to those who had been accustomed to the stately majesty of Elizabeth. James had married Anne, daughter of the king of Denmark, whose person and deportment are described as having been very homely and unprepossessing. They had three children at the time of James's accession. The eldest, Henry, was a promising boy of nine years old; the second child was named Elizabeth; and Charles, the youngest, was a boy of four years old. The James, though surrounded on his arrrival in England by Scotch nobles, all greedy of English honors, still retained many of Elizabeth's ministers in their places. most distinguished of these was Cecil lord Salisbury, son of the great lord Burleigh, who possessed much of his father's capacity, but without his integrity. One of the first acts of the king was to restore the family of Howard, and some others who had suffered in his mother's cause, to their estates and honors. A conspiracy was soon afterwards formed to place on the throne the lady Arabella Stuart. This lady was the daughter of a brother of lord Darnley, the king's father; consequently she was his first cousin, and equally descended with himself from Henry VII. Her mother was an English lady of the Cavendish family, and she had been brought up amongst her mother's relations in great privacy. Lady Arabella was neither qualified nor desirous to be a queen, and was totally ignorant of the conspiracy. The plot was soon discovered, and three persons were executed. Sir Walter Raleigh who had been accused of sharing in it, but whose guilt was not proved, was condemned to death, but reprieved, and afterwards remained in prison many years. The Roman Catholics had expected great indulgence from James for his mother's sake; but they found, to their What was James's family? What were the first acts of James's government? What were Lady Arabella Stuart's pretensions to the throne of England? Who were engaged in the conspiracy in behalf of Lady Arabella? great disappointment, that he was no less steady than Elizabeth had been to the cause of the Protestants; and to this disappointment was owing the well-known Gunpowder Plot, which had its first rise in 1604. Catesby and Percy, two Catholic gentlemen, being in conversation on public affairs, Percy, in great heat, said something about assassinating the king. The other replied, that his single death would do them little good, and that they also must get rid of the lords and commons: he then suggested the possibility of laying a train of gunpowder under the parliament house, which would blow them up all together. Percy approved of the project: it was also agreed to communicate it to a few other persons; and they sent into Flanders in quest of Guy Fawkes, a man of known courage and zeal, then serving in the Spanish army, who they knew would be actively useful in the execution of their scheme. This plot was in agitation all the spring. In the summer, the conspirators hired, in Percy's name, a house adjoining to the house of lords, and began to undermine the wall between the two. After they had carried on their work some time, they learnt that a vault which had been used as a coal vault, and which was immediately under the house of lords, was to be let. Percy hired it, and secretly placed in it thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, and concealed them with faggots and billets of wood. Every thing being ready, it was resolved that some of the conspirators should seize and kill the little prince Charles; and that others should get possession of the princess Elizabeth, and proclaim her queen, on the same day on which the king and queen, and their eldest son, were to be present at the opening of the parliament. Thus confident were they of destroying their victims. This secret, though entrusted to above twenty persons, had been faithfully kept for near a year and a half; during What was the Gunpowder Plot? Who was Guy Fawkes? What active measures were taken by the conspirators? which period the execution was delayed from time to time by the repeated adjournments of parliament. The bigotry of the conspirators stifled all compunction at the thoughts of destroying so many of their fellow-creatures. A few days before the meeting of parliament, lord Monteagle received a letter, very ambiguously expressed, which, however, warned him of danger, and admonished him to go into the country instead of attending parliament. Monteagle knew not what to think of this letter, and showed it to lord Salisbury, who was not inclined to pay much attention to it; but who, nevertheless, laid it before the king. The king had sagacity enough to perceive, from its serious, earnest style, that something important was meant; and this forewarning of a sudden and terrible blow, yet with the authors concealed, made his suspicions come very near the truth. The day before the meeting of par liament, he sent the earl of Suffolk to examine all the vaults under the houses of parliament. In that which was under the house of Lords, Suffolk was surprised to see