunted his
-towering belief of his earthly divinity, declaring that as God killed or
-made alive, so had He ordained kings to do the same at pleasure. Years
-before he came to England, he published these imperious and imprudent
-doctrines in a discourse "On the True Law of Free Monarchies; or, the
-Reciprogue and Mutual Duty betwixt a Free King and his Natural Subjects."
-He was, in short, a firm believer in the doctrine of the Divine Right of
-Kings, which had taken such a firm root in Europe.
-
-In the proclamation calling this Parliament, James took care to set forth
-the supremacy of his prerogative, and commanded the sheriffs and other
-officers to make no returns of members but such as were wholly agreeable
-to his views; there were to be no "persons noted for their superstitious
-blindness in religion one way, or for their turbulent humour the other."
-That is, neither Puritans nor Catholics were to be elected. Instructions
-were sent down to the various counties and boroughs, naming such persons
-for candidates as were agreeable to the Court. But the Puritans were in
-no humour to comply with such unconstitutional orders. They were justly
-filled with resentment at the treatment of their representatives at
-Hampton Court, and put forward their own men and returned them in great
-numbers in defiance of the Government. One case led to a direct and
-vehement collision between the Crown and the House of Commons. Sir John
-Fortescue, a member of the Privy Council, had been named by the Court as
-a member for the county of Buckingham. The people of Buckinghamshire,
-afterwards so conspicuous in the struggles between the Stuarts and
-Parliament, elected Sir Francis Goodwin. The clerk of the Crown refused
-to receive the return, and sent it back to the sheriff as contrary to
-the proclamation; for Goodwin had formerly been outlawed, and James had
-forbidden the return of outlaws. A second writ was issued, and under it
-Sir John Fortescue was elected. But the Commons refused to admit him,
-declaring that as Goodwin's outlawry had been reversed, the proclamation
-did not apply to him, and that his return was good and should stand.
-
-[Illustration: THE OLD PALACE, WESTMINSTER, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.
-
-(_Showing the Hall, Parliament House, Painted Chamber, and St. Stephen's
-Chapel._)]
-
-The Government, in the name of the Lords, proposed to the Commons that
-there should be a conference between the two Houses on the subject
-before any other business was proceeded with; but the Commons, with
-a clear insight into their privileges, where the constitution and
-functions of their own body were concerned, replied that it did not
-consist with the honour of their House to give an account of their
-proceedings and doings. On this they received a second message, in which
-they were informed, through Coke, that his majesty being apprised of
-their objection, conceived that his honour was touched, and desired
-that there should be some conference between the Houses. On this the
-Commons sent a deputation of their members, headed by the Speaker, to
-represent to the king why they could not confer with the Lords on any
-subject. The king was exceedingly high, and let them know that they
-held all their privileges by the royal favour; but the members stoutly
-denied that doctrine, as the House at large had already this session
-denied it, saying "that new laws could not be instituted, nor imperfect
-laws reformed, nor inconvenient laws abrogated, by any other power than
-that of the High Court of Parliament, that is, by the agreement of the
-Commons, the accord of the Lords, and the assent of the Sovereign;
-that to him belonged the right either negatively to frustrate, or
-affirmatively to ratify, but that he could not institute; every bill
-must pass through the two Houses before it could be submitted to his
-pleasure."
-
-This was a doctrine that clashed disagreeably with James's absolute
-notions, and he upbraided the Commons with their presumption. But they
-stood firmly to their position and, what was extremely humiliating to
-the new monarch, excused his unconstitutional ideas through ignorance or
-misinformation of the custom and laws of England; the privileges of their
-house, they said, were the birthright of Englishmen and could not be
-surrendered. James claimed that all disputed matters should be referred
-to his court of chancery; but they claimed to settle all such themselves,
-as the essential to the government of their estate.
-
-When James found that nothing would induce the Commons to confer with the
-Lords, he ordered them to confer with the judges, and this command the
-deputation carried back to the House. But the House, after a warm debate,
-unanimously refused to refer the question to the judges; they drew up an
-answer to all the king's arguments, and sent it to the Lords, requesting
-them to present it to his majesty, and be mediators between them. James,
-now finding that he could make no impression by express command, sent for
-the Speaker and endeavoured to coax him over to his views; but that being
-unsuccessful, he ordered him to deliver to the House his command, "as an
-absolute king," to confer with the judges. This was a direct challenge
-to the popular element to try its strength with the royal one--language
-which was sure to put a high-spirited people on its mettle: the first
-utterance of that language, which no warning, no experience could teach
-a Stuart to abandon, till the utterance was quenched in blood.
-
-When the Speaker delivered this command, there fell a profound silence
-on the House--an augury and foreboding, as it were, of the gigantic
-struggle which was commencing. At length the ominous silence was broken
-by a member starting up and exclaiming that "the prince's command was
-like a thunderbolt; his command over our allegiance," he said, "is like
-the roaring of a lion! To his command there is no contradiction; but how,
-or in what manner we should proceed to perform obedience, that will be
-the question." It was finally agreed to send a deputation to confer with
-the judges in the presence of the king and Council. At the conference
-there appeared no better prospect of success, when the king happily
-proposed that both Goodwin and Fortescue should be set aside, and a new
-writ issued. The Commons gladly acceded to this proposal. The House was
-rejoiced at this solution of the difficulty, but out of doors those they
-represented were far from satisfied, and reproached the House with having
-yielded the right which they had boldly claimed. But in reality, the
-Commons had done no such thing, for they proceeded, by their Speaker's
-warrant, to issue the new writ themselves, and they have ever since
-exercised the right which they then assumed, of deciding all cases of
-contested elections.
-
-The king, on his part, was as little satisfied as the people. He laboured
-under no mistake as to where the victory lay: he felt keenly that he
-was defeated in his soaring claims of prerogative, and the Commons went
-on to let him know that they were resolved on an exercise of power
-still greater. They attacked the monopolies which James had declared by
-proclamation that he would abolish, but towards which not a step was
-taken. They complained of the continuance of the feudal grievances of
-assarts, wardships, aids for royal marriages, and purveyance. The right
-of guardianship of minors of estate continued a source of vast emolument
-to the Crown, which received the proceeds of these estates and rendered
-no account. This was, moreover, a source of equal peculation to the
-minister for the time being, and Cecil was thought to draw enormous
-wealth from this abuse; and as for purveyance, it seems to have been as
-recklessly and insolently pursued as under any of the kings of York or
-Lancaster. The royal purveyors seized the property of the subject just
-as they pleased; took horses, carts, carriages, and provisions at will;
-called out men to labour for the royal pleasure, paying or not as suited
-them, felling trees, and committing sundry other depredations.
-
-After much debate these grievances were referred to a committee; but
-as the Lords would have nothing to do with it, the matter was obliged
-to be dropped. Bacon, who was assiduously climbing into royal favour,
-played a contemptible part on this occasion in the House. He affected
-the character of a patriot, and discoursed feelingly of abuses and the
-sufferings of the people, while in the Council, before the king, he
-declared that his majesty was the voice of God in man, the good spirit of
-God in the mouth of man.
-
-The struggle continued between the Crown and the Commons through the
-whole session. As the Crown would not agree to reform the abuses
-complained of, the Commons declined to grant the king any money beyond
-the usual rate of tonnage and poundage. So apprehensive, in fact, was
-the king of another defeat in the present temper of the House, that he
-sent a message requesting them not to enter on the business of subsidy,
-notwithstanding his urgent need of money.
-
-The struggle regarding religious liberty was carried on by the Puritans
-in the House with equal obstinacy. Convocation sitting at the same time
-with Parliament occupied itself in framing a new code of ecclesiastical
-canons. In spite of the resolution of the Conference at Hampton Court,
-which declared that no excommunication should issue except for very grave
-offences, these canons--one hundred and forty-one in number--equalled
-in ecclesiastical despotism anything which had been decreed under Henry
-VIII. Excommunication was pronounced against all who denied the supremacy
-of the king or the orthodoxy of the Church; who affirmed the Book of
-Common Prayer to be superstitious or unlawful, that any one of the
-Thirty-nine Articles was erroneous, or that the ordinal was opposed to
-the Word of God. All who should separate from the Established Church,
-or established conventicles, were equally denounced, and this bigoted
-code James ratified by letters patent under the Great Seal. But it did
-not pass without severe comment from the Puritan members of the House,
-in the midst of which the king prorogued Parliament; and so remained the
-question of the canon law of England, which in reality was and is a law
-binding only on the clergy, having received their own sanction and that
-of their head the king, but not that of the Legislature; for which reason
-the judges have always held that it binds the clergy who framed, but not
-the people whose representatives refused it.
-
-No sooner was the canon law promulgated and Parliament prorogued, than
-Bancroft, the new archbishop, let loose the fury of the Church against
-nonconformists, whether Catholic or Protestant. All were called on to
-conform to the new regulations, and no less than three hundred clergymen
-were forced from their livings. The Catholics, on their part, were
-equally harassed, fined, and insulted. The legal penalty of twenty
-pounds a month for recusancy was again enforced, notwithstanding James
-had promised to overlook this; and it was executed with a new rigour of
-barbarity, the fines for the whole period during which James had been
-professing leniency being levied. Thus the sufferers were called on to
-make thirteen payments at one time, which at once reduced a vast number
-of families to absolute beggary.
-
-The Puritans did not submit to the outrages perpetrated on them without
-sturdy resistance and remonstrance. The Catholics, or at least a section
-of them, proceeded to something more dangerous. Smarting under their
-renewed persecution, they felt it useless to remonstrate like the
-Puritans, for both the Church party and Nonconformists were against them.
-They, therefore, as a body, brooded in silence over their sufferings;
-but there were amongst the oppressed spirits those who could not thus
-endure in patience, but planned a desperate revenge. Amongst these was
-Robert Catesby, the descendant of an ancient Catholic family, seated for
-centuries at Ashby St. Legers, in Northamptonshire, and also possessing
-considerable property in Warwickshire. Catesby's father had been a great
-sufferer for recusancy, having several times been imprisoned, in addition
-to the plundering of his substance. In his youth, the younger Catesby,
-who was wild and extravagant, was not disposed to sacrifice his jollity
-for the maintenance of a persecuted faith. He embraced Protestantism,
-but in 1598 he returned to his original belief, and, feeling the bitter
-force of persecution, he became stimulated to an active hatred of the
-Government. He aided the insurrection of Essex on condition that he
-should enjoy full religious freedom; and escaping the fate of his leader
-by the forfeiture of three thousand pounds, he then secretly joined
-himself to the Spanish party amongst the Catholics, in order to prevent
-the succession of the Scottish prince. This hope being defeated, and
-the Catholics not only seeing James prepared to falsify his promises of
-Catholic indulgence, but all the heads of the Catholic world abroad--the
-kings of France and Spain, and the Pope himself--seeking the friendship
-of the king, Catesby conceived the gloomy idea that deliverance could
-only proceed from the English Catholics themselves. In following out
-this desperate idea, he gradually evolved a scheme of vengeance and
-annihilation of all the persecutors of his faith. This was no other than
-to blow up the king and Parliament with gunpowder.
-
-Catesby first made a confidant in his terrible project of Thomas Winter,
-the younger brother of Robert Winter, of Huddington, in Worcestershire.
-Winter was the intimate friend of Catesby, and had been long associated
-with him in the plans for the relief of the Catholics. He had been a
-volunteer in the wars of the Netherlands, and then was sent to Madrid as
-the secret agent of the Spanish party in England, amongst whom his friend
-Catesby was an active partisan. But familiar as Winter was with the
-sufferings and projects of the Catholics, this bloody revelation struck
-him with horror, and he denounced it vehemently as most criminal and
-inhuman. But Catesby spared no labour to reconcile his mind to the idea;
-he painted in vivid colours the long, the pitiless, and the unmerited
-cruelties inflicted on the Catholics. He enumerated the numbers who
-had been exterminated by the axe and the rope of the executioner; who
-had perished in their prisons, or who had been reduced from affluence
-and honour to beggary by the relentless bigotry of the Government. He
-demanded whence relief was to come, what hope there was left of effectual
-intercession from abroad, or of resolute resistance from the dispirited
-Catholics at home. He appealed to him whether God had not given to every
-man the right to repel force by force, and whether the whole world
-besides afforded them any other chance.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF JAMES I.]
-
-Winter was staggered but not convinced, and declared that he would
-not consent to any such frightful measure until fresh attempts had
-been made to procure a mitigation of their sufferings by milder means.
-He, therefore, hastened over to the Netherlands, where the Spanish
-ambassador, Velasco, had arrived, in order to conclude a peace between
-England and Spain. At Bergen, near Dunkirk, he had an interview with
-the ambassador, and urged upon him to demand a clause in the treaty for
-the protection of the Catholics. He was soon convinced that Velasco,
-though promising to use his influence for that end, would not risk the
-completion of the peace by the advocacy of such a stipulation.
-
-Indignant at this apathy, he hastened to Ostend on his return, where
-he accidentally encountered an old comrade in the Netherland wars, of
-the name of Guido or Guy Fawkes, a native of Yorkshire, and a man of
-determined courage, as well as of great experience and address. He had
-been Winter's companion in his mission to Madrid, and he now solicited
-him to accompany him to England, and unite his endeavours with other
-friends for Catholic relief. Winter, it would seem, had now made up his
-mind to enter into Catesby's plot, but did not let Fawkes into the full
-secret for some time.
-
-Meanwhile, Catesby had been ardently at work in the prosecution of his
-idea. He had communicated his plan to Percy and Wright. Thomas Percy was
-of the Northumberland family, and steward to the earl, and John Wright
-was brother-in-law to Percy, and reputed to be the best swordsman in
-England. Percy had joined the Catholics about the same time as Catesby
-returned to them, and like a zealous proselyte had, during the latter
-days of Elizabeth, gone to James at Edinburgh and endeavoured to draw
-from him a promise of favour to the Catholics on his accession. James is
-reported to have assured Percy that he would at least tolerate the mass
-in a corner. This James afterwards denied, but his denial can go for very
-little, for it was perfectly in keeping with his king-craft to promise
-what served to secure his ends for the time; and almost every monarch in
-Europe had to make that complaint against him. Percy, on the breaking out
-of the persecution under James, felt that he had been made the dupe of
-James's duplicity. He presented a remonstrance to the king, to which no
-answer was deigned, and Catesby found him in a mood of great resentment
-against the king, and in a favourable temper for his views. He not only
-agreed to co-operate but brought in his brother-in-law Wright, who was
-also a recent proselyte to Catholicism.
-
-[Illustration: GUY FAWKES'S CELLAR UNDER PARLIAMENT HOUSE.]
-
-Percy appears to have been of a very excitable nature: the embryo
-conspirators assembled at Catesby's lodging, and Percy demanded whether
-they were merely to talk and never to act. Catesby said that before he
-would open his plan to them, he must demand from every one an oath of
-secrecy. This was assented to, and a few days afterwards, as appears by
-the confession of Winter, the five--that is, Catesby, Winter, Percy,
-Wright, and Fawkes--"met at a house in the fields beyond St. Clement's
-Inn, where they did confer and agree upon the plot, and there they took
-a solemn oath and vows by all their force and power to execute the same,
-and of secrecy not to reveal it to any of their fellows but of such as
-should be thought fit persons to enter into that action." When they had
-all sworn and perfectly understood what was proposed, Catesby led them
-into an upper chamber of the house, where they received the sacrament
-from Gerard, the Jesuit missionary, but who, according to Winter's
-confession, was not let into the secret.
-
-This dreadful oath was taken on the 1st of May, 1604, but the
-conspirators resolved to wait for the remotest chance of any good arising
-out of the negotiations between England and Spain. But the treaty was
-concluded on the 18th of August, without any clause protective of the
-Catholics. Peace and commercial relations were restored between the
-two countries, and James was left at liberty to do as he pleased with
-the cautionary towns if the States did not redeem them. After the
-ratification of the treaty, the Spanish ambassador solicited in the name
-of his sovereign the goodwill of James towards his Catholic subjects;
-but James assured Velasco that however much he might be disposed to such
-indulgence, he dared not grant it, such was the terror of his Protestant
-subjects of any return to power of the Catholics. Velasco took his
-leave, and fresh orders were issued to judges and magistrates to enforce
-the laws against the Catholics with all rigour. This put an end to the
-patience of the conspirators, and they protested that it was but a
-fitting retribution to bury the authors of their oppressions under the
-ruins of the edifice in which they enacted such diabolical laws.
-
-They now sought for a proper place to commence their operations, and they
-soon found a house adjoining the Parliament House in the possession of
-one Ferris, the tenant of Whinyard, the keeper of the king's wardrobe.
-This Percy hired, in his own name, of Ferris, on pretence that his office
-of gentleman pensioner compelled him to reside part of the year in the
-vicinity of the Court. But the conspirators were debarred from immediate
-operations, by the commissioners appointed by James to consider a scheme
-for the union of the two kingdoms, taking possession of this house where
-they sate for several months. Not wholly, however, to lose time, the
-conspirators hired another house in Lambeth, on the banks of the river,
-where they stored up wood, gunpowder, and other combustibles, which they
-could easily remove by night in boats, as occasion served, to their house
-in Westminster, as soon as it was in their hands. They confided the
-charge of this house in Lambeth to Thomas Kay, a Catholic gentleman of
-reduced means, who took the oath and entered into the plot.
-
-On the 11th of December the conspirators obtained possession of their
-house, when they again swore to be faithful to each other, and they
-began their preparations by night. Behind the house, in a garden and
-adjoining the Parliament House, stood an old building. Within this they
-began to perforate the wall, one keeping watch while the others laboured.
-The watching was allotted to Fawkes, whose person was unknown, and who
-assumed the name of Johnson and appeared as the servant of Percy. Three
-of the others worked whilst the fourth rested. During the day they toiled
-at undermining the wall, and during the night they buried the rubbish
-under the earth in the garden. They had laid in a store of eggs, dried
-meats, and the like, so that no suspicion should be excited in the
-neighbourhood by their going in and out, or by there being brought in
-provisions for so many persons. They thus laboured indefatigably for a
-fortnight, when Fawkes brought them the intelligence that Parliament was
-prorogued from the 7th of February to the 3rd of October. On this they
-resolved to suspend their work till after the Christmas holidays, and to
-retire to their respective residences, agreeing neither to meet in the
-interim, nor to correspond or send messages to each other regarding the
-plot.
-
-During their late labours, as they discussed various matters, Catesby,
-to his dread and mortification, discovered a strong tendency amongst his
-associates to doubt the lawfulness of their attempt, because innocent
-people must perish with the guilty, Catholics amid the persecuting
-Protestants. In vain he employed all his ingenuity in reasoning; he saw
-the feeling remain, and he endeavoured to secure a plausible argument
-before their coming together again. He therefore consulted Garnet,
-the provincial of the Jesuits, on this point. Catesby had accepted a
-commission as captain in a regiment of cavalry, to be commanded by Sir
-Charles Percy, in the service of Spain. He now observed to Garnet in a
-large company that he had no doubt about the justice of the war on the
-side of Spain, but as he might be called on to make attacks in which
-the innocent might fall with the guilty, women and children with armed
-soldiers, could he do that lawfully in the sight of the Almighty? Garnet
-replied certainly, otherwise an aggressor could always defeat the object
-of the party invaded by placing innocent persons amongst guilty ones in
-his ranks. This was enough for Catesby, the principle was admitted; and
-on the meeting of the conspirators after the recess, he was prepared
-to banish their scruple by assuring them that it was decided to be
-groundless by competent ecclesiastical authority.
-
-On the 30th of January, 1605, they resumed their operations. They found
-the wall through which they had to dig was no less than three yards
-thick, and composed of huge stones, so that the labour was intense, and
-the danger of their blows being heard began to alarm them. They had an
-accession of force to their numbers, the brothers of Wright and Winter,
-and one John Grant, of Norbrook in Warwickshire, who had married a sister
-of the Winters. He had suffered much from persecution under Elizabeth,
-and his house was large and strongly fortified, offering a good depot for
-horses and ammunition. Besides these, Catesby had admitted Bates, his
-confidential servant, into the secret, believing he had more than half
-guessed it, and sent him with arms and ammunition to Grant's house in
-Worcestershire.
-
-But at this point the operations of the conspirators received a severe
-check. There arose a difficulty which seemed to be insurmountable; which
-so disheartened some of the band that they were in favour of abandoning
-their project altogether--or at least for a time. This formidable
-obstacle appeared in the shape of ordinary water, which now began to ooze
-in from the river, and put a stop to all hope of making the passage.
-Fortune came to their aid, however. Whilst they were in this state of
-dejection, they were extremely alarmed by a loud noise, which appeared to
-come from a room just over their heads. Fawkes went to endeavour to learn
-the cause of it, and returned with the intelligence that it proceeded
-from the selling of the stock in trade of Bright, a coal merchant, who
-was evacuating the cellar, which would be in a few days unoccupied. At
-this joyful news, the mining of the foundation was abandoned; the cellar,
-which lay directly under the House of Lords, was immediately taken by
-Fawkes in the name of his pretended master, Percy. In a short time they
-had removed thirty-six barrels of gunpowder from the house in Lambeth
-in the darkness of night, and had covered them over in the cellar with
-faggots and billets of wood. All being prepared, they once more separated
-till September, a few days before the assembling of Parliament. They
-dispersed themselves to avoid all suspicion, and Fawkes went over to
-Flanders to endeavour to procure a supply of military stores, and to
-win over Sir William Stanley, Captain Owen, and other officers of the
-regiment in the pay of the archduke. Catesby was an officer of this
-regiment; most of these officers were Catholics and his personal friends,
-and he informed them through Fawkes, that things were come to that pass
-that it was reported that the Catholics were to be utterly exterminated
-throughout England, and that if they could not defend themselves by
-peaceable means, they must do it by the sword; and he enjoined them
-to engage as many of their brethren as possible to aid them in their
-deliverance. Sir William Stanley was absent in Spain and Owen promised
-that he would communicate with him; but little effect appears to have
-been produced by Fawkes's mission, except that of exciting the attention
-of Cecil, who received repeated intimations from Flanders that the
-English exiles had some secret enterprise in agitation, though what it
-was the informants could not discover.
-
-Catesby at home was in constant activity. He had obtained a fresh
-accomplice in Keyes, an intimate friend of his, who had been stripped of
-his property and was prepared for the worst, being a man of determined
-disposition; and he had his eye on others who appeared in a mood for it.
-At the same time the growing excitement of Catesby endangered the secret.
-There was a tone and a restlessness about him which attracted the notice
-of his friends. He still delayed joining his regiment in Flanders, and
-Garnet, the Jesuit, came to suspect that he was engaged in some plot and
-warned him against such attempts. This only excited the anger of Catesby,
-and Garnet wrote to Rome and obtained letters from the Pope and the
-generals of his Order, strongly enjoining on the Catholics submission to
-the Government. Catesby, uneasy in his conscience, at length confessed to
-Garnet the existence of some plot. The Jesuit refused to hear anything
-of it, but endeavoured to impress on the conspirator the necessity of
-obedience to the breves from Rome. At length he prevailed on him to
-promise that nothing should be done till they had sent a messenger to
-the Pope fully detailing the condition of the Catholics in England, and
-had received an answer. But Catesby had no intention of deferring his
-enterprise on such grounds. Fawkes returned to England in September, and
-they resolved to proceed. A second prorogation of Parliament, however,
-from October to the 5th of November, disconcerted the conspirators, and
-induced them to fear that their designs had become known to Government.
-To ascertain this, if possible, Thomas Winter was deputed to attend
-in the House of Lords and watch the countenances and behaviour of the
-commissioners during the ceremony of prorogation. He returned, assuring
-them that their secret was still safe, for the commissioners walked
-about and conversed in the utmost unconsciousness of danger on the very
-surface of the prepared volcano--the six-and-thirty barrels of gunpowder.
-
-These repeated delays, however, ensured the defeat of the plot. All the
-conspirators except Catesby were now ruined by fines, exactions, and
-persecutions on account of their faith. They had depended for support
-for the last twelve months on the assistance of relations and friends.
-Catesby had purchased the military stores and other requisites: his means
-were now exhausted, and yet more money must be in hand against the day
-of explosion if they meant to take full advantage of it. This induced
-them to extend the number of their accomplices, a perilous proceeding in
-anything demanding secrecy; and yet Catesby ventured on divulging the
-scheme to no less than three fresh associates, men of family and fortune.
-The first was Sir Everard Digby, of Drystoke in Rutlandshire, Gotehurst
-in Buckinghamshire, and of other large estates. Digby had been left as a
-boy a ward of Queen Elizabeth's and had been educated at her court as a
-Protestant. But a little before the death of the queen he embraced the
-Catholic faith, and thus abandoning the brilliant prospects before him,
-retired to his estates in the country. At the time of the conspiracy he
-had a young wife and two children, was only twenty-five himself, and
-thus had every imaginable earthly good within his reach. Subtle must
-have been the persuasion which could have induced such a man to risk all
-this in a desperate enterprise, and bold the spirit of Catesby who could
-venture to tempt him to do it. It was not effected without difficulty.
-Digby could not avoid seeing the hazard and doubting the innocence of
-such a proceeding, but eventually he gave way, and promised to assemble
-his Catholic friends on the opening of Parliament to hunt with him on
-Dunsmoor in Warwickshire, and to advance one thousand five hundred pounds.
-
-The next was Ambrose Rookwood of Coldham Hall, Suffolk, the head of
-an ancient and wealthy family, who had suffered like his neighbours,
-but was still affluent. He had a fine stud of horses, which made him
-a very desirable coadjutor, independent of other considerations. He
-seems to have had as little ambition as he had motive for conspiracy,
-being, despite his share of persecutions, able to enjoy a quiet life;
-but his attachment to Catesby was his snare. Like the rest, he at first
-recoiled from the prospect of so much bloodshed; but Catesby managed to
-reconcile him to the idea, and he removed his family to Clopton Hall,
-near Stratford-on-Avon, in order to be near the Catholic rendezvous at
-Dunsmoor.
-
-The third new accomplice was Sir Francis Tresham. His father, Sir Thomas
-Tresham, had long been severely handled on account of his religion, in
-Elizabeth's reign, and his son Francis, who succeeded him, had been
-engaged in several plots. He was in that of Essex in conjunction with
-Catesby and Percy, and escaped by a prompt distribution of three thousand
-pounds amongst the queen's favourites. His chief seat was at Rushton, in
-Northamptonshire. The selection of Tresham was especially imprudent, for
-he had the character of being selfish, reserved, and fickle; but he had
-money, which induced Catesby to trust him. From the moment, however, that
-he did so, he had no more peace of mind. Terrible fears and suspicions
-seized him, dreams as terrible haunted him at night. His comrades had no
-confidence in Tresham, whose character was well known; but the thing was
-done, and there was no retracing the step which was to bring destruction
-upon them. Tresham promised a contribution of two thousand pounds, and
-Percy also engaging to advance four thousand pounds from the rents of the
-Earl of Northumberland, whose steward he was, the pecuniary provision
-appeared ample, and they proceeded to organise their plan of operations.
-
-A list of all the peers and commons who were Catholics, or who had
-opposed the penal statutes and other harsh measures against the
-Catholics, was made out, and these were at the last moment on the fatal
-morning to be called away from the House by some urgent message. Guy
-Fawkes was appointed to fire the train with a slow burning match, which
-should allow of his escape before the explosion; and a ship was to lie
-ready in the river to carry him over to Flanders, where he was to publish
-a manifesto justifying the deed and calling on the Catholic powers for
-aid. Percy, as a gentleman pensioner, was to enter the palace and secure
-the person of the young Prince Charles--it seems they were willing to
-let Prince Henry perish--and on pretence of placing him in security,
-convey him away to the appointed rendezvous at Dunchurch. Digby, Tresham,
-Grant, and others, were to hasten to Combe Abbey, and secure the Princess
-Elizabeth, whom, if the two young princes should not be saved, they were
-at once to proclaim queen. Catesby was to proclaim the heir-apparent,
-whoever it was, at Charing Cross; and on reaching Warwickshire a
-declaration was to be issued abolishing monopolies, purveyance, and
-wardships. A protector was to be appointed to conduct the Government
-during the minority of the sovereign.
-
-[Illustration: LORD MONTEAGLE AND THE WARNING LETTER ABOUT THE GUNPOWDER
-PLOT. (_See p._ 426.)]
-
-There were circumstances enough in these regulations to have alarmed
-all but fanatics in the cause. Messages at the last moment to so many
-members of the two Houses must have created suspicion, and the endeavour
-to secure the royal children was full of hazard. But there were greater
-dangers than these. As the time drew nigh, almost every one had friends
-amongst the members of Parliament, and they were not contented with the
-general plan of drawing them away at the critical moment. Each wished
-to convey a particular warning to his own friends or relatives, which
-should make their safety certain. Every such warning, however, menaced
-the discovery of the whole scheme. Tresham was excessively anxious to
-rescue the Lords Mordaunt and Monteagle, who had married two of his
-sisters. Percy was equally desirous to save his relative, the Earl of
-Northumberland; Keyes, the old gentleman who had the custody of the house
-at Lambeth, was importunate to save Lord Mordaunt, who sheltered and
-maintained his wife and children after his own ruin; and all were eager
-to warn the young Earl of Arundel.
-
-Catesby, extremely alarmed by these proposals, declared that means enough
-were in operation to keep those that they wished to save away; but that
-rather than endanger the result, he would have all blown up, though they
-were as dear to him as his own son. He and Fawkes, as the day drew near,
-retired to a solitary house in Enfield Chase, called White Webbs, where,
-as they were in consultation with Thomas Winter, Tresham suddenly made
-his appearance. He appeared excited and embarrassed, and demanded that
-he should be allowed to put Lord Monteagle, on his guard. When Catesby
-and his associates protested against it, he advanced reasons for delay,
-declaring that he should not be prepared with the promised advance of
-money till he had sold some property. He pleaded that the explosion would
-be as effectual at the end of the session as at the beginning; that in
-the meantime the conspirators might live in Flanders, whither his ship
-should convey them, and where he would supply them with the necessary
-funds for maintenance. Catesby was confirmed in his fears of Tresham
-by these proposals, but thought it best to dissemble and appear to
-acquiesce. Tresham returned to town, and would seem to have warned not
-only Monteagle but others, most likely including Lord Mordaunt. Digby and
-others of the conspirators are supposed to have warned their own friends,
-so that the danger of discovery was hourly increasing. Tresham, in his
-examination, alleged that his real object at this moment was not to delay
-but to put an end to the plot, as the only means he could devise to save
-the lives of all concerned, and to preserve his own life, fortune, and
-reputation.
-
-The movements of Lord Monteagle warranted the belief that he had received
-a warning of some kind that there was danger in town, for he removed
-from his house in London to one which he had at Hoxton, and on the 26th
-of October, six days before the proposed opening of Parliament, he, much
-to the surprise of his own family, ordered a good supper to be prepared
-there. Monteagle had formerly been engaged in the Spanish treason, and
-had written to Baynham, who was the emissary at Rome, and therefore was
-probably aware of some plot in agitation, but he had latterly obtained
-the confidence of the king and was one of the commissioners for the late
-prorogation.
-
-As he sat at table about seven o'clock in the evening, a page handed
-to him a letter, which he said he had received from a tall man whose
-features he could not recognise in the dark. Monteagle opened the letter
-and seeing that it had neither date nor signature, he handed it to
-Thomas Ward, a gentleman of his establishment, to read aloud. It was as
-follows:--"My lord out of the love i beare to some of youer frends i have
-a caer of your preservacion therefor i would advyse yowe as yowe tender
-youer lyfe to devyse some exscuse to shift of youer attendance at this
-parleament for god and man hath concurred to punishe the wickednes of
-this tyme and think not slightlye of this advertisement but retyere to
-youre self into youre contri wheare you may expect the event in safeti
-for thowghe theare be no apparance of anni stir yet i saye they shall
-receyve a terrible blowe this parleament and yet they shall not seie who
-hurts them this cowncel is not to be contemned because it may do yowe
-good and can do yowe no harme for the danger is passed as soon as yowe
-have burnt the letter and i hope God will give yowe the grace to mak good
-use of it to whose holy protecion i comend yowe."
-
-The astonishment of the guests at the hearing of this letter may be
-imagined. Lord Monteagle immediately hastened to town, and laid the
-letter before Cecil and some of the other ministers, the king being away
-still at Royston, hunting. Cecil determined that nothing should be done
-till the king's return. The next morning Ward, who had read the letter
-publicly at the supper-table, communicated the circumstance to Thomas
-Winter, and said the letter was in the possession of Cecil. Winter was
-thunderstruck, but put the best face upon the matter that he could, and
-pretended to laugh at the whole affair as a hoax on the credulity of Lord
-Monteagle; but no sooner was Ward gone than he flew to White Webbs and
-imparted the news to Catesby. Catesby at once attributed the letter to
-Tresham, and the more so as he had absented himself for several days on
-the pretence of having business in Northamptonshire. The question was
-whether he had revealed the particulars of the plot and the names of the
-conspirators. To ascertain the extent of the mischief and of the guilt
-of Tresham, he sent him an imperative message to come to White Webbs.
-Tresham obeyed the summons on the 30th of October, and met Catesby and
-Winter at this lonely house in Enfield Chase. They had made up their
-minds if they found him guilty, to shoot him on the spot. They charged
-him point blank with the discovery of the plot, and kept a searching gaze
-upon his countenance as he received their declaration. Had he faltered or
-shown any confusion, his doom would have been instant. But he exhibited
-the utmost calmness and firmness of expression, protesting most solemnly
-that he was innocent of the charge.
-
-That Tresham was the writer of the letter, and that he had entered into
-a confidential understanding with Monteagle for the defeat of the plot,
-there appears every reason to conclude. His own avowal on the examination
-that such was his intention is borne out by all the examinations. The
-delivery of the letter whilst Monteagle was at supper with his friends,
-if it was done by Tresham, shows an intention that it should thus be made
-irrevocably public. The instant communication of Lord Monteagle's servant
-with Winter the conspirator, in order to warn them, confirms the idea
-that all this was planned between Tresham and Monteagle; but there is no
-reason to believe that Tresham had betrayed the names of his accomplices.
-
-Catesby and Winter returned with Tresham to town, and Guy Fawkes was
-despatched to the cellar under the Parliament House to discover whether
-all was right there. Not a thing or a secret mark was disturbed. They
-then first told him why they had sent him, on which Fawkes complained of
-their distrust of his courage, and said he would visit the cellar every
-day till the 5th of November. Had Cecil not been still more cunning than
-the conspirators, had he made a stir and an inquisition, the aim of
-Tresham would have been effected, the conspirators would have escaped,
-and the plot have been put an end to without any catastrophe. But the
-artifice of Cecil lulled their suspicions and lured them on to their doom.
-
-On the 31st of October James returned to town, and the letter was laid
-before him, with the particulars of its delivery. The king was struck
-by the account, read the letter several times over, and discussed the
-matter for two hours with his ministers. He boasted to Parliament on its
-opening, that it was his own bright suggestion that the receiving of the
-letter sent to Lord Monteagle implied that they were all to be blown up,
-and that he in consequence ordered the search of the cellars under the
-Parliament House. But this was a piece of consummate flattery on the part
-of his ministers, to make it appear the result of his superior sagacity;
-for we have direct evidence in the circular of the Earl of Salisbury,
-that the ministers were in possession of the secret, but he observes,
-"we all thought fit to forbear to impart it to the king until some three
-or four days before the sessions." In fact, the intelligence that the
-letter was in the hands of the king, and that the Council was consulting
-on it, was immediately conveyed to Winter by Monteagle's servant. Upon
-this Winter waited on Tresham at his house in Lincoln's Inn Walks, where
-Tresham, in great agitation, assured him that the existence of the mine
-was known to the ministers; that he knew certainly, but denied any
-knowledge of the person by whom the discovery had been made. He declared
-that they were all lost if they did not escape at once. From the moment
-the affair was known, Tresham had avoided further intercourse with the
-conspirators, meaning to appear ignorant of their concerns, for which
-reason he went about openly, and even offered his services to the Council.
-
-The conspirators met to decide on their plan of action. Some of them
-advised instant flight to the Continent; Catesby, Winter, and others were
-perfectly convinced that Tresham was in communication with Monteagle,
-and perhaps with Cecil; but some of them would not believe such treason,
-and the arguments of Percy finally nailed them to their fate. This
-discussion took place on the 3rd of November. Percy conjured them to wait
-and see what the next day would bring forth, the very last day before the
-grand crisis. He represented all the labour, the anxieties, the plannings
-they had gone through, the costs they had incurred, the difficulties they
-had overcome, and he demanded whether, on the very point of complete
-success, they were to abandon their enterprise through the fears of a
-recreant colleague, who probably described what only his affrighted fancy
-pictured to him. He reminded them that his vessel still lay in the Thames
-at their service, and on the first positive proof of danger, they had
-only to hasten on board and drop down the river out of reach of their
-enemies.
-
-These arguments prevailed, but they changed their plan of operations.
-Fawkes was still to keep guard in the cellar, Percy and Winter to
-superintend the necessary operations in London; but Catesby and John
-Wright were to hasten to Dunchurch and put Sir Everard Digby and the
-party on their guard.
-
-On the evening of Monday the 4th of November, the Earl of Suffolk,
-in prosecution of his duty as Lord Chamberlain, to see all necessary
-preparations made for the opening of Parliament, went down to the House
-accompanied by Lord Monteagle.
-
-After they had been some time in the Parliament chamber, on pretence that
-some necessary articles were missing, they went down to the cellars to
-make a search. They entered the vault where the mine was prepared and
-where Fawkes was at his post. The Lord Chamberlain, casually casting his
-eyes round the place, inquired by whom it was occupied, and who Fawkes
-was. The staunch traitor replied that it was occupied by Mr. Percy, whose
-servant he was; on which Suffolk observed in a careless manner, "Your
-master has laid in a good stock of fuel;" and he and Monteagle left the
-cellar. No sooner were they off the ground, than Fawkes hastened to
-inform Percy of what had occurred, but the warning was lost upon him. He
-persuaded himself that all was yet undiscovered, and Fawkes returned to
-the cellar to await the fatal hour.
-
-A little after midnight, being now actually the 5th of November, Guy
-Fawkes had occasion to open the door of the vault, and he was immediately
-seized by Sir Thomas Knevett a magistrate of Westminster, who, with a
-party of soldiers, had silently invested the place. Fawkes was found to
-be booted and spurred, ready for a precipitate flight after lighting
-the train; three matches were found in his pocket, and a dark lantern
-containing a light was placed behind the door. The least delay in
-seizing the desperado, and he would have blown himself and the guard all
-into the air together. But he was instantly pinioned, bound hand and
-foot, and conveyed to Whitehall, where the Council had assembled in the
-king's bed-chamber by four o'clock to interrogate him. Fast fettered
-as he was, the determined look of the undaunted traitor struck terror
-into the spectators. He appeared quite self-possessed, calm in aspect,
-and bold, though respectful in speech. Nothing could be drawn from him
-regarding the conspiracy. He said his name was Johnson, and that Percy
-was his master. He avowed that his object was to annihilate King and
-Parliament, as the only possible means of ridding the Catholics of their
-persecutions. When asked who were his accomplices, he replied that should
-never be known from him. Finding that nothing could be extracted from the
-conspirator, on the morning of the 6th of November he was sent to the
-Tower, accompanied by orders that the secret was to be extorted from him
-by torture. The instructions of James directed that the gentle tortures
-were to be tried first, with gradual resort to the severer forms if
-necessary. For three or four days this man of iron nerve and will endured
-the utmost agony they could put him to, without divulging a syllable,
-nor did he relax till he learned for certain that the conspirators had
-proclaimed themselves by appearing in arms.
-
-[Illustration: ARREST OF GUY FAWKES. (_See p._ 427.)]
-
-Catesby and John Wright had left on the evening of the 4th for Dunchurch
-as agreed; Percy and Christopher Wright maintained their watch in London
-till they heard of the arrest of Fawkes, when they mounted and rode after
-Catesby and John Wright. Keyes and Rookwood still waited till morning,
-when finding the whole known and all London in a state of terror, Keyes
-got away after the rest. Rookwood lingered in town till near noon, as
-he had a relay of vigorous horses ready, and when mounted, he rode
-furiously, overtook Keyes on Finchley Common, whence they rode to Turvey
-in Bedfordshire. Rookwood still pursued his gallop till he overtook first
-Percy and Christopher Wright, and then Catesby and John Wright, and the
-whole troop rode on together till they came to Lady Catesby's, at Ashby
-St. Legers, in Northamptonshire. They arrived there at six o'clock in
-the evening, Rookwood having ridden the whole eighty miles from London
-in little more than six hours. A party of conspirators, with whom was
-Winter, were just sitting down to supper when the fugitives came in,
-covered with mud and sinking with fatigue. Yet no time was to be lost.
-After a hasty refreshment, the whole company got to horse, and rode with
-all speed to Dunchurch.
-
-The strange, haggard, and dejected appearance of the conspirators, and
-their eager closeting with Sir Everard Digby, awoke the suspicions of
-the hunting party. Before midnight, a whisper of treason and its failure
-flew amongst them, and they quickly got to horse and rode off each his
-own way. In the morning there remained only Catesby, Digby, Percy, the
-Wrights, Winter, and a few servants.
-
-Catesby now advised that they should strike across Worcestershire for
-Wales, where he flattered himself they might assemble the Catholic gentry
-and make a formidable stand. In pursuance of this romantic plan, they
-mounted and rode to Warwick, whence, after obtaining fresh horses for
-their jaded ones, they made for Grant's house at Norbrook, and thence
-rode on through Warwickshire and Worcestershire to Holbeach House, on the
-borders of Staffordshire. All the way they had called on the Catholics
-to arm and join them for the rescue of their faith, but not a man would
-listen to the appeal. On this decided failure, instead of pushing for the
-mountains of Wales, they resolved to make a stand at Holbeach.
-
-Meanwhile Sir Richard Walsh the sheriff of Worcestershire, with the whole
-_posse comitatus_ and a number of volunteer gentlemen, was in chase of
-them. They had diverged from their original route in the hope of being
-joined by the gentry, who only drove them from their doors; and now,
-no sooner did Stephen Littleton, the owner of Holbeach, learn the real
-facts, than, horrified at the certain destruction impending over these
-desperate men, he escaped at the earliest opportunity from the house. He
-was soon followed by Sir Everard Digby, on the plea of endeavouring to
-muster assistance. The remaining conspirators--who, with servants, did
-not amount to more than forty men--put the house in a state of defence;
-but as they were drying some powder before the fire, it exploded,
-scorching Catesby and some others of the bystanders.
-
-This accident so appalled them, impressing them with the idea that their
-enterprise was displeasing to God, that Robert Winter, Bates the servant
-of Catesby, and others got away. About noon Sir Richard Walsh came up
-with his troop, surrounded the house, and summoned them to surrender. But
-preferring death in arms to the gallows, they defied their assailants,
-and resolved to fight to the last. On this the sheriff ordered one part
-of his followers to set fire to the house, and the other to batter in the
-gates. Catesby, blackened and nearly blinded by the powder, called on the
-rest to make a rush and die hand to hand with their assailants. In the
-courtyard, Catesby, the two Wrights, and Percy were mortally wounded.
-Catesby crawled on hands and knees into the house to a crucifix, which he
-seized in his hands and expired. Rookwood, dreadfully burnt and wounded,
-was seized as well as Winter, whose arm was broken. Percy died the next
-day. The rest of them were soon taken. Robert Winter had overtaken
-Stephen Littleton in a wood, and together they made their way to the
-house of a Mrs. Littleton, near Hagley, where they were secreted, without
-her knowledge, by her cousin Humphrey Littleton, but were betrayed by a
-servant of Mrs. Littleton. Sir Everard Digby was pursued and taken in a
-wood near Dudley. They were all captured, with Keyes and Bates Catesby's
-servant, who was taken in Staffordshire. Four days after the seizure of
-the captives at Holbeach, Tresham was arrested in London, notwithstanding
-his affected innocence and his offers of assistance to the Council; and
-thus were the authors of this conspiracy destroyed, or safe in the hands
-of Government. Soon afterwards Garnet was discovered hiding at Hendip in
-a secret chamber.
-
-The trials, of course, excited intense interest, and the king, queen, and
-prince were said to be present, where they could see and hear without
-attracting public notice. The prisoners were eight, Sir Everard Digby,
-Robert and Thomas Winter, Rookwood, Grant, Guido Fawkes, Keyes, and
-Bates. Sir Everard Digby pleaded guilty, all the rest not guilty, on the
-ground that many things were included in the indictments which were not
-true. There were no witnesses called, but the written depositions of the
-prisoners and of a servant of Sir Everard's were taken as sufficient
-proof. The accused, for the most part, denied that the three Jesuits
-(Garnet and two others who had been implicated) had any part in the
-plot, though they might more or less be aware of it; nor was there any
-proof brought forward or admission made which affected the Catholic
-body generally. On the contrary, it was too notorious that the Catholics
-had everywhere shrunk from the conspirators with horror; and Sir Everard
-Digby, in his letters to his wife, written from the Tower, pathetically
-laments that the Catholics so far from supporting the conspiracy,
-shunned and condemned them, and adds that he would never have engaged
-in it if he had not thought it lawful. The prisoners who pleaded not
-guilty, excused their conduct by the cruelty of the persecutions which
-they were enduring, the ruin and sufferings of their families, the
-violated promises of the king, and their consequent despair of any other
-termination of their oppressions, as well as their natural desire to
-effect the restoration of what they deemed the only true church. The
-Earls of Salisbury and Northampton denied, on the part of the king, the
-breach of any promises; and the prisoners were condemned to the death of
-traitors, which they endured, in all its revolting severity, at the west
-end of St. Paul's Churchyard. Digby, Robert Winter, Grant, and Bates, on
-the 31st of January, and Thomas Winter, Fawkes, Rookwood, and Keyes, next
-day.
-
-The Jesuits Garnet and Oldcorne and their two servants, Owen and
-Chambers, who had been captured in Worcestershire, were lodged in the
-Tower, and there underwent the strictest examination, and Oldcorne, Owen,
-and Chambers were placed upon the rack. Garnet was not racked, but was
-threatened with it, to which he replied, "_Minate ista pueris_"--"Threats
-are only for boys." As it was probably thought that nothing was to be
-hoped from Garnet through torture, a stratagem worthy of the Inquisition
-was resolved on. The warder in whose custody the Jesuits lay, received
-an order from the lieutenant of the Tower to assume a friendly demeanour
-towards them; to express his sympathy for their sufferings, and his
-respect for their undaunted maintenance of their faith. Having made a
-favourable impression, he proceeded to offer them all the indulgence in
-his power, consistent with their safe custody. The Jesuits fell into
-the snare. The warder offered to take charge of any letters that they
-wished to convey to their friends. His sincerity seemed so genuine
-that the offer was accepted; a correspondence with several Catholics
-was commenced, and the letters each way were regularly carried to the
-commissioners, opened, and copied before delivery. Many of the letters
-being found to have secret notes appended in lemon juice, which only
-became visible when heated, were retained, and exact copies sent. Some
-of these letters still remain in the Public Record Office. But this
-correspondence, notwithstanding the sympathetic ink, was so guarded, that
-it furnished no new facts and another plan was adopted. The warder, as if
-growing more willing to serve them by longer acquaintance, showed them
-that by leaving an intermediate door unlocked between their cells, the
-two Jesuits could meet and converse at freedom. Still confiding entirely
-in their apparent friend the warder, who recommended extreme caution,
-Garnet and Oldcorne gladly embraced this opportunity of intercourse.
-But in secret recesses in the passage were placed Lockerson the private
-secretary of Cecil, and Forsett a magistrate of the Tower, who heard and
-noted down the conversations of the prisoners. Five times were these
-treacherous interviews permitted, and the reported conversations of four
-of them are still preserved.
-
-As might be expected, the conversations chiefly turned on the best mode
-of conducting their defence. In these conversations Garnet admitted that
-though he had denied it, he had still been at White Webbs, in Enfield
-Chase, with the conspirators, and would still maintain that he had not
-been there since Bartholomew-tide. On another occasion he let fall things
-which still further betrayed his knowledge of the plot. It is possible
-that he might even yet have escaped had he not, at his trial, avowed that
-he considered equivocation and mental reservation on any point that might
-incriminate him, perfectly justifiable. After that declaration popular
-sympathy was no longer in his favour. A verdict of guilty was pronounced
-against him, and he was hanged, drawn and quartered on the 3rd of May,
-1606.
-
-A Parliament was summoned for the double purpose of raising money and
-of extending additional punishment over the Catholics generally. The
-whole country was in that state of alarm and hostility to them, that
-James found it necessary to restrain rather than encourage the mania.
-Such was the public excitement, that even he was not exempt from blame
-on account of this lenity. He had chosen this inauspicious moment to
-make overtures to Spain for the Infanta as a wife for Prince Henry,
-and the Puritans at once ascribed his moderation to this cause, and
-declared that he was little better than a secret Papist himself. James
-was alarmed and obliged to give way. It was in vain that Henry IV. of
-France remonstrated against a bigotry which had already driven some of
-the Catholics to such desperate lengths. His ambassador represented
-that the king his master had learnt from experience that persecution
-only stimulated zealots to a temper in which they gloried in suffering,
-and that far more could be effected by kindness than by severity; that
-James should, if he loved peace, make himself their protector instead
-of their persecutor. But Parliament soon showed how useless at the
-moment was such advice. Both Houses appeared to be carried beyond all
-reason by their fears and their resentment. On the 3rd of February every
-member of the Commons was ordered to stand up in his place and propound
-such measures as appeared to him most desirable. The most extravagant
-propositions seemed the most acceptable, and after impetuous debates upon
-them, they were communicated by conferences to the other House, and in
-both Lords and Commons motions of the severest description were made and
-carried by triumphant majorities. Catholic recusants were now forbidden
-to appear at Court, to dwell within its boundaries, or within ten miles
-of the boundaries of London; or to remove on any occasion more than five
-miles from their homes, under particular penalties, unless in the latter
-case they had a licence from four neighbouring magistrates. They were
-rendered incapable of practising in surgery, physic, or common or civil
-law; of acting as judges, clerks, officers, in any court or corporation;
-of presenting to church livings, schools, or hospitals in their gift;
-or of exercising the functions of executors or guardians; where persons
-were married by Catholic priests, the husband, if a Catholic, could
-not claim the property of the wife, nor the wife, if a Catholic, that
-of the husband; and if a child born was not baptised by a Protestant
-minister within a month, the penalty was one hundred and fifty pounds;
-and for every corpse not buried in a Protestant cemetery, the penalty
-was twenty pounds. All existing penalties for absence from church were
-retained, with the addition that whoever received Catholic visitors, or
-kept Catholic servants, must pay for each such individual ten pounds per
-lunar month. Every recusant was declared to be excommunicated; his house
-might be broken open and searched at any time, his books and any articles
-belonging to "his idolatrous worship" might be burnt, and his arms and
-horses seized by the order of a single magistrate.
-
-A new oath of allegiance was framed recognising absolute renunciation
-of the right of the Pope to interfere in the temporal affairs of the
-kingdom. The Catholics who submitted to take this oath were to be liable
-_only_ to the penalties now enumerated; but they who refused were to be
-imprisoned for life, and to suffer forfeiture of their personal property
-and the rents of their lands.
-
-The publication of these terrible enactments carried astonishment
-and dismay through the nation; many Protestants as well as Catholics
-condemned them. The French minister Villeroy declared that they were
-characteristic of barbarians rather than of Christians. Many Catholics
-made haste to quit their native country, and the rest prepared to
-sacrifice both property and personal liberty. The Pope Paul V. despatched
-a secret emissary to James, imploring him to relax the rigour of the
-new laws, but without success. And the Pontiff, resenting the repulse,
-then published a breve, denouncing the oath of allegiance as unlawful,
-"because contrary to faith and salvation." The publication of this
-imprudent breve only made matters worse. The Catholic clergy were before
-its arrival divided in their opinions as to the lawfulness of taking
-it; the archpriest Blackwall himself, with many of his brethren, were
-prepared to take it. The authority of the Pope extinguished theirs and
-decided the majority; yet Blackwall took the oath himself, and advised
-the Catholics, by a circular letter, to take it.
-
-But no submission on the part of a portion of the Catholics could
-mitigate the wrath of James at the conduct of the Pope. He ordered the
-bishops in their several dioceses to tender the oath, and to enforce the
-penalties on all recusants. Three missionaries lying under sentence of
-death for the exercise of their priestly functions, were called upon to
-take it; they refused. Two of them were saved by the earnest intercession
-of the Prince de Joinville and the French ambassador. The third, named
-Drury, was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Blackwall the archpriest himself
-was thrown into prison, though he had both taken the oath and advised the
-rest of the Catholics to take it; and though James pitied him, he could
-do nothing more in his behalf than prevent him from being brought to
-trial and capitally condemned. The case of Blackwall was extremely hard,
-for, on the other hand, he had excited the resentment of the Pope by his
-concession. He was called on by letters from Cardinals Bellarmine and
-Arrigoni, and the Jesuits Parsons and Holtby to retract; but as he would
-not, he was superseded by Birket. He was then in his seventieth year, and
-remained in prison till his death, in 1613.
-
-A second breve from the Pope roused the spirit of James; he determined
-to try whether he could not silence the clamour of the papal party
-by his pen. He abandoned even the pleasures of the chase, refused to
-listen to his ministers, and calling his favourite divines around him,
-he shut himself up with them, and produced a tract called "An Apologie
-for the Oath of Allegiance," which was immediately translated into
-French and Latin. But as the royal _brochure_ did not convince the
-Catholics, six priests were condemned for refusing the oath, and three of
-them were executed, one at York and two at Tyburn. Moreau, Bellarmine,
-and Parsons, published replies to the royal treatise; and again James
-closeted himself with his divines, revised his publication, and prefaced
-it with a "Premonition to all Christian Princes." It was in vain that
-the kings of Denmark and France counselled him to desist from a contest
-so unworthy of a great monarch, in vain that the queen urged the same
-advice. He condescended to declare that the fittest answer to Parsons
-would be a rope; and as for Bellarmine, who had written under a feigned
-name, he dubbed him "a most obscure author, a very desperate fellow in
-beginning his apprentisage, not only to refute, but to rail at a king."
-The flatterers of the king applauded his "immortal labours," as they were
-pleased to call them; and James continued to toil at them, revise, and
-remodel his arguments till 1609. The Catholic peers, with the exception
-of Lord Teynham, all took the oath on different occasions in the Upper
-House.
-
-[Illustration: POUND SOVEREIGN OF JAMES I.]
-
-[Illustration: UNIT OR LAUREL OF JAMES I. (GOLD).]
-
-[Illustration: SPUR RIAL OF JAMES I. (GOLD).]
-
-[Illustration: THISTLE CROWN OF JAMES I. (GOLD).]
-
-To dismiss for the present the religious controversies which kept the
-kingdom in a ferment of bitterness, we have a little overstepped the
-progress of general events. In the spring of 1606 James called together
-Parliament, for he was in much distress for money. As usual, the Commons
-had their list of complaints to set off against his demands and as
-James showed no eagerness to redress no less than sixteen subjects of
-grievance, the Commons made no haste with the supplies. At length, in the
-month of May, whilst the question of the subsidy was dragging its slow
-length along, and Cecil was endeavouring in vain to quicken the motion
-of the House, by making promises which meant nothing beyond inducing the
-members to vote, a sudden rumour ran through the court that the king was
-assassinated at Oaking in Berkshire, where he was hunting along with
-his favourites, the Earl of Montgomery, Sir John Ramsay, and Sir James
-Hay. The mode of his death was variously reported. One version was that
-he had been stabbed with a poisoned knife, and another that he had been
-shot with a pistol, and a third that he was smothered in his bed. The
-murderers were differently represented to be the Jesuits, Scotsmen in
-women's clothes, Frenchmen, and Spaniards. There was great consternation
-both in the City and the Parliament. The Lords displayed the utmost
-loyalty; and the Commons suddenly closed their money debate by voting
-three subsidies and six fifteenths. In the midst of the panic James
-arrived safe and sound in London, and was received with proportionate
-enthusiasm. As the sensation went off, many began to suspect that Cecil,
-and perhaps the king himself, could have explained the origin of the
-_ruse_--that it was but a spur to the tardy liberality of the Commons. At
-all events, James, having obtained his supplies, prorogued Parliament to
-the 18th of November.
-
-[Illustration: SIR ROBERT CECIL, AFTERWARDS EARL OF SALISBURY. (_From the
-Portrait by Zucchero._)]
-
-The great business of Parliament now for several sessions--that is,
-from 1604 to 1607--was that of discussing James's suggestion for the
-union of the two kingdoms. This very suggestion, so immediately brought
-forward, was a glaring proof of James's want of solid judgment. The
-least reflection might have satisfied the least reflecting mind, that
-two nations which had for so many ages been inflamed against each
-other by wars, injustice, mutual cruelties, political jealousies, and
-the taunts which embittered passions had caused them to fling at each
-other, would require a long time to reconcile them to the idea of entire
-amalgamation. The centuries of attempted usurpation on the part of the
-English, and the determined resistance, even to death, of the Scots,
-made the latter sensitively apprehensive of the union. They saw in it
-only the accomplishment of the same end by different means. They were
-the less disposed to it in consequence of the foolish boastings of James
-of his absolute power. His high notions of prerogative appeared to have
-grown wonderfully since his accession to the English throne. He compared
-himself to a god upon earth, and had already given out his style and
-title as king of Great Britain. The Scots were, therefore, naturally
-suspicious of a union which would very largely augment his powers. Still
-more, his new and excessive leaning towards Episcopacy alarmed the Scots.
-They saw nothing but its attempted imposition on them in the union of the
-kingdoms, and they were not inclined thus easily to give up their freedom
-of conscience which they had fought out at so much cost. On the other
-hand, James's imprudent bestowal of posts and honours on Scotsmen in
-England, offended and disgusted the English. They asked whether they were
-to be overrun by a regular inundation of proud and hungry adventurers
-from the North. In the Commons the expressions of contempt and aversion
-to the Scottish race grew to the height of insolence and insult, and were
-sure to excite the most indignant feeling in that people. Sir Christopher
-Pigot, the member for Buckinghamshire, especially distinguished himself
-by the vituperation of Scotsmen. He professed the utmost horror at the
-idea of union between a rich and fertile country like England, and a
-sterile and poor one like Scotland; between a people wealthy, frank, and
-generous, and one at once haughty, beggarly, and penurious. This put the
-climax to the patience of Scotland, and James declared he could no longer
-tolerate language which insulted himself as a Scot.
-
-Cecil at the command of the king took up the matter warmly, and the House
-of Commons, persuaded by him, expelled Pigot, and he was committed to
-the Tower. Defeated in the Commons, James betook himself to the courts
-of law. He had proposed to the Commons to pass an Act naturalising all
-Scots, even those born before his accession to the English throne;
-but when they rejected this, he obtained a decision from the judges
-sanctioning the admission of the inhabitants of each kingdom to all the
-rights of subjects in both. This would in a few years have made the
-Scots as much subjects of the English Crown as the English themselves,
-but James was not content with this. He used very angry and impudent
-language, threatening to leave London and fix his court at York or
-Berwick; telling his English subjects to remember that he was a king, who
-had to govern them and to answer for their errors; who was made of flesh
-and blood like themselves, and might be tempted to do what they would not
-like.
-
-The Commons resented this language: they sent their Speaker to desire
-that the king would receive no reports of their proceedings except
-from themselves, and that they might be permitted to feel that they
-were at liberty to deliver their opinions in their own House without
-restraint or fear. James, who was easily alarmed, professed to have no
-desire to encroach on their liberty of speech, but no sooner did they
-put him to the test than he renewed his interference. A petition being
-presented to the House complaining of the oppressions upon the Puritans,
-and the abuses of the Church, James sent an order to the Speaker to
-inform the House that they were meddling with what belonged alone to
-him. The members declared this to be a violation of their privileges,
-but the Speaker informed them that there were plenty of precedents for
-such restraint on the House by the Crown. The House on this proposed to
-appoint a committee to inquire into these precedents, and how far they
-were founded in constitutional right; but here again, James, fearing he
-had gone too far, sent them word that although the matter in question
-properly belonged to him, he should not object to their reading the
-petition.
-
-But the Crown and the House very soon came into collision on the
-subject of the powers of the Commons. A petition was presented from the
-merchants, representing the injuries their ships and commerce received
-from Spain, particularly on the coasts of South America, the ports of
-which the Spanish were endeavouring to close against all other nations.
-The Commons thought it a subject of that national character that they
-should have the co-operation of the Peers with them, and therefore sent
-to the Upper House proposing a conference. But the Lords demurred,
-thinking it a subject which the Commons were scarcely authorised to enter
-upon. The difficulty, however, was mutually obviated; the Lords agreed to
-the conference. But it proved only an occasion for the Crown to deliver
-a lecture to the Commons on their aspiring to deal with subjects too
-high for them. James was, in fact, contemplating an alliance with Spain,
-and was by no means disposed to offend its rulers. Cecil, therefore, and
-Lord Henry Howard, now Earl of Northampton, read the Commons a very plain
-lecture, instructing them that all matters appertaining to peace or war,
-and all such topics as led to these results, belonged especially to the
-Crown; which indeed occasionally consulted the Commons, not out of right
-or necessity but as a matter of favour and also of policy, when it was
-advisable to have the sympathy and active support of the representatives
-of the people. But the declaration of war or concession of peace was the
-absolute prerogative of the Crown; the business of the Commons was more
-private and local, such as the furnishing of funds--and when money was
-wanted, they never failed to hear of it.
-
-The Commons allowed the petition of the merchants to stand over for the
-time, but out of doors the spirit of dissatisfaction rose high, and the
-leaning of James towards Spain was narrowly watched and commented upon.
-
-While the Government and the Commons were engaged in this discussion, a
-serious insurrection called the attention of the Council another way.
-The lucky courtiers who had obtained amongst them the estates of the
-gentlemen who had forfeited them for their share in the Gunpowder Plot,
-whilst dividing and enclosing, like their predecessors who had obtained
-the estates of the Church, cast greedy eyes on the adjacent common
-lands, and enclosed as much as they could of them with the rest. The
-people, deprived of their right of pasturage, rose in resistance, as
-they had done in the reign of Edward VI. They had the statutes regarding
-enclosures in their favour, and assembling in numbers from one to five
-thousand, they broke down the new fences, filled up the ditches, and
-restored the usurped fields to their ancient state as common. Like the
-agrarian reformer, Ket of Norfolk, they confined themselves strictly to
-their legitimate object. They conducted themselves with perfect order,
-committed no depredations on really private property, nor perpetrated any
-excesses, to which their numbers might have tempted them. They appeared
-in great force at Hill Morton, in Warwickshire, an estate of Tresham's,
-and in their largest force of five thousand at Coleshill. Their leaders,
-whoever they were, appeared in masks, except one man of the name of
-Reynolds, who was an enthusiast and set all danger at defiance; declaring
-that he was sent of God to satisfy men of all degrees, and had, moreover,
-authority from the king to level all the new fences. He acquired the
-name of Captain Pouch, from a large pocket which he wore at his side,
-and in which he boasted that he carried a charm which not only made him
-invulnerable to sword or bullet, but which would protect them from all
-harm.
-
-The insurgents broke out about the middle of May, having in vain
-previously presented their memorials to the Council, the members of which
-were too much interested in the lands in question to pay any attention to
-them. At first James and the Court were greatly alarmed, supposing it to
-be a demonstration of Catholics or Puritans. The guards at Westminster
-palace were doubled, and orders were issued to the Lord Mayor to watch
-the movements of the apprentices in the City. A little time, however,
-revealed the real nature of the rising, and the insurgents were ordered
-to disperse; but they stood their ground, assuring the magistrates that
-they were only executing the statutes against enclosures, and were
-under orders not to violate the law in any manner, nor even to indulge
-in swearing. The lieutenants then endeavoured to raise the counties,
-but the yeomanry displayed no desire to interfere in such a cause; and
-many gentlemen even contended that it was best to concede the matter to
-the poor, advice which, if followed, would no doubt have ensured speedy
-quietness without bloodshed. But this did not suit the views of the
-interested Council, and the Earls of Huntingdon and Exeter and Lord Zouch
-were sent with a considerable force to quell them. Sir Edward Montague
-and Sir Anthony Mildmay came upon a number of them busy levelling the
-enclosures at Newton, another estate forfeited by Tresham. They found
-them well armed with bills and bows, pikes and stones. The officers
-commanded them to disperse, but they refused, and after twice reading
-the Riot Act in vain, a charge was ordered. The trained bands showed no
-relish for the business; but the regular cavalry, and the servants of
-Mildmay and Montague, attacked them briskly. The insurgents returned the
-attack with much bravery, but at the second onset broke and fled. Forty
-or fifty of them were killed, and a great number wounded. Sir Henry
-Fookes, who led on the infantry against them, was severely wounded. After
-this defeat "the levellers," as they were called, were pursued in all
-directions and everywhere put down and dispersed. Many prisoners were
-made and a commission, with Sir Edward Coke at its head, was appointed to
-try them.
-
-James, with a feeling that did him honour, instructed the Commission to
-use moderation in punishing the prisoners, declaring that the Council had
-been more to blame than they, for neglecting their petitions. Had they
-not intercepted them, he pretended to say that they would have received
-redress from him. He maintained that they had been oppressed and driven
-to resistance by the rapacity of the gentry and the neglect of ministers.
-Pouch and some of his associates were condemned and executed as traitors
-on the 28th of June; and some of the others were hanged as felons because
-they had not dispersed on the reading of the Riot Act.
-
-[Illustration: SHILLING OF JAMES I.]
-
-The king on the 4th of July prorogued Parliament till November, but
-having got a considerable amount of money from it, and little other
-satisfaction, he did not summon it again till February, 1610. Could he
-have found sufficient funds any other way, it is quite certain that he
-would never have called it any more. In his suit of Lincoln green, with a
-little feather in his hat, and a horn by his side instead of a sword, he
-followed his hounds through the forest, happy as Nimrod himself, so long
-as the means lasted. But James's Court was altogether on an extravagant
-scale. Like a youthful heir whose guardians have kept him close, and who
-makes up for a long abstinence by tenfold profuseness on coming to his
-estate, James, escaped from the poverty of his Scottish establishment
-where he had mainly lived on his pension from Elizabeth, now gave rein to
-extravagance as if nothing could exhaust the affluence of England. He had
-a most expensive household, and he gave money to his favourites as though
-he had the wishing-cap of Fortunatus.
-
-[Illustration: CROWN OF JAMES I.]
-
-Not only was his own household lavishly managed, but even those of Henry
-and Elizabeth, two of his children, consisted of one hundred and forty
-personages. In 1610, but three years after this period, that of Prince
-Henry was increased to four hundred and twenty-six individuals, of whom
-two hundred and ninety-seven were in receipt of salaries, besides a
-number of workmen employed under Inigo Jones, the architect.
-
-But above all the presents to his favourites would have given the idea
-that his resources were interminable. At the marriage of Sir Philip
-Herbert with Lady Susan Vere, he gave him an estate valued at L500 a
-year. At the marriage of Ramsay, Viscount Haddington, with Lady Elizabeth
-Ratcliffe, he paid his debts, amounting to L10,000, having already
-endowed him with an estate of L1,000 per annum; and he presented to the
-bride a gold cup containing the patent of a grant of lands worth L600 a
-year. His gifts at different times to Lord Dunbar amounted to L15,262; to
-the Earl of Mar, to L15,500; and to Viscount Haddington, to L31,000.
-
-This Viscount Haddington was the Sir John Ramsay who stabbed the Earl of
-Gowrie, at the time of the singular Gowrie conspiracy; and James went
-on promoting him till he became Earl of Holderness, with many grants of
-lands, gifts, and pensions. The second in James's regard, in the early
-part of his reign, was another Scotsman, James Hay, whom he successively
-created Lord Hay, Viscount Doncaster, and Earl of Carlisle. Clarendon
-says that this man, in the course of a very licentious career, spent
-above four hundred thousand pounds and left neither house nor child to be
-remembered by. James, in England, also chose several English favourites.
-The first of those was Sir Philip Herbert, brother of the Earl of
-Pembroke and son of the sister of Sir Philip Sidney. He was created Earl
-of Montgomery, and was especially agreeable to James because he despised
-learned men--for James was jealous of all such--and took pleasure
-only, like his royal master, in dogs and horses. Montgomery was in the
-ascendant till the king's eye fell on one Robert Carr, destined to a
-strange history; and the English and Scottish favourites, by their mutual
-hatred of each other, their quarrels and duels, gave James sufficient
-trouble. Haddington and Montgomery had an affray in which Montgomery
-showed the white feather, and James sent Haddington for a short time to
-the Tower. Douglas, the Master of the Horse, was killed in one of these
-squabbles; and some years later Lord Sanquhar had an eye thrust out by a
-fencing master, for which his lordship killed him, and was executed for
-the deed. Such was the disgraceful condition of the court of the British
-Solomon.
-
-[Illustration: JAMES AND HIS COURTIERS SETTING OUT FOR THE HUNT. (_See
-p._ 436.)]
-
-During the years 1608 and 1609, negotiations were pending between the
-United Provinces of the Netherlands and Spain. James, who had a claim
-on these Provinces for above eight hundred thousand pounds on account
-of advances and services by Elizabeth, for which he held the towns of
-Flushing, Brell, and Rammekens, would have been glad to obtain possession
-of the money. So well was this known, that there were rumours that, as
-he could not obtain the sum due, he was intending to sell the towns
-to Philip III. of Spain. The Archduke Albert was still in Flanders,
-not having abandoned the hope of recovering the revolted States; and
-Catholics from England were in the habit of volunteering to assist him
-in undoing what Queen Elizabeth had done there. But much as James was
-pressed for money, he was scarcely daring enough to aid Spain in its
-views. The spirit of Protestantism was too strong in England tamely to
-witness such an anti-Protestant policy; and, in fact, James himself was
-rather afraid of an attack from Spain, than hoping for a coalition with
-it. The Earl of Tyrone had fallen under suspicion of fresh rebellion,
-and had fled to the Spaniards in the Netherlands for security. Cecil
-apprehensive that Philip might be disposed to attempt his restoration,
-instructed Sir Charles Cornwallis, at Madrid, to use bold language on the
-occasion. This appears to have had effect, for Tyrone retired to Italy.
-But a new danger presented itself in the rumour of negotiations for peace
-between Holland and Spain. Cecil dreaded a pacification between these
-Powers, as it would allow Philip more opportunity to turn his attention
-to Ireland, if so disposed.
-
-The English Government was surprised and mortified to learn that such
-negotiations were actually proceeding, and that the King of France had
-been invited to join in them. At length James, who had so deep a stake in
-the Netherlands, received a formal notice to the same effect, soliciting
-his co-operation. These negotiations were conducted at the Hague, but
-it was not till March, 1609, that they were brought to a conclusion.
-The result was a truce for twelve years, which was, in fact, equivalent
-to a peace, acknowledging the independence of the Dutch States, after a
-brave conflict for liberty of forty years. The debt of James, amounting
-to eight hundred and eighteen thousand pounds, was acknowledged, and
-engagements entered into for its payment by annual instalments of sixty
-thousand pounds. But the first payment was not to be made till the end of
-two years, and James was still to retain the cautionary towns till the
-whole was discharged.
-
-The postponement of the payment of the debt of Holland was extremely
-embarrassing to Cecil. On the death of the Earl of Dorset, in 1608, he
-succeeded to the office of Treasurer, and to the clamorous demands which
-had been made upon Dorset. His carriage had been stopped in the streets
-by the servants of the king's household, who were loud in their demands
-for their long arrears of wages, and the purveyors refused to bring in
-any more supplies till they were paid their advances. Cecil, on examining
-the accounts, found James one million three hundred thousand pounds in
-debt, and exceeding his income at the rate of upwards of eighty thousand
-pounds per annum. He set to work resolutely to curtail this expenditure
-and to devise means of raising money. James always claimed an authority
-paramount to all laws; and Cecil ventured to put in practice the idea of
-prerogative in raising the necessary funds. He called in rigorously the
-unpaid remains of the last voted subsidies, and then proceeded to lay
-on duties and impose monopolies of the most odious nature, without any
-sanction of Parliament. His predecessor Dorset had set him the example by
-levying an import duty on currants by letters patent. This illegal demand
-had been resisted, and Bates, a Turkey merchant, was proceeded against
-for refusal to pay, in the Court of Exchequer. This court was base
-enough to decide in favour of this unconstitutional stretch of power, and
-James was delighted at so auspicious a concession of the justice of his
-doctrine of prerogative. Cecil pressed on in the path thus opened, and
-laid on import and export duties on various articles by orders under the
-Great Seal. He imposed a feudal aid towards the knighting of the Prince
-Henry, of twenty shillings on each knight's fee; but this produced only
-twenty-eight thousand pounds. He then extended his duties to almost every
-species of imported and exported goods, at the rate of five pounds per
-cent. on the value of the goods, which he calculated would produce three
-hundred thousand pounds per annum; and he sold to the Dutch a right of
-fishing on the coasts of England and Scotland. Cecil himself was the
-farmer of these duties. They were, however, of a character to excite the
-utmost dissatisfaction; trade fell off under their influence, fewer ships
-came into the English ports, and there was at length no alternative but
-to summon a Parliament, which met on the 24th of February, 1610.
-
-The great topics which occupied this Parliament were, of course, the
-king's want of money and his continual violations of Magna Charta. Cecil,
-seeing the desperate state of the royal finances, made a bold demand that
-six hundred thousand pounds should be at once voted to liquidate his
-debts, and that an annual addition of two hundred thousand pounds should
-be consented to as a permanent pension, to prevent him from getting into
-debt again. But Cecil committed a great blunder both in routine and in
-sound policy, by proposing this money measure to the Lords instead of
-to the Commons, whose proper business it was. The Commons resented this
-course, and were more determined than ever in demanding an abandonment of
-the unconstitutional practice of imposing duties without their consent.
-They declared that the imprisonment of Bates for opposing this practice,
-though sanctioned by the Exchequer, was nevertheless illegal. Francis
-Bacon and Sir John Davis endeavouring to justify the despotic proceeding,
-only increased the exasperation of the House. It was declared that if
-the taxing of merchandise by prerogative was permitted, the taxing of
-their lands would soon follow. James sent them word to desist from such
-discussions; but the Commons were not to be thus silenced, whereupon
-James sent for both Houses to Whitehall, and delivered a most blasphemous
-speech in vindication of his inflated notions of kingly authority.
-"Kings," said he, "are justly called gods, for they exercise a manner
-or resemblance of divine power upon earth. For if you will consider
-the attributes of God, you shall see how they agree in the person of a
-king. God hath power to create or destroy, to make or unmake, at His
-pleasure; to give life or send death, to judge all, and to be judged of
-nor accountable to none; to raise low things, and to make high things
-low at His pleasure; and to God both body and soul are due. And the like
-power have kings. They make and unmake their subjects; they have power
-of raising and casting down, of life and of death; judges over all their
-subjects, and in all cases, and yet accountable to none but God only.
-They have power to exalt low things and abase high things, and make of
-their subjects like men of chess--a pawn to take a bishop or a knight;
-and to cry up or down any of their subjects as they do their money.
-And to the king is due both the affection of the soul, and the service
-of the body of his subjects." To resist the king in any of his acts or
-impositions, he declared was sedition; for the king was above all law,
-and laws were, in fact, but granted by kings to the people as a matter of
-favour.
-
-The Commons would not listen to such insane language. They told the king
-that in extolling the power of kings, he forgot the existence of Magna
-Charta, which set eternal and impassable bounds to that power; and they
-appointed a committee to search for the legality or illegality of all the
-practices complained of. The Crown lawyers in committee argued that "the
-reverence of past ages, and the possession of present times," sanctioned
-the king's doctrine; and that the right of imposing duties had been
-exercised by the three first Edwards by their own will, and independent
-of Parliament; and that if it had been interrupted from Richard II. to
-Mary, yet that princess had reassumed the royal privilege, and that it
-was continued by Elizabeth. But the Commons replied that in all these
-cases the monarchs had violated Magna Charta, the Statute _de tallagio
-non concedendo_, and twelve other Parliamentary enactments; that no time
-or practice could establish a right against those great bulwarks of
-popular liberty. And the Commons therefore demanded that a law should
-be made during this Session, declaring that all such impositions of
-duties or taxes, without consent of Parliament, should be pronounced for
-ever void. And they accordingly passed such a Bill, which, however, was
-rejected by the more subservient Lords.
-
-James writhed under this plain and direct denial of his assumed
-authority, and refused to surrender the question. He found in the bishops
-a body, on the whole, ready to co-operate with him in his attempt to
-destroy the Constitution; and Bancroft, the Primate, led the way with
-unblushing baseness. Under his leadership the whole High Church party
-echoed the king's most absolute dogmas, and claimed for him all the
-divinity which he professed to possess. The king, according to their
-creed, being divine, so were the bishops who were appointed by him,
-and therefore this divine Crown and Church were above all law. The
-ecclesiastical courts carried this theory into daily practice, and
-encroached on the temporal courts as pertinaciously as the king did on
-Parliament. There was a grand struggle between the common and the civil
-law. The judges, who saw this arrogance of the clergy with jealousy and
-disgust, began to relax their enmity against the Puritans and to regard
-them as the natural allies of law against absolutism.
-
-On the other hand, the king and bishops sought out fresh means in support
-of their doctrine, and one of these was to bring forward Dr. Cowell who,
-in his "Interpreter, or Law Dictionary," broached unmitigated maxims of
-despotism. He declared that the king inherited all the powers which had
-been exercised by the Emperors of Rome; as if the empire of the Romans
-had never ceased in England, or as if the civil law being still used by
-the Church, it became in all its forms imperative on the nation. This
-work was dedicated to Bancroft, and he and the king eulogised it as
-maintaining all the rampant maxims of absolutism which James had ever
-uttered. The king, Cowell declared, was "_solutus a legibus_," "freed
-from all restraint of laws;" and though he took an oath at his coronation
-to maintain all the laws unchanged, yet he was at full liberty to quash
-any laws that he pleased; and, in a word, he contended "that the King of
-England is an absolute king."
-
-The Commons called upon the Lords to unite with them in punishing this
-apologist, who, not content with selling his own birthright for a mess of
-pottage, was endeavouring to sell that of the nation too. The case was
-so flagrant that the Lords could not decline the challenge. And Bacon,
-who had shortly before been the advocate of the royal prerogative, now
-conducted the case for the Commons in the conference against Cowell, who
-was sent to prison for a time; his book was suppressed by the king's
-proclamation, poor James himself being obliged to condemn his own
-champion.
-
-Having triumphed in this particular, the Commons proceeded to much older
-grievances. They demanded the abolition of that den of injustice and
-extortion, the Court of High Commission, in which the king exercised that
-unrestrained despotism which he claimed over the whole kingdom; where
-men were sentenced and fined at the arbitrary will of the king and its
-council, without jury or evidence admitted in their defence: but this
-was an institution so dear to James's heart, that he would not listen to
-any abatement of its power. They next complained of the growing abuse
-of substituting royal proclamations for established law, "by reason of
-which," said the Commons, "there is a general fear conceived and spread
-amongst your majesty's people, that proclamations will, by degrees, grow
-up and increase to the strength and nature of laws." To this James simply
-replied that his proclamations should not exceed the warranty of law.
-They further complained of the delay of the courts in granting writs of
-_habeas corpus_ and prohibition, and of the encroachment of the Council
-of Wales, which extended its jurisdiction over neighbouring counties
-where it had no real authority; as well as of various monopolies, taxes
-on public-houses and on sea-coal.
-
-The licenses to public-houses he agreed to revoke, but he demanded a
-perpetual revenue in lieu of the income thence derived. This the Commons
-refused, alleging that he had no right to impose that tax in the first
-instance; and they further demanded that the feudal burthens of tenure
-by knights' service, wardships, and purveyance, should cease. As to the
-first, James absolutely refused compliance, on the plea that he would not
-reduce all his subjects, "rich and poor, noble and base, to hold their
-lands in the same ignoble manner;" but as to wardships, the marriages of
-infants and widows, and other odious services, including purveyance, he
-was willing to barter them for a sum of money. The sum which he demanded
-was three hundred thousand pounds per annum. The Commons only offered
-one hundred thousand pounds, but after a long course of haggling, like
-chapmen in a fair, the king descended to two hundred and twenty thousand
-pounds, and the Commons rose to one hundred and eighty thousand pounds.
-Here the matter paused till James moved a dissolution, when the Commons
-advanced to two hundred thousand pounds, and the king accepted the sum.
-But here again the king and his advocates had boasted so much of his
-being above the law, and of his power to quash, of his own will, any
-statute to which he had consented, that the Commons were cautious in
-their proceedings, and they had moreover to determine out of what funds
-this revenue should be raised. These discussions had now driven on the
-Session to the middle of July, and it was agreed that they should vote
-one subsidy, and one tenth and fifteenth for the present Session, and
-defer the final settlement of the other grant till the next.
-
-The interval was utilised by James and his ministers in attempts to
-corrupt some of the members of the Opposition, and thus to enable him
-to concede less and obtain more; but the Commons had employed the time
-in weighing the slippery nature of the man with whom they had to deal.
-His continual boasts of his superiority to all laws, and of an actually
-divine power of dispensing with his most solemn obligations, made them
-doubtful of the possibility of binding him to any terms; and the growing
-extravagance and rapacity of both king and courtiers deepened their fears.
-
-When they met they were in a far less compliant humour than when they
-separated. They insisted on seeing the promised reforms before they voted
-the two hundred thousand pounds. James was growing desperate for money;
-his coffers were empty, and the officers of the Crown were clamorous
-for their arrears of salary. He therefore sent for them to Whitehall,
-and a deputation of about thirty members attended. The king demanded
-of them whether they thought that he was really in want of money, as
-his Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had informed them?
-"Whereto," says Winwood, "when Sir Francis Bacon had begun to answer
-in a more extravagant style than his majesty did delight to hear, he
-picked out Sir Henry Neville, commanding him to answer according to his
-conscience. Thereupon Sir Henry Neville did directly answer that he
-thought his majesty was in want. 'Then,' said the king, 'tell me whether
-it belongeth to you, that are my subjects, to relieve me or not?' 'To
-this,' quoth Sir Henry, 'I must answer with a distinction: where your
-majesty's expense groweth by the commonwealth, we are bound to maintain
-it, otherwise not.'" Sir Henry reminded the king that in this one
-Parliament they had already given four subsidies and seven fifteenths,
-which was more than any Parliament at any time had given, and yet they
-had no relief of their grievances. James demanded what these grievances
-were--as though he had not heard them enumerated often enough before--and
-desired Sir Henry to give him a catalogue of them. Sir Henry adverted to
-the difficulties of obtaining justice in courts of law, to the usurped
-jurisdiction in the marches of Wales, and would have gone through the
-whole list had not Sir Herbert Croft interrupted him.
-
-[Illustration: THE STAR CHAMBER.]
-
-Finding that nothing was to be drawn from the resolute House, James again
-prorogued them for nine weeks, in order to try every means of drawing
-over to him individual members. But these efforts were as abortive as the
-former: the Commons were determined not to part with their money till
-they had a guarantee for the redress of their grievances, and James about
-this time lost his two right-hand men, Bancroft and Cecil. Bancroft, had
-died in November, 1610, staunch to the last in his exhortations to James
-not to give up the High Court of Commission; assuring him that though
-the Lords had thrown out the Bill, the Commons would bring it in again,
-and that nothing but unflinching firmness would defeat them. Cecil died
-on the 24th of May, 1612. He was grievously chagrined at the failure of
-his favourite scheme for setting the king above all his difficulties.
-In default of that, the old expedient of the sale of Crown lands was
-resorted to for the raising of money, and privy seals for loans of money
-were despatched into different counties. Meanwhile James was subsisting
-on a subsidy of six shillings in the pound granted by the clergy, and
-both king and ministers were in terror lest the privy seals should be
-"refused by the desperate hardness of the people." They raised, however,
-one hundred and eleven thousand pounds.
-
-The end of Cecil has been supposed to have been hastened by these
-anxieties; but probably he was worn out by the incessant cares which
-have pulled down other ministers besides him; for in his last moments he
-said to Sir Walter Cope, "Ease and pleasures quake to hear of death; but
-my life, full of cares and miseries, desireth to be dissolved." He had
-sought benefit at Bath, but without effect, and died at Marlborough on
-his return. Like his father, he had great talents, applied in a cold and
-ungenerous manner; but with all his faults he was a great minister.
-
-We must now introduce the story of a lady whose fate was very
-hard--Arabella Stuart. Lady Arabella (born in 1577) was descended from
-Henry VII.'s eldest daughter Margaret, like James himself, and therefore
-was to him an object of suspicion. Her proximity to the Crown had drawn
-upon her the attention of both princes and conspirators at various
-times. When she was only about ten years of age, Elizabeth used to show
-her at Court as the person she meant to make her heir. This she did to
-provoke James, whose pretensions were nearly as odious to her as those
-of his mother. But in after years Elizabeth treated her with extreme
-severity. James, indeed, contributed to this, by asking her in marriage
-for his favourite, Esme Stuart, Duke of Lennox, who was Arabella's
-cousin, also of the same royal descent. Elizabeth was extremely chagrined
-at such a proposal, reprimanded James sharply, forbade the marriage,
-and imprisoned the unoffending maiden. Again, Raleigh and Cobham were
-accused on their trial of having designed to depose James and place her
-on the throne in his stead. Lady Arabella did not wait to be questioned
-on the subject, but on receiving a letter of such purport from Cobham,
-immediately sent it to the king, and only laughed at the proposal. Again
-her name was mentioned in the Gunpowder Plot. James does not seem to
-have had any fear of her on these occasions. But he was more afraid of
-aspirants to her hand than of conspirators; and had, no doubt, settled
-in his mind that she should never marry. Like Elizabeth, he repulsed
-all offers of the kind, both from subjects and foreign princes, lest
-from the marriage should issue claimants to his throne. Cecil took care,
-on the death of Elizabeth, to secure the person of Arabella till James
-had been proclaimed and had taken possession of the throne. The king
-himself appeared disposed to act liberally towards her, except in not
-permitting her to marry. He settled a pension upon her, allowed her
-apartments in the palace, and she was recognised while the Princess
-Elizabeth was in her tutelage as first lady of the Court. The year after
-James's accession, the King of Poland sent an ambassador to demand her in
-marriage; but even Poland was not distant enough for royal fears. Next
-came a proposal from Count Maurice, titular Duke of Guelders, but James
-would not listen to it; and Lady Arabella, who was a clever woman, made
-it her policy--both under Elizabeth and James--to appear averse from any
-marriage whatever. She devoted herself to literature, poetry, and even
-theology, which became fashionable at Court from the predilections of
-James.
