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// 20160710221445thomson

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.dt The Life and Times of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, Vol. 2 of 3, by Katharine Thomson

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Transcriber’s Note:

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.h1
THE LIFE AND TIMES |\
<s>OF</s>|\
<xl>GEORGE VILLIERS</xl>|\
DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
.sp 2
.nf c
<s>FROM ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES.</s>
.sp 2
<l>BY MRS. THOMSON,</l>
<s>AUTHOR OF
“MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH,”
“LIFE OF SIR WALTER RALEGH,”
“MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH,”
&c., &c.</s>
.nf-

.sp 4

.nf c
IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. II.
.nf-

.nf c
LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN,
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

1860.

<s><em>The right of Translation is reserved.</em></s>
.nf-
.bn 002.png
.sp 4
.nf c
LONDON:
PRINTED BY R. BORN, GLOUCESTER STREET,
REGENT’S PARK.
.nf-
.bn 003.png
.pn iii


.sp 4
.h2
CONTENTS OF VOL II.


.ta h:60 rb:5
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\
.bn 004.png
.pn +1
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\
.bn 005.png
.pn +1
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\
.bn 006.png
.pn +1
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\
.bn 007.png
.pn +1
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<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    |  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\
.bn 008.png
.pn +1
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
.ta-
.bn 009.png
.pn 1
.sp 4
.h2
CHAPTER I.

.pm start_summary
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
.bn 010.png
.pn +1
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."
.pm end_summary
.bn 011.png
.pn +1
.sp 4
.nf c

<l>LIFE AND TIMES OF</l>

<xl>GEORGE VILLIERS.</xl>
.nf-
.hr 15%

.sp 4
.ce
<b><l>CHAPTER I.</l></b>

.sp 2
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
.bn 012.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 013.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 014.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 1
Referring to a former letter, dated the 10th of March.
.fn-

.fn 2
Nichols, vol. iv., p. 839.
.fn-

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
.bn 015.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 3
Referring to the key presented to the Duke by the
King of Spain.
.fn-
.bn 016.png
.pn +1

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.”

.fn 4
State Papers, vol. cxi., No. 13.
.fn-

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
.bn 017.png
.pn +1
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 <pm corr 9.4 Southampton, 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]

.fn 5
State Papers, vol. cxlvi., No. 23.
.fn-

.fn 6
Ibid, No. 39.
.fn-

.fn 7
Ibid, No. 49.
.fn-
.bn 018.png
.pn +1

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]

.fn 8
State Papers, vol. cxlvii., No. 40.
.fn-
.bn 019.png
.pn +1

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]

.fn 9
State Papers, vol. cxlvii., No. 80.
.fn-

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
.bn 020.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 10
Kennet’s History of England, vol. ii., p. 765.
.fn-

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
.bn 021.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 11
Letter from Madrid, August, 1623.
.fn-

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,
<lang=la><em>reinfectâ</em></lang>, 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.”

.fn 12
 A cousin of the Earl of Bristol’s.
.fn-

.fn 13
 Letter from Simon Digby. State Papers for 1623,
July 25.
.fn-

At home, the Marquis Inojosa was making
.bn 022.png
.pn +1
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.[14]

.fn 14
Letter from Madrid, State Papers, August 21, 1623.
.fn-

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
.bn 023.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 024.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 15
State Papers, May 28, 1623.
.fn-

Olive Porter was, it seems, a humble relation
of the Duchess of Buckingham, who addresses
her as “Cousin,” and who appears, by
.bn 025.png
.pn +1
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.”
.bn 026.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 027.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 16
Epistolæ Hoelianæ.
.fn-

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.
.bn 028.png
.pn +1
‘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]

.fn 17
Epistolæ Hoelianæ.
.fn-

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,”
.bn 029.png
.pn +1
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."
.bn 030.png
.pn +1

The Prince was then in Spain. It was Tuesday,
and St. James’s day (<sc>N.S.</sc>)[18]

.fn 18
Nichols, vol. iii., p. 227.
.fn-

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]

.fn 19
Dated July 12.
.fn-

.fn 20
 State Papers, vol. cxlviii., No. 12.
.fn-

.fn 21
Ibid, No. 125.
.fn-

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
.bn 031.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 22
Ibid, vol. clix., No. 80.
.fn-

.fn 23
State Papers, vol. xlix., Nos. 20 and 22.
.fn-

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
.bn 032.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 24
State Papers, vol. xlix., No. 69.
.fn-

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
.bn 033.png
.pn +1
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<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[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
.bn 034.png
.pn +1
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>[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<em>l.</em>
from the East India Company by way of consolation.[27]

.fn 25
State Papers, vol. cxlix., No. 91.
.fn-

.fn 26
Nichols, p. 887.
.fn-

.fn 27
Ibid, p. 887; from Birch’s MSS., Brit. Museum, 4174.
.fn-

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 <lang=fr><em>corps diplomatique</em></lang>
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
.bn 035.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 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.
.fn-

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
.bn 036.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 29
Sir H. Wotton, p. 218.
.fn-

.fn 30
Nichols, p. 888.
.fn-

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.

.fn 31
State Papers, cxlix., No. 107.
.fn-

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
.bn 037.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 038.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 32
State Papers, vol. cli., Nos. 86, 87.
.fn-

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]

.fn 33
Somers’s Tracts, vol. ii., p. 352.
.fn-

This entertainment was ordered by the King
of Spain, who was not contented with the festivities
hitherto given in honour of the Prince of
.bn 039.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 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.
.fn-

Then came four and twenty movable fountains,
.bn 040.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 041.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 042.png
.pn +1
“baiting but a few bulls,” says the chronicler, the
running with the canes commenced.

King Philip, followed by his <pm corr 34.3 sic 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
.bn 043.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 044.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 35
Nichols, 901.
.fn-

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
.bn 045.png
.pn +1
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 <pm corr 37.8 postcript 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
.bn 046.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 36
Nichols, 903.
.fn-

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]

.fn 37
Nichols, 905.
.fn-

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:
.bn 047.png
.pn +1

.pm start_letter
"May it please your Majesty,

.ti 8
"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, <lang=la><em>per verba
de presenti</em></lang>, 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
.bn 048.png
.pn +1
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]
.pm end_letter

.fn 38
A professed nun.
.fn-

.fn 39
State Papers, 1623. Foreign.
.fn-

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
.bn 049.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 40
Confirmed by State Papers, vol. cliii., No. 44.
.fn-

.fn 41
Hume, from Rushworth’s Collection’s, vol i., p. 103.
.fn-

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]

.fn 42
Nichols, p. 913. From Haddwicke State Papers, vol.
i, p. 476.
.fn-

Every possible demonstration of honour was
proffered to the Prince and Duke at their departure.
.bn 050.png
.pn +1
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;
.bn 051.png
.pn +1
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 <pm corr 43.11 'sic: opening' 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
.bn 052.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 43
Narrative of the journey of the Prince’s servants into
Spain; printed at the end of the Life of Richard II., by
Hearne.
.fn-

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
.bn 053.png
.pn +1
for riding, for walking was forbidden to these
monks, even to a short distance.[44]

.fn 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.
.fn-

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,
.bn 054.png
.pn +1
“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
.bn 055.png
.pn +1
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.
.bn 056.png
.pn +1

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
.bn 057.png
.pn +1
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 <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
.bn 058.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 059.png
.pn +1
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
<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.

On the ensuing day Charles went on shore, but
returned on the same evening to the fleet. On
.bn 060.png
.pn +1
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>.

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]

.fn 45
Nichols, p. 923, from Haddwicke Papers, vol. i., p. 475.
.fn-
.bn 061.png
.pn +1

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.

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 <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.
.bn 062.png
.pn +1

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]

.fn 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.
.fn-

.fn 47
State Papers, Calendar, vol. cliii., p. 44.
.fn-

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
.bn 063.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 48
State Papers, vol. cliii., No. 44.
.fn-
.bn 064.png
.pn +1

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
.bn 065.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 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.
.fn-

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
.bn 066.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 50
Epistolæ Hoelianæ.
.fn-

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.
.bn 067.png
.pn +1




.sp 4
.h2
CHAPTER II.

