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last by its acid taste was particularly grateful to outlawed and starving fugitives, who snatched it "like beasts out of ditches, as they ran and were chaced to and fro." Of the drinks used by the Irish, the chief was aquavitæ or whiskey, exclusively a Celtic beverage, which was common from a very early period both to Irishmen and Highlanders, and sometimes it was flavoured by the former with raisins, fennel-seed, or saffron. Sometimes sack found its way to the tables of the rich from Spain, and ale and beer from England, but these last in smaller quantities. It speaks much for the Arab-like character of the people, that although they denied themselves so much the luxury of bread, yet they carefully hoarded their scanty stores of oats for the exclusive sustenance of their horses.

to the Irish common diet and processes of cookery, to use, were those that grew wild, such as the we are informed by an author of the period (Mor- water-cress, and especially the shamrock: this gan): "They scum the seething-pot with a hand- | ful of straw, and strain their milk taken from the cow through a like handful of straw, none of the cleanest, and so cleanse, or rather more defile the pot and milk. They devour great morsels of beef unsalted, and they eat commonly swine's flesh, seldom mutton; and all these pieces of flesh, as also the entrails of beasts unwashed, they seethe in a hollow tree, lapped in a raw cow's hide, and so set over the fire, and therewith swallow whole lumps of filthy butter. Yea (which is most contrary to nature) they will feed on horses dying of themselves, not only upon small want of flesh, but even for pleasure." To this account we may add a few notices from Campion, who informs us, that "in haste and hunger they would squeeze out the blood of raw flesh, and ask no more dressing thereto; the rest boileth in their stomachs with aquavitæ, which they swill in after such a surfeit by quarts and pottles." He also mentions a still more loathsome and inhuman dish which was in use among the Irish. This was procured by bleeding their cattle, and letting the blood congeal, after which it was baked, larded with butter, and devoured in lumps. The milk of their cattle was also plentifully used at Irish meals, warmed or curdled, by the process of dropping a stone into it that had been heated in the fire for the purpose; and sometimes this simple posset was enriched by an admixture of beef-broth. Whatever vegetables they chanced

Such was the state of Ireland at the close of the sixteenth and commencement of the seventeenth centuries. It is truly a sickening picture; and on considering it, we are naturally induced to wonder that so little improvement has been ac complished in the character and condition of the native Irish, from that period till the present day. Are we to attribute this political phenomenon to the Asiatic tenacity and indisposition to change, manifested by the whole Celtic race, aggravated in the case of Ireland by foreign domination and misrule? Such a conclusion the whole history of that unhappy land seems too well calculated to verify

BOOK VII.

PERIOD FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES I. TO THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II.-57 YEARS.

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CHAPTER I.-CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY.—A.D. 1603-1606.

JAMES I.-ACCESSION, A.D. 1603-DEATH, A.D. 1625.

Tidings of Queen Elizabeth's death sent to James VI. of Scotland-He is proclaimed King of England, &c.—His journey to England-His arrival in London-Court paid to him by foreign states-Plots against him in London--Apprehension of the principal conspirators—Apprehension and trial of Sir Walter Raleigh-He and his associates respited-Petition of the Puritans for religious reform and a conference-The conference held at Hampton Court-James's conduct as a disputant-Flattery paid to him by the bishops and courtiersMeeting of his first parliament-James's love of hunting-Disappointment of the Catholics at not receiving toleration-Conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot-Their purpose and proceedings-Detection of the plotApprehension of Fawkes-Flight of the conspirators-Their desperate resistance and death-Trial and execu tion of Fawkes-Trial and execution of others of the conspirators-Apprehension of Garnet, the Jesuit, and his associate, Hall—Their imprisonment in the Tower-Nefarious practices to make them confess their guilt ―Their trial-They are executed—Arbitrary proceedings of the Star Chamber.