-
-Queen Anne appears to have had a great regard for the Lady Arabella, who
-was handsome, of a lively and affectionate disposition, and ready to
-enter into all the taste for masques and pageants which distinguished
-her royal mistress. She was, in fact, the great ornament of the Court of
-James; but her attractions were only the more dangerous to her safety,
-considering her descent. The feeling that she excited increased James's
-alarm, and she was kept under the close surveillance of Elizabeth
-Cavendish the Countess of Shrewsbury, who was her aunt. The countess
-appears to have treated her with much harshness, and James to have
-paid her salary very badly. On the whole, no situation, with all its
-splendour, could be more miserable than that of Lady Arabella. No wonder,
-then, that she sought to escape from it. In her childhood she had been
-acquainted with Sir William Seymour, the son of Lord Beauchamp. They met
-again at Court, and their early attachment was renewed and rapidly grew
-into love. The Lady Arabella was now watched and harassed more than ever
-by her shrewish guardian Lady Shrewsbury, and matters came to such a pass
-between them that James was obliged to interfere. He paid up the arrears
-of her pension to enable her to discharge her debts, and to soothe her
-made her a present of a cupboard of plate, worth two hundred pounds. The
-chief cause of Lady Arabella's discontent was supposed to arise from
-her pressing necessities; but there was a deeper cause--the restraint
-upon her affections; and it was not long before some officious Court spy
-conveyed to James the alarming intelligence that there was an engagement
-of marriage plighted between Seymour and Lady Arabella. Seymour was also
-descended from Henry VII., and such a marriage in prospect was enough
-to terrify James beyond conception. He instantly summoned the offenders
-before his Council, where they were severely snubbed and forbidden to
-marry without the king's permission. They both promised to abandon the
-idea, but this was only to disarm suspicion till they could effect
-their marriage. In July, 1610, it was discovered that they were already
-wedded, and James issued an immediate order for their arrest. Seymour was
-committed to the Tower, and Arabella to the keeping of Sir Thomas Parry
-at Lambeth.
-
-The youthful couple were so much pitied that they did not find it
-difficult to meet. Seymour bribed his keeper so effectually that he
-suffered him frequently to go out of the Tower, and he met Lady Arabella
-in the garden at Lambeth, and even in the house, unknown to Sir Thomas
-Parry. Meanwhile the friends of the young people were not inactive. They
-used all the means they could imagine to soften the mind of the king
-towards them; and the queen, who loved Arabella and received the most
-eloquent letters from her, praying her to exert her influence in her
-behalf, did her utmost to procure the liberation of her and her husband.
-Unfortunately, whispers of their stolen interviews reached James, and
-he sent instant orders to guard Seymour better, and to remove Lady
-Arabella to Durham, where she was to be in the keeping of the bishop.
-When the order reached Lady Arabella, she positively refused to go; but
-the officers carried her forcibly out in her bed, placed her in a boat,
-and rowed her up the river. In spite of her resistance, her keepers set
-forward on their journey; but by the time that they reached Barnet, her
-agitation of mind had thrown her into a fever, and the doctor declared
-that nothing but the discontinuance of the journey could save her life.
-He waited on the king himself and assured him of this. But though James
-confessed that carrying her away in her bed was enough to make her ill
-if she had been well, he was peremptory in his commands that she should
-proceed. To Durham she should go, he said, if he were king. To this the
-physician replied that the lady would obey if the king required it.
-"Obedience!" repeated James; "is that required?" But when his first anger
-was over he relented, and allowed her to remain for a month at Highgate
-in the house of the Earl of Essex. There she was closely watched; but on
-the 3rd of June, 1611, the very day that the Bishop of Durham set out
-northward to prepare for her reception, she effected her escape.
-
-The plan of flight to the Continent had been carefully concerted between
-herself and her husband in the Tower, through the medium of two of
-Seymour's friends. It was arranged that Arabella should get away in
-male attire, and Seymour in the garb of a physician. A French vessel
-was engaged to lie off Gravesend to receive the fugitives, and carry
-them to the Continent. All was in readiness, and Arabella, says Winwood,
-"disguising herselfe by drawing a great pair of French-fashioned hose
-over her petticoats, putting on a man's doublet, a man-lyke peruque,
-with long locks over her hair, a black hat, black cloake, russet bootes
-with red tops, and a rapier by her syde, walked forth between three and
-four o'clock with Mr. Markham. After they had gone on foot a mile and
-a halfe to a sorry inne, where Crompton attended with their horses,
-she grew very sicke and fainte; so as the ostler that held the styrrup
-said that gentleman would hardly hold out to London. Yet being set on a
-good gelding a-stryde in an unwonted fashion, the stirring of the horse
-brought blood enough into her face, and so she rode on towards Blackwall."
-
-Lady Arabella found boats and attendants ready to row her down to
-Gravesend, where she expected to find her husband. But Seymour had not
-been quite so expeditious in making his way out of the Tower. He had
-indeed effected it, and was on his way, but Lady Arabella, on getting
-on board, found that he had not arrived; and the French captain, aware
-of the serious nature of his commission, grew afraid, and in spite of
-Arabella's entreaties dropped down the river towards its mouth. Seymour,
-on finding that the vessel had sailed without him, engaged the captain of
-a collier for forty pounds to land him in Flanders.
-
-No sooner was the news of Arabella's flight from Highgate conveyed
-to Court, than the utmost consternation prevailed. A messenger was
-despatched to the Tower to order the strictest surveillance of Seymour,
-but the man brought back the appalling tidings that he also had escaped.
-The terrors of a new conspiracy seized James and the courtiers. It was
-soon asserted that it was a design of the King of Spain and the Papists;
-that the fugitives were to be received in the Netherlands by the Spanish
-commander, and were to be brought to London at the head of a Catholic
-host.
-
-Couriers were hurried off in all likely directions to intercept the
-culprits, and the Thames was astir with ships and boats to discover them
-on board any vessel there. In spite of this sharp pursuit, the collier
-put Seymour safe on shore in Flanders; but Lady Arabella was not so
-fortunate. The French vessel was chased and brought to in mid-channel.
-After some resistance it was boarded, and the unhappy princess seized,
-brought back, and secured in the Tower. Meanwhile James had written very
-angry letters to the archduke of Austria and the authorities of the
-Netherlands, as well as to the king and queen-regent of France, accusing
-them roundly of being accessory to the plot, and demanding them to send
-the fugitives back.
-
-For a time Lady Arabella bore imprisonment better than could have been
-expected. She declared that she did not mind captivity for herself, so
-that her husband had escaped. Yet not the less did she appeal to the
-generosity of James for her liberty, nor relax her efforts to that end
-through the kind offices of the queen. But all such endeavours were
-useless: James had had too great a fright to risk anything more. He sent
-the lady word that as she had eaten of the forbidden fruit, she must now
-pay the penalty of it. All hope of moving the relentless soul of the
-royal pedant gradually forsook her, and then her splendidly sensitive
-mind gave way. She became a pitiable lunatic, and died in her prison on
-the 27th of September, 1615. James had thrown the Countess of Shrewsbury
-into the Tower at the same time with the Lady Arabella, on suspicion of
-being a party to the scheme; but that high-spirited lady refused to give
-an answer to any interrogatories put to her, notwithstanding menaces of
-the Star Chamber and heavy fines. On the death of Lady Arabella she was
-set at liberty.
-
-[Illustration: FLIGHT OF THE LADY ARABELLA STUART. (_See p._ 443.)]
-
-In pursuing the fate of this ill-used lady to its close, we have passed
-over another tragedy, that of the popular but dissipated King Henry IV.
-of France. Notwithstanding his adoption of Catholicism, from motives of
-policy, it was believed that his heart was still with the Protestant
-cause, and the death of John, Duke of Cleves, Juliers, and Berg, which
-occurred in 1609, gave him an opportunity of serving that interest
-under the plea of political necessity. The Duke of Cleves had died
-without issue, and the Emperor of Germany seized it as a fief of the
-imperial crown. The Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, and the Duke of
-Neuburg, also laid claim to it. Jealousy of the already too powerful and
-ambitious house of Austria combined against it the Protestant princes
-of Germany and Holland, and they were joined by Henry of France on the
-same political ground, whilst the King of Spain, the archduke, and other
-Catholic and kindred princes, supported the claims of Austria. James of
-England engaged to furnish four thousand infantry, and the King of France
-the same. The Protestant princes of Germany and Holland were to supply
-nine thousand foot and two thousand horse, and it was agreed that the
-Elector of Brandenburg should be acknowledged as the real heir.
-
-[Illustration: NOTRE DAME, CAUDEBEC.]
-
-Meanwhile Henry IV. did not confine himself to his quota of four
-thousand infantry. The moment appeared to him favourable for extending
-his own territory and power, and he appeared at the head of a splendid
-army of thirty thousand men, with a great train of artillery and camp
-supplies. Rumour was very busy on the appearance of this great force,
-that Henry was for apostatising a second time, or rather now going back
-to his original faith; and the priests diligently propagated the belief
-that he meant to make war on the Pope and restore Protestantism. These
-representations seem to have excited the brain of a mad young friar, of
-the name of Francis Ravaillac, who stabbed him in the streets of Paris,
-three days before his intended departure for the campaign (May 14, 1610).
-The murderer was put to the torture to force from him the names of his
-accomplices or instigators; but he persisted to the last in denying that
-he had any. Three times before had the life of Henry IV. been attacked
-by assassins: in 1593 by Pierre Barriere, in 1597 by Pierre Ouen, and
-in 1605 by Jean de l'Isle. Ravaillac succeeded, and suffered the reward
-of his deed in a terrible death. This horrible tragedy renewed the
-terror of the Catholics in England, and both the Parliament of England
-and the Council of Scotland called on James to secure himself by fresh
-persecution of them. The Scottish Council saw in the French assassins the
-frogs foretold in the Revelation, to be sent out by the devil against the
-head of the Church, and prayed the king to protect his precious life by
-fresh guards while he indulged himself in hunting.
-
-Whilst James was earnestly engaged in suppressing any rival claims to
-the Crown by persecuting to death the Lady Arabella, he was equally busy
-in endeavouring to secure a succession in his own family. Though he
-persecuted the Catholics as a dangerous, sinful, and abominable body,
-he had no objection whatever to marry his children to Catholic princes,
-because they were by far the most considerable in Europe. Accordingly
-he made overtures for the marriage of his son Henry, and his daughter
-Elizabeth, both to France and Spain. Queen Anne was most bent on the
-Spanish matches for both son and daughter, and was therefore vehemently
-suspected of Popery, though her motives were the same as those of her
-husband--the rank and prestige of the alliance.
-
-Prince Henry was the darling of his mother and of the nation. In
-appearance, temper, and aspirations the very opposite of his father. All
-persons, and especially all princes, who die young, are remembered with
-a peculiar affection; their virtues are exaggerated and live in memory
-as the roots of brilliant hopes cut off by fate. Time has not allowed
-the adverse influences of life and of royal power to corrupt them. Had
-Henry VIII. died young, he would have left a regretted name as a model of
-chivalric spirit and generous enthusiasm; yet we have no right to infer
-that Henry Prince of Wales, the eldest son of James, would have developed
-into such a character as the eighth Henry. He was a handsome, brave,
-and right-minded youth of eighteen, possessed of none of the timidity
-or the bookishness of his father, and very fond of all sorts of martial
-exercises--pitching the bar, handling the pike, riding, and shooting with
-the bow. Though extremely fond of horses, he was not, like his father,
-addicted to the chase, revolting from its cruelty. He seemed to have set
-before him as models Henry V. and the Black Prince; models which might
-have led him to inflict serious evils on his country had he lived, by
-the spirit of conquest. Young as he was, he displayed all the tastes of
-such a hero. He fired off cannon with his own hands, and had new pieces
-cast on improved models. He conversed with unceasing pleasure with
-engineers and men who had seen distinguished service, and he imported the
-finest horses from the Continent that could be procured. In his private
-character he was serious, modest, and devout. He attended the best
-preachers, and listened with a quiet sobriety in striking contrast to his
-father, who was always excited when listening to a preacher and wanting
-to preach himself. Henry abhorred profanity and swearing, and had a box
-in each of his houses at Richmond, Nonsuch, and St. James's to receive
-the fines for swearing from his household, which were rigorously levied,
-the money being given to the poor.
-
-As these traits became known, the people flocked after the prince in a
-manner which much piqued his father, who could not help exclaiming--"Will
-he bury me alive!" The Reformers conceived great hopes of him, and there
-was a prophecy regarding him in every one's mouth:--
-
-    "Henry the Eighth pulled down abbeys and cells,
-    But Henry the Ninth shall pull down bishops and bells."
-
-Had James succeeded in obtaining the Spanish Infanta for Henry, he would
-have effectually neutralised this popularity. But though Henry did not
-stubbornly oppose his father's plans, he is said to have declared amongst
-his own friends that he had made up his mind never to marry a Popish
-princess, and the Puritans had the firmest faith that he never would.
-
-It was regarded as a good sign that the young prince was extremely
-averse from his father's favourites, and especially from Carr, who
-was rapidly rising, and had now been created Viscount Rochester. The
-queen, who shared this aversion, strengthened him in it with all her
-influence. But he was not destined to wear the crown of England: he was
-now attacked with symptoms of premature decay. It was supposed that he
-had grown too fast for his strength, having reached the stature of six
-feet at seventeen, and his chivalrous exercises had been too violent
-and imprudent for such rapid growth. He was accustomed to take his
-exercises in the greatest heat of summer, to expose himself to all sorts
-of weather, and to bathe for a long time together after supper. While
-James was planning marriages for him, the prince was fast hastening
-out of the world. The Spanish match still lingering, after years of
-negotiation, James listened to a proposal of Mary de Medici, the widow of
-Henry IV., and now Queen-Regent of France, for a wedding between Prince
-Henry and the Princess Christine, the second daughter of France, on the
-understanding that she should be educated as a Protestant. About the same
-time James agreed to a marriage between his daughter Elizabeth and the
-Protestant Elector Palatine. These marriages had been in accordance with
-the policy of Cecil, who wished to make them the basis of a Protestant
-alliance against the Catholic Powers. But the first of them was never
-to take place. In the spring of 1612 the health of Prince Henry began
-to fail. In the October of that year the Elector Palatine arrived in
-England to complete his marriage with Elizabeth, who was still only
-sixteen. Henry roused himself to receive his proposed brother-in-law; he
-rode to town from Richmond, and most imprudently, in his infirm state of
-health, engaged in the sports and pastimes of the occasion. On the 24th
-of October he played a great match at tennis with the Count Henry of
-Nassau in his shirt. He had been suffering from typhus already, and this
-brought it to a crisis. He was seized in the night with a violent pain in
-his head, and an oppressive languor; yet the next day, being Sunday, he
-would rise and attend two services, one in his own chapel at St. James's,
-and another at the king's in Whitehall. The text of the preacher at St.
-James's was remarkable:--"Man, that is born of a woman, is of short
-continuance and full of trouble." In the afternoon, after dinner, he was
-compelled to yield to the complaint, and hastened home to bed. By the
-29th he was so ill that there was great dismay amongst the people, and
-this was immensely aggravated by a lunar rainbow, which appeared to span
-that part of the Palace of St. James's where the sick prince lay. The
-most fatal auguries were drawn from this phenomenon.
-
-The fever now assumed a putrid form, and was declared by the medical men
-highly infectious; and his parents and sister were debarred from entering
-his room. He grew daily worse, was highly delirious, calling for his
-clothes and his arms, and saying he must be gone. On the 5th of November,
-the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, James was informed that all hope
-was extinct. Unable to bear his feelings so near the scene of sorrow,
-the king hastened away to Theobalds; but the queen would only retire to
-Somerset House, whence she sent continual messengers to inquire after
-her son's symptoms. The prince had entertained a romantic admiration of
-Sir Walter Raleigh, declaring that no prince but his father would keep
-such a bird in a cage, and he had joined with his mother in entreating
-for his liberty. To Sir Walter the life or death of the prince was life
-or death to himself. The agonised mother was now seized with a desperate
-desire to obtain from Raleigh a nostrum which he possessed, and which she
-had herself formerly taken in a fit of ague. Sir Walter sent it, with
-the assurance that it would cure any mortal malady except poison. After
-taking Raleigh's nostrum he seemed to revive for a time, but again became
-worse, and expired at eight o'clock on Friday night, the 6th of November.
-
-Perhaps a more extraordinary 5th of November was never passed than the
-one preceding Henry's death. The people were assembled in dense crowds
-around the palace, eagerly listening for news of the prince's condition,
-while all around them were the noises--the firing, and the bonfires--of
-the celebration of the Gunpowder Plot. They were still remaining there
-the following day, and when the cry of the prince's servants was heard in
-the palace on beholding him dead, the people groaned and wept in agony.
-The Catholics, on their part, regarded the death of the first-born of the
-royal house as a manifest judgment for the persecution of their Church.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-JAMES I. (_concluded_).
-
-     Reign of Favourites--Robert Carr--His Marriage--Death of
-     Overbury--Venality at Court--The Addled Parliament--George
-     Villiers--Fall of Somerset--Disgrace of Coke--Bacon becomes
-     Lord Chancellor--Position of England Abroad--The Scottish
-     Church--Introduction of Episcopacy--Andrew Melville--Visit
-     of James to Scotland--The Book of Sports--Persecution of the
-     Irish Catholics--Examination into Titles--Rebellion of the
-     Chiefs--Plantation of Ulster--Fresh Confiscations--Quarrel
-     between Bacon and Coke--Prosperity of Buckingham--Raleigh's
-     Last Voyage--His Execution--Beginnings of the Thirty
-     Years' War--Indecision of James--Despatch of Troops to the
-     Palatinate--Parliament of 1621--Impeachment of Bacon--His
-     Fall--Floyd's Case--James's Proceedings during the
-     Recess--Dissolution of Parliament--Reasons for the Spanish
-     Match--Charles and Buckingham go to Spain--The Match is Broken
-     Off--Punishment of Bristol--Popularity of Buckingham--Change of
-     Foreign Policy--Marriage of Charles and Henrietta Maria--Death of
-     James.
-
-
-From the death of Cecil we may date the reign of favourites, which
-continued as long as the king lived. That cautious and able minister was
-too fond of power himself to allow it to pass into the hands of much
-weaker men. James, while Cecil lived, had indeed no lack of favourites
-on whom he lavished affluence and honours; but his cunning minister had
-the address to prevent him from giving them places of real power and
-responsibility. James therefore, so long as Cecil remained, was content
-to make his favourites his companions and left Cecil to conduct public
-affairs; but no sooner was Salisbury in his grave, than James became the
-slave of his favourites, who ruled both him and the kingdom.
-
-The first of these was Robert Carr, or Ker, a young border Scot of
-the Kers of Fernihurst. He had been some years in France, and being a
-handsome youth--"straight-limbed, well-formed, strong-shouldered, and
-smooth-faced"--he had been led to believe that if he cultivated his
-personal appearance and a gaiety and courtliness of address, he was sure
-of making his fortune at the Court of James. Accordingly he managed to
-appear as page to Lord Dingwall at a grand tilting match at Westminster,
-in 1606. According to chivalric usage, it became his duty to present
-his lord's shield to his Majesty; but in manoeuvring his horse on the
-occasion, it fell and broke his leg. That fall was his rise. James was
-immediately struck with the beauty of the youth who lay disabled at his
-feet, and had him straightway carried into a house near Charing Cross,
-and sent his own surgeon to him. As soon as he could get away from the
-tilt-yard, he hastened to him himself. He renewed his visits daily,
-waiting upon him himself, and displaying to the whole Court the intensity
-of his sudden regard for him. "Lord!" says Weldon, "how the great men
-flocked then to see him, and to offer to his shrine in such abundance,
-that the king was forced to lay a restraint, lest it might retard his
-recovery."
-
-The lad's fortune was made; and though James, in conversing with him,
-found that he was very ignorant--the whole of his education having
-been directed to his outside--this did not abate his regard, for he
-condescended to be at once his nurse and schoolmaster. "The prince," says
-Harrington, "leaneth on his arm, pinches his cheek, smooths his ruffled
-garments. The young man doth study much art and device; he hath changed
-his tailors and tiremen many times, and all to please the prince. The
-king teaches him Latin every morning, and I think some one should teach
-him English too, for he is a Scotch lad, and hath much need of better
-language."
-
-[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS BACON (VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS).
-
-(_From the Portrait by Van Somer._)]
-
-James found that Carr had been his page in Scotland, and that his
-father had suffered much in the cause of the unhappy Mary Stuart;
-these were additional causes of favour. On Christmas-day, 1607, James
-knighted him and made him a gentleman of the bed-chamber, so as to have
-him constantly about his person. Such was his favour that every one
-pressed around him to obtain their suits with the king. He received rich
-presents; the ladies courted his attention; the greatest lords did him
-the most obsequious and disgusting homage. Carr, however, had an eye to
-pleasing the public and therefore, Scotsman as he was, he turned the
-cold shoulder to his countrymen, and associated with and favoured the
-English; probably, too, finding this the most profitable. Those about him
-were almost wholly English; and his affairs were in the hands of one Sir
-Thomas Overbury, a man of an evil look, and with a countenance said to
-be shaped like that of a horse. The dark ability of this man supplied
-the lack of talent in his patron, and became a mine of wealth to Overbury
-himself. Even Cecil and the Earl of Suffolk strove to avail themselves of
-his services; and when Cecil quitted the scene, Carr, through Overbury's
-management, carried all before him. In March, 1611, he had been created
-Viscount Rochester; in April, 1612, he became a member of the Privy
-Council, and was invested with the order of the Garter. The Earl of
-Suffolk succeeding to Cecil's post of Lord Treasurer, Carr stepped into
-Suffolk's office of Lord Chamberlain, at the same time discharging the
-duties of the post of Secretary by the aid of Sir Thomas Overbury. The
-favourite's favourite, however, was no favourite of the king, who was
-jealous of having so much of the time and confidence of Carr occupied by
-Overbury, and this feeling was probably much heightened by the queen,
-who had an instinctive aversion to the man. On one occasion the queen
-succeeded in obtaining his expulsion from Court, for alleged discourtesy
-to her, but he soon returned; and though the king appointed Sir Ralph
-Winwood and Sir Thomas Lake to occupy jointly the office of Secretary of
-State, yet Carr, by the king's favour and Overbury's ability, remained
-lord paramount in the Court; Overbury himself being the avenue to every
-favour. On April 21, 1613, Overbury boasted to Sir Henry Wotton of his
-good fortune, and his flattering prospects, yet that very day saw him
-committed close prisoner to the Tower. Adept as he was in all Court
-intrigues, he had yet committed an irremediable blunder, and aroused
-a spirit of vengeance which nothing but his blood could quench. This
-spirit lived in the bosom of a beautiful girl not yet twenty years of age.
-
-Lady Frances Howard, the daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, had been
-married at the age of thirteen to the Earl of Essex, the son of
-Elizabeth's unfortunate favourite, who was only a year older. It was a
-match promoted by the king out of regard, as he said, for the memory of
-the young earl's father. The ceremony being performed, the bride returned
-to the care of her mother, and the boy bridegroom proceeded, under care
-of a tutor, on his travels. At the end of four years he returned, and
-claimed his wife, whom he found the beauty and pride of the Court. But
-whilst he was enraptured with her loveliness, he was mortified to find
-that she treated him with every mark of aversion. It was only by the
-stern command of her father that she consented to live with him at all,
-and he soon discovered that in his absence her affections had been stolen
-away by the profligate favourite Rochester, who had won her even from
-another and a royal suitor, Prince Henry.
-
-This discovery, and the constant bickerings which took place between the
-earl and countess, made Essex willing that a divorce should be obtained.
-There were others who were glad of this expedient: Lady Howard's father,
-Lord Suffolk, and the Earl of Northampton, Lord Privy Seal, saw in her
-marriage with Rochester a mode of putting an end to the rivalry which
-existed between them, and the king was equally eager for this result.
-But to Overbury the scheme boded the destruction of his power, which
-would be at an end if his patron coalesced with his enemies. He therefore
-commenced a determined opposition to the match. He it was who had written
-the glowing and eloquent love-letters of Rochester, and had promoted
-the _liaison_ to the utmost of his power; but he had never dreamt of
-its leading to a marriage which must work his own ruin. He therefore
-represented to Rochester the odium of such a marriage; the base and
-abandoned character of the woman, who might do for his mistress, but was
-not to be thought of as a wife. When he found that his arguments did
-not produce the effect which he wished, he took the dangerous step of
-menaces, and declared that he could and would throw an insuperable bar
-in the way of the divorce from Essex, without which there could be no
-marriage. This bar was undoubtedly Overbury's knowledge of the adulterous
-connection which had existed between the parties, and which would
-certainly ruin the countess's demand of a separation.
-
-The master of deep policy could not see the rock upon which he was
-running, and which would have been very clear to him in another person's
-case. Rochester repeated to the countess all that he said, and the rage
-of a sinful woman, proverbially fierce as hell, seized upon her. She
-vowed that she would have his life. In her first fury she offered L1,000
-to Sir John Wood to kill him in a duel, but her friends interposed, and
-suggested a less hazardous and less criminal method of getting Overbury
-out of the way, which was to send him on an embassy to France or Russia.
-If he accepted the office, he would be detained abroad till the divorce
-was effected; if he refused, it would be easy to construe his conduct
-into a contempt of the king's service.
-
-Overbury was sounded on the subject of a mission to Russia, and listened
-to it with apparent pleasure; but the young beauty could not thus satisfy
-her revenge, and at her instigation Rochester affected to feel his
-projected absence intolerable. He declared his presence and counsel were
-indispensable to him, and he promised to satisfy the king, if he agreed
-to decline the offer. No sooner did Overbury consent than Rochester, so
-far from excusing him to the king, represented his conduct as not only
-disobedient to his Majesty, but as insolent and intolerable to himself.
-James was only too glad to clear the Court of the hated man; a warrant
-was immediately issued, and Overbury was committed to the Tower. By the
-arrangement of Rochester and the Earl of Northampton, the lieutenant of
-the Tower, Sir William Wade, was removed, and a creature of theirs, Sir
-Jervis Elwes, was installed in his place. Under the care of Elwes, Sir
-Thomas Overbury was at once cut off from all communication with the outer
-world. Neither servant nor relative was permitted to see him; he was
-already dead to the world, and the world was soon to be dead to him.
-
-The dangerous man secured, the measures for the divorce commenced. The
-countess petitioned for it, alleging serious grounds, and her father
-signed the petition. But no one was more forward and determined in
-carrying this disgraceful transaction through than the king. He appointed
-without delay a commission to try the cause. The commissioners were
-Abbot the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London, Winchester,
-Rochester, Ely, Lichfield, and Coventry; Sir Julius Caesar, Sir John
-Barry, Sir Daniel Dunne, Sir John Bennet, Francis James and Thomas
-Edwards, doctors of civil law.
-
-The Earl of Essex was only too glad to be rid of his virago, and
-consented to anything, even to the most humiliating imputations on
-his manhood. The real causes of the vile business were sufficiently
-notorious; and the Primate, though at the head of the commission,
-revolting at being made a tool for the accommodation of aristocratic
-licentiousness, strongly opposed the divorce. But James took him sharply
-to task, telling him in so many words that it was his duty to resign
-his own judgment and follow that of his sovereign. "If," he wrote, in a
-most imperative letter, "a judge should have a prejudice in respect of
-persons, it should become you rather to have a kind of implicit faith
-in my judgment, as well in respect of some skill I have in divinity, as
-also that I hope no honest man doubts the uprightness of my conscience;
-and the best thankfulness that you, that are so far my creature, can use
-towards me, is to reverence and follow my judgment and not to contradict
-it, except where you may demonstrate unto me that I am mistaken or wrong
-informed."
-
-But James did not content himself with recommending implicit obedience;
-he influenced and controlled the proceedings, and intimidated the judges
-by all means in his power. His zeal was quickened by the receipt of
-twenty-five thousand pounds from Rochester, at a moment when his officers
-were at their wits' end for money. But do what he would, he could not
-bend the integrity of the Primate, who to the last resisted the divorce,
-and three of the doctors of law supported him. The Bishop of London also
-voted with him, but the rest of the bishops and civil lawyers voted
-for the divorce, which was carried by seven voices against five. The
-Bishop of Winchester showed himself so servile on the occasion, that
-the king knighted his son, who was ever afterwards dubbed by the people
-Sir Nullity Bilson. The other judges and bishops who voted according to
-his wish were also rewarded by James, and the sentence of divorce was
-pronounced on the 25th of September.
-
-The public at large, to whom the facts of the case were no secret,
-condemned the whole proceeding in no measured terms, and this reprobation
-rose into actual horror when the news oozed out that, the very day
-before the verdict for the divorce, Sir Thomas Overbury was found dead
-in his cell in the Tower. He was buried in all haste, and with profound
-secrecy, the officials diligently propagating a report that he died of a
-loathsome and contagious disease: but the public entertained no doubt of
-his perishing of poison.
-
-In the face of all this, James proceeded immediately to raise Rochester
-to the dignity of Earl of Somerset, that he might equal in rank, if not
-in iniquity, the murder-breathing countess. The marriage, moreover, was
-celebrated on the 26th of December, at the royal chapel in Whitehall,
-the king making it his own affair, being himself present, with Prince
-Charles, and a great crowd of bishops and noblemen. The queen kept
-herself commendably apart from the whole infamous business. The
-blood-stained bride, with a shamelessness unparalleled, appeared with
-her hair hanging loose on her shoulders, in the character of a virgin!
-Montague, Bishop of Bath and Wells, married the guilty couple, and
-Mountain, Dean of Westminster, pronounced a blessing upon them. Then
-the king gave a series of banquets and masques at Whitehall in honour
-of them, which continued till the 4th of January, 1614; and, as if all
-classes of public men were eager to disgrace themselves by sanctioning
-this Court wickedness, the Lord Mayor and aldermen invited the adulterous
-couple to a splendid banquet, given at the Merchant Taylors' Hall, on the
-same 4th of January, whither they were accompanied by the Duke of Lennox,
-the Earl of Northampton, Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Chamberlain, and the
-Earls of Worcester, Pembroke, and Montgomery.
-
-From his gaieties James was called, by his eternal want of money, to face
-his Parliament. Since 1611, when he dissolved his last House of Commons,
-he had endeavoured to carry on by any illegal and unconstitutional
-means that the people would submit to. But the Dutch did not keep their
-engagement to pay off their debt of upwards of eight hundred thousand
-pounds by annual instalments of sixty thousand pounds, and James was too
-pusillanimous to adopt the means which a Cromwell would have done. He
-threatened war, and threatened only; and therefore became despised by his
-debtors, who thenceforth made no movement towards paying. Disappointed
-here, the only alternative was to fleece his own subjects. He resorted
-to the scandalous measure of selling all the places of honour and trust,
-and all kinds of dignities, for money. He sold several peerages for
-high prices. Every place under Government was to be had only for cash;
-nor did the proceeds of this infamous traffic always reach the king's
-hands, but fell into those of his minion Somerset, and the Howards, the
-relatives of Somerset's wife. The wicked Countess of Somerset, and Lady
-Suffolk, her mother, got four thousand pounds as a bribe from Sir Fulke
-Greville, for the Chancellorship of the Exchequer. The example thus set
-at Court ran through all departments, and the whole management of the
-country was given up to corruption and venality. So little of these
-proceeds of iniquity came to the king, and that little was so foolishly
-and recklessly given away amongst his hangers-on, that the salaries of
-all who were not in a situation to be bribed, and thus pay themselves,
-remained unpaid. In this difficulty, James hit upon a notable scheme,
-and originated a new order of aristocracy--namely baronets, or little
-barons, a link between the barons, or lowest peers, and knights. These
-new titles he sold at one thousand pounds apiece. Sir Nicholas Bacon was
-the first created for England, and Sir Francis Blundell for Ireland, in
-1620. Baronets for Nova Scotia, of whom Sir Robert Gordon was first, were
-added by Charles I., to extend this source of income, in 1625.
-
-[Illustration: THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL.]
-
-James was now compelled to summon a Parliament, and Sir Francis Bacon
-concocted a scheme for managing the House of Commons. Bacon's plan was
-this, and he had regularly weighed it and drawn it up for the king's
-consideration: that, according to a principle afterwards made a maxim
-by Sir Robert Walpole, every one had his price; that the leaders of the
-late opposition, Neville, Yelverton, Hyde, Crew, and Sir Dudley Digges,
-were chiefly lawyers, and there were plenty of means, by prospects of
-promotion skilfully applied, to bring them zealously to the king's side;
-that they being once brought over, he had the talking, persuasive power
-of the House; and that much might be done beforehand also with the city
-men and country gentlemen, and where any obstinate man appeared, means
-might be used to keep him out. At the same time Bacon assured James that
-it was necessary to make a show of some concession. It was suggested that
-as he had promised to abolish abuses, he should at least give up some of
-the lesser ones; and on his accepting this plan, he and his friends were
-ready to "undertake" to manage Parliament, and to guarantee his Majesty
-plenty of money and little trouble, provided James would only avoid
-irritating speeches.
-
-James's Parliament met on the 5th of April 1614, and he endeavoured to
-put in practice the Machiavellian instructions of Bacon by delivering a
-very popular speech--popular because it promised plentiful persecution
-for religion, which was the spirit of the day, and a liberal removal
-of grievances; but, as usual, first of all he placed the supply of
-his necessities. But the Undertakers had not succeeded in their first
-out-of-door efforts; there was a sturdy assemblage of popular members,
-and such faces appeared amongst them, according to a writer of the time,
-as made the Court to droop. The House of Commons at once reversed the
-topics of the king's speech, placing the grievances in the front and
-making the supplies conditional on their abolition. The royal party which
-the Undertakers had got together, found their pleas for slavish obedience
-drowned in a storm of angry demand for justice; and the House demanded a
-conference with the Lords on the subject. The Lords asked the opinion of
-the judges on the question, and especially that of Coke the Lord Chief
-Justice. Coke, who remembered the endeavours of Bacon to supplant him
-in the good graces of the king, and who hoped for no higher preferment,
-took the opportunity to throw cold water on the conference, asserting
-that the judges, after consultation among themselves, felt that they were
-bound by their office to decide between the king and his subjects, and
-were therefore equally bound not to appear as disputants or partisans
-on either side. The Lords on hearing this declined the conference, and
-Neale, who had recently been transferred from the see of Lichfield to
-the wealthier one of Lincoln, for his services in procuring the Countess
-of Essex's divorce, rose and uttered a most unbecoming tirade against
-the Commons, charging them with striking at the root of the royal
-prerogative, and anticipating that if admitted to a conference, they
-might use very disloyal and seditious language.
-
-This roused the indignation of the Commons: they did not understand the
-etiquette of our time, which supposes what passes in one House unknown in
-the other; but they immediately demanded of the Lords the punishment of
-the man who had thus dared to slander their loyalty. On this the bishop,
-who was as cowardly as he was insolent, and who was hated by the Puritans
-as a merciless persecutor, instantly recanted in his place; and with many
-tears, and fervent declarations of his high respect for the Commons,
-denied many of the offensive expressions attributed to him. But the House
-was not thus to be appeased. The members were greatly exasperated at
-the plan of managing them, which had become public, and fell on Bacon
-as the author of the scheme. The versatile Sir Francis pretended to
-ridicule the very idea of any such scheme being in existence, as the
-king had done in his opening speech, but the House gave him no credit;
-they proceeded to question even his right to sit in their House, on his
-accepting the office of Attorney-General, and only permitted it as a
-special indulgence, which was not to be drawn into a precedent.
-
-The king, who saw no chance of supplies in the present temper of the
-House, sent them a sharp message, desiring them to proceed to the
-business of the supplies, attended with a threat of immediate dissolution
-in case of non-compliance. This produced no effect, and the House was
-dissolved on the 7th of June. Having thus broken the immediate power
-of retaliation in the House, he, the next morning, arrested the most
-refractory members and committed five of them to the Tower, amongst whom
-was Wentworth, a lawyer, destined to act a very prominent part in the
-next reign. These members were not discharged till they had, by their
-admissions, occasioned the king to arrest others, who were committed in
-their turn. This Parliament obtained the name of the Addled Parliament,
-because it had not passed a single bill, but it had displayed a spirit
-which was pregnant with the most momentous consequences. It had laid
-the foundation of the rights of the Commons, and at the same time had
-displayed its rigid temperament, by issuing an order which excluded all
-Catholics, and by making it necessary for every member, before taking his
-seat, to receive the Sacrament according to the form of the Church of
-England.
-
-James had indeed got from the determined tone of the House a fright which
-lasted him nearly seven years. He returned to his usual unconstitutional
-modes of extorting revenue. Besides the sale of monopolies and
-privileges, he compelled the payment of benevolences, an odious tax, not
-only because raised without sanction of Parliament, but because its name
-implied a free gift. Those who resisted these modes of royal robbery were
-dragged into the Star Chamber, and there sentenced to enormous fines.
-Mr. Oliver St. John, a gentleman who had not only refused such payment,
-but had vindicated his conduct in an able letter, in which he commented
-freely on the king's violation of Magna Charta, was fined by the tyrannic
-Star Chamber five thousand pounds, and ordered to be imprisoned during
-the king's pleasure.
-
-A new era now arrived in the history of the king's favourites. Though
-the Countess of Somerset was hardened enough to stalk through adultery
-and poison to the gratification of her desires, and show no remorse, it
-appears that her new husband was not altogether of so callous a nature.
-From the moment of the death of Overbury, he was a totally changed man.
-All pleasure in life had deserted him; he had lost all his gaiety and
-went about moody and morose. His person became neglected, his dress
-disorderly, and even in the king's company he was absent of mind and
-took no pains to please him. This was not lost on those courtiers who
-envied the favour of the Howards, who now enjoyed complete ascendency
-through their wicked kinswoman. The Earls of Bedford, Pembroke, and
-Hertford maintained a sharp watch for a new favourite to bring before
-James, confident that a suitable man once found, the day of Somerset was
-over. This man soon appeared in a youth of the name of George Villiers,
-the younger son of Sir George Villiers of Brooksby, in Leicestershire.
-Sir George was dead, and young Villiers had been brought up under the
-care of his mother, who was at once one of the most beautiful and
-infamous women of her time. She saw in the beauty and grace of this boy
-the means of advancing the fortunes of the whole family. She therefore
-carefully educated him to win the favour of the favourite-loving king,
-confident that if he once attracted his attention, the result was sure.
-This far-seeing and ambitious woman therefore sent the lad to France, to
-acquire the gay and easy manner of that Court.
-
-His courtly education being considered perfect, at the age of
-one-and-twenty, the post of cup-bearer to his Majesty was purchased
-amongst the lavish sale of offices of the time, as one that must
-unavoidably place him under the eye of the king. Accordingly, he appeared
-in that employment with a fine suit of French clothes on his back, and
-as many French graces as any silly modern Solomon could desire. He was
-a fine, tall young fellow, and pre-eminently handsome, at the same time
-that he was one of the emptiest, haughtiest, and most profligate men that
-ever lived. Time, however, was yet to display these qualities; they were
-at present concealed under a garb of finished courtesy and agreeable
-manners. The Herberts, the Russells, and the Seymours were delighted;
-and it was planned that young Villiers should discharge his office of
-cup-bearer at a supper entertainment at Baynard's Castle, in such a
-manner as must strike the imagination of the king. James was, according
-to expectation, smitten with the looks of the youth, and pointed out his
-imagined likeness to a beautiful head of St. Stephen at Whitehall, whence
-he gave him the pet name of "Steenie," which he always after used.
-
-Villiers once installed in James's good graces, the fall of Somerset
-was easy, and no time was lost in effecting it. Somerset was not so
-lost to observance of what passed around him as to be unaware of some
-danger; probably his vigilant spouse brought the fact to his attention.
-He therefore solicited a pardon of the king, in full and formal style,
-of all and everything which he might have done, or should hereafter do,
-which might subject him to a charge of treason, misprision of treason,
-felony, or other accusation. James, who had not yet been incited to
-his destruction, with his usual facility in such matters, especially
-when under certain genial influences, freely granted it; but the Lord
-Chancellor Ellesmere refused to put the Great Seal to such a document,
-declaring that it would subject him to a Praemunire. After all, it might
-be a _ruse_ of James to grant this pardon, thus still preserving an
-appearance of favour to Somerset, as he did to the last moment, knowing
-that a hint to Ellesmere, who was a very compliant creature of his, would
-prevent the deed taking effect. James went further; he sent Villiers
-to Somerset, to assure him that he desired not in any way to interfere
-between him and the king's favour, but would seek preferment only through
-his means and be "his servant and creature;" to which Somerset, with the
-moroseness which had become his manner, replied, "I will have none of
-your service, and you shall have none of my favour. I will, if I can,
-break your neck."
-
-Matters now being ripe, Mr. Secretary Winwood was induced by Archbishop
-Abbot, under promise of protection from the queen, to communicate
-to James the popular rumour that Overbury had been poisoned in the
-Tower, and that this had been confirmed by some admissions of Elwes,
-the lieutenant of that fortress, in conversation with the Earl of
-Shrewsbury. That the old favourite had lost his place in James's heart
-was immediately evident. He took up the matter with his usual avidity
-where a mystery was to be probed. He put a number of questions to Elwes
-in writing, and demanded, on pain of his life, a faithful answer. The
-answer satisfied James that Somerset and his wife were guilty of this
-foul murder. He immediately sent for the Lord Chief Justice Coke, and
-ordered him to arrest them. Coke demurred till the king had named several
-others in commission with him. This being settled, this extraordinary
-royal dissembler set out to Royston to hunt, and took Somerset with him,
-showing him all his old marks of fondness. In the days of his real favour
-he had refused him not the most iniquitous request. Even when the wife
-of Sir Walter Raleigh, on his first condemnation for treason, had gone
-down on her knees to him, to implore him to spare his castle and estate
-at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, for his children, James had ruthlessly
-replied, "Na, na; I maun hae the land; I maun hae it for Carr." And at
-this moment, when he was dooming the same Carr to destruction, he was
-pretending the same infatuated regard. When the Chief Justice's messenger
-arrived at Royston with the warrant, he found the king hanging about
-Somerset's neck, kissing him in the true Judas style, and saying, "When
-shall I see thee again? When shall I see thee again?"
-
-When the warrant was delivered to Somerset, in the midst of these
-disgusting affectations of endearment, he exclaimed that never had
-such an affront been offered to a peer of England in presence of his
-sovereign. "Nay, man," replied the royal hypocrite, coaxingly, "if Coke
-sends for _me_, I maun go;" and as soon as Somerset's back was turned, he
-added, "Now the deil go with thee, for I will never see thy face mair."
-Soon after Coke himself arrived, to whom James indignantly complained
-that Somerset and his wife had made him a go-between in their adultery
-and murder. Even his enormous self-conceit was so far overcome, as to
-compel him to admit that he had been grossly duped. He commanded Coke
-to search the affair to the bottom, and to spare no man or woman that
-he found guilty, however great or powerful. "And," added he, "may God's
-curse be upon you and your house if you spare any of them; and God's
-curse be upon me and mine, if I pardon any of them."
-
-Coke seemed quite willing to act as vigorously and unsparingly as
-the king could desire. The commissioners, of whom he was the chief,
-subjected the adulterous pair to no less than three hundred examinations,
-and then announced that they found ample proofs of their guilt; that
-Frances Howard, formerly Countess of Essex, had resorted to sorcery
-to incapacitate her then husband, the Earl of Essex, and to procure
-the love of Lord Rochester; that, finding Sir Thomas Overbury an
-obstacle to their criminal designs, they had, by the assistance of the
-countess's late uncle, the Earl of Northampton, procured the commitment
-of Sir Thomas to the Tower, and the removal of the lieutenant, and the
-appointment in his place of their creature Elwes, and of one Weston to
-be the warder of the prisoner; that this Weston had formerly been the
-servant of Mrs. Turner, a woman famous for the introduction of yellow
-starch for ruffs, and an early companion of the said Lady Frances Howard;
-that, through Weston and Mrs. Turner, the countess had procured three
-kinds of poison from one Franklin, an apothecary; and that Weston had
-administered these poisons to his prisoner Overbury, and thus procured
-his death. Coke added that, from private memorandum books and letters
-which he had found amongst the papers of the prisoners, he had discovered
-that Somerset had undoubtedly poisoned Prince Henry. The queen is said to
-have been greatly excited by this intelligence, and had all her former
-belief of this poisoning revived. She declared her full conviction that
-Somerset and his clique had planned the removal of herself, and her son
-Charles also, in order to marry the Princess Elizabeth to the son of
-the Earl of Suffolk, brother to the countess. But James was too well
-satisfied by the _post mortem_ examination of the body of Prince Henry,
-and by the insufficiency of Coke's proof, to be led into this absurd
-belief, though he admitted a persuasion that Somerset had received money
-from Spain on condition of delivering up the Prince Charles to that
-monarch.
-
-Though the minor confederates were promptly hanged, the trial of Somerset
-and his wife was deferred till April, 1616. The real cause of delay was
-probably the fear of bringing a man like Somerset, who had been so long
-in all James's secrets, to trial, lest he should avow something in his
-despair to the damage of the royal reputation. Certain it is that, when
-the time of trial approached, James betrayed the most extreme terror
-and uneasiness, and omitted no means to induce Somerset to make a full
-confession in private, offering him both life and restoration to his
-estates. He sent messenger after messenger to Somerset in prison, the
-Attorney-General Bacon being the principal, James Hay, afterwards Earl
-of Carlisle, another, with whom was employed Somerset's late private
-secretary. They did all in their power to induce Somerset to accept the
-king's terms, but he remained obstinate, replying, when offered life
-and fortune, "Of what use is life when honour is gone?" He demanded
-earnestly to be permitted to see the king himself, declaring that in half
-an hour's interview he could place all in so clear a light as should
-perfectly satisfy his majesty. This interview James declined, as well as
-a proposal to send a private letter to the king. These requests being
-refused, he assumed an attitude of menace, declaring that whenever he was
-brought into court, he would make such avowals as should astonish the
-country, and cause the king to rue his rejection of his offers. James
-displayed much alarm on hearing of this.
-
-[Illustration: GREENWICH PALACE IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.]
-
-On the 24th of May the countess was brought before the Peers, where,
-as she had already confessed, she had only to plead guilty. She was
-extremely agitated, pale, spiritless. She trembled greatly all the
-time that the clerk was reading the indictment, and put her fan before
-her face at the mention of Weston. Her words were nearly inaudible,
-through weeping, as she pleaded guilty, and threw herself on the royal
-mercy. This done, she was removed from the bar before the sentence was
-pronounced, during which interval Bacon delivered a perfectly unnecessary
-speech, as she had pleaded guilty, detailing the damning facts which
-he was prepared to produce, had he been compelled by her denying her
-guilt. This manoeuvre was intended to criminate Somerset, without the
-hazard of his wife's declaring his innocence on hearing him implicated.
-Bacon's purpose being served, she was recalled, and the Lord Chancellor
-Ellesmere, who acted as High Steward on the trials, pronounced sentence
-of death upon her.
-
-That day Somerset was informed that he would go to trial on the morrow:
-they had not deemed it safe to try him and his wife together. On hearing
-this he went into a great rage, declaring that the king had assured him
-that he should never go to trial, and protesting that if they took him
-there, it should be by force and in his bed. He repeated his former
-threats, adding the king dared not bring him into open court. More, the
-lieutenant of the Tower, was so alarmed at this temper and language, that
-he hastened away to James at Greenwich, though it was getting late, and
-was midnight when he reached the palace. He was hastily admitted to the
-king's chamber, and James, on hearing his statement, burst into an agony
-of tears, and exclaimed: "On my soul, More, I wot not what to do. Thou
-art a wise man: help me in this great strait, and thou shalt find thou
-dost it for a thankful master." More promised to do his best, and was
-afterwards actually rewarded for his services on this occasion with a
-suit worth to him fifteen hundred pounds, though the Earl of Annandale,
-his great friend, managed to get half of it.
-
-[Illustration: SIR EDWARD COKE.
-
-(_From the Portrait by Cornelius Janssen._)]
-
-The lieutenant hastened back to the Tower, and told Somerset that he
-had communicated his wishes to the king, who was in the most gracious
-disposition towards him, and sent him assurance that though for form's
-sake he must appear in court, he should not be detained there by any
-proceedings; but whilst he had there an opportunity of seeing his enemies
-and their malice towards him, the royal power should protect him from any
-harm.
-
-This appeased the rage of Somerset, and he prepared calmly to make his
-appearance in the morning. But even then the officers of the court were
-by no means secure of the result when he should find himself compelled to
-plead, notwithstanding the royal promise. Bacon had planned all necessary
-cautions for this emergency, as we find from his "Particular Remembrances
-for his Majesty," preserved in the State Trials. "It were good," he says,
-"that after he is come into the hall, so that he may perceive that he
-must go to trial, and shall be retired to the place appointed till the
-court call for him, then the lieutenant shall tell him roundly that, if
-in his speeches he shall tax the king, the justice of England is that
-he shall be taken away, and the evidence go on without him; and then all
-the people will cry away with him, and then it shall not be in the king's
-power to save his life, the people will be so set on fire."
-
-The lieutenant had carefully acted on this plan, and had provided two
-servants, each with a cloak on his arm, to stand behind Somerset, so
-that if More's representations did not after all prevent Somerset from
-speaking out to the discredit of the king, they should throw the cloaks
-instantly over his head, and drag him from the bar, from all consequence
-of which proceeding he promised to protect them.
-
-These singular precautions, which betrayed an awful terror on the part of
-the king of some withering exposure from the exasperated favourite, so
-far prevailed, that Somerset stood upon his trial with apparent calmness,
-but refused steadfastly to plead guilty. Bacon, on his part, was careful
-in stating the charges against him, to do it so mildly that the prisoner
-should not be excited to any dangerous pitch. Somerset never mentioned
-the king, but he defended himself resolutely and with consummate ability.
-He analysed the whole string of charges brought against him, explained
-away whatever appeared to tell most forcibly to his disadvantage, and for
-eleven hours prolonged the trial and the intolerable agony and suspense
-of the king, who, during the whole time, was in the most pitiable
-condition of terror. "But who had seen," says Sir Anthony Weldon, in a
-passage which is fully borne out by the letters of More, the lieutenant,
-"the king's restless motion all that day, sending to every boat landing
-at the bridge, cursing all that came without tidings, would have easily
-judged that all was not right, and that there had been some grounds for
-his fears of Somerset's boldness; but at last, one bringing him word that
-he was condemned, all was quiet."
-
-In the course of a few weeks James actually granted a pardon to the
-murder-stained countess, on the plea that she was not tried as a
-principal, but as an accessory before the fact; though all the facts of
-the case go to show that she was the chief instrumental instigator of the
-death of Overbury. He also offered the same grace to Somerset; but the
-proud, though fallen, favourite haughtily refused it, saying that he was
-an innocent man, who therefore needed no pardon, but expected a reversal
-of his sentence.
-
-Time, however, showed him that the favour of the prince had passed on to
-others, and that his enemies were working for further injury to him; he
-therefore condescended in the autumn of 1624 to petition for the pardon
-formerly rejected. It was granted on the 24th of October, with a promise
-of the restoration of his property. James meanwhile allowed him an
-income of four thousand pounds a year, and protected him from the infamy
-attaching to his condemnation. He would not allow him to be expelled from
-the Order of St. George, nor his arms to be reversed in the chapel of
-that saint at Windsor.
-
-The guilty earl and countess are said to have retired together into the
-country, not to the felicity of innocent affection but, as it was said,
-to mutual hatred and recrimination. The countess died in 1632; the earl,
-who never recovered his estates, lived on thirteen years longer. Their
-only child, Lady Ann Carr, who was born in the Tower, was married to
-William, the fifth Earl, and afterwards Duke, of Bedford, and became
-the mother of the celebrated Lord William Russell, who perished on the
-scaffold under Charles II. Out of such a soil can rise such plants;
-nay, even the daughter of this infamous couple is declared to have been
-a woman of the purest and noblest character; and so carefully was the
-horrible history of her parents kept from her, that it never reached her
-ears till a few years before her own death. The Earl of Essex, so cruelly
-treated in this revolting affair, lived to lead with high distinction the
-army of the Commonwealth.
-
-Fast on the fall of Somerset followed that of the Chief Justice Coke.
-He had rendered distinguished service to James in hunting out the
-evidence and bringing to punishment the favourite and his wife; but
-he had neutralised this benefit by his haughtiness and opposition to
-the royal authority in other respects. Coke and Bacon had pursued two
-opposite systems of policy in their courses towards the highest honours
-of the State. Bacon had affected liberalism and a championship of popular
-rights, which the higher he rose the more he sacrificed to the pleasure
-of the monarch. There was a profound flattery in this, for it seemed to
-give an additional value to his growing attachment to the Crown, that it
-was won from his original bias towards the people. On the other hand,
-Coke commenced as a thorough-going supporter of the prerogative, and as
-his abilities were pre-eminent, and his prosecution of State offenders
-unrestrained by any scruples of conscience, he did the work of that
-despotic prince with a gusto and a ruthlessness which highly delighted
-his employer. No lawyer, except Jeffreys, in a later age, ever indulged
-in the same unsparing abuse of those against whom he was retained. His
-disposition was not merely unfeeling, it was truculent, and the insolence
-of his language was beyond all former experience. When let loose on a
-victim, he certainly was no respecter of persons; an Arabella Stuart or a
-Raleigh were abused in a style which would not now be tolerated towards
-the most abject criminal. But when Coke had reached the summit of his
-ambition, and thought the height to which he had climbed secure, he began
-to display the inherent pride of his nature, by assuming an independence
-of manner and a haughtiness of opinion, exhibited even towards the
-Throne, which astonished and irritated James. In the Commons he openly
-opposed the claims of prerogative, came out in defence of popular rights,
-and ended where Bacon had begun. From abject servility he rapidly passed
-to daring opposition. On the subject of the late benevolences, he stood
-forward as a patriot in the Commons; in the case of Peacham, that which
-was prosecuted as treason, Coke declared was only defamation; and in that
-of Owen, he agreed with the prisoner that he had committed no treason
-in saying that the king, if excommunicated, might lawfully be killed,
-because the king not having been excommunicated, the opinion could not
-apply to him. These declarations, both in Parliament and on the Bench,
-roused James to a keen resentment, and this was continually augmented. He
-set his own court of the King's Bench above every other, and threatened
-with the penalties of a Praemunire the judges of the Court of Chancery,
-and all other judges who should grant relief in Equity after judgment
-had been pronounced in the King's Bench; and he extended the same menace
-to all suitors who sought for such relief. The judges of the Courts of
-Admiralty, of High Commission, of Requests, of the Duchy of Lancaster,
-and even the presidents of the Councils of the North and of Wales, felt
-their jurisdictions invaded and repressed by his pretensions. The Court
-of Star Chamber even, hitherto above all law, was called in question by
-him, and its power to levy fines in many cases denied. He went farther,
-and, as in the case of Owen and Peacham, dictated to the Privy Council,
-and contradicted the Sovereign to his very face.
-
-It would seem as if at the moment when Coke was hunting down his former
-benefactor Somerset, the secret decree had gone out from the king
-against the Lord Chief Justice himself. Somerset was condemned on the
-25th of May, and on the 30th of June Coke received an order from the
-king to absent himself from the Council chamber, and not to proceed on
-his circuit, but to employ himself in correcting the errors in his Book
-of Reports. He had outraged James's sense of his own supreme authority,
-by opposing him in the matter of Commendams and bishoprics, and had,
-moreover, contended with Villiers, the new favourite, respecting a patent
-place at Court. Long before he received this startling order for the
-suspension of his diplomatic and judicial functions, the Archbishop,
-the Chancellor, and Mr. Attorney-General Bacon had been employed by
-royal command to collect charges against him. He was now charged with
-concealing a debt of twelve thousand pounds, due from the late Chancellor
-Hatton to the Crown; with contempt of the king's authority in declaring
-from the Bench that the Common Law would be overthrown by proceedings in
-Equity, or by claims of prerogative; and for disrespect to the Crown in
-the affair of the Commendams.
-
-The charge regarding the money Coke refuted when brought before the
-Council, and confirmed his case by a decision at law; as to the second
-charge, he explained it as in no way reflecting on the king; and for the
-third, he humbly solicited his majesty's forgiveness. James professed to
-retain the highest regard for the Lord Chief Justice, and intended, on
-his showing a proper humility, to continue to him his favour; but when
-Coke brought in his Book of Reports, and maintained that he could only
-find five trivial errors in it, James, in great anger for his "deceit,
-contempt, and slander of government," dismissed him from the Bench, and
-made Montague, the Recorder of London, chief justice in his place. Coke,
-with all his harshness and cutting style to others, felt for himself
-keenly, and is said to have wept like a child on receiving his dismissal.
-Bacon displayed anything but a philosophical magnanimity on the fall of
-his rival. He not only joked with Villiers on the disgrace of the great
-man who had offended the favourite, but he wrote a most insulting letter
-to the fallen judge, which was particularly odious from being garnished
-with the cant of piety.
-
-Bacon now looked confidently towards the Chancellorship, and in March
-of the next year (1617) Brackley resigning from age, the Great Seal
-was transferred to him, with the title of Lord Keeper. Sir Francis had
-reached the elevation to which he had so long and so ardently aspired,
-by a slavish advocacy of the most unlimited claims of prerogative and,
-as far as in him lay, the restriction of constitutional liberty--a
-deplorable instance of how completely the most transcendent talents can
-be united in an ignoble and mercenary nature. Indeed, the conduct of
-Bacon on this occasion was vain and weak to a pitiable degree. Though
-he had now reached the mature age of fifty-four, and drew an enormous
-income from his grants and offices, he was so profuse of expenditure
-that he was a needy man, pressed with difficulties, which he saw in the
-Chancellorship an exhaustless means of dispersing. His vanity burst forth
-to a surprising extent and he assumed all the state of a Wolsey. He rode
-to Westminster Hall on horseback, in a gown of rich purple satin, and
-attended by a crowd of nobles, judges, great law officers, lawyers, and
-students, rivalling even the splendour of the king.
-
-While these affairs were progressing at home, the credit of James abroad
-had sunk very low. At the conference for effecting a truce between
-Holland and Spain, held at the Hague--a conference which established the
-independence of the Low Countries--the English ministers had been made
-to feel the ignominy of their position, compared with the dignity of the
-ambassadors of Elizabeth. Prince Maurice told them openly that their
-master dare not open his mouth in contradiction to the King of Spain; and
-their allies, the French, in consequence assumed a superiority throughout
-the negotiations which mortified deeply the English envoys. Nor was that
-the only slight which James's truckling policy brought on him abroad. He
-was anxious to ally his son to the Court of Spain, notwithstanding the
-intense aversion of his subjects from the idea of a Catholic Princess.
-But Spain declined the offer. He next applied for the hand of Madame
-Christine, sister to Louis XIII. of France; but here again he was met
-with the contempt which his mean and insecure character merited: France
-preferred the suit of the Duke of Savoy. It was never before the fortune
-of England to have to go begging to the Continental states for wives for
-its princes: they had hitherto been only too officiously pressed on its
-acceptance.
-
-We must now trace the proceedings of James in Scotland and Ireland, where
-he was anxious to establish his principles of Church and State supremacy
-as thoroughly as in England, and where the seed he sowed rapidly grew
-into the same harvest of bloodshed and revolution as on the south side of
-the Tweed.
-
-The Church of Scotland, as established by Knox and his contemporaries,
-was, like Switzerland (from which they brought the idea), a republic.
-It acknowledged no head but Christ, nor any concern which the State had
-with it, except to furnish the support of the ministers whose lives were
-devoted to the civilisation and religious improvement of the community.
-The minister and the lay elders of a parish constituted the parochial
-assembly, which governed all the spiritual affairs of that little
-circle; a certain number of these assemblies constituted a presbytery,
-which heard all appeals from the parochial assemblies, and sanctioned
-the appointment, suspension, or dismissal of their ministers. Beyond
-the presbytery extended the provincial synod, and the General Assembly
-claimed the supreme management of the affairs of the Church under God.
-
-This free form of the Scottish Church had always been extremely repugnant
-to James's despotic notions. Even when he professed to admire its
-constitution as the purest and most perfect on earth, he was writhing
-under its authority; and no sooner did he ascend the English throne
-than he avowed his real opinion of its inconsistency with monarchy.
-The hierarchy of England delighted him; he regarded it as the surest
-bulwark of the Throne, and bishops he seemed to regard as the guarantees
-of royal security. "No bishop no king," was his favourite motto; and
-the hatred of presbytery which he expressed at Hampton Court led him
-to seek its utter overthrow in Scotland. He knew the sturdy materials
-that he had to deal with in the Scottish ministry and people, who had
-driven out his mother in their hatred of Catholicism; yet this did not
-deter him from endeavouring to plant episcopacy as firmly in Scotland
-as in England. He looked on the spirit and form of the Scottish Church
-but as one remove from republicanism in the State; and his first step,
-taken in 1605, was a bold one, being no less than to assume the right
-to prorogue the General Assembly at will. This was at once annihilating
-the theocratic constitution of the Assembly, and placing the king at its
-head. This measure was carried out by Sir George Home the Lord Treasurer
-of Scotland, afterwards Earl of Dunbar. The ministers, though prorogued,
-met again in defiance of the royal fiat, but were dissolved again and
-again. The ministers from nine presbyteries still boldly met in assertion
-of the paramount right of the Church, at Aberdeen, called themselves "an
-Assembly," appointed a moderator, and before dissolving at the command of
-the Council, adjourned their sitting to a fixed time that year.
-
-[Illustration: ANDREW MELVILLE BEFORE THE SCOTTISH PRIVY COUNCIL. (_See
-p._ 462.)]
-
-Thirteen of the most prominent ministers were immediately arrested on
-the charge of having violated the Act of 1584, "for maintenance of the
-royal power over all estates." The jury was packed by Dunbar, and six
-of the most refractory clergy were condemned as guilty of high treason,
-and banished for life. They retired into Holland and France, and were
-followed thither by numbers of their admirers. Meanwhile, at home,
-undaunted by this lawless exercise of power, the ministers offered up
-prayers for their exiled brethren, whom they boldly proclaimed from their
-pulpits as martyrs to the freedom of the faith; and unsilenced by the
-menaces of the Court, loudly warned the people of the impending danger to
-the Church.
-
-But James, with the blind hardihood of a true Stuart, went on, and in
-1606 appointed thirteen clergymen to the ancient abolished bishoprics,
-and gave them precedency in the synods and Assembly. The ministers
-refused to submit to their authority, and, as they were unsupported by
-the old reverence, treated their assumed dignity with contempt. But
-James went on to repeal the Act which had confiscated the episcopal
-estates, endowed the bishops, and made them moderators of both synods
-and presbyteries within their own districts. He erected two courts of
-High Commission, and indeed gave them a power such as their predecessors
-had never possessed. In 1610 three of these bishops went to England, and
-received episcopal ordination from the English prelates, and on their
-return conferred it on their colleagues. And finally, in 1612, it was
-enacted by the Scottish Parliament that all General Assemblies should
-only be appointed by the Crown; that the bishops only should present to
-livings; that they should admit no one who would not first take the Oath
-of Supremacy to the king, and of canonical obedience to the bishop; that
-they should possess the power of deprivation and the right of visitation,
-each in his own diocese.
-
-Andrew Melville, the successor of Knox, boldly though respectfully denied
-these innovations, asserting the freedom of conscience, and its immunity
-from the power of any earthly potentate. When pressed by some slavish
-Scottish lords to conform, he said: "My lords, I am a free subject of
-Scotland, a free kingdom, that has laws and privileges of its own. By
-these I stand. No legal citation has been issued against me; nor are
-you and I in our own country, where such an inquisition, so oppressive
-as the present, is condemned by Parliament. I am bound by no law to
-criminate or to furnish accusations against myself. My lords, remember
-what you are; mean as I am, remember that I am a free-born Scotsman, to
-be dealt with as you would be dealt with yourselves, according to the
-laws of the Scottish nation."
-
-This was noble and patriotic language; but Melville had to deal with a
-vain despot, who declared himself above all laws. He insisted on their
-attending the royal chapel to hear the preaching of his bishops. The
-plain presbyterian Scots were scandalised at both what they saw and heard
-there: at the ceremonies, the gilded altar, the chalices, and tapers,
-but above all, at the slavish doctrines of those courtly preachers.
-The Scottish ministers did not hesitate to express their contempt and
-indignation at the whole spectacle, and Melville ridiculed the entire
-service in a Latin epigram. For this audacity James summoned him before
-his Privy Council; but the preacher's blood was now chafed beyond
-restraint, for he and his colleagues, though they were impatient to get
-away from what they considered this idolatrous scene, where the conduct
-of the bishops and clergy was by no means edifying, had been compelled
-to stay. So far from expressing any regret for his satire on the royal
-mode of worship, he denounced in the strongest terms the whole system
-of the Anglican Church, and in his excitement seized the surplice of
-the primate, and shook angrily what he called the Romish rags of the
-Archbishop of Canterbury.
-
-James committed him to the Tower for his contumacy (1606), where he kept
-him four years, and then banished him for life. He went to reside at
-Sedan, where he died in 1622. His nephew, James Melville, was shut up at
-Berwick, and died six years before his uncle; the rest of the preachers
-were banished to remote districts of Scotland, wide apart from each other.
-
-To put the finish to this daring change, James determined to make a
-journey to Scotland himself in 1617. On leaving that country he had
-assured his Scottish subjects that he would visit his ancient capital
-at least once in three years: fourteen years had now elapsed without
-his redeeming his word, his poverty having hitherto presented an
-insurmountable obstacle. But he had now consented to yield up the
-cautionary towns, Brell, Flushing, and Rammekens, for 2,728,000 florins
-instead of 8,000,000, which were due to him. He had been induced to
-this by his necessities and the persuasions of Secretary Winwood, who
-was said to have received L29,000 from the Dutch for his services on
-the occasion. James now discharged some of his most pressing debts, and
-obtained a loan of L96,000, with which he set forward to Scotland in the
-spring of 1617.
-
-On the 7th of June the Scottish Estates met, and James excluded such of
-the representatives as he knew were hostile to his object of establishing
-the English Church in all its forms and authority, as the State Church of
-Scotland for ever. But the Peers, alarmed lest he should restore to his
-pet church the lands of which they now were in possession, rejected the
-articles which he recommended. To win over these nobles, James invited
-them to a secret conference, in which he assured them that no revocation
-of these lands should be made. Reassured on this head, the Peers were
-ready to vote as he pleased, and he opened the Estates in one of his
-vaunting speeches about his power, in which he told his audience that "he
-had nothing more at heart than to reduce their barbarity to the sweet
-civility of their neighbours; and if the Scots would be as docible to
-learn the goodness of the English as they were teachable to limp after
-their ill, then he should not doubt of success; for they had already
-learnt of the English to drink healths, to wear coaches and gay clothes,
-to take tobacco, and to speak a language which was neither English nor
-Scottish."
-
-In this insolent speech the king might have included himself both as to
-clothes and language; but these were small matters in comparison with
-those which he had in view. He brought in a Bill to enact that what the
-king might determine upon regarding the Church, with the concurrence of
-the bishops and a certain number of the clergy, should be good in law.
-At this proposition the ministers were instantly in arms, and presented
-so determined a remonstrance against it, that he became afraid and gave
-it up, saying it was unnecessary to give him that by statute which was
-already his by authority of the Crown. He managed, however, to carry a
-Bill adding chapters to the bishoprics, regulating the appointment of
-bishops, and also one for converting the hereditary offices of sheriffs
-into annual ones, which he would thus be able to influence. Never,
-surely, with a spirit so essentially cowardly, was there a monarch
-so ingrained with the bigotry of absolutism, or who so perseveringly
-laboured to annihilate every liberty of the subject, and leave the nation
-a base and soulless heritage of the Crown. But the nation was not thus
-to be trodden into a horde of serfs; and though James escaped to a
-quiet tomb, it took a terrible vengeance on his children, whom he had
-inoculated with his incorrigible lust of absolutism.
-
-As nothing more was to be obtained from Parliament, the uncouth tyrant
-wended his way to St. Andrews, where he had planned a severe retribution
-for the remonstrant ministers, from a more obsequious tribunal. There
-the ministers having met at his summons, he singled out Simpson, Ewart,
-and Calderwood, who had signed the remonstrance which baulked him of his
-full intentions, and brought them before the High Commission Court, and
-condemned Simpson and Ewart to suspension and imprisonment. Calderwood,
-who by his influence and ability excited most of all his dread and
-resentment, he banished for life. Having thus given the ministers a
-sharp lesson, he now announced to them that it was his will that the
-whole ritual of the English Church should be adopted in Scotland in five
-articles, the name of which afterwards became famous, namely:--1st,
-That the Eucharist should be received in a kneeling, and not in a
-sitting, posture, as had been hitherto the mode in Scotland; 2nd, That
-the Sacrament should be given to the sick at their own houses when they
-were in danger of death; 3rd, That baptism should, in like cases, be
-administered in private houses; 4th, That the youth should be confirmed
-by the bishops; and 5th, That the festivals of Christmas, Good Friday,
-Easter, Ascension Day, and Whit-Sunday, should be observed in Scotland
-just as in England. These commands were received with unequivocal marks
-of displeasure by the ministers, but the fate of the three remonstrants
-availed to keep them silent for a time, and James regarded his plans
-as fully accomplished; but presently the preachers fell on their knees
-and implored him to refer the Five Articles to the General Assembly of
-the Kirk. James for some time refused to listen to them, but on Patrick
-Galloway assuring him that matters should be so managed that all should
-go right, he consented.
-
-He then kept his Whitsuntide in the English fashion, with all his
-crouching prelates and courtiers around him; and afterwards took his way
-homeward, in the full persuasion that he had succeeded in his object.
-Time told a very different tale; nor was he himself long in perceiving
-that, though he had overawed, he had not subdued the sturdy Scottish
-clergy. Scarcely had he reached England when he learned that the Scots,
-both clergy and laity, were loud in denouncing the administration of
-the Eucharist in private houses as a remnant of Popery; the revival of
-the festivals of Christmas as the return to the ancient Saturnalia;
-and of those of Easter and Whitsuntide as the renewal of the feasts of
-the Jews. And on the 24th of November the ministers, in their assembly
-at St. Andrews, confirmed none of the Five Articles except that of the
-administration of the Sacrament at the houses of the sick, provided
-that the sick person first took an oath that he or she did not expect
-to recover. James was highly enraged. He ordered the observance of
-the Five Articles to be commanded by proclamation, and withdrew the
-promised augmentations of stipend. Nor did the king give way in the
-slightest degree. The next year he managed the Assembly so far, through
-Lord Binning, as to carry the Articles by a majority of eighty-six
-against forty-one; and in 1621, three years later, he obtained an Act
-of Parliament enforcing these Articles on the repugnant spirit of the
-people. Dr. Laud, whose name we now meet for the first time, afterwards
-to become so notorious, even urged James to go further lengths; but his
-fatal advice was destined to act with more force on the next generation.
-
-Whilst James's hand was in, however, he hit upon another mode of
-incensing the Puritans, and showing his dislike of them. He had been
-extremely annoyed by the severity of the Presbyterian manners during his
-visit; and when, on returning, the Catholics of Lancashire presented to
-him petitions complaining of the strictness of the Puritans, who forbade
-those sports and recreations to which they had been accustomed on Sundays
-after service, adding that it drove men to the ale-house, a bright
-idea occurred to him, and he determined to publish a Book of Sports,
-encouraging the people on Sundays, after church, to play at running,
-leaping, archery, morris-dances, and to enjoy their church-ales and
-festivities as aforetime. These sports, however, were not to be indulged
-in by the recusants, nor any who had not attended Church in the morning.
-He also prohibited on Sundays bull and bear-baitings, interludes, and
-bowls; the last, probably, because they led to gambling. He restored all
-the jollity of may-poles and rush-bearings.
-
-Many of the established clergy were conscientiously opposed to this
-mode of spending the Sunday, which appeared to them to savour greatly
-of Papacy; but James persisted in his scheme, and not only published
-his Book of Sports, but ordered the bishops, each in his own diocese,
-to publish his ordinance regarding the Sunday amusements. Abbot, the
-Primate, is said to have steadfastly refused to read the book in his
-own church at Croydon, but the other bishops complied. Laud was zealous
-in its promulgation, and in after years roused the stern and undaunted
-spirit of the reformers by recommending the revival of the Book to
-Charles I.
-
-In Ireland the same system had been pursued by James from the
-commencement of his reign, of endeavouring to force the consciences of
-his subjects into the mould of his own ideas. On the death of Elizabeth
-the Irish had openly resumed the Catholic worship in most of the South
-of Ireland. Mountjoy, the Lord-Deputy, issued a proclamation for its
-immediate suppression; but the fear of the old lioness of a queen being
-removed, they treated his orders with contempt and defiance. Mountjoy
-marched down upon them, and compelled submission at the point of the
-bayonet, and then passed over to England, having with him the two great
-chiefs, Tyrone and O'Donnell, with a number of their followers.
-
-These chieftains being well received by James, Tyrone being restored to
-his honours and estates, and O'Donnell created Earl of Tyrconnel, the
-Irish conceived wonderful hopes of the clemency and liberality of James.
-They sent a deputation to join the two earls in petitioning for the
-full enjoyment of their religion, but they found themselves grievously
-deceived. James declared that he would never consent to anything of the
-kind, but so long as he had a hundred men left, he would fight to the
-death to put down so idolatrous a worship. In his anger he committed four
-of the delegates to the Tower, where he kept them three months; and this
-practice of committing Irish deputies to prison for daring to present
-petitions on such subjects, became his regular practice.
-
-The British Solomon never relaxed his war upon the religion of his
-subjects, if it were not of the same colour and shape as his own, so long
-as breath was left in him. It was in his eyes akin to the sin against
-the Holy Ghost to differ from or doubt the infallibility of his wisdom,
-for he deemed himself, according to his open avowal, a god upon earth.
-In 1605, two years only after ascending the throne of England, he issued
-a proclamation, commanding all Catholic priests to quit Ireland on pain
-of death; and he commanded all officers, magistrates, and chief citizens
-of Dublin to attend the Established Church, or suffer the fine of twenty
-pounds a month, and moreover, imprisonment. The nobility prayed to be
-permitted the exercise of their religion, but the ill-fated presenters of
-the petition were thrown into the Castle of Dublin, and their spokesman,
-Sir Patrick Barnewell, was sent over to England, and incarcerated in the
-Tower.
-
-[Illustration: KEEPING SUNDAY, ACCORDING TO KING JAMES'S BOOK OF SPORTS.
-(_See p._ 464.)]
-
-James now hit on a bold scheme for breaking down the clanship of Ireland,
-and so weakening the opposition of the people to his despotic will. He
-ordered all possessors of lands to bring in their titles to commissioners
-appointed for the purpose, on the promise that they should receive them
-again in a more valid and advantageous form. As, from the disturbed state
-of the country for ages past, many of these titles were defective, the
-landowners accepted the offer in good faith, but they found that the
-commissioners, instead of returning them of the same value, and bearing
-the same conditions, only returned them freehold titles of such lands as
-were in their own hands. All such lands as were in the hands of tenants,
-were made over to these tenants, only subject to the rent charges and
-dues which they had formerly paid. Thus the great bulk of the tenantry
-of Ireland was freed from its dependence on the will of the chief _in
-capite_, and now set him at naught. But though the power of the chiefs
-was broken, the commonalty showed no more inclination to adhere to a
-Government which persecuted them on account of their faith. They were now
-more at liberty, and readier than ever to follow some bold and defiant
-leader who promised them protection and vengeance on their tyrants. The
-great lords, thus tricked out of their hereditary rights, were converted
-into deadly enemies of the English Government.
-
-Tyrone and Tyrconnel, on taking leave of the English Court to return to
-Ireland, professed extreme gratitude for the kindness of their reception,
-but in reality they were full of the most hostile sentiments. They looked
-on this transfer of their seigneurial rights as a measure intended to
-sever their vassals from them, and thus to subjugate the whole island to
-the yoke of the English hierarchy. No sooner did they land in Ireland,
-than Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, invited them to meet him at his
-Castle of Maynooth. They unanimously agreed that the destruction of the
-hereditary faith of Ireland was planned, and they bound themselves by
-oath to act together for its defence.
-
-Two years later, intelligence was gathered by some one at Brussels, in
-the service of the archduke, that Tyrone had renewed his relations with
-the Court of Spain; and, in order to decoy him into England, a pretender
-to a large extent of his lands was set up, and both parties were summoned
-over to have the cause tried before the Privy Council. Tyrone, aware of
-the design, avoided the snare by sending an attorney with full powers
-to act in his behalf. This stratagem did not succeed. Tyrone received
-from the Lord-Deputy information that his presence would be necessary in
-London to defeat the pretensions of his opponent. Tyrone, feigning to
-comply, only solicited a delay of a month, in order to settle his affairs
-and raise money for his journey and sojourn at Court. The request being
-acceded to, he escaped in a vessel sent on purpose from Dunkirk, with two
-of his sons and nephew, accompanied by Tyrconnel, with his son, and Lord
-Dungannon, his brother, with thirty of their retainers, and reached in a
-few days Quillebeque in Normandy.
-
-On the discovery of the escape of these nobles, James was greatly
-alarmed, believing that they had gone to Spain to join the Armada which
-during the summer had been collecting in the Spanish ports, and to
-conduct it to Ireland. The news of their real resort abated his fears.
-He demanded their delivery from France, and then from the Netherlands,
-whither they betook themselves, describing them as traitors, and men
-of mean birth, who had been merely ennobled for purposes of State. He
-accused them of an intention to excite a rebellion, and returning to
-Ireland with foreign confederates, to put to death all Irishmen of
-English descent. The Court of Brussels declined to give up men exiled
-only on account of their religion, and admitted them into the Spanish
-army of Brabant. Tyrone himself proceeded to Rome, where the King of
-Spain allowed him a pension of six hundred crowns per month, and the Pope
-one hundred.
-
-Active search was made in Ireland for the accomplices of the fugitives;
-many were arrested in Ulster, some were sent over for trial to England.
-Lord Delvin, with the eldest son of Tyrone, and Sir Christopher St.
-Lawrence, were secured and lodged in Dublin Castle. Delvin was tried and
-condemned as a traitor, but he escaped on the morning fixed for his
-execution; and no trace of him could be found till he suddenly appeared
-at the English Court, and throwing himself on his knees before the king,
-presented such a list of real wrongs inflicted on himself and his father,
-as compelled James to pardon him and to make him amends by creating him
-Earl of Westmeath; a clemency, as it proved, well bestowed, and which
-might have taught the king a more successful way to secure obedience and
-loyalty from his subjects, than those which he unhappily pursued.
-
-Another Irish chief, O'Dogherty of Inishowen, having received a mortal
-insult from Paulet, the Governor of Derry, surprised him at table, and by
-the aid of his followers succeeded in killing him and five others. The
-avengers captured alive Hart, the governor of the Fortress of Culmore,
-and leading him to the gates of the Castle, called on the governor's wife
-to surrender the place, or see her husband murdered on the spot. Conjugal
-affection prevailed, and O'Dogherty found himself in possession of the
-stronghold. Possessed by this means of arms and ammunition, O'Dogherty
-marched with a strong force to Derry, and received the submission of the
-castle and town. The hopes of the exiles were wonderfully raised by so
-unexpected an event. They despatched messengers instructing O'Dogherty
-to hold the place, if possible, till their arrival with foreign aid;
-but after two unsuccessful attacks, the place was evacuated on the
-approach of Wingfield, the marshal of the camp, and O'Dogherty fled to
-the mountains. There, in the month of June, 1608, he was accidentally
-discovered, and shot.
-
-The rebellion of these great chiefs, by throwing into the hands of the
-Crown an immense territory, suggested to James the planting of a new
-English Colony. Undeterred by the failure of Elizabeth's plantation of
-Ulster, he proceeded to divide the confiscated region, which included
-nearly the whole of the northern counties of Cavan, Fermanagh, Armagh,
-Derry, Tyrone, and Tyrconnel, amounting to two millions of acres, into
-four great divisions. Two of these were again divided into lots of one
-thousand acres each, a third into lots of fifteen hundred acres, and
-the fourth into lots of two thousand acres. The two thousand acre lots
-were appropriated to a class of men called "undertakers and servitors,"
-adventurers of capital from England and Scotland, with the civil and
-military officers of the Crown. The lesser lots went amongst these
-and the natives of the province also; but the natives were only to
-receive their lots in the plains and open country, not in the hills
-and fastnesses, where they might become formidable to Government. The
-possessors were bound to pay a mark a year for every sixty acres, and the
-lesser ones besides to take the Oath of Supremacy, and engage to admit no
-recusant as tenant.
-
-By these means some hundred thousand acres were planted; but whole
-districts in the hills were never divided at all, whilst many of the
-undertakers managed to get immensely more land than they had any right
-to. It was at this time (1611) that the scheme, already mentioned, of
-creating baronets was proposed to James by Sir Anthony Shirley, as a
-means of raising money for the support of the army in Ulster. James
-caught eagerly at the idea, coined upwards of one hundred thousand pounds
-out of it, but neither sent any of the money to Ireland, nor gave a
-handsome gratuity to Shirley for the suggestion, as he promised.
-
-After these measures, James ventured to call a Parliament in Ireland,
-in 1613, the first for seven-and-twenty years. He wanted money, and
-he wanted also to enact new laws. But the Catholics were naturally
-apprehensive of these intended laws, for the whole of James's policy
-went to crush their religion out of the majority of the inhabitants, and
-impose on them his own model church. So little had this shallow sovereign
-profited by the lessons of history, that he expected to convert a whole
-nation by the sword and confiscation. But Ireland had by all former
-English monarchs, down to Elizabeth, been taught to regard the Pope as
-the lord paramount of the island; it was a doctrine that secured the
-obedience of the people under all their oppressions. But since Elizabeth
-had separated from the Catholic Church, and stood excommunicated by
-the pontiff, this maxim, so convenient before, was become extremely
-inconvenient. To the political causes of discontent was now added the far
-more irritating one of violated religious faith, which has continued till
-our time.
-
-Under these circumstances the Lord-Deputy summoned the Parliament,
-and soon found that, though he had a majority of more than twenty
-Protestants, the spirit of the Catholics was such that he did not dare
-to proceed. Since the former Parliament, no less than seventeen new
-counties and forty new boroughs had been created, and these had been
-filled by men devoted to the measures of the Crown; the boroughs, the
-Catholics complained, had been put into the hands of attorneys' clerks
-and servants, and they expected to find on the projected new plantations
-only evil-disposed persons, ready to insult and injure the old
-inhabitants. They objected to many of the returns; they complained that
-obsolete statutes had been revived for the purposes of oppression; that
-Catholics of noble birth were excluded from posts of honour; that they
-were expelled from the magistracy; that they were forbidden to educate
-their children abroad; that Catholic barristers were not permitted to
-practise; that Catholic citizens were excluded from all influence in
-the corporations; and that the whole community was subjected to fines,
-excommunications, and punishments, which spread poverty and misery over
-the island.
-
-The Lord-Deputy prorogued the impracticable assembly, and both parties
-appealed to the king. The Catholics sent as deputies the Lords
-Gormansbury and Dunboyne, and two knights and two barristers to plead
-their cause. The expense of the mission was defrayed by a general
-collection, which was made in spite of a severe proclamation against
-it. James received them at first graciously, but his anger soon broke
-out when he found them impervious to his controversial eloquence; and,
-as usual, he threw two of them into prison--Luttrel into the Fleet, and
-Talbot into the Tower. He soon had Talbot before the Star Chamber, and
-strictly interrogated him on the point of loyalty to the Crown, and he
-severely reprimanded the whole deputation on the same ground; but Lord
-Delvin on his knees declared that he would ever be faithful to the king
-as his rightful liege, yet that nothing should ever induce him to abandon
-his religion. James dismissed them, after having appointed a commission
-of inquiry regarding the representatives of the new Irish boroughs, which
-decided that none of the four boroughs incorporated after the writs were
-issued had a right to sit that Session.
-
-As to the religious grievances, no concession was made, and scarcely had
-the deputies reached home, when a proclamation appeared ordering all
-the Catholic clergy to quit Ireland on pain of death. When Parliament
-met again in Dublin, in 1615, there was an outward air of conciliation;
-the two parties avoided the grand subjects of discord, except that both
-Houses joined in a petition that Catholic barristers might be permitted
-to plead. The attainders of Tyrone, Tyrconnel, and O'Dogherty were
-confirmed, as well as the plantation of Ulster, and all distinctions
-between the two races of the Irish--that is, the native Irish and the
-Anglo-Irish--were abolished by statute, and a liberal subsidy was
-obtained.
-
-The conciliatory air did not long continue. The Lord-Deputy Chichester
-made a cautious attempt to enforce the fines for absence from church,
-beginning with a few timid persons in each county, whose compliance might
-influence others. In 1623, Lord Falkland, then Lord-Deputy, repeated
-the proclamation ordering all Catholic priests to leave the kingdom on
-pain of death; but they only retired into the mountains and morasses and
-defied his authority. James saw that it was useless to hope for success
-in his scheme of crushing out Catholicism, till he had planted the whole
-island after the Ulster fashion, and this was set about in good earnest.
-Commissions were issued for the examination of all grants and titles,
-and, by the most iniquitous proceedings, hardly a single foot of land was
-exempted from the claim of forfeiture to the Crown. It was found that the
-proprietors of the vast counties of Connaught, Galway, and Clare, had
-been induced to surrender their titles to Elizabeth, on condition that
-they should receive fresh ones, and that they had paid three thousand
-pounds for the enrolment of these titles, but had never got them. On this
-discovery James was advised to claim the whole island, with the exception
-of the small portion which he had himself planted; but the owners
-declared on all hands that they would defend their lands with their
-swords rather than admit such a claim; and James preferred getting a sum
-of money. His pretensions were commuted for a double annual rent and a
-fine of ten thousand pounds. He, however, proceeded to plant the coast
-between Dublin and Wexford, then the counties of Leitrim and Longford,
-and finally Westmeath, and King's and Queen's Counties. In this business
-all law and justice were set aside. James gave orders that three-fourths
-of the lands should be settled on the original proprietors, but no regard
-was paid to this. Few of the old possessors obtained above a quarter of
-their lands again, and many were stripped of every acre which they had
-inherited from their fathers. Whole septs were removed to the parts most
-distant from their native localities. Seven such septs were transported
-from Queen's County to King's, and menaced with instant death by martial
-law if they dared return. Sir Patrick Crosby received the seigniory
-of Tarbert, on condition that he leased out one-fourth of it to those
-unhappy exiles, but very few of them got anything; and, in a word, Carte
-declares that the injustice and cruelty then committed are scarcely to
-be paralleled in the history of any age or country. At the same time, the
-north of Ireland, hitherto a mere wilderness, began immediately to assume
-an appearance of prosperity.
-
-Such was the condition of Ireland as left by James. He imagined that he
-had pacified it; it was only the sullen lull before the storm which burst
-forth in the days of his successor, with a fury only the more terrible
-from its temporary delay.
