CAMEO I.

indeed he had always shown a bias towards the Spaniards; and though he had done so little to save his mother, he always spoke and thought Diplomacy with the utmost bitterness of those to whom he ascribed her execution, scarcely even hearing of the late Queen with patience.

The

Of course each foreign power endeavoured to gain his ear. Dutch sent Prince Frederic of Nassau with John Van Olden Barneveldt and two other distinguished statesmen; the Archduke and Infanata sent Count Aremberg; and two days later came the Baron de Rosny from Henry IV., to assist M. de Beaumont, the resident ambassador. Rosny had had an unpleasant adventure on his way, while crossing from Calais in an English vessel sent on purpose. The French ViceAdmiral, De Vic, who was escorting him, thought proper to hoist the French flag on his main-top. Whereupon the English, who had before been extremely polite to the ambassador, immediately fired on De Vic, and Rosny had great difficulty in pacifying them and inducing De Vic to haul down his flag.

Rosny was received by Sidney and Southampton, and treated with great distinction; but he was not much delighted with the English, of whom he says, "It is certain that the English hate us, and this hatred is so general and inveterate that one would almost be tempted to number it among their natural dispositions. It is undoubtedly an effect of their arrogance and pride, for no nation in Europe is more haughty and insolent, nor more conceited of its superior excellence."

While waiting for his interview with the King, Rosny consulted with all his fellow and rival ambassadors, and became convinced that James was exceedingly perplexed and irresolute, certainly inclined to peace and hating war, and preferring the Spaniards to the Dutch, but fearing to offend the large party in England who hated and abhorred Spain. This was in the eyes of Rosny a lamentable falling off from the grand alliance he had discussed with Elizabeth; but he did his best. He brought the King a fine, richly-caparisoned horse, also a gentleman named St. Antoine, esteemed the best rider of the time, and who seems to have been disposed of as easily as the horse. To the Queen he gave a large Venetian mirror, in a gold frame, studded with diamonds; and to Prince Henry, a gold lance and jewelled helmet. Gifts were also bestowed on the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Northumberland, and every one, male or female, supposed to have influence; and Rosny had many conferences with Cecil, and finally with James, whom he diligently inspired with a distrust of all such ministers as would end by making him the slave of Spain, as the astute Frenchman said. Finally, James agreed to sign a treaty binding the Kings of France and England to assist the United Provinces with men and money, but secretly, and without an open breach with Spain; but if Philip III. detected them and complained, then to join in open warfare. It was not a particularly honourable treaty in our eyes, but it was a masterpiece according to the nctions of the period, and Rosny went home rejoicing in his diplomacy. But one of James's native subjects had given a true character of him to

with James.

1603.

CAMEO I. Scotch views of James.

an English inquirer, "Did ye ever see a jackanapes, mon? If so, ye must ken that if ye hold him in your hands, ye can gar him bite me; but, if I hauld him, I can gar him bite you!"

Rosny had had his turn with the jackanapes,—it was Aremberg's turn when he was gone; but he did not come very manifestly forward, being instructed to feel his way, and protract the time, making friends among the Council.

PEACE was really what James most cared for, and he therefore attended to Count d'Aremberg, the Flemish ambassador, in a way that began to alarm the national party. In fact he had given umbrage to many, as of course he could not please all parties at once, and before his accession he had made promises all round. Thus, in the midst of the preparations for his coronation, he found he had by no means escaped from the kidnapping plots that had beset him in Scotland.

The mover in this one seems to have been one William Watson, a secular Roman Catholic priest, who had been made use of in some of the intrigues in Scotland, and expected more favour for his Church than James seemed disposed to show. On the other hand, the Puritans were discontented that the King showed no disposition to overthrow the English Church and reduce it to a level with the Scottish Kirk, and thus an unnatural coalition was brought about between two sets of discontented men, whose only bond of union was equal dislike to the English Church and the notion that the King could be coerced into toleration. On the Romanist side were Sir Griffin Markham and Anthony Copley, but no one of much mark or influence; on the Puritan side, Sir George Brooke, a brother of Lord Cobham, partly because he had been disappointed of the mastership of St. Cross, and Lord Grey of Wilton, the son of Spenser's Sir Arthegal, the same foe against whom Essex had run a race on his unfortunate intrusion on Elizabeth. To see Essex's friend, Southampton, in high favour, filled Grey with rage, and he undertook to have a hundred men ready to join the other conspirators in seizing the King at Greenwich; but when they learnt that three hundred armed gentlemen slept in the palace, they put it off till the 24th of June, when James was to be hunting at Hanworth.

CAMEO II.

Plot of Watson.

CAMEO II.

Detection. 1604.

However, Grey then put off the matter, being, it seems, alarmed at the number of Roman Catholics engaged in it, and beginning to come to the perception that such a combination could not thrive.

