at this period than another, it was that of hatred to Popery; a passion, as thus existing, compounded of very various elements, partly generous and partly base, springing in a measure from a vigorous love of freedom, yet partaking of the meanness and illiberality which arise out of partial enlightenment and but a half purified creed. James and his son were well aware of the sentiments of the popular mind, and they criminally brought their kingcraft into play in order to evade its requirements. Their policy was apparently successful, but woe betide the king who trifles with his word, and thereby destroys the confidence of his people. The whole history of Charles is an instructive illustration of the calamities which flow from this source, and may well serve as a beacon to all future monarchs. The following is Mr. Jesse's account of the French treaty.

After a complicated and rather lengthy negociation, a treaty of marriage was definitively signed at Paris, on the 10th of November, 1624: It consists of articles scarcely less disgraceful to the English Court, or disadvantageous to the English nation, than those of the celebrated Spanish treaty which had preceded it. Indeed so similar are the two instruments, as well in terms as in spirit, that the one would appear almost to be a transcript of the other. The only really important alteration is in the nineteenth article of the French treaty, in which it is provided that the children born of the marriage shall be brought up by their mother, not merely to the age of ten years, as had been agreed upon in the Spanish compact, but till they should attain their thirteenth year; a dangerous concession, considering the unwearying vigilance of the Romish priests, and that it comprehended a period of life when the heart is most open to impressions whether good or evil. Some secret articles were also sworn to by James and Louis. By these it was provided that, throughout England, all Catholic prisoners should be set at liberty; that they should no longer be liable to be searched, or otherwise molested on account of their reli gion; and that the goods of which they had been despoiled should be restored.

The deed of dispensation, in which Louis the Thirteenth guaranteed to the See of Rome that the King of England should faithfully fulfil the articles of the treaty, is another curious document. D'Israeli, in his ingenious work, the Curiosities of Literature,' speaks of a 'remarkable and unnoticed document,' namely, A most solemn 'obligation contracted with the Pope and the Queen's brother, the 'King of France, to educate her children as Catholics, and only to 'choose Catholics to attend them.' 'Had this been known,' he adds, ' either to Charles, or to the English nation, Henrietta could never 'have been able to ascend the English throne.' It is a pity to disturb this justification of Charles, but unfortunately for that Monarch, there can be little doubt but that he was perfectly well acquainted with all the circumstances of the affair; indeed, the articles mentioned by Mr. D'Israeli, as most objectionable in the deed of dispensation, are in

serted, at least in spirit, in the treaty itself; a document which, as a matter of course, had not only been seen, but had been solemnly sworn to by Charles. The subject is rendered of considerable importance, when we remember that the two children of Henrietta Maria,Charles the second and his brother James,-who afterwards successively inherited the crown, lived and died Catholics; and that it was owing to a defect in his education that the latter died an exile, and that England became the scene of revolution in 1668.'—Vol. ii. pp. 65 -67.

The French princess brought with her a numerous retinue of priests, whose folly and insolence awakened general disgust, and damaged greatly the king's government. The queen was compelled to walk barefooted to Tyburn, and according to the report of a contemporary writer, was made to eat her meat out of tryne (wooden) dishes, to wait at the table and serve her servants, with many other ridiculous and absurd penances.' ** Not contented with their influence over the queen, they gave serious umbrage to the king, by interfering with his domestic arrangements, and endeavoring to sow dissensions between him and his consort. The following is a curious specimen of their insolence.

The King and Queen were banqueting in public, and, as usual, the chaplain was proceeding to say grace, when the Queen's confessor actually struck up with a Latin benediction. The King's chaplain (of course a Protestant), naturally provoked at the interruption, gave the confessor a zealous push, and then continued the grace. On this the latter went over to the Queen's side, and commenced with renewed energy his benediction. The King, however, very sensibly cut the matter short by drawing one of the dishes towards him, when the carvers instantly began their office. As soon as dinner was over, the confessor proceeded, in like manner, to return thanks; the chaplain, however, had obtained the start, when each endeavoured to drown the other by the loudness of his voice. Charles very properly took the Queen by the hand, and hastily withdrew her from the disgraceful scene.'-Ib. p. 71.

