ENGLAND. 
to it, yet produced it before the king in council, who 
came to town a few days after. None of the council 
thought much of it, though it appeared ferious and 
alarming. In this.inixture of agitation and doubt, the 
king was the firft who penetrated the fccret. He con¬ 
cluded that fome fignal mifchief w'as preparing by gun¬ 
powder; and it was thought advifable to infpedl all the 
vaults below the houfes of parliament. This care be¬ 
longed to the earl of Suffolk, lord chamberlain, who ju- 
dicioufly poftponed the fearch till the day before the 
meeting ot parliament, which was fixed for the memo¬ 
rable 5th of November, 1605. He then fufpefted the 
great piles of faggots which lay in the vault under the 
houfe of peers; and he call his eye upon Fawkes, who 
flood in a dark corner, and who paffed himfelf for Percy’s 
lervant. Thefe appearances determined lord Suffolk to 
take his time to make a more exaft fcrutiny. About 
midnight, therefore, fir Thomas Knevett, a juftice of the 
peace, was fent with proper attendants ; and juft at the 
entrance of the vault he feized Guy Fawkes, who had 
difpofed every part of the train of gunpowder for taking 
fire the next morning, the matches and other combufti- 
bles being found upon him. The whole of this horrible 
plot was now difcovered ; but the atrocity of the perpe¬ 
trator was fnch, that he told the officers of juftice, with 
an undaunted air, that had he blown them and himfelf 
up together, he fhould have been happy. Before the 
council he manifefted the fame favagc difpofition, re- 
fufing to dilcover his alfociates, and exprefling no con¬ 
cern but for the failure of his enterprife. Being com¬ 
mitted to the Tower, his courage at laft failed him, and 
he made a full difcovery of his accomplices. 
Catefby, Percy, and the confpirators who were in Lon¬ 
don, hearing that Fawkes was arrefted, fled into War- 
wickfhire, where fir Everard Digby, relying on the fuc- 
cefs of the plot, was already in arms, in order to feize 
the princefs Elizabeth. But the country foon began to 
take the alarm ; and wherever they turned, they found a 
fuperior force ready to oppofe them. In this exigence, 
they refolved to make a (land at a houfe in Wanvickfhire, 
and fell their lives as dearly as poftible. Catefby, Percy, 
and Winter, (landing back to back, fought long and defpe- 
rately ; till at laft the two firfi fell covered with wounds, 
and Winter was taken alive. Thole that furvived the 
daughter fell by the hands of the executioner. Such was 
the end of a confpiracy that brought ruin on its contrivers, 
and utterly fupplanted that religion it was intended to 
eftablilh. Yet it is remarkable, that, before this diabo¬ 
lical attempt, the confpirators had always borne a fair 
reputation; Catefby was beloved by all who knew him ; 
and Digby was as highly refpedled both for honour and 
integrity as any man in the nation. However, Inch are 
the lengths to which fuperftition and prejudice can hurry 
minds originally well formed, but imprelfed by a wrong 
bias. 
The king’s moderation, after the extinction of this con¬ 
fpiracy, was only equalled by his penetration in the dif¬ 
covery of it. The hatred excited by the people againft 
the catholics, knew no bounds; and nothing but a total 
extinction of thofe who adhered to that perfuafion, feemed 
capable of fatisfying the greater part of the nation. James 
nobly rejected all violent meafures, and declared that the 
late confpiracy, however atrocious, fhould never alter his 
plans of government; but as, on the one hand, he was 
determined to punifh guilt, fo, on the other, he would 
ftill fupport and proteCt innocence. This principle of 
moderation, however, was very unpleafing to the people; 
and the more malignant part of his fubjeCts were difpofed 
to afcribe this lenity to the papifts, to his being himfelf 
tinCtured with their fuperftitions. It is therefore proba¬ 
ble, that the oppofition which James met with from his 
fubjeCts in England, induced him to prefer his own coun¬ 
trymen to places of truft and confidence about his perfon. 
