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(e) Supple

ment to the

Cabala, p.

96. 440.

feffed of it, and unfeemly Careffes of them,

one

with spirit, and worthy perufal, which therefore I infert at large.

"SIR,

"I am very forry this occafion fhould have been of"fered me by the king your mafter, which makes me "troublesome to you for the present. It is reported to

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me by men of honour, the great wrong the king of "Danes hath done me, when I was not by to answer "for myself; for if I had been prefent, I would have "letten him know how much I fcorn to receive that "wrong at his hands. I need not to urge the particu

lar of it, for the king himself knows it beft. I pro"teft to you, Sir, I did think as honourably of the "king your master, as I did of my own prince; but "now I perfuade myself there is as much bafeness in "him as can be in any man; for although he be a "prince by birth, it feems not to me that there har"bours any princely thought in his breaft; for either "in prince or fubject, it is the bafeft that can be to

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wrong any woman of honour. I deferve as little "that name he gave me, as either the mother of him"felf, or of his children; and if ever I come to know "what man hath informed your mafter fo wrongfully "of me, I fhall do my best for putting him from do66 ing the like to any other: but if it hath come by the "tongue of any woman, I dare fay fhe would be glad "to have companions. So leaving to trouble you any "further, I reft

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There can, I think, remain no doubt but that PeyLond. 1654. ton's account is true; and confequently, when confidered with what Weldon and Coke relate, it must be believed, that James addicted himself to drinking in fuch

a manner,

one would be tempted to think, that he was not wholly free from a vice most unnatural (HH).

He

a manner, as to render himself fometimes contemptible. "For it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes "ftrong drink; left they drink and forget the law, "and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted (f).” (ƒ) Prov. Drunkennefs throws princes off their guard, and ex- xxxi. 4. poses those weaknesses which it most of all behoves them to conceal; and it takes off that reverence for their perfons, which is neceffary to make their subjects stand in a proper awe of them, and pay a fubmiffion to their commands. It debafes the man, finks the prince, spoils the politician, and reveals thofe fecrets which are most neceffary to be concealed." "Drunkenness, fays Mon"taigne, feems to me to be a grofs and brutish vice. "The foul has the greatest interest in all the rest, and "there are fome vices that have fomething, if a man "may fo fay, of generous in them. There are vices.

II. p. 15.

wherein there is a mixture of knowledge, diligence, "valour, prudence, dexterity, and cunning: this is "totally corporeal and earthly, and the thickest skulled "nation [the Germans] this day in Europe, is that " where it is most in fashion. Other vices discompose "the understanding, this totally overthrows it, and "renders the body ftupid (g)." These reflections feem (g) Mon. juft and obvious, but they occurred not to the mind of taigne, Vol. James, or made little impreffion on him; for he seems to have been guided in his whole behaviour more by will and humour, by paffion and inclination, than by wifdom, prudence, or difcretion. So that his knowledge was of little fervice to him, and seldom caused him to act as a wife man, or an understanding king. It enabled him to talk, but was wholly infufficient to regulate his actions; and fo, in effect, was no better than ignorance.

(HH) From his known love of mafculine beauty, &c.]

F 3

He used curfing and swearing in his com

mon

&c.] I fhall give my authorities, and leave the reader to judge what conclufion is to be drawn from them.—

As no other reafon appeared in favour of their [the favourites of James] choice but handsomeness, so "the love the king fhewed, was as amorously convey"ed as if he had mistaken their fex, and thought them ladies; which I have feen Somerset and Buckingham labour to resemble in the effeminateness of their dreffings; though in w looks, and wanton geftures, they exceeded any part of woman-kind my conver"fation did ever cope withal. Nor was his love, or "whatever elfe pofterity will please to call it, (who "must be the judges of all that hiftory fhall inform) "carried on with a difcretion fufficient to cover a lefs

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fcandalous behaviour; for the king's kiffing them

after fo lafcivious a mode in public, and upon the "theatre as it were of the world, prompted many to "imagine fome things done in the tyring-house, that "exceed my expreffions no less than they do my expe"rience; and therefore left floating on the waves of “conjecture, which hath in my hearing toffed them "from one fide to another. I have heard that Sir Hen"ry Rich, fince earl of Holland, and fome others, re

fufed his majefty's favour upon thofe conditions they "fubfcribed to, who filled that place in his affection : "Rich lofing that opportunity his curious face and com"plection afforded him, by turning afide and spitting (a) Ofborn, after the king had flabbered his mouth (a).”—“ Wel

