HENRY Prince of Wales, eldest son of King James VI. of Scotland by his queen Anne sister of the king of Denmark, and one of the most accomplished princes of the age in which he lived, was born on the 19th of February 1594. The birth of the prince was announced by embassies to many foreign powers, with invitations to be present at the ceremony of his baptism, which was thus delayed for a considerable time. Mr Peter Young, who, along with the celebrated George Buchanan, had been preceptor to his majesty, was sent to the courts of Denmark, Brunswic, and Mecklenburg, the duke of Mecklenburgh being great-grandfather to the prince by the mother's side; the laird of East Weems to France and England; and Sir Robert Keith, and Captain Murray provost of St Andrew's, to the States General, who at that time were struggling against the Spanish tyranny, and not yet declared a free state. All these ambassadors were cordially received, and others appointed in return except by the courts of France and England. Henry IV. at that time king of France, though the Scots ambassador had formerly been one of his own servants, neither made any present, nor appointed an ambassador. Queen Elizabeth had designed to act in the same manner till the heard of the behaviour of Henry; after which she honoured James by appointing an ambassador of very high rank, Robert earl of Suffex. This ambassador, however, was so long of making his appearance, that the queen imagined the ceremony would be over before his arrival; for which reason she sent a message to the earl, commanding him in that case not to enter Scotland nor deliver her present. But James had been more obsequious; and not only delayed the ceremony till the English ambassador arrived, but distinguished him from the rest by having a canopy carried over his head at the procession, supported by the lairds of Cessford, Buccleugh, Duddope, and Traquair. The ceremony was performed with great magnificence; after which the ambassadors presented their gifts. That from the United States was the most valuable. It consisted of two gold cups worth 12,400 crowns, with a box of the same metal, weighing in all about 400 ounces, containing besides the grant of a pension of 5000 morins annually to the prince for life. The English ambassador gave a cupboard of plate curiously wrought, and valued at 3500l. sterling; and the Danish ambassador two gold chains, one for the queen and another for the prince. The baptism was celebrated on the 6th of September 1594, and the child named Frederick-Henry and Henry-Frederick.

The young prince was now committed to the care of the earl of Mar, who was assisted in this important charge by Annabella countess-dowager of Mar, daughter of William Murray of Tullibardine, and paternal ancestor of the present duke of Athol. This lady was remarkable for the severity of her temper, so that the prince met with little indulgence while under her tuition; notwithstanding which, he showed great affection for his governess all the time she had the care of him. Next year, however (1595), the queen engaged the chancellor, Lord Thirlstane, in a scheme to get the prince into her own power: but the king having found means to diffuse her majesty from the attempt, showed afterwards such marks of displeasure to the chancellor, that the latter fell into a languishing disorder and died of grief.

In his sixth year Prince Henry was committed to the care of Mr Adam Newton a Scottman, eminently skilled in most branches of literature, but particularly distinguished for his knowledge of the Latin language. Under his tutorage the prince soon made great progress in that language, as well as in other branches of knowledge; insomuch that before he had completed his fifth year, his father wrote for his use the treatise entitled Basilicon Doron, thought to be the best of all his works.

In his seventh year, Prince Henry began his correspondence with foreign powers. His first letter was to the States of Holland; in which he expressed his regard and gratitude for the good opinion they had conceived of him, and of which he had been informed by by several persons who had visited that country; concluding with a request that they would make use of his interest with his father in whatever he could serve them, promising also his service in every other respect in which he could be useful, until he should be able to give farther instances of his good-will and affection.

At this early period the prince began to add to his literary accomplishments some of the more martial kind, such as riding, the exercise of the bow, pike, &c., as well as the use of fire-arms; and indeed such was the attachment he showed throughout his whole lifetime to military exercises, that had he attained the years of maturity, there can scarce be a doubt that he would have distinguished himself in a most eminent manner. In all his exercises he made surprising progress; and not only in those of the military kind, but in singing, dancing, &c. On his ninth birthday he sent a letter in Latin to the king, informing him that he had read over Terence's Heecyra, the third book of Phaedrus's Fables, and two books of Cicero's Epistles; and that now he thought himself capable of performing something in the commendatory kind of epistles. His accomplishments were soon spoken of in foreign countries; and these, along with the general suspicion that James favoured the Catholic party, probably induced Pope Clement VIII. to make an attempt to get him into his hands. With this view he proposed, that if James would entrust him with the education of the young prince, he would advance such sums of money as would effectually establish him on the throne of England. This happened a little before the death of Elizabeth; but James, notwithstanding his ambition to possess the crown of England, of which he was not yet altogether certain, withstood the temptation. He alleged, that it would be unnatural for him, as a father, to allow his son to be brought up in the belief of a doctrine which he himself did not believe; and even though he should act in his private capacity in such an unnatural manner, he could not answer for it to the nation, he being heir-apparent to the crown, and the kingdom at large much interested in whatever concerned him. On the death of the queen of England, James was obliged to leave Scotland in such haste, that he had not time to take a personal leave of his son, and therefore did so by letter, which was answered by the prince in Latin. The queen, however, who had been desired to follow the king to London in three weeks, but to leave the prince in Scotland, thought proper to make another attempt to get her son into her own power. With this view she took a journey to Stirling, where the prince resided, but was opposed in her designs by the friends of the house of Mar; and this affected her so much, that she miscarried of a child of which she was then pregnant. The king, hearing of this misfortune, ordered the prince to be delivered to his mother; but refused to inflict any punishment on the earl of Mar, which the queen insisted upon, that nobleman having been with the king at London, and entirely innocent of the whole affair. Instead of punishing him, therefore, he caused him to be acquitted by an act of the public council at Stirling; invested him with the order of the Garter; made him a grant of several abbey and other church lands; and raised him to the post of lord high treasurer after the disgrace of the earl of Somerset; in which employment he continued till he could no longer perform the duties of his office through age and infirmity.

In the month of July this year (1603) Prince Henry was invested with the order of the Garter; after which he was presented to the queen in his robes, and greatly commended by all who saw him on account of his majestic carriage and religious behaviour at the altar, as well as the quickness of his understanding and ready answers. Being obliged to leave London on account of the plague, he retired to Otelands, a royal palace near Weybridge in Surrey, where a separate household was appointed for him and his sister Elizabeth. The appointment consisted at first of 70 servants, of whom 22 were to be above stairs and 48 below. In some weeks the number was augmented to 104, of whom 51 were above stairs and 53 below; but before the end of the year they were augmented to 141, of whom 56 were above stairs and 85 below. From Otelands he removed the same year to Nonfluch in Surrey, and from thence to Hampton Court, where he resided till Michaelmas 1604; after which he returned to his house at Otelands, his servants having all this time been kept on board-wages.

In the tenth year of his age, Henry began to show a wonderful desire of becoming master of all those accomplishments which are necessary to constitute a great prince. Without deserting from his attention to polite literature, he applied himself in the most assiduous manner to the knowledge of naval and military affairs. To give him the first rudiments of the former, a small vessel was constructed 28 feet long and 12 broad, curiously painted and carved; on board of which he embarked with several of the principal nobility, and sailed down as far as Paul's Wharf, where, with the usual ceremonies, he baptized it by the name of the Daphne. Mr Pett, the builder of this ship, was recommended to the prince by the high admiral in such strong terms, that his highness took him immediately into his service, and continued his favour to him as long as he lived.

