LETTER XII.

The wonders of Chivalry were still in the memory of men, were still existing, in some measure, in real life, when CHAUCER undertook to expose the barbarous relaters of them.

This ridicule, we may suppose, hastened the fall both of Chivalry and Romance. At least from that time the spirit of both declined very fast, and at length fell into such discredit, that when now SPENSER arose, and with a genius singularly fitted to immortalize the land of Fairy, he met with every difficulty and disadvantage to obstruct his design.

The age would no longer bear the naked letter of these amusing stories; and the poet was so sensible of the misfortune, that we find him apologizing for it on a hundred occasions.

But apologies, in such circumstances, rarely do any good. Perhaps, they only served to betray the weakness of the poet’s cause, and to confirm the prejudices of his reader.

However, he did more than this. He gave an air of mystery to his subject, and pretended that his stories of knights and giants were but the cover to abundance of profound wisdom.

In short, to keep off the eyes of the prophane from prying too nearly into his subject, he threw about it the mist of allegory: he moralized his song: and the virtues and vices lay hid under his warriors and enchanters. A contrivance which he had learned indeed from his _Italian_ masters: for TASSO had condescended to allegorise his own work; and the commentators of ARIOSTO had even converted the extravagances of the _Orlando Furioso_, into moral lessons.

And this, it must be owned, was a sober attempt in comparison of some projects that were made about the same time to serve the cause of the old, and now-expiring Romances. For it is to be observed, that the idolizers of those Romances did by them, what the votaries of HOMER had done by him. As the times improved and would less bear his strange tales, they _moralized_ what they could, and turned the rest into mysteries of _natural science_. And as this last contrivance was principally designed to cover the monstrous stories of the _Pagan Gods_, so it served the lovers of Romance to palliate the no less monstrous stories of _magic enchantments_.

The editor or translator of the 24th book of AMADIS DE GAULE, printed at _Lyons_ in 1577, has a preface explaining the whole secret, which concludes with these words, “Voyla, lecteur, le FRUIT, qui se peut recueiller du sens mystique des Romans antiques par les ESPRITS ESLEUS, le commun peuple soy contentant de la SIMPLE FLEUR DE LA LECTURE LITERALE.”

But to return to SPENSER; who, as we have seen, had no better way to take in his distress, than to hide his fairy fancies under the mystic cover of moral allegory. The only favourable circumstance that attended him (and this no doubt encouraged, if it did not produce, his untimely project) was, that he was somewhat befriended in these fictions, even when interpreted according to the Letter, by the Romantic Spirit of his age; much countenanced, and for a time brought into fresh credit, by the Romantic ELIZABETH. Her inclination for the fancies of Chivalry is well known; and obsequious wits and courtiers would not be wanting, to feed and flatter it. In short, tilts and tournaments were in vogue: the _Arcadia_ and the _Fairy Queen_ were written.

With these helps the new spirit of Chivalry made a shift to support itself for a time, when reason was but dawning, as we may say, and just about to gain the ascendant over the portentous spectres of the imagination. Its growing splendour, in the end, put them all to flight, and allowed them no quarter even among the poets. So that MILTON, as fond as we have seen he was of the _Gothic_ fictions, durst only admit them on the bye, and in the way of simile and illustration only.

And this, no doubt, was the main reason of his relinquishing his long-projected design of Prince ARTHUR, at last, for that of the _Paradise Lost_; where, instead of Giants and Magicians, he had Angels and Devils to supply him with the _marvellous_, with greater probability. Yet, though he dropped the tales, he still kept to the allegories of SPENSER. And even this liberty was thought too much, as appears from the censure passed on his _Sin and Death_ by the severer critics.

Thus at length the magic of the old Romances was perfectly dissolved. They began with reflecting an image indeed of the feudal manners, but an image magnified and distorted by unskilful designers. Common sense being offended with these perversions of truth and nature (still accounted the more monstrous, as the antient manners, they pretended to copy after, were now disused, and of most men forgotten), the next step was to have recourse to _allegories_. Under this disguise they _walked the world_ a while; the excellence of the moral and the ingenuity of the contrivance making some amends, and being accepted as a sort of apology, for the absurdity of the literal story.

Under this form the tales of Fairy kept their ground, and even made their fortune at court; where they became, for two or three reigns, the ordinary entertainment of our princes. But reason, in the end (assisted however by party, and religious prejudices), drove them off the scene, and would endure these _lying wonders_, neither in their own proper shape, nor as masked in figures.

Henceforth, the taste of wit and poetry took a new turn: and the _Muse_, who had wantoned it so long in the world of fiction, was now constrained, against her will,

“To stoop with disenchanted wings to truth,”

as Sir JOHN DENHAM somewhere expresses her present enforced state, not unhappily.

What we have gotten by this revolution, you will say, is a great deal of good sense. What we have lost, is a world of fine fabling; the illusion of which is so grateful to the _charmed Spirit_, that, in spite of philosophy and fashion, _Fairy_ SPENSER still ranks highest among the poets; I mean, with all those who are either come of that house, or have any kindness for it.

Earth-born critics, my friend, may blaspheme:

“But all the GODS are ravish’d with delight Of his celestial song, and music’s wondrous might.”

THE END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

NICHOLS and SON, Printers, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.

INDEX

TO

VOLUMES III. AND IV.

A.

ACADEMY, the ancient, compared with a modern university, iv. 214.

ACCOMMODATION, of one’s-self, a great art, in public life, iii. 82.

ADDISON, Mr. his contemplation in the ruins of Kenelworth Castle, iii. 172. his political character exhibited in his Whig Examiner, 177. n. calls in question the praises bestowed on Queen Elizabeth, 178. his strictures on the manners of that age, 186. character of his treatise on medals, 24. his remark on the use of popular superstitions in poetry, iv. 289. his observation on the fairy way of writing, 323.

ADMIRALTY COURT, the imperial law still obtains there, iii. 375.

ALLODIAL estates, in France, what, iii. 318.

AMADIS DE GAULE, remarkable passage in a preface to, iv. 347.

ARBUTHNOT, Dr. discourses with Mr. Addison and Mr. Digby on the age of Queen Elizabeth, iii. 168. his veneration for the manners of those times, 180. his opinion on the influence of the nobility, 184. on the pageants at Kenelworth, 203. See Elizabeth.

ARIOSTO, why considered inferior to Tasso by the French critics, iv. 310. his work admirable for its pictures of life and manners, 328.

ARTHUR, a subject to the writers of romance, iv. 241. the superior character in the Fairy Queen, 303.

