tribute among them all the confiderable offices of the CHAP. kingdom. So little skill or so small means had the courtiers, in James's reign, for managing elections, that this house of commons fhewed rather a stronger spirit of liberty than the foregoing; and instead of entering upon the business of fupply, as urged by the king, who made them feveral liberal offers of grace T, they immediately resumed the fubject, which had been broached last parliament, and difputed his majesty's power of levying new customs and impofitions, by the mere authority of his prerogative. 'Tis remarkable, that, in their debates on this fubject, the courtiers frequently pleaded, as a precedent, the example of all the other hereditary monarchs in Europe, and mentioned particularly the kings of France and Spain; nor was this reasoning received by the house, either with furprize or indignation ". The members of the oppofite party, either contented themselves with denying the juftness of the inference, or they difputed the truth of the obfervation *. And a patriot member in particular, Sir Roger Owen, even in arguing against the impofitions, very frankly allowed, that the king of England was endued with as ample power and prerogative as any prince in Christendom. The nations on the continent, we may obferve, enjoyed ftill, in that age, fome small remains of liberty; and the English were poffeffed of little more. THE Commons applied to the lords for a conference with regard to the new impofitions. A fpeech of Neile, bishop of Lincoln, reflecting on the lower house, begot fome altercation 2; and the king feized the opportunity T Journ. 11th April, 1614. of U Ibid. 21 May, 1614. Z Parl. Hift. vol. v. p. 290. So little fixed at this time were the rules of parliament, that the cominons complained to the peers of a fpeech made in the upper house by the bishop of Lincoln; which it belonged only to that house to cenfure, and which the other could not regularly be fuppofed to be acquainted with. Thefe at least are the rules eftablished fince the parliament became a real feat of power, and fcene of bufinefs. Neither the king muft take notice of what paffes in either house, nor either houfe of what paffes in the other, XLVIII. 1614. 1614. CHAP. of diffolving immediately, with great indignation, a XLVIII. parliament, which had fhewn fo firm a resolution of retrenching his prerogative, without communicating, in return, the smallest fupply to his neceffities. He carri6th June. ed his refentment fo far as even to throw into prison some of the members, who had been the most forward in their oppofition to his measures. In vain did he plead, in excufe, for this violence, the example of Elizabeth and the other princes of the line of Tudor. The people and the parliament, without abandoning for ever all their liberties and privileges, could acquiefce in none of these precedents, however frequent. And were the authority of fuch precedents admitted, the utmost, that could be inferred is, that the conftitution of England was, at that time, an inconfiftent fabric, whofe jarring and difcordant parts muft foon destroy each other, and from the diffolution of the old, beget fome new form of civil government, more uniform and confiftent. In the public and avowed conduct of the king and the house of commons, throughout this whole reign, there appears fufficient caufe of quarrel and difguft; yet are we not to imagine, that this was the fole foundation of that jealoufy, which prevailed between them. During debates in the house, it often happened that a particular member, more ardent and zealous than the reft, would display the highest sentiments of liberty, which the commons contented themselves to hear with filence and feeming approbation; and the king, informed of these harangues, concluded the whole houfe to be infected with the fame principles, and to be engaged in a combination against his prerogative. The king, on the other hand, though he valued himself extremely on his king-craft, and perhaps was not altogether incapable of diffimulation, seems to have been very little endued with the gift of fecrecy; but openly at his table, in all companies, inculcated thofe monarchical tenets, which he had fo ftrongly imbibed. Before a numerous audience, he had expreffed other, till regularly informed of it. The commons, in their famous proteftation 1621, fixed this rule with regard to the king, though at prefent they would not bind themfelves by it. But as liberty was yet new, these maxims, which guard and regulate it, were unknown and unpractifed. A Kennet, p. 696. 1614. expreffed himself with great disparagement of the com- CHA P. mon law of England, and had given the preference, in XLVIII. the strongest terms, to the civil law: And for this indifcretion he found himself obliged to apologize, in a speech to the former parliament B. As a fpecimen of his ufual liberty of talk, we may mention a story, though it passed some time after, which we meet with in the life of Waller, and which that poet used frequently to repeat. When Waller was young, he had the curiofity to go to court; and he stood in the circle, and faw James dine; where, among other company, there fat at table two bishops, Neile and Andrews. The king proposed aloud this question, Whether he might not take his fubjects' money, when he needed it, without all this formality of parliament? Neile replied, God forbid you should not: For you are the breath of our noftrils. Andrews declined anfwering, and faid, he was not skilled