Prince Henry now began to show himself equally a patron of military men and of learning. His martial disposition induced him to take notice of Colonel Edmonds, a brave Scots officer in the Dutch service, who had raised himself solely by his merit. To him he applied for a suit of armour to be sent over from Holland; but though the colonel executed his commission, he reaped no benefit from his highness's favour, dying in a short time after the armour was purchased, before he had any opportunity of fending it over. In matters of literature the prince appears to have been a very good judge. He patronized divines, and appears to have been naturally of a religious turn of mind. His attachment to the Protestant religion appears to have been excessive; as it never was in the power of the queen, who favoured the Catholic party, to make the least impression upon him. Her machinations for this purpose were discovered by the French ambassador; who, in a letter dated June 7, 1604, informed his master of them, and that the Spaniards were in hopes of being able by her means to alter the religion in England, as well as to prejudice the prince against France, which the queen said she hoped that her son would one day be able to conquer like another Henry V. By another letter, of date 22d October the fame Henry, fame year, the ambafador, after taking notice of the queen's immoderate ambition, adds, that she used all her efforts to corrupt the mind of the prince, by flattering his passions, diverting him from his studies, and representing to him, out of contempt to his father, that learning was inconsistent with the character of a great general and conqueror; propofing at the fame time a marriage with the infant of Spain. Notwithstanding these remonftrances, however, the prince continued to behave as usual, and to patronize the learned no lefs than before. He prefented John Johnfon, one of the king's professors at St Andrew's with a diamond, for having dedicated to him an Historical Description of the kings of Scotland from the foundation of the monarchy to that time; after which the professor added a carmen encomiaficum, which was transmitted to his highnefs in November 1605. Many other authors alfo fought and obtained his countenance. In 1606 Mr John Bond ushered his edition of Horace into the world with a polite dedication to the prince, whom he highly compliments on account of the progres he had made in learning. In 1609 a book was fent over to him from France by Sir George Carew, the British ambafador there, tending to difprove the doctrine of the Catholics concerning the church of Rome being the firft of the Christian churches. The fame year the learned Thomas Lydyat published his Emendatio Temporum, which appeared under the patronage of the prince; and with this performance his highnefs was fo well pleafed, that he took the author into his family to read to him, and made him his chronographer and cosmographer. Paul Buys or Busius alfo fent him a letter with a dedication of the fecond part of his Pandects; in which he beflows upon him the highest compliments on the great expectations which were formed of him, and of the hopes entertained by the reformed Christian churches that he would prove a powerful fupport to their caufe, and antagonist to the errors of Rome. In 1611 Dr Tooker, in his dedication of an Anfwer to Becanus a Jesuit, who had written againft a piece done by his majefly himfelf, styles his highnefs "the Maecenas of all the learned." Another treatife againft the fame Becanus was alfo printed this year, and dedicated to the prince.

Many other authors, whom our limits will not allow us to take notice of, were fond of dedicating their performances to his highnefs; nor was his correspondence lefs extenfive than his erudition. We have already taken notice of his having written his firft public letter to the States of Holland. He was congratulated by the elector palatine, afterwards married to the princess Elizabeth, on the difcovery of the gunpowder-plot. On the fame occasion alfo Lord Spener wrote him a letter, accompanying it with the prefent of a fword and target; "instruments (ays he) fit to be about you in thole treacherous times; from the which, I truft, God will ever protect your moft royal father, &c." Previous to this he had correfponded in Latin with the doge of Venice, the landgrave of Hefle, and the king of Denmark; in French with the duke of Savoy, and in Latin with the duke of Brunfwic and Uladilaua king of Poland; besides a number of other eminent perfons too tedious to enumerate.

The great accomplishments of Henry soon caufed him to be taken notice of by the moft eminent princes in Europe. In 1606 Henry IV. of France ordered his ambafador to pay him fpecial regard on all occafions. He defired him likewife to falute the prince in the name of the dauphin, afterwards Louis XIII. and to inform him of the regard the latter had for him. A meffage was alfo fent by the fame ambafador to M. de St Anthoine, appointed to be riding-mafter to his highnefs, enjoining him to do his duty in that office: and affuring him that his majefty would be as much pleafed with it as if the fervice had been done to himfelf. To thefe meffages the prince returned very proper anfwers; and afterwards performed his exercife in the riding-school before the ambafador himfelf, that the latter might fend an account thereof to his master. On this occasion he mounted two horses, and acquitted himfelf fo well that the ambafador in a letter to M. de Villeroy, the French secretary, gave him the character of "a prince who promifed very much, and whose friendship could not but be one day of advantage." Having then fet forth the propriety of cultivating a good understanding with him, he tells the secretary, that the dauphin might make a return for some dogs which the prince had fent him, by a fuit of armour well gilt and enamelled, together with piftols and a fword of the fame kind; alfo two horfes, one of them a barb.—This year alfo the prince waited on his uncle the king of Denmark, who had come to England on a visit to King James; and this monarch was fo much pleafed with his company, that he prefented him at parting with his vice-admiral and beft fighting ship, valued at no lefs than 2500l. alfo with a rapier and hanger, valued at 2000 marks. The States of Holland were equally ready to show their attachment. On the 25th of August this year they fent a letter to the prince in French, accompanied with the prefent of a fet of table-linen, which they thought, as being the produce of their own country, would be agreeable to him; and they requested his love and favour towards their flate: in return for which they promifed to be always ready to show their regard for him, and to do him all poftible fervice; as the ambafador himfelf was ordered more particularly to declare. About this time the prince himfelf wrote a letter to Henry IV. acknowledging the kindnefs which his majefty had shown him for feveral years, and confirmed of late by the latter offering him under his own royal hand his friendfhip and that of the dauphin.

While James was this year employed in hunting, the French ambafador, who had been obliged to quit London on account of the plague, took frequent opportunities of waiting upon his highnefs, as did alfo the Spanish ambafador, whose oitenfible reafon was to inform him about fome horfes which were to be fent him from Spain. The prince's partiality towards France, however, was fo evident, that the French ambafador, in a letter dated 31st October 1606, mentions, that "as far as he could difcover, his highnefs's inclination was entirely towards France, and that it would be wrong to neglect a prince who promifed fuch great things. None of his pleafures (continued he) favour the leaft of a child. He is a particular lover of horfes and whatever belongs to them: but is not fond of hunting; and when he goes to it, it is rather for the pleafure of galloping than that which the dogs give him. He plays willingly enough at tennis, and another Scottish diversion very like mall; but this always with persons elder than himself, as if he defied those of his own age. He studies two hours a-day, and employs the rest of his time in tossing the pike, or leaping, or shooting with the bow, or throwing the bar, or vaulting, or some other exercise of the kind, and he is never idle. He shows himself likewise very good-natured to his dependents, supports their interests against any persons whatever, and puts whatever he undertakes for them or others with such zeal as gives success to it. For besides his exerting his whole strength to compass what he desires, he is already feared by those who have the management of affairs, and especially by the earl of Salisbury, who appears to be greatly apprehensive of the prince's ascendant; as the prince, on the other hand, shows little esteem for his lordship." In this letter the ambassador further goes on to remark, that some of the prince's attendants had formerly been made to expect pensions from France; and he was of opinion that they ought to be gratified on account of the interest they had with the prince. He adds, that the queen had less affection for Prince Henry than for his brother the duke of York, afterwards Charles I.; which the prince seemed to have discovered, and sometimes used expressions to that purpose: that the king also seemed to be jealous of his son's accomplishments, and to be displeased with the quick progress he made.

