hort
prorogations Parliament was finally dissolved.

The King, who felt himself aggrieved by its whole attitude as well as
by many single expressions, was reluctant to call another. In order to
meet his extraordinary necessities recourse was had to various old
devices and to some new ones; for instance, the creation of a great
number of baronets in 1612, on payment of considerable sums: but
notwithstanding all this, in the year 1613 matters had gone so far,
that neither the ambassadors to foreign courts, nor even the troops
which were maintained could be paid. In the garrison of Brill a mutiny
had arisen on this account; the strongholds on the coast and the
fortifications on the adjacent islands went to ruin. For this as well
as for other reasons the death of the Earl of Salisbury was a
misfortune. The man on whom James I next bestowed his principal
confidence, Robert Carr, then Lord Rochester, later Earl of Somerset,
was already condemned by the popular voice because he was a Scot, who
moreover had no other merit than a pleasing person, which procured him
the favour of the King. The authority enjoyed by the Howards had
already provoked dissatisfaction. The Prince of Wales had been their
decided adversary, and this enmity was kept up by all his friends.
Robert Carr, however, thought it advisable to win over to his side
this powerful family to which he had at first found himself in
opposition. Whether from personal ambition or from a temper that
really mocked at all law and morality he married Frances Howard, whose
union with the Earl of Essex had to be dissolved for this
object.[372] The old enemies of the Howards, the adherents of the
house of Essex, many of whom had inherited this enmity, now became the
opponents of the favourite and his government. When at last urgent
financial necessities allowed no other alternative, and absolutely
compelled the issue of a summons for a new parliament, the contending
parties seized the opportunity of confronting one another. The
creatures of the government neglected no means of controlling the
elections by their influence; but they were everywhere encountered by
the other party, who were favoured by the increasing dissatisfaction
of the people.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1614.]

At the opening of Parliament in April 1614, and on two occasions
afterwards, the King addressed the Lower House. Among all the
scholastic distinctions, complaints of the past, and assurances for
the future, in w