and the reducing himself in a few great want. years to He soon shewed his gratitude this book with such prime land as should be worth ten or twenty thousand pounds, which was easy for him, being treasurer, so to do; and by this means Salisbury enriched himself infinitely, yet cast the envy on the Scots, in whose names these books appeared, and are still upon record to all posterity; though Salisbury had the honey, they, poor gentlemen, but part of the wax "."-Wilson tells us, "that James being one day in his gallery at Whitehall, and none with him but Sir Henry Rich (afterwards earl of Holland) and James Maxwell, some porters past by them, with three thousand pounds going to the privy purse: Rich whispering Maxwell, the king turned upon them, and asked Maxwell what says he? what says he? Maxwell told him, he wished he had so much money; Marry shalt thou Harry (saith the king) and presently commanded the porters to carry it to his lodging, with this expression, you think now you have a great purchase, but I am more delighted to think how much I have pleasured you in giving this money, than you can be in receiving it "." And Sir Philip Herbert (afterwards earl of Pembroke) on his marriage with the lady Susan Vere, had a gift of the king of 500l. land for the bride's jointure. In short, James himself assures us, "that he had dealt twice as much amongst the Englishmen as he had done to Scotishmen."-The truth is, those of the English who had the king's ear, and could fall b a Sir Anthony Weldon's Court and Character of King James, p. 54, 55. 12mo. Lond. 1651. See also Raleigh's Works, vol. I. p. 201. 8vo. Lond. 1751. b Wilson, p. 76. Winwood, vol. II. 4. 43. James's Works, p. 542, с d King to Elizabeth for the crown she had left him, by permitting no one to appear in 28 mourning for her before him, and even readily into his humours, and contribute to his pleasures and amusements, were sure of being enriched by him. The true courtier in this reign had a good time of it, for James was thoughtless and inconsiderate, and never knew the value of money till he was in want of it. But merit, as such, was always neglected or overlooked by him; he knew it not, or regarded it not, but preferred his flatterers to all others. 28 He shewed his gratitude to Elizabeth, by permitting no one to appear in mourning for her before him.] For this curious particular we are indebted to the duke of Sully, whose account cannot but be looked on as most authentic. "One part of the orders I had given, (says he, speaking of his English embassage) in regard to the ceremony of my audience, was, that all my retinue shall appear in mourning; whereby I should execute the first part of my commission, which consisted in complimenting the new king on the death of Elizabeth; though I had been informed at Calais, that no one, whether ambassador, foreign or English, was admitted into the presence of the new king in black: and Beaumont (the French resident) had since represented to me, that what I intended would most certainly be highly disagreeable to the court, where so strong an affectation prevailed to obliterate the memory of that great queen, that she was never spoke of, and even the mention of her name industriously avoided. I should have been very glad not to have been sensible of the necessity under which I was of appearing in a garb, speaking himself not only without gratitude, which would seem to cast a reproach on the king and all England; but my orders were hereupon positive, not to mention that they were also most laudable: and this was the reason I paid no regard to Beaumont, who intreated me to defer putting myself to this trouble and expence, till he had wrote about it to Erskine, and some others, who were best acquainted with the court ceremonial. He wrote accordingly, but received no answer on Thursday, Friday, nor even all day on Saturday; and I still persisted in my resolution, notwithstanding the reasons which he continually gave me to the contrary. On Saturday night, which was the evening of the day preceding my audience, and so late that I was in bed, Beaumont came to tell me, that Erskine had sent to acquaint him, that the whole court considered my intention as a premeditated affront; and that I had so offended the king by it, that nothing could more effectually prevent the success of my negotiation from its very commencement. This information agreeing with that of my lord Sidney, &c. it was impossible for me to be in doubt about it: and through fear lest a greater evil might ensue, I caused all my retinue to change their apparel, and provide themselves others as well as they could. Leukoner (master of the cere-monies) being come the next morning to inform me, that I should be presented to the king at three o'clock in the afternoon; I perceived from the satisfaction which he expressed at the new orders which I had given, that it was indispensably necessary to vanquish my repugnance: nevertheless, it publicly gained me as much honour as if I had persisted in it throughout, because none were ignorant I had complied only 1 respect, or regard of her; but also with contempt, to the amazement of standers a " through absolute necessity 2. I make no apology for the length of this quotation; readers of taste will be glad to find it here, and will not fail of remarking on the unaccountable ingratitude and weakness of James. His obligations to Elizabeth were great; she had supplied him constantly with money when in Scotland, and though she had a power, with consent of parlia ment, she gave not away the crown of England from him; on her death-bed she declared him her heir, aud in consequence thereof he took peaceable possession of the throne. Ought he not then to have retained a respect for her memory, and treated her name with ho nour? should he not have owned his obligations, and celebrated her fame? should he have forbid his subjects mourning for the loss of so excellent a princess, or refused compliments of condolence from foreigners on the account of it? What! should the memory of such a princess be obliterated in a few months, even in her own court, and the glory of all her great actions be forgotten? Must her humbling Spain, her supporting the protestant interest abroad, and establishing it at home; her attention to the national interest and honour, and raising the English crown to be the envy and admiration of Europe; must these be unspoken, uncelebrated? such was the intention of James. But posterity more grateful, more just than that court, has mentioned her name with honour, and sounded forth the glories of her reign. To resemble her has been thought honourable to princes, and her government has been set forth as a model for their imitation.-So that envy, igno by 29. He was excessively addicted to ease rance, spite, revenge and malice, with their united force, avail little against the reputations founded on' great and beneficent actions; and the true hero, the patriot prince, may despise their efforts, and rest secure that in the annals of after-ages, their characters shall shine with the greatest lustre, and their actions be celebrated as they deserve. A noble motive this to generous minds to pursue the public good with earnestness! and a motive, which, if well considered, will cause them to be unwearied, and persevering in the pursuit. 29 He spoke with contempt of her.] Sully giving an account of his first audience at court, tells us, that after James had spoken several things to him, "the late queen (Elizabeth) was mentioned, but without one word in her praise." In another conversation he had with the king, he observes, "that an opportunity presenting for the king to speak of the late queen of England, he did it, and to my great regret, adds he, with some sort of contempt. He even went so far as to say, that in Scotland, long before the death of that princess, he had directed her whole council, and governed all her ministers, by whom he had been better served and obeyed than her." I doubt not Sully smiled inwardly at the vanity of James, and heartily detested his baseness with regard to the memory of Elizabeth; for no one better knew her worth than this ambassador, With what indigna no one set a greater value on it. tion then may we suppose him filled, when he heard her name thus treated by her successor? and what a b * Sully, vol. II. p. 26. Id. p. 89. compare this with what is said in note 8. |