ASCHAM, his remark on the pernicious tendency of books of chivalry, iii. 192. n.

ATHEISM, imported by our travelling gentry, iv. 99.

ATHENS, its manly character corrupted by Asiatic manners, iv. 201.

B.

BACCHUS, a knight errant, iv. 266.

BACON, Lord, his remark on retirement, iii. 137. why he was neglected by Queen Elizabeth, iii. 243. n. his excuse for bribery, 269. his remark on depression of nobility, iv. 27. n.

BACON, NAT. character of his discourses on government, iii. 307. his observation on the state of the law in Henry V’s reign, 378. his character of Henry VIII. iv. 29. n.

BARONS, their contests with the king, whence arising, iii. 332. how reduced by Henry VII. 334. they originally formed the great council of the kingdom, _ib._ their opposition to a law for legitimating bastards, 363. their castles courts, as well as fortresses, iv. 247. described in romances as giants, 264.

BASHFULNESS in young persons, whence arising, iv. 161. a wise provision of nature, 162.

BASTARDS, how legitimated by the imperial and canon laws, iii. 362.

BEAR-BAITING practised in the reign of Elizabeth, iii. 186. n.

BENEFICIARY ESTATES, in France, what, iii. 318.

BERKELEY, Bishop, his “Minute Philosopher” excellent as a specimen of modern dialogue, iii. 24.

BOILEAU, a word of his overturned the reputation of the Italian poetry, iv. 314.

BRACTON, his notion of a free government, iii. 370.

BREEDING, forms of, a primary concern in foreign travel, iv. 147.

BRIBERY, common in Elizabeth’s reign, iii. 267.

BURGHLEY, Lord, practised on the fears of Queen Elizabeth, iii. 257.

BURNET, Bishop, his notion of the danger to be apprehended from the Pretender, iii. 293. Augurs favourably of the Revolution, iv. 9, 10. his inquiry into the increase of Prerogative under the Tudors, 19. and after the ecclesiastical supremacy was transferred, 46. his apology for the clergy, 58 _to_ 64. his opinion on resistance, 66. n.

BUTLER, ridicules the circumstance of women warriors in romance, iv. 317.

C.

CÆSAR, tribute to, misapplication of that precept by our reformers, iv. 74.

CAMDEN, Mr. his opinion of the Irish rebellion in the reign of Elizabeth, iii. 232. n.

CANON LAW, introduction of, discountenanced by our Kings, iii. 355, 358. retained in the church after the Reformation, iv. 67. its doctrine convenient for the maintenance of absolute supremacy, 69.

CAPET, HUGH, the nobles had become independent on his accession, iii. 321.

CERVANTES, his ridicule destroyed the remains of Spanish prowess, iii. 199. keenly satirizes the Grecian epics, iv. 272.

CHACE, the favourite passion of our home-bred gentry, iv. 116.

CHALLENGE, accepted, through deference to the opinion of the ladies, iv. 168.

CHARLEMAGNE, a subject to the writers of romance, iv. 241.

CHARLES I. arguments of the lawyers in his time, for divine right, iv. 78. n.

CHARLES II. how far his court benefited by foreign travel, iv. 100. his restoration introduced the French manners and prejudices among us, 311.

CHARMS, in romance, often metaphorical, iv. 268.

CHARTERS, GREAT, by some considered as usurpations on the Prince, iii. 298.

CHAUCER, has left an unfinished story on the Gothic model, iv. 294. his Rime of Sir Topaz a banter on books of romances, 335. compared with the work of Cervantes, 336. his tale of Cambuscan a proof that he did not intend to ridicule the marvellous, 342.

CHIVALRY, its tendency to refine the manners, iii. 189. its ill effects, 192. n. contributed to the revival of letters, 195. had its origin in a barbarous age, iv. 238. sprung out of the feudal constitution, 242. its characteristics accounted for, 245. passion for arms, _ib._ romantic ideas of justice, 246. courtesy and gallantry, 247. love of God and of the Ladies, 250. its genuine character displayed in the Crusades, 252, 254. two distinct periods in deducing its rise and progress, 258. agreement between heroic and Gothic manners, 262. their differences noted, 272. custom which prevailed at festivals, 297. women-warriors, 317. Greek fire, 320.

CHURCH, its revenues dilapidated by queen Elizabeth, iii. 273. more immediately subjected to the feudal system than the civil power, iii. 326. struggles between the ecclesiastics and the monarchs, thence arising, 331. distinction between ecclesiastical and temporal courts by William I. 352. canon law discountenanced by our Kings, 359.

CICERO, introduced the writing of Dialogue among the Romans, iii. 20. his remark on the advantage of applying it to real personages, 26. his rule respecting the appropriate style and expression, 36. character of his dialogue defined, 40.

CITIZENS _and_ BURGESSES, whence originating, iii. 338.

CLARENDON, Lord, his character of Lord Falkland, iii. 67. n. of Waller, 69. n. his eulogium on Ben Jonson and Cowley, 140. n.

CLERGY, justified in attending the courts of princes, iii. 145. in the reign of the Conqueror, turned common lawyers, 352. the Imperial law their favourite study, 361. opposed by the barons, 363. supported by the judges and great officers of the realm, 366. at the Reformation propagated the doctrine of passive obedience, iv. 57. and of divine right, 62. apology for them, 63, 64.

COMBAT, a mode of deciding questions of right and property, iii. 200.

COMNENA, MANUEL, a crusade in his time attended by women-warriors, iv. 317.

CONSTITUTION, English, enquiry into, iii. 284. hath at all times been free, 286. many have but crude notions of it, 297. summary of erroneous doctrines respecting it, 298. question proposed, 305. its origin in the Saxon institutions, 309. æra of the Conquest, 310. contest for liberty throughout the Norman and Plantagenet lines, 313. council of the Kingdom originally consisting of such as held _in capite_ of the crown, by barony, or knight’s service, 334. origin of knights of shires, 337. of citizens and burgesses, 338. formation of a House of Commons, 340, 346. its freedom shewn in the perpetual opposition of the people to the civil and canon laws, 349 _to_ 358. proofs of it, 363, 367. Imperial law still prevails in certain of our Courts, and in the Universities, 375. fate and fortunes of the Civil law down to the present time, 378. contrasted with the free principles of the English law, 384 _to_ 386. increase of prerogative under the Tudor line, 392. iv. 16. state of the nation at the accession of Henry VII. 24, 27. Henry VIII. 28. Rupture with the Court of Rome, 29. high prerogative, 37. Commons house rising in importance, 39. causes of the increase of Royal authority, 40. translation of the Pope’s supremacy to the king, 41. use made of the title, Supreme head of the Church, 49. high commission court and star-chamber, 50. dispensing power, 52. instances of its exercise, 53, 54. passive obedience, 57. why inculcated by the clergy, 58. doctrine of divine right whence originating, 62. growth of Puritanism, 63. Canon laws retained after the yoke of Rome was thrown off, 67. influence of the crown, after the Reformation, required to be limited by another change in the government, 71. translation of the supremacy no argument against the freedom of the constitution, 73. causes concurring with the Reformation to favour liberty, in the time of Charles I. 76, 77. issue of the conflict between prerogative and liberty, 79, 80. what is meant by the free constitution of the English monarchy, 81. n.

