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+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #54287 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54287)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The life and times of George Villiers, duke
-of Buckingham, Volume 2 (of 3), by Katherine Thomson
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: The life and times of George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, Volume 2 (of 3)
- From original and authentic sources
-
-Author: Katherine Thomson
-
-Release Date: March 6, 2017 [EBook #54287]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS, VOL 2 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by KD Weeks, MWS, Bryan Ness and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive)
-
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-
- Transcriber’s Note:
-
-This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
-Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as ‘_italic_’.
-
-The footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are
-referenced.
-
-Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
-see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding
-the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.
-
- THE LIFE AND TIMES
- OF
- GEORGE VILLIERS
- DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
-
-
- FROM ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES.
-
-
- BY MRS. THOMSON,
- AUTHOR OF
- “MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH,”
- “LIFE OF SIR WALTER RALEGH,”
- “MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH,”
- &c., &c.
-
-
-
-
- IN THREE VOLUMES.
-
- VOL. II.
-
- LONDON:
- HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
- SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN,
- 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
-
- 1860.
-
- _The right of Translation is reserved._
-
-
-
-
- LONDON:
- PRINTED BY R. BORN, GLOUCESTER STREET,
- REGENT’S PARK.
-
-
-
-
- CONTENTS OF VOL II.
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
- Anxiety felt in England about the Spanish Treaty--Charles I.
- the first Male Heir for whom a Treaty of Marriage had been
- set on foot since Henry VIII.--Qualities of the
- Infanta--Called the Rare Infanta--Charles’s Personal
- Excellence and Elegance--Alliance received with Interest
- as Concerning the Palatinate--Question of the
- Dispensation--The Obstacles--Difficulty in fitting out a
- Fleet to bring the Prince back--James’s
- Apprehensions--Letter from Lord Kensington--Preparations
- at Southampton for the Reception of the Prince and
- Infanta--Attempts made in Spain to Convert Charles--His
- Firmness, and that of the Duke--Buckingham’s Impatience to
- return to England--Letters of Endymion Porter from
- Spain--The Romantic Adventure of Prince Charles in a
- Garden--His Short Interview with the Infanta accompanied
- by Endymion Porter--Hopes of the Treaty being
- fulfilled--The Betrothal fixed for St. James’s Day, but
- not accomplished--The Fool Archy’s Speech--Buckingham’s
- Pecuniary Difficulties--His
- Boldness--Unpopularity--Insanity of his Brother, Lord
- Purbeck--Amiable Conduct of the Duchess of
- Buckingham--Grand Entertainment given at Madrid--The Fuego
- de Cannas--Quarrels between Buckingham and
- Olivares--Bristol’s Despatches Unfavourable to the
- Prince--Preparations for the Prince’s Departure--The
- Infanta’s Marriage Deferred--Original Letter from
- Bristol--Leave-Taking at the Escurial--The Prince reaches
- Segovia--Valladolid--St. Andero--Perils in Returning from
- the Fleet to the Shore--Voyage Home--Touches at the Scilly
- Isles--Arrives at Portsmouth--At York House--At
- Royston--Public Rejoicings--Charles termed "England’s Joy" 1
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
- Indisposition of the Duchess of Buckingham--The King’s
- Regard for her and her Child--Archbishop Laud’s Encomium
- on her Character--Queen Anne’s Chain presented to the
- Duchess of Lennox--Effrontery of the Countess of
- Buckingham--The Duke’s Deportment on his Return from
- Spain--More dignities conferred upon him--King James and
- the Clergy--The Royal Instructions for the Performance of
- Divine Service in Spain--Public Prejudice against the
- Spanish Match--The Wallingford House Cabal pronounce in
- Favour of a French Alliance--Popular Indignation against
- the Spanish Ambassador--Competition for Precedence between
- the Ambassadors of France and Spain--Character of the Lord
- Keeper Williams--His Opposition to the Proceedings of
- Buckingham--The Countess of Buckingham embraces the
- Catholic Faith--Controversy between the Dean of Carlisle
- and the Jesuit Fisher--Breach between Buckingham and
- Williams--The King manifests his Displeasure with
- Buckingham--The Spanish Court and the English
- Alliance--Conduct of the Infanta after the Departure of
- Charles--Preparations for the Marriage--A Commission
- appointed to inquire into the Conditions of the Spanish
- Treaty--The Lord Keeper in Favour with the
- King--Parliament counsels James to break the Treaty with
- Spain--Popular Rejoicings, and Disappointment of the
- Catholic Party--The Illness of Buckingham--Painful
- Illustration of the Bigoted Spirit of the Age--Inojosa
- accuses Buckingham of Treachery against the King--The
- Prophecy of Gamaliel Gruys--General Desire for War with
- Spain--Proposed Alliance of Prince Charles with Henrietta
- Maria of France--Restoration of Buckingham to the King’s
- Favour 55
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
- Decline of the King’s Health--Case of Lord
- Middlesex--Proceedings in both Houses--Sir Edward Coke’s
- Exaggeration--Buckingham’s Participation in the
- Affair--Middlesex steals away to Theobald’s, and is
- followed by Charles--Found Guilty--Confined--Buckingham’s
- Dangerous Illness--Arthur Brett--Death of the
- King--Ascribed to Buckingham 133
-
- CHAPTER IV.
- 1624-1625.
-
- The Remarks of Sir Henry Wotton upon Buckingham’s
- Uninterrupted Prosperity during the Reign of James--His
- Most Perilous Time yet to Come--The Character of Charles
- Difficult to Manage--His Affections Divided--Request of
- the Privy Council Regarding the Late King’s Funeral and
- the Young King’s Marriage--Good Taste displayed by Charles
- in his Conduct at the Funeral--The Influence of Buckingham
- still Paramount--Roger Coke’s Remark upon King James’s
- Regret on observing that his Son was overruled by the
- Duke--The Three Great Kingdoms of Europe at this Period
- ruled by Favourites--The Marriage of Charles and Henrietta
- Maria--Motive attributed to Buckingham--Preliminary
- Steps--Letter from Lord Kensington to the Duke of
- Buckingham detailing his Interview with the
- Queen-Mother--Description of the Young Princess--The Duke
- prepares for his Journey into France to fetch home the
- Bride--The Expense of his Mission objected to by the
- Nation--The Two Ambassadors Described--Rich--Lord
- Kensington, First Earl of Holland--His Beauty of Person,
- Address, and Early Favour at the Court of James--His
- resting solely upon Buckingham--His Marriage with the
- Daughter of Sir Walter Coke, the Owner of the Manor of
- Kensington--The Earl of Holland regarded by some as a
- Rival to Buckingham--James Relied more on the Earl of
- Carlisle--Character of the Two Noblemen by Bishop
- Hacket--Successful Interviews on the Part of Lord Holland
- with Mary de Medici--Her Disposition to favour Charles as
- a Suitor to her Daughter--Anecdote of Henrietta Maria and
- of Charles’s Portrait--Encomiums on Henrietta--The Duchess
- de Chevreuse--Her Influence over Anne of Austria--Her
- Splendour--Resentment of the Count de Soissons on Account
- of the Marriage Treaty with England--The Willingness
- evinced by Henrietta Maria to the Marriage--Lord
- Kensington’s Flattery of the Queen-Mother--Their
- Conversations on the Subject of the Spanish Match--The
- Marriage Finally Concluded--Charles’s Conduct to the
- Recusants regarded as a Proof of his Aversion to Catholic
- Hopes 161
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
- Buckingham’s Embassy to Paris--He despatches Balthazar
- Gerbier to select and purchase Pictures--Letter of the
- Painter to him--The Magnificence of the French
- Court--Buckingham’s Appearance at the Parisian Court--His
- Aspiring to the Favour of Anne of Austria--The Manner in
- which his Homage was received by Anne, as stated by Madame
- de Motteville--The Freedom of Manners, termed by Anne
- "L’Honnête Galanterie," permitted by the Queen--The
- Dazzling Appearance of Buckingham--Anecdote of the
- Jealousy of the French--Point of Etiquette between
- Buckingham and the Cardinal Richelieu--Buckingham attends
- Henrietta Maria to the Coast--Anne of Austria accompanies
- her Sister-in-law to Amiens--Incident there in which
- Buckingham betrayed his Mad Passion--He receives a Rebuff
- from the Queen--His Love-Suit not checked by her
- Reproof--He sheds Tears on parting from Anne--Journeys on
- to Boulogne and returns to Amiens--His Interview there
- with Anne--He then pursues his Journey to
- England--Letters, and Affecting Conduct of his Wife--The
- Meeting of Charles and Henrietta Maria--Buckingham retains
- his Influence over Charles I. 203
-
- CHAPTER VI.
-
- Unjust Appreciation of Buckingham’s Character--His Energy in
- respect to the Navy--Sir Walter Ralegh’s Works on Maritime
- Affairs--Prince Henry’s Predilection for them--His
- Miniature Ship--His Death--Lord Nottingham’s Neglect and
- Venality--His Powers--60,000_l._ yearly allotted for the
- Navy--Buckingham’s Efforts--Example set by
- Richelieu--Ignorance of Ship-Building in those
- Days--Buckingham draws up a Plan of Defence--Fear of the
- Spanish Armada--The Duke proposes to form a Company for
- the West as well as the East Indies--Plan of
- Taxation--Also of Defence on Shore 243
-
- CHAPTER VII.
-
- Unfortunate Result of the Principles early instilled into
- Charles I. by his Father--The Affair of the
- Palatinate--Its Connection with the Spanish Marriage--Mad
- Desire of Charles and Buckingham for a War with
- Spain--Letter from the Earl of Bristol--The First
- Unfortunate Expedition to Cadiz--Resentment of the
- People--Charles assembles a Parliament--The Supplies
- Refused--Impeachment of Bristol--Impeachment of
- Buckingham--His Thirteen Answers--Rash Conduct of the
- King--His Expression of Contempt for the House of
- Commons--Sir John Elliot and Sir Dudley Digges sent to the
- Tower--The Intolerant Spirit of the Day--Influence of
- Laud--Sermon of the Vicar of Brackley--"Tuning the
- Pulpits" 273
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
-ANXIETY FELT IN ENGLAND ABOUT THE SPANISH TREATY--CHARLES I. THE FIRST
- MALE HEIR FOR WHOM A TREATY OF MARRIAGE HAD BEEN SET ON FOOT SINCE
- HENRY VIII.--QUALITIES OF THE INFANTA--CALLED THE RARE
- INFANTA--CHARLES’S PERSONAL EXCELLENCE AND ELEGANCE--ALLIANCE
- RECEIVED WITH INTEREST AS CONCERNING THE PALATINATE--QUESTION OF THE
- DISPENSATION--THE OBSTACLES--DIFFICULTY IN FITTING OUT A FLEET TO
- BRING THE PRINCE BACK--JAMES’S APPREHENSIONS--LETTER FROM LORD
- KENSINGTON--PREPARATIONS AT SOUTHAMPTON FOR THE RECEPTION OF THE
- PRINCE AND INFANTA--ATTEMPTS MADE IN SPAIN TO CONVERT CHARLES--HIS
- FIRMNESS, AND THAT OF THE DUKE--BUCKINGHAM’S IMPATIENCE TO RETURN TO
- ENGLAND--LETTERS OF ENDYMION PORTER FROM SPAIN--THE ROMANTIC
- ADVENTURE OF PRINCE CHARLES IN A GARDEN--HIS SHORT INTERVIEW WITH
- THE INFANTA, ACCOMPANIED BY ENDYMION PORTER--HOPES OF THE TREATY
- BEING FULFILLED--THE BETROTHAL FIXED FOR ST. JAMES’S DAY, BUT NOT
- ACCOMPLISHED--THE FOOL ARCHY’S SPEECH--BUCKINGHAM’S PECUNIARY
- DIFFICULTIES--HIS BOLDNESS--UNPOPULARITY--INSANITY OF HIS BROTHER,
- LORD PURBECK--AMIABLE CONDUCT OF THE DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM--GRAND
- ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN AT MADRID--THE FUEGO DE CANNAS--QUARRELS BETWEEN
- BUCKINGHAM AND OLIVARES--BRISTOL’S DESPATCHES UNFAVOURABLE TO THE
- PRINCE--PREPARATIONS FOR THE PRINCE’S DEPARTURE--THE INFANTA’S
- MARRIAGE DEFERRED--ORIGINAL LETTER FROM BRISTOL--LEAVE-TAKING AT THE
- ESCURIAL--THE PRINCE REACHES SEGOVIA--VALLADOLID--ST. ANDERO--PERILS
- IN RETURNING FROM THE FLEET TO THE SHORE--VOYAGE HOME--TOUCHES AT
- THE SCILLY ISLES--ARRIVES AT PORTSMOUTH--AT YORK HOUSE--AT
- ROYSTON--PUBLIC REJOICINGS--CHARLES TERMED "ENGLAND’S JOY."
-
-
-
-
-
- LIFE AND TIMES OF
-
- GEORGE VILLIERS.
-
- ----------
-
-
-
-
- =CHAPTER I.=
-
-
-The English nation continued, during the spring and summer of the year
-1623, in anxious expectation of decisive news from Spain. Nothing could
-exceed the universal interest which this famous treaty of marriage
-between Charles and the Infanta inspired; nor had any subject so
-completely engrossed the public mind since the time of Henry the Eighth,
-when the ill-omened marriage of that prince with a daughter of Spain was
-first concerted. For England, be it observed, had known no male
-unmarried heir-apparent since that period, except the youthful and
-estimable Edward the Sixth, whose career was closed before he could be
-made the subject of political alliances.
-
-There were many who looked with sentiments which state matters did not
-influence upon the proposed marriage of two individuals whose rank was
-their least merit. According to report, the Infanta was possessed of
-qualities not inferior in excellence to those of Katherine of Arragon,
-whilst in other attributes she was infinitely more attractive than that
-ill-starred princess. Her beauty, her accomplishments, her piety, had
-acquired for her the appellation of the “Rare Infanta;” and hence she
-was esteemed to be a fitting consort for one whose elegance of mind,
-whose courtesy, and princely grace were transcended by the purity of his
-moral conduct, the firmness of his religious opinions, and the
-affectionate disposition of his heart.
-
-In his position as a private individual, Charles was pre-eminently
-amiable; and, at that period, the public could only judge of him as they
-would of any other irresponsible youth of great expectations. The vital
-faults of his heart, and the real weakness of his character, soft and
-infirm, yet incrusted with obstinacy and prejudice, were not only not
-apparent, but unsuspected.
-
-The majority of the nation, however, viewed the Spanish alliance with
-interest, chiefly as affecting the long agitated question of the
-Palatinate, which James pretended, and, perhaps, believed, it was
-destined to settle to the satisfaction of the people.
-
-It was therefore with something like consternation at first, although
-the event was afterwards hailed with joy, that the rupture of the treaty
-was seen afar off, by signs which appeared at first gradually, and
-afterwards plainly, upon the political horizon.
-
-The question of the dispensation was the first known impediment; and the
-news from Spain were inauspicious. To the surprise of everyone, almost
-the next letter from the Prince and Duke announced their intention to
-return home, even should the expected dispensation not arrive before
-they could sail; “wherefore,” they wrote, “it was fitting that no time
-nor charge should be spared” in sending out the fleet which was to
-convey them to England; and begged that it might “be well chosen,”
-because they thought that the King, Queen, and all the Court of Spain
-would see it.
-
-This letter was dated on the twenty-third of March, the anniversary of
-King James’s coronation.
-
-“My sweete boyes,” the King wrote, on the following day, “God bless you
-both, and reward you for the comfortable news I resaived from you
-yesterday[1] (quhiche was my coronation daye), in place of a tilting. My
-shippe is readdie to make saile, and onlie stayes for a faire winde; God
-send it her! But I have, for the honour of Englande, curtailed the
-traine that goes by sea of a number of raskalls.”[2]
-
-Footnote 1:
-
- Referring to a former letter, dated the 10th of March.
-
-Footnote 2:
-
- Nichols, vol. iv., p. 839.
-
-There was, meantime, much difficulty, from the inefficient state of the
-navy, in furnishing even a small fleet to fetch home the heir-apparent.
-Not only ships, but mariners, were wanting; the sailors had gone away,
-and hidden themselves. In vain were two proclamations issued to call
-them home; for proclamations and commissions had become so frequent that
-no one attended to their purport. At length, on the twenty-eighth of
-June, a small fleet of ten or twelve ships was equipped, and appeared in
-the Downs, ready to depart; but the expense of supporting them, which
-exceeded three hundred pounds a day, was loudly complained of by those
-at the head of affairs.
-
-The King, meantime, was harassed with debts, and disturbed by
-apprehensions. He begged “his babie” to be as sparing as possible, since
-his agents had great difficulty in raising the five thousand pounds
-required for his use. The Prince’s “tilting stuff” was to come to three
-thousand pounds more, and those employed to get that sum knew not how to
-procure it. “God knows,” wrote the King, “how my coffers are alreadie
-drained.” He could think of no remedy, he added, except to obtain in
-advance the payment of the hundred and fifty thousand pounds promised as
-the Infanta’s dower, which he thought “his sweete gossepe, that is now
-turned Spaniarde, with his golden keye,”[3] would be able to get, and
-then he should have a fine ship speedily to bring him home to his “deare
-dade.”
-
-The tender father was too full of fears lest his “babie” should be hurt
-in tilting. He also begged of his “sweete boyes to keep themselfs in use
-of dawincing privatlie, though they showlde quhaffsell and sing one to
-another, like Gakke (Jack) and Tom, for faulte of bettir musike.”
-
-Finally, James desired them, even should the dispensation not arrive, to
-press the Prince’s suit bravely, and to get him married without it,
-since numbers of "Catholic Romans and Protestants married in the worlde
-without the Pope’s dispensation," as he had been informed by the
-Austrian ambassador.
-
-Footnote 3:
-
- Referring to the key presented to the Duke by the King of Spain.
-
-Meantime, the university of Oxford was vying with the metropolis in
-demonstrations of joy for the Prince’s safe arrival in Spain. In the
-beautiful church of St. Mary’s, now chiefly appropriated to deep
-theological discourses, a sermon was preached in honour of that event,
-and an oration to the same effect delivered in the schools.[4] Yet, even
-now, the feeling of the country began to appear. It was rumoured, and
-only too truly, that things were not going well in Spain; whilst the
-enormous sums of money taken out of the treasury and regalia in jewels
-excited general indignation. As everything familiar, as well as
-important, became, in those times, the theme of preachers, even from
-pulpits, the draining of the kingdom of money was blamed. Dr. Everard,
-the rector of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, was committed for “saying too
-much;” and another preacher was, in the midst of his unpleasant
-strictures on the same subject, “sung down with a psalm before he had
-half done his sermon.”
-
-Footnote 4:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxi., No. 13.
-
-On the twenty-sixth of May, the Earl of Rutland, Buckingham’s
-father-in-law, received James’s private instructions to have the “ships
-sweet, and well provided with victuals, to chuse good captains, and to
-defer to the authority of Buckingham as Lord Admiral, should he come on
-board; to avoid quarrels, which the King thought very dangerous when
-persons were crowded together on shipboard;--in going, to make for the
-Groyne, in returning to land at in returning to land at Southampton,”[5]
-the high-ways of which were even then being repaired for the reception
-and convenience of the expected bride. Yet still the fleet was
-unaccountably detained in port, and nothing was really done.
-
-The Court, at this time, was gratified by a letter from Lady Kensington,
-commending the resistance of the Prince and Duke to proposals made by
-the Spanish Court, derogatory to them; and stating, after extravagant
-encomiums on the newly-made Duke, that Buckingham “shed tears” on
-account of his absence from the King.[6] Complaints, however, were made
-at home, not only of the export of so many valuables to Spain, but of
-the expense of supporting the table of the Spanish ambassador, who was
-treated here as a guest, during Charles’s sojourn in Spain. Eighty
-pounds a day was the charge to which the ambassador’s table at first
-amounted. His repasts were eventually cut down to thirty dishes--all
-that King James permitted himself to display on his own table--and the
-cost was thus reduced to twenty pounds daily.[7]
-
-Footnote 5:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxlvi., No. 23.
-
-Footnote 6:
-
- Ibid, No. 39.
-
-Footnote 7:
-
- Ibid, No. 49.
-
-Reports, indeed, came to console the anxious minds at home, stating that
-the Prince and Duke were “royally treated,” but it was soon surmised
-that Charles was becoming weary of his detention. June had arrived; the
-Duke of Richmond, and six other noblemen, as commissioners, had already
-gone to Southampton to prepare a reception, with pageants, for the
-Prince; yet still Lord Rochford, who was expected to arrive with news of
-the wedding-day being fixed, did not make his appearance.
-
-The Duke of Richmond was accompanied to Southampton by Inigo Jones and
-old Alleyn, the player, who were to employ their talents for the
-occasion; but who could, as the great news-teller writer of that period,
-Chamberlain, observes, “have done just as well without so many Privy
-Counsellors;” “but we must,” he adds, “shew our obsequiousness in all
-that concerns her” (the Infanta). At Gravesend, Lord Kelly, in the
-King’s barge, went to meet the new Spanish ambassador, the Marquis
-Inojosa, to whom cloths of estate, an honour never permitted to
-ambassadors in Queen Elizabeth’s time, were conceded, and when the
-haughty grandee landed at Dover, and was saluted with shot from the
-castle, he vouchsafed a nod from his coach, but, Spaniard-like, gave not
-one penny of money.[8]
-
-Footnote 8:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxlvii., No. 40.
-
-In spite of all the journeyings to and from Spain, nothing was done,
-whilst the Prince, whose firmness met with the highest commendations,
-was written to by the Pope, and “nibbed at with orations by the English
-seminaries in Spain, in order to effect his conversion.” The expenses at
-home and abroad could now only be supported by extraordinary devices,
-such as knighting a thousand gentlemen at a hundred pounds a-piece; ten
-or twelve serjeants-at-law at five hundred pounds a-piece; but the fees
-arising from the elevation of these luminaries were to be given to the
-Lord Keeper or to Sir Francis Crane, to further his tapestry works at
-Mortlake, or to pay off some scores owed him by Buckingham.[9]
-
-Footnote 9:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxlvii., No. 80.
-
-Whilst all these minor difficulties were harassing the King at home,
-Charles was beset with a far greater difficulty. When the Puritans were
-blaming him for answering in a polite and conciliatory tone the Pope’s
-letters, without the permission of his royal father, he was displaying
-the firmness which could only be the result of a careful and learned
-education; for faith in those times was, as in ours, feeble without
-sound knowledge; and it was requisite for him to repel zealous efforts
-to convert him at all convenient times. Between the dazzling scenes of
-splendid shows and diversions, made at such times and intervals of
-repose, Olivares was attacking the Prince with the argument best suited
-to the character of the romantic youth, telling him how sure a way to
-the Infanta’s heart his conversion would be; and by hinting that
-difference of creed could not but be a great obstacle to their union.
-And when answered that such an apostasy would raise a rebellion in
-Protestant England, the embarrassed but steadfast Prince was assured
-that if such were the case, he should have an army from Spain to quell
-such an insurrection. Even Lord Bristol, who was a great friend and
-favourite of Charles’s, “strove, with a gentle hand, to allure him that
-way,” by the specious argument that none but Roman Catholic monarchs had
-ever been great as sovereigns; whilst the Pope, encouraged by all this
-subtle working of a hidden machinery, wrote a letter to the Bishop of
-Conchen, Inquisitor-General of Spain, desiring him not to let such an
-opportunity of conversion slip out of his hands.[10]
-
-Footnote 10:
-
- Kennet’s History of England, vol. ii., p. 765.
-
-Buckingham did not, it appears, escape the zeal of the Jesuits, but
-acquitted himself, in reply to the energetic attacks upon his faith,
-with a prompt decision; and, as far as he was concerned, the attempt
-seems to have ceased, although he was afterwards incessantly reproached
-with a leaning to Romanism.
-
-Like others, Buckingham became, at length, weary of the subject of the
-Palatinate, and not only still more weary of his long residence in
-Spain, but anxious to leave the political management of the affairs to
-those who best understood those intricate matters.[11] To his
-precipitate conduct, and his impatience of delay, it was said the whole
-failure might be ascribed; and that, had it not been for his impetuous
-temper, Charles and the Infanta would have been married before the
-Christmas of 1623.
-
-Footnote 11:
-
- Letter from Madrid, August, 1623.
-
-Whilst all went smooth, or appeared to do so, with the treaty, the
-diplomatists were at variance among themselves.
-
-“When we were here in the heighth of discontents,” wrote Simon
-Digby,[12] “nothing so much spoken of as the Prince, his sudden
-departure, _reinfectâ_, all our wranglings and disputes were, when no
-man suspected and expected any such matter,[13] shut up like a comedy,
-and the match declared and published for concluded.”
-
-Footnote 12:
-
- A cousin of the Earl of Bristol’s.
-
-Footnote 13:
-
- Letter from Simon Digby. State Papers for 1623, July 25.
-
-At home, the Marquis Inojosa was making representations which he was
-ordered to lay before the King, through Don Carlos Colonna, complaining
-of the East India Company’s ships at the taking of Ormus. In the ship
-called the _London_, were, it was alleged, goods stolen from the King of
-Spain to the amount of five hundred thousand pounds. The very dishes
-used by the lowest men in that ship were of silver, taken from some of
-the very best families in Portugal, whom the English had plundered and
-slain, and had then stamped their plate with their own arms. Jewels of
-inestimable value had also been seized. It was therefore demanded that
-these ships should be put into sequestration. It is a curious proof how
-completely a feeling against the Spanish marriage had, by this time,
-possessed every class, that, upon the arrival of these vessels in port,
-the crews, hearing a report that the marriage with the Infanta was to be
-broken off, shot off their artillery, and threw their caps into the sea
-for joy.[14]
-
-Footnote 14:
-
- Letter from Madrid, State Papers, August 21, 1623.
-
-Whilst the wooer, as the Prince was still styled, was murmuring at
-delays and obstacles, others less lofty were sending complaints to
-England, coupled with assurances of conjugal fidelity, which were more
-suspicious than satisfactory. Amongst Buckingham’s most confidential
-servants was Endymion Porter, who generally acted as his interpreter.
-Porter, according to Arthur Wilson, "had been bred up in Spain when he
-was a boy, and had the language, but found no other fortune there than
-brought him to be Mr. Edward Villiers’s man in Fleet Street, before
-either his master or the Marquis was acceptable at Whitehall." “It is
-not intended,” adds the historian, "to vilify the persons, being men (in
-this world’s lottery) as capable of advancement as others; but to shew
-in how poor a bark the King ventured the right freight his son, having
-only the Marquis to steer his course."
-
-It was, indeed, remarkable that the agents most employed in the Duke’s
-service were men who had raised themselves from all but menial stations.
-Sir Robert Graham, whose name so often occurs in the correspondence of
-this period, was “an underling of low degree” in Buckingham’s stable.
-Cottington was originally a clerk to Sir Charles’s Cornwallis’s
-secretary, when Cornwallis was ambassador in Spain. The letters of
-Endymion Porter, also raised from mediocrity, are very characteristic of
-the confidential servant of a great man, who, like himself, was of easy
-principles. Among expressions of affection and grief for absence from
-his wife, Olive, and allusions to their little son George, are mingled a
-protestation that Endymion did not kiss the innkeeper’s daughter at
-Boulogne. “Alas! alas! sweet Olive!” thus he writes, "why should you go
-about to afflict me! Know that I live like a dying man, and as one that
-cannot live long without you. My eyes grow weary in looking upon
-anything, as wanting that rest they take in thy company and sight of
-thee.
-
-"We live very honest, and think of nothing but our wives. I thought to
-have sent you a token of some value, but find my purse and my goodwill
-could not agree, and considering that my letter would be welcome to you,
-I leave to do it only this ring, which I hope you will esteem, if it be
-not for love, I think for charity. The conceit is that it seems two as
-you turn it, and ’tis but one.
-
-“Sweet Olive! remember what it is to be sad, and forget not home. In our
-poverty, we will live as richly as they that have the greatest plenty,
-and bread with thy company shall please me better than the greatest
-dainties in the world without it.”[15]
-
-Footnote 15:
-
- State Papers, May 28, 1623.
-
-Olive Porter was, it seems, a humble relation of the Duchess of
-Buckingham, who addresses her as “Cousin,” and who appears, by
-Endymion’s letters, to have provided for Mistress Porter, since, in one
-of his singular epistles, after hoping that there may be nothing more
-said of any unkindness between them, Endymion sends his wife a jewel
-worth some hundred pounds, telling her that “she might pawn it if she
-had no more credit, but that Lady Buckingham had promised to supply her
-wants.” Certain conduct of Mrs. Porter’s prompts jealousy, and Endymion
-hints that, in his absence, “his wife has been merry with other young
-men,” a charge which not even the most scandalous could adduce against
-the pensive and irreproachable Duchess of Buckingham.
-
-It was the lot of Endymion Porter to accompany Prince Charles on a very
-interesting occasion; in the month of July, whilst the dispensation was
-daily expected, Charles grew weary of the uniform Court gaieties, during
-which he saw nothing but the Infanta, on whom his eyes were incessantly
-fastened, as the inquisitive courtiers remarked.
-
-“I have seen,” James Howell wrote from Madrid to Captain Porter, the
-brother of Endymion, “the Prince have his eyes immovably fixed upon the
-Infanta half an hour together, in a thoughtful, speculative posture,
-which sure would needs be tedious, if affection did not succeed it.”
-Lord Bristol, not very elegantly, remarked that Charles “watched her as
-a cat does a mouse.” Still the royal pair were not allowed to be on the
-terms of lovers; and the possibility, even at this last stage, of the
-treaty never being concluded, kept these young persons apart. Nothing
-could exceed the magnificence and courtly hospitality continually shown
-to the “wooer;” everything was done to satisfy the Prince and his suite.
-Nevertheless, whilst King Philip’s own servants waited upon the royal
-guest at the palace, there were some among the English “who did jeer at
-the Spanish fare, and use other slighting speeches and demeanour,”
-which, of course, were reported, and occasioned ill will. Once a week
-comedians came to the palace where the Prince was lodged, and Charles,
-seated, with Don Carlos, on the right hand of the Queen, the Infanta
-being in the middle, between her brother and his consort, taking the
-chief place as Prince of England, feasted his eyes upon that fair but
-soon forgotten face. The youthful King Philip was then under twenty, and
-his brother, Don Fernando, a boy of twelve, nevertheless Archbishop of
-Toledo and a Cardinal, was of all this royal family the only one who had
-the true Spanish complexion; and seems to have been, on that account,
-more beloved by the people, who were often heard to sigh and say:--"Oh,
-when shall we have a king again of our own colour?"
-
-Marked out thus for popularity by the true Spanish type, Don Carlos was
-endowed with no office, dignity, nor title; he was only the King’s
-“individual companion, dressed in similar garments, from top to toe,”
-with the King, and when the King had new robes, others were always
-provided for him; he was, in short, His Spanish Majesty’s shadow.[16]
-
-Footnote 16:
-
- Epistolæ Hoelianæ.
-
-Thus fenced round with guardians and etiquette, the Infanta could only
-publicly converse with Charles, and that through an interpreter, the
-Earl of Bristol, “Our cousin, Archy” (King James’s fool) “hath,” says
-the writer in Howell’s letters, “more privilege than any, for he goes
-with his fool’s coat where the Infanta is with her meninas and maidens
-of honour, and keeps a blowing and a blustering, and flirts out what he
-lists. One day they were discoursing what a marvellous thing it was that
-the Duke of Bavaria, with less than 15,000 men, after a long toylsome
-march, should dare to encounter the Palsgower’s army, consisting of
-about 25,000, and give them an utter discomfiture, and take Prague
-presently after; wherefore he archly answered, that he would tell them a
-stranger thing than that. ‘Was it not a stranger thing,’ quoth he, ‘that
-in the year eighty-eight, there should come a fleet of one hundred and
-forty sails from Spain to invade England, and that ten of these should
-not go back to tell what became of the rest.’”[17]
-
-Footnote 17:
-
- Epistolæ Hoelianæ.
-
-At last Charles was resolved to gain a private interview with her whom
-he supposed to be his destined wife. Understanding that the Infanta was
-in the habit of going early in the morning to the Caso del Campo, on the
-other side of the river, to gather May-dew, he rose early, and went
-thither, accompanied by Endymion Porter. “They were,” says Howell, “let
-into the house, and into the garden, but the Infanta was in the orchard,
-and there being a high partition wall between, and the door doubly
-bolted, the Prince got on the top of the wall, and sprung down a great
-height, and so made towards her; but she, spying him first of all the
-rest, gave a shriek, and ran back. The old Marquis that was then her
-guardian, came towards the Prince and fell on his knees, conjuring him
-to retire, in regard he hazarded his head if he admitted him to her
-company; so the door was opened, and he came out under that wall under
-which he had got in.”
-
-Often did the Prince watch “a long hour together,” in a close coach in
-an open street, to see the Infanta, as she went abroad; and this conduct
-appears to have been either the curiosity felt by a young man who
-earnestly desires to love the individual chosen to be his wife, or a
-gallantry natural to the age, and then the fashion in both nations, for
-Charles soon either forgot the Infanta, or became indifferent to the
-marriage. His affections were destined to rest ultimately upon one of a
-very different character, as far as we can gather from the perhaps too
-flattering accounts given by historians of the Infanta, to that of the
-Spanish Princess.
-
-Still, both the Prince and Buckingham sent encouraging accounts of the
-progress of the treaty, and even inspired the poor King with a hope that
-they should bring the Infanta over to England at Michaelmas. This was
-almost the last letter in which such expectations were held out: it was
-dated on the fifteenth of July. On that very day, the Archbishop Laud
-stated in his diary of a violent and destructive tempest, which many,
-says Camden, “took occasion to interpret as an ill-omen, but God
-forbid.” It was a “very fair day,” the Archbishop records, "till towards
-five at night; then great extremity of thunder and lightning, and much
-hurt done; the lanthorn at St. James’s House blasted, the vane heading
-the Prince’s arms beaten to pieces."
-
-The Prince was then in Spain. It was Tuesday, and St. James’s day
-(N.S.)[18]
-
-Footnote 18:
-
- Nichols, vol. iii., p. 227.
-
-It appears, however, from Mr. Chamberlain’s letters,[19] that although
-“Spanish tidings” were kept “very close,” the Prince had even then
-written to the Duke of Richmond to procure him the King’s permission to
-return home, as he was anxious to leave Spain.[20] About the same time a
-letter from Endymion Porter, dated July twelfth, to his wife Olive,
-intimated that the Prince was to be contracted in three weeks, but the
-Infanta, than whom, he added, there never was a better creature, was to
-follow in the following March.[21]
-
-Footnote 19:
-
- Dated July 12.
-
-Footnote 20:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxlviii., No. 12.
-
-Footnote 21:
-
- Ibid, No. 125.
-
-Meantime the articles of agreement for the marriage were read publicly
-by Secretary Calvert at Court, when the King of Spain swore to observe
-them. The Infanta was to have an Archbishop and twenty-four priests in
-her suite, and a chapel for her Spanish household, but no English were
-to attend it. She was to be allowed the training of her children only
-until they were ten years old. The Prince and Infanta were to sign the
-contract of marriage on St. James’s day; that day which Laud had noted
-in his Diary as one of storms and destruction.[22] At the same time that
-a Romanist Archbishop and twenty-four priests were to be admitted into
-the very heart of the Court, three Jesuits were imprisoned at Dover for
-bringing over pictures and books; a subject of the British crown was
-prosecuted in the Ecclesiastical court for not standing up at the creed,
-or kneeling down at the Lord’s Prayer, in church; and a poor woman,
-passing over from Calais, was brought up before the Commissioners of
-Passage for having beads, which, she said, were bought to make
-bracelets, and Popish books in her possession,[23] which, she asserted,
-were for the use of the Spanish ambassador.
-
-Footnote 22:
-
- Ibid, vol. clix., No. 80.
-
-Footnote 23:
-
- State Papers, vol. xlix., Nos. 20 and 22.
-
-When the articles of the Spanish match were read at the English Court,
-then at Theobald’s, it was the Scottish lords who “stuck most” on points
-of religion, but they were silenced by being told that there "must be no
-disputing, the Prince being in the hands of the Spaniards, and the
-restoration of the King’s children to be effected either by them or by a
-war which would set all Christendom by the ears." Then the articles were
-sworn to. The Archbishop of Spalato’s Jesuit confessor put on his hat
-whilst the prayer for King James was being read. There was afterwards a
-“gay and plentiful banquet;” but the Court had become very “rude,” as
-Secretary Conway wrote to Sir George Goring, “for want of its ornaments,
-which are in Spain; and but for the Earl of Carlisle, wearing of ruffs
-and gartering of silk stockings would be forgotten.”
-
-King James now began to be painfully eager for the fleet, which was to
-fetch back his son and the Duke, to sail. “No impediment in the power of
-man,” he decreed, should detain it. Every letter written by his
-Secretaries of State to Lord Middlesex was to end with, “His Majesty
-cries, haste away the ships, as you tender the life of himself and his
-son.” Good tidings still arrived from Madrid; more liberty of
-communication between the Prince and the Infanta was allowed; but the
-contract, fixed for St. James’s Day, was not fulfilled, and the ill-omen
-was, in the minds of the superstitious, confirmed.[24]
-
-Footnote 24:
-
- State Papers, vol. xlix., No. 69.
-
-Meantime, whilst such was the state of things at the Spanish Court,
-their ambassadors here were in vain endeavouring to obtain indulgence
-for recusants. Whilst these conflicting interests were thus impeding a
-speedy settlement of the Spanish match, Buckingham had other reasons,
-besides weariness of foreign life, to induce him to wish to return home.
-His affairs were greatly involved, and he found it, indeed, necessary,
-at this time, to employ several of his friends, among whom was Sir John
-Suckling, to examine into them. Their answers were far from
-satisfactory. His revenue, they stated in reply, from land, offices,
-&c., was 15,213_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ a year. His expenditure was 14,700_l._
-Out of this, 3,000_l._ was allowed to the Duchess for housekeeping,
-2,000_l._ was allowed to his mother, the Countess of Buckingham; the
-costly diversion of tilting cost 1,000_l._ a year, about as much as a
-yacht in modern times. Then his friends gave him no very pleasant
-intelligence about his debts; they had amounted, when the Duke went to
-Spain, to 24,000_l._, and were now increased by 29,400_l._--money having
-been advanced to him whilst shining at the Court of Madrid. His friends
-had cleared off 17,300_l._ by selling land, and were to apply 2,500_l._
-to be paid from his Irish revenues, and they now proposed similar means
-of discharging the remainder, which, they said, would otherwise ruin his
-estate. His income, they gravely told him, but little exceeded his
-expenditure; whereas, those who wish to leave a patrimony behind them do
-not spend more than two-thirds of their income[25]--an excellent rule,
-but not much better observed in those days than in ours. Half the
-nobility appear to have been deeply involved in debt, and hence their
-tendency to corrupt practices. Even the honest-hearted Sir Edward Coke
-was, we are told, “half-crazied” by his debts, which amounted to
-26,000_l._[26] In consequence, it may be presumed, of these
-embarrassments, the King, at this time, wrote to his “sweete Steenie,”
-announcing a present to him of 2,000_l._ from the East India Company by
-way of consolation.[27]
-
-Footnote 25:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxlix., No. 91.
-
-Footnote 26:
-
- Nichols, p. 887.
-
-Footnote 27:
-
- Ibid, p. 887; from Birch’s MSS., Brit. Museum, 4174.
-
-The Duke was also made now fully aware of the responsibility he had
-incurred in taking the Prince to Spain. Reports were often circulated
-that he had been made a prisoner there. Shortly afterwards James, being
-agitated with this fear, was assured that, “if there be trust on earth,”
-the Prince and Infanta were to be moving home on the twenty-eighth of
-August.
-
-The King, meantime, wrote plaintively to his “sweete boyes.” He kept
-what he called the “feaste,” on the anniversary of the Gowry plot, at
-Salisbury, on the fifth of August, where the Spanish ambassador and all
-the _corps diplomatique_ were conveyed, at the King’s expense, in
-coaches, which cost twenty pounds a day; and here, besides a brace of
-bucks and a stag every day, the provision made for these Spanish
-grandees was so plentiful that, not being able to use it, they were
-stated to have buried it under dunghills, rather than bestow it upon
-heretics. “And though,” says Mr. Chamberlain, referring to this report,
-“I took it for a scandal or slander, yet I have heard it verified more
-than once; and that the neighbours were forced to complain, though to
-little purpose, for, I know not how, the Spaniard hath got such a hand
-everywhere, that he carries more away, when he comes, than all other
-ambassadors together.”[28]
-
-Footnote 28:
-
- It seems that this expensive allowance to the ambassadors was suffered
- to go on till after the 14th of August, when Secretary Conway wrote to
- Secretary Calvert to complain that it had not then been discontinued,
- and that the delay in doing so put the King out of all patience,
- fearing that the letters written on the subject were lost. The post,
- Conway remarks, travels slowly, taking ten hours from London to
- Staines. He recommends reformation therein.--State Papers, vol. cl.,
- No. 98.
-
-Buckingham, we are told, “lay at home under a million of
-maledictions.”[29] The poor King, indifferent to public opinion, and now
-visibly declining in health, was nevertheless constantly writing to
-Madrid in such terms as these:--"If ye haisten not hoame, I apprehende I
-shale never see you, for my longing will kill mee." To the Prince
-individually, he expressed himself in terms which left Charles no
-alternative but to return. “The necessitie of my affaires,” the King
-wrote, “enforced me to tell you that ye must preferre the obedience to a
-father to the love ye carrie to a mistresse.” Eager to do away with
-every possible impediment to the marriage, the King, on the seventh of
-August, signed, whilst at Salisbury, the “declaration, touching the
-pardons, suspensions, and dispensations of the Roman Catholics.”[30]
-
-Footnote 29:
-
- Sir H. Wotton, p. 218.
-
-Footnote 30:
-
- Nichols, p. 888.
-
-The Prince had, it appears, at this very time, “been packed up,” and
-ready to depart, leaving matters to be arranged afterwards. Yet the
-Spanish ambassadors at home expressed themselves contented, and ready to
-fulfil all promises. Sir Edward Herbert, speaking to the Marquis
-Inojosa, of a report in France that the Prince was detained a prisoner
-in Spain, received an answer that it was the Prince whose virtues had
-captivated the King of Spain;[31] and for some time compliments and
-assurances continued to be exchanged.
-
-Footnote 31:
-
- State Papers, cxlix., No. 107.
-
-On the twenty-first of August, the King visited the ships which were to
-go to Spain, under the command of the Earl of Rutland, who was
-unfortunately absent, upon the earnest entreaty of his daughter, the
-Duchess of Buckingham, and of his grandchild, Lady Mary, that he would
-remain with them. At the end of that month, nevertheless, the fleet was
-still detained for fifteen days, in the vain hope of receiving news of
-the Prince’s marriage. The Pope’s illness, it was now said, was delaying
-the dispensation; but Buckingham’s conduct was, according to a letter
-from Sir Francis Woolley to Carleton, “much commended.” He was,
-nevertheless, more impatient than ever to return, and that eagerness was
-sure, it was thought, to hinder rather than accelerate the wished-for
-nuptials. In addition to his other troubles, Buckingham had now a very
-grievous one in the visitation which had fallen, during his absence,
-upon Lord Purbeck, his favourite brother, who became insane. As usual,
-under every circumstance, the greatest good sense was shown by the
-Duchess of Buckingham. She wrote to Secretary Conway to inform him that
-the unfortunate Viscount’s “distemper now inclined to his usual
-melancholy fit,” during which he was gentle, and “could be removed
-anywhere, but that at present he would be outrageous were it attempted;”
-she suggests, therefore, that Sir John Keysley, and a few other friends,
-had better remain with him in London.
-
-The King, replying through his secretary, said that he admired the
-Duchess’s gentleness, but that Purbeck’s malady, exciting him to public
-acts, in public places, which dishonoured himself and his brothers, made
-it necessary to place him under some restraint, and to remove him into
-the country.[32] Lord Purbeck, it seems, was therefore put under
-restraint. Such was the end of that ambitious career which the Duke had
-hoped to witness, and so pave the way to which he had promoted the
-marriage with Sir Edward Coke’s unhappy daughter.
-
-Footnote 32:
-
- State Papers, vol. cli., Nos. 86, 87.
-
-Whilst a degree of gloom and anxiety thus overspread his home,
-Buckingham was witnessing, in the festivities given to honour the
-expected espousals, one of the most characteristic diversions of the
-Spanish nation. This was the “Fuego de Caunas,”--borrowed from the
-Moors, and still practised by Eastern nations, under the name of El
-Djerid. “It is,” says Sir Walter Scott, “a sort of rehearsal of the
-encounter of their light horsemen, armed with darts, as the Tourney
-represented the charge of the feudal cavaliers with their lances. In
-both cases, the difference between sport and reality only consisted in
-the weapons being sharp or pointless.”[33]
-
-Footnote 33:
-
- Somers’s Tracts, vol. ii., p. 352.
-
-This entertainment was ordered by the King of Spain, who was not
-contented with the festivities hitherto given in honour of the Prince of
-Wales, and was held at Madrid, in the Market Place, containing
-scaffolding for a great concourse of strangers, who were present. The
-Infanta appeared on this occasion in white, as an unspotted dove, “after
-the Majesty of England;” the manes of her coach horses were twisted with
-blue ribbands, in compliment to her future consort; and there
-accompanied the Lady Infanta, says the Spanish annalist, “Don Fernando,
-her brother, clothed in Romane purple, that radiant sunne of the church,
-even as his sister is the resplendent beames of true beauty,”[34] this
-“radiant sunne of the church;” being, as it has been before stated, a
-boy of twelve years of age. The Queen was carried in a chair of state,
-followed by her meninas (or minions) and ladies. The King, about two
-o’clock, arrived in a coach with the Prince of Wales, and his brothers,
-“brave with gravity,” says the chronicler, and “grave in bravery.”
-Philip was in black, Prince Charles in white, their dresses divided in
-fashion, half after the English, and half after the Spanish manner;
-Charles being placed on the right hand of the King.
-
-Footnote 34:
-
- A Relation of the Royal Festivities and Fuego Canad. By Don Antonio de
- la Penna, from a translation in the British Museum.--Nichols, p. 889.
-
-Then came four and twenty movable fountains, with a supply of beverages;
-and next entered into the Market Place His Majesty’s four and twenty
-musicians, and servants in satin liveries, carnation colour, guarded
-with silver lace, interspersed with folds of black velvet in large
-cassocks, with black hats and carnation plumes, mounted on goodly
-horses. Next appeared the King’s equerries, leading the way, uncovered,
-before a noble courser on which His Majesty was to run: and, amongst the
-numerous retinue that followed, were four farriers with pouches of
-crimson velvet, in which all that was requisite for shoeing horses was
-contained. Sixty horses of brown bay, in white and black trappings, with
-muzzles of silver, and covered with crimson velvet, embroidered with the
-arms of Philip IV., were led by lacqueys in carnation satin, their hose
-and jacket decorated with black and silver lace. Next came forty
-“youngsters of the stables,” dressed in the Turkish fashion, and lastly,
-twelve mules, laden with bunches of canes, and caparisoned in similar
-fashion with the horses. To add to the convenience of the equestrians,
-steps of fine wood, inlaid with ebony, and covered with carnation
-taffeta, with fringes of gold, were also brought into the Market Place.
-
-The livery of the town was of orange colour, relieved with silver; and
-it may easily be conceived how splendid was the effect of these gorgeous
-dresses, set off by the badges worked in silver, beneath a cloudless
-sky, with the far-famed Spanish coursers prancing under their gorgeous
-caparisons, and all the beauty and rank of the city ranged as beholders.
-Mingled with these retainers, were those of the great Spanish grandees.
-First came Don Duarte, the Duke of Infantado, with forty horses, in
-white and black caparisons, with the glorious blazon of the Ave Maria
-upon them; and after the last horse, came the Rider, as he was called on
-this occasion.
-
-Next followed Don Pedro of Toledo, the pride of Castilian knights, with
-a troop of sorrel horses. Next, that of the Admiral of Castile, whose
-retainers wore long coats of black satin, and yellow and white plumes,
-and were followed by the farrier--a functionary attached to each troop.
-Presently, the Condé de Monterey, the Duke of Sessa and the Duke of
-Cea’s horse, all in liveries of various colours, made up the number of
-five hundred and eighty-six cavaliers; augmented by muleteers, farriers,
-and grooms, in number a hundred and forty-four. This unrivalled troop,
-glittering with silver plumes and emblazonments, took an hour to make
-their entrance. After “baiting but a few bulls,” says the chronicler,
-the running with the canes commenced.
-
-King Philip, followed by his thaclow, Don Carlos, then went to mask
-himself for the sport, at the house of the Condessa Miranda, who had
-been previously apprised of the intended honour. Her reception of the
-young monarch is characteristic of the minute, though stately,
-hospitality of that period. She whitened her house all over for the
-occasion; she hung round the courts with draperies; in the portals of
-the King’s apartment these were of white damask, with gold fringe. Beds
-were prepared for the King and Infant Carlos; and these were brought
-from the royal palace; the rooms were washed with sweet powder and water
-mingled with ambar, and were replete with fragrance. Next to the
-apartment of His Majesty, there was one provided for the Condé Olivares,
-with a bed of rich needle-work. The Condessa Miranda also provided for
-the King and Don Carlos each a shirt to change, which they put on; she
-gave each of her royal guests boxes of relics, of inestimable value: to
-the King, one of St. Philip the Apostle; to the Infant, one of St.
-Lawrence, given to the Condessa by Pope Sixtus V., when she was at
-Naples; and these reliques were the more valuable because the vessel in
-which they had been sent was sunk, but the trunk in which they came was
-seen in the water, and was sent to the Condé of Miranda, by the famous
-John Andrea Dorea, which miraculous incident proves, says the Spanish
-historian, “the certainty of reliques;” this gift was esteemed a “pious
-and discreet present, on such occasions, to such persons.” The Condessa
-had also gloves and handkerchiefs, for her royal guests, in cabinets of
-rock crystal, set in gold; sweet cake to be eaten, in crystal glasses;
-and crystal apples, filled with sweet waters. All these carefully
-arranged courtesies must have seemed indeed singular to Prince Charles
-and Buckingham, when they, who had come from a Court in which people had
-almost begun to show outward disrespect to the King, by leaving off
-ruffs and plumes, witnessed these refinements of hospitality.
-
-More than all, it must have astonished them, considering the festive
-nature of the occasion, had they not been accustomed now to Spanish
-modes, that the Condessa, being most “wise and discreet,” had procured
-that the Holy Sacrament, in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, should be
-exhibited before her window, with great solemnity of lights and
-ornaments. On bended knees, the two young Princes humbly and devoutly
-worshipped the sacred elements, previous to returning to their
-apartments to put on their masks. In that room they found about forty
-plates of silver, with all manner of conserves on them, and rose-sugar
-confections. The honour shown to the Condessa in thus selecting her to
-be the hostess, was, it was alleged, only a renewal of the favour
-exhibited by Philip the Second, the grandfather of the King, to that
-illustrious lady when she was vice-Queen of Barcelona.
-
-After this preparation, the running commenced. The canes were
-distributed to each runner, and, according to ancient custom, the King
-chose the Condé Olivares for his own encounter, and the Infant Carlos,
-the Marquis of Carpio. The palm of skill and bravery was, of course,
-accorded to these royal brothers, and on the Duke of Cea’s delivering to
-the King the canes, the place rang with shouts of “Long live their
-Majesties,” a cry which London doubtless would re-echo as this
-“triumpant show,” says the annalist, “was made to honour her Prince, and
-in a time of such vehement heate, though now it was qualified.”[35]
-
-Footnote 35:
-
- Nichols, 901.
-
-This grand festivity was probably the cause of a serious illness to
-Buckingham, for, a day afterwards, Charles wrote to his father that his
-“dog” was not to be troubled with writing, having taken cold, which had
-ended in an ague. The Duke had been bled, and was recovered; the Prince
-concluded by warning the King that in spite of his efforts to keep his
-letters private, they had been seen in London, by the French
-ambassador’s means, by the Spanish ambassador, and that His Majesty was
-“betrayed in his bedchamber.”
-
-Buckingham added in a postscript:--"Sir, I have bine the willinger to
-let your sone play the secretary at this time of little neade, that you
-may see the extraordinary care he hath of me, for which I will not
-intreat you not to love him the wors--nor him that thretens you that
-when he once getts hould of your bed-post againe never to quitt it."
-
-The period for Charles’s return home with the Princess was now at
-hand.[36] It was arranged with the King of Spain that, upon the arrival
-of the Pope’s approbation of some articles that had lately been sent to
-him, he should be empowered to have the Infanta married by proxy; and
-that, meantime, she should be styled “Princessa de Inglatierra,” and be
-considered in every respect as the betrothed wife of Prince Charles.
-“This day we take our leaves,” the Prince, on the twenty-fifth of
-August, wrote to his father; his letter was accompanied by one from the
-Earl of Bristol, stating that the King of Spain and his ministers had
-grown “to have so high a dislike of the Duke of Buckingham,” and
-considered him to be so adverse to the treaty, and to exercise so great
-an influence over Prince Charles, that they hoped it might not be in his
-power to make the Infanta’s life less happy there (in England), or to
-embroil the two kingdoms. “Suspicions and distastes betwixt them here
-and my Lord of Buckingham,” Bristol said, “could not be at a greater
-height.” This was the first letter that Bristol wrote prejudicial to
-Buckingham.
-
-Footnote 36:
-
- Nichols, 903.
-
-Nevertheless, at the very same moment, the Duke wrote to his master
-thus:--"Sir,--He bring all things with me you have desired, except the
-Infanta, which hath almost broken my heart, because yours, your sone’s,
-and the nation’s honour is touched by the miss of it; but since it’s
-there falt (their fault) here, and not ours, wee will bere it the
-better; and when I shall have the happiness to lie at your feete, you
-shall then knowe the truth of it, and no more."[37]
-
-Footnote 37:
-
- Nichols, 905.
-
-In another letter from Bristol, James was given to understand that the
-compact entered into by his son was a solemn and formal promise; but
-that an afterthought impelled him to make the powers with which he had
-entrusted Bristol contingent:
-
-"May it please your Majesty,
-
- "By my cosen, Simon Digby, I gave your Majesty an account of all
-that passed here upon the Prince his departure, and that according to
-what was capitulated. His Highness had left powers for the marrying of
-the Infanta, _per verba de presenti_, which powers were made unto the
-King and his brother, Don Carlos, but left with me to be delivered upon
-the arrival of the Pope’s approbation, and so declared to be His
-Highnesse’ pleasure before all this King’s Ministers that were present
-at the solemne act of passing the Prince his powers unto the King. Since
-His Highnesse’ departure, I have receaved commandement from His Highness
-not to make deliverie of the said powers untill His Highness shall be
-satisfied what securitie may be given him that the Infanta may not
-become a religious woman[38] after the betroathing; and that I expect
-his further pleasure therein, as y^r Majestie will see by the coppie of
-His Highnesse’ letter unto me, which I presume to send your Majestie, as
-likewise the answer which in that point I make unto His Highnesse, to
-the end your Majestie may have perfect information of the whole estate
-of the businesse. For that I conceave the temporal articles are so farr
-agreed that I have to give your Majestie an account of them within a few
-daies, and to youre content, and the businesse, after so manie rubbs,
-brought to that estate that I am confident there will not be any failing
-in any pointe capitulated betwixt your Majesty and His Highnesse, but
-all will be punctuallie performed. I conceave your Majestie, continuing
-your desire of the match, would be loath to have the faire way it is now
-in to be clogged or interrupted with any new jealousie that may now be
-raised, for questionlesse there is no securitie in that particular, that
-can on His Highnesse’ part be required, that they will refuse him."[39]
-
-Footnote 38:
-
- A professed nun.
-
-Footnote 39:
-
- State Papers, 1623. Foreign.
-
-The character of Charles, composed, as Hume remarks, “of decency,
-reserve, modesty, sobriety, virtues so agreeable to the manners of the
-Spaniards;”[40] the reliance he had placed on their honour, his romantic
-gallantry, the invariable courtesy of his demeanour to every person,
-whether prince, or peer, or the lowest groom of his household; a
-courtesy springing from a gentle nature, elevated and refined by careful
-culture; these attributes were strongly contrasted with the impetuous
-temper of Buckingham. There are moments when sincerity becomes
-insolence; and when Buckingham, at his last interview with Olivares,
-told him that his attachment to the Spanish nation, and to the King, was
-extreme, and that he should use every endeavour in his power to cement
-the friendship between England and Spain, but that, as for him, the
-Condé Olivares, “he need never consider him as a friend, but must ever
-expect from him every possible opposition and enmity,” he was well
-reproved by the grave and lofty answer, “that Olivares very willingly
-accepted what was offered him.” Thus they parted.[41]
-
-Footnote 40:
-
- Confirmed by State Papers, vol. cliii., No. 44.
-
-Footnote 41:
-
- Hume, from Rushworth’s Collection’s, vol i., p. 103.
-
-There were, however, many who approved this defiant manner, and called
-the conduct of the Duke “brave and resolute;” and certainly there was
-much in the character of Olivares to extenuate the bitterness of
-Buckingham’s dislike. Lord Bristol, however, imputed all the mistrust
-and failure that ensued to Buckingham. “The Prince,” he said, "had left
-men’s hearts set upon him." “And the leave-taking,” adds the ambassador,
-“betwixt him and the King, was with as great profession of love and
-affection as could be, of which I was a witness, being interpreter
-betwixt them.”[42]
-
-Footnote 42:
-
- Nichols, p. 913. From Haddwicke State Papers, vol. i, p. 476.
-
-Every possible demonstration of honour was proffered to the Prince and
-Duke at their departure. To the last, the pages of the Condé Olivares
-attended, as they had done all along, on Buckingham--there was no
-apparent change of feeling, nor diminution of respect.
-
-The farewell presents, too numerous to be fully recited, were
-magnificent. Among them were, given to the Prince by the King, eighteen
-Spanish jennets, six Barbary horses, six mares, and twenty foals. These
-superb animals were covered with cloths of crimson velvet, guarded with
-gold lace; one of them being distinguished by a saddle of fine
-lamb-skin, the other “furniture” being set with rich pearl; among a
-number of cross-bows which were given, those used by the Dukes of Medina
-Sidonia and Ossunia, in the wars, were peculiarly valuable to the
-Prince.
-
-To Buckingham’s share, among others, were several Spanish jennets, and
-Barbary or Arabian horses, and a splendid diamond girdle, worth thirty
-thousand crowns.
-
-Thu Queen presented the young Prince with linen, and skins of ambar and
-of kids, their scent and perfume amounting in value to many thousand
-crowns.
-
-Twice, before his leaving for ever the Spanish capital, did Charles, in
-company with the King, visit the Infanta. She had retreated to the
-monastery of the Descallas, or bare-legged friars; and it was, perhaps,
-her extreme piety that inspired the Prince with the fear that she might,
-after her betrothal, become a nun, and in that way avoid espousing a
-heretic. She received him with “tears of joy,” and gave the Prince many
-boxes of scents, flowers, and curiosites of great value. The Prince’s
-gifts to the Infanta consisted of a string of two hundred and fifty
-great pear-shaped pearls, one of them with a diamond which could not be
-valued, and two pairs of pearl-shaped ear-rings, marvellous great.”
-Amongst the officers and retainers of the Court, the Prince gave, in
-various ways, the sum of twelve thousand pounds.
-
-At their last interview in Madrid, the King of Spain wore black, as a
-token of mourning at their departure; but the final parting was in a
-field near the Escurial, the place appointed for their adieus. Philip
-had been desirous of showing to the English that wonder of Europe, with
-its thirteen courts, its grand marble structure, its statue of St.
-Lawrence over the gate, with his gridiron in his hand. Here Philip, the
-Queen, the Infant, and his brothers pointed out, with just pride, the
-fine cloisters, three stories high, the libraries, sepulchres, chapels,
-and graves. About a hundred friars were resident at this time in the
-house, which it required half a day to go over. That part appropriated
-to royal residence was wholly unsuitable to the purpose. It is a
-remarkable fact that, when Charles the First was in Spain, there was
-only one kitchen in the Escurial; neither was there a hall, nor offices
-below stairs fit for a royal abode; so that, as Sir Richard Wynn
-remarked, "it was never intended for a king’s palace, but for the
-goodliest monastery in the world, which it is."[43]
-
-Footnote 43:
-
- Narrative of the journey of the Prince’s servants into Spain; printed
- at the end of the Life of Richard II., by Hearne.
-
-The church, with its twenty altars, and enormous silver candlesticks,
-higher and heavier than a man; the wonderful chapel at the extremity,
-with curiously painted roofs and desks of silver; the marble fountains
-playing in every court; the invaluable paintings in the churches and
-chapels, collected in all parts of the world, were then in undisturbed
-freshness; the convulsions of war and revolutions, and the hand of time,
-have since dimmed their splendour, but the Escurial stands unscathed on
-the side of a mountain. Stern in cloistral gloom rather than beautiful,
-it had then a narrow strip of garden round two sides, with walks and
-“knots of flowers,” and a pond at one extremity, in which the friars
-were accustomed to fish. Most of them had their apartments provided with
-a chapel; all had mules for riding, for walking was forbidden to these
-monks, even to a short distance.[44]
-
-Footnote 44:
-
- It was improved before the time of the Commonwealth, when Lady
- Fanshawe describes it as approached by a double row of elms, and
- having a large park well stored with wood and water; she speaks of
- seventeen courts, with gardens in each, and of a very fine palace; the
- walls of the building were of marble, so polished that Titian had
- painted them “all over.” She says also that the palace is “royally
- furnished.”--See Miss Costello’s Life of Lady Fanshawe, p. 389.
-
-In a field near this grand building, the King and Prince sat and
-conversed an hour; a pillar, it was afterwards decided, was to be
-erected on the spot where this last interview took place; “wherein,”
-wrote Mr. Chamberlain, “the Duke of Buckingham is quite forgotten, as if
-he had been none of the company.” The Queen, the Infanta, and her
-brothers, embraced the Prince who so soon became their foe. The English
-lords and gentlemen kissed the King’s hands, the Spaniards those of the
-Prince, “returning,” says the chronicler, “to embrace us again with
-wonderful demonstrations of love.” Then the Prince took his final
-departure, attended by the Condé de Monterey, Gondomar, Buckingham, and
-Lord Bristol, and pursued his journey to Segovia, which had been
-recommended to him, according to Sir Richard Wynn, as the only thing
-worth seeing after the Escurial. “It was then,” says Wynn, “a large
-town, but much ruinous, having a great castle, kept in very good repair,
-in which there be two goodly rooms, whose roofes are the richest, done
-with gold, and incrusting, of an old manner, but wonderful costly.” Here
-Charles was welcomed with a salute of artillery, and alighting, he went
-over the palace, extolling the memory of Philip the Second, who had
-rebuilt it, and expressing great pleasure at seeing his arms quartered
-with the Spanish scutcheons in the great hall,--Henry the Third of
-Spain, having married Catherine, daughter of John of Gaunt, in right of
-whom Philip the Second pretended to derive his claim to the crown of
-England after the death of Mary. In this palace, Charles was
-magnificently entertained; and in the evening, whilst fireworks and
-torches threw their light upon the scene, the Alcayd of that royal house
-presented him with a gallant mask of thirty-two-knights, and proposed to
-honour him by a bull-fight on the ensuing day; but he declined the
-terrible amusement, being in haste to depart.
-
-Charles--and doubtless Buckingham (although in this decline of favour in
-Spain, he is rarely alluded to by the chroniclers)--in stopping at
-Valladolid, had great delight in seeing some of the finest productions
-of Michael Angelo and of Raphael. Before the Prince entered the city, an
-individual who was the object of dread and jealousy, and who was still
-more hated by Olivares than even Buckingham, was withdrawn from amid
-those who vied in offering their homage to the Prince. This was the
-Cardinal Duke of Lerma, the disgraced minister and favourite of Philip,
-who was ordered to leave Valladolid before Charles entered it. The
-affront sank deep into the old man’s heart, as he had greatly wished to
-see the Prince. The Duke of Lerma was considered to be more favourable
-to the English alliance than Olivares, and he had formerly projected a
-union between Anne of Austria, then Infanta, and Henry, the last Prince
-of Wales. He lived generally at Valladolid, retiring, as was the custom
-with the Spaniards of rank, after sixty, to a place of quiet and
-devotion; officiating, and singing mass, and passing his days in charity
-and piety. “This,” as Howell remarks, “doth not suit well with the
-genius of an Englishman, who loves not to pull off his clothes till he
-goes to bed.” The remark shows that our countrymen were then, as now,
-the last in Europe to give up the intellectual or military career to
-which their youth had been devoted, and which, during their middle life,
-had been their source of pride and prosperity.
-
-The conduct of Olivares to the Cardinal Duke seems to betray a rancorous
-spirit, which may somewhat extenuate the haughty bearing of Buckingham
-to the ruling favourite. Lerma’s fall was signal; he had been the
-greatest favourite, save one, ever known in the Spanish Court; and he
-was, as a grandee of Spain, privileged to stand covered before the King.
-Had it not, however, been for his ecclesiastical dignity, which
-protected him, the Duke of Lerma would have sunk, under the persecutions
-of Olivares, into utter ruin.
-
-Meantime, whilst the Prince was thus journeying to the coast, Sir John
-Finet, the assistant Master of the Ceremonies to King James, being also
-a naval commander, had set sail in May with certain ships, now in the
-port of St. Andero, in Biscay. They had been three months in their
-voyage from England, and Finet had been ordered to apprize the Prince of
-the Earl of Rutland’s arrival in the same port; but that event not
-having taken place, he rowed ashore, and crossing several mountains in
-the darkness of a tempestuous night, met the Prince and Duke at about
-six leagues distance from the town. Charles was beside himself with joy
-on seeing Finet, and told him that he looked upon him “as one that had
-the face of an angel,” for bringing such good news. Buckingham, when he
-afterwards beheld him, was equally enraptured, and drawing from his
-finger a ring worth a hundred pounds, gave it to Finet.
-
-Prince Charles arrived at St. Andero on St. Matthew’s day. Whilst at
-dinner outside of the town, he heard that the whole fleet, under the
-command of the Earl of Rutland, lay at anchor near the harbour. Charles
-hastened to the port, and hurrying through the town amid volleys of
-musketry and the firing of cannon in his honour, went on board that very
-afternoon. The _Prince_, a vessel which was a source of great pride to
-the English, contained the admiral of the fleet. In returning that night
-in his own barge, rowed by watermen, well accustomed to the Thames, but
-little fitted to cope with a swelling sea, the Prince was in imminent
-peril. In the hurry of the moment, neither master, pilot, nor mariner of
-experience were sent in his barge; the town was, at least, at the
-distance of a Spanish league from the ships, and before the boat could
-near the shore, a storm arose. The Prince’s watermen were, says the
-chroniclers, “strong, cunning, and courageous, but the furious waves
-taught their oares another manner of practice than ever they were put to
-on the Thames.” They soon found it impossible to reach the town. Not
-only did the tempest rage, but there lay at the very mouth of the
-harbour a barque, which was there for refuge, so that it was dangerous
-to approach it; neither did the dismayed boatmen dare to make for the
-shore; it was studded with rocks; almost equally perilous would it have
-been to return to the ships, for the night was dark, and, in case of
-missing them, the boat, with its precious freight, might be carried out
-into the main seas, the channel where the fleet anchored running with an
-impetuous and irresistible torrent.
-
-It was a singular and critical situation. Here was the heir to a great
-kingdom, close, on the one hand, to a city which was ringing with
-acclamations at his arrival; on the other, near to a fleet which the
-most anxious precautions had sent for his service--and yet, scarcely
-would a peasant in his father’s dominions have been placed in such a
-plight for want of ordinary care, or, perhaps, owing to the jealousy of
-the boatmen and their dislike to foreign aid.
-
-“In this full sea of horrors,” to borrow the somewhat flowery language
-of the narrator, the Prince resolved to turn back towards the ships, and
-to fall upon the first that could be fastened on, rather than to run the
-risk of being wrecked on one of the rocks, which threatened immediate
-destruction.
-
-The storm continued to rage, and the night became darker and darker.
-Charles and Buckingham could, at this moment, see the lights streaming
-from the town, and dimly, perhaps, discern the track of the English
-fleet. Soon all was enveloped in the deepest gloom. At such a moment the
-mind can only turn to one source of help, and to that, doubtless, the
-young and reflective Prince, who afterwards met the sternest trials of
-life with a lofty resignation, did revert, whatever may have been the
-case with his spoiled, impetuous favourite.
-
-“At last,” as the chronicler observes, “that Omnipotent arm, which can
-tear up rocks from their center, and that voyce which can call in the
-winds, and still them with the moving of His finger, sent a dove with an
-olive branch in her bill, as an assurance of comfort.”
-
-Sir Sackwill Trevor, the commander of the _Defiance_, perceived at this
-crisis the peril of the Prince; by his order, casks and buoys, with
-lights fastened to them by some ropes, were thrown out, and the watermen
-seized hold of these, though at the risk of their lives. A light was now
-discerned in the ship _Defiance_, and the Prince was soon safely
-received on board, where he spent the night, by no means, as it is said,
-daunted by these terrors.
-
-On the ensuing day Charles went on shore, but returned on the same
-evening to the fleet. On Sunday, the fourteenth of September, he
-entertained Gondomar and the other grandees who had been commissioned to
-attend him to the coast on board the _Prince_.
-
-The dinner consisted, according to Phineas Pette, who was in the ship,
-“of no other than we brought from England with us.” Stalled oxen, fatted
-sheep, venison, and all manner of fowl were presented to those who
-would, perhaps, never see such a repast spread before them again. A long
-table for persons of inferior quality was set in the great cabin, and
-across this another was placed, where Charles and the chief personages
-sat. Healths were drunk; the Spaniards were delighted with the ships,
-but still more with the graceful and courteous manners of Charles.
-Never, it is said, had a stranger so won upon the affections of a
-people, as this young Prince had done in Spain, independently of his
-generosity and liberality at parting, when he ordered that the gifts and
-rewards of all those who had attended him in his journey, should be
-double in value to what he had before specified. “We have found some
-difficulty,” Lord Bristol wrote to Calvert, "in taking up the monies,
-but I shall, God willing, see it perfectly performed to his highness’s
-honour."[45]
-
-Footnote 45:
-
- Nichols, p. 923, from Haddwicke Papers, vol. i., p. 475.
-
-Some days elapsed before the _Prince_ weighed anchor. At last, on the
-eighteenth of September, Charles bade adieu to Spain, and with it,
-probably, to the sunshine of his youth. For James was now visibly
-declining, and his son was soon to be called upon to fulfil duties which
-he comprehended not in their just spirit, and to contend with bold,
-intelligent, indignant subjects, whom he also imperfectly understood.
-
-As the sails were swelling with the breeze, the Prince and the other
-English gentlemen stood on deck taking leave, in dumb show, of the
-throng of Spaniards who saluted them from the shore. The wind was now
-prosperous, but a voyage of nine days awaited the impatient Prince
-before he could touch English ground.
-
-The fleet consisted of ten ships of the line; that styled the _Prince_
-was of twelve hundred tons burthen, the others considerably less. In
-eight days they arrived within twelve miles of the Scilly Islands. The
-Council who were entrusted with the convoy of Charles debated on the
-propriety of his landing on this remote point, and were unanimous
-against it. Several pilots had come on board, but were dismissed. After
-supper, however, Charles suddenly ordered out the long boat and the
-ketch, and announced his intention of landing, accompanied by
-Buckingham.
-
-About one o’clock at night they got into the long boat, and being
-saluted with a volley from the ship, made for St Mary’s Island, where
-the Prince and all his companions landed about seven in the morning. In
-the castle the Prince and Buckingham remained four days, and were taken
-again on board of the fleet on the third of October; and on the fifth of
-the same month, in the afternoon, arrived at Portsmouth,[46] having been
-in all seventeen days at sea. Charles proceeded at once to the house of
-Lord Annandale, near Guildford, and reached York House at eight the next
-morning; thus paying Buckingham the honour of going first to his house
-in London. Here he met the Privy Council, and refused an unreasonable
-request by the Spanish ambassador for a prior audience. [47]
-
-Footnote 46:
-
- Nichols, p. 926, from the Diary of Phineas Pette. There were four
- narratives of persons who had their voyage to Spain printed--Lord
- Carey of Leppington, Sir Richard Wynn, Sir John Finet and Phineas
- Pette.
-
-Footnote 47:
-
- State Papers, Calendar, vol. cliii., p. 44.
-
-Never was there more general or more enthusiastic joy expressed than on
-this occasion, and, amongst other demonstrations, a bonfire, which cost
-a hundred pounds, was kindled at Guildhall. It is supposed to have been
-composed of forfeited logwood, prohibited to the dyers, which had been
-seized. Shops were closed; the streets were spread with tables of
-provisions, and with hogsheads of wine and butts of sack; the people
-were mad with joy. If they met a cart full of wood, they took out the
-horse, and set the wood and the cart on fire. At St. Paul’s a new anthem
-was sung, the words being taken from the 114th psalm:--"When shall I
-come out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob from among the barbarous
-people?"
-
-The battlements of St. Paul’s Cross displayed as many burning torches as
-the years of the young Prince in age; two enormous bonfires lighted up
-the enclosure around the cross, whilst fireworks, squibs, crackers, and
-rockets added to the general illumination of the city, in which, between
-St. Paul’s and London Bridge, no fewer than a hundred and eight bonfires
-were kindled. But the most interesting of all the incidents of that day
-was the reprieve of six men and two women, whom the Prince met on their
-road to Tyburn, where they were being taken for execution. At Royston,
-the King came down on the stairs to receive the travellers. The Prince
-and Duke kneeled down as they beheld the infirm monarch hastening to
-them; but the King fell on their necks, and they all wept together. A
-post was despatched to the Duchess and Countess of Buckingham, and to
-the Countess of Denbigh, to come to Royston.[48]
-
-Footnote 48:
-
- State Papers, vol. cliii., No. 44.
-
-Whilst the public rejoicings in almost every town in the kingdom did
-honour to "England’s Joy," as Charles was then called, Buckingham
-gleaned some good from this safe return. The confidence of the people
-appeared to be restored to him. There was a general impression that even
-before Charles had quitted Spain, the match with the Infanta was
-virtually at an end; and this was partially confirmed when the Spanish
-ambassadors, having set out towards Royston, to congratulate the Prince,
-were met at Buntingford by Secretary Conway, to say that Royston being
-“a place of ill reception,” they were not to sleep there that night, but
-must return to Buntingford the same evening. This was by no means an
-agreeable intimation to the Marquis Inojosa, since it was but a week
-before that the French ambassador had both supped and lodged at Royston,
-though going unexpectedly; nevertheless, the Marquis proceeded to
-Royston, and had apparently a gracious reception from the King and
-Prince; neither did they “speak amiss” of the Duke’s manner on the
-awkward occasion. “Welcome home!” was for a long time the burden of the
-Court and country. One amongst the least meritorious of Buckingham’s
-dependants, Tobie Mathew, was knighted at Royston, where James and his
-favourite kept their intentions with regard to Spain profoundly secret.
-Mathew owed, indeed, his very presence at Court to Buckingham, who had
-interceded for him when banished on account of his conversion to Popery
-by the Jesuit Parsons. Mathew, when at Madrid with the Duke, had written
-a description of the Infanta, which he styled a picture “drawn in black
-and whyte,” for James’s amusement. “We pray you,” Buckingham wrote to
-the King, “let none laugh at it but yourselfe and honneste Kate; he
-thinks he hath hitt the naill on the head, but you will find it the
-foolishest thing you ever saw.” Amongst the many impertinences of the
-fool, Archy, some, directed against Tobie Mathew, were so cutting as to
-drive the newly-made knight from the dinner-table at Royston.[49]
-
-Footnote 49:
-
- Tobie died at Ghent, in 1665, having become a Jesuit. Lord Orford has,
- according to Nichols, placed Tobie Mathew erroneously on the list of
- painters, and misled Grainger and others, owing to the reference to
- the Infanta’s picture above stated.--Nichols p. 931, note.
-
-Whilst all these matters, great and small, were discussed at Court, the
-poor Infanta, under the tuition of Mr. Wadsworth and Father Boniface,
-was studying English “apace.” Wherever she went, she was treated as
-Princess of England, the English ambassadors standing uncovered before
-her; whilst she occupied herself in having several embroidered suits of
-ambar-leather prepared for the Prince, and in the choice and arrangement
-of the attendants who were to accompany her to England. “We want,”
-Howell wrote, “nothing but one more dispatch from home, and then the
-marriage will be solemnized, and all things consummated.”[50]
-
-Footnote 50:
-
- Epistolæ Hoelianæ.
-
-This was the last lingering hope, which was soon to be abandoned, and
-fresh schemes substituted to amuse the fancy of the Prince, to gratify
-the caprice of his favourite, and to divert the decline of the King.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
-INDISPOSITION OF THE DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM--THE KING’S REGARD FOR
- HER AND HER CHILD--ARCHBISHOP LAUD’S ENCOMIUM ON HER
- CHARACTER--QUEEN ANNE’S CHAIN PRESENTED TO THE DUCHESS OF
- LENNOX--EFFRONTERY OF THE COUNTESS OF BUCKINGHAM--THE DUKE’S
- DEPORTMENT ON HIS RETURN FROM SPAIN--MORE DIGNITIES CONFERRED
- UPON HIM--KING JAMES AND THE CLERGY--THE ROYAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR
- THE PERFORMANCE OF DIVINE SERVICE IN SPAIN--PUBLIC PREJUDICE
- AGAINST THE SPANISH MATCH--THE WALLINGFORD HOUSE CABAL PRONOUNCE
- IN FAVOUR OF A FRENCH ALLIANCE--POPULAR INDIGNATION AGAINST THE
- SPANISH AMBASSADOR--COMPETITION FOR PRECEDENCE BETWEEN THE
- AMBASSADORS OF FRANCE AND SPAIN--CHARACTER OF THE LORD KEEPER
- WILLIAMS--HIS OPPOSITION TO THE PROCEEDINGS OF BUCKINGHAM--THE
- COUNTESS OF BUCKINGHAM EMBRACES THE CATHOLIC FAITH--CONTROVERSY
- BETWEEN THE DEAN OF CARLISLE AND THE JESUIT FISHER--BREACH
- BETWEEN BUCKINGHAM AND WILLIAMS--THE KING MANIFESTS HIS
- DISPLEASURE WITH BUCKINGHAM--THE SPANISH COURT AND THE ENGLISH
- ALLIANCE--CONDUCT OF THE INFANTA AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF
- CHARLES--PREPARATIONS FOR THE MARRIAGE--A COMMISSION APPOINTED
- TO INQUIRE INTO THE CONDITIONS OF THE SPANISH TREATY--THE LORD
- KEEPER IN FAVOUR WITH THE KING--PARLIAMENT COUNSELS JAMES TO
- BREAK THE TREATY WITH SPAIN--POPULAR REJOICINGS, AND
- DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE CATHOLIC PARTY--THE ILLNESS OF
- BUCKINGHAM--PAINFUL ILLUSTRATION OF THE BIGOTED SPIRIT OF THE
- AGE--INOJOSA ACCUSES BUCKINGHAM OF TREACHERY AGAINST THE
- KING--THE PROPHECY OF GAMALIEL GRUYS--GENERAL DESIRE FOR WAR
- WITH SPAIN--PROPOSED ALLIANCE OF PRINCE CHARLES WITH HENRIETTA
- MARIA OF FRANCE--RESTORATION OF BUCKINGHAM TO THE KING’S FAVOUR.
-
-
-
-
- =CHAPTER II.=
-
-
-Buckingham had now returned to a house where more sources of real
-happiness awaited him than fall usually to the lot of the busy courtier
-and statesman. One drawback to his felicity, one stimulant to his
-return, had been the serious indisposition of the Duchess of Buckingham.
-Her uneasiness during her husband’s absence, her vexation at the rumours
-which prevailed to his disadvantage, and, above all, the doubts of his
-fidelity which embittered their separation, had produced that condition
-which the physicians of the day generalized under the name of
-“melancholy.”
-
-Under these circumstances, the kindness of heart which formed part of
-King James’s character, unaccompanied as it was with dignity or
-judgment, was manifested, and, at the same time, he evinced his lively
-and unabated regard for Buckingham. An affection cannot be deemed wholly
-selfish which shows itself to those who are beloved by its object.
-James’s compassion for the Duchess, the fatherly interest he took in
-her, and his continual acts of favour to her child, elevate the
-character of his preference for Buckingham. It has been the practice of
-historians to ridicule as a weakness the good-nature of this monarch;
-but those who felt its effect forgot, probably, the absurdity of its
-mode of manifestation in the benevolent impulses of the royal heart.
-
-The “poor fool Kate,” as the King entitled the Duchess of Buckingham,
-met with incessant consideration on small and great points from His
-Majesty. During the year previous to the journey into Spain, the Duchess
-(then Marchioness) had given birth to another daughter; the King stood
-sponsor to the infant, and gave her the name of Jacobina. During the
-young mother’s illness, James testified the greatest anxiety, and
-“prayed heartily” for her; calling at Wallingford House, where she was,
-several times a day to inquire after her health.[51] The child
-eventually died; and James was the more confirmed in his parental
-fondness for the Lady Mary Villiers, whom he usually denominated his
-grandchild, on the principle that her father was to him as a son. And
-now “my sweete Steenie” was the chief object of the King’s interest and
-gossip; he wrote from Whitehall to the Duke, in Spain:--"I must give
-thee a short account of many things. First, Kate and thy sister (the
-Countess of Denbigh) supped with me on Saturday last, and yesterday
-bothe dined and supped with me, and so shall do still, with God’s grace,
-as long as I am here; and my little grandchild, with her four teeth, is,
-God be thanked, well weaned, and they are all very merry." [52]
-
-Footnote 51:
-
- State Papers. Domestic. March 30, 1622, vol. cxxviii., No. 96.
-
-Footnote 52:
-
- Birches’s MSS., 4174.
-
-The Marchioness dined, during her convalescence, in the bed-chamber of
-the King, who gave a diamond chain, worth 3,500_l._, with his picture,
-to the Duchess of Lennox, for having “made broths and caudles” for the
-Marchioness during her illness.[53]
-
-Footnote 53:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxxix., No. 92.
-
-The Duchess had, it appeared, informed His Majesty of a domestic
-arrangement, all important to the mother and infant, but not usually
-deemed an affair such as royalty might condescend to take account of, or
-be a matter for an elderly pedant, like King James, to decide. “I hope
-my Lord Arran,” she wrote to the King, “has told your Majesty that I
-mean to wean Moll very shortly. I would not by any means do it till I
-had made your Majesty acquainted with it; so I intend to make trial this
-very night how she will endure it.”[54] “Little Moll,” who afterwards
-married successively three times, is mentioned frequently in the
-domestic correspondence of the day.[55]
-
-Footnote 54:
-
- Nichols, p. 843; from papers in the Advocate’s Library, Edinburgh.
-
-Footnote 55:
-
- Harleian, vol. 6987.
-
-James’s regard for the Duchess was also shown in another way. When the
-Duke applied to His Majesty for jewels, his young wife, scarcely twenty
-years of age, was eager to part with baubles which were so precious in
-the eyes of others, in order to advance Buckingham’s interest, and
-enhance his splendour at the Spanish Court. The King could hardly bear
-that his favourite should accept her generosity. “And now,” he wrote,
-"my sweet Steenie gossip, that the poor fool Kate hath also sent thee
-her pearl chain, which, by chance, I saw in a box in Frank Steward’s
-hand, I hope I need not to conjure thee not to give any of her jewels
-away there, for thou knowest what necessary use she will have of them at
-your return here, besides that it is not lucky to give away anything
-that I have given her."[56] In his correspondence, James never forgot
-the Duchess. “This,” he says, addressing Buckingham, “is the sixt time I
-have written to you two, five to Kate, two to Su (the Countess of
-Denbigh), and one to thy mother, Steenie, all with my own hands.”[57] In
-presents of provisions he was considerate of her comfort, and so lavish
-that the Duke was wont to call his Majesty his “man-purveyor.”
-
-Footnote 56:
-
- Nichols, 850.
-
-Footnote 57:
-
- Nichols, from Harleian MSS., 6987.
-
-Like a good wife, the Duchess appears to have occupied herself, during
-the absence of her husband, in maintaining and improving Newhall and
-Burleigh, places in which the Duke felt a lively interest, and his
-mother participated in these exertions without any of that petty
-jealousy of interference being exhibited, which a less amiable mind than
-that of the Duchess might have disturbed.
-
-“For Burley,” she writes word, “I hear the wall is not very forward yet,
-and my lady” (the Countess) “bid me send you word that she is gone down
-to look how things are there. She says she is about making a littel
-river to run through the park. It will be about sixteen feet broad; but
-she says she wants money.”[58]
-
-Footnote 58:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxi., No. 13.
-
-In all her letters to the Duke, the warmest affection is expressed by
-his wife; and she seems to have justified the encomiums of Archbishop
-Laud, who enters her name in his diary, as “that excellent lady, who is
-goodness itself.”[59]
-
-Footnote 59:
-
- Laud’s Diary.
-
-In the concerns of his mother, the Duke found much dissatisfaction. In
-June, 1622, the Countess of Buckingham received a hint to stay away from
-Court on account of the Progress, but really on account of her
-professing the Roman Catholic faith, or rather, perhaps, as a punishment
-for a little Court intrigue, relative to the Duchess of Lennox. When the
-ambassador from the Emperor of Austria took leave, it was thought
-necessary to bestow some jewel upon him as a mark of royal favour. James
-commanded one to be brought to him; it proved to be a chain which had
-belonged to Queen Anne, and which was worth three thousand pounds. James
-thought it too valuable for the ambassador, and refused to give it,
-saying, “wherein hath he deserved so much at my hands?” Prince Charles,
-hearing this, suggested that the chain should be bestowed on the Duchess
-of Lennox, who had received no present since her marriage. An assent was
-given; and the Prince undertook to carry the gift to her Grace. He put
-it round his own neck, and, taking it thence, presented it to the
-Duchess. This was regarded as so unusual an act of respect, that the
-Countess of Buckingham could not hear of it unmoved. Relying upon the
-unbounded favour of the King to her son, she took upon herself to send
-for the jewel back again the next day, saying it was required for a
-particular purpose, and that it should be requited with a gift equally
-costly. The Duchess of Lennox, astonished, questioned the messenger, who
-confessed that the Countess had sent him. The truth was then disclosed;
-of course, the Duchess was highly indignant; she sent back the messenger
-with this answer, that since the Prince had brought it to her, it should
-be taken back by no hand but her own; accordingly, on the following day,
-she went with the chain in her hand to the King, desiring to know how
-she had offended His Majesty. The King, when he comprehended the matter,
-swore that he was abused, and the Prince burst into a passion of anger,
-and declared that if the Countess of Buckingham stayed in the Court he
-would leave it. This story has been in some particulars, however,
-discredited, for several good reasons; but it may be regarded as
-characteristic of those to whom it refers; and as exemplifying the
-unbounded effrontery attributed to the mother of the Favourite.[60]
-
-Footnote 60:
-
- Harleian MSS., 389.--See Nichols, 1113, note.
-
-A change was observed to have taken place in the deportment of
-Buckingham almost immediately on his return from Spain. He became
-affable, and, therefore, “suddenly and strangely gracious among the
-multitude,” so that, as Sir Henry Wotton expresses it, “he did seem for
-a time to have overcome that natural incompatibility which, in the
-experience of all ages, hath ever been noted between the vulgar and the
-sovereign favour. But this was no more than a meer bubble or blast, and
-like an ephemeral bit of applause, as eftsoon will appear in the sequel
-and train of his life.”[61]
-
-Footnote 61:
-
- Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, 219.
-
-Shortly after his return from Spain, fresh honours were added to those
-with which Buckingham had been so richly endowed. The King, it was
-observed, had now grown into “an habitual and confirmed custom” of
-loading his favourite with benefits; and the Duke was, accordingly, made
-Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Steward of the Manor of Hampton
-Court; “dignities and offices,” says Sir Henry Wotton, “still growing
-out of trust and profit.”
-
-But this apparent prosperity was alloyed by many difficulties, and
-shaken by cabals, some stimulated by direst foes, others induced by
-hollow allies; and the career of the Favourite, like that of all the
-fortunate, began to be embittered and precarious.
-
-There required, indeed, much condescension and courtesy to soften the
-exasperated feeling of the people against the promoter of the Spanish
-match. The pulpits, far from being “tuned” to its praise, were
-continually clamouring against the alliance.
-
-There were strange signs of the times when, notwithstanding the almost
-absolute dominion of the Crown, it was found necessary to issue orders
-that the sanctity of the royal presence, and the dignity of the Privy
-Council should not be lowered by persons coming in booted and
-spurred--forbidding them also to go into chapel in that guise, and
-ordering them to remain uncovered during the services.[62] In former
-days, James, as well as Elizabeth, had demanded an almost degrading
-respect; but the habits of the monarch had long since brought even
-royalty into contempt.
-
-Footnote 62:
-
- State Papers, Domestic, vol. cxxxvii., p. 5.
-
-Accordingly, his influence over the pulpits had also decreased. James
-could not now control his impatience and petulance; even when listening
-to a sermon on Christmas-day, from the Bishop of London, the King,
-displeased at its length, talked so loud that the prelate was obliged to
-end abruptly. Urgent measures were taken to curb the taste for
-controversial sermons; and none below bachelors of divinity were
-henceforth to be allowed to preach them; for the Spanish match, and
-favour to recusants, were the great themes, especially when the King, on
-the plea that Protestants might find more freedom abroad, if there were
-more toleration here, released all Jesuits, priests, and persons
-refusing the oath of supremacy, who happened then to be in prison.[63]
-“Wise men,” wrote one courtier to another, his kinsman, “are troubled,
-and betake themselves to prayers, rather than inquiry.”[64] The clergy,
-meantime, had been ordered to pray for the Prince’s prosperous journey
-and safe return; but one stiff-necked preacher prayed “that God would be
-merciful to him now that he was going to the House of Rinmon.”[65]
-
-Footnote 63:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxxxix., No. 91.
-
-Footnote 64:
-
- Ibid, vol. cxxxviii., No. 9; Dudley Carleton to Sir Dudley Carleton.
-
-Footnote 65:
-
- Ibid, vol. cxxxii., No. 64.
-
-The King had, however, before Charles’s departure, given sensible and
-stringent instructions to the two chaplains who were to attend on the
-Prince, with regard to the reverential performance of divine service
-whilst in Spain. They were to preach “Christ crucified, and the
-doctrines of the English Church,” but not to indulge in polemical
-discourses or in controversy. They might take with them Prayer-books,
-articles of religion, and the King’s works.[66] At a later period,
-however, this was altered, and the Prince’s “servants and chaplains”
-were ordered to follow him with chapel furniture and Prayer-books in
-Latin; the service was to be in Latin, and the communion celebrated with
-wafer-cakes and wine and water; “but it will be to no purpose,” adds the
-writer of this news, “as the Spaniards will not go near them.” Dr.
-Hakluyt, the Prince’s former chaplain, had written a work against the
-Spanish match, calling the Spaniards idolaters, and had presented it to
-the Princes,[67] so that he was, it may be concluded, not among the
-“servants and chaplains,” who were thus, according to the spirit of the
-day, coupled together as forming a part of the Prince’s household.
-
-Footnote 66:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxxxix., No. 71.
-
-Footnote 67:
-
- Ibid, vol. cxxii., No. 88.
-
-The prejudice against the Infanta, as a future Queen of England,
-continued to increase, nor was it confined to uneducated or bigoted
-persons. It was supposed that, whilst Buckingham was in Spain, he
-received secret advices, which convinced him that to steer his course in
-safety, it would be necessary to break off a treaty which the
-Puritanical party regarded as a compact with Popery. “There were those
-who,” says Bishop Hacket, “sent instructions into Spain, to adjure the
-Duke to do his best to prevent the espousals.” The reasons assigned were
-"God’s glory, and his own safety." "For God’s sake, keep our orthodox
-religion from the admixture of that superstition which threatened
-against the soundness of it. And no corrosive so good to eat out the
-corruption of Romish rottenness creeping on, as to give the Spaniard the
-dodge, and leave the daughter of Spain behind." Such were the counsels
-despatched by friends to the Duke.
-
-Consultations of his adherents were now held at Wallingford House, to
-consider what would be the best way of promoting, not the interests of
-the nation, but his own personal advancement. James had, of late, become
-partial to parliaments, and was resolved to close the next very
-graciously. “Therefore,” observes Hacket, "the cabinet men at
-Wallingford House set upon it to consider by what exploit their lord
-should commence to be the ‘Darling of the Commons,’ and, as it were, to
-republicate his lordship, and to be precious to those who had the vogue
-to be lovers of their country." It was, therefore, determined to abandon
-the Spanish marriage, and to direct the attention of the country, and
-more especially the regard of the Prince, towards a daughter of France;
-and it was agreed that it would be for Buckingham’s interests that he
-should have the full credit of the newly projected alliance. From these
-considerations was the Spanish alliance thrown aside, with, it must be
-confessed, little regard to honour. Whether the evident disgust of the
-nation to the marriage formed sufficient plea for the crooked and
-complicated means which were taken to do away with a contract which had
-been so nearly brought to a conclusion, it remains for posterity to
-decide; contemporaries were divided by faction, not reason.
-
-It was in vain, by the arbitrary acts employed, to suppress public
-opinion. The Earl of Oxford had been committed to the Tower for saying
-that he hoped the time would come when justice would be free, and not
-come only through Buckingham’s hands. This committal was an instance of
-the resolution at Court to crush all discussion. Gondomar, smooth to the
-great, was a perfect fury towards the small. The people had been
-indignant with him for having, before his return to Spain, struck a
-Scotsman with his fists, for saying that he had been ill-treated in
-Spain. The Scotsman, though he took the insult patiently, had been sent
-to prison.[68] These were but scanty specimens of the petty oppressions
-by which the voice of an aroused people was to be stopped. It was
-therefore time, Buckingham thought, to save himself, at all events, from
-the storm. Public hatred had been already shown when Don Diego, as
-Gondomar was called, passed through the city. The mob insulted him, and
-even threatened violence, “but none was used.” Three apprentices were,
-nevertheless, whipped at the cart’s tail for this slight to the Spanish
-ambassador, whilst the people looked, pitying, on; and those who
-executed the sentence incurred much popular abuse. James, who was at
-that time angry with all who differed from him, came from Theobald’s to
-London in a rage to reprove such disorders. He was pacified by the
-Recorder, and contented himself with private admonition to the Aldermen
-to punish such offenders. Another man was then whipped, and those who
-murmured at the sentence arrested.[69]
-
-Footnote 68:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxxix., No. 50. Domestic.
-
-Footnote 69:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxx., No. 71.
-
-Steps were immediately taken to mark a difference between the conduct to
-be pursued to the Spanish and the French ambassadors; and Charles,
-having first proposed an audience to the Marquis of Inojosa, granted it,
-under circumstances not very flattering. The Spanish ambassadors, having
-repaired to Theobald’s, returned not so well “satisfied as they ought”
-to be. They endeavoured, but in vain, to procure an audience of the King
-without the presence of the Duke; but finding that impossible, they
-became disposed to arraign his conduct in the marriage before his
-face.[70]
-
-Footnote 70:
-
- Nichols, 945.
-
-The public, meantime, could not fail to interpret the real temper of the
-King’s Council by circumstances apparently trivial. In the course of the
-winter, there arrived from France a nobleman skilled in falconry, with a
-present of fifteen or sixteen cast-off hawks, some ten or twelve horses,
-and the same number of setters. He was accompanied by a numerous train,
-splendidly accoutred, and made his entry into London by torchlight. He
-was to remain until he had instructed the people in the kind of falconry
-in which he excelled, he and his troop costing the King from twenty-five
-to thirty pounds daily. Under this guise, probably, some political
-mission was couched; for James, although now fast declining, braved the
-advice of his physicians, and travelled to Newmarket on purpose to see
-these foreign hawks fly. He had put off the masque on Twelfth Night, on
-account, as he had assigned, of his indisposition; but actually because
-of the competition about precedence between the French and Spanish
-ambassadors, who could not be accommodated in his presence.[71]
-
-Footnote 71:
-
- Ibid, 960.
-
-Thus did every variation in Buckingham’s plans appear to prosper. That
-he could so work upon James’s mind as to obliterate from it the
-cherished scheme of years, seems, indeed, a marvellous effect of his
-influence. For his ingratitude in this matter to the King, who had
-entrusted to him, as the object next his heart, the completion of the
-Spanish treaty, the Duke has justly been blamed. Could he, as Bishop
-Hacket asks, be deemed “execrable in point of honour and conscience? Did
-he do it the best for the King? Did he think the Spanish alliance would
-be fruitful in nothing but miseries, and that it would be a thankful
-office to lurch the King in his expectation of it? Evil befall such
-double diligence!” “Or did this great lord do it for the best for
-himself? I believe it. If the hope of the match died away, he lookt to
-get the love of the most in England; but if it were made up, he lookt
-for many enemies, for he had lost the love of the best in Spain. Let the
-Duke have his deserved praise in other things, great and many, but let
-fidelity, loyalty, and thankfulness hide their face, and not look upon
-this action.”[72]
-
-Footnote 72:
-
- Life of Keeper Williams, 138.
-
-The blame of this conduct was attributable, according to the same
-writer, more to those who worked upon the flexible temper of Buckingham
-than to his own wishes. But no one has a right to throw off his own
-shoulders, or to place on those of another, the deliberate violation of
-solemn engagements. “For it is,” as the Bishop remarks, “not man, God
-that made the law: he that kindled the fire, let him make retribution.”
-
-It was not long before James began to suspect that he had been abused by
-the favourite whose fidelity ought to have been secured by gratitude.
-Among the friends of the Duke, there was one who looked disapprovingly
-on his conduct. This was the Lord Keeper Williams; a man of “as deep and
-large wisdom,” says Bishop Hacket, “as I did ever speak with.”
-Confessing the greatest obligations to Buckingham, Williams had the
-courage to oppose him, when conscience dictated a remonstrance.
-
-“His enemies,” says his biographer, “liked nothing worse in him than his
-courage, and he pleased himself in nothing more.” Of a stately presence,
-and possessing abilities to maintain that lofty demeanour which is
-absurd when not supported by real superiority of intellect, Williams
-could cope with the haughty Buckingham, whose headstrong will had become
-such that none of the King’s ministers could move it. Williams, too, was
-of temper somewhat irritable. “Choler and a high stomach were his
-faults, the only defects in him.”[73] His manners were, at times, even
-supercilious. He was not likely to be daunted by one whose capacity was,
-therefore, to his own, as that of the infant to the man, and over whom
-he exercised an ascendancy through a very noted channel; namely, the
-influence which the Lord Keeper possessed over the Countess of
-Buckingham. “Those dangerous and busy flies,” writes Bishop Hacket,
-“which the Roman seminaries send abroad, had buzzed about the Countess
-of Buckingham, had blown upon her, and infected her. She was mother to
-the great favourite, but in religion became a step-mother.” Her
-conversion had taken place about a twelvemonth previously. The Countess
-doted on her son; but her conversion was certain to be highly injurious
-to him, especially at that juncture, just before the Spanish journey.
-Complaints were uttered, importing that the mother, who was thought
-almost to govern her son, must indirectly sway the monarch who was now
-little other than that son’s slave. The part which Laud had taken to
-remedy the evil has been already detailed. The Lord Keeper also had
-foreseen and endeavoured to prevent the mischief which might arise from
-these rumours. “Safety,” he considered, “is easiest purchased by
-precaution.” “An instrument that is swung may be used upon a little
-warning.” Anxious for the welfare of the Duke, Williams addressed him to
-the following effect. “Your mother,”[74] he observed, “is departed from
-the bosom of the Church of England, in whose confession of faith she was
-baptized;--a strange delusion in any to go astray from that society of
-Christians among whom they cannot demonstrate but salvation may be had.
-I would we could bring her home so soon that it might not be seen she
-had ever wandered.” His concern, he intimates, was, however, not so much
-for the Countess’s eternal welfare, as for her son’s temporal security.
-It was, he thought, time to inform the Favourite “that clamours were
-opened,” “that now the recusants have a potent advocate to plead for
-their immunity, and when this should be handed in high and popular court
-by tribunitial orators, what a dust it would make!”
-
-Footnote 73:
-
- Hacket’s Life, p. 229.
-
-Footnote 74:
-
- Williams wrote, for the Countess’s especial conversion, “A Manual of
- the Elements of the Orthodox Religion, by an Old Prebend of
- Westminster,” of which twenty copies only were printed, and all
- presented to the Marquis.--Nichols, vol. iii., p. 257.
-
-“But,” pursued the Lord Keeper, “though I have touched a sore with my
-finger, I am furnished with an emplaister to lay upon it, which, I
-presume, will lenifie. Only measure not the _size_ of good counsel by
-the _last_ of success.” After this address, Williams had proposed that
-controversies between learned men, in which that age so much delighted,
-should be held for the Countess of Buckingham’s edification; that the
-King should be present at this; and the “conflux of great persons, as
-thick as the place would permit.” Then should Buckingham’s industry and
-zeal be manifested to “catch at every twig or advantage,” to give weight
-to every solid reason, to bring his mother into a sound mind again. If
-successful, the Duke would “save a soul very precious to him;” if
-unsuccessful, then the favourite’s “pious endeavours would fill the King
-with a good report,” and impart a “sweet savour” to all.
-
-The result had justified the Lord Keeper’s anticipations; the Jesuit
-father, Fisher, was the champion in whom the Countess most relied; the
-King was the superintendent of the controversy. Dr. Francis White, then
-Dean of Carlisle, had gone first into the lists with Fisher, and given
-him “foil for foil,” according to the testimony of the Protestant party.
-But the lady was still unconvinced. The Lord Keeper engaged, therefore,
-in the combat. He managed the disputation with infinite skill, guided by
-worldly wisdom, mixed up with Christian charity. He had observed in the
-former conflict, that if some of the Jesuit’s arguments were admitted,
-“the Church of England, repurging itself from the super-injected errors
-of Rome, would stand inculpable.” He laboured, therefore, to show that
-if “unnecessary strifes were discreetly waved, little was wanting to a
-conclusive unity.” The King greatly commended this conciliatory mode of
-disputation, which surprised and baffled Fisher, yet which still failed
-to bring back the wanderers to their former path. The third who had
-contended for the palm of victory, to bring, as Hacket calls it,
-“eye-salve to the dim-sighted lady, was Bishop Laud, who was declared to
-have galled Fisher with great acuteness.” But all his labour was vain,
-as far as the Countess was concerned; she continued in her new belief.
-The conference had, however, effected what was desired for her son. He
-had appeared as an antagonist in the field against one whom he honoured,
-and whom he had treated with the deepest respect. He was "blazed abroad
-as the Red Cross Knight that was Una’s champion against Archinago."[75]
-And this scheme, which produced results afterwards, as well as at the
-time they were effected, of the utmost importance to Buckingham, had
-been accomplished from the suggestions and by the skill of the Lord
-Keeper Williams.
-
-Footnote 75:
-
- Hacket’s Life of Williams, pp. 172, 173.
-
-It may therefore be supposed that Buckingham would listen with reverence
-to his representations, when the Lord Keeper ventured to warn him from
-the course he was pursuing. So far, however, from such being the case,
-the Duke never forgave him for a letter addressed to him whilst in
-Spain, advising a reconciliation with the Earl of Bristol, whose
-knowledge of Spanish affairs, and repeated success in negotiations,
-would, it was thought, secure the completion of the marriage treaty.[76]
-Even whilst writing the letter, which seemed to alienate Williams from
-Buckingham for a time, the Lord Keeper was aware that he had already
-incurred the favourite’s displeasure. “What I wrote formerly,” he says,
-“may be ill-placed, and offend your grace, but all proceeded from as
-true and sincere a heart as you left behind you in all this
-kingdom.”[77] The Earl of Bristol, on hearing of this act of mediation,
-argued truly when he anticipated that it would produce a quarrel. He
-wrote to Williams to the following effect, “that the friendship of the
-Duke was a thing he did infinitely desire, that he did infinitely esteem
-the good offices that the Lord Keeper had done therein, but that he
-conceived that any motion he had made in that kind had been despised
-rather than received with thankfulness.”[78]
-
-Footnote 76:
-
- Hacket’s Life of Williams, p. 147.
-
-Footnote 77:
-
- Ibid.
-
-Footnote 78:
-
- Hacket, 148.
-
-Buckingham had formerly been compared to Alcibiades, the Lord Keeper to
-Socrates; but all obligations to that supposed Socrates were henceforth
-annulled. The interference of Williams, creditable to himself, and due
-to the King, was so misinterpreted that Buckingham withdrew from him his
-friendship, forgetting not only the axiom of Solon, “never to choose a
-friend suddenly, nor to lose him suddenly,” but the still stronger
-argument of services which could not be denied. During the Duke’s
-absence in Spain, Williams had watched over his welfare with the utmost
-care; he had ventured boldly to speak the truth to him; a benefit
-scarcely less important; yet Buckingham could not be appeased.
-
-He instantly avowed his determination, expressed with such effrontery
-and openness that it was soon conveyed to Williams, that he "would pluck
-down the highest roof of the Lord Keeper’s dignity." Williams, however,
-remained undaunted. He knew the favourite well. He allowed him to be a
-“generous and incorrupt patron, a great exacter of duty from those whom
-he served, and a bitter enemy.” But he confided in his own powers of
-rhetoric, and in the pliable temper of his former friend. The Earl of
-Rutland, Buckingham’s father-in-law, was employed to mediate between
-them; and to him the Duke said, referring to Williams, “Whenever I
-disagree with him, he will prove himself to be in the right; and though
-I could never convict him of being dishonest, I am afraid of his wit.”
-
-Before Buckingham returned, Williams sent another letter, warning him of
-the risk he ran, and offering excellent advice on the subject of the
-Spanish treaty, and upon the Duke’s demeanour. The Spaniards had
-remarked with resentment that when Charles attempted to speak in
-Buckingham’s presence, the Duke took the words out of his mouth, or
-checked, with an abrupt contradiction, what he had to say; the more
-gently Charles endured this presumption, the greater was the general
-admiration expressed towards him, and disgust towards his favourite. The
-Spaniards, who never address their kings first, were indignant with his
-freedom, which constituted one of those points against which Williams
-had warned the Duke. It was in vain that the Lord Keeper strove to
-conciliate Buckingham, in vain that he praised the Duke’s skill and
-energy in the marriage treaty to King James; a breach was made, which
-was never entirely repaired, and which is as discreditable to the Duke
-of Buckingham as any of those violations of good faith and propriety by
-which his career was sullied.
-
-On Tuesday, the thirteenth of January, whilst Buckingham’s disfavour
-with the King was suspected, a singular scene took place. The King,
-being much disturbed by his affairs, resolved to go to Theobald’s for
-change of scene. His health was now completely broken, and the vexatious
-and arbitrary conduct of his favourite added greatly to his sufferings.
-The morning before he left Whitehall, he received the various foreign
-ambassadors--the Venetian was first admitted, the French second, the
-Spanish last. They were introduced privately; and, after a full hour’s
-audience, the Prince and Buckingham were called in; what passed remained
-a secret, but the Prince and Duke were observed to come out looking very
-much dejected.
-
-The Duke’s carriage stood at the door, ready to follow that of the King
-to London; and the favourite was prepared, as usual, to accompany his
-royal master in his own coach. The King and his son were in the coach,
-when the Duke received an intimation from His Majesty that he was not to
-go. Buckingham, it is related, with tears in his eyes, entreated “his
-Master” to inform him how he had offended his gracious sovereign. “I
-vow,” he added sternly, “to purge, or confess it.” James, also, shed
-tears, and exclaiming that he was the unhappiest man alive, to be
-forsaken by those who were dearest to him, ordered his coach to drive
-on, and the Duke was left standing, dismayed, and probably indignant.
-Charles, who witnessed this scene, behaved with his usual weakness, his
-tears, also, expressing his concern and contrition.
-
-Buckingham retired to Wallingford House, where, sometime afterwards, the
-Lord Keeper Williams went to him, having with difficulty been admitted.
-“He found him,” says Bishop Hacket, “lying on a couch, in that unmovable
-posture that he would neither rise up nor speak, though invited twice or
-thrice with courteous questions.” But Williams generously consoled him,
-admonishing that he believed "God’s directing hand was in it, to stir up
-his grace;" he assured him that he came on purpose to bring him out of
-his sorrow with the light of the King’s favour. He besought the Duke to
-set off instantly for Windsor; not however to show himself to His
-Majesty before supper was over, and then to deport himself with all
-“amiable addresses;” not “to quit the King night or day, for the danger
-was that some would thrust themselves in to push his Majesty on to break
-utterly with the Parliament; and the next degree of theirs to be was,
-upon that dissolution, to see his grace convicted to the Tower, and God
-knows what would follow.”[79]
-
-Footnote 79:
-
- See Hacket’s Life of Williams. Also Mr. Chamberlain’s Letter to Sir
- Dudley Carleton, quoted in Nichols, 961, from Birch’s MSS., Brit.
- Mus., 417. These separate accounts are here connected; and Mr.
- Chamberlain’s date and statement of the place to which the King went,
- adopted upon the ground given by Nichols.
-
-The Duke, as if awakening from a dream, aroused himself, and set off, on
-the following day, to Theobald’s, where he arrived before he was
-expected.
