jection, and almost of bondage, by his mother's favorite. On the following day the people of Paris raised a cry against the excommunicated Jew and wizard; they dug up his body, which had been hastily buried,-dragged it through the streets, hung it by the heels on a gibbet on the Pont Neuf. -cut it up,-burned part of it before the statue of Henry IV., and threw the rest into the Seine. The parliament of Paris proceeded against the memory of the deceased favorite, declared him to have been guilty of treason both against God and the king, condemned his wife to be beheaded, and her body afterward burned,—and declared his son to be ignoble and incapable of holding any property or place in France. In this strange process there was more talk of sorcery and devil-dealing than there had been on the trial of the murderers of Overbury; and it was pretended that monstrous proofs were discovered of the Judaism and magic of the wretched Florentine. As soon as Louis saw Concini fall on the drawbridge, he presented himself at a window, exclaiming, Praised be the Lord, now I am a king!" and the officers of his guard went through the streets of Paris shouting, “God save the king! The king is king!" James made haste to congratulate his most Christian majesty: and Sir Thomas Edmonds, his special ambassador, was instructed by the king or Villiers, or by both, to pay a high compliment to Vitry, the actual murderer. But France, after all, did not gain much by the change, for Louis soon submitted to a contemptible favorite of his own, the Duke de Luines, who misgoverned the country as much as Concini had done.

eral and had clung to his place, having been gratified with the title of Viscount Brackley in November, 1616, felt his end approaching in the mouth of February, formally resigned the seals in March, and died a fortnight after. James gave the seals, with the title of Lord Keeper, to Bacon, who had pledged himself to do the royal will in all things. The great philosopher, now in the fifty-fourth year of his age, was made giddy by his elevation: he rode to Westminster Hall on horseback, in a gown of rich purple satin, between the Lord Treasurer and the Lord Privy Seal, with a splendid escort of lords, courtiers, judges, lawyers, law students, officers, and servants. He seemed inclined to rival the magnificence and finery of Buckingham, and, in the absence of that creature of the court, the fullest-blown fop was at the head of the English law, the restorer of philosophy, the greatest wit, scholar, and scoundrel of his age. Before this, his last and fatal promotion, his income was immense, though apparently inadequate to his lavish expenditure: he came to the seals a needy, greedy man, but in his hopeful eyes there was no end to the wealth which the seals might command.

When James took his leave of his loving subjects of Scotland, he had promised that he would gladden their hearts and eyes with his presence at least once every three years; but fourteen years had elapsed, and he had never been able to recross the Tweed. This was owing to his improvidence and consequent poverty. It would have been too much to expect the poor Scots to pay the expenses of his costly progress. But in the course of the preceding year (1616) he had restored the cautionary towns of Brill, Flushing, and Rammekins to the Dutch for 2,700,000 florins, which was about one third of the debt really owing to him.' This Dutch money enabled James to pay off some of his most pressing debts, and to raise on the first blush of his improved credit nearly £100,000 at ten per cent. per annum, for his journey into Scotland. "He begins his journey with the spring, warming the country as he went with the glories of the court; taking such recreations by the way as might best beguile the days, and cut them shorter, but lengthen the nights (contrary to the seasons); for what with hawking, hunting and horse-racing, the days quickly ran away; and the nights, with feasting, masking, and dancing, were the more extended. And the king had fit

