Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

above £100 or £200; no artificer above 100 marcs; no laborer much more than he spent ; no one to have more than 2000 sheep, and one art to live by. To rectify the abuse complained of, a proclamation forbad any to put plough-ground to pasture, and none were to keep more than 2000 sheep. Vagabonds were marked with a V, and adjudged slaves for two years. How different is this from the pastoral simplicity which Bishop Latimer mentions, and describes when he was a boy. Edward greatly patronized trade. The Hanseatic Company, which robbed the English merchants, was driven from the kingdom, after remaining here ever since the reign of Henry III; Cabot was employed to discover a pascage by the north, to the East Indies; and Sir Hugh Willoughby sent into the north of Europe, which led to a knowledge of Greenland, and the port of Archangel, by which mean a trade was opened with Russia. In this reign a set of new families sprung up, by the clergy having permission to marry; an advantage to the state beyond calculation, by raising so many pious, enlightened individuals, of both sexes, who diffused general knowledge amongst their own, and every other class of life. The bishops, who generally had been of great, often illustrious families, were from their education alone capable of the great offices in the state, where learning was required, were in this department superseded by the nobility, who, in imitation of the late and this sovereign, had suitably improved their minds with all the sciences then known. Henry VIII. and Edward were singular in receiving a foreign order of knighthood; our sovereigns electing others into the Garter, but never accepting that of any potentate, however great. These two monarchs were knights of St. Michael in France.

Mary was learned, religious; but bigotted, revengeful, cruel, and unrelenting; haughty without dignity, and splendid though not magnificent. Her reign was degraded by experiencing all the horrors of an inquisition; and the blood and wealth, the honor and renown of her subjects, sacrificed, to augment the already too-potent kingdom of Spain, which, in the next reign, had nearly ruined us. There could be no particular alterations in the families or situation of the different orders of subjects in so short a reign; the unhappy protestants fell victims to the aggrandizement of Rome and the revenge of the Queen. If she was bloody here, she was merciful to those who had risen to oppose her taking the crown, and to such who attempted to deprive her of it af

terward.

terward. Confiscations, however, and great ones, were the consequence of those rebellions. In these three reigns vast estates passed into other hands, not to speak of the church possessions. Reflect what prodigious wealth came to the crown by the attaintures of a Buckingham, a Wolsey, an Essex, a Somerset, a Northumberland, and a Suffolk; and how many others, less indeed than these, but still great and potent peers, with the wealthiest of the commoners, fell beneath the axe in these reigns. How many inferior families did they not enrich. So little did the English and Spanish nations assimilate, that there was scarce an individual of fashion who settled amongst us, though many accompanied their sovereign here; and only a few bigotted Romanists followed the court of Spain, when Philip lost the matrimonial crown of England by Mary's death.

Elizabeth's long and prosperous reign was as happy to her subjects as it was glorious to herself: the woman was faulty, but the sovereign was excellent; the death of Mary Queen of Scots alone tarnished her fame. She changed all her grandfather's vices into their opposites: cunning, suspicion, avarice, became policy, caution, frugality. Her foreign and domestic enemies met ruin and disgrace: commerce extended itself to the most distant nations; the English, instead of employing others as factors, conveyed their own merchandize to a foreign market, and they rivalled the most skilful navigators in knowledge, and excelled all others in bravery. Foreigners found in Elizabeth a protectress from the tyranny and bigotry of their own sovereigns, and with them came many useful arts. The coin, which her father had first debased, was restored to its intrinsic value; religion was freed from the childish superstitions of the church of Rome; and the Crown rendered independent of that usurping court. All the sovereigns of the house of Tudor, except the first, were remarkable for their love of letters: Elizabeth was eminently learned: under such princes the nobility no longer thought it a disgrace to be so. The reformation of religion gave freedom to thought, which was productive of knowledge; and printing, now brought to perfection, began to disperse scientific productions through all distinctions of men. The art of writing began also to diffuse itself amongst persons of both sexes, became general amongst all the highest orders, and was not unfrequent in the second class of people; a comfort unknown before the sixteenth century, when our princes could not always sign their names, much less express. their sentiments upon paper.

The

⚫ones.

The nobility in this reign remained much the same as in the preceding Elizabeth was as frugal of titles as of wealth: she left no one of her subjects graced with the ducal honors, though she had a personal regard for more than one of the nobles; nor did she leave the peerage more numerous than she found it. She was extremely careful and cautious upon whom knighthood was bestowed, not only precluding such whose families were inconsiderable, or whose fortunes were too small to support the honor, but denying it to all whose merit was not sufficient to recommend them. Nothing displeased Elizabeth more than Essex's knighting so many gentlemen after his expedition to Cadiz.

Elizabeth's wisdom prodigiously enriched her dominions. This naturally raised many families to greater prosperity than they had known before, especially as trade became so much more extended, and the riches of America began, by that mean, to diffuse itself amongst the English; as well as by the intrepidity of Drake, and other naval commanders, seizing upon the treasures of Spain there, or on its way to Europe. The influx of wealth made it necessary to set forth and enforce sumptuary laws respecting dress, that the inferior should not vie with the superior. The final abolition of popery gave rise to the poors' laws, because the monasteries being dissolved, the lower classes would no longer be relieved at their gates: for the same reason elegant inns became known amongst us. The great were restricted from keeping too many servants or retainers; but trade and agriculture giving employment, the situation of the poor was much better, and even the last remains of slavery and villainage expired in this reign.

