A fleet is sent against the Barbary pirates?, in October, but effects nothing of consequence.

Great numbers of volunteers quit England to support the Elector Palatine. He is, however, defeated by the Austrians at Prague, Nov. 7, and loses his hereditary dominions.

The king issues a proclamation (Dec. 23) prohibiting talking of state affairs.

The Puritans make a settlement in North America, styling the district New England.

A.D. 1621. The parliament meets Jan. 30, and sits till June 4.

The commons proceed with severity against numerous offenders. One member (Shepherd) is expelled for reflecting on the Puritans; Floyd, a Romish barrister, and a prisoner in the Fleet, is condemned to heavy punishment for indecorous language regarding the Elector Palatine and his wife; Lord Chancellor Bacon is impeached, and several monopolists and patentees prosecuted".

The great seal is bestowed on John Williams, dean of Salisbury and Westminsters, July 10.

P An attack was made on Algiers in May, 1621, and two or three vessels burnt, but the rovers (among whom were many renegades— see p. 349) captured above thirty English ships in the same year, and they first received effectual chastisement from Blake, more than thirty years after.

He had rejoiced over the ill-success of "goodman Palgrave and goody Palgrave." The king, however, refused to allow the house to punish him, angrily enquiring, "Are they a court of judicature?" an had him prosecuted in the Starchamber.

Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis Mitchell, two flagrant offenders, who had obtained, and abused, exclusive powers for licensing alehouses and inspecting inns, and manufacturing gold and silver thread, were degraded from knighthood, fined, imprisoned, and eventually banished.

He was born in 1582 at Aberconway, and was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. Whilst proctor of the University he at

The earl of Northumberland is released from the Tower, July 18.

The archbishop of Canterbury (George Abbot) accidentally kills a gamekeeper, in Lord Zouch's park, at Bramzill, July 24t.

The parliament re-assembles Nov. 20, and sits till Dec. 19.

They grant no supplies, but instead, draw up a petition to the king, praying that the laws against the Romanists may be enforced, that he will make war upon Spain in support of the Elector Palatine, and marry his son Charles to a Protestant princess".

The king censures their petition as the work of “fiery, popular, and turbulent spirits;" they reply by a protestation, in which they claim the right of discussing all subjects"in such order as they think proper," and maintain that their members are responsible to the House only for their conduct. The king sends for the journal, tracted the attention of George, duke of Wurtemberg, and was by him recommended to the king. He shewed a great aptitude for secular business, became a favourite of King James, and in consequence received from him the great seal. From this office he was driven in 1625 by the enmity of Buckingham, to whom he was not sufficiently subservient, opposed himself to the proceedings of Archbishop Laud, was, on light grounds, very harshly treated, and suffered a long imprisonment in the Tower. He was released by the Long Parliament, and, in Dec. 1641, was translated to York, but in the same month was again imprisoned on account of the bishops' protestation, which he had drawn up. When the civil war commenced he withdrew to Aberconway Castle, which he fortified, and held for a time for the king, but he ultimately made his peace with the parliament, and, dying at Glothaeth, in Caernarvonshire, March 25, 1650, he was buried at Llandegay, near Bangor.

He obtained the king's pardon, Nov. 22, but many candidates for the ministry refused to receive ordination from "hands polluted by blood," and he was virtually suspended from his function.

A treaty had been already concluded (April 27, 1620) for his marriage with the Infanta Maria of Spain; and a toleration of Romanism was one of its provisions.

tears out the protest with his own hand, and adjourns the Houses, Dec. 19.

A.D. 1622. The parliament is dissolved, Feb. 8.

Sir Edward Coke and Mr. Pym are imprisoned, and Sir Dudley Digges, and other obnoxious members of the late parliament, forced to repair to Ireland against their will, under pretence of the king's servicex.

A Romish university founded in Dublin3.