Through the instigations of these foreign emissaries, the palace became a scene of perpetual broils, and a resolution was in consequence taken to banish the queen's attendants from the kingdom. The Marshal de Bassompierre was despatched by the French court to effect a reconciliation, but Charles was inexorable, and for once, withstood the entreaties of his beautiful, but vain and thoughtless wife. It would have been well for him, and for the kingdom, if days of matrimonial vassalage had not followed. Mr. Jesse's account of the expulsion of the queen's attendants is too amusing and characteristic to be omitted.

* Ellis's Letters, vol. iii. 238.

'Not till the very last moment, however, when the carriages and vessels were in actual readiness for their removal, had the French been acquainted with the final determination of Charles. Having fully made up his mind, he unexpectedly entered the Queen's apartments for the purpose of announcing it. There, to his great indignation, he beheld a number of the Queen's domestics irreverently dancing and curvetting in her presence. Taking Henrietta by the hand, he led her to a private chamber, and locked himself up with her alone. In the mean time, Lord Conway had invited the French Bishop, and others of the ecclesiastics, to accompany him into St. James's Park. Here, in a straightforward manner, he laid before them the King's unquestionable causes for complaint, and told them plainly that every one of the party, priests as well as laymen, young and old, male and female, must instantly depart the kingdom. The Bishop replied that, as regarded himself, he stood in the light of an ambassador, and therefore could not possibly think of quitting the English Court, unless by the express directions of the King his master. However, Lord Conway informed him openly, that if he did not make up his mind to depart peacefully, there would not be the least scruple to get rid of him by force.

Having thus communicated with the priests, Lord Conway, attended by the Treasurer and Comptroller of the Household, suddenly made his appearance among the rest of the establishment. Acquainting them in like manner with the King's resolution, he told them it was his Majesty's pleasure that they should instantly depart for Somerset house, and there await his Majesty's further instructions. The women, we are informed, commenced howling and lamenting as if they were going to execution; and, evincing the most dogged determination to remain where they were, were eventually thrust out by the yeomen of the guard, and the doors of their apartments locked behind them.

The same evening, when they were all assembled at Somersethouse, the King appeared in person among them. He hoped, he said, that what he had done would not be taken amiss by his brother, the King of France ;-that particular persons among them, for he would not mention names, had fostered discontent between the Queen and himself, and had so embittered his domestic happiness that further endurance would be impossible. He asked their pardon, he said, if, by thus seeking his own safety and peace of mind, he interfered with their views; and concluded by adding, that his Treasurer had received orders to remunerate every one of them for their year's service. Madame St. George, a handsome and flippant French lady, was spokeswoman on the occasion, and endeavoured to expostulate with Charles, but his reply was even more peremptory than at first. This lady was personally obnoxious to Charles, having bred more mischief between himself and the Queen, than all the rest of the colony put together. She had even had the impudence to intrude herself into the coach with the King and Queen, at a period, too, when that honor was never on any occasion allowed to a subject.

'But the bitterest task for Charles to perform, was to encounter the sobs and remonstrances of Henrietta. That she might not behold the

departure of her favorites from Whitehall, Charles, when he parted from her, had locked the door of her apartment. Her furious conduct on this occasion exceeded all bounds; she actually tore the hair from her head, and cut her hands severely by dashing them through the glass windows in the violence of her rage.

These events took place in the early part of July, 1626; and yet, notwithstanding the King's firmness and extreme anxiety on the subject, we find the French still domiciled at Somerset-house, after more than a month had elapsed. The patience of Charles being now entirely worn out, he dictated the following note-evidently in hearty anger-to the Duke of Buckingham.

