infallibly have put them in possession of Venice. That city was to have been set on fire on different parts, by a band of ruffians already lodged within its walls; while a body of troops, sent from Milan, should attack it on one side, and some armed vessels from Naples on the other. But this atrocious design was discovered by the vigilance of the senate in 1618, when it was almost ripe for execution. The greater part of the conspirators were privately drowned; and Bedomar who had violated the law of nations, being secretly conducted out of the city, was glad to make his escape.

Another project was formed in 1620, for extending the Spanish dominions in Italy, by the duke of Feria, who had succeeded the marquis de Villa Franca in the government of Milan. He encouraged the popish inhabitants of the Valteline to revolt from the Grisons: and the king of Spain, as protector of the Catholic faith, supported them in their rebellion. The situation of the Valteline rendered it of infinite importance, as it facilitated the correspondence between the two branches of the house of Austria, shut the Swiss out of Italy, kept the Venetians in awe, and was a bridle on all the Italian states8.

In the midst of these ambitious schemes (to which of himself he was little inclined) died Philip III. Philip IV. his son and successor, was a prince of a more enterprising disposition; and the abilities of Olivares, the new minister, were infinitely superior to those of the duke of Lerma, who had directed the measures of government during the greater part of the former reign. The ambition of Olivares was yet more lofty than his capacity. He made his master assume the surname of Great, as soon as he ascended the throne, and thought himself bound to justify the appellation. He hoped to raise the house of Austria to that absolute dominion in Europe, for which it had been so long struggling. In prosecution of this bold plan, he resolved to maintain the

7. Abbe St. Real Batt, Nani, Hist. della Republica Voneba. 8. Batt. Nani, ubi sup.

Closets

closest alliance with the emperor; to make him despotic in Germany; to keep possession of the Valteline; to humble the Italian powers, and reduce the United Provinces to subjection, the truce being now expired.

Nor was this project so chimerical as it may at first sight appear. The emperor had already crushed the force of the protestant league; France was distracted by civil wars, and England was amused by a marriage treaty, between the prince of Wales and the infanta, which, more than every other consideration, actually prevented James from taking any material step in favour of the palatine, till he was stript of his dominions. But France, notwithstanding her intestine commotions, was not lost to all sense of danger from abroad; and the match with the infanta being broken off, by 4 quarrel between Buckingham, the English minister, and A. D. 1624. Olivares, the Spanish minister, an alliance was entered into between France and England, in conjunction with the United Provinces, for restraining the ambition of the house of Austria, and recovering the Palatine 10. The affairs of Holland now demand our attention.

After the truce in 1609, the United Provinces, as I have already noticed, became a prey to religious dissensions. Gomar and Arminius, two professors at Leyden, differed on some abstract points in theology, and their opinions divided the republic. Gomar maintained, in all their austerity, the doctrines of Calvin in regard to grace and predestination: Arminius endeavoured to soften them. The Gomarists, who composed the body of the people, ever carried toward enthusiasm, were headed by prince Maurice; the Arminians, by the pensionary Barneveldt a firm patriot, who had been'chiefly instrumental in negociating the late truce, in opposition to the house of Orange. The Arminian principles were defended by Grotius, Vossius, and the learned in general. But prince Maurice and the Gomorists at last prevailed. The Arminian preachers were banished, and Barneveldt was brought to the 10. Rushworth. Clarendon.

9. Anecdotes du Conde Duc d'Oliveres.

block

block in 1619, for "vexing the church of God" as his sentence imported, at the age of seventy, and after he had served the republic forty years in the cabinet, with as much success as Maurice had in the field. He was a man of eminent abilities and incorruptible integrity, and had espoused the cause of the Arminians chiefly from a persuasion, that Maurice meant to make use of his popularity with the Gomorists, and of their hatred of the other sect, in order to enslave that people whom he had so gloriously protected from the tyranny of Spain".

This opinion appears to have been well founded: for Maurice, during those religious commotions, frequently violated the rights of the republic; and so vigorous an opposition only could have prevented him from overturning its liberties. The ardour of ambition at once withered his wellearned laurels and disappointed itself. The death of Barneveldt opened the eyes of the people. They saw their danger and the iniquity of the sentence, notwithstanding their religious prejudices. Maurice was detested as a tyrant, at the very time that he hoped to be received as a sovereign. The deliverer of his country, when he went abroad, was saluted with groans and murmurs; and as he passed, the name of Barneveldt sounded in his ears from every street12.

