various persons, until the sense is completely explained
and comprehended, with the least possible chance of
doubt or uncertainty.

By the art of writing, a barrier is fixed against those
violent changes so apt to take place in the early stages of
society, by which all the fruits of knowledge are fre-
quently destroyed, as those of the earth are by a hurri-
cane. Suppose, for example, a case which frequently
happens in the early history of mankind, that some na-
tion which has made considerable progress in the arts, is
invaded and subdued by another which is more powerful
and numerous, though more ignorant than themselves.
It is clear, that in this case, as the rude and ignorant vic-
tors would set no value on the knowledge of the van-
quished, it would, if intrusted only to the memory of the
individuals of the conquered people, be gradually lost
and forgotten. But if their useful discoveries were re-
corded in writing, the manuscripts in which they were
described, though they might be neglected for a season,
would, if preserved at all, probably attract attention at
some more fortunate period. It was thus that, when the
empire of Rome, having reached the utmost period of
its grandeur, was broken down and conquered by nume-
rous tribes of ignorant though brave barbarians, those ad-
mirable works of classical learning, on which such value i
justly placed in the present day, were rescued from total
destruction and oblivion by manuscript copies preserved
lv chance in the old libraries of churches and convents.



PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 11

[t may indeed be taken as an almost infallible maxim, that
no nation can make any great progress in useful know-
ledge or civilization, until their improvement can be ren-
dered stable and permanent by the invention of writing.

Another discovery, however, almost as important as
that of writing, was made during the fifteenth century.
I mean the invention of printing. Writing with the hand
must be always a slow, difficult, and expensive operation ;
and when the manuscript is finished, it is perhaps laid
aside among the stores of some great library, where it
may be neglected by students, and must, at any rate, be
accessible to very few persons, and subject to be destroy-
ed by numerous accidents. But the admirable invention
of printing enables the artist to make a thousand copies
from the original manuscript, by having them stamped
upon paper, in far less time and with less expense than it
would cost to make half a dozen such copies with the pen.
From the period of this glorious discovery, knowledge of
every kind might be said to be brought out of the dark-
ness of cloisters and universities, where it was known
only to a few scholars, into the broad light of day, where
its treasures were accessible to all men.

The Bible itself, in which wo find the rules of eternal
life, as well as a thousand lessons for our conduct in this
world, was, before the invention of printing, totally inac-
cessible to all, save the priests of Rome, who found it
their interest to discourage the perusal of the Scriptures
by any save their own order, and thus screened from dis-
covery those alterations and corruptions, which the in-
ventions of ignorant and designing men had introduced
into the beautiful simplicity of the gospel. But when,
by means of printing, the copies of the Bible became so
numerous, that every one, above the most wretched pov-
erty, could, at a cheap price, possess himself of a copy
of the blessed rule of life, there was a general appear
from the errors and encroachments of the Church of
Rome, to the Divine Word on which they professed to
be founded j a treasure formerly concealed from the
881



PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION.

public, but now placed within the reach of eveij man.
whether of the clergy or laity. The consequence of
these inquiries, which printing alone could have rendered
practicable, was the rise of the happy Reformation of the
Christian church.

The same noble art made knowledge of a temporal
kind as accessible as that which concerned religion.
Whatever works of history, science, morality, or enter-
tainment, seemed likely to instruct or amuse the reader,
were printed and distributed among the people at large
by printers and booksellers, who had a profit by doing so.
Thus, the possibility of important discoveries being for-
gotten in the course of years, or of the destruction of
useful arts, or elegant literature, by the loss of the records
in which they are preserved, was in a great measure re-
moved.

In a word, the printing-press is a contrivance which
enables any one individual to address his whole fellow-
subjects on any topic which he tlmiks important, and
which enables a whole nation to listen to the voice of
sueh individual, however obscure, with the same ease and
greater certainty of understanding what he says, than i{
a chief of Indians were haranguing the tribe at his coun-
cil-fire. Nor is the important difference to be. forgotten,
that the orator can only speak to the person present,
while the author of a book addresses himself, not only to
the race now in existence, but to all succeeding genera-
tions, while his work shall be held in estimation.

