hoot out with nobler promises than Henry; an
enthusiast for literature and arms, that prince early showed a great and
commanding spirit. Charles was a man of fine taste: he had talents and
virtues, errors and misfortunes; but he was not without a spirit equal to
the days of his trial.

* * * * *

FACILITY AND COPIOUSNESS OF HIS COMPOSITION.

The mind of James I. had at all times the fulness of a student's,
delighting in the facility and copiousness of composition. The king wrote
in one week one hundred folio pages of a monitory address to the European
sovereigns; and, in as short a time, his apology, sent to the pope and
cardinals. These he delivered to the bishops, merely as notes for their
use; but they were declared to form of themselves a complete answer. "_Qua
felicitate_ they were done, let others judge; but _Qua celeritate_, I can
tell," says the courtly bishop who collected the king's works, and who is
here quoted, not for the compliment he would infer, but for the fact he
states. The week's labour of his majesty provoked from Cardinal Perron
about one thousand pages in folio, and replies and rejoinders from the
learned in Europe.[A]

[Footnote A: Mr. Lodge, in his "Illustrations of British History," praises
and abuses James I. for the very same treatises. Mr. Lodge, dropping the
sober character of the antiquary for the smarter one of the critic, tells
us, "James had the good fortune to gain the two points he principally
aimed at in the publication of these _dull treatises_--the reputation of
an acute disputant, and the honour of having Cardinal Bellarmin for an
antagonist." Did Mr. Lodge ever read these "dull treatises?" I declare I
never have; but I believe these treatises are not dull, from the inference
he draws from them: for how any writer can gain the reputation of "an
acute disputant" by writing "dull treatises," Mr. Lodge only can explain.
It is in this manner, and by unphilosophical critics, that the literary
reputation of James has been flourished down by modern pens. It was sure
game to attack James I.!]

* * * * *

HIS ELOQUENCE.

The eloquence of James is another feature in the literary character of
this monarch. Amid the sycophancy of the court of a learned sovereign some
truths will manifest themselves. Bishop Williams, in his funeral eulogy of
James I., has praised with warmth the eloquence of the departed monarch,
whom he