COURT, but two sorts of men that should live in one, iii. 124. the clergy justified in attending, 145.

COWLEY, Mr. his motives for retiring from the world, iii. 101. expatiates on the benefit of solitude, 104. grounds of his apology for seclusion, 110. his early habits, 112. his residence at Oxford, and friendship with Lord Falkland, 116. his peculiar disposition, 120. his invective against courts, 124. his pursuits in retirement, 127. uses of applying experiment and observation to natural science, 129. his cynical severity against courts, 135. eulogium on him by Lord Clarendon, 140. n. remonstrance of his friend on his seclusion, 147. his reply in the words of Spenser, 148. his resolution unshaken, 150. his purposed apology to Lord St. Alban’s begun in his Essays, 152. his poem, called “The Complaint,” 157.

CRAIG, his opinion of the feudal law, iii. 328.

CRITICISM, bad, arises from abuse of terms, iv. 324.

CROMWELL, his design for setting up a Protestant Council, iv. 14.

CRUSADES, state of things when they were set on foot, iv. 252. considered as the origin of knight errantry, 255. domestic disorders resulting from them, 277. vast armies which were sent out, 318.

CUTTER OF COLEMAN STREET, origin and purpose of that comedy, iii. 122. n.

D.

DAVENANT, Sir W. a new sort of criticism in his preface to Gondibert, iv. 311.

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, a barrier against future encroachments of the crown, iii. 293.

DECRETALS, of the popes, against the civil law, iii. 355.

DIALOGUE, a favourite form of instruction with the ancients, iii. 19. its advantages, 21. only three in the English language worthy of mention, 24. real persons only to be introduced in it, 27. a new species, created by Lucian, 28. the serious and philosophic, the best, 32. its requisites, 34. rule for restraining the characteristic peculiarities of style, 39. modern writers cannot aspire to the elegance of the ancient, 43. remedies for their difficulties, ib. 46. the ancient notion of, very little comprehended in our days, iv. 90.

DISPARITY, a passage from a tract so called, iii. 235. n. another, illustrative of Queen Elizabeth’s policy, 258. n.

DISPENSING POWER of the Crown, iv. 52. exercised by various sovereigns, 53, 54. eleven out of twelve judges declared for it, 55.

DISSIPATION OF MIND, caused by travel, iv. 145.

DIVINE RIGHT, doctrine of, why preached up, iv. 62. arguments for it used by the lawyers in the time of Charles I. 78. n.

DRAMA, a particular precept for, mistaken for a general maxim, iv. 326.

DUTCH TOWNS, accomplished scholars sometimes met within them, iv. 121.

E.

EDUCATION, that commonly called liberal, wherein defective, iv. 117, 118. its proper objects pointed out, 138. one of its great secrets, to fix the attention of youth, 145. private, why preferable to public, 210.

EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, formed a digest of the Saxon laws, iii. 349.

EDWARD I. dispute concerning the succession to the crown of Scotland in his reign, iii. 367.

EDWARD III. a house of commons originating in his reign, iii. 340, 344.

ΕΙΡΗΝΑΡΧΙΑ, a Latin panegyric on Queen Elizabeth taught in schools, iii. 239. n.

ELIZABETH, Queen, dialogue on the age of, iii. 167. humour of magnifying her character, whence arising, 177. her romantic spirit, 196. examples of it, _ib._ n. honours paid her at Kenelworth, 203. superiority of poets in her reign, to what owing, 209. language of that age, favourable to poetry, 210. inquiry into the merits of her government, 219. sketch of its history, 221, 222. splendour of her reign how far owing to fortunate circumstances, 223. her enthusiasm for her Protestant subjects, 225. contending factions of Papists and Puritans, 226. condition of the Continental powers, 230. of Ireland, 231. of Scotland, 233. her prerogative uncontrouled, 234. passion for letters in her reign, 236. a Latin panegyric on her, taught in grammar-schools, 239. n. spirit and genius of the nation roused by the dangers of the time, 241. manners of her subjects debased by servility and insolence, 242. her choice of ministers, _ib._ her personal qualities, 245. her love for her people called in question, 250. her foreign and domestic policy glanced at, 252. her popularity in part ascribed to her vices, 255. her cowardice, 256. her avarice, 261. her fondness for shew, 265. sale of offices, 266. reason why she did not marry, 271. n. her government oppressive, 272. two great events which cast an uncommon lustre over her reign, 274. causes of her domestic successes, 275. her character, 276. vindicated, 279. established the Reformation, iv. 31, 32. exercised the dispensing power, 54. her inclination for the fancies of chivalry, iv. 347.

EMPSON _and_ DUDLEY, how enabled to violate the constitution, iii. 379. their proceedings sanctioned by Parliament, iv. 34.

ENGLAND, a constitutional history of, highly desirable, iii. 286, 288. its monarchy by some declared to be absolute, 298, 299. its lands were allodial in the Saxon times, 324. how possessed, _ib._ introduction of feudal tenures at the conquest, why popular, 325. origin of the struggles between the Church and the King, 331. between the King and his Barons, 332. never famous for the civility of its inhabitants, iv. 112. early travel recommended as a cure for this defect, 113. prejudices and low habits of our youth, 115. liberal arts not much advanced, 127. foreign nations to be emulated, 129. qualifications for a Senator, 140. another view of the state of the country, 151. ideas of liberty connected with it, 153.

EPIC NARRATION, less restricted to truth than the drama, iv. 327.

ERASMUS, improved on the dialogue of Lucian, iii. 28.

ERUDITION, present state of, iv. 132.

ESPRIT, DE L’, remark on a work so called, iv. 89. n.

EUROPE, why not fit for an Englishman to travel in, iv. 200. view of the Protestant Universities of, 212, 213.

F.

FAERY COURT, means the reign of chivalry, iv. 248.