In 1607 the prince received the arms and armour which Henry IV. sent him as a present; and these being accompanied with a letter, the prince returned an answer by a Mr Douglas, who was introduced to the king of France by the ambassador Sir George Carew. His majesty, contrary to custom, opened the prince's letter immediately; and was so much surprised at the beauty of the character, that he could not be satisfied that it was the prince's hand until he compared the signature with the rest of the writing. In his letter to the British court on this occasion, the ambassador sets forth in strong terms the affection expressed by the French monarch for the prince; "accounting of him as of his own son, as he hoped that his good brother of Great Britain would do the like of the Dauphin." The French ambassador also gave a character of his highness similar to that already mentioned; remarking, "that the prince had great accomplishments and courage; would soon make himself talked of, and possibly give jealousy to his father, and apprehensions to those who had the greatest ascendant at court." With regard to the pensions to his attendants, he was at first of opinion that they ought to be granted; but afterwards altered his mind, perceiving that there was little probability of the prince being influenced by any of his attendants, as he was much more inclined to be guided by his own judgment than by the suggestions of others.—In the month of July this year the Dutch ambassadors came recommended to Prince Henry by the States, who wrote to him that they had ordered their ambassadors to kiss his highness's hands on their part, and desired him to continue his friendship to their republic, and to allow their ambassadors a favourable audience, and the same credit as to themselves.

All this attention paid him by foreign powers, all his attention to his own improvements in learning and the military art, and all the temptations which we cannot but suppose a youth in his exalted station to have been exposed to, seem never to have shaken the mind of this magnanimous prince in the least, or to have at any time made him deviate from the strict line of propriety. We have already mentioned his attachment to the Protestant religion; and this appears not to have been grounded upon any prejudice or opinion inculcated upon his infant mind by those who had the care of him, but from a thorough conviction of the truth of the principles which he professed. On the discovery of the gunpowder-plot, he was so impressed with gratitude towards the Supreme Being, that he never afterwards omitted being present at the sermon preached on the occasion. In his 14th year the prince showed himself capable of distinguishing the merit of religious discourses, and paid particular regard to such divines as were most remarkable for their learning and abilities. Among others, he honoured with his attention the learned and eloquent Mr Joseph Hall, then rector of Halstead in Suffolk, afterwards dean of Worcester, and successively bishop of Exeter and Norwich. His highness was so much pleased with a book of Meditations published by that divine, that he pressed him to preach before him; and having heard two of his sermons, he engaged him as one of his chaplains; inviting him afterwards to stay constantly at his court, while the other chaplains waited only in their turns; promising, moreover to obtain, from the king such preferments as should fully satisfy him. Mr Hall, however, from a reluctance to leave his new patron Lord Denny, afterwards earl of Norwich, did not accept of these honourable and advantageous proposals.

In his family the prince took the utmost care to preserve decency and regularity. He ordered boxes to be kept at his three houses of St James's, Richmond, and Nonuch, for the money required of those who were heard to swear; the fines levied on such offenders being given to the poor. He had, indeed, a particular aversion to the vice of swearing and profanation of the name of God. When at play, he never was heard to do so; and on being asked why he did not swear at play as well as others; he answered, that he knew no game worthy of an oath. The same answer he is said to have given at a hunting-match. The flag, almost quite spent, crossed a road where a butcher was passing with his dog. The flag was instantly killed by the dog; at which the huntsmen were greatly offended, and endeavoured to irritate the prince against the butcher: but his highness answered coolly, "What if the butcher's dog killed the flag, what could the butcher help it? They replied, that if his father had been so served, he would have sworn so that no man could have endured. 'Away,' cried the prince, 'all the pleasure in the world is not worth an oath.'"

The regard which Prince Henry had for religion was manifest from his attachment to those who behaved themselves in a religious and virtuous manner. Among these was Sir John Harrington, whose father had been knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and created by King James a baron of England in 1603 by the title of Lord Harrington of Exton in Rutland. He was entrusted with the care of the Princess Elizabeth after her marriage with the elector palatine, whom he attended to Heidelberg in 1613, and died at Worms on the 24th of August following. His son, who in the Henry, year 1604 had been created knight of the Bath, was, as soon as he came to the years of discretion, remarkable for his piety; inso much that he is said to have kept an exact diary of his life, and to have examined himself every week as to the progress he had made in piety and virtue, and what faults he had committed during that time. He was affable and courteous to all, and remarkable for his humanity to those in distress; all which good qualities so endeared him to the prince, that he entered into as strict a friendship with him as the disproportion between their stations would allow. There are still several letters extant which passed between them, chiefly upon classical subjects. This worthy and accomplished nobleman died in February 1614.

In his friendship Prince Henry appears to have been very sincere, and inviolably attached to those whom he once patronised. He had a great regard for the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stewart, sister of Henry Lord Darnley, the king's father; and there is still extant a letter from this lady to the prince in return for some kindness he had bestowed on a kinsman of hers at her recommendation. He expressed much compassion for her misfortunes; he having excited the king's jealousy on account of her marriage with Mr William Seymour, afterwards earl and marquis of Hertford, and restored in 1660 to the dukedom of Somerset. But on her attempting to escape from the house in Highgate where she was confined, and to go abroad with her husband, his highness expressed some resentment against her; though in all probability his apprehensions, as well as those of the king, were ill-founded.

As early as the year 1605, the prince, though then only in his 11th year, manifested his gratitude and attachment to those who had served him, in the instance of his tutor Mr Newton already mentioned. That gentleman had been promised by his majesty the deanery of Durham upon the demise of the archbishop of York. On this promise Mr Newton had relied for two years; and as soon as the prelate died, his highness took care to put the king in mind of his promise; in consequence of which, Mr Newton was installed in his office on the 27th of September 1606.

Mr Pett, the gentleman who first instructed the prince in naval affairs, having been involved with many others in an enquiry concerning their conduct in their respective employments in the royal navy, the prince showed a laudable desire of protecting their innocence. The inquiry was set on foot by the earl of Northampton, lord privy seal and warden of the cinque ports, who had received a commission from the king for the purpose. It was carried on by his agents, however, with such violence and malice, as not only occasioned great trouble and expense to the parties concerned, but almost ruined the navy, besides augmenting his majesty's expenses much more than formerly. Mr Pett's trial began on the 28th of April 1609; at which time the reports being very favourable to him, the king determined to examine into the state of the matter himself. For this purpose he went to Woolwich on the 8th of May, attended by the prince; and appointed Sir Thomas Chaloner, his highness's governor, and Sir Henry Briggs then professor of geometry in Gresham college, to decide the controversy which was then agitated about the proportion of the ships. The measures declared in favour of Mr Pett; on which the prince exclaimed, "Where be now those perjured fellows, that dare thus to abuse his majesty with false informations? Do they not worthily deserve hanging?" During the whole time he stood near Mr Pett to encourage him; and when the king declared himself satisfied of his innocence, the prince took him up from his knees, expressing his own joy for the satisfaction which his father had received that day; professing that he would not only countenance Mr Pett for the future, but provide for him and his family as long as he lived.