-
-Thus, to Williams’ mediation, did Buckingham owe the avoidance of any
-open displeasure on the part of his sovereign; unhappily this obligation
-did not cancel in the Duke’s mind that avowal of a difference in
-opinion, and that condemnation of the policy pursued towards Spain which
-Williams esteemed it his duty to express.
-
-Opinions differed as to the actual obligations of the Prince to complete
-the contract with the Infanta.
-
-The Earl of Bristol declared that the King and the Prince stood as much
-engaged to it as princes could be; but Charles is said to have styled
-himself, as he knelt down before the King, at Royston, to have been “an
-absolute free man, but with one limitation--the restitution of the
-Palatinate.”[80]
-
-Footnote 80:
-
- Hacket, 164.
-
-These matters, painful and disgraceful as they were, were not concluded
-until the end of the year 1624, when the “golden cord,” as Bishop Hacket
-terms it, was broken. “Nothing,” adds the same authority, "is more sure
-than that the Prince’s heart was removed from the desire of that
-marriage after the Duke had brought him away from the object of that
-delightful and ravishing beauty."[81] If the report of other historians
-be credited, a far greater degree of constancy was shown by the young
-Princess whose affections were thus cruelly gained, and then sacrificed.
-After an acquaintance of many months, during which every possible
-exertion had been made by Charles to win her regard, these young
-persons, affianced as they doubtless were, had separated on terms of the
-closest affection. “The rare Infanta,” as she was styled, “seemed to
-deliver up her own heart at parting in as high expression as that
-language, and her learning could, with her honour, set out.” And when
-Charles had assured her that “_his_ heart would never be out of anxiety
-till she had passed the intended voyage, and were safe on British land,”
-she answered with a blush, “that should she happen to be in danger upon
-the ocean, or discomposed in health with the rolling, brackish waters,
-she would cheer up herself, and remember to whom she was going.”[82]
-After his departure the Princess began to study English “a-pace,”[83]
-two Englishmen, the one a Mr. Wadsworth, and the other Father Boniface,
-being appointed to teach her. The English ambassador, and all the
-ambassadors in Madrid from other countries, gave her the title and style
-of an English Princess, the Earl of Bristol and Sir Walter Aston
-remaining uncovered in her presence. In order to pass the period of
-absence, the Infanta employed herself in working “divers suits of rich
-cloths” for Charles, of perfumed ambar leather, some embroidered with
-pearls, others with gold and silver. Her household was on the eve of
-being settled, and nothing but one more despatch from home was expected,
-and then the solemnization of the nuptials would take place. In the
-midst of these preparations, one circumstance puzzled observers. “There
-is,” says Howell, "one Mr. Clerk (with the lame arm), that came hither
-from the seaside as soon as the Prince was gone; he is one of the Duke
-of Buckingham’s creatures, yet he is at the Earl of Bristol’s house,
-which we wonder at, considering the darkness that hapned ’twixt the Duke
-and the Earl. We fear that this Clerk hath brought about something that
-may puzzle the business."
-
-Footnote 81:
-
- Ibid, 167.
-
-Footnote 82:
-
- Hacket, 161. From Sanderson, p. 552; taken from the Spanish reports of
- their conference.
-
-Footnote 83:
-
- Howell’s Letters.
-
-Nevertheless, the preparations for the espousals proceeded; the first
-check given to them being a letter from Prince Charles, desiring Lord
-Bristol not to deliver up his proxy to the marriage to the King of Spain
-until further notice from England. On receiving this intimation, Lord
-Bristol observed “that he and Sir Walter Aston had a commission under
-the Broad Seal of England to conclude the match, and that there could
-not be a better favour for the surrender of the Palatinate than the
-Infanta, who would never rest until she had merited the love of the
-British nation.” He did not, therefore, relax his preparations; and
-provided rich liveries of watered velvet, with silver lace up to the
-very capes of the cloaks for his servants; and, in a fortnight
-afterwards, the ratification arrived, the marriage-day was fixed, and a
-terrace, covered with tapestry, was raised from the King’s Palace to the
-next church, a distance about the same as that between Whitehall and
-Westminster Abbey. But when she stood thus on the very threshold of her
-happiness,as she deemed it, the Infanta was doomed to be rejected and
-disappointed. “She had studied,” writes Bishop Hacket, “our language,
-our habit, our behaviour, everything but our religion, to make her
-English. Her conversation turned continually upon the Prince, and on her
-projected voyage to England in the spring. On the other hand, she was
-led to suppose that Charles admired her for her beauty; that his
-attachment was equal to her own; and that he was worthy of the affection
-which she undoubtedly bore him.”[84]
-
-Footnote 84:
-
- Life of Lord Keeper Williams, p. 164.
-
-The young King of Spain, her brother, participated in the sentiments of
-personal attachment which Charles appears to have inspired in those who
-beheld him, in the prime of his youth, at the Court of Madrid. Philip
-was now anxious to conclude the marriage, which he meant to do on the
-day on which his infant daughter was christened. Invitations were
-actually sent to the principal nobility to attend the espousals by
-proxy; ordinance was ordered to be fired off in the port-towns; and all
-Spain was prohibited from speaking disadvantageously of the alliance;
-when a new commission to Lord Bristol arrived. By this he was forbidden
-to deliver up the Prince’s proxy until a full and absolute satisfaction
-for the surrender of the Palatinate was given under the hand and seal of
-the King of Spain.
-
-This pretext--for the plea of the Palatinate could not in justice be
-adduced at this stage of the treaty--was met by the insulted Philip IV.
-with spirit. He replied that the “Palatinate was not his to give;” that
-he held only a few towns there; but that if the King of Great Britain
-would set a treaty on foot, he would send his own ambassador to join in
-it.[85] But the final blow was given to the Spanish treaty. Lord Bristol
-was prohibited from delivering any more letters to the Infanta, and her
-title of Princess of England and Wales was prohibited.
-
-The King, on his return to Whitehall, commissioned a select junto to
-inquire, whether, in the treaty with the King of Spain, that monarch had
-been sincere to the last in his desire to satisfy the Prince and the
-Duke; and whether, in the treaty for the restitution of the Palatinate,
-he had violated the league between the two kingdoms, so as to deserve a
-war to be proclaimed against him.[86]
-
-Footnote 85:
-
- Nichols, p. 943.
-
-Footnote 86:
-
- Hacket, p. 157.
-
-Some of the proceedings of this junto having been bruited abroad, it was
-found that they were divided into three parties, five of their number
-being for the Spanish marriage--among whom was the Lord Keeper
-Williams--four neutral, and three directly against the alliance. These
-were the Duke of Buckingham, who sent his vote, the Earl of Carlisle,
-and Secretary Conway. The evident distaste which Charles now showed for
-the match had a great influence in the deliberations of the junto. The
-Earl of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain, who was at first neutral, “nobly
-spoke out, declaring it as his opinion that, if the Spaniards performed
-the conditions, he saw not how the thing could in honour draw back.” It
-was supposed that this candid declaration was owing to some pique
-between him and Buckingham. Much heart-burning, indeed, existed on the
-part of several of the junto towards the favourite, who engrossed, as it
-was plainly seen, the regards both of the King and of his son, and
-contrived to cut off all access to those whom it was his aim wholly to
-govern.[87]
-
-Footnote 87:
-
- Nichols, p. 964.
-
-But the chief object of Buckingham’s wrath was Williams. “The
-proceedings in this affair were,” says Bishop Hacket, "so far against
-the Lord Keeper’s mind, that he wished, before a friend or two in
-private, that a fever in his sick-bed might excuse him." Buckingham was
-now become incapable of that generous candour which permits a friend to
-differ in opinion. He “was now mortally anti-Spanish,” as Bishop Hacket
-observes, “and his anger was headed with steel. He assayed the Lord
-Keeper to hale him to his judgment, as an eddy does a small boat,” and
-would have persuaded him to influence the King against Spain; but he
-found him as “inflexible as a dried bough.” When pressed by the
-favourite to advance his views, he declared that, as God was his
-protector, he would suffer all the obloquy in the world, rather than be
-ungrateful to the Duke. But when the King asked his judgment--he must be
-true and faithful--Buckingham, to his discredit be it spoken, had not
-the generosity to appreciate Williams. The Duke had been apprized that
-James, addressing the Earl of Carlisle, had remarked, "that had he sent
-Williams into Spain, he would have kept both heart’s ease and honour,
-both of which he lacked at that time." And one day, when Prince Charles
-was present, James, looking at Williams, said, “This is the man that
-makes us keep merry Christmas.” The Prince, not seeming to understand
-his father, the King explained himself. “It is he,” he said, “that
-laboured more dexterously than all my servants to bring you safe back
-home this Christmas, and I hope you are sensible of it.” A finishing
-stroke was put to Buckingham’s mortification when the King announced his
-intention of promoting the Lord Keeper to the Archbishopric of York when
-next it should be vacant.[88]
-
-Footnote 88:
-
- Hacket, 168.
-
-The decision of the junto exonerated Philip IV. from any hollowness in
-his share of the treaty. They blamed the Earl of Bristol for not
-revoking the proxy, which was left in his hands sooner, and thus
-stopping those preparations for the nuptials which had rendered the King
-of Spain ridiculous. But when they voted that that Monarch should be
-defied with open war, till amends were made to the Prince Palatine for
-the wrongs he had suffered, the majority of the conference hesitated,
-and refused to say more than that the “girths of peace were slack, but
-not broken.” Buckingham had now become wholly impatient of opposition;
-scarcely any of the council had voted to his satisfaction. Sometimes
-strange scenes were witnessed in the conference; the fiery Duke would
-arise, and “chafe against” those who opposed him from room to room, “as
-a hen who has lost her brood, and clucks up and down when there is none
-to follow her.” Upon meeting Lord Belfast, one of the party adverse to
-his wishes, he asked him contemptuously, “Are you turned too? and flung
-from him; upon which Lord Belfast, in a manly and candid letter,
-announced his resolution to conform in all things to the pleasure of his
-royal master.” But the greatest anger was displayed by Buckingham
-against the Lord Keeper, who seldom spoke, but who, when he gave his
-opinion, swayed that of the majority.[89]
-
-Footnote 89:
-
- Hacket, p. 69.
-
-Buckingham was not of a character to dissemble his feelings; and his
-displeasure was shown, not only in his countenance, but expressed in
-angry expostulations. He told Bishop Laud that the Lord Keeper had so
-strangely forgotten himself to him that he seemed to be “dead in his
-affections.” Laud, who was devotedly attached to the favourite and his
-family, meeting Williams in the withdrawing-chamber at Whitehall, “fell
-into very hot words with him,” which were reported to the Duke.
-Eventually, however, these differences were healed, and, in February,
-1624, a reconciliation was effected through the mediation of Laud. From
-henceforth, nothing but an appearance of friendship subsisted between
-Buckingham and Williams. “The wound,” says Dr. Heylyn, “was only
-stunned, not healed, and festered the more dangerously, because the
-secret rancour of it could not be discerned.”[90]
-
-Footnote 90:
-
- Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 113.
-
-The issue of all this was that the Duke insisted on a parliament, by way
-of appeal;[91] and during the heat of these Court cabals, that body was
-assembled at Westminster in February.
-
-Footnote 91:
-
- Hacket, p. 169.
-
-Meantime, public aversion to the match was from time to time forcibly
-expressed. The pulpits were still profaned by political allusions; a
-clergyman named Knight was committed for preaching that tyrannical kings
-might be brought to order by their subjects; a doctrine which appeared
-so monstrous to James, that he talked of having the sermon burned by the
-hangman.[92] This arrest took place at Oxford; the King highly approved
-the proceedings, and directions were forthwith sent to the heads of the
-colleges, to desire the students to apply themselves to the Scriptures,
-to general councils, and the ancient fathers and schoolmen, excluding
-the heretical doctrines of both Jesuits and Puritans. The document which
-contains these directions is still extant, and is endorsed by Laud.
-Sedition seems not to have been the only rank weed that then sprang up
-in the universities.[93]
-
-Footnote 92:
-
- State Papers, cxxix., No. 62.
-
-Footnote 93:
-
- Ibid, cxix., No. 68.
-
-The King, in addressing the Parliament, declared that he had called them
-together to correct previous misunderstandings; that he would cherish
-his people as a husband does his wife; he wished for their advice in
-matters of the greatest moment; he had long been engaged in treaties,
-hoping to settle the peace of Christendom, but had found treaties
-fallacious. With regard to Spain, he referred the houses to the
-secretaries, the Prince, and to Buckingham; on their good advice he
-conceived the felicity of the kingdom depended. He had never, he said,
-neglected religion, nor intended anything but a temporary indulgence to
-recusants. He concluded this original and eccentric harangue (rather
-different from a modern royal speech) by saying that he knew that never
-was there a king more beloved than himself, and that he wished the two
-houses to be the mirrors of the people.[94]
-
-Footnote 94:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxix., No. 55.
-
-The Speaker was then elected; and Sir Thomas Crewe, sergeant-at-law, in
-his reply, recalled the benefits of the good parliament in the
-thirty-second year of Henry VIII., and the thirty-ninth of Elizabeth.
-
-Soon afterwards, More, an attorney, was sentenced to lose both his ears
-“for speaking disrespectfully of those two deceased monarchs.” Such was
-English liberty. The culprit laughed whilst the sentence was being put
-into execution in Cheapside. A proclamation was issued, ordering priests
-and Jesuits to leave Ireland within forty days;[95] so instant was the
-change from toleration to persecution. James was not more free from
-troubles about Ireland than his successors have been. On visiting the
-State Paper Office, and seeing a large mass of documents relating to
-that island there, he had once remarked that there was “more ado about
-Ireland than about any of his dominions.”[96]
-
-Footnote 95:
-
- Ibid, No. 70.
-
-Footnote 96:
-
- State Papers.
-
-The Duke had now so completely regained the love of the people, by his
-abandoning the Spanish marriage, that it was proposed in the Lower House
-to confirm all his lands and honours to him by act of parliament; but
-the reply was that this was no time to commend men, though deserving
-well.[97] A few days afterwards, the Prince told the Upper House that
-they need not fear “advising a breach, for if we did not begin the war,
-Spain would.”
-
-Footnote 97:
-
- Ibid, Nos. 93, 94.--Locke to Carleton.
-
-In the House of Commons, Sir Benjamin Rudyard declared that the King of
-Spain had verified the proverb that kings’ daughters are so many ways to
-deceive their neighbours; and that since the match was first thought of,
-much Papistry had sprung up amongst the people; that Protestantism was
-disunited as in Germany; suppressed as in France; threatened as in
-Holland. All the speakers on this memorable occasion praised the Prince.
-Rudyard declared that he had shown both courage and wisdom in his
-journey, which “had matured his excellent parts.” The Lord Keeper
-Williams related how the Prince had sent a message to the council, to
-say that though he stole to Spain for love, he would not steal back
-again for fear; how he had told Grimes, one of his servants, to tell his
-father, in case he should hear that he was detained, to think of him no
-more as a son, for he would be lost, but to place all his affections on
-his sister.[98] On the second of March, Sir Edward Coke was instructed
-by the Commons to advise the Lords of their unanimous resolution to
-counsel the King to break the treaties with Spain; and was instructed to
-request the Lords to join in a petition to make a declaration to that
-effect, which should comfort his people and encourage his allies
-abroad.[99] Sir Edward answered, that he never knew a petition of both
-houses refused; he could not say anything more “for weeping;” and Sir
-Thomas Edmondes, treasurer of the household, taking up the pecuniary
-part of the question, said that the “mysteries of delusion in the
-treaties were now discovered, and that the Spanish, having enticed us
-from the match with France, now offered, instead of a dowry of
-600,000_l._, only 20,000_l._ yearly with the Infanta, and some jewels;
-whilst France would give a wedding portion of 240,000_l._” This,
-perhaps, considering the King’s debts, and the almost bankrupt state of
-the treasury, was probably a stronger argument with James than the
-restitution of the Palatinate, or the security of Protestantism, on
-which points his conscience seems to have been conveniently callous.
-
-Footnote 98:
-
- State Papers, clx., Nos. 8 and 10.
-
-Footnote 99:
-
- Ibid, Nos. 1 and 33.
-
-On the twenty-sixth of February, Buckingham, assisted by the Prince,
-addressed the houses, beginning from the first negotiation at Brussels,
-which had raised doubts of the Spanish King’s sincerity, and induced the
-Prince to go himself to Spain; and had disclosed the fact that neither
-the marriage, nor the restitution of the Palatinate, was intended. Many
-letters were read to and from the chief parties concerned in the treaty,
-and the houses were asked whether the King should act on the assurances
-given, or “stand on his own feet.” It was soon resolved that the King
-should not accept their answer. The houses applauded the Duke’s conduct,
-and requested the King to break off the treaties.[100]
-
-Footnote 100:
-
- State Papers, vol. clix., No. 83.
-
-Upon this resolution, the spirits of the anti-Catholics were so much
-excited that a request was sent James to order a fast for the happy
-deliverance of the Prince; and no member of parliament was henceforth to
-be allowed to retain recusant servants.[101] Soon afterwards the Lower
-House informed the Upper that the Spanish ambassadors declared that
-Buckingham deserved to lose his head for wronging the King of Spain, but
-that the Commons had acquitted him, and the Upper House appointed a
-committee, who did the same.[102] On the same day, the Duke made a
-motion in the House of Peers to “thwart the King of Spain in the
-Indies,” by way of a commencement of hostilities. The Upper House,
-indeed, cried out loudly for hostilities, more especially the bishops;
-and the Bishop of Durham was so excited that he declared he would lay
-down his rochet, and gird on a sword if the King would take that course.
-This excitement was heightened by the following anecdote. Buckingham,
-having been present when the Spanish ambassador told the King that his
-master had deprived a bishop for speaking disrespectfully of James, had
-answered, “It was true; and he had admired the justice of his Spanish
-Majesty therein, but still more his mercy, for in a few days he gave the
-man a bishopric worth thrice of his former prelacy.” These particulars
-were stated by some members in the debates.[103]
-
-Footnote 101:
-
- State Papers, No. 92.
-
-Footnote 102:
-
- Ibid, No. 85.
-
-Footnote 103:
-
- Latter from Secretary Conway to Carleton.
-
-It is not improbable that the exaggerated fears of the people, on the
-one hand, and the expectations of the Catholics, on the other, may have
-alarmed Charles, who was firmly attached to the Church of England. Upon
-an application being made to Pope Gregory the XV. to grant a
-dispensation for the marriage, that Pontiff had replied in a Latin
-letter, expressing, first, his regret at the altered state of
-Britain;[104] next, his hopes that, as under his predecessor, Gregory
-the Great, Apostolical authority had been there established, he might be
-permitted to see it reestablished by the conversion of the Prince, “the
-flower of the Christian world,” who had proved, by seeking a Catholic
-Princess, that he did not hate the see of Rome. He then set before the
-Prince the example of his Highness’s ancestors, and concluded with
-hoping that Charles would become “the infranshiser of Brittayne.”
-
-Footnote 104:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxiii., No. 59.--April 10, 1623.
-
-Several Catholics who had worn a mask of Protestantism now threw it off,
-and in hopes of toleration, avowed themselves Romanists; amongst these
-were Sir John Wentworth and Lord Vaughan. “Everyone,” Lady Hatton wrote
-to Carleton, “was on the wing for Spain;” but, “in spite of her walks
-and talks with Gondomar,” she would ever, she said, oppose his
-country.[105]
-
-Footnote 105:
-
- Ibid, vol. clxiii., No. 2.
-
-Nor were the Catholics without reason in their dreams of enjoying a
-degree of security and toleration long most unjustly and cruelly
-withheld. Even after James had begun to listen to the changed tone
-adopted by Buckingham, preparations had been going on, both for the
-reception and maintenance of the Infanta, which might well afford hopes
-of religious liberty. It was reported that the marriage conditions were
-to be, the liberation of the Catholics and the abandonment of the
-Hollanders. The Spanish ambassador surveyed Denmark House and St.
-James’s, where “lodgings,” as they were styled, were prepared for the
-Infanta. At each place, he ordered a new chapel, and Inigo Jones was to
-prepare each with great costliness. The Spanish ambassador laid the
-stone of a new chapel for the Infanta at St. James’s, whilst the Savoy
-chapel was to be given up to the Infanta’s suite.
-
-“After the London bonfires,” adds Mr. Chamberlain, who tells in the same
-tone good and bad tidings, “Oxford lit fires and rung bells, and wrote
-verses in honour of the match.”[106] It appears, indeed, from a letter
-of Lord Treasurer Middlesex to Secretary Conway, that it was even in
-contemplation to decorate the chapel with jewels; "Sir Peter Lore’s
-jewels, and others of the Countess of Suffolk, now in pawn, should,"
-wrote the Lord Treasurer, immediately after referring to his preparing
-the chapel, "be submitted to His Majesty’s inspection, though he hoped
-the King would not declare which he preferred, as advantage would be
-taken of his preference, but leave the Chancellor himself, and others,
-to bargain for them, as there was great necessity for frugality."[107]
-
-Footnote 106:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxliv., No. 13.
-
-Footnote 107:
-
- Lord Middlesex to Secretary Conway.--State Papers, vol. cxliii., No.
- 20.
-
-The King, indeed, up to the very moment of his son’s return, had been
-sanguine of the marriage, and delighted to talk over the adventures of
-the journey, during which Buckingham had had seven falls, Sir Francis
-Cottington twelve, and the Prince not one; but his tone was now
-beginning to alter, which seemed strange to those who knew the King’s
-circumstances, and who considered how splendid a dower was expected with
-the Infanta. Lord Middlesex, who was afterwards discovered to have
-embezzled public money, had declared himself “sick at heart” with the
-idea of all these extraordinary charges, when the King was so ill able
-to meet even his ordinary expenses. Like all servants who rob their
-masters, his zeal was laudable; he could not, he wrote, “hold out,
-unless some extraordinary reply be thought of, or some large sums come
-in from Spain with the fleet; but would pawn his whole estate for the
-present.”[108]
-
-Footnote 108:
-
- Lord Middlesex to Secretary Conway.--State Papers, vol. cxliii., No.
- 60.
-
-It was a gift from a lady that brought first the altered sentiments of
-Prince Charles to light. In the course of March, 1624, the Countess of
-Olivares had sent him a large present of provisions, comprising gammons
-of bacon, vessels of olives, special figs, sweet lemons, capers and
-caperons, suchets, and sweet meats; he vouchsafed not even to see them.
-They were conveyed into the riding place at St. James’s, and left to the
-disposal of Mr. Francis Cottington.[109] On the twenty-third of March,
-James informed his Privy Council that he was about to send a messenger
-to Spain, to signify to the King that his Parliament had advised him to
-break off the treaty, and that he intended proceeding to recover the
-Palatinate as he might. “Bonfires were made in the city,” says
-Archbishop Laud, “for joy that we should break with Spain.” Prince
-Charles gave great satisfaction to the Parliament, where he was a
-constant attendant, by declaring that should he choose any one of a
-different religion from his own, it would be with a caution that his
-consort, and her foreign servants, alone should be permitted the
-exercise of their faith.[110] It was not, however, until the tenth of
-December in the same year, that a ship was sent to Spain to fetch back
-the jewels that had been bestowed on the Infanta and the royal family
-there; when, by the proposal of the Spaniards themselves, they were
-returned. They were placed under the care of James Howell, whose
-familiar letters are so well known, and the news of their arrival was
-conveyed by him to the King.[111] The Infanta, as an account from Spain
-testified, was greatly distressed by these proceedings. The termination
-of this treaty was, as Bishop Hacket remarks, “flat and unfortunate. Not
-an inch of the Palatinate better for it, and we the worse from wars in
-all countries.” The same writer justly observes that the Spanish as a
-nation are preferable to the French; that the Spanish ladies, who have
-been united to English princes, have been “virtuous, mild, thrifty, and
-beloved of all.”
-
-Footnote 109:
-
- Nichols, p. 962.
-
-Footnote 110:
-
- Nichols, p. 970.
-
-Footnote 111:
-
- Ibid, p. 849.
-
-The conduct of Charles in this affair gave a presage of that vacillating
-and insincere policy which, in his after life, stamped a character full
-of beautiful indications and gentle qualities, with duplicity. "But to
-his life’s end," remarks Hacket, “he had a quality, I will not call it
-humility, it is something like, but it is not it, to be easily persuaded
-out of his own knowledge and judgment by some whom he permitted to have
-power over him, who had not the half of his intellectuals.” The public,
-however, remarked that the “brave prince,” as they called him, was
-“bettered in his judgment after his return from Spain.”[112]
-
-Footnote 112:
-
- State Papers.
-
-Buckingham’s conduct drew forth still more severe censures. It was
-observed that in advising the Prince to break off the treaty, he had
-only counselled what he had often done himself; for he was said to have
-given promises of marriage to many within the Court, and to have
-withdrawn from the fulfilment.[113] Harassed by the censures cast upon
-him, Buckingham’s health and spirits sank under the alternate excitement
-of his too dazzling career, and the depression of blame and opposition.
-“A fever, the jaundice, and I know not what else,” are described, in a
-letter from Mr. Chamberlain, as his disease. For this he was “let blood
-thrice;” “yet the world,” adds the same writer, “thinks he is more sick
-in mind than body, and that he declines apace.” The King in vain
-endeavoured to reconcile him to the Earl of Bristol, who had returned
-from Spain some time previously. That nobleman was ordered not to leave
-his house, although many gracious messages were sent to him from the
-King.[114] Buckingham, however, passed much of his time with the King,
-“with as much freedom and love as ever.”[115]
-
-Footnote 113:
-
- Ibid, pp. 972, 975.
-
-Footnote 114:
-
- Hacket, from Cabala, p. 223.
-
-Footnote 115:
-
- State Papers.
-
-The Duke of Buckingham was attended in his illness by Sir Theodore
-Mayerne, the favourite court physician. From an entry in a journal of
-cases kept by that eminent man, and styled by him his “Ephemerides
-Anglicæ,” it appears that Buckingham was not unfrequently the subject of
-his care and skill. In 1617 he had been troubled with a tumour in the
-right ear, owing to riding bareheaded in the winter, when hunting with
-the King; and the mode of life pursued in James’s society, the habits of
-intemperance prevalent in those days, and the absence of any strict
-moral principle, were, as Mayerne’s details are said to prove, highly
-injurious to the general health of the Favourite,[116] who is specified,
-in Sir Theodore’s voluminous collection, under the name of Palamedes.
-Every one remarked that Buckingham had, since his return, become
-pensive. “The Prince,” writes Mr. Mead to Sir Martin Stuteville, “hath
-got a beard, and is cheerful; the Marquis (some conceive) not so.” The
-expenses of the Spanish journey were very considerable; and in the
-impoverished state of James’s treasury, they might naturally provoke
-difficulties far from agreeable to the main projectors of that
-enterprize. They amounted, according to a release given by Prince
-Charles to Sir Francis Cottington, to 50,027_l._ Prince Charles, before
-he left Spain, had given presents to the amount of 12,000_l._
-
-Footnote 116:
-
- Ellis’s Original Letters, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 245-46. There are
- nineteen volumes in the Sloane MSS., British Museum, consisting of
- notes in Latin, in the handwriting of Mayerne, forming a journal of
- the cases which he attended from 1611 to 1649. “These,” says Sir Henry
- Ellis, “may be styled, for the period they embrace, ‘Medical Annals of
- the Court of England.’”
-
-But it appears that the nation, pleased that the heir-apparent of Great
-Britain should have an opportunity of seeing two great kingdoms, and
-proud of his discretion and princely demeanour, were far from regretting
-that the journey had taken place, but rejoiced that he had returned in
-health, and without any change in his religious opinions.[117]
-
-Footnote 117:
-
- State Papers. Letter from Edward Herbert to James I., p. 168.
-
-The Prince, it was now said, disliked a Dutch match, and refused a
-Spanish one, until full restoration of the Palatinate and Electorals. “A
-lady,” Dudley Carleton remarked, “wise in these matters, declared she
-saw no symptom of his being in love.”[118] The talk of the Spanish match
-became daily cooler, and another was said to be under consideration at
-Vienna; whilst the Princes’s safe return was, as many thought, a “marvel
-to all;” and a great man told him that he might thank God and his sister
-for it.[119]
-
-Footnote 118:
-
- State Papers, vol. cliv., No. 2.
-
-Footnote 119:
-
- Ibid, No. 17.
-
-In the course of these discussions an accident occurred, which too
-plainly showed the temper of the times. A house had been hired by the
-Roman Catholics, next to that of the French ambassador, in order to
-celebrate mass, and to hear Father Drury, a famous Jesuit preacher. The
-day chosen for the opening of the tenement was the fifth of November.
-That day the roof fell in, whilst these worshippers were assembled, and
-ninety-five people, Drury among the number, were killed. It seems
-difficult, in the present state of public feeling, to believe that, as
-the crashing ruins entombed the victims beneath them, the barbarous
-multitude, who might term themselves Protestants, but were not to be
-called Christians, “rather railed and taunted the sufferers, than helped
-them.” Nor did the bitterness of persecution end there, for the Bishop
-of London refused to allow these unfortunate people to be interred in
-any churchyard in the City; the dead were therefore buried in two pits
-behind the houses which had fallen in, and black crosses were placed
-above their graves. This event made a deep impression. It was the first
-solemn meeting of recusants for sixty years; the Puritans styled it a
-judgment; the Romanists declared that it could not be such, for that
-those dying in that way escape purgatory. The preachers in the churches,
-however, treated the question “charitably and temperately.”[120] Masses
-for the sufferers were said at Ely House, in the presence of all the
-Spanish Legation, Sir Tobie Mathew appearing as chief mourner.[121]
-
-Footnote 120:
-
- Letter from Chamberlain to Carleton.
-
-Footnote 121:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 17.
-
-People began to fear Buckingham more than even Prince Charles himself;
-he was styled the “dictator, not only of England, Ireland, and of
-Scotland, but of the King himself,”[122] and he henceforth courted
-popularity, inviting himself to the houses of the influential citizens,
-which seemed nevertheless to imply that he dreaded lest some impending
-storm should be lowering over his destiny.
-
-Footnote 122:
-
- Coke’s Detections, p. 224.
-
-During the whole of this year, however, Buckingham’s security was being
-undermined; and, had it not been for the unfathomable indulgence of
-James, he would probably have shared the fate of that great minister,
-Wolsey, to whom he has been sometimes compared. During the progress of
-the Spanish treaty, as we have already seen, the Marquis of Inojosa had
-been sent to England as ambassador. He was a man of truly Spanish
-gravity and severity, and a great promoter of the Popish interests in
-England. His peculiar distinctions as an ambassador were, however, his
-disagreeable, discourteous manners, which marked him as one of the most
-unamiable foreigners that had visited the English Court.
-
-This nobleman, in a private audience with James, had, in the spring of
-1624, accused Buckingham of conspiring with certain accomplices how to
-break off the match with the Infanta, and of having determined, in case
-that their plot should not succeed, to send the King to one of his
-country houses, and to put all public matters in the hands of the
-Prince, whose virtue and discretion were so much worthier of confidence.
-
-Hints were even thrown out by Inojosa that Buckingham plotted treason
-against the King, who, until assured by several peers and councillors
-that there was no intention of deposing him, was greatly disquieted.
-Precedents were now sought to punish Buckingham; and there was an idea
-started of calling him before the upper house to answer for his conduct.
-But when the council talked to the King of precedents, he said that
-"such precedents were found to cut off his mother’s head." Inojosa did
-his best, meantime, to obtain a private hearing from the King, and went
-to him, whilst Charles was in the House of Lords, at Theobald’s; but the
-Prince, hearing of this visit, hurriedly rose, and arrived at the Palace
-before the ambassador.
-
-The King, harassed and vacillating, sent for the Lords to Whitehall, and
-harangued them, when a strange scene ensued; he told them that he came
-to sing a psalm of mercy and justice about the Lord Treasurer,[123]
-whose misdeeds had lately come to light--who had done him, he said, some
-good, in restraining grants which his own facile disposition led him to
-consent to; that a recent imposition on wines was for his service and
-profit, and therefore they might as well arraign him as the Lord
-Treasurer. Prince Charles, deputed by the lords, said Lord Middlesex was
-not questioned for that; but the King “_told him he lied_,” and bade the
-house proceed, but give a good account of what they did.[124]
-
-Footnote 123:
-
- Lord Middlesex.
-
-Footnote 124:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 53.
-
-James next did what every open nature is likely to suggest; he sent for
-the creature whom he had raised from the dust, and reproached him with
-his conduct. “Ah, Steenie, Steenie,” cried the monarch, “wilt thou kill
-me?” Steenie, however, found means to justify himself to the King’s
-satisfaction, and the Marquis of Inojosa was henceforth prohibited from
-any more private interviews with the King. He resolved, however, to
-overreach those who were set as spies to prevent his seeing James; and,
-whilst Don Carlos de Coloma held the Prince and the Duke in close
-conversation, he managed to slip into the King’s hands, with a wink, a
-paper which he wished him to see, and made a sign that His Majesty
-should thrust it into his pocket, which was quietly effected by the poor
-frightened monarch. James had, indeed, for some time perceived that he
-was maltreated by the haughty Buckingham. The Prince, though averse to
-the alliance with Spain, was gentle and tractable; but, in the Duke, the
-King declared that he had noted a turbulent spirit of late, and knew not
-how to quell it. It was by the altered expression of James’s
-countenance, and by his frequent silence and musings, that the Duke and
-the Prince discovered these proceedings, and when they heard that
-Inojosa and the Jesuit Maestro had been with the King, their alarm was
-considerable. In consequence of this discovery, Buckingham wrote to his
-royal master the following ungrateful and unpardonable letter:--
-
-"DEAR DAD AND GOSSIP,
-
- "Notwithstanding this unfavourable interpretation I find made
-of a thoughtful and loyal heart, in calling my words ‘cruel Catonic
-words,’ in obedience to your commands, I will tell the House of
-Parliament that you, having been upon the fields this afternoon, have
-taken such a fierce rheum and cough, as, not knowing how you will be
-this night, you are not able yet to appoint them a day of hearing; but I
-will forbear to tell them that notwithstanding of your cold, you were
-able to speak with the King of Spain’s instruments, though not with your
-own subjects. All I can say is, you march slowly towards your own safety
-(here the words ‘_and happiness_’ are erased), and those that depend of
-you. I pray God at last you may attain wit, otherwise I shall take
-little comfort in wife or child, though now I am suspected to look more
-to the rising son than to my maker. Sir, hitherto, I have tied myself to
-a punctuall answer of yours. If I should give myself leave to speak my
-own thoughts, they are so many, that though the quality of them should
-not grieve you, coming from one you wilfully and unjustly suspect, yet
-the number of them are so many, that I should not give over till I had
-troubled you. Therefore I shall only tie myself to that which shall be
-my last and speedy refuge--to pray, the Almighty to increase your joys
-and qualify the sorrows of your Majesty."
-
-Notwithstanding this remonstrance, James continued to give audience to
-the Spanish ambassadors, though sometimes disputes ran high, and loud
-expostulations were addressed even to his Majesty by Inojosa; at other
-times, the Pope’s envoy, the Jesuit Maestro, was admitted whilst
-Buckingham was at Newhall, and jealousies were thus fomented.[125] The
-Duke was about this time ill of fever and jaundice; and reports were
-spread of his having had something given to him in Spain that was
-undermining his health; he was, in short, harassed by debts, harassed by
-the Spanish treaty, and doubted by the King. Superstitious fears never
-seemed to have had much hold on him; yet in James’s time, wiser men than
-Buckingham (not to specify the King himself) were agitated by omens and
-prophecies. In the spring of this eventful year, one Gamaliel Gruys had
-prophesied that two great cedars would fall in England; these were, he
-said, the Duke of Buckingham and the Lord Keeper. An hour after this
-prophecy was spoken, news arrived of the death of the Duke of Lennox.
-The augury, therefore, might be thought to refer to him. This idle
-speech was deemed worthy of investigation;[126] and the prognostic was
-judged by many to have had special reference to the events which time
-too surely disclosed. Nevertheless, in proportion as the favour of the
-Monarch declined, that of the people seemed to be restored to the Duke.
-
-Footnote 125:
-
- Nichols, 970.
-
-Footnote 126:
-
- State Papers, vol. clix., Nos. 45, 46.
-
-The King, at this epoch, must have had some difficulties in arranging
-his different audiences. The ambassadors from the States, and those from
-Spain, were obliged to be conducted by different ways to the presence
-chamber, that they might not meet, and the very chamber and bed which
-had been prepared for the reception of the Infanta at St. James’s, were
-allotted to Count Mansfeld, the ambassador from the Protestant party in
-Germany, who, notwithstanding a protest from the Spanish ambassador, was
-graciously received, and royally entertained by the King.[127] James
-found it impossible long to resist the influence of his favourite, and
-accordingly the Duke soon perceived that he was again welcome at court;
-and a complete triumph was gained. Thus dishonourably and discourteously
-ended the famous treaty with Spain, for the accomplishment of which
-James had risked the best interests in Europe, and of his own family,
-and upon which so much time, trouble, and money had been expended. The
-voice of the people certainly called for the result.
-
-Footnote 127:
-
- Nichols, 790.
-
-The expected rupture of the treaties with Spain was, however, most
-acceptable to the nation; and Parliament resolved to assist His Majesty
-in maintaining the honour of the nation by proclaiming war. Sir Edward
-Coke encouraged the resolution, by saying in the house that “we never
-thrived so well as in a war with Spain; and that if the navy was ready,
-Ireland secured, and the low countries divided, we need fear neither
-Turk, Pope, devil, nor the King of Spain himself, and that the very idea
-of the war made him seven years younger.”[128] Sir Thomas Edwards was
-authorized to declare also that the Prince “was sensible to the
-dishonours put on himself, and condescended to urge speed in the
-resolution for avenging them.” “Who,” cried the well-paid courtier, “can
-resist such an invitation, the first made by him? He shall have an
-answer of thanks, and assurance of tender concern for his
-interests.”[129]
-
-Footnote 128:
-
- State Papers, vol. clx., No. 63.
-
-Footnote 129:
-
- Ibid, No. 68.
-
-The King still temporized, nevertheless; and his conduct at this
-juncture shows more plainly than at any other his native apathy, and the
-indecision of his weak character, faced, as it was, with strong
-pretensions. He was truly the “Clerk of Arms,” and said lofty things
-whilst the sword was still in the sheath. Prince Charles endeavoured to
-keep up appearances, by saying, “The King hath a long sword, and when it
-is out it will not easily go in again.” But James confessed, in his
-reply to the declaration, that he was old and oppressed with debts, and
-had not yet expressed his opinion with regard to the war; “for, where
-Jupiter speaks,” he added, “he should have his thunder; and a king
-should not speak unless he could act.”[130] In this great business he
-must satisfy his conscience, and his honour and he were already _almost_
-resolved. The fact was, that he wanted larger subsidies than, he
-expected, without this coquetting with his Parliament, would be voted.
-
-Footnote 130:
-
- State Papers, No. 27.
-
-Never had the courtiers been so much at a loss in which way to turn
-their customary homage; whether to the failing interest of the Spanish
-ambassador, or to the rising but precarious favour of the French, for
-James still vacillated.
-
-At this juncture, the unfortunate Charles I. became for a time the
-darling of the anti-catholic party, by far the most powerful at all
-times in this country. His gentleness, his urbanity, his filial respect,
-on the one hand, his endeavours to procure the King’s assent to the
-wishes of his people, on the other, were the theme of praise. Still
-Parliament was “fitful, and did lettle,” though the Prince and Duke
-endeavoured to get it into a better understanding with His Majesty. The
-Prince so “bravely and judiciously” exhorted the Houses, that they
-resolved to offer life and fortune to His Majesty, if he would declare
-the treaties broken. Secretary Calvert knowingly suggested that the
-offer should be restricted “to be in a Parliamentary way;” the Treasurer
-and Lord Arundel suggested that a general offer of aid from Parliament
-would be of no avail; the Archbishop of Canterbury presented the
-declaration; the King replied by thanks for their “large offer, which,
-he said, was too general to be accepted;” they mistook him “in supposing
-that he said Spain had dealt falsely with him; but if they would give
-him five subsidies and ten fifteens for the war only, and one subsidy
-and two fifteens yearly for himself, till his debts were paid, he would
-issue a declaration to make this Parliament a session, and call another
-for Michaelmas, and another for Lady-day.” This answer so annoyed the
-House that there was not one “God save the King” heard as they went
-away. When the Houses met again, the Prince and Duke endeavoured to
-disperse these clouds: they said His Majesty was misunderstood; he only
-wanted six subsidies and twelve fifteenths for the war. But this did not
-convince those who heard him. Many members of Parliament were now again
-"so cast down, that they would give the King’s men all for the war, even
-to their shirts;" others harped on the poverty of the country, and would
-not consent to give at all. At last the house voted three subsidies and
-three fifteenths, to be paid within a year after the declaration that
-the treaties were broken, and the King “lovingly” accepted their offer,
-saying he would not touch a penny of the money himself, but devote it
-all to the Palatinate. The general joy was expressed in bonfires; and
-one nobleman, Lord Verulam, ran into debt to give four dozen fagots and
-twelve gallons of wine. Stones and firebrands were now thrown at the
-Spanish ambassador’s house; but the Commons refused to protect him. The
-ambassador complained of some expressions used by Buckingham, reflecting
-on the King of Spain, but the Houses immediately praised his conduct in
-Spain, and the King said the Duke “had set an ill example to
-ambassadors, for he had spent 40,000_l._ in his journey, and had asked
-no repayment.” Never, adds Sir Edward Conway, whose letter to Carleton
-contains these curious details, “was man so beloved of King, Prince, and
-people” as Buckingham.
-
-All seemed now to be settled according to the popular wish; but those
-who deemed the rupture with Spain secure knew but little of King James.
-The motives for his perpetual vacillations seem inexplicable, unless we
-could believe that a sincere desire to preserve peace, and a dread of
-being involved in continental wars, may have influenced the now feeble
-and broken monarch. But sincerity was not one of this King’s attributes;
-and his professions with regard to the Palatinate were utterly hollow
-and worthless.
-
-Shortly after this apparent understanding with his Parliament, he
-“stormed” at a bill reviewing all the acts against Papists; and even
-scolded Buckingham for consenting to it. At length, however, matters
-seemed to draw to a conclusion.
-
-The Earl of Bristol was recalled; Buckingham was empowered to read to
-the Houses a dispatch from the King of Spain, declaring that the
-treaties were dissolved. The King, in reply to an address from the
-Houses, protested that his heart bled at the increase of Popery; and
-that he had desired to hinder it, not by persecution, for that would be
-useless; nevertheless, he granted their desire for the banishment of
-priests and Jesuits; and promised to advise with council about the
-probability of seizing subjects coming out from mass in the ambassador’s
-chapel; no priests were in fact allowed to leave the kingdom without
-first taking the oaths of allegiance.
-
-So far, all looked well for the Protestant party; but not long
-afterwards, the pertinacious Inojosa again seemed on the ascendant. He
-resolved to raise, through Padre Maestro, a discord between the King and
-Parliament, and, therefore, hinted to the King that there was a design
-to confine him in Theobald’s, and to give the Crown to the Prince.[131]
-The King was a good deal agitated, and told the Prince and the Duke of
-this suspicion. They were resolved to find out who had put this idea
-into the Spaniard’s head--some Englishmen they believed had done it, and
-they suspected Lord Middlesex. James had heard of this design in the
-morning, but had kept it to himself until after dinner, when, with
-weeping eyes, in St. James’s Park, he imparted it to Buckingham, who, in
-his reply, asked how it was possible he could ever do such a thing
-without the Prince’s knowledge, whose filial feeling would rise against
-it; and without his knowledge it were sottish to plan it, for the
-affection of the people for His Majesty was such that they would tear
-anyone to pieces who attempted such baseness. To which the King replied,
-that had he believed it, he should never have mentioned it.[132]
-Eventually, Inojosa pretended that the accusation was a misunderstanding
-on the part of the King, and declared the Prince to be the most dutiful
-son, and the Duke to be the most faithful servant, that ever monarch
-had.[133]
-
-Footnote 131:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 10.--Locke to Carleton.
-
-Footnote 132:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 12.
-
-Footnote 133:
-
- Ibid, No. 44.
-
-Meantime, the Earl of Bristol arrived in London, bringing with him the
-jewels that had been given to the Infanta. He was confined, by the
-King’s order, to his house in St. Giles’s Fields, but James sent him
-kind messages. “It is thought,” writes Carleton, “that he will not be
-much questioned, lest he should reveal too much.”
-
-All hopes of now marrying the Prince to a lady of his own religion were
-at an end, for James would not consent to his son’s espousing an
-inferior, and there seemed to be no other alternative than to make
-proposals to a French Princess. The Earl of Holland was therefore
-dispatched into France, to treat with the queen-mother and her ministers
-concerning this alliance, Charles, in the casual view which he had
-obtained of Henrietta Maria, the posthumous daughter of Henry the Great,
-having been struck by her beauty. First it prospered, and the French
-ministers seemed disposed not to stand upon any conditions; but when
-they found that the breach with Spain and that his inclinations favoured
-the negotiation; that the breach with Spain was irreparable, and that a
-war was in preparation, they resolved to abate none of the terms which
-had been granted to the Spaniards, relative to the exercise of the
-Catholic religion, and to these terms James and his son consented. Such
-was the infatuation, and such, perhaps, the ignorance of the people,
-that, having in November, 1623, celebrated the dissolution of the
-Spanish treaty with bells and bonfires, they now, in February,
-signalized their joy at the conclusion of a treaty precisely similar.
-The conduct of Buckingham to the Earl of Bristol was justly and
-generally unpopular. That nobleman had prayed that he might make his
-answer in Parliament against any charge that might be preferred against
-him; but had been committed to the Tower, in order, it was thought, to
-prevent disclosures, and was only released upon his making submission,
-and retiring into the country; nevertheless, articles were prepared to
-impeach him.
-
-In the course of the autumn, Don Hurtado de Mendoza, as ambassador
-extraordinary from the Court of Spain, arrived in England. This nobleman
-insisted on his right of precedence, according to the English custom,
-which always grants it to the ambassador last arrived. This right was
-resisted by Inojosa, as being of higher rank in his own country, and he
-was eventually supported by the King of Spain, who ordered Mendoza back
-again, and commanded him to remain in his own house as a prisoner when
-he arrived in Spain.[134]
-
-Footnote 134:
-
- Note in Nichols, 937, from Finett’s Philoxenis.
-
-During Mendoza’s sojourn in London, Buckingham had given a great feast
-in his honour, and in that of Don Diego de Mexia, the Austrian
-ambassador. On this occasion, Inojosa, although of course expected,
-declined, not choosing, before the point of precedence was arranged, to
-walk after Mendoza. On the following evening, Buckingham sent the absent
-Inojosa, by Endymion Porter, a “regale of three large flaskets,” full of
-the provisions of which the feast had been composed; one of cold meats
-for the _custe pasto_, “another filled with uncooked fowl, fat and ready
-for the spit;” a third containing the best and rarest sweetmeats; and
-with all these, this message,--"that the Duke kissed his hand, and would
-have esteemed it an honour and happiness to have had his company; but
-since he had not had it, begged him to taste of what he had provided for
-him; and on tasting this supper, entreated that the Marquis would be
-pleased to drink the health of the King of England, and he would, at the
-same time, drink that of the King of Spain."
-
-Inojosa’s immediate answer to this compliment was, “that if my Lord Duke
-had wished for his company, he might have had it, if it had pleased him
-to command it; adding that it was easy to conceive what the feast must
-have been, when a taste of it was so rare and plentiful.” It was,
-indeed, one of those ruinous entertainments which were contributing to
-impoverish Buckingham. It cost three hundred pounds--a large sum in
-those days--and such was the taste and profusion of the times, that
-twelve pheasants were piled in a dish, and there were on the table forty
-dozen partridges, and all else in proportion.[135]
-
-Footnote 135:
-
- Letter from Chamberlain to Carleton, Nov. 21.
-
-These compliments had passed, of course, before the accusation which
-Inojosa had preferred against Buckingham had been insinuated into the
-mind of the King by secret and artful proceedings.
-
-“And no wonder it was,” Bishop Hacket remarks, “that His Majesty was
-abused awhile, and dim-sighted with the character of jealousie, for the
-Parliament was about to land him in a new world, to begin and maintain a
-war, who thought that scarce any mischief was so great as was worth a
-war to mend it; wherein the Prince did deviate from him, as likewise in
-affection to the Spanish alliance: but otherwise promised nothing but
-sweetness and obedience.”
-
-On the twenty-second of May, Buckingham came to Court, and was very
-welcome and well entertained, the King having previously shown him his
-continued favour by his determination to get York House, which
-Buckingham had hitherto borrowed, or rented, from Tobias Mathew,
-Archbishop of York, transferred to the Duke; and scarcely six weeks had
-elapsed, after the quarrel between James and his favourite, before we
-find that prelate writing a letter to the King, declaring that he will
-submit to His Majesty’s wishes, and give up York House and other
-tenements; craving, however, that satisfaction to the see for so large a
-property should be cared for; Mathews adding that he “blessed God for a
-King who did not require anything from the church without making
-abundant recompense.”[136] An act was subsequently passed, giving lands
-in Yorkshire to the Archbishop in lieu of York House, which Buckingham
-was altering at great expense. On giving his assent to the bill for the
-transfer of York House, the King vindicated himself, in his speech to
-the Lower House, from any design of allowing the Archbishop of York to
-be a loser, and praised the care of the clergy taken by Buckingham, who
-was adding to the lands given in exchange a house fit for the
-bishop.[137] In another account it is said that the King spoke “very
-affectionately of Buckingham;” and on the fourteenth of June the Monarch
-granted to the Duke York House, and other messuages in the parish of St.
-Martin’s-in-the-Fields, formerly belonging to the Archbishop of York,
-but assigned to the King by act of Parliament. On the same day an
-annuity of a thousand a year from the Court of Wards was conferred also
-on the Duke, and a thousand pounds, arrears from the Court of Wards, in
-lieu of a like grant from the Exchequer, surrendered.[138] Thus it
-appears that Buckingham’s plan of managing his royal master, sometimes
-by flattery, sometimes by insolence, reaped an undeserved success. That
-the reconciliation was complete appears from the visit which James paid
-during the summer to Burleigh-on-the-Hill, still in an unfinished
-condition. Here the King witnessed the masque, by Jonson, entitled
-"Pan’s Anniversary, or the Shepherd’s Holiday," containing those
-beautiful lines, beginning:--
-
- “Well done, my pretty ones, rain roses still,
- Until the last be dropt, then hence, and fill
- Your fragrant prickles;[139] for a second shower
- Bring corn-flags, tulips, and Adonis flower,” &c.
-
-Footnote 136:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxvi., No. 62.
-
-Footnote 137:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxv., No. 29.
-
-Footnote 138:
-
- Ibid, vol. clxix., No. 14.
-
-Footnote 139:
-
- Light open baskets for flowers, and still so called by
- gardeners.--Gifford’s Ben Jonson.
-
-Buckingham, however, did not accompany his royal master in this his last
-progress; but, although his separations from the King and Court were
-more frequent than formerly, many letters from James to the Favourite,
-preserved among the Harleian manuscripts, sufficiently attest the
-unchanged character of the King’s devotion, not only to his favourite,
-but to his whole family.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
-DECLINE OF THE KING’S HEALTH--CASE OF LORD MIDDLESEX--PROCEEDINGS IN
- BOTH HOUSES--SIR EDWARD COKE’S EXAGGERATION--BUCKINGHAM’S
- PARTICIPATION IN THE AFFAIR--MIDDLESEX STEALS AWAY TO THEOBALD’S,
- AND IS FOLLOWED BY CHARLES--FOUND GUILTY--CONFINED--BUCKINGHAM’S
- DANGEROUS ILLNESS--ARTHUR BRETT--DEATH OF THE KING--ASCRIBED TO
- BUCKINGHAM.
-
-
-
-
- =CHAPTER III.=
-
-
-The health of James the First had long been declining, and the vexations
-which troubled his last years contributed, it has been supposed, greatly
-to its decline. A mortal internal disease, however, aggravated by an
-attack of tertian ague, left, in the spring of the year 1625, little
-hope of his recovery. When told, during the access of this disorder, the
-proverb, that “ague in the spring was health to a king,” he remarked
-that the saying was meant to apply to a young king. The King was, in
-truth, only fifty-eight years of age, but, independent of his originally
-feeble constitution, he, like other men in those times, was old of his
-age. It has been our blessing, under the improvements of science, and in
-the habits of the nineteenth century, to retain, if not youth, many of
-its greatest advantages, to a period of life far more advanced than that
-in which James was styled the “old King,” a term to which he gave his
-mournful assent.
-
-Amongst the numerous causes which, with the Spanish treaty, vexed the
-royal invalid, the case of the Lord Treasurer Middlesex was prominent.
-In this minister James had rested unbounded confidence, which nothing
-but the clearest evidence of the Lord Treasurer’s corruption could
-undermine.
-
-In April, 1624, Middlesex had been questioned in the House of Lords on
-account of his neglect of the fortresses. He was much dejected by this
-attack; but the inquiry was ascribed to the jealousy of Buckingham, Lord
-Middlesex’s brother-in-law, Arthur Brett, having been put forward to
-supplant the Duke in James’s favour.[140] It was thought, however, such
-was the low standard of public morality, that the articles produced
-against the Treasurer were not worse than “might be found in most men in
-his place;” and the attempts to injure him were referred rather to his
-harsh and insolent manner, his want of respect to Prince Charles, and
-his inclination to the Spanish match, than to his devices for raising
-money, and so impoverishing the nation, and to his opposition to the
-calling a Parliament. Still he stood high in James’s favour, and boldly
-declared his own innocence; James, whatever he might really feel,
-“looking on” merely, and leaving his minister to his fate.[141]
-
-Footnote 140:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxii, No. 13.
-
-Footnote 141:
-
- State Papers, clxii., No. 45.
-
-Buckingham, addressing the Peers, read a letter from the Deputy in
-Ireland, who complained of neglect to his applications for repairing the
-forts, which had become the more necessary as the Irish were in a state
-of tumult and rebellion. Prince Charles added that a “member of the
-council” had undertaken to answer these letters, and that this was the
-Lord Treasurer, “who used to put such letters in his pocket, under
-pretence of answering them.” Middlesex was soon after suspended from his
-office, till he should clear himself; and it was even reported that his
-title, given for services in the royal wardrobe, where he had been
-guilty of many abuses, would be taken away; but rewards for services,
-acknowledged under the Great Seal, could not, it was found, be
-questioned. Even his life would have been in danger, could all have been
-proved against him.
-
-The House, desirous to finish the matter, allowed Middlesex to produce
-forty witnesses, twelve of whom deposed directly against him; upon this,
-Prince Charles sent him a message, ordering him not to appear in the
-royal presence again until he had cleared himself. This command was the
-more necessary, since, at this very moment, the mind of James had been
-impressed by Inojosa with a suspicion that his son and the Duke were
-plotting against him; an idea which the King, with weeping, imparted to
-his son and the Duke. “The Lord Treasurer,” Sir Dudley Carleton writes,
-“is suspected to be at the bottom of it.” Hitherto, James had still
-appeared confident of the Lord Treasurer’s innocence,[142] and in a
-speech to the Lords, whom he had summoned to Whitehall,[143] he advised
-them as to their judgment. “Such a trial,” he observed, “had no
-precedent before the last parliament, and then the guilty party, Lord
-Bacon, had confessed, now the supposed delinquent denied the charge.”
-James, indeed, long clung to the Lord Treasurer, and told the lords he
-came to “sing a psalm of mercy and justice about him;” still the trial
-went on, and the accused, in spite of alleged ill-health, was examined
-both morning and afternoon; his illness was found, however, to be
-feigned; and his answers were so audacious, and so manifestly perjured,
-that, had it not been for the intercession of the Prince, he would have
-been sent to the Tower. Among other speeches, Middlesex said he had been
-baited by two mastiffs, Crew and the Attorney General; and he reasoned,
-in his defence, “saucily” for five hours, but was found guilty, and
-sentenced to pay 50,000_l._ fine, and to lose his office; never to sit
-in Parliament again, nor to come within the verge of the Court. “He
-would,” Mr. Chamberlain writes, “have been further degraded, but that he
-had great, if not _gratis_, friends in the bedchamber. He may live to
-crush his enemies, if his brother-in-law, Brett, should get into favour
-and marry the Duchess of Richmond, who would do anything to be prime
-courtier again.”[144]
-
-Footnote 142:
-
- State Papers, clxiv., No. 12.
-
-Footnote 143:
-
- May 5th, 1624.--State Papers.
-
-Footnote 144:
-
- State Papers, clxiv., No. 86.
-
-Regarding this sentence, Lord Campbell remarks:--"The noble defendant
-had done various things, as head of the Treasury, which would now be
-considered very scandalous; but he had only imitated his predecessors,
-and was imitated by his successors."--A melancholy commentary on the
-state of public morality. It must have been galling to Lord Bacon, in
-his retirement, to have known that he was coupled with a man so
-dishonest, so specious, and so degraded as Middlesex.
-
-Whilst all this was taking place, Buckingham was dangerously ill; so
-that on Charles the difficult task of infusing a sense of justice into
-the mind of James almost wholly devolved.[145] At length, however,
-irritated by the insolent bearing of Middlesex, who conducted himself as
-if he had not been expelled from Court, James, with his own hand,
-scratched out the culprit’s name from the commission of subsidy for
-Middlesex; and sent, through Sir Richard Weston, a message, saying that,
-without regarding any other charge, he condemned him merely in his
-capacity as Master of the Wardrobe, which Middlesex had “treated as a
-fee-farm not to be accounted for, and would not even allow the clerk to
-keep accounts, whereby great corruptions arose, and ordinary and mean
-stuffs were brought in.”[146]
-
-Footnote 145:
-
- Parl. History, 1411, 1471.--See Lord Campbell, Article Coke.
-
-Footnote 146:
-
- State Papers.
-
-Whilst all this was going on, Arthur Brett, the supposed rival of
-Buckingham, was committed to the Fleet. By his examination it appears
-that, on the Duke’s going into Spain, he had desired this young man to
-retire to France, and he did so; but on Buckingham’s return, he could
-not obtain leave to come back to England, and had therefore left France
-without it. He was ordered back to France by the King; he pleaded his
-right to stay in his own country, as a free-born subject. Then he was
-told not to appear within forty miles of London. He had afterwards an
-interview with Buckingham, who blamed him for returning; but said he was
-the King’s servant, and might live where he pleased. He had therefore
-staid in London, and wished to plead for a restoration of favour with
-the Duke; failing in this, he went to Wanstead to petition the
-King.[147]
-
-Footnote 147:
-
- State Papers, vol cxlii., Nos. 44, 54.
-
-This disclosure of Brett’s, and Buckingham’s wish to keep him from the
-Court, certainly throw a doubt on the genuineness of the Duke’s motives
-in the prosecution of Middlesex. Brett had imprudently met the King in
-Waltham Forest, and had seized hold of his Majesty’s bridle and stirrup,
-a liberty which had greatly offended James, and to punish which Brett
-was sent to the Fleet Prison, and, though released, was heavily fined.
-
-In the midst of these various harassing affairs, the illness of James
-began to assume a formidable appearance. The King had frequently, before
-his last illness, been heard to express his belief that he should not
-live long. He was a martyr to rheumatism and gout, which he increased by
-gross feeding, and the continual use of sweet wines. During the whole of
-the Christmas preceding his death he had kept his chambers, not even
-going to chapel, or to see the plays, although his known delight in Ben
-Jonson’s masques would have induced him to attend the representation of
-the last of those performances played in his reign, the masque of the
-“Fortunate Isles.” The sole amusement which the dying King permitted
-himself was to go abroad in his litter, in fair weather, to see some
-flights at the brook; but all enjoyment of his usual diversion was at an
-end.
-
-Accounts from the Court became daily worse:--"The King," Chamberlain, on
-the twelfth of March, wrote to Carleton, “has a tertian ague, but not
-dangerous, if he would be governed by physicians.”[148] His Majesty’s
-decline was evidently gradual; nor was he the only person in the realm
-sinking under fever or ague, the “spotted fever”[149] being fearfully
-prevalent. Buckingham was now on the eve of going to France as
-ambassador, to marry by proxy the young Princess, Henrietta Maria; but
-so late as the twenty-third of March he was detained by the continued
-illness of James.
-
-Footnote 148:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxxxv., No. 48.
-
-Footnote 149:
-
- Probably typhoid, which is characterized by some spots. State Papers,
- vol. clxxxv., No. 99.
-
-"The King’s fits," Mr. Chamberlain again writes, “diminish; the Duke
-will not leave him till he is perfectly recovered, of which there is
-hope, but no assurance.” On the following day, we find, from the same
-source, that James performed an act of mercy, almost if not quite his
-last, in excusing Lord Middlesex part of his fine, and reducing it from
-50,000_l._ to 20,000_l._, which sum was to be repaid to the Crown.
-
-His sickness had now assumed a distinctly intermittent form; even so
-late as the middle of the month there had been an apparent abatement; on
-the sixteenth of March, he had his seventh fit of this debilitating
-disease; but it was, as Mr. Secretary Conway informed the Earl of
-Carlisle, “less intense hereto than the rest, and left more clearness
-and cheerfulness in his looks than the former.”[150] Yet, in the same
-letter, Conway speaks of the “double sadness of every face,” and alludes
-to the "extreme grief suffered for the sharp and smart accesses of His
-Majesty’s fever."
-
-Footnote 150:
-
- Hardwicke, State Papers, 562, 564.
-
-During the last sufferings of King James, the marriage treaty with
-France was still diligently carried on, through the agency of Lord
-Carlisle, ambassador at Paris, and was only delayed on the ground that
-"it could not be suitable with the good nature of a son, in so dangerous
-a state of his father’s health, to entertain such jollity and triumph as
-duly belong to so acceptable a marriage." The Duke of Buckingham, who
-had entertained some notion of going in person to Paris, and of
-concluding the treaty himself, directed Lord Carlisle, in a letter
-written on the fifteenth of March, “to have his eyes open, and to state
-any course, as much as he could, which might hinder the business of the
-Palatinate and of the religion,” until he appeared in the French
-capital.
-
-But the increasing illness of his royal master delayed the Duke’s
-journey from day to day; and James was not permitted to witness the
-conclusion of the long-cherished hopes of the union of his son with a
-Princess of birth equal to his own. “All human things,” wrote Conway,
-“have something of earth and defect.” Nothing, he added in his letter to
-Lord Carlisle,[151] could exceed the contentment of the “excellent
-Prince and gracious Duke,” at the sure progress of the treaty, "and
-there was now no speech but of the speed of the Duke’s going;"[152] but
-in the next letter the journey was spoken of as conditional upon the
-restoration of His Majesty to health. On the twenty-fourth of March, the
-tenth night of the King’s fever arrived. The attack, as the same
-correspondent informed Lord Carlisle, “exercised much violence upon a
-weak body, which being so much reverenced, and loved with so much cause
-as His Majesty hath given, struck much sense and fear into the hearts of
-his servants that looked upon him.” The King, it appeared, nevertheless,
-had that day slept well, “and taken broths.” “And more to your comfort,”
-added the secretary, “did, with life and cheerfulness, receive the
-sacrament in the presence of the Prince and Duke, and many others, and
-admitted many to take it with him; and in the action and the
-circumstances of it, did deliver himself so answerable to his writings
-and his wise and pious professions, and did justly produce much tears
-between comfort and grief; and now this day, and now this night, he
-recovers temper and gets, in appearance to us, strength, appetite, and
-digestion, which gives us great hope of his amendment, grounded not only
-upon desire, but upon the method of judicious observation.”[153]
-
-Footnote 151:
-
- Dated March 16, from Theobald’s.
-
-Footnote 152:
-
- Ibid, 563.
-
-Footnote 153:
-
- Letter of Conway to Lord Carlisle; dated March 16, from Theobald’s,
- 566.
-
-It may here be remarked, before going more fully into the false and
-calumnious evidence of poison, afterwards brought forward in this case
-of the royal sufferer, that the state of the King, his relapses, and his
-rallyings, imply anything but poison, and convey an impression of a
-constitution long broken up, and suddenly depressed by the supervening
-of an accidental attack of a disease then extremely prevalent in this
-country. The Holy Communion was administered to James, over as before
-stated, four days before he died: of the King’s professions before that
-last sacrament, an account, corresponding with that of Secretary Conway,
-but more distinct and instructive, is given by the Lord Keeper Williams.
-The monarch, who broke the heart of Arabella Stuart by long imprisonment
-and blighted hopes, and who beheaded Ralegh, and denied restitution to
-his son, Carew, died well;--so self-deceived is the spirit of the “rich
-man,”--so easy is it to substitute professions for practical
-Christianity.
-
-“Being asked,” said the Lord Keeper, “if he was prepared in point of
-faith and charity for so great a devotion, he said he was, and gave
-humble thanks to God for the same.” Being desired to declare his faith,
-he repeated the articles of the creed, one by one, and said, “He
-believed them all as they were received and expounded by that part of
-the Catholic church which was established here in England,” adding that
-whatever he had written of this faith in his life he was ready to seal
-with his death. Being questioned in “point of charity,” he answered that
-he forgave all men that had offended him, and wished to be forgiven by
-all whom he had offended. Being told that men in holy orders in the
-Church of England can challenge a power, as inherent in their function,
-not in their power, to pronounce absolution on such of the penitent as
-do call on the same, and that they have a form of absolution in the Book
-of Common Prayer, he answered quickly:--
-
-“I have ever believed that there was that power in you that be in orders
-in the Church of England, and that, amongst others, was to me an evident
-demonstration that the Church of England was the Church of Christ, and
-I, therefore, a miserable sinner, desire of Almighty God to absolve me
-of my sins, and that you, that are his servants in this high place, do
-afford me this heavenly comfort.” And, after that the absolution had
-been read, “he received the sacrament,” adds the Lord Keeper, “with that
-zeal and devotion as if he had not been a frail man, but a Cherubim
-clothed with flesh and blood.” He expressed to his son, and to the Duke,
-the inward comfort which he felt after receiving the Communion, and
-exclaimed “Oh, that my Lords would but do this when they were visited
-with the like sickness! Themselves would be more comforted in their
-souls, and the world less troubled with questioning their religion.”
-
-Thus, in perfect composure, and sufficiently collected even to make his
-replies to the Lord Keeper in Latin, James met death. Whilst the last
-hour was approaching, he was little aware that the two beings whom he
-most loved in the world, were, at that very moment, the objects of
-suspicions the most cruel and groundless.
-
-At that period, throughout Europe, and “nowhere,” says Lord Macaulay,
-“more than in England, the public, both high and low, were in the habit
-of ascribing the deaths of princes, and, indeed, of all persons of
-importance, to poison. Thus,” he adds, “James the First had been accused
-of poisoning Prince Henry. Thus Charles had been accused of poisoning
-King James.”[154]
-
-Footnote 154:
-
- Macaulay, vol.i., p.441.
-
-The calumnies, however, were not so distinctly directed to Charles, as
-to the Duke; the calumnies circulated respecting Buckingham assumed an
-importance, as they formed part of his subsequent impeachment. Those
-also which attempted to implicate Charles merit a reference, since they
-were repeated to his injury at a very critical period of his life, in
-1642, when they were credited by many persons; for there exist those who
-will, on a party question, believe, or affect to believe, any absurdity.
-
-An act of kindness on the part of Buckingham gave rise to the rumours to
-which some contemporary historians, and even an excellent writer of the
-present century, have attached an almost incredible value.[155] Nothing,
-perhaps, can really be more unwise, or more unkind, than to interfere in
-illnesses with that profession which, admirable as are its
-practitioners, is remarkable for the tenacity of its etiquette, and its
-just horror of chance remedies. Yet, in other instances, even in the age
-of Sydenham and of Mead, Anne of Denmark had imprudently sent to Sir
-Walter Ralegh in the Tower for a remedy for her best beloved son, Henry,
-in his last agonies; and thus afforded Buckingham a precedent for his
-resort to unprescribed, and, therefore, often dangerous remedies.
-
-Footnote 155:
-
- Weldon, in James’s time, which, in a writer wholly without principle,
- is not surprising, attaches guilt to Buckingham in this case; but that
- Brodie should credit the slanderous statement against Charles and the
- Duke, seems to modern readers wonderful.
-
-The Countess of Buckingham, like many ladies of her own time and ours,
-had a specific which cured every known distemper; and which, at all
-events, was believed in by her son, the Duke; and it is not improbable
-that during his own frequent illnesses and attacks of ague he might have
-resorted to it himself.
-
-Six days before the King died, the Duke applied, as it is stated by
-several historians, plasters to the wrists and body of the sufferer, and
-also administered several drinks, although some of the King’s physicians
-did, says Roger Coke, “disallow thereof, and refused to meddle further
-with the King until the said plasters were removed.”[156]
-
-Footnote 156:
-
- Coke’s Detection, vol. i., p. 126.
-
-The King grew worse after these remedies, and great “droughts, raving,
-fainting, and an intermitting pulse followed thereupon.” Twice was the
-drink given him by the Duke’s own hand; and the third time refused. The
-physicians, to comfort the King, told him that the relapse was from
-cold, or from some other accidental cause. Upon which James answered,
-“No, no, it was that I had from Buckingham.” “I confess,” adds Coke,
-“that this was but a charge upon the Duke upon the Impeachment of the
-Commons” (in the next reign), “yet it was next to positive proof, for
-King Charles, rather than his charge should come to an issue, dissolved
-one Parliament.”[157]
-
-Footnote 157:
-
- Ibid, 177.
-
-It appears, however, that the plasters to which such dire consequences
-were ascribed, and which seem to have been suggested by the Countess of
-Buckingham, were prepared by an able and honest physician, Dr. John
-Remington, of Dunmow, in Essex;[158] and that he had often applied
-similar ones with success. One error was in supposing that a remedy
-suited to one case had an empirical virtue; another, in using it,
-without the knowledge of the physicians in attendance on the King. Their
-professional pride was, of course, justly irritated by the discovery;
-and one of them, Dr. Craig, having spoken “some plain words” on the
-matter, was ordered out of the Court, the Duke himself complaining to
-the King of what had been uttered.[159]
-
-Footnote 158:
-
- Fuller’s Church History, b. x. p., 113.
-
-Footnote 159:
-
- Nichols.--From Harleian MSS., 389.
-
-His Majesty, however, grew worse and worse, so that Mr. Hayes, the Court
-surgeon, was called out of bed to take off the plasters; a julep was
-then prepared by Mr. Baker, the Duke of Buckingham’s servant, for His
-Majesty to drink, and was administered by Buckingham himself.
-
-These particulars were all given and sworn to by the physicians, two
-years afterwards, before a select committee of Parliament, when the
-Duke’s act was voted “transcendant presumption,” though most people
-thought that it was done without any ill intention.[160]
-
-Footnote 160:
-
- Ibid.
-
-Whilst the poor King lay expiring, a strange and scandalous scene,
-according to Weldon, passed near his death-bed. Buckingham was coming
-into the chamber, when one of the servants greeted him with these
-words:--"Ah! my lord, you have undone all us poor servants, though you
-are so well provided for you need not care:" upon which the Duke kicked
-him. The man, enraged, caught hold of the foot which spurned him, and
-the Duke fell to the ground. On arising, he ran to the King’s bedside,
-and exclaimed, “Justice, for I am an abused man.” At which James is said
-to have fixed his eyes mournfully upon him, "as one who would have said,
-‘not wrongfully.’"[161]
-
-Footnote 161:
-
- Weldon, p. 39.
-
-Such were the unwarrantable and malignant reports which strove to impute
-to Buckingham the foulest treachery and the deepest ingratitude.
-
-The motive for such an action as that which his foes scrupled not to
-fasten upon him--and the imputation followed him through life--is
-difficult to be discovered. Buckingham had no reason to wish for the
-death of his benefactor. Loaded with obligations, omnipotent in the
-country, feared, if not respected, abroad, for what purpose he should
-destroy the source of all his superabundant blessings, it were
-impossible to divine. The sole reason that could be given was a fear
-lest the King should promote the Earl of Bristol, and grow weary of the
-Duke. Yet Bristol was even then in retirement and disfavour, and had
-only recently been in a sort of imprisonment. The charge, cruel and
-groundless, tends to justify Buckingham from many minor imputations,
-since those who could fabricate such an accusation were not likely to be
-fair interpreters of his ordinary conduct. Roger Coke, for instance, as
-we have seen, specifies the charge against Buckingham, but gives him no
-credit for the actual acquittal of Parliament, and is silent regarding
-the general opinion.
-
-The confidence reposed by Charles in Buckingham affords another source
-of vindication. Charles had ever been a dutiful son; indulged, indeed,
-to excess, yet not spoiled by kindness. On the Friday before the King
-died, he had three hours private conversation with his son. Had James
-then entertained any suspicion of the Duke, he would, assuredly, have
-imparted it as a matter which lay most heavily on his mind, and, as a
-precaution to his son, James could not have controlled a grief so
-pungent as the suspicion that his favourite, the being, perhaps, the
-best beloved in the world, had dealt out to him the potion of death.
-Wilson, indeed, relates the circumstance of this last interview thus.
-
-The King, according to his account, sent for the Prince out of his bed.
-Charles appeared before him; when James, arousing all his strength and
-energy, strove to address him; “but nature being exhausted, he had not
-strength to express his intentions.” That a conversation did, however,
-take place, rests on the testimony of a private letter addressed by Mr.
-Mead to Sir Martin Stuteville, and written shortly after the King’s
-death.[162]
-
-Footnote 162:
-
- Brodie’s Con. Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note.
-
-There was among the Court physicians, one named Eglesham, who had acted
-in that capacity for ten years; and this long attendance, in a
-responsible post, has been thought a sufficient guarantee for his
-character. Upon his evidence, chiefly, the charge against Buckingham
-rested; Eglesham was obliged, in consequence of his allegations against
-the Duke, to abscond, and remain some years absent from the country. In
-the pamphlet which he published, he stated that the plaster was applied
-to the King’s heart and chest whilst the physicians in attendance were
-absent at dinner: the King, after this application, which was suggested
-and carried into execution by the Countess of Buckingham, became faint,
-and was in great agony. Some of the physicians, returning after dinner,
-and perceiving an offensive smell from the plaster, exclaimed that the
-King was poisoned, and then Buckingham, entering, commanded the
-physicians to leave the room, sent one of them a prisoner to his own
-chamber, and ordered another out of the Court; whilst his mother,
-kneeling down, cried out to the King, with a brazen face, “Justice,
-sire, I demand justice!” His Majesty asked her “Justice for what?” “For
-that which their lives are nowise sufficient to satisfy; for having said
-that I have poisoned your Majesty.” “Poisoned me!” cried James, and,
-turning round, fainted away. On the following Sunday, Buckingham
-entreated two physicians who attended the King to sign a document,
-declaring that the powder he had given to the King was a safe and good
-remedy; this they refused to do.
-
-After the King’s death, the physician who had been commanded to keep
-within his own apartment was set at liberty, with a caution “to hold his
-peace,” and the others were threatened, if they kept not “good tongues
-in their heads.”[163] The public were also horrified at hearing that the
-King’s body and head had swelled beyond measure; but that is by no means
-an unusual symptom after death.
-
-Footnote 163:
-
- Brodie’s Con. Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note.
-
-Now the value of Eglesham’s evidence rests wholly upon his personal
-credit. It was stated, by Sanderson the historian, that he afterwards
-offered to write a recantation of his pamphlet for four hundred
-guineas;[164] but although Brodie does not consider the assertion of
-Sanderson, who had the statement direct from Sir Balthazar Gerbier, to
-be a good authority, the impression which it conveys against Eglesham is
-confirmed from another source. There is a letter in the State Paper
-Office, from one Andrew Herriott to Secretary Nicholas, in which "he
-marvels that Nicholas and Sir James Bagg should take into their
-protection Edward Yeates, who was a pirate with one Captain Herriott, a
-poor man’s son in Kent, a mere mountebank, only companion with Dr.
-Eglesham, at bed and board for many years together, insomuch as they
-coined many double pistolets, and yet unhanged."[165] This letter was
-written in 1627, two years after the King’s death; when Eglesham,
-probably from a fear of justice, had fled from Court, after he had lost
-the protection of the King, who was by no means scrupulous as to the
-character of those around him.
-
-Footnote 164:
-
- Ibid, 119.
-
-Footnote 165:
-
- Letter from Andrew Herriott to Nicholas, State Papers. Calendar, by
- Mr. Bruce, vol. xliv., No. 27, dated May 27, 1627.
-
-On Eglesham, it appears, it devolved to examine the corpse, and he did
-not hesitate to point to Buckingham as the King’s murderer.[166]
-
-Footnote 166:
-
- Oldmixon, 70.
-
-He afterwards presented petitions both to the King and the Parliament,
-praying for vengeance on the Duke. These petitions were published in the
-form of a pamphlet in Latin, in 1626; and in 1640 the English
-translation was printed.[167] In this pamphlet, Eglesham stated that his
-motives for the publication were these: that having been patronized from
-his youth by the Marquis of Hamilton, the probability there was of that
-nobleman’s being poisoned was mentioned to him; he then stated that
-about the time of the Duke of Richmond’s death, a list of persons who
-were to be poisoned was found in King’s Street, Westminster, and brought
-to the Marquis of Hamilton by a relation, a daughter of Lord Oldbarre;
-in this list was not only Hamilton’s name specified, but also that of
-Dr. Eglesham “to embalm him.” Other titles were contained in the list;
-those of the Duke of Lennox and his brother, and the Earl of
-Southampton, who died at this time of a fever, being particularized.
-These accusations of Eglesham’s, who was doubtless only a tool in the
-hands of a party, were, according to Arthur Wilson, hushed up, but they
-served the purpose of those by whom they were originated. According to
-the account of those historians who have delighted to blacken
-Buckingham, James foresaw his doom, and hinted at the probability of
-treachery, when, on hearing of the Marquis of Hamilton’s death, he
-said--"If the branches are thus cut off, the stock cannot continue
-long;" and often was he heard, according to Sir Anthony Weldon, to say,
-in his last illness, to the Earl of Montgomery, "For God’s sake, see
-that I have fair play."[168]
-
-Footnote 167:
-
- Harleian MSS., 405. It was revived by the disaffected in 1642, with
- some alteration of language.--Nichols, 41033.
-
-Footnote 168:
-
- Oldmixon, 70.--From Wilson and Weldon.
-
-Of this improbable story, there is not a hint in any of the
-correspondence of the day, although the circumstances of the King’s
-death are carefully detailed by Chamberlain and other news-writers.
-
-After his last interview with Charles, the King declined rapidly; and
-his tongue was so swollen, that he could either not speak at all, or not
-be understood. An hour before the King’s death, the Dean of Hereford,
-Dr. Daniel Price, preached before the Prince and Court at Theobald’s; he
-prayed earnestly for the King before the sermon, and wept as he prayed
-and preached.[169]
-
-Footnote 169:
-
- Nichols, 1032.
-
-James expired on Sunday, the 27th of March, between the hours of eleven
-and twelve, aged fifty-seven years and three months. Upon the
-examination of his remains, much internal disease was found, but no
-appearance of poison. His heart was unusually large, which accounted, in
-the opinion of Sir Symonds D’Ewes, for his being “so very considerate,
-so extraordinary fearful, which hindered him from attempting any great
-action.”[170]
-
-Footnote 170:
-
- Nichols, 1054.
-
-During the Monarch’s last hours, prayers were multiplied more and more
-for the benefit of his soul, and certain English and Latin short
-sentences of devotion, to elevate his spirit to heaven “before it came
-thither,” were recited. James, whose consciousness and memory continued
-unimpaired, was so “ravished and solaced” by these religious
-ejaculations, that his groans of agony were stilled whilst they were
-uttered. “To one of these,” says the Lord Keeper Williams, “Mecum eris
-in Paradiso,” he replied presently, “Vox Christi”--that it was the voice
-and promise of Christ. Another, “Veni, Domine Jesu, veni cito,” he twice
-or thrice articulated. And as his end drew near, that prayer usually
-said at the hour of death was repeated. And no sooner had that prayer
-been uttered, “In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum,” than,
-without any convulsion or pangs, he expired,--his son and servants
-kneeling on one side the bed, his archbishops, bishops, and all his
-chaplains on the other.
-
-Thus closed the responsible career of the first of the Stuart Kings that
-had ascended the throne of England.
-
-Immediately after the King’s last sigh was breathed, a letter, not
-official, was written by one of his household, without a name, to the
-Queen of Bohemia. It is among the foreign inedited papers in the State
-Paper Office; and contains, which is remarkable, since it appears to be
-written in strict confidence, no allusion whatever to the suspicion of
-poisoning.[171]
-
-Footnote 171:
-
- See Inedited State Papers. Foreign, for 1625.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER IV.
- 1624-1625.
-
-THE REMARKS OF SIR HENRY WOTTON UPON BUCKINGHAM’S UNINTERRUPTED
- PROSPERITY DURING THE REIGN OF JAMES--HIS MOST PERILOUS TIME YET TO
- COME--THE CHARACTER OF CHARLES DIFFICULT TO MANAGE--HIS AFFECTIONS
- DIVIDED--REQUEST OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL REGARDING THE LATE KING’S
- FUNERAL AND THE YOUNG KING’S MARRIAGE--GOOD TASTE DISPLAYED BY
- CHARLES IN HIS CONDUCT AT THE FUNERAL--THE INFLUENCE OF BUCKINGHAM
- STILL PARAMOUNT--ROGER COKE’S REMARK UPON KING JAMES’S REGRET ON
- OBSERVING THAT HIS SON WAS OVERRULED BY THE DUKE--THE THREE GREAT
- KINGDOMS OF EUROPE AT THIS PERIOD RULED BY FAVOURITES--THE MARRIAGE
- OF CHARLES AND HENRIETTA MARIA--MOTIVE ATTRIBUTED TO
- BUCKINGHAM--PRELIMINARY STEPS--LETTER FROM LORD KENSINGTON TO THE
- DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM DETAILING HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE
- QUEEN-MOTHER--DESCRIPTION OF THE YOUNG PRINCESS--THE DUKE PREPARES
- FOR HIS JOURNEY INTO FRANCE TO FETCH HOME THE BRIDE--THE EXPENSE OF
- HIS MISSION OBJECTED TO BY THE NATION--THE TWO AMBASSADORS
- DESCRIBED--RICH--LORD KENSINGTON, FIRST EARL OF HOLLAND--HIS BEAUTY
- OF PERSON, ADDRESS, AND EARLY FAVOUR AT THE COURT OF JAMES--HIS
- RESTING SOLELY UPON BUCKINGHAM--HIS MARRIAGE WITH THE DAUGHTER OF
- SIR WALTER COKE, THE OWNER OF THE MANOR OF KENSINGTON--THE EARL OF
- HOLLAND REGARDED BY SOME AS A RIVAL TO BUCKINGHAM--JAMES RELIED MORE
- ON THE EARL OF CARLISLE--CHARACTER OF THE TWO NOBLEMEN BY BISHOP
- HACKET--SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWS ON THE PART OF LORD HOLLAND WITH MARIE
- DE MEDICI--HER DISPOSITION TO FAVOUR CHARLES AS A SUITOR TO HER
- DAUGHTER--ANECDOTE OF HENRIETTA MARIA AND OF CHARLES’S
- PORTRAIT--ENCOMIUMS ON HENRIETTA--THE DUCHESS DE CHEVREUSE--HER
- INFLUENCE OVER ANNE OF AUSTRIA--HER SPLENDOUR--RESENTMENT OF THE
- COUNT DE SOISSONS ON ACCOUNT OF THE MARRIAGE TREATY WITH
- ENGLAND--THE WILLINGNESS EVINCED BY HENRIETTA MARIA TO THE
- MARRIAGE--LORD KENSINGTON’S FLATTERY OF THE QUEEN-MOTHER--THEIR
- CONVERSATIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF THE SPANISH MATCH--THE MARRIAGE
- FINALLY CONCLUDED--CHARLES’S CONDUCT TO THE RECUSANTS REGARDED AS A
- PROOF OF HIS AVERSION TO CATHOLIC HOPES.
-
-
-
-
- =CHAPTER IV.=
- 1624-1625.
-
-
-It is remarked by Sir Henry Wotton, that “a long course of calm and
-smooth prosperity” had been enjoyed by the Duke of Buckingham under the
-sway of James I. “I mean,” adds that writer, “long for the ordinary life
-of favour, and the more notable, because it had been without any visible
-eclipse or wane in himself, amid divers variations in others.”
-
-Villiers had witnessed the disgrace of Somerset, the degradation of
-Bacon, the execution of Ralegh, the fall of Coke, without experiencing,
-in his own fortunes, any symptoms of decline, or knowing more than a
-temporary displeasure towards himself in the mind of his sovereign.
-
-But the more perilous part of his career was yet to come; when he had to
-deal with a young prince, whose affections were not undivided, but were
-liable to an influence foreign to that of his early friend and companion
-in travel. He had to contend with a character full of generous impulses,
-but strongly marked by obstinacy in some points, and by weakness of
-purpose in others. He had also to contend with the future bride of his
-enamoured sovereign, and that bride a woman of no ordinary
-determination, and of a sagacity sufficient, if not to guide her right,
-fully to comprehend the assailable points in the conduct of another.
-
-It was soon remarked that the influence which had predominated during
-the last reign was hereafter to prevail; for Charles, as an historian
-remarks, had been linked to the Duke of Buckingham in his father’s
-life-time, “and now continued to receive him into an admired intimacy
-and dearness, making him partake of all his counsels and cares, and
-chief conductor of his affairs; an example rare in this country, to be
-the favourite of two succeeding princes.”[172]
-
-Footnote 172:
-
- Rushworth, vol. i., p. 167.
-
-According to another writer, James had perceived with sorrow the sway
-obtained by Buckingham over Charles. “Before he died,” thus writes Roger
-Coke, "he saw his son overruled by his favourite, against his
-determinate will and pleasure, and the Prince’s own honour and interest,
-which was a great mortification to him, and which he often complained
-of, but had not courage to redress."[173] To this influence, Coke
-attributed all the internal feuds, jealousies, and discords of the
-nation, and the fatal catastrophe which closed both the career of the
-Favourite and that of his royal master.
-
-Footnote 173:
-
- Coke’s Detection, vol i., p. 182.
-
-It was a singular coincidence that the three great kingdoms of Europe
-were governed at this time by young Kings, or rather, virtually, by
-their favourites. France, in the reign of Louis the XIII., was governed
-by Richelieu; Spain, in that of Philip the IV., by Olivares; England by
-Buckingham; “and this,” adds the same historian, “Europe reckoned in
-those times amidst its unhappy destiny.” Immediately after the funeral
-of the late king, the marriage of Charles to Henrietta Maria--a union
-fraught with evils eventually, and replete with early discomfort--was
-eagerly anticipated both by the Monarch and his favourite. The
-impatience of Charles to welcome the young Princess as his bride was
-ascribed to the favourable impression which her youthful loveliness had
-produced upon his imagination, when he had seen her himself, incognito,
-two years previously in passing through Paris. But when it is remembered
-that, after that brief interview, he had been enamoured of the loving
-Infanta, it will be readily supposed that the influence of persuasion
-was employed in advancing this ill-starred marriage. It was attributed,
-indeed, to the rivalry and hatred between Buckingham and Olivares, which
-had succeeded their professions of amity, and to the eager desire for an
-alliance with France, England being during the first fifteen years of
-Charles’s reign, as Coke expressed it, “perfectly French.”
-
-“The Spanish wooing,” observes Miss Strickland, “certainly smoothed the
-way for the marriage of Charles and Henrietta. It had accustomed the
-English people to the idea of a Catholic Queen.”[174] The prepossessions
-of the party mainly interested in the match might indeed easily be
-gained over by the reputed graces and acquirements of the French
-Princess. Inheriting from her mother’s family a taste for the fine arts,
-Henrietta’s musical acquirements were considerable. Her voice was by
-nature so sweet and powerful, that if she had not been a queen, she
-might have been, as Disraeli observes, “Prima Donna of Europe.” She had
-learned to dance with grace, and became, even during her childhood, a
-frequent performer in the court ballets, which, with other displays and
-festivities, are said to have interrupted the education of the young
-Princess, and to have prevented her from receiving a solid course of
-instruction.
-
-Footnote 174:
-
- Lives of the Queens of England, vol. viii., p. 13.
-
-Two noblemen, one of them the peculiar favourite and creature of the
-Duke of Buckingham, had been sent during the previous year to negotiate
-the marriage. Of these the most able and least scrupulous was Henry
-Rich, created first Baron Kensington, and afterwards Earl of Holland,
-who is described as having been of a lovely and winning presence, and of
-gentle conversation. The younger son of a noble house, the obloquy which
-was attached to his birth, which was supposed to be illegitimate,[175]
-had kept Rich, in early life, humble. He had adopted the profession of
-arms, and made several campaigns in the Low Countries. Happening, as was
-the custom of English volunteers, to visit England during the winter,
-the youth had been introduced at the Court of James in the dawn of
-Buckingham’s favour. He shortly made himself acceptable to the
-Favourite, for he was subtle, discerning and artful. He soon, therefore,
-laid aside all thoughts of becoming a soldier, but took every means of
-endearing himself to Buckingham, carefully avoiding all suspicion that
-the King had any kindness for him, but appearing to rest solely upon the
-Favourite, “whose creature” he desired to be considered; “and he
-prospered,” remarks Lord Clarendon, “so well in that pretence, that the
-King scarcely made more haste to absolve the debt, than the Duke did to
-promote the other.”[176] Under such auspices, the Earl of Holland had
-risen soon to greatness.
-
-Footnote 175:
-
- His mother, the Countess of Warwick, lived for some time with, and
- afterwards married, the Earl of Devonshire.
-
-Footnote 176:
-
- On the 24th of September, 1624.--Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion,
- vol. i., p. 61.
-
-A wealthy marriage with the heiress of Sir Walter Coke brought him,
-among other sources of wealth, the Manor of Kensington, and made him the
-owner of Holland House, built by his father-in-law in 1607, but greatly
-enlarged and embellished. Through the influence of Buckingham, he had
-not only been created Baron of Kensington, but placed about the person
-of the Prince of Wales, a step of much hazard, as the Favourite was, at
-that time, scarcely certain of the favour of Charles to himself.[177]
-Holland was sent to Spain before the Prince and the Duke, so that he had
-acquired an insight, not only into the politics of that court, but into
-the character of those with whom he had to deal, whose foibles were, as
-he conceived, to contribute some of the stepping-stones to his own
-fortune.
-
-Footnote 177:
-
- Brydges’s Peers of James I., p. 385. Also Clarendon, vol. i., p. 62.
-
-The Earl of Holland had had, says Bishop Hacket, “an amorous temper and
-a wise head, and could court it as smoothly as any man with the French
-ladies; and made so fortunate an account into England, after three
-months of his introductions, that he saw no fear of denial in the suit,
-nor of superiority in the articles.”[178] But James, wisely relying less
-upon the crafty arts of Holland, than upon the integrity of the Earl of
-Carlisle, had sent that nobleman afterwards, joining him in the same
-commission with Holland. “They were,” added Bishop Hacket, “peers of the
-best lustre in our court, elegant in their persons, habit, and language,
-and, by their nearness to King James, apt scholars to learn the
-principles of wisdom, and the fitter to improve their instructions to
-honour and safety.”[179]
-
-Footnote 178:
-
- Life of Lord Keeper Williams, 209.
-
-Footnote 179:
-
- Ibid.
-
-The Earl of Holland soon discovered that in the queen-mother, Marie de
-Medici, the widow of Henry the Great, alone centred the real sway in
-France at that period,[180] unhappily for the young Prince, her son, who
-crouched beneath her rule and that of Richelieu. During frequent
-interviews at the Louvre, he gained from her a promise of assistance;
-this was even before the return of Charles and Buckingham from Spain, as
-the postscript of a letter from the Earl of Holland, lately created Earl
-of Kensington, dated Feb. 26, 1624, and addressed to Charles, certifies.
-“The obligations you have unto this young Queen (Anne of Austria) are
-strange, for with the same affections that the Queen, your sister, would
-do, she asks of you, with all the expressions that are possible of joy,
-for your safe return out of Spain, and told me that she durst say you
-were weary of being there, and so should she, though a Spaniard; though
-I find she gives over all thought of your alliance with her sister. Sir,
-you have the fortune to have respects put upon you unlooked for; for, as
-in Spain the Queen there did you good offices, so I find will this sweet
-Queen do, who said she was sorry when you saw them practise their
-masques, that madam, her sister[181] (whom she dearly loves), was seen
-to so much disadvantage by you; to be seen afar off and in a dark room,
-whose person and face hath most loveliness to be considered nearly. She
-made me show her your picture, the which she let the ladies see, with
-infinite commendations of your person, saying she hoped some good
-occasion might bring you hither, that they might see you like
-yourself.”[182]
-
-Footnote 180:
-
- Cabala.--Letter from Lord Kensington to the Duke of Buckingham, vol.
- i., p. 286.
-
-Footnote 181:
-
- Henrietta Maria.
-
-Footnote 182:
-
- Cabala.--Letter from Lord Kensington to the Prince p. 287.
-
-“The French match,” according to another eyewitness, “went on by fits;”
-the Earl of Carlisle growing so weary of frivolous objections and delays
-that he wished to return home. “The young lady,” adds the same
-informant, “is forward, and this week sent one over with her picture to
-the Prince, and where any rubb or slip comes in the way, she grows
-melancholique and keeps her chamber.”[183] Nevertheless, even in this
-early stage of the business, we find a letter from King James to the
-Duke of Buckingham, commanding him to put the royal navy into readiness
-“to bring over the Princess Henrietta.”[184]
-
-Footnote 183:
-
- Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton. State Paper Office. Dated 24th
- October, 1624.
-
-Footnote 184:
-
- State Paper Office. Dated Nov. 1, 1624.
-
-Shortly afterwards, Lord Kensington wrote again, giving Charles, whom he
-addresses as the “most complete young Prince and person in the world,”
-the flattering intelligence that the fair Henrietta had expressed a
-passionate desire to see his picture, “the shadow of that person so
-honoured,” yet knew not “the means,” adds the ambassador, “to compass
-it, it being worn about my neck; for though others, as the Queen and
-Princesses, would open it and consider it, which even brought forth
-admiration from them, yet durst not this poor young lady look any
-otherwise on it than afar off, whose heart was nearer it than any of the
-others that did most gaze upon it.” Resolved, however, to behold the
-portrait of her royal suitor, Henrietta desired the gentlewoman in whose
-house the ambassador was lodged, and who was a former servant of hers,
-to borrow the picture secretly, assigning as an excuse that "she could
-not want that curiosity, as well as others, towards a person of the
-Prince’s infinite reputation." As soon as she saw her emissary enter her
-room, the Princess retired into her cabinet, calling her in, “where,”
-says Holland, “she opened the picture in such haste as shewed a picture
-of her passion, blushing in the instant at her own guiltiness. She kept
-it an hour in her hands, and when she returned it she gave it many
-praises of your person.” “Sir,” continues the ambassador, well
-comprehending the gallant and delicate nature of him whom he addressed,
-"this is a business fit for your secrecy, as I know it shall never go
-farther than unto the King your father, my Lord of Buckingham, and my
-Lord of Carlisle’s knowledge. A tenderness in this is honourable; for I
-would rather die a thousand times than it should be published, since I
-am by this young lady trusted, that is for beauty and goodness an
-angel."[185]
-
-Footnote 185:
-
- Cabala, vol. i., p. 288.
-
-Amongst the most powerful advocates of Prince Charles in the French
-Court was the Duchess de Chevreuse, to whose influence over Anne of
-Austria has been attributed her subsequent imprudent encouragement of
-Buckingham’s discreditable addresses.[186] Formerly the wife of the Duc
-de Luises, the favourite of Louis the Thirteenth, but married afterwards
-to the Duc de Chevreuse, a Prince of the House of Lorraine, the Duchess
-de Chevreuse became the great star of the gay and dissolute scenes in
-which the young Queen of France sought to bury the remembrance of a
-husband from whom she recoiled, and of a Queen-Mother and Minister of
-State whom she both disliked and feared. The Duchess, whose banishment
-from Court, sometime afterwards, was an event never forgiven by Anne of
-Austria, was one of the most splendid and lavish as well as the gayest
-and most fascinating women of her day. Lord Kensington, visiting her one
-evening at the Louvre, found her and the Duc de Chevreuse dressing
-themselves for a masque, and covered with such a profusion of jewels as
-even he never expected again to behold adorning subjects. Shortly
-afterwards, there entered Anne of Austria and Henrietta, the latter full
-of glee, of which, as many persons told the ambassador, “the cause might
-easily be guessed.” “My Lord,” adds the Lord Kensington, addressing the
-Duke of Buckingham, “I protest to God she is a lovely, sweet young
-creature. Her growth is not great yet, but her shape is perfect; and
-they all swear that her sister, the Princess of Piedmont (who is now
-grown tall and a goodly lady), was not taller than she is at her age.”
-He feared that Anne ever would be reserved towards him, not liking the
-“breach and disorder of the Spanish treaty;” but she had become, it was
-observed, “so truly French” as to wish for this affiance rather than
-that with her own sister, the Infanta of Spain.[187]
-
-Footnote 186:
-
- Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 21.
-
-Footnote 187:
-
- Cabala, 291.
-
-Everything therefore proceeded favourably, and Henrietta passed hours in
-the society of Lord Kensington, expatiating upon the Prince, and
-touching upon English customs. Among other things, she “fell to
-speaking,” says Lord Kensington, “of ladies riding on horseback, which,
-she said, was rare here, but frequent in England; and then expressed her
-delight in that exercise.”[188]
-
-Footnote 188:
-
- Ibid.
-
-Lord Kensington continued, meantime, to ply the Queen Dowager with
-incessant flattery, and to meet her inquiries ingeniously. “I find,” he
-writes to the Duke of Buckingham, “the queen-mother has the only power
-of governing in this state. She was willing to know upon what terms
-stood our Spanish alliance. I told her that their delays had been so
-tedious that they had sometimes discouraged the King, and had so wearied
-the Prince and state with the dilatory proceedings in it, as that
-treaty, I thought, would soon have an end.” So little expectation was,
-at this time, entertained of an unfavourable termination of the Spanish
-marriage, that the Queen thought that the ambassador referred to a
-speedy union between Charles and the Infanta. "She strait said, ‘Of
-marriage?’ taking it that way. I told her I believed the contrary, and I
-did so her entreat, because the Spanish ambassador hath given it out,
-since my coming, that the alliance is fully concluded, and that my
-journey hath no other end than to hasten his master unto it, only to
-give them jealousies of me, because he, at this time, fears their
-dispositions stand too well prepared to desire and affect a conjunction
-with us."[189]
-
-Footnote 189:
-
- Cabala, 286.
-
-In another letter, also addressed to the Duke of Buckingham, it appears
-that Lord Kensington was allowed access at all times to the young French
-princess, with permission “to entertain her henceforth with a more free
-and amorous kind of language from the Prince;” and these and other
-favours were acknowledged by Kensington, as from the Duke of Buckingham,
-with redoubled thanks, adding that "he knew his lordship would esteem it
-one of the greatest happinesses that could befall him, to have any
-occasion offered whereby he might witness how much he adored Her
-Majesty’s royal virtues, and how infinitely he was her servant, ready to
-receive law from her, whensoever, by the least syllable of her blessed
-lips or pen, she should please to impose it." And then followed
-encomiums in the same letter from the crafty Kensington, who, as he
-said, solved everything as well as he could, upon the Cardinal de
-Richelieu, magnifying to the Queen "the Cardinal’s wisdom, his courage,
-his courtesy, his fidelity to the service, his affection to our
-business," so as to captivate the queen-mother.[190]
-
-Footnote 190:
-
- Ellis’s Original Letters, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 199.
-
-A long conversation followed regarding the voyage into Spain, upon which
-memorable event the queen-mother remarked “that two kings had committed
-in it two great errors; the one, in trusting so precious a pledge in so
-hazardous an enterprize; the other, in treating so brave a guest so
-ill.” “Indeed, I heard,” said the Queen, “that the Prince was used ill.”
-“So he was,” returned Lord Kensington, “but not in his entertainment,
-for that was as splendid as their country could afford; but in their
-frivolous delay, and in the unreasonable conditions which they
-propounded.”
-
-“And yet, madam,” added the wily ambassador, “you here use him far
-worse.” "And how?" inquired the queen-mother; “In that you press,”
-replied he, "upon that noble and worthy Prince, who hath, with so much
-affection to your Majesty’s service, with so much passion to Madam,
-sought this alliance, the same, nay, more unreasonable conditions than
-the other, and what they traced out for the breaking of the match, you
-follow, pretending to conclude it," alluding to one of the conditions of
-the marriage contract. Lord Kensington then requested a personal
-interview with the young Princess, in order to deliver to her a message
-from Charles. After some little difficulty, his petition was granted;
-the queen-mother, relying, as she said, upon his discretion not to utter
-anything which it might be derogatory to her daughter’s dignity to hear.
-It was, of course, the endeavour of the ambassador to put the Prince’s
-addresses in the light of a passionate love-suit. “I obey,” said he,
-"the Prince’s commands in presenting to your Highness his service, not
-by way of compliment, but out of passion and affection, which both your
-outward and inward beauties, the virtues of your mind, so kindle in him
-that he was resolved to contribute the utmost he could to the alliance
-in question," with some little other “such amorous language.” Then,
-turning to the old ladies who stood near the Princess, he thought it fit
-to let them know that his Highness had the Princess’s picture, which he
-kept in his cabinet, “and fed his eyes many times with the sight and
-contemplation of it, since he could not have the happiness of beholding
-her person.” All which, and many other such speeches, were by the
-Princess, “standing by, quickly taken up, without letting any one fall
-to the ground.”[191]
-
-Footnote 191:
-
- Letter from Lord Kensington to the Duke of Buckingham.--Ellis’s
- Original Letters, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 169; also, Cabala, p. 294.
-
-Such were the addresses of Charles to Henrietta. Buckingham, to whom
-this account was written by Lord Kensington, must have smiled at the
-repetition of the same love passages that had, it was said, fascinated
-the heart of the Infanta.
-
-In a subsequent letter to Charles himself, Kensington again exalted the
-services of the queen-mother in promoting this match, and extolled the
-charms of the Princess. “There is no preparation, I find, towards this
-business, but by her--the queen-mother; and all persuasions of amity
-made light that look not towards this errand; and, sir, if your
-intentions proceed this way, as, by many reasons of state and wisdom,
-there is cause now rather to press it than slacken it, you will find a
-lady of as much loveliness and sweetness to deserve your affection as
-any creature under heaven can do.” The “impressions he had of her,” he
-adds, “were but ordinary, but the amazement extraordinary, to find her,
-as I protest to God I did, the sweetest creature in France. Her growth
-is very little short of her age, and her wisdom infinitely beyond it. I
-heard her discourse with her mother and the ladies about her with
-extraordinary discretion and quickness. She dances, which I am a witness
-of, as well as ever I saw any creature. They say she sings most sweetly;
-I am sure she looks so.” In conclusion, Kensington mentions to His
-Highness that, in his letter to “my Lord of Buckingham,” he had written
-a more large discourse upon this interesting theme.[192]
-
-Footnote 192:
-
- Cabala, p. 1287. This letter is dated Feb. 26, 1624.
-
-Thus far had the treaty proceeded, when it was delayed by the death of
-King James. The marriage articles had, nevertheless, been subscribed by
-that Monarch on the 11th of May, and by the King of France on the 13th
-of August, in the previous year; and, on the 13th of March, 1625, the
-Earls of Carlisle and Kensington signed these articles on the part of
-Charles I. Private arrangements received also their signature relative
-to the toleration of Catholics within the British dominions.
-
-The dispensation for the nuptials having arrived from Rome in the
-beginning of May, there remained no obstacle to the ceremonial of
-marriage. This, notwithstanding the claim preferred by the Archbishop of
-Paris to that honour, was performed by Cardinal Richelieu. The marriage
-was celebrated according to the usual rites of the Church of Rome. After
-the ceremony, the whole procession, including the royal personages,
-entered the church of Notre Dame, the Duke de Chevreuse and the Princess
-Henrietta Maria taking precedence of the King and Queen. Then mass was
-said, the English ambassadors retiring to the Bishop’s house during the
-recital.[193]
-
-Footnote 193:
-
- Rushworth’s Collection, p. 169.
-
-A banquet followed, and the event was commemorated by the release of
-criminals, "as an earnest of the King’s love and respect for his
-sister."[194] The previous arrangements for these ceremonials had been
-delayed by much contention with regard to precedency.[195] But that
-which gave the greatest uneasiness to the English nation was the
-difficulty, and, as it seemed to many, the risk attendant upon the mode
-of faith professed by the young Queen.
-
-Footnote 194:
-
- Ibid.
-
-Footnote 195:
-
- According to one account, the Duke of Anjou, the brother of Henrietta,
- was proxy for the King of England.--See Mr. Mead’s Letter to Sir
- Martin Stuteville, April 30; Ellis’s Letters, 1st series, p. 190.
- 1625.
-
-At his accession, Charles had manifested very decisively his disfavour
-of Catholics; he declared his intention to reform the Court, “as of
-unnecessary charges, so of recusant Papists.” He gave an order in his
-own hand-writing that no recusant Papist, of any rank whatsoever, should
-be presented with mourning for the late King; and he showed his zeal
-generally for the observance of the Church, by putting the High Sheriff
-of Nottingham out of his commission, for accompanying the judges on the
-circuit, who were attending the sermon, only to the church door, and
-there leaving them.[196] Hopes were entertained that Henrietta Maria
-might be converted, and several prayer-books in French were sent her by
-Sir George Goring for that end; but the news that a bishop and
-twenty-eight priests were to be included in her retinue, quickly
-dispelled that pleasing anticipation.[197]
-
-Footnote 196:
-
- Ellis’s Letters, vol. iii., p. 187.
-
-Footnote 197:
-
- Ibid.
-
-The part which Buckingham took in the promotion of this alliance
-lessened, therefore, greatly the popularity which his abandonment of the
-Spanish marriage was beginning to ensure to him; and the announcement of
-the King’s intention to despatch the Favourite, in order to bring off
-his royal bride, was, for many reasons, highly displeasing to the
-country.
-
-The chief ground of objection to the proposed journey was the expense.
-And here the nation separated the wishes and intentions of Charles from
-those of his minister. The King had, they observed, shown a disposition
-to economy; nay, more, he had displayed an honourable determination to
-pay his late father’s debts by disparking most of his remote parks and
-chases, which were then more numerous and extensive than any royal
-domains in Europe.[198] The lavish tendencies of Buckingham, therefore,
-and the heavy charges on the exchequer which had been incurred by the
-two ambassadors already at the French court, were not ascribed to the
-extravagance of the Monarch, but to the vanity and profuseness of his
-Minister.
-
-Footnote 198:
-
- Ellis’s Letters, vol. iii., p. 187.
-
-The preparations, therefore, made by Buckingham for this, his last
-foreign mission,--for, when he again visited the continent, it was with
-different intentions, and under another aspect,--were viewed with
-vexation, by the majority of those who were not bound to silence by
-interest, for the great and fruitless cost of the Spanish journey was
-fresh in remembrance.
-
-The Duke had, however, begun his arrangements before King James’s death:
-and the day[199] had been fixed for his departure. He did not forget
-that he was to appear at the most festive and splendid of all the courts
-of Christendom.[200]
-
-Footnote 199:
-
- The 31st of March.
-
-Footnote 200:
-
- Decoration at this time was carried to such an extent in France, that
- Lord Kensington describes some of the masquers at a court fête as
- having almost all their clothes embroidered with diamonds; embroidery
- of gold and silver being at that time forbidden.--Cabala, 290.
-
-An account, preserved in the Harleian Manuscripts, represents him as
-having, “for his body, twenty-seven rich suits, embroidered and laced
-with silk and silver plushes, besides one rich satten uncut velvet suit,
-set all over, both suite and cloak, of diamonds, the value whereof is
-thought to be about one thousand pounds.” Corresponding to this
-extravagant attire, “a feather made with great diamonds, a sword girdle,
-hatband, and spurs, all studded with diamonds,” completed the apparel
-and decoration which the Duke intended to wear upon his entrance into
-Paris. For the wedding-day he prepared another rich suit, composed of
-purple satin, embroidered with rich orient pearls. Over this was worn a
-cloak made after the Spanish fashion, and the dress was finished with
-all things suitable.” “His other suits,” adds the narrator, “are all as
-rich other suits,” adds the narrator, “are all as rich as invention can
-frame, or art fashion. His colours for the entrance are white and
-watchet, for the wedding, crimson and gold.”
-
-Buckingham’s departure was preceded by the despatching of his servants
-with fifty geldings and nags, and twelve coach horses. His personal
-retinue was consistent with all this grandeur and display; it reminds
-one of the gorgeous pomp of Wolsey in the height of his prosperity.
-Twenty privy gentlemen, seven grooms of his chambers, thirty chief
-women, and two master cooks constituted his own peculiar servants. Three
-rich suits apiece were given to each of these attendants. The inferior
-servants for the household consisted of twenty-five second cooks,
-fourteen women of the second rank, seventeen grooms to attend upon those
-yeomen, forty-five labourers sellerers belonging to the kitchen, twelve
-pages, twenty-four footmen, six huntsmen, and twelve grooms. Most of
-these functionaries were provided with three rich suits apiece, and to
-complete the establishment there were six riders with one suit apiece,
-and eight others to attend the stable business.