P. 534.

"don, who faw James's parting with Somerset, juft be"fore his commitment for Overbury's murther, fays, "that had you feen that feeming affection, you would "rather have believed he was in his rifing than fet"ting. The earl when he kiffed his hand, the king

hung about his neck, flabbering his cheeks, faying, "for God's fake when fhall I fee thee again? on my "foul I fhall neither eat nor fleep until you come again;

the earl told him on Monday (this being on the Fri

day

(b) Weldon,

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"day) for God's fake let me, faid the king; fhall I ?
"fhall I then lolled about his neck; then for God's
"fake give thy lady this kifs for me: in the same
"manner at the ftairs-head, at the middle of the stairs,
"and at the stairs-foot (b)." The fame writer observes,
that he was not very uxorious, for he was ever beft p. 95.
"when fartheft from his queen (c)." And in another (c)Id.p.168.
place he says," that James naturally hated women (d).” (d) p. 125.
Peyton writes, that "James was more addicted to love
"males than females; and that though for compli-
"ment he vifited queen Anne, yet he never lodged
"with her a night for many years (e)."The fol- (e) Peyton's
lowing fatyr, faid to be left on his cupboard, will fhew divine ca-
us the fenfe thofe times had of this matter.
tastrophe,
P. 14.

Aula prophana, religione vana,
Spreta uxore, Ganymedis amore,
Lege fublata, prerogativa inflata.
Tolle libertatem, incende civitatem,
Ducas fpadonem

&

Superafti Neronem (ƒ).

I know not well the authority of the book from which

(f) The Nonefuch Charles, his character,

I quote these lines; 'tis very bitter against the Stuart p. 17.12mo. race, and written with great partiality. I am informed Lond. 1651. by a learned friend, that 'tis thought to be written by the above-cited Peyton: But I am of a different opinion. Peyton's divine catastrophe, tho' partial enough, has many true paffages in it; but the Nonefuch Charles feems chiefly invention, in order to blacken and defame. Befides, fuch was the zeal of Peyton against Charles and his houfe, that I fancy he would have thought it a merit to have been the author of any work tending to its difgrace, and therefore have fet his name to it; for he who had been afraid of after-refentment, would never have publickly owned the divine catastrophe. Add to this, that Wood, in reckoning up Peyton's writings, Ather (g) Wood's mentions nothing of this piece, which if it had been Oxonienfes, his 'tis difficult to account for (g). However, as the Vol. II. c. infinuation in this fatyr is fupported by other authorities, Lond. 1721 'Lis Folio

F4

156. edit. 2.

(b) Clarendan, Vol.

P.9, 10.

(i) Birch's

'tis of little importance whether the author who gives it us be of any great account, or no.-L.et us now return to our fubject.The authors above quoted may be deemed by fome not quite fo favourable to the character of James as could be wifhed, and therefore not fo much to be relied on. But what fhall we fay to Clarendon, who owns, that the "first introduction of George "Villiers into favour, was purely from the handfome" nefs of his person (b): and that the king's natural I. difpofition was very flowing in affection towards per"fons fo adorned." Dr. Birch obferves of this fame Villiers, that he had fcarce any other advantages to "recommend him to his majefty, than thofe of a most "graceful perfon. Upon what terms of familiarity, "adds he, he was with his royal mafter is evident, "not much to the honour of either of them, from two "volumes of original letters which paffed between

view of the negotiations,

them, ftill extant in the Harleian library, full of the obsceneft expreffions in our language, and fuch as "Dr. Welwood, who has given fome extracts from "those letters, fays, might make a bawd to blush to re"peat. So impure a correspondence is an amazing in"confiftency with those theological and devotional tracts "which the king gave the world with fo much pomp among his works, and which he caused to be trans"lated into and published in both the Latin and French tongues (i)."

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That the reader may have as much light as poffible in &c. p. 384, this matter, I will tranfcribe Dr. Welwood's account of the letters which paffed between James and Buckingham, to which Dr. Birch refers. "The letters, fays "he, which paffed between the king and Buckingham, "are wrote in a peculiar ftile of familiarity, the king "for the most part calling him his dear child and goffip, " and his dear child and gossip Steiny; and fubfcribing "him his dear dad and goffip, and fometimes his dear "dad and Stuart; and once, when he fends him par"tridges, his dear dad and purveyor. Buckingham calls the king, for the moft part, dear dad and goffip, and * fometimes, dear dad, goffip, and Stuart; and fub* fcribes

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