-
-During the king's absence in Scotland, Bacon had shown such arrogance in
-the Council, that he had disgusted everybody. He had appeared to imagine
-himself king, took up his quarters in Whitehall, and gave audiences
-in the great Banqueting-house at Whitehall. Mr. Secretary Winwood was
-so incensed at his presumption that he quitted the Council Chamber,
-declaring, that he would not enter it again till the king's return;
-and he wrote at once an account of Bacon's proceedings, assuring the
-king that it was high time that he returned, for his throne was already
-occupied. The vain, foolish conduct of the Lord Keeper was watched by
-an eye which owed him no favour, and a spirit smarting with envy, which
-was relentless in his revenge. Coke, by offending the favourite, lost
-his position, but he now saw a way to turn this opposition to Buckingham
-against Bacon. Buckingham, since his rising into favour, had taken care
-to promote the fortunes of his friends and relatives. He had cast his
-eyes on the daughter of the fallen Chief Justice Coke, by Lady Hatton,
-the widow of Queen Elizabeth's Chancellor; this young lady, who was
-likely to have a large fortune from her mother, he determined to obtain
-for his brother John Villiers, a sickly and nearly idiotic youth. Coke,
-who despised the favourite, and was at feud with him respecting the
-already mentioned patent place at Court, opposed the match, which was
-agreeable neither to the young lady nor her mother. But when Coke found
-himself deprived of his office, and his rival, Bacon, advanced, he
-bethought himself that by the means of his daughter he had the power of
-regaining the goodwill of the favourite, and pulling down the arrogant
-Lord Keeper. Before Buckingham had left for Scotland, Coke had had a
-private interview with him, in which he agreed to consent to the marriage
-on condition of regaining his honours and position in the Council and on
-the Bench.
-
-During the absence of the Court in Scotland, and while Bacon was in the
-full tide of his assumed greatness, he discovered this compact, which
-boded him nothing but destruction. Without delay he incited the Lady
-Hatton, who was in almost everything violently opposed to her husband,
-to make haste and secure her daughter by secreting her with herself in
-the house of Sir Edward Withipole near Oxford, and by contracting her
-in marriage to Henry de Vere, Earl of Oxford, for whom the young lady
-really entertained a regard. Coke, enraged at this flight, and at the
-attempt to marry his daughter contrary to his own plans, applied for a
-search-warrant to enter the house where she was secreted. Bacon refused
-it, but Winwood was only too happy to grant it. Coke, supported by
-twelve armed men, made a forcible entry and carried away his daughter.
-On this Bacon procured the new Attorney-General, Yelverton, to file an
-information against Coke in the Star Chamber for a breach of the peace.
-Bacon also wrote to the king and the favourite in Scotland, representing
-to Buckingham that it was by no means to his honour or interest to ally
-his family to that of Coke, a fallen, disgraced man, and disliked of
-the king, especially as much better matches might be found. To James he
-represented the trouble which Coke had given to his majesty, his fondness
-for opposing the king's wishes, and the disturbances there had been in
-the kingdom and courts of justice so long as Coke had been in power. Sir
-Francis added that now everything was quiet, and that his majesty knew
-that he had in him an officer always anxious to do his will.
-
-[Illustration: PARLIAMENT HOUSE, DUBLIN, IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-The answer of the king struck him at once to the earth. The great
-philosopher was not aware how far the compact with Coke had really
-gone; and when he read the king's letter, reprimanding his presumption,
-accompanied by another from Buckingham, in which he rated him for his
-officious meddling, and telling him that the same hand which had made him
-could unmake him, he saw the gulf into which he had plunged. At once he
-wrote off to both monarch and minion, imploring the humblest pardon for
-this unworthy offence, which he would now do all in his power to wipe
-away. Accordingly, he stopped the proceedings before the Council and in
-the Star Chamber against Coke, and assured Lady Hatton and her friends
-that he could not assist them in a course so opposed to the wishes of the
-young lady's father.
-
-On the return of the Court, Bacon hastened to pay his homage to the proud
-favourite; but he was then made to feel how much it is in the power of a
-base and little-souled man in favour, to humiliate the most gigantic mind
-when it forgets to be submissive. The great renovator of science, the
-proud and vaunting Lord Keeper, was made to wait for two whole days in
-the lobby of the upstart. This is Weldon's account of it:--"He attended
-two days at Buckingham's chamber, being not admitted to any better place
-than the room where trencher-scrapers and lackeys attended, there sitting
-upon an old wooden chest, amongst such as for his baseness were only fit
-for his companions, although the honour of his place did merit far more
-respect, with his purse and Seal lying by him on that chest. Myself told
-a servant of my Lord of Buckingham, it was a shame to see the purse and
-Seal of so little value or esteem in his chamber, though the carrier
-without it merited nothing but scorn, being worst amongst the basest. But
-the servant told me they had command it must be so. After two days he had
-admittance. At his first entrance he fell down flat at the duke's foot,
-kissing it, and vowing never to rise till he had his pardon; and thus was
-he again reconciled. And since that time so very a slave to the duke and
-all that family, that he durst not deny the command of the meanest of
-the kindred, nor yet oppose anything. By which you see a base spirit is
-even most concomitant with the proudest mind; and surely, never so many
-brave parts, and so base and abject a spirit, tenanted together in any
-one earthen cottage, as in this one man."
-
-Buckingham condescended to forgive the suppliant Lord Keeper: the
-projected marriage was accomplished, and Bacon soon after--that is, on
-the 4th of January, 1618--was raised to the dignity of Lord Chancellor,
-with a pension of twelve hundred pounds a year and the title of Baron
-Verulam. For, provided he threw no obstacle in the way of the marriage,
-both James and Buckingham preferred his pliancy to the sturdy spirit of
-Coke.
-
-The consequences of this forced and unnatural marriage were as deplorable
-as the means of effecting it were vile. The brother of Villiers was
-created Viscount Purbeck; but no title could give him a sound body or
-a healthy intellect. It was not long before he was pronounced utterly
-mad, was shut up in an asylum, and Buckingham took possession of Lady
-Purbeck's property under pretence of managing it for her and Lord
-Purbeck, but spent it for his own purposes; and Coke's daughter, outraged
-in all her feelings as a woman and her rights as a subject, became a
-degraded and abandoned character.
-
-Buckingham now reigned supreme at Court. He had rapidly risen from a
-simple country youth into a baron, viscount, earl, and marquis; he was
-a member of the Privy Council, Knight of the Garter, had been a Master
-of the Horse, and was now Lord High Admiral; the Earl of Nottingham--the
-brave old Howard, hero of the Armada--having been compelled to resign
-to make way for him. He and his mother disposed of all places about
-Court, in the Church, in the courts of law, and in the Government. Peers,
-prelates, and men of all degrees courted humbly his favour, and paid him
-large sums of money for the places they sought, or agreed to annuities
-out of their salaries and emoluments. The king seemed to rejoice in the
-wealth which flowed in on his favourite from these corrupt services, and
-could not bear him out of his sight.
-
-Let us take Weldon's account of this state of things:--"And now
-Buckingham, having the Chancellor or Treasurer, and all great officers,
-his very slaves, swells in the height of pride, and summons up all his
-country kindred, the old countess providing a place for them to learn to
-carry themselves in a Court-like garb." The old countess, as Weldon calls
-her, was far from old, but a woman yet in her prime, and of singular
-beauty and notorious wickedness. She was another Elizabeth Woodville in
-looking out for rich heirs and heiresses, and marrying her kin to them.
-The brothers, half-brothers, cousins of Buckingham, were all matched
-to rich women, and the women were matched to the eldest sons of earls,
-barons, and men of large estate. And where there was no title, such was
-soon conferred. The madman that they gave to Coke's daughter, as we
-have seen, was made Lord Purbeck; another brother was created Earl of
-Anglesea. Fielding, who married Buckingham's sister, was made Earl of
-Denbigh, and his brother Earl of Desmond. Cranfield, who married a female
-relative, was made Earl of Middlesex. But the most shameful case of all,
-perhaps, was that of Williams, Dean of Westminster, a paramour of the
-countess's, who was made Bishop of Lincoln, and allowed to retain not
-only the deanery of Westminster, but the rectories of Dinam, Waldgrave,
-Grafton, and Peterborough; the prebends of Asgarbie and Nonnington,
-besides other dignities; so that, says Heylin, he was a perfect diocese
-in himself, being bishop, dean, prebendary, residentiary, and parson,
-and these all at once. Other livings and bishoprics were sold as highly
-as these were freely given. Fotherby of Salisbury paid three thousand
-five hundred pounds for his see, and all other dignities and benefices
-in the Church were equally at the disposal of this upstart and his
-venal, lascivious mother. "There were books of rates," says Weldon, "on
-all offices, bishoprics, and deaneries in England, that could tell you
-what fines and pensions were to pay." He adds, "that Buckingham's female
-relatives were numerous enough to have peopled any plantation. So that
-King James, that naturally in former times hated women, had his lodgings
-replenished with them, and all of the kindred, and little children did
-run up and down the king's lodgings like rabbits startled out of their
-burrows. Here was a strange change, that the king, who formerly would not
-endure his queen and children in his lodgings, now you would have judged
-that none but women frequented them. Nay, this was not all; but the
-kindred had all the houses about Whitehall, as if bulwarks and flankers
-to that citadel."
-
-Buckingham himself, in time, seemed to clothe himself with half the
-offices in the country. He became Warden of the Cinque Ports, chief
-justice in eyre of all the parks and forests south of the Trent, Master
-of the King's Bench Office, High Steward of Westminster, and Constable of
-Windsor Castle. In his person he was lavish and showy even to tawdriness.
-He was skilled in dancing, and therefore kept the Court one scene of
-balls and masques. He had his clothes trimmed at even an ordinary dance
-with great buttons of diamond, with diamond hatbands, cockades, and
-earrings; "he was yoked with manifold ropes and knots of pearl; in short,
-he was accustomed to be manacled, fettered, and imprisoned in jewels."
-
-But one of the most interesting and painful events of the reign of
-James, and one which does him little credit, now occurred. Sir Walter
-Raleigh, deprived (as we have seen, to gratify the favourite Carr) of his
-beautiful estate of Sherborne in Dorsetshire--"which he had beautified
-with orchards, gardens, and groves, of much variety and delight"--had
-remained in the Tower from the time of his trial in 1603, that is,
-thirteen years. His captivity was rendered less severe by the presence
-in the Tower of other prisoners of intelligence, and, more than all
-the rest, of the Earl of Northumberland, who gathered around him in
-his prison men of science and literature, and thus was instrumental in
-converting his cell into a palace of knowledge and refined delight.
-Northumberland was another of those men who revelled in learning, whom a
-king really wise and learned would have rejoiced to honour. But James's
-love was not a love of learning or literature on its own account, it
-was a love of himself. It was the vanity of passing for a sagacious and
-learned king which he possessed, and not the sagacity and the learning
-themselves. Therefore, so far from cherishing science and learning,
-and loving the possessor of them, James was too shallow to comprehend
-the one, and so egotistical that he hated the other. Northumberland
-had been in prison ever since the year of the Gunpowder Plot, 1605,
-eleven years, a victim to the suspicions of the king and the tyranny
-of the Star Chamber, for no participation in the plot was ever proved
-against him. Amongst his visitants and pensioners were the most profound
-mathematicians of the age, Allen, Hariot, Warner--"the Atlantes of the
-mathematical world," Burchill--the celebrated Greek and Hebrew scholar,
-and other noted characters. Amongst them Sir Walter found the pleasure
-of cultivating inquiries which his busy public and Court life had before
-kept unknown to him. He commenced a series of chemical experiments, and
-the celebrated Lucy Hutchinson, who was the daughter of Sir Allen Apsley,
-Lieutenant of the Tower, in the preface to her interesting life of her
-husband, Colonel Hutchinson, says:--"Sir Walter Raleigh and Mr. Ruthin,
-being prisoners in the Tower, and addicting themselves to chemistry,
-my mother suffered them to make their rare experiments at her cost,
-partly to comfort and divert the poor prisoners, and partly to gain the
-knowledge of their experiments and the medicines, to help such poor
-people as were not able to seek physicians."
-
-In these chemical inquiries, Sir Walter imagined that he had discovered
-a universal panacea. The queen in an illness had taken it, and appeared
-cured by it, and afterwards, as we have seen, tried it in the case of
-Prince Henry, but without effect.
-
-[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS BACON WAITING AN AUDIENCE OF BUCKINGHAM. (_See
-p._ 470.)]
-
-Sir Walter next turned his attention to history, and commenced a History
-of the World, a gigantic undertaking, but no doubt one that offered great
-consolation to the mind of a prisoner for life, from the very fact of
-its immensity, thus promising to him a constant forgetfulness of his
-captivity, and a busy discursiveness amid the peoples of the whole globe.
-Such men as Burchill, who was not only a great classical scholar but a
-distinguished Latin poet, could furnish him with books and translations,
-by which means he has displayed so vast an acquaintance with Greek and
-Rabbinical writers. Raleigh commenced his History for the instruction of
-Prince Henry, who had a high regard for the author, but the death of that
-prince in 1612, gave a check to the undertaking, and all that Raleigh has
-completed extends from the Creation to about a century and a half before
-the Christian era.
-
-The fall of Somerset and the rise of Buckingham awoke new hopes of
-liberty in Raleigh. His friends made zealous applications to the
-favourite, which for a time produced little effect because the true
-persuasive with the greedy Villiers family was not applied. In the
-meantime, however, Raleigh managed to interest Secretary Winwood in
-a grand scheme which he had for discovering and working gold mines
-in Guiana. Raleigh, as our readers are aware, was of a romantic and
-adventurous turn. The Admirals Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, with
-whom he had had the honour of defeating the Grand Armada, had brought
-home immense treasures from the Spanish and Portuguese territories
-of South America. Raleigh himself had been engaged in the scheme of
-settling Virginia in North America, in the year 1584, when he procured
-a patent from Elizabeth--a copy of one granted still earlier to his
-half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert--with full power to discover and
-settle any heathen lands not already in the possession of any Christian
-prince. In consequence, he had equipped various expeditions to the
-coast of Virginia, which, however, had all proved failures, and Sir
-Humphrey Gilbert, who conducted one of them, lost his life at sea. Sir
-Walter's enterprises, which had cost him much money, were immediate
-failures--failures to himself and his associates, but ultimate successes
-to the country, for they led to the settlement of that great Federated
-Republic of Northern America.
-
-But still earlier, in 1595, he had made a voyage to Guiana. The glories
-of Drake and the other piratical admirals, and the wondrous legend of
-the golden empire of Guiana, with its inconceivable affluence, and the
-reported splendours of its capital, Manoa, called by the Spaniards
-El Dorado, or the golden city, inflamed his imagination. He sailed
-thither, touching at Trinidad, as if on his way to Virginia; and the
-Spaniards, deluded by this belief, entered into friendly relations and
-bartered various commodities with him. But suddenly Raleigh, watching
-his opportunity, fell on the garrison, killed the guard, and secured the
-person of Berrio the governor, whom he carried away as guide to Guiana,
-Berrio having already settled a colony there. This transaction, which
-was in the true spirit of Drake and the rest, who acted in those regions
-as if the Spaniards were at war, though they were at entire peace with
-England, was one of the charges afterwards brought against him. To this
-Raleigh replied that Berrio, at Trinidad, had formerly made prisoners of
-eight Englishmen, and that to leave him at his back when he was about
-to ascend the Orinoco, was to have been an ass. Whether the story of
-the eight Englishmen was true or not, it was clearly no business of
-Raleigh's, and the real motive was partly the last assigned--to secure
-so dangerous a person as Berrio, and at the same time so valuable a
-guide. In fact, Raleigh, with all his genius, was never renowned for very
-scrupulous ideas of right and wrong, and shared in all the loose maritime
-notions of the age.
-
-Thus provided, he sailed for the Orinoco and advanced up it three hundred
-miles in boats. He seemed to have heard many wonderful rumours of gold
-mines, and cities built of gold and silver and embossed with precious
-stones; but he discovered no magnificent Manoa, with pinnacles blazing
-with diamonds and rubies, nor any gold mines, only signs of gold in the
-mountains beyond the Spanish town of St. Thomas. He gave out to the
-natives that he was come to relieve them of the Spaniards, and by their
-assistance explored the country for a month, when the waters of the
-mighty Orinoco rose so suddenly and with such impetuosity, that they were
-carried down at the peril of their lives to their ships.
-
-On his return, Raleigh, although he brought no riches, brought marvellous
-descriptions of them. Though he had seen nothing but a pleasant country
-and friendly natives, he did not hesitate to publish the most amazing
-stories to draw fresh colleagues to the enterprise. He described the
-country and the climate in colours of heaven, and as for its riches, "the
-common soldier," he said--detailing the discovery of the large, rich, and
-beautiful empire of Guiana, with relations of the great and golden city,
-Manoa--"shall here fight for gold, and pay himself, instead of pence,
-with plates of half a foot broad, whereas he breaks his bones in other
-wars for provant and penury. Those commanders and chieftains that shoot
-at honour and abundance, shall find here more rich and beautiful cities,
-more temples adorned with golden images, more sepulchres filled with
-treasure, than either Cortez found in Mexico, or Pizarro in Peru."
-
-Probably Raleigh believed all this himself, on the faith of the
-natives; but though several expeditions went out nothing of the kind
-was discovered. Yet these failures in no degree abated the enthusiasm
-of Raleigh. He represented to objectors that the adventurers sent out
-were ignorant alike of the locality and of the art of conciliating the
-natives. Were _he_ permitted to go, he would make Guiana to England what
-Peru was to Spain.
-
-His glowing descriptions at length captivated the imagination of Winwood,
-who did his best to excite the cupidity of James on the subject, and
-not without effect, for he began to speak of Raleigh as a very clever
-and gallant fellow. The scheme suited James extremely well, as he was
-always in want of money, and Raleigh asked for nothing, not even a ship
-to accomplish the enterprise, but guaranteed to the king one-fifth of the
-gold. Still there was one obstacle; James dared not issue the desired
-commission without the approbation of the favourite, and this Raleigh
-and his friends were obliged to purchase by a present of fifteen hundred
-pounds to Buckingham's uncles, Sir Edward Villiers and Sir William St.
-John.
-
-In the month of August, 1616, Sir Walter issued from his thirteen years'
-captivity in the Tower, and commenced preparations for the voyage. Plenty
-of adventurers and co-operators were found: the Countess of Bedford
-advanced eight thousand pounds, and Lady Raleigh sold her estate at
-Mitcham for two thousand five hundred pounds. A fleet of fourteen sail
-was equipped and manned. But before Raleigh could get out to sea, the
-Spanish ambassador, Gondomar, had caught wind of the real destination of
-the squadron. The Spaniard was a deep politician, who assumed an air of
-gaiety and freedom which won on the courtiers, and not less on James,
-whose vanity he flattered to the utmost; often speaking false Latin, that
-James might correct him, he would reply, "Ah, your majesty speaks Latin
-like a pedant, but I only speak it like a gentleman."
-
-On making the discovery, Gondomar rushed into the presence of the king,
-exclaiming, "Pirates! pirates! pirates!" James, who was always paralysed
-at the very idea of war, sent in a hurry for Raleigh, took back the
-patent which he had granted him, and altered it with his own hand. He
-strictly prohibited the adventurers from invading any territories in
-possession of his allies, especially of the King of Spain, but commanded
-that they should confine their enterprise to countries still in the hands
-of the heathen. They were allowed to trade and to defend themselves if
-attacked, but not to act on the offensive. He moreover demanded from
-Raleigh a memorandum under his own hand, of the places with which he
-meant to trade, and the force he proposed to take out. All this James is
-said to have shown to Gondomar, so that, fully forewarned, the Spanish
-ambassador despatched a squadron with troops to St. Thomas, of which his
-brother was governor.
-
-In all this, it is clear that Raleigh was imposing on the king. This
-Raleigh himself admits in his address to Lord Carew:--"I acquainted his
-majesty with my intention to land in Guiana, yet I never made it known to
-his majesty that the Spaniards had any footing there. Neither had I any
-authority from my patent to remove them thence." But this was a point on
-which Gondomar could and probably did enlighten James.
-
-After the guarantees given by Raleigh, Gondomar appears to have ceased
-his opposition; having, moreover, taken measures to guard against any
-attack in Guiana. On the 28th of March, 1617, the fleet set sail, but
-owing to bad weather was obliged to put into Cork, where they lay till
-August, and did not reach the coast of Guiana till November 12th, after
-a troublesome voyage of four months. On arriving, two of his ships were
-missing: disease had reduced his men to a state of miserable weakness,
-forty-two on board Raleigh's own vessel having died. He himself was
-disabled for active service, and to his mortification he learned that
-a Spanish fleet was cruising near in order to intercept them. He wrote
-to his wife, that reduced as they were, he deemed himself in sufficient
-force to accomplish the enterprise if the care taken at home to let the
-Spaniards know of their numbers, had not caused all approaches to be
-fortified against them.
-
-[Illustration: THE DEPARTURE OF THE MAYFLOWER.
-
-FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER THE PICTURE BY A. W. BAYES.]
-
-Being unable to proceed immediately, he sent Captain Keymis up the river
-in boats to discover the mine, while he lay at its mouth to ward off
-the Spanish squadron. Keymis was said to have been at the mine they
-were in search of in the expedition of 1595. He began the ascent of
-the river on the 10th of December, under orders to make straight for
-the mine, and if he found it rich to fix himself there; if but poor,
-to bring away a basket of the ore to convince the king that they had
-gone out after a reality. The exploring force landed near St. Thomas,
-but found the Spaniards prepared for them; a battle ensued, in which
-the governor, the brother of Gondomar, was killed, but at the same time
-also fell the eldest son of Sir Walter, Captain Walter Raleigh. This
-enraged the soldiers, who carried the town of St. Thomas by storm and set
-fire to it. They expected to find in it great wealth, but all that they
-discovered was two ingots of gold and four refining houses, whence any
-ore that there might have been was carried off. The Spaniards entrenched
-themselves in formidable positions amongst the hills--as the invaders
-supposed, between them and the mines; but Keymis was so much discouraged
-by the death of young Raleigh, and the violent discontent of the men
-on discovering the emptiness of the place, and the preparations of the
-enemy, who again fired upon and killed several of them, that he gave up
-the enterprise and dropped down the river again.
-
-When Keymis reached the ships with the news of their ill success and of
-the death of Raleigh's son, Sir Walter was beside himself. Though Keymis
-had been a faithful officer and friend of his for many years, sharing the
-dangers and hardships of his former adventures, he upbraided him bitterly
-with his ruin. Keymis replied that when the young captain was dead, the
-men set him at defiance, and that to have attempted to reach the mines
-with them would have been an act of madness; had it succeeded even,
-it would only have enriched these murderous villains; had it failed,
-both himself, and probably Sir Walter, would have fallen their victims.
-Recollecting the feeble condition of his commander-in-chief, he deemed it
-his duty to return to him.
-
-All was lost on Raleigh, who, feeling the acutest grief for the death
-of his son, and seeing nothing but destruction await him at home from
-the wrath of the Spaniards and the disappointed cupidity of the king,
-raved against Keymis like a madman. The unfortunate officer drew up
-a statement of the real facts of the case, addressed to the Earl of
-Arundel, and asked Raleigh to sign it in justice to him: he peremptorily
-refused. Some days passed on, but instead of moderating his bitterness
-when Keymis again urged him to sign the statement, he refused, heaping
-upon him reproaches of imbecility or cowardice. Stung by this ungenerous
-conduct, the unhappy officer retired to his cabin, and shot himself with
-a pocket-pistol, and as that had not killed him, finished the bloody deed
-by a stab with a long knife.
-
-Horror took possession of the fleet at the news of Keymis's suicide, and
-discord and mutiny broke out on all sides. The officers and men alike
-expressed their indignation. Captain Whitney, in whom Raleigh reposed
-the most confidence, and who was under great obligations to him, sailed
-for England. Others followed his example, and Raleigh soon found himself
-with only five ships. Yet still he had a larger fleet, manned with a
-stronger force of daring fellows than the brave crews who had done
-amazing things under Drake, Hawkins, and others, had Raleigh been in a
-mood to lead them. Death and disgrace awaited his return home; death or
-the acquisition of wealth capable of appeasing the royal resentment, was
-the alternative which attended a bold onslaught on the Spanish shores.
-But Raleigh's spirit was crushed. In a letter to his wife he declared
-that "his brains were broken;" and he sailed away to Newfoundland, where
-he refitted his ships.
-
-He now contemplated the chance of intercepting one of the Spanish
-treasure-ships, which he felt assured would set all right with James; but
-fresh mutinies arose and he took his course homewards. In the month of
-June, 1618, after much hesitation, he entered the harbour of Plymouth,
-where he was met with the news that a royal warrant was out for his
-apprehension. Gondomar, furious at the fate of his brother, demanded
-condign punishment for Raleigh's outrages on the subjects of his most
-Catholic majesty in Guiana. There were many reasons why the Spanish
-Court should long for the destruction of Raleigh. He was by far the
-ablest naval commander that James possessed. He had been one of those who
-led the English fleet to the triumph over the Armada. He had committed
-terrible depredations in the Azores and Canary Isles when he sailed with
-Essex, besides his seizure of the Governor of Trinidad.
-
-Sir Walter was advised by his friends to fly instantly to France, a
-vessel lying ready to carry him over. But he seemed to have lost all
-power of self-direction, or it might be that, as his younger son Carew
-relates, the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke were sureties for his return,
-and it was a point of honour to keep faith with them. He landed, and was
-arrested by his near kinsman, Sir Lewis Stukeley, Vice-Admiral of Devon,
-who conducted him to the house of Sir Christopher Harris, near the port,
-where he detained him for nearly a week, till he received the royal order
-for his disposal. No sooner was it announced at Court that Raleigh was
-secured, than Buckingham wrote, by direction of the king, to inform the
-Spanish ambassador of the fact, and to assure him that he would give him
-up to him to be sent to Spain, and dealt with as his royal master should
-see fit, unless his most Catholic majesty preferred that he should suffer
-the penalty of his crimes here. Gondomar sent off a special messenger
-to learn the decision of the King of Spain, and meantime Stukeley was
-ordered to proceed to London with his prisoner.
-
-[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH RE-ARRESTED BY STUKELEY. (_See p._
-477.)]
-
-Struck now with awe at the prospect of once more being immured in the
-Tower, and with only the most gloomy prospect of his exit thence, Sir
-Walter procured some drugs from Manourie a Frenchman, with which he
-brought on violent sickness, and aquafortis, with which he produced
-blisters and excoriations on his face, arms, breast, and legs. He was
-found in his shirt on all fours, gnawing the rushes on the floor and
-affecting madness; the physicians pronounced him to be in considerable
-danger, and James, who was then at Salisbury, ordered him to be conveyed
-for a short time to his own house in London, lest he should convey some
-infection into the Tower.
-
-This was Raleigh's object, and he now employed the time afforded him to
-effect his escape in earnest. He despatched his faithful friend, Captain
-King, to provide a ship for his purpose. This was arranged, but Raleigh,
-not aware that Manourie was a spy upon him, confided the secret to him,
-and it was immediately communicated to Stukeley. Raleigh, observing the
-strict watch which Stukeley kept over him, and deeming him worthy of his
-confidence, gave him a valuable jewel and a bond for one thousand pounds,
-on condition that he allowed him to escape. Stukeley took the bribe, but
-while pretending to be now his sworn friend, only the more effectually
-played the traitor. He was commissioned to procure all possible evidence
-of Raleigh's connection with France, and circumstances favoured him. At
-Brentford Raleigh received a visit from De Chesne, the secretary of the
-French Envoy in London, offering him, from Le Clerk, his master, the
-use of a French barque and a safe-conduct to the Governor of Calais.
-On arriving in London, Le Clerk himself waited on him and renewed the
-offer. Raleigh expressed his gratitude, but concluded to take the vessel
-engaged by Captain King, and lying near Tilbury Fort. All this Stukeley
-communicated daily to the Council.
-
-At the time fixed, Raleigh in disguise, and accompanied by King and
-Stukeley, who expressed much interest in seeing his relative safely off,
-took a boat and dropped down the river to reach the vessel at Gravesend.
-But from the moment that they were on the water, the quick eye of Raleigh
-noticed a wherry which kept steadily in their wake; and the tide failing,
-it was judged useless to proceed to Gravesend. They went, therefore, into
-Greenwich; the wherry also lay to there, and Sir Walter found himself
-immediately re-arrested by the traitor Stukeley, whose men were in the
-wherry. King also was arrested, and Sir Walter was conveyed next morning
-to the Tower. The French Envoy was forbidden the Court and soon after
-ordered to leave the country.
-
-[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH BEFORE THE JUDGES. (_See p._ 478.)]
-
-The answer from the King of Spain did not arrive for five weeks. It
-stated that in his opinion the punishment of Raleigh's offences should
-take place where his commission--which he had violated--was issued. It
-was, therefore, necessary to bring him to trial in London. Meanwhile,
-he had been subjected to close and repeated interrogations before a
-commission appointed for the purpose, composed of Lord Chancellor
-Bacon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Edward Coke, and several other
-members of Council. He was charged with having imposed upon the king, by
-representing that his object was to discover a gold mine, when he only
-wanted to get out of prison and commence piracy; that he had endeavoured
-to provoke a war with Spain; that he had barbarously deserted his ships'
-companies, and pushed them into unnecessary danger; that he had ridiculed
-and maligned the king; that he had feigned madness to deceive his
-majesty; and that he had attempted to escape in defiance of his authority.
-
-Raleigh denied the charge of treating the name of the king
-disrespectfully; asserted that nothing proved his sincerity in expecting
-to reach mines so completely, as his having expended two thousand pounds
-in the necessary apparatus for refining the ore; that he had never
-exposed his men to any danger that he did not share himself, except when
-illness incapacitated him; and that as to feigning madness and trying to
-escape, the charges were true, but they were, under the circumstances,
-perfectly natural and pardonable.
-
-The commissioners, finding that they could establish no real case
-against him of sufficient gravity to implicate his life, resorted to
-the usual stratagem of Government in those times, as well as in times
-long after--and set a spy upon him under the colour of a friend. The
-individual who accepted this dirty office--such villains are always
-plentifully at hand--was one Sir Thomas Wilson, Keeper of the State Paper
-Office. He appeared to be hit upon because he had as much learning and
-ingenuity as he had little principle, and could therefore easily draw
-out Raleigh to talk by assuming a kindly interest in him. Sir Walter
-appeared to talk freely, and related his adventures, and also what daily
-took place before the commission; yet this government pump could bring up
-nothing very criminating. Raleigh declared that had he fallen in with one
-of the Spanish galleons, he would have seized it with the same freedom
-that Drake had done; but his mere intention to do what had won so much
-fame and favour for other commanders, was not a charge likely to go down
-with the public. Raleigh remarked that when he made that avowal before
-the commission, Bacon said, "Why, you would have been a pirate!" and that
-he had replied, "Oh, my lord, did you ever know of any that were pirates
-for millions? They that work for small things are pirates."
-
-Finding that there was nothing in Raleigh's proceedings on this occasion
-which had not been done, and far more than done, with high public
-approbation, by the greatest commanders of the British Navy, they dared
-not attempt to condemn him on that score, and therefore James demanded
-of his Council what other mode they could suggest to take his life. Coke
-and Bacon proposed that they should fall back simply on the plea of his
-old sentence, and the king sent to the Tower an order for his execution.
-The judges, therefore, received an order to issue a warrant for his
-immediate beheading, but they wisely shrank from such a responsibility,
-declaring that after such a lapse of time neither a writ of privy seal
-nor a warrant under the Great Seal would be legal without calling on the
-party to show cause against it. They accordingly summoned him before
-them by _habeas corpus_, and Raleigh, who was suffering from fever and
-ague, real enough this time, was the next day brought before them at the
-King's Bench, Westminster. Yelverton, the Attorney General, reminded the
-Court that Sir Walter had been sentenced to death for high treason,
-fifteen years before; that the king, in his clemency, had deferred the
-execution of the prisoner, but now deemed it necessary to call for it.
-He observed that Sir Walter had been a statesman, and a man who, in
-respect to his talents, was to be pitied, and that he had been as a star
-at which the world had gazed; but "stars," he continued, "may fall; nay,
-they must fall when they trouble the spheres wherein they abide." He
-called, therefore, at the command of his majesty, for their order for his
-execution. On being asked what he had to say against it, Raleigh replied
-that the judgment given against him so many years ago could not with any
-reason be brought against him then, for he had since borne his majesty's
-commission, which was equivalent to a pardon; and that no other charge
-was made against him. The Chief Justice told him that this pleading would
-not avail him; that in cases of treason nothing but a pardon in express
-words was sufficient. Raleigh then said, if that were the case, he could
-only throw himself on the king's mercy; but that he was certain that, had
-the king not been afresh exasperated against him, he might have lived a
-thousand years, if nature enabled him, without hearing anything more of
-the old sentence.
-
-Montague, the Chief Justice, admitted this by saying that "new offences
-had stirred up his majesty's justice to revive what the law had formerly
-decreed;" and he ended with the fatal words--"Execution is granted."
-
-Thus Raleigh was put to death to oblige the King of Spain, with whom
-James was anxious to form an alliance by his son's marriage to the
-Infanta. The old sentence was but the stalking-horse for the occasion,
-the Court not daring to allege as the true offence that he died for
-having invaded the territories of the King of Spain. The public having
-a strong repugnance to both Spain and any matrimonial alliance with it,
-which must introduce a Popish queen, would have gloried in the real
-chastisement of that nation and the capture of its treasure-ships. Sir
-Walter was executed on the 29th of October, 1618.
-
-Hitherto James had contrived to avoid war for sixteen years. He now saw
-himself dragged into a hopeless contest by the folly of his son-in-law,
-Frederick, the Elector of the Palatinate. Frederick was a Calvinistic
-Protestant, and the Protestants of Bohemia, anxious to prevent the
-Catholic Emperor of Austria from acquiring their Crown, offered it to
-him, and the Elector was imprudent enough to accept it. James was
-thunderstruck by the news, and instantly avowed that the Elector had
-entered on an enterprise which would involve him in utter ruin. To enable
-the reader, however, to understand the question, we must take a brief
-review of the antecedents of the case. Bohemia, a country inhabited by
-a branch of the great Sclavonic race called Czechs, had early imbibed
-the doctrines of Protestantism. The people resisted the imposition of
-the Papal yoke by the Austrian princes, and insurrection and carnage
-were the consequences. At length the Emperor Rudolph was obliged to
-cede to the sturdy Bohemians the right of enjoying their own religious
-faith, and it was stipulated that they should be at liberty to erect
-churches on the Crown lands. The Calvinists, the most resolute sect of
-the Bohemian Protestants--for they were divided into Calvinists and
-Lutherans--declared the Church lands were in fact Crown lands, and began
-to build churches on estates belonging to the Archbishop of Prague and
-the Abbot of Braunau. These prelates appealed to the Emperor Matthias,
-who decided against the Protestants; and an order was issued to pull down
-again the churches both at Prague and Braunau. At Braunau the people
-made resistance, and some of their leaders were thrown into prison. This
-created a great excitement, and Count Thurm, the head of the Evangelical
-Church, called an assembly of the Protestants at Prague, on the 6th of
-March, 1618, to take measures for the maintenance of their privileges;
-but the enthusiasm with which this step was attended, from all parts of
-the country, much alarming the Austrians, menaces of punishment were
-issued by Imperial brief against those who took part in it. This roused
-the wrath of the people, who, headed by Count Thurm, on the 23rd of May,
-1618, marched to the royal palace, seized two obnoxious councillors,
-and hurled them out of the window of the council chamber, which was
-eighty feet from the ground. These men had been the servile tools of the
-Austrian Court, and had thereby excited the hatred of the people. They
-refused the rites of marriage, baptism, and burial to all who would not
-consent to become Catholics; they were accused of having drawn up the
-threatening letter which came signed by the Emperor, and of hunting the
-Protestants into the Catholic churches with dogs. Luckily for them there
-was plenty of mud in the palace ditch, and they escaped with their lives
-to scourge the people at a later date.
-
-This bold deed kindled a flame throughout all Bohemia, Moravia, Lusatia,
-and Silesia. Thurm sent forth a proclamation assuring the Protestants
-that the die was cast; that they had nothing but vengeance and oppression
-to expect from Austria; and therefore the time was come to throw off the
-Austrian yoke, to resume the independence of Bohemia, and make common
-cause with the Protestants of Germany and the Netherlands. The people
-flocked to Prague; the palace was occupied by the troops of the different
-provinces; an oath was taken from the magistrates and officials to
-obey the States alone; the taxes were ordered to be paid only to those
-appointed by them; the Jesuits were chased from the country; a council of
-thirty members was elected to assume the government, and Thurm placed at
-their head. All this passed with lightning rapidity and caused the utmost
-consternation in Vienna.
-
-Matthias was sickly and feeble both in body and mind, but his cousin
-Ferdinand--who had already assumed the title of King of Bohemia, a bigot
-of the very first water, and whose name soon became the rallying cry of
-all bigotry in Europe--caught at the opportunity as one sent by Heaven,
-to enable him to exterminate Protestantism in Austria. He sent off to
-the Spanish Court in the Netherlands demands for co-operation in this
-great work, and armies were prepared in Austria; whilst Thurm and the
-Bohemians, on their part, mustered with all eagerness their forces.
-Matthias proposed to settle the difference by arbitration, but Ferdinand
-rejected any such means, seized Cardinal Klesel the Emperor's adviser,
-and sent him prisoner into the Tyrol, so that the poor invalid Matthias
-remained a puppet in their hands. He died in March, 1619. Ferdinand, the
-prince of bigots, to whom whole nations of lives were only as so much
-dust in comparison with the sacredness of his dogmas, mounted the throne,
-being elected emperor in August of that year. Now all Europe stood in
-expectation of the bloody decision of this quarrel,--a quarrel which
-was destined to spread over all Germany, draw into its vortex Sweden,
-Denmark, Holland, France, and England, and to be for ever remembered in
-the world as the most terrible of contests, the "Thirty Years' War."
-
-At this moment, when the Protestants of Germany were joined in a Union
-for the maintenance of their principles, but were opposed by the far
-more powerful League of the Catholic princes; when Ferdinand, Emperor of
-Austria, supported by the Elector Maximilian of Bavaria, the head of
-the League in Germany, was promised the co-operation of Spain; at this
-moment the Crown of Bohemia was offered to Frederick, the palsgrave,
-and he foolishly accepted it. He was a mere youth of twenty, with more
-ambition than ability; but he was spurred on by his wife, Elizabeth of
-England, who told him he had courage enough to aspire to the hand of a
-king's daughter, but not to grasp a crown when offered, and who, when
-reminded by him of the electoral province which they possessed in safety,
-exclaimed, "Better a crown with a crust, than a petty electorate with
-abundance."
-
-This fatal crown, which Elizabeth came to wear, and to have the crust
-speedily afterwards, had been already offered to John George, Elector
-of Saxony, who was too shrewd to accept it. Count Thurm had for a time
-carried all before him, and had even marched into Austria and besieged
-the Emperor in Vienna; but this success was soon over. The Catholic
-princes had armed in defence of the Emperor; the students of Vienna and
-fifteen hundred citizens volunteered in his cause; the distinguished
-Spanish General Spinola was already on his march to invade the
-palsgrave's hereditary State, so despised by the Princess Elizabeth; and
-Count Mansfeld, the general of the German Protestants, was defeated on
-the Bohemian soil, when Frederick the Elector was crowned king of that
-country in Prague, on the 25th of October, 1619. He reigned only till
-the 8th of November of the following year, when he was expelled from his
-capital by the Austrian and Bavarian forces under Maximilian and General
-Bucquoi. They had defeated the Protestant generals in Upper Austria and
-Bohemia, while Frederick--who obtained the name of the "Winter King,"
-because he only reigned one winter--had lost the confidence of his
-subjects by his luxurious effeminacy, his inattention to government, his
-impolitic treatment of the native nobles and generals, and his bigoted
-partiality to the Calvinistic party. Even the Protestant Elector of
-Saxony, who had refused the crown, allied himself to the Catholic Emperor
-against him. He was roused from table only by the news of the battle
-before his walls, rushed out only to see his army scattered, and fled.
-The Counts Thurm and Hohenlohe counselled him still to make a stand in
-Glatz, but he was no hero to fight, even for a kingdom; he continued his
-flight to Breslau, thence to Berlin, and did not stop till he reached
-Holland. Elizabeth, his queen, now reduced to the crust, far advanced
-in pregnancy, and deeply pitied by all generous and chivalric minds,
-accompanied him in his ignominious flight.
-
-Meanwhile, James had been a prey to the most conflicting interests. His
-Protestant subjects, as ill informed of the state of parties on the
-Continent as the unfortunate Frederick himself, had received with an
-outburst of joy the news of the palsgrave being crowned King of Bohemia;
-and Archbishop Abbot gave the very text from the Apocalypse in which
-this event, so favourable to the Reformed faith, was predicted. James
-was urged to send an army to his son-in-law's support, but he saw no
-chance of keeping him on the Bohemian throne. The Bohemians were divided
-into three violent parties--Calvinists, Lutherans, and Catholics.
-The Protestants of Germany were equally divided; some of them had
-voluntarily offered their aid to the Emperor, and others had submitted
-to his victorious generals. Spinola was marching on the Palatinate, and
-James was distracted by the fear of his daughter and son-in-law being
-reduced to beggary. Yet if he attempted to prop the King of Bohemia on
-his tottering throne, he should offend the Catholic King of Spain, the
-sworn ally of the Emperor, and with whom he was at this very time seeking
-an alliance. Without being able to save his Protestant son-in-law, he
-should thus lose a Catholic daughter-in-law. If he lay still, all men
-would call him an unnatural father, all Protestants would declare him
-an apostate to his religion. Never was man in such a strait. One moment
-he declared to the Spanish ambassador that the Elector was a fool and a
-villain, and that he would abandon him to his fate; at another he assured
-the Protestant envoys from Germany that he would support him to the
-utmost. At length he hit upon the only rational course; which was, not to
-attempt an impossibility--the support of Frederick on the baseless throne
-of Bohemia--but to send a force to defend his patrimonial territories
-from the Spaniards. The first enterprise was, in fact, soon out of the
-question: Prague had fallen, his son-in-law and daughter were fugitives;
-but the second object was still possible, and more necessary than ever.
-
-He sent an army of four thousand men under the Earls of Oxford and Essex
-to the rescue of the Palatinate. This force was altogether inadequate
-to cope with the numerous army of the able Spinola; and yet James had
-exhausted all his means and all his efforts in raising it. Money he had
-none, and had been compelled to seek a loan and a voluntary subscription.
-By the autumn the Lower Palatinate was overrun by the Spaniards, and
-Bohemia had sought and received pardon from the Imperial Court. James's
-real hope was that Spain would join him in mediating a peace.
-
-[Illustration: THE FRANZENSRING, VIENNA.]
-
-In this state of affairs James was compelled to summon a Parliament. It
-assembled on the 30th of January, 1621, the king having used all the
-unconstitutional means in his power to influence the return of members.
-In his opening speech he now admitted what he had so stoutly denied
-before, the presence of Undertakers in the last Parliament, "a strange
-kind of beasts which had done mischief." In that shallow, wheedling
-tone, that rather showed the hollowness of the man than conciliated,
-as it was meant to do, he even enlarged his confessions and admitted
-that he had been swayed by evil counsellors. He then demanded liberal
-supplies to carry on the war in the Palatinate, for which the people
-had indeed loudly called. The Commons expressed their readiness, but
-first demanded that the king should enforce the penalties against the
-Papists with additional rigour, observing that they were the Papists in
-Germany who had deprived the Elector Palatine of his crown, and were
-now seeking to deprive him of his hereditary domains. They recommended
-that no recusants should be allowed to come within ten miles of London,
-that they should not be permitted to attend Mass in their own houses or
-in the chapels of ambassadors; and they offered to pass a Bill, giving
-to the Crown two-thirds of the property of recusants. They then granted
-him two subsidies, but no tenths or fifteenths--a sum wholly inadequate
-to the necessities of the war, much less of his expenditure in general.
-Yet James, to keep them in good humour--hoping to obtain more before the
-close of the Session--professed to be more satisfied with it than if it
-had been millions, because it was so freely granted.
-
-The Commons showed more alacrity in complaining of the breach of their
-privileges. They reminded the king of the four members of their House
-whom he had imprisoned after the last Session of Parliament, and insisted
-that such a practice rendered the liberty of speech amongst them a mere
-fiction. As it was James's policy to remain on good terms with them,
-he made a solemn assurance that he would respect their freedom in that
-matter. Yet, the next day, the House, as if to show that they themselves
-were ready to destroy the liberty within, which they so warmly contended
-against being infringed from without, expelled one of their members named
-Shepherd, for declaring, in a speech against a Bill for restraining the
-abuses of the Sabbath, that the Sabbath was Saturday, and not Sunday;
-that the Scriptures recommended dancing on the Sabbath day; and that this
-Bill was in direct opposition to the king's ordinances for the keeping of
-Sunday.
-
-From their own members they next extended their prosecutions to public
-officers. They had appointed a committee of inquiry into public abuses,
-and now summoned witnesses. The conduct of public officers, judges,
-and their dependents, was subjected to a severe scrutiny. They first
-examined into the abuses of patents, and three of these incurred
-particular censure: the one for the licensing of ale-houses, another for
-the inspection of inns and hostelries, and the third for the exclusive
-manufacture of gold and silver thread. Patents, to secure to inventors
-the fruits of their discoveries in arts and manufactures, are beneficial,
-stimulating to improvement and extending traffic. But these patents were
-of a directly contrary nature, being grants, for money or through Court
-favour, to individuals to monopolise some particular business; thus
-checking competition, and defrauding the fair trader of his legitimate
-profits. The inquiry laid open a scene of the most extraordinary fraud,
-corruption, and oppression. The three patents just mentioned were
-denounced as national injuries, and Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis
-Michell, a justice of the peace, his partner in them, were arrested
-as offenders. The culprits sought protection from the Government,
-Buckingham having sold them the patents and divided the profits with his
-half-brother, Sir Edward Villiers. The Court was in great tremor, and it
-was proposed to dissolve Parliament to save the patentees. But Williams,
-Dean of Westminster, represented this as a very imprudent measure, and
-another course was adopted at his recommendation. Buckingham affected
-a patriotic air, as if he himself had been no way concerned in it, and
-said if his brother had shared the emolument, let him also share the
-punishment. But this was safely said, for Villiers was already abroad
-out of the reach of Parliament; and means were not long wanting to let
-Mompesson escape out of the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms. Michell was
-not so fortunate; he was secured and lodged in the Tower.
-
-In these prosecutions Coke was extremely active, for he saw a prospect
-of taking a signal revenge on Bacon, who had not only supplanted him,
-but insulted him in his fall. Bacon was notoriously mixed up with the
-corruptions of the Court of Chancery; and Coke informed the Commons that
-it was not within their jurisdiction to punish offenders not of their
-own House, but that they could punish all offences against the State in
-co-operation with the Lords. Accordingly they invited the Upper House to
-take cognisance of these offences, with which they readily complied, and
-sentenced Mompesson and Michell to be degraded from their knighthood,
-fined, and imprisoned. James, who had done his best to screen the
-offenders, then in a fit of affected patriotism expressed his indignation
-at having had his credulity imposed on by these men, and by an illegal
-stretch of prerogative converted Mompesson's sentence into perpetual
-banishment. Buckingham, the guiltiest party of all, did not quite
-escape observation. Yelverton, the Attorney-General, who was accused of
-participation in these illegal practices, and who was condemned to severe
-fines and imprisonment for life, boldly accused Buckingham, before the
-House of Lords, of his master share in them. But that favourite was too
-strongly fortified by the royal favour, and by those who must have fallen
-with him, to be seriously endangered. But lesser men did not escape so
-well. Sir John Bennet, Judge of the Prerogative Court, was impeached,
-as well as Dr. Field, Bishop of Llandaff, for bribery and corruption.
-Bennet was charged with having granted administration of wills for money,
-contrary to law; but he escaped his punishment by obtaining time to
-prepare his defence, during which Parliament was prorogued; but he was
-afterwards fined twenty thousand pounds in the Star Chamber, for which,
-however, he obtained a pardon. Field of Llandaff had bound a suitor in
-Chancery to pay him over six thousand pounds, if he obtained his suit
-for him, through Buckingham. At the entreaty of the archbishop, however,
-he, too, escaped, under the pretence of being left to the dealing of the
-Church.
-
-But the great offender, at whom Coke and others were directing their main
-efforts, was the Lord Chancellor Bacon. Bacon had managed to make his way
-from a moderate position to the highest honours of the State. He was
-not only Lord Chancellor of the kingdom, and a baron, but in January,
-1621, became Viscount St. Albans. Besides this elevation, he possessed
-a far higher one in the fame of his philosophical works; and had he
-possessed as much real greatness of mind as talent, might have stood in
-the admiration of posterity as Milton does--poor, but glorious beyond
-the tinsel glory of Courts; and it might have been said of him as of the
-great poet--
-
-    "His soul was like a star and dwelt apart."
-
-But Bacon, who had placed his name high on the scroll of immortality by
-his genius, was destined, like Lucifer, to become more notorious by his
-fall than by his standing. Brilliant as were his powers, superb as were
-his accomplishments, he had not hesitated to trail his finest qualities
-through the mire of Courts and corruption, in the eager quest of worldly
-distinction. He had risen, perhaps, more by his base flatteries, and his
-calumnious envy of his contemporaries, than by his abilities; and he had
-continued, whilst rising, to make enemies on all sides. The king and
-Buckingham had both conceived a deep dislike to him. James hated all men
-of genius with the jealousy of a pedant, and was only rendered tolerant
-of Bacon by his abject adulation, and his services in punishing Coke and
-carrying out relentlessly the fiats of prerogative. Buckingham probably
-never forgot what he had done in the matter of Coke's daughter. The Lords
-hated him for his upstart vanity and ostentation, and the Commons for his
-desertion of the public cause for that of the despotic king. But perhaps
-not all these causes together would have availed to pull him down, if
-Buckingham had not wanted the Great Seal for his creature Williams, now
-Bishop of Lincoln.
-
-The Parliamentary Committee inquiring into the abuses of office,
-recommended the House of Commons to impeach the Lord Chancellor for
-bribery and corruption in the court over which he presided; and the
-Commons accordingly presented to the Upper House a Bill of Impeachment
-against him, consisting of two-and-twenty instances of bribery and
-corruption in his own person, and of allowing the same in his officers.
-The corruption of the Chancellor was notorious; and out of doors it
-was asserted that he had received in presents no less than one hundred
-thousand pounds in the three years of his Chancellorship. This he denied
-in a letter to Buckingham; but the charges brought against him by the
-Commons, who were prepared to support them, were so formidable that they
-completely struck down the guilty man. He felt that his ruin was at hand,
-and either feeling or feigning sickness, he took to his bed. If he had
-not perceived sufficient indications of his impending fate from other
-quarters, the conduct of the king left him in no doubt. James informed
-the Lords that he trusted the Chancellor might clear himself, but that if
-he did not, he would punish him with the utmost severity.
-
-It must not be supposed, however, that Bacon was the first to introduce
-bribery into the Court of Chancery; it was an old and well-known
-practice, which had been both familiar to Elizabeth and sanctioned by
-her. But Bacon ought to have had a soul above it, whereas he had indulged
-in the villainous custom the more profusely because his mode of living
-was so extravagant and ostentatious, that he saved not a penny of his
-enormous gain, but was always in need.
-
-Bacon, on the presentation of the Bill of Impeachment, on the 21st of
-March, prayed for time to prepare his defence, and this was granted him,
-the House adjourning till the 17th of April. On the 24th of that month,
-the humbled statesman drew up a general confession of his guilt, which
-was presented by Prince Charles. In this letter he threw himself on the
-mercy of the House and the king, and pleaded, with a strange mixture
-of humility and ingenuity, his very crimes as meritorious, since their
-punishment would deter others from them. He represented his spirit as
-broken, his mind as overwhelmed by his calamities; but he added that he
-found a certain gladness in the fact that "hereafter the greatness of a
-judge or magistrate shall be no sanctuary or protection to him against
-guiltiness; which is the beginning of a golden work--the purgation of
-the courts of justice. And," he added, "in these two points, God is my
-witness, though it be my fortune to be the anvil upon which these two
-effects are broken and wrought, I take no small comfort." After this
-edifying spectacle of exhibiting his punishment as a public benefit, he
-proceeded to apply that unctuous adulation to the Sovereign and to the
-Peers in which he was so unabashed a master. He implored mercy at the
-hands of the king--"a king of incomparable clemency, whose heart was
-inscrutable for wisdom and goodness--a prince whose like had not been
-seen these hundred years!" And then the Lords were equally bepraised,
-"compassion ever beating in the veins of noble blood;" nor were the
-bishops forgotten, "the servants of Him who would not break the bruised
-reed, nor quench the smoking flax."
-
-[Illustration: INTERVIEW BETWEEN BACON AND THE DEPUTATION FROM THE LORDS.
-(_See p._ 484.)]
-
-But all this cringing to the Crown, the coronet, and the mitre, did not
-serve him: he was required by the Peers to make a separate and distinct
-answer to each charge. He complied fully with the demand, confessing
-everything; and when a deputation from the Lords waited on him to
-know whether this was his own voluntary act--for they excused him the
-humiliation of appearing at the bar of the House--he replied with tears,
-"It is my act--my hand--my heart. Oh, my lords, spare a broken reed!"
-This full and explicit confession being read in the House, on the 3rd of
-May the Commons, headed by their Speaker, attended to demand judgment,
-which the Lord Chief Justice, acting as Speaker of the Upper House,
-declared to this effect:--That the Lord Chancellor being found guilty of
-many acts of bribery and corruption, both by his own confession and the
-evidence of witnesses, he was condemned to pay a fine of forty thousand
-pounds, to be imprisoned in the Tower during the king's pleasure, to be
-dismissed from all his offices, and deemed incapable of either holding
-office again or sitting in Parliament, and to be prohibited from coming
-within twelve miles of the seat of Parliament.
-
-The king remitted the fine, for the best of reasons--that Bacon had
-nothing to pay it with; he also liberated him from the Tower after a mere
-_pro forma_ imprisonment of a few days, and Bacon retired to hide his
-dishonour at his house at Gorhambury, near St. Albans. Nor had his fall
-extinguished all admiration for him as a great lawyer and philosopher.
-Even in the House Sir Robert Philips, Sir Edward Sackville, and others,
-reminded the public of the Lord Chancellor's wonderful genius and
-acquirements; and as Prince Charles returned from hunting one day, he
-beheld "a coach accompanied by a goodly troop of horsemen," escorting the
-ex-Lord Chancellor to his house at Gorhambury.
-
-In that beautiful retreat, it was in Bacon's power to have so lived and
-so written, that his disgrace as a statesman would have been soon lost
-in the splendour of his genius and the dignified wisdom of his latter
-years. But unfortunately Bacon was steeped to the core in the love of
-worldly greatness, and the five years that he lived were rendered still
-more miserable and still more contemptible by his incessant hankering
-after restoration to place and honour, and his persevering and cringing
-importunities to the king and Buckingham for these objects. To such a
-length did the wretched man proceed, that his letters became actually
-impious. He told the prince that as the king, his father, had been his
-creator, he had hoped that he would be his redeemer. The works which
-he completed after his disgrace were only such as could result from
-so miserable a condition of mind. They were suggested to him by the
-king, but were not executed with the zest of his own inclination. They
-consisted chiefly of a life of Henry VII., a revision of his former
-works, and the superintendence of a Latin translation of them. At length,
-finding all his efforts vain to move the king towards his restoration,
-his health and temper gave way, and he died on the 9th of April, 1626,
-the melancholy victim of an unworthy ambition.
-
-[Illustration: GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
-
-(_After the Portrait by Van Dyck._)]
-
-The Commons had rendered a very valuable service by these impeachments
-of public men, and one which has since then operated as a precedent
-in the hands of Parliament to check and punish on a large scale the
-too daring and unprincipled servants of the Crown. But, as if carried
-beyond themselves by their success, they now fell into a grievous error,
-and displayed a spirit as aggressive in themselves, as it was cruel,
-bigoted, and unconstitutional. One Edward Floyd, a Catholic barrister,
-a prisoner in the Fleet, was reported to have exulted in the success of
-the Catholics in Germany over the Elector Palatine. This being mentioned
-in the Commons, that august body took immediately such violent offence,
-that it was proposed by members to nail him by the ears, bore him through
-the tongue, set him in the pillory, and so forth. On inquiry, all that
-could be substantiated against him was, that he had said "that goodman
-Palsgrave and goodwife Palsgrave had been driven from Prague."
-
-For this paltry offence--which would not now attract a passing notice in
-a newspaper--the Commons adjudged Floyd to pay a fine of one thousand
-pounds, to stand in the pillory in three different places, and to be
-carried from place to place on a horse without a saddle, and with
-his face to the tail. The Commons had clearly stepped out of their
-jurisdiction to adjudge a man who was no member of their House, and Floyd
-instantly appealed to the king against the proceeding. James, who had so
-often been checked in his prerogative by the Commons, did not neglect
-this grand opportunity of rebuking their error. He sent the very next
-morning to demand by what authority they condemned one who did not belong
-to them, nor had committed any breach of their privileges; and still
-more, by what right they sentenced him without evidence taken on oath?
-
-This was a posing inquiry. The House was greatly disconcerted, for they
-were clearly in the wrong, and the king in the right. It was a hard
-matter, however, to confess their fault: the case was debated warmly for
-several days; but at length it was agreed to confer with the Peers, who
-asserted that the Commons had invaded their privilege of pronouncing
-judgment in such cases. The Commons still contended that they had a right
-to administer an oath, and therefore to pass judgment. But the Lords
-would not admit this, and it was agreed that the Lords should sentence
-Floyd, which they proceeded to do, as exercising their own exclusive
-right, the Commons contending that the Lords now judged him by a similar
-right by which they had already judged him. The sentence was severe
-enough to satisfy the Commons. The fine was increased from one to five
-thousand pounds, Floyd was to be flogged at the cart's tail from the
-Fleet to Westminster Hall, to sit in the pillory, to be degraded from the
-rank of a gentleman, to be held infamous, and to be imprisoned in Newgate
-for life.
-
-Perhaps so atrocious a sentence was never pronounced for so trivial an
-offence. It showed how little either the Lords or Commons were yet to be
-trusted with the lives and liberties of the subject, and how ill-defined
-were still their functions. The public expressed its abhorrence of the
-barbarous proceeding, and Prince Charles exerted himself to procure a
-mitigation of the punishment, but could only succeed in obtaining the
-remission of the flogging. The Commons having executed so much justice
-and so much injustice, but making no approach to a vote of further
-supplies, James adjourned Parliament on the 4th of June to November.
-Vehement as had been the wrath of the Commons against a disrespectful
-allusion to the Palsgrave, they had done nothing towards the defence of
-his territory. As the public were by no means so indifferent on this
-point, the fear of their constituents suddenly flashed on the Commons,
-and they then made a declaration that if nothing effectual was done
-during the recess for the restoration of the Elector Palatine and the
-Protestant religion, they would sacrifice their lives and fortunes in the
-cause. This was not only carried by acclamation, but Coke, falling on his
-knees, with many tears and signs of deep emotion, read aloud the collect
-for the king and royal family from the Book of Common Prayer.
-
-Parliament being adjourned, James proceeded to appoint a new Lord
-Chancellor in the place of Bacon. There were three public candidates for
-the office--Ley and Hobart, the two Chief Justices, and Lord Cranfield,
-the Treasurer, who had been originally a city merchant, but had risen
-by marrying a relative of Buckingham's. But there was another and still
-more extraordinary competitor determined on by Buckingham and James for
-the Chancellorship--no other than a clergyman--Williams, late Dean of
-Westminster, now Bishop of Lincoln. That a clergyman should be placed
-at the head of the Court of Chancery instead of a lawyer, was enough to
-astonish not only the members of the legal profession, but the whole
-public. Williams himself was openly professing to support the claims of
-Cranfield, and expressed astonishment when the post was offered to him.
-He declared so strongly his sense of his incapacity for the office, being
-inexperienced in matters of law, that he would only accept of it on trial
-for eighteen months, and on condition that two judges should sit with
-him to assist him. Yet this truly scandalous appointment was actually
-made, the real cause out of doors being assigned that "his too grate
-familiarity with Buckingham's mother procured him these grate favours and
-preferments one a suddaine." It was some time ere the barristers would
-plead before him.
-
-But not the less did another event confound the dignitaries of the
-Church. Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, hunting with Lord Zouch in
-Bramshill Park, in Hampshire, accidentally shot the keeper of the Park in
-aiming at a buck. The verdict of the coroner's inquest was unintentional
-homicide; but still the clergy contended that by the canon law the
-shedding of blood had disqualified him for discharging any ecclesiastical
-functions. Much censure was also expressed on his engaging in hunting
-at all; and as there were just then four bishops-elect who awaited
-consecration, they refused to receive it at his hands. Amongst these were
-Williams, the Lord Keeper, and Laud, Bishop of St. David's, who were
-supposed to be partly influenced by a hope of securing the primacy, if
-Abbot were pronounced disqualified. A commission, however, of prelates
-and canonists proposed that the archbishop should be absolved from all
-irregularity, and James, as head of the Church, granted him a pardon
-and appointed eight bishops to give him absolution; but from this time
-forward he seldom appeared at Court.
-
-During the recess the king performed an act calculated to conciliate the
-Commons. By the advice, as it was said, of Williams, the Lord Keeper,
-he had abolished thirty-seven of the most oppressive of the patents and
-monopolies, of which the Commons had so long complained. But the effect
-of this was totally neutralised by other measures of a contrary tendency.
-Complaints had been made of the growing audacity of the Algerine
-pirates, who had not only seized several English merchant ships in the
-Mediterranean, but even on the British coast. James requested Spain,
-which also was a sufferer from these robbers, to join in an expedition
-to burn all their ships and destroy Algiers itself. Sir Robert Monsell
-was sent with a squadron for this purpose, but the Spaniards did not join
-him, and he was said to have a royal order not to risk his ships. Under
-such circumstances, nothing very vigorous was to be expected, yet on
-the 24th of May Monsell sailed up to the fort, and the sailors set fire
-to the ships and then retired. No attack was made on the town, and the
-firing of the vessels was so imperfectly done, that the Algerines soon
-put out the flames, and threw booms across the harbour to prevent the
-re-entrance of the English. Only two of the pirate vessels were consumed,
-and the Algerines, like a swarm of hornets irritated in their nest but
-not injured, rushed forth soon afterwards in such force and fury, that
-they speedily captured no less than five-and-thirty English merchantmen.
-Loud and bitter were the complaints in the country of this worse than
-useless proceeding.
-
-To add to the ill-humour generated by this imbecile transaction,
-the public had been greatly incensed by the arrest of a number of
-liberal-minded men--the Earls of Oxford and Southampton, Sutcliffe, Dean
-of Exeter, Brise, a Puritan preacher, Sir Christopher Neville, Sir Edward
-Sandys, and Selden, the great lawyer and antiquary; and a prosecution had
-been commenced against Sir Edward Coke, on no less than eleven charges of
-misdemeanour during the time that he was a judge. Coke, unlike Bacon, had
-amassed great wealth during his official life, and it was understood that
-these charges of peculation and bribery had been got up at the suggestion
-of Bacon and Coke's own wife, Lady Hatton.
-
-The Commons took up zealously the cause of their members, Sandys and
-Coke. Sandys had been examined on some secret charge before the Council,
-and after a month's detention was discharged. Being confined to his bed
-at the commencement of the Session, two members were appointed to wait on
-him and learn the cause of his arrest, notwithstanding the assurance of
-the Secretary of State that it had no connection with his conduct in the
-House. They also ordered the Serjeant-at-Arms to take into custody the
-accusers of Coke, and appointed a committee to examine witnesses. They
-felt assured that the proceedings against these gentlemen originated with
-their popular conduct in Parliament.
-
-At the same time, Coke, in the Commons, proposed a petition to the king
-against the increase of Popery and the marriage of the Prince of Wales
-to a Catholic. It represented that the success in Germany against the
-Elector Palatine had so encouraged the Papists, that they flocked in
-crowds to the chapels of the foreign ambassadors; sent their children
-abroad for education, and were treated with so much lenity that, if
-not prevented, they would soon again be in the ascendant. Spain was
-represented, without directly naming it, as the worst enemy of England,
-and the king was implored to recall all the children of Catholic noblemen
-and gentlemen from abroad, to marry his son to a Protestant princess, and
-to enforce the laws with rigour against the Papists.
-
-James received a private copy of this petition, and was thrown into a
-paroxysm of rage at its perusal. To dictate to him how he should marry
-his son; to recommend that he should invade the territories of Spain, and
-to reflect on the honour of his ally, the Spanish king, were examples of
-intolerable interference with his dearly valued prerogative. He wrote at
-once to the Speaker, denouncing certain "fiery, popular, and turbulent
-spirits" in the House, and desiring them not to concern themselves about
-such matters as were included in the petition. Adverting to Sandys, he
-denied that his offence was connected with the House of Commons, but
-at the same time declared that the Crown possessed a right to punish
-subjects, whether members of Parliament or not, and would not fail to
-exercise it.
-
-The House received this missive with much dissatisfaction, but with
-dignity, and vindicated their right of liberty of speech in a firm
-memorial. James replied that though their privileges were no undoubted
-right, but were derived from the grace of his ancestors on the throne,
-yet so long as they kept them within the limits of duty, he should
-not exercise his prerogative and withdraw those privileges. The House
-declared its high resentment at this language, which reduced their
-right into mere matter of royal favour, and the expression of feeling
-ran so high that James became alarmed, and wrote to Secretary Calvert,
-instructing him to qualify his assertions a little. But the House was
-not thus to be satisfied where the question of its privileges was
-directly raised, and on the 18th of December it drew up the following
-protest:--"That the liberties and jurisdictions of Parliament are the
-most ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the subjects of
-England; that arduous and urgent affairs concerning the king, the State,
-and defence of the realm, and the Church of England, the making and
-maintenance of laws, and the redress of grievances, are proper subjects
-of counsel and debate in Parliament; that in the handling of these
-businesses every member hath and ought to have freedom of speech; that
-the Commons in Parliament have like liberty to treat of these matters in
-such order as they think proper; that every member hath like freedom from
-all impeachment, imprisonment, and molestation, other than by the censure
-of the House itself, concerning any Bill, speaking or reasoning touching
-Parliament matters; and that if any be complained of for anything said or
-done in Parliament, the same is to be showed to the king by assent of the
-Commons before the king give evidence to any private information."
-
-This was speaking out; the Parliament threw down the gage and James, in
-his wrath, took it up. Forgetting that he was represented as ill, he rode
-up to London in a fury and ordered the clerk of the Commons to bring
-him the Journals of the House. According to Rushworth, he tore out the
-obnoxious protest with his own hands, in full Council, and in presence of
-the judges; at all events he cancelled it; had what he had done entered
-in the Council-book; and on the 6th of January, 1622, by an insulting
-proclamation, dissolved Parliament, assuring the public that it was on
-account of its evil temper that he had dissolved the House of Commons,
-and not with any intention of doing without one; that he should soon call
-another; and in the meantime the country might rest assured that he would
-endeavour to govern well.
-
-The first proof of his notions of governing well was the summoning of
-the Earls of Oxford and Southampton from the House of Peers, of Coke,
-Philip, Pym, and Mallory from the Commons, and of Sir John Selden, to
-appear before the Council. Some were committed to the Tower, some to the
-Fleet, and others to the custody of private individuals. Though nothing
-in either House could have occasioned these arrests, various reasons were
-assigned for them. Moreover, Selden was not a member of the Commons, and
-he therefore could have incurred no blame there. But he was the legal
-adviser of Sandys and others, who had made themselves prominent in the
-popular cause, and he was known as one of the ablest legal advocates of
-Parliamentary and public rights. The two Peers were also at the head of
-a popular party which had sprung up in the Lords, and the whole matter
-was too palpable for mistake. Nothing could, however, be fixed on any
-of the prisoners which the Government dared to charge as a crime, and
-after a sharp rebuke they were liberated. There were still other members
-whose conduct had excited the anger of the Court, but against whom no
-specific charge could be established. These were Sir Dudley Digges, Sir
-James Parrott, Sir Nathaniel Rich, and Sir Thomas Carew. To punish them a
-singular mode was devised. They were appointed to a commission in Ireland
-to inquire into the state of the army and navy, into the condition of
-the Church and of public schools, into the abuses in the collection of
-revenue and in the settlement of the plantations, and into the existence
-of illegal and mischievous patents. As it was extremely inconvenient for
-these gentlemen to absent themselves on such business, they protested
-decidedly against it; but they were told that the king had a right to the
-services of his subjects, in any way that he pleased; and though these
-gentlemen had stood boldly with their fellows in a collective capacity
-for the rights of the subject, they were not sufficiently screwed up to
-the pitch of martyrdom to stand upon their individual freedom, and refuse
-at all costs. Coke, who had now taken the lead in the popular cause,
-because the Court had repelled and dismissed him, offered to accompany
-them, and assist them with his legal advice and experience, but his offer
-was declined. The subjects of inquiry, of themselves, were of a nature
-to furnish much strength and information to the reformers, and the mode
-of punishing these men was as short-sighted as it was arbitrary. But the
-great contest was now fully begun, in which the blindness and tyranny of
-the Stuarts, and the firm intelligence of the people, were to fight out
-the grand question of constitutional government. Those who regard this as
-a matter only of Charles I.'s reign have strangely overlooked the doings
-and doctrines of James, who was the real author of the conflict, and
-opened it himself with all the dogmatism which distinguished the royal
-side to the end. This very session Prince Charles had been a diligent
-attender of the House of Lords, but seems to have had no perception
-whatever of the spirit which was dominant in the House of Commons, and
-rapidly diffusing its electric fire through the nation. The names of Pym,
-Coke, Wentworth, and Laud, were already in men's mouths, the heralds
-of that mighty host, which, for good or for evil, was soon to engage
-in terrible combat; the issue of which was to be the morning-star of
-governmental science to the nations, determining the true powers, uses,
-and limitations of governments, as well as the liberty of the people
-protected, by its own popular safeguards, from licence and anarchy.
-
-[Illustration: THE FLEET PRISON.]
-
-In foreign affairs James was placed in particular difficulties. The two
-objects which he had more than all others at heart, were the marriage
-of his son, the Prince of Wales, to the Infanta of Spain, and the
-restoration of the Elector Palatine to his hereditary possessions. He
-had tried too late to secure the Princess Christine of France. She was
-already affianced to Philip of Spain. He had since negotiated for the
-hand of Donna Maria of Spain. If he could accomplish this marriage,
-he should be at once able to secure by it his other grand desire--the
-restoration of the Palsgrave,--for Spain would then be induced to
-withdraw its forces from the assistance of the Emperor against the
-Palatinate, and to add its earnest co-operation in arranging for the
-Palsgrave's re-instatement.
-
-But against this project of marriage--the stepping-stone to these
-measures in Germany--stood the aversion of the people in England to a
-match with so pronouncedly Catholic a country as Spain, and so bigoted
-a family as that of its Sovereign. Just as adverse were the Spaniards,
-and especially the priests, to the young Infanta coming into a heretical
-country, and to any impediment thrown in the way of the Emperor of
-Germany exterminating the Protestants there. During the life of Philip
-III., the father of Donna Maria, little progress was made in these
-negotiations, but on the accession of his son Philip IV., in 1621, the
-prospect brightened. Both James and Charles wrote to the new king and his
-favourite Olivarez. In England Gondomar, the Spanish minister, was warmly
-in favour of the alliance, seeing in it a guarantee for the relief of
-the Catholics and of increased strength against France. Lord Digby, now
-Earl of Bristol, late ambassador at Madrid, was equally zealous for the
-marriage; and James was the more eager for it as he saw no hope of aid in
-his German project from France. There the feeble monarch, Louis XIII.,
-was wholly in the hands of a despicable favourite, De Luynes, who was
-insolently opposed to the English interests, though the French people,
-from the hereditary hatred of the house of Austria, would have gladly
-marched against the invaders of the Palatinate.
-
-The affairs of Frederick, the Elector Palatine, were desperate. The
-Palatinate, in fact, was already lost. Count Mansfeldt--the ablest
-general who had fought for the Elector's interests--and the Prince
-Christian of Brunswick, had evacuated the Palatinate; Heidelberg and
-Mannheim were in the hands of the enemy; and these generals had entered
-the service of the Dutch. The Emperor, in reward for the successful
-services of Maximilian of Bavaria, had conferred on him the Electorate of
-the Palatinate with the greater part of the territory.
-
-James himself, to get rid of the maintenance of the garrison, had given
-up Frankenthal to the Spaniards, on condition that if, within eighteen
-months, a satisfactory peace were not made, it should be returned.
-Everything, therefore, was lost, and James fondly hoped that the Spanish
-match might yet recover everything.
-
-Circumstances appeared to favour his hopes. The young King of Spain and
-his minister, Olivarez, responded cordially to James's proposal; Gondomar
-hastened on to Madrid to promote the object, and was soon followed by the
-Earl of Bristol, equally earnest for the accomplishment of the marriage.
-It was, however, necessary to procure a dispensation for this union from
-the Pope, and this the King of Spain undertook to procure through his
-ambassador at Rome. James was not to appear at all in the affair, but
-with the unconquerable propensity to be meddling personally in every
-negotiation, he could not help despatching George Gage, a Catholic,
-with letters to the Pontiff, as well as to the Cardinals Ludovisio and
-Bandini; and Buckingham, to complete the intercession, sent Bennet, a
-Catholic priest, on the same errand.
-
-The Pope was not likely to grant the favour to James without a _quid
-pro quo_, and therefore, as might have been expected, replied that the
-canons of the Church could only be suspended for the benefit of the
-Church; that the King of England had been very liberal of his promises
-to the late King of Spain, but had performed nothing; he must now give
-proof of his sincerity by relieving the English Catholics from the
-pressure of his penal laws, and the request would be accorded. This was
-a demand _in limine_ which would have shown to any prudent monarch the
-dangerous path he was entering upon; but James trusted to his tortuous
-art of king-craft, and rashly set to work to undo all that he had done
-throughout his reign against the Catholics. He caused an order under the
-Great Seal to be issued, granting pardons to all recusants who should
-apply for them within five years; and the judges were commanded to
-discharge from prison those who gave security for their compliance with
-these terms.
-
-There was a glad and universal acceptance of the proffered lenity by
-the Catholics. The doors of the prisons were opened, and the astonished
-Puritans saw thousands on thousands of the dreaded Papists once more
-coming abroad. There was instantly a cry of terror and indignation
-from John O'Groat's to the Land's End. The pulpits resounded with the
-execrations of enthusiastic preachers on the traitorous dealing of the
-Court, and the depicted horrors of Catholic and Spanish ascendency. James
-trembled, but ordered the Lord Keeper Williams and the Bishop of London
-to assure the public that he was only seeking to gain better treatment
-for the Protestants abroad, whom the Continental princes declared they
-would punish with the same rigour as James had punished the Catholics in
-England, unless the British severity was somewhat mitigated; and that,
-moreover, there was no danger; for the recusants, though out of prison,
-had still the shackles about their heels, and could at any moment be
-remanded. This, without satisfying the Puritans, undid all confidence
-amongst the Catholics. They recalled the habitual duplicity of James and
-felt no longer any security; and when Gondomar boasted in Spain that four
-thousand Catholics had been released in England, those Catholics only
-remarked, "Yes; but we have still the shackles about our heels, and may
-at any moment be thrust again into our dungeons."
-
-His only consolation was that the Spanish match now seemed really to
-progress. On the 5th of January, 1623, the twenty articles securing
-the freedom of her worship to the Infanta in England, the cessation of
-persecution of the Catholics, and the exercise of their religious rites
-in their own houses, were signed by James and Prince Charles. The dower
-of the princess was to be two millions of ducats. The espousals were to
-take place at Madrid by proxy, within forty days from the receipt of the
-dispensation; and the princess was to set out for England within three
-weeks. The time for the final consummation of the marriage, and the
-intervals between the several payments of the dower, were all fixed, and
-Gondomar and Bristol congratulated themselves on the completion of their
-arduous negotiation.
-
-At this crisis, however, arrived two Englishmen at the Earl of Bristol's
-residence at Madrid, under the names of John and Thomas Smith. To the
-ambassador's astonishment and chagrin, on appearing before him, they
-turned out to be no other than the Prince of Wales and Buckingham, who
-had arrived in disguise, and with only three attendants. But how this
-extraordinary and imprudent journey had come about requires to be told
-with some detail. It was said to have originated with Gondomar; it had
-been planned on his visit to London the preceding summer, and had since
-been stimulated by his letters. He is declared to have represented to the
-prince, who complained of delay, that all obstacles would vanish at once
-if he were to suddenly appear and press his own suit. The idea caught
-the imagination of the prince, and was warmly seconded by Buckingham, who
-not only longed to seek adventures among the beauties of Madrid, but also
-hoped to snatch the achievement of the match out of the hands of Bristol,
-whom he hated. If it were really the scheme of the wily Spaniard, he must
-have prided himself greatly on its success; a success, however, which
-produced its own ruin.
-
-When the plan was first opened to James by Charles and Buckingham,
-he gave in to them without hesitation so much did he desire to have
-the affair settled. But on thinking it over alone, he was immediately
-sensible of the danger and the impolitic character of the enterprise. He
-therefore begged the prince and the favourite to give it up, pointing
-out, with great justice, how much they would put themselves in the power
-of the Spaniards, what advantages they would give them over them, and
-what a storm of anger and alarm would break out at home as soon as it
-became known. The two knights-errant bade him dismiss his fears, saying
-that all would go well and that they had selected Sir Francis Cottington
-and Sir Endymion Porter to attend them. James approved their choice,
-but commanded Cottington to tell him plainly what he thought of the
-project. Cottington, who did not seem yet to have been let into the
-secret, on hearing it, was much agitated and declared that it was a rash
-and perilous adventure; whereupon James threw himself upon his bed in an
-agony, crying--"I told you so; I told you so before. I shall be undone,
-and lose baby Charles." The prince and Buckingham were furious at the
-behaviour of Cottington, and handled him severely; but after all, James,
-with his usual weakness, gave his consent, and the travellers set forward
-on the 17th of February, 1623, and after an adventurous journey arrived
-at their destination.
-
-Lord Bristol had despatched a messenger immediately on the prince
-reaching his house, informing the king that his son and friend were
-safe in Madrid, after a journey of sixteen days. Meanwhile, strange
-rumours began to run about the Spanish capital that some great man from
-England had arrived, supposed to be the king himself; and it was deemed
-best to make the fact known to the Court. Accordingly they sent for
-Gondomar, who hurried off to Court with the welcome news. There were
-first private but stately interviews, and then a public reception. The
-prince was first privately conducted to the Monastery of St. Jerome,
-from which the Spanish kings proceed to their coronation, and was then
-brought back publicly by the king, his two brothers, and the _elite_
-of the Spanish nobility. Charles rode at the king's right hand through
-the whole city to the palace, when he was conducted to the apartments
-appropriated to him. He had then a formal introduction to the queen and
-Infanta. Charles had two keys of gold given him, by which he could pass
-into the royal apartments at all hours, yet Spanish etiquette did not
-allow him to converse with the Infanta except in public. Tired of this
-restraint, Charles determined to break through the Court formality, and
-speak unceremoniously with his proposed wife; wherefore, hearing that
-Donna Maria used to go to the Casa de Campo on the other side of the
-river to gather Maydew, he rose early and went thither also. He passed
-through the house and garden, but found that the princess was in the
-orchard, and between him and her a high wall, and the door strongly
-bolted. Without further ceremony he got over the wall, dropped down,
-and seeing the princess at a distance, hastened towards her. But the
-princess, on perceiving him, gave a shriek and ran off; and the old
-marquis, her guardian, falling on his knees before the prince, entreated
-him to retire, as he should lose his head if he permitted the interview.
-Accordingly he let him out and rebolted the door.
-
-Great were the public rejoicings, however, on account of this chivalric
-visit. The king professed to feel himself much complimented by the
-reliance of the English prince on the Spanish honour, on the earnestness
-it evinced in the prosecution of his suit; and the people as firmly
-calculated on his conversion to the Catholic faith. The prisons were
-thrown open; presents and favours were heaped upon him, the king insisted
-on his taking precedence of himself, and assured him that any petition
-which he presented to him for a whole month should be granted. There
-were bull-fights, tournaments, fencing matches, feasts, and religious
-processions, held in his honour and for his amusement.
-
-But at home, dire was the consternation when it was known that Charles
-had gone off with slight attendance to Spain. It was stoutly declared
-that he would never escape alive from amongst the inquisitions and
-monks of that priest-ridden country, or if he did, it would only be as
-a Papist. The freedom of comment on the occasion in the pulpits caused
-James to issue an order through the Bishop of London that the clergy
-should not in their prayers "prejudicate the prince's journey, but only
-pray to God to return him home in safety again to us, and no more."
-Whereupon a preacher, with an air of great simplicity, prayed that the
-prince might return in safety again, and _no more_--that is, as it was
-understood, without a Catholic wife. Yet to pacify his subjects, the
-king informed them that he had sent after them two Protestant chaplains,
-together with all the stuff and ornaments fit for the service of God. And
-he added, "I have fully instructed them, so as all their behaviour and
-service shall, I hope, prove decent and agreeable to the purity of the
-primitive Church, and yet so near the Roman form as can lawfully be done.
-For," says this stern persecutor of Catholicism, "it hath ever been my
-way to go with the Church of Rome _usque ad aras_."
-
-In so very complying a mood was James at this moment, that when these
-chaplains asked him what they were to do if they met the Host in the
-streets, he replied they must avoid meeting it whenever they could; when
-they could not, they must do as the people did there. And poor James soon
-found that he had need of all his moral pliability. The Spanish Court,
-as might have been foreseen, once having the prince in their power,
-resolved to benefit by it. They soon let the prince and Buckingham know
-that the Pope made grave difficulty about the dispensation, and the
-Papal nuncio was sternly set against it, and it was inquired how far the
-prince could go in concession. Buckingham wrote, therefore, to the king
-in these ominous words:--"We would gladly have your directions how far we
-may engage you in the acknowledgment of the Pope's special power, for we
-almost find, if you will be contented to acknowledge the Pope chief head
-under Christ, that the match will be made without him."
-
-This was asking everything and James was brought to a stand. He wrote in
-reply that he did not know what they meant by acknowledging the Pope's
-spiritual supremacy. He was sure they would not have him renounce his
-religion for all the world. "Perhaps," he wrote, "you allude to a passage
-in my book against Cardinal Bellarmine, where I say that if the Pope
-would quit his godhead and usurping over kings, I would acknowledge him
-for chief bishop, to whom all appeals of Churchmen ought to lie _en
-dernier ressort_. That is the farthest my conscience would permit me to
-go; for I am not a monsieur who can shift his religion as easily as he
-can shift his shirt when he cometh from tennis."
-
-[Illustration: PUBLIC RECEPTION OF PRINCE CHARLES IN MADRID. (_See p._
-492.)]
-
-That Buckingham would have advised Charles to abandon his religion for
-the achievement of his object, had he dared, there is little question,
-for his mother was an avowed Papist and was his constant prompter in
-his policy. Before leaving London, the two adventurers had obtained the
-king's solemn promise in writing, that whatever they agreed to with the
-Spanish monarch he would ratify; so that James might well be alarmed
-at their suggestion. Charles, in fact, did not hesitate, in reply to
-a letter from the Pope, to pledge himself to abstain from every act
-hostile to the Catholic religion, and to seek every opportunity of
-accomplishing the reunion of the Church of England with that of Rome.
-The letter--which, Lord Clarendon truly says, "is, by your favour,
-more than a compliment"--may be seen in the Hardwicke papers. Charles
-afterwards said that it was only a promise that he never meant to keep;
-we may therefore see that already his father's notions of king-craft
-had taken full possession of him, which, with his large self-esteem
-and a persevering disposition, produced in him that fatal mixture of
-determination and unscrupulous insincerity which ruined him. Instead of
-a firm resistance to the palpable schemes of the Pope and the Spaniard,
-and a truthful candour which would have convinced them that they had
-no chance of moving him, he led them by his apparent acquiescence to
-believe that they could win him over; and when they had carried him
-beyond the bounds of prudence, and much beyond those of honesty, he had
-no alternative but to steal away and repudiate his own solemn words and
-acts. Is it at all to be wondered at that neither foreign nations nor
-his own could ever after put faith in him? The sophistry and absolutism
-of the father had already destroyed the son, by perverting his moral
-constitution. It is probable that Charles also acquired a strong taste
-for ecclesiastical pomp and circumstance during this visit and its
-religious shows and ceremonies, which falling in afterwards with the
-ambitious taste of Laud, also tended to direct him towards the same
-"_facilis descensus Averni_."
-
-James had despatched after the prince a great number of people, to form
-a becoming attendance on the heir of England. Others flocked thither of
-their own accord and especially Catholic refugees, who swarmed in the
-prince's court, and particularly about Buckingham. The Jesuits did their
-best to convert them, and were encouraged by every appearance of success.
-Though James had sent what he called the "stuff and ornaments" for
-public Protestant worship, we are informed that these were never used;
-for though the Prince had the Earl of Carlisle, and the Lords Mountjoy,
-Holland, Rochfort, Andover, Denbigh, Vaughan, and Kensington, besides
-a number of other courtiers and their dependents around him, they had
-no public worship, as if they were ashamed of their heretical faith,
-or feared to offend their Catholic friends. Charles contented himself
-with bed-chamber prayers. The consequence was, as Howell, who was there,
-wrote, that the Spaniards, hardly believing the English Christians and
-seeing no evidence of worship, set them down as little better than
-infidels. This occasioned great discontent amongst the more conscientious
-of the retinue, and they did not hesitate to avow their religious belief,
-and their contempt of the mummery which they saw around them, which led
-to much scandal and anger. Archie, or Archibald, Armstrong, the famous
-Court fool, whom oddly enough James had sent as well as the Church plate
-and vestments, seemed to think himself privileged by his office to say
-what he pleased, and he did not hesitate to laugh at the religious
-ceremonies, and argue on religious points with all the zeal of a Scottish
-Presbyterian, as he was. Others even proceeded to blows. Sir Edward
-Varney, finding a priest at the bedside of a sick Englishman, struck him
-under the ear and they fell to fighting till they were thrust asunder.
-
-This state of things would not have been tolerated so near the
-Inquisition except for the great end in view--the belief that
-Charles would become a Catholic. Gregory XV. had written to the
-Inquisitor-General to this effect:--"We understand that the Prince of
-Wales, the King of Great Britain's son, is lately arrived there, carried
-with a hope of Catholic marriage. Our desire is that he should not
-stay in vain in the courts of those to whom the defence of the Pope's
-authority, and care of advancing religion, hath procured the renowned
-name of Catholic. Wherefore, by apostolic letters, we exhort his Catholic
-majesty that he would gently endeavour sweetly to reduce the prince to
-the obedience of the Roman Church, to which the ancient kings of Great
-Britain, with Heaven's approbation, submitted their crowns and sceptres.