.pm start_summary
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
.bn 068.png
.pn +1
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.
.pm end_summary
.bn 069.png
.pn +2


.sp 4
.ce
<b><l>CHAPTER II.</l></b>

.sp 2
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,
.bn 070.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 071.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 51
State Papers. Domestic. March 30, 1622, vol. cxxviii.,
No. 96.
.fn-

.fn 52
Birches’s MSS., 4174.
.fn-

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.[53]

.fn 53
State Papers, vol. cxxix., No. 92.
.fn-

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
.bn 072.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 54
Nichols, p. 843; from papers in the Advocate’s Library,
Edinburgh.
.fn-

.fn 55
Harleian, vol. 6987.
.fn-

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
.bn 073.png
.pn +1
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.”

.fn 56
Nichols, 850.
.fn-

.fn 57
Nichols, from Harleian MSS., 6987.
.fn-

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]

.fn 58
State Papers, vol. cxi., No. 13.
.fn-

In all her letters to the Duke, the warmest affection
is expressed by his wife; and she seems to
.bn 074.png
.pn +1
have justified the encomiums of Archbishop Laud,
who enters her name in his diary, as “that excellent
lady, who is goodness itself.”[59]

.fn 59
Laud’s Diary.
.fn-

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,
.bn 075.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 60
Harleian MSS., 389.--See Nichols, 1113, note.
.fn-

A change was observed to have taken place in
.bn 076.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 61
Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, 219.
.fn-

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.
.bn 077.png
.pn +1

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.

.fn 62
State Papers, Domestic, vol. cxxxvii., p. 5.
.fn-

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
.bn 078.png
.pn +1
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 <pm corr 70.15 'Rinmon.' 'Rinmon.”'>[65]

.fn 63
State Papers, vol. cxxxix., No. 91.
.fn-

.fn 64
Ibid, vol. cxxxviii., No. 9; Dudley Carleton to Sir
Dudley Carleton.
.fn-

.fn 65
Ibid, vol. cxxxii., No. 64.
.fn-

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
.bn 079.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 66
State Papers, vol. cxxxix., No. 71.
.fn-

.fn 67
Ibid, vol. cxxii., No. 88.
.fn-

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
.bn 080.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 081.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 082.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 68
State Papers, vol. cxxix., No. 50. Domestic.
.fn-

.fn 69
State Papers, vol. cxx., No. 71.
.fn-

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
.bn 083.png
.pn +1
the Duke; but finding that impossible, they
became disposed to arraign his conduct in the
marriage before his face.[70]

.fn 70
Nichols, 945.
.fn-

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]

.fn 71
Ibid, 960.
.fn-
.bn 084.png
.pn +1

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]

.fn 72
Life of Keeper Williams, 138.
.fn-

The blame of this conduct was attributable,
according to the same writer, more to those who
.bn 085.png
.pn +1
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.
.bn 086.png
.pn +1
“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,”
.bn 087.png
.pn +1
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!”

.fn 73
Hacket’s Life, p. 229.
.fn-

.fn 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.
.fn-

“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,
.bn 088.png
.pn +1
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 <pm corr 80.15 pious “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 <pm corr 80.28 wordly worldly> wisdom, mixed up
.bn 089.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 090.png
.pn +1
accomplished from the suggestions and by the
skill of the Lord Keeper Williams.

.fn 75
Hacket’s Life of Williams, pp. 172, 173.
.fn-

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
.bn 091.png
.pn +1
conceived that any motion he had made in that
kind had been despised rather than received with
thankfulness.”[78]

.fn 76
Hacket’s Life of Williams, p. 147.
.fn-

.fn 77
Ibid.
.fn-

.fn 78
Hacket, 148.
.fn-

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
.bn 092.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 093.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 094.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 095.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 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.
.fn-

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,
.bn 096.png
.pn +1
to have been “an absolute free man, but with
one limitation--the restitution of the Palatinate.”[80]

.fn 80
Hacket, 164.
.fn-

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 “<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
.bn 097.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 098.png
.pn +1
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."

.fn 81
Ibid, 167.
.fn-

.fn 82
Hacket, 161. From Sanderson, p. 552; taken from the
Spanish reports of their conference.
.fn-

.fn 83
Howell’s Letters.
.fn-

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.
.bn 099.png
.pn +1
“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]

.fn 84
Life of Lord Keeper Williams, p. 164.
.fn-

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.
.bn 100.png
.pn +1

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]

.fn 85
Nichols, p. 943.
.fn-

.fn 86
Hacket, p. 157.
.fn-

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
.bn 101.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 87
Nichols, p. 964.
.fn-

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
.bn 102.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 88
Hacket, 168.
.fn-
.bn 103.png
.pn +1

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,
.bn 104.png
.pn +1
but who, when he gave his opinion, swayed that
of the majority.[89]

.fn 89
Hacket, p. 69.
.fn-

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]

.fn 90
Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 113.
.fn-

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.

.fn 91
Hacket, p. 169.
.fn-

Meantime, public aversion to the match was
.bn 105.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 92
 State Papers, cxxix., No. 62.
.fn-

.fn 93
 Ibid, cxix., No. 68.
.fn-

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
.bn 106.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 94
State Papers, vol. cxix., No. 55.
.fn-

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
.bn 107.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 95
Ibid, No. 70.
.fn-

.fn 96
State Papers.
.fn-

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.”

.fn 97
Ibid, Nos. 93, 94.--Locke to Carleton.
.fn-

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
.bn 108.png
.pn +1
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<em>l.</em>, only 20,000<em>l.</em> yearly with the Infanta,
.bn 109.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 98
State Papers, clx., Nos. 8 and 10.
.fn-

.fn 99
Ibid, Nos. 1 and 33.
.fn-

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]

.fn 100
State Papers, vol. clix., No. 83.
.fn-

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
.bn 110.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 101
State Papers, No. 92.
.fn-

.fn 102
Ibid, No. 85.
.fn-

.fn 103
Latter from Secretary Conway to Carleton.
.fn-

It is not improbable that the exaggerated fears
.bn 111.png
.pn +1
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.”

.fn 104
State Papers, vol. clxiii., No. 59.--April 10, 1623.
.fn-

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]

.fn 105
Ibid, vol. clxiii., No. 2.
.fn-
.bn 112.png
.pn +1

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;
.bn 113.png
.pn +1
"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, <pm corr 105.8 '“to bargain' 'to bargain'> for them,
as there was great necessity for frugality."[107]

.fn 106
State Papers, vol. cxliv., No. 13.
.fn-

.fn 107
Lord Middlesex to Secretary Conway.--State Papers,
vol. cxliii., No. 20.
.fn-

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
.bn 114.png
.pn +1
come in from Spain with the fleet; but would pawn
his whole estate for the present.”[108]

.fn 108
Lord Middlesex to Secretary Conway.--State Papers,
vol. cxliii., No. 60.
.fn-

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
.bn 115.png
.pn +1
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.”

.fn 109
Nichols, p. 962.
.fn-

.fn 110
Nichols, p. 970.
.fn-

.fn 111
Ibid, p. 849.
.fn-

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
.bn 116.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 112
State Papers.
.fn-

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
.bn 117.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 113
Ibid, pp. 972, 975.
.fn-

.fn 114
Hacket, from Cabala, p. 223.
.fn-

.fn 115
State Papers.
.fn-

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
.bn 118.png
.pn +1
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>

.fn 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.’”
.fn-

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]

.fn 117
State Papers. Letter from Edward Herbert to James I.,
p. 168.
.fn-

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
.bn 119.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 118
State Papers, vol. cliv., No. 2.
.fn-

.fn 119
Ibid, No. 17.
.fn-

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
.bn 120.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 120
Letter from Chamberlain to Carleton.
.fn-

.fn 121
State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 17.
.fn-

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.