FAIRIES, more engaging than the rabble of Pagan divinities, iv. 283.

FAIRY QUEEN of Spenser, to be criticized as a Gothic, and not a classical poem, 292, 296. derives its method from the established modes of chivalry, 297. in what its unity consists, 300. expedients of the poet in connecting the subject, 302. allegorical character of the poem, 304. conduct of the story justified by its moral, 305. principal defect arising from the union of two designs, 306.

FAIRY WAY OF WRITING, vindicated, iv. 316. allegory its last resource, 349.

FALKLAND, Lord, his scruples on accepting the office of Secretary of State, iii. 67.

FEUGREGEOIS, wonders told of it in the history of the crusades, iv. 320.

FEUDAL LAW, instituted by William the Conqueror, iii. 313. or rather new-modelled by him, 317. previously adopted in France, 319, 320. its _fruits_, 321. favourable to the cause of liberty, 323. definition of the feudal system, 329. its defects, 333, 334. fitted itself to the varying situations of society, 345.

FEUDAL CONSTITUTION, the origin of chivalry, iv. 242. consideration had of females under it, 274. distinction between the early and later feudal times, 276. dissensions of leaders, domestic disorders, and usurpations, 277, 278.

FOREIGNERS, their disputes with British subjects, by what laws decided, iii. 376.

FORTESCUE, his distinction between regal and political forms of government, iii. 388. n.

FORTUNE, the making of one, an indefinite expression, iii. 131.

FRANC-ALMOIGN, a particular tenure in the Saxon times, iii. 327.

FRANCE, its lands, under the Carlovingian line, of two kinds, iii. 318. changes introduced, _ib._ 319, 320. most of its lands were beneficiary, 324. her pre-eminence in taste and politeness, iv. 130.

FREEDOM, English, best supported by the ancient nobility, iii. 184.

FREE MEN, persons holding _allodial_ estates in France, so called, iii. 318.

FRENCH CRITICS, preferred the Gierusalemme Liberata to the Orlando Furioso, iv. 309.

FYNES MORYSON, his remark on the condition of the English people, iii. 183. n.

G.

GARDENING, Gothic method of design in, iv. 301.

GENIUS, men of, infelicities attending the sensibility of their gratitude, iii. 140.

GENTLEMAN, what his chief object, iv. 123.

GERMAN NATIONS, foundation of gallantry in their ancient manners, iv. 250. their predatory disposition, 269.

GIANTS of Romance, were oppressive feudal lords, iv. 263.

GOTHIC ROMANCE, incorporated with pagan fable, in a pageant given to Queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth, iii. 203. whence fallen into disrepute, iv. 333. steps of its decline traced, 345.

—— MANNERS, in some circumstances agree with the heroic, iv. 262. military enthusiasm, _ib._ giants and savages, 263. monsters, dragons, and serpents, 265. robbery and piracy, 268. bastardy, 269. hospitality and courtesy, 270. martial exercises, _ib._ passion for adventures, 271. wherein they differed from the heroic, 272. in the affair of religion and gallantry, 274. more poetical than the heroic, 280. in the displays of love and friendship, 282. in religious machinery, 283. their effect on Spenser, 291. on Milton, 292. on Shakespear, 294. method of design in poetry, 300.

GREEKS, a sort of chivalry prevailed among them, iv. 273.

GROTIUS, his character of the English in Elizabeth’s reign, iii. 242. n. his remark on the foreign policy of that Queen, 259. n.

GUARINI, his Pastor Fido, for what admirable, iv. 315.

GUY, EARL OF WARWICK, his return from the wars, compared with that of Ulysses, iv. 278.

H.

HABITS, low and immoral, how far likely to be corrected by foreign travel, iv. 157.

HALE’S CASE, afforded an alarming proof of the influence of the dispensing power, iv. 55.

HAMPDEN, Mr. his allegation in the great cause of ship-money, 78. n.

HARRINGTON, Sir James, his opinion on the statutes against retainers, in Henry VII.’s reign, 184. n.

HARRISON, his account of the progress of learning in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, iii. 237. n.

HELMET, used as a signal of hospitality in the ages of chivalry, iii. 182.

HENRIADE, why not long-lived, iv. 331.

HENRY III. issued a prohibition against the teachers of the Roman law in London, iii. 357, 358.

HENRY VII. his character, iv. 19. increased his own authority and diminished that of his nobles, 25. filled the great offices with churchmen only, 26. exercised the dispensing power, contrary to act of parliament, 53.

HENRY VIII. favoured the study of the civil law, though constrained to abolish it, iii. 380. his character, iv. 19. advantageous circumstances on his accession, 29. his rupture with the court of Rome, _ib._ obtained of his parliament to have his proclamations pass for laws, 34.

HELVIDIUS, PRISCUS, a fine trait in his character, as given by Tacitus, iii. 142.

HENTZNERUS, PAULUS, praises Queen Elizabeth’s skill in languages, iii. 257. n.

HERBERT, Mr. GEORGE, commended king James as a greater orator than any of the ancients, iii. 240. n.

HERCULES, a knight errant, iv. 266.

HEROIC POETRY, why it has survived the Gothic, iv. 333.

HIGH COMMISSION COURT, iii. 381. in what originating, iv. 49.

HISTORY, ENGLISH, study of it essential to a young senator, iv. 142.

HOBBES, Mr. assisted in establishing a new sort of criticism, iv. 311. his notion of poetical truth, 324.

HOMER, correspondence of his descriptions with those of Gothic romance, iv. 266. his two poems intended to expose the evils arising from the political state of old Greece, 277. felicity of his age, for poetical manners, 280.

HOSPITALITY, much practised by the great, in former times, iii. 181. species of it peculiar to the purer ages of chivalry, 182. n.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, its origin, iii. 340. generated by the constitution, 346.

HUMAN NATURE, how to be studied, iv. 197.

HUME, ground of his apology for the House of Stuart, iii. 391. n. his account of the feudal times the best part of his history of England, iv. 80. n. his zeal for the house of Stuart a disgrace to his work, 82.

I & J.

JAMES I. favoured the study of the civil law, iii. 381. advantages under which he succeeded to the crown, iv. 33. believed himself absolute, 37. his bold language to his parliaments, 38. asserts the right of the King to suspend the laws, 54. considered a most able judge of _church work_, 59, 60. n. styles himself the great schoolmaster of the land, 69. n.

JESUITS, their expedient to justify the pope in deposing kings, iv. 61.

IGNORANCE, the parent of many vices, iv. 108.

INTEREST, of men in office, how connected with duty, iii. 139.

