1. Coujunction with Sir Jervis Elvis, lieutenant of the LETTER Tower, at length effected their cruel purpose. THOUGH the precipitation with which Overbury's funeral was hurried over, immediately bred a ftrong fufpicion of the cause of his death, the full proof of the crime was not brought to light till fome years af ter; when it was difcovered by means of an apothecary's fervant, who had been employed in making up the poifons, and the whole labyrinth of guilt diftinctly traced to its fource 39. BUT although Somerfet had fo long efcaped the inquiry of justice, he had not escaped the fcrutiny of confcience, which continually pointed to him his murdered friend; and even within the circle of a court, amid the blandifhments of flattery and of love, ftruck him with the reprefentation of his fecret enormity, and diffused over his mind a deep melancholy, which was neither to be difpelled by the fmiles of beauty, nor the rays of royal favour. The graces of his perfon gradually disappeared, and his gaiety and politenefs were loft in fullennefs and filence. THE king, whofe affections had been caught by thefe fuperficial accomplishments, finding his favourite no longer contribute to his amufement, and unable to account for fo remarkable a change, more readily liftened to the accufations brought against him. A rigorous inquiry was ordered; and Somerset and his countefs were found guilty, but pardoned through the indifcreet lenity of James. They languifhed out their remaining years, which were many and miferable, in infamy and obfcurity; alike hating, and hated by each other 40. Sir Jervis Elvis, and the inferior criminals, fuffered the punishment due to their guilt. 39. State Trials, vol. i. 40. Kennet. P 4 LET A. D. 1615. PART II. LETTER LETTER II. ENGLAND and SCOTLAND, from the Rife of BUCKING- TH HE fall of Somerset, and his banishment from court, opened the way for a new favourite to D1615. rife at once to the highest honours. George Villiers, an English gentleman, of an engaging figure, and in all the bloom of twenty-one, had already attracted the eye of James; and, at the interceffion of the queen, had been appointed cup-bearer'. This office, fo happily fuited to youth and beauty, but which, when they become the cause of peculiar favour, revives in the mind certain Grecian allufions, might well have contented Villiers, and have attached him to the king's perfon; nor would such a choice have been cenfured, except by the cynically fevere'. But the profufe bounty of James induced him, in the course of a few years, contrary to all the rules of prudence and politics, to create his minion viscount Villiers, earl, marquis, and duke of Buckingham, knight of the Garter, mafter of the horse, chief juftice in Eyre, warden of the Cinque Ports, mafter of the King's Bench, fteward of Westminster, conftable of Windsor, and lord high admiral of England 3. THIS rapid advancement of Villiers, which rendered him for ever rafh and infolent, involved the king in new 1. Rushworth, vol. i. 2. James, who affected fagacity and desigu in his most trifling concerns, infisted, we are told, on the ceremony of the queen's foliciting this office for Villiers, as an apology to the world for his fudden predie lection in favour of that young gentleman. Coke, p. 46. 3. Franklin, p. 39. Clarendon, vol. į. neceffities, II. neceffities, in order to fupply the extravagance of his LETTER minion. A price had already been affixed to every rank of nobility, and the title of Baronet invented, and currently fold for one thousand pounds, to fupply the profufion of Somerfet. Some new expedient muft now be fuggefted; and one very unpopular, though certainly A.D. 1616. lefs difgraceful than the former, was embraced: the cautionary towns were delivered up to the Dutch for a fum of money. These towns, as I have formerly had occafion to notices, were the Brill, Flushing, and Rammakins; three important places, which Elizabeth had got configned into her hands by the United Provinces, on entering into war with Spain, as a fecurity for the repayment of the money which she might difburfe on their account. Part of the debt, which at one time amounted to eight hundred thoufand pounds, was already discharged; and the remainder, after making an allowance for the annual expence of the garrifons, was agreed to be paid on the furrender of the fortreffes. This feems to have been all that impartial juftice could demand, yet the English nation was highly diffatisfied with the tranfaction; and it must be owned, that a po litic prince would have been flow in relinquishing poffeffions, on whatever conditions obtained, which enabled him to hold in a degree of fubjection fo confiderable a neighbouring ftate as the republic of Holland. 