1

though foon afterwards (the duke of Buck-
ingham being fent to conduct the queen,
who

and protested his innocency: but the commons declared
they were ready to prove it on him, unless prevented;
which they were, by a diffolution. Upon this a charge
is framed against prince Charles, as if he was concerned
in the fact, and therefore unwilling it fhould undergo a
parliamentary examination. Though king Charles was
bound to profecute king James's death, fays fir Edward
Peyton, committed contrary to all the laws of God
and nations; yet king Charles, to fave the duke, dif-
folved the parliament; and never after had the truth
tried, to clear himself from confederacy, or the duke
from fo heinous a scandal. Now let all the world
judge of Charles's carriage, whether he was not guilty
⚫ of conniving at fo foul a fin (d).'-Lilly, in more mode- (d) The di-
rate terms, delivers the cenfure on king Charles. That vine cataf
trophe of the
king James was really and abfolutely poifoned by a Stuarts, p.
plaifter, applied by Buckingham's mother unto king 19, 8vo.
James's ftomach, was evidently proved before a com- Lond. 1731.
mittee: but whether Buckingham himself, or king
Charles, was guilty, either in the knowledge of, or ap-
⚫plication of the plaifter, I could never learn. Many
• feared the king did know of it, and they gave this rea-
fon; because, when the parliament did order to quef-
tion Buckingham for it, and had prepared their charge
❝or articles to present against him in the house of lords,
• and to accuse him thereof, his majesty, contrary to all
⚫ expectation, and as in affront to both houses, and in
the upper houfe, when the articles came up, gave
Buckingham his hand to kifs, carried him away, &c.
This action loft him the prefent parliament's affec-
<tions; even the most fober of his friends held him very
• much overseen, to deny a parliamentary justice in any
• matter whatsoever; but in matter of poison, and the
• party poisoned being his father, in that to prohibit a
due courfe, or a legal proceeding against the party
fufpected, it was to deny juftice with a refractory
⚫ hand

C 2

tions on the

life and death of king

Charles, p.

20, at the hiftory of his

end of the

life and

times, 12mo. Lond. 1721. Milton's

who had been espoused at Paris by the duke of Chevereux in the king's name) she landed

¢

at

(e) Obferva- hand (e).'-Milton, in fevere terms, fpeaks of Charles on this account. Quam fimilis Neroni fuerit Carolus, oftendam. Nero, inquis, matrem fuam, ferro, necavit. Carolus & patrem, & regem veneno; nam, ut alia omittam indicia, qui ducem veneficii reum legibus eripuit, fieri non potuit quin ipfe reus quoque fuerit (f). i. e. I will let you (fpeaking to Salmafius) fee how like Charles was to Nero; Nero, you say, put to death his own mother. But Charles murthered both his prince and his father, by poifon. For, to omit ' other evidences, he that would not fuffer a duke that was accused of it, to come to his trial, must needs have "been guilty of it himself.'-How this conclufion of Milton and the others will ftand, the reader must determine. For my own part, though it is evident that Charles acted very unwify in fcreening Buckingham from a trial, and gave grounds for his adverfaries to furmife that he was not unconscious of the horrid deed, I cannot load his memory with it, for the following reasons.

works, vol. ii. p. 33°, 4to. Lond. 1753.

6

1. He never fhewed, by any other part of his conduct, that he was capable of being a party in fo wicked an action. Now where men's private characters are fair, there fhould be pofitive proof, ere they be pronounced guilty; which I think is wanting here.

2. The charge is brought by bitter and implacable enemies, and therefore may be fomewhat aggravated.

3. In the remonftrance prefented to the king, Dec. 1, 1641, which fets forth his evil conduct from the beginning, there is no hint given that he was deemed culpable in this matter; nor do I remember, among all the sharp papers which were publifhed by the two houses against him, that he is once charged with it.

4. At his trial it was not objected to him, nor was he reproached with it by Cooke or Bradshaw.

5. When going to the fcaffold, it being afked him, Whether he were not confenting to his father's death,*

he

at Dover, and was met there by his majesty, who accompanied her to London, where they were received with great expreffions of affection and rejoicing. The name of this lady was Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. and fifter to Lewis XIII. of France, faid to be of an excellent air and beauty of countenance, of great vivacity, a lover of intrigues, and one who treated her husband with the utmost infolence (G). Her beha

viour

he replied, Friend, if I had no other fin, (I speak it • with reverence to God's majefty) I affure thee, I would • never ask him pardon (g).'

wick's me

moirs, p.

(g) Sir PhiThese are the reasons for which I am for pronouncing lip WarCharles innocent in this matter, nor have I any great doubt about the reader's concurring in the juftice of the 342, 8vo. fentence. However the public, as it has a right, muft Lond. 1702. judge of this as well as other matters here laid before it, and its judgment will be regulated by facts and reasonings only.

