fet, and his lady, [zzz] from that punishment

tr

which

your honour; the reft I referve, not knowing whe"ther they may be intercepted or not." (b) The rea- (b) Raleigh's der, no doubt, is fhocked at fuch vile treatment of fo works, Vol. worthy a man, and cannot fail of being filled with II. p. 367. horror at it. The fentence in the firft place was unjuft; his imprisonment was a monstrous hardship; but the execution of his fentence cruel and abominable.

[zzz] He faved Somerfet and his lady from the punishment which the laws had justly doomed them to, for their crimes.] Robert Ker had been firft one of the king's pages; being, difmiffed from this poft, he went into France, and from thence returning, thro' accident he was taken notice of by James, and quickly was made gentleman of the bed-chamber, and became fole favourite. In 1613, he was advanced to be lord high treasurer of Scotland, and the fame year was raised to be a peer of England, by the ftile and title of viscount Rochester. Soon after he had the garter, and was created earl of Somerfet, and made lord chamberlain of the houfhold. A little before this, he had become intimate with the wife of the earl of Effex, Frances Howard, daughter of the earl of Suffolk, who, in order to make way for her marriage with him, got a divorce from her husband. Soon after they were married; and foon after one of the moft iniquitous actions was done, that we read of in hiftory.Sir Thomas Overbury, the friend of Somerset, and one to whom he owed, as Sir Thomas himself fays, "more than to any foul li ving, both for his fortune, understanding and reputa"tion:" (a) he, I fay, endeavouring, to diffuade him (a) Winfrom the match, thereby incurred the hatred of him, wood, Vol. and his lady. III. p. 478. For refufing to go as ambassador abroad, which Somerfet advifed him to refuse, he was clapt up into the Tower, and there confined many months; and by a variety of poifons, made ufe of by the agents of the earl and his lady, which cruelly tormented him, was at length put an end to, and it was given

out

(b) See Sir Francis Bacon's speech

at the ar

raignment of the earl

of Somerfet, and truth

brought to light by

time, p. 52.

4:0.

(c) See note (1. 1.)

which the laws had juftly doomed them to,

by

out that he died of the pox. (b) But the truth could not be long concealed. Villiers now began to fupplant Somerfet, and foon got the afcendency. Every man endeavoured to raise the one, and pull down the other. The murther was difcovered. James came to the knowledge of it, and uttered the deepeft imprecations against himself and pofterity, if he fpared any that were found guilty. (c) But his refolution remained not. The inftruments were brought to their deferved end; Lond. 1651. but those who made ufe of them efcaped. On the 24th of May, 1616, the countefs of Somerfet was brought to her tryal, and the earl the next day; the firft, after fome denials in the court, confefied the fact, and begged for mercy; the other ftood upon his innocency, and was found guilty; as there can be no doubt but that he was. All mankind expected upon this, that the judgment against them would have been executed. But on the contrary, a pardon was granted the lady, because "the proceffe and judgment against her were not as "of a principal (fays the pardon) but as of an acceffary (d) See the before the fact." (d) As for the earl he had a remifpardon in fion under the great feal of England, Oct. 7, 1624, and truth brought to was fuffered to enjoy the greatest part of his eftate, and light by time thought himself but ill-ufed that he was not restored to the whole. (e) And fuch was the favour fhewed unto (e) Crawfurd's lives, him by James, that tho' he was convicted of felony, his arms were not permitted to be removed out of the chapel of Windfor; and upon his account it was ordered "that felony fhould not be reckoned amongst the difgraces for thofe who were to be excluded from the "order of St. George; which was without precedent." (ƒ) Camb. (ƒ)—This was the juftice of James. One of the best den's annals of his fubjects was executed for no real crime; two of of K. Jam the worst of them escaped punishment for the blackest and moft deteftable. It is the duty of kings to protect the innocent, and punish the guilty. It is the part of a just king, as well as of an honeft man, to render unto

P. 182.

P. 402. and

Cabala, p.

221.

in the com pleat hift. p. 646.

by reafon of their abominable crimes. Somerfet, indeed, had been a favourite; and to his

8. c. 3.

17. and

fect.

cap. 20. fec.

every one is due. Honour and praise fhould be beflowed on the deferving; ignominy, fhame and punishment should follow those who trample under foot the facred laws of fociety, and humanity. But James permitted not these to follow (as far as he could help it) the crimes of Somerset and his lady, tho' none were more deferving of them. Princes it must be owned have a right to relax the rigor of the laws, or fufpend their execution in fome cafes. But then there ought to be a juft reason for it. Whereas in the cafe of Somerset, as well as of his lady (tho' a respect to her father, friends and family are mentioned as a motive to the pardoning of her) hardly one of those causes of relaxing punishment mentioned by the civilians are found. (g) But (g) See Pufthere certainly was a reafon, whatever it was, for this fendorf, B. favour fhewed to Somerfet. Mr. Mallet has quoted fome paffages from the original letter of Sir Francis Grotius de Bacon (a name always to be valued by the lovers of jure belli ac learning) then attorney-general, and particularly em- pacis, lib. z. ployed in this very affair, from whence it appears that 25, 26. James fhewed an extream folicitude about the earl's behaviour at his tryal and the event of it; that he was afraid left by his infolent and contemptuous behaviour at the bar, he should make himfelf incapable or unworthy of favour and mercy; which, together with the letter written by him after his condemnation to the king, in a ftile rather of expoftulation and demand, than of humility and fupplication, makes him conclude, and, I think, not unjustly, that there was an important fecret in his keeping, of which the king dreaded a discovery. (b) Some have thought the difcovery (6) Mallet's dreaded, was the manner of prince Henry's death, Bacon, p. which was believed to have been by poifon; but if I be allowed to offer a conjecture, for I deem it no may more, it was the revealing of that vice to which James feems to have been addicted, (i) that was the object of (see note his fear. Whether in this conjecture I am right, the [GG] reader will determine.

