XLVII. still lamented their unhappy fate, while the union be- CHAP. tween them was not entire and indissoluble: and the lover, as well as his mistress, was impatient till their mutual ardour should be crowned by marriage. So momentous an affair could not be concluded without consulting Overbury, with whom Rochester was accustomed to share all his secrets. While that faithful friend had considered his patron's attachment to the Countess of Essex, merely as an affair of gallantry, he had favoured its progress; and it was partly owing to the ingenious and passionate letters which he dictated, that Rochester had met with such success in his addresses. Like an experienced courtier, he thought that a conquest of this nature would throw a lustre on the young favourite, and would tend still farther to endear him to James, who was charmed to hear of the amours of his court, and listened with attention to every tale of gallantry. But great was Overbury's alarm, when Rochester mentioned his design of marrying the countess; and he used every method to dissuade his friend from so foolish an attempt. He represented how invidious, how difficult an enterprise to procure her a divorce from her husband; how dangerous, how shameful, to take into his own bed a profligate woman, who, being married to a young nobleman of the first rank, had not scrupled to prostitute her character, and to bestow favours on the object of a capricious and momentary passion: and, in the zeal of friendship, he went so far as to threaten Rochester, that he would separate himself for ever from him, if he could so far forget his honour and his interest as to prosecute the intended marriage". Rochester had the weakness to reveal this conversation to the Countess of Essex; and when her rage and fury broke out against Overbury, he had also the weakness to enter into her vindictive projects, and to swear vengeance against his friend, for the utmost instance which he could receive of his faithful friendship. Some contrivance was necessary for the execution of their purpose. Rochester addressed himself to the king; and after complaining, that his own indulgence to Overbury had begotten in him a degree of arrogance, which was extremely dis h State Trials, vol. i. p. 235, 236. 252. Franklyn, p. 14. VOL. IV. T 1613. XLVII. 1613. CHAP. agreeable, he procured a commission for his embassy to Russia, which he represented as a retreat for his friend, both profitable and honourable. When consulted by Overbury, he earnestly dissuaded him from accepting this offer, and took on himself the office of satisfying the king, if he should be anywise displeased with the refusal. To the king again he aggravated the insolence of OverApril 21st. bury's conduct, and obtained a warrant for committing him to the Tower, which James intended as a slight punishment for his disobedience. The lieutenant of the Tower was a creature of Rochester's, and had lately been put into the office for this very purpose: he confined Overbury so strictly, that the unhappy prisoner was debarred the sight even of his nearest relations; and no communication of any kind was allowed with him, during near six months which he lived in prison. This obstacle being removed, the lovers pursued their purpose; and the king himself, forgetting the dignity of his character, and his friendship for the family of Essex, entered zealously into the project of procuring the countess a divorce from her husband. Essex also embraced the opportunity of separating himself from a bad woman, by whom he was hated; and he was willing to favour their success by any honourable expedient. The pretence for a divorce was his incapacity to fulfil the conjugal duties; and he confessed, that, with regard to the countess, he was conscious of such an infirmity, though he was not sensible of it with regard to any other woman. In her place too, it is said, a young virgin was substituted under a mask, to undergo a legal inspection by a jury of matrons. After such a trial, seconded by court influence, and supported by the ridiculous opinion of fascination or witchcraft, the sentence of divorce was pronounced between the Earl of Essex and his countess*. And, to crown the scene, the king, solicitous lest the lady should lose any rank by her new marriage, bestowed on his minion the title of Earl of Somerset. Notwithstanding this success, the Countess of Somerset was not satisfied, till she should farther satiate her revenge on Overbury; and she engaged her husband, as i State Trials, vol. i. p. 236, 237, &c. k Ibid. p. 223, 224, &c. Franklyn's Annals, p. 2, 3, &c. 1613. Overbury well as her uncle, the Earl of Northampton, in the atro- CHAP. cious design of taking him off secretly by poison. Fruit- XLVII. less attempts were reiterated by weak poisons; but, at last, they gave him one so sudden and violent, that the poisoned. symptoms were apparent to every one who approached 16th Sept. him. His interment was hurried on with the greatest precipitation; and though a strong suspicion immediately prevailed in the public, the full proof of the crime was not brought to light till some years after. The fatal catastrophe of Overbury increased or begot the suspicion, that the Prince of Wales had been carried off by poison, given him by Somerset. Men considered not, that the contrary inference was much juster. If Somerset was so great a novice in this detestable art, that, during the course of five months, a man who was his prisoner, and attended by none but his emissaries, could not be despatched but in so bungling a manner; how could it be imagined that a young prince, living in his own court, surrounded by his own friends and domestics, could be exposed to Somerset's attempts, and be taken off by so subtle a poison, if such a one exist, as could elude the skill of the most experienced physicians? The ablest minister that James ever possessed, the Earl of