(G) Henrietta Maria, a lady of excellent beauty, &c.] Mr. Waller is very lavish in praise of the beauty of Henrietta Maria, in his poem infcribed to her on feeing her picture. The following lines are a fpecimen of his panegyric.

Your beauty more the fondeft lover moves
With admiration, than his private loves;
With admiration! for a pitch fo high
(Save facred Charles his) never love durft fly.
Heav'n, that preferr'd a fceptre to your hand,
Favour'd our freedom more than your command:
Beauty has crown'd you, and you must have been
The whole world's miftrefs other than a queen.
All had been rivals, and you might have spar'd
Or kill'd, and tyranniz'd, without a guard.

viour towards his majefty will beft of all ap

Such eyes as your's, on fove himself have thrown
As bright and fierce a lightning as his own.

pear

And in another poem by the fame gentleman, addreffed to her, there are thefe lines:

Such a complexion, and so radiant eyes,
Such lovely motion, and fuch fharp replies;
Beyond our reach, and yet within our fight,
What envious pow'r has plac'd this glorious light!

Whether Mr. Waller has taken too great a poetical liberty, will appear from the following defcription of this lady by lord Kenfington, whilft negotiating the match, in a letter to prince Charles, dated Feb. 26, 1624. 'Sir, if your intentions proceed this way, as by many reasons of ftate and wisdom, (there is cause now rather to press ' it, than slacken it) you will find a lady of as much lovelinefs and sweetness to deferve your affection, as any ⚫ creature under heaven can do. And, fir, by all her fashions fince my being here, and by what I hear from the ladies, it is moft vifible to me, her infinite value,

and respect unto you. Sir, I fay not this to betray · your belief, but from a true obfervation, and knowledge of this to be fo: I tell you this, and must somewhat more, in way of admiration of the person of madam; for the impreffions I had of her were but ordinary, but the amazement extraordinary, to find her, as I protest before God I did, the sweetest creature in France. Her growth is very little, fhort of her age, and her wisdom infinitely beyond it. I heard her dif'course with her mother, and the ladies about her, with extraordinary difcretion and quickness. She dances (the which I am a witnefs of) as well as ever I faw any creature. They fay fhe fings moft fweetly; I am (b) Cabala, fure the looks fo (b).'

p. 312.

But whatever was her beauty, the temper of her mind was far from being amiable; he was bigotted to the

pear by the following inftructions given to lord

Romish religion, industrious in promoting its interefts, and an adviser and an encourager of the king in his moft imprudent actions. Go, coward, faid fhe to his majesty, (when about to feize the five members) and pull these rogues out by the ears, or never fee my face any more (i). When the civil war broke out, fhe went (i) Echard. into Holland, and pawned the crown-jewels, with which fhe bought ammunition, and fent to her husband. She foon afterwards returned, and gave him counfels moft pernicious, as in the course of this work we fhall fee. Going again to Paris, fhe endeavoured to raise foreign forces for the king, though in vain; and, after his death, was reduced to great ftreights (k); infomuch that the (*) Memoirs requested cardinal Mazarine to folicit Cromwell, that he de Retz, vol. would at leaft return her dowry: but his folicitations i. p. 261, were ineffectual (!). During the exile of the royal fa- 12mo.Lond. mily, fhe was full of intrigues to get the afcendency in 1723. her fon's councils, and frequently quarrelled with his age of Lewis (1) Voltaire's most faithful fervants. Some time before the reftoration, XIV. p. 88. the lord Jermyn had the queen greatly in awe of him, vol, i. 8vo. Lond. 1752. and had great interest with her concerns, was married to her, and had children by her (m).' When Charles (m) Memoirs II. mounted the throne in reality, the came over to Lon- of fir John don; but again returned to Paris, where fhe died Auguft Rerefby, p. 10, 1669.

of cardinal

4, 8vo.

Lond. 1735.

The following extract will make a proper fupplement to this note.- The king's attachment to the counfels ⚫ of the queen and her creatures, and his conftant neglect ⚫ of those of the trueft friends of his own and the na⚫tion's real intereft, is evident from the original letters (u) Formerof one of them, fir Edward Nicholas (n), fecretary of ly in the ' state to him and to his fon and fucceffor. I fhall fingle poffeffion of · out a few paffages from these letters. In one to lord cholas of Hatton, then at Paris, dated Dec. 4, 1650, fir Edward Weft-Horfcomplains, that the counfels of the Louvre, where ley in Surrey, " queen Henrietta refided, had been fatal to the crown of Efq; and England. In another to the fame lord, of the 1ft of of fir John • Feb. 1650-1, he expreffes his fears, that thofe coun- Evelyn of

C 4

William Ni

now in that

fels, the fame Wotton, in

county, bart.