A.D. 1623. The treaty for the Spanish marriage is all but concluded by the earl of Bristol (John Digby), when Prince Charles and Buckingham arrive in Madrid2, March 7. The negotiations are opened afresh, but at length a public and a private treatya are agreed to, which King James swears to observe, July 20.

The prince and Buckingham return to England, arriving Oct. 5.

The marriage treaty is broken off, and the earl of Bristol recalled to England, December.

A.D. 1624. The parliament meets Feb. 19, and sits

They were commissioned to inquire, among other things, into abuses said to have been committed in the recent plantation of Ulster.

y It was allowed to exist for about ten years, but was then closed by the lord-deputy, and the building granted to Trinity College, Dublin.

They left England in disguise, Feb. 18, and travelled with but three attendants, taking the names of James and Thomas Smith; the journey is thought to have been suggested by Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador.

a

The public treaty only conceded freedom of worship to the Infanta and her household; the private treaty engaged the king to procure, if possible, the repeal of the penal statutes, and if not, to suspend their execution.

The rupture of the treaty was generally ascribed to Buckingham, and he in consequence became popular for a while; but the earl of Bristol eventually exposed the course of his proceedings in Spain, and made it evident that he had consulted his own pride and anger, rather than the honour of his master.

till May 29. The king endeavours to prevent the earl of Bristol appearing in his place, but on the remonstrance of the Peers he gives way. The earl then charges Buckingham with causing the rupture with Spain. Buckingham explains his conduct to the expressed satisfaction of the parliament.

Monopolies declared contrary to law, and all such grants void [21 Jac. I. c. 3.]

с

War is declared against Spain, March 10.

The earl of Middlesex (Lionel Cranfeild), lord treasurer, is impeached by the Commons, at the instigation of Buckingham, April. He is convicted of bribery and neglect of duty by the Peers, May 13, is fined £50,000, and declared incapable of sitting in parliament.

The lord keeper (John Williams, bishop of Lincoln) is also complained of by Buckingham, but the Commons decline to impeach him.

A complaint of false doctrine is made to the Commons against Dr. Richard Montague, one of the king's chaplains.

C

Patents of invention, giving a monopoly for not more than 14 years, were excepted.

d He was sent to the Tower the next day, and formally deprived of office May 16. Cranfeild was originally a merchant of London, and had been brought forward by Buckingham, but had offended him by hesitating to sanction his lavish expenditure in the Spanish journey. He defended himself with spirit on his trial, and is believed to have been unjustly condemned. His fine was reduced to £20,000; he was soon released from prison, and lived in retirement until his death, which occurred in the year 1645.

In a tract against the Romanists, entitled, "A Gag for the New Gospel," he had denied that the Calvinistic tenets were agreeable to the faith of the Church of England. This gave great offence to the Puritan party; he was summoned before the House, and condemned to silence by the archbishop of Canterbury (Abbot), to whom they remitted the cause. He, however, appealed to the king, and he was saved from any present consequences by the dissolution of the parliament, which soon occurred, but his prosecution was revived in the

Count Mansfeldt is allowed to raise 12,000 men in England for the service of the Elector Palatine. They are hastily embarked in crowded ships, and lose nearly half their number from sicknessf.

A marriage treaty for the prince of Wales is concluded with France, Nov. 12.

Pembroke College, Oxford, founded.

A.D. 1625. The king dies of an ague at Theobalds, March 27, and is buried at Westminster.

next reign, his "Appello Cæsarem" being in its very nature grievous to the parliament, which already aimed at supremacy.

Montagu was born in 1578, and was educated at Cambridge. In spite of the anger of the parliament, he was in 1628 made bishop of Chichester (one William Jones, a London tradesman, publicly objecting to the election, but without effect), and in 1638 was translated to Norwich. He died April 13, 1641.

This calamitous event made a great impression on the king, who bitterly lamented having yielded to the persuasion of evil counsellors, and plunged into a war in his old age.