ment of customary wages, and whoever compels their labour without reward shall be punished. In regard to slavery, since all men, whether common people or chiefs, are by nature equal, there shall be under the English government no slaves. Let all debts and engagements contracted under the Burmese government previous to the war, be discharged and fulfilled according to the written documents. Touching the appointment of officers and chiefs, they are appointed to promote the prosperity of the towns and villages, and the welfare of the inhabitants. If, therefore, they take property by violence, or govern unjustly, they shall be degraded and punished. In regard to government assessments, when the country is settled and prosperous, consultation will be held with the leaders of the people, and what is suitable and moderate will be taken to defray the necessary expenses of government. Whoever desires to come to the new town, or to the towns and villages beyond the Saluen river under the English government, may come and live happily, and those who do not wish to remain may go where they please, without hinderance.'-pp. 367, 368. Mr. Crawfurd informs us that he suggested the policy of keeping possession of Rangoon, and thus shutting out the Burmese from the navigation of the Irawadi, and placing us in a commanding military attitude, which would have relieved us from all apprehension of annoyance from the power of these people. We cannot agree with him on this point, and are disposed to think that we have done much better. Hemmed in as they now are between Aracan and Martaban, we have little to fear from any annoyance that they can give us. Indeed, we are rather surprised at such a proposal from Mr. Crawfurd, who, in the same breath almost, tells us that the conditions of a convention with them ought to be strictly reciprocal; and the letter and spirit of the engagement such as would tend to develope the resources of both countries.' We cannot think that to stop them up like rats within their holes would be the most likely mode of producing this desirable reciprocity, or of developing the resources of the Burmese. The volume is accompanied with a map, apparently executed with great care, which throws much additional light on the geography of the country intervening between the Burrampooter and Yun-nan, the western province of China, and between the latter and the capital of Ava. ᎪᎡᎢ, (54) ART. III.-1. The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of King James the First, his Royal Consort, Family, and Court, &c. By John Nichols, F.S. A. don. 1828. 3 vols. 4to. Lon Political History of James I. 2. Inquiry into the Literary and By J. D'Israeli, Esq. F.R.S. DESULTORY as it is, and encumbered occasionally with matter not likely, nor deserving, to find readers, this collection is still an interesting and useful supplement to Mr. Nichols's former work, the Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, and, we think, excels it in variety and attractiveness of subjects. The splendours of the court, the pageantries of the city, and the hospitalities of loyal towns and mansions here recorded by an amiable and industrious antiquary (now no more), often excite a feeling deeper than that of gratified curiosity, as we approach the period of the great national storm by which all such glories were for a time heavily obscured. Our notice of the topics embraced in so extensive a compilation—(which might in many parts be taken for the reprint of some ancient Morning Post)-must, of course, be very imperfect, but we shall select a few of those which appear most striking, or can most easily be treated in a moderate compass, directing our chief attention to the royal progresses and their incidents, but bestowing some observation also on the court and family of James, as they appeared at ordinary seasons. The most memorable of his majesty's peaceful expeditions, was his first journey from Edinburgh to London, when his ear had at length been saluted with the happy news of price,' that Elizabeth had vacated the English throne, and was no more to mock his expectations by dancing six or seven galliards in a morning. The first incident of the journey conveys a pleasing impression of his kind feeling and simplicity of manners, and might, with little help from imagination, form a happy subject for the painter. As the royal cavalcade approached Seton, the lord of that house, Robert, first Earl of Wintoun, who had often played the dutiful host to James and his Queen, was carried forth for burial. His majesty was pleased to rest himself at the southwest round of the orchard, on the highway, till the funeral was Sir Robert Carey immortalized himself among courtiers by the address and activity with which he anticipated all other heralds of this great event. Riding out of London between nine and ten in the morning, he arrived at Doncaster the same night; and at bed-time on the third day, bruised and 'be-bloodied' as he was by a fall from his horse, appeared in the king's chamber at Holyrood, where he placed in James's hand the appointed and momentous token, a sapphire ring from Lady Scroope.-v. i. p. 56. over, that he might not withdraw the noble company, and he said that he had lost a good, faithful, and loyal subject.' In aftertimes that noble lineage had more than one opportunity of meriting a like praise from the Stuart family; and this very house of Seton was sacrificed in the cause of James's great grandson, in 1715. 'It was on his route from Durham to the mansion of Walworth,' says Mr. Surtees, (in his history of the bishoprick,) that King James sat himself down on the high grounds above Houghton-le-side, (on a spot which has retained, from this royal entregambaison, the name of Cross legs,) to enjoy the beatific vision of his descent into England, into perhaps its fairest portion, Yorkshire; the gallant Tees, with all its woodlands, pastures, feedings, and farmholds, must have presented a burst of scenery to James leaving his paupera regna, which might have almost induced the pacific king to exclaim, "Where's the coward that would not dare To fight for such a land?"