The courage, intrepid disposition, and martial turn of this prince, were manifest from his infancy. It is related of Alexander the Great, that at a very early period of his life he showed more skill than all his father's grooms in the breaking of his favourite horse Bucephalus. An anecdote somewhat similar is recorded of Prince Henry. He was hardly ten years of age, when he mounted a very high-spirited horse, in spite of the remonstrances of his attendants; spurred the animal to a full gallop; and having thoroughly wearied him, brought him back at a gentle pace, asking his servants at his return, "How long shall I continue in your opinion to be a child?" From the very first time that he embarked on board the small vessel formerly mentioned, he continued to pay the utmost attention to naval affairs. In August 1607, he visited the royal navy at Woolwich, where he was received by Mr Pett, and conducted aboard the Royal Anne, where he had 31 large pieces of ordnance ready to be fired. This was done unexpectedly as soon as the prince reached the poop; at which he expressed great satisfaction. After visiting the dock-yard, and surveying what was done of a ship then building for himself, he went ashore, and having partaken of an entertainment prepared for him by Mr Pett, he was by him conducted to the mount, where the ordnance were again charged and ready to be placed for firing. The prince insisted upon an immediate discharge, but suffered himself to be persuaded against it by Mr Pett's representation of the danger of firing so many ordnance loaded with shot while his highness stood close by: on a signal given by him, however, by holding up his handkerchief, after he had removed to a proper distance with his barge, the ordnance were discharged as he had desired. In his 16th year he paid several visits to Woolwich, in order to see the above-mentioned ship which was building for himself. When finished, it was the largest that had ever been seen in England: the keel being 114 feet in length, and the cross-beam 44 feet; carrying 64 pieces of great ordnance; the burden about 1400 tons; and the whole curiously ornamented with carving and gilding. His highness having received this ship in a present from his majesty, went to see it launched on the 24th of September 1609. The narrowness of the dock, however, having prevented its being done at that time, the prince, who stood behind the rest of the company in order to prepare for the ceremony next morning, returned by three o'clock through a storm of rain, thunder, and lightning; and standing on the poop while the ship was launched, gave it the name of the Prince Royal.

In 1611 his highness made a private visit to Chatham, tham, where he first went on board the Prince Royal, and afterwards from ship to ship; informing himself particularly of every thing of moment relating to the state of all the different ships, and even pinnaces lying there at that time. Next day he went by water up to Stroud; where, contrary to all the remonstrances of his attendants, he caused the ordnance to be flot over his barge. From Stroud he went to Gravefend, where the magistrates received him with a discharge of all their small arms and the ordnance of the block-houses.

About the middle of January 1612, Prince Henry ordered all his majesty's master-shipwrights and builders to attend him to consider of a proposition concerning the building of ships in Ireland made by a Mr Burrel. Some of his propositions were, that he should build any ship from 100 to 600 tons, with two decks and a half, at the rate of five pounds per ton; that he would build any ship from 600 to 1000 tons, with three whole decks, at the rate of seven pounds per ton; that he should build a ship of 600 tons within a certain time, &c. Mr Pett was employed to see that this contract was fulfilled on the part of Mr Burrel. Among the prince's papers, a list of the royal navy was found after his death, with an account of all the expences of fitting out, manning, &c. which must now be accounted a valuable addition to the naval history of those times. His passion for naval affairs naturally led him to a desire of making geographical discoveries; of which, however, only two instances have reached our times. One was in 1607, when he received from Mr Tindal his gunner, who had been employed by the Virginia company, a draught of James's river in that country, with a letter dated 22d June the same year. In this letter Mr Tindal remarks, that his fellow-adventurers had discovered that river; and that no Christian had ever been there before; that they were safely arrived and settled; that they found the country very fruitful; and that they had taken a real and public possession in the name and to the use of the king his highness's father. The other instance was in the year 1612, the same in which he died, when he employed Mr Thomas Button, an eminent mariner, to go in quest of a north-west passage. Mr Button accordingly set sail with two ships named the Resolution and Discovery; the same designations with those in which the late Captain Cook made his last voyage. Both of them were victualled for 18 months: but wintering in these northern regions, they did not return till after the prince's decease, so that Captain Button was never sent on another voyage: nevertheless, he returned fully convinced of the existence of such a passage; and even told the celebrated professor Briggs of Gresham college, that he had convinced the king of his opinion.

The martial disposition of the prince, which was conspicuous on all occasions, eminently displayed itself on the occasion of his being invested in the principality of Wales and duchy of Cornwall, which took place in the year 1610. Previous to this ceremony, he, under the name and character of Maeliades, lord of the isles, caused a challenge to be given, in the romantic style of those times, to all the knights in Great Britain. The challenge, according to custom, was accepted; and on the appointed day, the prince, assisted only by the duke of Lenox, the earls of Arundel and Southampton, Lord Hay, Sir Thomas Somerset, and Sir Richard Preston, who instructed his highness in arms, maintained the combat against 56 earls, barons, knights, and esquires. Prince Henry himself gave and received 32 pules of the pike, and about 360 strokes of swords, performing his part very gracefully, and to the admiration of all who saw him, he being not yet 16 years of age. Prizes were bestowed upon the earl of Montgomery, Mr Thomas Darry, and Sir Robert Gordon, for their behaviour at this combat. The ceremony of installation was performed on the 4th of June 1610, at which time every kind of magnificence that could be devised was displayed. Among other pageants used on this occasion was that of Neptune riding on a dolphin and making speeches to the prince; also of a sea-goddes upon a whale. After the ceremony the prince took his place on the left hand of his majesty; sitting there in his royal robes, with the crown on his head, the rod in one hand, and in the other the patent creating him prince of Wales and duke of Cornwall. A public act was then read, testifying that he had been declared prince of Great Britain and Wales. He was afterwards served at table with a magnificence not unworthy of royalty itself; the whole concluding with a grand masquerade and tournament.

In one instance, the extreme desire which Prince Henry had of being instructed in military affairs, carried him beyond those bounds which European nations have prescribed to one another. In 1607 the prince de Joinville, brother to the duke of Guise, came to England, having been obliged to leave France in consequence of his having made love to the countess de Moret the king's mistress. After having been for a few weeks magnificently entertained at court, he departed for France in the beginning of June. The prince took an opportunity of sending to Calais in the train of the prince an engineer in his own service, who took the opportunity of examining all the fortifications of the town, particularly those of the Rix-Banc. This was discovered by the French ambassador, who immediately gave notice of it to court, but excused the prince, as supposing that what he had done was more out of curiosity than any thing else; and the court seemed to be of the same opinion, as no notice was ever taken of the affair, nor was the friendship between King Henry and the prince in the smallest degree interrupted. The martial disposition of his highness was greatly encouraged by some people in the military line, who put into his hands a paper entitled "Propositions for War and Peace." Notwithstanding this title, however, the aim of the author was evidently to promote war rather than peace; and for this the following arguments were used. 1. Necessity; for the preservation of our own peace, the venting of factious spirits, and instructing the people in arms. 2. The benefits to be derived from the spoils of the enemy, an augmentation of revenue from the conquered countries, &c. This was answered by Sir Robert Cotton in the following manner. 1. That our wisest princes had always been inclined to peace. 2. That foreign expeditions were the causes of invasions from abroad, and rebellions at home, endless taxation, vassalage, and danger to the state from the extent of territory, &c. It does not appear, however, that the prince was at all moved by these pacific arguments: on the contrary, his favourite diversions were tilting, charging on horseback with pistols, &c. He delighted in conversing with people of skill and experience in war concerning every part of their profession; caused new pieces of ordnance to be made, with which he learned to shoot at a mark; and was so careful to furnish himself with a breed of good horses, that no prince in Europe could boast of a superiority in this respect. He was solicited by Sir Edward Conway to direct his attention to the affairs of the continent, where Sigismund III. of Poland threatened, in conjunction with the king of Denmark, to attack Gustavus Adolphus, the young king of Sweden: but the death of the prince, which happened this year, prevented all interference of this kind.