.fn 122
Coke’s Detections, p. 224.
.fn-

During the whole of this year, however, Buckingham’s
security was being undermined; and, had
.bn 121.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 122.png
.pn +1
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 “<em>told him he lied</em>,”
and bade the house proceed, but give a good
account of what they did.[124]

.fn 123
Lord Middlesex.
.fn-

.fn 124
State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 53.
.fn-

James next did what every open nature is
.bn 123.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 124.png
.pn +1
discovery, Buckingham wrote to his royal master
the following ungrateful and unpardonable letter:--

.pm start_letter
"<sc>Dear Dad and Gossip</sc>,

.ti 10
"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
.bn 125.png
.pn +1
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."
.pm end_letter

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
.bn 126.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 125
Nichols, 970.
.fn-

.fn 126
State Papers, vol. clix., Nos. 45, 46.
.fn-

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
.bn 127.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 127
Nichols, 790.
.fn-

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]

.fn 128
State Papers, vol. clx., No. 63.
.fn-

.fn 129
Ibid, No. 68.
.fn-
.bn 128.png
.pn +1

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
<em>almost</em> resolved. The fact was, that he wanted
larger subsidies than, he expected, without this
coquetting with his Parliament, would be voted.

.fn 130
State Papers, No. 27.
.fn-

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
.bn 129.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 130.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 131.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 132.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 133.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 131
State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 10.--Locke to Carleton.
.fn-

.fn 132
State Papers, vol. clxiv., No. 12.
.fn-

.fn 133
Ibid, No. 44.
.fn-

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.
.bn 134.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 135.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 134
Note in Nichols, 937, from Finett’s Philoxenis.
.fn-

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
.bn 136.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 135
Letter from Chamberlain to Carleton, Nov. 21.
.fn-

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
.bn 137.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 138.png
.pn +1
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:--
.bn 139.png
.pn +1

.pm start_poem
“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.
.pm end_poem

.fn 136
State Papers, vol. clxvi., No. 62.
.fn-

.fn 137
State Papers, vol. clxv., No. 29.
.fn-

.fn 138
Ibid, vol. clxix., No. 14.
.fn-

.fn 139
Light open baskets for flowers, and still so called by
gardeners.--Gifford’s Ben Jonson.
.fn-

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.
.bn 140.png
.bn 141.png
.pn +2



.sp 4
.h2
CHAPTER III.

.pm start_summary
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.
.pm end_summary
.bn 142.png
.bn 143.png
.pn +2


.sp 4
.ce
<b><l>CHAPTER III.</l></b>

.sp 2
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
.bn 144.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 145.png
.pn +1
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 <pm corr 137.4 fate.” fate.>[141]

.fn 140
State Papers, vol. clxii, No. 13.
.fn-

.fn 141
State Papers, clxii., <pm corr 137.141.1 'No. 15.' 'No. 45.'>
.fn-

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
.bn 146.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 147.png
.pn +1
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 <lang=la><em>gratis</em></lang>, 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]

.fn 142
State Papers, clxiv., No. 12.
.fn-

.fn 143
May 5th, 1624.--State Papers.
.fn-

.fn 144
State Papers, clxiv., No. 86.
.fn-

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
.bn 148.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 145
Parl. History, 1411, 1471.--See Lord Campbell, Article
Coke.
.fn-

.fn 146
State Papers.
.fn-

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
.bn 149.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 147
State Papers, vol cxlii., Nos. 44, 54.
.fn-

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
.bn 150.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 148
State Papers, vol. clxxxv., No. 48.
.fn-

.fn 149
Probably typhoid, which is characterized by some spots.
State Papers, vol. clxxxv., No. 99.
.fn-

"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
.bn 151.png
.pn +1
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.

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."

.fn 150
Hardwicke, State Papers, 562, 564.
.fn-

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
.bn 152.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 153.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 151
Dated March 16, from Theobald’s.
.fn-

.fn 152
Ibid, 563.
.fn-

.fn 153
Letter of Conway to Lord Carlisle; dated March 16,
from Theobald’s, 566.
.fn-

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
.bn 154.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 155.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 156.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 154
Macaulay, vol.i., p.441.
.fn-

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
.bn 157.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 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.
.fn-

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
.bn 158.png
.pn +1
King’s physicians did, says Roger Coke, “disallow
thereof, and refused to meddle further with the
King until the said plasters were removed.”[156]

.fn 156
Coke’s Detection, vol. i., p. 126.
.fn-

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]

.fn 157
Ibid, 177.
.fn-

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
.bn 159.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 158
Fuller’s Church History, b. x. p., 113.
.fn-

.fn 159
Nichols.--From Harleian MSS., 389.
.fn-

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]

.fn 160
Ibid.
.fn-

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
.bn 160.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 161
Weldon, p. 39.
.fn-

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,
.bn 161.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 162.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 162
Brodie’s <pm corr 154.152.1 Cor. Con.> Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note.
.fn-

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
.bn 163.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 163
Brodie’s <pm corr 155.163.1 Cor. Con.> Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note.
.fn-

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
.bn 164.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 164
Ibid, 119.
.fn-

.fn 165
Letter from Andrew Herriott to Nicholas, State Papers.
Calendar, by Mr. Bruce, vol. xliv., No. 27, dated May 27,
1627.
.fn-

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]

.fn 166
Oldmixon, 70.
.fn-

He afterwards presented petitions both to the
King and the Parliament, praying for vengeance
.bn 165.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 166.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 167
Harleian MSS., 405. It was revived by the disaffected
in 1642, with some alteration of language.--Nichols,
41033.
.fn-

.fn 168
Oldmixon, 70.--From Wilson and Weldon.
.fn-

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]

.fn 169
Nichols, 1032.
.fn-

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
.bn 167.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 170
Nichols, 1054.
.fn-

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.
.bn 168.png
.pn +1

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]

.fn 171
See Inedited State Papers. Foreign, for 1625.
.fn-
.bn 169.png
.pn +1


.sp 4
.h2
CHAPTER IV. | 1624-1625.

.pm start_summary
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
.bn 170.png
.pn +1
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.
.pm end_summary
.bn 171.png
.pn +1
.sp 4


.nf c
<l><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></l>
1624-1625.
.nf-

.sp 2
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
.bn 172.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 172
Rushworth, vol. i., p. 167.
.fn-

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
.bn 173.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 173
Coke’s Detection, vol i., p. 182.
.fn-

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
.bn 174.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 175.png
.pn +1
of the young Princess, and to have prevented her
from receiving a solid course of instruction.

.fn 174
Lives of the Queens of England, vol. viii., p. 13.
.fn-

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
.bn 176.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 175
His mother, the Countess of Warwick, lived for some
time with, and afterwards married, the Earl of Devonshire.
.fn-

.fn 176
On the 24th of September, 1624.--Clarendon’s History
of the Rebellion, vol. i., p. 61.
.fn-

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.

.fn 177
Brydges’s Peers of James I., p. 385. Also Clarendon,
vol. i., p. 62.
.fn-

The Earl of Holland had <pm corr 168.25 had,” had,> says Bishop
.bn 177.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 178
Life of Lord Keeper Williams, 209.
.fn-

.fn 179
Ibid.
.fn-

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
.bn 178.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 180
Cabala.--Letter from Lord Kensington to the Duke of
Buckingham, vol. i., p. 286.
.fn-

.fn 181
Henrietta Maria.
.fn-

.fn 182
Cabala.--Letter from Lord Kensington to the Prince
p. 287.
.fn-
.bn 179.png
.pn +1

“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]

.fn 183
Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton. State Paper Office.
Dated 24th October, 1624.
.fn-

.fn 184
State Paper Office. Dated Nov. 1, 1624.
.fn-

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
.bn 180.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 185
Cabala, vol. i., p. 288.
.fn-
.bn 181.png
.pn +1

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
.bn 182.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 186
Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 21.
.fn-

.fn 187
Cabala, 291.
.fn-

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]

.fn 188
Ibid.
.fn-

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
.bn 183.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 189
Cabala, 286.
.fn-

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
.bn 184.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 190
Ellis’s Original Letters, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 199.
.fn-

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
.bn 185.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 186.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 191
Letter from Lord Kensington to the Duke of Buckingham.--Ellis’s
Original Letters, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 169;
also, Cabala, p. 294.
.fn-

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
.bn 187.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 192
Cabala, p. 1287. This letter is dated Feb. 26, 1624.
.fn-

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
.bn 188.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 193
Rushworth’s Collection, p. 169.
.fn-

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
.bn 189.png
.pn +1
was the difficulty, and, as it seemed to many,
the risk attendant upon the mode of faith professed
by the young Queen.

