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242 tears, in what respect he had transgressed, but received only tears and reproaches in return. On receiving an answer by Williams, to the charges against the duke, he again received him into favour, and soon after broke off all friendly negotiations with Spain. He resisted, however—though not successfully—the proposal of Buckingham and Charles, that he should impeach the lord treasurer, on the ground of corruption in office. He also resisted—with much better reason—the petition of Buckingham, that the earl of Bristol should be forced to submit, exclaiming "I were to be accounted a tyrant to engage an innocent man to confess faults of which he was not guilty." The earl, however, was prevented from appearing in the presence of the king, who also cautioned the parliament against seeking out grievances to remedy, although they might apply a cure to obviously existing ones.

June, 1624, was occupied by the king and Buckingham in carrying on measures for a marriage between prince Charles and Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII. and daughter of Henry IV.; and on the 10th of November, a dispensation having been with some difficulty obtained from the pope, the nuptial articles were signed at Paris. But in the spring of 1625, the king, whose constitution had previously suffered severely, was seized with ague, of which he died at Theobald's on the 27th of March, in the 59th year of his age. He was buried in Westminster abbey, and the funeral sermon was preached by Williams.

On the character of James, so palpable and generally known, it is not necessary to offer many observations. Much of his conduct is to be attributed in a great measure to his political advisers, who were often neither wise nor faithful. His own character embraced many combinations of what may be almost denominated inconsistencies. He was peculiarly subject to the influence of favourites, and yet exceedingly disposed to interfere with the course of political affairs. Indeed, to his warm and exclusive attachments, combined with his extravagant ideas of his own office and authority, may be traced the principal errors of his reign. He was, accordingly, irresolute, and yet often too ready to comply; sensible to feeling, and yet addicted to severity; undignified in manner, and yet tyrannical in government. Erring as was his judgment, his learning cannot be denied, though the use he often made of it, and especially the modes in which he showed it in the course of conversation, have been, with reason, the subjects of amusement. His superstition was great, but perhaps not excessive for the age in which he lived; and it is said, that in his later days he put no faith in witchcraft. His religion was probably in some degree sincere, though neither settled nor commanding. Neither his writings nor his political courses, it is to be feared, have done much directly to advance the interests of liberal and prudent policy; but in both there are pleasing specimens of wisdom, and both may teach us a useful lesson, by furnishing a melancholy view of the nature and tendency of tyranny, even when in some degree controlled by the checks of parliamentary influence and popular opinion.

JAMESONE,, the first eminent painter produced by Britain, was born at Aberdeen towards the end of the 16th century. The year 1586 has been given as the precise era of his birth, but this we can disprove by an extract which has been furnished to us from the burgh records of his native town, and which shows that the eldest child of his parents (a daughter) was born at such a period of this year, as rendered it impossible that he could have been born within some months of it. It is alone certain that the date of the painter's birth was