so many piles of wood and faggots, and was also struck with the dark and mysterious countenance of Guy Fawkes, who was found there, and who called himself Percy's servant. It was then resolved to make a more thorough inspection, and about midnight a magistrate was sent with proper attendance for that purpose. On turning over the faggots, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered. Fawkes had been seized near the door, and matches, and every thing required for setting the train on fire, were found upon him. He at first appeared quite undaunted, but his courage afterwards failed him, and he made a full discovery of the plot, and of all the conspirators. Catesby, Percy, and some others, hurried into Warwickshire, where one of their confederates, sir Everard Digby, not doubting but that the expected catestrophe in London had taken place, was already in arms. What intimation of danger was sent to lord Monteagle? What opinion did the king form of the letter to lord Monteagle? What discoveries in relation to the plot were made by the earl of Suffolk? How did the conspirators meet detection? The country was soon roused against these wretches, who took refuge in one of those fortified houses which were common at that period, and resolved to defend themselves to the last. But the same fate awaited them which they had designed for so many others. Their gunpowder caught fire, and blew up, maiming and destroying several of them. The rest rushed out upon the multitude, and were literally cut to pieces, except a few who were taken alive, and afterwards executed. The king showed more moderation on this occasion than was approved of by his subjects in general, who were wound up to such a pitch of horror at the greatness of the crime which had been attempted, that they would gladly have had every Papist in the kingdom put to death; and they were much displeased that James punished those only who were more immediately concerned in the plot. Soon after his accession, James employed himself in an unsuccessful attempt to bring about a union between his two kingdoms; but the parliament of England was so much swayed by old and vulgar prejudices and antipathies against the Scots, that it would agree to nothing, except to annul the hostile laws that had formerly subsisted between the two kingdoms. The union of the kingdoms, meant the bringing the parliaments of both into one assembly, and making the same legislation serve for England and Scotland. James's bad management of the finances, and his profuse generosity to his favorites, involved him in great difficulties. Amongst other ways of procuring money, he sold titles and dignities. The title of baronet, which might be purchased by any bidder for a thousand pounds, was now first created to supply his necessities. One of James's greatest follies was an exclusive regard for some one favourite, who was generally chosen for his How were the conspirators treated? How did the English generally regard the papists at this time? Was James improvident? Whom did the king create earl of Somerset ? agreeable exterior. One of these was Robert Carr, a youth of a good Scotch family, but of a neglected education. James undertook to be his tutor, and to teach him Latin. As he grew older, the king loaded him with dignities, and finally created him earl of Somerset. This favorite had a sincere and wise friend, sir Thomas Overbury, who, on his wishing to marry the countess of Essex, strongly advised him against it. The countess, irritated at Overbury on this account, persuaded Somerset to have him put in the Tower, where he was soon afterwards poisoned. Somerset and the countess, the guilty contrivers of his death, then married: but he, being less hardened in wickedness, sank into a settled melancholy, and became so dull a companion, that the king, who liked gaiety and cheerfulness, grew weary of him. Some time afterwards, the apothecary's apprentice, who had mixed the poison for Overbury, betrayed the secret. The guilt of Somerset and his wife was discovered, and they, and all who had been accessary to the murder, were tried the accomplices were hanged, but Somerset and the countess were only banished. They lived many years together, dragging on a miserable life; their former attachment, which had led them into guilt, being turned to the most deadly hate. The earl of Salisbury died. He had been A. D. 1613. trained in the school of Elizabeth, and was by far the ablest of all James's ministers. Some months before, the king had lost his eldest son, a prince of the highest promise. He was only in the eighteenth year of his age; but had already shown a spirit and nobleness of character, which had greatly endeared him to the English, particularly to many restless and ardent men, who, tired of the peace and inactivity of his father's reign, hoped to signalize themselves by military exploits under a prince of such a martial genius, What is the history of sir Thomas Overbury? What was the character of Prince Henry, son of James I.? |