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ter having objected against the dignity of that royal house, merely through ignorance about it:) (P) and the lady being driven by a


esteem by the major part of that kingdom, as will all of that profession every where be, who imitate them herein, for they are things praiseworthy, and of good report.

(P) He married a daughter of Denmark, after having objected' against the dignity of that royal house, through mere ignorance about it.J "James, notwithstanding all his boasted learning, was defective in history, the knowledge of which is most necessary for princes. He had so little skill in this, that he knew not the state and condition of so near a country to him as Denmark; nor was he acquainted with the rank the kings of it bare in Christendom. "He was informed, "he faid, that the king of Denmark was descended .*' but of merchants, and that few made account of "him or his country, but such as spoke the Dutch f* tongue (a)." "Tis amazing that any one of James's t» Melvil, elevated station should be so grossly ignorant. Had he P-;lS4* never read of the power of the Danes, their ravages and conquests both in England and Scotland? was he never informed that marriage had been contracted between his own family and that of Denmark? nor that in the year 1468 Christian I. king of Norway and Denmark, renounced all right and title for himself and his successors to James III. king of Scotland, to the ijles of Orkney, upon a marriage between him and his daughter (i) ? 'Tis plain he knew none of these things, and (*)Cambtherefore was miserably qualisied to contract alliances, J"n'a £

or enter into treaties. However Melvil informed Gibson,

him of these matters, which made him so exceeding edit- 2:p* glad, "that he faid he would not for his head but "that he had shewn the verity unto him." "Some"time after, as faid is, he called his council together in "his cabinet, and told them how he had been advising

*' about


tempest into Norway, he, impatient of the detention of his bride, went thither and consummated the marriage. From whence,


"about his marriage fifteen days, and asked counsel of "God by devout prayer thereon, and that he was now (OMebil, t: resolved to marry in Denmark." (c) The'lady whom P" ll7' James took to wise was Ann, second daughter of Frederick king of Denmark. Our historians give her the character of a courteous and humane princess, arid one in 0 Spots- whom there was much goodness (d). Itwill notperhapsbe W°° 'and unacceptable to the reader if I give the character she bore Wilson's life among foreigners, who, oftentimes, speak more justly of king than, subjects. "She was naturally, fays the duke of I^tfo?.' "S"tyi bold and enterprizing: she loved pomp' and l*nd. .653." grandeur, tumult and'intrigue. She was acquainted "with all the civil factions, .not only in Scotland, oc"casioned by the catholicks, whom flic supported, and "had even first encouraged ; but also in England, where "the discontented, whose numbers were not inconsi"derable, were not sorry to be supported by a princess "destined to become their queen.—In public she affect"ed absolutely to govern her son (prince Henry) whom "it was faid sh.e thought to inspire with sentiments in "favour of SpJin: for none doubted but she was in. "dined to declare herself absolutely on that side (e), cfihe'duke'" Afterwards, he tells us, he received letters from of Sully, p. " Beaumont; (the French resident) informing him, that 211,113. "the queen was disposed to pleasures and amusements, i2°mo. ''' ancl seemed wholly engaged in them, and nothing Lond. 175/. " else. She so entirely neglected, or forgot the Spanish "politics, as gave reason to believe.she had in reality "only pretended to be attached to them, through the (/)ld.Vol.*' necessity of eventual conjunctures." (/) Whoever I1. p. 179. knows the rank of Sully, as favourite and prime minister to Henry the Great of France, and ambassador extraordinary to fames, will pay great deserence to his account; for it cannot but be supposed he had the best informations. And indeed from Wimvood's state

papers tapori invitation, he proceeded into Den* mark, where being royally entertained, he


papers the character of queen Ann will be found nearly as Sullv has given it, but different with regard to her inclinations to Spaing from what Beaumont informed him. I have before observed, that while in Scotland she employed a person to Both.well, to hasten him home, assuring him of assistance, in order that Gowy's death might be revenged (/). (/) See note

