James I., by his craft and guile, accomplished several notable and
surprising matters, and nothing more remarkable than actually to persuade
the Pope to punish an Italian writer, named Reboul, for publishing an
apology for the English Roman Catholics who refused to take the oath of
allegiance required by the English monarch in 1606, after the discovery of
the gunpowder plot. This certainly was a singular and remarkable
performance, and must have required much tact and diplomacy. It is
conjectured that the artful King so flattered the Pope as to induce him to
protect the English sovereign from the attacks of his foes. Reboul's
production was very virulent, exhorting all Catholics to go constantly to
England to excite a rising against the King, and to strangle the tyrant
with their hands. The Pope ordered the furious writer to be hanged, and an
account of his execution, written by a Venetian senator, is found among
Casaubon's collection of letters.
The most famous victim of the Star Chamber was William Prynne, whose work
_Histriomastix, or the Player's Scourge_, directed against the sinfulness
of play-acting, masques, and revels, aroused the indignation of the Court.
This volume of more than a thousand closely printed quarto pages contains
almost all that was ever written against plays and players; not even the
Queen was spared, who specially delighted in such pastimes, and
occasionally took part in the performances at Court.
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