Watson, on his side, wanted more aid from the Romanists, and therefore disclosed the scheme to a Jesuit named Gerard, who, seeing at once how futile and foolish it was, made a merit of going and disclosing it to Cecil. Copley was arrested on the 6th of July, and made no secret of his associates. Watson, Clarke, and Brooke were all thrown into prison, and made accusations right and left, including in them Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh. This latter gentleman was waiting on Windsor Terrace, dressed for hunting, with the King, when he was called upon to appear before the Privy Council, and interrogated on the plot and on his friend Cobham's dealings with the Count of Aremberg. He disclaimed all knowledge of both, satisfied the Council so far as appeared, and was placed under no restraint; but he afterwards became uneasy, and, intending to be on the safe side, wrote a letter to Robert Cecil, telling him that he believed there were some dealings with Aremberg, since he had seen, from the window of Durham House, Cobham being rowed across the river to the house of Rienzi, who was known to be an agent of the Flemish Archduke.

"This letter," he afterwards said, "was my utter ruin." It was not the first news that Cecil had received of dealings on Cobham's part with Aremberg; indeed George Brooke had accused both Cobham and Raleigh of a much mightier conspiracy, which was termed in the Council the main plot, while the Watson and Grey affair was only the bye plot. Cecil now showed Cobham Raleigh's letter, which the nobleman considered as such treason to friendship that he began to make the most reckless accusations against Sir Walter, declaring that he had been the instigator of the whole, and had corresponded with Aremberg for the purpose, so far as appeared, of setting Lady Arabella Stewart on the throne, by the help of Spain, and "destroying the King and all his cubs."

They were at once committed to the Tower, and the examinations began, but attention was diverted from this matter by the coronation. The plague was very serious in the city, and the King, though repairing to St. James's Palace, would not go to the Tower, for the usual procession from thence to Westminster, to the great disappointment of the people; and he also forbade the holding of the St. James's fair in the precincts of the palace, and sent orders that the nobles should bring as small retinues as possible, partly from dread of plots, partly to prevent contagion from spreading.

The King and Queen went to Westminster by water, and the Queen was much admired as she went, with her "seemly hair hanging down on her princely shoulders," and "a gold crownet" on her head; but she gave great annoyance by her refusal to communicate after the English rite. Whether she missed the splendid Lutheran ritual of Denmark, or whether she preferred the bare simplicity of Calvinist Scotland, does

not appear; King James's divines considered her doctrine as orthodox, and she afterwards thoroughly conformed. Perhaps, after all, she was in the midst of one of her outbreaks of temper, and refused for personal reasons. Immediately after the coronation the Court left London, and tarried at Woodstock, where some of their servants died of the plague in the tents at the gateways. However, they kept a brilliant Court, and Aremberg was presented to the Queen, who much preferred him to Rosny. He gave her ladies Spanish gloves, and Spanish leather coats to the gentlemen. Anne also received her brother, Duke Ulrich of Holstein, who paid special court to Lady Arabella Stewart. This lady was treated as a kinswoman by James and Anne, being known to be innocent of any plots hatching in her name. She was lively and full of spirits at this time, and wrote many amusing letters, and she did not at all approve of her Danish suitor, whom she called the Dutchkin, her heart being given all the time to the young William Seymour; and as the King had a young family, she seemed so far from the succession that she might well hope to obtain consent to her marriage.

Meantime, Raleigh had been harassed and indignant at the suspicions that had fallen on him. As to intriguing with the Spaniards, he could truly declare that there was no one he hated so much as the Spaniards, or whom they hated so much. He had spent 40,000l. of his own money in interprises against them, and had always given his voice in favour of whatever might damage them. He had been offered some of the money that Aremberg had promised Cobham, but he had refused it at once, and it really seems as if his whole offence had been the knowledge that Cobham had some plot in hand, and likewise his manifest discontent with the new comers. He was always unpopular. He had a haughty air, and a satirical countenance, such as made people imagine him contemptuous, and his open enmity to Essex had prejudiced James greatly against him, so that the knowledge that he had suffered injury was almost a presumption that he was scheming to avenge it; but we may be sure that if Raleigh had attempted a plot, it would not have been such a foolish one as Cobham's.

The whole man was overthrown by the accusation and his imprisonment. He wrote a long, rambling, despairing letter to his wife, and attempted to stab himself, but only made a slight wound, from which he soon recovered. His enemies said it was only done to excite compassion, but his letter appears more as if his despair was genuine, when his Queen was gone, and he was maligned and thrown over to his enemies. He was a brave man, and with much devotion after the fashion of the time, but his health had probably been affected so as to overthrow his self-control. Shortly after he obtained that his servant should throw a letter, imploring Cobham to speak the truth, through that nobleman's window, tied round an apple. In return, Cobham pushed a letter under the door declaring that he had never had conference with Raleigh on any treason, and that Sir Walter was perfectly innocent of any such practices.

CAMEO II.

The Coronation. 1604.