To his other virtues, Prince Henry added those of frugality without avarice, and generosity without extravagance. As early as the year 1603 he began to show an attention to his interest as duke of Cornwall, and to take proper measures for securing his revenues there. In 1610 he settled and appointed the officers of his household, making his choice with the greatest prudence, and giving orders for the management and regulation of his affairs with all the wisdom and gravity of an old counsellor. Some lands were now allotted to him for his revenues; and instead of diminishing his income during the short time he was in possession of them, they were found at his death to be some thousands of pounds better than when he obtained them. At this time he showed much reluctance to gratify any of his servants except by promises, as not thinking himself yet authorised to give any thing away; but a short time before his death, he conferred pensions on some of them; and there is no reason to doubt, that had his life been prolonged he would have rewarded them all according to their merit.

Though Prince Henry never interfered much in public business, yet in any little transactions he had of this kind, he always displayed great firmness and resolution, as well as absolute propriety of conduct. In a letter from Sir Alexander Seton, earl of Dunfermline, he is commended for the firmness and resolution with which he repelled the calumnies of some who "had rashly, and with the highest intemperance of tongue, endeavoured to wound the Scottish nation." By this he alluded to some very gross and furious invectives thrown out against the whole body of the Scots by Sir Christopher Pigot, in a debate in the house of commons on an union between the two kingdoms. This gentleman declared his astonishment at the proposal of uniting a good and fertile country to one poor, barren, and in a manner disgraced by nature; and for associating rich, frank, and honest men, with such as were beggars, proud, and generally traitors and rebels to their kings; with many other shameful expressions of the same kind. His majesty was highly offended with the whole council; and Sir Christopher, after being obliged in parliament to retract his words, was expelled the house and imprisoned; in consequence of which, the king was addressed by the states of Scotland, who thanked him for the zeal he had manifested for the honour of their country. In another instance, where the prince wished Mr Fullerton, a Scotsman, to supercede Sir Robert Car, one of the attendants of his brother the duke of York, contrary to the inclination of the king and earl of Salisbury, his highness carried his point, by persuading Sir Robert of himself to give up the place in question.

Under this year, 1611, the elegant Latin historian of Great Britain from 1572 to 1628, Robert Johnson, places a story, which, though unsupported by any authority but his own, and improbable in itself, must not be omitted here. The prince, according to this writer, requested the king that he might be appointed to preface in the council. This demand was seconded by the king's favourite, Car Viscount Rochester, who urged his majesty to lay his son's request before the council. But the earl of Salisbury, jealous of the growing power of Rochester, and a thorough master of artifice and dissimulation, used all his efforts to defeat whatever measures were proposed by his rival; and being asked soon after his opinion upon this point, whether it was for the public interest that the prince should preface in the council, answered, that he thought it dangerous to divide the government, and to invest the son with the authority of the father. Many others of the privy council having delivered their opinions on the same question, that of the earl of Salisbury was adopted by the majority. But his lordship soon took an opportunity, in a secret conference with the prince, to lament his own situation, and to persuade his highness that Lord Rochester had the only influence in the palace, and privately counteracted all his designs. The prince, on his part, resented the denial of his request, and his exclusion from public business. It was not long before Lord Rochester discovered the earl of Salisbury's practice against him with the prince; to whom he therefore went to clear himself; but his highness turned from him with great indignation, and would not hear his justification. The queen likewise, highly displeased with the viscount, refused to see him, and fought all means of lessening his power. This forwardness imputed to the prince by the historian, in endeavouring to intrude himself into the management of public affairs, is not (as Dr Birch remarks) at all suitable to the character of his highness, or to any other accounts which we have of him; nor ought it to be believed upon the credit of a writer who cites no authority for it, nor indeed for scarce any other assertions in his history, how extraordinary ever they appear to be, and who frequently ventures to enlarge upon subjects which it was impossible for him to have known. However, it is not much to be doubted, that the prince had no great esteem for Lord Rochester, whose rise to the power of a favourite and a minister he so much disliked, if we may believe a satirical writer of Memoirs*, that he was reported either to have struck his lordship on the back with a racket, or very Otho's hardly borne it. And another historian, not much less satirical, Arthur Wilton †, mentions the bickerings betwixt the prince and the viscount; and that Sir James Elphinston one day observing his highness to be discontented with the viscount, offered to kill him, for p. 330, which the prince reproved him, and said that if there were cause he would do it himself. But to wave such very suspicious authorities, it will be sufficient, in order to judge of his highness's opinion of the viscount, and his admiration at the very height of it, to hear what himself says in a letter to Sir Thomas Edmondes of the 10th of September 1612; "As matters go now here, I will deal in no businesse of importance for some respects."

It is not to be supposed but that the marriage of a prince so accomplished and so much admired would engage the attention of the public. This was indeed the case. The queen, who favoured the interest of Spain, proposed a match with the infanta, and the king of Spain himself seemed to be inclined to the match. In 1611 a proposal was made for a double marriage between the prince of Wales and the eldest daughter of the house of Savoy, and between the prince of Savoy and the lady Elizabeth; but these overtures were very coolly received, being generally disagreeable to the nation. Sir Walter Raleigh, at that time prisoner in the Tower, wrote two excellent treatises against these matches; in one of which he styles the prince The most excellent and hopeful, as he does also in the introduction to his Observations on the royal navy and sea-service. About the year 1612, his marriage became an object of general attention. In this affair the King seems to have inclined to match his son with the princess who promised to bring the largest dowry; the nation at large to have been influenced by motives of religion; and the prince himself to have remained entirely passive, and to have been willing to baffle his person with the most perfect indifference on whatever princess should be chosen for him. This appears from a letter to the king dated 5th October 1612, in which he considers the match with the second princess of France as in a manner concluded. Proposals had indeed been made of sending her over to England for her education, she being only nine years of age at that time; but Villeroy the French minister was of opinion, that this ought to be delayed for a year longer, The reasons assigned by the prince for wishing her coming to England at that time were merely political: 1. Because the French court, by having the princess in their power, might alter her mind as they pleased: 2. That there would thus be a greater likelihood of converting her to the Protestant religion; and 3. That his majesty's credit would be better preserved when both daughters (the eldest being promised to the prince of Spain) should be delivered at the same time, though the conclusion of the one marriage might be much later than of the other. With regard to the exercise of her religion, the prince expressed himself rather in severe terms, wishing his majesty only to allow her to use it in "her most private and secret chamber." He then argues with the most philosophic indifference of the propriety of a match with the French princess rather than with one of the house of Savoy: concluding at last in the following words; "If I have incurred in the same error that I did last by the indifference of my opinion, I humbly crave pardon of your majesty, holding it fitter for your majesty to resolve what course is most convenient to be taken by the rules of the state, than for me who am so little acquainted with subjects of that nature: and besides, your majesty may think, that my part to play, which is to be in love with any of them, is not yet at hand." On the whole, it appeared, that there never was any real design in the king or prince to bring this matter to a conclusion; and that the proposal had been made only with a view to break off the match of the eldest daughter with the prince of Spain, which could not now be done.

