Raleigh, in this forlorn situation, found now that all his hopes were over; and saw his misfortunes aggravated by the reproaches of those whom he had undertaken to command. Nothing could be more deplorable than his situation, particularly when he was told that he must be carried back to England to answer for his conduct to the king. It is pretended that he employed many artifices, first to engage his men to attack the Spanish settlements at a time of peace; and, on failure of that scheme, to make his escape into France. But all these proving unsuccessful, he was delivered into the king's hands, and strictly examined, as well as his fellow-adventurers, before the privy council. Count Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, made heavy complaints against the expedition; and the king declared that Raleigh had express orders to avoid all disputes and hostilities against the Spaniards: wherefore, to give the court of Spain a particular instance of his attachment, he signed a warrant for his execution, not for the present A. D. offence, but for his former conspiracy; thus showing 1618. himself guilty of complicated injustice; unjust in originally having condemned him without proof; unjust in having trusted a man with a commission, without a pardon expressive of that confidence; unjust in punishing with death a transgression that did not deserve it; but most unjust of all, when he refused a new trial, and condemned him upon an obsolete sentence. This great man died with the same fortitude that he had testified through life he observed, as he felt the edge of the axe, that it was a sharp but a sure remedy for all evils; his harangue to the people was calm and eloquent; and he laid his head on the block with the utmost indifference. His death ensured him that popularity which his former intrepidity and his sufferings, so much greater than his crimes, had tended to procure him; and no measure in this reign was attended with so much public dissatisfaction. The death of this great man was soon followed by the disgrace of a still greater, namely, the chancellor Bacon, who was accused of receiving bribes in his office; and, pleading guilty, was degraded and fined forty thousand pounds; but his fine was afterwards remitted by the king.

The reasons for James's partiality to the court of Spain in the case of Raleigh soon appeared This monarch had enter

tained an opinion, which was peculiar to himself, that in marrying his son Charles, the prince of Wales, any alliance below that of royalty would be unworthy of him; he therefore was obliged to seek, either in the court of France or Spain, a suitable match; and he was taught to think of the latter. Gondomar, perceiving this weak monarch's partiality to a crowned head, made an offer of the second daughter of Spain to prince Charles: and, that he might render the temptation irresistible, he gave hopes of an immense fortune which should attend the princess. However, this was a negotiation which was not likely soon to be concluded; and, from the time the idea was first started James saw five years elapse without bringing the treaty to any kind of conclusion.

A delay of this kind was very displeasing to the king, who had all along an eye on the great fortune of the princess; nor was it less disagreeable to prince Charles, who, bred up with ideas of romantic passion, was in love without ever seeing the object of his affections. In this general tedium of delay, a project entered the head of Villiers (who had for some years ruled the king with absolute authority), that was fitter to be conceived by the knight of romance, than by a minister and a statesman. It was nothing less than that the prince should travel in disguise into Spain, and visit the object of his affections in person. Buckingham, who wished to ingratiate himself with the prince, offered to be his companion; and the king, whose business it was to check so wild a scheme, gave his consent to this hopeful proposal. Their adventures on this A. D. strange project could fill novels, and have actually been 1623. made the subject of many. Charles was the knighterrant and Buckingham was his esquire. They travelled through France in disguise, assuming the names of Jack and Tom Smith. They went to a ball at Paris, where the prince first saw the princess Henrietta, whom he afterwards married, and who was then in the bloom of youth and beauty. They were received at the court of Spain with all possible demonstrations of respect; but Buckingham filled the whole city with intrigues, adventures, serenades, challenges, and jealousy. To complete the catalogue of his follies, he fell in love with the countess of Olivarez, the prime minister's wife, and insulted that minister in person. These levities were not to be endured at such a

court as that of Spain, where jealousy is so prevalent, and decorum so much observed; the match was therefore broken off. Historians do not assign the reason; but if we may credit the novelists of that time, the prince had already fixed his affections upon the French princess.

In fact, a match for this prince was soon after negotiated with Henrietta, who was the daughter of the great Henry the Fourth; and this met with better success than the former. However, the king had not the same illurements in prosecuting this match as the former, as the portion promised him was much smaller; but, willing that his son should not be altogether disappointed of a bride, as the king of France demanded only the same terms which had been offered to the court of Spain, James consented to comply. In an article of his treaty of marriage, it was stipulated that the education of the children, till the age of thirteen, should belong to the mother; and this probably gave that turn towards popery, which has since been the ruin of that unfortunate family.