I have thus endeavoured to trace the steps by which a
general civilization is found to take place in nations with
more or less rapidity, as laws and institutions, or external
circumstances, favourable or otherwise, advance or re-
tard the increase of knowledge, and by the course of
which man, endowed with reason, and destined for im-
mortality, gradually improves the condition in which
Providence has placed him, while the inferior animals
continue to live by means of the same, or nearly the
same, instincts of self-preservation, which have directed
their species in all its descents since the creation.



ILL TEMPER OF ELIZABETH. 19

I have called your attention at some length to this
matter, because you will now have to remark, that a ma-
terial change had gradually and slowly taken place, both
in the kingdom of England, and in that of Scotland,
when their long quarrels were at length, in appearance,
ended, by the accession of James the Sixth of Scotland
to the English crown, which he held under the title of
James the First of that poweiful kingdom.



CHAPTER II.

Infirmities and ill temper of Elizabeth in her lattei
years Accession of James VI. acceptable on that ac-
count to the English Resort of Scotsmen to the
Court at London Quarrels between them and the
English Duelling Duel of Stewart and Wharton
Attempt by Sir John Jlyres to assassinate Lord Her-
bert Murder of Turner, a Fencing-Master, by two
Pages of Sanquhar, and Execution of the three mur-
derers Statute against Stabbing.

THE whole island of Great Britain was now united
under one king, though it remained in effect two separate
kingdoms, governed by their own separate constitutions,
and their own distinct codes of laws, and liable again to
be separated, in case, by the death of King James with-
out issue, the kingdoms might have been claimed by dif-
ferent heirs. For although James had two sons, yet there
was a possibility that they might have both died before
their father, in which case the sceptres of England and
Scotland must have passed once more to different hands.
The Hamilton family would, in that case, have succeed-
ed to the kingdom of Scotland, and the next heir of
Elizabeth to that of England. Who that heir was, it
might have been found difficult to determine.

It might have been thought that James, the sovereign
of a poor and barren kingdom, which had for so many



20 ILL TEMPER OF ELIZABETH.

ages maintained an almost perpetual war in England,
would have met with a prejudiced and unpleasant recep-
tion from a nation long accustomed to despise the Scots
for their poverty, and to regard them with enmity on ac
count of their constant hostility to the English blood and
name. It might have been supposed also, that a people
so proud as the English, and having so many justifiable
reasons for their pride, would have regarded with an evil
eye the transference of the sceptre from the hand of the
Tudors, who had swayed it during five successive reigns,
to those of a Stewart, descended from the ancient and
determined enemies of the English nation. But it was
the wise and gracious pleasure of Providence, that while
so many reasons existed to render the accession of James,
and, in consequence, the union of the two crowns, ob-
noxious to the English people, others should occur, which
not only balanced, but completely overpowered those ob-
jections, as well in the minds of men of sense and edu-
cation, as in the judgment of the populace, who are
usually averse to foreign rulers, for no other reason than
that they are such.

Queen Elizabeth, after a long and glorious reign, had,
in her latter days, become much more cross and uncer-
tain in her temper than had been the case in her youth,
more wilful also, and more inclined to exert her arbitrary
power on slight occasions. One peculiar cause of offence
was her obstinate refusal to gratify the anxiety of her
people, by making any arrangement for the succession to
the throne after her death. On this subject, indeed, she
nursed so much suspicion and jealousy, as gave rise to
more than one extraordinary scene. The following is a
whimsical instance, among others, of her unwillingness to
hear of anything respecting old age and its consequences.