-
-His equipages consisted of three rich coaches, velvet inside, and
-covered externally with gold lace all over. Eight horses and six
-coachmen were allotted to each coach; then there was a band of
-musicians, eight score in number, “all richly suited.” "There were my
-Lord Duke’s watermen, twenty-two in number, suited in sky-coloured
-taffety, all gilded, with anchovys and My Lord’s arms." These were
-appropriated to one barge only, and the whole of this regal retinue was,
-says the annalist, "at his Grace’s charge."
-
-Eight noblemen, the Marquis of Hamilton at their head, and six gentlemen
-of honourable families, attended the Duke. Amongst them were his
-brother-in-law, the Earl of Denbigh, and one of his brothers, designated
-simply as “Mr. Villars.” When to these there were added twenty-four
-knights, of great worth, all of “whom carried six or seven pages a
-piece, and as many footmen,” the train amounted to six or seven hundred.
-Nor were those all. “When,” says the writer of this account, “the list
-is perfect, there will appear many more than I have named.”[201]
-
-Footnote 201:
-
- See Ellis’s Original Letters, 1st series, vol. i., p. 189.
-
-The nuptials for which some of this grand preparation was made, had,
-however, taken place before it was Buckingham’s fate to cross the
-Channel.
-
-The day after King James’s funeral was to have witnessed the departure
-of Buckingham for France. This was on the eighth of May, and the future
-Queen was expected to be at Dover by the eleventh.[202] But the Duke did
-not arrive in Paris until the twenty-fourth; nor did Henrietta Maria
-land on the shores of England until the twenty-second of June.[203]
-
-Footnote 202:
-
- Ellis’s Letters.
-
-Footnote 203:
-
- Rushworth, p. 170.
-
-During the seven days that Buckingham remained at the French court, an
-uninterrupted succession of feasting and rejoicing occupied his time;
-whilst his imagination was engrossed by an object to which no man who
-had not been brought to the highest point of presumption by a career of
-prosperity would have ventured to aspire.
-
-The painful and degrading position in which Anne of Austria was placed,
-under the sway of her mother-in-law, destitute as the young Queen was of
-all good advisers, and exposed by her youth and her attractions to the
-snares of the designing, in the vitiated sphere in which she moved, has
-been already referred to. Some additional traits of the appearance and
-character of a Princess whose fascinations produced a powerful effect
-upon Buckingham may not be deemed impertinent.
-
-She was not then a mother; and the importance of giving birth to a
-future monarch of France was not permitted to her until thirteen years
-afterwards.[204] By her attendant and partizan, Madame de Motteville, a
-character so beautiful has been given of the Queen Consort of Louis the
-Thirteenth, as would inspire compassion for the sacrifice which bound
-her at the altar to a husband wholly unworthy of a wife so graceful and
-so virtuous, could an entire credence be assigned to that partial
-testimony.
-
-Footnote 204:
-
- Louis XIV. was not born on the 5th of September, 1538.--See Memoir of
- Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 71.
-
-According to her favourite, Anne had imbibed from her mother, Margaret
-of Austria, a lively piety and a love of virtue which were never
-quenched, even during her passage through the manifold temptations of
-her existence. She was replete, according to the same authoress, with
-goodness and with justice; she was neither suspicious, nor easily led
-wrong by persuasion; and where endeavours were made to prejudice her
-against any one whom she esteemed, her resistance showed the strength of
-her attachment. During her regency, when under the dominion of Cardinal
-Mazarin, that minister was often known to say that her devotion and
-rectitude of mind caused him embarrassment; “for she had,” observes
-Madame de Motteville, “sufficient aptitude of mind to know well what was
-right, and had she been endowed with strength of character adequate
-always to defend the truth, the pen of the historian could not have
-bestowed upon her any praise too high; but she distrusted herself, and
-her humility induced her to consider herself as incapable of conducting
-the government of the State.”[205]
-
-Footnote 205:
-
- Memoir of Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 428.
-
-This combination of good intention with weakness of purpose, these
-feminine requisites of piety and gentleness, added to her natural
-sagacity, rendered Anne of Austria one of the most engaging of all those
-lofty personages who figured in a capital of which one of its monarchs
-observed, comparing it to a head, “that it was so spiritually gross and
-full of disease as to require, from time to time, bleeding, in order to
-secure the repose of its members.”[206]
-
-Footnote 206:
-
- Ibid, 199, said by Henry III. of France.
-
-During the early years of this young Queen’s married life, she had been
-addressed in the language of passion by several successive suitors.
-“Notwithstanding the respect which her Majesty inspires,” writes Madame
-Motteville, “her loveliness did not fail to touch the hearts of certain
-individuals, who ventured to manifest their passion.”[207]
-
-Footnote 207:
-
- Ibid, 11.
-
-Amongst these, first in the list was the Duc de Montmorenci,
-distinguished for bravery, for a handsome person, and for his great
-magnificence in his mode of living. This nobleman had been enamoured of
-the Marquise de Sable, the reigning beauty at the French Court when Anne
-of Austria first came to grace it; but her coldness and self-esteem
-chilled the ardour of her admirer. Platonic attachments, the fashion for
-which was first introduced by Catherine de Medici from Italy, were still
-in vogue; to this fashion, more fatal, perhaps, to virtue than the more
-direct blandishments of vice, Madame de Sable inclined. The alliance
-between Spain and France had introduced many of the Spanish authors to
-the lettered portion of the French community, and the gallantry of that
-nation, imbibed from the Moors, appeared to correspond with the delicate
-sentiments of the Italians. It did not, however, change man’s nature,
-nor act as an antidote to his fickleness. The Duc de Montmorenci beheld
-Anne of Austria, and the Marquise was forgotten. Proud and yet humble,
-that lady, upon the first surmise of his alteration of sentiment,
-withdrew from the contest with one so much more elevated than herself,
-and refused to see him again. Nevertheless, Montmorenci found little
-favour in the heart of Anne of Austria, who could never believe that his
-passion for her was either sincere or ardent; and who regarded, in after
-times, the petty gratification which it gave her as one of the symptoms
-of flattered vanity.
-
-The Duc de Bellegarde, old, and a veteran in the court, for he had been
-the favourite of two preceding monarchs, was the next who sought to
-occupy the heart in which there existed a void; for Anne’s indifference
-to her royal consort daily increased. The love-suit which this ancient
-nobleman presumed to address to the Queen was received by her as incense
-to her vanity which could not, possibly, injure her reputation; and,
-although she listened to his avowal of admiration at first with
-resentment, she soon treated it as a jest; and even the King, although
-disposed to be jealous, entered into the pleasantry which the devotion
-expressed in the lisping accents of age naturally induced.
-
-But a far more dangerous suitor lurked about the young Queen’s haunts,
-who, watching her from the retired recesses of the court, at once loved
-and persecuted her. This was the Cardinal de Richelieu.
-
-This extraordinary character, acknowledged even by his enemies to have
-been the greatest man of his time, had manifested the mad attachment
-with which Anne of Austria inspired, in a singular manner, this astute
-politician. To her confidante, Madame Motteville, the Queen had imparted
-a strange incident in the life of this minister, whose thoughts,
-designs, and affections appeared to be centered in public affairs, or,
-as he termed it, in the good of the state.[208]
-
-Footnote 208:
-
- Madame de Motteville, pp. 29, 30.
-
-One day, when, with ill-concealed disgust, Anne was listening to the
-conversation of the Cardinal, she was surprised by a sudden burst of
-hitherto subdued feelings from that crafty churchman; and she heard,
-with what mingled consternation and anger may be conceived, expressions
-of a passionate attachment. As she was about to reply in terms of
-indignation and contempt, the King entered the closet in which she and
-the Cardinal were conversing, and a sudden check was given to the
-subject, never to be resumed; for Anne dared not to recur to it, lest
-she should flatter the wishes of the Cardinal by showing her remembrance
-of his addresses; she would only reply to him by showing tacitly her
-hatred, and by her incessant refusal to accept either his proffered
-friendship, or his offer of mediation between her and the King. It was
-in vain she perceived that her conduct aggravated the bad understanding
-between her and her royal partner; in vain she knew that whilst the
-presumptuous love of the Cardinal preponderated in his breast, she yet
-drove him to extremities by her abhorrence. He demonstrated “his
-affection,” by persecutions which ceased only with his existence; for he
-hoped, possibly, if he could not succeed by gentle means, to prevail
-over her contempt by fear.
-
-It was at this juncture, whilst Anne, estranged from her consort, and
-pursued, watched, and loved by the Cardinal de Richelieu, most truly
-required a friend and monitor, that Buckingham arrived to throw fresh
-temptations and difficulties in her path. Unhappily her favourite,
-Madame de Chevreuse, afterwards banished from Court by Richelieu, was
-not a woman of prudence, and, perhaps, scarcely of virtue. By Madame de
-Motteville, the Duchesse de Chevreuse is regarded as the true source of
-all Anne’s errors and misfortunes. Anne loved her, as those to whom the
-natural channels of affection are forbidden, or poisoned, love the
-soothing and humble. She never forgave Richelieu the disgrace of her
-favourite, nor even when she knew that it was the wish of her husband
-that Madame de Chevreuse should be sent away, could she submit to his
-wishes. Anne, in the commencement of her career, had shown much disgust
-to those who were termed “les dames gallantes,” and had appeared, to
-those who knew her best, to possess the most rigid notions of female
-decorum. But the society of Madame de Chevreuse had broken down that
-barrier in which the young and fascinating Queen found her best
-protection. Even after sundry imprudencies, those who were cognizant of
-her actions accorded to her the credit of a perfect purity of life, and
-bestowed upon her all the esteem which is due to the most undoubted
-virtue. In after life, the frankness and simplicity with which she spoke
-of these early passages of her life showed that no evil was attached to
-them, and that to vanity alone were to be attributed those rash
-adventures in which her reputation incurred so severe an ordeal. How
-far, on a review of the circumstances of her career, Anne may be
-acquitted of a want of feminine modesty, of a prudence the
-representative of virtue, must be a question for the moralist. Her
-character must, however, be measured in some respects by the standard of
-the age in which she lived.
-
-Unhappily for Anne, at the time that Buckingham arrived in Paris, Madame
-de Chevreuse was passionately in love with the handsome and dangerous
-Earl of Holland, and made no secret of that disgraceful attachment.[209]
-It was, therefore, her endeavour to promote everything that could
-produce a continued intercourse between France and this country.
-
-Footnote 209:
-
- Madame de Motteville, p. 20.
-
-Of the first meeting between Anne of Austria and Buckingham, during his
-embassy, there is no account. We can suppose it to have occurred under
-circumstances of dazzling splendour, to which many considerations, not
-guessed by the public, lent a strong interest. The suppressed and
-dangerous admiration of Richelieu might not be penetrated by Buckingham;
-but it was notorious that whilst Louis XIII. distrusted, and apparently
-neglected, his Queen, he was really disposed to respect and cherish her;
-and was known to have confessed to a confidant one day, in speaking of
-the Queen’s personal attractions, that “he dared not show her any
-tenderness, lest he should displease the queen-mother and the Cardinal,
-whose aid and counsels were much more essential to him than the
-affection of his wife.”[210]
-
-Footnote 210:
-
- Madame de Motteville, p. 33.
-
-Thus situated--bound to a husband of whose indifference she was by no
-means certain, but who, she well knew, had not the mental strength to
-cope with the Cardinal, and to avow any kindness for her--admired at a
-distance by the courtiers--passionately loved and fiercely persecuted by
-Richelieu, Anne must have presented a new source of interest and
-curiosity to Buckingham; and the course of her destiny, hard as it might
-seem, would give fuel to his presumption.
-
-The dignity which Anne could assume on state occasions has been insisted
-upon by Madame de Motteville, when, speaking of her demeanour during the
-regency, she describes her then as equally fair with the fairest of the
-Court. A vast quantity of brown hair, powdered and frizzed, indeed, and
-worn in curls, set off a complexion not so delicate in colour as
-distinguished for the softness and smoothness of the skin. She
-disfigured herself, after the Spanish fashion, by wearing rouge; and one
-defect was striking--her nose was thick and large. Her eyes varied in
-colour from a perfect blue to green; and her glance was full of
-sweetness and expression. Her mouth was small, and her lips crimson, and
-the sweetest smiles played upon her countenance. The form of her face
-and forehead was admirable; her arms and hands were celebrated for their
-wonderful symmetry and for their whiteness, being, without exaggeration,
-white as snow. The delicacy of her habits amounted almost to monomania.
-“Madam,” observed Cardinal Mazarin to her, “should you incur everlasting
-condemnation, your punishment would be to sleep in sheets of Holland
-cloth.”[211] Her deportment in after life, during the minority of her
-son, Louis XIV., and her fortitude during the agonies of her last fatal
-illness, showed that the gentle and attractive Queen possessed a strong
-natural capacity, which circumstances eventually called into action.
-
-Footnote 211:
-
- Biographie Universelle.
-
-Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu, the all-powerful minister
-of Louis XIII., was now in the height of his power; he reigned, in
-short, under the name of the King. In an unbounded, and perhaps entirely
-selfish ambition, and in the full fruition of their hopes, Buckingham
-and Richelieu may be said to have resembled each other. In the love of
-pomp and display, they were alike. The superb attire, the costly retinue
-of the English peer, were puerile attempts compared with the ordinary
-household of Richelieu. His magnificent palace in the Rue St. Honoré,
-known, during his time, under the name of the Palais Cardinal, and,
-since the year 1636, as the Palais Royal, recalled the glories of York
-House at Whitehall, in the days of Wolsey, with all the added
-refinements of a later period. There, in the chapel, might be seen
-ornaments decorated with gold, studded with diamonds. The most splendid
-tapestry, the most uncommon articles of virtu, pictures of rare value,
-busts and statues, adorned the palace in which Richelieu entertained the
-King and the Court in stately revels. There, on one occasion, was
-enacted a play, drawn from the history of the Duke of Buckingham, when
-all the French prelates were invited, and when the Bishop de Chartres,
-formerly confessor to Richelieu, arranged the seats, and finally, clad
-in velvet, presented himself on the stage, at the head of a train of
-twenty-four pages, carrying the collation which was offered to the
-company.
-
-At the Palais Cardinal, Buckingham learned fresh lessons of an
-ostentatious display, wholly inconsistent with the condition of a
-subject. The Cardinal’s body-guard, assigned to him by the King,
-equalled in number that of his royal master; and the horse soldiers had
-a table appropriated to him in his hall; of these, the Cardinal had the
-power of appointment and dismissal. His ordinary personal attendants in
-his own house were composed of thirty-six pages, selected from noble
-families, and reared in his house under the tutorage of able masters--a
-system again recalling the household of Wolsey. When he travelled, the
-Cardinal was followed by a train consisting of his secretaries, his
-physicians, and his confessor; by eight carriages, with four horses
-each; and by eighty baggage mules. His guard escorted him, and his
-pages; his band, composed of musicians of the first eminence, and a
-numerous body of domestic servants, followed the litter in which the
-great Richelieu, delicate from his birth, and infirm in health, was
-carried; the walls of the towns through which he passed being levelled
-to receive this princely procession, when the gates happened to be too
-narrow to permit its entrance. Often, indeed, it was found necessary to
-widen the roads.[212]
-
-Footnote 212:
-
- Petilot, Notice sur Richelieu, ii., p. 112.
-
-But, whilst Buckingham might read in the extreme expenditure of the
-Cardinal a plea for his own magnificence, there was much to be learned
-in that palace which Richelieu, like Wolsey, afterwards bestowed on the
-monarch to whom he owed his wealth. There, the minister of Charles might
-see a systematic regulation of expense; generosity without prodigality,
-and almost unlimited alms-giving. Abhorring solicitation, which always
-defeated its own aim, absolute and irascible, the Cardinal,
-nevertheless, loved to benefit those who served him. No hasty words
-escaped from him for which he was not eager to atone; and, whilst his
-principle was that men are only to be maintained in their duty by
-severity, his nature was placable to his inferiors, although proud and
-unrelenting to his political enemies.
-
-Another lesson might Buckingham derive in the crowded _salons_> of the
-Palais Cardinal--the patronage of letters. Richelieu admitted to
-intimacy the most eminent authors of the day; and so much did he enjoy
-their society, that his chief physician, Monsieur Caton, used to say to
-him, when prescribing for the Cardinal:--"Sir, we will do all that is in
-our power; but all my remedies will be useless, if you do not add to
-them a drachm of Boisrobert;"--Boisrobert being a writer whose works are
-long since forgotten, but whose powers of telling well the news of the
-court and city used to charm the Cardinal. In the conversation of men of
-letters, Richelieu found, indeed, his greatest solace; and nothing gave
-him greater satisfaction than a victory argument, or a success in
-_repartée_.[213] In the Chamber of the Palais Cardinal might be heard
-poets reciting their unpublished verses, or going away richly paid and
-praised when their productions were approved. “Une Salle de Spectacle,”
-as it was called, was erected by the Cardinal in his palace, and five
-favourite authors, Corneille, Boisrobert, Colletet, D’Estoile, and
-Robron, were employed to work out into a dramatic form the poetical
-conceptions of their patron. Neither was this great minister content
-with lavishing his individual bounty upon men of genius; he formed the
-plan of the Academy of Paris, an institution which was to give laws to
-literature, and the notion of which originated in a private society of
-distinguished men who met together to converse, and to communicate their
-works. In this extension of his powerful aid to letters, Richelieu found
-an obstacle which Buckingham was not destined to encounter. Louis XIII.
-hated every species of study, and despised that which he had not
-intellect to appreciate. Charles, on the other hand, was intelligent and
-inquiring. His education had been carefully attended to; and his taste
-for the arts introduced a degree of refinement into English society such
-as this country had never before beheld.
-
-Footnote 213:
-
- Petilot, x., 126.
-
-It may easily be conceived with what intense curiosity, mingled,
-perhaps, with a spirit of rivalry, Buckingham must have regarded his
-introduction to Richelieu, and how extended a notion of the power of a
-minister he must have received during his notable, though brief, sojourn
-in France.
-
-The dignity and courtesy of Richelieu, in his ordinary deportment,
-might, perhaps, have supplied a hint to the haughty and uncertain
-Buckingham, naturally imperious and lofty. The Cardinal knew well the
-value of affability. He had a most flexible countenance, every
-expression of which he could control; and even, according to Marie de
-Medici, command tears at pleasure. One moment he appeared to be sinking
-away in extreme pain; the next found him gay, gallant, and active. His
-manners were most caressing to those whom he designed to win over; but
-to all whom he met, his reception was full of apparent kindness--his
-extended hand preceded words full of courtesy, and his ready smile
-fascinated those who approached him.
-
-But beneath this exterior there lay the most relentless spirit of
-vengeance towards all whom he regarded as enemies, and the smile and the
-ready dissimulation were fearful to many who were conscious of having
-fallen under his displeasure.
-
-Richelieu, in his morals, gave occasion to much scandal. Beneath an
-assiduous exercise of some of the external forms of religion, he was
-supposed to conceal latitudinarian principles, and his private life was
-stained by great irregularities. The decencies of society were,
-nevertheless, maintained by the Cardinal, who was sensible that nothing
-lowers a man so much in public esteem as to be the slave of his
-passions; yet, since there scarcely existed, in his time, a man of more
-accommodating principles than the Cardinal in public life, so there were
-few, it was secretly believed, who had stronger passions to curb, or to
-indulge, than the most reverend celibate of the Château of Rueil--that
-wonderful and splendid retreat, of which no traces are left to mark the
-alleys wherein the festive throngs delighted, nor to recall the prisons
-in the park, to which the all-powerful Cardinal consigned his enemies.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
-
-BUCKINGHAM’S EMBASSY TO PARIS--HE DESPATCHES BALTHAZAR GERBIER TO SELECT
- AND PURCHASE PICTURES--LETTER OF THE PAINTER TO HIM--THE
- MAGNIFICENCE OF THE FRENCH COURT--BUCKINGHAM’S APPEARANCE AT THE
- PARISIAN COURT--HIS ASPIRING TO THE FAVOUR OF ANNE OF AUSTRIA--THE
- MANNER IN WHICH HIS HOMAGE WAS RECEIVED BY ANNE, AS STATED BY MADAME
- DE MOTTEVILLE--THE FREEDOM OF MANNERS, TERMED BY ANNE "L’HONNÊTE
- GALANTERIE," PERMITTED BY THE QUEEN--THE DAZZLING APPEARANCE OF
- BUCKINGHAM--ANECDOTE OF THE JEALOUSY OF THE FRENCH--POINT OF
- ETIQUETTE BETWEEN BUCKINGHAM AND THE CARDINAL RICHELIEU--BUCKINGHAM
- ATTENDS HENRIETTA MARIA TO THE COAST--ANNE OF AUSTRIA ACCOMPANIES
- HER SISTER-IN-LAW TO AMIENS--INCIDENT THERE, IN WHICH BUCKINGHAM
- BETRAYED HIS MAD PASSION--HE RECEIVES A REBUFF FROM THE QUEEN--HIS
- LOVE-SUIT NOT CHECKED BY HER REPROOF--HE SHEDS TEARS ON PARTING FROM
- ANNE--JOURNEYS ON TO BOULOGNE AND RETURNS TO AMIENS--HIS INTERVIEW
- THERE WITH ANNE--HE THEN PURSUES HIS JOURNEY TO ENGLAND--LETTERS,
- AND AFFECTING CONDUCT OF HIS WIFE--THE MEETING OF CHARLES AND
- HENRIETTA MARIA--BUCKINGHAM RETAINS HIS INFLUENCE OVER CHARLES I.
-
-
-
-
- =CHAPTER V.=
-
-
-Previous to his own departure, Buckingham had despatched Balthazar
-Gerbier, the painter, to Paris, in order to select and purchase
-pictures, and other articles, to decorate some of his own stately
-dwellings, not one of which seems to have been, at that time, completed.
-The emissary was dazzled by the sight of foreign splendours, and sent a
-lively account of them to the Duke. “My lord,” he wrote, “do you beg of
-Madame (the Duchess of Buckingham) that she will be pleased to furnish
-York House; for this Monsieur Chevreuse, and all the folks here, are so
-fine, and so magnificent and curious in their houses, that your
-Excellency will be much pleased. I beg of your Excellency to see the
-apartments of this Bishop of Paris, and you will see in what nice order
-the pictures are arranged, and how rich everything is. And, for the love
-of Paul Veronese, be pleased to dress the walls of the old
-gallery--poor, blank walls, they will die of cold this winter! Your
-Excellency will see also here, as at the house of the Duke de Chevreuse,
-the best paintings are before the chimney, and approve what I have
-always said, that they always put the principal piece over the chimney.
-For all their bravery, there is still magnificence in gold. But your
-Excellency will see a great mistake they make in the construction of
-their chimneys. These are all made of wood, which is very improper so
-near the fire. They are, also, too deep; all the heat remains within.
-Moreover, there are paintings of the French masters; but we have the
-pearl of the Fabians.”[214]
-
-Footnote 214:
-
- Memoirs of the Court of King James, by Bishop Goodman, edited by the
- Rev. T. B. Brewer, vol. ii., p. 344. Taken from the original Hol.
- Tan., lxxiii., 392. Translated from the French.
-
-Madame de Motteville extols the splendour and gaiety of the court; and
-although the portraiture of the galaxy of beauties whom she describes
-belongs to a later period, one may readily conceive that attractions
-were not wanting in that sphere graced by Anne of Austria and Henrietta
-Maria.
-
-The impression made by Buckingham on the French was favourable. “He
-had,” observes Madame de Motteville, “a fine figure. His face was very
-handsome; his mind and character were free from littleness. He was
-magnificent in his deportment and liberal; and, as the favourite of a
-great prince, he had funds at his disposal, and all the crown jewels of
-England to employ in his own adornment.” “It is not to be wondered at,”
-she continues, “that with so many attractions, he should have dared to
-cherish presumptuous thoughts--to have harboured desires at once so
-lofty, so dangerous, and so reprehensible; and he had the good fortune
-to persuade those who were aware of his wishes that they were not
-proffered impertinently;” “yet,” adds the confidante, almost
-reluctantly, “one may venture to suppose that his vows were received in
-the same degree as that in which the gods suffer the homage of
-mortals.”[215]
-
-Footnote 215:
-
- Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i, p. 14.
-
-The object of these aspiring and criminal hopes was, it appears, the
-young Queen of France. Nor is there reason to conclude that the same
-indifference was manifested by Anne to Buckingham as had been shown by
-her to her former admirers. In after times, when the perilous illusion
-had for ever passed away, Anne, according to Madame de Motteville,
-admitted that in that season of her youth she had not perceived that the
-delightful and sprightly conversation, known to her by the term of
-_l’honnête galanterie_, could possibly be censured, especially when no
-secret understanding was couched beneath the lively converse; nor did
-the thoughtless Queen attach to it any greater possibility of blame than
-she should do to those ladies of her native Spanish Court, who, being
-forbidden to talk to men, except in the presence of the King and Queen
-of Spain, were accustomed to boast of their conquests amongst each
-other, and to consider them rather as enhancing, than detracting from,
-their reputation.[216] The Duchess de Chevreuse, Anne confessed, had
-been wholly occupied with gallantries and diversions, and the Queen, led
-by her advice and example, could not, in spite of her modesty and
-principle, avoid becoming interested in an expression of passion which
-seemed to her far more flattering to her self-love than dangerous to her
-virtue. In these terms did Anne, after the lapse of years, refer to the
-transient but intoxicating adulation paid to her by Buckingham.
-
-Footnote 216:
-
- Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 16.
-
-Possibly Anne was dazzled by the lofty grace of her new votary,
-contrasted as it was to some advantage with the homely-featured Philip
-Herbert, Earl of Montgomery, one of the noblemen who had attended
-Buckingham to Paris. The mission could, as Sir Henry Wotton observes,
-“want no ornaments or bravery to adorn it.” He relates an anecdote of
-the Duke, who, dancing one day in a suit all gorgeously overspread with
-diamonds, lost one of his most valuable jewels, which, strange to say,
-was the next day recovered, although it had been lost in a “court full
-of pages.” This restitution Sir Henry regards as but another proof of
-the good fortune which everywhere followed Buckingham.[217] It was,
-perhaps, on his court suit, which was valued at 80,000_l._[218]
-
-Footnote 217:
-
- Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, 221.
-
-Footnote 218:
-
- Miss Aikin’s Memoirs of Charles I., vol. i.
-
-It was not to be supposed that Anne would escape the voice of scandal,
-or that the attentions of one upon whom all eyes were fixed should
-remain unobserved. One little occurrence, which became the subject of
-general animadversion, took place after all the Court festivities were
-at an end, and when Anne and the Duke were on the eve of separation. It
-speaks, however, plainly of previous passages of gallantry on the one
-hand, and indulgence on the other.
-
-A week of feasting and rejoicing was over, and Buckingham prepared to
-conduct the young Queen of England to her foreign home, on the second of
-June. It appears that, notwithstanding the great goodwill entertained
-towards the Duke by Monsieur de Chevreuse, he showed some degree of
-jealousy on account of his unwonted display. Buckingham, previous to his
-departure, ordered some diamonds to be set in rings, with the view of
-bestowing them on several of the courtiers; but he was warned of the
-effect which this would produce by his faithful agent, Balthazar
-Gerbier. “I have been informed,” writes the painter, "that at the Court
-where you are, they have got intelligence of the diamonds your
-excellency is causing to be set in rings, and so they are trying to
-guess what can be your reason. The greater part think it is in order to
-make presents, which they are resolved not to receive. Your Excellency’s
-perfect sagacity needs no interpreter for understanding their policy,
-which is only that somebody has been such an exceeding busybody as to
-blow into the ear of the Duc de Chevreuse that if your Excellency were
-to be remarked above others for liberality, it would be greatly to his
-detriment." Under this apprehension, the secretary of De Chevreuse
-importuned Gerbier, who seems to have filled the capacity of House
-Steward to the Duke, as well as his other employment, to have an account
-drawn up of what was given to the household servants of De Chevreuse,
-and also of the other presents. The virtue of the French Court seems to
-have been aroused by the expected gifts, which were regarded as an
-affront, and it was intimated that if offered they would not be
-received. This delicacy of conduct was naturally contrasted with the
-rapacity of the Duke, who had, it seems, accepted presents in France
-amounting in value to eighty thousand pounds, as he himself stated in a
-letter to the King.[219]
-
-Footnote 219:
-
- Bishop Goodman, vol. i., p. 290. Letter from Balthazar Gerbier of the
- Duke of Buckingham. Also State Papers, vol. iii., No. 7.
-
-Having thus offended the pride of the Parisian courtiers by his
-overweening prodigality, Buckingham set forth to commit an act of
-imprudence still more obvious and far more indefensible. He did not quit
-Paris, however, without having both given and received an offence from
-even the courtly Richelieu, who, having addressed to him a letter,
-directed to “Le Duc de Buckingham,” instead of to “Monseigneur le Duc de
-Buckingham,” received one in reply inscribed to “Monsieur le Cardinal de
-Richelieu.”[220] Thus quitting Paris as he had done Madrid, in bad odour
-with those who had eagerly welcomed him to their kingdom, Buckingham
-attended his young and royal charge towards the coast.
-
-Footnote 220:
-
- Punctilio was then at its height. The point of etiquette, whether the
- Earl of Carlisle was to wait upon the Cardinal first, or the Cardinal
- upon the Earl, was settled by Richelieu’s feigning sickness and
- continuing in bed.--Miss Aikin’s Court of Charles I., p. 24.
-
-Orders had been sent by the French King that his sister should be
-everywhere welcomed with honours as signal as if he were himself
-present; and to show her still more respect, Anne of Austria accompanied
-the young Queen as far as Amiens.
-
-It was here that, whilst walking in the garden of the house where she
-was lodged, a memorable interview between Anne and Buckingham took
-place. She was, indeed, surrounded by her usual suite of attendants,
-when the enamoured and imprudent Duke sought and found her. Putangue,
-the equerry of the Queen of France, perceiving, as Buckingham
-approached, that he was anxious to speak to his royal mistress alone,
-fell back for a short time, thinking that delicacy forbade him to listen
-to what was uttered by the Duke. Having by chance, according to Anne’s
-subsequent statement, turned into a winding alley, the unguarded Queen
-and her lover found themselves alone. In a few moments a cry was heard
-by the listening attendants in the garden; the equerry hastened to his
-mistress, who blamed him exceedingly for having quitted her. Anne
-afterwards explained this occurrence, which naturally excited much
-discussion, by relating that, alarmed at finding herself alone with her
-avowed admirer, she was still more agitated by the expressions of
-passionate attachment which Buckingham addressed to her. She knew that
-she could not listen to the importunity of an ardent passion without
-participating morally in its guilt. She acted therefore, as she thought,
-and as her apologist, Madame de Motteville, conceived, honestly and
-sagaciously in preferring the preservation of her own self-respect to
-the fear of being unjustly blamed. Thus reflecting, she had no
-apprehension that her exclamation of surprise and terror would bear a
-bad construction even to her consort, who evidently regarded her with
-distrust.
-
-Having proffered some reason for his return, the Duke even left the
-future Queen Consort of his royal master at Boulogne, and hastened to
-the queen-mother, Marie de Medicis, at Amiens. He even went so far as to
-pretend that he was commissioned to enter into some new negotiation;
-whether he succeeded in blinding her or not is not stated; but, after
-conversing with her for some time, he presented himself to Anne of
-Austria; that princess had been apprized of Buckingham’s journey, by her
-confidante, the Duchess de Chevreuse, who accompanied the Queen of
-England. Anne received him, after the fashion of her adopted country, in
-bed, and without her customary state; nor did she express the slightest
-surprise at his appearance; but her astonishment was considerable when
-she saw the Duke fall on his knees by her bedside, and kiss the
-coverlids with expressions so agitated, so emphatic, that she could no
-longer, as she afterwards confessed, “avoid perceiving the earnestness
-of his passion.” She avowed to Madame de Motteville that she was
-overcome with surprise, not unmingled with resentment, for she
-comprehended, perhaps too late for her own reputation, that a real
-insult was conveyed under this proffered idolatry. She remembered that
-she was the Queen of France, and a long and angry silence marked her
-displeasure. At this critical moment, the Countess de Lannoi, at that
-time her principal lady of the chamber, and who, in that capacity, was
-placed at the head of the bed, came forward to the queen’s aid. The
-countess was a grave, respected, and aged personage, whose very look
-might well strike terror into the presumptuous suitor. She addressed
-herself to the Duke reprovingly, telling him that such conduct was
-inconsistent with the customs permitted in the French Court, and bidding
-him arise. She spoke, however, to one who was of late little habituated
-to control, and she could make no impression. Buckingham replied that he
-was not a Frenchman, and therefore under no obligation to observe the
-laws of France. He spoke calmly, and then again addressing the queen, he
-broke out into expressions of the utmost tenderness. Anne replied in
-terms expressive of her anger at his boldness; but whilst her language
-was reproachful, her manner appears to have been destitute of the
-indignation natural to the occasion. She commanded him, however, to rise
-from his knees, and quit the room; and he then complied.
-
-The next day, notwithstanding this audacity, Buckingham was permitted to
-see the Queen again, but in the presence of the assembled Court. It is
-probable that Anne wished what occurred not to transpire, and that this
-audience might be one of policy. But the precaution, if such it was, did
-not avail to save Anne from the most injurious suspicions. Buckingham,
-after taking leave, proceeded to England, bearing in his mind a
-resolution to return to France at the earliest occasion. Anne and the
-queen-mother, after some little delay, repaired to Fontainebleau to
-rejoin the King. Soon afterwards, Louis was informed of all that had
-occurred. The circumstances were even aggravated to the disadvantage of
-the unhappy young queen. Several of her attendants were discharged.
-Putangue, her equerry, was banished; her physician and others shared the
-same fate. One of Anne’s Spanish ladies, Donna Estefania, had the
-courage to express her disgust at this severity. “I think,” she said,
-addressing Le Père Sequirent, the King’s confessor, “that so much
-malignity visited upon this lady is not a good sign; it does not look
-well.”[221]
-
-Footnote 221:
-
- Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 15.
-
-Buckingham, meantime, journeyed towards England, his heart full of the
-hope of returning at some future day to behold the object of his mad
-passion. Yet he had every motive of tenderness and consideration towards
-his duchess, whose fondest hopes were constantly, during absence, fixed
-upon her faithless husband. Balthazar Gerbier, who, from his situation
-in the Duke’s household, had ample opportunities of witnessing her
-devotion to the Duke, terms her, when writing to Buckingham, during his
-sojourn in Spain, “your incomparable Penelope, who constantly, in this
-sea of trouble, has demonstrated the greatness of her constancy,
-comforting herself with the hope of seeing her sun return above this
-horizon, beautiful and shining as it set.”[222] Her anxiety during his
-former embassy had been such as to injure her health, or, as she
-touchingly expressed it, “merely melancholy was the cause of her
-sickness.” Nor was that sorrow unmingled with doubt of her husband’s
-constancy. Buckingham, with his natural candour and fearlessness,
-perhaps, too, wanting the moral sense of shame for such transgressions,
-appears, from a passage in one of the Duchess’s letters, to have
-confessed to her some of his infidelities during his Spanish journey,
-and to have expressed great contrition for them. Fears had, at that
-time, been entertained of his wife’s health; and consumption was the
-disease apprehended. The Duke was on that occasion stung to the heart by
-the dread of losing his “poor Kate,” as she termed herself. Reflecting
-on his reckless gallantries with shame, he appears to have considered
-the illness of his wife as a judgment upon him, and intimated to her
-that should she die, he should think it too hard a blow, even for one so
-sinful as himself.[223] The reply made to him by his gentle wife ought
-to have ensured everlasting gratitude and constancy, were it in the
-nature of man to be bound by such ties to woman. “And where you say,”
-writes this devoted woman, “it is too great a punishment for a greater
-offender than you hope you are, dear heart, how severe God had been
-pleased to have dealt with me, it had been for my sins, and not yours,
-for truly you are so good a man that, but for one sin, you are not so
-great an offender, only your loving women so well. But I hope God has
-forgiven you, and I am sure you will not commit the like again, and God
-has laid a great affliction on me by this grievous absence; and I trust
-God will send me life, and Moll too, that you shall enjoy us both; for I
-am sure,” she adds, "God will bless us both, for your sake; and I cannot
-express the infinite affection I bear you; but, for God’s sake, believe
-me, that there was never woman loved man as I do you."
-
-Footnote 222:
-
- Court and Times of James I., by Bishop Goodman, vol. ii., p. 265.
-
-Footnote 223:
-
- Ibid, p. 311.
-
-The Duchess had at that time testified her delight at her husband’s
-quitting that “wicked Madrid,” as she called it. She little thought how
-detrimental to her married happiness a residence of twelve days only in
-the no less vitiated air of Paris was to prove.
-
-On quitting Amiens, Buckingham returned to Boulogne, where he met his
-Duchess, who had been sent by Charles to kiss the young queen’s hand,
-and to desire that she would take her own time of coming over, “with
-most conveniency to her own person.”[224] On the twenty-second of June
-(N.S.) Henrietta embarked, and twenty-four hours afterwards arrived at
-Dover.
-
-Footnote 224:
-
- Rushworth, p. 170.
-
-Charles had long been anxiously expecting the Queen. On the last day of
-May he had posted down to Canterbury, there to wait for her, attended by
-a large company of lords and ladies, “who tarried there to their great
-charge.”[225] The King was obliged to console them, and to prolong their
-attendance with messages daily from Dover, by which step, a contemporary
-writes, “he persuaded them to patience.” The young Queen was detained,
-as it was alleged, by her mother’s illness; “but,” adds the
-correspondent just quoted, “if all be true that is reported, they can
-make no great haste, being to march with a little army of 4000 at least,
-whereof the Duc de Chevreuse and his followers make up three hundred,
-and sixty that belong to his kitchen.”
-
-Footnote 225:
-
- Inedited Letter in the State Paper Office. (Not in the Calendar.)
-
-On the fourth of June, the Earl of Northampton, who had gone into
-France, it was said, in a “mad mood,” had arrived at Dover at nine
-o’clock in the evening. They found the King “on the leads” (of the
-Castle, probably), having spent two very cold hours there, anxiously
-awaiting their arrival. It appears that Charles then wished to cross to
-Boulogne; but it was objected to, as being a precedent that would lower
-the kings of England, and dangers might accrue upon his placing himself
-in a foreign state.[226]
-
-Footnote 226:
-
- State Papers, vol. iii., No. 25.
-
-When, in the presence of the whole court and the flower of the nobility,
-they met for the first time, everyone except the royal couple retired,
-and Charles and his bride held half-an-hour’s conversation alone.
-Henrietta is said to have taken the earliest opportunity to entreat the
-King “that he would not be angry with her for her faults of ignorance,
-before he had first instructed her to eschew them, for that she, being
-young, and coming into a strange country, both by her years and
-ignorance of the customs of the nation, might commit many errors.” And
-she requested that the King would, in such cases, apply to use no third
-person as a mediator, but himself inform her as to what she had done
-amiss. “The King,” adds the same authority, “thanked her for it,
-desiring her to use him even as she had desired him to use her, which
-she willingly promised.”[227]
-
-Footnote 227:
-
- Rushworth, p. 171.
-
-The plague was then raging to a fearful extent in the metropolis; and it
-was afterwards, by those who witnessed the sad termination of this
-reign, interpreted as an evil omen, as it began thus, although the
-previous reign had commenced with a similar national calamity; whereas
-the sway of James had been remarkable for peace and prosperity. “These
-two plagues,” remarks the historian L’Estrange, “that of the father,
-this of the son, were natives both of one parish, Whitechapel, yea,
-under the same roof, and issued forth on the same day of the month, such
-correspondence was there in their entry.”[228] There were not wanting
-those, however, who regarded this grievous visitation, the excess of
-which common sense would attribute to narrow streets and lanes, “where
-air and sweetness were the only strangers,” to a judgment on the young
-King’s alliance with Papacy and France.[229] It acted as a check upon
-present rejoicings, and, although great preparations had been made to
-receive the royal pair, most of the procession was omitted on account of
-the pestilence, no fewer than twenty-three parishes being infected; and
-the plague having increased fearfully during the “extremest cold weather
-that had ever been known,” what, it was observed, was to be looked for
-when the heat came, and the fruits were ripe?[230]
-
-Footnote 228:
-
- Kennet’s Complete History of England, vol. ii., p. 4.
-
-Footnote 229:
-
- Ibid.
-
-Footnote 230:
-
- Inedited Letter in the State Paper Office.
-
-Under these unpromising auspices did Henrietta Maria take up her abode
-in Somerset House, then styled Denmark House, where her chapel and
-convent for Capuchin Friars were established, the execution of the laws
-against Roman Catholics having been previously suspended by a warrant
-from the King.[231]
-
-Footnote 231:
-
- Life of Lord Keeper Williams, p. 10.
-
-Those who prognosticated uneasiness to Charles, and detriment to the
-country, were not long kept in suspense as to the fulfilment of their
-prophecy, for more uncongenial minds than those of Charles and his royal
-bride were never destined to meet; nor did they long adhere to the wise
-rule proposed, of allowing no third party to reconcile differences.
-
-Buckingham still maintained his exalted position. The circumstances in
-which he was placed were such as had never occurred in this country
-before. “With King Charles,” as Sir Anthony Weldon observes, "did also
-rise his father’s favourite, and in much more glory and lustre than in
-his father’s time, as if he were no less an inheritor of his son’s
-favour than the son of the father’s crown."[232] This pre-eminence was
-regarded by the Puritan party as a grievous evil. James, they suspected
-rather than knew, was somewhat weary of his favourite’s insolence; but,
-in Charles’s time, “he reigned like an impetuous storm, bearing down all
-before him that stood in his way, and would not yield to him, nor comply
-with him.”[233] Such was the vulgar opinion; whilst the submission of
-Charles was considered to show a want of dignity and heroism, especially
-when the affronts passed upon him by Buckingham, in the King’s youth,
-were remembered.
-
-Footnote 232:
-
- Court of King Charles, Secret History of the Court of James I., p. 23.
-
-Footnote 233:
-
- Ibid.
-
-There were others who took a different view of the subject; and the warm
-affection manifested by Charles to the Duke, surviving, as it did, the
-grave, has been justly commended. “When once,” observes the historian
-Lilly, "he (Charles the First) really affected, he was ever a perfect
-friend; witness his continuance of affection unto all Buckingham’s
-friends after his death, yea, until his own decay of fortune."[234]
-
-Footnote 234:
-
- Lilly’s True History of James I. and Charles I.
-
-Raised, as he was, to the highest pinnacle of human greatness in his
-native land, there were some humiliating circumstances which seriously
-affected the domestic happiness of Buckingham. Of these, the chief was
-the disgrace of his brother, Lord Purbeck, and the infelicity of that
-marriage which had been accomplished at so much expense of integrity. In
-February, 1624-25, it had been deemed necessary to institute proceedings
-against Lady Purbeck and Sir Robert Howard upon the ground of adultery
-and sorcery, and James I., though scarcely able to sign, had set his
-hand to the warrant.
-
-The King, nevertheless, did this act unwillingly; and he had even
-previously dissuaded Buckingham from seeking a commitment, as he said
-the matter ought to be conducted by “justice and not favour.” Upon
-receiving this advice, the Duke wrote to Sir Randal Crewe, Lord Chief
-Justice, requesting him to communicate on this point with Innocent
-Lanier, a man much trusted by Lord Purbeck. That unhappy nobleman was
-then residing with the Duke, who seemed anxious to retain him, fearing
-that otherwise “Sir Robert and Lady Purbeck might, by their crafty
-insinuations, draw from him speeches to their advantage.”[235]
-
-Footnote 235:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxxxiii., No. 41.
-
-This prosecution was carried on with considerable bitterness of spirit.
-Upon the first steps taken in the affair, the Duke of Buckingham was
-sent for to London; and the summons despatched contained this
-assurance:--"I find them" (the solicitor and attorney-general) “resolved
-to deal roundly in this business, as your Grace desires.” The advice
-given by these two crown lawyers was to bring the case before the High
-Commission Court, which could sit without delay in the vacation, and
-when the crime had been proved there, the divorce could be obtained by
-ordinary law. They thought it unadvisable to send these prisoners to
-prison, “a step unusual for persons of their rank,” but “advised that
-they be confined in the houses of aldermen, where they would be more
-strictly restrained than in prison.” They were then examining witnesses.
-
-Buckingham, in answer to this letter, after thanking the lawyers for
-their counsel, declared himself satisfied with it. “They were,” he
-said, “to do their utmost to discover the truth, but his family being
-nearly linked with that of Sir Howard, he wished no undue severity in
-the prosecution. He entreated the King to let the law take its course,
-and not to shew any favour in the business.”[236] It was immediately,
-nevertheless, resolved to incarcerate Sir Robert Howard, even without
-a hearing, and he was forthwith despatched to the Fleet Prison. His
-partner in guilt, although at first dismayed by the reception of a
-letter from the Lord Chief Justice, summoned to her aid the dauntless
-assurance which she inherited from her mother, Lady Hatton, and
-observed that she “was resolved to prove a new lodging and new
-keepers.” Her nurse, and the child who was the supposed offspring of
-her infamous connection, were left in the custody of persons
-appointed, and remained in Denmark House. Eventually, Sir Robert, and
-Lady Purbeck, with her son, were consigned to the charge of two
-Aldermen, Barkham and Freeman, “to be close kept.”[237] Such was the
-fear entertained of incurring Buckingham’s displeasure, that bail was
-withheld until his mighty will was ascertained. Notwithstanding that
-the commissioners appointed to examine into this singular case
-declared that “they saw no fruit in keeping the delinquents in
-prison,” and hinted that their incarceration being “fruitless,” their
-bailment might give the world satisfaction,[238] Buckingham,
-stimulated, probably, by the desire of emancipating his unfortunate
-brother from his union with a woman of abandoned character, appears to
-have lent himself to accusations by which the offence of the ill-fated
-Lady Purbeck should assume a criminal character.
-
-Footnote 236:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxxxiv., No. 7.
-
-Footnote 237:
-
- State Papers.--Letter dated Feb. 19th.
-
-Footnote 238:
-
- Letter from Sir R. Heath and Sir T. Coventry to the Duke of
- Buckingham.--See Bishop Goodman’s Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 376.
-
-In the endeavour to establish the fact of adultery with Sir Robert
-Howard, there appears to have been some failure. The suspicions were
-“strong and violent,” as the legal functionaries declared, against Sir
-Robert Howard, but no “express confession from parties, nor testimony of
-witnesses,” was obtained by which the _fact_ was substantiated. With
-regard to the allegations concerning witchcraft, the most extraordinary
-statements were adduced. This young lady of rank had, it was affirmed,
-"administered powders and potions that did intoxicate her husband’s
-brain, and practised somewhat of that kind upon the Duke of
-Buckingham."[239] To this accusation, the insanity which is said to have
-darkened the Earl of Purbeck’s career, and the frequent reports of the
-unfriendly, that Buckingham was “mad,” gave a semblance of probability
-sufficient in those days of superstition. But those who were judges in
-the affair happily were more enlightened than many of their
-contemporaries. In the first place, the chief witness, one Lambe,
-described as a “notorious old rascal,” had been himself condemned the
-previous summer for a heinous offence; and arraigned a year or two
-previously for practising witchcraft on “my Lord Kingston” at Worcester.
-
-Footnote 239:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxxiv., No. 47. Inedited Papers, Domestic, 1625.
-
-“I see not,” writes a contemporary, “what the fellow can gain by this
-confession, but to be hanged the sooner.”[240] Nevertheless, the
-information was too acceptable to the powers that then overawed society,
-not to meet with its reward. It was proved, indeed, that Lady Purbeck,
-after the fashion of her day, contemplated the power of witchcraft as
-one means of blinding or infuriating her husband. The example of the
-infamous Lady Somerset had not died away in the memory of one who seems
-to have resembled her in some points--in her hatred of the husband to
-whom she was assigned for mercenary ends--in her mad passion for another
-man, and in the dark agents to whom she resorted for aid, and by whom
-she was betrayed. Lady Purbeck often visited Lambe; “and,” wrote the
-Commissioners to Buckingham, “we verily think with evil intention to
-your brother.” Whether Sir Robert Howard accompanied her or not in these
-furtive visitations does not appear. Upon reviewing the scanty and
-unsatisfactory evidence, it was concluded by the attorney and
-solicitor-general, that the “use to be made of this part of the business
-would be rather to aggravate and make odious the other part of the
-offence, than to proceed upon it as a direct crime of itself.” Nothing,
-they acknowledged, had yet appeared, that could give “them cause to
-think the matter to be capital against the delinquents;” and no further
-witnesses were forthcoming.
-
-Footnote 240:
-
- State Papers, vol. clxxiv., No. 47.--Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton,
- Feb. 26th, 1625. Inedited State Papers.
-
-In the midst of these proceedings, it is curious to observe the
-retribution which, in the course of worldly events, forces itself upon
-our notice. Lady Hatton, obliged to apply for counsel to her despised
-lord, to whose masterly judgment she was compelled, in her emergency, to
-resort, was a spectacle to divert, and even to instruct society. “Would
-you think,” writes Mr. Chamberlain, "that Lady Hatton’s stomach could
-stoop so low as to seek the Lord Coke, at Stoke, for his counsel and
-assistance in this affair?"
-
-Well might Lady Hatton tremble for the result to this daughter whom she
-had sacrificed to her worldly view; for a spirit of persecution now
-manifested itself more and more clearly. Before the High Commission, the
-frail being whose fate was thus sealed at her very entrance into life
-acquitted herself, as a contemporary informs us, “reasonably well
-hitherto,” but he adds, “_ne Hercules quidem coutra tot et tantos_.” By
-all her demeanour was allowed to be “modest and prudent, and without
-reflection on other parties.” The witnesses whom she adduced were,
-however, not only silenced, but punished. One Bembige, a servant of the
-Archbishop of Canterbury, was committed for speaking in her behalf, and
-for stating how severely she was used by the adverse proctors. Those
-gentlemen complaining of these remarks, Bembige was sent out of court;
-obtaining from Lady Purbeck the distinction of “being one of her
-martyrs.”[241] The cause was eventually referred to the Ecclesiastical
-Court, wherein the Earl of Anglesea was the nominal prosecutor. Sir
-Robert Howard, not answering to the citation served upon him, was
-publicly excommunicated at Paul’s Cross. He claimed, however, his
-privilege as a “parliament man,” and it was conceded to him.
-
-Footnote 241:
-
- Inedited Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, State Paper
- Office.
-
-Lady Purbeck, meantime, remained under the custody of Alderman Barkham;
-no friends came forward to stand bail for her; neither Lady Hatton nor
-her father supplied her with money. She sent to Buckingham for means to
-fee her council;[242] nor does the aid appear to have been refused;
-neither can any blame attach to the Duke for his endeavours to free a
-brother who was now incapable of acting for himself,--as appears fully
-from Lord Anglesea, Christopher Villiers being the prosecutor--from a
-woman who, whatever may have been the extenuation of her faults, was
-living audaciously in a state of infamy. Neither can we wonder at his
-afterwards requesting Prince Charles to insist on his leaving the Court,
-where she had set so fearful an example.
-
-Footnote 242:
-
- State Papers, vol. cxxxv., No. 12.
-
-Lady Purbeck was driven away, however, for another reason; although a
-divorce was not obtained, she was sentenced by the High Commission to
-stand in the Savoy church in a white sheet. She fled, in the disguise of
-a page, into the country; and in 1634 was again domiciled in the house
-of her father, who at least had human sympathies, in which his wife had
-proved herself utterly wanting. Coke, in his old age, received and
-pardoned the much humiliated daughter. “She continued,” says Lord
-Campbell, “to watch piously over him till his death.”[243] Nor could the
-task have been otherwise than consolatory. An accident was the proximate
-cause of the breaking up of that wonderful frame that had never known
-rest. Coke had, in his own mind, deserved well of the world; he was wont
-to give thanks that he had never given his body to physic, nor his heart
-to cruelty, nor his hand to corruption.[244] When his friends sent him
-three doctors to benefit his health, he told them he had never taken
-physic since he was born, and would not now begin; that he had now upon
-him “a disease which all the drugs of Asia, nor the gold of Africa, nor
-the doctors of Europe could not cure, old age.” Notwithstanding Coke’s
-great practice, he was at one time in debt to the extent of 60,000_l._,
-owing, it was said, to his sons. In his will he left injunctions that he
-should be buried without pomp in Littleshall church, and a monument be
-erected for him there; and that his books might be preserved for his
-posterity.[245]
-
-Footnote 243:
-
- Campbell’s Life of Sir E. Coke, p. 335, note.
-
-Footnote 244:
-
- Lloyd’s State Worthies.
-
-Footnote 245:
-
- State Papers, vol. cliv., No. 85.
-
-In his own immediate family, Buckingham enjoyed such happiness as the
-fulfilment of every earthly wish could bestow. He was now the father of
-two children; Lady Mary Villiers, who, if we may accredit the
-representations of a fond mother, was full of intelligence and promise.
-The letters written during the absence of her husband, by the Duchess,
-abound with such anecdotes of her then only child, as are only important
-as they mark a mutual tie, and show confidence in the affection of him
-to whom those epistles were addressed--to one whom she believed to be
-all constancy and attachment--and to whom such little traits of her
-daughter could alone be imparted by a mother.
-
-“Moll,” she writes, “is very well, and is a-writing to make you merry;
-she is bound to you for your sending her a token.” “Mr. Clarke will tell
-you who she is like; she is so lively and full of play that she will
-make you very good sport when you come home. I hope you have received
-her picture, though you have sent me no word whether you have or
-no.”[246] This picture was painted by Balthazar Gerbier; but, not being
-completed in time, the artist was obliged to substitute one which had
-been completed three years previously; “for the little lady,” writes
-Gerbier, in allusion to this substitution, “she has been painted in
-great haste; the hands, which crave a blessing from your excellency, are
-merely outlined.”[247] The “Lady Mary” was still an infant when the Duke
-returned from Spain; but the remembrance of her father, which had been
-impressed upon her childish thoughts, is exemplified in the following
-passage from a letter of her grandfather, the Earl of Rutland.[248]
-"Your wife, your sister, Mr. Porter, and myself were at supper at York
-House, when news came Dick Graeme[249] was come; but we were so
-impatient to see him, that some could eat no meat, and when we did see
-him and your letter, they were so overjoyed they forgot to eat; nay, my
-pretty, sweet Moll, as she was undressing, cried nothing but ‘dad,
-dad.’"
-
-Footnote 246:
-
- Goodman’s Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 313.
-
-Footnote 247:
-
- Ibid, p. 264.
-
-Footnote 248:
-
- Dated April 1st, 1623; Harl. MSS., 1581, p. 129.
-
-Footnote 249:
-
- One of the Duke’s attendants.
-
-This prattling child was now growing into what King James entitled “a
-fair maid;” and a son, George, afterwards celebrated for his wit and
-profligacy, had been added to the many blessings showered upon
-Buckingham by Providence. His wife, who had, during his absence, kept
-his picture, “as her sweet saint, always within sight of her bed,” was
-now happy in the presence of one whom she seems to have loved with all
-the ardour of a first affection. Even the infidelities of her husband,
-now beginning to be generally known, appear to have left her love
-unchanged. She knew well the temptations that beset him. “Every one
-tells me,” she writes at one time, “how happy I am in a husband;” “that
-you will not look at a woman, and yet how they woo you.” When
-undeceived, the Duchess had the greatness of mind to make allowances for
-this flattered child of fortune; she knew that if any man were to be
-excused, it was he who, in foreign courts, had encountered the snares to
-which his disposition rendered him too easy a prey. The delinquency, as
-we have seen, nearly broke her heart; but she forgave and received the
-delinquent. She appears to have ever retained a conviction that her
-husband’s heart was true to her, whatever his errors may have been.
-“Yourself is a jewel that will win the hearts of all the women in the
-world; but I am confident it is not in their power to win your heart
-from a heart that is, was, and ever shall be yours till death.”[250]
-
-Footnote 250:
-
- Harl. MSS., 1581, p. 279.
-
-Notwithstanding his domestic blessings, his fame and power, Buckingham
-had his disquiets. Amongst these, the chief was pecuniary
-embarrassments. The favourite, whose rapacity has been the theme of
-historians, was harassed by difficulties which must have arisen partly
-from his great extravagance, partly from the countless demands made upon
-the resources of those in power.
-
-Charles the First seems to have been no less solicitous than his father
-had been to enrich his beloved Villiers. In July, 1624, he granted to
-him, in conjunction with Sir George Carew, a commission for making
-saltpetre and gunpowder; and, at the same time, he bestowed upon Sir
-Edward Villiers an annuity of a thousand per annum,[251] probably in
-order to relieve Buckingham of the charge of assisting his brother.
-These favours were followed by another, which proved a source of much
-expense to the Duke--that of York House, which, with other messuages in
-St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, was, on the fourteenth of July, 1624,
-granted to Buckingham.[252] Immense sums had also been presented to
-Buckingham when ambassador to France; he wrote to the King, during his
-sojourn in Paris, that he had then already received gifts nearly to the
-value of eighty thousand pounds.[253] Yet, still the lavish expenditure
-of Buckingham was inadequately supplied. This was a grievous source of
-vexation to one whose unbounded love of display was gracefully connected
-with a passion for the arts, and with an exquisite perception of all
-that was excellent in painting and grand in sculpture.
-
-Footnote 251:
-
- Inedited Documents in the State Paper Office, July 13th, 1624.
-
-Footnote 252:
-
- State Papers.
-
-Footnote 253:
-
- To the Earl of Carlisle, 22,000 crowns. To the Earl of Holland, 20,000
- crowns. Sir G. Young had a diamond from the King worth 2,000 francs;
- from the queen-mother one of 300_l._, and curious plate to the value
- of 12,000_l._--State Papers, 1624.
-
-Another cause of irritation, and consequent ill-health, was the
-incessant exertion incident to his station and employments. Never did
-any minister conduct himself with greater courtesy to those who waited
-upon him than Buckingham, to whom vulgar report assigned great arrogance
-of deportment, and whose haughty bearing has passed almost into a
-proverb. His attention to his minutest duties as Lord High Admiral, his
-deportment to his officers when he commanded at Rochelle, will be
-hereafter insisted upon. Lord Clarendon speaks of his “sweet attractive
-manner;” of his “art of drawing or flowing unto him of the best
-instruments of experience and knowledge, to seek what might be for the
-public, or his own proper use;”[254] yet, in spite of this admirable
-patience, in spite of that habitual good nature, which made him a “fair
-spoken gentleman, not prone and eager to detract openly from any
-man,”[255] Buckingham was harassed almost to insanity by the hourly
-ingress of importunate suitors, or of clamorous complainants. Even the
-visits of the friendly oppress us, when the brain is in a state of
-excitement; and, accordingly, we read without surprize that he was
-obliged occasionally to retire altogether from the court, retreating,
-most frequently, to Newhall, his favourite seat, “to avoid importunity
-of visits that would give him no rest.” It had even, at one time, been
-given out by the Roman Catholics, who were incensed against him, by the
-failure of the Spanish embassy, that he was “crazed in his brain;” but
-“I have learned,” writes Mr. Chamberlain, “by them that know, that there
-was no such matter, but that the suspicion grew by reason of his often
-letting blood; only they confess he hath a spent body and not like to
-hold out long, if he do not tend his health very diligently.”[256]
-
-Footnote 254:
-
- Parallel. Reliquiæ Wotton., p. 172.
-
-Footnote 255:
-
- Ibid, 174.
-
-Footnote 256:
-
- Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton. In edited State
- Papers, June 13th, 1624.
-
-Shortly after his return from France, the Duke’s affairs appear to have
-become so greatly involved as to oblige him to retire for a time, from
-York House, to the seclusion of Burleigh-on-the-Hill. The following
-letter from his Duchess is addressed to Mrs. Olivia Porter, her niece,
-and the wife of Endymion Porter, that trusty servant to whom Buckingham
-had assigned the charge of bringing over his jewels and plate from
-Spain.[257] Mrs. Olivia Porter appears to have been a cherished
-companion, as well as kinswoman, of the Duchess of Buckingham’s. The
-letter is given in its original state, with regard to orthography; it is
-dated, “Burghley, 18th July, 1625.”
-
-Footnote 257:
-
- In the State Paper Office there are several letters from Endymion
- Porter to his wife, written in the inflated style of love letters of
- that period, which the curious in such matters will find in the
- Domestic Papers, 1624, 1625.
-
-"DERE CUSEN,
-
-"Doctor Nure will tell you how I am. I have sent the doctor’s leter to
-him. I am in good health, I thank God, and I hope in the end I shall be
-as well as ever I was. I pray, pray for me. Remember me to your husband
-and sonne, and I do not doubt but what we shall be merry again in York
-House. Fairfill is now sould, I thank God, and we shall, by living here
-a while, redeme our selfs out of debt, I hope in Jesus. Farewell, swett
-cusen,
-
- “Your most constant friend,
- “K. BUCKINGHAM.
-
-“My Co: (cousin) remembers his services to you.”
-
-Buckingham appears thus to have taken the most effectual means to
-recover his serenity--retirement and economy; but the great duties
-of his station would not suffer him long to rest, either at Newhall
-or at the still more remote retreat of Burleigh. There, indeed, he
-was not permitted to hide himself until after he had assisted at the
-solemnity of the declaration of the King’s marriage, which was held
-in the Banqueting House at Whitehall in the following order.[258]
-After it was concluded, the King conducted the Queen to her presence
-chamber, where she dined. The King returned to the banqueting
-chamber, where he dined with the three French ambassadors, the Duc
-de Chevreuse, Villeach, and the Marquis de Fite. At the second
-course the heralds came, and proclaimed the King’s titles, craved a
-largesse, and afterwards went to the Queen’s side, and did the same.
-The Queen went to the Banqueting House afterwards, and the evening
-was spent in dancing. On the following day the Duke of Buckingham
-dined with the Duc de Chevreuse at Nonsuch, and supped that evening
-at York House, giving there one of those sumptuous entertainments
-which must have added so much to his pecuniary difficulties. For the
-ambassadors were received at that noble dwelling with “such
-magnificence and plenty, that the like,” writes a contemporary,
-"hath not been seen in these parts. One rare dish came by mere
-chance: a sturgeon of full five feet long, that afternoon, not far
-from the place, leaping in a gentleman’s boat, was served in at
-supper."[259]
-
-Footnote 258:
-
- On the 22nd of June, 1625. I have not found this account in any of
- our historians.--State Papers, inedited.
-
-Footnote 259:
-
- Sturgeon, as well as whales, were excepted from the other great
- fishes, sea dogs, called royal fishes, to which the Lord High
- Admiral laid claim, when they came near the shore by right.--See
- Chamberlayne’s State of England, p. 81.
-
-During all this time, the pestilence was raging with fearful
-results; yet the people could not find in their hearts to leave
-London when the brave doings in celebration of the Queen’s arrival
-went on. It was observed that “in all these shews and feastings,
-there hath been such excessive bravery on all sides, as bred rather
-a surfeit than delights in them that saw it, and it were more fit
-and would better become us to compare and dispute with such pompous
-kind of people in iron and steel, than in gold and riches, wherein
-we come not near them.”
-
-In addition to this insulting remark, one even still more
-disparaging to the strangers was publicly thrown out. The accession
-even of the high-bred Frenchwomen was considered to add little to
-the grace of the courtly revels at York House or elsewhere. Her
-retinue appears to have inspired neither admiration nor respect.
-
-“The Queen hath brought, they say, such a poor, pitiful sort of
-women, that there is not one worth the looking after, saving herself
-and the Duchess of Chevreuse, who, though she be fair, paints
-foully. Among her priests you would little look for M. Sausy, that
-went an ambassador to Constantinople when we were at Venice, and is
-now become a _padre del oratorio_.”[260]
-
-Footnote 260:
-
- Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, June 25.--State Papers inedited.
-
-The public heard with disgust that two hundred pounds a day were
-allowed for the maintenance of the Duc and Duchesse de Chevreuse, in
-Denmark House, “for victuals and comforts.”[261] Buckingham,
-meantime, passed the remainder of the year 1625 at Hampton Court,
-his duchess staying at Burgleigh, where her father, the Earl of
-Rutland, remained to solace her retirement, for we find him excusing
-himself from attendance at Court on that plea.[262] Buckingham
-experienced considerable inconvenience from the absence and illness
-of the Earl of Purbeck, who, of all his brothers, seems to have
-enjoyed the most of his confidence; referring to him all suitors who
-were obliged, to adopt the quaint phrase of the time, to “come in at
-that door.”[263]
-
-Footnote 261:
-
- Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, June 25.--State Papers inedited.
-
-Footnote 262:
-
- State Papers, for 1625.
-
-Footnote 263:
-
- Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, Jan. 1, 1619-20.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VI.
-
-
-UNJUST APPRECIATION OF BUCKINGHAM’S CHARACTER--HIS ENERGY IN
- RESPECT TO THE NAVY--SIR WALTER RALEGH’S WORKS ON MARITIME
- AFFAIRS--PRINCE HENRY’S PREDILECTION FOR THEM--HIS MINIATURE
- SHIP--HIS DEATH--LORD NOTTINGHAM’S NEGLECT AND VENALITY--HIS
- POWERS--£60,000, YEARLY, ALLOTTED FOR THE NAVY--BUCKINGHAM’S
- EFFORTS--EXAMPLE SET BY RICHELIEU--IGNORANCE OF SHIP-BUILDING
- IN THOSE DAYS--BUCKINGHAM DRAWS UP A PLAN OF DEFENCE--FEAR OF
- THE SPANISH ARMADA--THE DUKE PROPOSES TO FORM A COMPANY FOR
- THE WEST, AS WELL AS THE EAST INDIES--PLAN OF TAXATION--ALSO
- OF DEFENCE ON SHORE.
-
-
-
-
- =CHAPTER VI.=
-
-
-Hitherto the character of Buckingham has been considered merely in
-the light of a courtier, in which capacity his good fortune, more
-than his merits, secured him success. In foreign Courts, the
-infirmities of this changeable and imprudent man were brought
-conspicuously to light; his vanity, his assumption, his growing
-arrogance, these, and his love of pleasure, added to the dissolute
-morals of the day, constituted the sources of that obloquy;
-nevertheless, the memory of this celebrated man has been
-indiscriminately blackened. Hence he has been described as “utterly
-devoid of every talent of a minister,” and the popular opinion
-points to the notion that he did much harm, no good,[264] and that
-the sole qualities conspicuous in his career were his love of
-oppression, his venality, and his insolence.
-
-Footnote 264:
-
- Hume.
-
-Happily for the reputation which has been thus maligned, numerous
-documents,[265] which have of late been rescued from neglect,
-abundantly prove that Buckingham achieved one important benefit to
-his country--the restoration of the British navy. Whatever may have
-been his motives, by what means soever he may have compassed his
-ends, there can now be no doubt but that to him we owe the
-re-establishment of that mighty power to which we are indebted for
-our existence as a nation, and it may be presumed that had his life
-been prolonged his exertions in this respect would have produced
-still more apparent effects; and that the country would have
-acknowledged, in after ages, the services which it seems to have
-overlooked.
-
-Footnote 265:
-
- Those in the State Paper Office, to which Mr. Lechmere the Keeper,
- and Mr. Lemon the Deputy Keeper, first directed my attention; and
- to those gentlemen I am, therefore, wholly indebted for any new
- view of Buckingham’s character which these remarks, and those
- which are to follow, may afford. The Domestic Papers have been
- within the last few years completely arranged, and an accurate
- calendar made of them, by which the historical reader may derive
- the greatest possible assistance.
-
-During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the merchant ships were
-considered to constitute the principal part of our maritime power;
-they then amounted to one hundred and thirty-five, many of them of
-five hundred tons each. The ships of war belonging to the Crown were
-thirteen only in number, so that the navy, so boasted and renowned,
-was composed chiefly of merchant ships which were hired for the
-queen’s service.[266]
-
-Footnote 266:
-
- Anderson’s History of Commerce, vol. ii., p. 140.
-
-King James, on his accession to the crown of England, called in all
-the ships of war as well as the numerous privateers belonging to the
-English merchants, and declared himself “at peace with all the
-world.” This was certainly not the means by which the navy was to be
-improved and maintained. It was, nevertheless, increased in his
-reign to nearly double the number of Queen Elizabeth’s ships of war;
-namely, from thirteen to twenty-four.[267]
-
-Footnote 267:
-
- The largest of Queen Elizabeth’s ships, at her death, was of 1,000
- tons, carrying 340 mariners and 40 cannon; the smallest, of 600
- tons, carrying 150 mariners and 30 cannon; besides the hired
- vessels.--Macpherson’s History of Commerce.
-
-In the very commencement of James’s reign the far-sighted Sir Walter
-Ralegh discerned the dangerous condition of a sea-girt country
-devoid of its proper defences; he perceived how ruinous this system
-of curtailment of what was essential, accompanied by the most lavish
-excesses in many things of trivial import, must prove; and he placed
-before his sovereign a manuscript essay, entitled, “Observations
-concerning the trade and commerce of England with the Dutch and
-other nations.” The design of this work was to show how supinely
-England suffered other nations to carry away the commerce of the
-world, by her neglect of maritime affairs. This was one of eight
-treatises that Ralegh wrote on maritime affairs; being, as he
-proudly announces, “the first author, either ancient or modern, that
-had ever treated this subject.”[268]
-
-Footnote 268:
-
- Hist. World, lib. 5, cap. 1, sect. 6.
-
-Although these works have long since been obsolete, and the
-practices recommended in them superseded by modern invention, they
-afford a curious view of the progress of navigation, and of those
-arts and sciences with which it is connected; to say nothing of the
-wonderful amount of knowledge which they display, and of the
-powerful intellect portrayed in every page written by this great
-man.
-
-His eloquence, however, was powerless as far as James was concerned;
-but stimulated a far more comprehensive mind than that of the pedant
-king. Several of these essays were addressed to Prince Henry, whose
-awakened mind perceived his father’s blindness, and comprehended the
-value of that which James cast away. Whilst James, forgetting that
-Elizabeth had checked the Spanish Armada by her reliance, not on her
-own ten ships, but on the far better appointed merchant
-vessels--that she had rested, not on the size of her fleet, but on
-the material which composed it--he curtly dismissed his maritime
-auxiliaries, and, discharging the privateers from any bond to assist
-him for the future, slept soundly, it may be presumed, on his pillow
-at Westminster, congratulating himself on having set an example to
-all Christendom, whilst he had, in fact, almost invited another
-Armada to invade our shores.
-
-Nevertheless, the progress of society was stronger that the royal
-will. “The seventeenth century,” thus writes Macpherson, in his
-History of Commerce, “may be said, from its commencement, to
-approach to modern times, whether considered in a political light,
-or in respect to riches, knowledge, or religion.”
-
-In the celebrated treatise which Ralegh presented to his sovereign,
-he recommended that the “land should be made powerful by the
-increasing of ships and mariners;” and that such “order in commerce
-should be established, that the havens of England should be full of
-ships, the ships full of mariners.” It is singular to find the
-language of the seventeenth century so singularly according with
-that of the nineteenth.
-
-His counsels failed to convince the self-opinionated James, but they
-incited the courage of a boy, who, amid his playthings, listened to
-the voice of Ralegh, and imbibed his sentiments; and the important
-measures which were disregarded by men in authority, were promoted
-by the fancy and favour of a precocious child. Henry, Prince of
-Wales, that short-lived “type and mould of an heir-apparent,”
-delighted in maritime pursuits; he brought again into vogue the
-fast-declining spirit of enterprize. The citizens of London, as they
-were rowed in their stately barges by Whitehall stairs, saw, with
-satisfaction, the royal embryo-hero disporting himself with the
-launch of a ship--twenty-eight feet long only, to be sure, and
-twelve feet broad, but built by Phineas Pett, one of the ablest
-shipwrights of his time. Ten years rolled away; the boy, who, at
-nine years of age, loved his miniature frigate as a toy, became
-sensible that the days of amusement were past, and that those of
-actual business were about to commence. He resolved to visit that
-then-neglected dock-yard at Woolwich, which has since become a
-wonder of the world. The Prince there honoured an entertainment,
-given by the ship’s company of the “Royal Anne,” with his presence.
-Phineas Pett attended his young patron, and the result of that day’s
-inspection was of great importance to the interests of the navy.
-Some years had then elapsed since a new ship had been built. In
-1609, James actually ordered and completed the construction of the
-“Prince Royal,” a vessel far superior to any that had yet appeared
-in the Thames; it carried sixty-four cannon, and was of fourteen
-hundred tons burden. From this standard, we may infer how miserable
-had been the previous state of naval force, such a ship being, in
-our time, the smallest of those admitted into the line-of-battle. It
-was then regarded as one of the most extraordinary productions of
-native skill and of royal munificence, and was the theme of praise
-amid an astonished and adulatory court.
-
-The young Prince next conceived an excellent project. He recommended
-his father to order the construction of ships to be carried on in
-Ireland, not only that the natives might be employed, but also
-because materials were cheaper in the sister island. The King’s
-shipwrights approved of this plan, and the Lord High Admiral, a
-doting old functionary, the most ancient servant of the crown then
-encumbering the service, actually countenanced the enlightened idea.
-It was not, however, matured; and another scheme, not so practical,
-but still of the utmost importance to the science of navigation, was
-frustrated, for the time, by the death of Henry. This was the
-discovery of the north-west passage, which was, nevertheless,
-attempted in 1612; but the ear of the gifted youth, whose patronage
-had fostered the design, was unhappily closed in death before the
-return of Captain Bretton, the first of the adventurous band of
-heroes who have attempted the gallant enterprize.
-
-Still improvement was not wholly retarded. The incorporation of the
-East India Company (in 1613), gave a new impetus to navigation, and
-everything appeared favourable to the navy, except that branch of
-the government. Lord Nottingham seemed to consider his important
-office as a sinecure, except in regard to his privileges and
-perquisites. His dominion comprehended--to use the actual words
-which described it--"the government of all things done upon the
-sea-coast, in any part of the world; of all ports and havens, and
-over all rovers below the first bridge next below the sea." He was a
-sort of mortal Neptune; his privileges were thus defined:--"All
-penalties, of all transgressions, on sea or on shore, were his; the
-goods of pirates and of felons at sea were his; all stray wrecks
-were his; deodands, and the share of all lawful prizes not to be
-granted to lords of manors, were his." It may be easily conceived
-what ceaseless fighting and squabbling, what corruption, litigation,
-and oppression were the result of an authority which was so little
-controlled by the discussions of Parliament in those days, or by the
-honour and conscience of individuals in power. So long as the Earl
-of Nottingham slumbered over his duties, dreaming, doubtless, of
-delightful shipwrecks and desirable transgressions and piracies, the
-navy, of course, was not augmented. Sixty thousand pounds a-year had
-then been allotted to that shadow of a shade, the naval service; but
-the only time that the naval service was recalled to the memory of
-King James, was when the octogenarian, Lord Nottingham, appeared at
-Court in his full-dress uniform. Most people began to think that the
-Lord High Admiral was immortal; but, happily for the country, old
-age fairly captured him at last; he died, and made room for the Duke
-of Buckingham to step into all his beloved privileges and
-perquisites, which, in truth, the Duke also too well appreciated. It
-soon became a question what had become of all the sixty thousand
-pounds yearly which had been granted for the naval service, for
-there seemed to be scarcely any navy whatsoever. Buckingham, in his
-new office, however, displayed qualities for which the world had
-given him little credit. One of his first steps was to drag poor
-King James, aguish, peevish, and prejudiced as he was, to Deptford,
-to see how little there was there to be seen. His next, to get
-commissioners appointed to superintend the construction of new
-vessels, and the repairs of old ones, the sum allotted to them being
-cut down to thirty thousand pounds, for which consideration they
-were to build two new ships yearly. Cardinal Richelieu had also
-endeavoured to remedy the neglect of his predecessors in power, and
-to support a widely-extended commerce, the only channels of which
-are on the wide ocean. In his concern for maritime affairs, he set
-the first example of energy to Buckingham. From this era, therefore,
-may be traced the rise of our modern naval service in importance;
-the very vices of both these favourites of fortune, of Richelieu on
-the one hand, and of Buckingham on the other, had the effect of
-virtues under certain circumstances. To their lavish expenditure, to
-their fearlessness of responsibility, to their boundless ambition,
-France and England owe the maintenance of their maritime power, and
-the restoration of their national defences.
-
-Numberless obstacles, of course, occurred at the very outset of the
-Duke of Buckingham’s undertakings in England; one of the great
-impediments was the ignorance which prevailed in those days of the
-proper mode of building ships of battle. The shipwrights were
-unaccustomed to construct any vessels but such as were intended to
-carry merchandise. There was a certain man, named Burwell, who had
-been employed by the East India Company, and who was so
-distinguished for his skill as a shipwright that he was entrusted to
-build for the British navy. He committed a grand error in the very
-first ship that he launched, because, to make use of the language of
-a contemporary historian,[269] "he did not observe the difference
-between the merchant ships and the King’s ships, the one made for
-stowage, the other only for strength and magnificence."
-
-Footnote 269:
-
- Bishop Goodman’s Life of King James I.
-
-On his accession, Charles I. renewed his father’s warrant granted to
-twelve commissioners of the navy; and the exigencies of the times,
-and the probability of a speedy war with Spain, stimulated the
-exertions of the Lord Admiral and the generosity of the country.
-Spain was preparing the finest armament that had ever left her
-shores; and an invasion on the part of that power was openly
-threatened, and almost anticipated, even by the stout-hearted
-English.
-
-Buckingham then drew up a plan of assault, as well as of defence, in
-order to lower the pride of the enemy. A company was, he proposed,
-to be incorporated for the West, as well as for the East Indies. A
-fleet, consisting of two ships of the line, eighteen ships and two
-pinnaces of the merchant-adventurers, was to be equipped, and to
-this force were to be added twenty Newcastle ships, for the nautical
-skill and gallant characteristics of the collier crews were wisely
-resorted to in this emergency by the Lord Admiral. To meet the
-expenses of the fleet, a general subscription of all estates of men
-was proposed. The nobility were each to contribute a hundred pounds;
-the gentlemen and yeomen were to be taxed to a certain amount;
-cities and corporate bodies were to give a sum of twenty-four
-thousand pounds. The merchants and the East India Company were not
-to escape the general infliction. Thus, to man and to furnish the
-first great fleet that England had sent forth, was the principle of
-arbitrary taxation commenced in this country.
-
-At the same time, with the fear of Spanish Armadas, of conquest,
-torture, and slavery, acting upon the public mind, efforts to
-restore the national defences on shore were promptly carried on.
-
-In those days, pirates infested the narrow seas; and all the seaport
-towns were taxed, in order to support a sort of coast-guard to keep
-off these troublesome visitors. But every usage which could ensure
-public safety had been neglected. Our national defences had fallen
-into decay simultaneously with our navy. The correspondence between
-Buckingham and his agents in different ports exists in the State
-Paper Office, and affords a mournful picture of forts neglected and
-in ruins. Shoals, and sands, and points, fatal even to the most
-experienced mariners, were the snare and gulf of many a vessel, and
-not a single light-house had been erected to warn the navigator of
-his danger. The office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, which, in
-part of the reign of James the First, devolved on Lord Zouch, had
-been conducted with scarcely more zeal and honesty than the post of
-Lord High Admiral by the Earl of Nottingham. Until the stirring
-exertions of the ill-fated Duke of Buckingham were directed both to
-the augmentation of the naval armaments and to their preservation
-from risks, the Goodwin Sands were without a light-house; and a
-project for erecting one upon that dangerous passage was first
-suggested to Buckingham by Sir Thomas Wildrake, and subsequently
-adopted by the Duke, whose efforts to guard the narrow seas, and to
-clear them of pirates, are beyond all praise, when we consider the
-supineness of his predecessors in office. It was not until 1619 that
-a light was placed upon the Lizard Point, which had already been
-fatal to the Dutch merchants, who had lost, in the course of one
-year, a hundred thousand pounds by shipwrecks.
-
-Great offence was, of course, given by all these reformations; and
-Lord Zouch even, as is implied in a letter of Buckingham’s to him,
-had ventured to threaten the dreaded favourite with an attack.
-Whatever has been said of Buckingham’s arrogance, his letters are
-generally expressed with much courtesy, and his reply to Lord Zouch
-was forbearing, though explicit. He recommended that the disputed
-powers--those contested between the Lord High Admiral and the Warden
-of the Cinque Ports--should be defined, to the end, not of present
-controversy, but of an amicable and permanent arrangement.[270] Some
-years afterwards, Buckingham found it convenient, probably in order
-to have the repair and management of the forts in his own hands, to
-purchase of Lord Zouch his post; a consideration of one thousand
-pounds in ready money, and an annuity of five hundred pounds, were
-given for it. Such was the state of the Duke’s affairs that he was
-unable to pay down the stipulated one thousand pounds at once, but
-was constrained to “offer land or any other security.”
-
-Footnote 270:
-
- See the Domestic Papers for 1619-20, State Paper Office.
-
-Not many months had elapsed, after his appointment to the office of
-Lord High Admiral, before Buckingham made use of his influence over
-James the First to induce him to augment his navy. Commissioners
-were chosen and selected to promote ship-building, and to regulate
-the expenses attendant thereon. James, attended by his Lord Admiral,
-visited Deptford in order to see two new ships, with which he was
-greatly delighted; and still more that from the yearly charge of
-sixty thousand pounds, in which his navy had stood him heretofore,
-it was reduced to thirty thousand pounds, for four years, during
-which time the Commissioners undertook to build two new ships every
-year, and to repair the old; and after that to discharge these
-claims for twenty thousand pounds a-year.[271]
-
-Footnote 271:
-
- Domestic State Papers, inedited. The agreement is dated July 17,
- 1624.
-
-The King, adds the narrator of this incident, “congratulated with
-the Lord Admiral that he had appointed so good officers to assist
-him in his beginnings, so that he named the one ship ‘Buckingham’s
-Entrance,’ and the other, in the memory of the Commissioners’ good
-service, ‘Reformation.’”[272] This timely encouragement produced, of
-course, the most salutary effect.[273] We have seen that during the
-reign of James the First the number of ships of war was nearly
-doubled; and it is due to Buckingham to state that almost the whole
-of this increase was the result of his exertions.
-
-Footnote 272:
-
- Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton, dated London,
- Nov. 12, 1619.
-
-Footnote 273:
-
- A note of the charge of the fleet, among the undated papers in the
- State Paper Office, probably 1625, computes it at 65,656_l._ Our
- Navy Force had then been considerably augmented. Some of the items
- are as follow:--"For bringing of the King’s shippes into full
- equipage, for clothes for the men, for impress for surgeons."
-
-The young Lord High Admiral had declared, at his outset, that his
-inexperience almost disqualified him for that important position to
-which the partiality of his Sovereign had promoted him; but it was
-soon perceived that his very wilfulness and impetuosity, and his
-liberal notions of expense, were almost virtues under certain
-circumstances. The Dutch were our great maritime rivals; for France
-had no naval armament; and although the contemptuous assertion of
-Voltaire, that Louis the Thirteenth had not, at his accession, one
-ship of war, is false, yet he might be said almost to be destitute
-of naval force, so poor and ill-provided were his vessels, and so
-incompetent and miserable his seamen. It became Buckingham’s pride
-to outvie all continental nations in naval power. The design might
-have been ascribed to his animosity in the event of the treaty with
-Spain, against that kingdom; but it is clear that he cherished it
-whilst the British nation was at peace with all the world, and that
-his schemes of improvement were formed before.
-
-Charles the First renewed his father’s commission to twelve
-commissioners of the navy. These were, at present, confined to three
-distinct branches; such as a comptroller, a surveyor, a clerk of the
-navy. They were subordinate, in Buckingham’s time, to the Lord High
-Admiral, and afterwards to the Admiralty Board, from whom they were
-to receive directions.[274] During the short period of Buckingham’s
-rule, after the accession of Charles, much was effected, more still
-was planned.
-
-Footnote 274:
-
- Macpherson’s History of Commerce.
-
-It was not merely with ambitious views that Buckingham had obtained
-the post of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. An active and liberal
-hand was required to restore our national defences, which had fallen
-to decay simultaneously with our navy. In all matters the Duke of
-Buckingham himself interfered; most of the letters on important
-affairs are addressed to him directly, not through his secretaries;
-and most of the epistles appear to have received immediate replies,
-which, it is to be regretted, are dispersed and extinct. On more
-than one occasion, tributes to the Duke’s impartiality and energy
-are proffered. “I am yet comforted,” writes a suitor, "that your
-grace is so wise and just as to ask account of every man’s part, and
-where you find most fault, there to lay most censure."[275]
-Sometimes “my lady of Buckingham,” as she is designated in one of
-the letters on naval affairs, is employed as a mediator, as in the
-case of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, who, wishing to pass the ship “Sea
-Horse,” obtained a warrant through her interest.
-
-Footnote 275:
-
- Domestic Papers. Letters from J. Burgh, dated Plymouth January 8,
- 1628.
-
-As Buckingham progressed in experience, and his views became more
-enlarged, his enthusiasm for naval affairs increased; and was,
-doubtless, heightened by the knowledge that Cardinal Richelieu, who,
-amongst his other titles, enjoyed that of High Admiral of
-France,[276] and who thought it no shame to wear the badge of office
-over his cardinal’s robes, and famous hair shirt beneath, supported
-commerce, the very channels of which are on the wide ocean. These
-considerations were, early in the reign of Charles the First,
-strengthened and brought into play by the certainty of a speedy war
-with Spain.
-
-Footnote 276:
-
- Macpherson, 339.
-
-But it is reasonable to infer that the example and the works of Sir
-Walter Ralegh still held their influence over society, as they had
-done over the dawning intellect of Henry, Prince of Wales. The
-immature projects of that royal youth, suggested, it is probable, by
-the spirit of enterprise to which Ralegh had sacrificed his own
-interests, were now revived by Buckingham. King Charles co-operated
-with him in these earnest endeavours to carry out the discovery of
-the north-west passage to China, “an action,” says Macpherson, “of
-great importance to trade and navigation, and in sundry respects of
-singular benefit to all our realms and dominions.”[277] As a reward
-for this undertaking, Buckingham received a present from King
-Charles of one of his pinnaces;[278] but death put a stop to these
-public-spirited endeavours.
-
-Footnote 277:
-
- Macpherson, iv., 4, 377.
-
-Footnote 278:
-
- Ibid.
-
-The period of Buckingham’s administration over the Admiralty affairs
-was, however, one of incessant activity, carried on, as is shown by
-correspondence in the State Paper Office, almost to the last hour of
-his life. It seems idle to adduce the language of panegyric to
-support a statement, else might we refer to the verses addressed by
-Carew “to my Lord Admiral, on his late sickness and recovery,” in
-which he alludes to
-
- "Sorrow like that which touched our hearts of late;
- Your pining sickness and your restless pain,
- At once the land affecting, and the main:
- When the glad news that you were Admiral
- Scarce through the nation spread, ’twas feared by all
- That our great Charles, whose wisdom shines in you,
- Should be perplexed how to chuse a new."
-
-It was not until the year 1624, after the rupture of the Spanish
-treaty, that Buckingham could have been fully aware of all the
-responsibilities of his post. There were then great complaints of
-want of shipping; the Spanish nation, it was said, setting out one
-of the finest fleets that had ever been seen.[279] To meet the
-terrors of what Buckingham termed “the pretended Spanish invasion,”
-he drew up a list of propositions, whereby the pride of the enemy
-was to be lowered, and the supremacy of England maintained. First,
-as the plan went, the enemy “was to be entertained in successive
-fleets upon his own coasts, which were to destroy his shipping, to
-intercept his provisions, to hinder him from gathering a heading
-whereat to possess some place of accompt.”
-
-Footnote 279:
-
- Inedited Letter from Sir J. Hippesley, Jan. 19, 1625. Calendar,
- vol. cxxxix., No. 18.
-
-Secondly, the Spaniard was to be assailed in the West Indies;--to
-intercept his fleets, to invade his possessions, to fortify
-garrisons, and to establish there government confederacies. This, as
-Buckingham planned, was to be undertaken, at the common charge of
-the kingdom, by a company “incorporated for the West, as there
-already is for the East;” and the naval force was to consist of a
-fleet composed of two ships of the line, eighteen ships, and two
-pinnaces of the merchant adventurers.
-
-The King’s ships were to be manned with twenty seamen and fifty
-soldiers, the merchants’ with sixty seamen and one hundred soldiers,
-the pinnaces with twenty seamen. To this armament was to be added
-twenty Newcastle ships, each with thirty seamen and one hundred
-soldiers apiece, making in all 2,120 seamen and 3,900 landsmen.
-
-Parliament was to be applied to in each estate for a general
-subscription. The nobility at the rate of 100_l._ a man, to be paid
-in two years--this, it was computed, would amount to 4,900_l._
-(60,000_l._); the gentry and yeomen, 150,000_l._; the cities and
-corporate towns, 24,000_l._; the six confederate companies of
-merchants, including the East India “companies, may,” as the author
-of this plan remarked, “well contribute.”[280] To the principle of
-this scheme of Buckingham’s may be traced the origin of many
-subsequent discontents. In his ardour for achieving the power of
-England, or perhaps, in part, for avenging affronts which he might
-consider as almost personal, he forgot all constitutional rights.
-The remark of Bolingbroke occurs to the mind, on reading this plan
-of arbitrary and almost indiscriminate taxation. Buckingham, says
-that writer, “had, in his own days, and he hath in ours, the
-demerits of beginning a struggle between prerogative and privilege,
-and of establishing a sort of warfare between the prince and the
-people.”[281]
-
-Footnote 280:
-
- Domestic State Papers, inedited, dated April 14, 1625.
-
-Footnote 281:
-
- Remarks on History, vol. ii., p. 220, Letter XX.
-
-On the first of April, 1624, Buckingham addressed the committee of
-both Houses, assembled in the painted chamber. The object of his
-speech was to press the necessity of raising a loan of 100,000_l._,
-to fit out the navy. Buckingham had, by this time, fully determined
-upon a war with Spain, not, as Roger Coke expresses it, for the
-“recovery of the Palatinate,” but to express his hatred against
-Olivarez, and, therefore, “a fleet must be rigged up.”[282]
-According to the Duke’s account of the matter, upon the breaking off
-of the treaty with Spain, he was commanded by His Majesty to take a
-survey of the navy, and to prepare it for “all occasions.” Upon
-conferring with the “officers thereof concerning their reparation,”
-Buckingham was informed that a very large sum would be requisite to
-furnish the fleet with necessaries and crews. No means could be
-suggested of raising the adequate sum. “My lords and gentlemen,”
-said the Duke, “His Majesty has imposed a great trust on me in this
-office of Admiralty, and I can do nothing without money. Such monies
-as I have of my own I will most willingly expend in this service,
-but that alone will do no good without future assistance.”
-
-Footnote 282:
-
- Coke’s Delection, vol. ii., p. 188.
-
-He then expounded his plan; that which has already been detailed, of
-levying a tax on the three estates for the expenses of the fleet,
-appears for the time to have been abandoned. He now recommended
-their sending for “monied men,” to raise a loan, of which, he
-assured them, not one penny should be applied to any other purpose
-than the one mentioned.[283] “And let me tell you,” he added in
-conclusion, “that you have great reason to take this into a present
-and careful consideration, for I have lately been advertised, by
-letters from Spain, that they have now in readiness a great fleet,
-exceeding that of eighty-eight, with provisions of 200 or 220 of
-flat-bottom boats, to serve them in this their intended designs; and
-the Spaniards have of late so intruded upon our coasts, that they
-have taken an English ship in the face of us. This was advertised by
-a servant of mine own, who spake with the pilot who was in that ship
-when it was taken.”
-
-Footnote 283:
-
- Inedited State Papers, dated April 1, 1624.
-
-This application was followed by immediate efforts to restore the
-British navy; the numerous documents in the State Paper Office, to
-which reference has been made, most completely contradict the
-assertion of one of Buckingham’s bitterest enemies, Roger Coke, that
-after “Buckingham became Lord Admiral, the English navy lay unarmed,
-and fit for Spain; that he neglected the guarding of the seas,
-whereby the trade of the nation not only decayed, but the seas
-became ignominiously infested by pirates and enemies, to the loss of
-very many of the merchants and subjects of England.”[284]
-
-Footnote 284:
-
- Inedited State Papers, Domestic, 1623.
-
-With regard to pirates, most of the ports were taxed in King James’s
-time, by way of contribution, to prevent them; and little more could
-be done until the navy was repaired and augmented. There are
-innumerable letters manifesting Buckingham’s extreme care to clear
-the Channel from pirates. The light erected on the Lizard Point, as
-Sir J. Killigrew, in a letter to Sir Dudley Carleton, then
-ambassador at the Hague, remarked, “might speak itself to most parts
-of Christendom.”[285] The forts and defences were inspected, and
-many oversights in Lord Zouch’s wardership remedied. Such were
-Buckingham’s exertions. His contemporaries were singularly
-ungrateful to him for the benefits which he laboured to procure
-them; but posterity experienced their effects. Thirty years after
-his time, Pepys thus comments upon the improvement in our naval
-force, as a popular theme of remark--"Sir William Compton I heard
-talk with great pleasure of the difference between the fleet now and
-in Queene Elizabeth’s days, when, in ’88, she had but thirty-six
-sail, great and small, in the world, and ten rounds of powder was
-their allowance against the Spaniard."[286]
-
-Footnote 285:
-
- Letter from Sir J. Killigrew to Sir D. Carleton, December 12th,
- 1619, and February, 1619-20. Inedited State Papers. By the same
- letter it appears that it cost ten shillings a night to supply the
- light.
-
-Footnote 286:
-
- Pepys’s Diary, 3rd edition, vol. ii., p. 31.
-
-Among the articles of Buckingham’s subsequent impeachment, in 1626,
-there was inserted the following statement: “The East India Company
-having, in 1624, loaded four ships and two pinnaces for India, the
-Lord High Admiral, knowing that they must lose their voyage unless
-they sailed on a certain day, extorted from them the sum of ten
-thousand pounds for liberty to sail for India.” Upon being charged
-with this act of tyranny, the Duke justified himself by the plea
-that the Company had captured several rich prizes from the
-Portuguese at Ormuz and elsewhere, and that a large portion of the
-plunder was due to the King, and also to himself as High Admiral;
-and he proved that the sum said to be extorted from the Company was
-given by way of compromise, instead of 15,000_l._, which was legally
-due; and he was able to show that the whole sum, except two hundred
-pounds, was appropriated by the King for the use of the navy.[287]
-
-Footnote 287:
-
- Macpherson’s History of Commerce, vol. iv., p. 317.
-
-One fact was soon acknowledged, that even King James the First had a
-stronger and more magnificent navy than any of his predecessors. It
-is worthy of remark, that such was the comparative ignorance of the
-times in ship-building, that when a shipwright named Bunnell, who
-had been employed by the East India Company, was brought, on account
-of his pre-eminence, into the British navy, “he was mistaken in the
-construction of the first ship that he built for the King;” because,
-as Bishop Goodman relates, "he did not observe the difference
-between the merchant ships and the King’s ships--the one made for
-stowage, the other only for strength and magnificence."[288]
-
-Footnote 288:
-
- Bishop Goodman’s Memoirs, vol i., p. 55.
-
-Such was the state of our maritime affairs at the accession of
-Charles the First. The object to which all these preparations were
-destined was soon apparent. Trifling as this naval force appeared in
-those days, it was deemed magnificent in the reign of the Stuart
-Kings.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VII.
-
-UNFORTUNATE RESULT OF THE PRINCIPLES EARLY INSTILLED INTO CHARLES I.
- BY HIS FATHER--THE AFFAIR OF THE PALATINATE--ITS CONNECTION WITH
- THE SPANISH MARRIAGE--MAD DESIRE OF CHARLES AND BUCKINGHAM FOR A
- WAR WITH SPAIN--LETTER FROM THE EARL OF BRISTOL--THE
- FIRST UNFORTUNATE EXPEDITION TO CADIZ--RESENTMENT OF THE
- PEOPLE--CHARLES ASSEMBLES A PARLIAMENT--THE SUPPLIES
- REFUSED--IMPEACHMENT OF BRISTOL--IMPEACHMENT OF BUCKINGHAM--HIS
- THIRTEEN ANSWERS--RASH CONDUCT OF THE KING--HIS EXPRESSION OF
- CONTEMPT FOR THE HOUSE OF COMMONS--SIR JOHN ELIOT AND SIR DUDLEY
- DIGGES SENT TO THE TOWER--THE INTOLERANT SPIRIT OF THE
- DAY--INFLUENCE OF LAUD--SERMON OF THE VICAR OF BRACKLEY--"TUNING
- THE PULPITS."
-
-
-
-
-
- =CHAPTER VII.=
-
-
-The next mission entrusted to Buckingham was one which, accompanied
-by the Earl of Holland, he undertook to the States-General, who had
-bound themselves to restore by force of arms the Palatinate to the
-King’s only sister, Elizabeth of Bohemia, “whose dowry,” Sir Henry
-Wotton observes, “had been ravished by the German eagle mixed with
-Spanish feathers.” “A princess,” he adds, “resplendent in darkness,
-and whose virtues were born within the chance, but without the
-power, of fortune.”
-
-This mission occupied a month. The Duke and Lord Holland embarked at
-Harwich, and after a dangerous passage, in the course of which three
-ships were foundered, they arrived on the fifth day at Harwich. It
-was during the absence of Buckingham that the unfortunate expedition
-to Cadiz failed, and the public expressions of disappointment at
-that misfortune were the first news to greet him on his return.
-
-It was at this period that the seeds of many of the erroneous and
-unjustifiable principles of action which were originally implanted
-in the mind of Charles I. by his father, and which had been fostered
-by Buckingham, were seen to produce their first effects; and that
-the long course of mistakes and oppressions which preceded the great
-Rebellion was commenced.
-
-In order to comprehend the manner in which the complicated questions
-of foreign policy in those days affected the line of conduct adopted
-by England, it will be necessary to refer briefly to the question
-which was the grand theme of the day--the loss of the Palatinate.
-
-The misfortunes of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, her rare qualities,
-and her romantic story, are well known by every one conversant with
-English history. The affairs connected with the Palatinate afford
-the first instance in which Great Britain was involved in the
-politics of Germany, and with the various religious parties into
-which that country was divided.
-
-In 1612, a league had been cemented between this country and the
-German Protestants, by the marriage of Elizabeth Stuart with
-Frederic, the Elector Palatine. Bohemia, persecuted by the Emperor
-Mathias of Austria, had invited the Elector Palatine to accept the
-crown, which was elective, under a conviction that Frederic, being
-supported by an alliance with England, would support them in their
-struggles with the intolerant Catholic Council who governed the
-kingdom of Bohemia.
-
-A fearful conflict ensued. The German States, entrusting the
-management of their affairs to thirty directors, composed wholly of
-Protestant Princes, were opposed by the Catholic League, formed with
-a view of upholding the Jesuits in opposition to the Hussites, or
-Protestants, or, as they were sometimes styled, the Evangelical
-party, by whose preponderance the Elector Palatine had been called
-to the throne.
-
-Relying upon the cordial sympathy of the English nation, an
-expectation in which he was not disappointed, the Prince Palatine,
-believing himself equally sure of the co-operation of King James,
-accepted the tempting offer of royalty without waiting for the
-approval of his father-in-law. But he looked to him for support in
-vain. It was one of King James’s most cherished notions, that
-monarchs should support monarchs in case of disturbance, how just
-soever the cause, how unanimous soever the voice of the people by
-whom a sovereign was deposed. His natural timidity, also, operated
-in inducing a line of conduct towards his son-in-law and his
-daughter as pusillanimous as was every other trait of his character
-and action of his life--and, above all, his project of accomplishing
-a union between his son Charles and a daughter of Spain militated
-against a real and effective interference in the affairs of the
-Palatinate, except, indeed, to confuse and ruin them. He was
-contented, therefore, with sending ambassadors to Germany, not only
-to mediate between contending parties, but to induce the new King of
-Bohemia to relinquish a throne which James pretended to assert that
-his son-in-law had no right to retain.[289]
-
-Footnote 289:
-
- Brodie’s Constitutional History of the British Empire, vol. ii. p.
- 8.
-
-The King of Poland, the Elector of Saxony, and the Duke of Bavaria,
-who was at the head of the Catholic League, sided with Ferdinand,
-Emperor after the death of Mathias, and the result was the reduction
-of Bohemia, the loss of the Palatinate, and the flight of the
-Elector Palatine, or, as he was called, the King of Bohemia, to
-Holland. The King of Spain, also, sent an army under Spinola into
-the field, and it was that circumstance which rendered the scheme of
-marrying Prince Charles to the Infanta so unpopular in England, and
-which brought so much odium on Buckingham.
-
-The treaty for that match had been originally carried on through the
-agency of the Earl of Bristol, and hence the jealousy which had
-already broken out on various occasions between the Duke of
-Buckingham and that able and experienced ambassador; whilst the
-failure of the negotiations, which were undertaken with the pretext
-of gaining the restoration of the Palatinate, was the origin of the
-rash war with Spain, which Charles, without the usual form of a
-proclamation, resolved on commencing.
-
-The English, however, delighted as they had been at the rupture of
-the treaty, were indignant at this informality, as well as averse to
-a war which seemed to be the result of private passions rather than
-the well-considered act of a monarch anxious for the dignity of his
-subjects.
-
-But a worthy representative of James’s style of policy remained in
-his unhappy son. Supplies for the war with Spain were refused in the
-first Parliament that Charles called; a compulsory loan was exacted.
-Whilst the country was burning with resentment at this unequally
-imposed burden, a fleet of eighty sail, English, and twenty sail
-supplied from Holland, carrying ten thousand men, was sent to the
-coast of Spain. This grand armament, raised by the energy of the
-Lord High Admiral, was an object of pride to the nation, who had
-never before beheld so glorious a fleet; yet it was entrusted, not
-to Sir Robert Mansel, a distinguished commander, but to Cecil,
-Viscount Wimbleton, a favourite of Buckingham’s, and a man neither
-of talent nor experience. Thus, the fatal vice which has obtained
-the popular name of jobbery was exhibited at this most critical
-period.
-
-A signal failure was the result; the fleet reached Cape St. Vincent,
-and landed the troops; a fort was taken, but there was neither
-discipline nor decision to restrain the troops, who rushed into a
-store of wine, and soon abandoned themselves to the most disgraceful
-excesses. Sickness was the consequence, and the expedition returned
-ingloriously to England, with the additional discredit of its being
-known that a stay of two days longer would have sufficed to take all
-the shipping collected into the bay of Cadiz, and thus to have
-struck a grand blow, at the very commencement of the war, against
-the power of Spain.
-
-The blame of this unfortunate attempt rested chiefly on the head of
-Buckingham, as the undertaking was known to have originated in his
-advice. Lord Clarendon well observes, in his life of himself,
-speaking of the Stuart family, that it was their “unhappy fate and
-constitution” to trust to the “judgments of those who were as much
-inferior to themselves in understanding as they were in quality,
-before their own, which was very good, and suffered even their
-natures, which disposed them to virtue and justice, to be prevailed
-upon, and altered and corrupted by those who knew how to make use of
-some one infirmity that they discovered in them, and by complying
-with that, and cherishing and serving it, they, by degrees, wrought
-upon the mass, and sacrificed all the other good inclinations to
-that single vice.”
-
-Parliament was accordingly summoned, and at Candlemas, in 1625, the
-coronation was celebrated. This ceremonial, which might have
-assisted in re-establishing good feeling, proved, unhappily, the
-source of bitter dissension and cavilling. The coronations of Edward
-VI. and of Queen Elizabeth had been performed according to the rites
-of the Romish Church. That of James I. was done in haste; and
-“wanted,” says the biographer of Laud, “many things which might have
-been considered in a time of leisure.”[290] Amongst the alterations
-suggested by the prelates who were appointed as commissioners to
-settle the form, it was decreed that anointing was to be performed
-in the form of a cross, a point established, which was at that time
-as fertile a source of invective as the use of that most holy and
-touching symbol in our churches has since been in these days, even
-amongst well-intentioned and pious Christians.
-
-Footnote 290:
-
- Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 145.
-
-Even the ritual of the coronation, therefore, performed as it was,
-almost for the first time, according to the mode which it has since
-retained, contributed indirectly to the unpopularity of Buckingham.
-To Laud, that prelate to whose memory so much injustice has been
-done, in imputing to him designs and motives of which no proof
-exists, and yet whose errors bring pain to every thinking mind, was
-allotted the performance of the great ceremonial.
-
-Formerly it had been the office of the Abbot of Westminster to
-celebrate the rite; then, for a century, the Dean had held the
-guardianship of the regalia used by Edward the Confessor, and had
-kept them in a secret part of Westminster Abbey. These valuables
-were now disinterred from their hiding-place by Laud, who, finding
-also the old crucifix, set it up on the altar, as in former times.
-Everything relating to this coronation wore an ominous appearance;
-in the first place, it was fixed for the day of the Purification of
-the Virgin Mary, and the King, whether from compliment to the faith
-of his wife, or from taste, or, from the supposed influence of Laud,
-it does not transpire, was dressed in white, instead of purple, used
-always by his predecessors. “Not,” says Heylyn, with quaint
-simplicity, “for want of purple velvet enough to make him a suit
-(for he had many yards of it in his outer garment), but from choice,
-to declare that virgin purity with which he came to be espoused unto
-his kingdom.” His laying aside the purple was, however, looked upon
-as an “ill omen.”[291]
-
-Footnote 291:
-
- Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 145.
-
-Nor was this the only presage of coming mishaps. Charles was
-afterwards accused, during the Long Parliament, of having altered
-the coronation oath; the very sermon, also, preached by the eloquent
-Penhouse, Bishop of Carlisle, formerly his tutor, seemed to invite
-fate to do her worst; he chose a text, according to Heylyn, more
-proper for a funeral than a coronation--"I will give to thee a crown
-of life"--and engrafted on it a discourse which those who heard it
-judged might, with great propriety, have been uttered when his
-Majesty was dead, but not just at the moment when he was about to
-undertake the government of his people.
-
-The ceremonial being concluded, the King walked in his robes from
-Westminster Abbey to the Hall, and delivered to Laud, who
-represented the Dean of Westminster, the crown, sceptre, and the
-sword called _cortena_. Laud, after receiving the regalia, returned
-to the Abbey, and, placing them on the altar, offered them up in his
-Majesty’s name; after which they were again locked up, never to see
-the light until after the stirring season of the Rebellion, and the
-more placid years of the Commonwealth. They were again displayed at
-the Restoration.[292]
-
-Footnote 292:
-
- Heylyn.
-
-All these forms were regarded as next to impious by the Puritan
-party; and, since there was now a cordial alliance between Laud and
-Buckingham, the popular hatred was divided between them both. Two
-years had now passed since Buckingham, in the miseries of an ague,
-had sent for Laud to console and advise him. Laud was, in truth, one
-of the most agreeable of companions, and carried with him to his
-grave an apprehension quick and sudden--"a sociable wit and pleasant
-humour."[293] So that, even in the crisis of a malady, then of a far
-more severe character than in the present day, Buckingham forgot his
-sufferings, or bore them with a patience unwonted to his irritable
-nature; and, “by that patience, did so break their heats and
-violences, that at last they left him.”
-
-Footnote 293:
-
- Ibid, p. 118, and _passim_.
-
-After this period, Laud became, Heylyn tells us, “not only a
-confessor, but a councillor to the Duke;” and to his advice it was
-owing that the endowments of the Charter-house were not appropriated
-by the Duke to the maintenance of the war, a plan which had been
-contemplated by the Duke, but applied to those of education. Laud,
-we must in gratitude recall, opposed all alienations of that nature;
-and to his firmness, as well as to that of the honest-hearted Sir
-Edward Coke, who, as trustee to the estates called Sutton’s Lands,
-resisted the attempts of the Crown to seize them, we owe the
-preservation of many colleges and hospitals.
-
-During his intimacy with Buckingham, Laud succeeded in imbuing him
-with those opinions which he himself advocated during his life, and
-died to support. These were opposed to what was then called
-“_Doctrinal Puritanism_,” a term which Buckingham expressed a wish
-to comprehend, and which Laud undertook to expound. These doctrinal
-points related to the observance of the Lord’s Day; to the
-“indiscrimination,” says Heylyn, “of bishops and presbyters, the
-power of sovereigns in ecclesiastical matters, the doctrine of
-confession and of sacerdotal absolution, and the five points which
-had, for the last twenty years, been agitating the churches of
-Holland.”[294] Those points, which have unhappily raised so many
-bitter resentments, were now beginning to inflame the public mind in
-England with that fever of intolerance which is so contagious, and
-so inimical to true religion. These controversies, in the time of
-Buckingham, were carried on between the party called Arminians and
-the Calvinists. “A swarm of books,” as Heylyn calls them, came over
-from Holland, and awoke out of “that dead sleep,” as he terms the
-then state of the Church, the learned divines of Oxford. Laud had
-been one of the first, on the publication of these works, to espouse
-and to advocate what was then styled Arminianism, so called from a
-famous professor of Leyden, Von Armene. Whatever was the standard of
-Laud’s opinions, and whatsoever merit may be attached to their
-sincerity, or what blame soever to their virulence, it is, at all
-events, satisfactory to believe that the attention of Buckingham
-was, during the latter years of his life, directed to subjects of
-mightier import than the sublunary interests which had hitherto
-solely engrossed his attention.
-
-Footnote 294:
-
- Heylyn, p. 119.
-
-Laud had, indeed, those qualities which form the man of piety into
-the missionary of social life--a mission much required in all ages.