life of lord

65-72, 8vo.

Lond. 1740. and Cabala,

(a) Note [c] (b) Notes [Y] and [www]

his favourites, James was kind in all things ; condefcending to what [4 A] was below his dignity

[4 A] To his favourites James was kind in all things; condescending to what was below his dignity, in order to please or ferve them.] I have already taken notice of James's favour to Lennox and Arran when in Scotland, (a) to Ker and others after his coming into England; (b) and now I must inform my reader, that he promoted George Villiers from the rank of a meer private gentleman, on the account of his beauty, to the degree of a knight, and gentleman of the bed-chamber; mafter of the horse; baron, vifcount, earl, marquis, and duke of Buckingham, and admiral of England, within the space of a very few years. (c) This man, who seems (c) See Campden's to have had no great capacity, and lefs knowledge, ruled every thing; he advanced his relations to fome of the James, in high eft honors, and greatly enriched himself; for at the pleat history. t me of his death he was poffeffed of near 4000 pounds a year, and had 300,000 pounds in jewels, tho' he owed (d) See Tin- 60,000 pounds. (d) I do not think this account of his dal's notes jewels, beyond the truth." For it was common with him "at an ordinary dancing to have his cloaths trimmed

annals of K.

the com

on Rapin,

Vol. II. p.

276.

66

with great diamond buttons, and to have diamond "hat-bands, cockades and earrings; to be yoked with "great and manifold ropes and knots of pearl; in fhort "to be manacled, fettered and imprifoned in jewels; in"fomuch that at his going over to Paris, in 1625, he "had 27 fuits of cloaths made, the richest that embroidery, lace, filk, velvet, gold and gems could contri"bute; one of which was a white uncut velvet, fet all "over, both fuit and cloak, with diamonds, valued at "fourfcore thousand pounds, befides a great feather "ftuck all over with diamonds; as were also his sword, "girdle, hat-band and fpurs." This account is taken from a M. S. in the Harleyan library, B. H. 90. c. 7. (e) Life of fol. 642. as I find it quoted by Mr. Oldys. (e) A Raleigh, p. man who in the midst of pleafures could find money for 145, in the fuch monftrous extravagancies, and yet at the fame time note [c] grow rich, must have had a very kind and bountiful

mafter

dignity in order to please or ferve them in almost any matters; fubmitting even to be affronted,

III. p.

mafter indeed!-But James was not only kind to his favourites in refpect of giving them wealth and honors, but he ftudied by all poffible methods to pleafe and ferve them. For Somerfet had no fooner determined to marry lord Effex's wife, than the king yielded him all possible affiftance in order to accomplish it. For he got over the bishops of Ely and Coventry, (Andrews and Neal] who had been vehemently against the divorce from Effex, for alleged, and, indeed, confeffed impotency on his part with respect to her. (f) And (ƒ) Winwhen the archbishop of Canterbury, (Abbot) could wood, Vol. not be prevailed on to change fides that he might pleafe, 111. P. 475. his majefty himself undertook to answer his reasons, and to fhew that there was warrant in fcripture for pro"nouncing a nullity propter frigiditatem, and that all "the means which might make him frigidus verfus hanc "must be included therein;" (g) in profecution of (g) Truth brought to which he made ufe of many obfcene expreffions. How-light by ever, he carried the caufe. The lady was divorced, and time, p. 101. foon after married Somerfet; and then they perpetrated Franklin, the crime for which they were condemned, and which weldon, I have spoken of in the note preceding.-With regard p. 71. to Buckingham his next favourite, James was ftill more quinariæ, obliging. In his fpeech to his parliament in the year p. 112, 1620, among other things he tells them, "that he had Lond. 1650, "abated much in his navies, in the charge of his muni"tion; and had made not choice of an old beaten foldier ❝ for his admiral, but rather chofe a young man, [Buckingham] whofe honefty and integrity he knew, "whose

The referring to Aulicus Coquinaria, gives me an opportunity of pointing out to the public its true author; of which both Wood, Tindal, and Oldys, as well as Dr. Grey, and all the writers I have hitherto seen, feem to be ignorant. The writer of this piece is no other than Will. Saunderfon, author of the hiftory of James I. defervedly treated with contempt, on account of the poornefs of its compofition, and grofs partiality. See Sanderfon's proeme to the fecond part of the hiftory of James I. folio. Lond. 1656,

P. 3.

Aulicus co

Izmo. *