-Now, to the attaining of this victory, which to the conquered promiseth
-triumphs and principalities of heavenly felicity, we need not exhaust the
-king's treasures, nor levy armies of furious soldiers, but we must fetch
-from heaven the armour of light, whose divine splendour may allure the
-prince's eye, and gently expel all errors from his mind. Now, in the
-managing of these businesses, what power and art you have, we have well
-known long ago; wherefore, we wish you to go like a religious counsellor
-to the Catholic king, and to try all ways which, by this present
-occasion, may benefit the kingdom of Britain and the Church of Rome. The
-matter is of great weight and moment, and therefore not to be amplified
-with words. Whoever shall inflame the mind of this royal youth with a
-love of the Catholic religion, and breed a hate in him of heretical
-impiety, shall begin to open the kingdom of heaven to the Prince of
-Britain, and to gain the kingdom of Britain to the Apostolic See."
-
-It was easy to foresee that this absurd journey would lead to these
-determined attempts to regain the rich islands of Great Britain to
-the Catholic Church. The Catholics everywhere regarded the rupture to
-have been occasioned by Henry VIII.'s Protestant marriage, and nothing
-appeared so likely as that a Catholic marriage would heal it. It was not
-so easy to foresee that Charles, at the age of twenty-three, should so
-consummately act the hypocrite. He wrote to the Pope, in reply to a most
-gracious and paternal letter from his holiness, calling him "Most Holy
-Father," telling him how much he deplored the division of the Churches
-and longed to restore union. Gregory was dead before this extraordinary
-epistle arrived at Rome, but Urban VIII., the new Pope, lifted up his
-hands in joyful astonishment on reading it, and "gave thanks to the
-Father of Mercies, that on the very entrance of his reign a British
-prince performed this kind of obeisance to the Pope of Rome." Having
-apparently so favourable a subject to operate upon, Olivarez now told
-Charles that the treaty entered into through the Earl of Bristol had
-been rather for show than use, and that now, as the prince and his able
-adviser were there themselves, they should make a real and effective
-compact. Accordingly, in spite of the strenuous remonstrances of the two
-British ambassadors against re-opening the question already settled,
-Charles and Buckingham permitted it; and the Spanish minister found
-little difficulty in introducing several new and more favourable clauses.
-There was, in fact, a public and a private treaty agreed to. By the
-public one the marriage was to be celebrated in Spain and afterwards in
-England; the children were to remain in the care of their mother till ten
-years of age; the Infanta, was to have an open church and chapel for the
-free exercise of her religion, and her chaplains were to be Spaniards
-under the control of their own bishops. By the private treaty it was
-engaged that the penal laws against Catholics should be suspended; that
-Catholic worship should be freely performed in private houses; that no
-attempts should be made to entice the princess to abandon her hereditary
-faith; and that the king should swear to obtain the repeal of the penal
-Statutes by Parliament.
-
-When this treaty was sent home, James was struck with consternation. He
-had pledged himself to Charles and Buckingham not to communicate any of
-their proceedings to the Council; but the present responsibility was
-overwhelming and he therefore opened his difficulty to the Council. After
-making what the Secretary of the Council calls "a most sad, fatherly,
-kind, wise, pious, manly, stout speech as ever was heard," the lords of
-the Council came to the conclusion, though reluctantly and with fear,
-that the prince's honour must be maintained and the oath to keep the
-treaty taken. This, however, was only the public treaty; James kept the
-private one to himself and swore to it separately.
-
-Having got the English Court, as they supposed, thus secured, both the
-Pope and the Spaniard raised their heads still higher and showed that
-they meant to exact the utmost possible concession. In Spain the Papal
-dispensation for the marriage was already in the hands of the nuncio,
-but he refused to deliver it till the King of England, according to his
-oath, had obtained the repeal of the penal Statutes by Parliament; while
-in England James refused to go a step farther till the marriage was
-celebrated and the first instalment of the dower paid. When the king's
-resolve was known, it was conceded that the marriage should at once take
-place, but that the princess and the dower should remain in Spain till
-the stipulated indulgence to the English Catholics was obtained from
-Parliament. James refused this, and sent word that the marriage must
-be celebrated and the prince bring home his bride, or come without the
-wedding: this brought the Spaniards down a little. The ambassadors in
-London assured James that a royal proclamation would satisfy them, but he
-replied that a proclamation without the added sanction of Parliament was
-no law; that, however, he would issue an order for Catholic indulgence
-under the Great Seal. This they were obliged to be satisfied with; but
-when it came, to the Lord Keeper Williams, he refused to put the Great
-Seal to it, as a most dangerous act, without precedent.
-
-As there was no prospect of a speedy settlement, Charles, who had
-probably grown tired of a princess surrounded by such a hedge of
-difficulties and delays, desired his father to send him an order for his
-recall. It would appear as if the prince had planned the mode of his
-retreat, for the preparations for the marriage of the Infanta proceeded,
-on the understanding that she was to continue in Spain till spring.
-James was apparently occupied in preparing grand wedding presents for
-the bride, and a small fleet to bring her home. This, if carried out,
-must have been very onerous to him; for he had already made doleful
-representations to Charles and Buckingham, of the exhaustion of his
-treasury by his remittance of five thousand pounds, and three thousand
-pounds for their "tilting stuff," &c. At Madrid the marriage articles
-were signed and confirmed by oath, the Infanta assumed the title of
-Princess of England, and had a Court formed of corresponding importance.
-
-Never was the marriage so far off. Charles and Buckingham had resolved
-to steal away and abandon the whole affair. They felt that they were
-regularly entrapped through their folly; and other causes rendered a
-speedy exit necessary. Buckingham--vain, empty, and sensual--had given
-way without caution or control to his licentiousness and love of parade.
-To make him more fitting for the companion of his son, James had raised
-him to the rank of duke since his departure. His extravagance, his
-amours, his haughty bearing, and unceremonious treatment of both his own
-prince and the grandees of Spain, astonished all Madrid. He introduced
-the very worst people, men and women, into the palace, and would sit
-with his hat on when the prince himself was uncovered. His behaviour
-in the presence of the King of Spain was just as irreverent, and the
-minister Olivarez was so incensed at his insolence that he detested him.
-He had the soul of an upstart lackey under the title of a duke, and was
-never easy unless he could outshine all the grandees at the Spanish
-Court. He was perpetually importuning the king to supply orders, jewels,
-and money. Georges and garters were sent over in numbers to confer on
-different courtiers, and the constant cry of Buckingham's letters was
-"Jewels, jewels, jewels." He represented how rich the Spaniards were in
-jewels, and how poor those looked which they themselves already had. He
-described the prince as quite mean in his appearance, compared with
-the Spanish splendour. "Sir, he hath neither chain nor hatband, and I
-beseech you consider first how rich they are in jewels here; then in
-what a poor equipage he came in; how he hath no other means to appear
-like a king's son; how they are usefullest at such a time as this, when
-you may do yourself, your son, and the nation honour; and lastly, how it
-will neither cost nor hazard you anything. These reasons, I hope, since
-you have already ventured your chiefest jewel, your son, will serve
-to persuade you to let loose these more after him:--first, your best
-hatband, the Portugal diamond, the rest of the pendent diamonds to make
-up a necklace to give his mistress, and the best rope of pearl, with
-a rich chain or two for himself to wear, or else your dog must want a
-collar, which is the ready way to put him into it. There are many other
-jewels, which are of so mean quality as deserve not that name, but will
-save much in your purse, and serve very well for presents."
-
-The prince quite aware that he had entangled himself in engagements that
-he could only keep at the risk of his father's crown, and Buckingham
-equally aware of the hatred which he had excited in a proud and vengeful
-nation, the two agreed to put the most honest possible face on the
-matter, and get away. Charles, therefore, presented his father's order
-for their return, and pledging himself to fulfil the marriage according
-to the articles; nay, appearing most eager for its accomplishment before
-Christmas, they were permitted to take their leave, loaded with valuable
-presents. The king gave the prince a set of fine Barbary horses, a number
-of the finest pictures by Titian and Correggio, a diamond-hilted sword
-and dagger, and various other arms of the richest fashion and ornament.
-The queen gave him a great many bags of amber, dressed kid-skins, and
-other articles; and Olivarez also presented him with a number of fine
-Italian pictures and costly articles of furniture. In return, Charles
-gave the king diamond-studded hilts for a sword and dagger, to the
-queen a pair of rich earrings, and to the Infanta the string of pearls
-recommended by Buckingham, to which was attached a diamond anchor, as an
-_emblem of his constancy_. He affected the utmost distress at leaving his
-bride even for a short time only, and the princess ordered a Mass for his
-safe journey home.
-
-Never did appearances look more real, never were they more hollow. The
-Spaniards had endeavoured by every act, into which the sacred name of
-religion had been dragged, to make the most of their advantage in the
-presence of the prince, and to extort terms beyond the original contract;
-they were, therefore, properly punished. But nothing could justify
-the deep and deliberate falsehood, and repeated perjury of a young
-Protestant prince, whose conduct stamped a deep stain on his country and
-on Protestantism itself. The Protestants had long and loudly denounced
-the jesuitry of the Catholics, and asserted that no faith could be put in
-their most solemn engagements. Here, however, was a voluntary surrender
-of the pure and lofty morality of Protestantism, a willing abasement of
-its honour to the level of the worst Catholic duplicity. We shall see
-that the whole of Charles's conduct was lamentably in keeping with this
-unprincipled beginning.
-
-[Illustration: PRINCE CHARLES'S FAREWELL OF THE INFANTA. (_See p._ 496.)]
-
-Buckingham was impatient to be in England, from news which he had
-received that certain courtiers were busily at work in endeavouring
-to undermine his credit with the king. Behind him he left nothing but
-detestation, which Olivarez, the chief minister, took no pains to
-conceal. When the prince and he set out they were attended by the king
-himself, and a brilliant assemblage of the nobles, who added to the
-prince's presents a number of fine Andalusian horses and mules. They
-halted for several days at the Escurial, where they were splendidly
-entertained, and then the king rode on with them as far as Campillo. The
-parting of the affianced brothers-in-law was of the most affectionate
-kind, and the king ordered a column to be erected on the spot, as a
-lasting monument of it. So Charles rode on, attended by several nobles
-and entertained most honourably at their castles. He visited the cell
-of a celebrated nun at Carrion, who was held to be a saint, and to whom
-Donna Maria had given him a letter.
-
-Arrived at the port where the English fleet was waiting for him, he
-no sooner stepped on board than he laughed at the credulity of the
-Spaniards, called them fools, and wondered at his easy escape from them.
-They landed at Portsmouth on the 5th of October, and there and all the
-way to and through London their reception was one piece of exultation at
-the safe return of the prince from the clutches of the dreaded Spaniards.
-The country resounded with the ringing of bells, the firing of cannon,
-the whizzing of fireworks, and the shouts of the people. The clergy,
-without waiting for royal orders, put up thanksgiving in the churches for
-the prince's happy arrival.
-
-Meanwhile, the prince's perfidy was awaking the Spaniards from a trance
-of astonishment to a tempest of rage. From Segovia, he had sent back
-Clerk, a creature of Buckingham's, to the Earl of Bristol. Calculating
-that the Papal dispensation would by that time have arrived, Clerk was to
-hand to Bristol an order from the prince not to present the proxies left
-in his hands--which were to be given up immediately after the delivery
-of the dispensation--till he received further orders from home. The
-reason alleged by Charles was that he feared on the marriage by proxy
-the Infanta would retire into a convent. The idea was so absurd that
-Bristol saw at once that it was a mere pretence to break off the match.
-As his honour as well as the honour of the nation was implicated, he at
-once hastened to the king and laid the doubts of the prince before him.
-The astonishment of the king may be conceived. He had fixed the 29th
-of November for the espousals, the 29th of December for the marriage:
-orders for public rejoicings were already issued, a platform covered
-with tapestry was erected from the palace to the church, and the
-nobility had been summoned to attend. He gave Bristol every assurance
-that the princess should be delivered to the English without delay, and
-Bristol despatched these assurances in all haste to James. Meanwhile,
-the Countess Olivarez communicated privately to the Infanta the prince's
-message, at which she laughed heartily, saying that she never, in all her
-life, had a mind to be a nun, and thought she should hardly turn one now
-merely to avoid the Prince of Wales.
-
-Only four days before the one appointed for the espousals, three couriers
-on the heels of each other arrived from England, bearing from James the
-message that he was perfectly willing for the marriage to proceed, on
-condition that the King of Spain pledged himself, under his own hand, to
-take up arms for the restoration of the Palatine and to fix the day for
-hostilities to commence. At an early period of the negotiation, Philip
-had declared that on the completion of the agreement for the marriage, he
-would give James a _carte blanche_ regarding the affairs of the Elector
-Palatine, and whatever terms James required, he pledged himself to accede
-to. Now he repeated that although he could not in honour proclaim war
-against his nephew the Emperor--being engaged as mediator between him
-and the Palsgrave, at the instance of James--yet he would pledge himself
-in writing never to cease, by intercession or by warfare, till he had
-restored the Palatine to his hereditary dominion. Bristol and his fellow
-ambassador thought this assurance amply satisfactory; they sent off
-a messenger in hot haste, bearing their assurances that all possible
-difficulty was removed; and they went on putting their households into
-velvet and silver lace, to do honour to the marriage ceremony, as if
-it were really to take place. Bristol wrote more earnestly to the
-king, reminding him that the honour of king, prince, and ambassadors
-was most solemnly pledged; that the matters of the Palsgrave had been
-treated of separately, and that his majesty had always represented to
-Bristol himself that he regarded the marriage as a certain pledge of the
-Palatine's restoration. He added that the prince and my lord duke had
-also acted entirely on that opinion during their stay there. Charles and
-Buckingham, in fact, seem to have taken very little trouble about the
-ex-King and Queen of Bohemia.
-
-But all was in vain; the prince had determined not to complete the
-marriage. It was believed that the view which he had had of the Princess
-Henrietta at Paris had, even before his reaching Spain, changed his
-intentions; and a courier brought from James an order for Bristol not to
-deliver the proxy till Christmas, "because that holy and joyful time was
-best fitting so notable and blessed an action as the marriage." When we
-add that the proxy was well known to the king and prince to expire before
-Christmas, we can duly estimate this awful language of hypocrisy. The
-King of Spain saw at once that he had been imposed upon; he gave instant
-orders to stop the preparations for the marriage, for the Infanta to drop
-the title of Princess of England, which she is said to have done with
-tears, and to return to her usual state. The fury of indignation against
-the English in Spain may readily be conceived.
-
-The Earl of Bristol had acted too much the part of a faithful and
-honourable servant of the Crown to escape the censure of such a Court,
-and the vengeance of such a man as Buckingham. He had not hesitated, in
-spite of the remonstrances of the prince, to represent to James, during
-their sojourn in Madrid, the disgraceful conduct of that despicable
-libertine. James had the folly or the wickedness to show to the favourite
-these letters, and Bristol received his recall. The ambassador wrote to
-James requesting a remittance sufficient to bear him home, having pledged
-all his lady's jewels, and incurred a debt of fifty thousand crowns for
-Prince Charles, so that he had not funds even for his journey.
-
-It does not appear that James or Charles took any notice of this most
-reasonable appeal; but Philip not only exonerated Bristol from any
-share in the disgraceful proceedings, but warned him of the danger
-which threatened him at home, and offered to make him one of the most
-distinguished men of his own realm, if he would take up his abode in
-Spain. Bristol, however, declined the noble offer, saying that he would
-rather lose his head in England, conscious as he was of innocence, than
-live a duke or Infantado in Spain with the imputation of treason, which
-was sure in such a case to be cast on him. Though he was ordered to
-quit Spain without delay, he was instructed to travel slowly, and on
-his landing he was commanded to retire to his house in the country, and
-consider himself a prisoner. The malicious Buckingham did his best to
-have him committed to the Tower, but the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of
-Pembroke opposed this injustice with effect.
-
-James had got his baby Charles and his dog Steenie home again, but he
-soon found that they had involved him in troubles and debts, which very
-much abated the pleasure of their company. They had brought home neither
-wife nor her much desired money; on the contrary, they had spent his
-last shilling, increased his debts, thrown away the greater part of his
-jewels, had left the cause of his daughter and son-in-law in a worse
-position than before, and now were vehement to engage him in a war with
-Spain. Under the gloomy oppression of these embarrassments, he lost even
-his appetite for hunting and hawking, shut himself up alone at Newmarket,
-and wrote to the Palatine, recommending him to make his submission to
-the Emperor; to offer his eldest son, who was to be educated in England,
-to him for his daughter; to accept the administration of his hereditary
-territory, and to allow the Duke of Bavaria the title of Elector for
-life. Under the advice of Charles and Buckingham the Palsgrave positively
-declined any such arrangement.
-
-The only resource now was to call a Parliament, but this was a step
-which had rarely brought him satisfaction. Before doing this he took
-the opinion of the Privy Council during the Christmas holidays on
-these points:--Whether the King of Spain had acted sincerely in the
-negotiations for the marriage? and whether he had given sufficient
-provocation to call for war? The Council unanimously supported the idea
-of the King of Spain's sincere dealing, and a majority declared that
-there was no just cause for war.
-
-This result, so hostile to the wishes of Buckingham, filled him with
-chagrin, and his wrath fell with especial weight on Williams the Lord
-Keeper, and Cranfield the Treasurer. These men had been his most servile
-creatures; they were, in fact, altogether his creatures; but during his
-absence they had seen such evidence of displeasure in the king towards
-him, that they imagined his power was about at an end and they were
-emboldened to oppose him. But his fierce displeasure and the symptoms of
-even growing popularity which showed themselves round him, terrified them
-and they made the most humble submission.
-
-On the 2nd of February, 1624, Williams wrote a most abject letter to
-Buckingham, begging him to forgive his past conduct, "to receive his
-soul in gage and pawn:" they were reconciled. People who before hated
-Buckingham now looked upon him as a patriot, for having broken off the
-Papist match, and for seeking to punish Spain by war. The heads of the
-Opposition in the House of Commons, the Earl of Southampton, the Lord
-Say and Sele, and others came over to him; and through Preston, a Puritan
-minister and chaplain to the prince, he was brought in favour with many
-other members of the country party. Buckingham and Charles assured James
-that the demand of war with Spain was the only cry for him, as nothing
-would so readily draw money from the Commons. Accordingly, though
-trembling and reluctant, James summoned Parliament, which met on the 19th
-of February.
-
-[Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE, MADRID. (_From a photograph by Frith,
-Reigate._)]
-
-He opened it in much humbler tones than ever before. He expressed a great
-desire to manifest his love for his people. He then informed them that he
-had long been engaged in treaties with different countries for the public
-good, and had actually sent his son and the man whom he most trusted to
-Spain, and all that had passed there should be laid before them; and he
-asked them to judge him charitably, and to give him their advice on the
-whole matter. One thing he begged to assure them of, that in everything,
-public and private, he had always made a reservation for the cause of
-religion; and though he had occasionally relaxed the penal statutes
-against Catholics a little, yet as to suspending or altering any of them,
-"I never," he exclaimed, "promised or yielded; I never thought it with my
-heart or spoke it with my mouth!" And this notwithstanding that on the
-20th of July previous, he had sworn in the Spanish treaty to procure the
-abolition of all those laws from Parliament; a fact notorious not only to
-Charles, Buckingham, and Bristol, but to all the Lords of the Council,
-and the Spanish ambassadors still in London. He concluded by begging them
-to remember that time was precious, and to avoid all impertinent and
-irritating inquiries.
-
-On the 24th of February, a conference of both Houses was held at
-Whitehall, at which Buckingham went into the detail of the journey of
-the prince and himself to Spain. Bristol was prohibited from attending
-Parliament, and the duke gave his own version of the affair. According
-to him--for he produced only such despatches as had been in a private
-conference with the Lord Keeper Williams deemed safe; "his highness
-wishing," says Williams, "to draw on a breach with Spain without ripping
-up of private despatches"--the Spaniards behaved in a most treacherous
-manner. He asserted that after long years of negotiation the king could
-bring the court of Spain to nothing; that the Earl of Bristol had merely
-got from them professions and declarations; that though the prince
-had gone himself to test their sincerity, he had met with nothing but
-falsehood and deceit; and that as to the restitution of the Palatinate,
-he had found it hopeless from that quarter.
-
-Perhaps no minister bronzed in impudence by years of crooked dealing ever
-presented such a tissue of base and arrant fictions to the Commons of
-England. The despatches, had they been produced, would have covered the
-king, the prince, and the favourite, with confusion. Bristol could have
-proved, had he been allowed, that he had actually completed the treaty
-when the prince and Buckingham came and put an end to it. So indignant
-were the Spanish ambassadors at this shameful misrepresentation of the
-real facts, that they protested vehemently against the whole of the
-statement, and declared that had any nobleman in Spain spoken thus of the
-King of England, he should have paid with his head for the slander.
-
-Buckingham was not only defended but applauded. The prince during the
-whole time stood at his elbow, and aided his memory or his ingenuity.
-Coke declared that Buckingham was the saviour of his country; and out of
-doors the people kindled bonfires in his honour, sung songs to his glory,
-and insulted the Spanish ambassadors. The two Houses, in an address to
-the Throne, declared that neither the treaty with Spain for the marriage,
-nor that for the restitution of the Palatinate, could be continued with
-honour or safety.
-
-Of all things James dreaded war: he complained of his poverty, his debts,
-of his desire of quietness at his years; but he had not the resolution
-to resist the importunities of Buckingham and the prince, backed by a
-strong cry from the deluded people, especially as he saw no other mode
-of obtaining the money so necessary to him. In addressing Parliament,
-he stated candidly the many reasons against the war; the emptiness of
-his exchequer and the impoverished condition of his allies; that Ireland
-would demand large sums, and the repairs of the navy more; and then he
-put to them these questions--whether he could with honour engage in a war
-which concerned his own family exclusively? and whether the means would
-be found for prosecuting it vigorously?
-
-A deputation from both Houses answered these queries by calling for war,
-and offering to support him in it with their persons and fortunes. This
-address was read by Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who but six
-months before had most reluctantly sworn to the Spanish treaty. This was,
-indeed, a triumph to the archbishop, but did not make the singularity the
-less of putting an address for war into the hands of a clergyman; and
-one, moreover, who had so lately fallen into great difficulty on account
-of his own accidental shedding of blood. When the archbishop came to the
-passage where James was congratulated on "his having become sensible of
-the insincerity of the Spaniards--" "Hold!" exclaimed the king; "you
-insinuate what I have never spoken. Give me leave to tell you that I have
-not expressed myself to be either sensible or insensible of their good
-or bad dealing. Buckingham hath made you a relation on which you are to
-judge, but I never yet declared my mind upon it."
-
-James, indeed, knew very well to the contrary; the Spaniards had been too
-grasping, and had thus overshot themselves, but they meant to complete
-the marriage; and it was a most unjustifiable thing in James to go to
-war with them on the ground of their insincerity, if he did not believe
-in its existence. But James was desirous that as Buckingham had so
-strenuously called for war to avenge his own petty, private piques, he
-should bear the blame of it.
-
-James told them plainly that if he went to war he should demand ample
-advances, and when five days afterwards the question of supplies came
-on, he demanded seven hundred thousand pounds to commence the war with,
-and an annual sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds towards the
-liquidation of his debts. The amount startled the Commons, in spite
-of their magniloquent offer to support him with life and fortune; but
-Buckingham and the prince, who were as mad for war as they had before
-been for their foolish adventure, let the Commons know that a much less
-sum would be accepted, and they voted three hundred thousand pounds
-for the year, which the king consented should be put into the hands
-of the treasurers appointed by the House, who were to pay money only
-on a warrant from the Council of War. James also agreed that he would
-not end the war without their consent. The vote was accompanied by
-another address, vindicating Buckingham from the censures of the Spanish
-ambassadors, and then the king issued a proclamation announcing that both
-the treaties with Spain were at an end.
-
-Thus was James, after twenty years of peace, except in the character of
-an ally of his son-in-law, launched into a war. The Spaniards ridiculed
-the idea; for on the authority of Gondomar, they had conceived not only a
-very contemptible idea of James, but that the kingdom was poor, torn with
-religious factions, and feeble from the timid and vacillating character
-of the king. Only one peer, the Earl of Rutland, had the good sense to
-oppose the vote for the war.
-
-The restraint of the desire to please Spain during the negotiations for
-the marriage being removed, the Houses of Parliament indulged their old
-hatred of the Catholics by uniting in a petition to the king to renew
-their persecution. James again protested that he never intended to
-abolish those laws, and would never consent to the insertion of a clause
-in any treaty whatever, binding him to an indulgence of Catholics. And
-Charles also bound himself by an oath, that "whenever it should please
-God to bestow upon him any lady that were Popish, she should have no
-further liberty but for her own family, and no advantage to any recusants
-at home."
-
-Accordingly a proclamation was issued, ordering all missionaries to
-quit the kingdom by a certain day under penalty of death; judges and
-magistrates were ordered to enforce the laws as aforetime; the Lord Mayor
-was enjoined to arrest all persons coming from Mass in the houses of the
-ambassadors, and the bishops were called upon to advise the king how the
-children of the Papists might be brought up Protestants. The Commons
-called on every member to name all Catholics holding office in his town
-or county, and prepared a list of them, which they sent to the Lords;
-but the Lords declared that before they could unite in a prayer for the
-dismissal of any one, they must have evidence of his guilt; and thus the
-vindictive scheme fell to the ground.
-
-The Commons, checked in this quarter, turned their attention to their
-more legitimate prosecution of jobbers and holders of injurious patents.
-They presented a list of eleven such grievances to the king, who replied
-that he had his grievances too: they had encroached on his prerogatives;
-they had condemned patents of unquestionable usefulness; and had been
-guided in their quest after them by lawyers, who, he would say it to
-their faces, were in the whole kingdom the greatest grievances of all;
-for where a suit was of no benefit to either litigant, they made it so
-to themselves. But this did not prevent them from flying at high game.
-Buckingham had never forgiven Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex and Lord
-Treasurer, for turning against him in his absence; and the Opposition
-party, with whom the duke was now connected, took the lead in prosecuting
-him on a charge of bribery, oppression, and neglect of duty. James was
-indignant at this attack, but had not resolution enough to ward it off;
-though he told Buckingham that he was a fool, and making a rod for his
-own breech, and Charles that he would live to have his bellyful of
-impeachments. Cranfield was condemned to a fine of fifty thousand pounds,
-to be imprisoned during his majesty's pleasure, and for ever excluded
-from office, from Parliament, and the verge of the Court. Williams, the
-Lord Keeper, had also a narrow escape. Notwithstanding his cringing at
-the feet of Buckingham, the favourite had by no means forgiven him;
-petitions against him were presented to the Committee of Inquiry, but he
-again sued humbly to Buckingham, and having had the opportunity during
-the Session of doing him a service, the duke let him off with the proud
-remark, "I shall not seek your ruin, but I shall cease to study your
-fortune."
-
-Buckingham and Charles now persuaded the king to change his foreign
-policy. They sent envoys all over Europe to engage the different powers
-by any argument and by rich presents to co-operate in the war against
-Spain and Austria for the restitution of the Palatinate. To Sweden,
-Denmark, and the Protestant States of Germany, they urged the necessity
-of reducing the power of the Catholic princes on the Continent. Promises
-of liberal subsidies were added, and the concurrence of these States
-was pledged. It was a more difficult matter to influence the Catholic
-countries of France, Venice, and Savoy to a war which was actually aimed
-at the existence of their own religion. But the ancient enmity of these
-States against Austria prevailed over their religious scruples, and they
-undertook to assist indirectly, by making a show of hostilities against
-Spain, so as to prevent her from giving effectual aid to Austria, and by
-allowing soldiers to be raised within their territories, as well as by
-furnishing money.
-
-With Holland they had effected a league, and undertaken to send troops to
-resist the invasion of Spain and Austria, when the news of a frightful
-tragedy, perpetrated by the Dutch in the East, upon the English there,
-arrived in England. This was what has become so well known in history as
-the massacre of Amboyna.
-
-Since the Dutch had enjoyed their long truce with Spain, they had been
-zealously colonising and trading to the East. Besides Batavia, they laid
-claim to all the Spice Islands in the Indian Archipelago, from which
-they had expelled the Portuguese. On one of these islands, Amboyna, the
-English East India Company had, in 1612, established a small settlement,
-to trade with the natives for cloves. The Dutch compelled them to retire,
-but in consequence of a treaty in 1619, the English had returned thither,
-and established a settlement at Cambello. In the whole population there
-were only about twenty English and about thirty Japanese, whilst there
-were two hundred Dutch soldiers besides other Dutchmen in the Civil
-Service. Yet on pretence of a conspiracy between the English and Japanese
-to surprise the garrison and expel the Dutch, in 1623 the latter seized
-Captain Towerson and nine other Englishmen, nine Japanese, and one
-Portuguese, and after torturing them into a confession, cut off their
-heads.
-
-The horror with which the news of this atrocious deed was received,
-threatened to ruin Buckingham's plans. But the English minister made a
-strong complaint on the subject; the States made humble apologies and
-promises of ample redress, and thus it was contrived for the moment to
-smooth over the difficulty. It was the more readily done because the
-unpopular Spaniards had already laid siege to Breda; and six thousand
-troops were despatched from England to enable Prince Maurice of Orange
-to cope with the able Spanish general Spinola. Spinola carried Breda in
-defiance of the Dutch and English; and the Prince of Orange, hearing that
-Antwerp had been left without a sufficient garrison, marched thither to
-surprise it but with equally ill success. To obtain fresh men and money,
-Count Mansfeldt, the Palatine's old auxiliary general, came over to
-England in the autumn. He was promised twenty thousand pounds a month,
-and twelve thousand Englishmen were pressed into his service. With these
-he set sail, to reach as soon as possible his army of French and German
-mercenaries on the borders of the Palatinate. But the French, who had
-agreed to allow this force to pass through their territory, refused, on
-account of their disorderly character; for they were the scum of their
-own country, and several, on their march through it, had been hanged for
-their outrages. Mansfeldt conducted them to the island of Zealand, but
-there also the authorities were averse from their landing; and while
-remaining cooped up in small miserable transports, in bad weather, and on
-a swampy shore, they began to perish of fever. Five thousand of them had
-died before they reached the borders of the Palatinate, and the united
-force was still too feeble to accomplish anything. Maurice of Orange,
-meanwhile, having done nothing at Antwerp, retired into winter quarters,
-and soon after died at the Hague; whereupon the Earl of Southampton and
-other English officers returned home. Such was the miserable result of
-the campaign into which James had been hurried by the folly of Charles
-and Buckingham.
-
-The melancholy thoughts of James were diverted from dwelling on these
-wretched affairs by the prospect of the marriage of Charles and Henrietta
-Maria, the youngest sister of the King of France.
-
-It was a curious fact that at the time of Charles's looking out for a
-wife from one of the principal houses of Europe, the prospect of an
-English royal marriage was made gloomy by the most awful reflections to
-both France and Spain. The last Spanish Queen of England was Catherine of
-Aragon, who had found such a tyrant in the sanguinary Henry VIII., and
-suffered divorce and severe usage; the last French queen was Margaret
-of Anjou, who had been driven from the country after the most heroic
-endeavours to maintain her husband on the throne. Besides these sombre
-memories, the question presented formidable difficulties from the temper
-of the English people regarding Popery. Politically the alliance was
-attractive, and this is generally all-sufficient in regal matrimony.
-But it was singular that the present marriage with a French princess
-was followed by similar and even more fearful results than the former.
-Henrietta Maria married Charles only to engage in a similar contest for
-the retention of the throne as Margaret of Anjou, and not only to see her
-husband deposed but put to death.
-
-Charles is supposed by many to have been struck by the young Princess
-of France at his visit to the French Court on his way to Spain, and to
-have gone there prepared to break off the match. It is probable, however,
-that the thought of Henrietta came back more strongly upon him after he
-found himself disappointed in Donna Maria of Spain; for independently
-of the other difficulties already related attending Charles's Spanish
-courtship, it is very likely that he was not extremely fascinated by
-the Infanta. On the way to Spain, Henrietta, as seen by him, was merely
-a girl of little more than fourteen years of age, of short stature, and
-visible but for a brief space. The impression which she left could not
-be very vivid; but the Queen of France, the elder sister of Donna Maria,
-was extremely beautiful and, as Charles himself said in his letters to
-his father at the time, had so much struck him as to inspire him "with a
-greater desire to see her sister." There can be little doubt that Charles
-was disappointed in his expectation, for he was of that romantic turn
-that had he been strongly fascinated by the lady, he would have broken
-through all difficulties for her sake. But at the Court of Spain he met
-with another queen, the sister of Louis of France and of Henrietta, who
-not only cast the Infanta into the shade by her beauty and grace, but
-actually suggested to Charles the more desirable union with her sister
-of France. The rigid etiquette of the Spanish Court prevented much
-intercourse between Charles and the queen; she dared not even converse
-with him in French without express permission, and one opportunity to
-do so having been obtained, she begged him never to speak to her again,
-for that it was the custom in Spain to poison all gentlemen who were
-very marked in their attentions to the queen. But she seized that one
-opportunity to say that "she wished he would marry her sister Henrietta,
-which indeed he would be able to do, because his engagement with the
-Infanta would be certainly broken."
-
-[Illustration: THE LADIES OF THE FRENCH COURT AND THE PORTRAIT OF PRINCE
-CHARLES. (_See p._ 506.)]
-
-On the other hand, there was a decided desire in the French Court for
-this alliance, despite past experience. Mary de Medici, the queen-mother
-of France, had acquired a predominating influence in the government of
-her son, Louis XIII., by means of her clever and intriguing almoner
-Richelieu, who soon mounted into vast power in the State. She entertained
-a strong hope of effecting a marriage for her daughter with the heir
-of England, and was no doubt early informed of the probability of the
-failure of the Spanish courtship. It was soon conveyed to Charles by
-the English ambassador at Paris, that Henrietta had said, "The Prince
-of Wales need not have gone so far as Madrid to look for a wife."
-This following the suggestion of the Queen of Spain, left no doubt
-of the wishes of the Court of France, and the bait seems to have been
-soon taken. Buckingham would certainly promote the idea to spite the
-Spaniards; and Henry Rich, Lord Kensington, appeared in Paris before
-the Spanish match was formally broken off, to open the subject to the
-queen-mother.
-
-[Illustration: HENRIETTA MARIA.]
-
-Mary de Medici, though extremely anxious for the marriage, played
-the part of the politician well under Richelieu, and gave no decided
-encouragement to the hints of the English envoy, till he assured her
-plainly that the match with Spain was positively broken off. Even
-then, she told Lord Kensington that "she could not consider the matter
-seriously, as she had received no intimation of such proposal from the
-King of England, and that the princess could not make advances; she must
-be sought." On this, Kensington spoke out with authority, and received
-a favourable answer. It is asserted that a great sensation was excited
-at the French Court, and the ladies crowded round Lord Kensington to
-have a view of the prince's portrait, which he carried in a locket; and
-the locket was soon privately borrowed by the princess and kept for a
-good long observation, she expressing her satisfaction with the looks of
-her royal lover. Kensington, by his courtly assiduity at Paris and his
-letters to Charles, endeavoured to create a strong personal interest in
-the prince and princess towards each other. Hay, Earl of Carlisle, one of
-James's favourites, a handsome, empty fop, who prided himself on adorning
-his person with lace and jewels to the amount of forty thousand pounds,
-was sent as a formal ambassador for the marriage negotiation, the real
-conductor of it still being Kensington. A miniature portrait of Henrietta
-was sent to Charles, who appeared to be enraptured with it.
-
-So far all went well. But notwithstanding the anxious desire for the
-marriage on the part of the French Court, it was not likely that so
-crafty a diplomatist as Richelieu would make an easy bargain for the
-English. The portion of the princess was settled at eight hundred
-thousand crowns. She was pledged to renounce all claims for herself
-and her descendants on the crown of France. Then came the question of
-religion. James and Charles had lately bound themselves by the most
-solemn oaths that a Catholic wife of the prince should have indulgence
-in that respect only for her own private worship; and that no toleration
-whatever should be extended to the English Catholics on account of such a
-marriage. But this was not likely to pass. The Pope Urban, in the first
-place, was extremely unfriendly to the match. He expected little good
-from a prince who had shown such duplicity in the Spanish courtship; and
-he predicted that the alliance, if effected, would be disastrous; being
-fully informed by the seminary priests who were in England, secretly
-prosecuting the support of Catholicism, of the determined temper of the
-people on that score, and assured by them that if the king dared to relax
-the penal laws he would not be king long; and if he did not soften their
-rigour, the Pope argued, what prospect of happiness could there be for a
-Catholic queen? He was, therefore, averse from granting a dispensation.
-
-Under these circumstances the negotiation appeared for some time at a
-stand. On the part of the English people, the opposition was scarcely
-perceptible. They saw that they were pretty certain to have a Catholic
-queen; the Stuart family did not incline to stoop to the alliance of any
-further petty Protestant princes; the experiment of the Palatinate was
-not encouraging. The people, therefore, were far more disposed to receive
-a daughter of great Henry IV., who had been a Protestant at heart even
-when he had yielded the profession of his faith to political necessity,
-than a grand-daughter of Philip II., who had rendered his memory so
-odious in England and all over the world by bloody persecutions of the
-Protestants. On the part of the French, however, the proceedings every
-day seemed involved in growing difficulties.
-
-Richelieu, who, up to the time of the breaking off the Spanish match, was
-most compliant, now insisted on the concession to the Catholics of all
-the advantages stipulated for by Spain. He declared that it would be an
-affront to his sovereign to offer less. James, despite his recent oath,
-signed a paper, promising indulgence to the Catholics, which Kensington
-and Carlisle assured Richelieu was quite sufficient; but it had no effect
-on the astute French minister. "We did sing a song to the deaf," wrote
-the ambassadors, "for he would not endure to hear of it." In vain did
-they remind him that the French Court had promised that if they gave
-toleration to the Catholics, it would send soldiers to the Palatinate,
-and unite their interests with those of England entirely. Richelieu
-did not deny this, but contended that the security was not sufficient;
-they must have an actual treaty. Meanwhile Lord Nithsdale, a Catholic,
-was sent post haste to Rome, to make promises of favour to the English
-Catholics in order to procure the dispensation.
-
-At length the French Court agreed to accept the secret agreement of
-James, which was to the effect that the English Catholics should enjoy
-a greater freedom of religion than had been guaranteed by the Spanish
-contract. This was signed by James, Charles, and the Secretary of State,
-on the 8th of November, and Louis placed his signature on the 12th to the
-treaty of marriage. By this treaty it was provided, not indeed expressly,
-as many historians have asserted, that the children of the marriage
-should be brought up Roman Catholics till their thirteenth year, and that
-they should remain under the queen's care till that age; a stipulation
-amounting very much to the same thing; for though Charles chose to
-construe the article in his own way, the mother used her opportunity thus
-guaranteed to fix the Catholic faith firmly in the hearts of her sons,
-as was too well and too disastrously shown in the end.
-
-If the English Court thought the difficulties all surmounted, they were
-vastly mistaken; for the French ministers now expressed themselves as
-not satisfied with James's secret engagement. It was, they contended,
-too vague, and they called upon him to specify precisely the indulgences
-which he intended towards the Catholics. At this proposition Carlisle
-expressed his astonishment, and wrote to James in a tone of unequivocal
-indignation. He advised the king to make no further concessions; feeling
-sure that if he were firm, the French would give way rather than hazard
-the failure of the match. But to preach firmness to James was to expect
-solidity from a mist. He was alarmed at the obstinacy of the Pope; at
-the declaration of Philip of Spain, that he held the marriage contract
-with Charles as still valid, from a private agreement between the prince
-and himself; and at the strenuous efforts made by Philip to bring the
-Court of France to this persuasion. To complete his dismay, the Huguenots
-of France, just at this moment, made a rising under the leadership of
-Soubise. They demanded a better observance of the edicts in favour of
-the Protestants, seized the Isle of Rhe, near La Rochelle, placed it in
-a state of defence, sent out a fleet to range the coast, and vowed not
-to lay down their arms till their demands were granted. James consented
-to add these express stipulations to his secret bond--That all Catholics
-imprisoned on account of their religion, since the rising of Parliament,
-should be liberated; that all fines levied on recusants since that
-period should be repaid; and that for the future they should suffer no
-interruption to the free exercise of their religious faith.
-
-All obstacles on the part of the French Court were now removed, and
-the young princess prepared for her journey to England. But the
-Pope continued his opposition, still presaging misfortune from the
-marriage, and refusing to deliver the dispensation. The patience of the
-queen-mother was exhausted; the ministers of France proposed to proceed
-on a dispensation from the ecclesiastic authorities in their own realm;
-but to this James demurred, lest the validity of the marriage might
-hereafter be called in question. At length the Pope was satisfied by
-an oath taken by Louis, binding himself and his successors to compel
-James and his son, by all the power of France if necessary, to keep
-their engagement. The dispensation was delivered by Spada, the Papal
-Nuncio; the Duke of Chevreuse, a prince of the House of Guise, and a near
-relative of James and Charles, through the Queen of Scots, was appointed
-proxy by Charles, and Buckingham was ordered to go over and receive the
-bride. But James was destined not to see the completion of the marriage,
-after all his trouble through nine years of matrimonial negotiations.
-
-On the 13th of March, 1625, he returned to Theobalds from the hunt
-with an illness upon him, which was regarded as the tertian ague, but
-which soon developed itself as gout in the stomach. He had long been
-so thoroughly undermined in constitution by his habits of eating and
-drinking, that it required no fierce attack of sickness to carry him off.
-He had always had a strong repugnance to doctors and physic, but now the
-Court physicians were hurried to his bedside. At this moment appeared
-the mother of Buckingham with an infallible specific--a plaster and a
-posset obtained from an Essex quack. These were pronounced marvellous
-in the cure of ague, and though the physicians protested against their
-use, they were applied. They did not delay, if they did not accelerate
-the catastrophe. On the eleventh day of his illness, James received the
-Sacrament. Williams, bishop and Lord Keeper, preached his funeral sermon,
-and said that, having told the king "that holy men in holy orders in the
-Church of England doe challenge a power as inherent in their functions,
-and not in their person, to pronounce and declare remission of sins to
-such as being penitent doe call for the same, he had answered suddenly,
-'I have ever believed there was that power in you that be in orders in
-the Church of England, and therefore I, a miserable sinner, doe humbly
-desire Almighty God to absolve me my sinnes, and you, that are His
-servant in that high place, to affoard me this heavenly comfort.' And
-after the absolution read and pronounced, he received the sacrament
-with that zeal and devotion, as if he had not been a fraile man, but a
-Christian cloathed with flesh and blood."
-
-On Sunday, the 27th of March, the fourteenth day of his illness, Charles
-was hastily called before daylight to go to him, but before he reached
-the chamber the king had lost the power of speech. He appeared extremely
-anxious to communicate something to him but could not, and soon after
-expired. He was in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty-third
-of his reign. Two only of his seven children, three sons and four
-daughters, Charles and the ex-queen of Bohemia, survived him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-REIGN OF CHARLES I.
-
-     Accession of Charles--His Marriage--Meeting of Parliament--Loan
-     of Ships to Richelieu--Dissolution of Parliament--Failure of
-     the Spanish Expedition--Persecution of the Catholics--The
-     Second Parliament--It appoints three Committees--Impeachment
-     of Buckingham--Parliament dissolved to save him--Illegal
-     Government--High Church Doctrines--Rupture with France--Disastrous
-     Expedition to Rhe--The Third Parliament--The Petition of
-     Right--Resistance and Final Surrender of Charles--Parliament
-     Prorogued--Assassination of Buckingham--Fall of La
-     Rochelle--Parliament Reassembles and is dissolved--Imprisonment
-     of Offending Members--Government without Parliament--Peace
-     with France and Spain--Gustavus Adolphus in Germany--Despotic
-     Proceedings of Charles and Laud.
-
-
-Within a quarter of an hour after the decease of James, Charles was
-proclaimed by the Knight-Marshal, Sir Edward Zouch, at the court-gate
-at Theobalds. He was in his twenty-fifth year, and so far as the
-admission of his title and the substantial prosperity of the kingdom were
-concerned, few monarchs have mounted the throne with more favourable
-auspices. But though there was entire submission to his right to reign,
-and the state of parties was such that no immediate change of executive
-was needed, yet there were at work feelings and principles which required
-the nicest wisdom to estimate their nature and their force, and the
-most able policy to deal with them. The battle between prerogative and
-popular rights had to be fought out, and it depended on the capacity of
-the monarch to perceive what was capable of modulation, and what was
-immovable, whether the result should be success or ruin. Charles was
-equally prepared by his father's maxims, his father's practice, and his
-habit of favouritism, to convert one of the grandest opportunities in
-history into one of the most terrible of its catastrophes. The first
-thing which augured ill for him was his continuing in the post of chief
-favourite and chief counsellor, the vain, incapable, and licentious
-Buckingham. The next matter to which Charles turned his attention was
-his marriage with the Princess Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII.
-of France, the contract for which was already signed. The third day
-after his accession, he ratified the treaty as king which he had signed
-as prince. The Pope Urban, as we have stated, seeing that he could not
-prevail on the royal family of France to give up the marriage with the
-heretic prince of England, at length had, through his nuncio, delivered
-the breve of dispensation.
-
-Louis of France, the queen-mother, the bride, Gaston Duke of Orleans,
-and the Duke of Chevreuse, Charles's proxy, signed the document with the
-English ambassadors, on the 8th of May, 1625, and the marriage took
-place on a platform in front of the ancient cathedral of Notre Dame on
-the 11th. The Duke of Buckingham arrived to conduct the young queen to
-England, attended by a numerous and splendid retinue of English nobility.
-The showy and extravagant upstart appeared at the French Court in a style
-which threw even the monarch into the shade. He wore "a rich white satin
-uncut velvet suit, set all over, suit and cloak, with diamonds, the value
-whereof," say the Hardwicke Papers, "is thought to be worth fourscore
-thousand pounds; besides a feather made with great diamonds, with sword,
-girdle, hatband, and spurs with diamonds, and he had twenty-seven other
-suits, all rich as invention could frame or art fashion." His conduct was
-as devoid of modesty as his dress, and threw discredit on the king who
-could entrust his honour and his counsels to such a man.
-
-The king, queen, and queen-mother, accompanied by the whole Court,
-set out to conduct the young _fiancee_ to the port where she should
-embark for England. The procession was made as gorgeous and imposing as
-possible, and at each halting place the Court was amused by a variety of
-pageants and entertainments drawn from a past age. One alone of these
-deserves remark, being afterwards deemed ominous--a representation of all
-the French princesses who had become queens of England. They presented
-a group distinguished by their misfortunes, the only one necessary
-to complete the number being herself yet a spectator, the girlish
-Henrietta, little more than fifteen years of age, who was destined to
-exceed them all in calamity. The king was, however, seized with an
-illness, which compelled him to discontinue the journey, and at Compiegne
-the queen-mother was also taken so ill as to detain the procession a
-fortnight at Amiens. There the queen and queen-mother took leave of
-Henrietta. Charles, during the delay at Amiens, had been awaiting his
-Buckingham. No sooner did that most impudent of libertines reach the
-French Court than he had the audacity to fall in love with the Queen
-of France, the beautiful Anne of Austria. He lost no opportunity of
-pressing his insolent suit on the way in the absence of the king, and
-had the presumption to imagine that his daring passion was returned. No
-sooner did he reach Boulogne, than pretending that he had received some
-despatches of the utmost importance, he hurried back to Amiens, where
-the French procession yet remained, and rushing into the bed-chamber of
-the queen, threw himself on his knees before her, and, regardless of the
-presence of two maids of honour, poured out the infamous protestations of
-his polluted passion. The queen repulsed him with an air of deep anger,
-and bade him begone in a tone of cutting severity, the reality of which,
-however, was doubted by Madame de Motteville, who recorded the occurrence.
-
-[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF CHARLES I.]
-
-The sensation excited by this unparalleled circumstance in the French
-Court was intense. The king ordered the arrest of a number of the queen's
-attendants, and dismissed several of them. Yet Buckingham, on reaching
-England, does not appear to have received any serious censure from his
-infatuated master, for this breach of all ambassadorial decency and
-etiquette; and in spite of the resentment of the French king and Court,
-continued to maintain all the character of a devoted lover of the French
-queen.
-
-On the 23rd of June the report of ordnance wafted over from Boulogne
-announced the embarkation; and on Sunday evening the queen landed
-at Dover, after a stormy passage. Mr. Tyrwhitt, a gentleman of the
-household, rode post haste to Canterbury to inform Charles, who was
-at Dover Castle by ten o'clock the next morning to greet his bride.
-Henrietta Maria was at breakfast when the king was announced, and
-instantly rose, and hastened downstairs to meet him. On seeing him,
-she attempted to kneel and kiss his hand, but he prevented her, by
-folding her in his arms and kissing her. She had studied a little set
-speech to address him with, but could only get out so much of it as,
-"_Sire, je suis venue en ce pays de votre majeste, pour etre commandee
-de vous_"--"Sire, I am come into your majesty's country to be at your
-command"--but at that point she burst into tears.
-
-Charles was delighted with the beauty and vivacity of the young queen.
-They set out for Canterbury, and on their way thither were met on Barham
-Downs by the English nobility; pavilions being pitched there for the
-purpose of the refreshment of the royal pair, and the introduction of the
-queen to her court. After the wedding, at which the celebrated English
-composer, Orlando Gibbons, performed on the organ, the royal cavalcade
-took its way to Gravesend, and thence ascended the Thames, so as to avoid
-the city, in which the plague was then raging.
-
-On the 28th of June, the day after the arrival of the queen in London,
-Charles met his first Parliament. The king had not yet been crowned,
-but he appeared on the throne with his crown on his head. He ordered
-one of the bishops to read prayers before proceeding to business, and
-this was done so adroitly, that the Catholic members were compelled to
-remain during the heretical service. They betrayed great uneasiness, some
-kneeling, some standing upright, and one unhappy individual continuing to
-cross himself the whole time.
-
-Charles was not an eloquent speaker, and, moreover, was afflicted with
-stammering; but he plunged boldly into a statement which it was very
-easy for the two Houses to understand. He informed them that his father
-had left debts to the amount of seven hundred thousand pounds; that the
-money voted for the war against Spain and Austria was expended, and
-he therefore called upon them for liberal supplies. He declared his
-resolution to prosecute the wars which they had so loudly called for with
-vigour, but it was for them to furnish the means.
-
-As he was beginning his reign, and had not plunged himself into
-very heavy debt, or preached up, like his father, the claims of the
-prerogative, he had a right to expect a more generous treatment than
-James. But, notwithstanding the _eclat_ of a new reign, and the usual
-desire on such occasions to stand well with the throne, the Commons
-displayed no enthusiasm in voting their money. There were many causes,
-even under a new king, to produce this coolness. Charles had won their
-popularity by abandoning the Spanish match, but he had now neutralised
-that merit by taking a Catholic queen from France. To please the
-Commons and the public generally, he should have selected a wife from
-one of the Protestant houses of Germany or the Netherlands; but for
-this he had displayed no desire. In the second place, he had retained
-the hated Buckingham in all his former eminence, both as a minister of
-the Crown, and as his own associate. Besides, they had no faith in his
-abilities, either as a commander or a statesman, and beheld with disgust
-his reckless extravagance and the unconcealed infamy of his life at
-home. No talent whatever had been shown in the war in Germany for the
-restoration of the Palatinate; and, therefore, the Commons, instead of
-voting money to defray the late king's debts and to carry on the war
-efficiently, restricted their advances to two subsidies, amounting to
-about one hundred and forty thousand pounds, and to the grant of tonnage
-and poundage, not for life as aforetime, but merely for the space of one
-year.
-
-But still more apprehensive were they on the subject of religion.
-The breach with Spain had naturally removed any delicacy on the part
-of the Spaniards to conceal the treacherous concessions, in perfect
-contradiction to the public professions of both the late and the present
-king, which had been made on that head. It was now freely whispered
-that the like had been made to France, and the sight of the crowd of
-priests and Catholic courtiers who had flocked over with the queen, and
-the performance of the Mass in the king's own house, led the zealous
-Reformers to believe that there was a tacit intention on the part of the
-king to restore the Catholic religion.
-
-What rendered the Commons more sensitive on this point were the writings
-of Dr. Montague, one of the king's chaplains and editor of his father's
-works. In a controversy with a Catholic missionary, he had disowned
-the Calvinistic doctrines of the Puritans with which his church was
-charged, and declared for the Arminian tenets of which Laud was the great
-champion. This gave much offence; he was accused of being a concealed
-Papist, and two Puritan ministers, Yates and Ward, prepared a charge
-against him and laid it before Parliament. Montague denied that he was
-amenable to Parliament and "appealed unto Caesar." Charles informed the
-Commons that the cognisance of his chaplains belonged to him, and not
-to them. But they asserted their right to deal with all such cases, and
-summoned him to appear at the bar of the House, where they bound him in
-a bond of two thousand pounds to appear when called for.
-
-Charles endeavoured to direct their attention to the state of the
-finances, showing them the inadequacy of their votes, the fitting out of
-the navy amounting alone to three hundred thousand pounds. He was beyond
-all indignant at the grant of tonnage and poundage for only one year,
-seeing that his predecessors from the time of Henry VI. had enjoyed it
-for life; and the Lords threw out that part of the vote for this reason,
-so that he had no Parliamentary right to collect it at all. To make
-matters worse, instead of attending to the pleading of Lord Conway, the
-Chief Secretary, for further grants, they presented to the king, after
-listening to four sermons one day and taking the Sacrament the next,
-a "pious petition" praying him--as he valued the maintenance of true
-religion and would discourage superstition and idolatry--to put in force
-the penal Statutes against Catholics.
-
-To this demand Charles could only return an evasive answer. He had
-recently bound himself by the most solemn oaths to do nothing of the
-kind; and under the sanction of the marriage treaty with France, the
-Mass was every day celebrated under his own roof, and his palace and its
-immediate vicinity swarmed with Catholics and their priests. Nay, he had,
-just before summoning Parliament, been called on by France to send a
-fleet in virtue of this treaty to assist in putting down the Huguenots.
-Soubise, the General of the Huguenots, still retained possession of La
-Rochelle and the island of Rhe, and their fleet scoured the coasts in
-such force that the French fleet dared not attempt to cope with it.
-Richelieu, therefore, requested Charles to give Louis assistance. Charles
-delayed until he received news, which proved to be premature, that peace
-had been concluded with the Huguenots. Thereupon he concluded that the
-ships might be sent without danger. Accordingly, though the affairs of
-the English fleet had been wofully misconducted ever since Buckingham had
-been Lord Admiral, he mustered seven merchant vessels, and sent them with
-the _Vanguard_, the only ship of the line that was fit for sea, under the
-command of Admiral Pennington, to La Rochelle. The destination of the
-fleet was declared to be Genoa, but on reaching Dieppe, the officers and
-crew were astonished to receive orders to take on board French soldiers
-and sailors, and proceed to La Rochelle to fight against the Protestants.
-They refused to a man, and notwithstanding the imperative commands of the
-Duke of Montmorency the Lord Admiral of France, they compelled their own
-admiral to put back to the Downs.
-
-On this ignominious return, Pennington requested to be permitted
-to decline this service, and his desire was much favoured by the
-remonstrances of the Huguenots, who sent over an envoy, entreating
-the king not to give such a triumph to Popery as to fight against the
-Protestants. Charles, with that fatal duplicity which he had learned so
-early under his father, sent fair words to Soubise, the Duke of Rohan,
-and the other leaders of the Huguenots; but Buckingham, by speaking
-out more plainly, exposed the hollowness of his master. He assured the
-navy that they were bound by treaty, and fight they must for the king
-of France. Both officers and owners of the ships declared that as they
-were chartered for the service of the king of England, they should not
-be handed over to the French without an order from the king himself.
-Thereupon Buckingham hastened down to Rochester, accompanied by the
-French ambassador, who offered to charter the vessels for his Government.
-Men, owners, and officers, refused positively any such service.
-
-Disappointed by this display of true English spirit, Charles ordered
-Secretary Conway to write to Vice-Admiral Pennington in his name,
-commanding him that he should proceed to Dieppe and take on board as
-many men as the French Government desired, for which this letter was
-his warrant. At the same time Pennington received an autographic letter
-from Charles, commanding him to make over the _Vanguard_ to the French
-admiral at Dieppe, and to order the commanders of the seven merchant
-ships to do the same, and in case of refusal to compel them by force. All
-this appears to have been imposed on Pennington as a matter of strict
-secrecy; and that officer had not the virtue to refuse so degrading a
-service. The fleet again sailed to Dieppe: the men must have more than
-suspected the object; and when Pennington made over the _Vanguard_,
-and delivered the royal order to the captains of the seven merchant
-vessels, they declined to obey, and weighed anchor to return home. On
-this Pennington, who proved himself the fitting tool of such a king,
-fired into them, and overawed all of them except Sir Ferdinand Gore, in
-the _Neptune_, who kept on his way, disdaining to disgrace himself by
-such a deed. The French were taken on board and conveyed to La Rochelle.
-But that was all that was accomplished; for the English seamen instantly
-deserted on reaching land, and many of them hastened to join the ranks of
-the Huguenots, the rest returning home overflowing with indignation and
-spreading everywhere the disgrace of the royal conduct.
-
-In the whole of this transaction the headstrong fatality of Charles was
-conspicuous, and foreboded the miseries that were to follow. In the midst
-of the public excitement from this cause, the Parliament met at Oxford
-on the 1st of August. The result was as might have been expected. On
-the king demanding the restoration of the vote of tonnage and poundage,
-negatived by the Lords, or that other subsidies should be granted in lieu
-of it, the Commons refused both. In reply to the king's inquiry how the
-war was to be carried on, they replied that they must first be satisfied
-against whom the war was really to be directed. They complained that the
-penal statutes against the Papists were not enforced as promised, and
-proceeded to their favourite avocation of attacking public grievances.
-On this topic Coke came forward with an eloquence and a boldness which
-astonished the Court. With an unsparing vigour worthy of his earlier
-years--but in a much better cause than that in which his abilities
-were then often exercised--he denounced the new offices created, the
-monopolies granted, and the lavish waste of the public money, all for the
-benefit of Buckingham and his relations. He insisted that the useless
-pensions which had been recently granted should be stopped till the late
-king's debts were paid, and that a system of strict economy should be
-substituted for the now extravagant expenditure of the royal household.
-Others followed in the same strain, denouncing the odious practice of
-selling offices, of which Buckingham and his mother were the chief
-vendors.
-
-[Illustration: CHARLES WELCOMING HIS QUEEN TO ENGLAND. (_See p._ 509.)]
-
-A third party showed that they were armed with dangerous matter by the
-still disgraced and restrained Earl of Bristol. They charged Buckingham
-with his mal-administration of affairs, with his incompetency as Lord
-High Admiral, and with having involved this country in an unnecessary
-war with Spain, merely in revenge of a private quarrel with the Spanish
-minister, Olivarez. They demanded an inquiry into that affair. One of the
-members of the House venturing to defend the Government, and condemning
-the licence of speech against the Crown, was speedily brought upon his
-knees and compelled to implore pardon at the Bar. Sir Robert Cotton, the
-founder of the Cottonian Library, applauded the wisdom and spirit of the
-House in thus summarily dealing with this unworthy member; and after
-giving a description of the conduct of the late favourite, Somerset,
-and of the follies and crimes of favourites of former reigns, as the
-Spencers, the Gavestons, the Poles, and others, pronounced Buckingham as
-far more insolent, mischievous, and incompetent than any of them.
-
-The favourite, thus rudely handled, was quietly enjoying himself at
-Woodstock; but the king made him aware of the necessity of defending
-himself. He hastened to town, and delivered in his place in the Peers, a
-statement of the accounts of the navy, and a stout denial of any personal
-motives in the quarrel with Spain. He clearly showed that he felt whence
-the danger came, and alluding to the Earl of Bristol, said, "I am minded
-to leave that business asleep, but if it should awake, it will prove a
-lion to devour him who co-operated with Olivarez."
-
-[Illustration:
-
-    _From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum._
-
-   _Reproduced by Andre & Sleigh, Ld., Bushey, Herts._
-
-ILLUMINATED PAGE, WITH BORDERING.
-
-THE ILLUMINATION SHOWS THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY, WENCESLAUS, AND CHARLES
-VI OF FRANCE SITTING IN COUNCIL (PROBABLY IN THE CATHEDRAL OF RHEIMS)
-TO DEVISE MEANS FOR TERMINATING THE SCHISM IN THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE
-FOURTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-[Illustration: CHARLES I.]
-
-To cut short these awkward debates, the king sent word to the Commons
-that as the plague was already in Oxford, it was necessary to make quick
-work, and that they should finish the grant of supplies. He offered to
-accept for the present forty thousand pounds; but the House refused even
-this, saying that if that was all that was necessary, it might readily be
-raised by a loan to the Crown. This put the king beyond his patience, and
-he menaced them with a speedy dissolution; adding if they were not afraid
-of their health, he would take care of it for them, by releasing them
-from the plague-invaded city, and find some means of helping himself.
-The Commons were not in a temper to be intimidated; on the contrary,
-they went into a most warm and spirited debate on the king's message,
-and appointed a committee to prepare a reply. In this they thanked him
-for his care of their health, and of the religion of the nation, and
-promised supplies when the abuses of the Government were redressed; and
-they called upon him not to suffer himself to be prejudiced against the
-greatest safeguard that a king could have--the faithful and dutiful
-Commons--by interested persons. Before they had time, however, to present
-this address, Charles dissolved the Parliament, which had only sat in
-this Oxford Session twelve days.
-
-Thus deprived of all the necessary funds for a war, none but so
-infatuated a monarch as Charles would have persisted in plunging into it.
-War had not yet been proclaimed against Spain; it was neither necessary
-nor expedient; on the contrary, every motive of political wisdom warned
-him to peace in that quarter, if he really wished to be at liberty to
-prosecute the interests of the Elector and the Protestant cause. But led
-by the splenetic imbecility of Buckingham, so far was he from seeing
-the folly of a war with Spain, that he was soon pushed into one with
-France. In fact, he took every step which would have been avoided by a
-wise prince, and speedily involved himself in a labyrinth of inextricable
-difficulties. Spain quieted and even soothed; France cultivated with
-the object of obtaining its influence and aid in the recovery of the
-Palatinate; and the Protestants of Germany sympathised with, if not aided
-substantially in their severe struggle against Austrian bigotry, Charles
-might have eventually restored his sister and her husband to their old
-estate, and have won a place in the European world superior to any king
-of his time. Instead of this, he took the surest means to exasperate his
-own people and his most powerful neighbour that his worst enemies could
-have suggested.
-
-To raise money for the prosecution of the war against Spain, he ordered
-the duties of tonnage and poundage to be levied, notwithstanding they
-were not voted by the Peers. He issued writs of Privy Seal to the
-nobility, gentry, and clergy, for loans of money, and menaced vengeance
-if they were not complied with. All salaries and fees were suspended,
-and to such a strait was he reduced by his efforts to man and supply
-the fleet, that he was obliged to borrow three thousand pounds from the
-corporations of Southampton and Salisbury to enable him to meet the
-expenses of his own table.
-
-At length the fleet was ready to sail with a force of ten thousand
-men; the English fleet consisted of eighty sail, and the Dutch sent an
-addition of sixteen sail. In weight and armament of ships such a force
-had scarcely ever before left an English port. But formidable as was
-this naval power, it was rendered perfectly inert by the same utter want
-of judgment and genius which marked all the measures of Buckingham. Its
-destination was to have been kept secret, so that it might take the
-Spaniards by surprise; but it was well known, not only to that nation,
-but to the whole Continent. In spite of this, such a force, in the hands
-of a Drake or a Nottingham, might have struck a ruinous blow at the
-Spanish navy and seaports; but Buckingham, for his own selfish purposes,
-appointed to the command Sir Edward Cecil, now created Viscount
-Wimbledon, a man who had, indeed, grown grey in the service of the States
-of Holland, but only to make himself known as most incompetent to such
-an enterprise. He was, moreover, a land officer, whilst the admiral to
-whom the command regularly fell, in case the Lord High Admiral himself
-did not take it--Sir Robert Mansell, Vice-Admiral of England--had a high
-reputation and the confidence of the men as an experienced officer.
-
-On the 3rd of October this noble but ill-used fleet sailed from Plymouth,
-and took its way across the Bay of Biscay, where it encountered one of
-its storms, and received considerable damage, one vessel foundering with
-a hundred and seventy men. The admiral had instructions to intercept the
-treasure ships from America, to scour the coasts of Spain, and destroy
-the shipping in its harbours. But instead of doing that first which
-must be done then if at all--attack the ships in the ports--he called
-a council, and was completely bewildered by the conflicting opinions
-given. The conclusion was to make for Cadiz and seize its ships, but
-the Spaniards were already aware of and prepared for them. Instead of
-keeping, moreover, a sharp watch for the Plate ships, Wimbledon let
-several of them escape into port, which of themselves were thought, says
-Howell, rich enough to have paid all the expenses of the expedition.
-There was still nothing to prevent a brave admiral from attacking the
-vessels in harbour; but more accustomed to land service, the commander
-landed his forces, and took the Fort of Puntal. Making next a rapid march
-towards the bridge of Suazzo, in order to cut off the communication
-between the Isle de Leon and the mainland, his soldiers discovered
-some wine cellars by the way and became intoxicated and incapable of
-preserving order. Alarmed at this circumstance, their incapable leader
-conducted them back to the ships. Not daring to attack the port, he
-determined to look out for the treasure ships. But while cruising for
-this purpose, a fever broke out on board the vessel of Lord Delaware; and
-as if it were his intention to diffuse the contagion through the whole
-fleet, the admiral had the sick men distributed among the healthy ships.
-A dreadful mortality accordingly raged through the whole fleet. No Plate
-ships could be seen, for they appear to have been aware of their enemies
-and held away towards the Barbary coast; and after waiting fruitlessly
-for eighteen days, Wimbledon made sail again for England. No sooner did
-this imbecile quit the coast than fifty richly laden vessels entered the
-port of Lisbon. On landing at Plymouth, with the loss of a thousand men
-in this most ignominious voyage, the people received the admiral with
-hisses and execrations.
-
-Meanwhile Charles, who was in straits with his Parliament and subjects,
-was compelled to try again the more than dubious resort to Parliament
-for money. To prepare the way for any success with the Commons, he was
-obliged to do that which must certainly embroil him with his French
-allies, and add fresh fuel to the fire of domestic discord which consumed
-him. Certainly never had any man a more arduous part to play, and the
-king had rendered his position all the harder by the imprudence of
-his measures; for nothing is easier than for men, by their folly or
-absurd resentments, to knit themselves up into a web of difficulties.
-He now resolved to break his marriage oath to France, and persecute the
-Catholics to conciliate the Protestants. Orders were accordingly issued
-to all magistrates to put the penal laws in force, and a commission
-was appointed to levy the fines on the recusants. All Catholic priests
-and missionaries were warned to quit the kingdom immediately, and all
-parents and guardians to recall their children from Catholic schools,
-and young men from Catholic colleges on the Continent. But worse than
-all, because personally insulting and irritating to the higher classes,
-who constituted the House of Peers, and who hitherto had exhibited much
-forbearance, he accepted the advice of his Council that the Catholic
-aristocracy should be disarmed.
-
-Certainly no proceedings could indispose the House of Peers to the king
-more than such as these; but meanwhile Charles was active in endeavouring
-by other measures to win a party there. The Earl of Pembroke had for some
-time made himself head of the Opposition, and on great occasions brought
-with him on a vote no less than ten proxies, Buckingham himself being
-only able to command thirteen. He prevailed on Pembroke to be reconciled
-to the favourite; and at the same time in order to punish the Lord Keeper
-Williams who had quarrelled with Buckingham and had told him that he
-should go over to Pembroke, and labour for the redress of the grievances
-of the people--he dismissed him and gave the Great Seal to Sir Thomas
-Coventry, the Attorney-General.
-
-To manage the Commons, and to prevent the threatened impeachment of
-Buckingham, when the judges presented to him the lists of sheriffs
-Charles struck out seven names and wrote in their places seven of the
-most able and active of the leaders of Opposition in the Commons, the
-most determined enemies of the favourite:--Sir Edward Coke, Sir Thomas
-Wentworth, Sir Francis Seymour, Sir Robert Philips, Sir Grey Palmer, Sir
-William Fleetwood, and Edward Alford. As this office disqualified them
-from sitting in Parliament, the king thus got rid of them for that year;
-but Coke contended that though a sheriff could not sit for his own county
-he could for another, and got himself elected for the county of Norfolk,
-but did not venture to take his seat.
-
-All these measures, it will be seen, were dictated not by a desire to
-conciliate, but to override the Parliament, and therefore could not
-promise much good to a mind of any depth of penetration. Parliament was
-summoned for the 6th of February, 1626, and the 2nd was appointed for the
-coronation. With the knowledge of a discontented people, Charles went to
-meet his Parliament, and this consciousness would, in a monarch capable
-of taking a solemn warning, have operated to produce conciliation, at
-least of tone; but Charles was one of that class of men who illustrated
-the striking words of the Latin fatalist "Whom God intends to destroy He
-first drives mad." Accordingly, he opened the sitting with a curt speech,
-referring them to that of the new Lord Keeper Coventry, which was in
-the worst possible taste. He said, "If we consider aright, and think of
-the incomparable distance between the supreme height and majesty of a
-mighty monarch, and the submissive awe and lowliness of loyal subjects,
-we cannot but receive exceeding comfort and contentment in the frame and
-constitution of this highest Court, wherein not only prelates, nobles,
-and grandees, but the commons of all degrees have their part; and wherein
-that high majesty doth descend to admit, or rather to invite, the
-humblest of his subjects to conference and council with him."
-
-Of all language this was, in the temper of the Commons, the most adapted
-to incense them. Such talk of the condescension of the Crown, at the
-moment when they were entering on a desperate conflict against its abuse
-of the prerogative, only the more stimulated their resolution to their
-task. They immediately formed themselves into three committees: one of
-religion, a second of grievances, and a third of evils. They again, by
-the Committee of Religion, canvassed the subject of Popery; resolving to
-enact still severer laws against it, as the origin of many of the worst
-evils that afflicted the nation. They summoned schoolmasters from various
-and remote parts of the kingdom, and put searching questions to them, as
-to the doctrines which they held and taught to their scholars; and every
-member of the House was called upon in turn to denounce all persons in
-authority or office, known to them as holding the tenets of the ancient
-faith. In fact, in their vehement zeal for religious liberty, the zealots
-of the House were on the highway to extinguish every spark of toleration,
-and to convert the House of Commons into an inquisition, instead of the
-bulwark of popular right.
-
-[Illustration: RECEPTION OF VISCOUNT WIMBLEDON AT PLYMOUTH. (_See p._
-515.)]
-
-They again summoned Dr. Montague to redeem his bail, and receive
-punishment on account of his book, in which they charged him with
-having admitted that the Church of Rome was the true Church, and that
-the articles on which the two churches did not agree were of minor
-importance. Laud advocated the cause of Montague at Court, for he was of
-precisely the same opinions, and urged the king and Buckingham to protect
-him. But both Charles and the favourite saw too many difficulties in
-their own way to care to interfere in defence of the chaplain. They left
-him to his fate, and he would have been no doubt severely dealt with,
-had not higher matters seized the attention of the House, and caused the
-offending Churchman to be overlooked.
-
-This was the impeachment of Buckingham. The Committee of Grievances had
-drawn up, after a tedious investigation, a list of sixteen grievances,
-consisting of such as had so often been warmly debated in the last
-reign. Of these the most prominent, in their opinion, were the practice
-of purveyance, by which the officers of the household still collected
-provisions at a fixed price for sixty miles round the Court, and the
-illegal conduct of the Lord Treasurer, who went on collecting tonnage and
-poundage though unsanctioned by Parliament. They charged the maintenance
-of these evils to the advice and influence of a "great delinquent" at
-Court; who had, moreover, occasioned all the disgraces to the national
-flag, both by land and sea, which had for some years occurred, and who
-ought to be punished accordingly.
-
-The time was now actually arriving of which James had warned his son and
-Buckingham, when they urged the impeachment of the Earl of Middlesex,
-but choosing to forget all that, Charles sent down word to the House
-that he did not allow any of his servants to be called in question by
-them, especially such as were of eminence and near unto his person. He
-remarked that of old the desire of subjects had been to know what they
-should do with him whom the king delighted to honour, but their desire
-now appeared to be to do what they could against him whom the king
-honoured. That they aimed at the Duke of Buckingham, he said, he saw
-clearly, and he wondered much what had produced such a change since the
-former Parliament; assuring them that the duke had taken no step but by
-his order and consent; and he concluded by requesting them to hasten the
-question of Supply, "or it would be worse for them."
-
-[Illustration: YORK HOUSE (THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S MANSION).]
-
-On the 29th of March he repeated the menace; but the Commons went on
-preparing their charges against Buckingham, declaring that it was the
-undoubted right of Parliament to inquire into the proceedings of persons
-of any estate whatever, who had been found dangerous to the Commonwealth,
-and had abused the confidence reposed in them by the Crown.
-
-Seeing them bent on proceeding, Charles sent down to the House the Lord
-Keeper to acquaint them with his majesty's express command that they
-should cease this inquiry, or that he would dissolve them; and Sir Dudley
-Carleton, who had been much employed as ambassador to foreign states,
-and had recently returned from France, warned them not to make the king
-out of love with parliaments, and then drew a most deplorable picture of
-the state of those countries where such had come to be the case. In all
-Christian countries, he said, there were formerly parliaments; but the
-monarchs, weary of their turbulence, had broken them up, except in this
-kingdom; and now he represented the miserable subjects as resembling
-spectres rather than men, miserably clad, meagre of body, and wearing
-wooden shoes.
-
-This caricature of foreigners, had it been true, was the very thing to
-make the Commons cling to their freedom, and keep their affairs in their
-own hands; and as such arguments had no effect. Charles summoned the
-House to the bar of the Lords, and there addressed to them a most royal
-reproof, letting them know that it depended entirely on him whether he
-would call and when he would dismiss Parliament, and, therefore, as they
-conducted themselves so should he act. Their very existence depended, he
-assured them, on his will.
-
-This was language which might have done in the mouth of Henry VIII., who
-by the possession of the vast plunder of the Church had made himself
-independent of parliaments and trod on them at his pleasure; but the
-times and circumstances were entirely changed. The Commons had learned
-their power and the king's weakness, and would no longer tolerate the
-insolence of despotism. They returned to their own House, and, to show
-that they were about to discuss the king's speech in a spirit which
-admitted of no interruption or interference, they locked the door and
-put the key in the hands of Sir John Finch, their Speaker. This ominous
-proceeding struck terror into the king, and a conference with the Upper
-House was proposed and accepted. There Buckingham endeavoured to smooth
-down the royal speeches and messages into something like a bearable and
-constitutional shape, and to defend his own conduct. But by this time the
-Committee of Evils, Causes and Remedies, had come to the conclusion that
-the only mode of preventing the recurrence of such mal-administration as
-Buckingham had been guilty of was to impeach and punish him. The House
-accordingly passed a resolution to that effect on the 8th of May.
-
-As if Charles were actually inspired by madness, at this moment, when he
-needed all the assistance of the Peers to screen his favourite from the
-impeachment of the Commons, he made a direct attack on their privileges.
-Lord Arundel, the Earl Marshal, had given some offence to Buckingham,
-and was well known to be decidedly hostile to him. As he possessed six
-proxies, it was thought a grand stroke of policy to get him out of the
-House at the approaching impeachment; and a plea was not long wanting.
-Arundel's son, Lord Maltravers, had married a daughter of the Duke of
-Lennox without consent of the king, and as Lennox was of blood-royal,
-this was deemed offence enough to involve Arundel himself. He was charged
-with not having prevented it, but he replied that the match had been made
-unknown to him; that it had been secretly planned between the mothers
-of the young people. This was not admitted, and Arundel was arrested by
-a royal warrant and lodged in the Tower. The real offender, if real
-offence there were, was Maltravers, but it was Arundel's absence which
-was wanted. The Lords, however, took up the matter as an infringement of
-their privileges; they passed a resolution that "no lord of Parliament,
-the Parliament sitting, or within the usual times of privilege of
-Parliament, is to be imprisoned or restrained, without sentence or order
-of the House, unless it be for treason or felony, or for refusing to give
-surety for the peace."
-
-They sent an address to Charles demanding Arundel's immediate liberation;
-he returned an evasive answer: they sent a second address; Charles
-then ordered the Attorney-General to plead the royal prerogative, and
-to declare the Earl Marshal as personally offensive to the king and as
-dangerous to the State. The Peers would not admit the plea, but passed
-a resolution to suspend business till their colleague was set at large;
-and after a contest of three months the king was forced to yield, and the
-Earl Marshal resumed his seat in the House amid cheers and acclamations.
-
-But this most imprudent conflict with the Peers had another and still
-more damaging result. The Earl of Bristol, who had been so unjustly and
-ungraciously received, or rather, not received, on his return from his
-Spanish embassy, to enable Buckingham and Charles to maintain their
-charge against Spain, had remained an exile from Court and Parliament,
-but not without keeping a watchful eye on the progress of events. He was
-not a man to sit down quietly under misrepresentation and injury; and
-now, seeing that the Peers had roused themselves from their subserviency,
-and were prepared to take vengeance on the common enemy, he complained
-to the House of Peers that, as one of their order and possessed of all
-their privileges, his writ of summons to Parliament had been wrongfully
-withheld. To have withstood this demand at this moment might have led to
-a dangerous excitement. The writ was therefore immediately issued, but
-Bristol at the same time received a private letter, charging him on pain
-of the king's high displeasure not to attempt to take his place. The
-earl at once forwarded the letter to the Peers, requesting their advice
-upon it, on the ground that it affected their rights, being a case which
-might reach any other of them, and demanding that he might be permitted
-to take his seat in order to accuse the man who, to screen his own high
-crimes and misdemeanours, had for years deprived a peer of the realm of
-his liberty and right.
-
-This alarming claim of the earl's struck both the king and Buckingham
-with terror; and to prevent, if possible, the menaced charge, the
-Attorney-General was instantly despatched to the Lords to prefer a plea
-of high treason against Bristol. But the Peers were not thus to be
-circumvented. They replied that Bristol's accusation was first laid and
-must be first heard; and that without the counter-charge being held to
-prejudice his testimony. Bristol, thus at liberty to speak out, proceeded
-to town and to the House of Peers in triumph, his coach drawn by eight
-horses, caparisoned in cloth of gold or tissue; and Buckingham, as if
-to present a contrast of modesty, a quality wholly alien to his nature,
-drove thither in an old carriage with only three footmen and no retinue.
-
-Bristol charged him with having concerted with Gondomar to inveigle
-the Prince of Wales into Spain, in order to procure his conversion to
-Popery prior to his marriage with the Infanta; with having complied with
-Popish ceremonies himself; with having, whilst at Madrid, disgraced the
-king, his country, and himself, by his contempt of all decency and the
-vileness of his profligacy. He stated that "As for the scandal given by
-his behaviour, as also his employing his power with the King of Spain
-for the procuring of favours and offices, which he conferred on base and
-unworthy persons, for the recompense and hire of his lust--these things,
-as neither fit for the Earl of Bristol to speak, nor, indeed, for the
-House to hear, he leaveth to your lordships' wisdoms how far it will
-please you to have them examined." He went on to charge him with breaking
-off the treaty of marriage solely through resentment, because the Spanish
-ministers, disgusted with his conduct, refused any negotiation with so
-infamous a person; and declared that, on his return, he had deceived both
-king and Parliament by a most false statement. All this the earl pledged
-himself to prove by written documents and other most undeniable evidence.
-
-Instead of Buckingham attempting to clear himself as an innocent man
-so blackened by terrible charges would, it was sought to deprive the
-testimony of Bristol of all value by making him a criminal and a traitor
-to the king whilst his representative in Spain. Charles went so far as
-to send the Lord Keeper Coventry, a most pliant courtier, to inform the
-Lords that he would of his own knowledge clear the duke, the duke himself
-reserving his defence till after the impeachment by the Commons. Charles
-not only guaranteed to vindicate Buckingham, but accused Bristol of
-making a direct charge against himself, inasmuch as he himself had been
-with Buckingham all the time in Spain, and had verified his narrative
-on his return. The Peers passed this royal charge courageously by; and
-Charles then ordered the cause between Bristol and Buckingham to be
-removed from the Peers to the court of King's Bench; but the Lords would
-not permit such an infringement of their privileges. They put these
-questions themselves to the judges--"Whether the king could be a witness
-in a case of treason? And whether, in Bristol's case, he could be a
-witness at all, admitting the treason done with his privity?" The king
-sent the judges an order not to answer these questions, and in the midst
-of these proceedings the charges against Bristol were heard, and answered
-by him with a spirit and clearness which were perfectly satisfactory
-to the House. The charges against him amounted to this:--That he had
-falsely assured James of the sincerity of the Spanish Cabinet; had
-concurred in a plan for inducing the prince to change his religion; that
-he had endeavoured to force the marriage on Charles by delivering the
-procuration; and had given the lie to his present sovereign by declaring
-false what he had vouched in Buckingham's statement to be true. These
-were so palpably untenable positions that the House ordered Bristol's
-answer to be entered on the journals, and there left the matter.
-
-But now the impeachment of Buckingham by the Commons was brought up to
-the Lords. It consisted of thirteen articles; the principal of which were
-that he had not only enriched himself with several of the highest offices
-of the State which had never before been held by one and the same person,
-but had purchased for money those of High Admiral and Warden of the
-Cinque Ports; that he had in those offices neglected the trade and the
-security of the coasts of the country; that he had perverted to his own
-use the revenues of the Crown; had filled the Court and dignities of the
-land with his poor relations; had put a squadron of English ships into
-the hands of the French, and on the other hand, by detaining for his own
-use a vessel belonging to the King of France, had provoked him to make
-reprisals on British merchants; that he had extorted ten thousand pounds
-from the East India Company; and even charged him with being accessory to
-the late king's death, by administering medicine contrary to the advice
-of the royal physicians.
-
-Eight Managers were appointed by the Commons to conduct the
-impeachment--Sir Dudley Digges, Sir John Eliot, Serjeant Glanville,
-Selden, Whitelock, Pym, Herbert, and Wandsford. Digges opened the case,
-and was followed by Glanville, Selden, and Pym. While these gentlemen
-were speaking and detailing the main charges against him, Buckingham,
-confident in the power and will of the king to protect him, displayed
-the most impudent recklessness, laughing and jesting at the orators and
-their arguments. Serjeant Glanville, on one occasion, turned brusquely
-on him, and exclaimed, "My lord, do you jeer at me? Are these things to
-be jeered at? My lord, I can show you when a man of a greater blood than
-your lordship, as high in place and power, and as deep in the favour of
-the king as you, hath been hanged for as small a crime as the least of
-these articles contain."
-
-Sir John Eliot wound up the charge, and compared Buckingham to Sejanus;
-as proud, insolent, rapacious, an accuser of others, a base adulator
-and tyrant by turns, and one who conferred commands and offices on his
-dependants. "Ask England, Scotland, and Ireland," exclaimed Sir John,
-"and they will tell you whether this man doth not the like. Sejanus's
-pride was so excessive, as Tacitus saith, that he neglected all counsel,
-mixed his business and service with the prince, and was often styled
-_Imperatoris laborum socius_. My lords," he said, "I have done. You see
-the man: by him came all evils; in him we find the cause; on him we
-expect the remedies."
-
-The direct inference that if Buckingham was a Sejanus the king was a
-Tiberius, and a rumour that Eliot and Digges had hinted that in the
-death of the late king there was a greater than Buckingham behind,
-transported Charles with rage, and urged him on to another of those acts
-of aggression which ultimately brought him to actual battle with his
-Parliament. He had the two offending members called out of the House
-as if the king required their presence, when they were seized and sent
-to the Tower. This outrage on the persons of their fellow members and
-delegated prosecutors came like a thunder-clap on the House. There was
-instantly a vehement cry of "Rise! rise! rise!" The House was in a state
-of the highest ferment.
-
-Charles hurried to the House of Lords to denounce the imputations
-cast upon him, and to defend Buckingham; and Buckingham stood by his
-side whilst he spoke. He declared that he had punished some insolent
-speeches, and that it was high time, for that he had been too lenient.
-He would give his evidence to clear Buckingham, he said, in every one of
-the articles, and he would suffer no one with impunity to charge himself
-with having any concern in the death of his father. But all this bravado
-was wasted on the Commons: again with closed doors they discussed the
-violation of their privileges, and resolved to proceed with no further
-business till their members should be discharged. In a few days this was
-done, and the House passed a resolution that the two members had only
-fulfilled their bounden duty.
-
-On the 8th of June, Buckingham opened his defence in the House of Lords.
-In this he had been assisted by Sir Nicholas Hyde. He divided the charges
-against him into three classes: such as were unfounded in fact; such as
-might be true, but did not affect _him_; and lastly, those in which he
-had merely been the servant of the king or of the Executive. In all the
-circumstances which could be proved, he simply acted in obedience to the
-late or the present king, with one exception, the purchase of the office
-of Warden of the Cinque Ports, which he admitted that he had bought, but
-which he thought might be excused on the ground of public utility. As
-to the grave charge of the delivery of the king's ships to the French
-admiral, he did not mean to go into it, not but that he could prove his
-own innocence in the affair, but that he was bound not to reveal the
-secrets of the State; and he pleaded a pardon which had been granted by
-the king on the 10th of February, that is, four days after the opening of
-the present Parliament.
-
-Thus Charles had kept his word: he had allowed the duke to throw the
-total responsibility of his deeds on himself, and he had granted him
-a pardon by anticipation to forestall the conclusions of Parliament.
-This defence by no means satisfied the Commons, and they proceeded to
-reply; but in this they were stopped short by the king, who the very
-next day sent a message to the Speaker, desiring the House to hasten
-and come at once to the subject of Supply, or that he would "take other
-resolutions." The Commons set themselves, without loss of time, to
-prepare a remonstrance in strong terms, praying for the dismissal of the
-favourite; but whilst employed upon it, they were suddenly summoned to
-the Upper House, where they found Commissioners appointed to pronounce
-the dissolution of Parliament. Anticipating this movement, the Speaker
-had carried the resolutions of remonstrance in his hand, and before the
-Commissioners could declare Parliament dissolved, the Speaker held up
-the paper and declared its contents. The Lords, on this, apprehending
-unpleasant consequences, sent to implore Charles to a short delay, but
-received the king's energetic answer--"No, not for one minute!"
-
-[Illustration: TRIAL OF BUCKINGHAM. (_See p._ 520.)]
