Opening connection to HSQLDB via python script very slow

[GeneGeneGitHub]

I did a bunch of bulk inserts and now the database is fairly large (650MB).

But just opening a connection to it now takes minutes, and sometimes runs out of memory (I have 8GB RAM). Seems like it's reading all data into memory every time I connect.

I issued SET FILES LOG FALSE; in the HSQL Database Manager app, but it didn't help.

I'd like to turn off all logging and all locking to see if that will help.

Is there a jaydebeapi connection string setting that will open a read-only connection quickly?

Thanks