Salisbury, was dead"; Suffolk, a man of slender capacity, had succeeded him in his office: and it was now his task to supply, from an exhausted treasury, the profusion of James and of his young favourite. The title of baronet, invented by Salisbury, was sold, and two hundred patents of that species of knighthood were disposed of for so many thousand pounds: each rank of nobility had also its price affixed to it": privy seals were circulated, to the amount of two hundred thousand pounds; benevolences were exacted, to the amount of fifty-two thousand pounds; and some monopolies of no great value were erected. But all these expedients proved insufficient to supply the king's necessities, even though he began to enter into some schemes for retrenching his expenses". However small the hopes of success, a new Parliament must be summoned, and this 1 Kennet, p. 693. State Trials, vol. i. p. 233, 234, &c. m 14th of May, 1612. o Idem, p. 10. n Franklyn, p. 11. 33. P Idem, p. 49. CHAP. dangerous expedient, for such it was now become, once more be put to trial. XLVII. 1614. 5th April. A Parlia ment. When the Commons were assembled, they discovered an extraordinary alarm, on account of the rumour which was spread abroad concerning undertakers". It was reported that several persons, attached to the king, had entered into a confederacy; and having laid a regular plan for the new elections, had distributed their interest all over England, and had undertaken to secure a majority for the court. So ignorant were the Commons, that they knew not this incident to be the first infallible symptom of any regular or established liberty. Had they been contented to follow the maxims of their predecessors, who, as the Earl of Salisbury said to the last Parliament, never but thrice in six hundred years refused a supply', they needed not dread that the crown should ever interest itself in their elections. Formerly the kings even insisted, that none of their household should be elected members; and though the charter was afterwards declared void, Henry VI., from his great favour to the city of York, conferred a peculiar privilege on its citizens, that they should be exempted from this trouble'. It is well known, that, in ancient times, a seat in the House being considered as a burden, attended neither with honour nor profit, it was requisite for the counties and boroughs to pay fees to their representatives. About this time a seat began to be regarded as an honour, and the country gentlemen contended for it; though the practice of levying wages for the Parliament-men was not altogether discontinued. It was not till long after, when liberty was thoroughly established, and popular assemblies entered into every branch of public business, that the members began to join profit to honour, and the crown found it necessary to distribute among them all the considerable offices of the kingdom. So little skill or so small means had the courtiers, in 4 Parliam. Hist. vol. v. p. 286. Kennet, p. 696. Journ. 12th April, 2nd May, 1614, &c. Franklyn, p. 48. r Journ. 17th Feb. 1609. It appears, however, that Salisbury was somewhat mistaken in this fact; and if the kings were not oftener refused supply by the Parliament, it was only because they would not often expose themselves to the hazard of being refused; but it is certain that English Parliaments did anciently carry their frugality to an extreme, and seldom could be prevailed on to give the necessary support to government. s Coke's Institutes, part 4. chap. 1. of Charters of Exemption. James's reign, for managing elections, that this House of Commons showed rather a stronger spirit of liberty than the foregoing; and instead of entering upon the business of supply, as urged by the king, who made them several liberal offers of grace', they immediately resumed the subject which had been opened last Parliament, and disputed his majesty's power of levying new customs and impositions by the mere authority of his prerogative. It is remarkable that, in their debates on this subject, the courtiers frequently pleaded, as a precedent, the example of all the other hereditary monarchs in Europe, and particularly mentioned the Kings of France and Spain; nor was this reasoning received by the House either with surprise or indignation": the members of the opposite party either contented themselves with denying the justness of the inference, or they disputed the truth of the observation"; and a patriot member in particular, Sir Roger Owen, even in arguing against the impositions, frankly allowed that the King of England was endowed with as ample a power and prerogative as any prince in Christendom*. The nations on the continent, we may observe, enjoyed still, in that age, some small remains of liberty, and the English were possessed of little more. CHAP. XLVII. 1614. The Commons applied to the Lords for a conference with regard to the new impositions. A speech of Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, reflecting on the Lower House, begat some altercation with the Peers'; and the king seized the opportunity of dissolving, immediately, with great indignation, a Parliament, which had shown so firm a re- 6th June. solution of retrenching his prerogative, without communicating, in return, the smallest supply to his necessities. He carried his resentment so far as even to throw into prison some of the members, who had been the most forward in their opposition to his measures". In vain did he plead, in excuse for this violence, the example of Elizabeth and other princes of the line of Tudor, as well as Plantagenet. The people and the Parliament, without abandoning for ever all their liberties and privileges, could acquiesce in none of these precedents, how ancient t Journ. 11th April, 1614. w Journ. 12th, 21st May, 1614. y See note [II], at the end of the volume. u Journ. 21st May, 1614. z Kennet, p. 696. |