in parliamentary cafes: But upon the king's urging him, and faying he would admit of no evafion, the bishop replied very pleafantly: Why then I think your majesty may lawfully take my brother Neil's money: For he offers it C. THE favourite had hitherto efcaped the inquiry of 1615. justice; but he had not escaped that ftill voice, which Somerset's can make itself be heard amidst all the hury and flattery fall. of a court, and astonishes the criminal with a just reprefentation of his moft fecret enormities. Conscious of the murder of his friend, Somerset received small confolation from the enjoyments of love, or the utmost kindnefs and indulgence of his fovereign. The graces of his youth gradually disappeared, the gaiety of his manners was obfcured, his politeness and obliging behaviour were changed into fullennefs and filence. And the king, whofe affections had been engaged by these fuperficial accomplishments, began to estrange himself from a man, who no longer contributed to his amusement. THE fagacious courtiers obferved the first symptoms of this difguft: Somerset's enemies feized the opportunity, and offered a new minion to the king. George Villiers, a youth of one-and-twenty, younger brother of a good family, returned at this time from his travels, and was remarked for the advantages of a handsome person, genVOL. VI. teel F B King James's Works, p. 532. Works. C Preface to Waller's CHA P. teel air, and fashionable apparel. At a comedy, he was XLVIII. purpofely placed full in James's eye, and immediately engaged the attention, and, in the fame inftant, the af1615. fections of that monarch D. Afhamed of his fudden attachment, the king endeavoured, but in vain, to conceal the partiality, which he felt for the handsome stranger; and he employed all his profound politics to fix him in his fervice, without feeming to defire it. He declared his refolution not to confer any office on him, unless entreated by the queen; and he pretended, that it should only be in complaifance to her choice, he would agree to admit him near his perfon. The queen was immediately applied to, but the, well knowing the extreme, to which the king carried these attachments, refused, at first, to lend her countenance to this new paffion. It was not till entreated by Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury, a decent prelate, and one much prejudiced against Somerset, that she would condefcend to oblige her husband, by asking this favour of him. And the king, thinking now that all appearances were fully faved, no longer constrained his affection, but immediately bestowed the office of cup-bearer on young Villiers. THE whole court was thrown into parties between the two minions; while fome endeavoured to advance the rifing fortunes of Villiers, others deemed it fafer to adhere to the established credit of Somerset. The king himself, divided between inclination and decorum, encreased the doubt and ambiguity of the courtiers; and the ftern jealoufy of the old favourite, who refused eve→ ry advance of friendship from his rival, begot perpetual quarrels between their feveral partizans. But the dif covery of Somerset's guilt in the murder of Overbury, at laft decided the controverfy, and expofed him to the ruin and infamy, which he fo well merited. མ AN apothecary's 'prentice, who had been employed in making up the poifons, having retired to Flushing, began to talk very freely of the whole fecret; and the affair at laft came to the ears of Trumbal, the king's envoy in the Low Countries. By his means, Sir Ralph Winwood, fecretary of state, was informed; and he carried the intelligence immediately to James. The king, alarmed D Franklyn, p. 30. Kennet, vol. ii. p. 698. E Coke, 1615. alarmed and astonished to find such enormous guilt in a CHAP. IT may not be unworthy of remark, that Coke in the trial of Mrs. Turner, told her, that he was guilty of the feven deadly fins: She was a whore, a bawd, a forcerer, a witch, a papist, a felon, and a murderer C And what may more furprize us, Bacon, then attorneygeneral, took care to obferve, that poisoning was a popifh trick D. Such were the bigotted prejudices which prevailed in this age: Poisoning was not of itself fufficiently odious, if it was not reprefented as a branch of popery. Stowe tells us, that, when the king came to Newcastle, on his first entry into England, he gave liberty to all the prisoners, except thofe confined for treason, murder and papistry. When one confiders these circumstances, that furious bigotry of the catholics, which broke out in the gunpowder confpiracy, appears the less furprising. ALL the accomplices in Overbury's murder received the punishment due to their crime: But the king bestow. ed a pardon on the principals, Somerset and the countess. It must be confeffed, that James's fortitude had been highly laudable, had he perfifted in his first intention of configning over to fevere justice all the criminals: But let us still beware of blaming him too harshly, if, on the approach of the fatal hour, he fcrupled to deliver into the hands of the executioner, perfons whom he had once favoured with his moft tender affections. To foften the rigour of their fate, after fome years imprisonment, he restored them to their liberty, and conferred on them a pension, with which they retired, and languished out old age in infamy and obfcurity. Their guilty loves were turned into the most deadly hatred; and they passed many F 2 • State Trials, vol.. i. p. 230. D. Ibid. vol. i. p. 242. |