Prince Henry, notwithstanding his indifference in matrimonial matters, applied himself with the utmost affiduity to his former employments and exercises, the continual fatigue of which was thought to impair his health. In the 19th year of his age his constitution seemed to undergo a remarkable change: he began to appear pale and thin, and to be more retired and serious than usual. He complained now and then of a giddiness and heavy pain in his forehead, which obliged him to stroke up his brow before he put on his hat: he frequently bled at the nose, which gave great relief, though the discharge stopped some time before his death. These forebodings of a dangerous malady were totally neglected both by himself and his attendants, even after he began to be feized at intervals with fainting fits. Notwithstanding these alarming symptoms, he continued his usual employments. On the arrival of Count de Nassau in England, he waited upon him as though nothing had been the matter; and when the subject of the princess Elizabeth's marriage came to be canvassed, he interested himself deeply in the affair, and never desisted till the match with the elector palatine was concluded. In the beginning of June 1612, the prince went to Richmond, where he continued till the progress: and notwithstanding the complaints above mentioned, he now took the opportunity of the neighbourhood of the Thames to learn to swim. This practice in an evening, and after supper, was discommended by several of his attendants; and was supposed to have stopped the bleeding at the nose, from which he had experienced such fatal effects. He could not, however, be prevailed upon to discontinue the practice; and took likewise great pleasure in walking by the river side in moon-light to hear the sound and echo of the trumpets, by which he was undoubtedly too much exposed to the evening dews. Through impatience to meet the king his father, he rode 60 miles in one day; and having rested himself during the night, he rode the next day 36 miles to Belvoir Castle, where he met the king at the time appointed. During the heat of the season also he made several other fatiguing journeys, which must undoubtedly have contributed to impair his health. At the conclusion of the progress, he gave a grand entertainment to the court from Wednesday till Sunday evening, when the king and queen with the principal nobility attended at supper. Next day he halted to his house at Richmond, where he expected the elector palatine, and began to give orders for his reception, also to take measures for rewarding his servants. To some of these he gave pensions, and promised to gratify the rest as soon as possible. From this time, however, his health daily declined. His countenance became more pale, and his body more emaciated: he complained now and then of drowsiness; which frequently made him ask his attendants concerning the nature and cure of an epidemic fever, probably of the nutrid kind, which at that time prevailed in England, and was supposed to have been brought thither from Hungary. He now began frequently to sigh, as is usual for persons afflicted with disorders of that kind. The malady increased in the beginning of October, though he used his utmost endeavours to conceal conceal it, and occupied himself as usual; only that now, instead of rising early in the morning as before, he would commonly keep his bed till nine. On the 10th of that month he had two light fits of an ague, which obliged him to keep his chamber; and on the 13th his distemper seemed to be augmented by a violent diarrhoea, which, however, gave so much relief next day, that he insisted upon being removed from Richmond to St James's, in order to receive the elector palatine. On his arrival there, some of his attendants began to be alarmed by the signs of sickness which appeared upon him, though he himself made no complaint, and even allowed his physician to go to his own house. The elector arrived on the 16th, and the prince waited upon him at Whitehall; but his disease had now gained so much ground, that his temper underwent a very considerable alteration, and he became peevish, and discontented with almost every thing: nevertheless he still continued to give orders about what related to the ceremony of his sister's marriage; and kept company as much as he could with the elector and the count de Nassau, with whose conversation he seemed to be particularly delighted. So great was his activity even at this time, that he played a match at tennis on the 24th of October. At this time he exposed himself in his shirt, seemingly without any inconvenience; but at night he complained of a greater degree of latitude than usual, and of a pain in his head. Next day, being Sunday, he attended divine service, and heard two sermons; after which he dined with his majesty, seemingly with a good appetite, but the paleness and ghastly appearance of his countenance were much remarked. About three in the afternoon he was obliged to yield to the violence of his distemper; being feasted with a great faintness, shivering, and headache, with other symptoms of a fever, which from that time never left him. Several physicians were called; but they differed much in their opinions, if indeed any agreement amongst them, considering the state of medicine at that time, could have been of service. On the first of November he was blooded; an operation which Dr Butler, one of his physicians, had hitherto opposed, but now consented to in compliance with his fellows. The impropriety of it was manifest by the thin and dissolved state of the blood which was taken away, and still more by his becoming much worse next day. As at that time the Peruvian bark, the great antidote in putrid diseases, was unknown, and no proper methods of treatment seem to have been employed, it is not to be wondered that he sunk under the disease. Among other absurd remedies used on this occasion was "a cock cloven by the back, and applied to the soles of his feet." He expired on the 6th of November 1612, at the age of 18 years 8 months and 17 days. On opening his body, the lungs were found black, spotted, and full of corrupted matter; the diaphragm was also thickened in many places; the blood-vessels in the hinder part of the head were distended with blood, and the ventricles full of water; the liver was in some places pale and lead-coloured; the gall-bladder destitute of bile, and distended with wind; and the spleen in many places unnaturally black. His funeral was not solemnized till the 7th of December following. Many funeral sermons were published in honour of him, and the two universities published collections of verses on this occasion. The most eminent poets of that age also exerted themselves in honour of the deceased prince; particularly Donne, Henry, Brown, Chapman, Drummond of Hawthornden, Dominic Baudius of Leyden, &c.

His highness's family continued together at St James's till the end of December 1612, when it was dissolved; and upon the day of their dissolution, Mr Joseph Hall, his chaplain, preached to them a most pathetic farewell sermon on Revel. xxi. 3. In this he speaks of his deceased master in the highest terms of commendation, as the glory of the nation, ornament of mankind, hope of posterity, &c.; and that he, who was compounded of all loveliness, had infused an harmony into his whole family, which was "the most loving and entire fellowship that ever met in the court of any prince." The exhortation, with which the preacher concludes, is: "Go in peace, and live as those that have lost such a matter, and as those that serve a matter whom they cannot lose."