JONSON, BEN, praised by Lord Clarendon, iii. 140. n. his encomium on legends of ancient chivalry, 194. contrasts them with real life and manners, 198. design of the witch-scenes in his Masque of Queens, iv. 287.

IRELAND, distractions in, during the reign of Elizabeth, iii. 231.

IRISH, savage, in the reign of Elizabeth, held their rhymers in principal estimation, iv. 271.

ITALIAN POETRY, a short history of, 309 to 315. vindicated, 316, 328. its fictions ingenious as well as bold, 330.

ITALY, the theatre of politeness in the age of Elizabeth, iv. 99. abounding with literary men, 121.

JURY, trial by, when disgraced and rejected, iii. 379, 382.

JUSTICES OF PEACE, in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, notoriously corrupt, iii. 270.

JUSTINIAN LAW, when introduced into England, iii. 354. Why the chief study of the clergy, 361. opposed by the barons, 363. allows legitimation by subsequent marriage, 365. in what courts it obtains to this day, 375. its fate and fortunes down to the present time, 378.

JUSTS AND TURNAMENTS, their origin, iv. 243.

K.

KENELWORTH CASTLE, contemplations in the ruins of, iii. 170. behaviour of Lord Leicester’s porter on Queen Elizabeth’s visit, 174. pageants in honour of her, 203.

KNIGHTS OF SHIRE, whence originating, iii. 337, 338.

KNIGHTS ERRANT, iv. 247. their devotion to the fair sex, 248. their most essential qualities, courage and faith, 251. origin ascribed to the crusades, 255. objection to that hypothesis, 257. what the principal mover of their adventures, 275.

KNOWLEDGE of the world, necessary for enlarging the mind, iv. 108. what is meant by it, 122, 123. not attainable by early travel, 170. to be acquired by degrees, 180.

L.

LADIES, attach a high degree of merit to good breeding, iv. 168. though bred at home, have a manifest advantage over their travelled brothers in liberal acquirements, 176. virtues and faults more conspicuous in them than in the other sex, 177, 178.

“LADY OF THE LAKE,” a pageant at Kenelworth Castle, iii. 203.

LAGA, or LEAGA, the Saxon word for law, its extensive import, iii. 308.

LANGUAGE, ENGLISH, at what period most favourable to poetry, iii. 210.

LANGUAGES, time sometimes wasted in studying, iv. 147.

LAWS, how rendered necessary, iv. 108.

LEARNING, revival of, began first by poetry, iii. 206.

LEGISLATORS, ancient, why required to travel for instruction, iv. 95.

LEGISLATURE, their right to settle the government, unquestionable, iii. 302.

LEICESTER, Earl of, his splendid monument in the great church of Warwick, iii. 168. Strictures on his conduct, 176.

LETTERS, the cultivation of, its own reward, iii. 130.

LIBERAL ARTS, of late growth in England, iv. 127. study of them less important than other branches of education, 192.

LIBERTY, a right understanding of its principles necessary to the security of the British government, iii. 295. religious, made way for the entertainment of civil, in all its branches, iv. 76.

LIFE-GUARD, instituted by Henry VII. iv. 25.

LIVY, his dialogues, if preserved, would have suffered by comparison with those of Cicero, iii. 41.

LOCKE, Mr. Lord Shaftesbury’s opinion of him as a philosopher, iv. 88. his notion of education, opposed to that of his lordship, 136, 138. denies that its objects can be attained by foreign travel, 143. his remarks on England, 151. on national prejudices, 152, 154. on evil habits, 156. on bashfulness in youth, 161. on knowledge of the world, 170. on the means of instilling it into the minds of youth, 180. his objections to the study of the fine arts, 191, 193. of the fine arts, 191, 193. Declares against European travels, 200. his remarks on the universities, 204. on clergy tutors, 217. Presage of brighter days for the universities, 224.

LOLLARDISM, spreading in the reign of Henry VII. iv. 27.

LONDON, a fit scene for seeing the world, iv. 190.

LUCAN, his magic scenes excelled by those of Apuleius, iv. 283, 284.

LUCIAN, created a new species of dialogue, iii. 28. its nature defined, 30, 32. his remark on the social use of the table, 182.

M.

MANNERS, best acquired by early travel, iv. 119. meaning of the term, 120. a chief object of study, 124.

MASKS and SHOWS, their origin and design, iii. 207.

MATTHEW PARIS, his remark on the subjection of the ecclesiastical to the secular power at the Conquest, iii. 327. n.

MAYNARD, Sir JOHN, one of the most accomplished lawyers of his time, iii. 289. n. traces the origin of the English Constitution, 306. was one of the _eleven members_ proceeded against, on the charge of the army, 383. n. his opinion that the power of the militia was not in the king, iv. 75. n.

MELVIL, Sir JAMES, his frank reply to Queen Elizabeth touching her celibacy, iii. 271. n.

MILTON, recommends gymnastics in his Tractate of Education, iii. 188. why he preferred the classic to the Gothic model in poetry, iv. 292. pleased with the manners described in books of chivalry, 293. his allusion to the vast armies described in romance, 318. Pagan gods and Gothic fairies out of credit when he wrote, 331. admired Chaucer’s tale of Cambuscan, 342. His reason for relinquishing his design of Prince Arthur, 348.

MODESTY, in young persons, a grace and ornament, iv. 162. the blush of budding reason and virtue, 164.

MONTESQUIEU, his observation on the Gothic government, iii. 341. n.

MORE, Dr. HENRY, his dialogue with Mr. Waller on sincerity, iii. 53. his character, according to Bishop Burnet, 93. n.

MOUNTJOY, Lord, how reprimanded by Queen Elizabeth, iii. 249.

N.

NATIONS, improved by intercourse with each other, iv. 109.

NATURE, how to be followed in poetry, iv. 324.

NEUTRALITY, why another name for insincerity, iii. 66.

NORHAM, great Council of, rejected the Cæsarean law, iii. 367.

O.

OBEDIENCE, PASSIVE, doctrine of, by whom propagated, iv. 57.

P.

PAGAN superstitions, fall short of the Gothic, iv. 284.

PANDECTS, when and by whom introduced into England, iii. 354. their doctrine concerning the origin of government, 371.

PAPAL SUPREMACY, its extent in this kingdom, iv. 42. how transferred to Henry VIII. 43. qualifying clauses, _ib._ high notions entertained of the pope’s power, 46. dispensing power, 52. exercised by the popes against the Gospel itself, 56. n. indignation of the popes against our reforming sovereigns, 61.