In the highest departments more scope was given to learning: the episcopal bench was accessible to all, whose abilities deserved it: the clergy ceasing to be politicians and lawyers, the gentry filled these departments. How How many families have they not ennobled since this time? The profession of physic began now to open another road to eminence, though never in any degree comparable to that of the law. In this reign, those clerking knights," which Edward VI. speaks of with so great a dislike, ceased. It had been usual for the episcopal order, as well as the abbots and priors, to confer knighthood upon the parochial clergy: Sir was usually prefixed to their names. For a little time after we see the distinctions of esquire, and gentleman, given to rectors and vicars; but this, very properly, is left off.

66

[blocks in formation]

James I, inelegant both in his person and manners, was more pedantic than learned, more cunning than wise, more vain than proud; pacific to a fault, and profuse to extravagance. This monarch gave his favorite the ducal honors. He settled the precedency of rank for the peers of his three kingdoms. His poverty, the consequence of his ill-judged liberality, obliged him to sell those titles which had ever been the reward of merit, or been given gratuitously to the favorites of the sovereign; and after lavishing knighthood in an indiscriminate manner on all who asked it, he ruined it entirely, by instituting the superior order of baronets, which was to have been limited to two hundred only; but in his reign it was much increased. Not less than three thousand patents have issued from the commencement of its foundation to this time; a sure proof of the riches of our English gentry. James had been a respectable potentate in Scotland. Ireland submitted to, and was greatly augmented in power, in riches, and consequence, by his care, prudence, and protection. The infant colony of Virginia under him increased greatly, and colonization in America widely extended itself every way, chiefly by adventurers for Virginia, a number of noblemen and gentlemen, who were registered in a book set out by the treasurer and council in 1620. Trade was established in the East-Indies, which laid the foundation of that vast empire the Enlish now possess in that part of Asia. The laxness of government, the multiplicity of honors, the vast property of individuals, the long peace, union of the British crowns, an uncontested succession, introduced a luxuriousness unknown before, which the prodigality of the court seemed to authorize; all greatly tended to change the manners of the people. The gentry quitted their gloomy mansions to mix with the multitude in the capital; nor could all the commands of Majesty prevail upon them to quit the fascinating pleasures they found there, though it proved so fatal to their fortune and consequence.

Charles I., with some great political faults, possessed qualities which adorn a diadem. He was religious, sober, learned, elegant, and patron of the fine arts. Under him the English first began to relish architecture, sculpture, and painting; these led to other refinements. The admission of ladies at court, from whence James had banished them, greatly tended to soften and harmonize the British character. No monarch ever more slighted, or was more indebted to his nobles, than Charles. He was more pro

fuse

fuse in bestowing titles than his father, exceeding him in the number of barons. He gave the deserted lady of Sir Robert Dudley, whom the Emperor had honored with a dukedom, the rank of Duchess: he also created two countesses and a baroness. His titles were more from political motives than personal attachment. His regard for individuals was violent and unbounded; he was extremely unfortunate in his selection of friends. The parliament would not allow the honors bestowed during the civil war, but the restoration confirmed them. He greatly revered the order of the Garter. It was bestowed sparingly: several potentates received it from him the others admitted were the prime of the British nobility. Elizabeth was the last who gave it to a commoner*. His knights of the Bath were select, his baronets exceeded his father's, and he carried James' intention into effect, in establishing those of Nova Scotia. One of Charles' most unpopular projects to raise money without the aid of parliament was, to oblige all who possessed £40 a year to receive knighthood, or compound for an exemption. It had been used by our sovereigns, but it was grown out of date. Had the sum been proportionate to the distant time it had been settled, it had been no hardship; it would have been a suitable honor: but then those who could have received it, would have been too small a number to have made it beneficial in filling the Exchequer. There was once an intention of creating a set of nobles, with the same titles as the peers have, but without the privilege of being hereditary legislators: they were to have neither voice nor seat in the House of Lords: the project fell with the unfortunate Strafford.

The civil war ruined many of the gentry, and enriched a number of adventurers. Property greatly changed hands; it called forth the utmost exertions of every class of men. Each thought it his duty, not only to defend his party in the field, but to justify his opinions to the world. An infinity of tracts were published upon politics and religion, which being eagerly purchased were read with avidity. The laws being suspended, every man became a divine and a lawyer. The consequences have reached us: disaffection to all government, and that numerous body of sectaries, who, though acrimonious against each other, are ever ready to unite, to ruin the established religion of their country.

* James I. gave the Garter to Sir George Villiers, just preceding his creating him a peer. Sir Robert Walpole was elected be

F 2

The

fore he was ennobled, and the late Earl of Guilford before his father's death. These instances can scarcely be called exceptions.

« PreviousContinue »