'STEENIE,

I have received your letter by Dic Græme; this is my answer ;I command you to send all the French away to-morrow out of the town, if you can by fair means (but stick not long in disputing), otherwise force them away, driving them away like so many wild beasts until you have shipped them, and so the devil go with them. Let me have no answer, but of the performance of my command. So I rest, Your faithful, constant, loving friend, "CHARLES REX.'

"Oaking, the 7th of August, 1626.'

(Superscribed) The Duke of Buckingham.'

Four days afterwards, appears the following passage in a letter of the period, dated 11th August, 1626. 'On Monday last was the peremptory day for the departure of the French; what time the King's officers attending with coaches, carts, and barges, they contumaciously refused to go, saying they would not depart till they had order from their King; and above all, the Bishop stood upon his punctilios. This news being sent in post to the King, on Tuesday morning his Majesty despatched away to London the captain of the guard, attended with a competent number of his yeomen, as likewise with heralds, messengers, and trumpeters, first, to proclaim his Majesty's pleasure at Somerset-house gate; which if it were not speedily obeyed, the yeomen of the guard were to put it in execution, by turning all the French out of Somerset-house by head and shoulders, and shutting the gate after them. Which news, as soon as the French heard, their courage came down, and they yielded to be gone next tide.'

The appointed hour having arrived, Lord Conway, together with the Treasurer and Comptroller, proceeded to Somerset-house, to witness the departure of the malcontents. Lord Conway, with his colleagues, first attended the Bishop to the door of his coach, where this captious gentleman again made a stand, praying as a last favor, that he might be allowed to wait for the midnight tide, and thus escape the observation and ridicule of the crowd. The request was a natural one, and was civilly granted.

It required four days, and nearly forty carriages, to transport the expelled Catholics to Dover. At first they appeared extremely

dogged and sullen, but the good fare, and kind entertainment, which everywhere awaited them on the road, and the natural vivacity of their country, gradually dispelled their feelings of disgust: still, the derision of the mob must have been any thing but agreeable. As Madame St. George was stepping into the boat at Dover, a bystander took an aim at her strange head-dress with a stone. An English gentleman, who was escorting her, instantly quitted her side, and running his sword through the offender's body, killed him on the spot.'-Ib. pp. 76-82.

The following account of the sale of the king's pictures and coins must close our extracts.

The year before the death of Charles, his splendid effects, his unique cabinet, the delight of his leisure hours, were directed by the Parliament to be sold. Some ignorant individuals, who styled themselves commissioners, were appointed the appraisers. The inventory took a year in drawing up, and the collection three years in selling. The catalogue is preserved among the Harleian MSS., and is entitled, 'An Inventory of the Goods, Jewels, Plate, &c., belonging to King 'Charles I., sold by order of the Council of State, from the year 1649 ' to 1652.'

Each article or lot had its price previously fixed, and nothing could exceed the gross barbarity and want of taste in the valuation. This Gothic insensibility and ignorance, however, mattered little; for except a slight occasional competition, the price given seldom exceeded the appraisement. It is curious to discover what in those days was considered the value of pictures, which are now deservedly regarded as beyond price. The celebrated cartoons of Raphael were valued at only £300, and what is more remarkable, were knocked down' without a purchaser. The six following pictures alone brought a price which could be considered as equivalent to their worth.

'A Sleeping Venus, by Corregio, sold for 1,0001.

A Madonna, by Raphael, 2,000l.

A Picture, by Julio Romano, 5001.

A Madonna and Christ, by Raphael, 8001.

A Venus and Pard, by Titian, 6007.

The following have been mentioned as remarkable for the insignificant sums at which they were purchased.

'The Woman taken in Adultery, by Rubens, 201.
Peace and Plenty, by Rubens, 1007.

Venus attired by the Graces, 2001.

The Duke of Buckingham and his brother, one of the finest efforts of Vandyke, was valued at 307., and sold for 501. Christ, the Virgin, and many Angels dancing,' by Vandyke, was only valued at