PARLIAMENTS, their authority acknowledged even under our most despotic Princes, iv. 37. transferred the papal supremacy to Henry VIII. 43. how curbed by the _dispensing power_, 51, 52.

PERSONIFICATION, why frequent in old poetry, iii. 211, 212.

PHILIP THE GOOD, duke of Burgundy, a festival given by him, for a crusade, iv. 298.

PHILOSOPHERS, ancient, considered travel as a necessary part of their studies, iv. 95.

PHILOSOPHY, how at present degraded, iv. 131.

PLATO, the model, if not the inventor, of the Greek dialogue, iii. 20.

PLOT, of Mr. Waller, its failure, iii. 71, 72. confounded with another of more dangerous tendency, 75.

PLUTARCH, his life of Theseus reads like a modern romance, iv. 266.

POETRY, what point in the revolutions of taste and language most favourable to it, iii. 210. the sublime species not subject to strict rules of credibility, iv. 325, 326.

POETS, generally enamoured of solitude, iii. 113, 114.

POLE, Cardinal, violent in his invectives against Henry VIII. iv. 60.

POLITENESS, not attainable by great men, iv. 166. what its most reasonable sense, 201.

PREJUDICES, of home-bred gentlemen, iv. 114. the term equivocal, 152. some ought not to be removed, 153. proper cure for vicious prejudices, 155.

PREROGATIVE, of English monarchs, controuled by law, iii. 287.

PROTESTANT COUNCIL, projected by Cromwell, iv. 14. n.

PROTESTANTISM, had made considerable progress on the accession of Elizabeth, iii. 224. its effects on the public morals, 238.

PROTESTANTS, French, persecution of, iv. 12. n.

PURITANISM, growth of, iv. 63.

PURITANS, how managed by Queen Elizabeth, iii. 227.

R.

RALEIGH, Sir Walter, his opinion on the conduct of the Spanish war, iii. 252. received money to use his interest with the Queen, 268.

REASON, best exercised in society, iii. 106.

RECREANT, why a term of disgrace for a vanquished knight, iv. 251.

REFORMATION, established in the reign of Elizabeth, iv. 31, 32. though founded on principles of liberty, for a time favoured the power of the crown, 70. carried on and established by the whole legislature, 73.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES, suppression of, favoured the extension of prerogative, iv. 20.

REPRESENTATION, Dramatic, requires stricter adherence to truth than narration, iv. 326.

RETAINERS, laws of Henry VII. against, iv. 25.

RETIREMENT, foundation of the dialogue concerning, iii. 97. n. its good effects on the mind, 104. its disadvantages, 106. retirement of good men from public employments prejudicial to the state, 141.

REVOLUTION of 1688, why justifiable, iii. 283. settlement introduced by it, how to be rendered secure, 295.

RHETORICIAN, one who taught the art of _not speaking_, iv. 121.

RICHARD II. the wonder-working parliament in his reign rejected the Roman civil law, iii. 367. his declaration that his will was law, 374.

ROBERT THE NORMAN, his wife fought by his side in battle, iv. 317.

ROMAN EMPERORS, their policy in assuming the title of Pontifex Maximus, iv. 47.

ROME, Court of, its authority rejected by Henry VIII. iv. 29.

ROMANCE, Spirit of, whence originating, iv. 239. principal subjects, 241. from what period its writers derive their ideas of chivalry, 259. practice of mixing Pagan fable with it, 272. Gothic superstitions introduced, 284. decline of this species of writing, 333, 345, 348.

ROUSSEAU, his observation on the use of the marvellous in epic and dramatic compositions, iv. 327. n.

ROYAL SOCIETY, much talked of, before it was instituted, iii. 143. n.

RYSWICK, treaty of, wherein defective, iv. 12.

S.

ST. ALBAN’S, Lord, the patron of Cowley, iii. 97, 99, 102.

SAXONS, the principles of their policy still maintained in our government, iii. 307. spirit of liberty prevailed among them, 309. their institutions, after the decline of the Romans, the standing laws of this kingdom, 349.

SAVAGES of Romance, dependants of feudal lords, iv. 263.

SELDEN, his character of Ben Jonson, iii. 209. a curious extract from his dissertation on Fleta, 370.

SELF-LOVE, when uncontrouled, engenders vices, iv. 108.

SENATOR, English, requisite qualifications of one, iv. 140. are not attainable by foreign travel, 143.

SIDNEY, Sir PHILIP, the flower of knighthood, iii. 197.

SINCERITY in the commerce of the world, a dialogue on, iii. 53.

SHAFTESBURY, Lord, eminent as a writer of dialogue, iii. 24. his remarks on the difficulties attending that class of composition, 42. represented in a dialogue with Mr. Locke, on the uses of foreign travel, iv. 87. states its advantages, 107. asserts it to be the most important part of education, 111. descants on the prejudices of home-bred gentlemen, 115. on the state of the arts in Britain, 126. on the decay of philosophy, 131. his raillery against the Gothic manner in poetry, 311.

SHAKESPEAR, remark of his best critic on the witch-scenes in Macbeth, iv. 286. greater in the Gothic than in the classic manner, 295.

SOCRATES, whence he took his name of Ironist, iii. 28. never stirred out of Athens, iv. 96.

SOMERS, Mr. his fears that the principles of liberty are not thoroughly established in the minds of the people, iii. 295, 297. his notion of the varying ascendancy of liberty and prerogative, iv. 18.

SPAIN, Queen Elizabeth’s triumph over, to what owing, iii. 274.

SPENSER, had talent for business as well as for poetry, iii. 243. his funeral, _ib._ n. charmed by Gothic Romance, iv. 239. his account of the courtesy of chivalry, 247. of the connection of gallantry with the profession of Knighthood, 249. his description of characters in romance, 264. his design in the Fairy Queen, 280. why he chose chivalry for his theme, and Fairy land for his scene, 291. why he had recourse to allegory, 346. with whom he ranks highest among the poets, 350.

SPRAT, the Rev. Mr. his account of a conversation with Mr. Cowley on retirement, iii. 99.

STAR-CHAMBER, iii. 381. when confirmed by act of parliament, iv. 25, 34. its jurisdiction why extended, 50.

STEPHEN, the Justinian laws introduced into England during his reign, iii. 354. interdicted the study of them, 356.

STILLINGFLEET, Dr. his remark on the dispensing power, iv. 54.

STUART, House of, part of their difficulties ascribed to the bad policy of their predecessor, iii. 228. English Government despotic under the first princes of that line, iii. 390. prerogative increased in the preceding reigns, iv. 20, 33. confirmed the jurisdiction of the Star-Chamber by statute, 34. exercised the dispensing power to a dangerous degree, 55.

