of Scotland; and Henry II, by a deſcent from Matilda their daughter, is generally called the reſtorer of the Saxon line. But it muſt be remembered, that Malcolm by his Saxon queen had ſons as well as daughters; and that the royal family of Scotland from that time downwards were the offspring of Malcolm and Margaret. Of this royal family king James the firſt was the direct lineal heir, and therefore united in his perſon every poſſible claim by hereditary right to the Engliſh as well as Scottiſh throne, being the heir both of Egbert and William the conqueror.
And it is no wonder that a prince of more learning than wiſdom, who could deduce an hereditary title for more than eight hundred years, ſhould eaſily be taught by the flatterers of the times to believe there was ſomething divine in this right, and that the finger of providence was viſible in it’s preſervation. Whereas, though a wiſe inſtitution, it was clearly a human inſtitution; and the right inherent in him no natural, but a poſitive, right. And in this and no other light was it taken by the Engliſh parliament; who by ſtatute 1 Jac. I. c. 1. did “recognize and acknowlege, that immediately upon the diſſolution and deceaſe of Elizabeth late queen of England, the imperial crown thereof did by inherent birthright, and lawful and undoubted ſucceſſion, deſcend and come to his moſt excellent majeſty, as being lineally, juſtly, and lawfully, next and ſole heir of the blood royal of this realm.” Not a word here of any right immediately derived from heaven: which, if it exiſted any where, muſt be ſought for among the aborigines of the iſland, the antient Britons; among whoſe princes indeed ſome have gone to ſearch it for him[1].
But, wild and abſurd as the doctrine of divine right moſt undoubtedly is, it is ſtill more aſtoniſhing, that when ſo many hu-
- ↑ Elizabeth of York, the mother of queen Margaret of Scotland, was heireſs of the houſe of Mortimer. And Mr Carte obſerves, that the houſe of Mortimer, in virtue of it’s deſcent from Gladys only ſiſter to Lewellin ap Jorwerth the great, had the true right to the principality of Wales. iii. 705.