And Mr Winwood, in a letter to the lord Cranborne^ .EJ , Sept. 12, 1604, O. S. fays, "the followers of the conx* Jlable (of Ca/tile) in their relation of England, gave "forth, that the queen was wholly theirs." (g) Mr. Le- (g) Winvinus Muncke (secretary to the earl of Salisbury) in a let- *I°°<i, ^ol* ter to Mr. Winwood, Oct. 29, 1605, tells him4 " Monf. 'P'3'" "Caron (the Dutch ambassador) with much ado spake "sirst with the queen, and afterward with the prince. "I was glad, adds he, I was made an instrument, under *' my lord, of his accesses; for otherwise, without his .'* assistance, I fear me, he had never spoken with her , i "for let me tell you in your ear without offence, Jhe "is meerlv Spanijh, and had promised drenberg (am*' bassador from the arch-dukes) not to speak with Ca"ren. But the best is, (he carrieth no sway in state "matters, and præter rem uxoriam hath no great reach "in other affairs." (b) However, the Spaniards valued(*' P* her friendship, and upon a letter from her to, the155' queen of Spain,. " a large pension was granted to one ** Carre, a Scott." (1) Sir Charles Cornwallis, ambas-(;) Id. p. fador in Spain, in a letter to the earl of Sali/lmry, April 13, 1609, writes, that " the [Spanish] ambassador *' hath advertised that the queen should fay unto him, "he might one day peradventure see the prince on a "pilgrimage at St. jago. Whereupon, tho'doubtless "she spake in merriment, they here much infer, and "seem to hope that his majesty will be contented to "fend him hither to receive the rest of his education "here, yf the inclination of alliance continues," (i) m v°l.Iir, D Sop. i2.

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spent the winter, and returned not into Scotland till May 20, 1590.

During the remainder of his reign in Scotland, he was engaged in troubles with


So that from these passages 'tis plain Sully did not misrepresent this queen, in faying, "no one doubted but she "was inclined to declare herself absolutely on theSpa*' nish side." As to pomp and grandeur, pleasures and amusements, whoever will take the trouble of consulting the pages reserred to in the margin, will see abun(m) Win- dant proof of it (m). For from these it appears that her wood, Vol. inclinations were much towards masques and revels, Vol. 111. p. ^ate and grandeur, which probably ran her in debt, 117. and and made her melancholy, 'till the king augmented her ?i?Hd jointure, and paid her debts (n). Sir Edward Peyton ,"7.'' represents her indeed in a much worse light. According to him, besides Gowry, [it should be Gewrys brother] she had a great number of gallants, both in Scot(0) Peyton's land and England (0). But what he fays on this head, tastroheof 's to me *o veT '^probable, that I will not trouble the

the house 0freader with it.— She died of a dropsy March 1,

Stuarts, p. 1618-tg, at Hampton-Court, without much lamenta

1 o'nd V 1 t'on from tne k>ng» though me was not unbeloved by the

Jvo.' 'people. Ostorn observes, that he himself faw " James

"one evening parting from the queen, and taking his

"leave at her coach side, by kissing her sufficiently to

"the middle of the shoulders; for so low, fays he,

"she went bare all the days I had the fortune to know

"her; having zjkin far more amiable than the seatures

"it covered, though not the disposition, in which re

(p) Oftorn, '' port ren(lered her very debonair." (/>) But notwith

19' standing the debonairness of her disposition, she could

not influence her husband, who weakly permitted his

(?)Ru<h- favourites to ill treat her (q). This probably might in

worth's his-tlme alter ner disposition, and cause her to act with

lections, * wisdom and prudence, and avoid seastings, revels and

Vol. 1. p. factions. For archbishop Abbot, (a worthy venerable

?on'dF*6 prelate) many years after her death, speaks of her with

°n ' l 59' , great

his nobility; in quarrels w;th his clergy; and in writing his paraphrase on the revelations ( 0^). His dæmonoligie, stiled

a rare

great respect, and as of one whose virtue he had not the least doubt of, which, I dare fay, he would not have done, had her character, in his eye, been upon the whole faulty (r). I have been the longer upon the cha-(0 H. ib, raster of this princess, because it has been little known; our historians contenting themselves to speak one aster the other, without examination, whereby, for the most part, it cometh to pass, that they tend little to improve or instruct; and, which is worse, fix such ideas of things and persons as are difficult to be eradicated, tho' ever so false.

( qj In writing his paraphrase on the revelations.] "This paraphrase (fays Dr. Mountague) was written by '' his majesty before he was twenty years of age." («) (")Pref,c{ And James, at the end of his epistle to the church mi- r^es's litant, prefixed to this paraphrase, desires" that what works. "was found amiss in it might be imputed to his lack *' of years and learning." (b) A strange work this for W Worlcs, a youth to undertake, and an argument of very great*' 3" weakness. For who knows not that this book has exercised the wits of the most learned and understanding men, from the beginning of the christian church; and who is there ignorant that the world has been little the wiser for their lucubrations? Great learning, industry, and piety have been discovered, it must be owned, in several commentators on this book, but still it remains in many parts obscure, as at the beginning (c). What (c) See • then must we think of a raw young man who shall Mede, wade so far out of his depth, and set up for an expound- ,°"*£° ']** er of the deepest mysteries? Ought we not to censurc-man, &c. his temerity, and condemn his boldness? And much more reasonable will this appear when we consider that 'fames was a prince, and consequently a person whose business it was to apply himself to affairs of government, D 2 and

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