of age: he was suffering under an intermitting fever and ague, (the same that he was apprehensive might prevent him from saying what he desired at his execution,) he wrote, to his wife, in an intercepted letter, "My swollen side keeps me in perpetual pain and unrest; God comfort us!" The Governor of the Tower, a miscreant of the name of Wilson, never stirred from Raleigh's presence from the time he opened his lodgings in the morning, till, with his own hand, he locked him up at night. On one occasion, this fitting agent of James' cruelty, writes to Sir R. Naunton, Secretary of State, doubtless intending thereby to conciliate the King's favour:-"I have removed this man into a safer and higher lodging, which, though it seemeth nearer to heaven, yet there is no means to escape, but to hell." And to the King himself he writes:"I hope by such means as I shall use, to work out more than I have yet done; if not, I doubt no other means will be of service, but a rack or a halter." It heightens our indignation against the inhuman King James, to notice the irrefragable spirit of Raleigh, contending against the infirmities of age and disease, and the more disheartening treatment of his ruthless persecutors. This appears from the language of another letter to the King :-"Howbeit if I have put him to any discourse to his liking of his last voyage, or former actions, he will talk immediately with as great

heartiness, courage, and signs of cheerfulness, as the soundest and strongest man alive.”

We shall next inquire, whether the natural instinct of consanguinity, or the feelings implanted in generous natures, of sympathy for the griefs of womankind, had any place in James's lauded humanity? At the moment when Overbury was expiring, in another chamber of the Tower was a young and beautiful princess in a state of maniacal distraction, who was a short time afterwards laid in her premature grave. This was Arabella Stuart, a near relative of the King, but who became the victim of his groundless suspicions, not on account of any thing she had done, but what his jealous mind prompted him might be said on her behalf, with regard to her title to his throne. In a letter to the two Chief Justices, Arabella Stuart had implored to be brought before them by habeas your lordships," she urged, "may not or will not grant unto me, the ordinary relief of a distressed subject, then, I beseech you, become humble intercessors to His Majesty, that I may receive such benefit of justice, as both His Majesty by his oath has promised, and the laws of this realm afford to all others, those of his blood not excepted, and, though, unfortunate woman! I can obtain neither, yet, I implore your lordships retain me in your good opinion, and judge charitably till I be proved to have committed any offence, either

corpus, "and if

against God, or His Majesty, deserving so long restraint, or separation from my lawful husband."

The heartsickness of deferred hope, the prospect of interminable imprisonment and separation from her beloved husband, and the keen sense of her wrongs, overpowered the mind and reason of Arabella Stuart, perhaps shortened her existence. Of the latter circumstance it is impossible not to entertain doubts; for the absence of inquiry demanded by law, concerning the death of any state prisoner, and a midnight funeral, unaccompanied with ceremonies usual on the interment of any of royal blood, have afforded a ground of suspicion, that the death of James's kinsman and victim was a counterpart of that of Sir Thomas Overbury.

Whether Arabella Stuart died of violence, or from her health being impaired by the same causes which distracted her mind, Posterity must regard King James as her murderer, equally as much as if he had, with his own hands, held a poisoned chalice to her lips. Her cruel fate alone, without calling in aid the other examples of James's inhumanity that have been adduced, renders it not only not improbable, as far as any presumption from character is concerned, that he poisoned Overbury, but shows that such an infamous act would have been perfectly congenial to his inhuman disposition.

APPENDIX.

ON THE FLATTERY OF ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS.

THE questions of the guilt or innocence of King James or of the Earl of Somerset, are of small importance in comparison with the lessons of moral and political wisdom which may be learnt from the proceedings that have been the subject of the preceding chapters. But in order to render these transactions of past times useful to the present generation, it is necessary to treat of them in connection with the history of the judicature and constitution of the country, of the manners of private and public life, and of national morals.

It is the object of the present Appendix to collect a few historical illustrations of the practice of flattering sovereigns, of which some remarkable instances have been exhibited in the course of the trials in the Great Oyer of Poisoning. For one of the most signal failures of justice recorded in the annals of English judicature, and which is attributable solely to an abuse of a prerogative of the crown, is, that whilst Helwysse, Franklin, Weston, and Mrs. Turner should have been hanged, the Countess of Somerset, who instigated, hired, and paid them, should have been pardoned". And yet it has been seen that Sir F. Bacon, with a full knowledge of all the king intended to do, seizes every opportunity of extolling James for the exemplary justice which he represents him to have manifested: and several writers of that day indulge their fondness for alliteration and flattery, by singing the praises of James the Just↑.

It is painful to reflect on the moral miasma of the court of King James, which could tarnish and degrade illustrious characters who were fitted by nature to be the lights and ornaments of mankind. We learn from hence that the noble spirits of a nation can never flourish in their natural grandeur, except they act from higher

Sergeant Montague, who was not in the secret of the king's pre-determination to pardon Somerset, quoted to the peers the antithetical maxim, Plus peccat auctor quam actor."

+ Carte writes, "Nothing can show a more inflexible regard to justice than all the king's proceedings in the affair of Sir T. Overbury."