-
-Charles was left by his own wild devices to try how his fancied right
-divine would furnish him funds to discharge his debts at home and his
-obligations abroad. That he was not insensible to his danger, or to
-the price which he had paid for the support of his favourite, is made
-plain to us by Meade, the careful chronicler of the time. "The duke,"
-he says, "being in the bed-chamber private with the king, his majesty
-was overheard, as they say, to use these words: 'What can I do more? I
-have engaged mine honour to mine uncle of Denmark and other princes. I
-have, in a manner, lost the love of my subjects, and what wouldst thou
-have me do?' Whence some think the duke meant the king to dissolve the
-Parliament." But however he might feel this, he was in no disposition
-to take warning; the spirit and the inculcations of his father worked
-in him victorious over any better instincts. No sooner had he dismissed
-Parliament, than he seized the Earl of Bristol, and Arundel, the Earl
-Marshal, and thrust Bristol into the Tower. This bit of petty spite
-enacted, he set about boldly to do everything that the Commons had been
-striving against. The Commons had published their remonstrance; he
-published a counter-declaration, and commanded all persons having that
-of the Commons to burn it, or expect his resentment. He then issued a
-warrant, levying duties on all exports and imports; ordered the fines
-from the Catholics to be rigorously enforced, but offering to compound
-with rich recusants for an annual sum, so as to procure a fixed income
-from that source. A Commission was issued to inquire into the proceeds of
-the Crown lands, and to grant leases, remit feudal services, and convert
-copyholds into freeholds, on certain charges. Privy seals were again
-issued to noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants, for the advance of loans,
-and London was called on to furnish one hundred and twenty thousand
-pounds; and as if the king already feared that his arbitrary acts might
-produce disturbance, he ordered the different seaports, under the plea
-of protecting the coasts, to provide and maintain during three months a
-certain number of armed vessels, and the lord-lieutenants of counties to
-muster the people, and train troops to arms to prevent internal riot or
-foreign invasion.
-
-At the moment that the king was thus daringly setting both Parliament and
-the country at defiance, came the news that a terrible battle had been
-fought at Lutter between the Austrians under Tilly, and the Protestant
-allies under Charles's uncle, the King of Denmark; that the allies were
-defeated and driven across the Elbe; all their baggage and ammunition
-lost, and the whole circle of Lower Saxony left exposed to the soldiers
-of Ferdinand. This was the death-blow to the cause of the Elector
-Palatine. But Charles seized the occasion to raise money by a fresh
-forced loan on a large scale, on pretence of the necessity of aiding
-Protestantism, and as if to make the lawless demand the more intolerable,
-the Commissioners were armed with the most arbitrary powers. All who
-refused to comply with this illegal demand, this body was authorised to
-interrogate on oath, as to their reasons, and who were their advisers,
-and they were bound by oath never to divulge what passed between them and
-the Commissioners.
-
-Charles issued a proclamation, excusing his conduct by alleging that the
-necessities of the State did not admit of waiting for the reassembling
-of Parliament, and assuring his loving subjects that whatever was now
-paid would be remitted in the collection of the next subsidy. He also
-addressed a letter to the clergy, calling on them to exhort their
-parishioners from the pulpit to obedience and liberality. But such were
-the relative positions of king and Parliament, that people were not
-very confident of any speedy grant from that body, and the good faith
-of both Charles and his favourite had become so dubious, that many
-refused to pay. The names of these were transmitted to the Council,
-and the vengeance of the Court was let loose upon them. The rich were
-fined and imprisoned, the poor were forcibly enrolled in the army or
-navy, that "they might serve with their bodies, since they refused to
-serve with their purses." In vain were appeals made to the king against
-this intolerable tyranny; he would listen to no one. Amongst the names
-of those who suffered on this occasion, stand those of Sir John Eliot
-and John Hampden, as well as of Wentworth, soon to become the staunch
-upholder of Absolutism.
-
-In towns the people did not conceal their indignation at these
-proceedings. "Six poor tradesmen at Chelmsford stood out stiffly,
-notwithstanding the many threats and promises made them;" and the
-Londoners loudly shouted, "A Parliament! a Parliament! No Parliament no
-money!" Still Charles went on in his mad course; no voice, mortal or
-immortal, could even for a moment break the spell of his delusion. Those
-judges and magistrates who were averse from enforcing the detestable
-orders were summarily dismissed. Sir Randolph Carew, the Chief Justice
-of the King's Bench, must give way to the more pliant Sir Nicholas
-Hyde, the adviser of Buckingham. But the lawyers in general were ready
-enough to break the laws by order of the Court, and the clergy were
-still more so. Laud was now advanced, for his Absolutist and Popish
-predilections, to the see of Bath and Wells, and sent forth a circular
-to the clergy enjoining them to preach up zealously the advance of
-money to the Crown, as a work meriting salvation. He openly advocated
-a strict league and confederacy between the Church and State, by which
-they might trample upon all schism, heresy, and disloyalty. There was
-no lack of time-servers to second his efforts. Roger Mainwaring, one
-of the king's chaplains, a true high-priest to the golden calf, with
-the most shameless prostitution of the pulpit, declared before the king
-and Court at Whitehall, that the power of the king was above all courts
-and parliaments; that parliament was but an inferior kind of council,
-entirely at the king's will; that the king's order was sufficient
-authority for the raising of money, and that all who refused it were
-guilty of unutterable sin and liable to damnation. He insulted the
-Scriptures by dragging them in to prove all this, and would have sold,
-not his own soul only, but the souls of the whole nation to obtain
-a bishopric. He had his desire; and the success of such religious
-toadyism inflamed the clergy in the country with a like abjectness.
-One Robert Sibthorpe, vicar of Brackley, in an assize sermon preached
-at Northampton, declared that even if the king commanded people to
-resist the Law of God, they were to obey him, to show no resistance, no
-railing, no reviling, to be all passive obedience. To demonstrate the
-Scriptural soundness of his doctrine, he quoted this verse of the Book of
-Ecclesiastes (viii. 4.): "Where the word of a king is, there is power:
-and who may say unto him, What doest thou?"
-
-Abbot, the Archbishop, was applied to, to license the printing of this
-sermon; but the old man, who had always had a Puritan leaning, which his
-high post alone prevented him from more fully demonstrating, declined
-to do it. In vain the king insisted: the archbishop was suspended
-and sent to his country house; and Laud, who was hankering earnestly
-after the Primacy, licensed the sermon. Sibthorpe did not fail of his
-reward; he was appointed chaplain in ordinary, and received a prebend in
-Peterborough, and the goodly living of Burton Latimer. Andrew Marvell
-designated these model Churchmen as "exceedingly pragmatical, intolerably
-ambitious, and so desperately proud that scarcely any gentleman might
-come near the tails of their mules." The subserviency of the clergy was
-not one of the least evils which a tyrannic court fostered. The people
-saw more clearly than ever that the Church under such circumstances would
-become the staunch ally of despotism; and many even of its own honourable
-members, in the higher walks of life, shrank away from it and joined the
-ranks of the Puritans, for no other reason than that they were resolute
-for the liberty of the subject.
-
-The state of feeling on both sides of the Channel meanwhile hastened
-an open rupture. The French were highly incensed at the treatment of
-the queen's retinue, who, having become an intense nuisance, were
-packed off to Paris. Thereupon the most sinister reports were spread
-among the people, who eagerly imbibed the idea that their princess was
-a victim in the hands of her heretic husband; and they were ready to
-avenge themselves on England or on the Protestants of their own country.
-On the other hand, Charles ascribed his disasters, the defeat of his
-brother-in-law's allies in Germany, and his consequent unpopularity
-at home, to the failure of Louis of France in giving the aid which he
-had promised. Through this default Charles considered that he had sunk
-a million of money, ten thousand soldiers, and lost the favour of his
-people. In these ideas he was strengthened by the emissaries of the
-French Protestants; and very soon Devic and Montague were despatched by
-Charles to concert measures with the Huguenots, and Soubise and Brancard
-were received at London as their envoys. It was finally determined that
-Charles should send a fleet and army to La Rochelle, which the Duke de
-Rohan should join with four thousand men. It was rumoured that it was
-planned for a Protestant state to be established between the Loire and
-Garonne, at the head of which Buckingham should be placed. That there
-was some great scheme of the kind is certain, for Charles, in dismissing
-ambassadors from his uncle the King of Denmark, said that he kept his
-full design from them; "for," he remarked, "I think it needless, or
-rather hurtful, to discover my main intent in this business, because
-divulging it, in my mind, must needs hazard it."
-
-Meanwhile France, on its side, had not been inactive. Richelieu had
-listened not only to the discontent of the French at the concessions
-made by Bassompierre, the French ambassador, in the matter of the number
-of the queen's religious advisers, but to the urgent entreaties of the
-Pope's nuncio, who had never ceased, since the expulsion of Henrietta's
-priests, to call on Louis to avenge that insult to the Church, and had
-concluded a treaty with Spain, for mutual defence and for the punishment
-of England. They regarded the fleet preparing in the English ports, on
-the pretence of chastising the Algerines and giving aid to the Palsgrave,
-as really destined against France and Spain, and they planned not only
-a defence of their own coasts but a descent on the shores of England.
-It was agreed that Spanish ships should be received in French ports and
-French ones in those of Spain.
-
-The English, on their part, swept the ships of all nations from the sea,
-on the plea that they might contain Spanish goods. Letters of mark were
-issued, and no nations were spared by the cruisers, not even those in
-alliance with England. The Hanse Towns, the Dutch States, and even the
-King of Denmark, had to make zealous remonstrances. Louis of France had
-not confined himself to remonstrances even before signing the treaty with
-Spain, but had laid an embargo on all English ships in French harbours.
-But now orders were issued by both the French and English Courts for the
-suspension of commercial intercourse between the two nations.
-
-On the 27th of June, 1627, the English fleet sailed out of Portsmouth.
-It consisted of forty-two ships of war, thirty-four transports, and
-carried seven regiments of infantry, of nine hundred men each, a squadron
-of cavalry, and a numerous body of French Protestants, altogether about
-seven or eight thousand men. That it might this time succeed, the Duke
-of Buckingham took command of it, for in his self-conceit he attributed
-former failures to his not being on the spot in person, to give the
-troops the advantage of his consummate genius and experience; the whole
-of his military genius, if he had any, being yet to be discovered, and
-the whole of his experience amounting to having seen soldiers on parade.
-His plans were kept so secret--even from the friends with whom he was
-to co-operate--that arriving on the 11th of July before La Rochelle,
-the inhabitants refused to permit him to land. It was in vain that Sir
-William Beecher and their own envoy Soubise entreated them to receive
-those who were come as their allies and defenders: the people distrusted
-Buckingham, and declared that they would make no hostile demonstration
-against Louis till they had consulted the other churches and got in their
-harvest. This displayed a dreadful want of management on the part of the
-English; and Buckingham, thus shut out by those whom he came to support,
-turned his attention to the neighbouring isles of Rhe and Oleron, which
-the Huguenots had some time ago surrendered to their king. He decided to
-invade Rhe, and made his descent the very next day, on the 12th of July.
-His sudden diversion in this direction took Toyras, the governor of the
-island, by surprise; the small force with which he attempted to prevent
-their landing was defeated; but Buckingham, loitering on the shore for
-four or five days, in landing the remainder of his troops, allowed Toyras
-to convey the provisions, wine, and ammunition on the island into the
-strong citadel of the town of St. Martin. A small fort called La Pree
-lay in Buckingham's path, but he did not stay to take that, but pushed
-on to St. Martin. The castle stood on a rock overlooking the town and
-bay, and experienced officers were struck with great misgivings at the
-sight of it. Buckingham talked of taking it by a _coup de main_, but
-Sir John Burroughs, an officer who had acquired a real knowledge of war
-and sieges in the Netherlands, shook his head and pronounced the place
-next to impregnable, and that an attempt to storm it would be a useless
-waste of lives. It was then determined to invest the place in force; but
-Burroughs was equally dissatisfied with the unscientific construction of
-the trenches and batteries which were prepared. Buckingham, instead of
-benefiting by the counsels of this experienced officer, reprimanded him
-with a sternness which silenced more compliant men. In a few days a shot
-silenced altogether the honestly officious Burroughs, and the duke went
-on with his siege only to find that, as that officer had predicted, the
-fort defied all his efforts.
-
-The news of this attack on France spread consternation amongst the allies
-of the Palsgrave; the prince himself, the States of Holland, and the King
-of Denmark, all hastened to express their astonishment and dismay at
-this rupture between the two great powers who should have enabled them
-by their united efforts to re-conquer the Palatinate. They would not
-admit Charles's representation of his obligation to support the French
-Protestants as of sufficient moment to induce him to destroy the hopes of
-Protestantism in Germany, and of his own sister and brother-in-law. They
-begged to be permitted to mediate between the two crowns: Denmark sent
-ambassadors instantly to Paris, to use its influence for that purpose
-with the French Court; and the Dutch deprived of their commissions all
-English officers in their service, who had joined the expedition to La
-Rochelle.
-
-[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL.]
-
-But they could not move Charles. He wrote to Buckingham, congratulating
-him on the success of his attempt on Rhe, which was yet no success at
-all; promising him fresh reinforcements and provisions, and exhorting him
-to prosecute the war with vigour and to listen to no proposals of peace.
-He applauded a proclamation which Buckingham had prepared, to assure the
-French Protestants that the King of England had no intention of conquest,
-his sole object being to compel the King of France to fulfil his
-engagements towards the French Protestants into which he had entered with
-them; that, despite these engagements, he had not dismantled Fort Louis,
-in the vicinity of La Rochelle; but, on the contrary, had endeavoured to
-surprise the town and reduce it by force to comply with his own religious
-demands. Charles, however, ordered Buckingham to make an alteration in
-the manifesto, so that instead of the defence of the Protestants being
-the sole cause of his coming, it should be the chief cause, and allow
-him to put forward other reasons for his hostilities as occasion might
-require.
-
-With this proclamation in his hand, the Duke de Rohan made a tour amongst
-the Huguenot churches in the south of France, where the people listened
-to him with enthusiasm, and all who dissented from the vow to live and
-die with the English liberators were denounced as traitors. Rohan was
-empowered to raise forces and advance to the support of La Rochelle; but
-La Rochelle was in no haste to declare itself, for Richelieu had marched
-an army into the neighbourhood, and kept it in check. It was the last to
-hoist the flag of revolt, and it was for the last time.
-
-But all this time Buckingham was experiencing the truth of the warnings
-of Burroughs: no impression whatever was made on the citadel of St.
-Martin. Charles's promised reinforcements did not arrive. He wrote to
-explain the causes of the delay--being the difficulty of obtaining
-mariners, and the slowness of the Commissioners of the Navy; but he
-assured him that the Earl of Holland was preparing to bring out fresh
-forces. On the 12th of August there was a rumour of an attempt to
-assassinate Buckingham by a Jesuit, with a thick three-edged knife; but a
-real wound was inflicted on his reputation by a French flotilla bursting
-the boom which he had drawn across the harbour, despite his fleet, and
-throwing provisions into Fort St. Martin, in spite of himself. This
-disaster produced violent altercations between his ill-managed army and
-fleet. The army charged the misfortune to the sheer negligence of the
-fleet, and the fleet only answered by loud clamours for pay, having, it
-appeared, received nothing the whole time.
-
-Under these circumstances Buckingham displayed all the wavering confusion
-of mind which characterises an inefficient commander. One day he was
-ready to comply with the written requisition of the officers of the army
-to abandon the siege; the next, he determined to stay and assault the
-place. This miserable vacillation was ended by the arrival of the Earl
-of Holland on the 27th of October, with fifteen hundred men; and the
-La Rochelle folk sending eight hundred more, it was resolved to make
-a general assault on the place. On the 6th of November this assault
-began, but the cannonade produced no effect on the adamantine works
-and solid walls of the fort; the slaughter of the troops on all sides
-was terrible, and the attempt was abandoned. Buckingham then wished
-himself safe on board his fleet; but unfortunately for him and his
-army, Marshal Schomberg had now posted himself with a strong force on
-the island between him and his vessels. He had occupied and garrisoned
-Fort la Pree, which Buckingham had so imprudently left in his rear, and
-compelled him now to defile his army along a narrow causeway across the
-marshes, connecting the small island of Oie with that of Rhe. Nothing
-could demonstrate more forcibly the utter incompetence of Buckingham
-for military command than thus suffering the enemy to land and lodge
-in the line of his retreat. Schomberg now attacked the defiling troops
-in the rear with his ordnance, and the cavalry. The cavalry was thrown
-into confusion, and the pressure and disorder on the causeway became
-frightful; the artillery played upon them with dreadful effect, and
-numbers were pushed off into the bordering bogs and salt pits and
-suffocated. The destruction soon amounted to twelve hundred men, and
-twenty pairs of colours were taken. There was no want of bravery
-exhibited by either Buckingham or his men. Courage, it has been well
-said, was the sole qualification for a general which he possessed; he was
-the last to leave the beach; and the men once off the causeway, turned
-resolutely and offered battle to Schomberg. But that prudent general
-was satisfied to let them go away, which they prepared to do, to the
-consternation of the people of La Rochelle, who had risen on the strength
-of their promises, and were now exposed to a formidable army under the
-command of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, and Schomberg.
-
-A really good general, though he had suffered serious loss, would still
-have thrown himself into La Rochelle and, with the sea kept open by his
-fleet for supplies, might have done signal service in defence of the
-place. But Buckingham was no such general. He determined to withdraw,
-contemplating another enterprise equally impossible to him as the taking
-of the citadel of St. Martin. He had an idea of the glory and popularity
-of recovering Calais, and communicated this notable project to the king.
-Charles was charmed with the project, and as he had assured Buckingham
-that he had done wonders, and almost impossibilities on the island of
-Rhe, so he anticipated an equally splendid result: this in any other
-man, except Charles, would have looked like bitter irony. In the eyes
-of the more sensible officers of the fleet and army, the notion of
-attempting the surprise of Calais with a reduced and defeated force,
-and under such a general, was scouted as madness. Buckingham turned the
-prows of his fleet homewards, and arrived towards the end of November.
-The fleet and army were indignant at the disgraceful management of the
-campaign; the people at home were equally so at the waste of public
-money, and the ruin of national honour; but Charles received Buckingham
-with undiminished affection, and took to himself the blame of the failure
-of the expedition, because he had not been able to send sufficient
-reinforcements and provisions. But he speedily received an impressive
-reminder of the consequences of this scandalously managed attempt.
-The people of La Rochelle sent over envoys to represent to him their
-condition, in consequence of listening to his promises; the French were
-beleaguering their town, and the most terrible fate awaited them if they
-were thus deceived and abandoned. Charles gave them comfortable words,
-and entered into a solemn engagement to stand by them so long as their
-forts could resist the enemy, and to make no peace without the guarantee
-of all their ancient liberties.
-
-But how were these grandiloquent words to be redeemed? He had exhausted
-all the resources of his arbitrary exactions, and had incurred an
-additional amount of unpopularity by seizing and imprisoning numbers of
-those who refused to submit to a forced loan; and when they demanded a
-fair hearing through the exercise of the _Habeas corpus_, they were told
-that the king's command superseded that. The Crown lawyers, in fact,
-vaunted the royal will as the supreme law, whilst Selden, Coke, and the
-constitutional lawyers referred them to Magna Charta, which had been
-thirty times confirmed by the kings, and thus aroused a wonderful feeling
-of popular right in the kingdom.
-
-Whilst such was the state of public feeling, the usual pressure for
-money rendered it necessary to adopt some means of raising it. Besides
-the requirements of the home government, the proposed aid to the people
-of La Rochelle made immediate funds necessary. To attempt extorting
-supplies by the modes which had so exasperated the public, was a course
-which all reasonable men regarded with repugnance and apprehension.
-Charles himself would have braved any danger rather than that of meeting
-Parliament, with all its remonstrances and demands of redress of public
-grievances; but his Council urged him to make another trial of the
-Commons, and he consented. The writs were issued on the 29th of January,
-1628, for the assembling of Parliament on the 17th of March. Yet in the
-course of that very week the king proceeded to repeat the conduct which
-Parliament had so strongly condemned, and which must render its meeting
-the more formidable. He required one hundred and seventy-three thousand
-four hundred and eleven pounds for the outfit of the expedition to La
-Rochelle, and instead of waiting for a grant from Parliament, he ordered
-the money to be raised by a Commission from the counties, and that within
-three weeks. With that irritating habit which he had inherited from his
-father, he added a menace, saying that if they paid this tax cheerfully,
-he would meet his Parliament; if not, "he would think of some more speedy
-way."
-
-Conduct so restless and insulting on the very eve of the opening of
-Parliament raised the wildest ferment in the public: the Commissioners
-shrank in terror from their task, and Charles hastened to revoke the
-Commission, saying that "he would rely on the love of his people in
-Parliament." This was on the 16th of February, but like Pharaoh, Charles
-repented himself of his momentary concession, and on the 28th he issued
-an order to raise the money which the counties had refused, by a duty
-on merchandise. The merchants were, however, not a whit more willing to
-submit to an illegal imposition, nor more timid than the counties. The
-ministers trembled before the storm, and anticipated certain impeachment;
-the judges pronounced the duty illegal, and once more Charles recalled
-his order.
-
-What rendered the public more sensitive to these acts of royal licence
-was, that a number of foreign troops were about to be brought into the
-kingdom, on the plea of employing them against France, but which the
-people saw might be turned against themselves or their representatives.
-They were, therefore, worked up to a pitch of extreme excitement, and
-bestirred themselves to send up to the House of Commons a body of such
-men as should not be readily intimidated. Never before had Parliament
-assembled under such favourable circumstances. Daring as had been the
-king's assaults on the public liberties, this had only served to rouse
-the nation to a resolute resolve to withstand his contempt of Magna
-Charta at all hazards. Westminster elected one Bradshaw, a brewer, and
-Maurice, a grocer. Huntingdon sent up a far more remarkable man, one
-Oliver Cromwell, the first time that he had been returned to Parliament
-by any place. There was a general enthusiasm to turn out all such members
-as had been inert, indifferent, or ready to betray their trusts out of
-terror or a leaning towards the Court. When the members assembled the
-House was crowded; there were four hundred such men as had rarely sat in
-any English Parliament before. Both county and town had selected such
-brave, patriotic, and substantial freeholders, merchants, and traders, as
-made sycophants and time-servers tremble. They were no longer the timid
-Commons who had formerly scarcely dared to look the lords or even the
-knights in the face; they were well aware of their power, and in wealth
-itself they were said to be three times superior to the House of Peers.
-In running his eye over them, a spectator would see such men as Cromwell,
-Hampden, Selden, Pym, Hollis, Eliot, Dudley Digges, Coke, Wentworth (soon
-to apostatise), and others, with intellects illumined by the study of
-the orators, lawgivers, and philosophers of republican Greece, animated
-with the great principles of Christianity, and with resolutions like
-iron. Many of these men had been attended to London by trains of their
-neighbours, sturdy freeholders and substantial shopkeepers, more numerous
-than the retinues of any lords, such was the intense expectation of what
-might ensue, and the prompt resolve to stand by their representatives.
-And they were not deceived, for this third Parliament of Charles I.
-marked itself out as one of the grand land-marks of English history.
-
-The king was conscious that if he hoped to gain his chief object from
-them--money--he must curb his haughty temper and assume a conciliating
-manner. He therefore, just before the opening of the Session, liberated
-seventy-eight gentlemen who had been imprisoned for refusing to pay
-the forced loan; he let the Earl of Bristol out of the Tower, though
-he lay under an impeachment for high treason; accorded the same favour
-to Bishop Williams, whom Buckingham had caused to be lodged there;
-and restored Archbishop Abbot, who had been suspended for refusing to
-license Sibthorpe's base sermon. But when he had made these concessions
-to popular opinion, Charles could not command his inveterate habit of
-threatening, and so spoilt all. In his opening speech he said:--"I have
-called you together, judging a Parliament to be the ancient, speediest,
-and best way to give such supply as to secure ourselves and save our
-friends from imminent ruin. Every man must now do according to his
-conscience; wherefore, if you, which God forbid, should not do your
-duties in contributing what this State at this time needs, I must, in
-discharge of my conscience, use those other means which God hath put
-into my hands, to save that which the follies of other men may otherwise
-hazard to lose. Take not this as threatening--I scorn to threaten any but
-my equals--but as an admonition from him that, both out of nature and
-duty, hath most care of your preservation and properties."
-
-This was followed by an equally impolitic speech from the Lord Keeper
-Coventry, who informed the Commons that the king had come to Parliament,
-not because it was at all necessary, not because he was destitute of
-other means, but because it was more agreeable to the goodness of his
-most gracious disposition. And then he unwisely enough added, "If this be
-deferred, necessity and the sword may make way for others. Remember his
-majesty's admonition; I say, remember it."
-
-Surely if the veriest novices in government had been set to talk to
-Parliament, they could not have done it in a more insane, blundering
-style. If the Commons had had as little tact as the king and his
-minister, there would have been hard words hurled back again, and
-the Parliament would have not been many days ere it ceased to exist.
-But the Commons had men as profound as these were shallow. They took
-all patiently, and set about quietly to determine on the question of
-Supplies. They came to the resolution to offer ample ones--no less than
-five subsidies, the whole to be paid within one year--but they tagged
-this simple condition to them, that the king should give them a guarantee
-against any further invasion of their rights.
-
-As we have already stated, during the past year many gentlemen had been
-imprisoned for refusing to pay the demands of the king made without
-sanction of Parliament. Five of them had been, at their own request,
-brought before the King's Bench by writ of _Habeas corpus_, and their
-counsel demanded that, as they were charged with no particular offence,
-but merely committed at the particular command of the king, they should
-be discharged or admitted to bail; but both were refused. The question
-was now discussed by the House, and it was resolved that no subsidy
-should pass without a remedy granted against this royal licence. "It
-will in us be wrong done to ourselves," said Sir Francis Seymour, "to
-our posterity, to our consciences, if we forego this just claim and
-pretension."
-
-"We must vindicate what?" demanded Wentworth; "new things? No; our
-ancient, legal, and vital liberties, by enforcing the laws enacted by
-our ancestors; by setting such a stamp upon them that no licentious
-spirit shall dare henceforth to invade them." In the repeated debates
-which followed, Sir Edward Coke particularly distinguished himself, old
-as he was, by his powerful and undaunted speeches. He called upon the
-members to stand by the ancient laws, and was seconded by other members,
-who narrated the breaking of those laws by the abuses of raising money
-by loans, by benevolences, and privy seals; by billeting soldiers,
-by imprisonment of men for refusing these illegal demands, and by
-withholding from them the benefit of _Habeas corpus_. In vain were the
-speakers warned by the Court party to beware of distrusting the king,
-who had been driven to these measures by necessity, and by others, who
-declared that such was the king's goodness that it was next only to that
-of God. But Coke cried out, "Let us work whilst we have time! I am
-absolutely for giving supply to his majesty, but yet with some caution.
-Let us not flatter ourselves. Who will give subsidies if the king may
-impose what he will? I know he is a religious king, free from personal
-vices, but he deals with other men's hands, and sees with other men's
-eyes."
-
-[Illustration: SIR JOHN ELIOT. (_From the Port Eliot Portrait._)]
-
-This was approaching the subject of the favourite, which even the boldest
-were afraid of touching, but which Coke soon after entered upon plainly,
-and with all courage.
-
-On the 8th of May the House passed the four following resolutions,
-without a dissentient voice even from the courtiers--1st, That no freeman
-ought to be restrained or imprisoned, unless some lawful cause of such
-restraint or imprisonment be expressed; 2nd, That the writ of _Habeas
-Corpus_ ought to be granted to every man imprisoned or restrained, though
-it be at the command of the king or Privy Council, if he pray for the
-same; 3rd, That when the return expresses no cause of commitment or
-restraint, the party ought to be delivered or bailed; 4th, That it is
-the ancient and undoubted right of every free man, that he hath a full
-and absolute property in his goods and estates, and that no tax, loan,
-or benevolence ought to be levied by the king or his ministers, without
-common consent by Act of Parliament.
-
-It was clear, from these resolutions, that unless Charles chose to forego
-his illegal practices of raising money without consent of Parliament,
-and of imprisoning subjects without any warrant but his own will, he
-must abandon all idea of the five subsidies; but his necessities were
-too great, and the difficulties in the way of continuing to plunder
-people at his pleasure too formidable to allow him lightly to give up
-the tempting offer. The Lords were less determined than the Commons, and
-this gave him some encouragement. The matter was argued in the Commons
-on his behalf by the Attorney-General and the King's Counsel, but they
-found the leading members of the House too strong in their knowledge of
-constitutional law to be moved from their grand propositions. In the
-course of the debate the interference of Buckingham was felt, and the
-brave Sir John Eliot did not let that pass without criticism. "I know
-not," he said, "by what fatality or importunity it has crept in, but
-I observe in the close of Mr. Secretary's relation, mention made of
-_another_ in addition to his majesty, and that which hath been formerly
-a matter of complaint, I find here still--a mixture with his majesty,
-not only in business, but in name. Let me beseech you, sir, let no man
-hereafter within these walls take this boldness to introduce it."
-
-On the 28th of May the Commons presented to his majesty their celebrated
-Petition of Right; a document destined to become celebrated, a
-confirmation of Magna Charta, and the origin of the Bill of Rights
-secured in 1688, on which rests all the fabric of our present liberties.
-This Petition was based on the four resolutions. It commenced by
-reminding the monarch of the great statutes passed by some of the
-most illustrious of his ancestors, which he had been so long and
-pertinaciously outraging; that the statute _De Tallagio non concedendo_,
-made in the reign of Edward I., provided that no tallage nor aid could
-be levied by the king without consent of Parliament; that by another
-statute of the 25th year of Edward III., no person could be compelled to
-make any loan to the king without such sanction; such loans being against
-reason and the charters of the land. There could be no dispute here--the
-king stood palpably convicted, and had he acted in ignorance, could do
-so no longer. It then went on: "And by other laws of this realm, it is
-provided that none shall be charged by any charge or imposition called a
-benevolence, nor by such like charge; by which statutes before mentioned,
-and the other good laws and statutes of the realm, your subjects have
-inherited this freedom, that they should not be compelled to contribute
-to any tax, tallage, aid, or other like charge, not set by common
-consent in Parliament: yet, nevertheless, of late, divers commissions,
-directed to sundry commissioners, in several counties, with instructions,
-have issued, by pretext whereof your people have been in divers places
-assembled, and required to lend certain sums of money unto your majesty;
-and many of them, upon their refusal to do so, have had an unlawful oath
-administered unto them, not warrantable by the laws and statutes of this
-realm, and have been constrained to become bound to make appearance and
-give attendance before your Privy Council in other places; and others
-of them have therefore been imprisoned, confined, and sundry other
-ways molested and disquieted; and divers other charges have been laid
-and levied upon your people in several counties, by lords-lieutenant,
-commissioners for musters, justices of peace, and others, by command or
-direction from your majesty or your Privy Council, against the laws and
-free customs of this realm."
-
-The Petition next set forth that divers persons refusing to pay these
-impositions had been imprisoned without cause shown, and on being brought
-up by _Habeas Corpus_ to have their cause examined, had been sent back to
-prison without such fair trial and examination. From this it proceeded to
-the fact that numbers of soldiers had been billeted in private houses,
-contrary to the law, and persons tried by martial law in cases where
-they were only amenable to the common law of the land; and moreover,
-officers and ministers of the king had screened soldiers and sailors who
-had committed robberies, murders, and other felonies, on the plea that
-they were only responsible to military tribunals. All these breaches of
-the statutes, the Petition prayed the king to cause to cease, as being
-contrary to the rights and liberties of the subject, as secured by the
-laws of the land.
-
-The Petition was so clear, and the statutes quoted were so undeniable,
-that Charles was puzzled what to do. To refuse the prayer of the Commons
-was to forfeit the five tempting subsidies; to admit it simply and fully
-was to confess that he had hitherto been altogether wrong, and to leave
-himself no loop-hole of excuse for the future. Instead, therefore, of
-adopting the established form of saying, in the old Norman words, "_Soit
-droit fait comme il est desire_," he wrote at the foot of the petition
-this loose and most absurd assent--"The king willeth that right be done
-according to the laws and customs of the realm; and that the statutes be
-put in due execution, that his subjects may have no cause to complain of
-any wrongs or oppressions, contrary to their just rights and liberties,
-to the preservation whereof he holds himself in conscience as well
-obliged as of his own prerogative."
-
-This left the matter precisely where it was, for the king had always
-contended that he did nothing but what was warranted by his prerogative.
-The House felt this, and at once expressed their grievous disappointment.
-To add to their chagrin, Charles sent a message to them, informing
-them that he should dissolve Parliament on the 11th of June, it now
-being the 5th. A deep and melancholy silence pervaded the House, which
-locked the doors to prevent interruption, and debated the matter in all
-earnestness. A second message from his majesty, commanding them not to
-cast or lay aspersions on any minister of his majesty, added greatly
-to the concern of the House. On the day but one before Sir John Eliot
-had urged the necessity of a "declaration" to his majesty, showing the
-decay and contempt of religion, and the insufficiency of his ministers,
-the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster had styled Sir John's speech
-"strange language," and had declared that if Sir John went on, he would
-go out; upon which the House told him plainly to take himself off. This
-had brought down the king's second message. The debate went on amid tears
-and deep emotion from strong and long-practised men; as if they perceived
-that the great crisis of the nation was come, and foresaw the bloodshed
-and misery which were to follow if they stood firm to their knowledge of
-the right; the slavery and degradation of England if they did not.
-
-Sir Robert Philips, interrupted by sobs and weeping, said:--"I perceive
-that towards God and towards man there is little hope, after our humble
-and careful endeavours, seeing our sins are many and so great. I consider
-my own infirmities, and if ever my passions were wrought upon, it is now.
-This message stirs me up, especially when I remember with what moderation
-we have proceeded." These earnest and religious men feared that God was
-hardening the heart of the king as he had done that of Pharaoh, in order
-to punish the nation for its backslidings and wickedness. "Our sins,"
-said Sir John Eliot, "are so exceeding great, that unless we speedily
-turn to God, God will remove Himself farther from us. You know with what
-affection and integrity we have proceeded hitherto, to gain his majesty's
-heart; and, out of the necessity of our duty, were brought to that
-course we were in: I doubt a misrepresentation to his majesty hath drawn
-this mark of his displeasure upon us. I observe in the message, amongst
-other sad particulars, it is conceived that we were about to lay some
-aspersions upon the Government. Give me leave to protest that so clear
-were our intentions, that we desire only to vindicate these dishonours
-to our king and country. It is said also as if we cast some aspersions
-on his majesty's ministers; I am confident no minister, how dear soever,
-can----"
-
-Eliot was interrupted by Sir John Finch, the Speaker, who had for some
-time been more and more sidling away to the favour of the king, starting
-up and exclaiming, "There is a command laid upon me, to interrupt any
-that shall go about to lay an aspersion on the ministers of State." This
-was a clear infringement of the privilege of Parliament, which the House
-was not disposed to pass by. Sir John, thus snubbed, sat down, and there
-remained a significant silence for some minutes. Then Sir Dudley Digges
-rose and said, "Unless we may speak of these things, let us arise, and
-begone, or sit still and do nothing." There was another deep silence, at
-length broken by Sir Nathaniel Rich, who said, "We must now speak, or
-for ever hold our peace. For us to be silent when king and kingdom are
-in this calamity, is not fit. The question is, whether we shall secure
-ourselves by our silence--yea or no? Let us go to the Lords and show our
-dangers, that we may then go to the king together with our representation
-thereof." Prynne, Coke, and others, spoke to the same effect, and Coke
-was so overwhelmed with his feelings, grown old as he was, at the Bar, on
-the Bench and in the House, that he was obliged to resume his seat.
-
-The House resolved itself into a committee for more freedom of
-discussion, and put Mr. Whitly into the chair. Finch, the Speaker,
-begged leave, as he was quitting the chair, for half an hour's absence.
-The House knew very well that he only wanted to run off and tell the
-king what was going on, but they let him go, and away he bustled to
-Whitehall. The House then passed an order, declaring that no man should
-leave the House under penalty of being committed to the Tower. Then Mr.
-Kirton rose, and declaring that the king in himself was as good a prince
-as ever reigned, said "it was high time to find out the enemies of the
-Commonwealth, who had so prevailed with him, and then he doubted not but
-God would send them hearts, hands, and swords, to cut all their throats."
-He added that the Speaker to desire to leave the House as he had done,
-was unprecedented, and to his mind ominous. Sir Edward Coke once more
-endeavoured to say what he had not been able to say before, but which
-must be said, and none so proper as this veteran statesman to say it. "I
-now see," he observed, "that God has not accepted our humble and moderate
-carriages and fair proceedings; and I fear the reason is that we have
-not dealt sincerely with the king, and made a true representation of the
-causes of all these miseries. Let us take this to heart. In the time of
-Edward III. had Parliament any doubt as to naming men that misled the
-king? They accused John of Gaunt, the king's son, Lord Latimer, and Lord
-Neville, for misadvising the king; and they went to the Tower for it.
-And now, when there is such a downfall of the State, shall we hold our
-tongues? Why," continued he, "may we not name those who are the cause of
-all our evils?" And he added, "Let us palliate no longer; if we do, God
-will not prosper us. I think the Duke of Buckingham is the cause, and
-till the duke be informed thereof, we shall never go out with honour, nor
-sit with honour here. That man is the grievance of grievances! Let us
-set down the causes of all our disasters, and they will all reflect upon
-him. As to going to the Lords, that is not _via regia_; our liberties are
-now impeached; we are deeply concerned; it is not _via regia_, for the
-Lords are not participant with our liberties. It is not the king but the
-duke that saith, 'We require you not to meddle with state affairs, or the
-ministers thereof.' Did not his majesty, when prince, attend the Upper
-House in our prosecution of Lord Chancellor Bacon and the Lord Treasurer
-Middlesex?"
-
-The secret was out; the word was spoken! The name at which Charles and
-the duke had trembled, lest it should come into discussion, was, in spite
-of threats and messages, named; and the naming, and the charging with all
-the disgraces and miseries of the nation, were received with sudden and
-general acclamation of "Yea! yea! 'Tis he! 'tis he!" The day was come
-that James had so solemnly warned both Charles and Buckingham of--when
-they should have their bellyful of impeachments; having, as Coke now
-reminded them, themselves set the ball rolling. Aldred, in the letter
-just quoted, says:--"As when one good hound recovers the scent, the rest
-come in with full cry, so one pursued it, and every one came home and
-laid the blame where he thought the fault was, on the Duke of Buckingham,
-to wit." The duke was speedily accused of treachery and incapacity, both
-as High Admiral and Commander-in-Chief. All the disgraceful failures, at
-Cadiz, at La Rochelle, on the Isle of Rhe, and even in Germany, were
-charged upon his evil counsels or worse management.
-
-Selden proposed a declaration to his majesty under four heads, expressive
-of the dutiful devotion of the House, of the violation of the nation's
-liberties, of the intentions of the House, and of the interference of
-the duke to prevent inquiry. He declared that all this time they had
-been casting a mantle over the accusation made against Buckingham, and
-that it was time to revert to that. "At this moment," says Aldred, "as
-we were putting the question, the Speaker, having been, not half an
-hour, but three hours absent, and with the king, returned, bringing
-this message--that the House should then rise--being about eleven
-o'clock--adjourn till the morrow morning, and no committees to sit, or
-other business to go on in the interim."
-
-The next day the House met, when Finch apologised for his absence,
-and his going to the king, declaring that he had communicated nothing
-but what was to the honour of the House; and wishing that his tongue
-might cleave to the roof of his mouth before he spoke a word to the
-disparagement of any member. He informed them that his majesty had no
-desire to fetter their deliberations, so that they did not interfere with
-his ministers, and added words of courtesy from the king. The Commons
-observed that they had no intention of charging anything on the king,
-but must insist on inquiring when necessary into the conduct of his
-ministers; and the words of Mr. Kirton being found fault with, which
-intimated a hope that all those found guilty might have their throats
-cut, the House resolved that "he had said nothing beyond the bounds of
-duty and allegiance, and that they all concurred with him therein."
-
-On the following day they went into committee, and commenced their
-labours of inquiry into the proceedings of the executive. They examined
-Burlemachi, a foreign speculator, as to a commission which he was alleged
-to have, for engaging and bringing into this kingdom troops of German
-horse. He confessed to such warrant, and to having received thirty
-thousand pounds for this purpose; one thousand of these horse being,
-as he admitted, already raised and armed, and waiting their passage in
-Holland. "And the intention of bringing over these mercenaries," said
-one of the members, "is to cut our throats, or to keep us in obedience!"
-Another member declared that twelve of the commanders were already
-arrived, and had been seen in St. Paul's. The House next fell upon a
-new scheme of excise, which it was proposed to levy without consent of
-Parliament, and voted that any member who had any information regarding
-this new imposition and did not disclose it, was an enemy to the State,
-and no true Englishman.
-
-[Illustration: ASSASSINATION OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. (_See p._ 535.)]
-
-The danger which was obviously approaching Buckingham in the proceedings
-of this Committee alarmed the king; and the same day, the 7th of June,
-he commanded the Commons to meet him in the House of Lords, and then
-observing that he thought he had given a full and specific answer to
-their Petition of Right, but as they were not satisfied, he desired
-them to read the Petition again, and he would give them an answer which
-should satisfy them. Taking his seat on the throne, this was done, and
-he then ordered the former answer to be cut off, and the following, in
-the established form, to be inscribed--"Let right be done as is desired."
-"Now," he added, "I have performed my part; wherefore, if this Parliament
-have not a happy issue, the sin is yours. I am free of it."
-
-Thus was passed the Petition of Right, the most important document
-since the acquirement of Magna Charta. The rejoicing for this conquest,
-this assurance of quieter days and secure firesides, sped through the
-City, and thence over the kingdom, and was everywhere demonstrated by
-acclamations, ringing of bells, and bonfires. On the 10th of June, three
-days afterwards, the king, as if pleased with this public expression of
-satisfaction, sent Sir Humphrey May to inform the House of Commons that
-he was graciously pleased that their Petition of Right, with his answer,
-should be recorded not only on the journals of Parliament, but in those
-of the courts of Westminster, and should, moreover, be printed for his
-honour and the content of the people. On the 12th the Commons showed
-their content by voting the king the five subsidies, and hastening to
-pass the Bill for five other subsidies granted by the clergy.
-
-But the exultation over this great triumph did not prevent the Commons
-from pursuing their labours of inquiry into abuses. They obtained a
-judgment from the Lords against Dr. Mainwaring for his encouragement
-of kingly absolutism in his sermons, and censured Laud and Neale of
-Winchester, for licensing similar sermons; they then came to Buckingham
-himself, and voted a strong remonstrance against his undue influence and
-unconstitutional doings, which was presented by the Speaker to the king.
-The House felt itself highly aggrieved by a speech which the favourite
-was reported to have made at his own table--"Tush! it makes no matter
-what the Commons or Parliament doth; for without my leave and authority,
-they shall not be able to touch the hair of a dog." Buckingham protested
-that he had never uttered such words, and called upon the House of Lords
-to demand that the members of the Commons who had thus reported it should
-be called in to prove it; but the duke was forced to content himself with
-entering his protest on the journals of the Lords.
-
-The Commons not having voted the tonnage and poundage, calculated that
-the king would not hastily dissolve the House, and therefore prayed
-him to remove Buckingham from his counsels, as the author of so many
-calamities; and they took the opportunity to remind him that tonnage
-and poundage could not be collected without their consent, as the
-king's concession of the Petition of Right testified. This called forth
-Charles again as hotly as ever. Though he had admitted, in granting
-this Petition, that no kind of duty could be imposed without consent of
-Parliament, he now sought to except the tonnage and poundage from this
-condition. He therefore, on the 26th of June, suddenly went to the House
-of Lords, and summoned the attendance of the Commons. The action had
-been so impromptu, that the Lords had no notice of it, and neither he
-nor they had time to robe themselves, when the Commons at nine o'clock
-in the morning made their appearance. All unrobed as he was, Charles
-seated himself on the throne, and lectured the Commons on their already
-beginning to put false constructions on his passing the Petition of
-Right. "As for the tonnage and poundage, it is a thing I cannot want,
-and was never intended by you to ask, nor meant by me, I am sure, to
-grant." And he called on them, but more especially the Lords, who were
-the judges, to take notice of what he declared his meaning to be when he
-granted the Petition.
-
-The mischief had been done by former Parliaments granting this impost,
-now called customs duties, for life; and though Parliament had never
-altogether surrendered the power of voting it, nor had voted it for
-life to Charles, he had come to consider it as merged into a matter of
-prerogative, and not to be affected by his general concession just made.
-The Commons, however, meant nothing less than that this, as well as
-every other grant of taxes on the subject, should be void without their
-assent. Here, therefore, as so often afterwards, they found themselves
-just where they were with the king as matter of dispute, though they
-had settled the question as matter of right. No man was ever so hard as
-Charles I. to be made to see what he did not like. He therefore gave
-his assent to the subsidies, and prorogued the Parliament till October;
-and, as if to mark how far he was from intending to submit to what he
-had thus so solemnly in the face of the whole nation bound himself to,
-he proceeded to reward the men who had so shamefully advocated absolute
-power in him. He made bishops of both Montague and Mainwaring, and
-promoted Sibthorpe to coveted livings.
-
-The king's attention was soon drawn from the battle with the Commons
-to the demands of the unfortunate people of La Rochelle upon him. He
-had solemnly pledged his honour to assist them, and they now sorely
-needed it. Since Buckingham left them to their fate, La Rochelle had
-been invested by the French army under the king and Richelieu, and the
-besieged loudly called on the King of England to succour them according
-to his promise. The Earl of Denbigh was despatched thither with a
-numerous fleet, yet had done nothing; but having shown himself before
-the town for seven days, returned, to the great mortification of the
-Rochellais. Denbigh had been raised to his rank and title simply for
-marrying a sister of Buckingham's, and the people murmured loudly at the
-fleet being put into such incompetent hands. The hatred of the duke rose
-higher and higher, and on the same day that he was pronounced by the
-Commons the cause of all these national calamities, his physician, Dr.
-Lambe, was murdered by a mob in London, and a placard was affixed on the
-walls in these words:--"Who rules the kingdom?--The king. Who rules the
-king?--The duke. Who rules the duke?--The devil. Let the duke look to it,
-or he will be served as his doctor was served." A doggerel rhyme was in
-the mouths of the common people:--
-
-    "Let Charles and George do what they can,
-    The duke shall die like Dr. Lambe."
-
-The king was extremely concerned when the placard was shown him, and
-added double guard at night; but the duke treated the whole with
-contempt, and prepared to proceed himself with the fleet to relieve La
-Rochelle. Charles went with him to Deptford to see the ships, and is
-reported to have said to Buckingham on beholding them, "George, there are
-those who wish that both these and thou may perish; but we will both
-perish together, if thou dost." Buckingham proceeded to Portsmouth, where
-he was to embark. Clarendon relates that the ghost of Buckingham's father
-had appeared to an officer of the king's wardrobe three times, urging
-him to go to his son and warn him to do something to abate the hatred
-of the people, or that he would not be allowed to live long. Since the
-demonstrations in London, it needed no ghost to show his danger. But he
-was never gayer than on the eve of the verification of the omens and the
-menaces.
-
-The duke, on the 23rd of August, rose in high spirits, even dancing in
-his gaiety, and went to breakfast with a great number of his officers.
-Whilst he was at breakfast, M. Soubise, the envoy of the people of La
-Rochelle, went to him, and was seen in earnest private conversation.
-It is supposed that Soubise had come to the knowledge of certain
-negotiations between England and France, in which, though both monarchs
-showed every tendency to listen to an accommodation, neither had yet
-ventured to propose it; but that it was the object of Buckingham rather
-to treat than to fight when he got to La Rochelle. At that very moment
-Mr. Secretary Carleton had arrived from the king with instructions to
-Buckingham to open by some means a communication with Richelieu, and
-thus, as it were, accidentally to bring about a treaty. Probably Soubise
-had acquired hints of these things, for both he and many other Frenchmen
-about Buckingham appeared greatly discontented, and vociferated and
-gesticulated energetically. The duke, it is said, had been endeavouring
-to persuade Soubise that La Rochelle was already relieved, which he was
-too well informed to credit.
-
-The duke now prepared to go out to his carriage, which was waiting at
-the door, and as he went through the hall, still followed by the French
-gentlemen, Colonel Friar whispered something in his ear. He turned to
-listen, and at the same moment a knife was plunged into his heart, and
-there left sticking. Plucking it out, with the word "Villain!" he fell,
-covered with blood. His servants, who caught him as he was falling,
-thought it was a stroke of apoplexy, but the blood, both from the wound
-and his mouth, quickly undeceived them. Then an alarm was raised; some
-ran to close the gates, and others rushed forth to spread the news. The
-Duchess of Buckingham and her sister, the Countess of Anglesea, heard the
-noise in their chamber, and ran into the gallery of the lobby, where
-they saw the duke lying in his gore. He was only in his six-and-thirtieth
-year.
-
-The first suspicion fell upon the French, and they were in great danger
-from the duke's people; but when a number of officers came rushing in,
-crying out, "Where is the villain? Where is the butcher?" a man stepped
-calmly forward, saying, "I am the man--here I am!" He had quietly
-withdrawn into the kitchen as soon as he had done the deed, and might
-have escaped had he so willed. On hearing him avow the murder the
-officers drew their swords, and would have despatched him, but were
-prevented by the Secretary Carleton, Sir Thomas Morton, and others, who
-stood guard over him till a detachment of soldiers arrived and conveyed
-him to the Governor's house.
-
-The assassin turned out to be John Felton, a gentleman by birth and
-education, who had been a lieutenant in the army during the expedition
-to the Isle of Rhe. He had thrown up his commission because he could not
-obtain the arrears of his pay, and had seen another at the same time
-promoted over his head. He had, therefore, most likely, a personal grudge
-against the duke, but had also been led on by religious fanaticism. He
-was a stout, dark, military-looking man, from Suffolk; but according
-to his own account, was first excited to the deed by reading the
-remonstrance of the Parliament against the duke, when it seemed to him
-that that remonstrance was a sufficient warrant for the act, and that
-by ridding the country of him he should render a real service to it.
-He described himself as walking in London on Tower Hill, when he saw a
-broad hunting-knife on a cutler's stall, and that it was suggested to him
-instantly to buy it for this purpose.
-
-At Portsmouth one of the royal chaplains was sent to him in his dungeon,
-where he lay heavily ironed; but Felton, supposing the chaplain sent to
-draw something from him, rather than for his consolation, said, "Sir,
-I shall be brief with you; I killed him for the cause of God and my
-country!" The chaplain, to mislead him, told him what was not true, that
-the surgeons gave hopes of his life; but Felton promptly replied, "That
-is impossible! I had the power of forty men, assisted by Him who guided
-my hand." On being removed to London, the people crowded to see him,
-showering blessings on him as the deliverer of his country; and one old
-woman at Kingston said, "Now, God bless thee, little David!" meaning that
-he had killed Goliath. Felton was lodged in the Tower, and threatened
-with the rack to make him confess his accomplices, but he steadfastly
-replied that he had no accomplices or abettors but the remonstrance
-of the Commons. The Earl of Dorset went to see him, accompanied, as
-reported, by Laud, and menaced him with the rack if he would not reveal
-his colleagues. Felton replied, "I am ready, but I must tell you that
-I will then accuse you my lord of Dorset, and no one but you." Charles
-urged his being racked, but the judges, who saw better than he did the
-spirit that was abroad, refused to sanction it, declaring that torture,
-however used, had always been contrary to the law of England. Felton
-gloried in his deed, but at length, through the exertions of the clergy,
-came to confess that he had been misled by a bad spirit; yet it has been
-doubted whether he ever really abandoned inwardly the persuasion of
-having done a great and patriotic deed. When the Attorney-General on the
-trial lauded the virtues, the abilities, wisdom, and public services of
-Buckingham to the skies, Felton, on being asked what he had to say why
-judgment should not be passed on him, replied that if he had deprived his
-majesty of so faithful a servant as Mr. Attorney-General described, he
-was sorry, and extending his arm exclaimed, "This is the instrument that
-did the deed, let it be cut off for it!" He was hanged at Tyburn, and
-then gibbeted at Portsmouth, the scene of his crime.
-
-In place of the duke, the Earl of Lindsay was ordered to take command of
-the expedition for the relief of La Rochelle, and he was accompanied by
-Walter Montague, the second son of the Earl of Manchester, who was to
-open a negotiation with Richelieu. Montague was already a Catholic at
-heart, and afterwards became so avowedly, and was made commendatory Abbot
-of Pontoise, and a member of the Council of Anne of Austria. No doubt it
-was from this known tendency that he had been chosen for this mission.
-For five days the fleet manoeuvred before La Rochelle, and after two
-ineffectual, and probably rather pretended than actual, endeavours to
-force an entrance, returned to Spithead. Montague, meanwhile, had been
-introduced to Louis, had hurried back to London, and was on the point
-of returning, when the news came of the surrender of La Rochelle. This
-event put an end to the dreams of a Protestant State in France, and
-greatly consolidated the power of that country. To the Rochellais it was
-a terrible lesson against putting faith in English kings. When they were
-prevailed upon to surrender their peace and prosperity to the promises
-of protection and religious liberty, the town contained fifteen thousand
-souls; when they opened their gates to their own sovereign, they were
-reduced to four thousand. All this misery was the work of Charles and
-Buckingham.
-
-[Illustration: TYBURN IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.]
-
-This event had greatly grieved the Protestants in England, and it was
-whilst the public was brooding over these matters, and over fresh acts of
-arbitrary oppression in the Star Chamber and Court of High Commission, as
-well as by the continued levy of tonnage and poundage and other duties,
-that Charles called together Parliament. It had been prorogued to the
-20th of October, but met on the 20th of January, 1629. The king sent
-the Commons a message, desiring them to proceed to vote the tonnage and
-poundage without delay, this having been neglected by the Parliament
-in the last Session; but the House insisted on going first into the
-grievances. These were two-fold--such as related to the constitution, and
-such as affected the faith of the nation. Charles had not only persisted
-in the enforcement of revenue without Parliament, and dared to tamper
-even with the Petition of Rights after he had granted it, but had issued
-a new edition of the Articles of the Church, into which he had introduced
-a clause to suit the intentions of himself and his great ecclesiastical
-adviser, Laud. The Commons agreed to take the religious question first,
-declaring that the business of the kings of this earth should give place
-to the business of the King of Heaven.
-
-Popery and Arminianism were the things which the Puritans held in almost
-equal horror. In reference to Popery they inquired what was the reason
-that the laws regarding it were relaxed? and why out of ten individuals
-who had been arraigned for receiving ordination in the Church of Rome,
-only one had been condemned, and the execution of that one respited? Two
-Committees were appointed to inquire of the judges on what grounds they
-had refused to receive evidence tendered against the recusants at their
-trial, and of the Attorney-General by what authority he had discharged
-the persons in question, on their giving bail for their re-appearance.
-Every member was bound to give all the information to the House in his
-power regarding the relaxation of the penal laws, and all attempts or
-warrants to stay proceedings against the Papists.
-
-But the growth and favour of Arminianism in high places was the most
-absorbing subject of animadversion. Laud, now Bishop of London, was bent
-not only on introducing Arminianism to its fullest extent, but ceremonies
-and rites merging fast into Catholicism. Therefore the Puritans declared
-the heresy of Arminianism to be the spawn of Popery. Laud had notions of
-Church government as absolute as Charles had of civil government. All the
-promotions by him were of Arminian clergymen. Montague was become Bishop
-of Chichester, Mainwaring was a bishop, and all those who meant to get
-preferment saw plainly that they must profess Arminianism, and the love
-of gorgeous ceremonies and plenty of surplices.
-
-There were difficulties, however, for the Articles drawn up in 1562,
-under Elizabeth, stated:--"The Church hath power to decree rites and
-ceremonies, and hath authority in matters of faith." Mr. Pym called upon
-the House to take a covenant for the maintenance of their religious
-rites, which were in danger; and both he and others denounced the
-introduction of idolatrous ceremonies into the Church by Charles and
-others. Sir John Eliot protested vehemently against the introduction of
-the new clause into the Articles. He called on the House to enter not a
-mere resolution but a "vow" on its Journals against it, which was done;
-namely, "that the Commons of England claimed, professed, and avowed for
-truth, that sense of the Articles of Religion which were established in
-Parliament in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth, which by the public
-acts of the Church of England, and by the general and current exposition
-of the writers of that Church, had been declared unto them, and that they
-rejected the sense of the Jesuits, Arminians, and all others wherein they
-differed from it."
-
-The king sent the House a message, desiring them to leave matters of
-religion, and proceed to pass the vote for tonnage and poundage. This
-led to a sharp debate between the Court party and the Opposition. The
-courtiers lauded the goodness of the king, and the enlargement of their
-liberties which he had granted; but Mr. Coriton replied bluntly, "When
-men speak here of neglect of duty towards his majesty, let them know
-we know no such thing, nor what they mean. I see not how we neglect
-the same. I see it is all our heart's desire to expedite the Bill of
-tonnage and poundage in due time. Our business is still put back by their
-messages, and the business in hand is God's. And his majesty's things are
-certainly amiss, and every one sees it; but woe be unto us if we present
-not the same to his majesty!" On the 2nd of February the House, instead
-of the vote of tonnage and poundage, presented to the king "an apology"
-for delaying that Bill, and containing a complaint of his majesty's
-encroaching on the orders and privileges of their House by three messages
-in two days, urging them to change inconveniently the orders of their
-proceedings. Charles replied by a message through Secretary Coke that
-he was as zealous for the faith as they were, but must again think it
-strange that the business of religion should be an obstruction to his
-business. He once more desired them to pass the vote for the tonnage and
-poundage, adding one of his mischievous and most impolitic threats, of
-quickening them by other means if they did not.
-
-The House, resenting this ill-advised message, went on discussing the
-affairs of the Church. Mr. Kirton, who had in the last Session talked
-of cutting the throats of all traitorous Ministers, now declared Laud
-and Neale, Bishop of Winchester, to be at the bottom of all the troubles
-that were now come upon them and their religion. On the 11th of February,
-in the Committee on Religion, Oliver Cromwell made his first appearance
-as a speaker in that House, a circumstance of great mark, seeing what
-the honourable member afterwards grew into. He said, "He had heard
-by relation from one Dr. Beard that Dr. Alabaster had preached flat
-Popery at Paul's Cross, and that the Bishop of Winchester had commanded
-him, as his diocesan, that he should preach nothing to the contrary.
-Mainwaring, so justly censured in this House for his sermons, was by the
-same bishop's means preferred to a rich living. If these are the steps
-to Church preferment, what are we to expect?" Whereupon the Committee
-ordered Dr. Beard to be written to by Mr. Speaker, to come up and testify
-against the bishop; "the order for Dr. Beard to be delivered to Mr.
-Cromwell." After severe animadversions on Neale, who, Mr. Kirton said,
-had leaped through many bishoprics, but always left Popery behind him,
-the House passed to the consideration of the Petition of Right.
-
-Selden called the attention of the House to this subject, and showed
-that though Charles had promised that the Petition of Right should be
-printed, and that the king's printer had struck off fifteen hundred
-copies of that document, the king had sent for and destroyed them,
-and had then had printed and circulated another copy, from which the
-king's assent was removed, his first evasive answer restored, and his
-sophistical explanation at the close of the Session, that it did not
-apply to tonnage and poundage, introduced. This flagrant violation of
-his word and of all the forms of Parliament, struck the House with
-ominous doubts of ever binding the king by any law or by any principle.
-They summoned the king's printer to their bar, and demanded by what
-authority he had thus substituted a false for the true Petition. He
-replied that the day after the Session the Attorney-General had sent for
-him, and forbade him to publish the copy printed, as did also the Earl
-of Worcester, Lord Privy Seal; and that he was sent for again to Court,
-furnished with the new copy, and ordered to print and publish it in that
-form.
-
-The House was in the highest state of indignation and astonishment. Such
-a deliberate falsification of a document passed by the House and ratified
-by himself, branded the king as capable of any act of duplicity, and went
-to destroy all confidence in not merely his word but his most solemn
-legislative act. The chief speakers of the Commons expressed their horror
-and disgust at the deed in no measured terms. Selden exclaimed, "For this
-Petition of Right, we see how it has been invaded since our last meeting.
-Our liberties of life, person, and freehold have been invaded; men have
-been committed contrary to that Petition. No man ought to lose life or
-limb but by the law, and hath not one lately lost his ears by order of
-the Star Chamber? Next, they will take away our arms, and then our legs,
-and so our lives. Let all see we are sensible of this. Evil customs creep
-in upon us: let us make a just representation thereof to his majesty."
-
-The case of a merchant and member of the House, Mr. Rolles, was then
-related. His goods had been seized by the officers of the Customs for
-refusing to pay the rates demanded, though he told them that whatever was
-declared due by law, he would discharge. This case, amongst a multitude
-of others, threw the House into a great ferment. "They knew the party was
-a Parliament man," said Sir Robert Philips; "nay, they said if all the
-Parliament was with him, or concerned in the goods, they would seize them
-just the same."
-
-The king, perceiving the storm he had raised, sent word by Secretary
-Coke to stay further debate on that case till three o'clock the next
-day, when he would speak with both Houses at Whitehall. Accordingly,
-meeting them there, Charles, after complimenting the Lords at the expense
-of the Commons, then said, addressing the members of the Lower House,
-"The complaint of staying men's goods for tonnage and poundage may have
-a short and easy conclusion. By passing the Bill as my ancestors have
-had it, my past actions will be concluded, and my future proceedings
-authorised. I take not these duties as appertaining to my hereditary
-prerogative. It ever was, and still is, my meaning, by the gift of my
-subjects to enjoy the same. In my speech of last Session I did not
-challenge them as right, but showed you the necessity by which I was to
-take them, till you had granted them, assuring myself that you wanted
-only time, and not good will. So make good your professions, and put an
-end to all questions arising from the subject."
-
-These assertions were in direct contradiction to his declaration in that
-very speech which we have already quoted, that the tonnage and poundage
-was a thing that Parliament had nothing to do with. But the concession
-gratified the Commons; still they did not grant the Customs duties, but
-employed themselves strenuously in calling to account those who had been
-concerned in furthering or executing the king's illegal orders. They
-summoned to their bar Acton, the Sheriff of London, who had seized the
-goods of Rolles and other merchants, and sent him to the Tower. They
-summoned also the officers of the Customs who made the seizure, who
-pleaded the king's warrant, and also his own express command; and the
-king declared, through Secretary Coke, that he would defend them. This
-caused loud outcries in the House, but did not check their proceedings,
-for they sent messages to the Chancellor and Barons of the Exchequer, who
-excused themselves by saying all those aggrieved had their remedy at law.
-Thus they did not attempt to justify their proceedings.
-
-On the 25th of February, two days later than these determined
-inquisitions, showing that the Commons were assuming high and most
-ominous ground, the Committee of Religion presented to the House a
-report, entitled "Heads of Articles agreed upon, and to be insisted on by
-the House." In these they complained that the bishops licensed books in
-favour of Popery, and suppressed books opposed to Popery; that such books
-as those of Mainwaring and Montague should be burnt, and some better
-order taken for the licensing of books. They demanded that candlesticks
-should be removed from the communion-tables, which were now impiously
-styled high altars; that pictures, lights, images, should be taken away;
-and crossing and praying towards the East forbidden; that more learned,
-pious, and orthodox men should be put into livings, and that better
-provision should be made for a good minister in every parish.
-
-[Illustration: BROAD OF CHARLES I.]
-
-Again Charles sent them an order to adjourn to the 2nd of March,
-which they did, but only to assemble on that day in the same resolute
-and unbending spirit. Sir John Eliot immediately denounced Neale of
-Winchester, as a rank abettor of Arminianism, and thence passed on to
-the Lord Treasurer Weston, whom he declared to be his grand supporter
-in it. This Sir Richard Weston had been seeking his fortune at Court
-many years, and had nearly spent a private fortune of his own before he
-obtained any promotion. At last he got employed as ambassador to Archduke
-Albert in Flanders, and afterwards to the court of Germany, in which he
-discharged his trust so well that on his return he was made Chancellor of
-the Exchequer, and a few months before the death of Buckingham, Charles
-had removed the Earl of Marlborough from the office of Lord Treasurer,
-and given it to him. Weston was highly elated, and devoted himself with
-all his ardour to succeed to the place of favourite which Buckingham had
-held. But though Charles showed him much favour, and eventually made him
-Earl of Portland, he allowed Weston to succeed to the arbitrary offices
-and public odium of the duke, but not to the ascendency which Buckingham
-had possessed over him.
-
-[Illustration: THREE POUND PIECE OF CHARLES I.]
-
-Sir John Eliot now pointed out Weston's criminal subservience to the
-worst designs of the king. "In his person," he said, "all evil is
-concentrated, both for the innovation of religion, and the invasion of
-our liberties. He is now the great enemy of the Commonwealth. I have
-traced him in all his actions, and I find him building on those grounds
-laid by his master, the great duke. He secretly is moving for this
-interruption; and from this fear they go about to break Parliament, lest
-Parliament should break them."
-
-[Illustration: BRIOT SHILLING OF CHARLES I.]
-
-This was tender ground, and Sir John Finch the Speaker, who was a regular
-courtier, immediately said he had a command from his majesty to adjourn
-the House till the following Tuesday week. Several members declared the
-message to be vexatious and out of order, for that adjournment was a
-function of their own; but since the Speaker had delivered the message
-and that was sufficient, they would settle a few matters, and do as his
-majesty desired. Sir John Eliot produced a remonstrance addressed to
-the king against levying tonnage and poundage, and desired the Speaker
-to read it; but he refused, saying the House was adjourned by the king.
-Eliot then desired the Clerk of the House to read it, but he also
-refused, and so Sir John read it himself; but the Speaker refused to put
-it to the vote. Selden then told the Speaker that if he would not put
-the question to the vote, they would all continue sitting still. The
-Speaker, however, declared that he had his majesty's command immediately
-to rise when he had delivered the message; whereupon he was rising, but
-Holles, the son of the Earl of Clare, and Valentine, who had placed
-themselves on each side of him for the purpose, held him down in his
-chair. He made a great outcry and resistance: several of the courtiers
-rushed to his assistance, but Holles swore that he should sit as long as
-they pleased. The doors were locked, and there was a scuffle and blows,
-but the Opposition members compelled the Speaker to continue sitting,
-notwithstanding his struggles, tears, and entreaties.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN SELDEN. (_From the Portrait by the Elder Mytens._)]
-
-Selden delivered an address to the imprisoned Speaker on his duties and
-his obedience owed to the House which sat under the Great Seal, and had
-power of adjournment as the king had that of prorogation. Sir Peter
-Hayman told him that he blushed at being his kinsman, that he was a blot
-on his family, and would be held in scorn and contempt by posterity; and
-concluded by recommending that if he would not do his duty, he should be
-brought to the bar of the House, dismissed, and another chosen at once in
-his place. Mr. Holles proceeded to read the following set of resolutions,
-which were loudly cheered, and assented to by the House, namely:--1, That
-whoever shall seek to bring in Popery, Arminianism, or other opinions,
-disagreeing from the true and orthodox Church, shall be reputed a capital
-enemy to this kingdom and Commonwealth; 2, Whoever shall advise the
-taking of tonnage and poundage, not being granted by Parliament, or shall
-be an actor or instrument therein, shall be reputed a capital enemy to
-this kingdom and Parliament; 3, Whatever merchant or other person shall
-pay tonnage and poundage, not being granted by Parliament, shall be
-reputed a betrayer of the liberties of England, and an enemy to the same.
-
-Whilst these extraordinary scenes were acting, the king had come down to
-the House of Lords, but not finding the Speaker there as he expected,
-sent a messenger to bring away the sergeant with his mace, without which
-there could be no House. The doors were locked, and the messenger could
-get no admittance. Charles then sent the Usher of the Black Rod to summon
-the Commons to his presence, but he could no more obtain an entrance than
-the messenger. On hearing this, in a transport of rage, the king ordered
-the Captain of the Guard to break open the door; but this catastrophe
-was prevented by the House just then adjourning to the 10th of March,
-according to the king's message.
-
-On the 10th of March the king went to the House of Lords, and, without
-summoning the Commons, proceeded to dissolve Parliament. He then
-addressed the Lords, complaining grievously of the conduct of the
-Commons, which compelled him at that time to dissolve Parliament. He
-expressed much comfort in the Lords, and conceded that there were in
-the Commons many who were as dutiful and loyal subjects as any in the
-world, but that they had some "vipers" amongst them that created all this
-trouble. He intimated that these evil-disposed persons would meet with
-their rewards, and bade the Lord Keeper do as he had commanded. Then the
-Lord Keeper said, "My lords, and gentlemen of the Commons, the king's
-majesty doth dissolve this Parliament;" though the Commons, with the
-exception of a few individuals, were not there, nor represented by their
-Speaker.
-
-This question of the right of the Commons to determine their own
-adjournment, and to deny to the king the right of preventing the Speaker
-from putting any question from the Chair, was a vital one, and hitherto
-undetermined. If the king could at any moment adjourn the Commons as well
-as prorogue Parliament altogether, and could decide what topics should
-be entertained by the House, there was an end of the existence of the
-Commons as an independent branch of the Legislature: it sunk at once into
-the mere creature of the Crown. There was a great battle for this as for
-other popular rights, and the determined conduct of the members showed
-that things were coming fast to a crisis. But at this moment Charles
-was as resolved to conquer the Parliament, as Parliament was not to be
-conquered.
-
-No sooner did this unprecedented scene with the Speaker take place, than
-he adopted measures to punish those most prominently concerned in it.
-The compulsory detention of the Speaker took place on the 2nd of March;
-on the 5th he issued warrants to arrest the "vipers"--Eliot, Selden,
-Holles, Valentine, Hobart, Hayman, Coriton, Long, and Stroud--and commit
-them to the Tower or other prisons. Stroud and Long were not immediately
-caught, but on the issue of a proclamation for their apprehension they
-surrendered. The houses of Eliot, Holles, Selden, Long, and Valentine
-were forcibly entered, their desks broken open, and their papers seized.
-On the first day of Michaelmas term they were brought into court, and
-ordered to find bail, and also to give security for their good behaviour.
-They were all ready to give bail, but all positively refused to give
-security for good behaviour, as that implied the commission of some
-crime, which they denied. They were then put upon their trial, but
-excepted to the jurisdiction of the court, being amenable only to their
-own high court of Parliament for what was done therein. But they were
-told that their conduct had not been parliamentary, and that the common
-law could deal with all offences there by word or deed, as well as
-anywhere else. This was another attack on the privileges of Parliament,
-which, if allowed, would have finished its independence; and these were
-not the men to surrender any of the outworks and defences of Parliament.
-They were then sentenced as follows:--Sir John Eliot to be imprisoned
-in the Tower, the others in other prisons at the king's pleasure. None
-of them were to be delivered out of prison till they had given security
-for their good behaviour, acknowledged their offence, and paid the
-following fines:--Sir John Eliot, as the ring-leader and chief offender,
-two thousand pounds; Holles, one thousand marks; Valentine, five hundred
-pounds. Long was not included in this trial, but was prosecuted in the
-Star Chamber, on the plea that he had no business in Parliament, being
-pricked for sheriff of his county, and by his oath was bound to have been
-there. He was fined one thousand marks. This, however, deceived nobody:
-every one knew that the offence for which he suffered was for his conduct
-in Parliament. The prisoners lay in gaol for eighteen months. Sir John
-Eliot never came out again. His noble conduct had made deadly enemies
-of the king and his courtiers, and even when he was dying, in 1632,
-after three years' confinement, they rejoiced in his melancholy fate and
-refused all petitions for his release.
-
-Charles called no more Parliaments till 1640, but went on for eleven
-years fighting his way towards the block, through the most maniacal
-attempts on the constitution and temper of the nation. Laud was in the
-ascendant, and Wentworth, lately a member of the Opposition, who had
-now changed sides from motives that it would be absurd not to call
-conscientious, gave his great talents to the Court party. Laud was as
-much a stickler for the power of the Church as Charles was of the State;
-their views coincided, and Charles, Laud, and Wentworth, worked shoulder
-to shoulder in governing without a Parliament. They invented a cant term
-between them to express what they aimed at, and the means by which they
-pursued it. It was "Thorough."
-
-Laud had introduced a passage into the ceremonial even of the coronation,
-which astonished the hearers, and showed even then that he aimed at an
-ecclesiastical despotism: "Stand and hold fast from henceforth the place
-to which you have been heir by the succession of your forefathers, being
-now delivered to you by the authority of God Almighty, and by the hands
-of us all, and all the bishops and servants of God. And as you see the
-clergy to come nearer the altar than others, so remember that, in all
-places convenient, you give them greater honour," etc. This haughty
-prelate now promulgated such absolute doctrines of divine right of king
-and priest, and began to run in ceremonies and Church splendour so fast
-towards actual Popery, that the daughter of the Earl of Devonshire being
-asked by him why she had turned Catholic replied, "Because I hate to
-travel in a crowd. I perceive your Grace and many others are making haste
-to Rome, and therefore, in order to prevent being crowded, I have gone
-before you."
-
-Under this undaunted leader, the pulpits now resounded with the most
-flaming advocacy of divine right. A pamphlet was discovered by the
-Reformers, which had been written for King James, and was now printed,
-urging the king to do as Louis XI. of France had done--dispense with
-Parliaments altogether, and secure his predominance by a standing army.
-The queen's advice was precisely of this character: often crying up the
-infinite superiority of the kings of her own country and family, whom
-she styled real kings, while the English were only sham ones. But though
-Charles was greatly soothed by these doctrines, and strengthened in his
-resolve to trouble himself no more with Parliaments, he was careful to
-strengthen his Government by inducing as many of the ablest men of the
-Opposition as he could to join him. The first with whom he succeeded were
-Wentworth and Sir John Savile. They were both from Yorkshire, and both
-men of considerable property. Savile had been persuaded by Cottington the
-Lord Chancellor, to desert his patriotic friends and professions at the
-close of the second Parliament for a place in the Privy Council and the
-office of Comptroller of the Household.
-
-Sir Thomas Wentworth was a much more considerable man. He claimed
-to be descended from the royal line of the Plantagenets, and had no
-superior in ability in the House. The position which he had assumed
-in the Parliamentary resistance to the royal encroachments had been
-uncompromising and most effective. So much were his eloquence and
-influence dreaded, that he had been, amongst others, appointed sheriff to
-keep him out of the House. For his continual opposition he was deprived
-of the office of Custos Rotulorum and thrown into prison. Yet, when
-tempted by the offer of rank and power, he fell suddenly, utterly, and
-hopelessly, and became one of the most unflinching advocates and actors
-of absolutism that ever lived. On the 21st of July, 1628, Savile was
-created a baron, and on the morrow Wentworth was raised to the same
-dignity, as Baron Wentworth; and before the end of the year he was made
-a viscount and Lord President of the Council of the North. From the
-moment that Wentworth put his hand to the plough of despotism he never
-looked back. He became as prominent and as resolute in the destruction of
-liberty and the prosecution of his former colleagues as he had been for
-its advancement and for their friendship.
-
-The contagion of this conversion spread. Sir Dudley Digges had taken
-a conspicuous part in the contests which we have described, and had
-distinguished himself by his abilities in debate, sufficient to render
-him worth purchasing. His colleagues had long felt, notwithstanding his
-zeal, that he would not be proof to temptation. He was offered the post
-of Master of the Rolls, and he at once accepted it. Noye and Littleton,
-both lawyers, were as ready to advocate despotism as liberty, and the
-offer of the Attorney-Generalship to Noye, and the Solicitor-Generalship
-to Littleton, convinced them instantly that the Court was right, and
-their old cause and companions were wrong. They testified their capacity
-for seeing both sides of an argument, by persecuting their old opinions
-and associates with the red hot zeal of proselytes.
-
-The rest of Charles's ministers were the Lord Keeper Coventry, who,
-though he appeared on several occasions as the instrument of Charles's
-arbitrary measures, was thought not to approve very much of them, and
-who therefore kept himself as much as possible from mixing in political
-matters. The Earls of Holland and Carlisle, the pusillanimous Earl of
-Montgomery, his brother the Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl of Dorset
-were rather men of pleasure than of business, and attended the Council
-without caring for office. The Earl of Arundel was Earl Marshal, a proud
-and empty man, whom Clarendon the historian describes as living much
-abroad, because the manners of foreign nations suited him better than
-his own, and who "resorted sometimes to Court, because there only was a
-greater man than himself, and went thither the seldomer because there
-was a greater man than himself." He was careless of pleasing favourites,
-and was therefore almost always in disgrace. Lord Weston, already
-mentioned, was Lord Treasurer, and the Earl of Manchester Privy Seal.
-Weston was an able lawyer, who succeeded Coke as Lord Chief Justice,
-and then purchased the office of Lord Treasurer for twenty thousand
-pounds, only to have it wrested from him again by Buckingham in about
-twelve months; but he was courtier enough to suppress his resentment,
-and had now again ascended to his present office, in which he was a very
-pliant servant of the king. Besides these, Sir John Coke or Cooke, and
-Sir Dudley Carleton, were Secretaries of State. Carleton had spent too
-much time in foreign embassies to understand well the state of parties
-at home, but he understood the will of the king, and took good care to
-obey and promote it. Coke was "of narrow education, and narrower nature,"
-says Clarendon, who adds that "his cardinal perfection was industry,
-his most eminent infirmity covetousness." He knew as little of foreign
-relations as Carleton did of domestic ones; but their office was one of
-far less rank and importance than such office is now, their real business
-being to enter the minutes and write the despatches of the Council, not
-to participate in its discussions. Such were the instruments by which
-Charles trusted to render Parliaments superfluous. By their aid, but far
-more so by that of Laud and Wentworth, he soon raised the nation to a
-state of exasperation, which was only appeased by the blood of all three.
-
-During the violent transactions with his Parliament at home, Charles
-had made peace with France. In fact, neither France nor Spain had shown
-a disposition to prosecute the disputes which the King of England had
-entered into with them. Louis sent home the prisoners he had taken in the
-La Rochelle expedition, under the name of a present to his sister, and
-Philip also released those who had been captured at Cadiz. Buckingham had
-been at the bottom of both wars, and now that he was gone all differences
-were soon arranged. Louis of France made a demand for the restoration
-of a man-of-war, the _St. Esprit_, which had been illegally captured by
-Sir Sackville Trevor; but he gave up the claim, and Charles was not very
-importunate in his demands of protection for the French Protestants.
-Richelieu, however, treated them far better than Charles treated the
-Puritans in England. He took measures to prevent the possibility of
-another coalition, by destroying the castles of the nobles and the
-fortifications of the towns, prohibited the convention of deputies from
-the churches, and abolished the military organisation of the Huguenots in
-the South of France; but he left them the exercise of their worship, and
-attached no disability to a profession of it. This peace was concluded in
-the spring of 1629, and in the following year that with Spain was also
-accomplished. The Queen Henrietta was violently opposed to this peace
-with Spain, because France was still at war with that country and the
-kindred House of Austria. When she found that she could not prevail on
-Charles, she is said to have shed tears of vexation.
-
-It is curious that the first overtures to this peace were made through
-two Flemish painters; the celebrated Sir Peter Paul Rubens, and Gerbier,
-a native of Antwerp, who had been Master of the Horse to Buckingham.
-Cottington was despatched to Spain, in spite of the strenuous endeavours
-of the queen and the French ambassador; and in November, 1630, Coloma
-arrived as ambassador from Madrid. Philip accepted the same terms as
-were proposed in 1604, pledging himself to restore such parts of the
-Palsgrave's territory as were occupied by the troops of Spain--no very
-important extent--and never to cease his endeavours to procure from the
-Emperor the restitution of the whole. In consideration of this, Charles
-once more agreed to that mysterious treaty against Holland which had
-been in negotiation during the visit of Charles and Buckingham to Spain.
-This was no other than to assist Philip to regain possession of the seven
-United States of the Netherlands, which had cost Elizabeth so much to aid
-in the establishment of their independence, and which had always been, as
-Protestant States, so much regarded by the English public; with which a
-great trade was, moreover, carried on. The knowledge of such a piece of
-treachery on the part of Charles would have excited a terrible commotion
-amongst the people. For his share of the booty he was to receive a
-certain portion of the provinces, including the Island of Zealand.
-Luckily for the king, his treason to Protestantism remained a profound
-secret, and at length himself perceiving the difficulties and dilemmas
-in which it would involve him, after Olivarez and Cottington had signed
-the treaty he withheld his ratification. By this prudent act, however, he
-forfeited all right to demand from Philip aid in regaining the patrimony
-of the Prince Palatine.
-
-[Illustration: SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: THE SPEAKER COERCED. (_See
-p._ 541.)]
-
-Whether prudence, a rare virtue in Charles, or other more congenial
-motives, determined him in withdrawing from the compact with Spain
-regarding Holland is doubtful, for in the very next year he was found
-busily engaged with the Catholic States of Flanders and Brabant in a
-project to drive thence his new ally Philip of Spain. France and Holland
-were equally eager to assist in this design; but the people of Flanders
-were suspicious of them, dreading to find in such powerful allies only
-fresh masters. They therefore applied to the King of England, and a
-correspondence took place in which Secretary Coke was at great pains to
-show how much more to the advantage of the people of Flanders and Brabant
-would be the alliance of England, than that of the ambitious French, or
-of the Calvinistic farmers of Holland. In religion Coke was zealous to
-prove that the Catholic and Anglican Churches were almost identical;
-but his efforts ended, not in offering support in the coming struggle,
-but in promising to protect them against everyone except the King of
-Spain. Charles having recently made peace with the Spanish sovereign,
-"it would be against honour and conscience to debauch his subjects from
-their allegiance." But if what Coke proposed were not that very fact
-of tampering with them, it would be difficult to imagine what could be;
-and, moreover, it was just the King of Spain against whom they required
-protection. Coke advised them to declare their independence, and then the
-King of England, he told them, could help them as an independent State;
-and Philip would not then have cause of offence from Charles, but ought
-rather to be obliged to him for endeavouring to prevent the States from
-falling into the hands of France, or some other of his powerful enemies.
-This duplicity, however, was not by any means encouraging to revolt, and
-in the meantime Philip, learning what was going on, settled the question
-by sending into the Provinces an overwhelming force of soldiers.
-
-But the war which ought to have excited the deepest interest in Charles
-as a Protestant prince, and as the brother-in-law of the Protestant
-Prince Palatine, was the great war--since called the Thirty Years'
-War--which was raging in Germany. It was a war expressly of Catholicism
-for the utter extirpation of Protestantism. The resistance had begun
-in Bohemia: the Protestants had invited Frederick of the Palatinate to
-become their king and defend them against the power of Austria and the
-exterminating Catholic emperor. We have seen that Frederick had, without
-weighing the hazards of the enterprise sufficiently, accepted the crown,
-lost it immediately, together with his hereditary dominions; and that
-all the efforts of England, Denmark, and of an allied host in Germany,
-had failed to make head against Austria, Spain, and Bavaria. Germany was
-overrun with the victorious troops of Austria, led on by the ruthless
-and victorious Generals Wallenstein, Piccolomini, Tilly, and Pappenheim.
-Horrible desolation had followed the march of their armies all over
-Germany; the most important of its cities were sacked or plundered; its
-fields were laid waste; its cultivation was stopped; its people were
-destroyed or starving; and, with the exception of Saxony and Bavaria, the
-power of the princes was prostrated, and they were thoroughly divided
-amongst themselves, and therefore the more readily trodden upon by their
-oppressors.
-
-But at this moment relief came out of an unexpected quarter. Christian
-IV. of Denmark had attempted a diversion in favour of the German
-Protestant princes, and had not only been repulsed, but had drawn the
-Austrian generals into his own kingdom with fire and sword. But in
-Sweden had risen up a king, able, pious, earnestly desirous of the
-restoration of Protestantism, and qualified by long military experience,
-though yet a young man, to cope with any general of the age. Gustavus
-Adolphus had mounted the Swedish throne at the age of eighteen, and was
-now only seven-and-thirty; yet he had already maintained a seventeen
-years' war against Poland, backed by the power of Austria. But now an
-armistice of six years was settled with Poland. Wallenstein, the ablest
-general of Austria, had been removed from the command, in consequence
-of the universal outcry of the German princes, in an Imperial Council
-at Ratisbon, against his cruelties and exactions; and the far-seeing
-Richelieu, who was attacking the Spaniards in Italy and the Netherlands,
-perceiving the immense advantage of such division in Germany, had offered
-to make an alliance with the Swede.
-
-On the 23rd of June, 1630, Gustavus embarked fifteen thousand of his
-veteran troops, and crossed into Pomerania. On the 17th of September
-the Swedish king gave battle to Tilly and Pappenheim before Leipsic,
-and routed them with great slaughter. This turned the scale of war:
-the cowed German princes once more raised their heads and entered into
-league with Gustavus, who soon drove the Austrians from the larger part
-of the country, took Hanau and Frankfort-on-the-Main, when Frederick
-the Palsgrave joined him, hoping to be established by Gustavus in his
-patrimony. But the brave Swedish king, who was highly incensed against
-Charles for not joining at his earnest entreaty in this enterprise, in
-which he himself was hazarding life, crown, and everything, of putting
-down the Catholic intolerance, and placing a Protestant emperor on the
-throne, though he received the Palsgrave kindly, gave him no immediate
-hope of restoration. The English ambassador was there, pressing this
-vehemently on Gustavus; but the Swede told him he regarded him only as
-a Spaniard in disguise, and said bluntly, "Let the King of England make
-a league with me against Spain. Let him send me twelve thousand men, to
-be maintained at his own cost, and which shall be placed entirely at my
-command, and I will engage to compel from both Spain and Bavaria full
-restoration of the Palsgrave's rights."
-
-Gustavus was perfectly right. Had Charles dealt honourably and wisely
-with his Parliament and people, and husbanded his resources, here was the
-great opportunity to have re-established his sister and brother-in-law,
-and have had a glorious share in the victory of Protestantism on the
-Continent. Gustavus recovered Darmstadt, Oppenheim, and Mainz, and
-then took up his winter quarters. Meanwhile, the Saxon field-marshal,
-Von Arnim, invaded Bohemia and took Prague; whilst the Landgrave of
-Hesse-Cassel, and Duke Bernhard of Weimar, defeated several bodies of
-Tilly's troops in Westphalia and the Upper Rhine lands.
-
-This sweeping reverse compelled the Emperor to recall Wallenstein to
-the chief command. Assembling forty thousand men at Znaim in Bohemia,
-he marched on Prague, and drove the Saxons not only thence but out of
-Bohemia altogether. Meanwhile Gustavus, issuing from his winter quarters
-on the Rhine, directed his course to Nuremberg, and so to Donauwoerth,
-and at Rain on the Lech fought with Tilly and the Duke of Bavaria. Tilly
-was killed (April 30, 1632); and Gustavus advanced and took Augsburg in
-April, Munich on the 27th of May, and after in vain attacking Wallenstein
-before Nuremberg, he encountered him at Luetzen, in Saxony, and beat
-him, but fell himself in the hour of victory (November 16, 1632). He
-had, however, saved Protestantism. Wallenstein lost favour after his
-defeat, was suspected by the emperor, and finally assassinated by his own
-officers (February 25, 1634). The generals of Gustavus, under the orders
-of Gustavus's great Minister Oxenstierna, continued the contest, and
-enabled the German Protestant princes to establish their power and the
-exercise of their religion, at the peace of Westphalia in 1648.