.fn 194
Ibid.
.fn-

.fn 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.
.fn-

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]

.fn 196
Ellis’s Letters, vol. iii., p. 187.
.fn-

.fn 197
Ibid.
.fn-

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;
.bn 190.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 198
Ellis’s Letters, vol. iii., p. 187.
.fn-

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,
.bn 191.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 199
The 31st of March.
.fn-

.fn 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.
.fn-

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, <pm corr 183.16 'a feather' '“a feather'>
made with great diamonds, a sword girdle, hatband,
and spurs, all studded with <pm corr 182.18 diamonds, 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
.bn 192.png
.pn +1
cloak made after the Spanish fashion, and the
dress was finished with all <pm corr 184.2 '‘things suitable.’ His' '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 <pm corr 184.24 'a piece' 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,
.bn 193.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 201
See Ellis’s Original Letters, 1st series, vol. i., p. 189.
.fn-

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
.bn 194.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 202
Ellis’s Letters.
.fn-

.fn 203
Rushworth, p. 170.
.fn-

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
.bn 195.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 204
Louis XIV. was not born on the 5th of September, 1538.--See
Memoir of Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 71.
.fn-

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
.bn 196.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 205
Memoir of Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 428.
.fn-

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]

.fn 206
 Ibid, 199, said by Henry III. of France.
.fn-

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]

.fn 207
Ibid, 11.
.fn-
.bn 197.png
.pn +1

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
.bn 198.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 199.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 208
Madame de Motteville, pp. 29, 30.
.fn-

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
.bn 200.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 201.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 202.png
.pn +1
produce a continued intercourse between France
and this country.

.fn 209
Madame de Motteville, p. 20.
.fn-

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]

.fn 210
Madame de Motteville, p. 33.
.fn-

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;
.bn 203.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 204.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 211
Biographie Universelle.
.fn-

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
.bn 205.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 206.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 212
Petilot, Notice sur Richelieu, ii., p. 112.
.fn-

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.
.bn 207.png
.pn +1

Another lesson might Buckingham derive in
the crowded <lang=fr><em>salons</em></lang>> 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
<lang=fr><em>repartée</em></lang>.[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
.bn 208.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 213
Petilot, x., 126.
.fn-

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.
.bn 209.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 210.png
.pn +1
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.
.bn 211.png
.pn +1


.sp 4

.h2
CHAPTER V.

.sp 2
.pm start_summary
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.
.pm end_summary
.bn 212.png
.bn 213.png
.pn +2



.sp 4
.ce
<b><l>CHAPTER V.</l></b>

.sp 2
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
.bn 214.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 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.
.fn-

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
.bn 215.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 215
Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i, p. 14.
.fn-

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
.bn 216.png
.pn +1
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.[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.

.fn 216
Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 16.
.fn-

Possibly Anne was dazzled by the lofty grace
of her new votary, contrasted as it was to
some advantage with the homely-featured Philip
.bn 217.png
.pn +1
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<em>l.</em>[218]

.fn 217
Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, 221.
.fn-

.fn 218
Miss Aikin’s Memoirs of Charles I., vol. i.
.fn-

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
.bn 218.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 219.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 219
Bishop Goodman, vol. i., p. 290. Letter from Balthazar
Gerbier of the Duke of Buckingham. Also State Papers,
vol. iii., No. 7.
.fn-

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
.bn 220.png
.pn +1
had eagerly welcomed him to their kingdom, Buckingham
attended his young and royal charge towards
the coast.

.fn 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.
.fn-

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,
.bn 221.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 222.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 223.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 224.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 221
Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 15.
.fn-

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,
.bn 225.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 226.png
.pn +1
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."

.fn 222
Court and Times of James I., by Bishop Goodman, vol.
ii., p. 265.
.fn-

.fn 223
Ibid, p. 311.
.fn-

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 (<sc>N.S.</sc>) Henrietta embarked, and twenty-four
hours afterwards arrived at Dover.

.fn 224
Rushworth, p. 170.
.fn-
.bn 227.png
.pn +1

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.”

.fn 225
Inedited Letter in the State Paper Office. (Not in the
Calendar.)
.fn-

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,
.bn 228.png
.pn +1
and dangers might accrue upon his placing himself
in a foreign state.[226]

.fn 226
State Papers, vol. iii., No. 25.
.fn-

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]

.fn 227
Rushworth, p. 171.
.fn-

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
.bn 229.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 228
Kennet’s Complete History of England, vol. ii., p. 4.
.fn-

.fn 229
Ibid.
.fn-

.fn 230
Inedited Letter in the State Paper Office.
.fn-

Under these unpromising auspices did Henrietta
.bn 230.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 231
Life of Lord Keeper Williams, p. 10.
.fn-

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
.bn 231.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 232
Court of King Charles, Secret History of the Court of
James I., p. 23.
.fn-

.fn 233
Ibid.
.fn-

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]

.fn 234
Lilly’s True History of James I. and Charles I.
.fn-

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
.bn 232.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 235
State Papers, vol. clxxxiii., No. 41.
.fn-

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.”
.bn 233.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 234.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 236
State Papers, vol. clxxxiv., No. 7.
.fn-

.fn 237
State Papers.--Letter dated Feb. 19th.
.fn-

.fn 238
Letter from Sir R. Heath and Sir T. Coventry to the
Duke of Buckingham.--See Bishop Goodman’s Memoirs,
vol. ii., p. 376.
.fn-

In the endeavour to establish the fact of adultery
.bn 235.png
.pn +1
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."[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.

.fn 239
State Papers, vol. clxxiv., No. 47. Inedited Papers,
Domestic, 1625.
.fn-
.bn 236.png
.pn +1

“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
.bn 237.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 240
State Papers, vol. clxxiv., No. 47.--Chamberlain to
Sir D. Carleton, Feb. 26th, 1625. Inedited State Papers.
.fn-

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, “<lang=la><em>ne
Hercules quidem coutra tot et tantos</em></lang>.” By all
her demeanour was allowed to be “modest and
prudent, and without reflection on other parties.”
The witnesses whom she adduced were, however,
.bn 238.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 241
Inedited Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton,
State Paper Office.
.fn-

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
.bn 239.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 242
State Papers, vol. cxxxv., No. 12.
.fn-

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
.bn 240.png
.pn +1
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 <pm corr 232.3 'a disease' '“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<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.[245]

.fn 243
Campbell’s Life of Sir E. Coke, p. 335, note.
.fn-

.fn 244
Lloyd’s State Worthies.
.fn-

.fn 245
State Papers, vol. cliv., No. 85.
.fn-

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.
.bn 241.png
.pn +1

“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,
.bn 242.png
.pn +1
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.’"