Prince Henry was of a comely stature, about five feet eight inches; of a strong, straight, well-made body, with somewhat broad shoulders and a small waist; of an amiable and majestic countenance: his hair of an auburn colour; he was long-faced, and had a broad forehead, a piercing eye, a most gracious smile, with a terrible frown. He was courteous, loving, and affable; naturally modest, and even flame-faced; most patient, which he showed both in life and death; slow to anger, so that even when he was offended he would govern it and restrain himself to silence. He was merciful to offenders, after a little punishment to make them sensible of their faults. His sentiments of piety were strong and habitual; and his zeal for the interests of religion was such, that he would, if he had lived, have used his endeavours for reconciling the divisions among its professors. He usually retired three times a day for his private devotions, and was scarce once a month absent from the public prayers, where his behaviour was highly decent and exemplary, and his attention to the preacher the most fixed imaginable. He had the greatest esteem for all divines whose characters and conduct corresponded with their profession; but could not conceal his indignation against such as acted inconsistently with it, and he above all things abhorred flattery and vain-glory in them. He had a thorough detestation for popery, though he treated those of that religion with great courtesy; showing, that his hatred was not levelled at their persons, but their opinions. And he was so unmoveable in his attachment to the Protestant religion, that not long before his death, as Sir Charles Cornwallis* assures us, * Discourses of the most illustrious Prince Henry, by Sir Charles Cornwallis, relating to the public, or his own particular interests, or those of others; yet upon the least word or look or sign given him of his majesty's disapprobation, he would instantly desert from pursuing the point, and return either with satisfaction upon finding it disagreeable to the king, or with such a resolved patience that he neither in word nor action gave so much as any appearance pearance of being displeased or discontented. He adhered strictly to justice on all occasions; and never suffered himself to determine rashly, or till after a due examination of both parties. This love of justice showed itself very early by favouring and rewarding those among his pages and other young gentlemen, placed about him, who, by men of great judgment, were thought to be of the best behaviour and most merit. And when he was but a little above five years of age, and a son of the earl of Mar, somewhat younger than himself, falling out with some of his highness's pages, did him some wrong, the prince reproved him for it, saying, "I love you, because you are my lord's son, and my cousin: but if you be not better conditioned, I will love such a one better," naming the child who had complained of him. He was of singular integrity, and hated flattery and disimulation: the latter of which he esteemed a base quality, especially in a prince: nor could he ever contrain himself to treat those kindly who did not deserve his love. A nobleman in the highest favour with the king, had written to him, by special command of his majesty, a letter, wherein he recommended to his highness a matter of very great consequence to be instantly answered; and in his subscription had used these words, "Yours before all the world." His highness directed Sir Charles Cornwallis to draw up an answer, who, having written it, added some words of favour to the nobleman to precede the prince's signing. His highness having read and considered the letter, allowed it entirely without alteration: But with regard to the words of subscription, notwithstanding the great haste which the dispatch required, he ordered it to be new written, and the words objected to by him to be left out; alleging, that he to whom he wrote had dealt with him untruly and unfaithfully, and that his hand should never affirm what his heart did not think. His temperance, except in the article of fruit, was as eminent as his abhorrence of vanity and ostentation, which began to show themselves when he was very young. When he was taught to handle the pike, and his master instructed him both by word and example to use a kind of flateliness in marching and holding of his hand; though he learned all other things, he would not conform himself to that affected fashion: and if sometimes, upon earnest intreaty, he offered to use it, he would laugh at himself, and presently return to his own more modest and decent manner. And though he was a perfect master of dancing, he never practised it except when he was strongly pressed to it. The same modesty appeared in whatever he said or did: But it was no impediment to his generous and heroic disposition, which made him perform all his exercises best before much company and the greatest personages. His clothes were usually very plain, except on occasions of public ceremony, or upon receiving foreign ambassadors, when he would assume a magnificence of dress, and an air of majesty, which immediately after he laid aside. Having once worn a suit of Welsh frize for a considerable time, and being told that it was too mean for him, and that he ought not to keep even a rich suit so long; his answer was, that he was not ashamed of his country cloth, and wished that it would last for ever.

In quickness of apprehension and memory few of the fame age ever went beyond this prince; and fewer still in a right judgment of what he was taught. When he began to have some knowledge of the Latin tongue, being desired to choose a motto out of several sentences collected by his tutor for his use, after reading over many good ones, he pitched upon that of Silius Italicus, Fax mentis honeste gloria. And being asked by the king one day, which were the best verses that he had learned in the first book of Virgil's Æneid, he answered these:

Rex erat Æneas nobis, quo juvior alter Nec pietate fuit, nec bello major & armis.

Reading likewise another verse of the same poet,

Tros Tyriusve mihi nullo discrimine agetur,

he said he would make use of it with this alteration,

Anglus Scotusve mihi nullo discrimine agetur.

Besides his knowledge of the learned languages, he spoke the Italian and French; and had made a considerable progress in philosophy, history, fortification, mathematics, and cosmography; in the two last of which he was instructed by that excellent mathematician Mr Edward Wright. He loved and endeavoured to do somewhat of every thing, and to be excellent in the most excellent. He greatly delighted in all rare inventions and arts, and military engines both at land and sea; in shooting and levelling great pieces of ordnance; in the ordering and marshalling of armies; in building and gardening; in music, sculpture, and painting, in which last art he brought over several works of great masters from all countries.

He had a just opinion of the great abilities of Sir Walter Raleigh; and is reported to have said, that, "no king but his father would keep such a bird in a cage." And it is affirmed, that his highness, but a few months before his death, obtained the lands and castle of Sherburn in Dorsetshire, the confiscated estate of Sir Walter, with an intention of returning it to him. That eminent writer, soldier, and statesman, had a reciprocal regard for the prince, to whom he had designed to address a discourse, "Of the Art of War by Sea," which his highness's death prevented the author from finishing. He had written likewise to the prince another "Discourse of a Maritimal Voyage, with the passages and incidents therein:" But this has never yet appeared in print. He had also intended, and, as he expresses it, hewn out a second and third volume of his General History, which were to have been directed to his highness: "but it has pleased God (says he) to take that glorious prince out of this world, to whom they were directed; whose unspeakable and never-enough lamented los hath taught me to say with Job, Verfa eft in luctum cithara mea, & organum meum in vocem fluentium."

In the government of his household and management of his revenues, though he was so very young, his example deserved to be imitated by all other princes. He not only gave orders, but saw almost every thing done himself: so that there were scarce any of his domestics whom he did not know by name. And among these there was not one even suspected papist; his directions being very peremptory for setting down the names of all communicants, that he might know if there were any of his family who did absent themselves from the communion. His family was large, consisting of few less than 500, many of them young gentlemen born to great fortunes, in the prime of their years, when their passions and appetites were strong, their reason weak, and their experience little. But his judgment, the gravity of his princely aspect, and his own example, were sufficient restraints upon them; his very eye served instead of a command; and his looks alone had more effect than the sharpest reprehensions of other princes. If any disputes or contests arose among his servants, he would put a stop to them at the beginning, by referring them to some of his principal officers, whom he thought most intelligent in points of that nature, and to understand best what compensation was due to the injured, and what reproof to the offender; so that in so numerous a family there was not so much as a blow given, nor any quarrel carried to the least height.

Though he loved plenty and magnificence in his house, he restrained them within the rules of frugality and moderation, as we have already noticed. By this economy he avoided the necessity of being rigid to his tenants, either by raising their farms or fines, or seeking or taking advantage of forfeitures. Nor was he tempted to make the profit which both law and right afforded him, of such who had in the time of former princes purchased lands belonging to his duchy of Cornwall, which could not by law be alienated from it; for he gave them, upon refusing these lands, a reasonable satisfaction. Neither did his economy restrain him from being liberal where merit or distress called for it; at the same time he was never known to give, or even promise, any thing, but upon mature deliberation. Whatever abuses were represented to him, he immediately redressed, to the entire satisfaction of the persons aggrieved. In his removal from one of his houses to another, and in his attendance on the king on the same occasions, or in progresses, he would suffer no provisions or carriages to be taken up for his use, without full contentment given to the parties. And he was so solicitous to prevent any person from being prejudiced or annoyed by himself or any of his train, that whenever he went out to hawk before harvest was ended, he would take care that none should pass through the corn; and, to set them an example, would himself ride rather a furlong about.

