S52 



progress of true religion. I am satisfied that this plan, and the com- 

 prehension of the puritans in the episcopal church, would have 

 proved equally nugatory, as to the object in view, would have occa- 

 sioned more cruel persecutions, and finally given rise to a greater 

 variety of sects than existed before. His partiality to this scheme 

 may have been one reason for his indulgence to the Roman Ca- 

 tholics, which exposed him so much to censure and suspicion in 

 that intolerant age. But he had other reasons of a political cha- 

 racter for his conduct to them. They were a very powerful and 

 dangerous body in Scotland and England : they had disputed 

 his title, and threatened to obstruct his way to the English throne ; 

 and afterwards attempted his life, and the overthrow of the govern- 

 ment, by the Gunpowder Plot. Besides these reasons, and his na- 

 tural lenity, he was influenced in his treatment of the recusants by 

 an apprehension, that otherwise the popish princes might be in- 

 censed against the professors of the reformed religion, particularly 

 in the affair of the Palatinate ; and, in general, it was his plan of 

 policy to carry all his foreign objects by fair means. It cannot be 

 denied, however, that the Spanish match had its weight in the 

 scale, but not to such a degree as is alleged by some. With respect 

 to his own title, though he stood in the regular line of succesion, as 

 now understood, it was liable to be impeached in an age when the 

 descent of the crown was not so well established, or at least so ge- 

 nerally recognised. It was derived from Henry VII., through his 

 daughter, who was great-grand-mother to James: the will of Henry 

 VUl. excluding the Scottish line, had never been abrogated : an 

 alien was incapable of inheritance in England ; and Elizabeth 

 would never allow any parliamentary sanction to be given to 

 the title of James ; but told Melville, that she had employed 

 lawyers to investigate it. This will abundantly account lor his 