T.

TACITUS, bears testimony to the free spirit of the German constitutions, iii. 309.

TASSO, his Gierusalemme Liberata planned on the model of the Iliad, iv. 279. his description of a garden, iv. 301. his Gierusalemme Liberata considered, 308. how estimated by the French critics, 309, 310. his Clarinda not so extravagant a character as is generally supposed, 318. remark of a French critic on his enchantments, 322. his fairy tales do him more honour than the classical parts of his poem, 329.

TERENCE, his characters all express themselves with equal elegance, iii. 39.

THEOBALD, Archbishop, favoured the reading of the Justinian laws in England, iii. 354.

THIRD ESTATE in France, their deputies how stigmatized by one of the popes, iv. 59. n.

THUANUS, his remark on the romantic spirit of Queen Elizabeth, iii. 196.

THURKEBY, Judge, exclaims against the dispensing power, iv. 53. n.

TILT YARD, a school of fortitude and honour to our forefathers, iii. 185. Its exercises excelled those of the Grecian gymnastics, 188.

TOLERATION-ACT, when passed, iv. 11. n.

TOPAZ, SIR, of Chaucer, a prelude to Don Quixote, iv. 336.

TOUR OF EUROPE, too limited for a philosophic traveller, iv. 198.

TRAVEL, foreign, dialogue on the uses of, iv. 87. considered as a part of early education, 93. question stated, 94. example of the ancient philosophers, 96. allusion to the court of Elizabeth, 98. of Charles II. 100. youth more exposed to vice abroad than at home, 103. arguments in favour of it, 107. its tendency to remove prejudices and correct low habits, 115. and to qualify a person for bearing his part in public affairs, 124. the argument refuted, 135. proper objects of education, 138. does not contribute to attain them, 143. waste of time, _ib._ dissipation of mind, 145. objects to which the traveller’s application is directed, 146. hinder him from more important studies, 149. vicious prejudices may be removed without it, 155. low habits not likely to be corrected by it, 157, 158. precipitates youth into manhood, 165. is become fashionable through the influence of the ladies, 168. knowledge of the world not to be acquired by it, 172. unseasonable and useless in youth, 173. considered as a means of dissolving hasty and ill-timed connexions, 188. of studying the fine arts, 191. when to be practised with most advantage, 195. to be extended beyond the tour of Europe, 198. foreign and English universities compared, 212. what tutorage most proper, 217.

TUDOR LINE, government of England more despotic under them than in the preceding reigns, iii. 390.

TUTOR, Travelling, how to be chosen, iv. 106. the best cannot teach every thing requisite, 149. what tutorage most proper, 217.

V. and U.

VACARIUS taught the civil law in England, iii. 355.

VIRTUE, exists most in the offices of social life, iii. 106. not incompatible with ambition, 139.

VIRTUOSOSHIP, one of the objects of foreign travel, iv. 146.

ULYSSES, his return afforded an exception to the domestic licence of the time, iv. 278.

UNITY of design in Gothic poems, iv. 300.

UNIVERSITIES, the Imperial law still obtains in them, iii. 375. strictures on, iv. 132. a sketch of their institution and genius, 204. why the barbarous plans of education still prevail, 206. a reformation contemplated, 208. their studies and discipline not without their use, 211. compared with those of the continent, 212. their forms and regulations commended, 214. much room for improvement in them, 223. happy presage of their future condition, 224.

W.

WALLER, Mr. EDMUND, represented in dialogue with Dr. More, on sincerity in the commerce of the world, iii. 53. recites his history, 57. his introduction at court, where he recommended himself by his poetry, 60. engaged actively in the parliament of 1640, 63. his relationship and attachment to Mr. Hampden could never bias him from moderation, 65. his resolution to pursue the King’s interests, and yet keep clear with the Parliament, 69. his popularity drew him into difficulties, 71. failure of his _plot_, 72. his address in extricating himself from the danger thence arising, 77. his hypocrisy, 79. retired into France during the troubles of the country, 83. ascribes his misfortunes to _sincerity_, and his escape from them, to _dissimulation_, 84. is admitted, on his return, to the confidence of the Protector, whom he panegyrized, 86. congratulated Charles II. on his restoration, 88. his arguments in justification of his conduct, 91.

WALLS OF FIRE, mentioned in romance, what in reality, iv. 320.

WALSINGHAM, Secretary, recounts the ill effects of Queen Elizabeth’s frugality, iii. 263. n. his illustrious poverty, 264.

WARWICK, Great Church of, famous for its monuments, iii. 168.

WILLIAM I. his Conquest by some considered as the foundation of absolute monarchy in England, iii. 298, 309. his claim to the crown not conquest but testamentary succession, 311. instituted the feudal law, 313. consequences of his distribution of forfeited estates and seignories, 333. obliged to ratify the old standing laws of the kingdom, 349. illustration of his policy in his distinction of the ecclesiastical and temporal courts, 351, 352. styles himself _Bastard_, in one of his charters, 363.

WILLIAM III. King, his character, iv. 14.

WOLSEY, Cardinal, charged with subjecting the laws of the land to the imperial laws, iii. 380.

WOMEN-WARRIORS, in times of chivalry, iv. 317.

WORLD, the Commerce of, how to be prepared for, iv. 138. a knowledge of, the most momentous part of education, and least understood, 179.

X.

XENOPHON, why lavish in praise of hunting, iii. 189.

Y.

YORKE, the late Right Hon. CHARLES, extract from a letter of his, on the origin of chivalry, iv. 254.

YOUTH, the season for acquiring right propensities and virtuous habits, iv. 113. education of, in England, wherein defective, iv. 117. value of time at that age, 144. bashfulness a favourable symptom, 161. what period of it requires most care and vigilance, 180. entrance into the world, 181. necessity of moral discipline, 184.

Z.

ZEAL for the faith, actuated the professors of chivalry, iv. 251.

THE END OF VOLUME IV.

J. Nichols and Son, Printers, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _7 May, 1689._

[2] The act of toleration did not pass till _24 May, 1689_, which lets us see at what time this preface is _supposed_ to have been drawn up.

[3] This was the talk of men at that time. It was perhaps in the king’s intention. But the design, if it had ever been formed, miscarried; as the Bishop himself observes in his History—“The most melancholy part of the treaty of _Ryswick_ was, that no advantages were got by it, in favour of the Protestants in _France_.” Vol. iv. p. 295. _Edinb._ 1753.—Whether the blame of this lies in the king, or his parliaments, or neither, the reader is left to judge for himself, from considering the state and transactions of those times.

