l. 30. Mountgomery, Philip Herbert, created Earl of Montgomery 1605, succeeded his brother, William Herbert, as fourth Earl of Pembroke in 1630 (see No. 7). To this 'most noble and incomparable paire of brethren' Heminge and Condell dedicated the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, 1623. Montgomery's character is given by Clarendon, History, ed. Macray, vol. i, pp. 74-5; and, as fourth Earl of Pembroke, vol. ii, pp. 539-41.
Page 5, l. 22. unfortunate in the marriage of his Daughter. James's daughter Elizabeth married the Elector Palatine, Frederick V, in 1613. His election as King of Bohemia led to the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) in which James long hesitated to become involved and played at best an ineffectual part. The opinion here expressed is explained by an earlier passage in Weldon's book, pp. 82-4: 'In this Favourites (Somerset's) flourishing time, came over the Palsgrave to marry our Kings daughter, which for the present, gave much content, and with the generall applause, yet it proved a most infortunate match to him and his Posterity, and all Christendome, for all his Alliance with so many great Princes, which put on him aspiring thoughts, and was so ambitious as not to content himselfe with his hereditary patrimony of one of the greatest Princes in Germany; but must aspire to a Kingdome, beleeving that his great allyance would carry him through any enterprise, or bring him off with honour, in both which he failed; being cast out of his own Country with shame, and he and his, ever after, living upon the devotion of other Princes; but had his Father in Law spent halfe the mony in Swords he did in words, for which he was but scorned, it had kept him in his own inheritance, and saved much Christian bloud since shed; but whiles he, being wholly addicted to peace, spent much treasure, in sending stately Embassadours to treat, his Enemies (which he esteemed friends) sent Armies with a lesse charge to conquer, so that it may be concluded, that this then thought the most happy match in Christendome, was the greatest unhappinesse to Christendome, themselves, and posterity.'
l. 27. Sir Robert Mansell (1573-1656), Vice-Admiral of England under Charles I. Clarendon, writing of the year 1642, says that 'his courage and integrity were unquestionable' (ed. Macray, vol. ii, p. 219). 'Argiers' or 'Argier' was the common old form of 'Algiers': cf. The Tempest, I. ii. 261, 265.
Page 6, l. 2. Cottington, Francis Cottington (1578-1652), baronet 1623, Baron Cottington, 1631. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1629 to 1642.
Page 7, l. 5. The first edition reads 'In sending Embassadours, which were'. The printer's substitution of 'His' for 'In' and omission of 'which' do not wholly mend the syntax.
l. 10. peace with honour. An early instance of the phrase made famous by Lord Beaconsfield in his speech of July 16, 1878, after the Congress of Berlin, 'Lord Salisbury and myself have brought you back peace, but a peace I hope with honour.' Cf. Notes and Queries, 1887, Seventh Series, vol. iii, p. 96.
l. 14. Nullum tempus, &c., the law maxim Nullum tempus occurrit regi, lapse of time does not bar the crown. The Parliament which met in February 1624 passed 'An Act for the generall quiett of the Subject agaynst all pretences of Concealement' (21° Jac. I, c. 2) which declared sixty years' possession of Lands, &c., to be a good title against the Crown.
l. 18. his Tuesday Sermons, likewise explained by an earlier passage in Weldon's book, pp. 8, 9: 'the chiefe of those secrets, was that of Gowries Conspiracy, though that Nation [the Scots] gave little credit to the Story, but would speak sleightly and despitefully of it, and those of the wisest of that Nation; yet there was a weekly commemoration by the Tuesday Sermon, and an anniversary Feast, as great as it was possible, for the Kings preservation, ever on the fifth of August.' James attempted to force the Tuesday sermon on the University of Oxford; it was to be preached by members of each college in rotation. See Brodrick's Memorials of Merton College, 1885, p. 70.
Page 8, l. 1. a very wise man. Compare The Fortunes of Nigel, chap. v: 'the character bestowed upon him by Sully—that he was the wisest fool in Christendom'. Two volumes of the Mémoires of Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully (1560-1641), appeared in 1638; the others after 1650. There is much about James in the second volume, but this description of him does not appear to be there.
ll. 10-12. two Treasurers, see p. 21, ll. 15-22: three
Secretaries, Sir Thomas Lake; Sir Robert Naunton; Sir George Calvert,
Baron Baltimore; Sir Edward Conway, Viscount Conway: two Lord
Keepers, Sir Francis Bacon; John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln (see
p. 18, l. 5): two Admiralls, Charles Howard of Effingham, Earl of
Nottingham; the Duke of Buckingham: three Lord chief Justices, Sir
Edward Coke; Henry Montagu, Earl of Manchester; James Ley, Earl of
Marlborough.