258 



and ingenuity. It requires only a little labour to prove this." I 

 believe he is allowed, by those who are conversant with his works, to 

 have excelled in the eloquence, and to have acquired a large portion 

 of the learning of his times ; and how he could have accomplished 

 this, in the tumultuous scenes in which he spent his youth, and ad- 

 dicted as he was to rural sports, revelling and indolence, may wel' 

 excite our admiration. A recent Memoir on the Court of James I., 

 not chargeable with partiality, characterizes the Premonition to his 

 Apology as " a learned defence of Protestant principles, an acute 

 exposure of the false statements and false reasonings of Bellarmine, 

 and a vigorous, but not intemperate, manifesto against Papal usur- 

 pation and tyranny."* 



The calumniators of James have, I believe, abstained from cast- 

 ing any reproach on his moral character. Except occasional indul- 

 gence in wine in his later days, it seems to have been free from any 

 stain of licentiousness or intemperance , notwithstanding the ex- 

 ample and influence of the profligate and irreligious Arran. In one 

 passage he expresses a devout gratitude for having escaped such 

 snares. 



Though he valued himself on his authorship, his eloquence, and 

 his colloquial powers, he betrayed no literary jealousy. Usher, 

 Bacon, and Coke, were employed and promoted by him ; while Ben 

 Jonson, Donne, Bishop Andrews, Sir John Davies, and others of 

 the second class, were liberally rewarded. When Sir John was pre- 

 sented to him in Scotland, he immediately enquired whether he was 

 the author of a poem entitled Nosce Teipsum, and being answered 

 in the affirmative, he embraced him, and promised him his favour 

 and protection. He soon discovered that Davies was more than a 



* L. Aikin's Memoir of the Court of Jaraes I. 