-
-Charles, shamed into some degree of co-operation, had despatched the
-Marquis of Hamilton with six thousand men to the assistance of Gustavus;
-but the whole affair was so badly managed, the commissariat and general
-care of the men were so miserable, that the little army speedily became
-decimated by disease and was of no service. Hamilton returned home,
-and the remains of his forces under the command of the Prince Charles
-Louis, son of the Elector Frederick, were routed in Westphalia. Frederick
-himself, deprived of all hope by the fall of Gustavus, only survived him
-about a fortnight; and thus ended the dream of the restoration of the
-Palatinate.
-
-At home Charles had determined to rule without a Parliament, but this
-necessarily drove him upon all those means of raising an income which
-Parliament had protested against, and which must, therefore, continue to
-exasperate the people. Between the dissolution of the Parliament in 1629,
-and the summons of another in 1640, these proceedings had apparently
-advanced the cause of despotism, but in reality they promoted the cause
-of liberty; the nation had been scourged into a temper which left no
-means but the sword of appeasing it. The first unceremonious violation
-of his pledge to the public conveyed in the granting of the Petition of
-Right was levying as unscrupulously as ever the duties of tonnage and
-poundage; and the goods of all such as refused the illegal payment were
-immediately distrained upon and sold.
-
-The king next appointed a Committee to inquire into the encroachments on
-the royal forests, a legitimate and laudable object if conducted in a
-spirit of fairness and liberality. In every age gross encroachments have
-been made on these Crown lands, and especially in the reckless reign of
-James. But it would seem that the Commissioners proceeded in an arbitrary
-spirit, and, relying on the power of the Crown, often ruined those who
-resisted their decisions by the costs of law. The Earl of Holland--a
-noted creature of the king's--was made head of this Commission, and
-presided in a court established for the purpose. Under its operations
-vast tracts were recovered to the Crown, and heavy fines for trespasses
-levied. Rockingham Forest was enlarged from a circuit of six miles to one
-of sixty, and the Earl of Southampton was nearly ruined by the king's
-resumption of a large estate adjoining the New Forest. Even where these
-recoveries were made with right, they exasperated the aristocracy, who
-had been the chief encroachers, and injured the king in their goodwill.
-Clarendon says, "To recompense the damage the Crown sustained by the
-sale of old lands, and by the grant of new pensions, the old laws of
-the forest are revived; by which not only great fines are imposed, but
-great annual rents intended, and like to be settled by way of contract,
-which burden lighted most upon persons of quality and honour, who thought
-themselves above ordinary oppressions, and therefore like to remember it
-with more sharpness."
-
-Besides the tonnage and poundage, obsolete laws were revived, and other
-duties imposed on merchants' goods; and all who resisted were prosecuted,
-fined, and imprisoned. But a still more plausible scheme was hit upon
-for extorting money. The old feudal practice, introduced by Henry III.
-and Edward I., of compelling persons holding lands under the Crown worth
-twenty pounds per annum, to receive knighthood, or to compound by a fine,
-had been enforced by Elizabeth and James, and was not likely to be passed
-over in this general inquisition after the means of income independent of
-Parliament. All landed proprietors worth forty pounds a year were called
-on to accept the title of knight and pay the fees, or were fined, and
-in default of payment thrown into prison. "By this ill-husbandry," says
-Clarendon, "which, though it was founded in right, was most grievous from
-the mode of proceeding, vast sums were drawn from the subject. And no
-less unjust projects of all kinds--many ridiculous, many scandalous, all
-very grievous--were set on foot, the damage and reproach of which came to
-the king, the profit to other men; inasmuch as of twenty thousand pounds
-a year, scarcely one thousand five hundred pounds came to the king's use
-or account."
-
-A great commotion was raised by the king depriving many freeholders
-arbitrarily of their lands to enlarge Richmond Park, and he saw the
-necessity of making some compensation.
-
-Another mode of raising money was by undoing in a great measure what the
-Parliament had done by abolishing monopolies. True, Charles took care not
-to grant these monopolies to individuals, but to companies; but this,
-whilst it arrested the odium of seeing them in the hands of courtiers and
-favourites, increased their mischief by augmenting the number and power
-of the oppressors. These companies were enabled to dictate to the public
-the price of the articles included in their patent, and restrain at their
-pleasure their manufacture or sale. One of the most flagrant cases was
-that of the Company of Soap-boilers, who purchased a monopoly of the
-manufacture of soap for ten thousand pounds, and a duty of eight pounds
-per ton on all the soap they made. The scheme was that of the renegade
-Noye; and all who presumed to make soap for themselves, regardless of the
-monopoly, were fined, the company being authorised to search the premises
-of all soap-boilers, seize any made without a licence, and prosecute the
-offender in the Star Chamber. There was a similar monopoly granted to
-starch-makers.
-
-King James had formed the idea that London was become too large, and that
-its size was the cause of the prevalence of the plague and contagious
-fevers. He had not penetrated the fact that the real cause lay in the
-want of drainage and cleanliness, and he issued repeated proclamations
-forbidding any more building of houses in the Metropolis. The judges
-declared the proclamations illegal, and building went on as fast as
-ever. Here was a splendid opportunity for putting on the screw. Charles
-therefore appointed a Commission to inquire into the extent of building
-done in defiance of his father's orders. Such persons who were willing to
-compound for their offences, got off by paying a fine amounting to three
-years' rental of the premises. Those who refused, pleaded in vain the
-decision of the judges, for Charles had a court independent of all judges
-but himself, namely, the Star Chamber; and those who escaped this fell
-into another inquisition as detestable--the Court of the Earl Marshal.
-Sturdy resisters, therefore, had their houses actually demolished, and
-were then fleeced in those infamous courts to complete their ruin. A
-Mr. Moore had erected forty-two houses of an expensive class, with
-coach-houses and stables, near St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. He was fined
-one thousand pounds, and ordered to pull them down before Easter, under
-penalty of another thousand pounds, but refusing, the sheriffs demolished
-the houses, and levied the money by distress. This terrified others, who
-submitted to a composition, and by these iniquitous means one hundred
-thousand pounds were brought into the Treasury.
-
-Simultaneously with these proceedings, Laud, Bishop of London, pursued
-the same course in the Church. He had long been the most abject flatterer
-of the royal power, and now, supported by Wentworth, went on boldly to
-reduce all England to the most complete slavery to Church and State. He
-was supposed to have the intention of restoring the Papal power; but such
-was far from his design. Neither Laud nor Charles dreamt for a moment
-of returning to the union with Rome, for the simple reason that they
-loved too well themselves the enjoyment of absolute power. Like Henry
-VIII., they could tolerate no Pope but one disguised under the name of
-an English king. Never did the Church more egregiously deceive itself
-than by suspecting Laud or Charles of any design to put on again the yoke
-of the Roman Pontiff. That spiritual potentate, deluded by such empty
-imagination, offered Laud a cardinal's hat, which was rejected with scorn.
-
-On the 29th of May, 1630, the queen gave birth to a son, afterwards
-Charles II., who was baptised on the 2nd of July, the ceremony being
-performed by Laud, who composed a prayer for the occasion.
-
-Charles had issued a proclamation forbidding any one to introduce into
-the pulpit any remarks bearing on the great Arminian controversy which
-was raging in the kingdom--Laud and his party in the Church on one side,
-the zealous Puritans on the other. Both sides were summoned with an air
-of impartiality into the Star Chamber or High Commission Court, but came
-out with this difference--that the orthodox divines generally confessed
-their fault, and were dismissed with a reprimand; but the Puritan
-ministers could not bend in that manner and sacrifice conscience to fear,
-so they were fined, imprisoned, and deprived without mercy. Davenant
-(Bishop of Salisbury), Dr. Burgess, Dr. Prideaux, Dr. Hall (Bishop of
-Norwich, whose poetry and liberality of spirit will long be held in
-honourable remembrance), and many others, were harassed because they did
-not preach exactly to the mind of Charles and Laud; but the treatment
-of Dr. Alexander Leighton, a Scottish Puritan preacher, was brutality
-itself. He had published a pamphlet called "An Appeal to Parliament, or
-Zion's Plea against Prelacy." It attracted the notice of the Government,
-which in June, 1630, had him dragged before the Star Chamber, where
-he was condemned to the following horrible punishment, than which the
-records of the Inquisition preserve nothing more infernal:--That he
-should be imprisoned for life, should pay a fine of ten thousand pounds,
-be degraded from his ministry, whipped, set in the pillory, have one
-of his ears cut off, one side of his nose slit, and be branded on the
-forehead with a double S.S., as a "sower of sedition." He was then to
-be carried back to prison, and after a few days to be pilloried again,
-whipped, have the other side of his nose slit, the other ear cut off, and
-shut up in his dungeon, to be released only by death.
-
-[Illustration: INTERIOR OF OLD ST. PAUL'S.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. (_continued_).
-
-     Visit of Charles to Scotland--Laud and the Papal See--His
-     Ecclesiastical Measures--Punishment of Prynne, Bastwick, and
-     Burton--Disgrace of Williams--Ship-money--Resistance of John
-     Hampden--Wentworth in the North--Recall of Falkland from
-     Ireland--Wentworth's Measures--Inquiry into Titles--Prelacy
-     Riots in Edinburgh--Jenny Geddes's Stool--The Tables--Renewal
-     of the Covenant--Charles makes Concessions--The General
-     Assembly--Preparations for War--Charles at York--Leslie at
-     Dunse Hill--A Conference held--Treaty of Berwick--Arrest of
-     Loudon--Insult from the Dutch--Wentworth in England--The Short
-     Parliament--Riots in London--Preparations of the Scots--Mutiny in
-     the English Army--Invasion of England--Treaty of Ripon--Meeting of
-     the Long Parliament--Impeachment of Strafford--His Trial--He is
-     Abandoned by Charles--His Execution--The King's Visit to Scotland.
-
-
-Having reduced the refractory members of the Church and of Parliament in
-England to silence for the present, Charles determined to make a journey
-into Scotland, there to be crowned, to raise revenue, and to establish
-the Anglican hierarchy in that part of his dominions. For the latter
-purpose he took Laud with him. He reached Edinburgh on the 12th of June,
-1633, where he was received by the inhabitants with demonstrations of
-lively rejoicing, as if they were neither aware of the character and
-views of the monarch, nor remembered the consequences of the visit of his
-father. On the 18th he was crowned in Edinburgh by the Archbishop of St.
-Andrews; but Laud did not let that opportunity pass without giving them
-a foretaste of what was coming. "It was observed," says Rushworth, "that
-Dr. Laud was high in his carriage, taking upon him the order and managing
-of the ceremonies; and, for instance, Spotswood, Archbishop of St.
-Andrews, being placed at the king's right hand, and Lindsey, Archbishop
-of Glasgow, at his left, Bishop Laud took Glasgow and thrust him from the
-king with these words:--'Are you a Churchman, and want the coat of your
-order?'--which was an embroidered coat, which he scrupled to wear, being
-a moderate Churchman--and in place of him put in the Bishop of Ross at
-the king's right hand."
-
-This question of the embroidered robes of the Roman hierarchy, with the
-high altar, the tapers, chalices, genuflections, and oil of unction,
-was introduced into Parliament, and forced on the reluctant Scots. They
-had voted supplies with a most liberal spirit, and laid on a land tax
-of four hundred thousand pounds Scots for six years; but when the king
-proposed to pass a Bill authorising the robes, ceremonies, and rites just
-mentioned, there was a stout opposition. Lord Melville said plainly to
-Charles, "I have sworn with your father and the whole kingdom to the
-confession of faith in which the innovations intended by these Articles
-were solemnly abjured." And the Bishop of the Isles told him at dinner
-that it was said amongst the people that his entrance into the city had
-been with hosannas, but that it would be changed, like that of the Jews
-to our Saviour, into, "Away with him, crucify him!" Charles is said
-to have turned thoughtful, and eaten no more. Yet the next day he as
-positively as ever insisted on the Parliament passing the Articles, and,
-pointing to a paper in his hand, said, "Your names are here; I shall know
-to-day who will do me service and who will not."
-
-Notwithstanding this, the House voted against it by a considerable
-majority, there being opposed to it fifteen Peers and forty-five
-Commoners; yet the Lord Register, under influence of the Court,
-audaciously declared that the Articles were accepted by Parliament. The
-Earl of Rothes had the boldness to deny this and to demand a scrutiny
-of the votes; but Charles intimidated both him and all dissentients by
-refusing any scrutiny unless Rothes would arraign the Lord Register
-of the capital crime of falsifying the votes. This was a course too
-perilous for any individual under the circumstances. Rothes was silent,
-the Articles were ratified by the Crown, and Parliament was forthwith
-dissolved on the 28th of June.
-
-Having thus carried his point with the Parliament, Charles took
-every means, except that which had brought upon him so much odium in
-England--namely, imprisoning and prosecuting the members who opposed
-him--to express his dissatisfaction with them. He distributed lands and
-honours upon those who had fallen in with his wishes, and treated the
-dissentients with sullen looks, and even severe words, when they came
-in his way. They were openly ridiculed by his courtiers, and dubbed
-schismatics and seditious. Lord Balmerino was even condemned to death
-for a pamphlet being found in his possession complaining of the king's
-arbitrary conduct in these concerns; but the sentence was too atrocious
-to be executed.
-
-Charles and Laud erected Edinburgh into a bishopric, with a diocese
-extending even to Berwick, and richly endowed with old Church lands,
-which were obtained from the noblemen who held them. A set of singing
-men was also appointed for Holyrood Chapel; and Laud, who had been made
-a Privy Councillor, preached there in full pontificals, to the great
-scandal of the Presbyterians. Thence Charles and his apostle made a
-tour to St. Andrews, Dundee, Falkland, Dunblane, etc., to the singular
-discomfort of Laud amongst the rough fastnesses of the Highlands.
-
-Immediately after this, Charles posted to London in four days, leaving
-Laud to travel more at leisure. No doubt both master and man thought
-they had made a very fine piece of work in this forcing of the Scottish
-consciences: they were destined in a while to feel what it actually was,
-in rebellion and the sharp edge of the axe.
-
-Scarcely had they reached London, when they heard the news of the death
-of Archbishop Abbot, and Charles was thus enabled to reward Laud for
-all his services in building up despotism and superstition by making
-him Primate, which he did on the 6th of August, 1633. It was a curious
-coincidence that about the same time Laud received a second offer of a
-cardinal's hat, and he seems to have been greatly tempted by it. He says
-that he acquainted his majesty with the offer, and that the king rescued
-him from the trouble and danger; for, he adds, there was something
-dwelling in him which would not suffer him to accept the offer till Rome
-was other than she was. To have accepted a cardinal's hat was to have
-gone over to the Church of Rome, and the Church of England was for him a
-much better thing now he was Primate.
-
-There undoubtedly did at this precise time take place an active private
-negotiation between the courts of Rome and England on this topic.
-The queen was anxious to have the dignity of cardinal conferred on a
-British subject. Probably she thought that the residence of the English
-cardinal at London would be a stepping-stone to the full restoration
-of Catholicism. Towards the end of August, immediately after Laud's
-elevation to the Primacy, Sir Robert Douglas was sent to Rome as envoy
-from the queen, with a letter of credence, signed by the Earl of
-Stirling, Secretary of State for Scotland. His mission was this proposal
-of an English cardinal, as a measure which would contribute greatly to
-the conversion of the king. To carry out this negotiation, Leander, an
-English Benedictine monk, was despatched to England, followed soon after
-by Panzani an Italian priest.
-
-From the despatches of Panzani we find that there existed a strong party
-at the English court for the return to the allegiance of Rome, amongst
-whom were Secretary Windebank; Lord Chancellor Cottington; Goodman,
-Bishop of Gloucester; and Montague, Bishop of Chichester. He was informed
-that none of the bishops except three--those of Durham, Salisbury, and
-Exeter--would object to a purely spiritual supremacy of the Pope, and
-very few of the clergy.
-
-Douglas was followed to Rome by Sir William Hamilton, to prosecute
-this secret business, but it all came to nothing, for the king, who
-was sincere in his attachment to the English Church, was not likely to
-listen to any proposal for submitting again to the yoke of Rome; and the
-Pope, on his part, would not comply with Charles's request to exert his
-influence with Catholic Austria for the restoration of his sister and
-her son in the Palatinate so long as they continued Protestants. Laud
-was therefore relieved from his temptation to receive the cardinal's
-hat by the resolve of the king to yield not one jot of his spiritual or
-political power; and a Scottish Catholic named Conn being at Rome, was
-mentioned as candidate for the purple instead. He came to England and was
-graciously received, not only by the queen, but the king too. He resided
-in England three years, but without the cardinal's hat, and was succeeded
-by Count Rossetti as the Pope's envoy. The rumours of the offers of the
-scarlet hat to Laud, and the residence of these Papal envoys in London,
-excited the jealousy of the people and added immensely to Charles's
-unpopularity; for no one felt sure of his real faith.
-
-As Laud, however, could not array himself in scarlet as a cardinal,
-he determined to make the Anglican Church as Popish, and himself as
-much of a Pope, as possible. Before reaching the Primacy he had gone a
-good way. The spoliation of the Church by Henry VIII. and Edward VI.,
-and their greedy nobility, had deprived it of the means of keeping the
-ecclesiastical buildings in repair. The Catholic Church in England had
-devoted the property of the Establishment to three objects: one, to
-the maintenance of the clergy and religious orders; the second, to
-the maintenance of the buildings of the churches and cathedrals; and
-the third to the support of the poor. Thus the patrimony of the poor
-was swallowed up by the aristocracy, and the maintenance of the poor
-thrown upon the country; and fixed there by the 43rd of Elizabeth. The
-patrimony of the public for the maintenance of Church buildings being
-equally shared by the Russells, Villierses, Seymours, Dudleys, and a
-thousand other Court leeches, neither Charles nor Laud, with all their
-stickling for the Church, dared to call upon them to disgorge their prey;
-but a proclamation was issued to the bishops for the repairs of all the
-churches and chapels, and they were to levy the necessary rates on the
-parishioners at large, and to exert the powers of the ecclesiastical
-courts against all such as resisted.
-
-[Illustration: DUNBLANE IN THE 17TH CENTURY.]
-
-This excited a serious ferment amongst the people, which was greatly
-increased by the general opinion that these repairs should be done out
-of the tithes which they paid either to lay or clerical personages. Laud
-carried matters with far too high a hand to pay the slightest regard to
-these complaints, and he proceeded to consecrate such churches as were
-thus repaired, with all the splendid ceremony of Catholicism, as if they
-had been desecrated by their neglect.
-
-He obtained a commission under the Great Seal for the repair of St.
-Paul's Cathedral. The judges of the prerogative courts, and their
-officials throughout England and Wales, were ordered to pay into the
-chamber in London all moneys derived from persons dying intestate, to be
-applied to the restoration of this church. The clergy were called on by
-the bishops in their several dioceses to furnish an annual subsidy for
-this object. The king contributed at various times ten thousand pounds,
-Sir Paul Pindar four thousand pounds, and Laud gave one hundred pounds
-a year. He was bent on making St. Paul's a rival of St. Peter's; and as
-more money became necessary, he summoned wealthy people into the High
-Commission Court on all possible pleas, and fined them heavily; so that
-there was a plentiful crop of money and of murmurs against the Primate,
-who was said to be building the church out of the sins of the people.
-
-Laud had obtained for his devoted adherents Windebank and Juxon, Dean
-of Westminster, the posts of Secretary of State and of Clerk of the
-King's Closet respectively; thus, as Heylin observes, the king was so
-well watched by his staunch friends that it was not easy for any one to
-insinuate anything to Laud's disadvantage; and the Primate went on most
-sweepingly in his own way. He put down all evening lecturing, evening
-meetings, and extemporary praying. He re-introduced in the churches
-painted glass, pictures, and surplices, lawn-sleeves, and embroidered
-caps; had the communion-tables removed, and altars placed instead, and
-railed in; and he carried his innovations with such an arbitrary hand
-that many who might have approved of them in themselves were set against
-them. The stricter reformers complained of the looseness with which the
-Sabbath was kept, and the Lord Chief Justice Richardson and Baron Denham
-issued an order in the western circuit to put an end to the disorders
-attending church-ales, bid-ales, clerk-ales, and the like. But no sooner
-did Laud hear of it than he had the Lord Chief Justice summoned before
-the Council and severely reprimanded as interfering with the commands of
-King James for the practice of such Sunday sports, as recommended in his
-Book of Sports, and since confirmed by Charles.
-
-[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP LAUD.]
-
-The country magistrates, who had seen the demoralisation consequent on
-these sports and Sunday gatherings at the ale-houses, petitioned the king
-to put them down; and the petition was signed by Lord Paulet, Sir William
-Portman, Sir Ralph Hopeton, and many other gentlemen of distinction. But
-they were forestalled by the agility of Laud, who procured from the king
-a declaration sanctioning all the Sunday amusements to be found in the
-Book of Sports, and commanding all judges on circuit, and all justices
-of the peace, to see that no man was molested on that account. This
-declaration was ordered to be read in all parish churches by the clergy.
-Many conscientious clergy, who had seen too much of the dissolute riots
-resulting from these rude gatherings on Sundays, refused to read the
-declaration, and were suspended from their duties, and prosecuted to such
-a degree that they had no alternative but to emigrate to America.
-
-This dictation of Laud extended over the whole kingdom, into Wales,
-Scotland, and Ireland. Charles was urged to issue proclamation after
-proclamation interfering in things entirely beyond the range of his
-episcopal jurisdiction, such as regulating the price of poultry and the
-retailing of tobacco. In Ireland, Wentworth, now made Lord Deputy, went
-hand-in-hand with him. That he might the better interfere in all kinds of
-matters Laud was appointed in 1634 Chief of the Board of Commissioners
-of the Exchequer, and--on the death of Weston, Lord Portland--the Lord
-High Treasurer. He then got his friend Juxon made Bishop of London, and
-in about a year surrendered to him the Treasurership, to the surprise and
-murmuring of many, for Juxon, till the primate brought him forward, was a
-man of no mark whatever. Lord Chancellor Cottington, who had been a fast
-friend of Laud's, and calculated on the white staff of the Treasurer, now
-fell away from Laud, and many noblemen who had had an eye to it began
-to prophesy what the end of his career would be. But the University of
-Oxford, going the whole way with him in his advances towards Popery,
-styled him "His Holiness _Summus Pontifex, Spiritu Sancto effusissime
-plenus, Archangelus et nequid minus_!" And Laud accepted all this base
-adulation, and declared that these revolting titles were quite proper,
-because they had been applied to the popes and fathers of the Romish
-Church. In fact, he desired to be the pope of England.
-
-And in this great Papal authority he was fain to stretch his coercing
-hand over the churches wherever they were. He procured an order in
-Council to shut the English factories in Holland, and compel the troops
-serving there to conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England. Most
-of the merchants and many of these soldiers had gone thither expressly
-to enjoy their own forms of religion; but no matter, they must conform.
-And says Heylin, "The like course was prescribed for our factories
-in Hamburg, and those farther off, that is to say in Turkey, in the
-Mogul's dominions, the Indian islands, the plantations in Virginia,
-the Barbadoes, and all other places where the English had any standing
-residence in the way of trade." This order was to be carried into the
-houses and establishments of all ambassadors and consuls abroad.
-
-William Prynne was a young graduate of Oxford, originally from Painswick,
-near Bath, but now an outer barrister of Lincoln's Inn. He was a thorough
-Puritan, grave, stern in his ideas, and rigid in his morals, a man who
-was ready to sacrifice reputation, life, and everything, for his high
-ideal of religious truth. He was persuaded that much of the dissoluteness
-of the young men around him arose from the debasing effect of frequenting
-the theatres; and in that he was probably correct, for the theatres
-were not in that age, nor for long after, fitting schools for youth. He
-therefore wrote (1632) a volume of a thousand pages against the stage,
-called "Histriomastix." He stated that forty thousand copies of plays
-had been exposed for sale within two years, and were eagerly bought up;
-that the theatres were the chapels of Satan, the players his ministers,
-and their frequenters were rushing headlong into hell. Dancing was, in
-his opinion, an equally diabolical amusement, and every pace was a step
-nearer to Tophet. Dancing made the ladies of England "frizzled madams,"
-polluted their modesty, and would destroy them as it had done Nero,
-and led three Romans to assassinate Gallienus. He went on to attack
-everything that Laud had been supporting--Maypoles, public festivals,
-church-ales, music, and Christmas carols: the cringings and duckings at
-the altar which Laud had so much fostered, and all the silk and satin
-divines, their pluralities, and their bellowing chants in the Church.
-
-Laud had made two vain attempts to lay hold on this pestilent satirist,
-but the lawyers had defeated him by injunctions from Westminster Hall.
-But the third time, by accusing him more exclusively of reflecting on the
-king and queen by his strictures on dancing, he obtained an order for
-the Attorney-General Noye to indict him in the Star Chamber. There he
-was condemned to be excluded from the bar and from Lincoln's Inn, to be
-deprived of his University degree, to pay a fine of five thousand pounds,
-to have his book burnt before his face by the hangman, to stand in the
-pillory at Westminster and in Cheapside, at each place to lose an ear,
-and afterwards to be imprisoned for life. This most detestable sentence
-was carried into effect in May, 1634, with brutal ferocity, although the
-queen interceded earnestly in his favour, and the nation denounced the
-barbarity in no equivocal language.
-
-Prynne, undaunted, nay, exasperated to greater daring by this cruelty,
-resumed the subject in his prison, whence he issued a tract (1637) styled
-"News from Ipswich," in which he charged the prelates with being the
-bishops of Lucifer, devouring wolves, and execrable traitors, who had
-overthrown the simplicity of the Gospel to introduce the superstitions
-of Popery. He had found in prison a congenial soul, Dr. Bastwick, a
-physician, who had written a treatise against the bishops, called
-"_Elenchus papismi et flagellum episcoporum Latialium_," for which he had
-been condemned to pay a fine of one thousand pounds to the king, to be
-imprisoned two years, and to make recantation. He now, that is in 1636,
-wrote a fresh tract: "_Apologeticus ad praesules Anglicanos_," and (in
-1637) the "Litanie of John Bastwick, doctor of physic, lying in _Limbo
-patrum_," in which he attacked both the bishops' and Laud's service books.
-
-A third person was Henry Burton, who had been chaplain to Charles when
-on his journey to Spain; but being now incumbent of St. Matthew's, in
-London, he had preached against the bishops as "blind watchmen, dumb
-dogs, ravening wolves, anti-Christian mushrooms, robbers of souls, limbs
-of the beast, and factors of antichrist."
-
-These zealous religionists, whom the cruelties and follies of Laud and
-his bishops had driven almost beside themselves, were condemned in the
-Star Chamber to be each fined five thousand pounds, to stand two hours in
-the pillory, where they were to have their ears cut off, to be branded
-on both cheeks with the letters S.L., for "seditious libeller," and then
-imprisoned for life.
-
-This sentence, than which the Spanish Inquisition has nothing worse to
-show, was fully executed in Old Palace Yard, on the 30th of June, 1637.
-Prynne from the pillory defied all Lambeth, with the Pope at its back,
-to prove to him that such doings were according to the law of England;
-and if he failed to prove them violators of that law and the law of God,
-they were at liberty to hang him at the door of the Gate House prison. On
-hearing this the people gave a great shout; but the executioner, as if
-incited to more cruelty, cut off their ears as barbarously as possible,
-rather sawing than cutting them. Prynne, who is said to have had his
-ears sewed on again on the former occasion, had them now gouged out, as
-it were; yet as the hangman sawed at them he cried out, "Cut me, tear
-me, I fear thee not. I fear the fire of hell, but not thee!" Burton,
-too, harangued the people for a long time most eloquently; but the sun
-blazing hotly in their faces all the time, he was near fainting, when he
-was carried into a house in King Street, saying, "It is too hot! Too hot,
-indeed!"
-
-This most disgraceful exhibition made a terrible impression on the
-spectators, of whom the king was informed that there were one hundred
-thousand; whilst the executioner sawed at the ears of the prisoners they
-assailed him with curses, hisses, and groans. Both Charles and Laud
-were unpleasantly surprised at the effect produced; and to remove the
-sufferers from public sympathy, they determined to send them to distant
-and solitary prisons, far separate from each other--to Launceston,
-Carnarvon, and Lancaster. But the king and his high priest were still
-more amazed and alarmed when they found on the removal of the prisoners
-the crowds were equally immense, and that they went along from place
-to place in a kind of triumph. To attend Burton from Smithfield to two
-miles beyond Highgate, there were again at least one hundred thousand
-people, who testified their deep sympathy, and threw money into the coach
-to his wife as she drove along. Money and presents were also offered to
-Prynne, but he refused them. Gentlemen of wealth and station pressed to
-see and condole with the prisoners, whom they honoured and applauded as
-martyrs. When Prynne reached Chester, on his way to Carnarvon, one of the
-sheriffs, attended by a number of gentle men, met him, invited him to a
-good dinner, discharged the cost, and gave him some hangings to furnish
-his dungeon with in Carnarvon Castle.
-
-This popular demonstration still more startled Laud, who summoned the
-sheriff, as well as the other gentlemen, before the High Commission Court
-at York, where they were fined in sums varying from two hundred and fifty
-pounds to five hundred pounds, and condemned to acknowledge their offence
-before the congregation in the cathedral and the Corporation in the town
-hall of Chester. The prisoners themselves were ordered to be removed
-farther still, and accordingly Bastwick was sent to the Isle of Scilly,
-Burton to the Castle of Cornet in Guernsey, and Prynne to that of Mount
-Orgueil in Jersey. But the king and archbishop had now roused a spirit,
-by their cutting off of ears, which would be satisfied ere long with
-nothing less than their whole heads.
-
-To stop the outcry against their cruelties, they next determined to
-gag the press. An order was therefore issued by the Star Chamber,
-forbidding all importation of foreign books, and the printing of any
-at home without licence. All books on religion, physic, literature, and
-poetry must be licensed by the bishops, so that all truths unpleasant
-to the Church would thus be suppressed. There were to be allowed only
-twenty master printers in the kingdom, except those of his majesty and
-the universities; no printer was to have more than two presses nor two
-apprentices, except the warden of the Company. There were to be only four
-letter-founders; and whoever presumed to print without licence was to be
-whipped through London and set in the pillory. All this time the High
-Commission Court kept pace with the Star Chamber in its prosecutions and
-arbitrary fines, under pretence of protecting public morals.
-
-Laud soon had delinquents against the atrocious order for gagging the
-press. In about six months after the infliction of the sentence on Prynne
-and his associates, he cited into the Star Chamber John Lilburne and John
-Warton, for printing Prynne's "News from Ipswich" and other books called
-libellous (1638). The accused refused to take the oath proposed to them,
-protesting against the lawfulness of the court. Being called up several
-times, and still obstinately refusing, they were condemned to be fined
-five hundred pounds apiece, Lilburne to be whipped from the Fleet to the
-pillory, and both to be bound to their good behaviour. Lilburne was one
-of the most determined of men. He continued to declaim violently against
-the tyranny of Laud and his bishops whilst he was standing in the pillory
-and undergoing his whipping. He drew from his pockets a number of the
-very pamphlets he was punished for printing, and scattered them from the
-pillory amongst the crowd. The court of Star Chamber being informed of
-his conduct, sent and had him gagged; but he then stamped with his feet
-to intimate that he would still speak if he could. He was then thrown
-into the Fleet, heavily ironed and in solitude.
-
-To complete Laud's attacks on all persons and parties, there lacked
-only an onslaught on the episcopal bench, and there he found Williams,
-formerly Lord Keeper, and still Bishop of Lincoln, for a victim.
-Williams, with all his faults, had been a true friend of Laud's at a time
-when he had very few, and the wily upstart had declared that his very
-life would be too short to demonstrate his gratitude: but he took full
-occasion to display towards him his ingratitude. From the moment that
-Laud was introduced to the king, Williams could ill conceal his disgust
-at the clerical adventurer's base adulation. But Laud continued to
-ascend and Williams to descend. Williams having lost the seals, retired
-to his diocese, where he made himself very popular by his talents, his
-agreeable manners, his hospitality, and still more by his being regarded
-as a victim of the arbitrary spirit of the king and of Laud. Williams,
-who had a stinging wit, launched a tract at the head of the Primate,
-called the "Holy Table," in which he unmercifully satirised Laud's parade
-of high altars and Popish ceremonies. The Primate very speedily had him
-in the Star Chamber, where he received private information that if he
-would give up to Laud his deanery of Westminster, that disinterested
-prelate would let the prosecution slip. Williams refused, and then
-commenced one of the most disgraceful scenes in history. Laud, Windebank,
-and the king were determined to force the deanery and a heavy fine from
-him. They browbeat his witnesses; threw them into prison to compel them
-to swear falsely; removed Chief Justice Heath to put in a more pliant
-man; and at length, through the medium of Lord Cottington, induced
-Williams, from terror of worse, to give up the deanery and pay a fine of
-ten thousand pounds. His servants and agents, Walker, Catlin, and Lunn,
-were fined three hundred pounds apiece, and Powell two hundred pounds.
-
-This being done, Laud uttered a most hypocritical speech, professing
-high admiration of the talents, wisdom, learning, and various endowments
-of Williams, and his sorrow to see him thus punished, declaring that he
-had gone five times on his knees to the king to sue for his pardon. But
-even so Williams was not destined to escape. The officers who went to
-take possession of his effects, found amongst his papers two letters from
-Osbaldeston, master of Westminster School, in one of which he said that
-the great leviathan--the late Lord Treasurer, Portland--and the little
-urchin--Laud--were in a storm; and in the other, that "there was great
-jealousy between the leviathan and the little meddling hocus-pocus."
-
-This, which was no crime of Williams, but of Osbaldeston, was, however,
-made a crime of both. Williams was condemned on the charge of concealing
-a libel on a public officer, and fined eight thousand pounds more, and
-to suffer imprisonment during the king's pleasure. The chief offender,
-Osbaldeston, could not be found; he had left a note saying he was "gone
-beyond Canterbury;" but he was sentenced to deprivation of his office, to
-be branded, and stand opposite to his own school in the pillory, with
-his ears nailed to it. He took good care, however, not to fall into such
-merciless hands.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN LILBURNE ON THE PILLORY. (_See p._ 556.)]
-
-Besides those means of raising a permanent revenue for the Crown,
-independent of Parliament, which we have already detailed--as tonnage
-and poundage, the fees on compulsory knighthood, and the resumption
-of forest lands,--there was discovered another which was owing to
-the ingenuity of Attorney-General Noye. The landed proprietors had
-been much alarmed by the rumours that the king would lay claim to the
-greater part of every county in England except Kent, Sussex, and Surrey,
-but the whole public was struck with consternation at the additional
-project of the Attorney-General. As he had been always of a surly and
-morose disposition, he carried this ungracious manner with him into his
-apostacy. Formerly he had acted like a rude ill-tempered patriot, now
-he was the more odious from being at once obsequious to the Crown, and
-coarsely insolent to those whose rights he had invaded.
-
-In the Records of the Tower he discovered writs compelling the ports and
-maritime counties to provide a certain number of ships during war, or for
-protecting the coasts from pirates. It was now declared that the seas
-were greatly infested with Turkish corsairs, who not only intercepted our
-merchantmen at sea, but made descents on the coast of Ireland and carried
-off the inhabitants into slavery. The French and Dutch mariners, it was
-added, were continually interrupting our trade, and making prizes of our
-trading vessels. It was necessary to assert our right to the sovereignty
-of the narrow seas, which, it was contended, "our progenitors, Kings
-of England, had always possessed, and that it would be very irksome to
-us if that princely honour in our time should be lost, or in anything
-diminished."
-
-But the real cause was that Charles was at that time, 1634, engaged
-in the treaty with Spain to assist it against the United Provinces of
-Holland, on condition that Philip engaged to restore the Palsgrave.
-Noye's scheme was highly approved and supported by the Lord Keeper
-Coventry. On the 20th of October, 1634, a writ was issued by the Lords of
-the Council, signed by the king, to the city of London, commanding it to
-furnish before the 1st of March next, seven ships, with all the requisite
-arms, stores, and tackling, and wages for the men for twenty-six weeks.
-One ship was to be of nine hundred tons, and to carry three hundred and
-fifty men; another of eight hundred tons, with two hundred and sixty
-men; four ships of five hundred tons, with two hundred men each; and
-one of three hundred tons, with one hundred and fifty men. The Common
-Council and citizens humbly remonstrated against the demand as one from
-which they were exempt by their charters, but the Council treated their
-objections with contempt, and compelled them to submit.
-
-In the spring of 1635 similar writs were issued to the maritime
-counties, and even sent into the interior, a most unheard-of demand;
-and instructions were forwarded to all parts, signed by Laud, Coventry,
-Juxon, Cottington, and the rest of the Privy Council, ordering the
-sheriffs to collect the money which was to be levied instead of ships, at
-the rate of three thousand three hundred pounds for every ship. They were
-to distrain on all who refused, and take care that no arrears were left
-to their successors. The demand occasioned both murmuring and resistance.
-The deputy-lieutenants of some inland counties wrote to the Council,
-begging that the inhabitants might be excused this unprecedented tax; but
-they were speedily called before the Council, and severely reprimanded.
-The people on the coasts of Sussex absolutely refused to pay, but they
-were soon forced by the sheriffs to submit. Noye died before this took
-place, and squibs regarding him were publicly placarded, saying that
-his body being opened, a bundle of proclamations was found in his head,
-worm-eaten records were discovered in his stomach, and a barrel of soap,
-alluding to the enforcement of the monopoly on that article, was found in
-his paunch.
-
-To put an end to all murmurs or resistance, Charles determined to
-have the sanction of the judges, knowing that he could not have that
-of Parliament. He therefore removed Chief Justice Heath on this and
-other accounts, and put in his place the supple Sir John Finch, lately
-conspicuous as Speaker of the Commons. The questions submitted to the
-judges were whether, when the good and safety of the realm demanded it,
-the king could not levy this ship-money, and whether he was not the
-proper and sole judge of the danger and the necessity. Finch canvassed
-his brethren of the Bench individually and privately. The judges met
-in Serjeant's Inn on the 12th of February, 1636, when they were all
-perfectly unanimous except Croke and Hutton, who, however, subscribed, on
-the ground that the opinion of a majority settled the matter.
-
-To obtain this opinion, Charles had let the judges know through Finch,
-that he only required their decision for his private satisfaction; but
-they were startled to find their sanction immediately proclaimed by the
-Lord Keeper Coventry in the Star Chamber, order given that it should
-be enrolled in all the courts at Westminster, and themselves required
-to make it known from the Bench on their circuits through the country.
-Nor was this all, for Wentworth, now become a full-fledged agent of
-despotism, contended that "since it is lawful for the king to impose a
-tax towards the equipment of the navy, it must be equally so for the levy
-of an army; and the same reason which authorises him to levy an army to
-resist, will authorise him to carry that army abroad, that he may prevent
-invasion. Moreover, what is law in England is also law in Ireland and
-Scotland. This decision of the judges will, therefore, make the king
-absolute at home, and formidable abroad. Let him," he observed, "only
-abstain from war a few years, that he may habituate his subjects to the
-payment of this tax, and in the end he will find himself more powerful
-and respected than any of his predecessors."
-
-Such were the principles of Wentworth, ready on the smallest concession
-to grant a dozen other assumptions upon it, and such the counsellors,
-himself and Laud, who encouraged the already too fatally despotic king to
-his destruction. The judges were, for the most part, equally traitorous
-to the nation, and preached the most absolute doctrines and passed the
-most absolute sentences. Richard Chambers, the London merchant, who had
-already suffered so severely for resisting the king's illegal demands,
-also refused payment of this, and brought an action against the Lord
-Mayor for imprisoning him for his refusal. But Judge Berkeley would not
-hear the counsel of Chambers in his defence; and afterwards, in his
-charge to the grand jury at York, described ship-money as the inseparable
-flower of the Crown. But they were not so easily to override the rights
-of the people of England. There were numbers of stout hearts only waiting
-a fitting opportunity to unite and crush the spirit of despotism now
-growing so rampant. One of the most distinguished of these patriots was
-John Hampden, a gentleman of Buckinghamshire, whose name has become a
-world-wide synonym for sturdy constitutional independence. He determined
-not only to resist the payment of ship-money, but to try the question,
-so as to make known far and wide its illegality. He consulted his legal
-friends, Holborne, St. John, Whitelock, and others, on the best means of
-dealing with it, and encouraged by his example, thirty freeholders of
-his parish of Great Kimble, in Buckinghamshire, also refused payment. No
-sooner, therefore, had Charles obtained the opinion of the judges, than
-he determined to proceed against Hampden in the Court of Exchequer. The
-case was conducted for the Crown by the Attorney-General, Sir John Banks,
-and the Solicitor-General, Sir Edward Littleton. The sum at which Hampden
-was assessed was only twenty shillings: the trial lasted for twelve days
-before the twelve judges, that is, from the 6th to the 18th of December,
-1637.
-
-It was argued on the part of the Crown that the practice was sanctioned
-by the annual tax of Dane-gelt, imposed by the Saxons; by former monarchs
-having pressed ships into their service, and compelled the maritime
-counties to equip them; and that the claim on the part of the king was
-reasonable and patriotic, for if he did not exercise this right of the
-Crown, in cases of danger, before the Parliament could be assembled
-serious damage might accrue. The Crown lawyers ridiculed the refusal of
-a man of Mr. Hampden's great estates to pay so paltry a sum as twenty
-shillings; and declared that the sheriffs of Bucks ought to be fined
-for not putting upon him twenty pounds. But it was replied upon the
-part of Hampden, that the amount of the assessment was not in question,
-it was the principle of it. Nor could the Dane-gelt give evidence in
-the case, the imperfect accounts to be drawn on the subject from our
-ancient writers being too vague and uncertain. Moreover, the practice
-of monarchs before or after Magna Charta could not establish any law on
-the subject, for Magna Charta abrogated any arbitrary customs that had
-gone before, and strictly and clearly forbade them afterwards. No breach
-of that great Charter could be pleaded against it, for it was paramount
-and perpetual in its authority. Again, various statutes since, and last
-of all the Petition of Right, assented to by the king himself, made any
-such taxation without consent of Parliament illegal and void; while
-the very asking of loans and benevolences by different monarchs was
-sufficient proof of this, for if they had the right to tax, they would
-have taxed, and not borrowed. The most arbitrary prince that ever sat
-on the English throne--Henry VIII.,--when he had borrowed, and was not
-disposed to repay, did not consider his own fiat sufficient to cancel
-the debt, but called in Parliament to release him from the obligation.
-They reminded the judges of Edward I.'s confirmation of the charters, and
-of the statute _De Tallagio non concedendo_. As to the plea of imminent
-danger from foreign invasion, as in the case of the great Armada, as
-the Crown lawyers had mentioned, such cases, they argued, were next to
-impossible; notices of danger, as in the instance of the Armada itself,
-being obtained in ample time to call together Parliament. In this case
-there was no urgency whatever to forestall the measures of Parliament;
-for neither the insolence of a few Turkish pirates, nor even the threats
-of neighbouring States, were of consequence enough to warrant the
-forestalling of the constitutional functions of Parliament.
-
-The Crown lawyers, baffled by this unanswerable statement, then
-unblushingly took their stand on the doctrine that the king was bound
-by no laws, but all laws proceeded from the grace of the king, and that
-this was a right which all monarchs had reserved from time immemorial.
-Justice Crawley declared that the right of such impositions resided _ipso
-facto_ in the king as king, that you could not have a king without these
-rights--no, not by Act of Parliament. "The law," said Judge Berkeley,
-"knows no such king-yoking policy. The law is an old and trusty servant
-of the king's; it is his instrument or means which he useth to govern
-his people by. I never read or heard that _Lex_ was _Rex_, but it is
-common and most true that _Rex_ is _Lex_." The pliable Finch said, "Acts
-of Parliament are void to bind the king not to command the subjects,
-their persons, and goods, and, I say, their money, too, for no Acts of
-Parliament make any difference." Certainly they made no difference to
-him; and if these base lawyers could have talked away the rights of
-the people of England, they would have done it for their own selfish
-interests. When Holborne contended that it was not only for themselves,
-but for posterity, that they were bound to preserve the constitution
-intact, Finch testily exclaimed, "It belongs not to the Bar to talk of
-future governments; it is not agreeable to duty to have you bandy what is
-the hope of succeeding princes, when the king hath a blessed issue so
-hopeful to succeed him in his crown and virtues." But Holborne replied,
-"My lord, for that whereof I speak, I look far off--many ages off; five
-hundred years hence!"
-
-But all the judges were not of like stamp. Hutton and Croke, who had
-dissented when the opinion of the judges was first taken, now made a bold
-stand against the illegal practice. As the ruin of a judge who thus dared
-to act in upright independence was pretty certain at that time, we may
-estimate the degree of virtue necessary to such decision, and the noble
-self-sacrifice of Lady Croke, who bade her husband give no thought to
-the consequences of discharging his duty, for that she would be content
-to suffer want, or any misery with him, rather than he should do or say
-anything against his judgment and conscience.
-
-The case was not decided till the Trinity Term, the third term from the
-commencement of the trial, when, on the 12th of June, 1638, judgment was
-entered against Hampden in the Court of Exchequer. But even then five
-of the judges had the courage to decide for Hampden, though three of
-them did this only on technical grounds, conceding the main and vital
-question. The decision of this most important trial was apparently in
-favour of the king, and there was, accordingly, much triumphing at Court;
-but in reality, it was in favour of the people, for it had been so
-long before the public, and the arguments of Hampden's counsel were so
-undeniable, those of the Crown so absolutely untenable, and opposed to
-all the history of the nation, that the matter was everywhere discussed,
-and men's opinions made up that, without a positive resistance to such
-claims and such doctrines as had here been advanced, the country was a
-place of serfdom, and the bloodshed and the labour of all past patriots
-had been in vain. It was accordingly found that people were more averse
-than ever from paying these demands; and even the courtly Clarendon
-confesses that "the pressure was borne with much more cheerfulness before
-the judgment for the king than ever it was after." Lord Say made a
-determined stand against it in Warwickshire, and would fain have brought
-on another trial like that of John Hampden; but the king would not allow
-another damaging experiment; and events came crowding after it of such a
-nature, as showed how deep the matter had sunk into the public mind.
-
-The course which matters were taking was exceedingly disgusting to the
-ministers of King Charles--Laud and Wentworth. The latter had been
-appointed Lord President of the North, where he had ruled with all
-the overbearing self-will of a king. The Council of the North had been
-appointed by Henry VIII., to try and punish the insurgents concerned
-in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and it had been continued ever since on as
-lawless a basis as that of the Star Chamber itself. In fact, it was the
-Star Chamber of the five most northern counties of England, summoning and
-judging the subjects without any jury, but at the will of the Council
-itself. Wentworth had risen from a simple baronet to be Privy Councillor,
-baron and viscount, and President of the North, with more rapidity than
-Buckingham himself had done. On accepting this last office, his power
-and jurisdiction were enlarged, and he displayed such an unflinching
-spirit in exercising the most despotic will, that on difficulties arising
-in Ireland, he was, without resigning his Presidency of the North,
-transferred thither, where Charles had resolved to introduce the same
-subjection to his sole will as in England and Scotland.
-
-When the unfortunate expedition to Cadiz had been made, and the king
-feared the Spaniards would retaliate by making a descent on Ireland, he
-ordered the Lord-Deputy, Lord Falkland, to raise the Irish army to five
-thousand foot and five hundred horse. There was no great difficulty in
-that, but the question how they were to be maintained was not so easy.
-Lord Falkland, who was one of the most honourable and conscientious of
-men, called together the great landed proprietors, and submitted the
-matter to their judgment. These, who were chiefly Catholics, offered to
-advance the necessary funds on condition that certain concessions should
-be made to the people of Ireland. These were, that, besides the removal
-of many minor grievances, the recusants should be allowed to practise
-in the courts of law, and to sue the livery of their lands out of the
-court of wards on their taking the oath of Allegiance without that of
-Supremacy; that the Undertakers on the several plantations should have
-time to fulfil the conditions of their leases; that the claims of the
-Crown should be confined to the last sixty years, the inhabitants of
-Connaught being allowed a new enrolment of their estates; and finally,
-that a parliament should be held to confirm these graces, as they were
-called.
-
-Delegates were sent to London to lay these proposals before the king,
-and on the agreement to pay one hundred and twenty thousand pounds by
-instalments in three years, Charles readily granted these articles
-of grace, amounting to fifty-one. But meanwhile, a rumour of these
-concessions having got out, the Irish Established Church had made a
-great opposition, and though the parliament was called, nothing was done,
-nor did Charles intend to do more than get the money. As Lord Falkland
-was the last man in the world to be a party to anything so dishonourable,
-he was recalled, and Wentworth was sent over, in the July of 1632, to do
-the work.
-
-[Illustration: THE BIRMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE.]
-
-Wentworth's arrival in Ireland was tantamount to a revolution there.
-He introduced all the regulations of the English Court at the Castle,
-assumed a guard like the king, which no Deputy before him had done, and
-carried himself with a haughty demeanour which made the Irish lords stand
-amazed. The only good which he effected was in putting down the multitude
-of minor tyrants, but then he combined all their tyranny and oppressions
-in himself. He was ready to bear any amount of odium, because he trusted
-to the king's support. His object was to raise a large permanent revenue,
-and Wentworth soon informed Charles that if this was to be done, there
-must be an end to making grants to needy English nobles, who absorbed
-what should flow to the Crown. Charles had promised such grants to
-the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Arundel, and others; but on learning
-Wentworth's views, Secretary Windebank wrote, at the king's command, that
-Wentworth was at liberty to refuse them these grants, provided that he
-took "the refusing part" on himself.
-
-As a first measure to raise money, he informed Charles that it would
-be necessary to call a Parliament. The king, who had found Parliaments
-too much for him, and was endeavouring to live without them, heard
-the proposal with consternation, and warned Wentworth against such an
-attempt; but the Lord Deputy informed him that he had a plan by which
-he could manage them, and Charles wrote to him, consenting, but still
-warning. "As for that hydra, take good heed, for you know that here I
-have found it as well cunning as malicious. It is true that your grounds
-are well laid, and I assure you that I have a great trust in your care
-and judgment; yet my opinion is, that it will not be the worse for my
-service though their obstinacy make you to break them, for I fear they
-have some ground to demand more than it is fit for me to give."
-
-Wentworth knew that very well, but meant to grant nothing of the kind.
-He sent out a hundred letters of recommendation in favour of the return
-of candidates on whom he could rely, and procured a royal order for the
-absent peers to send blank proxies, which he might fill up as he pleased.
-These were considerable in number, and consisted chiefly of Englishmen
-who had obtained their estates or titles from Charles or his father. Thus
-he secured a majority; and on opening Parliament he informed the members
-that he meant to hold two Sessions--one for the benefit of the king, the
-other for redressing the grievances of the people. Had the Irish noticed
-what had been going forward in England, they would have augured no good
-from such an arrangement, and might have followed the example of the
-English Commons, who would always insist on stating their grievances
-before parting with their money. But the unfortunate Irish listened to
-the dulcet tones of the Lord-Deputy, who assured them that if they put
-their trust in him and the king they would have the happiest Parliament
-that had ever sat in that kingdom. He talked of the misfortunes which
-had happened to the English Parliament through distrusting the king--he
-himself having been one of the chief actors in these distrusts--and on
-his assuring them that he was anxious to hasten to the second Session and
-the removal of all their grievances they voted him out of the fulness
-of their confidence six subsidies of larger amount than had ever been
-granted before.
-
-But when they came to the second Session, awful was the astonishment, and
-terrible the consternation, of the liberal granters of subsidies. The
-shameless trickster coolly informed them that of the fifty-one graces
-promised them by the king, very few were of a kind which he, who knew
-the circumstances of the country, could grant. In vain they reminded him
-of his promises, and called on him to fulfil them. He gave them menaces
-instead of promises, launched at them the most biting sarcasms, and
-made them appear a set of criminals rather than deceived and insulted
-legislators. His majority carried everything as he pleased, and after
-passing a few insignificant graces, he negatived the bulk of them,
-including all the important ones, and dismissed the Parliament.
-
-He had been equally successful with the Convocation. He obtained from
-it eight subsidies of three thousand pounds each, but he then refused
-to grant the conditions promised. It was the settled plan of the king,
-supported by Laud, to conform both the Scottish and Irish Churches to
-the English, and Wentworth was the most unscrupulous agent in such a
-work that they could have. The Irish prelates informed him that their
-Church was wholly independent of that of England, had its own Articles,
-of the Calvinistic class, and owed no obedience to the See of Canterbury.
-He insisted, however, that they must admit the Thirty-nine Articles of
-England; it was not necessary to parade them before the people, but they
-must be admitted, and the old Irish Articles might quietly die out. The
-prelates set about to frame a new code of ecclesiastical discipline; but
-to his surprise, he learned that they had rejected the English Articles
-and retained their own. He sent for the Archbishop and the Committee,
-upbraided the Chairman with suffering such a proceeding, took possession
-of the minutes, and ordered Archbishop Ussher himself to frame a canon
-authorising the English Articles. Ussher's production, however, did
-not satisfy him; he therefore drew up a form himself, and sent it to
-the Convocation, commanding that no debate should take place, but the
-Articles should be at once adopted, and informing them that every one's
-vote should be reported to him. Only one member of the whole Convocation
-dared to vote against his will; the rest submitted, but with the utmost
-indignation.
-
-Having thus with a high hand carried his measures--refused the
-confirmation of the graces, conformed the Irish to the English Church
-in one Session, and obtained such an amount of money as would not only
-pay off the debts of the Crown, but would supply for some years the
-extraordinary demands of the Government, he wrote exultingly to England,
-declaring that the king was as absolute in Ireland as any king in the
-world, and might be the same in England if they did their duty there.
-He boldly demanded an earl's coronet, on account of these services,
-which, however, Charles deferred for awhile, thinking that he should
-hold such a man to his work rather by the hope than the possession of
-high preferment. Wentworth was so delighted with his overruling the
-Irish Parliament, that he proposed to the king to merely prorogue and
-not dissolve it, as being the most convenient instrument for effecting
-his further designs on the country. But Charles would not listen to it,
-remarking that parliaments were like cats, they ever grew cursed with
-age, and it was better to put an end to them early, young ones being most
-tractable. He thanked him for what he had done, and especially for saving
-him from the odium of breaking his promise about the graces.
-
-How little did this bold bad man see that, whilst he was serving the
-king's worst purposes, he was preparing his own destruction. In fact,
-though he had stunned the Irish for a moment by the audacity of his
-bearing, he had struck deep into their souls a resentment that no man,
-however powerful or subtle, could withstand. He was, however, only on
-the threshold of the sweeping changes which he contemplated in that
-country, for he was resolved to reduce it to a condition of absolute
-dependence on the Crown. He was not content with forcing the English
-Articles on the Irish Church, but he refused to the Catholics every
-relief that Charles had pledged himself to in order to get their money.
-Instead of abolishing, as promised, the oppressive power of the court
-of wards, he gave them a more virulent activity. The Catholic heir was
-still obliged to sue out the livery of his lands, and before he could
-obtain them, to take the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy. To obtain his
-rightful property, he was thus compelled to abjure his religion. But he
-entertained a still more gigantic design, which was to seize on the fee
-simple of the greater part of Ireland, on pretence of defective title.
-
-We have seen that in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the titles of the
-great landed proprietors both in Connaught and Ulster had been called in
-question, and those monarchs had pretended to renew them on condition
-of certain payments. These conditions had been repeatedly fulfilled
-by the proprietors, but not by the Crown. Charles, in 1628, amongst
-the other benefits promised, had engaged to ratify these titles; but
-Wentworth showed him the folly of doing that while by alarming them on
-the point he might draw immense sums from them, or get possession of the
-lands. To this proposal Charles consented, and the experiment was begun
-with Connaught. Wentworth proceeded (1635) at the head of a commission,
-to hold an inquisition in every county of Connaught. He opened his
-proceedings at Roscommon, where he summoned a jury of "gentlemen of
-the best estates and understandings," that more weight might attach to
-their decisions if favourable, or that, if adverse, he might levy heavy
-fines upon them. He assured the jury that his majesty merely meant to
-ascertain the condition of all titles, in order that if defective he
-might render them legal. It was on this plea that the freeholders had
-been wheedled into the surrender of their deeds and patents by Elizabeth
-and James; but Wentworth added another alarming fiction. He contended
-that Henry III., reserving only five cantreds to himself, had given the
-remainder to Richard de Burgh, to be holden of him and his heirs of the
-Crown, and that those tenures had now descended to the present king, by
-the marriage of the heirs of De Burgh with the royal line. According to
-this the king was the rightful owner of every acre of land in Ireland.
-He assured the jury, therefore, that it was their best interest to
-give a general verdict for the king, as he could without their consent
-establish his right, and if compelled to do that in opposition to them,
-the result might be much worse for them. By these means he induced
-the juries in Roscommon, Sligo, Mayo, Clare, and Limerick, to return
-a verdict in favour of the Crown, but the people of Galway stoutly
-resisted. They declared that the title of the king, through Edward IV.,
-from Richard de Burgh, could not be proved; there was a hiatus in the
-genealogy. They were all Catholics, and were the more resolute from
-having been so shamefully deluded in the matter of wardship. Wentworth
-was rather glad to be able to make an example of them, and he therefore
-fined the sheriff one thousand pounds for returning so obstinate and
-perverse a jury, and dragged the jury into his Star Chamber, the chamber
-of the Castle, and fined them four thousand pounds apiece. He fell
-with especial vindictiveness on the old Earl of Clanricarde, and other
-great landowners of Galway, and set about to seize the fort of Galway,
-march a body of troops into the country, and compel it to submit to
-the king's will. The proprietors, disbelieving that the king could know
-of or sanction such infamous breaches of faith and acts of oppression,
-sent over a deputation to Charles to lay the matter before him. But the
-king received them with reproaches, declared his full approval of the
-proceedings of the Lord-Deputy, and sent them back to Ireland as State
-prisoners. The old Earl of Clanricarde, whose son had been the head of
-the deputation, died soon after receiving the news of this conduct of the
-monarch, and Wentworth wrote to Charles that he was accused of being the
-cause of his death. "They might as well," he remarked haughtily, "impute
-to me the crime of his being threescore and ten." He was still busily
-pursuing other noblemen with the same rancour--the Earl of Cork, Lord
-Wilmot, and others--when the Catholic party in England, who had a friend
-in Queen Henrietta, made their complaints heard at Whitehall. Laud, who
-was acting as outrageously himself in England, informed Wentworth of
-it, and even hinted more caution, observing that if he could find a way
-to do all those great services without raising so many storms, it would
-be excellently well thought of. But Wentworth was as little disposed to
-avoid storms as his adviser himself. He proceeded in the same autocratic
-style both towards the public and individuals. It had been the original
-intention to return to the proprietors three-fourths of their lands,
-and retain one-fourth for the Crown, amounting to about one hundred and
-twenty thousand acres, which were to be planted with Englishmen, on
-condition of yielding a large annual income to the Crown. But now it
-was resolved to retain a full half of Galway as a punishment of its
-obstinacy, and Wentworth was proceeding with the necessary measurements,
-when his career proved at an end.
-
-[Illustration: SIR THOMAS WENTWORTH (EARL OF STRAFFORD).
-
-(_After the Portrait by Vandyke._)]
-
-The individual acts of injustice which he perpetrated were done at the
-suggestion of his profligate desires or personal revenge, with the most
-unabashed hardihood. He had seduced the daughter of Loftus, the Lord
-Chancellor of Ireland, wife of Sir John Gifford, and wanted to confer
-a good post on her relative Sir Adam Loftus. Such an opportunity soon
-occurred by an inadvertent expression of Lord Mountnorris, Vice-Treasurer
-of Ireland. It happened one day that Annesley, a lieutenant in the army,
-accidentally set a stool on the foot of the Lord-Deputy, when he was
-suffering from the gout. This Lieutenant Annesley had some time before
-been caned by Wentworth in a paroxysm of passion, and Mountnorris hearing
-the incident of the stool mentioned at the table of Chancellor Loftus,
-said, "Perhaps Annesley did it as his revenge, but he has a brother who
-would not have taken such a revenge." This being repeated to Wentworth,
-he treated the observation as a suggestion to Annesley to perpetrate
-a more bloody revenge; and though he dissembled his resentment for
-some time, he then accused Mountnorris, who was also an officer in the
-army, of mutiny, founded on this expression. Wentworth attended the
-court-martial to overawe its proceedings, and obtained a sentence of
-death against Mountnorris. The sentence was too atrocious to be carried
-into execution, but it served Wentworth's purpose, for he cashiered
-Mountnorris and gave his office to Loftus. Much as the Irish had suffered
-before, this most lawless act excited a loud murmur of indignation
-throughout the land; but Wentworth had secured himself from any censure
-from the king by handing him six thousand pounds as the price of the
-transfer of Mountnorris's treasurership to Sir Adam Loftus.
-
-The resentment of the Irish was becoming so strong against Wentworth,
-that the king thought it safest for him to come to England for a time;
-but he soon returned thither, with the additional favour of the monarch,
-where he remained till summoned by Charles to assist him by his counsels
-against the Scots. But the fatal and memorable year 1640 was at hand,
-to close the story of his tyrannies. We must now retrace our steps, and
-bring up the conflicts of Scotland with the same blind and determined
-despots to that period.
-
-The storm against the despotism of Charles had broken out in that
-country. From the moment of his visit to Edinburgh with his great apostle
-Laud, he had never ceased pushing forward his scheme of conforming the
-Presbyterian Church to Anglican episcopacy. He had restored the bishops
-on that occasion, given them lands, erected deans and chapters, and
-Laud had consecrated St. Giles's Church as a Cathedral. As he could not
-persuade the Scottish Peers to submit to the liturgy as used in England,
-which his father had attempted in vain before him, he consented that a
-liturgy should be drawn up by four Scottish bishops, who were also to
-form a code of ecclesiastical canons. They were to introduce into the
-latter some of the acts of the Scottish assemblies, and some more ancient
-canons, to make the whole more palatable. These laws and the liturgy
-were afterwards revised by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops
-of London and Norwich, and Charles ordered the amended copies to be
-published and preserved.
-
-None but a monarch so foolhardy as Charles would have dared such an
-experiment on the Scots who had resisted so stoutly his father, and had
-driven his grandmother from the country for her adhesion to Popery. The
-people received the publication of the canon with unequivocal indications
-of their temper; and when, therefore, the first introduction, of the
-liturgy was fixed for the 23rd of July, 1637, in St. Giles's Church,
-they went thither in crowds, to give a characteristic reception. The
-archbishops and bishops, the Lords of Session, and the magistrates went
-in procession, and appeared there in all their official splendour. This
-display, however, so far from imposing on the people of Edinburgh, only
-excited their wrath and contempt, as the trumpery finery of the woman of
-Babylon. A considerable riot ensued, during which a woman named Jenny
-Geddes is said to have thrown a stool at the bishop's head. The story is,
-however, supported by indifferent evidence.
-
-But it was not merely the base multitude, the nobility were as violent
-against the new Liturgy as the people, and came to high words with the
-bishops and their favourers amongst the clergy. Four ministers--Alexander
-Henderson, of Leuchars; John Hamilton, of Newburn; James Bruce, of
-Kingsbarns, and another--petitioned the Council on the 23rd of August,
-to give them time to show the anti-Christian and idolatrous nature of
-this ritual, and how near it came to the Popish mass, reminding them that
-the people of Scotland had established the independence of their own
-Church at the Reformation, which had been confirmed by Parliament and
-General Assemblies, and that the people, instructed in their religion
-from the pulpit, were not likely to adopt what their fathers had rejected
-as contrary to the simplicity of the Gospel. But the Bishop of Ross,
-Laud's right-hand man, replied for the Council that the liturgy was
-neither superstitious nor idolatrous, but according to the formula of
-the ancient Churches, and they must submit to that or to "horning," that
-is, banishment. Still the Council delayed, and the people were pretty
-quiet during the harvest time, but that over, the news having arrived of
-a peremptory message from the king, commanding the enforcement of the
-liturgy, and the removal of the Council from Edinburgh to Linlithgow,
-thence in the following term to Stirling, and for the next to Dundee,
-the people flocked into Edinburgh, and, incensed at the idea of their
-ancient capital being deprived of its honours as the seat of government,
-they became extremely irritated, attacked the bishops when they could see
-them, and nearly tore the clothes from the back of the Bishop of Galway.
-He escaped into the Council House, and the members of the Council in
-their turn sent to demand protection from the magistrates, who could not
-even protect themselves.
-
-For greater security the Council removed to Dalkeith, and the Marquis of
-Hamilton recommended to Charles to make some concessions; but far from
-giving way, a more positive order for the enforcement of the obnoxious
-liturgy arrived from the king. But it was found impossible to enforce it:
-the Earl of Traquair was summoned up to London, sharply questioned as to
-the causes of the delay, and was sent back with more arbitrary commands.
-On the 18th of October these were made known, and fresh riots took place,
-Traquair and two of the bishops nearly losing their lives. The king then
-consented to the petitioners above mentioned being represented by a
-deputation personally resident in Edinburgh. The object was to induce the
-crowds of strangers to withdraw to their homes, when it was thought the
-people of Edinburgh alone might be better dealt with; but the advocates
-of the people seized on the plan, and converted it into one of the most
-powerful engines of opposition imaginable.
-
-At the head of these able politicians, and the contrivers of this
-profoundly sagacious scheme, were the Lords Rothes, Balmerino, Lindsay,
-Lothian, Loudon, Yester, and Cranstoun. Balmerino had been severely
-treated by Charles, and had thus become hardened into the most positive
-opponent of the episcopal movement. In his possession in 1634 was a copy
-of a petition to the Scottish Parliament, too strong in its language
-even for the Scottish dissentients to present. He had, under pledge of
-strictest secrecy, lent this to a friend. For this he was committed to
-prison, and at the instigation of Spottiswood, Archbishop of St. Andrews,
-it was resolved to prosecute him for high treason, and a verdict was
-procured against him. But the people were so enraged that they assembled
-in vast crowds, vowing to murder both the jurors who had given the
-verdict and the judges who had accepted it. Government was alarmed, and
-the king was reluctantly induced to grant Balmerino a pardon. From that
-moment he became the champion of the people.
-
-He and his colleagues the nobles, the gentry, the Presbyterian clergy,
-and the inhabitants of the burghs, formed themselves into four "Tables"
-or Committees, each of four persons, and each Table sent a representative
-to a fifth Table, a Committee of superintendence and government. Thus
-in the capital there were sitting five Tables or Committees, to receive
-complaints and information from the people, and decide on all these
-matters. Throughout the country were speedily established similar Tables,
-with whom they corresponded. Thus, instead of that mere representation of
-the petitioners which the king contemplated as an expedient for getting
-rid of the immediate pressure of the people, one of the most perfect and
-most powerful systems of popular agitation was organised that the world
-had ever seen. There was the most instant attention to the suggestions of
-the people by the provincial Tables, and the most prompt and respectful
-consideration of their reports by the Tables in the capital. A permanent
-government of the people was, in fact, erected, to which the public
-looked with the utmost confidence, and by which step its whole weight was
-brought to bear on the unpopular government of the king.
-
-The formidable nature of this novel engine of the popular will was
-quickly perceived by the Court; and Traquair was ordered to issue a
-proclamation declaring the Tables to be unlawful, commanding all people
-to withdraw to their own homes, and menacing the penalties of treason
-against all who disobeyed. This proclamation was made by Traquair at
-Stirling, on the 19th of February, 1638; but it was disregarded. The
-Tables had procured early information of the forthcoming proclamation,
-and had summoned the provincial Tables from all parts to assemble in
-Edinburgh and Stirling. These cities were thus crowded with the very life
-and soul of the whole agitation. They had already risen in their demands
-as they perceived their strength, and had ceased to petition for time
-and some trifling alterations in "the buke." They demanded the formal
-revocation of the liturgy, the canons, and the Court of High Commission.
-Now, no sooner had the herald read the royal proclamation than the Lords
-Hume and Lindsay read a counter proclamation, saw it affixed to the
-market cross, and copies sent to Edinburgh and Linlithgow, to be read and
-publicly placarded there.
-
-Traquair, who had clearly foreseen these consequences, and in vain warned
-the king to avoid them by timely concession, wrote to Hamilton, informing
-him of what had taken place, and that there was no power in the kingdom
-capable of forcing the liturgy down the people's throats; that they would
-receive the Mass as soon. His words received a speedy confirmation. The
-Tables determined to publish a Solemn Covenant between the people and
-the Almighty to stand by their religion to the death. Their fathers, at
-the time of the Reformation, had adopted such an instrument. The great
-nobles of the time had sworn to maintain the principles of Wishart
-and Knox, and to defend the preachers of those doctrines against the
-powers of Antichrist and the monarchy. James had sworn to adhere to
-this confession of faith, with all their households and all classes of
-people, in the years 1580, 1581, and 1590. The name of Covenant was thus
-become a watchword to the whole nation, which roused them like a trumpet.
-This document had been composed by Alexander Henderson, one of the four
-ministers who had petitioned, and Archibald Johnstone, an advocate, the
-legal adviser of the party; and had been revised by Balmerino, Loudon,
-and Rothes.
-
-This famous document began by a clear exposition of the tenets of
-the Reformed Scottish Church, and as solemn an abjuration of all the
-errors and doctrines of the Pope, with his "vain allegories, rites,
-signs, and traditions." It enumerated the anti-Christian tenets of
-Popery--the denial of salvation to infants dying without baptism; the
-receiving the Sacrament from men of scandalous lives; the devilish Mass;
-the canonisation of men; the invocation of saints; the worshipping of
-imaginary relics and crosses; the speaking and praying in a strange
-language; auricular confession; the shaveling monks; bloody persecutions;
-and a hundred other abominations. All these were made as great offences
-against the Anglican hierarchy, which was fast running back into those
-"days of bygone idolatry." The various classes--"noblemen, barons,
-gentlemen, burgesses, ministers, and commons"--bound themselves by the
-Covenant to defend and maintain the reformed faith before God, His
-angels, and the world, till it was again established by free Assemblies
-and Parliaments, in the same full purity and liberty of the Gospel as it
-had been heretofore.
-
-On the 1st of March, 1638, the church of St. Giles, which had witnessed
-so lately the hasty flight of the bishops, was thronged with the
-Covenanters of all ranks and from all parts of the country. The business
-was opened by a fervent prayer from Henderson, and then the people were
-addressed in a stirring harangue by the Earl of Loudon, the most eloquent
-man in Scotland. The effect was such that the whole assembly rose
-simultaneously, and with outstretched arms, amid torrents of tears, swore
-to the contents of the Covenant. That done, they turned and embraced each
-other, wept, and shouted aloud their exultation over this great victory,
-for such they felt it, in the united energy and religious dedication of
-the nation.
-
-Dispersing to their various homes, the delegates carried the fire of
-this grand enthusiasm with them. Over moor and mountain it flew, across
-the green pastoral hills of the South, through the dark defiles of the
-Highlands, and to the sea-swept isles. Thousands continued to pour into
-the capital to add their signatures to the Covenant; and in every parish
-on the Sunday the people streamed to listen to the fiery harangues from
-the pulpits, and to give in their names, with the same tears, emotions,
-and embraces as in Edinburgh. It was soon found that, except in the
-county of Aberdeen, the Covenanters outnumbered their opponents in the
-proportion of one hundred to one.
-
-Nor did these determined reformers readily admit of any dissent or
-lukewarmness. Where they found any opposed or inert, they roused them by
-threats, and often by blows and coercion. Some they threw into prison,
-and some they set in the stocks for refusing to sign. The Catholics were
-those who principally stood aloof; but these were not calculated at a
-thousand in all Scotland. Of such they entered the names in a list, and
-made calculations of their property, with a view to confiscation. In
-Lanark and other places the contending factions came to blows before
-the lists were filled up. Active subscriptions were levied for the
-maintenance of the Cause, and before the end of April there was scarcely
-a single Protestant who had not signed the Covenant. The bishops had fled
-to England, and all Scotland stood ready to fight for its faith.
-
-[Illustration: THE PEOPLE SIGNING THE COVENANT IN ST. GILES'S CHURCH,
-EDINBURGH. (_See p._ 567.)]
-
-Here was a spectacle which would have shown the folly of his career
-to any other monarch; but all reason or representation was wasted on
-Charles. Traquair entreated him, before plunging into war, to listen to
-the counsels of his most experienced Scottish Ministers; but Charles
-seldom listened to anything except his own self-will, or any person
-except his fatal counsellors, Laud and Wentworth. He is said on this
-occasion to have consulted with a small council of Scotsmen living in
-England, which had been formed by James on his accession to the English
-throne, and in accordance with their advice and in opposition to that of
-the Council in Scotland, he resolved on suppressing the Covenant by force.
-
-In May he sent the Marquis of Hamilton to Scotland, with orders to
-endeavour to soothe the people by assuring them that the liturgy and
-canons should only be exercised in a fair and gentle manner, and that
-the High Commission Court should be so remodelled as to be no grievance.
-If these promises did not satisfy them, as Hamilton must have known they
-would not, for Charles's promises were too notorious to be of any value,
-he was to resort to any exercise of force that he thought necessary.
-
-On the 3rd of June he arrived at Berwick, and sent to the nobility to
-meet him at Haddington; but no one appeared except the Earl of Roxburgh,
-who assured him that anything but a full revocation of the canons and
-liturgy was hopeless. On reaching Dalkeith he was waited on by Lord
-Rothes, who, on the part of the Covenanters, invited him to take up his
-abode in Holyrood as more convenient for discussion.
-
-Hamilton objected to enter a city swarming with Covenanters, where the
-castle was already invested by their guards. These, it was promised him,
-should be removed and the city kept quiet, on which he consented; and on
-the 8th of June he set forward. But he found the whole of the way, from
-Musselburgh to Leith and from Leith to Edinburgh, lined with Covenanters,
-fifty thousand in number. There were from five to seven hundred clergymen
-collected; and all the nobility and gentry assembled in the capital,
-amounting to five thousand, came out to meet and escort him in. All this
-he was informed was to do him honour, but he felt that its real design
-was to impress him with the strength of the Covenant party.
-
-[Illustration: ST. GILES'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH, IN THE 17TH CENTURY.]
-
-Being settled in Holyrood, Hamilton received a deputation of the heads
-of the League, and asked them what they required to induce them to
-surrender opposition. They replied that in the first place they demanded
-the summons of a General Assembly and a Parliament. They then renewed the
-guard at the castle, and doubled the guards and watches of the city. The
-preachers warned the people to be on their guard against propositions.
-They informed the marquis that no English Service Book must be used in
-the royal chapel, and they nailed up the organ as an "abomination to the
-Lord." They then waited on Hamilton, requesting him and his officers
-to sign the Covenant, as they hoped to be regarded as patriots and
-Christians. The ministers whom the oppressions of Wentworth had chased
-out of Ulster to make way for the Anglican service were in Edinburgh,
-inflaming the people by their details of the cruelties and broken
-promises of Charles and his Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland.
-
-Hamilton saw that it was useless to publish Charles's proclamation, but
-wrote advising him to grant them their demands, or to lose no time in
-appearing with a powerful army. Charles replied desiring him to amuse the
-Covenanters with any promises that he pleased, so that he did not commit
-the king himself. He was to avoid granting an Assembly or Parliament, but
-he added, "Your chief end being now to win time, they may commit public
-follies until I be ready to suppress them." The marquis, therefore,
-endeavoured to spin out the time by coaxing and deluding the Covenanters.
-He promised to call a General Assembly and a Parliament, and redress all
-their grievances. When pressed too closely, he declared that he would go
-to London himself and endeavour to set all right with the king; but this
-was part only of the plan of gaining time whilst Charles was preparing a
-fleet and army. But the Scots were too wary to be thus deceived. They had
-information that troops were being raised in England, and they too made
-preparations. At the same time they waited on the marquis, professing
-the most unabated loyalty, but resolute to have free exercise of their
-religion. Hamilton promised to present their address to the king, and
-set out on the 4th of July for England. He informed Charles of the real
-state of the country, and that the very members of the Privy Council were
-so infected by the Covenant that he had not dared to call them together.
-But Charles was not to be induced to take any effective measures for
-pacifying the public mind of Scotland. His instructions to the marquis
-were to amuse the people with hopes, and to allow of the sitting of
-a General Assembly, but not before the 1st of November. He was even
-to publish the order for discharging the use of the Service Book, the
-canons, and the High Commission Court, but was to forbid the abolition
-of bishops, though the bishops were for the present not to intrude
-themselves into the Assembly. They were, however, to be privately held to
-be essentially members of the Assembly, and were to be one way or other
-provided for till better times.
-
-These half measures were not likely to be accepted, but they would serve
-Charles's grand object of gaining time, and the marquis arrived with
-them in Edinburgh on the 10th of August. Three days after his arrival
-the Covenanters waited upon him to learn how the king had received their
-explanations, and the marquis assured them with much grace and goodness;
-but when they heard that the bishops were not to be abolished, they
-treated his other offers with contempt, and Hamilton once more proposed
-to journey to England to endeavour to obtain a full and free recall
-of all the offensive ordinances. Before taking his leave, as a proof
-of his earnestness, he joined with the Earls of Traquair, Roxburgh,
-and Southesk, in a written solicitation to his Majesty to remove all
-innovations in religion which had disturbed the peace of the country.
-By the 17th of September Hamilton was again at Holyrood. On the 21st
-he received the Covenanters and informed them that he had succeeded;
-that the king gave up everything; that an Assembly was to be called
-immediately, and a Parliament in the month of May next; and that the
-king revoked the Service Book, the Book of Canons, the five Articles of
-Perth, and the High Commission. The Covenanters were about to express
-their unbounded satisfaction and loyal gratitude, when the marquis added
-that his Majesty only required them to sign the old confession of faith
-as adopted by King James in 1580 and 1590. This single reservation broke
-the whole charm; their countenances fell, and they declared that they
-looked upon this as an artifice merely to set aside their new bond of the
-Covenant.
-
-In all Charles's most solemn acts the cloven foot showed itself. Even
-when seeming most honest, there was something which awoke a distrust in
-him. He was not sincere, and he had not the art to look so. In any other
-monarch the positive assurance that the innovations on the religion of
-Scotland should be abandoned, would have settled the matter at once;
-but Charles had so utterly lost character for truth and good faith that
-it was believed throughout the country that he was still only deluding
-them, and seeking time ultimately to come down resistlessly upon them.
-And we know from his own correspondence preserved in the Strafford Papers
-that it was so. These words addressed to Hamilton, "Your chief end is
-to win time, that they may commit public follies, until I be ready to
-suppress them," are an everlasting proof of it. Besides, they had ample
-information from friends about the Court in England that this was the
-case, and that in a few months the king meant to visit them with an
-irresistible force. The people of England were suffering too much from
-the same species of oppression not to sympathise warmly with the Scottish
-patriots, and keep them well informed of what was going on there. We find
-it asserted in the Hardwicke State Papers that the Government was very
-jealous of the number of people who went about England selling Scottish
-linen, and it was recommended to open all letters going between the
-countries at Berwick.
-
-The Covenanters therefore determined to hold together and be prepared.
-On the 22nd of September, 1638, the Marquis of Hamilton caused the royal
-proclamation to be read at the market-cross at Edinburgh, abandoning
-the Anglican Service and the High Commission Court; but as it required
-subscription to the old confession of faith, there was no rejoicing on
-the occasion. There were two particulars in this proclamation which fully
-justified the Scots in refusing to comply with it. It stated that the vow
-of the Covenant was unauthorised by Government, and therefore illegal;
-and it professed to grant a pardon for that act to all who signed the
-confession, which would have acknowledged that the nation had been guilty
-of a crime in accepting the Covenant, a thing they were not likely to
-admit, for in that case they could not have refused the re-admission
-of the very liturgy against which they were at war. They therefore
-published a protest against the proclamation, founded on these reasons.
-
-The marquis having obtained the signature of the Lords of the Secret
-Council to the new bond, which Charles had previously signed, though it
-contained many clauses repugnant to Arminianism, issued the proclamation
-for the meeting of the Assembly in Glasgow on the 21st of November,
-1638, and for that of the Parliament on the 17th of May, 1639. In a few
-days afterwards, the Council published an act discharging the Book of
-Common Prayer, the Book of Canons, etc., and called for the subscription
-of all his Majesty's subjects. The municipal bodies, the ministers, and
-the people hastened to thank the Council, and to express their joy at
-the revocation of the obnoxious orders, but they refused to sign the
-confession.
-
-The marquis wrote to Charles, informing him of the determined spirit of
-the people, and advising him to hasten his military preparations. He also
-represented to him the protests of the bishops against the holding of the
-Assembly; but the king bade him persist in holding it, so that he might
-not appear to break faith with the public and thus precipitate matters,
-but to counteract the effect of the Assembly by sowing discord amongst
-the members, and protesting against their tumultuary proceedings.
-
-But the Scots did not give Hamilton much time for such machinations
-before the meeting of the Assembly. They were warned by a trusty
-correspondent--notwithstanding the waylaying of the post was carried
-into effect--that vigorous preparations were being made to invade
-Scotland. There were arms for twenty thousand men, including forty
-pieces of ordnance and forty carriages; but the writer did not believe
-they would get two hundred men for the service, such was the desire of
-all parties--nobles, gentry, and people--for their success, which if
-obtained, he said, would lead many of all ranks to settle in Scotland for
-freedom of conscience. He added that Wentworth had made large offers of
-assistance to the king from Ireland, but that the Irish were themselves
-so injured that he doubted whether any considerable help would be had
-from Wentworth against them; yet if Charles could muster sufficient
-force, they might expect no terms from him but such as they would get at
-the cannon's mouth.
-
-At the end of October the Earl of Rothes demanded from Hamilton a
-warrant citing the bishops as guilty of heresy, perjury, simony, and
-gross immorality, to appear before the approaching Assembly. The marquis
-refused, on which the Presbytery of Edinburgh cited them. Charles had
-ordered, as a sign of his favour, the restoration of the Lords of Session
-of Edinburgh, but on condition of their signing the confession of faith.
-Nine out of the fifteen were induced with much difficulty to sign, but
-from that moment they were in terror of their lives from the exasperation
-of the people.
-
-When Hamilton arrived on the 17th of November in Glasgow to open the
-Assembly, he found the town thronged with people from all quarters,
-evidently in intense excitement. The Tables had secured the most popular
-elections of representatives to the Assembly, sending one lay elder and
-four lay assessors from every Presbytery. The marquis therefore found
-himself overruled on all points. In his opening speech he read them the
-king's letter, in which Charles complained of having been misrepresented,
-as though he desired innovations in laws and religion; and to prove how
-groundless this was, he had granted this free Assembly, for settling all
-such matters to the satisfaction of his good subjects. He then of himself
-protested against the foul and devilish calumnies against his sacred
-Majesty, purporting that even this grant of the Assembly was but to gain
-time whilst he was preparing arms to force on the nation the abhorred
-ritual. The marquis, whilst he was making these solemn asseverations,
-being well assured, as were most of his hearers, that the king was all
-the while casting cannon and ball, and mustering soldiers for this "foul
-and devilish purpose," the Assembly must have been perfectly satisfied
-that no good was to be expected but from their own firmness. They at once
-proceeded to elect Alexander Henderson as their Moderator, and Hamilton
-protested as vigorously against it, but in vain. They next elected as
-clerk-register Archibald Johnstone, the clerk of the Edinburgh Tables,
-against which Hamilton again protested with as little effect, Johnstone
-declaring that he would do his best to "defend the prerogative of the Son
-of God."
-
-Defeated on these important points, the marquis the next day entered
-a protest against the return of lay members to the Assembly; and the
-proctor on behalf of the bishops added their protest, declining the
-authority of the Assembly, which he contended ought to be purely
-ecclesiastical. James had, in fact, put the lay members out of the
-Assembly, and the king therefore treated this original constitution of
-the Assembly, as settled at the Reformation, as an innovation, turning
-the charge of innovation on the Covenanters. The marquis would then
-have read the protests of the bishops with which he was furnished; but
-the Assembly declined to hear them, and repeated that they would pursue
-the charges against the bishops so long as they had lives and fortunes.
-On this Hamilton dissolved the Assembly, and the same day wrote a most
-remarkable letter to Charles, which appears to leave little ground for
-the suspicions of the royal party that he was secretly inclined to the
-Covenant. He informed the king that he had done his utmost, but to no
-purpose, with that rebellious nation. He seemed to apprehend danger to
-his life, and that this might be the last letter he should ever write to
-his Majesty. He blamed the bishops for persuading the king to bring in
-the English liturgy and canons in so abrupt and violent a manner; that
-their pride was great, their folly greater. He gives the king his opinion
-of the character and degrees of the trustworthiness of the different
-Ministers, and bids him beware of the Earl of Argyle, whom he declares to
-be the most dangerous man in the State; so far from favouring episcopacy,
-as had been supposed, that nobleman wished it abolished with all his
-soul. This was immediately afterwards, as we shall see, made clear by
-Argyle himself. Hamilton then proceeded to instruct the king how best to
-proceed to quell what he deemed not merely a contest for religion, but an
-incipient rebellion. It was to blockade the ports, and thus cut off all
-trade, by which the burghs, the chief seats of the agitation, lived. As
-fast as these burghs felt their folly and returned to their allegiance,
-they should be restored to favour, and their ports opened, which would
-make the rest anxious to follow. He said he had done his best to garrison
-the castle of Edinburgh, though it was in a precarious state, but that
-the castle of Dumbarton might be readily garrisoned by troops from
-Ireland. If he preserved his life, which he seemed to doubt, he would
-defend his post to the utmost, though "he hated the place like hell," and
-as soon as he was free of it would forswear the country. He recommended
-his brother to the king's favour and his children to his protection if
-they lived; and to these, if they did not prove loyal, he left his curse.
-His daughters, he desired, might never marry into Scotland.
-
-The marquis clearly saw the dreadful conflict which was approaching,
-and his tears and emotion on dismissing the Assembly struck every one
-with that impression. But the Assembly had no intention of dispersing.
-Like the Commons of England, they entertained too high an estimate of
-their right, and of their duty in such a crisis. They therefore passed a
-resolution declaring the Kirk independent of the civil powers, and the
-dissolution of the Assembly by the Royal Commissioner illegal and void.
-They said that if the Commissioner should see fit to quit the country,
-and leave the Church and kingdom in that disorder, it was their duty to
-sit; and that they would continue to sit till they had settled all the
-evils which came within their lawful and undoubted jurisdiction.
-
-Laud, in reply to Hamilton, lamented that fear of giving umbrage to
-the Covenanters too soon had too long delayed the means to crush them.
-He thanked him for having conveyed the bishops to Hamilton Castle to
-protect them, and trusted that his own life would yet be preserved
-from the diabolical fury of the Scots. What Hamilton had foreseen in
-the meantime had come to pass. The Earl of Argyle declared plainly in
-the Council that he would take the Covenant and sanction the Assembly.