His speech was slow, and attended with some impediment, rather, as it was conceived, by custom and a long imitation of some who first instructed him, than by any defect of nature, as appeared from his having much corrected it by using at home amongst his servants, first short discourses, and then longer, as he found himself enabled to do it. Yet he would often say of himself, that he had the most unerringcable tongue of any man living.

He had a certain height of mind, and knew well how to keep his distance; which indeed he did to all, admitting no near approach either to his power or his secrets. He expressed himself, upon occasions offered, to love and esteem most such of the nobility as were most anciently descended, and most nobly and honestly disposed. He had an entire affection for his brother the duke of York, and his sister Elizabeth; though sometimes, by a kind of rough play with the former, and an appearance of contradicting the latter in what he discerned her to desire, he took a pleasure in giving them, in their tender years, some exercise of their patience. A writer* of less authority than Sir Charles Osbourne, Cornwallis, from the latter of whom we have these particulars, adds, that the prince seemed to have more affection for his sister than his brother, whom he would often taunt till he made him weep, telling him that he should be a bishop, a gown being fitted to hide his legs, which were subject in his childhood to be crooked.

With regard to any unlawful passion for women, to the temptations of which the prince's youth and situation peculiarly exposed him, his historian, who knew him, and observed him much, assures us, that having been present at great feasts made in the prince's house, to which he invited the most beautiful ladies of the court and city, he could not discover by his highness's behaviour, eyes, or countenance, the least appearance of a particular inclination to any one of them; nor was he at any other time witness of such words or actions as could justly be a ground of the least suspicion of his virtue; though he observes, that some persons of that time, measuring the prince by themselves, were pleased to conceive and report otherwise of him. It is indeed asserted by the writer of Aulicus Coquinariae, believed upon good grounds to be William Saunderson, Esq. author of the "Complete History of Mary Queen of Scotland, and her son and successor King James," that the prince made court to the countess of Essex (afterwards divorced from the earl, and married to the viscount Rochester), before any other lady then living. And Arthur Wilfon mentions the many amorous glances which the prince gave her, till discovering that she was captivated with the growing fortunes of Lord Rochester, and grounded more hope upon him than the uncertain and hopeless love of his highness, he soon flighted her. The learned and pious antiquary, Sir Simonds D'Ewes, in a manuscript life of himself, written with his own hand, and brought down to the year 1627, is positive, that "notwithstanding the ineffectual Prince Henry's martial desires and initiation into the ways of godliness, the countess, being set on by the earl of Northampton her father's uncle, first caught his eye and heart, and afterwards prostituted herself to him, who first reaped the fruits of her virginity. But those sparks of grace which even then began to show their lustre in him, with those more heroic innate qualities derived from virtue, which gave the law to his more advised actions, soon raised him out of the lumber of that disposition, and taught him to reject her following temptations with indignation and superciliousness." But these authorities, Dr Birch observes, ought to have little weight to the prejudice of the prince's character, against the direct testimony in his favour from so well informed a writer as Sir Charles Cornwallis.

The immature death of the prince concurring with the public apprehensions of the power of the papists, and the ill opinion which the nation then had of the court, gave immediate rise to suspicions of its being heightened by poison. And these suspicions were heightened by the very little concern shewn by some persons in great stations. "To tell you (says Richard earl of Dorset in a letter to Sir Thomas Edmondes, of the Henry, 23d of November 1612) that our rising sun is set ere fearlessly he had shone, and that with him all our glory lies buried, you know and do lament as well as we, and better than some do, and more truly; or else you are not a man, and sensible of this kingdom's loss." And it is certain, that this loss made so little impression upon the king and his favourite, that the lord viscount Rochester on the 9th of November, three days after it, wrote to Sir Thomas Edmondes to begin a negotiation for a marriage between Prince Charles and the second daughter of France. But the ambafador, who had more sense of decency, thought it improper to enter upon such an affair so soon after the late prince's death. Mr Beaulieu, secretary to Sir Thomas Edmonds, in a letter of the 12th of November 1612, to Mr Trumbull, then resident at Bruxells, after ftyling the prince "the flower of his house, the glory of his country, and the admiration of all strangers," which in all places had imprinted a great hope on the minds of the well affected, as it had already stricken terror into the hearts of his enemies," adds, "who perhaps (for of this lamentable accident we have yet no particular relation) fearing the growing virtues of that young prince, have used the traitorous venom of their abominable practices to cut him off in his youth. And this I do not apprehend without cause, considering the several advertiments which I saw a month ago coming out of England, Holland, and Calais, of strange rumours which were in these parts, of some great and imminent practice in hand, for the successe whereof it was written, that in some places our adversaries had made solemn prayers: and out of Calais it was especially advertised, that in your parts they were in expectation of the death of some great prince. But, alas! we did little apprehend, that such ominous prognostications would have lighted upon the person of that vigorous young prince, whose extraordinary great parts and virtues made many men hope and believe, that God had reserved and destined him, as a chosen instrument, to be the standard-bearer of his quarrel in these miserable times, to work the restoration of his church, and the destruction of the Romish idolatry.

With the above notion his royal highness's mother the queen was peculiarly impressed, according to Dr Welwood; who, in his Notes on Arthur Willson's Life of King James I. in the Complete History of England, p. 714, informs us, though without giving any authority, that when the prince fell into his last illness, the queen sent to Sir Walter Raleigh for some of his cordials, which she herself had taken some time before in a fever with remarkable success. Raleigh sent it, together with a letter to the queen, wherein he expressed a tender concern for the prince; and, boasting of his medicine, flumbled unluckily upon an expression to this purpose, "that it would certainly cure him or any other of a fever, except in case of poison." As the prince took this medicine, and died notwithstanding its virtues, the queen, in the agony of her grief, showed Raleigh's letter; and laid so much weight on the expression about poison, that as long as she lived she could never be persuaded but that the prince had died by that means. Sir Anthony Weldon* suggests that the prince was poisoned. The same notion is countenanced by Willon in his History†; and was adopted by Dr Welwood, as already mentioned:

Who likewise, in another work, his Memoirs, after flying the prince "the darling of mankind, and a youth of vast hopes and wonderful virtues," remarks, that it was the general rumour at the time of his death, that his highness was poisoned; and that there is in print a sermon preached at St James's upon the dissolution of his family, that boldly infamated some such thing. By this sermon Dr Welwood must mean that of Mr Hall cited above; in which, however, at least as it is reprinted in the London edition of his works in 1677, in folio, there is not to be found any expression that carries the least infimination of that kind. The writer of the memoirs adds, that Sir Francis Bacon, in his speech at the trial of the earl of Somerset, had some reflections upon the intimacy of that lord with Sir Thomas Overbury, which seemed to point that way; there being several expressions left out of the printed copy that were in the speech. Bishop Burnet likewise tells us, that he was assured by Colonel Titus, that he had heard King Charles I. declare, that the prince his brother was poisoned by the means of the viscount Rochester, afterwards earl of Somerset. But it will be perhaps sufficient to oppose to all such suggestions the unanimous opinion of physicians who attended the prince during his sickness, and opened his body after his death; from which, as Dr Welwood himself observes, there can be no inference drawn that he was poisoned. To which may be added the authority of Sir Charles Cornwallis‡, who was well informed, and above all suspicion in this point, and who pronounced the rumours spread of his highness's having been poisoned vain; and was fully convinced that his death was natural, and occasioned by a violent fever.