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Arabella Stuart
[Frontispiece]






                              THE WORKS
                                  OF
                         G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.


                 REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR,


                    WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.


"D'autres auteurs l'ont encore plus avili, (le roman,) en y mêlant les
tableaux dégoutant du vice; et tandis que le premier avantage des
fictions est de rassembler autour de l'homme tout ce qui, dans la
nature, peut lui servir de leçon ou de modèle, on a imaginé qu'on
tirerait une utilité quelconque des peintures odieuses de mauvaises
m[oe]urs; comme si elles pouvaient jamais laisser le c[oe]ur qui les
repousse, dans une situation aussi pure que le c[oe]ur qui les aurait
toujours ignorées. Mais un roman tel qu'on peut le concevoir, tel que
nous en avons quelques modèles, est une des plus belles productions de
l'esprit humain, une des plus influentes sur la morale des individus,
qui doit former ensuite les m[oe]urs publiques."--MADAME DE STAEL.
_Essai sur les Fictions_.

         "Poca favilla gran nomma seconda:
          Forse diretro a me, con miglior voci
          Si pregherà, perché Cirra risponda."
                         DANTE. _Paradiso_, Canto I.



                              VOL. XIX.

                           ARABELLA STUART.



                               LONDON:
                      SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.
                       STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
                             M DCCC XLIX.











                           ARABELLA STUART:



                              A Romance


                        FROM ENGLISH HISTORY.


                                  BY


                         G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.


                              ----------

                               LONDON:
                      SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.
                       STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
                             M DCCC XLIX.






                               CONTENTS

     CHAPTER

     Preface.
     I.
     II.
     III.
     IV.
     V.
     VI.
     VII.
     VIII.
     IX.
     X.
     XI.
     XII.
     XIII.
     XIV.
     XV.
     XVI.
     XVII.
     XVIII.
     XIX.
     XX.
     XXI.
     XXII.
     XXIII
     XXIV.
     XXV.
     XXVI.
     XXVII.
     XXVIII.
     XXIX.
     XXX.
     XXXI.
     XXXII.
     XXXIII.
     XXXIV.
     XXXV.
     XXXVI.
     XXXVII.
     XXXVIII.
     XXXIX.
     XL.
     XLI.
     XLII.
     XLIII.
     XLIV.
     XLV.
     XLVI.


                           TO REAR-ADMIRAL

                  SIR GEORGE F. SEYMOUR, C.B. G.C.H.

                             &c. &c. &c.

                                -----

MY DEAR SIR,

If the dedication of a work like the present could afford any adequate
expression of high respect and regard, I should feel greater pleasure
than I do in offering you these pages; but such things have become so
common, that, though every one who knows you will understand the
feelings which induce me to present you with this small tribute, yet I
cannot but be aware that it is very little worthy of your acceptance.
You will receive it, however, I know, with the same kindness which you
have frequently displayed towards me, as a mark, however slight, of my
gratitude for the interest you have always shown in myself and my
works, and as a testimony of unfeigned esteem from one, who can fully
appreciate in others higher qualities than he can pretend to himself.

Although I am inclined to believe that the public may judge this one
of the most interesting tales I have written, I can take but little
credit to myself on that account; for all the principal events are so
strictly historical, that little was left to the author but to tell
them as agreeably as he could. The story of the fair and unfortunate
Arabella Stuart is well known to every one at all acquainted with
English history; and has called forth more than one poem of
considerable merit, though, I believe, as yet, has never been made the
foundation of a romance. From that story, as it has been told by
contemporaries, I have had but very little occasion to deviate, merely
supplying a few occasional links to connect it with other events of
the time.

In depicting the characters of the various persons who appear upon the
scene, however, I have had a more difficult task to perform, being
most anxious to represent them as they really were, and not on any
account to distort and caricature them. The rudeness of the age,--the
violent passions that were called into action,--the bold and erratic
disregard which thus reigned of all those principles which have now
been universally recognised for many years, rendered it not easy to
give the appearance of truth and reality to events that did actually
happen, and to personages who have indeed existed; for to the age of
James I. may well be applied the often repeated maxim, that "Truth is
stranger than Fiction."