-Accordingly, though not a member of it, he took his place in the Assembly
-as their chief director; and thus encouraged, they proceeded to abolish
-episcopacy for ever, to deprive all the bishops, and to excommunicate
-the greater part of them and all their abettors. Charles, and James
-before him, had completely conferred all the power of Parliament on the
-bishops, making eight of them the Lords of the Articles, with authority
-to choose eight of the nobles, and these sixteen having power to choose
-all the rest, so that all depended on the bishops, and they, again, on
-the king. This effectually ranged the nobles against them. The Marquis of
-Hamilton, notwithstanding his fears, was permitted quietly to withdraw
-to England, whence he was soon to return against them at the head of the
-fleet. The people received the news of the proceedings of the Assembly
-with transports of joy, and celebrated the downfall of episcopacy by a
-day of thanksgiving. Charles, on the other hand, issued a proclamation
-declaring all its acts void, and hastened his preparations for marching
-into Scotland.
-
-But the Covenanters were not the less active on their part, and
-everything tended to a civil war, the result of Charles's incessant
-attacks on the liberties of the nation. They made collections of arms,
-and as early as December they received six thousand muskets from Holland.
-These had been stopped by the Government of that country, but Cardinal
-Richelieu had suddenly shown himself a friend, by ordering the muskets
-as if for his own use, receiving them into a French port, and thence
-forwarding them to Scotland. However impolitic it might appear for France
-to assist subjects against their prince, it must be remembered that
-Charles had managed to create nearly as strong a feeling against him in
-Louis and his minister Richelieu as in his own subjects. He had set the
-example by assisting the Huguenots against their prince, and had provoked
-France by defeating its plan of dividing the Spanish Netherlands between
-that country and Holland. The present opportunity, therefore, was eagerly
-seized to make Charles feel the error he had committed. Richelieu,
-moreover, ordered the French Ambassador in London to pay over to General
-Leslie, one of Gustavus Adolphus's old officers, who had been engaged
-by the Assembly, one hundred thousand crowns. This last transaction,
-however, was kept a profound secret, for the Scots, when advised to seek
-the assistance of France and Germany, had indignantly refused, saying the
-Lutherans of Germany were heretics, and the people of France Papistical
-idolaters; that it became them to seek support from God alone, and not
-from the broken reed of Egypt. The preachers thundered from the pulpits
-against the bishops, and the determination of the king still to force
-them on the country; and they refused the Communion to all who had not
-signed the Covenant. The Tables called on the young men in every quarter
-of the country to come forward and be trained to arms, and the Scottish
-officers who had been engaged in the wars in Germany flocked over and
-offered their services for the support of the popular cause. The nobles
-contributed plate to be melted down, the merchants in the towns sent in
-money, and an army of determined men was fast forming.
-
-[Illustration: THE OLD COLLEGE, GLASGOW, IN THE 17TH CENTURY.]
-
-Charles, on his part, was not the less busy preparing for the campaign,
-and he was persuaded by many of the courtiers that he had only to appear,
-to pacify the Scots. If we are to believe Clarendon, the Treasury was in
-a flourishing condition, a most unlikely circumstance, considering the
-unpopular mode of raising funds without a Parliament; and we are assured
-of the contrary by a letter of the Earl of Northumberland, addressed
-to Wentworth in January, 1639. He says, "I assure your lordship, to my
-understanding, to my sorrow I speak it, we are altogether in as ill a
-posture to invade others or to defend ourselves as we were a twelve-month
-since, which is more than any one can imagine that is not an eye-witness
-of it. The discontents here at home do rather increase than lessen,
-there being no course taken to give any kind of satisfaction. The king's
-coffers were never emptier than at this time, and to us that have the
-honour to be near about him, no way is yet known how he will find means
-either to maintain or begin a war without the help of his people."
-Cottington wrote to Wentworth in the same strain.
-
-So far from consulting Parliament, Charles had not even opened his
-difficulties to his Council. He was now compelled to do the latter, and
-on this occasion Laud was found entreating for peaceful measures. It is
-probable that he had taken a more rational view of the belligerent temper
-of the Scots, and saw more danger in the king's attempt to coerce them,
-than he generally discerned in pushing on arbitrary counsels. His advice
-was rejected, and the rest of the Council acquiesced in the determination
-of the king. By the beginning of the year 1639, Charles had named his
-generals and officers, had issued orders to the Lords-Lieutenant to
-muster the trained bands of their several counties, and the nobles to
-meet him at York on the 1st of April with such retinues as belonged to
-their rank and fortune. To procure money he suspended the payment of
-all pensions, borrowed where he could, and judges, lawyers, and the
-clergy were called upon to contribute from their salaries and livings
-in lieu of their personal service. The clergy were in general extremely
-liberal. They considered that the cause was their own, and that if the
-Presbyterians of Scotland became triumphant, the Puritans of England
-might deal in similar fashion with the Church of England. Laud, moreover,
-ordered the names of all clergymen who refused to be returned to him. The
-queen also lent her aid by calling on the Catholics to assist, reminding
-them that aid given to the king in this emergency was the most likely
-means to securing future advantages to themselves. When the knowledge
-of the queen's circular letter to the Catholics became known to the
-Puritans, they were greatly scandalised; and the Catholics responding
-readily to the call, and holding a meeting in London presided over by the
-Pope's Nuncio, tended to strengthen their opinion of the papistical bias
-of Charles and his Church.
-
-The king, on his part, sought to take advantage of the ancient
-antipathies between the two kingdoms, and issued proclamations calling
-on all good subjects to resist the attempts of the Scots, who were
-contemplating, he asserted, the invasion and plunder of the kingdom and
-the destruction of the monarchy. But he found this was an empty alarm.
-The reformers of England knew too well that the cause of the Scots and
-their own were identical; that the purpose of the king was to destroy
-the constitutional rights and freedom of religion in both kingdoms
-alike. The Scottish nobles, as well as the English public, rejected all
-attempts to divide them in this Cause. There was a time when they could
-be bought by the money of England, which had been freely and successfully
-employed by the Tudors. But Charles had little money to give; and to the
-honour of the Scottish peers, when other temptations were tried, for the
-most part the sacred cause of their religion triumphed over them. They
-exhorted one another to stand fast by the Covenant. The most intimate
-communication between the Scottish and English reformers was maintained
-by pamphlets secretly circulated, by emissaries traversing all classes
-and all quarters. The earliest information of the movements of the Court
-was transmitted; and before Charles commenced his march towards York,
-General Leslie, the elected Commander-in-Chief, took the initiative, and
-surprised the castle of Edinburgh, on the 21st of March, at the head of
-a thousand musketeers, and without losing a single man. The next day,
-Saturday, the castle of Dalkeith was given over by Traquair, with all the
-regalia and a large quantity of ammunition and arms. It was thought that
-Traquair had shown great timidity, to surrender so strong a castle almost
-without a blow; but he complained of having been left alone, without
-countenance or advice. The Earls of Rothes and Balmerino took the castle,
-and conveyed the regalia safely to the castle of Edinburgh. The following
-day, Sunday, did not prevent even Scotsmen and Covenanters from seizing
-the castle of Dumbarton. The governor was surprised on his return from
-church, and threatened with instant death if he did not surrender the
-keys to the provost of the town, a zealous Covenanter. Stirling was in
-the hands of the Earl of Mar, who had taken the Covenant; and of all the
-royal fortresses, only Carlaverock, the least important, remained in the
-hands of the Crown. The Marquis of Huntly, who had undertaken to hold
-the Highlands for the king, was overpowered or entrapped by Leslie and
-Montrose, who at the head of seven thousand men compelled the reluctant
-professors of Aberdeen to accept the Covenant, when Leslie returned to
-Edinburgh, carrying Huntly with him. The Earl of Antrim, who was to have
-invaded the domains of Argyle from Ireland, was unable to fulfil his
-engagement, and thus every day brought the news of rapid disasters to
-Charles on his march towards York. Hamilton, who had been despatched with
-a fleet, appeared in the Forth on the 13th of April. He had five thousand
-troops on board, and was expected to secure Leith, the port of Edinburgh,
-and overawe if he could not take the capital; but he found the place
-strongly fortified, and twenty thousand men were posted on the shores to
-hinder his landing. All classes, from the noble to the peasant, had been
-labouring industriously to repair fortifications and throw up batteries,
-and ladies had carried materials for them. The marquis saw no chance of
-effecting a landing, and therefore disembarked his men on the islands
-in the Forth, to prevent them from perishing in the ships, for they
-were landsmen, and had been hastily pressed into the service, and were
-both sickly and mutinous. No prospect was ever more discouraging; even
-Wentworth could not send him the small aid of five hundred musketeers
-in time, and strongly advised Charles to avoid coming to an engagement
-with his raw levies against the enthusiastic Scots and their practical
-generals, but to garrison Berwick and Carlisle to prevent incursions, and
-wait till the next year if necessary.
-
-Charles arrived at York on the 19th of April, and proceeded to administer
-to the lords who there awaited him with their followers, an oath of
-allegiance, binding them to oppose all conspiracies and seditions,
-even if they were veiled under the pretence of religion. The Lords
-Say and Brooke declined to take the oath, saying they were willing to
-accompany their sovereign from loyalty and affection; but that, as
-they were ignorant of the laws and customs of Scotland, they could not
-undertake to say that the Scots were rebels, or the war was just. Charles
-with indignation ordered them to be arrested, but the Attorney and
-Solicitor-Generals on being consulted declaring that there was no ground
-for their prosecution, they were dismissed with the royal displeasure
-and desired to return home. Nor had the king much more satisfaction with
-the lords who had taken the oath, for they qualified it by signing a
-paper stating in what sense they took it. To perform an act calculated
-to please the people whom he was leaving behind, at York he issued a
-proclamation, revoking no less than thirty-one monopolies and patents,
-pretending that he had not discovered before how grievous they were to
-his subjects; but the real fact was, that most of them had been granted
-to Scotsmen who had now forfeited his favour.
-
-On leaving York he complimented the Recorder, who had paid him the most
-fulsome flattery, and the municipal authorities, by telling them that he
-had there experienced more love than he ever had in London on which he
-had showered so many benefits. At Durham by the bishop and clergy, and
-at Newcastle by the corporation, he was magnificently entertained, and
-at every halting-place fresh quotas of horse and foot came in. "But,"
-remarks Clarendon, "if there had been none in the march but soldiers,
-it is most probable that a noble peace would have quickly ensued, even
-without fighting; but the progress was more illustrious than the march,
-and the soldiers were the least part of the army, and the least consulted
-with. For," he adds, "the king more intended the pomp of his preparations
-than the strength of them." The certain proof, he might have added, of a
-very foolish king, as Charles was. But the "ifs" which Clarendon summons
-up on this occasion to explain the want of success are amusing. "If the
-war had been vigorously pursued, it had been as soon ended as begun." "If
-he had been duly informed of what was going on in Scotland," of course
-he would have known. "If the whole nation of Scotchmen had been entirely
-united in the rebellion, and all who stayed in the Court had marched in
-their army, the king or kingdom could have sustained no damage by them;
-but the monument of their presumption and their shame would have been
-razed together, and no other memory preserved of their rebellion but in
-their memorable and infamous defeat." That is, there would have been no
-Scottish traitors about him to keep him misinformed. This is just as
-true as the treasury being well furnished, for we know that Hamilton
-and Traquair kept the king punctually informed of everything the whole
-time. "If," however, Charles had more wisely chosen his generals,--but
-Arundel, his general, was a man, says this veracious historian, "who
-had nothing martial about him but his presence and his looks, and
-therefore was thought to be made choice of for his negative qualities.
-He did not love the Scots; he did not love the Puritans; which good
-qualities were allayed by another negative--he did love nobody else." The
-lieutenant-general, the Earl of Essex, was too proud and uncompromising,
-and the Earl of Holland, general of the horse, was just no general at
-all, "a man fitter for a show than a field." Yet, says Clarendon, "If the
-king himself had stayed at London, or, which had been the next best, kept
-his court and resided at York, and sent the army on its proper errand,
-and left the matter of the war solely to them, in all human reason his
-enemies had been speedily subdued." With such generals as Arundel and
-Holland--for Essex was a brave commander, though, as afterwards appeared,
-no great tactician--it is not so easy to see that. But Clarendon might
-have safely reduced all his "ifs" into one--if Charles had been a wise
-king he would not have got into a quarrel with his subjects at all.
-
-With such generals, and an army of raw levies, hastily dragged
-reluctantly from the plough and the mattock, to fight in a cause with
-which they had no sympathy, and encumbered by heaps of useless nobles
-and gentry, Charles marched on to Berwick, and encamped his forces on an
-open field called the Birks. He had besides the garrison of Berwick three
-thousand two hundred and sixty horse, and nineteen thousand six hundred
-and fourteen foot. But, on the other hand, Leslie, says Clarendon, had
-drawn up his forces on the side of a hill at Dunse, so as to make a great
-show. "The front only could be seen, but it was reported that Leslie and
-the whole army were there; and it was very true, they were all there
-indeed--but it was as true that all did not exceed the number of nine
-thousand men, very ill armed, and mostly country fellows, who were on
-the sudden got together to make that show." Leslie, he informs us, had
-so dispersed his knot of ragamuffins, with great herds of cattle on the
-hills around, that it was naturally supposed that there was a large army,
-the bulk of it concealed behind the hill; and he assures us that had the
-royal army pushed forward the whole illusion would have vanished.
-
-This account is as thoroughly opposed to all the credible historians
-of the time, Rushworth, Nalson, Burnet, Baillie, and the letters of
-distinguished persons engaged, as the whole array of "ifs." We are
-assured that Leslie had pitched his camp at Dunglas, and twelve thousand
-volunteers had crowded to his standard. The preachers everywhere called
-on their hearers to advance the cause of God and the Kirk. Those in the
-camp wrote and disseminated letters to the same effect. One demanded that
-every true Scot should go forward to extort a reasonable peace from the
-king, or to do battle with his and their common enemies, the prelates
-and papists of England. Another denounced the curse of Meroz on all who
-did not come to the help of the Lord, and of His champions. Another
-ironically bade those who would not fight for God and their country to
-bring spades and bury the saints whom they had abandoned to the swords
-of the Amalekites. They had chosen for the motto on their banners the
-words, "For Christ's Crown and the Covenant," and over every captain's
-tent waved the arms of Scotland and these words. Soldiers therefore
-flocked in on all sides to the sacred standard, and by the time that
-Leslie marched for Dunse Hill his army numbered nearly twenty thousand
-men, many of them new to arms, but all enthusiastic patriots. Twice a day
-they were summoned by sound of drum to drill and to sermon; and when they
-were not listening to the exciting harangues of the ministers, they were
-solacing themselves with singing psalms and reading the Scriptures, or
-with extempore prayer. "Had you lent your ear," says one of them, "and
-heard in the tents the sounds of some singing psalms, some praying, some
-reading Scripture, you would have been refreshed. For myself, I never
-found my mind in better temper than it was. I was as a man who had taken
-leave from the world, and was resolved to die in that service without
-return. I found the favour of God shining upon me, and a sweet, meek,
-humble, yet strong and vehement spirit leading me all along."
-
-Leslie was joined by the Earl of Montrose, who had been posted at Kelso,
-and the first of their proceedings was to issue proclamations, declaring
-that they had no intention to invade England if their reasonable demands
-were granted; and that their only object was to obtain from the king the
-confirmation of his promises for the free enjoyment of their religion.
-Whatever was done in the Scottish camp was freely circulated in the
-royal camp, for they had plenty of friends there, and the strength, the
-spirits, and resolution of their army were abundantly set forth daily.
-
-It was the fortune of the Earl of Holland to lead the way first against
-them. He passed the Tweed near Twizel, where the English army had crossed
-to the battle of Flodden, and advanced towards the detachment of the
-army near Kelso. He had with him the bulk of the horse and about three
-thousand infantry. As if no enemy had been in the country, he trotted on
-with his horse, till he found himself on the hill of Maxwellhaugh, above
-Kelso, and not only saw the tents of the enemy, but his way barred by
-an advanced post of one hundred and fifty horse and five or six thousand
-foot. He then discovered that his foot and artillery were three or four
-miles behind. On this he sent a trumpet to the enemy, commanding them
-not to cross the Border, to which they replied by asking whose trumpet
-that was, and being told the Earl of Holland's, they said the earl had
-better take himself off; which it appears he lost no time in doing, and
-rode back to the general camp without striking a blow. The Scots, when
-they saw him retreating, sent after him a number of squibs and letters of
-ridicule, which were speedily circulated through the English army. The
-generals wrote letters to Essex, Holland, and Arundel, entreating them
-to intercede with the king that matters might be accommodated without
-bloodshed. Essex is said to have sent on their letters to the king
-without a word of reply to their messengers. Arundel and Holland were
-more gracious.
-
-[Illustration: CHARLES AND THE SCOTTISH COMMISSIONERS. (_See p._ 578.)]
-
-During this marching and countermarching it was that Leslie had posted
-his army on Dunse Hill, opposite Charles's camp, and the king, who had
-hitherto despised the Scottish force, now felt alarmed at their close
-proximity, and the hasty retreat of Holland. He blamed Lord Arundel
-for giving him no notice of the approach of the rebels, Arundel blamed
-the scout-master, and the scout-master blamed the scouts. There were
-earthworks suddenly thrown up to protect his camp and intimation given
-that overtures would be listened to. Accordingly, on the 6th of June,
-1639, the Earl of Dunfermline, attended by a trumpet, arrived in the
-royal camp, bearing a humble petition to his majesty, entreating him
-to appoint a few suitable persons to confer with a deputation from the
-Scots, so that all misunderstandings might be removed, and the peace
-of the kingdom preserved. The petition was received, for besides the
-ill-success of Holland, the ill-success of Hamilton and his fleet was
-notorious; and it was, moreover, rumoured that the mother of Hamilton,
-a most zealous covenanter, had paid him a visit on board his vessel,
-and that he was much disinclined by her persuasions to press the Scots
-closely. There were daily rumours of a descent from Ireland, on the
-other hand and of a rising of the Royalists in the Highlands under
-Lord Aboyne, son of the Earl of Huntly, which rendered the Covenanters
-more desirous of an accommodation. On the part of the Crown the Earls
-of Essex, Holland, Salisbury, and Berkshire, Sir Henry Vane, and Mr.
-Secretary Coke, were appointed commissioners; on that of the Covenanters
-the Earls of Rothes and Dunfermline, the Lord Loudon, and Sir William
-Douglas, sheriff of Teviotdale. To these afterwards, much to the
-displeasure of the king, were added Alexander Henderson, late moderator
-of the assembly, and Johnstone, the clerk-register. They met in Arundel's
-tent; but before they could proceed to business, the king suddenly
-entered, and telling the Scottish commissioners that as he understood
-they complained that they could not be heard, he had determined to hear
-them himself, and he demanded what it was they wanted. The Earl of Rothes
-replied simply, to be secured in their religion and liberty. Loudon
-made some apology for the boldness of the proceedings of the Scots, but
-Charles cut him short, telling him that he could admit of no apologies
-for what was past, but that if they came to implore pardon, they must put
-down what they had to say in writing, and in writing he would answer them.
-
-This was Charles's peculiar style, by which the negotiation appeared
-likely to come to a speedy end; but the Scots were firm, and adhered to
-their old sound principle, declaring that they had sought nothing but
-their own native rights, and the advancement of his majesty's service,
-and desired to have those severely punished who had misrepresented them
-to the king. Some historians assert that Hamilton at this juncture came
-into the camp from the Forth, and strongly advised the king to close with
-the Scots; though Clarendon affirms that he did not arrive till after
-the agreement was signed, and found much fault with it. However this
-may be, after much debate, and several attempts to overreach the Scots,
-which their caution defeated, it was agreed that the king should ratify
-all that had been done by his commissioner, which was next to nothing,
-though he would not recognise the acts of what he called the pretended
-General Assembly. But the main and only important concession was that
-all disputes should be settled by another Assembly, to be held on the
-6th of August, and by a Parliament which should ratify its proceedings,
-to be held on the 20th of August, when an act of oblivion should be
-passed. Both parties were to disband their armies; the king's forts were
-to be restored, with all the ammunition; the fleet was to be withdrawn;
-Scottish merchant vessels and goods were to be returned; and the honours
-and privileges of the subjects replaced. The king resisted, however,
-any mention of episcopacy in the agreement; for he was as resolved as
-ever to reinstate the bishops. And indeed, that same duplicity guided
-him in this as in other actions of his life, being determined to break
-the whole agreement on the first possible opportunity. The Covenanters
-strongly suspected as much; and when Charles, before returning, invited
-fourteen of the leaders to meet him in Berwick, they had the fear of
-the Tower before their eyes, and declined the honour, and sent as their
-commissioners the Earls of Loudon, Lothian, and Montrose. Charles
-represented that it had been his intention to proceed to Edinburgh, and
-hold the Parliament in person, but that fresh instances of "the valyance
-of the godly females" deterred him; his chief officers not being able to
-show themselves in the streets of Berwick without insult from these good
-women.
-
-What Charles had failed to do in the Convention at large, he managed to
-effect to a certain degree with the nobles. Loudon and Lothian were said
-to be greatly softened by the king's conversation, but Montrose was won
-over altogether.
-
-The two armies were disbanded on the 24th of June, and the Earl of
-Traquair was appointed the king's commissioner in Scotland, Hamilton
-firmly declining to return thither. Charles reached London on the 1st
-of August, and one of the first things which he did was to write to the
-Scottish bishops, telling them that he would never abandon the idea of
-reinstating them, and would in the meantime provide for their support.
-He forbade them to present themselves at the approaching Assembly or
-Parliament, as that would ruin everything; but he advised them to send in
-a protest against the infringement of their rights, and get it presented
-by some mean person, so as to create not too much notice. Such was
-Charles's perfidious conduct, at the very moment that he was promising
-the Covenanters the contrary. Accordingly the bishops fixed themselves in
-the vicinity of the borders, some at Morpeth, some in Holy Island, some
-in Berwick itself, keeping up a correspondence with their adherents in
-the Scottish capital, and ready to rush in again on the first favourable
-chance.
-
-If we are to believe Clarendon, however, "The king was very melancholy,
-and quickly discovered that he had lost reputation at home and abroad,
-and those counsellors who had been most faulty either through want of
-courage or wisdom--for at that time few of them wanted fidelity--never
-afterwards recovered spirit enough to do their duty, but gave themselves
-up to those who so much had outwitted them, every man shifting the
-fault from himself." On the contrary, he says, "The Scots got so
-much benefit and advantage by it, that they brought all their other
-mischievous devices to pass with ease, and a prosperous gale in all
-they went about." They declared that "they did not intend by anything
-contained in the treaty, to vacate any of the proceedings which had
-been in the late General Assembly at Glasgow, by which all the bishops
-were excommunicated, and renewed all their menaces against them by
-proclamation, and imposed grievous penalties on all who should presume
-to harbour any of them, so that by the time the king came to London, it
-appeared plainly that the army was disbanded without a peace being made,
-and the Scots in more reputation and equal inclination to affront his
-majesty than ever." The fact was, that whilst Charles was pretending
-to concede, meaning to revoke when he had the power, the Scots were
-conscious of their advantage and did not mean to allow him to do so.
-They were earnest and outspoken in their resolves, and therefore Charles
-seized a paper in which they published what had really been promised in
-the treaty, and had it burned by the common hangman.
-
-The Assembly was opened on the 12th of August in Edinburgh, and in spite
-of what Charles had assured the bishops, they were given up in the
-instructions to Traquair, for he meant to resist the abolition of the
-bishops, and to restore them when he had the power, but endeavoured to
-make political capital out of this concession. Traquair was to obtain, if
-possible, the admission of fourteen ministers into Parliament instead of
-the bishops, or, if that were not possible, as many lay members whom the
-king was to appoint, and who were to choose the lords of the articles.
-By these perpetual finesses, Charles continually sought to withdraw the
-concessions that he made, as though those whom he tried to overreach were
-not as wide awake as himself. He thought, if he could select the Lords
-of the Articles, and fourteen others devoted to him, he could revoke in
-the Parliament what he gave up in the Assembly--the characteristic of
-short-sighted cunning.
-
-The bishops presented their protest to the Commissioner, which, without
-being read, was to serve as a proof of their not having yielded up their
-claims; and the commissioner, finding the Covenanters firm to all their
-demands--for every member of the Assembly before entering it had sworn to
-support all the acts of the Assembly of Glasgow--gave the royal assent
-to all the proceedings, and the news of the overthrow of episcopacy was
-received with shouts of acclamation by the people.
-
-The Parliament of Scotland met on the day appointed, the 20th of August.
-There the Covenanters displayed their determination not to stickle for
-small matters, but to destroy the scheme by which that body had been
-made dependent on the royal will. They would no longer admit the bishops
-nor the Lords of the Articles whom the bishops had chosen, and who
-selected the topics, under the direction of the Crown, which should or
-should not come before the House. They proposed that the lesser barons,
-the commissioners of the shires, should take the place of the bishops,
-and that the Lords of the Articles should be selected from men of each
-estate, by those estates themselves. In order not to appear obstinate,
-they permitted the Commissioner to name the Lords of the Articles for
-this once, not as an act of right, but of grace, from themselves. They
-then decreed that all acts in favour of episcopacy should be rescinded;
-that patents of peerage should for the future be granted to none but
-such as possessed a rental of ten thousand marks from land in Scotland;
-that proxies should never again be admitted; and that the fortresses
-of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton, should be entrusted to none but
-Scotsmen.
-
-These measures would have completely enfranchised Scotland from the
-shackles of the Crown, and Traquair, unable to avoid the necessity of
-ratifying them, prorogued the Parliament to the 14th of November, so that
-he could receive the instructions of the king. Charles, to get rid of
-the demands of the Covenanters altogether, prorogued it for six months.
-The members, who saw the intention, protested against the prorogation
-under circumstances so vital to the country, but obeyed after naming a
-deputation to go to the king on the subject. This deputation, headed by
-the Lords Loudon and Dunfermline, on arriving at Whitehall were refused
-audience, because they had not come with the sanction of the royal
-Commissioner; and Traquair was immediately summoned to court to answer
-for having conceded so much to the Scots. He had, indeed, conceded
-nothing but what Charles himself had instructed him to do but the king
-was angry because he had not been able to recover in Parliament, as he
-had vainly hoped, what was lost in the Assembly.
-
-Traquair, who was aware that having implicitly followed these
-instructions would avail him little with the king in his mortification,
-thought of an expedient to divert Charles's anger into another channel.
-He had discovered a letter addressed by the Covenanters to the King of
-France, complaining of the miserable condition of Scotland through the
-attempts of the king to root out the religion of the people; of his
-having violated the late treaty at Berwick, and dissolved Parliament
-contrary to the will of the states and to all national precedent, and
-entreating him to mediate in their favour. This letter was signed by
-seven lords, and addressed _Au Roi_. The letter had been publicly
-declined by Louis, but privately answered, though in very cautious terms.
-
-The production of this letter had all the effect that Traquair hoped for.
-The wrath of the king was immediately turned on the Covenanters, and
-Traquair deepened the impression by assuring the king that nothing but
-war would pacify the Covenanters, and declaring this discovery to be a
-perfect justification.
-
-The Scots demanded an opportunity of vindicating themselves, and
-requested leave to send up deputies for that purpose. It was granted,
-and Dunfermline and Loudon were sent up. No sooner did they arrive than
-Loudon, whose name was one of those appended to the intercepted letter,
-was instantly seized and brought before the Council. The letter being
-addressed simply _Au Roi_, which was the manner from subjects to their
-own sovereign, and not as from foreigners, it was deemed treasonable on
-that ground, if on no other. Loudon asserted that the letter had been
-written before the pacification at Berwick, and, not being approved,
-had never been sent, but the contents contradicted that statement; and,
-moreover, William Colvill, who had carried it to the French court, was
-in London, and was taken prisoner. Loudon thereupon insisted on his safe
-conduct, and demanded liberty to return, contending that, if he had done
-anything wrong, it was in Scotland and not there that he ought to be
-interrogated. But the king sent both him and Colvill to the Tower.
-
-The Covenanters were greatly incensed at the seizure of their envoy, and
-demanded his release, but Charles signed a warrant for his execution and
-was prevented from putting him to death only by the solemn declaration
-that if he did Scotland was lost for ever. After this it became plain
-that nothing could avert a conflict between the infatuated king and
-the Scottish people. Charles's object was to obtain funds; that of the
-Scots to divide the king's attention by exciting discontent nearer home.
-England itself had abundant causes of dissatisfaction. The disuse of
-Parliaments, the continued illegal levying of taxes by the king's own
-will, the rigorous and ruinous prosecutions in the Star Chamber and the
-High Commission Court, the brandings, scourgings, and mutilations of such
-as dared to dispute the awful tyranny of the Government, portended a
-storm at home ere long, and the Scots found many well-wishers and friends
-amongst the English patriots. These were everyday drawing into their
-ranks men of the highest position and the most distinguished talents. The
-Earls of Essex, Bedford, and Holland were secretly connected with them;
-the Lord Say, Hampden, Pym, Cromwell, and other men of iron nerve and
-indomitable will, were watching with deep interest movements in the North
-so congenial to their own.
-
-Whilst the king was pondering on the means of raising money, an
-event took place which for the moment promised to present him with a
-considerable sum. A Spanish fleet of seventy sail was discovered by the
-Dutch admiral, De Witt, off the Land's End. As it was bearing troops
-from Spain to Flanders, which were hard pressed by the Dutch, De Witt
-followed it up the Channel, firing guns to harass its rear, but still
-more to awake the attention of Van Tromp, who was lying off Dunkirk. The
-two celebrated Dutch admirals were soon in full chase of the Spaniards.
-Sixteen of the ships, having four thousand troops on board, bore away
-with all speed for the coast of Flanders, but the rest fled for shelter
-into the Downs. Charles sent the Earl of Arundel to inquire of Oquendo
-the Spanish admiral, what was his destination, being apprehensive lest
-the fleet might be intended for a descent on Ireland, or in aid of his
-disaffected subjects of Scotland.
-
-Oquendo satisfied Arundel that they were really on their way to Flanders,
-and demanded the protection of Charles as a friendly king. Charles was
-willing to grant it for a consideration, and the sum of one hundred and
-fifty thousand pounds was the price named in ready cash. For this Charles
-was to send the Spanish fleet under protection of his own to Flanders;
-but the two Dutch admirals, having now no less than one hundred sail,
-from continued fresh arrivals, attacked the Spaniards in the English
-roads, sank and burned five of the largest vessels, drove twenty-three
-more on shore, and pursued the rest across the Channel, suffering only
-ten of them to escape. All this time the English admiral lay near at
-hand, but made no movement in protection of the Spaniards. The English
-people on shore beheld the destruction of the Spanish fleet with the
-utmost exultation, the memory of the great Armada being yet so strong
-amongst them; but Charles had lost his much desired money, and with the
-loss had acquired an immense amount of foreign odium. To have suffered
-the vessels of a friendly Power, which had fled to him for shelter, to
-be attacked and chased from his own harbour, lowered him greatly in the
-estimation of Continental nations.
-
-[Illustration: JOHN HAMPDEN. (_From an Engraving by Houbraken._)]
-
-At the time of this untoward occurrence Charles had sent for Wentworth
-from Ireland, to assist him by his counsels as to the best mode of
-dealing with his difficulties at home, and the Scots in the North.
-Wentworth had overridden all obstacles in Ireland, and had forced an
-income out of the reluctant people there; he was thought, therefore,
-by Charles the only man whose wisdom and resolution were equal to the
-crisis. Wentworth had strongly advised Charles not to march against the
-Scots, knowing that the king's raw levies would have no chance against
-them; and he had gone on actively drilling ten thousand men, to prepare
-them for the campaign, which he felt must come, even after all seemed
-settled at Berwick.
-
-Clarendon, who is a regular Royalist and inclined to see more virtues in
-Wentworth than other historians of the time, is yet obliged to sketch
-this picture of the enmities which he justly provoked:--"He was a man of
-too high and severe deportment, and too great a contemner of ceremony,
-to have many friends at court, and therefore could not but have enemies
-enough. He had two that professed it, the Earl of Holland and Sir Henry
-Vane." Besides having said that "the king would do well to cut off
-Holland's head," he had insulted the Earl in various ways. He had done
-all he could to prevent Sir Henry Vane from being made secretary in place
-of Sir John Coke, whom the king removed on his return from Scotland;
-but, worse still, Charles now creating him Earl of Strafford, nothing
-would satisfy him but that he must be also made Baron of Proby, Vane's
-own estate, from which he himself hoped to derive that title. "That,"
-continues Clarendon, "was an act of the most unnecessary provocation that
-I have known, and though he contemned the man with marvellous scorn, I
-believe it was the loss of his head. To these a third adversary, like
-to be more pertinacious than the other two, was the Earl of Essex,
-naturally enough disinclined to his person, his power, and his parts."
-This enmity in Essex, we are told, was increased by Wentworth's insolent
-conduct to Lord Bacon, for whom Essex had a friendship; and he openly
-vowed vengeance. "Lastly, he had an enemy more terrible than all the
-others, and like to be more fatal, the whole Scottish nation, provoked by
-the declaration he had procured of Ireland, and some high carriage and
-expressions of his against them in that kingdom." Moreover, Wentworth had
-no friend in the queen, from his persecution of the Catholics in Ireland,
-and was continually thwarted by her.
-
-But all these councillors could devise no way to raise funds but by the
-old and irritating mode of ship-money, for which writs to the amount of
-two hundred thousand pounds were immediately issued, and this bearing
-no proportion to the requirements of a campaign against the Scots, they
-advised Charles to call together a Parliament. To this he demurred; but
-when they persisted in that advice, he ordered a full Council to be
-called, and put to it this question:--"If this Parliament should prove
-as untoward as some have lately been, will you then assist me in such
-extraordinary ways as in that extremity should be thought fit?"
-
-Charles was thus bent on extraordinary ways, and the Council promised
-him its support. Wentworth returned to Ireland, being not only created
-Earl of Strafford, but made Lord-lieutenant of that country. He promised
-to obtain a liberal vote from the Irish Parliament, which it was thought
-might act as a salutary example for England. Accordingly, no one daring
-to oppose his wishes, he obtained four subsidies, with a promise of
-more if found necessary. The English Parliament was delayed till this
-was effected, and was then summoned for the 13th of April. To assist the
-king and council in what was felt to be a critical emergency, Wentworth,
-now Strafford, returned, though suffering from a painful complaint. He
-left orders for the immediate levy of an army of eight thousand men, and
-Charles took measures for the raising in England of fifteen thousand
-foot and four thousand horse, which he thought would serve to overawe
-Parliament; and, what is singular, the order for the raising of these
-troops and providing artillery and ammunition was signed by Laud, so
-little had he an idea of an archbishop being a minister of the Prince
-of Peace. Before the arrival of Strafford, Charles read to the Council
-the account of the liberal subsidies and the loyal expressions which
-Strafford had put into the mouths of the enslaved Irish Commons. This he
-did at the request of Strafford himself, to prove not only the loyalty of
-the Irish, but his own popularity there, in spite of the assertions of
-his being hated in that country.
-
-When the king met the Parliament on the 13th of April he had not abated
-one jot of his high-flown notions of his divine right, and of the slavish
-obedience due from Parliament. The Lord Keeper Finch formerly Speaker
-of the House but now more truly in his element as a courtier, made a
-most fulsome speech, describing the king as "the most just, the most
-pious, the most gracious king that ever was." He informed them that for
-many years in his piety towards them he had taken all the annoyances of
-government from them, and raised the condition and reputation of the
-country to a wonderful splendour; that, notwithstanding such exemplary
-virtues and exhibitions of goodness, some sons of Belial had blown the
-trumpet of rebellion in Scotland, and that it was now necessary to
-chastise that stiff-necked people; that they must therefore lay aside all
-other subjects, and imitate the loyal Parliament of Ireland in furnishing
-liberal supplies; that had not the king, upon the credit of his servants
-and out of his own estate, raised three hundred thousand pounds, he could
-not have made the preparations already in progress; and that they must
-therefore grant him tonnage and poundage from the beginning of his reign,
-and vote the subsidies at once, when his Majesty would pledge his royal
-word that he would take into his gracious consideration their grievances.
-And all this attempt to get the supplies before the discussion of
-grievances, from sturdy commoners who had never yet given way to force or
-flattery!
-
-[Illustration: VISIT OF CHARLES I. TO THE GUILDHALL.
-
-FROM THE WALL PAINTING IN THE ROYAL EXCHANGE, BY SOLOMON J. SOLOMON,
-A.R.A]
-
-Charles then produced the intercepted letters of the Scottish lords to
-the King of France, to show the treason of the Scots and the necessity
-of taking decisive measures with them. But the Commons were not likely
-to be moved from their settled purpose by any such arguments. They
-elected Serjeant Glanvil as Speaker, and proceeded first and foremost
-to the discussion of the grievances of the nation. Amongst their old
-members--though the brave Sir John Eliot had perished in prison, and
-Sir Edward Coke, who by his later years of patriotism had effaced the
-memory of the arbitrary spirit of his earlier ones, was also dead--there
-were Oliver Cromwell, now sitting for Cambridge, Pym, Hampden, Denzil
-Holles, Maynard, Oliver St. John, Strode, Corriton, Hayman, and Haselrig.
-There were amongst the new ones, Harbottle Grimston, Edmund Waller, the
-poet, Lord George Digby, the son of the Earl of Bristol, a young man of
-eminent talent, and other men destined to become prominent. Sir Benjamin
-Rudyard and Grimston delivered speeches recommending at once courtesy and
-respect towards the Crown, but unflinching support of the rights of the
-people. Harbottle Grimston described the commonwealth as miserably torn
-and massacred, all property and liberty shaken, the Church distracted,
-the Gospel and professors of it persecuted, Parliament suspended, and
-the laws made void. Sir Benjamin Rudyard protested that he desired
-nothing so much as that they might proceed with moderation, but that
-if Parliaments were gone, they were lost. A remarkable feature of this
-Parliament was the number of petitions sent in by the people. These were
-poured in against ship-money and other abuses, as the Star Chamber and
-High Commission Court, from the counties of Hertford, Essex, and Sussex.
-After these matters had been warmly debated for four days, for the king
-had many advocates in the House, on the 17th Mr. Pym delivered a most
-eloquent and impressive speech, in which he narrated the many attacks on
-the privileges of Parliament and the liberty of the subject, and laid
-down the constitutional doctrine "that the king can do no wrong," thus
-bringing the conduct and counsels of his ministers under the direct
-censure of the House, and loading them with the solemn responsibility--an
-awful foreshadowing of the judgments to come on Laud and Wentworth. From
-that point the debate turned on the arbitrary treatment of the members
-of the Commons, and orders were issued for a report of the proceedings of
-the Star Chamber and the Court of King's Bench against Sir John Eliot,
-Mr. Holles, and Mr. Hampden, to be laid on the table of the House. The
-conduct of the late Speaker Finch, in adjourning the House at the command
-of the king, was declared unconstitutional.
-
-The king could no longer restrain his impatience, and summoned both
-Houses before him in the Banqueting Hall. There the Lord Keeper Finch,
-in the presence of Charles, recalled their attention to the necessity of
-voting the supplies, and repeated the king's promises. He endeavoured
-to excuse the raising of ship-money as a necessity for chastising the
-Algerine pirates who infested the seas, and again recommended the liberal
-example of the Irish Parliament. The only effect produced by this was
-a most vivid and trenchant speech the next day by Waller, in which
-he told the House that the king was personally beloved, but that his
-mode of extorting his subjects' money was detested; and that neither
-the admiration of his majesty's natural disposition, nor the pretended
-consent of the judges, could ever induce them to consent to such
-unconstitutional demands. He then severely castigated the conduct of the
-bishops and clergy who preached the divine right of monarchs to plunder
-the public at their own pleasure. "But," said he, "they gain preferment
-by it, and then it is no matter, though they neither believe themselves
-nor are believed by others. But since they are so ready to let loose the
-consciences of their kings, we are bound the more carefully to provide
-against this pulpit law, by declaring and enforcing the municipal laws of
-this kingdom."
-
-This again roused the king, who went down to the Lords, and read them
-a sharp lesson on their not supporting him in his just demands of
-supplies from the Commons. Thereupon the Lords sent for the Commons to
-a conference on the 29th of April, and recommended them to pass the
-votes and take the king's word for the redress of grievances; but the
-Commons resented their intruding their advice about money matters as an
-infringement of the privileges of the House; and on the 1st of May, the
-Lords, through the Lord Keeper, disclaimed any intention of encroaching
-on any of the well-known rights of the Commons, but that the Lords had
-felt bound to comply with the request of the king. The Commons returned
-to their debate on ship-money, and on Saturday, the 2nd of May, Charles
-sent a message by Sir Henry Vane, now Secretary of State and Treasurer
-of the Household, desiring an immediate answer regarding the supplies.
-Lord Digby reminded the House that the demand was that of a hasty and
-immediate answer to a call for funds to involve the nation in a civil war
-with the Scots, a people holding the same religion and subjects of the
-same king as themselves. The debate was continued for two days, Clarendon
-accusing Vane of deliberately keeping from the House the fact entrusted
-to him, that the king, though asking for twelve subsidies, would consent
-to take eight.
-
-But it was not so much the amount as the principle involved in the
-subsidies which was the question; for, on the 4th of May, Charles sent
-Vane again with the remarkable offer to abolish ship-money for ever, and
-by any means that they should think fit, on condition that they granted
-him twelve subsidies, valued at eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds,
-to be paid in three years, with an assurance that the House should not be
-prorogued till next Michaelmas. This was a mighty temptation: here was
-the direct offer of at once getting rid of one of the monster grievances
-for ever; but it did not escape the attention of the more sagacious that,
-by accepting the bargain, they were conceding the king's right to set
-aside the most established laws, to force his own notions of religion on
-his subjects, and to make war on them if they refused. They rejected the
-snare, and maintained the debate for some hours against all the arguments
-of the Court party. On rising, they informed Vane that they would resume
-the debate the next morning at eight o'clock; but Sir Henry, seeing very
-well how it would terminate, assured the king in Council that he was
-certain that the House would not grant him a penny for the war against
-the Scots.
-
-On this Charles adopted one of his stratagems. Early in the morning he
-sent for Glanvil the Speaker, before the Commons had assembled, and
-detained him at Whitehall, so that the Commons without him could not vote
-against the supplies, nor protest against the war; and suddenly hastening
-to the House of Lords, he sent for the Commons and dismissed them. In
-doing this, he praised the peers at the expense of the Commons, and
-declared that as to the liberties of the people which the Commons made so
-much talk of, they had not more regard for them than he had.
-
-This was the last Parliament which Charles was ever to dissolve, and the
-folly of his conduct became speedily palpable. The Parliament had only
-sat about three weeks, having met on the 13th of April, and being now
-dissolved on May 5th. By this hasty act the king had put himself wholly
-on the army. Had he allowed the Commons to vote against the supplies,
-many would have sympathised with him; now he had only himself to blame.
-His enemies rejoiced, exceedingly, and his friends deplored the deed with
-gloomy auguries.
-
-The king was made to feel his mistake, on applying to the City of
-London for a loan and receiving a cool and evasive answer. The Scots
-were greatly elated. They had their agents in close though secret
-communication with the leaders of the opposition, and now saw the king
-deprived of the means of effectually contending with them, and felt
-that they had numerous friends of their cause in England. The passion
-of the king only increased their advantages. He issued a proclamation
-declaring why he had dismissed the Parliament, charging the Commons
-with malice and disaffection to the State, and with designing to bring
-government and magistracy into contempt; and he gave fresh proofs of his
-vindictive feeling by arresting a number of the members the day after the
-dissolution. The public had not forgotten the cruelty practised on their
-faithful servant Sir John Eliot, and they now saw Sir John Hotham and Mr.
-Bellasis committed to the Fleet, Mr. Crew, afterwards Lord Crew, to the
-Tower, and the house of Lord Brooke forced, and his study and cabinets
-broken open in a search for papers.
-
-To add to the general exasperation, Laud, who had summoned Convocation
-previous to the meeting of Parliament, continued its sessions after the
-dissolution, contrary to all custom; and its sitting was employed to
-pass a series of seventeen new canons of the most offensive and slavish
-kind. The public excitement was so great against the innovation that
-the Lord Keeper Finch and some of the judges had to furnish a written
-opinion declaring the right of Convocation to sit after the close of
-Parliament, and a new commission was issued with the usual words,
-"during the Parliament," altered to "during our pleasure." But a guard
-of soldiers was deemed necessary to protect the sittings, in which
-the clergy first voted six subsidies to the king, and then passed to
-the canons, one of which ordered that every clergyman once a quarter
-should instruct his parishioners in the divine right of kings, and the
-damnable sin of resisting authority. Others fulminated the most flaming
-intolerance of Catholics, Socinians, and Separatists. All clergymen and
-graduates of the universities were called on to take an oath declaring
-the sufficiency of the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England,
-in opposition to Presbyterianism and Popery.
-
-[Illustration: GUILDHALL, LONDON, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.]
-
-On the publication of these canons, great was the ferment in the country,
-and petitions and remonstrances from Northampton, Kent, Devon, and
-other counties, were sent up against them. The code was most ungracious
-as regarded the Catholics, who had just presented to the king, at the
-suggestion of the queen, fourteen thousand pounds. The queen remonstrated
-against it, and the king gave orders to Laud to desist from further
-annoyance in that direction. But anger and discontent were spreading
-throughout the country, from the outrageous measures to raise money.
-Fresh writs of ship-money were issued, and many victims were dragged into
-the Star Chamber for refusal to pay, and fined, so that their money was
-obtained by one process or the other. The names of the richest citizens
-were picked out in order to demand loans from them. Bullion, the property
-of foreign merchants, was seized at the Mint, and forty thousand pounds
-were extorted for its release; and bags of pepper on the Exchange were
-sold at whatever they would fetch. It was next proposed to coin four
-hundred thousand pounds' worth of bad money; but the merchants and other
-intelligent men came forward and drew such a picture of the ruin and
-confusion that such an act would produce, that the king was alarmed,
-and gave the project up. The Council, however, hit upon the scheme of
-purchasing goods at long credit, and selling them at a low price for
-ready money. All this time large sums of money were levied throughout
-the land by violence, for the support of the troops collected for the
-campaign against the Scots. Carts, horses, and forage were seized at the
-sword's point; and whoever dared to represent these outrages to the king
-was branded as an enemy to the Government. The Corporation of London was
-dealt with severely, because it showed no fondness for enforcing the
-king's arbitrary demands. The Lord Mayor and sheriffs were cited into the
-Star Chamber for remissness in levying the ship-money; and several of
-the aldermen were committed to prison for refusing to furnish the names
-of such persons in their wards as were able to contribute to Charles's
-forced loans. Strafford said things would never go right till a few fat
-London aldermen were hanged.
-
-These desperate measures inflamed the public mind beyond expression, and
-greatly strengthened the league of the discontented with the Scots. All
-except the insane tyrants who were thus forcing the nation to rebellion,
-could see tempests ahead; and the Earl of Northumberland, writing to
-a friend, said, "It is impossible that all things can long remain in
-the condition they are now in: so general a defection in this kingdom
-hath not been known in the memory of man." The disaffection began to
-find expression, and, according to Clarendon, inflammatory placards
-were scattered about the City and affixed on gates and public places,
-denouncing the king's chief advisers. Laud, Strafford, and Hamilton,
-were the marks of the most intense hatred, and the London apprentices
-were invited, by a bill posted on the Royal Exchange, to demolish the
-episcopal palace at Lambeth and "haul out William the fox."
-
-The train-bands assembled and kept the peace by day, but at night a mob
-of five hundred assembled and attacked Lambeth Palace, and demolished
-the windows, vowing that they would tear the archbishop to pieces. In a
-couple of hours the train-bands arrived, fired on them, and dispersed
-the multitude. Laud got away to Whitehall, where he remained some days,
-till the damages were repaired and the house was fortified with cannon.
-Another crowd, said to be two thousand in number, entered St. Paul's,
-where the High Commission Court sat, tore down the benches, and cried
-out, "No bishop! no High Commission!" A number of rioters were seized by
-the train-bands and lodged in the White Lion Prison; but the prison was
-forced open by the insurgents, and their associates released all but two,
-a sailor and a drummer, who were executed, according to some authorities;
-according to others, only one was thus disposed of.
-
-The king was greatly alarmed at this outbreak. He removed the queen to
-Greenwich, as she was near her confinement, and placed a strong guard
-over the palace with sixteen pieces of cannon; nor was he easy till he
-saw a force of six thousand men at hand.
-
-The time for the meeting of the Scottish Parliament had now arrived, and
-Charles sought to prevent it by another prorogation; but the Scots were
-not to be put off in any such manner. The king had for some time been
-treating them like a nation at war; he had prohibited all trade with
-Scotland, and his men-of-war had been ordered to seize its merchantmen,
-wherever found. The Scots therefore met on the 2nd of January, set
-aside the king's warrant of prorogation on the plea of informality, and
-the members took their seats, elected a president, an officer hitherto
-unknown, and passed the new Acts. They then voted a tax of ten per
-cent. on all rents, and five per cent. on interest of money to open the
-inevitable campaign; and, before rising, appointed a Committee of Estates
-for the government of the kingdom till the next meeting of Parliament.
-This Committee was to sit either at Edinburgh or at the place where
-the headquarters of the army should be, and a bond was entered into to
-support the authority of Parliament, and to give to the statutes which
-it had passed or should pass the same force as if they had received the
-royal assent.
-
-But they had not waited for Parliament to take the necessary steps for
-organisation of the army. They had retained in full pay the experienced
-officers whom they had invited from Germany, and the soldiers who had
-disbanded at the pacification of Berwick returned with alacrity to their
-colours in March and April. Leslie was still commander-in-chief, and
-determined to reduce the castle of Edinburgh before marching south. It
-was in vain that Charles issued his proclamations, warning them of the
-treasonable nature of their proceedings; they went on as if animated
-by one spirit, and determined not only to strike the first blow, but to
-advance into England instead of waiting to be attacked at home.
-
-Charles, on his part, was far from being so early ready or so well
-served. His plans for the campaign were grand. He proposed to attack
-Scotland on three sides at once--with twenty thousand men from England,
-with ten thousand from the Highlands under the Marquis of Hamilton, and
-with the same number from Ireland under Strafford. But his total want of
-funds prevented his progress, and the resort to the lawless practices
-which we have related for raising them, was alienating the hearts of his
-English subjects from him in an equal degree. It was not till the month
-of July, and the loan of three hundred thousand pounds by the Lords, that
-he dared to issue writs for the number of forces. Thus the Scots were
-ready for action when the king was only mobilising an army.
-
-In the appointment of commanders gross blunders were committed. The Earls
-of Essex, Holland, and Arundel were set aside, and this, with personal
-affronts to Essex, tended to throw these officers into the interest
-of the opposition. Essex and Holland were at undisguised hostility
-with Strafford, and as he was to take a leading part in the campaign,
-they were kept out of it to oblige him. The Earl of Northumberland was
-appointed commander-in-chief instead of Arundel, but was prevented by a
-severe illness from acting; and Strafford was desired to leave Ireland
-in the charge of the Earl of Ormond, and take the chief command, which
-he consented to do, but nominally only as lieutenant to Northumberland.
-Lord Conway was made general of the horse, partly because he had
-been born a soldier in his father's garrison of Brell, and had held
-several subordinate commands; but still more from the causes which put
-incompetent generals at the head of our armies in later times--Court
-influence.
-
-On the 29th of June Leslie collected his army at Chouseley Wood, near
-Dunse, his former camp, and drilled them there three weeks. He had
-entrusted the siege of the castle of Edinburgh to a select party, and
-had the pleasure soon after this period to hear of its surrender to
-his officers. Meanwhile, Conway was advancing northward, and soon gave
-evidence of his gross incapacity, by writing in all his despatches to
-Windebank, the Secretary of State, "that the Scotch had not advanced
-their preparations to that degree, that they would be able to march that
-year." But the king, Clarendon says, had much better information, and
-ought to have distrusted the vigilance of such a commander. Moreover,
-his soldiers displayed a most decided aversion to the service. They were
-evidently leavened with the same leaven of reform as the Parliament.
-They wanted to know whether their officers were Papists, and would
-not be satisfied till they saw them take the Sacrament. "They laid
-violent hands," says May, "on divers of their commanders, and killed
-some, uttering in bold speeches their distaste to the cause, to the
-astonishment of many, that common people should be sensible of public
-interest and religion, when lords and gentlemen seemed not to be."
-
-Strafford was so well aware of the readiness of the Scots, and the
-unreadiness and disaffection of the English soldiery, that he issued
-strict injunctions to Conway not to attempt to cross the Tyne, and expose
-his raw and wavering recruits in the open country between that river
-and the Trent, but to fortify the passage of the Tyne at Newburn, and
-prevent the Scots from crossing. The Scots, however, did not leave him
-time for his defences. On the 20th of August, Leslie crossed the Tweed
-with twenty thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry. He had been
-strongly advised to this step by the leaders of the English opposition
-themselves, and "the Earls of Essex, Bedford, Holland, the Lord Say,
-Hampden, and Pym," says Whitelock, "were deeply in with them." No sooner
-were the Scots on English ground, than the preachers advanced to the
-front of the army with their Bibles in their hands, and led the way.
-The soldiers followed with reversed arms, and a proclamation was issued
-by Leslie that the Scots had undertaken this expedition at the call of
-Divine Providence, not against the people of England, but against the
-"Canterbury faction of Papists, Atheists, Arminians, and Prelates."
-God and their consciences bore them witness that they sought only the
-peace of both kingdoms by putting down the "troublers of Israel, the
-fire-brands of hell, the Korahs, the Balaams, the Doegs, the Rhabshakehs,
-the Hamans, the Tobiahs, the Sanballats of the times," and that done,
-they would return with satisfaction to their own country.
-
-On the 27th of August they arrived at Heddon-law, near Newburn, on the
-left bank of the Tyne, and found Conway posted on the opposite side,
-between Newburnhaugh and Stellahaugh. The Scots kindled that night great
-fires round their camp, thus giving the English an imposing idea of its
-great extent; and we are told that numbers of the English soldiers went
-over during the night amongst them, and were well received by them, for
-they assured them that they only came to demand justice from the king
-against the men who were the pest of both nations. The next day the Scots
-attempted to ford the river, but were driven back by a charge of six
-troops of horse; these horse were, however, in their turn repulsed by the
-discharge of artillery, and a second attempt of the Scots succeeded. "As
-for Conway," says Clarendon, "he soon afterwards turned his face towards
-the army, nor did anything like a commander, though his troops were
-quickly brought together again, without the loss of a dozen men [the real
-loss was about sixty], and were so ashamed of their flight, that they
-were very willing, as well as able, to have taken what revenge they could
-upon the enemy."
-
-This was not true, for though "our whole army made the most shameful
-and confounding flight that was ever heard of," they had no chance of
-taking revenge with such a commander, being only about four thousand
-five hundred altogether, horse and foot, while the Scots were twenty-six
-thousand strong. Moreover, the English had no heart for the work, while
-the Scots were resolute as one man, and commanded by officers who had
-grown grey in the service of the victorious Swede, the great Gustavus
-Adolphus. When the English forces reached Newcastle, they did not feel
-able to defend it against such an army, and they fled on to Durham.
-The Scots could scarcely believe their eyes when they found Newcastle
-evacuated.
-
-The retreating English army, under the panic-stricken Conway, meantime
-dared not even stop at Durham, but continued their flight to Darlington,
-where they met Strafford coming up with reinforcements. He was suffering
-from gout and stone, and in a marvellously bad humour at the late
-scandalous disaster; and he must have seen enough of the demoralisation
-of Conway's troops, for he turned back with him to Northallerton, where
-Charles was lying with the bulk of his army. Altogether, Charles had
-now twenty thousand men and sixty pieces of cannon wherewith to face
-the Scots; but the disaffection became so manifest, the desertions so
-frequent, and the whole condition of the force so unsatisfactory, that
-though Strafford professed to speak with contempt of the Scots, he
-assured Charles that it would require two months to put his army into
-fighting order. They therefore fell back upon York, intending to entrench
-a camp under its walls, and to send the cavalry to Richmond or Cleveland
-to guard the passes of the Tees.
-
-The Scots had meanwhile taken unopposed possession of Newcastle, Durham,
-Shields, Tynemouth, and other towns, and were masters of the four
-northern counties of England, without having lost twenty men. In this
-position it has been matter of wonder that they did not still advance,
-and drive the king before them; but those writers who have thus imagined
-have greatly mistaken the whole business. The object of the Scots was
-not, as of old, to annoy and devastate, much less to conquer England; it
-was simply to force from the king and his evil ministers the recognition
-and the guarantee of their just national rights. They had advanced into
-England with this plain declaration; they had attempted not to fight
-except so far as to force their way to the king's presence. To this they
-were, in fact, now come. They had achieved a vantage-ground from which to
-treat, and, though strongly posted, and possessed of the whole country
-north of the Tees, they had refrained from all ravages and impositions
-on the people with whom they had no quarrel, paying for whatever they
-needed. To have done otherwise, would have broken faith with the
-people of England, who were seeking the same redress of grievances as
-themselves, and have at once roused the jealousy of the English public,
-who would have regarded them as invaders instead of friends, and thus
-strengthened the hands of the king. The Scots knew perfectly well what
-they were about, and how best to obtain their just demands. They now
-therefore sent Lord Lanark, Secretary of State for Scotland, and brother
-of the Marquis of Hamilton, to present the petition of the Covenanters to
-the king, who was plainly in a strait and therefore compelled to listen
-to it. They respectfully repeated their pacific designs, and implored
-the king to assemble a Parliament, and by its wisdom to settle peace
-between the two kingdoms. This was precisely what the people of England
-were earnestly seeking, and demonstrates the perfect concert between the
-leaders of the two nations. To assemble a Parliament was of all things
-the last which Charles was disposed to consent to, but he was in no
-condition to refuse altogether. He therefore took three days to consider
-their request, and on the 5th of September returned to Lord Lanark the
-answer, that he would assemble a great council of English Peers in York
-to settle the matters in dispute between them, and that he had already
-summoned this Assembly for the 24th of that month. By this means Charles
-endeavoured to escape the necessity of calling a Parliament, but his
-hesitation did not avail him. All parties were too much interested to let
-this opportunity slip. Twelve peers--Bedford, Essex, Hertford, Warwick,
-Bristol, Mulgrave, Say and Sele, Howard, Bolingbroke, Mandeville, Brooke,
-and Paget--presented a petition, urgently representing the necessity
-of a Parliament, and describing the sufferings of the nation from the
-lawlessness of the soldiers, the damage done to trade by the arbitrary
-levies on merchants, and the danger of bringing in wild Irish troops.
-The citizens of London prepared a similar one, which Laud endeavoured to
-quash, but in vain; they obtained ten thousand signatures, and despatched
-some of the Aldermen and members of the Common Council to present it
-at York. The gentry of Yorkshire presented another, detailing their
-sufferings from the support of the army, and their cry, too, was for a
-Parliament. Strafford, who was desired to present it, endeavoured to
-persuade them to leave the prayer for a Parliament out, on pretence that
-he knew the king meant to call one; but they would on no account omit it.
-Thus pressed on all sides, Charles was reluctantly compelled to promise,
-and on the meeting of the great council of Peers on the 24th, announced
-to them that he had issued the writs for the meeting of a Parliament on
-the 3rd of November.
-
-[Illustration: ADVANCE OF THE COVENANTERS ACROSS THE BORDER INTO ENGLAND.
-(_See p._ 587.)]
-
-The Scots had comprised their demands under seven heads, the chief of
-which were the full and free exercise of their religion; the total
-abolition of episcopacy; the restoration of their ships and goods; the
-recall of the offensive epithet of traitors; and the punishment of the
-evil counsellors who had created all these troubles. The Lords, delighted
-at the prospect of a Parliament, saw no difficulty in coming to terms
-with the Scots. They named sixteen of their own body to meet with eight
-Commissioners of the Covenanters at Ripon, to negotiate the terms of a
-peace, and sent a deputation of six other lords to London, to raise for
-the king a loan of two hundred thousand pounds, on their own securities.
-Charles would have drawn the Conference from Ripon to York, where his
-army lay, but the Scots were too cautious to be caught in such a snare.
-They represented the danger of their putting their Commissioners into the
-power of an army commanded by Strafford, one of the very incendiaries
-against whom they were complaining, and who termed them rebels and
-traitors in the Parliament in Ireland, and had recommended the king to
-subdue and destroy them. The Conference was opened at Ripon, but got no
-further from the 1st to the 16th of October, than the settlement of the
-question of the maintenance of the Scottish army till all was concluded.
-Charles offered to leave them at liberty to make assessments for
-themselves, but this they declined, as looking too much like plundering;
-and it was finally agreed that they should retain their position in the
-four northern counties, and receive eight hundred and eighty pounds for
-two months, binding themselves to commit no depredations on any party;
-and the time for the meeting of Parliament approaching, the Conference
-was adjourned to London on the 24th.
-
-The last Parliament had been called the Short Parliament; this was
-destined to acquire the name of the Long Parliament, never to be
-dissolved till it had dissolved the monarchy--the most memorable
-Parliament that ever sat. "The Parliament," says Clarendon, "met on the
-3rd of November, 1640. It had a sad and a melancholie aspect upon the
-first entrance, which presaged some unusual and unnatural events. The
-king himself did not ride with his accustomed equipages, nor in his usual
-majesty to Westminster, but went privately in his barge to the Parliament
-stairs, and so to the church, as if it had been a return of a prorogued
-or adjourned Parliament. There was likewise an untoward, and, in truth,
-an unheard of accident, which broke many of the king's measures, and
-infinitely disordered his service beyond a capacity of reparation."
-
-This was the defeat in the City of the man on whom he had fixed as
-Speaker of the Commons, Sir Thomas Gardiner, the Recorder of London, a
-lawyer on whom Charles greatly calculated for managing the House. But
-that very morning he learned that Gardiner had been thrown out as one of
-the four members, and he was so confounded that it was afternoon before
-he could go to the House. There Lenthall, a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, was
-immediately elected Speaker, and Charles, believing him well affected
-to the Church and State, when two days afterwards he was, according to
-custom, presented to him, confirmed the choice, which he afterwards most
-bitterly repented. But it was not only in the case of the Speaker that
-the king was doomed to see himself disappointed. The whole body of the
-House was of a new character and spirit. "There was," says Clarendon,
-"observed a marvellous elated countenance in most of the members of
-Parliament before they met together in the House. The same men, who six
-months before were observed to be of very moderate tempers, and to wish
-that gentle remedies might be applied without opening the wound too
-wide and exposing it to the air, and rather to excuse what was amiss
-than too strictly make inquisition into the causes and origin of the
-malady, talked now in another dialect both of things and persons. Mr.
-Hyde, who was returned to serve for a borough in Cornwall, met Mr. Pym in
-Westminster Hall some days before the Parliament, and conferring together
-on the state of affairs, Pym told Hyde that 'they now must be of another
-temper than they were the last Parliament; that they must not only sweep
-the house clean below, but must pull down the cobwebs which hung on the
-tops and corners, that they might not breed dust, and so make a foul
-house hereafter. That they had now an opportunity to make their country
-happy by removing all grievances, and pulling up the causes of them by
-the roots, if all men would do their duties;' and used much other sharp
-discourse to the same purpose, by which it was discerned that the warmest
-and boldest counsels and overtures would find a much better reception
-than those of a more temperate allay, which fell out accordingly."
-
-Charles opened Parliament, as usual, by promising freely redress of
-grievances on the granting of the necessary subsidies, and called on the
-two Houses to abandon all suspicions, and put confidence in him; but,
-after fifteen years of constant struggle and constant breaches of faith,
-this was impossible. The Commons saw the certainty at length of achieving
-their objects, not from any goodwill towards constitutional freedom
-in the king, but from the stringent necessity in which he had placed
-himself. His creeping into Parliament, as it were, by the back door,
-instead of coming there in the usual state, showed that he was anxious
-and depressed, and his advisers were in an equal state of terror. His
-latest hope--the selection of the Speaker--had failed him, and he saw the
-Commons commence their work by passing altogether over the question of
-supplies, and falling in ominous earnestness on the grievances.
-
-On the fourth day of their session they proceeded from acts to deeds.
-They passed an order that those victims of the Star Chamber, Prynne,
-Bastwick, and Burton, whose horrible mutilations had revolted the whole
-civilised world, putting the Reformed Church of England on a par with
-persecuting and murdering Rome in her worst days, should be sent for
-from their distant prisons, and called on to state by whose authority
-they had been thus mutilated, branded, and imprisoned. This order spread
-a wonderful joy amongst the Reformers everywhere. The three lopped and
-tortured men were welcomed with acclamations at all places on their
-journey, and on the 28th of November they entered London attended by
-hundreds of carriages, and by five thousand people on horseback, both
-men and women, all wearing in their hats and caps bays and rosemary,
-and followed by great multitudes, with boughs and flowers, and strewing
-flowers and herbs as they passed. This was a change from the day when
-Laud pulled off his cap at the passing of Prynne's horrible sentence, and
-thanked God for it. The House of Commons, after hearing their statement,
-voted them damages to the amount of six thousand pounds to Burton, and
-five thousand pounds each to Prynne and Bastwick, which was to be paid
-by Archbishop Laud and his associates in the High Commission and Star
-Chamber.
-
-But they did not stop there; from compensating the sufferers they passed
-on to the punishment of the oppressors. The Committee of Religion
-proceeded to inquire into the loose lives of the clergy, their cruelties
-towards the Puritans, and their introduction of papistical ceremonies.
-"Their first care," says May in his "History of Parliament," "was to
-vindicate distressed ministers, who had been imprisoned or deprived
-by the bishops, and all others who in the cause of religion had been
-persecuted by them. Many of those ministers were released from durance
-and restored to their livings, with damages from their oppressors.
-Many doctors and divines that had been most busy in promoting the late
-church innovations about altars and other ceremonies, and therefore
-most gracious and flourishing in the State, were then questioned and
-committed, inasmuch as the change, and the suddenness of it, seemed
-wonderful to own, and may serve worthily as a document to all posterity,
-_quam fragili loco starent superbi_--how insecure are the proud." On the
-18th of December, Denzil Holles was sent to the Upper House to demand
-the impeachment of Laud. On hearing this the Archbishop rose, and, with
-his usual warmth declaring his own innocence, was proceeding to charge
-his accusers with various offences, when he was promptly called to order
-by the Earl of Essex and the Lord Say, and was stopped by the House and
-consigned to the Usher of the Black Rod. He apologised, and obtained
-leave, under surveillance of the gentleman usher, to fetch some papers
-from his house, necessary to his defence; and after remaining in the
-custody of the Black Rod for ten weeks he was committed to the Tower
-(February 24, 1641).
-
-[Illustration: JOHN PYM. (_From an Engraving by Houbraken._)]
-
-But the Commons had been all this time more deeply engaged in securing
-the most daring and dangerous offender of all, the Earl of Strafford.
-Laud, who was generally in London, was more safely within their power
-at any moment; but Strafford was left in the North, where he was
-lieutenant-general of the army, Lord President of the Council of the
-North, and could at any instant slip away to Ireland, where he had still
-more authority, and a considerable army. Laud, once caged, could wait;
-but Strafford must be both secured and promptly dealt with. His own
-friends in London, and his own sagacity, sufficiently apprised Strafford
-of the danger which awaited him if he came to town. He represented to the
-king that it were much better on all accounts that he should remain where
-he was; that in London he should by his presence remind the opposition of
-their enmity towards him; and that he would only further embarrass the
-king's affairs if he came, whilst he could be of service with the army,
-and, if necessary, escape to Ireland, where he might do the king real
-service. But Charles, who felt his weakness without Strafford, in whose
-judgment and power of overruling men he had the highest faith, would not
-hear of it, but insisted on his coming to London: and pledged himself
-to guarantee his safety, reminding him that he was King of England, and
-that Parliament should not touch a hair of his head. Strafford was rather
-bound to obey as a subject and servant of the Crown, than assured of
-his safety by those solemn pledges. He went to town, and on the third
-day after his arrival he was arrested, and placed in the custody of the
-Keeper of the Black Rod.
-
-[Illustration: ARREST OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. (_See p._ 593.)]
-
-On the 11th of November, 1640, assuming an outward air of unconcern,
-Strafford went to take his seat in the House of Lords. The Earl of
-Northumberland, writing to the Earl of Leicester on the 13th, declared
-that "a greater and more universal hatred was never contracted by any
-person than he has drawn upon himself, yet he is not at all dejected."
-Before he appeared in the House, the impeachment had been carried thither
-from the Commons. Strafford at once hastened to meet his enemies.
-Baillie, who was one of the Scottish commissioners, gives this striking
-account of his arrest:--"He calls rudely at the door: James Maxwell,
-Keeper of the Black Rod, opens. His lordship, with a proud, gloomy
-countenance, makes towards his place at the board head; but at once many
-bid him avoid the House, so he is forced in confusion to go back till
-he is called. After consultation, being called in, he stands, but is
-commanded to kneel, and on his knees to hear the sentence. Being on his
-knees he is delivered to the Keeper of the Black Rod, to be prisoner,
-till he was cleared of these crimes the House of Commons had charged him
-with. He offered to speak, but was commanded to be gone without a word.
-In the outer room James Maxwell, required him, as prisoner, to deliver
-his sword. When he had got it, he cries with a loud voice for his man to
-carry my Lord-lieutenant's sword. This done, he makes through a number of
-people towards his coach, all gazing, no man capping him, before whom,
-that morning, the greatest of England would have stood uncovered, all
-crying, 'What is the matter?' He said, 'A small matter, I warrant you.'
-They replied, 'Yes, indeed, high treason is a small matter.' Coming to
-his place where he expected his coach, it was not there, so he behoved to
-return the same way, through a crowd of gazing people. When at last he
-found his coach, and was entering, James Maxwell told him, 'Your lordship
-is my prisoner, and must go in my coach;' so he behoved to do." In a few
-days he was committed to the Tower, and the Commons proceeded to deal
-with those next in degree. But Windebank, Secretary of State, and Finch
-the Lord Keeper, fled from the reach of their vengeance.
-
-This, then, was the marvellous state of affairs at this moment. "Within
-less than six weeks," says Clarendon, "these terrible Reformers had
-caused the two greatest councillors of the kingdom--Laud and Strafford,
-whom they most feared, and so hated--to be removed from the king, and
-imprisoned under an accusation of high treason; and frightened away
-the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and one of the principal
-Secretaries of State into foreign kingdoms for fear of the like,
-besides preparing all the Lords of the Council, and very many of the
-principal gentlemen throughout England, who had been sheriffs and
-deputy-lieutenants, to expect such measure of punishment from their
-general votes and resolutions as their future demeanour should draw upon
-them for their past offences." And thus ended the ever memorable year
-1640, in which the Parliament had secured the ascendency after fifteen
-years' determined struggle with the present king, and many more with his
-father; had humbled the proud and obstinate monarch; imprisoned his two
-arch-counsellors; impressed a salutary terror on the whole royal party;
-and initiated changes of the most stupendous kind.
-
-The House of Commons commenced the year 1641 with an endeavour to secure
-annual Parliaments, and succeeded in obtaining triennial ones. They
-proposed that the issuing of the writs should take place at a fixed time,
-and to prevent the Crown from defeating this intention, they demanded, in
-case the king did not order the writs at the regular time, it should be
-imperative on the Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor to do it; in case they
-neglected it, it should become the duty of the House of Lords to do so;
-if the Lords failed, then the sheriffs, and if the sheriffs neglected or
-refused, the people should proceed to elect their own representatives
-without any writs at all. To frustrate in future any hasty prorogations,
-by which the House of Commons was liable at any moment to be stopped by
-the Crown, they proposed that the king should not have power to prorogue
-or dissolve Parliament within fifty days of its meeting without its own
-consent.
-
-At one time Charles would have resented so bold a measure most
-indignantly, and would have dissolved the audacious body at once; but now
-he condescended to reason with them in a far different tone. He protested
-against the measure as a direct encroachment on his prerogative, by which
-sheriffs and constables were to be endowed with powers that hitherto had
-been only kingly; but he was fain at last to give way, and the Bill, so
-far as regarded triennial Parliaments, was passed, and a Bill securing
-the Houses from hasty prorogation followed in May. By that act Charles
-tied up his hands from dissolving Parliament at all without its own
-consent, so that he could no longer defeat its measures as he had done.
-Thus a real and most momentous infringement on the prerogative was made,
-being brought about by the king's resistance to the cession of just
-rights. In obstinately claiming the people's privileges, he was driven to
-forfeit his own. He was now in a dilemma. The army of the Scots still lay
-in the North, and both the English Commons and the Scottish Commissioners
-in London were in no hurry to have it disbanded. Whilst it lay there
-well supported by Parliamentary allowance, the king and his friends were
-overawed and powerless, and both parties, the Commons of England and the
-Covenanters of Scotland, were the better able to press their claims and
-support each other. Both parties were bent on abolishing or reducing
-episcopacy.
-
-The Scottish Commissioners exerted themselves with the leaders of the
-English Commons to move for the total abolition of episcopacy in England,
-and the establishment of Presbyterianism; but this led only to the
-development of a variety of views in the Commons. Some of the members
-favoured the Scottish proposal, and of these were the supporters of the
-petition with fifteen thousand signatures, brought in from London by
-Alderman Pennington, called the "root and branch petition." Others, as
-the Lords Wharton, Say, and Brooke, preferred the still more levelling
-system of the Independents. On the other hand, some of the most prominent
-Reformers--the Lords Digby and Falkland, and Selden and Rudyard--were
-opposed to the extinction of the bishops. Digby compared the London
-petition to a comet portending nothing but anarchy, and with its tail
-pointing to the North, meaning that it was a Scottish comet; and Lord
-Falkland was for relieving the bishops of their temporal cares, but not
-removing them from the Church altogether. The question was warmly debated
-for two days, but the fate of the bishops was deferred awhile by that of
-Strafford.
-
-All being prepared, Strafford was brought from the Tower on the 22nd
-of March, 1641, and placed before the tribunal appointed to try him
-in Westminster Hall. He had been about three months in prison, and
-meanwhile a deputation had arrived from Ireland. They brought a
-petition, calling on the Commons of England to join them in obtaining
-his condign punishment. They enumerated their grievances and sufferings
-from his lawless violence under sixteen heads. The Commons welcomed
-the deputation, as may be supposed, and to obtain full evidence of
-Strafford's doings in Ireland, not only accused his most active
-instrument--Sir George Ratcliffe--of high treason, too, but almost every
-one of his willing subordinates, and secured all of them that they
-could, and kept them in readiness to be questioned, by which means they
-also prevented them from doing mischief with the army. The Scottish
-Commissioners were equally vehement in demanding justice against him for
-having counselled the king to put down their religion and government by
-force, and for offering to supply an army of Irish for the purpose. Thus
-all three kingdoms were arrayed against the common enemy.
-
-After much debate, it had been concluded that the trial should take place
-in Westminster Hall, before the Lords and Commons. The Earl of Arundel
-was appointed to preside as Lord High Steward. On each side of the throne
-was erected a cabinet, where the king, queen, and Prince of Wales could
-sit without being seen, these cabinets having trellis work in front,
-and being hung with arras. Before the throne ran lines of seats for the
-peers, and woolsacks for the judges, and on each side of the peers were
-ranged seats for the Commons, who consented to sit uncovered there. Near
-them were the Scottish and Irish deputies, and there was a desk or dock
-enclosed for the prisoner and his counsel. One-third of the Hall was
-left open to the public, the rest being defended by a bar; and there was
-a gallery near for ladies, which was crowded by those of highest rank.
-There was an intense interest, indeed, felt by all classes, and the hall
-was daily so crowded, that Mr. Principal Baillie, minister of Kilwinning,
-whom we have already mentioned, says in the quaint manner of his time,
-"We always behoved to be there before five in the morning: the house was
-full before seven."
-
-Strafford was brought from the Tower guarded by a hundred soldiers, who
-filled, with the officers, six barges; and on landing at Westminster he
-was received and conducted forward by two hundred of the train-band. All
-cross streets and entries were occupied by a strong force of constables
-and watchmen, placed there as early as four in the morning. The king,
-queen, and prince arrived about nine o'clock, and about the same time
-the prisoner was conducted into the Hall. On his appearance the porter
-demanded of the Usher of the Black Rod whether the axe should be borne
-before him; but the Usher said no, the king had expressly forbidden it.
-
-The bishops did not appear amongst the lords, for their presence had
-been strongly objected to by the House of Commons, on the plea that
-the canons forbade their taking part in any trial which involved
-bloodshed--"_clericus non debet interesse sanguini_." But the real fact
-was that they were supporters of Laud, and Williams, of Lincoln, very
-adroitly volunteered a motion as from the prelates themselves, that
-they should be excused. The Commons had objected to those who had been
-made peers since Strafford had been impeached, as they were his avowed
-friends. All, except Lord Lyttelton, who had been made a baron and Lord
-Keeper in the place of the fugitive Finch, refused to comply and took
-their seats; and so says Clarendon, might the bishops, too, had they had
-the same spirit.
-
-All being ready, the impeachment was read, consisting of twenty-eight
-capital articles, and then Strafford's reply to it, which filled two
-hundred sheets of paper. This occupied the first day. The court rose
-about two o'clock, and the prisoner was reconducted to the Tower. This
-was the routine of each day during the trial, which lasted eighteen
-days. On entering the court at nine o'clock, Strafford made three
-obeisances to the Earl of Arundel, the High Steward, two of which might
-be interpreted as intended for the king and queen, though they were not
-at first visible, nor during the whole time were supposed to be so; but
-the interest of the proceedings quickly made the king impatient of the
-trellis work, and, according to Baillie, he pulled it down with his own
-hands. "It was daily the most glorious assembly," continues Baillie,
-"that the isle could afford; yet the gravity was not such as I expected.
-After ten, much public eating, not only of confections, but of flesh and
-bread; bottles of beer and wine going thick from mouth to mouth without
-cups, and all this in the king's eye.... There was no outgoing to return,
-and often the sitting was till two, three, or four o'clock at night."
-
-As Strafford went and came, the crowd conducted themselves towards
-him with forbearance and courtesy, and he returned their greetings
-with humility and politeness. Few of the lords at first returned his
-obeisances, and the managers, thirteen in number, showed him no favour.
-When the Lord Steward ordered the Committee of Management to proceed
-on the second morning, Pym opened the case with an eloquent charge,
-commencing with these words:--"My lords, we stand here by the commandment
-of the knights, citizens, and burgesses, now assembled for the Commons
-in Parliament, and we are ready to make good that impeachment whereby
-Thomas, Earl of Strafford, stands charged in their name, and in the
-name of all the Commons of England, with high treason. This, my lords,
-is a great cause, and we might sink under the weight of it, and be
-astonished with the lustre of this noble assembly, if there were not in
-the cause strength and vigour to support itself, and to encourage us.
-It is the cause of the king; it concerns his majesty in the honour of
-his government, in the safety of his person, in the stability of his
-crown. It is the cause of the kingdom: it concerns not only the peace
-and prosperity, but even the being of the kingdom. We have that piercing
-eloquence, the cries, and groans, and tears of all the subjects assisting
-us. We have the three kingdoms, England, and Scotland, and Ireland, in
-travail and agitation with us, bowing themselves, like the hinds spoken
-of in Job, to cast out their sorrows. Truth and goodness, my lords,
-they are the beauty of the soul, they are the perfection of all created
-natures, they are the image and character of God upon the creatures.
-This beauty, evil spirits and evil men have lost; but yet there are none
-so wicked, but they desire to march under the show and shadow of it,
-though they hate the reality of it. This unhappy earl, now the object
-of your lordships' justice, hath taken as much care, hath used as much
-cunning, to set a face and countenance of honesty in the performance of
-all these actions. My lords, it is the greatest baseness of wickedness,
-that it dares not look in its own colours, nor be seen in its natural
-countenance. But virtue, as it is amiable in all aspects, so the least is
-not this, that it puts a nobleness, it puts a bravery upon the mind, and
-lifts it above hopes and fears, above favour and displeasure: it makes it
-always uniform and constant to itself. The service commanded to me and my
-colleagues, is to take off those vizards of truth and uprightness, which
-hath been sought to be put upon this cause, and to show you his actions
-and intentions in their own natural blackness and deformity."
-
-Pym, after this passage, went one by one through the pleas of Strafford
-in his reply, and rent away ruthlessly the arguments by which he
-endeavoured to veil the flagrancy of his actions; but he dwelt for
-this time more especially on his conduct in Ireland, representing him
-there as treading on all the rights, privileges, and property of the
-people in a manner utterly regardless of any constitution or compacts.
-He then produced as witnesses Sir Pierce Crosby, Sir John Clotworthy,
-Lord Ranelagh, Lord Mountnorris, and Mr. Barnwell, who had suffered
-insult, loss of office and honour from the Lord-Lieutenant's overbearing
-despotism. To this Strafford replied in a long and able speech. The
-subject of Ireland was resumed the next day, and then from day to day.
-
-After the Managers had gone through some particular charge, and produced
-their witnesses, the court adjourned for half an hour, when Strafford
-made his defence and produced his witnesses; the Managers then commented
-on the evidence, and the court closed for the day. Thus it went on
-for thirteen days. "All the hasty and proud expressions that he had
-uttered at any time," says Clarendon, "since he was first made a privy
-councillor; all the acts of passion or power that he had exercised in
-Yorkshire, from the time that he was first President there; his engaging
-himself in projects in Ireland, as the sole making of flax and selling
-tobacco in that kingdom; his extraordinary proceedings against Lord
-Mountnorris and the Lord Chancellor Loftus; his assuming a power of
-judicature at the Council table to determine private interest, and matter
-of inheritance; some rigorous and extrajudicial determinations in cases
-of Plantations; some high discourses at the Council table in Ireland; and
-some casual and light discourses at his own table and at public meetings;
-and, lastly, some words spoken in secret Council in this kingdom, after
-the dissolution of the last Parliament, were urged and pressed against
-him to make good the general charge of an endeavour to overthrow the
-fundamental government of the kingdom, and to introduce an arbitrary
-power." "In his defence," continues the same historian, "the earl behaved
-himself with great show of humility and submission, but yet with such
-a kind of courage, as would lose no advantage; and, in truth, made his
-defence with all imaginable dexterity, answering this and evading that
-with all possible skill and eloquence; and though he knew not till he
-came to the bar upon what parts of his charge they would proceed against
-him, or what evidence they would produce, he took very little time to
-recollect himself, and left nothing unsaid that might make for his own
-justification."
-
-Though this is the language of the royalist historian, it is borne out
-by all accounts of this extraordinary trial. Strafford was one of the
-most eloquent, able, and imposing men of any age. His commanding person,
-and persuasive and impressive manner, had made his influence paramount
-wherever he had appeared. He had the faculty vastly developed of making
-the worse appear the better reason; and never had his splendid talents
-been so successfully displayed as on this great occasion, when all the
-ability, the patriotism, and the elocution of the time were arrayed
-against him. The very weight and vastness of the opposition bearing upon
-him acted in his favour. There he stood, alone, as it were, against the
-three kingdoms, dauntless, and unsubdued; laden with growing infirmities,
-and the deadly hatred of innumerable hosts, yet disdaining to succumb to
-them; and with a readiness of wit, a promptness of reply, an adroitness
-of application or of evasion, a keenness of ridicule, a weight of reason,
-and a rich eloquence, that raised admiration even in those who most
-loathed him. The sympathies of the ladies were every day more and more
-enlisted in his cause. They were seen--those of the highest rank--taking
-notes, discussing the proceedings, and discovering their vivid interest
-in him by a thousand signs. The courtiers were enraptured; the lords,
-even the sternest, rapidly relaxed, and at length were almost all on
-his side. The clergy were unanimous in their plaudits of him, and the
-Managers saw with dismay a change which threatened their defeat.
-
-[Illustration: WESTMINSTER HALL AND PALACE YARD, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES
-I.]
-
-Maynard and Glynne, two acute lawyers, were the Managers who chiefly
-brought forward the accusations, and directed the evidence against him;
-but they appeared no match for Strafford's intellect and address. They
-endeavoured to establish a charge of constructive treason, that is, of
-treason not founded on one clear and palpable act, but on accumulated
-evidence, the aggregate of many offences; but the prisoner's answer to
-this was triumphant. They had not his letters, which we have; and though
-they could point to a long course of arbitrary and unconstitutional
-conduct, amounting to high misdemeanours, they could not lay their
-fingers on the damning proofs of his avowed intentions under his own
-hand, as we now can in the Strafford Papers. But even had they possessed
-these, it would still have been technically impossible to establish a
-charge of high treason according to any definition of law, or idea of
-treason then existing. All the statutes of high treason had heretofore
-been directed against designs or attempts to injure or remove the king,
-or any of his family; to subvert the Government, or change the possession
-of the Crown. That there might be such a thing as treason against the
-people and their rights had never entered into governing heads.
-
-In vain would Pym or Selden then search Coke upon Littleton, or the
-statutes at large, for any definition of a treason that would serve them.
-The statute of 25 Edward III. c. 2 was the great landmark of English
-history in those matters, and amongst the seven distinct declarations of
-treasonable offences, they would look in vain for one to fit Wentworth,
-for most assuredly against none of them had Strafford offended. He was
-working with the king and his officers; his acts and intentions pointed
-in a totally different direction. His object was to strengthen the king's
-government beyond all precedent; to make him, as we now have it under
-his own hand, the most absolute and independent monarch that ever lived.
-True, from the reign of Henry IV. to that of Queen Mary, many other
-species of high treason had been created by the Crown, and especially by
-Henry VIII. But in none of these reigns, when almost every imaginable
-or unimaginable thing affecting kingship was made treason, had it ever
-entered the royal or legal head to conceive of the possibility of treason
-against the people. Therefore, had all these descriptions of treason been
-yet existent, none of them would have availed against Strafford, who was
-most loyal to the king and his government.
-
-The matter was too palpable to be denied, but at this crisis an event
-occurred which gave fresh hope to the accusers. The younger Sir Henry
-Vane communicated to Pym a paper which he had discovered in the cabinet
-of his father, the Secretary of State. The account which he gave of the
-occurrence, according to Whitelock, was this:--His father being out of
-town, had sent him the key of his study, desiring him to search for some
-papers which he wanted. In this search he came upon one paper of such
-extraordinary contents, that he held himself bound in duty to secure
-it. The paper was a minute of what had passed in the Privy Council on
-the morning of the day on which the last Parliament had been dissolved.
-The question before the Council was offensive or defensive war with the
-Scots. The king said, "How can I undertake a war without money?" And
-Strafford was made to reply, "Borrow one hundred thousand pounds of the
-City. Go rigorously on to levy ship-money. Your majesty having tried the
-affections of your people, you are absolved and loosed from all rules of
-government, and may do what power will admit. Having tried all ways, you
-shall be acquitted before God and man. You have an army in Ireland, which
-you may employ to reduce this kingdom to obedience, for I am confident
-the Scots cannot hold out five months." Laud and Cottington declared with
-similar vehemence that the king was absolved from all law.
-
-Pym, having obtained from young Vane a copy of this paper, on the 10th of
-April informed the Commons of the fact. After hearing it read, Vane the
-younger rose and confirmed the relation, excusing himself on the ground
-that it had appeared his bounden duty to make the matter known, and that
-Mr. Pym had confirmed him in this opinion. After giving Mr. Pym the copy,
-he had returned the original paper to its proper place in the cabinet.