But amid all their civil and religious dissensions, the Dutch were extending their commerce and their conquests in both extremities of the globe. The city of Batavia was founded, and the plan of an empire laid in the East Indies, infinitely superior in wealth, power, and grandeur, to the United Provinces. They had already cast their eyes on Brasil, which they conquered soon after the expiration of the truce, and they carried on a lucrative trade with the European settlements in the West-Indies. The prospect of hostilities with their ancient masters composed their domestic animosities. They laid aside their jealousy of Maurice, as

11. Grotius. Le Clerc.

VOL. III.

R

12. Ibid.

he

the common

he seemed to do his ambitious views. Every one was more zealous than another to oppose and to annoy enemy; and Spinola was obliged, by his old antagonist, to relinquish the siege of Bergen-op-zoom, in 1622, after having lost ten thousand of his best troops in the enterprize13.

In France, during this period, both civil and religious disputes were carried much higher than in Holland. Lewis XIII. being only nine years of age, in 1610, when his father Henry IV. was murdered, Mary of Medices, the queenmother, was chosen regent. New councils were immediately adopted, and the sage maxims of Sully despised. He, therefore, resigned his employments and retired from court. The regent was entirely guided by her Italian favourites, Concini and his wife Galligai. By them, in concert with the pope and the duke of Florence, was negociated, in 1612, an union between France and Spain, by means of a double marriage of Lewis XIII. with Anne of Austria, the eldest infanta; and of Elizabeth the king's sister, with the prince of Asturias, afterwards Philip IV. The dissolution of the alliances formed under the late reign, and the ruin of the Protestants, were also among the projects of Mary's Italian ministers14.

:

The nobility, dissatisfied with the measures of the court, and with the favour shewn to foreigners, entered into cabals; they revolted in 1613; and the treasures collected by Henry IV. in order to humble the house of Austria, were employed by a weak administration, to appease those factious leaders, the prince of Condé, who had headed the former faction, revolted anew in 1615. He and his adherents were again gratified, at the expence of the public; and fresh intrigues being suspected, he was sent to the Bastile's.

The imprisonment of the prince of Condé alarmed many of the nobles, who retired from court, and prepared for their defence; or, in other words, for hostilities. Meantime Con

13. Neuville. Hist. de Hellande. 14. Dupleix. Mozeray.

15. lbid.

cini, who still maintained his influence, received a blow from a quarter whence he little expected it. Albert Luines, who had originally recommended himself to the young king's favour by rearing and training birds for his amusement, found means to make him jealous of his authority. He dwelt on the ambition of the queen-mother, and the maleadministration of her foreign favourites, to whom the most important affairs of state were committed, and whose insolence, he affirmed, had occasioned all the dissatisfactions among the great1.

Lewis struck with the picture set before him, and desirous of seizing the reins of government, immediately ordered Concini to be arrested; and Vitri, captain of the guards, to whom that service was entrusted, executed it, in 1617, entirely to the wish of Luines. Concini was shot under pretence of resistance. The sentence of treason was passed on his memory; and Galligai, his widow, being accused of sorcery and magic, was condemned by the parliament to suffer death, for treason divine and buman. When asked what spell she had made use of to facinate the queenmother, she magnanimously replied," that ascendant which

a superior mind has over a feeble spirit!" The regent's guards were instantly removed, and the king's placed in their stead. She was confined for a time to her apartment, and afterward exiled to Blois'7.

That indignation which Concini and his wife had excited was suddenly transferred to Luines, enriched by their im mense spoils, and who engrossed in a still higher degree the royal favour. His avarice and ambition knew no bounds. From a page and gentleman of the bed-chamber, he became, in rapid succession, a mareschal, duke, and peer of France, constable, and keeper of the seals. Meanwhile a conspiracy was formed for the release o fthe queen-mother, and carried

16. Mem. des Affairs des France, depuis 10, jusqu'en 1620. Mezeray, Hist. du Mere et de Fil.

17. Id. ibid.

into