-The rigid, uncompromising priest, who gives no latitude to opinion,
-no indulgence to error, generally does far more harm than good. The
-lax man of the world, with weak purpose, and flickering notions of
-right and wrong, is a scandal to the faith he professes, and lends a
-hand to indifference, if not to infidelity. But Laud, an enthusiast,
-perhaps a zealot, was the most agreeable of bigots. Born at Reading,
-the son of a clothier, he had been reproached, like Buckingham, with
-the meanness of his origin. Like most men, he felt the imputation;
-and even in his garden at Lambeth, when in the height of his
-greatness, he is stated by his biographer, Doctor Heylyn, to have
-shewn no ordinary degree of vexation on his countenance, after
-reading a libel in which he was reproached with his parentage, “as
-if,” he said, “he had been raked out of a dung-hill.” He owned that
-he had not the good fortune “to be born a gentleman,” but he had the
-happiness to be descended from honest parents. The beautiful,
-old-fashioned College of St. John’s, at Oxford, had received him as
-a commoner, and he entered there at a period when Calvinism
-influenced, strange to say, the tone and spirit of that university.
-All that had once been held sacred was decaying or disused; and the
-Reformed Church of England had become eclipsed by the doctrines and
-writings of Zuinglius, introduced by Dr. Humphrey, the then
-Vice-Chancellor, who had received his impressions, when deprived of
-his fellowship by Queen Mary, at Zurich, the very hot-bed of
-Calvinism.
-
-The use of the surplice, the custom of bowing at the name of Jesus,
-commanded by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and the distinctive dress of
-the priests, had been laid aside, when Laud, in 1604, performed his
-exercise for Bachelor of Divinity, into which treatise he introduced
-those tenets which were soon conceived, or misconceived, to be
-tainted with Romanism.
-
-Nevertheless, from the time when he was president of his own
-college, St. John’s, to the moment of his promotion to the see of
-Canterbury, there was little real obstruction to Laud’s elevation,
-notwithstanding that the whole of his career was one of controversy
-and contention, until he rose to the highest pinnacle of
-ecclesiastical greatness, and fell, subsequently, into the very
-depths of adversity.
-
-This slight sketch is necessary to show how naturally Laud might be
-expected to succeed in gaining an influence over Buckingham, since
-he had been always engaged in winning over those of opposite
-opinions, and in the great battle of controversy. Cheerful, not too
-severe, nor even sufficiently strict, in his notions of morality, as
-appears from his conduct relative to Mountjoy, Earl of Devonshire--a
-short, stout man, with a plump and merry visage, the very opposite
-of a Puritan or Calvinist minister--no man knew better than Laud how
-to lay aside the gravity which was unseasonable; accessible in his
-manners, staunch as a churchman to the interests of his order, but
-perfectly indifferent, personally, to the gifts of fortune, Laud
-delighted the great Duke, weary of fame, and perhaps of life, by the
-sweetness of manner and vivacity of temper which become so well men
-of high attainments. They were henceforth friends, until the thread
-of Buckingham’s existence was cut short by the assassin’s blow.
-
-It is impossible to estimate too highly the effects of this intimacy
-upon the character of the Duke. He seems to have yielded readily to
-the remonstrances of Laud against the misappropriation of church
-revenues; and indeed, according to another authority, his own
-disposition accelerated the effect produced by these impressions.
-Buckingham was not the rapacious oppressor described by the
-contemporary slanderers of his time. “Oppression and avarice,”
-observes Nichols, in his history of Leicestershire, “_he knew not_.”
-
-Williams, Lord Keeper, the early friend of Buckingham, was now
-wholly discarded from the Duke’s friendship, and from his presence,
-as appears from a letter addressed by Williams to Sir George Goring,
-and written from Foxley. The mixture of servility with religious
-professions; the evident desire to retain the favour of the Duke,
-and his own place, of course, and yet to make his case good;--and
-the dexterity with which all this is managed, lessen the regret that
-would otherwise be felt that Buckingham had lost in Williams an
-acute adviser, whose counsels were safer, at that juncture, than
-those of the earnest and fearless, but intemperate and prejudiced,
-Laud.
-
-No benefit to the disgraced courtier and prelate resulted from this
-appeal, and the new parliament was opened in the month of February,
-1626, not by Williams, but by Sir Thomas Coventry, as Lord Keeper,
-in a strain of fulsome adulation to the King.
-
-But this address, followed as it was by an oration from Sir Heneage
-Finch, the Speaker, in terms still more exaggerated, was little
-regarded by the Commons, who immediately formed themselves into a
-committee of grievances, in which the evil resulting from bad
-counsellors about the King, the misappropriation of the revenue, the
-failure of the expedition against Cadiz, and the expenditure of the
-subsidy granted to the late King, formed the main points of
-consideration.
-
-In vain did Charles, confirming but too closely the observations
-recently quoted by Lord Clarendon, resolve to defend his favourite.
-He addressed a letter to the Speaker, bidding him hasten the
-supplies. Forty ships, he stated, were ready for a second voyage,
-and, without an immediate grant of money, the object of that
-armament must be abandoned, and the navy disbanded. The Commons were
-adverse to any scheme founded by him whom they regarded as the very
-source of all the evils of which the country now complained.
-Buckingham was the object at whom every expression of discontent was
-aimed. Clement Coke, one of Sir Edward’s numerous family, observed
-that it would be better to die from an enemy abroad than to be
-destroyed at home. Dr. Turner, a physician whom Sir Henry Wotton
-styles “a travelled doctor of physick, of bold spirit and able
-elocution,” asked ministers whether it were not true that the loss
-of the King’s dominions over the narrow seas were not owing to the
-Duke’s mismanagement? Whether the enormous gifts of land and money
-to the Duke had not impoverished the Crown? Whether the multiplicity
-of offices which he held, and those whom he patronized, were not the
-cause of the bad government in the kingdom? Whether he did not
-connive at recusants, the Duke’s mother and father-in-law being both
-papists? Whether the sale of offices, honours, places of judicature,
-with ecclesiastical livings and preferments, were not owing to the
-Duke?
-
-Such was the dread of court influence in that day, that courage to
-put these questions implied in Dr. Turner a perfect independence of
-action and character very unusual at that period. Clement Coke was
-severely reproved by his father for his boldness, and the old lawyer
-refused to see his son for some time; but Dr. Turner, one of the
-very few of his profession who have sat in the House of Commons, not
-only escaped censure, but gained credit by his boldness, upon which
-the subsequent impeachment of the Duke was grounded.
-
-The committee to redress grievances was followed by another, which
-was to inquire into religious matters, more especially into the
-number of indulgences granted by his Majesty to recusants; for the
-bitterness of bigotry was not confined to the party who owned Laud
-as their spiritual chief; and this blow was aimed at Buckingham,
-whose alleged partiality to the Romish Church was one of the false
-and factious allegations of the day. At that time, it must be
-remembered, a penalty of twenty pounds a month, by law, could be
-levied upon every person who frequented not divine worship.[295] The
-King, unhappily, ill judging, ill-advised, and therefore ill-fated,
-and finding himself opposed for the first time, summoned the Lords
-and Commons to Whitehall, and, addressing them, said, that whilst he
-was sensible of the grievances of his people, he was much more
-sensible of his own. He issued his express command that henceforth
-the two houses would desist from such unparliamentary proceedings,
-and leave the reformation of what was amiss to his "Majesty’s care,
-wisdom, and justice."[296] This harangue produced no effect on the
-two houses, and the King and Buckingham, feeling that they had lost
-ground, adopted another course, and rushed into perils, from the
-effect of which the Duke was saved by an untimely death, but which
-were felt in after years with terrible force by Charles.
-
-Footnote 295:
-
- Hume--Appendix to the Reign of James I., p.38.
-
-Footnote 296:
-
- Heylyn, p. 142.
-
-So long as James I. lived, the Earl of Bristol, confiding in his
-favour, had borne the blame of that failure in the Spanish treaty
-which had so greatly incensed the nation. For some time after the
-accession of Charles, he waited, hoping to regain his footing at the
-court. But when, upon the meeting of parliament, he received no writ
-to serve as a member, in his place, he appealed to the Lords. The
-writ was then sent, but the Earl was ordered on no account to appear
-in his place. Moreover, during the vacation, in the month of March,
-the Duke, certain that Bristol would impeach him, prepared articles
-of impeachment against the Earl, in order to be the first in the
-field, and to anticipate the accusations which he expected would
-shortly be levelled at himself. The impeachment did indeed
-anticipate, literally, that soon framed and delivered against the
-Duke.[297] The feeling of the times rendered nothing so odious to
-the nation as any wish or attempt to subvert the religion of the
-country. One of the charges against Bristol was that he assisted to
-introduce Popery into England; that he was the cause of the Prince’s
-journey into Spain, and had there wished him to change his religion;
-that he advised that the son of the Elector Palatine should be
-brought up in the court of Spain--a project which, from a letter of
-Bristol’s, appears to have been stated, but not suggested by
-Bristol. Bristol replied that these charges were merely intended to
-defeat those which he now formally preferred against the Duke, which
-seemed almost like duplicates of the impeachment which the Duke had
-preferred against him. First, that he had conspired with Gondomar to
-take the Prince into Spain, there to convert him to the Romish
-faith; that, whilst in Spain, the Duke had flattered the King of
-Spain with the hopes of this conversion; that he had absented
-himself from Divine service at the embassy, and had attended the
-Romish rites, adoring their sacraments--a course which induced the
-Spanish court to ask greater concessions from King James.[298] These
-articles, with others of less import, were followed by an
-impeachment from the House of Commons, who were fearful that Bristol
-might not be able to substantiate the charge of treason, of which
-they clearly saw the weakness, from the absence of motives and of
-proofs.[299] On the eighth of May, therefore, “a large impeachment”
-was drawn up against him; it was framed by six of the ablest lawyers
-in the house;[300] and related to the Duke’s engrossing of
-offices--his holding at the same time the posts of Lord Admiral and
-of Warden of the Cinque Ports--his not guarding the narrow seas--his
-lending a ship called the “Vanguard” to the French King--his selling
-offices and honours--his waste of the Crown revenues--and, finally,
-his giving physic to King James at the time of his sickness,[301]
-applying a plaster to his chest; and that both the potion and the
-plaster were of a nature unknown “to surgeons, apothecaries, and
-physicians, and had been followed by dangerous consequences.”
-
-Footnote 297:
-
- Brodie, ii. p.89.
-
-Footnote 298:
-
- Brodie.
-
-Footnote 299:
-
- Heylyn, 143.
-
-Footnote 300:
-
- Heylyn, in his life of Laud, recites these names--Glandville,
- Herbert, Sheldon, Pym, Wansford, and Sherland; the prologue made
- by Sir Dudley Digges, and the epilogue by Sir John Eliot.--Heylyn,
- 143.
-
-Footnote 301:
-
- Inedited letter in the State Paper Office, 1623, vol. 28.
-
-Of these charges, which were styled by Hume “either frivolous, or
-false, or both,” only one or two articles can, with any certainty,
-be refuted. To commence with that made by the Earl of Bristol,
-relating to the conversion of Charles whilst in Spain, it appears
-from a letter addressed by Sir George Calvert to Secretary Conway,
-that the Marquis Inojosa, the Spanish Ambassador, was directed by
-the Countess Olivarez, in the Infanta’s name, to obtain all possible
-indulgences for Catholics. But no other more formal application on
-the subject, nor any trace of information confirming the alleged
-designs of Buckingham to convert Charles, have been found amongst
-the correspondence of that period; nor has any substantial proof of
-this charge been adduced by historians.[302] With regard to the
-charge of engrossing offices, the importance, if not the absolute
-necessity, of rescuing all maritime affairs from the ruin and
-neglect in which they had been suffered to remain by a former High
-Admiral, was so obvious at the very moment when it became necessary
-to assert the honour of England, that it is a matter of wonder that
-it should have been attempted to allege against Buckingham that
-which constituted his greatest merit. That the Duke had fearlessly
-applied himself to the restoration of the navy, has been shown by a
-reference to documents which have fully and completely exonerated
-him from that censure. It would have been of little avail for
-Buckingham to restore our navy, without securing the ports; in
-taking upon himself that office, he did not accept it as a mere
-dignity, to be performed by deputy, but he discharged its duties
-with an energy and a fidelity that very soon effected the desired
-end.
-
-Footnote 302:
-
- A full statement of the charges may be seen in Brodie’s
- Constitutional History, vol. ii., p. 113, from Rushworth.
-
-In the answer which he afterwards addressed to Parliament, the Duke
-denied having lent the ship called the “Vanguard,” and six others,
-to the King of France--knowing that they were intended to be
-employed against Rochelle; he stated that he had been overreached,
-as the French King had pretended that he wished to make an attack on
-Genoa; that, so soon as he was aware of the deception, he did all he
-could to save Rochelle from destruction.[303] It appeared, also,
-that a promise had been made by James I. to lend a ship to Louis
-XIII., for the reduction of Genoa. The charge of neglecting his duty
-as Admiral, and of having suffered the coast to be infested with
-pirates, has been met by those statements in a former chapter, drawn
-from original sources, which plainly show that the energy of this
-ill-fated Minister was untiring, his efforts meritorious, and that,
-whatever had been his former errors, they had been retrieved in his
-management of naval affairs. So active were his habits, that he took
-a personal share in every affair.[304] From the accusation of
-corruption, it would be as difficult to defend the Duke, as it was
-to exculpate, in this grave point, many public men in office at that
-period. The House of Commons was still writhing under the
-remembrance of the affair of Lord Middlesex, Lord Treasurer in the
-time of James I., who had taken two bribes, of five hundred pounds
-each, from the farmers of customs, without which _douceur_ he
-refused to sign their warrants.[305] For that offence, Middlesex had
-been punished with fine and imprisonment; but King James, whilst he
-was eager to sell the offending Earl’s lands for the payment of the
-fine, had said that he would “review the sentence of the Parliament,
-and confirm it as he saw cause;” he even made a speech in behalf of
-the dishonest treasurer, stating that, “in such cases, the nether
-house was but as informers, the Lords as the jury, and himself the
-judge;” giving them likewise to understand “that he took it not
-well, nor would endure it hereafter, that they should meddle with
-his servants, from the highest place down to the lowest _skull_ in
-the kitchen; but if they had ought against any, they should complain
-to him, and he would see it redressed according to right.”[306]
-
-Footnote 303:
-
- Brodie, from Rushworth, vol. ii., p.121.
-
-Footnote 304:
-
- Inedited State Papers, 1624.
-
-Footnote 305:
-
- Inedited State Papers; date, October 11th, 1624.
-
-Footnote 306:
-
- Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton. Inedited State
- Papers, June 5th, 1624.
-
-It was not, therefore, a matter of surprise that the Commons should,
-in a case considered still more flagrant, lose their moderation,
-knowing from experience how little justice their well-grounded
-complaints might receive at the hands of a monarch who had imbibed
-from his cradle such sentiments as those expressed by James I.
-
-It was publicly known that offices, both about the person of the
-King and in the state, were sold. In the last reign, the mastership
-of the jewels had been bought by Sir Henry Caire for 2,000_l._ or
-3,000_l._, from Sir Henry Mildmay, who was “thought too young a man,
-and of too mean a state” to be safely entrusted with the King’s
-jewels.[307] Buckingham, however, seems to have had no direct
-interest in this transaction. Other instances were also adduced; and
-proofs of corruption somewhere were open to every mind. Lord
-Middlesex, when Sir Lionel Cranfield, was stated to have given the
-Duke 6,000_l._ for his place as keeper of the wardrobe;[308] but it
-seems that he purchased that post from Lord Hay, and not from
-Buckingham, as the following extract from the State Papers, of the
-year 1618, implies:--
-
-“Sir Lionel Cranfield is not yet master of the wardrobe, nor likely
-to be, unless he give a _viaticum_ to the Lord Hay, who, they say,
-stands upon 9,000_l._”[309] It does not, therefore, appear certain
-that Buckingham received either of the bribes; although it is not
-improbable that, since nothing could take place without his
-concurrence, he might have accepted some part of the spoil. Of the
-other two allegations--namely, that he received from Lord Roberts
-10,000_l._ for his title, and that he sold the office of treasurer
-to Lord Manchester for 20,000_l._, there seems no certainty; but no
-letters are to be found in the very minute daily correspondence of
-that period, between the members of the Duke’s household and the
-Court, which either take the burden of the charge from him, or
-remove it to any other person.
-
-Footnote 307:
-
- Inedited State Papers. January, 1617-18.
-
-Footnote 308:
-
- Brodie, vol. i., p.113.
-
-Footnote 309:
-
- Dated August 20th, 1618.
-
-The Duke was also stated, in the impeachment, to have purchased the
-offices of Lord High Admiral, and of Lord Warden of the Cinque
-Ports. Such was the colour given to a transaction which is generally
-recognized as a matter of compensation. “To the Earl of Nottingham,
-the old and incompetent admiral, the pension of 3,000_l._ yearly was
-allotted, together with a good round sum of ready money;” to
-Margaret, Countess of Nottingham, according to one account, a
-pension of 1,000_l._, to commence at the death of the Earl, and
-500_l._ to his eldest son by her.[310] According to another
-statement, the pension to the Countess was not to exceed 600_l._; to
-her son, Charles Howard, 500_l._ a year; and to her daughter, Anne
-Howard, 200_l._ a year--after the death of their father.[311]
-
-Footnote 310:
-
- Inedited State Papers, 1625. This sum was eventually reduced to
- 5,000_l._
-
-Footnote 311:
-
- Letter from Secretary Nameton.--State Paper Office, Oct. 18, 1618.
-
-Lord Zouch, meantime, the former Warden of the Cinque Ports, was
-perfectly satisfied with the compensation of 500_l._ a year, secured
-on lands, and 1,000_l._ ready money, in lieu of his office.[312]
-Surely, if arrangements like these, completed without secrecy, and
-known to every gossip of the Court, be deemed corrupt and illegal,
-every minister of modern times might be liable to a similar
-imputation.
-
-Footnote 312:
-
- Inedited State Papers.
-
-Another charge was that Buckingham had procured titles of honours
-for his allies, and pensions to support them; had embezzled the
-King’s money, and obtained grants of Crown lands to an enormous
-value.[313] A list of his titles and offices proves, indeed, the
-blind and almost insane partiality which had placed the favourite on
-the pinnacle of power.
-
-Footnote 313:
-
- Brodie, vol. ii., p. 113.
-
-The statement of his possessions is equally amazing, more especially
-when we consider his origin and his early difficulties. Crown lands,
-to the value of 284,895_l._, had been allotted to the Duke, "besides
-the Forest of Layfield--the profit made out of the strangers’
-goods--and the moiety of the customs in Ireland." And yet the
-Duke avowed before Parliament that his debts amounted to
-100,000_l._,[314] and we find, as a sad confirmation of the charge,
-among the documents in the State Paper Office, a warrant of payment
-of 2,500_l._ to Sir William Russell, for interest of 30,000_l._
-advanced to the Duke of Buckingham by his Majesty’s orders.[315]
-Even the money given him, it was justly alleged, was a small sum
-compared with that which the Duke had derived from other sources.
-“How then,” asked Mr. Sherland, one of the managers of the
-impeachment, “can we hope to satisfy his prodigality, if this be
-true? If false, how can we hope to satisfy his covetousness? And,
-therefore, your lordships need not wonder if the Commons desire, and
-that earnestly, to be delivered from such a grievance.”
-
-Footnote 314:
-
- Ibid, 123.
-
-Footnote 315:
-
- Date, March 6, 1625.
-
-Finally, the Duke was charged with having either intentionally, or
-unintentionally, accelerated the death of King James.
-
-The imprudent interference of Buckingham, under the influence of his
-mother, with the medical treatment of the King, was adduced as a
-proof of guilt. The absurdity of this charge, which was afterwards
-taken up with much bitterness by both parties in that time of
-violent discussion, seems to throw a doubt upon the whole
-impeachment.
-
-The same members who had before recited the enormous gifts and
-lavish generosity of King James to his favourite, now taxed the very
-man who had only to ask, to obtain, with the murder of one who was
-loading him with benefits. The disease of King James, Heylyn
-reports, “was no other than an ague, which, though it fell on him in
-the spring, crossed the proverb, and proved, not medicinal, but
-mortal.”[316] The King was old, not indeed in years, but in
-constitution; the wonder was not that he died before the full span
-of age was complete, but that he lived so long. The appearance of
-the body after death has been insisted upon by Whitelocke as a proof
-of poison; but it is well known that in many diseases this
-appearance occurs, especially in affections of the heart, a class of
-complaint but little understood in those times, but a malady that is
-not unfrequently the result of rheumatic affections, to which James
-seems to have been liable.
-
-Footnote 316:
-
- Life of Archbishop Laud.
-
-Wandesford, one of the chief speakers on this occasion, declares
-that the “poor and loyal Commons of England were troubled at hearing
-that great distempers followed the drink and plaisters which
-Buckingham had pressed on the King--droughts, raving, faintness, and
-intermitting pulse;” these are, however, the usual concomitants of
-that passage through the valley of the shadow of death which
-precedes a final dissolution; the plaister was declared to have
-driven the complaint inwards; both the administration of the drink
-or posset, and the application of the plaister, were avowed by
-Buckingham, who protested that neither of these intended remedies
-had been used without the permission of the physicians; on hearing a
-rumour that he had done so, Buckingham affirmed that he went to the
-dying king, “who exclaimed, ‘They are worse than devils who say
-so.’”[317]
-
-Footnote 317:
-
- Brodie, vol. ii., p. 125.
-
-On the whole, this part of the impeachment seems to have fallen to
-the ground; and we are disposed to credit Clarendon, who states that
-though “investigated in a time of great licence, ‘no criminality was
-discovered.’” King Charles also became afterwards the subject of
-aspersions on this point--one of those slanderous and impossible
-accusations that weaken all the previous charges, and taint them
-with the hue of malice.
-
-It is remarkable, as Hume observes, that the most vulnerable point
-in Lord Bristol’s attack was altogether ignored by the Commons in
-this “large impeachment.” The most blamable circumstance in
-Buckingham’s whole life, as the same historian observes, was the
-Duke’s conduct in breaking the Spanish treaty, and in hurrying the
-nation into a war in order to gratify his private passions. But
-there was a general conviction of the insincerity of Spain; and the
-unjustifiable conduct of the Duke, in the affairs relative to that
-country, was suffered to escape unnoticed, whilst charges, almost
-untenable, were got up in the hope of ruining him with the King.
-
-Charles was, however, infatuated. His youth and inexperience, the
-pernicious example set him by his father, plead for _him_, but
-nothing can extenuate the want of manly boldness in Buckingham, in
-not facing his foes and demanding a trial. His answers to the
-impeachment, thirteen in number, were, it is true, to borrow the
-words of Sir Henry Wotton, “very diligently and civilly couched,”
-and “savoured of an humble spirit, though his heart was big.” One
-consideration swayed with the public, which was, that in the
-“bolting and sifting of near fourteen years of such power and
-favour, all that came out could not be expected to be pure and
-white, and fine metal; but must needs have withal among it a certain
-mixture of padars and bran in this lower range of humane
-fragility.”[318]
-
-Footnote 318:
-
- Sir Henry Wotton, p. 225.
-
-The Duke’s answers were very clear and satisfactory,[319] and his
-address to the Lords appears to have been ingenuous and courteous.
-He reminded them how full of danger and prejudice it was to give too
-ready an ear, too easy a belief, to reports and testimony not upon
-oath; upon such allegations none ought, he argued, to be condemned.
-Then, with a grace that was natural to him, he acknowledged, with
-humility, “how easy a thing it was for him in his younger years,
-when inexperienced, to fall into thousands of errors in these two
-years wherein he had the honour to serve so great and so
-open-hearted a master.”[320] He concluded with professions of
-attachment to the Church of England, hoping that for the future “he
-might watch over all his actions, public and private, so as not to
-give cause of just offence to any one.” And such was probably his
-sincere determination; and Buckingham, had he lived, might have
-proved an excellent and, as times went, an honest minister.
-
-Footnote 319:
-
- Hume.
-
-Footnote 320:
-
- Heylyn, p. 144.
-
-The answer of Buckingham, as well as the speech of the King to his
-Commons, on the 29th of March, was ascribed to the pen of Laud; but
-Heylyn disavows that statement. Yet there is little doubt that Laud
-prompted the Duke’s cautious and submissive reply on the one hand,
-and encouraged, if he did not prompt, the King’s arbitrary and
-unconstitutional conduct to the Commons.
-
-The tempest, violent as it seemed, “did,” as Sir Henry Wotton
-remarks, “only shake and not rent” the Duke’s sails. Charles, taking
-as a plea that many of the accusations were not within the compass
-of his own reign, and also that nothing had been proved against
-Buckingham on oath, resolved to brave the storm in such a manner as
-to bring down its force upon himself.
-
-He lost, therefore, no opportunity of showing his contempt for the
-House of Commons. “No one,” Hume observes, “was at that time
-sufficiently sensible of the great weight which the Commons bore in
-the balance of the Constitution.” Nothing but “fatal experience
-could induce the English princes to pay a due regard to the
-inclinations of that formidable assembly.”[321]
-
-Footnote 321:
-
- Hume, vol. vi., p. 179.
-
-“This was indeed,” Lord Campbell remarks, “the great crisis of the
-English Constitution. Had our distinguished patriots then quailed,
-Parliaments would thenceforth have been merely the subject of
-antiquarian research, or perhaps occasionally summoned to register
-the edicts of the Crown”[322] “The state,” as Sir Edward Coke
-declared in Parliament, “was in a consumption, yet not incurable.”
-It was his courage and honesty that helped to effect a cure.
-
-Footnote 322:
-
- Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i., p. 325.
-
-Charles, considering that he was himself aimed at in the allegations
-against the Duke, commanded the House expressly not to interfere
-with his servant Buckingham, and ordered it to conclude the bill for
-the subsidies which they had begun, intimating that if that were not
-done it should sit no longer. Instead of referring the case to the
-Lords, and insisting on the affair being brought to a trial before
-that body, he went himself to the House of Lords, and declared his
-intention of clearing the Duke by his own testimony. The Commons
-had, on that very day, moved that the Duke should be committed to
-the Tower until the issue of his trial should be known. That motion
-was rejected; in vain did Buckingham attempt to explain and soften
-down this conduct in a speech to the Lords. Sir Dudley Digges and
-Sir John Eliot were thrown into prison, and although they were soon
-liberated, the Commons immediately declared that they would not
-proceed with any business whatsoever until satisfaction should be
-given for this breach of privilege.
-
-Unhappily, all these discords were aggravated nearly to frenzy by
-the bitterest of all passions--religious intolerance. Whilst we must
-applaud, with all gratitude, the lofty and honest spirit which
-opposed acts of despotism--a spirit to which we owe our present
-pre-eminence as a free and powerful nation--we must deprecate the
-remorseless oppressions which the friends of liberty scrupled not to
-inflict on those who thought on religious matters differently from
-themselves.
-
-It was an expensive matter in those days to have a conscience.
-Although the penalty of twenty pounds per month, enacted during the
-reign of Elizabeth, had been mitigated according to the
-circumstances of families, or suffered in some instances to run on
-for years, it was occasionally levied all at once, to the ruin of
-the unhappy Romanist families who conscientiously refused to attend
-the worship of the Established Church. James I. had mercifully
-relaxed the severity of these penalties; but his successor was now
-called upon by the Puritan party in the House of Commons to restore
-them to their original force. The Church was at this epoch far more
-induced to grant indulgence than the laity, who, it is strange to
-say, were the most intolerant among the persecutors of the depressed
-body of Roman Catholics. Disappointed in their impeachment of
-Buckingham, the Commons now presented to the King a list of
-recusants who had been entrusted with offices in the State.
-
-This petition was aimed, of course, at Buckingham, whose mother was
-a Catholic, and whose wife had been long suspected of holding the
-tenets of the Romish Church. It was thought sufficient in those
-times to have a near relation a Romanist, to be disqualified for
-office.[323]
-
-Footnote 323:
-
- Hume, from Franklyn, p. 195.
-
-Queen Elizabeth, as we have before observed, when she had any point
-to gain with her people, used “to tune the pulpits,” as she termed
-it. It was her practice to have a reserve of preachers ready to
-extol her designs in or near London, to influential congregations,
-whenever she required the help of their eloquence.[324] This plan
-was now adopted by Charles, and Laud was employed to call the
-attention of the public to the cause of the King of Denmark, who had
-been driven to the last extremity by Count Tilly. The King of
-Denmark being a Protestant, it was hoped that this scheme would
-propitiate the party who so vehemently endeavoured to compass the
-downfall of Buckingham, and who were, for the most part, Puritans.
-
-Footnote 324:
-
- Heylyn, p. 153.
-
-Unhappily the plan did more harm than good; its motives and
-signification were suspected, nay, even proclaimed by some of the
-simple clergy; and Sibthorpe, the Vicar of Brackley, in
-Northamptonshire--at an assize sermon--gave out plainly that the
-burden of those instructions which had been distributed among the
-priesthood was "to show the lawfulness of the general loan which the
-King now contemplated raising, in lieu of the supplies; to prove the
-King’s right to impose taxes without the consent of Parliament; and
-to insist that the people ought cheerfully to submit to such loans
-and taxes."
-
-The publication of this sermon was forbidden by Archbishop
-Abbot,[325] for it was then illegal to print any book without a
-permission from the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, or the
-Vice-chancellor of one of the Universities, or some person appointed
-by them;[326] and two fearful Courts of Star-chamber and High
-Commission threatened any delinquent who attempted to do then what
-now requires merely the consent of a publisher. Although Abbot had
-so wisely prohibited Sibthorpe’s discourse, he could not save the
-King whom Buckingham and Laud counselled. The audacious sermon was
-published during the following year, under the almost impious title
-of “Apostolic Obedience.”
-
-Footnote 325:
-
- Heylyn, p. 159.
-
-Footnote 326:
-
- Hume, p. 129.
-
-
-
-
- END OF VOL. II.
-
-
-
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------
-
- R. BORN, PRINTER, GLOUCESTER STREET, REGENT’S PARK.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH ST. LONDON
-
- NEW AND INTERESTING WORKS
-
- PUBLISHED BY
-
- MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT,
-
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-
- --------------
-
-=MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF GEORGE IV. FROM= ORIGINAL FAMILY DOCUMENTS.
- By the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS, K.G. 2 vols. 8vo. with
- Portraits. 30s. bound.
-
-Among the many interesting subjects elucidated in this work will
-be found: The Trial of Queen Caroline--The King’s Visits to
-Ireland, Scotland, and Hanover--Female Influence at Court--The
-Death of Lord Castlereagh--Junction of the Grenville Party with
-the Government--The Political and Literary Career of George
-Canning--O’Connell and the Catholic Claims--The Marquess Wellesley
-in Ireland--The Duke of Wellington’s Administration--George the
-Fourth as a Patron of Art and Literature, &c.
-
-"The country is very much indebted to the Duke of Buckingham for the
-publication of these volumes--to our thinking the most valuable of
-the contributions to recent history which he has yet compiled from
-his family papers. Besides the King, the Duke of Buckingham’s
-canvass is full of the leading men of the day--Castlereagh,
-Liverpool, Canning, Wellington, Peel, and their compeers. We are
-sure that no reader, whether he seeks for gossip, or for more
-sterling information, will be disappointed by the book.
-There are several most characteristic letters of the Duke of
-Wellington."--_John Bull._
-
-“These volumes are the most popular of the series of Buckingham
-papers, not only from the nature of the matter, but from the
-closeness of the period to our own times.”--_Spectator._
-
-“There is much in these volumes which deserves the perusal of all
-who desire an intimate acquaintance with the history of the period.
-The comments of well-informed men, like Lord Grenville, and Mr. T.
-Grenville, disclosing as they do the motives of individuals, the
-secret movements of parties, and the causes of public events, are of
-high value to the student, and exceedingly interesting to the
-general reader.”--_Daily News._
-
-“These volumes are of great intrinsic and historical value. They
-give us a definite acquaintance with the actions, a valuable
-insight into the characters, of a succession of illustrious
-statesmen.”--_Critic._
-
-“The original documents published in these volumes--penned by public
-men, who were themselves active participators in the events and
-scenes described--throw a great deal of very curious and very
-valuable light upon this period of our history. The private letters
-of such men as Lord Grenville, Mr. T. Grenville, Mr. Charles Wynn,
-Mr. Freemantle, Dr. Phillimore, and Mr. Plumer Ward, written in the
-absence of all restraint, necessarily possess a high interest even
-for the lightest and most careless reader; whilst, in an historical
-sense, as an authentic source from which future historians will be
-enabled to form their estimate of the characters of the leading men
-who flourished in the reign of the last George, they must be
-regarded as possessing an almost inestimable value. The more
-reserved communications, too, of such men as Lord Liverpool, the
-Duke of Wellington, the Marquis of Wellesley, Sir Henry Parnell,
-&c., will be received with great interest and thankfulness by every
-historiographer, whilst the lighter _billets_ of Sir Walter Scott
-and Mr. Henry Wynn will be welcome to every body. Taking this
-publication altogether, we must give the Duke of Buckingham great
-credit for the manner in which he has prepared and executed it, and
-at the same time return him our hearty thanks for the interesting
-and valuable information which he has unfolded to us from his family
-archives.”--_Observer._
-
-=MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF THE REGENCY.= FROM ORIGINAL FAMILY
- DOCUMENTS. By the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS, K.G. 2 vols.
- 8vo., with Portraits, 30s. bound.
-
-“Here are two more goodly volumes on the English Court; volumes full
-of new sayings, pictures, anecdotes, and scenes. The Duke of
-Buckingham travels over nine years of English history. But what
-years those were, from 1811 to 1820! What events at home and abroad
-they bore to the great bourne!--from the accession of the Regent to
-power to the death of George III.--including the fall of Perceval;
-the invasion of Russia, and the war in Spain; the battles of
-Salamanca and Borodino; the fire of Moscow; the retreat of Napoleon;
-the conquest of Spain; the surrender of Napoleon; the return from
-Elba; the Congress of Vienna; the Hundred Days; the crowning carnage
-of Waterloo; the exile to St. Helena; the return of the Bourbons;
-the settlement of Europe; the public scandals at the English Court;
-the popular discontent, and the massacre of Peterloo! On many parts
-of this story the documents published by the Duke of Buckingham cast
-new jets of light, clearing up much secret history. Old stories are
-confirmed--new traits of character are brought out. In short, many
-new and pleasant additions are made to our knowledge of those
-times.”--_Athenæum._
-
-“Invaluable, as showing the true light in which many of the
-stirring events of the Regency are to be viewed. The lovers of
-Court gossip will also find not a little for their edification and
-amusement.”--_Literary Gazette._
-
-“These volumes cover a complete epoch, the period of the Regency--a
-period of large and stirring English history. To the Duke of
-Buckingham, who thus, out of his family archives, places within our
-reach authentic and exceedingly minute pictures of the governors of
-England, we owe grateful acknowledgements. His papers abound in
-fresh lights on old topics, and in new illustrations and anecdotes.
-The intrinsic value of the letters is enhanced by the judicious
-setting of the explanatory comment that accompanies them, which is
-put together with much care and honesty.”--_Examiner._
-
-=MEMOIRS OF THE COURT AND CABINETS OF GEORGE THE THIRD=, FROM
- ORIGINAL FAMILY DOCUMENTS. By the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM AND
- CHANDOS, K.G., &c. THE THIRD AND FOURTH VOLUMES, comprising the
- period from 1800 to 1810 and completing this important work.
- 8vo., with Portraits. 30s. bound.
-
-“The present volumes exhibit the same features as the former portion
-of the series. The general reader is entertained, and the reader for
-historical purposes is enlightened. Of their value and importance,
-there cannot be two opinions.”--_Athenæum._
-
-“These volumes comprehend a period the most important in the
-events relating to our domestic affairs and foreign relations to
-be found in the British annals; told, not only by eye-witnesses,
-but by the very men who put them in motion. The volumes now
-published immeasurably exceed their predecessors in interest and
-importance. They must find a place in the library of every English
-gentleman.”--_Standard._
-
-=HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF HENRY IV., KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE.=
- From numerous Original Sources. By MISS FREER. Author of "The
- Lives of Marguerite d’Angoulême, Elizabeth de Valois, Henry
- III.," &c. 2 vols. with Portraits, 21s.
-
- =LECTURES ON ART, LITERATURE, AND SOCIAL SCIENCE.= By HIS
- EMINENCE CARDINAL WISEMAN. 1 vol with Portrait. (_In
- Preparation._)
-
-=HENRY III. KING OF FRANCE AND POLAND; HIS COURT AND TIMES.= From
- numerous unpublished sources, including MS. Documents in the
- Bibliothèque Impériale, and the Archives of France and Italy. By
- MISS FREER, Author of "Marguerite d’Angoulême," “Elizabeth de
- Valois, and the Court of Philip II.,” &c. 3 vols. post 8vo. with
- fine portraits, 31s. 6d. bound.
-
-“Miss Freer having won for herself the reputation of a most
-painstaking and trustworthy historian not less than an accomplished
-writer, by her previous memoirs of sovereigns of the houses of
-Valois and Navarre, will not fail to meet with a most cordial and
-hearty welcome for her present admirable history of Henry III., the
-last of the French kings of the house of Valois. We refer our
-readers to the volumes themselves for the interesting details of the
-life and reign of Henry III., his residence in Poland, his marriage
-with Louise de Lorraine, his cruelties, his hypocrisies, his
-penances, his assassination by the hands of the monk Jaques Clément,
-&c. Upon these points, as well as with reference to other persons
-who occupied a prominent position during this period, abundant
-information is afforded by Miss Freer; and the public will feel with
-us that a deep debt of gratitude is due to that lady for the
-faithful and admirable manner in which she has pourtrayed the Court
-and Times of Henry the Third.”--_Chronicle._
-
-“The previous historical labours of Miss Freer were so successful as
-to afford a rich promise in the present undertaking, the performance
-of which, it is not too much to say, exceeds expectation, and
-testifies to her being not only the most accomplished, but the most
-accurate of modern female historians. The Life of Henry III. of
-France is a contribution to literature which will have a reputation
-as imperishable as its present fame must be large and increasing.
-Indeed, the book is of such a truly fascinating character, that once
-begun it is impossible to leave it.”--_Messenger._
-
-“Among the class of chronicle histories, Miss Freer’s Henry the
-Third of France is entitled to a high rank. As regards style and
-treatment Miss Freer has made a great advance upon her ‘Elizabeth de
-Valois,’ as that book was an advance upon her ‘Marguerite
-D’Angoulême.’”--_Spectator._
-
-“We heartily recommend this work to the reading public. Miss Freer
-has much, perhaps all, of the quick perception and picturesque
-style by which Miss Strickland has earned her well-deserved
-popularity.”--_Critic._
-
-=ELIZABETH DE VALOIS, QUEEN OF SPAIN, AND THE COURT OF PHILIP II.=
- From numerous unpublished sources in the Archives of France,
- Italy, and Spain. By MISS FREER. 2 vols. post 8vo. with fine
- Portraits by HEATH, 21s.
-
-“It is not attributing too much to Miss Freer to say that herself
-and Mr. Prescott are probably the best samples of our modern
-biographers. The present volumes will be a boon to posterity for
-which it will be grateful. Equally suitable for instruction and
-amusement, they portray one of the most interesting characters and
-periods of history.”--_John Bull._
-
-"Such a book as the memoir of Elizabeth de Valois is a literary
-treasure which will be the more appreciated as its merits obtain
-that reputation to which they most justly are entitled. Miss
-Freer has done her utmost to make the facts of Elizabeth’s, Don
-Carlos’, and Philip II.’s careers fully known, as they actually
-transpired."--_Bell’s Messenger._
-
-=THE LIFE OF MARGUERITE D’ANGOULEME, QUEEN of NAVARRE, SISTER of
- FRANCIS I.= By MISS FREER. Second Edition, 2 vols. with fine
- Portraits, 21s.
-
-“This is a very useful and amusing book. It is a good work, very
-well done. The authoress is quite equal in power and grace to Miss
-Strickland. She must have spent great time and labour in collecting
-the information, which she imparts in an easy and agreeable manner.
-It is difficult to lay down her book after having once begun it.
-This is owing partly to the interesting nature of the subject,
-partly to the skillful manner in which it has been treated. No other
-life of Marguerite has yet been published, even in France. Indeed,
-till Louis Philippe ordered the collection and publication of
-manuscripts relating to the history of France, no such work could be
-published. It is difficult to conceive how, under any circumstances,
-it could have been better done.”--_Standard._
-
-=LODGE’S PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE FOR 1860.= UNDER THE ESPECIAL
- PATRONAGE OF HER MAJESTY AND H.R.H. THE PRINCE CONSORT.
- Corrected throughout by the Nobility. Twenty-Ninth Edition, in 1
- vol. royal 8vo., with the Arms beautifully engraved, handsomely
- bound, with gilt edges, price 31s. 6d.
-
-LODGE’S PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE is acknowledged to be the most
-complete, as well as the most elegant, work of the kind. As an
-established and authentic authority on all questions respecting the
-family histories, honours, and connections of the titled
-aristocracy, no work has ever stood so high. It is published under
-the especial patronage of Her Majesty, and His Royal Highness the
-Prince Consort, and is annually corrected throughout, from the
-personal, communications of the Nobility. It is the only work of its
-class, in which, _the type being kept constantly standing_, every
-correction is made in its proper place to the date of publication,
-an advantage which gives it supremacy over all its competitors.
-Independently of its full and authentic information respecting the
-existing Peers and Baronets of the realm, the most sedulous
-attention is given in its pages to the collateral branches of the
-various noble families, and the names of many thousand individuals
-are introduced, which do not appear in other records of the titled
-classes. For its authority, correctness, and facility of
-arrangement, and the beauty of its typography and binding, the work
-is justly entitled to the high place it occupies on the tables of
-Her Majesty and the Nobility.
-
-"Lodge’s Peerage must supersede all other works of the kind, for two
-reasons: first, it is on a better plan; and, secondly, it is better
-executed. We can safely pronounce it to be the readiest, the most
-useful, and exactest of modern works on the subject."--_Spectator._
-
-“A work which corrects all errors of former works. It is the
-production of a herald, we had almost said, by birth, but certainly
-by profession and studies, Mr. Lodge, the Norroy King of Arms. It is
-a most useful publication.”--_Times._
-
-"As perfect a Peerage of the British Empire as we are ever likely to
-see published. Great pains have been taken to make it as complete
-and accurate as possible. The work is patronised by Her Majesty and
-the Prince Consort; and it is worthy of a place in every gentleman’s
-library, as well as in every public institution."--_Herald._
-
-“As a work of contemporaneous history, this volume is of great
-value--the materials having been derived from the most authentic
-sources and in the majority of cases emanating from the noble
-families themselves. It contains all the needful information
-respecting the nobility of the Empire.”--_Post._
-
-"This work should form a portion of every gentleman’s library. At
-all times, the information which it contains, derived from
-official sources exclusively at the command of the author, is of
-importance to most classes of the community; to the antiquary it
-must be invaluable, for implicit reliance may be placed on its
-contents."--_Globe._
-
-“This work derives great value from the high authority of Mr. Lodge.
-The plan is excellent.”--_Literary Gazette._
-
-"When any book has run through so many editions, its reputation is
-so indelibly stamped, that it requires neither criticism nor praise.
-It is but just, however, to say, that ‘Lodge’s Peerage and
-Baronetage‘ is the most elegant and accurate, and the best of its
-class. The chief point of excellence attaching to this Peerage
-consists neither in its elegance of type nor its completeness of
-illustration, but in its authenticity, which is insured by the
-letter-press being always kept standing, and by immediate alteration
-being made whenever any change takes place, either by death or
-otherwise, amongst the nobility of the United Kingdom. The work has
-obtained the special patronage of Her Most Gracious Majesty, and of
-His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, which patronage has never
-been better or more worthily bestowed."--_Messenger._
-
-"‘Lodge’s Peerage and Baronetage‘ has become, as it were, an
-‘institution’ of this country; in other words, it is indispensable,
-and cannot be done without, by any person having business in the
-great world. The authenticity of this valuable work, as regards the
-several topics to which it refers, has never been exceeded, and,
-consequently, it must be received as one of the most important
-contributions to social and domestic history extant. As a book of
-reference--indispensable in most cases, useful in all--it should be
-in the hands of every one having connections in, or transactions
-with, the aristocracy."--_Observer._
-
-=LODGE’S GENEALOGY OF THE PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE OF THE BRITISH
- EMPIRE.= A NEW AND REVISED EDITION. Uniform with “THE PEERAGE”
- Volume, with the arms beautifully engraved, handsomely bound
- with gilt edges, price 31s. 6d.
-
-The desire very generally manifested for a republication of this
-volume has dictated the present entire revision of its contents. The
-Armorial Bearings prefixed to the History of each Noble Family,
-render the work complete in itself and uniform with the Volume of
-THE PEERAGE, which it is intended to accompany and illustrate. The
-object of the whole Work, in its two distinct yet combined
-characters, has been useful and correct information; and the careful
-attention devoted to this object throughout will, it is hoped,
-render the Work worthy of the August Patronage with which it is
-honoured and of the liberal assistance accorded by its Noble
-Correspondents, and will secure from them and from the Public, the
-same cordial reception it has hitherto experienced. The great
-advantage of “The Genealogy” being thus given in a separate volume,
-Mr. Lodge has himself explained in the Preface to “The Peerage.”
-
-=EPISODES OF FRENCH HISTORY DURING THE CONSULATE AND FIRST EMPIRE.=
- By MISS PARDOE, author of “The Life of Marie de Medicis,” &c. 2
- vols. 21s.
-
-"We recommend Miss Pardoe’s ‘Episodes’ as very pleasant reading.
-They cannot fail to entertain and instruct."--_Critic._
-
-“One of the must amusing and instructive books Miss Pardoe has ever
-given to the public.”--_Messenger._
-
-“In this lively and agreeable book Miss Pardoe gives a fair picture
-of the society of the times, which has never been treated in a more
-interesting and pleasant manner.”--_Chronicle._
-
-=THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.= By MRS.
- THOMSON, Author of “The Life of the Duchess of Marlborough,”
- “Memoirs of Sir W. Raleigh,” &c. With Portrait. (_Just Ready._)
-
-=THE LIVES OF PHILIP HOWARD, EARL OF ARUNDEL, AND OF ANNE DACRES,
- HIS WIFE.= Edited from the Original MSS. By the DUKE OF NORFOLK,
- E.M. 1 vol. antique.
-
-“These biographies will be read with interest. They throw valuable
-light on the social habits and the prevalent feelings of the
-Elizabethan age.”--_Literary Gazette._
-
-=MEMOIRS OF BERANGER. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.= ENGLISH COPYRIGHT
- EDITION. Second Edition, with numerous Additional Anecdotes and
- Notes, hitherto unpublished. 8vo. with Portrait.
-
-"This is the Copyright Translation of Béranger’s Biography. It
-appears in a handsome volume, and is worthy of all praise as an
-honest piece of work. In this account of his life, the Poet displays
-all the mingled gaiety and earnestness, the warm-hearted sincerity,
-inseparable from his character. He tells, with an exquisite
-simplicity, the story of his early years. His life, he says, is the
-fairest commentary on his songs, therefore he writes it. The charm
-of the narrative is altogether fresh. It includes a variety of
-_chansons_, now first printed, touching closely on the personal
-history of which they form a part, shrewd sayings, and, as the field
-of action in life widens, many sketches of contemporaries, and free
-judgments upon men and things. There is a full appendix to the
-Memoir, rich in letters hitherto unpublished, and in information
-which completes the story of Béranger’s life. The book should be
-read by all."--_Examiner._
-
-=THE BOOK OF ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, AND DECORATIONS OF HONOUR OF ALL
- NATIONS; COMPRISING AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF EACH ORDER,
- MILITARY, NAVAL AND CIVIL;= with Lists of the Knights and
- Companions of each British Order. EMBELLISHED WITH FIVE HUNDRED
- FAC-SIMILE COULOURED ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE INSIGNIA OF THE
- VARIOUS ORDERS. Edited by SIR BERNARD BURKE, Ulster King of
- Arms. 1 vol. royal 8vo., handsomely bound, with gilt edges,
- price £2. 2s.
-
-“This valuable and attractive work may claim the merit of being the
-best of its kind. It is so comprehensive in its character, and so
-elegant in its style, that it far outstrips all competitors. A full
-historical account of the orders of every country is given, with
-lists of the Knights and Companions of each British Order. Among the
-most attractive features of the work are the illustrations. They are
-numerous and beautiful, highly coloured, and giving an exact
-representation of the different decorations. The origin of each
-Order, the rules and regulations, and the duties incumbent on its
-members, are all given at full length. The fact of the work being
-under the supervision of Sir Bernard Burke, and endorsed by his
-authority, gives it another recommendation to the public
-favour.”--_Sun_
-
-“This is, indeed, a splendid book. It is an uncommon combination of
-a library book of reference and a book for a boudoir, undoubtedly
-uniting beauty and utility. It gives a sketch of the foundation and
-history of all recognised decorations of honour, among all nations,
-arranged in alphabetical order. The fac-similies of the insignia are
-well drawn and coloured, and present a brilliant effect. Sir Bernard
-Burke has done his work well; and this book of the quintessence of
-the aristocracy will soon find its place in every library and
-drawing-room.”--._Globe._
-
-=JOURNAL OF AN ENGLISH OFFICER IN INDIA.= By MAJOR NORTH, 60th
- Rifles, Deputy Judge Advocate-General, and Aide-de-Camp to
- General Havelock. 1 vol. with portrait.
-
-"We must commend Major’s North’s ‘Journal’ to universal approbation.
-It is manly in tone, noble in expression, and full of feeling, alike
-honourable to the soldier and gallant profession. When we state that
-the book tells of the progress of the lion-hearted Havelock’s little
-band which relieved Lucknow, and is the first faithful record of the
-deeds of arms performed by that phalanx of heroes, we have said
-enough to cause it to be read, we are convinced, by every person who
-can avail himself of the opportunity of learning what were the
-hardships of his countrymen, and how immense were the sacrifices
-they made to save the English besieged inhabitants from a repetition
-of the atrocities of Cawnpore. We have as yet seen no book connected
-with the Indian mutiny which has given us so much gratification as
-Major North’s Journal."--_Messenger._
-
-=EASTERN HOSPITALS AND ENGLISH NURSES;= The Narrative of Twelve
- Months’ Experience in the Hospitals of Koulali and Scutari. By A
- LADY VOLUNTEER. Third and Cheaper Edition, 1 vol. post 8vo. with
- Illustrations, 6s. bound.
-
-“The story of the noble deeds done by Miss Nightingale and her
-devoted sisterhood will never be more effectively told than in the
-beautiful narrative contained in these volumes.”--_John Bull._
-
-=PICTURES OF SPORTING LIFE AND CHARACTER.= By LORD WILLIAM LENNOX. 2
- vols. with Illustrations. 21s.
-
-"This work may be characterised as a perfect synopsis of English
-sports in the 19th century. Were the whole of the books previously
-written on the subject destroyed, Lord William Lennox’s alone
-would preserve a lifelike picture of the sports and amusements of
-our age. The volumes will be read with intense enjoyment by
-multitudes, for their author is an accomplished _littérateur_, who
-has known how to vary his theme so skillfully and to intersperse
-it with so many anecdotes and personal recollections of England’s
-most distinguished men, that even those who are not themselves
-given to sport will be deeply interested in the light he throws
-upon English society."--_Illustrated News of the World._
-
-=THE COUNTESS OF BONNEVAL: HER LIFE AND LETTERS.= By LADY GEORGIANA
- FULLERTON. 2 vols. 21s.
-
-“The whole work forms one of those touching stories which create a
-lasting impression.”--_Athenæum._
-
-“The life of the Count de Bonneval is a page in history, but it
-reads like a romance: that of the Countess, removed from war and
-politics, never oversteps the domestic sphere, yet is equally
-romantic and singular. An accomplished writer has taken up the
-threads of this modest life, and brought out her true character in a
-very interesting and animated memoir. The story of the Countess of
-Bonneval is related with the happy art and grace which so
-characterize the author.”--_U. S. Magazine._
-
-=THE LIFE OF MARIE DE MEDICIS, QUEEN OF FRANCE,= CONSORT OF HENRY
- IV., AND REGENT UNDER LOUIS XIII. By MISS PARDOE. Second
- Edition. 3 vols. 8vo. Portraits.
-
-=MEMOIRS OF THE BARONESS D’OBERKIRCH,= ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE SECRET
- HISTORY OF THE COURTS OF FRANCE, RUSSIA, AND GERMANY. WRITTEN BY
- HERSELF, and Edited by Her Grandson, the COUNT DE MONTBRISON. 3
- vols. post 8vo. 15s.
-
-"The Baroness d’Oberkirch being the intimate friend of the
-Empress of Russia, wife of Paul I., and the confidential
-companion of the Duchess of Bourbon, her facilities for
-obtaining information respecting the most private affairs of the
-principal Courts of Europe, render her Memoirs unrivalled as a
-book of interesting anecdotes of the royal, noble and other
-celebrated individuals who flourished on the continent during
-the latter part of the last century. The volumes form a valuable
-addition to the personal history of an important period. They
-deserve general popularity."--_Daily News._
-
-=MEMOIRS OF RACHEL.= 2 vols. with Portrait. 21s.
-
-“A book sure to attract public attention, and well meriting
-it.”--_Globe._
-
-=SCOTTISH HEROES IN THE DAYS OF WALLACE AND BRUCE.= By the REV. A.
- LOW, A.M. 2 vols. post 8vo.
-
-=MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF MAJOR GENERAL SIR W. NOTT, G.C.B.,=
- COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF CANDAHAR, AND ENVOY AT THE COURT OF
- LUCKNOW. 2 vols. 8vo. with Portrait. 16s. bound.
-
-=RULE AND MISRULE OF THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA.= By the Author of “SAM
- SLICK.” 2 vols. post 8vo.
-
-“We conceive this work to be by far the most valuable and important
-Judge Haliburton has ever written. While teeming with interest,
-moral and historical, to the general reader, it equally constitutes
-a philosophical study for the politician and statesman. It will be
-found to let in a flood of light upon the actual origin, formation,
-and progress of the republic of the United States.”--_Naval and
-Military Gazette._
-
-=RECOLLECTIONS OF WEST END LIFE; WITH SKETCHES OF SOCIETY IN PARIS,
- INDIA,= &c. By MAJOR CHAMBRE late 17th Lancers. 2 vols. with
- Portrait of George IV.
-
-"We find in Major Chambre’s lively sketches a mass of amusing
-anecdotes relating to persons eminent in their day for their
-position, wit, and political reputation. All that relates to George
-IV. will be read with attention and interest."--_Messenger._
-
-=THE UPPER and LOWER AMOOR; A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE.= By
- T. W. ATKINSON. Author of “ORIENTAL and WESTERN SIBERIA.” With
- Map and numerous Illustrations. (_In the Press._)
-
-=SIXTEEN YEARS OF AN ARTIST’S LIFE IN MOROCCO, SPAIN, AND THE CANARY
- ISLANDS.= By MRS. ELIZABETH MURRAY. 2 vols. 8vo. with Coloured
- Illustrations.
-
-“Mrs. Murray, wife, we believe, of the English Consul at Teneriffe,
-is one of the first of female English Water Colour Artists. She
-draws well, and her colour is bright, pure, transparent, and
-sparkling. Her book is like her painting, luminous, rich and fresh.
-We welcome it (as the public will also do) with sincere pleasure. It
-is a hearty book, written by a clever, quick-sighted, and thoughtful
-woman, who, slipping a steel pen on the end of her brush, thus
-doubly armed, uses one end as well as the other, being with both a
-bright colourer, and accurate describer of colours, outlines,
-sensations, landscapes and things. In a word, Mrs. Murray is a
-clever artist, who writes forcibly and agreeably.”--_Athenæum._
-
-“Mrs. Elizabeth Murray is known to the artistic world as the
-principal star of the Female Exhibition of Paintings. She left
-England as she tells us, at eighteen, with all the hopes and
-aspirations of an artist before her. At Morocco she becomes the wife
-of a gentleman who is successively Consul at Tangiers and Teneriffe.
-She has, in consequence, peculiar advantages for the observation of
-Moorish and Spanish society, and as she possesses great observation
-and wields the pen as cleverly as the pencil, she has produced a
-book not only of interest, but of importance. In every way, whether
-descriptive or anecdotal, the work claims to be placed amongst the
-very best works of travel in the English Language.”--_Chronicle._
-
-=REVELATIONS OF PRISON LIFE; WITH AN ENQUIRY INTO PRISON DISCIPLINE
- AND SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS.= By GEORGE LAVAL CHESTERTON, 25 Years
- Governor of the House of Correction at Cold-Bath Fields. Third
- Edition, Revised. 1 vol.
-
-“Mr. Chesterton has had a rare experience of human frailty. He has
-lived with the felon, the forger, the _lorette_, the vagabond, the
-murderer; has looked into the darkest sepulchres of the heart,
-without finding reason to despair of mankind. In his belief the
-worst of men have still some of the angel left. Such a testimony
-from such a quarter is full of novelty as it is of interest. As a
-curious bit of human history these volumes are remarkable. They are
-very real, very simple; dramatic without exaggeration, philosophic
-without being dull.”--_Athenæum._
-
-=THE OLD COURT SUBURB; OR, MEMORIALS OF KENSINGTON; REGAL, CRITICAL,
- AND ANECDOTICAL=. By LEIGH HUNT. Second Edition. 2 vols. post
- 8vo.
-
-“A delightful book. It will be welcome to all readers, and
-most welcome to those who have a love for the best kinds of
-reading.”--_Examiner._
-
-=MY EXILE.= BY ALEXANDER HERZEN. 2 vols.
-
-"Mr. Herzen’s narrative, ably and unaffectedly written, and
-undoubtedly authentic, is indeed superior in interest to nine-tenths
-of the existing works on Russia."--_Athenæum._
-
-=A PRACTICAL GUIDE IN OBTAINING PROBATES, ADMINISTRATIONS,= &c., in
- Her Majesty’s Court of Probate; with numerous Precedents. By
- EDWARD WEATHERLY, of Doctor’s Commons. Dedicated, by permission,
- to the Right Hon. Sir CRESSWELL CRESSWELL, Judge of the New
- Court of Probate. Cheaper Edition. 12s.
-
-“A most valuable book. Its contents are very diversified--meeting
-almost every use.”--_Solicitor’s Journal._
-
-=ORIENTAL AND WESTERN SIBERIA; A NARRATIVE= OF SEVEN YEARS’
- EXPLORATIONS AND ADVENTURES IN SIBERIA, MONGOLIA, THE KIRGHIS
- STEPPES, CHINESE TARTARY, AND CENTRAL ASIA. By THOMAS WITLAM
- ATKINSON. In one large volume, royal 8vo., Price £2. 2s.,
- elegantly bound. Embellished with upwards of 50 Illustrations,
- including numerous beautifully coloured plates, from drawings by
- the Author, and a map.
-
-"By virtue alike of its text and its pictures, we place this book
-of travel in the first rank among those illustrated gift-books now
-so much sought by the public. Mr. Atkinson’s book is most
-readable. The geographer finds in it notice of ground heretofore
-left undescribed, the ethnologist, geologist, and botanist, find
-notes and pictures, too, of which they know the value, the
-sportman’s taste is gratified by chronicles of sport, the lover of
-adventure will find a number of perils and escapes to hang over,
-and the lover of a frank good-humoured way of speech will find the
-book a pleasant one in every page. Seven years of wandering,
-thirty-nine thousand five hundred miles of moving to and fro in a
-wild and almost unknown country, should yield a book worth
-reading, and they do."--_Examiner._
-
-“A book of travels which in value and sterling interest must take
-rank as a landmark in geographical literature. Its coloured
-illustrations and wood engravings are of a high order, and add a
-great charm to the narrative. Mr. Atkinson has travelled where it is
-believed no European has been before. He has seen nature in the
-wildest, sublimest, and also the most beautiful aspects the old
-world can present. These he has depicted by pen and pencil. He has
-done both well. Many a fireside will rejoice in the determination
-which converted the artist into an author. Mr. Atkinson is a
-thorough Englishman, brave and accomplished, a lover of adventure
-and sport of every kind. He knows enough of mineralogy, geology, and
-botany to impart a scientific interest to his descriptions and
-drawings; possessing a keen sense of humour, he tells many a racy
-story. The sportsman and the lover of adventure, whether by flood or
-field, will find ample stores in the stirring tales of his
-interesting travels.”--_Daily News._
-
-"An animated and intelligent narrative, appreciably enriching the
-literature of English travel. Mr. Atkinson’s sketches were made by
-express permission of the late Emperor of Russia. Perhaps no English
-artist was ever before admitted into this enchanted land of history,
-or provided with the talisman and amulet of a general passport; and
-well has Mr. Atkinson availed himself of the privilege. Our extracts
-will have served to illustrate the originality and variety of Mr.
-Atkinson’s observations and adventures during his protracted
-wanderings of nearly forty thousand miles. Mr. Atkinson’s pencil was
-never idle, and he has certainly brought home with him the forms,
-and colours, and other characteristics of a most extraordinary
-diversity of groups and scenes. As a sportsman Mr. Atkinson enjoyed
-a plenitude of excitement. His narrative is well stored with
-incidents of adventure. His ascent of the Bielouka is a chapter of
-the most vivid romance of travel, yet it is less attractive than his
-relations of wanderings across the Desert of Gobi and up the Tangnou
-Chain."--_Athenæum._
-
-"We predict that Mr. Atkinson’s ‘Siberia’ will very often assume the
-shape of a Christmas Present or New Year’s Gift, as it possesses, in
-an eminent degree, four very precious and suitable qualities for
-that purpose,--namely, usefulness, elegance, instruction and
-novelty. It is a work of great value, not merely on account of its
-splendid illustrations, but for the amount it contains of authentic
-and highly interesting intelligence concerning regions which, in all
-probability, has never, previous to Mr. Atkinson’s explorations,
-been visited by an European. Mr. Atkinson’s adventures are told in a
-manly style. The valuable and interesting information the book
-contains, gathered at a vast expense, is lucidly arranged, and
-altogether the work is one that the author-artist may well be proud
-of, and with which those who study it cannot fail to be
-delighted."--_John Bull._
-
-“To the geographer, the geologist, the ethnographer, the sportsman,
-and to those who read only for amusement, this will be an acceptable
-volume. Mr. Atkinson is not only an adventurous traveller, but a
-correct and amusing writer.”--_Literary Gazette._
-
-=TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA, WITH THE NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE IN
- MOZAMBIQUE: 1856 to 1859.= By LYONS McLEOD, Esq. F.R.G.S., &c.
- Late British Consul in Mozambique. 2 vols. With Map and
- Illustrations.
-
-=A JOURNEY ON A PLANK FROM KIEV TO EAUX-BONNES.= By LADY CHARLOTTE
- PEPYS. 2 vols, with Illustrations. 21s. (_Just Ready_).
-
-=LAKE NGAMI; OR EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES= DURING FOUR YEARS’
- WANDERINGS IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH-WESTERN AFRICA. By CHARLES JOHN
- ANDERSSON. 1 vol. royal 8vo., with Map and upwards of 50
- Illustrations, representing Sporting Adventures, Subjects of
- Natural History, &c. Second Edition.
-
-“This narrative of African explorations and discoveries is one of
-the most important geographical works that have lately appeared. It
-contains the account of two journeys made between the years 1850 and
-1854, in the first of which the countries of the Damaras and the
-Ovambo, previously scarcely known in Europe, were explored; and in
-the second the newly-discovered Lake Ngami was reached by a route
-that had been deemed impracticable, but which proves to be the
-shortest and the best. The work contains much scientific and
-accurate information as to the geology, the scenery, products, and
-resources of the regions explored, with notices of the religion,
-manners, and customs of the native tribes. The continual sporting
-adventures, and other remarkable occurrences, intermingled with the
-narrative of travel, make the book as interesting to read as a
-romance, as, Indeed, a good book of travels ought always to be. The
-illustrations by Wolf are admirably designed, and most of them
-represent scenes as striking as any witnessed by Jules Gérard or
-Gordon Cumming.”--_Literary Gazette._
-
-=THE OXONIAN IN THELEMARKEN;= OR, NOTES OF TRAVEL IN SOUTH-WESTERN
- NORWAY, WITH GLANCES AT THE LEGENDARY LORE OF THAT DISTRICT. By
- the Rev. F. METCALFE M.A., Fellow of Lincoln College. 2 vols.
- with illustrations.
-
-“This new book is as lively as its predecessor. Its matter is as
-good, or better. The intermixture of legends and traditions with the
-notes of travel adds to the real value of the work, and strengthens
-its claim on a public that desires to be amused.”--_Examiner._
-
-=THE OXONIAN IN NORWAY; OR, NOTES OF EXCURSIONS IN THAT COUNTRY=. By
- the Rev. F. METCALFE, M.A., Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford.
- New and Cheaper Edition, revised, 1 vol. post 8vo., with Map and
- additional Illustrations.
-
-"Mr. Metcalfe’s book is as full of facts and interesting
-information as it can hold, and is interlarded with racy
-anecdotes. Some of these are highly original and entertaining.
-More than this, it is a truly valuable work, containing a fund of
-information on the statistics, politics, and religion of the
-countries visited."--_Blackwood’s Magazine._
-
-=SIX YEARS IN RUSSIA. BY AN ENGLISH LADY.= 2 vols. post 8vo. with
- Illustrations. 21s. bound.
-
-=A SUMMER AND WINTER IN THE TWO SICILIES.= By JULIA KAVANAGH,
- Author of “Nathalie,” “Adèle,” &c. 2 vols. post 8vo. with
- illustrations, 21s. bound.
-
-“Miss Kavanagh is a woman of genius and imagination. She has a
-graceful and brilliant pen, much observation of character, and a
-keen eye for the aspects of nature. Her volumes contain much that is
-new. They are among the pleasantest volumes of travel we have lately
-met with, and we can cordially recommend them. Readers will find in
-these volumes the glow and colour of Italian skies, the rich and
-passionate beauty of Italian scenery, and the fresh simplicity of
-Southern life touched by the hand of an artist, and described by the
-perceptions of a warm-hearted and sympathising woman.”--_The Press._
-
-=THE JEWS IN THE EAST.= By the Rev. P. BEATON, M.A. From the German
- of DR. FRANKL. 2 vols. 21s.
-
-“Those persons who are curious in matters connected with Jerusalem
-and its inhabitants, are strongly recommended to read this work,
-which contains more information than is to be found in a dozen of
-the usual books of travel.”--_Times._
-
-“This book will richly reward perusal. We cordially recommend the
-narrative for solid information given from an unusual point of view,
-for power of description, for incident, and for details of manners,
-domestic habits, traditions, &c.,”--_Globe._
-
-“A very interesting work, one of the most original books of modern
-travel, that we have encountered for a long time.”--_John Bull._
-
-=CHOW-CHOW; BEING SELECTIONS FROM A JOURNAL, KEPT IN INDIA,= &c. By
- the VISCOUNTESS FALKLAND. New and Revised Edition, 2 vols. 8vo.,
- with Illustrations. 21s.
-
-"Lady Falkland’s work may be read with interest and pleasure, and
-the reader will rise from the perusal instructed as well as
-amused."--_Athenæum._
-
-=A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE=
- with Numerous Incidents of Travel and Adventure during nearly
- Five Years’ Continuous Service in the Arctic Regions while in
- Search of the Expedition under Sir John Franklin. By ALEX.
- ARMSTRONG, M.D., R.N., late Surgeon and Naturalist of H.M.S
- ‘Investigator.’ 1 vol. With Map and Plate, 16s.
-
-“This book is sure to take a prominent position in every library in
-which works of discovery and adventure are to be met with.”--_Daily
-News._
-
-=THE WANDERER IN ARABIA.= BY G. T. LOWTH, ESQ. 2 vols. post 8vo.
- with Illustrations. 12s.
-
-“Mr. Lowth has shown himself in these volumes to be an intelligent
-traveller, a keen observer of nature, and an accomplished
-artist.”--_Post._
-
-=SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD; OR, DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MOOSE
- HUNTING IN THE PINE FORESTS OF ACADIA.= By CAMPBELL HARDY, ROYAL
- ARTILLERY. 2 vols. post 8vo. with illustrations. 12s.
-
-“A spirited record of sporting adventures, very entertaining and
-well worthy the attention of all sportsmen who desire some fresher
-field than Europe can afford them.”--_Press._
-
-=A PILGRIMAGE INTO DAUPHINE;= WITH A VISIT TO THE MONASTERY OF THE
- GRANDE CHARTREUSE, AND ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, AND SKETCHES FROM
- TWENTY DEPARTMENTS OF FRANCE. By the REV. G. M. MUSGRAVE, A.M. 2
- vols. with Illustrations.
-
-=FAMILY ROMANCE; OR, DOMESTIC ANNALS OF THE ARISTOCRACY.= By SIR
- BERNARD BURKE, ULSTER KING OF ARMS. 2 vols. post 8vo. 21s.
-
-Among the many other interesting legends and romantic family
-histories comprised in these volumes, will be found the
-following:--The wonderful narrative of Maria Stella, Lady
-Newborough, who claimed on such strong evidence to be a Princess of
-the House of Orleans, and disputed the identity of Louis
-Philippe--The story of the humble marriage of the beautiful Countess
-of Strathmore, and the sufferings and fate of her only child--The
-Leaders of Fashion, from Gramont to D’Orsay--The rise of the
-celebrated Baron Ward, now Prime Minister at Parma--The curious
-claim to the Earldom of Crawford--The Strange Vicissitudes of our
-Great Families, replete with the most romantic details--The story of
-the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn (the ancestors of the French Empress),
-and the remarkable tradition associated with them--The Legend of the
-Lambtons--The verification in our own time of the famous prediction
-as to the Earls of Mar--Lady Ogilvy’s escape--The Beresford and
-Wynyard ghost stories, &c.
-
-"It were impossible to praise too highly as a work of amusement
-these two most interesting volumes, whether we should have regard to
-its excellent plan or its not less excellent execution. The volumes
-are just what ought to be found on every drawing-room table. Here
-you have nearly fifty captivating romances with the pith of all
-their interest preserved in undiminished poignancy, and any one may
-be read in half an hour. It is not the least of their merits that
-the romances are founded on fact--or what, at least, has been handed
-down for truth by long tradition--and the romance of reality far
-exceeds the romance of fiction. Each story is told in the clear,
-unaffected style with which the author’s former works have made the
-public familiar."--_Standard._
-
-=THE ROMANCE OF THE FORUM; OR, NARRATIVES, SCENES, AND ANECDOTES
- FROM COURTS OF JUSTICE. SECOND SERIES.= By PETER BURKE, ESQ., of
- the Inner Temple Barrister-at-Law. 2 vols. post 8vo. 12s.
-
-PRINCIPAL CONTENTS:--Lord Crichton’s Revenge--The Great Douglas
-Cause--Lord and Lady Kinnaird--Marie Delorme and Her Husband--The
-Spectral Treasure--Murders in Inns of Court--Matthieson the
-Forger--Trials that established the Illegality of Slavery--The Lover
-Highwayman--The Accusing Spirit--The Attorney-General of the Reign
-of Terror--Eccentric Occurrences in the Law--Adventuresses of
-Pretended Rank--The Courier of Lyons--General Sarrazin’s Bigamy--The
-Elstree Murder--Count Bocarmé and his wife--Professor Webster, &c.
-
-“The favour with which the first series of this publication was
-received, has induced Mr. Burke to extend his researches, which
-he has done with great judgment. The incidents forming the
-subject of the second series are as extraordinary in every
-respect, as those which obtained so high a meed of celebrity for
-the first.”--_Messenger._
-
-=THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE.= By WILLIAM HOWITT. 3 vols. post 8vo. (_Just
- Ready_).
-
-=SONGS OF THE CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS, JACOBITE BALLADS,= &c. By G.
- W. THORNBURY. 1 vol. with numerous Illustrations by H. S. MARKS.
- Elegantly bound. 6s.
-
-"Mr. Thornbury has produced a volume of songs and ballads worthy to
-rank with Macaulay’s or Aytoun’s Lays."--_Chronicle._ “Those who
-love picture, life, and costume in song will here find what they
-love.”--_Athenæum._
-
-=POEMS.= BY THE AUTHOR OF “JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN,” "A WOMAN’S
- THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN," &c. 1 vol. with Illustrations by BIRKET
- FOSTER. 10s. 6d. bound.
-
-"A volume of poems which will assuredly take its place with those
-of Goldsmith, Gray, and Cowper, on the favourite shelf of every
-Englishman’s library. We discover in these poems all the firmness,
-vigour, and delicacy of touch which characterise the author’s
-prose works, and in addition, an ineffable tenderness and grace,
-such as we find in few poetical compositions besides those of
-Tennyson."--_Illustrated News of the World._
-
-“We are well pleased with these poems by our popular novelist. They
-are the expression of genuine thoughts, feelings, and aspirations,
-and the expression is almost always graceful, musical and
-well-coloured. A high, pure tone of morality pervades each set of
-verses, and each strikes the reader as inspired by some real event,
-or condition of mind, and not by some idle fancy or fleeting
-sentiment”--_Spectator._
-
-=A LIFE FOR A LIFE.= By the Author of “JOHN HALIFAX GENTLEMAN,” &c.
-
-"In ‘A Life for a Life’ the author is fortunate in a good subject,
-and she has produced a work of strong effect. The reader, having
-read the book through for the story, will be apt (if he be of our
-persuasion) to return and read again many pages and passages with
-greater pleasure than on a first perusal. The whole book is replete
-with a graceful, tender delicacy; and, in addition to its other
-merits, it is written in good, careful English."--_Athenæum._
-
-"This book is signally the best its author has yet produced. The
-interest is intense, and is everywhere admirably sustained. Incident
-abounds, and both dialogue and style are natural and flowing. Great
-delicacy in the development of character, and a subtle power of
-self-analysis are conspicuous in ‘A Life for a Life,‘ while the
-purity of its religious views, and the elevation--the grandeur,
-indeed--of its dominating sentiments, render its influences in every
-sense healthy and invigorating."--_The Press._
-
-"‘A Life for a Life’ is one of the best of the author’s works. We
-like it better than ‘John Halifax.’ It is a book we should like
-every member of every family in England to read."--_Herald._
-
-=REALITIES OF PARIS LIFE.= By the Author of “FLEMISH INTERIORS,” &c.
- 3 vols. with Illustrations. 31s. 6d.
-
-"‘Realities of Paris Life’ Is a good addition to Paris books, and
-important as affording true and sober pictures of the Paris
-poor."--_Athenæum._
-
-“There is much new matter pleasantly put together in these volumes.
-Their merit will commend itself to all readers.”--_Examiner._
-
-=NOVELS AND NOVELISTS, FROM ELIZABETH TO VICTORIA.= By J. C.
- JEAFFRESON, ESQ. 2 vols. with Portraits. 21s.
-
-=THE RIDES AND REVERIES OF MR. ÆSOP SMITH.= By MARTIN F. TUPPER,
- D.C.L., F.R.S., Author of “Proverbial Philosophy,” “Stephen
- Langton,” &c., 1 vol. post 8vo.
-
-"This work will do good service to Mr. Tupper’s literary reputation.
-It combines with lucidity and acuteness of judgment, freshness of
-fancy and elegance of sentiment. In its cheerful and instructive
-pages sound moral principles are forcibly inculcated, and everyday
-truths acquire an air of novelty, and are rendered peculiarly
-attractive by being expressed in that epigrammatic language which so
-largely contributed to the popularity of the author’s former work,
-entitled ‘Proverbial Philosophy.’"--_Morning Post._
-
-=A MOTHER’S TRIAL.= By the Author of “THE DISCIPLINE OF LIFE,” “THE
- TWO BROTHERS,” &c. 1 vol. with Illustrations, by BIRKET FOSTER.
- 7s. 6d. bound.
-
-"‘A Mother’s Trial,’ by Lady Emily Ponsonby, is a work we
-can recommend. It breathes purity and refinement in every
-page.“--_Leader._
-
- =SEVEN YEARS.=
- By JULIA KAVANAGH.
- Author of ”NATHALIE," 3 vols.
-
-"Nothing can be better of its kind than Miss Kavanagh’s ‘Seven
-Years.’ The story never flags in interest, so life-like are the
-characters that move in it, so natural the incidents, and so genuine
-the emotions they excite in persons who have taken fast hold on our
-sympathy.“--_Spectator._
-
- =LUCY CROFTON.=
- By the Author of ”MARGARET MAITLAND."
- 1 vol.
-
-“This is a charming novel. The characters are excellent; the plot is
-well defined and new; and the interest is kept up with an intensity
-which is seldom met with in these days. The author deserves our
-thanks for one of the most pleasant books of the season”--_Herald._
-
- =THE WOOD-RANGERS.=
- By CAPTAIN MAYNE REID.
-
- From the French of Louis de Bellemare.
- 3 vols., with illustrations.
-
- =THE LITTLE BEAUTY.=
- By MRS. GREY,
- Author of "THE GAMBLER’S WIFE.“ 3 v.
-
- =MR. AND MRS. ASHETON.=
- By the Author of ”MARGARET AND HER
- BRIDESMAIDS." 3 vols.
-
- =THE WAY OF THE WORLD.=
- By ALISON REED. 3 vols.
-
-“There is a spell and fascination upon one from the first page to
-the last.”--_John Bull._
-
- =ALMOST A HEROINE.=
- By the Author of “CHARLES AUCHESTER,”
- &c. 3 vols.
-
-"This novel is the author’s best."--_Herald._
-
- =WAIT AND HOPE.=
- By JOHN EDMUND READE. 3 vols.
-
-"‘Wait and Hope’ reminds us of the style of Godwin."--_Athenæum._
-
- =RAISED TO THE PEERAGE.=
- By MRS. OCTAVIUS OWEN. 3 vols.
-
-"‘Raised to the Peerage’ possesses very many of the requisites of a
-really good novel."--_Examiner._
-
- =FEMALE INFLUENCE.=
- By LADY CHARLOTTE PEPYS, 2 vols.
-
- =LETHELIER.=
- by E. HENEAGE DERING, Esq.
- 2 vols.
-
- =THE QUEEN Of HEARTS.=
- By WILKIE COLLINS. 3 vols.
-
-"‘The Queen of Hearts’ is such a fascinating creature that we cannot
-choose but follow her through the pages with something of a lover’s
-tenderness. As for the three old men, they are as good in their way
-as the Brothers Cheeryble of immortal memory.“--_Literary Gazette._
-
- =STEPHAN LANGTON.=
- By MARTIN F. TUFFER. D.C.L. F.R.S.
- Author of ”PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY,"
- &c., 2 vols. with fine engravings.
-
-“These volumes are pre-eminently qualified to attract attention both
-from their peculiar style and their great ability. The author has
-long been celebrated for his attainments in literary creation, but
-the present work is incomparably superior to anything he has
-hitherto produced.”--_Sun._
-
- =CREEDS.=
- By the Author of “THE MORALS OF
- MAY FAIR.” 3 vols.
-
-“This is a novel of strong dramatic situation, powerful plot,
-alluring and continuous interest, admirably defined characters,
-and much excellent remark upon human motives and social
-positions.”--_Literary Gazette._
-
- =THE LEES OF BLENDON HALL.=
- By the Author of “ALICE WENTWORTH.”
-
-“A powerful and well-sustained story of strong
-interest.”--_Athenæum._
-
- =NEWTON DOGVANE.=
- A Story of English Life.
- By FRANCIS FRANCIS.
- With Illustrations by LEECH. 3 vols.
-
-“A capital sporting novel.”--_Chronicle._
-
- =HELEN LINDSAY;=
- Or, THE TRIAL OF FAITH.
- By A CLERGYMAN’S DAUGHTER. 2 vols.
-
- =WOODLEIGH.=
- By the Author of “WILDFLOWER,”
- “ONE AND TWENTY,” &c. 3 vols.
-
- =BENTLEY PRIORY.=
- By MRS. HASTINGS PARKER. 3 vols.
-
-“An acquisition to novel-readers from its brilliant descriptions,
-sparkling style, and interesting story.”--_Sun._
-
- NOW IN COURSE OF PUBLICATION.
-
- HURST AND BLACKETT’S STANDARD LIBRARY
- OF CHEAP EDITIONS OF
- POPULAR MODERN WORKS.
-
- Each in a single volume, elegantly printed, bound, and illustrated,
- price 5s.
- A volume to appear every two months. The following are now ready.
-
- ----------
-
- =VOL. I.--SAM SLICK’S NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE.=
- ILLUSTRATED BY LEECH.
-
-"The first volume of Messrs. Hurst and Blackett’s Standard Library
-of Cheap Editions of Popular Modern Works forms a very good
-beginning to what will doubtless be a very successful undertaking.
-‘Nature and Human Nature’ is one of the best of Sam Slick’s witty
-and humorous productions, and well entitled to the large circulation
-which it cannot fail to obtain in its present convenient and cheap
-shape. The volume combines with the great recommendations of a
-clear, bold type, and good paper, the lesser, but still attractive
-merits, of being well illustrated and elegantly bound"--_Morning
-Post._
-
-"This new and cheap edition of Sam Slick’s popular work will be an
-acquisition to all lovers of wit and humour. Mr. Justice
-Haliburton’s writings are so well known to the English public that
-no commendation is needed. The volume is very handsomely bound and
-illustrated, and the paper and type are excellent. It is in every
-way suited for a library edition, and as the names of Messrs. Hurst
-and Blackett, warrant the character of the works to be produced in
-their Standard Library, we have no doubt the project will be
-eminently successful."--_Sun._
-
- =VOL. II.--JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.=
-
-“This is a very good and a very interesting work. It is designed
-to trace the career from boyhood to age of a perfect man--a
-Christian gentleman, and it abounds in incident both well and
-highly wrought. Throughout it is conceived in a high spirit, and
-written with great ability, better than any former work, we think,
-of its deservedly successful author. This cheap and handsome new
-edition is worthy to pass freely from hand to hand, as a gift book
-in many households.”--_Examiner._
-
-"The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless
-meet with great success. John Halifax, the hero of this most
-beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this, his history, is no
-ordinary book. It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one
-of nature’s own nobility. It is also the history of a home and a
-thoroughly English one. The work abounds in incident, and many of
-the scenes are full of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book
-that few will read without becoming wiser and better."--_Scotsman._
-
- =VOL. III.--THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.=
- BY ELIOT WARBURTON.
-
-“Independent of its value as an original narrative, and its useful
-and interesting information, this work is remarkable for the
-colouring power and play of fancy with which its descriptions are
-enlivened. Among its greatest and most lasting charms is its
-reverent and serious spirit.”--_Quarterly Review._
-
-"A book calculated to prove more practically useful was never penned
-than ‘The Crescent and the Cross’--a work which surpasses all others
-in its homage for the sublime and its love for the beautiful in
-those famous regions consecrated to everlasting immortality in the
-annals of the prophets, and which no other writer has ever depicted
-with a pencil at once so reverent and so picturesque."--_Sun._
-
- =VOL. IV.--NATHALIE. BY MISS KAVANAGH.=
-
-"‘Nathalie’, is Miss Kavanagh’s best imaginative effort. Its manner
-is gracious and attractive. Its matter is good. A sentiment, a
-tenderness, are commanded by her which are as individual as they are
-elegant. We should not soon come to an end were we to specify all
-the delicate touches and attractive pictures which place ‘Nathalie’
-high among books of its class."--_Athenæum._
-
-“A tale of untiring interest, full of deep touches of human nature.
-We have no hesitation in predicting for this delightful tale a
-lasting popularity, and a place in the foremost ranks of that most
-instructive kind of fiction--the moral novel.”--_John Bull._
-
-"A more judicious selection than ‘Nathalie’ could not have been made
-for Messrs. Hurst and Blackett’s Standard Library. The series as it
-advances realises our first impression, that it will be one of
-lasting celebrity."--_Literary Gazette._
-
- =VOL. V.--A WOMAN’S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.=
- BY THE AUTHOR OF “JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.”
-
-“A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of
-its kind, well-written, true-hearted, and altogether practical.
-Whoever wishes to give advice to a young lady may thank the author
-for means of doing so.”--_Examiner._
-
-"The author of ‘John Halifax’ will retain and extend her hold
-upon the reading and reasonable public by the merits of her
-present work, which bears the stamp of good sense and genial
-feeling."--_Guardian._
-
-“These thoughts are good and humane. They are thoughts we would wish
-women to think”--_Athenæum._
-
-"This really valuable volume ought to be in every young woman’s
-hand. It will teach her how to think and how to act. We are glad to
-see it in this Standard Library."--_Literary Gazette._
-
- =VOL. VI.--ADAM GRAEME, OF MOSSGRAY.=
- BY THE AUTHOR OF “MRS. MARGARET MAITLAND.”
-
-“‘Adam Graeme’ is a story awakening genuine emotions of interest and
-delight by its admirable pictures of Scottish life and scenery. The
-plot is cleverly complicated, and there is great vitality in the
-dialogue, and remarkable brilliancy in the descriptive passages, as
-who that has read ‘Margaret Maitland’ would not be prepared to
-expect? But the story has a ‘mightier magnet still,’ in the healthy
-tone which pervades it, in its feminine delicacy of thought and
-diction, and in the truly womanly tenderness of its sentiments. The
-eloquent author sets before us the essential attributes of Christian
-virtue, their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their
-beautiful manifestations in the life, with a delicacy, a power, and
-a truth which can hardly be surpassed."--_Morning Post._
-
-“‘Adam Graeme’ is full of eloquent writing and description. It is an
-uncommon work, not only in the power of the style, in the interest
-of the narrative, and in the delineation of character, but in the
-lessons it teaches."--_Sun._
-
- =VOL. VII.--SAM SLICK’S WISE SAWS
- AND MODERN INSTANCES.=
-
-"The best of all Judge Haliburton’s admirable works. It is one of
-the pleasantest books we ever read, and we earnestly recommend
-it."--_Standard._
-
-"The humour of Sam Slick is inexhaustible. He is ever and everywhere
-a welcome visitor; smiles greet his approach, and wit and wisdom
-hang upon his tongue. The present production is remarkable alike for
-its racy humour, its sound philosophy, the felicity of its
-illustrations, and the delicacy of its satire. We promise our
-readers a great treat from the perusal of these ‘Wise Saws and
-Modern Instances,’ which contain a world of practical wisdom, and a
-treasury of the richest fun."--_Post._
-
- =VOL. VIII.--CARDINAL WISEMAN’S RECOLLECTIONS
- OF THE LAST FOUR POPES.=
-
-“There is no dynasty of European sovereigns about which we English
-entertain so much vague curiosity, or have so little information, as
-about the successors to the Popedom. Cardinal Wiseman is just the
-author to meet this curiosity. His book is the lively record of what
-he has himself seen, and what none but himself, perhaps, has had so
-good an opportunity of thoroughly estimating. There is a gossipping,
-all-telling style about the book which is certain to make it popular
-with English readers.”--_John Bull._
-
-“A picturesque book on Rome and its ecclesiastical sovereigns, by an
-eloquent Roman Catholic. Cardinal Wiseman has here treated a special
-subject with so much generality and geniality, that his
-recollections will excite no ill-feeling in those who are most
-conscientiously opposed to every idea of human infallibility
-represented in Papal domination.”--_Athenæum._
-
-“In the description of the scenes, the ceremonies, the
-ecclesiastical society, the manners and habits of Sacerdotal Rome,
-this work is unrivalled. It is full of anecdotes. We could fill
-columns with amusing extracts.”--_Chronicle._
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Transcriber’s Note
-
-There are several anomolies in the footnoting. In the original,
-there is a single footnote 1 in the Preface, and the numbering
-begins again at the opening of the first chapter. The sequence
-continues to 99, and then restarts with 1. This is repeated several
-times. There are also several notes which are denoted only with a
-traditional asterisk. On occasion, footnotes appear out of order.
-There is no apparent reason for the dual system, and it seems most
-likely that the non-numeric references were added later, after the
-numbering had been completed, and were used to avoid the need to
-re-sequence work already done.
-
-For this text, all footnotes have been re-sequenced numerically
-across the whole volume, to assure uniqueness. They will appear in
-the correct order.
-
-There was a unaccountable gap in the numbering between note 14 (now
-317) on p. 304 and note 27 on the following page. That gap has been
-closed.
-
-The footnote number ‘59’ (now 159) on p. 150 was missing, and was
-restored here. The same problem occurred on p. 188. Note 8 (now 206)
-has been restored.
-
-Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected,
-and are noted here.
-
-Given the frequent quotations, it was inevitable that opening and
-closing quotation marks would sometimes be lost or misplaced. A
-sampling of these problematic passages reveals that the author has a
-tendency to paraphrase and otherwise misquote. They are placed here
-where the context or voice makes their position obvious, or where an
-inspection of the original sources was possible and allowed for the
-proper placement.
-
-Where, in resolving these discrepancies, it was found that the
-reference to sources were themselves incorrect, the correction has
-been made. Since there is no bibliography specifying the edition of
-the author’s sources, these corrections were made only where the
-error was obvious. For instance, in a passage on pp. 136-137,
-footnote 140, referring to State Paper, cxlii., No 13, was can be
-validated, however the matter referred to in the following note,
-incorrectly identifies the paragraph as No. 15, rather than No. 45,
-where the paraphrased quotation can be found. Again, no attempt was
-made to validate the accuracy of these attributions except where the
-problematic printings of quotations were being resolved.
-
-The references below are to the page and line in the original. Where
-three numbers are referenced, the second refers to a note on that
-page, and the third to the line therein.
-
- 9.4 in returning to land at Southampton,[”] Added.
-
- 34.3 King Philip, followed by his [thaclow], _Sic_: ?
- Don Carlos
-
- 37.8 Buckingham added in a post[s]cript Added.
-
- 43.11 two pairs of pearl-shaped ear-rings, _sic_ no “
- marvellous great.[”]
-
- 70.15 now that he was going to the House of Added.
- Rinmon.[”]
-
- 80.15 [“]pious endeavours would fill the King Added.
-
- 80.28 guided by wor[l]dly wisdom Added.
-
- 105.8 and others, [“]to bargain for them, Removed.
-
- 137.4 leaving his minister to his fate.[”] Removed.
-
- 137.141.1 State Papers, clxii., No. [15/45] Replaced.
-
- 154.152.1 Brodie’s Co[r/n]. Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, Replaced.
- note.
-
- 155.163.1 Brodie’s Co[r/n]. Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, Replaced.
- note.
-
- 168.25 The Earl of Holland had had,[”] says Removed.
- Bishop Hacket,
-
- 183.16 [“]a feather made with great diamonds Added.
-
- 182.18 all studded with diamonds,[”] Added.
-
- 184.2 all [‘]things suitable.[’/”] [“]His other Removed/Replaced/Added.
- suits,” adds the narrator
-
- 184.24 were provided with three rich suits a[ Removed.
- ]piece
-
- 232.3 [“]a disease which all the drugs of Asia Added. Pro
-
- 237.21 that would give him no rest.[”] Added.
-
- 238.19 it is dated, “Burghley, 18th July, Added.
- 1625.[”]>
-
- 247.267.5 Macpherson’s History of Commerce[./,] Replaced.
-
- 305.8 [“]who exclaimed, ‘They are worse than Added.
- devils who say so.’”
-
- 308.22 to register the edicts of the Crown[”] Added. Probable.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The life and times of George Villiers,
-duke of Buckingham, Volume 2 (of 3), by Katherine Thomson
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-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The life and times of George Villiers, duke
-of Buckingham, Volume 2 (of 3), by Katherine Thomson
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
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-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: The life and times of George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, Volume 2 (of 3)
- From original and authentic sources
-
-Author: Katherine Thomson
-
-Release Date: March 6, 2017 [EBook #54287]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS, VOL 2 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by KD Weeks, MWS, Bryan Ness and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
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-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c000' />
-</div>
-<div class='tnotes'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>Transcriber’s Note:</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c001'>The footnotes have been collected at the end of the text, and are
-linked for ease of reference.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
-see the transcriber’s <a href='#endnote'>note</a> at the end of this text
-for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered
-during its preparation.</p>
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-<div class='htmlonly'>
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-<p class='c001'>Corrections appear in the text as <ins class='correction' title='original'>corrected</ins>.
-The original text will be displayed in-line when the cursor is placed
-on the corrected text. Except in the advertising matter at the end
-of the text, the highlighted words also serve as links to explanatory
-notes.</p>
-
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-
-<p class='c001'>Corrections appear in the text as <ins class='correction' title='original'>corrected</ins>.
-The highlighted words serve as a link to an explanatory note.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='c001'>The cover image has been created, based on title page information, and
-is added to the public domain.</p>
-<div class='htmlonly'>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_I'>I</span>
- <h1 class='c002'>THE LIFE AND TIMES <br /> <span class='small'>OF</span><br /> <span class='xlarge'>GEORGE VILLIERS</span><br /> DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.</h1>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c003'>
- <div><span class='small'>FROM ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES.</span></div>
- <div class='c003'><span class='large'>BY MRS. THOMSON,</span></div>
- <div><span class='small'>AUTHOR OF</span></div>
- <div><span class='small'>“MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH,”</span></div>
- <div><span class='small'>“LIFE OF SIR WALTER RALEGH,”</span></div>
- <div><span class='small'>“MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH,”</span></div>
- <div><span class='small'>&amp;c., &amp;c.</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>IN THREE VOLUMES.</div>
- <div class='c000'>VOL. II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>LONDON:</div>
- <div>HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,</div>
- <div>SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN,</div>
- <div>13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.</div>
- <div class='c000'>1860.</div>
- <div class='c000'><span class='small'><em>The right of Translation is reserved.</em></span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div>LONDON:</div>
- <div>PRINTED BY R. BORN, GLOUCESTER STREET,</div>
- <div>REGENT’S PARK.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_iii'>iii</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS OF VOL II.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table class='table0' summary=''>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='92%' />
-<col width='7%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER I.</td></tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_iv'>iv</span>Anxiety felt in England about the Spanish Treaty--Charles I. the first Male Heir for whom a Treaty of Marriage had been set on foot since Henry VIII.--Qualities of the Infanta--Called the Rare Infanta--Charles’s Personal Excellence and Elegance--Alliance received with Interest as Concerning the Palatinate--Question of the Dispensation--The Obstacles--Difficulty in fitting out a Fleet to bring the Prince back--James’s Apprehensions--Letter from Lord Kensington--Preparations at Southampton for the Reception of the Prince and Infanta--Attempts made in Spain to Convert Charles--His Firmness, and that of the Duke--Buckingham’s Impatience to return to England--Letters of Endymion Porter from Spain--The Romantic Adventure of Prince Charles in a Garden--His Short Interview with the Infanta accompanied by Endymion Porter--Hopes of the Treaty being fulfilled--The Betrothal fixed for St. James’s Day, but not accomplished--The Fool Archy’s Speech--Buckingham’s Pecuniary Difficulties--His Boldness--Unpopularity--Insanity of his Brother, Lord Purbeck--Amiable Conduct of the Duchess of Buckingham--Grand Entertainment given at Madrid--The Fuego de Cannas--Quarrels between Buckingham and Olivares--Bristol’s Despatches Unfavourable to the Prince--Preparations for the Prince’s Departure--The Infanta’s Marriage Deferred--Original Letter from Bristol--Leave-Taking at the Escurial--The Prince reaches Segovia--Valladolid--St. Andero--Perils in Returning from the Fleet to the Shore--Voyage Home--Touches at the Scilly Isles--Arrives at Portsmouth--At York House--At Royston--Public Rejoicings--Charles termed "England’s Joy"</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER II.</td></tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span>Indisposition of the Duchess of Buckingham--The King’s Regard for her and her Child--Archbishop Laud’s Encomium on her Character--Queen Anne’s Chain presented to the Duchess of Lennox--Effrontery of the Countess of Buckingham--The Duke’s Deportment on his Return from Spain--More dignities conferred upon him--King James and the Clergy--The Royal Instructions for the Performance of Divine Service in Spain--Public Prejudice against the Spanish Match--The Wallingford House Cabal pronounce in Favour of a French Alliance--Popular Indignation against the Spanish Ambassador--Competition for Precedence between the Ambassadors of France and Spain--Character of the Lord Keeper Williams--His Opposition to the Proceedings of Buckingham--The Countess of Buckingham embraces the Catholic Faith--Controversy between the Dean of Carlisle and the Jesuit Fisher--Breach between Buckingham and Williams--The King manifests his Displeasure with Buckingham--The Spanish Court and the English Alliance--Conduct of the Infanta after the Departure of Charles--Preparations for the Marriage--A Commission appointed to inquire into the Conditions of the Spanish Treaty--The Lord Keeper in Favour with the King--Parliament counsels James to break the Treaty with Spain--Popular Rejoicings, and Disappointment of the Catholic Party--The Illness of Buckingham--Painful Illustration of the Bigoted Spirit of the Age--Inojosa accuses Buckingham of Treachery against the King--The Prophecy of Gamaliel Gruys--General Desire for War with Spain--Proposed Alliance of Prince Charles with Henrietta Maria of France--Restoration of Buckingham to the King’s Favour</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_55'>55</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER III.</td></tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Decline of the King’s Health--Case of Lord Middlesex--Proceedings in both Houses--Sir Edward Coke’s Exaggeration--Buckingham’s Participation in the Affair--Middlesex steals away to Theobald’s, and is followed by Charles--Found Guilty--Confined--Buckingham’s Dangerous Illness--Arthur Brett--Death of the King--Ascribed to Buckingham</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_134'>133</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IV.</td></tr>
- <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>1624-1625.</td></tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>The Remarks of Sir Henry Wotton upon Buckingham’s Uninterrupted Prosperity during the Reign of James--His Most Perilous Time yet to Come--The Character of Charles Difficult to Manage--His Affections Divided--Request of the Privy Council Regarding the Late King’s Funeral and the Young King’s Marriage--Good Taste displayed by Charles in his Conduct at the Funeral--The Influence of Buckingham still Paramount--Roger Coke’s Remark upon King James’s Regret on observing that his Son was overruled by the Duke--The Three Great Kingdoms of Europe at this Period ruled by Favourites--The Marriage of Charles and Henrietta Maria--Motive attributed to Buckingham--Preliminary Steps--Letter from Lord Kensington to the Duke of Buckingham detailing his Interview with the Queen-Mother--Description of the Young Princess--The Duke prepares for his Journey into France to fetch home the Bride--The Expense of his Mission objected to by the Nation--The Two Ambassadors Described--Rich--Lord Kensington, First Earl of Holland--His Beauty of Person, Address, and Early Favour at the Court of James--His resting solely upon Buckingham--His Marriage with the Daughter of Sir Walter Coke, the Owner of the Manor of Kensington--The Earl of Holland regarded by some as a Rival to Buckingham--James Relied more on the Earl of Carlisle--Character of the Two Noblemen by Bishop Hacket--Successful Interviews on the Part of Lord Holland with Mary de Medici--Her Disposition to favour Charles as a Suitor to her Daughter--Anecdote of Henrietta Maria and of Charles’s Portrait--Encomiums on Henrietta--The Duchess de Chevreuse--Her Influence over Anne of Austria--Her Splendour--Resentment of the Count de Soissons on Account of the Marriage Treaty with England--The Willingness evinced by Henrietta Maria to the Marriage--Lord Kensington’s Flattery of the Queen-Mother--Their Conversations on the Subject of the Spanish Match--The Marriage Finally Concluded--Charles’s Conduct to the Recusants regarded as a Proof of his Aversion to Catholic Hopes</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_161'>161</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER V.</td></tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span>Buckingham’s Embassy to Paris--He despatches Balthazar Gerbier to select and purchase Pictures--Letter of the Painter to him--The Magnificence of the French Court--Buckingham’s Appearance at the Parisian Court--His Aspiring to the Favour of Anne of Austria--The Manner in which his Homage was received by Anne, as stated by Madame de Motteville--The Freedom of Manners, termed by Anne "L’Honnête Galanterie," permitted by the Queen--The Dazzling Appearance of Buckingham--Anecdote of the Jealousy of the French--Point of Etiquette between Buckingham and the Cardinal Richelieu--Buckingham attends Henrietta Maria to the Coast--Anne of Austria accompanies her Sister-in-law to Amiens--Incident there in which Buckingham betrayed his Mad Passion--He receives a Rebuff from the Queen--His Love-Suit not checked by her Reproof--He sheds Tears on parting from Anne--Journeys on to Boulogne and returns to Amiens--His Interview there with Anne--He then pursues his Journey to England--Letters, and Affecting Conduct of his Wife--The Meeting of Charles and Henrietta Maria--Buckingham retains his Influence over Charles I.</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_203'>203</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VI.</td></tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Unjust Appreciation of Buckingham’s Character--His Energy in respect to the Navy--Sir Walter Ralegh’s Works on Maritime Affairs--Prince Henry’s Predilection for them--His Miniature Ship--His Death--Lord Nottingham’s Neglect and Venality--His Powers--60,000<em>l.</em> yearly allotted for the Navy--Buckingham’s Efforts--Example set by Richelieu--Ignorance of Ship-Building in those Days--Buckingham draws up a Plan of Defence--Fear of the Spanish Armada--The Duke proposes to form a Company for the West as well as the East Indies--Plan of Taxation--Also of Defence on Shore</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_243'>243</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VII.</td></tr>
- <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>Unfortunate Result of the Principles early instilled into Charles I. by his Father--The Affair of the Palatinate--Its Connection with the Spanish Marriage--Mad Desire of Charles and Buckingham for a War with Spain--Letter from the Earl of Bristol--The First Unfortunate Expedition to Cadiz--Resentment of the People--Charles assembles a Parliament--The Supplies Refused--Impeachment of Bristol--Impeachment of Buckingham--His Thirteen Answers--Rash Conduct of the King--His Expression of Contempt for the House of Commons--Sir John Elliot and Sir Dudley Digges sent to the Tower--The Intolerant Spirit of the Day--Influence of Laud--Sermon of the Vicar of Brackley--"Tuning the Pulpits"</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_273'>273</a></td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c009'>ANXIETY FELT IN ENGLAND ABOUT THE SPANISH TREATY--CHARLES
-I. THE FIRST MALE HEIR FOR WHOM A TREATY
-OF MARRIAGE HAD BEEN SET ON FOOT SINCE HENRY
-VIII.--QUALITIES OF THE INFANTA--CALLED THE RARE
-INFANTA--CHARLES’S PERSONAL EXCELLENCE AND
-ELEGANCE--ALLIANCE RECEIVED WITH INTEREST AS
-CONCERNING THE PALATINATE--QUESTION OF THE
-DISPENSATION--THE OBSTACLES--DIFFICULTY IN FITTING
-OUT A FLEET TO BRING THE PRINCE BACK--JAMES’S
-APPREHENSIONS--LETTER FROM LORD KENSINGTON--PREPARATIONS
-AT SOUTHAMPTON FOR THE
-RECEPTION OF THE PRINCE AND INFANTA--ATTEMPTS
-MADE IN SPAIN TO CONVERT CHARLES--HIS FIRMNESS,
-AND THAT OF THE DUKE--BUCKINGHAM’S IMPATIENCE
-TO RETURN TO ENGLAND--LETTERS OF
-ENDYMION PORTER FROM SPAIN--THE ROMANTIC
-ADVENTURE OF PRINCE CHARLES IN A GARDEN--HIS
-SHORT INTERVIEW WITH THE INFANTA, ACCOMPANIED
-BY ENDYMION PORTER--HOPES OF THE
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>TREATY BEING FULFILLED--THE BETROTHAL FIXED
-FOR ST. JAMES’S DAY, BUT NOT ACCOMPLISHED--THE
-FOOL ARCHY’S SPEECH--BUCKINGHAM’S PECUNIARY
-DIFFICULTIES--HIS BOLDNESS--UNPOPULARITY--INSANITY
-OF HIS BROTHER, LORD PURBECK--AMIABLE
-CONDUCT OF THE DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM--GRAND
-ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN AT MADRID--THE
-FUEGO DE CANNAS--QUARRELS BETWEEN BUCKINGHAM
-AND OLIVARES--BRISTOL’S DESPATCHES UNFAVOURABLE
-TO THE PRINCE--PREPARATIONS FOR THE
-PRINCE’S DEPARTURE--THE INFANTA’S MARRIAGE
-DEFERRED--ORIGINAL LETTER FROM BRISTOL--LEAVE-TAKING
-AT THE ESCURIAL--THE PRINCE
-REACHES SEGOVIA--VALLADOLID--ST. ANDERO--PERILS
-IN RETURNING FROM THE FLEET TO THE
-SHORE--VOYAGE HOME--TOUCHES AT THE SCILLY
-ISLES--ARRIVES AT PORTSMOUTH--AT YORK HOUSE--AT
-ROYSTON--PUBLIC REJOICINGS--CHARLES TERMED
-"ENGLAND’S JOY."</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span><span class='large'>LIFE AND TIMES OF</span></div>
- <div class='c000'><span class='xlarge'>GEORGE VILLIERS.</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='c010' />
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>CHAPTER I.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c011'>The English nation continued, during the spring
-and summer of the year 1623, in anxious expectation
-of decisive news from Spain. Nothing
-could exceed the universal interest which this
-famous treaty of marriage between Charles and
-the Infanta inspired; nor had any subject so completely
-engrossed the public mind since the
-time of Henry the Eighth, when the ill-omened
-marriage of that prince with a daughter of Spain
-was first concerted. For England, be it observed,
-had known no male unmarried heir-apparent
-since that period, except the youthful and estimable
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>Edward the Sixth, whose career was closed
-before he could be made the subject of political
-alliances.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>There were many who looked with sentiments
-which state matters did not influence upon the
-proposed marriage of two individuals whose rank
-was their least merit. According to report, the
-Infanta was possessed of qualities not inferior in
-excellence to those of Katherine of Arragon, whilst
-in other attributes she was infinitely more attractive
-than that ill-starred princess. Her beauty,
-her accomplishments, her piety, had acquired for
-her the appellation of the “Rare Infanta;” and
-hence she was esteemed to be a fitting consort for
-one whose elegance of mind, whose courtesy, and
-princely grace were transcended by the purity of
-his moral conduct, the firmness of his religious
-opinions, and the affectionate disposition of his
-heart.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In his position as a private individual, Charles
-was pre-eminently amiable; and, at that period,
-the public could only judge of him as they would of
-any other irresponsible youth of great expectations.
-The vital faults of his heart, and the real
-weakness of his character, soft and infirm, yet
-incrusted with obstinacy and prejudice, were not
-only not apparent, but unsuspected.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The majority of the nation, however, viewed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>the Spanish alliance with interest, chiefly as affecting
-the long agitated question of the Palatinate,
-which James pretended, and, perhaps, believed,
-it was destined to settle to the satisfaction of the
-people.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was therefore with something like consternation
-at first, although the event was afterwards
-hailed with joy, that the rupture of the treaty was
-seen afar off, by signs which appeared at first
-gradually, and afterwards plainly, upon the political
-horizon.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The question of the dispensation was the first
-known impediment; and the news from Spain
-were inauspicious. To the surprise of everyone,
-almost the next letter from the Prince and Duke
-announced their intention to return home, even
-should the expected dispensation not arrive before
-they could sail; “wherefore,” they wrote, “it was
-fitting that no time nor charge should be spared”
-in sending out the fleet which was to convey
-them to England; and begged that it might “be
-well chosen,” because they thought that the
-King, Queen, and all the Court of Spain would
-see it.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This letter was dated on the twenty-third of
-March, the anniversary of King James’s coronation.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“My sweete boyes,” the King wrote, on the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>following day, “God bless you both, and reward
-you for the comfortable news I resaived from you
-yesterday<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c012'><sup>[1]</sup></a> (quhiche was my coronation daye), in
-place of a tilting. My shippe is readdie to make
-saile, and onlie stayes for a faire winde; God
-send it her! But I have, for the honour of
-Englande, curtailed the traine that goes by sea
-of a number of raskalls.”<a id='r2' /><a href='#f2' class='c012'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>There was, meantime, much difficulty, from the
-inefficient state of the navy, in furnishing even a
-small fleet to fetch home the heir-apparent. Not
-only ships, but mariners, were wanting; the sailors
-had gone away, and hidden themselves. In vain
-were two proclamations issued to call them home;
-for proclamations and commissions had become so
-frequent that no one attended to their purport.
-At length, on the twenty-eighth of June, a
-small fleet of ten or twelve ships was equipped,
-and appeared in the Downs, ready to depart; but
-the expense of supporting them, which exceeded
-three hundred pounds a day, was loudly complained
-of by those at the head of affairs.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, meantime, was harassed with debts,
-and disturbed by apprehensions. He begged
-“his babie” to be as sparing as possible, since his
-agents had great difficulty in raising the five thousand
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>pounds required for his use. The Prince’s
-“tilting stuff” was to come to three thousand
-pounds more, and those employed to get that
-sum knew not how to procure it. “God knows,”
-wrote the King, “how my coffers are alreadie
-drained.” He could think of no remedy, he
-added, except to obtain in advance the payment
-of the hundred and fifty thousand pounds promised
-as the Infanta’s dower, which he thought “his
-sweete gossepe, that is now turned Spaniarde,
-with his golden keye,”<a id='r3' /><a href='#f3' class='c012'><sup>[3]</sup></a> would be able to get, and
-then he should have a fine ship speedily to bring
-him home to his “deare dade.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The tender father was too full of fears lest his
-“babie” should be hurt in tilting. He also begged
-of his “sweete boyes to keep themselfs in use of
-dawincing privatlie, though they showlde quhaffsell
-and sing one to another, like Gakke (Jack)
-and Tom, for faulte of bettir musike.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Finally, James desired them, even should the
-dispensation not arrive, to press the Prince’s suit
-bravely, and to get him married without it, since
-numbers of "Catholic Romans and Protestants
-married in the worlde without the Pope’s dispensation,"
-as he had been informed by the Austrian
-ambassador.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>Meantime, the university of Oxford was vying
-with the metropolis in demonstrations of joy for
-the Prince’s safe arrival in Spain. In the beautiful
-church of St. Mary’s, now chiefly appropriated
-to deep theological discourses, a sermon was
-preached in honour of that event, and an oration
-to the same effect delivered in the schools.<a id='r4' /><a href='#f4' class='c012'><sup>[4]</sup></a> Yet,
-even now, the feeling of the country began to
-appear. It was rumoured, and only too truly, that
-things were not going well in Spain; whilst the
-enormous sums of money taken out of the treasury
-and regalia in jewels excited general indignation.
