my of France. The next courier might bring tidings
of an event which would probably subvert the English government and
dissolve the European coalition. It might have been thought that a
prince who ostentatiously affected the character of a devout Christian
and of a courteous knight would instantly have taken measures for
conveying to his rival a caution which perhaps might still arrive in
time, and would have severely reprimanded the guests who had so grossly
abused his hospitality. Such, however, was not the conduct of Lewis. Had
he been asked to give his sanction to a murder he would probably
have refused with indignation. But he was not moved to indignation by
learning that, without his sanction, a crime was likely to be committed
which would be far more beneficial to his interests than ten such
victories as that of Landen. He sent down orders to Calais that his
fleet should be in such readiness as might enable him to take advantage
of the great crisis which he anticipated. At Calais James waited with
still more impatience for the signal that his nephew was no more. That
signal was to be given by a fire, of which the fuel was already prepared
on the cliffs of Kent, and which would be visible across the straits.
[665]

But a peculiar fate has, in our country, always attended such
conspiracies as that of Barclay and Charnock. The English regard
assassination, and have during some ages regarded it, with a loathing
peculiar to themselves. So English indeed is this sentiment that it
cannot even now be called Irish, and till a recent period, it was not
Scotch. In Ireland to this day the villain who shoots at his enemy from
behind a hedge is too often protected from justice by public sympathy.
In Scotland plans of assassination were often, during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, successfully executed, though known to great
numbers of persons. The murders of Beaton, of Rizzio, of Darnley, of
Murray, of Sharpe, are conspicuous instances. The royalists who murdered
Lisle in Switzerland were Irishmen; the royalists who murdered Ascham at
Madrid were Irishmen; the royalists who murdered Dorislaus at the Hague
were Scotchmen. In England, as soon as such a design ceases to be a
secret hidden in the recesses of one gloomy and ulcerated heart, the
risk of detection and failure becomes extreme. Felton and Bellingham
reposed trust in no human being; and they were therefore able to
accomplish their evil purposes. But Babington'