We shall now give a few of these, for the instruction as well as amusement of our readers; though it grieves us, for the sake of religion and philosophy, to say, that in the very front rank of these, we must say, blasphemous sycophants, stand the "head of the law," and some of the heads of the church. There are many proofs extant of the shameful servility of Bacon towards King James; but we need go no farther than the very dedication of the Novum Organum. He there says:—

"Quando Salomonem in plurimis referas, judiciorum gravitate, regno pacifico, cordis latitudine, librorum denique, quos composuisti, nobili varietate."

But the bishops beat the chancellor hollow.

One of them, speaking of the mignon Buckingham, in a passage which we shall quote presently, calls him “the disciple whom he (King James) so loved." Laud always speaks of the King, whether James or Charles, in his "Diary," as if he had something of the Divine nature in him: it is "his most Sacred Majesty," or "his Majesty of most Sacred Memory." In a prayer composed by him on the birth of the Prince of Wales (the blessed Charles II.), in 1630, he says, "Double his father's graces, O Lord, upon him, if it be possible.”

The following is a character drawn of James by Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, then Lord Keeper, in a sermon that he preached at his funeral.

"I dare presume to say you never read in your lives of two kings more fully parallel'd amongst themselves, and better distinguished from all other kings besides themselves. King Solomon is said to be unigenitus coram matre sua, the only son of his mother, Prov. iv. 3. So

was King James. Solomon was of a complexion white and ruddy, Cant. v. 10. So was King James. Solomon was an infant king, puer parvulus, a little child, 1 Chron. xxii. 5. So was King James a king at the age of thirteen months. Solomon began his reign in the life of his predecessor, 1 Kings i. 32. So, by the force and compulsion of that state, did our late sovereign King James. Solomon was twice crowned and anointed a king, 1 Chron. xxix. 22. So was King James. Solomon's minority was rough through the quarrells of the former soveraign; so was that of King James. Solomon was learned above all princes of the East, 1 Kings iv. 20. So was King James above all the princes in the universal world. Solomon was a writer in prose and verse, 1 Kings iv. 32. So, in a very pure and exquisite manner, was our sweet sovereign King James. Solomon was the greatest patron we ever read of to church and churchmen; and yet no greater (let the house of Aaron now confess) than King James. Solomon was honoured with ambassadors from all the kings of the earth, 1 Kings iv. ult. And so, you know, was King James. Solomon was a main improver of his home commodities, as you may see in his trading with Hiram, 1 Kings v. 9. And, God knows, it was the daily study of King James. Solomon was a great maintainer of shipping and navigation, 1 Kings x. 14. A most proper attribute to King James. Solomon beautified very much his capital city with buildings and water-works, 1 Kings ix. 15. So did King James. Every man lived in peace under his vine and his fig-tree in the days of Solomon, 1 Kings iv. 25. And so they did in the blessed days of King James.

And yet, towards his end, King Solomon had secret enemies, Razan, Hadad, and Jeroboam, and prepared for a war upon his going to his grave, as you may see in the verse before my text. So had, and so did, King James. Lastly, before any hostile act we read of in the history, King Solomon died in peace, when he had lived about sixty years, as Lyra and Tostatus are of opinion; and so, you know, did King James.

"And as for his words and eloquence, you know it well enough; it was rare and excellent in the highest degree. Solomon, speaking of his own faculty in this kind, divides it into two several heads,—a ready invention, and an easy discharge and expression of the same. God hath granted me to speak as I would, and to conceive as is meet, for the things spoken of.' Wisd. vii. 15. And this was eminent in our late sovereign. His invention was as quick as his first thoughts, and his words as ready as his invention. God hath given him to conceive; the Greek word in that place is vuμndva, that is, to make an enthymem or a short syllogism; and that was his manner. He would first wind up the whole substance of his discourse into one solid and massive conception, and then spread it and dilate it to what compass he pleased, profluenti et quæ principem deceret eloquentia,' (as Tacitus said of Augustus,)-in a flowing and a princely kind of elocution. Those speeches of his in the Parliament, Star-Chamber, Council-Table, and other publick audiences of the State, (of which, as of Tully's orations, 'ea semper optima, quæ maxima,' the longest still was held the best,) do prove him to be the most powerful speaker that ever swayed the scepter of this kingdom.

In his style you may observe the Ecclesiastes, in his figures the Canticles, in his sentences the Proverbs, and in his whole discourse Reliquum verborum Salomonis, all the rest that was admirable in the eloquence of Solomon.

"How powerful did he charge the Prince with the care of religion and justice, the two pillars (as he termed them) of his future throne? How did he recommend unto his love, the nobility, the clergy, and the commonalty in the general? How did he thrust, as it were, into his inward bosom, his bishops, his judges, his near servants, and that disciple* of his whom he so loved in particular? And concluded with that heavenly advice to his son, concerning that great act of his future marriage, to marry like himself, and marry where he would: but if he did marry the daughter of that King, he should marry her person, but he should not marry her religion." -Rushworth, vol. i. pp. 160-1.

Now what was in reality the man who, by virtue of Divine right, was thus highly extolled by such grave authorities as the Lord High Chancellor Bacon, the Lord Keeper and Lord Bishop Williams, and the Lord Primate of all England, Laud? The evidence is conclusive as regards the answer to that question: but it is also voluminous; too much so for this place. Much of it too is unfit for publication. Much, however, of a very significant description, has been published, under the sanction too of most respectable names ex. gr. Sir David Dalrymple, (Lord Hailes,) and Sir Walter Scott, (edition of Somers's Tracts.)

There is a small volume, entitled "Memorials, and

* Duke of Buckingham. [Note in the original.]

Letters relating to the history of Britain in the reign of James the First, published from the originals,-Glasgow, 1762," with a short preface, signed Dav. Dalrymple, purporting that the collection is made from many volumes of letters and memorials, relating to the history of Britain during the seventeenth century, preserved in the library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh; from which, as it is very little known, and certainly tends to throw some new lights on certain historical characters, we shall cull a few flowers, or weeds, as the reader may please to consider them; and be it remarked that, in so doing, the decency of modern manners totally precludes even the most distant allusion to some of the vices of this modern Solomon.

The first extract we shall give is the postscript to a letter from the Duke of Buckingham to King James. It begins "Dear dad and gossip," and is signed "Your Majesty's most humble slave and dog, Stinie."

"Here is a gentleman, called Sir Francis Leake, who hath likewise a philosopher's stone; 'tis worth but eight thousand; he will give it me, if you will make him a baron. I will, if you command not the contrary, have his patent ready for you to sign, when I come down; he is of good religion, well-born, and hath a good estate. I pray you burn this letter."-Memorials and Letters, p. 127.

In one of the letters from Buckingham to James, the favourite, says:

"Yesterday we got hither so early, that I had time to see over a good part of my works here. This afternoon I will see the rest. I protest to God, the chiefest plea