Published by Arch Fullarton & Co. Glasgow.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

TO FOURTH PERIOD,

EXTENDING

FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VII. TO THE ACCESSION OF JAMES I.

WITH

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES

OF

Eminent Englishmen

WHO FLOURISHED DURING THAT PERIOD.

by character and religion-carried on a course of mutual hostility, in the progress of which, English influence was established in the revolted provinces of the Low countries, and English glory was swelled by the defeat of the boasted 'Invincible Armada.' These circumstances may serve to explain the extent to which military and naval distinctions adorn the names of English nobles and English commoners in this period of British history. It may be added, that Scotland and Ireland were also the scenes of English warfare in the course of these busy times. In Elizabeth's reign, in particular, the wish to gratify a queen who set her heart on the success of naval and military enterprise,—the sense of actual danger to the independence and religion of the country, from the bigotry and energy of Spain,-the hopes inspired by prosperous efforts,-and the honour of engaging in the bold and enterprising adventures of the time, are motives which may all have tended to render the court of Elizabeth so chivalrous a scene, and her reign so remarkable a period in the naval and military annals of the land.

But even in the 15th century, the foreign enterprise of England, corresponding to the parallel cases of Spain and Portugal, assumes the aspect rather of geographical discovery or commercial enterprise than of political hostility. The laws respecting trade, indeed, which were passed during this period, partook of that restrictive character to which, in later times, political economists have furnished formidable objections; but the commercial spirit was abroad, and to this period belong some memorable facts in the history of our mercantile and maritime affairs. It was in 1487, that the cape of Good Hope was discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, and in 1492, that America was first explored by Christopher Columbus. Following in the train of these great events was a voyage of discovery which the English navigator Sebastian Cabot, undertook in 1495, by letters patent from Henry VII. who, by the erection of the celebrated ship, the Great Harry, may be said, according to Mr Hume, to have begun the English navy. This is not the place for a minute detail of the discoveries of Cabot, or the voyages of Drake, or other remarkable incidents in the naval or commercial history of England: but as symptomatic of the times, and as presenting important points in that history, it may here be noticed, that in the brilliant reign of Queen Elizabeth—the last in the period under review— we find established a trade with Muscovy and Turkey,—the Royal Exchange was built,-interest was legalized,—a charter was granted to the East India company,—and, in the year 1582, there were upwards of 12,000 English ships, of which, however, only 217 were of more than 80 tons burden.

The well known energy of the Tudor princes, acting on the acknowledged powers and prerogatives of the English sovereign, renders the period of their successive reigns a scene of monarchical authority and parliamentary submission somewhat revolting perhaps to the modern freeman. But in the parliaments—at least of the two female sovereigns of the line there are discerned the risings of the sentiments and energy which produced such mighty changes in succeeding reigns. This period, however, has been remarked for the comparative order and quiet established in the country. "In the disorderly state of England under the Plantagenets, who governed it from about the middle of the

12th till towards the end of the 15th century," says Dr Adam Smith,' "one district might be in plenty, while another, at no great distance, by having its crop destroyed, either by some accident of the seasons, or by the incursion of some neighbouring baron, might be suffering all the horrors of a famine; and yet if the lands of some hostile lord were interposed between them, the one might not be able to give the least assistance to the other. Under the vigorous administration of the Tudors, who governed England during the latter part of the 15th, and through the whole of the 16th century, no baron was powerful enough to disturb the public security."

But among the various changes in the condition of England belonging to this period, assuredly none is more memorable than the reformation of the church. It has been often observed, that the Reformation was not in England the result of wise deliberations, or the natural fruit of popu lar improvement. In this remark there is truth on the surface, but error in the centre and the application. Few important revolutions have been brought about by the direct influence of reason. In the instances in which such attempts have been made, they have usually failed, or led to very inadequate results, the speculations of the wisest men being a far too uncertain substratum for the movements of the multitude. When closely looked at, moreover, the above observation will lose much of its force as an historical dogma. It will be recollected, that if Henry the Eighth was the prime mover of the Reformation in this country, and began his measures from motives rather personal than public, the same has been the case with reformers of much higher and purer characters, and that some of the grandest and most useful changes ever produced in the world have owed their beginning to circumstances as unlike the result as the clod is to the richly scented plant which it nourishes. The careful observer, however, can hardly fail to discover a much stronger connexion between the reformation of religion in England and the state of the community, than is sometimes supposed to have been the case. He will see that there had long been a tendency in the church itself to break the bonds in which the Roman pontiff desired to hold it; and he will perceive, moreover, that this tendency of the church to liberate itself was working with the slow motion of an hour-hand, while the opinion of the people was urging on to the same point with the celerity of a minute-hand. It was next to impossible, in fact, that a community should be incessantly bent on resisting the imposition of taxes, and saving their money by every feasible plan of economy, and not look with a suspicious eye on the enormous revenue of the clergy. Still more unlikely is it that they should have been advancing in intelligence,-have begun to form correct notions of law and right policy, and corrected many of their views on practical subjects, without discovering that they were burdened by the priesthood with practices which had no connexion with the pure religion of the gospel. These were the preventing causes of the Reformation in England, so far as mere human and temporary circumstances can be considered in that light; and to examine and watch their action, combined as they soon were with causes of a different and more spiritual nature, is an employ

1. Wealth of Nations, Book I. Chap. xi.