-As everything familiar, as well as important, became,
-in those times, the theme of preachers, even
-from pulpits, the draining of the kingdom of
-money was blamed. Dr. Everard, the rector of St.
-Martin’s-in-the-Fields, was committed for “saying
-too much;” and another preacher was, in the midst
-of his unpleasant strictures on the same subject,
-“sung down with a psalm before he had half done
-his sermon.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On the twenty-sixth of May, the Earl of Rutland,
-Buckingham’s father-in-law, received James’s private
-instructions to have the “ships sweet, and
-well provided with victuals, to chuse good captains,
-and to defer to the authority of Buckingham
-as Lord Admiral, should he come on board; to avoid
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>quarrels, which the King thought very dangerous
-when persons were crowded together on shipboard;--in
-going, to make for the Groyne, in returning
-to land at in returning to land at <a id='corr9.4'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Southampton,'>Southampton,”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_9.4'><ins class='correction' title='Southampton,'>Southampton,”</ins></a></span><a id='r5' /><a href='#f5' class='c012'><sup>[5]</sup></a> the high-ways
-of which were even then being repaired for the
-reception and convenience of the expected bride.
-Yet still the fleet was unaccountably detained in
-port, and nothing was really done.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Court, at this time, was gratified by a letter
-from Lady Kensington, commending the resistance
-of the Prince and Duke to proposals made
-by the Spanish Court, derogatory to them; and stating,
-after extravagant encomiums on the newly-made
-Duke, that Buckingham “shed tears” on
-account of his absence from the King.<a id='r6' /><a href='#f6' class='c012'><sup>[6]</sup></a> Complaints,
-however, were made at home, not only
-of the export of so many valuables to Spain,
-but of the expense of supporting the table of the
-Spanish ambassador, who was treated here as a
-guest, during Charles’s sojourn in Spain. Eighty
-pounds a day was the charge to which the ambassador’s
-table at first amounted. His repasts
-were eventually cut down to thirty dishes--all
-that King James permitted himself to display
-on his own table--and the cost was thus reduced
-to twenty pounds daily.<a id='r7' /><a href='#f7' class='c012'><sup>[7]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>Reports, indeed, came to console the anxious
-minds at home, stating that the Prince and Duke
-were “royally treated,” but it was soon surmised
-that Charles was becoming weary of his detention.
-June had arrived; the Duke of Richmond, and
-six other noblemen, as commissioners, had already
-gone to Southampton to prepare a reception, with
-pageants, for the Prince; yet still Lord Rochford,
-who was expected to arrive with news of the wedding-day
-being fixed, did not make his appearance.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duke of Richmond was accompanied to
-Southampton by Inigo Jones and old Alleyn, the
-player, who were to employ their talents for the
-occasion; but who could, as the great news-teller
-writer of that period, Chamberlain, observes, “have
-done just as well without so many Privy Counsellors;”
-“but we must,” he adds, “shew our
-obsequiousness in all that concerns her” (the Infanta).
-At Gravesend, Lord Kelly, in the King’s
-barge, went to meet the new Spanish ambassador,
-the Marquis Inojosa, to whom cloths of estate,
-an honour never permitted to ambassadors in
-Queen Elizabeth’s time, were conceded, and when
-the haughty grandee landed at Dover, and was
-saluted with shot from the castle, he vouchsafed
-a nod from his coach, but, Spaniard-like, gave
-not one penny of money.<a id='r8' /><a href='#f8' class='c012'><sup>[8]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>In spite of all the journeyings to and from Spain,
-nothing was done, whilst the Prince, whose firmness
-met with the highest commendations, was written
-to by the Pope, and “nibbed at with orations by
-the English seminaries in Spain, in order to effect
-his conversion.” The expenses at home and
-abroad could now only be supported by extraordinary
-devices, such as knighting a thousand
-gentlemen at a hundred pounds a-piece; ten or
-twelve serjeants-at-law at five hundred pounds
-a-piece; but the fees arising from the elevation of
-these luminaries were to be given to the Lord
-Keeper or to Sir Francis Crane, to further his
-tapestry works at Mortlake, or to pay off some
-scores owed him by Buckingham.<a id='r9' /><a href='#f9' class='c012'><sup>[9]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Whilst all these minor difficulties were harassing
-the King at home, Charles was beset with a
-far greater difficulty. When the Puritans were
-blaming him for answering in a polite and conciliatory
-tone the Pope’s letters, without the permission
-of his royal father, he was displaying
-the firmness which could only be the result of
-a careful and learned education; for faith in those
-times was, as in ours, feeble without sound knowledge;
-and it was requisite for him to repel zealous
-efforts to convert him at all convenient times.
-Between the dazzling scenes of splendid shows
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>and diversions, made at such times and intervals
-of repose, Olivares was attacking the Prince
-with the argument best suited to the character
-of the romantic youth, telling him how sure a
-way to the Infanta’s heart his conversion would
-be; and by hinting that difference of creed could
-not but be a great obstacle to their union. And
-when answered that such an apostasy would raise
-a rebellion in Protestant England, the embarrassed
-but steadfast Prince was assured that if such were
-the case, he should have an army from Spain to
-quell such an insurrection. Even Lord Bristol,
-who was a great friend and favourite of Charles’s,
-“strove, with a gentle hand, to allure him that
-way,” by the specious argument that none but
-Roman Catholic monarchs had ever been great as
-sovereigns; whilst the Pope, encouraged by all
-this subtle working of a hidden machinery, wrote
-a letter to the Bishop of Conchen, Inquisitor-General
-of Spain, desiring him not to let such
-an opportunity of conversion slip out of his
-hands.<a id='r10' /><a href='#f10' class='c012'><sup>[10]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham did not, it appears, escape the
-zeal of the Jesuits, but acquitted himself, in reply
-to the energetic attacks upon his faith, with a
-prompt decision; and, as far as he was concerned,
-the attempt seems to have ceased, although he
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>was afterwards incessantly reproached with a leaning
-to Romanism.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Like others, Buckingham became, at length,
-weary of the subject of the Palatinate, and not
-only still more weary of his long residence in Spain,
-but anxious to leave the political management of
-the affairs to those who best understood those
-intricate matters.<a id='r11' /><a href='#f11' class='c012'><sup>[11]</sup></a> To his precipitate conduct,
-and his impatience of delay, it was said the whole
-failure might be ascribed; and that, had it not been
-for his impetuous temper, Charles and the Infanta
-would have been married before the Christmas
-of 1623.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Whilst all went smooth, or appeared to do so,
-with the treaty, the diplomatists were at variance
-among themselves.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“When we were here in the heighth of discontents,”
-wrote Simon Digby,<a id='r12' /><a href='#f12' class='c012'><sup>[12]</sup></a> “nothing so much
-spoken of as the Prince, his sudden departure,
-<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>reinfectâ</em></span>, all our wranglings and disputes were,
-when no man suspected and expected any such
-matter,<a id='r13' /><a href='#f13' class='c012'><sup>[13]</sup></a> shut up like a comedy, and the match
-declared and published for concluded.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>At home, the Marquis Inojosa was making
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>representations which he was ordered to lay before
-the King, through Don Carlos Colonna, complaining
-of the East India Company’s ships at
-the taking of Ormus. In the ship called the
-<em>London</em>, were, it was alleged, goods stolen from
-the King of Spain to the amount of five hundred
-thousand pounds. The very dishes used by the
-lowest men in that ship were of silver, taken
-from some of the very best families in Portugal,
-whom the English had plundered and
-slain, and had then stamped their plate with
-their own arms. Jewels of inestimable value
-had also been seized. It was therefore demanded
-that these ships should be put into sequestration.
-It is a curious proof how completely a
-feeling against the Spanish marriage had, by this
-time, possessed every class, that, upon the arrival
-of these vessels in port, the crews, hearing a report
-that the marriage with the Infanta was to be
-broken off, shot off their artillery, and threw their
-caps into the sea for joy.<a id='r14' /><a href='#f14' class='c012'><sup>[14]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Whilst the wooer, as the Prince was still
-styled, was murmuring at delays and obstacles,
-others less lofty were sending complaints to
-England, coupled with assurances of conjugal
-fidelity, which were more suspicious than satisfactory.
-Amongst Buckingham’s most confidential
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>servants was Endymion Porter, who generally
-acted as his interpreter. Porter, according
-to Arthur Wilson, "had been bred up in
-Spain when he was a boy, and had the language,
-but found no other fortune there than
-brought him to be Mr. Edward Villiers’s
-man in Fleet Street, before either his master
-or the Marquis was acceptable at Whitehall."
-“It is not intended,” adds the historian,
-"to vilify the persons, being men (in this
-world’s lottery) as capable of advancement
-as others; but to shew in how poor a bark the
-King ventured the right freight his son, having
-only the Marquis to steer his course."</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was, indeed, remarkable that the agents
-most employed in the Duke’s service were men
-who had raised themselves from all but menial
-stations. Sir Robert Graham, whose name so
-often occurs in the correspondence of this
-period, was “an underling of low degree” in
-Buckingham’s stable. Cottington was originally
-a clerk to Sir Charles’s Cornwallis’s secretary,
-when Cornwallis was ambassador in Spain.
-The letters of Endymion Porter, also raised from
-mediocrity, are very characteristic of the confidential
-servant of a great man, who, like himself,
-was of easy principles. Among expressions of
-affection and grief for absence from his wife, Olive,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>and allusions to their little son George, are mingled
-a protestation that Endymion did not kiss the innkeeper’s
-daughter at Boulogne. “Alas! alas!
-sweet Olive!” thus he writes, "why should you
-go about to afflict me! Know that I live like a
-dying man, and as one that cannot live long
-without you. My eyes grow weary in looking
-upon anything, as wanting that rest they take in
-thy company and sight of thee.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>"We live very honest, and think of nothing
-but our wives. I thought to have sent you a
-token of some value, but find my purse
-and my goodwill could not agree, and considering
-that my letter would be welcome to
-you, I leave to do it only this ring, which I hope
-you will esteem, if it be not for love, I think for
-charity. The conceit is that it seems two as you
-turn it, and ’tis but one.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“Sweet Olive! remember what it is to be sad,
-and forget not home. In our poverty, we will
-live as richly as they that have the greatest
-plenty, and bread with thy company shall please
-me better than the greatest dainties in the world
-without it.”<a id='r15' /><a href='#f15' class='c012'><sup>[15]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Olive Porter was, it seems, a humble relation
-of the Duchess of Buckingham, who addresses
-her as “Cousin,” and who appears, by
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>Endymion’s letters, to have provided for Mistress
-Porter, since, in one of his singular epistles, after
-hoping that there may be nothing more said
-of any unkindness between them, Endymion
-sends his wife a jewel worth some hundred
-pounds, telling her that “she might pawn it if
-she had no more credit, but that Lady Buckingham
-had promised to supply her wants.” Certain
-conduct of Mrs. Porter’s prompts jealousy,
-and Endymion hints that, in his absence, “his
-wife has been merry with other young men,” a
-charge which not even the most scandalous could
-adduce against the pensive and irreproachable
-Duchess of Buckingham.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was the lot of Endymion Porter to accompany
-Prince Charles on a very interesting occasion;
-in the month of July, whilst the dispensation
-was daily expected, Charles grew weary of
-the uniform Court gaieties, during which he saw
-nothing but the Infanta, on whom his eyes were
-incessantly fastened, as the inquisitive courtiers
-remarked.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“I have seen,” James Howell wrote from
-Madrid to Captain Porter, the brother of Endymion,
-“the Prince have his eyes immovably
-fixed upon the Infanta half an hour together, in a
-thoughtful, speculative posture, which sure would
-needs be tedious, if affection did not succeed it.”
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>Lord Bristol, not very elegantly, remarked that
-Charles “watched her as a cat does a mouse.”
-Still the royal pair were not allowed to be on the
-terms of lovers; and the possibility, even at this
-last stage, of the treaty never being concluded,
-kept these young persons apart. Nothing could
-exceed the magnificence and courtly hospitality
-continually shown to the “wooer;” everything
-was done to satisfy the Prince and his suite.
-Nevertheless, whilst King Philip’s own servants
-waited upon the royal guest at the palace,
-there were some among the English “who did
-jeer at the Spanish fare, and use other slighting
-speeches and demeanour,” which, of course, were
-reported, and occasioned ill will. Once a week
-comedians came to the palace where the Prince
-was lodged, and Charles, seated, with Don Carlos,
-on the right hand of the Queen, the Infanta being
-in the middle, between her brother and his consort,
-taking the chief place as Prince of England,
-feasted his eyes upon that fair but soon forgotten
-face. The youthful King Philip was then
-under twenty, and his brother, Don Fernando,
-a boy of twelve, nevertheless Archbishop of
-Toledo and a Cardinal, was of all this royal
-family the only one who had the true Spanish
-complexion; and seems to have been, on that account,
-more beloved by the people, who were
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>often heard to sigh and say:--"Oh, when shall
-we have a king again of our own colour?"</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Marked out thus for popularity by the true
-Spanish type, Don Carlos was endowed with no
-office, dignity, nor title; he was only the King’s
-“individual companion, dressed in similar garments,
-from top to toe,” with the King, and when
-the King had new robes, others were always provided
-for him; he was, in short, His Spanish
-Majesty’s shadow.<a id='r16' /><a href='#f16' class='c012'><sup>[16]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Thus fenced round with guardians and etiquette,
-the Infanta could only publicly converse
-with Charles, and that through an interpreter, the
-Earl of Bristol, “Our cousin, Archy” (King
-James’s fool) “hath,” says the writer in Howell’s
-letters, “more privilege than any, for he goes
-with his fool’s coat where the Infanta is with
-her meninas and maidens of honour, and keeps
-a blowing and a blustering, and flirts out what
-he lists. One day they were discoursing what
-a marvellous thing it was that the Duke of
-Bavaria, with less than 15,000 men, after a long
-toylsome march, should dare to encounter the
-Palsgower’s army, consisting of about 25,000, and
-give them an utter discomfiture, and take Prague
-presently after; wherefore he archly answered,
-that he would tell them a stranger thing than that.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>‘Was it not a stranger thing,’ quoth he, ‘that in
-the year eighty-eight, there should come a fleet
-of one hundred and forty sails from Spain to invade
-England, and that ten of these should not
-go back to tell what became of the rest.’”<a id='r17' /><a href='#f17' class='c012'><sup>[17]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>At last Charles was resolved to gain a private
-interview with her whom he supposed to be his
-destined wife. Understanding that the Infanta was
-in the habit of going early in the morning to the
-Caso del Campo, on the other side of the river, to
-gather May-dew, he rose early, and went thither,
-accompanied by Endymion Porter. “They
-were,” says Howell, “let into the house,
-and into the garden, but the Infanta was in
-the orchard, and there being a high partition
-wall between, and the door doubly bolted, the
-Prince got on the top of the wall, and sprung
-down a great height, and so made towards her;
-but she, spying him first of all the rest, gave a
-shriek, and ran back. The old Marquis that was
-then her guardian, came towards the Prince and
-fell on his knees, conjuring him to retire, in regard
-he hazarded his head if he admitted him to
-her company; so the door was opened, and he
-came out under that wall under which he had
-got in.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Often did the Prince watch “a long hour together,”
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>in a close coach in an open street, to see
-the Infanta, as she went abroad; and this conduct
-appears to have been either the curiosity
-felt by a young man who earnestly desires to love
-the individual chosen to be his wife, or a gallantry
-natural to the age, and then the fashion
-in both nations, for Charles soon either forgot the
-Infanta, or became indifferent to the marriage.
-His affections were destined to rest ultimately
-upon one of a very different character, as far as
-we can gather from the perhaps too flattering accounts
-given by historians of the Infanta, to that
-of the Spanish Princess.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Still, both the Prince and Buckingham sent encouraging
-accounts of the progress of the treaty,
-and even inspired the poor King with a hope
-that they should bring the Infanta over to England
-at Michaelmas. This was almost the last
-letter in which such expectations were held out:
-it was dated on the fifteenth of July. On that
-very day, the Archbishop Laud stated in his
-diary of a violent and destructive tempest, which
-many, says Camden, “took occasion to interpret
-as an ill-omen, but God forbid.” It was a “very
-fair day,” the Archbishop records, "till towards
-five at night; then great extremity of thunder and
-lightning, and much hurt done; the lanthorn at
-St. James’s House blasted, the vane heading the
-Prince’s arms beaten to pieces."</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>The Prince was then in Spain. It was Tuesday,
-and St. James’s day (<span class='fss'>N.S.</span>)<a id='r18' /><a href='#f18' class='c012'><sup>[18]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It appears, however, from Mr. Chamberlain’s
-letters,<a id='r19' /><a href='#f19' class='c012'><sup>[19]</sup></a> that although “Spanish tidings” were
-kept “very close,” the Prince had even then
-written to the Duke of Richmond to procure him
-the King’s permission to return home, as he was
-anxious to leave Spain.<a id='r20' /><a href='#f20' class='c012'><sup>[20]</sup></a> About the same time a
-letter from Endymion Porter, dated July twelfth,
-to his wife Olive, intimated that the Prince was
-to be contracted in three weeks, but the Infanta,
-than whom, he added, there never was a better
-creature, was to follow in the following March.<a id='r21' /><a href='#f21' class='c012'><sup>[21]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Meantime the articles of agreement for the marriage
-were read publicly by Secretary Calvert at
-Court, when the King of Spain swore to observe
-them. The Infanta was to have an Archbishop
-and twenty-four priests in her suite, and a chapel
-for her Spanish household, but no English were
-to attend it. She was to be allowed the training
-of her children only until they were ten years
-old. The Prince and Infanta were to sign the
-contract of marriage on St. James’s day; that
-day which Laud had noted in his Diary as one
-of storms and destruction.<a id='r22' /><a href='#f22' class='c012'><sup>[22]</sup></a> At the same time that
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>a Romanist Archbishop and twenty-four priests
-were to be admitted into the very heart of the
-Court, three Jesuits were imprisoned at Dover
-for bringing over pictures and books; a subject
-of the British crown was prosecuted in the Ecclesiastical
-court for not standing up at the creed,
-or kneeling down at the Lord’s Prayer, in church;
-and a poor woman, passing over from Calais, was
-brought up before the Commissioners of Passage
-for having beads, which, she said, were bought
-to make bracelets, and Popish books in her possession,<a id='r23' /><a href='#f23' class='c012'><sup>[23]</sup></a>
-which, she asserted, were for the use of
-the Spanish ambassador.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>When the articles of the Spanish match were
-read at the English Court, then at Theobald’s, it
-was the Scottish lords who “stuck most” on
-points of religion, but they were silenced by being
-told that there "must be no disputing, the Prince
-being in the hands of the Spaniards, and the restoration
-of the King’s children to be effected
-either by them or by a war which would set all
-Christendom by the ears." Then the articles were
-sworn to. The Archbishop of Spalato’s Jesuit
-confessor put on his hat whilst the prayer for King
-James was being read. There was afterwards a
-“gay and plentiful banquet;” but the Court had
-become very “rude,” as Secretary Conway
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>wrote to Sir George Goring, “for want of its ornaments,
-which are in Spain; and but for the
-Earl of Carlisle, wearing of ruffs and gartering
-of silk stockings would be forgotten.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>King James now began to be painfully eager
-for the fleet, which was to fetch back his son and
-the Duke, to sail. “No impediment in the power
-of man,” he decreed, should detain it. Every
-letter written by his Secretaries of State to Lord
-Middlesex was to end with, “His Majesty cries,
-haste away the ships, as you tender the life of
-himself and his son.” Good tidings still arrived
-from Madrid; more liberty of communication
-between the Prince and the Infanta was allowed;
-but the contract, fixed for St. James’s Day, was
-not fulfilled, and the ill-omen was, in the minds
-of the superstitious, confirmed.<a id='r24' /><a href='#f24' class='c012'><sup>[24]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Meantime, whilst such was the state of things
-at the Spanish Court, their ambassadors here were
-in vain endeavouring to obtain indulgence for
-recusants. Whilst these conflicting interests
-were thus impeding a speedy settlement of the
-Spanish match, Buckingham had other reasons,
-besides weariness of foreign life, to induce him to
-wish to return home. His affairs were greatly involved,
-and he found it, indeed, necessary, at this
-time, to employ several of his friends, among
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>whom was Sir John Suckling, to examine
-into them. Their answers were far from
-satisfactory. His revenue, they stated in reply,
-from land, offices, &amp;c., was 15,213<em>l.</em> 6<em>s.</em> 8<em>d.</em> a
-year. His expenditure was 14,700<em>l.</em> Out of this,
-3,000<em>l.</em> was allowed to the Duchess for housekeeping,
-2,000<em>l.</em> was allowed to his mother, the
-Countess of Buckingham; the costly diversion of
-tilting cost 1,000<em>l.</em> a year, about as much as a
-yacht in modern times. Then his friends gave
-him no very pleasant intelligence about his
-debts; they had amounted, when the Duke
-went to Spain, to 24,000<em>l.</em>, and were now increased
-by 29,400<em>l.</em>--money having been advanced
-to him whilst shining at the Court of
-Madrid. His friends had cleared off 17,300<em>l.</em>
-by selling land, and were to apply 2,500<em>l.</em> to
-be paid from his Irish revenues, and they now
-proposed similar means of discharging the remainder,
-which, they said, would otherwise ruin
-his estate. His income, they gravely told him,
-but little exceeded his expenditure; whereas,
-those who wish to leave a patrimony behind them
-do not spend more than two-thirds of their
-income<a id='r25' /><a href='#f25' class='c012'><sup>[25]</sup></a>--an excellent rule, but not much better
-observed in those days than in ours. Half the
-nobility appear to have been deeply involved in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>debt, and hence their tendency to corrupt
-practices. Even the honest-hearted Sir Edward
-Coke was, we are told, “half-crazied” by his
-debts, which amounted to 26,000<em>l.</em><a id='r26' /><a href='#f26' class='c012'><sup>[26]</sup></a> In consequence,
-it may be presumed, of these embarrassments,
-the King, at this time, wrote to his “sweete
-Steenie,” announcing a present to him of 2,000<em>l.</em>
-from the East India Company by way of consolation.<a id='r27' /><a href='#f27' class='c012'><sup>[27]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duke was also made now fully aware of the
-responsibility he had incurred in taking the Prince
-to Spain. Reports were often circulated that he
-had been made a prisoner there. Shortly afterwards
-James, being agitated with this fear, was assured
-that, “if there be trust on earth,” the Prince and
-Infanta were to be moving home on the twenty-eighth
-of August.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, meantime, wrote plaintively to his
-“sweete boyes.” He kept what he called the
-“feaste,” on the anniversary of the Gowry plot, at
-Salisbury, on the fifth of August, where the
-Spanish ambassador and all the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>corps diplomatique</em></span>
-were conveyed, at the King’s expense, in
-coaches, which cost twenty pounds a day; and here,
-besides a brace of bucks and a stag every day, the
-provision made for these Spanish grandees was so
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>plentiful that, not being able to use it, they were
-stated to have buried it under dunghills, rather
-than bestow it upon heretics. “And though,”
-says Mr. Chamberlain, referring to this report, “I
-took it for a scandal or slander, yet I have heard
-it verified more than once; and that the neighbours
-were forced to complain, though to little
-purpose, for, I know not how, the Spaniard hath
-got such a hand everywhere, that he carries more
-away, when he comes, than all other ambassadors
-together.”<a id='r28' /><a href='#f28' class='c012'><sup>[28]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham, we are told, “lay at home under
-a million of maledictions.”<a id='r29' /><a href='#f29' class='c012'><sup>[29]</sup></a> The poor King, indifferent
-to public opinion, and now visibly declining
-in health, was nevertheless constantly writing to
-Madrid in such terms as these:--"If ye haisten
-not hoame, I apprehende I shale never see you,
-for my longing will kill mee." To the Prince individually,
-he expressed himself in terms which left
-Charles no alternative but to return. “The necessitie
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>of my affaires,” the King wrote, “enforced
-me to tell you that ye must preferre the obedience
-to a father to the love ye carrie to a mistresse.”
-Eager to do away with every possible impediment
-to the marriage, the King, on the seventh of
-August, signed, whilst at Salisbury, the “declaration,
-touching the pardons, suspensions, and
-dispensations of the Roman Catholics.”<a id='r30' /><a href='#f30' class='c012'><sup>[30]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Prince had, it appears, at this very time,
-“been packed up,” and ready to depart, leaving
-matters to be arranged afterwards. Yet the
-Spanish ambassadors at home expressed themselves
-contented, and ready to fulfil all promises.
-Sir Edward Herbert, speaking to the Marquis
-Inojosa, of a report in France that the Prince
-was detained a prisoner in Spain, received an
-answer that it was the Prince whose virtues had
-captivated the King of Spain;<a id='r31' /><a href='#f31' class='c012'><sup>[31]</sup></a> and for some
-time compliments and assurances continued to be
-exchanged.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On the twenty-first of August, the King visited
-the ships which were to go to Spain, under the
-command of the Earl of Rutland, who was unfortunately
-absent, upon the earnest entreaty of his
-daughter, the Duchess of Buckingham, and of his
-grandchild, Lady Mary, that he would remain
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>with them. At the end of that month, nevertheless,
-the fleet was still detained for fifteen days, in
-the vain hope of receiving news of the Prince’s
-marriage. The Pope’s illness, it was now said,
-was delaying the dispensation; but Buckingham’s
-conduct was, according to a letter from Sir Francis
-Woolley to Carleton, “much commended.” He
-was, nevertheless, more impatient than ever to return,
-and that eagerness was sure, it was thought,
-to hinder rather than accelerate the wished-for
-nuptials. In addition to his other troubles, Buckingham
-had now a very grievous one in the visitation
-which had fallen, during his absence, upon
-Lord Purbeck, his favourite brother, who became
-insane. As usual, under every circumstance,
-the greatest good sense was shown by the Duchess
-of Buckingham. She wrote to Secretary Conway
-to inform him that the unfortunate Viscount’s
-“distemper now inclined to his usual
-melancholy fit,” during which he was gentle, and
-“could be removed anywhere, but that at present
-he would be outrageous were it attempted;” she
-suggests, therefore, that Sir John Keysley, and a
-few other friends, had better remain with him in
-London.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, replying through his secretary, said
-that he admired the Duchess’s gentleness, but
-that Purbeck’s malady, exciting him to public
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>acts, in public places, which dishonoured himself
-and his brothers, made it necessary to place him
-under some restraint, and to remove him into the
-country.<a id='r32' /><a href='#f32' class='c012'><sup>[32]</sup></a> Lord Purbeck, it seems, was therefore
-put under restraint. Such was the end of
-that ambitious career which the Duke had hoped
-to witness, and so pave the way to which he had
-promoted the marriage with Sir Edward Coke’s
-unhappy daughter.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Whilst a degree of gloom and anxiety thus
-overspread his home, Buckingham was witnessing,
-in the festivities given to honour the expected
-espousals, one of the most characteristic diversions
-of the Spanish nation. This was the
-“Fuego de Caunas,”--borrowed from the Moors,
-and still practised by Eastern nations, under the
-name of El Djerid. “It is,” says Sir Walter
-Scott, “a sort of rehearsal of the encounter of
-their light horsemen, armed with darts, as the
-Tourney represented the charge of the feudal
-cavaliers with their lances. In both cases, the
-difference between sport and reality only consisted
-in the weapons being sharp or pointless.”<a id='r33' /><a href='#f33' class='c012'><sup>[33]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This entertainment was ordered by the King
-of Spain, who was not contented with the festivities
-hitherto given in honour of the Prince of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>Wales, and was held at Madrid, in the Market
-Place, containing scaffolding for a great concourse
-of strangers, who were present. The
-Infanta appeared on this occasion in white, as an
-unspotted dove, “after the Majesty of England;”
-the manes of her coach horses were twisted with
-blue ribbands, in compliment to her future consort;
-and there accompanied the Lady Infanta,
-says the Spanish annalist, “Don Fernando, her
-brother, clothed in Romane purple, that radiant
-sunne of the church, even as his sister is the
-resplendent beames of true beauty,”<a id='r34' /><a href='#f34' class='c012'><sup>[34]</sup></a> this “radiant
-sunne of the church;” being, as it has been
-before stated, a boy of twelve years of age. The
-Queen was carried in a chair of state, followed by
-her meninas (or minions) and ladies. The King,
-about two o’clock, arrived in a coach with the
-Prince of Wales, and his brothers, “brave with
-gravity,” says the chronicler, and “grave in
-bravery.” Philip was in black, Prince Charles in
-white, their dresses divided in fashion, half after
-the English, and half after the Spanish manner;
-Charles being placed on the right hand of the
-King.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Then came four and twenty movable fountains,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>with a supply of beverages; and next entered
-into the Market Place His Majesty’s four and
-twenty musicians, and servants in satin liveries,
-carnation colour, guarded with silver lace, interspersed
-with folds of black velvet in large cassocks,
-with black hats and carnation plumes, mounted
-on goodly horses. Next appeared the King’s
-equerries, leading the way, uncovered, before a
-noble courser on which His Majesty was to run:
-and, amongst the numerous retinue that followed,
-were four farriers with pouches of crimson velvet,
-in which all that was requisite for shoeing horses
-was contained. Sixty horses of brown bay, in
-white and black trappings, with muzzles of silver,
-and covered with crimson velvet, embroidered
-with the arms of Philip IV., were led by lacqueys
-in carnation satin, their hose and jacket decorated
-with black and silver lace. Next came forty
-“youngsters of the stables,” dressed in the
-Turkish fashion, and lastly, twelve mules, laden
-with bunches of canes, and caparisoned in similar
-fashion with the horses. To add to the convenience
-of the equestrians, steps of fine wood,
-inlaid with ebony, and covered with carnation
-taffeta, with fringes of gold, were also brought
-into the Market Place.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The livery of the town was of orange colour,
-relieved with silver; and it may easily be conceived
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>how splendid was the effect of these
-gorgeous dresses, set off by the badges worked in
-silver, beneath a cloudless sky, with the far-famed
-Spanish coursers prancing under their
-gorgeous caparisons, and all the beauty and rank
-of the city ranged as beholders. Mingled with
-these retainers, were those of the great Spanish
-grandees. First came Don Duarte, the Duke
-of Infantado, with forty horses, in white and
-black caparisons, with the glorious blazon of
-the Ave Maria upon them; and after the last
-horse, came the Rider, as he was called on this
-occasion.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Next followed Don Pedro of Toledo, the
-pride of Castilian knights, with a troop of sorrel
-horses. Next, that of the Admiral of Castile,
-whose retainers wore long coats of black satin, and
-yellow and white plumes, and were followed by
-the farrier--a functionary attached to each troop.
-Presently, the Condé de Monterey, the Duke of
-Sessa and the Duke of Cea’s horse, all in liveries
-of various colours, made up the number of five
-hundred and eighty-six cavaliers; augmented by
-muleteers, farriers, and grooms, in number a hundred
-and forty-four. This unrivalled troop,
-glittering with silver plumes and emblazonments,
-took an hour to make their entrance. After
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>“baiting but a few bulls,” says the chronicler, the
-running with the canes commenced.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>King Philip, followed by his <a id='corr34.3'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='sic'>thaclow</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_34.3'><ins class='correction' title='sic'>thaclow</ins></a></span>, Don
-Carlos, then went to mask himself for the sport,
-at the house of the Condessa Miranda, who had
-been previously apprised of the intended honour.
-Her reception of the young monarch is characteristic
-of the minute, though stately, hospitality
-of that period. She whitened her house all over
-for the occasion; she hung round the courts with
-draperies; in the portals of the King’s apartment
-these were of white damask, with gold fringe.
-Beds were prepared for the King and Infant
-Carlos; and these were brought from the royal
-palace; the rooms were washed with sweet powder
-and water mingled with ambar, and were
-replete with fragrance. Next to the apartment of
-His Majesty, there was one provided for the Condé
-Olivares, with a bed of rich needle-work. The
-Condessa Miranda also provided for the King and
-Don Carlos each a shirt to change, which they put
-on; she gave each of her royal guests boxes of
-relics, of inestimable value: to the King, one of
-St. Philip the Apostle; to the Infant, one of St.
-Lawrence, given to the Condessa by Pope Sixtus
-V., when she was at Naples; and these reliques
-were the more valuable because the vessel in which
-they had been sent was sunk, but the trunk in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>which they came was seen in the water, and was
-sent to the Condé of Miranda, by the famous
-John Andrea Dorea, which miraculous incident
-proves, says the Spanish historian, “the certainty
-of reliques;” this gift was esteemed a “pious
-and discreet present, on such occasions, to such
-persons.” The Condessa had also gloves and
-handkerchiefs, for her royal guests, in cabinets
-of rock crystal, set in gold; sweet cake to be
-eaten, in crystal glasses; and crystal apples,
-filled with sweet waters. All these carefully
-arranged courtesies must have seemed indeed
-singular to Prince Charles and Buckingham,
-when they, who had come from a Court in
-which people had almost begun to show outward
-disrespect to the King, by leaving off ruffs
-and plumes, witnessed these refinements of hospitality.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>More than all, it must have astonished them,
-considering the festive nature of the occasion,
-had they not been accustomed now to Spanish
-modes, that the Condessa, being most “wise
-and discreet,” had procured that the Holy Sacrament,
-in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity,
-should be exhibited before her window, with
-great solemnity of lights and ornaments. On
-bended knees, the two young Princes humbly
-and devoutly worshipped the sacred elements,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>previous to returning to their apartments to
-put on their masks. In that room they found
-about forty plates of silver, with all manner
-of conserves on them, and rose-sugar confections.
-The honour shown to the Condessa in
-thus selecting her to be the hostess, was,
-it was alleged, only a renewal of the favour exhibited
-by Philip the Second, the grandfather of
-the King, to that illustrious lady when she was
-vice-Queen of Barcelona.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>After this preparation, the running commenced.
-The canes were distributed to each runner, and,
-according to ancient custom, the King chose the
-Condé Olivares for his own encounter, and the
-Infant Carlos, the Marquis of Carpio. The palm
-of skill and bravery was, of course, accorded to
-these royal brothers, and on the Duke of Cea’s
-delivering to the King the canes, the place
-rang with shouts of “Long live their Majesties,”
-a cry which London doubtless would re-echo as
-this “triumpant show,” says the annalist, “was
-made to honour her Prince, and in a time of such
-vehement heate, though now it was qualified.”<a id='r35' /><a href='#f35' class='c012'><sup>[35]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This grand festivity was probably the cause of
-a serious illness to Buckingham, for, a day afterwards,
-Charles wrote to his father that his “dog”
-was not to be troubled with writing, having taken
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>cold, which had ended in an ague. The Duke
-had been bled, and was recovered; the Prince
-concluded by warning the King that in spite of
-his efforts to keep his letters private, they had
-been seen in London, by the French ambassador’s
-means, by the Spanish ambassador, and that His
-Majesty was “betrayed in his bedchamber.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham added in a <a id='corr37.8'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='postcript'>postscript</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_37.8'><ins class='correction' title='postcript'>postscript</ins></a></span>:--"Sir, I
-have bine the willinger to let your sone play
-the secretary at this time of little neade, that you
-may see the extraordinary care he hath of me, for
-which I will not intreat you not to love him the
-wors--nor him that thretens you that when he
-once getts hould of your bed-post againe never
-to quitt it."</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The period for Charles’s return home with the
-Princess was now at hand.<a id='r36' /><a href='#f36' class='c012'><sup>[36]</sup></a> It was arranged with
-the King of Spain that, upon the arrival of the
-Pope’s approbation of some articles that had lately
-been sent to him, he should be empowered to
-have the Infanta married by proxy; and that,
-meantime, she should be styled “Princessa de Inglatierra,”
-and be considered in every respect as
-the betrothed wife of Prince Charles. “This day
-we take our leaves,” the Prince, on the twenty-fifth
-of August, wrote to his father; his letter was
-accompanied by one from the Earl of Bristol, stating
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>that the King of Spain and his ministers had
-grown “to have so high a dislike of the Duke of
-Buckingham,” and considered him to be so adverse
-to the treaty, and to exercise so great an
-influence over Prince Charles, that they hoped it
-might not be in his power to make the Infanta’s
-life less happy there (in England), or to embroil
-the two kingdoms. “Suspicions and distastes betwixt
-them here and my Lord of Buckingham,”
-Bristol said, “could not be at a greater height.”
-This was the first letter that Bristol wrote prejudicial
-to Buckingham.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Nevertheless, at the very same moment, the
-Duke wrote to his master thus:--"Sir,--He bring
-all things with me you have desired, except the
-Infanta, which hath almost broken my heart, because
-yours, your sone’s, and the nation’s honour
-is touched by the miss of it; but since it’s there
-falt (their fault) here, and not ours, wee will
-bere it the better; and when I shall have the
-happiness to lie at your feete, you shall then knowe
-the truth of it, and no more."<a id='r37' /><a href='#f37' class='c012'><sup>[37]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In another letter from Bristol, James was given
-to understand that the compact entered into by
-his son was a solemn and formal promise; but that
-an afterthought impelled him to make the powers
-with which he had entrusted Bristol contingent:</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span></div>
-<div class='letter'>
-
-<p class='c001'>"May it please your Majesty,</p>
-
-<p class='c013'>"By my cosen, Simon Digby, I gave
-your Majesty an account of all that passed here
-upon the Prince his departure, and that according
-to what was capitulated. His Highness had left
-powers for the marrying of the Infanta, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>per verba
-de presenti</em></span>, which powers were made unto the
-King and his brother, Don Carlos, but left with
-me to be delivered upon the arrival of the Pope’s
-approbation, and so declared to be His Highnesse’
-pleasure before all this King’s Ministers that were
-present at the solemne act of passing the Prince
-his powers unto the King. Since His Highnesse’
-departure, I have receaved commandement from
-His Highness not to make deliverie of the said
-powers untill His Highness shall be satisfied what
-securitie may be given him that the Infanta may
-not become a religious woman<a id='r38' /><a href='#f38' class='c012'><sup>[38]</sup></a> after the betroathing;
-and that I expect his further pleasure therein,
-as y<sup>r</sup> Majestie will see by the coppie of His
-Highnesse’ letter unto me, which I presume to
-send your Majestie, as likewise the answer which
-in that point I make unto His Highnesse, to the
-end your Majestie may have perfect information
-of the whole estate of the businesse. For that I
-conceave the temporal articles are so farr agreed
-that I have to give your Majestie an account of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>them within a few daies, and to youre content,
-and the businesse, after so manie rubbs, brought to
-that estate that I am confident there will not be
-any failing in any pointe capitulated betwixt
-your Majesty and His Highnesse, but all will be
-punctuallie performed. I conceave your Majestie,
-continuing your desire of the match, would be
-loath to have the faire way it is now in to be
-clogged or interrupted with any new jealousie
-that may now be raised, for questionlesse there is
-no securitie in that particular, that can on His
-Highnesse’ part be required, that they will refuse
-him."<a id='r39' /><a href='#f39' class='c012'><sup>[39]</sup></a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='c001'>The character of Charles, composed, as Hume
-remarks, “of decency, reserve, modesty, sobriety,
-virtues so agreeable to the manners of the
-Spaniards;”<a id='r40' /><a href='#f40' class='c012'><sup>[40]</sup></a> the reliance he had placed on their
-honour, his romantic gallantry, the invariable
-courtesy of his demeanour to every person,
-whether prince, or peer, or the lowest groom of
-his household; a courtesy springing from a
-gentle nature, elevated and refined by careful
-culture; these attributes were strongly contrasted
-with the impetuous temper of Buckingham.
-There are moments when sincerity becomes
-insolence; and when Buckingham, at his last
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>interview with Olivares, told him that his attachment
-to the Spanish nation, and to the King, was
-extreme, and that he should use every endeavour
-in his power to cement the friendship between
-England and Spain, but that, as for him, the
-Condé Olivares, “he need never consider him as a
-friend, but must ever expect from him every possible
-opposition and enmity,” he was well reproved
-by the grave and lofty answer, “that
-Olivares very willingly accepted what was offered
-him.” Thus they parted.<a id='r41' /><a href='#f41' class='c012'><sup>[41]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>There were, however, many who approved this
-defiant manner, and called the conduct of the
-Duke “brave and resolute;” and certainly there
-was much in the character of Olivares to extenuate
-the bitterness of Buckingham’s dislike. Lord
-Bristol, however, imputed all the mistrust and
-failure that ensued to Buckingham. “The Prince,”
-he said, "had left men’s hearts set upon him." “And
-the leave-taking,” adds the ambassador, “betwixt
-him and the King, was with as great profession
-of love and affection as could be, of which I was
-a witness, being interpreter betwixt them.”<a id='r42' /><a href='#f42' class='c012'><sup>[42]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Every possible demonstration of honour was
-proffered to the Prince and Duke at their departure.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>To the last, the pages of the Condé
-Olivares attended, as they had done all along, on
-Buckingham--there was no apparent change of
-feeling, nor diminution of respect.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The farewell presents, too numerous to be fully
-recited, were magnificent. Among them were,
-given to the Prince by the King, eighteen Spanish
-jennets, six Barbary horses, six mares, and twenty
-foals. These superb animals were covered with
-cloths of crimson velvet, guarded with gold lace;
-one of them being distinguished by a saddle of
-fine lamb-skin, the other “furniture” being set
-with rich pearl; among a number of cross-bows
-which were given, those used by the Dukes of
-Medina Sidonia and Ossunia, in the wars, were
-peculiarly valuable to the Prince.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>To Buckingham’s share, among others, were
-several Spanish jennets, and Barbary or Arabian
-horses, and a splendid diamond girdle, worth
-thirty thousand crowns.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Thu Queen presented the young Prince with
-linen, and skins of ambar and of kids, their scent
-and perfume amounting in value to many thousand
-crowns.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Twice, before his leaving for ever the Spanish
-capital, did Charles, in company with the King,
-visit the Infanta. She had retreated to the
-monastery of the Descallas, or bare-legged friars;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>and it was, perhaps, her extreme piety that
-inspired the Prince with the fear that she might,
-after her betrothal, become a nun, and in that way
-avoid espousing a heretic. She received him with
-“tears of joy,” and gave the Prince many boxes of
-scents, flowers, and curiosites of great value. The
-Prince’s gifts to the Infanta consisted of a string
-of two hundred and fifty great pear-shaped pearls,
-one of them with a diamond which could not be
-valued, and two pairs of pearl-shaped ear-rings,
-marvellous <a id='corr43.11'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='sic: opening'>great.”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_43.11'><ins class='correction' title='sic: opening'>great.”</ins></a></span> Amongst the officers and
-retainers of the Court, the Prince gave, in various
-ways, the sum of twelve thousand pounds.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>At their last interview in Madrid, the King
-of Spain wore black, as a token of mourning at
-their departure; but the final parting was in a
-field near the Escurial, the place appointed for their
-adieus. Philip had been desirous of showing to
-the English that wonder of Europe, with its thirteen
-courts, its grand marble structure, its statue
-of St. Lawrence over the gate, with his gridiron
-in his hand. Here Philip, the Queen, the Infant,
-and his brothers pointed out, with just pride,
-the fine cloisters, three stories high, the libraries,
-sepulchres, chapels, and graves. About a hundred
-friars were resident at this time in the house,
-which it required half a day to go over. That
-part appropriated to royal residence was wholly
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>unsuitable to the purpose. It is a remarkable fact
-that, when Charles the First was in Spain, there
-was only one kitchen in the Escurial; neither was
-there a hall, nor offices below stairs fit for a royal
-abode; so that, as Sir Richard Wynn remarked,
-"it was never intended for a king’s palace, but
-for the goodliest monastery in the world, which it
-is."<a id='r43' /><a href='#f43' class='c012'><sup>[43]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The church, with its twenty altars, and enormous
-silver candlesticks, higher and heavier than
-a man; the wonderful chapel at the extremity,
-with curiously painted roofs and desks of silver;
-the marble fountains playing in every court;
-the invaluable paintings in the churches and
-chapels, collected in all parts of the world, were
-then in undisturbed freshness; the convulsions
-of war and revolutions, and the hand of time,
-have since dimmed their splendour, but the
-Escurial stands unscathed on the side of a mountain.
-Stern in cloistral gloom rather than beautiful,
-it had then a narrow strip of garden round two
-sides, with walks and “knots of flowers,” and a
-pond at one extremity, in which the friars were
-accustomed to fish. Most of them had their
-apartments provided with a chapel; all had mules
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>for riding, for walking was forbidden to these
-monks, even to a short distance.<a id='r44' /><a href='#f44' class='c012'><sup>[44]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In a field near this grand building, the King and
-Prince sat and conversed an hour; a pillar, it was
-afterwards decided, was to be erected on the spot
-where this last interview took place; “wherein,”
-wrote Mr. Chamberlain, “the Duke of Buckingham
-is quite forgotten, as if he had been none
-of the company.” The Queen, the Infanta, and
-her brothers, embraced the Prince who so soon
-became their foe. The English lords and gentlemen
-kissed the King’s hands, the Spaniards
-those of the Prince, “returning,” says the chronicler,
-“to embrace us again with wonderful demonstrations
-of love.” Then the Prince took his
-final departure, attended by the Condé de Monterey,
-Gondomar, Buckingham, and Lord Bristol,
-and pursued his journey to Segovia, which had
-been recommended to him, according to Sir
-Richard Wynn, as the only thing worth seeing
-after the Escurial. “It was then,” says Wynn,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>“a large town, but much ruinous, having a great
-castle, kept in very good repair, in which there be
-two goodly rooms, whose roofes are the richest,
-done with gold, and incrusting, of an old manner,
-but wonderful costly.” Here Charles was welcomed
-with a salute of artillery, and alighting,
-he went over the palace, extolling the memory of
-Philip the Second, who had rebuilt it, and expressing
-great pleasure at seeing his arms quartered
-with the Spanish scutcheons in the great
-hall,--Henry the Third of Spain, having married
-Catherine, daughter of John of Gaunt, in right of
-whom Philip the Second pretended to derive his
-claim to the crown of England after the death of
-Mary. In this palace, Charles was magnificently
-entertained; and in the evening, whilst fireworks
-and torches threw their light upon the scene, the
-Alcayd of that royal house presented him with a
-gallant mask of thirty-two-knights, and proposed
-to honour him by a bull-fight on the ensuing day;
-but he declined the terrible amusement, being in
-haste to depart.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Charles--and doubtless Buckingham (although
-in this decline of favour in Spain, he is rarely
-alluded to by the chroniclers)--in stopping at
-Valladolid, had great delight in seeing some of
-the finest productions of Michael Angelo and of
-Raphael. Before the Prince entered the city, an
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>individual who was the object of dread and
-jealousy, and who was still more hated by
-Olivares than even Buckingham, was withdrawn
-from amid those who vied in offering their
-homage to the Prince. This was the Cardinal
-Duke of Lerma, the disgraced minister and
-favourite of Philip, who was ordered to leave
-Valladolid before Charles entered it. The affront
-sank deep into the old man’s heart, as he had
-greatly wished to see the Prince. The Duke
-of Lerma was considered to be more favourable
-to the English alliance than Olivares,
-and he had formerly projected a union between
-Anne of Austria, then Infanta, and Henry, the
-last Prince of Wales. He lived generally at
-Valladolid, retiring, as was the custom with the
-Spaniards of rank, after sixty, to a place of
-quiet and devotion; officiating, and singing
-mass, and passing his days in charity and
-piety. “This,” as Howell remarks, “doth not
-suit well with the genius of an Englishman,
-who loves not to pull off his clothes till he goes to
-bed.” The remark shows that our countrymen
-were then, as now, the last in Europe to give up
-the intellectual or military career to which their
-youth had been devoted, and which, during their
-middle life, had been their source of pride and
-prosperity.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>The conduct of Olivares to the Cardinal
-Duke seems to betray a rancorous spirit, which
-may somewhat extenuate the haughty bearing
-of Buckingham to the ruling favourite. Lerma’s
-fall was signal; he had been the greatest
-favourite, save one, ever known in the Spanish
-Court; and he was, as a grandee of Spain, privileged
-to stand covered before the King. Had it not,
-however, been for his ecclesiastical dignity,
-which protected him, the Duke of Lerma would
-have sunk, under the persecutions of Olivares,
-into utter ruin.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Meantime, whilst the Prince was thus journeying
-to the coast, Sir John Finet, the assistant
-Master of the Ceremonies to King James,
-being also a naval commander, had set sail in
-May with certain ships, now in the port of St.
-Andero, in Biscay. They had been three months
-in their voyage from England, and Finet had
-been ordered to apprize the Prince of the Earl of
-Rutland’s arrival in the same port; but that event
-not having taken place, he rowed ashore, and
-crossing several mountains in the darkness of a
-tempestuous night, met the Prince and Duke
-at about six leagues distance from the town.
-Charles was beside himself with joy on seeing
-Finet, and told him that he looked upon him
-“as one that had the face of an angel,” for bringing
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>such good news. Buckingham, when he
-afterwards beheld him, was equally enraptured, and
-drawing from his finger a ring worth a hundred
-pounds, gave it to Finet.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Prince Charles arrived at St. Andero on St.
-Matthew’s day. Whilst at dinner outside of the
-town, he heard that the whole fleet, under the command
-of the Earl of Rutland, lay at anchor near the
-harbour. Charles hastened to the port, and hurrying
-through the town amid volleys of musketry and
-the firing of cannon in his honour, went on board
-that very afternoon. The <em>Prince</em>, a vessel which was
-a source of great pride to the English, contained
-the admiral of the fleet. In returning that night in
-his own barge, rowed by watermen, well accustomed
-to the Thames, but little fitted to cope with a swelling
-sea, the Prince was in imminent peril. In the
-hurry of the moment, neither master, pilot, nor
-mariner of experience were sent in his barge; the
-town was, at least, at the distance of a Spanish
-league from the ships, and before the boat could
-near the shore, a storm arose. The Prince’s watermen
-were, says the chroniclers, “strong, cunning,
-and courageous, but the furious waves taught their
-oares another manner of practice than ever they
-were put to on the Thames.” They soon found
-it impossible to reach the town. Not only did the
-tempest rage, but there lay at the very mouth of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>the harbour a barque, which was there for refuge,
-so that it was dangerous to approach it; neither did
-the dismayed boatmen dare to make for the shore;
-it was studded with rocks; almost equally perilous
-would it have been to return to the ships, for
-the night was dark, and, in case of missing them,
-the boat, with its precious freight, might be
-carried out into the main seas, the channel where
-the fleet anchored running with an impetuous and
-irresistible torrent.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was a singular and critical situation. Here
-was the heir to a great kingdom, close, on the one
-hand, to a city which was ringing with acclamations
-at his arrival; on the other, near to a fleet
-which the most anxious precautions had sent for
-his service--and yet, scarcely would a peasant in
-his father’s dominions have been placed in such
-a plight for want of ordinary care, or, perhaps,
-owing to the jealousy of the boatmen and their
-dislike to foreign aid.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“In this full sea of horrors,” to borrow the
-somewhat flowery language of the narrator, the
-Prince resolved to turn back towards the ships,
-and to fall upon the first that could be fastened on,
-rather than to run the risk of being wrecked on
-one of the rocks, which threatened immediate destruction.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The storm continued to rage, and the night became
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>darker and darker. Charles and Buckingham
-could, at this moment, see the lights streaming
-from the town, and dimly, perhaps, discern
-the track of the English fleet. Soon all was enveloped
-in the deepest gloom. At such a moment
-the mind can only turn to one source of help, and
-to that, doubtless, the young and reflective Prince,
-who afterwards met the sternest trials of life with
-a lofty resignation, did revert, whatever may have
-been the case with his spoiled, impetuous favourite.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“At last,” as the chronicler observes, “that
-Omnipotent arm, which can tear up rocks from
-their center, and that voyce which can call in
-the winds, and still them with the moving of His
-finger, sent a dove with an olive branch in her
-bill, as an assurance of comfort.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Sir Sackwill Trevor, the commander of the
-<em>Defiance</em>, perceived at this crisis the peril of the
-Prince; by his order, casks and buoys, with
-lights fastened to them by some ropes, were
-thrown out, and the watermen seized hold of
-these, though at the risk of their lives. A light
-was now discerned in the ship <em>Defiance</em>, and the
-Prince was soon safely received on board, where
-he spent the night, by no means, as it is said,
-daunted by these terrors.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On the ensuing day Charles went on shore, but
-returned on the same evening to the fleet. On
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>Sunday, the fourteenth of September, he entertained
-Gondomar and the other grandees who had
-been commissioned to attend him to the coast on
-board the <em>Prince</em>.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The dinner consisted, according to Phineas
-Pette, who was in the ship, “of no other than we
-brought from England with us.” Stalled oxen,
-fatted sheep, venison, and all manner of fowl were
-presented to those who would, perhaps, never see
-such a repast spread before them again. A long
-table for persons of inferior quality was set
-in the great cabin, and across this another was
-placed, where Charles and the chief personages
-sat. Healths were drunk; the Spaniards were delighted
-with the ships, but still more with the
-graceful and courteous manners of Charles. Never,
-it is said, had a stranger so won upon the affections
-of a people, as this young Prince had done
-in Spain, independently of his generosity and
-liberality at parting, when he ordered that the
-gifts and rewards of all those who had attended
-him in his journey, should be double in value to
-what he had before specified. “We have found
-some difficulty,” Lord Bristol wrote to Calvert,
-"in taking up the monies, but I shall, God willing,
-see it perfectly performed to his highness’s
-honour."<a id='r45' /><a href='#f45' class='c012'><sup>[45]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>Some days elapsed before the <em>Prince</em> weighed
-anchor. At last, on the eighteenth of September,
-Charles bade adieu to Spain, and with it, probably,
-to the sunshine of his youth. For James
-was now visibly declining, and his son was soon to
-be called upon to fulfil duties which he comprehended
-not in their just spirit, and to contend
-with bold, intelligent, indignant subjects, whom he
-also imperfectly understood.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>As the sails were swelling with the breeze, the
-Prince and the other English gentlemen stood on
-deck taking leave, in dumb show, of the throng
-of Spaniards who saluted them from the shore.
-The wind was now prosperous, but a voyage of
-nine days awaited the impatient Prince before he
-could touch English ground.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The fleet consisted of ten ships of the line;
-that styled the <em>Prince</em> was of twelve hundred tons
-burthen, the others considerably less. In eight
-days they arrived within twelve miles of the
-Scilly Islands. The Council who were entrusted
-with the convoy of Charles debated on the propriety
-of his landing on this remote point, and
-were unanimous against it. Several pilots had
-come on board, but were dismissed. After
-supper, however, Charles suddenly ordered out
-the long boat and the ketch, and announced his
-intention of landing, accompanied by Buckingham.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>About one o’clock at night they got into the
-long boat, and being saluted with a volley from
-the ship, made for St Mary’s Island, where the
-Prince and all his companions landed about seven
-in the morning. In the castle the Prince and
-Buckingham remained four days, and were taken
-again on board of the fleet on the third of
-October; and on the fifth of the same month, in
-the afternoon, arrived at Portsmouth,<a id='r46' /><a href='#f46' class='c012'><sup>[46]</sup></a> having been
-in all seventeen days at sea. Charles proceeded
-at once to the house of Lord Annandale, near
-Guildford, and reached York House at eight the
-next morning; thus paying Buckingham the
-honour of going first to his house in London.
-Here he met the Privy Council, and refused an
-unreasonable request by the Spanish ambassador
-for a prior audience. <a id='r47' /><a href='#f47' class='c012'><sup>[47]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Never was there more general or more enthusiastic
-joy expressed than on this occasion, and,
-amongst other demonstrations, a bonfire, which
-cost a hundred pounds, was kindled at Guildhall.
-It is supposed to have been composed of forfeited
-logwood, prohibited to the dyers, which had been
-seized. Shops were closed; the streets were spread
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>with tables of provisions, and with hogsheads of
-wine and butts of sack; the people were mad
-with joy. If they met a cart full of wood, they took
-out the horse, and set the wood and the cart on fire.
-At St. Paul’s a new anthem was sung, the words
-being taken from the 114th psalm:--"When
-shall I come out of Egypt, and the house of
-Jacob from among the barbarous people?"</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The battlements of St. Paul’s Cross displayed
-as many burning torches as the years of the
-young Prince in age; two enormous bonfires
-lighted up the enclosure around the cross, whilst
-fireworks, squibs, crackers, and rockets added
-to the general illumination of the city, in
-which, between St. Paul’s and London Bridge,
-no fewer than a hundred and eight bonfires were
-kindled. But the most interesting of all the
-incidents of that day was the reprieve of six men
-and two women, whom the Prince met on their
-road to Tyburn, where they were being taken for
-execution. At Royston, the King came down on
-the stairs to receive the travellers. The Prince
-and Duke kneeled down as they beheld the infirm
-monarch hastening to them; but the King fell
-on their necks, and they all wept together. A
-post was despatched to the Duchess and Countess
-of Buckingham, and to the Countess of Denbigh,
-to come to Royston.<a id='r48' /><a href='#f48' class='c012'><sup>[48]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>Whilst the public rejoicings in almost every
-town in the kingdom did honour to "England’s
-Joy," as Charles was then called, Buckingham
-gleaned some good from this safe return. The
-confidence of the people appeared to be restored
-to him. There was a general impression that
-even before Charles had quitted Spain, the
-match with the Infanta was virtually at an end;
-and this was partially confirmed when the
-Spanish ambassadors, having set out towards
-Royston, to congratulate the Prince, were met at
-Buntingford by Secretary Conway, to say that
-Royston being “a place of ill reception,” they
-were not to sleep there that night, but must
-return to Buntingford the same evening. This
-was by no means an agreeable intimation to the
-Marquis Inojosa, since it was but a week before
-that the French ambassador had both supped
-and lodged at Royston, though going unexpectedly;
-nevertheless, the Marquis proceeded to
-Royston, and had apparently a gracious reception
-from the King and Prince; neither did they
-“speak amiss” of the Duke’s manner on the awkward
-occasion. “Welcome home!” was for a long
-time the burden of the Court and country. One
-amongst the least meritorious of Buckingham’s
-dependants, Tobie Mathew, was knighted at
-Royston, where James and his favourite kept their
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>intentions with regard to Spain profoundly secret.
-Mathew owed, indeed, his very presence at Court
-to Buckingham, who had interceded for him
-when banished on account of his conversion to
-Popery by the Jesuit Parsons. Mathew, when
-at Madrid with the Duke, had written a description
-of the Infanta, which he styled a
-picture “drawn in black and whyte,” for James’s
-amusement. “We pray you,” Buckingham
-wrote to the King, “let none laugh at it but
-yourselfe and honneste Kate; he thinks he hath
-hitt the naill on the head, but you will find it the
-foolishest thing you ever saw.” Amongst the
-many impertinences of the fool, Archy, some,
-directed against Tobie Mathew, were so cutting
-as to drive the newly-made knight from the
-dinner-table at Royston.<a id='r49' /><a href='#f49' class='c012'><sup>[49]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Whilst all these matters, great and small,
-were discussed at Court, the poor Infanta,
-under the tuition of Mr. Wadsworth and Father
-Boniface, was studying English “apace.” Wherever
-she went, she was treated as Princess of
-England, the English ambassadors standing uncovered
-before her; whilst she occupied herself
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>in having several embroidered suits of ambar-leather
-prepared for the Prince, and in the choice
-and arrangement of the attendants who were to
-accompany her to England. “We want,”
-Howell wrote, “nothing but one more dispatch
-from home, and then the marriage will be
-solemnized, and all things consummated.”<a id='r50' /><a href='#f50' class='c012'><sup>[50]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This was the last lingering hope, which was
-soon to be abandoned, and fresh schemes substituted
-to amuse the fancy of the Prince, to gratify
-the caprice of his favourite, and to divert the
-decline of the King.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c009'>INDISPOSITION OF THE DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM--THE
-KING’S REGARD FOR HER AND HER CHILD--ARCHBISHOP
-LAUD’S ENCOMIUM ON HER CHARACTER--QUEEN
-ANNE’S CHAIN PRESENTED TO THE DUCHESS OF
-LENNOX--EFFRONTERY OF THE COUNTESS OF BUCKINGHAM--THE
-DUKE’S DEPORTMENT ON HIS RETURN
-FROM SPAIN--MORE DIGNITIES CONFERRED UPON
-HIM--KING JAMES AND THE CLERGY--THE ROYAL
-INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF DIVINE
-SERVICE IN SPAIN--PUBLIC PREJUDICE AGAINST THE
-SPANISH MATCH--THE WALLINGFORD HOUSE CABAL
-PRONOUNCE IN FAVOUR OF A FRENCH ALLIANCE--POPULAR
-INDIGNATION AGAINST THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR--COMPETITION
-FOR PRECEDENCE BETWEEN THE
-AMBASSADORS OF FRANCE AND SPAIN--CHARACTER
-OF THE LORD KEEPER WILLIAMS--HIS OPPOSITION TO
-THE PROCEEDINGS OF BUCKINGHAM--THE COUNTESS
-OF BUCKINGHAM EMBRACES THE CATHOLIC FAITH--CONTROVERSY
-BETWEEN THE DEAN OF CARLISLE AND
-THE JESUIT FISHER--BREACH BETWEEN BUCKINGHAM
-AND WILLIAMS--THE KING MANIFESTS HIS DISPLEASURE
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>WITH BUCKINGHAM--THE SPANISH COURT AND THE
-ENGLISH ALLIANCE--CONDUCT OF THE INFANTA AFTER
-THE DEPARTURE OF CHARLES--PREPARATIONS FOR
-THE MARRIAGE--A COMMISSION APPOINTED TO
-INQUIRE INTO THE CONDITIONS OF THE SPANISH
-TREATY--THE LORD KEEPER IN FAVOUR WITH THE
-KING--PARLIAMENT COUNSELS JAMES TO BREAK THE
-TREATY WITH SPAIN--POPULAR REJOICINGS, AND
-DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE CATHOLIC PARTY--THE
-ILLNESS OF BUCKINGHAM--PAINFUL ILLUSTRATION OF
-THE BIGOTED SPIRIT OF THE AGE--INOJOSA ACCUSES
-BUCKINGHAM OF TREACHERY AGAINST THE KING--THE
-PROPHECY OF GAMALIEL GRUYS--GENERAL
-DESIRE FOR WAR WITH SPAIN--PROPOSED ALLIANCE
-OF PRINCE CHARLES WITH HENRIETTA MARIA OF
-FRANCE--RESTORATION OF BUCKINGHAM TO THE
-KING’S FAVOUR.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span><b><span class='large'>CHAPTER II.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c011'>Buckingham had now returned to a house where
-more sources of real happiness awaited him than
-fall usually to the lot of the busy courtier and
-statesman. One drawback to his felicity, one
-stimulant to his return, had been the serious indisposition
-of the Duchess of Buckingham. Her
-uneasiness during her husband’s absence, her
-vexation at the rumours which prevailed to his
-disadvantage, and, above all, the doubts of his
-fidelity which embittered their separation, had produced
-that condition which the physicians of the
-day generalized under the name of “melancholy.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Under these circumstances, the kindness of heart
-which formed part of King James’s character,
-unaccompanied as it was with dignity or judgment,
-was manifested, and, at the same time,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>he evinced his lively and unabated regard for
-Buckingham. An affection cannot be deemed
-wholly selfish which shows itself to those who are
-beloved by its object. James’s compassion for
-the Duchess, the fatherly interest he took in her,
-and his continual acts of favour to her child,
-elevate the character of his preference for Buckingham.
-It has been the practice of historians to
-ridicule as a weakness the good-nature of this
-monarch; but those who felt its effect forgot,
-probably, the absurdity of its mode of manifestation
-in the benevolent impulses of the royal
-heart.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The “poor fool Kate,” as the King entitled the
-Duchess of Buckingham, met with incessant consideration
-on small and great points from His
-Majesty. During the year previous to the journey
-into Spain, the Duchess (then Marchioness) had
-given birth to another daughter; the King stood
-sponsor to the infant, and gave her the name of
-Jacobina. During the young mother’s illness,
-James testified the greatest anxiety, and “prayed
-heartily” for her; calling at Wallingford House,
-where she was, several times a day to inquire after
-her health.<a id='r51' /><a href='#f51' class='c012'><sup>[51]</sup></a> The child eventually died; and James
-was the more confirmed in his parental fondness for
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>the Lady Mary Villiers, whom he usually denominated
-his grandchild, on the principle that her
-father was to him as a son. And now “my
-sweete Steenie” was the chief object of the
-King’s interest and gossip; he wrote from Whitehall
-to the Duke, in Spain:--"I must give thee
-a short account of many things. First, Kate and
-thy sister (the Countess of Denbigh) supped with
-me on Saturday last, and yesterday bothe dined
-and supped with me, and so shall do still, with
-God’s grace, as long as I am here; and my little
-grandchild, with her four teeth, is, God be thanked,
-well weaned, and they are all very merry." <a id='r52' /><a href='#f52' class='c012'><sup>[52]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Marchioness dined, during her convalescence,
-in the bed-chamber of the King, who
-gave a diamond chain, worth 3,500<em>l.</em>, with his
-picture, to the Duchess of Lennox, for having
-“made broths and caudles” for the Marchioness
-during her illness.<a id='r53' /><a href='#f53' class='c012'><sup>[53]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duchess had, it appeared, informed His
-Majesty of a domestic arrangement, all important
-to the mother and infant, but not usually deemed
-an affair such as royalty might condescend to
-take account of, or be a matter for an elderly
-pedant, like King James, to decide. “I hope my
-Lord Arran,” she wrote to the King, “has told
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>your Majesty that I mean to wean Moll very
-shortly. I would not by any means do it till I
-had made your Majesty acquainted with it; so I
-intend to make trial this very night how she will
-endure it.”<a id='r54' /><a href='#f54' class='c012'><sup>[54]</sup></a> “Little Moll,” who afterwards
-married successively three times, is mentioned frequently
-in the domestic correspondence of the
-day.<a id='r55' /><a href='#f55' class='c012'><sup>[55]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>James’s regard for the Duchess was also shown
-in another way. When the Duke applied to His
-Majesty for jewels, his young wife, scarcely twenty
-years of age, was eager to part with baubles which
-were so precious in the eyes of others, in order to
-advance Buckingham’s interest, and enhance his
-splendour at the Spanish Court. The King
-could hardly bear that his favourite should accept
-her generosity. “And now,” he wrote, "my sweet
-Steenie gossip, that the poor fool Kate hath also
-sent thee her pearl chain, which, by chance, I saw
-in a box in Frank Steward’s hand, I hope I need
-not to conjure thee not to give any of her jewels
-away there, for thou knowest what necessary use
-she will have of them at your return here, besides
-that it is not lucky to give away anything that I
-have given her."<a id='r56' /><a href='#f56' class='c012'><sup>[56]</sup></a> In his correspondence, James
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>never forgot the Duchess. “This,” he says, addressing
-Buckingham, “is the sixt time I have
-written to you two, five to Kate, two to Su (the
-Countess of Denbigh), and one to thy mother,
-Steenie, all with my own hands.”<a id='r57' /><a href='#f57' class='c012'><sup>[57]</sup></a> In presents of
-provisions he was considerate of her comfort,
-and so lavish that the Duke was wont to call his
-Majesty his “man-purveyor.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Like a good wife, the Duchess appears to have
-occupied herself, during the absence of her husband,
-in maintaining and improving Newhall
-and Burleigh, places in which the Duke felt
-a lively interest, and his mother participated
-in these exertions without any of that petty jealousy
-of interference being exhibited, which a less
-amiable mind than that of the Duchess might have
-disturbed.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“For Burley,” she writes word, “I hear the
-wall is not very forward yet, and my lady” (the
-Countess) “bid me send you word that she is
-gone down to look how things are there. She
-says she is about making a littel river to run
-through the park. It will be about sixteen feet
-broad; but she says she wants money.”<a id='r58' /><a href='#f58' class='c012'><sup>[58]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In all her letters to the Duke, the warmest affection
-is expressed by his wife; and she seems to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>have justified the encomiums of Archbishop Laud,
-who enters her name in his diary, as “that excellent
-lady, who is goodness itself.”<a id='r59' /><a href='#f59' class='c012'><sup>[59]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In the concerns of his mother, the Duke
-found much dissatisfaction. In June, 1622, the
-Countess of Buckingham received a hint to stay
-away from Court on account of the Progress,
-but really on account of her professing the
-Roman Catholic faith, or rather, perhaps, as a
-punishment for a little Court intrigue, relative
-to the Duchess of Lennox. When the ambassador
-from the Emperor of Austria took leave, it
-was thought necessary to bestow some jewel upon
-him as a mark of royal favour. James commanded
-one to be brought to him; it proved to be a chain
-which had belonged to Queen Anne, and which was
-worth three thousand pounds. James thought it
-too valuable for the ambassador, and refused to
-give it, saying, “wherein hath he deserved so
-much at my hands?” Prince Charles, hearing
-this, suggested that the chain should be bestowed
-on the Duchess of Lennox, who had received no
-present since her marriage. An assent was given;
-and the Prince undertook to carry the gift to her
-Grace. He put it round his own neck, and,
-taking it thence, presented it to the Duchess.
-This was regarded as so unusual an act of respect,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>that the Countess of Buckingham could not
-hear of it unmoved. Relying upon the unbounded
-favour of the King to her son, she took upon
-herself to send for the jewel back again the next
-day, saying it was required for a particular purpose,
-and that it should be requited with a gift
-equally costly. The Duchess of Lennox, astonished,
-questioned the messenger, who confessed
-that the Countess had sent him. The truth was
-then disclosed; of course, the Duchess was highly
-indignant; she sent back the messenger with this
-answer, that since the Prince had brought it to
-her, it should be taken back by no hand but her
-own; accordingly, on the following day, she went
-with the chain in her hand to the King, desiring
-to know how she had offended His Majesty. The
-King, when he comprehended the matter, swore
-that he was abused, and the Prince burst into a
-passion of anger, and declared that if the Countess
-of Buckingham stayed in the Court he would
-leave it. This story has been in some particulars,
-however, discredited, for several good reasons;
-but it may be regarded as characteristic of those
-to whom it refers; and as exemplifying the unbounded
-effrontery attributed to the mother of the
-Favourite.<a id='r60' /><a href='#f60' class='c012'><sup>[60]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>A change was observed to have taken place in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>the deportment of Buckingham almost immediately
-on his return from Spain. He became
-affable, and, therefore, “suddenly and strangely
-gracious among the multitude,” so that, as Sir
-Henry Wotton expresses it, “he did seem for a
-time to have overcome that natural incompatibility
-which, in the experience of all ages, hath
-ever been noted between the vulgar and the sovereign
-favour. But this was no more than a meer
-bubble or blast, and like an ephemeral bit of applause,
-as eftsoon will appear in the sequel and
-train of his life.”<a id='r61' /><a href='#f61' class='c012'><sup>[61]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Shortly after his return from Spain, fresh honours
-were added to those with which Buckingham had
-been so richly endowed. The King, it was observed,
-had now grown into “an habitual and confirmed
-custom” of loading his favourite with benefits;
-and the Duke was, accordingly, made Lord Warden
-of the Cinque Ports, and Steward of the
-Manor of Hampton Court; “dignities and offices,”
-says Sir Henry Wotton, “still growing out of
-trust and profit.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>But this apparent prosperity was alloyed by
-many difficulties, and shaken by cabals, some stimulated
-by direst foes, others induced by hollow
-allies; and the career of the Favourite, like that
-of all the fortunate, began to be embittered and
-precarious.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>There required, indeed, much condescension and
-courtesy to soften the exasperated feeling of the
-people against the promoter of the Spanish match.
-The pulpits, far from being “tuned” to its praise,
-were continually clamouring against the alliance.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>There were strange signs of the times when,
-notwithstanding the almost absolute dominion of
-the Crown, it was found necessary to issue orders
-that the sanctity of the royal presence, and the
-dignity of the Privy Council should not be lowered
-by persons coming in booted and spurred--forbidding
-them also to go into chapel in that
-guise, and ordering them to remain uncovered
-during the services.<a id='r62' /><a href='#f62' class='c012'><sup>[62]</sup></a> In former days, James, as
-well as Elizabeth, had demanded an almost
-degrading respect; but the habits of the
-monarch had long since brought even royalty into
-contempt.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Accordingly, his influence over the pulpits had
-also decreased. James could not now control his
-impatience and petulance; even when listening
-to a sermon on Christmas-day, from the
-Bishop of London, the King, displeased at its
-length, talked so loud that the prelate was obliged
-to end abruptly. Urgent measures were taken to
-curb the taste for controversial sermons; and none
-below bachelors of divinity were henceforth to be
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>allowed to preach them; for the Spanish match,
-and favour to recusants, were the great themes,
-especially when the King, on the plea that Protestants
-might find more freedom abroad, if there
-were more toleration here, released all Jesuits,
-priests, and persons refusing the oath of supremacy,
-who happened then to be in prison.<a id='r63' /><a href='#f63' class='c012'><sup>[63]</sup></a>
-“Wise men,” wrote one courtier to another, his
-kinsman, “are troubled, and betake themselves to
-prayers, rather than inquiry.”<a id='r64' /><a href='#f64' class='c012'><sup>[64]</sup></a> The clergy,
-meantime, had been ordered to pray for the
-Prince’s prosperous journey and safe return; but
-one stiff-necked preacher prayed “that God
-would be merciful to him now that he was going
-to the House of <a id='corr70.15'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Rinmon.'>Rinmon.”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_70.15'><ins class='correction' title='Rinmon.'>Rinmon.”</ins></a></span><a id='r65' /><a href='#f65' class='c012'><sup>[65]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King had, however, before Charles’s departure,
-given sensible and stringent instructions to
-the two chaplains who were to attend on the
-Prince, with regard to the reverential performance
-of divine service whilst in Spain. They were
-to preach “Christ crucified, and the doctrines of
-the English Church,” but not to indulge in
-polemical discourses or in controversy. They
-might take with them Prayer-books, articles of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>religion, and the King’s works.<a id='r66' /><a href='#f66' class='c012'><sup>[66]</sup></a> At a later period,
-however, this was altered, and the Prince’s “servants
-and chaplains” were ordered to follow him
-with chapel furniture and Prayer-books in Latin;
-the service was to be in Latin, and the communion
-celebrated with wafer-cakes and wine and water;
-“but it will be to no purpose,” adds the writer of
-this news, “as the Spaniards will not go near
-them.” Dr. Hakluyt, the Prince’s former chaplain,
-had written a work against the Spanish
-match, calling the Spaniards idolaters, and had
-presented it to the Princes,<a id='r67' /><a href='#f67' class='c012'><sup>[67]</sup></a> so that he was, it may
-be concluded, not among the “servants and chaplains,”
-who were thus, according to the spirit of
-the day, coupled together as forming a part
-of the Prince’s household.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The prejudice against the Infanta, as a future
-Queen of England, continued to increase, nor was
-it confined to uneducated or bigoted persons. It
-was supposed that, whilst Buckingham was in
-Spain, he received secret advices, which convinced
-him that to steer his course in safety, it would
-be necessary to break off a treaty which the Puritanical
-party regarded as a compact with Popery.
-“There were those who,” says Bishop Hacket,
-“sent instructions into Spain, to adjure the Duke
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>to do his best to prevent the espousals.” The
-reasons assigned were "God’s glory, and his own
-safety." "For God’s sake, keep our orthodox
-religion from the admixture of that superstition
-which threatened against the soundness of it.
-And no corrosive so good to eat out the corruption
-of Romish rottenness creeping on, as to
-give the Spaniard the dodge, and leave the
-daughter of Spain behind." Such were the counsels
-despatched by friends to the Duke.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Consultations of his adherents were now held at
-Wallingford House, to consider what would be the
-best way of promoting, not the interests of the
-nation, but his own personal advancement. James
-had, of late, become partial to parliaments, and
-was resolved to close the next very graciously.
-“Therefore,” observes Hacket, "the cabinet men
-at Wallingford House set upon it to consider by
-what exploit their lord should commence to be
-the ‘Darling of the Commons,’ and, as it were,
-to republicate his lordship, and to be precious to
-those who had the vogue to be lovers of their
-country." It was, therefore, determined to abandon
-the Spanish marriage, and to direct the attention
-of the country, and more especially the
-regard of the Prince, towards a daughter of
-France; and it was agreed that it would be for
-Buckingham’s interests that he should have the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>full credit of the newly projected alliance. From
-these considerations was the Spanish alliance
-thrown aside, with, it must be confessed, little regard
-to honour. Whether the evident disgust of
-the nation to the marriage formed sufficient plea for
-the crooked and complicated means which were
-taken to do away with a contract which had been
-so nearly brought to a conclusion, it remains for
-posterity to decide; contemporaries were divided
-by faction, not reason.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was in vain, by the arbitrary acts employed,
-to suppress public opinion. The Earl of Oxford
-had been committed to the Tower for saying that
-he hoped the time would come when justice would
-be free, and not come only through Buckingham’s
-hands. This committal was an instance of the
-resolution at Court to crush all discussion. Gondomar,
-smooth to the great, was a perfect fury towards
-the small. The people had been indignant
-with him for having, before his return to Spain,
-struck a Scotsman with his fists, for saying
-that he had been ill-treated in Spain. The
-Scotsman, though he took the insult patiently,
-had been sent to prison.<a id='r68' /><a href='#f68' class='c012'><sup>[68]</sup></a> These were but scanty
-specimens of the petty oppressions by which the
-voice of an aroused people was to be stopped. It
-was therefore time, Buckingham thought, to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>save himself, at all events, from the storm.
-Public hatred had been already shown when
-Don Diego, as Gondomar was called, passed
-through the city. The mob insulted him,
-and even threatened violence, “but none was
-used.” Three apprentices were, nevertheless,
-whipped at the cart’s tail for this slight to the
-Spanish ambassador, whilst the people looked,
-pitying, on; and those who executed the sentence
-incurred much popular abuse. James, who was
-at that time angry with all who differed from him,
-came from Theobald’s to London in a rage to
-reprove such disorders. He was pacified by the
-Recorder, and contented himself with private
-admonition to the Aldermen to punish such
-offenders. Another man was then whipped, and
-those who murmured at the sentence arrested.<a id='r69' /><a href='#f69' class='c012'><sup>[69]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Steps were immediately taken to mark a difference
-between the conduct to be pursued to the
-Spanish and the French ambassadors; and
-Charles, having first proposed an audience to
-the Marquis of Inojosa, granted it, under circumstances
-not very flattering. The Spanish
-ambassadors, having repaired to Theobald’s, returned
-not so well “satisfied as they ought” to
-be. They endeavoured, but in vain, to procure
-an audience of the King without the presence of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>the Duke; but finding that impossible, they
-became disposed to arraign his conduct in the
-marriage before his face.<a id='r70' /><a href='#f70' class='c012'><sup>[70]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The public, meantime, could not fail to interpret
-the real temper of the King’s Council by circumstances
-apparently trivial. In the course of the
-winter, there arrived from France a nobleman
-skilled in falconry, with a present of fifteen or sixteen
-cast-off hawks, some ten or twelve horses, and
-the same number of setters. He was accompanied
-by a numerous train, splendidly accoutred, and made
-his entry into London by torchlight. He was to
-remain until he had instructed the people in the
-kind of falconry in which he excelled, he and his
-troop costing the King from twenty-five to thirty
-pounds daily. Under this guise, probably, some
-political mission was couched; for James,
-although now fast declining, braved the advice of
-his physicians, and travelled to Newmarket on
-purpose to see these foreign hawks fly. He had
-put off the masque on Twelfth Night, on account,
-as he had assigned, of his indisposition; but
-actually because of the competition about precedence
-between the French and Spanish ambassadors,
-who could not be accommodated in his presence.<a id='r71' /><a href='#f71' class='c012'><sup>[71]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>Thus did every variation in Buckingham’s
-plans appear to prosper. That he could so work
-upon James’s mind as to obliterate from it the
-cherished scheme of years, seems, indeed, a marvellous
-effect of his influence. For his ingratitude
-in this matter to the King, who had entrusted
-to him, as the object next his heart, the completion
-of the Spanish treaty, the Duke has justly
-been blamed. Could he, as Bishop Hacket
-asks, be deemed “execrable in point of
-honour and conscience? Did he do it the best
-for the King? Did he think the Spanish alliance
-would be fruitful in nothing but miseries,
-and that it would be a thankful office to lurch
-the King in his expectation of it? Evil befall
-such double diligence!” “Or did this great
-lord do it for the best for himself? I believe
-it. If the hope of the match died away, he
-lookt to get the love of the most in England;
-but if it were made up, he lookt for many enemies,
-for he had lost the love of the best in
-Spain. Let the Duke have his deserved praise
-in other things, great and many, but let fidelity,
-loyalty, and thankfulness hide their face, and not
-look upon this action.”<a id='r72' /><a href='#f72' class='c012'><sup>[72]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The blame of this conduct was attributable,
-according to the same writer, more to those who
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>worked upon the flexible temper of Buckingham
-than to his own wishes. But no one has a right
-to throw off his own shoulders, or to place on
-those of another, the deliberate violation of solemn
-engagements. “For it is,” as the Bishop remarks,
-“not man, God that made the law: he that kindled
-the fire, let him make retribution.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was not long before James began to suspect
-that he had been abused by the favourite whose
-fidelity ought to have been secured by gratitude.
-Among the friends of the Duke, there was one who
-looked disapprovingly on his conduct. This was
-the Lord Keeper Williams; a man of “as deep
-and large wisdom,” says Bishop Hacket, “as I
-did ever speak with.” Confessing the greatest
-obligations to Buckingham, Williams had the
-courage to oppose him, when conscience dictated
-a remonstrance.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“His enemies,” says his biographer, “liked
-nothing worse in him than his courage, and he
-pleased himself in nothing more.” Of a stately
-presence, and possessing abilities to maintain
-that lofty demeanour which is absurd when not
-supported by real superiority of intellect,
-Williams could cope with the haughty Buckingham,
-whose headstrong will had become such
-that none of the King’s ministers could move it.
-Williams, too, was of temper somewhat irritable.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>“Choler and a high stomach were his faults, the
-only defects in him.”<a id='r73' /><a href='#f73' class='c012'><sup>[73]</sup></a> His manners were, at
-times, even supercilious. He was not likely to
-be daunted by one whose capacity was, therefore,
-to his own, as that of the infant to the man,
-and over whom he exercised an ascendancy
-through a very noted channel; namely,
-the influence which the Lord Keeper
-possessed over the Countess of Buckingham.
-“Those dangerous and busy flies,” writes Bishop
-Hacket, “which the Roman seminaries send
-abroad, had buzzed about the Countess of Buckingham,
-had blown upon her, and infected her.
-She was mother to the great favourite, but in
-religion became a step-mother.” Her conversion
-had taken place about a twelvemonth previously.
-The Countess doted on her son; but her conversion
-was certain to be highly injurious to him,
-especially at that juncture, just before the Spanish
-journey. Complaints were uttered, importing that
-the mother, who was thought almost to govern her
-son, must indirectly sway the monarch who was
-now little other than that son’s slave. The part
-which Laud had taken to remedy the evil has
-been already detailed. The Lord Keeper also had
-foreseen and endeavoured to prevent the mischief
-which might arise from these rumours. “Safety,”
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>he considered, “is easiest purchased by precaution.”
-“An instrument that is swung may be
-used upon a little warning.” Anxious for the
-welfare of the Duke, Williams addressed him to
-the following effect. “Your mother,”<a id='r74' /><a href='#f74' class='c012'><sup>[74]</sup></a> he observed,
-“is departed from the bosom of the Church
-of England, in whose confession of faith she was
-baptized;--a strange delusion in any to go
-astray from that society of Christians among
-whom they cannot demonstrate but salvation
-may be had. I would we could bring
-her home so soon that it might not be seen
-she had ever wandered.” His concern, he
-intimates, was, however, not so much for the
-Countess’s eternal welfare, as for her son’s temporal
-security. It was, he thought, time to inform
-the Favourite “that clamours were opened,”
-“that now the recusants have a potent advocate to
-plead for their immunity, and when this should
-be handed in high and popular court by tribunitial
-orators, what a dust it would make!”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“But,” pursued the Lord Keeper, “though I
-have touched a sore with my finger, I am furnished
-with an emplaister to lay upon it, which,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>I presume, will lenifie. Only measure not the
-<em>size</em> of good counsel by the <em>last</em> of success.”
-After this address, Williams had proposed that
-controversies between learned men, in which that
-age so much delighted, should be held for the
-Countess of Buckingham’s edification; that the
-King should be present at this; and the “conflux
-of great persons, as thick as the place would permit.”
-Then should Buckingham’s industry and
-zeal be manifested to “catch at every twig or
-advantage,” to give weight to every solid
-reason, to bring his mother into a sound mind
-again. If successful, the Duke would “save a
-soul very precious to him;” if unsuccessful, then
-the favourite’s <a id='corr80.15'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='pious'>“pious</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_80.15'><ins class='correction' title='pious'>“pious</ins></a></span> endeavours would fill the King
-with a good report,” and impart a “sweet savour”
-to all.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The result had justified the Lord Keeper’s
-anticipations; the Jesuit father, Fisher, was the
-champion in whom the Countess most relied; the
-King was the superintendent of the controversy.
-Dr. Francis White, then Dean of Carlisle, had
-gone first into the lists with Fisher, and given
-him “foil for foil,” according to the testimony of
-the Protestant party. But the lady was still unconvinced.
-The Lord Keeper engaged, therefore,
-in the combat. He managed the disputation with
-infinite skill, guided by <a id='corr80.28'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='wordly'>worldly</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_80.28'><ins class='correction' title='wordly'>worldly</ins></a></span> wisdom, mixed up
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>with Christian charity. He had observed in the
-former conflict, that if some of the Jesuit’s arguments
-were admitted, “the Church of England,
-repurging itself from the super-injected errors of
-Rome, would stand inculpable.” He laboured,
-therefore, to show that if “unnecessary strifes
-were discreetly waved, little was wanting to a conclusive
-unity.” The King greatly commended this
-conciliatory mode of disputation, which surprised
-and baffled Fisher, yet which still failed to bring
-back the wanderers to their former path. The
-third who had contended for the palm of victory,
-to bring, as Hacket calls it, “eye-salve to the dim-sighted
-lady, was Bishop Laud, who was declared
-to have galled Fisher with great acuteness.” But
-all his labour was vain, as far as the Countess was
-concerned; she continued in her new belief. The
-conference had, however, effected what was desired
-for her son. He had appeared as an antagonist in
-the field against one whom he honoured, and whom
-he had treated with the deepest respect. He was
-"blazed abroad as the Red Cross Knight that was
-Una’s champion against Archinago."<a id='r75' /><a href='#f75' class='c012'><sup>[75]</sup></a> And this
-scheme, which produced results afterwards, as
-well as at the time they were effected, of the
-utmost importance to Buckingham, had been
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>accomplished from the suggestions and by the
-skill of the Lord Keeper Williams.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It may therefore be supposed that Buckingham
-would listen with reverence to his representations,
-when the Lord Keeper ventured to warn him
-from the course he was pursuing. So far, however,
-from such being the case, the Duke never
-forgave him for a letter addressed to him whilst
-in Spain, advising a reconciliation with the Earl
-of Bristol, whose knowledge of Spanish affairs,
-and repeated success in negotiations, would, it
-was thought, secure the completion of the marriage
-treaty.<a id='r76' /><a href='#f76' class='c012'><sup>[76]</sup></a> Even whilst writing the letter,
-which seemed to alienate Williams from Buckingham
-for a time, the Lord Keeper was aware that
-he had already incurred the favourite’s displeasure.
-“What I wrote formerly,” he says, “may
-be ill-placed, and offend your grace, but all proceeded
-from as true and sincere a heart as you
-left behind you in all this kingdom.”<a id='r77' /><a href='#f77' class='c012'><sup>[77]</sup></a> The Earl
-of Bristol, on hearing of this act of mediation,
-argued truly when he anticipated that
-it would produce a quarrel. He wrote to Williams
-to the following effect, “that the friendship
-of the Duke was a thing he did infinitely desire,
-that he did infinitely esteem the good offices that
-the Lord Keeper had done therein, but that he
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>conceived that any motion he had made in that
-kind had been despised rather than received with
-thankfulness.”<a id='r78' /><a href='#f78' class='c012'><sup>[78]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham had formerly been compared to
-Alcibiades, the Lord Keeper to Socrates; but all
-obligations to that supposed Socrates were henceforth
-annulled. The interference of Williams,
-creditable to himself, and due to the King, was so
-misinterpreted that Buckingham withdrew from
-him his friendship, forgetting not only the axiom
-of Solon, “never to choose a friend suddenly, nor
-to lose him suddenly,” but the still stronger argument
-of services which could not be denied.
-During the Duke’s absence in Spain, Williams
-had watched over his welfare with the utmost
-care; he had ventured boldly to speak the truth
-to him; a benefit scarcely less important; yet
-Buckingham could not be appeased.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>He instantly avowed his determination, expressed
-with such effrontery and openness that
-it was soon conveyed to Williams, that he "would
-pluck down the highest roof of the Lord Keeper’s
-dignity." Williams, however, remained undaunted.
-He knew the favourite well. He allowed him to
-be a “generous and incorrupt patron, a great
-exacter of duty from those whom he served, and
-a bitter enemy.” But he confided in his own
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>powers of rhetoric, and in the pliable temper of
-his former friend. The Earl of Rutland, Buckingham’s
-father-in-law, was employed to mediate
-between them; and to him the Duke said, referring
-to Williams, “Whenever I disagree with him, he
-will prove himself to be in the right; and though
-I could never convict him of being dishonest, I
-am afraid of his wit.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Before Buckingham returned, Williams sent
-another letter, warning him of the risk he ran, and
-offering excellent advice on the subject of the
-Spanish treaty, and upon the Duke’s demeanour.
-The Spaniards had remarked with resentment
-that when Charles attempted to speak in Buckingham’s
-presence, the Duke took the words out of
-his mouth, or checked, with an abrupt contradiction,
-what he had to say; the more gently
-Charles endured this presumption, the greater
-was the general admiration expressed towards
-him, and disgust towards his favourite. The
-Spaniards, who never address their kings first,
-were indignant with his freedom, which constituted
-one of those points against which Williams
-had warned the Duke. It was in vain that the
-Lord Keeper strove to conciliate Buckingham, in
-vain that he praised the Duke’s skill and energy
-in the marriage treaty to King James; a
-breach was made, which was never entirely repaired,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>and which is as discreditable to the Duke
-of Buckingham as any of those violations of good
-faith and propriety by which his career was
-sullied.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On Tuesday, the thirteenth of January, whilst
-Buckingham’s disfavour with the King was suspected,
-a singular scene took place. The King,
-being much disturbed by his affairs, resolved to
-go to Theobald’s for change of scene. His health
-was now completely broken, and the vexatious
-and arbitrary conduct of his favourite added
-greatly to his sufferings. The morning before he
-left Whitehall, he received the various foreign
-ambassadors--the Venetian was first admitted,
-the French second, the Spanish last. They
-were introduced privately; and, after a full
-hour’s audience, the Prince and Buckingham
-were called in; what passed remained a secret,
-but the Prince and Duke were observed to
-come out looking very much dejected.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duke’s carriage stood at the door, ready
-to follow that of the King to London; and the
-favourite was prepared, as usual, to accompany
-his royal master in his own coach. The King and
-his son were in the coach, when the Duke received
-an intimation from His Majesty that he was
-not to go. Buckingham, it is related, with tears
-in his eyes, entreated “his Master” to inform him
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>how he had offended his gracious sovereign. “I
-vow,” he added sternly, “to purge, or confess it.”
-James, also, shed tears, and exclaiming that he
-was the unhappiest man alive, to be forsaken by
-those who were dearest to him, ordered his coach
-to drive on, and the Duke was left standing, dismayed,
-and probably indignant. Charles, who
-witnessed this scene, behaved with his usual weakness,
-his tears, also, expressing his concern and
-contrition.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham retired to Wallingford House,
-where, sometime afterwards, the Lord Keeper
-Williams went to him, having with difficulty been
-admitted. “He found him,” says Bishop Hacket,
-“lying on a couch, in that unmovable posture
-that he would neither rise up nor speak, though
-invited twice or thrice with courteous questions.”
-But Williams generously consoled him, admonishing
-that he believed "God’s directing hand was
-in it, to stir up his grace;" he assured him that
-he came on purpose to bring him out of his sorrow
-with the light of the King’s favour. He besought
-the Duke to set off instantly for Windsor;
-not however to show himself to His Majesty before
-supper was over, and then to deport himself with all
-“amiable addresses;” not “to quit the King night
-or day, for the danger was that some would thrust
-themselves in to push his Majesty on to break
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>utterly with the Parliament; and the next degree
-of theirs to be was, upon that dissolution, to see
-his grace convicted to the Tower, and God knows
-what would follow.”<a id='r79' /><a href='#f79' class='c012'><sup>[79]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duke, as if awakening from a dream,
-aroused himself, and set off, on the following day,
-to Theobald’s, where he arrived before he was expected.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Thus, to Williams’ mediation, did Buckingham
-owe the avoidance of any open displeasure
-on the part of his sovereign; unhappily this obligation
-did not cancel in the Duke’s mind that
-avowal of a difference in opinion, and that condemnation
-of the policy pursued towards Spain
-which Williams esteemed it his duty to express.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Opinions differed as to the actual obligations of
-the Prince to complete the contract with the Infanta.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Earl of Bristol declared that the King and
-the Prince stood as much engaged to it as princes
-could be; but Charles is said to have styled himself,
-as he knelt down before the King, at Royston,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>to have been “an absolute free man, but with
-one limitation--the restitution of the Palatinate.”<a id='r80' /><a href='#f80' class='c012'><sup>[80]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>These matters, painful and disgraceful as they
-were, were not concluded until the end of the year
-1624, when the “golden cord,” as Bishop Hacket
-terms it, was broken. “Nothing,” adds the same
-authority, "is more sure than that the Prince’s heart
-was removed from the desire of that marriage after
-the Duke had brought him away from the object
-of that delightful and ravishing beauty."<a id='r81' /><a href='#f81' class='c012'><sup>[81]</sup></a> If
-the report of other historians be credited, a far
-greater degree of constancy was shown by the
-young Princess whose affections were thus cruelly
-gained, and then sacrificed. After an acquaintance
-of many months, during which every possible
-exertion had been made by Charles to win her
-regard, these young persons, affianced as they
-doubtless were, had separated on terms of the
-closest affection. “The rare Infanta,” as she was
-styled, “seemed to deliver up her own heart at
-parting in as high expression as that language, and
-her learning could, with her honour, set out.”
-And when Charles had assured her that “<em>his</em> heart
-would never be out of anxiety till she had passed
-the intended voyage, and were safe on British
-land,” she answered with a blush, “that should she
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>happen to be in danger upon the ocean, or discomposed
-in health with the rolling, brackish waters,
-she would cheer up herself, and remember to
-whom she was going.”<a id='r82' /><a href='#f82' class='c012'><sup>[82]</sup></a> After his departure the
-Princess began to study English “a-pace,”<a id='r83' /><a href='#f83' class='c012'><sup>[83]</sup></a> two
-Englishmen, the one a Mr. Wadsworth, and the
-other Father Boniface, being appointed to teach
-her. The English ambassador, and all the ambassadors
-in Madrid from other countries, gave her
-the title and style of an English Princess, the Earl
-of Bristol and Sir Walter Aston remaining uncovered
-in her presence. In order to pass the
-period of absence, the Infanta employed herself in
-working “divers suits of rich cloths” for Charles,
-of perfumed ambar leather, some embroidered with
-pearls, others with gold and silver. Her household
-was on the eve of being settled, and nothing but one
-more despatch from home was expected, and then
-the solemnization of the nuptials would take
-place. In the midst of these preparations, one
-circumstance puzzled observers. “There is,”
-says Howell, "one Mr. Clerk (with the lame
-arm), that came hither from the seaside as soon
-as the Prince was gone; he is one of the Duke
-of Buckingham’s creatures, yet he is at the Earl
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>of Bristol’s house, which we wonder at, considering
-the darkness that hapned ’twixt the Duke
-and the Earl. We fear that this Clerk hath
-brought about something that may puzzle the
-business."</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Nevertheless, the preparations for the espousals
-proceeded; the first check given to them being
-a letter from Prince Charles, desiring Lord
-Bristol not to deliver up his proxy to the marriage
-to the King of Spain until further notice
-from England. On receiving this intimation, Lord
-Bristol observed “that he and Sir Walter Aston
-had a commission under the Broad Seal of England
-to conclude the match, and that there could
-not be a better favour for the surrender of the
-Palatinate than the Infanta, who would never
-rest until she had merited the love of the British
-nation.” He did not, therefore, relax his preparations;
-and provided rich liveries of watered velvet,
-with silver lace up to the very capes of the cloaks
-for his servants; and, in a fortnight afterwards,
-the ratification arrived, the marriage-day was
-fixed, and a terrace, covered with tapestry, was
-raised from the King’s Palace to the next church, a
-distance about the same as that between Whitehall
-and Westminster Abbey. But when she stood thus
-on the very threshold of her happiness,as she deemed
-it, the Infanta was doomed to be rejected and disappointed.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>“She had studied,” writes Bishop
-Hacket, “our language, our habit, our behaviour,
-everything but our religion, to make her English.
-Her conversation turned continually upon the
-Prince, and on her projected voyage to England
-in the spring. On the other hand, she was led to
-suppose that Charles admired her for her beauty;
-that his attachment was equal to her own; and
-that he was worthy of the affection which she undoubtedly
-bore him.”<a id='r84' /><a href='#f84' class='c012'><sup>[84]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The young King of Spain, her brother, participated
-in the sentiments of personal attachment
-which Charles appears to have inspired in those
-who beheld him, in the prime of his youth, at the
-Court of Madrid. Philip was now anxious to
-conclude the marriage, which he meant to do on
-the day on which his infant daughter was christened.
-Invitations were actually sent to the
-principal nobility to attend the espousals by
-proxy; ordinance was ordered to be fired off in
-the port-towns; and all Spain was prohibited
-from speaking disadvantageously of the alliance;
-when a new commission to Lord Bristol arrived.
-By this he was forbidden to deliver up the Prince’s
-proxy until a full and absolute satisfaction for the
-surrender of the Palatinate was given under the
-hand and seal of the King of Spain.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>This pretext--for the plea of the Palatinate
-could not in justice be adduced at this stage of
-the treaty--was met by the insulted Philip IV.
-with spirit. He replied that the “Palatinate was
-not his to give;” that he held only a few towns
-there; but that if the King of Great Britain would
-set a treaty on foot, he would send his own ambassador
-to join in it.<a id='r85' /><a href='#f85' class='c012'><sup>[85]</sup></a> But the final blow was
-given to the Spanish treaty. Lord Bristol was
-prohibited from delivering any more letters to the
-Infanta, and her title of Princess of England and
-Wales was prohibited.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, on his return to Whitehall, commissioned
-a select junto to inquire, whether, in the
-treaty with the King of Spain, that monarch had
-been sincere to the last in his desire to satisfy the
-Prince and the Duke; and whether, in the treaty
-for the restitution of the Palatinate, he had violated
-the league between the two kingdoms, so as to
-deserve a war to be proclaimed against him.<a id='r86' /><a href='#f86' class='c012'><sup>[86]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Some of the proceedings of this junto having
-been bruited abroad, it was found that they were
-divided into three parties, five of their number
-being for the Spanish marriage--among whom was
-the Lord Keeper Williams--four neutral, and
-three directly against the alliance. These were
-the Duke of Buckingham, who sent his vote, the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>Earl of Carlisle, and Secretary Conway. The
-evident distaste which Charles now showed for
-the match had a great influence in the deliberations
-of the junto. The Earl of Pembroke, Lord
-Chamberlain, who was at first neutral, “nobly spoke
-out, declaring it as his opinion that, if the
-Spaniards performed the conditions, he saw not
-how the thing could in honour draw back.” It
-was supposed that this candid declaration was
-owing to some pique between him and Buckingham.
-Much heart-burning, indeed, existed on
-the part of several of the junto towards the
-favourite, who engrossed, as it was plainly seen,
-the regards both of the King and of his son, and
-contrived to cut off all access to those whom it
-was his aim wholly to govern.<a id='r87' /><a href='#f87' class='c012'><sup>[87]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>But the chief object of Buckingham’s wrath
-was Williams. “The proceedings in this affair
-were,” says Bishop Hacket, "so far against the
-Lord Keeper’s mind, that he wished, before a
-friend or two in private, that a fever in his sick-bed
-might excuse him." Buckingham was now
-become incapable of that generous candour which
-permits a friend to differ in opinion. He “was
-now mortally anti-Spanish,” as Bishop Hacket
-observes, “and his anger was headed with steel.
-He assayed the Lord Keeper to hale him to his
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>judgment, as an eddy does a small boat,” and
-would have persuaded him to influence the King
-against Spain; but he found him as “inflexible as
-a dried bough.” When pressed by the favourite to
-advance his views, he declared that, as God was
-his protector, he would suffer all the obloquy in
-the world, rather than be ungrateful to the Duke.
-But when the King asked his judgment--he must
-be true and faithful--Buckingham, to his discredit
-be it spoken, had not the generosity to
-appreciate Williams. The Duke had been apprized
-that James, addressing the Earl of Carlisle,
-had remarked, "that had he sent Williams into
-Spain, he would have kept both heart’s ease and
-honour, both of which he lacked at that time."
-And one day, when Prince Charles was present,
-James, looking at Williams, said, “This is the
-man that makes us keep merry Christmas.” The
-Prince, not seeming to understand his father, the
-King explained himself. “It is he,” he said, “that
-laboured more dexterously than all my servants to
-bring you safe back home this Christmas, and
-I hope you are sensible of it.” A finishing
-stroke was put to Buckingham’s mortification
-when the King announced his intention of promoting
-the Lord Keeper to the Archbishopric of
-York when next it should be vacant.<a id='r88' /><a href='#f88' class='c012'><sup>[88]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>The decision of the junto exonerated Philip
-IV. from any hollowness in his share of the
-treaty. They blamed the Earl of Bristol for not
-revoking the proxy, which was left in his hands
-sooner, and thus stopping those preparations for
-the nuptials which had rendered the King of
-Spain ridiculous. But when they voted that that
-Monarch should be defied with open war, till
-amends were made to the Prince Palatine for the
-wrongs he had suffered, the majority of the conference
-hesitated, and refused to say more than
-that the “girths of peace were slack, but not
-broken.” Buckingham had now become wholly
-impatient of opposition; scarcely any of the
-council had voted to his satisfaction. Sometimes
-strange scenes were witnessed in the conference;
-the fiery Duke would arise, and “chafe against”
-those who opposed him from room to room, “as a
-hen who has lost her brood, and clucks up and
-down when there is none to follow her.” Upon
-meeting Lord Belfast, one of the party adverse to
-his wishes, he asked him contemptuously, “Are
-you turned too? and flung from him; upon which
-Lord Belfast, in a manly and candid letter,
-announced his resolution to conform in all things
-to the pleasure of his royal master.” But the
-greatest anger was displayed by Buckingham
-against the Lord Keeper, who seldom spoke,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>but who, when he gave his opinion, swayed that
-of the majority.<a id='r89' /><a href='#f89' class='c012'><sup>[89]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham was not of a character to dissemble
-his feelings; and his displeasure was shown,
-not only in his countenance, but expressed in
-angry expostulations. He told Bishop Laud that
-the Lord Keeper had so strangely forgotten himself
-to him that he seemed to be “dead in his
-affections.” Laud, who was devotedly attached to
-the favourite and his family, meeting Williams in
-the withdrawing-chamber at Whitehall, “fell into
-very hot words with him,” which were reported to
-the Duke. Eventually, however, these differences
-were healed, and, in February, 1624, a reconciliation
-was effected through the mediation of Laud.
-From henceforth, nothing but an appearance of
-friendship subsisted between Buckingham and
-Williams. “The wound,” says Dr. Heylyn, “was
-only stunned, not healed, and festered the more
-dangerously, because the secret rancour of it
-could not be discerned.”<a id='r90' /><a href='#f90' class='c012'><sup>[90]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The issue of all this was that the Duke insisted
-on a parliament, by way of appeal;<a id='r91' /><a href='#f91' class='c012'><sup>[91]</sup></a> and during
-the heat of these Court cabals, that body was
-assembled at Westminster in February.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Meantime, public aversion to the match was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>from time to time forcibly expressed. The pulpits
-were still profaned by political allusions; a
-clergyman named Knight was committed for
-preaching that tyrannical kings might be brought
-to order by their subjects; a doctrine which appeared
-so monstrous to James, that he talked of
-having the sermon burned by the hangman.<a id='r92' /><a href='#f92' class='c012'><sup>[92]</sup></a>
-This arrest took place at Oxford; the King highly
-approved the proceedings, and directions were
-forthwith sent to the heads of the colleges, to desire
-the students to apply themselves to the Scriptures,
-to general councils, and the ancient fathers and
-schoolmen, excluding the heretical doctrines of
-both Jesuits and Puritans. The document which
-contains these directions is still extant, and is endorsed
-by Laud. Sedition seems not to have been
-the only rank weed that then sprang up in the
-universities.<a id='r93' /><a href='#f93' class='c012'><sup>[93]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, in addressing the Parliament,
-declared that he had called them together to
-correct previous misunderstandings; that he
-would cherish his people as a husband does his
-wife; he wished for their advice in matters of the
-greatest moment; he had long been engaged in
-treaties, hoping to settle the peace of Christendom,
-but had found treaties fallacious. With regard to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>Spain, he referred the houses to the secretaries,
-the Prince, and to Buckingham; on their good
-advice he conceived the felicity of the kingdom
-depended. He had never, he said, neglected
-religion, nor intended anything but a temporary
-indulgence to recusants. He concluded this
-original and eccentric harangue (rather different
-from a modern royal speech) by saying that he knew
-that never was there a king more beloved than
-himself, and that he wished the two houses to be
-the mirrors of the people.<a id='r94' /><a href='#f94' class='c012'><sup>[94]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Speaker was then elected; and Sir Thomas
-Crewe, sergeant-at-law, in his reply, recalled the
-benefits of the good parliament in the thirty-second
-year of Henry VIII., and the thirty-ninth
-of Elizabeth.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Soon afterwards, More, an attorney, was sentenced
-to lose both his ears “for speaking disrespectfully
-of those two deceased monarchs.”
-Such was English liberty. The culprit laughed
-whilst the sentence was being put into execution
-in Cheapside. A proclamation was issued, ordering
-priests and Jesuits to leave Ireland within forty
-days;<a id='r95' /><a href='#f95' class='c012'><sup>[95]</sup></a> so instant was the change from toleration
-to persecution. James was not more free from
-troubles about Ireland than his successors have
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>been. On visiting the State Paper Office, and
-seeing a large mass of documents relating to that
-island there, he had once remarked that there was
-“more ado about Ireland than about any of his
-dominions.”<a id='r96' /><a href='#f96' class='c012'><sup>[96]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duke had now so completely regained the
-love of the people, by his abandoning the Spanish
-marriage, that it was proposed in the Lower
-House to confirm all his lands and honours
-to him by act of parliament; but the reply
-was that this was no time to commend men,
-though deserving well.<a id='r97' /><a href='#f97' class='c012'><sup>[97]</sup></a> A few days afterwards,
-the Prince told the Upper House that they need
-not fear “advising a breach, for if we did not
-begin the war, Spain would.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In the House of Commons, Sir Benjamin
-Rudyard declared that the King of Spain had
-verified the proverb that kings’ daughters are
-so many ways to deceive their neighbours; and
-that since the match was first thought of, much
-Papistry had sprung up amongst the people;
-that Protestantism was disunited as in Germany;
-suppressed as in France; threatened as in Holland.
-All the speakers on this memorable occasion
-praised the Prince. Rudyard declared that he
-had shown both courage and wisdom in his
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>journey, which “had matured his excellent parts.”
