t
aside the reigning dynasty, and to choose a new king. At the same time,
with an eye to business, he stipulated that on account of the great
expense and trouble devolving upon him the crown must be made hereditary
in his family. The impression made upon the grim Thurn and his colleagues
by the simplicity of these questions may be imagined. The splendour and
width of the Savoyard's conceptions fascinated the leaders of the Union.
It seemed to Anspach and Anhalt that it was as well that Frederic should
reign in Hungary as in Bohemia, and the Elector was docile. All had
relied however on the powerful assistance of the great defender of the
Protestant faith, the father-in-law of the Elector, the King of Great
Britain. But James had nothing but cold water and Virgilian quotations
for his son's ardour. He was more under the influence of Gondemar than
ever before, more eagerly hankering for the Infanta, more completely the
slave of Spain. He pledged himself to that government that if the
Protestants in Bohemia continued rebellious, he would do his best to
frustrate their designs, and would induce his son-in-law to have no
further connection with them. And Spain delighted his heart not by
immediately sending over the Infanta, but by proposing that he should
mediate between the contending parties. It would be difficult to imagine
a greater farce. All central Europe was now in arms. The deepest and
gravest questions about which men can fight: the right to worship God
according to their conscience and to maintain civil franchises which have
been earned by the people with the blood and treasure of centuries, were
now to be solved by the sword, and the pupil of Buchanan and the friend
of Buckingham was to step between hundreds of thousands of men in arms
with a classical oration. But James was very proud of the proposal and
accepted it with alacrity.

"You know, my dear son," he wrote to Frederic, "that we are the only king
in Europe that is sought for by friend and foe for his mediation. It
would be for this our lofty part very unbecoming if we were capable of
favouring one of the parties. Your suggestion that we might secretly
support the Bohemians we must totally reject, as it is not our way to do
anything that we would not willingly confess to the whole world."

And to do James justice, he had never fed Frederic with false hopes,
never given a penny for his great enterprise, nor promised him a penny.
He had contented himself w