In the mean while James's new favorite, Villiers, was becoming far more powerful and mischievous than his predecessor, Somerset. The old Earl of Worcester was made to accept a pension and the honorary office of President of the Council, and to resign his place of Master of the Horse to the minion, who was now Viscount Villiers, and was soon after (on the 5th of January, 1617) created Earl of Buckingham. Bacon, who told the king that he was afraid of nothing but that his excellent servant the new Master of the Horse and he should fall out as to which should hold his majesty's stirrup best, and who, on Villiers's first advancement, had written an elaborate treatise to show him how to demean himself in his post of prime favorite, got some reward at the same time. The old Chancellor Ellesmere, who in moments of sickness had repeat-instruments for these sports about his person, as edly complained of his great age, his griefs, and in- Sir George Goring, Sir Edward Zouch, Sir John firmities, of the dullness and heaviness of his sense, Finnit, and others, that could fit and obtemperate and his decaying memory, but who, when the fit the king's humor; for he loved such representawas past, had baffled the hopes of the attorney-gen- tions, and disguises in their maskaradoes, as were Birch, Negot. Secretary Winwood, writing to Sir Guy Carleton, witty and sudden; the more ridiculous, the more ambassador in Holland, about this murder and special embassy, says, pleasant. . . . . And his new favorite, being an ex→But what opinion soever private particular men, who aim at noth-cellent dancer, brought that pastime into the great

ing else but the advancement of their own fortunes, have of this action the murder of Coucini), his majesty is pleased to approve of it, which doth appear not only by the outward demonstration of his exceeding joy and contentment when first be received the news thereof, but also by letters which, with his own hand, he hath written to the Freuch king.... Beside, Mr. Controller, who hath charge in all diligence to refern into France, hath express order to congratulate with the Mars shai de Vitry, for so now he is, that by his hands the king his master was delivered out of captivity."

* Cabala, and Bacon's works.

er request. . . . . He now reigns sole monarch in the king's affection-every thing he doth is admired for the doer's sake. No mau dances better; no

1 Rymer. It appears that the English ministers and negotiators were bribed by the Dutch, who must, however, have known that James's wants would make him grasp at auy offer of ready money. Peyton says that Secretary Winwood got £29,000 from the States.

was a part of the royal prerogative to prescribe the religious faith and worship of the people, soon came into conflict with the Presbyterian clergy. Old Andrew Melvil, the successor of John Knox, James Melvil, his nephew, and six others, were summoned up to London, where James disputed with them about doctrine and practice. It is probable that the king did not treat them with more respect than he had treated the Puritans at Hampton Court; and old Melvil was made of firmer materials than those preachers. To the king his behavior was respectful; but when he was interrogated by some Scottish lords he said, indignantly, I am a free subject of Scotland-a free kingdom, that has laws and privileges of its own. By these I stand. No legal citation has been issued against me, nor are you and I in our own country, where such an inquisition, so oppressive as the present, is condemned by parliament. I am bound by no law to criminate or to furnish accusation against myself. My lords, remember what you are; mean as I am, remember that I am a free-born Scotsman; to be dealt with as you would be dealt with yourselves, according to the laws of the Scottish realm.”