LIZABETH had no sooner secret, until the formal despatch from London breathed her last, than Lady | should reach him. Sir Robert Carey had scarcely Scrope, a daughter of her rela- taken horse for the north when Cecil, Nottingtive, the late Lord Hunsdon, ham, Egerton, and others, met in secret debate communicated the intelligence at Richmond at an early hour, before the queen's to her brother, Sir Robert Ca- death was known; and these lords "knowing rey, who had been on the watch; above all things delays to be most dangerous," and who, anticipating Cecil and the proceeded at once to London, and drew up a proother lords of the council, stole out clamation in the name "of the lords spiritual of the palace at Richmond, where the and temporal, united and assisted with the late queen had expired at three o'clock on the morn- queen's council, other principal gentlemen, the ing of Thursday, the 24th of March, and posted lord-mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London, a down to Scotland, in order to be the first to multitude of other good subjects and commons hail James Stuart as King of England. This of the realm." This proclamation bore thirty-six tender relative arrived at Edinburgh on the signatures, the three first being those of Robert night of Saturday the 26th, four days before Sir Lee, lord-mayor of London, the Archbishop Charles Percy and Thomas Somerset, Esq., who of Canterbury, and the Lord-keeper Egerton; were despatched by the council; but it was the three last, those of Secretary Sir Robert Ce agreed with James to keep the great matter a cil, Sir J. Fortescue, and Sir John Pophamn. It

VOL. II.

143-4

was signed and ready about five hours after was the readiness of the nation to acknowledge Elizabeth's decease; and then those who had signed it went out of the council-chamber at Whitehall, with Secretary Cecil at their head, who had taken the chief direction of the business, and who in the front of the palace read to the people the proclamation, which assured them that the queen's majesty was really dead, and that the right of succession was wholly in James, King of Scots, now King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. They then went to the High Cross in Cheapside,

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THE HIGH CROSS, CHEAPSIDE.

From a painting lately at Cowdray, Sussex.

where Cecil again read the proclamation, and when he had done, "the multitude with one consent cried aloud-'God save King James!"" for all parties, or rather the three great religious sects, High Churchmen, Puritans, and Papists, all promised themselves advantages from his accession. Cecil next caused three heralds and a trumpeter to proclaim the said tidings within the walls of the Tower, where the heart of many a state-prisoner leaped for joy, and where the Earl of Southampton, the friend of the unfortunate Essex, joined the rest in their signs of great gladness. Of the other thirteen or fourteen conflicting claims to the succession which had been reckoned up at different times during Elizabeth's reign, not one appears to have been publicly mentioned, or even alluded to; and the right of James was allowed to pass unquestioned. Such had been the able management of Cecil-such

'Stow: Weldon: Osborne: Memoirs of Sir Robert Carey.

66

the Scottish king, or their laudable anxiety to
avoid a disputed succession and civil war.
There was one person, however, whose claim
excited uneasiness in the cautious mind of Cecil
this was the Lady Arabella Stuart, daughter
of the Earl of Lennox, younger brother of
James's father, Darnley, and descended equally
from the stock of Henry VII. This young lady
was by birth an English woman, a circumstance
which had been considered by some as making
up for her defect of primogeniture, for James.
though nearer, was a born Scotchman and alien.
Cecil for some time had had his eye upon the
Lady Arabella, and she was now safe in his
keeping. Eight hundred dangerous or turbulent
persons, indistinctly described as vagabonds,"
were seized in two nights in London, and sent
to serve on board the Dutch fleet. No other out
ward precautions were deemed necessary by the
son of Burghley, who calmly waited the coming
of James and his own great reward, without ask-
ing for any pledge for the privileges of parlia-
ment, the liberties of the people, or the reform
of abuses which had grown with the growing
prerogative of the crown. But these were things
altogether overlooked, not only by Cecil and Not-
tingham, and those who acted with them, but
also by the parties opposed to them, the most
remarkable man among whom was Sir Walter
Raleigh, who, like all the other courtiers or
statesmen, looked entirely to his own interest o
aggrandizement.

Between the independent, unyielding spirit of his clergy, the turbulent, intriguing habits of his nobles, and his own poverty, James had led rather a hard life in Scotland. He was eager to take possession of England, which he looked upon as the very Land of Promise; but so poor was he that he could not begin his journey until Cecil sent him down money. He asked for the crown jewels of England for the queen his wife; but the council did not think fit to comply with this request: and, on the 6th day of April, he set out for Berwick, without wife or jewels. On arriving at that ancient town he fired off. with his own hand, a great piece of ordnance, an unusual effort of courage on his part. On the same day he wrote to his "right trusty and right wellbeloved cousins and councillors, the lords and others of his privy council at London," thanking them for the money which they had sent, telling them that he would hasten his journey as much

Lord Darnley, but through his mother, who, as the grand2 James's claim, however, was not at all through his father, daughter of James IV. by his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII., was, after Elizabeth, the next representative of that king. The Lady Arabella and her uncle Lord Darnley were descended from the same Margaret Tudor, but by her marriage with Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox.

