Son of the great minister who had brought the mother of James to the scaffold, Salisbury had already extorted forgiveness for that execution from the feeble king.  Before Elizabeth was in her grave, he was already as much the favourite of her successor as of herself, governing Scotland as well as England, and being Prime Minister of Great Britain before Great Britain existed.

Lord High Treasurer and First Secretary of State, he was now all in all in the council.  The other great lords, highborn and highly titled as they were and served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees—­Nottinghams, Northamptons, Suffolks—­were, after all, ciphers or at best, mere pensioners of Spain.  For all the venality of Europe was not confined to the Continent.  Spain spent at least one hundred and fifty thousand crowns annually among the leading courtiers of James while his wife, Anne of Denmark, a Papist at heart, whose private boudoir was filled with pictures and images of the Madonna and the saints, had already received one hundred thousand dollars in solid cash from the Spanish court, besides much jewelry, and other valuable things.  To negotiate with Government in England was to bribe, even as at Paris or Madrid.  Gold was the only passkey to justice, to preferment, or to power.

Yet the foreign subsidies to the English court were, after all, of but little avail at that epoch.  No man had influence but Cecil, and he was too proud, too rich, too powerful to be bribed.  Alone with clean fingers among courtiers and ministers, he had, however, accumulated a larger fortune than any.  His annual income was estimated at two hundred thousand crowns, and he had a vast floating capital, always well employed.  Among other investments, he had placed half a million on interest in Holland,’ and it was to be expected, therefore, that he should favour the cause of the republic, rebellious and upstart though it were.

The pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him, was the only giant in the Government.  Those crooked shoulders held up, without flinching, the whole burden of the State.  Pale, handsome, anxious, suffering, and intellectual of visage, with his indomitable spirit, ready eloquence, and nervous energy, he easily asserted supremacy over all the intriguers, foreign and domestic, the stipendiariea, the generals, the admirals, the politicians, at court, as well as over the Scotch Solomon who sat on the throne.

But most certainly, it was for the public good of Britain, that Europe should be pacified.  It is very true that the piratical interest would suffer, and this was a very considerable and influential branch of business.  So long as war existed anywhere, the corsairs of England sailed with the utmost effrontery from English ports, to prey upon the commerce of friend and foe alike.  After a career of successful plunder, it was not difficult for the rovers to return to their native land, and, with the proceeds of their industry, to buy themselves positions of importance, both social and political.  It was not the custom to consider too curiously the source of the wealth.  If it was sufficient to dazzle the eyes of the vulgar, it was pretty certain to prove the respectability of the owner.