Let these remarks, however, suffice at present on the character of this calumniated monarch. Whatever were his failings, they were far out-numbered by his many virtues, by his sincere regard for religion, by his mildness, his clemency, affability, and generous nature. Future generations, I am persuaded, will yet do justice to the memory of James, and his political motives and actions will be properly estimated when enthusiasm has subsided, and when men shall reason with candour and soberness on the memories of the illustrious dead. "He was the Solomon of this age," says the venerable primate of Scotland, "admired for his wise government, and for his knowledge of all manner of learning. For his wisdom, moderation, love of justice, for his patience and piety, which shined above all his other virtues, and is witnessed in the learned works which he left to posterity, his name shall never be forgotten, but remain in honour so long as the world endureth." Bishop Williams,

so many critics; I would plead for the talents of this literary monarch. James was no more a pedant than the ablest of his cotemporaries; nor abhorred more the taste of tobacco, nor feared old witches, than they did: he was a great wit, a most acute disputant; and he discovers a genius far above mediocrity in his excellent Basilicon Doron. He would have been a sage for a prince, for his genius went beyond pedantry; Marcus Antoninus was not a greater philosopher, though he was a feebler sovereign. James had formed the most elevated conceptions of the virtues and duties of a monarch, and had his son Henry survived, that nobler genius had embodied the ideal of his father and his preceptor."

the Lord Keeper, preached his funeral sermon, and Laud lamented his death with the utmost sorrow, grieved for the loss of a Prince whom he loved, whose kindness he had experienced, whose worth those only who were about his person could justly appreciate.

CHAPTER VIII.

1625-1627.

Accession of Charles I.-State of the nation-Character of the King-the Duke of Buckingham-Bishop Laud-Proceedings of the King-Intrigues of Laud's enemies-Marriage of Charles I.-Meeting of the First Parliament—Its proceedings -Remarks on it-Dr. Richard Montague-Bishop Williams -Proclamations of the King-Conduct of Archbishop Abbot -Exertions of Laud-His appointment at the Coronation to officiate as Dean of Westminster-The Regalia-He regulates Westminster Abbey-Coronation of Charles I.-The Coronation oath-False charges against Laud-The Second Parliament-Intended impeachment of Buckingham-He is vindicated by the King-Conclusion of the Second ParliamentPractices against Laud-Dr. Goodman-Proclamation of the King.

We now enter on a new era, the reign of Charles I. -a reign pregnant with disasters, and fatal in its termination. The spirit of sedition, which had been restrained, but not subdued, by Elizabeth and James, was destined to break out with overwhelming violence, and to involve both Church and State in one mighty and melancholy ruin.

I have repeatedly declared my conviction, that a time will yet come when justice will be done to the memory of the Stuarts, especially to James and

Charles I. While it can be proved, from undeniable facts, that in many cases they could not act otherwise than they did, it can also be proved that the excesses of the Puritans were the great cause of that licentiousness and irreligion which characterised the Court after the monarchy was restored. Too great pretensions to religion in one party of the state generally produce laxity in the other; and hence it was that Puritanism exhibited religion, not as indeed it is, lovely and attractive, admirably adapted to the wants of man, and elevating his soul above the sublunary enjoyments of time and sense, but as gloomy, austere, and forbidding, imposing unwarrantable restraints on the heart, and subjecting it to a tyranny of fallible men, most revolting to human nature. And driven to desperation by the outrageous fanaticism of the Puritans in this reign, what could those do who were at the helm of power? It was no longer a reluctant obedience, and a mere verborum prælium, but it was a struggle which should obtain the mastery; it was a determination by the Puritans to unsheath the sword; they openly declared against toleration, they dogmatically said they would not submit. I need not enumerate the consequences. It is enough to know that the sacred name of religion was abused to serve the ambition and hypocrisy of a faction; that murder and bloodshed stalked abroad in the nation; that the reign of enthusiasm was drawing nigh; and that the beautiful and spiritual ritual of the Church was to be supplanted by the fearful

revelries of disordered imaginations, by canting phraseology, hypocrisy, and tyrannical ambition.

In the twenty-fifth year of his age, Charles I. ascended the throne of England. Educated in the doctrines of the Church of England, he justly reckoned that Church the bulwark of the Protestant Reformation, and felt for it that attachment which he was destined to seal with his blood. A lover of his country and of its sacred institutions, he gave an example by his virtue, his integrity, and his generous valour.

The commencement of a new reign is generally of great importance, according to the state of parties, and the hopes in which they choose to indulge. Had Charles gone over to the Puritans, he might, by uniting with those dark and gloomy religionists, have perhaps averted many of his future calamities; but he was bound by the constitution and the laws to adhere to Church and State, nor could any alterations be effected without the unanimous consent of the nation. If, at the first, he had made concessions to the Puritans, no limits would have been set to their extravagant demands; and, like the Papists, the more favours they received, the greater would have been their insolence. It was necessary for Charles, therefore, to adhere vigorously to the constitution as he found it, and not, by a too facile compliance with the demands of faction, afford dangerous precedents for future actions. Perhaps, after all, in whatever way he acted, his fall was inevitable: the designs of the Calvinists had been in