only in their religious views, but in all their social habits and customs. Their zeal was soon tried by bitter persecution. They were thrown into prison,-sometimes into mad-houses; they were pilloried; they were whipped; they were burned in the face; and their tongues bored with red-hot irons; but nothing could overcome their fortitude, or quench their enthusiasm. 4. Religious persecution marks the entire period, and led to the emigration which caused the establishment of most of the English colonies in North America. The Puritans fled to Massachusetts to escape the intolerance of James I., and his son's arbitrary zeal. The Catholics founded an asylum from English persecution in Maryland; and the Quakers sought civil and religious freedom amid the wilds and wild men of Pennsylvania, after vainly seeking it among their former brethren in affliction, the Puritans of New England. 5. The superstition and ignorance of the age are clearly but terribly demonstrated by the prevailing belief in witchcraft— perhaps the most awful of popular delusions. After the last heretic had suffered death at the stake (1612), the fires were again lighted for the burning of those charged with this mysterious crime. This delusion was not confined to England, but spread all over Europe, and extended to North America, where (at Salem) it raged with peculiar virulence. Between 1640 and 1660, it is said, some three or four thousand persons, in Europe, fell victims to this terrible delusion. 6. The commerce and navigation of England increased greatly during the peaceful period of Charles the First's reign. The trade to Guinea, the Levant, and the East Indies was quite large; immense quantities of cloth were annually exported to Turkey; and the English possessed almost the monopoly of the traffic with Spain. Interrupted during the civil wars, commerce soon recovered after the Restoration, and received additional encouragement from the losses sustained by the Dutch. Besides, the prevalence of democratical principles induced many of the gentry to educate their sons to mercantile pursuits, and thus commerce became more honorable than it had ever been at any previous time. The trade with the American colonies soon became considerable. At the close of the century, about five hundred vessels were employed in this trade and with the West Indies. Of these, however, some were engaged in the slave-trade. A Board of Trade was established, in 1670, its first president being the Earl of Sandwich. 7. Tea and coffee were introduced from the East,* but for a long time were so expensive that they were used only as luxuries. Ginger, cloves, pepper, and other spices were also brought from the East Indies, and tobacco became an extensive article of commerce. James I., who had a great dislike to its use, wrote a treatise against it, which he called "The counterblaste to Tobacco," and in which he described it as "a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs." Asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers, and a variety of other vegetables were also introduced into England during this period. Whale-ships visited the shores of Greenland and Spitzbergen, and an extensive trade in whalebone was commenced, the whale previous to this having been valued only for its oil. Madras and Bombay became important centres of the East Indian trade, Java fell into the hands of the Dutch, but St. Helena became an English possession (1651). 8. Next to the capital, the chief seaport was Bristol, and Norwich the chief manufacturing town. Manchester, now the great centre of the cotton manufacture, was then a small town of about six thousand inhabitants; Leeds, the great woollen mart, was but little larger; Sheffield and Birmingham were very small towns; and Liverpool, probably, did not contain two hundred seamen. The population of London at the death of Charles II. is estimated at half a million. The streets,, narrow, dirty, unpaved, and not lighted till the last year of that monarch's reign, were infested with ruffians and robbers, against whom the watchmen, generally old and feeble men, could afford no protection. * Brought into Europe by the Dutch, but introduced in England as a beverage in 1666, by Lords Ossory and Arlington. 9. The first law for erecting turnpikes was passed in 1662. The roads were exceedingly bad, and travelling consequently very difficult. Goods were transported in wagons or on packhorses; passengers, in stage-coaches, which were slow, lumbering vehicles, with great difficulty drawn through the mud which filled the roads. In 1669, a "Flying Coach" required thirteen hours to pass between Oxford and London-a distance of fifty-five miles. The inns were numerous and comfortable; but highwaymen, mounted and armed, infested the roads, and were often the confederates of the inn-keepers. The post-bags were carried on horseback, at the rate of five miles an hour. The first regular post-office was established in 1635, for the more speedy communication of intelligence between England and Scotland. 