A principal objeCt in the contemplation of James, and 
en which he bellowed his earned endeavours, was the 
1 
66 $ 
improvement and amelioration of Ireland. To civilize 
that country, it was necelfary to abolilh many of its an¬ 
cient inftitutions. By the Brehen cuftovn, every crime, 
including thofe of the deepeft dye, might be atoned for 
by a fine. This rate was called eric. The Englifh having 
formed a defign of fending a fheriff into Fermenagh, Ma¬ 
guire, one of the chiefs of that diflnct, replied, “ Your 
flieriff (hall be welcome to me ; but let me know before¬ 
hand his eric, or the price of his head, that if my people 
cut it oft’, I may levy the money on the county.” Small 
offences were cognizable by no law ; and in this rude date 
of the country, the efforts of James to pr duce ameliora¬ 
tion were highly praifeworthy. He (ubftituted as far as 
he could the Engliih laws, declared the natives free citi¬ 
zens, eftablifhed circuits, and, by means of a final] army, 
kept the country in a (late of quiet and order before un¬ 
known. 
While the king was thus laudably employed, the death 
of his eldeft fon, Henry prince of Wales, in the eighteenth 
year of his age, A. D. 1612, fpread a general gloom over 
the profpedls of the nation. Neither his high birth nor 
his youth had feduced him into any irregularities; bufi- 
nefs and ambition were his folc delight. His inclinations 
as well as exercifes were martial. The French anibaf- 
fador taking leave of him, and afking his commands for 
France, found him employed in the exercife of the pike: 
“ Tell your king (faid lie) in what occupation you found 
me engaged.” For fir Wafer Raleigh, then in the Tow er, 
he feems to have conceived a ftrong affection and efteem. 
“ Surely (obferved lie) no king but my father would 
keep fuch a bird in a cage.” The marriage of his filter 
the princefs Elizabeth with Frederic elector palatine, 
which took place foon after, ferved to diffipate the grief 
which arofe from this melancholy event. But the mar¬ 
riage, though happy to the nation in its remote and ulti¬ 
mate confequences, was unfortunate both to the king and 
his fon-in-law. The elector, trufting to fo powerful au 
alliance, entered on enterprizes beyond liis ftrength; and 
the king, not being able to fupport his pretentions, loft; 
entirely, towards the clofe of his life, the efteem and re- 
gard of his own fubjedts. 
The court of James, now undifturbed by foreign war, 
or domeftic broils, foon became the refort of parafites and 
favourites. About the end of 1609, Robert Carr, a youth 
of about twenty, of a good family in Scotland, became 
the favourite of the king, and was confidered as the mod 
rifing man at court : he was knighted, created vifeount 
Rochefter, honoured with the Garter, made a privy.coun- 
fellor, and finally raifed to the earldom of Somerfet. This 
was a very hafty advancement, which fome regarded with 
envy ; font the wifer part of mankind looked upon it with 
contempt and ridicule, fenfible that ungrounded attach¬ 
ments are of no long continuance; and, indeed, the fa¬ 
vourite gave early proofs of his being unworthy the con¬ 
fidence of the king. Among the friends whom he con- 
fulted at court, was fir Thomas Overbury, a man of great 
abilities and learning; among the miftreftes whom lie ad- 
drefted was the young countefs of Efiex, whofe hufband 
had been font by the king’s command to travel, until the 
young couple fhould be arrived at the age of puberty. 
But the afliduities of a man of fuch accomplifliments as 
the favourite, were too powerful to be refilled; a cri¬ 
minal correfpondence took place; and the unfufpefting 
Eflex, on his return from abroad, found his wife in. the 
arms of another. But this was not all; the adultrefs now 
refolved to procure a divorce, and then to marry the fa¬ 
vourite, who had beguiled her heart. It. was on this 
occafion that Overbury, being confulted by his friend, 
declared himfelf utterly averfe to the match. He de~ 
feribed the countefs as an infamous and abandoned wo¬ 
man; and went fo far as to threaten the earl that lie 
would feparate himfelf from him for ever, if he could 
fo far forget his honour and his intereft, as to profecute 
fuch a marriage : but this advice was fatal to the giver. 
In confequence of his difapprobation, the king was per- 
fuaded 