.fn 246
Goodman’s Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 313.
.fn-

.fn 247
Ibid, p. 264.
.fn-

.fn 248
Dated April 1st, 1623; Harl. MSS., 1581, p. 129.
.fn-

.fn 249
One of the Duke’s attendants.
.fn-

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
.bn 243.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 250
Harl. MSS., 1581, p. 279.
.fn-

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
.bn 244.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 251
Inedited Documents in the State Paper Office, July
13th, 1624.
.fn-

.fn 252
State Papers.
.fn-

.fn 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<em>l.</em>, and curious plate to the value of 12,000<em>l.</em>--State
Papers, 1624.
.fn-

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
.bn 245.png
.pn +1
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 <pm corr 237.21 rest. 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
.bn 246.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 254
Parallel. Reliquiæ Wotton., p. 172.
.fn-

.fn 255
Ibid, 174.
.fn-

.fn 256
Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton. In
edited State Papers, June 13th, 1624.
.fn-

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, <pm corr 238.19 1625. 1625.”>

.fn 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.
.fn-

.pm start_letter
"<sc>Dere Cusen</sc>,

"Doctor Nure will tell you how I
am. I have sent the doctor’s leter to him. I am
.bn 247.png
.pn +1
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,

.ll 68
.nf r
“Your most constant friend,
            “<sc>K. Buckingham</sc>.
.nf-

“My Co: (cousin) remembers his services to you.”
.pm end_letter

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
.bn 248.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 258
On the 22nd of June, 1625. I have not found this account
in any of our historians.--State Papers, inedited.
.fn-

.fn 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.
.fn-

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
.bn 249.png
.pn +1
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 <lang=it><em>padre del oratorio</em></lang>.”[260]

.fn 260
Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, June 25.--State
Papers inedited.
.fn-

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
.bn 250.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 261
Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, June 25.--State
Papers inedited.
.fn-

.fn 262
State Papers, for 1625.
.fn-

.fn 263
Chamberlain to Sir D. Carleton, Jan. 1, 1619-20.
.fn-
.bn 251.png
.pn +1
.sp 4


.h2
CHAPTER VI.

.sp 2
.pm start_summary
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.
.pm end_summary
.bn 252.png
.bn 253.png
.pn +2


.sp 4
.ce
<b><l>CHAPTER VI.</l></b>

.sp 2
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.

.fn 264
Hume.
.fn-
.bn 254.png
.pn +1

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.

.fn 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.
.fn-

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
.bn 255.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 266
Anderson’s History of Commerce, vol. ii., p. 140.
.fn-

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]

.fn 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 <pm corr 247.267.5 Commerce, Commerce.>
.fn-

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,
.bn 256.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 268
Hist. World, lib. 5, cap. 1, sect. 6.
.fn-

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
.bn 257.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 258.png
.pn +1
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.
.bn 259.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 260.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 261.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 262.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 263.png
.pn +1
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."

.fn 269
Bishop Goodman’s Life of King James I.
.fn-

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
.bn 264.png
.pn +1
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.
.bn 265.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 266.png
.pn +1
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.”

.fn 270
See the Domestic Papers for 1619-20, State Paper Office.
.fn-
.bn 267.png
.pn +1

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]

.fn 271
Domestic State Papers, inedited. The agreement is
dated July 17, 1624.
.fn-

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,
.bn 268.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 272
Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton,
dated London, Nov. 12, 1619.
.fn-

.fn 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<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."
.fn-

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
.bn 269.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 274
Macpherson’s History of Commerce.
.fn-

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
.bn 270.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 275
Domestic Papers. Letters from J. Burgh, dated Plymouth
January 8, 1628.
.fn-

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.

.fn 276
Macpherson, 339.
.fn-

But it is reasonable to infer that the example
.bn 271.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 277
Macpherson, iv., 4, 377.
.fn-

.fn 278
Ibid.
.fn-

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
.bn 272.png
.pn +1

.pm start_poem
"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."
.pm end_poem

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.”

.fn 279
Inedited Letter from Sir J. Hippesley, Jan. 19, 1625.
Calendar, vol. cxxxix., No. 18.
.fn-

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
.bn 273.png
.pn +1
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<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.”[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,
.bn 274.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 280
Domestic State Papers, inedited, dated April 14, 1625.
.fn-

.fn 281
Remarks on History, vol. ii., p. 220, Letter XX.
.fn-

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.”[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
.bn 275.png
.pn +1
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.”

.fn 282
Coke’s Delection, vol. ii., p. 188.
.fn-

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
.bn 276.png
.pn +1
of mine own, who spake with the pilot who
was in that ship when it was taken.”

.fn 283
Inedited State Papers, dated April 1, 1624.
.fn-

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]

.fn 284
Inedited State Papers, Domestic, 1623.
.fn-

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
.bn 277.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 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.
.fn-

.fn 286
Pepys’s Diary, 3rd edition, vol. ii., p. 31.
.fn-

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
.bn 278.png
.pn +1
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.[287]

.fn 287
Macpherson’s History of Commerce, vol. iv., p. 317.
.fn-

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]

.fn 288
Bishop Goodman’s Memoirs, vol i., p. 55.
.fn-

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
.bn 279.png
.pn +1
soon apparent. Trifling as this naval force
appeared in those days, it was deemed magnificent
in the reign of the Stuart Kings.
.bn 280.png
.pn +1
[Blank Page]
.bn 281.png
.pn +1
.sp 4


.h2
CHAPTER VII.

.pm start_summary
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."
.pm end_summary
.bn 282.png
.pn +1
[Blank Page]
.bn 283.png
.pn +1


.sp 4
.ce
<b><l>CHAPTER VII.</l></b>

.sp 2
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
.bn 284.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 285.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 286.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 289
Brodie’s Constitutional History of the British Empire,
vol. ii. p. 8.
.fn-

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
.bn 287.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 288.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 289.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 290.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 290
Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 145.
.fn-

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
.bn 291.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 291
Heylyn’s Life of Laud, p. 145.
.fn-

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,
.bn 292.png
.pn +1
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.[292]

.fn 292
Heylyn.
.fn-

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.”

.fn 293
Ibid, p. 118, and <em>passim</em>.
.fn-

After this period, Laud became, Heylyn tells
.bn 293.png
.pn +1
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 “<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.”[294] Those points, which have unhappily
.bn 294.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 294
Heylyn, p. 119.
.fn-

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
.bn 295.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 296.png
.pn +1
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,
.bn 297.png
.pn +1
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, “<em>he knew not</em>.”

Williams, Lord Keeper, the early friend of
Buckingham, was now wholly discarded from the
Duke’s friendship, and from his presence, as
.bn 298.png
.pn +1
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.
.bn 299.png
.pn +1

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
.bn 300.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 301.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 295
Hume--Appendix to the Reign of James I., p.38.
.fn-

.fn 296
Heylyn, p. 142.
.fn-

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
.bn 302.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 303.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 304.png
.pn +1
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.”

.fn 297
Brodie, ii. p.89.
.fn-

.fn 298
Brodie.
.fn-

.fn 299
Heylyn, 143.
.fn-

.fn 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.
.fn-

.fn 301
Inedited letter in the State Paper Office, 1623, vol. 28.
.fn-

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
.bn 305.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 302
A full statement of the charges may be seen in Brodie’s
Constitutional History, vol. ii., p. 113, from Rushworth.
.fn-

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
.bn 306.png
.pn +1
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 <lang=fr><em>douceur</em></lang> 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
.bn 307.png
.pn +1
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.”[306]

.fn 303
Brodie, from Rushworth, vol. ii., p.121.
.fn-

.fn 304
Inedited State Papers, 1624.
.fn-

.fn 305
Inedited State Papers; date, October 11th, 1624.
.fn-

.fn 306
Letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton.
Inedited State Papers, June 5th, 1624.
.fn-

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<em>l.</em> or 3,000<em>l.</em>, from Sir Henry Mildmay, who
.bn 308.png
.pn +1
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<em>l.</em> 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 <lang=la><em>viaticum</em></lang>
to the Lord Hay, who, they say, stands upon
9,000<em>l.</em>”[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<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;
.bn 309.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 307
Inedited State Papers. January, 1617-18.
.fn-

.fn 308
Brodie, vol. i., p.113.
.fn-

.fn 309
Dated August 20th, 1618.
.fn-

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.[310] 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.[311]

.fn 310
Inedited State Papers, 1625. This sum was eventually
reduced to 5,000<em>l.</em>
.fn-

.fn 311
Letter from Secretary Nameton.--State Paper Office,
Oct. 18, 1618.
.fn-

Lord Zouch, meantime, the former Warden of
the Cinque Ports, was perfectly satisfied with the
.bn 310.png
.pn +1
compensation of 500<em>l.</em> a year, secured on lands,
and 1,000<em>l.</em> 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.

