who acted as spectators. "Oh!" replied the courier, "the King of Denmark's are red herrings, those of the Dutch are Dutch cheeses, and the King of England's are ambassadors." All kinds of caricatures were exhibited of this unfortunate and misguided king. "In one he had his pockets and his purse turned inside out; in another, he was fighting with an empty scabbard instead of a sword; in a third, with a sword that a whole crowd tugging at could not get out of the scabbard; and, in a fourth, carrying a cradle after his daughter, the ex-queen of Bohemia, who was wandering homeless with her child on her back."

At home James was offending all parties except the sycophants, who

were loth to take offence so long as anything was to be got from the man who treated them like dogs. His time was chiefly spent in hunting; his favourite residence Theobalds, his pleasures of the rudest-only relieved by the pedantic display of learning which at the best might have qualified him for the mastership of a third-rate grammar school. He aroused the indignation of the Nonconformists by his base desertion of their cause and the persecution which he directed against them. He excited the bitter enmity of the Catholics by the most intolerable exactions and oppressive edicts. Expounder of law and gospel, he scented a heretic at whatever distance, and gave chase in the most approved style of spiritual sportsmanship. Vorstius, a Dutch clergyman, fell a prey to this ecclesiastical

Nimrod. A treatise he had written was put into the hands of James, who, in the space of one hour, picked out a long list of what he called "damnable heresies." The worthy and distinguished man, at the instigation of James, was deprived of all his offices and emoluments, driven into exile, and, by the English and Scotch divines, sent by James to the synod of Dort (1619), was further persecuted and expelled from Holland. King James was the last monarch in England who sent a fellow-creature to the stake for heresy.

When not engaged in polemical controversy, James was occupied in

hunting. To recall him to some recognition of his duties the people of Royston caught a favourite hound of the king's and put a label round his neck, inscribed, "Pray, good Mr. Jowler, speak to the king, for he heareth you every day, and so doth he not us, and entreat that it will please his majesty to go back to London, or else the country will be

undone."

Whether the king was in London or at Theobalds, the country was as likely to be undone by his weak and yet despotic rule.

In Spain, Baby Charles and Dog Steenie growing weary of Spanish etiquette, and resolved on returning home, contrived to slip away from

the Court. They lingered for some time at Segovia, and Charles sent a very flattering letter to the Pope, which gave his holiness immense satisfaction. Returned to England, Charles set about breaking off the Spanish match. The intention of James had been to induce the Spaniards to engage in a war for the restoration of his son in law's electorate-he could not hope for the crown of Bohemia; but whatever his intentions might be, Charles was resolved not to marry the princess, and Dog Steenie

having received some well merited rebuffs from the Spanish grandee, was very anxious to avenge his quarrel.

Before the marriage with the Infanta of Spain was formally broken off, overtures were made to the Court of France for a union between Charles and the Princess Henrietta Maria. There was a decided desire in France for this alliance, and it was far more approved in England than had been the contemplated union with Spain. The English people were more disposed to receive a daughter of Henry IV. than a grand-daughter of Philip II. The negociations were after some delay concluded, but the

marriage did not take place until the Prince of Wales had ascended the throne of England.

The marriage took place by proxy on the 11th of May, 1625, on a platform in front of the ancient Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris.

"That stately old fabric was hung with rich tapestry and tissues of gold and silver for the occasion. From the palace of the Archbishop of Paris to the church, a gallery was erected on raised pillars draped with violet satin and figured with golden fleur-de-lis. A great procession

marched from the Louvre to the Archbishop's palace, and thence through the gallery to the church. First went the Duke of Chevreuse, as proxy of the King of England, arrayed in black velvet, and over it thrown a scarf glittering with roses composed of diamonds. The English ambassadors followed next, and after them walked the bride wearing a splendid crown of England; her brother, the King Louis XIII. conducting her on the right hand, and her younger brother Gaslin the Duke of Orleans on the left; her mother, Maria de Medici, followed her, and next to her Anne

of Austria, the Queen consort, in a robe bordered with gold and precious stones, and her long train borne by princesses of the house of Condé and Conti. Madame Montpensier, the grand heiress, afterwards married to Gaslin Duke of Orleans, led the remaining ladies of the royal family.

"At the church door, the King of France and his brother Gaslin delivered the bride into the hands of Chevreuse, Charles's proxy, and the Cardinal de la Rochefoucault performed the ceremony. From the pla form the bride and her attendants advanced in the cathedral and witnessed mass at the high altar; but Chevreuse, acting exactly as a Protestant for a Protestant king, whom he represented, retired with the English ambassador during these ceremonies to a withdrawing apartment, prepared for the purpose. On the return of the royal procession to the Louvre, Henrietta, as Queen of England, was placed at the banquet on the right hand of King Louis."

The Duke of Buckingham, attended by a numerous and splendid train of English nobility, arrived in Paris to conduct the bride to England. He wore, says the Hardwicke paper, "a rich white satin uncut velvet suit, set all over, suit and cloak, with diamonds, the value whereof is thought to be worth fourscore thousand pounds, besides a feather made with great diamonds, with sword, girdle, hatband, and spurs, with diamonds; and he had twenty-seven other suits, all rich as invention could frame or art fashion."

The condition of France at the time of the marriage between Henrietta and Charles, was far better than that of England. For some yearsthanks to the wise policy of Henry IV.-it had been such as to call forth the respect of all European Powers. At the conference for effecting a truce between Holland and Spain-a conference which established the independence of the Dutch republic-the English ambassadors had been made to feel the inferiority of their position. Prince Maurice told them openly that their master dare not open his mouth in contradiction to the king of Spain, and evidently recognized the superiority of his French allies. The only real cause of trouble to France was the religious dissensions between the Catholics and the Huguenots-dissensions which had already plunged the country into all the horrors of civil war. The government of Louis XIII. was feeble and violent. The Protestants were his most formidable enemies. The nobles who had leagued themselves together against him had been overcome by promises; but the religious party were not to be so easily satisfied. The agents of Rome and of