4. Franklin, p. 11. 5. Part I. Lett. LXIX. 6. Winwood, vol. ii. Rushworth, vol. i. Mrs. Macaulay thinks Elizabeth acted very ungenerously in demanding any thing from the Dutch for the affiftance fhe lent them: "It ought by all the obliga "tions of virtue, to have been a free gift." (Hift. Eng. vol. i.) That the English queen took advantage of the neceflities of the infant republic, to obtain poffeffion of the cautionary towns, is certain; and the Dutch, now become more opulent, took advantage of James's neceffities to get them back again. Justice and gencrofity were in both cafes, as in moft tranfactions between nations, entirely out of the question. THE PART II. A. D. 1617. The next measure in which James engaged rendered him as unpopular in Scotland as he was already in England. It was an attempt to establish a conformity in worship and difcipline between the churches of the two kingdoms; a project which he had long held in contemplation, and toward the completion of which he had taken some introductory steps. But the principal part of the bufinefs was referved till the king fhould pay a visit to his native country. Such a journey he now undertook. This naturally leads us to confider the affairs of Scotland. Ir might have been readily foreseen by the Scots, when the crown of England devolved upon James, that the independency of their kingdom, for which their anceftors had fhed fo much blood, would thenceforth be loft; and that, if both kingdoms perfevered in maintaining separate laws and parliaments, the weaker muft feel its inferiority more fenfibly than if it had been fubdued by force of arms. But this idea did not generally occur to the Scottish nobles, formerly fo jealous of the power as well as of the prerogatives of their princes; and as James was daily giving new proofs of his friendship and partiality to his countrymen, by loading them with riches and honours, the hope of his favour concurred with the dread of his power, in taming their fierce and independent fpirits. The will of their fovereign became the fupreme law in Scotland. Meanwhile the nobles, left in full poffeffion of their feudal jurifdiction over their own vaffals, exhaufting their fortunes by the expence of frequent attendance upon the English court, and by attempts to imitate the manners and luxury of their more wealthy neighbours, multiplied exactions upon the people; who durft hardly utter complaints, which they knew would never reach LETTER II. the ear of their fovereign, or be rendered too feeble to move him to grant them redress". Thus fubjected at once to the abfolute will of a monarch, and to the op. A. D. 1617. preffive jurifdiction of an ariftocracy, Scotland fuffered all the miferies peculiar to both thefe forms of government. Its kings were defpots, its nobles were flaves and tyrants, and the people groaned under the rigorous domination of both. THERE was one privilege, however, which the Scottifh nobility in general, and the great body of the people, were equally zealous in protecting against the encroachments of the crown; namely, the independency of their church or kirk. The caufe of this zeal de ferves to be traced. DIVINES are divided in regard to the government of the primitive church. It appears, however, to have been that of the most perfect equality among the Christian teachers, who were distinguished by the name of Prefbyters; an appellation expreffive of their gravity and wisdom, as well as of their age. But the moft perfect equality of freedom requires the directing hand of a fuperior magiftrate. Soon made fenfible of this by experience, the primitive Chriftians were induced to chufe one of the wifeft and moft holy among their Prefbyters, to execute the duties of an ecclefiaftical governor; and, in order to avoid the trouble and confufion of annual or occafional elections, his office continued during life, unless in cafes of degradation, on account of irregularity of conduct. His jurifdiction con 7. Robertson, Hift. Scot. vol. ii. Hume, Hift. Eng. vol. vi. 3. Before the acceffion of James I. to the throne of England, the feudal aristocracy subfifsted in full force in Scotland. Then the vaffals both of the king and of the nobles, from mutual jealoufy, were courted and careffed by their superiors, whose power and importance depended on their attachment and fidelity. Robertson, Hift. Scot. vol. ii. |