.fn 312
Inedited State Papers.
.fn-

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.

.fn 313
Brodie, vol. ii., p. 113.
.fn-

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>,[314] and we find, as a sad confirmation
of the charge, among the documents in the
.bn 311.png
.pn +1
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.[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.”

.fn 314
Ibid, 123.
.fn-

.fn 315
Date, March 6, 1625.
.fn-

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
.bn 312.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 316
Life of Archbishop Laud.
.fn-

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
.bn 313.png
.pn +1
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, <pm corr 305.8 who “who> exclaimed, ‘They are
worse than devils who say so.’”[317]

.fn 317
Brodie, vol. ii., p. 125.
.fn-

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
.bn 314.png
.pn +1
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 <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.”[318]

.fn 318
Sir Henry Wotton, p. 225.
.fn-

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
.bn 315.png
.pn +1
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.

.fn 319
Hume.
.fn-

.fn 320
Heylyn, p. 144.
.fn-

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
.bn 316.png
.pn +1
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]

.fn 321
Hume, vol. vi., p. 179.
.fn-

“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 <pm corr 308.22 Crown. 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.

.fn 322
Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i., p. 325.
.fn-

Charles, considering that he was himself aimed
.bn 317.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 318.png
.pn +1
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
.bn 319.png
.pn +1
sufficient in those times to have a near relation a
Romanist, to be disqualified for office.[323]

.fn 323
Hume, from Franklyn, p. 195.
.fn-

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.

.fn 324
Heylyn, p. 153.
.fn-

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
.bn 320.png
.pn +1
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.”

.fn 325
Heylyn, p. 159.
.fn-

.fn 326
Hume, p. 129.
.fn-


.sp 4
.ce
END OF VOL. II.

.sp 4
.hr 80%
.ce
R. BORN, PRINTER, GLOUCESTER STREET, REGENT’S PARK.
.bn 321.png
.pn a1
.pb



.rj
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH ST. LONDON

.nf c
<xl>NEW AND INTERESTING WORKS</xl>

PUBLISHED BY

<l>MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT,</l>

SUCCESSORS TO MR. COLBURN.
.nf-

.hr 20%

.ni
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<b><l>MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF GEORGE IV. FROM</l></b>
<sc>Original Family Documents</sc>. By the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM
AND CHANDOS, K.G. 2 vols. 8vo. with Portraits. 30s. bound.
.in

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is excellent.”--<cite>Literary Gazette.</cite>

"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>

"‘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>
.pm end_ad
.bn 325.png
.pn a5

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>LODGE’S GENEALOGY OF THE PEERAGE AND
BARONETAGE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.</l></b> <sc>A New and Revised
Edition.</sc> Uniform with “<sc>The Peerage</sc>” Volume, with the arms
beautifully engraved, handsomely bound with gilt edges, price 31s. 6d.
.in

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 <sc>The Peerage</sc>, 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.”


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>EPISODES OF FRENCH HISTORY DURING THE
CONSULATE AND FIRST EMPIRE.</l></b> By MISS PARDOE, author of
“The Life of Marie de Medicis,” &c. 2 vols. 21s.
.in

.pm start_ad
"We recommend Miss Pardoe’s ‘Episodes’ as very pleasant reading. They cannot
fail to entertain and instruct."--<cite>Critic.</cite>

“One of the must amusing and instructive books Miss Pardoe has ever given to the
public.”--<cite>Messenger.</cite>

“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGE VILLIERS,
DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.</l></b> By MRS. THOMSON, Author of “The
Life of the Duchess of Marlborough,” “Memoirs of Sir W. Raleigh,” &c.
With Portrait. (<cite>Just Ready.</cite>)
.in


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE LIVES OF PHILIP HOWARD, EARL OF
ARUNDEL, AND OF ANNE DACRES, HIS WIFE.</l></b> Edited from the
Original MSS. By the DUKE OF NORFOLK, E.M. 1 vol. antique.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>MEMOIRS OF BERANGER. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.</l></b>
<sc>English Copyright Edition.</sc> Second Edition, with numerous
Additional Anecdotes and Notes, hitherto unpublished. 8vo. with Portrait.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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 <lang=fr><em>chansons</em></lang>, 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>
.pm end_ad
.bn 326.png
.pn a6


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE BOOK OF ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, AND
DECORATIONS OF HONOUR OF ALL NATIONS; COMPRISING
AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF EACH ORDER, MILITARY, NAVAL
AND CIVIL;</l></b> with Lists of the Knights and Companions of each British
Order. <sc>Embellished With Five Hundred Fac-simile Couloured
Illustrations of the Insignia of the Various Orders.</sc> Edited
by SIR BERNARD BURKE, Ulster King of Arms. 1 vol. royal 8vo.,
handsomely bound, with gilt edges, price £2. 2s.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>

“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>
.pm end_ad


.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>JOURNAL OF AN ENGLISH OFFICER IN INDIA.</l></b>
By MAJOR NORTH, 60th Rifles, Deputy Judge Advocate-General, and
Aide-de-Camp to General Havelock. 1 vol. with portrait.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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 <pm corr_noid 'and and' 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."--<cite>Messenger.</cite>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>EASTERN HOSPITALS AND ENGLISH NURSES;</l></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.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>PICTURES OF SPORTING LIFE AND CHARACTER.</l></b>
By LORD WILLIAM LENNOX. 2 vols. with Illustrations. 21s.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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 <lang=fr><em>littérateur</em></lang>, 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>
.pm end_ad
.bn 327.png
.pn a7


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE COUNTESS OF BONNEVAL: HER LIFE AND
LETTERS.</l></b> By LADY GEORGIANA FULLERTON. 2 vols. 21s.
.in

.pm start_ad
“The whole work forms one of those touching stories which create a lasting impression.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite>

“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>
.pm end_ad

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE LIFE OF MARIE DE MEDICIS, QUEEN OF
FRANCE,</l></b> <sc>Consort of Henry IV., and Regent under Louis XIII</sc>.
By MISS PARDOE. Second Edition. 3 vols. 8vo. Portraits.
.in

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>MEMOIRS OF THE BARONESS D’OBERKIRCH,</l></b>
<sc>Illustrative of the Secret History of the Courts of France,
Russia, and Germany. Written by</sc> HERSELF, and Edited by Her
Grandson, the COUNT DE MONTBRISON. 3 vols. post 8vo. 15s.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>MEMOIRS OF RACHEL.</l></b> 2 vols. with Portrait. 21s.
.in

.pm start_ad
“A book sure to attract public attention, and well meriting it.”--<cite>Globe.</cite>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>SCOTTISH HEROES IN THE DAYS OF WALLACE
AND BRUCE.</l></b> By the <sc>Rev. A. LOW</sc>, A.M. 2 vols. post 8vo.
.in


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF MAJOR
GENERAL SIR W. NOTT, G.C.B.,</l></b> <sc>Commander of the Army of
Candahar, and Envoy at the Court of Lucknow</sc>. 2 vols. 8vo.
with Portrait. 16s. bound.
.in

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>RULE AND MISRULE OF THE ENGLISH IN
AMERICA.</l></b> By the Author of “SAM SLICK.” 2 vols. post 8vo.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>RECOLLECTIONS OF WEST END LIFE; WITH
SKETCHES OF SOCIETY IN PARIS, INDIA,</l></b> &c. By MAJOR CHAMBRE
late 17th Lancers. 2 vols. with Portrait of George IV.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad
.bn 328.png
.pn a8


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE UPPER and LOWER AMOOR; A NARRATIVE
OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE.</l></b> By T. W. ATKINSON. Author of
“ORIENTAL and WESTERN SIBERIA.” With Map and numerous
Illustrations. (<em>In the Press.</em>)
.in