The Bishop of St. David's, preaching in her Majesty's
presence, took occasion from his text, which was Psal
xc. ver. 12, " So teach us to number our day?, that we
may apply our hearts unto wisdom," to allude to the
Queen's advanced period of life, she being then sixty-
three, and to the consequent infirmities attending upon



IN HER LATTER YEARS. 21

old age ; as for example, when the grinders shall be few
in number, and they wax dark who look out at windows
when the daughters of singing shall be abased, and
more to the like purpose. With the tone of these ad-
monitions the Queen was so ill satisfied, that she flung
open the window of the closet in which she sat, and told
the preacher to keep his admonitions to himself, since she
plainly saw the greatest clerks (meaning, scholars) were
not the wisest men. Nor did her displeasure end here.
The bishop was commanded to confine himself to his
house for a time, and the Queen, referring to the circum-
stance some time afterwards, told her courtiers how much
the prelate was mistaken in supposing her to be as much
decayed as perhaps he might feel himself to be. As for
her, she thanked God, neither her stomach nor her
strength her voice for singing, or her art of fingering in-
struments, were any whit decayed. And to prove the
goodness of her eyes, she produced a little jewel, with
an inscription in very small letters, which she offered to
Lord Worcester and Sir James Crofts to read ; and as
they had too much tact to be sharp-sighted on the occa-
sion, she read it herself with apparent ease, and laughed
at the error of the good bishop.

The faults of Elizabeth, though arising chiefly from
age and ill-temper, were noticed and resented by her
subjects, who began openly to show themselves weary oi
a female reign, forgetting how glorious it had been, and
to desire to have a king to rule over them. With this
general feeling, all eyes, even those of Elizabeth's most
confidential statesman and counsellor Sir Robert Cecil,
afterwards Earl of Salisbury, were turned to the King of
Scotland as next heir to the crown. He was a Protestant
prince, which assured him the favour of the Church of
England, and of the numerous and strong adherents to
the Protestant religion. As such, Cecil entered into a
secret correspondence with him, in which he pointed out
the line of conduct proper on James's part to secure Irs
interest in England. On the other hand, the English
Catholics, on whom Queen Elizabeth's government had



22 INTRIGUES OF CECIL WITH JAMES VI.

imposed many severe penal laws, were equally friendly to
the succession of King James, since from that prince,
whose mother had been a strict Catholic, they might hope
for some favour, or, at the least, some release from the
various hardships which the laws of England imposed on
them. The Earl of Northumberland conducted a cor-
respondence with James on the part of the Catholics, in
which he held high language, and offered to assert the
Scottish King's right of succession by force of arms.

These intrigues were kept by James as secret as was in
his power. If Elizabeth had discovered either the one
or the other, neither the services of Cecil nor the high
birth and power of the great Earl of Northumberland,
could have saved them from experiencing the extremity
of her indignation. Cecil, in particular, was at one time
on the point of rum. A post from Scotland delivered
into his hands a private packet from the Scottish king,
when the secretary was in attendance on Elizabeth.
" Open your despatches," said Elizabeth, '' and let us
hear the news from Scotland." A man of less presence
of mind would have been ruined ; for if the Queen had
seen the least hesitation in her minister's manner, her sus-
picions would have been instantly awakened, and detec-
tion must have followed. But Cecil recollected the
Queen's sensitive aversion to any disagreeable smell,
which was strengthened by the belief of the time, that
infectious diseases and subtle poisons could be commu-
nicated by means of scent alone. The artful secretary
availed himself of this, and while he seemed to be cut-
ting the strings which held the packet, he observed it had
a singular and unpleasant odour ; on which Elizabeth
desired it might be taken from her presence, and opened
elsewhere with due precaution. Thus Cecil got an op-
portunity to withdraw from the packet whatever could
have betrayed his correspondence with King James.
Cecil's policy and inclinations were very generally follow-
ed in the English court ; indeed, there appeared no heir
to the crown, male or female, whose right could be placed
in competition with that of James.



-A -:- CAL.