man runs or jumps better; and, indeed, he jumped higher than ever Englishman did in so short a time, from a private gentleman to a dukedom. But the king is not well without him-his company is his solace; and the court grandees can not be well but by him; so that all addresses are made to him, either for place or office in court or commonwealth, The bishops' sees did also ebb and flow, from the wane or fullness of his influence upon them." At Berwick the king and his favorite, and his English courtiers and jesters, were met by a numerous deputation of the Scottish nobility, who conducted them by slow stages to Edinburgh-for James loved to stop at every good house or sporting ground that he came nigh. His chief object in visiting Scotland was, however, to effect the complete establishment of the episcopal form of church government, and to assimilate the religious worship of the two countries. Without the least spark of religious zeal or fanaticism, James was most determinately bent on the subversion of the Presbyterian system, the spirit and form of which he detested more than ever, as inimical to his notion of the divine right of kings, and their absolute supremacy over the church as well as state. From the time of his controversy James, who had only invited them to a free conwith the English Puritans at Hampton Court, he ference, prohibited the return of the Scottish had been devising how he should fully restore preachers to their own country, and insisted on episcopacy in Scotland; and, by means of English their attending worship in his royal chapel, where money, and the boldness and cunning of his princi- they might hear the preaching of his courtly bishops. pal minister there, Sir George Hume, afterward This made matters worse. The characters of the Earl of Dunbar, he had made some progress in this bishops most about court were not spotless, and their direction. The first blow was struck at the general discourses seemed monstrously slavish to the proud assembly of the Scottish kirk in 1605. This assem- Calvinists: nor did the rites and oblations of the bly was arbitrarily prorogued by royal authority chapel, the gilded altar, the chalices, the tapers, three times in rapid succession. A number of the improve in their eyes upon a closer but compulsory clergy met at Aberdeen; their meeting was pro- acquaintance. Old Andrew Melvil vented his feelhibited, but they proceeded to assert their rights, ings of disgust in a Latin epigram of six lines, in chose a moderator, fixed an assembly to be held which he set down all these things as relics of the in the course of that year, and then dissolved scarlet she-wolf of Rome.1 The verses were themselves, in compliance with an order from shown to James, who summoned the author before the privy council. Thirteen of the leading mem- his English privy council, where Andrew was so bers were forthwith selected for fierce prosecu- irritated, that he burst forth into an invective against tion; and out of this number Welsh, Dury, and the whole Anglican church, and pulled or shook four other popular preachers, were convicted by the what he called the Romish rags of the Archbishop crown lawyers and a slavish jury of high treason. Af- of Canterbury's surplice. For all these offenses, ter a rigorous confinement, sentence of death was James arbitrarily committed him to the Tower of commuted into perpetual banishment. These con- London, where he lay for four years. He was then scientious men, whose fate would excite more sym- liberated at the earnest prayer of the Duke of pathy if they had been themselves less intolerant, Bouillon, but only upon condition that he should retired to the Protestant churches in France and pass the remainder of his life in some foreign counHolland, whither they were soon followed by many try. The venerable champion of Calvinism, the voluntary exiles, who revered their doctrines, and bosom friend of Theodore Beza, retired to Sedan, who were scared by the approaching horns of the and died abroad in 1620. His nephew, James Melmitre. The clergy at home, in spite of an admo- vil, was confined for life to Berwick, on the confines nition from the court, bewailed in prayer the trib- of his native country, where he died six years beulations of their brethren; and in their sermons fore his uncle. The other six Scottish preachers boldly announced the impending danger and ruin who had accompanied them to the free conference of the true church of Christ. Soon after the bishops, were banished to separate and remote districts in who had never altogether ceased to exist in name, Scotland. To quiet the murmurs of the Presbytewere reestablished in authority and in revenue-rian clergy,-to win them over to the bishops, whose that is, to the extent of the power of James and his slavish court. These occupants of dilapidated sees, who were ready on all occasions to maintain that it

indefinite powers the king continued to advance,the Earl of Dunbar employed threats and bribes. Forty thousand marks were distributed among the

