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402 The Leader andSaturday Analyst. [Apu...
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THE PJlOVlNClj: OF REASON. * FE W works ...
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tt mo Provlnoo of Jloanon, By Jon.V Youw...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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George Yilliers, I)L T Ke Of Buckingham....
a good portion , the small sum of eighty pounds a year . It is generally said that he first attracted James ' s attention at . a horse face some time hi 16 X 4 , but the point is uncertain . Although well introduced at Court * and favoured by noble patrons who . sought the overthrow of Somerset , the then all-powerful favourite * : he ^ did not at first get on very well ; but upon James ' s visit to Cambridge , in March , 161 . 5 , upon the occasion of the installation of the Earl of Suffolk as Chancellor of the University , he again attracted James ' s notice . He was made cupbearer , and thenceforward his rise was assured . The good will of An . n . e . of Denmark was secured him by Abbott , Archbishop of Canterbury / whose assistance Viixiebs , when allrpowerful , requited with great ingratitude . He was knighted , and made a gentleman of the bedchamber , receiving also a pension of £ 1 , 000 a year wherewith to support his new dignity , in April of the saine year . In the January following he _ was appointed Master of the Horse . The fall of SoMBBSET--eommitted to the Tower with his Countess for the murder ot Sir Ihomas Oveebuey in March—removed every obstacle to A illiebs s advancement . Henceforth he reigned paramount over James . He was made a Knight of the Garter in April , and created Baron Bletchly and Viscount Vilmees in August : the king bestowing upon him most lavishly lands , pensions , and monopolies . In January of the following year he was made . Earl of Buckingham and a Privy Councillor , and accompanied James in the journey he made that spring to Scotland . Whilst there it was alleged that a plot was discovered to assassinate him . In the beginning of the next year he was made Marquis of Buckingham , and his mother Countess of Buckingham in her own right ; the whole family of his brothers and sisters being likewise provided for with titles , peri- " . sions , monopolies , and rich marriages . The Marquis married , in May , 1620 , Katharine Mannees , only daughter and heiress of the Earl of Kutland , having taken her away from her father ' s house some time before ; and now , enjoying an enormous fortune with her ; as well as the lavisli grants of James—the Litest boon conferred upon him being the post of Lord . High Admiral—he might have been deemed at the summit of felicity . 3 ut his unquiet spirit could not rest ; : By a singular-fortune lie had acquired the same favour with Prince CiIabi / fs as with his father , and had become . the . counsellor and friend of the young Prince . James had for years been bent upon a Spanish marriage , although it was directly opposed to the feelings of the people , and negotiations had long been going on for the betroth ment of Charles to the Infanta . Buckingham suggested id CftAB-i . Es an incognito journey to Madrid to see the Princess , and the romantic spirit of the Prince caught at the proposition . With greafe difficulty the assent of James was obtained , arid " Steenie " and " J 3 abie Chaei-es " set out on their expedition . We will not refer to this well-known expedition further than to observe that ] 3 uckingiiam , who had been made a Duke whilst absent , exerted himself on his return to break off the marriage which had been solemnly agreed upon , to gratify his own pride and desire of revenge , is well as to catch a little popularity ; and although the repudiation was hostile to every wish of James he succeeded , induced a declaration of war against Spain and negotiations for the ill-fated marriage of Charles with Henrietta Maeia of France , At this time James died , but the power of Buckin & ham was rather strengthened than weakened by that event . James had begun to tiro a little of his favourite ; Charles clung to him most . . tenaciously , Hence the charge , for which his own imprudence furnished the greatest occasion , that Buckingham had poisoned the king . James died in March ' , 1625 . Charles was married by proxy -to Henrietta in May , and Buckingham was sent to Paris to bring home the bride . The splendour of the mission and the folly 6 f the . Ambassador are notorious facts . The fair fame of Anne of Austria was sullied by his mad , escapade , and his desire for revenge upon Richelieu plunged England into a disgraceful vvar . In the beginning of 1 ( 520 , Buckingham impeached Bristol , who had been Ambnssndor at Madrid , to prevent , his own impeachment by the latter , but the House of Commons took the matter up and impeached th > e favourite . The king , gravely offended , commanded the . House to desist from its impeachment , and go on with the subsidies . The favourite was now oven more powerful than at any time before . He ventured to insult the queen ; but ho received a severe blow in the disastrous failure of his attempt to relieve the Huguenots in La Rocliolle . Jio retreated thqnco with great loss in November , 1637 ; bub in the following yenr ho prepared for another attempt , partly to gratify his hatred of Richelieu , partly to gain some popularity to uphold 'him against the denunciations of the Houae of Commons , and whilst preparing 1 to sail from Portsmouth , in August , L 628 , was assassinated by Felton . ' Where Buckingham used his great influence j \ nd power for the benefit pi' his country it is impossible to discover j whoro he used them to its mischief and mi p tbrtuno is easy to find . Throughout his enreor he was guided by his own cupidity , iimbition , or thirst of revenge ; and to gratify those passions he did not soruplo to-peril the interests of England , or , thwart thp wishes of his benefactors . Ho wwb instrumental in superseding Cokb , because that great judge refused to concur in on aiTungemont tojjiva a lucrative place in his court ' ' 'to some creature of the favouritoi He suffered RAMEian . to die when a word would have saved him , if indeed ho did not promote his exeoution . Ho broke off the marriogo of Cjjahlks with the Infanta , and involved JjJngland in a war with Spain to gratify his scandalous Batvt'd to OxiVAHEP , and led her into a ruinpua attavok upon Franco to gratify the same personal fooling against IfccnjGLjEU . Ho induced Charles to treat with acorn and tyranny those early parliaments whoso counsels , if listened to , would have averted the . Revolution .