-Surtees, vol. iii., p. 317. These expressions come warm from the good squire of Mainsforth's own heart; but we fear James was capable of looking upon the 'gallant Tees' without feeling a month's mind to combat.' The king's demeanour, on his southern progress, is said to have cast a damp on the enthusiasm with which his new subjects were prepared to receive him; and (to repeat a common observation) it would indeed have demanded far other gifts and acquirements than he could ever boast, to perform the regal part successfully after a queen so versed in the English character as Elizabeth, and so exquisitely skilled in flattering that high popular spirit which, when prudently disciplined, is the most susceptible of loyal emotions. She came to the throne uplifted on a flood of national favour, like the heroine of a revolution; and she strove, with the address and assiduity that might have befitted such a personage, to secure her influence with the multitude. In this labour, nothing wearied or alarmed her; whatever scene was to be acted, she could grace to the height by her dignity, her complaisance, her boldness, her diffidence, her merriment, nay, even by her tears, for she is more than once represented as weeping on her departure from a hospitable city. James, less proud, was, at the same time, less politic than his predecessor; although goodnaturedly desirous of indulging the zeal and curiosity of his English people, he became too soon weary of an exhibition for which Nature had given him few requisites. To sweep over the country with hound and horn,' and to snatch a hunter's meal upon the grass after bringing down his game, were delights which he prized infinitely beyond the tedious triumphs of of a royal procession; and he did not apprehend, as justly as Elizabeth, the necessity of winning golden opinions,' at whatever expense of time, ease, and favourite pursuits. He might, perhaps, imagine it worthy of a philosophic prince to be moderate in his sacrifices to popularity, but it was the sportsman's feeling that predominated, when he desired that the people would allow their king to hunt, without hunting him.' This reserve of James, however, has been exaggerated like his other faults, and the narratives of the journey contain instances enough of cheerful affability and considerate graciousness, to convince us that his deportment, at this time, was not so churlish as it is commonly represented. 6 Cardinal Bentivoglio, in a manuscript cited by Miss Aikin, pourtrays him with a fair and florid complexion,' and 'lineaments very noble to behold,' but without grace or dignity in the rest of his person, or in his gestures and carriage. Osborne tells us 'I shall leave him dressed to posterity in the colours I saw him in the next progress after his inauguration, which was as green as the grass he trod on: with a feather in his cap, and a horn instead of a sword by his side; how suitable to his age, calling, or person, I leave to others to judge from his pictures, he owning a countenance,' continues the author in his coxcombical phraseology, not in the least regard semblable to any my eyes ever met with, besides an host dwelling in Anthill, formerly a shepherd, and so metaphorically of the same profession.'-Memoirs of King James, sect. 17. This passage has been cited again and again by historical compilers to the discredit of James, and none of them has thought of asking why it was improper that a king, not forty years old, should hunt in a green suit, with a horn at his side, and the ornament, then so common, of a plume in his hat. We can believe that James's appearance on horseback was never very majestic; but, though not an accomplished cavalier, he was (in the first part of his reign at least) an active and hardy one, not easily fatigued, regardless of weather, and undaunted by accidents. We say this with a full remembrance of that exquisitely-finished picture in the 'Fortunes of Nigel,' where the king is represented as following his game on a highly managed steed, seated deep in his demipique saddle, and so trussed up there as to make falling almost impossible,' seldom exceeding three-fourths of a gallop, and thus prosecuting in security this favourite and, in the ordinary case, somewhat dangerous amusement;' and we are also aware of the passage in Coke's Detection, where the king is said to have become 'so lazy and unwieldy, that he was treist on horseback.' But these repre representations, if correct, are only applicable to James's latest years. Cecil describes him, on his first passage through England, as a great and extreme rider.'* Sir Theodore Mayerne speaks of him, at a later period, as violentissimis olim venationis exercitiis deditus ;'+ and other testimonies to the same effect might easily be collected from the volumes before us. The homely manners and deportment of James were likely to confirm, in strangers, any prejudice that might be inspired by his appearance. Yet he seems, on some occasions, to have behaved, not merely with decorum, but with dignity; and he excelled in the kingly accomplishment of paying well-turned and epigrammatic civilities. Sully, though he notices some indiscretions in James, yet mentions his demeanour in general with apparent respect and satisfaction; and speaks of him, in one instance, as expressing himself avec la derniere politesse.' James had been talking of his favourite sylvan sports, and of the French king's passion for such amusements; then, turning the discourse upon Sully, he added, says the ambassador- que Henri avoit raison de ne pas me mener à la chasse, parceque si j'étois chasseur, le roi de France ne pourroit pas l'être.'-Memoires de Sully, liv. xv. It was natural that James, on his first progress to the English capital, should use most freely those methods of acquiring popularity which demanded neither money nor exertion. At several places he released all criminals, except those charged with treason, murder, and 'recusance.' At Durham, however, he is said to have disbursed great sums for the liberation of debtors; and lodging at the Bear at Doncaster, he gave the host, for his good entertainment, the lease of a manor-house in reversion.' Among the steps taken at this time by the king to make a favourable impression, we have little doubt that he himself would have reckoned an act for which historians have vehemently condemned him—the execution, without trial, of a cutpurse, who was taken in the fact at Newark, having followed the court from Berwick in the garb of a gentleman. Whether James presumed on the statute 33d Hen. VIII., c. 12, as giving a summary jurisdiction in the case of theft committed within the verge of the court, or whether he proceeded on some misconception of the law respecting felons taken with the mainour,§ or, as it is termed in his own country, red-hand,' it would be fruitless now to inquire. He may, perhaps, have been actuated by a mere unthinking eagerness to display his zeal against evil-doers, and exemplify Nichols, vol. i., p. 145, n. 1. + Ellis's Historical Letters, Second Series, vol. iii., p. 199. Nichols, vol. i., p. 84. Blackstone, citing Stiernboek, says that, by the Danish law, a thief so takeu might be hanged without accusation or trial.-IV. Comm. 307. |