1 Calderwood.

members of an ecclesiastical convention summoned bishops to ordain and induct to churches. Under by royal authority, that met at Linlithgow, at the the crafty and bold management of the Earl of Dunend of the year 1606, and appointed certain clergy- bar, the Scottish parliament confirmed and enlarged men to be permanent moderators of the presbyteries these decisions. Hitherto the Scottish prelates had within which they resided, and the bishops to be not been consecrated by the imposition of prelatiex officio the moderators of the provincial synods. cal hands; but, now, three of their number were But the great body of the Scottish clergy-a spirit- summoned up to London to undergo that ceremoual republic-were incensed at this subversion of ny, and on their return they imposed their hands equality; they soon resumed their independence in on the other Scottish bishops, who were thus presentthe synods, and set aside the authority of the bish-ed to the scorning and incredulous people as legitiops as perpetual moderators. The synods were mate successors of the Apostles. These proceedthen, as seditious bodies, prohibited from assembling.ings were soon followed by the death of the Earl of In 1609 the Consistorial Courts, which at the Refor- | Dunbar, whose place, whether for the king or the mation had been given to civil judges, were restored bishops, was badly supplied by some of the kinsto the bishops; and the Archbishop of Glasgow men of Carr, earl of Somerset, who misruled Scotwas created an extraordinary lord of session, in order land till the downfall of that favorite. to restore a spiritual intermixture to that high court of law, which had originally consisted of an equal number of temporal and spiritual judges. But this latter plan was stopped in the commencement, by the determination of James to establish a separate and paramount court, which, if he was so minded, he might fill entirely with bishops. The High Commission Court-the greatest grievance of the land-existed in England as a part or a result of the king's supremacy over the church; but in Scotland this supremacy had not yet been acknowledged, and no such court could be imposed with any thing like a decent regard to law. Yet notwithstanding this fact, and the violent repugnance of the people, James, in 1610, erected two courts of High Commission-one at St. Andrew's, the other at Glasgow, —more arbitrary, more absolute than the detestable court in London. They had power given to them to receive secret depositions, to cite and examine any individual whatsoever touching his religious opinions or general life and conduct, to excommunicate, imprison, fine, and outlaw. And, as if the Scots did not already sufficiently hate the name of bishop, the archbishops of St. Andrew's and Glasgow, were put at the head of these tyrannical courts, and it was declared that either of these prelates and four assistants should compose a quorum, from whose sentence there was no appeal. Schools and colleges were subjected to their visitation, and they could suspend, deprive, or imprison at discretion any of the clergy who disobeyed their orders. It was soon evident that an expression of this kind must be enforced by troops of horse, as well as by bishops; but the peace-loving king would not see the inevitable result of his system.

An assembly of the kirk was held at Glasgow in June, 1610, for the purpose of confirming the authority of the bishops within their respective dioceses; and partly by the high exercise of authority, partly by a trick which kept away the bolder ministers, and partly by bribery, the primate obtained several important concessions. Then Dunbar, and some of the bishops would have proceeded to the entire suppression of presbyteries; but the more prudent considered such a measure as dangerous or premature, and it was laid aside for the present, The packed clergy, however, solemnly recognized the king's ecclesiastical supremacy, and the right of

In 1616, the year before James's visit, the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians, seem to have witnessed with equal satisfaction the barbarous execution of one Ogilvy, a Jesuit. Presently after James's arrival, in the month of June, 1617, a parliament assembled to establish, upon an unchangeable basis, the faith, and ceremonies, and discipline of the Scottish church. But by this time sundry of the lords, who were holders of lands which had formerly belonged to the bishoprics, began to be alarmed as to the security of those parts of their property. James disarmed their opposition by inviting these great nobles to a secret conference, wherein it is generally supposed, he addressed himself to their most sensitive feelings, and promised that they should not be disturbed in any of their possessions. Forthwith an act was prepared to declare," that, in ecclesiastical affairs, whatever should be determined by the king, with the advice of the prelates and a competent number of the clergy, should receive the operation and the force of law." This bill was brought suddenly into parliament, and passed there; and James was on the point of making it law in the Scottish manner, by touching it with the scepter, when the clergy presented to parliament a loud and alarming remonstrance or protest against it. James trembled and hesitated; and, in the end, to save his honor, he pretended that it was idle to give him by statute that which was part of the inherent prerogative of the crown; and the bill was silently withdrawn. Auother bill, assigning chapters to the different bishoprics, and regulating the methods to be followed in the election of bishops, appears to have passed without any sturdy opposi tion either in parliament or out of it. After a very short session parliament was dissolved, and James removed to St. Andrew's, to attend a great meeting of the clergy. There he caused Simpson, Ewart, and Calderwood, distinguished preachers, who had signed the late protest (which they were supposed to have penned), to be brought before the High Commission Court, and convicted of seditious behavior. Simpson and Ewart were suspended and imprisoned; Calderwood, the most learned and most hated or feared of the three, was condemned to exile for life. The people soon began to consider these victims of kingly and prelatical rage as martyrs, and bitterly did they avenge their wrongs on James's suc