ampton*, sir Henry Neville and others, he bequeathed chains and rings, by way of remembrance, and attached to each bequest some words of affection or commendation.

To Salisbury, also, he left valuable jewels; but his legacy was accompanied by one much more valuable, in the elaborate eulogy which he recorded of his public and private character. As the posthumous, and almost death-bed testimony of one who knew Cecil well, I give an extract from this singular document. After expressions of gratitude for personal kindness, he refers to "the public merit of his friend, both towards his majesty and this commonwealth, wherein, when I behold the weight," he says, "of so many great and grave affairs, which the special duty of his place, as principal secretary, doth daily and necessarily cast upon him; and do note withal, what infinite cares, crosses, labours, and travails of body and mind he doth thereby continually sustain and undergo; and, lastly, to see with how great dexterity, sincerity, and judgment, he doth accomplish and perform the faithful service of that place. These divine virtues of his, so incessantly exercised and employed for the good of the public, I must confess, have made me long since so greatly to love, honour, and esteem him, and so firmly and faithfully fixed my heart unto him, as I daily and heartily pray unto Almighty God to continue all strength and ability, both of body and mind, in him, that he sink not under the weight of so heavy a burden; that the king's majesty in him may many years enjoy the fruitful labours of so worthy a servant; and he, in the king's majesty, may long possess the gracious favour and love of the most judicious, learned, and rarest king that ever this world produced. By the hand of whose royal and prudent direction, and the grave advice of those other wise and faithful counsellors to his highness, he may help to guide and steer the stern of this estate, in the course of safety and

Henry Howard, the writer of the letters to Scotland.

plentiful prosperty, always keeping and preserving the ship of this commonweal within the port and haven of flourishing peace, so often blessed even by God himself; and that it may there rest fast fixed to the sacred author of our own security and quiet, and not upon the rising of every puff of wind, to hoise* and sail into those deep and dangerous seas, surged and bellowed with storms and tempests of hellish war; and where no better effects are, or can be expected, than continual doubts, perils, and fears, of many woeful wracks, miseries, and calamities to fall upon us. Thus, I have faithfully set down, in some sort, the noble parts of this honourable earl, who, besides such, his worthiness and sufficiency for the public service, both of his sovereign and country, is also framed of so sweet a nature, so full of mildness, courtesy, honest mirth, bounty, kindness, gratitude, and discourse, so easily reconciled to his foe, and evermore so true unto his friend, as I may justly say, it were one of the chiefest felicities that in this world we can possess to live, converse, and spend our whole life in mutual love and friendship with such a one; of whose excellent virtues and sweet conditions, so well known to me in respect of our long communication by so many years in most true love and friendship together, I am desirous to leave some faithful remembrance in this my last will and testament, that, since the living speech of my tongue, when I am gone from hence, must then cease and speak no more, yet the living speech of my pen, which never dieth, may herein thus for ever truly testify and declare the same."+

The office of treasurer was with little delay, and probably no hesitation, given to Cecil, who thus obtained all the official rank and importance which his father had so long possessed.

Contrary to an expectation that appears to have been

Sic;-to hoist sail, I suppose.

11th August, 1607. Collins, ii. 142, 143.

4th of May, 1608. Sidney Papers, ii. 325. Boderie, iii, 302.

entertained at the time*, he retained the office of secretary of state; and it appears to have been the king's intention, that he should exercise the functions of prime minister. "My master," he tells sir Henry Wotton, "has laid this honour upon me without suit †, and without merit, out of this opinion, that some experience might make me more able than any new man; and the condition of my fortune, (if not my honesty) divert me from the error of corruption, rather to make myself a superintendent over others, and take in my care, and manage matters of greatest weight and consequence, discharging the grosser part of the place by a distribution of business and despatch to every other officer, as well my adjuncts as subordinates." +

The appointment was thus announced by sir Henry Neville to sir Ralph Winwood: "I am sure you have understood the advancement of our honourable friend to the place of treasurer with the same content that it bred in the whole kingdom, saving me gli interessate §, who digest it not so well inwardly as they make show outwardly, especially the followers and dependants, whose hopes are by this means somewhat abated. But otherwise I know not any thing the king has done in that kind more universally applauded; so great a reformation many imagine will follow this change.” ||

For reformation certainly there was much necessity. The administration of Dorset, who was more than 70 years of age when he commenced it ¶, had left the finances in a very bad condition.

The supplies voted to the king were inferior to those of the queen's last years, and in the session of 1606-8, no supply was voted. ** The expenses of James, who had a queen and children, were necessarily greater than

*Boderie, iii. 247.