[4] These rigours the bishop gives a particular account of in THE HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIMES, vol. iii. _Edinb._ 1753.—Speaking of the persecution of the _French_ Protestants, he says, “I went over a great part of _France_, while it was in its hottest rage, from _Marseilles_ to _Montpelier_, and from thence to _Lyons_, and so on to _Geneva_. I saw and knew so many instances of their injustice and violence, that it exceeded even what could have been well imagined; for all men set their thoughts on work to invent new methods of cruelty. In all the towns through which I passed, I heard the most dismal accounts of things possible.” p. 60.—Again—“The fury that appeared on this occasion did spread itself with a sort of contagion: for the intendants and other officers, that had been mild and gentle in the former parts of their life, seemed now to have laid aside the compassion of Christians, the breeding of gentlemen, and the impressions of humanity.” p. 61.

[5] Meaning CROMWELL, who, it seems, had a design of setting up “a council for the Protestant religion, in opposition to the congregation _de propagandâ fide_ at _Rome_.” See the Bishop’s own account in his Hist. vol. i. p. 109.

[6] NAT. BACON, in his Disc. part II. p. 125. _Lond._ 1739.

[7] The story is told by Lord BACON in his history of this prince.

[8] He did not consider that maxim of the Lord BACON, “Depression of the nobility may make a king more absolute, but less safe.” Works, vol. iii. p. 296.

[9] And yet Lord BACON tells us, that when HENRY VIII. came to the crown, “There was no such thing as any great and mighty subject, who might any way eclipse or overshade the imperial power.” Works, vol. iii. p. 508.

[10] “A man, as Mr. BACON characterises him, underneath many passions, but above fear.” DISC. Part II. p. 120.

[11] DISC. Part II. p. 125.

[12] This terrible act is 31 HEN. VIII. c. 8. It was repealed in 1 EDW. VI. c. 12.

[13] Speech to the lords and commons at _Whitehall_. An. 1609.

[14] It was said well of this king—“That he spake peace abroad, and sung lullaby at home: yet, like a dead calm in a hot spring, treasured up in store sad distempers against a back-winter.” NAT. BACON.

[15] Meaning such clauses as these—_as by any spiritual or ecclesiastical power or authority may LAWFULLY be exercised_, and, _provided that nothing be done contrary to the LAWS of this realm._

[16] The bishop does well to say—_in some measure_. For, according to popish prejudices, the sacerdotal character is vastly above the regal. See POLE’S address to HEN. VIII. I. 1, where this high point is discussed at large.

[17] HIST. ANG. p. 694.

[18] Something to this purpose occurs in p. 706.

[19] The name of this reverend judge was ROGER DE THURKEBY. A cause was trying before him in _Westminster-hall_, when one of the parties produced the king’s letters patent with a _non-obstante_ in it. “Quod cum comperisset,” says the historian, “ab alto ducens suspiria, de prædictæ adjectionis appositione, dixit; Heu, heu, hos ut quid dies expectavimus? ecce jam civilis curia exemplo ecclesiasticæ conquinatur, et a sulphureo fonte rivulus intoxicatur.” p. 784. HEN. III.

[20] Many statutes, and especially 23 HEN. VI. had forbidden the continuance of any person in the office of sheriff for more than one year. HENRY VII. dispensed with these statutes. And the twelve judges resolved in 2 HEN. VII. that, by a _non-obstante_, a patent for a longer time should be good.—It seems, the good old race of the THURKEBYS was now worn out.

[21] See his Works, vol. iii. p. 806.

[22] _The true law of free monarchies_, in the King’s Works, p. 203.

[23] Alluding to the doctrine of the canonists, who say, _Papa dispensare potest de omnibus præceptis_ VETERIS ET NOVI TESTAMENTI. See _bishop_ JEWELL’S _defence of his apology of the church of England, against_ HARDING, p. 313.

[24] See this particular taken notice of in K. JAMES’S Works, p. 384.

[25] One of them, King JAMES, profited so well by this discipline, that, as we are told on very competent authority, “He was the most able prince that ever this kingdom had, to JUDGE OF CHURCH-WORK.” _Ded. of Bp. ANDREWS’S sermons to CHARLES I. by the bishops LAUD and BUCKERIDGE._

[26] This notion was started even so early as HENRY’s rejection of the supremacy. Cardinal POLE insists strongly on this origin of kingship in his book, _Pro ecclesiasticæ unitatis defensione_, lib. i. p. 74.

[27] In the writings, published by political men for twenty years together before the Restoration; in which the great question of the origin of civil government was thoroughly canvassed.

[28] The bishop declares his opinion to this purpose very fully in several places of the History of his Own Times. His and his friend TILLOTSON’S representations to the unhappy Lord RUSSELL, no doubt, turned upon this principle.

[29] The bishop gives the same account of this matter in his History of the Reformation, Part I. p. 330.

[30] TRUE LAW OF FREE MONARCHIES, p. 203.—What is said of the king’s being the _great schoolmaster of the land_ is taken from the same discourse, p. 204. His words are these—“The people of a borough cannot displace their provost—yea, even the poor school-master cannot be displaced by his scholars—How much less it is lawful upon any pretext to control or displace the great provost and GREAT SCHOOL-MASTER OF THE WHOLE LAND.”

[31] Mr. SOMERS had reason for saying this; for the intimation was no less than that the power of the _militia_ was not in the king. Sir J. MAYNARD was of this opinion, when the matter was debated in parliament in 1642. See WHITLOCK, p. 56.

[32] The doctrines of divine right, as propagated by the churchmen of that time in their books and sermons, are well known.—Those of the lawyers were such as these—It had been alleged on the part of Mr. HAMPDEN, in the great cause of ship-money, “that by a fundamental policy in the creation of the frame of this kingdom, in case the monarch of _England_ should be inclined to exact from his subjects at his pleasure, he should be restrained, for that he could have nothing from them, but upon a common consent of parliament.” Sir ROBERT BERKELEY, one of the judges of the king’s-bench, affirmed—“That the law knows no such king-yoking policy:”—Sir THOMAS TREVOR, one of the barons of the exchequer, “That our king hath as much power and prerogative belonging to him as any prince in Christendom:”—The attorney-general, Sir JOHN BANKS, “That the king of _England_ hath an entire empire; he is an absolute monarch: nothing can be given to an absolute prince! but is inherent in his person.” _State Trials_, vol.