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>SIXTEEN YEARS OF AN ARTIST’S LIFE IN
MOROCCO, SPAIN, AND THE CANARY ISLANDS.</l></b> By MRS.
ELIZABETH MURRAY. 2 vols. 8vo. with Coloured Illustrations.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>

“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>REVELATIONS OF PRISON LIFE; WITH AN ENQUIRY
<sc>into Prison Discipline and Secondary Punishments</sc>.</l></b> By
GEORGE LAVAL CHESTERTON, 25 Years Governor of the House of
Correction at Cold-Bath Fields. Third Edition, Revised. 1 vol.
.in

.pm start_ad
“Mr. Chesterton has had a rare experience of human frailty. He has lived with the
felon, the forger, the <lang=fr><em>lorette</em></lang>, 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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE OLD COURT SUBURB; OR, MEMORIALS OF
KENSINGTON; <sc>Regal, Critical, and Anecdotical</sc></l></b>. By LEIGH
HUNT. Second Edition. 2 vols. post 8vo.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>MY EXILE.</l></b> BY ALEXANDER HERZEN. 2 vols.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>A PRACTICAL GUIDE IN OBTAINING PROBATES,
ADMINISTRATIONS,</l></b> &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 <sc>Cresswell
Cresswell</sc>, Judge of the New Court of Probate. Cheaper Edition. 12s.
.in

.pm start_ad
“A most valuable book. Its contents are very diversified--meeting almost every
use.”--<i>Solicitor’s Journal.</i>
.pm end_ad
.bn 329.png
.pn a9

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>ORIENTAL AND WESTERN SIBERIA; A NARRATIVE</l></b>
<sc>of Seven Years’ Explorations and Adventures in Siberia,
Mongolia, the Kirghis Steppes, Chinese Tartary, and Central
Asia.</sc> 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.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>

“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>

"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>

"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>

“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>
.pm end_ad
.bn 330.png
.pn a10


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA, WITH THE
NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE IN MOZAMBIQUE: 1856 to 1859.</l></b>
By LYONS McLEOD, Esq. F.R.G.S., &c. Late British Consul in Mozambique.
2 vols. With Map and Illustrations.
.in

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>A JOURNEY ON A PLANK FROM KIEV TO EAUX-BONNES.</l></b>
By LADY CHARLOTTE PEPYS. 2 vols, with Illustrations.
21s. (<em>Just Ready</em>).
.in

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>LAKE NGAMI; OR EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES</l></b>
<sc>during Four Years’ Wanderings in the Wilds of
South-Western Africa</sc>. 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.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE OXONIAN IN THELEMARKEN;</l></b> OR, NOTES
<sc>of Travel in South-Western Norway, with Glances at the
Legendary Lore of that District</sc>. By the Rev. F. METCALFE
M.A., Fellow of Lincoln College. 2 vols. with illustrations.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE OXONIAN IN NORWAY; OR, NOTES OF
<sc>Excursions in that Country</sc></l></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.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>SIX YEARS IN RUSSIA. BY AN ENGLISH LADY.</l></b>
2 vols. post 8vo. with Illustrations. 21s. bound.
.in
.bn 331.png
.pn a11


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>A SUMMER AND WINTER IN THE TWO SICILIES.</l></b>
By JULIA KAVANAGH, Author of “Nathalie,” “Adèle,” &c. 2 vols.
post 8vo. with illustrations, 21s. bound.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE JEWS IN THE EAST.</l></b> By the Rev. P.
BEATON, M.A. From the German of <sc>Dr. Frankl</sc>. 2 vols. 21s.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>

“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.,”--<cite>Globe.</cite>

“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>CHOW-CHOW; BEING SELECTIONS FROM A JOURNAL,
KEPT IN INDIA,</l></b> &c. By the VISCOUNTESS FALKLAND.
New and Revised Edition, 2 vols. 8vo., with Illustrations. 21s.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE DISCOVERY
OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE</l></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.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE WANDERER IN ARABIA.</l></b> BY G. T. LOWTH,
<sc>Esq.</sc> 2 vols. post 8vo. with Illustrations. 12s.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD;
OR, DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MOOSE HUNTING IN THE PINE
FORESTS OF ACADIA.</l></b> By CAMPBELL HARDY, <sc>Royal Artillery</sc>.
2 vols. post 8vo. with illustrations. 12s.
.in

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>A PILGRIMAGE INTO DAUPHINE;</l></b> <sc>With a Visit
to the Monastery of the Grande Chartreuse, and Anecdotes,
Incidents, and Sketches from Twenty Departments of France</sc>.
By the REV. G. M. MUSGRAVE, A.M. 2 vols. with Illustrations.
.in
.bn 332.png
.pn a12


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>FAMILY ROMANCE; OR, DOMESTIC ANNALS OF
THE ARISTOCRACY.</l></b> By SIR BERNARD BURKE, <sc>Ulster King Of
Arms</sc>. 2 vols. post 8vo. 21s.
.in

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.

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE ROMANCE OF THE FORUM; OR, NARRATIVES,
SCENES, AND ANECDOTES FROM COURTS OF JUSTICE.
SECOND SERIES.</l></b> By PETER BURKE, <sc>Esq.</sc>, of the Inner Temple
Barrister-at-Law. 2 vols. post 8vo. 12s.
.in

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.

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE.</l></b> By WILLIAM
HOWITT. 3 vols. post 8vo. (<em>Just Ready</em>).
.in


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>SONGS OF THE CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS,
JACOBITE BALLADS,</l></b> &c. By G. W. THORNBURY. 1 vol. with
numerous Illustrations by <sc>H. S. Marks</sc>. Elegantly bound. 6s.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad
.bn 333.png
.pn a13


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>POEMS.</l></b> BY THE AUTHOR OF “JOHN HALIFAX,
GENTLEMAN,” "A WOMAN’S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN," &c.
1 vol. with Illustrations by <sc>Birket Foster</sc>. 10s. 6d. bound.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>

“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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>A LIFE FOR A LIFE.</l></b> By the Author of
“<sc>John Halifax Gentleman</sc>,” &c.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>

"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>

"‘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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>REALITIES OF PARIS LIFE.</l></b> By the Author
of “FLEMISH INTERIORS,” &c. 3 vols. with Illustrations. 31s. 6d.
.in

.pm start_ad
"‘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>

“There is much new matter pleasantly put together in these volumes. Their merit will
commend itself to all readers.”--<cite>Examiner.</cite>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>NOVELS AND NOVELISTS, FROM ELIZABETH TO
VICTORIA.</l></b> By J. C. JEAFFRESON, <sc>Esq.</sc> 2 vols. with Portraits. 21s.
.in

.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>THE RIDES AND REVERIES OF MR. ÆSOP SMITH.</l></b>
By MARTIN F. TUPPER, D.C.L., F.R.S., Author of “Proverbial Philosophy,”
“Stephen Langton,” &c., 1 vol. post 8vo.
.in

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad


.sp 1
.in 4
.ti -4
<b><l>A MOTHER’S TRIAL.</l></b> By the Author of
“<sc>The Discipline of Life</sc>,” “<sc>The Two Brothers</sc>,” &c. 1 vol.
with Illustrations, by <sc>Birket Foster</sc>. 7s. 6d. bound.
.in

.pm start_ad
"‘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>
.pm end_ad
.bn 334.png
.pn a14

.sp 1

.nf c
<b><l>SEVEN YEARS.</l></b>
By <sc>Julia Kavanagh</sc>.
Author of ”<sc>Nathalie</sc>," 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
"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>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>LUCY CROFTON.</l></b>
By the Author of ”<sc>Margaret Maitland</sc>."
1 vol.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>THE WOOD-RANGERS.</l></b>
By <sc>Captain Mayne Reid</sc>.