+ Boderie says that the queen considered the treasurer as her creature. iii. 302. I doubt this.

12th of May, 1603. Winwood, ii. 339.

He was born in 1547; made treasurer 1598; and died in 1608, at the

age of 81.

Parl. Hist. i. 1120. Sinclair, i. 210. and 236.

those of Elizabeth, but they were further augmented by the expensiveness of his habits, the profuseness of his disposition, and particularly his extravagant grants to Scottish favourites.* Great irregularity also appears to have crept into the administration of the treasury and exchequer.

There is good evidence, that in all matters which depended upon official care and diligence, especially in respect of the crown lands, the new treasurer made considerable improvements. † But the financial administration of Cecil, in the instance which I am now to notice, has been exposed to censure, perhaps exaggerated, but not undeserved.

The parliament, which was sitting at the death of Dorset, was prorogued in July, and did not reassemble until February 1609-10. It was in this interval that the lord treasurer, and ministers took upon themselves to increase the rate of duty payable upon the importation of several articles of merchandise, beyond that at which they had been fixed by parliament.

Although this arbitrary proceeding is not to be regarded, as if it had been adopted in the eighteenth or

Boderie, ii. 16. 413. 427. 440.; iii. 70. 72. 103. 189. Just before the death of lord Buckhurst, the lords of the council had remonstrated with the king on the profuseness of his gifts. In a paper, touching means to advance the king's revenue by unusual means, so as the king will take the act upon himself, and be our protector," there is this remarkable language: "If those things may not be made the objects of private men's hopes, which are the only flowers that are left ungathered at this time to fill up the empty places of that garland of your crown, which cannot be repaired, if the garden of your majesty's treasure shall be made a common pasture for all that are in need, or have unreasonable desires." "As liberality to well-deserving subjects doth multiply and confirm affection and duty to princes, so the benefits which are promiscuously bestowed, and without convenient consideration of merit or values, do not only beget further importunity in those that lack, but breed contempt in the gifts, and ingratitude to the giver."-Harl. MSS. No. 2207. p. 2. So early as 1603, the king was so poor, that the treasurer knew not how to procure money to pay for the king's diet."-Lodge, iii. 172. "How my lady Arabella is now satisfied, I know not; but the king hath granted 8007. yearly for her maintenance, and of it 2002. beforehand; she shall also have dishes of meat for her people; more tables will not be allowed; and that you will think, when you shall hear that our sovereign spends 100,000. yearly in his house, which was wont to be but 30,000.; now think what the country feels, and so much for that." (Cecil to lord Shrewsbury, 17th of September, 1603. Ib. p. 182.)

+ See these detailed by sir Walter Cope, in Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa i 122.

nineteenth century, when its illegality would have been quite unquestionable, it must be deemed to have been, even in 1608, an unjustifiable assumption of prerogative. Yet in this measure Salisbury had the sanction not only of the crown lawyers, but of the judges of the land.

Francis Bacon had been raised in 1607 to the long desired office of solicitor-general, which up to the year 1607, had been filled by his successful rival of 1593 +, still disclaiming ambitious views, and yet being very anxious when the attorney-general was ill, he had continued during the present reign to make application to Salisbury, and his letters are those of an attached and grateful adherent. He now contended stoutly for

the legality of the new imposition. §

war

I

In the time of lord treasurer Dorset, the legality of the imposition was questioned by one Bates, a merchant, when the majority of the judges decided in favour of the crown and the ablest speakers T of those who censured the government, admitted that the tax was ranted by some recent as well as ancient precedents. subjoin the explanation which Cecil himself gave, in the first instance, and in writing to a foreign court, where he was apprehensive that some of the charges might be opposed. He directed the attention of sir Charles Cornwallis to "certain impositions, or rather informations, of the book of rates for customs, which we have found good to increase for the most part for better relieving his majesty's present necessities, and extraordinary charges he is put to in Ireland; not with any purpose to contravene or prejudice any of the trea

Beatson, ii. 329. 331.

Sir Thomas Fleming. The attorney-general Coke was made chief justice of the common pleas in 1606, when Fleming was superseded by sir Henry Hobart.

To secretary Cecil, Bacon's Works, xii. 277.-To lord Cecil, 278-9. -To lord Salisbury, 14. 63. and 123. These were written from 1598 to 1603. Works, vi. 44.

The great case of impositions. Michaelmas, 1606. St. Tr. ii. 371. The writers who have censured Cecil for his augmentations of the customs, have not attended to the date of this proceeding in the exchequer.

Mr. Hakewill. St. Tr. ii. 407.