CHARACTER OF JAMES. 23

It may oe added to this general inclination n James's
favour, that the defects of his character were of a kind
which did not attract much attention while he occupied
the throne of Scotland. The delicacy of his situation
was then so great, and he was exposed to so many dan-
gers from the dislike of the clergy, the feuds of the no-
bles, and the tumultuous disposition of the common peo-
ple, that he dared not indulge in any of those childish
freaks of which he was found capable when his motions
were more completely at his own disposal. On the con-
trary, he was compelled to seek out the sagest counsellors,
to listen to the wisest advice, and to put a restraint on his
own natural disposition for encouraging idle favourites,
parasites, and flatterers, as well as to suppress his inward
desire to extend the limits of his authority farther than
the constitution of the country permitted. At this period
he governed by the advice of such ministers as the Chan-
cellor Maitland, and afterwards of Home, Earl of Dun-
bar, men of thought and action, of whose steady meas-
ures and prudent laws the king naturally obtained the
credit. Neither was James himself deficient in a certain
degree of sagacity. He possessed all that could be de-
rived from learning alloyed by pedantry, and from a nat-
ural shrewdness of wit, which enabled him to play the
part of a man of sense, when either acting under the
Influence of constraint and fear, or where no temptation
occurred to induce him to be guilty of some folly. It
was by these specious accomplishments that he acquired
in his youth the character of an able and wise monarch,
although when he was afterwards brought on a more con-
spicuDus stage, and his character better understood, he
was found entitled to no better epithet than that conferred
on him by an able French politician, who called him,
" the wisest fool in Christendom."

Such, however, as King James was, England now re-
ceived him with more universal acclamation than had at-
tended any of her princes on their ascent to the throne.
Multitudes of every description, hastened to accompany
him on his journey through England to the capital city.



24 CHARACTER OF JAMES

The wealthy placed their gold at his disposal, the power
till opened their halls lor the most magnificent entertain,
ments, the clergy hailed him as the head of (he Church
and the poor, who had nothing to offer but their lives,
seemed ready to devote them to his service. Some oi
the Scottish retinue who were acquainted with James's
character, saw and feared the unfavourable effect which
such a change of circumstances was likely to work on
him. " A plague of these people !" said one of his
oldest domestics ; " they will spoil a good king !"

Another Scot made an equally shrewd answer to an
Englishman, who desired to know from him the king's
real character. " Did you ever see a jackanapes ?"
said the Scotsman, meaning a tame monkey ; " if you
have, you must be aware that if you hold the creature
in your hands you can make him bite me, and if I hold
him in my hands, 1 can make him bite you."

Both these sayings were shown to be true in course of
time. ( King James, brought from poverty to wealth, be-
came thoughtless and prodigal, indolent, and addicted to
idle pleasures. From hearing the smooth flatteries of
the clergy of England, who recognised him as head of
the Church, instead of the rude attacks of the Presbyte-
rian ministers of Scotland, who had hardly admitted his
claim to be one of its inferior members, he entertained
new and more lofty pretensions to divine right. Finally,
brought from a country where his personal liberty and
the freedom of his government were frequently placed
under restraint, and his life sometimes in danger, he was
overjoyed to find himself in a condition where his own
will was not only unfettered, as far as he himself was
concerned, but appeared to be the model to which all
loyal subjects were desirous to accommodate theirs ;
and he seemed readily enough disposed to stretch to its
utmost limits the power thus presented to him. Thus,
from being a just and equitable monarch, he was inspired
with a love of arbitrary power ; and from attending, as
had been his custom, to state business, he now minded
little save hunting and festivals.)



CHARACTER OF JAMKS. 25

In this manner James, though possessing a large nock
of pedantic wisdom, came to place himself under the
management of a succession of unworthy favourites, and
although good-natured, and naturally a lover of justice,
was often hurried into actions and measures, which, if
they could not be termed absolutely tyrannical, were
nevertheless illegal and unjust. It is, however, of his
Scottish government that we are now to treat, and there-
fore I am to explain to you, as well as I can, the conse-
quences of the union with England to the people and
country of Scotland.

If the English nation were delighted to receive King
James as their sovereign, the Scottish people were no
les? enchanted by the prospect of their monarch's ascent
to this wealthy and preeminent situation. They consid-
ered the promotion of their countryman and prince as an
omen of good fortune to their nation ; each individual
Scotsman expected to secure some part of the good
things with which England was supposed to abound, and
multitudes hurried to court, to put themselves in the way
of sharing them.