10. The first English newspaper was printed during the session of the Long Parliament (1641), the Star Chamber having previously put effectual restraints upon the publication of intelligence. Liberty of the press was not enjoyed to any extent until 1695; when, the censorship of the press having been abolished, a number of newspapers were at once issued. They were, of course, very small, the entire sheet containing less matter than is now comprised in a single column of a large daily newspaper. King William and his ministers looked with great distrust upon this unprecedented freedom. The 11. During this period, manufacturing industry began to assume that prominence in England which it now possesses. The cotton manufacture was commenced at Manchester, and the art of dyeing woollen cloth was introduced from Flanders, thus saving the nation vast sums of money. New manufactures were also established in iron, brass, silk, paper, etc. increase of coinage is said to have amounted to upward of ten millions of pounds. A writer giving an account of this period, remarks that, "In 1688, there were on the 'Change more men worth ten thousand pounds than there were in 1650 worth one thousand; and that gentlewomen, in those earlier times, thought themselves well clothed in a serge gown, in which a chambermaid would, in 1688, be ashamed to be seen; and that besides the great increase of rich clothes, plate, jewels, and household furniture, coaches were in that time augmented a hundredfold.” 12. The trade with India and the Levant led to the introduction of many articles of luxury, both in dress and furniture. Carpets, from being used only as covers for tables, came gradually into their present use; although during most of this period rushes or matting constituted the only covering used for floors. The manufacture of oilcloth was commenced in 1660. The Duke of Buckingham introduced the making of glass, from Venice. Prince Rupert, who was a zealous patron both of the useful and the fine arts, invented or improved the method of engraving called mezzotint. The glass bead called Prince Rupert's Drop, derives its name from him. 13. The Stuarts were patrons of the fine arts. The value of pictures is said to have doubled in Europe in consequence of the competition of Charles I. and Philip IV. of Spain to obtain them. The distinguished Dutch painters, Van Dyke and Rubens, were invited into England, and received great attention from the Court. Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren, the renowned architects, flourished during this period. The former built the beautiful banqueting-house at Whitehall; the latter is especially celebrated as the designer of St. Paul's. In London alone, fifty-one churches were erected from Wren's designs. 14. The Royal Society for the Promotion of Science was established during the reign of Charles II., and there arose in England a galaxy' of great men, distinguished for their researches in every branch of human knowledge. Boyle, by improving the air-pump, was enabled to make many valuable experiments on the nature and properties of the air; Wallis and Hooke made some valuable improvements in optical instruments; Flamsteed and Halley were eminent astronomers-the former noted for the catalogue of stars which he made; the latter as the first to predict the return of a comet. Harvey also announced his famous discovery of the circulation of the blood (1619). Above all, however, towered the sublime genius of Newton, the discoverer of the law of universal gravitation. 15. The number of printing-presses in the kingdom was, however, very small. Books were therefore very scarce and dear; and consequently the booksellers' shops were thronged with readers, as there was a very general taste for the study both of science and literature. There were many distinguished writers besides those already referred to, among whom may be mentioned Sir William Davenant, who succeeded Ben Jonson as Poet Laureate,* Abraham Cowley, who, at his death (1667), ranked as the first poet of England, and Robert Herrick, one of the most exquisite of the early English lyric poets. Thomas Fuller, the quaint and witty historian, divine, and essayist, whose writings abound in amusement and instruction; Jeremy Taylor, the eloquent and pious divine, noted especially as the author of "Holy Living and Dying;" and Lord Clarendon, the famous statesman and historian, are the most celebrated among the prose writers of the period. Beaumont and Fletcher and Philip Massinger, with Shakspeare and Jonson, are particularly eminent for their achievements in the drama. Death of Louis XIV.-Pardoe. [The War of the Spanish Succession." waged by Louis XIV. in order to place his grandson on the throne of Spain, ended by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The French during this war experienced a series of most disastrous defeats, from the allied armies under Mariborough and Prince Eugene; and at the close, the condition of France was most deplorable, through the ambition, pride, and bigotry of her despotic monarch, Louis XIV.. during his long reign of seventy-two years. The following account of the manner of his death is taken from Miss Pardoe's “Louis XIV."] 1. CALM as he appeared, Louis XIV. nevertheless bitterly expiated upon his death-bed the faults and excesses of his past life. He wept over the profligacy of his youth, which he publicly avowed; deplored the madness of his ambition, by which he had brought mourning into every corner of his kingdom, and expressed the most earnest regret that sufficient time had not been afforded to him, since the termination of the war, to leave to his grandson a flourishing nation and a happy people. 2. That he had failed to do so was evident throughout his * That is, crowned with laurel," so called in imitation of the ancient practice of thus rewarding and distinguishing eminent poets. Traces of this appointment are found as early as the reign of Henry III. The office was made a patent one by Charles I., who fixed the salary at £100 a year and a tierce of wine. |