He engrossed every ofiice and honour to liimself or his creatures , or sold them to those who would give the most money for thenl . He was arrogant , unscrupulous , revengeful , and sensual . The only excuse that can be offered for his cupidity is really . an accusation : — he was alieni itppetens , sui profiisus , and for his hatreds and iiumov ralities that he was , as Guizot says , equally incapable of hypocrisy and virtue He had a haudsome person , winning manners , and a certain readiness ; but the talents tor which his admirers give him credit are assumed upon acts counselled if not performed by others . He Was a patron of the arts and of literature , but only in so far as they contributed to his magnificence and amusement . . In-fine , he exerted a most disastrous influence over his masters , and inflicted great injuries upon his country . We have characterized Mrs . Thomson ' s volumes as able and interesting ; They present , in fact , a very readable account of the favourite and his times . But they are not without serious faults . The subject is scarcely one for a lady ' s pen ; and if the result is a book faultless in moral tone , and fit for the perusal of young women , historical accuracy suffers , and the whole character of the mail is not presented to us . But there are-faults ' of execution which are inexcusable . Dates are throughout jumbled in an extraordinary manner ; and in the latter half of the book to an extent which becomes exceedingly annoying . This latter part is , besides , confusedly written / Mrs . Thojmsox had nearly finished her Work when the State Paper Office supplied her with fresh materials , relating principally to the closing scenes of her hero ' s career . ' These she has grafted upon her original work , and r . ot thoroughly incorporated ' .. The result is much reiteration , and an irksoine going backward and , forward in the narrative . One half of the last volume is moreover quite unnecessary , and its introduction savours of mere book-making . Mrs . Thomson has-chosen to give au account , embellished with her own critical opinions , of the artistsand dramatists of the reigns of James and '¦ Charles , with . most of whom Bucjtisgham had not the faintest relation . It would have , been quite as much , to the purpose to have , inflicted upon the reader biographical sketches of all the leading men of the Great Revolution ^ The life of Buckingham wasi . a fair andwell-nigh unworked subject , but . it did not involve biographies of the great men isi whose day he lived . If a second edition of these volumes should ever be called lor , Mrs . Thomson will have the opportunity ,-by careful correction , compression , and unsparing excision , reducing the book to-little , more han half its present bulk , of giving the world a very useful work .
402 The Leader Andsaturday Analyst. [Apu...
402 The Leader andSaturday Analyst . [ Apuel 28 , i 860 .
The Pjlovlnclj: Of Reason. * Fe W Works ...
THE PJlOVlNClj : OF REASON . * FE W works have appeared which are calculated to exercise so beneficial an influence on the educated portion of the religious world as Dr . Young ' s " Province of Reason , " which is a . criticism of Mr . ManseU ' s now famous Bumpton Lecture on the '' Limits of Religious Thought . " In that publication , under the guise of assailing sceptical rationalism , reason itself was attacked ; and for the sake of terrifying men ' to take refuge within the prpcinets . revelation , a philosophical basis was denied to those convictions of our nature which form the legitimate foundation of all reli g ions ideas . Mr . ManseH ' s . labours wore also important in their bearings upon the entire range of speculation , because , if the -human faculties were limited as he contended , man himself must be a poor miserable creature , a fitting 1 victim for despotism , both ecclusiastioal mid secular . Dr . Young , who is an able master of dialectics , saw at onqe the errors of the liampton Lecture , and- his zual for religious as well as philosophical truth impelled him to the present . criticism , which will gratify the enlightened portion of the Christina community , as well as vindicate the claims-of . philosophy against the able but insidious assaults of the Oxford divine . Dr . Young tells us that to him , " if the principles of the Bumpton Lecture be ponceded , the chief attribute of humanity us constituted by the Great Futher is laid in the dust , the saured Scriptures are an elaborate and- meaningless proteiice , ' ' possibility of worship and of- trust in the Supreme is destroyed , and above all , the authority of conscience and the immutable foundations of morality aro undermined . " The assertions of Mr . M ' unsell , whioh drew forth this protest reluto to the Infinite , and man ' s alleged inability to conceive of it except by a eonaciousnoss " which is self-con trnilictory . " The tendency , if not the purpose , of Mr . ManseU ' s teachings is , in the words of Dr . Young , to " separate mental philosophy from religious fuilh , to show that they aro irrooonoileablo , and that faith- has no security save in a universal protest against the authority of the understanding . " To accomplish tins result it was necessary for Mr . Mansoll to introduce as much confusion as possible into two conception of the Infinite , anil n considerable portion ot the present work is devoted to an exposure' ot the errors he has committed . After a few preliminary romnrku . Dr . Young claims for " rationalism rightly so called" the cliaruL-ter not of a sectional , but of n universal fuith , " and lie pvotesta nyuiiist confining the torm to a particular method of arriving at nc ^ ativo oonolnsions . \ V hile Mr . Mimsejl endeavourH to impose arbitrary limits upon speculation , Dr . Young proclaims the tendency to speculate even upon the highest subjects oa so universal and ii'ropu'esaible ns to deserve to be considered as a law of our nature . He cuntencla lor the reality of ivn outward revelation , but likewise for " an inward , «> iwritten revelation in our intolligont nature . " In his crusade against
Tt Mo Provlnoo Of Jloanon, By Jon.V Youw...
tt mo Provlnoo of Jloanon , By Jon . V Youwa , LIj . D * , Eainburgh . Smith , I 31 dor , 'ivnd Oy ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1860, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041860/page/14/
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