/James was shocked at the greediness and importunity
01 his hungry countrymen, and scandalized besides at
the poor and miserable appearance which many of them
made among the rich Englishmen, and which brought
discredit upon the country to which he himself as well
as they belonged. He sent instructions to the Scottish
Privy Council to prevent such intruders from leaving
their country, complaining of their manners and appear-
ance, as calculated to bring disgrace upon all the natives
ol Scotland) A proclamation was accordingly issued at
Edinburgh, setting forth that great numbers of men and
women of base sort and condition, and without any cer-
tain trade, calling, or dependence, repaired from Scot-
land to court, which was almost filled with them, to the
great annoyance of his Majesty, and to the heavy dis-
grace of the Scottish nation ; for these suitors being, in
the judgment of all who saw them, but idle rascals, and
2 VOL. i. 2d. SER.



J" KKSOItT OF SCOTSMKX TO

poor miseraole bodies, their importunity and numbers
raised an opinion that there were no persons of good
rank, comeliness, or credit in the country, whi'-h seni
forth such a flight of locusts. Further, it was complain-
ed that these unseemly supplicants usually alleged thai
the cause of their repairing to court, was to desire pay-
ment of old debts due by the King, " which of ail kinds
of importunity," says the proclamation, with great sim-
plicity, " is the most unpleasing to his Majesty." There-
fore, general proclamation was directed to be made at all
the market crosses in Scotland, that no Scottish person
should be permitted to travel to England without leave of
the Privy Council ; and that vessels transporting individ-
uals who had not obtained due license, should be liable
tf confiscation.

f But although the King did all that was in his power to
prevent these uncouth suitors from repairing to his court,
yet there were many other natives of Scotland of a higher
description, the sons of men of rank and quality, who,
by birth and condition, had the right of attending his
court, and approaching his presence, whom he could not
prohibit from doing so, without positively disowning all
former affections, national feeling, and sympathy or grat-
itude for past services. ) The benefits which he conferred
on these were ill construed by the English, who seem
to have accounted everything as taken from themselves
which was bestowed on a Scotsman. The King, though
it does not appear that he acted with any unjust purpose,
was hardly judged, both by his own countrymen and the
English. The Scots, who had been his friends in his
inferior situation, and, as it might be called, his adversi-
ty, naturally expected a share of his bounty, when he
was advanced to such high prosperity ; while the Eng-
lish, with a jealousy for which much allowance is to be
made, regarded these northern suitors with an evil eye.
In short, the Scottish courtiers thought that their claims
o I ancient services, of allegiance tried under difficult
circumstances, of favour due to countrymen, and perhaps
even to kindred, which no people carry so far entitled



THE COURT AT LONDON. 27

(hem to all the advantages which the King night have
to bestow ; while the English, on the other hand, con-
sidered everything given to the Scots as conferred at
their expense, and used many rhymes and satirical ex-
pressions to that purpose, such as occur in the old song :

Bonny Scot, all witness can,
England has made thee a gentleman.

Thy blue bonnet, when thou came hither,
Would scarcely keep out the wind or weather :
But now it is turned to a hat and a feather
The bonnet is blown the devil knows whither.

The sword at thy haunch was a huge black blade,
With a great basket-hilt, of iron made ;
But now a long rapier doth hang by his side,
And huflingly doth this bonny Scot ride.

Another rhyme, to the same purpose, described a Scot-
tish courtier thus :

In Scotland he was born and bred,
And, though a beggar, must be fed.

It is said, that when the Scots complained to the king ol
this last aspersion, James replied, " Hold your peace,
for I will soon make the English as poor as yourselves,
and so end that controversy." But as it was not in the
power of wit to appease the feud betwixt the nobility and
gentry of two proud nations, so lately enemies, all the
efforts of the King were unequal to prevent bloody and
desperate quarrels between his countrymen and his new
subjects, to the great disquiet of the court, and the dis-
tress of the good-natured monarch, who, averse to war
n all its shapes, and even to the sight of a drawn sword,
suffeied grievously on such occasions.

There was one of those incidents which assumed a
character so formidable, that it threatened the destruc-
tion of all the Scots at the court and in the capital,
and, in consequence, a breach between the kingdoms so
lately and happily allied. At a public horse-race at
Croydon, Philip Herbert, an Englishman of high birth



28 <il?AKKKLS KKTWKKN THIS SCOI'SMK.V

(hough, as it fortunately chanced, of no degree of cor-