-The Lord Keeper Williams related how the
-Prince had sent a message to the council, to say
-that though he stole to Spain for love, he would
-not steal back again for fear; how he had told
-Grimes, one of his servants, to tell his father,
-in case he should hear that he was detained,
-to think of him no more as a son, for he would
-be lost, but to place all his affections on his
-sister.<a id='r98' /><a href='#f98' class='c012'><sup>[98]</sup></a> On the second of March, Sir Edward
-Coke was instructed by the Commons to
-advise the Lords of their unanimous resolution
-to counsel the King to break the treaties with
-Spain; and was instructed to request the Lords
-to join in a petition to make a declaration to that
-effect, which should comfort his people and encourage
-his allies abroad.<a id='r99' /><a href='#f99' class='c012'><sup>[99]</sup></a> Sir Edward answered,
-that he never knew a petition of both houses
-refused; he could not say anything more “for
-weeping;” and Sir Thomas Edmondes, treasurer
-of the household, taking up the pecuniary part of
-the question, said that the “mysteries of delusion
-in the treaties were now discovered, and that the
-Spanish, having enticed us from the match with
-France, now offered, instead of a dowry of
-600,000<em>l.</em>, only 20,000<em>l.</em> yearly with the Infanta,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>and some jewels; whilst France would give a wedding
-portion of 240,000<em>l.</em>” This, perhaps, considering
-the King’s debts, and the almost bankrupt state
-of the treasury, was probably a stronger argument
-with James than the restitution of the Palatinate,
-or the security of Protestantism, on which points
-his conscience seems to have been conveniently
-callous.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On the twenty-sixth of February, Buckingham,
-assisted by the Prince, addressed the houses, beginning
-from the first negotiation at Brussels, which
-had raised doubts of the Spanish King’s sincerity,
-and induced the Prince to go himself to Spain; and
-had disclosed the fact that neither the marriage,
-nor the restitution of the Palatinate, was intended.
-Many letters were read to and from the chief
-parties concerned in the treaty, and the houses
-were asked whether the King should act on the
-assurances given, or “stand on his own feet.” It
-was soon resolved that the King should not accept
-their answer. The houses applauded the Duke’s
-conduct, and requested the King to break off the
-treaties.<a id='r100' /><a href='#f100' class='c012'><sup>[100]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Upon this resolution, the spirits of the anti-Catholics
-were so much excited that a request
-was sent James to order a fast for the happy
-deliverance of the Prince; and no member of parliament
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>was henceforth to be allowed to retain recusant
-servants.<a id='r101' /><a href='#f101' class='c012'><sup>[101]</sup></a> Soon afterwards the Lower House
-informed the Upper that the Spanish ambassadors
-declared that Buckingham deserved to lose his
-head for wronging the King of Spain, but that the
-Commons had acquitted him, and the Upper House
-appointed a committee, who did the same.<a id='r102' /><a href='#f102' class='c012'><sup>[102]</sup></a> On
-the same day, the Duke made a motion in the
-House of Peers to “thwart the King of Spain in
-the Indies,” by way of a commencement of hostilities.
-The Upper House, indeed, cried out
-loudly for hostilities, more especially the bishops;
-and the Bishop of Durham was so excited that
-he declared he would lay down his rochet, and
-gird on a sword if the King would take that
-course. This excitement was heightened by the
-following anecdote. Buckingham, having been
-present when the Spanish ambassador told the King
-that his master had deprived a bishop for speaking
-disrespectfully of James, had answered, “It was
-true; and he had admired the justice of his Spanish
-Majesty therein, but still more his mercy, for in
-a few days he gave the man a bishopric worth thrice
-of his former prelacy.” These particulars were
-stated by some members in the debates.<a id='r103' /><a href='#f103' class='c012'><sup>[103]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It is not improbable that the exaggerated fears
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>of the people, on the one hand, and the expectations
-of the Catholics, on the other, may have
-alarmed Charles, who was firmly attached to the
-Church of England. Upon an application being
-made to Pope Gregory the XV. to grant a
-dispensation for the marriage, that Pontiff had
-replied in a Latin letter, expressing, first, his
-regret at the altered state of Britain;<a id='r104' /><a href='#f104' class='c012'><sup>[104]</sup></a> next, his
-hopes that, as under his predecessor, Gregory the
-Great, Apostolical authority had been there
-established, he might be permitted to see it reestablished
-by the conversion of the Prince,
-“the flower of the Christian world,” who had
-proved, by seeking a Catholic Princess, that he
-did not hate the see of Rome. He then set
-before the Prince the example of his Highness’s
-ancestors, and concluded with hoping that Charles
-would become “the infranshiser of Brittayne.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Several Catholics who had worn a mask of
-Protestantism now threw it off, and in hopes
-of toleration, avowed themselves Romanists;
-amongst these were Sir John Wentworth and Lord
-Vaughan. “Everyone,” Lady Hatton wrote to
-Carleton, “was on the wing for Spain;” but, “in
-spite of her walks and talks with Gondomar,” she
-would ever, she said, oppose his country.<a id='r105' /><a href='#f105' class='c012'><sup>[105]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>Nor were the Catholics without reason in their
-dreams of enjoying a degree of security and toleration
-long most unjustly and cruelly withheld. Even
-after James had begun to listen to the changed
-tone adopted by Buckingham, preparations had
-been going on, both for the reception and maintenance
-of the Infanta, which might well afford hopes
-of religious liberty. It was reported that the
-marriage conditions were to be, the liberation
-of the Catholics and the abandonment of the
-Hollanders. The Spanish ambassador surveyed
-Denmark House and St. James’s, where “lodgings,”
-as they were styled, were prepared for
-the Infanta. At each place, he ordered a new
-chapel, and Inigo Jones was to prepare each
-with great costliness. The Spanish ambassador
-laid the stone of a new chapel for the Infanta
-at St. James’s, whilst the Savoy chapel was to
-be given up to the Infanta’s suite.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“After the London bonfires,” adds Mr. Chamberlain,
-who tells in the same tone good and bad
-tidings, “Oxford lit fires and rung bells, and
-wrote verses in honour of the match.”<a id='r106' /><a href='#f106' class='c012'><sup>[106]</sup></a> It appears,
-indeed, from a letter of Lord Treasurer Middlesex
-to Secretary Conway, that it was even in contemplation
-to decorate the chapel with jewels;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>"Sir Peter Lore’s jewels, and others of the Countess
-of Suffolk, now in pawn, should," wrote the
-Lord Treasurer, immediately after referring to his
-preparing the chapel, "be submitted to His Majesty’s
-inspection, though he hoped the King would
-not declare which he preferred, as advantage would
-be taken of his preference, but leave the Chancellor
-himself, and others, <a id='corr105.8'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='“to bargain'>to bargain</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_105.8'><ins class='correction' title='“to bargain'>to bargain</ins></a></span> for them,
-as there was great necessity for frugality."<a id='r107' /><a href='#f107' class='c012'><sup>[107]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, indeed, up to the very moment of
-his son’s return, had been sanguine of the marriage,
-and delighted to talk over the adventures of the
-journey, during which Buckingham had had seven
-falls, Sir Francis Cottington twelve, and the Prince
-not one; but his tone was now beginning to alter,
-which seemed strange to those who knew the King’s
-circumstances, and who considered how splendid a
-dower was expected with the Infanta. Lord Middlesex,
-who was afterwards discovered to have embezzled
-public money, had declared himself “sick
-at heart” with the idea of all these extraordinary
-charges, when the King was so ill able to meet
-even his ordinary expenses. Like all servants
-who rob their masters, his zeal was laudable; he
-could not, he wrote, “hold out, unless some extraordinary
-reply be thought of, or some large sums
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>come in from Spain with the fleet; but would pawn
-his whole estate for the present.”<a id='r108' /><a href='#f108' class='c012'><sup>[108]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was a gift from a lady that brought first
-the altered sentiments of Prince Charles to light.
-In the course of March, 1624, the Countess of
-Olivares had sent him a large present of provisions,
-comprising gammons of bacon, vessels of
-olives, special figs, sweet lemons, capers and
-caperons, suchets, and sweet meats; he vouchsafed
-not even to see them. They were conveyed
-into the riding place at St. James’s, and left to
-the disposal of Mr. Francis Cottington.<a id='r109' /><a href='#f109' class='c012'><sup>[109]</sup></a> On the
-twenty-third of March, James informed his Privy
-Council that he was about to send a messenger to
-Spain, to signify to the King that his Parliament
-had advised him to break off the treaty, and that
-he intended proceeding to recover the Palatinate
-as he might. “Bonfires were made in the city,”
-says Archbishop Laud, “for joy that we should
-break with Spain.” Prince Charles gave great
-satisfaction to the Parliament, where he was a
-constant attendant, by declaring that should he
-choose any one of a different religion from his own,
-it would be with a caution that his consort, and
-her foreign servants, alone should be permitted the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>exercise of their faith.<a id='r110' /><a href='#f110' class='c012'><sup>[110]</sup></a> It was not, however, until
-the tenth of December in the same year, that a
-ship was sent to Spain to fetch back the jewels
-that had been bestowed on the Infanta and the
-royal family there; when, by the proposal of the
-Spaniards themselves, they were returned. They
-were placed under the care of James Howell,
-whose familiar letters are so well known, and the
-news of their arrival was conveyed by him to the
-King.<a id='r111' /><a href='#f111' class='c012'><sup>[111]</sup></a> The Infanta, as an account from Spain
-testified, was greatly distressed by these proceedings.
-The termination of this treaty was, as
-Bishop Hacket remarks, “flat and unfortunate.
-Not an inch of the Palatinate better for it, and
-we the worse from wars in all countries.” The
-same writer justly observes that the Spanish as a
-nation are preferable to the French; that the
-Spanish ladies, who have been united to English
-princes, have been “virtuous, mild, thrifty, and
-beloved of all.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The conduct of Charles in this affair gave a
-presage of that vacillating and insincere policy
-which, in his after life, stamped a character full of
-beautiful indications and gentle qualities, with
-duplicity. "But to his life’s end," remarks
-Hacket, “he had a quality, I will not call it
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>humility, it is something like, but it is not it, to
-be easily persuaded out of his own knowledge
-and judgment by some whom he permitted to
-have power over him, who had not the half of his
-intellectuals.” The public, however, remarked
-that the “brave prince,” as they called him, was
-“bettered in his judgment after his return from
-Spain.”<a id='r112' /><a href='#f112' class='c012'><sup>[112]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham’s conduct drew forth still more
-severe censures. It was observed that in advising
-the Prince to break off the treaty, he had
-only counselled what he had often done himself;
-for he was said to have given promises of marriage
-to many within the Court, and to have withdrawn
-from the fulfilment.<a id='r113' /><a href='#f113' class='c012'><sup>[113]</sup></a> Harassed by the censures
-cast upon him, Buckingham’s health and spirits
-sank under the alternate excitement of his too
-dazzling career, and the depression of blame and
-opposition. “A fever, the jaundice, and I know
-not what else,” are described, in a letter from Mr.
-Chamberlain, as his disease. For this he was
-“let blood thrice;” “yet the world,” adds the
-same writer, “thinks he is more sick in mind
-than body, and that he declines apace.” The
-King in vain endeavoured to reconcile him to the
-Earl of Bristol, who had returned from Spain
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>some time previously. That nobleman was ordered
-not to leave his house, although many gracious messages
-were sent to him from the King.<a id='r114' /><a href='#f114' class='c012'><sup>[114]</sup></a> Buckingham,
-however, passed much of his time with
-the King, “with as much freedom and love as
-ever.”<a id='r115' /><a href='#f115' class='c012'><sup>[115]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duke of Buckingham was attended in his
-illness by Sir Theodore Mayerne, the favourite
-court physician. From an entry in a journal of
-cases kept by that eminent man, and styled by
-him his “Ephemerides Anglicæ,” it appears that
-Buckingham was not unfrequently the subject of
-his care and skill. In 1617 he had been troubled
-with a tumour in the right ear, owing to riding
-bareheaded in the winter, when hunting with the
-King; and the mode of life pursued in James’s
-society, the habits of intemperance prevalent in
-those days, and the absence of any strict moral
-principle, were, as Mayerne’s details are said to
-prove, highly injurious to the general health of the
-Favourite,<a id='r116' /><a href='#f116' class='c012'><sup>[116]</sup></a> who is specified, in Sir Theodore’s
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>voluminous collection, under the name of Palamedes.
-Every one remarked that Buckingham
-had, since his return, become pensive. “The
-Prince,” writes Mr. Mead to Sir Martin Stuteville,
-“hath got a beard, and is cheerful; the
-Marquis (some conceive) not so.” The expenses
-of the Spanish journey were very considerable;
-and in the impoverished state of James’s treasury,
-they might naturally provoke difficulties far from
-agreeable to the main projectors of that enterprize.
-They amounted, according to a release
-given by Prince Charles to Sir Francis Cottington,
-to 50,027<em>l.</em> Prince Charles, before he left
-Spain, had given presents to the amount of 12,000<em>l.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>But it appears that the nation, pleased that the
-heir-apparent of Great Britain should have an
-opportunity of seeing two great kingdoms, and
-proud of his discretion and princely demeanour,
-were far from regretting that the journey had
-taken place, but rejoiced that he had returned in
-health, and without any change in his religious
-opinions.<a id='r117' /><a href='#f117' class='c012'><sup>[117]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Prince, it was now said, disliked a Dutch
-match, and refused a Spanish one, until full restoration
-of the Palatinate and Electorals. “A
-lady,” Dudley Carleton remarked, “wise in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>these matters, declared she saw no symptom of
-his being in love.”<a id='r118' /><a href='#f118' class='c012'><sup>[118]</sup></a> The talk of the Spanish
-match became daily cooler, and another was said
-to be under consideration at Vienna; whilst the
-Princes’s safe return was, as many thought, a
-“marvel to all;” and a great man told him that
-he might thank God and his sister for it.<a id='r119' /><a href='#f119' class='c012'><sup>[119]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In the course of these discussions an accident
-occurred, which too plainly showed the temper of
-the times. A house had been hired by the
-Roman Catholics, next to that of the French
-ambassador, in order to celebrate mass, and to
-hear Father Drury, a famous Jesuit preacher.
-The day chosen for the opening of the tenement
-was the fifth of November. That day the roof
-fell in, whilst these worshippers were assembled,
-and ninety-five people, Drury among the number,
-were killed. It seems difficult, in the present
-state of public feeling, to believe that, as the crashing
-ruins entombed the victims beneath them, the
-barbarous multitude, who might term themselves
-Protestants, but were not to be called Christians,
-“rather railed and taunted the sufferers, than
-helped them.” Nor did the bitterness of persecution
-end there, for the Bishop of London refused
-to allow these unfortunate people to be interred
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>in any churchyard in the City; the dead were
-therefore buried in two pits behind the houses
-which had fallen in, and black crosses were placed
-above their graves. This event made a deep impression.
-It was the first solemn meeting of recusants
-for sixty years; the Puritans styled it a
-judgment; the Romanists declared that it could
-not be such, for that those dying in that way
-escape purgatory. The preachers in the churches,
-however, treated the question “charitably and
-temperately.”<a id='r120' /><a href='#f120' class='c012'><sup>[120]</sup></a> Masses for the sufferers were
-said at Ely House, in the presence of all the
-Spanish Legation, Sir Tobie Mathew appearing
-as chief mourner.<a id='r121' /><a href='#f121' class='c012'><sup>[121]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>People began to fear Buckingham more than
-even Prince Charles himself; he was styled the
-“dictator, not only of England, Ireland, and of
-Scotland, but of the King himself,”<a id='r122' /><a href='#f122' class='c012'><sup>[122]</sup></a> and he
-henceforth courted popularity, inviting himself to
-the houses of the influential citizens, which seemed
-nevertheless to imply that he dreaded lest some
-impending storm should be lowering over his
-destiny.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>During the whole of this year, however, Buckingham’s
-security was being undermined; and, had
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>it not been for the unfathomable indulgence of
-James, he would probably have shared the fate of
-that great minister, Wolsey, to whom he has been
-sometimes compared. During the progress of the
-Spanish treaty, as we have already seen, the
-Marquis of Inojosa had been sent to England as
-ambassador. He was a man of truly Spanish
-gravity and severity, and a great promoter of the
-Popish interests in England. His peculiar distinctions
-as an ambassador were, however, his disagreeable,
-discourteous manners, which marked
-him as one of the most unamiable foreigners that
-had visited the English Court.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This nobleman, in a private audience with
-James, had, in the spring of 1624, accused Buckingham
-of conspiring with certain accomplices
-how to break off the match with the Infanta, and
-of having determined, in case that their plot should
-not succeed, to send the King to one of his
-country houses, and to put all public matters in
-the hands of the Prince, whose virtue and discretion
-were so much worthier of confidence.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Hints were even thrown out by Inojosa that
-Buckingham plotted treason against the King,
-who, until assured by several peers and councillors
-that there was no intention of deposing him, was
-greatly disquieted. Precedents were now sought
-to punish Buckingham; and there was an idea
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>started of calling him before the upper house to
-answer for his conduct. But when the council
-talked to the King of precedents, he said that
-"such precedents were found to cut off his
-mother’s head." Inojosa did his best, meantime,
-to obtain a private hearing from the King, and
-went to him, whilst Charles was in the House of
-Lords, at Theobald’s; but the Prince, hearing of
-this visit, hurriedly rose, and arrived at the
-Palace before the ambassador.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, harassed and vacillating, sent for the
-Lords to Whitehall, and harangued them, when
-a strange scene ensued; he told them that he
-came to sing a psalm of mercy and justice about
-the Lord Treasurer,<a id='r123' /><a href='#f123' class='c012'><sup>[123]</sup></a> whose misdeeds had lately
-come to light--who had done him, he said, some
-good, in restraining grants which his own facile
-disposition led him to consent to; that a recent
-imposition on wines was for his service and profit,
-and therefore they might as well arraign him as
-the Lord Treasurer. Prince Charles, deputed by
-the lords, said Lord Middlesex was not questioned
-for that; but the King “<em>told him he lied</em>,”
-and bade the house proceed, but give a good
-account of what they did.<a id='r124' /><a href='#f124' class='c012'><sup>[124]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>James next did what every open nature is
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>likely to suggest; he sent for the creature whom
-he had raised from the dust, and reproached him
-with his conduct. “Ah, Steenie, Steenie,” cried
-the monarch, “wilt thou kill me?” Steenie, however,
-found means to justify himself to the
-King’s satisfaction, and the Marquis of Inojosa
-was henceforth prohibited from any more private
-interviews with the King. He resolved, however,
-to overreach those who were set as spies to prevent
-his seeing James; and, whilst Don Carlos de
-Coloma held the Prince and the Duke in close
-conversation, he managed to slip into the King’s
-hands, with a wink, a paper which he wished him
-to see, and made a sign that His Majesty should
-thrust it into his pocket, which was quietly
-effected by the poor frightened monarch. James
-had, indeed, for some time perceived that he was
-maltreated by the haughty Buckingham. The
-Prince, though averse to the alliance with Spain,
-was gentle and tractable; but, in the Duke, the
-King declared that he had noted a turbulent
-spirit of late, and knew not how to quell it. It
-was by the altered expression of James’s countenance,
-and by his frequent silence and musings,
-that the Duke and the Prince discovered these
-proceedings, and when they heard that Inojosa and
-the Jesuit Maestro had been with the King, their
-alarm was considerable. In consequence of this
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>discovery, Buckingham wrote to his royal master
-the following ungrateful and unpardonable letter:--</p>
-
-<div class='letter'>
-
-<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>Dear Dad and Gossip</span>,</p>
-
-<p class='c014'>"Notwithstanding this unfavourable
-interpretation I find made of a thoughtful and
-loyal heart, in calling my words ‘cruel Catonic
-words,’ in obedience to your commands, I will
-tell the House of Parliament that you, having been
-upon the fields this afternoon, have taken such a
-fierce rheum and cough, as, not knowing how you
-will be this night, you are not able yet to appoint
-them a day of hearing; but I will forbear to tell
-them that notwithstanding of your cold, you
-were able to speak with the King of Spain’s
-instruments, though not with your own subjects.
-All I can say is, you march slowly towards
-your own safety (here the words ‘<em>and happiness</em>’
-are erased), and those that depend of you. I
-pray God at last you may attain wit, otherwise
-I shall take little comfort in wife or child,
-though now I am suspected to look more to the
-rising son than to my maker. Sir, hitherto, I
-have tied myself to a punctuall answer of yours.
-If I should give myself leave to speak my own
-thoughts, they are so many, that though the
-quality of them should not grieve you, coming
-from one you wilfully and unjustly suspect, yet the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>number of them are so many, that I should
-not give over till I had troubled you. Therefore
-I shall only tie myself to that which shall
-be my last and speedy refuge--to pray, the
-Almighty to increase your joys and qualify the
-sorrows of your Majesty."</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='c001'>Notwithstanding this remonstrance, James continued
-to give audience to the Spanish ambassadors,
-though sometimes disputes ran high,
-and loud expostulations were addressed even to
-his Majesty by Inojosa; at other times, the
-Pope’s envoy, the Jesuit Maestro, was admitted
-whilst Buckingham was at Newhall, and jealousies
-were thus fomented.<a id='r125' /><a href='#f125' class='c012'><sup>[125]</sup></a> The Duke was about this
-time ill of fever and jaundice; and reports were
-spread of his having had something given to
-him in Spain that was undermining his health; he
-was, in short, harassed by debts, harassed by the
-Spanish treaty, and doubted by the King. Superstitious
-fears never seemed to have had much hold
-on him; yet in James’s time, wiser men than Buckingham
-(not to specify the King himself) were
-agitated by omens and prophecies. In the spring
-of this eventful year, one Gamaliel Gruys had
-prophesied that two great cedars would fall in
-England; these were, he said, the Duke of Buckingham
-and the Lord Keeper. An hour after this
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>prophecy was spoken, news arrived of the death of
-the Duke of Lennox. The augury, therefore, might
-be thought to refer to him. This idle speech was
-deemed worthy of investigation;<a id='r126' /><a href='#f126' class='c012'><sup>[126]</sup></a> and the prognostic
-was judged by many to have had special
-reference to the events which time too surely
-disclosed. Nevertheless, in proportion as the
-favour of the Monarch declined, that of the
-people seemed to be restored to the Duke.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, at this epoch, must have had some
-difficulties in arranging his different audiences.
-The ambassadors from the States, and those from
-Spain, were obliged to be conducted by different
-ways to the presence chamber, that they might
-not meet, and the very chamber and bed which
-had been prepared for the reception of the
-Infanta at St. James’s, were allotted to Count
-Mansfeld, the ambassador from the Protestant
-party in Germany, who, notwithstanding a
-protest from the Spanish ambassador, was graciously
-received, and royally entertained by
-the King.<a id='r127' /><a href='#f127' class='c012'><sup>[127]</sup></a> James found it impossible long to
-resist the influence of his favourite, and accordingly
-the Duke soon perceived that he was again
-welcome at court; and a complete triumph was
-gained. Thus dishonourably and discourteously
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>ended the famous treaty with Spain, for the accomplishment
-of which James had risked the best
-interests in Europe, and of his own family, and
-upon which so much time, trouble, and money
-had been expended. The voice of the people
-certainly called for the result.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The expected rupture of the treaties with Spain
-was, however, most acceptable to the nation; and
-Parliament resolved to assist His Majesty in maintaining
-the honour of the nation by proclaiming
-war. Sir Edward Coke encouraged the resolution,
-by saying in the house that “we never thrived
-so well as in a war with Spain; and that if
-the navy was ready, Ireland secured, and the
-low countries divided, we need fear neither
-Turk, Pope, devil, nor the King of Spain himself,
-and that the very idea of the war made
-him seven years younger.”<a id='r128' /><a href='#f128' class='c012'><sup>[128]</sup></a> Sir Thomas Edwards
-was authorized to declare also that the Prince
-“was sensible to the dishonours put on himself, and
-condescended to urge speed in the resolution for
-avenging them.” “Who,” cried the well-paid
-courtier, “can resist such an invitation, the first
-made by him? He shall have an answer of
-thanks, and assurance of tender concern for his
-interests.”<a id='r129' /><a href='#f129' class='c012'><sup>[129]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>The King still temporized, nevertheless; and
-his conduct at this juncture shows more plainly
-than at any other his native apathy, and the indecision
-of his weak character, faced, as it was, with
-strong pretensions. He was truly the “Clerk of
-Arms,” and said lofty things whilst the sword was
-still in the sheath. Prince Charles endeavoured
-to keep up appearances, by saying, “The King
-hath a long sword, and when it is out it will not
-easily go in again.” But James confessed, in his
-reply to the declaration, that he was old and oppressed
-with debts, and had not yet expressed his
-opinion with regard to the war; “for, where Jupiter
-speaks,” he added, “he should have his thunder;
-and a king should not speak unless he could
-act.”<a id='r130' /><a href='#f130' class='c012'><sup>[130]</sup></a> In this great business he must satisfy his
-conscience, and his honour and he were already
-<em>almost</em> resolved. The fact was, that he wanted
-larger subsidies than, he expected, without this
-coquetting with his Parliament, would be voted.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Never had the courtiers been so much at a
-loss in which way to turn their customary homage;
-whether to the failing interest of the Spanish
-ambassador, or to the rising but precarious favour
-of the French, for James still vacillated.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>At this juncture, the unfortunate Charles I. became
-for a time the darling of the anti-catholic
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>party, by far the most powerful at all times in this
-country. His gentleness, his urbanity, his filial
-respect, on the one hand, his endeavours to procure
-the King’s assent to the wishes of his people, on
-the other, were the theme of praise. Still Parliament
-was “fitful, and did lettle,” though the Prince
-and Duke endeavoured to get it into a better understanding
-with His Majesty. The Prince so
-“bravely and judiciously” exhorted the Houses,
-that they resolved to offer life and fortune to His
-Majesty, if he would declare the treaties broken.
-Secretary Calvert knowingly suggested that the
-offer should be restricted “to be in a Parliamentary
-way;” the Treasurer and Lord Arundel suggested
-that a general offer of aid from Parliament would
-be of no avail; the Archbishop of Canterbury presented
-the declaration; the King replied by thanks
-for their “large offer, which, he said, was too general
-to be accepted;” they mistook him “in supposing
-that he said Spain had dealt falsely with him;
-but if they would give him five subsidies and ten
-fifteens for the war only, and one subsidy and two
-fifteens yearly for himself, till his debts were paid,
-he would issue a declaration to make this Parliament
-a session, and call another for Michaelmas, and
-another for Lady-day.” This answer so annoyed
-the House that there was not one “God save the
-King” heard as they went away. When the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>Houses met again, the Prince and Duke endeavoured
-to disperse these clouds: they said His Majesty
-was misunderstood; he only wanted six subsidies
-and twelve fifteenths for the war. But this did
-not convince those who heard him. Many members
-of Parliament were now again "so cast down,
-that they would give the King’s men all for the
-war, even to their shirts;" others harped on the
-poverty of the country, and would not consent to
-give at all. At last the house voted three subsidies
-and three fifteenths, to be paid within a year after
-the declaration that the treaties were broken, and
-the King “lovingly” accepted their offer, saying
-he would not touch a penny of the money himself,
-but devote it all to the Palatinate. The general
-joy was expressed in bonfires; and one nobleman,
-Lord Verulam, ran into debt to give four dozen
-fagots and twelve gallons of wine. Stones and
-firebrands were now thrown at the Spanish ambassador’s
-house; but the Commons refused to
-protect him. The ambassador complained of some
-expressions used by Buckingham, reflecting on the
-King of Spain, but the Houses immediately
-praised his conduct in Spain, and the King said
-the Duke “had set an ill example to ambassadors,
-for he had spent 40,000<em>l.</em> in his journey, and had
-asked no repayment.” Never, adds Sir Edward
-Conway, whose letter to Carleton contains these
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>curious details, “was man so beloved of King,
-Prince, and people” as Buckingham.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>All seemed now to be settled according to the
-popular wish; but those who deemed the rupture
-with Spain secure knew but little of King James.
-The motives for his perpetual vacillations seem
-inexplicable, unless we could believe that a sincere
-desire to preserve peace, and a dread of being involved
-in continental wars, may have influenced
-the now feeble and broken monarch. But sincerity
-was not one of this King’s attributes; and his professions
-with regard to the Palatinate were utterly
-hollow and worthless.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Shortly after this apparent understanding with
-his Parliament, he “stormed” at a bill reviewing
-all the acts against Papists; and even scolded
-Buckingham for consenting to it. At length,
-however, matters seemed to draw to a conclusion.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Earl of Bristol was recalled; Buckingham
-was empowered to read to the Houses a dispatch
-from the King of Spain, declaring that the treaties
-were dissolved. The King, in reply to an address
-from the Houses, protested that his heart bled at
-the increase of Popery; and that he had desired
-to hinder it, not by persecution, for that would be
-useless; nevertheless, he granted their desire for
-the banishment of priests and Jesuits; and promised
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>to advise with council about the probability
-of seizing subjects coming out from mass in the
-ambassador’s chapel; no priests were in fact
-allowed to leave the kingdom without first taking
-the oaths of allegiance.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>So far, all looked well for the Protestant
-party; but not long afterwards, the pertinacious
-Inojosa again seemed on the ascendant.
-He resolved to raise, through Padre Maestro,
-a discord between the King and Parliament,
-and, therefore, hinted to the King that there
-was a design to confine him in Theobald’s, and to
-give the Crown to the Prince.<a id='r131' /><a href='#f131' class='c012'><sup>[131]</sup></a> The King was
-a good deal agitated, and told the Prince and the
-Duke of this suspicion. They were resolved to
-find out who had put this idea into the Spaniard’s
-head--some Englishmen they believed had done it,
-and they suspected Lord Middlesex. James had
-heard of this design in the morning, but had kept
-it to himself until after dinner, when, with weeping
-eyes, in St. James’s Park, he imparted it to
-Buckingham, who, in his reply, asked how it was
-possible he could ever do such a thing without
-the Prince’s knowledge, whose filial feeling would
-rise against it; and without his knowledge it were
-sottish to plan it, for the affection of the people for
-His Majesty was such that they would tear anyone
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>to pieces who attempted such baseness. To
-which the King replied, that had he believed it,
-he should never have mentioned it.<a id='r132' /><a href='#f132' class='c012'><sup>[132]</sup></a> Eventually,
-Inojosa pretended that the accusation was
-a misunderstanding on the part of the King, and
-declared the Prince to be the most dutiful son,
-and the Duke to be the most faithful servant,
-that ever monarch had.<a id='r133' /><a href='#f133' class='c012'><sup>[133]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Meantime, the Earl of Bristol arrived in London,
-bringing with him the jewels that had been
-given to the Infanta. He was confined, by the
-King’s order, to his house in St. Giles’s Fields,
-but James sent him kind messages. “It is
-thought,” writes Carleton, “that he will not be
-much questioned, lest he should reveal too much.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>All hopes of now marrying the Prince to a lady
-of his own religion were at an end, for James
-would not consent to his son’s espousing an
-inferior, and there seemed to be no other alternative
-than to make proposals to a French
-Princess. The Earl of Holland was therefore dispatched
-into France, to treat with the queen-mother
-and her ministers concerning this alliance,
-Charles, in the casual view which he had obtained
-of Henrietta Maria, the posthumous daughter of
-Henry the Great, having been struck by her beauty.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>First it prospered, and the French ministers seemed
-disposed not to stand upon any conditions; but
-when they found that the breach with Spain
-and that his inclinations favoured the negotiation;
-that the breach with Spain was irreparable, and that
-a war was in preparation, they resolved to abate
-none of the terms which had been granted to the
-Spaniards, relative to the exercise of the Catholic
-religion, and to these terms James and his son consented.
-Such was the infatuation, and such, perhaps,
-the ignorance of the people, that, having in
-November, 1623, celebrated the dissolution of the
-Spanish treaty with bells and bonfires, they now,
-in February, signalized their joy at the conclusion
-of a treaty precisely similar. The conduct of
-Buckingham to the Earl of Bristol was justly and
-generally unpopular. That nobleman had prayed
-that he might make his answer in Parliament
-against any charge that might be preferred against
-him; but had been committed to the Tower, in
-order, it was thought, to prevent disclosures, and
-was only released upon his making submission,
-and retiring into the country; nevertheless, articles
-were prepared to impeach him.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In the course of the autumn, Don Hurtado de
-Mendoza, as ambassador extraordinary from the
-Court of Spain, arrived in England. This nobleman
-insisted on his right of precedence, according
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>to the English custom, which always grants it to
-the ambassador last arrived. This right was resisted
-by Inojosa, as being of higher rank in his
-own country, and he was eventually supported by
-the King of Spain, who ordered Mendoza back
-again, and commanded him to remain in his own
-house as a prisoner when he arrived in Spain.<a id='r134' /><a href='#f134' class='c012'><sup>[134]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>During Mendoza’s sojourn in London, Buckingham
-had given a great feast in his honour, and
-in that of Don Diego de Mexia, the Austrian
-ambassador. On this occasion, Inojosa, although
-of course expected, declined, not choosing, before
-the point of precedence was arranged, to walk
-after Mendoza. On the following evening,
-Buckingham sent the absent Inojosa, by Endymion
-Porter, a “regale of three large flaskets,”
-full of the provisions of which the feast had been
-composed; one of cold meats for the <em>custe pasto</em>,
-“another filled with uncooked fowl, fat and ready
-for the spit;” a third containing the best and
-rarest sweetmeats; and with all these, this
-message,--"that the Duke kissed his hand, and
-would have esteemed it an honour and happiness
-to have had his company; but since he had not
-had it, begged him to taste of what he had provided
-for him; and on tasting this supper,
-entreated that the Marquis would be pleased to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>drink the health of the King of England, and he
-would, at the same time, drink that of the King
-of Spain."</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Inojosa’s immediate answer to this compliment
-was, “that if my Lord Duke had wished for his
-company, he might have had it, if it had pleased
-him to command it; adding that it was easy to
-conceive what the feast must have been, when a
-taste of it was so rare and plentiful.” It was,
-indeed, one of those ruinous entertainments which
-were contributing to impoverish Buckingham. It
-cost three hundred pounds--a large sum in those
-days--and such was the taste and profusion of
-the times, that twelve pheasants were piled in a
-dish, and there were on the table forty dozen
-partridges, and all else in proportion.<a id='r135' /><a href='#f135' class='c012'><sup>[135]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>These compliments had passed, of course, before
-the accusation which Inojosa had preferred
-against Buckingham had been insinuated into
-the mind of the King by secret and artful proceedings.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“And no wonder it was,” Bishop Hacket
-remarks, “that His Majesty was abused awhile,
-and dim-sighted with the character of jealousie,
-for the Parliament was about to land him in a
-new world, to begin and maintain a war, who
-thought that scarce any mischief was so great as
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>was worth a war to mend it; wherein the Prince
-did deviate from him, as likewise in affection
-to the Spanish alliance: but otherwise promised
-nothing but sweetness and obedience.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On the twenty-second of May, Buckingham
-came to Court, and was very welcome and well
-entertained, the King having previously shown
-him his continued favour by his determination to
-get York House, which Buckingham had hitherto
-borrowed, or rented, from Tobias Mathew, Archbishop
-of York, transferred to the Duke; and
-scarcely six weeks had elapsed, after the quarrel
-between James and his favourite, before we find
-that prelate writing a letter to the King, declaring
-that he will submit to His Majesty’s wishes,
-and give up York House and other tenements;
-craving, however, that satisfaction to the see for
-so large a property should be cared for; Mathews
-adding that he “blessed God for a King who did
-not require anything from the church without making
-abundant recompense.”<a id='r136' /><a href='#f136' class='c012'><sup>[136]</sup></a> An act was subsequently
-passed, giving lands in Yorkshire to the
-Archbishop in lieu of York House, which Buckingham
-was altering at great expense. On giving his
-assent to the bill for the transfer of York House,
-the King vindicated himself, in his speech to the
-Lower House, from any design of allowing the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>Archbishop of York to be a loser, and praised the
-care of the clergy taken by Buckingham, who was
-adding to the lands given in exchange a house fit
-for the bishop.<a id='r137' /><a href='#f137' class='c012'><sup>[137]</sup></a> In another account it is said that
-the King spoke “very affectionately of Buckingham;”
-and on the fourteenth of June the Monarch
-granted to the Duke York House, and other
-messuages in the parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields,
-formerly belonging to the Archbishop
-of York, but assigned to the King by act of
-Parliament. On the same day an annuity of a
-thousand a year from the Court of Wards was conferred
-also on the Duke, and a thousand pounds,
-arrears from the Court of Wards, in lieu of a like
-grant from the Exchequer, surrendered.<a id='r138' /><a href='#f138' class='c012'><sup>[138]</sup></a> Thus it
-appears that Buckingham’s plan of managing his
-royal master, sometimes by flattery, sometimes by
-insolence, reaped an undeserved success. That
-the reconciliation was complete appears from the
-visit which James paid during the summer to
-Burleigh-on-the-Hill, still in an unfinished condition.
-Here the King witnessed the masque,
-by Jonson, entitled "Pan’s Anniversary, or the
-Shepherd’s Holiday," containing those beautiful
-lines, beginning:--</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c015'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>“Well done, my pretty ones, rain roses still,</div>
- <div class='line'>Until the last be dropt, then hence, and fill</div>
- <div class='line'>Your fragrant prickles;<a id='r139' /><a href='#f139' class='c012'><sup>[139]</sup></a> for a second shower</div>
- <div class='line'>Bring corn-flags, tulips, and Adonis flower,” &amp;c.</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c016'>Buckingham, however, did not accompany his
-royal master in this his last progress; but, although
-his separations from the King and Court
-were more frequent than formerly, many letters
-from James to the Favourite, preserved among
-the Harleian manuscripts, sufficiently attest the
-unchanged character of the King’s devotion, not
-only to his favourite, but to his whole family.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c009'>DECLINE OF THE KING’S HEALTH--CASE OF LORD MIDDLESEX--PROCEEDINGS
-IN BOTH HOUSES--SIR EDWARD
-COKE’S EXAGGERATION--BUCKINGHAM’S PARTICIPATION
-IN THE AFFAIR--MIDDLESEX STEALS AWAY
-TO THEOBALD’S, AND IS FOLLOWED BY CHARLES--FOUND
-GUILTY--CONFINED--BUCKINGHAM’S DANGEROUS
-ILLNESS--ARTHUR BRETT--DEATH OF THE
-KING--ASCRIBED TO BUCKINGHAM.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span><b><span class='large'>CHAPTER III.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c011'>The health of James the First had long been
-declining, and the vexations which troubled his
-last years contributed, it has been supposed,
-greatly to its decline. A mortal internal disease,
-however, aggravated by an attack of tertian ague,
-left, in the spring of the year 1625, little hope of
-his recovery. When told, during the access of
-this disorder, the proverb, that “ague in the spring
-was health to a king,” he remarked that the
-saying was meant to apply to a young king. The
-King was, in truth, only fifty-eight years of age,
-but, independent of his originally feeble constitution,
-he, like other men in those times, was old of his
-age. It has been our blessing, under the improvements
-of science, and in the habits of the nineteenth
-century, to retain, if not youth, many of
-its greatest advantages, to a period of life far more
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>advanced than that in which James was styled
-the “old King,” a term to which he gave his
-mournful assent.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Amongst the numerous causes which, with the
-Spanish treaty, vexed the royal invalid, the case of
-the Lord Treasurer Middlesex was prominent.
-In this minister James had rested unbounded confidence,
-which nothing but the clearest evidence
-of the Lord Treasurer’s corruption could undermine.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In April, 1624, Middlesex had been questioned
-in the House of Lords on account
-of his neglect of the fortresses. He was much
-dejected by this attack; but the inquiry was
-ascribed to the jealousy of Buckingham, Lord
-Middlesex’s brother-in-law, Arthur Brett, having
-been put forward to supplant the Duke
-in James’s favour.<a id='r140' /><a href='#f140' class='c012'><sup>[140]</sup></a> It was thought, however,
-such was the low standard of public morality,
-that the articles produced against the
-Treasurer were not worse than “might be found
-in most men in his place;” and the attempts
-to injure him were referred rather to his harsh
-and insolent manner, his want of respect to Prince
-Charles, and his inclination to the Spanish match,
-than to his devices for raising money, and so impoverishing
-the nation, and to his opposition to the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>calling a Parliament. Still he stood high in James’s
-favour, and boldly declared his own innocence;
-James, whatever he might really feel, “looking
-on” merely, and leaving his minister to his <a id='corr137.4'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='fate.”'>fate.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_137.4'><ins class='correction' title='fate.”'>fate.</ins></a></span><a id='r141' /><a href='#f141' class='c012'><sup>[141]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham, addressing the Peers, read a
-letter from the Deputy in Ireland, who complained
-of neglect to his applications for
-repairing the forts, which had become the more
-necessary as the Irish were in a state of
-tumult and rebellion. Prince Charles added that
-a “member of the council” had undertaken to
-answer these letters, and that this was the Lord
-Treasurer, “who used to put such letters in his pocket,
-under pretence of answering them.” Middlesex
-was soon after suspended from his office, till he
-should clear himself; and it was even reported
-that his title, given for services in the royal
-wardrobe, where he had been guilty of many
-abuses, would be taken away; but rewards for
-services, acknowledged under the Great Seal,
-could not, it was found, be questioned. Even
-his life would have been in danger, could all have
-been proved against him.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The House, desirous to finish the matter,
-allowed Middlesex to produce forty witnesses,
-twelve of whom deposed directly against him;
-upon this, Prince Charles sent him a message, ordering
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>him not to appear in the royal presence again
-until he had cleared himself. This command was
-the more necessary, since, at this very moment,
-the mind of James had been impressed by Inojosa
-with a suspicion that his son and the Duke were
-plotting against him; an idea which the King, with
-weeping, imparted to his son and the Duke.
-“The Lord Treasurer,” Sir Dudley Carleton writes,
-“is suspected to be at the bottom of it.” Hitherto,
-James had still appeared confident of the Lord
-Treasurer’s innocence,<a id='r142' /><a href='#f142' class='c012'><sup>[142]</sup></a> and in a speech to the
-Lords, whom he had summoned to Whitehall,<a id='r143' /><a href='#f143' class='c012'><sup>[143]</sup></a> he
-advised them as to their judgment. “Such a trial,”
-he observed, “had no precedent before the last
-parliament, and then the guilty party, Lord
-Bacon, had confessed, now the supposed delinquent
-denied the charge.” James, indeed, long
-clung to the Lord Treasurer, and told the lords he
-came to “sing a psalm of mercy and justice about
-him;” still the trial went on, and the accused, in
-spite of alleged ill-health, was examined both
-morning and afternoon; his illness was found,
-however, to be feigned; and his answers were so
-audacious, and so manifestly perjured, that, had it
-not been for the intercession of the Prince, he
-would have been sent to the Tower. Among
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>other speeches, Middlesex said he had been baited
-by two mastiffs, Crew and the Attorney General;
-and he reasoned, in his defence, “saucily” for
-five hours, but was found guilty, and sentenced
-to pay 50,000<em>l.</em> fine, and to lose his office; never
-to sit in Parliament again, nor to come within the
-verge of the Court. “He would,” Mr. Chamberlain
-writes, “have been further degraded, but that
-he had great, if not <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>gratis</em></span>, friends in the bedchamber.
-He may live to crush his enemies, if
-his brother-in-law, Brett, should get into favour
-and marry the Duchess of Richmond, who would
-do anything to be prime courtier again.”<a id='r144' /><a href='#f144' class='c012'><sup>[144]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Regarding this sentence, Lord Campbell remarks:--"The
-noble defendant had done various
-things, as head of the Treasury, which would now
-be considered very scandalous; but he had only
-imitated his predecessors, and was imitated by
-his successors."--A melancholy commentary on
-the state of public morality. It must have been
-galling to Lord Bacon, in his retirement, to have
-known that he was coupled with a man so dishonest,
-so specious, and so degraded as Middlesex.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Whilst all this was taking place, Buckingham
-was dangerously ill; so that on Charles the difficult
-task of infusing a sense of justice into the mind
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>of James almost wholly devolved.<a id='r145' /><a href='#f145' class='c012'><sup>[145]</sup></a> At length,
-however, irritated by the insolent bearing of Middlesex,
-who conducted himself as if he had not
-been expelled from Court, James, with his own
-hand, scratched out the culprit’s name from
-the commission of subsidy for Middlesex; and
-sent, through Sir Richard Weston, a message,
-saying that, without regarding any other charge,
-he condemned him merely in his capacity as
-Master of the Wardrobe, which Middlesex had
-“treated as a fee-farm not to be accounted for,
-and would not even allow the clerk to keep
-accounts, whereby great corruptions arose, and
-ordinary and mean stuffs were brought in.”<a id='r146' /><a href='#f146' class='c012'><sup>[146]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Whilst all this was going on, Arthur Brett, the
-supposed rival of Buckingham, was committed to
-the Fleet. By his examination it appears that,
-on the Duke’s going into Spain, he had desired
-this young man to retire to France, and he did so;
-but on Buckingham’s return, he could not obtain
-leave to come back to England, and had therefore
-left France without it. He was ordered back to
-France by the King; he pleaded his right to stay
-in his own country, as a free-born subject. Then
-he was told not to appear within forty miles of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>London. He had afterwards an interview with
-Buckingham, who blamed him for returning; but
-said he was the King’s servant, and might live where
-he pleased. He had therefore staid in London,
-and wished to plead for a restoration of favour
-with the Duke; failing in this, he went to Wanstead
-to petition the King.<a id='r147' /><a href='#f147' class='c012'><sup>[147]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This disclosure of Brett’s, and Buckingham’s
-wish to keep him from the Court, certainly throw
-a doubt on the genuineness of the Duke’s motives
-in the prosecution of Middlesex. Brett had imprudently
-met the King in Waltham Forest, and
-had seized hold of his Majesty’s bridle and stirrup,
-a liberty which had greatly offended James, and
-to punish which Brett was sent to the Fleet Prison,
-and, though released, was heavily fined.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In the midst of these various harassing affairs,
-the illness of James began to assume a formidable
-appearance. The King had frequently, before
-his last illness, been heard to express his belief
-that he should not live long. He was a martyr
-to rheumatism and gout, which he increased by
-gross feeding, and the continual use of sweet
-wines. During the whole of the Christmas preceding
-his death he had kept his chambers, not
-even going to chapel, or to see the plays, although
-his known delight in Ben Jonson’s masques would
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>have induced him to attend the representation of
-the last of those performances played in his reign,
-the masque of the “Fortunate Isles.” The sole
-amusement which the dying King permitted himself
-was to go abroad in his litter, in fair weather, to
-see some flights at the brook; but all enjoyment
-of his usual diversion was at an end.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Accounts from the Court became daily worse:--"The
-King," Chamberlain, on the twelfth of
-March, wrote to Carleton, “has a tertian ague,
-but not dangerous, if he would be governed by
-physicians.”<a id='r148' /><a href='#f148' class='c012'><sup>[148]</sup></a> His Majesty’s decline was evidently
-gradual; nor was he the only person in the realm
-sinking under fever or ague, the “spotted fever”<a id='r149' /><a href='#f149' class='c012'><sup>[149]</sup></a>
-being fearfully prevalent. Buckingham was now
-on the eve of going to France as ambassador, to
-marry by proxy the young Princess, Henrietta
-Maria; but so late as the twenty-third of March
-he was detained by the continued illness of
-James.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>"The King’s fits," Mr. Chamberlain again
-writes, “diminish; the Duke will not leave him till
-he is perfectly recovered, of which there is hope,
-but no assurance.” On the following day, we
-find, from the same source, that James performed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>an act of mercy, almost if not quite his last, in
-excusing Lord Middlesex part of his fine, and
-reducing it from 50,000<em>l.</em> to 20,000<em>l.</em>, which sum
-was to be repaid to the Crown.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>His sickness had now assumed a distinctly intermittent
-form; even so late as the middle of the
-month there had been an apparent abatement;
-on the sixteenth of March, he had his seventh
-fit of this debilitating disease; but it was, as Mr.
-Secretary Conway informed the Earl of Carlisle,
-“less intense hereto than the rest, and left more
-clearness and cheerfulness in his looks than the
-former.”<a id='r150' /><a href='#f150' class='c012'><sup>[150]</sup></a> Yet, in the same letter, Conway speaks
-of the “double sadness of every face,” and alludes
-to the "extreme grief suffered for the sharp and
-smart accesses of His Majesty’s fever."</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>During the last sufferings of King James, the
-marriage treaty with France was still diligently
-carried on, through the agency of Lord Carlisle,
-ambassador at Paris, and was only delayed on
-the ground that "it could not be suitable with
-the good nature of a son, in so dangerous a state
-of his father’s health, to entertain such jollity and
-triumph as duly belong to so acceptable a marriage."
-The Duke of Buckingham, who had
-entertained some notion of going in person to
-Paris, and of concluding the treaty himself, directed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>Lord Carlisle, in a letter written on the
-fifteenth of March, “to have his eyes open, and
-to state any course, as much as he could, which
-might hinder the business of the Palatinate and
-of the religion,” until he appeared in the French
-capital.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>But the increasing illness of his royal master
-delayed the Duke’s journey from day to day;
-and James was not permitted to witness the
-conclusion of the long-cherished hopes of the
-union of his son with a Princess of birth
-equal to his own. “All human things,” wrote
-Conway, “have something of earth and defect.”
-Nothing, he added in his letter to Lord Carlisle,<a id='r151' /><a href='#f151' class='c012'><sup>[151]</sup></a>
-could exceed the contentment of the “excellent
-Prince and gracious Duke,” at the sure progress
-of the treaty, "and there was now no speech but
-of the speed of the Duke’s going;"<a id='r152' /><a href='#f152' class='c012'><sup>[152]</sup></a> but in the
-next letter the journey was spoken of as conditional
-upon the restoration of His Majesty to
-health. On the twenty-fourth of March, the tenth
-night of the King’s fever arrived. The attack, as
-the same correspondent informed Lord Carlisle,
-“exercised much violence upon a weak body,
-which being so much reverenced, and loved with
-so much cause as His Majesty hath given, struck
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>much sense and fear into the hearts of his servants
-that looked upon him.” The King, it appeared,
-nevertheless, had that day slept well, “and
-taken broths.” “And more to your comfort,”
-added the secretary, “did, with life and cheerfulness,
-receive the sacrament in the presence of the
-Prince and Duke, and many others, and admitted
-many to take it with him; and in the action and
-the circumstances of it, did deliver himself so answerable
-to his writings and his wise and pious
-professions, and did justly produce much tears between
-comfort and grief; and now this day, and
-now this night, he recovers temper and gets, in
-appearance to us, strength, appetite, and digestion,
-which gives us great hope of his amendment,
-grounded not only upon desire, but upon the
-method of judicious observation.”<a id='r153' /><a href='#f153' class='c012'><sup>[153]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It may here be remarked, before going more fully
-into the false and calumnious evidence of poison,
-afterwards brought forward in this case of the royal
-sufferer, that the state of the King, his relapses,
-and his rallyings, imply anything but poison,
-and convey an impression of a constitution long
-broken up, and suddenly depressed by the supervening
-of an accidental attack of a disease then
-extremely prevalent in this country. The Holy
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>Communion was administered to James, over as before
-stated, four days before he died: of the King’s
-professions before that last sacrament, an account,
-corresponding with that of Secretary Conway, but
-more distinct and instructive, is given by the Lord
-Keeper Williams. The monarch, who broke the
-heart of Arabella Stuart by long imprisonment
-and blighted hopes, and who beheaded Ralegh,
-and denied restitution to his son, Carew, died
-well;--so self-deceived is the spirit of the “rich
-man,”--so easy is it to substitute professions
-for practical Christianity.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“Being asked,” said the Lord Keeper, “if
-he was prepared in point of faith and charity
-for so great a devotion, he said he was, and
-gave humble thanks to God for the same.” Being
-desired to declare his faith, he repeated the articles
-of the creed, one by one, and said, “He believed
-them all as they were received and expounded
-by that part of the Catholic church
-which was established here in England,” adding
-that whatever he had written of this faith in his
-life he was ready to seal with his death. Being
-questioned in “point of charity,” he answered
-that he forgave all men that had offended him,
-and wished to be forgiven by all whom he had
-offended. Being told that men in holy orders in
-the Church of England can challenge a power, as
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>inherent in their function, not in their power, to
-pronounce absolution on such of the penitent as
-do call on the same, and that they have a form of
-absolution in the Book of Common Prayer, he answered
-quickly:--</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“I have ever believed that there was that power
-in you that be in orders in the Church of England,
-and that, amongst others, was to me an evident
-demonstration that the Church of England was
-the Church of Christ, and I, therefore, a miserable
-sinner, desire of Almighty God to absolve
-me of my sins, and that you, that are his
-servants in this high place, do afford me this
-heavenly comfort.” And, after that the absolution
-had been read, “he received the sacrament,” adds
-the Lord Keeper, “with that zeal and devotion
-as if he had not been a frail man, but a Cherubim
-clothed with flesh and blood.” He expressed
-to his son, and to the Duke, the inward comfort
-which he felt after receiving the Communion,
-and exclaimed “Oh, that my Lords would but
-do this when they were visited with the like sickness!
-Themselves would be more comforted in
-their souls, and the world less troubled with questioning
-their religion.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Thus, in perfect composure, and sufficiently
-collected even to make his replies to the Lord
-Keeper in Latin, James met death. Whilst the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>last hour was approaching, he was little aware that
-the two beings whom he most loved in the world,
-were, at that very moment, the objects of suspicions
-the most cruel and groundless.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>At that period, throughout Europe, and “nowhere,”
-says Lord Macaulay, “more than in England,
-the public, both high and low, were in the
-habit of ascribing the deaths of princes, and, indeed,
-of all persons of importance, to poison.
-Thus,” he adds, “James the First had been accused
-of poisoning Prince Henry. Thus Charles
-had been accused of poisoning King James.”<a id='r154' /><a href='#f154' class='c012'><sup>[154]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The calumnies, however, were not so distinctly
-directed to Charles, as to the Duke; the calumnies
-circulated respecting Buckingham assumed an
-importance, as they formed part of his subsequent
-impeachment. Those also which attempted to
-implicate Charles merit a reference, since they
-were repeated to his injury at a very critical period
-of his life, in 1642, when they were credited by
-many persons; for there exist those who will,
-on a party question, believe, or affect to believe,
-any absurdity.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>An act of kindness on the part of Buckingham
-gave rise to the rumours to which some
-contemporary historians, and even an excellent
-writer of the present century, have attached an
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>almost incredible value.<a id='r155' /><a href='#f155' class='c012'><sup>[155]</sup></a> Nothing, perhaps, can
-really be more unwise, or more unkind, than to interfere
-in illnesses with that profession which,
-admirable as are its practitioners, is remarkable
-for the tenacity of its etiquette, and its just horror
-of chance remedies. Yet, in other instances,
-even in the age of Sydenham and of Mead, Anne
-of Denmark had imprudently sent to Sir Walter
-Ralegh in the Tower for a remedy for her best
-beloved son, Henry, in his last agonies; and thus
-afforded Buckingham a precedent for his resort
-to unprescribed, and, therefore, often dangerous
-remedies.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Countess of Buckingham, like many ladies of
-her own time and ours, had a specific which cured
-every known distemper; and which, at all events,
-was believed in by her son, the Duke; and it is
-not improbable that during his own frequent illnesses
-and attacks of ague he might have resorted
-to it himself.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Six days before the King died, the Duke applied,
-as it is stated by several historians, plasters to
-the wrists and body of the sufferer, and also
-administered several drinks, although some of the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>King’s physicians did, says Roger Coke, “disallow
-thereof, and refused to meddle further with the
-King until the said plasters were removed.”<a id='r156' /><a href='#f156' class='c012'><sup>[156]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King grew worse after these remedies, and
-great “droughts, raving, fainting, and an intermitting
-pulse followed thereupon.” Twice was the
-drink given him by the Duke’s own hand; and the
-third time refused. The physicians, to comfort the
-King, told him that the relapse was from cold, or
-from some other accidental cause. Upon which
-James answered, “No, no, it was that I had
-from Buckingham.” “I confess,” adds Coke,
-“that this was but a charge upon the Duke
-upon the Impeachment of the Commons” (in the
-next reign), “yet it was next to positive proof,
-for King Charles, rather than his charge should
-come to an issue, dissolved one Parliament.”<a id='r157' /><a href='#f157' class='c012'><sup>[157]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It appears, however, that the plasters to which
-such dire consequences were ascribed, and which
-seem to have been suggested by the Countess
-of Buckingham, were prepared by an able and
-honest physician, Dr. John Remington, of Dunmow,
-in Essex;<a id='r158' /><a href='#f158' class='c012'><sup>[158]</sup></a> and that he had often applied
-similar ones with success. One error was in
-supposing that a remedy suited to one case had
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>an empirical virtue; another, in using it, without
-the knowledge of the physicians in attendance
-on the King. Their professional pride was, of
-course, justly irritated by the discovery; and one
-of them, Dr. Craig, having spoken “some plain
-words” on the matter, was ordered out of the
-Court, the Duke himself complaining to the King
-of what had been uttered.<a id='r159' /><a href='#f159' class='c012'><sup>[159]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>His Majesty, however, grew worse and worse,
-so that Mr. Hayes, the Court surgeon, was called
-out of bed to take off the plasters; a julep was
-then prepared by Mr. Baker, the Duke of Buckingham’s
-servant, for His Majesty to drink, and
-was administered by Buckingham himself.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>These particulars were all given and sworn to
-by the physicians, two years afterwards, before a
-select committee of Parliament, when the Duke’s
-act was voted “transcendant presumption,”
-though most people thought that it was done
-without any ill intention.<a id='r160' /><a href='#f160' class='c012'><sup>[160]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Whilst the poor King lay expiring, a strange
-and scandalous scene, according to Weldon, passed
-near his death-bed. Buckingham was coming into
-the chamber, when one of the servants greeted
-him with these words:--"Ah! my lord, you have
-undone all us poor servants, though you are so
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>well provided for you need not care:" upon
-which the Duke kicked him. The man, enraged,
-caught hold of the foot which spurned him, and
-the Duke fell to the ground. On arising, he
-ran to the King’s bedside, and exclaimed, “Justice,
-for I am an abused man.” At which James
-is said to have fixed his eyes mournfully upon
-him, "as one who would have said, ‘not wrongfully.’"<a id='r161' /><a href='#f161' class='c012'><sup>[161]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Such were the unwarrantable and malignant
-reports which strove to impute to Buckingham
-the foulest treachery and the deepest ingratitude.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The motive for such an action as that which
-his foes scrupled not to fasten upon him--and
-the imputation followed him through life--is
-difficult to be discovered. Buckingham had
-no reason to wish for the death of his benefactor.
-Loaded with obligations, omnipotent in the country,
-feared, if not respected, abroad, for what purpose
-he should destroy the source of all his
-superabundant blessings, it were impossible to
-divine. The sole reason that could be given was
-a fear lest the King should promote the
-Earl of Bristol, and grow weary of the Duke.
-Yet Bristol was even then in retirement and disfavour,
-and had only recently been in a sort of
-imprisonment. The charge, cruel and groundless,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>tends to justify Buckingham from many minor
-imputations, since those who could fabricate such
-an accusation were not likely to be fair interpreters
-of his ordinary conduct. Roger Coke, for
-instance, as we have seen, specifies the charge
-against Buckingham, but gives him no credit for
-the actual acquittal of Parliament, and is silent
-regarding the general opinion.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The confidence reposed by Charles in Buckingham
-affords another source of vindication.
-Charles had ever been a dutiful son; indulged,
-indeed, to excess, yet not spoiled by kindness.
-On the Friday before the King died, he had three
-hours private conversation with his son. Had
-James then entertained any suspicion of the Duke,
-he would, assuredly, have imparted it as a matter
-which lay most heavily on his mind, and, as a
-precaution to his son, James could not have controlled
-a grief so pungent as the suspicion that
-his favourite, the being, perhaps, the best beloved
-in the world, had dealt out to him the potion of
-death. Wilson, indeed, relates the circumstance
-of this last interview thus.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, according to his account, sent for
-the Prince out of his bed. Charles appeared
-before him; when James, arousing all his strength
-and energy, strove to address him; “but nature
-being exhausted, he had not strength to express
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>his intentions.” That a conversation did, however,
-take place, rests on the testimony of
-a private letter addressed by Mr. Mead to
-Sir Martin Stuteville, and written shortly after
-the King’s death.<a id='r162' /><a href='#f162' class='c012'><sup>[162]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>There was among the Court physicians, one
-named Eglesham, who had acted in that capacity
-for ten years; and this long attendance, in a responsible
-post, has been thought a sufficient
-guarantee for his character. Upon his evidence,
-chiefly, the charge against Buckingham
-rested; Eglesham was obliged, in consequence
-of his allegations against the Duke, to
-abscond, and remain some years absent from
-the country. In the pamphlet which he published,
-he stated that the plaster was applied to the
-King’s heart and chest whilst the physicians in
-attendance were absent at dinner: the King,
-after this application, which was suggested and
-carried into execution by the Countess of Buckingham,
-became faint, and was in great agony.
-Some of the physicians, returning after dinner,
-and perceiving an offensive smell from the plaster,
-exclaimed that the King was poisoned, and then
-Buckingham, entering, commanded the physicians
-to leave the room, sent one of them a
-prisoner to his own chamber, and ordered another
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>out of the Court; whilst his mother, kneeling
-down, cried out to the King, with a brazen face,
-“Justice, sire, I demand justice!” His Majesty
-asked her “Justice for what?” “For that which
-their lives are nowise sufficient to satisfy; for
-having said that I have poisoned your Majesty.”
-“Poisoned me!” cried James, and, turning round,
-fainted away. On the following Sunday, Buckingham
-entreated two physicians who attended the
-King to sign a document, declaring that the powder
-he had given to the King was a safe and
-good remedy; this they refused to do.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>After the King’s death, the physician who had
-been commanded to keep within his own apartment
-was set at liberty, with a caution “to hold
-his peace,” and the others were threatened, if they
-kept not “good tongues in their heads.”<a id='r163' /><a href='#f163' class='c012'><sup>[163]</sup></a> The public
-were also horrified at hearing that the King’s
-body and head had swelled beyond measure; but
-that is by no means an unusual symptom after
-death.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Now the value of Eglesham’s evidence rests
-wholly upon his personal credit. It was stated,
-by Sanderson the historian, that he afterwards
-offered to write a recantation of his pamphlet for
-four hundred guineas;<a id='r164' /><a href='#f164' class='c012'><sup>[164]</sup></a> but although Brodie does
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>not consider the assertion of Sanderson, who had
-the statement direct from Sir Balthazar Gerbier,
-to be a good authority, the impression which it
-conveys against Eglesham is confirmed from another
-source. There is a letter in the State Paper Office,
-from one Andrew Herriott to Secretary Nicholas,
-in which "he marvels that Nicholas and Sir James
-Bagg should take into their protection Edward
-Yeates, who was a pirate with one Captain Herriott,
-a poor man’s son in Kent, a mere mountebank,
-only companion with Dr. Eglesham, at bed
-and board for many years together, insomuch as
-they coined many double pistolets, and yet unhanged."<a id='r165' /><a href='#f165' class='c012'><sup>[165]</sup></a>
-This letter was written in 1627, two
-years after the King’s death; when Eglesham,
-probably from a fear of justice, had fled from
-Court, after he had lost the protection of the
-King, who was by no means scrupulous as to the
-character of those around him.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On Eglesham, it appears, it devolved to
-examine the corpse, and he did not hesitate to
-point to Buckingham as the King’s murderer.<a id='r166' /><a href='#f166' class='c012'><sup>[166]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>He afterwards presented petitions both to the
-King and the Parliament, praying for vengeance
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>on the Duke. These petitions were published in
-the form of a pamphlet in Latin, in 1626; and in
-1640 the English translation was printed.<a id='r167' /><a href='#f167' class='c012'><sup>[167]</sup></a> In
-this pamphlet, Eglesham stated that his motives
-for the publication were these: that having been
-patronized from his youth by the Marquis of
-Hamilton, the probability there was of that
-nobleman’s being poisoned was mentioned to him;
-he then stated that about the time of the Duke of
-Richmond’s death, a list of persons who were to
-be poisoned was found in King’s Street, Westminster,
-and brought to the Marquis of Hamilton
-by a relation, a daughter of Lord Oldbarre;
-in this list was not only Hamilton’s name
-specified, but also that of Dr. Eglesham “to
-embalm him.” Other titles were contained in
-the list; those of the Duke of Lennox and his
-brother, and the Earl of Southampton, who died
-at this time of a fever, being particularized.
-These accusations of Eglesham’s, who was doubtless
-only a tool in the hands of a party, were,
-according to Arthur Wilson, hushed up, but
-they served the purpose of those by whom they
-were originated. According to the account of
-those historians who have delighted to blacken
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>Buckingham, James foresaw his doom, and hinted
-at the probability of treachery, when, on hearing
-of the Marquis of Hamilton’s death, he said--"If
-the branches are thus cut off, the stock cannot
-continue long;" and often was he heard, according
-to Sir Anthony Weldon, to say, in his last
-illness, to the Earl of Montgomery, "For God’s
-sake, see that I have fair play."<a id='r168' /><a href='#f168' class='c012'><sup>[168]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Of this improbable story, there is not a hint in
-any of the correspondence of the day, although
-the circumstances of the King’s death are carefully
-detailed by Chamberlain and other news-writers.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>After his last interview with Charles, the King
-declined rapidly; and his tongue was so swollen,
-that he could either not speak at all, or not be understood.
-An hour before the King’s death, the Dean
-of Hereford, Dr. Daniel Price, preached before the
-Prince and Court at Theobald’s; he prayed earnestly
-for the King before the sermon, and wept as
-he prayed and preached.<a id='r169' /><a href='#f169' class='c012'><sup>[169]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>James expired on Sunday, the 27th of March,
-between the hours of eleven and twelve, aged
-fifty-seven years and three months. Upon the
-examination of his remains, much internal disease
-was found, but no appearance of poison. His
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>heart was unusually large, which accounted, in
-the opinion of Sir Symonds D’Ewes, for his being
-“so very considerate, so extraordinary fearful,
-which hindered him from attempting any great
-action.”<a id='r170' /><a href='#f170' class='c012'><sup>[170]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>During the Monarch’s last hours, prayers were
-multiplied more and more for the benefit of his
-soul, and certain English and Latin short sentences
-of devotion, to elevate his spirit to heaven
-“before it came thither,” were recited. James,
-whose consciousness and memory continued unimpaired,
-was so “ravished and solaced” by these
-religious ejaculations, that his groans of agony
-were stilled whilst they were uttered. “To one
-of these,” says the Lord Keeper Williams,
-“Mecum eris in Paradiso,” he replied presently,
-“Vox Christi”--that it was the voice and
-promise of Christ. Another, “Veni, Domine
-Jesu, veni cito,” he twice or thrice articulated.
-And as his end drew near, that prayer usually
-said at the hour of death was repeated. And no
-sooner had that prayer been uttered, “In manus
-tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum,” than,
-without any convulsion or pangs, he expired,--his
-son and servants kneeling on one side the
-bed, his archbishops, bishops, and all his chaplains
-on the other.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>Thus closed the responsible career of the first
-of the Stuart Kings that had ascended the throne
-of England.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Immediately after the King’s last sigh was
-breathed, a letter, not official, was written by one
-of his household, without a name, to the Queen of
-Bohemia. It is among the foreign inedited papers
-in the State Paper Office; and contains, which is
-remarkable, since it appears to be written in strict
-confidence, no allusion whatever to the suspicion
-of poisoning.<a id='r171' /><a href='#f171' class='c012'><sup>[171]</sup></a></p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER IV. <br /> 1624-1625.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c009'>THE REMARKS OF SIR HENRY WOTTON UPON BUCKINGHAM’S
-UNINTERRUPTED PROSPERITY DURING THE
-REIGN OF JAMES--HIS MOST PERILOUS TIME YET TO
-COME--THE CHARACTER OF CHARLES DIFFICULT TO
-MANAGE--HIS AFFECTIONS DIVIDED--REQUEST OF
-THE PRIVY COUNCIL REGARDING THE LATE KING’S
-FUNERAL AND THE YOUNG KING’S MARRIAGE--GOOD
-TASTE DISPLAYED BY CHARLES IN HIS CONDUCT AT
-THE FUNERAL--THE INFLUENCE OF BUCKINGHAM
-STILL PARAMOUNT--ROGER COKE’S REMARK UPON
-KING JAMES’S REGRET ON OBSERVING THAT HIS
-SON WAS OVERRULED BY THE DUKE--THE THREE
-GREAT KINGDOMS OF EUROPE AT THIS PERIOD RULED
-BY FAVOURITES--THE MARRIAGE OF CHARLES AND
-HENRIETTA MARIA--MOTIVE ATTRIBUTED TO BUCKINGHAM--PRELIMINARY
-STEPS--LETTER FROM
-LORD KENSINGTON TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM
-DETAILING HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE QUEEN-MOTHER--DESCRIPTION
-OF THE YOUNG PRINCESS--THE DUKE
-PREPARES FOR HIS JOURNEY INTO FRANCE TO FETCH
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>HOME THE BRIDE--THE EXPENSE OF HIS MISSION
-OBJECTED TO BY THE NATION--THE TWO AMBASSADORS
-DESCRIBED--RICH--LORD KENSINGTON, FIRST
-EARL OF HOLLAND--HIS BEAUTY OF PERSON,
-ADDRESS, AND EARLY FAVOUR AT THE COURT OF
-JAMES--HIS RESTING SOLELY UPON BUCKINGHAM--HIS
-MARRIAGE WITH THE DAUGHTER OF SIR WALTER
-COKE, THE OWNER OF THE MANOR OF KENSINGTON--THE
-EARL OF HOLLAND REGARDED BY SOME AS A
-RIVAL TO BUCKINGHAM--JAMES RELIED MORE ON
-THE EARL OF CARLISLE--CHARACTER OF THE TWO
-NOBLEMEN BY BISHOP HACKET--SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWS
-ON THE PART OF LORD HOLLAND WITH MARIE
-DE MEDICI--HER DISPOSITION TO FAVOUR CHARLES
-AS A SUITOR TO HER DAUGHTER--ANECDOTE OF
-HENRIETTA MARIA AND OF CHARLES’S PORTRAIT--ENCOMIUMS
-ON HENRIETTA--THE DUCHESS DE CHEVREUSE--HER
-INFLUENCE OVER ANNE OF AUSTRIA--HER
-SPLENDOUR--RESENTMENT OF THE COUNT DE
-SOISSONS ON ACCOUNT OF THE MARRIAGE TREATY
-WITH ENGLAND--THE WILLINGNESS EVINCED BY
-HENRIETTA MARIA TO THE MARRIAGE--LORD KENSINGTON’S
-FLATTERY OF THE QUEEN-MOTHER--THEIR
-CONVERSATIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF THE SPANISH
-MATCH--THE MARRIAGE FINALLY CONCLUDED--CHARLES’S
-CONDUCT TO THE RECUSANTS REGARDED
-AS A PROOF OF HIS AVERSION TO CATHOLIC HOPES.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span><span class='large'><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></span></div>
- <div>1624-1625.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c011'>It is remarked by Sir Henry Wotton, that “a
-long course of calm and smooth prosperity” had
-been enjoyed by the Duke of Buckingham under
-the sway of James I. “I mean,” adds that
-writer, “long for the ordinary life of favour, and
-the more notable, because it had been without any
-visible eclipse or wane in himself, amid divers
-variations in others.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Villiers had witnessed the disgrace of Somerset,
-the degradation of Bacon, the execution of
-Ralegh, the fall of Coke, without experiencing, in
-his own fortunes, any symptoms of decline, or
-knowing more than a temporary displeasure
-towards himself in the mind of his sovereign.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>But the more perilous part of his career was
-yet to come; when he had to deal with a young
-prince, whose affections were not undivided, but
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>were liable to an influence foreign to that of his
-early friend and companion in travel. He had to
-contend with a character full of generous impulses,
-but strongly marked by obstinacy in some points,
-and by weakness of purpose in others. He
-had also to contend with the future bride of his
-enamoured sovereign, and that bride a woman of
-no ordinary determination, and of a sagacity sufficient,
-if not to guide her right, fully to comprehend
-the assailable points in the conduct of
-another.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was soon remarked that the influence which
-had predominated during the last reign was hereafter
-to prevail; for Charles, as an historian
-remarks, had been linked to the Duke of Buckingham
-in his father’s life-time, “and now
-continued to receive him into an admired intimacy
-and dearness, making him partake of all his counsels
-and cares, and chief conductor of his affairs;
-an example rare in this country, to be the
-favourite of two succeeding princes.”<a id='r172' /><a href='#f172' class='c012'><sup>[172]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>According to another writer, James had perceived
-with sorrow the sway obtained by Buckingham
-over Charles. “Before he died,” thus
-writes Roger Coke, "he saw his son overruled by
-his favourite, against his determinate will and
-pleasure, and the Prince’s own honour and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>interest, which was a great mortification to him,
-and which he often complained of, but had not
-courage to redress."<a id='r173' /><a href='#f173' class='c012'><sup>[173]</sup></a> To this influence, Coke
-attributed all the internal feuds, jealousies, and
-discords of the nation, and the fatal catastrophe
-which closed both the career of the Favourite and
-that of his royal master.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was a singular coincidence that the three
-great kingdoms of Europe were governed at this
-time by young Kings, or rather, virtually, by
-their favourites. France, in the reign of
-Louis the XIII., was governed by Richelieu;
-Spain, in that of Philip the IV., by Olivares;
-England by Buckingham; “and this,” adds the
-same historian, “Europe reckoned in those times
-amidst its unhappy destiny.” Immediately
-after the funeral of the late king, the marriage
-of Charles to Henrietta Maria--a union fraught
-with evils eventually, and replete with early discomfort--was
-eagerly anticipated both by the
-Monarch and his favourite. The impatience of
-Charles to welcome the young Princess as his
-bride was ascribed to the favourable impression
-which her youthful loveliness had produced upon
-his imagination, when he had seen her himself,
-incognito, two years previously in passing through
-Paris. But when it is remembered that, after
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>that brief interview, he had been enamoured of
-the loving Infanta, it will be readily supposed
-that the influence of persuasion was employed
-in advancing this ill-starred marriage. It was
-attributed, indeed, to the rivalry and hatred
-between Buckingham and Olivares, which had
-succeeded their professions of amity, and to the
-eager desire for an alliance with France, England
-being during the first fifteen years of Charles’s
-reign, as Coke expressed it, “perfectly French.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“The Spanish wooing,” observes Miss Strickland,
-“certainly smoothed the way for the marriage
-of Charles and Henrietta. It had accustomed the
-English people to the idea of a Catholic Queen.”<a id='r174' /><a href='#f174' class='c012'><sup>[174]</sup></a>
-The prepossessions of the party mainly interested
-in the match might indeed easily be gained over by
-the reputed graces and acquirements of the French
-Princess. Inheriting from her mother’s family a
-taste for the fine arts, Henrietta’s musical acquirements
-were considerable. Her voice was by
-nature so sweet and powerful, that if she had not
-been a queen, she might have been, as Disraeli
-observes, “Prima Donna of Europe.” She had
-learned to dance with grace, and became, even
-during her childhood, a frequent performer in the
-court ballets, which, with other displays and festivities,
-are said to have interrupted the education
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>of the young Princess, and to have prevented her
-from receiving a solid course of instruction.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Two noblemen, one of them the peculiar
-favourite and creature of the Duke of Buckingham,
-had been sent during the previous year to
-negotiate the marriage. Of these the most able
-and least scrupulous was Henry Rich, created first
-Baron Kensington, and afterwards Earl of Holland,
-who is described as having been of a lovely and
-winning presence, and of gentle conversation.
-The younger son of a noble house, the obloquy
-which was attached to his birth, which was supposed
-to be illegitimate,<a id='r175' /><a href='#f175' class='c012'><sup>[175]</sup></a> had kept Rich, in early
-life, humble. He had adopted the profession of
-arms, and made several campaigns in the Low
-Countries. Happening, as was the custom of
-English volunteers, to visit England during the
-winter, the youth had been introduced at the
-Court of James in the dawn of Buckingham’s
-favour. He shortly made himself acceptable to
-the Favourite, for he was subtle, discerning and
-artful. He soon, therefore, laid aside all thoughts
-of becoming a soldier, but took every means of
-endearing himself to Buckingham, carefully avoiding
-all suspicion that the King had any kindness
-for him, but appearing to rest solely upon the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>Favourite, “whose creature” he desired to be considered;
-“and he prospered,” remarks Lord
-Clarendon, “so well in that pretence, that the
-King scarcely made more haste to absolve the
-debt, than the Duke did to promote the other.”<a id='r176' /><a href='#f176' class='c012'><sup>[176]</sup></a>
-Under such auspices, the Earl of Holland had
-risen soon to greatness.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>A wealthy marriage with the heiress of Sir
-Walter Coke brought him, among other sources
-of wealth, the Manor of Kensington, and made
-him the owner of Holland House, built by his
-father-in-law in 1607, but greatly enlarged and
-embellished. Through the influence of Buckingham,
-he had not only been created Baron of Kensington,
-but placed about the person of the Prince of
-Wales, a step of much hazard, as the Favourite
-was, at that time, scarcely certain of the favour
-of Charles to himself.<a id='r177' /><a href='#f177' class='c012'><sup>[177]</sup></a> Holland was sent to Spain
-before the Prince and the Duke, so that he had
-acquired an insight, not only into the politics of
-that court, but into the character of those with
-whom he had to deal, whose foibles were, as
-he conceived, to contribute some of the stepping-stones
-to his own fortune.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Earl of Holland had <a id='corr168.25'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='had,”'>had,</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_168.25'><ins class='correction' title='had,”'>had,</ins></a></span> says Bishop
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>Hacket, “an amorous temper and a wise head,
-and could court it as smoothly as any man with the
-French ladies; and made so fortunate an account
-into England, after three months of his introductions,
-that he saw no fear of denial in the suit,
-nor of superiority in the articles.”<a id='r178' /><a href='#f178' class='c012'><sup>[178]</sup></a> But James,
-wisely relying less upon the crafty arts of Holland,
-than upon the integrity of the Earl of Carlisle,
-had sent that nobleman afterwards, joining him
-in the same commission with Holland. “They
-were,” added Bishop Hacket, “peers of the best
-lustre in our court, elegant in their persons, habit,
-and language, and, by their nearness to King
-James, apt scholars to learn the principles of wisdom,
-and the fitter to improve their instructions
-to honour and safety.”<a id='r179' /><a href='#f179' class='c012'><sup>[179]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Earl of Holland soon discovered that in
-the queen-mother, Marie de Medici, the widow
-of Henry the Great, alone centred the real sway
-in France at that period,<a id='r180' /><a href='#f180' class='c012'><sup>[180]</sup></a> unhappily for the young
-Prince, her son, who crouched beneath her rule
-and that of Richelieu. During frequent interviews
-at the Louvre, he gained from her a promise
-of assistance; this was even before the return
-of Charles and Buckingham from Spain, as the postscript
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>of a letter from the Earl of Holland, lately
-created Earl of Kensington, dated Feb. 26, 1624,
-and addressed to Charles, certifies. “The obligations
-you have unto this young Queen (Anne of
-Austria) are strange, for with the same affections
-that the Queen, your sister, would do, she asks of
-you, with all the expressions that are possible of
-joy, for your safe return out of Spain, and told me
-that she durst say you were weary of being there,
-and so should she, though a Spaniard; though I
-find she gives over all thought of your alliance
-with her sister. Sir, you have the fortune to have
-respects put upon you unlooked for; for, as in
-Spain the Queen there did you good offices, so I
-find will this sweet Queen do, who said she was
-sorry when you saw them practise their masques,
-that madam, her sister<a id='r181' /><a href='#f181' class='c012'><sup>[181]</sup></a> (whom she dearly loves),
-was seen to so much disadvantage by you; to be
-seen afar off and in a dark room, whose person
-and face hath most loveliness to be considered
-nearly. She made me show her your picture, the
-which she let the ladies see, with infinite commendations
-of your person, saying she hoped some
-good occasion might bring you hither, that they
-might see you like yourself.”<a id='r182' /><a href='#f182' class='c012'><sup>[182]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>“The French match,” according to another eyewitness,
-“went on by fits;” the Earl of Carlisle
-growing so weary of frivolous objections and delays
-that he wished to return home. “The young
-lady,” adds the same informant, “is forward, and
-this week sent one over with her picture to the
-Prince, and where any rubb or slip comes in the
-way, she grows melancholique and keeps her
-chamber.”<a id='r183' /><a href='#f183' class='c012'><sup>[183]</sup></a> Nevertheless, even in this early stage
-of the business, we find a letter from King James
-to the Duke of Buckingham, commanding him to
-put the royal navy into readiness “to bring over
-the Princess Henrietta.”<a id='r184' /><a href='#f184' class='c012'><sup>[184]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Shortly afterwards, Lord Kensington wrote
-again, giving Charles, whom he addresses as the
-“most complete young Prince and person in the
-world,” the flattering intelligence that the fair
-Henrietta had expressed a passionate desire to see
-his picture, “the shadow of that person so honoured,”
-yet knew not “the means,” adds
-the ambassador, “to compass it, it being worn
-about my neck; for though others, as the Queen
-and Princesses, would open it and consider it,
-which even brought forth admiration from them,
-yet durst not this poor young lady look any otherwise
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>on it than afar off, whose heart was nearer it
-than any of the others that did most gaze upon
-it.” Resolved, however, to behold the portrait
-of her royal suitor, Henrietta desired the gentlewoman
-in whose house the ambassador was
-lodged, and who was a former servant of hers, to
-borrow the picture secretly, assigning as an excuse
-that "she could not want that curiosity, as well
-as others, towards a person of the Prince’s infinite
-reputation." As soon as she saw her emissary
-enter her room, the Princess retired into her
-cabinet, calling her in, “where,” says Holland,
-“she opened the picture in such haste as shewed
-a picture of her passion, blushing in the instant
-at her own guiltiness. She kept it an hour in her
-hands, and when she returned it she gave it many
-praises of your person.” “Sir,” continues the ambassador,
-well comprehending the gallant and
-delicate nature of him whom he addressed, "this
-is a business fit for your secrecy, as I know it shall
-never go farther than unto the King your father,
-my Lord of Buckingham, and my Lord of Carlisle’s
-knowledge. A tenderness in this is honourable;
-for I would rather die a thousand times than it
-should be published, since I am by this young
-lady trusted, that is for beauty and goodness an
-angel."<a id='r185' /><a href='#f185' class='c012'><sup>[185]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>Amongst the most powerful advocates of Prince
-Charles in the French Court was the Duchess
-de Chevreuse, to whose influence over Anne of
-Austria has been attributed her subsequent imprudent
-encouragement of Buckingham’s discreditable
-addresses.<a id='r186' /><a href='#f186' class='c012'><sup>[186]</sup></a> Formerly the wife of the Duc
-de Luises, the favourite of Louis the Thirteenth,
-but married afterwards to the Duc de Chevreuse,
-a Prince of the House of Lorraine, the Duchess
-de Chevreuse became the great star of the gay
-and dissolute scenes in which the young Queen of
-France sought to bury the remembrance of a husband
-from whom she recoiled, and of a Queen-Mother
-and Minister of State whom she both
-disliked and feared. The Duchess, whose banishment
-from Court, sometime afterwards, was an
-event never forgiven by Anne of Austria, was one
-of the most splendid and lavish as well as the
-gayest and most fascinating women of her day.
-Lord Kensington, visiting her one evening at the
-Louvre, found her and the Duc de Chevreuse
-dressing themselves for a masque, and covered
-with such a profusion of jewels as even he never
-expected again to behold adorning subjects.
-Shortly afterwards, there entered Anne of Austria
-and Henrietta, the latter full of glee, of which,
-as many persons told the ambassador, “the cause
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>might easily be guessed.” “My Lord,” adds the
-Lord Kensington, addressing the Duke of Buckingham,
-“I protest to God she is a lovely, sweet
-young creature. Her growth is not great yet,
-but her shape is perfect; and they all swear that
-her sister, the Princess of Piedmont (who is now
-grown tall and a goodly lady), was not taller than
-she is at her age.” He feared that Anne ever
-would be reserved towards him, not liking the
-“breach and disorder of the Spanish treaty;”
-but she had become, it was observed, “so truly
-French” as to wish for this affiance rather than
-that with her own sister, the Infanta of Spain.<a id='r187' /><a href='#f187' class='c012'><sup>[187]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Everything therefore proceeded favourably, and
-Henrietta passed hours in the society of Lord
-Kensington, expatiating upon the Prince, and
-touching upon English customs. Among other
-things, she “fell to speaking,” says Lord Kensington,
-“of ladies riding on horseback, which,
-she said, was rare here, but frequent in England;
-and then expressed her delight in that
-exercise.”<a id='r188' /><a href='#f188' class='c012'><sup>[188]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Lord Kensington continued, meantime, to ply
-the Queen Dowager with incessant flattery, and
-to meet her inquiries ingeniously. “I find,” he
-writes to the Duke of Buckingham, “the queen-mother
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>has the only power of governing in this
-state. She was willing to know upon what terms
-stood our Spanish alliance. I told her that their
-delays had been so tedious that they had sometimes
-discouraged the King, and had so wearied
-the Prince and state with the dilatory proceedings
-in it, as that treaty, I thought, would soon have an
-end.” So little expectation was, at this time, entertained
-of an unfavourable termination of the
-Spanish marriage, that the Queen thought that
-the ambassador referred to a speedy union between
-Charles and the Infanta. "She strait said, ‘Of
-marriage?’ taking it that way. I told her I
-believed the contrary, and I did so her entreat, because
-the Spanish ambassador hath given it out,
-since my coming, that the alliance is fully concluded,
-and that my journey hath no other end
-than to hasten his master unto it, only to give
-them jealousies of me, because he, at this time,
-fears their dispositions stand too well prepared to
-desire and affect a conjunction with us."<a id='r189' /><a href='#f189' class='c012'><sup>[189]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In another letter, also addressed to the Duke of
-Buckingham, it appears that Lord Kensington
-was allowed access at all times to the young
-French princess, with permission “to entertain
-her henceforth with a more free and amorous kind
-of language from the Prince;” and these and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>other favours were acknowledged by Kensington,
-as from the Duke of Buckingham, with redoubled
-thanks, adding that "he knew his lordship would
-esteem it one of the greatest happinesses that
-could befall him, to have any occasion offered
-whereby he might witness how much he adored
-Her Majesty’s royal virtues, and how infinitely he
-was her servant, ready to receive law from her,
-whensoever, by the least syllable of her blessed
-lips or pen, she should please to impose it." And
-then followed encomiums in the same letter from
-the crafty Kensington, who, as he said, solved
-everything as well as he could, upon the Cardinal
-de Richelieu, magnifying to the Queen "the Cardinal’s
-wisdom, his courage, his courtesy, his
-fidelity to the service, his affection to our business,"
-so as to captivate the queen-mother.<a id='r190' /><a href='#f190' class='c012'><sup>[190]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>A long conversation followed regarding the voyage
-into Spain, upon which memorable event
-the queen-mother remarked “that two kings had
-committed in it two great errors; the one, in
-trusting so precious a pledge in so hazardous an
-enterprize; the other, in treating so brave a guest
-so ill.” “Indeed, I heard,” said the Queen, “that
-the Prince was used ill.” “So he was,” returned
-Lord Kensington, “but not in his entertainment,
-for that was as splendid as their country could
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>afford; but in their frivolous delay, and in the
-unreasonable conditions which they propounded.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>“And yet, madam,” added the wily ambassador,
-“you here use him far worse.” "And how?"
-inquired the queen-mother; “In that you press,”
-replied he, "upon that noble and worthy Prince,
-who hath, with so much affection to your Majesty’s
-service, with so much passion to Madam,
-sought this alliance, the same, nay, more unreasonable
-conditions than the other, and what
-they traced out for the breaking of the match,
-you follow, pretending to conclude it," alluding
-to one of the conditions of the marriage contract.
-Lord Kensington then requested a personal interview
-with the young Princess, in order to deliver
-to her a message from Charles. After some
-little difficulty, his petition was granted; the queen-mother,
-relying, as she said, upon his discretion not
-to utter anything which it might be derogatory to
-her daughter’s dignity to hear. It was, of course,
-the endeavour of the ambassador to put the Prince’s
-addresses in the light of a passionate love-suit.
-“I obey,” said he, "the Prince’s commands in
-presenting to your Highness his service, not by
-way of compliment, but out of passion and affection,
-which both your outward and inward
-beauties, the virtues of your mind, so kindle in
-him that he was resolved to contribute the utmost
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>he could to the alliance in question," with some
-little other “such amorous language.” Then, turning
-to the old ladies who stood near the Princess,
-he thought it fit to let them know that his Highness
-had the Princess’s picture, which he kept in
-his cabinet, “and fed his eyes many times with
-the sight and contemplation of it, since he could
-not have the happiness of beholding her person.”
-All which, and many other such speeches, were
-by the Princess, “standing by, quickly taken up,
-without letting any one fall to the ground.”<a id='r191' /><a href='#f191' class='c012'><sup>[191]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Such were the addresses of Charles to
-Henrietta. Buckingham, to whom this account
-was written by Lord Kensington, must have
-smiled at the repetition of the same love passages
-that had, it was said, fascinated the heart of the
-Infanta.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In a subsequent letter to Charles himself, Kensington
-again exalted the services of the queen-mother
-in promoting this match, and extolled the
-charms of the Princess. “There is no preparation,
-I find, towards this business, but by her--the
-queen-mother; and all persuasions of amity
-made light that look not towards this errand;
-and, sir, if your intentions proceed this way, as, by
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>many reasons of state and wisdom, there is cause
-now rather to press it than slacken it, you will
-find a lady of as much loveliness and sweetness to
-deserve your affection as any creature under
-heaven can do.” The “impressions he had of her,”
-he adds, “were but ordinary, but the amazement
-extraordinary, to find her, as I protest to God I
-did, the sweetest creature in France. Her growth
-is very little short of her age, and her wisdom
-infinitely beyond it. I heard her discourse with
-her mother and the ladies about her with extraordinary
-discretion and quickness. She dances,
-which I am a witness of, as well as ever I saw any
-creature. They say she sings most sweetly; I
-am sure she looks so.” In conclusion, Kensington
-mentions to His Highness that, in his letter to
-“my Lord of Buckingham,” he had written a
-more large discourse upon this interesting theme.<a id='r192' /><a href='#f192' class='c012'><sup>[192]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Thus far had the treaty proceeded, when it was
-delayed by the death of King James. The marriage
-articles had, nevertheless, been subscribed by
-that Monarch on the 11th of May, and by the
-King of France on the 13th of August, in
-the previous year; and, on the 13th of
-March, 1625, the Earls of Carlisle and Kensington
-signed these articles on the part of Charles I.
-Private arrangements received also their signature
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>relative to the toleration of Catholics within the
-British dominions.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The dispensation for the nuptials having
-arrived from Rome in the beginning of May,
-there remained no obstacle to the ceremonial of
-marriage. This, notwithstanding the claim preferred
-by the Archbishop of Paris to that honour,
-was performed by Cardinal Richelieu. The marriage
-was celebrated according to the usual rites
-of the Church of Rome. After the ceremony, the
-whole procession, including the royal personages,
-entered the church of Notre Dame, the Duke de
-Chevreuse and the Princess Henrietta Maria
-taking precedence of the King and Queen. Then
-mass was said, the English ambassadors retiring
-to the Bishop’s house during the recital.<a id='r193' /><a href='#f193' class='c012'><sup>[193]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>A banquet followed, and the event was commemorated
-by the release of criminals, "as an
-earnest of the King’s love and respect for his
-sister."<a id='r194' /><a href='#f194' class='c012'><sup>[194]</sup></a> The previous arrangements for these
-ceremonials had been delayed by much contention
-with regard to precedency.<a id='r195' /><a href='#f195' class='c012'><sup>[195]</sup></a> But that which
-gave the greatest uneasiness to the English nation
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>was the difficulty, and, as it seemed to many,
-the risk attendant upon the mode of faith professed
-by the young Queen.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>At his accession, Charles had manifested very
-decisively his disfavour of Catholics; he declared
-his intention to reform the Court, “as of unnecessary
-charges, so of recusant Papists.” He gave
-an order in his own hand-writing that no recusant
-Papist, of any rank whatsoever, should be
-presented with mourning for the late King; and
-he showed his zeal generally for the observance
-of the Church, by putting the High Sheriff of
-Nottingham out of his commission, for accompanying
-the judges on the circuit, who were attending
-the sermon, only to the church door,
-and there leaving them.<a id='r196' /><a href='#f196' class='c012'><sup>[196]</sup></a> Hopes were entertained
-that Henrietta Maria might be converted,
-and several prayer-books in French were sent
-her by Sir George Goring for that end; but
-the news that a bishop and twenty-eight priests
-were to be included in her retinue, quickly dispelled
-that pleasing anticipation.<a id='r197' /><a href='#f197' class='c012'><sup>[197]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The part which Buckingham took in the promotion
-of this alliance lessened, therefore, greatly
-the popularity which his abandonment of the
-Spanish marriage was beginning to ensure to him;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>and the announcement of the King’s intention to
-despatch the Favourite, in order to bring off his
-royal bride, was, for many reasons, highly displeasing
-to the country.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The chief ground of objection to the proposed
-journey was the expense. And here the nation
-separated the wishes and intentions of Charles
-from those of his minister. The King had, they
-observed, shown a disposition to economy; nay,
-more, he had displayed an honourable determination
-to pay his late father’s debts by disparking
-most of his remote parks and chases, which were
-then more numerous and extensive than any royal
-domains in Europe.<a id='r198' /><a href='#f198' class='c012'><sup>[198]</sup></a> The lavish tendencies of
-Buckingham, therefore, and the heavy charges
-on the exchequer which had been incurred by
-the two ambassadors already at the French court,
-were not ascribed to the extravagance of the
-Monarch, but to the vanity and profuseness of
-his Minister.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The preparations, therefore, made by Buckingham
-for this, his last foreign mission,--for, when
-he again visited the continent, it was with different
-intentions, and under another aspect,--were
-viewed with vexation, by the majority of
-those who were not bound to silence by interest,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>for the great and fruitless cost of the Spanish
-journey was fresh in remembrance.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duke had, however, begun his arrangements
-before King James’s death: and the day<a id='r199' /><a href='#f199' class='c012'><sup>[199]</sup></a>
-had been fixed for his departure. He did not
-forget that he was to appear at the most festive
-and splendid of all the courts of Christendom.<a id='r200' /><a href='#f200' class='c012'><sup>[200]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>An account, preserved in the Harleian Manuscripts,
-represents him as having, “for his body,
-twenty-seven rich suits, embroidered and laced
-with silk and silver plushes, besides one rich
-satten uncut velvet suit, set all over, both suite
-and cloak, of diamonds, the value whereof is
-thought to be about one thousand pounds.” Corresponding
-to this extravagant attire, <a id='corr183.16'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='a feather'>“a feather</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_183.16'><ins class='correction' title='a feather'>“a feather</ins></a></span>
-made with great diamonds, a sword girdle, hatband,
-and spurs, all studded with <a id='corr182.18'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='diamonds,'>diamonds,”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_182.18'><ins class='correction' title='diamonds,'>diamonds,”</ins></a></span> completed
-the apparel and decoration which the
-Duke intended to wear upon his entrance into
-Paris. For the wedding-day he prepared another
-rich suit, composed of purple satin, embroidered
-with rich orient pearls. Over this was worn a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>cloak made after the Spanish fashion, and the
-dress was finished with all <a id='corr184.2'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='‘things suitable.’ His'>things suitable.” “His</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_184.2'><ins class='correction' title='‘things suitable.’ His'>things suitable.” “His</ins></a></span> other suits,” adds the narrator, “are all as rich
-other suits,” adds the narrator, “are all as
-rich as invention can frame, or art fashion. His
-colours for the entrance are white and watchet,
-for the wedding, crimson and gold.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham’s departure was preceded by the
-despatching of his servants with fifty geldings and
-nags, and twelve coach horses. His personal
-retinue was consistent with all this grandeur and
-display; it reminds one of the gorgeous pomp of
-Wolsey in the height of his prosperity. Twenty
-privy gentlemen, seven grooms of his chambers,
-thirty chief women, and two master cooks constituted
-his own peculiar servants. Three rich
-suits apiece were given to each of these attendants.
-The inferior servants for the household
-consisted of twenty-five second cooks, fourteen
-women of the second rank, seventeen grooms to
-attend upon those yeomen, forty-five labourers
-sellerers belonging to the kitchen, twelve pages,
-twenty-four footmen, six huntsmen, and twelve
-grooms. Most of these functionaries were provided
-with three rich suits <a id='corr184.24'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='a piece'>apiece</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_184.24'><ins class='correction' title='a piece'>apiece</ins></a></span>, and to complete
-the establishment there were six riders with one
-suit apiece, and eight others to attend the stable
-business.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>His equipages consisted of three rich coaches,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>velvet inside, and covered externally with gold
-lace all over. Eight horses and six coachmen
-were allotted to each coach; then there was a
-band of musicians, eight score in number, “all
-richly suited.” "There were my Lord Duke’s
-watermen, twenty-two in number, suited in sky-coloured
-taffety, all gilded, with anchovys and My
-Lord’s arms." These were appropriated to one
-barge only, and the whole of this regal retinue
-was, says the annalist, "at his Grace’s charge."</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Eight noblemen, the Marquis of Hamilton at
-their head, and six gentlemen of honourable
-families, attended the Duke. Amongst them were
-his brother-in-law, the Earl of Denbigh, and one
-of his brothers, designated simply as “Mr. Villars.”
-When to these there were added twenty-four
-knights, of great worth, all of “whom carried six
-or seven pages a piece, and as many footmen,” the
-train amounted to six or seven hundred. Nor
-were those all. “When,” says the writer of this
-account, “the list is perfect, there will appear
-many more than I have named.”<a id='r201' /><a href='#f201' class='c012'><sup>[201]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The nuptials for which some of this grand preparation
-was made, had, however, taken place
-before it was Buckingham’s fate to cross the
-Channel.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The day after King James’s funeral was to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>have witnessed the departure of Buckingham for
-France. This was on the eighth of May, and the
-future Queen was expected to be at Dover by the
-eleventh.<a id='r202' /><a href='#f202' class='c012'><sup>[202]</sup></a> But the Duke did not arrive in Paris
-until the twenty-fourth; nor did Henrietta
-Maria land on the shores of England until the
-twenty-second of June.<a id='r203' /><a href='#f203' class='c012'><sup>[203]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>During the seven days that Buckingham remained
-at the French court, an uninterrupted
-succession of feasting and rejoicing occupied his
-time; whilst his imagination was engrossed by an
-object to which no man who had not been brought
-to the highest point of presumption by a career
-of prosperity would have ventured to aspire.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The painful and degrading position in which
-Anne of Austria was placed, under the sway of
-her mother-in-law, destitute as the young Queen
-was of all good advisers, and exposed by her
-youth and her attractions to the snares of the designing,
-in the vitiated sphere in which she
-moved, has been already referred to. Some additional
-traits of the appearance and character of
-a Princess whose fascinations produced a powerful
-effect upon Buckingham may not be deemed
-impertinent.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>She was not then a mother; and the importance
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>of giving birth to a future monarch of
-France was not permitted to her until thirteen
-years afterwards.<a id='r204' /><a href='#f204' class='c012'><sup>[204]</sup></a> By her attendant and partizan,
-Madame de Motteville, a character so beautiful
-has been given of the Queen Consort of Louis
-the Thirteenth, as would inspire compassion for the
-sacrifice which bound her at the altar to a husband
-wholly unworthy of a wife so graceful and
-so virtuous, could an entire credence be assigned
-to that partial testimony.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>According to her favourite, Anne had imbibed
-from her mother, Margaret of Austria, a lively
-piety and a love of virtue which were never
-quenched, even during her passage through the
-manifold temptations of her existence. She was
-replete, according to the same authoress, with
-goodness and with justice; she was neither suspicious,
-nor easily led wrong by persuasion; and
-where endeavours were made to prejudice her
-against any one whom she esteemed, her resistance
-showed the strength of her attachment. During
-her regency, when under the dominion of Cardinal
-Mazarin, that minister was often known to
-say that her devotion and rectitude of mind
-caused him embarrassment; “for she had,” observes
-Madame de Motteville, “sufficient aptitude
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>of mind to know well what was right, and had she
-been endowed with strength of character adequate
-always to defend the truth, the pen of the historian
-could not have bestowed upon her any
-praise too high; but she distrusted herself, and
-her humility induced her to consider herself as
-incapable of conducting the government of the
-State.”<a id='r205' /><a href='#f205' class='c012'><sup>[205]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This combination of good intention with weakness
-of purpose, these feminine requisites of piety
-and gentleness, added to her natural sagacity, rendered
-Anne of Austria one of the most engaging
-of all those lofty personages who figured in a
-capital of which one of its monarchs observed,
-comparing it to a head, “that it was so spiritually
-gross and full of disease as to require, from time
-to time, bleeding, in order to secure the repose of
-its members.”<a id='r206' /><a href='#f206' class='c012'><sup>[206]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>During the early years of this young Queen’s
-married life, she had been addressed in the language
-of passion by several successive suitors.
-“Notwithstanding the respect which her Majesty
-inspires,” writes Madame Motteville, “her loveliness
-did not fail to touch the hearts of certain individuals,
-who ventured to manifest their passion.”<a id='r207' /><a href='#f207' class='c012'><sup>[207]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>Amongst these, first in the list was the Duc de
-Montmorenci, distinguished for bravery, for a handsome
-person, and for his great magnificence in his
-mode of living. This nobleman had been enamoured
-of the Marquise de Sable, the reigning beauty at the
-French Court when Anne of Austria first came to
-grace it; but her coldness and self-esteem chilled
-the ardour of her admirer. Platonic attachments,
-the fashion for which was first introduced by
-Catherine de Medici from Italy, were still in vogue;
-to this fashion, more fatal, perhaps, to virtue than
-the more direct blandishments of vice, Madame
-de Sable inclined. The alliance between Spain
-and France had introduced many of the Spanish
-authors to the lettered portion of the French
-community, and the gallantry of that nation, imbibed
-from the Moors, appeared to correspond
-with the delicate sentiments of the Italians. It
-did not, however, change man’s nature, nor act as
-an antidote to his fickleness. The Duc de Montmorenci
-beheld Anne of Austria, and the Marquise
-was forgotten. Proud and yet humble, that
-lady, upon the first surmise of his alteration of
-sentiment, withdrew from the contest with one so
-much more elevated than herself, and refused to
-see him again. Nevertheless, Montmorenci found
-little favour in the heart of Anne of Austria, who
-could never believe that his passion for her was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>either sincere or ardent; and who regarded, in
-after times, the petty gratification which it gave
-her as one of the symptoms of flattered vanity.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duc de Bellegarde, old, and a veteran in
-the court, for he had been the favourite of two
-preceding monarchs, was the next who sought to
-occupy the heart in which there existed a void;
-for Anne’s indifference to her royal consort daily
-increased. The love-suit which this ancient nobleman
-presumed to address to the Queen was
-received by her as incense to her vanity which
-could not, possibly, injure her reputation; and,
-although she listened to his avowal of admiration
-at first with resentment, she soon treated it as a
-jest; and even the King, although disposed to be
-jealous, entered into the pleasantry which the devotion
-expressed in the lisping accents of age
-naturally induced.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>But a far more dangerous suitor lurked about
-the young Queen’s haunts, who, watching her from
-the retired recesses of the court, at once loved
-and persecuted her. This was the Cardinal de
-Richelieu.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This extraordinary character, acknowledged
-even by his enemies to have been the greatest
-man of his time, had manifested the mad attachment
-with which Anne of Austria inspired, in a
-singular manner, this astute politician. To her
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>confidante, Madame Motteville, the Queen had
-imparted a strange incident in the life of this
-minister, whose thoughts, designs, and affections
-appeared to be centered in public affairs, or, as he
-termed it, in the good of the state.<a id='r208' /><a href='#f208' class='c012'><sup>[208]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>One day, when, with ill-concealed disgust, Anne
-was listening to the conversation of the Cardinal,
-she was surprised by a sudden burst of hitherto subdued
-feelings from that crafty churchman; and she
-heard, with what mingled consternation and anger
-may be conceived, expressions of a passionate
-attachment. As she was about to reply in terms
-of indignation and contempt, the King entered
-the closet in which she and the Cardinal were
-conversing, and a sudden check was given to the
-subject, never to be resumed; for Anne dared not
-to recur to it, lest she should flatter the wishes of
-the Cardinal by showing her remembrance of his
-addresses; she would only reply to him by showing
-tacitly her hatred, and by her incessant
-refusal to accept either his proffered friendship,
-or his offer of mediation between her and the
-King. It was in vain she perceived that her
-conduct aggravated the bad understanding between
-her and her royal partner; in vain she
-knew that whilst the presumptuous love of the
-Cardinal preponderated in his breast, she yet
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>drove him to extremities by her abhorrence.
-He demonstrated “his affection,” by persecutions
-which ceased only with his existence; for he
-hoped, possibly, if he could not succeed by gentle
-means, to prevail over her contempt by fear.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was at this juncture, whilst Anne, estranged
-from her consort, and pursued, watched, and loved
-by the Cardinal de Richelieu, most truly required
-a friend and monitor, that Buckingham arrived to
-throw fresh temptations and difficulties in her
-path. Unhappily her favourite, Madame de Chevreuse,
-afterwards banished from Court by Richelieu,
-was not a woman of prudence, and, perhaps,
-scarcely of virtue. By Madame de Motteville,
-the Duchesse de Chevreuse is regarded as the
-true source of all Anne’s errors and misfortunes.
-Anne loved her, as those to whom the natural
-channels of affection are forbidden, or poisoned,
-love the soothing and humble. She never forgave
-Richelieu the disgrace of her favourite, nor even
-when she knew that it was the wish of her husband
-that Madame de Chevreuse should be sent away,
-could she submit to his wishes. Anne, in the commencement
-of her career, had shown much
-disgust to those who were termed “les dames
-gallantes,” and had appeared, to those who knew
-her best, to possess the most rigid notions of
-female decorum. But the society of Madame de
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>Chevreuse had broken down that barrier in
-which the young and fascinating Queen found
-her best protection. Even after sundry imprudencies,
-those who were cognizant of her actions
-accorded to her the credit of a perfect purity
-of life, and bestowed upon her all the esteem
-which is due to the most undoubted virtue.
-In after life, the frankness and simplicity
-with which she spoke of these early passages
-of her life showed that no evil was attached
-to them, and that to vanity alone were to
-be attributed those rash adventures in which
-her reputation incurred so severe an ordeal.
-How far, on a review of the circumstances of her
-career, Anne may be acquitted of a want of
-feminine modesty, of a prudence the representative
-of virtue, must be a question for the moralist.
-Her character must, however, be measured in
-some respects by the standard of the age in
-which she lived.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Unhappily for Anne, at the time that Buckingham
-arrived in Paris, Madame de Chevreuse
-was passionately in love with the handsome and
-dangerous Earl of Holland, and made no secret of
-that disgraceful attachment.<a id='r209' /><a href='#f209' class='c012'><sup>[209]</sup></a> It was, therefore,
-her endeavour to promote everything that could
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>produce a continued intercourse between France
-and this country.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Of the first meeting between Anne of Austria
-and Buckingham, during his embassy, there is no
-account. We can suppose it to have occurred
-under circumstances of dazzling splendour, to
-which many considerations, not guessed by the
-public, lent a strong interest. The suppressed
-and dangerous admiration of Richelieu might not
-be penetrated by Buckingham; but it was
-notorious that whilst Louis XIII. distrusted, and
-apparently neglected, his Queen, he was really
-disposed to respect and cherish her; and was
-known to have confessed to a confidant one day,
-in speaking of the Queen’s personal attractions,
-that “he dared not show her any tenderness, lest
-he should displease the queen-mother and the
-Cardinal, whose aid and counsels were much more
-essential to him than the affection of his wife.”<a id='r210' /><a href='#f210' class='c012'><sup>[210]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Thus situated--bound to a husband of whose
-indifference she was by no means certain, but
-who, she well knew, had not the mental strength
-to cope with the Cardinal, and to avow any
-kindness for her--admired at a distance by the
-courtiers--passionately loved and fiercely persecuted
-by Richelieu, Anne must have presented a
-new source of interest and curiosity to Buckingham;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>and the course of her destiny, hard as it
-might seem, would give fuel to his presumption.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The dignity which Anne could assume on state
-occasions has been insisted upon by Madame de
-Motteville, when, speaking of her demeanour
-during the regency, she describes her then as
-equally fair with the fairest of the Court. A vast
-quantity of brown hair, powdered and frizzed,
-indeed, and worn in curls, set off a complexion
-not so delicate in colour as distinguished for the
-softness and smoothness of the skin. She disfigured
-herself, after the Spanish fashion, by
-wearing rouge; and one defect was striking--her
-nose was thick and large. Her eyes varied in
-colour from a perfect blue to green; and her
-glance was full of sweetness and expression. Her
-mouth was small, and her lips crimson, and the
-sweetest smiles played upon her countenance.
-The form of her face and forehead was admirable;
-her arms and hands were celebrated for
-their wonderful symmetry and for their whiteness,
-being, without exaggeration, white as snow. The
-delicacy of her habits amounted almost to monomania.
-“Madam,” observed Cardinal Mazarin
-to her, “should you incur everlasting condemnation,
-your punishment would be to sleep in
-sheets of Holland cloth.”<a id='r211' /><a href='#f211' class='c012'><sup>[211]</sup></a> Her deportment in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>after life, during the minority of her son, Louis
-XIV., and her fortitude during the agonies of
-her last fatal illness, showed that the gentle and
-attractive Queen possessed a strong natural
-capacity, which circumstances eventually called
-into action.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu,
-the all-powerful minister of Louis XIII., was now
-in the height of his power; he reigned, in short,
-under the name of the King. In an unbounded,
-and perhaps entirely selfish ambition, and in the
-full fruition of their hopes, Buckingham and
-Richelieu may be said to have resembled each
-other. In the love of pomp and display, they
-were alike. The superb attire, the costly
-retinue of the English peer, were puerile attempts
-compared with the ordinary household of
-Richelieu. His magnificent palace in the Rue
-St. Honoré, known, during his time, under the
-name of the Palais Cardinal, and, since the year
-1636, as the Palais Royal, recalled the glories of
-York House at Whitehall, in the days of Wolsey,
-with all the added refinements of a later period.
