ABSTRACT
The first of these four Stuarts, who have left their indelible negative impression upon England, ushered in the tragedy of King and people with a pageant of royal progress from Berwick to London, which then excited to ecstasies the loyalty and curiosity of a simple nation, and has since, in the reflex light of all that followed, become a theme for the irony of historians. For a month of spring weather James rode south. The land seemed bursting into bud to welcome him, growing greener each day as the ever-increasing train of courtiers wound slowly dO·Nn out of the north country into the midland valleys; through shouting market-places where the masq'Je of welcome and the corporation with its address were lost in the press of men; by ancient steeples rocking with the clash of bells; along open roads hedged with countrymen who had come on pilgrimage across whole counties. There was hunting of the stag through the neighbouring parks, when His Majesty might learnedly discourse to the foresters on the art of venery, and show how your Scotchman will blow a mort; while at night, in private mansions, the regal entertainment witnessed to the solid magnificence and free loyalty of England.
