The successor of Elizabeth, by birthright, was JAMES VI OF SCOTLAND
(styled JAMES I OF ENGLAND), who was now arrived at the prime of life,
and had been married for some years to the Princess Anne of Denmark,
by whom he had two sons, Henry and Charles, and one daughter named
Elizabeth. James immediately removed to London, and assumed the
government of England, while his native kingdom, though thus united
under the same sovereignty, still retained its own peculiar
institutions. At the suggestion of the king, who wished to obliterate
the distinction of the two countries, the common name of _Great
Britain_ was now conferred upon them. King James was an oddity in
human character. His person was naturally feeble, particularly in his
limbs, which were scarcely sufficient to support his weight. He had
great capacity for learning, some acuteness, and a considerable share
of wit; but was pedantic, vain and weak. He believed kings to be the
deputies of God, and accountable to God alone for their actions. He
was equally disposed with Elizabeth to govern despotically, or
according to his own will; but he wanted the vigor and the tact for
securing popularity which enabled his predecessor to become so much
the mistress of her subjects.
Notwithstanding the energy of Elizabeth, the popular spirit had
gradually been acquiring force in her reign. It was chiefly seen in
the acts of the Puritans, a religious party, who wished to make great
reforms in the church, both in its government and its worship, and
who, from the fervor of their devotions and the strictness of their
manners, might be likened to the Presbyterians of Scotland. King James
found considerable difficulty at the very first in controlling this
party and evading their demands. He was no less troubled, on the other
hand, by the Catholics, who, recollecting his mother Mary, conceived
that he would be inclined to make matters more easy to them in
England. Upon the whole, there were such difficulties in the way, as,
to have steered successfully through them, would have required a wiser
instead of a weaker ruler than Elizabeth.