From the French of Louis de Bellemare.
3 vols., with illustrations.
.nf-

.nf c
<b><l>THE LITTLE BEAUTY.</l></b>
By <sc>Mrs. Grey</sc>,
Author of "<sc>The Gambler’s Wife</sc>.“ 3 v.
.nf-

.nf c
<b><l>MR. AND MRS. ASHETON.</l></b>
By the Author of ”<sc>Margaret and her
Bridesmaids</sc>." 3 vols.
.nf-

.nf c
<b><l>THE WAY OF THE WORLD.</l></b>
By <sc>Alison Reed</sc>. 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“There is a spell and fascination upon
one from the first page to the last.”--<cite>John
Bull.</cite>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>ALMOST A HEROINE.</l></b>
By the Author of “<sc>Charles Auchester</sc>,”
&c. 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
"This novel is the author’s best."--<cite>Herald.</cite>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>WAIT AND HOPE.</l></b>
By <sc>John Edmund Reade</sc>. 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
"‘Wait and Hope’ reminds us of the
style of Godwin."--<cite>Athenæum.</cite>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>RAISED TO THE PEERAGE.</l></b>
By <sc>Mrs. Octavius Owen</sc>. 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
"‘Raised to the Peerage’ possesses very
many of the requisites of a really good
novel."--<cite>Examiner.</cite>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>FEMALE INFLUENCE.</l></b>
By <sc>Lady Charlotte Pepys</sc>, 2 vols.
.nf-

.nf c
<b><l>LETHELIER.</l></b>
by <sc>E. Heneage Dering</sc>, Esq.
2 vols.
.nf-

.nf c
<b><l>THE QUEEN Of HEARTS.</l></b>
By <sc>Wilkie Collins</sc>. 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
"‘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>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>STEPHAN LANGTON.</l></b>
By <sc>Martin F. Tuffer</sc>. D.C.L. F.R.S.
Author of ”<sc>Proverbial Philosophy</sc>,"
&c., 2 vols. with fine engravings.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>CREEDS.</l></b>
By the Author of “<sc>The Morals of
May Fair</sc>.” 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“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>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>THE LEES OF BLENDON HALL.</l></b>
By the Author of “<sc>Alice Wentworth</sc>.”
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“A powerful and well-sustained story of
strong interest.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>NEWTON DOGVANE.</l></b>
A Story of English Life.
By <sc>Francis Francis</sc>.
With Illustrations by <sc>Leech</sc>. 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“A capital sporting novel.”--<cite>Chronicle.</cite>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>HELEN LINDSAY;</l></b>
Or, <sc>The Trial of Faith</sc>.
By <sc>A Clergyman’s Daughter</sc>. 2 vols.
.nf-

.nf c
<b><l>WOODLEIGH.</l></b>
By the Author of “<sc>Wildflower</sc>,”
“<sc>One and Twenty</sc>,” &c. 3 vols.
.nf-

.nf c
<b><l>BENTLEY PRIORY.</l></b>
By <sc>Mrs. Hastings Parker</sc>. 3 vols.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“An acquisition to novel-readers from
its brilliant descriptions, sparkling style,
and interesting story.”--<cite>Sun.</cite>
.pm end_ad
.bn 335.png
.pn a15

.nf c
<s>NOW IN COURSE OF PUBLICATION.</s>

<xl>HURST AND BLACKETT’S STANDARD LIBRARY</xl>
OF CHEAP EDITIONS OF
<l>POPULAR MODERN WORKS.</l>
.nf-

.nf c
Each in a single volume, elegantly printed, bound, and illustrated, price 5s.
A volume to appear every two months. The following are now ready.
.nf-

.hr 15%

.nf c
<b><l>VOL. I.--SAM SLICK’S NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE.</l></b>
ILLUSTRATED BY LEECH.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
"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>

"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>
.pm end_ad

.ce
<b><l>VOL. II.--JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.</l></b>

<s>“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></s>

<s>"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></s>

.nf c
<b><l>VOL. III.--THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.</l></b>
BY ELIOT WARBURTON.
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“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>

"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>
.pm end_ad

.ce
<b><l>VOL. IV.--NATHALIE. BY MISS KAVANAGH.</l></b>

.pm start_ad
"‘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>

“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>

"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>
.pm end_ad
.bn 336.png
.pn a16

.nf c
<b><l>VOL. V.--A WOMAN’S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.</l></b>
BY THE AUTHOR OF “JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.”
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“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>

"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>

“These thoughts are good and humane. They are thoughts we would wish women to
think”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite>

"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>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>VOL. VI.--ADAM GRAEME, OF MOSSGRAY.</l></b>
BY THE AUTHOR OF “MRS. MARGARET MAITLAND.”
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“‘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>

“‘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>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>VOL. VII.--SAM SLICK’S WISE SAWS
AND MODERN INSTANCES.</l></b>
.nf-

.pm start_ad
"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>

"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>
.pm end_ad

.nf c
<b><l>VOL. VIII.--CARDINAL WISEMAN’S RECOLLECTIONS
OF THE LAST FOUR POPES.</l></b>
.nf-

.pm start_ad
“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>

“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 <pm corr_noid infalilbity infallibility> represented in Papal domination.”--<cite>Athenæum.</cite>

“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>
.pm end_ad

.pb
.if h
.ce
<l>Footnotes</l>
.if-

.fm lz=h

<target id='endnote'>
.dv class='tnotes'

.ce
<l>Transcriber’s Note</l>

.if h
.dv class='htmlonly'
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.
.dv-
.if-

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.

.ta l:10 l:42 l:16 w=100%
<pm cref 9.4>       | in returning to land at Southampton,[”] | Added.
<pm cref 34.3>      | King Philip, followed by his [thaclow], Don Carlos | <em>Sic</em>: ?
<pm cref 37.8>      | Buckingham added in a post[s]cript | Added.
<pm cref 43.11>     | two pairs of pearl-shaped ear-rings, marvellous great.[”]| <em>sic</em> no “
<pm cref 70.15>     | now that he was going to the House of Rinmon.[”] | Added.
<pm cref 80.15>     | [“]pious endeavours would fill the King | Added.
<pm cref 80.28>     | guided by wor[l]dly wisdom |  Added.
<pm cref 105.8>     | and others, [“]to bargain for them, | Removed.
<pm cref 137.4>     | leaving his minister to his fate.[”] | Removed.
<pm cref 137.141.1> | State Papers, clxii., No. [15/45] | Replaced.
<pm cref 154.152.1> | Brodie’s Co[r/n]. Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note. | Replaced.
<pm cref 155.163.1> | Brodie’s Co[r/n]. Hist., vol. ii., p. 128, note. | Replaced.
<pm cref 168.25>    | The Earl of Holland had had,[”] says Bishop Hacket,| Removed.
<pm cref 183.16>    | [“]a feather made with great diamonds | Added.
<pm cref 182.18>    | all studded with diamonds,[”] | Added.
<pm cref 184.2>     | all [‘]things suitable.[’/”] [“]His other suits,” adds the narrator | Removed/Replaced/Added.
<pm cref 184.24>    | were provided with three rich suits a[ ]piece | Removed.
<pm cref 232.3>     | [“]a disease which all the drugs of Asia | Added. Pro
<pm cref 237.21>    | that would give him no rest.[”] | Added.
<pm cref 238.19>    | it is dated, “Burghley, 18th July, 1625.[”]> | Added.
<pm cref 247.267.5> | Macpherson’s History of Commerce[./,] | Replaced.
<pm cref 305.8>     | [“]who exclaimed, ‘They are worse than devils who say so.’” | Added.
<pm cref 308.22>    | to register the edicts of the Crown[”] | Added. Probable.
.ta-
.dv-
.ig
80.15 Scinia Reserta, Volume 1, p. 172  https:\//books.google.com/books?id=HNRQAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
The passage “pious endeavours would fill the King with a good report”,
in her source appears as “would fill the Kingdom with a good report”, which
is has a better sense.

137.4 The King only looks on and leaving him to his fortune. cxlii. 45.
p. 137 Note 42 (141, here) should have been State Papers, clxii., No. 45.
.ig-