-There, in the chapel, might be seen ornaments
-decorated with gold, studded with diamonds.
-The most splendid tapestry, the most uncommon
-articles of virtu, pictures of rare value, busts
-and statues, adorned the palace in which
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>Richelieu entertained the King and the Court in
-stately revels. There, on one occasion, was
-enacted a play, drawn from the history of the
-Duke of Buckingham, when all the French
-prelates were invited, and when the Bishop de
-Chartres, formerly confessor to Richelieu, arranged
-the seats, and finally, clad in velvet, presented
-himself on the stage, at the head of a train
-of twenty-four pages, carrying the collation which
-was offered to the company.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>At the Palais Cardinal, Buckingham learned
-fresh lessons of an ostentatious display, wholly
-inconsistent with the condition of a subject. The
-Cardinal’s body-guard, assigned to him by the
-King, equalled in number that of his royal master;
-and the horse soldiers had a table appropriated to
-him in his hall; of these, the Cardinal had the
-power of appointment and dismissal. His ordinary
-personal attendants in his own house were
-composed of thirty-six pages, selected from noble
-families, and reared in his house under the tutorage
-of able masters--a system again recalling the
-household of Wolsey. When he travelled, the
-Cardinal was followed by a train consisting of his
-secretaries, his physicians, and his confessor; by
-eight carriages, with four horses each; and by
-eighty baggage mules. His guard escorted him,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>and his pages; his band, composed of musicians of
-the first eminence, and a numerous body of domestic
-servants, followed the litter in which the
-great Richelieu, delicate from his birth, and infirm
-in health, was carried; the walls of the towns
-through which he passed being levelled to receive
-this princely procession, when the gates happened
-to be too narrow to permit its entrance.
-Often, indeed, it was found necessary to widen
-the roads.<a id='r212' /><a href='#f212' class='c012'><sup>[212]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>But, whilst Buckingham might read in the
-extreme expenditure of the Cardinal a plea for his
-own magnificence, there was much to be learned
-in that palace which Richelieu, like Wolsey, afterwards
-bestowed on the monarch to whom he owed
-his wealth. There, the minister of Charles might
-see a systematic regulation of expense; generosity
-without prodigality, and almost unlimited alms-giving.
-Abhorring solicitation, which always
-defeated its own aim, absolute and irascible, the
-Cardinal, nevertheless, loved to benefit those who
-served him. No hasty words escaped from him
-for which he was not eager to atone; and, whilst
-his principle was that men are only to be
-maintained in their duty by severity, his nature
-was placable to his inferiors, although proud and
-unrelenting to his political enemies.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>Another lesson might Buckingham derive in
-the crowded <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>salons</em></span>> of the Palais Cardinal--the
-patronage of letters. Richelieu admitted to
-intimacy the most eminent authors of the day;
-and so much did he enjoy their society, that his
-chief physician, Monsieur Caton, used to
-say to him, when prescribing for the Cardinal:--"Sir,
-we will do all that is in our power; but all
-my remedies will be useless, if you do not add to
-them a drachm of Boisrobert;"--Boisrobert
-being a writer whose works are long since
-forgotten, but whose powers of telling well the
-news of the court and city used to charm
-the Cardinal. In the conversation of men of
-letters, Richelieu found, indeed, his greatest
-solace; and nothing gave him greater satisfaction
-than a victory argument, or a success in
-<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>repartée</em></span>.<a id='r213' /><a href='#f213' class='c012'><sup>[213]</sup></a> In the Chamber of the Palais
-Cardinal might be heard poets reciting their
-unpublished verses, or going away richly paid
-and praised when their productions were
-approved. “Une Salle de Spectacle,” as it was
-called, was erected by the Cardinal in his palace,
-and five favourite authors, Corneille, Boisrobert,
-Colletet, D’Estoile, and Robron, were employed
-to work out into a dramatic form the poetical
-conceptions of their patron. Neither was this
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>great minister content with lavishing his
-individual bounty upon men of genius; he
-formed the plan of the Academy of Paris,
-an institution which was to give laws to literature,
-and the notion of which originated in a private
-society of distinguished men who met together to
-converse, and to communicate their works. In this
-extension of his powerful aid to letters, Richelieu
-found an obstacle which Buckingham was not
-destined to encounter. Louis XIII. hated
-every species of study, and despised that which
-he had not intellect to appreciate. Charles, on
-the other hand, was intelligent and inquiring.
-His education had been carefully attended to; and
-his taste for the arts introduced a degree of
-refinement into English society such as this
-country had never before beheld.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It may easily be conceived with what intense
-curiosity, mingled, perhaps, with a spirit
-of rivalry, Buckingham must have regarded his
-introduction to Richelieu, and how extended
-a notion of the power of a minister he must have
-received during his notable, though brief, sojourn
-in France.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The dignity and courtesy of Richelieu, in his
-ordinary deportment, might, perhaps, have
-supplied a hint to the haughty and uncertain
-Buckingham, naturally imperious and lofty.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>The Cardinal knew well the value of affability.
-He had a most flexible countenance, every
-expression of which he could control; and even,
-according to Marie de Medici, command tears at
-pleasure. One moment he appeared to be sinking
-away in extreme pain; the next found him gay,
-gallant, and active. His manners were most
-caressing to those whom he designed to win
-over; but to all whom he met, his reception was
-full of apparent kindness--his extended hand preceded
-words full of courtesy, and his ready
-smile fascinated those who approached him.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>But beneath this exterior there lay the most
-relentless spirit of vengeance towards all whom
-he regarded as enemies, and the smile and the
-ready dissimulation were fearful to many who
-were conscious of having fallen under his displeasure.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Richelieu, in his morals, gave occasion to much
-scandal. Beneath an assiduous exercise of some of
-the external forms of religion, he was supposed to
-conceal latitudinarian principles, and his private
-life was stained by great irregularities. The
-decencies of society were, nevertheless, maintained
-by the Cardinal, who was sensible that
-nothing lowers a man so much in public esteem
-as to be the slave of his passions; yet, since there
-scarcely existed, in his time, a man of more accommodating
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>principles than the Cardinal in public
-life, so there were few, it was secretly believed, who
-had stronger passions to curb, or to indulge, than
-the most reverend celibate of the Château of
-Rueil--that wonderful and splendid retreat, of
-which no traces are left to mark the alleys
-wherein the festive throngs delighted, nor to recall
-the prisons in the park, to which the all-powerful
-Cardinal consigned his enemies.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c009'>BUCKINGHAM’S EMBASSY TO PARIS--HE DESPATCHES
-BALTHAZAR GERBIER TO SELECT AND PURCHASE
-PICTURES--LETTER OF THE PAINTER TO HIM--THE
-MAGNIFICENCE OF THE FRENCH COURT--BUCKINGHAM’S
-APPEARANCE AT THE PARISIAN COURT--HIS
-ASPIRING TO THE FAVOUR OF ANNE OF AUSTRIA--THE
-MANNER IN WHICH HIS HOMAGE WAS RECEIVED
-BY ANNE, AS STATED BY MADAME DE MOTTEVILLE--THE
-FREEDOM OF MANNERS, TERMED BY ANNE
-"L’HONNÊTE GALANTERIE," PERMITTED BY THE
-QUEEN--THE DAZZLING APPEARANCE OF BUCKINGHAM--ANECDOTE
-OF THE JEALOUSY OF THE FRENCH--POINT
-OF ETIQUETTE BETWEEN BUCKINGHAM AND
-THE CARDINAL RICHELIEU--BUCKINGHAM ATTENDS
-HENRIETTA MARIA TO THE COAST--ANNE OF AUSTRIA
-ACCOMPANIES HER SISTER-IN-LAW TO AMIENS--INCIDENT
-THERE, IN WHICH BUCKINGHAM BETRAYED
-HIS MAD PASSION--HE RECEIVES A REBUFF FROM THE
-QUEEN--HIS LOVE-SUIT NOT CHECKED BY HER
-REPROOF--HE SHEDS TEARS ON PARTING FROM ANNE--JOURNEYS
-ON TO BOULOGNE AND RETURNS TO
-AMIENS--HIS INTERVIEW THERE WITH ANNE--HE
-THEN PURSUES HIS JOURNEY TO ENGLAND--LETTERS,
-AND AFFECTING CONDUCT OF HIS WIFE--THE MEETING
-OF CHARLES AND HENRIETTA MARIA--BUCKINGHAM
-RETAINS HIS INFLUENCE OVER CHARLES I.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c004'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span><b><span class='large'>CHAPTER V.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c011'>Previous to his own departure, Buckingham
-had despatched Balthazar Gerbier, the painter,
-to Paris, in order to select and purchase pictures,
-and other articles, to decorate some of his own
-stately dwellings, not one of which seems to
-have been, at that time, completed. The emissary
-was dazzled by the sight of foreign splendours,
-and sent a lively account of them to the Duke.
-“My lord,” he wrote, “do you beg of Madame
-(the Duchess of Buckingham) that she will be
-pleased to furnish York House; for this Monsieur
-Chevreuse, and all the folks here, are so fine, and
-so magnificent and curious in their houses, that
-your Excellency will be much pleased. I beg
-of your Excellency to see the apartments of this
-Bishop of Paris, and you will see in what nice
-order the pictures are arranged, and how rich
-everything is. And, for the love of Paul
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>Veronese, be pleased to dress the walls of the
-old gallery--poor, blank walls, they will die of
-cold this winter! Your Excellency will see
-also here, as at the house of the Duke de
-Chevreuse, the best paintings are before the
-chimney, and approve what I have always said,
-that they always put the principal piece over
-the chimney. For all their bravery, there is
-still magnificence in gold. But your Excellency
-will see a great mistake they make in the construction
-of their chimneys. These are all made
-of wood, which is very improper so near the fire.
-They are, also, too deep; all the heat remains
-within. Moreover, there are paintings of the
-French masters; but we have the pearl of the
-Fabians.”<a id='r214' /><a href='#f214' class='c012'><sup>[214]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Madame de Motteville extols the splendour
-and gaiety of the court; and although the portraiture
-of the galaxy of beauties whom she
-describes belongs to a later period, one may
-readily conceive that attractions were not wanting
-in that sphere graced by Anne of Austria
-and Henrietta Maria.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The impression made by Buckingham on the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>French was favourable. “He had,” observes
-Madame de Motteville, “a fine figure. His face
-was very handsome; his mind and character were
-free from littleness. He was magnificent in his
-deportment and liberal; and, as the favourite of a
-great prince, he had funds at his disposal, and all
-the crown jewels of England to employ in his own
-adornment.” “It is not to be wondered at,” she
-continues, “that with so many attractions, he should
-have dared to cherish presumptuous thoughts--to
-have harboured desires at once so lofty, so
-dangerous, and so reprehensible; and he had the
-good fortune to persuade those who were aware
-of his wishes that they were not proffered
-impertinently;” “yet,” adds the confidante,
-almost reluctantly, “one may venture to suppose
-that his vows were received in the same degree
-as that in which the gods suffer the homage of
-mortals.”<a id='r215' /><a href='#f215' class='c012'><sup>[215]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The object of these aspiring and criminal hopes
-was, it appears, the young Queen of France.
-Nor is there reason to conclude that the same
-indifference was manifested by Anne to Buckingham
-as had been shown by her to her former
-admirers. In after times, when the perilous
-illusion had for ever passed away, Anne, according
-to Madame de Motteville, admitted that in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>that season of her youth she had not perceived
-that the delightful and sprightly conversation,
-known to her by the term of <i>l’honnête galanterie</i>,
-could possibly be censured, especially when no
-secret understanding was couched beneath the
-lively converse; nor did the thoughtless Queen
-attach to it any greater possibility of blame than
-she should do to those ladies of her native Spanish
-Court, who, being forbidden to talk to men, except
-in the presence of the King and Queen of Spain,
-were accustomed to boast of their conquests
-amongst each other, and to consider them rather
-as enhancing, than detracting from, their reputation.<a id='r216' /><a href='#f216' class='c012'><sup>[216]</sup></a>
-The Duchess de Chevreuse, Anne confessed,
-had been wholly occupied with gallantries
-and diversions, and the Queen, led by her
-advice and example, could not, in spite of her
-modesty and principle, avoid becoming interested
-in an expression of passion which seemed to her
-far more flattering to her self-love than dangerous
-to her virtue. In these terms did Anne, after
-the lapse of years, refer to the transient but
-intoxicating adulation paid to her by Buckingham.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Possibly Anne was dazzled by the lofty grace
-of her new votary, contrasted as it was to
-some advantage with the homely-featured Philip
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>Herbert, Earl of Montgomery, one of the noblemen
-who had attended Buckingham to Paris. The
-mission could, as Sir Henry Wotton observes,
-“want no ornaments or bravery to adorn it.” He
-relates an anecdote of the Duke, who, dancing one
-day in a suit all gorgeously overspread with diamonds,
-lost one of his most valuable jewels, which,
-strange to say, was the next day recovered, although
-it had been lost in a “court full of pages.” This
-restitution Sir Henry regards as but another proof
-of the good fortune which everywhere followed
-Buckingham.<a id='r217' /><a href='#f217' class='c012'><sup>[217]</sup></a> It was, perhaps, on his court suit,
-which was valued at 80,000<em>l.</em><a id='r218' /><a href='#f218' class='c012'><sup>[218]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was not to be supposed that Anne would
-escape the voice of scandal, or that the attentions
-of one upon whom all eyes were fixed should
-remain unobserved. One little occurrence, which
-became the subject of general animadversion, took
-place after all the Court festivities were at an end,
-and when Anne and the Duke were on the eve of
-separation. It speaks, however, plainly of previous
-passages of gallantry on the one hand, and indulgence
-on the other.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>A week of feasting and rejoicing was over,
-and Buckingham prepared to conduct the young
-Queen of England to her foreign home, on the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>second of June. It appears that, notwithstanding
-the great goodwill entertained towards the
-Duke by Monsieur de Chevreuse, he showed some
-degree of jealousy on account of his unwonted
-display. Buckingham, previous to his departure,
-ordered some diamonds to be set in rings, with
-the view of bestowing them on several of the
-courtiers; but he was warned of the effect which
-this would produce by his faithful agent, Balthazar
-Gerbier. “I have been informed,” writes the
-painter, "that at the Court where you are, they
-have got intelligence of the diamonds your excellency
-is causing to be set in rings, and so they
-are trying to guess what can be your reason. The
-greater part think it is in order to make presents,
-which they are resolved not to receive. Your
-Excellency’s perfect sagacity needs no interpreter
-for understanding their policy, which is only that
-somebody has been such an exceeding busybody
-as to blow into the ear of the Duc de Chevreuse
-that if your Excellency were to be remarked
-above others for liberality, it would be greatly to
-his detriment." Under this apprehension, the
-secretary of De Chevreuse importuned Gerbier,
-who seems to have filled the capacity of House
-Steward to the Duke, as well as his other employment,
-to have an account drawn up of what was
-given to the household servants of De Chevreuse,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>and also of the other presents. The virtue of the
-French Court seems to have been aroused by the
-expected gifts, which were regarded as an affront,
-and it was intimated that if offered they would not
-be received. This delicacy of conduct was naturally
-contrasted with the rapacity of the Duke, who had,
-it seems, accepted presents in France amounting
-in value to eighty thousand pounds, as he himself
-stated in a letter to the King.<a id='r219' /><a href='#f219' class='c012'><sup>[219]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Having thus offended the pride of the Parisian
-courtiers by his overweening prodigality, Buckingham
-set forth to commit an act of imprudence
-still more obvious and far more indefensible. He
-did not quit Paris, however, without having both
-given and received an offence from even the
-courtly Richelieu, who, having addressed to him a
-letter, directed to “Le Duc de Buckingham,” instead
-of to “Monseigneur le Duc de Buckingham,”
-received one in reply inscribed to “Monsieur le
-Cardinal de Richelieu.”<a id='r220' /><a href='#f220' class='c012'><sup>[220]</sup></a> Thus quitting Paris as he
-had done Madrid, in bad odour with those who
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>had eagerly welcomed him to their kingdom, Buckingham
-attended his young and royal charge towards
-the coast.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Orders had been sent by the French King that
-his sister should be everywhere welcomed with
-honours as signal as if he were himself present;
-and to show her still more respect, Anne of Austria
-accompanied the young Queen as far as
-Amiens.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>It was here that, whilst walking in the garden
-of the house where she was lodged, a memorable
-interview between Anne and Buckingham took
-place. She was, indeed, surrounded by her usual
-suite of attendants, when the enamoured and imprudent
-Duke sought and found her. Putangue,
-the equerry of the Queen of France, perceiving,
-as Buckingham approached, that he was anxious
-to speak to his royal mistress alone, fell back for a
-short time, thinking that delicacy forbade him to
-listen to what was uttered by the Duke. Having
-by chance, according to Anne’s subsequent statement,
-turned into a winding alley, the unguarded
-Queen and her lover found themselves alone. In
-a few moments a cry was heard by the listening
-attendants in the garden; the equerry hastened
-to his mistress, who blamed him exceedingly for
-having quitted her. Anne afterwards explained
-this occurrence, which naturally excited much discussion,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>by relating that, alarmed at finding herself
-alone with her avowed admirer, she was still
-more agitated by the expressions of passionate
-attachment which Buckingham addressed to her.
-She knew that she could not listen to the importunity
-of an ardent passion without participating
-morally in its guilt. She acted therefore, as she
-thought, and as her apologist, Madame de Motteville,
-conceived, honestly and sagaciously in preferring
-the preservation of her own self-respect to the
-fear of being unjustly blamed. Thus reflecting,
-she had no apprehension that her exclamation of
-surprise and terror would bear a bad construction
-even to her consort, who evidently regarded
-her with distrust.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Having proffered some reason for his return,
-the Duke even left the future Queen Consort of
-his royal master at Boulogne, and hastened to
-the queen-mother, Marie de Medicis, at Amiens.
-He even went so far as to pretend that he was
-commissioned to enter into some new negotiation;
-whether he succeeded in blinding her or
-not is not stated; but, after conversing with her
-for some time, he presented himself to Anne of
-Austria; that princess had been apprized of
-Buckingham’s journey, by her confidante, the
-Duchess de Chevreuse, who accompanied the
-Queen of England. Anne received him, after
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>the fashion of her adopted country, in bed, and
-without her customary state; nor did she express
-the slightest surprise at his appearance; but her
-astonishment was considerable when she saw the
-Duke fall on his knees by her bedside, and kiss
-the coverlids with expressions so agitated, so emphatic,
-that she could no longer, as she afterwards
-confessed, “avoid perceiving the earnestness of
-his passion.” She avowed to Madame de Motteville
-that she was overcome with surprise, not
-unmingled with resentment, for she comprehended,
-perhaps too late for her own reputation, that a real
-insult was conveyed under this proffered idolatry.
-She remembered that she was the Queen of
-France, and a long and angry silence marked her
-displeasure. At this critical moment, the Countess
-de Lannoi, at that time her principal lady of the
-chamber, and who, in that capacity, was placed at
-the head of the bed, came forward to the queen’s
-aid. The countess was a grave, respected, and
-aged personage, whose very look might well strike
-terror into the presumptuous suitor. She addressed
-herself to the Duke reprovingly, telling
-him that such conduct was inconsistent with the
-customs permitted in the French Court, and bidding
-him arise. She spoke, however, to one who
-was of late little habituated to control, and she
-could make no impression. Buckingham replied
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>that he was not a Frenchman, and therefore under
-no obligation to observe the laws of France. He
-spoke calmly, and then again addressing the
-queen, he broke out into expressions of the
-utmost tenderness. Anne replied in terms expressive
-of her anger at his boldness; but whilst her
-language was reproachful, her manner appears to
-have been destitute of the indignation natural to
-the occasion. She commanded him, however, to
-rise from his knees, and quit the room; and he
-then complied.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The next day, notwithstanding this audacity,
-Buckingham was permitted to see the Queen
-again, but in the presence of the assembled
-Court. It is probable that Anne wished what
-occurred not to transpire, and that this audience
-might be one of policy. But the precaution, if
-such it was, did not avail to save Anne from the
-most injurious suspicions. Buckingham, after
-taking leave, proceeded to England, bearing in
-his mind a resolution to return to France at the
-earliest occasion. Anne and the queen-mother,
-after some little delay, repaired to Fontainebleau
-to rejoin the King. Soon afterwards, Louis was
-informed of all that had occurred. The circumstances
-were even aggravated to the disadvantage
-of the unhappy young queen. Several of her
-attendants were discharged. Putangue, her
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>equerry, was banished; her physician and others
-shared the same fate. One of Anne’s Spanish
-ladies, Donna Estefania, had the courage to express
-her disgust at this severity. “I think,”
-she said, addressing Le Père Sequirent, the
-King’s confessor, “that so much malignity visited
-upon this lady is not a good sign; it does not
-look well.”<a id='r221' /><a href='#f221' class='c012'><sup>[221]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham, meantime, journeyed towards England,
-his heart full of the hope of returning at some
-future day to behold the object of his mad passion.
-Yet he had every motive of tenderness and consideration
-towards his duchess, whose fondest hopes
-were constantly, during absence, fixed upon her
-faithless husband. Balthazar Gerbier, who, from
-his situation in the Duke’s household, had ample
-opportunities of witnessing her devotion to the
-Duke, terms her, when writing to Buckingham,
-during his sojourn in Spain, “your incomparable
-Penelope, who constantly, in this sea of trouble,
-has demonstrated the greatness of her constancy,
-comforting herself with the hope of seeing her
-sun return above this horizon, beautiful and shining
-as it set.”<a id='r222' /><a href='#f222' class='c012'><sup>[222]</sup></a> Her anxiety during his former
-embassy had been such as to injure her health, or,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>as she touchingly expressed it, “merely melancholy
-was the cause of her sickness.” Nor was that sorrow
-unmingled with doubt of her husband’s constancy.
-Buckingham, with his natural candour and
-fearlessness, perhaps, too, wanting the moral sense of
-shame for such transgressions, appears, from a passage
-in one of the Duchess’s letters, to have confessed
-to her some of his infidelities during his Spanish
-journey, and to have expressed great contrition
-for them. Fears had, at that time, been entertained
-of his wife’s health; and consumption was
-the disease apprehended. The Duke was on that
-occasion stung to the heart by the dread of losing
-his “poor Kate,” as she termed herself. Reflecting
-on his reckless gallantries with shame, he
-appears to have considered the illness of his wife
-as a judgment upon him, and intimated to her
-that should she die, he should think it too hard a
-blow, even for one so sinful as himself.<a id='r223' /><a href='#f223' class='c012'><sup>[223]</sup></a> The
-reply made to him by his gentle wife ought to
-have ensured everlasting gratitude and constancy,
-were it in the nature of man to be bound by such
-ties to woman. “And where you say,” writes
-this devoted woman, “it is too great a punishment
-for a greater offender than you hope you are, dear
-heart, how severe God had been pleased to have
-dealt with me, it had been for my sins, and not
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>yours, for truly you are so good a man that, but
-for one sin, you are not so great an offender, only
-your loving women so well. But I hope God has
-forgiven you, and I am sure you will not commit
-the like again, and God has laid a great affliction
-on me by this grievous absence; and I trust God
-will send me life, and Moll too, that you shall
-enjoy us both; for I am sure,” she adds, "God
-will bless us both, for your sake; and I cannot express
-the infinite affection I bear you; but, for
-God’s sake, believe me, that there was never
-woman loved man as I do you."</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The Duchess had at that time testified her
-delight at her husband’s quitting that “wicked
-Madrid,” as she called it. She little thought how
-detrimental to her married happiness a residence
-of twelve days only in the no less vitiated
-air of Paris was to prove.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On quitting Amiens, Buckingham returned to
-Boulogne, where he met his Duchess, who had
-been sent by Charles to kiss the young queen’s
-hand, and to desire that she would take her own
-time of coming over, “with most conveniency to
-her own person.”<a id='r224' /><a href='#f224' class='c012'><sup>[224]</sup></a> On the twenty-second of
-June (<span class='fss'>N.S.</span>) Henrietta embarked, and twenty-four
-hours afterwards arrived at Dover.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>Charles had long been anxiously expecting the
-Queen. On the last day of May he had posted
-down to Canterbury, there to wait for her,
-attended by a large company of lords and ladies,
-“who tarried there to their great charge.”<a id='r225' /><a href='#f225' class='c012'><sup>[225]</sup></a> The
-King was obliged to console them, and to prolong
-their attendance with messages daily from Dover,
-by which step, a contemporary writes, “he persuaded
-them to patience.” The young Queen
-was detained, as it was alleged, by her mother’s
-illness; “but,” adds the correspondent just
-quoted, “if all be true that is reported, they can
-make no great haste, being to march with a little
-army of 4000 at least, whereof the Duc de
-Chevreuse and his followers make up three hundred,
-and sixty that belong to his kitchen.”</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>On the fourth of June, the Earl of Northampton,
-who had gone into France, it was said, in a “mad
-mood,” had arrived at Dover at nine o’clock in the
-evening. They found the King “on the leads”
-(of the Castle, probably), having spent two very
-cold hours there, anxiously awaiting their arrival.
-It appears that Charles then wished to cross to
-Boulogne; but it was objected to, as being a
-precedent that would lower the kings of England,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>and dangers might accrue upon his placing himself
-in a foreign state.<a id='r226' /><a href='#f226' class='c012'><sup>[226]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>When, in the presence of the whole court and
-the flower of the nobility, they met for the first
-time, everyone except the royal couple retired, and
-Charles and his bride held half-an-hour’s conversation
-alone. Henrietta is said to have taken the
-earliest opportunity to entreat the King “that he
-would not be angry with her for her faults of ignorance,
-before he had first instructed her to eschew
-them, for that she, being young, and coming into a
-strange country, both by her years and ignorance
-of the customs of the nation, might commit many
-errors.” And she requested that the King would,
-in such cases, apply to use no third person as a
-mediator, but himself inform her as to what she
-had done amiss. “The King,” adds the same
-authority, “thanked her for it, desiring her to use
-him even as she had desired him to use her, which
-she willingly promised.”<a id='r227' /><a href='#f227' class='c012'><sup>[227]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The plague was then raging to a fearful extent
-in the metropolis; and it was afterwards, by those
-who witnessed the sad termination of this reign,
-interpreted as an evil omen, as it began thus,
-although the previous reign had commenced with
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>a similar national calamity; whereas the sway of
-James had been remarkable for peace and prosperity.
-“These two plagues,” remarks the
-historian L’Estrange, “that of the father, this of
-the son, were natives both of one parish, Whitechapel,
-yea, under the same roof, and issued forth
-on the same day of the month, such correspondence
-was there in their entry.”<a id='r228' /><a href='#f228' class='c012'><sup>[228]</sup></a> There were not
-wanting those, however, who regarded this
-grievous visitation, the excess of which common
-sense would attribute to narrow streets and lanes,
-“where air and sweetness were the only
-strangers,” to a judgment on the young King’s
-alliance with Papacy and France.<a id='r229' /><a href='#f229' class='c012'><sup>[229]</sup></a> It acted as a
-check upon present rejoicings, and, although great
-preparations had been made to receive the royal
-pair, most of the procession was omitted on
-account of the pestilence, no fewer than twenty-three
-parishes being infected; and the plague
-having increased fearfully during the “extremest
-cold weather that had ever been known,” what, it
-was observed, was to be looked for when the heat
-came, and the fruits were ripe?<a id='r230' /><a href='#f230' class='c012'><sup>[230]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Under these unpromising auspices did Henrietta
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>Maria take up her abode in Somerset House, then
-styled Denmark House, where her chapel and
-convent for Capuchin Friars were established, the
-execution of the laws against Roman Catholics
-having been previously suspended by a warrant
-from the King.<a id='r231' /><a href='#f231' class='c012'><sup>[231]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Those who prognosticated uneasiness to
-Charles, and detriment to the country, were not
-long kept in suspense as to the fulfilment of their
-prophecy, for more uncongenial minds than those
-of Charles and his royal bride were never
-destined to meet; nor did they long adhere to
-the wise rule proposed, of allowing no third party
-to reconcile differences.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham still maintained his exalted position.
-The circumstances in which he was placed
-were such as had never occurred in this country
-before. “With King Charles,” as Sir Anthony
-Weldon observes, "did also rise his father’s
-favourite, and in much more glory and lustre than
-in his father’s time, as if he were no less an
-inheritor of his son’s favour than the son of the
-father’s crown."<a id='r232' /><a href='#f232' class='c012'><sup>[232]</sup></a> This pre-eminence was regarded
-by the Puritan party as a grievous evil. James,
-they suspected rather than knew, was somewhat
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>weary of his favourite’s insolence; but, in Charles’s
-time, “he reigned like an impetuous storm, bearing
-down all before him that stood in his way, and
-would not yield to him, nor comply with him.”<a id='r233' /><a href='#f233' class='c012'><sup>[233]</sup></a>
-Such was the vulgar opinion; whilst the submission
-of Charles was considered to show a want of
-dignity and heroism, especially when the affronts
-passed upon him by Buckingham, in the King’s
-youth, were remembered.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>There were others who took a different view of
-the subject; and the warm affection manifested
-by Charles to the Duke, surviving, as it did, the
-grave, has been justly commended. “When
-once,” observes the historian Lilly, "he (Charles
-the First) really affected, he was ever a perfect
-friend; witness his continuance of affection unto
-all Buckingham’s friends after his death, yea,
-until his own decay of fortune."<a id='r234' /><a href='#f234' class='c012'><sup>[234]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Raised, as he was, to the highest pinnacle of
-human greatness in his native land, there were
-some humiliating circumstances which seriously
-affected the domestic happiness of Buckingham.
-Of these, the chief was the disgrace of his brother,
-Lord Purbeck, and the infelicity of that marriage
-which had been accomplished at so much expense
-of integrity. In February, 1624-25, it had
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>been deemed necessary to institute proceedings
-against Lady Purbeck and Sir Robert Howard
-upon the ground of adultery and sorcery, and
-James I., though scarcely able to sign, had set his
-hand to the warrant.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>The King, nevertheless, did this act unwillingly;
-and he had even previously dissuaded
-Buckingham from seeking a commitment, as he
-said the matter ought to be conducted by
-“justice and not favour.” Upon receiving this
-advice, the Duke wrote to Sir Randal Crewe,
-Lord Chief Justice, requesting him to communicate
-on this point with Innocent Lanier, a
-man much trusted by Lord Purbeck. That unhappy
-nobleman was then residing with the
-Duke, who seemed anxious to retain him, fearing
-that otherwise “Sir Robert and Lady Purbeck
-might, by their crafty insinuations, draw from
-him speeches to their advantage.”<a id='r235' /><a href='#f235' class='c012'><sup>[235]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This prosecution was carried on with considerable
-bitterness of spirit. Upon the first steps
-taken in the affair, the Duke of Buckingham was
-sent for to London; and the summons despatched
-contained this assurance:--"I find them" (the
-solicitor and attorney-general) “resolved to deal
-roundly in this business, as your Grace desires.”
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>The advice given by these two crown lawyers was
-to bring the case before the High Commission
-Court, which could sit without delay in the
-vacation, and when the crime had been proved
-there, the divorce could be obtained by ordinary
-law. They thought it unadvisable to send these
-prisoners to prison, “a step unusual for persons
-of their rank,” but “advised that they be confined
-in the houses of aldermen, where they would be
-more strictly restrained than in prison.” They
-were then examining witnesses.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Buckingham, in answer to this letter, after
-thanking the lawyers for their counsel, declared
-himself satisfied with it. “They were,” he said,
-“to do their utmost to discover the truth, but his
-family being nearly linked with that of Sir
-Howard, he wished no undue severity in the
-prosecution. He entreated the King to let the
-law take its course, and not to shew any favour in
-the business.”<a id='r236' /><a href='#f236' class='c012'><sup>[236]</sup></a> It was immediately, nevertheless,
-resolved to incarcerate Sir Robert Howard, even
-without a hearing, and he was forthwith despatched
-to the Fleet Prison. His partner in
-guilt, although at first dismayed by the reception
-of a letter from the Lord Chief Justice, summoned
-to her aid the dauntless assurance which
-she inherited from her mother, Lady Hatton, and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>observed that she “was resolved to prove a new
-lodging and new keepers.” Her nurse, and the
-child who was the supposed offspring of her infamous
-connection, were left in the custody of
-persons appointed, and remained in Denmark
-House. Eventually, Sir Robert, and Lady Purbeck,
-with her son, were consigned to the charge
-of two Aldermen, Barkham and Freeman, “to be
-close kept.”<a id='r237' /><a href='#f237' class='c012'><sup>[237]</sup></a> Such was the fear entertained of
-incurring Buckingham’s displeasure, that bail was
-withheld until his mighty will was ascertained.
-Notwithstanding that the commissioners appointed
-to examine into this singular case declared that
-“they saw no fruit in keeping the delinquents in
-prison,” and hinted that their incarceration being
-“fruitless,” their bailment might give the world
-satisfaction,<a id='r238' /><a href='#f238' class='c012'><sup>[238]</sup></a> Buckingham, stimulated, probably,
-by the desire of emancipating his unfortunate
-brother from his union with a woman of abandoned
-character, appears to have lent himself to accusations
-by which the offence of the ill-fated
-Lady Purbeck should assume a criminal character.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In the endeavour to establish the fact of adultery
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>with Sir Robert Howard, there appears to
-have been some failure. The suspicions were
-“strong and violent,” as the legal functionaries
-declared, against Sir Robert Howard, but no
-“express confession from parties, nor testimony
-of witnesses,” was obtained by which the <em>fact</em> was
-substantiated. With regard to the allegations concerning
-witchcraft, the most extraordinary statements
-were adduced. This young lady of rank
-had, it was affirmed, "administered powders and
-potions that did intoxicate her husband’s brain,
-and practised somewhat of that kind upon the
-Duke of Buckingham."<a id='r239' /><a href='#f239' class='c012'><sup>[239]</sup></a> To this accusation, the
-insanity which is said to have darkened the Earl
-of Purbeck’s career, and the frequent reports of
-the unfriendly, that Buckingham was “mad,”
-gave a semblance of probability sufficient in
-those days of superstition. But those who were
-judges in the affair happily were more enlightened
-than many of their contemporaries. In the first
-place, the chief witness, one Lambe, described as
-a “notorious old rascal,” had been himself condemned
-the previous summer for a heinous
-offence; and arraigned a year or two previously
-for practising witchcraft on “my Lord Kingston”
-at Worcester.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>“I see not,” writes a contemporary, “what
-the fellow can gain by this confession, but to be
-hanged the sooner.”<a id='r240' /><a href='#f240' class='c012'><sup>[240]</sup></a> Nevertheless, the information
-was too acceptable to the powers that then
-overawed society, not to meet with its reward.
-It was proved, indeed, that Lady Purbeck, after
-the fashion of her day, contemplated the power
-of witchcraft as one means of blinding or infuriating
-her husband. The example of the infamous
-Lady Somerset had not died away in the memory
-of one who seems to have resembled her in some
-points--in her hatred of the husband to whom
-she was assigned for mercenary ends--in her mad
-passion for another man, and in the dark agents
-to whom she resorted for aid, and by whom she
-was betrayed. Lady Purbeck often visited Lambe;
-“and,” wrote the Commissioners to Buckingham,
-“we verily think with evil intention to your
-brother.” Whether Sir Robert Howard accompanied
-her or not in these furtive visitations does
-not appear. Upon reviewing the scanty and
-unsatisfactory evidence, it was concluded by the
-attorney and solicitor-general, that the “use to
-be made of this part of the business would be
-rather to aggravate and make odious the other
-part of the offence, than to proceed upon it as a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>direct crime of itself.” Nothing, they acknowledged,
-had yet appeared, that could give “them
-cause to think the matter to be capital against
-the delinquents;” and no further witnesses were
-forthcoming.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In the midst of these proceedings, it is curious
-to observe the retribution which, in the course of
-worldly events, forces itself upon our notice.
-Lady Hatton, obliged to apply for counsel to her
-despised lord, to whose masterly judgment she
-was compelled, in her emergency, to resort, was
-a spectacle to divert, and even to instruct society.
-“Would you think,” writes Mr. Chamberlain,
-"that Lady Hatton’s stomach could stoop so low
-as to seek the Lord Coke, at Stoke, for his counsel
-and assistance in this affair?"</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Well might Lady Hatton tremble for the result
-to this daughter whom she had sacrificed to
-her worldly view; for a spirit of persecution now
-manifested itself more and more clearly. Before
-the High Commission, the frail being whose fate
-was thus sealed at her very entrance into life
-acquitted herself, as a contemporary informs us,
-“reasonably well hitherto,” but he adds, “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>ne
-Hercules quidem coutra tot et tantos</em></span>.” By all
-her demeanour was allowed to be “modest and
-prudent, and without reflection on other parties.”
-The witnesses whom she adduced were, however,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>not only silenced, but punished. One Bembige,
-a servant of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was
-committed for speaking in her behalf, and for
-stating how severely she was used by the adverse
-proctors. Those gentlemen complaining of these
-remarks, Bembige was sent out of court; obtaining
-from Lady Purbeck the distinction of “being
-one of her martyrs.”<a id='r241' /><a href='#f241' class='c012'><sup>[241]</sup></a> The cause was eventually
-referred to the Ecclesiastical Court, wherein the
-Earl of Anglesea was the nominal prosecutor.
-Sir Robert Howard, not answering to the citation
-served upon him, was publicly excommunicated
-at Paul’s Cross. He claimed, however, his privilege
-as a “parliament man,” and it was conceded
-to him.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Lady Purbeck, meantime, remained under the
-custody of Alderman Barkham; no friends came
-forward to stand bail for her; neither Lady
-Hatton nor her father supplied her with money.
-She sent to Buckingham for means to fee her
-council;<a id='r242' /><a href='#f242' class='c012'><sup>[242]</sup></a> nor does the aid appear to have been refused;
-neither can any blame attach to the Duke
-for his endeavours to free a brother who was now
-incapable of acting for himself,--as appears fully
-from Lord Anglesea, Christopher Villiers being
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>the prosecutor--from a woman who, whatever
-may have been the extenuation of her faults, was
-living audaciously in a state of infamy. Neither
-can we wonder at his afterwards requesting Prince
-Charles to insist on his leaving the Court, where
-she had set so fearful an example.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Lady Purbeck was driven away, however, for
-another reason; although a divorce was not obtained,
-she was sentenced by the High Commission
-to stand in the Savoy church in a white
-sheet. She fled, in the disguise of a page, into
-the country; and in 1634 was again domiciled in
-the house of her father, who at least had human
-sympathies, in which his wife had proved herself
-utterly wanting. Coke, in his old age, received
-and pardoned the much humiliated daughter.
-“She continued,” says Lord Campbell, “to watch
-piously over him till his death.”<a id='r243' /><a href='#f243' class='c012'><sup>[243]</sup></a> Nor could the
-task have been otherwise than consolatory. An
-accident was the proximate cause of the breaking
-up of that wonderful frame that had never known
-rest. Coke had, in his own mind, deserved well
-of the world; he was wont to give thanks that
-he had never given his body to physic, nor his
-heart to cruelty, nor his hand to corruption.<a id='r244' /><a href='#f244' class='c012'><sup>[244]</sup></a>
-When his friends sent him three doctors to benefit
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>his health, he told them he had never taken physic
-since he was born, and would not now begin; that
-he had now upon him <a id='corr232.3'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='a disease'>“a disease</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_232.3'><ins class='correction' title='a disease'>“a disease</ins></a></span> which all the drugs
-of Asia, nor the gold of Africa, nor the doctors of
-Europe could not cure, old age.” Notwithstanding
-Coke’s great practice, he was at one time in
-debt to the extent of 60,000<em>l.</em>, owing, it was said,
-to his sons. In his will he left injunctions that
-he should be buried without pomp in Littleshall
-church, and a monument be erected for him there;
-and that his books might be preserved for his
-posterity.<a id='r245' /><a href='#f245' class='c012'><sup>[245]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>In his own immediate family, Buckingham enjoyed
-such happiness as the fulfilment of every
-earthly wish could bestow. He was now the
-father of two children; Lady Mary Villiers, who,
-if we may accredit the representations of a
-fond mother, was full of intelligence and promise.
-The letters written during the absence of her
-husband, by the Duchess, abound with such anecdotes
-of her then only child, as are only important
-as they mark a mutual tie, and show confidence
-in the affection of him to whom those
-epistles were addressed--to one whom she believed
-to be all constancy and attachment--and
-to whom such little traits of her daughter could
-alone be imparted by a mother.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>“Moll,” she writes, “is very well, and is a-writing
-to make you merry; she is bound to you for your
-sending her a token.” “Mr. Clarke will tell you
-who she is like; she is so lively and full of play
-that she will make you very good sport when you
-come home. I hope you have received her picture,
-though you have sent me no word whether
-you have or no.”<a id='r246' /><a href='#f246' class='c012'><sup>[246]</sup></a> This picture was painted by
-Balthazar Gerbier; but, not being completed in
-time, the artist was obliged to substitute one
-which had been completed three years previously;
-“for the little lady,” writes Gerbier, in allusion to
-this substitution, “she has been painted in great
-haste; the hands, which crave a blessing from your
-excellency, are merely outlined.”<a id='r247' /><a href='#f247' class='c012'><sup>[247]</sup></a> The “Lady
-Mary” was still an infant when the Duke returned
-from Spain; but the remembrance of her
-father, which had been impressed upon her childish
-thoughts, is exemplified in the following passage
-from a letter of her grandfather, the Earl of Rutland.<a id='r248' /><a href='#f248' class='c012'><sup>[248]</sup></a>
-"Your wife, your sister, Mr. Porter, and
-myself were at supper at York House, when news
-came Dick Graeme<a id='r249' /><a href='#f249' class='c012'><sup>[249]</sup></a> was come; but we were so
-impatient to see him, that some could eat no meat,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>and when we did see him and your letter, they
-were so overjoyed they forgot to eat; nay, my
-pretty, sweet Moll, as she was undressing, cried
-nothing but ‘dad, dad.’"</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>This prattling child was now growing into
-what King James entitled “a fair maid;” and a
-son, George, afterwards celebrated for his wit and
-profligacy, had been added to the many blessings
-showered upon Buckingham by Providence. His
-wife, who had, during his absence, kept his picture,
-“as her sweet saint, always within sight of
-her bed,” was now happy in the presence of one
-whom she seems to have loved with all the ardour
-of a first affection. Even the infidelities of her
-husband, now beginning to be generally known,
-appear to have left her love unchanged. She
-knew well the temptations that beset him. “Every
-one tells me,” she writes at one time, “how happy
-I am in a husband;” “that you will not look at a
-woman, and yet how they woo you.” When undeceived,
-the Duchess had the greatness of mind
-to make allowances for this flattered child of
-fortune; she knew that if any man were to be
-excused, it was he who, in foreign courts, had
-encountered the snares to which his disposition
-rendered him too easy a prey. The delinquency,
-as we have seen, nearly broke her heart; but she
-forgave and received the delinquent. She appears
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>to have ever retained a conviction that her husband’s
-heart was true to her, whatever his errors
-may have been. “Yourself is a jewel that will
-win the hearts of all the women in the world; but
-I am confident it is not in their power to win your
-heart from a heart that is, was, and ever shall be
-yours till death.”<a id='r250' /><a href='#f250' class='c012'><sup>[250]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Notwithstanding his domestic blessings, his
-fame and power, Buckingham had his disquiets.
-Amongst these, the chief was pecuniary embarrassments.
-The favourite, whose rapacity has
-been the theme of historians, was harassed by
-difficulties which must have arisen partly from
-his great extravagance, partly from the countless
-demands made upon the resources of those in
-power.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Charles the First seems to have been no less
-solicitous than his father had been to enrich his
-beloved Villiers. In July, 1624, he granted to
-him, in conjunction with Sir George Carew, a
-commission for making saltpetre and gunpowder;
-and, at the same time, he bestowed upon Sir
-Edward Villiers an annuity of a thousand per
-annum,<a id='r251' /><a href='#f251' class='c012'><sup>[251]</sup></a> probably in order to relieve Buckingham
-of the charge of assisting his brother. These
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>favours were followed by another, which proved
-a source of much expense to the Duke--that of
-York House, which, with other messuages in St.
-Martin’s-in-the-Fields, was, on the fourteenth of
-July, 1624, granted to Buckingham.<a id='r252' /><a href='#f252' class='c012'><sup>[252]</sup></a> Immense
-sums had also been presented to Buckingham
-when ambassador to France; he wrote to the
-King, during his sojourn in Paris, that he had
-then already received gifts nearly to the value of
-eighty thousand pounds.<a id='r253' /><a href='#f253' class='c012'><sup>[253]</sup></a> Yet, still the lavish
-expenditure of Buckingham was inadequately supplied.
-This was a grievous source of vexation to
-one whose unbounded love of display was gracefully
-connected with a passion for the arts, and
-with an exquisite perception of all that was excellent
-in painting and grand in sculpture.</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Another cause of irritation, and consequent ill-health,
-was the incessant exertion incident to his
-station and employments. Never did any minister
-conduct himself with greater courtesy to those
-who waited upon him than Buckingham, to whom
-vulgar report assigned great arrogance of deportment,
-and whose haughty bearing has passed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>almost into a proverb. His attention to his minutest
-duties as Lord High Admiral, his deportment
-to his officers when he commanded at
-Rochelle, will be hereafter insisted upon. Lord
-Clarendon speaks of his “sweet attractive manner;”
-of his “art of drawing or flowing unto him of
-the best instruments of experience and knowledge,
-to seek what might be for the public, or his own
-proper use;”<a id='r254' /><a href='#f254' class='c012'><sup>[254]</sup></a> yet, in spite of this admirable patience,
-in spite of that habitual good nature, which
-made him a “fair spoken gentleman, not prone
-and eager to detract openly from any man,”<a id='r255' /><a href='#f255' class='c012'><sup>[255]</sup></a>
-Buckingham was harassed almost to insanity by
-the hourly ingress of importunate suitors, or of
-clamorous complainants. Even the visits of the
-friendly oppress us, when the brain is in a state of
-excitement; and, accordingly, we read without
-surprize that he was obliged occasionally to retire
-altogether from the court, retreating, most frequently,
-to Newhall, his favourite seat, “to avoid
-importunity of visits that would give him no <a id='corr237.21'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='rest.'>rest.”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_237.21'><ins class='correction' title='rest.'>rest.”</ins></a></span>
-It had even, at one time, been given out by the
-Roman Catholics, who were incensed against
-him, by the failure of the Spanish embassy, that
-he was “crazed in his brain;” but “I have
-learned,” writes Mr. Chamberlain, “by them that
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>know, that there was no such matter, but that the
-suspicion grew by reason of his often letting blood;
-only they confess he hath a spent body and not
-like to hold out long, if he do not tend his health
-very diligently.”<a id='r256' /><a href='#f256' class='c012'><sup>[256]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c001'>Shortly after his return from France, the Duke’s
-affairs appear to have become so greatly involved
-as to oblige him to retire for a time, from York
-House, to the seclusion of Burleigh-on-the-Hill.
-The following letter from his Duchess is addressed
-to Mrs. Olivia Porter, her niece, and the wife of
-Endymion Porter, that trusty servant to whom
-Buckingham had assigned the charge of bringing
-over his jewels and plate from Spain.<a id='r257' /><a href='#f257' class='c012'><sup>[257]</sup></a> Mrs.
-Olivia Porter appears to have been a cherished
-companion, as well as kinswoman, of the Duchess
-of Buckingham’s. The letter is given in its
-original state, with regard to orthography; it is
-dated, “Burghley, 18th July, <a id='corr238.19'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='1625.'>1625.”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_238.19'><ins class='correction' title='1625.'>1625.”</ins></a></span></p>
-
-<div class='letter'>
-
-<p class='c001'>"<span class='sc'>Dere Cusen</span>,</p>
-
-<p class='c001'>"Doctor Nure will tell you how I
-am. I have sent the doctor’s leter to him. I am
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>in good health, I thank God, and I hope in the
-end I shall be as well as ever I was. I pray,
-pray for me. Remember me to your husband and
-sonne, and I do not doubt but what we shall be
-merry again in York House. Fairfill is now
-sould, I thank God, and we shall, by living here
-a while, redeme our selfs out of debt, I hope in
-Jesus. Farewell, swett cusen,</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-r c017'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>“Your most constant friend,</div>
- <div class='line in12'>“<span class='sc'>K. Buckingham</span>.</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c018'>“My Co: (cousin) remembers his services to you.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='c018'>Buckingham appears thus to have taken the most
-effectual means to recover his serenity--retirement
-and economy; but the great duties of his
-station would not suffer him long to rest, either at
-Newhall or at the still more remote retreat of
-Burleigh. There, indeed, he was not permitted to
-hide himself until after he had assisted at the
-solemnity of the declaration of the King’s marriage,
-which was held in the Banqueting House
-at Whitehall in the following order.<a id='r258' /><a href='#f258' class='c012'><sup>[258]</sup></a> After it
-was concluded, the King conducted the Queen to
-her presence chamber, where she dined. The
-King returned to the banqueting chamber, where
-he dined with the three French ambassadors, the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>Duc de Chevreuse, Villeach, and the Marquis
-de Fite. At the second course the heralds came,
-and proclaimed the King’s titles, craved a largesse,
-and afterwards went to the Queen’s side, and did
-the same. The Queen went to the Banqueting
-House afterwards, and the evening was spent in
-dancing. On the following day the Duke of Buckingham
-dined with the Duc de Chevreuse at Nonsuch,
-and supped that evening at York House,
-giving there one of those sumptuous entertainments
-which must have added so much to his pecuniary
-difficulties. For the ambassadors were
-received at that noble dwelling with “such magnificence
-and plenty, that the like,” writes a contemporary,
-"hath not been seen in these parts. One
-rare dish came by mere chance: a sturgeon of
-full five feet long, that afternoon, not far from the
-place, leaping in a gentleman’s boat, was served
-in at supper."<a id='r259' /><a href='#f259' class='c012'><sup>[259]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>During all this time, the pestilence was raging
-with fearful results; yet the people could not find
-in their hearts to leave London when the brave
-doings in celebration of the Queen’s arrival went
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>on. It was observed that “in all these shews and
-feastings, there hath been such excessive bravery
-on all sides, as bred rather a surfeit than delights
-in them that saw it, and it were more fit and
-would better become us to compare and dispute
-with such pompous kind of people in iron
-and steel, than in gold and riches, wherein we
-come not near them.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>In addition to this insulting remark, one even
-still more disparaging to the strangers was publicly
-thrown out. The accession even of the high-bred
-Frenchwomen was considered to add little to the
-grace of the courtly revels at York House or
-elsewhere. Her retinue appears to have inspired
-neither admiration nor respect.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>“The Queen hath brought, they say, such a
-poor, pitiful sort of women, that there is not one
-worth the looking after, saving herself and the
-Duchess of Chevreuse, who, though she be fair,
-paints foully. Among her priests you would
-little look for M. Sausy, that went an ambassador
-to Constantinople when we were at Venice, and is
-now become a <span lang="it" xml:lang="it"><em>padre del oratorio</em></span>.”<a id='r260' /><a href='#f260' class='c012'><sup>[260]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The public heard with disgust that two hundred
-pounds a day were allowed for the maintenance of
-the Duc and Duchesse de Chevreuse, in Denmark
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>House, “for victuals and comforts.”<a id='r261' /><a href='#f261' class='c012'><sup>[261]</sup></a> Buckingham,
-meantime, passed the remainder of the year 1625
-at Hampton Court, his duchess staying at Burgleigh,
-where her father, the Earl of Rutland, remained
-to solace her retirement, for we find him
-excusing himself from attendance at Court on that
-plea.<a id='r262' /><a href='#f262' class='c012'><sup>[262]</sup></a> Buckingham experienced considerable inconvenience
-from the absence and illness of the
-Earl of Purbeck, who, of all his brothers, seems
-to have enjoyed the most of his confidence; referring
-to him all suitors who were obliged, to
-adopt the quaint phrase of the time, to “come in
-at that door.”<a id='r263' /><a href='#f263' class='c012'><sup>[263]</sup></a></p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'>UNJUST APPRECIATION OF BUCKINGHAM’S CHARACTER--HIS
-ENERGY IN RESPECT TO THE NAVY--SIR WALTER
-RALEGH’S WORKS ON MARITIME AFFAIRS--PRINCE
-HENRY’S PREDILECTION FOR THEM--HIS MINIATURE
-SHIP--HIS DEATH--LORD NOTTINGHAM’S NEGLECT AND
-VENALITY--HIS POWERS--£60,000, YEARLY, ALLOTTED
-FOR THE NAVY--BUCKINGHAM’S EFFORTS--EXAMPLE
-SET BY RICHELIEU--IGNORANCE OF SHIP-BUILDING IN
-THOSE DAYS--BUCKINGHAM DRAWS UP A PLAN OF
-DEFENCE--FEAR OF THE SPANISH ARMADA--THE DUKE
-PROPOSES TO FORM A COMPANY FOR THE WEST, AS
-WELL AS THE EAST INDIES--PLAN OF TAXATION--ALSO
-OF DEFENCE ON SHORE.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c020'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span><b><span class='large'>CHAPTER VI.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c021'>Hitherto the character of Buckingham has been
-considered merely in the light of a courtier, in
-which capacity his good fortune, more than his
-merits, secured him success. In foreign Courts,
-the infirmities of this changeable and imprudent
-man were brought conspicuously to light; his
-vanity, his assumption, his growing arrogance,
-these, and his love of pleasure, added to the dissolute
-morals of the day, constituted the sources
-of that obloquy; nevertheless, the memory of this
-celebrated man has been indiscriminately blackened.
-Hence he has been described as “utterly devoid of
-every talent of a minister,” and the popular
-opinion points to the notion that he did much
-harm, no good,<a id='r264' /><a href='#f264' class='c012'><sup>[264]</sup></a> and that the sole qualities conspicuous
-in his career were his love of oppression,
-his venality, and his insolence.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>Happily for the reputation which has been thus
-maligned, numerous documents,<a id='r265' /><a href='#f265' class='c012'><sup>[265]</sup></a> which have of
-late been rescued from neglect, abundantly prove
-that Buckingham achieved one important benefit
-to his country--the restoration of the British
-navy. Whatever may have been his motives, by
-what means soever he may have compassed his
-ends, there can now be no doubt but that to him
-we owe the re-establishment of that mighty power
-to which we are indebted for our existence as a
-nation, and it may be presumed that had his life
-been prolonged his exertions in this respect
-would have produced still more apparent effects;
-and that the country would have acknowledged,
-in after ages, the services which it seems to have
-overlooked.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the merchant
-ships were considered to constitute the principal
-part of our maritime power; they then amounted
-to one hundred and thirty-five, many of them of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>five hundred tons each. The ships of war belonging
-to the Crown were thirteen only in number,
-so that the navy, so boasted and renowned, was
-composed chiefly of merchant ships which were
-hired for the queen’s service.<a id='r266' /><a href='#f266' class='c012'><sup>[266]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>King James, on his accession to the crown of
-England, called in all the ships of war as well as
-the numerous privateers belonging to the English
-merchants, and declared himself “at peace with
-all the world.” This was certainly not the means
-by which the navy was to be improved and maintained.
-It was, nevertheless, increased in his
-reign to nearly double the number of Queen
-Elizabeth’s ships of war; namely, from thirteen
-to twenty-four.<a id='r267' /><a href='#f267' class='c012'><sup>[267]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>In the very commencement of James’s reign
-the far-sighted Sir Walter Ralegh discerned the
-dangerous condition of a sea-girt country devoid
-of its proper defences; he perceived how ruinous
-this system of curtailment of what was essential,
-accompanied by the most lavish excesses in many
-things of trivial import, must prove; and he
-placed before his sovereign a manuscript essay,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>entitled, “Observations concerning the trade and
-commerce of England with the Dutch and other
-nations.” The design of this work was to show
-how supinely England suffered other nations to
-carry away the commerce of the world, by her
-neglect of maritime affairs. This was one of
-eight treatises that Ralegh wrote on maritime
-affairs; being, as he proudly announces, “the first
-author, either ancient or modern, that had ever
-treated this subject.”<a id='r268' /><a href='#f268' class='c012'><sup>[268]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Although these works have long since been
-obsolete, and the practices recommended in them
-superseded by modern invention, they afford a
-curious view of the progress of navigation, and
-of those arts and sciences with which it is connected;
-to say nothing of the wonderful amount
-of knowledge which they display, and of the
-powerful intellect portrayed in every page written
-by this great man.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>His eloquence, however, was powerless as far
-as James was concerned; but stimulated a far
-more comprehensive mind than that of the pedant
-king. Several of these essays were addressed to
-Prince Henry, whose awakened mind perceived
-his father’s blindness, and comprehended the value
-of that which James cast away. Whilst James,
-forgetting that Elizabeth had checked the Spanish
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>Armada by her reliance, not on her own ten ships,
-but on the far better appointed merchant vessels--that
-she had rested, not on the size of her fleet,
-but on the material which composed it--he curtly
-dismissed his maritime auxiliaries, and, discharging
-the privateers from any bond to assist him
-for the future, slept soundly, it may be presumed,
-on his pillow at Westminster, congratulating himself
-on having set an example to all Christendom,
-whilst he had, in fact, almost invited another
-Armada to invade our shores.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Nevertheless, the progress of society was
-stronger that the royal will. “The seventeenth
-century,” thus writes Macpherson, in his History
-of Commerce, “may be said, from its commencement,
-to approach to modern times, whether considered
-in a political light, or in respect to riches,
-knowledge, or religion.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>In the celebrated treatise which Ralegh presented
-to his sovereign, he recommended that the
-“land should be made powerful by the increasing
-of ships and mariners;” and that such “order in
-commerce should be established, that the havens
-of England should be full of ships, the ships full
-of mariners.” It is singular to find the language
-of the seventeenth century so singularly according
-with that of the nineteenth.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>His counsels failed to convince the self-opinionated
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>James, but they incited the courage
-of a boy, who, amid his playthings, listened to the
-voice of Ralegh, and imbibed his sentiments; and
-the important measures which were disregarded
-by men in authority, were promoted by the fancy
-and favour of a precocious child. Henry, Prince
-of Wales, that short-lived “type and mould of
-an heir-apparent,” delighted in maritime pursuits;
-he brought again into vogue the fast-declining
-spirit of enterprize. The citizens of London, as
-they were rowed in their stately barges by Whitehall
-stairs, saw, with satisfaction, the royal
-embryo-hero disporting himself with the launch of
-a ship--twenty-eight feet long only, to be sure,
-and twelve feet broad, but built by Phineas Pett,
-one of the ablest shipwrights of his time. Ten
-years rolled away; the boy, who, at nine years of
-age, loved his miniature frigate as a toy, became
-sensible that the days of amusement were past,
-and that those of actual business were about to
-commence. He resolved to visit that then-neglected
-dock-yard at Woolwich, which has since
-become a wonder of the world. The Prince there
-honoured an entertainment, given by the ship’s
-company of the “Royal Anne,” with his presence.
-Phineas Pett attended his young patron,
-and the result of that day’s inspection was of
-great importance to the interests of the navy.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>Some years had then elapsed since a new ship had
-been built. In 1609, James actually ordered and
-completed the construction of the “Prince
-Royal,” a vessel far superior to any that had yet
-appeared in the Thames; it carried sixty-four
-cannon, and was of fourteen hundred tons
-burden. From this standard, we may infer how
-miserable had been the previous state of naval
-force, such a ship being, in our time, the smallest
-of those admitted into the line-of-battle. It was
-then regarded as one of the most extraordinary
-productions of native skill and of royal munificence,
-and was the theme of praise amid an
-astonished and adulatory court.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The young Prince next conceived an excellent
-project. He recommended his father to order the
-construction of ships to be carried on in Ireland,
-not only that the natives might be employed, but
-also because materials were cheaper in the sister
-island. The King’s shipwrights approved of this
-plan, and the Lord High Admiral, a doting old
-functionary, the most ancient servant of the
-crown then encumbering the service, actually
-countenanced the enlightened idea. It was not,
-however, matured; and another scheme, not so
-practical, but still of the utmost importance to the
-science of navigation, was frustrated, for the
-time, by the death of Henry. This was the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>discovery of the north-west passage, which was,
-nevertheless, attempted in 1612; but the ear of
-the gifted youth, whose patronage had fostered
-the design, was unhappily closed in death before
-the return of Captain Bretton, the first of the
-adventurous band of heroes who have attempted
-the gallant enterprize.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Still improvement was not wholly retarded.
-The incorporation of the East India Company
-(in 1613), gave a new impetus to navigation, and
-everything appeared favourable to the navy,
-except that branch of the government. Lord
-Nottingham seemed to consider his important
-office as a sinecure, except in regard to his
-privileges and perquisites. His dominion comprehended--to
-use the actual words which
-described it--"the government of all things done
-upon the sea-coast, in any part of the world; of
-all ports and havens, and over all rovers below
-the first bridge next below the sea." He was
-a sort of mortal Neptune; his privileges were
-thus defined:--"All penalties, of all transgressions,
-on sea or on shore, were his; the goods of pirates
-and of felons at sea were his; all stray wrecks
-were his; deodands, and the share of all lawful
-prizes not to be granted to lords of manors, were
-his." It may be easily conceived what ceaseless
-fighting and squabbling, what corruption, litigation,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>and oppression were the result of an
-authority which was so little controlled by the
-discussions of Parliament in those days, or by the
-honour and conscience of individuals in power.
-So long as the Earl of Nottingham slumbered over
-his duties, dreaming, doubtless, of delightful shipwrecks
-and desirable transgressions and piracies,
-the navy, of course, was not augmented. Sixty
-thousand pounds a-year had then been allotted to
-that shadow of a shade, the naval service; but
-the only time that the naval service was recalled
-to the memory of King James, was when the
-octogenarian, Lord Nottingham, appeared at
-Court in his full-dress uniform. Most people
-began to think that the Lord High Admiral was
-immortal; but, happily for the country, old age
-fairly captured him at last; he died, and made
-room for the Duke of Buckingham to step into all
-his beloved privileges and perquisites, which, in
-truth, the Duke also too well appreciated. It
-soon became a question what had become of all
-the sixty thousand pounds yearly which had been
-granted for the naval service, for there seemed to
-be scarcely any navy whatsoever. Buckingham,
-in his new office, however, displayed qualities for
-which the world had given him little credit. One of
-his first steps was to drag poor King James, aguish,
-peevish, and prejudiced as he was, to Deptford,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>to see how little there was there to be seen. His
-next, to get commissioners appointed to superintend
-the construction of new vessels, and the
-repairs of old ones, the sum allotted to them
-being cut down to thirty thousand pounds, for
-which consideration they were to build two new
-ships yearly. Cardinal Richelieu had also endeavoured
-to remedy the neglect of his predecessors
-in power, and to support a widely-extended commerce,
-the only channels of which are on the wide
-ocean. In his concern for maritime affairs, he set
-the first example of energy to Buckingham. From
-this era, therefore, may be traced the rise of our
-modern naval service in importance; the very
-vices of both these favourites of fortune, of
-Richelieu on the one hand, and of Buckingham on
-the other, had the effect of virtues under certain
-circumstances. To their lavish expenditure, to
-their fearlessness of responsibility, to their boundless
-ambition, France and England owe the maintenance
-of their maritime power, and the restoration
-of their national defences.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Numberless obstacles, of course, occurred at
-the very outset of the Duke of Buckingham’s
-undertakings in England; one of the great impediments
-was the ignorance which prevailed in
-those days of the proper mode of building ships
-of battle. The shipwrights were unaccustomed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>to construct any vessels but such as were intended
-to carry merchandise. There was a certain man,
-named Burwell, who had been employed by the
-East India Company, and who was so distinguished
-for his skill as a shipwright that he was entrusted
-to build for the British navy. He committed a
-grand error in the very first ship that he launched,
-because, to make use of the language of a contemporary
-historian,<a id='r269' /><a href='#f269' class='c012'><sup>[269]</sup></a> "he did not observe the
-difference between the merchant ships and the
-King’s ships, the one made for stowage, the other
-only for strength and magnificence."</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>On his accession, Charles I. renewed his father’s
-warrant granted to twelve commissioners of the
-navy; and the exigencies of the times, and the probability
-of a speedy war with Spain, stimulated the
-exertions of the Lord Admiral and the generosity
-of the country. Spain was preparing the finest armament
-that had ever left her shores; and an invasion
-on the part of that power was openly
-threatened, and almost anticipated, even by the
-stout-hearted English.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Buckingham then drew up a plan of assault,
-as well as of defence, in order to lower the pride
-of the enemy. A company was, he proposed, to
-be incorporated for the West, as well as for the
-East Indies. A fleet, consisting of two ships of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>the line, eighteen ships and two pinnaces of the
-merchant-adventurers, was to be equipped, and to
-this force were to be added twenty Newcastle
-ships, for the nautical skill and gallant characteristics
-of the collier crews were wisely resorted
-to in this emergency by the Lord Admiral. To
-meet the expenses of the fleet, a general subscription
-of all estates of men was proposed.
-The nobility were each to contribute a hundred
-pounds; the gentlemen and yeomen were to be
-taxed to a certain amount; cities and corporate
-bodies were to give a sum of twenty-four thousand
-pounds. The merchants and the East
-India Company were not to escape the general
-infliction. Thus, to man and to furnish the first
-great fleet that England had sent forth, was the
-principle of arbitrary taxation commenced in this
-country.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>At the same time, with the fear of Spanish
-Armadas, of conquest, torture, and slavery,
-acting upon the public mind, efforts to restore the
-national defences on shore were promptly carried
-on.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>In those days, pirates infested the narrow seas;
-and all the seaport towns were taxed, in order
-to support a sort of coast-guard to keep off these
-troublesome visitors. But every usage which
-could ensure public safety had been neglected.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>Our national defences had fallen into decay
-simultaneously with our navy. The correspondence
-between Buckingham and his agents in
-different ports exists in the State Paper Office,
-and affords a mournful picture of forts neglected
-and in ruins. Shoals, and sands, and points,
-fatal even to the most experienced mariners, were
-the snare and gulf of many a vessel, and
-not a single light-house had been erected to warn
-the navigator of his danger. The office of Lord
-Warden of the Cinque Ports, which, in part of
-the reign of James the First, devolved on Lord
-Zouch, had been conducted with scarcely more
-zeal and honesty than the post of Lord High
-Admiral by the Earl of Nottingham. Until
-the stirring exertions of the ill-fated Duke of
-Buckingham were directed both to the augmentation
-of the naval armaments and to their preservation
-from risks, the Goodwin Sands were
-without a light-house; and a project for erecting
-one upon that dangerous passage was first suggested
-to Buckingham by Sir Thomas Wildrake,
-and subsequently adopted by the Duke, whose
-efforts to guard the narrow seas, and to clear
-them of pirates, are beyond all praise, when
-we consider the supineness of his predecessors in
-office. It was not until 1619 that a light was
-placed upon the Lizard Point, which had already
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>been fatal to the Dutch merchants, who had lost,
-in the course of one year, a hundred thousand
-pounds by shipwrecks.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Great offence was, of course, given by all these
-reformations; and Lord Zouch even, as is implied
-in a letter of Buckingham’s to him, had ventured
-to threaten the dreaded favourite with an
-attack. Whatever has been said of Buckingham’s
-arrogance, his letters are generally expressed
-with much courtesy, and his reply to
-Lord Zouch was forbearing, though explicit.
-He recommended that the disputed powers--those
-contested between the Lord High Admiral
-and the Warden of the Cinque Ports--should
-be defined, to the end, not of present controversy,
-but of an amicable and permanent
-arrangement.<a id='r270' /><a href='#f270' class='c012'><sup>[270]</sup></a> Some years afterwards, Buckingham
-found it convenient, probably in order to
-have the repair and management of the forts in
-his own hands, to purchase of Lord Zouch his
-post; a consideration of one thousand pounds in
-ready money, and an annuity of five hundred
-pounds, were given for it. Such was the state of
-the Duke’s affairs that he was unable to pay
-down the stipulated one thousand pounds at once,
-but was constrained to “offer land or any other
-security.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>Not many months had elapsed, after his
-appointment to the office of Lord High Admiral,
-before Buckingham made use of his influence over
-James the First to induce him to augment his
-navy. Commissioners were chosen and selected
-to promote ship-building, and to regulate the expenses
-attendant thereon. James, attended by
-his Lord Admiral, visited Deptford in order to
-see two new ships, with which he was greatly delighted;
-and still more that from the yearly charge
-of sixty thousand pounds, in which his navy had
-stood him heretofore, it was reduced to thirty
-thousand pounds, for four years, during which
-time the Commissioners undertook to build two
-new ships every year, and to repair the old; and
-after that to discharge these claims for twenty
-thousand pounds a-year.<a id='r271' /><a href='#f271' class='c012'><sup>[271]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The King, adds the narrator of this incident,
-“congratulated with the Lord Admiral that he
-had appointed so good officers to assist him in his
-beginnings, so that he named the one ship ‘Buckingham’s
-Entrance,’ and the other, in the memory of
-the Commissioners’ good service, ‘Reformation.’”<a id='r272' /><a href='#f272' class='c012'><sup>[272]</sup></a>
-This timely encouragement produced, of course,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>the most salutary effect.<a id='r273' /><a href='#f273' class='c012'><sup>[273]</sup></a> We have seen that
-during the reign of James the First the number
-of ships of war was nearly doubled; and it is due
-to Buckingham to state that almost the whole of
-this increase was the result of his exertions.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The young Lord High Admiral had declared,
-at his outset, that his inexperience almost disqualified
-him for that important position to which
-the partiality of his Sovereign had promoted him;
-but it was soon perceived that his very wilfulness
-and impetuosity, and his liberal notions of expense,
-were almost virtues under certain circumstances.
-The Dutch were our great maritime rivals; for
-France had no naval armament; and although
-the contemptuous assertion of Voltaire, that Louis
-the Thirteenth had not, at his accession, one ship
-of war, is false, yet he might be said almost to
-be destitute of naval force, so poor and ill-provided
-were his vessels, and so incompetent and
-miserable his seamen. It became Buckingham’s
-pride to outvie all continental nations in naval
-power. The design might have been ascribed to
-his animosity in the event of the treaty with
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>Spain, against that kingdom; but it is clear
-that he cherished it whilst the British nation was
-at peace with all the world, and that his schemes
-of improvement were formed before.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Charles the First renewed his father’s commission
-to twelve commissioners of the navy. These
-were, at present, confined to three distinct
-branches; such as a comptroller, a surveyor, a
-clerk of the navy. They were subordinate, in
-Buckingham’s time, to the Lord High Admiral,
-and afterwards to the Admiralty Board, from
-whom they were to receive directions.<a id='r274' /><a href='#f274' class='c012'><sup>[274]</sup></a> During
-the short period of Buckingham’s rule, after the
-accession of Charles, much was effected, more
-still was planned.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>It was not merely with ambitious views that
-Buckingham had obtained the post of Lord Warden
-of the Cinque Ports. An active and liberal
-hand was required to restore our national defences,
-which had fallen to decay simultaneously with
-our navy. In all matters the Duke of
-Buckingham himself interfered; most of the
-letters on important affairs are addressed
-to him directly, not through his secretaries;
-and most of the epistles appear to have
-received immediate replies, which, it is to be regretted,
-are dispersed and extinct. On more
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>than one occasion, tributes to the Duke’s impartiality
-and energy are proffered. “I am yet
-comforted,” writes a suitor, "that your grace is
-so wise and just as to ask account of every man’s
-part, and where you find most fault, there to lay
-most censure."<a id='r275' /><a href='#f275' class='c012'><sup>[275]</sup></a> Sometimes “my lady of Buckingham,”
-as she is designated in one of the
-letters on naval affairs, is employed as a mediator,
-as in the case of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, who,
-wishing to pass the ship “Sea Horse,” obtained a
-warrant through her interest.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>As Buckingham progressed in experience, and
-his views became more enlarged, his enthusiasm
-for naval affairs increased; and was, doubtless,
-heightened by the knowledge that Cardinal Richelieu,
-who, amongst his other titles, enjoyed that
-of High Admiral of France,<a id='r276' /><a href='#f276' class='c012'><sup>[276]</sup></a> and who thought it
-no shame to wear the badge of office over his
-cardinal’s robes, and famous hair shirt beneath,
-supported commerce, the very channels of which
-are on the wide ocean. These considerations
-were, early in the reign of Charles the First,
-strengthened and brought into play by the
-certainty of a speedy war with Spain.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>But it is reasonable to infer that the example
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>and the works of Sir Walter Ralegh still held
-their influence over society, as they had done over
-the dawning intellect of Henry, Prince of Wales.
-The immature projects of that royal youth, suggested,
-it is probable, by the spirit of enterprise
-to which Ralegh had sacrificed his own interests,
-were now revived by Buckingham. King Charles
-co-operated with him in these earnest endeavours
-to carry out the discovery of the north-west passage
-to China, “an action,” says Macpherson, “of
-great importance to trade and navigation, and in
-sundry respects of singular benefit to all our
-realms and dominions.”<a id='r277' /><a href='#f277' class='c012'><sup>[277]</sup></a> As a reward for this
-undertaking, Buckingham received a present from
-King Charles of one of his pinnaces;<a id='r278' /><a href='#f278' class='c012'><sup>[278]</sup></a> but
-death put a stop to these public-spirited endeavours.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The period of Buckingham’s administration over
-the Admiralty affairs was, however, one of incessant
-activity, carried on, as is shown by correspondence
-in the State Paper Office, almost to the
-last hour of his life. It seems idle to adduce the
-language of panegyric to support a statement,
-else might we refer to the verses addressed by
-Carew “to my Lord Admiral, on his late sickness
-and recovery,” in which he alludes to</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-b c022'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>"Sorrow like that which touched our hearts of late;</div>
- <div class='line'>Your pining sickness and your restless pain,</div>
- <div class='line'>At once the land affecting, and the main:</div>
- <div class='line'>When the glad news that you were Admiral</div>
- <div class='line'>Scarce through the nation spread, ’twas feared by all</div>
- <div class='line'>That our great Charles, whose wisdom shines in you,</div>
- <div class='line'>Should be perplexed how to chuse a new."</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c023'>It was not until the year 1624, after the rupture
-of the Spanish treaty, that Buckingham could
-have been fully aware of all the responsibilities of
-his post. There were then great complaints of
-want of shipping; the Spanish nation, it was
-said, setting out one of the finest fleets that had
-ever been seen.<a id='r279' /><a href='#f279' class='c012'><sup>[279]</sup></a> To meet the terrors of what
-Buckingham termed “the pretended Spanish invasion,”
-he drew up a list of propositions, whereby
-the pride of the enemy was to be lowered, and the
-supremacy of England maintained. First, as the
-plan went, the enemy “was to be entertained in
-successive fleets upon his own coasts, which
-were to destroy his shipping, to intercept his provisions,
-to hinder him from gathering a heading
-whereat to possess some place of accompt.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Secondly, the Spaniard was to be assailed in the
-West Indies;--to intercept his fleets, to invade his
-possessions, to fortify garrisons, and to establish
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>there government confederacies. This, as Buckingham
-planned, was to be undertaken, at the common
-charge of the kingdom, by a company “incorporated
-for the West, as there already is for the East;”
-and the naval force was to consist of a fleet composed
-of two ships of the line, eighteen ships, and
-two pinnaces of the merchant adventurers.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The King’s ships were to be manned with
-twenty seamen and fifty soldiers, the merchants’
-with sixty seamen and one hundred soldiers, the
-pinnaces with twenty seamen. To this armament
-was to be added twenty Newcastle ships, each
-with thirty seamen and one hundred soldiers apiece,
-making in all 2,120 seamen and 3,900
-landsmen.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Parliament was to be applied to in each estate
-for a general subscription. The nobility at the
-rate of 100<em>l.</em> a man, to be paid in two years--this, it
-was computed, would amount to 4,900<em>l.</em> (60,000<em>l.</em>);
-the gentry and yeomen, 150,000<em>l.</em>; the cities and
-corporate towns, 24,000<em>l.</em>; the six confederate companies
-of merchants, including the East India
-“companies, may,” as the author of this plan
-remarked, “well contribute.”<a id='r280' /><a href='#f280' class='c012'><sup>[280]</sup></a> To the principle
-of this scheme of Buckingham’s may be
-traced the origin of many subsequent discontents.
-In his ardour for achieving the power of England,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>or perhaps, in part, for avenging affronts which
-he might consider as almost personal, he forgot
-all constitutional rights. The remark of Bolingbroke
-occurs to the mind, on reading this plan of
-arbitrary and almost indiscriminate taxation.
-Buckingham, says that writer, “had, in his
-own days, and he hath in ours, the demerits
-of beginning a struggle between prerogative and
-privilege, and of establishing a sort of warfare
-between the prince and the people.”<a id='r281' /><a href='#f281' class='c012'><sup>[281]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>On the first of April, 1624, Buckingham addressed
-the committee of both Houses, assembled
-in the painted chamber. The object of his speech
-was to press the necessity of raising a loan of
-100,000<em>l.</em>, to fit out the navy. Buckingham had, by
-this time, fully determined upon a war with Spain,
-not, as Roger Coke expresses it, for the “recovery of
-the Palatinate,” but to express his hatred against
-Olivarez, and, therefore, “a fleet must be rigged
-up.”<a id='r282' /><a href='#f282' class='c012'><sup>[282]</sup></a> According to the Duke’s account of the
-matter, upon the breaking off of the treaty with
-Spain, he was commanded by His Majesty to take
-a survey of the navy, and to prepare it for “all
-occasions.” Upon conferring with the “officers
-thereof concerning their reparation,” Buckingham
-was informed that a very large sum would be requisite
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>to furnish the fleet with necessaries and
-crews. No means could be suggested of raising
-the adequate sum. “My lords and gentlemen,”
-said the Duke, “His Majesty has imposed a great
-trust on me in this office of Admiralty, and I can
-do nothing without money. Such monies as I
-have of my own I will most willingly expend in
-this service, but that alone will do no good without
-future assistance.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>He then expounded his plan; that which has
-already been detailed, of levying a tax on the
-three estates for the expenses of the fleet,
-appears for the time to have been abandoned. He
-now recommended their sending for “monied
-men,” to raise a loan, of which, he assured them,
-not one penny should be applied to any other purpose
-than the one mentioned.<a id='r283' /><a href='#f283' class='c012'><sup>[283]</sup></a> “And let me
-tell you,” he added in conclusion, “that you have
-great reason to take this into a present and careful
-consideration, for I have lately been advertised,
-by letters from Spain, that they have now
-in readiness a great fleet, exceeding that of eighty-eight,
-with provisions of 200 or 220 of flat-bottom
-boats, to serve them in this their intended designs;
-and the Spaniards have of late so intruded upon
-our coasts, that they have taken an English ship
-in the face of us. This was advertised by a servant
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>of mine own, who spake with the pilot who
-was in that ship when it was taken.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>This application was followed by immediate
-efforts to restore the British navy; the numerous
-documents in the State Paper Office, to which
-reference has been made, most completely contradict
-the assertion of one of Buckingham’s bitterest
-enemies, Roger Coke, that after “Buckingham
-became Lord Admiral, the English navy lay unarmed,
-and fit for Spain; that he neglected the
-guarding of the seas, whereby the trade of the
-nation not only decayed, but the seas became
-ignominiously infested by pirates and enemies, to
-the loss of very many of the merchants and subjects
-of England.”<a id='r284' /><a href='#f284' class='c012'><sup>[284]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>With regard to pirates, most of the ports were
-taxed in King James’s time, by way of contribution,
-to prevent them; and little more could
-be done until the navy was repaired and augmented.
-There are innumerable letters manifesting
-Buckingham’s extreme care to clear the
-Channel from pirates. The light erected on
-the Lizard Point, as Sir J. Killigrew, in
-a letter to Sir Dudley Carleton, then ambassador
-at the Hague, remarked, “might speak
-itself to most parts of Christendom.”<a id='r285' /><a href='#f285' class='c012'><sup>[285]</sup></a> The
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>forts and defences were inspected, and many oversights
-in Lord Zouch’s wardership remedied.
-Such were Buckingham’s exertions. His contemporaries
-were singularly ungrateful to him for the
-benefits which he laboured to procure them; but
-posterity experienced their effects. Thirty years
-after his time, Pepys thus comments upon the improvement
-in our naval force, as a popular theme
-of remark--"Sir William Compton I heard talk
-with great pleasure of the difference between the
-fleet now and in Queene Elizabeth’s days, when,
-in ’88, she had but thirty-six sail, great and
-small, in the world, and ten rounds of powder
-was their allowance against the Spaniard."<a id='r286' /><a href='#f286' class='c012'><sup>[286]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Among the articles of Buckingham’s subsequent
-impeachment, in 1626, there was inserted the
-following statement: “The East India Company
-having, in 1624, loaded four ships and two
-pinnaces for India, the Lord High Admiral,
-knowing that they must lose their voyage unless
-they sailed on a certain day, extorted from them
-the sum of ten thousand pounds for liberty to sail
-for India.” Upon being charged with this act of
-tyranny, the Duke justified himself by the plea
-that the Company had captured several rich
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>prizes from the Portuguese at Ormuz and elsewhere,
-and that a large portion of the plunder
-was due to the King, and also to himself as High
-Admiral; and he proved that the sum said to be
-extorted from the Company was given by way of
-compromise, instead of 15,000<em>l.</em>, which was legally
-due; and he was able to show that the whole sum,
-except two hundred pounds, was appropriated by
-the King for the use of the navy.<a id='r287' /><a href='#f287' class='c012'><sup>[287]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>One fact was soon acknowledged, that even
-King James the First had a stronger and more
-magnificent navy than any of his predecessors. It
-is worthy of remark, that such was the comparative
-ignorance of the times in ship-building, that
-when a shipwright named Bunnell, who had been
-employed by the East India Company, was
-brought, on account of his pre-eminence, into the
-British navy, “he was mistaken in the construction
-of the first ship that he built for the King;”
-because, as Bishop Goodman relates, "he did not
-observe the difference between the merchant ships
-and the King’s ships--the one made for stowage,
-the other only for strength and magnificence."<a id='r288' /><a href='#f288' class='c012'><sup>[288]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Such was the state of our maritime affairs
-at the accession of Charles the First. The object to
-which all these preparations were destined was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>soon apparent. Trifling as this naval force
-appeared in those days, it was deemed magnificent
-in the reign of the Stuart Kings.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span></p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>
- <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c019'>UNFORTUNATE RESULT OF THE PRINCIPLES EARLY INSTILLED
-INTO CHARLES I. BY HIS FATHER--THE
-AFFAIR OF THE PALATINATE--ITS CONNECTION WITH
-THE SPANISH MARRIAGE--MAD DESIRE OF CHARLES
-AND BUCKINGHAM FOR A WAR WITH SPAIN--LETTER
-FROM THE EARL OF BRISTOL--THE FIRST UNFORTUNATE
-EXPEDITION TO CADIZ--RESENTMENT OF THE
-PEOPLE--CHARLES ASSEMBLES A PARLIAMENT--THE
-SUPPLIES REFUSED--IMPEACHMENT OF BRISTOL--IMPEACHMENT
-OF BUCKINGHAM--HIS THIRTEEN ANSWERS--RASH
-CONDUCT OF THE KING--HIS EXPRESSION OF
-CONTEMPT FOR THE HOUSE OF COMMONS--SIR JOHN
-ELIOT AND SIR DUDLEY DIGGES SENT TO THE TOWER--THE
-INTOLERANT SPIRIT OF THE DAY--INFLUENCE
-OF LAUD--SERMON OF THE VICAR OF BRACKLEY--"TUNING
-THE PULPITS."</p>
-<p class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c020'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span><b><span class='large'>CHAPTER VII.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c021'>The next mission entrusted to Buckingham
-was one which, accompanied by the Earl of
-Holland, he undertook to the States-General, who
-had bound themselves to restore by force of arms
-the Palatinate to the King’s only sister, Elizabeth
-of Bohemia, “whose dowry,” Sir Henry Wotton
-observes, “had been ravished by the German
-eagle mixed with Spanish feathers.” “A princess,”
-he adds, “resplendent in darkness, and
-whose virtues were born within the chance, but
-without the power, of fortune.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>This mission occupied a month. The Duke and
-Lord Holland embarked at Harwich, and after a
-dangerous passage, in the course of which three
-ships were foundered, they arrived on the fifth
-day at Harwich. It was during the absence of
-Buckingham that the unfortunate expedition to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>Cadiz failed, and the public expressions of disappointment
-at that misfortune were the first
-news to greet him on his return.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>It was at this period that the seeds of many of
-the erroneous and unjustifiable principles of action
-which were originally implanted in the mind of
-Charles I. by his father, and which had been fostered
-by Buckingham, were seen to produce their
-first effects; and that the long course of mistakes
-and oppressions which preceded the great Rebellion
-was commenced.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>In order to comprehend the manner in which
-the complicated questions of foreign policy in
-those days affected the line of conduct adopted
-by England, it will be necessary to refer briefly
-to the question which was the grand theme of the
-day--the loss of the Palatinate.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The misfortunes of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia,
-her rare qualities, and her romantic story,
-are well known by every one conversant with
-English history. The affairs connected with the
-Palatinate afford the first instance in which Great
-Britain was involved in the politics of Germany,
-and with the various religious parties into which
-that country was divided.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>In 1612, a league had been cemented between
-this country and the German Protestants, by the
-marriage of Elizabeth Stuart with Frederic, the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>Elector Palatine. Bohemia, persecuted by the
-Emperor Mathias of Austria, had invited the
-Elector Palatine to accept the crown, which was
-elective, under a conviction that Frederic, being
-supported by an alliance with England, would
-support them in their struggles with the intolerant
-Catholic Council who governed the kingdom of
-Bohemia.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>A fearful conflict ensued. The German States,
-entrusting the management of their affairs to
-thirty directors, composed wholly of Protestant
-Princes, were opposed by the Catholic League,
-formed with a view of upholding the Jesuits in
-opposition to the Hussites, or Protestants, or, as
-they were sometimes styled, the Evangelical
-party, by whose preponderance the Elector Palatine
-had been called to the throne.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Relying upon the cordial sympathy of the
-English nation, an expectation in which he was
-not disappointed, the Prince Palatine, believing
-himself equally sure of the co-operation of King
-James, accepted the tempting offer of royalty
-without waiting for the approval of his father-in-law.
-But he looked to him for support in vain.
-It was one of King James’s most cherished
-notions, that monarchs should support monarchs
-in case of disturbance, how just soever the cause,
-how unanimous soever the voice of the people by
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>whom a sovereign was deposed. His natural
-timidity, also, operated in inducing a line of conduct
-towards his son-in-law and his daughter as
-pusillanimous as was every other trait of his character
-and action of his life--and, above all, his
-project of accomplishing a union between his
-son Charles and a daughter of Spain militated
-against a real and effective interference in the
-affairs of the Palatinate, except, indeed, to confuse
-and ruin them. He was contented, therefore,
-with sending ambassadors to Germany, not only
-to mediate between contending parties, but to
-induce the new King of Bohemia to relinquish a
-throne which James pretended to assert that his
-son-in-law had no right to retain.<a id='r289' /><a href='#f289' class='c012'><sup>[289]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The King of Poland, the Elector of Saxony,
-and the Duke of Bavaria, who was at the head of
-the Catholic League, sided with Ferdinand, Emperor
-after the death of Mathias, and the result
-was the reduction of Bohemia, the loss of the
-Palatinate, and the flight of the Elector Palatine,
-or, as he was called, the King of Bohemia, to
-Holland. The King of Spain, also, sent an army
-under Spinola into the field, and it was that circumstance
-which rendered the scheme of marrying
-Prince Charles to the Infanta so unpopular in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>England, and which brought so much odium on
-Buckingham.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The treaty for that match had been originally
-carried on through the agency of the Earl of
-Bristol, and hence the jealousy which had already
-broken out on various occasions between the
-Duke of Buckingham and that able and experienced
-ambassador; whilst the failure of the negotiations,
-which were undertaken with the pretext
-of gaining the restoration of the Palatinate, was
-the origin of the rash war with Spain, which
-Charles, without the usual form of a proclamation,
-resolved on commencing.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The English, however, delighted as they had
-been at the rupture of the treaty, were indignant at
-this informality, as well as averse to a war which
-seemed to be the result of private passions rather
-than the well-considered act of a monarch anxious
-for the dignity of his subjects.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>But a worthy representative of James’s style of
-policy remained in his unhappy son. Supplies
-for the war with Spain were refused in the
-first Parliament that Charles called; a compulsory
-loan was exacted. Whilst the country
-was burning with resentment at this unequally
-imposed burden, a fleet of eighty sail, English,
-and twenty sail supplied from Holland, carrying
-ten thousand men, was sent to the coast of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>Spain. This grand armament, raised by the energy
-of the Lord High Admiral, was an object of pride
-to the nation, who had never before beheld so
-glorious a fleet; yet it was entrusted, not to Sir
-Robert Mansel, a distinguished commander, but
-to Cecil, Viscount Wimbleton, a favourite of
-Buckingham’s, and a man neither of talent nor
-experience. Thus, the fatal vice which has obtained
-the popular name of jobbery was exhibited
-at this most critical period.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>A signal failure was the result; the fleet
-reached Cape St. Vincent, and landed the troops;
-a fort was taken, but there was neither discipline
-nor decision to restrain the troops, who rushed into
-a store of wine, and soon abandoned themselves
-to the most disgraceful excesses. Sickness was
-the consequence, and the expedition returned ingloriously
-to England, with the additional discredit
-of its being known that a stay of two days longer
-would have sufficed to take all the shipping collected
-into the bay of Cadiz, and thus to have
-struck a grand blow, at the very commencement of
-the war, against the power of Spain.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The blame of this unfortunate attempt rested
-chiefly on the head of Buckingham, as the undertaking
-was known to have originated in his advice.
-Lord Clarendon well observes, in his life of himself,
-speaking of the Stuart family, that it was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>their “unhappy fate and constitution” to trust to
-the “judgments of those who were as much inferior
-to themselves in understanding as they were
-in quality, before their own, which was very good,
-and suffered even their natures, which disposed
-them to virtue and justice, to be prevailed upon,
-and altered and corrupted by those who knew how
-to make use of some one infirmity that they discovered
-in them, and by complying with that, and
-cherishing and serving it, they, by degrees,
-wrought upon the mass, and sacrificed all the other
-good inclinations to that single vice.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Parliament was accordingly summoned, and at
-Candlemas, in 1625, the coronation was celebrated.
-This ceremonial, which might have assisted in re-establishing
-good feeling, proved, unhappily, the
-source of bitter dissension and cavilling. The
-coronations of Edward VI. and of Queen Elizabeth
-had been performed according to the rites
-of the Romish Church. That of James I. was
-done in haste; and “wanted,” says the biographer
-of Laud, “many things which might have
-been considered in a time of leisure.”<a id='r290' /><a href='#f290' class='c012'><sup>[290]</sup></a> Amongst
-the alterations suggested by the prelates who were
-appointed as commissioners to settle the form, it
-was decreed that anointing was to be performed
-in the form of a cross, a point established, which
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>was at that time as fertile a source of invective as
-the use of that most holy and touching symbol in
-our churches has since been in these days, even
-amongst well-intentioned and pious Christians.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Even the ritual of the coronation, therefore,
-performed as it was, almost for the first time,
-according to the mode which it has since retained,
-contributed indirectly to the unpopularity
-of Buckingham. To Laud, that prelate
-to whose memory so much injustice has been done,
-in imputing to him designs and motives of which
-no proof exists, and yet whose errors bring pain
-to every thinking mind, was allotted the performance
-of the great ceremonial.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Formerly it had been the office of the Abbot
-of Westminster to celebrate the rite; then, for a
-century, the Dean had held the guardianship of
-the regalia used by Edward the Confessor, and
-had kept them in a secret part of Westminster
-Abbey. These valuables were now disinterred
-from their hiding-place by Laud, who, finding also
-the old crucifix, set it up on the altar, as in former
-times. Everything relating to this coronation
-wore an ominous appearance; in the first place,
-it was fixed for the day of the Purification of the
-Virgin Mary, and the King, whether from compliment
-to the faith of his wife, or from taste, or,
-from the supposed influence of Laud, it does not
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>transpire, was dressed in white, instead of purple,
-used always by his predecessors. “Not,” says
-Heylyn, with quaint simplicity, “for want of purple
-velvet enough to make him a suit (for he had
-many yards of it in his outer garment), but from
-choice, to declare that virgin purity with which
-he came to be espoused unto his kingdom.” His
-laying aside the purple was, however, looked
-upon as an “ill omen.”<a id='r291' /><a href='#f291' class='c012'><sup>[291]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Nor was this the only presage of coming mishaps.
-Charles was afterwards accused, during the
-Long Parliament, of having altered the coronation
-oath; the very sermon, also, preached by the
-eloquent Penhouse, Bishop of Carlisle, formerly
-his tutor, seemed to invite fate to do her worst;
-he chose a text, according to Heylyn, more proper
-for a funeral than a coronation--"I will give to
-thee a crown of life"--and engrafted on it a discourse
-which those who heard it judged might,
-with great propriety, have been uttered when his
-Majesty was dead, but not just at the moment
-when he was about to undertake the government
-of his people.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The ceremonial being concluded, the King
-walked in his robes from Westminster Abbey to
-the Hall, and delivered to Laud, who represented
-the Dean of Westminster, the crown, sceptre,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>and the sword called <em>cortena</em>. Laud, after
-receiving the regalia, returned to the Abbey, and,
-placing them on the altar, offered them up in his
-Majesty’s name; after which they were again
-locked up, never to see the light until after the
-stirring season of the Rebellion, and the more
-placid years of the Commonwealth. They were
-again displayed at the Restoration.<a id='r292' /><a href='#f292' class='c012'><sup>[292]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>All these forms were regarded as next to impious
-by the Puritan party; and, since there was
-now a cordial alliance between Laud and Buckingham,
-the popular hatred was divided between
-them both. Two years had now passed since
-Buckingham, in the miseries of an ague, had sent
-for Laud to console and advise him. Laud was,
-in truth, one of the most agreeable of companions,
-and carried with him to his grave an
-apprehension quick and sudden--"a sociable wit
-and pleasant humour."<a id='r293' /><a href='#f293' class='c012'><sup>[293]</sup></a> So that, even in the
-crisis of a malady, then of a far more severe
-character than in the present day, Buckingham
-forgot his sufferings, or bore them with a patience
-unwonted to his irritable nature; and, “by that
-patience, did so break their heats and violences,
-that at last they left him.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>After this period, Laud became, Heylyn tells
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>us, “not only a confessor, but a councillor to the
-Duke;” and to his advice it was owing that the
-endowments of the Charter-house were not appropriated
-by the Duke to the maintenance of the
-war, a plan which had been contemplated by the
-Duke, but applied to those of education. Laud,
-we must in gratitude recall, opposed all alienations
-of that nature; and to his firmness, as well as to
-that of the honest-hearted Sir Edward Coke,
-who, as trustee to the estates called Sutton’s
-Lands, resisted the attempts of the Crown to
-seize them, we owe the preservation of many
-colleges and hospitals.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>During his intimacy with Buckingham, Laud
-succeeded in imbuing him with those opinions
-which he himself advocated during his life, and
-died to support. These were opposed to what
-was then called “<cite>Doctrinal Puritanism</cite>,” a term
-which Buckingham expressed a wish to comprehend,
-and which Laud undertook to expound.
-These doctrinal points related to the observance
-of the Lord’s Day; to the “indiscrimination,”
-says Heylyn, “of bishops and presbyters, the
-power of sovereigns in ecclesiastical matters, the
-doctrine of confession and of sacerdotal absolution,
-and the five points which had, for the last
-twenty years, been agitating the churches of
-Holland.”<a id='r294' /><a href='#f294' class='c012'><sup>[294]</sup></a> Those points, which have unhappily
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>raised so many bitter resentments, were now
-beginning to inflame the public mind in England
-with that fever of intolerance which is so contagious,
-and so inimical to true religion. These
-controversies, in the time of Buckingham, were
-carried on between the party called Arminians
-and the Calvinists. “A swarm of books,” as
-Heylyn calls them, came over from Holland, and
-awoke out of “that dead sleep,” as he terms the
-then state of the Church, the learned divines of
-Oxford. Laud had been one of the first, on the
-publication of these works, to espouse and to
-advocate what was then styled Arminianism, so
-called from a famous professor of Leyden, Von
-Armene. Whatever was the standard of Laud’s
-opinions, and whatsoever merit may be attached
-to their sincerity, or what blame soever to
-their virulence, it is, at all events, satisfactory
-to believe that the attention of Buckingham was,
-during the latter years of his life, directed to subjects
-of mightier import than the sublunary
-interests which had hitherto solely engrossed his
-attention.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Laud had, indeed, those qualities which form
-the man of piety into the missionary of social
-life--a mission much required in all ages. The
-rigid, uncompromising priest, who gives no latitude
-to opinion, no indulgence to error, generally
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>does far more harm than good. The lax man of the
-world, with weak purpose, and flickering notions
-of right and wrong, is a scandal to the faith he
-professes, and lends a hand to indifference, if not
-to infidelity. But Laud, an enthusiast, perhaps
-a zealot, was the most agreeable of bigots. Born
-at Reading, the son of a clothier, he had been
-reproached, like Buckingham, with the meanness
-of his origin. Like most men, he felt the imputation;
-and even in his garden at Lambeth, when
-in the height of his greatness, he is stated by his
-biographer, Doctor Heylyn, to have shewn no
-ordinary degree of vexation on his countenance,
-after reading a libel in which he was reproached
-with his parentage, “as if,” he said, “he had
-been raked out of a dung-hill.” He owned that
-he had not the good fortune “to be born a gentleman,”
-but he had the happiness to be descended
-from honest parents. The beautiful, old-fashioned
-College of St. John’s, at Oxford, had received
-him as a commoner, and he entered there at a
-period when Calvinism influenced, strange to say,
-the tone and spirit of that university. All that
-had once been held sacred was decaying or disused;
-and the Reformed Church of England had
-become eclipsed by the doctrines and writings of
-Zuinglius, introduced by Dr. Humphrey, the
-then Vice-Chancellor, who had received his impressions,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>when deprived of his fellowship by
-Queen Mary, at Zurich, the very hot-bed of
-Calvinism.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The use of the surplice, the custom of bowing
-at the name of Jesus, commanded by Queen
-Elizabeth in 1559, and the distinctive dress of
-the priests, had been laid aside, when Laud, in
-1604, performed his exercise for Bachelor of
-Divinity, into which treatise he introduced those
-tenets which were soon conceived, or misconceived,
-to be tainted with Romanism.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Nevertheless, from the time when he was
-president of his own college, St. John’s,
-to the moment of his promotion to the see
-of Canterbury, there was little real obstruction
-to Laud’s elevation, notwithstanding that the
-whole of his career was one of controversy and
-contention, until he rose to the highest pinnacle
-of ecclesiastical greatness, and fell, subsequently,
-into the very depths of adversity.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>This slight sketch is necessary to show how
-naturally Laud might be expected to succeed
-in gaining an influence over Buckingham, since he
-had been always engaged in winning over those
-of opposite opinions, and in the great battle of
-controversy. Cheerful, not too severe, nor even
-sufficiently strict, in his notions of morality, as
-appears from his conduct relative to Mountjoy,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>Earl of Devonshire--a short, stout man, with a
-plump and merry visage, the very opposite of a
-Puritan or Calvinist minister--no man knew
-better than Laud how to lay aside the gravity
-which was unseasonable; accessible in his manners,
-staunch as a churchman to the interests of
-his order, but perfectly indifferent, personally, to
-the gifts of fortune, Laud delighted the great
-Duke, weary of fame, and perhaps of life, by the
-sweetness of manner and vivacity of temper
-which become so well men of high attainments.
-They were henceforth friends, until the thread of
-Buckingham’s existence was cut short by the
-assassin’s blow.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>It is impossible to estimate too highly the
-effects of this intimacy upon the character of the
-Duke. He seems to have yielded readily to the
-remonstrances of Laud against the misappropriation
-of church revenues; and indeed, according to
-another authority, his own disposition accelerated
-the effect produced by these impressions. Buckingham
-was not the rapacious oppressor described
-by the contemporary slanderers of his time.
-“Oppression and avarice,” observes Nichols, in
-his history of Leicestershire, “<em>he knew not</em>.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Williams, Lord Keeper, the early friend of
-Buckingham, was now wholly discarded from the
-Duke’s friendship, and from his presence, as
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>appears from a letter addressed by Williams
-to Sir George Goring, and written from
-Foxley. The mixture of servility with religious
-professions; the evident desire to retain
-the favour of the Duke, and his own place, of
-course, and yet to make his case good;--and
-the dexterity with which all this is managed,
-lessen the regret that would otherwise be felt
-that Buckingham had lost in Williams an acute
-adviser, whose counsels were safer, at that
-juncture, than those of the earnest and fearless,
-but intemperate and prejudiced, Laud.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>No benefit to the disgraced courtier and prelate
-resulted from this appeal, and the new parliament
-was opened in the month of February,
-1626, not by Williams, but by Sir Thomas
-Coventry, as Lord Keeper, in a strain of fulsome
-adulation to the King.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>But this address, followed as it was by an oration
-from Sir Heneage Finch, the Speaker, in
-terms still more exaggerated, was little regarded
-by the Commons, who immediately formed
-themselves into a committee of grievances, in
-which the evil resulting from bad counsellors
-about the King, the misappropriation of the revenue,
-the failure of the expedition against Cadiz,
-and the expenditure of the subsidy granted to the
-late King, formed the main points of consideration.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>In vain did Charles, confirming but too closely
-the observations recently quoted by Lord Clarendon,
-resolve to defend his favourite. He
-addressed a letter to the Speaker, bidding him
-hasten the supplies. Forty ships, he stated, were
-ready for a second voyage, and, without an immediate
-grant of money, the object of that armament
-must be abandoned, and the navy disbanded.
-The Commons were adverse to any
-scheme founded by him whom they regarded as
-the very source of all the evils of which the
-country now complained. Buckingham was the
-object at whom every expression of discontent
-was aimed. Clement Coke, one of Sir Edward’s
-numerous family, observed that it would be
-better to die from an enemy abroad than to be
-destroyed at home. Dr. Turner, a physician
-whom Sir Henry Wotton styles “a travelled
-doctor of physick, of bold spirit and able elocution,”
-asked ministers whether it were not true
-that the loss of the King’s dominions over the
-narrow seas were not owing to the Duke’s mismanagement?
-Whether the enormous gifts of
-land and money to the Duke had not impoverished
-the Crown? Whether the multiplicity of
-offices which he held, and those whom he patronized,
-were not the cause of the bad government
-in the kingdom? Whether he did not connive
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>at recusants, the Duke’s mother and father-in-law
-being both papists? Whether the sale of
-offices, honours, places of judicature, with ecclesiastical
-livings and preferments, were not owing
-to the Duke?</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Such was the dread of court influence in that
-day, that courage to put these questions implied
-in Dr. Turner a perfect independence of action
-and character very unusual at that period.
-Clement Coke was severely reproved by his
-father for his boldness, and the old lawyer
-refused to see his son for some time; but Dr.
-Turner, one of the very few of his profession
-who have sat in the House of Commons, not only
-escaped censure, but gained credit by his boldness,
-upon which the subsequent impeachment of
-the Duke was grounded.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The committee to redress grievances was followed
-by another, which was to inquire into
-religious matters, more especially into the
-number of indulgences granted by his Majesty
-to recusants; for the bitterness of bigotry was
-not confined to the party who owned Laud as
-their spiritual chief; and this blow was aimed at
-Buckingham, whose alleged partiality to the
-Romish Church was one of the false and factious
-allegations of the day. At that time, it must
-be remembered, a penalty of twenty pounds a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>month, by law, could be levied upon every person
-who frequented not divine worship.<a id='r295' /><a href='#f295' class='c012'><sup>[295]</sup></a> The King,
-unhappily, ill judging, ill-advised, and therefore
-ill-fated, and finding himself opposed for the first
-time, summoned the Lords and Commons to Whitehall,
-and, addressing them, said, that whilst he was
-sensible of the grievances of his people, he was
-much more sensible of his own. He issued his
-express command that henceforth the two houses
-would desist from such unparliamentary proceedings,
-and leave the reformation of what was
-amiss to his "Majesty’s care, wisdom, and justice."<a id='r296' /><a href='#f296' class='c012'><sup>[296]</sup></a>
-This harangue produced no effect on the
-two houses, and the King and Buckingham,
-feeling that they had lost ground, adopted
-another course, and rushed into perils, from the
-effect of which the Duke was saved by an untimely
-death, but which were felt in after years
-with terrible force by Charles.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>So long as James I. lived, the Earl of Bristol,
-confiding in his favour, had borne the blame of
-that failure in the Spanish treaty which had so
-greatly incensed the nation. For some time after
-the accession of Charles, he waited, hoping to
-regain his footing at the court. But when,
-upon the meeting of parliament, he received no
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>writ to serve as a member, in his place, he appealed
-to the Lords. The writ was then sent,
-but the Earl was ordered on no account to appear
-in his place. Moreover, during the vacation, in
-the month of March, the Duke, certain that
-Bristol would impeach him, prepared articles of
-impeachment against the Earl, in order to be
-the first in the field, and to anticipate the
-accusations which he expected would shortly
-be levelled at himself. The impeachment did
-indeed anticipate, literally, that soon framed
-and delivered against the Duke.<a id='r297' /><a href='#f297' class='c012'><sup>[297]</sup></a> The feeling
-of the times rendered nothing so odious
-to the nation as any wish or attempt to
-subvert the religion of the country. One of the
-charges against Bristol was that he assisted to
-introduce Popery into England; that he was the
-cause of the Prince’s journey into Spain, and
-had there wished him to change his religion;
-that he advised that the son of the Elector
-Palatine should be brought up in the court of
-Spain--a project which, from a letter of Bristol’s,
-appears to have been stated, but not suggested
-by Bristol. Bristol replied that these
-charges were merely intended to defeat those
-which he now formally preferred against the
-Duke, which seemed almost like duplicates of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>the impeachment which the Duke had preferred
-against him. First, that he had conspired with
-Gondomar to take the Prince into Spain, there to
-convert him to the Romish faith; that, whilst
-in Spain, the Duke had flattered the King of
-Spain with the hopes of this conversion; that he
-had absented himself from Divine service at the
-embassy, and had attended the Romish rites,
-adoring their sacraments--a course which induced
-the Spanish court to ask greater concessions
-from King James.<a id='r298' /><a href='#f298' class='c012'><sup>[298]</sup></a> These articles, with others
-of less import, were followed by an impeachment
-from the House of Commons, who were fearful
-that Bristol might not be able to substantiate
-the charge of treason, of which they clearly saw
-the weakness, from the absence of motives and of
-proofs.<a id='r299' /><a href='#f299' class='c012'><sup>[299]</sup></a> On the eighth of May, therefore, “a large
-impeachment” was drawn up against him; it was
-framed by six of the ablest lawyers in the house;<a id='r300' /><a href='#f300' class='c012'><sup>[300]</sup></a>
-and related to the Duke’s engrossing of offices--his
-holding at the same time the posts of Lord
-Admiral and of Warden of the Cinque Ports--his
-not guarding the narrow seas--his lending a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>ship called the “Vanguard” to the French King--his
-selling offices and honours--his waste of the
-Crown revenues--and, finally, his giving physic to
-King James at the time of his sickness,<a id='r301' /><a href='#f301' class='c012'><sup>[301]</sup></a> applying
-a plaster to his chest; and that both the potion
-and the plaster were of a nature unknown “to
-surgeons, apothecaries, and physicians, and had
-been followed by dangerous consequences.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Of these charges, which were styled by Hume
-“either frivolous, or false, or both,” only one or
-two articles can, with any certainty, be refuted.
-To commence with that made by the Earl of
-Bristol, relating to the conversion of Charles
-whilst in Spain, it appears from a letter addressed
-by Sir George Calvert to Secretary Conway,
-that the Marquis Inojosa, the Spanish Ambassador,
-was directed by the Countess Olivarez, in the
-Infanta’s name, to obtain all possible indulgences
-for Catholics. But no other more formal application
-on the subject, nor any trace of information
-confirming the alleged designs of Buckingham to
-convert Charles, have been found amongst the
-correspondence of that period; nor has any substantial
-proof of this charge been adduced by historians.<a id='r302' /><a href='#f302' class='c012'><sup>[302]</sup></a>
-With regard to the charge of engrossing
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>offices, the importance, if not the absolute necessity,
-of rescuing all maritime affairs from the
-ruin and neglect in which they had been suffered
-to remain by a former High Admiral, was so
-obvious at the very moment when it became
-necessary to assert the honour of England, that
-it is a matter of wonder that it should have been
-attempted to allege against Buckingham that
-which constituted his greatest merit. That the
-Duke had fearlessly applied himself to the restoration
-of the navy, has been shown by a reference
-to documents which have fully and completely
-exonerated him from that censure. It would
-have been of little avail for Buckingham to restore
-our navy, without securing the ports; in
-taking upon himself that office, he did not accept
-it as a mere dignity, to be performed by deputy,
-but he discharged its duties with an energy and a
-fidelity that very soon effected the desired end.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>In the answer which he afterwards addressed
-to Parliament, the Duke denied having lent the
-ship called the “Vanguard,” and six others, to
-the King of France--knowing that they were intended
-to be employed against Rochelle; he stated
-that he had been overreached, as the French
-King had pretended that he wished to make an
-attack on Genoa; that, so soon as he was aware
-of the deception, he did all he could to save
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>Rochelle from destruction.<a id='r303' /><a href='#f303' class='c012'><sup>[303]</sup></a> It appeared, also,
-that a promise had been made by James I. to lend a
-ship to Louis XIII., for the reduction of Genoa.