-Sir Henry Vane, the father, here rose, and remarked, with much sign of
-resentment against his son, that he now saw whence all this mischief
-came, and that he could give no further particulars of the matter but
-found himself in an ill condition from its testimony.
-
-On the 12th, charge was made against Strafford in court, who replied
-that old Vane was his most inveterate enemy; that, as was most probable,
-if he had delivered this paper to his son, he had been guilty of an
-unpardonable breach of his oath as a Privy Councillor, to preserve the
-king's secrets, and was therefore totally unworthy of credit; that he
-had been strictly examined on what passed at that Council, and at first
-denied all memory of any such words spoken by him, Strafford, on that
-occasion; and even on his third examination, after having been shown
-this paper, he had only recollected he had spoken these words, or some
-like them; that such words and such counsel were not likely to be soon
-forgotten; yet, of eight Privy Councillors then present, none of those
-whose evidence could be obtained could remember any such words, except
-the Earl of Northumberland, who thought he recollected such words as
-those--"of being absolved from all rules of government." The Archbishop
-of Canterbury and Windebank were not present to give their evidence;
-but the Marquis of Hamilton, Bishop Juxon, and Lord Cottington, could
-remember no such words. Even had he used the words, it depended much
-on whether the phrase "this kingdom" meant England or Scotland; that
-the country under debate was Scotland, and he had demanded of Vane,
-whether the word used was really "this" or "that." And further, could the
-authority of this paper be established, it would not establish a charge
-of treason, for the law demanded the evidence of two witnesses, and this
-was but the evidence of one.
-
-Pym therefore put in the verified copy of the paper, for the paper itself
-having been laid on the table of the Committee of Commons, had been
-purloined, and was never afterwards recovered. That in the possession
-of Charles was in the handwriting of Digby, which brought him under
-suspicion. Pym contended that the evidence of the minute itself, and that
-of Sir Henry Vane, amounted to the required proofs of the law, being
-two witnesses against the earl. The Lord Steward, Arundel, then called
-on Strafford to say whether he had any observations to make on this
-additional proof, and he replied most eloquently:--
-
-"Where has this species of guilt lain so long concealed? Where has this
-fire been so long buried during so many centuries, that no smoke should
-appear till it burst out at once, to consume me and my children? Better
-it were to live under no law at all, than to fancy we have a law on which
-we can rely, and find at last that this law preceded its promulgation,
-and try us by maxims unheard of till the moment of the prosecution. If I
-sail on the Thames, and split my vessel on an anchor, in case there be no
-buoy to give warning, the party shall pay me damages; but if the anchor
-be marked out, then is the striking on it at my own peril. But where is
-the mark set upon this crime? Where the token by which I should discover
-it?
-
-"It is now full two hundred and forty years since treasons were defined,
-and so long has it been since any man was touched to this extent upon
-this crime before myself. We have lived, my lords, happily to ourselves
-at home; we have lived gloriously abroad in the world; let us be content
-with what our fathers have left us; let not an ambition carry us to
-be more learned than they were in these killing and destructive acts.
-My lords, be pleased to give that regard to the peerage of England,
-as never to expose yourselves to such moot points, such constructive
-interpretations of law. If there must be a trial of wits, let the
-subject matter be of somewhat else than the lives and honours of peers.
-It will be wisdom for yourselves, for your posterity, and for the whole
-kingdom, to cast into the fire these bloody and mysterious volumes of
-constructive and arbitrary treason, as the primitive Christians did their
-books of curious arts, and betake yourselves to the plain letter of the
-statute, which tells you where the crime is, and points out the path by
-which you may avoid it....
-
-"My lords, I have now troubled your lordships a great deal longer than
-I should have done, were it not for the interest of these pledges which
-a saint in heaven left me. I should be loth----" here he pointed to
-his children, and his weeping stopped him. "What I forfeit for myself
-is nothing, but that my indiscretion should extend to my posterity,
-I confess, wounds me very deeply. You will be pleased to pardon my
-importunity. Something I should have said, but I see I shall not be able,
-and therefore I shall leave it. And now, my lords, I thank God that I
-have been by His blessing sufficiently instructed in the vanity of all
-temporary enjoyments, compared to the importance of an eternal duration.
-And so, my lords, even so with all tranquillity of mind, I submit clearly
-and freely to your judgment; and whether that righteous doom shall be
-life or death, I shall repose myself, full of gratitude and confidence,
-in the arms of the great Author of my existence--'_In te Domine confido:
-non confundar in aeternum_.'"
-
-What the effect of this address must have been, may be inferred from
-the observations of Whitelock, the chairman of the Committee which was
-conducting the prosecution:--"Certainly, never any man acted such a part
-on such a theatre, with more wisdom, constancy, and eloquence; with
-greater reason, judgment, and temper; and with a better grace in all his
-words and actions, than did this great and excellent person, so that he
-moved the hearts of all his auditors, some few excepted, to remorse and
-pity."
-
-The Commons were alarmed at the effect of the trial. The production of
-Vane's paper had been a blow enough to have sunk another man, but the
-extraordinary eloquence and address of Strafford seemed to have effaced
-even that; they had little faith in procuring a verdict from the Lords
-in their present course, and they resolved to change their plan, and
-proceed against the offender by a Bill of Attainder. They have been
-accused of adopting the arbitrary measures of Henry VIII. in so doing,
-and of depriving Strafford of the fair influence of his trial; but we,
-who enjoy the benefit of their deed, ought not to join in that cry.
-Strafford was guilty, if ever man was, of the most atrocious attempt that
-a man can entertain--that of destroying the liberties of his country.
-The laws had been so framed, from royal bias, as not duly to designate
-his crime; but not for that, nor for any temporary feeling of pity raised
-by his admirable defence, did these patriots mean to allow of his escape.
-But in the House of Commons the Bill of Attainder met with unexpected
-opposition from one of the most zealous of the Reformers, Lord Digby. He
-saw, like the rest, that technically they could not condemn Strafford
-for high treason as the law then stood, and he feared the precedent of
-condemning men under a show of law that did not exist. It was, in fact,
-too much imitating the king. It was a real difficulty, which the patriots
-had not sufficiently foreseen. Instead of charging him with treason,
-as it was then defined, they should first have remodelled the law, or
-have charged Strafford with the violation of the national guarantee of
-Magna Charta, on which there could be no doubt, and for which he was
-well worthy of death; but it was too late to retrace their steps, and
-they were obliged to condemn him for the unquestionable crime of treason
-against the nation, making the act of the Legislature in all its branches
-an extension of the law. Digby himself did not question his guilt. He
-said "he believed him still that grand apostate to the commonwealth,
-who must not expect to be pardoned in this world till he be despatched
-to the other;" but he pleaded that on the ground of law he should have
-his life spared. But the Commons knew that while he lived there was no
-security. On the first occasion the king would pardon and restore him,
-and all their labour would be thrown away. They sought, therefore, to
-erect Parliament in so great an emergency into a court of equity as well
-as of law, believing that what was decreed by both Houses, and had the
-sanction of the Crown, was and would be a law of itself. They did not,
-like the Tudors and the Stuarts, seek to condemn him by setting aside the
-established courts and trial by jury; they gave him the highest court
-in the realm, and a full trial by his peers, and by their Bill they now
-called for a verdict.
-
-But that verdict was not obtained without a great struggle. In the
-Commons it was warmly debated, and it was not till the eleventh day, the
-21st of April, that it was carried by a vast majority. Only fifty-four,
-or, according to Whitelock, fifty-nine members voted against the Bill,
-and the next morning the names of these were placarded in the streets
-as "Straffordians," who, to allow a traitor to escape, would betray
-their country. The Lords, who had been greatly influenced by Strafford's
-speeches, and his confident exposition of the law, displayed no alacrity
-to pass the Bill of Attainder through their House; but they soon found
-themselves exposed to the pressure from without. The nation had made up
-its mind to the punishment of the man who had advised the king to reduce
-them to the condition of serfs; and the Lords could not appear anywhere
-without being pursued by cries of "Justice! justice on the traitor!"
-Vast crowds surrounded the Parliament House, uttering the same demands,
-and a petition was carried up from the City, signed by many thousands.
-The country was terrified by rumours of insurrections and invasions,
-which were made plausible by the lately discovered plot for marching
-the army of York on London, and the Court preparations for rescuing and
-getting away Strafford. There is also clear evidence from the despatches
-of Rosetti, who was in the confidence of the queen, that the king had
-ordered the fortifications of Portsmouth to be strengthened; and the
-command of the fortress was given to Goring, that Charles might have a
-place of retreat if he was obliged to quit London, and an opening for the
-landing of troops from France or Holland, whom he might prevail on to
-come to his assistance.
-
-In carrying up the Bill to the Lords, the Attorney-General, St. John, had
-endeavoured to get rid of the legal objections to the death of Strafford,
-by saying that laws were made for the protection of the peaceable and
-the innocent, not for those who broke all law for the destruction of
-the people. This was a dangerous doctrine, and did not at all mend the
-matter; he did not see that the real strength and justification of the
-case lay in the three branches of the Legislature interpreting the law as
-extending to the State and Constitution altogether, and by their united
-act rendering it law.
-
-In the meantime, the anxiety and perplexity of the king became
-excruciating. He had clearly, by his confident assertions of protection,
-drawn Strafford into the snare, and if the Lords passed the Bill, how
-was he, by his own decayed authority, to defend him? He had previously
-sought the aid of the Earl of Bedford, who was the most influential of
-the peers, and promised him the disposal of all the great offices of
-State, on condition that Strafford's life should be spared. Bedford had
-accepted it, but just at this crisis he fell sick and died. Clarendon
-says, of his own knowledge, that it was the plan of Bedford to give the
-king the excise as a settled source of income, and thus extricate him
-out of all his troubles,--the very thing which was afterwards granted
-to his son, Charles II. On Bedford's death, Lord Say accepted the same
-position on the same terms; and it is asserted by Clarendon that it was
-by his advice that Charles now took a step that proved very fatal. He
-proceeded to the House of Lords on the 1st of May, whilst the Bill of
-Attainder was still before it, and calling for the Commons, informed
-them that having, as they knew, been constantly present at the trial of
-Strafford, he was perfectly familiar with all that had been advanced on
-both sides, and that the serious conclusion at which he had arrived was
-that he was not guilty of treason, and, therefore, in his conscience, he
-could not condemn him if the Bill were passed and came to him. "It was
-not," he said, "for him to argue the matter with them; his place was to
-utter a single decision. But," he continued, "I must tell you three great
-truths:--First, I never had any intention of bringing over the Irish
-army into England, nor ever was advised by any one to do so. Second,
-there never was any debate before me, either in public council or private
-committee, of the disloyalty or disaffection of my English subjects.
-Third, I was never counselled by any to alter the least of any of the
-laws of England, much less alter all the laws."
-
-[Illustration: CHARLES SIGNING THE COMMISSION OF ASSENT TO STRAFFORD'S
-ATTAINDER. (_See p._ 603.)]
-
-After the long breach of the law that the king shall not levy taxes
-without consent of Parliament; after the long exercise of the arbitrary
-power of the Star Chamber and the High Commission Court, where Magna
-Charta was utterly set aside; after the brandings, the lopping off
-of ears, the slitting of noses, and the fining and imprisonment of
-the subject at the king's pleasure, these assertions show how utterly
-regardless of truth this king was. He then admitted that Strafford was
-guilty of great misdemeanours. "Therefore," he said, "I hope you may
-find some middle way to satisfy justice and your own fears, and not to
-press upon my conscience. My lords, I hope you know what a tender thing
-conscience is. To satisfy my people I would do great matters, but in
-this of conscience, no fear, no respect whatever, shall ever make me go
-against it. Certainly, I have not so ill-deserved of the Parliament this
-time that they should press me on this tender point." He proposed that
-Strafford should be rendered incapable hereafter of holding any place of
-trust or honour under the Crown.
-
-But the very declarations which he had made in this address were so
-untrue, that every one must have felt that as long as Strafford lived
-there was no security against his return to power. The Commons, however,
-took up the matter in another manner. On their return to their own
-House--the king had not recognised their presence by a single observation
-in the other--they instantly passed a resolution, declaring the king's
-interference with any bill before either House of Parliament, a most
-flagrant abuse of their privileges. This was Saturday, and the next
-day the ministers, Scottish and Puritan, took up the subject in their
-pulpits, and roused their hearers to a sense of their danger, only to be
-averted by the death of the arch-traitor. On Monday the population poured
-out in a vast concourse, and directed their steps towards Westminster.
-Six thousand infuriated people surrounded the Houses of Parliament, armed
-with clubs and staves, crying out for justice on the prisoner.
-
-At this moment Pym was haranguing the House of Commons on the discovery
-of the plot to debauch the army, and informing them, moreover, that there
-was already a strong body of French troops assembled on the opposite
-coast, and that it was declared to be their intention to take possession
-of Jersey and Guernsey, and to land at Portsmouth. This was so far true
-that Montague, a favourite of the queen's, had been despatched to the
-French court, a fleet had assembled on the coast of Brittany, and an
-army in Flanders. Montreuil had endeavoured to convince the popular
-leaders, through the Earl of Holland, that the army was destined for the
-war in the Netherlands, and the fleet to protect the coasts of Portugal.
-Their being so near this country, however, was sufficient to justify
-the popular suspicion, and the public excitement continued to increase.
-Montague was advised to seek his safety by flight, and the queen was
-so terrified that she ordered her carriages to Whitehall to flee to
-Portsmouth. The Lords, however, prevented this by a remonstrance to the
-king, and thereby probably saved the queen's life from the enraged mob;
-for it was now that the disclosures of Colonel Goring of the Army Plot
-became public.
-
-Pym seized the opportunity of this occurrence to press on the Commons a
-resolution to the effect that the seaports should be closed, and that the
-king should command that neither the queen, the prince, nor any person
-attending upon his majesty, should leave London without the permission of
-the king, acting on the advice of his Parliament. This was passed, and
-Pym then called on them to make a solemn Protestation, after the manner
-of the Scottish Covenant, which should be taken by the whole House,
-binding them by a vow, in the presence of God, to maintain and defend his
-majesty's royal person and estate, as well as the power and privileges
-of Parliament, the lawful rights and liberties of the subject, the peace
-and union of the three kingdoms against all plots, conspiracies, and evil
-practices, and that neither hope, fear, nor any other respect, should
-induce them to relinquish this promise, vow, and protestation. It was
-instantly signed by the Speaker, and by every member present.
-
-The Commons next addressed a letter to the army in the North, assuring
-them that, notwithstanding the attempts to corrupt them, Parliament
-relied on their fidelity, and would take care to furnish their pay.
-They ordered the forces in Wiltshire and Hampshire to advance nearer
-to Portsmouth, and those in Kent and Sussex to draw towards Dover, and
-declared any man advising the introduction of foreign troops to be
-an enemy to his country. These resolutions they despatched with the
-Protestation to the Upper House by Denzil Holles, calling on the whole
-House to subscribe to the Protestation. The next morning, being the 4th
-of May, the Lords desired a conference with the Commons, and informed
-them of a message from the king, desiring that the intimidation of
-the mobs might be withdrawn, that the deliberation of the Parliament
-might be free; and as the peers proposed to take the Protestation
-unanimously, Dr. Burgess, a popular preacher, was sent out to inform
-the people of this, and to desire that they would peaceably withdraw to
-their own homes. The crowds, on this assurance, melted rapidly away. The
-Protestation was then sent out to be subscribed by the whole nation, as
-the Covenant had been in Scotland, and with the intimation that any one
-declining to adopt it should be looked upon as an enemy to his country.
-To complete their security, the Commons passed a Bill that Parliament
-should on no account be dissolved without the consent of both Houses.
-
-The next day, on a false alarm that the House of Commons was in danger,
-the train-bands, headed by Colonel Mainwaring, marched with beat of
-drum to Westminster; it proved an unnecessary caution, but one that
-convinced the peers and the king that any resistance to the Commons,
-backed by the public, was useless. The very next day the news was
-circulated in Parliament that six or eight dangerous conspirators had
-fled, amongst them Jermyn, the queen's favourite, and Percy, both members
-of the Commons, and that the queen was still bent, if opportunity could
-be found, of escaping too. On the following day, May 7th, the peers
-voted by a majority that the fifteenth and nineteenth charges against
-Strafford were proved, namely, that he had quartered soldiers on the
-peaceable inhabitants of Ireland contrary to law, and had imposed
-on his own authority an illegal oath on all Scotsmen living in that
-country. Thereupon they consulted the judges, who unanimously decided
-that Strafford deserved to suffer the pains and penalties of treason.
-The Catholics kept away from the House because they would not take the
-Protestation, and therefore bore no part in Strafford's condemnation. The
-Bill was passed by a majority of twenty-six to nineteen. The following
-morning, May 8th, the Bill of Attainder was read a third time and passed;
-and, at the same time, the Lords also passed the Bill of the Commons
-against the dissolution of Parliament.
-
-Charles was now reduced to a pitiable condition. On the one hand, he had
-solemnly pledged himself, both to Strafford and to Parliament, never
-to consent to the earl's death; but, on the other hand, the two Houses
-had pronounced against him, and the public was waiting with impatience
-for his ratification of the sentence. He had lately seen the ominous
-assemblage of the people, and the march of the City bands to support
-Parliament; the Scots still lay in the North, waiting with fierce desire
-for the fall of their enemy; one signal, and the whole country would be
-in a blaze. The Bill was passed on Saturday, and perhaps never was a
-Sunday spent by any man, or any house, in so dreadful a state as that
-passed by Charles and his family. The only alternative left him was to
-summon his Privy Council, and submit to them his difficulty. But from
-them he derived very little comfort. The members in general urged on him
-the necessity of complying with the demand of both Houses of Parliament,
-and the manifest desire of the public, who were again loudly declaring
-that they would have either the head of Strafford or the king's. The
-bishops strongly urged the same arguments; the terror of the Parliament
-and the people was upon them.
-
-Williams, the old bishop of Lincoln, who had been treated with stern
-severity by both Strafford and Laud, told the king, when he talked of
-his conscience, that there was a public as well as a private conscience;
-that he had discharged his private conscience by doing all in his power
-to save the earl, and he might now exercise his public conscience by
-conceding to the decision of his Parliament; that the question now was
-not about saving Strafford, but about saving himself, his queen, and
-family. Juxon, Bishop of London, alone had the courage to tell him
-boldly not to consent to the shedding of the blood of a man whom in his
-conscience he felt to be innocent. Ussher of Armagh, Morton of Durham,
-and another bishop, advised him to be guided by the opinion of the
-judges. The judges being then asked, repeated their judgment that the
-case, as put to them by the Lords, amounted to treason. Thus borne down
-by all parties, Charles reluctantly gave way, and late in the evening,
-though he would not directly sign his assent to the Bill, he signed a
-commission to several lords to give the assent. Even in this last act
-his friends endeavoured to console him with the assurance that "his own
-hand was not in it." It was a miserable subterfuge, for the deed was
-equally valid, and he executed it with tears, declaring the condition of
-Strafford happier than his own.
-
-The day of execution was fixed for Wednesday, the 12th of May, and on
-Monday, the 10th, the commission to this effect passed the Great Seal.
-But still Charles could not give up the hope of saving the unhappy
-man. He sent to the two Houses to inform them that he would instantly
-disband the Irish army; and the next morning, having appeared to have
-made a favourable impression on the Commons, who had returned a very
-flattering message, he sent the Prince of Wales to the Lords with a
-letter once more imploring them to consult with the Commons, and grant
-him "the unspeakable contentment" of changing the sentence of the earl
-to perpetual imprisonment, with a pledge never to interfere in his
-behalf; and if the earl should ever seek his liberty, especially by
-any application to himself, his life should be forfeited. If, however,
-it could not be done with satisfaction to the people, he said "_Fiat
-justitia_." In a postscript, stated to have been added at the suggestion
-of the queen, he appended the fatal words, "If he must die, it were
-charity to reprieve him till Saturday;" words which seemed to imply that,
-though he asked, he really did not hope to save him. Nothing, however,
-could have saved him. The House, after reading the letter twice, and
-after "sad and serious consideration," sent a deputation to inform him
-that neither of the requests could be complied with.
-
-[Illustration: THE OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE, EDINBURGH.]
-
-Strafford, on the previous Tuesday, hearing of the king's extreme
-agitation and trouble on his account, had sent him a letter which was
-full of magnanimity. He informed him that the hearing of the king's
-unwillingness to pass the Bill, on the ground that he did not believe
-him guilty, and of the excitement of the people against him on that
-account, had brought him into a great strait; that the ruin of his
-family on the one side, and fear of injury to the king on the other, had
-greatly troubled him; that to say that there had not been a great strife
-in him, would be to say that he was not made of flesh and blood; yet
-considering that the chief thing was the prosperity of the realm and the
-king, he had, with a natural sadness, come to the conclusion to desire
-the king to let matters take their course rather than incur the ill that
-refusing to sign the Bill might bring on his sacred majesty. Whitelock
-assures us that the king sent Carleton to him, to inform him that he had
-been compelled to pass the Bill, and adding that he had been the more
-reconciled to it by his willingness to die. On hearing this, Strafford
-started up from his chair, lifted up his eyes to heaven, laid his hand
-upon his heart, and said, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons
-of men, for in them there is no salvation."
-
-The night before the day fixed for his execution, Archbishop Ussher
-visited the prisoner, who begged him to go to his fellow-prisoner,
-Archbishop Laud, and beg his prayers for him that night, and his blessing
-when he should go forth in the morning. He had in vain endeavoured to
-persuade the Lieutenant Balfour to permit him to have an interview
-with the fallen prelate. In the morning, when led out to the scaffold,
-on approaching the window of the archbishop's prison, he begged the
-lieutenant to allow him to make his obeisance towards the prelate's room,
-though he could not see him himself.
-
-[Illustration: STRAFFORD ON HIS WAY TO EXECUTION.
-
-AFTER THE PAINTING BY PAUL DELAROCHE, IN THE POSSESSION OF THE DUKE OF
-SUTHERLAND.]
-
-[Illustration: THE MARQUIS OF MONTROSE. (_From a contemporary print by
-Faithorne.)_]
-
-Laud, however, was on the watch, and putting forth his hands from his
-window, bestowed his blessing. That was all that his weakness and his
-emotion permitted. He sank, overcome with his grief, to the floor.
-Strafford made a profound obeisance, and the procession moved on. But
-after a few steps the earl turned round again, bowed to the ground once
-more, saying, "Farewell, my lord! God protect your innocence!" Then
-proceeding again, he assumed a lofty and dignified air, more even than
-was usual to him. At the Tower gate the lieutenant requested him to
-enter a coach, lest the people should wreak their hatred upon him; but
-he declined, saying, "No, Master lieutenant, I dare look death in the
-face, and I hope the people, too. Have you a care that I do not escape,
-and I care not how I die, whether by the executioner, or the madness
-of the people. If that give them better satisfaction, it is all one to
-me." He was accompanied to the scaffold by Archbishop Ussher, the Earl
-of Cleveland, and his brother, Sir George Wentworth, and others of his
-friends were there to take their leave of him. The crowd assembled to see
-their great enemy depart was immense, and he made a speech from notes
-which he had prepared, still protesting his innocence; declaring that so
-far from wishing to put an end to Parliaments, he had always regarded
-them, under God, as the best means to make the king and his people
-happy. His head fell at a single blow, and the astonished people could
-scarcely believe that they had seen the last of their foe. They retired
-in quietness, as if overcome by the greatness of the satisfaction; but
-they testified their joy in the evening by bonfires in the streets (May
-12, 1641).
-
-The fall of Strafford carried terror through the Court. Many began
-to think of flying. Cottington had given up his office of Master of
-the Wards, and Lord Say and other noblemen of the popular party were
-introduced into the Ministry. The Marquis of Hertford was made Governor
-to the Prince, the Earl of Essex Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Leicester
-the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The king was wholly averse from the new
-ministers, but hoped to win upon them as he had done upon Strafford,
-Loudon, and Montrose; and indeed, after their appointment, a bolder and
-more independent spirit seemed to awaken in the Lords. They threw out
-several Bills sent up from the Commons, amongst others, one for excluding
-the bishops from their House. Essex, though a reformer, was by no means
-hostile to the hierarchy, and always obliged his servants to accompany
-him to church, and kept a chaplain who was a thorough conformist. The
-Lords did not object to the bishops and clergy in general being excluded
-from the Star Chamber, the Privy Council, and the Commissions of the
-Peace; but they contended that bishops had always formed a part of their
-body, and that the Commons might next take it into their heads to exclude
-barons.
-
-The Commons, however, pressed on the Lords Bills for the abolition of
-the two greatest engines of tyranny in the country, the Star Chamber
-and the High Commission Court. These, with another for a poll-tax for
-the maintenance of the armies, the Lords passed; but Charles hesitated.
-He had given up much this Session: the right of prorogation without
-consent of Parliament, thus making Parliament perpetual if it pleased;
-the right to demand tonnage and poundage without the same consent; he had
-limited the forest laws; granted to the judges their places during good
-behaviour; and withdrawn the commission for the Presidency of the North
-as illegal. But to give up the civil and ecclesiastical inquisitions,
-those ready and terrible torture houses of the Crown, went hard with
-him. The poll-tax he passed at once, because he thought it would be
-unpopular, but he refused to sanction the others. The Commons came to a
-resolution that he should pass all three or none; and the tone of both
-Parliament and the people was so menacing, that on the 5th of July he
-gave his consent, and put an end to those un-English abominations.
-
-The Commons having granted the king six subsidies, and tonnage and
-poundage for the year, he now proposed to proceed to Scotland to hold
-a Parliament. He was aware that a reaction had taken place there. The
-Marquis of Montrose had exerted himself to form a party amongst such
-noblemen and gentlemen as had grown to regard the popular leaders both
-in Scotland and England as bearing too insolently on the prerogatives of
-the Crown. He had prevailed on nineteen noblemen to subscribe a bond,
-pledging themselves "to oppose the particular and indirect practices of
-a few, and to study all public ends which might tend to the safety of
-religion, laws, and liberty." They were careful that the language of this
-bond should not clash openly with that of the Covenant; but the real
-design did not escape the vigilance of the Committee of Estates. They
-called on Montrose and his associates to clear themselves, and obtaining
-the bond, burn it publicly. Notwithstanding this, the confederates
-opened a secret correspondence with the king, and assured him of their
-confidence of victory over the Covenanters, if he would honour the
-Parliament with his presence, confirm his former concessions, and delay
-the distribution of offices and honours to the end of the session. But
-this correspondence also was discovered. Walter Stuart, the messenger
-of Montrose to the king, was seized near Haddington, and the letter of
-the marquis to the king, with various other suspicious papers, was found
-concealed in the pommel of his saddle. Montrose, Lord Napier, Sir George
-Stirling, and Sir Archibald Stuart, were arrested, examined, and sent to
-the castle of Edinburgh.
-
-These events rendered Charles still more impatient for his northern
-journey. Not only Traquair, and the other four of his officers who had
-been excepted from pardon as incendiaries, but these, his new allies,
-demanded his assistance. By the beginning of August the treaty of
-pacification was signed by the Scots. They had received an engagement
-from the English Parliament for the payment of a balance of two hundred
-and twenty thousand pounds of "the brotherly assistance." Charles had
-granted an amnesty and an act of oblivion of all that was past, having
-cost the kingdom about one million one hundred thousand pounds, and both
-armies were ordered to be disbanded. The Parliament, however, looked on
-this journey with no friendly eye. Even amongst his own friends, the wily
-old Bishop of Lincoln, Williams, whom the king, in the absence of Laud,
-and the loss of Strafford, had taken into favour, and who was soon to
-be Archbishop of York, advised Charles to keep away from the Scots. He
-assured him that they would ferret out any secret negotiations that might
-pass between himself and the royal party, and make the English Commons
-acquainted with them; and that he would do much better to remain, and
-employ himself in corrupting and winning over as many as he could of the
-Parliamentary leaders. The Commons insisted on his appointing a Regency,
-if he should go, to act during his absence; but he consented only to the
-naming of a Commission. It was not till the 10th of August that he got
-permission for his journey, and he was not destined to depart without
-having another proof of the animus of the House of Commons. On the 4th,
-Serjeant Wild presented to the Lords a Bill of Impeachment against
-thirteen of the bishops--Laud's name being put among them--for their
-recent manufacturing of canons and constitutions contrary to law. Their
-grant of a benevolence to the king was made an offence under the name of
-a bribe, and by this means, though they had not been able to exclude all
-the bishops from the Upper House for ever, they excluded these thirteen
-for a time.
-
-At length Charles was enabled to set out. He had made the Earl of Holland
-commander-in-chief of the Forces, much to the disgust of the friends of
-Essex, who was appointed commander only of those south of the Trent.
-He was attended in his coach by his nephew, Charles Louis, the nominal
-Elector Palatine, the Duke of Lennox, now Duke of Richmond, and the
-Marquis of Hamilton--rather ominous associates. The king had not been
-gone a week, however, when Holland having quarrelled with the queen, and
-the king having refused to make a baron at his suggestion, by which he
-would have got ten thousand pounds, sent a letter to the House of Lords,
-obscurely intimating some new practices and designs against Parliament.
-The Lords communicated to the Commons this letter, and the two Houses
-immediately appointed a commission to proceed to Scotland, ostensibly to
-procure the ratification of the late treaty, but really to keep watch
-over the king and his partisans. To this duty were named the Earl of
-Bedford, Lord Edward Howard, Sir William Almayne, Sir Philip Stapleton,
-Mr. Hampden, and Nathaniel Fiennes. The king endeavoured to get rid of
-this unwelcome commission, declaring it needless, and refused to sign the
-commission when sent to him; but the Parliament still pressing it, he
-allowed the commissioners to proceed to Scotland to attend him; all of
-whom did so except the Earl of Bedford.
-
-Charles had set out with the resolve to win over as many of his enemies
-as possible, and to please the Scots at large, thereby to raise up a
-counter influence to that at home. At the northern camp, which was not
-yet broken up, he did all that he could to corrupt the officers, went
-to dine with old Leslie, the Scottish general, and soon after ennobled
-him. At Edinburgh he flattered the Covenanters by attending their
-preachings, and went so far as to appoint Alexander Henderson, the stout
-champion of the Covenant, his chaplain, appearing to take especial
-delight in his conversation, and having him constantly about him. He
-ratified all the acts of the last Session of the Scottish Parliament.
-As regarded the incendiaries, as they were called--that is, Charles's
-former ministers--who had been imprisoned for executing his commands,
-he promised on their release to give their offices to such persons as
-had pleased the Parliament. He submitted to them a list of forty-two
-councillors, and nine great officers of State. The Parliament conceded
-so far as to release all the incendiaries but five, and these were to be
-referred to a committee for trial, and their sentence to be pronounced by
-the king. So far, all promised well, but the Covenanters were desirous
-to have the Earl of Argyll, who had so openly espoused their cause in
-the General Assembly, appointed to the chief post in the ministry, that
-of Chancellor; but Charles conferred it on Loudon. Argyll strove for the
-next, that of Treasurer, a post of great emolument, but Charles gave it
-to Lord Ormond; but the Parliament would not consent, and the contest for
-this appointment had gone on ten days, when the feud thus commenced was
-rent still wider by what is known in Scottish history as the "Incident."
-
-Since Charles had come to Edinburgh, he had continued to keep up his
-correspondence with the Marquis of Montrose, who was still prisoner
-in the castle, and who, notwithstanding his known intrigue with the
-king, had by concert with him kept up a pretence of being a zealous
-Covenanter. A letter from Montrose, revealing the progress of this
-correspondence, had been found by some traitorous person about the king,
-supposed, indeed, to have been taken from his pocket, and had been sent
-by the Marquis of Hamilton to the Covenanters. Montrose found means to
-convey to the king his ideas about it, and to warn him especially of the
-treasonable proceedings and intentions of Hamilton and Argyll. Hamilton,
-since his having, at Charles's request, assumed the part of a favourer
-of the Covenanters, had become suspected of being more really of that
-party than he pretended. The king had grown cool in his manner to him:
-the letters of Montrose, conveyed through William Murray, a groom of the
-bed-chamber, urged the king to make away with the traitors Hamilton and
-Argyll. At this juncture young Lord Kerr sent by the Earl of Crawford
-a challenge of treason to Hamilton, who appealed to Parliament in his
-justification, and Kerr was compelled to make an apology. But if we are
-to believe Hamilton himself, this did not prevent the prosecution of
-the plot to assassinate or carry them off to some place of concealment.
-He says, in a letter to his brother, Lord Lanark, that he was sent for
-suddenly by his brother and Argyll, as he was engaged with some company,
-desiring him to go to them on matters of the utmost consequence. When
-he went he was told by them that they had been desired to go to General
-Leslie, at his house, who informed them of a plot to kill or carry them
-away. On this being confirmed to Hamilton by Colonel Hurrie and Captain
-Stuart, the three lost no time in escaping from the city to Hamilton
-House, at Kinneil; whilst the rumour of the plot spreading, the burghers
-of Edinburgh had closed their gates, and armed themselves for the defence
-of the Parliament.
-
-As this was a direct charge of a most black and murderous design on the
-part of the king, he lost no time, on receiving letters from the fugitive
-noblemen stating why they had fled, in marching to the Parliament House
-at the head of five hundred soldiers, to demand an explanation. The
-Parliament was justly alarmed at this menacing movement, and insisted
-that a commission should immediately be given to Leslie to guard
-Parliament with all the city bands, the regiments of foot near at hand,
-and some troops of horse.
-
-Charles was loud in his complaints of the scandal cast upon him by the
-needless flight of the three noblemen and the arming of the citizens,
-and demanded an instant examination before Parliament for his clearance.
-The Parliament would not consent to a trial before the whole House; but
-in spite of the king's remonstrances, referred it to a committee, and
-ordered the immediate arrest of the Earl of Crawford, Colonel Cochrane,
-William Murray, and others. What the committee discovered is not known,
-for its proceedings were conducted with the profoundest secrecy; and
-they finally came to the conclusion that there was nothing which touched
-the king personally; and yet that the noblemen did not flee without
-sufficient cause, and were falsely accused by Montrose. Montrose himself,
-when examined regarding the letter to the king, declared that he meant
-to accuse nobody in particular; and Crawford, Murray, and the rest, gave
-confused and disordered answers. All was involved in mystery, and this
-was no little increased by Hamilton and Argyll returning to Edinburgh
-in the course of a few weeks, and Hamilton declaring that there was
-nothing in the affair which reflected any dishonour on the king. Still
-more to confound all reasoning on the matter, the plotters not only were
-liberated on bail, but Argyll was placed at the head of the Treasury, was
-created a marquis, Hamilton a duke, and Leslie an earl, with the title of
-Leven.
-
-The news of the plot had been despatched with all speed to the Parliament
-in England, and had created great alarm in London, many being of opinion
-that a conspiracy was on foot to get rid of all the king's opponents.
-Parliament, which had adjourned to the 20th of October, had just met
-again, and the Council sent urgent requests for the return of the king to
-the capital.
-
-The king, however, appeared in no haste. He remained entertaining all
-parties in great festivity, distributing the forfeited church lands
-amongst influential persons, not excepting his covenanting chaplain,
-Henderson. Honours were as freely bestowed. It was found that Charles
-had carried the Crown jewels with him: it was now well known that the
-great collar of rubies was pawned in Holland, and it was believed that
-Charles was buying up his enemies with others of the jewels, afterwards
-to be exchanged for money. These unpleasant suspicions were greatly
-increased by the fact that five companies of foot had, by the king's
-especial command, been detained at Berwick, notwithstanding the order for
-disbandment. The Council sent six ships to fetch away the artillery and
-ammunition from Berwick and Holy Isle, and again represented to Charles
-the necessity of his presence in London.
-
-His departure, however, was at length determined by startling news out of
-another quarter, namely, of rebellion in Ireland.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-
-    Abbott Bishop, Primate, 464.
-
-    "Addled Parliament," The, 453.
-
-    Albany, Duke of, assumes title of Alexander, King of Scotland, 44.
-
-    Albany, Duke of, proclaimed joint king with Mary of Scotland,
-        assassination of Rizzio, 264;
-      flees to Dunbar with Mary, 266;
-      unpopularity among the nobles, 267;
-      plot against him, 268;
-      murdered, 269.
-      (_See_ also Darnley, Lord.)
-
-    Amboise, Peace of, 258.
-
-    Amiens, Truce of, 39.
-
-    Archery, Decay of, 16th century, 388.
-
-    Architecture, 15th century, 67;
-      16th century, decline of Gothic, 380;
-      old Tudor, 381.
-
-    Argyle, Earl of, chief director of the Assembly, 572.
-
-    Armada, The Spanish, preparation by Philip, 315;
-      English fleet, 316;
-      strength of Armada, preparation for defence, 318;
-      sets sail, driven back by storm, sails up Channel, chased by
-        English, 319;
-      fight renewed, 320;
-      fire ships, 322;
-      retreat of Armada, English land forces, 323.
-
-    Arms and Armour, 16th century, 387.
-
-    Arran, Earl of, Regent, 191;
-      relations with England, 193;
-      with France, 194;
-      reconciled to Beaton, 194.
-
-    Arthur, Prince, married to Catherine of Aragon, 97;
-      death and character, 98.
-
-    Ascham, Roger, 363.
-
-    Aske, Robert, executed, 172.
-
-    Askew, Anne, tortured and burnt, 202.
-
-    Audley, Lord, the Cornish rising, 90.
-
-
-    Babington, Anthony, plot against Elizabeth, 306;
-      execution, 307.
-
-    Bacon, Sir Francis, scheme for managing Commons, 452;
-      Attorney General, 453;
-      undignified conduct on fall of Coke, Lord Keeper, 459;
-      Buckingham and Coke's daughter, 468;
-      Lord Chancellor, Baron Verulam, 470.
-      (_See_ also Verulam, Baron.)
-
-    Bacon, Sir Nicholas, first Baronet created, 452.
-
-    Bancroft, Bishop of London, Archbishop of Canterbury, 415;
-      animosity to Catholic and Protestant Nonconformists, 419;
-      supports James's claim to Royal Prerogative, 439;
-      death, 441.
-
-    Bankruptcy, Statute of, 347.
-
-    Barnet, Battle of, 34.
-
-    Baronet, new title created by James I.: its abuse, 452.
-
-    "Basilicon Doron," 413.
-
-    Bastwick, Dr., 555, 591.
-
-    Beaton, Cardinal, sent to Rome, 190;
-      claims regency, solicits aid from France, imprisonment, 191;
-      escape, 192;
-      plot to assassinate, 196;
-      burns Wishart, 199;
-      assassinated, 200.
-
-    "Benevolences," 453.
-
-    "Black Saturday," 206.
-
-    Blackwater, Battle of, 334.
-
-    "Bloody Statute," The, 175.
-
-    Boleyn, Anne, 146;
-      created Marchioness of Pembroke, married privately to Henry VIII.,
-        crowned, 156;
-      plot against, 164;
-      indicted for high treason, 166;
-      her defence, 167;
-      beheaded, 168.
-
-    Bonner, Bishop of London, imprisoned by Ecclesiastical Commission, 207;
-      deprived of his see, 216;
-      restoration of Catholicism, inhumanity, 236;
-      chief inquisitor, 238;
-      treated coldly by Elizabeth, 246.
-
-    Bosworth, Battle of, 63.
-
-    Bothwell, Earl of, murder of Darnley, mock trial and acquittal, 270;
-      divorce from his wife, created Duke of Orkney and Shetland,
-        marriage with Mary, 271;
-      rising of nobility, flight and death, 272.
-
-    Bothwell, Lord, intrigues to capture Scottish king, 89;
-      spy in Scottish camp, 90.
-
-    Brackenbury, Sir Robert, 54.
-
-    Brandon, Sir Charles, Lord Lisle. (_See_ Suffolk, Duke of.)
-
-    Buckingham, Duke of, 47;
-      harangues citizens of London in favour of Gloucester, offers crown
-        to him, 54;
-      instigates revolt to set Edward V. on the throne: his descent, 54;
-      proclaimed traitor by Richard III., 56;
-      marches to join Richmond, 57;
-      executed at Salisbury, 58.
-
-    Buckingham, Duke of, executed on charge of practising astrology, 124.
-
-    Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, 470;
-      his power, 471;
-      in Spain, 491;
-      at conference of Houses, 500;
-      impeachment, 519;
-      French expedition, 524;
-      assassinated, 536.
-
-    "Buckingham's Flood," 58.
-
-    Bulmer, Lady, burnt at Smithfield, 172.
-
-    Burleigh, Lord, Norfolk's execution, 289;
-      urges death of Mary, 290;
-      Mendoza, 303;
-      Lord Treasurer, 308;
-      Mary's death-warrant, 311;
-      counsels assistance to Henry of Navarre, 327;
-      death, 332.
-
-    "Bye Plot," The, 408.
-
-
-    Carr, Robert, 44.
-      (_See_ Rochester, Viscount.)
-
-    Casket Letters, The, 278.
-
-    Cateau-Cambresis, Treaty of, 250.
-
-    Catesby, Robert, Gunpowder Plot, 419.
-
-    Catherine of Aragon, married to Prince Arthur, 97;
-      betrothed to Prince Henry, 98;
-      married, 102;
-      regent during Henry's absence in France, 107;
-      treatment by the King, 146;
-      trial, 151;
-      divorce, 156.
-
-    Cavendish, Thomas, successful expedition to Spanish Main, 315.
-
-    Caxton, William, 66.
-
-    Cecil, Sir Robert, assembles council to proclaim James King, 404;
-      enmity to Raleigh, Cobham, and Gray, 406;
-      created Lord Cecil, Viscount Cranbourne, Earl of Salisbury, 406;
-      conspiracy against, 408;
-      Catesby's conspiracy, 423;
-      Lord Treasurer, 438;
-      death, 441.
-
-    Cecil, Sir William, confidential counsellor of Elizabeth, Secretary
-        of State, 246;
-      policy to Scottish reformers, 252;
-      Cecil and Elizabeth's relations to Leicester, 259;
-      Cecil and Murray, 277;
-      hostility to Mary Stuart's friends, 278;
-      Cecil and Knox, 283;
-      Scottish policy, 285;
-      Duke of Norfolk and Ridolfi plot, 288.
-      (_See_ also Burleigh, Lord.)
-
-    Charles, Prince, Spanish match, 491;
-      Henrietta of France, 503.
-
-    Charles I., First Parliament, 509;
-      tonnage and poundage, 514;
-      scheme to prevent Buckingham's impeachment, Second Parliament, 315;
-      illegal government, 522;
-      failure of expedition to Rhe, 524;
-      Third Parliament, 527;
-      the subsidies, 528;
-      Petition of Right, resistance of Charles, 531;
-      passed, 534;
-      force sent under Buckingham to aid the Rochellais, 535;
-      crowned at Edinburgh, 550;
-      adherence to Anglican Church, 551;
-      Bishop Williams, 556;
-      ship money, treaty with Spain against Holland, 557;
-      treatment of Irish, 564;
-      renewal of the covenant, temporises, 570;
-      letter to general assembly, 572;
-      conference, 578;
-      Wentworth, 581;
-      the Short Parliament, 584;
-      illegal extortions, 585;
-      Scottish Parliament, 586;
-      the Long Parliament, 590;
-      trial of Strafford, 595;
-      visits Scotland, 606.
-
-    Charolais, Count of, 38.
-
-    Chimneys, Introduction of, 382.
-
-    Clarence, Duke of, marries Isabel of Warwick, retires to Calais, 26;
-      at Olney, 27;
-      secret agreement with Edward to desert Warwick, 30;
-      joined in regency with Warwick, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 31;
-      deserts to Edward on eve of Barnet, 33;
-      quarrel with Gloucester, 36;
-      act of resumption, death of Isabel, 40;
-      suitor of Mary of Burgundy, 41;
-      at feud with Edward, charged with treason, death in the Tower, 42.
-
-    Cleves, Anne of, 178;
-      her reception by, and marriage to Henry VIII., 179;
-      divorced, retires to her estates, 183.
-
-    Coins and coinage, 15th century, 75;
-      16th century, their debasement, 392;
-      restitution of value by Elizabeth, 393.
-
-    Coke, Lord, indicts Raleigh, 410;
-      trial of Somerset, 453;
-      supports royal prerogative, 458;
-      disgrace, 459;
-      restored, 469;
-      popular leader, 489;
-      speeches in Parliament, 528.
-
-    Colonies, 395.
-
-    Commerce, 16th century, 394.
-
-    "Complaints of the Commons of Kent," 2.
-
-    Congregationalists, 356.
-
-    Costumes, 16th century, 388.
-
-    Courtenay, Earl of Devon, plot to marry Elizabeth and dethrone
-        Mary, 238.
-
-    Coverdale, Miles, 237.
-
-    Cranmer, Thomas, plan for settlement of King's divorce, 155;
-      Archbishop of Canterbury, 156;
-      Chancellor of the Exchequer, 157;
-      introduces bill for the supremacy and the succession, 158;
-      confesses Anne Boleyn, 167;
-      head of reforming party, 170;
-      conforms outwardly to statute of Six Articles, 175;
-      Anne of Cleves, 179;
-      fall of Cromwell, 182;
-      Catherine Howard, 184;
-      catechism, 207;
-      frames articles and canons, 219;
-      attainted, 227;
-      trial at St. Mary's, Oxford, 238;
-      cited to appear at Rome, renouncement and recantation, 239;
-      burnt at Oxford, 240.
-
-    Cromwell, Oliver, 538.
-
-    Cromwell, Thomas, successful advice on divorce to Henry VIII.,
-        Privy Councillor, 155;
-      Archbishop of Canterbury, pronounces Henry's marriage with
-        Anne Boleyn valid, 156;
-      Vicar General, 163;
-      Lord Cromwell, 170;
-      proposes royal marriage with Anne of Cleves, 178;
-      Earl of Essex and Lord Chamberlain, 180;
-      bill of attainder, execution, character, 182.
-
-    Culpepper, Thomas, alleged intrigue with his cousin, Catherine
-        Howard, 184;
-      attainted and executed, 185.
-
-
-    Darnley, Lord, 261;
-      marries Mary Queen of Scots, created Duke of Albany, 263.
-      (_See_ Albany, Duke of.)
-
-    Daubeny, Lord, suppresses Cornish rising, 91;
-      commands Royal forces against Warbeck, 94.
-
-    "De Tallagio non concedendo," 530, 559.
-
-    Desmond, Earl of, rebellion, 296.
-
-    Digby, Sir Everard, Gunpowder Plot, 424.
-
-    Dighton, John, murders Princes in the Tower, 54.
-
-    Douglas, Archibald, Earl of Angus, "Bell the Cat," puts to death
-        Earl of Mar, 44.
-
-    Drake, Sir Francis, sent by Elizabeth to harass Spanish settlements,
-        special favours from the Queen, 305;
-      exploits against the Spaniards, circumnavigates the globe,
-        knighted, 314;
-      destruction of ships in Cadiz harbour, 315;
-      fights against the Armada, 319;
-      expedition to Portugal, 326;
-      failure of expedition against Spanish settlements, death, 328.
-
-    Dudley, Sir Henry, plots to set Princess Elizabeth on the throne, 242;
-      plan to betray Hammes and Guines to the French, 243.
-
-    Dudley, Robert, 242;
-      Master of Ordnance, 243;
-      announces loss of Rouen to Elizabeth, 258;
-      her attachment to him, special favours, 259.
-      (_See_ Leicester, Earl of.)
-
-    Dymoke, Sir Thomas, 28.
-
-
-    East India Company chartered, 398.
-
-    Ecclesiastical History under Tudors, 351.
-
-    Edgecote, Battle of, 27.
-
-    Edward, Prince of Wales, 6;
-      attainted, 19;
-      saved by an outlaw, 22;
-      marries Anne of Warwick, 30;
-      crown settled on by Warwick's Parliament, 31;
-      death at Tewkesbury, 35.
-
-    Edward IV. crowned, 19;
-      secret marriage with Elizabeth Woodville, 23;
-      alliance of his sister Margaret and embassy to France, 24;
-      insurrection against him, 26;
-      unpopularity of the Woodvilles, 27;
-      taken prisoner at Olney by Warwick, 27;
-      marriage of daughter to George Neville, 27;
-      escapes from the Moor to Windsor, insurrections in Lincolnshire, 28;
-      detaches Clarence from Warwick, 30;
-      escapes to Court of Burgundy, 31;
-      lands at Ravenspur, 32;
-      defeats Warwick at Barnet, 33;
-      triumphant return to London, 36;
-      alliance with Burgundy against France, 38;
-      Treaty of Amiens, 39;
-      dissatisfaction of English, 40;
-      projected alliances, 43;
-      anger against Louis, 44;
-      death, burial at Westminster, character, 45;
-      children, 46.
-
-    Edward V., 46;
-      proposal for his coronation by Queen Mother, 47;
-      seized by Gloucester, conducted in state to London and removed to
-        the Tower, 48;
-      murder in the Tower, 54;
-      Sir Thomas More's account, 55.
-
-    Edward VI., 204;
-      repeal of Penal Acts of Henry, changes in doctrines and Church
-        discipline, 207;
-      Catechism and Liturgy, Book of Common Prayer, war with Scotland, 208;
-      public discontent and risings, 210;
-      Fall of Somerset, surrender of Boulogne, Church reform, 215;
-      new law of treason, revision of Prayer-Book, Act for compulsory
-        attendance at church, 218;
-      Cranmer's Articles of Religion and Code, failing health, 219;
-      change in the succession, death, 220.
-
-    Eliot, Sir John, 520;
-      speech in Parliament, 531;
-      imprisoned, 542.
-
-    Elizabeth, ecclesiastical legislation, 247;
-      Philip's proposed marriage, 248;
-      assumes title of Queen of France, 248;
-      relations with Mary Queen of Scots, 250;
-      indignation at Peace of Amboise, 258;
-      imprisons Mary, 274;
-      Commission of Inquiry, 275;
-      aids Protestants of France and Belgium, 279;
-      anger at proposed marriage of Duke of Norfolk, 280;
-      religious persecutions, 287;
-      Ridolfi plot, 289;
-      Duke of Anjou, 294;
-      religious conformity, 297;
-      relations with James VI., 303;
-      treaty with Protestants of the Netherlands, 305;
-      hesitation to sign death-warrant of Mary, 310;
-      sends Drake to harass Spanish Armada, betrays parsimony, 315;
-      negotiations with Philip's commissioners, 318;
-      reviews troops at Tilbury, 324;
-      persecution of Catholics and Puritans, 325;
-      sends Drake to Portugal, 326;
-      assists Henry IV. against Catholic League, 327;
-      rupture with Essex, 332;
-      death, 241.
-
-    Empson and Dudley, agents of Henry VII.'s avarice, 109.
-
-    Erpingham, Battle of, 28.
-
-    Essex, Earl of, created Marquis of Northampton, 207.
-
-    Essex, Earl of, Walter Devereux, plan to subjugate and colonise
-        Ireland, 295;
-      appointed Earl Marshal of Ireland, 296.
-
-    Essex, Earl of, favourite of Elizabeth, gallant conduct at
-        Peniche, 326;
-      at Cadiz, 329;
-      hostility of Cecils, commands Spanish expedition, 330;
-      Earl Marshal, 331;
-      quarrel with the queen, 332;
-      Lord-Deputy in Ireland, failure, 334;
-      trial, 335;
-      conspiracy, 336;
-      tried and executed, 338.
-
-    Etaples, Treaty of, 84.
-
-
-    Falkland, Lord, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, recalled, 560.
-
-    Fawkes, Guido, 420;
-      gunpowder plot, 422;
-      arrested, 427;
-      executed, 430.
-
-    Felton, John, 536.
-
-    Ferrybridge, Battle of, 18.
-
-    Field of the Cloth of Gold, 124.
-
-    Finch, Sir John, Speaker of the Commons, Chief Justice, 558;
-      speech at opening of Short Parliament, 582.
-
-    Firearms, 16th century, 388.
-
-    Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, refuses to take new oath of
-        allegiance, 152;
-      attainted and beheaded, 162.
-
-    Fitzgerald, Lord Thomas, 187;
-      surrenders to Lord Gray, 188.
-
-    Fitzhugh, Lord, 26.
-
-    Fitzwilliam, Sir William, created Earl of Southampton and Lord
-        High Admiral, 173;
-      receives Catherine Howard's confession of infidelity, 185.
-
-    "Five Articles," The, 463.
-
-    Flodden Field, Battle of, 112.
-
-    Forest, Miles, murders princes in the Tower, 54;
-      rewarded by Richard III., 55.
-
-    Fox, Bishop, 78.
-
-    France, Louis XI., 19;
-      invaded by Edward IV., 39;
-      expedition against Charles VIII. by Henry VII., 84;
-      invasion by Henry VIII., 107;
-      marriage of Princess Mary and Louis, 115;
-      alliance sought by Francis, 123;
-      war with England, 129;
-      treaty with Henry VIII., 143;
-      advantageous peace, 215;
-      Calais regained, 244.
-
-    Frobisher, Martin, 316;
-      bravery against Armada, 319.
-
-    Furniture and Decoration, 16th century, 386.
-
-
-    Gardiner, 147;
-      preaches at St. Paul's Cross against Lutheran doctrines, 180;
-      growing influence, 186;
-      impolitic conduct, 202;
-      disgrace and banishment from Court, 203;
-      imprisoned by Ecclesiastical Commission, 207;
-      liberated by Mary, 223;
-      patriotic caution, 226;
-      Chancellor, 227;
-      proposes reconciliation with Rome, 235;
-      President of Commission to try heretics, 236;
-      withdraws from the office, 238;
-      death, 242.
-
-    Garnet (Gunpowder plot) hanged, 430.
-
-    Gloucester, Richard, Duke of, accompanies Edward IV. in his flight
-        to the Continent, 31;
-      visits his brother Clarence the night before Barnet, 33;
-      quarrel with Clarence over Warwick estates, 36;
-      marries Anne of Warwick, 37;
-      pays court to Louis XI., 39;
-      hostile conduct towards Clarence, 42;
-      commands army against Scotch, enters Edinburgh, 44;
-      pledges support to Edward V., 46;
-      arrests Lords Grey and Rivers and others, 47;
-      seizes the king, 48;
-      and his brother, 49;
-      holds London in subjection, 50;
-      accepts Crown at Baynard's Castle, proclaims amnesty, 51;
-      crowned, 52.
-      (_See_ also Richard III.)
-
-    Gondamar, Spanish Ambassador, 474.
-
-    Gordon, Lady Catherine, marries Warbeck, 88;
-      attached to Queen's Court, 94.
-
-    Gowrie Conspiracy, The, 406.
-
-    Gresham, Sir Thomas, 395.
-
-    Grey, Lady Jane, 202;
-      marries Lord Guildford Dudley, and is made Queen, 220;
-      beheaded, 232.
-
-    Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury, 298.
-
-    Guinegate, Battle of. (_See_ "Spurs," 110.)
-
-    Guise, Duke of, head of Catholic League, 304;
-      assassinated, 313.
-
-    Gunpowder Plot, The, 419-430.
-
-
-    Hamilton, Marquis of, sent by Charles to Covenanters, 568;
-      concessions, 570;
-      opens General Assembly, 571;
-      letter to Charles, 572;
-      ill-success of fleet, 577.
-
-    Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, 283;
-      assassinates Murray, 284.
-
-    Hampden, John, 552;
-      ship money, 560.
-
-    Hampton Court Conference, 414.
-
-    Hastings, Lord, confidant of Gloucester, 47.
-
-    Hawkins, Sir John, 313;
-      originates slave trade, 314.
-
-    Hedgeley Moor, Battle of, 21.
-
-    Henry VI., his imbecility, 6;
-      York appointed Protector, 7;
-      defeated at St. Albans, 8;
-      Great Council of Coventry, 9;
-      Conference at London, 10;
-      at Ludiford, 11;
-      defeated at Northampton, Parliament for redress of grievances, 13;
-      assents to bill of succession, 14;
-      attainted by Parliament, 19;
-      at Harlech Castle, 20;
-      captured and imprisoned, 22;
-      restored to throne by Warwick, 31;
-      defeat of Barnet, 34;
-      death in the Tower, burial at Chertsey Abbey, body removed by
-        Richard III. to Windsor, 36.
-
-    Henry VII., defective title, Parliament and attainted members, 76;
-      claims acknowledged by Parliament, 77;
-      marriage, Lord Lovel's rising, Lambert Simnel, 78;
-      failure of rebellion, 79;
-      battle of Lincoln Stoke, 81;
-      coronation of Elizabeth, 82;
-      origin of Star Chamber, 82;
-      his avarice, 82;
-      discontent in England, invasion of France, 83;
-      Treaty of Etaples, 84;
-      Perkin Warbeck, 85;
-      Scottish affairs, 89;
-      Cornish revolt, 90;
-      fresh invasion of the Scots, 91;
-      visits France, affiance of daughter Margaret to James
-        of Scotland, 96;
-      marriage of Prince Arthur to Catherine of Aragon, 97;
-      matrimonial schemes, death of Elizabeth, 98;
-      exactions, 99;
-      Philip of Flanders and his wife Joanna at Windsor, 99;
-      proposes marriage to Joanna when widow, 99;
-     death, 101.
-
-    Henry VIII., marries Catherine of Aragon, 102;
-      meets Maximilian, 108;
-      Wolsey, 116;
-      meets Charles V. at Dover and Field of the Cloth of Gold, 124;
-      secret treaty with Charles, 136;
-      "Defender of the Faith," seeks divorce, 145;
-      refers question to Clement VII., 147;
-      claims supremacy as head of the Church, 156;
-      suppresses the monasteries, 163;
-      execution of Anne Boleyn, 168;
-      marries Jane Seymour, 169;
-      Statute of the Six Articles, 175;
-      execution of relatives of Cardinal Pole, 176;
-      marries Anne of Cleves, 179;
-      disgraces Cromwell, 181;
-      marries Catherine Howard, 183;
-      Royal progress in the North, 184;
-      publishes Bishops' Book and the King's Book, 186;
-      claims Crown of Scotland, 190;
-      marries Catherine Parr, 195;
-      death, children, succession, 204.
-
-    Henry of Navarre, 304;
-      assisted by Elizabeth against Catholic League, abjures
-        Protestant faith, 327;
-      league with Elizabeth against Spain, 328;
-      assassinated, 445.
-
-    Henry, Prince, son of James I., popularity and character, 446;
-      proposed alliance with Princess Christine of France, illness
-        and death, 447.
-
-    Herbert, Lord, besieges Terouenne, 107;
-      created Earl of Somerset, 114.
-
-    Hertford, Earl of, takes title of Lord Protector and Duke of
-        Somerset, 205.
-      (_See_ Somerset.)
-
-    Hewett, Andrew, burnt at Smithfield, 160.
-
-    Hexham, Battle of, 21.
-
-    High Commission, Court of, 350, 606.
-
-    Holbein, Hans, 383.
-
-    Holles imprisoned, 540;
-      demands impeachment of Laud, 591.
-
-    "Holy Maid of Kent," 158.
-
-    Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, burnt, 236.
-
-    Howard, Lord, Earl Marshal, and Duke of Norfolk, 53;
-      falls at Bosworth, 64.
-
-    Howard, Lord, of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, 316;
-      created Earl of Nottingham, 331.
-
-    Howard, Lord Thomas, Lord Admiral, 107;
-      at Flodden, 111;
-      Earl of Surrey, 114;
-      war with France, 130;
-      sentenced to death, but escapes execution, 203.
-
-    Howard, Sir Edward, Lord Admiral, commands fleet against French, 105;
-      blockades Brest, brave death, 107.
-
-    Huguenots and Elizabeth, 257;
-      rise under Conde, 279;
-      massacre of St. Bartholomew, 289;
-      horror excited by, Elizabeth assists the Rochellais, 290;
-      expedition to Isle of Rhe, 507.
-
-
-    Independents, 356.
-
-    Ireland, Simnel in, 79;
-      Warbeck in, 86;
-      insurrection, 187;
-      made a kingdom, 189;
-      plantation of Ulster, 295;
-      Desmond's rebellion, 296;
-      Essex in, 333;
-      Tyrone's revolt, 334;
-      inquiry into titles, 464;
-      oppression of Catholics, 467;
-      Wentworth, 561;
-      his "Thorough" policy, 563.
-
-
-    Jack Cade, 2;
-      takes possession of London,
-      slain by Iden, 3.
-
-    Jacquetta of Luxembourg, 22.
-
-    James I., wholesale creation of peers and knights, 405;
-      "Main" and "Bye" plots, 408;
-      Hampton Court conference, 414;
-      abuse of royal prerogative at elections, 416;
-      Gunpowder Plot, 419;
-      royal treatise, Cardinal Bellarmine, 432;
-      collisions with Parliament, 434;
-      extravagance and impecuniosity, 436;
-      exaction of duties, 438;
-      Lady Arabella Stuart, 442;
-      Prince Henry, 446;
-      marriage of daughter Elizabeth, 447;
-      reign of favourites, 448;
-      venality at Court, 451;
-      George Villiers, fall of Somerset, 454;
-      episcopacy in Scotland, 462;
-      plantation of Ulster, 466;
-      execution of Raleigh, 478;
-      thirty years' war, 479;
-      his indecision, 480;
-      inquiry by Parliament into abuse of patents, 482;
-      "governing well," 488;
-      the Spanish match, 489;
-      negotiations with the Pope, 492;
-      public and private treaty with Spain, 495;
-      match between Henrietta and Prince Charles, 503;
-      secret arrangement with France, 506;
-      death, 507.
-
-    James II. of Scotland, slain at Roxburgh, 18.
-
-    James III. of Scotland, 43.
-
-    James IV. of Scotland, slain at Flodden, 114.
-
-    Jane Shore, 36.
-
-    Jesuits, Campian and Parsons, Elizabeth's proclamation against, 298;
-      their schemes and plots, 303.
-
-    "John Amend All," 2.
-
-    Juxon, Dean of Westminster, Bishop of London, Lord High Treasurer, 554.
-
-
-    Ket, Robert, rising in Norfolk, 211;
-      repulses royal troops, burns Norwich, 212;
-      defeat at Dussingdale, hanged, 213.
-
-    "King's Book," The, 186.
-
-    Knox, John, arrives from France, promotes the Reformation in
-        Scotland, 251;
-      urges on Cecil death of Mary Stuart, 283.
-
-
-    Lambert, John, reformer, put to death, 175.
-
-    Latimer, Bishop, sent to Tower, 227;
-      tried at Oxford and burnt, 238.
-
-    Laud, 464;
-      Bishop of Bath and Wells, 523;
-      chief ecclesiastical adviser, 537;
-      Bishop of London, 538;
-      "Thorough," 543;
-      offered Cardinal's hat by Pope, 548;
-      Arminian controversy, 549;
-      visits Scotland with Charles, erects Edinburgh into a bishopric,
-        Primate of England, relations with Papal see, 551;
-      ecclesiastical measures, 552;
-      Lord High Treasurer, 554;
-      cruel treatment of Prynne, Bastwick, Burton, Lilburne, and Williams,
-        Bishop of Lincoln, 556;
-      admonishes Wentworth, 564;
-      counsels peaceful measure in Scotland, 574;
-      publishes new canons, 584;
-      Lambeth Palace attacked by mob, 586;
-      impeachment demanded by Commons, 591.
-
-    Learning, Revival of, 359.
-
-    Leicester, Earl of, scandal, 259;
-      supports scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart to Duke of Norfolk, 280;
-      expedition to Netherlands, 306;
-      commands forces at Tilbury, proposed honours, death, 324;
-      (_See_ also Dudley, Robert.)
-
-    Lenthall, Speaker of Long Parliament, 590.
-
-    Leslie, General, surprises Edinburgh, 574;
-      Dunse Hill, 576;
-      crosses the Tweed, 587;
-      ennobled by Charles, 607.
-
-    "Levellers," The, 435.
-
-    Lilburne, sentence of Star Chamber, 556.
-
-    Lincoln Stoke, Battle of, 81.
-
-    Literature and science, 16th century, 358.
-
-    Long Parliament, The, 590;
-      temper of the new House, awards compensation to Prynne, Burton,
-        and Bastwick, demands impeachment of Laud, 591;
-      impeachment of Strafford, 593;
-      reforms demanded, "root and branch" petition, 594;
-      trial of Strafford, 595;
-      Pym's indictment, 596;
-      passes Bill of Attainder, 600;
-      intervention of Charles, 601;
-      Star Chamber and High Commission Court abolished, 606.
-
-    Lovel, Lord, 78.
-
-    Ludiford, Battle of, 11.
-
-    Luther, Martin, 145.
-
-
-    "Main" Plot, The, 408.
-
-    Maintenance, Act of, 82.
-
-    Maitland of Lethington, Secretary of State to Mary Stuart, 255;
-      conspiracy against Rizzio, flees, reinstated, 266;
-      scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart with Norfolk, 280;
-      betrayed by Murray, 281.
-
-    "Malevolences," 60.
-
-    Mar, Earl of, hostilities with Earl of Huntley and the Gordons, 256;
-      exchanges his title for Earl of Murray, 256.
-
-    March, Edward, Earl of, declared king by Great Council of Yorkists, 16.
-      (_See_ also Edward IV.)
-
-    Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI., queen's party, 4;
-      machinations against York, 8;
-      flees with son to Scotland, 13;
-      gains victory at Wakefield, 15;
-      struggle with Edward IV., 17;
-      her efforts to regain the throne, 19;
-      sails for England, 20;
-      defeat at Hexham, 21;
-      flees to Scotland with Prince Edward, 22;
-      reconciliation with Warwick, 29;
-      Battle of Tewkesbury ransomed by Louis, retires to Castle of
-        Recule, 36.
-
-    "Martin Marprelate," 325.
-
-    Mary, Princess, treatment by Warwick's party, interposition of
-        Charles V., 216;
-      claims the crown from the Privy Council, 221;
-      rising in her favour, 222;
-      Council in Northumberland's absence declares for Mary, 223.
-      (_See_ also Mary, Queen.)
-
-    Mary, Queen, triumphal entry into London, appeals to Charles V.
-        for guidance, 223;
-      her clemency, 224;
-      Papal See, 225;
-      restoration of Roman Church, 227;
-      persecution of the reformed clergy, 226;
-      opposition of Council and Protestant party, 227;
-      terms of marriage treaty, 228;
-      insurrections, 228;
-      Elizabeth, 234;
-      Mary's marriage with Philip, repeal of penal statutes against
-        Catholics, 235;
-      persecution of Protestants, 236;
-      false report of birth of a prince, 238;
-      Philip's departure, 241;
-      conspiracy to place Elizabeth on throne, 242;
-      conspiracy under Stafford, 243;
-      war against France, 243;
-      loss of Calais, 244;
-      death, character, 246.
-
-    Mary Queen of Scots, marries Dauphin, 250;
-      death of Francis II., 254;
-      returns to Scotland, person and character, 255;
-      marries Darnley, 262;
-      asserts her prerogative as queen, connection with Rizzio, 263;
-      birth of James, 266;
-      murder of Darnley, 269;
-      her unpopularity, 270;
-      seizure by Bothwell and marriage, insurrection of nobles, 271;
-      captured, 272;
-      imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, resigns throne in favour of
-        James, 273;
-      flight to England, 274;
-      conference at York, 275;
-      at Westminster, 276;
-      removed by Elizabeth from Scottish border, Act against her, 304;
-      Babington's plot, 306;
-      trial, 308;
-      hesitation of Elizabeth, 310;
-      execution, 311.
-
-    Mechlin, League of, 106.
-
-    Medina Sidonia, Duke of, commands Spanish Armada, 319.
-
-    Melville, Andrew, succeeds Knox, refuses to conform, committed to
-        Tower, dies in banishment at Sedan, 462.
-
-    Mercantile Marine, 16th century, 394.
-
-    Merchant Adventurers of London, The, 395.
-
-    Monteagle, Lord, 114.
-
-    Montrose, Marquis of, joins Leslie at Dunse Hill, 576;
-      won over to Royal party, 578;
-      arrested, 606.
-
-    More, Sir Thomas, Speaker House of Commons, 134;
-      question of Henry's divorce submitted to him, 147;
-      Lord Chancellor, 154;
-      beheaded, 163;
-      his "Utopia," 362.
-
-    Mortimer's Cross, Battle of, 16.
-
-    Morton, Archbishop, 78.
-
-    Morton, Regent of Scotland, ordered to resign, regains power, 299;
-      charged with murder of Darnley, intercession of Elizabeth, 300;
-      trial and execution, 301.
-
-    Mountjoy, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, 338.
-
-    Murray, Earl of, threatened forfeiture, 263;
-      Bothwell, 267;
-      retires to France, 270;
-      Regent, 273;
-      Commission of Inquiry on Mary Stuart, 275;
-      entrapped by Cecil, 277;
-      party to scheme for marriage of Mary Stuart with Duke of
-        Norfolk, 280;
-      betrays Maitland, 281;
-      negotiations with Elizabeth for surrender of Mary, 283;
-      assassinated, 284.
-
-    Music of the 16th century, 378.
-
-    "My Lord of Misrule," Stubbs quoted, 399.
-
-
-    Nantes, Edict of, 331.
-
-    Navy office, founded by Henry VIII., 394.
-
-    Navy, The Royal, 16th century, 393.
-
-    Netherlands, Protestant revolt, 279;
-      Elizabeth's aid to, 292.
-
-    Nonconformists, The, 356.
-
-    Norfolk, Duke of, president of the council, 154;
-      condemned for treason, 203;
-      miraculous escape, 204.
-
-    Norfolk, Duke of, a commissioner to try Mary Stuart, 275;
-      secret design to marry Mary, 276;
-      hostility to Cecil, 278;
-      displeasure of Elizabeth, 280;
-      tried for treason, 288;
-      executed, 289.
-
-    Northampton, Battle of, 13.
-
-    Northumberland, Duke of, Dudley, disgraceful peace with France, 216;
-      avarice, 219;
-      scheme for changing the succession, 220;
-      insurrection in favour of Mary, 222;
-      trial with chief associates on the council, beheaded, 224.
-      (_See_ also Warwick, Dudley, Earl of.)
-
-    "Novum Organum," The, 378.
-
-    Noye, Attorney General, proposes ship-money, 557;
-      death, 558.
-
-
-    O'Neill, created Earl of Tyrone, 189.
-
-    Overbury, Sir Thomas, connection and influence with Carr, 448;
-      committed to Tower, 449;
-      death, 451.
-
-
-    Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, 248.
-
-    Parma, Prince of, opposes army under Leicester, 306;
-      private mission from Elizabeth, 313;
-      preparations to invade England, 315.
-
-    Parr, Catherine, wife of Henry VIII., her Protestant sympathies, 195;
-      her narrow escape, 202;
-      marries privately Baron Seymour, 208;
-      death, 209.
-
-    Pavia, Battle of, 140.
-
-    Petition of Right, 531, 534.
-
-    Philip of Spain, marries Mary, his unpopularity, 235;
-      Act constituting him Regent, 236;
-      succeeds Charles V., 241;
-      quits England, revisits it to urge war against France, 242;
-      incursions of English ships on Spanish Main, 313;
-      makes preparation to invade England, 313;
-      dispersion of his Armada, 323;
-      death, 332.
-
-    Pilgrimage of Grace, The, 171.
-
-    Poets, Tudor Period, 366.
-
-    Pinkie, Battle of, 206.
-
-    Plagues in London, 96, 259, 406.
-
-    Pole, Cardinal, 175;
-      Papal legate to Queen Mary, 225;
-      addresses Parliament and grants Papal absolution, 235;
-      endeavours to check persecutions, 238;
-      Primate, 240;
-      opposes war with France, 242.
-
-    Poor Law Act, 43, 403.
-
-    Presbyterians, persecution of, 279;
-      conference with, 414;
-      their resistance, 419;
-      James I. and, 460.
-
-    Printing, Origin and progress of, 65.
-
-    Prose Writers, Elizabethan, 362.
-
-    Prynne, William, barrister, writes "Histriomastix," indicted
-        by Laud, cruel sentence on, 554;
-      publishes "News from Ipswich," increased severity of sentence,
-        popular demonstrations of sympathy, 555;
-      awarded compensation by Long Parliament, 591.
-
-    Puritans, The, 355.
-
-    Pym, John, speech at opening of Short Parliament, 582;
-      opens case against Strafford, 596.
-
-
-    Raleigh, Sir Walter, serves in Grey's army, 296;
-      Armada, 316;
-      sails under Lord Howard in Spanish expedition, quarrel
-        with Essex, 330;
-      monopolies, 338;
-      Cecil's animosity, the "Bye" conspiracy, 409;
-      trial, committed to Tower, 411;
-      life in Tower, writes "History of the World," 471;
-      voyages, 474;
-      return and arrest, 475;
-      Gondamar, 476;
-      attempted escape, betrayed by Stukeley, trial, executed on old
-        charge of treason, 478.
-
-    Reformation in England, events in, 163, 174,
-     186, 207, 215, 236, 247, 356.
-
-    Reformation in Scotland, 356.
-
-    "Requests," The, 2.
-
-    Reynolds, Dr., Puritan delegate at Hampton
-      Court. Conference, 414.
-
-    Richard III., coronation repeated at York, 53;
-      murder of princes in the Tower, 54;
-      counter movement to Richmond's plot, 56;
-      proclaims Duke of Buckingham and others, 56;
-      Parliament proclaims him king and entails Crown on issue;
-      wholesale attainders, 58;
-      designs on Queen Dowager, 59;
-      armistice with Scottish king, 60;
-      death of Anne of Warwick, proposes to marry Elizabeth of York,
-        public execration, 60;
-      defection of adherents, 62;
-      battle of Bosworth, and death, 63;
-      buried at Grey Friars Church, 64.
-      (_See_ also Gloucester.)
-
-    Richmond, Earl of, at court of Duke of Brittany, 53;
-      risings in his favour, 57;
-      descent, 58;
-      raises army in France, 60;
-      lands at Milford Haven, 62;
-      conquers at Bosworth, 63;
-      enters Leicester in state as Henry VII.
-      (_See_ Henry VII.)
-
-    Ridolfi Plot, The, 287.
-
-    Ridley, Bishop of London, 216;
-      sent to Tower, 227;
-      tried at Oxford and burnt, 238.
-
-    Rivers, Lord, rival to Clarence for Mary of Burgundy, 41;
-      welcomes Gloucester at Northampton, 47;
-      executed at Pontefract Castle, 50;
-      patron of learning, 66.
-
-    Rizzio, 263;
-      his murder, 264.
-
-    Robsart, Amy, 259.
-
-    Rochester, Viscount, further honours, Lord Chamberlain, 449;
-      marriage with divorced wife of Essex, 451.
-      (_See_ also Somerset, Earl of.)
-
-    Rogers, John, Prebendary of St. Paul's, burnt at Smithfield, 236.
-
-    "Root and Branch" Petition, 594.
-
-    Roses, War of, origin of rival badges, 18.
-
-    Russell, Sir John, first historical notice of the Russells, 137;
-      created Lord Russell, Duke of Bedford, 173.
-
-
-    Scotland, Berwick ceded, 19;
-      attacked by Edward IV., 44;
-      Warbeck at court, 88;
-      war with England, 89;
-      invasion by Henry VII., 90;
-      inroads on England, 91;
-      faction rule, 119;
-      Albany and Henry VIII., 131;
-      Papist party, 189;
-      war with England, 206;
-      first covenant, 251;
-      treaty with England, 254;
-      Mary's reign, 299;
-      James VI. and Presbyterians, 460;
-      introduction of Episcopacy, 565;
-      the Tables, 566;
-      civil war, 574;
-      march into England, 587;
-      Charles in Edinburgh, 607.
-
-    Scottish poets, 16th century, 375.
-
-    Scottish coins, 393.
-
-    Selden, Sir John, 488;
-      opposes Arminian doctrine, 538;
-      imprisoned, 542.
-
-    Seton, Lord, 192.
-
-    Seymour, Edward, created Lord Beauchamp, and Earl of Hertford, 173.
-
-    Seymour, Jane, 164;
-      marries Henry VIII., 169;
-      birth of son, and death, 172.
-
-    Seymour, Sir Thomas, created Baron Seymour of Sudeley and Lord High
-        Admiral, 205;
-      private marriage with Queen Dowager, 208;
-      seeks hand of Elizabeth, 209;
-      attainted and executed, 210.
-
-    Shakespeare, 358;
-      his works, 373-4.
-
-    Ship money, 557;
-      protests against writs, sanction of judges, 558;
-      Richard Chambers and John Hampden resist payment, 558;
-      Hampden's case tried in Court of Exchequer, 559;
-      judgment against him, 560.
-
-    Ships, 15th century, 75;
-      16th century, 393.
-
-    Short Parliament, The, its members, numerous petitions, speech of
-        Pym, Star Chamber and Queen's Bench, 583;
-      conflict with Charles over supply, 584.
-
-    Sidney, Sir Philip, falls at Zutphen, 306;
-      "Arcadia," 364.
-
-    Simnel, Lambert, 79.
-
-    Six Articles, The statute of, 175.
-
-    Solemn League and Covenant, 567.
-
-    Solway Moss, Battle of, 191.
-
-    Somerset, Duke of, 5;
-      attainted by Commons, challenge to York, 6;
-      committed by Parliament to Tower, reinstated, 7;
-      joins Queen Margaret at York, commands at Wakefield, 15;
-      at Towton, 18;
-      attainted second time, unsuccessful embassage for Margaret
-        to Louis XI., 19;
-      death, 22.
-
-    Somerset, Duke of, lack of statesmanship, reform in the Church,
-        ecclesiastical commission, the "Royal injunctions," 207;
-      his avarice, Somerset House, defection of council, 214;
-      disgrace, 215;
-      trial and execution, 218.
-
-    Somerset, Earl of, 451;
-      changed manner, supplanted by Villiers, 454;
-      charge of poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury, 455;
-      condemned, pardoned by king, 548.
-      (_See_ also Rochester.)
-
-    Spain, treaty with England, 106;
-      hostilities against England, 315;
-      capture of Cadiz, 329;
-      descent on Ireland, 338;
-      intrigues against England, 407;
-      Spanish match, 490;
-      treaty with Charles I., 557.
-
-    Spenser, Edmund, poet, serves in army of Lord Grey, 296;
-      receives forfeited Irish estate, 297;
-      "Faerie Queen," 371.
-
-    "Sports, Book of," The, 464.
-
-    Spurs, Battle of, 110.
-
-    St. Albans, Battle of, 8;
-      second battle, 16.
-
-    Stanley, Lord, 49;
-      imprisoned in Tower by Gloucester, 50;
-      constable of England, 52;
-      secret treaty with Elizabeth of York, deserts Richard at
-        Bosworth, 63;
-      places crown on Henry's head, 64.
-
-    Star Chamber, the, Origin of, 82;
-      why named, 346;
-      abuse of, 453;
-      abolition of, 606.
-
-    St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, 289.
-
-    St. Quentin, Battle of, 243.
-
-    Strafford, Earl of, public indignation against, 586;
-      Lieutenant General of the army, 592;
-      impeachment, 593;
-      trial, 595;
-      reply to indictment, 597;
-      letter to king, 604;
-      execution, 606.
-      (_See_ also Wentworth.)
-
-    Stuart, Lady Arabella, history, marriage with Seymour, 442;
-      Seymour sent to Tower, stolen interviews, flight and capture,
-        lodged in Tower, 443;
-      insanity, death, 444.
-
-    Stuart, Lord James, half-brother to Mary Queen of Scots, Prior of
-        St. Andrews, his treachery, 254;
-      chief minister, 255.
-      (_See_ Mar, Earl of.)
-
-    Suffolk, Charles Brandon, Duke of, 114;
-      marries Mary, widow of Louis of France, 116;
-      commands English troops, 137;
-      Lord Marshal, 154;
-      sent to suppress Catholic insurrections, 170;
-      receives Catherine Howard's confession, 185.
-
-    Suffolk, Duke of, father of Lady Jane Grey, 222;
-      his rebellion, 228;
-      beheaded, 231.
-
-    Sully, Duke of, Envoy Extraordinary to James I., bribes courtiers
-        and makes treaty with James, 407.
-
-    Sunday Sports, Petition of magistrates against, declaration of
-        Charles, 553.
-
-    Supremacy, Act of, 248.
-
-
-    Tewkesbury, Battle of, 35.
-
-    Thirty Years War, 479.
-
-    Throgmorton, Sir Nicholas, tried for treason and acquitted, 232.
-
-    Throgmorton, Thomas, plots against queen, hanged, 303.
-
-    Towton, Battle of, 18.
-
-    Trinity House, Corporation of, 394.
-
-    Tudor, Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, 16.
-
-    Tudor, Owen, ancestor of Tudor line, beheaded at Hereford, 16.
-
-    Tyrone, Hugh, Earl of, rebellion of, 333.
-
-
-    Uniformity, Act of, 248.
-
-    Uses, Statute of, 347.
-
-    Usury, Laws against, 395.
-
-
-    Vane, Sir Henry, sent by Charles to Commons, 584;
-      at Strafford's trial, 598.
-
-    Vauclerc, Lieutenant of Calais, 28.
-
-    Verulam, Baron, 470;
-      trial of Raleigh, 477;
-      Viscount St. Albans, his genius, impeachment, 483;
-      retires to Gorhambury, 484;
-      death, 485.
-      (_See_ also Bacon, Sir Francis.)
-
-    Villiers, George, 454.
-      (_See_ also Buckingham, Duke of.)
-
-
-    Wakefield, Battle of, 15.
-
-    Wales incorporated with England, 187.
-
-    Warbeck, Perkin, origin, 85;
-      adventures in France, Ireland, and Burgundy, 86;
-      in Scotland, marries Lady Gordon, 88;
-      lands at Cork, 91;
-      in Cornwall, 92;
-      defeated, takes sanctuary in monastery of Beaulieu, at the
-        Royal Court, 94;
-      escapes to Sheen Priory, placed in stocks in London, and
-        imprisoned in Tower, 94;
-      plots with Warwick, hanged at Tyburn, 95.
-
-    Warwick, Earl of, battle of St. Albans, 7;
-      Governor of Calais, 8;
-      retires to Calais, 9;
-      attacks fleet of Luebeck merchantmen in Channel, 10;
-      Attainted, 11;
-      lands in Kent with Cospini the Pope's legate, Northampton, 12;
-      defeated at St. Albans, 16;
-      at Ferrybridge, and Towton, commands the North, 18;
-      Ambassador at the Scottish Court, 19;
-      Ambassador to France for Bona of Savoy, 23;
-      his chagrin at marriage of Edward to Elizabeth Woodville, 23;
-      visits France to negotiate marriage of Margaret the king's sister
-        with son of Louis XI. of France, 24;
-      indignation at rejection of the proposed alliance, accused of
-        secret partisanship with Lancastrians, restored to royal
-        favour, 25;
-      retires to Calais, 26;
-      takes the king prisoner at Olney, defeats Lancastrian insurgents
-        under Sir Humphrey Neville, 27;
-      meets Edward at the Moor, flees to Calais after failure of
-        insurrection of Sir Robert Wells, 28;
-      received by Louis XI., alliance with the Lancastrian party and
-        Queen Margaret, 29;
-      Anne, his daughter, married to the Prince of Wales, 30;
-      proclaims Henry king, 30;
-      summons Parliament, 31;
-      battle of Barnet and death, 34.
-
-    Warwick, son of Duke of Clarence, heir apparent of York, imprisoned
-        in the Tower, 76;
-      exhibited to the people as the real earl by Henry VII., plot with
-        Warbeck, 95;
-      tried and beheaded, 96.
-
-    Warwick, Dudley, Earl of, rivalry with Somerset, 214;
-      ungenerous conduct of party to Princess Mary, 216;
-      warden of the Scottish Marches, 216.
-
-    Wentworth, arbitrary action in Ireland, 554;
-      Lord President of the North, 560;
-      dishonourable treatment of Irish Parliament and Convocation, 562;
-      inquiry into Irish titles, 563;
-      Mountnorris, 565;
-      recalled from Ireland to advise Charles, 581;
-      returns as Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant, 582.
-      (_See_ also Strafford, Earl of.)
-
-    William the Silent, assassination of, 294.
-
-    Williams, Bishop, Lord Chancellor, 486.
-
-    Wishart, George, Scottish Reformer, 198;
-      burnt, 199.
-
-    Wolsey, Cardinal, receives bishopric of Tournay, 110;
-      Bishop of Lincoln, 114;
-      origin and rise, 116;
-      Archbishop of York, 117;
-      Cardinal, Papal Legate, and Chancellor, favours learning and the
-        arts, 118;
-      conduct of foreign affairs, 122;
-      power and magnificence, 126;
-      conference with the emperor, 127;
-      candidature for the Papacy, 128;
-      forced loans for king, 130;
-      disappointed of Popedom a second time, legatine and increased
-        powers granted for life by Clement VII., suppresses
-        monasteries, 138;
-      unpopularity, 142;
-      treaty with French envoys, 143;
-      seeks to dissuade Henry from marriage with Anne Boleyn, 147;
-      joined in Commission with Papal legate to try divorce, 148;
-      fall of, 153;
-      death, 154.
-
-    Woodvilles, The, their unpopularity, and aggrandisement of the
-        family, 24;
-      their influence, 46.
-
-    Wyatt, Sir Thomas, revolt under, 229.
-
-
-    York, Battle of, 26.
-
-    York, Archbishop of, Edward Neville, peacemaker between Woodvilles
-        and Nevilles, 25;
-      invites king to the Moor to meet Warwick and Duke of Clarence, 28;
-      confirmed in Chancellorship by Warwick, 31.
-
-    York, Richard, Duke of, lineal descent, 4;
-      in Ireland, 5;
-      proposed as successor to Crown, Protector, rupture with king,
-        battle of St. Albans, 7;
-      Protector again, resigns, 8;
-      Council of Coventry, 9;
-      Conference in London, 10;
-      attainted, 11;
-      claims the Crown at Westminster, 14;
-      slain at Wakefield, 15.
-
-
-    Zutphen, Battle of, 306.
-
-
-PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.
-
-
-
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-    +----------------------------------------------------------+
-    |                Transcriber's note:                        |
-    |                                                          |
-    | P.12. 'perferment' changed to 'preferment'.              |
-    | P.44. 'peithet' changed to 'epeithet'.                   |
-    | P.295. 'Campion' changed to 'Campian'.                   |
-    | P.326. 'slily' changed to 'slyly'.                       |
-    | P.342. 'Bastile' changed to 'Bastille'.                  |
-    | P.348. 'Arragon' changed to 'Aragon'.                    |
-    | P.417. 'eing' changed to 'being'.                        |
-    | P.490. 'negociations' changed to 'negotiations'.         |
-    | P.549. 'nothi' changed to 'nothing'.                     |
-    | P.611. 'Campion' changed to 'Campian'.                   |
-    | P.612. 'bishopric o' changed to 'bishopric of'.          |
-    | Corrected various punctuation errors.                    |
-    +----------------------------------------------------------+
-
-
-
-***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CASSELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, VOL.
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