pass the seals until after
the death of its author; but was issued to his eldest son and heir,
Cecilius, on the 20th of June, 1632. The life of Sir George had been one
of uninterrupted personal and political success; his family was large,
united and happy; if he did not inherit wealth, he, at least, contrived
to secure it; and, although his conscience taught him to abandon the
faith of his fathers, his avowal of the change had been the signal for
princely favors instead of political persecution.

Here the historic connexion of the _first_ LORD BALTIMORE with Maryland
ends. The real work of Plantation was the task of CECILIUS, the first
actual Lord Proprietary, and of LEONARD CALVERT, his brother, to whom,
in the following year, the heir of the family intrusted the original
task of colonial settlement. If anything was done by SIR GEORGE, in
furtherance of the rights, liberties, or interests of humanity, so far
as the foundation of Maryland is concerned, it was unquestionably
effected anterior to this period, for we have no authority to say, that
after his death, his children were mere executors of previous designs,
or, that what was then done, was not the result of their own provident
liberality. I think there can be no question that the charter was the
work of Sir George. That, at least, is his property; and he must be
responsible for its defects, as well as entitled to its glory.[7]

I presume it is hardly necessary for me to say what manner of person the
King was, whom Calvert had served so intimately during nearly a whole
reign. James is precisely the historical prodigy, to which a reflective
mind would suppose the horrors of his parentage naturally gave birth. In
royal chronology he stands between two axes,--the one that cleft the
ivory neck of his beautiful mother--the other that severed the
irresolute but refined head of his son and heir. His father, doubtless,
had been deeply concerned in the shocking murder of his mother's second
husband. Cradled on the throne of Scotland; educated for Kingship by
strangers; the ward of a regency; the shuttle-cock of ambitious
politicians; the hope and tool of two kingdoms,--James lived during an
age in which the struggle of opinion and interest, of prerogative and
privilege, of human right and royal power, of glimmering science and
superstitious quackery, might well have bewildered an intellect,
brighter and calmer than his. The English people, who were yet in the
dawn of fre