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as conveniently he might that he intended to
tarry awhile at the city of York, and to make his
entry therein in some such solemn manner as
appertained to his dignity, and that, therefore,
he should require that all such things as they in
their wisdom thought meet should be sent down
to York. The body of Elizabeth was still above
ground, and it would have been regular in him
to attend her funeral in person. He assured the
lords that he could be well contented to do that,
and all other honour he might, unto "the queen
defunct;" and he referred it to their considera-
tion, whether it would be more honour for her
to have the funeral finished before he came, or
to wait and have him present at it. Cecil and
his friends knew what
all this meant, and has-
tened the funeral: there
was no rejoicing succes-
sor present; but 1500
persons in deep mourn-
ing voluntarily followed
the body of Elizabeth
to Westminster Abbey.
The king was a slow tra-
veller. On the 13th of

April, or seven days after, he had got no farther than Newcastle, whence he wrote another letter, commanding coins of different denominations to be struck in gold and silver. He gave minute directions as to arms, quarterings, and mottoes. By the 15th of

made easy;" yet, notwithstanding their system and his own great caution, his majesty got a fall off his horse, near Belvoir Castle. "But God be thanked," adds Cecil, in relating the accident to the ambassador in France, "he hath no harm at all by it, and it is no more than may befall any other great and extreme rider, as he is, at least once every month." As he approached the English capital, hosts of courtiers and aspirants after places hurried to meet him and pay their homage. Among these the great Francis Bacon was not the last, who, in a letter to the Earl of Northumberland, has left us a curious record of his first impressions.2

Other persons who were not, as Bacon was,

afraid of judging too boldly of James's charac ter and address, expressed astonishment, if not disgust, at the very unroyal person and beh viour of the new sove reign, whose legs were too weak to carry his body-whose tongue was too large for his mouth whose eyes were goggle, rolling, and yet vacantwhose apparel was neglected and dirty-whose whole appearance and bearing was slovenly and ungainly; while his unmanly fears were betrayed by his wearing a thickly wadded daggerproof doublet, and by many other ridiculous precautions. To such as hungered after the honours of knighthood, he may have appeared in a more favourable light, for, as he went along, he profusely distributed these honours: in fact, he appears to have bestowed the honour of knighthood on nearly every person that came to him during this hey-day journey. At last, on the 3d of May, he reached Theobalds in Hertfordshire, the sumptuous seat of Secretary Cecil, where, as at other gentlemen's houses at which he had stayed, he was astonished at the luxury, comparative elegance, and comfort he found. He was met by all the lords of the late queen's council, who knelt down and did their homage, after which the Lord-keeper Egerton made a grave oration, in the name of all, signifying their assured love and allegiance. On the morrow he made twenty-eight more knights. But it was not for these operations that Ceci!

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April he had reached the JAMES I-From a portrait by Vandyke, after a miniature
house of Sir William
by Hilyard, 1617.

Ingleby at Topcliff; and from that place he wrote a curious letter, to the lord-keeper, the lord-treasurer, the lord-admiral, the master of the horse, and the principal secretary for the time being. All his circumlocution and care could not conceal his ill-humour at their not coming to meet him, and their still delaying to send the crown jewels. It is said that James, in conversing with some of his English counsellors about his prerogative, exclaimed joyously, "Do I make the judges? Do I make the bishops? Then, God's wounds! I make what likes me law and gospel!" Though he had hardly ever had the due and proper authority of a king in his own country, he had long indulged in a speculative absolutism, and, as far as his cowardice and indolence allowed him, he came fully prepared to rule the people of England as a despot. To enliven his journey he hunted along the road. He was a miserable horseman, but his courtiers invented for him a sort of "hunting