Difficulties as great, and many others of a different description,
have been overcome in the extraordinary romance called "Ferrers;" but
it is not every one who possesses the powers of vigorous delineation
which have been displayed by the Author of that remarkable work; and I
have been obliged to trust to the reader's knowledge of history, to
justify me in the representation which I have given of characters and
scenes, which might seem overstrained and unnatural, to those who have
been only accustomed to travel over the railroad level of modern
civilization.

The character of James I. himself has been portrayed by Sir Walter
Scott with skill to which I can in no degree pretend--but with a very
lenient hand. He here appears under a more repulsive aspect, as a
cold, brutal, vain, frivolous tyrant. Nevertheless, every act which I
have attributed to him blackens the page of history, with many others,
even more dark and foul, which I have not found necessary to
introduce. Indeed, I would not even add one deed which appeared to me
in the least degree doubtful; for I do believe that we have no right
to charge the memory of the dead with anything that is not absolutely
proved against them. We must remember, that we try them in a court
where they cannot plead, before a jury chosen by ourselves, and
pronounce a sentence against which they can make no appeal: and I
should be as unwilling to add to the load of guilt which weighs down
the reputation of a bad man, as to detract from the high fame and
honour of a great and good one. My conviction, however, is
unalterable, that James I. was at once one of the most cruel tyrants,
and one of the most disgusting men, that ever sat upon a throne.

In the account I have given of Lady Essex, I shall probably be accused
of having drawn an incarnate fiend; but I reply, that I have not done
it. Her character is traced in the same colours by the hand of
History. Fortunately, it so happens that few have ever been like her;
for wickedness is generally a plant of slow growth, and we rarely find
that extreme youth is totally devoid of virtues, though it may be
stained with many vices. Such as I have found her, so have I painted
her; suppressing, indeed, many traits and many actions which were
unfit for the eye of a part, at least, of my readers. Dark as her
character was, however, its introduction into this tale afforded me a
great advantage, by the contrast it presented to that of Arabella
Stuart herself; bringing out the brightness of that sweet lady's mind,
and the gentleness of her heart, in high relief; and I hope and trust,
tending to impress upon the minds of those who peruse these pages, the
excellence of virtue and the deformity of vice.

Upon the character and fate of Sir Thomas Overbury there has always
hung a degree of mystery. I do not know whether these pages may tend
at all to dispel it; but, at all events, I have not written them
without examining minutely into all the facts; and, probably, the
conclusions at which I have arrived are as accurate as those of
others. I must reserve, however, one statement, for which I find no
authority, but which was necessary to the construction of my story,
namely, that which refers to Overbury's proposal of a marriage between
Rochester and the Lady Arabella.

I need not tell one so intimately acquainted with English History as
yourself, that all the other characters here introduced, with one or
two exceptions amongst the inferior personages, are historical; and I
have endeavoured, to the best of my power, to represent them such as
they really were.

Having said thus much, I shall add no more; for, in submitting the
work to you, though I know I shall have an acute judge, yet I shall
have a kind one; and trusting that you will, at all events, derive
some amusement from these pages, I will only further beg you to
believe me,

                         My dear Sir,

                    Your most faithful servant,

                                   G. P. R. JAMES.

_The Oaks, near Walmer, Kent_,
     1_st December_, 1843.







                           ARABELLA STUART.




                              CHAPTER I.


There was a small, old-fashioned, red brick house, situated just upon
the verge of Cambridgeshire, not in the least peculiar in its aspect,
and yet deserving a description. The reader shall know why, before we
have done. As you came along the road from London you descended a
gentle hill, not very long, and yet long enough to form, with an
opposite rise, one of those sweet, calm valleys which are
peculiarly characteristic of the greater part of this country. When
you were at the top of the hill, in looking down over some hedge-rows
and green fields, the first thing your eye lighted upon in the bottom
of the dale was a quick-running stream, which seemed to have a
peculiar art of catching the sunshine wherever it was to be found. Its
course, though almost as rapid as if it had come down from a
mountain,--having had,