The accession of James was hailed by men of all ranks, and in that perilous age, when religious: disputes engaged the attention of almost every man, each party beheld it with jealous and interested feelings. Surrounded by the stern reformers of the north, who, by the excitement of their frenzy had marched over the country, carrying with them fire, sword, and sedition, and committing the most ruthless and furious devastations': educated by the cele+ brated George Buchanan, a philosopher in principle, and a zealous votary of Geneva in religion, who defended the excesses of his reforming friends, and traduced the memory of the hapless Mary, his first benefactress; it was supposed, by the Calvinists of the north, and their brethren the Puritans of the south, that they would have now a king after their own heart, more especially as the former had compelled James, during his minority, to sign all

Sir Henry Yelverton, in his Epistle to the Reader before Morton's Episcopacy Justified. "His last words on his death-bed] were, that he sorely lamented the unnecessary troubles he had caused in the Church, by the schism he had been the great fomenter of, and wished he was to begin his life again, that he might testify to the world the dislike he had of his former i neid ways." 1

Knox's History, p. 136, 147, &c. Spottiswoode's Hist. p. 121-126. Stuart's Hist. of Scottish Reformation, p. 118, 114. 203, 204. Dalyell's Cursory Remarks on Scottish Poems of the Sixteenth Century, vol. i. in the account of the Earl of Moray, p. 52, 53.

'Nevertheless, Buchanan says of himself, that he was a Lutheran. Vita scrip. ipso.—Dr. Irving's Memoirs.

their covenants, confessions, and leagues, of every description. Accordingly, although James, when he assumed the reins of government, had given indications that he was not so pliable as they imagined, and, moreover, being more learned than the Presbyterian ministers, was easily able to confound them in their positions, yet the Puritans, and those who favoured their doctrines, presuming on his Presbyterian education, or, at least, upon his favour and connivance, began to raise their desponding minds, and to augur much from this new combination of circumstances'. The Roman Catholics, who looked. on the enthusiasm of the Puritans with perfect contempt, and who, in truth, were animated with less hatred towards them than towards the Established Church, (although the Puritans clamoured the more violently against them,) beheld James' accession with the greatest exultation, and naturally expected favour from a monarch whose mother they considered to have died a martyr for their cause. The supporters of the Reformed Church by law established, were not the less animated by hope; for, the Church being an integral part of the constitution, the king was bound to defend it against Popery and Puritanism, the two extremes between which the Church of England was placed.

Nevertheless, Archbishop Whitgift was not without fears concering James's real intentions. That excellent primate had been entrusted by Elizabeth with

'Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 3, 4.

the government of the Church, he had been long and deservedly in the favour of the queen, he had attended her in her last illness, and had composed a prayer on that occasion, remarkable for its piety and beauty1. He had been the chief mourner at her funeral, had received the offerings, and had the banners presented to him, as if he had been a member of the royal House. It is observed by Sir George Paul, that he had the chief management of all ecclesiastical affairs, the disposal of the bishoprics, and other patronage; and that the queen laid the whole burden of those cares upon his shoulders, saying, That if any thing were amiss, it was upon his soul and conscience to answer for it; for she had rid her hands, and looked that he would yield an account on her behalf unto Almighty God. After James had been proclaimed, the Archbishop dis

'Sir George Paul's Life of Whitgift, p. 116. Strype, chap. xxix. from Reg. Whitgift, vol. iii. p. 148. The words of this beautiful prayer are :-O most heavenly Father, and God of all mercy, we most humbly beseech thee to behold thy servant the queen, with the eyes of pity and compassion. Give unto her the comfort of thy Holy Spirit, work in her a constant and lively faith, grant unto her true repentance, and restore unto her, if it be thy will, her former health and strength both of body and soul. Let not the enemy, nor his wicked instruments, have any power ever to do her harm. O Lord, punish her not for our offences, neither us in her. Deal not with us, O Lord, as we have deserved; but for thy mercy's sake, and for Christ's sake, forgive us all our sins, and prolong her days, that we may still enjoy her, to the glory of thy holy name, and good of all such as truly fear thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 2 Sir G. Paul's Life of Archbishop Whitgift, p. 78.

patched Dr. Neville, Dean of Canterbury, into Scotland to do homage in the name of the Bishops and Clergy of the Church of England, and to ascertain the king's intentions concerning the government of the Church. Though James declared that he would maintain the Church as then established, yet Whitgift passed the summer of the year 1604 in great anxiety'. The king's arrival, however, dissipated those fears, and at once opened the eyes of the nonconformists. They had printed a book in the former year, entitled "The Plea of the Innocents," which was written by one Nicholls, and now they had begun to despise the church service, "to forbear the use of the surplice, and to omit the ceremonies; and those omissions they hoped would be acceptable to the king, considering his education, and the practice of the Scotch kirk." But a proclamation ap

Neal, the Puritan historian, who takes every opportunity to prevaricate, here remarks, that the king's assurances comforted the timorous Archbishop, who had sometimes spoken with great uneasiness about the Scotch Church." The latter clause is true, but it became this historian to be a candid man; for though Dr. Neville did get such an assurance from James, it was a general one, and Whitgift was not comforted by it. Neal himself records, that James in his public declaration at Edinburgh in 1590, said, "As for our neighbour Kirk of England their service is an evil said mass in English; they want nothing of the mass but the liftings." James, by the way, was under tutorage when he uttered this speech. There was occasion for being timorous, when surrounded by men who were undermining the Church.

peared on the king's arrival, strictly prohibiting any innovation in the doctrine or discipline of the Church as established by law.

It was not to be expected that James would escape censure for this procedure. Besides the imputation that he had changed his principles, (if he had any, says Neal,) the most pusillanimous insinuations were daily sent abroad by the Puritans. Forgetting that James had been the offspring of misfortune that both his parents had suffered violent deaths-they actually asserted that he was deficient in intellect, and that the surprise which his mother had experienced at the murder of Rizzio had so affected the fœtus, as to produce this intellectual weakness. But James, though peacefully inclined, was neither a coward nor an imbecile man. He had grappled with an assassin in the Gowry conspiracy; in after life he gave other proofs of courage; and his learning, though it abounded with pedantry, was extensive and profound. But what insinuations will not disappointment and passion provoke ? Men blinded by religious enthusiasm forget the first principles of true religion, and resort to miserable subterfuges, which excite contempt and derision'.

The circumstances in which James was placed when he assumed the government were of a peculiar kind. He was never a real Presbyterian, though he has been often charged with apostasy by that party. His age had witnessed the most dreadful catastrophes, and there is not perhaps in the history of any nation events so pregnant with interest as those which took place