ted down into every object of
magnificence. "And is not this wealth drawn from our acres?" was the
outcry of the rural censor. Yet it was clear that the country in no way
was impoverished, for the land rose in price; and if manors sometimes
changed their lords, they suffered no depreciation. A sudden wealth was
diffused in the nation; the arts of commerce were first advancing; the
first great ship launched for an Indian voyage, was then named the
"Trade's Increase." The town, with its multiplied demands, opened a
perpetual market for the country. The money-traders were breeding their
hoards as the graziers their flocks; and while the goldsmiths' shops
blazed in Cheap, the agriculturists beheld double harvests cover the soil.
The innumerable books on agriculture published during these twenty years
of peace is an evidence of the improvement of the country--sustained by
the growing capitals of the men in trade. In this progress of domestic
conveniency to metropolitan luxury, there was a transition of manners; new
objects and new interests, and new modes of life, yet in their incipient
state.

The evils of these luxuriant times were of quick growth; and, as fast as
they sprung, the Father of his people encountered them by his
proclamations, which, during long intervals of parliamentary recess, were
to be enforced as laws: but they passed away as morning dreams over a
happy, but a thoughtless and wanton people.

* * * * *

JAMES THE FIRST DISCOVERS THE DISORDERS AND DISCONTENTS OF A PEACE OF MORE
THAN TWENTY YEARS.

The king was himself amazed at the disorders and discontents he at length
discovered; and, in one of his later speeches, has expressed a mournful
disappointment:

"And now, I confess, that when I looked before upon the face of the
government, _I thought, as every man would have done_, that the people
were never so happy as in my time; but even, as at divers times I have
looked upon many of my coppices, riding about them, and they appeared, on
the outside, very thick and well-grown unto me, but, when I turned into
the midst of them, I found them all bitten within, and full of plains and
bare spots; like the apple or pear, fair and smooth without, but when you
cleave it asunder, you find it rotten at heart. Even so this kingdom, the
_external_ government being as good as ever it was, and I am sure as
learned judges as ever it had, and I hope as honest administering justice