Indeed a variety of causes seemed to conspire with their own imprudence to bring down upon them those evils which they afterwards experienced. The house of commons was by this time become quite unmanageable; the prodigality of James to his favourites had made his necessities so many that he was contented to sell the different branches of his prerogative to the commons, one after the other, to procure supplies. In proportion as they perceived his wants, they found out new grievances; and every grant of money was sure to come with a petition for redress. The struggles between him and his parliament had been growing more and more violent every session; and the last advanced their pretensions to such a degree, that he began to take the alarm; but those evils to which the weakness of this monarch had contributed to give birth, fell upon his successor.

These domestic troubles were attended by others still more important in Germany, and which produced in the end the most dangerous effects. The king's eldest daughter had been married to Frederic the elector palatine of Germany; and this prince, having accepted the Bohemian crown from the rebellious subjects of the emperor Ferdinand the Second, was defeated in a decisive battle, and obliged to take refuge in Holland.

A. D.

His affinity to the English crown, his misfortunes, but particularly the protestant religion for which he had contended, were strong motives for the people of England to wish well to his cause; and frequent addresses were sent from the commons to spur up James to take a part in the German contest, and to replace the exiled prince upon the throne of his ancestors. James at first attempted to ward off the misfortunes of his son-in-law by negotiations; but these proving utterly ineffectual it was resolved at last to rescue the Palatinate from the emperor by force of arms. Accordingly war was declared against Spain and the emperor; six thousand men were sent over 1624. into Holland, to assist prince Maurice in his schemes against those powers; the people were every where elated at the courage of their king, and were satisfied with any war which was to exterminate the papists. This army was followed by another consisting of twelve thousand men, commanded by count Mansfeldt; and the court of France promised its assistance. But the English were disappointed in all their views. The troops, sailing to Calais, found no orders for their admission. After waiting in vain for some time, they were obliged to sail towards Zealand, where no proper measures were yet taken for their disembarkation. Meanwhile a pestilential distemper crept in among the forces, so long cooped up in narrow vessels; half the army died while on board, and the other half, weakened by sickness, appeared too small a body to march into the Palatinate; and thus ended this ill-concerted and fruitless expedition.

Whether this misfortune had any effect upon the constitution of the king, is uncertain; but he was soon after seized with a tertian ague. When his courtiers assured him from the proverb that it was health for a king, he replied, that the proverb was meant for a young king. After some fits, he found himself extremely weakened, and sent for the prince, whom he exhorted to persevere in the protestant religion; then preparing with decency and courage to meet his end, he expired, after a reign Mar. 27. over England of twenty-two years, and in the fifty1625. ninth year of his age. With regard to foreign negotiations, James neither understood nor cultivated them; and perhaps in a kingdom so situated as England, domestic politics are alone sufficient. His reign was marked with none of the

splendours of triumph, nor with any new conquests or acquisitions; but the arts were nevertheless silently going on to improvement. Reason was extending her influence, and discovering to mankind a thousand errors in religion, in morals, and in government, that had long been reverenced by blind submission. The Reformation had produced a spirit of liberty, as well as of investigation, among all ranks of mankind, and taught them that no precedents could sanctify fraud, tyranny, or injustice. James taught them by his own example to argue upon the nature of the king's prerogative and the extent of the subject's liberty. He first began by setting up the prescriptive authority of kings against the natural privileges of the people; but when the subject was submitted to a controversy, it was soon seen that the monarch's was the weaker side.

CHAPTER V.

CHARLES I.

A. D. 1625-1641.

Few princes have ascended the throne with more apparent advantages than Charles; and none ever encountered more 'real difficulties. The advantages were such as might flatter even the most cautious prince into security; the difficulties were such as no abilities could surmount. He found himself, upon coming to the crown, possessed of a peaceful and flourishing kingdom, his right undisputed, his power strengthened by an alliance with one of the most potent nations in Europe, his absolute authority tacitly acknowledged by one part of his subjects, and enforced from the pulpit by the rest. To add to all this, he was loved by his people, whose hearts he had gained by his virtues, his humility, and his candour.

But on the opposite side of the picture we are presented with a very different scene. Men had begun to think of the different rights of mankind, and found that all had an equal claim to the inestimable blessings of freedom. The spirit of

VOL. II.