-The charge of neglecting his duty as Admiral,
-and of having suffered the coast to be infested
-with pirates, has been met by those statements in
-a former chapter, drawn from original sources,
-which plainly show that the energy of this ill-fated
-Minister was untiring, his efforts meritorious,
-and that, whatever had been his former
-errors, they had been retrieved in his management
-of naval affairs. So active were his habits, that
-he took a personal share in every affair.<a id='r304' /><a href='#f304' class='c012'><sup>[304]</sup></a> From
-the accusation of corruption, it would be as difficult
-to defend the Duke, as it was to exculpate,
-in this grave point, many public men in office at
-that period. The House of Commons was still
-writhing under the remembrance of the affair of
-Lord Middlesex, Lord Treasurer in the time of
-James I., who had taken two bribes, of five hundred
-pounds each, from the farmers of customs,
-without which <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>douceur</em></span> he refused to sign their
-warrants.<a id='r305' /><a href='#f305' class='c012'><sup>[305]</sup></a> For that offence, Middlesex had
-been punished with fine and imprisonment;
-but King James, whilst he was eager to sell
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>the offending Earl’s lands for the payment of
-the fine, had said that he would “review the
-sentence of the Parliament, and confirm it as he
-saw cause;” he even made a speech in behalf of
-the dishonest treasurer, stating that, “in such
-cases, the nether house was but as informers,
-the Lords as the jury, and himself the judge;”
-giving them likewise to understand “that he took
-it not well, nor would endure it hereafter, that
-they should meddle with his servants, from the
-highest place down to the lowest <em>skull</em> in the
-kitchen; but if they had ought against any, they
-should complain to him, and he would see it redressed
-according to right.”<a id='r306' /><a href='#f306' class='c012'><sup>[306]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>It was not, therefore, a matter of surprise that
-the Commons should, in a case considered still
-more flagrant, lose their moderation, knowing from
-experience how little justice their well-grounded
-complaints might receive at the hands of a monarch
-who had imbibed from his cradle such sentiments
-as those expressed by James I.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>It was publicly known that offices, both about
-the person of the King and in the state, were
-sold. In the last reign, the mastership of the
-jewels had been bought by Sir Henry Caire for
-2,000<em>l.</em> or 3,000<em>l.</em>, from Sir Henry Mildmay, who
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>was “thought too young a man, and of too mean
-a state” to be safely entrusted with the King’s
-jewels.<a id='r307' /><a href='#f307' class='c012'><sup>[307]</sup></a> Buckingham, however, seems to have
-had no direct interest in this transaction. Other
-instances were also adduced; and proofs of corruption
-somewhere were open to every mind.
-Lord Middlesex, when Sir Lionel Cranfield, was
-stated to have given the Duke 6,000<em>l.</em> for his
-place as keeper of the wardrobe;<a id='r308' /><a href='#f308' class='c012'><sup>[308]</sup></a> but it seems
-that he purchased that post from Lord Hay,
-and not from Buckingham, as the following extract
-from the State Papers, of the year 1618,
-implies:--</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>“Sir Lionel Cranfield is not yet master of the
-wardrobe, nor likely to be, unless he give a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>viaticum</em></span>
-to the Lord Hay, who, they say, stands upon
-9,000<em>l.</em>”<a id='r309' /><a href='#f309' class='c012'><sup>[309]</sup></a> It does not, therefore, appear certain
-that Buckingham received either of the bribes;
-although it is not improbable that, since nothing
-could take place without his concurrence, he
-might have accepted some part of the spoil.
-Of the other two allegations--namely, that he received
-from Lord Roberts 10,000<em>l.</em> for his title,
-and that he sold the office of treasurer to Lord
-Manchester for 20,000<em>l.</em>, there seems no certainty;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>but no letters are to be found in the very minute
-daily correspondence of that period, between
-the members of the Duke’s household and the
-Court, which either take the burden of the charge
-from him, or remove it to any other person.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The Duke was also stated, in the impeachment,
-to have purchased the offices of Lord High Admiral,
-and of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.
-Such was the colour given to a transaction which
-is generally recognized as a matter of compensation.
-“To the Earl of Nottingham, the old and incompetent
-admiral, the pension of 3,000<em>l.</em> yearly
-was allotted, together with a good round sum of
-ready money;” to Margaret, Countess of Nottingham,
-according to one account, a pension of
-1,000<em>l.</em>, to commence at the death of the Earl, and
-500<em>l.</em> to his eldest son by her.<a id='r310' /><a href='#f310' class='c012'><sup>[310]</sup></a> According to
-another statement, the pension to the Countess
-was not to exceed 600<em>l.</em>; to her son, Charles
-Howard, 500<em>l.</em> a year; and to her daughter, Anne
-Howard, 200<em>l.</em> a year--after the death of their
-father.<a id='r311' /><a href='#f311' class='c012'><sup>[311]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Lord Zouch, meantime, the former Warden of
-the Cinque Ports, was perfectly satisfied with the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>compensation of 500<em>l.</em> a year, secured on lands,
-and 1,000<em>l.</em> ready money, in lieu of his office.<a id='r312' /><a href='#f312' class='c012'><sup>[312]</sup></a>
-Surely, if arrangements like these, completed
-without secrecy, and known to every gossip of
-the Court, be deemed corrupt and illegal, every
-minister of modern times might be liable to a
-similar imputation.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Another charge was that Buckingham had
-procured titles of honours for his allies, and pensions
-to support them; had embezzled the
-King’s money, and obtained grants of Crown
-lands to an enormous value.<a id='r313' /><a href='#f313' class='c012'><sup>[313]</sup></a> A list of his titles
-and offices proves, indeed, the blind and almost
-insane partiality which had placed the favourite
-on the pinnacle of power.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The statement of his possessions is equally
-amazing, more especially when we consider his
-origin and his early difficulties. Crown lands, to
-the value of 284,895<em>l.</em>, had been allotted to the
-Duke, "besides the Forest of Layfield--the profit
-made out of the strangers’ goods--and the moiety
-of the customs in Ireland." And yet the Duke
-avowed before Parliament that his debts amounted
-to 100,000<em>l.</em>,<a id='r314' /><a href='#f314' class='c012'><sup>[314]</sup></a> and we find, as a sad confirmation
-of the charge, among the documents in the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>State Paper Office, a warrant of payment of
-2,500<em>l.</em> to Sir William Russell, for interest of
-30,000<em>l.</em> advanced to the Duke of Buckingham by
-his Majesty’s orders.<a id='r315' /><a href='#f315' class='c012'><sup>[315]</sup></a> Even the money given
-him, it was justly alleged, was a small sum compared
-with that which the Duke had derived from
-other sources. “How then,” asked Mr. Sherland,
-one of the managers of the impeachment,
-“can we hope to satisfy his prodigality, if this be
-true? If false, how can we hope to satisfy his
-covetousness? And, therefore, your lordships
-need not wonder if the Commons desire, and that
-earnestly, to be delivered from such a grievance.”</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Finally, the Duke was charged with having
-either intentionally, or unintentionally, accelerated
-the death of King James.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The imprudent interference of Buckingham,
-under the influence of his mother, with the medical
-treatment of the King, was adduced as a
-proof of guilt. The absurdity of this charge,
-which was afterwards taken up with much bitterness
-by both parties in that time of violent discussion,
-seems to throw a doubt upon the whole
-impeachment.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The same members who had before recited the
-enormous gifts and lavish generosity of King James
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>to his favourite, now taxed the very man who had
-only to ask, to obtain, with the murder of one who
-was loading him with benefits. The disease of
-King James, Heylyn reports, “was no other than
-an ague, which, though it fell on him in the spring,
-crossed the proverb, and proved, not medicinal,
-but mortal.”<a id='r316' /><a href='#f316' class='c012'><sup>[316]</sup></a> The King was old, not indeed in
-years, but in constitution; the wonder was not
-that he died before the full span of age was complete,
-but that he lived so long. The appearance
-of the body after death has been insisted upon by
-Whitelocke as a proof of poison; but it is well
-known that in many diseases this appearance
-occurs, especially in affections of the heart, a
-class of complaint but little understood in those
-times, but a malady that is not unfrequently the
-result of rheumatic affections, to which James
-seems to have been liable.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Wandesford, one of the chief speakers on this
-occasion, declares that the “poor and loyal Commons
-of England were troubled at hearing that
-great distempers followed the drink and plaisters
-which Buckingham had pressed on the King--droughts,
-raving, faintness, and intermitting pulse;”
-these are, however, the usual concomitants of that
-passage through the valley of the shadow of death
-which precedes a final dissolution; the plaister
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>was declared to have driven the complaint inwards;
-both the administration of the drink or posset,
-and the application of the plaister, were avowed
-by Buckingham, who protested that neither of
-these intended remedies had been used without the
-permission of the physicians; on hearing a rumour
-that he had done so, Buckingham affirmed that he
-went to the dying king, <a id='corr305.8'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='who'>“who</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_305.8'><ins class='correction' title='who'>“who</ins></a></span> exclaimed, ‘They are
-worse than devils who say so.’”<a id='r317' /><a href='#f317' class='c012'><sup>[317]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>On the whole, this part of the impeachment
-seems to have fallen to the ground; and we are
-disposed to credit Clarendon, who states that
-though “investigated in a time of great licence,
-‘no criminality was discovered.’” King Charles
-also became afterwards the subject of aspersions
-on this point--one of those slanderous and impossible
-accusations that weaken all the previous
-charges, and taint them with the hue of malice.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>It is remarkable, as Hume observes, that the
-most vulnerable point in Lord Bristol’s attack was
-altogether ignored by the Commons in this “large
-impeachment.” The most blamable circumstance
-in Buckingham’s whole life, as the same
-historian observes, was the Duke’s conduct in
-breaking the Spanish treaty, and in hurrying the
-nation into a war in order to gratify his private
-passions. But there was a general conviction of the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>insincerity of Spain; and the unjustifiable conduct
-of the Duke, in the affairs relative to that
-country, was suffered to escape unnoticed, whilst
-charges, almost untenable, were got up in the
-hope of ruining him with the King.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Charles was, however, infatuated. His youth
-and inexperience, the pernicious example set him
-by his father, plead for <em>him</em>, but nothing can extenuate
-the want of manly boldness in Buckingham,
-in not facing his foes and demanding a trial.
-His answers to the impeachment, thirteen in number,
-were, it is true, to borrow the words of Sir
-Henry Wotton, “very diligently and civilly
-couched,” and “savoured of an humble spirit,
-though his heart was big.” One consideration
-swayed with the public, which was, that in the
-“bolting and sifting of near fourteen years of such
-power and favour, all that came out could not be
-expected to be pure and white, and fine metal;
-but must needs have withal among it a certain
-mixture of padars and bran in this lower range of
-humane fragility.”<a id='r318' /><a href='#f318' class='c012'><sup>[318]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The Duke’s answers were very clear and satisfactory,<a id='r319' /><a href='#f319' class='c012'><sup>[319]</sup></a>
-and his address to the Lords appears to
-have been ingenuous and courteous. He reminded
-them how full of danger and prejudice it was to give
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>too ready an ear, too easy a belief, to reports and
-testimony not upon oath; upon such allegations
-none ought, he argued, to be condemned. Then,
-with a grace that was natural to him, he acknowledged,
-with humility, “how easy a thing it was
-for him in his younger years, when inexperienced,
-to fall into thousands of errors in these two years
-wherein he had the honour to serve so great and
-so open-hearted a master.”<a id='r320' /><a href='#f320' class='c012'><sup>[320]</sup></a> He concluded with
-professions of attachment to the Church of England,
-hoping that for the future “he might watch
-over all his actions, public and private, so as not
-to give cause of just offence to any one.” And
-such was probably his sincere determination; and
-Buckingham, had he lived, might have proved
-an excellent and, as times went, an honest
-minister.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The answer of Buckingham, as well as the
-speech of the King to his Commons, on the
-29th of March, was ascribed to the pen of
-Laud; but Heylyn disavows that statement.
-Yet there is little doubt that Laud prompted the
-Duke’s cautious and submissive reply on the one
-hand, and encouraged, if he did not prompt, the
-King’s arbitrary and unconstitutional conduct
-to the Commons.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The tempest, violent as it seemed, “did,” as
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>Sir Henry Wotton remarks, “only shake and
-not rent” the Duke’s sails. Charles, taking as a
-plea that many of the accusations were not within
-the compass of his own reign, and also that
-nothing had been proved against Buckingham on
-oath, resolved to brave the storm in such a manner
-as to bring down its force upon himself.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>He lost, therefore, no opportunity of showing his
-contempt for the House of Commons. “No one,”
-Hume observes, “was at that time sufficiently
-sensible of the great weight which the Commons
-bore in the balance of the Constitution.” Nothing
-but “fatal experience could induce the
-English princes to pay a due regard to the inclinations
-of that formidable assembly.”<a id='r321' /><a href='#f321' class='c012'><sup>[321]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>“This was indeed,” Lord Campbell remarks,
-“the great crisis of the English Constitution.
-Had our distinguished patriots then quailed,
-Parliaments would thenceforth have been merely
-the subject of antiquarian research, or perhaps
-occasionally summoned to register the edicts of
-the <a id='corr308.22'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Crown.'>Crown”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_308.22'><ins class='correction' title='Crown.'>Crown”</ins></a></span><a id='r322' /><a href='#f322' class='c012'><sup>[322]</sup></a> “The state,” as Sir Edward Coke
-declared in Parliament, “was in a consumption,
-yet not incurable.” It was his courage and
-honesty that helped to effect a cure.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Charles, considering that he was himself aimed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>at in the allegations against the Duke, commanded
-the House expressly not to interfere with
-his servant Buckingham, and ordered it to conclude
-the bill for the subsidies which they had
-begun, intimating that if that were not done it
-should sit no longer. Instead of referring the
-case to the Lords, and insisting on the affair being
-brought to a trial before that body, he went himself
-to the House of Lords, and declared his intention
-of clearing the Duke by his own testimony. The
-Commons had, on that very day, moved that the
-Duke should be committed to the Tower until
-the issue of his trial should be known. That motion
-was rejected; in vain did Buckingham attempt
-to explain and soften down this conduct in
-a speech to the Lords. Sir Dudley Digges and
-Sir John Eliot were thrown into prison, and although
-they were soon liberated, the Commons
-immediately declared that they would not proceed
-with any business whatsoever until satisfaction
-should be given for this breach of privilege.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Unhappily, all these discords were aggravated
-nearly to frenzy by the bitterest of all passions--religious
-intolerance. Whilst we must applaud,
-with all gratitude, the lofty and honest spirit
-which opposed acts of despotism--a spirit to which
-we owe our present pre-eminence as a free and
-powerful nation--we must deprecate the remorseless
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>oppressions which the friends of liberty
-scrupled not to inflict on those who thought on
-religious matters differently from themselves.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>It was an expensive matter in those days to
-have a conscience. Although the penalty of
-twenty pounds per month, enacted during the reign
-of Elizabeth, had been mitigated according to the
-circumstances of families, or suffered in some
-instances to run on for years, it was occasionally
-levied all at once, to the ruin of the unhappy
-Romanist families who conscientiously refused to
-attend the worship of the Established Church.
-James I. had mercifully relaxed the severity of
-these penalties; but his successor was now called
-upon by the Puritan party in the House of Commons
-to restore them to their original force. The
-Church was at this epoch far more induced to
-grant indulgence than the laity, who, it is strange
-to say, were the most intolerant among the persecutors
-of the depressed body of Roman Catholics.
-Disappointed in their impeachment of Buckingham,
-the Commons now presented to the King
-a list of recusants who had been entrusted with
-offices in the State.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>This petition was aimed, of course, at Buckingham,
-whose mother was a Catholic, and whose
-wife had been long suspected of holding the
-tenets of the Romish Church. It was thought
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>sufficient in those times to have a near relation a
-Romanist, to be disqualified for office.<a id='r323' /><a href='#f323' class='c012'><sup>[323]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Queen Elizabeth, as we have before observed,
-when she had any point to gain with her people,
-used “to tune the pulpits,” as she termed it. It
-was her practice to have a reserve of preachers
-ready to extol her designs in or near London,
-to influential congregations, whenever she required
-the help of their eloquence.<a id='r324' /><a href='#f324' class='c012'><sup>[324]</sup></a> This plan was now
-adopted by Charles, and Laud was employed to
-call the attention of the public to the cause of
-the King of Denmark, who had been driven to
-the last extremity by Count Tilly. The King of
-Denmark being a Protestant, it was hoped that
-this scheme would propitiate the party who so
-vehemently endeavoured to compass the downfall
-of Buckingham, and who were, for the most part,
-Puritans.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Unhappily the plan did more harm than good;
-its motives and signification were suspected, nay,
-even proclaimed by some of the simple clergy;
-and Sibthorpe, the Vicar of Brackley, in Northamptonshire--at
-an assize sermon--gave out
-plainly that the burden of those instructions which
-had been distributed among the priesthood was "to
-show the lawfulness of the general loan which the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>King now contemplated raising, in lieu of the
-supplies; to prove the King’s right to impose
-taxes without the consent of Parliament; and to
-insist that the people ought cheerfully to submit
-to such loans and taxes."</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The publication of this sermon was forbidden
-by Archbishop Abbot,<a id='r325' /><a href='#f325' class='c012'><sup>[325]</sup></a> for it was then illegal to
-print any book without a permission from the
-Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, or
-the Vice-chancellor of one of the Universities, or
-some person appointed by them;<a id='r326' /><a href='#f326' class='c012'><sup>[326]</sup></a> and two fearful
-Courts of Star-chamber and High Commission
-threatened any delinquent who attempted to
-do then what now requires merely the consent
-of a publisher. Although Abbot had so wisely
-prohibited Sibthorpe’s discourse, he could not
-save the King whom Buckingham and Laud
-counselled. The audacious sermon was published
-during the following year, under the almost
-impious title of “Apostolic Obedience.”</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c020'>
- <div>END OF VOL. II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='c024' />
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div>R. BORN, PRINTER, GLOUCESTER STREET, REGENT’S PARK.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c000' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='c025'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a1'>a1</span>13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH ST. LONDON</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><span class='xlarge'>NEW AND INTERESTING WORKS</span></div>
- <div class='c000'>PUBLISHED BY</div>
- <div class='c000'><span class='large'>MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT,</span></div>
- <div class='c000'>SUCCESSORS TO MR. COLBURN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='c026' />
-
-<p class='c027'><b><span class='large'>MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF GEORGE IV. FROM</span></b>
-<span class='sc'>Original Family Documents</span>. By the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM
-AND CHANDOS, K.G. 2 vols. 8vo. with Portraits. 30s. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Among the many interesting subjects elucidated in this work will be found:
-The Trial of Queen Caroline--The King’s Visits to Ireland, Scotland, and Hanover--Female
-Influence at Court--The Death of Lord Castlereagh--Junction of
-the Grenville Party with the Government--The Political and Literary Career of
-George Canning--O’Connell and the Catholic Claims--The Marquess Wellesley
-in Ireland--The Duke of Wellington’s Administration--George the Fourth as a
-Patron of Art and Literature, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"The country is very much indebted to the Duke of Buckingham for the publication of
-these volumes--to our thinking the most valuable of the contributions to recent history
-which he has yet compiled from his family papers. Besides the King, the Duke of
-Buckingham’s canvass is full of the leading men of the day--Castlereagh, Liverpool, Canning,
-Wellington, Peel, and their compeers. We are sure that no reader, whether he seeks
-for gossip, or for more sterling information, will be disappointed by the book. There are
-several most characteristic letters of the Duke of Wellington."--<cite>John Bull.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“These volumes are the most popular of the series of Buckingham papers, not
-only from the nature of the matter, but from the closeness of the period to our own
-times.”--<cite>Spectator.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“There is much in these volumes which deserves the perusal of all who desire an
-intimate acquaintance with the history of the period. The comments of well-informed
-men, like Lord Grenville, and Mr. T. Grenville, disclosing as they do the motives of individuals,
-the secret movements of parties, and the causes of public events, are of high value
-to the student, and exceedingly interesting to the general reader.”--<cite>Daily News.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“These volumes are of great intrinsic and historical value. They give us a definite
-acquaintance with the actions, a valuable insight into the characters, of a succession of
-illustrious statesmen.”--<cite>Critic.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“The original documents published in these volumes--penned by public men, who were
-themselves active participators in the events and scenes described--throw a great deal of
-very curious and very valuable light upon this period of our history. The private letters of
-such men as Lord Grenville, Mr. T. Grenville, Mr. Charles Wynn, Mr. Freemantle, Dr.
-Phillimore, and Mr. Plumer Ward, written in the absence of all restraint, necessarily possess
-a high interest even for the lightest and most careless reader; whilst, in an historical
-sense, as an authentic source from which future historians will be enabled to form their
-estimate of the characters of the leading men who flourished in the reign of the last
-George, they must be regarded as possessing an almost inestimable value. The more reserved
-communications, too, of such men as Lord Liverpool, the Duke of Wellington, the Marquis
-of Wellesley, Sir Henry Parnell, &amp;c., will be received with great interest and thankfulness
-by every historiographer, whilst the lighter <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>billets</em></span> of Sir Walter Scott and Mr. Henry Wynn
-will be welcome to every body. Taking this publication altogether, we must give the Duke
-of Buckingham great credit for the manner in which he has prepared and executed it, and
-at the same time return him our hearty thanks for the interesting and valuable information
-which he has unfolded to us from his family archives.”--<cite>Observer.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c029'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a2'>a2</span><b><span class='large'>MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF THE REGENCY.</span></b>
-<span class='sc'>From Original Family Documents.</span> By the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM
-AND CHANDOS, K.G. 2 vols. 8vo., with Portraits, 30s. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Here are two more goodly volumes on the English Court; volumes full of new
-sayings, pictures, anecdotes, and scenes. The Duke of Buckingham travels over nine years
-of English history. But what years those were, from 1811 to 1820! What events at home
-and abroad they bore to the great bourne!--from the accession of the Regent to power to
-the death of George III.--including the fall of Perceval; the invasion of Russia, and the
-war in Spain; the battles of Salamanca and Borodino; the fire of Moscow; the retreat of
-Napoleon; the conquest of Spain; the surrender of Napoleon; the return from Elba; the
-Congress of Vienna; the Hundred Days; the crowning carnage of Waterloo; the exile to
-St. Helena; the return of the Bourbons; the settlement of Europe; the public scandals at
-the English Court; the popular discontent, and the massacre of Peterloo! On many parts
-of this story the documents published by the Duke of Buckingham cast new jets of light,
-clearing up much secret history. Old stories are confirmed--new traits of character are
-brought out. In short, many new and pleasant additions are made to our knowledge of
-those times.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Invaluable, as showing the true light in which many of the stirring events of the
-Regency are to be viewed. The lovers of Court gossip will also find not a little for their
-<ins class='correction' title='dification'>edification</ins> and amusement.”--<cite>Literary Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“These volumes cover a complete epoch, the period of the Regency--a period of large
-and stirring English history. To the Duke of Buckingham, who thus, out of his family
-archives, places within our reach authentic and exceedingly minute pictures of the governors
-of England, we owe grateful acknowledgements. His papers abound in fresh lights on old
-topics, and in new illustrations and anecdotes. The intrinsic value of the letters is enhanced
-by the judicious setting of the explanatory comment that accompanies them, which is put
-together with much care and honesty.”--<cite>Examiner.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>MEMOIRS OF THE COURT AND CABINETS OF
-GEORGE THE THIRD</span></b>, <span class='sc'>From Original Family Documents</span>. By
-the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS, K.G., &amp;c. <span class='sc'>The
-Third and Fourth Volumes</span>, comprising the period from 1800 to 1810
-and completing this important work. 8vo., with Portraits. 30s. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“The present volumes exhibit the same features as the former portion of the series.
-The general reader is entertained, and the reader for historical purposes is enlightened.
-Of their value and importance, there cannot be two opinions.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“These volumes comprehend a period the most important in the events relating to our
-domestic affairs and foreign relations to be found in the British annals; told, not only by
-eye-witnesses, but by the very men who put them in motion. The volumes now published
-immeasurably exceed their predecessors in interest and importance. They must find a place
-in the library of every English gentleman.”--<cite>Standard.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF HENRY IV., KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE.</span></b> From numerous Original Sources. By MISS
-FREER. Author of "The Lives of Marguerite d’Angoulême, Elizabeth
-de Valois, Henry III.," &amp;c. 2 vols. with Portraits, 21s.</p>
-<p class='c031'><b><span class='large'>LECTURES ON ART, LITERATURE, AND SOCIAL
-SCIENCE.</span></b> By HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL WISEMAN. 1 vol
-with Portrait. (<em>In Preparation.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a3'>a3</span><b><span class='large'>HENRY III. KING OF FRANCE AND POLAND; HIS COURT AND TIMES.</span></b> From numerous unpublished sources, including
-MS. Documents in the Bibliothèque Impériale, and the Archives
-of France and Italy. By MISS FREER, Author of "Marguerite d’Angoulême,"
-“Elizabeth de Valois, and the Court of Philip II.,” &amp;c. 3 vols.
-post 8vo. with fine portraits, 31s. 6d. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Miss Freer having won for herself the reputation of a most painstaking and trustworthy
-historian not less than an accomplished writer, by her previous memoirs of
-sovereigns of the houses of Valois and Navarre, will not fail to meet with a most
-cordial and hearty welcome for her present admirable history of Henry III., the last of
-the French kings of the house of Valois. We refer our readers to the volumes themselves
-for the interesting details of the life and reign of Henry III., his residence in
-Poland, his marriage with Louise de Lorraine, his cruelties, his hypocrisies, his penances,
-his assassination by the hands of the monk Jaques Clément, &amp;c. Upon these points, as
-well as with reference to other persons who occupied a prominent position during this
-period, abundant information is afforded by Miss Freer; and the public will feel with us
-that a deep debt of gratitude is due to that lady for the faithful and admirable manner in
-which she has pourtrayed the Court and Times of Henry the Third.”--<cite>Chronicle.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“The previous historical labours of Miss Freer were so successful as to afford a rich
-promise in the present undertaking, the performance of which, it is not too much to say,
-exceeds expectation, and testifies to her being not only the most accomplished, but the
-most accurate of modern female historians. The Life of Henry III. of France is a
-contribution to literature which will have a reputation as imperishable as its present
-fame must be large and increasing. Indeed, the book is of such a truly fascinating
-character, that once begun it is impossible to leave it.”--<cite>Messenger.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Among the class of chronicle histories, Miss Freer’s Henry the Third of France is
-entitled to a high rank. As regards style and treatment Miss Freer has made a great
-advance upon her ‘Elizabeth de Valois,’ as that book was an advance upon her
-‘Marguerite D’Angoulême.’”--<cite>Spectator.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“We heartily recommend this work to the reading public. Miss Freer has much, perhaps
-all, of the quick perception and picturesque style by which Miss Strickland has
-earned her well-deserved popularity.”--<cite>Critic.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>ELIZABETH DE VALOIS, QUEEN OF SPAIN, AND
-THE COURT OF PHILIP II.</span></b> From numerous unpublished sources in
-the Archives of France, Italy, and Spain. By MISS FREER. 2 vols.
-post 8vo. with fine Portraits by <span class='sc'>Heath</span>, 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“It is not attributing too much to Miss Freer to say that herself and Mr. Prescott are
-probably the best samples of our modern biographers. The present volumes will be a boon
-to posterity for which it will be grateful. Equally suitable for instruction and amusement,
-they portray one of the most interesting characters and periods of history.”--<cite>John Bull.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"Such a book as the memoir of Elizabeth de Valois is a literary treasure which will be
-the more appreciated as its merits obtain that reputation to which they most justly are
-entitled. Miss Freer has done her utmost to make the facts of Elizabeth’s, Don Carlos’, and
-Philip II.’s careers fully known, as they actually transpired."--<i>Bell’s Messenger.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c027'><b><span class='large'>THE LIFE OF MARGUERITE D’ANGOULEME,
-QUEEN of NAVARRE, SISTER of FRANCIS I.</span></b> By MISS FREER.
-Second Edition, 2 vols. with fine Portraits, 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This is a very useful and amusing book. It is a good work, very well done. The
-authoress is quite equal in power and grace to Miss Strickland. She must have spent great
-time and labour in collecting the information, which she imparts in an easy and agreeable
-manner. It is difficult to lay down her book after having once begun it. This is owing
-partly to the interesting nature of the subject, partly to the skillful manner in which it has
-been treated. No other life of Marguerite has yet been published, even in France. Indeed,
-till Louis Philippe ordered the collection and publication of manuscripts relating to the
-history of France, no such work could be published. It is difficult to conceive how, under
-any circumstances, it could have been better done.”--<cite>Standard.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a4'>a4</span><b><span class='large'>LODGE’S PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE FOR 1860.</span></b>
-<span class='sc'>Under the Especial Patronage of Her Majesty and H.R.H. the
-Prince Consort.</span> Corrected throughout by the Nobility. Twenty-Ninth
-Edition, in 1 vol. royal 8vo., with the Arms beautifully engraved, handsomely
-bound, with gilt edges, price 31s. 6d.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'><span class='sc'>Lodge’s Peerage and Baronetage</span> is acknowledged to be the most
-complete, as well as the most elegant, work of the kind. As an established and
-authentic authority on all questions respecting the family histories, honours,
-and connections of the titled aristocracy, no work has ever stood so high. It is
-published under the especial patronage of Her Majesty, and His Royal Highness
-the Prince Consort, and is annually corrected throughout, from the personal,
-communications of the Nobility. It is the only work of its class, in which,
-<em>the type being kept constantly standing</em>, every correction is made in its proper
-place to the date of publication, an advantage which gives it supremacy over all
-its competitors. Independently of its full and authentic information respecting
-the existing Peers and Baronets of the realm, the most sedulous attention is
-given in its pages to the collateral branches of the various noble families, and
-the names of many thousand individuals are introduced, which do not appear in
-other records of the titled classes. For its authority, correctness, and facility of
-arrangement, and the beauty of its typography and binding, the work is justly entitled
-to the high place it occupies on the tables of Her Majesty and the Nobility.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"Lodge’s Peerage must supersede all other works of the kind, for two reasons: first, it
-is on a better plan; and, secondly, it is better executed. We can safely pronounce it to be
-the readiest, the most useful, and exactest of modern works on the subject."--<cite>Spectator.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A work which corrects all errors of former works. It is the production of a herald,
-we had almost said, by birth, but certainly by profession and studies, Mr. Lodge, the Norroy
-King of Arms. It is a most useful publication.”--<cite>Times.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"As perfect a Peerage of the British Empire as we are ever likely to see published.
-Great pains have been taken to make it as complete and accurate as possible. The work
-is patronised by Her Majesty and the Prince Consort; and it is worthy of a place in every
-gentleman’s library, as well as in every public institution."--<cite>Herald.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“As a work of contemporaneous history, this volume is of great value--the materials
-having been derived from the most authentic sources and in the majority of cases emanating
-from the noble families themselves. It contains all the needful information respecting the
-nobility of the Empire.”--<cite>Post.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"This work should form a portion of every gentleman’s library. At all times, the information
-which it contains, derived from official sources exclusively at the command of the
-author, is of importance to most classes of the community; to the antiquary it must be
-invaluable, for implicit reliance may be placed on its contents."--<cite>Globe.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This work derives great value from the high authority of Mr. Lodge. The plan
-is excellent.”--<cite>Literary Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"When any book has run through so many editions, its reputation is so indelibly
-stamped, that it requires neither criticism nor praise. It is but just, however, to say, that
-‘Lodge’s Peerage and Baronetage‘ is the most elegant and accurate, and the best of its
-class. The chief point of excellence attaching to this Peerage consists neither in its
-elegance of type nor its completeness of illustration, but in its authenticity, which is insured
-by the letter-press being always kept standing, and by immediate alteration being made
-whenever any change takes place, either by death or otherwise, amongst the nobility of the
-United Kingdom. The work has obtained the special patronage of Her Most Gracious
-Majesty, and of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, which patronage has never been
-better or more worthily bestowed."--<cite>Messenger.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"‘Lodge’s Peerage and Baronetage‘ has become, as it were, an ‘institution’ of this
-country; in other words, it is indispensable, and cannot be done without, by any person
-having business in the great world. The authenticity of this valuable work, as regards the
-several topics to which it refers, has never been exceeded, and, consequently, it must be
-received as one of the most important contributions to social and domestic history extant.
-As a book of reference--indispensable in most cases, useful in all--it should be in the
-hands of every one having connections in, or transactions with, the aristocracy."--<cite>Observer.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a5'>a5</span><b><span class='large'>LODGE’S GENEALOGY OF THE PEERAGE AND
-BARONETAGE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.</span></b> <span class='sc'>A New and Revised
-Edition.</span> Uniform with “<span class='sc'>The Peerage</span>” Volume, with the arms
-beautifully engraved, handsomely bound with gilt edges, price 31s. 6d.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The desire very generally manifested for a republication of this volume has
-dictated the present entire revision of its contents. The Armorial Bearings
-prefixed to the History of each Noble Family, render the work complete in
-itself and uniform with the Volume of <span class='sc'>The Peerage</span>, which it is intended to
-accompany and illustrate. The object of the whole Work, in its two distinct
-yet combined characters, has been useful and correct information; and the
-careful attention devoted to this object throughout will, it is hoped, render the
-Work worthy of the August Patronage with which it is honoured and of the
-liberal assistance accorded by its Noble Correspondents, and will secure from
-them and from the Public, the same cordial reception it has hitherto experienced.
-The great advantage of “The Genealogy” being thus given in a separate volume,
-Mr. Lodge has himself explained in the Preface to “The Peerage.”</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>EPISODES OF FRENCH HISTORY DURING THE
-CONSULATE AND FIRST EMPIRE.</span></b> By MISS PARDOE, author of
-“The Life of Marie de Medicis,” &amp;c. 2 vols. 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"We recommend Miss Pardoe’s ‘Episodes’ as very pleasant reading. They cannot
-fail to entertain and instruct."--<cite>Critic.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“One of the must amusing and instructive books Miss Pardoe has ever given to the
-public.”--<cite>Messenger.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“In this lively and agreeable book Miss Pardoe gives a fair picture of the society of
-the times, which has never been treated in a more interesting and pleasant manner.”--<cite>Chronicle.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS,
-DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.</span></b> By MRS. THOMSON, Author of “The
-Life of the Duchess of Marlborough,” “Memoirs of Sir W. Raleigh,” &amp;c.
-With Portrait. (<cite>Just Ready.</cite>)</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE LIVES OF PHILIP HOWARD, EARL OF
-ARUNDEL, AND OF ANNE DACRES, HIS WIFE.</span></b> Edited from the
-Original MSS. By the DUKE OF NORFOLK, E.M. 1 vol. antique.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“These biographies will be read with interest. They throw valuable light on the
-social habits and the prevalent feelings of the Elizabethan age.”--<cite>Literary Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>MEMOIRS OF BERANGER. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.</span></b>
-<span class='sc'>English Copyright Edition.</span> Second Edition, with numerous
-Additional Anecdotes and Notes, hitherto unpublished. 8vo. with Portrait.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"This is the Copyright Translation of Béranger’s Biography. It appears in a handsome
-volume, and is worthy of all praise as an honest piece of work. In this account of his life,
-the Poet displays all the mingled gaiety and earnestness, the warm-hearted sincerity,
-inseparable from his character. He tells, with an exquisite simplicity, the story of his early
-years. His life, he says, is the fairest commentary on his songs, therefore he writes it.
-The charm of the narrative is altogether fresh. It includes a variety of <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>chansons</em></span>, now first
-printed, touching closely on the personal history of which they form a part, shrewd sayings,
-and, as the field of action in life widens, many sketches of contemporaries, and free judgments
-upon men and things. There is a full appendix to the Memoir, rich in letters hitherto
-unpublished, and in information which completes the story of Béranger’s life. The book
-should be read by all."--<cite>Examiner.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a6'>a6</span><b><span class='large'>THE BOOK OF ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, AND
-DECORATIONS OF HONOUR OF ALL NATIONS; COMPRISING
-AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF EACH ORDER, MILITARY, NAVAL
-AND CIVIL;</span></b> with Lists of the Knights and Companions of each British
-Order. <span class='sc'>Embellished With Five Hundred Fac-simile Couloured
-Illustrations of the Insignia of the Various Orders.</span> Edited
-by SIR BERNARD BURKE, Ulster King of Arms. 1 vol. royal 8vo.,
-handsomely bound, with gilt edges, price £2. 2s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This valuable and attractive work may claim the merit of being the best of its kind.
-It is so comprehensive in its character, and so elegant in its style, that it far outstrips all
-competitors. A full historical account of the orders of every country is given, with lists of
-the Knights and Companions of each British Order. Among the most attractive features of
-the work are the illustrations. They are numerous and beautiful, highly coloured, and
-giving an exact representation of the different decorations. The origin of each Order, the
-rules and regulations, and the duties incumbent on its members, are all given at full
-length. The fact of the work being under the supervision of Sir Bernard Burke, and endorsed
-by his authority, gives it another recommendation to the public favour.”--<cite>Sun</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This is, indeed, a splendid book. It is an uncommon combination of a library book
-of reference and a book for a boudoir, undoubtedly uniting beauty and utility. It gives a
-sketch of the foundation and history of all recognised decorations of honour, among all
-nations, arranged in alphabetical order. The fac-similies of the insignia are well drawn and
-coloured, and present a brilliant effect. Sir Bernard Burke has done his work well; and
-this book of the quintessence of the aristocracy will soon find its place in every library and
-drawing-room.”--.<cite>Globe.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c027'><b><span class='large'>JOURNAL OF AN ENGLISH OFFICER IN INDIA.</span></b>
-By MAJOR NORTH, 60th Rifles, Deputy Judge Advocate-General, and
-Aide-de-Camp to General Havelock. 1 vol. with portrait.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"We must commend Major’s North’s ‘Journal’ to universal approbation. It is manly
-in tone, noble in expression, and full of feeling, alike honourable to the soldier <ins class='correction' title='and and'>and</ins>
-gallant profession. When we state that the book tells of the progress of the lion-hearted
-Havelock’s little band which relieved Lucknow, and is the first faithful record of the deeds
-of arms performed by that phalanx of heroes, we have said enough to cause it to be read,
-we are convinced, by every person who can avail himself of the opportunity of learning
-what were the hardships of his countrymen, and how immense were the sacrifices they
-made to save the English besieged inhabitants from a repetition of the atrocities of Cawnpore.
-We have as yet seen no book connected with the Indian mutiny which has given us
-so much gratification as Major North’s Journal."--<cite>Messenger.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>EASTERN HOSPITALS AND ENGLISH NURSES;</span></b>
-The Narrative of Twelve Months’ Experience in the Hospitals of Koulali
-and Scutari. By A LADY VOLUNTEER. Third and Cheaper Edition,
-1 vol. post 8vo. with Illustrations, 6s. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“The story of the noble deeds done by Miss Nightingale and her devoted sisterhood
-will never be more effectively told than in the beautiful narrative contained in these
-volumes.”--<cite>John Bull.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>PICTURES OF SPORTING LIFE AND CHARACTER.</span></b>
-By LORD WILLIAM LENNOX. 2 vols. with Illustrations. 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"This work may be characterised as a perfect synopsis of English sports in the 19th
-century. Were the whole of the books previously written on the subject destroyed, Lord
-William Lennox’s alone would preserve a lifelike picture of the sports and amusements of
-our age. The volumes will be read with intense enjoyment by multitudes, for their author
-is an accomplished <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>littérateur</em></span>, who has known how to vary his theme so skillfully and to
-intersperse it with so many anecdotes and personal recollections of England’s most distinguished
-men, that even those who are not themselves given to sport will be deeply interested
-in the light he throws upon English society."--<cite>Illustrated News of the World.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a7'>a7</span><b><span class='large'>THE COUNTESS OF BONNEVAL: HER LIFE AND
-LETTERS.</span></b> By LADY GEORGIANA FULLERTON. 2 vols. 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“The whole work forms one of those touching stories which create a lasting impression.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“The life of the Count de Bonneval is a page in history, but it reads like a romance:
-that of the Countess, removed from war and politics, never oversteps the domestic sphere,
-yet is equally romantic and singular. An accomplished writer has taken up the threads of
-this modest life, and brought out her true character in a very interesting and animated memoir.
-The story of the Countess of Bonneval is related with the happy art and grace
-which so characterize the author.”--<cite>U. S. Magazine.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE LIFE OF MARIE DE MEDICIS, QUEEN OF
-FRANCE,</span></b> <span class='sc'>Consort of Henry IV., and Regent under Louis XIII</span>.
-By MISS PARDOE. Second Edition. 3 vols. 8vo. Portraits.</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>MEMOIRS OF THE BARONESS D’OBERKIRCH,</span></b>
-<span class='sc'>Illustrative of the Secret History of the Courts of France,
-Russia, and Germany. Written by</span> HERSELF, and Edited by Her
-Grandson, the COUNT DE MONTBRISON. 3 vols. post 8vo. 15s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"The Baroness d’Oberkirch being the intimate friend of the Empress of Russia, wife of
-Paul I., and the confidential companion of the Duchess of Bourbon, her facilities for
-obtaining information respecting the most private affairs of the principal Courts of Europe,
-render her Memoirs unrivalled as a book of interesting anecdotes of the royal, noble and
-other celebrated individuals who flourished on the continent during the latter part of the
-last century. The volumes form a valuable addition to the personal history of an important
-period. They deserve general popularity."--<cite>Daily News.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>MEMOIRS OF RACHEL.</span></b> 2 vols. with Portrait. 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A book sure to attract public attention, and well meriting it.”--<cite>Globe.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>SCOTTISH HEROES IN THE DAYS OF WALLACE
-AND BRUCE.</span></b> By the <span class='sc'>Rev. A. LOW</span>, A.M. 2 vols. post 8vo.</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF MAJOR
-GENERAL SIR W. NOTT, G.C.B.,</span></b> <span class='sc'>Commander of the Army of
-Candahar, and Envoy at the Court of Lucknow</span>. 2 vols. 8vo.
-with Portrait. 16s. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>RULE AND MISRULE OF THE ENGLISH IN
-AMERICA.</span></b> By the Author of “SAM SLICK.” 2 vols. post 8vo.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“We conceive this work to be by far the most valuable and important Judge Haliburton
-has ever written. While teeming with interest, moral and historical, to the general reader,
-it equally constitutes a philosophical study for the politician and statesman. It will be found
-to let in a flood of light upon the actual origin, formation, and progress of the republic of
-the United States.”--<cite>Naval and Military Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>RECOLLECTIONS OF WEST END LIFE; WITH
-SKETCHES OF SOCIETY IN PARIS, INDIA,</span></b> &amp;c. By MAJOR CHAMBRE
-late 17th Lancers. 2 vols. with Portrait of George IV.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"We find in Major Chambre’s lively sketches a mass of amusing anecdotes relating to
-persons eminent in their day for their position, wit, and political reputation. All that
-relates to George IV. will be read with attention and interest."--<cite>Messenger.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a8'>a8</span><b><span class='large'>THE UPPER and LOWER AMOOR; A NARRATIVE
-OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE.</span></b> By T. W. ATKINSON. Author of
-“ORIENTAL and WESTERN SIBERIA.” With Map and numerous
-Illustrations. (<em>In the Press.</em>)</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>SIXTEEN YEARS OF AN ARTIST’S LIFE IN
-MOROCCO, SPAIN, AND THE CANARY ISLANDS.</span></b> By MRS.
-ELIZABETH MURRAY. 2 vols. 8vo. with Coloured Illustrations.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Mrs. Murray, wife, we believe, of the English Consul at Teneriffe, is one of the first of
-female English Water Colour Artists. She draws well, and her colour is bright, pure, transparent,
-and sparkling. Her book is like her painting, luminous, rich and fresh. We welcome
-it (as the public will also do) with sincere pleasure. It is a hearty book, written by a clever,
-quick-sighted, and thoughtful woman, who, slipping a steel pen on the end of her brush,
-thus doubly armed, uses one end as well as the other, being with both a bright colourer,
-and accurate describer of colours, outlines, sensations, landscapes and things. In a word,
-Mrs. Murray is a clever artist, who writes forcibly and agreeably.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Mrs. Elizabeth Murray is known to the artistic world as the principal star of the
-Female Exhibition of Paintings. She left England as she tells us, at eighteen, with all the
-hopes and aspirations of an artist before her. At Morocco she becomes the wife of a gentleman
-who is successively Consul at Tangiers and Teneriffe. She has, in consequence, peculiar
-advantages for the observation of Moorish and Spanish society, and as she possesses
-great observation and wields the pen as cleverly as the pencil, she has produced a book not
-only of interest, but of importance. In every way, whether descriptive or anecdotal, the
-work claims to be placed amongst the very best works of travel in the English Language.”--<cite>Chronicle.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>REVELATIONS OF PRISON LIFE; WITH AN ENQUIRY
-<span class='sc'>into Prison Discipline and Secondary Punishments</span>.</span></b> By
-GEORGE LAVAL CHESTERTON, 25 Years Governor of the House of
-Correction at Cold-Bath Fields. Third Edition, Revised. 1 vol.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Mr. Chesterton has had a rare experience of human frailty. He has lived with the
-felon, the forger, the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><em>lorette</em></span>, the vagabond, the murderer; has looked into the darkest
-sepulchres of the heart, without finding reason to despair of mankind. In his belief the
-worst of men have still some of the angel left. Such a testimony from such a quarter is full
-of novelty as it is of interest. As a curious bit of human history these volumes are remarkable.
-They are very real, very simple; dramatic without exaggeration, philosophic without
-being dull.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE OLD COURT SUBURB; OR, MEMORIALS OF
-KENSINGTON; <span class='sc'>Regal, Critical, and Anecdotical</span></span></b>. By LEIGH
-HUNT. Second Edition. 2 vols. post 8vo.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A delightful book. It will be welcome to all readers, and most welcome to those
-who have a love for the best kinds of reading.”--<cite>Examiner.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>MY EXILE.</span></b> BY ALEXANDER HERZEN. 2 vols.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"Mr. Herzen’s narrative, ably and unaffectedly written, and undoubtedly authentic, is
-indeed superior in interest to nine-tenths of the existing works on Russia."--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>A PRACTICAL GUIDE IN OBTAINING PROBATES,
-ADMINISTRATIONS,</span></b> &amp;c., in Her Majesty’s Court of Probate; with
-numerous Precedents. By EDWARD WEATHERLY, of Doctor’s Commons.
-Dedicated, by permission, to the Right Hon. Sir <span class='sc'>Cresswell
-Cresswell</span>, Judge of the New Court of Probate. Cheaper Edition. 12s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A most valuable book. Its contents are very diversified--meeting almost every
-use.”--<i>Solicitor’s Journal.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a9'>a9</span><b><span class='large'>ORIENTAL AND WESTERN SIBERIA; A NARRATIVE</span></b>
-<span class='sc'>of Seven Years’ Explorations and Adventures in Siberia,
-Mongolia, the Kirghis Steppes, Chinese Tartary, and Central
-Asia.</span> By THOMAS WITLAM ATKINSON. In one large volume,
-royal 8vo., Price £2. 2s., elegantly bound. Embellished with upwards
-of 50 Illustrations, including numerous beautifully coloured plates, from
-drawings by the Author, and a map.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"By virtue alike of its text and its pictures, we place this book of travel in the first
-rank among those illustrated gift-books now so much sought by the public. Mr. Atkinson’s
-book is most readable. The geographer finds in it notice of ground heretofore left
-undescribed, the ethnologist, geologist, and botanist, find notes and pictures, too, of which
-they know the value, the sportman’s taste is gratified by chronicles of sport, the lover of
-adventure will find a number of perils and escapes to hang over, and the lover of a frank
-good-humoured way of speech will find the book a pleasant one in every page. Seven
-years of wandering, thirty-nine thousand five hundred miles of moving to and fro in a wild
-and almost unknown country, should yield a book worth reading, and they do."--<cite>Examiner.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A book of travels which in value and sterling interest must take rank as a landmark
-in geographical literature. Its coloured illustrations and wood engravings are of a high
-order, and add a great charm to the narrative. Mr. Atkinson has travelled where it is
-believed no European has been before. He has seen nature in the wildest, sublimest, and
-also the most beautiful aspects the old world can present. These he has depicted by pen
-and pencil. He has done both well. Many a fireside will rejoice in the determination which
-converted the artist into an author. Mr. Atkinson is a thorough Englishman, brave and
-accomplished, a lover of adventure and sport of every kind. He knows enough of mineralogy,
-geology, and botany to impart a scientific interest to his descriptions and drawings;
-possessing a keen sense of humour, he tells many a racy story. The sportsman and the
-lover of adventure, whether by flood or field, will find ample stores in the stirring tales of
-his interesting travels.”--<cite>Daily News.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"An animated and intelligent narrative, appreciably enriching the literature of English
-travel. Mr. Atkinson’s sketches were made by express permission of the late Emperor of
-Russia. Perhaps no English artist was ever before admitted into this enchanted land of
-history, or provided with the talisman and amulet of a general passport; and well has Mr.
-Atkinson availed himself of the privilege. Our extracts will have served to illustrate the
-originality and variety of Mr. Atkinson’s observations and adventures during his protracted
-wanderings of nearly forty thousand miles. Mr. Atkinson’s pencil was never idle, and he
-has certainly brought home with him the forms, and colours, and other characteristics of a
-most extraordinary diversity of groups and scenes. As a sportsman Mr. Atkinson enjoyed
-a plenitude of excitement. His narrative is well stored with incidents of adventure.
-His ascent of the Bielouka is a chapter of the most vivid romance of travel, yet it is less
-attractive than his relations of wanderings across the Desert of Gobi and up the Tangnou
-Chain."--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"We predict that Mr. Atkinson’s ‘Siberia’ will very often assume the shape of a
-Christmas Present or New Year’s Gift, as it possesses, in an eminent degree, four very
-precious and suitable qualities for that purpose,--namely, usefulness, elegance, instruction
-and novelty. It is a work of great value, not merely on account of its splendid illustrations,
-but for the amount it contains of authentic and highly interesting intelligence concerning
-regions which, in all probability, has never, previous to Mr. Atkinson’s explorations, been
-visited by an European. Mr. Atkinson’s adventures are told in a manly style. The valuable
-and interesting information the book contains, gathered at a vast expense, is lucidly
-arranged, and altogether the work is one that the author-artist may well be proud of, and
-with which those who study it cannot fail to be delighted."--<cite>John Bull.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“To the geographer, the geologist, the ethnographer, the sportsman, and to those who
-read only for amusement, this will be an acceptable volume. Mr. Atkinson is not only an
-adventurous traveller, but a correct and amusing writer.”--<cite>Literary Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a10'>a10</span><b><span class='large'>TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA, WITH THE
-NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE IN MOZAMBIQUE: 1856 to 1859.</span></b>
-By LYONS McLEOD, Esq. F.R.G.S., &amp;c. Late British Consul in Mozambique.
-2 vols. With Map and Illustrations.</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>A JOURNEY ON A PLANK FROM KIEV TO EAUX-BONNES.</span></b>
-By LADY CHARLOTTE PEPYS. 2 vols, with Illustrations.
-21s. (<em>Just Ready</em>).</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>LAKE NGAMI; OR EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES</span></b>
-<span class='sc'>during Four Years’ Wanderings in the Wilds of
-South-Western Africa</span>. By CHARLES JOHN ANDERSSON. 1 vol.
-royal 8vo., with Map and upwards of 50 Illustrations, representing Sporting
-Adventures, Subjects of Natural History, &amp;c. Second Edition.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This narrative of African explorations and discoveries is one of the most important
-geographical works that have lately appeared. It contains the account of two journeys
-made between the years 1850 and 1854, in the first of which the countries of the Damaras
-and the Ovambo, previously scarcely known in Europe, were explored; and in the second
-the newly-discovered Lake Ngami was reached by a route that had been deemed impracticable,
-but which proves to be the shortest and the best. The work contains much scientific
-and accurate information as to the geology, the scenery, products, and resources of the
-regions explored, with notices of the religion, manners, and customs of the native tribes.
-The continual sporting adventures, and other remarkable occurrences, intermingled with
-the narrative of travel, make the book as interesting to read as a romance, as, Indeed, a
-good book of travels ought always to be. The illustrations by Wolf are admirably designed,
-and most of them represent scenes as striking as any witnessed by Jules Gérard or Gordon
-Cumming.”--<cite>Literary Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE OXONIAN IN THELEMARKEN;</span></b> OR, NOTES
-<span class='sc'>of Travel in South-Western Norway, with Glances at the
-Legendary Lore of that District</span>. By the Rev. F. METCALFE
-M.A., Fellow of Lincoln College. 2 vols. with illustrations.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This new book is as lively as its predecessor. Its matter is as good, or better. The
-intermixture of legends and traditions with the notes of travel adds to the real value of the
-work, and strengthens its claim on a public that desires to be amused.”--<cite>Examiner.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE OXONIAN IN NORWAY; OR, NOTES OF
-<span class='sc'>Excursions in that Country</span></span></b>. By the Rev. F. METCALFE, M.A.,
-Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. New and Cheaper Edition, revised,
-1 vol. post 8vo., with Map and additional Illustrations.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"Mr. Metcalfe’s book is as full of facts and interesting information as it can hold, and
-is interlarded with racy anecdotes. Some of these are highly original and entertaining.
-More than this, it is a truly valuable work, containing a fund of information on the statistics,
-politics, and religion of the countries visited."--<i>Blackwood’s Magazine.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>SIX YEARS IN RUSSIA. BY AN ENGLISH LADY.</span></b>
-2 vols. post 8vo. with Illustrations. 21s. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a11'>a11</span><b><span class='large'>A SUMMER AND WINTER IN THE TWO SICILIES.</span></b>
-By JULIA KAVANAGH, Author of “Nathalie,” “Adèle,” &amp;c. 2 vols.
-post 8vo. with illustrations, 21s. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Miss Kavanagh is a woman of genius and imagination. She has a graceful and
-brilliant pen, much observation of character, and a keen eye for the aspects of nature. Her
-volumes contain much that is new. They are among the pleasantest volumes of travel we
-have lately met with, and we can cordially recommend them. Readers will find in these
-volumes the glow and colour of Italian skies, the rich and passionate beauty of Italian
-scenery, and the fresh simplicity of Southern life touched by the hand of an artist, and
-described by the perceptions of a warm-hearted and sympathising woman.”--<cite>The Press.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE JEWS IN THE EAST.</span></b> By the Rev. P.
-BEATON, M.A. From the German of <span class='sc'>Dr. Frankl</span>. 2 vols. 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Those persons who are curious in matters connected with Jerusalem and its inhabitants,
-are strongly recommended to read this work, which contains more information than is
-to be found in a dozen of the usual books of travel.”--<cite>Times.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This book will richly reward perusal. We cordially recommend the narrative for
-solid information given from an unusual point of view, for power of description, for
-incident, and for details of manners, domestic habits, traditions, &amp;c.,”--<cite>Globe.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A very interesting work, one of the most original books of modern travel, that we
-have encountered for a long time.”--<cite>John Bull.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>CHOW-CHOW; BEING SELECTIONS FROM A JOURNAL,
-KEPT IN INDIA,</span></b> &amp;c. By the VISCOUNTESS FALKLAND.
-New and Revised Edition, 2 vols. 8vo., with Illustrations. 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"Lady Falkland’s work may be read with interest and pleasure, and the reader will rise
-from the perusal instructed as well as amused."--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE DISCOVERY
-OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE</span></b> with Numerous Incidents of Travel
-and Adventure during nearly Five Years’ Continuous Service in the Arctic
-Regions while in Search of the Expedition under Sir John Franklin. By
-ALEX. ARMSTRONG, M.D., R.N., late Surgeon and Naturalist of H.M.S
-‘Investigator.’ 1 vol. With Map and Plate, 16s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This book is sure to take a prominent position in every library in which works of
-discovery and adventure are to be met with.”--<cite>Daily News.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE WANDERER IN ARABIA.</span></b> BY G. T. LOWTH,
-<span class='sc'>Esq.</span> 2 vols. post 8vo. with Illustrations. 12s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Mr. Lowth has shown himself in these volumes to be an intelligent traveller, a keen
-observer of nature, and an accomplished artist.”--<cite>Post.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD;
-OR, DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MOOSE HUNTING IN THE PINE
-FORESTS OF ACADIA.</span></b> By CAMPBELL HARDY, <span class='sc'>Royal Artillery</span>.
-2 vols. post 8vo. with illustrations. 12s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A spirited record of sporting adventures, very entertaining and well worthy the attention
-of all sportsmen who desire some fresher field than Europe can afford them.”--<cite>Press.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>A PILGRIMAGE INTO DAUPHINE;</span></b> <span class='sc'>With a Visit
-to the Monastery of the Grande Chartreuse, and Anecdotes,
-Incidents, and Sketches from Twenty Departments of France</span>.
-By the REV. G. M. MUSGRAVE, A.M. 2 vols. with Illustrations.</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a12'>a12</span><b><span class='large'>FAMILY ROMANCE; OR, DOMESTIC ANNALS OF
-THE ARISTOCRACY.</span></b> By SIR BERNARD BURKE, <span class='sc'>Ulster King Of
-Arms</span>. 2 vols. post 8vo. 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Among the many other interesting legends and romantic family histories comprised
-in these volumes, will be found the following:--The wonderful narrative
-of Maria Stella, Lady Newborough, who claimed on such strong evidence to be
-a Princess of the House of Orleans, and disputed the identity of Louis Philippe--The
-story of the humble marriage of the beautiful Countess of Strathmore, and
-the sufferings and fate of her only child--The Leaders of Fashion, from Gramont
-to D’Orsay--The rise of the celebrated Baron Ward, now Prime Minister at
-Parma--The curious claim to the Earldom of Crawford--The Strange Vicissitudes
-of our Great Families, replete with the most romantic details--The story of the
-Kirkpatricks of Closeburn (the ancestors of the French Empress), and the remarkable
-tradition associated with them--The Legend of the Lambtons--The
-verification in our own time of the famous prediction as to the Earls of Mar--Lady
-Ogilvy’s escape--The Beresford and Wynyard ghost stories, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"It were impossible to praise too highly as a work of amusement these two most interesting
-volumes, whether we should have regard to its excellent plan or its not less excellent
-execution. The volumes are just what ought to be found on every drawing-room table.
-Here you have nearly fifty captivating romances with the pith of all their interest preserved
-in undiminished poignancy, and any one may be read in half an hour. It is not the least of
-their merits that the romances are founded on fact--or what, at least, has been handed down
-for truth by long tradition--and the romance of reality far exceeds the romance of fiction.
-Each story is told in the clear, unaffected style with which the author’s former works
-have made the public familiar."--<cite>Standard.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE ROMANCE OF THE FORUM; OR, NARRATIVES,
-SCENES, AND ANECDOTES FROM COURTS OF JUSTICE.
-SECOND SERIES.</span></b> By PETER BURKE, <span class='sc'>Esq.</span>, of the Inner Temple
-Barrister-at-Law. 2 vols. post 8vo. 12s.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>PRINCIPAL CONTENTS:--Lord Crichton’s Revenge--The Great Douglas
-Cause--Lord and Lady Kinnaird--Marie Delorme and Her Husband--The
-Spectral Treasure--Murders in Inns of Court--Matthieson the Forger--Trials
-that established the Illegality of Slavery--The Lover Highwayman--The
-Accusing Spirit--The Attorney-General of the Reign of Terror--Eccentric
-Occurrences in the Law--Adventuresses of Pretended Rank--The Courier of
-Lyons--General Sarrazin’s Bigamy--The Elstree Murder--Count Bocarmé and
-his wife--Professor Webster, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“The favour with which the first series of this publication was received, has induced
-Mr. Burke to extend his researches, which he has done with great judgment. The incidents
-forming the subject of the second series are as extraordinary in every respect, as those which
-obtained so high a meed of celebrity for the first.”--<cite>Messenger.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE.</span></b> By WILLIAM
-HOWITT. 3 vols. post 8vo. (<em>Just Ready</em>).</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>SONGS OF THE CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS,
-JACOBITE BALLADS,</span></b> &amp;c. By G. W. THORNBURY. 1 vol. with
-numerous Illustrations by <span class='sc'>H. S. Marks</span>. Elegantly bound. 6s.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"Mr. Thornbury has produced a volume of songs and ballads worthy to rank with
-Macaulay’s or Aytoun’s Lays."--<cite>Chronicle.</cite> “Those who love picture, life, and costume
-in song will here find what they love.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a13'>a13</span><b><span class='large'>POEMS.</span></b> BY THE AUTHOR OF “JOHN HALIFAX,
-GENTLEMAN,” "A WOMAN’S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN," &amp;c.
-1 vol. with Illustrations by <span class='sc'>Birket Foster</span>. 10s. 6d. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"A volume of poems which will assuredly take its place with those of Goldsmith, Gray,
-and Cowper, on the favourite shelf of every Englishman’s library. We discover in these
-poems all the firmness, vigour, and delicacy of touch which characterise the author’s prose
-works, and in addition, an ineffable tenderness and grace, such as we find in few poetical
-compositions besides those of Tennyson."--<cite>Illustrated News of the World.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“We are well pleased with these poems by our popular novelist. They are the expression
-of genuine thoughts, feelings, and aspirations, and the expression is almost always graceful,
-musical and well-coloured. A high, pure tone of morality pervades each set of verses,
-and each strikes the reader as inspired by some real event, or condition of mind, and not by
-some idle fancy or fleeting sentiment”--<cite>Spectator.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>A LIFE FOR A LIFE.</span></b> By the Author of
-“<span class='sc'>John Halifax Gentleman</span>,” &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"In ‘A Life for a Life’ the author is fortunate in a good subject, and she has produced a
-work of strong effect. The reader, having read the book through for the story, will be apt
-(if he be of our persuasion) to return and read again many pages and passages with greater
-pleasure than on a first perusal. The whole book is replete with a graceful, tender delicacy;
-and, in addition to its other merits, it is written in good, careful English."--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"This book is signally the best its author has yet produced. The interest is intense,
-and is everywhere admirably sustained. Incident abounds, and both dialogue and style are
-natural and flowing. Great delicacy in the development of character, and a subtle power of
-self-analysis are conspicuous in ‘A Life for a Life,‘ while the purity of its religious views,
-and the elevation--the grandeur, indeed--of its dominating sentiments, render its influences
-in every sense healthy and invigorating."--<cite>The Press.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"‘A Life for a Life’ is one of the best of the author’s works. We like it better than
-‘John Halifax.’ It is a book we should like every member of every family in England to
-read."--<cite>Herald.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>REALITIES OF PARIS LIFE.</span></b> By the Author
-of “FLEMISH INTERIORS,” &amp;c. 3 vols. with Illustrations. 31s. 6d.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"‘Realities of Paris Life’ Is a good addition to Paris books, and important as affording
-true and sober pictures of the Paris poor."--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“There is much new matter pleasantly put together in these volumes. Their merit will
-commend itself to all readers.”--<cite>Examiner.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>NOVELS AND NOVELISTS, FROM ELIZABETH TO
-VICTORIA.</span></b> By J. C. JEAFFRESON, <span class='sc'>Esq.</span> 2 vols. with Portraits. 21s.</p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>THE RIDES AND REVERIES OF MR. ÆSOP SMITH.</span></b>
-By MARTIN F. TUPPER, D.C.L., F.R.S., Author of “Proverbial Philosophy,”
-“Stephen Langton,” &amp;c., 1 vol. post 8vo.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"This work will do good service to Mr. Tupper’s literary reputation. It combines
-with lucidity and acuteness of judgment, freshness of fancy and elegance of sentiment. In
-its cheerful and instructive pages sound moral principles are forcibly inculcated, and everyday
-truths acquire an air of novelty, and are rendered peculiarly attractive by being expressed
-in that epigrammatic language which so largely contributed to the popularity of the author’s
-former work, entitled ‘Proverbial Philosophy.’"--<cite>Morning Post.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c030'><b><span class='large'>A MOTHER’S TRIAL.</span></b> By the Author of
-“<span class='sc'>The Discipline of Life</span>,” “<span class='sc'>The Two Brothers</span>,” &amp;c. 1 vol.
-with Illustrations, by <span class='sc'>Birket Foster</span>. 7s. 6d. bound.</p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"‘A Mother’s Trial,’ by Lady Emily Ponsonby, is a work we can recommend. It
-breathes purity and refinement in every page.“--<cite>Leader.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c032'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a14'>a14</span><b><span class='large'>SEVEN YEARS.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Julia Kavanagh</span>.</div>
- <div>Author of ”<span class='sc'>Nathalie</span>," 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>"Nothing can be better of its kind than
-Miss Kavanagh’s ‘Seven Years.’ The
-story never flags in interest, so life-like
-are the characters that move in it, so
-natural the incidents, and so genuine the
-emotions they excite in persons who have
-taken fast hold on our sympathy.“--<cite>Spectator.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>LUCY CROFTON.</span></b></div>
- <div>By the Author of ”<span class='sc'>Margaret Maitland</span>."</div>
- <div>1 vol.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This is a charming novel. The characters
-are excellent; the plot is well
-defined and new; and the interest is kept
-up with an intensity which is seldom
-met with in these days. The author deserves
-our thanks for one of the most
-pleasant books of the season”--<cite>Herald.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>THE WOOD-RANGERS.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Captain Mayne Reid</span>.</div>
- <div class='c000'>From the French of Louis de Bellemare.</div>
- <div>3 vols., with illustrations.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>THE LITTLE BEAUTY.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Mrs. Grey</span>,</div>
- <div>Author of "<span class='sc'>The Gambler’s Wife</span>.“ 3 v.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>MR. AND MRS. ASHETON.</span></b></div>
- <div>By the Author of ”<span class='sc'>Margaret and her</span></div>
- <div><span class='sc'>Bridesmaids</span>." 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>THE WAY OF THE WORLD.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Alison Reed</span>. 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“There is a spell and fascination upon
-one from the first page to the last.”--<cite>John
-Bull.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>ALMOST A HEROINE.</span></b></div>
- <div>By the Author of “<span class='sc'>Charles Auchester</span>,”</div>
- <div>&amp;c. 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>"This novel is the author’s best."--<cite>Herald.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>WAIT AND HOPE.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>John Edmund Reade</span>. 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>"‘Wait and Hope’ reminds us of the
-style of Godwin."--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>RAISED TO THE PEERAGE.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Mrs. Octavius Owen</span>. 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>"‘Raised to the Peerage’ possesses very
-many of the requisites of a really good
-novel."--<cite>Examiner.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>FEMALE INFLUENCE.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Lady Charlotte Pepys</span>, 2 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>LETHELIER.</span></b></div>
- <div>by <span class='sc'>E. Heneage Dering</span>, Esq.</div>
- <div>2 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>THE QUEEN Of HEARTS.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Wilkie Collins</span>. 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>"‘The Queen of Hearts’ is such a fascinating
-creature that we cannot choose but
-follow her through the pages with something
-of a lover’s tenderness. As for the
-three old men, they are as good in their
-way as the Brothers Cheeryble of immortal
-memory.“--<cite>Literary Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>STEPHAN LANGTON.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Martin F. Tuffer</span>. D.C.L. F.R.S.</div>
- <div>Author of ”<span class='sc'>Proverbial Philosophy</span>,"</div>
- <div>&amp;c., 2 vols. with fine engravings.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“These volumes are pre-eminently qualified
-to attract attention both from their
-peculiar style and their great ability. The
-author has long been celebrated for his
-attainments in literary creation, but the
-present work is incomparably superior to
-anything he has hitherto produced.”--<cite>Sun.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>CREEDS.</span></b></div>
- <div>By the Author of “<span class='sc'>The Morals of</span></div>
- <div><span class='sc'>May Fair</span>.” 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“This is a novel of strong dramatic
-situation, powerful plot, alluring and continuous
-interest, admirably defined
-characters, and much excellent remark
-upon human motives and social positions.”--<cite>Literary
-Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>THE LEES OF BLENDON HALL.</span></b></div>
- <div>By the Author of “<span class='sc'>Alice Wentworth</span>.”</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A powerful and well-sustained story of
-strong interest.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>NEWTON DOGVANE.</span></b></div>
- <div>A Story of English Life.</div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Francis Francis</span>.</div>
- <div>With Illustrations by <span class='sc'>Leech</span>. 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A capital sporting novel.”--<cite>Chronicle.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>HELEN LINDSAY;</span></b></div>
- <div>Or, <span class='sc'>The Trial of Faith</span>.</div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>A Clergyman’s Daughter</span>. 2 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>WOODLEIGH.</span></b></div>
- <div>By the Author of “<span class='sc'>Wildflower</span>,”</div>
- <div>“<span class='sc'>One and Twenty</span>,” &amp;c. 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>BENTLEY PRIORY.</span></b></div>
- <div>By <span class='sc'>Mrs. Hastings Parker</span>. 3 vols.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“An acquisition to novel-readers from
-its brilliant descriptions, sparkling style,
-and interesting story.”--<cite>Sun.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a15'>a15</span><span class='small'>NOW IN COURSE OF PUBLICATION.</span></div>
- <div class='c000'><span class='xlarge'>HURST AND BLACKETT’S STANDARD LIBRARY</span></div>
- <div>OF CHEAP EDITIONS OF</div>
- <div><span class='large'>POPULAR MODERN WORKS.</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div>Each in a single volume, elegantly printed, bound, and illustrated, price 5s.</div>
- <div>A volume to appear every two months. The following are now ready.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='c010' />
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>VOL. I.--SAM SLICK’S NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE.</span></b></div>
- <div>ILLUSTRATED BY LEECH.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>"The first volume of Messrs. Hurst and Blackett’s Standard Library of Cheap Editions
-of Popular Modern Works forms a very good beginning to what will doubtless be a very
-successful undertaking. ‘Nature and Human Nature’ is one of the best of Sam Slick’s
-witty and humorous productions, and well entitled to the large circulation which it
-cannot fail to obtain in its present convenient and cheap shape. The volume combines
-with the great recommendations of a clear, bold type, and good paper, the lesser, but
-still attractive merits, of being well illustrated and elegantly bound"--<cite>Morning Post.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"This new and cheap edition of Sam Slick’s popular work will be an acquisition to
-all lovers of wit and humour. Mr. Justice Haliburton’s writings are so well known to
-the English public that no commendation is needed. The volume is very handsomely
-bound and illustrated, and the paper and type are excellent. It is in every way suited
-for a library edition, and as the names of Messrs. Hurst and Blackett, warrant the
-character of the works to be produced in their Standard Library, we have no doubt the
-project will be eminently successful."--<cite>Sun.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>VOL. II.--JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c018'><span class='small'>“This is a very good and a very interesting work. It is designed to trace the career
-from boyhood to age of a perfect man--a Christian gentleman, and it abounds in incident
-both well and highly wrought. Throughout it is conceived in a high spirit, and written
-with great ability, better than any former work, we think, of its deservedly successful
-author. This cheap and handsome new edition is worthy to pass freely from hand to hand,
-as a gift book in many households.”--<cite>Examiner.</cite></span></p>
-
-<p class='c018'><span class='small'>"The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless meet with great
-success. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this,
-his history, is no ordinary book. It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one of
-nature’s own nobility. It is also the history of a home and a thoroughly English one.
-The work abounds in incident, and many of the scenes are full of graphic power and true
-pathos. It is a book that few will read without becoming wiser and better."--<cite>Scotsman.</cite></span></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>VOL. III.--THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.</span></b></div>
- <div>BY ELIOT WARBURTON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“Independent of its value as an original narrative, and its useful and interesting
-information, this work is remarkable for the colouring power and play of fancy with
-which its descriptions are enlivened. Among its greatest and most lasting charms is its
-reverent and serious spirit.”--<cite>Quarterly Review.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"A book calculated to prove more practically useful was never penned than ‘The
-Crescent and the Cross’--a work which surpasses all others in its homage for the sublime
-and its love for the beautiful in those famous regions consecrated to everlasting
-immortality in the annals of the prophets, and which no other writer has ever depicted
-with a pencil at once so reverent and so picturesque."--<cite>Sun.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>VOL. IV.--NATHALIE. BY MISS KAVANAGH.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>"‘Nathalie’, is Miss Kavanagh’s best imaginative effort. Its manner is gracious and
-attractive. Its matter is good. A sentiment, a tenderness, are commanded by her which
-are as individual as they are elegant. We should not soon come to an end were we to
-specify all the delicate touches and attractive pictures which place ‘Nathalie’ high among
-books of its class."--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A tale of untiring interest, full of deep touches of human nature. We have no hesitation
-in predicting for this delightful tale a lasting popularity, and a place in the foremost
-ranks of that most instructive kind of fiction--the moral novel.”--<cite>John Bull.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"A more judicious selection than ‘Nathalie’ could not have been made for Messrs.
-Hurst and Blackett’s Standard Library. The series as it advances realises our first impression,
-that it will be one of lasting celebrity."--<cite>Literary Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a16'>a16</span><b><span class='large'>VOL. V.--A WOMAN’S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.</span></b></div>
- <div>BY THE AUTHOR OF “JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.”</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of its kind, well-written,
-true-hearted, and altogether practical. Whoever wishes to give advice to a young lady
-may thank the author for means of doing so.”--<cite>Examiner.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"The author of ‘John Halifax’ will retain and extend her hold upon the reading and
-reasonable public by the merits of her present work, which bears the stamp of good sense
-and genial feeling."--<cite>Guardian.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“These thoughts are good and humane. They are thoughts we would wish women to
-think”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"This really valuable volume ought to be in every young woman’s hand. It will teach
-her how to think and how to act. We are glad to see it in this Standard Library."--<cite>Literary
-Gazette.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>VOL. VI.--ADAM GRAEME, OF MOSSGRAY.</span></b></div>
- <div>BY THE AUTHOR OF “MRS. MARGARET MAITLAND.”</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“‘Adam Graeme’ is a story awakening genuine emotions of interest and delight by its
-admirable pictures of Scottish life and scenery. The plot is cleverly complicated, and
-there is great vitality in the dialogue, and remarkable brilliancy in the descriptive passages,
-as who that has read ‘Margaret Maitland’ would not be prepared to expect? But
-the story has a ‘mightier magnet still,’ in the healthy tone which pervades it, in its feminine
-delicacy of thought and diction, and in the truly womanly tenderness of its sentiments.
-The eloquent author sets before us the essential attributes of Christian virtue,
-their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their beautiful manifestations in the life,
-with a delicacy, a power, and a truth which can hardly be surpassed."--<cite>Morning Post.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“‘Adam Graeme’ is full of eloquent writing and description. It is an uncommon work,
-not only in the power of the style, in the interest of the narrative, and in the delineation
-of character, but in the lessons it teaches."--<cite>Sun.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>VOL. VII.--SAM SLICK’S WISE SAWS</span></b></div>
- <div><b><span class='large'>AND MODERN INSTANCES.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>"The best of all Judge Haliburton’s admirable works. It is one of the pleasantest
-books we ever read, and we earnestly recommend it."--<cite>Standard.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>"The humour of Sam Slick is inexhaustible. He is ever and everywhere a welcome
-visitor; smiles greet his approach, and wit and wisdom hang upon his tongue.
-The present production is remarkable alike for its racy humour, its sound philosophy,
-the felicity of its illustrations, and the delicacy of its satire. We promise our readers
-a great treat from the perusal of these ‘Wise Saws and Modern Instances,’ which contain a
-world of practical wisdom, and a treasury of the richest fun."--<cite>Post.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><b><span class='large'>VOL. VIII.--CARDINAL WISEMAN’S RECOLLECTIONS</span></b></div>
- <div><b><span class='large'>OF THE LAST FOUR POPES.</span></b></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c028'>“There is no dynasty of European sovereigns about which we English entertain so
-much vague curiosity, or have so little information, as about the successors to the Popedom.
-Cardinal Wiseman is just the author to meet this curiosity. His book is the lively record
-of what he has himself seen, and what none but himself, perhaps, has had so good an
-opportunity of thoroughly estimating. There is a gossipping, all-telling style about the
-book which is certain to make it popular with English readers.”--<cite>John Bull.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“A picturesque book on Rome and its ecclesiastical sovereigns, by an eloquent Roman
-Catholic. Cardinal Wiseman has here treated a special subject with so much generality and
-geniality, that his recollections will excite no ill-feeling in those who are most conscientiously
-opposed to every idea of human <ins class='correction' title='infalilbity'>infallibility</ins> represented in Papal domination.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite></p>
-
-<p class='c028'>“In the description of the scenes, the ceremonies, the ecclesiastical society, the manners
-and habits of Sacerdotal Rome, this work is unrivalled. It is full of anecdotes. We could
-fill columns with amusing extracts.”--<cite>Chronicle.</cite></p>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c000' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><span class='large'>Footnotes</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='c033' />
-<div class='footnote' id='f1'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r1'>1</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Referring to a former letter, dated the 10th of March.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f2'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r2'>2</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, vol. iv., p. 839.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f3'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r3'>3</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Referring to the key presented to the Duke by the
-King of Spain.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f4'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r4'>4</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxi., No. 13.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f5'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r5'>5</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxlvi., No. 23.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f6'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r6'>6</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, No. 39.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f7'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r7'>7</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, No. 49.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f8'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r8'>8</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxlvii., No. 40.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f9'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r9'>9</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxlvii., No. 80.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f10'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r10'>10</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Kennet’s History of England, vol. ii., p. 765.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f11'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r11'>11</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Madrid, August, 1623.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f12'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r12'>12</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> A cousin of the Earl of Bristol’s.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f13'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r13'>13</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> Letter from Simon Digby. State Papers for 1623,
-July 25.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f14'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r14'>14</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Madrid, State Papers, August 21, 1623.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f15'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r15'>15</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, May 28, 1623.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f16'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r16'>16</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Epistolæ Hoelianæ.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f17'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r17'>17</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Epistolæ Hoelianæ.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f18'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r18'>18</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, vol. iii., p. 227.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f19'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r19'>19</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Dated July 12.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f20'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r20'>20</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> State Papers, vol. cxlviii., No. 12.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f21'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r21'>21</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, No. 125.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f22'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r22'>22</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, vol. clix., No. 80.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f23'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r23'>23</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. xlix., Nos. 20 and 22.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f24'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r24'>24</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. xlix., No. 69.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f25'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r25'>25</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxlix., No. 91.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f26'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r26'>26</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 887.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f27'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r27'>27</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, p. 887; from Birch’s MSS., Brit. Museum, 4174.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f28'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r28'>28</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>It seems that this expensive allowance to the ambassadors
-was suffered to go on till after the 14th of August, when
-Secretary Conway wrote to Secretary Calvert to complain
-that it had not then been discontinued, and that the delay
-in doing so put the King out of all patience, fearing that the
-letters written on the subject were lost. The post, Conway
-remarks, travels slowly, taking ten hours from London to
-Staines. He recommends reformation therein.--State Papers,
-vol. cl., No. 98.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f29'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r29'>29</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Sir H. Wotton, p. 218.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f30'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r30'>30</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 888.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f31'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r31'>31</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, cxlix., No. 107.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f32'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r32'>32</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cli., Nos. 86, 87.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f33'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r33'>33</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Somers’s Tracts, vol. ii., p. 352.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f34'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r34'>34</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>A Relation of the Royal Festivities and Fuego
-Canad. By Don Antonio de la Penna, from a translation
-in the British Museum.--Nichols, p. 889.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f35'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r35'>35</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 901.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f36'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r36'>36</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 903.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f37'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r37'>37</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 905.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f38'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r38'>38</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>A professed nun.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f39'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r39'>39</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, 1623. Foreign.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f40'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r40'>40</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Confirmed by State Papers, vol. cliii., No. 44.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f41'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r41'>41</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hume, from Rushworth’s Collection’s, vol i., p. 103.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f42'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r42'>42</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 913. From Haddwicke State Papers, vol.
-i, p. 476.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f43'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r43'>43</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Narrative of the journey of the Prince’s servants into
-Spain; printed at the end of the Life of Richard II., by
-Hearne.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f44'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r44'>44</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>It was improved before the time of the Commonwealth,
-when Lady Fanshawe describes it as approached by a double
-row of elms, and having a large park well stored with
-wood and water; she speaks of seventeen courts, with
-gardens in each, and of a very fine palace; the walls of the
-building were of marble, so polished that Titian had painted
-them “all over.” She says also that the palace is “royally
-furnished.”--See Miss Costello’s Life of Lady Fanshawe,
-p. 389.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f45'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r45'>45</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 923, from Haddwicke Papers, vol. i., p. 475.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f46'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r46'>46</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 926, from the Diary of Phineas Pette.
-There were four narratives of persons who had their
-voyage to Spain printed--Lord Carey of Leppington, Sir
-Richard Wynn, Sir John Finet and Phineas Pette.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f47'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r47'>47</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, Calendar, vol. cliii., p. 44.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f48'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r48'>48</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cliii., No. 44.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f49'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r49'>49</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Tobie died at Ghent, in 1665, having become a Jesuit.
-Lord Orford has, according to Nichols, placed Tobie
-Mathew erroneously on the list of painters, and misled
-Grainger and others, owing to the reference to the Infanta’s
-picture above stated.--Nichols p. 931, note.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f50'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r50'>50</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Epistolæ Hoelianæ.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f51'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r51'>51</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers. Domestic. March 30, 1622, vol. cxxviii.,
-No. 96.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f52'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r52'>52</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Birches’s MSS., 4174.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f53'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r53'>53</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxxix., No. 92.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f54'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r54'>54</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 843; from papers in the Advocate’s Library,
-Edinburgh.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f55'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r55'>55</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Harleian, vol. 6987.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f56'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r56'>56</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 850.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f57'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r57'>57</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, from Harleian MSS., 6987.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f58'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r58'>58</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxi., No. 13.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f59'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r59'>59</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Laud’s Diary.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f60'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r60'>60</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Harleian MSS., 389.--See Nichols, 1113, note.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f61'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r61'>61</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, 219.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f62'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r62'>62</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, Domestic, vol. cxxxvii., p. 5.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f63'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r63'>63</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxxxix., No. 91.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f64'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r64'>64</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, vol. cxxxviii., No. 9; Dudley Carleton to Sir
-Dudley Carleton.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f65'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r65'>65</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, vol. cxxxii., No. 64.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f66'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r66'>66</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxxxix., No. 71.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f67'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r67'>67</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, vol. cxxii., No. 88.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f68'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r68'>68</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxxix., No. 50. Domestic.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f69'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r69'>69</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxx., No. 71.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f70'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r70'>70</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 945.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f71'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r71'>71</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, 960.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f72'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r72'>72</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Life of Keeper Williams, 138.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f73'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r73'>73</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket’s Life, p. 229.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f74'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r74'>74</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Williams wrote, for the Countess’s especial conversion,
-“A Manual of the Elements of the Orthodox Religion, by
-an Old Prebend of Westminster,” of which twenty copies
-only were printed, and all presented to the Marquis.--Nichols,
-vol. iii., p. 257.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f75'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r75'>75</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket’s Life of Williams, pp. 172, 173.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f76'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r76'>76</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket’s Life of Williams, p. 147.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f77'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r77'>77</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f78'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r78'>78</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket, 148.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f79'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r79'>79</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>See Hacket’s Life of Williams. Also Mr. Chamberlain’s
-Letter to Sir Dudley Carleton, quoted in Nichols,
-961, from Birch’s MSS., Brit. Mus., 417. These separate
-accounts are here connected; and Mr. Chamberlain’s date
-and statement of the place to which the King went,
-adopted upon the ground given by Nichols.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f80'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r80'>80</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket, 164.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f81'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r81'>81</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, 167.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f82'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r82'>82</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket, 161. From Sanderson, p. 552; taken from the
-Spanish reports of their conference.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f83'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r83'>83</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Howell’s Letters.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f84'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r84'>84</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Life of Lord Keeper Williams, p. 164.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f85'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r85'>85</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 943.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f86'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r86'>86</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket, p. 157.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f87'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r87'>87</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 964.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f88'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r88'>88</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket, 168.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f89'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r89'>89</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket, p. 69.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f90'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r90'>90</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 113.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f91'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r91'>91</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket, p. 169.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f92'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r92'>92</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> State Papers, cxxix., No. 62.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f93'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r93'>93</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> Ibid, cxix., No. 68.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f94'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r94'>94</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxix., No. 55.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f95'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r95'>95</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, No. 70.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f96'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r96'>96</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f97'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r97'>97</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, Nos. 93, 94.--Locke to Carleton.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f98'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r98'>98</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, clx., Nos. 8 and 10.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f99'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r99'>99</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, Nos. 1 and 33.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f100'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r100'>100</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clix., No. 83.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f101'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r101'>101</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, No. 92.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f102'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r102'>102</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, No. 85.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f103'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r103'>103</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Latter from Secretary Conway to Carleton.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f104'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r104'>104</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxiii., No. 59.--April 10, 1623.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f105'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r105'>105</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, vol. clxiii., No. 2.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f106'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r106'>106</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxliv., No. 13.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f107'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r107'>107</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Lord Middlesex to Secretary Conway.--State Papers,
-vol. cxliii., No. 20.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f108'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r108'>108</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Lord Middlesex to Secretary Conway.--State Papers,
-vol. cxliii., No. 60.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f109'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r109'>109</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 962.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f110'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r110'>110</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, p. 970.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f111'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r111'>111</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, p. 849.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f112'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r112'>112</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f113'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r113'>113</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, pp. 972, 975.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f114'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r114'>114</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hacket, from Cabala, p. 223.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f115'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r115'>115</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f116'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r116'>116</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ellis’s Original Letters, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 245-46.
-There are nineteen volumes in the Sloane MSS., British
-Museum, consisting of notes in Latin, in the handwriting of
-Mayerne, forming a journal of the cases which he attended
-from 1611 to 1649. “These,” says Sir Henry Ellis, “may
-be styled, for the period they embrace, ‘Medical Annals of
-the Court of England.’”</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f117'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r117'>117</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers. Letter from Edward Herbert to James I.,
-p. 168.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f118'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r118'>118</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cliv., No. 2.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f119'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r119'>119</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, No. 17.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f120'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r120'>120</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Chamberlain to Carleton.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f121'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r121'>121</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 17.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f122'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r122'>122</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Coke’s Detections, p. 224.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f123'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r123'>123</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Lord Middlesex.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f124'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r124'>124</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 53.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f125'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r125'>125</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 970.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f126'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r126'>126</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clix., Nos. 45, 46.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f127'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r127'>127</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 790.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f128'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r128'>128</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clx., No. 63.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f129'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r129'>129</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, No. 68.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f130'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r130'>130</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, No. 27.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f131'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r131'>131</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 10.--Locke to Carleton.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f132'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r132'>132</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 12.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f133'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r133'>133</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, No. 44.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f134'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r134'>134</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Note in Nichols, 937, from Finett’s Philoxenis.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f135'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r135'>135</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Chamberlain to Carleton, Nov. 21.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f136'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r136'>136</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxvi., No. 62.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f137'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r137'>137</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxv., No. 29.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f138'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r138'>138</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, vol. clxix., No. 14.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f139'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r139'>139</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Light open baskets for flowers, and still so called by
-gardeners.--Gifford’s Ben Jonson.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f140'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r140'>140</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxii, No. 13.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f141'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r141'>141</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, clxii., <a id='corr137.141.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='No. 15.'>No. 45.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_137.141.1'><ins class='correction' title='No. 15.'>No. 45.</ins></a></span></p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f142'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r142'>142</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, clxiv., No. 12.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f143'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r143'>143</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>May 5th, 1624.--State Papers.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f144'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r144'>144</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, clxiv., No. 86.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f145'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r145'>145</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Parl. History, 1411, 1471.--See Lord Campbell, Article
-Coke.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f146'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r146'>146</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f147'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r147'>147</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol cxlii., Nos. 44, 54.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f148'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r148'>148</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxxxv., No. 48.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f149'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r149'>149</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Probably typhoid, which is characterized by some spots.
-State Papers, vol. clxxxv., No. 99.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f150'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r150'>150</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hardwicke, State Papers, 562, 564.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f151'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r151'>151</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Dated March 16, from Theobald’s.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f152'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r152'>152</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, 563.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f153'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r153'>153</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter of Conway to Lord Carlisle; dated March 16,
-from Theobald’s, 566.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f154'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r154'>154</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Macaulay, vol.i., p.441.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f155'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r155'>155</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Weldon, in James’s time, which, in a writer wholly
-without principle, is not surprising, attaches guilt to Buckingham
-in this case; but that Brodie should credit the
-slanderous statement against Charles and the Duke, seems
-to modern readers wonderful.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f156'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r156'>156</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Coke’s Detection, vol. i., p. 126.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f157'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r157'>157</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, 177.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f158'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r158'>158</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Fuller’s Church History, b. x. p., 113.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f159'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r159'>159</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols.--From Harleian MSS., 389.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f160'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r160'>160</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f161'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r161'>161</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Weldon, p. 39.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f162'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r162'>162</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie’s <a id='corr154.152.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Cor.'>Con.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_154.152.1'><ins class='correction' title='Cor.'>Con.</ins></a></span> Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f163'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r163'>163</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie’s <a id='corr155.163.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Cor.'>Con.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_155.163.1'><ins class='correction' title='Cor.'>Con.</ins></a></span> Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f164'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r164'>164</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, 119.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f165'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r165'>165</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Andrew Herriott to Nicholas, State Papers.
-Calendar, by Mr. Bruce, vol. xliv., No. 27, dated May 27,
-1627.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f166'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r166'>166</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Oldmixon, 70.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f167'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r167'>167</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Harleian MSS., 405. It was revived by the disaffected
-in 1642, with some alteration of language.--Nichols,
-41033.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f168'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r168'>168</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Oldmixon, 70.--From Wilson and Weldon.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f169'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r169'>169</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 1032.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f170'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r170'>170</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Nichols, 1054.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f171'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r171'>171</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>See Inedited State Papers. Foreign, for 1625.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f172'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r172'>172</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Rushworth, vol. i., p. 167.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f173'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r173'>173</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Coke’s Detection, vol i., p. 182.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f174'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r174'>174</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Lives of the Queens of England, vol. viii., p. 13.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f175'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r175'>175</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>His mother, the Countess of Warwick, lived for some
-time with, and afterwards married, the Earl of Devonshire.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f176'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r176'>176</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>On the 24th of September, 1624.--Clarendon’s History
-of the Rebellion, vol. i., p. 61.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f177'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r177'>177</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brydges’s Peers of James I., p. 385. Also Clarendon,
-vol. i., p. 62.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f178'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r178'>178</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Life of Lord Keeper Williams, 209.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f179'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r179'>179</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f180'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r180'>180</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Cabala.--Letter from Lord Kensington to the Duke of
-Buckingham, vol. i., p. 286.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f181'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r181'>181</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Henrietta Maria.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f182'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r182'>182</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Cabala.--Letter from Lord Kensington to the Prince
-p. 287.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f183'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r183'>183</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton. State Paper Office.
-Dated 24th October, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f184'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r184'>184</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Paper Office. Dated Nov. 1, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f185'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r185'>185</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Cabala, vol. i., p. 288.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f186'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r186'>186</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 21.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f187'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r187'>187</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Cabala, 291.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f188'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r188'>188</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f189'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r189'>189</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Cabala, 286.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f190'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r190'>190</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ellis’s Original Letters, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 199.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f191'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r191'>191</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Lord Kensington to the Duke of Buckingham.--Ellis’s
-Original Letters, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 169;
-also, Cabala, p. 294.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f192'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r192'>192</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Cabala, p. 1287. This letter is dated Feb. 26, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f193'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r193'>193</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Rushworth’s Collection, p. 169.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f194'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r194'>194</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f195'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r195'>195</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>According to one account, the Duke of Anjou, the brother
-of Henrietta, was proxy for the King of England.--See
-Mr. Mead’s Letter to Sir Martin Stuteville, April
-30; Ellis’s Letters, 1st series, p. 190. 1625.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f196'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r196'>196</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ellis’s Letters, vol. iii., p. 187.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f197'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r197'>197</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f198'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r198'>198</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ellis’s Letters, vol. iii., p. 187.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f199'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r199'>199</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>The 31st of March.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f200'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r200'>200</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Decoration at this time was carried to such an extent
-in France, that Lord Kensington describes some of
-the masquers at a court fête as having almost all their
-clothes embroidered with diamonds; embroidery of gold
-and silver being at that time forbidden.--Cabala, 290.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f201'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r201'>201</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>See Ellis’s Original Letters, 1st series, vol. i., p. 189.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f202'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r202'>202</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ellis’s Letters.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f203'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r203'>203</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Rushworth, p. 170.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f204'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r204'>204</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Louis XIV. was not born on the 5th of September, 1538.--See
-Memoir of Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 71.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f205'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r205'>205</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Memoir of Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 428.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f206'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r206'>206</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> Ibid, 199, said by Henry III. of France.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f207'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r207'>207</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, 11.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f208'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r208'>208</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Madame de Motteville, pp. 29, 30.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f209'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r209'>209</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Madame de Motteville, p. 20.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f210'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r210'>210</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Madame de Motteville, p. 33.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f211'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r211'>211</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Biographie Universelle.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f212'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r212'>212</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Petilot, Notice sur Richelieu, ii., p. 112.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f213'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r213'>213</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Petilot, x., 126.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f214'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r214'>214</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Memoirs of the Court of King James, by Bishop Goodman,
-edited by the Rev. T. B. Brewer, vol. ii., p. 344.
-Taken from the original Hol. Tan., lxxiii., 392. Translated
-from the French.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f215'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r215'>215</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i, p. 14.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f216'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r216'>216</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 16.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f217'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r217'>217</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, 221.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f218'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r218'>218</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Miss Aikin’s Memoirs of Charles I., vol. i.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f219'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r219'>219</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Bishop Goodman, vol. i., p. 290. Letter from Balthazar
-Gerbier of the Duke of Buckingham. Also State Papers,
-vol. iii., No. 7.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f220'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r220'>220</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Punctilio was then at its height. The point of etiquette,
-whether the Earl of Carlisle was to wait upon the
-Cardinal first, or the Cardinal upon the Earl, was settled
-by Richelieu’s feigning sickness and continuing in bed.--Miss
-Aikin’s Court of Charles I., p. 24.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f221'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r221'>221</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 15.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f222'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r222'>222</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Court and Times of James I., by Bishop Goodman, vol.
-ii., p. 265.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f223'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r223'>223</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, p. 311.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f224'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r224'>224</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Rushworth, p. 170.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f225'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r225'>225</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited Letter in the State Paper Office. (Not in the
-Calendar.)</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f226'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r226'>226</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. iii., No. 25.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f227'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r227'>227</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Rushworth, p. 171.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f228'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r228'>228</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Kennet’s Complete History of England, vol. ii., p. 4.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f229'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r229'>229</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f230'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r230'>230</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited Letter in the State Paper Office.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f231'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r231'>231</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Life of Lord Keeper Williams, p. 10.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f232'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r232'>232</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Court of King Charles, Secret History of the Court of
-James I., p. 23.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f233'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r233'>233</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f234'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r234'>234</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Lilly’s True History of James I. and Charles I.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f235'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r235'>235</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxxxiii., No. 41.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f236'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r236'>236</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxxxiv., No. 7.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f237'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r237'>237</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers.--Letter dated Feb. 19th.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f238'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r238'>238</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Sir R. Heath and Sir T. Coventry to the
-Duke of Buckingham.--See Bishop Goodman’s Memoirs,
-vol. ii., p. 376.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f239'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r239'>239</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxxiv., No. 47. Inedited Papers,
-Domestic, 1625.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f240'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r240'>240</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. clxxiv., No. 47.--Chamberlain to
-Sir D. Carleton, Feb. 26th, 1625. Inedited State Papers.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f241'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r241'>241</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton,
-State Paper Office.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f242'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r242'>242</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cxxxv., No. 12.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f243'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r243'>243</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Campbell’s Life of Sir E. Coke, p. 335, note.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f244'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r244'>244</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Lloyd’s State Worthies.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f245'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r245'>245</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, vol. cliv., No. 85.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f246'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r246'>246</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Goodman’s Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 313.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f247'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r247'>247</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, p. 264.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f248'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r248'>248</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Dated April 1st, 1623; Harl. MSS., 1581, p. 129.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f249'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r249'>249</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>One of the Duke’s attendants.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f250'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r250'>250</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Harl. MSS., 1581, p. 279.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f251'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r251'>251</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited Documents in the State Paper Office, July
-13th, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f252'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r252'>252</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f253'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r253'>253</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>To the Earl of Carlisle, 22,000 crowns. To the Earl of
-Holland, 20,000 crowns. Sir G. Young had a diamond
-from the King worth 2,000 francs; from the queen-mother
-one of 300<em>l.</em>, and curious plate to the value of 12,000<em>l.</em>--State
-Papers, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f254'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r254'>254</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Parallel. Reliquiæ Wotton., p. 172.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f255'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r255'>255</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, 174.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f256'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r256'>256</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton. In
-edited State Papers, June 13th, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f257'>
-<p class='c001'><span class='label'><a href='#r257'>257</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>In the State Paper Office there are several letters from
-Endymion Porter to his wife, written in the inflated style
-of love letters of that period, which the curious in such matters
-will find in the Domestic Papers, 1624, 1625.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f258'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r258'>258</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>On the 22nd of June, 1625. I have not found this account
-in any of our historians.--State Papers, inedited.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f259'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r259'>259</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Sturgeon, as well as whales, were excepted from the
-other great fishes, sea dogs, called royal fishes, to which the
-Lord High Admiral laid claim, when they came near the
-shore by right.--See Chamberlayne’s State of England,
-p. 81.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f260'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r260'>260</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, June 25.--State
-Papers inedited.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f261'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r261'>261</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, June 25.--State
-Papers inedited.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f262'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r262'>262</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>State Papers, for 1625.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f263'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r263'>263</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, Jan. 1, 1619-20.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f264'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r264'>264</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hume.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f265'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r265'>265</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Those in the State Paper Office, to which Mr. Lechmere
-the Keeper, and Mr. Lemon the Deputy Keeper, first
-directed my attention; and to those gentlemen I am, therefore,
-wholly indebted for any new view of Buckingham’s
-character which these remarks, and those which are to follow,
-may afford. The Domestic Papers have been within the last
-few years completely arranged, and an accurate calendar made
-of them, by which the historical reader may derive the greatest
-possible assistance.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f266'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r266'>266</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Anderson’s History of Commerce, vol. ii., p. 140.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f267'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r267'>267</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>The largest of Queen Elizabeth’s ships, at her death,
-was of 1,000 tons, carrying 340 mariners and 40 cannon;
-the smallest, of 600 tons, carrying 150 mariners and 30
-cannon; besides the hired vessels.--Macpherson’s History
-of <a id='corr247.267.5'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Commerce,'>Commerce.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_247.267.5'><ins class='correction' title='Commerce,'>Commerce.</ins></a></span></p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f268'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r268'>268</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hist. World, lib. 5, cap. 1, sect. 6.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f269'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r269'>269</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Bishop Goodman’s Life of King James I.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f270'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r270'>270</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>See the Domestic Papers for 1619-20, State Paper Office.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f271'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r271'>271</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Domestic State Papers, inedited. The agreement is
-dated July 17, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f272'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r272'>272</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton,
-dated London, Nov. 12, 1619.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f273'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r273'>273</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>A note of the charge of the fleet, among the undated
-papers in the State Paper Office, probably 1625, computes
-it at 65,656<em>l.</em> Our Navy Force had then been considerably
-augmented. Some of the items are as follow:--"For
-bringing of the King’s shippes into full equipage, for clothes
-for the men, for impress for surgeons."</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f274'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r274'>274</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Macpherson’s History of Commerce.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f275'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r275'>275</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Domestic Papers. Letters from J. Burgh, dated Plymouth
-January 8, 1628.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f276'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r276'>276</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Macpherson, 339.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f277'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r277'>277</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Macpherson, iv., 4, 377.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f278'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r278'>278</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f279'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r279'>279</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited Letter from Sir J. Hippesley, Jan. 19, 1625.
-Calendar, vol. cxxxix., No. 18.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f280'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r280'>280</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Domestic State Papers, inedited, dated April 14, 1625.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f281'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r281'>281</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Remarks on History, vol. ii., p. 220, Letter XX.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f282'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r282'>282</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Coke’s Delection, vol. ii., p. 188.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f283'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r283'>283</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited State Papers, dated April 1, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f284'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r284'>284</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited State Papers, Domestic, 1623.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f285'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r285'>285</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Sir J. Killigrew to Sir D. Carleton,
-December 12th, 1619, and February, 1619-20. Inedited
-State Papers. By the same letter it appears that it cost
-ten shillings a night to supply the light.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f286'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r286'>286</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Pepys’s Diary, 3rd edition, vol. ii., p. 31.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f287'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r287'>287</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Macpherson’s History of Commerce, vol. iv., p. 317.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f288'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r288'>288</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Bishop Goodman’s Memoirs, vol i., p. 55.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f289'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r289'>289</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie’s Constitutional History of the British Empire,
-vol. ii. p. 8.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f290'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r290'>290</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 145.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f291'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r291'>291</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 145.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f292'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r292'>292</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f293'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r293'>293</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, p. 118, and <em>passim</em>.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f294'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r294'>294</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn, p. 119.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f295'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r295'>295</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hume--Appendix to the Reign of James I., p.38.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f296'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r296'>296</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn, p. 142.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f297'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r297'>297</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie, ii. p.89.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f298'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r298'>298</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f299'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r299'>299</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn, 143.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f300'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r300'>300</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn, in his life of Laud, recites these names--Glandville,
-Herbert, Sheldon, Pym, Wansford, and Sherland;
-the prologue made by Sir Dudley Digges, and the epilogue
-by Sir John Eliot.--Heylyn, 143.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f301'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r301'>301</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited letter in the State Paper Office, 1623, vol. 28.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f302'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r302'>302</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>A full statement of the charges may be seen in Brodie’s
-Constitutional History, vol. ii., p. 113, from Rushworth.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f303'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r303'>303</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie, from Rushworth, vol. ii., p.121.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f304'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r304'>304</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited State Papers, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f305'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r305'>305</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited State Papers; date, October 11th, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f306'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r306'>306</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton.
-Inedited State Papers, June 5th, 1624.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f307'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r307'>307</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited State Papers. January, 1617-18.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f308'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r308'>308</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie, vol. i., p.113.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f309'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r309'>309</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Dated August 20th, 1618.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f310'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r310'>310</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited State Papers, 1625. This sum was eventually
-reduced to 5,000<em>l.</em></p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f311'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r311'>311</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Letter from Secretary Nameton.--State Paper Office,
-Oct. 18, 1618.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f312'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r312'>312</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Inedited State Papers.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f313'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r313'>313</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie, vol. ii., p. 113.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f314'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r314'>314</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Ibid, 123.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f315'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r315'>315</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Date, March 6, 1625.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f316'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r316'>316</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Life of Archbishop Laud.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f317'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r317'>317</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Brodie, vol. ii., p. 125.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f318'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r318'>318</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Sir Henry Wotton, p. 225.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f319'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r319'>319</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hume.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f320'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r320'>320</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn, p. 144.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f321'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r321'>321</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hume, vol. vi., p. 179.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f322'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r322'>322</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i., p. 325.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f323'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r323'>323</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hume, from Franklyn, p. 195.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f324'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r324'>324</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn, p. 153.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f325'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r325'>325</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Heylyn, p. 159.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f326'>
-<p class='c018'><span class='label'><a href='#r326'>326</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>Hume, p. 129.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c018'><a id='endnote'></a></p>
-<div class='tnotes'>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c017'>
- <div><span class='large'>Transcriber’s Note</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='htmlonly'>
-
-<p class='c018'>The text ends with 16 pages of advertising by the publisher. The pagination
-begins again from page 1 in that section. The letter ‘a’ has been
-added for uniqueness.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='c018'>There are several anomolies in the footnoting. In the original, there
-is a single footnote 1 in the Preface, and the numbering begins again
-at the opening of the first chapter. The sequence continues to 99,
-and then restarts with 1. This is repeated several times. There
-are also several notes which are denoted only with a traditional asterisk.
-On occasion, footnotes appear out of order. There is no apparent
-reason for the dual system, and it seems most likely that the non-numeric
-references were added later, after the numbering had been completed,
-and were used to avoid the need to re-sequence work already done.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>For this text, all footnotes have been re-sequenced numerically across
-the whole volume, to assure uniqueness. They will appear in the correct
-order.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>There was a unaccountable gap in the numbering between
-note 14 (now 317) on p. 304 and note 27 on the following page. That
-gap has been closed.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The footnote number ‘59’ (now 159) on p. 150 was missing, and was
-restored here. The same problem occurred on p. 188. Note 8 (now 206)
-has been restored.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and
-are noted here.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Given the frequent quotations, it was inevitable that opening
-and closing quotation marks would sometimes be lost or misplaced.
-A sampling of these problematic passages reveals that
-the author has a tendency to paraphrase and otherwise misquote.
-They are placed here where the context or voice makes their position
-obvious, or where an inspection of the original sources was possible
-and allowed for the proper placement.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>Where, in resolving these discrepancies, it was found that the
-reference to sources were themselves incorrect, the correction
-has been made. Since there is no bibliography specifying the
-edition of the author’s sources, these corrections were made
-only where the error was obvious. For instance, in a passage
-on pp. 136-137, footnote 140, referring to State Paper, cxlii., No 13,
-was can be validated, however the matter referred to in the
-following note, incorrectly identifies the paragraph as No. 15,
-rather than No. 45, where the paraphrased quotation can be
-found. Again, no attempt was made to validate the accuracy of
-these attributions except where the problematic printings of
-quotations were being resolved.</p>
-
-<p class='c018'>The references below are to the page and line in the original. Where three numbers
-are referenced, the second refers to a note on that page, and the third to the
-line therein.</p>
-
-<table class='table1' summary=''>
-<colgroup>
-<col width='14%' />
-<col width='61%' />
-<col width='23%' />
-</colgroup>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_9.4'></a><a href='#corr9.4'>9.4</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>in returning to land at Southampton,[”]</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_34.3'></a><a href='#corr34.3'>34.3</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>King Philip, followed by his [thaclow], Don Carlos</td>
- <td class='c035'><em>Sic</em>: ?</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_37.8'></a><a href='#corr37.8'>37.8</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>Buckingham added in a post[s]cript</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_43.11'></a><a href='#corr43.11'>43.11</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>two pairs of pearl-shaped ear-rings, marvellous great.[”]</td>
- <td class='c035'><em>sic</em> no “</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_70.15'></a><a href='#corr70.15'>70.15</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>now that he was going to the House of Rinmon.[”]</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_80.15'></a><a href='#corr80.15'>80.15</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>[“]pious endeavours would fill the King</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_80.28'></a><a href='#corr80.28'>80.28</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>guided by wor[l]dly wisdom</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_105.8'></a><a href='#corr105.8'>105.8</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>and others, [“]to bargain for them,</td>
- <td class='c035'>Removed.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_137.4'></a><a href='#corr137.4'>137.4</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>leaving his minister to his fate.[”]</td>
- <td class='c035'>Removed.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_137.141.1'></a><a href='#corr137.141.1'>137.141.1</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>State Papers, clxii., No. [15/45]</td>
- <td class='c035'>Replaced.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_154.152.1'></a><a href='#corr154.152.1'>154.152.1</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>Brodie’s Co[r/n]. Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note.</td>
- <td class='c035'>Replaced.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_155.163.1'></a><a href='#corr155.163.1'>155.163.1</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>Brodie’s Co[r/n]. Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note.</td>
- <td class='c035'>Replaced.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_168.25'></a><a href='#corr168.25'>168.25</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>The Earl of Holland had had,[”] says Bishop Hacket,</td>
- <td class='c035'>Removed.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_183.16'></a><a href='#corr183.16'>183.16</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>[“]a feather made with great diamonds</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_182.18'></a><a href='#corr182.18'>182.18</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>all studded with diamonds,[”]</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_184.2'></a><a href='#corr184.2'>184.2</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>all [‘]things suitable.[’/”] [“]His other suits,” adds the narrator</td>
- <td class='c035'>Removed/Replaced/Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_184.24'></a><a href='#corr184.24'>184.24</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>were provided with three rich suits a[ ]piece</td>
- <td class='c035'>Removed.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_232.3'></a><a href='#corr232.3'>232.3</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>[“]a disease which all the drugs of Asia</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added. Pro</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_237.21'></a><a href='#corr237.21'>237.21</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>that would give him no rest.[”]</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_238.19'></a><a href='#corr238.19'>238.19</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>it is dated, “Burghley, 18th July, 1625.[”]></td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_247.267.5'></a><a href='#corr247.267.5'>247.267.5</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>Macpherson’s History of Commerce[./,]</td>
- <td class='c035'>Replaced.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_305.8'></a><a href='#corr305.8'>305.8</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>[“]who exclaimed, ‘They are worse than devils who say so.’”</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c034'><a id='c_308.22'></a><a href='#corr308.22'>308.22</a></td>
- <td class='c034'>to register the edicts of the Crown[”]</td>
- <td class='c035'>Added. Probable.</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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