1 Sir Henry Ellis' Collection.

2 Serinia Sacra, a supplement to the Cahala.

had induced him to take Theobalds on his way; | made more. By the time he had set foot in his and during the four days which the king passed palace of Whitehall, he had knighted 200 indivithere, that wily statesman ingratiated himself duals of all kinds and colours, and before he had with his new master, and remodelled a cabinet been three months in England he had lavished very much (though not entirely) to his own sa- the honour on some 700; nor was he very chary tisfaction. The chief objects of Cecil's present even of the honour of the English peerage, which jealousy were the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Elizabeth held at so high a price. He presently Grey, Lord Cobham, and the versatile, intriguing, made four earls and nine barons, among whom and ambitious Sir Walter Raleigh, who, very for- was Cecil, who became Lord Cecil, afterwards tunately for Cecil, had given grounds of offence to Viscount Cranborne, and finally Earl of Salisbury. the king before Elizabeth's demise. Northum- Several of the English promotions excited surberland, who employed the cogent advocacy and prise and derision; but these feelings gave place eloquent tongue of Bacon, was promised a share to more angry passions when he elevated his Scotin the king's favour; but Cobham and Grey were tish followers to seats in the House of Lords. cut off from promotion, and Raleigh, who aspired Before he had done he added sixty-two names to to the highest posts, was deprived of the subor- the list of the peerage. dinate ones which he had held.' Cecil was retained, together with his friends Nottingham, Henry and Thomas Howard, Buckhurst, Mountjoy, and Egerton, to whom James added four Scottish lords, and his secretary, Elphinstone, a nomination which instantly called forth jealousy and discontent.

On the 7th of May the king moved towards London, and was met at Stamford Hill by the lord-mayor and aldermen of London, in scarlet robes; and about six o'clock in the evening he arrived at the Charter-house, where he made some more knights. On the same day proclamation was made that all the monopolies granted by the late queen should be suspended till they had been examined by the king and council, that all royal protections that hindered men's suits in law should cease, and that the oppressions done by saltpetre makers, purveyors, and cart-takers, for the use of the court, should be put down. These were valuable instalments if they had been held sacred; but a few days after, James, "being a prince above all others addicted to hunting," issued another proclamation, prohibiting all manner of persons whatsoever from killing deer, and all kinds of wild-fowl used for hunting and hawking, upon pain of the severest penalties.3

From the Charter-house James removed to the Tower, where he made more knights, and from the Tower he proceeded to Greenwich, where he

1 He was allowed to retain the government of the island of Jersey, which had been given to him by Elizabeth.-Sir Henry Ellis' Letters.

2 Lodge (Illustrations) gives a complete list of these monopolies. One of them gives Symon Farmer and John Crafford an exclusive right "to transport all manner of horns for twenty-one years." One gives Bryan Amersley the sole right of buying steel beyond seas, and of selling the same within this realm. One confines to Ede Schets the sole right of exporting ashes and old shoes for seven years. One gives Sir Walter Raleigh the faculty of dispensing licenses for keeping of taverns and retailing of wines throughout all England.

3 Stow; Roger Coke, Detection of the Court and State of England, &c.

Mr. Hallam tells us-"In the first part of his reign James had availed himself of an old feudal roucre, calling on all who

Towards the end of June, James met his queer and his children (with the exception of Charles, his second son, who had been left behind in Scot land) at Windsor Castle, where the young price Henry was installed knight of the order of the Garter. On the 22d of July the court removed to Westminster, where the king, in his garden, dubbed knights all the judges, all the serjeantsat-law, all the doctors of civil law, all the gentlemen-ushers, and "many others of divers qualities." Splendid preparations had been made for the coronation of the king and queen with pageants and shows of triumph; but as the plague was raging in the city of London and the suburbs, the people were not permitted to go to Westminster to see the sight, but forbidden by proclamation, lest the infection should be further spread

for there died that week in London and the suburbs of all diseases 1103; of the plague 857. To increase the inauspicious aspect of things, the weather was darker and more rainy than had ever been known at such a season. On the 25th of July the coronation took place.

However weak might be the personal character of James, the power of the great nation he was called to govern was not to be despised by the contending states on the Continent. Almost immediately on his arrival, special ambassadors began to flock from all parts, to congratulate him on his accession, and to win him each to the sepa

held £40 a-year in chivalry (whether of the crown or not, as it
seems) to receive knighthood or to pay a composition.-Rymer,
xvi. 530. The object of this was, of course, to raise money from
those who thought the honour troublesome and expensive, but
such as chose to appear could not be refused; and this accounts
for his having made many hundred knights in the first year of
his reign. -Harris' Life of James, p. 69."-Hallam's Const. Hist
Eng. note at p. 332. From The Glory of Generosity, published
in Elizabeth's reign, we learn that an act of parliament had
been passed to protect those who held lands by Rocage, from
being compelled to become knights and taxed accordingly. No
doubt this would make still more marked the greater honour
of the knightly tenure; and probably a mixed feeling of loyalty
and pride of rank led numbers of the gentry to crowd to the
king and claim their undoubted privilege of being knighted
• Slov.
Among those thus knighted was Francis Bacon.

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